Reviews by 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)'

Sister of Beyoncé! If Beyoncé (or Jay-Z) is on the list, there's another relative for the version of me who remembered to track relatives. (Right now I only remember the Buckleys & Shankar/Joneses, but I know there are more. Highly disproportionate!!!)

As for Solange, I didn't like her first singles when they came out (this is her 3rd album, so probably that was around 2008), but maybe we both have changed some since then. I think she got more jazzy. I still feel pretty "meh" about this, though. When my favorite parts are by Lil Wayne I know an album is not for me. The lyrics are fine, maybe even good (generally about identity/racism), but the delivery is very slow... chill... yet high-pitched... I like the music, which is kinda funky and bleep-bloopy at times, but I don't like slow high-pitched singing (by any gender)!!

Slur count = 9.

Highlight: the song title 'Interlude: Dad Was Mad'

Hm. I didn't much like this at first, maybe because it's coming right after Dexy's. 'Open Your Heart' kind of reminds me of the Magnetic Fields though. Better than our last album but not good enough for a 4.

Highlight: 'Don't You Want Me' (would make a great mashup with 'Don't You Love Me' by Speedbump, also sounds a lot like the demo track on my tiny old casio keyboard)

-ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER-
Me: I hope this has 'Come on Eileen' on it!
Me: Nope :(
Me: But for some reason it has the music of S̶w̶e̶e̶t̶ ̶H̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶A̶l̶a̶b̶a̶m̶a̶ 'Werewolves of London' :(

What they lose in album cover, they make up for in album title. A Nod IS As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse. Unfortunately the album content is boring... flat... uninteresting. Sounds like the time that it is from. Zzzz.

Relative highlight: 'Debris'

Linguistic profiling lyric: "Too bad my regional tongue / Gave us away again"

Ah yes, this old chestnut. I guess it's electronica, but not the good kind. Instead it's the kind that's like the weird final track on a Now That's What I Call Music compilation (in a natural class with 'Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen'). I am not interested in a strange repetitive monologue if there aren't even interesting background bleeps and bloops!!

Was hoping 'Right Here Right Now' might be a Jesus Jones cover, but alas, it was more like a "some guys are doing an obstacle course on a reality show" background track. Probably the best of the bunch though.

Lowlight: 'The Rockafeller Skank' (boy do I hate this song)

Now this is like a parody of the prototypical album of the list. Be so for real, 1001 albums site. There is nothing I want less right now than to listen to the """Flamin' Groovies""". At least it wasn't super long.

Slur count = 1.

Highlight: 'Yesterday's Numbers'

Poor George Michael. They just did a bafflingly horrible tribute to him at the VMAs!

Anyway, 'Faith' is such a bop. 'Father Figure' perturbs me, but I do like the line "put your tiny hand in mine" (cf. Sonny + Cher's "put your little hand in mine", or even LCD Soundsystem's "throw your little hands up"). The 10 minute long 'I Want Your Sex" (Parts 1 & 2)' is very, very funny to me, like a parody that wasn't intended to be a parody. The musical version of the "Twilight" movies. The rest of the album is fairly unmemorable, though fine.

Highlight: 'Faith'

Lowlight: 'One More Try' (slow jam?!)

I haven't heard this one, but apparently it's one of The Economist's "best albums of 2019". Well, in that case!

In fact, it sounds much older than 2019, which is probably by design. But crucially with good sound quality. There is bass. There are strings. There are fantasy-esque background vocals. Maybe the Economist is on to something.

This is definitely a good album - above average - but for some reason I don't think I'd listen to it (thus, not a 4). I think because it's so even -- there's no crescendos or hooks really. Would make for great soundtrack music.

Highlight: 'I've Been Dazed'

Here's the baby Buckley. I didn't realise he only had the one album; makes sense why it became so very popular (sort of a Nick Drake situation).

'Grace' is one of the rare songs where I like the music (which is nice, very hopeful) better than the vocals. It's on the Rolling Stone Top 500 list, so I've heard it many times before and still have not added it to any playlists, which means... I must not like it that much.

'Last Goodbye' is on my liked songs list though! Looking back I'm not sure what the difference is, because it's very similar to 'Grace', maybe it was just on the radio so much that I conflated it with Pearl Jam and now associate it with 90s alt-rock. And there are strings!

