Reviews by bee-york

It's probably already been said but I liked the similarities here to A Tribe Called Quest, the laid back style was enjoyable with a few tracks that were really nice. That being said I would say it started to drag for me with its length vs how many tracks I would want to add to any playlists.

There were parts of this that I did not hate, dare I say there were moments that I found myself actually enjoying some of the composition on display
Then I'm reminded of what I'm listening to when inundated by irritating sappiness and political musings from someone who folded almost immediately after being heckled by an Australian.
Less about this annoyed me compared to the lowest lows on Kid A but this was a bit more of a blase album by comparison

Oh boy, I've got a bit of work to do catching up so I figured why not start with some low hanging fruit? My hopes were that I could at least find something surprisingly standout here, but no, it's the same story as Tres Hombres, it honestly kind of annoys me how forgettably average this band is outside of a standout song or two. This is like the britpop equivalent for guys who probably have a punisher skull as their facebook banner

Highlight: Sharp Dressed Man

Pretty laid back listening which I think was hindered early on by irritating me with the stupid over-pronunciation of things in Minnesoter (they even wrote it that way the bastards)

I was let down after the first track. it set a good mood and made for some really nice background listening. It might sound weird but having vocals going forward put me off in the sense that it made listening to it feel more active/involved. The vocal performance wasn't even particularly bad or anything it just made the experience feel more boring
Highlight: Firesuite

Metallica - Metallica (1991)

I wonder if there is a method to the madness of musicians when it comes to deciding where and when they will simply do their self-titled album? Is it an unmistakable mission statement of the band and its style? Does it come later on in a career when a group wants to return to its roots? When you want to make a cheeky Beatles reference? Or do you save it for a rainy day when you can't be stuffed thinking of a cool name for your album?

Coming out of listening to this, I wasn't any closer to understanding the answer to the previous question. But I certainly had a good time with what I heard.
I'm not really a Metallica fan, I hadn't grown up with them. My exposure to them was usually through their big hits, as well as pop culture and cultural osmosis. While some of the tried old bits about them being bland or safe metal felt a bit appropriate at times while listening to this. I don't think I can really diss an album where the most negative feeling I had coming out of one of its songs was 'eh, that was kinda good'. There are some really awesome tracks on here, with all of my highlights having some segments (particularly with the guitars) that I just loved. If I had any real negatives to say it would be that my least favourite song was also the closing song of the album. Not exactly the best to wrap up with in my opinion but at least I can always just ignore it on repeated listens. I also can't hold that against the rest of the albums quality.

Highlights: The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman, The God That Failed

The Joshua Tree - U2 (1987)

Oh dear, this is what passes for one of their better albums

about 80% of this feels like the same hazy/up in the air vibe that you would hear in an insurance ad where the guy in the ad is doing some job at sea or rescuing a koala or some other bullshit. From my previous exposure to this band that seems to be their winning formula to landing 4 albums on this list somehow. The other 20% is pretty bad though, seriously what the fuck was that bit in Bullet the Blue Sky where he just starts yapping about putting your chips down and whatnot.
As with most albums where I find the music too samey I will just go with the song I didn't mind the most and just discard the rest.

Highlight: With or Without You

More Songs About Buildings And Food - Talking Heads (1978)

If David Byrne was born a millenial, do you think he would be making minecraft parody songs?

Maybe not their best album, I would probably consider this a pretty mediocre or average album if not for how great all the guitar work is throughout. Not that great instrumentals are not the norm for them. But just that I think they do some heavy lifting to make some of these songs really pop.
To look at these complains from a positive perspective, I think it actually helps highlights the strength of the band as a group.

Highlights: With Our Love, I'm Not In Love, Take Me To The River

The Beach Boys Today! - The Beach Boys (shocker) (1965)

I really don't have too much for to say for what feels similar in runtime and message to a previous Everly Brothers album. I suppose I could say I would wanna dance with The Beach Boys much more than I would want something slipped in my drink on A Date With the Everly Brothers

Highlights: Do you wanna Dance?, Help Me Rhonda

Logical Progression - LTJ Bukem (1996)

If I listened to both mixes of this thing and somehow still missed something I'm gonna be fucking pissed

That said, a very nice little DnB album. I love this simpler and more laid back style from this time period. reminds me of a lot of soundtracks from the PS1 era of gaming. Hard to really rate each song individually since I just had the full mix on with Spotify, though I will say I preferred the vocals version over the instrumental.

Tres Hombres - ZZ Top (1973)
Occupies a similar position to me as something like Machine Head, where I am having a tough time really attributing different praise to the album for its really strong elements because they are just a given. this is another album that feels like it is not trying to impress me but just put on some good tunes and have a fun time.

Compared to similar albums in this space though I am not sure where to place it. I like a few of these songs quite a bit, but there's not a lot of songs to this album and the non-hits really do feel like they are there to just occupy the space to qualify this as an album. It feels harsh to critique it this way as the songs I like would be a highlight on any album. But the lesser known stuff does not fill this album out too well for me.

