Junkyard
The Birthday PartyAbrasive, unpleasant, obtuse, unfriendly, but excellent.
Abrasive, unpleasant, obtuse, unfriendly, but excellent.
Absolutely ridiculous. One of the stupidest albums I've ever heard. Highly recommend.
Grew on me as it went on, but fundamentally not my cup of tea. Not awful for a relaxing morning listen with Baby J. Best tracks: Help Yourself, In my Bed, Amy Amy Amy.
Big, loud, empty, boring. Apparently, it's inspired by "America"
Starts strong, and is petty good, but not really enough of anything to make a huge impact. Not quite danceable enough, or hard enough, or sad enough. Title track is a banger tho.
Love the sound, like the tunes. Good vibes, just would have liked more bangers. No bad songs, but no songs better than Just What I Needed.
Have never truly loved Blues, but this is probably about as good as it can get, for me at least.
SMOOTH AS SILK AND BOLD AS BRASS
So good. Wonderful voice, evergreen melodies, wide range of sounds and emotions. So many good songs on this album.
Fun and breezy, occasionally freaky folky vibes. A couple of transcendant moments, didn't outstay it's welcome
The bangers still bang, but too much filler and it gets lonely and boring long before the end. Definitely lived up to its title.
All of the songs basically sound the same and do the same thing, but that thing is incredibly fun and enjoyable for easily more than the albums length
Really good when it's good but too long and kinda outstays its welcome. I enjoyed myself, but I wasn't sorry when it ended.
100% holds up. Sweet, scary, expansive, intimate, everything
Abrasive, unpleasant, obtuse, unfriendly, but excellent.
Sad but hopeful, way better than I'd been led to believe. Great for a sunny morning.
Not enough art to separate it from the artist. Boring.
Needs time, good headphones, an open mind, no interruptions, and ideally an epic landscape to walk across to enjoy properly, but still worth it with at least a couple of those things.
The guitars and vocals are raw and fuzzy and great, but the songwriting is non existent. Just endless bluesy noodling. Sure it sounded good at the time, but that time has passed.
Dark, warm, and crunchy. Maybe I shoulda been a metalhead all along.
The lyrics are witty and the 80s instrumentals are beautiful, but the tunes aren't there, and nothing sticks.
The filler tracks are utterly skippable, but Clint Eastwood, Slow Country and M1A1 are worth two extra stars on their own.
Pretty decent, considering I never thought I was a Dylan fan, bit samey after a while.
The skits and ad libs are horrible and dated (bing!), but the tunes hold up pretty well and Lauren Hill still sounds great.
Chunky, powerful and fun. Would have been better if it had been weirder.
Solid bluesy rock, v short, doesn't outstay it's welcome
Maybe needs headphones and no distractions to lock in properly, bit lacklustre and distant for me. Not unpleasant to listen to.
Still so heartbreaking, excellent songwriting, haunting but rich
Dry, low energy, never really comes alive. Gets an extra star just for red eyes tho
Pretty nice, rolls around quite nicely for a bit, doesn't outstay it's welcome
listened walking with j by the river, nice to have another live album, proggy and odd and fun and pretentious in a good way
Listened playing with J on the mat, booombapboombapbombebappe
Listened riding to peter's and back, really fun varied tunes.
Actually much nicer than I thought. listened while play with j on the mat
Listened during a river walk with jj, real nice and chill for a sunny day.
Pure disco soul bliss. Absolute perfection.
Hasn't aged super well, but still raises a chuckle and a gasp or two.
Beautiful stuff from a very underrated artist, wonderful easy listening for a sunny morning with J
Kinda disappointing, noodly, self indulgent and quite annoying with all the slide whistles and circus crap. Maybe Mike Love was the talented one. Gets a bonus star for the version of Good Vibrations tho.
Hard one to review because it's such a mixed bag. On tracks like Stagger Lee, Henry Lee, Where the Wild Roses Grow, Death is not the end, it's a swaggering, raunchy, redblooded compendium of passion and woe. But on tracks like Song of Joy, The Curse of Millhaven and the absolutely interminable O'Malley's Bar, it's the dullest, most cringeworthy school-shooter incel power fantasy you can imagine, with lyrics that telegraph their rhymes from over the horizon. The good bits are great, but the bad bits are an absolute embarrassment.
Profoundly unremarkable but inoffensive bluesy pub rock. Way too many albums like this on this list, frankly
It's exactly what it says it is. All the songs are utterly charming and completely interchangeable. Zero surprises, zero disappointments
Absolutely ridiculous. One of the stupidest albums I've ever heard. Highly recommend.
I mean it's fine.
Pretty fun, eclectic and joyful, still miles better than anything Oasis could manage, but has too many similar songs and drags on just a touch.
Really interesting instrumentals let down by boring songwriting and lacklustre scotch morrisey vocals
Genius confirmed
SOOOO much more fun than led zep.
The only way I can make it through this album is by writing this while I listen. This sucks so much. It's boring and annoying, it's like being trapped in an endless conversation that just won't stop in a airless broken elevator. A genuine chore to listen to. And it's not just because I generally don't like dance music, I gave MIA's Arular 5/5. The penultimate track Don't Give Up is the closest thing this has to a saving grace, but it's too little too late, and no forgiveness is earned. I only finished the album out of spite. I win, you lose basement jaxx.