Reviews by bob

The Good: We know we are being followed…
The Bad: We think…
The Ugly: Constantly having to look over one’s shoulder…

Okay, Okay, that was terrible… thing is, I am way behind on rating the last 7 albums which were released to me, and several of these albums were enough to break my spirit…

Not this one! What an album!
I never realized that I really do appreciate metal music… I know I like rock, but hot damn, the way that this album just kicks off, is more than awesome!

The only gripe which I have with this album would be the fact that there are moments when you just wished they’d get on to the next tune… which made me give the 4*
Should this list ever be redone, where we could score through 10, then this album would be a 9!

The Good: No escaping what time it is!
The Bad: That we have to do it in the dark…
The Ugly: Realizing that these monks are not religious…

Always nice to have a virgin experience, even if it is with some monks.
Did not know what to expect and reading the initial information did not really assist much either.
What is undeniable is that I am getting sick and tired of labels… proto-punk, garage rock, psychodelic rock… oddly enough what would really apply here, in my humble opinion, would be alternative rock.

Due to the country I live in, Spotify only had a couple of songs not greyed out, which meant that I had to scour the internet and find the album in streamin’ format, thankfully YouTube always comes to the rescue.

So what did I think about the album? Well, it sure has rhythm, that’s no lie. And to be frank, the album flew by in a no time, which means that it was not a bad experience. However, there is little that I would say is memorable… so I will need to be simple here and give them Monks a 3*
Maybe at some point in the future, should I recall the album and find it again on YouTube, I might give another score…

3*

The Good: A band inspired by Sesame Street, as we get to learn our ABC…
The Bad: The poison on the arrow was not real poison...
The Ugly: The hair…

For me, ABC is like Spandau Ballet, which means that the entire band is dressed to impress, the singer holds the microphone like a 13-year old boy would hold a tampon, and the “lads” in the band wish they actually know how to play their instruments well…

And yet, for all the loathing I have for, what I consider to be the worse example of New Romantics, the missus and I found ourselves dancing in the kitchen to these bastards… Shoot that poison arrow…

So, that leaves us with a conundrum as to what kind of score we would like to dish out to the lads…
Well, should this album belong on a list of 1001 albums one should hear before dying? Based on the amount of absolute shit one has been forced to listen to, I’d argue that this was an enjoyable 40 odd minutes spent.

3*, as we will shoot that arrow straight down the middle...

The Good: The artist cares about our opinion…
The Bad: He technically did not state it as a question…
The Ugly: Nothing really…

Is this the best album ever? No.
Does it contain some of the best songs ever? Yes!
Should this album be mandatory listening? Yes.

I can’t recall when I heard Jimi’s guitar playing for the first time, but I believe it is going to be late late ‘80s most likely, which means that my musical pallet was already colored.
I wish I could go back and tape my reaction to hearing the intro the Hey Joe for the first time… if only we had time-machines… or maybe it’s a good thing we don’t…

I’ve tried to learn how to play several of these songs on the guitar, and I’d argue that The Wind Cries Mary is the one which I dominate the best… Where, in my humblest of opinions, Red House would be the hardest.
Regardless, there are too many good songs, and even more great songs on this album—my guilty pleasure being Remember, which wasn’t even on any of the original pressings, which makes rating this album a cheat.

I will give this album 5*, however, if you go by the original realeses, not knowing if you need to pick between UK or the US release, potentially this album would get a 4 1/2*, which potentially could be downgraded… just saying…

5*

The Good: We get new boots!
The Bad: You need to walk them in…
The Ugly: You picturing me wearing panties… what???

Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll, it’s good for the soul!
I remember being a little kid and singing the first part of the song, and not understanding the meaning behind it. Same goes for Rhythm Stick, which I found on an anniversary version of this album, but not the original…

The two afore mentioned songs brought me back to my pre-teen years, the rest of the album, on second listen, made me reflect on all the years after, and that was not what I would have expected when I listened to the first song on this album.

Ian Dury not an easy life lived.
Ian Dury with words had a gift.
Ian Dury bound to repeat again.
Ian Dury found his dad the same.

