Reviews by abee

A Canadian/American singer songwriter I had not heard of, though he is a founder of Moby Grape. Many of the songs embody lo-fi sensibilities, others psychedelia, and it seems ahead of its time in terms of style. No one song stood out to me so while great album, three stars.

I am going to listen to this again so it may get a higher rating, but as someone who doesn't listen to a lot of rap I really liked this. I have read that this debut album showcased a more hardcore rap, so I am surprised by why I enjoyed it so much. The reason is two fold, first: no samples, which I always find annoying, not so much if you do it in one song but if all of your tracks use tunes from others I am not going to rate it highly. Secondly the guitars - those guitar solos had me at hello.

Not the hugest Blues fan but it is difficult for me not to like this-one of the foremost Blues musicians of all time playing some great new tunes and some reworkings of old classics such as Baby, Please Don’t Go, one of the greatest songs ever, whoever’s doing it.

Paul Simon is one of those artists, like Phil Collins, that I have a knee jerk dislike of. I am not sure why I find him so palatable when you mix him with Garfunkel, but as his own separate human entity not so much, I strongly feel You can call me Al and that stupid video has a lot to do with it. I was given his first solo album by the generator a while ago, but even that You can Call Me Al lacking album left me cold. Ultimately this was okay but faintly irritating.

Waking up with a migraine I shuddered when I saw the word Tango. This, however, was beautiful - sweet melodies with complex percussion.

The album is nice, lovely vocals, great production with the space effects and okay lyrics, but I felt it didn’t have anything to turn it into an interesting album. Even the cheesiest songs can be transformed into a great song by a change in key or vocal inflection; for example, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is my favourite Elton song due to his phrasing of the line “hairy black toad”. This type of thing was missing here so even with All We have Now (great song), I couldn’t give it more than 3.

Nothing is finer than waking up to Leonard Cohen. In fact, I started thinking about what accolades I could give him before listening again to this glorious album from 1988. Cohen released his first album in the 1960s and went on to have successful albums in the 2000s; he is one of those artists who can capture the hearts of each generation while still keeping true to his musical ideals.
Here his sombre vocals and apocalyptic tales of love and the state of the world are nicely offset by the sound of synth and a female chorus. I so so love this one.

I have not heard of this album, knowing only Are you Experienced and Electric LadyLand and I had not really bonded with Electric Ladyland when generated recently.
My thoughts are that he is a sublime guitarist and instrumentalist, and I admire the fact that he pioneered the use of guitar distortion, but I find his songs lack complexity and the lyrics weak. The songs appear serve to showcase his talent as a guitarist and seem to be more suited for a live audience than a listen at home. Having said that, I really liked Bold as Love and Little Wing. For those songs it got a weak 4.

I am not a huge fan of instrumental jazz and while this is nice it just washed over me forgettably (I have made up a new word in Keith’s honour). The most exciting thing about it was the woos and shouts from either the crowd, Keith, or someone trying to tell a member of the audience that their aunt was locked in the lady’s toilet and needed to be rescued. I couldn’t tell.

I remember Sexy Boy and this band but had not heard any albums. I am a fan of French electronic music and this did not disappoint. While I generally prefer songs with lyrics each instrumental song was a separate interesting entity. The music makes you feel like you are floating peacefully, but also invigorated at the same time, that sort of effect is difficult to achieve highlighting that the high acclaim this album got upon release was not misjudged.

This is how I feel blues rock should be and only a band this good can make a rock n roll standard like Good Golly Ms Molly sound like a swamp song straight out of Deliverance. Only an assured band could leave a thunderhorse of a song like Proud Mary in the middle of side two. They are truly great. Hats off to them.

Really liked All along the Watchtower and Voodoo Chile but overall I didn't find it interesting, and I didn't feel emotionally involved. I also, strangely perhaps, thought that some of these songs sounded like others of his.

I also do not think he is the greatest guitarist of all time (soz Rolling Stone mag)

Went back to work today after week off and if any album is going to make that a joyful and restful experience it is this one. After checking that I indeed have the album with just 59 songs and not the reissue (sigh), I swaddled myself in a blanket, cup of coffee in hand, and let this just ooze over me. Such beautiful songs sung by a truly wonderful vocalist.

I had heard of this album as it is included in many “best albums of the 70s” lists.
First time listening was pleasurable. I normally don’t like Jazz fusion or albums where there are mainly instrumental tracks but this is very accessible and beautifully made.

I had no reaction whatsoever when this was generated. Her work is not something that I would buy but I think that her singing is accomplished and her/her cowriter’s songs are catchy.
I thought that this was a magnificent album, referencing abuse, relationship breakdown and self-confidence. It mixed RnB, soul, hard rock, and pop ballad effortlessly, with some standout singles Beautiful and Fighter.
So, I was pretty annoyed to see that this album got mixed reviews – the reason? “Lack of concentration” and mixing different genres of music. Like what? Would a reviewer have said of Revolver – well the Beatles are all over the place here with RnB, Rock, Pop and psychedelia. No of course not. I personally feel an album that incorporates different styles of music more interesting.
Seemed like an excuse not to rate a perfectly good album by someone the music critics didn’t rate as cool. However, jokes on them as the album sold phenomenally well.

Wasn't anticipating much from this, even before I knew it was world music. But really liked it. Love the Spanish feel and the female vocals. Really interesting.

Another one of the those millions of those mid1990s bands that I deftly swerved, never listening to them on the radio or buying an album. In this club would be Mansun, Ocean Colour Scene, Dodgy, Cast, Shed Seven, Charlatans ad nauseum. Within that context I didn't think this album was too bad. It was rockier than I expected, harder guitars which I liked, but didn't go anywhere interesting enough for a higher score.

I consider it a minor tragedy that a band that can make an album so accomplished, so poignant as the Bends can think that just saying the word "raindrops" (in Sit Down/Stand up) repetitively is interesting.

The concept of rain as refreshing, cleansing, and melancholic has been completely unused here.

Rainy Days and Mondays, Here comes the Rain Again, hell, even Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head have better lyrics than some of the so called songs here.

And while some of the melodies towards the end of the album are acceptable I am left listless and bored. All I can do is hope for a thunderstorm to invigorate me.

Nice album, nice vocals-especially from John Legend. But nothing to make me want to listen to it again.

Really liked their singles. More than some UK bands at the time but 4 stars is high praise from me, and while take me out and dark of the matinee are fantastic songs, the rest are less so. At least they don't have that laddish band feel about them that I dislike. Hello Ocean Colour Scene and all the rest. They seem more art pop which is great.