Reviews by berl1nchair

Roadhouse Blues is a hell of an opener, and Waiting For The Sun a great follow-up. Peace Frog is probably one of the most underestimated songs, making for a great side 1. Unfortunately the second side isn’t nearly as compelling, with diversions into sea shanties and Jim blathering on about Queens of the Highway and Indian Summers.
Overall, pretty good, but not their best

This is the stuff. When the rest of the world was heading towards grunge, R.E.M. just continued doing R.E.M. things and quietly churned out this masterpiece. I don’t think there is a bad song on here, even though Michael Stipe is in full enigmatic indecipherable mode. Some of their most beautiful moments on record here, including ‘Everybody Hurts’, ‘Sweetness Follows’, ‘Find The River’ and the incomparable ‘Nightswimming’, that just makes we want to learn piano to be able to play it. Although ‘Man On The Moon’ can get a bit grating after the 500th listen, the rest is so great that it can only be 5 stars.

I thought this might be interesting, but unfortunately I was mistaken. Sets up some sort of recurring loop in the first part of the track, then nothing much happens for a long time........ and repeat.

I'm normally a fan of instrumental, ambient type stuff, but just not enough happening in this to keep me interested, very much background music or some sort of soundtrack to a non-existent film.

Early Stones, and only 43 minutes!! Hallelujah!!

I listened to the UK version, which starts with Mother's Little Helper, which is a good start. ‘Stupid Girl’ and 'Lady Jane' I could do with missing, then we get to Under My Thumb, a classic. The US version has Paint It, Black which everyone knows is a fantastic song and one of my all-time favourites.

Overall, good for its time, but not enough great tunes apart from those 2 to warrant a high mark. 3 stars

Far out, that is 4 long albums in a row, this one topping out a 2hrs 15mins……… I need the days to be longer if this is what I’m going to get served up.

As per other reviewers, this is a 2 disc set, the first - Speakerboxxx - from Big Boi, and then 2nd - The Love Below - from Andre 3000. Big Boi gets some points early with GhettoMusick, soon followed by The Way You Move, which is a great tune. He then falls victim to the hip-hop disease of having to have a guest on every track, along with too many skits and interludes. The Love Below seems to be Andre 3000 showing everyone how he can get into the girls' panties, with easily the best track being 'Hey Ya', even though it contains the couplet 'Don't want to meet your mama, just want to make you cumma' - ewwwwww!!!

Anyway, some decent ideas but overly long and lots of filler, so can't give this too high a mark. But I've heard plenty worse. 3 stars

Fuck me, that’s 3 double albums in a row. You tryin’ ta kill me, Generator?!?!

Never really got the love for Wilco, their songs always seemed nice enough (admittedly only hearing limited selections, prob most from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) but didn’t push the right buttons.

But then comes ‘Misunderstood’, nearly 6 minutes of glorious noise and Jeff Tweedy banging on about being misunderstood. And it just works! Then on to ‘Far, Far Away’ which has a sweet melancholy about it. Monday presents a rocking story of Choo-Choo Charlie, getting the hell out of FLA. The album then follows a pattern of a couple of rockers, a couple of slower, country tinged songs, and before you know it, over an hour has passed by and everything seems right with the world. Some will say it’s too long and they are probably right, but I really enjoyed this. 4 stars

2 70s double albums in a row (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was yesterdays, and quite superior to this). I dunno what it is, but I can’t show much love for this. Maybe it’s the endless falsetto, the overly intricate arrangements, or the orchestral flourishes that put me off, or the fact that it is 70-odd minutes long. Mr Blue Sky was undoubtedly a hit but the rest just doesn’t hit for me, aside from fleeting moments when a great tune cuts through.

A classic, and rightfully so.

Starts with Elton doing prog (Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding) and doing it fantastically well, then segues nicely into a great 3 song bracket, with Candle In The Wind, Bennie and the Jets, and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road being among Elton's (and anyone's, for that matter) finest tunes.

Things get a bit more uneven after that - what the hell were they thinking with Jamaica Jerk-Off??!?!?!? Was there a contest to see how many times you can say 'Jamaica' in the one song??

The 2nd half of the album is saved by 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' which is a rocking good time, and Dirty Little Girl, although some of the lyrics are a bit questionable. Social Disease is also pretty good.

I really would like to give this a 5 given the strength of the first 4 songs, but unfortunately the middle just drags it down a little too much for mine. 4 stars (probably 4.5 if I was able to give 1/2 marks)

It’s good, although relatively unspectacular. A couple of good singles and the rest is fairly forgettable.

