Reviews by galway_rat

Come on England

3.5

HL: “Northern Whale”, “Nature Springs”, “Green Fields”, title

May 21, 2024

I haven't heard Sleater-Kinney before, but I've heard OF them through a Wikipedia rabbit hole: SNL -> Fred Armisen -> Portlandia -> Carrie Brownstein -> this band

I like it, can’t help thinking of X-Ray Spex and other punk bands from the 70s (that I wouldn’t have known about if not for this list), but it’s not a bad reinterpretation of that era. It also seems to have more in common with the 2000s post-punk revival than the 90’s punk scene, unless there’s a reference I’m missing.
*checks the book* Ah, I have not listened to their influence, fellow Washingtoners Bikini Kill. Though that band’s spinoff, Le Tigre, is here and pretty enjoyable as well.

HL: title track, “One More Hour”, "Words and Guitar", “Not What You Want”, “Dance Song ‘97”

May 20, 2024

-The only songs I'm 100% sure I know are the title track & "Rehab", though I've been looking forward to hearing this for a while now. (Frank [2003] was 497 albums-a-day ago :0)

-ok, I also know "Tears Dry On Their Own". Classic

- a Sunday comfort listen, at least as much as it can be knowing her tragic decline after Back to Black's release. I've never been the biggest fan of Winehouse's tunes, but I recognize greatness when I see it.

HL: title track, “Tears Dry On Their Own”, “Rehab”, “He Can Only Hold Her”, “Addicted” (bonus track, not on the CD copy I found)

May 19, 2024

(From entry on Want Two, a month ago) “I understand this is the one that Dimery kept in later editions (Want One is cut), but if the other is anything like this one I’m looking forward to it.”
😤 I expect greatness

(Listening to “Beautiful Child”) this sounds like a finale, where do you even go from here

Okay, now that I’ve heard it in full, I might like this even more than Want Two. More of the delicate emotions, crafty song structures and thrilling instrumentation- even throwing in Ravel’s Bolero on the opening track. Maybe a couple tracks too long, but otherwise a delight.

HL: “Oh What a World”, “I Don’t Know What It Is”, “Go or Go Ahead”, “Vibrate”, “Beautiful Child”, “Dinner at Eight”

May 18, 2024

It’s like I always say, “Ou yeah, it’s black monk time.”

More interesting for its place in music history than for the songs themselves, nonetheless its stomping rhythms, distorted organ and manic vocals provide a decent listen.
I listened to some of the bonus tracks, and they sound a lot closer to psych-pop of the era, particularly the brass-infused “He Went Down to the Sea”. They’re definitely not the reason this is on the list, but they’re closer to my own personal taste.

HL: “Shut Up”, “Complication”, “Love Came Tumblin’ Down”, “Blast Off!”, “He Went Down to the Sea” (bonus)

May 17, 2024

May 16, 2024

HL: “You Don’t Own Me”, “Love Light”, “Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa”, “Anyone Who Had a Heart”, “Wishin & Hopin”, “I Only Want To Be With You” (bonus)

I don’t love every song (“Do Re Mi”, “My Colouring Book”), but I love a good majority of them. I associate “Mama Said” & “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” with the Shirelles, but Springfield has cracking versions of both, particularly the latter.

oop, gotta head to YouTube for the real album again

Legends, they're responsible for "Doctorin' the Tardis" according to the 1001 book

Listened twice, once really early in the morning/late at night when I was unable to fall asleep, and then again later that evening. I haven't heard a lot of trance or house music, so combine that with the feverish, semi-conscious state I was initially in & you get an especially strange listen, particularly by the jungly noises in "No More Tears".
I didn't fully warm to it on the 2nd listen, even after a proper rest, but I'm glad it retained a level of mystique even through all the corny raps. The 2nd half is like a warm blanket compared to the first couple songs, which sound a lot more geared towards a rave.

HL: "Church of the KLF/Last Train to Trancentral", "No More Tears", "Justified And Ancient (Reprise)"

May 15, 2024

HL: “If You All Get To Heaven”, “Wishing Well”, “Dance Little Sister”, “Let’s Go Forward”

May 14, 2024

Almost 800 albums in and yet I know nothing of Big Star, aside from random songs I've picked up in my life ("The Letter", sung by Alex Chilton pre-Big Star; "You and Your Sister" by Chris Bell after the band split).
This album was recorded in 1974, released in 1978, yet the version of the book emphasizes the 1992 version with bonus tracks.
Apple Music says it sounds nothing like their previous output.
I'm beginning to think this is not an easy intro to this band... but of course, I just go where RNGesus commands.

edit: I was mistaken, this is awesome; guess I’m a Big Star fan now 👍

HL: “Thank You Friends”, “Big Black Car”, “Jesus Christ”, the “Femme Fatale” cover, “For You”, “Take Care”, "Dream Lover" (bonus)

May 13, 2024

HL: "It's Him", “Anvil Everything”, "Street Joy", "Bess St", "Keys"

I don't know what I expected going into this proggy folky garage album, but the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts here.
After not being sold on Live/Dead (1969) recently, the comparisons to the Grateful Dead that this album received had me a little gun-shy. Yet its sun-soaked joie de vivre and indulgent, arty noodling made a surprisingly addictive blend.

May 12, 2024

May 11, 2024

HL: “Double Dutch”, “Merengue”, “Punk it Up”

If I, a white man, made an album of traditionally black music, and it still sounded too white, can I copy/paste black American radio hosts between the songs to give myself further cred?
No, now that I say it out loud, it sounds like a really stupid idea.

