Reviews by bob

The Good: We get television!
The Bad: It’s neither cable, nor streaming…
The Ugly: My trying to find the remote control for a television from the early ‘70s…

Never heard of them before. Bonus.
‘70s is quickly becoming my favorite decade from a musical standpoint. I believe that television and film of the ‘70s, though definitely with some cult classics, in general can be considered shit…

So, yeah, NYC punk/rock trendsetters… but then with guitars being used as actual instruments, instead of as percussion or projectiles to keep the angry mob at bay.

I listened twice, and though it wasn’t bad, I wasn’t as impressed as it seems I have to be…
The main question is: do I want to become a poser and have an obscure band on my playlist that only the cool kids can talk about?

In fairness, I could easily give this album 3*, add 1/2* for it being ‘70s, and then round the damn number upwards…

So, about those chordal switches on Marquee Moon, and the influence it has had on the Strokes, with the three/quarter/fourth on a C-sharp diminished flat… Good thing I have a second pressing vinyl, the first one lacked the additional bass boost...

The Good: A pink moon, is special!
The Bad: A red moon, it turns out, is more special…
The Ugly: A green moon…

Mr Drake, he was not one of them happy chaps…
I had to check to my history for this journey we are on, and it turns out that I have already reviewed one of Mr Drakes’ albums, a glorious 4*, as I was not aware of his work.

4* stars, as I am calculating scores at the moment, means that the album will be included in a list of albums I do want to listen to again…
So, the question is, do I want to listen to this album again?
The previous album, called Bryter Layter, it had a lovely weird album cover that one can look at for a while before finding out 1 hour has come and gone.
This album has similar art-work, that merist an additional score…

The real question is: am I ready to have two albums on my list which could, depending on the state of mind of a listener, place sharp objects near ones wrist…

Thus, nothing against the album per-say, I will have to give it 3 1/2 which will be downgraded to 3...

The Good: We know who we’re listening to…
The Bad: She’s a woman, which means we need to listen to the songs in a different way…
The Ugly: That damn eye-liner…

I know I had heard her stuff before, but never an album.
Then you read Wiki and you realize what a massive influence she’s had on music…

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was waiting for some goomba to come out of the woodworks to shoot a cap in my back. Felt like I was watching Good Fellas all over again…

Having said all that, after a while, the music all blends in to become bland, and that isn’t what I was after either.
Don’t know… I think I am going straight down the middle with this one, even if she kind of deserves a minimum of 4*…

Let me read some reviews….

The Good: A glorious morning!
The Bad: Ruined by a bunch of screamin’
The Ugly: The fight that ensued when the singer was asked to STFU…

Damn… Fucking Oasis… and their catchy tunes…

Based on the comments I’ve been reading, most people on this journey were in their teenage years during the ‘90s, and they all agree that this album is nostalgic for them. Well, I was not in my teenage years during the ‘90s, but I too find this album dripping with nostalgia, and making me wish I could relive those lovely carefree days of enjoying a 4-day weekend every week—it’s good to be a college student back then—buying cheap ass beer, hitting on anything that was willing to give you a smile, and not looking back in anger… damnit, there I went and did what I wasn’t going to do.

What I did not know, until reading the wiki page, is that the original drummer of the band was fired at the start of recording this album… and here I was, all the time thinking, the drumming is annoying with those fucking fills all the time… Guess I am more of a Ringo kinda chap, as was the original drummer.

Anyway, I was not an Oasis fan in the ‘90s, but obviously there were tunes one could not escape from back then, and several of them are found on this here album, meriting the 4* I am going to shell out.

Also, FYI, I went and listened to their debut album after listening to this one twice, and I gave Definitely Maybe 4* as well…
If they wouldn’t be so arrogant, I might even shell out a 5*...

The Good: An album for people who like symmetry!
The Bad: That’s not why it’s called fishscale…
The Ugly: Realizing that the album refers to some desease you get from oral sex…

I just made that up… you can’t get a venereal desease from eating fishscales… I think.
What fischscales refers to is a different musical scale, one that doesn’t stick to a set norm… one that allows people to sing so off key that it is considered an art-form!

For those reading one of my reviews for the first time; I hate rap music… except, it seems, when it’s Em or any one related to WuTang…

Don’t know what it is with Ghostface Killah, but he just makes me ignore my hatred for rap, and I will actually dish out a 3*...

The Good: We are getting fed!
The Bad: Wait, that’s dread, not bread…
The Ugly: What is natty bread?

Suh Wi git tuh listen tuh Bob Marley an im Wailers!