Beautiful mostly acoustic album. I knew the title track from radio play back in the 90s, but had never dived into the whole album. It’s all pretty similar, but presents a dreamy melancholy that’s just right for late nights

Wonderful album. Beautiful songs with great singing, fantastic instrumentation and lovely arrangements. Yes, the songs tend to be sad and tending to miserable, but they’re so good and sometimes you just need that feeling. 5 stars from me!

Pleasant enough, although not really my jam.
Solid to have as background music, not so intricate that it demands a lot of attention, the sounds of cocktails and smoothly dressed people smoking cigars.

I don't know what to say about this album. I have a blind spot in my musical taste for stuff that is in a different language that I can't understand. The music is fine, although can get a bit repetitive at times, and it doesn't really light any fires inside me. Maybe if I understood the words, I'd have a better chance of connecting with it.
It's perfectly fine, I'm glad the generator threw this album up for me to listen to, but I'm happy not to go back to it.

George's solo debut, after leaving Wham! behind.
Great opener with 'Faith', leading into 'Father Figure' and then 'I Want Your Sex'. It's all fun and a bit silly in parts, but does highlight George's vocal and emotional range. It gets a bit more serious with 'Kissing A Fool' and 'Hand to Mouth', and is a great snapshot of what music was like in the late 80s.

This album was pretty ubiquitous in the mid-Naughties, which I think has then led to a case of familiarity breeding contempt. I have a few of these songs on various playlists and at times they come on and it’s just ‘nah, heard that too many times’.

Having said that, hearing them in isolation does give a slightly different appreciation. You can see how the first 4 songs were all huge hits - singable choruses, catchy (if at times inane) lyrics, slick production. The quality drops off fairly rapidly after that - All These Things That I've Done has the crazily catchy 'I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier' chant at the end (which I swore he ripped off from somewhere, but apparently not). 'Andy, You're A Star' is notable for being the most musically different with just a guitar and Flowers singing, but unfortunately again the lyrics are kinda rubbish and his delivery ruins it. 'On Top' is back to the pop-rock, but without the major hooks, and 'Change My Mind' is similar again. After another couple of filler tracks (prize for the worst lyric from 'Believe Me Natalie' - 'There is an old cliche under your Monet, baby' - like, what?!?!?!), we get to 'Glamourous Indie Rock 'n' Roll', which I can only assume is Flowers attempt at being a hardened cynic.

Overall, it's impressive how the first 4 songs have endured over the last 20 years, but as an album, it's not great. 3 stars for the first half, can't say I'd waste my time listening to the rest again.

I'm pretty ambivalent about a lot of rap/hip-hop, and I've not listened to a lot of Wu-Tang or all their solo stuff. This album certainly doesn't do a lot to grab me. Fairly uninspired production with nothing much of interest musically, annoying film samples to start a lot of the songs, and the lyrics seem fairly unmemorable too. I'm sure it's fine if you're into that sort of stuff, but not anything I'd come back to any time soon.

Kooky sitar based covers and other stuff from the early 70's. Gets a couple of stars for the excellent cover of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' to start with. The cover of 'Light My Fire' is less compelling, but still cool. The epic Sagar (The Ocean) is the centrepiece of this album, which for a long time seems like endless sitar noodling, but towards the end it gets some more groove.

Ray Charles, one of the pioneers of that early R&B/jazz style, suffers here a bit on the first few tracks with the big-band brass tending to overshadow both his singing and piano playing, but then the album settles more into piano based balladry which soothes the soul.
Hard to believe this album is 15 years older than me, but it still stands up well today. 3/5 for me, could've been more if there was a bit more subtlety to the first few songs.

It's dark, it's moody, it's got 80's production values writ large. I'm not enough of an eyeliner and makeup type of person to love something with this much goth overtones, but in small doses it can be quite entertaining.

The last couple of tracks lose a bit of the intensity, but up until that point, it's driving hard and fast with bass, drum machines and muttered vocals that scream sinister intent.

'This Corrosion' goes on for what seems like an eternity, but it's not unwelcome, as it sounds good enough that it can keep going.

Does anyone else find the Neptunes’ production just so repetitive and boring?? These overproduced albums with JT squawking away like he wants to be MJ just does nothing much for me. Even the ‘hits’ (Cry Me A River, Rock Your Body) are pretty dull in my eyes. The man is clearly talented, but just not my cup of tea