Contract on the world. Mello intro. Odd? Brothers gonna work it out. Chuck D such a strong clear voice. Overall not sure this goes anywhere. Bit long and like the slightly home recording feel of the vocals when Flava sings. 911’s a joke. Funky. Great track. Flava surprisingly lyrical/melodic. Incident at 66.6fm. Warmed up for the Beasties….had gentlemen in cages with uzi. Gold. Hilarious track. Welcome to the terrordome. High tension from the get go. Something about it at the end it kind if fades into background music for me. Maybe heard it so many times. Meet the G that killed me. Cool title. Odd short track. Pollywanacraka. Rap version of ASMR? Anti-Nword Machine. Is a positive-sampling machine. Takes ages to open. Was this composed as a walk out song? Burn Hollywood. Good track. Power to the people. They are aurprisingly techno or at least more than i remember. Not sure i like the speaker ping ponging of Flava at the end. Who stole the soul. Who stole the techno more like it ammiright? Fear of a black planet. Classic. Beats. Samples. Spitting fire. Revilutionary generation. Nice intro. I like it a lot too much though I think it is a bit of a bit of a stretch to to be honest with you and I think it is is a bit more of a stretch for me to be honest with you and I don’t think I I think I would be be able to do that but I think I will will be able to to be able to get get a better understanding of what the situation is and what the situation is is and and I think I can do a lot of things better than I can do with the other people and I think that I think that I can do it it just depends on the situation and and I don’t think I think I can do do you know what I think I can do that I think I think that would be a lot of of the things that I think I I think I don’t think that would be the best thing to do it just depends depends on what I think it’s just a a lot of things like that I think think about it is I think it’s a lot lot of people are very different than what I think I I don’t know I think I think I think I just don’t know I don’t know but I think I don’t know I’m just saying saying that I don’t know what to do with my life and I don’t know know what what I don’t know how to do with it I don’t know how I can do it I don’t don’t know how how to do it I I don’t know how much I can do with it but I don’t know Cant do nuttin for you man. Another melodic flava track. I find his voice annoying but his tracks are wuite singsongy and i like the juxtaposition with spitting fire type rap. Reggie Jax. Nice track. Forgot about this. Cool groove. Funky, laid back. Has big Eric B and Rakim feel for me. Leave this off your fucking charts. Track for the b-boys? B side wins again. Nice ahout out foe the b side. I think the title and military styling made me forget this is the album if a dancey party band. Serious message but dancey party band. Not too much distance between this and ‘well the hip to the hop’. War at 33 1/3. One for the carpenters. The circ saw zipping from ear to ear was a bit annoying. Otherwise good track. Final count of the collision etc. odd. Fight the power. Funky. Great track. Solid closer.

Rikki Dont Lose that number. Marimba at the beginning? Id forgottwn about it. What is it. Like an album overture - hey everyone come in and sit down, the album is about to start. Mariba over i love the intro to this. Bam bum bum. Bam bum bum. Simple, clean, bit most of all beautiful tone then into the melody. Love the drums over all on this song. The overall groove is so laid back, deceptively casual, but the the drum fills crack and so precise. I bet they ALWAYS use a click track. Such a nice mix if constraint (guitar, drums) and passion (piano) to bring texture. Night by night. Synchopation (?) of the organ gives this such a funk feel. A few wackachicka guitars over this wouldnt be out of place. But there’s a real rock feel to the lead. Can imagine a Dread Zep cover of this. Any major dude will tell. How do they get that close your in the recording booth with them, but back of the hall feel to this? Drums different feel in this song. Very sparse on the fills, toms not as prominent in the mix. Feels less driven, more relaxed. Barrytown. These lyrics make a song whose time has come again! Can imagine this as a song in a musical. Something odd about the notes in thw guitar at the outro bit. Slightly flat maybe (almost a beep boop computer type feel) leading into a country vibe riff (which fits the song). East St Louise. Intermission? Off you go. Have a toilet break. The record will recommence shortly. Its fine an all but id like my ragtime(?new orleans jazz?) with a little less click track. A bit dirtier. Parkers band. Lovely guitar in the early part, around and playing. It gave me the bit of dirty i was missing the previous track. Through with buzz. Orchestral! Theres quite a mix of styles on this album but it remains very much a Dan sound. Pretzel Logic. Another sweet groove to this song, almost a blues groove to the bass in this. I like the Dan songs with a funk or swing or groove to them like this the best i think. I think it is the balance against the metronome feel and shows their craft well. Guitar bit at end sounded like they didnt know how to end it. With a gun. Great track. I could never sing this (yes cant sing at the beat of times, but the key changes, slides up and down - it rarely seems to rest on a note long before hitting another). Charlie Freak. Another favorite om this album. Love the kind of walking bass lines through this, the tick tock feel, the layering of violin??? Bringing in the intensity. Dark lyrics. Beautifully crafted. Monkey in your soul. The dirty bass!!! Such a good sound. Another great groove, bright horns, the guitar solo - reminds me of aomwthing but cant think what. Quick listen - as in not a drag to listen to. They dont fuck around (apart from that intro and intermission. Not much out of olace or wasted anywhere on this album.