Yea, that’s about as much as I am going to use a free online translator to pretend like I speak patois…

I am not into reaggea, though I did appreciate the previous couple of albums that I got to listen to, roughly a year ago.
This album did not put me in a good place, it did not put me in a bad place, it just made me listen and wonder what my next album on the list will be…
Guess wi a gwine fine outta yah inna ah second... bikaaz mia kool like that!

The Good: You know… an album named after the band…
The Bad: That the band had no imagination, thus called themselves Crosby, Stills & Nash…
The Ugly: …

There are two bands who’s followers are willing to go to the edge of the world for them: The Gratefull Dead, and this band.
I’ve never been willing to go to the edge of the world for either of them.

Sure, there are some more than classic tunes on this album, the opening song having been overly used in TV and Film scores whenever something hippy is needed…
So I listened to the album, the first time I actually recall listening to a CSN album, and it was okay, I guess.

One of the thoughts that kept popping into my head was “do you really need to do that fucking harmony again?” I was getting visions of some hippy chick telling me “listen man, let the world flow through you” or some such bullshit like that.

Then the pen-ultimate tune started playing, and that sealed the deal for me: I do not like CSN!
Their cover of Everybody’s Talkin’ just proved my point above that there is a point of too much something… I guess I would be of a different opinion if I were into the MaryJane, maybe…
But I am not, so there…

3* for cultural value, but soooo close to droppin’ it down to two...

The Good: If you’re going to have one…
The Bad: Who wants to have one?
The Ugly: Imagining being found on the floor, after having had one, and maybe having soiled one’s undies…

What have I been smoking? Nothing…

What a lovely album! My mother’s favorite! And though not my favorite Queen album, it was such a pleasure to listen to that I’ve been humming Leroy Brown all day!

Obviously, this album is getting the highest mark… nothing else to mention...

The Good: We get to break hearts!
The Bad: What if we don’t like to be mean?
The Ugly: The 1* score by virtue signaling morons who are the end of modern society…

So Ryan (ab)used his position of power to get dates… wow.
To my knowledge he’s never been found guilty of anything illegal.
Is he a prick? I don’t know the man.
Is he full of himself? Yes, yes he is.
I remember seeing the tv-show where he, together with some other musicians (one of them the guy from Crowded House), were talking about music and singing songs, and Ryan was being a prick indeed… then again, if memory recalls, Crowded House man wasn’t really helping the cause either.

Anyway, we are here to bitch about an album, not the artist.

Did I like the album? Well, I listened to it 3 times in a row, while I was working on a project, and there are several songs which I recall really enjoyed listening to, while the rest of the tunes were kind of filler material.
I would give this album 3* normally, but I am going to crank it to 4* as I am sure I will want to listen to the album again at some point...

The Good: We understand that this album is for the Young Americans!
The Bad: Not being a Young American…
The Ugly: Wondering if Bowie would still want to call the song/album such in today’s epoch?

I get it, there are people who feel that this is cultural misappropriation. The same people who will scream in your face if you are eating a hamburger…

Me, on first spin, this album did not do it for me… yet today, I find myself doing some cleaning, while the album is gently doing it’s thing in the background, and I have to say that I am starting to really enjoy it.

Would I agree that this is soul music? Not for me, as I equate soul music with a specific sound and voice, and though the unknown Luther V pops in to show it should be done, DB just does not have that vocal style.
But damnit, the songs are all catchy, and I have been humming the title track for the past 24 hours, so that should mean something.

Don’t know if the album just happened to have caught me at a certain mental state, and that if I would listen to it in 3 weeks I would start having issues with the over-used saxophone. But today, today I am going to dish out 4* well deserved!

The Good: Horses!!!
The Bad: We didn’t get to ride them…
The Ugly: Having to shovel up behind those imaginary horses…

I don’t recall that I’ve listened to Patti Smith before, at least, not consciously. I get it that she’s a great poet, and a key figure in NYC punk scene during the CBGB thingy-ma-hoogie… hurrah.

Me, I’d rather listen to some Ramones, or even Blondie, if I am going to invoke that era in my mind.

Shoot me for not understanding the genius that she seems to be.

3 1/2* downgraded… wish we could score on 10 though, I would give that 7...

The Good: We’ve managed to plant seeds…
The Bad: Do I have to say it?…
The Ugly: How these ballads left me…

There is a universe where Men in Black rule, and I am not talking about the kind who need to go chase after aliens. This is a universe where gloom and doom, at least the way that they present themselves, is all the rage, and people will throw themselves at the feet of these Men in Black, and herald them as kings… It is the universe where Johnny Cash and Nick Cave vie for supremacy…

I don’t live in that universe…

So why have I being dragged into it?

I’ve listened to the album, I can put the notch on my belt… and dish out 2* as there was nothing that stood out for me, shame on those who want to live in the MiB universe...

