1001 Albums Summary

Delightful. Listened to track one on my Apple EarPods before swapping over to the stereo set up and a nice stretch out on the couch. I've listened to this album a few times before, so certain melodies were expected and delivered with still beautiful, concrete feeling, but this listen had my focus more intently squared upon each track, 4 parts that run at a total of 33 minutes. Each track, in it's 6-7 minute runtimes, feel concise enough to not get boring, but also decidedly exploratory and exciting, whether it be in the drum solo sections that exercise control and precision within rapid speed, the manic riffing of Coltrane on the sax, or the trades with piano as Coltrane silences himself for long periods while the piano carries through with measured playing that finds it's own world against the drums and sax, it's a listen that is totally enveloping. I got chills, I got suprised at some of the immediate rushes of ferocity throughout, impressed with how expertly the chaotic spirals could swirl itself back into the main melodies and rhythms. I am just chuffed. A fantastic piece all around.

A masterclass of hip-hop excellence. Listened to this one on my Apple EarPods. This listen was one of many--an album I am well-familiar yet not even closed to bored of. Even in the few, rare moments where the album drags, like some of the intermissions, it is redeemed by moments of astonishing, shining prowess. Every member of this huge rap group has their own feel, their rhyme schemes and flows are just so fun--especially guys like Ol' Dirty Bastard, who as Method Man puts it in an interlude "has no father to his style." This album is so deeply unafraid of itself, whether that be in the geeky Voltron and Samurai cinema references throughout, the fun voicings of many bars, or the harrowing portrayal of grief from RZA on Tearz, where he genuinely sounds traumatized as he recounts the death of someone close to him. This is why this album continues to excite, it's total singularity and confidence within itself. It wasn't just sounding unlike anything at the time, nothing has really matched it since, because this combination of techincal mastery in beats and rapping combined with earnest confidence in the stuff that personally excites them (I mean, they're called the Wu-Tang Clan and the album name comes from their favorite martial arts movies) makes it a landmark achievement. One of the best hip hop releases ever!

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. I threw this on before a walk on a bright, sunny day, and the album certainly matches that vibe. It's a genre I'm not too familiar with, MPB, and even though it is in a language foreign to me, there are still many rhythms and melodies to hook your ear in and engage. It's not my favorite style of music, and I found the album to be a little repetitive at times, especially with the heavy use of the cuíca instrument, which while fun and upbeat sounding seems pretty limited in range, making it feel a little tired to my ears as it carried it's way through the full length of multiple songs. I found myself particularly stuck on the track "O Plebeu", with a smooth and relaxing "la la la" singing out over many portions of the song, and I ran that one back many times. This was an enjoyable listen, and I'd definitely go back to it, even though I didn't get super attached to it.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. This is yet again an album I am not new to, but not super familiar with outside of "Changes" and "Queen Bitch", which I love listening to (and still do after this listen). Really sitting down with the album and letting it unfold was quite a nice experience, a pop-rock effort that has such inspired instrumentation--especially the piano and guitar throughout--and flows so elegantly between tracks. There is a jovial quality to the album, especially on songs like "Kooks" and "Fill Your Heart" that creates a fun atmosphere, and that's really the greatest quality of the album to me, the atmosphere. Although I can't pick out many tracks that I would go back to over and over (yet, at least), the album is so cohesive in a front-to-back play, with smooth transitions and fun excursions to keep things entertaining, like the spacey and experimental intro to "Andy Warhol" or the proto-punk of "Queen Bitch", which could be confused for a Sex Pistols track if it was a little rougher and faster. This album is just a great listen all around!

Listened to on my 2.1 channel stereo set up. I was very familiar with Little Wing, one of my fav songs which appears on this album, but I've only ever gave this album a shake one time, years ago. Upon relisten, it really cements what a great piece of work this is. Not to discredit the rhythm section here, especially with Mitch Mitchell on drums, but Jimi's playing and singing really carries this album to soaring heights. Although I didn't find myself attaching to much of the lyrical content, he has such a smooth voice that pairs excellently with his playing, which is just endlessly inventive. Beyond just his knack to rip into licks and solos like second nature, the riffs that carry these tracks are unique and fun, like one of my favorites from this listen "Wait Until Tomorrow". There are some tracks on here that I didn't really grip me, like "She's So Fine" and "Little Miss Lover", but there is an overflowing amount of goodness laid in these tracks, and it's snappy as hell too, most tracks lasting at or just under 3 minutes. Great stuff! Oh yeah, and one of my favorite album covers ever.

Listened to this one on my Apple EarPods. Superunknown is an album I'm pretty familiar with, but mostly it's first half. And I have to say, wow, what a first half. It is just back to back dark and heavy tracks with interjections of slower pace like "Fell on Black Days" and "Head Down", before culminating in the total one-two punch of "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman", tracks that totally encompass each sphere of slow, dark, and depressing and bursting, heavy excitement respectively. Then the second half rolls around, and it's just...fine, for the most part. Even in past listens, I usually tap out at this point, as the tracks head in the opposite direction in terms of energy (less thrashy, more moody) and ideas start to feel not as compelling. Even the moment where they bring it back to my prefered feel of fast paced energy in "Kickstand" ends up sounding more to me like a B-side than a proper album cut, and similarly I didn't find the venture into the more experimental "Half" to be compelling, especially with how short it runs. It luckily ends on the strong note of "Like Suicide", but it overall feels very long in the tooth for what's on offer, stretching the whole thing out to an hour plus listen. Still, I feel remiss to rate this lower than a 4. A tolerable-at-worst second half cannot seriously decay what an electrifying and monumental first half is on offer here, with tracks I have listened to dozens of times over the years like "Spoonman", "Superunknown", and one of my personal favorite songs of all time, "My Wave". From tracks 1-8, Soundgarden is completely unstoppable, and with the power of technology, I can stop my playback there and run that sequence over and over til I'm sick to my stomach.

Listened to this on my Apple EarPods. As a fan of rock, songs like "Simple Man" and "Free Bird" were already present in my knowledge of Lynyrd Skynyrd, but I haven't not ventured much deeper than that (and "Sweet Home Alabama" from their second album). This album offers up a good listen of Southern rock backed by some true talent in the instrument section (just look at the album cover to see this larger than normal band) with impressive rhythm held in the drums and bass against a stack of 3 guitar players, piano, strings, and banjo thrown in for good measure. We also cannot forget Ronnie Van Zant on vocals, who's southern crooning is effectively utilized for each end of emotion--belting yells and soft contemplation. It's impressive to have a group this large play so effectively with each other, both in terms of keeping the beat and contributing meaningfully to the tracks. Outside of the two tracks I mentioned at the beginning, I enjoyed "Gimmie Three Steps" for it's fun riff and storytelling and I appreciated "Things Goin' On" for it's social consciousness, even if it's fairly vague. Beyond all that, however, I didn't really find myself super gripped with this album. It's certainly pleasant enough as a cohesive work, but it's very, very southern sounding in a way that I am not a big listener to outside of random occassion. I am impressed by their talent and did have a good time listening, but I just don't imagine myself going back to this one too often. ...And now time for the "Free Bird" paragraph. The American answer to "Stairway to Heaven" from Led Zeppelin, this final track is almost Skynyrd's whole legacy, but what a fantastic track to have as such. The beautiful slide guitar paired with the somber lyricism of love and change, it spends it's 9 minute runtime half as a soft ode to leaving someone behind and the next half truly as the "Free Bird", solos absolutely ripping the track to shreds in it's awesomeness while the drum and bass keep amping up the intensity throughout. Is it better than Stairway? Hmm...may that be an eternal battle perhaps never to be won.

