Sort of the classic Reggae album, I was surprised to realize that no, I don't think I've listened to this all the way through before. The singles here sort of scream a White Boy Reggae vibe, which isn't really their fault but definitely probably steered me away from this. All in all tho, it's classic for a reason.
Transitional Polly. This feels like the obvious fork in the road that brings Dry along to Let England Shake
There are parts of this that sound more like Chrissie Hynde than the wild yearning of PJ's earlier work. Never a bad thing, but it means the echoes of the past make you perk up a bit. There songs right in the middle help bolster the whole of the effort as far as im concerned. Probably 3.5, definitely worth a second spin.
Top track? Probably The whores hustle and the Hustlers Whore, but that could change with familiarity
Classic era Stevie. A good mix of funky grooves and soulful slow jams, it's not his most indispensable, but it's still a gem.
Superstition is the top track, but all of them have a feeling of completion and care about them to me. 4.5 stars
I've tried to get into Nick Drake a number of times in my life since first seeing folks hype him as a forgotten genius. It hasn't really taken, but i tried to come into it with fresh, unbiased ears. Drake's music feels sleepy, sort of like an early autumn day, light drizzle, cup of coffee slowly going cold as you sit alone with your guitar. Which isn't a bad vibe, just one that doesnt really inspire me personally. I can see why it might be nice and meditative for others.
Top track is probably Road, which i really liked the guitar on. 3* all together.
Was meaning to re-listen to this one with the focus it deserves. Elizabeth Frasier's work is something I have had to come around to, but also something I have largely enjoyed in guest spots. HoLV is way more accessible than the band's reputation... it Bridges the 80s and 90s, goth and shoegaze and dream pop, the real world and the green world. It's a link between Kate Bush and Tori Amos, a linguistic progenitor to Sigur Ros... there's a lot here. And it is plaintive and exultant at turns, sparkling and brooding, often all in the same moment. And God, all that beautiful fuzz...
I'll probably need to buy this, much to the chagrin of my partner, an avowed Cocteau hater.
Somewhere between a 4* and 4.5* ... top track: i can't deny Cherry-Coloured Funk, but Road River and Rail was the second standout.
I once saw Krist Novoselic of Nirvana on a book tour, probably around 2004. I mostly recall that he said he wanted to start a band called Gavrillo Princip. This album is why.
Despite finding "Take Me Out" to be the definition of rich white millennium privilege rock, I did come into this willing to be surprised, and I almost was when "Jacqueline" opened as an introspective, soft number. But honestly I find this sort of thing banal. Don't get me wrong, I love my share of big dumb albums, but the self-seriousness is too much for this sort of thing. It's like someone formed a band out of "and now's the time on Sprockets when we dance," without understanding that it was a send up, or even understanding the art snobbery that was being sent up. Nothing feels earnest or honest, but it sure feels like they want us to think it is.
2* mostly because I feel 1* should mean something, but i really didnt enjoy thos experience. "Take Me Out" is the best track here.
"Sensational" is doing a lot of unjustified heavy lifting here.
I mean, I like a good sleazy rock album as much as the next guy, and sure, a gang bang might just wash the Blues away, but this just doesn't do anything for me. I feel like I can get this same thing from a dozen better bands that don't have similar vocal affectations to Adam Sandler. 2*
Gang Bang was my top track simply for the scuzz of it, but i dont know that i'd actively go about relistening to it.
Another "how did I not get to this yet" album (though the conscientious objector period from Spotify didn't help, I'm sure).
The middle of this album has a lot to live up to, being sandwiched between Hey Hey My My/My My Hey Hey, and it just... do you ever listen to an album that is considered iconic and just think "wow, a Million people have regularly listened to "welfare mothers"? Really?" Like, you expect an obscure album to maybe have some weird stuff on it, but you don't really expect something like "ride my llama" on an album as well known as this. But I liked Thrasher, powderfinger was fine, and of course, Hey Hey My My is the essential track here. 3*
So I guess it's worth a mental note that I am probably getting two more YYY albums, eh? No way It's Blitz is a must hear and not the two much more critically noteworthy albums that came prior. Maybe even a spin of Mosquito, owner of one of the worst album covers ever?
Anyway, I digress. This isn't really an album that has anything to do with Karen O (presumably) crushing an egg with her bare hand, but it's serviceable electropop that would probably call itself punk but it is wrong. Karen's voice remains unique and feels more flexible here than in other work i've heard her do. You do get the feeling that this is why Elle King happened, and that shouldn't be praised, but this would feel right in place at a hipster dance party or basement party, and it would set the mood decently. Most of it is pretty energetic, not really full of earworms, but definitely infectious in a way. Low 3*.Top Track: Zero. The song, not me being snarky
It"s gotta sting to have an album explode because of a throwaway joke song, but that's what Blur's eponymous will always carry with it. At the time, I wrote this off because Beetlebum didn't grab me at all (so much so that on relisten, I didn't even remember its chorus, which is to be fair more lush than expected).
