Reviews by abrisskull

I find it intriguing to check out R.E.M.'s debut album after listening to their later records on my album journey. Because, from the sounds of Murmur, they started as more of a cross between garage rock and jangle pop. It's still apparent where the sonic direction will be going in the near future, but this early on, they nailed their distinct characteristics. Peter Buck's arpeggiated guitar playing, Mike Mills's countermelodic bass lines, Michael Stipe's abstract lyrics paired with the vocal harmonies, and Bill Berry's punchy percussion are all present here. Credit where it's due to producers Don Dixon and Mitch Easter, who employed a largely hands-off approach to capture the raw, live energy.

Speaking more about the lyrics, I was surprised by how many poignant messages could be extrapolated from this debut. From the perils of biased media on "Radio Free Europe", to finding safety in a difficult situation in "Laughing", to the starvation and hunger portrayed in "Talk About the Passion", to the loss of youth and innocence on "Catapult", there was a lot of resonance to be found in these songs. Even if a meaning couldn't be found for a particular track, there was enough intricate imagery and interconnected vowels to match the mood of the instrumental composition, such as in the ballad "Perfect Circle" and the bouncy folk-punk of "Sitting Still".

I couldn't find any issues with Murmur, as this ended up being a surprisingly vibrant debut record. It was nice checking out R.E.M. from their humble beginnings.

I will not include the CD reissue bonus tracks in this review.

It's been a little over a month since I heard I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You on this album journey. While that record is more recognizable in Aretha Franklin's catalog, Lady Soul is still just as spellbinding.

While Aretha's original songwriting largely took a back seat in favor of outside writers and covers, her bellowing performance was still top-notch. Running the gamut from the bass-leaden bounce of "Chain of Fools", the horn-accompanied renditions of James Brown's "Money Won't Change" and the Impressions' "People Get Ready", into the elegant ballad "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" composed by Carole King, Aretha effectively owned these recordings with her voice.

That's not to say Aretha still didn't see results from her own songwriting chops. The powerhouse shuffle of "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" and the slowed-down swing of "Good to Me As I Am to You", complete with Eric Clapton's guitar soloing, were a pair of neatly penned deep cuts. Plus, it was a nice touch to let sister Carolyn write the closing number "Ain't No Way", which ended up being an effective final note in the raw, emotional swell of the presentation as the Sweet Inspirations provided the supportive backing vocals to complement Aretha's delivery.

I think it would be difficult to say which of Lady Soul or I Never Loved a Man would be considered more essential, considering they were both fantastic records. Whatever the case may be, it was a pleasant time listening to the Queen.

This is the fifth Beatles album on my journey, and I admit that my feelings toward Rubber Soul seem to align with the consensus. To wit, while I consider Revolver to be a superior record in overall experimentation and variety, this album is still amazing in its own right.

Rubber Soul is the first Beatles record to feel the fullest in production, as the group largely abandoned live performances to focus on studio tinkering and enhancing the low-end frequencies. The result is these songs maintaining a crisp quality. From the laid-back opening R&B number "Drive My Car", to the sitar-led "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", to more intimate love songs like "Michelle" and "Girl" to the elegant piano ballad "In My Life", this album resonated strongly, as if it had been well preserved over the passage of time.

The only song that felt at odds with the rest of this record was the closer "Run for Your Life", where John took a break from the overall introspectiveness of the songwriting to write a weirdly threatening jig towards the love interest. But even I still consider that song a bop, despite the shift in tone.

At the end of the day, Rubber Soul remains a wonderful record, one that proved foundational to the development of popular music as we know it.

Scott Walker is an artist I've only started listening to within the past year. He was an American-British singer-songwriter and producer who originally rose to fame with the pop trio, the Walker Brothers, before pursuing a solo career that ventured into baroque pop. Most people seem to agree that Scott's four eponymous solo records were the biggest highlights of his career, and after listening to Scott 4, I can see why.

