Reviews by bob

The Good: We get something NEW!!!!
The Bad: The forms are illegible…
The Ugly: It seems we have to fill them out a million times, all identically…

Imagine you have a cousin who always stutters for about 3 minutes when he needs to say the words “one” or “nine”. Now imagine that you have 2 options: listen to him count to 1000 and receive a million bucks, or you can opt to clean the bathroom and get a cheese sandwich as a reward…

I’d pick the bathroom and cheese sandwich before I’d ever have to listen to this album again… because this album is like listening to that cousin count to 1000…

It’s not that I have a problem with drum and bass, except for the simple fact that, like most EDM related music, I hate it and would only be able to enjoy it if I were in a different state of mind—booze or drugs induced—it’s more that I don’t understand why I need to listen to an album that lasts about 1 hour too long…

I am getting the serious suspicion that Dimery is really a sadist trully enjoying putting us through this fucking ordeal!

Not my cup of tea… 1 1/2*

The Good: I guess we are going on a safari!
The Bad: That our guides seem to be ants…
The Ugly: Finding out that the ends are freaking red ants… because of all the face painting… what?

I recall Adam and his ants being on MTV, and me wondering exactly what it was I was supposed to like about them.
So, when his face popped up this morning, I got a little exited, because I figured that I would not understand all about Adam and his ants…

I guess that I am no fan of Adam and his ants… The album, thankfully, only lasted so long, so there was no need to hurt myself.
There’s really nothing to mention about this album aside from the fact that I did not like it and started getting annoyed with the stupid chants here and there.

2* because it isn’t total shit, but be warned that you probably will want to punch something if you listen to this album twice in a row...

The Good: We are in a post orgasmic state!
The Bad: We didn’t get to experience the orgasm…
The Ugly: Wondering why we’d want a skunk to get us to a post orgasmic state…

Ahhh, the late ‘90s, the end of a millennium, and more so the end of consistent great music.
I was in a phase where the music I was listening to all involved female vocalists: Macy Gray, Sarah McLachlan, and Skin were the main ones.
This album, for me, was perfect as it mixed a lot of the “modern” sounds, like drum & bass, as well as house, into a straight forward rock concept.

I had a colleague years later who tried to convince me that Skin did not know how to carry a tune, and that she was always singing behind, or in front of, the beat… go figure.

While going through a phase of over a week where this 1001 list spurned out nothing but shit, I went into my own CD collection as started listening to albums I hadn’t listened to in a while… and this album was one of them.
Thus, a big smile presented itself when the album cover presented itself as the album of the day!

I am, however, conflicted as to what score I should give this album… and I know that, though I really love the album, it isn’t 5*…
So I will downgrade 4 1/2* into a more than solid 4*

The Good: We get Soulful Rock!
The Bad: Turns out to be Rockful Soul…
The Ugly: Last name not being Grundy…

Obviously it is a great thing when one get’s to listen to some soul music after the amount of shit that I’ve had to endure through so far… however, any album, and I mean ANY album, by Otis Redding blows this out of the water… so why am I listening to this one?

Sure, the opening tune is a fucking gem, and should be on everyone's 5* playlist. Yet the rest of the album is neither fish nor fowl… and I really wanted to have a religious experience while listening to Mr Burke preach to me…

Also, as a Public Service Announcement to all who might be curious… don’t go playing the album which finally got Solomon a Grammy… what a piece of shit that was.

His voice is stellar, and we know he’s got soul… but this album is just… not worthy of more than 2*… but I’ll bump it up thanks to Cry To Me

3*

The Good: We’re in heaven…
The Bad: It’s ranked 17th…
The Ugly: At least we thought we’d stay in the penthouse… turns out that it is on the pavement…

What in the actual fuck? And this is NOT the FIRST time I am writing this as the opening comment to a review…
For a second I thought that we’d hear something incredible, as I’ve not had too much synth-pop show up on the list, and there are some amazing bands/albums that came out in the early ‘80s…

Of course, if you lived in that period and you can barely recall hearing a Heaven 17 tune, you should know better… then again, I was pleasantly surprised with those Scottish lads from Orange Juice, or even better, the art pop from the Assocaites—believe you me, 1000% better than this horrid of an album.

Can’t say that I really enjoyed listening to this… I believe that my thought was “can we get it over and done with so I can listen to Can’s Tago Mago album again?”

Yeah, I feel bad for the chaps, guess they should never have left the Human League…

The Good: We know that this album is going to blow something up!
The Bad: That it did not blow itself up after roughly song #3…
The Ugly: Getting all excited about “need you tonight” thinking it would be an INXS remix… fucking Mylo…

On a positive, I really do like the album art!

