Reviews by abrisskull

This is one of those cases where I admittedly laughed as soon as I saw what I got today. This is a collection of 28 short songs, six of which get past the two-minute mark. Not to mention, this is a lo-fi album that you can tell only cost ten bucks to record with the grainy straight-from-the-tape production quality. Add to that, Guided by Voices are known for their brief songs that usually end abruptly, which is what I noticed from listening to Alien Lanes as songs tend to stop just as they're getting good.

This is a shame because I can hear how Robert Polland has a knack for writing good hooks, and he and his band played decent enough to pull them off. Tracks like "A Salty Salute", "Watch Me Jumpstart", "As We Go Up, We Go Down", "Game of Pricks", "Motor Away", and "My Valuable Hunting Knife" showcase some strong ideas influenced by the British Invasion sound that simply needed a little more time in the oven.

Although, other tracks were ostensibly bad - the grainy snoring that overwhelms "Ex-Supermodel", the burbling of the vocals on "Chicken Blows", and especially "Hit" which the most it can muster in 23 seconds is the drop of the derogatory f-word used against homosexuals.

Ultimately, Guided by Voices on this record sounded like a group of lads that had a lot of potential but were given a lot of creative freedom without any guidance. From the looks of it, Pollard would reform the band with various lineups, work with producers, and embrace longer songwriting than can reach the 3-minute and 4-minute mark. I respect the man's hustle. As for Alien Lanes, cherry-pick your favorites and go from there.

This is the first I've heard of the group NEU! From what I gather, they were a krautrock band, which is to say they are a German experimental rock band. The primary members were Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother, who formed the group after departing Kraftwerk early on. Their third album NEU! 75 would be last before disbanding followed by a brief reunion in the mid-'80s.

Now for the fun part - NEU! 75 is one of those albums where it is apparent that the band began to fall apart because the album is divided into two styles. Side one is the more ambient, keyboard-driven work that Rother wanted to pursue, whereas side two is the more aggressive, rock-influenced jams that Dinger wished to pursue. To be fair, I consider both sides to sound well-executed. The impeccable atmosphere of the keyboards combined with the spare guitar lines and soft percussion of side one is just as potent as the crunchy guitar riffs over Dinger's sneering vocals and punching 4/4 beat of side two. My only gripes with this album are the tonal clash between both sides where one doesn't lead into the other as well, and the lyrics of side two as Dinger struggled to find the words to vent out his frustrations.

Despite the obvious division in creative focus between our two main members, NEU! managed to put out one final album that is still sonically pleasing and innovative for the time. I expect this album to grow on me, but for now, it gets a solid recommendation.

I'll admit, I did a lot of research for this particular album, because I was not satisfied with the barebone Wikipedia articles for this release and the artist attached to it. I scoured the internet for as many lyrics and background information as I could find. Along the way, I came across an interview with Mike Ladd conducted by Nate Patrin for Red Bull Music Academy back in April 2015 called "Key Tracks: Mike Ladd’s Welcome to the Afterfuture", which I implore you to look up as it helped to get a lot of the context for this album straight from the source.

Without further ado, Mike Ladd is an underground hip-hop emcee and producer out of Boston. He previously played bass for various punk bands and was exposed to a rich and diverse collection of genres ranging from hardcore punk, jazz, poetry, dancehall, dub, lo-fi, and 80s hip hop. Mike got his graduate degree in poetry while recording his debut album Easy Listening for Armaggedon, which was more spoken word. Outtakes from sessions for that first record made their way onto this next album Welcome to the Afterfuture, which he worked on at Ozone Studios in New York around the same time fellow underground hip-hop group Company Flow was working on their music.

Getting into the album proper, Welcome to the Afterfuture is a sonic melting pot of various electronic beats, jazz, funk grooves, and ambiance that Mike allows to permeate and set the futuristic vibes. The ten-minute "To the Moon's Contractor" with the horns and glistening keys over hard-hitting beats, the Bollywood-esque sample into the electro-funk stomp of "Airwave Hysteria", the bubbling synths and record scratches on "I Feel Like $100", the guitar line over live percussion and rattle on "The Animist". There's a spacious quality throughout these tracks, giving the sense of being in orbit and watching what has become down below.