These songs tend to explode with a fiery passion, thanks in part to Scott's husky baritone voice and the intricate arrangements from the guest accompaniment directors. Bolstered by the crisp production from John Franz, the album burns ferociously with the elevated orchestral swell, each instrument given its due. Alongside this sheen, Scott's lyrics take on a very cinematic role, immersing the listener in each scene of the stories he told, with such striking enunciations of the imagery. It may seem pretty obvious from the get-go with the opening track that recounts the plot of the film The Seventh Seal, but even his musings on love, like on "The World's Strongest Man" and "Angels of Ashes", or his more political commentaries on "Hero of the War" and "The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime)" hit with more immediacy in his recounts. In a way, Scott and company took these mundane subjects and breathed life into them.

Scott 4 is the sort of eclectic record that reveals a man who pursued greater ambitions with his work, and for once, it clicked.

I will not be including the bonus tracks of disc one and the entirety of disc two of the 2018 pREServed edition of the album in this review.

Normally, for an artist I hadn't heard of or was not familiar with, I usually like to research and give a brief background of who they are, how they started their music career, and what their situation was like when making the record presented here. Today, however, I'll have to largely forego that, as the Residents are a largely anonymous music collective that thrives in obscurity. Any information related to the band's history or potential members should be taken with a grain of salt. If anything, I could only reliably go off of their musical output, which can be described as deconstructions of Western popular music, complete with stream-of-consciousness lyrics, tonal dissonance, and the use of sound collages.

That sort of description befits this record, Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen, which combines two of their EPs, applying a more guitar-driven sound to shorter songs. This album is often considered their most "accessible" record, for what it's worth. I'll admit, I laughed at the highly modulated vocals for tracks like the opening "Constantinople" and "Laughing Song" alongside the jarring dissonance and surrealist lyrics. But once the initial shock and laughter wore off for me, I began to realize how muted the production sounded, and how reliant the Residents were on subverting these conventional song structures without much in the way of gripping satire or a greater purpose outside of being weird. Even for weirdness' sake, there's a part of me that feels they could have gone even more outlandish or bizarre in the execution. I would say I'm more into the experimental rock acts that have emerged since, except I've gotten more out of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart with their respective deconstructions of blues rock and psychedelia. Then again, it could be argued that the Residents set a precedent for even weirder bands to come, and probably value being more odd than even Zappa and Beefheart. Who's to say which is intrinsically better?

I can at least say that the Residents' Duck Stab/Buster & Glen made for an intriguing footnote, one that I can certainly respect. Perhaps in the eyes of the Residents, simply respecting their pursuit of art is satisfying enough.

David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash were all established singer-songwriters in their respective rock groups before they came together, realized they all shared good vocal chemistry, and went on to form their own folk rock supergroup. I understand they would later bring Neil Young into the fold, but for the time being, this was Crosby, Stills, & Nash for their self-titled debut. If there's one song I immediately recognized from continued radio airplay, it was the opening "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", such a pleasantly sprawling set of musical sections that elevated the subject matter of a breakup between Stills and his former girlfriend Judy Collins.

As for the rest of the record, it boasts a rather pleasant-sounding folk-rock sound, with the expected vocal harmonies and bouncing guitar rollicks. It's rather evident that there is a certain degree of sophistication in the songcraft and production to bring about these popping melodies early on. Sure, at least half of the songs are about the various relationship breakups the band members endured up to this point, which can come off a tad single-minded. Thankfully, there are a few swerves in the lyrics that were appreciated, such as the vivid imagery of Nash's train ride on "Marrakesh Express", and especially David Crosby's penned songs that take the darker turns, like the apocalyptic scenery of "Wooden Ships" or the capturing of the counterculture clash on "Long Time Gone".

At the end of the day, this was a solid debut record from one of the most revered supergroups that walked the earth. It's funny how such partnerships can work and endure.

This will be my third PJ Harvey record on this album journey, following her early 1990s output. I already heard the single "Good Fortune" last year and liked it. How does the rest of Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea compare?

Simply put, this is a very exuberant alternative record, capturing the sort of joy and raw beauty that PJ must have felt towards the turn of the century. From the pursuit of love on "Good Fortune", to the positivity shown where she was at the time on "A Place Called Home", to outright confirming her sentiments on "Beautiful Feeling", her energy, complemented by the brighter textures in the guitar melodies and reverb, made this album come off very warm and pleasant to listen to.

