Reviews by amanda

War... what is it good for? A good album cover, I suppose. Also, Wiki tells me they "transcended racial and cultural barriers with a multi-ethnic lineup", so I feel a little bit guilty for not liking this. But it's definitely more focused on (guitar-heavy) music than lyrics, which isn't my preference. Although "zoom zoom zoom (x5) / as I sit in my four-cornered room" should have been a pandemic anthem for academics everywhere!

Yes!! I don't actually own this album, but I do like it. It's had a few renaissances in my lifetime, the most recent of which is happening roughly right now, and it's always fun to see the kiddos getting into a classic. Lots of lore, good energy, multiple singers, what's not to like? (Well, I guess it's a little bit country-ish, which isn't usually my vibe, but it doesn't bother me when it's more upbeat and the lyrics aren't about murder and horses.) There's so many hits on here, but unfortunately that means I'm a little burned out on some of them ('Dreams', 'Don't Stop', 'Go Your Own Way'), even though they're good tracks. Some still have the juice, though.

Highlights: 'Never Going Back Again' (nice acoustic guitar! reminds me of my friend Lil' Alex), 'Songbird', 'I Don't Want to Know' (which was already on my "liked songs" playlist; a rare bird for a 70s track), the fact that Christine McVie told John 'You Make Loving Fun' was about her dog (lol)

Lowlight: 'Gold Dust Woman' (a little bit of a snoozer)

Ah, no slurs here, only affirmations. Sinéad is cool, but sometimes her songs are a little bit slow/boring for my preference. There's decent variety on this album though, more than your Jewels or Sarah McLachlans. A moderately pleasant surprise. Kind of like a St. Vincent predecessor.

Highlight: 'Three Babies' (lotta baby talk on this record)

Some of my best friends are Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. I've never heard of (gestures vaguely) any of this, but turns out Raekwon is from the Wu-Tang Clan and this is produced by RZA. OK, now we're grounded.

Well, I genuinely went into it with an open mind, but the barrage of slurs put me off (slur count: over 100). Like, 'Knuckleheadz' is good in terms of musicality and flow, but the lyrics are horrible!! If I had a censored version maybe I'd like it. As a listening experience it's better (=less jokey?) than most of the other 90s hiphops we had here, but as a human experience I can't recommend it.

Bono looks really young here.

I don't remember if we had any U2 albums yet, which is probably not a great sign. Are they really "post punk"? Well, I will credit 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' for teaching me that Bloody Sunday was a thing (in the past, I mean, not right this second). I guess U2 were the Derry Girls of my generation. And this album came out before they were super oversaturated, I guess, pre-Apple debacle and pre-'Sweetest Thing', so if I were around for it, I probably(?) would have liked it more than I like U2 now. In fact, I do like this album better than I like U2 now. It's pretty unobjectionable; the singing is a little more "generic britpop" and less "plaintive yodel". It's not that interesting to me but it's not bad to have on in the background.

Highlights: 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'

Gosh, does Getz do anything on his own? And do all his album covers look like syntax textbooks? (I guess we know who's got cover art duty in his duos.) Kinda wild that 'Desafinado' is on this list twice (so far), but perhaps I'm underestimating the popularity of Desafinado. Anyway, this is a 30min album with 7 instrumental songs. Maybe it's confirmation bias, but they kinda all sound like 'The Girl From Ipanema'. Fine stuff. Among the upper tier of non-classical instrumentals -- it breezed by -- but still, not quite a 4, I think.

I know a lot of people like this one, because I see it in a lot of top rated lists (it has a memorable cover)! I don't know if I'll like it, though, because the first track is a 10 minute guitar solo (which wiki inexplicably classifies as "space rock").

Did I already say that this is definitely not who I thought George Clinton was?? Well, it turns out George Clinton (old white vice president) is also named George Clinton, but I didn't know there were two famous ones of them. So you can't really blame me for mixing them up, can you?

In other shocking revelations, 'Can You Get to That' is where the have-a-heart music in Sleigh Bells' 'Rill Rill' comes from! I had no idea that wasn't an original. And in turn, "I once had a life / or rather life had me" must be a reference to The Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood', right? We're all connected, man. The song itself is fine; it's no 'Rill Rill' (or Norwegian Wood) but it's groovy enough. The same is pretty much true for the rest of the non-10-minute-guitar-solos. I think I liked the other Funkadelic album better, but this is fine.

Lowlight: 'Maggot Brain' (the song - unpleasant title, unpleasantly long guitar time)

-Deep Purple again,
-70s,
-live,
-double album.

