Reviews by amanda

This album cover looks like one I'd create. Good font. Not too visually complex. 5/5 album cover.

The tracks are eh. This album has mad acclaim, but I still don't like Tweedy's voice. It's too generic! How can I get into a generic voiced singer?! The lyrics are just OK. This feels a bit like a Death Cab for Cutie album but with worse lyrics, worse singing, and more creative (and usually better) instrumentation.

The line "there's a war on" always read as British to me, but now I've learned (thanks to American Wilco) that it's just old-timey.

'Jesus, Etc' is a good song title, I'll give 'em that.

'Poor Places' started strong and ended with an aural assault! More like Alpha Hotel Hotel >:(

I like Leonard Cohen; he's a lyrics-first guy with a distinctive voice. And this album is so sad, which is why I never listened to it ('til now). Still good though.

Hooray! A Christmas Album...for me! (And everyone). I know a lot of these songs already, so of course I'm predisposed to like it more.

Highlights: 'White Christmas', 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'Christmas' (mainly because it's on the SNL Christmas special every year), 'Winter Wonderland', 'Sleigh Ride' (hehe horse noises), 'Marshmallow World' (spelled wrong on the cover? I never heard this one before, but it's not even necessarily about Christmas, which I like)

Fun Facts I told my parents and now I will put here: 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' was written for Montgomery Ward! 'Silent Night' is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Site!! Phil Spector says "thank" with a voiced interdental!

Never heard of this artist before! I like her voice; it's kinda like a British(/Kittitian?) Tracy Chapman. Some snoozers in the bunch, but overall pleasant.

I didn't know this was written to be a (Peter Pan??) musical, which is endearing. Also Max Weinberg played the drums on it! But even though they're fun, most of these songs sounded the same to me. Meat Loaf is a silly name and the songs are pleasant, but nothing especially struck me. (It's hard to be struck on a first listen, though, isn't it? I hope I end up giving something a 5 before this is all said and done!) Maybe it's just the word "bat" plus the idea of "musicals" but this kind of reminded me of "Bat Boy" the musical, which was similarly pleasant but ultimately I'd never buy that OCR, you know?

Highlights: 'All Revved Up With No Place to Go' is the most of a bop. 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' is randomly a duet, and it's also boppish at points. And oh my gosh, it's where the Wand-Off intro is from (any RHAP fans out there???). The wiki for ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’ says that the title is “66% is good enough” in Japanese, which is the sort of translation fun fact people like. I am people. (That song is just OK. 66% maybe.)

This is actually my least favorite Coldplay era. I do like some of their songs, but 'Clocks' especially is so samey and boring. The tempo is just too sloooow (making the name apropos). I guess it's a little bit nostalgic now, but c'mon, 'Yellow' and 'Fix You' and 'Something Like This' are all better Coldplays than anything on this album.

Almost Highlights: 'God Put a Smile on Your Face' started very slow, but it picked up a bit. 'The Scientist' is my favorite of the singles. I like when they say the name of the album in the album.

Supposedly this is Queen's best album. Seems like they're excluding Queen's "greatest hits" from that ranking, but OK, I'll allow it ;P

I like Queen a lot, obvi. But as is typical, I like the vocals a lot more than the (guitar-heavy!!) instrumentals.

'Death on Two Legs' is very Pink Floydy.

Highlights: 'Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon' (Mercury sure likes bikes, doesn't he), 'You're My Best Friend', '39 (love a good shanty), 'Seaside Rendezvous' (love a silly mouth trumpet)

This is one of the albums I was dreading; I never liked Missy Elliott and she was on the radio all the time in my peak radio-listening era.

Highlights: a sung "toot toot" always makes me smile. Taj from Survivor is in the video for 'The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)'.

Lowlights: Typical hip-hop slurs. And in general the lyrics annoy me -- IDK why exactly -- they're like, a bit cutesy/cheeky but not enough to commit. The noise throughout of the entirety of the background of 'Beep Me 911' sounds like my iPhone alarm, which is very stressful.

(Eek I'm so behind!!!)

When I hear "Wilco", I think of the webcomic Questionable Content. I feel like that dude was obsessed with them, which made me think "this is likely not a band for me". My read was accurate. The name Jeff Tweedy (=the singer) is perfect for what this music sounds like. This is the rare band where I like the (instrumental) music much better than I like the vocals.

Highlights: 'Monday' had good energy. I like that there is an 'Outta Sight' / 'Outta Mind' pair because it made me think "wait, I heard this one already". The strings in 'The Lonely 1' are pretty.

Spoon: 'Why Would you Wanna Live' sounds like Spoon's 'The Way We Get By' at first, and Spoon would be a more enjoyable quirky 5-letter band for this list than Wilco. I guess they're fine though.

I've heard of this album, at least, but I've never listened to it. Paul Simon is a likeable guy. I like his voice and the general vibe of these songs.

Highlight: Oh, this has 'You Can Call Me Al'! That's one of the first songs I downloaded when I first got my own computer some 20 years ago :D

'Homeless' has Zulu in it, which is cool. There are clicks!

Funky. I like that there are some wind instruments. I like the album cover. I don't like the combo of a high voice and a slow tempo, even if the lyrics are good. Too operatic for me!

Tangentially, there are so many artists with songs called 'Blue Monday', including Curtis here, yet there is not a lot of online clarity re: where this term originated. Some say it's from a travel company in the UK in 2005, which is clearly not the whole truth. The dictionary tells me it's from the 1800s, re: sad laborers, and I guess that's the intended meaning here. A term that endures!

