Reviews by bow_doubt

40 albums already! (So the Generator has informed me) The time she does fly
I have the Doors down in my book as one of the most overrated bands of all time ... we shall see how this goes. Never listened to any of their albums beyond the iconic greatest hits album, with the red and white cover design. This is going to get me to listen to the famous "The End" for the first time, so that's a plus.
For the first half, I'm thinking -- this is better than I expected. Not that different, but the non-singles are better than I thought they would be. But then! The back half! Tracks 8-10 are exactly as bad as I expected them to be. So lame! And The End ... there's a reason I have always avoided it, and the reasons to avoid it are plainly evident when you listen to it. The End is actually a bit better than I thought it would be -- it drags less, flows better. But again -- they are beating modestly my quite low expectations. It doesn't really change things much.
198 stars out of 357 (docked 14 stars for, in their desperate search for things that rhyme with Fire, leaning fairly hard into Mire ... terrible!)

Every song is good. And yet -- eh. I'm not very interested in returning to this record. I think I am not a good rock band listener. It has become apparent to me more and more over the years that the more a band is just straight rock, the more I just am not interested. I think that's relevant here.
Hold the phone! Early Years is excellent. That's going into the library. Otherwise .... etc. ...
Plus -- this guy's voice sounds just like Robyn Hitchcock, whom I know well (sort of) owing to my habit of saying "Yeah, sure" whenever someone asks me if I want to go too when they're going to a concert. As a result of my friend Ben's affection for Hitchcock, I've seen him several times. It's weird to hear what sounds like his voice on this rather different music.
"When I first met you / You were not house trained" .... that's very Robyn Hitchcock ... possibly I'm on to something ...

Never actually listened to an Emmylou Harris album before, so glad to have that gap addressed. For those in a similar boat, Allmusic says that the compilation Anthology is the best single release for casual fans to go for an introduction. I'm planning to check out that and her first major label release, Pieces of the Sky.
This album ... beautiful voice, strong songs, consistently overproduced. The title track Red Dirt Girl makes it all work, but more representative is I Don't Want To Talk About It Now, where I like the music, but it doesn't fit well with the song, to my ear.
This seems like a good example of the long, slow recovery singer-songwriters were on after the "we can put a synth on that" 80s (see: Portlandia, Put a Bird On It!). Tigerlily set the industry back badly in this respect; one huge success begets many benighted imitators. Bang the Drum Slowly here is an excellent example of this blight.
My Baby ... Shepherd works well. Also J'ai fait tout.
Overall, good album, but ... too much atmospherics! Can't really get into an album with this sound.

It's fine. Don't mind hearing it, don't need to hear it again.
The jumble of sounds they incorporate are interesting, but ... it's all about songwriting. Not very memorable songs here ... they're fine.
Drug and Bess St. are pretty strong tracks. Is and Is and Is sounds like Beta Band. So, that's pretty good. Keys is pretty good ... so, a strong finish to the album. Not sure I'll ever come back to this band, though.
It it a lot like listening to one of the other Beta Band albums other than Three EPs ... solid, but you just want it to be a lot better.

Never listened to the Beach Boys with any seriousness. In the early 21st century, many indie pop bands were said by music critics to be drawing inspiration from Pet Sounds, so this seems like a good tine to listen (finally!) to that legendary album. Wikipedia says Surfs Up is their 17th (!) album. That's 17 in 10 years -- Holy moley! Different times.
Ok, now having listened ... The Groop employs a diverse array of sophisticated arrangements and production techniques in order to achieve a consistent outcome ... I will borrow here a memorable line by Monie Love -- "Just one word describes your whole life: It Sucks."
When I started listening to Pandora in the late aughts, I discovered all these indie pop bands I didn't know anything about. And the critics' descriptions often would reference Pet Sounds, and Beach Boys records of that era, as sources or inspirations. I was always skeptical -- how does a band that records undeniably catchy singles that are so juvenile as to be lame and ridiculous have any bearing on a cool 21st century band? But of course, that description applies to the Beatles who saw her standing there and wanted to hold her hand in consequence as much as it does the Beach Boys who enjoined us all to join them in a grand bout of surfing. And all those bands evolved ... Who, Kinks, Stones, Animals, Byrds ... it was that or wither away (looking at you, Yardbirds -- and the Byrds and the Animals ultimately). So ...I was open to the theoretical possibility of a Beach Boys' Sgt Pepper's or whatever. The problem, I think, was that the Beach Boys grew up to be Burt Bacharach (another pop icon-dinosaur who had a curious nostalgia-fueled revival in the early 21st century), so -- not a good path. I would like now to formally announce my desire to call bullshit on all those music critics. This album sucks, and Pet Sounds is boring, too.