The rest of the songs* are pretty similar. Fine, delicate even, but his vocals aren't anything special to me (in terms of how much I like to listen, that is; I'm not saying he's not talented). The cover of 'Hallelujah' being by far the most lauded version of the song also annoys me, both on the traditional "Leonard Cohen's version is better, and original" level but also on the "there are 7 billion covers of this song and at least some of them are also better" level. I know this because I used to have an iTunes playlist of Hallelujah covers in the triple digits! It's my area of expertise! Still, it is a good song and I appreciate that JB popularized it for so many people, and it's probably in the top 25% of cover versions, anyway.

*Except 'Eternal Life', which is different in a bad way. Good job emulating Led Zeppelin though!

Interesting to see 'Corpus Christi Carol' was arranged by Britten, one of BBC Proms' most celebrated guys.

Language observation: "because it brings me back you" is surely unacceptable to many (I allow me it though).

Highlights: 'Last Goodbye', 'Hallelujah'

Lowlight: 'Eternal Life'

Aw, my friend Jane brought this CD (and only this CD) on a road trip one time, and I did not really like it (the CD, not the road trip), but she was driving, so we listened to it several times. I still don't really like it, but at least I have a good memory associated! The lyrics are kinda silly, but the message is a positive one (basically: prejudice = bad; education = good; also, dance!). I think the second half is stronger than the beginning.

Highlights: 'Love Will Never Do (Without You)', 'Escapade' (Chappell Roan inspo?)

Why Byrds and not Birds? Were they copying the Beatles?

[several wiki skims later]

Yes! It "echoed the deliberate misspelling of the Beatles"! Well, that's nice.

Someone else on this list did 'Wild Mountain Thyme', but I don't remember who. However, I must note that Rufus has also sang it. (Sung it?)

Other wiki discoveries, re: 'Mr Space Man' - "Upon its release as a single, the music press coined the term "space-rock" to describe it, although since then, this term has come to refer to a genre of rock music originating from 1970s progressive and psychedelic music" -- is that so?? First of all, why did the music press need a special term for this song which sounds exactly like all the other songs on this album? Is the simple word "space" enough to set the masses afrenzy?! The idea that "space rock" is used for some extension of 70s prog/psychedelia feels absolutely false; I feel like it's more electro than anything (or honestly just songs with space-themed words in them, which at least is true to its supposed origin). Either way, it's surely better than Lear Jet rock.

I do like a song called 'What's Happening?!?!'. Put that one on the soundtrack to my life.

Highlight: "drownded" (see, these past tenses & participles are a mystery to us all)

Huh! The one time they don't go for a debut album (if they did, I'd have had it).

Still sounds kinda 90s to me, which is charming. Unfortunately, this is a double album(!) with only one single I know on it ('Ain't No Other Man'), which at least is an example of negative concord, but otherwise this definitely felt long. The track where she just plays fan voicemails is hilarious to me. Xtina does have a good voice though, and I liked her better than Britney in the 1998-2003 timeframe when such issues were top of mind.

Highlight: 'Still Dirrty'

This is very jaunty. The band name is a good name for how they sound. Somewhat Ace & Queen-esque (I guess a different card name would also suit).

Highlights: 'Summer and Lightning' (I suspect because I've heard it before, although I'm not sure why since it doesn't seem to be a single or in any TV shows?), 'Mr. Blue Sky' (also heard this one before, but so has everyone)

If you're gonna be guided by a voice, I'd suggest google maps lady.

28 songs? 41 minutes? Can't argue with that. 'As We Go Up, We Go Down' kinda sounds like the Beatles. Some of the songs are moderately pleasant, but some are just a bit too lo-fi (i.e. noisy). I dunno. I guess, 3.

Slur count = 1.

Highlight: 'Blimps Go 90'

MORE NEIL YOUNG? >:(

2nd list appearance of 'After the Gold Rush' (after k.d. lang's version). Coulda fooled me. This song is bad and Neil Young's voice is bad. Flugelhorn is OK.

Overall this is more dentist music. The lyrics are good, and it's pretty short, but I really don't like his voice and I think the music is uninteresting (other than flugelhorn).

Linguistic intrigue: What's the object of "love" in 'When You Dance I Can Really Love'? Is it indefinite, or is it "you"? Darn it, now I need to research a Neil Young song :(