Along the way, Mike utilizes a spoken-word flow to make observations on his environment, in a manner that's unorthodox yet demands the listener to pay attention. Of course, Mike goes off with fellow underground hip hop Company Flow on "Blade Runners", a sequel to "Blade Runner" off Easy Listening on Armaggedon, where all three make the most of their technological references in assessing the megalopolis lifestyle being promised.

That takes us to the big concept around Welcome to the Afterfuture, in that this album is a response to Afrofuturism. The science fiction dreamed about can't keep up with where real life has gone into the new millennium. On the surface, that means we have yet to attain fancy technologies like the flying cars and Mars colonies promised on the opening track "5000 Miles West of the Future". But dig deeper and you realize that real-world problems such as racism and political turmoil are still rampant, and it takes effort to shape tomorrow in the way you want it to be. In particular, two tracks stand out the most from this record, "Takes More than 41" and "Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)", which reference the murder of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Guinean student who was shot and killed by four New York City cops in plain street clothes, for a total of 41 rounds fired upon. It's a cautionary tale that certainly echoes years later concerning police brutality, and it's a matter of what lessons we can take from such a tragedy to shape our future.

With a better understanding of what this album was trying to accomplish, the one problem I had with Welcome to the Afterfuture was the lack of cohesion. Throughout the runtime, it felt like too many ideas were being brewed together, where the spoken poetry rapping clashed with the more ambient electronic pieces. During my listens, I kept thinking back to other underground hip hop albums with futuristic theming such as Deltron 3030's self-titled debut or Aesop Rock's Integrated Tech Solutions, and how those albums were more direct in the narrative they wanted to accomplish in weaving in their social commentary. It's not that I didn't understand what Mike wanted to achieve in his post-futurist assessment on this album, and it does reach a strong conclusion towards the end, but it was at best scattershot in how we got there.

All that said, this has been a worthwhile experience researching and coming to terms with an album that is challenging to listen to. It takes a certain someone with an open mind to become aware of what's going on in the world today and make the future their own, and that's the kind of sentiment I can take away from Mike Ladd.

To approximate the original release as closely as possible, I created a playlist with the tracks taken from the 1995 expanded edition that appeared on the original LP. I know that approach is counterintuitive to Pete Townshend's original intent of having Live at Leeds be a double album, which the expanded edition and 40th anniversary super deluxe edition satisfy. But I wanted to take this album as it originally was because that's the version that got all the critical acclaim, to begin with.

With that in mind, Live at Leeds in its basic form is a solid collection of live tracks, performed with a more hard rock edge than what The Who previously did in the studio. It's apparent from the get-go with their cover of Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" that they were playing with a great deal of ferocity in Pete's guitar licks, the uptempo rhythm section particularly in Keith Moon's drum banging, and Roger Daltrey's charismatic vocals. They were having fun with these covers alongside their original material, like the sprawling 15-minute medley baked into "My Generation".

I'd say the one track I didn't care about was "Substitute". My feelings for that song have soured over time, as the lyrics have not aged well as a meandering list of what objects or people Pete would want to change. Instrumentally it's passable, and live it's done in under two and a half minutes, but I could've gone with a different track.

Overall, I'm glad I listened to Live at Leeds and caught a glimpse of the raw, sonic energy that The Who displayed in their live shows.

Alright, this will be the fourth Neil Young album I've listened to on my journey. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is the first album he worked on with the band Crazy Horse, and I already covered a later collaborative album with them, Rust Never Sleeps. Not only do I enjoy this more than Rust Never Sleeps, but this is the most enjoyment I've had from Neil since Harvest.