I will be listening to this album several times again. Not because the songs are the greatest, nor Ian’s voice, nor the production value.
I will be listening to this album because it is so damn creative and stirs up emotions, and that’s what good music should do.

4 1/2* which I’d like to bump to 5, but my conscience will not let me...

The Good: We are forewarned, that this music is for those who are sinister
The Bad: What are we to do if we are not sinister?
The Ugly: Finding out that Belle is Stuart, and so is Sebastian…

The only light-point for me is that the length of the album is an acceptable 40 minutes.
Aside from that I found the entire experience forgettable, almost to the point of a massive waste of my time.

Also, and I am only ranting here, but what it is with people not knowing which category music belongs to? If you check the wiki page then you see the terms “Indie Pop”, “Indie Rock”, “Chamber Pop”, “Chamber Folk”, “Twee Pop”… I am missing the term “Shit Music”!

There was a time when music was limited to; classical, jazz, rock, pop, folk… I would label this folk and that’s it.

One final thing, to be fair, the production is great, no complaints there.

2*

The Good: We’ve got music for the mind and body, and it’s electric!
The Bad: Wondering how country Country Joe really is…
The Ugly: Trying to figure out what a fish has to do with the entire thing…

Before I proceed, note that I did not listen to this album 2 times, like I pretty much do all the time… not because I think the album sucks, like many people do, but more because my mind, and body, were not ready for psychedelic music today.

I did spend some time reading other people’s commentary, and had to giggle a couple of times. It seems that certain people believe you shouldn’t listen to these cats as they are RED commie Bastards (don’t ask why some of that was in caps, and other portion not…), or that there are better bands that made this kind of music… true.

However, once I got over the bad production aspects of this record, I have to say that there are only 2 tunes on this album which I don’t like, one being the last tune on the album, and way too long.

I forget which song is was, but I got a massive Jeff Buckley feeling with one of the tunes, which made me perk up, as I realized that I was listening to something that ended up being influential to many artists, both contemporary as well as later.

So what shall I score this? Given that I did not get pulled into the album, I think I am going to shoot down the middle and not mess with the overall score of this album…

3*

The Good: Where in Nirvana!
The Bad: Turns out that you have to live in Seattle to experience it, wear flannel, and do drugs…
The Ugly: Oh well, whatever, nevermind…

I am genius!

When this album came out, it was not my cup of tea as I was still enjoying other rock related music back then… looking at The Black Crows, not so much the hair bands.
Together with countless others, we were wondering what the hell an albino, a mosquito, made one fear ones libido… They certainly were interesting times.

Personally I listened to Temple of the Dog, as well as Pearl Jam more so than Curt and Co (unfair towards Novoselic and Grohl, and I probably wrote the same thing while rating In Utero).

So what do I think of this album?
I think that ANY BAND IN THE WORLD would sacrifice their drummer to have the first 5 songs on their record be Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Come As You Are, Breed, and Lithium… to follow that up with Polly… the only downside is that the remainder of the album just kinda disappears on you…

And that is the reason that I can not score this album a 5*, because at the end of the day, it would never be able to finish a marathon as it starts off as a sprint.
I will repeat though, and smile whilest remembering those lovely years of the early ‘90s while in college, chasing women and being happy with a D in Anthropology!

4 1/2* downgraded...

The Good: We know we are not in the dark!
The Bad: If I would have added “thanks to Gene Clark” above…
The Ugly: My failed attempt at songwriting… or writing, for that matter

3 of the last 4 albums to show up on this here list, were released in the ‘70s, and interestingly enough, the surnames of these artists all started with a C, yet each belongs to totally different genre.
What’s my point, you might be asking? Well, guess what I am trying to say is “bless the ‘70s!”

It’s not the kind of album that you would whip it out during a cocktail party, the other two albums would serve that purpose a lot better. However, if the day requires you to relax a little, maybe focus on a singular task, like trying to make risotto, or preparing your expense account, then White Light is a good choice.

Don’t know if this album deserves a 4*, or if I should drop it a little lower as it is very mellow, and one could argue, a little bland—the cover version of Stand By Me is enough to put any one to sleep—yet it sits there in your memory, and asks you to listen one more time… I am dreading more singer/song-writers from that era though, as I am pretty certain that I won’t be as generous with the *’s I am about to dish out….