While an argument can be made that Stories was her "mainstream" record, the album still retains darker undertones and experimentation to keep it above a typical commercial pop sound. Opening with PJ's own observations of gun obsession on "Big Exit", the rat race of bustling city life on "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore", the implied aggressive sexual act on "Kamikaze" while dealing with the emotional fallout on "This Is Love", all culminating in the sentiment on "We Float" where the bid is made to make the most out of what life has to offer before our souls move on to the afterlife. Along the way, there are some abrasive guitar riffs on tracks like "This is Love" and "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore" to match the grittier tone, along with notable contributions from Thom Yorke of Radiohead on tracks like "This Mess We're In" and "Beautiful Feeling" to add dimensionality to those tracks from having the male counterpart for the relationship exploration she delves into. Even more sobering is the piano-led ballad "Horses in My Dreams", where PJ recalls some vivid imagery in her sleep that could be interpreted as her free spirit, unburdened and able to roam wherever she wanted to.

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea was an impressive record. I know that PJ was already well-established as a singer-songwriter by this point, but even then, this album feels superbly ethereal in its sentiments of a moment of bliss, so frail and fleeting, yet it came when it needed to.

Oddly enough, at the start of this year, I heard the big single off Joan Armatrading's self-titled album, "Love and Affection", and remember enjoying it. Joan is an English singer-songwriter who had a rather earnest upbringing and worked her way towards a record deal while writing and performing her original songs. This third album of hers would be her commercial breakthrough, and I can hear why.

This record is a rich blend of folk and pop, with bright textures and bouncing grooves to make these songs feel vibrant under Joan's soft yet commanding contralto delivery. Not only does her strumming of the acoustic guitar come off well-accented, but the rest of the soundscape is bolstered by the welcomed additional instrumentation, such as the accompanying strings and alto saxophone solo on "Love and Affection", or the mandolin motifs on "Somebody Who Loves You". Adding to this flair are some deep observational lyrics of love in all its twists and turns. I know that love and relationship songs will be forever abundant in music. Yet, there is something to be said about Joan's particular poetry in plain, spoken language, directed towards "you" as the partner involved in the relationship, that feels more resonant. Nothing is left to ambiguity or second-guessing, as she laid it all out on the table, including the accusations of one-night stands on "Join the Boys" or the affair exposed in "Somebody Who Loves You".

It may seem simple in its presentation and execution, but Joan Armatrading's self-titled album is just that good. I couldn't find anything to complain about with this record, and I am glad to have gotten to check her music out this year.

For those who don't know, SAULT is a black British music collective that combines elements of neo-soul, funk, and urban contemporary gospel. They were largely anonymous, but these days are known by two big-name collaborators, producer and multi-instrumentalist Inflo and vocalist Cleo Sol. Together, they released multiple albums within the span of a few years, to be timely with their efforts in tandem with recent sociopolitical events in the Western world related to the urban black experience, and Untitled (Black Is) was certainly utilized to address such.

The group made it clear with their mission statement alongside the release. This album was meant to address issues of systemic racism and police brutality that have endured in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other such countries. In particular, what was fresh on people's minds at the time was the civil unrest that sparked following the murder of George Floyd, after he was fatally asphyxiated by a police officer. Of course, other black people have needlessly died at the hands of police, including Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, but it was George's death that resonated the most with people.

I could see how a group like SAULT would be motivated to capture the essence of these systemic issues with an eclectic blend of soul and funk, while also looking to be empowering for black folk at a time of turmoil. Parallels could be argued between this record and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, a classic soul record also released at a time of civil unrest.

But this is where I need to bring up the three P's of good political art - power, populism, and precision. While the populism is evident here in the apparent messaging, there is some inconsistency in the power and precision. Regarding power, there are some noticeable moments in this record, such as on "Black Is", where the musical backdrop quiets down as the vocal lead takes on more poetic prose. Not exactly bad, but given the weight of the messaging, there could have been more immediacy and impact in the presentation. Conversely, there are moments on "Stop Dem!" and "Black" where vocal pickups clip at the front of the mix, as Inflo can't quite keep the production from getting rough in spots. As for the precision, while there are a few mentions of the issues at hand, such as the chants on "Stop Dem!" or the callout of the racist policemen on "Don't Shoot Guns Down", a lot of the language here comes off as a bit too respectable in tone, with not enough detail or genuine insight to effectively challenge the systems in play, leaving certain sentiments on this record ringing hollow.

