Could not force myself to listen to the entire album after hearing the piano tinkle for 17 seconds on the first track.
I snored through this one.
She’s the British female version of Pat Boone or Elvis Presley. Nice voice and unoriginal.
Catchy tunes and amusing lyrics. These lads sound like they are having an awful lot of fun as the second generation of angry young men.
I liked the parts with no guitars or singing.
Half the album are folk songs written to reflect the politics and events of those times. Dylan chose great mentors. His folk songs are striking in their humanity and empathy. This album contains some classics.
I think I’ve heard every song on this album either in my dentist‘s office or shopping at Trader Joe’s. In other words, it’s pleasant background music.
Mostly all enjoyable music. Did not enjoy the lyrical delivery though. Some choruses were catchy.
Some doodling additional sounds can’t make this insipid record interesting
Two songs worth listening to - I’ll Come Running and Everything Merges with the Night. Even those are like second class Jona Lewie songs. The others are pretentious Muzak.
If each part of her instrumentations were performed separately, I might enjoy them - especially the electronic saw. However, putting all the bits together it becomes music to Floss to and forget - if you can fade out her singing.
One of thousands post-punk records. One song that stood out musically was “You Said Something,” but lyrically it’s high schoolish.
Great mix of politics and good time songs.
Loved the old-timey gospel and choir numbers. Did not like the voice overs that presented truths like the singer had just newly discovered them for the world. Very off putting.
Produced by the magnificent Nick Lowe this album is like a close sibling to Lowe’s Jesus of Cool. Peppy, clever, and poppy.
Great idea from the Guthrie archive. Billy Bragg is a great choice. Wilco was so-so.
Five for Billy’s songs. Three for Wilco’s
Some standouts among pretty typical misogyny and idiotic swagger. It’s hard to reconcile the four sweet nostalgic and the wonderful historical songs with the typical ones mentioned above. Hard to rate, but in this case of these four songs, I’ll give the album the benefit of the doubt.
The first track reminded me of the sounds my mom and dad were making while cooking spaghetti noodles and talking when I was tripping balls on mushrooms. That track gets a 5 for the intense feeling of deja vu it produced.
The rest of the album is a confused cacophony of great genres who’s parts far exceed the whole.
Muzak for the stone deaf. I’m sorry I could hear it.
I’ve heard the idea that they were heavily influenced by The Velvet Underground; I don’t hear it at all on this album. To me, they sound like a power pop version of a sometimes enjoyable amalgam of the Turtles, the Byrds , Little Feat, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Two little stars for Big Star.
So fun musically and with some interesting lyrics as well.
The best parts were the opening couple minutes and the silence at the end.
Disgusting - the abusers claiming to be poor victims. Of course lonely teenage boys appreciated this moronic brand of macho whimpering. It’s troubling so many of them think it’s great rather than the greasy wankfest it has always been.
The lead singer sounds like the child of a Lou Reed and Jonathan Richman union. Unfortunately, these two greats produced an embarrassment. Better luck next time, fellas.
Peppy tunes and non-morinic lyrics, but the nearly incessant drum machine drove me to distraction.
Tortuously long and infantile.
This album felt like it had two songs.
Mediocre music. Boring lyrics. Good voice. I don’t appreciate the gimmicky aspect of the the whole project, so I’m sure that creates a negative bias.
I am not a fan of swaggering, misogyny, or glorifying violence. Three songs on the album did not include those noxious themes. They were okay to hear, but musically forgettable and I wouldn’t ever listen to them again.
Finally! A group whose favorite album was the unlistenable Metal Machine Music produces another dismal album.
How many rapid fire guitar solo weepy blues ripoff rock songs with some Brit singing about how a lady he loves so much doesn’t love him - even though she is actually his best friend‘s wife who he will divorce a few years later - do we have to hear? I would hope the answer would have been none, but apparently there’s a whole crap load of them and bunch are on this album. An hour and sixteen minutes of “poor me” songs is an hour and seventeen minutes too much for poor me.
Painful. Without his mom and dad this guy wouldn’t stand a chance of being heard. I don’t get the allure of continuing to pay him.
Annoying screeching gets in the way of some good wild tunes.
Reminds me very much of Paul Simon’s music and phrasing combined with Rodriguez’s voice, song styling, and music - in both good and bad ways. I “liked” two songs. Which is about the same as Simon and Rodriguez. Both of whom I find slightly overrated musically, although Rodriguez’s story is incredibly interesting.
Fabulous. What lyrics and what musicianship!! For such a long album the quality of the songs is amazing.
