Reviews by dutch-point-pro

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but this album solidified an idea for me. This list is not meant to be 1001 Five Star Albums - it’s 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die- it’s a bucket list, not a greatest hits. They’re not all gonna be amazing or perfect, but things everyone should EXPERIENCE - like skydiving or swimming with dolphins or eating tofu - things you should do just to say you did them, right? This list is akin to that. Some are going to be exhilarating, like nude tabogganing, and others are going to suck, like nude tabogganing. But they will all make you better because you experienced them.
So, I listened to this album and there is no way I would have done so if not for this project. To me, most of the songs sound the same, they are all too long and they don’t speak to me. But, I experienced it, I’ve rated it and I can cross it off my list.
So, bring on the next one, you algorithmic cultural overlords.

Yes it’s an important album and the first few songs are undeniable jams. But then it all falls apart. It starts slipping away with Polly and goes downhill from there. It becomes excessive and indulgent and, if that’s the point, well there you go. But a few great songs does not a great album make and it’s just not a good listen all the way through.
If I’m being honest, this music hasn’t aged as well as, say, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam’s work has, at least for me. This feels trite, or juvenile now, whereas the others still feel connected to something deeper. Maybe I’ve changed, and maybe that’s partly because of music like this, but it doesn’t really speak to me anymore. Maybe it never really did and I was pretending it did at a time when I still cared about being cool.
Anyway, that’s all I got this week, doc. Thanks again for listening. You sure do have a comfy couch.

A true classic. Probably makes my top 25 albums of all time. This is vintage Marley, and the soulfulness and ease of his tone here is unmatched except by some of the finest R&B singers. He commands every moment and lulls you into his groove of relaxation.

How many children were conceived to the songs on the B side of this album? This is peak baby-making music. I mean, I think I need a pregnancy test after listening to Turn Your Lights Down Low twice in a row.

RIP Mr. Marley. May you be Forever Lovin Jah.

Having gone to college for the arts in New York City in the early 90s, I was surrounded by people curating the coolest music from every style. I was exposed to great punk, hip hop, jazz, blues and alternative rock. Of course, Hüsker Dü made it through the speakers, although this album was not in the rotation - the earlier stuff was much more alive and much more influential.

This album is their divorce album - the couple has already broken up but they are trying to show us kids how much they both still love us so we get excess: two Christmases, two Hanukkahs and two New Years. Twice as much stuff, when we’d rather have just half of it, but with things back to the way it used to be.

The album sounds like R.E.M. if Michael and Peter had a better drug dealer and went to jail more often than classes. It’s actually a good road trip album, you can put it on and let the energy of the music guide your drive. Not terrible, but definitely not their best.

To truly understand the depth of their sound, you must to look closer at the band’s name: MGMT. Clearly short for Management, the moniker is a deliberate abbreviation, leaving a remainder of the missing letters anaeen. This is not a coincidence. “Anaeen" is a well-known name in traditional Arabic folklore, and it refers to a girl who, “possesses a desire for self-expression and social contact”. The story follows the girl as she tries to find her unique voice in the world. The name has become synonymous with seeking freedom from monotony and restrictions.
This should offer insight into why MGMT chose their name and what they seek to achieve in their music. The struggle between creativity and conformity is clearly the influential driving force behind the band’s unique sound experimentations …

Okay, I’m just fucking with you. This is just 2 catchy singles surrounded by a dumpster fire of hipster bullshit. Crystal meth synth pop.

Alright, Jen, the 1001 randomizer machine heard your peace and love request and served up this peach of an album.

For most of the songs, I kept waiting for a jarring voice to interrupt mid-track and say, “all of our agents are busy right now, but your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered by the next available agent.” Yes, this is just on-hold music, if it was more progressive and had a lead singer.

Exhibit B in what is becoming a true question for me with this list: Do we have albums like this because everyone was on drugs in the 60s … or was everyone on drugs in the 60s because we have albums like this?

This is what a real rock album actually sounds like. The first time I heard Search and Destroy, some 35 years ago now, I was hooked. These songs are a controlled demolition, visceral and implosive. Iggy scared me then and he damn sure still scares me now. This music is dangerous and I get to live vicariously through it every time I turn it up and roll down the windows. It doesn’t matter that I’m driving an eco-friendly car and obeying the posted speed limit, I’m still the world’s forgotten boy in that moment and the rush hour traffic better be ready, because I’m about to penetrate it!
I think some music is great because it doesn’t sound like anything else. When I listen to Iggy and the Stooges, and especially here on the more ‘mainstream’ stylings of Raw Power, I hear most of my favorite rock bands for the next 50 years lurking in the background. Without this, what happens to punk and its ‘mainstreamed’ derivatives, to grunge, to garage rock, to alternative and modern rock? Hard to
Imagine what it sounds like without influences like this …a historically important album that is actually still a great listen.

This is clearly punk, or more precisely post-punk and it’s probably good.
If I ever need to break a cabal of militant feminists out of prison, this is definitely the album I’ll put on to pump me up before the deed. Otherwise, I doubt I’ll listen to this crap again.

This is an amazing album. You can hear every instrument perfectly and you feel like you are in the room for every moment of every song. Yes, it gets repetitive, but it’s the blues and that’s the style. Sit back and let it fill your soul.
Muddy Waters is a master and this album is a must listen.