Yes yes, Japan is very cool, we all love the Budokan (apparently). But this was a slog. Some parts are way too quiet, some parts are straight up screaming. Every song is 6+ minutes. It's not even a single performance, it's a combo from different nights and venues. No thank you. The more I listened, the more I hated it. Started at a 3, went to 2, ended on a 1 (and I didn't even do the bonus tracks). Wait, but was that part of Holst's 'The Planets' in 'Space Truckin''?? Space rock?! OK... it ended on a 1.5.

Highlights: 'Smoke on the Water' (supposedly the main riff is an inversion of Beethoven's Symphony #5 dun-dun-dun-dun, which makes sense. similarly catchy & EZ to learn! (but unlike Deep Purple the rest of Beethoven's oeuvre is actually great :P)), the concept of classical music Easter eggs

They gave us this one 2 days too late!!! (I must say, I have seen enough of the 'September' gif this year to last me a lifetime, but I do like the song. So I'm feeling positive about this album -- even though I know 'September' is not even on it.)

I love 'Shining Star', but that's because it's in "Muppets from Space", one of my letterboxd top 4. It is a bop though. Plus, Gonzo gets a happy ending!!! (spoilers). I'll be honest, I assumed some of the vocals in this song were dubbed in muppets, but no, it's just the original :'D

The rest of the songs are solid. Good energy, fun. The beep bloop robot ending of 'All About Love' made me chuckle. Could do without the falsetto of 'Reasons', but it's not the worst. I couldn't take my time with this one, so it's just a high 3, but it's very solid. I just don't think I'd listen to it outside of this (but I could see myself bumping it up to 4 on another day).

Highlights: 'Shining Star', 'Africano' (groovy)

My long drought is over....I Have This Album (#5)!! An entire 90 albums have gone by since my last one, sheesh. Before listening, I gotta say, I love Rufus (and have seen him live 4 times, which for me is a lot of times), but of all his albums, I don't know why Want 1+2 get the bulk of the attention. I usually skip them because they're a bit snoozey and go for Poses, self-titled, or Release the Stars instead. When BBC Proms had him on for a concert last year (much to my delight!!) they disappointingly had him play the Wants back-to-back. And I thought, If Only This Were Poses. Since I pretty much never agree with the per-artist album picks of this thing, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I bet people rate this low, though, and that makes me sad. Anyway, time for the ol' deep dive.

'Agnus Dei'?? Rufus, my bro, what is this. I guess it's a chance for me to ponder Latin morphology, but oh my (lamb of) god. No wonder I thought the album is a bit snoozey! Belt something else, king!!! (Beautiful strings though!)

'The One You Love' starts out more promisingly. Well, the lyrics aren't that great. But it's got good energy. Unfortunately the energy goes nowhere. It's all bridges! No chorus! I do like the do-do-do part. (As ever).

'Peach Trees' is a slog!! A downright slog!!! It's a good title, but it's boring, and being 6 minutes long doesn't help matters :(

'Little Sister' is a bit better, because the strings are nice and frankly the music sounds a little the Beatles's 'Piggies'. Also, lil sister Martha Wainwright is a cutie (and sings backing vocals on some of these tracks, not that it helps them much). Supposedly this is also inspired by Mozart's little sister, which I support. So this one's alright. I like the "ave"s.

'The Art Teacher' is one of the singles from this album, such as they are (it gets played in concert a lot, etc). It's OK - good energy, and good gender stuff (although personally I can't imagine ever having a crush on an art teacher, quite possible the most uncrushable field of teachers there is). Some good lines though. It can stay. Why is there clapping at the end!? I never noticed that before.

'Hometown Waltz' is kinda boring in an upbeat way. But it's short and has some French themes (musically), so I won't knock it any further.

Despite having the extremely relatable line "I don't know what I'm doing", 'This Love Affair' is also boring!!!! It does have waltzing in it, so there's a nice connection to the last song which I never noticed before. But that is not enough to keep my interest!!

'Gay Messiah' is an actually good song. Hallelujah. It has a hook! It's unique!! It's about gay stuff, but that's not why I like it, although it doesn't hurt.

'Memphis Skyline' is a real letdown. I am sad to report it is not in my top 3 Memphis songs. Nothing is happening here; it is slow and it is sad. Beautiful piano though. Possibly the rare album where I prefer the instrumental breaks (even though I do like Rufie's voice).

'Waiting for a Dream' has got a weird echo-y vocal effect which I don't like at all. What I do like is the line "Yesterday I heard they cloned a baby / Now can I finally sleep with me?" which I would laugh at regardless of who sang it (feels like it'd fit in with some of that 80s new wave eclectica we had earlier). I guess I appreciate that musically something a little different is happening here, but this is also a snoozer in the end.

'Crumb by Crumb' is mildly more energetic. Vorp vorp vorp. Decent.

