This isn’t a perfect album but there’s no reason not to give it five stars. JDB is absolutely on fire here and what a comeback for the band as they mourn Richey’s disappearance.
Rock n roll, attitude. Amazing vocals, before even looking up any details about this album you can hear this is the band we all know and love in absolute peak form. Also for the 70s (in fairness I don't listen to loads of live stuff from that decade) this sounds incredible for a live recording, the bass is punchy and crisp, the drums are overpowering (that's Keith Moon for you I guess) and the vocals are soaring and pitch perfect. The Who are by a long way, not my favourite band, and so I’ve not actively sought out their whole discography. Obviously records like Tommy and Who’s Next are hard to avoid but I find it hard to love aside from a few tracks. This album is different. Live, the band really show that live bands in this era, and the Who in particular had something very special. There’s not loads of flashy showmanship, but it’s loud, tight, fun and very entertaining.
The fun realisation I know one of the songs on this record, and never knew it was Def Leppard. Nothing else really stands out to me. Over the top, guitar riffs, synths, squawky vocals, drowning in reverb. Could be Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, etc, could be any other 80s glam rock band. The most interesting thing here are the “sample” and found sounds on the outro of Gods of War, but I don’t think it’s in service of much really.
A strange recording for many reasons, not least because a band at the height of the powers would play a live set mainly made of covers, rather than their hits. This is the most R.E.M. Nirvana ever sounded and the most Eddie Vedder Kurt Cobain ever sounded. Potential echoes of a sound they never got to explore. However, a stripped back setting is not really what we go to Nirvana for; we want rock. The set takes a bit of time to get going and it’s actually the covers; where you can hear Kurt straining or struggle or be a bit embarrassed, which really shine in this performance.
Production and musicianship is on a high level, but the general song writing lets this album fall from a 4 to a 3
This isn’t a perfect album but there’s no reason not to give it five stars. JDB is absolutely on fire here and what a comeback for the band as they mourn Richey’s disappearance.
Two stars for song writing and musicianship which is there but the aggressive mixing of stereo separation and panning effects is hard to get on board with.
Nice enough, in parts sounds great but not hugely memorable.
Superfly by Curtis Mayfield A new one for me. Immediately compared it to What’s Going On and on first listen I felt it was far inferior. I still think it the lesser album but there’s plenty of brilliance here, even if some of the tracks feel like one or two ideas repeated. The percussion and brass and strings and the mixing of all that sound is a real highlight.
Rocks by Aerosmith When Aerosmith were good.
To release on of your best albums as your first album is pretty astonishing.
Ugh wanted to like it but it found me on a day when I just felt it was grating.
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis It’s the best selling jazz album of all time for a reason. The sound of the recording is incredible, the playing is so good. Not to mention it’s a groundbreaking moment in jazz and the history of Miles, Coltrane, Evans etc. if there’s any criticism of this album it’s heavy on the balladry but there’s enough ferocity and exploration from Coltranes solos to make up for that for me.
In The Court of The Crimson King, by King Crimson
In various times, I've really enjoyed this album, however on this listen the one-note-ness of it all really came forward.
Snore
Shades of Bowie, in places shades of Pink Floyd, too. But there's nothing outstanding about this album, it's nice enough.
I wish more music sounded like this, but then it wouldn't be Stevie special would it?