An overrated album marking the turn from solid rock to saccharine pop, of its time I guess. The hits are at the front, mediocre in the middle, and the only strongish song at the end. But… it reminds me to play the Dire Straits & Making Movies albums more often to remember how brilliant they were.
Funk in full flow. That Lady & Summer Breeze huge for good reason, backed by other solid work. A good reminder.
Beautiful haunting desolate (of its home). Svefn-g-englar, staralfur, viorar, Olsen Olsen - all stunning. An album only overshadowed because the later Takk was even better.
An overrated band, whose best track, Roxanne, is not on this album. Synchronicity was released in the years mainstream music was going bland & this only reinforced that conclusion. Every Breath You Take is catchy… but sticks in your mind like a stalker.
Such beauty seems simple and effortless. Heartwarming, vulnerable & kind. I hadn’t realised how many gems were in one place (although it is natural woman that has one of the greatest lyrics & moods of all time).
If there was a sound that encapsulated the 1970s it was this. Hypnotic, irresistible & incredibly powerfully alive. All plus a >16 minute drum track - wtf!
Smooth maybe, but easy to forget it’s playing (or that you played it). Took the soul & funk of the 60s & 70s, a good start, then smothered it. It seemed to be the thing to do in the late 70s & early 80s though, so he was definitely not alone. And the formula also seemed to work for a lot of folks. Just not me.
A valuable album for its role helping to generate the Britpop era, but in itself a set of fun 60s riff offs. The highlight is Looking Glass, where they almost break free. The better Elastica & Sleeper were to follow shortly after.
REM & Document provided a soundtrack of the 90s, directly & by influence. But while Stipe’s voice & their overall sound were immediately recognisable, it often feels laboured. End of the World though deserves its place as an icon.
So given that hip hop is not my thing this is never going to fair. But there’s powerful & clever lyrics here. It may not sound totally contemporary but it sure as shit doesn’t sound 26 years old. Kim & Cookie is brilliant / hilarious. And the Ms Jackson groove is irresistible.
Well everyone knows what they’re getting with this. As a major pop album it deserves some respect & if still in doubt about One More Time listen to the excellent Travis cover. But beyond that it tails off to average pop and flatlines about a 1/3rd of the way through (confirmed by the listener numbers).
Another Brit pop influencer / creator, so valuable as part of a great movement, but feels too heavily self-conscious & laboured to enjoy.
You always know immediately when it’s Elvis Costello, & this is a peak massive collection. But I could never really take to it.
Dream like peace - an album to lose yourself to. Plus musicianship brilliance. Also helps that he was central to opening western minds to the amazing breadth of what is hideously called ‘world music’.
Incredible rock from a band who just seem to know where each other is going at any given moment.
Some beautiful instrumental moments & laid the foundation for the likes of Rush, for whom we should all be grateful. Sometimes exciting sometimes poignant but also sometimes neither.
Haunting brilliance. Music to get stoned to, take a long drive (not at the same time of course), lie on a beach. Heat Miser could be 15 mins long instead of 3. MA seem to have a stand out on each album (Unfinished Sympathy, Protection, Teardrop, Paradise Circus) but the collective is also awesome.
A skilled & confident guitar player echoing what he hears skilfully & confidently. But I never get any depth of feeling or interest from anything here (or from other Clapton work). The iconic ISTS is good, but not as good as Marley’s original (so why bother).
I have never reconciled The Beatles’ series of simple pop rock songs in the mid-60s with the scale of their success. The lyrics are Year 10 school poems (hmmm… maybe that’s why).
Like thrash metal? You’ll love this. You’ll already know that though. Insane lyrics relentless energy massive power. But I can’t like what I don’t like.
Marked the start of a very welcome move from saccharine early-mid 80s pop towards something that rediscovered soul & integrity. It’s still a bit too light for my taste but there’s more interest here.
Shining hypnotic brilliance.
And if further evidence were needed of their collective brilliance - Live at Tanglewood 1970.
God this was terrible. Not just because I don’t like this sort of thing generally, but because it doesn’t have the humour of Blink 182 or the intensity of Slayer. The lyrics are whining, desperately self-conscious & totally unthreatening.
There may not be anything that changes musical history here, but they do rock & they do it well. All the time. And surely that’s what people want. Well at least that’s what I want.
Something very every day British. If Squeeze were dulled by merging with Spandau Ballet this would be it. Coronation St & Only Fools in music. Dear God is the nearest to a stand out & would have been better if they’d just kept to the opening / closing vocalist. Unfortunately other than that I couldn’t really recall a single track.
So I am torn on this one. A great use of rock for righteous outrage. And the symbiosis with nirvana is clear. But I get worn down by it rather than energised. Maybe I am just getting older.
So here’s another ‘if you like…’ in this case if you like grassroots country music then you’ll love this. Tight harmonies indeed. But I can’t stand it - drives me nuts.
I think the order of the albums is randomly generated, but back to back country… that’s not fair. Again, fans will know Dwight & he’ll deliver, sticking nicely to the formula they want. Whining guitar, harmonies, violin bridge, local lyrics. I just can’t do it.
I’d never really explored much beyond TBABIT but this is lot better than I expected. Some really solid tracks and a lot more influential on Iron Maiden & metal then I appreciated.
Beautiful album. Gentle harmonies & lyrics, with the highlight being the poignant America (not Mrs Robinson). I think BOTW maybe better, but not by much, and they’re also beautiful back to back.