Does 'Old Whore's Diet' count as a a slur? Hm. I suppose it does. That's a demerit! But the real demerit is that this song is NINE minutes long. Certainly not getting anyone going in the morning -- wait, what's this, Anohni from Anohni and the Johnsons, who is apparently going by Anohni now???? OK, that revelation did in fact hold my interest for about four minutes. The song does develop a good energy, but I still think we could cut it in half, surely.

The bonus tracks aren't on Spotify, which is too bad because they're better than most of the actual tracks. Chelsea Hotel is great. In With the Ladies is great. Frankly every cover Rufus does is great. But I can't reeeeally rate this album a 5, I think, given how much I complained about it (even though I Want 2). It's just not a top album, even if it is by a top artist. Certainly I'd rather listen to it than 95% of the albums on this list so far, though!!

Highlight: 'Gay Messiah'!

Lowlights: 'Agnus Dei', 'Peach Trees', 'Memphis Skyline'

Things Rufus Loves to Sing About: Religion, Gardens, His family, Gay stuff, Cities

The Beach Boys? Creators of my first 5, "Pet Sounds"? This is a pretty dark album cover for those guys, based on what we've heard so far. I didn't know they took a detour into activism. It starts off with a bop, though ('Don't Go Near the Water'), even though there's an unpleasant lil interlude. 'Long Promised Road' is basically a proto-'Tubthumping' (mixed with 'The Heart of the Matter' - which I like). Then comes an 'I Can't Help Myself' style boppin' PSA about feet*. Sure, OK! You haven't lost me yet! 'Disney Girls (1957)' was covered by Eurovision superstar Alexander Rybak! I found it a little boring otherwise, though. Not sure what to make of 'Student Demonstration Time' lyrically, but musically I don't love it. Bring back the songs about feet! 'Feel flows' is pretty good. ('Feet flows'?) I like the alliteration, but I could do without the flute interlude. 'Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)' is no good - the instruments overpower the vocals. But that guitar part is definitely in System of Down's 'Aerials', right??! Strong ending because I like System of a Down's Aerials. 'A Day in the Life of a Tree' is a delight. Very Magnetic Fieldsy. 'Til I Die' is OK, a little depressing. 'Surf's Up' is good; it's almost like a parody of a Beach Boys song, possibly somewhat intentionally. More good sounding lyrics, which is always of value. I had heard exactly none of these songs before, and it's no Pet Sounds, but it was a pretty good album. I didn't know they had it in 'em!

Highlights: 'Long Promised Road', 'Surf's Up'

*Wiki says:: Jardine explained, "It's cute, but come on ... for some reason Jack Rieley liked it too and said, 'It's got to be on the album. That's definitely an ecology song.' 'Ecology? A song about your feet?' It's personal ecology."

Modal jazz.... post-bop... every day kids are coming up with new genres !!

This is nice. I like a tenor sax, and there were no hidden unpleasantnesses. But does it rise above "nice"? Afraid not.

I love Bruce as a person, but to be totally honest, this isn't my vibe. The music is chill, but it turns out I don't like to hear too much harmonica. The lyrics are good, but the singing is too "country" for me (there's a fine line between country and folk, I guess). Bring back the band, Brucey!!

Highlight: 'Atlantic City'

Related fun facts: Bruce is also into model train sets. There exists a Wikipedia list of "List of 1980s albums considered the best" (this is on it).

(Per my last email: Well, this isn't solid gold. But that just means the next one is gonna be even better. Like Deal or No Deal.)

1980 seems early for post-punk. Maybe they should rename punk "proto-punk". Anyway, I don't know about this band. I do hear the industrial, but also the metal, and I guess the (post-) punk. It's not quite the optimal blend of those things, mainly because the singing is just not very beautiful, is it? I do like that Spotify has the lyrics to the first song written as "The Requiem/The Requieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem". Lotta "e"s. That's fun.

Still, sitting at your classic 2. Too angry, but not angry in a way I can relate to, you feel me?

Highlight: 'Complications' (Sounded the most Britpop)

Lowlight: 'S.O.36' (cool namesake, yay German, but long, noisily repetitive track)

Of all the 2000s indie bands....Calexico?! This is like the indie version of the Mars Volta, except I doubt they were on any* countdown ever (*I don't watch CMT so maybe they made it there, although this doesn't really seem that country to me). Might as well throw in another Beck album. This behemoth of an album isn't even all on Spotify. Hmph, harumph, etc.

Ah well, the sound is fine. Not enough to make me want to listen again, but fine. I like the instrumentals more than the non-instrumentals, I think. No surprise they later go on to record with Iron & Wine, because this is very Iron & Wine-y. Not whine-y, although I wish it were, because then maybe I'd feel something!! I do like the sweeping theatrical turns in parts of the album, but they don't really lead anywhere. Shout out Payne County, though.

