Reviews by dburke

I've listened to this album a few times before. I recall enjoying it, but this is a good way to refresh my memory on it.

I like this album, but I think I would love it if the vocals were a little more refined. It's a bit too sloppy and pitchy in a lot of places.

I'm familiar-enough with a few tracks from this album, though I've never listened to it start-to-finish. I'm quite looking forward to this.

This is great. I'll be adding this to my listen of albums to listen to again.

I'm aware of this artist, but I don't think I recognize any of these tracks by title. It's entirely possible that I do know some of these songs, just not by title, however. Otherwise, I'm going into this blind.

This isn't very good. At times, there are interesting things going on, but then frequently it feels like an avant garde performance art project that's been taken too far.

I'm not sure I recognize this artist or any of these tracks by name, so I'm going into this blind.

This is odd and interesting, and I kind of liked it. I do feel like I need to listen to this again to develop a more complete opinion on it. So I think I'll add it to my list of albums to listen to again.

YES

I haven't listened to this in a while, so thanks for making me revisit it today.

I don't think I recognize this artist or any of these tracks by title. So I'm going into this blind.

There are some albums on this list where I wonder "How have I never heard about this before? This is great!" This is _not_ one of those albums. Thoroughly meh, and that explains why I'm completely unaware of this artist and the tracks on this album. At least this album is kind of short.

I don't think I recognize this artist or any of the tracks on this album, so I'm basically going into this blind.

I see someone else has already reviewed this with just: "We have Bob Dylan at home." Spot on. This isn't terrible, but clearly inferior to Bob Dylan, and I'm not even a big fan of Bob Dylan. (His songwriting is great, he just shouldn't be allowed to perform his own songs. Everyone who covers his stuff always does a better job than he can.) In the case of the Beau Brummels they are able to perform their songs better than Bob Dylan, but the songs aren't up to that level of quality.

Argh, another Nick Cave album. I suspect this will be the same story as my other reviews: Nick Cave is more style than substance. I

I don't know... maybe this would have worked better if someone _other_ than Nick Cave sang on all these songs? I'm just spitballing ideas here.

Jeez, "O'Malley's Bar" is nearly unlistenable. Nick should be ashamed of this recording.

I think I've heard this album before, but I wouldn't be able to tell you when the last time was.

Yup, classic foundational punk. I listened to the Iggy Mix, and you can hear the fizziness of the fuzz pedals.

I don't think I recognize any of these tracks by title, but I do generally enjoy wu-tang and its members' solo projects, so I'm looking forward to this first listen of this album.

This is what I was expecting and I quite enjoyed it.

I definitely recognize a bunch of these tracks by title, though I've never listened to this album start-to-finish. I'm looking forward to this, as I think it might be a similar situation to this site encouraging me to listen to a couple Christina Aguilera albums, that I actually enjoyed quite a bit.

Yeah, I'm enjoying this more than I would have anticipated.

YES

I haven't listened to this album in a while, and this pick today reminded me that I don't have it in my library. So, I added it to my library specifically for today's listen.

This gets 5 stars, though it might not even be my favorite ZZ Top album.

I've only listened to one other Nick Cave album as part of listening related to this site. I don't think I recognize any of these tracks by title.

In my review for my previous Nick Cave listen, I noted that Nick Cave has always felt like more style than substance. And again, that's how I feel about this album. I did not enjoy this.

I don't think I recognize this artist or any of these tracks by title. So I'm basically going into this blind.

I'm just not feeling this. It's not awful, but I don't have much of anything positive to say about it either.

I feel like I'm aware of this album, but I don't recognize any of the tracks by title. Something tells me I may actually know some of these, anyway though.

Yup, there were a few I just recognized, just not by name. I like it when a band records an album that feels like "we recorded this all in one take, and it's messy, but real." But in this case, I just wish they'd tuned up and maybe done a few more vocal takes. It's frequently pretty rough on those two aspects. The album is okay, but maybe if it were just slightly more polished, I'd enjoy it more and give it an extra star. Alas, it is what it is, and this is the score it gets.

YES

My only real complaint about this album is that the synths and production really date this album to 1984. I wish it had more of a timeless sound to fit the songs a little better. Otherwise, no notes.

I'm aware of this album, though I've never listened to it start-to-finish.

Obviously, this album is pretty foundational to the sound of glam rock. Unfortunately, glam rock just isn't that important in the grand scheme of rock history. And I just don't generally like glam rock to boot. This is okay, but certainly not great.

I feel like I've heard about this album but haven't ever sat down to listen to it start-to-finish.

I suppose I give them credit for trying this sort of experiment, but I'm afraid that it's just not working. Definitely deserves a shout-out to Jim Hughart for his upright bass playing.

I know a few of these tracks, but I've never listened to this album start-to-finish.

Obviously, this album is important in the history of punk. But it's also kind of an albatross around the genre's neck. It established a view that punks don't know how to play their instruments and are pretty talentless musically. I prefer The Clash because they have the punk ethos, and maybe aren't always the best musicians but they're good enough to render their music accurately. The Sex Pistols are basically just edgelords making noise. It's not that this is bad, but I do wish it were better than it is.

I'm aware of this artist, and I recognize one track by name on this album. I don't get the obsession with this band.

At times, I was tempted to give this a 2, but in the end it doesn't deserve it. The track "Thorn of Crowns" is one such example that forced this decision for me. I really hated that one.