Reviews by bob

The Good: We are finally told the truth!
The Bad: Didn’t know hell is was so popular…
The Ugly: The freakin’ outfits being worn in hell…

So, second time around for the Cocteau Twins on this list, and, truth-be-told, this album was better received by my brain than the previous one.

Also, maybe I finally understand what the term shoegaze is in refers to: one gazing at one’s shoes!!!

Oh well, there goes my future as a comedy writer…

3*

The Good: Joni Mitchell is back!
The Bad: I think that the court still hasn’t managed to pass judgement…
The Ugly: No spark… at all…

So yeah, after a very pleasant listen to Cafe Blue, I think, this album was a nice skip session for me.
It is possible that this is due to me becoming more and more picky when it comes to albums I don’t know…

And I feel bad, because I was really looking forward to this album… maybe I should give it another spin?

Okay, I just listened to the album again, and here’s what is critical about my viewpoint now… right before listening to Joni, I was listening to the album of the day, by a band called Red Snapper… which was absolutely not up my alley… and now, Court and Spark is getting the following score from me 4 1/4*

Yup… way to go Joni!!!

The Good: Makes sense to not want what you don’t have.
The Bad: Seeing the economy take a tumble as there is no more trade…
The Ugly: Realizing you’ve got nothing…

Poor Sinead, tragic life.
While listening to this album it sounded like you’re witnessing a fortune teller reading their own palm and realizing that it’s all for naught.

Did I like the album? Not particularly… but then that anthem kicked in, and I was propelled back to those lovely ‘90s days, when I was in uni and hanging with friends and life just seemed to never have a tomorrow…

Here’s to Sinead, hopefully, having enjoyed that which she did have!

3*

The Good: We finally get a French band!
The Bad: It’s a lie…
The Ugly: please don’t make me say it…

Yeah, that was grt if Yr into that stfffff.
I will hand it to the ladies, some of the tunes were catchy, and are worth a second listen… but only for a second, and then you want to head on off to a different place.

Not my cup of tea, though I can understand that there are others who really enjoyed it…

2* because ...

The Good: We get to shake our money maker!
The Bad: I am always getting told I lack in the money maker department…
The Ugly: Me taking a critical look at my ass…

What is there to say about this album that hasn’t been said before? Oh, I know, I remember people thinking I got into a car accident as Jealous Again kicked in on my car radio with the volume at full throttle!

I’ve had copies of the album on cassette, CD, and vinyl. Why? Because it was such a refreshing sound in an era of too much hair-spray metal, and my old car got replaced by a new car, and this and that…

Anyway, to those who don’t like this album; your loss!

5*

...

Did not like it, will place a more thorough recap at another time...

The Good: This album is NOT a political statement about illegal immigration!
The Bad: We can’t find Humpy Dumpty…
The Ugly: Not a damn thing!

There are people who find this album boring, give it a 1* rating, but then turn around and give a 5* rating to Harvest by Neil Young… I guess taste is indeed subjective…

Is this the best album ever made? For me it sure is. To think that I did not get introduced to this album but 15-odd years after it’s initial release. I blame my parents, as around that time I was listening to Queen’s A Night at the Opera, Stevie Wonder’s Song in the Key of Life, and potentially Supertramp’s Breakfast in America… maybe some Abba…

A good friend of mine, who was a massive Door’s fanboy, introduced me to Hey You, and the upward spiral was started for me.
Around this time I started playing guitar as well, and damn if I didn’t hate, and still do, David Gilmour for his touch and grace, on the best solo ever on Comfortably Numb.
To date I still try to play that solo… and to date I still am but a noob and amateur.

Top-3 all time album for me, so easy 5*
For those of you who don’t get this album… I don’t know what to tell you; maybe you need to get your heart broken, or experience a couple of setbacks, then find yourself a comfy chair and play this album, and you will see the light.

