Reviews by apollo

From the last 4 albums that i heard by David Bowie, I never would have expected The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars would be one of my favorites by him but here we are. I am somewhat aware of some songs from this album, especially Starman since i have heard John Dolmayan and Serj Tankian's cover of it. I still was not expecting the album to be this good as it had an absolutely perfect mix of punk rock with acoustic rock and a nice amount of orchestral elements too. David Bowie's songwriting was very enjoyable here as well. It is an all around great album that i definitely think is one of Bowie's best.
Best Song: Suffragette City
Worst Song: It Ain't Easy

Melody A.M. was an incredibly nice surprise. I always do enjoy a good electronica album and this album did more than enough to scratch that itch. This album is one of those complex, layered and interesting electronic albums that i enjoy so much. It also had some really good work on the bass. This is also one of the few electronica albums that never got repetitive no matter how long the songs got and were still always able to stay in my memory for quite a while. I genuinely don't think i can find a single bad thing to say about it as it just executes every thing so well. This is yet another album that's getting full marks from me.
Best Song: Royksopp's Night Out
Worst Song: She's So

Talking With the Taxman About Poetry is an album that did have some pretty good ideas and for the most part, executed them rather well. This album mainly combines folk music with some more punk rock elements and a fair few of the songs put that on full display. I would also say that Bragg's songwriting is definitely quite a standout aspect about this album as these songs could tell some rather interesting stories. I also felt that this album went on for a good length by not being too long or too short. Some of the songs here do blend in with each other a bit which makes them hardly stand out but i still thought that there was no outright bad part about this album.
Best Song: Train Train
Worst Song: Honey, I'm a Big Boy Now

Maxinquaye is an album that i have rather weird feelings on. I do know that Tricky did work on the two Massive Attack albums in this project due to him being in that band when they released so it does make sense that a lot of these songs sound like Massive Attack songs. This album does feel incredibly inconsistent with it's quality as sometimes, the songs can be really good and other times, they can be really bad. At worst, the songs can be incredibly annoying due to trying to do too much with some pretty stupid lyrics too. Though at best, they can actually be some pretty good tracks with beats that don't get too repetitive even if they go on for a bit long. I still think i like both Massive Attack albums more than this one due to them just being way more consistent.
Best Song: Black Steel
Worst Song: Strugglin'

I quite liked The Velvet Underground. I have already heard this band's collaborative effort with Nico and that album suffered from the issue of the music not being very good and sounding very poorly produced but here, The Velvet Underground have absolutely stepped up their game. The music here is actually really solid with very few hiccups, it reminds me most of a very soft Beatles record. They also brought one of the best aspects about The Velvet Underground & Nico and that being the vocals as they still sound very good. The last album was only able to receive a 2.5 but this album managed to score a whole 3.
Best Song: After Hours
Worst Song: Jesus

Destroyer is a fairly basic but still really fun album. I always was aware of KISS' existence but i never really remembered hearing any of the songs off this album. And that is a shame because this album is an absolutely great one. The musicianship was easily the most enjoyable part of the album for me as it could range from hard rocking tunes to more orchestral sounding songs all of which sound very good. The lyrics here are a little dumb in some areas but this is KISS, a band that was rebellious for 13 year olds so it absolutely makes sense. The album went at the perfect length too, long enough for me to get my fill but not too long to become tedious. I really enjoyed this album and it's another addition to my highest rated albums.
Best Song: God Of Thunder
Worst Song: Rock 'N' Roll Party

There is absolutely one thing that i cannot deny about Vincebus Eruptum and that is that it is one of the most important albums on this list. It used a very blues rock style of sound which doesn't sound like much at first glance but if you actually start listening to the album, it is very easy to hear that this type of sound influenced a genre that we all know as heavy metal. Even with it's sheer influence aside, i really enjoyed this album. It does sound rough sure, but i think that the sheer roughness really adds to the charm of this album. It also had plenty of great musicianship throughout. It may sound rough but this is a really important album that's really good to boot.
Best Song: Parchment Farm
Worst Song: Second Time Around

