Reviews by deepee

Welp.
It’s not cheery that’s for sure.
I wasn’t in the right mood when I started listening, I’m not particularly a fan of his speaking/singing style, so I started writing a scathing review. Then at track five I started getting more interested. By the end of the album I was “in it”, fully immersed into the project, and had to start over and listen again.

I’m old, this album is an old man making sense of his life in a religious framework. I wonder how much young people will appreciate this one. It’s a dark vibe. But yeah, well done in the end Mr. Cohen, well done.

Oh jazz. I just don’t get you. But it’s not fair to give it too low a rating just because I’m not feeling it.

Had never heard of this group (turns out they are a person) and from the name for some reason expected metal. What a pleasant surprise!
Really chill enjoyable listen, even if he sometimes stays on a riff for longer than I am interested.
I think I’m learning from this project that I really like a genre called trip hop.

Torture. Over an hour! My ears were bleeding by song two! This dude sounds like a cat in heat.

I was dragged to see this dude live in NYC in the 80’s. He was barely coherent and didn’t last long. That experience may actually have been preferable to this album.

Classic Talking Heads. Love the energy. Crazy that this is their debut album! Sound like nobody else, right out of the gate.
Am slightly irritated that my favorite TH album, Little Creatures, didn’t make the list. But all the stars to this one.

This is an album I struggle to rate. Is a concept album, based on the American south. It hits on some important topics. It has some historical facts. It’s clever. I suppose I need to give it credit for all that. That said, It is pretty dull to listen to.
I’m would give it four stars because of all the historical commentary but it’s probably a 2.5 as a listener. This one really is all about the lyrics.

Middle of the road pop rock. Fine, I guess but not the “modern classic” he so humbly claimed he set out to make.

In this year of 2024 this is really a two star album for me, but I am going to take into account that this was made in the early years of rock. I can hear some interesting experimentation. I can’t say I found listening to it that enjoyable, but I can see where this was a jumping off point for more interesting works.

It’s a vibe- the same vibe- from start to finish. I remember when Smooth Operator was first released. It sounded like nothing else out there. So smooth!!
But when you listen to song after song after song with the same groove and tone, it gets dull.

I would rate The Rolling Stones as my favorite band based on their catalogue of work, and even I don’t think this album needs to be on the list. I suppose it was selected because it’s because it’s the first album they wrote on their own (no covers). But they got better with time. I don’t find this to be anywhere near their best, so why have multiple albums by one band, when there are other deserving bands that get left out. I world rather hear two a maybe three albums by any one group/artist to get a sense of them, and get more variety of artists. It’s ridiculous that Bowie, Neil Young, the Beatles, Stones get half a dozen or more entries.

I’m a fan of Billy Bragg and have seen him live multiple times dating back to the 1980’s. So I am happy to see he has two albums on this list. It is just aggravating that one of them is this one, and not Workers Playtime, which is one of my top 5 albums ever. Check it out if you have time.

This album contains songs that are found lyrics of Woody Guthrie, put to music by Billy and the members of Wilco. It’s a good album, very good even. Taste of Americana via Britain. Billy is a student of American labor history (huge workers’ rights advocate) and of American folk music. He does Woody justice with these songs.

Cuban jazz and salsa music. Recorded to spread awareness of this music to people around the world. Pleasant listen, but I suspect (I’m no expert but have spent some time in Cuba) that it is pretty watered down for the masses. Still, very enjoyable and absolutely excellent musicianship.

Some gorgeous classics mixed with some meh unknowns. Might have been five stars, but the last song is SO violently misogynistic I need to deduct. I understand it was different times but it still left a bitter taste.

Smooth soul/ jazz. Mellow vibe.

My reaction to the first few tracks was” this is really good music. I like it but don’t feel emotionally invested “. But it got deeper as it progressed. Very moving in the end. Grateful to have found this one.

Apart from Son of a Preacher Man, this is kinda meh. Bunch of thirsty woman songs.

Intro to the first sing I thought “oh cool I might like this!” By sing three I really didn’t want to hear them anymore. Grating singing voice, nothing all that creative musically.

I greatly appreciate the lesson on the music of India at the start of the album. One thing he said is “we listen with an open mind and no expectation of melody or counterpoint as is found in western music.” By listening in this way I was able to relax into it. Good stuff.

I have a very low tolerance for long jam sessions. The Dead are not for me.
I really enjoyed the first half of this album. I love me some excellent blues guitar! but they lost me with the last two songs

My friends, this is one mishmash of an album. Starts Pop, goes Reggae, then a little new wave thrown in..
Nothing I’m going to remember, was wavering between 2-3 stars but the last few songs got my toes tapping so three it is.