The sound of the Buffalo Club, Baldock on any given Sunday in 1990, the songs sound better played live, by someone else..
Not a bad record, but Southern Blues Rock is best appreciated by drunk 17 year olds.
A record i. loved back in the day......relistering now the love hasn't faded much, but I wouldn't be upset if I never heard 7 Nation Army ever again.
Still very good, but not something I'd go out of my way to.put on these days....Gotta love Meg though..
Have always liked the Dusty cover.
In a word; Crunchy.
3 stars, point removed for 7NA
My 3rd or 4th favourite EC record, (Brutal Youth is a mid/late period highlight) possibly because theres no Pete Thomas on this one, but its still a fine way to introduce yourself to the world.....better stuff awaits..
Bland,
Music for 00's indie kids who still go on holiday with their parents, and dont really like music very much, (but its nice to be in a gang isnt it) they probably also like The Killers and Bloc Party, high chance of veganity.
A record to be ignored and or forgotten, which is fortunate....
Best track; couldn't say, i can't remember any of them 30 seconds after listening.
It's not unlistenable, but why would you bother?
Starts stronger than it finishes, side 1 is great if you.like this sort of thing, side 2 is pretty much Rush by numbers (and those numbers are 13/7).
Having said that this IS one of their more consitent records and it is regarded as a prog revivalist classic by the sort of people who like this sort of thing if only for the first 4 tunes.....
I have always preferred their live albums, (Exit Stage Left was recorded whilst touring this album) i even went to see them once (the support act was much better).
Geddy Lee's singing style is an acquired taste an not really one that I ever truly acquired, they would be alot better with the deep baritone of Fish as a vocalist, although this would make them Marrillion
Neil Peart was a phenomenal drummer and it is his playing that stands out on this (and all other Rush) record/s.
'What about he voice of Geddy Lee?
How did it get so high?
i wonder if he talks like a regular guy?
I know him and he does"
I have a love/hate relationship with this band and i rarely miss an opportunity quote Malkmus
The favourite of a friend of mine, historically one of the few things that we did not agree on....I have always considered her to be wetter than an otters pocket and a low rent Kate Bush, (an artist who i have tried so many times to.love, but just can't bring myself to).
Here goes.....
First impressions after 4 tracks, i was wrong (see i am prepared to admit this), shes much less annoying than Kate Bush,
Trying to work out where I have heard Precious Things before.........love this track, plenty of prog bombast.
Got it. Sample used on somewhere on Sasha & Digweed's - Northen Exposire (a true classic of its time)
It is drippy though, undoubtedly music for sensitive boys and girls......like Jim.....and so it appears, me!
Final thoughts; I think I owe Jim an apology, i may need to buy this...
In a word, Idiosyncratic
An artist i have never really got into (especially the tunes of the early 90's) which were unclean but not in a good way)
Will try and give it a fair hearing, even if I have never understood what the fuss was about.
Christ nothing dates a record like syn drums, and they're all over this album, horrible.
Really struggling with this one. I'm just not enjoying it. I get that he's an immensely talented man and a fantastic guitarist (his solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the concert for George is phenomenal) bit i just dont get it..
Not entirely sure that this album was meant for me. Its soaked in hot sweat and bodily fluids, which isnt my bag.
Will persevere but my.mind is made up, i dont.like this record and it will remain unplaced in my racks. .
An artist to be respected but not necessarily liked...
Have always liked the Manic's more than I liked their music , (much like.Billy Bragg) I .havent heard this it 30 years....and li've largely ignored them since their "If You Tolerare This" era (i liked the line about being allowed to shoot rabbits but not facists) .....it will be a nice trip down memory lane...perhaps.
This has none of the pop sheen of their later records and it is all the better for its rawness. The horrific mental state of Richie Edwards is obvious and it makes a slightly harrowing listening at times (if you can actually make out what the fuck JDB is yelling about).
It's all a hit samey though, and i'm struggling to stay interested despite my love of shouty vocals and punk pop.l, The guitarist is clearly a fan of Steve Hackett , despite their punk leanings..it's what I like best about this record....
They were written about as beung the new The Clash at the time (or at least keepers of their flame), i didnt think so then and I still dont.
Not fo me I'm afraid, but there's not a syn drum in sight, which is nice.
Motorcycle Emptiness is a great tune, but its not on this record....
Making herion addiction cool again, after all that 80's "just say no" nonsense, and a whole 7 years before Trainspotting (film, only swotty edgelords read the book) to boot.
I went to see them at the O2 a few years ago (a friend had a spare. I was in the area) they were shit.