Highlights: Ride The Bus, Master of Sparks, La Grange

Meat is Murder - The Smiths (1985)
Not sure if I like this one as much as The Queen is Dead (an album I have grown to like a lot more following my review of it). I would say it has a comparable number of standout tracks that I liked, maybe not to the extent as those other songs but the quality is consistently high. Morriseys sad bitch boy antics that sorta snap you back out of what you're listening to continues here, though not quite as funny as it is in There is a Light That Never Goes Out. I guess that's what troubles me about rating this is feeling how it compares to the previous album. I still enjoyed this a ton but if I had to choose one over the other I would have to pick the previous album.

Highlights: The Headmaster Ritual, That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, Barbarism Begins at Home, What She Said

Legalize it - Peter Tosh (1976)
Kinda perfect to get this on a lazy friday. Not sure I would have enjoyed it if I was working a busy schedule. As I suspected for Reggae I started to find it getting pretty repetitive. I can't even call it frontloaded or anything, the quality is pretty consistent throughout. Said quality however is not something that meshed with me beyond a pretty basic enjoyment, not sure if I cold see this being regular listening material. I did get a bit excited when Johnny B Goode came on, only to realise that it wasn't in the album and Spotify was just shuffling into Tosh's other music.

In the words of Snoop Dogg (Formerly Snoop Lion; Bob Marley Reincarnated) "I don't even like Reggae"

SHOUTOUT TO THIS WEBSITE FOR JUST FORGETTING THE MULTIPLE PARAGRAPHS I HAD WRITTEN AND CLICKED 'SAVE' ON MULTIPLE TIMES

HONESTLY, IM GLAD IN A WAY IT FORGOT, THIS ALBUM DOESN'T DESERVE IT. THIS STUPID ANGSTY ALBUM WITH THE PHONE SEX RAMBLINGS IN 'GIRL' AND THE 10 MINUTE WAGESLAVE DRAMA THAT IS 'FRANKIE TEARDROP', EACH SET TO A SERIES OF 5 SECOND LOOPS ALL PULLED FROM MK ULTRA'S GREATEST HITS.

I THOUGHT THEY USED TO BULLY PEOPLE FOR THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOUR IN THE 70S

For the first time in a while I seem to have lost my review. I didn't have a lot written so it's not a big loss.

It feels apt that this is from a group called Hot Chip given how much it cools off and gets kinda stale over time. I suppose this one is lost on me in terms of both a majority of its songs as well as its significance & cultural impact. A majority of the wikipedia summary for this thing talks more about the ways it was distributed more than anything.

Highlights: Don't Deny Your Heart

Yeah maybe it's not as experimental as Kid A but holy shit I'll take this any day of the week over that opening track that just makes me think I'm being moneyshot with mercury.
Also one of the better songs on this is called 'Just' and I find that funny.

Highlights: Fake Plastic Trees, Just, The Bends

My initial impressions were that Billy Joe Armstrong's singing voice has an uncanny way of making nearly every Green Day song sound the same. And while it can definitely get into retreading the same sounds, I think the bigger culprit here is the instrumentation on this album. It feels more like an early concept that is more interested in one specific sound/vision before trying to expand its horizons in future albums. Leaving the shuffle play on for a little bit after finishing the album and hearing some of their future albums solidified this for me.

Not bad, just VERY samey.

While the instrumental elements were a big highlight and bring a groovy but seedy vibe indicated by the album art. I could not fucking stand Bryan Ferry in a lot of this. The eccentric flourishes to his vocal delivery on a lot of tracks remind me of Russel Mael. The issue I found was that Ferry does not have the correct range for this kind of singing nor the commitment. he wants to hit notes like a diva but is seemingly too afraid to commit to the bit. Beauty Queen was probably the best song from his part given it has his best and most straightforward vocal delivery.
Would probably be a 1 or a 2 if I was not a fan of the rest of the work done on this album. The sex doll song was pretty funny too.

Highlights: Beauty Queen, In Every Dream Home a Heartache

Seeing both the genres tagged for this as well as this lists current run of 'supergroups'. I was dreading that the albums name was going to be an omen for what's to come. I was pleased to find that while there is definitely a consistent throughline in the songs on this album, and you could absolutely manually look through certain songs on the tracklist and find them samey. The way they were presented in their correct order kept me satisfied. Though I can't really say it was something that was particularly entertaining. A lot of songs that were just pretty good.

Highlights: Our House, 4+20, Country Girl

Man, for something lauded as their 'best work' and 'a culmination of a string of the band's highly critically successful albums', I was hoping for a little more than what ended up feeling like a demoralizingly long and repetitive set of British folks getting through a country blues binge. Not the worst performances from them or anything but I felt like I had heard all there was to hear less than halfway through. It really started to bother me by the end