A little self indulgent, with "Voices of Old People" and the Bookends Theme. They take themselves too seriously. Rescued by the classic Mrs Robinson and Hazy Shade of Winter. Old Friends is another high point, with poignant strings and a wistful air. Hazy Shade of Winter was born to be a heavy rock song - the detroit snare on every beat and that killer riff should not work in a folk context, but they do!
Wayne Coyne concocts big daft lovely soundscapes with enigmatic lyrics, and it all leaves me cold. Soz Wayner!
Hard to believe I was in my 40s before I first heard the entire album. It continues to grow on me with repeated listening.
Nite Klub a new favourite - the sound of late 70s London clubbing and a really nice bassline with a little popping. Terry's voice was quite raw and unprocessed on this, which lends it an innocence. When you're young and broke and fed up of racism and injustice, do you moan about it or form a band and make some of the most danceable ska ever written? I can't give this a 5/5 but I would give it a 9/10 if the option was there. This is going on my rotation list and will buy the album.
Exquisite production by Quincy and the vocal harmonies are immense. The best use of a minimoog on bass ever. The worst song on this album was cowritten by Paul McCartney!
Cool in the day, very basic electronica now - ok for bg music
The singles are 4s, most of the rest are 2s. Very much of its time. I don't quite get Prince. He could have had an outstanding rock band but he chose pop and manufactured funk.
French African doesn't do it for me
A good rock album destroyed by overproduction.
Neil Hannon has one foot in the 21st century, the other in the 20th and his posterior balances lightly on the 19th. This Elizabethan cad muses about the NHS whilst jauntily bashing a harpsichor in his red velvet smoking jacket. The wit of Wilde combined with the pointed derision of Churchill, are delivered with tongue firmly lodged in cheek. For all the epic lyricism and arrangements, the songs are as ephemeral as candy floss.
Dull, except for Tina's playing
This album is as close to perfect as any I have heard. Food for the brain from Paddy McAloon, and the ears from the band and producer Thomas Dolby. Glimpses of heaven appear when Wendy Smith's vocals blend with lush pads. These songs were written by a child, performed by children, but sound like they were created at the end of long, well-lived lives. There are moments where the synth pads date the recording, but that's the closest that I can come to a criticism. Someday I will write a song nearly as good as the worst song on this album... maybe.
I forgot that Madness very quickly stopped being a ska band, and went pure pop. They had developed a signature sound at this stage featuring piano bass, a variation on the staxx beat, and a guitar that is so buried in the mix that it's largely imperceptible. Every song here is a quality production, and the singles will still be played in 50 years time, but it lacks the ska energy and rudeboy edge of One Step Beyond. Instead it tells the story of late 70s/early 80s Britain with humour and heart.
Most unpopular musical opinion I hold is that the original Leonard Cohen version of Hallelujah is the best. That said, Jeff brings something special to it. It's the standout track on the album. I found the rest pleasant enough, but his falsetto does annoy me - sometimes he sounds like he's doing a Tiny Tim parody.
Art noise tripe.
I forgot all through the night and she bop, remembering only girls just want to have fun. This is an outstanding 80s album. It's pop, but it's heartfelt. The songwriting is excellent, the musical performances are excellent, and the production is excellent. It skirts the line between conformity and non-conformity beautifully. One song begs for freedom from controlling parents, another speaks about the joy of wanking. Love it. 4.5
I hate this
This may have been groundbreaking in 1996? It's pretty dull listening today. Some admittedly funky breakbeats layered with jazz, pads, spoken word and random radio recordings. I give it 2 for the beats.
The riffs are good, but this just seems so inauthentic. It's overproduced - so many parts are doubled, and it seems like there's a novelty track on every album. With a rawer sound, and less puerile lyrics, this could be a great album.
A very pleasant album, but The Police had lost a lot of the ska edge that defined them by this point. Sting had started a lifelong journey up his own rear end, decided that it was his band, and the others were pushing back hard. The lyrics are cringeworthy in places, especially when he starts his dinosaur rhymes, but the singles rescue it. A solid 3, but no more.
Underwhelming. A few interesting riffs with the signature Iommi tone, but a weak album overall
I was not expecting to like a Brazilian bossa nova album. Part vulnerable child, part sultry lover, part nurturing mother - Bebel croons over some smooth, melodic jams. Made for vinyl. Yum.
Nah.
A banger. The dawn of metal. Very interesting to study Iommi's style at this point. He's got a signature sound and rhythm style, but the lead parts are very noodly. Lots of basic scale traversals and a few sub-riffs that are employed in a number of songs. The band works well together, and the songs are great - the Sabbath style was born here, and it peaked here too.
Pleasant soft rock with Status Quo underpinnings and a decided lack of direction. 3 stars for consistency throughout.