“Buffalo Gals” deserves credit for being turned into better songs by Neneh Cherry & Eminem.

2.5

(Track 1) hey they got the mainspring from Clock Cleaners (the Mickey Mouse cartoon from 1937) to sing on this track

Settles into a more abstract place about halfway through, but I was pretty psyched by this album. Whenever I get a slice of 21st century psychedelia, my brain automatically sizes it up to MGMT, but the parallels to Neu! & Jason Pierce from the Guardian review are equally relevant.

HL: \"Negative Space\", \"Static Resistance\", \"Ullswater\", \"Opener\", \"Each Time We Pass\"

May 10, 2024

4 of the last 5 albums have been from 1977. Crazy year

Did a 180 on this album, thought it noodly & uninspired in the first little while, then something clicked on Side 2 and I had to play the album right back after it ended.
Though I prefer the 2nd half to the darker, bluesier 1st- geese n' all- the contrast with the second's atmospheric lightness is super satisfying. What a lovely piece to end the album on ("Small Hours").

HL: title track, “Couldn’t Love You More”, “Dancing”, “Small Hours”

later on in May 9, 2024

May 8, 2024

HL: "River Song", "Moonshine", "Time", "Rainbows", “Tug of Love” (bonus)

warm summa breeze

the 4 bonus tracks were nice too

May 9, 2024

HL: “Sweet Gene Vincent”, “Blockheads”, “Plaistow Patricia”, “Sex and Drugs” (bonus)

Anything but mindless good taste

May 6, 2024

Hey this guy stole the guy from Jurassic 5's flow- oh, it's the same guy. Cool

I'm quite enjoying this. It's trying to be all things to all people, but it's also vibrant and celebratory- & something I needed to accompany some of the first warm weather this year.

HL: "Love and Hope", title track, "Te Estoy Buscando", "Saturday Night"

May 5, 2024

HL: "Moribund the Burgermeister", "SOLSBURY HILL", "Humdrum", "Down the Dolce Vita", "Here Comes the Flood"

Though the rating doesn't exactly show it, this was a disappointment coming last after So and Melt. (The latter was just last month)
Though it is unfocused and overproduced, it's also exciting to see Gabriel's varied influences clearly visible here before they coalesced in later releases, like a nebula.
Tracks like "Slowburn" make me yearn for Queen or Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell, and "Waiting for the Big One" was a draggy blues tune, but most of the rest is pretty cool stuff.
The dynamic "Dolce Vita" slapped me across the face while I was walking through the city.
And "Solsbury" is just one of my favourite songs, period.

Whyy
is the tracklist
Not the same
But the name and album cover are?…

“Demon’s Theme” is a “classic”, “MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide” claims. But it isn’t on the Apple Music version…

I believe the only other album I failed to listen to in its entirety was Throwing Muses, and I’ll be damned if I can’t find the 2 hours, 22 minutes and 32 seconds of this ultimate in “hip cafés, hair salons, and fashion stores” music (that’s the 1001 Albums book talking, I’m not being snide).

Edit: someone finally uploaded the full Throwing Muses album on YouTube. Imma right some wrongs, listen to that in the meantime.
Edit 2: found Logical Progression in like 5 minutes, I don’t support piracy so definitely don’t go to the Internet Archive

I think it's no small praise that I didn't hate myself after listening to the full thing (I heard the 2 discs a few hours apart, though). I don't have much experience with D&B or jungle, but I did enjoy Orbital & Aphex Twin on this list, which LTJ Bukem's compilation here isn't too far removed from. The hi-speed rhythms may be relentless, but the intensity varies greatly, from the pounding intro ("Demon's Theme") to the ambient, nature sound-infused "Pharaoh".
It's music for studying. It's music for driving. It's music for enjoying a freshly brewed coffee while rebuilding a village in Minecraft, like I did.

May 4th, 2024

HL: “Assessment”, “Space”, “Pure For”, “Liquid Bird”, “Space Beatle”

I think what this shares with another recent album, Django Django (2012), is there are no bad tracks but no soaring standouts either. I dig some eclectic psychpop but I feel the album as a whole could lean further into either the layered beauty of “Space Beatle/Rhododendron” or the propulsive, trippy “Space” & “”Liquid Bird”. As it is it’s like a tasty sample platter.

3.5

May 3, 2024

We’re officially at the 4th solo Morrissey album, after a single Smiths album (The Queen is Dead, after Liz II passed away).
I don’t like that ratio.
The albums haven’t been bad, with my least favourite (Your Arsenal) still getting a 3 for inventive little twists and turns, but I’ve started each one with an increasing sense of weary determination.

Okay, again that’s not bad at all. Way to commit to that pastoral melancholy, even if it does get a bit sleepy (or maybe I’m what is sleepy 🥱 ).
The music is pleasant, competent 90’s alt rock. I find it at its best when it delves off the beaten path; for instance the half-whispered, woodwinds-laced “Lifeguard Sleeping”.
I’ve never related too strongly to Morrissey’s lyrics, instead associating him with the odd out-of-pocket song title (the maybe too ironic “National Front Disco”, “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others “). Vauxhall doesn’t really deliver in that regard, being pretty serious for the most part- unless his ironic humour is so subtle this time around I can’t clock it.

Probably my 2nd favourite of the 4, close behind Viva Hate.

3.5

HL: “Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning”, “Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself”, “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get”, “Now My Heart is Full”

May 2 (late at night)