It is frustrating because I think there is a place for music to address these types of issues with racism and police brutality, and SAULT attempted to do just that here. I can see why this was picked for the 2021 edition of the book, given that the civil unrest of that previous summer was still fresh in people's minds. But at the end of the day, problems in the execution wind up leaving me wanting more.

I will admit, I have rather limited knowledge of Primal Scream. They're a Scottish group that started in the indie pop genre but eventually moved towards incorporating elements of various styles, including alternative, garage rock, dance, and psychedelia. I know that Screamadelica is considered their genre-bending commercial breakthrough, and it is on this list. But that's not the album I got today.

Instead, I got their fifth album, Vanishing Point, which can be viewed as a return to their genre-bending approach after employing a more straightforward roots rock sound with Give Out but Don't Give Up. Frontman Bobby Gillespie refers to this album as an "anarcho-syndicalist speedfreak road-movie" record, combining elements of electronic rock, dub, and neo-psychedelia, with this music serving as an alternative soundtrack to the 1971 action film of the same name. I haven't seen Vanishing Point, the film, yet, so I wouldn't know how much weight that remark holds. But I will say this album gets weird.

Most of this album serves as pure ambience, such that the electronic flourishes, programmed percussion, reverb-coated guitar strums, and occasional hazy vocals from Gillespie all coalesce into "vibes". It certainly sounds pleasant to listen to in the background, though rarely did a track grab my attention. The only tracks that seemed to stand out to me amidst the haze were singles "Kowalski" and "Star" with their abstract lyrics and popping grooves, "If They Move, Kill 'Em" with the use of theremin and funk guitar rollick, the more straightforward garage rock number "Medication", and the absolute oddity that is the slowed-down, electronically-tinged cover of Hawkwind's "Motörhead", sung through a Darth Vader mask.

I wasn't sure what to expect with Vanishing Point, the album, and as a result, the hodgepodge of sounds and ideas didn't quite work out for me. I certainly didn't hate it, as there are some good moments, and I will commend Primal Scream for continuing their experimentations. I simply wish that it resulted in a work that stuck in memory more.

I will not include the 2006 reissue bonus tracks for this review.

After enjoying Siouxsie and the Banshees' debut, The Scream, I figured I would get more of a kick out of a later release of theirs. After all, I already love opening single "Spellbound", which made a recent appearance in the fourth season of Stranger Things and was sampled this year in Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra". Plus, I've heard deep cut "Monitor" before on the radio, and dug that track as well. How does the rest of Juju stack up?

I would say that this album can be distilled into one word, and that's "hypnotic". Not only are all the great elements of the band's early raw work still present in the sound, with Siouxsie Sioux's vibrato, John McKay's crunchy riffs, Kenny Morris's tom-tom-focused percussive beats, and Steven Severin's supple bass, but the songwriting has greatly improved to incorporate tighter melodic compositions. Not a moment felt wasted as the band effortlessly played with dark twists and turns, yet maintaining some pop sensibilities. Combine that with a myriad of subject matter ranging from meditations on death, domestic abuse, serial killers, and perverted magic, and the result is a classic goth record.

I can see why Juju is considered a fan favorite in the band's discography. It was well worth checking out.

Now, we have the "cream" of the crop for Eric Clapton's career. Obvious pun aside, for as much as Clapton continued to see success in his solo career and other projects, it was always going to be his time with the band Cream that got the most recognition. Similar arguments could be made for drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce. Their landmark album, Disraeli Gears, serves as a testament to their combined talent early on.

A good portion of this album is the sort of chill psychedelic blues rock that's emblematic of the group, as members shared hazy vocal leads and songwriting credits amidst crunchy guitar riffs and a loose rhythm section. The compositions are kept mostly tight and self-contained, as songs never veer off into improvisational jamming, which is a good thing for keeping these songs memorable. Tracks like "Strange Brew", "Sunshine of Your Love", "Tales of Brave Ulysses", and "SWLABR" capture the shift from blues to more acidy stylings as the latter half of the 1960s raged on.

