Reviews by amanda

Never heard of this. Not a great album cover. At least "simply" is an adverb.

Sounds very 80s. I dunno. The first song kinda reminds me of 'How Long' by Ace. The songs are peppy, which I like. Except for 'Heaven', which starts with the hilarious lyric: "Everyone is trying to get to the bar / The name of the bar / The bar is called Heaven". Apparently it's a Talking Heads cover, but I gotta assume the original is better because this is a real snoozer of a slowjamballad.

Overall, it was fine.

You're really asking for criticism naming yourself Garbage. Also, this album cover. Yikes. You would think I would like a 90s female-fronted rock band, but I didn't ever like any of their singles. I'm willing to revise my judgment though.

I do like that 'Stupid Girl' reminds me of the Cold song by the same name, which is peak Rock Countdown material (not to say it's good).

The album was fine. No opinions revised.

Highlight: 'Fix Me Now'

Nice, Trans Europe Express was one of the first new-albums-I-liked from this project. This is similar, although about robots instead of trains. The compelling thing about robots is, they don't have any agency (bad) but they also don't feel any pain (good), so whatever robot metaphors you get are very mixed in valence. It's Kraft-werking for me.

Something interesting about this album is that it was released in both English (the language of the masses, I guess) and German (because they're (West) German). Not so unusual - I know a lot of Latin Pop Stars (TM) like Shakira and Enrique also had English/Spanish versions, and t.A.T.u. of course did Russian/English. But in those cases, I prefered the non-English version because it is the original! (Going the opposite direction happens less often - Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend' (which had releases in 8 different languages) completely turned me around on Avril Lavigne!) So even though this is listed as The Man Machine and not Die Mensch-Maschine, I listened to both versions just in case the German one was better. (The upside of a Friday album.) Conclusion: it was a little better, but they're actually... extremely similar!

Highlights: 'Spacelab', 'Neon Lights', 'Das Modell', 'Neonlicht'

Sorry 2Pac, but this is a hilariously bad album cover. I get why this is on here, of course, 'cause 2Pac and Biggie loomed very large over the pop culture landscape in my formative years, but I have never listened to this album because I'm not about that scene. Slur count = 91ish. He sounds more like Ja Rule than I expected. The album is not terrible, but not quite a 3 for me personally.

'Intro' is wild, because this is NOT a posthumous album, but give it ~2 years and it would be.

Highlights: 'So Many Tears', 'Dear Mama' (me: "aw, that's nice")

Language Observation: "conversate" (on this album) is AAVE but "orientate" (not on this album) is British! How 'bout that!

Back from the Army, and ready to sing some songs that I've never heard before (and 'Fever')! Thematically, they're extremely samey, but that's the 50s for you (I assume) (pay no attention to this being from 1960).

Great album cover though. Like a note in Apple Preview stuck on an old picture with great (non-note) typography.

Actually, who am I kidding, these songs are great, because Elvis is singing them. They're all short and snappy. Really, this is a pretty Bublésque album. I liked it. Disturbed to learn that there was an Elvis movie called "Tickle Me", though. I bet that's even worse than the Beatles movies.

Linguistic Intrigue: "Make Me Know it Do" (c.f. "Love me Do")

Unrelated Elvis Thought: Was Schoolhouse Rock based on 'Jailhouse Rock'? Google says no, but it seems like it must be. Or else I'm underestimating the past prolificity of the -house morpheme.

Heck yeah!! Starting in 2011, I made a mix CD every month (ending in ~2016, due to the horrors), and those CDs featured a very high percentage of Massive Attack mashups (and a few straight tracks). I think I could fill a whole disc just of 'Teardrop' mashups (the best being: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00jdLt9FSfs ). I say this now because knowing this list, Mezzanine won't even be on here.

Anyway, I don't have this album, because it's older, but MA seem pretty harmonically consistent. The biggest change is the vocalists, but all of them are at least Good (if not Elizabeth Fraser level), so I like what I'm hearing. This is gonna seem dumb, but I had no idea Tricky was British. Nicolette kinda sounds like Yoko Kanno.

Highlights: "I drink on a daily basis / Though it seldom cools my temper / It never cools my temper", 'Weather Storm'

Lowlight: 'Light My Fire' (why is this happening, I ask myself)

Wait, there's seriously albums called Oedipus Schmoedipus AND Nilsson Schmilsson? Maybe schm-reduplication was a phenomenon of the past and people just aren't doing it anymore. Wild.