The Good: We’re in front of satan…
The Bad: I’d rather be able to see what he’s doing…
The Ugly: …

What? Marimba?
There are those who view The White Stripes as godlike, which probably explains why the album is named as it is, and then there are those who don’t…

Not that the album is bad… it’s actually pretty good for the time frame.
However, if you compare this to rock albums by those who ruled rock when rock ruled… well, then this is just another rock album that somebody has plastered on a 1001 list…

3*

The Good: It’s about celebrities!
The Bad: We don’t like tabloids…
The Ugly: Trying to listen to skin…

Reading Courtney Love’s bio, I did a little cheer for the girl, as she’s not had it easy… however, what an interesting, and sometimes depressing, life she’s had! One thing she’s not had, in my humblest of opinions, is a quality singing voice, which makes listening to an entire album feel like I am being forced to listen to a Neil Young album, or, god forbid, Morrissey…

The album, in and off itself, isn’t bad at all. Kind of pop. Could have been a record produced by Dave Grohl, as one too many songs sounds like it is a cover of a Foo Fighters song… And you can tell the Billy Corgan influence in the guitar sound…

So what to give this album? Technically, I should be giving it a 4*, howevr, as I know that I will not be listening to the entire album ever again, I will have to stick to a downgraded 3 1/2*
Sorry Courtney, and the rest of the Hole band <—see what I did there!

The Good: We are not limited to one Chvrch!
The Bad: We don’t understand why…
The Ugly: Having your believes be compared to a femur…

Okay, so the above is silly, and makes little sense… kind of like this album being part of the 1001 list. Then again, it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great either… and here I sit, realizing that it just is all about believing, and bones, and chrvches…

I will say this, for now, and I’m over 500 albums into this list, I will argue that this is my favorite 2010+ album, so there’s that!

3*

The Good: We are getting bewildered…
The Bad: It seems I am dyslexic…
The Ugly: The drawing of the boy…

Yes… I mean, No… I mean, WTF?
Opinions, they say, are like assholes… Everyone’s got one…
I am having too many difficulties fathoming why this album needs to be listened to at least ones before I die… I really can’t understand it.

Just out of spite, and for wasting my time, I am going to be a prick and change the artist’s name to Badly Rated Boy…

1*

The Good: Apply-named album!
The Bad: My reaction to seeing the album on the list…
The Ugly: Me realizing I should not be so judgmental…

Young… Neil Young… Don’t care if he likes his martini shaken, not stirred. Don’t care that he drives a lovely Austin Martin… Don’t even care that Mrs Moneypenny believes he’s the kit ’n kaboodle… I don’t like the man, and it depresses me when I see his name is on the list…

I pressed play, Carry On was not offensive and sounded vaguely familiar, Teach Your Children is one of those songs which only those living under a rock have never heard before, and for once the harmonizing was found desirable…
Almost Cut My Hair, well, that’s when the Deja Vu kicked in…

The rest of the album became a blur, as I was brought from one Deja Vu into another… and then I played the album again… and again…

I don’t like CSN (with, or without the) Y, but this album is pure gold.
For me, there isn’t a song that makes me want to hit the skip button, it also has that lovely play time that is just under 35 minutes… That’s like watching 1 1/2 episodes of your favorite sitcoms—if one still remembers sitcoms…

5* given with a thumbs up and a smile

The Good: Fucking Jethro Tull!
The Bad: Finding a good version of the album online…
The Ugly: The fahking beard on the homeless man… Mr Aqualung!

Fuck Yes!!! That was my instant reaction when I saw the iconic album cover this morning.
I think that I’ve listened to this album at least 5 times today...

So, there. To all that don’t like it… close your eyes and listen to it again, and again, and again.
This album was a staple of my college days—and no, I am not of that generation—where my roommate would play this album constantly as we played cards, talked about life, or just sat back and got wasted. Great memories.
Also, jazz flute!

For the moment, might just be my favorite album from the list…

5*

The Good: We’ve got Bowie!
The Bad: Again…
The Ugly: It’s the next day and nothing’s happened…

I get it, he’s one of the greats that walked among us, that shared his sound and vision through countless albums, and by the time he recorded this album it was indeed countless…

Still, I fear that I am getting a little satiated. Blackstar was a great last swan, The Next Day was just another day…

Sorry Bowie fans out there, but I will have to score this one low as I could not get into the flow a single time… to think that the album ranked high—guess that’s more reflective of the shitty state of affairs in music at the time, then marking this a great album.