The key here is Crazy Horse's guitarist Danny Whitten. He played amazingly on this record, where a variety of riffs pop off with ease from him, and the interplay he had with Neil was stellar. I already knew the guitar work was good from the opening track "Cinnamon Girl", but the rest of the album delivered in spades. Aiding that notion is the tight rhythm section of Billy Talbot on bass and Ralph Molina on drums that carry the tonal weight, with the lone exception of the soft acoustic ballad of "Round & Round (It Won't Be Long) as Neil and Robin Lane's harmonized vocals sing of a spiraling down path towards self-destruction. In fact, Neil's lyrics are potent and well-varied throughout the experience, from relationships found and lost on "Cinnamon Girl", "The Losing End (When You're On)" and "Cowgirl in the Sand", to scathing accounts of the music industry on the title track, to the requiem "Running Dry" reminiscing about the band The Rockets whose members went on to become Crazy Horse on, to probably one of the most striking tales of murder I've heard on "Down by the River".

What more can I say about such an excellent album? Everybody Knows This is Nowhere fully embodied the sound of an ambitious songwriter who wanted to stake his claim with a band he found pathos with. This was the start of an excellent partnership.

For this review, I will not include the live bonus tracks added to the 2004 re-release.

It's weird—last month, the title track of this album appeared in my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify, and here we are now with the full album.

For those who don't know, Richard and Linda Thompson are notable English folk-rock singer-songwriters who worked together for a decade as a married couple until their separation in 1982. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is their first foray together as a pair, and it was a delight to be had.

The album opens strong with "When I Get to the Border" through "Down Where the Drunkards Roll" where strong guitar licks are pushed in front of the mix, complemented by a tight rhythm section, various instruments that add to the old English tone such as an accordion, mandolin, and krummhorns. Throughout, Richard and Linda commanded each of their vocal performances with the smallest amount of optimism amidst the stark and bleak nature of the situations described in the lyrics. Whether Richard and Linda portray being drunkards or thieving beggars, or watching friends and fortunes go away, they add a few lines in each song that give a sense of yearning for a better life.

Though I'll admit, by the time we get to "We Sing Hallelujah", the pace and tone of this album started to mellow out. While there aren't any bad songs in the second half given there's at least one more good standout with "Little Beggar Girl", in comparison with the stronger guitar hooks and compositions of the first half this made the whole album uneven when taken in the larger context.

Still, I genuinely enjoyed I Want to See the Brights Tonight as a bittersweet slice of folk rock.

It's been a while since I heard a Metallica album after getting Master of Puppets as album 33 on my journey. I expected to get either ...And Justice for All or The Black Album next. Instead, we got a real treat today.

The idea of this live album S&M was a long time coming. Their original bassist Cliff Burton was classically trained, as such he and the rest of the group incorporated more melodic compositions into their style for those early thrash metal albums, and that fusion carried into their experimentation into more conventional heavy metal and hard rock throughout the 90s. Composer Michael Kamen, who arranged and conducted the strings in the background of "Nothing Else Matters", approached the band at the 1992 Grammy Awards with the suggestion to have them perform with an orchestra. Seven years later, that idea was fully realized when the band performed live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Now, the idea of a rock or metal artist performing with a symphony orchestra had been kicking around for decades by the time Metallica decided to do it. Hell, one of the band's influences Deep Purple performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969. Also, this was the tail-end of the 1990s, where over in Europe the symphonic metal subgenre was kicking into high gear with acts like Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Rhapsody of Fire having put out their debuts. The idea of Metallica performing with a symphony orchestra is not a revolutionary concept. Rather, it is a celebration of the past two decades of their music, given more gravitas with the orchestration.