Listened to on my stereo 2.1 set up. I'm not very familiar with the work of The Clash, but I really really dig punk rock, albeit not exactly this early kind of punk rock (more of a Black Flag, Dead Kennedys kinda guy). The Clash, as I've known them as well, dance a inordinary tune with punk rock, with sensibilities and lyricism that scream punk, but songs that sonically can lean closer into other musical directions like rock and reggae. This first release, self titled "The Clash", is very much some punk rockin tunes through and through, and it's a pretty good listen, though one that couldn't exactly hold it's luster for me in it's full runtime. Although coming in right at the earliest days of punk rock, this album does not hold back from immediate woes about classism, racism, growing up in a dead end area where people burn out rather than be somebody, these classic tomes of punk find itself here, right at the starting lines. Songs are snappy and pointed, and genuinely angry, painting this picture of a troubled coming of age in contemporary London, finding yourself not fitting in with a society that seems so abnormal to your own sensibilities, whether that be your privileged race content with dissatisfaction in "White Riot", disillusionment with the global world leaders in "I'm So Bored with the USA", or annoyance with a record industry set to vampirically suck the creative vein dry in pursuit of cash in "Garageland." Yes, The Clash and their self titled release covers many bases that would be punk rock staples in the future, and they still do it with power and passion. Yet, even at it's 35 runtime, the album does not fire on all cylinders, feeling more like a testing ground for greatness rather than a mind-blowing showing. There are melodies and choruses and ideas in here that are great and keep the thing engaging enough, but there is also a rote familiarlity in song structure and lyrical ideas that can be too vague to feel strong and written out in a way that finds the lead singer needing to play catch up or slur to keep it in the 4/4 boundaries. What's funny, is that a lot of these criticisms are ones I could kind of apply to any punk rock album, even though I would say punk rock is probably one of my favorite genres, and one of the most influential in my life. So, to point it closer to the unique abilities of The Clash, I don't necessarily prefer the slower feel of this punk rock to what hardcore american acts would push towards in the 80s, and I find the singing to be a mix of grating and exciting, which gives me this push pull feel of connection with the album. It's certainly respectable, and songs like "I'm So Bored with the USA" and "White Riot" really stand out to me, but I feel the same way about this album that I feel about many full punk rock releases. Pretty good, but not amazing.

Wow. Listened to this on my 2.1 stereo set up (even though I guess it's not even stereo, or perhaps fake stereo? I could only find this album on YouTube anyways, so much for high quality sound). For an album that feels so expectedly "oldies", or in this case some of the first RnB and rock-n-roll you could hear, there is just some intrinsic sauce in the performance of this thing that makes me really like it. For all the sax breaks busting in around a minute deep, or love lyrics that switch between forlorn and yearning, ya know, the things that make you feel like you are listening to just another collection of "early rock", there is some serious rhythm in this album, making me want to bounce along to every track. It's very jazzy sounding, especially with the sax, but with the piano and drums rockin along the whole time it gives it a unique feel, which I guess was that original "rhythm and blues". I can dig it. Fats Domino has one great voice, gliding smoothly atop each track, which helps this album really stand out. Even if the stories told are one's you've heard a dozen times, there's something about the delivery on songs like "Blueberry Hill" that just make it feel special. Beyond that track, I really liked "The Fat Man's Hop", and so much of this album is just filled with songs that are just delivered to that truly expert degree, and with some fun--soul, if you will--that it still sounds interesting in the wake of all the rock it helped to birth in front of it. It can get a little repetitive, but as someone who can only take oldies in certain doses, this really punches above it's weight for me.

What a work of punk rock. Listened to this one on my Apple EarPods. Coming off a recent listen to The Clash's self-titled debut for this project, this is the kinda punk that really speaks to me--hard and fast--and only two years removed from that album. But what really blows me away about this album beyond just how excellent this hardcore style punk is delivered, is how inspired and personal it feels. Because, for as much as it can be broadly (and accurately) described as punk, there is a range of sounds plainly evident throughout that make it feel like more, and it always feel pointed to inspired fun rather than simple, random interjections. This can be found on the numerous guitar solos that rip through the tracks, something much of punk rock left behind as it distilled the essence of noise and anger, the goth rock found in "Plan 9 Channel 7", the percussive breaks in "Anti-Pope" and "Liar", the use of synths (and electric organ?) on "I Just Can't Be Happy Today", or the whole theatricality of closer track "Smash it Up (Pts 1 and 2)", which almost sounds like a tune from a musical. This is just a fun album to listen to, plain and simple. It's indebted and heavily spun within the punk rock framework, but The Damned wear their creativity with pride, unafraid to mix silly gags and humor--this unserious vibe--with focused and, for lack of a better term, serious musical exploration. It's a great yin-yang. There are two tracks on here that I don't really jam with as much as the others, being the carny-infused "These Hands" (not a huge fan of those kinda songs, but is fun enough and luckily short) and the fairly straightforward "Liar", which outside of it's shortlived percussion break within feels pretty typical and less exciting compared to the rest of the tracklist. Beyond these small little snags for me, however, is an impressive work of punk rock art. It's heavy, it's fast, it's jokey and raw, but it's also super creative and I really didn't expect so many musical ideas throughout, ideas that feel substantive and interesting. Just a great release all around.

Listened to with my Apple EarPods. This is an album I'm semi-familiar with, as I'm sure many are if they existed during the early 10s--this album has radio hit after hit on it. At one point, this was an album that I could point to as one I liked, the "I don't listen to Taylor Swift really, but 1989 was great." I no longer hold that opinion. This album really feels like the musical equivalent of the blazing lights and rapid fire sound effects declaring "You are a special winner" from a slot machine or a rotten mobile game, designed to manipulate the brain. I listen to it, and I don't really connect with it closely, but it sounds quite nice. I want to automatically shuffle to something to distract my mind while listening, as the music seems to get better the more it centers in the subconscious rather than focused intent, in which it seems to be worse. I sound harsh, and there are some tracks ("Welcome to New York", "Blank Space") that I enjoy and a lot of moments throughout that sound nice to my ears, usually from a way Taylor Swift sings a certain melody. But really sitting and focusing with this, I felt so bored at the choruses that had the same feel throughout, the lower volume shout overdubbed into climax moments over and over, the plasticity of the instrumentation ("I Know Places" can only aspire to the bounce of the 90s/00s RnB it pulls from), and the kitschy, vague lyricism that feels devoid of real personality, only hinting at earnest expression (the first verse of "Shake it Off" feels like one of the only real peeks at this, but it too becomes this nothingness as it continues). It's an album that isn't especially grating, or irritating, and is in fact mostly pleasant sounding throughout. But it feels so manufactured, glossy, and fake to me that I can't really connect to it at all. I couldn't claim I would roll my eyes in disgust if it came on in the background somewhere, in fact, I'd probably enjoy it. But the deeper I actually just sat there with the album listening, the less I liked was I was hearing.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. This album is one I have listened to before, but many years ago. Although I love hip hop, I would not categorize myself as an Eminem fan--in fact, I don't really like his music much at all (what I've heard, at least). Whether that be the edgy raps from 'Slim Shady' or the rehabilitated anthemic pop raps from Marshall Mathers, I find myself historically skipping over his songs. I do remember enjoying 'The Slim Shady LP' from my initial listen, and 'My Name Is' was always the one track I could point to as a fun song I'm not embarassed to thrown on in the car. Upon this revisit, I feel about the same as I did before. Cohesively, it works quite well as a rap album that is unlike many others; deliberately brash, brazen, edgy, with horrifically evocative lyricism and storytelling that feels purpose built to push the boundaries of what is "acceptable". It's the type of album where most of the songs would get a side-eye if you just randomly tossed it into the aux, but as a full listening experience does well to paint a picture of harsh reality through an extremist lens. Unshackled descriptions of rape, drug abuse, and violence are spoken in a giddy manner, but one that feels far from glorification or lazy edge. Perhaps it's the mix of serious tracks like "Rock Bottom" that help shine a light on the idea of this album--a man that has lived through the tribulations of poverty, violence, drug abuse, abandonment, and uses the 'Slim Shady' persona as the teller of these tales, as the sometimes-comic-sometimes-terrifying indulging in the worst of the behavior. It's interesting in that way, how the vocal and proud endorsement of these actions provoke feelings of pity and tragedy, like beyond the absurdity of it is a unfortunate reality of how life is, especially in these poverty-stricken areas of the US where it's hard to lift yourself up and out of the environment around you where you see all these things. It helps that Eminem really flexes the creative writing muscle, making so that even in the limited topics he does cover (repetitiously so, as the album reaches the back half), he's saying the same things in different ways. Multiple times I found myself giggling at just how ridiculous some of the bars were on here. Still, beyond it's unflinching vision, I can't say I love this album. I'm not a huge fan of Eminem's nasally voice, the choruses are weak on the whole, it runs long even though he begins running through topics he already speaks to at length, and I don't find much of the album traditionally "listenable", at least to my sensibilities. Sorry, but for as fun as a song like "Guilty Conscious" is, I can't see myself throwing it in any playlists. So for me, it remains as an interesting project, boldly pushing musical boundaries but remaining an album that feels most appropriate in it's own quarantined, occasional listens.