I was expecting Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes to be good but I'm still impressed. I've never heard of this album or this band prior to doing this project but i was still expecting it to be indie rock by going off this band's name. And my observation was pretty dead on. This really gives me vibes of David Bowie's Low with it's weirdness but still has a twinge of indie rock. And i love it for that, The music is wonderfully weird yet can still be beautiful and relaxing and i also really like the songs that had acapella in them. I also think that the vocals work well here even if they wouldn't work well every where. I can't think of a single complaint here, this album gets full marks.
Best Song: Ambulance
Worst Song: Don't Love You

I enjoyed Diamond Life. I don't think that i have gotten too much R&B with a female singer as of late so this is actually a pretty enjoyable return to it. The musicianship here was very well done with many of the tracks on show being rather groovy and still having that relaxing feel to them. I also did like Sade's voice as she could have that pretty alluring sense in her voice. The album also never felt like it was dragging on but still had enough time to stretch out it's legs and let the melodies sink in. I guess if i did have a problem with it, it would be that some of the songs here are a little forgettable and do blend into the background but other than that, i quite enjoyed this album.
Best Song: Hang On To Your Love
Worst Song: I Will Be Your Friend

I really liked At Fillmore East. It is another live album meaning that you would probably expect the recording quality to tank because of it but these guys absolutely killed it live. And another thing it does better than quite a lot of live albums is that the songs flow together incredibly well as they never felt like they were constantly stopping at any point. The music itself is great too bringing some fun bluesy and rocking tunes which are incredibly catchy. This one is a bit long and can feel like it drags occasionally but i was still enjoying it. I probably would not be able to feel the same about the revisions of this album though, One of them goes on for 6 HOURS. I don't think i could handle that but i can more than handle this.
Best Song: You Don't Love Me
Worst Song: Done Somebody Wrong

D is an album which i am rather mixed on. There were points where it could sound like a 2 star album and points where it could sound like a 4 star album. The main issue it had was that in some of the songs, the composition was overly messy and disorganized which made them really annoying and hard to listen to. However, there are a couple of songs which are pretty solid. These songs don't have the above issue, are musically well done, have a nice vibe and are even quite catchy and memorable too. They were a bit few and far between but that allowed them to really stick out. If you can get past all the bad stuff, you will no doubt find some good stuff here.
Best Song: Is and Is and Is
Worst Song: Anvil Everything

Nighthawks At The Diner is an album i really enjoyed. This is one of the few albums that isn't as good as it is due to the songs alone but rather, due to how well they connect with each other. This album was partially a studio album that was made to simulate a live album where it was recorded over 4 sessions in front of an audience to simulate the feeling of a jazz club. I think it actually captures the feeling of a jazz club very well and the music and Waits' vocals and lyrics/commentary really added to the album. I don't really know if i can single out one song as being the best/worst but i do know that this album comes together very smoothly.
Best Song: Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)
Worst Song: Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)

Face to Face is a pretty good album. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between it and the follow-up to this album (Something Else) as they do seem to be cut from the same cloth which makes sense due to them both being by the same band (obviously) but i think i do like this album a little bit more. I feel that this album has a little something that it's follow-up didn't have even if I'm not exactly sure what that is. Even then, they still aren't too far apart from each other as they both do have some pretty good songs and some rather rough production qualities which is expected from this time period. This is still a pretty decent album.
Best Song: House in the Country
Worst Song: Fancy

Midnight Ride isn't an album i have too much to say about but it is still a pretty solid album for what it is. It still does seem to be one of the many albums in the psychedelic rock movement that was going on a lot during the 1960s and because of that, it has the general sound of a psych-rock album. The songs here aren't the most diverse things around but they do enough to set themselves apart from each other. The songs here sound pretty good and the album just breezes by without feeling like it's going by at a pace that's overly fast. I wouldn't say it's a great album but it does what it does pretty well.
Best Song: Kicks
Worst Song: Ballad of a Useless Man

