Reviews by abee

I am in two minds about this album, from a band I have never heard of, I thought it was beautiful and felt very lo-fi/Lou Reed which I loved. But I am not sure I would explore other albums honestly so I couldn’t go higher than three. Times like this half points would be good..

I bought this when it first came out and though it is obviously influenced by Television and other new wave artists I admired its energy and the song construction.

Going in to this album I am happy as firstly, I love the Beatles as a whole and also their component artists, hell, I even have a Ringo Starr album, secondly this album is in many best of the 70s lists.

This feels very Beatlely. It’s interesting that I have heard My Sweet Lord all my life but perhaps never really listened to it, it is magnificent. On a down note I felt the album was quite long and many of the tracks did not stand out.

Long loved Band and feel, alongside Stagefright, this is my favourite album of theirs. From the jollity, and fabulous lyrics of Up on Cripple Creek to the dark and deep King Harvest has Surely Come it’s a classic through and through.

I have not heard this album before, and wasn’t overwhelmed with the opening track. Things got better with Golden Years which is an absolute classic and then continued with some nice songs, particularly Word on a Wing. I heard a fair bit of funk and soul here. Wouldn’t say it bowled me over so four stars.

Its only taken me a year and 275 albums to get to an album on my personal top 13 albums of all time and here it is! This album is so phenomenal to me I cannot believe it was panned on its release. It starts with a very Byrd’s type song-Life’s Greatest Fool-almost as if to say, remember me? I was that guy. It swiftly moves onto an ephemeral song about a raven, a wonderfully heavy bass-based No Other to the epic Strength of Strings. I love the alliteration in From a Silver Phail. I mean “said she saw the sword of sorrow sunken in the sand of searching souls” who can do better than that? We are left with the last three wonderful tracks, one by Dillard. If I could give this album a million stars I would.

The Flaming Lips are a band I can’t quite get into and while this didn’t exactly change my mind Waitin for a Superman and Race For the Prize were really nice.

I have done a deep dive into Rush’s back catalogue recently on the basis of them being a band I’m bound to like. But I couldn’t get into them and listening to this again I still have the feeling that there is so much to love here, but I can’t quite touch it.

Singer, instrumentalist, dancer and all-round well-earned self-promoter, this was wonderful. You can feel his energy, feel the excitement of the call and response in the medley, and also the beauty of his voice in his tender moments. Are you ready for star time?

I think this is meant to be a really good album – it’s on Martin Popoffs 500 best Heavy Metal albums of all-time list. At first, it felt very generic, kinda faith no moreish. Then I got into it but then I kinda lost track. Ambivalent is the word.

Hurrah! one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite artists, though I do prefer Promenade by them.

This is a sublime album who would think that an album full of love songs could sound so fresh and non-syrupy and Neil Hannon’s sonorous voice is just the icing on the sugar free cake. Just listening to the opening bars of this filled me with the same excitement I had when I first bought it.

By rights I should like this band and I do but I don’t love them. This was really lovely with intricate tunes and melodies but it didn’t give me a wow moment and its interesting that the only song that resonated with me was Wasn’t Born to Follow, not by them but by Goffin/King.

Tremendous album, including some old classics and some newly penned. I am not a friend of the Blues but Chicago blues, showcased here, its electric, its distorted and yes, it is damn hard. What a man. What an album.

I am not a huge fan of Rock n Roll but how can you beat opening up with Tutti Frutti, great songs from an amazing vocalist. I really liked it but it is not something I would buy.

I heard a Ghostface Killah album recently and really liked it, making me think I would like Wu-Tang Clan. No is the answer at least for this album. It felt very one note.

One Two, One Two Three Brrrggmmm and we are right into one of my favourite albums. Supergroups can sometimes be a bit entitled but here you have Paul Rogers incredible vocals and Mick Ralphs steaming guitar joining together to be melodic and hard. Radio friendly this is the very definition of Classic.

Who? when I saw the name, WTH? when I heard the first song. This was tremendous, can’t stop listening to this Sitar rendition of Jumpin Jack Flash and laughing delightedly. Feels very much like a dream sequence in a new Austin Powers film when he meets the Rolling Stones and the Maharshi at the same time. Loved Loved Loved this maniac album.

Sadly, I am back to my old feeling about Bob not really affecting me emotionally. Perhaps because this is such a blues fuelled album and that is not my favourite genre, perhaps he is cockier here. This confidence works well with Rainy Day Women with a play on words rail against the Man but the rest, hmm. At the end though it started to go back to Bob’s singer songwriting roots with Fourth Time Around and the beautiful Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, those were worth the listen.

Blur is one of those few bands I bought at the time because they were on trend, generally I don’t care about being cool. I have Parklife and the Great Escape but they are not my favourite band and wasn’t really looking forward to this. But wow this was fantastic! They’ve come away from their faux-Kinks sound and have just decided to embrace indie post punk. Feels like a new beginning hence the eponymous album title, normally reserved for first albums. Way to go!

AGAIN thought this band was another generic UK indie group. What a surprise – I could hear Radiohead and Tindersticks and perhaps a bit of Eels in it but I forgave that because firstly, it is not possible for music to be created in a vacuum, all bands are influenced by others, and secondly cos I really liked it.