The Golden Age. If you use some country inspired slide from the get go i am going to be favorable. This os going to be an album about love and loss which auits my mood of late. Otherwise meh song. Paper tiger. He sounds like he cant be arsed when he sings, like he cant be fucked opening his mouth too far. Otherwise quite nice this song. Like the bass lines. Guess im doing fine. Didnt realise he was so alt country. Lonesome tears. Very lofi feel. A little Air Moon Safari about this. Lost cause. Its growing on me this album. I think in the right mood it is one to let wash over you. He cant be fucked oepning his mouth cause hes just exhausted by this relationship hea in or has been in. End if the day. If youre onto a good thing stick to it. More of the same really. Its all in your mind. Round the bend. Already dead. I dont hate those album. I quite enjoy the meloncholy. It moves through stages of growf almost. Not sure id listen to it again and agaim. Sunday sun. There’s something almost Brian Wilsony about this, combines with the Beatles wall of sound. Theres a bit going on here. Really like this. Little one. The most Beck-like track so far. Side of the road. Im not very familiar with Beck and his catelogue. This isnt what i would have expected going into it. That isnits not what i thought a beck album would be (all samples and whacky instruments arranged to a pop sensibility, apmost post-punk pop but with an alt pretenscious twist - maybe i’m off the mark with him? ) so for that i am pleaseamtly surprised. Songs are pretty stripped back and the players fairly solid (likely better than Beck in the musicianship stakes). I maybe let my bias against Beck coloyr my view with comments like ‘meh’. Its probably not wrong on a certain track by track level but i after listening read he didnt release any somgs from this as singles, forcing people to take it as a whole and i think thats right and something noteworthy in it’s foresight im amd of itswlf. I suspect if i listemed to this over and iver it would grow on me. I like that and might gove it more of a go even if to listen to aomw great musicianship from the back band. This person clearly didnt have the album grow on them. http://analogue.io/essays/unpopular-opinions-beck

Down to Zero. Never heard this album before. Nice drum sound. Really pop with a warmth. Beautiful steel as well. Great rhythm and timing in her singing. Help yourself. This turned funcky a minute or so in! Water with the wine. Enjoyed this in a musical, tell a story type of way. Love and affection. Save me. Im not clicking with this album. Not terrible but not one ill come back to again and again. Maybe a couple of tracks. Join the boys. This is one i might come back to. Would be a great live song i reckon. People. Nice organ solo in this followed by a guitar solo with a great sound. Somebody who loves you. OK. Like fire. Nice groove to the guitar. Nice laid back feel buy not aure it goes anywhere for me. Tall in the saddle. Dont mind this. Not a fan of the guitar solo in- a bit lackimg texture/all yhe aame volume. Something about her voice. She is a good singer, has good range, some interesting tremello other probably quite difficult and technical bits but at times her voice sounds a bit all in the mouth. I dont know her ao well. Maybe she was ne er known as a singer but more of a composer or arranger? There’s some good variety in terms of what she does with her voice and its not over the top lile a guy sebastian type ‘hey i can sing’ so it maoes sense from that POV.

Its alright. Kind of Joni Mitchell-esque in quite a few places which made me wonder why i should just be listening to Joni Mitchell.