Punk and Reggae, and I hate it. Weird.
Solid 80s corporate cock rock. A disservice to the legacy of EVH. Extra point for Jump.
Pleasant but sterile - couldn't get through it
They definitely took the torch from Lizzy and extended the metal genre. The Disney satanism is a little cringe, as are the power ballads but number of the beast is a banger, surrounded by other boppers
A bloody great rock and roll album. Bored Buzzcocks vocals on a raucous rock train with plenty of melodic guitar riffs and solos. I want to make music like this
Fine singer-songwriter, but the tone of her voice annoys me and I don't particularly enjoy her music or lyrics. Sorry Tray!
A slightly maudlin take on the recent folk revival trend. Bluegrass instruments mixed with rock, found sound and electronica. Not very interesting
Competently played Spanish guitar (mostly chordal) with Spanish lyrics and indfifferent recording quality. OK as background music but nothing to get my teeth into.
Ambient oddness. Not very compelling.
I was surprised at how long this album was for a concept album is one's for about an hour and 14 minutes and I think 24 songs there are common themes throughout the album and it's actually very laid back and easy going for the most part but of course pinball Wizard being the outstandard outstanding track in the on the whole album I really enjoyed it but I still think there's a lot of filler and not the 23 tracks could have been 10 quite easily and for that reason I'm giving it to three
Not a punk album. A mix of rock, soul and dub reggae. The cover rips off an Elvis Presley cover - this is not an accident. Guns of Brixton is the standout track, for the baseline and the stone cold lyrics. RIP Joe - too soon
You expect greatness from Terry Hall. You expect banging ska from The Specials. This album feels like a a jam project in places - it lacks the innovation and hard edge of its predecessor. It's still a good album, and you begin to hear traces of ideas that led to Fun Boy Three, but ultimately it seems like this was rushed or received less care. "It's all a load of bollocks, and bollocks to it all" Terry sings. The album theme? Still gutted I didn't get to see them before he passed.
Wasn't sure what to expect. More folk revival it seems. Lavish arrangements with folk instruments, strings, brass - must have cost a bomb to record. And what on earth is he singing about. Does he even know himself? Ulysses makes more sense. Yet here I am wanting to listen again. A 3 today, maybe a 4 in the future...
Analogue audio really peaked in the early 80s, before the influx of 12bit digital audio products. Good songs throughout, beautifully played, sung and mixed, albeit with very little going on in the high end. An 80s soul classic.
A motherly voice, a yearning voice, the voice of someone who was not allowed to embrace her sexuality. 4 for Preacherman alone, with the bonkers kick drum (un)pattern, but there are plently of other standouts here.
Big on attitude. Short on songs. The standout tracks here, apart from Brass, are the ballads. Much of the rest is filler - competently played, just not fully formed songs. Great mixes, quite pleasant. A three.
I was not expecting to enjoy this. Big band rock and roll with jazz trumpet. Some great duets. Cheesy lyrics about high note grease. Will be listening again.
A long distance from careless whisper. I think his muse deserted him and this led him to dark places. He could have had a bright future, had he abandoned pop. Great voice, and the songs are... Ok
Good album
The best Led Zep album? I'm surprised not to give it a 5. It's a 4.5. A couple of weak tracks take from the glory of Bron Y Aur stomp, Gallows Pole, Since I've been loving you. We rave about Page's electric guitar prowess, but he's possibly better on acoustic.
Trying too hard to be dangerous, innit? Her flow is wack. This Brigga rap sounds inauthentic more often than not. Kate Tempest knows how it's done.
Shite. Clever shite, but shite nonetheless.
Polished turd
Black hole sun a classis. The rest forgettable. Guitar fights with bass. Kick inaudible
Very interesting baritone voice. More than a nod to Leonard Cohen, but musically more interesting, even if the lyrics aren't quite as strong. I think I will be listening to this again, and it might hit a 4 then.
More RNB and soul than trip hop. Solid album, before they found their sound
A jam album, light on funk. Funk is all about the bass, and the bass on this is pedestrian. Nothing notable, but pleasant enough background music.
Imperfect, honest, warm and mesmerising. A classic album. RIP Shane
Born in the USA with a country twang. Made it 4 songs in, which was 3 further than I expected. OK, but not my thing.
Well produced, ialthough the sub bass grates after a while. Somewhere between slow pop and rap. I found it dull,
Every track top 10 quality. Great production, beautiful moog baselines, imaginative songwriting
I like Frank, but I think the songs are weak on this. The heartstring 50s violin section grates a bit
Many songs on this album are predictable chord progressions with dirty synth arpeggios and diverse earcandy. Then every so often something hits you - an ethereal ballad or a blistering bassline (open string hammer-on stylee a la Muse), and keeps you listening. A solid 3
From barbershop quartet to yeehaw pedal steel to Southern rock to pure pop, this is a diverse albums. Great songwriters come together and put out a raggle taggle album with some genuine gems
Love that guitar fuzz tone. An album of solid glam rock tunes and preposterous lyrics.