So the proof is in the pudding for the post Song 2 tracks, I suppose. I appreciate that the album has a lot of diversity and experimentation on it. Blur is sort of like the more avant garde side of Oasis and the less faffy side of Radiohead in that regard. They don't really reach the highs of either in my experience, but I'm glad someone is in that middle ground.
I'd say this album was a victim of a lot of things, but a lot of albums like this in the 90s were really hurt by being overly long. Not that 56 minutes is unthinkably long, but if you want to put 14 songs on an album they need to be largely super strong stuff, so even as we get to the crunch of Look Inside America or the twang of Country Sad Ballad Man, there's a lot of movement that isn't ending in a clutch of really successful tracks. But it's not that this is bad, just disjointed. "Strange News..." has big Bowie vibes, which I like (so does Movin On, but that doesn't hit as well for me).
3ish stars? Top track was Death of a Party
Zero real expectations on this. Solid early aughties rock. Definite influences of early psychedelia. Strong work, but i don't know if it's memorable? Probably the album ive had the least to say about so far. I'm not sad to hear it, but I feel like, even if I was to compile 2002 albums, this wouldnt make the top. There's a lot of music out there.
A pretty square 3*. Top track? Liquid Bird really caught me more than anything.
Look, I am dreading the next few inevitable Coldplays on this list as much as anyone, but their debut? This is reasonable. It's slow, like so much of Coldplay is... in fact, I recall my critique of Yellow being just that... a little slow, a little boring. By comparison, it's a masterpiece, but that's always been a vibe they brought.
But here there is still an earnestness. "Don't Panic" feels trite at this point, but it still delivers as an opener. "Trouble" crawls, but it's got a sluggish beauty. Like, these things are just facts here, not criticisms. Chris Martin feels tired in a way that you feel in your bones on songs like "Spies"... it's an ominous quiet. It feels stylistic in a way that it doesn't in future albums.
Probably a light 4*, but worth having in the collection. I am so biased toward Shiver as the top track. It's got a great riff, a great melody, and an urgency that is rarely heard in Coldplay.
An hour of solo piano? I'm in.
This is compelling enough for being about an hour of long form improvisation, but even more so for moving so smoothly over that period. The pieces don't feel boring (to me at least) or stagnant, even boiled down to one instrument for 25-30 minutes at a time.
Hard to give a top track, but it's definitely a 4*
It's weird to call the Beasties game-changing, because hip-hop was already gaining major steam, but one cannot deny how big this was. There's such a distinctive Beastie Boys flow, the backbeats are as influenced as much by hard rock and punk as by hiphop of the age. It's immature as hell, as one can barely blame for a bunch of college age bros, chasing girls, creating tough guy mythologies (while simultaneously being the goofiest guys in the room). That can make it tough in places to listen to as someone about twice their age at the time, but there's also the feeling that they were tongue and cheek and knew there was an aspect of parody in a lot of this (even as a kid, "Girls" was way more of a clear winking joke than a serious statement on what women were like).
Anyway, "fight for your right" still captures a certain childish anarchy that makes it continue to be appealing, "Slow Ride" makes excellent use of a "Lowrider" sample, "Paul Revere" was absolutely the first primarily hip-hop coded track that my stereotypical white self really rated, and the album in general just makes me want to get a sack of white castles. Nostalgia makes this a light 4*. Top Track remains No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Coming into this, I hated Gorillaz. They seemed to represent the worst bits of Blur, the most soulless bits of modern pop music, all wrapped up in a white guy's hip hop and anime obsession with a veneer of a fake band. But if i'm going to do this, I need listen as objectively as I can.
I was surprised at the first few tracks. They aren't quite blur, but they're much closer than to the sound I have heard. I didn't like the first two, but they put the conception that I would hate this out of my head. There was hope. And honestly, some of this album is OK. Latin Simone benefits from sounding more like an Ibrahim Ferrer project than the rest of the album.
But then we get to the singles, and I sincerely do not know what people fell in love with. "Clint Eastwood" bores me to tears, which is in part, I am sure, because Damon sounds like he is struggling to stay awake. It plods in a very different, more ploddy way than the other tracks. On the other hand, 19-2000 is an asinine nightmare despite contributions from absolute legends Miho Hatori and Tina Weymouth. It's at least not the acid chipmunk fever dream of the single. I couldn't do 15 tracks of that. But it somehow is even more uncool as a clunky slow word salad.
The stuff between those songs aren't great either. There's a lot of Albarn's more yowling bits. There's the tin flute that sounds like it was just learned yesterday on Rock the House, giving the same vibes as albarn's singing.
Overall not good, but for very different reasons than expected. 2*, top track Tomorrow Comes Today
First of all, I steadfastly believe this is too young an album to be here. I said what I said.
