Reviews by apollo

I thought that 3 + 3 was a pretty good album. When i first saw the album cover, part of me thought this was gonna be a hard rock album but as it turned out, it leaned pretty heavily into funk R&B, almost feeling like an early version of Jamiroquai in some spots. For the most part i enjoyed this album, The music was very enjoyable as it had that funky groove to it i always enjoy and the vocals generally worked well for each song. There are some downsides though. I feel that a lot of the songs sound a bit too similar to each other making them fairly forgettable and there were points where the singer got a bit too into it. Other than that, its a pretty good album.
Best Song: Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
Worst Song: That Lady Pts. 1 & 2

I was honestly surprised at how much i enjoyed Deserter's Songs. I guess there were two major factors that helped in boosting my enjoyment of this album. 1. I had to listen to Ramblin' Jack Elliott yesterday so my standards were lowered and 2. I listened to this after a long day at work. There is also just the fact that the album is just really good. It reminds me of Lost Souls by Doves in a lot of ways. The album was super relaxing and always had something weird and different waiting for me at every turn. Even the intermission-esque tracks were always very enjoyable. I might not like it as much as the album mentioned above but i still thought this was a really enjoyable album.
Best Song: Opus 40
Worst Song: Endlessly

Because Jack Takes The Floor wasn't on Spotify, i couldn't really scout ahead and use the previews to see what it was gonna be like but i was not expecting it to be this bad but that's what it ended up being. I know this may be the second country and the second folk album on this list in release order (after The Louvin Brothers' Tragic Songs Of Life) but i still gotta attack this album for everything it gets wrong. I could maybe see some potential in Elliott's songwriting but there is one problem, It's that I CAN'T HEAR ANY OF IT! This is easily some of the worst recording quality i have ever heard on an album. Combine that with the fact that every song sounds the same and you got a recipe for an absolute dud of an album.
Best Song: Salty Dog
Worst Song: Mule Skinner Blues

The Last Of The True Believers is a pretty generic female sang country album. I've never heard much from Nanci Griffith but i wasn't all too surprised to hear that this had a very Dolly Parton sort of sound. It is not bad, the music is nice enough, the vocals are pretty good and the album is just a generally pleasant listen. But that's about all it is, this album doesn't really try anything all that interesting to help set itself apart from all it's contemporaries as well as a lot of the songs sounding very similar to each other combines into one rather forgettable experience. Its by no means a bad album, it's just not one that's gonna stick in my mind.
Best Song: One Of These Days
Worst Song: Goin' Gone

Cafe Bleu was certainly an interesting album. I went into this album thinking that it would be a punk rock album but after reading the genre tags and listening to the album, it was this odd mix R&B, Jazz and Rap held together by a central new-wave sound a bit reminiscent of Everything But The Girl which make sense because it's members did help out on this album (and by the album, i just mean the song The Paris Match) I have pretty mixed feelings on this album, part of me likes the variety on offer but the other part of me thinks its a little unfocused. This is an album that i didn't really love or hate so its kinda in the middle.
Best Song: You're The Best Thing
Worst Song: Mick's Blessings

I enjoyed Woodface quite a lot, quite a bit more than i thought i would have. This album really reminds me a lot of a lot of British pop-rock albums which is a bit odd seeing that this band is partly from Australia and the other part from New Zealand but it is still a sound i welcome. It is another one of those albums that is just so nice and pleasant to listen to but that isn't to say that it doesn't get really lively at points which it absolutely does. There also wasn't a single bad song off this record as they were all very enjoyable. I don't think there is really much left i can say so all i'll say is that it is a very enjoyable album.
Best Song: Chocolate Cake
Worst Song: How Will You Go/I'm Still Here (Medley)

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is a strange one because i feel like i should like it more than i should. One thing i will say is that it is some of the most chaotic music i have ever heard. Throughout every song's relatively short runtime, This album just hits you very hard with the guitars and the fast melodies. It definitely is very surprising but you eventually get used to it over time. This chaotic nature was something i definitely enjoyed about this album. But other than that, I'm not all too sure of anything else that stands out about this album. It is a very solid album but i just don't think there is a special reason for me to recommend it.
Best Song: California Uber Alles
Worst Song: Chemical Warfare