A good blues album that turned into rockabilly. Elvis’ vocal tone is super weird on lots of these covered (read as stolen) songs. Nice to hear some simplicity in the phrasing and styles before he gets high on his own supply.

As a person, Elvis sucks. But I try to review the album not the artist.

This is the soundtrack to the perfect unreleased 1980s movie. It has both kinds of 80s movie songs: 1) the kind that plays in the background while the girl, a social misfit who would be cute if she styled her hair differently, who had her heart broken cries alone in her room and 2) the kind that plays in the background while the bad boy drives around in his car after breaking something, like a window or a guy’s arm or that misfit girl’s heart.
There’s also some bonus tracks for when the bad boy drops into a bar to drink his troubles away and a shitty band is playing some indecipherable song in the background included at the end of the album.
God, this would be a great 80s movie. Too bad it’s just a terrible album.

Rob: Hey man, let’s put this album in the book.

Tony: Another Elvis Costello album? C’mon mate. That makes 5 now. Have you ever even listened to this one?

Rob: No, but the publisher says we will never sell a book called 278 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die! So we need a thousand. Just put it in and quit bitchin’.

Tony: Why a thousand? Why not 500?

Rob: More albums means more pages and more pages means we can charge more money. Stop arguing or we’ll never finish this list. This will take forever if we think about every album we put on it. Just add that Elvis record.

Tony: Ok, but what if someone actually listens to it? Won’t they know we just put it on the list to reach a thousand?

Rob: You’re a full-on wanker, then, huh? Are you daft? Who the hell would ever listen to all these albums? We’re writing a book, Tony, a book. You read books, Tony, you don’t listen to them.

Tony: Yeah, I guess you’re right.

Rob: Plus, they don’t read the book before they buy it. By the time they read this, we’ll already have their money.

Tony: Yeah, you’re right, mate. I’ll put all those Nico albums back on the list then.

Rob: Plus, if anybody asks, we can say it had Pump it Up on it. That’s a great song. People will believe that.

Tony: Yeah, I guess, and I sort of liked Radio, Radio, too … and maybe even I Don’t Want to Go Back to Chelsea.

Rob: Whatever, brov, we just need to reach a thousand. So put this on the list and keep thinking… what comes after Costello?

Tony: Um … Counting Crows.

Rob: Nope, no one would believe that one!
[They laugh as the lights fade]

A near-perfect Latin Jazz album. Drop off Holiday and Tururato and you’ve got a winner on every track. Incredible musicianship throughout.
And I hate jazz.

An important album stylistically, though admittedly not his best. Arriving between the peak of the punk movement of the 70s and New Wave that is about to burgeon in the 80s, Armed Forces presages the trends and sounds that would dominate the next decade.
Costello seemlessly moves from style to style, hitting the early alternative notes of Green Shirt, the pop-rock ballad of Big Boys and the hard rock style of Goon Squad with ease. His voice is not the most tuneful or melodic you’ve ever heard, but the delivery is so filled conviction and passion, it works. And he writes great songs, lyrically and musically, even if both are a bit quirky. He doesn’t sound like anyone or anything else out there and that is what makes him so iconic.
There are better albums that show the depth of his work and more growth and maturity, but this early stuff is still a pretty engaging listen.

Harris’ powerful voice is the feature of this album: hauntingly melodic or remarkably intense. It’s an epic vocal display, one that rightly lead to a legendary career.
The actual material, almost exclusively covers of country standards, is where my appreciation ends. The straightforward nature of traditional country music, the lack of lyrical nuance and the ceaseless use of repetition that hallmarks the style betray the subtleties and variety that Harris is capable of and should be delivering. Personally, I wish she had leaned much more into her folk tendencies on this album and less into the country styles that she did.
But I’m just an anonymous guy with enough free time to review 1001 albums for fun, so wtf do I know?

This is typical 90s indie rock that doesn’t really go anywhere. Highlights like Bittersweet, Sonnet and The Drugs Don’t Work show the best tendencies of the band’s sound, but this album drones on and on and never really hits the level of those tracks again.

This album would be better if it was 25 minutes shorter and the band had never listened to a Beatles album, as it seems they are trying to re-create a dreamy, ethereal quality reminiscent of the Liverpudlians’ best work. But all of their music is, ultimately, derivative of something, whether directly or stylistically and, therefore, forgettable.

I hope this sounds better in German…

This is way too much and all at once. What exactly was stripped… other than her cover photo?

They say a true artist knows what to leave out … well, not the case here. The majority of the album is vocal cacophony and over-mixing, although the slower songs are more enjoyable.

And there’s just no excuse for 20 tracks at all. Ever. Like in the whole career. Looks like she needed that producer she fired on this one, after all. But, good news, she is beautiful no matter what I say because my words can’t bring her down.

The compositions and instrumentals are amazing. But these guys can’t write lyrics or sing. They are band geeks who never got past that.

Care to disagree? “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo”. Now, shut the fuck up.

Hey Steely Dan, me and Geddy Lee, Thomas Dolby, Ben Folds and the guys from Weezer are gonna steal a case of Miller Lites from Cumberland Farms and go to the football game later. Wanna skip band practice and come? Nah, I didn’t think so.

It’s folksy, with some interesting rock-tinged tracks sprinkled amid the less successful dirges and art songs. Ultimately a miss, but with much more listenable moments than I expected.

Matty Groves slaps!