And Lana immediately proves me right with "white dress," which is overflowing with the worst broken whispersinging. It says nothing and says it poorly. But then, what can you expect from an album whose title references both "chemtrails" and country clubs? Nightmare blunt rotation. That falsetto comes up elsewhere on thr album, and it is always bad, but never worse than the first song.
There's a lot of trash here, but one thing that immediately rubbed me the wrong way was that there were two songs where "I only mention it because" is a major lyrical motif. This is a woman who has released books of poetry, which is either very bold of her or this is a major fall-off from that moment. It's not the only thing that bores me here (like Damon yesterday, she feels asleep or drugged... same Lana). It's the deeply childish idea of depth. It's the now-stale affectation without the semblance of edge that one could claim on Born to Die.
Music to tradwife a redneck alligator farmer to. For the "not like other girls" girls for whom the thing that is not like other girls is their meth habit. My first 1*, I think, richly deserved. If I had to listen to another song again, i'd pick Dark but Just a Game.
Ive tried Marquee Moon a few times in the past so i'm trying to hear it with fresh ears. It's gotta be the voice, right? That's the hang up, right? It must be. Because objectively this is a strong clutch of songs. See No Evil is a great song altogether. The guitar work in Friction is compelling and addicting. The title track? Musically perfect. But vocals can be such a big piece when songs are being sung, and it's not always obvious when a voice will or won't be grating (I like Smashing Pumpkins, after all). So on my nth listen, i'm trying to read this like many people hear Dylan, as a template for the songs and not necessarily the definitive recording. Doing that opened the album up more. Though on the other hand, this album cover is one of the most haunted pictures ever taken. Maybe it requires the unsettled vocals brought to the tracks? Music is weird and wonderful.
3*, but stronger than ever before. Maybe some day itll make 4. Maybe it has a ceiling for me. Marquee Moon is the sort of special song that doesn't feel like it's 10 minutes, so that's my pick.
Another album I've gone to a few times and am happy to finally give the time it deserves. I had wanted to go through all of Lanegan's work when he passed, but there is a lot of it, after all, and it is prone to a dirge-y vibe. Hard to process en masse
Getting back into this one feels like I never heard it. Halo of Ashes immediately hooks in with its driving beat and eastern tinged leads. Look at You is sad and stunning. There's a certain swirling feeling, not really a wall of sound but something very full and entrancing behind a lot of this that is hard to explain. Put another way, it's amazing hearing an album for the first time despite listening to it before.
I think this could have been a 5 if side B was as strong as side A. But it"s definitely a 4 and I'm glad to properly discover it. I'm a sucker for All I Know, and have been for nigh 30 years, but on this listen it's Make My Mind that is stuck in my head
I knew nothing about this one.
Going through? It's high energy indie pop. absolutely fine, absolutely unsure why this is on here. 3*, but minimal impression. Isle of Her was the only thing I was curious about, so let's call that the top track
Not many albums are this absolutely stacked at the beginning.
Like honestly, this is just big, not just in fame and sales and exposure and all that, but it is just... big big quality. It fades in and builds perfectly and that first side just doesn't let up with great songs. I don't think these guys could write something like Bullet the Blue Sky again for love or money. With or Without You's only flaw is familiarity, but I haven't listened to this for years, and it opens itself up on its own terms after that. And it's not like the quality really meaningfully dips off. I have spent much less time with side B, but most other bands would kill for a side that strong, and U2 just murdered it with the first side. There's still a youthful passion here, the Edge still sounds like he's chopping away at the guitar like no one else, and the worst song here (Exit) is still a perfectly fine track. Everything else is a 4 at minimum, and it reminds one that there was a reason U2 got so huge. I think this is my first very well deserved 5? And it starts with probably one of my fave songs ever in Where The Streets Have No Name
Know what actually IS shocking? Realizing I know less of this album than I thought. Understanding how good Dave Navarro was pre-Carmen Electra (and how good Perry was, at that).
Another album with a killer build in that first song. A lot more music that feels like an extended stream of vibes than I expected, though also that makes sense for Perry. As such, it is Mountain Song, not the world conquering Jane Says, that feels like the key track here. Some real stunning stuff, some less tethered ideas, definitely a 4* worth another listen
I suppose any album from Public Enemy is technically worth a spin, though this is an interesting third choice above and beyond the two albums i'm sure are in here already.
Even here, these guys always sound a bit like a link. This is conscious rap with a "gangsta" feel. It is, as Flav notes early on, a bunch of very big beats. The tracks are like audio collages, sample heavy without being JUST sample. I am not a historian of the genre, but it feels like something new and old at the same time. I think it would be hard to not appreciate how this is being put together, though i definitely think there are a lot of folks who would find Chuck D's confrontational history lessons more dangerous than all the more "colorful" rap lyrics that the moral busybodies were constantly whining over in the 80s and 90s.
High 3*, top track: Can't Truss It. Definitely getting a replay at some point