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. There is no better way to describe this listening experience than joyfully relaxing. This is an hour long treatment for the ears, basking you in the delightful sounds of Cuba, as it fuses together several Cuban-specific styles of music. So often I found myself just letting my mind drift, imagining various scenes or just kind of staring off blankly, empty of tension or worry or such like, while enjoying the music. This is just classy all around, expert instrumentation delivering these tracks that are just so soothing and pleasant, while being substantive enough to really engage with, picking out fun little phrases in the piano or guitar, which pepper themselves all over the songs in sudden and fun ways. Each track is layered pretty deep, making the listens feel bright and alive with character, as instruments take turns speaking, or I find one in particular to focus on which maybe has a more subtle presence throughout. Personal highlights for me include the two piano-driven instrumentals “Pueblo Nuevo” and “Buena Vista Social Club”, which are super duper jazzy, the male/female duet of “Veinte Años“ which is just ridiculously smooth, and the lengthy “El Cuarto de Tula”, which has an earworm chorus and a great guitar solo towards the end. I don’t know if it fully utilizes it’s hour long runtime, as I did feel moments of repetition drag it a bit throughout, but it provides such a great listening atmosphere, creating an environment of comfort, whether you want to dance to some of the more upbeat tracks or stretch out and relax when things slow down. An excellent album.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. On occasion, Apple Music will give brief descriptions of albums you click on, usually with some commentary peppered in. For ‘Velvet Underground & Nico’, they quote fellow musician Brian Eno in a statement of how the band was not super popular, but was highly inspirational, causing those who did listen at the time to start bands of their own. The description continues about the looseness in feeling from Velvet Underground, how “they didn’t really sound like professionals, but they didn’t really sound like normal people either”, and how that works to make listeners feel like it’s something they could do as well. The reason I spend that paragraph pulling from the Apple Music description is that it summarizes my overall feeling to an absolute T. This is an album that separates itself from the likes of contemporary pop rock explorations into experimentation found from The Rolling Stones or The Beatles. Where their combinations of radio friendliness and earnest creative thinking felt very laden in a technical expertise and talent that feels unachievable by the average joe schmo, The Velvet Underground go full bore into creative expressions, pushing the limits of rock n roll within a graspable, understandable format, which in turn pushed the limiting factors of technical mastery to the background. It doesn’t sound overly improvisational or random, outside perhaps the closing track ‘European Son’, but there is this looseness throughout that really effectively captures feeling over execution. This can be found in the solos in songs like ‘Run Run Run’ that have this kind of jagged, stiff tremolo picking throughout that doesn’t feel nearly as clean cut as something that ‘guitar gods’ of the time would have played, but plays the way a solo needs to play on these tracks—raw and energizing. In several moments, the band falls out of time with each other, and sometimes notes aren’t played exactly as they probably were intended, but it never really feels amateurish, always just feeling honest in effort and in thought. There is also a strong leverage on repetition, with long run times in the tracks, not because there is an absence of creative output, but because it’s utilized to immerse and almost underline what is being played, which in itself takes it’s own talent to achieve—playing the same rhythm over and over without sounding boring. None of this is meant to discount the musical abilities of The Velvet Underground, of course. But this album almost makes me feel like I’m in a garage with my friends, who are just making art for the sake of expression, doing what they can to make stuff that doesn’t just sound good, but is interesting. Between these dives into freaky experimentality like ‘Venus in Furs’ and ‘The Black Angel’s Death Song’ are more conventional tracks, whether pointed towards typical rock n roll (‘Waiting for my Man’) or this soft and sweet pop (‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’, ‘Sunday Morning’). But it never, ever feels uninspired. Whether it’s within the conventions of the time or not, Velvet Underground push such a monumental creative undercurrent, and it’s really just beautiful, plain and simple. Two of my favorite highlights from this album are ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ and ‘Heroin’, which could not stand more opposed to one another, and perhaps no other duo of songs could perfectly portray what this album has to offer. One is a 7 minute long track that pushes this constant of tension and release while depressingly delivering an ode to self destruction through drug abuse, while the other is just over two minutes long—the shortest track on the album—about true love lifting oneself out of their own judgments and cloud of self-doubt set to breezy and jangly instrumentation. It isn’t rare to hear good music, but it can be exceptionally rare to hear music that you not only connect with, but feels genuinely inspiring, and makes you want to go and make your own music, or be creative in any other way. It can be easy to forget, but the people who make all our favorite music are just that, people—like you and me. This album feels like ‘people’ can make amazing stuff, not just ‘musicians’ who have some intangible, inherent talent that we can only daydream about.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. It can be surprising to have an album establish it’s legendary status within the first track, but I believe Boston’s self titled debut does just that with ‘More than a Feeling’, a classic rock anthem for the ages. There is something truly enchanting about this track, with it’s blend of smooth acoustic driven verses backing the explosive distorted choruses with lyrics that capture so earnestly, and poetically, the one that got away. Many albums use the first track as the onboarding to the album, a taster for what’s to come without really divulging the goods. Boston—in their total confidence—make the first track one of the most legendary rock song ever, then to be followed up by a string of truly excellent companions in ‘Peace of Mind’ and ‘Foreplay/Long Time’. Although I really do love ‘More than a Feeling’, ‘Peace of Mind’ is my personal favorite on the album. It’s a song I’ve heard dozens of times over the years, and one I play regularly on guitar. This one is faster and more upbeat, but maintains the earnest lyricism, this time about individuality in the face of an America who began to derive identity and validation from their job rather than personal growth, an idea that has only become more prevalent today. ‘Foreplay/Long Time’ sounds like a more appropriate album opener, at least in a conventional sense, due to it’s extended instrumental intro led by some excellent organ work, before jumping into ‘Long Time’ with it’s catchy chorus that leaves Boston at 3/3 right out of the gate on classic rock essentials. The album continues to deliver some great tunes, especially the smooth ‘Hitch a Ride’, but this is where the album drops from that legendary status held by the ridiculous trio of songs it starts with. Hardly a strong mark against it, however—it’s always gonna be hard to follow that act up for a whole album length. Mostly, it’s the songs ‘Rock and Roll Band’ and ‘Something About You’ that don’t grip me as much as the rest of the album, feeling noticeably weaker to me than everything. Although there is the shining talent of Tom Sholz, who composed much of the instrumentation and lyrics, and the ripping voice of Brad Delp, who can really belt out these tunes, I can’t help but feel that there is a bit of a limit felt in this album. It doesn’t affect the album too much, but there are moments where songs sound a bit similar to each other, or fit a little too cleanly in the established sensibilities of rock at the time. Still, there isn’t enough negatives to terribly impact the effort and achievement found on this album. It has some legendary tracks, great performance, especially in Brad Delp’s vocals, and is a great listen.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max, Apple EarPods, and my 7.1 surround set up. I am very familiar with drum n' bass, a subgenre of electronic music that walks a thin line in my head, in terms of inspired creative expression. For as automatically my brain becomes activated to a track when I hear a breakbeat in the background, I too disregard if it seems to be just another DnB track, with lazy samples over swelling, expected synths and the boldest steps into track identity seem to be adding a spattering of hyper-fast stutters to the samples. If I sound too harsh on DnB, know that it comes from a place of love, for there is something about this genre that satisfies this obtuse yin yang in my brain, where a track is simultaneously bursting with energy and calming enough to put me into a nap. Perhaps that's just my ADHD speaking. Goldie's Timeless, I'm happy to report, is a worthy DnB effort, an album that doesn't exceed my expectations of what DnB can mean, but it so consistent and expertly crafted that it creates a great listen. For a nearly two-hour piece of music, I never quite found myself getting tired of what was being played. Beyond the effective moments of repreive from serene chaos found in moments like the jazzy "Adrift", with it's spacey sax and smooth vocals running eschewed of drums all together, or the constant little flourishes to tracks to keep things interesting, like the breakbeat programmed to the 808 in "Still Life", there is an expert management of tension and flow, whether it be from track to track or within some of these mammoth sized tracks (the self-titled opener running at 21 minutes!). I think this is where the heart of the album lies, the idea that it isn't enough to create great tracks of DnB, but to find balance within the album experience, much like a DJ has to balance their set at a club to ensure the crowd stays engaged. It's why my method of listening was changing throughout, because whether I was completing some chores around the house (AirPods Max), readying for a task outside the house (EarPods), or just sitting back and letting the sounds wash over me (7.1 surround set-up), the album was ready for me, offering varying states of this balanced, controlled, serene chaos.