Reviews by amanda

Practically modern after those last few albums! Well, the sound is extremely of-the-time(80)s, but the production feels more modern. And the depressing lyrics to 'Sign o' the Times', of course.

A double album with no hits on it, though... that's rough. 'Housequake' feels kinda like a Talking Heads parody. 'Starfish and Coffee' is very cute. I'm not generally a fan of the "slow jams about banging" genre, but among them, 'Slow Love' is pretty good. Also, the lyric "your face is jammin'/your body's heck-a-slammin'/if love is good, let's get to rammin'" in 'U Got The Look' has a certain charm - maybe I should use that when I teach about valid and invalid arguments (maybe not). It occurs to me that Prince does a lot of different little voices for different songs, which is fun. Some gender stuff going on. 'I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man' is a mild bop (with the good line "she knew he was gone to stay"). 'The Cross' is apt for this Good Friday/Easter weekend, and also pretty good. I dunno, feels like a 3 to me, albeit a good 3. Sorry Prince! You seem cool!

Sounds like the Beatles, but album cover looks like that weird long Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album. Confusing!

Generally short and poppy and nice. Also, this album title is hilarious. The only way to improve on it would be to use a different band name. I assume 'Harry Rag' is Cockney rhyming slang, which is of linguistic interest. 'Tin Solider Man' reminds me a lot of Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera ("Hide your face so that the world will never find you"). I think 'Waterloo Sunset' is the only song here I've heard before.

Not sure how to rate this one, 3 or 4. It's pleasant but the sound is so "old" that I don't think I'd ever listen to this on my own. Maybe we'll be generous in hopes of someday being able to give a rating of 5!

Trapped in the 70s... the opposite of the land of milk and honey. This band is new to me. They're punk alright. They're British alright. Songs are short. They all sound pretty similar, but that's typical for a first listen, I suppose. The idea of eye(part) transplants always unnerved me as a kid (and adult?), so I guess they tapped into something with that Gary Gilmore joint.

Highlight: 'Bored Teenagers'

Didn't realise Santana was around this long, although I guess it makes sense ('Smooth' was 25 years ago, after all). Cool enough, but the coolest part was reading about the various theories on the etymology of "Abraxas" (one guy thinks it's Coptic for 'the word is adorable', which is adorable but probably not correct). Anyway, I enjoyed this, and it wasn't too loud or anything, but it also wasn't as jazzy(?) as I was expecting. Another nice brisk album though. Good but not great (or maybe, good but not my style, but not NOT my style...)
Album cover is a 70s monstrosity. Put it on a sofa and put that sofa in the trash. (Sorry Mati.)

Highlights: 'Oye Como Va', 'Samba Pa Ti'

I've only vaguely heard of them before, and I wasn't expecting a lady singer! Dream pop is a good name for what this is. I like it. Not very exciting, which is what I want right now. A nice short album, too. Good.

Highlights: 'Cherry-Coloured Funk', 'Fotzepolitic'

I had never seen a picture of Janis Joplin before. She looks very different than she sounds! This is not necessarily my style of music, but it's the least boring album we've had in a while, and I like her distinctive voice. I may or may not mix her up with Janis Ian (less tragic) or Janice the Muppet (felt).

Of all the R.E.M. albums you could listen to, this is certainly one of them. I like how all the wiki descriptions are like "turns out this song is super vague and nobody knew what it was about... if it was even about anything at all". A real English major album. I found it very comforting background noise, kind of like a Steely Dan for moms without kids (me). But none of the songs stood out to me as ones I'd want to hear again and again, even though I guess there's a chance that could change if I listened more. The album cover is interesting.

Highlights: 'Laughing', 'We Walk'

Our second, and, hopefully, final Steely Dan album. Again, it's aggressively fine.

I think I've heard 'Do it Again' before, but it's so boring that I'm not even completely sure about that.

I have definitely heard 'Dirty Work' before! It's not terrible. Still excessively chill, but at least the lyrics provide some emotive contrast.

The fact that 'Only a Fool Would Say That' is about John Lennon is funny and good, but somehow the song itself is neither funny nor good.

