Reviews by bob

The Good: We were warned…
The Bad: We still ended up nowhere…
The Ugly: Total waste of a ride to get there…

It’s so interesting how regionality colors the music that you listen to. Imagine that you were living in Bozeman, Montana, when this album came out… This ain’t no Bridger Creek Boys!

I’t is hard for someone who missed the shoegaze phase, and doesn’t have suppressed anger hidden down deep in his soul, to listen to this and think “golly, that is some soothing music”.

I listened to this album… check it off the fucking list—pardon my language there, but the noise just got to me and I guess that I did have some suppressed anger hidden down deep somewhere, and this music has pulled it out and ruined my day…

1* for being shit

The Good: Knowing that there are two sides to the moon!
The Bad: Still unable to see what’s on the dark side of the moon…
The Ugly: Nothing…

Is it the easiest 5* around? No!
I can even understand that there are people unable to recognize that this is that great albums are all about…

For me, there are better albums, including Pink Floyd albums, than this one.
Which means that, for the moment, Pink Floyd is going to score 5* on all their albums.

To those, who don’t understand why this album is 5*… place all your 5* albums on a row, listen to them start to finish, and then play this...

The Good: We know the grade before hearing the album…
The Bad: Too many listeners seem to think that it is a C+
The Ugly: White denim… I mean, who in their right mind wears that?

There are times when a totally unknown album/group gets you slightly excited before hearing the first song, and then makes you wonder about people’s taste in music by the time the last song has played…

Austin, TX, is a hotbed for music, and the launching pad for several international stars… White Denim not being one of them.
I guess that if your sound is too eclectic, at times making you think you are listening to Pink Floyd, then The Rolling Stones, then The Grateful Dead… well, you got to some choosing to do.

Was the album bad? No, yet, I listened to it twice and can’t recall a single song.
Will I listen to the album again? Most likely not… it just didn’t hit the right spots for me.

2*

The Good: Milk, it does a body good!
The Bad: Turns out tigermilk is some kind of instrument…
The Ugly: the album cover…

This is my second B&S album I’ve seen on the list, and I do hope this is the last.
I’ve done the math, and with 1001 albums to go through since the 1950s, it means roughly 140 albums per decade… which is 14 per year… That’s a lot of albums if you think about it.

So, what did I think about Tigermilk? Not much, to tell the truth. It was okay. It didn’t ruin my day, like some other albums tend to do. But I was more interested in figuring out what a tigermilk instrument looks like, and then I couldn’t stop looking at the boobies of B&S founder, which led me into a whole retrospective about me getting older and becoming a dirty old man…

The few B&S fans that I know are all wimps… and that is the best way I can describe this music: whimpy. At least goths are scary…

2*

The Good: We’re not left in the dark!
The Bad: Turns out it is midday…
The Ugly: This album should have been left in the darkness….

I was never a Madonna fan. However, during her Material Girl period, I, and countless of my fellow teenage morons, all wished our girlfriends would look like her…

We can’t deny the fact that Madonna has been able to adjust her image to stay important, or even trendsetting… Jean-Paul G would not have a live were it not for Vogue. Yet, do I need someone like Madonna to tell me about the importance of spirituality?

The ray of light, in so far as to this 1001 album list, is that we get to read some wiki on a daily basis to see why an album is on a list, or what might be special about the album… and in this case, it seems that Madonna had been using the training she had received for the Evita musical, and it is apparent as hell… no need to have a little ray of light shine on the fact that the voice is annoying, like listening to a musical that one is forced to listen to.

The album did produce several hits, and they are instantly recognizable, as the production on the album is really well… so, just because of that, I will grant Madonna 2*… while crossing my fingers that I don’t have to listen to another album by her… though, I believe that I am missing at least 1...

The Good: It’s an easy question…
The Bad: Uncertain if the band will like the answer…
The Ugly: Double album...

I knew of the band name when I saw the album pop up this morning… what I wasn’t ready for was the genre.
I thought it was going to be some kind of stoner rock…

Though I could spend minutes explaining why it is plausible that one should listen to this album at least once in their lifetime, I fear that I am going to be tarred and feathered, in good hillbilly style, for wasting people’s time.
Yes, this is detrimental to American culture, so is throat singing to Bhuddist culture, yet I’m sure there isn’t a single throat chanting album on this list, and if there were, I am pretty certain it won’t last close to 2 hours…

And to think that there is a Vol. 3 and Vol. 4 to this album…

2* for musicianship, it would have been 3 had it not been for that same annoying little mandolin lick being played...