Many artists in this challenge I’d never heard of, but hoped I would find a new source of musical pleasure. It finally happened with this album.
Lovely new and familiar at the same time.
Indistinguishable from scores (hundreds?) of other post punk albums.
I don’t enjoy highly produced sounds. This is a perfect example of those records. I also don’t enjoy gimmicks. Another fine example of that with this album.
When I was little I liked to pretend I could play any musical instrument I got my hands on. My games were about as good as this album. Zero stars if it were possible.
Except for the two covers of James Brown’s songs, this is an album that sounded like something new and fresh from everything in the genre that preceded it.
I like the band’s name, not so much the music. Weird and spooky intro followed by catchy and repetitive drumming then overly the spooky sounds again or weird not so spooky sounds with peppier rhythms. Two choices both boring after hearing them more than once.
Not good. An interim album from their first amazing sounds to their later amazing sounds. This one is a poor representation of their sounds.
Very pleasing. A toe tapping body swaying album throughout.
Great line- cigarette butt beach.
My favorite parts were reminiscent of the Minutemen or the Velvet Underground, but they were mainly bits of songs. Headache and Space is Gonna Do Me Good stood out as enjoyable for the entire song.
Once the horns and orchestration starts - after 1 minute and 11 seconds of sublime music and singing- this album never gets of the wrong track.
8 minutes of enjoyment and 33 minutes of a jazz fart.
Gross lyrically. Boring musically. Good news for the world they are finally done.
Not their best. The political nature of some song’s lyrics really highlight a weakness in Brian’s writing. The introspective nature of some of his other songs show these to be very pale in comparison.
They can shred and do ballads!! They posture about their live free nature and degrade women. And they write their own self congratulatory bio on Spotify.
Pitiful.
A welcome breath of fresh and invigorating musical air. Look up the top ten billboard albums of 1977 and see for yourself.
21 songs, 2 discs, 104 minutes
3 good songs for a total of about 16 minutes, but those songs elevate the entire cacophony into a worthwhile listening experience. Just make sure to use the skip and slider to whip through the mess to find the treats.
So diverse in musical styles - while not the best example of each style, certainly credible and enjoyable. However, the misogyny is hard to take. I wish I hadn’t read the lyrics. Without reading them it’s 4 stars. After reading them 1.
One generation past punk, these guys had lots of great songs and groups to listen to and draw from. Too bad they listened to crap and ended up being scavengers feeding on the scraps of a rotting thirty year old corpse.
Some funny take-offs of early sixties British Invasion song stylings. I’m glad they got to make later albums, which I think are much better than this one.
Love the first 8 seconds of frogs. If you could eliminate the electronic sounds and singing I would listen to it.
Loved it when I heard it in my early 20’s and still do in my mid 60’s.
Who would have thought that a bunch of Canadian Civil War reenactors could produce such sublime music? Not only did they do it with this album, but continued for years afterwards
A five album and a five star group.
An intermix of musical styles. A few turned out to be worth listening to.
A few songs were enjoyable but the lyrics were so self absorbed I just wanted to speed through the album.
Self-important rehash of 60’s garage rock.
The squeaking became monotonous and annoying. It started to sound like a smoke detector. Really enjoyed three songs though and the masterful use of recordings.
A lot of the production harkens to the horrible “country-politan” of the 70’s. At this point his best music was behind him. I’d like to hear a stripped down version of these songs because I enjoy his voice and many of his songs.
Overly long. Every point worth making in their political songs was made, cleverly and enjoyably, by the 2 minute mark. The rest made it interminable.
A lot of covers that are so-so musically, but offer a window into their influences. Top notch originals.
The best songs are like a female Bob Dylan, but not in a good way. The rest is some kind of Canadian Hannah Montana slop.
Boring, frenetic, and pointless.
An album in which every song goes on for much too long. Even the short ones.
Like Kenny G,
It’s not for me
Big deal - a girl group with a break out performer. That’s so surprising.
Not actually horrible, but waaay toooo loooong.
The ocean is dynamic and never dull. This guy needs to change his name to stagnant pond to match the quality of these songs.
If a goal of music is to make you feel something, this one succeeds. I felt angry that I wasted my time listening to this boring Panda Express version of quiet and thoughtful songs. Thanks a lot, Dummy.
For the first half of the album with the peppier numbers listen to Jonah Lewie or Devo for this type of music with sensible lyrics. I like the music, but the nursery rhyme lyrics were disappointing.
The second half of the album is best placed in the rubbish bin.
One song on the album is worth listening to more than once - You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
Mick Jagger’s stupid lyrics and lame attempts at country style singing ruin the generally fun instrumental music.
