Reviews by aretzorn

Plenty of laughs and cool grooves on this album. Favorite tracks: Oh Shit (really catchy), Officer, Ya Mama, Passin' Me By, and Otha Fish (really cool groove). It was a fun album - definitely pretty inappropriate, but I've certainly heard worse.

Ok, yeah it's great rock and roll. But, seriously, a song called "High School Confidential" by a guy who married his 13 year old cousin? That's f'd up. Deducting 1 star for creepiness.

The music is intensely cool, the lyrics intensely disturbing. The album cover scared my 12 year old. Lots of clear NIN influence (or maybe literally just Trent Reznor adding NIN touches). Can't call it a 5 mainly because of the disturbing lyrics and the fact that Marilyn Manson is individually pretty disturbing. Favorite tracks: Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World, Tourniquet, Cryptorchid (mellotron!), Deformography, Antichrist Superstar, The Reflecting God.

This album was at least three years ahead of its time. There were several points where I was thinking I was listening to Nirvana and other big alternative bands of the 90s. Favorite tracks - Bone Machine and Break My Body (both sounded a lot like Nirvana), Where Is My Mind (immediate thought - hey, I know this song!), Cactus (I knew the David Bowie version. For some reason I thought he was covering Neil Young. Very wrong about that one). Really enjoyed this album. I'd say 4 because there was a little too much feedback and a little too much incest.

Good stuff. Love the clean funky guitar and the fat funky bass. It's definitely "of its time" but songs like Le Freak and I Want Your Love are certifiable classics. I wouldn't go out of my way to listen, but I definitely enjoyed it.

This album is a bit of a snooze fest. While the songs were mildly pleasant, they were also nothing great. I found I was more bored with it on the second listen, which isn't a good sign. I liked My Oh My and Silver Lining. Please Forgive Me sounded like an attempt at being Bob Dylan. Babylon is overplayed, but not bad. Overall, it wasn't a terrible album, but I could easily go without ever hearing this album again. Zzzzz.

I enjoyed this album. Nothing very groundbreaking about the music, but the arrangements are solid and her voice is fantastic. I can't help but wonder about cultural appropriation whenever I'm listening to "blue-eyed soul" so I feel like I should go back to some of the original versions. But she sounds like she belongs in this style (unlike, say, Janis Joplin, who I thought wrecked some good R&B songs). Stand out moments: "You Don't Own Me" sounded like it belongs in a Quentin Tarantino movie (then I saw that Son of a Preacher Man is in Pulp Fiction). "Do Re Mi" had a fun groove and a great piano break in the middle. I really liked "Anyone Who Had a Heart" - unusual voicings and progressions - kudos to Bacharach and David (I saw Dionne Warwick recorded it first so I went to check it out - that version sounds great, but this one has a distinct sound). Solid 4.

I had a viscerally negative reaction to this album on first listen. Discord. Chaos. Any time I found myself enjoying it, these intruded. I started writing up a very negative review while listening for a second time, debating whether to give it 1 or 2 stars. At the same time, I started reading up about the background and intentions of the album. About Mingus' life, his anger, his experiences with racism, his illness and death. I found myself appreciating Side 2 (Modes D - F). It still had much of the discord and chaos that was making me uncomfortable, but I could at least appreciate the mastery and composition and the moods it was meant to evoke. I went back to the beginning of the album, closely listening with new ears and started to recognize why this is considered a jazz masterpiece. By the time I returned to Modes D - F, now truly focused on the music, I was blown away. This is a challenging album and clearly isn't background music like so much jazz - it demands attention. It demands struggle. It's worth it and I stand corrected.

There are some great moments on this album, but it often sounds a bit too much like elevator jazz for me. Favorite moments - Blue Rondo a la Turk has a very promising first half - a wild 9/8 time signature and very interesting, but then the song lost me when it devolved to a simply swing jazz tune. Take Five - deservedly a classic. Clever 5/4 beat plus nice and concise. Pick up sticks - enjoyed the staccato piano solo. Honorable mention - Three to get ready - although it's kind of elevator jazz also, I like how they riff off the initial classical theme. Have to rate the whole album a 3 mainly because it's mostly background elevator music to me.