Anyway, this is a great album cover, because this guy looks like me (sleepy) and the font is really good. I do know the Lime in the Coconut song (thanks to Kermit Thee Frog), but I think that's it. Oh, no, I knew 'Gotta Get Up' from Russian Doll, too. Great energy. 'Without You' has familiar lyrics but the song itself doesn't seem familiar, and it's kinda 80s (derogatory). Like a bad Journey song. 'Coconut' is super weird, honestly. Exotica is right. I don't like it. Bring back Kermit! Bring back 'Coconut Telegraph'! The absurdity of a doctor telling you to do whatever you did to cause the problem you're asking about does speak to me, though. I'm coming around to it.

At first I was leaning 4 or maybe even 5, but my feelings about this album were kinda like: 📉 (bottoming out at 3, but still). I wonder if I listened to this backwards if my rating would be a 4 instead. An experiment for another decade, perhaps.

Highlight: 'Gotta Get Up'

I've heard of this band, but I don't know if that's because we had them on here already or because I've listened to them in my real life. [According to my records, I briefly listened to them in 2007 and 2007 only. Hm. Doesn't bode well.] You know what.... possibly I mind-melded them with T.Rex + Electric Six. Understandable mistake. I think my college friend Alex liked them though.

Chill beats, sometimes like jazz. I'm glad they're on here because this is a little different from most of the 90s hip hop and modern rap. But I also don't think the lyric delivery is that compelling. Slur count = 25.

Highlights: 'Break' (never heard a group rap before!), 'What's Golden', 'Sum of Us'

Haha oh boy. I (apparently) hate metal, but I like industrial, so where will this fall? Astute readers may have a guess. I didn't like it very much. Needs less growliness, and honestly, less drums. Not for me. Slur count = 1? (kinda hard to tell, I might have missed some). A little bit lol edgy, which isn't helping matters.

Kanye again in quick succession. By this point (2013) I was already out on him, but I do know some of the singles.

Wait, is this space rap?? No, that's just Daft Punk's influence. (They should be on here!) A lot of the samples & electro stuff is really great, but the lyrics are mostly offensive. The delivery is fine, but not outstandingly great. I liked this better than the other Kanye album we had (will there be more?!) but for the record, 808s and Heartbreak is my favorite. Also, I don't listen to it anymore, for obvious reasons.

Slur count = 60 (seems kinda low, but it's only a 40 minute album)

Highlights: Musically: 'New Slaves', 'Bound 2'; Lyrically: "Slightly scratch your Corolla/Okay, I smashed your Corolla", "Hey, you remember where we first met?/Okay, I don't remember where we first met"

Blur > Oasis, but let's see if that's actually true, because I've never listened to a full album of theirs (I just like 'Parklife' a lot). I see that their previous album is called "Live at the Budokan", which is terrifying. I already heard one "Live at the Budokan" album in this lifetime, thanks. Good album cover. Looks of its time.

I was always weirded out by this being the Gorillaz guy, but now, for the first time, I can hear it. Blur > Gorillaz (for me) though, for sure.

I never really liked 'Song 2', but I do like that it is in fact Song 2. If it weren't that'd be crazy, but I kinda assumed it wasn't. And it's 2 minutes 2 seconds! Solid stuff.

OK, nothing super duper impressed me. It was fine. I did like it more than Oasis, but it was a closer call than expected.

This is a very funny album cover. It looks like an old clipart. Also the white fade makes it seem like it's snowy, and these guys are not dressed for winter!

Is this a live album?? The mix is super weird to me; the instruments are way louder than the vocals. Unexpected slur count = 20 on 'Run Charlie Run', although Wiki says they fought "tooth and nail" not to record that song. Fought who?? I don't understand how albums work. Concerning.

'Papa Was a Rollin' Stone' is cool because the Magnetic Fields' 'Papa was a Rodeo' is surely a play off of it, unbeknownst to me. On the other hand, it is 12 minutes long. On the other other hand, despite having no musical similarity (but some lyrical ones) to the Mags, it is a good ("groovy") song.

I like the she-bop she-bops in 'I Ain't Got Nothin'', although I have some bones to pick with the lyrics (see below).

This is our second go at 'The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face)', after Johnny Cash. Still boring, and the addition of those parentheses makes the word order way less interesting (though I do feel like they're singing "The First Time [Ever I Saw Your Face]", anyway; maybe it was just a rogue Wikipedian who decided to punctuate it (wrongly))!

- - -
Bonus lexical semantic content aka why we shouldn't trust the media:

"Every house has a door and every room has a floor" = T
"Every fence has a gate and every beast has a mate" = F
"Every stove has a fire and every car has a tire" = F
"Every fish has a bowl and every shoe has a sole" = F
"Every lion has a den and every little pig has its pen" = F (but cute)
"Every road has a way and (they tell me) every dog has its day" = T (arguably)

Me, thinking: Didn't we have this one already? Wait no, that was the movie. I watched the movie.

