Reviews by berl1nchair

Not heard anything from these guys before, and based on this, I’m not sure I’ll be coming back any time soon. Just too much stuff trying to be packed in here, with the result being a fairly incoherent, jumbled, cacophonous mess. It’s like some kids got let loose in a studio and decided they have to use every effect at least once, and fuck do they love reverb. Soooo muuuuuch fuuuckingggg reverbbbbbbbbbb.
Anyway, can’t decide between 1 and 2 stars, but I’ll err on the side of being generous

It's weird, but good.

Kinda like a hillbilly discovering punk for the first time. The vocals are a bit weak in places, but the slide guitar carries it well.

This was a huge album for teenage me, even as a white kid in Australia. Grabbed a lot of attention with 'Fuck Tha Police', but there was plenty else to back it up, they weren't one trick ponies.
'Express Yourself' remains one of my favourite hiphop tracks to this day, and the early production of Dre shows why he became such a huge force in the 1990s. Some of the lyrics and themes do sound a bit dated today, but this was nearly 40 years ago now, and there is universal themes that are easily relatable today elsewhere.

Not heard any of Walker’s stuff before, and I quite liked it. Great baritone voice, lush strings and some great bass (especially on The Old Man’s Back Again). Looking forward to maybe hearing more of his stuff down the line

3 stars for this - 1 star each for Sympathy For The Devil, 1 for Street Fighting Man, and a half each for Stray Cat Blues and Salt of the Earth. The rest sounds like some half-baked, half-arsed demos which they made whilst pissed. Disappointing from supposedly one of the biggest bands of the era.

It's jazz, so it's kinda hard to rate - there is a boatload of stuff going on here, and the overarching theme seems to be the soundtrack to an imaginary movie about a bunch of different dancers and what they get up to.
Not for the faint hearted, but I enjoyed this for my morning drive today.

Led Zep in their full, cockrockin' pomp and at the peak of their powers. Lots of fantastic songs on here, with some of my favourite LZ tunes making an appearance - Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Ramble On.
Moby Dick is a little indulgent with a drum solo that stutters on for ages, but it was the late 60's, that was how people rolled.
The Lemon Song has some of the most hilarious lyrics ever, talking about squeezing old Robert Plant until the juice runs down his leg!!!
This is the sound of a rock band rocking as hard as they possibly can, and having an awesome time doing it. 5 stars

This is great. Like the soundtrack to some Western in my head. Love it. No particular standout tracks but the vibe is definitely there the whole way through

Very meh. I’m not much of a fan of 21st century hip hop, and this will not change that opinion.

Started reasonably promising, with Offence bringing something worth listening to, but from there it was downhill. Boss seems to be a contest of how many times she can get nigga into a song - in fact a whole verse where every line ends with it - booooring.

Little Simz does have great flow, but the delivery tends to be flat and uninteresting. Venom does deliver with lines about ‘pussy in power’, and Selfish is a bit more poppy which seems to work well.

At least she gets the job done in reasonably quick time without resorting to never ending skits or other gimmicks.

A bit disappointing overall. Whilst it’s nice to hear Jack White with something approaching a normal band accompanying him, the songs for the most part are a bit lackluster. Nothing actually bad about any if it, and some it pretty good, but as a whole package it doesn’t do a lot for me.

Pass the funk. The album highlight is ‘Family Affair’, and I’m not sure if I add a star or take one away for the yodeling on Space Cowboy.

Nice enough, but nothing overly gripping beyond a couple of songs.

Underrated gem from the early 80s, with the requisite synths, strings and lush arrangements.

'The Killing Moon' needs no introduction, but I was less familiar with the other songs. No particular other standouts, but they are all good, with clever lyrics, beautiful music and great vocals.

This is a great album, and one which I listened to a bit when it came out, but mostly listened to the singles. Seven Nation Army has proven to be one of the anthems of the 2000s, and has gained a 2nd life at sporting events even to this day. The rest of the album features Jack riffing hard and Meg’s instinctive, unadorned drumming style, which suits the music down to a tee. The album perhaps could have done with a bit of trimming, although 14 songs only take 51 minutes, it seems longer after being bashed on the head with riff after riff courtesy of Jack abusing all sorts of sounds out of his guitar.
Pretty close to 5 stars for me, but not quite there. I’ll give it a 4

Annoyingly not available via Apple Music in Australia, but available on Spotify.

Honestly, this is just the best!! This must have sounded like it came from another planet back in 1982, with only a few other examples of rap out there at the time. The album features a strong theme of what life is like on the mean streets of New York in the early 80s, with a bangin’ soundtrack to go with it. I don't know where hiphip went wrong more recently, coz when I listen to this stuff, it seems like something I should be listening to all the time.

Fantastic debut, with Amy’s soulful voice shining through and well produced horns and backing.
A couple of bangers, including ‘Rehab’ and ‘Back To Black’, with ‘Love Is A Losing Game’ another highlight, if very sad. 2nd half of the record not quite as stellar as the first, which holds it back from 5 stars.

Pleasantly melancholic in places but ultimately forgettable.

Pretty torn on this one. It’s Otis Redding, so gotta give some credit, but to be honest, I don’t understand the point of a lot of these songs. The covers are mostly fairly insipid, and nowhere near as good as the original. ‘My Girl’ in particular is ruined by the horn section being way too loud in the mix, and just doesn’t really suit that song. Whilst it is nice to hear the original of ‘Respect’, Aretha made it so much her own only a short time later. Disappointing.

Cave at his diabolical best. Tales of bad people doing bad things, with a soundtrack to match. Impeccable guest spots from Kylie and PJ Harvey (as well as Shane MacGowan and the whole Bad Seeds on the final track). The sprawling O’Malley’s Bar does drag a bit towards the end of its nearly 15 minutes, but that is a minor quibble on a magnificent album. It’s loud, its brash, it’s a bit silly, and it leaves you feeling just a bit dirty. Mission accomplished.

Motorhead at the peak of their powers.
Can't say I knew a lot of the songs apart from Ace of Spades (which is a stone cold classic), but the rest is great heavy rock/metal with the unmistakeable growl of Lemmy coming through loud and clear.