This app os shiting me now. I entwr notes and then come back or rate and the old notes appear. Anyways. Nwver heard of this guy before. Album started with a jazzy instrumwntal that had mw wondering whethwr it would be an easy listening album, a lofi west coast hip hop album. Second track opened with a singer aounding like Michael Jackson. It aettled into a funky r&b rhythm. Was thinking there are aome great individual parts that i really like, like the bass on sumthin sumthin, some nice lercussion but oftwn suspet its a sample or drum track. Probably not an album id come back to again amd again but might dip into for funk or r&b type ideas if i were a muso, but overall not aomething i would generally go for. Theres some hilarious bits like til the cops come knocking - gonna take you intk the room, lock you up and love for days, we’re gonna be rocking baby, til the cops come knocking…. I think this album was written almost as a romance movie soundtrack, the insteumwntal titlw track, boy meets girl, dance in club, bang, break up, reunite, guy proposes, closing credots outro music. If you could give half stars i might gove this 2.5 for the concept. But this app wont allow so 2.

Know the name but not familiar with this album or any of this persons songs i suspect. Great second track name. Come on feel the illiniose nice quirky pop with some unexpected melody to it. Like it. Some teally nice elements to this. The trumpets, the picolo like sound with melody weaving through over amd ovwr driving it forward. Haunting little balad ditty about John Wayne Gacy. Know fuck all about Gacy but aonf suggests a mindane normalcy. Serial killers - they are just like everyone else. Like Jacksonville. Nice melodic guitar and banjo layering. I am partial to a plink plunk banjo. Decatur a little hokey. Theres clearly somwthing personal about this tecord or at least this aong and the next odd intwrlude. Its about hating hia stepmom? Then applauding her by way of apology or sarcastically or maybe pullman is someone else entirely. Its a bit annoying to have to guess at something youre clearly never going to comprehend without reading interviews with him or something. You can of course apprwciate just musically but not aure there is enough in this one to dine on musically. And the following one there is no music. But your not in on thw joke. Same to a degree woth Casimir. Noce painting of a pictuee of youth, love, etc but cleqrly apecific to his upbringing. No cliches, etc. but whag the fuck does Casimir have to do with it? Given some of thw titles i guess you’re never meant to know. Another. I imagine the workera of Rock River Valley have no fu king idea what to do with this. Maybe i just need to ignore the titles. Theres a lot of them. Ill get the humo if i keep getting hung up on them. Its kind of anni teospectove solo indulgence album. Cant imagine taking a mate who has no idea od this album to a gig whete thia is played in full and he or she cold gets right into it. Or am i projecting my own insecurity? Predatory wasp brpught a smile to my face but i was pissed wandering around Hong Kong trying to find my favorite bar. Sode bar (pun intended) my favorite bar in HK is Tai Lung Fung. Its in Wan Chai. There are 3 dostinct areas im Wan chai and they follow the sin amd moon but dont. Thwres the corporate business latt mear the water which os obviously morning to afternoon. Thwre’s a an artist’s hipstwr community up towarda the hills which kicks off around 4/5 and goes through to juat after midnight. And there is the sleazy hookera on thw street and Filipino bars part in the middle that comea to life 9-10 onward to dawn. Tai Lung Fung is in the hipster part. It has the worst music playing generally (typing this now and Redfoo is singing Party Rock) but it also has a realness and sense of community that id live if i lived in HK. I got no arts ly skills to impress here to be fair. They are the night zombies. There’s a bit of hot chocolate to this. Love it. There’s a whole set of lyrics snuck in at the beginning without evwn realising its there. Thought thw vocals were strings. Can you bring this tension, considered layering to a balls out rock song? Tommy? I really like this album but cant but wonder if it is a bit chat gpt. It sounds deep, must be. Apart from the over all composition, which i dont think should be dismissed, there is no amazing musical feats. I LOVE the trumpet through this. It remindaemof the clash Nd Billy Bragg. But ots no Miles Davis effort. The basa is severwly lacking for me. Its there, but nothing about it grabse, shakes the shit out of me and says ‘rhythm section’. Not surprisingly drums the same. Could be a sample all the way through. But i love the play, the wimay, the thought put into thw composition. For fuck’s sake there’s more than one track with a melodica no! How do you get there? How do you get from recording uour vocals and guitar, piano, whatever, to conceptualising an album like this? I looked at the number of tracks and thought FFS thos os going to be a fucking effort but came out at the end admiring the effort put in. Got a bit self indulgent at out of egypt. Stage. Followed by a remix. Why not just cut it short. Call it a day. Fuck this is hard work. The remix of chicago is stripped back so the lyrics become the focus and they are just inaccessible for me. You drove to Chicago, slept in a vam, with a friend. Othing eartj shatterimg. Maybe because Chicago doesnt involw the same feeling in me as US people. Then Aus bands that seem to stirost dont connect for me - Aus Crawl, Angels. I’ve rambled a little in this review. Will need to listem again and consolidate. Chat gpt will see me right. Really like it but listened in short bursts. Its bloddy long. I suspect if i listened all at once and keeping in mind its a solitary listen, i wouldnt get the same out of it. Driving in my car to the supermarket, kids saying what the fuck is this shit, it would just hit differently. Gonna give it 3, feels like 4. Will need to relisten.