The Good: It’s a clear end…
The Bad: yet we were still troduced to it…
The Ugly: fill in the blanks

I’ve waited over a week to rate this album… why? Because slowly but surely my patience is being tested too much…. I think that I have been forced to listen to over 10 albums that were released since the late ‘90s, and we all know that hardly anything good was released since the introduction of 1 too many electronic/rap/numetal/pop crap

So here’s to me finding out just now that yesterday’s album is Sign ‘O the Times, and that is going to be an easy 5* for me…

This album, is a skip

1* Sorry DJ Shadow

The Good: We get a bossanova!
The Bad: It’s not that kind of bossanova..
The Ugly: rinsing the other bossanova out of my mind…

If there is one thing that I believe most participants to this 1001 journey can agree on is that nobody would like to listen to a full album of bossanova, it becomes tedious after a while…

Maybe that is why this album is called just that? Because it becomes tedious after a while?
And I really want to like it, but I can’t… sorry…
Guess I don’t like tedious? Or I just don’t understand what the big deal is with the Pixies?

Anyway, as I was away for almost 2 weeks I am playing serious catch up on the list and will leave this album with a 3* rating as it was neither here, nor there, for me...

The Good: The house is built!
The Bad: We’re not certain what’s behind the mask…
The Ugly: Hair of the dog… never a good thing.

I’ve known Bauhaus, as a band, since the mid-80s, yet this is the first time that I consciously listened to one of their albums. Why? Well, let’s just say that during the ‘80s I did not listen to “New Wave” (as we lumped all the “alternative” music), instead I was a pop boy.

However, during the ‘90s I started listening to Depeche Mode, the Cure, Tears for Fears, etc… and via this list acts like The Associates.
It is the latter that is my favorite discovery so far on the 1001 list, so when I started finding certain acoustic similarities on this album, I was getting a little excited.

At this moment my excitement is lowered, yet, I’ve not had the perfect opportunity to really sit back and listen to this album. Therefor, it is possible that I might just end up being a bigger fan than I currently am of Mask.

I’d say this album is a solid 3* for the moment, and I will give it 1 additional * for the album cover, as I really like it… also, at 4* I know that I will be able to find this album again to have a better listen down the road...

The Good: We know we are the only one!
The Bad: Maybe we should have had some variety, as it is the spice to life…
The Ugly: Finding out that we’re the only one due to an obsession…

Well, that was unexpected. Judging by the cover of the album, one’d think that you’re in for some light jazz, maybe a waltz or two?
Then the music starts and you try to figure out what you are listening to.

I’m no fan of the Byrds, nor The Byrds, nor any of the late ‘60s psychedelic stuff, unless it’s Hendrix wailing on his guitar. Thus, just by the name, I was not instantly aware of who, or what, I was about to be exposed to.
It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great either. It was just kind of no other…

Reading the wiki information I did have to scratch my head as, according to wikipedia, Goats Head’s Soup and Innervisions were two albums that influenced Mr Clark while making this record… and those are two album which I really like—believe that the GHS isn’t on this 1001 album list, probably to make space for more bland crap like this album…

Anyway, turns out that the album failed to make an impression, the artist blaming the record company, and decades later, when released again, it was found to be a lost gem… not for me though.
Will I ever listen to this album again… yes, I will. Not because I found it great, but more because it makes me curious about my musical taste… as it seems to be a hidden gem… but not to me.

Scoring wise, I am conflicted… And I really do wish that we’d be able to score on a scale of 10, as this would get a 5* rating

The Good: It’s all about the miseducation!
The Bad: Probably shouldn’t have been mis..
The Ugly: The ego…

I don’t like rap. I’m no big fan of modern soul, and this has nothing to do with R&B as far as I'm concerned. Also, does one have to fake a Jamaican accent in order to do reggae rap?

I don’t like it when music feels pedantic, and I abhor how many albums in the 90s tried to glue tracks together via small monologues or conversations. It is trite, and has been done once too often to still make a WoW impact.