Yep, overall it's not offensive or unpleasant, and more enjoyable than their other album, but nothing I'd ever choose to listen to myself.

I know 'Epic' and it's fine. The rest is similar. The album cover is nice; it reminds me of Green Day's Dookie. Lotta guitar and drums which isn't my vibe. Song called 'The Real Thing' on the album 'The Real Thing' with the lyric "the real thing" is very much my vibe. Feels more 90s than 80s to me, which is a compliment, but I still don't enjoy listening to it (too loud). I was surprised that I actually know 'War Pigs' too (presumably the Black Sabbath version). Feels like a 2.75 (I'll stop with the fractional ratings soon, I swear).

Wait, The Police is Sting? Why did I think the Police is Phil Collins?? Do I just constantly mix up Genesis and The Police??
[pause for me to look at my previous Police album review] Turns out: Yes. Maybe because Police and Phil both start with 'P'. They should be called Stinglice. I'll try to remember that in case they have a 3rd album on here. This album started unimpressively, but got better in the second half. It's like a... 3.25 (probably good there's only 5 star-options, I'd go nuts with more).

Highlights: 'Synchronicity II', 'Every Breath You Take' (definitely overplayed but still pretty good), 'King of Pain' (good emo character song for Me)

Lowlights: 'Mother', both musically and lyrically

I know there are MJ songs that I like, but they aren't really on this album (even though I do know the singles). I feel like Michael Jackson was a huge pop culture figure throughout my life, until he died (and I still remember the moment when I found out) but I never listened to his music all that much. It's not particularly emotionally evocative, I guess, or at least this album isn't, but the sound is extremely pleasant, the tempo is good, and it's marginally nostalgic. I'm at a 3.5 but I'll give it a 4 since it was better than I thought (and certainly a step above Wilco, my canonical 3).

Highlights: 'I Can't Help It', 'It's the Falling in Love', there's a song called 'Off the Wall' on the 'Off the Wall' album with the lyric "off the wall"!!

From the first hundred days of this project I learned that I like "space rock", but this first Pink Floyd album, though purportedly space rock, is pretty heavy on the rock and only medium on the space. Really it's more "eerie British children's programme rock", if anything. Relatedly, I like the song about a gnome and the song about a scarecrow. And 'Bike'.
What I really like is the Syd Barrett song 'Dark Globe' (not on this album), and that has a very different vibe, but maybe I just think so because I heard it much earlier.

I've never heard of Jane Weaver, although I have heard of her band Kill Laura (sorry Laura). This is so recent, too! I thought she must just be a British thing, except this album doesn't even have a wiki page, so maybe not.
It's OK. Not enough electro for me to find it interesting electro. Pleasant but boring, kind of like Elliott Smith in vibes even if not in style. I do like that the album 'Modern Kosmology' contains a song called 'Modern Kosmology' with the lyric "Modern Kosmology". (Although why is Kosmology with a K? German influence? Gnosticism?)

Highlights: 'Modern Kosmology', 'Slow Motion'

This may well be "one of the best live rock albums in history", since I don't like any other live rock albums, either, but I sure don't like this one, too. Very southern guitary rock. I have heard of the Allman Brothers (Band?) before, so I know they're popular, but I have never heard their music before and I am now mentally sorting it along with ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, and other Zzz-inducing artists.

Relative Highlight: 'In Memory of Elizabeth Reed'

My review got deleted again >:(

Crucial (er... well... sorta) points:
-This is the first parental advisory I noticed on an album cover on this site. They are rarer nowadays even though they were everywhere in my youth. Turns out that's because they only started in 1990 and are (apparently) optional!
-"If you have to ask, you'll never know" was actually in a Rugrats episode *before* this album came out, but you'd never know that if you google "where did this phrase come from".
-I do like the Chilis, but this is not my favorite album of theirs. It's kinda samey, and too much with the funk-rap for me. Also, and maybe this is just because I'm desperately behind, it felt kinda long. I'm between a 3 and 4.

