Reviews by bt1001quest

Opening track sounds like an exact 50/50 Def Leppard/Deep Purple castoff. It's pretty fun IG, same goes for the following tracks "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Card Game" and certified white people national anthem "Squidward on a Chair." After that we get into some really bad territory with some horrible Ozzy and Def Leppard worship tracks that should have been left in 1986

In all seriousness though, Richie Sambora really elevates this- he is a fantastic guitarist. "Wanted Dead Or Alive" is this band's crowning achievement, one of the best glam rock tracks of the decade.

Some records are deserving of critical re-assessment when the pop culture zeitgeist dies down. I am not so sure this is one of them. I don't need to hear "Shake it Off" or "Bad Blood" ever again.

I gave it a chance- I can admit that "Style" is a pretty great track, with a lot going on in the mix. Very Carly Rae Jepsen.

It's not a bad album- it's a standard pop record with filler making up a good portion of the tracklist. Thanks for spoiling the run of 4 and 5s, Taylor.

Extremely complex, yet still expertly grounded. "Nude" is a stunning ambient pop gem, "Weird Fishes" is this Midwest emo meets Krautrock explosion of bright pastel color, the uber-downtempo "All I Need." The entire thing is really striking and ultimately their most beautiful album.

I see the light on this album. It is a landmark art rock record for the 2000s as a decade. It distills what makes this band special into a very tight listening experience devoid of any real filler or less seen through aspects.

Pretty iconic stamp of a record that defines the American mid-80s and the headspace of the people at that time, from its iconic Annie Leibovitz cover photo to its infusion of synthesizers and maximalist 80s production (which may not be perfect but certainly recognizable). A pretty huge risk on Bruce's part to really take a bite out of the trendy sounds of the time, but he really gets them correct, especially on the synthpop "Dancing in the Dark," proto-Orbison revival "I'm on Fire," and the tejano rock "I'm Goin' Down."

Didn't last long before I hit another landmark album on this list. It's actually insane how amazing each song is here. The performances really contribute to the entire album's flow and memorability, in addition to the catchy-ass choruses everywhere! If I had to pick a favorite, it's probably unexpectedly the deep track "Home At Last" with its infectious rhythm and out-of-this-world smooth guitar solo. I love this band so much now.

40 minutes of very fun punk rock. The attitude is loose, but not the production or the performances, which are stellar. I look forward to looking further into this band- had no idea they were Scandinavian! Key track here was the immensely catchy "Zillion Dollar Sadist"

Iconic art rock record that works in essentially every aspect. Hypnotic, beautiful, epic, pastoral alike. The gorgeous ballad "And Dream of Sheep" and march-tempoed "Cloudbusting" are my favorite two tracks.

Jazz rap's response to Public Enemy. Is this the worst great band name of all time, or the best terrible band name of all time? The lyrics are good, and beats alright, but I don't feel like Michael Franti really gets himself out of the hole that his repetitive, dated, monotone flow puts him in

She sounds so much like Karen O on this record it's kind of insane. I like the folksy/indie vibe she was going for here, but I don't think the songwriting was as strong overall here as it was on SFTCSFTS, where each track had a catchy chorus or strong instrumental part of some kind

ITS DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE

"Step On" is a neat track, but the rest of the album does not leave any impression, often feeling repetitive and a tad obnoxious (i.e. the Eurodance vocal samples that randomly pop up 2/3 through????)

Every record I hear by the almighty Zep, I am reminded that they are one of the greatest bands ever. Not a poor song to be found on this one. My favorites are "What Is and What Should Never Be," with its fuzzy, soft-rock solo, "Thank You" with its warbling, almost classical-sounding organ, and the classic riff duo tracks "Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid"

I like JT and the album is nice overall, especially its contributions from Janet Jackson and Timbaland, but there's a lot of filler here. I think any one of his next three records probably would have been better inclusions.

Engaging, melodic, and upbeat alt rock that is easily relistenable due to its perfect length.

"The Fly" and "Mysterious Ways" are pretty good, but the de-accentuation of The Edge makes the record ultimately very blah to me

Scattered thoughts:

- "Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder" had me laughing several times. Very funny parody of doo-wop.
- The whole thing is actually pretty standard psych rock, produced well, sung well, and played well, with little bits of weirdness creeping in. Zappa always did just enough to show you he really could have been commercially successful, but just chose not to/avoided it intentionally. This album really exemplifies that.
- "How Could I Be Such a Fool?" is great. Could totally see Teddy Pendergrass or somebody singing it.
- The last three tracks are where things get really weird. "Help I'm a Rock" has this nervous free-form jazz energy. Still pretty funny, though, and same with the following a capella track (lol) especially "GONNA GET A TV DINNER AND COOK IT UP." "Monster Magnet," however, is so strange that it's somewhat scary, which I imagine was the intent.

Overall, very enjoyable experimental rock record. Ween would not exist without stuff like this.

Without the spoken word parts, this might have been good. I get that they are meant to be satirical, but they still aren't funny in spite of that. Plus, the humor of the lyrics is very much lost on me, and his lounge lizard-meets-David Bowie vocals get old by track 4.

Fantastic opener followed by one of the greatest pop songs ever written ("Solsbury Hill"). The rest of the album, while never bad, is a mess of non-cohesive ideas, ranging from very lovely ambient pop ("Humdrum") to epic prog ("Here Comes the Flood") with some less great tracks in between. He would find his sound more definitively later on.

Pretty great songwriting- not a whole lot melodically so I am kind of uninterested overall, but you'd be a fool to deny he was a talented lyricist and guitarist.

A lovely techno record that feels like it bridges the gap between the Pet Shop Boys, the Art of Noise, and Aphex Twin. "Donkey Doctor" is probably the best track, but the sounds throughout are all successful.

So flagrantly unappealing- non-melodious and repetitive, overlong and dated. The instrumentals were weak. The verses were so uncharismatic. The gimmick works when the entire WTC are together. Favoring one member over the rest results in tedious garbage like this