Brazilian Sade does salsa funk muzak
generic early hiphop
It was an interesting time. Rap went hardcore and political Has lost much of its impact
I never got into this band for some reason, but this album marits further listening. I find the chord progressions a bit generic, but there are some nice hooks, and some good heavy guitar tones.
The bass on this is amazing - real funk powerhouse stuff. The synth programming is rather cheesey. The songs are a bit samey. There's even a squelchy 303 line in here, many years before acid reared its head.
There really is no audible bass part on this album, but it kinda doesn't matter, because the bass of the rhythm guitar part is so pronounced. The interplay between the guitars and drums is a thing of beauty, with rhythms transforming completely many times in every song. Trailblazing while paying tribute to the bands who preceded them, the Lizzy-esque harmony parts are a treat. Liked this more that I expected to.
This is the last album made by a band who wrote a book about how to make a no. 1 single. They followed the formula until the end. The cool rave synth presets, the occasional real instrument riff, motifs borrowed from other songs. Musically, there isn't a lot going on here. Build a Fire is the standout - an ambient poem which may be speaking about the burning of £1 million which gained them much press as a swan song. No reason to revisit this album, ever.
Fresh from his appropriation and commercialisation of punk, Malcolm appropriates and commercialises African and Cuban culture. This is essentially an Art Of Noise album with Malcolm as "creative director", whatever that might mean. Forgettable, unremarkable.
Surprisingly little Wakeman keyboard noodling. Surpisingly lots of acoustic and folk rock. It's fine, but nothing special
A jazzy Booker T. Chilled out blues and jazz instrumentals with tasty licks on sax, hammond and guitar. Great music to work to
A damn fine blues rock live album, especially when they do the harmonised guitars.
Bonnie Raitt is known for being a grafter and known for being authentic. This album sounds like her record label exerted undue influence on her. Sure there's boogie woogie, blues and country. The lyrics approach poignancy in a wife-left-me-do-died sort of way, but the DX7 piano ballads and reggae tinged numbers feel out of place.
Chainsaw guitars and a garage mix. Hooks galore. Amazing pop punk
Not great - shouty vocals, scratchy guitars, basic progressions.
Truth be told, I don't like Joan's voice much. There's a manly tone to it at lower registers, and the falsetto has an unsettling quality. That said, Love and Affection is epic in the true sense of the word. I wasn't expecting the funk workout of People, and the album held my attention throughout.
This album as as almost as well as you can get perhaps four track demos were a bit roar but this is pure estrogen and feminist dogma distilled she is strong powerful violence and when she really go was crazy she sounds like she has actually lost her mind and is sitting in a padded room somewhere flinging feces at the windows and drawing pentagons with menstrual blood.
Madcap Nigerian jazz. Definite Mingus influences. Surprisingly good
My first time hearing the whole thing. the lyrics are clever, the songs are good, but I think the mix should be heavier. The musicians are thrashing their instruments - this should have a harder rock sound to give it the energy it deserves, That would make it a 4
Plinky plonky honky tonky whitey shitey cack tracks. Inoffensive, uninteresting. Next!
There's one really good song on this album. Repeated 14 times. ABC is a formula - tight disco funk overlaid with synthpop and orchestra. Kinda like what Nile Rodgers wanted to do when he first saw Roxy Music. Great guitars and bass, and they occasionally forego the bass for a Moog. Trevor Horn was in the business of making hits, he saved the experimentation for the Art Of Noise.
Mysogynistic hateful shite. I lasted 120 seconds.
Excellent. Primitive given that it came only a few years before the synthpop movement, but pristine and lush in its own way
Clapton tries Americana - largely free of the noodling that does little for me, there's a nice blend of guitar tones, some decent songs and some beautiful Hammond. Not bad, for a Clapton album
Not a bad track. Funk/disco goodness throughout. On paper, a similar formula to ABC, but where the orchestration on Lexicon Of Love seems to dilute the syncopation, here the picolo, brass et al augment it. You nod your head to the attempted sophistication of ABC, but you bop around the room to this record. Melodic bass, palm-muted 16th on the guitar, and life affirming lyrics. It's a thing of joy. Will be listening again.
A transitional album. The songwriting is transforming from 60s rock and roll, through psychedelic 60s Americana and into something uniquely Beatles. Norwegian Wood is a line in the sand - Indian instruments, acid lyrics and genuinely inventive. The recording quality is excellent (remastered version) and the vocal harmonies are pixel perfect. There are some humdrum songs, and I can't quite give it a 4
Beep boop. Starts slow and builds. Sonically interesting, musically less so. Uptempo ambient for programmers on a high dose of caffeine.