Good of its kind, I guess. I must say that The Corner is quite good. But. Overall I found the album tedious and kept checking to see how much longer there was to go until it was over. The long tail of It's Your World is really good. It makes a good counterpoint to this, which i wrote before getting to the album's conclusion:
Serves as a good illustration of why I gave up on hip hop in the late 90s, as a genre that seemed determined to resist rhe temptations of imaginative self-reinvention.

Enjoyable album ... this recording was obviously tailored to the international commercial market, and the constraints that puts on what is possible artistically are unmistakable and felt throughout.
The energy level lifts dramatically when we get to Mbube, easily the best song here; it's not an accident that that song became famous. Interesting that it's called Mbube here and Wimoweh elsewhere.
I'm curious what else she was able to achieve, perhaps in the 70s, when the market shifted toward deeper engagement with the specific sounds of individual cultures.

I have been aware since the mid 80s, when my older brother brought home the VU and Nico record, that as good worshipers at the church of Rock, we are supposed to revere or at least honor the Velvet Underground. But I have never really enjoyed their music. Some of the tracks I like pretty well, and I really like Lou Reed's live album, Rock and Roll Animal, which is made up of VU songs. But ... thin and unpleasant tends to be my feeling about the VU I've listened to.
I've never listened to this album before. It's interesting, in terms of seeing how this is a source of inspiration for future dissonant / noisy rock practitioners. The connection between Sister Ray, for example, and early Modern Lovers as well as Stereolab's Random Transient etc. .... seems unmistakable.
I've always thought of their albums as poorly recorded. Reading a little bit about this album and their catalog generally, it seems like the poor sound quality is kind of intentional, like a proto-DIY aesthetic. Not sure that makes it a good idea.
I'm going on to listen to The Velvet Underground, which I have also never listened to before. It's pretty good. Overall, though, my appreciation for this band is getting a modest boost, while my appetite for listening to them just really isn't.

This is an all time classic rock album. One of the rare legendary rock albums that lives up to its reputation. When I first listened to it in high school, I was all about side one. Side two seemed much less interesting. Now, I don't want to listen to this album very much, but Black Dog holds up as an excellent song of its kind. And Rock n Roll is still exciting. But the songs I still really enjoy are Going to California and most of all, When the Levee Breaks. That one is still a truly great song for me. On Apple music, and presumably also on Spotify, there is a deluxe edition with one alternate version of each song. They're pretty good and worth a listen.

Never listened to a Steviw Wonder album before. I tend to think of him only in terms of singles. This is a good album. I listened to it in the background a few times 8mes, so not that closely. But, it grew on me. I really like the two funky songs, Reggae Women and You Haven’t Done Nothin. At first I dismissed the rest as boring, meandering 70s pop of the kind that gave the 70s a bad name, like a premium version of Captain and Tenille or something. But I think it's better than that, though still not something I would seek out. Solid work, Little Stevie.

Impeccably crafted trash.
Kind of fun to listen to an album and know every song from the radio, but .... come on.
I do enjoy listening to trashy 70s rock hits at times, and this reminded me that there are a number of songs I could add to my Super Seventies playlist, but ... again, that's an ironic / nostalgic activity, not a savoring of immortal classics.

Remind me again .. is the book's full title 1001 Albums of Modest Interest to Those So Inclined ... ? The official description of this album compares it to Green Day's Dooky. Some people whom I respect like that album, but having been trapped in a car for like five hours this one time in the mid-late 90s with a guy who was really into Blink 182 and Green Day and stuff ... my generosity of spirit is gone, leaving only rage and hostility. Plus which, all these semi-punky California boys with their cleanly produced, aggressive schlock ... again, hostility. Thumbs down. And I really mean it!
I do remember the lead single, Come Out and Play, from hearing it on the radio back in the days in question. It's pretty good, I have to admit.

Whyyy -- ?!?!? As one of my colleagues has already stated, Enough metal!
No, thank you. Gave up after 5 songs.

I'm very hit or miss with dissonant guitar rock, and my limited interactions with Frank Black have left me thinking of his music as loud, abrasive, boring, and unpleasant. This album was much better than that, and I even liked two of the songs. But I won't be listening to it again.

The funk of "Funk Music Sho Nuff (etc)" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" is revelatory. Great stuff. The rest is a mixed bag of pretty good soul pop or whatever. The quality varies. The strings don't go with the funk. I was ready to be blown away as I listened to Papa, but it was largely disappointing after that. That said, good album overall. There's something for everyone, and therefore few will be fully happy with it.

As soon as I heard the opening notes, I knew I would not like this album. I don't know what gear is involved, but I hate that guitar sound. Kind of exciting and energizing, if you want this, but I don't.