One thing this album did for me personally was make going to [city of] Compton more exciting. 1988 is downright ancient in hip hop years so I know this was an influential album. But also, some of that influence was negative - the lyrics are the usual violent misogynistic stuff I now expect from popular rap, slurs included (slur count = 75). The prosody and general vibe is impactful and cool, so if those two things could be decoupled (as they of course are in rare cases) that'd be a little music utopia. But so it goes.

Can't escape the Beastie Boys: the "yeah" in "We don't 'just say no' / we're too busy saying 'Yeah!'" is a Beasties sample.

Linguistic intrigue: in 'Fuck tha Police', Ice Cube says he's "brown", which I feel like is now usually used for non-white non-black people, and I wonder if that didn't use to be the case. Also, you know how old-timey insults just read as cutesy and quaint? I'm getting that vibe from "I ain't the one / the one to get played like a pooh butt". I *think* it's intentional, but either way it made me lol.

Highlight: 'Express Yourself'

Hmm, okay. I only knew 'Relax' before, and I saw it as a kind of novelty song (akin to 'Mambo No 5' or 'The Thong Song', maybe). But wiki is telling me they were Controversial & Gay, so my attention is piqued. Why are they covering 'Born to Run'?? This is very weird. Not as good as the OG, but I do like 'Born to Run'. Lots of covers on here actually. To their detriment, because I don't think they add anything, but I am a cover-hater. There sure are a lot of songs called 'The Power of Love'. Kinda wish that one was a cover. I dunno, they lost me by the end of this album. The pleasuredome is closed. But it's still a 3!

Highlight: 'Wish (The Lads Were Here)'

Language ideology: there's a wiki quote that says: <<Richard Harris from NME wrote, "'The Power of Love' is too straight-laced (sic)>> -- what's that "sic" doing there? Some wiki editor thinking "my spelling is the only correct variant even though this one is common and in the dictionary" is annoying me today. There's more than one way to build a legacy!!

Yay!! Radiohead are so weird. I don't have this album because I found their singles in this era annoying. But it's all relative, because I like them a lot better than the majority of artists on this list. 'Knives Out' even has a movie named after it. Still, if I'm being honest, this is a 3 for me. Too plaintive, no hooks. I like the instrumentation though.

Highlight: 'Life in a Glasshouse'

Sigh, more Rolling Stones. Pretty good album cover. Pretty stupid(=sexist) lyrics, but these songs are catchier than some of their others. More mellow and poppy. Not a terrible album, but not really a standout either. (Among albums, that is. A standout among Rolling Stoneses, maybe, since I don't hate it.)

Highlights: 'Under My Thumb', 'Take It or Leave It'

Lowlight: 'Goin' Home' (Wiki: "The song, while lengthy, is built around a common theme, as opposed to later Stones songs of great length")

This is good! Way better than its sibling album (Iggy Pop Lust for Life). The first track might as well be Kraftwerk! Lots of dissonant electro-y instrumentals.

Highlights: 'Warszawa', 'Subterraneans'

Wiki highlight: 'Jasmine might also be a metaphor for the flowering creeping flower rather than a "girl".'

Commentary continuity: 'Weeping Wall' is apparently another pre-1989 Berlin Wall song.

Finally, a Spanish language album!!

It was just fine. A little sleepy for my taste. Ah well.

Not what I'd call a top tier album cover. There are a lot of boys in this band, it seems. I like the fiddley strings. This is a little mellow for my taste, but I guess it's fine. I like the overarching Boat theme. I never considered that Waterboys might mean, like "ocean-loving boys" and not the sports thing. Was not expecting to hear Beatles content ("Blackbird")! Despite(?) being folksy Scots Irish stuff, it reminds me a lot of Bruce Springsteen.

This is another nice album cover. I'd put it on my wall!

However, I can't believe it's another live album. Horrible. This is an extra weird album choice because I do know a few James Brown songs from the Rolling Stone top songs list, yet none of them are here! Also, why are all the live albums on here so old? Were there simply more live albums back in the day (because the sound quality was just bad regardless, so why not)?

The songs are at least short. Well, except that 11 minute one. The horns/drums are good. Although this is considered "R&B", it seems more like oldies to me. The instrumental bridges are my favorite part. No hooks. But nothing particularly unlikable either. According to Wiki, James Brown had 9–13 children. (I myself only have 0-4 children.)