Reviews by 1001mjanzai

Wow, what an album!
Great pop songwriting experimentation.
These songs always go somewhere interesting and create such a vibe.
Definitely gotta check out more of his discography!

I grew up with this and have listened to it dozens if not hundreds of times and still listen to it to this day.
I think Angel Dust is probably better and I don’t think it’s on the list which is a shame.
Perhaps it’ll be on the post-project list?
So I don’t even have to listen to this to give it a five star rating but I gotta stay on course with the program and am looking forward to putting this on once again.
Probably gonna sing along to the whole record.
What a great way to ring in the new year!

Great to get to a true classic that I haven’t heard yet.
This really is a beautiful album.
I’m entranced by the way he sings these songs with a lot of room to just stretch and vocalise however way he feels.
Maybe after a while it starts sounding a bit same-y but there’s no denying his distinct voice and talent at emoting through these songs.
Definitely need to hear some more albums from him!

I remember buying and listening to this when it came out in 1991.
Although I enjoyed it, I never totally got right into it.
I do like the lo-fi garage rock sound and Mark Arm’s distinctive voice but I think the album might be a bit too long as it seems to drag towards the end.
Now that I’m hearing it again many decades later I think the problem might be the vocal melodies which follows the riffs too much.
Otherwise it’s a fun album and best enjoyed in small chunks.

There’s some cool sounds here but after a while comes across fairly conservative.
I like the mix of rock and latin, they sometimes sound ferocious together!
Nice warm jams all around.
Would have been great to hear this at a dorm party in the 70s, on acid.

Alright another band I’ve heard of but never heard and wow, this album is taking me places!
It’s their ninth album so there’s something going on here by now and I appreciate how experimental this sounds!
Lots of diffetent moods beings explored here.
Epic in scope.
This is a great listen!

Oh no another recording with more than 2 albums worth.
It does make me wonder if multiple album proejcts should have their own category.
Likely not going to be able to listen to this whole thing in a day but in order to keep this project going I’ll listen to as much as I can and edit these notes once I get through it all in the next few days.
Should be fun though as Ella is a great vocalist.

Alright I’m getting through it now and wow these are some great songs!
I appreciate the work that went into all the arrangements.
There’s an epic, show-tune kinda vibe here which is possible so it would be good to know the context of some of these lyrics.
Would be fun to karaoke these but it would take a bit of work for sure to get it to Ella’s level!

I’ve heard this once before and I get the same impression which is that it’s surprising how melodic it is for an improvised solo piano concert probably because any other improvised solo piano concerts I heard or experienced were by more ferocious types like Cecil Taylor.
It’s very melodic and there’s a strong sense of pop harmony which makes it very appealing to conservative listeners so I can understand why this album is so popular.
I just read the background to this recording and am fascinated that this beautiful music was made with so many obstacles to overcome that evening.
Perfect listening for the hangover day after Xmas!

Happy Birthday Santa!
Definitely not random!
I wonder what happens next Xmas?
This sounds great!
Next!

I’ve been meaning to check out his music for a while now but a complete double album is a bit of an overwhelming way to start!
It’s interesting for sure but a lot of this is just going in one ear and out the other on first listen.
Maybe too many ideas for me to absorb right now on first listen.
The rock sound being on the softer side isn’t helping with having these tunes stick out but I can hear the nuances in the writing and arrangements so I think this album will be worth listening to more in the future.
The next thing I want to hear from him though is a single album.

So far this one sounds soft and majestic with great ambience.
I appreciate the harmonic movements and the great singing.
Some interesting electronic sounds here.
I’m digging the ominous vibes and experimental sounds.
I think I’m listening to the 2cd version and I’m starting to find it a bit long and exhausting to listen to in one sitting.
This is a great discovery nonetheless because of how creatively experimental it is.

The thing about this old time rock and soul music is that it was before my time so I have no sense of how impactful this was back then.
These songs sound all too familiar and not too adventurous nowadays but perhaps back then it sounded fresh.
If it did sound fresh back then it doesn’t seem to have stood the test of time and I have a feeling that there were others who came before and after who did it much better.
He does have a killer voice though and I wish he had some more interesting material to sing over but then again this is probably his thing and what he’s best at.