Don't yell at me ;___;

I know this is acclaimed but it felt kinda generic. They sound a lot like someone else I can't put my finger on, but heck, maybe the someone is actually "Alice in Chains" and I just never bothered to learn their name. Maybe Soundgarden. Maybe Rush. Anyway, it basically sounds like what I'd hear on 105.7 The X, 20 years ago.

Some fun dam~damn wordplay, I guess.

I have heard 'Down in a Hole' before. It's fine.

The fact that there's a song called 'God Smack' made me wonder if the band Godsmack is named after this song, but apparently (although they were "aware" of the song), the band is named after what they called a cold sore. So now I like Godsmack less, I fear.

Maybe it's just because I'm thinking about Godsmack now, but 'Angry Chair' has a lot in common with Godsmack's 'Straight Out of Line'. Mashup potential!

'Would?' is a funny song title nowadays.

I knew nothing of Steely Dan except that they're for dads. (C.f. this recent article: https://www.vulture.com/article/john-mulaneys-son-learned-to-talk-because-of-steely-dan.html). This sounds to me like the type of music that would be on during a dentist appointment. So, it's fine. Not offensive, but nothing comment-worthy, which is a demerit in itself!

I had no idea Kraftwerk were from the 70s! That means I shouldn't like them. But of course I do. Unlike that Haunted Dancehall business, these songs are your (to me, prototypical) electro. The weirdest noises here are just, like, oboey synths. It's giving "early 2000s Sega Dreamcast soundtrack" and I mean that positively. What I'm getting from this album, thematically, is that these guys are really into trains. I now have learned all about the Trans Europ(e) Express (cool train) and that it now longer exists (sad).

Highlights: 'Europe Endless' (makes me feel like Girl Who is Going to Be Okay), 'Franz Schubert'

Lowlights: 'Metal on Metal' (can't argue with the name, but I don't like the vibe)

Noooooooooo. OK, I have a gut reaction of dislike for ZZ Top (and what kind of name is ZZ Top, anyway? More like ZZ Bottom. Hmph), and this low-res MS Paint album cover isn't changing things for me. The wiki genres ("Southern rock, blues rock, boogie rock, Texas blues") are similarly unappealing.

I wonder if the "muddy water" lyric in 'Jesus Just Left Chicago' is a reference to Muddy Waters, who is I suppose like a slightly more enjoyable version of ZZ Top. And 'Master of Sparks' could almost be an Audioslave song. Heck, maybe 'Hot, Blue and Righteous' is about Gonzo from the Muppets (introduced in 1970). And I guess "I'll be where the big wheels keep on turnin'" in 'Move Me on Down the Line' is a CCR reference? Plus "I'll be ridin' on the bus 'til I Cadillac" is also an objectively funny line. So there are things to enjoy for me here, but the overall sound just isn't my style. The live tracks at the end don't help matters!

Yes!! Yes!! I already know this one. Takes me back to 2012, which was a great year for me. When this came out, 106 & Park was still a thing (but not TRL or the Rock Countdown or the VH1 countdown). Anyhoo, I've still got it in the rotation.

Highlights: I mean, Kendrick's got flow. It's undeniable. Almost all of these tracks are great, especially 'Backseat Freestyle', 'Money Trees', 'good kid' (the line "from a function that tooken place"!), 'Swimming Pools'

Lowlights: 'Compton', the Jay-Z version of 'Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe', and, as you might expect from the genre, there's a lot of slurs* on this album, which is why I can't give it a 5. Imagine a (good) slur-free rap. I wonder if you can ;__;

*For the pragmatics fans out there, I admit I'm using "slurs" a little imprecisely -- this album really only contains the b-word (which many (IMO incorrect) scholars say is not a slur) and the r-less n-word (which I agree is not really a slur (see Smith 2019), buut I still don't like hearing it as a white). So as these things go, it could be way worse.

This is so recent! 2020 is basically right now. I like the idea of Fiona Apple, although the reality of Fiona Apple is more hit and miss. Regina Spektory with a few goat yodels.

Highlights: 'Under the Table', 'Relay' (relay-table), 'Drumset'

Lowlight: 'Cosmonauts' (don't yell at me fiona!)

I love The Smiths, despite (and also because of) lol Morrissey. Not only were they formative for Britpop, but they were formative for 2000s era livejournallers, and therefore, me. Lyric-heavy, unique voice, emo. As the Brits would say: tick, tick, tick.
One thing that stood out to me is the A-A B-B C-C kinda structure a lot of these songs have. The general theme of this album seems to be "punishment", broadly construed. Or maybe that's my internalized meat-eating guilt, idk.

Highlights: 'I Want the One I Can't Have', 'Nowhere Fast', 'Meat is Murder'

"songs heavily influenced by Lennon's recent primal scream therapy"? Uh-oh, thinks I. But in fact, this just sounds, um, a lot like the Beatles (with a little bit of screaming at points, but it is 60s screaming, if that makes sense).

Highlights: 'Hold On', 'Love'

Lowlights: 'I Found Out' (it's giving Rocky Raccoon), 'Well Well Well'

This is Stevie's *seventeenth* album!? Good golly.

It starts off with a sudden burst of easy listening. Which is better than hard listening. Kind of like when one of your Sims turns on the radio and it blasts that Simlish pop. I liked it a lot more than I expected.

Highlights: 'Creepin'', 'Bird of Beauty'