Reviews by bob

The Good: We’re getting water from a well!
The Bad: The well has been dry for a while…
The Ugly: Trying to ask for more water with a dry throat…

What?

So, we’ve got jazz.
So, we’ve got some politics.
So, we’ve got another album listed which makes me wonder why I am even bothering anymore…

To respond to that last comment, it is so that I can 5* to all those albums which I believe to be worth 5*
And this album isn’t one of them.

Simply put, you take a classic style of music, but record it decades later, and we need to be impressed?
The list could have just added a great Swing album from the Swing era instead, no?

Sorry Abdullah, you are getting 2 1/2*

The Good: We’ve got the Beach Boys!
The Bad: Very little beach included here…
The Ugly: Boys… what about aging men?

I am not judging this album based on the lyrical content—I know one too many persons who don’t pay attention to lyrics, instead they listen to the music…—which means that this album, from a musical standpoint, is your basic “easy listening” you could expect to hear in a department store as you are picking out your next pair of socks.

Is the album bad? No… and it contains some whistling, which is always preferred over crying…
Is the album good? No… and that is just my opinion.

Off to rate this album so that I can find out what joyful album awaits me today… hopefully The Black Crowes, because I need some serious rock and roll at the moment.

3* for run of the mill music that isn’t neither here nor there...

The Good: Duh, an album named after the band…
The Bad: That the band stole my concept…
The Ugly: Do I have to spell it out?

What can I say about this album? I had never ever heard of these guys before, and when I clicked the “Wikipedia” button and started seeing the bands Blur and Gorrilazzzz show up, my heart sank, as I am fan of neither.
So color me happily surprised with this mellow album, that is easy on the ears, and a great filler of space when you are just doing some work.

Sonically, I guess, just fine… just nothing special either.

3*

The Good: We’ve been given green light to be sick!
The Bad: Turns out that this license has been revoked…
The Ugly: Trying to shake off our “ill” feelings…

Back in high school, my buddy and I started a hip hop thing, cause we be all cool like that…
I forget what we called ourselves, though I am sure that it my name had Double something in it, and his was Triple … Anyway, silly teenage stuff, trying to do body pops, and break dancing, and “browning”, at least, that is what my buddy called the foot shuffly dancing thing…
Anyway, he was the one who would buy hip-hop records, and I would be the one listening to it and trying to figure out if there was a future in it for this double something.

Now, you know I am no fan of rap, but there are exceptions to this rule, like Public Enemy and Eminem, yet the Beasty Boys, for me, have always been something that wanted to be more then it actually was.

This album proves how primitive hip-hop was back in the day, however, it was also filled with a more positive outlook on life, unlike that gangsta shit that followed soon…

Going to rank this straight down the middle as I had fun listening to this album for memories sake, but probably won’t be listening to this anytime soon again… 3*

The Good: Album named after the artist… again
The Bad: Nothing really…
The Ugly: I am not going to say it…

Like most people of my generation, we heard Fast Car first, and then we probably heard one more tune of the album, and then we forgot about Tracy…

Paint me pleased and happy when I listened to this album from start to finish… Though I don’t like songs that are too political, Tracy just get’s away with it.
The songs, as many have pointed out in their ratings, have stood the test of time… and even regretfully, it seems that Tracy was not able to make much of an impact on how society treats its citizens…

Personally, I feel bad that I never really paid attention to Tracy her work, and I am glad that this is, rightfully so, on this list, as it will now be part of my 5* list for sure!

Go on Tracy, tell me about the revolution!

The Good: Smooth public transportation!
The Bad: Finding out that, on this underground, there isn’t anything velvet, just a bunch of annoying travels living in their own sphere…
The Ugly: The white light intensifying photophobia for those who suffer from that…

I am about 1/3rd into this list, and I believe this is my first Velvet Underground, or, as the hip cats call them VU.

Couple of things which have become clear to me:
I am not a hip cat
I don’t understand hip cat music
It is becoming increasingly clearer to me that the author of this list is a hip cat with so-so taste in music—that is a personal opinion, however, based on the amount of people who start this journey to only bail-out before having rated 100 albums is astonishing

Anyway, I am in it for the long run…

Regarding the album; first time I listened I was paying closer attention to work related things and had this on the background, and the experience was not a bad one, while the second time I paid closer attention to the album and the last song just about killed my nerves…
What was interesting, at least, was how the album just starts—I believe this to be the first time and the experience is very interesting.

