Reviews by dcspool

This album is indeed a treasure. Elizabeth Fraser channels her inner Kate Bush.

Persephone has crazy industrial almost trip hop vibes. It’s like The Cure and Portishead had a baby. Way ahead of its time.

Not as good as Heaven or Las Vegas, but not that far off.

Fave Tracks: Ivo, Lorelei, Persephone, Pandora (For Cindy), Aloysius

4.3/5

I like the distinctness of S&tB's sound, its influential but still unique. Problem is I don't really like many of the songs.

Fave Tracks: Switch

2.7/5

This album is basically Beyonce's Lemonade, but in the 60s.

I dig the subject matter, but the tracks are really quite repetitive.

2.8/5

This was a lot like Screamadelica - despite that experience I had forgotten that we're dubbing it up here. The dub moments are probably my favourite again, but overall I think the whole album was more forgettable. Less bad in its worst places and less good in its best, which overall makes for less iconic and necessary to the 1001.

3/5

So desolate and bleak. I don’t love it but I respect it.

Fave Tracks: Passover, Decades

4/5

, nothing blowing me away.
Very pleasant listening

3.6/5

Never listened to this album in full before, and not been a huge XX fan despite being familiar with a lot of their work. 4 catchy tracks to start off the album. Maybe catchy isn’t quite the word, but 4 very XX-y songs emblematic of their style.

Whilst I’m not desperately in love with their sound (and much prefer to actually listen to the dancier direction they took on their next album and particularly Jamie XX’s solo work) I have to admit this album has a very unique, polished sound that has been important to the modern pop canon, and deserves to be on the 1001.

3.8/5

Definitely is something.

Soft as Snow is such an awesome opener. It makes the same sort of statement as Only Shallow. A quick drum roll to engage the rockers and then immediately MBV’s inimitable guitar tones. On Isnt Anything MBV aren’t yet bathing you in euphoric walls of sound, but they are taking the first baby steps in that direction.

That being said the first few tracks are mostly just great lo-fi rock songs. Only when we get to All I Need do we see the first real murmurs of what’s to come on Loveless.

The second half continues to pack punches. Sueisfine has undeniable punk rock energy, the Dinosaur Jr influence is strong here. Several Girls Galore and You Never Should would be capable singles. I did not realise I loved this album this much.

The album suffers from living in the shadows of Loveless. It’s hard to give it a 5 when Loveless took their sound to unfathomable new heights. But if they never made Loveless this would maybe still be the best shoegaze album of all time, it’s that good. It’s almost a true no skips album for me, with only Feed Me With Your Kiss not really doing it for me.

Also, excellent use of parenthesis in song titles.

Fave Tracks: Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside), Lose My Breath, Cupid Come, When You Wake (You’re Still In a Dream), All I Need, Sueisfine, Several Girls Galore, You Never Should, Nothing Much to Lose, I See It (But I Can’t Feel It)

4.9/5

Roundabout is a grrrreat track. The rest of the album is all flash no substance. Seriously what is the point in the extracts from Brahms - so pretentious. Its great to have this sort of craftsmanship and ambition in music, but I don't think this is it. Yes have better albums.

2.8/5

Last May I did a deep dive on Elliott Smith, considering him an artist I would probably love but had never really got into before. At that time I gave the album a 4, but I think its very close on the 3.5-4 border for me. I listened again fully without checking what songs I listed as my favourite before, and perhaps surprisingly they came out very similar. On my first listen I liked "Everything Reminds Me of Her", but didn't highlight "In the Lost & Found.." All the rest matched up.

I have always thought this album cover is a very poor representation of the personalness of Elliott's music. Compared to the clearly gritty Either/Or cover this one presents like its going to be a generic 2000s pop album. Even though that is mostly just the artwork doing the art a disservice, I think there is some truth in it. The production here is clean, the vocal delivery is clear and confident - in contrast to the very intimate whispered delivery of Either/Or, which for me is a huge part about what makes it special.

Some of my favourite songs on Figure 8, such as Junk Bond Trader, are essentially pop songs. However I find that I don't really love any of the songs on this album as I do "Behind the Bars", "Speed Trials", or even "Independence Day". The former two at least are unmistakably Elliott Smith, most of the tracks on Figure 8 don't feel that way to me. That being said, I don't think there's a bad song on here, so it does have a very high floor. I could understand if this was your favourite album.

Fave Songs: Son of Sam, Junk Bond Trader, L.A., In The Lost & Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost, Stupidity Tries, Wouldn't Mama Be Proud

3.75/5

Kind of enjoyable if uneventful

3.3/5

A pleasant listening experience. But my two favorite tracks were the two I already knew.

Fave Tracks: Wild World, Father and Son, Tea for the Tillerman

3.7/5

I don't think this is necessary. Doesn't add much to the well established canon of rock music. Hard to Handle is the big track, and its just advert music basically. Sterile.

2/5

Fine, but mostly quite boring after the first track

2.9/5

There shouldn't be a Travis album on the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. That's just a fact.

But its not terrible. Just forgettable.

2.6/5

Very solid pop rock album. Whenever I started drifting from it another catchy track would pull me back.

Fave Tracks: Supervixen, Not My Idea, Stupid Girl, Fix Me Now

3.9/5

Amazing album. Gil Scott-Heron is the man.

Fave Tracks: A Very Precious Time, The Bottle, Your Daddy Loves You, H2ogate Blues

5/5

This was fun. I like hearing recent albums/artists that I've never even heard of. Reminded me of Stereolab.

3.7/5

This album is decent, but after You Aren't The Problem (which I love) the rest of the record kinda just drifts by.

3.4/5

Nah, no Blue Monday, not interested.

2.2/5