Movies was a much more solid album than i was expecting it to be. When i looked at it's Wikipedia page and saw an Experimental Rock tag in the genres section, I got a bit worried that this album was just gonna be noise. But thankfully, while there were some noisy parts, the album did feel like it was properly composed and had quite a bit of good melodies and fun ideas. Even those distorted guitars which I'm typically not a very big fan of were alright here. Like i said, the album still does get randomly noisy at points but it was never unbearable and it had enough cool ideas for me to give it a pass.
Best Song: Cool In The Pool
Worst Song: Persian Love

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns is a pretty good album. It definitely does feel a little more experimental than Mitchell's other albums, almost like a precursor to the new-wave album she made that didn't seem to be well received. This album does seem to follow the typical Joni Mitchell staples that the others all follow. The songwriting here isn't as strong as some of her other albums but i would say that the music here is one of her stronger works. There was that one track where it had a bongo and also bleeps and bloops that sounded like they are from video games that wouldn't release until years later. It may not be my favorite album by Mitchell but its still a good one to go out on.
Best Song: The Jungle Line
Worst Song: Sweet Bird
Side note: Since this will be the last Joni Mitchell album I'm reviewing, I'll rank them here:
1. Blue
2. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
3. Hejira
4. Court And Spark

I really loved Eternally Yours. It may be just your typical late 70s punk rock album but sometimes, that's all an album needs to be in order to be good. Though because of that, it's probably not gonna be an album where i will be saying too much about it, i just think that the music just speaks for itself. That music is very good, especially with all the guitar riffs sounding so sublime and while the vocals may sound bad in any other genre, they fit so well with the punk style here. I honestly really can't think of anything else to say here, neither good or bad so i'll just say that it's an absolutely sublime album that i loved the whole way through.
Best Song: No, Your Product
Worst Song: International Robots

Who Killed...... The Zutons? was an incredibly fun album. As i was listening to it, i was kinda teetering back and forth between giving this album 3 stars or 4 stars as there were both good and mediocre songs here. But as i kept listening, I began finding that the good was heavily outweighing the mediocre. I really liked the folk and blues elements combined with the garage rock sound that this album was mainly going for. The songs in general here just have this really fun vibe that i just can't help but really enjoy. I can't really think of anything to complain about other than said mediocre songs so i'll say its a very enjoyable album.
Best Song: Havana Gang Brawl
Worst Song: Long Time Coming
Side Note: I love the music videos here too, they all provided something different but were all very fun to watch no matter what.

Hms Fable was a pretty forgettable but still solid album. I've never heard of this band prior to listening to this album but it seems like just another one of those britpop/alt rock bands that are on this project like Oasis, Blur and The Verve. I don't really think that this album hits any of the heights the ones by the other bands i mentioned did but i still think that this album was a very pleasant listen. It is clear here that Shack clearly knew what sounds would be the most pleasant to listen to in terms of both music and vocals. That being said, it doesn't really do anything all that remarkable either and just fades into the crowd of 90s britpop bands. It's perfectly good for what it is, just nothing all too special and it just plays it too safe.
Best Song: Since I Met You
Worst Song: Re-Instated

Traffic was actually a pretty decent album. I saw the style of music that this album would consist of from a mile away due to things like the album art and the fact that i have heard the other album on this project by this group (John Barleycorn Must Die). I think this one is leagues better than that one though because everything on offer is significantly more interesting here. The melodies in particular for some songs really stuck out to me because they could be pretty darn catchy especially in songs like You Can All Join In. I'm not really sure i can say much else about this album so all I'll say is it's a pretty solid listen.
Best Song: Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring
Worst Song: Means To An End

I actually really enjoyed Fire Of Love. This band here was apparently one of the originators of punk music with blues, country and rockabilly elements and for this album being one of the first to have that sound, it does it very well. I thought that the general punk elements were my favorite part of the album with the guitars and everything but i also enjoyed a lot of the other genre elements on offer, mostly the rockabilly elements. Granted the album can get rather repetitive with the later songs being bigger offenders of this and I'm not the biggest fan of the points where the music goes very quiet but i still really enjoyed this album for what it did.
Best Song: Sex Beat
Worst Song: For the Love of Ivy

