Reviews by aretzorn

Ok, Elton John is not dead, but was he reincarnated as Jake Shears? (e.g., Take Your Mama). It wasn't bad, but wasn't really a standout. And who thought to make a disco version of Comfortably Numb? Can't say I'm a fan, but hey. Tracks I liked: Take Your Mama (go Elton!), Lovers in the Backseat, Return to Oz.

Once again, the 1001 Editors removed an album by a modern artist in lieu of a more recent album. In this case, they removed her debut, Arular, and replaced it with this second album, Kala. I liked Arular more - it resonated with me more than this album and had a much harder edge, which I suppose is consistent with M.I.A.'s view that Arular was a more masculine album and Kala was more feminine (Arular named after her father and Kala named after her mother). On the plus side, I preferred the more organic drums on this album. And of course Paper Planes is super catchy (when I heard Arular I had no idea this was her song even though I'd heard it before). I'd probably give this album a 3.5. Since I went with a 4 for Arular, I feel like I should go with a 3 for this one (particularly for having auto-tune in 20 Dollar - auto-tune is almost always an automatic one point reduction for me - but the lyrics are powerful and MAYBE including lyrics from Where Is My Mind gets the point back?). I'll go with the 4 because I continue to dig her style. Favorite Tracks - Bird Flu (love the drums), Boyz, Mango Pickle Down River (fun song with a cool groove), Come Around (I could do without the Timbaland spot, but the rest is very cool).

Liked this more than I expected I would. Lots of good grooves and I like her singing/rapping style. Very creative and unique, with challenging lyrics. Favorite tracks: Bucky Done Gun, Fire Fire, Amazon, Bingo, 10 Dollar (difficult lyrics about prostitution though). Definitely interested in hearing more of her stuff.

Classic opening drum beat (see also Are You Gonna Be My Girl and You Can't Hurry Love), followed by solid songs throughout. Impressive that this was written, recorded, and mixed in only eight days. Favorite tracks: Lust for Life (upbeat song about drug use), Sixteen (rocking song about paedophilia), Tonight (nice song about drug overdose), Success (wait, this song isn't about drugs or paedophilia? Loved hearing Bowie's "Oh, shit!" at the end), Fall in Love With Me (good groove, no obvious drug references, but refers to the subject of the song as looking "young" a few too many times for comfort).

This belongs on the list for its historical significance alone. I'm not a country fan, but I always appreciate Johnny. He sounds great on this album and the band is on point. There's also a surprising amount of humor in the songs and Johnny's comments. Well worth hearing. Removing one point solely for the fact that country music is so formulaic, but I'd definitely listen again. Favorite tracks: Folsom Prison Blues, 25 Minutes to Go, Orange Blossom Special, Jackson (liked the duet with his wife).

Wow, this is super generic hard rock with nearly every hard rock cliche present and accounted for. Love Removal Machine sounds like a ripoff of Start Me Up. And how did they manage to make a boring version of Born to be Wild? A few tracks had moments I liked but then also had moments of pure cheese, so take my "favorite tracks" with a grain of salt. Favorite tracks: Peace Dog, King Contrary Man, Memphis Hip Shake.

This album definitely RAWKS. Not super original, music-wise, but it's fun. Definitely some cringey lyrics ("Sperminator of the asshole"???) but I'd listen again. Favorite Tracks: The Age of Pamparius (I love that this rocker is about a pizzeria: "Gonna bake a motherfucking pizza tonight"), Get It On, Zillion Dollar Sadist, Prince of the Rodeo. Award for best song title of the 1001 albums so far: Don't Say Motherfucker, Motherfucker, closely followed by Rendezvous with Anus.

As a King Crimson fan, I love hearing Robert Fripp's pointillist guitar work in I Zimbra. Two years before King Crimson's Discipline we get hints of what's to come (it's criminal that Discipline is not in the 1001). The classics alone on this album make it a 5 - Life During Wartime, Memories Can't Wait, and Heaven are all fantastic (and I love the line in Life During Wartime, "I changed my hairstyle so many times now I don't know what I look like"). On top of that, all the other tracks are excellent and the recording quality is outstanding. Easy 5.

I found this album pretty boring, so I decided to check out some YouTube videos to find out what the fuss was. Saw live videos of Space Song and Myth and was so much more impressed with the band. Unfortunately, this album didn't draw me in. All the songs have the same exact dreamy pop-light sound. Pleasant but boring (and I really didn't like the detuning effects in Norway). Liked Used to Be and Lover of Mine. Anyway, moving on.

I sometimes think after Ok Computer that Radiohead just said "How weird can we get and everyone will still think we're brilliant?" Mission accomplished. Tracks I like: The National Anthem, How to Disappear Completely, Optimistic. Everything else is just weird.

I like the Kinks, but I'm wondering why we needed four albums by the Kinks in the 1001 - not enough sound variety between the albums to justify it. This album is so very 60s, but filled with plenty of catchy hooks. Favorite tracks: Party Line, Too Much on My Mind, A House in the Country, Little Miss Queen of Darkness, You're Looking Fine (really catchy), Sunny Afternoon (apparently the biggest hit on the album - it sounded vaguely familiar, mainly the "in the summertime" part).

This would make a good soundtrack for The Lost Boys. So very 80s. Favorite tracks: Most of them sound identical, but This Corrosion caught my attention, even though it's also SO VERY 80s. First thought at the beginning of Never Land: "Wait? Is this When the Levee Breaks? Nope." Moving on...

