Reviews by blakestewart

I like some Byrds but this album never managed to get it's claws in me except on a few tracks.

I grew up with the punk scene and then grunge came around and I enjoyed quite a lot of that as well. I don't know that Mudhoney is, in and of itself, a band I really like but I can hear every part of what I liked about grunge on this album forming up. With that in mind it isn't amazing in any one way. I think Dinosaur Jr. Is more up my alley on the whole.

I can't help but see the rip-off in these early works. I get that these guys all love the blues and R&B and they're doing a fine job of mimicry. I just feel like I can easily get the genuine article from a better source when we're talking about this era of Stones.

I always assumed this was just another emo band that sounded like an emo band? I didn't expect a noise pop band. I didn't like it either.

I really like the cure. This album was after they found their sound but prior to when they figured out how to create a dynamic range between songs. I don't hate it but I don't love it either.

It isn't Graceland but it's a damn fine album.

Weird dreamy album that feels a bit overlong. They do have a sound. I'm kind of surprised they weren't a bigger deal at the time in america.

I'm usually pretty resentful of any album over an hour. I listened to every stitch or this. It's just a really solid album. Not perfect but really good. This is one I'll probably listen to again in total.

Decent little album. I liked the other BB album I got a bit more. I can't quite give it a 4 but it's damnably close.

If teenage thom yorke was listening to queen during a modern computer hacking montage. I will say that this is probably incredibly fun music to play as a band.

I like this one song a lot. I like it less as it iterates.

Yeah, it is a great album. It's earnest and concise old-time with a pretty high production value. I'm not sure how random it is to receive this album the day after her death but here we are. Her art was always about encapsulating life in a song and, if I base my critique on that mission, this is a 5 from me. I simply cannot separate the art and artist on this one. It'd be stupidly pedantic to try.

An ecumenist Radiohead neutered at a tender age.

Y'know what, I had never heard of this group and now I think, after two albums, I like 'em. Man can sing. It's deliberately cheesey. I dig Italian chamber pop. This wasn't as strong as the last album but I'm still giving it a 4 because I'll absolutely listen again and I enjoyed well more than half of the tracks.

The white stripes were never my thing but I can't help but give them credit for making albums with songs that sound wildly different using only two instruments. There's a lot of range here given the restricted palette. Credit where it is due. I still don't quite care for it but I understand why they received some accolades and why other folks like it.

Twingy and twangy and that part of folk that seems to be magic-adjacent. It was an interesting album. I listened to it and then didn't notice that Spotify had rolled over to the next Pentangle album. I started enjoying the songs more on what turned out to be their 1971 album "Wedding Dress". This was fine. The next album was slightly better. I can't give "Basket of Light" a 3 but only by the barest of margins.

Not a bad album but just not stirring. Sort of indistinct? I'd give it a 2.5 if that were an option but it doesn't rise to a 3 for me. It is almost interesting and has passages that are compelling but it feels like the sonic equivalent of watching a wave that never breaks only to recede. Disappointing in a vague way but it is conceptually hard to lobby complaints about the ocean overall.

Phenomenal album. I actually spun it twice during my workday. I wonder how all the samples rights work out? Maybe I'll look into that?

I like Eno but this just didn't click for me the same as other works by him.

Odd little folks album with skits. I don't relish the rare releases and alternates.