Reviews by apollo

Brutal Youth is just about the same quality as all of Elvis Costello's other albums, as in its an alright album but its nothing that will blow anyone away. This one seems to be more in line with This Year's Model music-wise rather than Blood And Chocolate which is kinda a shame since i did like the latter album more. This one is still a pretty fine album with it having quite a few solid songs with some pretty decent musical ideas. Despite all of that, the album isn't really too much to write home about. It is alright but you can do quite a bit better than this.
Best Song: Still Too Soon To Know
Worst Song: All the Rage

Moss Side Story is one of the most interesting albums i have ever heard. It was apparently a concept album for a crime movie that never existed and i do kinda wish this film existed because i would have liked to see the context for all of these songs. This album is still really good on its own though, it was dark, morbid and creepy in all the right spots. This is also an album that had songs that were different sounding enough to keep me on my toes but still felt like they all were connected mostly due to having that crime movie style sound. I really like this album for what it is but i feel like i would have liked it more if this film had actually existed.
Best Song: Auto Destruction
Worst Song: Central Control

Water From An Ancient Well is a pretty decent jazz album that does have some flaws. The music is generally pretty relaxing and even beautiful when it wants to be (The Mountain is a big example of this) and generally is something i like when it comes to a jazz album. The album did go on for pretty long which could cause the melodies to get a little repetitive and the song transitions could also use some work but other than that, it is a fine and good jazz album that i liked the whole way through.
Best Song: The Mountain
Worst Song: Manenberg Revisited

Birth Of The Cool really shows that its a really early album on this list. The recording quality isn't really the greatest and the album really does give off the vibes of the 50s. I still somewhat enjoyed this album (it mostly helped that i was doing college homework while listening to this). The album was just generally very relaxing even when it had a faster tempo. The songs are a bit samey but this is probably expected of an album like this. I will admit that the vocals in track 12 were a pretty nice touch and definitely added something. There are better jazz albums that i have listened to but this is still an alright listen.
Best Song: Godchild
Worst Song: Rouge

Hypnotised is an album that has quite a lot for me to like about it. The music is solid, the lyrics are fine, and the vocals fit the songs well too. The pace was also fast without feeling too fast and i was generally just enjoying my time with the album. But there is just something that i don't like about this album. I don't even know what it is but i just feel if that thing was gone or was fixed in some way, shape or form, I'd like this album quite a bit more. But as it stands this album is a good one that i did enjoy listening to but something is keeping me from saying that its a great one.
Best Song: Hard Luck
Worst Song: Boys Will Be Boys

The World is a Ghetto is quite a crazy album if i do say so myself. It generally has some very odd instrument usage and some of the lyrics also feel pretty crazy to actually hear. But this is chaos that i kinda enjoy. This actually helps it to be a pretty original sounding funk album especially with all the keyboard usage (i think that's what that instrument is). Even with all the chaos, it never became too overbearing and was reasonably fun to listen to. This isn't an album that i would want to come back to all the time but with it's craziness, its still a good listen.
Best Song: Where Was You At
Worst Song: City, Country, City

Tres Hombres is an album that is pretty basic but still good. The album does get the vibe of a southern sound to a T. There are songs that had a hard rock sound (which dominated most of the album) but they also did have some ones that had more of a country style which i think is quite cool. Unfortunately this album is a bit basic which is to be expected since it seems to be an earlier hard rock album but i still would have liked to see some more interesting ideas and elements. This album is a good one, i just wish it had some more things going for it.
Best Song: La Grange
Worst Song: Sheik

Triangle isn't an album that will blow anyone away but it is solid at what it does. This album mostly seems to rely on a country sound while sounding a bit whimsical which is a fairly cool idea almost as if it's being played alongside a fairy tale being told. The music also does it's job quite well for this type of sound, the vocals all fit perfectly well, and the lyrics are kinda like this with the story being told and it all fits well. I'm unsure of what else to say about this album because i just said everything i really can say about it. Its a fine album just not gonna take the world by storm or anything.
Best Song: Painter Of Women
Worst Song: Old Kentucky Home

I'm really not a fan of Le Tigre. The vocals just feel like the singer wasn't even hitting notes properly and that was mostly what helped it get so annoying. The lyrics are also non-sensical in a majority of the songs (especially on What's Yr Take on Cassavetes and Dude, Yr So Crazy!) They really need to know that saying random words at random times are not proper song lyrics. The music is actually fine throughout the majority of the album and probably the best part but there were songs that tanked in that regard too. The album thankfully is mercifully short at around only 2 or 3 minutes for every song. This album might not be as bad as the other 1 star albums i have looked at but it is still far from good.
Best Song: Slideshow At Free University
Worst Song: Les and Ray

The Grand Tour is a perfectly fine album. The music and vocals all sound pleasant enough to the ears but don't really do anything super interesting. The album also runs at a quick pace too which is something i have fairly mixed feelings about. I do like that the songs don't ever get tedious because i bet they would if they went on for too long. But at the same time, the songs are too short to have enough time to really sink in causing a lot of the transitions from song to song feel very jarring and awkward. This isn't really the best album out there but i have listened to far worse.
Best Song: The Weatherman
Worst Song: Borrowed Angel

Back In Black is an album that i do quite like. For some reason, i remember some songs from this album sounding different like the title track feeling a bit softer than i remember, it is still a good song regardless. The other tracks here are also pretty solid and are often staples of classic rock radio stations that i listen to on occasion with none of them being ones i don't really want to listen to at that given time. Apparently, here is also where i learned that this band is Australian because prior to knowing this, i just thought they were from the United States, at least their music kinda gave me that vibe. This is still a pretty great album that i will always be more than happy to listen to
Best Song: Have A Drink On Me
Worst Song: Shoot To Thrill