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. A masterpiece, plain and simple. This is an album I’m already well familiar with, and I am a Radiohead fan on the whole, and still there is something so beautiful and masterful about this album. Over Radiohead’s career, they found their footing in the new wave of British rock bands rising in the 90s, set themselves as icons of that wave with huge hit ‘Creep’ and the foreboding new world phobia of album ‘OK Computer’, before transitioning themselves into different lanes, whether that be the pure electronica of ‘Kid A’ or the experimentality of albums after. The point is, Radiohead had a long and storied career before arriving confidently and assuredly at ‘In Rainbows’, my personal favorite album from them. This work sees the band work all of their favored sensibilities into something incredibly focused and direct, with substantive nuance. Most of these songs play it very straightforward in terms of it’s pure skeletal structure, but the range of vibes from song to song—like the fast paced distortion of ‘Bodysnatchers’ into the reeled in and slim ‘Nude’—the expert fusion of electronic elements within the tracks, like the clattering programmed drums of ‘15 Step’, and the honed lyricism that floats within familiar Radiohead territory but with a deep maturity to it—all these elements come together to create one of the most professional and enchanting listening experiences I have discovered. It feels like Radiohead distilled down into their purest essence. There’s exploration into weirdness, layered tracking that folds in many sounds, movements within songs that change up the attitude, it’s everything I’d expect from Radiohead but delivered with such an unmatched clarity and vision that I can’t help but be blown away upon each listen. The songwriting itself is a particular high note throughout the album, with many songs following a path of self-reflection and reflection upon love and relationships, delivered in this wispy, gloomy way that hesitates to be direct, while being strong enough not to come off as vague. The song ‘All I Need’ is almost like a spiritual successor to ‘Creep’, though trading the unabashed young feelings of a lack of self-confidence for this unrequited and unhealthy attachment that plays the same in feeling, but comes off more somber and affecting, at least to me, due to the aging of Thom Yorke, who was about a decade and a half removed from that initial, emotionally barring hit. ‘In Rainbows’ is just a monumental achievement. Following the exploratory dives into what it meant to be Radiohead as a project after their triumphant ‘OK Computer’, the band found themselves grown up, and able to cohesively work elements from all of that music into this 100% lean, no fat, laser focused album.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. You know, this album is quite a challenge for me to describe in terms of my feelings. There is certainly appreciation to be held in Paul Simon's songwriting, and in the exploration in fusing his American pop/folk ideas with South African musical ideas, but this album on the whole just sounds grating to my ears. Throughout the album, I was really turned off by the drums, which has this 80s trademark gated reverb thing going on that makes them sound stadium ready and fake as hell, totally at odds with this kinda "man with guitar" kinda music, even in it's expanded band sense like this album presents. I also didn't find myself connecting to a lot of the storytelling by Simon. There are moments, like the title track 'Graceland', in which a heartfelt tale of lost love and moving on is sung in a way where the lyrics and delivery come together for something great, but I so often found myself annoyed by both of those aspects. It's that singing by Paul combined with a lot of the instrumentation, whether it be the instrument itself (like the several accordion passages) or the engineering on the sound that makes the thing sound tacky and synthetic--it's all these forces coming together in ways that feel totally at odds with my ears. It isn't impossible for me to see how this album reached the heights of success that it did, but I just personally do not like much of what the album has to offer. Whether that be the vocal delivery or the clashing fusion of South African music with overwrought studio-pop sound, it's just not for me. The album art's nice, though.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. Much like my last listened to album, 'Graceland', which saw Paul Simon attempt to fuse his pop folk style with the sounds of South Africa to an effect I found myself not too fond of, I too feel a similar attitude towards Garbage's first album here. On this album, the band takes on the alternative rock of the 90s with a glossy, high production sheen, heavy sample usage for an electronic feel, and rhythms that feel very danceable and, for lack of a better term, poppy. Unfortunately, I did not find myself gelling with the mix of these disparate styles, and in fact I found the album to feel as if it were a effort to put forth the most commercial ready, "play this in your counterculture store that's conveniently located two doors down from the Auntie Anne's in the mall" alternative rock I've yet to hear. This idea takes a while to build though. At first, it's novel in it's combination of alternative rock with this more electronic and dance sound, and the lyrics that accompany these tracks definitely have a darkness to them, both in content and in delivery by lead singer Shirley Manson, who often presents this sultry and moody sound that seems a perfect match for the overall brooding feel of the writing. However, it doesn't take too long for things to start sounding the same, and deeper immersion into the album left something to be desired, as guitar riffs failed to excite and lyrics often conveyed simplistic, on-the-nose ideas that lack a real edge or bite to it. It just becomes plain boring. Much of the album doesn't necessarily sound grating or obnoxious, but I did start getting a headache towards the end with all of these full swirling chords and sampling that added very little to the actual songs other than cheap flair. Honestly, it feels like the opposite of something like Portishead's Dummy, which also presents an interesting fusion, though this time hip hop beats and sampling slowed to a crawl with skinny, frail, and ghostly female vocals. Unlike this album, that one blows me away in it's raw energy, whether from the bold and present samples that dominate a track rather than appear for show, or the vocals, which takes the dark writing of the lyrics and combines it with haunting delivery that feels so devastated and dissociated. Still, there are moments when this album can come together in compelling ways. Of particular note were 'Vow' and closing track 'Milk', which are elevated by the emotive vocal deliveries and the lyrics that stand at opposing ends of the best of Garbage's ideas, with the former being a very straight-on dive into a cruel, toxic person in a relationship that feels aggressive and mean, and the latter being this spacey, interpretive pleading and longing in a relationship that deviously inserts manipulation into those feelings. On the whole, however, I don't find myself to invested into this work. Tracks like those mentioned in the last paragraph highlight the potential of Garbage's style, but unfortunately stick out as outliers rather than parts of a complete realization of that vibe.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. This was quite an interesting album. I've never heard of Harry Nilsson before--at least until 'Coconut' came on and I thought "wait, this guy made that song?" Although Coconut comes in as the most 'bizzare' song on the album, it is representative of the feel of the album on the whole. It has the baroque pop-rock foundation, but Nilsson often runs with unconventional ideas within the tracks, which really helps the album out from blending in to any number of similar sounding albums of the time. Because, yes, this album does have a "yeah, I'm familiar with this kinda music" vibe throughout, as songs fall right in line with what my mom played for me growing up. As a matter of fact, I often found the lyricism to be the weakest part of the album, with a lot of pretty milquetoast dives into love. However, it really is the unique music ideas, structures, and vocal performance from Harry Nilsson that elevates this into a good listen. Though I found myself unimpressed by the lyrics themselves, Nilsson never fails to deliver his writing in earnest and expressive ways, with belting yells and soft whines that are just great in terms of emotion. Beyond his vocal performance, he has a lot of good song ideas, like 'Early in the Morning' which is a blues cover on electric organ, breathing new life into a old track. I also found myself impressed with 'Jump into the Fire', which sees Nilsson explode into some heavy duty rock with a real punk feel, running long with an extended drum solo section at the end that helps the whole song feel electrifying. 'The Moonbeam Song' is so soft and smooth, and 'Without You' has probably the best vocal performance of the album, even if I don't really like the lyrics themselves. Whether it's stripped back minimal blues like in 'Early in the Morning' or the orchestral 'Without You', Nilsson showcases a diverse range of creativity on the tracks here, and this range also works to highlight how it is truly in service of what the track needs. He's not afraid to layer up plenty of instruments, but he knows when to pull it back as well, or when to just let the drums and guitar rock your out of your seat. The album is also pretty succinct, with 10 tracks coming in at just 35 minutes, which is right around the sweet zone for me in terms of album length. However, there was a lingering feeling of songs not knowing quite how to resolve, as they often faded out rather than culminating into something with closure. Still, this album is a really solid listen all around. Barring the weak endings and lyricism, Nilsson is a great vocal performer, and the tracks are varied and interesting.