Reviews by callimar

“Sweet Baby James” by James Taylor is just as sweetly naive as the title suggests. This album probably fulfills all the clichés associated with singer-songwriters: it consists of naive poems about the author himself—more specifically, about how he felt at certain moments—which he sings himself over predictable chord progressions. What perhaps sets it apart from many others is that James Taylor is a fairly talented singer and that, despite their simplicity, the songs were professionally produced and recorded. On a positive note, you can't tell how old “Sweet Baby James” is—apart from a few wobbles in “Anywhere like Heaven,” which would certainly have been corrected before release after the advent of hard disk recording. Oh, and the last two minutes of "Suite for 20G" are nice - that's the way to play these songs!

I already mentioned that I find the sheer number of synth pop/new wave albums from the early 80s on this list annoying. However, if an act from this genre is to be mentioned, then Eurythmics' “Sweet Dreams” is a good choice. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart are simply great musicians and on this album, even the songs apart from the well known singles are worth a listen.
Still not exactly my cup of tea but this is as good as synth based new wave gets.

“Moving Pictures” is high on my list of albums that you absolutely must hear. In my opinion, Rush is one of the greatest bands of all time, and this album is their most important work. The only thing better is seeing them live—Rush are also a trio on stage, and even more spectacular than Neil Pearts elaborate and ultra-precise drumming and Alex Lifeson's super-wide guitar sound is Geddy Lee, who actually manages to handle vocals, bass, and keyboards without missing a beat...
Back to the topic: Among the seven monumental songs, I would particularly like to highlight “Tom Sawyer” and “YYZ”. Oh, and don't forget "Limelight"! And did I mention “The Camera Eye” and “Vital Signs”? "Red Barchetta" is also worth a mention, of course, just like the brilliant "Witch Hunt".
I think you get the idea: literally every minute of “Moving Pictures” is rock history. Jack Black likes that.

“Groovin'” by The Young Rascals is a standard 60s rock album, but it contains a few unusual elements, e.g.: “...A Girl Like You” swings, “I Don't Love You Anymore” is inspired by Latin rhythms, while “A Place In The Sun” exudes reggae vibes. None of this is particularly exciting, but for me, the aforementioned special features fit remarkably well into the Rascals' sound and songs—something that, in my opinion, often goes wrong with other bands. Since the other songs are anything but bad, the band is simply very musical and does its job very well, this album is thoroughly enjoyable. I knew The Young Rascals by name, but this was still a pleasant surprise.

The The sound like any other early 80s synth pop/new wave band. “Soul Mining” isn't really bad, but it doesn't contain much that is still worth mentioning 40 years later. By the fourth song (i.e. during “Uncertain Smile,” which at least contains a not entirely predictable piano solo), the repetitive straight groove starts to get on your nerves. The following “The Twilight Hour” and "Soul Mining" finally break with this and are probably meant to sound dramatic, but come across as rather cute due to the idiosyncratic keyboards.
I've heard worse, but in the end, “Soul Mining” is just another new wave album without a noteworthy hit single.

“I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” by Richard & Linda Thompson is practically the definition of cultivated boredom. Technically, everything is clean and neat, the production is absolutely professional... but nothing noteworthy happens. Wikipedia says it was “never commercially successful and critically ignored upon its release,” which is not surprising at all. From the perspective of the authors of “1001 Albums...”, it still seems to have a certain relevance, but the best I can say about this recording is that there is really nothing bad or annoying about it. Easiest listening, so to speak.

Muddy Waters is the grand master of Chicago blues, and his recording from Newport Jazz 1960 shows him at his best. Every track is strong, the arrangements are mature, Mr. Waters is completely confident in his performance, and even the recording is technically good (for its time). An album can't really get much better than this, at least not from the mainstream perspective of this project. If you also like Chicago blues (like me), then this album leaves nothing to be desired.

How should this album be fairly evaluated? The problem with some nu metal was never really the music, but rather the attitude that accompanied it, namely the transfer of the victim narrative typical of rap to a group of people who were not marginalized at all. Even if it only falls under nu metal in the broadest sense, “Devil Without a Cause” is a good example of this: not a bad production, but so heavily conceived by white trash for white trash that a clear-thinking person simply cannot identify with it. Added to this is the fact that everything Kid Rock has done has aged extremely badly against the backdrop of political developments over the last 25 years.
All of this is a shame, because the people involved certainly did not lack musical talent. But I simply want nothing to do with this extreme combination of chauvinism and hostility toward education.

With this project, I am constantly struck by how many of the albums listed contain just one big hit and have little else of note to offer. I actually prefer to engage with entire albums, so I always find this somewhat disappointing.
In the case of “Bookends,” there's “Mrs. Robinson” and a little bit (the album isn't even 30 minutes long!) of folk pop of acceptable quality. But as I said, that's just the standard..