Every song on here is elevated with the San Francisco Symphony, adding new lines and motifs where you wouldn't have anticipated them from their original studio recordings. To highlight some of my favorite renditions, we start with a live rendition of the band's opening theme of Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, The Bad & the Ugly film before transitioning into the sweeping majesty of "The Call of Ktulu" where the swell of the strings and horns made for a grandeur statement akin to "In the Hall of the Mountain King". "Of Wolf and Man" becomes more intense and heightens the primal nature of the lyrical theming of being one with the wolf pack. The light string accompaniment on "Bleeding Me" that builds into the guitar solo complemented the internal struggle James portrayed, an arrangement that I distinctly remember my Mom calling angelic despite not usually listening to metal music. Concert staple "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is more bombastic as the strings and horns mirror James and Kirk's guitar riffs for an increased depth in the sound. "The Outlaw Torn" is the kind of song made for an orchestral accompaniment, as it's a ten-minute atmospheric song that neatly crescendoes at the end. Finally, as the encore, the intro to "Battery" is beautifully recreated with string and wind instruments before everyone kicks into high gear. I'm still finding new details to this day that I can appreciate, like how they end "Enter Sandman" in the same manner as "No Remorse".

Also adding to the experience, two original tracks were written and performed with Michael Kamen's orchestral arrangement already in mind. While "No Leaf Clover" is the popular one that still gets played live on occasion, I am more partial towards "- Human" which continues down the rabbit hole of brooding, D-tuned stompers with the likes of "Sad But True" and "Devil's Dance" to great effect.

Throughout the runtime, the band themselves maintain the sense of drive and commitment that they've brought to their live performances, with particular praise towards James's commanding vocal presence that stays as close to the intent of each track as possible, and Jason Newsted's ability to amp up the crowd such as his callout on "Of Wolf and Man". The crowd felt alive throughout the performance, committed to sing-along moments on tracks like "The Memory Remains" and "Master of Puppets".

I know the runtime can seem intimidating, but this is a Metallica concert. Two hours of performing live is not unheard of for most rock and metal acts, especially for these guys with such an extensive catalog. Also from watching the accompanying live video, I can tell they cut out a lot of live performance banter between songs from James which helped the replay value.

I loved revisiting S&M for this list. It was a full-on celebration of Metallica before they entered dark times in the early 2000s. I know they would try to recreate the magic with S&M2 over twenty years later, but the first time they did it was truly astounding.

I will exclude the bonus tracks from the special edition for this review.

I've heard plenty of Jethro Tull as one of those progressive rock acts that carved their own identity by incorporating more English folk and classical elements. Aqualung is the prime example of that fusion.

Throughout the run of this album, there are sprawling multi-movement tracks and interludes that purvey this sense of romanticization of dreary subject matter that showcased how well Ian Anderson could pen a tune. From the plight of the homeless man on the title track, to the reckless abandonment of the schoolgirl prostitute on "Cross-Eyed Mary", to the hypocritical nature of organized religion on "Hymn 43" and the warning of overpopulation on "Locomotive Breath", there's a variety in the lyrical touchpoints that Ian utilized in conjunction with stellar guitar riffs, tight rhythm sections, and of course the iconic flute playing. I didn't even mind the interludes "Cheap Day Return", "Wond'ring Aloud" and "Slipstream" as they add to the whimsical nature that this album can exude. I imagine an album like this going off well for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

Yet as much as I consider Aqualung to be a fun romp, I wasn't exactly blown away by it. It's certainly well done as a progressive rock album that carved its niche, but I've heard plenty of artists that have come after this and continued their niche to great effect like Blood Ceremony and Wucan. That's not a bad problem to have, as Jethro Tull has proven to be an inspiration for later generations. But it does mean that checking out this album later down the road makes it feel like I've heard this done before.

I will say this - Aqualung is a great album, one that can be argued belongs on this list, as the fusion of folk and progressive rock proved to be a successful tactic.

Aww yeah, it's the muthafuckin' D.R.E. (Dr. Dre, motherfucker!) I wanted to get that out of my system. Anyway...

By this point, Dr. Dre had already established himself as a credible rapper and producer for N.W.A., a seminal group in the gangsta rap genre. After disputes with brother Eazy-E, Dre left the group to pursue a solo career and make a name for himself. After a successful first single for the Deep Cover film soundtrack with an up-and-coming Snoop Dogg he met, Dre put out The Chronic. Just like that, the landscape of rap changed again.