About the album… well, take into consideration that Mylo never published another album, we know that these 55 minutes and 5 seconds are all that there is to convince us of the need to NOT have to listen to this again.

I will give Mylo 2 stars for the effort on the first couple of tracks, and the fact that he made this all on a computer when most people didn’t know you could do that… he should have stuck to Academia though…

The Good: Yes, we can!
The Bad: Wait… not that kind of can…
The Ugly: Wondering what canned tago-mago tastes like…

This album is what we are on this journey on.
When the album cover showed up my initial thoughts were “okay, this is going to be interesting” and I was not disappointed.

Today I learned that Kraut-Rock is not Opus’s Life is Life, or Nena’s 99 Luftballons… silly me.
What I did learn is that there was a period in time when musicians tried to alter the norm, infuse art and philosophy into their works, and inspire future generations for making new kind of music.

Listening to Can, I am amazed at the quality of sound, the “freshness” of it all, especially considering that, should you be unaware of when this album was recorded, you’d easily think this album could come from the ‘90s or later…
Then there’s Suzuki’s vocal performance… puts you into a trance.

The only reason that this album is not getting 5* is due to the length of most of the “songs”—7 tunes for a double album, boy oh boy…

Should people listen to this before they die, absolutely!

4 1/2*

The Good: Something’s rising…
The Bad: It’s not the what we’d like to see rise…
The Ugly: age…

For all you youngsters out there who feel the need to refer to this as boomer rock, or dad rock, get a life. This is shit music for one, and for two, though Springsteen might be a boomer himself, those who started listening to his music were Gen X… get your facts straight.

Skip this album if you like music… it was painful to listen to.
If you want to hear an album by a boomer in his later years, give Blackstar by Bowie a spin… now that’s an album.
This was just shit… Couldn’t even get through the whole album as I feared I would start breaking things… I would rather listen to The Chronic… Nuff said…

0*

The Good: We are wished a good night!
The Bad: The room is lonely…
The Ugly: Realizing Dwight’s real name is Akam…

Having lived in Texas in the ‘90s, I am more than familiar with Dwight’s work. Not from a fan standpoint, but more a “you live in a zoo, you’re going to know some animals…”

I’m not a big fan of C&W, and this here album, being so similar to ranchera music, as far as I’m concerned, is not my cup of tea.
However, I do prefer to listen to this than many other shit albums on this list… so I will shoot down the ally and hope I don’t hit Dwight off of his horse…

3*

The Good: We know these boys aren’t going to stop…
The Bad: Maybe they could have considered stopping after song #7?
The Ugly: Trying to imagine what a real southern rock opera would sound like…

I know I’ve heard of the band, but I can’t recall having listened to a single song of theirs, and when you start reading the bio it becomes apparent that these truckers haven’t had a lot of luck when it comes to gaining attention…

Though not the best album ever, compared to some of the crap I’ve had to listen to, this is actually not a bad album… just wish that they weren’t being so preachy about Alabama, or only fully embracing the “southern rock” ethos… look at the Black Crowes… those bastards have managed to publish several excellent albums which are “southern rock” yet what they really are is good music.

I am conflicted between giving this a 3* or a 4*… however, if I would have to listen to this album again right now I would opt to skip…

3*

The Good: We get to rejoice!!!
The Bad: We were not told that it would be of the tree-hugging kind…
The Ugly: Realizing the massive effect that parents choices have on their children’s future… Devendra Obi… really?

Never heard of Devendra before, and by the amounts of listens he gets on Spotify, I am not the only one.
Prior to listening to the album I started reading the Wiki page, and maybe I should stop doing this as it does color one’s initial reaction…

My reaction was “okay, this isn’t half as bad as I’d have thought”
But then song #2 starts, and #3, and I am getting ready to hit the skip button.

I forget the song name, however, I was reminded about the album Grace by Mr Buckley, who also does that thing with his voice… the difference being that he doesn’t solely rely on this trick, where Obi does.

So, I believe that a 2* rating is merrited, and I wish Devendra all the best with his future endeavors...

The Good: We are living on Saturn…
The Bad: it seems to be inhabited by Super Furry Animals…
The Ugly: Imagining all those Super Furry Animals in zero gravity doing what them furries do…

Never heard of the band before, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as I, as an old fart, know very little about anything released after Y2K.

So, yeah… don’t know.
Not my cup of tea. It’s neither here, nor there. It’s not meat, nor fish…
And I can’t get past the band’s name…

There’s nothing on this album that made me sit back and listen, there’s nothing on this album that I can even recall having sat through…
I guess the poor furries are getting a low score today…

2*

The Good: We get a Pearl!
The Bad: Unlike a diamond, a pearl is very fragile…
The Ugly: nothing really… except for the damn hair!