That said, this album does peter off in the last couple of tracks, from Clapton's more straightforward rendition of Blind Joe Reynolds's "Outside Woman Blues" through the band's mock ending of "Mother's Lament". I should also mention that while Clapton is an above-average guitarist who is showcased well here, I wouldn't say he was the greatest among his contemporaries, like Jimi Hendrix or George Harrison. There were definitely better players at the time, and deep down, I think Clapton would agree with me.

Regardless, Disraeli Gears is a classic record from one of the first supergroup bands ever formed, and as such has its place on this list.

I've dealt with a share of bizarre, experimental rock from Frank Zappa. It was a matter of time before I checked out the band he was in prior, The Mothers of Invention. A rotating cavalcade of musicians, the Mothers are considered one of the bigger names in California's late 1960s underground scene. Their debut record, often cited as one of the first concept albums, certainly lives up to its title.

Freak Out! starts innocent enough with the rather kooky, playful pastiches of doo wop and rhythm and blues. It's pretty evident that not only did everyone in the band play rather competently for these compositions, but Zappa loved taking the piss out of American pop culture. Whether it's the message of love from the hippies on "I Ain't Got No Heart", the sappy teenage romance on "Go Cry on Someone Else's Shoulder", or the purveying oxymorons that come with the doo wop tunes on "Wowie Zowie", there was a good variety and execution in the parodies they offered.

As the album goes on, the band slowly descends into sheer madness. The final two tracks, "It Can't Happen Here" and "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet", are some of the weirdest tracks I've heard on my journey. The former is an a cappella track that ironically foreshadows the rise of the counterculture, while the latter is a 12-minute sound collage illustrating someone going insane. Funny enough, the latter track wasn't even the finished product according to Zappa, as it was meant to be much longer.

Make no mistake, Freak Out! is a strange record. It does go on for a rather long time, and I imagine it would get unsettling for some people, especially towards the end. But it is unique and helped usher in one of the most creative forces to have walked the earth.

I was already familiar with Janelle Monáe back in 2023 when I checked out her recent album, The Age of Pleasure. I remember enjoying the wild genre experimentation on that record, which seems emblematic of her music. Case in point, her debut studio album, The ArchAndroid, employs a rich blend of soul, funk, R&B, psychedelic rock, cabaret, doo wop, and other styles, all wrapped under Janelle's commanding mezzo-soprano voice and immaculate production. Just the opening run of the string orchestration of "Suite II Overture", the quick rapping over the electronic rattle of "Dance or Die", the big band swing of "Faster", and the bouncing funk of "Locked Inside" showcase a good sampling of the flashy swerves offered as the tracks neatly segue into each other. These musical shifts help keep engagement throughout the runtime across two suites.

That said, there's more to this record than the instrumental quality and flow. The ArchAndroid serves as parts two and three of a seven-part Afrofuturist concept series, centered around Janelle's alter ego Cindi Mayweather, designation 57821, a hypersexualized android who's on the run from the authorities because she dared fall in love with a human. While her debut EP, Metropolis: The Chase Suite, lays out the setting and the beginnings of Cindi's rebellion, it's okay to start with this record, as "Dance or Die" gives a quick rundown of this world of man and machine as Cindi goes on the run. Eventually, we are introduced to her love interest, Sir Anthony Greendown, and explore their romantic connection. Meanwhile, Cindi herself learns to accept her place as a messianic figure in liberating the rest of the android population, culminating in the ending where she bids farewell to her lover as she begins her travel back in time to save her people.

Like all good science fiction, the story here is ripe with allegory. Janelle herself has considered androids to be the new "other", representing the various identities that have long been oppressed and deserve to be free and loved. Janelle herself is a lot of "other" - black, feminine, and queer - and through Cindi, she expresses her desires while trying to live up to high expectations. Probably the most notable tracks that give insight into these feelings are "Oh, Maker", where she calls to a higher being to express her forbidden love, "Mushrooms and Roses", where she's also fascinated by another rebelling female android named Blueberry Mary, and "Say You'll Go", where she reaffirms her love for Anthony and asks him to join her on her quest for android freedom. The album serves as an ode to love in times of crisis while offering hope to others as they choose how they want to live without fear. The lyrical subtext here will become full-on text later with The Age of Pleasure, but it is nonetheless welcoming.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed The ArchAndroid. I'm sure it probably makes more sense on stage than on record, but the execution is grand and makes Janelle's world feel like a future worth fighting for.

