Reviews by callimar

I knew Dr. Dre as Eminem's producer, but like all producers, he also wanted to be a good musician and therefore released something under his own name at some point. To cut to the chase: he would have been better off not doing that. It's not for nothing that Dre is known for his beats, but not for his lyrics or his “singing.” Yes, I realize that in the early 90s there was a market for lyrics on the level of pubescent teenagers—but I won't go into that further. What you could expect even back then, however, was a somewhat finished album with some noteworthy output besides the rhythm tracks. What we have here, however, is 62 minutes of backing tracks with, for some inexplicable reason, unedited vulgar conversations between some rather immature guys.
This would be my starting point for a list of 1001 albums to avoid until you die.

The Mama's And The Papa's = more music that I've heard enough of in my life.
After listening to a lot of music from the 60s during this project (my Spotify profile already says I'm 74), I actually understand the folk rock hype of that era very well. Still, I find this sound a bit boring after a while. “Monday, Monday” and “Go Where You Wanna Go” are still good songs, but certainly not timeless. The latter, however, applies to “California Dreamin',” which is indeed brilliant.
Another album that should be heard, but not necessarily listened to repeatedly.

I should have discovered this album much earlier! I had heard of Hanoi Rocks and remember seeing the cover a few times (I was even familiar with some of Michael Monroe's solo work), but I never felt the need to listen to the album.
“Malibu Beach Nightmare” and the first few songs sound like a European punk rock band from the early 80s with a touch of new wave (which Hanoi Rocks probably were at the time). But then, starting with “Until I Get You,” the band really finds its own style, and I recognize some ideas that are strongly reminiscent of the early works of Guns n' Roses. This is exactly the missing link between punk rock and glam rock that I've been missing until now—now it all makes sense!
It would have been a shame not to know this album before I die!

Sometimes expectations influence one's assessment. I am very fond of Ray Charles and was therefore looking forward to this album. However, “The Genius of Ray Charles” is not particularly outstanding among Ray's recordings. The mediocre arrangements and poor production (for a Ray Charles album—still good for its time!) have been mentioned by critics, but I think the biggest weakness is the selection of songs, which resemble those of any Broadway singer. As a result, Ray Charles doesn't really come into his own. Two songs are noteworthy: “Am I Blue” and “Let The Good Times Roll.”
I expected to give a Ray Charles album 5 stars, but for me this one is “only” 4+.

Finally, the first great album of this year! Cheap Thrills is Janis Joplin's last album with Big Brother & The Holding Company and includes her signature song “Piece of My Heart.” It features a slightly overexcited Janis (during her solo career she developed an even stronger, somewhat clearer voice) and the well-known Hendrix-style band. This makes me think once again that it would have been only natural for Janis and Jimi to team up - if they had only lived through the 70s...

Rather than a number of different songs, "Tago Mago" comprises a psychedelic and widely instrumental sound collection where more experimental parts mark the beginning and the end of each track. Although the middle parts are kind of similar (I guess they're all the same key but didn't check), to me it doesn't get boring.
Overall, I'd describe Can as in the ballpark of King Crimson but without the atmosphere (which makes KC truly stand out).

Wikipedia says “Heaux Tales” is R&B and hip-hop—basically everything I don't need. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised right at the beginning by a tasteful vocal arrangement. Unfortunately, this good impression is destroyed in most of the other songs by the pointlessly monotonous electro beats that were probably necessary for the hip-hop label. A pure vocal album by Jazmine Sullivan, on the other hand, could have been really good.
Still not quite my cup of tea, but it could have been much worse!

“Ágætis Byrjun” is undoubtedly Sigur Rós' best-known work. This type of ambient rock bears witness to a time when rock music was seeking a path beyond retro trends, and in fact, a year later, I made very similar music with a Norwegian band I was friends with.
From today's perspective, it was a mediocre experiment, but at the time it felt interesting, at least. In that sense, “Ágætis Byrjun” is still enjoyable to listen to today, but mainly as easy listening music in the background. On the other hand, it's worth knowing because Sigur Rós' ideas were later taken up and developed further by bands like Coldplay and Muse.
How do you rate an influential but mediocre album? I guess it's 5 for influence and 3 for quality, so 4 in total.

What makes this project interesting is the fact that, despite all your musical training, you always come across albums you don't know yet. This is almost always the case in the country music sector, because this style is practically irrelevant here in Europe.
There are, of course, a few exceptions, and Emmylou Harris is possibly one of them - at least I was familiar with her name. “Pieces of the Sky” marks something of a breakthrough for her, and the album is actually not bad. Her voice is well showcased, and the arrangements of the songs (which are typically monotonous for country music) contain a few eye-catchers.
It's not a bad way to go.