The Chronic is often considered the breakout album for the subgenre known as G-funk or "gangsta funk". It's like gangsta rap but done primarily over samples of 70s funk tunes, particularly from Parliament-Funkadelic. More often than not, Dre had live instruments come in and emulate the artists he wanted to sample, to give a more raw and energetic sound with few alterations. The result was massive where tracks popped off so well, such as the incorporation of the chorus of The Kay Gees' "Who's the Man (With the Master Plan)" with a live drum recreation of Whodini's "Friends" on "A N---- Witta Gun", or a live combination of the guitars from The Nite-Liters' "Damn" with the drums from Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" on "Lyrical Gangbang".

In addition to the excellent production chops on display, Dre cultivated a group of up-and-coming rappers and artists to hop on and make posse cuts akin to what N.W.A. did prior. I've already mentioned Snoop Dogg and he showed up multiple times on this album, especially for the singles people still bump like "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" or "Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')". But I also have to give props to RBX and The D.O.C. for their songwriting and lyrical contributions, such as RBX's verses on "Lyrical Gangbang" and "Stranded on Death Row", as well as "The $20 Sack Pyramid" which was admittedly a hilarious skit.

That all said, for as much as this album puts the "fun" in fundamental for G-funk music, the wordplay hasn't aged well in places. Between cuts like "The Doctor's Office" and "Bitches Ain't Shit", there's a certain attitude towards women for sex that left a sour taste. Also not helping matters are the named intro and outro tracks to this album that don't offer much to tie it all together or make a statement. Then there's the lackadaisical nature over the high-pitch synthesized whistle of "High Powered" which wasn't as engaging of an ode to weed as other tracks were on this album.

There's no denying that The Chronic made this list as an album that helped change the rap landscape for the rest of the '90s onward, further establishing Dr. Dre as an acclaimed producer. Even if it hasn't all aged well, this album still gets a solid recommendation.

Ahh yes, the final Doors album with Jim Morrison before his untimely death. It is technically not the final Doors album, as the surviving members continued with the band for another two albums until their contract with Elektra lapsed and they quickly disbanded soon after. It's always a Herculean task to try and continue a band without the lead singer, and that was certainly the case for the Doors. Thus, people have accepted that L.A. Woman was the band's swansong. Boy, what a swansong it was.

I already knew three tracks I heard on the radio were killer—the title track with its crescendoing bridge, "Love Her Madly" as a jaunty fun tune, and "Riders on the Storm" with Jim's whispered and sung vocals layered together over a haunting piano line. I did not expect the rest of the album to be just as amazing. "The Changeling" is an excellent opener that sets the tone of this album as blues rock with experimentation. Whether it's the aggressive play of "Been Down So Long" with smooth slide guitar from Robby Krieger, the slow burn of "Car Hiss by My Window", the eerie glistening of the keys over drum overdubs on "L'America", the incorporation of Jim's spoken poetry into "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)", or the early progressive rock composition with organ accompaniment on "Hyacinth House", the album mixes up how the blues are played. Even their update to Big Joe Williams's "Crawling King Snake" sounded fresh with the heavier guitar work. Everyone played superbly on these tracks, and the mixing was well done to give it that near-live band vibe.

This was an excellent Doors album all the way through. I'm glad Jim realized his blues album before his untimely demise.

For this review, I'm not bothering with the second disc of the 2015 deluxe version.

I've heard a song or two from the Specials, a very influential ska revival band. Given their legacy, I'm not surprised they had an album on the list, though I was not expecting to see their second album here. From what I gather, More Specials was more influential to later trip-hop acts like Massive Attack and Portishead, given the range of styles implemented. That got me curious, and after a full listen, I've come to appreciate the experimentation, even if it didn't work half the time.