Highlights: `The Righteous & the Wicked', 'Under the Bridge', 'Apache Rose Peacock' (I feel like if someone wrote a parody of a RHCP song it would be exactly this), 'They're Red Hot'

To me this feels older than 1977. 'Mannish Boy' sounds a lot like 'Bad to the Bone', but it turns out there's a whole list of songs from the 50s on that use the same riff. (Guitar stuff isn't my area of expertise!) Anyway, if I were in the mood to listen to "oldies", this would fit the bill. There's something sociologically interesting about the first track being all "I'm a man, not a boy" (valid) and the last track being all "little girl! I want to be your man" (hm), but no need to muddy the waters with all that.

Elliott Smith was extremely popular on fanmixes in the early 2000s. Basically the Snow Patrol/Death Cab of its time. Nothing bad here, but it's so mellow I don't get much out of it. Dashboard Confessional-y but not emo enough to evoke any real emotion. You get the picture.

This album cover really embodies my mental state these days. Like a goth precursor to 🫠 . It doesn't much match my perception of Peter Gabriel, who I know mainly from: the song 'Down to Earth' in the movie Wall-E, covering 'The Book of Love' in a sleepy way, and the romcom classic 'In Your Eyes'. This album starts off way more industrial and eclectic, which seems like a good thing, but I don't prefer it. Also, what's up with having 4 self-titled albums? Like you're trying to convey "I don't even care about album titles!" but of course everyone else bothers to use an album title, so what makes you so special, Peter Gabriel!? Things normalize a bit as the album goes on. He's got a unique voice, which I do like. I like the horns and the exact same drums on every track. Actually it's pretty good -- I started at a 2, but this is ultimately like a 3.5 for me.

Highlights: 'Start', 'I Don't Remember' (relatable, also would make a good mashup with 'Hot Blooded'), 'Games Without Frontiers', 'Lead a Normal Life' (pleasant electro bits)

42 songs?! 2+ hours?! 70s?! country!? In this economy?!

OK, I'm gonna try to give it a fair shake. I like the idea of a compilation of a bunch of different artists, including at least, but I think also at most, one lady (Maybelle Carter). There are a lot of funny lyrics here; too many for me to list. I also burst out laughing at 'The Precious Jewel', which starts with some bants about how the first take is the best take, and then the singing is the most unlistenable warbly bay of all time. Took me right out.
'Dark as a Dungeon' is solid. 'Black Mountain Rag' is jaunty. Every Acuff song is an ironic delight. I mean, the vowels! I'm creishing out.
I think the second disc is all instrumental. Wait, no, there's some more warbly singing. Whew, this is a long album. It just keeps going. Towards the end is 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken', which is pretty good. A lot of these songs are religious in nature, but Circle feels more like a straight gospel track then whatever else is going on on this album (the aural inspo for Disney's Fox and the Hound, maybe?). Then comes a total blindside in the form of 'Both Sides Now', one of my top songs of all time and also #1 on my "please play this at my funeral" playlist (which is a normal playlist that I'm sure everyone has!!). I was terrified to hear the Nitty Gritty version, but it was actually just instrumental, thank god. Extremely acceptable, even nice. Following it up with 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' is an upsetting tonal shift though.

Overall, this album was better than I expected, but that was partially because my expectations were rock bottom. Still, the rush of finishing it counts for a 3.

UCLA sucks! ✌️

This album cover does not suck. Somehow I've never seen it before, but I find it extremely compelling. Tiny diagonal lowercase text, dog, shoe. The cornerstones of any major work of art.

A double album is asking a lot from me, but this is actually just the length of a single album nowadays, so it's not too bad. I like Fleetwood Mac for many non-musical reasons (in addition to the album cover):

1. So much band lore!! (enough to inspire that bad(?) Amazon show?)
2. Multiple singers, including cool ladies
3. Classic Lindsay Buckingham bit on SNL
4. USC marching band plays many of their hits (and are literally on this album) ✌️

But as a listening experience, maybe it's not quite all that? I'm not sure. Folky pop-rock, occasionally feels like a proto-magnetic fields with fewer instruments. I think I actually like the Lindsay songs the best.

Highlights: 'The Ledge', 'What Makes You Think You're the One', 'Never Make Me Cry' (Shirley Simms-esque!), 'Tusk' (duh)