“American Gothic” is undoubtedly heavy stuff. David Ackles' songs are not that inaccessible, but they don't quite come together to form a coherent whole. One moment it sounds like Broadway and even briefly reminds us of Frank Sinatra with its vocal range, the next moment we find ourselves in musical theater à la Kurt Weill. Some lyrics are wonderfully dark, others lose themselves in naïve, explicit triviality.
This album could have been so much, but in the end it's just an astonishing experiment by Ackles and Bernie Taupin. It's actually impossible to evaluate it meaningfully. But it's impossible not to, so it gets 3 stars.

Yes, of course contemporary artists also belong on this list. In that sense, Lorde was probably inevitable. According to Wikipedia, she is a singer-songwriter, and as long as she sticks to that (e.g., in “Liability”), it's reasonably listenable and her unusual voice comes into its own. Unfortunately, most of the tracks are accompanied by random electronic beats, and Lorde sings in registers where she doesn't sound so good. Much of it reminds me of Björk—a respectable artist, but one whose music I don't usually like.

“Hypnotized” is a professional but otherwise unremarkable punk pop album. Feargal Sharkey is a pretty good singer, the band doesn't just strum chords, and the production is fine. But what The Undertones lack are good songs or truly inspiring ideas. It sounds like a music school band that is professionally coached but stands for nothing. Irrelevant.

The Tom Tom Club makes it easy for me to rate them this time. The very first song, “Wordy Rappinghood,” combines everything that's annoying about new wave: uninspired and monotonous sequencer drums? Check! Sequencer bass? Check (although I've heard worse)! Pointlessly affected, children's song-like vocals with falsetto? Check (even with totally annoying overemphasis on “1” & “3” – that was probably really intended to get on the listener's nerves).
This is followed by “Genius of Love,” which, according to Wikipedia, was also a big hit—but it also says that “Tom Tom Club” is a funk album.
Let me put it this way: after listening to this album, I understand better why so many people don't want to listen to 80s music anymore.

I find ska in general, and The Specials in particular, really exciting in terms of their background and cultural significance. However, most ska bands, and The Specials in particular, make a type of music that I just don't find exciting. Ultimately, Two Time is not much more than punk rock with a few extra instruments, but without the energy of the original.
Still, it's worth giving it a listen.

This is the third David Bowie album that has been suggested to me as part of this project, and the third that doesn't blow me away. I'm sure he has some great albums, but “The Next Day” isn't one of them. It sounds a bit like an aging rock star in his 60s recording a few more songs—and that's exactly what it is. It's not bad, but you're not missing much if you haven't heard this album.

“Goo" by Sonic Youth actually starts promisingly with “Dirty Boots.” As it progresses, however, the usual weaknesses of 90s alternative rock come to the fore: the same riffs over and over again (because they're afraid of real hooks), the hectic drums (because, for some inexplicable reason, the eighth notes stay on the hi-hat even in uptempo songs), undefined bass (so that it doesn't sound like new wave) and whiny vocals (to avoid metal associations). You can do all that, but in the long run it just gets annoying.
There are some better tracks in between, e.g. “Kool Thing,” but overall it's just mediocre.

“Urban Hits” by The Verve is one of those albums that there are far too many of: one big hit – “Bittersweet Symphony” – and otherwise insignificant. Of course, what is insignificant is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, it refers to Britpop of the most average kind – and Britpop is not the most exciting genre of music in itself.
Not bad but boring.

It seems as if every single rock ‘n’ roll album from the 1950s is legendary—at least the ones on this list.
Against this backdrop, I find it really difficult to give a meaningful review. Yes, this is Elvis' debut and it starts off great with “Blue Suede Shoes.” Then there are other songs, but does anyone want to know about them? I don't think so.
Did I mention the iconic cover artwork?

I find Christmas albums generally somewhat dubious, as few of them achieve any relevant creative depth. “A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector” is not one of these commendable exceptions, but rather, in my opinion, one of those arbitrary releases for the Christmas season. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't see why this particular album should be any better than any other Christmas album from the last 60 years. It's fine to do that, but not within the scope of this project.

Wow, “There's A Riot Goin' On” sounds different from “Stand!”, which was released two years earlier and which I already had the pleasure of reviewing. It's funkier, edgier, and somehow more grown-up, which is both good and bad news, because the flower power-esque naivety was definitely one of the qualities that made “Stand!” so great. While I like the stronger funk influence, I don't like the totally flat sound of the drum machines at all. Together with the (by funk standards) extremely soft bass sound, the whole groove becomes blurred unless you use sufficiently powerful speakers—I was able to correct this here, but it's actually a weakness of the production, especially since the monotonous drum patterns also annoy me after a while.
Since there are no real earcatchers either, I consider “Riot” a clear step backward compared to “Stand!”.