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. This is my first time listening to anything by the group Orbital, which I've never heard of beforehand, and I think this album 'Snivilisation' stands as a solid piece of electronic music, if not a bit lacking from time to time. This album can feel really atmospheric, especially in the opening and closing moments of the album, where the tracks are long and have a more relaxed vibe to them. 'Forever', the opener track wouldn't sound out of place in a 2000s futuristic game like 'Deus Ex' or 'Ratchet and Clank', while the penultimate track 'Are We Here' tracks a slowed down DnB drum sample to ethereal vocals, and is one of the few moments on the album I found the vocal samples to add meaningfully to the track, as the voices ponder the question of being the only intelligent life in the universe, which fits well with the vibe of the track. 'Attached', the finale track, runs fully into the space vibe, sounding like you finally made it into orbit around earth, mission accomplished. There is a general futuristic vibe to the whole sound of the album, though a future circa mid-90s. The more atmospheric tracks I list above are moreso bookends to an album filled with focus, energetic dance tunes like 'Crash and Carry', which I found myself less intrigued with and more typical sounding within what I might expect from EDM. Doesn't mean that they are bad, but they mostly don't stand out to me in the same way, aside from something like 'Sad but True' which has the same type of ethereal vocals found in 'Are We Here'. There were a couple tracks that stood out to me in a pretty negative way, that being 'I Wish I Had Duck Feet' and 'Quality Seconds', which are perhaps the most experimental moments of the album. The former has a rhythm that sits in the background while stacked vocal samples repetitively weave over each other in the foreground which was a little annoying to my ears, and the latter--luckily very short--is perhaps the biggest blast of energy on the album but uses these tinny and ridiculous sounding MIDI instruments for the entirety of the track, and it honestly sounds a bit like a joke to me. Beyond these specific tracks, a recurring theme throughout the album is the usage of vocal samples like I mentioned above, which sound mostly like old advertisements and news clips, and for the most part I found that these didn't really add much to the album at all, and stood in the way of sinking away into the dance vibe when played repeatedly. These snags aside, the album is an enjoyable electronic album on the whole, and presents a variety of interesting sounds and ideas into a rhythmic and swirling dance format.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. A relic of the early days of rap, this first eponymous release by Run-D.M.C. is enjoyable to listen to, but in the way that playing 'Pong' or 'Pitfall' can be enjoyable. For me, it's mostly the historical relevance that gives it value in the modern day, rather than the actual content of it, just because of how outdated it sounds. This album mostly plays the same song over and over again, which is these now cheesy-sounding shout raps over minimal beats, typically just a programmed drum beat and maybe some scratches. After hearing the first song, you've got a pretty good idea of what the album is. Still, that doesn't discount it so much, seeing as this was the blueprint for the great rap that was soon to follow (very soon, in fact, with acts like Eric B and Rakim showing how to mold more complex sounding beats with rhymes that flow into one another rather than sounding choppy). In fact, it can be fun seeing the little moments where the album does kinda of experiment with the established sound, such as in 'Wake Up' which features a lot of sample work over the beat. It doesn't necessarily make for a good track, and some samples like water rushing just seem plain odd, but it's interesting nonetheless. Rock Box fuses the hip hop sound with distorted guitars running licks through the song, something that was crucial to the adoption and understanding of hip hop in the larger context of America. There's also the track 'Sucker M.C.'s', which is easily the most impressive in terms of actual rapping, mostly ignoring the shout rap style of the rest of the tracks, with both Run and DMC rapping just straight through the whole song, which is an appreciated turn of vibe compared to how the rest of the album plays. In terms of songs I actually like, 'It's Like That' holds up pretty well with a recognizable hook and some synth stabs and drum fills that helps the beat stand out. Beyond that, however, there isn't much I really enjoy on it's own. Listening within the context of the time, this album is enjoyable just to trace some of the roots of hip hop, but absent of that historical value, this just isn't my kind of rap.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. Beyond a single listen years ago to 'Aja', perhaps Steely Dan's most famous album, and repeated listenings to 'Hey Nineteen', a song from them I adore, I don't have too-too much experience with Steely Dan, and their 1974 release Pretzel Logic doesn't really reshape what I came to expect from the band, but still delivered a good album of tunes that can be pretty diverse in terms of sound. See, I am familiar on the surface with a lot of Steely Dan's hits, and this album certainly starts out with a big one in 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number', and I am also aware of their reputation, which seems to be one of a sort of snobbery, like 'Oh you listen to Steely Dan. Pfft.' To a degree, I can see where the root of this may come from, in both their perfectionist studio style where only two members, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, are actually 'Steely Dan' with the rest of the instruments outsourced to session musicians, while also putting out music that, honestly, sounds that way. There's nothing to argue about the performances, which are very locked in, but the songs do kind of have this sense of a lack of grounding to a centralized idea. It's certainly an interesting idea, to have a band be more of a rotating group of people who serve a track specifically, but it removes some personality that could form from the tracks as a cohesive whole as well, which I think Fagen's lyricism doesn't really help either, which is about a whole load of things that doesn't feel like a whole load of much, outside of certain tracks (I'm not such a big fan of his voice either). Still, there is solid enjoyment to be gained from the listening of this album, which really started to warm up to me at 'East St. Louis Toodle-Oo', which perhaps highlights the strength of Steely Dan's variety the most--an instrumental track with this really whimsical vibe from the rhythm and the horns, overlayed with a guitar that has a really kooky kinda effect on it before switching off to a clean delivery, swapping to a plucky honky tonk piano and horn section before rounding back off in that wah wah guitar. Just a great track with a lot of personality, where the instruments get to speak for themselves. What follows is my personal favorite track of the album 'Parker's Band', which has such an infectious, upbeat fast paced rhythm that it was impossible for me not to groove along to it while listening. The album continues with the brief 'Through with Buzz' which was a really interesting pull/push flow to it with some great string instrumentation, and beyond that there are continued explorations into different vibes like the Western-feeling 'With a Gun'. Funnily enough, clicking on random tracks for refreshers to this album review has me really vibing to what I hear, and I think it kind of illustrates the success and failure of Steely Dan in Pretzel Logic. There's an endless supply of great performances on this album, and there is a good sense of exploration even in more typical sounding soft rock tracks, in the sense of chords played or rhythmic switch ups on drums, and it makes for great material on it's own. But in terms of serving a cohesive whole, an album, it's really hard to find the soul in there. It doesn't make it a bad album, but it's something that stops me from really immersing myself within the album, when so much of it feels interchangeable, whether it's the songs or the musicians themselves.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. You know, sometimes I see an elder millenial reminiscing of their good ol' youth by making the claim that 'sex was invented with 'Closer' by Nine Inch Nails', in reference to it's hammer-smash lyricism about gettin' dirty. There is no way to work around Trent Reznor's bluntness there. Of course, beyond the statement serving mostly a nostalgic yearning to a formative-years tune that would scare any parents listening, it is wrong. Sex was invented by Marvin Gaye with the release of 'Let's Get it On'. Anybody who hears the first four notes on guitar of the title track can attest to this. It is one of the most stereotyped musical references to love making, and if you haven't really sat with that song and this whole album before, it might even seem like a bit of a joke, if your only reference point is the countless usages of it in media over the years, mostly representing a comedic overplay of love. But there is no joke about the love, the passion, the intensity on display in this album. This is sexual liberation. This album is unabashed love, operating at 100% power, with not even a hint of cringe that could arise from vibes of desperation or heavy-handedness. Marvin literally pours his heart out on this record moreso than almost any artist I have ever heard. It's like you can feel the sweat from all the heat in the studio. As he smoothly glides between these belting yearns and soft, sweet pleas, he paints a picture of passion that is enrapturing. This is what love sounds like. It's the pent up energy in need of release from the title track. It's the fear of losing that once-in-a-lifetime connection in 'Please Don't Stay'. The total acceptance of the power of love in 'If I Should Die Tonight', with one of the most emotionally truthful delivery of lines I've ever heard in music: "How many hearts have felt their world stand still? Millions never, and millions never will". Those lines in particular, aside from Gaye's absolute resounding honesty in singing them, speak so clearly to the feeling of true love. This is something we learn about, it's something that we see everyday, it's something so many shoot for everyday, dream about every night. It's the carrot-on-the-stick for creating new generations of us. Yet, when you truly feel that love, it feels so singular, unrelatable, and unique to oneself. Sure, you can say you have found true love. But love like mine? It made my heart stand still, in a way millions will never feel. Just absolute perfection. 