4*

The Good: We won’t have to worry about college tuition for our Babies!
The Bad: Finding out that the dollars are play money…
The Ugly: Trying to get Alice Cooper to give you your money back…

Of course the song No More Mr Nice Guy is a classic… yet I’d never listened to this album before, so most of the songs were new for me.
While listening, the thought that constantly ran through my mind was “how can this album from 1973 sound like an album from the ‘80s?”

By the way, this is my second AC album on this list, the second album I never listened to, and the second time that I have wondered why I’d never listened to his albums before, because they’ve all been really enjoyable.

So does this mean that I will dish out 5*? No, and the reason is simple: too many songs drag on too long, which results in one wanting to press skip to next if you are really paying attention to the album.
However, I am not going to nit-pick, I will give this album 4 1/2* downgraded to 4*, but definitely an album which I will be playing again!

The Good: Illinois baby!
The Bad: Turns out we’re not heading to Chicago…
The Ugly: Trying to figure out what his album “Iowa” would sound like!??!?!

I deserve a price for having survived this ordeal!
Honestly, I don’t even know what to say about this listening experience. It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t, and that is worse than terrible.
If you would put a gun against my head and ask me to hum 1-bar of any song on this album, then my brains would get splattered all across the floor. And that is not a good thing.

What does make me happy is the simple fact that, again, I am proven right in so far that there’s little music made post 2000 that is worth spending one’s time on.
So yeah, another notch on my belt for a 1* album due to its absolute mastery at nothing.

The Good: An album by The King!
The Bad: Turns out that Costello isn’t an Italian version of Presley…
The Ugly: wondering what Elvis was aiming at…

Holy moly! Obviously I had heard the song “Alison” as it’s been overly used in tv-shows and movies, and I know I’d heard “Welcome to the Working Week” as well… but the rest…

This is probably the most replayed album so far on this journey, I think I am on spin #5 within 24 hours.
And while listening to this album I couldn’t but make comparisons with another album that was released in 1977; Mink DeVille’s Cabretta which I doubt will be on this list, but should be!!!

Anyway, 1977 seems to be one of those magical years when several of my all-time favorite albums were released. Don’t know if it is the music, or just the age when you start discovering the world that just reminds you of all those great memories…

5*

The Good: We’ve got Orange!
The Bad: It has nothing to do with The Netherlands…
The Ugly: Seems that there are people who can see colors while listening to music… I call those people charlatans

Never heard of Frank Ocean. Read the Wiki page, and now I am an expert in Frank Ocean… while my memory last regarding this expertise… what were we talking about?

There are plenty of comments about how one can hear the influences of a Stevie Wonder and Prince, and I agree. However, and here’s where my ears started to shut down, I also noticed that the period which is similar for Stevie Wonder and Prince is the period where most people stopped listening to Stevie Wonder and Prince.

Did I like it? No.
Did I hate it? No.
Will I listen to it again? Maybe, by accident, as I will be removing the memory of this album from grey matter.

2 1/2*

The Good: We get a kiss!
The Bad: Not the kind of kiss we expected…
The Ugly: Realizing that the punishment isn’t limited to the kiss…

Tit for tat… that’s all that comes to mind.
As in, somewhere out there, there is a person, or persons, who actually enjoyed listening to this album. We should not judge… right?

Myself, I am conflicted as the experience did not leave me with inner-ear damage, as I did not jab myself with a pencil to make the sound go away… however, neither did I find myself in a state of euphoria…

Chalk it up to an experience which I won’t repeat… 2*

The Good: An album that clearly explains where we are!
The Bad: Our destination being a shack instead of a palace…
The Ugly: Trying to get all the chicken poo out of the shack…

When I was a younger lad, I would choose my books based on the cover art… and I believe that, for a little while, when I started buying albums, at times, I would apply that same principle: you can imagine what my thought was about this album based on the cover…
Chalk one up for the ol’ saying about judging based on cover.