The Good: We get an ice-cube, and that is appreciated as it’s summertime and hot as hell!
The Bad: The ice cube just kinda melted…
The Ugly: Me melting as the ice cube did not manage to cool me off!

Maybe, just maybe, the whole term Ice Cube has nothing to do with cooling things off, instead of irritating people when it starts to melt?
What?

I like Ice Cube, as an actor… and he’s had some good tunes too… just not this stuff… which get’s on ones’ nerve after a while. But then again, that is what Hip Hop does to me in general, so I should not bitch.

I do always find it interesting though to listen to ‘90s hippidy-hop-you-don’t-stop as it is a stark reminder that certain musical waves should just be avoided at all cost…

Also, where my ho at? I need some food and a refreshing drink…
2*, because I’m gangsta like that

The Good: We are being treated to some good ol’ fashioned arts and crafts!
The Bad: Nobody checked to see if the tapestry had mites in them…
The Ugly: The many scratched sores I have on my arm now…

What? Did I just call this album old? Guess I did…
What I did not (yet) call this album was great, which it sure as heck is.

As many other commentators, there are so many known songs on this album, it is scary to realize how important Mrs King has been for modern music.

During the day, I ended up playing this album 3 times, mainly due to the fact that I was too focused on a project that has a deadline three days ago, and I was too lazy to even click a saved album, or favorite playlist on the spotify…
After three listens, you start to feel a little tired… which, I guess, is what easy listening music will do to you.

Still, the dame deserves credit where credit is due, and I want to make sure that, once I finished this journey, I will find this album back on the 4+* list I am keeping.

Good job Carole!!!!

The Good: Being unplugged in New York…
The Bad: As it’s the city that never sleeps, we should have brought along some ac/dc…
The Ugly: THE FUCKING CARDIGAN…

There are people who will die defending this album, all about the rawness of it all, and that this is the way music should sound… which explains several of the other dreadful albums I’ve had the displeasure of listening to on this journey.

The only real positive thing to be said about this performance was when the Meat Puppets joined for three of their songs!
Actually, that’s not fair, as several of the tunes performed by Nirvana were not totally ruined by Kurts purposeful false screamin’ which needed work…

I lived this period, have many wonderful memories of this time, and I am NOT one to die on the sword defending this album…
Straight down the middle on this one 3*

The Good: We know where we are!
The Bad: Seems like the street signs are all greyed out…
The Ugly: Have you ever lost yourself in a neighborhood where you don’t belong?…

I was not able to listen to this album, as Spotify has it greyed out in my country. I tried look for it on the Tube, but got sidetracked by other videos…

Head scratcher for me… I tried listening to 2 other albums by this group that weren’t greyed out, and did not like either of them…

So, based on the 2 songs I was able to listen to… 2*

The Good: We know it is going to be bland…
The Bad: I don’t live in the suburbs due to blandness…
The Ugly: Lo-Fi…

I can understand that there are persons born around the mid ‘90s who will totally love this album, as it will remind them of their youth. I get it.

Thing is, I was not born in the mid ‘90s as, at that time, I was partying my ass off not wanting college to end…

My main thoughts about this album; too long, too pretentious, too much of too little.

I fear I will have to score below 3 on this one...

The Good: Smile, you’re on candid camera!
The Bad: Oh wait, that was a lie…
The Ugly: My teeth… which is why I don’t smile so much…

Mr Wilson, RIP. Don’t know if it is coincidence that the album presented himself the day after he passed away, but needless to say it was a little different listening to an album knowing that the person had just passed…

Having said that, I could have past on the album.
Not that it was bad, but there is a point where I just can’t stand falsetto harmonies any longer. I would rather have a root-canal performed…

All over the intrawebs “God Only Knows” was being heralded as the most perfect song, and I will agree that it is as close to perfect as songs are going to get. However, this album does not include that song, so I am going to shoot down the middle…

3*

The Good: a mountain made of Felt!
The Bad: Felt can start chafing…
The Ugly: Or rug-burning, depending on what you are doing with the felt…

This was a very curious listen… because I thought I was going to be indifferent, and then I found myself being engaged…

At times, I felt like I was at a circus.
At times, I felt like I was just sitting in a room…

I hated it.
I liked it…
Not in any specified order…

This leaves me with no other choice than to give the album 4*, as I know I will want to listen to it again at some point...

The Good: We get Music!!!
The Bad: It is 2000’s Madonna music…
The Ugly: That gold grill…

Really? Music? This is what the list is turning into?

Yesterday I was excited… Today I am distraught…
Music will do that to you…

And to think that I have 600+ albums to go before the journey ends...