Reviews by abee

People keep giving me Tom’s albums but I have never been overwhelmed by his work. This changed that view. It is gorgeous, with beautiful stories, his incredible gravely emotive voice and the audience participation. Gosh I wish I’d been there.

Oh no – Yes, and Rush are two bands I want to love but only like. But with this album I realised my belief that if an album doesn’t grab me at first listen it isn’t for me is not valid, some albums need repeated listening. Initially, I loved Roundabout and Heart of Sunrise but felt the rest was self-indulgent. By the fourth listen I was loving the almost medieval/baroque sound of the tracks, including the instrumentals. This is true talent,

This was interesting, felt like prog rock and many songs were really lovely, but some of the instrumentals jarred a bit or were a bit boring.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Rolling Stones and this is Love Love Love all the way. Instead of the poppy posturing of their later work, it is innovative, heartfelt and epic. From the incredible Brown Sugar to my favourite country-tinged Dead Flowers, lovingly covered by Townes Van Zandt, it is an absolute pleasure.
Shout out to my brother, huge Rolling Stones fan, who has this on vinyl with the actual zip!

A rare 4 stars for yet another band I couldn’t be bothered with thinking they were derivative at the time. I really like the singers voice and the songs are so warm and hectic. You can feel the nod to their heroes here, the Rolling Stones and the Clash but it’s a nod only and they are uniquely themselves. Only the album title defeats me. Get rid of the Aha and that’s a great title!

After using the excuse of keeping an ear out for a delivery too many times I finally listened to this Techno/Electric Punk album, not a genre I like. It kinda felt like really good punk. The tunes were catchy and were produced well and while some songs (Breathe) were so much better than others (Funky Shit – obviously I could subliminally sense the Beastie Boys influence, ha), overall it gelled well. High 3.

This was an odd one. First time listening to this Welsh band and I really liked the 60s tinged tracks but but then the techno parts felt even more jarring because of them. Wiki describes this album as being eclectic. That an understatement 4 STARS for those lovely proggy songs + 2 for the techno averages at 3.

Well, I loved Maggot Brain but while that was psychedelic funk this was just Funk with a capital F. I loved the energy, the rough and ready beats but still prefer the Maggots.

Got one of the new ones already, didn't even take a breath. Was not looking forward to this but thought it was really quite wonderful, especially the John Cale track that sounds like a mixture of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and a Hammer House of Horror film. The rest of the tracks were very interesting too - high 3.

Or as I like to call it Layla and other assorted songs that include blues standards and some various songs about love.
Loved this one! Such great tunes, brilliant blues melodies and what a voice Bobby Whitlock has. I feel that the blues standards don’t really need to be included here, the band penned tracks stand up on their own. Layla is the obvious star of the show, a song that is etched into my consciousness, but the rest of the songs make for warm lazy listening.

Real surprise for this before now unlistened to band The songs were 60s tinged but still seems fresh and there was something really amiable but interesting about their tracks. Hard to define but really enjoyable. High 3.

metal albums of all time and I felt the lyrics were not great. Good energy but it’s place here is a mystery to Not sure why this hair metal album is here. It’s not included in Martin Popoff’s top 500 heavy me.

I know this is a highly revered album and I liked it but I felt for its lovely 60s harmonies only some songs captured my attention. Time of the Season is phenomenal and others have intricate instrumentation but it was not solidly good.

Incredible album that still reverberates to this day. The first strains of Running Up that Hill ease into your soul while the Night of the Demon soundbites speak to the urgency of her terror in Hounds of Love. Its both beautiful and strange at the same time.

Boy I larfed and larfed and larfed at this one. First at them, I thought the rap was mad and not in a good way but in the end, I was laughing with them. They have captured UK grime life so perfectly you can smell the greasy burgers and stale ale. Though that has got to be the most photogenic bus shelter I have ever seen.

He always has me at Neil. Don’t even need to listen to it sometimes to know I am going to love his folky honky-tonk songs sung in an incredible aching voice. But, I felt that this one wasn’t as good as After the Gold Rush or Harvest so four stars.

I liked this one better than 1989 but that is probably because of the addition of Aaron Dessner and the leaning to indie rock. Coney Island is lovely, the male voice counterpoint is so gorgeous. However, again, felt all the songs had the same construction and nothing really caught my attention.

Excellent prog/pop rock. The songs are catchy and the instrumentation is really unique. Got four stars just because I felt the latter songs started to be less innovative.

Wasn’t sure how to rate this one. Not a fan of Nu-Metal but their talent shines through and I like the mix of hard guitars and spoken word. Really torn between 3 and 4 but it will have to be 3.

This would normally be my bread and butter but this particular 70s singer songwriter didn’t do anything for me. It reminded me of other artists, in particular Nick Drake, but perhaps less interesting, though the instrumentation was sublime. Half way through it hit me. It’s the Blues rearing its ugly head. Not a fan.