R.E.M. go major label with a glossier result, but the same underlying songwriting strengths and idiosyncratic lyrics. Standouts are ‘World Leader Pretend’ and ‘Orange Crush’
Although I am familiar with The Cars and Jonathan Richmond, this was totally new to me and I can see why it is revered - a bunch of demos from 1972 which sounds years ahead of most other rock from the era. It's not completely to my tastes but I thought the lyrics were funny and the production was very punchy.
This is really authentic sounding, very raw, although Tom occassionally sounds like he's forcing a particularly challenging stool.
Never heard this before other than "Born to Run". When I was younger I would've hated it, would've felt it was a bit too much 'meat and potatoes', but I can see how influential it is to bands I like such as Arcade Fire and War on Drugs. You get the feeling that he really means it, or has experienced what he's singing about. There are lots of tracks on it I like more than the one I knew, just hearing them for the first time, such as "Meeting Across The River".
I have heard this before when it was released, but didn't have a copy. I always liked "Summer Babe" but didn't really know the rest of the album. It's got a great frazzled atmosphere throughout, but with a sweet underbelly. The vocals are never quite completely in tune (and neither are the guitars), but this adds to the charm which was somehow missing later on in their careers.
I went for the US version as it was shorter and had "Paint it Black" on it, which was the only song title I recognised. I've never liked The Rolling Stones, and I still don't after listening to this album. They seem like relics from a bygone era, too hard to relate to. PIB is a tune though, and I realised I also knew "I Am Waiting" from the film Rushmore, which is also a nice tune. More of the rest just sounds like fairly ordinary rhythm and blues to me though.
R.E.M. go major label with a glossier result, but the same underlying songwriting strengths and idiosyncratic lyrics. Standouts are ‘World Leader Pretend’ and ‘Orange Crush’
Feels oddly lounge jazz in parts and not really a fan of his vocal style, but it is at least distinctive
Never listened to Hawkwind before, and I suspect this isn't a good place to start. I quite like the hypnotic repetition in some of the tracks, but the muddy sound doesn't help. Finally, the spoken word tracks are terrible, sounds like a Spinal Tap sequence spoof.
This was like the soundtrack to a gritty 70s thriller about a cop who doesn’t play by the rules. That’s a compliment.