Reviews by conorr90

Great album, with several really well written songs apart from the 2 I already knew. Great bass playing, even if he did rob that one from the Beatles. Last track sounds like inspiration for U2 and The Police.

Great album, although the 4 big hits I already knew outshines the others.

Reminds me of my teenage years, as both of my parents were big U2 fans, so they were kind of a big deal in my house! This was often my favourite album of theirs, but I think I prefer Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree now. It's still great though, especially the military style drums and the guitar. Some of the more overtly religious lyrics make me cringe a bit now, but there's no songs I'd skip really. 9/10

Not my favourite of the Kinks albums I've listened to (Village Green is better), but this is still really solid. It doesn't have many standout tracks, but loads of really good ones. Sunday Afternoon is one of their best of all time.

This starts off pretty strong, and I liked some of the instrumentals. But the production is a bit too bright for my liking, and everything soaked in reverb - interesting to see that sound start to come into country though. I'm generally willing to give artists the benefit of the doubt (to a degree) when it comes to murder ballads and the like - playing characters, telling stories, etc. But that title track is a bit too jaunty for a firsthand account of murdering one's spouse. I disliked the one about Smith and Weston acting as judge jury and executioner too. Interesting once again to see the similarities between country music and gangsta rap.

Yo Dre, I got something to say: I get that this is a really important and influential album, and it's an interesting historical artefact. I also generally hate the cops. But this level of pointed (not even casual) misogyny and homophobia is really jarring and should be left firmly in the past, along with police brutality (maybe someday).

The production is great, though - has to be said. I'd just rather listen to Public Enemy. As a fan of a lot of hip hop, this rating feels a bit sacrilegious, but I'm not sorry.

Really enjoyable album. I'm not normally that into blues, but this has enough originality to keep me hooked. Really enjoyed the unusual (to my ears anyway) guitar style and vocals. Especially enjoyed the title track, Soya, and the closing one.

Great album! I've been meaning to delve into a bit more Fela. Can definitely here influence on Talking Heads here. The political context around it is interesting too.

This one is a mixed bag. It starts off strong with the first 3 songs, but after that is very hit and miss. I loved 8 Miles High, but nothing else on here really compares to that.

This takes me back to my teenage years, I used to listen to this and the Who's greatest hits a lot on my iPod. Reminds me of after school study in particular. I had the deluxe extended edition then, but for this I only listened to the songs on the original 1970 version. It's really well recorded and captures the loudness of their song perfectly. I like the covers and the medlies and extended versions of the songs as well. I think it's great as live albums go, but docking 1 star because I think only a few live albums should qualify for this book.

I actually enjoyed this much more than I thought I would - it's weird and goofy and very dated, but also very listenable. Not something would return to often, but an interesting footnote all the same, probably quite influential.

This was new to me, although I had heard of the band before. I love this era of New York hip hop - very positive and funky, albeit a bit dated. It's interesting to contrast with the gangsta rap of the same time period, which has not aged well at all. Enjoyed listening to this through twice, even though the production isn't the best and it is a bit long. I think TCQ did this jazz rap style much better on the Low End Theory.

This was a bit nostalgic - I was never a fan but had a soft spot for the hits off this album. I never really got tired of hearing them on the radio, and Cry Me A River reminds me of painting my Warhammer at like 13 years old. Apart from the hits though, it's a bit dull and too long. Great production, but very of the time too.

I don't think I've come across this one before. Surprisingly, it's really good - even better than most of the Beach Boys albums I've heard. Really well written melodies and nice instrumentation and production. Only thing is that the lyrics don't seem particularly deep, but I can forgive that. Sounds like he had a tough time of it and made some pretty questionable decisions. Celebrity life is rough, so few are cut out for it.

I love The Boy With The Arab Strap and Dear Catastrophe Waitress, but never got around to listening to this one until now. It's not perfect, but pretty great for a debut album made on a shoestring budget. Really well written songs and melodies, with weird and interesting stories in the lyrics. Love the instrumentation - apart from Electronic Renaissance, which is a bit silly.

I liked elements of this, some of the songs have good grooves and go in interesting directions. But overall it's a bit incoherent - don't see myself listening to it again.

I've listened to this album a few times over the last couple years, coming to it via my introduction to David Sylvian's solo stuff (thanks to BBC6 and Fennesz). He is a very interesting fellow, but the bass player on here might be even more interesting! I will definitely be checking out more of Mick Karn's work.

Overall this is a good album - a bit derivative of Roxy Music and Berlin era Bowie, but still very enjoyable. Bridges the gap between 70s art rock and 80s synth pop nicely.

In all my years of having this on my iPod, I don't remember listening to it the whole way through very often. That's probably because it's about 30 mins too long, and has many mediocre-to-terrible songs.

There are some great ones on here, don't get me wrong! Breaking the Girl, I Could Have Lied, Give It Away, Under the Bridge. Everything else is pretty solid musically, because the band are great. But the singing, rapping and lyrics, are largely terrible. Anthony Kiedis is also an unapologetic child rapist, which I find hard to set aside.

Didn't enjoy this as much as Roots, but will definitely be listening to it again though. I do wish they had included more metal bands though, instead of multiple albums from the same bands. 2 Sepultura but no Tool is a head scratcher!

I've tried to get into this one a few times, since I think Ocean Rain is a great album, but it never seems to stick. There are some really catchy songs, and the bass and guitar sound great. But overall it sounds like the band is still quite rough and immature. It reminds me a lot of early U2 in some ways - a little generic, but promising.