For sure, there are still fun ska tracks in between like "Enjoy Yourself", "Hey, Rich Little Girl", and "Sock It to 'Em J.B." that maintain a fast-paced energy with the guitar and horn complements and Terry Hall's powerful vibrato vocals. Even some of the wilder experiments near the beginning were cool to listen to like the apocalyptic reggae of "Man at C&A" and the laidback vibes of "Do Nothing" with its lyrics warning about obliviousness.

But then side two gets weirder, and not necessarily for the better. They took more inspiration on side two from lounge music and exotica, with more dour sentimentality mixed in. As a result, I hate to say it but side two sounds more of a slog, except for the calypso-themed "Holiday Fortnight". Keyboardist and founding member Jerry Dammers was pushing the band in this lounge direction at the time, and I consider it a detriment. I can see why other members fought back to include more rockabilly and soul vibes because they needed the energy.

More Specials is an interesting curiosity for this list, one I didn't mind checking out despite its glaring issues. Cherry-pick your favorites and go from there.

U2 doesn't need much introduction as one of the biggest rock bands to come out of Ireland. However, in the case of this album, we need to start with the preceding live album Rattle and Hum, because that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It was a full exposure of the pretentiousness and swaggering rock arrogance that the band kept hidden through most of the 80s until they no longer could. They came off as preachy and were unprepared for their commercial success. Thus, they took some time away to reinvent themselves for the 90s, and Achtung Baby was the first taste of that reinvention.

The album is generally good in embracing the band's new style of electronically-tinged alternative rock, complete with production courtesy of Brian Eno to clean up their sound from what it was the decade prior. Throughout the entire run, every member does a decent job in their role, with the obvious highlight going to the Edge's guitar work, taking inspiration from dance music, noticeable on cuts like "The Fly" and "Mysterious Ways".

I know Bono isn't a spectacular vocalist, but he does his best to sell the faux rock-star attitude painted with irony on tracks like "The Fly", "Even Better Than the Real Thing", and the title track. That's not to say there aren't a few earnestly written songs here such as reflections upon internal band struggles and the German reunification on "One" and the strained relationship on "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)", but those moments of honesty were few and far between.

Also not helping matters is that there are a few slower songs like "So Cruel", "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" and the closer "Love is Blindness" that I didn't find as engaging as other slow moments on this album and in the band's catalog. They're not bad songs per se, but not my go-to tracks from them.

All's to say that Achtung Baby is a solid album from U2 in their desire to reinvent themselves. As time has proven, that reinvention gave diminishing returns as they wallowed in more electronic music by the end of the 90s, but at least this first offering was promising enough.

For those not aware, Doves is a progressive pop-rock band from the early 2000s that also got categorized as Britpop in the vocal cadence. I'm sure their style sounds like a sell for some people, but after listening to their second album The Last Broadcast, I'm not sure it's for me.

This is a generally solid album where the combination of hazy blur of guitars and neat bass interplay goes down smoothly, making for an overall agreeable sound. The problem comes when there aren't a lot of tracks here that have a distinct hook or melody to keep in memory as these lads tend to get lost in the haze. Aside from the singles, the nasally sung "Words", and the mild bombast of electric guitars and orchestral accompaniment on "N.Y.", there isn't much else to remember here. At least compared to their contemporaries, Coldplay had the hooks, and Muse had the wild creativity.

The Last Broadcast is a fine album to play in the background but it doesn't rise above that observation. It's cool that Doves is still active with their sixth studio album coming out later this year, and they certainly have an audience for it. Just don't count me amongst those ranks.

I've heard singles from the Electric Light Orchestra, a progressive pop-rock outfit, here and there and generally enjoyed them, including three singles from this album, Out of the Blue. I likewise enjoyed the album overall, but there is a threshold to that sentiment.

Let's make this clear—this is a double album that clocks in at 70 minutes, and the length was certainly felt by the time I got to side four. I remember getting the most kicks out of side three referred to as Concerto for a Rainy Day, where all the tracks were weather-related and culminated in "Mr. Blue Sky" which has become the most well-known hit. At that point, I would have figured closing out on that track would have been genius, but the album kept going and ending on the slightly inferior "Wild West Hero".

