2/5. A National Front Disco indeed. A couple of slower ones are decent but the big sound at the start just doesn’t work.
Stone cold classics to start with, but gradually tails off before a dismal ending.
At the height of their popularity Pulp shunned the radio-friendly stuff and created a much darker record that endures with some of their best songwriting
Big hair, big tunes, but too much filler.
All very beautifully arranged and played but the songs themselves are average.
Really immersive listen, playful but smooth
When it’s good it’s very good but lacks consistency and overdoes it at times.
Cracking sound and full of tunes, but points off for what is in effect a compilation, not an album, and notably dubbed, so not really live.
Lovely stuff that still sounds fresh today
Their first album full of original tunes is one where they start to come of age. It’s a delight to listen to.
Some great songs but someone needed to step in and add some direction, and an editor. Sprawling, meandering, over indulgent.
An epic sound- it could have been over indulgent but it genuinely does add something to their sound and gives a fresh take on old classics.
My gateway drug to the greatest of all. Sure it has flaws but they’re part of the whole, and the likes of Old Man and The Needle And The Damage Done are among his most essential cuts.
Lush sounds but lacks variety
Just magnificent. The Weight is among the greatest songs ever recorded, and then throw in the likes of Tears of Rage, Chest Fever and Long Black Veil and you’re on to a winner.
Overall, great fun but you need to be in the right mood for this sort of thing - not really my comfort zone. Reckon my Iron Maiden collection will start and finish with The Number of the Beast.
Now this is a proper live album. The atmosphere really comes across, Cash plays it perfectly and the back-to-back performances of San Quentin seal the deal.
An album of two halves, which is one of the few things to count against it. If they’d carried on in the groove of Side A it’s a solid 5/5, but seems weird they returned to the old playbook on Side B. Not that there was anything wrong with the old playbook - but it does end up feeling like they lost their nerve.
Four (California) stars from me, and very nearly five because there’s so much to love. Hits the sweet spot for the balance between reverence for the source material and the irreverence of so much of Guthrie’s writing. Joyful.
Some nice tunes - lots of funky bass and a big sound - but I ended up being more interested in a lot of the source material than the end product. Lyrically not my thing.
I was about to give this three but screw it - let’s go with what might be an unpopular opinion. Kind of remembered it as being Mr Brightside and 10 others but to be fair they know how to write a tune and stuck plenty on here. Nothing deep and meaningful of course, and significant points off for the “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier” refrain, but if you’re out to write an art-rock/new wave influenced indie pop album you’d be hard pressed to do it better than this. Fair play.
A veritable mixed bag of a record. Some great stuff - mostly for me the heavier stuff on the second half like Mother’s Daughter and Hope You’re Feeling Better, but also some cheesy bits and a lot where it’s too smooth for its own good. Definitely stuff to revisit though
Another all-time Neil classic, packed full of great songs, delivered as live for a real raw punch.
Combining folk/country licks with punk ethos and a funky bass, there’s heaps packed into half an hour here, and I’m already on a third listen by midday. Hook me up for more.
Largely built around the three singles but to be fair, cracking singles they are. Very stylised but can’t deny it sounds fantastic, production levels through the roof. Maybe not one I’ll revisit too many times but it’s very well done.
Feeds on its own nervous energy, it’s angry but fun, teetering on the edge of control. Basically, a riot, in more ways than one.
Some sublime grooves and funky tunes, but also a fair few bits which are just too damn smooth and turn into mushy background music. Strawberry Letter an all-timer though.
My favourite Cure record. Big sprawling epics - dark, brooding, and addictive. Gets under the skin.
Not a Miles record I know so it took me a little while to get into it, and maybe one I need to revisit to appreciate more. First half felt a little too one paced but much more going on on the flip side.
It’s wonderful. Full of energy, belting tunes, razor sharp performance - belting. But I’m still knocking points off for live albums that aren’t reimaginings of the songs cos it’s cheating if it’s basically a greatest hits set
Cheese rock. Hyper-produced, hyper-processed to be so perfect it’s devoid of any soul. There was a brief moment where memories of childhood car journeys being brought back by the singles (dad had the greatest hits compilation that everyone has) might have earned it a second star for sentimental reasons, but any lingering goodwill was destroyed by Earlybird.