Depeche Mode in the 80's were sparkly and fun....they clearly didnt want that for their band anymore....dreading this, 36 years ago it was massively overated. I wonder if the passage of time has changed my opinion. Let's get my baggy black jumper on and dive in.
Some of thw rhyming couplets are a bit rubbish, so far i prefer the non vocal passages almost as if the lyrics were added after the tunes were written. I suspect Martin Gore is 90% of the talent in this band.....
Ooh one i know, the one about Jesus,, rightly chosen as a single, its the strongest track so far.
Overall impression, its not a bad album, just nor particularly memorable, apart feom the 2 big singles, which may only be memorable because I have heard them so many times....
I am not looking forward to this, everything i have previously heard has been tedious and forgettable.. Horrible corporate pop for dinner parties you really didnt wa t to go to......never trust and Adele fans judgement they're the sort of.peole that think american sitcoms funny.
Track 1. Nope
Track 2, quite catchy but smacks of the ginger fencesitter
Track 3. Tedious
Track 4. Forgetable
Track 5. Piano sounds expensive
Track 6, rinse and repeat
Track 7, Do I really have to finish this?
Track 8. Hard drugs seem.like a really good idea, Adele should take them, lots and lots of them.
Track 9. Losing the will to live
Track 9. This song is no different to any of the others. Kill me now
Track 10. Is it over yet?...
Track 11. Thank fuck I made it to the end
Utterly terrible, this gives music a bad name. If it was an ECG it would be a flat line. Nothing of interest here.......one star for effort...I hope to.never hear her (singing) voice again.
This record is playing on a loop in hell
I think i may have heard a total of 2 of his songs previously, but what songs they are genuine masterpieces of modern music, and one of them is on this record, so looking forward to.wailing along....
Things I know about Harry Nilsson,
1. He recorded 2 of the finest songs ever recorded.
2.. He was great mate of John Lennon and Keith Moon, one of the original Hollywoord Vampires drinking gang in the 70's.
3. He really liked the booze and coke.
3. So much that he literally couldn't live without them.
4. It killed him
Here goes.
3 tracks in and all I can think about is Paul MCartney, nothing else springs to mind, quite nice but nothing special....
Track 4 is nice, in a "clearly on ta comedown after a heavy session" kinda way, either that or he's stoned out his.mind..
Track 5 is my favourite song so far, but it's going to be a short reign, here comes the banger.
What can I say about track 6..... a song so good not even Mariah Carey could ruin it Pure gold,.. ... although I accept that some will absolutely loathe it as I suspect he did after a couple of years. This is to Nilsson what Streets Of London was to Ralph MacTell or Creep to Radiohead...
It's a solo car journey wail along classic, but I thought it was longer and more impassioned than it is...
Oh god its the Coconut song, I didnt know this was one of his, i hate this tune for any number of reasons, point removed.
Overall impressions are its OK,...not something I will revisit, it doesn't light up the mental dashboard.......Without You excepting.
Confession, I'm into Sleater Kinney., and this is my favourite record of theirs.
It's been a while since I put it on so my thoughts may have changed, as my tolerance for Riot Grrrrl has probably waned since I stopped trying to get off with lesbians....
Its still good. Boisterous and fun, not groundbreaking by any means, (i can name a number of man bands that sound quite like this) but not everything has to be groundbreaking.
It doesnt veer far from a ftried and tested formula so can sound quite samey. Tbh I got bored towards the end. the soundtrack to ate 90's feminism is either your thing or it isnt....
Will now see how many HMHB references i can get into my album reviews..... 2 so far.... hope you"re paying attention Piers.. is there Dean Friedman on this list?
I'm looking forward to this, being generally a fan of late 60's early 70's American rock music....in fact if I could live anywhere in time it would be the canyons area of L.A. during this period.......although not near Cielo Drive...for obvious reasons......
Yep, i quite like this., very much a product of its time and place, no wonder they've been used in every Vietnam Wasr film ever made (possibly not true but you get the point....
Piers is entirely correct when he describes this as "Swamp Rock" yoi can feel it in every tune...but perhaps that's just the harmonica......
Some.tunes are a bit dull, mainly the slower ones....everything's coming up smokestack lightning...give it some bollocks and cut loose....music for the very stoned for sure..
A sold 3 from me......but not something I need to invest in, the album cover suggests psychedelic but its not really, not in my book....
I only know Dusty's big singles, which are true pop classics., but have never heard a while album its a departure from my usual listening.
Liking so far, this is lushly orchestrated and she has an undeniably fabulous voice. Lazy Sunday morning coffee music for sure.
It's not an album pf great variety or contrast (sadly she never had a sparse dub-step period), but thats not the point, it's all about that buttery smooth voice and US radio airplay.