Bob Dylan? Now that's a name i haven't heard in a long time. I already thought that the first album i did by him (Bringing It All Back Home) was mediocre and so is The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, in fact I'd put it below the former. It is kinda a shame since i do see quite a fair bit of promise with Dylan's songwriting as it did feel rather interesting for 1963. My main issue with this album though, is the music. This is really a case of if you heard one song, you've heard them all and quite a bit of the songs on offer (especially the longer ones) got really repetitive after a bit. I guess i should have seen this coming since i'm not a big Bob Dylan fan but i'm still just not a huge fan of this album.
Best Song: Masters of War
Worst Song: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

I really loved Talking Book but i don't think that is a surprise seeing as this is Stevie Wonder we are talking about here. I was initially thinking that i wouldn't like this album as much as the other albums i have heard from him but this ended up being up there. Every song here was so enjoyable with each instrument being used so well by each musician on each song. The lyrics here were also fantastic with Wonder's voice really adding to them. Also this album went at the perfect length. I was initially thinking i would give this a high 4 stars but i think that Superstition is just way too good for me not to give this album a 5.
Best Song: Superstition
Worst Song: You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
Side Note: Since this will be my last Stevie Wonder album, I'll rank them all here:
1. Songs In The Key Of Life
2. Talking Book
3. Innervisions
4. Fulfillingness' First Finale

I quite liked Scott 4. I was honestly expecting not to like this album very much especially considering that the users of this site don't seem to be all too kind to him but against all odds, this album turned out to be pretty enjoyable. I do enjoy the art pop style this album seems to go for with some of the songs (Primarily The Old Man's Back Again) kinda giving me a bit of a Leonard Cohen vibe. I also think that Scott's songwriting style is pretty interesting and each song here works well with said songwriting style. The album is a short one but i'm not all too sure if that is a good or bad thing as part of me is glad this didn't get repetitive but another part of me wishes there was a bit more. Regardless, I did enjoy this album.
Best Song: The Old Man's Back Again
Worst Song: The World's Strongest Man

We Are Family is a pretty decent album. It is a 70s disco album meaning that it has all the quirks that you would expect from the genre with the bass, drums and those other string instruments which i can't exactly make out what they are but I'm not sure they would change my opinion. Overall, I'd say that the album was pretty enjoyable. Each song had a rather nice groove to it but i will say that each song does get repetitive which is a staple when it comes to disco due to what it is typically used for. It still did make me wish some songs were a little bit shorter. Even so, this album was still an enjoyable listen and on par with a lot of the other disco albums i have heard.
Best Song: We Are Family
Worst Song: He's the Greatest Dancer

Shadowland is kinda just another country album. It's not anything bad, just kinda there. I was honestly surprised to hear that this was a woman singing since Lang here, looked like a man (I guess seeing the album arts for both Iggy Pop's The Idiot and David Bowie's Heroes did that for me). Like i said at the start of this review, This album really is just a generic country album like a lot of the other ones on here. It has the music of one, the vocals, the lyrics and even a song at the end with the words "Honky Tonk" in it's title so it's got it all. It thankfully wasn't very long but i still found this album to be fairly forgettable. It's fine, just nothing all that special.
Best Song: I Wish I Didn't Love You So
Worst Song: Sugar Moon

I'm kinda shocked at how much i enjoyed Dry. I've never really heard much involving PJ Harvey or her music (Unless you wanna count The Boatman's Call by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds) but oddly enough, this was the kind of music i was expecting from her. And yeah, it is some good music. It has such a rough sound with the guitars, bass and drums kinda giving it a bit of a grunge feel despite this album not really being grunge. I also think it went at the right length giving me my fill, not too much, not too little. There are some songs that feel like they don't get to the point and the ending of this album feels a little odd but aside from those two gripes, I really enjoyed this one.
Best Song: Victory
Worst Song: Happy And Bleeding