All-killer, no filler. You get used to albums from this era being three singles and a bunch of leftovers but this is outstanding throughout. Perfect pairing of the Muscle Shoals sound and the Queen of Soul. Wonderful stuff.
A bit twee at times but there is something lovely about hearing an excellent songwriter reclaiming what for so long she’d allowed others to define. I remember introducing my dad to this record in the early 00s and as he’d grown up on the 60s “originals” he struggled to get his head around the fact King had written all these tunes and this wasn’t just as covers collection.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Still the finest of the Modfather’s solo albums, this kicks off with my favourite Weller tune and keeps the top class songwriting coming. If we’re nit-picking (and I am, because I can’t give a five every time) it could do without the noodly instrumentals that push it towards being too long, but there’s not much to complain about here.
A bit sickly smooth at times. But the grooves are undeniable.
Add it to the list of fine records that now come with some troublesome baggage but damn if it isn’t still a fine listen. Tune after tune delivered with a distinctive, rich signature sound, it still sounds fresh 20 years on.
All very nice but this lacks any real depth and feels like it just drifts along. Highlights like Bananeira are few and far between.
Slightly more suited to a Monday morning where you need a kick up the backside than a chilled Sunday, but bloody hell this is exhausting. Kudos I guess for its pioneering status but it’s a one-trick pony for me.
Yes please. Dunno how you define Beck as an artist yet this is surely the definitive Beck record. Full of tunes, full of creative ideas, there’s something else every time you stick it on. Belting.
Are we allowed to say it’s kind of average? A couple of cracking singles, sure, and the craft that has gone into the production is obvious but too many of these songs weren’t worth that level of attention. Most of it distinctly forgettable.
Can one great tune sustain an album? No, it cannot.
The best of the solo stuff, partly down to the two cracking bands he assembled for it. Brings back memories of a great week in which we saw him play with the all boy band in Bridlington and the all girl band in Hammersmith a few days later.
When they say it’s Abba’s “more mature” album but what they mean is it’s the one without any tunes
Some timeless stuff on here for sure. One or two that haven’t aged so well but it packs a hell of a lot in to 34 minutes.
Some very groovy grooves, most obviously on the title track, but perhaps drifts a little on the second side. Not his best record, but not bad either.
New one on me. Not always an easy listen but once you get into it you can hear why it became so influential.
I was actually quite looking forward to this as an album I’d been meaning to check out. In my head it was going to be Ray doing a sort of country-got-soul thing with the potential to be mint. In reality it’s him ruining a bunch of Hank Williams and other tunes with schmaltzy big band nonsense, and only a couple of decent take aways.
About two-thirds of this deserves to be on a five-star record - the first two are majestic and Gypsy Woman does indeed cast a spell. But he loses me in Room 109 before wresting it back and the closer isn’t up to the standards of the rest either. So four it is.
Two gold-plated classics in Somebody To Love and White Rabbit, but the supporting cast is patchy and Grace Slick is an underused weapon.
Some beautiful music here, particularly the middle part of the album - Autopsy and A Sailor’s Life, ideal for lounging around on a Sunday morning (rather than listening to on a run as I did). Doesn’t get the fifth star cos I’m not up for the the random French Cajun version of Dylan, it just doesn’t fit, and Million Dollar Bash is a bit meh too.
Super smooth funk with some fabulous tunes, most obviously Them Changes, sustained by a lovely sense of mischievousness. Perhaps inevitably with 23 tracks, not everything hits, but it’s an album to make you smile.
Wonderful stuff - Dusty sounds totally at home in the land of southern soul.
Striking in tone and emotional in content, but too one-paced.
Clearly know their way around a pop hook but the sickly sweet “sophisti-pop” sound is a turn off.