As he aged, his voice grew impossibly deep, resonant. At times it cracked a little, but it always commanded attention. Some say he never died, he just went subsonic and now sings to the whales in the atlantic. A fair album with nice arrangements, although the vocal melodies are generic. The lyrics as always are lofty and mysterious. He speak/sings about passion like a man in his 20s.
Bruce has one song, and he's been singing it 14 times per album for 5 decades now. The songwriting is fine, if you grew up in Nebraska in the 60s, but dull otherwise. The music is solid, although I didn't much care for the mix.
The tunes are good, some tasty riffs, but it just isn't heavy. The guitar tone is too clean, and the keyboards, although prodigiously played, suck the edge from the songs.
Like Curtis Mayfield and Isaak Hayes got together to do a blaxploitation movie soundtrack. Kinda groovy, kinda funky. Big drums and big sounds.
The musical theatre is still in the words, but it has all but disappeared from the vocalisation and orchestration. This Woman's Work is the only real earworm on the album, but a poor Kate Bush album trumps a good album from most other artists.
Could get no further than 2 songs in - boring
Liam Gallagher is an obnoxious boor who can't write a song. Let's take Live Forever
Maybe I don't really wanna know
How your garden grows
'Cause I just wanna fly
Lately, did you ever feel the pain
In the morning rain
As it soaks you to the bone?
Maybe I just wanna fly
Wanna live, I don't wanna die
Maybe I just wanna breathe
Maybe I just don't believe
Maybe you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever
What a load of absolute twaddle. And he then goes on to sing the same verse/chorus another two times, the lazy git, a tactic he repeats.
Noel can knock out a decent tune and they kind of reinvented the indie stadium rock sound after the Cult defined it with love, but can't override the annoyance that I feel everytime I see his stupid self-satisfied, punchable face, or hear his faux-Manc posturing vocals. Sun-sheeee-yine - fuck off!
About 5 songs into this album, you realise that the DWs have a formula, but it's a pretty good one. It's rock, but sanitised through production and multiple overdubs. It's upbeat, but it's not hugely compelling, and lends itself to passive listening. Scrapes a 3
Even in 66, Jagger's voice was annoying. Due to studio tech, the recording is thin with a notable absense of kick and bass. Apart from Paint It Black - one of the few original tracks they wrote, this is a work of honky tonk Americana with little subtlety or individuality.
There's something primal about this. It's the sound of a troubled woman excise her most personal demons in public. It's raw, sometimes almost uncomfortable, but also beautiful
Great songwriting. Her voice is a little unusual. This reminds me of Carole King.
Insipid, lily livered dirges. I don't like Chris Martin. He sounds like he gargles his ex wife's fanny perfume.
Almost perfect. The lo-fi recording gives the album gravitas. The lyrics tell detailed stories. A master poet and songwriter. I don't think he ever surpassed this debut.
Fiddy likes bitches, his niggas, popping caps in said niggas' asses, getting high, money, jewellery. This album is the sound of pure dumb testosterone and drive-by shootings. I hate what it represents, but there are some interesting raps and beats.
I like a bit of Miles, and this was pushing boundaries - lots of electric guitar, electric piano and drums that borrow a little from the rock world. Unfortunately the pieces sound like improvised noodling with little musical structure to my untrained ears, "like a goat shitting into a tin bucket" as an old lady once said in response to hearing experimental jazz. I wouldn't listen to this actively again, but it's pleasant background listening.
Well produced - I thought I knew one song, turns out I know 3. Well produced, reasonable hooks on the singles. I might listen again, but am ok if I never hear Mr Brightside again.
In a strange realm, pink bunnies cuddle on candyfloss clouds while minotaurs eviscerate each other in a river of blood. Welcome to the world of Bjork, the tapped but brilliant sub-arctic pixie activist. Oftentimes the quest for high art and new sonic vistas results in the song being left behind. It's hard to hear her extract 17 syllables from a word that typically yields one, without cracking a wry grin. Yet when she gets it right, as she does on It's Not Up To You and a few others, it's very special indeed. Patchy, with moments of excellence.
"I ping a boy, he a bad boy"
"My chicken he make a messy"
When someone sings in a foreign language, my idiot brain tries to find English phrases in it. Those are two I extracted. The obvious frame of reference when looking at an African Western collaboration is Paul Simon's Graceland. This is a more lofi experiece, you can clearly hear the sound of the room where they recorded, and it's not an acoustically treated room. It helps to transport you, and you can almost smell the savannah. Musically, it's mostly western in tone, with electric guitar on top of African instruments. There are some African folk style songs and some blues noodling. Quite pleasant, but not hugely memorable.
