Reviews by arewenotben

Not a perfect album but so much is SO good that I can't not give it 5

Campest Metallica LP? Closer to Broadway than Symphonic Metal, I love the band but there's zero here which is superior to the source - I'd rate Lulu over this. Interesting as a pre-poptimism moment where this collab was deemed necessary to be "serious"

Never heard this before despite loving Zen Arcade - sounds like a fuzzier REM from the same era. Could happily lose about 20 minutes but there's some fantastic songs here

Smooth

Probably the best Costello album I've surfaced through this, still too many but shame they're not all this good

For some reason I've always avoided 2Pac, I now realise this was a mistake.

Surprisingly good, really enjoyed this

Incredible album, haven't listened to this in an age

Please no more Elvis Costello albums

Imagine listening to "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and thinking, yep 1*, this album is devoid of any merit

Still stands up remarkably well 25+ years on, has an eclecticism that doesn't peg it to any real scene or time.

2.67 average? Yanks logoff.

Surprised I'd never heard this before, equally surprised how bad much of it was. Certainly gets better as it progresses ("Feed me with your kiss" is a bop) but I wouldn't blame you if you bail on track 1. 2.5*

Liked this a lot more than I expected, one of the Boss' best. Very post-9/11 but far more interesting than some of the more jingoistic nonsense that came out of that era from others

Some days this is my favourite Velvets album, What Goes On the best song. What a band

Many of the these songs are so ubiquitous it's hard to be objective, the album tracks are a mixed bag. Glad I heard!

Excellent stuff

I don't think people would care about this at all in 2025 if it wasn't for Björk. Her voice is spectacular obviously but literally any of her solo albums are a better listen than this

One that requires you to be in the right frame of mind (zonked out on heroin) but is a mighty piece of work, reminds me a lot of Jason Pierce's later work as Spiritualized

Hasn't aged particularly well

Honking feral blues, not an album I'll likely return to but one I can appreciate