'Keep Gettin' it On' does exactly what the title says, a reprise of the title track that works better than most reprises ever do, as it's in service of well, continuing to get it on, "Morning through the nighttime". The next two tracks deal with the feelings of separation, before a sexy praise of a partner follows in 'You Sure Know How to Ball', culminating into the bittersweet send off to that true love in the final track 'Just To Keep You Satisfied'. What a way to cap off this brilliant ode to love, for love lost is just as likely as true love found. The understanding that the relationship cannot go on, even if the feelings still burn red, it's a special kind of emotional anguish. Rationality versus passion. Brain against heart. Marvin Gaye puts on an absolute clinic here in terms of barring his soul, and it is so encapsulating of the feelings of love. Of course, special mention must be made to the instrumentation as well, which is not only exciting in terms of range of instruments and composition, but works intrinsically within the ideas of love. These, simply, are the sounds of love. The squeaky guitar that opens up the album is the sound of letting your guard down, as the scene becomes just you and your partner, slowly to become into one. The sultry sax that breaks through halfway into 'If I Should Die Tonight', that is the sound of satisfaction, that even if your very life were to go, you would go fulfilled. The swirling strings in 'Just to Keep You Satisfied' with the quiet choral adornments and light percussive elements, that is the sound of send-off; it's so pleasant, so pretty, but it's is disappearing--it is quite literally the end. The rhythm is on point throughout, keeping it bouncy for the highly passionate moments and light for the reflection, and the sax that is spread all throughout is perhaps the very instrument of sex. This is a masterful album, and a resounding follow-up to the equally excellent 'What's Goin On'. That previous release from Marvin Gaye captured so many people's thoughts on the world itself, which is earnestly delivered in the form of the question that titles, "What is going on?" It's disappointed, it's unsure, and it works so perfectly to deliver that feeling that so many feel about the world they live in, an album that is still unfortunately so relevant. How do you follow up such an earnest political statement, when so many would argue that there is perhaps nothing more morally potent or important? By not letting yourself be held down by the concept itself. 'What's Goin On' is a politically charged release, but moreso than that it is an album of uncertainty. 'Let's Get it On', by that very hand, is a sexually charged release, but moreso an album of absolute certainty. There is nothing more assuring than the passion felt in the connection of true love, whether it be the throes of love gone away or the pinnacle of excitement within love making. Truly, a masterpiece.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods and my stereo set up. I don't find myself listening to live albums all too often, but I was intrigued at the prospect of this one in particular, which sees Metallica working with the San Francisco Symphony to re-imagine some of their tunes with the grandiosity and epic scale of an orchestral backing. Although Metallica's signature walk-on song 'The Ecstasy of Gold' from Ennio Morricone works perfectly within the symphonic bounds, and 'The Call of Ktulu' sees an interesting instrumental reworking, I found myself not too excited in my first impression, then leading into crowd pleaser 'Master of Puppets' which I thought was not very well enhanced by the presence of the symphony. At this point, in hopes to get more engaged, I switched from listening on my earbuds and found the full live performance on YouTube (unfortunately missing out on the 5.1 channel mixing found in the DVD release), and I found myself much more immersed in the performance, which also found it's stride as it focused on newer material from Metallica. Yes, this performance from 1999--although a particularly special concert--found the iconic metal band focusing mostly on cuts from it's newest three releases: The Black Album, Load, and ReLoad. Now, for as big a Metallica fan I am, that is mostly cordoned off to the so called 'golden age' of the band, or their first four thrash metal releases. Not to say that I dislike their newer work, but I am much more likely to revisit those albums than any other from the catalogue. Yet, the deeper I got into this work, the more I realized that this was actually a brilliant decision. See, I found myself not to attached to the expected hits remixed that find themselves mostly in the front and back ends of this album. Personally, I find the the thrash metal of those songs to be so enveloping and busy that the minor orchestral overlays they could add didn't enhance much at all, and often felt like the best they could do with the material they had. However, the newer material, which saw Metallica shift away from their thrash metal roots for a slower hard rock sound works perfectly with this mixing of ideologies. Because their is breathing room built into these tracks, it is absolutely laden with opportunity for orchestral expansion. These tracks, which I have disregarded for the most part over the years, feel fresh and exciting. It is such an interesting and fun blend, taking the hard rock of Metallica with the very conservative and proper symphony sensibilities. I must also mention the viewing experience of the concert, which I think sizeably increased my enjoyment. Actually seeing this concept play out is so charming. The arrangement of instrument sections being conducted while a rock band just let's loose in front of them, it really captures the unique energy of this release. It's like I couldn't fully appreciate the idea on display here until I was actually watching what was happening. Seeing Jason Newsted on bass go in front of the double bass player as they feed off each other's energy, catching the conductor singing along, Kirk Hammett on guitar going back to back with the conductor, and the sea of people in band shirts banging their heads, it really does just help to capture the atmosphere to actually see the thing play out. This is just a great performance on the whole. You get this wonderful mix of hard rock and orchestra going full blast for over two hours, and there is few moments where it stumbles. Personally, I found that to be mostly relegated to the iconic thrash tunes, in which the symphony couldn't add too much, but also illustrated a bit of age in the band itself, as James Hetfield on vocals couldn't quite belt out the same performances as when he was a young man, and Lars Ulrich gets to indulge in his more, let's say controversial drumming, like on the track 'One'. Some songs that I find weak in normal listening also couldn't find themselves improved with orchestration, like 'Sad but True'. Still, Metallica, the San Francisco Symphony, and conductor Michael Kamen do a great job putting on a show that isn't just energizing and fun, but is unique and a novel way to approach the material of the band.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. This is a confounding album, to me at least. I've listened to it twice for this album generator project, the first being a more background kinda listen while doing yard work, and then a more focused listen later in the day. And honestly, I still can't quite make heads or tails of this. There is a truly undeniable talent laden throughout, whether it be Joni Mitchell's angelic voice, her poetic storytelling, or the composition of this thing, with complex passages that squeeze into any little cracks left open. Even with all this considered however, I feel actual brain confusion when I listen to this album. It's like all these elements should come together for a delightful listen, but I'm mostly feeling totally disjointed and disconnected from this thing. This is found in the stories that spin out uncohesively at times, Joni's delivery in where she modulates her voice and tone at random or ties strings of lines together without an expected rhythmic guide, interjects vocal overlays with a reckless abandon, and the band itself given free reign to just futz about doing whatever, as long as they revisit the melody a handful of times throughout. Something that I have found to be quite important to my listening experience doing this project is being able to connect with the album, whether that be with the intention, the lyricism, the instrumentation, what have you. If I find an album overly-produced, written unconvincingly, or is composed in an uninteresting way, I have a hard time getting connected and wanting to stay engaged and listening. What makes this album so bizarre to me is that it doesn't necessarily have those problems yet I cannot connect regardless. I like a lot of jazzy ideas throughout, and there are some tracks that I like alright enough, like the title track for it's atmosphere and storytelling, 'Raised on Robbery' for it's astounding ability to create a homely, folksy, upbeat country song that doesn't quite fall into kitsch, or the ender track 'Twisted', a smooth, jazzy cover of an oldie track with some silly, fun lyricism. But even in these tracks I like, I don't love them. I just don't really dig a lot of this album. The structure continually frustrates me, and it almost makes me want to call it pretentious, but I really doesn't feel it. All of it's constant switch-ups and left turns derive from a place of actual enticement and expression, but it feels like it's ready to blow apart at any moment, bursting with too many creative ideas that don't flow into each other smoothly, and too often fleeting, never getting the chance to truly ground itself within each song. It's certainly a very interesting listen, and it's one that makes me think, but in terms of actual enjoyment I just don't get too much out of it.