What an absolute joy!
My wife hated it, as she doesn’t like JJ’s voice… I guess we will have to agree to disagree, because a divorce is really expensive…

Though I am uncertain about the exact first time I heard Janis her voice come exploding through some speakers, I believe I had not reached the gentile age of 10 yet. My monther bought the “Greatest Hits” album, and I recall being fascinated by the chopper… go figure.

Highlights? Try the entire album… even the Mercedes Benz song, which, depending on my mood, can actually get a little on my nerves… Bobby McGee… best song ever!

Off to spin the record again!

5*

The Good: I’ve got Electric Light!
The Bad: Missing Second Sight…
The Ugly: There go my amazing powers of observation…

Did you get that one? Just thought I’d throw that curve ball out there.

Did I enjoy the Out Of the Blue? Yes I did.
Is it the next best thing after sliced bread? No it’s not.
Will I listen to the album again? Hell yeah.

So what do you give an album like this, one where it at times feels like a chore to get through, yet when the last tune is done playing you kind of start missing out on all the fun that this album seems to embody.

I can’t in good conscience give this album a 5* rating… so the next best thing!

The Good: Faces… always nice to look at!
The Bad: The faces aren’t top-model quality…
The Ugly: The look in my face while trying to figure out the album name…

Going to keep this one short.
We’ve got early ‘70s pop-rock. Some songs upbeat, others downbeat, all with a good beat.

Fun album to listen to, with 1 massive hit.

Though I will give this album a 4*, I don’t know why it is listed as an album you have to hear before you die...

The Good: We get Spirit!
The Bad: It did not include alcohol…
The Ugly: Trying to explain to our shrink all about the 12 dreams of Dr. Sardonicus without the shrink writing us up for being nutcases…

As hard as I try, I do not recall having listened to any Spirit albums before in life, and potentially singles neither. However, I do recall having heard about the band, or even read about them… all very odd, and very much in line with having 12 dreams.

What is interesting is that I listened to the album a couple of times in my office, with great speakers, and once in the car as background filler due to the co-passengers not being open for a sonic journey.
They are totally different…. In my office the album comes over as much heavier, while in the car, at times, I was reminded of Jethro Tull, which really has little to do with Spirit, except that they both are labelled as prog rock…

For this album, knowing that I will want to be reminded about it in the future, and give it at least 1 more spin, I will grant the 4* as the experience was, surprisingly, positive.

Will rate later… for now, will give it 3* as it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be...

The Good: We are confronted with a riddle…
The Bad: We aren’t given the answer to the riddle…
The Ugly: Turns out that it was all a joke…

It never dawned on me, but the band-name, is that a reference to “we are all depressed”?
We don’t want to live, we’d rather be dead… gratefully?

Be it as it may, this album could have been buried with the dead…
What a total waste of my time.
There’s nothing special about this album, there’s nothing in it that has opened my eyes and converted me in a Dead-Head.

Live albums tend to suck, and this one is the suckiest of the all.

1* for being a total piece of crap

The Good: We are being saved!
The Bad: It is lacking grace…
The Ugly: The scratches on my head while I have been searching the intrawebs as to where NAT-ION’S is located?…

I don’t normally start writing reviews while I am actually listening to the album. This is due to the simple fact that, normally, I will listen twice to an album, and frequently I start understanding what makes an album interesting on the second listen…

This was not the case with yesterday’s album (PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake…), nor is it the case with this waste of vinyl…
To make things worse, this is the second The Fall album I’ve had the displeasure of having to sit through… and this one is 1 hour long.

Why am I listening to this album?
What makes it so special?
Could it be that there are about 5 persons in the whole world who appreciate this, and ass-hat Dimery is 2 of them?

If I want to listen to someone blaring into a microphone without much emotions, nor desire to really be there, then this would be my thing… and repetitive guitars… nice… it’s a punk version of techno music…

So, I will do my job to better prepare people for the shit that is the Fall by downgrading their efforts to 1*
Shoot me…

The Good: We get to let England shake!
The Bad: The shaking wasn’t enough to really change anything…
The Ugly: Inadvertently we will have increased England’s sense of superiority…

Let it be known that this is my first PJ Harvey album on this list, and I’m well over a year in on this adventure… and I don’t get it.
Let it also be known that, to my knowledge, this is the first time in my life that I’ve listened to a PJ Harvey album, potentially song...

Maybe our friend Mr Dimery has a secret crush on PJ? Maybe she’s a relative? Maybe there is something to this artist that I just don’t get…
However, as she’s got 4 albums on this list… I do hope that the other three do not pretend to be something made back in the dark ages, with lutes, and bongs, and sparrow screetches…

Not my thing, but not terrible either…. down the middle we go
3*