• Like the last one, I have listened to this before, but not in a while. My favorite Siouxie & the Banshees material is Hyaena and this bootleg FM broadcast from 1981 I downloaded last year (From The Cradle Bars: Live At The De Nieuwe Kade, Tiel, Holland), but I don’t think I’ve really delved that deep into the discography. The live recording has a bunch of the earlier stuff, but just sounds a little livelier than the studio recordings, so I just haven’t peeped them when I want to hear the band. Anyhow, it’s good. I think I would like this specific Siouxsie & the Banshees record more if it hadn’t been an influence on a lot of 2000s indie rock that I don’t like. Great album overall and the closer (Voodoo Doll) is excellent. But, still, not my favorite from them that I have heard.

I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to as much Iron Maiden as I should have. I usually reach for Live After Death when I want to listen to Iron Maiden. I’ve listened to Killers and Powerslave as well, but not a ton. I know that’s wrong. Anyhow, I have heard this one, but maybe never all the way front-to-back (I know that’s wrong). Anyhow, this rips, obviously. The bass playing, in particular, is great. It’s prototypical NWOBHM. Really starts hitting when The Prisoner comes in, and in general there’s some excellent cuts. Overall, I probably wouldn’t ever tell you to turn this off, but it isn’t a top NWOBHM release for me.

I was a massive Led Zeppelin fan from ages 8-13, but haven’t really listened to them much in many years. When it comes to classic hard rock, they just aren’t a band I reach for. These days, I’d rather listen to Deep Purple or some record I haven’t heard before. I dunno, I got older and started to hate a lot of aspects of this band. However, I can still tell you pretty much everything about John Bonham’s drums, tuning style, and the Glen Johns drum recording method. I did a rendition of Moby Dick for the school talent show in 4th grade. I downloaded a FLAC rip of a 2008 SHM-CD for this one and this is probably the highest quality version of this record I’ve ever heard. Very douchey record and Robert Plant’s lyrics fucking suck, but the tones on the record are so fucking good. I love the mix so much, the guitar tones, the plate reverb, the bass tones, the snare drum — it rocks. When I think of rock drums, I think of John Bonham. I think I’ve decided that I hate Robert Plant. It’s an excellent record, arranged well, etc. Doesn’t hit the same at 30 as it does at 13, but songs off of this one were stuck in my head all day the day after I listened. Heartbreaker rips. I think I have to give it a 4. Fuck it.

This takes me back to my middle brother’s high school friends who wore scarfs and interrogated anyone wearing a Led Zeppelin or Beatles shirt. This record makes me think of a teenager wearing a scarf with a t shirt and cargo shorts. It’s wild that this is twenty years old. I don’t think that if I was going to listen to The White Stripes, I would pick this album. The Wikipedia article mentions that Jack White didn’t use any recording equipment made past 1963 twice. Jesus. But, maybe it won’t be so bad. I really wanted to turn it off during the first song. This whole sound and shtick annoys the fuck out of me now. This is music for guys who collect guitar pedals. The stupid vintage radio vaudeville sound on the vocals. I hate the vocals so much. There are some cool guitar sounds and riffs here, but that’s it. The drumming is monotonous and not in a good way. It would probably sound better without the drums at all. There’s no way this needs to be nearly fifty minutes long. The track that’s channeling Neil Young is god fucking awful. This came out at a time when music critics were waiting for the next Nirvana and you can tell. Flaccid dick car commercial rock. Boutique fuzz pedal review YouTube video music. The Hardest Button To Button is good, but then come the vocals. Jesus fucking christ, this dude’s vocals are so god damn annoying. I can feel myself becoming less charitable with each song. And the end? My god. This is the worst album I have deliberately listened to in many, many years.

immediately, I’m interested in this because I went through a period of listening to the self-titled and Rumors a lot in college. I’m on the second track now and it’s already obvious that Fleetwood Mac is one of those bands that gets away with shit that should sound goofy, but doesn’t. It’s really impressive on the records I already liked, but on this one? God damn. And I like the kind of understated (if that’s the right word) way they kick this one off before going in the really solid pop material. Sara is definitely a new favorite. I love a song that makes me feel like a hot woman, and somehow they stick that next to some pretty fried ass jaunts and it works. There’s a lot of swings on this record, and they’re all hits. There’s a good amount of experimentation when it comes to the mixing/production and instrumentation and how it’s all arranged on this record, and some of it sounds far, far ahead of its time. And none of it comes across as gimmicky or just a tasteful example of drug-fueled antics. I was surprised at how contemporary sounded — if I heard some band drop “That’s All for Everyone” as a single, I wouldn’t think anything of it. I always thought the rhythm section of this band was tight, but after this record? Wow. I was kind of in a bad mood today after work and this completely turned my evening around. Not that I have anywhere near the musical competency to ever do anything thing like this LP, but it really makes you want to play music. Not only do I like this, but I have a soft spot for the indie rock bands of the past 10ish years who have been influenced by this sort of thing, although I don’t keep up with that stuff. And for some reason parts of this record sound like a precursor to stuff like Guided By Voices.

