Obviously, this is a great album. I prefer it to Bitches Brew. One I reach for fairly regularly.
We're two-for-two now on albums I have on vinyl. This one is pretty much chockablock with big tunes. I was under the impression that The Joshua Tree was front-loaded with hits and then trailed off pretty quickly into Lanois-style atmospherics, but it doesn't start to waft away until the middle of side 2. Even then...
I remember this being the talk of campus when it was scheduled to come out my freshman year. I also recall listening to the cassette on repeat (auto-reverse) in my girlfriend's dorm room. Perhaps as a result, I have a hard time being objective about this one.
Well, this is pleasant. Obviously, Dusty in Memphis gets all the attention, but one gets a good sense that that album didn't come from out of nowhere. Probably not one I'll revisit all that much, but a nice enough half-hour's diversion.
Hearing so much about how daring and confounding Tusk was, you'd have thought they'd made Trout Mask Replica or something. It has its LA New Wave moments, but it's still filtered through the band's pop sensibilities. I actually prefer those moments to the more standard Fleetwood Mac tracks, and I think the oddest thing they did was kick off a two album set with a snoozy acoustic number. "Rocks Off" it ain't.
I do recall the title track fondly from back in the day.
Regarding the sound, I've heard that cocaine pumps more blood through your brain. This makes everything sounds bassy, so coked-up producers crank up the treble to compensate.
Why have I never gotten around to Jack White? I loved White Blood Cells. I enjoyed that one Raconteurs song that sounded like Don Dixon’s “Praying Mantis” (you might not know what I’m talking about, but I’m pretty sure Jack does). Now here I am just getting around to a 12-year-old Jack White album, and I have to say it’s quite good. I don’t suppose I should be all that surprised. Jack seems to like Zeppelin for the right reasons; there’s enough rococo byzantinery to give it some flavor, and he’s integrated his influences into a pretty coherent whole.
The album no one could mix. Why anyone put 1972 Iggy Pop in charge of anything is beyond me. I guess Bowie did his best with what he had? Iggy's sludge-o-matic '90s version has its moments? Still, a mess is a mess.
There are quite a few great songs here, and this could have been a great leap forward if it hadn't been botched from the start. I hate grading art, but this thing is making me, so 4 stars for the songs and 2 stars for the production.
Bought this on cassette my freshman year of college.
Grant Lee Buffalo is a band that I've always been aware of, but never spent much time with. Fuzzy gets weirder (and thus better) as it goes along. I suspect their next albums delve deeper into this, assuming major label pressures didn't sand down their edges. Further investigation is warranted.
Sure! I have all five of these LPs in my collection.
I've been at this for a week and this is my second Dusty Springfield album, a coincidence I'm sure.
I've heard this album many, many times, although I haven't revisited it in quite a while. It's excellent. And it turns out I'm cited as a source on the Wikipedia page! Well, huh.
Obvious best track: "Son of a Preacher Man," obviously.
Stealth best track: "I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore," an early Randy Newman composition that demonstrates his gift for the lyrical specificity that lends credibility to the story he's telling. ("I saw them in the front yard, said the boy in room 149...")
As some wise guy once said, "Razor sharp slices of neo-garage rock, fueled on amphetamine and Aftermath, quick-witted and tight—and an object lesson that the New Wave could compete on the old school’s field."
(This is the second album I've been dealt in a row where I've been cited as a source on Wikipedia. Spooky.)
Someone else I've never quite gotten around to, although I did listen to his Purple Mountains album.
Yes, this is a good one. Haven't listened to it in quite a while, but I do recall enjoying it.
It's not Coldplay's fault that the music in corporate sizzle reels and training videos sounds like Coldplay. But it does make it difficult to engage with albums like this.
I hate grading art, but this platform won't let me move on until I do. This one's just not my thing. No offense to those for whom it is.
My favorite Christmas album by a murderer. (Sorry, OJ!)
OK, "EXP" is everything you wish Jimi Hendrix wouldn't do. Come to think of it, there are some sequencing problems with this one. I'll have to rearrange things and make an Axis: Bold as Love: Sorted playlist. Start it with "Spanish Castle Magic," pretty sure.
Bought this one in the early 1980s, so yes. It's great.
The Byrds' most consistent songwriter on his own, with a solid band and a strong feel for the sound of 1971. Could there have been a left-field hit in any of these tracks? Nothing is jumping out at me, but many moments of great loveliness.
Man, I forgot how good this album is. The thing about most of your so-called punk is how little like the Ramones it sounds.
Oh cool, this is the one with "Peace Frog" on it. I'm starting to think that dying young wasn't the best move for Jim Morrison. When he died, he was granted a tragic poet status that his work simply doesn't live up to. Much of the Doors' work is actually pretty gloriously silly, and they might have benefited from a slide into irrelevance followed by a gradual rediscovery. Anyway, that's what I'm thinking as I listen to this one. How many Doors albums are on this list anyway?
Am I the only one who looks forward to "Mother" and "Miss Gradenko"? Just the right counterpoint to Sting's crystalline pop splendor, if you ask me. Also "Synchronicity II" hits maybe a little too close to home sometimes.
Yep, I've heard this one before. Just heard it again. Definitely hits the spot from time to time. "We Will Fall" is probably controversial round these parts, but it certainly sets a mood.
Yes. This is what I was hoping this little experiment would deliver—hidden gems that I might not otherwise have discovered.
Yes, I have heard this. I'm really never in the mood for it.
Quite good. Very of its time, but it was a pretty good time. Did the Grateful Dead cover "Animal Zoo"? If not, a missed opportunity.