Somewhere between The Smiths & mainstream pop, LC&TC at least punctuated a period smothered in blandness with something quirky & different. Their sound can be a bit hollow, but more interesting than much of what was going on at the time.
Remarkable. A legendary opening (& to paraphrase Drumeo, birthplace of a million air drummers) followed by the brilliant & underplayed Red Barchetta & YYZ, plus lyrics on issues like fame & intolerance as relevant today. Only regret, it feels like an album with an A & a B side.
Could never take to Deep Purple. Rock pioneers with good guitar work sometimes, sure. But it all feels a bit try hard.
Just because something is avant garde doesn’t make it interesting. You can accept going into it that it’s not going to be easy or enjoyable, but it doesn’t resonate either.
You can hear the Pixies echo in the music of so much that follows. Not always easy but brilliant.
They were taking about the environment decades ago (& Joni Mitchell was decades before that) but we didn’t listen. Thankfully we’re still listening to the music which has lost none of it irresistible groove.
Sounds like a vehicle John Lydon’s unhinged voices. Music doesn’t have to be easy listening, but joy, interest, memory, something… When I want this I’ll put on Joy Division instead, or just stick with the Sex Pistols.
Solid funk rock & as a result a pleasure. Nothing stand out, except (the hideously named) maggot brain, which could almost be forgotten at the end but is the strongest track.
The more traditional singular moments are what really resonate, which for me means the originality & fusion that is undoubtedly there doesn’t really gel the various elements (clearly I know so much more about music than the Mercury Prize panel). An album & artist that had passed me by, so that in itself is welcome.
Interesting stuff, although some of it feels weird for weirdness’ sake (maybe I am just missing the point); but the highlights are the glimmers of what’s to come on Abacab, when they were in full confident stride (before softening into another average 80s pop band - a fate that seems unavoidable for any decent 70s rock artist that stuck around for the next decade - Fleetwood, Dire Straits, David Bowie etc etc).
Great blues rock combination. May not have the anthems of other albums but good with bbq & a beer.
Set off a movement of soft sunset smoothness, & not surprising with a voice like that. Easy listening, but a good kind.
This is a great find (the very reason for trying a new album every day). I didn’t know Machito & love this - rhythms & brass - a fusion of joy & spice.
Rock pop punk insanity. Who comes up with this (B52s I guess)? Not sure what the point is (perhaps there doesn’t have to be one) & not always easy, but original & fun, and rock lobster is irresistible.
A rock opera original but never really warmed to it (I think it’s the recitatives) preferring the who classics unfortunately - won’t get fooled again, baba, who are you….
A rock classic indeed, only overshadowed by the masterpiece of Back in Black. But there’s something brilliantly seedy about HTH (& the Bon Scott albums).
I never took to the 80s synth pop wave - ultravox, Gary numan, bronski etc. The sound is too tinny & unsubstantial. But if you’re going to go there Depeche come top.
Lively mid 90s Brit pop rock but standard stuff.
Why had I never heard of her? Part big band swing part jazz part pop part soul & moving seamlessly between them with her Carpenter voice (or did Karen have a Nyro voice?). Here’s the foundation of so much of the 70s.
Ok - so the voice is undeniable. Smooth & precise. He can really sing & he evokes a 50s America like few if anyone else. But I don’t like the crooning smooching arrogance.
How narrow the line between poignant & mawkish. With Art Garfunkel he combined to create something subtle & beautiful. This is neither. The acoustic version of Train in the Distance comes close eg to America, but nothing else does.
Brilliant jagged guitar & opaque lyrics & sensual vocals (Kim). The listener numbers on Spotify go linear downwards through the album though - which is telling & reflects how challenging it is. Needs to be heard live I suspect.
Some good brass, some clever sampling, but the rap is relentlessly repetitive & laboured. Innovative at the time maybe, but it has not aged well (or at all). Didn’t make it to the end.
More big show / look at us hold our guitars in the air than writing and performing songs for their own sake. But that’s not just cheap trick, it’s the whole pop glam rock piece, of which this was a fair enough example.
So good to see this in the play list. Poignant powerful beautiful. It’s what music can (& should?) be. SATY Precious Things & Winter are classics.
Way outside my enjoyability zone, but listenable for its type. As with all rap (at least all I’ve heard) it soon sounds dated, as this does nowadays. Rap relies on power & that fades with time.
Hypnotic & monotonous. Best experienced in a mass of people on speed & moving in a barely conscious collective trance (rather than on my laptop with a coffee).
I don’t get it. The mania. This is a standard rock album. Not shit but not great & with a lot of forgettable songs. WTSMG is better but only because of 3 anthems that carried everything else oasis did. Saw them live & they were terrible.
There’s an irony here. The strength & fun of the band lies in the occasional interplay between the guitars, yet it was Rod Stewart who became the star. His vocals are somehow instantly recognisable and bland at the same time - a rare under achievement. And further irony- this lacklustre blahdom was released in the middle of the greatest musical era in history ca. 1968-73.
Ps. Stay With Me - another testament to the insane levels of 1970s misogyny.
What makes something cool is hard to articulate, but you know it when you hear it. And this is it. Plus the musicianship is excellent.
I also like conversational interludes because they’re nostalgic, but there are so many here it can be distracting. Seems to be a thing in jazz. No idea why. Maybe a break from the intensity.