• I like Pet Shop Boys, but I’m by no means a mega fan or anything. • This isn’t one I’ve heard. The main one I’ve listened to is Please (1986), and that one I’ve listened to quite a bit recently because I found a mint copy of it for cheap. • Right at the first track, I feel like I’m going to like this. • It’s like Pet Shop Boy’s version of New Order’s Technique (1989) – keeps the core elements of the earlier output while changing the timbre and instruments, and it helps bring out what makes them a unique act. • This is a smooth album for sure, and it might get up there for me with Roxy Music’s Avalon and Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen. • The songs blend together, but that’s fine. • I feel a million indie rock fellas have recorded a two-minute long song that sounds like “To Face The Truth” on a four-track within the last ten years or so. • It is extremely 1990, but it feels to me like Pet Shop Boys managed to work with that pretty well… rephrase • Most of the album is cold, wistful, and stiff, and I dig. A 5/5 feels like a bit much, but this was good!

It’s nice to get something that’s less than ten years old. And also something that could be very much in my wheelhouse that I wouldn’t otherwise check out. And its Warp Records, and they have a good track record. I feel like if you’ve been in any sort of alt/indie whatever spaces in the last 15 years, you’ve heard stuff like this, and while I don’t keep up with it in any sense it is good stuff. Anyhow, it’s a big, sparkly R&B record. I liked it and I think it’s got great tracks and the idea is good, but it does drag a bit for me. The sound of the record is very “rounded off” — on most of the tracks, there’s nothing sharp or crunchy or snappy. There’s also a lot of lush, ethereal reverb all over everything, which sometimes sounds good and other times makes a track sound like Eurodance at an ice-skating rink. I think more live instrumentation would’ve helped a lot. The problem with any album that critics describe as “futuristic” is that it doesn’t sound “futuristic” within five years of its release. The reviews for this really described it in ways that I didn’t hear. I heard good, current alternative R&B. But I don’t think this needed to be 14 tracks and I don’t hear what the reviews are talking about at all. Take Me Apart, LMK, S.O.S., Onanon, and Turn To Dust were highlights. 2/5 feels unfair because it’s good, but this feels very of its time and very of the Heavy Reverb Pop Spotify Playlist niche. I really wanted to enjoy this more than I did. 2.75/5?

• I don’t know when I have ever listened to Johnny Cash deliberately, but I’ve probably heard most of the popular songs several times. But, no, I don’t hate this. It’s successful country/pop crossover beloved by failsons everywhere. Bartenders who borrow money from their parents because they spent too much money on blow absolutely love Johnny Cash. Dudes who lie to their parents about flunking out of the out-of-state private college. All varieties of punishers at the bar. Absolutely insufferable people love Johnny Cash. But the fact is that it’s good and that’s why people like it (unlike bands that play a similar cultural role, like The Grateful Dead). This doesn’t “speak” to me in any way or whatever, it’s just enjoyable pop music from its time period. It’s seem kind of stupid to give this less than a 3. • Still, I think I’d need to rip a bowl and drink six beers to want to listen to this all the way through.

This is actually the first Sonic Youth record I ever listened to and it’s still my go-to one. I don’t really dislike the stuff that came before or after (that I’ve actually listened to) but it doesn’t immediately scratch an itch like this one does. This is definitely something I listen to at least once a year. I don’t have a lot to say about it.

And this is the second Sonic Youth record I ever listened to, and it’s good. I should listen to it more. I don’t know what exactly it is that Sonic Youth loses on the records after this one, but I haven’t really been hooked by Goo or Daydream Nation. I don’t know, I just find this era of Sonic Youth really inspiring. Just like on EVOL, they have this way of throwing in these very melancholic, plaintive passages right alongside stuff that is gross and hateful. With both this record and EVOL, they have this clear influence from Stooges and Velvet Underground, but they take it in a very different direction. It’s like 1970s arena hard rock just didn’t happen and suddenly it’s 1987. Anyhow, I’m glad I got two Sonic Youth records back-to-back because I just got a guitar with a stable, useful vibrato system for the first time ever and this has given me some ideas on how to use it.