Reviews by dcspool

2.9/5

In some ways I like this record much more than any Beach Boys one, but its too gosh darn long.

Fave Tracks: Dreamer, Time, Common

3.7/5

Honestly this was just really quite boring without Paul Simon doing something on top of it... that's the sad colonial truth for me.

2.6/5

I certainly haven't heard any other albums quite like this one. Trans-National sounds like Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express funnelled through a Berlin sex club. This album really goes places. At first I kinda found it silly and campy and a bit scary, but I think I kinda love it, particularly from Trans-National onwards.

Fave Tracks: Trans-National, How the West Was Won, Herz-Felde

4.2/5

I thought this was naff. The grapevine cover just stood out and showed how pointless all the other tracks had been.

2.1/5

I enjoyed this much more than I think I should’ve. Some tracks are a little basic, or slightly cheesy, or just derivative, but it’s not that far away from Daft Punk or LCD Soundsystem or Chemical Brothers. I liked the variety of genres too - some real lo fi vibes on Sunworshipper.

4.1/5

Quite liked this. Felt like music that would be sung in a pub.

3.6/5

It’s fine. I felt it was very predictable - an expansion on the track I already knew - Silver Soul.

3.5/5

Venus as a Boy is one of the greatest bits of music ever made. The rest of this album has some moments but also can sound derivative at times, like the house beats on Violently Happy or the 80s sounding instrumentation on Crying.

Nonetheless VaaB and Bjorks unparalleled idiosyncrasy still carry this album to a 4 for me.

Fave Tracks: Human Behaviour, Venus as a Boy, Big Time Sensuality, The Anchor Song

4/5

This is an interesting record, in that I don't find it a very interesting listen, but I do think its objectively quite good, and its clearly highly influential. So many of the tracks have becomes staples, covered countless times - I was a little surprised to find out that King did write or co-write all the tracks. Its an impressive setlist.

3.6/5

Was finding this incredibly bland until the last two tracks. I really don't get the hype with the Velvet Underground.

2.9/5

I really like this version of Sonic Youth, its a little more polished and listenable than their earlier rawer work, but it also retains the punky energy that makes SY what they are.

Fave Tracks: 100%, Swimsuit Issue, Sugar Kane, JC, Purr

4.1/5

Really wanted to like this one, appreciate the representation, but I just did not.

2.8/5

This grew on me as the album went on. At times a little ploddy and boring, but at its best moments just had that certain je ne sais quoi.

Fave Tracks: Helicopter, He Would Have Laughed

3.6/5

Who put this here.

Fave Tracks: Nashville Parent, Butcher Boy

3.1/5

This feels like a strange inclusion. Can't find it on Apple Music and had to listen through a Youtube playlist that included at least a couple of live versions and a drum cover.

Hard to thus really rate it fairly, but I thought it was kinda ok, kinda interesting, kinda catchy. At times tacky and sounding dated in an early 2000s way.

3/5

Peak off-the-rails Kanye. This is his best album. All his earlier work sounds in some way dated, maybe even just because it became oft imitated - it’s hard to imagine Yeezus aging that way. It’s jarring, dark, provocative, full of absolute bangers (Black Skinhead, Blood on the Leaves) and also personal, intimate and full of typical Kanye oversharing. This album is magical in the way it pulls hooks out of abrasive sound clashes. Some of the beat switches are so gosh darn naughty.

Fave Tracks: On Site, Black Skinhead, Hold My Liquor, Blood on the Leaves, Guilt Trip, Bound 2

4.9/5

Pretty good, surprisingly so.
I never really realised that Black Sabbath are closer to Led Zep than Metallica.

3.8/5

Didn't enjoy this much. So 80s.

2.7/5

Disorder is so good. I think the rest of the album has some bite but is often missing a bit of magic, though I get why people laud this one.

3.7/5