I may well buy this record just so I dont have to play Paul (bloody) Simon and Cat (flippin) Stevens whenever Nina's parents come for dinner,
Oooh, Windmills Of Your Mind, i didn't know she did this. Love this song and this version.
Had a slight panic when I thought In The Land Of Make Believe was The Land Of Make Believe (the anti Thatcher polemic recorded by Bucks Fizz , written by Pete Sinfield from King Crimson bizarrely) but it isn't, which is a very good thing.
"Hey Dusty, we're a tune short of a full album"
"Just stick Preacher Man on again at the end, it's a proper banger, i doubt anyone will notice and anyone who does won't care"
A solid 4 stars, it would probably be 5 if I drank more than one cup of coffee on Sunday mornings...
Fnal thought: What is it about ride cymbals in the 60's that made them sound so much better than those today?
I think it's fair to say that I know far more about the Go Go's unruly behaviour than I do their music since I'm not American and it didnt get much UK radio.play at the time. I'm quite looking forward to listening..
Starting off with a Terry Hall tune (love him to bits), I think i prefer the Fun Boy 3 version, but its still a good track and a fine opener.
Track 2 sounds like the mighty HMHB. I like this.
So does track 3....
Track 4 ditto
Track 5, yup more of the same.
I.listened to this whilst at work and let it wash over me, I've never been good at focusing on lyrics (its all about the music for me) so not really sure what the songs are about.
Musically it all sounds a bit samey, although familiar f(or the reason provided above,) it's nice enough, but wouldnt have said it was smsomething that I NEEDED to hear before I died, even though I now have
I could have played drums in this band if i wasnt 7 at the time of recording and had tits.
Update, it was a Terry Hall co-write....credit to the other writer, (whoever they were i couldn't be bothered to remeber)
JUST FUCKING NO.
I think we've entered some strange multiverse where he's not a fame hungry smug faced little prick with a wandering penis, and is instead to be taken seriously as a genuine artist FUCK OFF, he's no more an artist than I am an architect.
This squeaky voiced unjustifiably narcissistic manchild would so dearly love to be Michael Jackson its comical. Did nobody tell him that aspiring to be a paedophile is not a good thing?
I dont care how expensive the producers were or how many hits they've had, this is cynical bullshit for the simple minded (which reminds me, Street Fighting Years had also better not be on this stupid list)
Update; Piers has privately informed me that under our "friendship agreement" drafted by his mum in 1985 (if i wanted a friend i had to refarin from barking at mopeds and defecating in public amongst many, many other things) I am comtracturally obliged to do everything he says, and he says I have to.listen to this record...
So here goes Justi fucking fied by Justin fucking Timberlake, and at this point we must pause to take in the monumental shitness of the title.
Let the "music" begin!
Track 1. Pharrel, take your silly hat and fuck off.....I hate Justin's voice, he's got less soul than a dancing Chinese robot.
Track 2. I quite like the snare sound , this is quite possibly the only positive thing I will say for the next 55 minutes...oooh a Moog. (Or Moog emulator)
Track 3. Christ his voice is annoying, i need to turn this down.
Oh Oh Oh Oh
I think you're shit
Oh Oh Oh Oh
I think you"re shit
Track 4. Nope, next
Track 5.. This single that i remember...Nina plays this in the car. horrible falsetto, no more to be said about this except.....
#FREE BRITNEY
Track 6. Ooh another single, there's Pharrel again, he really is musical herpes , i despised this at the time and my thoughts haven't changed, OFF
Track 7. Like Stevie Wonder covering Paint It Black, only shit. (For the record I qould quite like to hear Stevie Wonder. Over Paint It Black)
Track 8. More of the same, the snare sound getting g annoying now. How many times.does the word "Girl" appear on this record?
Track 9. Back to the 3rd rate Stevie Wonder nonsense. Awful.
Track 10.. Frank Zappa recorded a song i n 1977 mocking the soft rock love ballads of the time, it was called "I Have Been In You" nothing has changed.
I have to stop listening whilst I change trains, I've never been more grateful to be in Newport.
Track 11. Wrong for me.
Track 12. If he makes that "Ahh" sound just one more time....The Neptune's by numbers
Track 13. The most aptly named song for the final.track.... Oh how i dislike slushy piano ballads
Finally it's over!!!!
If you've read this far you might have guessed that I do not like this record one.little bit, and you would be correct. The spoken word vocalisations are particularly awful.
The best thing about Justin Timberlake is that you'd never get tired of punching his face .
Slickly produced early noughties pop for trainee rapists..
Confession, I am not, have never been and never will be a fan of disco. It's tedious drivel for cokeheads..
