Reviews by abee

Don’t know them and writing the word Django four times pushed me over the edge, but I really liked this – its innovative, well produced, catchy and fun. Not sure why they are called a rock band though, this seems more pop? Difficult to score, high 3 I think, four stars.

This was lovely mood music for me, very emotive, wonderful to hear while relaxing with a coffee, I love his voice so would have liked to have heard him sing As Time Goes By but that’s a minor issue.

Good, this is a hard-hitting hip-hop album that is accessible and melodic. That’s quite a feat.

I have said it before but Lou Reed’s voice and lyrics are so palpable you can actually smell the hot dog stands, see the steam rising from the sidewalks and feel yourself nearly get run over by a yellow cab. It’s unusual for songs with such a punk ethic to be so melodic, these are. His voice is so knowing, it’s like he recognizes the people he writes about but is always standing a step away. Huge fan.

Hugely appreciate this guy and his wonderful voice. This didn’t disappoint. Powerful lyrics and warm melodies combining in a really special album special topped off with a great album cover taken from the famous photo by Margaret Bourke-White.

To my mind, there needs to be more Metal on this list so this was a blast. The energy of the first track alone can move mountains; even an elderly person mowing their flower bed will dig that trowel a little harder and a little faster listening to this absolute opus. And to think, it isn’t just strong guitars and lots of growling going on here, the melodies are interesting too. I just love it

I have been thinking lately that I always react badly to artists/bands I have never heard of but at least then you get to be pleasantly surprised. This is a sort of space/hip-hop opus. I liked that it didn’t have samples but lovely instrumental parts underneath some great lyrics.

I think this album helped solidify how I feel about this band, disappointed. I really like some of their tracks when they are trying to be innovative but then these are interspersed with one-minute wonders where it is just brash guitars and words shouted repetitively into the void. It’s like they can’t make up their mind who they want to be.

I feel another apology coming on, this band was marketed as a sort of hippie hip hop group in the UK so I avoided them, but this is really exuberant, innovative and sharp.
I am not a huge fan of samples and this album is full of them, but where else can you get Steely Dan, Otis Redding and Booker T Jones together in the same song (Eye Know) in such a way that it feels fresh.
It remains only for me to ask..how many fibres are actually intertwined in a shredded wheat biscuit?

Verve, don’t really care for them so not heard a full album. Sound to me like a mix of Radiohead and Oasis, but without the innovative instrumentation of Radiohead and somewhat creative lyrics of Oasis. By half way I was just fed up, repetitive sounds and words let me be.

Oh no I have already been “Bobbed” in the last week and a 1997 album by his? Was not best pleased. But what on earth! This was amazing, loved his voice, the instrumentation, the production, the fact that it sounds like blues standards but are new songs written by him. I take it all back Bob.

I remember the 80s but not this band. I started off feeling that this was a poor imitation of Japan but then at their fourth song Stay and subsequent songs everything was quite wonderful, lovely melodies and instrumentation. This feels quite cool, and that’s not a word I use a lot.

Despite thinking Ray Davies is a songwriting genius I was less impressed with this one. Perhaps because there were a lot of songs and so some of them felt like fillers. Despite that it was an interesting mix of styles.

It is interesting that I have never even bought a greatest hits of this band despite the fact that I love soul music. This was nice but pretty much just went over my head.

Yes is one of those bands I believe I was born to like, Prog Rock with chapters and parts to their songs? Yes please. But then diving into their back catalogue always leaves me wanting. Listening to this I understand why. Some songs like “Ive seen All good People” are excellent while the instrumental “The Clap” is so boring, and irritated me with the wild clapping at the end, like THIS SHOULD BE YOUR LEVEL OF ADULATION FOR THIS SONG SUCKERS. I love the album 90125 so much so will keep trying here. Not given up yet.

Sometimes I smile when I see what has been generated for me, other times I give a mild cheery but never before have I happily fist-pumped as I did when I got this album by one of my favourite bands
This is so novel, the bubbling sound at the beginning of Rikki Don’t lose that Number is a flapamba, a type of Xylophone, how cool is that. But, the album also feels very laid back, like guys just sitting in a New York bar telling tales and sharing stories, but really interesting stories, in harmony.

Someone like you is a lovely song and Adele has a great voice but I felt unenthusiastic about the rest. Unsure why, the lyrics to many songs are heartfelt but just had low impact on me.

I was going to go with three stars with this one as I never bought it at the time but everything about it is iconic so there you go.

I have an odd relationship with Bob, my head acknowledges that he is a supreme songwriter but my heart never seems to care, and so I feel less enthused about him than other singer-songwriters and, as my level of fandom is a lot less than the global population, it seems as if I don’t like him.
Having said that I seem to inexplicably have picked up lots of his albums. Such is the power of Bob.
This is great “its all right now ma” is fantastic, I have scored it highly. But my heart is still not satisfied. I imagine the generator will give me a fair few more of his to help me get to the bottom of my reaction.

Oh gosh, I thought Dion was a 50s band, famous for the Wanderer and Runaround Sue, actually it is, but I didn’t realise Dion was a person. A Grammy award winning singer songwriter no less.
I am a singer songwriter’s target audience but although I like the New
York Song I found this quite boring. Case in point – “ive got the whole world in my hands” which although is not one of my favourite songs, done well it is a glorious gospel number. This felt like a dirge.
Apparently, the album wasn’t well received when it was released but people like Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream thought it was okay so that’s alright for the book’s compiler.
Thank you not Bobby!