What the… a second album by CCR this week!
Again, not so random, maybe more luck…
I can’t believe this is their fifth album in 2 years!
It’s got a nice, warm sound capturing some great performances.
Along with the numerous covers, they really seem to be paying homage to their roots and influences on this album although maybe that’s their sound, and if it is, it does sound very refined at this point in their career.
Although the long ones here might be a tad long (but that’s how I felt when I heard the other album this week) it was a good listen.

So not even 60 albums in and I get the first three Talking Heads albums in chronological order over the last few weeks.
This is the one album that I’d heard from these guys many years ago, before the start of this listening project
I remember thinking back then, within the first few opening notes of the album, how it sounded like King Crimson, then finding out that Robert Fripp is on the first track!
I dug King Crimson back then so I was immediately sucked in but I remember the album petering out from that first track and I’m starting to get the same feeling on this listen.
The production is sounding better but the songs feel a bit half cooked.
David Byrne in particular doesn’t seem to click for me as much on this album.
The vocal production could be better so I don’t know if that’s affecting my judgement but he is a very wild and unique singer!
But the band does groove like hell throughout this whole album!
I have a feeling their best album is coming up in their career so I hope they show up on this list!

These guys have so many hits I’ve barely ever played any of their albums and I definitely have never heard this one.
What a ride it was as I was slammed in the face with John Fogerty’s amazing voice!
So damn bluesy and soulful and what a mean delivery!
A couple of droning vamps to deal with on this album but it’s what they did back then and makes a nice contrast with the more succinct songs.
This was a good listen and it sure makes me want to hear the rest of their albums!

Alright here we go with another band I’ve heard of but not heard much from.
I listened to a more recent release a while back and enjoyed it.
This one sounds pretty good to me!
I immediately noticed the inventive guitar work which intertwine very well with each other and sounds great hard-panned.
Great riffs and lines and a great sound.
Probably would be fun to play live although it must be a challenge to sing over it!
The drumming sounds great as well, real good energy in the beats and fills.
I also dig the urgent sounding vocals and the overlayed vocal lines.
This was a great listen and I now really want to hear their other albums!

Wow, what a great album!
The sound of this recording makes the performances sound unhinged!
Damn, this must have been one of the heaviest albums to have been released around that time.
Great musicianship all around, and especially love that sweet, heavy, sexy sax work!
Aw shit, and I totally forgot about how awesome that last track, L.A. Blues is!
It’s a fucking noise track by a rock band!
So fucking awesome!
This album definitely is a must listen!

Wow! What a great album!!
I can’t believe I didn’t get to hear this when it came out in 1989.
I probably would have played this a lot back then.
Everything about this record is so great; the raps, the scratching, and the production of all those sounds on the backing tracks.
Their sense of humour also adds to the upbeatness of it all.
I live for days like this with this project when I can have a great listen and discovery of an album I had not heard yet.

I’ve tried listening to them a few times over many years but I just don’t get what the big deal is.
I’m Canadian so I feel that I can say that this music kind of sits in a certain Canadian style that has an underwhelming vibe.
They’re a competent band playing songs that don’t seem to really go anywhere and the vocals aren’t doing too much either.
I get the feeling that this is way too hip for its own good.
I’m generally more open-minded than most when it comes to the enjoyment of music so it is a bit disconcerting to not be able to like this so I’m giving this a second spin…
…and although I was able to find a couple of things I liked it’s still mostly not doing much for me.
Damn I could have spent my time more wisely by listening to some other album I enjoy but oh well, win some, lose some.

This is a very interesting sounding rock based album straddling the lines of country and folk with some sparse avant-garde shades.
This album is all well played and recorded and the singing is unique.
I’ve listened to their #1 Record a few times and remember enjoying it but I can’t seem to remember it.
Same with this one.
I’m enjoying listening to this but the songs aren’t sticking the first time around.
The first time a song stood out I had to check and it turned out to be a Lou Reed song so I’m still looking for one of their own songs to click with me.
I’ll have to listen to this more to fully understand it but for now I’m into it and definitely intrigued so I’m looking forward to the next spin.