This is a perfect album, start to finish. It holds a special place for me, because most of my life I've been listening to decades-old music and this was probably one of the few times in my life I was listening to the most popular music of the day at the time it was popular. Everything about it is great. I remember Even Flow was the first song I heard off the album and was just blown away by the power and groove of the song. Alive is an anthem. Jeremy was overplayed but still holds up as a classic. The non-singles are all classics in their own right. The music and lyrics are powerful throughout and the band members are all outstanding. McCready and Gossard provide an amazing one-two guitar punch. Always loved Jeff Ament's bass style (especially the fretless aspect - I just learned that he was a fan of Japan's Mick Karn) and the drums drive the album along. Of course, a million people tried to sound like Eddie Vedder afterwards, but he remains an original. I find it interesting that the band members feel the album was over-produced - I still think it sounds great - just the right mix of polished and edgy. This will always remain my favorite album of the grunge explosion.

I've loved this album for years. Jeff Buckley's songwriting, singing, and guitar playing are immaculate. There are so many great moments on this album. The song "Grace" is eerily prophetic, mixing uplifting music with lyrics such as "Well it's my time coming/I'm not afraid/afraid to die" "And the rain is falling and I believe my time has come/It reminds me of the pain I might leave/leave behind" and "And I feel them drown my name/So easy to know and forget with this kiss/I'm not afraid to go/but it goes so slow." Those last lines are incredibly tragic given how he died. I always loved the frantic, rocking "Eternal Life" followed by the mysterious sounding "Dream Brother" (love the guitar line). "Last Goodbye" is heartbreaking and beautiful. That song, along with "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" hit a bit too close to home...I listened to this album a lot during a tough period in my life. Buckley's lyrics really hit hard on that feeling of love lost. I don't listen to the album much these days mainly because it pulls me back to feelings I've long since moved on from, but nothing changes the fact that this is a gorgeous, powerful album from an incredibly talented musician who was lost too soon.

I like Massive Attack, but I like their later albums much better when they introduce a bit of an edge to the music (e.g., Mezzanine and 100th Window). Without that edge this is nice background music but has few moments that make me go "wow." Unfortunately, only this album and Blue Lines are included in the 1001 albums so it looks like we won't be getting any of the later albums. Oh, well. To each their own.

It's good stuff, but nothing I'd go out of my way to listen to. The classics are certainly good (The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up On Cripple Creek").

Love his voice and his playing and I enjoyed this, but I think I get a lot more out of seeing video of him play than listening to a recording. Hearing the recording is still really good, but not the same as seeing him. I can only imagine what it was like to actually be there when he played.

There's a lot to like about this album. I only knew the hits and I definitely enjoyed most of the rest. It's a little longer than I think it needs to be and some of the lyrics are just awkward ("I wanna f*** the taste out of your mouth"?? Really?). Favorite tracks: 1999 (even though the synths are a little dated, it's still a classic. I really liked the extended outro that you don't get to hear in the single), Little Red Corvette, Delirious, D.M.S.R. (just makes you want to get up and dance...unfortunately, I'm too lazy and you don't want to see me dance anyway), and Lady Cab Driver (good funky song, but I could do without the sex moaning).

It's good, but this kind of album just doesn't stick with me. 3.

Early on my reactions were: Damn. Cool. Scary. Damn. Damn. Cool. Scary. Damn. Unfortunately the last two tracks killed this album for me. By the end of Scissors the word "relentless" came to mind. By the end of Eeyore, I was simply uncomfortable. On the second listen, I even turned Eeyore off because I couldn't listen anymore. Giving it a 3 because I liked a lot of the earlier tracks, but it just went off the rails by the end.

Really enjoyed this album. Favorite tracks: Love Vigilantes (I think I've heard another version of this song, but not sure who it was) and Elegia (very nice, simple instrumental). The album doesn't blow me away (so not a 5), but I definitely liked it a lot.

Rage Against the Machine is my go-to when I'm frustrated. No joke, I wrote my dissertation listening to Rage Against the Machine and Nine Inch Nails. I angry-write, I guess. Listened to this album and Renegades over and over (NIN contributed mostly with Year Zero). The music rocks and the lyrics are thought-provoking. I always find it amusing to watch live videos and see all the angry white frat boys moshing to this - wonder if they realize they're part of the machine the band is raging against (like Paul Ryan being a fan). Pretty sure I'm part of that machine too, but I still like to rock out to some Rage.

Very good album, with a nice amount of variety. Your New Cuckoo makes you think you're about to hear a disco-redux album (not in a bad way - it has some nice twists), but then Been It has a cool hard edge. Their chill cover of Iron Man somehow works. Losers also caught my attention every time I listened. And of course Lovefool is a great song and was rightly a hit. The album doesn't blow me away but I enjoyed it and would definitely listen again.