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Matt Johnson's dark, confessional synth-pop is nicer than the genre usually allows. Harmonica, piano, accordion, and sax give it real organic warmth under the Fairlight textures, and "This Is the Day" is a genuinely lovely, bittersweet anthem that has aged well. The piano work from Jools Holland on "Uncertain Smile" is the highlight for any keyboard player.

It's a pleasant listen that creates no pull. Nothing here is something you'd reach for on your own, and the introspective, downbeat register keeps it at a polite distance, the same ceiling that held Sade and Scritti Politti.

A respectful three: well made, easy to like, easy to leave on the shelf.

A genuine feat. Oldfield was 19 when he recorded most of it himself, playing over twenty instruments and layering them through multitrack overdubbing, and the record became the first release on Virgin and the foundation of that whole empire. Two side-long instrumental pieces build from repeating minimalist figures that slowly accumulate and transform. The opening piano motif is famous for good reason, and the Hammond and Farfisa lines threaded through the piece are worth hearing for any organ player.

The respect is real, and so is the distance. This is layered repetition rather than groove, with no vocals and no rhythm section in the funk or soul sense, so it never generates the pull that earns a return visit. It lands in the same place as The Yes Album and Can: admired, not reached for. The one-man-band achievement and the warmth of the instrumentation keep it from feeling sterile, but not enough to move it up.

A respectful three for a landmark that is easier to admire than to love.

The band's final studio album, and the warmest and most song-driven of their run. Mark Lanegan's whiskey-and-gravel baritone is the main event, and George Drakoulias's roots-rock production adds acoustic guitars, strings, and organ under the amplifiers, with some Neil Young and 60s psych DNA showing through. It's a long way from the abrasion that sank Mudhoney, and "All I Know" and "Dying Days" are the kind of songs that make the case for the band.

It's fine without being grabbing. The craft and Lanegan's voice are real, but nothing here generates enough pull to earn a return visit, and the 90s alt-rock frame sits a little outside where your listening lives now. Lanegan's death in 2022 adds some weight to hearing him sing, but not enough to change the rating.

A respectful three: well made, nicely sung, and easy to leave on the shelf.

A Pacific Northwest garage-pop band in Revolutionary War costumes, famous from their TV work and fronted by Mark Lindsay, with Terry Melcher producing. “Kicks” is the reason to hear it: a snarling, confident anti-drug single that still holds up, with enough Northwest R&B grit to show there was more to the band than the costumes.
The rest reads as a hybrid Beatles/Beach Boys wannabe. It isn’t bad, but it sits in the shadow of the 1966 icons it’s imitating. The pop polish is there without the depth, and it’s the same pattern as Face to Face: a strong single surrounded by period material.
A respectful three. Fun for what it is, but not nearly as good as the bands it was chasing.

A sprawling double album from Stills's band Manassas, organized in four thematic sides that move through different styles. Chris Hillman and Al Perkins bring the country and bluegrass connection, Paul Harris is on keys, and Joe Lala's percussion runs through the whole record. The best description is a melting pot rather than any single genre. The percussion adds rhythmic texture across the styles but doesn't make it a Latin record.

The musicianship and harmonies are the strength. The band plays loose and tight at once, and the vocal blends are great throughout. The country and bluegrass side lands softer than the rest, and the record is at its best when it returns to the blues, where Stills's guitar and the band's chemistry are most alive.

There are no major hits here. That's the honest limitation: a band record rather than a singles record, and one where the double album length asks for some forgiveness, like Something/Anything? and Electric Ladyland before it. The four-side structure helps, since each side has its own mood and can be taken in pieces.

A four that the playing, the harmonies, and the blues earn, held just short of five by the lack of standout moments and the stretches that didn't connect.