Some lovely dirge on here, and you can hear why it was so influential. First time for me on this, and I wouldn’t bet against repeat listening yielding that fifth star.
Peak White Stripes. Not listened to it in a while but it takes me right back there.
Not his best work (feels like it lacks cohesion at times) and yet it still gets four stars because most bands would kill to make a subpar Nick Cave record.
Absolutely love Creedence but can never decide which of their first five records is the best because they all feel like great albums without quite being superb. That said, the triple whammy of Wrote A Song For Everyone, Bad Moon Rising and Lodi at the centre point of this is next level.
It’s too long, in truth, but damn if it isn’t filled with quality tunes throughout
Already the signs were all there - feels like a bad really taking off. The energy and inventiveness even when doing covers is next level.
The time isn’t always right for the darker side of the Bunnymen but when it is, it hits the spot nicely
First side is lovely, ‘Pitche Mi’ is the highlight for me, but it tails off on the flip side
While there are a handful of wonderful interpretations there’s also loads of cornball American big bad schmaltz that I have little time for. Real mixed bag.
His best record for me, the one where he graduated from fulfilling his youthful ambition of making records that sounded like Bill Withers* to fully realising an identity of his own.
*though some of this still does, and why not
A riotous ride, roughly how I imagine the inside of an empty whisky bottle might sound.
Yes, you have to turn it off before the last track but it’s still the sound of Christmas
Sounds tired and largely uninspired after Funeral, going back to the same playbook and coming up with a cheap knockoff
Plenty of fun to be had here but it’s hard to ignore the fact the best of it is the bit that sounds like the Talking Heads, so then you just want to stick on the Talking Heads
One of the foundational records for me, beautiful vocals, wonderful grooves. Beautiful.
The three best tunes they ever put on record, but not much else has aged particularly well.
Some wonderful songwriting here - and I’ll always have a sentimental spot for it as it was one of only two albums* I had with me when travelling around the states by train with a portable minidisc player way back when.
*Elbow’s Asleep In The Back was the other.
Some lush sounds and a number of great tunes - was nudging towards a four but unquestionably drags on a little too long.
A handful of lovely moments but way too much aimless noodling, a record which doesn’t seem to have worked out for itself what the point is yet. Might have made a nice EP.
Don’t really get the fuss on this one versus so many other of his live performances, and points off as usual for a live album anyway
A wonderful balance between pop hooks and angst.
Some fine musicianship wasted on painful levels of proggy pretension.
Perhaps lacks the coherence of their very best but still has all the power and verve.
May not have the stand-out singles of its predecessor but it’s a better album. Belting rhythms and snarling vocals.
Permission denied.
A poor parody, Spinal Tap without the jokes.
The low-key version of the Velvets opens with some stunners. Maybe drifts a little in the second half but still loads to love here.
Far more than just its title track, belting southern soul and sweet grooves.
More of a slow burn compared to their first two but Souvenir, She’s Leaving and Maid of Orleans are superb. Nearly got a four.
Comfortably the best of the latter-day U2, maybe their most creative and varied album.
Not the best White Stripes record though I like the fact they tried to do something a bit different. Some of it lands, but not enough.
Mixed bag, this one. Some of their best tunes mixed with some noise and some seemingly half-finished ideas.
Maybe my favourite Dylan, seems like there’s something different you can take from it every time.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Big fan of Merle - a proper country musician in touch with what it’s all about and none of that kitsch but this one is less engaging than Swinging Doors and on ‘Life in prison’ he’s ripping off his own licks. Even so, it’s worth a thousand of the pop-in-a-cowboy-hat records they claim is country these days.
Is it too long? Not if you don’t want it to stop.
More layers than an onion, but missing that fifth star because some of the stylistic shifts still jar.
Their best work was still ahead of them but this remains a brilliant, brash introduction to the glorious nonsense that is the Super Furries. Always puts a smile on your face.
There’s some interesting sounds and arrangements here but it just doesn’t come across as a convincing record at all, and just makes you think of actually great albums you could be listening to instead.
