Reviews by benc

The Byrds are great and, if possible, becoming underrated. They were (maybe) the best American rock band of the mid 60s and you can hear their influence reverberating in many corners of rock and pop. A lot of hay is made about the Beatles' attempts to keep up with Brian Wilson, but they were clearly also trying to keep pace with the Byrds. So it's a little surprising younger generations of the last 20 years or so have shown little interest in reviving them as they've revived some of their contemporaries. This album is incredible and, although probably not "perfect," there is a distinct sound here that changed popular music forever.

The audacity of this guy to write an ostensibly "anti-war" album, and then go on to spend 25 years of his life actively laundering George W Bush's image makes me sick.

This music is basically ruling class propaganda -- it is the sonic equivalent of "compassionate conservatism," and it's designed to make you feel that if you are empathic enough (and if you give enough to Bono's charity) then you don't need to agitate for real systemic change. I would say Bono is the Leni Riefenstahl of neoliberalism, but she at least had some artistic talent.

I was ready to be generous with this listen because, in my memory, this era of U2 was their most palatable, when they still had some traces of post-punk styling.

But honestly, fuck Bono and fuck U2.

-there's probably 1001 better albums from 1969 alone. This album has had zero cultural imprint, nothing from this album left a widespread popular impression on anyone, and no one in the underground or on the fringes was significantly inspired by this music. This is the 3rd album from a one hit wonder who didn't even write their own hit. Should not be included on this list.

-this album surprised me. Surprised me in how strongly I disliked it. Occasionally I would hear a few measures of music that sounded OK, and each time the song was quickly interrupted by something really dull, silly, hackneyed, or contrived. I can't reasonably recommend a single song on this album.

-how many albums from this era are described as "bridging the gap between psychedelic rock and folk/country"? This is probably the worst, most inessential example of that style.

-the singer is as square as they come. Leaves a bitter, plastic taste in my mouth.

-the "jazz" songs on this album are some of the most grooveless pap I've ever heard.

-in between the bad, unmemorable songs is a lot of *trippy* / *quirky* filler nonsense I think is designed to sound like this band had a lot of high concept "experimental" ideas, but actually makes it sound like they were given too much money by their record label.

Mom can we stop for Sade?

"We have Sade at home"

*the Sade at home*:

-this is some DRY music. Literally, there's almost no reverb anywhere on the album. But also, it gives the feeling of when you've taken too many drugs and forget to drink water and you're suddenly dehydrated and have a headache.

-as a lapsed punk, I'm basically obligated to hate the Dead, but I gave this a fair shake and ended up (mostly) enjoying it. I like the Byrds a lot, and this is in the same post-psychedelic country rock lane. But by the time Truckin hit, I was ready to be done. Not sure I could enjoy listening to this for hours on end like some of my friends do.

-this is essentially "feel good" music, which makes sense because it attracts 3 main groups of listeners: 1) people who want to drop out of society and twirl around all day, 2) regular people who work shitty jobs and just want to unwind while taking a bunch of drugs, 3) Republicans who want to quiet their conscience. This is vibes-based music, not art designed to stir your passions or activate you.

-I don't like this band at all, but I understand why a lot of people do. They were able to transform the Sunset Strip sound (e.g. Crue, Poison, etc) into something a little less plastic. If the major labels never gobbled up the underground (i.e. Nirvana), this probably would have been the dominant sound of the early 90s and we would have seen a million photocopies. Thank G-d that didn't really happen.

-Every song is an extremely competent stylistic impression of Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Van Halen, AC/DC, Ted Nugent, and/or ZZ Top. There's also a good dose of quasi-Stones/Dolls riffs played through a heavy metal rig.

-Axl does his thing, which is really fucking annoying to me.

-The guitars are mixed so loud it's like the amp is right next to my ears. Especially Slash's guitar, which is like a 2nd lead vocal on most songs.

This band sounds incredible. The 3 songs they wrote are the standouts and it makes me wish the whole album was instrumental originals. I don't typically love instrumental versions of vocal pop songs -- it feels a bit like I'm at a baseball game. That's not a bad thing but, with all due respect to these legends, it's not the kinda thing I would just put on and listen to.

This might be the nostalgia talking, but I love this album and every song on it. I heard "Staring at the Sun" late at night on MTV2 when I was 16 and I was so excited to hear something that didn't sound like the terrible mainstream rock music of the time or the bland, generic indie rock of the time. I went out and bought the CD as soon as I could and fell in love with it. I didn't know anyone else at the time who like this band and they felt like a hidden gem. Little music at that time was this weird, funky, and thoughtful. I couldn't imagine how this band wrote these songs and put them together. I expected my interest in this music to wane over time (as I've heard TVOTR placed in a zillion movies and TV shows since then) but it still has the same effect on me.

I'm not a Bjork fanatic but this record is undeniable. It's a pretty astonishing sound for 1993. It embraces new (at the time) dance music sounds and already pushes those boundaries -- if this was released 10 years later, it still would have sounded new.

All bangers. Coked up pre-Berlin r&b gold. An incredible cast of collaborators. He had already reinvented his sound 5 or 6 times by this point in his career, but he was somehow able to make it sound perfect each time he tried something new. The production sounds great, the band sounds great, Bowie's voice sounds great, the backup singers sound great. It just sounds great. Maybe not even a top 5 Bowie album for me, but it's still close to perfect...that's how good Bowie was.