Over produced - especially Deborah Harry’s interesting and pleasant voice.
The best thing that came out of this is the sublime rap group Commodore 64.
The silence between the tracks was welcome relief.
I can’t believe there are at least two Dusty Springfield albums on this list. This one does have a lot of good song writers, just no good music.
A pleasantly voiced musical version of narcolepsy.
A sometimes okay combination of musical styles. The other times it’s pretty unpleasantly cacophonous. It didn’t strike me as particularly original. I heard a lot of similarities from earlier recordings.
Simon’s pleasant voice and the great musicians make this album both relaxing and energizing- oftentimes simultaneously. The combination of the music and his voice allowed me to overlook his obtuse lyrics.
I wish he was a musical dropout.
Great song writers, incredible voices and a sublime group of musicians.
Like so many other early eighties punk influenced bands both musically and lyrically.
For early hard rock I prefer Cream; they earn a three. This is low rent.
I felt tricked. Some songs start off peppy then quickly move into downer mode.
For po music like this the songs are interminable. If they were half as long I’d give it a three.
A Bowie tribute band that sounds better than their honoree.
From this era and genre, I prefer Devo. They are incredibly similar to my ears.
Is this a joke of some kind?
Super poppy. Not horrible. Not wonderful.
7 songs - 40 minutes. One excellent song.
I wept.
From boredom
And pretentious pretendings of depth.
A two for being early influencers of lots of horrible followers . However, there are so many magnificent bands from this era that these guys rate low on the list.
Meh. Heard it all before.
HUGE. The musicianship shines through and makes it possible for these lads to combine multiple genres into new and satisfying songs.
Pleasant Muzak. I could wander unperturbed through places I’d rather not visit with this playing in the background.
Moby seems to never have progressed from the writing lesson: repetition, repetition, repetition. I did enjoy the use of the old Lomax recordings if I was a stoner, and I am not or a meditator and I am not I would listen to this album.
My parents must have listened to this album because I remember hearing these songs. I enjoyed many of them as a little kid and was surprised by the pleasant nostalgic feelings hearing them again brought up. They are silly lyrically, but I did enjoy much of the music and Prima’s gruff vocals.
It sounds like music for very angry people
Zappa was a low rent lyricist and pseudo intellectual.
It made me feel like I worked long hours for low pay in factory that produced lousy music.
It’s troubling to me that people find violence, hedonism, and misogyny so appealing.
Nightmarish - and not in an elucidating way, but rather a painfully miserable way; like being the only kid at a party that the adults love.
Disgusting band name. Great music from three blended genres. This album from Arizona begins to make up for all the moronic stuff that state sends out.
Quite a voice, but also sappy orchestration and lyrics that put me to sleep. Zzz
More boring annoying noise. Too bad, because some of the lyrics are interesting.
I love many Dead studio albums, I’m not a Deadhead though and the extended playing gets boring for me
I feel like bombing a church
Now that I know that the preacher is lying
Just this lyric is worth a 5, but the album is a beautiful piece of art beyond those deeply moving lyrics that are relevant beyond the idea of religious fallacies. A classic.
He sounds like the kinds of guy who believes that he is the smartest guy in the room, is bummed about nearly everything, and has disdain for a lot of people. Even though, that describes me a lot of the time, I found this album boring and depressing. Go figure?
Wow! There’s probably something for every pop loving listener on this album. Very impressive for its fine imitation of various pop genres.
For me, two songs were enjoyable. The rest was too cacophonous.
What a musical and political treat!! First suggestion of a band I’d never heard of that was worth listening to. More like these please.
A British Dylan and countrified Ray Davies. Sometimes very pleasant.
Everything they did was original and beautiful.
The birth of the swaggering sports arena drek.
Boring enough to put me to sleep, but annoying enough to keep me awake.
Like the worst acting from the 1920’s - 1950’s, but its music so it only assails one sense.
What’s more boring than a night at the opera?
This album.
I knew the one song from this album and liked it. Now I’ve found out I enjoy nearly the entire album. Extremely peppy and interesting pop music.
An example of when the crew should have gone down with the ship.
Never listened to her. However, it seems like every time I walk through a mall I hear this type of music coming out of tween clothing store. I think that’s where this music belongs.
Nothing to see hear. Keep on moving
The first half sounds like a low-go attempt taken over by a Bowie acolyte. The rest just sounds like Bowie. I did enjoy one song.
An easy listening album worth listening to. I was pleasantly surprised by the eclectic nature of these tracks. My Aunt Anna was his kindergarten teacher in Hawthorne, CA. She would be proud.