The accessible face of Beefheart. Not going to lie - I struggle with so much else - but here I can get on board.
Stone-cold classic, the starting point for so much. Gold standard stuff.
Feels like about half a good album, half aimless wandering.
Claustrophobic production and monotonous rhythms leave the impression at least half this album is essentially the same tune on repeat.
A rollicking set, full of energy and atmosphere.
But the now customary marks off for a live album that’s not a re-imagining.
Feels like a bit of a mixed bag - the darker broody stuff rewards repeat listening while ‘Promised You A Miracle’ and ‘Glittering Prize’ point the way to the band they became but it doesn’t completely hold together, and some of it feels muddy.
Lovely stuff on the whole, but always feels like an album that points to where they were going rather than arriving straight away.
Overall a decent record, more depth than maybe I’d been expecting beyond the singles, but blimey if it doesn’t let itself down. Like the opener, why the heck is it five minutes long when all that happens from two minutes onwards is she repeats the chorus?
Some absolutely sublime songwriting on here, plus the Bowie and Ronson refresh of Reed’s sound. Doesn’t quite all land, but spectacular when it does.
Veers between fun little ditties and borderline unlistenable dirges that feel like really hard work.
Belting tunes with those irresistible Nile grooves.
It’s not even my favourite Blur album, but it’s one of the foundation records of its period, still a reference point now.
Imagine the record this would have been if it carried on as it starts…Some gorgeous playing, some beautifully tunes but also a lot of half-finished ideas that feel like demos and outtakes. Not entirely against that as a rule but it still makes you think it could have been so much better.
Enjoyed the pairing of soothing tunes with the anger of divorce but - stop me if you’ve heard this one before - it’s too long and drifts.
Always liked Mr President but there’s nothing else here to match it and a lot of it sounds badly dated.
Just a beautiful raw record that opened up a whole other side of him as an artist.
Indie perfection. Sounds so assured in packing 15 big punches into 38 minutes, it’s rare I get to the end and don’t just play it again.
A beautiful record, dark with emotional songwriting. Some majestic playing too, though there’s the odd element of the sound that grates, so four, not five from me
Soaring tunes, more great guitars from The Edge, and gospel/Southern influences creating some infectious grooves, it is all-in-all a great record.
Plenty of fun to be had with some good old-fashioned guitar pop, with shades of glam and bubblegum and all the trimmings. Does run out of steam though with the last few tracks outstaying their welcome.
Some nice atmospherics and it’s all very moody, but a lot of it doesn’t really go anywhere.
Fascinating record in many ways given a fairly radical change in sound that was maybe designed to latch on to the success of the Missing remix. It largely succeeds but is less engaging than Amplified Heart before it
Accept no (more expensive) imitations.
Landmark stuff.
Overall a belting album, even if a lot of the lyrics are, well, odd.
Their best record since Dookie, bursting with purpose…and sadly relevant again. The longer medleys don’t necessarily work so well but the overall impact remains.
Subtle shifting tones and building themes, it just keeps giving.
A title that translates as “White Reggae” is a red flag, and although there are a handful of decent tunes, it lacks the vitality of the debut.
Enjoyed revisiting this a lot because it’s not the Talking Heads I usually go for. It’s not quite the finished product but all the pieces are there.
I’m sure there was a time when it was obligatory to have a copy of this kicking around. Entry level Cuban jazz but not dumbed down, it was great prep for when we went over there what is now a frighteningly long time ago.
It’s all about the one single, right? And what a single. But there’s more going on besides - with Bootsy magic dust sprinkled here and there.
There is some wit, there are some tunes, but there’s also a world of misogyny, violence and cheap reach-for-the-shock-factor lyrics to undermine the whole thing and make you want to turn it off.
Didn’t know this one before I started and needed a few goes to get my head around it (and am still probably some way off completing the task). Beautiful rhythms and movements, it’s hard to fathom it’s a spontaneous performance.
Lush sounding pop music with engaging tales of bedsit romance.
A beautiful concept and some lush sounds, but far from an easy listen.
