Reviews by directoryofbunk

Everyone, myself included, often forgets the pre-disco Bee Gees. They do have some great tunes from the 60s, but they don't really seem to be present on this fairly tired record. It's clearly ambitious, in keeping with a common mood in pop music at the time, but comes across as a fairly dilute tribute to Sgt Pepper/Pet Sounds/Ogdens Nut Gone Flake/etc.

I was genuinely excited when this popped up on a Monday morning. It's an all-timer. Everything about Steely Dan is seemingly totally hateful, but they deliver the goods. Evil geniuses.

Sunshine Of Your Love is a great tune, as evidenced by almost everyone who covered it. The original, here, just feels lacklustre. The album as a whole generally quite a boring listen. Best tune is the throwaway "Mother's Lament" at the end. Also, Clapton & Baker are total pricks.

Oh god. Just perfect pop songwriters. If someone told you that the Go-Betweens invented love you might just believe them.

Growing up in the UK in the 80s and 90s, Madness felt like a ubiquitous presence, but I don't think I've ever checked a full album. It's a lot more varied than I expected, and reminds me of The Kinks a lot. Our House is an amazing piece of work, total classic, and a lot of the other tunes are pretty decent, but not too much that totally grabs me. The motifs and accents used in New Delhi are pretty racist, and the use of brownface on the cover is appalling.

Obviously, this is wonderful. The best gentle pop songs with added brilliance from the more experimental Murder Mystery. And yet, not even the best VU album.

Feels like this might have been pretty cool as a live performance, if there IRL, but just didn;t grab that much. Summertime was fairly unenjoyable.

Foolishly i listened to this back to back with At Folsom Prison, which is far superior (likely a 5 star if/when it crops up). There are some great versions of great songs, but it feels somehow lacking as a whole album.

Hard to be objective about this one, for sentimental reasons. Love early Van, voice is untouchable, hasn't gone religious or cantankerous yet. Great songs, great arrangements, but Peter's out towards the end.

What if the Louvin Brothers dropped acid?

Yessssssss.

Brilliantly weird, fun, and catchy. Pop music stripped back to an elemental form with delightful results. Love it.

Thin Lizzy's best tunes are amazing, but there are a few bores, and some of the banter is a bit off. I feel that the 75% in the studio accusation feels about right. Some great performances, but it's too clean a live recording of that time.

Can't believe how few records in this list.are in a language other than English, so a definite treat to have something I barely understand, lyrically.

Despite being very aware of MC Solaar I've never listened to an album. What a fool, I've been really missing out. Probably missing out on French hip hop in general.

Solaar has an amazing flow, and switches things up really brilliant. A lot of great jazzy beats results in the first half really reminding me of Gangstarr. A very interesting slow transition to more dub/reggae influenced tunes really places some of this alongside the whole Bristol sound also developing in the early 90s, and the full blown ragga tune is a banger. A couple of so-so tunes in the middle, but will definitely be coming back to this.

Being "forced" to check these kind of albums that I should have tried before is exactly what I wanted from this project.

Sinead 's voice is incredible throughout, but the songs are a bit of a mix. Whilst nothing Compares 2 U is (of course) incredible, some of the other tunes are are so-so, with lyrics are a bit too on the nose. I Am Stretched on Your Grave was a definite highlight.

Solid, but somehow didn't totally grab me. Possibly not helped by doing a load of work at the same time. Likely better than I am rating right now.

God I love this record.

Starting with Gimme Shelter isn't too shabby. Love In Vain seems a nice departure from the usual Stones fare, with some lovely mandolin, and then I was totally surprised by Country Honk. Never heard this version before, it's got a nice Flying Burrito Bros vibe to it. The title track is a bit icky, but think they just about keep it in the right place. Midnight Rambler has been played to death by cover bands, but the original remains a bit weird and sinister, in a good way. Monkey Man is quite an odd one, but pretty interesting. Finishing with You Can't Always Get What You Want means it leaves on a great high. Slightly flawed, but highly enjoyable.

Like a warm time with an old friend, despite never having heard this record before.

Imagine is a bit overplayed as a song, isn't it. Seems more trite as the years go by. I must have heard this album before but don't recall it, and on the back of Imagine the song I was anticipating not enjoying it. But, the title track is probably the weakest song in this record. The whole album is, I guess, a fairly logical follow-on from late Beatles rather than a follow up to his debut? Less interesting that that (due to less Yoko involvement?), but a lot of solid tunes here. How Do You Sleep really points to Lennon's later brief work with Bowie, I reckon. An unexpected 4?

So it turns out there are 2 completely different version of this! Just listening to the original 1956 version that's mostly a studio recording. Regardless, this is a ripping session, pretty much everything you could want from late-era swing(?) big band. Will definitely be investigating the full live performance.

Great to get a jazz record thrown up, as this whole 1001 thing seems overly rock-heavy.