Wow, finally a band that incorporates art rock elements without sounding completely weird! Interestingly, I wasn't familiar with Pulp before, but I would have loved to listen to “Different Class” in the 90s, which I found rather disappointing musically. The Britpop-esque basic sound would probably have annoyed me at some point, but the album is really not bad and even reasonably varied. Two or three catchy songs would have done it good, but otherwise it's very decent.
I've always rounded up 3.5 stars, and I'll do that again now.

Public Enemy again... Chuck D. claims that “Fear of a Black Planet” was "a deep, complex album". Objectively speaking, that's certainly an exaggeration, but it's certainly true when compared to its predecessor, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” which I reviewed recently. The “development” essentially consists of the fact that the samples typical of PE are no longer used only selectively, but actually continuously. I can't say for sure whether this is an improvement. To my ears, the sound has changed from empty to intrusive; the sweet spot would probably have been somewhere in between.
What I did notice, however, are the samples based on distorted guitars, which point the way to the monumental Judgement Night soundtrack (are there actually people who have seen the movie?) three years later.
Where was Public Enemy when that was recorded?
Back to the topic: “Fear of a Black Planet” isn't particularly annoying for hip hop. However, it provides little justification for why two Public Enemy albums are on the list.

I think Chamber Pop is okay, just like “A Short Album About Love.” Of course, it has an old-fashioned—or revival—sound and offers no innovation whatsoever. But still, The Divine Comedy did a thoroughly professional job with the production, and the album never gets boring, even though it leans more toward easy listening. It's worth a listen. Whether it's a must-hear, I'm not so sure.

CHIC created the baseline for "Another One Bites The Dust" - as can be heard in "Good Times", the first song on "Risqué. The rest of the album is not very remarkable, but OK to listen to. For me, this is more or less the definition of average in the given context.

I find it hard to rate Lynyrd Skynyrd as I like their style - e.g. the simple but non-standard harmonic structures as in "Simple Man", their overall groove as in "Poison Whiskey", their guitar playing as in "Free Bird" or the piano arrangements as in "Things Goin' On" - but there is not a single song that I distinctly like. I cannot even say why - maybe it's due to the country vibe that blurs every good idea through repetition before drowning it in clichees or due to their lyrics that I just cannot relate to.
Still a good album.

I'm not really doing this...
Contemporary R&B is not my favorite but as Destiny's Child were the favorite of my then girlfriend, I know a bit about this band. Their strengths were their gospel choir like call and response singing - the best example here being "Nasty Girl", where they cite the slut shaming they had experienced as black girls growing up in Texas (kind of the"Money for Nothing" way) - and their innovation on the rythm side of things. Unfortunately, the latter is only slightly audible on "Survivor" - the good examples are on its predecessor "Writing's on the Wall".
That said, once more the wrong album made the list.

“The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators” features a more or less classic four-piece band and an electric jug. This actually makes sense, as the band play their 60s psychedelic rock pretty well and Tommy Hall fills in his jug like a virtuoso - the middle part of "Roller Coaster" is a great example of this. Many of the songs - take e.g. "You're Gonna Miss Me", or "You Don't Know" would work without the jug but are indeed enhanced by its use.
Unfortunately, to my knowledge, Tommy Hall is the only person who has achieved world fame in this way, and so knowledge of the musical use of the electric jug has been largely lost today. However, the bubbling of my espresso maker, which is not yet quite synchronized, shows me that the potential is still there.
Let anyone say that reality is only for people who can't handle drugs!

Just like "More Specials" that I already reviewed a few weeks ago, "The Specials" is a nice-ish ska/two tone album. In comparison, this first album is more naive and more on the ska side of things. And just like the later album, it is not too special. Anyway, I do not think you must have heard both.

My rating distribution demands more 2-star ratings. “Playing With Fire” by Spacemen 3 is a good opportunity to improve in this respect, as it's simply too boring to be bad. I played it in the bathroom this morning, and every time after I couldn't hear it, e.g., because of my electric toothbrush, it sounded exactly the same as before. Wikipedia classifies this record as psychedelic rock, which isn't technically wrong, but for me it's ambient, but created with real instruments. Much ado about nothing, so to speak.

For me, “Sound Affects” by The Jam is an album that delivers exactly what the cover promises: a collage of different musical approaches of the time, connected by extensive jamming and... well, sonic escapades. The whole thing isn't badly produced, it's easy to listen to, but none of the eleven songs really stick in your mind. I can well imagine that The Jam were great fun live, but on record it's... OK.

“Innervisions” is—well, simply a good Stevie Wonder album. His voice is great as always. I like the funk grooves as well as the harmonic structures of the songs, some of which (“Too High,” “Higher Ground”) are outstanding and the others are at least good. For me, he could step on the gas a bit more overall, but that's criticism at a pretty high level, of course. Besides, through the one album per day project, I'm learning that most listeners apparently like it quieter than I do.
Can't complain about that. For me, it's 4.5 stars.