Reviews by dutch-point-pro

Every time I listen to Arcade Fire, I wish I was listening to The War on Drugs. Then, I put on The War on Drugs and the music gets much better. Arcade Fire is the bad boy from an after school special, a caricature of actual dissent or rebellion. It is safe, hipster bullshit. No me gusta.

“Hard, my calling card.” ~ Chuck D

This is a groundbreaking album from a foundational pillar of our collective musical identity. Personally, Public Enemy showed me that music and social justice could powerfully co-exist. They shaped what I came to expect from music and defined what I grew to love. Although this is their second album, I came to it after hearing Apocalypse 91 and then, working backwards to Fear of a Black Planet and then to this.
Put simply, music didn’t sound like this before PE came and they changed the game for real. To this day, Chuck D remains my favorite Microphone Controller, despite the thousands I have listened to since then. His intelligence, clarity, depth and density when rhyming are peerless and his political activism is among the most successful examples of “speaking truth to power”. Terminator X cuts these samples with an intricacy and deftness that keeps our ears guessing and our heads bobbing.
While the album runs long, it’s hard to find fault with any of the individual tracks on this one, except maybe that Flav “bass for your face” song, but that ends quickly enough. Although it lacks the polish and production of their later albums, this is a stone cold original, more honest and forthright than almost any other album on this list, and a classic 5 coming “straight from 88”.
Public Enemy. Word. rap rap rap rap rap rap.

It’s fine. You can hear the early catches of mope rock and the direction of the punk adjacent movement for the next 20 years or so taking root here. That said, it’s a slog to get through and its angst and malaise don’t really hold up all that well some 50 years on.

I’ve always loved this album but can’t really pinpoint why. There is a roughness to it that makes me think of it more from the lineage of punk than alternative. And it definitely finds that connection on certain tracks. But everything is handled with an intricacy and a deftness that escapes most offerings in this style, layered with a lush musical r

Classic 90s rap that defined the era but it just goes on and on. Yes, lyrically everything is offensive, but this Dr. Dre’s first album after N.W.A.! Let me repeat that, N.W.A! What did you expect him to rap about?
This album changed music and culture and that deserves some respect. “Respect is collected, so check it.”
“Ok… Yes sir, Mr. … err… Dr. Dre, sir. Just please don’t hurt me or do anything you would to Tim Dog.”

The classic painting American Gothic features two farmer folk in front of a colonial house. It became famous because people thought it was a satire of traditional Americana. Turns out it was painted in earnest and completely misunderstood.
This album has the same sense of disingenuous sincerity. The songs are so ironically campy, they must be a joke - but it would appear they are intended to be very much sincere. This is the original cast album to a musical I hope will never be made. It is powerful bad.

Despite Keidis, RHCP put out a very solid collection of funk, ballads and rock. Second only to Blood Sugar Sex Magik for me.

Sure. Fun. What you’d expect from a Talking Heads album. I’m down for this.

If you’re a Metallica fan, this is probably a pretty cool idea. I am not a Metallica fan, so I found it to be boring and indulgent. There was very little synergy between the orchestra and the band here. It was a novelty album with ephemeral results.

There are no hidden gems on this one … you know the hits and the rest is fairly standard blues. We know Janis can sing, though this is not her most soulful, and the band is not breaking any ground here either. Overall, pretty predictable.

This album shows why it’s easy to love and hate the Stones at the same time. The classics are classic for a reason but other songs are far from that - they ring hollow and lack the luster of styles they are trying to emulate.

William Joel can write a good song. He gets caught in cheesiness and leans into the musical fashions of the day, which leaves some of his less successful songs feeling dated, but when his lyrics and melodies land, they are powerful and this album is full of great examples.

ADELE (/əˈdɛl/) - a British-born diva of the highest rate.

25 ( /ˈtwɛnti faɪv/) - a collection of mating and distress calls, particularly appealing and soothing to the emotions of the species Felidae Puma Desperitus (the North American Divorced Cougar). It is traditionally played in coffee shops, malls, upscale nightclubs and other habitats where urban cougars are known to gather and hunt, and is used to keep them pacified. When weaponized, 25 can be used as an aphrodisiac by anyone attempting to attract a cougar, simply by pairing these sounds with a Chardonnay or Zinfandel from Kim Crawford, Josh or Barefoot Vineyards. This combination is particularly effective in enticing older cougars out for potential mating activity. Proceed with caution.

I like where this was going even if it didn’t always get there. Good background / mixer music but nothing too introspective.

Upbeat, catchy indie rock that doesn’t do all that much for me, but I can see why folks dig it. On a personal note, I don’t trust bands like this, those that have, like, 20 members. It makes me think there is a lack of talent so they overwhelm us with quantity over quality.

This Bjork album is better than her others in the same way that a bad rash on your ass is better than a rough case of hemorrhoids. Ideally, you don’t have to suffer through either one. The songs on Vespertine (Icelandic for “a whale’s vagina”) have more cohesion and a sense of thematic throughlines than we usually get from our ice queen. The music is always a little bit interesting and a lotta bit difficult to listen to.

Yeah, no.

His guitar doesn’t gently weep here, it whines, almost as much as his voice on this forgettable collection of songs.

Sounds as if the Lord of the Rings was made into an epic rock opera. Sorry, Joe.

They create some interesting grooves but not a whole more to make you want to come back for a second helping of anything.