So, surprise surprise, here’s my 1*
If only someone could create modern soul/r&b without feeling the need to constantly do vocal scales on every 2nd and 4th beat...

The Good: We get to learn something new today!
The Bad: It is a lie…
The Ugly: Trying to decipher the rest of the album to see how many more lies are in there…

Every additional word that I add to this review is a word too many.
I don’t like rap… I don’t understand why I have to listen to an album which is not even rated in the best 50 best rap albums ever… so thanks for wasting my time.

1*

The Good: Hopefully my last Fat Boy Slim album on this journey!
The Bad: That this is my second Fat Boy Slim album on this journey…
The Ugly: My lab after me trying to get to better living through chemistry…

The other day I was grateful to Mr Demiry’s list as I was listening to some stuff that I’d never listened to before, and probably never would have listened to if it hadn’t been for this journey—Tago Mago by Can, for those of you wondering…
Today, I am ungrateful to Mr Demiry’s list as, for the second time, I’ve been exposed to absolute shit EMD which, if we are being truthful, does not deserve more than 1 to 2 albums on a list of 1000… and yet I’ve had the displeasure of being forced to sit through—Just checed, and under pure electronica, I have currently listed 14 albums, with an average score of 2.4, due to Kraftwork and Moby getting good reviews.

Anyway, I’ve already wasted too much energy reviewing an album which I will never listen to again…

Sorry Fat Boy Slim, hope your ego can handle the second 1* I am handing out to you...

The Good: We get to have faith!
The Bad: We don’t know in what…
The Ugly: Getting caught…

When I was still in my teens, I made a huge trip to the other side of the world to stay with family and work in their business.
It was still the time of cassettes, though CD’s were slowly crawling into mainstream. One could still light up a cigarette during a long haul flight.
We had big hair, not thick, just big! Oh, and we were nearing the end of the cold-war…

There I was, living far away from my comfortable home, with my portable cassette player for which I can’t recall the brandname, nor can I recall excactly how long fresh batteries last… was it 8 hours?
Anyway, I was reading a lot back then, detectives, thrillers, the odd weird thing, and I was listening to the albums that mostly reminded me of my friends home.

This album was one of the ones that got a lot of airtime as it launched the year before, and I had listened to the hits at one too many parties!
You listen differently to albums when you are far away from home, and don’t know how much longer the batteries will last…

Playing this album, brought me right back to those lovely years. The travels I did, the new people I met, and the new memories created.
For that, a huge thank you to George M.

For those who feel that this album sounds too ‘80s… well, that’s because it was released in the middle of that ‘80s sound, where things were already becoming more polished.
Also, if my memory serves me right, GM performed most, if not all, instruments on this album, and only for that we should give him another round of applause and thanks.

a 5* without a doubt, for me!

The Good: For once little is better than much!
The Bad: Much Earthquakes does not sound correct…
The Ugly: Earthquakes…

If my memory is correct, than many moons ago Rick Beato mentioned this album in one of his hour and a half talk about something or another. If I am not mistaken, while Rick and a friend were doing something or other, one of the songs off of this album came on the radio—because people still listened to the radio back in the ‘90s—and they knew that they were listening to something special…

Me, I probably heard the same song around that time, also via the radio, but it was not something that my ear was ready to listen to as I was more into rock and grunge and roadhouse blues at the time…

Today, marking roughly 3 weeks since this album showed up on my 1001 list, I can understand how this album is something special.
I’ve listened to it 4 times in the past weeks, and upon each listen I am starting to like the album more and more.

For now, 4* easily granted to Tori!
Maybe, just maybe, I will have to come back and numb it up to 5* at some point...