I'm not really a fan of most Britpop, but this album was much better than I expected. Three things keep it from being a five: 1) Whiny Britpop vocals. 2) After a while it gets repetitive. It's a pretty long album - if they dropped 4 - 5 songs it probably would be nearly perfect. 3) Hidden tracks are seriously annoying. Glad this doesn't seem to be a thing anymore in the streaming era. Favorite tracks: Bitter Sweet Symphony (what a rollercoaster story about songwriting credits and royalties), The Rolling People, Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work, Catching the Butterfly, Weeping Willow.

Let's get this out of the way first. There don't need to be THREE Dexys albums on the 1001. Their albums are simply too similar. This album doesn't bring the fun as much as Too Rye Ay (although they start to turn it on with songs like Seven Days Too Long and Thankfully Not Living in Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply). That said, they definitely have a great sound. I'd call it glam punk soul. Favorite moment learning about the album - I was curious what "Geno" was about, so I looked it up and saw it's about soul singer Geno Washington. I then checked out his Wikipedia page and saw this excerpt: "[Geno Washington] was encouraged to make a comeback in 1980 due to the rekindled interest in him resulting from the Dexys Midnight Runners hit single "Geno", but he initially declined, as he was completing his degree in hypnotism." You can't make this shit up. Favorite Tracks: Burn It Down, Thankfully Not Living in Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply, There, There My Dear.

I like art rock. I like glam. But for some reason, Roxy Music doesn't draw me in, even though I think I should like them. I liked the other two albums on the 1001 more than this one (maybe because those albums had Eno? Hard to say, but possible), but even those took "work" to appreciate. Regardless of the album, Bryan Ferry has a great and unique voice and I really enjoy Phil Manzanera's guitar work, but I felt there aren't a lot of standout moments on this album and even most of the good songs are uneven. For example, The Thrill of It All is a good rocker, but it felt like it went on and on without much change. Three and Nine, All I Want Is You, and If It Takes All Night didn't do much for me. Out of the Blue had some great moments - I liked the intro, but then the initial vocal part was underwhelming (the recording quality may be an issue?). That said, it's got a wild violin solo I really liked (no surprise - Eddie Jobson is pretty amazing). On the second side, Bitter-Sweet is fantastic - the only track on the album that I felt was unequivocally great. The rest were only ok. I feel like this is a 3.5, but I'm going to round down because it was underwhelming compared to their earlier albums and because it took a real close listen just to get to a 3.5 rather than a 3.

Pretty straight forward synth-pop, but gotta admit I enjoyed it. I hear a lot of echoes of Taylor Swift's 1989 sound, which came out a year later (not making any accusations - it's not THAT original). I just found myself liking the vibe and Lauren Mayberry's voice. I'd probably go with a 3.5 if that were an option, but since it's not I'll round up simply because I liked listening to it. Favorite tracks: The Mother We Share, We Sink (I like how the odd off beat rhythm in the opening settled into a straightforward beat in the chorus), Lies, Under the Tide, Science/Visions (sounded like it belonged on the Tron Legacy soundtrack, which I guess means it reminds me of Daft Punk), You Caught the Light (nice dreamy vibe to close out the album).

I was familiar with his singing from listening to Peter Gabriel and I remember him singing with Eddie Vedder. His vocals on Peter Gabriel's "Signal to Noise" are absolutely chilling. He's got a cool style and impressive voice. Plus, the drums are hypnotic and I liked the guitar parts (or whatever the plucked instruments were). Like most anglo-centric music listeners, I have no idea what he's singing and have a hard time telling the songs apart, but I enjoy the vibe.

Pretty derivative, but enjoyable enough (except I hate the end of Streets of Kenny. It ends so abruptly that every time I check my phone to see if my music was interrupted for a call. That alone is worth losing a point). Favorite tracks: Natalie's Party (really liked the chorus and the outro), Lend's Some Dough (catchy), Captain's Table.

oo-ee-oo-ee-ah wo-oh-oh-ooh-ah ye-ah-yeah-ee-yeah-uh.

Yeah, her singing is a little much, but I'll give her credit - she has a powerful voice for a 5' 2" frame. The album wasn't terrible, but it was a little long. I liked the first disc better - more modern. I get that the second disc is supposed to be a throwback to the past, but in that case I'll just go listen to the classics. This album is the definition of a 3 for me. Didn't mind hearing it, don't need to hear it again. Favorite tracks: Makes Me Wanna Pray, Back in the Day, Slow Down Baby, Here to Stay, Save Me From Myself.

These guys were grunge too early. They were Nirvana before Nirvana. Great debut EP from 1988. Right from the start with "Need" you can hear Nirvana - they were contemporaries, but Kurt Cobain stated that he was influenced by Mudhoney and Nirvana's debut EP Bleach came out the following year. So, why did Nirvana become a household name but not Mudhoney? I read some comments online that say Mudhoney were a little too uncompromising for the big time, but you can hear all the hallmarks of various grunge superstars in this album. If all I listened to was the EP, I'd be completely scratching my head. The EP is a 5 and these guys should have been huge. However, I listened to the Deluxe version which has demos and a whole live disc which I think tell the whole story. Tons of feedback, screaming, and sloppy playing - and the 14+ minute version of Dead Love highlights all of the above for waaay too long - by the end I wanted to bring this down to a 2, that's how bad that track was. It's a shame, because the six songs from the EP are all excellent - the only one I came close to disliking was In n' Out of Grace because it has a little more feedback than I like. I should probably just call the EP a 5 but I'm going to bring it down to a 4 because the deluxe version reveals why these guys didn't make it as big as other Seattle grunge bands.