To be fair, there's not a bad track throughout, and I certainly don't mind the well-apparent Beatles influence on this album. It's clear from Jeff Lynne's vocals and songwriting that he wanted to continue down the experimental pop rabbit hole that the Beatles went through a decade prior. But I can't deny that this album would have done better in under an hour.

I still enjoyed Out of the Blue and am glad it's included here. I'd recommend splitting your listening experience into two halves for this one.

For this review, I will not include the bonus version tracks tacked onto the expanded edition.

Today, I listened to Wu-Tang Clan proper after hearing the various members show up for their brother Raekwon's debut. It took me multiple listens, but I can accept that the hype for their debut Enter the Wu-Tang is real.

This album is already highly regarded as a classic for its impact in bringing the focus of hip-hop back to the East Coast in the 1990s. The success of Enter the Wu-Tang paved the way for the likes of Nas's Illmatic and The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die, both of which I've already covered. Of the three though, I'd say the Wu did it best.

The first props I'm going to give here is RZA's production. I know his early production style didn't click for me on Raekwon's Only 4 Cuban Linx. But then I checked this out and heard how well-integrated the various soul-jazz samples and quotes from martial arts films were here, creating a thematic vibe that elicits power and intellectual thought.

This leads me to my next prop going to the lyrics. I already knew these guys spat fire from Raekwon's debut, but all of them having roughly equal time to complement one another and share in their kinetic energy just popped off so well. A lot of the wordplay and cultural references meshed neatly into the dark comedy vibes they had stemming from the harsh streets of New York City adapted into their Shaolin theming from the film quotes they pulled.

Finally, I've come to appreciate the skits across various songs, which add to the violent comedic nature of this album. It's possible that some of what they talked about is loosely based on past experience, but for the most part, I just went along with it because the overall vibe makes it feel like it's for entertainment and shock value. I could buy into the idea of Method Man and Raekwon coming up with various torture methods near the start of the top bearing the former's name, or the crew going out to avenge their fallen brother near the start of "Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber". Plus, they do take the time to hype each other out and show their support for one another such as during the intermission after "Can It Be All So Simple" and the "Conclusion".

All these elements coalesce into a debut album that is such a strong showcase for the Wu-Tang Clan, where every track was a banger and the landscape of hip-hop was changed in part because of this.

I've heard a couple of songs here and there from the Damned, a fast-driven punk band that later morphed into a gothic rock act. This is my first full-album listen to their work, and I am genuinely impressed by what we got.

This, by and large, classic-sounding 1970s punk album maintained a fierce and frenetic energy while incorporating elements from other genres. From the use of psychedelic keyboards on "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" and "These Hands" to the opening piano line from "Melody Lee" and the atmospheric bridge with the wailing guitar solo on "Anti-Pope," these mad lads knew how to spice up their style while keeping it fun and engaging. Dave Vanian's smooth crooning vocals, Captain Sensible's raucous guitar work, Algy Ward's well-anchored bass lines, and Rat Scabies's tight percussion coalesce into one neat package that doesn't waste time.

Machine Gun Etiquette is a blast from front to back that not only serves as a forbearer for the emerging hardcore punk scene but varies enough to stand on its own.

For this review, I will not include the alternate takes tacked on at the end of the 2020 remaster.

I can't say I've heard of The Gun Club before. From what I gather, they were considered one of the first punk bands to incorporate blues, rockabilly, and country music in their sound. That's the vibe I got from their debut album Fire of Love - taking a lot of the rockabilly elements such as the rhythmic swings and adapting them to faster tempos, fuzzed-out guitar work, frenetic vocals from Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and lyrics that are more violent and sexual. It's a solid and at times fun album in that regard, though not exactly mind-blowing and it does lose steam with the penultimate track "Cool Drink of Water" which is a slow, plodding cover of a traditional song.

Fire of Love was a neat find on this list and I can see how The Gun Club helped pave the way for later garage rock bands like The White Stripes and Japandroids. Give it a listen.