The Good: We get to see a car turn into a robot!
The Bad: No we’re not…
The Ugly: Realizing one can not be transformed…

This album contains two of my favorite tunes on my top 1000 tunes one needs to hear before one dies! Yet, I had never listened to this album as a) take a walk on the wild-side is just a classic and one will have heard it on countless classic rock radio stations (if you are old enough) and b) a perfect day was ingrained into my memory via Trainspotting and Rents journey to the bottom…

So, I was excited to sit down and listen to this album, and by the second spin I kept thinking that Lou had been stealing from David… to then read that Bowie produced the album, and all made sense…

This one is not getting a 5* rating, not because I don’t believe that it should, but more so because those should stay reserved for the absolute banger 5* which, potentially, this album might turn into if I have had the opportunity to listen to it several more times and finding that I look forward to listening to it again… fuck it, 5* it is

The Good: We not only get an album that starts with The, but also a band!
The Bad: Those lips were too much on fire, makes wonder about std’s…
The Ugly: Fearing the next the bulletin…

I know that I saw this band live, at least once, back in the ‘90s. The problem is that I can’t recall what I thought about the show… and I can’t blame the booze I was drinking, as I remember all concerts I saw back in the 90s as I was still young, and with a well functioning brain…

Anyway, when this album dropped this morning, I was excited to listen to them, as I’d seen them on many a list of bands/albums you need to hear… and I heared them… and now I don’t know what to think about them.

It is nice, but it is lengthy. It is catchy, but forgettable. It is this, and it is that…
Maybe my current state of mind is not helping as I am dealing with some kind of summer flu, and I am way behind on work… so I will have to give the album a fair try when things are a little more relaxed.

For now, through the middle I go 3*

The Good: We realize that, if we like this album, there are, at least, 3 more albums by the band…
The Bad: What if we don’t like the band?
The Ugly: What if we like our Sunday with light?

Poor Ozzy, RIP. I am going to assume that I am not the only person who was presented with an album featuring the Prince of Darkness the day after his passing.
Makes one wonder how random these albums get generated…

I saw Sabbath play live on a triple bill back in the ‘90s, and memory wants to tell me that it was Tool, and the Butthole Surfers who were the other 2 bands. However, my and my buddy were too busy trying to get more beers, instead of listening to the bands, so I can’t recall too well what my real impression of the concert was.

This Vol. 4 has been a pleasant surprise. It is hard. It is heavy. It is tender. It is an excellent listen, and should belong on this list.
Of course, my judgment is clouded, as I am a Gen X and rock is what I was fed while growing into a responsible 30-year-old ;-)

Here’s to Ozzy, may his bad temper live forever!

The Good: legs…
The Bad: Not seeing the video’s while listening to the songs…
The Ugly: The elimination did not start sooner…

Like many of my contemporaries teenage idiot, we really dug ZZ Top when their videos started showing up in the mid ‘80s. Flashy cars. Flashy clothes. Flashy beards… and flashy girls.

I don’t care if the lyrics are deemed misogynistic by many, or that the use of synths and drum machines ruined the sound… the singles that launched from this album were hits, and they still sound nice to listen to…
The problem is that the album is 11 songs long, and really there are only 3 great songs on it, where the remaining 8 sound a lot like the afore mentioned three… and then there’s Mr. Gibbons guitar soloing, which starts getting on one’s nerves after all a while, as it’s the same trick, over and over… not that it sounds bad, but should be limited to the 3 hits…

So, that means that the score of this album should reflect 3 hits out of 11, which equals 2*… should I be nice and make it three?...

The Good: We’re going to legalize it!
The Bad: Because if we don’t, we aren’t going to like this album…
The Ugly: Even after having legalized it in many places, we still can’t give a (Peter) Tos(h) about it…

During my college years there were people in my circle of friends who believed themselves to be Rastafarians, to the point where they had nappy hair, wore clothes made from hemp, played hacky-sack, and needless to say, smoked their clothes too. You knew that, if you’d visit their abode, you’d find a Jamaican flag, even, sometimes, you’d find the Etheopian one with the lion on it…

I’d partake of the ganja once or twice, after all, I was in college…
And you’d listen to Bob Marley and the Wailers, and you could check your list of things to do while in college.
At parties, every now and again, someone would, inevitably, play a Bob Marley song or two, we all know which ones…

Oddly enough, very few people played Peter Tosh’s album. Not that there is anything wrong with it, per say, just that it all just sounds the same, and we are familiar with Bob’s work, and his “greatest hits”.

So, I’ve listened to this album, which I believe to be the fourth, and hopefully the last, of the reggae style, as I don’t believe I can listen to another one…

Don’t know if I want to label this 2 or 3*… then again, for all the shit that is out there, let’s go down the middle.