Her take on soul inspired country - Here I Am - is a stand out. I appreciate the stripped down instrumentation, for a 70’s country record. Although the tremulous voice is not my favorite, she isn’t breathy, so the effect isn’t as disturbing.
Not memorable other than it’s his last album before his untimely death.
For soulful groups I prefer the Persuasions, but the funky selections where the band shines are fantastic.
Some great songs. The standout is Dead End Street. Better than anything coming out of the British Invasion
Pleasant when they are in a slow groove, but once they speed up she’s overwrought.
Wish I could have been there to see it.
Claptonesque. In other words, an uninteresting and artificial attempt to be soulful.
Don’t like these old standards, but her voice and the orchestra are so sublime I actually liked quite a bit of this very long collection.
Great lo-fi, great lyrics, and Neil’s superb voice.
So much to trudge through until there are moments of pleasure. Moments, because soon you are trudging through drudgery again.
Love Roger McGuinn’s 12 string Rickenbacker and Gene Clark’s vocals
Descendants of Spinal Tap, but with nary a whiff of irony.
I guess some songs are compelling when you first heard them, but then you hear the original recordings and Presley’s version are no big deal.
Reminds me of an amalgam of cheesy Christmas music and Celtic Muzak.
Whispery vocals and drum machines.
Boring music, so- so lyrics, beautiful voice.
Janice Hendrix meets Jimmy Joplin
The painting, the title of this album is based on is immeasurably better than the music
An album of covers played at increased speed with a rough vocals
Initially, it was funny, but then became boring. They sound like they’re joking.
I’m embarrassed that I listened to this. What will it do to my Spotify algorithm?
What an odd title. Not my preferred style of his music. Great voice but the over the top orchestration ruins it.
I wouldn’t miss it if there was no electronic music.
Pleasant voice, boring, music, and insipid lyrics. Did she ever sing anything of meaning?
Interesting mix of styles.
In the mid 70’s these guys and their girlfriends moved into a house directly above my cousins’ vacation cabin. They would cut through the property to swim on the Yuba river. My cousins said they were super chill. Five for being nice to my family. One for the music.
Two great songs. Two okay songs. The rest was boring to me.
Vocal acrobatics left me cold.
Two great soul numbers but the rest is easy listening crap.
Liked many lyrics but not the music.
Navel gazing with a primitive beat.
I get he’s an icon and musically important. However, there’s nothing here for me.
If you can make it through the cacophonous banging on some of the songs, you will be rewarded.
Sounds very well calculated.
Anything that hadn’t been done before should have stayed that way. The stuff that had been done before was never improved on.
So mellow it was like an acute case of narcolepsy.
I enjoyed it as background music.
The city of Boston needs to apologize for this drek.
Utterly enjoyable. An album with voice, music and lyrics that are sublime.
While the instruments aren’t awful the singer sounds like a deep-voiced angry toddler petulant, irrational, and self-centered beyond all reason.
Lots of influences present on this album. Liked much of the music and the singer’s voice and lyrics.
Genius. Deserves 100 stars.
Mumbled and melodramatic delivery of so-so songs of working class troubles. Very few bright spots on this edge of town.
Too many changes within a song for me.
If he wasn’t dead, already this version of Cold Cold heart would have killed Hank. The rest of the album nearly killed me.
77 minutes of trying not to fall asleep.
Hundreds of albums from this era that sound similar. Thank the music gods for that.
Soulless. Should change their name to Cold and Calculating.
His weird plaintive warble is spot on in these songs.
Mellow/peppy mall music. I can hear it and not be bothered - maybe even bob my head along. But once you’ve left the mall there is nothing left.
Love the music of the groups that influenced them as well as those they influenced. Sweet, dark, and funny lyrics. Just like real life.
I can hear it and not hate it. 3
Rehash of musical styles I hate.
Soulfully played by the great musicians of Stax Recording Studios and masterfully sung by the great ‘Big O.’
Little girl voice. Dumb lyrics.
The Buzzcocks are clever. These guys not so much.
Her voice destroys these wonderful songs for me. Give me Hazel Dickens anytime.
I don’t appreciate a horn or horns in the forefront. For me this was jangling my nerves until the horns with lower notes took over, but that was usually fleeting.
I didn’t know he wrote and performed so many songs I can’t stand. Save for one song this was painful.
Never get tired of the Celtic Godfather of Soul’s singing and music. Too bad he went insane during Covid.
I prefer Commodore 64 for my nerdcore listening pleasure.
