Reviews by abee

This is one of many 90s British Bands that upon listening to their singles did nothing for me.

But upon listening to this album I thought it was very good. Catchy, but not poppy, songs and she has a great voice. Lovely but not so likeable for me to give 4 stars.

I have adored the Manics from their first album Generation Terrorists. I admire their politics, Jame's voice, their strong lyrics and rousing melodies. This to me is one of their best albums on all levels, including packaging and is perhaps their most quintessential album. This is the Welsh gods at their best.

There are some artists I listen to for the generator, and when finished think I can now tick them off my list and never listen to them again thanks very much. So, you can imagine my surprise when I got another Fiona Apple album. The last one didn’t do anything for me but I liked the first track. This one I actually liked less. I felt it was boring despite the artist/producers trying to make it sound fresh and innovative, it felt they were trying too hard. The longer I listened however the more I thought it was okay so it went from 2 stars to 3.

There are so many hip 90s British "man" bands that I deftly swerved during this time. A lot of people, including my brother, really rate them but I didnt really care. Listening to their album for the first time I would amend my opinion to say that the songs are catchy and nice to listen, but there is nothing new under the sun here. I cannot go higher than 3 stars for this o ne.

I can completely compartmentalise my personal feelings about an artist away from how I feel about their music.

So with that in mind, while he may be an absolute dick, I really am loving this. In fact, more than other rap albums I have heard. It actually feels very retro 90s rap and I think the vocals in the background in every track lift it to a new glorious dimension.

I really like the Kinks and have this album. So ruddy fantastic. So many songs on one album causing me absolute joy. From the rising arpeggios of Picture Book to the spoken word on Big Sky and as usual, jaunty melodies over reflective dark lyrics. This is what excellence smells like and I am breathing in deep.

I had never heard of this band but now know they are fronted by Bob Mould of Husker Du.
Listening to it I felt it was very generic. Sounding just like any other early 1990s indie American rock band. So, I was surprised to see that NME voted it best album of 1992. Seems like 1992 was a pretty rubbish year for music then if this is deemed the best. So, I went on a time travel expedition back to 1992 and looked up what else was being favourably reviewed then.
REM - Automatic for the People
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
KD Lang - Ingénue
Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
Faith No More – Angel Dust
Neil Young – Harvest Moon.
Right, so someone at NME is an idiot.

Japan - I really love their style and sound, they have a unique dark vision and great songs but I didn't feel this album had any standout tracks.

Not sure why Tin Drum isn't in the book but this one is. Far prefer that album.

I really liked this, the melodies are sensational and what a voice. But because I preferred Want One, which I will give four stars two, I will give this one three stars.

I generally don’t like Oasis, they are supposed to be anthemic but if I want anthems I would go to Alarm, Big Country and U2.
I think they were part of that whole Britpop debacle and the artists I liked during that mad time didn’t really fit into that genre so it passed me by.
Having said that, I have had a look and the songs I find okay of theirs are on their What’s the Story Morning Glory album (little nod to Nilsson there) and so I will wait for that album, which I am prettttty sure is on here to make up my mind.

I really love Joan Armatrading's voice and she is a supreme songwriter. However, hearing this album made me think it was a wise choice I went with buying a greatest hits album instead of her entire catalogue. Her singles off the album were wonderful but others felt a bit like fillers.

This type of music would normally tick all the boxes for me – 60s music? Yep / Psychedelic? Yep. But I was a bit ambivalent. I know two songs of theirs (I am not including We Built This City), Somebody to Love (heard on the film the Cable Guy) and White Rabbit (insert any Vietnam War film) and like the fact that both of these are used in films to indicate discord and confusion. While both of these songs are happily on this album it didn’t really do anything for me as a whole, with songs that are nice but not very interesting musically. I think its indicative of the fact that although I have heard of the group, I have never felt inclined to buy an album.

Not living in a cave in the Outer Hebrides I have heard of Taylor Swift, but wouldn’t normally listen to this overly produced type of pop music. I do like “we are never ever getting back together” and her tracks are catchy but I know I am never ever going to buy an album.

It includes just one song I know “Shake it Off” as it is in the film Sing and even though the piggies do a great job of dancing their hearts off to this one, it is my least favourite song in the film.

Bottom line, its meant to be autobiographical, which normally means deep, but I thought this album was quite vapid.

3 STARS as I thought it was okay to listen to, but that’s it.

It's so hard to be objective when it is one of your favorite singer-songwriters. This record, Joni's most poppiest/accessible album, was the first one I heard many years ago.

Her voice is incredible, the lyrics are sublime, you can feel the situation, see the characters, understand the feelings in every tale brought to life by music. They are poetry and confessional poems at that.

The tunes are accessible but there is always something different about her melodies that distinguishes her work from other artists.

I am trying but its really hard to put into words how much her music means to me.

I liked this but then not enough, not as much as I thought or hoped to. Side two built up my interest more than side one. Sadly only 3 stars.

The only song I had heard off this album is Sympathy for the Devil and while it has a great hook and savage lyrics, I felt it just went on and on, leading me to say out loud “for Pete’s sake just get on with it!” I am sure I have heard live versions of this track which were scalding hot but the album cut was a bit dull. After that it got so much better-from the beauty of “No Expectations” and the interesting tale told by “Dear Doctor” to the brilliant posturing of “Stray Cat Blues”.
I absolutely loved it – it was so surprisingly introspective and while clearly tinged with blues rock, it made it accessible to someone like me who doesn’t like this genre.

The Young Gods L'Eau Rouge
After my initial whosdat I decided to listen without looking them up. I imagined them to be some French electronic types from 2015+. They are in fact an 80s band from Switzerland and apparently used lots of effective sampling which influenced people like David Bowie WOW, not sure if you can hear my sarcasm where you are, because while they may have influenced Bowie, he would never have made an album this bad – so he obviously took the good elements and made them into something unique.
For its part this album sounded just dark and had elements of carnival music that has been used to such great effect by the Doors but here just didn’t work. It was just loop after loop of boring noise.

Soundtrack to the film and other songs. I had to stop the song after the first verse of the song Hard Day's Night as it hurt my head it was so good. The second side leads them back to boy band era of their youth but is equally good. They are able to take these Four Season's type of songs and lift them to a new interesting level.

Boston – Boston 5 STARS
This is what perfection sounds like. Heavy rock fused with synchronised vocals, electronic riffs and poetic lyrics.
Tom Scholz knew what he was doing, sitting in his home studio making music that raises your consciousness to another level. I prefer the song Don’t Look Back to More than a Feeling but this is the better album and one of my favourites of all time.

Brought me back to the 80s quicker than any DeLorean. The best song is Our Lips are Sealed which was co written with Terry Hall of Specials etc fame. We got the Beat is also great. It sounds quite familiar - these songs have been used on many American Films where there is a Jock and a Princess and a Nerd , you know the type. I am debating between 3 or 4 stars. Three stars I think.