With The Beatles is certainly one of the first Beatles albums i'll give it that. This album easily does deserve it's place on this list because it was definitely one of the first albums of it's kind and influenced loads of other bands. I still don't think this album is all that great. Most of the songs are far too samey and this album just doesn't really have any standout tracks (outside of Please Mister Postman, that track was pretty solid). I also feel like the songs go by too quickly, not giving them enough time to sink in and just makes them all get lost in the shuffle. I don't think its a bad album, the musicianship is good and it deserves it's place here, It just isn't great and a bit disappointing considering this is the album that was generated for me on my 21st birthday.
Best Song: Please Mister Postman
Worst Song: Little Child

Raw Like Sushi is easily one of the most 80s albums that i have ever heard. It has basically all the things you would expect from an album of it's kind from this era, the samples are what you would expect, the lyrics are pretty cheesy and the production just feels like a product of it's time. It is still a really fun album because of all of this though. Many of the songs could be serious bops and Cherry's voice also really managed to fit these songs pretty well. I also don't think that there is a single song here that i would consider bad as they still all at least had parts that i enjoyed. I wouldn't say that this album is perfect but it still is a really fun listen.
Best Song: Outre Risque Locomotive
Worst Song: So Here I Come

Well, i have reached my last Leonard Cohen album with Songs From A Room and unfortunately, we have ended with a whimper here. I say this not because i think the album is bad but because i can hardly remember anything about it. This is the Leonard Cohen album that felt the most like background noise because basically nothing interesting really happens in any of these songs. Other than that as well as The Butcher having some very awkward vocal parts, this album isn't terrible, the musicianship is decent and Lenny seemed to be developing his voice more during this album. The problem is that this album is still very forgettable and that is not something you want from an album so its only getting a 2.5.
Best Song: The Old Revolution
Worst Song: The Butcher
Side Note: Oh, and since this is my last Leonard Cohen album, I'll rank them here:
1. You Want It Darker
2. I'm Your Man
3. Songs Of Love And Hate
4. Songs Of Leonard Cohen
5. Songs From A Room

I was honestly incredibly surprised with how good Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (of 1) turned out to be. George Michael was originally another artist that i would frequently get confused with Michael Jackson when i was younger. But as i have grown older, i now see the differentiation between the two quite clearly. The main thing that this album has going for it is it's absolutely excellent production. It genuinely sounds crystal clear and quite expensive. Plus a lot of the songs here could be either incredibly relaxing or incredibly catchy. There were a few songs that were a bit forgettable but other than that, this is an absolutely great album.
Best Song: Freedom! '90
Worst Song: Something to Save

I did listen to Youth And Young Manhood after Aha Shake Heartbreak so all i could really think of when listening to this album was "Yep, that's the prequel to Aha Shake Heartbreak". Due to both albums having the same kind of sound, they share a lot of strengths and weaknesses. The music here is pretty solid with it being mainly a rock album with blues elements and i think it does do that sound very well. My main issue with this album is Caleb Followill's vocals as they just really sounded like someone who was trying too hard which made this album a bit annoying. Other than that, this album really is just the prequel to Aha Shake Heartbreak and is around the same level of quality as that album.
Best Song: Holy Roller Novocaine
Worst Song: Wasted Time

Oxygene is certainly an interesting album. I wouldn't really call this an album per se rather i would say this is just one song split into 6 parts. The parts here do feel quite a bit different from each other but still feel cut from the same cloth. The biggest thing i could think of for what this song could fit into is a video game. This already reminds me of some video game sound like in Part 6, there is ambiance that really gives me The Legend OF Zelda: Ocarina Of Time vibes. There were a few instances where this album could get overly weird but it was still a fairly relaxing listen. I wouldn't say that this is great but i still found it to be a pretty decent listen.
Best Song: Oxygene, Pt. 1
Worst Song: Oxygene, Pt. 4