Havent listened to this in full since year 12! So very 80s in some ways but also wouldnt aurprise me if released today. That is quite remarkable i guess You are the everything was my favorite on this. Listening to it now it’s very busy. When do they take breaths. No pauses. Stand on the other hand is still all go no pauses but seems to swell and retreat, or pick itself up build on the melody and resolve on a satisfying note which must be the same as the start of the melody? Michael Stipe has a kind of grating whiny voice. Was trying to work out the backing vocals and what was bugging me about it. I think it is Stipe singing his own backing vocals. Then the last song it aounds like others singing. So ita a clear choice as opposed to others in the band not being able to sing. Wonder how they deal with that live, another band member of course. Like The Wrong Child is all layered vocals. Never thought about it before but there arent a lot of words to orange crush. Without the overdub of army chamts, helicoptor you mivht not know what thw hell the song is about. Like if you dubbed sounds of a fun fair, drinks pouring, kids laughing, you might assume orange crush is a drink and its about moving from childhood to adolesence. Its uptempo dancey beat was always gonna make this the hit of the album i suspect. Its a fine alt pop all guitar noise all the time (interspersed with introspective mandolin). The bass is pretty busy on a lot of this- as in it doeant anchor the ryt section along with thw drums, but sets the melody, wanders a lot. I assume the other albums are the same. Probably made it a better album or them a better band. As much as i bitch about Stipes vocals, they teally are part of the sound that defines REM. I often rate guitarists based on how recognisable their playing is. Clapton, for example, might be derivative, but you know whennits Clapton playing. Thats a level of musicianship not every musician indivisually can attain. So on that basis i should call Stile a great singer. Maybe it is the mix i should fault here. I should listen to other albums around this. I suspect they are just as solid in the alt pop context. New rating criteria for me. 2 stars means a good album. Its the best 1001 albums so everything will end up 3 or 4 stars for the main part.

Another completely new one for me. Quite Beatles-esque. Nice and rocky in parts. Prefer the rocky tracks over the beatles-like piano ballads. Not a fan of the drum sound in this. They are lacklustre, flat, a bit muffled. Shame cause theres some nice drumming on this the fills/rolls (?) on everything means nothing to me are interesting for example. Its a good album. I’d add individual tracks into my playlist not rhe whole album - Son of sam, LA,

Do i like Dusty Springfield or do i like the best of dusty springfield. I suspect ill know after this album. I like Dusty, or maybe i like the producer. I imagine that person had a big input into this debut album. Its just good pop, solid backing band who dont stand out, dont shy back when needed, just do their job. Her voice is powerful but she uses it well, bits of light and shade, conveys emotions and feelings. Not all bangers like Anyone Who Had A Heart, but quite. Few of them are and while hou’ve probably heard othwr versions of many of these, hers are recognisable. The question for me on the rating comes down to how much does it add to the sum of knowledge of music. Not her songs (at least 1 Burt Bacharach song here i think) and arguably along with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Clapton, another example if a British muso stealing American music, repackaging and selling to the masses. I supose thats what happens when you dont have the internet. Still a three star effort i think.

