Reviews by galway_rat

September 8, 2024

"Cloud Song", "The Garden of Earthly Delights, "Where Is Yesterday", "Coming Down", "Love Song For the Dead Che"

Almost anti-musical at times (a la Throbbing Gristle, if that's not too extreme a comparison), but a majority of tracks are disarmingly pretty. I missed a lot of the satire/politics, though, maybe that's a lack of 60's education on my part (though it shines through on titles like "Love Song for the Dead Ché" and "The American Metaphysical Circus".
Delirious and dreamy

the stereo panning is doing some weird sheeit

Hm, time to rethink my opinion of Alice Cooper. An early favourite when I was first learning about classic rock, turned C-list radio mainstay (oh wow, "School's Out" AGAIN), they managed to wow me today. An opulent monument to bad taste

HL: "Hello Hooray", "Elected", "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Mary Ann"

September 7, 2024

Sept 5, 2024

the solo around 11:26 of the title track is maybe my favourite organ solo in pop music

rest of the album is pretty good too

Gives the Highwaymen a run for their money

September 3, 2024

🦀🦀 $11 for Apple Music 🦀🦀
🦀🦀 uses it for a 2nd Prodigy album 🦀🦀

I saw the "Firestarter" video online as a kid for some reason* and it did absolutely nothing for me. Ultimately I didn't mind The Fat of the Land, even though I predicted I'd dislike it. Some of the vocals are obnoxious but most of the tracks are pretty fun.

HL: "Climbatize", "Mindfields", "Smack My B*tch Up"

*I remember now, it was to understand Weird Al's parody of the video ("I can't believe this haircut!")

HL: "Horses in My Dreams", "Kamikaze", "Big Exit", "The Whores Hustle...", "The Mess We're In"

Looking back at the other PJ Harveys on this list, I'd say Let England Shake was my favourite, but Rid of Me, representing 90's alternative, has the most reason to be on this list.

Stories is in an interesting midway point between the lower-fi Dry & Rid of Me, & the more melodic Let England Shake. It's not a huge departure from her 90's stuff musically, just smoothed over with hip, easy-on-the-ears production... until it isn't ("Kamikaze")
Perhaps as a result of knowing its enduring critical popularity, I let my expectations run too wild and found myself (a teensy bit) disappointed in the album I got versus the one I built up in my head. Though this may be the last I see of PJ Harvey on this website, the enigma remains as to why I can't get into her more, despite all 4 albums being really good in one way or another. Guess I gotta keep listening to her then -_-

3.5

Still September 5, 2024

Manitoba mentioned, 20 stars out of 5

August 31, 2024

HL: “The Next Big Thing”, “Master Race Rock”, “Cars & Girls”

Albums from this month I own on CD/vinyl:
The Wall, Thriller, Sgt. Peppers, GREY Area, & whatever this is (I found it in a Cdn thrift store for two bucks :0)

It sure is a lot of techno all at once.
Wikipedia needs to cite their sources when it comes to "anthemic melodies", as this is by no means a melodic album.
"Blueski" sounds like it's about to become the electro/acoustic bop of the summer, and then it just... ends.

There are quite a few overlong albums I adore (Speakerboxx/The Love Below, Tusk, hell even Logical Progression if we’re talking electronica). Second Toughest is shorter than all 3 but I *felt* the length.

I didn't love it, but it's certainly worth working out to. (Of course, that would require one to work out.)

2.5

HL: "Juanita : Kiteless : To Dream of Love", "Banstyle/Sappy's Curry", "Stagger", "Born Slippy" (bonus)

August 30, 2024

You gotta be kidding me, Beatles, Muse & Zep one after another?

I'm a big Houses of the Holy apologist, but at least one song here ("Trampled Under Foot") is a retread of a HotH song ("The Crunge") but done much better. In terms of songs evoking a beach, I'd take "Down By the Seaside" over "D'yer Maker"

"In the Light" and "Ten Years Gone" have grown on me substantially since I heard them years ago, which makes me wonder whether the intimidating length of this album bothered me more back then.

