Apr 17 2025
Who's Next
The Who
Fantastic bookend tunes
3
Apr 23 2025
Never Mind The Bollocks, Hereโs The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The cultural relevance of this album is lost on me. These guys are like the shitty Clash, and I'm not big on the Clash to begin with. Ooh, the song says "abortion" in it? Who cares, it sucks.
1
Apr 24 2025
Clube Da Esquina
Milton Nascimento
This was nice
2
Apr 25 2025
Gentlemen
The Afghan Whigs
I wanted to enjoy this more. The lyrics made me cringe, and the tempo just pushed and pulled throughout
2
Apr 28 2025
Strangeways, Here We Come
The Smiths
Solid. I generally want more from a lead vocalist, but the lyrics were cheeky and interesting enough throughout to keep me engaged.
3
Apr 29 2025
Paranoid
Black Sabbath
Overall, this was a fun listen. While I have some issues with its production, it clearly influenced a lot of music that followed it.
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LISTENING NOTES BELOW
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War Pigs
-my favourite War Pig is Arabella
-drum tones from this time are so FLAT and weak. Feels out of place on a "heavy metal" album. This is something that the next cohort (eg. Van Halen) did better.
-guitar tone, however, kicks ass
Paranoid
- just a tight, wicked rock song
Iron Man
- iconic intro
- the lyrics are a bit...childish? "Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind?"...woof
- the drums feel sloppy at times, lots of pushing and pulling. As was the style at the time?
Electric Funeral
- that breakdown part at 2:20 is so damn groovy. Hearing pangs from the first Wolfmother album
Rat Salad
- cool "drum solo"... same 3 fills on a loop (beginner Bonham triplets, TOM-KICK-TOM TOM-KICK-TOM, snare so fast)... it was a relief when this one was over
3
Apr 30 2025
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Devo
Really enjoyed the front half. It helped to supplement the listening with watching a live performance from this time. I found the frontman to be a sneaky strong singer. Alas, it kind of got stale for me by the end. Happy to have gone on the journey, nonetheless. I can now say with confidence that "I get it"
3
May 01 2025
Traffic
Traffic
I didn't mind this! It was pretty inoffensive, it just didn't really grab me at any point, except for the song "Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring". Rounding down from 2.5 stars.
Listening notes:
- reaction upon hearing vocals... "Oh! Okay...."
- instruments remind me of early Sheepdogs
- More of "Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring" please
- long album! Hard to fully pin it down on first listen
2
May 02 2025
Goo
Sonic Youth
*Sigh*...This did very little for me. Someone told me recently to listen to the lyrics less, which was easy to do with this album. Unfortunately the surrounding din did little to make this an enjoyable experience. A whole point more than Sex Pistols feels generous, but hey it's Friday.
2
May 05 2025
Court And Spark
Joni Mitchell
Her voice gives me goosebumps. This album is cool and vulnerable. It tones down the sickening whimsy that gets in the way of my enjoyment of some of Joniโs other work. The instrumentation fits well, too.
She still loses me with her lyrics and composition at times. The โlove is goneโ choral part in โDown to Youโ is amazing.. but then it turns into a movie score for the entire second half of the song?
โTwistedโ ends on a light note. Enjoyed the listen. A strong 3.
3
May 06 2025
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elton John
Elton at peak power. Whatta way to kick off an album - an 11 minute middle finger where the frontman doesn't utter a word until about the 6 minute mark, showcasing his composition chops and letting his bandmates cook (listen to that bass guitar!)
This album suffers from having too many bangers to be a single LP, but too many forgettably bleh tracks on Side 3 and 4 to be that elusive great double LP. Sir Reginald has never been accused of being a perfectionist with his output (I find his follow-up to this album "Caribou" to be a challenging listen.) It's a disappointing fizzle out on what is otherwise an iconic album. Still, the top-heavy first half is too good to give this anything less than 4 stars.
4
May 08 2025
Rust Never Sleeps
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
I enjoyed this! Great opening track. Admittedly I fell asleep while listening to this on the train.
3
May 15 2025
Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Boy, this singer does nothing for me. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed the instrumentation on this album. The vocals were responsible for at least a full star point demerit. Shame.
2
May 19 2025
Bookends
Simon & Garfunkel
3
May 21 2025
Good Old Boys
Randy Newman
This is slightly higher than a 2 for me, but not quite a 3. A little jarring lyrically at times, especially coming from the voice of Toy Story. Lots of overlap with what I like about old Elton John, but itโs missing any semblance of.. yโknow.. strong singing? Itโs always a relief when the backup vocals show up.
You can tell heโs writing about important subject matter. And heโs got some undeniable charm. I just donโt have an appetite for a full album of Randy.
2
May 26 2025
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire
Solid. I enjoyed this basically from start to finish, and it was nice to unearth the singles that I heard a bunch when this album came out. I'm never really excited or inspired by Arcade Fire, though, and that's what keeps this album at a 3 for me.
3
May 27 2025
The Bends
Radiohead
3