Before the anthem days, this is still very much using the stripes formula - simplistic drums and a few tasty licks. Ok.
Another album of the same song. This is a better production though - the brass and piano fill out the sound. It's pleasant enough, but I just don't see Born To Run as an anthem.
Quite a pretty album. A pure voice, and a laid back funky vibe courtesy of some lovely bass lines and fluid improvised African percussion. A few bangers like Pitche Me, which takes a while to get going, but is irrestible when it does. The 7 seconds guy just found a new fan.
There are 9 songs on this album. 6 are awesome, 3 are meh. Therefore I can't give a 5. This was the album that truly launched the CD generation. It's a beautiful recording, with a great mix by Neil Dorfsman. The title track is as emotive as you'll find, with a solo that could wring tears from a stone.
Elastica were mostly a one trick pony, but it was a decent trick. They fizzled after the second album and probably went at the right time. An English take on the riot girrrl movement with a touch of sultry sophistication and the odd Mark E Smith growl. Love the guitar tone - high gaing but with great definition. A solid 3.
An album out of time in a way. Released a year before the summer of love, it's definitely locked into that vibe. The mariachi trumpets, violins, congas and marimbas serve to make it timeless. At times, these are simple ballads, at times more rocky, there are even some tracks that suggest the 70s soul/rnb movement. It's very chill, very earnest and very cool.
The very interesting album lots of typical chillout electronica but there's lots of electric guitar and acoustic instruments also it's the kind of album you listen to when doing deep thought work
He has a distinctive sonorous tone which imparts a certain gravity on every work he sings, but when you dig into the lyrics, they're mostly about girls and being outdoors. The bad seeds add an interesting dynamic to the quiet, quiet, loud formula - the quiet sections have the best ear candy. Little sonic peccadilloes pervade and have you asking "how did they do that?" Ultimately, I can;t forgive him for dating P.J. Harvey when I never got the chance, so take your 3 Nick, and be glad of it!
Music for disaffected teenagers. It's like Disney rebooted rage against the machine with a pg12 rating. White boy rapping, prepubescent crooning segues into metal voice - lite. The guitars have had the living shit processed out of them. The result is a few catchy riffs buried in a sea of upper mid range mediocrity which quickly tires the ears and becomes uncomfortable. Come back when your balls drop, boys.
The daisy age was the best period in rap. They sampled whatever the hell they wanted and it was cool. I mean they even sampled Ian Dury's What A Waste. How did 3 black kids from NYC in the late 80s even come across Ian Dury? There are a gajillion songs and about half of them are silly. Jorful and life affirming - not a bitch, a ho, a nigga in sight. Asses remain unmolested - with nary a cap popped in them. Their opinion on the police is unknown. Three is the magic number, yes it is!
One can only imagine the audiophiles of 1976 popping this on their turntables for the first time and immediately creaming their pants. Burbling bases, whooshing filter sweeps, light speed arpeggio sweeps - all made with peculiar synths like the EMS VC3. It was truly the future, and it created the template for science documentary sountracks well into the 80s.
Unfortunately, the album is light on tunes, with Part IV, the one everybody knows, having a strong motif. Amazing as it was back then, a bedroom producer could bash it out over a log weekend these days.
A more consistent album than Highway to Hell. Some absolute bangers, but a lot of b-rate tracks - still good, not great 3.5 - 3.7
Great energy and attitude. Still not a patch on the Buzzcocks
Starts like Will Smith, ends like Kanye. Gets progressively more mysogynistic as it goes. Shame - some very funky beats on there
High on fidelity, low on tunes.
Light on singles, but like a warm blanket. His chord progressions, his crooning, his distinctive drum swing. It's a beautiful thing.
Pointless noodling
At a certain age, bands become more interested in art and experimentation than tunes. Safe to say this happened to XTC for this album. There are some tunes, but there's a lot of indulgent noodling too.
God I hate the stones.
Flooty tooty. Good riffs, should be heavier
Soft rock played well in the Budokan stadium. Tuneful enough, but not enough to get the blood racing. Tell that to the hordes of Japanese chicks having multiple orgasmas and/or being ritually disembowelled (judging by the hysteria of the screams).
Paranoid Android is the work of a group of diseased minds, and I mean that in the best way possible. The main riff is an earworm, and when the distorted guitars kick in, it's like listening to a mental breakdown. The solos draw from Joey Santiago's one-note licks, and it's all very visceral. Karma Police contains one of my favourite chord progressions, and the sonic movement throughout is a masterclass in song arrangement. The rest is pleasant enough.