This will be my third Bob Dylan album on my journey, and it's got a reputation. Highway 61 Revisited is the centerpiece of Dylan's rock pivot trilogy, and arguably the starting point of folk rock as a genre. The opening track, "Like a Rolling Stone", is often regarded as one of the most influential songs of all time, and the rest of the album is just as great, if not more.

From the more upbeat electric blues of "Tombstone Blues" and "From a Buick 6", to the slow-burning sensuality of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry", to the gut-wrenching organ riffing of "Ballad of a Thin Man", to the gentler roll of "Queen Jane Approximately" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", ending with the 11-minute acoustic epic "Desolation Row", Dylan and the backing personnel offered a strong variety of well-crafted compositions. Throughout the experience, his poetry remained in focus, most likely written in a stream-of-consciousness, but with enough literary wit and poignant observation to make the characters in his stories feel real. Not to mention, Dylan's delivery on this record comes off with a dry subtlety that doesn't deter but rather invites the listener to hear what he has to say. The organic warmth that pervades this album, vocally and instrumentally, felt welcoming.

I don't have much else to say here. Highway 61 Revisited is a classic record that has withstood the test of time, and it was great checking it out.

It is rather fascinating that, among the gentlemen who have fronted Genesis, only Peter Gabriel is represented on this list. I doubt that people remember when Ray Wilson sang with the band for one album, but Phil Collins's tenure from the 1980s into the 1990s spawned some of their biggest hits. Not to mention, Phil's solo career was even more massive, particularly with his contributions to various movie soundtracks. Yet Peter gets all the representation here, not only as the first frontman for Genesis, but also boasting a more artistic and experimental solo career. That's not to say he couldn't enjoy success from a more accessible direction with his music, as would be the case with his fifth album, So.

This is a progressive pop record where Peter took elements from soul and traditional world music to offer a more sensual and ethereal approach to his compositions. Opening with the strongly percussive crash of "Red Rain", running through cuts like his duet with Kate Bush, "Don't Give Up", his exploration of one's conscience, "That Voice Again", his minimal yet striking critique of Dr. Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment on "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)", the elegant triangle and flute texutres with whispered poetry on "Mercy Street", and the reworked "Excellent Birds" with the supple bassline and lower registers, Peter struck a balance between thought-provoking ballads and complex rhythmic sections. Of course, the song most people remember from this album that demonstrated this balance is "In Your Eyes", with the combination of arpeggiated guitar, light synthesizer flair, talking drum percussion, and contributions from Senegalese vocalist Youssou N'Dour that proved to be an excellent choice for blaring over the boombox in the serenade scene of the film Say Anything.

Yet with all the praise I can give for this record, it does feel dated in places. Notably, with the more upbeat tracks "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time", they come off as the kind of cheesy 1980s dance funk that feels of its time. Not helping matters is how many sexual euphemisms Peter lays down on the former track, while the latter is a more palatable critique of the purveying yuppie culture as the decade went on.

Overall, it was nice to see Peter Gabriel have his cake and eat it too, with the more accessible yet experimental work done on So. I can see how many would argue this is his best solo album, and as such, it served as a nice introduction to his output.

I must admit, my knowledge of Merle Haggard is rather limited to a few singles, namely "Mama Tried" and "Okie from Muskogee". I understand that he was one of the more prolific outlaw country singer-songwriters, and thus, his pedigree would justify an inclusion from his time with backing band The Strangers. Not to mention, this album's title track was Merle's first number-one single, which means it has historical significance. I wish the rest of the record made for a complete experience.

Let me put it this way - I did enjoy half of the songs off I'm a Lonesome Fugitive. Merle did rather well delving into the darker, lonesome nature of the outlaw lifestyle, supported by the intricate guitar play and necessary pickup from the backing personnel. The opening title track sets the stage for the rambling life on the road, the desire for death after taking away his darling's life on "Life in Prison", the rampant alcoholism to pretend to be someone he's not on "Drink Up and Be Somebody", the unfortunate lifestyle of being homeless on "Skid Row", the torn emotions on display as his lover leaves town on the midnight train in "Mixed Up Mess of a Heart", these songs help give depth into the multiple facets of going down such a path. It was a rather smart choice for him to cover Jimmie Rodgers's "My Rough and Rowdy Ways", as even those lyrics of drinking and gambling add to the tumultuous characterization.