My favourite Zep (if not this or Led Zeppelin IV) is their III, so “Black Country Woman” & “Bron-Yr-Aur” are fantastic breaks from the Rock And Roll 🪨

Not fair to get an all-time favourite twice in a row; what do I have to look forward to for the last 200 albums now /s

If there’s one criticism I hold for BH&R, the flow is a bit odd. Intro “Take a Bow” belongs at the beginning, but the pretty “Starlight” immediately afterwards is a bit of whiplash.

They’ve had some up and downs, but there isn’t a Muse album I don’t like

Time since the last The Beatles on this list: a year and a month

Time since I last listened to a Beatles album: like a day ago, when I put on Beatles For Sale 🤠

It’s not every day that I can just vibe with Sgt Pepper like I can with, say, Abbey Road or Rubber Soul, but today is one of those days. Between the orchestras in “Within You” & “Day in the Life”, the animal sounds in “Good Morning” & the tape samples in “Mr. Kite”, it’s as colourful as its sleeve suggests, but noisy in a way no other Beatles albums are (save Yellow Submarine, where “Only a Northern Song” & “It’s All Too Much” take the cake for Beatlesque avant-garde).
The title track reprise & “Lovely Rita” sound much newer than the 60s, in part because the innovations from Martin, Emmerick & co. are felt in later releases all across the rock and pop spectrum.

I was shopping for milk when the dog whistle came on @ the end, and it was all I could do not to attack the other customers in a feral rage, but apart from that I’d say the almost 60 years of hype for Sgt. Pepper is warranted.

August 27, 2024

Aug. 27 (after hours)

HL: "Vanishing Point", "Run", "Guilty Partner", "All the Way"

3rd New Order I've heard, after Low Life and Power, Corruption & Lies
I can't argue for the importance of Technique in relation to acid house, synthpop or even among New Order albums. But it sounds good & I like it so... 4 stars it is

August 25, 2024

HL: “Traveller”, “Butterfly”, “Sutrix”, title track, “Light”

Had low expectations going into this (the late 90s picks of this list are hit-or-miss imo), but it blew me away. Somehow equally fitting for a rave & a spa. I was worried when the grandeur of “Traveller” gave way to the dirty synths in “Sutrix”, but by the end I believed it was all part of the same artistic vision. For comparison, I didn’t always feel that way with Red Snapper and Nitin Sawhney from this list, era, and country (the UK, surprise surprise).

An uneasy 5 stars from me

August 26, 2024

HL: “Dre Day”, “Let Me Ride”, “G Thang”, “Lil Ghetto Boy”

The Chronic saves its worst song for the end, so that the actual songs between Intro & Outro are stronger as a result. Thanks, Dr.!
I’m pretty lukewarm on Straight Outta Compton (the album, not the song) but I have enjoyed Dre’s production for artists like Snoop Dogg, Eminem & Kendrick Lamar quite a bit.
The G-funk sound has been copied so frequently that The Chronic sounded like a cliche at first, even though it pioneered that sound. While I could object to the violent lyrics, it’s so integral to the era & image (& massive success) that I might as well complain about the Wu-Tang Clan rapping about samurai, or Kraftwerk singing about robots.

Another enjoyable album from a subgenre I’m historically biased against

August 22, 2024

HL: "Monkey Gone To Heaven", "Debaser", "Wave of Mutilation", "Here Comes Your Man", "No. 13 Baby"

it's been... 743 albums since the last Pixies, Surfer Rosa. And I didn't like it! It's an opinion I've been atoning for the last two years, even though I still don't completely embrace its fusion of quirky melodies with god-awful noise. Ultimately, both it and the Big Black album (both produced by Steve Albini) have earned my begrudging respect.