I don’t believe I have ever heard anything from Jimmy, till this album, which makes sense, as it is jazz music, and I tend not to own jazz music—which isn’t to say that I don’t like jazz music, just not enough to invest in…
Anyway, I enjoyed the album, as it is of the easy-listening kind, though the electric organ gets on my nerves after a while… I have the same thing with Booker T and his MGs…

Will I play this album again? If i remember… I need to start creating a list of the 4* and 5* albums and make sure I listen to them again… maybe I need to go to 3* at times, and listen to those too?

The Chicken Shack… I just realized… there are a boatload of CK’s in that title, is this where Louis CK got his name from?

4*

The Good: Queen!
The Bad: Not my favorite album…
The Ugly: not a damn thing!

We are 4 1/2 months late on reviewing this album… not because I did not listen to it, but more so because I did not know what write…
And today is no different.

It seems that those who know, will rate this album 6* as it is so good that you don’t even know it.
So I listened to it, probably 6 times, or 8, in the past 4 1/2 months, trying to see if I can find that missing something that will make me part of the elite crowd that knows that this album is Top-5 GOAT of any recording, ever…

To quote U2, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.

I like the album, but I prefer News of the World, A Night at the Opera, or Sheer Heart Attack, even The Game I prefer to Queen II

So, I will give the album 4*, knowing that I will play countless times more just to see if I can finally see it… and then give it 6*

The Good: A land of Spider!
The Bad: What if we suffer from arachnophobia…
The Ugly: Realizing that the band probably suffers from the afore mentioned, which explains them all being neck deep in water, so that the spiders can’t get to them.

I tried… I really tried… but I just can’t like this album.
I think I’ve listed to this album 4 times over the course of 3 days, so where’s my medal?

Problem that I have with this album is that it’s neither here, nor there, nor anywhere. Yet, upon investigation, it seems that it is here, and there, and everwhere… at least, that is what hte music snobs have to say.

Won’t totally rain on the unfortunate parade of Slint… will stick with 2*

The Good: We’ve got a harvest!
The Bad: Not knowing if the harvest is good…
The Ugly: … that voice …

I’ve said it ones, I’ll say it again: Neil Young’s voice is grating on my soul… painful at times, irritating other times.
So I was NOT thrilled to have to sit through this album…

And then I listened to the album 3 times… if something’s good, it’s good. There. Who would’ve thought?
I knew most of the songs, which is normal, as any classic rock station (when we stilled listened to radio) would have this album on regular rotation.
What a pity that listening to a radio station is no longer done…

Anyway, I enjoyed the listen, though I don’t know with which frequency I would play this album again… because, let’s be honest, that voice starts grating again at the end of the day…

4*

The Good: Tom Tom!!!
The Bad: Wasn’t invited to the club…
The Ugly: The fact that the only album available on Spotify was 2 hours+ long…

When the first track started I was wondering what kind of shit early hip hop I was about to listen to, as the drums are electro-electronic!
But then the sons actually kicks in and I was instantly brought back to the early early days of the ‘80s, playing in the pool with my buddies, and just having a dandy of a time.
Sadly, that thought only lasted for 1 1/2 songs, at which point it all started to sound the same.

What I did find interesting is that, while having the frikin’ long as album playing along on the background, time just kind of past by. So, if you are ever going to have an ‘80s party and you want something that will allow people to actually just have a good time, I can easily recommend this album.
Yet, if you are lounging in your favorite seat (chair or sofa) and you want to have an excellent listening experience, you can skip this record without a doubt…

Shooting this one straight down the middle… 3*

The Good: It’s automatic…
The Bad: What if we like to have things more manual?
The Ugly: Realizing that R.E.M. stands for Retard Eats Manure…

All kidding aside… what an album!
R.E.M. were royalty for a decade, and I would argue that this was their Opus Magnus.

It must be age that is making me really enjoy this album, because I recall that, when this album launched, I did not want to hear it at all. I guess my ears had been bludgeoned to death with R.E.M. on the air-waves, and I was not ready to listen to their sad stories…

Today, however, I think I’ve played the album 4 times and can’t get the song “Man on the Moon” out of my head… I blame Jim Carrey!
Truth be told, it might not just be melancholy that makes me appreciate this album more today than back in the ‘90s, it might very well have to do with the horrid state of affairs when it comes to modern music, and it all sucking balls…

So, here’s to R.E.M lulling us back to days when things were better!

5*