Overall, I will give the album a 3* because the noise at the end, the song which all the hip cats swoon over, is the one that makes me want to punch a pencil into my ear after 1 minute, knowing there are 16 minutes of that annoying noise left to listen to.

The Good: 4-words make up the band name, and the album name!
The Bad: Trying to decipher the meaning of the album title without reading the wiki page…
The Ugly: Finding out that the album title is but a rouse…

Back in the days when I was a younger me, and when one actually had a “record” collection, actually heading out and buying an album was a normal thing. RHCP did not fit in my record collection in the ‘80s, though I was made aware of them by a friend of mine, and it wasn’t till this “album” “dropped” in the early ‘90s that I, along with thousands of others, started paying attention to RHCP.

I was in college, and another buddy of mine had bought the CD, and we would play this album start to finish daily, multiple times on the weekend, it was the soundtrack for 1992 I guess you could say.
And 1992 was a good year for me…

Then, as life moves on, one stops listening to one album, and one startsm listening to other albums, and maybe other genres, and one forgets about certain albums.
About a year or two ago, prior to me starting this little 1001 experiment, I bumped into “Under The Bridge” on a auto generated playlist, and decided to give the album a whirl… and truth be told, I can’t recall the experience being special…

Yesterday, when this iconic album cover greeted me in the morning, I wasn’t sure what to think… and then I played the album, and I found myself sitting in my buddies car, while driving around time, talking about stupid shit that youthful people talk about, and a massive smile crossed my face.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik isn’t the greatest album in the world, however, it marked the early ‘90s, it put RHCP on the map, for better or for worse, and I have played it 3 times already today!

5* (upgraded from 4 1/2*)

The Good: Straightforward song naming; the last one on the album is called “The End”!
The Bad: Yes, a self-titled album, and it’s a freshmen endeavor!
The Ugly: It seems like the ‘60s are giving the 00’s a run for their money…

I was excited to see this album pop up, especially considering that I have already had to sit through 2 The Doors albums and I was craving Break on Through…

So yeah, three massive songs, escorted along by several songs I, quite frankly, never need to hear again…

Does this album belong on the list: YES!
Will this album get plenty of replay by me: NO!!!

3*

The Good: The sound a lark can make with it’s tongue!
The Bad: Aspic acts as an irritant, not a soothing agent…
The Ugly: That the lark was being choked while singing…

This was a first and, honestly speaking, one that I was kind of looking forward to, as I am a fan of Pink Floyd, and was curious to see what the real prog rock founders sound like.

This is not a first where, it becomes obvious, that one needs to really take the time to listen to some of these albums prior to making a judgement call. This album, for example, at first listen, gets a 2* rating, potentially lower, depending on your state of mind.
Regretfully, I haven’t had the chance to sit down and really listen to this album so that I can properly form a judgement…

So, as I am certain that the oddness factor of this album will be something to intrigue me down the road, I will reserve a 3* rating, and, once I’ve had the proper time to listen to this album, hopefully, I will re-rate this… but don’t hold your breath.

The Good: You guessed it; an album named after the artist!
The Bad: Nobody knows how to properly pronounce the name…
The Ugly: Nobody cares…

With all the lists that are floating around in the world, I still need to fully understand why this album needs listening to?
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. The style has been done by others, and much better.

Chalk the experience up to one which, though definitely preferred over rap, can be skipped with ease…

2*

The Good: We are going on a road trip, in a Vauxhall!
The Bad: I am more of an Opel kind of guy…
The Ugly: the flat tire we got 3 minutes in…

Somewhere there is a parallel universe in which I appreciate Morrissey, just haven’t found that universe.
So, I need to be grateful that this is the 4th album that includes his vocal shenanigans for me to not enjoy…

2* because I am gangster like that...

