I thought this was wonderful. The grooves, the control, the overdubbed vocal lies. Great stuff!
I have not listened to this whole thing yet because my headphones BROKE!! But I actually liked what I heard. I think 70s cock rock sounds best when in this live setting. It's a raw, it's a bit sexy, and it sounds like a hell of a good time.
Fine, I guess. I understand how this became the progenitor of all D&B but I still don't actually care for this kind of music too much. At least sober and in the light of day
I love love love Silver Dagger and always have. The rest of Joan's work has always been of more historical interest to me than anything else. Her voice is incredible and she clearly has a very thorough understanding of the folk canon, but I'm just not that moved by the more yodel-adjacent strain of folk that was popular at the time. It's not a fair comparison, but Bob's more grounded strain is more more kind of bag.
A little too intentionally absurd for me to fully lock in to, but the highlights (Tainted Love, Sex Dwarf (of course)) do indeed continue to rock.
I would go on A Date With The Everly Brothers any day of the week. Cathy's Clown is the definite highlight here, but the surprising rhythmic complexity and playful melodies which always sing out in the duo's songwriting still abounds even amongst the deeper cuts.
Obviously a classic.
Way more fun than I expected!! I love fuzzy 60s weirdness.
There is literally no occasion where I would not feel like putting this on. One of the great vibes.
If you close your eyes you can almost see the blinking lights of the analog sequencers. Never has electronic music felt both more tangible and cosmic.
Sufjan Stevens: *plucks a single banjo string*
Me: Bursts into tears.
Hell yeah, makes me want to mosh
Totally fine. Good dishwasher detergent and music.
Insufferable drivel. I hated every second of listening to this. Jamie xx has done far more interesting work separate from these two vapid nothings.
I prefer my trip hop with a bit more cinema, a la Portishead. But totally chill and unobtrusive!
On of my all time favourites. I love Miles dearly.
Unavoidably good, even if the second half lacks the immediacy of the famous singles which the first half throws at you without mercy.
I had absolutely no hope for this being good when it came up, but it was surprisingly enjoyable! Who knew the guy from Drive Like Jehu had a straight down the line punk outfit, which was seemingly more successful??? The world is full of revelations.
Clearly a work of genius, even if the I only really connect with the established bangers. These French dudes knew how to structure a house beat better than anyone before or since.
Never understood why Ryan Adams was "the guy" for a small period of the early 2000s, and this does nothing to explain whatsoever. This is only compounded by the fact that he is, by all accounts, an emotionally manipulative and abusive man child. No thanks.
Not as strong as Harvest or, my fave, After the Gold Rush, but still nice to listen to all the way through.
Truly wonderful. Brimming with beauty. The most compelling blend of Brian's two modes: Camp Glam Rock Creature and Ambient Music King.
I admit to only listening to the first song and then the famous 22-minute Whipping Post extended jam. Good stuff! Would love to grow out my hair, pull up to the Fillmore on my road hog, light up a blunt and vibe out to this. But I can't!
I'm not as keen on the Stones' output as a honky tonk Americana band. Sympathy For The Devil is an obvious banger and one of "The Great Songs", showing up in trailers and films more times than I've had hot dinners, but everything after this is entirely unremarkable to me. I'd rather listen to Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes any day.
Totally fine. Just not a huge fan of this kind of folk-inspired English pub-rock.
I have to give this a proper re-listen, but I do love how elusive and unconventional the song structures here are, even when she's in a far more traditional pop mode. What initially sounds like a standard 90s tune breaks down once you listen closely. And the fact that she was NINETEEN when this came out just elevates it even further.
By far my fave Zappa. Willie the Pimp fucking rocks.
The platonic ideal of a Pumpkins album. Careful cherubic harmonies veer wildly into grunge distortion, before moving again to a post-psych-rock guitar licks. The closest they got to perfection before Billy Corgan's ego took hold and things began to get a little heady. On a songwriting basis they would hit higher highs later on, but on an album level they would never produce anything as direct or consistent ever again.
I have to begrudgingly give this its dues. U2 at their best, where their arrogance hasn't given away to pedantry.
No notes. Stone cold classic.
Rules. This could have played for hours.
Fine! You can hear 50 albums on Bandcamp which sounds just like this, but it's nice that Western audiences can pat themselves on the back every decade or so for finally making time for music made by non-white artists.
The fact this is from 1969 is crazy. I don't care that much for the music, to be honest, but the punk energy is palpable. The performance seems moments away from careening out of control at all times.
Yessss!!!! This is the juice. A truly marvellous discovery. SENSATIONAL INDEED!
Still one of the craziest albums to ever hit #1 in the UK charts.
Probably the peak of this strain of 2000s R&B for the masses, even if I think the beats could be nastier and the songs could have a bit more attitude to them.