No idea who this is. Lets see how we go. From the opener, sounds german and industrial. If it is like this the whole way i might struggle. Track 5 of 23 and yeah can confirm, this seems to to be it. Perhaps in 1981 it was pretty revolutionary, but Zappa played a bicycle on TV in 63 with more style than this. The Birthday Party shouted in a similar style sometime through the 70’s. Was it really that revolutionary? Early techno? Surely not. Electronic music has been around much longer, at least the 1920’s (theremin anyone). Jet’m best track for vague recognisability? Is the joke on me and these are all covers and i just am not musical enough to recognise them? Highly possible. Title track my favorite so far, if i had to pick one. I broke one if my rules and looked up the band before finishing the record. Ive been trying to get my own thoughts down before seeking validation or ideas elsewhere. Anyway i’m a bit bored by this and thought id look them up to see what might have been revolutionary about this first album. My poor attention span didnt het past the firat fact I saw, the singer is Blixa Bargeld. Apparently The Borthday Party saw him on TV on Germany shouting like them and he ended ip a fou di g member of the bad seeds. On his wiki theres a quote about this band where he essentially says he couldnt afford drums, piano, etc but he wanted to make music. That i can celebrate and admire. The album is not for me but more power to him for having the courage and inventiveness. The end tracks atart to be quite hypnotic African tribal drum like but if i wanted that i’d listen to the much more enthralling early 70’s album Niagara by the band Niagara (also German origins).

Getz & Gilberto. Great combo and featuring Jobim as if the other two werent enough! Short album. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Gilberto’s singing. So cool calm and seemingly effortless. Its so intimate, like hes just talking to you. Not on this album but his S’Wonderful is a great example of this. Cross Getz’s jazz sensibbities and emotive/breathy sax, with Gilberto’s strong easy singing tone over gently plucked guitar, Astrud Gilberto chipping in with vocals that are almost the human equivalent of Getz’s sax sound, Jobim the father of bossanova composing most somhs and putting in some meloncholic and thoughtful piano (O Grande Amor), its truly a supergroup. But unlike a supergroup like, say Cream, there doeant seem to be a battle of egos going on here.

Apart from probably knowing a few songs on this ive not ever listened to this album in full. 3 songs in and i know each song well so far. The A side was clearly popular. Lots of radio play for this album perhaps. Did Australia Crawl steal this album’s schtick? Sounds like it to me and unfortunately, for me, like Aus Crawl, I find this a bit laborious and one dimensional (even if they do use elements of rock mixed with regae feel, operative choruses, etc). it feels a little on auto, one level, no shades. Ocasek’s singing doesnt help - its really back of the throat and i keep waiting for him to get a tickle he cant ignore and cough. Very distracting. Hes not a conventional singer and that can really work but i find it distracting here. It might bw the mix, they are pretty prevelant in the mix and everything else seems toned down. Could be listening on Apple and airpods. The guitar solo on you’re all ive got, for example, is at the same level as the rythm guitar. The whole album is a bit the same levelish. The whole album is not quite enough for me - not quite enough rock, not quite enough funky grrove, not enough prog rock, etc.

Some bands/albums/songs get superglued to momenta in your life. Kings of Leon will always make me think of their song Sex On Fire which my junkie neighbour played on repeat at full volume day after day for a couple of summers. The house was a junkie party house, fights and acreaming were an everyday occurance, our house was broken into multiple times (no evidemce it was them mind), i felt sorry for the kids (theirs and ours), the junkie ended up moving out and got stabbed to death by a dealer years later. On to this album. Track 1, dont hate it. Not earth shattering but reasonable rock’n’roll informed power pop. Bit more rockabilly than Jet but similar concept. Probably quite a fun live band. They are a bit of a modern AC DC in terms of the Bon Scott sounding singer, the pure rock/blues roots of the music and the lyrics if songs like Spiral Staircase being quite whole lotta rosy-ish. Was thinking i’d hate this but its pretty straight rock with a bit of swagger and i dont mind it. Compared to the last album i listemed to on here (the cars the cars) ita a good example of why that album was also straight rock, mixed with pop, with whatever, but was just meh. This at least has a bit of grunt and energy. Would listen to several of these tracks again. I suspect they changed their direction later, dropping the country rockabilly pop punk for a sound that sounded more ‘stadium’ - use somebody, sex on fire. Got to remind myself that even junkies have taste, just very very specific and relentless taste.

For the love of god, why? Were Metallica like ‘Why aren’t any of our songs ever used on a James Bond or Mission Impossible soundtrack?’ That’s the feel of the orchestral stuff. Well rehearsed band meets well rehearsed orchestra. Not sure i can do the 2+ hours that this requires. Honestly, of all the Metallica albums, this is in the 1001 best? Maybe the dude is a Metallica fan and all of the albums are on here, even St Anger. In fact, to continue down that line of thought, this album and St Anger point to Metallica just wanting to fit in - why are we never accepted by the classical crowd? Why arent we accepted by the nu metal crowd?