After the succession of Young Americans, Station to Station and Low, followed by the detour of Aladdin Sane, I am chronologically back on track with Bowie. "Heroes" is the second of the Berlin trilogy, and the only one of the three to be completely recorded in Berlin. The title track is already a classic in my book, but how does the rest stack up?

I like it, though it has some notable ups and downs compared to the preceding Low. Both albums are structurally similar in that the first half included more conventional songs while the second half included more synth-driven instrumentals that Bowie composed with Brian Eno. The songs in the first half are generally fun, such as the abrasive "Beauty and the Beast" and "Joe the Lion" with the swampy bass grooves and heavy guitars, and the space-age sounding "Sons of the Silent Age" with the ethereal atmosphere created from Bowie's wistful singing of psychotic withdrawals and spare saxophone play. But then the second half instrumentals don't feel as engaging as the ones on Low. There are a few good ideas like the use of koto on "Moss Garden" and the driving groove of "V-2 Schneider", yet those moments are counterbalanced by the nothingness of "Sense of Doubt" with the repeated piano motif and whooshing synths, and the elongated drone of "Neuköln". Bowie's vocals come back at the end on "The Secret Life of Arabia" to end on a nice, funky note.

It helped that I understood Low before going into "Heroes," as the two go hand in hand concerning album structure and delivery. It's certainly an intriguing continuation of Bowie's work with Eno and producer Tony Visconti, and as a result, it comes with a solid recommendation.

After enjoying Seventeen Seconds on this journey, I checked out one of the arguably best Cure records they've made.

Despite the successful string of pop ventures as the 1980s went on, the band was going through a series of mounting tensions including Lol Tolhurst's alcoholism and Robert Smith's anguish at the realization that he was about to turn thirty years old and death loomed near amidst the fame. The result was the former getting ejected from the band for his alcohol-induced erratic behavior, and the latter secluded himself during the writing of the next album and captured the dismay and depression he went through at the time. Thus, Disintegration is a return to the gloomy aesthetic from early in the band's career, while continuing the refined sense of production courtesy of David M. Allen.

What we have here is a beautifully atmospheric record, where every band member shines in the ethereal darkness - Simon Gallup's impeccably plucky basslines, Porl Thompson's guitarwork made more delectable by the drone and delayed effects, Boris Williams's commanding percussion, Roger O'Donnell's glistening synth keyboards, and Robert Smith's melancholic vocals. All along the way, Rob maintained a lyrical balance between seeking affection on cuts like "Lovesong", "Pictures of You" and "Lullaby", to somber introspection on "Untitled" and "Plainsong", to full-brimmed anguish on the likes of "Prayers for Rain", "The Same Deep Water As You" and the title track. I consider every song on this album to be a worthwhile inclusion, where each has a natural buildup of the composition before Robert sings. While this album is long due to this slow buildup approach, it never felt like a second was wasted.

What more can I say about Disintegration; this album is an absolute delight in that the band channeled their demons into a haunting yet serene experience.

Alright, this is my third Neil Young album on this journey after getting Harvest and Rust Never Sleeps. I will say I like this album, even if I feel that the overall tone is slower and more laid-back than what I’ve previously heard from Neil.

From what I’ve read about the recording sessions, musician Rusty Kershaw was sharing with Neil and his mates a concoction of sautéed marijuana and honey. That and Neil’s insistence on using the rough mixes resulted in On the Beach sounding overall mellower, albeit with a few sparks of abrasive energy on opening single “Walk On” and “Revolution Blues”. It’s not a bad fit for Neil, as he still maintained a strong sense of songwriting, ranging from lashing out at corporate industries on “From the Turnstiles” and “Vampire Blues”, to taking on his critics on “Ambulance Blues”, and more introspective muses on “Walk On”, “See the Sky About to Rain” and “Motion Pictures”. It just would have been nice if there was more immediacy in the performance and tighter compositions.

Still, I had a good time On the Beach, and I look forward to the next Neil Young album I get.