Àmazing stuff. The sonic successors to the Beach Boys. The care that went into recording this is phenomenal. The vocal harmonies, Brian's patented harmonised guitars - all push boundaries. The songs are good too. I'm going to have to do a deep dive on this album as it is so bloody long.
The first time I heard this album, I couldn't believe that these were all her songs - I had heard them covered by so many artists. She was a songwriting powerhouse at this time, and the lyrics and progressions were incredible. A beautiful girl-next-door warm voice with a surprising range, and tasteful accompamniments. This album is like a hug from your mother.
The best concept album ever made. The lyrics are exquisite, documenting Northern England living as a young person at the turn of the milenium. The progressions and riffs are beautiful, and fierce. Not a bad track on the album, an easy 5.
Like Metallica but without the catchy riffs. From time to time Dimebag aces it with a harmonized Lizzy/Queen riff, but mostly it's chugging without a great riff.
Most unexpected banger ever. The opening track is so cool. A drummer that needs no more than a kick and a snare, and maybe a hat. Beautiful buzz rolls and ghost notes, and a swing that begs to be sampled (turns out it was - collab between Massive Attack, Nellee Hooper, Portishead - how cool is that?)
The rest of the album is a mix of slow French sophistry and the more upbeat stuff. Adding to my playlist
Good songwriting, vocal harmonies. A mix of folk, soft rock and Americana. Doesn't do much for me personally
Life's what you make it is an achingly beautiful song, as is It's My Life on another album. The rest of the album, I find a little aimless. Mark Hollis passed too soon, and his plaintiff voice was unique, but sometimes he delved too far into the feeling and forgot the song.
This was boring me - "will africa ever be free?" - Don't care, where's the rawk. Then they got into the instrumentals. Mostly Western instrumentation with African percussion and vocal harmonies. And it kinda grooves.
I thought I hated Nick Drake. I don't. This is pretty enough in a Tea & Crumpet way. Nicely recorded, the posh voice grates a little, but the instrumentals are pleasant.
I never heard of 'em. Now I know why. Pointless noodling. Dull. Inoffensive.
Probably my second favourite Springsteen album. True lo-fi self recording with hiss intact. Good stories, harmonica sounds like an athsmatic cat. Pleasant enough.
Overproduced - the rocky numbers in particular sound wrong.
Too Rye Aye was the debut of Celtic Soul - this predecessor was strictly soul, but with working class credentials - I wonder if this is where Roddy Doyle got his inspiration? Or perhaps it was from The Blades. Solid, danceable soul. Well written songs with carefully crafted brass parts and the thunderous hammond holding everything together. Good stuff.
A solid rock album with a few bangers. More low tempo numbers than I remembered. I wonder if Kurt would have maintained the grunge god status, if he hadn't given himself a haircut with a smith and wesson.
The early days of hiphop, with only one cadence
ba dada dada dah dah dada dada dah DAH
It gets old pretty quick. I forgot how bad the sampling was on the Aerosmith collab, and the quality of the sample is terrible too - 12 bit sampler I am guessing? Still the best track on the album by a long way.
The band that evolved the madchester scene into the late 90s. Good fun, good tunes. Lenny is an absolute banger
Brilliant musicians playing brilliantly, but so obsessed with the prog that the songs get lost
Bleep. Bloop. Fart. Chillout music to program to.
Plaintive, pretty, often funky. You get the definite feeling that the Disney team were listening to this album when they made The Lion King. It's too musically interesting to be good for background music, but as the lyrics are in Senegalese, it's challenging as an active listen too. Nonetheless, I expect to revisit it for inspiration.
I have 2 copies of this album, yet I never listened to the whole thing. I did yesterday. Tom Verlaine's voice annoys me, but the music is intriguing - a mix of angular and melodic, I just found out he died in 2023 - how did I not know?
Back when every album of hers was theater and sonic experimentation. I love the dramatics, the accents, the fun. I want to hug her when she croons. I am besotted. She is other-wordly and we will not see her like again.
Generic, but pleasant enough south american samba bossa aiyi yi fodder.
Even as a young man, Neil Young was a whiny oul bollocks. He joins Paul Brady, Bob Dylan and a select few others that I hold in high regard for their songwriting talent, but whose voices I despise. Even at this early stage Neil was fond of a dirge - they make up most of the album. Only Love Can Break Your Heart is a classic, but I prefer Saint Etienne's take, as is after the goldrush. Well written, well recorded songs. This could have been a 5 if someone else was singing.
This must have been an incredible album to hear when it first came out. The opening track good times bad times features a heavy riff that's just weird enough to make you think and and absolutely apocalyptic drum track. Then babe I'm going to leave you comes in with a slow finger picked acoustic guitar and throws you for a loop. Then that rocks harder than anything you've ever heard in your life and you're utterly confused. The pixies are credited with inventing quiet loud but this love we're doing it a decade or more before. We wonder from pastoral folk songs to sleazy delta blues almost at random but it always feels compelling.