As for the other half of this album, they tend to fall into slow, plodding relationship songs. Aside from the aforementioned "Mixed Up Mess of a Heart" and "If You Want to Be My Woman", the rest sounded rote. Not terrible, but not very distinct, and they don't add much to the outlaw character vibe with other songs on this record.

All of this to say that I'm a Lonesome Fugitive left me with mixed feelings. It's a fine enough country record to put on. It does feel like this record was chosen out of historical significance. I'm cherry-picking my favorites and going from there.

This was an intriguing discovery for me. For those who don't know, Underworld is a British electronic group, primarily consisting of vocalist/guitarist Karl Hyde and keyboardist/mixer Rick Smith. They started as an alternative synthpop act in the 1980s before pivoting to dance and techno from the 1990s onward.

Listening to Second Toughest in the Infants gave me the sense of the breadth and depth of electronic composition that Underworld can conjure. Opening with the multiple-suite works of "Juanita: Kiteless: To Dream of Love" and "Banstyle/Sappy's Curry", they're capable of ebbing and weaving through various hypnotic stylings, from aggressive breakbeat to softer ambient, from popping house beats to lush synthesizers over a drum-and-bass rhythm section. All the while, they introduce elements that help identify and anchor the tracks, such as the acoustic guitar strumming on cuts like "Stagger", the distorted synthesizer on "Rowla", and Karl's observational lyrics whispered over the mix. The duo certainly did their best to give each of these compositions its distinctive flavor, with enough twists and turns to try and maintain listener engagement.

That said, this album still runs rather long at 73 minutes, though paradoxically, the fault is not with the opening two tracks, as those were some of the most enticing electronic pieces I heard in some time. Instead, there was a more noticeable lull in the second half of the record, between the repeated synth notes of "Air Towel" and the spare acoustic melody of "Blueski" that felt underdeveloped. I wish these tracks had more time in the oven in comparison to others on this record.

Still, Second Toughest in the Infants was a solid electronic record, as Underworld redefined themselves to become one of the more distinguishable electronic acts out there.

I will base my review on the cassette and CD tracklist.

With my second album from The Fall, I am slowly realizing that my feelings with This Nation's Saving Grace are roughly the same as they were with The Infotainment Scan. There are some genuinely catchy guitar riffs and punchy rhythm section compositions throughout the record, complemented by some light synthesizer fare to add to the manic nature. Tracks like "Bombast", "L.A.", and "Paintwork" have such a grooving, robust musical foundation to build upon. Yet, once again, I find Mark E. Smith as a vocalist to be someone I respect more than like. He does his damndest to invoke the grimy urban decay that he must have felt persisted through England at the time. But his thick, slurry accent, thoroughly abstract lyrics, and liberal use of regional slang left me at a distance from enjoying him in front of some genuinely intriguing experimental instrumentation in the background. What doesn't help matters is that this album runs longer than The Infotainment Scan did, and when you're struggling to connect with this band on a deeper level because of the frontman, then those extra minutes become difficult to bear.

I still consider The Fall to be a good band, and I think this album is decent. Just be sure to temper your expectations.

After getting through the emotionally heavier sophomore release Closer, I figured Joy Division's debut Unknown Pleasures would be an easier listen for me. Not only did that statement end up being true, but I feel this album growing on me.

Once again, the instrumentation of Joy Division took spotlight, with the spacious guitar hooks, punchy yet distant drumming, the supple basslines, and the reverbed production. All these elements coalesce behind Ian Curtis's haunting vocal delivery, as he delivered insight to his depressing state, as he felt he could not easily connect with others around him. These words lend themselves to an overall dark feel for the record without being as suffocating as Closer would be, which ended up pairing better with the post-punk sensibilities of the backing band. Not only did this translate to me enjoying the hard-hitting numbers such as opener "Disorder", "She's Lost Control" and "Interzone", but even the more atmospheric cuts like "Candidate" and "New Dawn Fades" resonated. Plus, it was a delight to hear "Shadowplay" after I previously heard The Killers cover that song.

With that, I have no qualms calling Unknown Pleasures a top notch record, one that has transcended the unfortunately short life of the group and its frontman.