And dont get me started on Nile Rogers, that repetitive strumming rhythm guitar thing used on every disco tune ever must have sounded fresh at some point, but it's well past its sell by date by 1979...I dont know whethrr Nile actually came up with it but he certainly fucking uses it on everything he does, usually accompanied by the shit eating grin of a grifter who can't believe they're getting away with it, again!
So I wish I could say I go into this with a completely open mind, but I can't, I will however try to give it a fair hearing.
I know the first track and I hate it. I have no urge to hear it again, skip.
I also know the second tune, this isnt so annoying but, oh look there's that strummy guitarr again, so perhaps it is.
Track 3 awful.
Was everything on this record released as a single ? Cue annoying guitar part, the bass player is good on this one, it almost makes the song interesting, almost.
Oh look another disco smash. With the SAME FUCKING GUITAR PART!!!!
One man, one session, 10,000 royalty cheques, no wonder he's grinning.
I'm going to sound like Richard Wilson here (am past the Meldrew point so it is allowed)
"I Don't Believe It"
There it is again, its starting to spoil an otherwise entirely ignorable record.
This record is one song played at 12 different tempos.
Joking aside (I wasn t joking) putting 2 of those songs on the same album 3 times each is fucking desperate and I refuse to listen to them more than once.
2 Stars because ot was at least twice as good ss yesterday's but still an unpleasant listen and utterly naff.
I think this may have been the start of a run of album titles with terrible puns...not that I mind terrible puns...but some of them were truly abysmal...or abyss small as they might say in Public Enemean Republic..
I generally hold Public Enemy in the same regard as the Manics in that i appreciate their existence more than I do their music which i wish i loved more than i do as it would make me much cooler than)I am.
But like the Manics they really do have a couple of era defining monster smash killer tunes that represent the best of whatever hiphop sub genre they 'e part of.
I haven't listened to much of this sort of thing since I stopped hanging around in fuggy living rooms drinking tea and eating my body weight in biscuits,
I am really looking forward to hearing Bring The Noize again, I still have the 12" knocking about in the racks...whoever thought that late 80's heavy rock/metal and Hip Hop would be a great marriage was a genius (see Aerosmith/Run DMC ....this genre pair up eventually evolved into the Judgement Night Soundtrack, which was without doubt (in my mind) the grestest soundtrack to the shittest film ever...oh and the awesome Tool/Taylor Swift mash up on YouTube...
It's a bit early to dive in just yet so will wait for a quiter moment at work, (of which there are many.)
Any band that contains at least 1 batshit crazy member can't be all bad....and although I really want to like this it's a bit of a struggle. It speaks of a world that i am not part of, so will mean .a lot more to some than it does me...as a great band (this one) once said.
"Elvis Presley was a hero to most
But he never meant shit to me"
Its undeniably powerfully articulate stuff and I do like it, just in smaller doses than this. Not sure its their best (i always preferred Fear and Ir Takes A Nation)
Bring The Noize is still awesome but i had to turn it down cos it was scaring a dog.. Ice Cube and Bodycount is similarly fantastic, but I doubt it features on this list. .
Aka the one of his that I do not owm....I wonder if I will end up acquiring it later this afternoon.....
Although I have his 2 other records, i have never really got 'into' Nick Drake, possibly because so many regard him as the pinnacle of British folk music, whereas have resolutely been team Harper (for which Floyd, Zeppelin and Lee Crossman are to be blamed) i also have suspicions that the reasons people bang on about Nick include...
A. It's a quick and easy way to gain Kudos from those that genuinely adore him (like wearing a Ramone's T Shirt when you.prefer M People)
B, The sadder the ending the bigger the draw (see also Elliot Smith, Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis to name a few)
C. Many who champion him never seem interested in other folk musicians, (if you rate Nick Drake and dont know of John Renbourn then you a poser).
However, there is a reasonably good chance that all of the above is correct AND that I have been foolish to overlook this album. Let's find out!
I AM A TWAT....
Oh god this is so far up my street I would only have to pop next door to steal his milk.
Pass the king sized slims, we have work to do and i have an over priced repress to buy.
If I could give this 4.5 stars I would, it's the best record on this list to date by some distance.
Did I tell you about how much I love Nick Drake?
I used to love this record, but it must have been 25 years since I listened to it. For some reason I decided that he was a bit of prick (looking like a tortoise didn't help)
I wonder if my thoughts have changed I'm the intervening years..
Nope it's still a cracker, Perfect Day remains as beautiful as it ever was, it would get 4 stars for that tune alone..
An overall 4 stars, had to remove half a star for Walk on The Wild side.
It's much tougher for me to describe why I love something than why I hate something. I hace always liked this one, bit sure what else needs to be said