Cant say i lostemed to yhis very hard. Was too busy running around to pay attention. Its New Order. A bit more eefined than earlier in the 80’s. Bice enough album. Not likely on high rotation for mw bit reminder of the late 80’s sound.

This one’s goinna be difficult. I have a love hate relationship with Nick Cave’s music. It might stem from a time when i was a much younger man and my then GF loved Nick Cave. We’d booked a holiday together and she broke it off just before we were due to go. Stupidly we decided to continue the holiday. Fuck onows ehy she thought it would be a good idea. I think i was hoping we could reignite the flame while away. Anyeay, in a pub across from the Vic market, getting on it with some Melb mates, Nick Cave turns up, just drinking, not performing. She had puppy dog eyes for him all night and I seethed with jealousy at a man who probably didnt even look at her all night. Some time later, at the end of the trip when i was moaning about not getting back together, probably saying how heartless she was, she pointwd out that she had not gone home woth Nick Cave ao couldnt in fact be all that heartless. The ego staggered me and i may have had a chip on my shoulder about the king of private school goth punk Melbournr ever since. Anyway, i also cant decide if veing a shit ainger makes Nick Cave shit or it just fits the music and expression perfectly. I think the latter. I also struggle with the idea that a white boy average muso gets famous off the back of black musicians, often not even all that obscure. I saw a doco on Nick Cave once where he spoke about having a curator or librarian who looked after his musiccatelogue and i thought really would be better preserving aome of the original rwcordings he’s covered, the musi’s he’s ripped from in a fine tradition that stretches back forever. But thats a bit u fair to Nick and the Bad Seeds. Hes written plenty of iriginal materials. All in all this album rocks pretty hard compared to aome of rhe more cloying albums like Tender Prey or Henry’s Dream, etc. it displays a bit more range than other albums while still being Nick Cave. Listening to My Beautiful World i think its unfair to say Nick is a poor singer. I am a poor singer. He’s not always on note, but he’s got melody, he folles i tervals, he’s consistent in his flaws. Perfect ainging and the music might be boring as shit. His voice is distinctive, full of passion and feeling. The man can emote, which plenty of singers lack. And them you get a track like Abattoir Blues. Why bother. Is this like a Nick Cave rap? And the final 2 of the first disc. Maybe he cant sing on slower ballad like songs with littlw backing instruments, the voice gets exposed. He’s better in the higher register. Maybe he’s just singing in the wrong key all the time. There’s also some weird every syllable enunciated to one count type thimg going on in a couple of the songs towards the end of disk 1. Liked it for the first 5 or 6 songs. Second disk is a bit more familiar melancholic drone i would expect.

Bit rough to rate this. I listened with it as background muaic on a car trip so tough to give a proper listen. As background muaic, it was a bit same same.

Its an album with an incredoble range of emotional expression and great musical ability. I’ll listen to this again amd again, but prefer Songs in the Key of.

I dodnt get through all of disk 1. Not a big SP fan. Dont hate them, just dont listen to them. And so with this, not a terrible album but not a great one for me. There are aspects i like - thw drummer is great, and aspect i think meh - the sound they have seems quite formulaic in some way. I probably ahould finiah this at some point though. Two stars for a good album, not a terrible album but not a great album.

As a Zappa fan i am likely biased. Love this debut album. It is like it spans decades - from 50’s doowop shebop tupe aomgs, theough 60’s psychedelia (with a dose of loathing for the hippies), to standard Zappa tropes. Its a well balanced album compared to some if his and not too much of the long experimental stuff that can grate on me a bit.

Some steady hands on this album. A Bad Company cover band would sound, well like Bad Company. Some great moments, love the groove in the bass on Ready for Love, the rythm section of the band in general are superb, tight, have feeling, provide good backbine. But does that make this a greatest album? Not sure. Good album for sure, maybe great in parts, an album you must hear before you die? Maybe not. Some superb musicians from other noted bands formed BC. The reault for me is the zenith of classic rock. It is likely people onow a few songs of theirs without knowing who the band is. Shame because there’s some nice playing on here, but its a bit background rock s an overall album. Will pick tracks and play on high rotation - Ready for Love, Bad Company.