Here’s to tomorrow bringing me a fun album!

2 1/2*

The Good: Who doesn’t like a little spanking???
The Bad: The spanking is done using Lars’s drumsticks…
The Ugly: Having to listen to Mr Hettfield’s “Yeah-Yeah” all the time…

For fuck’s sake, really?
One thing is having to listen to a live album, another thing is having to endure a symphonic backing band to a metal(lica) soundtrack… Where half the time you aren’t even able to hear all instruments clearly.

I hope the gents enjoyed their cultural blowjob, and that the crowd felt like their IQ went up 2 points… me, I’ve seen Metallica live more then any other band/artist, and I can’t recall it sounding so “forced”.

So, fuck it… 2*
Not because I don’t like the songs, nor the band, nor do I have an issue with classical music, it’s just that I will not be wasting another 2 hours of my lifetime listening to this album ever again…

2*

The Good: We know where they are!
The Bad: They could’ve listened to The Police and not “stand so…”
The Ugly: The fact that this is the easiest of easy listening.

Poor Karen—I mean that respectively—what a terrible life she had.
Listening to this, and knowing what a great drummer she was, it must have hurt even more to be stuck with this pantzy music.

Of course I know the tunes, and they are agreeable, however, I’ve come to realize that doing a different album every day really makes one want to listen to specific sounds after a while, and this album does not contain them.

I will give them a 2* that should’ve been pushed to 3*, but I can’t get myself to do so...

The Good: I am not close to the edge…
The Bad: I might still be going under…
The Ugly: Still wondering about that Stevie W song…

Ahhh, the joys of OG hip-hop.
I remember seeing Beat Street in the theatre, and trying my best to learn some of the dances… to be young again…

Obviously I knew the song The Message, but not the album. And I did my best to just listen to the original album, as 1 hour+ is a little too much for a Monday morning.
Having said that, what a difference this is versus what the west-coast started shelling out via NWA et al.

Going against the grain on this one and will dish out a 4* to our OG’s…

The Good: We know what to score to give the album…
The Bad: What if we like to give it a higher score, do we change the album name?
The Ugly: For those who didn’t like it the album would be called Orbital Shit…

EMD… it be what it be.

Having said that, oddly enough, I found that this album worked perfectly as background sound while you are working on a project… and for this I would almost go so far as to give the album a 4* score… almost.

My main gripe with this album, and similar works, is that they tend to suffer from too many extended mixes—I don’t want to listen to a rhythm pattern for 9 minutes long…

It could have been a 4* album had the play length been shorter...

The Good: Green means go!
The Bad: I don’t believe that this is what it’s meant to mean…
The Ugly: Trying to figure out all acronym solutions for G.R.E.E.N.

Back in those days, especially when this album came out, I was living in a part of the world where REM were not that well known, so this album was not on my radar, nor was the band, until their real break-through Losing My Religion hit the charts.
And yet, there are 4 songs on this album that are more than familiar to my ears…

What’s there not to like?
The music is peppy without becoming annoying, like it would be with the B-52s
There’s a little bit of everything on here, and while I am on my fourth spin, I am still without the urge to hit skip…

However, I really want to know which album will be today’s revelation, so I will stop listening to the REM, keep my fingers crossed that the album is on par with this one, resulting in a favorable day…

4* as I need to be more specific as to which album I would never have a problem listening to (which is a clean 5*)

The Good: It is only for today
The Bad: what if we like it and want to listen to it tomorrow?
The Ugly: listening to them yesterday…

If there is anything to learn from this album then it is to show the importance of choosing a good name for your band…
If Elvis Presley could have recorded any style of music, people would’ve accepted it.
The Beach Boys should stick to beach kind of music… not that ‘50s rock n roll classics are beach worthy, just not what one thinks about…

Also, note that I am not a beach boys fan.

I listened to the album. Appreciated the fact that it wasn’t too long, while bobbing along to several tracks.
That’s it. Probably will not play that album again… and if the album that is going to presented to me now is not pleasing, I will go and listen to The Idiot by Iggy Pop again, which is quickly becoming a top-10 all time favorite for me…

3*