I get why people were excited about Amy W when she stormed onto the scene. There is an unending appetite for neo-soul. I tend not to love soul music ... in its truest form, it has an odd flow that makes me restless, despite its obvious appeal. Small doses, for me. I never felt the perofrmances matched the excitement around Amy Winehouse, tragic self-destructive life story or not. This album is interesting, but ... I just don't want to listen to it that much. I like the variety, the jazzy touches are a nice element. I was not prepared for the album to sound so much like Jamiroquai. In the end, just an ok, fine album for me. Not loving it.

S and the B's was a band I knew of but never listened to during high school. They were from just before my time ... some of my older brother's cooler friends liked them. I have long had a sense that they were more important to the quickly evolving post-punk scene in real time than for any recordings they left behind. In other words, influential in a way that the albums will never really capture. And listening to this, I thought, maybe they were a powerful live act. In terms of, why some think of them as a major band and others of us barely know them. Maybe they just didn't have enough hit singles or signature songs to resonate in later decades.
Anyway ... first time listening to one of their albums. I was not feeling it until I was (Monitor -- that song is really good. Gets really good. It takes off in its second half). Then I started digging Sin In My Heart, Voodoo Dolly, Spellbound 12"mix, Fireworks ... and next thing I knew I was listening to it all again. Second time around, I liked Spellbound (regular mix), Arabian Knights, Head Cut ... and it all seemed to work for me.
So much of my listening in high school was by chance -- what I happened to find and give a try that was priced at $1.99 - $3.99 in the used lp's. As a result, lots of what I listened to was a bit older. I went through a phase where I listened to a solid amount of Ultravox (Vienna and the albums before it, which are different, more akin to Gary Numan, Devo, etc.). If I had acquired this album then, I would have really liked it.
As it stands, there is not a lot of space in my life for synth rock for disaffected young people. Glad I listened to it, though. An empty spot on my music map has been filled in.

So many Kinks albums, so many songs that are ... fine. So few truly distinctive or exceptional ones. Waterloo Sunset is a wonderful song. I love that song. But ... there's just not that much here to make me want to listen to this album again.
I am very fond of the Kinks. One of my first concerts was seeing them in downtown Boston on the Think Visual tour. Grew up hearing them on the radio and liking them. But when I go through their classic albums, I'm generally disappointed. It's like Squeeze -- you already know all the good songs. The albums just add filler.
That said, knowing David Watts initially through the Jam's cover, it was interesting to listen to it. Good song. Not sure I ever got around to listening to the Kinks original before. And it was interesting to hear the way, at a pretty early date (1967), they were writing songs that drew on a variety of styles. One song reminded me of Sky Children by Kaleidoscope (which I only know through a friend being very into 60s psychedelia), another of the Who (mod version), another of the Who (Tommy edition), one seemed derived from the Irish folk song Raggle Taggle Gipsy ... they jumped from You Really Got Me to rock as the musical form that can imitate all other forms very quickly. That is really interesting. But ... two really good songs, a bunch of ok ones, mediocre sound engineering, no really hot playing or soloing ... insert familiar bewildered questions about the list ...

I came to the Smiths well after the party had wrapped up, so they don't have intense personal whathaveyou and etc for me. But they are really, really good, and their combination of pop craft and loopy idiosyncratic strangeness adds up to real artistry. At the same time, I pretty much only listen to them on curated lists because the great songs almost without exception sit beside the clunkers. They are truly consistently inconsistent.
This album is obviously anchored by Girlfriend in a Coma, a great song. For me, the other two great songs here are Death At One's Elbow and Rush and a Push. (I love the way the song titles are usually either ridiculously short or cumbersomely long and unwieldy.) It seems that other listeners tend to value some of the other songs more. I think I listen to the Smiths through Johnny Marr and then secondarily whatever Morrissey is doing, and I suspect others tend to focus more heavily on Morrissey. That might account for the difference in assessing this album as well as others.
What was cool here was hearing the Other Songs again and realizing that most of them are better than I had remembered. Odd, meandering, but finding their way. This is a better album than I had thought. (Thansk, 1001 Album Generator!)
That said, Johnny Marr's heart often doesn't seem to be in it. (Which may have literally been the case; they broke up shortly after htis album came out, and I believe he initiated the breakup.) The music often sounds perfunctory, just filling in around whatever Morrissey is doing. And the sound / production is generally flat, even by their standards.
On that note: The Smiths' recordings were dogged by inferior sound quality throughout their run. There is a box set, Complete Smiths, that addresses that problem effectively with remasters that are much more dynamic and alive sounding. Also, this is a band that recorded lots of singles and released many compilations -- the songs are scattered all over the place, often repeating, often in alternate versions. It is confusing and frustrating. On Complete, you get a song once and there it is. Much better way to go through the catalog.