Definitely more interesting as a "what-if" than as a complete album, but the alternate psych-pop future presented here is still compelling and completely unmoored from reality.
Another testament to the fact that the greatest recordings of all blues and soul artists take place in intimate live settings, where you can hear the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Fantastic.
Loses me a little by the end, but the opening set of tracks remains a pinnacle of 2000s indie rock
Obviously a five.
Surprised by how much this rips!!
Fine fine fine
CLASSIC. Not as absolutely transcendental as Paul's Boutique, but still an absolute banger
Childish folk drivel. I'm glad the Hippie Dream died.
Proud to be a New Zealander listening to this.
RIP this version of the band. Driving and desperate. This era of indie rock in general has died never to return again.
Enjoyed immensely. A gigantic sound.
Lush and layered, but slightly stiff and akward. Animal Collective did a better job at this same idea just a few years later.
There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, Sad Satan
HUGE
To my mind Soundgarden are the only band from the grunge era who even come close to Nirvana when it comes to imbuing the edgy, thick, psychedelic fuzz with genuine cool and pathos. Pearl Jam had an urgent, anthemic quality but Eddie Vedder and co. were just a little too preachy (this coming from someone whose very first gig was a Pearl Jam concert).
This album rocks. Chris Cornell (RIP) had an incredible voice, and a sex appeal that every fuck boy in a flannel shirt has tried to emulate ever since. The grooves here are tight, with nervy guitar licks winding around fat and insistent basslines.
All up, just great "I was born in the wrong era" 90s rock.
Two masterpieces and a whole lot of not much else.
I find this kind of effortlessly cool no-wave noise rock so soothing. I could listen to it endlessly. Not sure what it is, just the texture of the music and droning quality of the whole recording is so appealing. Daydream Nation or possibly Dirty is the peak of Sonic Youth's catalogue but this is still a fucking awesome record.
The beats on here are undeniable, and Q-Tip and Phife are obviously in the upper echelons of rap wordsmiths. That said, if pressed to indulge in 90s hip-hop I will always have more time for the harder edged, grimier sounds of Wu-Tang and Nas. That's just me!
Psyched to see these guys in February.
It's Blondie, guys. It's Blondie.
Quite possibly the greatest pop album in this book, if not ever made. Incredibly affecting, dynamic and beautiful. Nothing short of a miracle.
The best follow up possible after Hounds of Love. This pushed pop music ahead just as far as Kate Bush did decades earlier. There are sounds on this album which absolutely stagger me. I have no idea how they captured some of the weird, drippy glitches here and somehow managed to twist them all together into some of the most infectious and joyful bangers of this century. A wonderful experience, and a deserved masterpiece.
This is by no means cutting edge rock music, but Coldplay is at least attempting something far more texturally interesting and engaging than anything they would put out for the rest of their career. Radiohead-lite is still better than the sugar-coated mollycoddling they've been spewing out for decades now.
The primitive flows here may take a bit to get used to, but Jam Master Jay's beats are as fly as ever.
Obviously perfect.
Rules. Every track on this album birthed an entire subgenre of metal music.
I almost tapped out after track 2, but I'm glad I stuck around. This is great grunge, I can't believe I've never heard of these guys before.
Some highlights here, Rooster foremost among them, but otherwise a mostly fine set of grunge tracks
I can see why people roll their eyes at this one, but I just find Elvis (Costello) too charming and intelligent to write off. Not my fave of his, but a worthwhile listen
Stone cold classic. I used to know all the words because I'm a cool kid.
Let's get the obvious out of the way right off the bat: This album is nowhere near the heights of previous Beach Boys albums. Not even close. The pristine surf pop of Today! is largely missing, as is the baroque brilliance of Pet Sounds. There are dashes of the exploration you hear in the Smile sessions, but this album doesn't even reach the beauty of that unfinished gem. Brian Wilson is largely absent, and it shows.
With that said, I do think that this is absolutely an album you "Must Listen To Before You Die". Here is a band right at the end of a string of some of the most perfect and magnificent albums in rock history, suddenly finding themselves at a loss following the complete mental breakdown of their certified genius lead songwriter. Brian Wilson by this stage was in the throes of severe anxiety and paranoid delusions. He had checked himself into a psychiatric facility and contributed significantly less to their musical output following Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile. Then Dennis Wilson's involvement with Charles Manson threw the band into the middle of one of the most infamous murder cases of the century. Very few bands have been thrown into such turmoil and still soldiered through. As a purely historic document, this is a fascinating release. The turmoil of the late 60s and early 70s filtered through the harmonies of the Wilson family is truly strange to behold. There are references to student protests and social upheaval. It's not exactly "Gimme Shelter", but it still doesn't sound like anything else before or since. Anybody wanting a more complete picture of how completely the culture shifted in this period needs to give this a listen.
