Reviews by dcspool

These Important Years - good start. Reminds me of Sugar. I expected Husker Du to be more unhinged. EDIT - wikepedia'd Husker Du, the lead singer Bob Mould is the lead singer of Sugar. Good call by me.
I like a lot of the next 7 or 8 tracks too - something in the sound pallet here definitely appeals to me.
But this album is definitely too long.
That being said, the back half is still strong. I like the groove on You Can Live At Home.

4/5

not my fave style of prog, but not bad. I liked Jeremy Bender, didn't get the point of the last song at all, undermined the vibe of the whole album to me.

3/5

I've never really understood Sympathy for the Devil. It's completely boring to me.
No Expectations is also rather dull and repetitive.
The vocals on Dear Doctor are so annoying. Stupid honky tonk sound pallet adds nothing.
Jigsaw Puzzle is mildly more interesting than the first few tracks.
This album is much more bluesy and folkesy than I was expecting. You wouldn't call it a rock album like some of the work the Stones are known for.
Prodigal Son probably my favourite song on the album so far. Is this someone other than Mick Jagger singing? The voice is way less annoying than normal.
Factory Girl has somewhat more interesting instrumentation.

I won't be rushing back to this one.

2.1/5

Gorillaz are one of the most overrated bands of the 21st century in my view. This album I think gets a lot of credit for concept over content. Most tracks feel like half-baked ideas, genre-mashes that don't cohere into compelling songs. It's long too. The best tracks are basically just Del the Funky Homosapien rapping over: 1. a preset keyboard riff on Clint Eastwood; 2. John Dankworth's Theme from Modesty Blaise on Rock the House. Upon reflection I feel quite generous giving it a 3. I also listened again to the 2 remixes of the singles, and they both are just better than the originals without changing too much, which I feel is vindication for my viewpoint that this album is a lot of half-baked ideas.

Fave tracks: Tomorrow Comes Today, Clint Eastwood, Rock the House, Slow Country

2.7/5

take on me still a banger
train of thought panpipes! (are they synth?)
the synth lines on hunting high and low are cheesey though
living a boy's adventure tale is a bit too melodramatic for me
the sun always shines on tv is so 80s, but it is a bit of a bop
and you tell me almost a bit kate bush-y
love is reason sounds like a christmas song

generally the album sounds like a total pastiche of itself, but the production is mostly quite tight. I didn't find anything here i'd come back to though.

2.5/5 - barely squeaking a generous 3 star roundup.

This was the worst music to try and work to.
Every song sounds the same to me.
I feel like if you asked me to make something that sounds like this it would be very easy as melody is completely neglected.
Chico's Groove the first time there is any respite.
Ok so maybe the whole second half is going to be respite, One Too Many Mornings is much nicer and spacier. Ethereal vocals!
Life is Sweet started in the respite zone but it feels like its trying to break back into the A side of the album. I dont trust it.
Playground of a Wedgless Firm seems a little bit lost.
This album cover doesnt look anything like how the album sounds.

Fave tracks: Leave Home, Chico's Groove, One Too Many Mornings
2.4/5

8:30 into Chameleon - the synth/keys that join are so nice.
Watermelon Man groove is delicious.
Sly is my least favourite track, but still pleasant.
Vein Melter is a woozy way to end it.
4.6/5

3 - dont have too strong feelings about this one

not for me
2/5

Is this a good album or is it just the last access to Nirvana and thus fondly remembered?
The Man Who Sold The World is such a good song. Gives me chills.
Nice strings on Dumb.
Dumb, Polly and On a Plain are quite similar songs. I like them all but the sequence is a bit repetitive.
Something in the Way is a mood.
Plateau is exciting, I hadn't heard this one before. Oh ok its a cover. Does it detract from this project that the covers are the best bits? The musicianship in the covers has so much more flavour than the Nirvana tracks.
All Apologies is a great reminder after the string of covers that Kurt's got riffs. Beautiful song and rendition.

Fave Tracks: The Man Who Sold The World, Something in the Way, Plateau, All Apologies, Where Did You Sleep Last Night

4.4/5 - as far as live albums go, this is clearly a good'un. Hard to fault the collection of tracks, but I think it is somewhat enjoyed with rose-tinted earphones because of the timing of its release. It is after all a live album basically half made up of covers.

nah

3.3/5 - Scott has such an interesting, enigmatic voice, I really do quite like it a lot. Some of the songs here fall a bit flat though.

Fave Songs: The Seventh Seal, Hero of the War

1.8/5 - in 1970 this might have blown my mind, in 2023 i found it quite boring

Update - went back to listen to Hush and Highway Star after listening to this album, those songs hold up so well in comparison. Strange to me that this album is on the list, generic nothing rock

3.8/5 - solid album, every track has some charm to it, though I don't feel that many stick out. I was surprised to hear how different this is to Pink Moon - a lot more conventional structure and orchestration, not in a bad way.

Fave songs: Hazey Jane 2, At the Chime of a City Clock

4/5 - so smooth, hard to dislike this album, a little bit repetitive though

4.5/5 - this was really nice, very positive surprise for me

4/5 - shpooky1

Fave songs: Spellbound, Halloween, Monitor, Night Shift

2.5/5 - don't really get gza or wu-tang, overrated if you ask me. Fave tracks: Gold, B.I.B.L.E.

2/5 - just a bit boring really. Expected something more explosive based off the album cover, but just sounds like standard old-timey big band to my 21st century ears.

4.1/5 - weird and edgy af