Sure! I remember this one fairly well. I have it on CD around here somewhere. Like a lot of albums from around this time, it might benefit from a Side 1 and a Side 2. Maybe the sequencing would be different? Regardless, a very worthy album.
I do recall hearing many of these songs on that SiriusXM Spectrum station when I worked at the agency. Or at least I think it was these songs. Nothing wrong with this album. I just listened to it today at work. Seems to blend in pretty good when I'm at work. Maybe if I listened more closely and paid attention to the lyrics I'd like it better?
Broadening their musical palette was an interesting trade-off for the White Stripes. I find myself missing the primitivism of their early work, but I also see how that's unsustainable. This is quite good.
I'd just as soon not sit through a whole thing of this, given all the stuff. I've heard most of it before.
Yes! More like this. Albums by artists I’ve been meaning to listen to, and/or hidden gems I was unaware of. This ticks both boxes. Right on.
I forgot how lovely this album is. Thanks, machine!
Absolutely!
Don't need to be reminded to listen to Fear of Music.
Geezer Butler's bass tone. So good. He never got his due for that. His lyrics? Sure. But that tone...
Never need a reason to listen to Bryter Layter. So beautiful. Thanks for the reminder, machine!
Also, Lord grant me the self-control never to click on the "Reviews" link. I have no interest in reading semi-literate hot takes on why a "country" album like this is boring "cofee" shop music.
Always a pleasure to revisit this one, and it happened to be on a day where it made for the ideal soundtrack. One of those albums where the backstory makes it legendary, but there is a certain magic to it nonetheless
My second Doors album for this project, and a further reminder that Jim and Co. were ill-served by his Byronic poet reputation. "Specialize in having fun" is objectively hilarious. That stretch of slight little tunes between "Back Door Man" and "The End" is my favorite part of the album. Maybe because it could just as easily be the Monkees. That's a compliment.
Yeah, I've heard this one.
A favorite of mine, and it has been for 30 years. No need to say more.
Among the most 1985-sounding of all the albums to come out in 1985, in its way. Nothing wrong with that, of course.
Further adventures in the 1980s. The Blue Nile is a band I've heard touted for decades, but I've never really gotten around to them.
I have heard this one. It has its moments. Lengthy blues jams are just not my thing, I'm afraid. Plus, Clapton...
I'm never in the mood for the title track, but holy crap is the rest of this album good.
I hadn't listened to this one in ages. I know I had it on vinyl when I was a teenager, but I don't know what happened to it. Anyway... sure.
A kind of underrated LP from EC — glad to see it's on this list.
Hmm... yes... not typically my thing, and I couldn't understand anything he was singing, but OK. Done and done!
Obviously. One of my all-time favorites. Don't need to be told twice to listen to this one.
Something detractors don't seem to recognize about Monk is that his compositions are all about rhythmic precision. To have his horn players and rhythm section all in lockstep with his own idiosyncratic approach is an incredible accomplishment that requires top-tier players performing at their best. Rollins, Roach, Pettiford and company are all well up to the task — and it shows. Maybe not an ideal jumping off point for jazz neophytes, who can be forgiven if they don't get it at first. As long as they don't go shooting their fool mouths off in the reviews. (Why on earth do I even click that link?)
Randy Newman once said he fell off a bit with Joni when she started singing about rich people. I get that, although "Free Man in Paris" is probably the best song here. As a Blue fan, I'm generally less excited about her forays into the jazzier side of things, but this one works well overall.
I really like this one.
Interesting how Cohen could integrate '80s-ass sounds without being embarrassing. Probably because, unlike his contemporaries, he had no expectations of having a hit single. The Weimar songs here help ensure both those things. Good stuff.
I'm old, so the Native Tongues-style hip hop resonates with me. After that heyday, I sort of wandered off from hip hop. Q-Tip has also moved on from that old style a bit, but the leanings are still there, and it's still quite welcome.
Oh, man... why are all 90s hip hop albums so long? All right already with the skits! Oh, look, there's a 36-minute version streaming—sold! Maybe I'll dig deeper at some point when time's not so tight. There is a lot to like on here, after all.
Must remember this one for when I'm thinking Sonic Youth but want something a little different.
Absolutely, yes—and my wife would agree.
Part of the reason, I suspect, that Britpop didn't really take off in the US is because so many of those bands immediately disappeared up their own butts, making self-indulgent albums like this. When your first track is modeled after Their Satanic Majesties Request, you might be headed in the wrong direction.
That said, there's nothing really to dislike about this album. If this were playing in a hip bistro, I would have no objection. Parts of it are quite atmospheric, even. OK, then... onward...
That '80s thing where the saxophone comes in and everything gets real smooth. Fascinating. I recall when the hits from this were all over the radio. Didn't mind it then and don't mind it now.
OK, yeah, not my thing.
I have this on vinyl, but I don't know if I ever listened to it all the way through. Love that "Next"!
My favorite piece of recorded music. Perfect in every way.
One of the few albums that changed the course of rock history. It made eight-minute blues-rock solos and french horn sections suddenly seem passé.
The album that made Beck respectable. Absolutely essential, although Midnite Vultures is more fun.
Sure! Not my favorite Steely Dan, definitely their slickest (which is saying something), but no complaints here.
With albums like this, where the big songs are so firmly ingrained in the consciousness, it's best to assess them based on the lesser known tracks. This one delivers, with tracks like "Red Light" and "Like a Song..." standing up pretty well against the big boys. I can't recall ever sitting with this one as a whole, but it's been quite the pleasant surprise.
Perfect.