I probably expected this from my favorite genre but Make Yourself is a legitimately fantastic album. Nearly every song sounded really great on this album with absolutely outstanding vocals, music, and lyrics but also managed to each have their own identity while still sounding like they fit together. The diversions this album had (Drive and Battlestar Scralatchtica) also managed to feel like nice breaks from the album's typical structure without being too annoying or jarring. This is easily among the best albums i have ever looked at for this project.
Best Song: Out from Under
Worst Song: Battlestar Scralatchtica

Gris Gris is definitely one of the more bizarre albums that i have looked at in this project. That is what helps it to be a really interesting album. It is spooky and kinda sounds like something cavemen or cultists would sing and at some points, sound like an early Tom Waits which i think is actually pretty interesting. The album itself is not a bad listen. Sure, it is a really weird and out of the ordinary album but somehow Dr. John really managed to make things work even with all the weirdness, they also managed to make a sound that i find annoying in most albums sound pretty tolerable (i guess it could just be because i expected it). This might not be the best album to listen to on a normal day but i can still easily recommend it as a curiosity.
Best Song: Croker Courtbullion
Worst Song: Danse Fambeaux

Honestly, It's a shame Simon & Garfunkel broke up after this album because they brought their A game with Bridge Over Troubled Water. Everything in this album is absolutely sublime from the vocals, the music, and the lyrics being absolutely great. This album never lost the signature Simon & Garfunkel sound but made all the necessary improvements to make it the great album it is. This album also runs at the perfect pace being fast-paced and fun throughout. This album might not be perfect but it is clear that Simon & Garfunkel went out with a bang.
Best Song: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Worst Song: The Boxer
(Side note: As another reviewer pointed out, yes, you can give Simon a beard by covering Garfunkel's face and yes, it is funny)
(Second Side Note: Since this is my last Simon & Garfunkel, I thought it would be necessary to rank all of their albums so here you go,
1. Bridge Over Troubled Water
2. Bookends
3. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme)

Coles Corner is one of those albums that just kinda exists. The music sounds okay, the vocals work with the songs well enough, and the lyrics are there but this album simply plays it far too safe. All the songs (except for the last one) use pretty much the same formula of acoustic guitar, sad melancholy lyrics, with maybe some background ambiance here and there. That's kinda it for this album, it never tries anything interesting or all that different, it just follows an overly safe and bland formula all the way throughout. It is definitely something when i like the ambient song of an album the most simply because it sounds the most different. This album is just there.
Best Song: Last Orders
Worst Song: Darlin' Wait For Me
(Side note: The worst song here is kinda just interchangeable since all these songs sound virtually identical)

Good god, I was not expecting Darkdancer to be this good considering it's not great reputation on the site (only has 2.6 average as of writing this) but this album was surprisingly really solid. The songs, while repetitive, made use of their repetition really well and just were funky, interesting, and really, really catchy. The guest vocalists were great too as were all the main vocalists
but the main star of the show is obviously the beats. Few of the songs were annoying with a majority of them being a catchy, fun time. This is easily a great electronic album which shows just how good the 90s can do with electronica
Best Song: Hypnotise
Worst Song: Disco II Disco

Strange Cargo III is one of those albums that is really good at what it does but unfortunately lacks that small spark to be great. The album was very trippy, very unique, and in some places, very funky. The beats were really well done in the songs that utilized them more making for some really cool tracks but some of the songs were a bit too ambient for their own good causing them to be pretty repetitive and forgettable. This album is a very acquired taste that is difficult to get into if you are just a casual listener but if you are really into this sort of stuff, then this album is really good for providing a weird yet interesting listen.
Best Song: Into The Paradise
Worst Song: Deus Ex Machina

I know everyone on this site likes to hate on Morrissey but there is no denying that he can make a good album when he wants to and The Queen Is Dead is absolutely no exception. The guitar and bass work were absolutely great here as well as the vocals. The lyrics could also be pretty great at points but pretty dumb at others. I will say that this album is quite a bit better than Meat Is Murder since while that album had it's good moments too, it also had some fairly iffy songs, a problem which this album seems to rectify. This is actually a really good album that is more than deserving of a 3.5
Best Song: Bigmouth Strikes Again
Worst Song: Frankly, Mr. Shankly

While One Nation Under A Groove might be the worst of all the Funkadelic/Parliament albums i have looked at, That still doesn't mean its not great. This album was still an immensely fun and funky ride throughout the whole thing. There were quite a bit of the rock elements that i came to know from these two acts and they were handled greatly here. The vocals were also outstanding just adding to the already funky nature of this album. Some of the songs could get a little bit repetitive with their long lengths and all but the best parts of the album more than made up for it. This album still shows why i love Funkadelic/Parliament so much.
Best Song: Who Says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!
Worst Song: Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doo Doo Chasers)

London Calling was nothing like i was expecting. From it's album art, i expected a much heavier album out of this (Like come on, there is an electric bass being destroyed there, what screams heavy album more than that?) But it seems that this one is pretty unique with all of it's influences. There is everything from some fast rock-out sort of stuff to some more i guess British sounding music (I can't think of a better word for it) and also some Mexican Fiesta sounding music. These all worked pretty well and help this album be better than this band's self titled album. This album isn't the greatest thing ever but it does it's job as well as it can.
Best Song: Train in Vain (Stand By Me)
Worst Song: Jimmy Jazz