amanda

Wow! We had a different chemical brothers album just recently (or what feels like recently). Yet another Beth Orton guest spot here; this must be like her 8th appearance on the list by now. Each one much better than her solo effort.

This is really not a lyrics-forward album. I was about to say "welp, this was way less enjoyable than I expected" until the 1-2-3 punch of 'Lost in the K-Hole' (dig your own k-hole?), 'Where Do I Begin' (🥹), & 'The Private Psychedelic Reel'. Ratings whiplash!

Highlight: 'Where Do I Begin' (5 star song.... 3 star album?)

Ahh, a classic structural ambiguity: [new [boots and panties]] or [[new boots] and [panties]]? Well, that's my quota of writing the word "panties" for the year. (Wiki tells us the intention was the former.)

This album is hard for me to categorize. The music is kind of all over the place (50s....70s....80s), and the lyrics are too. Is the line "Blue Gene Baby" a 'Tiny Dancer' reference? 'I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra' reminds me of Hawksley Workman's 'Jealous of Your Cigarette'. Overall, this wasn't boring but I can't say that I especially liked it.

Slur count = 4.

In my mind this is probably one of the 20 most famous albums (other top 20 famous albums we've had: the white album, dark side of the moon, that king crimson one, rumours...) Not that I've ever listened to it! But I like the picture of Bob Dylan because he kinda looks like me.

I wasn't prepared for this much harmonica. Too much harmonica. Hey, 'Visions of Johanna' was written in the Chelsea Hotel! But I dunno, it's not anything special for me. People make a big to-do about his lyrics but just having a lot of lyrics doesn't mean they're Nobel-prize worthy -- wait, what's this? They are? Well, whatever. They aren't 4-or-5 on MY Rating Scale-worthy.

OK, I'm buckling up for Space Prog.

It was boring. I didn't need to buckle up. We were going 10mph.

Never heard of this. And maybe that was for the best. There are some OK elements, but no true bops.

Highlight: 'Psycho Cupid (Danceband on the Edge of Time)'