I don't care if it's big dumb dance music -- I loved listening to this. It reminds me of my older brother, who (I'm pretty sure) had this on minidisc back in the 90s.

There is a power in this music that overwhelms me. It gave me chills listening to this again. Just a perfect punk record.

A really interesting transitional record. Retains a lot of what made REM great in the 80s, set a blueprint for what the 90s would sound like (not just for REM, for a lot of rock bands).

Something about this album irritates me. Maybe it's the turn-of-millennium postmodern poly-stylism. Maybe it's the crypto-prog rock lurking beneath the sunny pseudo-psychedelia. Or maybe I just don't like indie pop. There's a small window of my life (age 15-17) I probably would have liked this album, but I think I would have soured on it by the time I went off to college.

Iconic dnb

What a great album. Dusty sounds amazing and she picked a perfect set of songs for her voice. Very hip and mod for 1964.

I could do without the Confederate flags. Given the huge cast of musicians and songwriters they drew from, and the repertoire they're playing, it's actually shocking there's not a single black musician represented. It may be top tier bluegrass and string band music, but it also kinda seems like a low-key white identity album.

The most widely misunderstood, and overrated, Beatles album.

Something I think captures Abbey Road in a nutshell...
They originally wanted to name this album Everest, and the cover photo was going to be the foursome on Mt Everest. Instead they named it Abbey Road and took a photo outside the front door of their studio. Despite its recent critical reappraisal, Abbey Road is not the sound of the Beatles at their creative peak. It's the sound of a band running out of gas, suing each other, and lowering their standards. The Beatles were not trying to make any profound artistic statements, they were trying to fulfill their contractual obligations as quickly as possible so they could move on. All 3 songwriters released better solo albums a year or so after this album came out and, clearly, they were saving their best material.

I should mention I am a Beatles fanatic (not a hater) and can acknowledge the positives here. There are a handful of remarkably great recordings on this album, best of which is "Something." "Something" is an all-timer love song and one of the most mature, elegant miniature morsels the band ever made. "Come Together" is also quite unique -- a post-psychedelic reinterpretation of 50s rhythm and blues with a signature rhythm track unlike anything the band (or really anyone else) had ever done. But alongside these merits are serious problems. "Because" is a virtuosic piece of work, overshadowed by the corny Moog sounds. (The Moog generally does not work on this album, in my opinion.) Similarly, "Here Comes the Sun" is a great song at its core, but it gets bogged down with its overblown prog rock arrangement.

The B-side medley is probably the best example of their misfire and it still shocks me to read reviews from people who think it's some kind of masterful experiment in songcraft. They took unfinished scraps of songs that might have really had an impact if they took the time to work on them (e.g. "Golden Slumbers," "Mean Mr. Mustard"), threw them in the pot with a bunch of other crap, added a Moog and an orchestra, served it up and said bon appetit. John acknowledged many times in many interviews that the medley was pure lifeless junk. And there's a scene in the Anthology documentary where they are re-listening to studio masters of some of the medley orchestration; Paul is absolutely high on his own farts and George looks straight into the camera to say "a bit corny, init?" Yes! It is very very corny. When the theme to "You Never Give Me Your Money" returns as a horn section during "Carry That Weight," I get a full body cringe.

John is only half-present on this album and it clearly shows. There are a number of songs he didn't touch, and he didn't even bother showing up to the final recording sessions. He's also, clearly, not sharing his best work -- most of what he wrote on this album had been kicking around since the band came back from India, and Plastic Ono Band (which is a MUCH better album than Abbey Road) was recorded shortly after this. "I Want You" is the closest thing to a proto-Plastic Ono song on Abbey Road, and it pales in comparison to others in its style (like "Yer Blues" or "Don't Let Me Down"). What we're left with is Paul's ego unchained. The medley has his fingerprints all over it, and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is legendary in how badly it pissed off the rest of the band. "Oh Darling" is fine, but it's a weak pastiche at a time when a zillion musicians (including John) were doing a much better job of playing with roots rock n roll revival.

It's been quite surprising to see this album get reevaluated in the past couple decades by younger audiences who have elevated it to "masterpiece" status in the same way the Boomers latched on to Sgt. Pepper. I'm not entirely sure why this is the highest rated Beatles album on this site, but it probably has to do with the cleaner production standards compared to their earlier 60s albums; in the end, I think most people just want easy listening. All in all, Abbey Road showed the way to the future in 70s rock radio, but mostly by influencing its worst tendencies, i.e. corny prog pop and soft rock. This doesn't sound like a band at the cutting edge of popular culture, it sounds like ELO or Wings or any number of yacht rock bands. But hey, I suppose that's also why a lot of people like it -- ELO sold a lot of records.

Joplin has the kinda voice you either love or hate. Unfortunately I don't love it. The band is also pretty mid - run of the mill bar boogie blues. I have gained a respect for JJ over the years...I bet she would have been great to see live. But I still don't enjoy listening to this record.

Re-listening to this album has reaffirmed I can't stand Led Zeppelin. Especially Robert Plant's "baby baby baby" shit. It's all so "epic" and self-aggrandizing. Bonham's drums sound nice though.