Listened to on my 7.1 surround sound set up. Though the Bee Gees have a lengthy, storied career spanning many albums, I--and I assume most people--only really have a knowledge for their disco hits associated with the release of the 'Saturday Night Fever' film, in which they have a handful of songs. What took me by surprise going into this album was the orchestral pop sound that dominates this release, feeling so disconnected from the Bee Gees that I am familiar with. In fact, they waste no time delving straight into it with their opening track 'Odessa (City on the Black Sea), a seven and a half minute long epic with storytelling that wouldn't sound out of place on a prog rock album from around this time. If your only knowledge of Bee Gees is something like 'Stayin' Alive', this is such a strange departure. But it's one that is well-executed over 17 tracks spanning a bit over an hour, with unique stories spun through the tracks and even some pure orchestral instrumentals that help build the grandiosity of this release. It's not necessarily mind blowing pop, and after some supplemental reading, I do wish they were able to execute their original vision of a conceptual release, as I think it would have made for a more singular and cohesive album, but between all of the solid singing by the trio and the lush instrumentation that accompanies are some hidden gems of emotional delivery and interesting storytelling. 'Black Diamond' stands out particularly to my ears, as one of the few tracks led by Robin Gibb of the Gibb brothers that sing, and I just love his voice. The song isn't necessarily deep, but there is a heartache that really comes through in Robin's delivery which is great. The following track 'Marley Purt Drive' is probably the storytelling highlight of this album, almost a lyrical exercise in withholding information to re-contextualize the song by the end, with the beginning sounding like a man selfishly running from his responsibilities before developing into the idea of a man looking for a break from his absolutely massive and noble responsibilities (he's not running from his family, he's just clearing his head cause he spends his week running a big orphanage). I appreciated as well the 3 instrumentals that pop up towards the end, which--although feeling a bit like fragments of that lost original album idea--help break up the monotony a bit. See, this album is very fine on the whole, not exactly earth-shattering but certainly pleasurable. However, it makes it hard to point out a whole lot that really comes across as interesting or particularly notable. It's just a nice piece of orchestral pop with ideas from time to time of grander ideas. A good listen all around, and an informative dive into the history of the Bee Gees, but not something that rocks my world.

Listened to on my Apple AirPods Max. This album really has some depth under it's hood, behind the weak album cover with a dated hairstyle and the title's impression of a 'just another love-laden pop release' from someone who would seem familiar to me as a 60s-era variety/talk show performer. In spite of my weak first thoughts just based on the cover alone, and my lack of knowledge of Dusty Springfield, this album surprised me in it's variety of sound, it's lyrical quality, and the voice of Dusty herself, which is really emotive. 'Just a Little Lovin' makes a great first impression with this jazzy kinda progression combined with sultry delivery, and at track three I arrived upon 'Son of a Preacher Man', in a surprise way similar to listening to Harry Nilsson's 'Coconut' for the first time, in the sense that I've heard it plenty of times but had no idea that this artist made that song. Could it be because of an undercurrent of appropriation felt in the tracks? Maybe. But they are still undeniable as interesting and enjoyable songs, particularly for me Preacher Man for it's funky feel and catchy chorus. 'Breakfast in Bed' was a bit of a surprise as well, a love song that unapolegetically indulges in adultery, with these kind of taboo lyrics delivered assuredly, which I though was quite interesting. The "you should leave her for me" theme of song is not necessarily uncommon, especially nowadays, but it rarely gets so blatantly sung as this, the "yeah she broke your heart again and you came to me, and all I want is for you to stay in bed for breakfast the morning after" just comes off particularly strong, maybe also due in fact to the time period in which this released. Another highlight off this album is 'The Windmills of Your Mind' which is written in almost pure simile and backdropped with this minimalist guitar and percussion that makes it feel like a lullaby, before building and eventually exploding into this fast paced drumming with bass and piano flourishes and a strong orchestration. It's just a great sonic journey and is so well composed. Now, what certainly helps create this album's collection of sounds and vibes is that a lot of it is not original material, which degrades the album a bit for me. Beyond just the lyrics which I believe Dusty didn't have a hand in, there is a good amount of covers on here too. But Dusty's voice is great, and the performances from the instrument sections is strong all around, so it's hard to hate that fact too much. They at least feed into each other very well for what can be pretty disparate in terms of actual sound, mostly because of their love-focused lyrics. And I want to make a point of that quickly, because the lyrics of love are really forlorn and yearning compared to many others, so there is this sad atmosphere to the whole thing that Dusty's voice really helps thoughtfully convey. I also thought that--although the album has a great range of sounds while staying cohesive--the choruses left me a bit unimpressed on the whole, with most forcing themselves into a louder and bombastic tone that a lot of the songs don't carry with throughout, which can make them feel a bit disjointed. Overall, this is a great collection of songs that is soulfully sung by Dusty Springfield and excitingly performed through all the instruments. There are plenty of little flourishes throughout that perk up my ears, and I found myself really engaged with the lyricism.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. Forget me just not being a major listener of live performances, this album, 'The Köln Concert' by Keith Jarrett, is not only a live performance but an improvisational piece, performed for a little over an hour long on piano alone. This creates a really interesting piece of music to listen to, as beyond just the content performed, the mastery of improvising it within the conditions presented helps it shine even brighter. There is no other way to describe Keith Jarrett's playing than masterful. The way that he can balance both hands going off independently, one typically holding down a strong bass rhythm while the other goes away at the main melodies, or otherwise just going crazy all over the keys, creates a piece that feels very full even though it is a solo. In particular, I liked the opener track the most, which also ran at the longest time of nearly a half hour. The movements in energy and vibe create this sweeping piece that is accentuated by Jarrett's own building confidence while playing, as his mind becomes totally interlinked with the music that he performs. This is heard in his little vocalizations of what he's playing, the exhausted, breathy relief pushed out after a particularly strong section, and the feet stomping that makes the whole thing feel alive and electric. Part II B, the third of only four tracks, also makes a strong impression with it's more epic, emotional feeling. It has a very measured beauty to it, especially as it starts expanding a little over halfway through, as it moves through complex changes that, like the first track, feels like pure storytelling. There is just a true majesty in Jarrett's playing, which finds technical mastery in compliment with creative wonder, drawing these worlds out of thin air in such a routinely compelling way. It's also interesting to read how the concert itself came together, which was put together by an 18 year old promoter for an 11:30 pm performance, utilizing a practice baby grand piano that was in rough shape and performed by a hungry and exhausted Keith Jarrett. For everything that tried to stand in this concert's way, you would think the whole thing, down to the improvised music itself, was planned all ahead of time and executed perfectly. There are some moments throughout that don't hit quite as strongly as others, often those with repeating patterns held down for minutes at a time, which can make listening feel a bit repetitive or unexciting. And true to it's improvisational nature, I don't really find myself carrying earworms of the content with me after like a carefully crafted piece can make, moreso I just remember the feeling. Regardless, this recorded performance is an absolute statement of a master at work, and a great listen all around.