Highlights: 'Close Behind', 'Attack el Robot! Attack!' (but not the name), 'Across the Wire' (approaching Bright Eyes territory with this one (positive?!))

No serious lowlights, so I guess it wasn't all that bad. Better than your average 3, OK?

As an aside, I feel like we've already slogged through so many ho-hum albums that surely the next 800 are gonna be solid gold!! Ha ha...but seriously.

Yes, this sure is a 60s album cover. As you might expect I have no idea which one of those guys is Eric Clapton. Is he the Mads Mikkelsen, Ringo, or Joe Perry? It took a lot of deductive googling, but I think he's the angsty Joe Perry. Now that that's squared away: I don't enjoy this. Guitar heavy, bop light. Would be a 2, but 'Sunshine' bumps it up to the 3 zone.

Highlights: 'Sunshine of Your Love' (Is it good because USC's band plays it, or does USC's band play it because it's good?); 'World of Pain' isn't terrible either; the album title comes from a malapropism ("derailleur gears")!

Lowlights: 'Outside Woman Blues' (Big yikes), 'Mother's Lament' (what is happening here)

Another LJ-icon album cover!

This is interesting because I know exactly two Marvin Gaye songs going in: 'Let's Get It On' (zzz, thumbs down) and 'What's Going On' (thumbs up). So it could go either way!

Actually, maybe I was too strict about 'Let's Get It On' -- even though it's so overplayed (and hard to take seriously therefore, especially because it was featured in, yes, the hit NBC drama "Parenthood")), it's actually pretty good. Though I have never once considered Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' to sound similar (apparently there were some lawsuits on the matter). We ARE all sensitive people!

More subjunctive: "If I should die tonight / though it be far before my time"... maybe the subjunctive isn't as rare as I thought. Also, how am I so confident this is a subjunctive and not AAVE? The power of context, I guess.

These sure are slow jams. I like the sax and strings and MG's got a good voice, but it's all a little too chill for me. I like that there's also a song called 'Keep Gettin' It On'. A real concept album here. Thanks to 'You Sure Love to Ball', I learned that "ball" is (or, more likely, was) slang for getting it on, which makes a lot more sense in this context than the much more common modern meanings of "play basketball" or "be cool". Good to know so I don't embarrass myself in front of Marvin Gaye. (Just kidding -- he also died tragically.)

Good but sleepy. That's a solid 3.

My review got deleted again! Rats! I think my main takeaways were:

-Party Lines sure are a time capsule.
-This album cover looks like an old board game, too (and I like it).
-I continue to generally like the Kinks; pop is top! Still sounds Beatlesy, pleasant, yet a little old (sound-wise). I think I'm too annoyed about the deletion so I'm rounding down to a 3. In another world, this coulda been a 4 maybe.

Highlights: 'Party Line', 'I'll Remember' (album bookends!)

This is so unfamiliar to me I would have assumed the band is called Café Bleu, not the album (probably because I'd be mixing them up with Café Tacuba). But it seems esoteric, so they have my attention. And the genre is listed as "Sophisti-pop". Amazing, that's a new one to add to my genre lexicon. The sapiosexual of genres?

The sound is some nice instrumental jazzy stuff (which I like), but also some sleepy singing (which is fine but uncaptivating). Certainly a step above Norah Jones, but too mellow for me to really love it. There's a mid-album interlude that veers more energetic (and political), but not enough to save this from the 'it was fine' 3s.

Highlights: 'My Ever Changing Moods' (this one has a little vim to it!), 'Strength of Your Nature' (this too!), & the song titles overall, particularly 'The Whole Point of No Return' & 'Me Ship Came In!' (exclamation point included)

No one can deny they have a unique sound! But as previously discussed, it's not for me. And I feel extra validated in my Beastie hating after reading they were originally gonna call this album "Don't Be a [f-slur]". Excuse me?!

Good album cover though.

"I'll steal your honey like I stole your bike" is a line in LFO's 'Summer Girls'! I didn't know it was from here! (I wish LFO were on this list instead of the Beasties.)

'Girls' is supposed to mock misogynistic rappers, but I think it suffers from the Borat problem (=people are gonna miss the mockery and keep the misogyny). Ha, and exactly the same for 'Fight For Your Right to Party', although that's about ~lifestyle~ instead. (Wiki quotes Mike D saying: "There were tons of guys singing along to 'Fight for Your Right' who were oblivious to the fact it was a total goof on them"). That's often a risk of mockery and big audiences, I guess.

I have a soft spot for 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn' because my favorite podcaster advertises Brooklinen bedding by saying "No Sleep Till Brooklinen". But that's not enough to save this album from joining the terrible 2s!