The Good: We know who we are with…
The Bad: What happens if we suffer from entomophobia?
The Ugly: Being left without the Beatles…

I was NOT looking forward to listening to this album… not because of who they are, but more because the album cover warned me that this could be a little too campy…

Boy was I wrong!

Again these four freaks from Liverpool prove they are the GOAT, and I really do my best to not like them.
There weren’t too many songs on list that looked familiar to me, so you spin the album (stream… sorry) and you realize that you’ve heard almost all of them before… Whether or not it is in movies, or tv shows, or just on the radio…

And the tunes are wonderfully short, so even if you aren’t enjoying a tune too much, it is over before you can say “what the fuck am I listening to?”!!!

FUCKERS 5*

The Good: They warn us where we are heading…
The Bad: What if we aren’t about the Stank?
The Ugly: Feeling like an outcast listening to an Outkast album…

I do my very best to always push down on Rap… but for me, Outkast, and more importantly Andre3000, isn’t rap.

Outkast is funk the way that Flea from RHCP explained what funk is all about: mixture of fun and fuck…

Anyway, can’t give the album a 5* because it is a little on the long side for me… but, I did have a funky time, so here’s to their 4*

The Good: An inquisitive album title!
The Bad: Wondering who’d like to know if we have been slayed…
The Ugly: realizing that it was a misspelling and should have read “Laid?”

Setting aside the obvious double-entendre, and the fact that at first listen this album is a little difficult to get through if you are not in the right mindset, all in all it ended up being an enjoyable treat, thanks in great part due to Janis J!

Yes, when the song Move On started playing is when I started to pay closer attention…

Still, though the album was not too shabby, and my rating of the album will be a 4* (yes, that is a spoiler alert), I can’t but wonder why it has been included on this here list?
Do you have to hear Slade before you die? Well, unless one has been in a coma every Christmas season of one’s life, one will have heard Slade with their Christmas song ad-nausea...

The Good: We’ve got an Oscar winner!
The Bad: It did not win an Oscar for best musical score…
The Ugly: It did not get nominated for a Grammy either…

I’ve said it once, I will say it twice, and might even repeate it thrice to bring across the message: not much good has been produced post 2000s, and this album, IMHO, proves my words to be wise and true…

Why do I have to listen to this “sonic exploration” of the “Indie canon”? The previous according to music critics… who also happened to rank this album as #3 between 2010-2014 according to Pitchfork… well, if they didn’t rank the album Albatross #1 the list is absolute garbage.

So, Lo-Fi… not my thing. Deerhunter, not my jam. Halcyon Digest, after three listens, not to be listened to ever again.

2* for effort, as I reserve 1* for Rap...

The Good: It isn’t nothing!
The Bad: Still don’t know if it is something…
The Ugly: Wasn’t really hoping for anything…

Is it easy listening?
Is it pop?
Is it Rock?
Is it experimental?

Todd needs to make up his mind, that’s for sure.
I am grateful that he’s been able to totally explain to me what hiss sounds like!

In good faith I can’t score this album higher than 2 1/2*, and because he’s unsure as to what the album is, that means a downgrade…

The Good: We are going on a roadtrip!
The Bad: Destination is hell...
The Ugly: We packed for a ski trip...

My wife has the title song as her ringtone, needless ti say I am familiar.
However, I had forgotten about the other songs, and what a lovely trip this has been.

I agree with many who state that Touch Too Much is the best track in the album, however, too many great songs IMHO

Easy 5*

The Good: it is my generation!
The Bad: if my generation is their generation!
The Ugly: which is not my generation…

and that is why there is stuttering on the record!

Don’t know what to think, or say, about this record.
It isn’t bad, but it isn’t my thing either.
I do really like the song My Generation, so that’s a bonus…

However, I am not the kind of person who’d listen to a The Who album over and over, so I will run of the mill them at 3*

The Good: It’s all about devotion…
The Bad: In a language I don’t understand…
The Ugly: a double album…

There really isn’t too much one needs to say about this album, except that the rhythm and cadence can bring you into a lull and make time fly.

As it is impossible to know what Nusrat is trying to tell us, I will go by him, most likely, wanting there to be world peace!

Maybe, at some point, I will listen to this album again, for now, straight down the middle 3*

To be reviewed later...
Not bad, not great either