A solid, no frills rhythm section from John McVie and Fleetwood. Christine brings the bedrock keyboards, the mother voice and the empathy. Stevie brings the sultry, and Lyndsay brings the rock vocals and guitar licks. An amazing album from an amazing band with 3 vocalists and songwriters to ensure high quality, timeless songs.
My 3rd favourite of the original Pixies albums, but still a banger. Surf music drowned in reverb, it's quite a switch from earlier offerings, with the possible exception of Alison. Songs like Digging For Fire are otherwordly, and I always feel like I've been dreaming about space and Hicksville USA after listening to this album. Less in the way of odd time signatures, screaming, and one-note solos. More in the way of melodic storytelling. Me gusta.
He's a one trick pony, but it's a good trick. The remaster brings out the kick drum a little - it was almost completely absent in the original recordings, but they've done well with exposing some bottom end detail. He's not as prodigous on all tracks - Tutti Frutti being his most epeic performance. In fact, his piano often plays second fiddle to the sax section, which often answers his vocal lenes and comes in with some really raunchy solos.
Well produced, well played, but left me cold. The songs are just not memorable
Decent pop but unmemorable
I was already familiar with most of the songs on this album. The songs are soul but there's a strong hint of rock and roll to them and in some tracks he'd leans into funk. The drums are heavier than you'll hear on any other soul music and his voice operates more like a guitar than a vocal instrument with very precise timing and the way he bends into notes which is unique to him
Hints of Ella Fitzgerald, here. She bangs into the mic on Willow Weep For Me and then messes up the lyrics, but it's a live show so they keep rolling. I'm not a fan of many of the songs chosen, as the lyricsl content is dubious and they are chordally monotonous, but the voice is the star - she sings like she is playing an instrument and the dynamics are spectacular
Drew me in slowly. Gentle rock with some lovely arrangements
Never quite hits the mark - doexn't rock hard enough, the riffs are not memorable enough. He can do better.
An undisguised Beatles rip-off
A competent pop album, with Reward as the opening track. Hayward has a commanding voice and a talent for writing energetic basslines. An expensive production with plenty of brass and the best synths that 1980 could offer. Apart from the synths, this could come out today. The lyrics are whimzical and puzzling - "Bless my cotton socks, I'm in the news", indeed!
Dull, ponderous, plodding. This album should not have been made - vanity project
Beautiful. Experimental, groundbreaking, but always melodic. Swamp blues, rock and roll and then the more creative tracks like crosstown traffic that foreshadow 70s soul, and gypsy eyes which is jazzy and timeless. We can even forgive Noel Reddings little miss strange, with its derivative psychedelia. A 5 for Voodoo Chile alone, but really not a duff track and stands up well today even if the limitations of the recording technology of the time shines through.
One gets the feeling that somebody once told Fiona she was quirky and she seized it as her entire persona. The lyrics are clever, falling between Tori Amos and Kae Tempest, the piano is well played. The drums are... weird. Can't give it a 4 because I don't want to hear it again.
I do not like the rolling stones, Sympathy is a funky little ditty, but the rest ranges from dull to annoying
Sam Cooke ish. A little big band, a little rock and roll. The Spanish guitarist is the most interesting part - some tasty noodles and arpeggios. Never heard of him - now I know why
Style over substance. Sludge punk with asinine lyrics. It's well played but the production kills the edge in it. It needs to be louder, more distorted, out of control like the live sets. A damp squib.
A jam album with moments of greatness and a considerable amount of Latin noodling.
It's interesting to hear the songs in an acoustic setting. Melodically and lyrically they hold up very well in this format, which is a million miles from the wall of chainsaws vibe they normally went to. Pity he did a head-ectomy on himself. He could have done some really cool stuff.
Hipster douchery from hipster douchenuggets. Mellotron strings, theremins, double bass, ridiculously high pitched female backing vocals. This fine exhibit of cyberpunk onanism would be tolerable, with its pretty tunes, if the lyrics weern't so asinine.
Pleasant pop, even if it's formulaic. I find her voice too saccharine sweet.
Pointless hipster music. Buzzsaw bass, random synths, silly lyrics. Why?
The album containing Hurt - the song that ressurected Johnny Cash's career at the end of his life and introduced him to a brand new generation. I was in the mood for something rambunctious today, but this didn't quite hit the spot. Often angular and obtuse for the sake of it, without serving the song.
German noise is still noise
Just listened to this the other day - the recording is terrible, the mix attrocious, the playing dodgy, but it's brilliant moronic punk. Wahdoodreefoh!