Never listened to this before but know a few of the tracks as covered by others and Randy’s versions. This is a great album. It would be easy to be cynical about the whitest of white boys who grea ip in LA playing and singing like a creole New Orleans jazz player but Randy’s songs are great, the lyrics are thoughtful but nover stateed or heavyhanded, the compositions simple but emotive, the backing band super (not just the trad jazz bomp bomp and horns but also some beautiful percussion on Last night I Had a Dream, slide guitar on the same and you can leave your hat on). I bet Randy writes somgs like a chicken lays eggs, they just drop out of him naturally. Thats what it sounds like anyway. This album caused me to go look to his later stuff and he has albums apart from film scores (and there are plenty of those). great album that can make someone want more.

This is a band i inow of but dont know well (beyond a few tracks). All i hear os people banging on about Neil Pert being the greatest drummer ever and I wonder if he is the non-musicians idea of what a good drummer is and whether i will find him too busy? I guess i am about to find out. Lets go. The opening title track name itself makes me think ‘concept album, only 6 tracks but 40 minutes long, ling tracks, this is going to be hard work’. Nice guitar sound. Annoying timing (i blame the drummmer) and yes he is too busy. Drums are beautifully miked. Recording very even though ive not heard the singer even 3 minutes in tk the first track. Vocals at 4.5 minutes in and boy I have to thank them for inspiring Spinal Tap. The second aong that’s in the first song about 12 minutes in isnt bad. The whateverth song 15 minutes in is back to pure Tap. Not a fan of the bass sound in theis recording - too muddy and in the background. Could be my airpods or itunes shitty compression. Lessons and Something for nothing were OK. The rest lack a bit flow for me. Too many fills, breaks, pauses, etc. good players for sure, just trying to ahow it too much maybe? After this i went to the lastest album on itunes which was 2012 Clockwork Angels. Firat song, Caravan, great. Less stops, starts, 50 tom fills, etc. they’d leaned into grunge and hard rock a bit more than prog, it rocked. So this album, must listen before you die? Two stars for me.

If you see my other reviews you know i like a band who can hit a groove so this album is going to hit the spot no doubt. James is great. Not a classically amazing singer i dont think but decent range, super soul and emotion. But it is the band that really make this. So together. So much shade and light. Amazing. Nevwr been to the Apollo but assume its a big venue no? If so this recording and the band manage to make it sound very intimate.

I resisted writing before even listening what i was likely to think. Its got trills, its got runs, it’s got high notes. What’s not to like? Moat of it. Third track in and i am not sure it will hold my interest enough. She can sing undeniably. But there’s a karaoke quality to the songs - cue minimised backing track, go belt your heart out. It aounds like acapella with a click track.

I want to hate The Smiths but I can’t. This is a great album that i didnt pay much attention to back in the day so it is a pleasant surprise. Morrissey is a good singer - his melody choice is often unusual and his timing surprising, which is refreshing, but his voice is distinctively his. The lyrics you might expect to be a bit angsty but they’re well written. But it is Johnny Marr’s guitar that defines the sound, very melodic and fit beautifully with the overall nicely composed songs. The guitar tracks are always restless and layered but never aound crowded or chaotic and its not just one dimensional jangly pop, crosses into a bit of country styling, despite the constant changes it sounds so smooth and flowing, basically sounds like someone who really knows their craft. Good solid backline for the style, makes the melancholy nice and dancey which is a good juxtaposition to the sometimes floaty vocals. I clearly didnt listen to the band too closely back when i was young because i dont recall the bass player being a standout but he is. The bass has a lively funk feel which is great in the context of the band. meat is Murder a bit heavyhanded but i admire Morrisseys passion and ability to turn a phrase in service of that passion at the very least. Some very well put together tracks.

Easy to dislike U2 because Bono used to be everywhere, wasnt shy about giving his opinion and no one likes being told they are shit and what to do by someone who is close enough to a billionaire. I also admit to some Bono induced eye rolling. So i try to put this aside and listen just to the music. I liked Joshua Tree. Maybe I’ll like this. Track 1. Isnt this a Coldplay number? Elevation, the Dr Zeuss of U2 songs. I’d call it a better album than every other one between Joshua Tree and this one but the bar isnt high. Tough to het through for me. Meh.