Ida Con Snock

This is my sort of lane, good musicianship without taking the whole thing too seriously. Folksy Americana by someone it world clearly be fun to have a beer with. Listened originally as a Friday wrapping up the work day, then put back on to cook Saturday morning breakfast and was great for both

Laid back folk album by Michael Hurley. Some of the songs (“Hog Of The Forsaken", "The Time Is Right") are re-recordings of own material from way back. With age his voice is getting weaker and the songs sound more fragile, but that is rather a charm than a problem.

HELL YEAH! never thought I’d see a Michael Hurley album on this site! this is so fucking cool! not my favorite album of his if I’m being honest, that would probably go to Armchair Boogie, with Ling Journey being a close second but I still can’t put into words how happy this and literally every other song of his makes me - one of the greatest musicians of his generation who passed away not too long ago this album, like all others, are too good to give a rating to, tho I guess the full five stars will have to suffice - thank you Michael Hurley, for everything you’ve made <3

I enjoyed this well enough, although it's a stretch to say I needed to hear it before I die. Earthy, affable and low-key. For a fairly short album though, it wore thin with me somewhere around the mid-point. Fave Songs: I Stole the Right to Live, Valley of Tears, It Must Be Gelatine, The Time is Right, Hog of the Forsaken

I found myself wanting to skip to the next song on every track. Occasionally the folksy, bluegrassy music was ok, but the vocals were usually my breaking point. I read about Michael Hurley, and wondered if his voice in his younger days in the Greenwich folk scene in the 60s and 70s might be better. It seems it was, but he also sometimes exaggerated the vocals in a silly and annoying way. It's also all a very fake Southern accent from a guy from Jersey, and almost feels like its mocking some of the time. This may be my least favorite of the user albums thus far.

Fun! Very Dan Reeder adjacent.

SO UGLY 😭😭😭WHYY CAN ONLY SEE IDA SUCK COCK Banger record tho 4

Since this was listed as outsider folk, I was expecting something very different than what I got. Some very pleasant folksy music. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Slight no.

I really love this. 4 stars.

November 24, 2025 HL: "Wildegeeses", "Valley of Tears", "Molly Malone/Loch Lomond" Cozy as hell, really like the interplay with Michael Hurley's gentle playing and the band that is more indie rock than folk/country. "Hoot Owls", even though it is not the best song, is really the moment where I thought to myself "How could I NOT love this album"

While I was listening to this on my ride home from work tonight, I thought, “You know, this kind of sounds like music Yo La Tengo might cover”. Well, when I got home and had a chance to do a little research, it turns it’s exactly the type of music Yo La Tengo would cover - they covered Michael Hurley’s song “Polynesia” on their 2018 LP, “There’s a Riot Going On”. Not only that, but I saw them cover that song at one of their Hanukkah shows in 2018. They were joined on stage for the performance by Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders. Suffice to say, I enjoyed this record. It’s a fun folk record that doesn’t take it self too seriously, with excellent instrumentation and a bit of a psychedelic side to it. Also, I am obligated to point out that Michael Hurley, like so many of the great artists on this user list, is from New Jersey and that is just another point in the “Michael Hurley is cool” column.

Fine, I guess

Back-porch folk is the perfect description for this one. It’s warm, loose, and easy to listen to, but not something that really does more than that. I can see how Michael Hurley’s charm would shine on a small stage somewhere in the grass, but as an album it drifts by without leaving much behind. Nice to have on, but not something I’d come back to.

Rating: 6/10

Excellent instrumentation and gorgeous singing ruined by silly, out of place lyrics

Penguins are cool

Somewhat lo-fi grassroots folk from a figure who dedicated his whole life to this sort of thing (rest in peace, Micheal Hurley). Apparently, this LP comprises a mix of old songs and new songs, like many other records of his, and some of the more atmospheric cuts sounded very nice to my ears. I never knew where to start within the man's incredibly long discography, so I thank this anonymous user for the suggestion. Not that I'm up to the point where I can consider the music as "stellar". At least, not yet -- there's obviously a meat-and-potatoes flavor to the album taken as a whole. But some of the chord changes were terrific -- which lets on the idea that if you spend some time with those songs you can easily go beyond their admittedly by-the-book surface after a few listens. A couple of lyrics sounded questionable indeed. For "Going Steady", it all depends on who the narrator really is, and the text is a little ambiguous about that, it's true -- if that narrator is someone as old as Hurley, the thing's creepy for sure ; but if it's a recollection of him when he was only a couple of years older than his underage love interest, as suggested by the last verse, it's no big deal, I think... As far as I can tell, everything in the album just implies that Hurley was a sweet old man who loved singing those old-fashioned tunes of his. Yet I can also understand why some reviewers are raising an eyebrow here. I'd tentatively say that those reviewers are crying wolf for nothing (pun intended -- Hurley loved to draw wolves to represent himself on his album covers...). But what do I know, really? Apart from all that, *Ida Con Smock* is simply a nice-sounding folk record. Oh, and the man could imitate an owl like no one else in the music business. That doesn't make this LP "essential", but it sure makes it endearing, at least... ---- 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 2.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 57 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 76 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 139 (including this one) --- Émile. Ça y est, j'ai *enfin* répondu (en deux temps). Tu trouveras ça sous les reviews des disques de Blackalicious et Alexisonfire au dessus

Traditional folk, outsider. Ni fu ni fa.

I'm sorry, this is nails on a chalkboard to me. I'm sure he was a charming sweet old man, clearly witty, and I'm sorry to hear of his recent passing. If you love this album you are probably a decent human being. But not my cup of tea.

This was an alright album with some very odd songs lyrically. Somewhat of a Tom Waits sound with the deeper folk sound. This was pretty passable but Going Steady and Hoot Owls really brought the album down a bit. It was fine before that and then I couldn’t enjoy the remaining album. 4.5/10

Folk album with some weird and questionable songs on it. Did not like it very much

Not a bad album, just not my thing.

Some of these lyrics raised a random eyebrow but this was otherwise pretty flat and boring

There was a critical lack of solo male vocalists playing guitar on the 1001 so thank you for addressing this gap (◔_◔)

Not my cup of tea at all

Pleasant enough but not an album I will return to probably

Just not my thing at all. I only give one star if I think that the album is one that I could never listen to again. This is one of those. Sorry to whoever listed it.