Reviews by berl1nchair

Liked this more than I thought I would, although it is a bit situational. Not the kind of album you'll bring out on a summer's day, maybe more on a wintry night. But old Leonard definitely has a type, and he sticks to it with dedication that must be admired.

40 years on, this is still a good listen. There was some huge hits on here, and everyone my age remembers the film
clip for ‘You Can Call Me Al’ with Chevy Chase.

Whilst I’m not sure about the politics of going to South Africa during the Apartheid era, it did give a platform to Ladysmith Black Mombazo who parlayed that into some international success. The other guest stars do make the latter part of the album seem like a bit of a patchwork where Paul Simon just threw a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what stuck. Still, at its best, it’s a very effective mix

My issue with this type of jazz is that the brass section overwhelms everything else. I really enjoy the quieter moments where you can hear the bass player busily laying down the groove, or The Count's intricate piano playing, or the drummer, but all too frequently it is drowned out by the 'BLAHHH BLAHHH BLAAHHHH' of the horns. Maybe halve the horn section and tone them down a bit, and I'd like this a lot more.

Always liked The Kinks. Sunny Afternoon is an all-time classic, both in lyrics and the music - such a great portrayal of a rich guy down on his luck who has just decided to say 'Fuck It, I'm Having A Beer and Enjoying Whatever Is Left'.
Dandy is also one I know well, which a mate used to sing to me when I was a teenager - Steve Fiford, this one's for you!!
A bunch of other lesser known, but still good, songs to round it out. Well worth a listen.

I can understand how people think this is another boring UK indie band, but I've always loved them. My first introduction was hearing 'The Cedar Room' being played on JJJ radio in Australia, and from there I was hooked.

As for the album as a whole, I really rate the way Firesuite gently breaks you into it, before Here It Comes and Break Me Gently. Catch The Sun is a favourite, as is The Cedar Room, also love The Man Who Told Everything and Rise. It's basically a great collection of songs if you take the time to listen and love them, so give it a chance!!

The highs on this album are great (Never Said, Fuck And Run) and theres other good moments, but a fair proportion of it feels a bit underproduced for me. Lots of Liz and her guitar with fairly minimal backing, which gives it that 'recorded in my bedroom' feel, although a lot of the songs deserve a lot more than that. There's plenty to pick through in the lyrics, with a refreshingly rude approach at times, but the delivery prevents true engagement at times.

Up and down here. Wake Up is awesome, and has been on my playlists for a long time, as well as Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), but the rest of the album struggles to ascent to such heights. I can't decide if it's the overwhelming choiriness at times, or perhaps some lackluster delivery that holds it back.

Whilst I recognise how this music was important in terms of Brazilian culture and politics, it doesn't do a lot for me in 2026. Pleasant enough to have on in the background, but the music is fairly pedestrian most of the time, and the inability to understand the Portugese lyrics always is a barrier to my enjoyment of such things.

British pop music in the 80s was weird and wild at times. Their biggest hit 'Antmusic' is a hullabaloo of shrieking, hollering, weird percussion and partying - it works, but no idea why it works so well.
The rest of the album is not quite as interesting or noteworthy, although the Ants do work their way through a few different genres and styles, without ever really sticking to one for too long. It makes for an interesting listen, but maybe ultimately distracts from the whole, due to the all-over-the-place feel

Plenty to like here. 'All My Friends' is so relentlessly catchy, it burrows its way into my brain with that ridiculously repetitive piano line and lyrics about missing your misspent youth. Other highlights include 'North American Scum' (which somehow hits harded in this day and age), 'Someone Great' and 'Us v Them'. Makes me wish I was 18 and partying in 2007 rather than meandering my way through my 30s

I love listening to Karen O shrieking and screaming whilst the boys bludgeon their guitars and drums in the background. Lots of great stuff here, most notably 'Maps', 'Date With The Night' and 'Y Control'. At times they can get a bit samey, but there is enough going on here to make it worth a listen.

Didn't mind this initially, but rapidly tired of it as the first 6 or 7 songs were all pretty similar. A bit more light and shade towards the end of the album, but by that stage I was a bit over it. Not terrible, but not great either

Look, I know this was the last thing that Bowie left us with before shuffling off this mortal coil, and he was some kind of legendary freak, but that doesn’t actually make this all that good. Overdose of saxophone not heard since the 80s, tacky drum ‘n’ bass rhythms, and mostly dirge-like singing does not make an interesting album for mine.

These boys know how to rock. From possibly the best opener to a debut album EVER (Good Times, Bad Times) to Dazed and Confused, Communication Breakdown and Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, there isn't really anything I can fault here. Awesome rhythm section (possibly the best of all time), a sensation guitarist and a frontman who sounds like he about to climax at any second, what more can you ask for in a rock band.

Interesting how tame this actually sounds nowadays to my ears, whereas it would have had parents clutching their pearls back in the 80s when it was released. Plenty of speedy guitar work on show here, and Dave Mustaine benefits from not being as much of a prick as his former bandmates from Metallica, so you can actually hear the bass and the drums are superior to anything Lars ever put out. I don't mind a bit of metal, although it's not something I tend to put on of my own accord very often.

I sincerely don't recommend playing a drinking game where you take a shot every time you hear 'nigga', 'motherfucka' or 'bitch'. You won't even last the intro.
Gangster rap kinda bores me, if I'm honest. For an art form that is supposed to be all about the flow and lyrics, they fall back on a few hackneyed phrases all too often. And Dre and his mates are no exception.

A punk icon. A whole lot of ideas (musical, political, etc), packed into a sprawling double album. In fact, it seems to be belittling to just label it 'punk', when there is so much stuff mixed in here.
The only thing is that it probably is a bit overly long, so I'm taking a point off for that. But close to a 5 for me.

Fairly generic early 90s hip-hop, so I like it better than a lot of the modern stuff, but it doesn’t grab me too closely.

Repetitive, with beats for days. But that's kind of the point. At times, it can get a bit overdone and annoying, but you can't deny the appeal of tracks like 'The Rockafeller Skank', 'Right Here, Right Now', 'Build It Up, Tear It Down' and 'Praise You'. Norman Cooke found a formula which worked for him and he does not deviate from the path for the whole hour of this album.

Weird, but just the right amount of weird to make it interesting. I was familiar with 'Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes, I Do' from the excellent cover by Aussie band, The Cruel Sea, but the rest is definitely worth a listen, too.