So far, Doolittle is a much easier album to like for me, but not really leaps and bounds from Surfer. I guess a little polish can go a long way

August 21st, 2024

HL: "Give It Away", "Under the Bridge", "The Power of Equality", "Suck My Kiss", "Breaking the Girl", "Funky Monks"

It's strange, sometimes I hear a Rick Rubin produced record, & I consider it worse off. But then I hear something like this, or Raising Hell by Run-DMC, & I think wow, he should produce everything

To quote another anonymous review: "It feels like something a chubby middle school kid would listen to before he puts on a fedora and goes to the school dance, where he just stands in the corner judging the kids who are having fun"

I resent that, sir! I was not chubby in middle school
But I did once think they were one of the great rock bands, though my Chilis of choice during middle school was part Californication, part Stadium Arcadium. I still think they were among the best to fuse rock and funk music, though I concur you could shave 15 minutes off B.S.S.M. and it would be just fine.

To (mis)quote Community:
Look, eventually, you hit a point of diminishing returns on the horniness

Such a quiet album, I kept increasing the headphones volume on Apple Music throughout the experience, then had my eardrums assaulted by a different Bonnie Billy song queued up at the end.
Having known this guy only from a role in A Ghost Story (2017), I didn’t know what to expect from his songs, although I had an idea: harsh growls à la Tom Waits, as befitting the title + skull on the cover.
I was wrong. It’s still a dark, sometimes emotional listen, but the music & Oldham’s voice is immediately easy on the ears.

HL: title track, “Death To Everyone”, “Madeleine-Mary”, “Today I Was An Evil One”

August 20, 2024

Madonna 3/3 (after LaP and RoL)

HL: “Amazing”, “What It Feels Like For a Girl”, title track

Can’t love it, can’t hate it. Exists in a blind spot I have in late 90’s/early aughts pop.

Orbit’s work on the track “Amazing” makes me think I underrated his work on Ray of Light.

It does anticipate 2000s dance-pop trends as some critics have suggested, but to me they’re all the ones that make me look back and think “what a tacky era of music”
But to illustrate my biases, I put on Robyn’s Body Talk (2010) on for the first time the other day, and I don’t think that aged the best either. Would definitely choose that over Madonna’s eighth album on a list of this caliber, though

Album #597 was my 1st Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Ghosteen)- now at #868 I have my 5th. How time flies

He’s an interesting case in that there are definitely Nick Cave albums on other “great” lists (I’ve been reading through them), but critics can’t decide on which ones deserve to be there. Skeleton Tree & Let Love In are examples of touted Seeds that aren’t a part of this list.

I think Henry’s Dream has a lot going for it; the drama, the macabre, the strings. His dark folkiness is still best represented in Abbatoir/Orpheus, but there’s a radio rock sensibility here that’s only matched in the Boatman’s Call (+ a couple songs in Murder Ballads) of the albums I’ve encountered.
I’ve often judged music from how it’d sound on a car radio, probably because I got back into this project through long highway commutes towards a job I used to have.
In that regard, I wouldn’t mind hearing “Straight To You” on a dark desert highway

HL: "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" (oof not the homophobia), "Straight To You", "Brother My Cup Is Empty", "John Finn's Wife"

August 17, 2024

August 16, 2024

HL: "Selfish", "Wounds", "Venom", "101 FM", "Pressure", "Flowers"

My curiosity about this album soared after getting the 2021 edition of the book.
The front cover: Nevermind by Nirvana, very famous album cover, makes sense.
Back cover: a black-and-white picture of, well, somebody I had never seen before. Oh, it's English rapper Little Simz! Side-by-side with Nirvana? Alright.

I didn't actually listen to the whole thing before today, but I put on 2021's S.I.M.B.I. after the Simz hype finally reached me... this year. Actually that's not accurate, since I bought both this CD & Kiwanuka in a mall, after recognizing both artists from the book, *over a year ago*. Didn't think it would take this long to get either of them on the generator, but I can finally say the purchase was worth it.

After acclimating to certain tracks like "Venom", "I Love You, I Hate You" (SIMBI), and "Gorilla" (2022's No Thank You), throughout the past year, I'm not exactly surprised that I like this whole album.
The rawness of "Sherbet Sunset" & "Boss", next to the beauty in "Selfish" & "Flowers", delineates how fine-tuned the elements of Grey Area are; never overpowering each other, and often existing simultaneously (e.g. "101 FM")

I haven't been the most enthusiastic about hip-hop recently (let alone British hip-hop) but to me, this is up there with the greats.