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. You know, something of a habit has formed when typing these reviews up the day after I listen, in which I listen back to tracks from said album that have stood out to me or to just grab a refresher on things I want to talk about. For this album, I truly feel no urge to do so, in fact I would be pleased not to hear from this album again. This is the first album from my project that I have felt totally disconnected with, whether it's Laura Nyro's voice which I find abrasive and grating, the instrumentation which felt totally standard and lacking in energy, or the shifts in mood which conveyed very little emotionally, whether that be the random pushes into a full time rhythm groove before sinking back into half time, or the very spacious moments throughout where Laura's vocals shrink to the minimum output and the bands takes off almost entirely. Unfortunately, my biggest disconnect with the album does lay with Laura Nyro's voice. I just don't like it at all, and it made it really hard to focus on the lyricism behind it, which I didn't really find compelling when I could focus in. There were very few moments I actually enjoyed the album, and enjoyed might not even be the right word for it. It was more like respected, or interested, rather than outright enjoyment. This came in the overt mentioning of cocaine at the ending of 'Poverty Train', which combined with the lyrics and the delivery, surprised me due to the time period. And immediately following that came the one track that I found reasonable, which was 'Lonely Women', which felt very emotionally honest and laden with lament. These small moments could not save the album from my overall impressions, however. I just wasn't convinced throughout the overwhelming whole of the album, whether it be the vibe switches that didn't add to the tracks or Nyro's voice which I am not a fan of. This album reminds me a lot of Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell which I just recently listened to for this project. Though I didn't quite enjoy that one either, I could at least give it props for it's musical exploration feeling backed by talent, Mitchell's voice being so graceful and wonderful as it is, and the couple of tracks that I did dig from it. Here, however, on 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession', I find very little I can actually take away from this album, not the voice, not the exploration, not the tracks. My least favorite album from this project thus far.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. 'Ambient 1: Music for Airports' is an album I'm already a bit familiar with, as one of my conscious choices for ambient listening, alongside Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works Vol. II'. This album, and ambient music as a whole, is a very interesting prospect for music in general, as it's easily ignorable nature makes it that much more thought-provoking. The ignorable part isn't even my own conjecture--the artist Brian Eno agrees. He is quoted as to saying that the music of ambience should be "as ignorable as it is interesting." I think this really conveys Brian's creative process for this work. Lately, I have been listening to albums for this project whilst going on walks, and there is hardly anything more appropriate--I find--for the activity than good ambience such as this, because it really facilitates the ebb and flow of attention span that can be found on walks. I listen intently, then my mind drifts, and I fall into thought about something or other in my life or the environment around me. Will I get to see the dog Noodles that walks my route with her owner? I wonder what those goats are thinking behind that fence over there. Time to pause for the traffic, and wait to cross. It's these subtle thoughts that drift in and out of my mind as I go on my walks, and it can shift focus away, sometimes without even really noticing. What 'Ambient 1' says is: good. Let it happen. Let the music serve you. Let it blend into the environment. Think of the subtle presses of the piano keys while birds tweet in the trees ahead. Let it sink into your subconscious while you have an internal debate about a particular thought that has been clouding your mind lately. Just let it drift in and out. This, I think, is what can make ambient music so enticing to listen to. It's not just it's spacey, often peaceful, gently rhythmic quality that makes it good for filling the air, it's that when done excellently like done here, it truly serves you in the moment, on a deeper level. Specifically noting the four tracks, I find myself enamored particularly to the opener 1/1, with it's piano keys that feel assuring, and subtle synth droning that feels quizzical, an opening for thought. 1/2 is also a track I find myself attached to, in it's combination of heavenly sounding choral adornments with drifting piano. 2/2 also ends the listening experience on a strong note, with it's pure synth sounds rising in and out of each other, like waves crashing in the ocean. It feels like clarity, not of a particular end goal or certainty, but of an emotional understanding. Really, the only track I find not as interesting is the second track 2/1, with it's focus mainly on see-sawing vocal samples, which I find to be missing a little bit of something, which the next track makes up for with vocal samples in addition to piano. 'Ambient 1' was not the first ambient work, nor what Eno considers his own personal first, but it was the signpost for the genre moving forward. It gave it direction, it gave it a vibe, an understanding, and simply, a name. It's a fantastic work that does something entirely interesting for the world of music, and it finds that by stripping it down piece by piece until there's almost nothing left.

Listened to on my Apple EarPods. God, what a fun rap album. You know, for as much as rap can excel at personal storytelling, political fire, or energizing success bars, there is a true lack of rap that not only sounds great, but sounds like it was fun to make. I think of stuff like Beastie Boys' 'Paul's Boutique', Wu-Tang Clan's debut, or something more modern like Brockhampton's 'Saturation'. Cypress Hill's eponymous debut is one of those albums, even when main rapper B-Real delivers bars that are sometimes brutal and dark. Now, I'm not unfamiliar with Cypress Hill, but I've never really delved deep into any of their work. Really giving them a try with this album filled a hole I didn't know was waiting to be filled in my rap knowledge. This is just stacked with incredible flow and unique beats. For me, my closest reference point is Public Enemy, a group I'm very familiar with, who have the same kind of energy, just trade their social-consciousness for a lot more pot-headed lyrics. DJ Muggs serves as the beatmaker for the album and he is just an absolute force, filling the rhythm with heavy bass and thumping drums that contrast with the thin melodies and chopped up vocal samples that glide over top in weird and funky ways. There are just a lot of weird samples on here that you can only make work if you let it serve the song without any judgement, like if "ahh, I don't know if we should use that, it sounds kind of bizarre" was a statement that never said in the making. The voice of B-Real and the hype-man energy from Sen Dog are also from left-field and mix well with that production. B-Real never really grabbed me with his lyrics in general, but there is an undeniable mastery in his ability to flow from line to line and even word to word, with a lot of internal rhyming in the lines, and that combined with his voice makes him fit like a glove on these tracks, and super entertaining. Sen Dog has a more hidden presence, occasionally offering his own verses with a great voice and unmistakably shouting in the back of a lot of tracks, which add a lot of character. In particular, tracks like the opener 'Pigs', 'Light Another', and especially 'The Phuncky Feel One' stuck out to me. That last track in particular--I think--showcases Cypress Hill at it's fullest power. This isn't just cause it sounds great, but because it has such a cool three part structure, B-Real rapping over the main beat, then Sen Dog coming in for a half verse over a beat switch before going back to the main beat and B-Real, and finally closing with the pair trading bars over the beat switch. This song just truly encapsulates the fun of this album as everybody gets a chance to shine. There is just a lot of great stuff all over this record. The beat switches from DJ Muggs that actually add to tracks by transitioning nicely and sticking around for a bit (wish beat switches nowadays were as masterful and exciting as this). The bi-lingual rapping in Spanish that adds some icing to the cake near the end of the record, courtesy of the Latino roots of B-Real and Sen Dog. The unstoppable flow from B-Real that refuses to quit on any of these tracks, and the energy from Sen Dog's interjections. I mean, even the hooks on this are good, and they are mostly just repeating the same line over and over. It's a testament to the delivery of B-Real and the production of the tracks that it never gets boring in those moments when it could come off as weak. This is an album that is not afraid to get freaky and weird, all in the pursuit of making something that sounds unique and fun. Fun, fun, fun! I keep saying it all over this review, cause there really is no better way to describe it. There were some moments on this that I didn't super jam with like the rest of the album on my walk yesterday, but listening to it again during this review, it's just so damn hard to find fault here. Just a resounding, excellent work of hip hop, that even nowadays stands out as wholly unique. You listen to one of these tracks, and it's undeniably Cypress Hill. It couldn't be anyone else.