I bought this in the 90s, before the EDM disco resurgence, and I took a lot of flak for it. I had always been fascinated by Chic and through their role as a backing band and writers, Sister Sledge. Thinking of you moved me deeply as a child, and I think it may be the best pop song every written. I bought this for Le Freak adn I want Your Love - another record that grabbed my as a kid, because the syncopation on the bass mesmerised me. However, I stayed for Happy Man, which is a showcase for Bernard Edward's bass skills. Each verse features ameasure predicting what's coming and then the breakdown hits. Solid 16th notes on a beautiful walking riff, with accesnts on the notes. It's a thing of absolute beauty. Elsewhere Nile Rodgers shines, particularly on IWYL, where he chucks his way through, adding riffs and licks tastefully. Even the slow numbers like At Last I Am Free hit home, and are still musically intricate. An easy 5.
Dull indie Americana. It's fine but does not resonate with me
A gorgeous album. More slow numbers than I remembered. I expect that musicians expected this album to be a shred fest, and it has its moments, but the playing is generally more thoughtful and experimental, but always melodic. Mitch's sloppy drum style works well.
In which messr White partially eschews guitars in favour of gamellans and suchlike. Interesting ideas, but it seems like an album compiled from the cutting room floor
There's a self-satisfied. cynical sophistication that can only come from a New Yorker of a certain age. This reeks of yacht rock, and every song seems to have a dozen musicians on it. From ballads to dadfunk, the recording and performances are as perfect as you would expect. Noy quite as good as The Dan at their peak, but close
I which Brian writes songs which resolve to a finish after a minute or two, then plays the outro for 37.8 weeks. Take side 1 part 1- a simple figure in the major scale played in various inversions. It resolved quickly, the notes died out, then it started again. Repeat ad nauseum. It's actually pleasant - good passive listening when you need to calm your thoughts. Almost worthy of a 4
A truly trailblazing band. The genre was EDM, but the attitude was punk. They famously employed a drummer to play an electronic kit and then used the performances to trigger drum samples giving the drums a live and manic feel. The Prodigy sound dangerous and aggressive, and it's addictive.
I forgot how musically intricate the title track was. It must have sold a lot of hifi equipment when it was first released. The synths sounds janky, but in a cool way, and the bass synth is quite lovely. The vvocoder trick must have blown peoples's minds - this was the future. The precise teutonic vocals are out of place, but also work in a sterile way. It's mad to think that this would have all been played in live - I wonder how many takes there were, yet it sounds like it was sequenced - it's that tight.
I always thought that this was my favourite Springsteen album because it was huge when I was a teen, but now I think it's because of the songs. I found the earlier E-Street Band stuff ok, and the folky stuff to be patchy. This has good songs. Simple songs, but good. No more than 4 chords per verse or chorus, and they're all cowboy chords. It isn't sophisticated, but neither were The Ramones - that's not the point. Bob Clearmountain cemented his role as the most amazing mix engineer with this album. The drums sound enormous with the gated reverb snares, the bass kicks you in the chest, and often the guitar and keys are heavily ambienced until they become a wall of sound. I find it hilarious that the MAGA crew still adopt Born In The USA as an anthem, when the lyrics attack the warmongering and loss of manufacturing jobs epitomised by all governments since the album was released.
Not their best work. The vibe is there but the riffs are sorely lacking, and Thurston does most of the vocal duties
Most female singers are like beer. PJ Harvey is usually like whiskey. In this outing she's a little more like wine rosé at the beginning and a more robust Bordeaux towards the end. It's more subtle and not better for it in my opinion. The tunes are there the lyrics are there but the rawness is sadly lacking.
A cross between Crowded House and Sonic Youth, if you can imagins such a thing. Lofi Guitars, tuneful vocal harmonies, peculiar lyrics. Interesting. Undecided. Will revisit
I had expected to go on at length about how REM had lost their edge at this point. Then the first track came on which I hadn't heard for a long time drive and it means the veils because it was so well constructed. It was immediately clear that this album had fathered quite a lot of singles that I knew well and even the tracks that weren't singles were for the most part not filler. It doesn't have the edginess and djangle of the earlier albums but the maturity and the song writing and the instrumentation all combined to farm something that is greater than the sum of its parts
This was kinda groovy. Normally I steer away from the more avant garde stuff, but this has plenty of rock at the core. The bass playin is sublime, the rhythm wah parts are among the best I have heard. It is like the soundtrack for an acid drenched 70s scifi show. It's too iteresting for passive listening and too mad for sustained active listening. I'll be back.
I bought this, soon after it came out, as I did with all Cardigans albums. I disliked it, but I've changed my mind. It revisits the quirky sound of Life, but lacks the innocence, joie de vivre and musical inventiveness. That said, it's still a fine album
