Reviews by galway_rat

April 11, 2024: having trouble accessing this album, put on Avalon by Roxy Music, also from 1982 so it’s basically the same thing :|
April 15, 2024: well cobbling it together on YouTube is better than nothing

The Message has a little something for everyone. Gospel, electro, quiet storm. It might suffer from Big Single Syndrome (a phrase I definitely didn't just make up), with more filler than killer, but it has pretty much all the raw ingredients that made up hip-hop in the 90s and beyond.
The slow jams "You Are" and "Dreamin'" are neat but have almost nothing in common with "The Message" & why that's so acclaimed to this day.

HL: title track, "She's Fresh", "It's Nasty"
HL (of Avalon): “More Than This”, “Take a Chance With Me”, title track

Roxy Music 3/3

Is the top comment going to be about the album cover?
Edit: yes

Funny that this is the Eno-less of the three, since songs like “Triptych” wouldn’t sound out of place on Eno’s Here Come the Warm Jets.
If there’s one reason for having so much Roxy Music on this list, it’s the adventurousness that they explore genres and their influences, even if it has been somewhat hit & miss (I remembered being slightly baffled by For Your Pleasure, early on in this journey).
Like, just when I thought I knew their bag of tricks, along comes the funky “Casanova” and twisted march of “Bitter-Sweet”.

I promised myself once this album came and went, I’d finally crack open my mom’s copy of Avalon (1982), “credited with pioneering the sophisti-pop genre” (Wikipedia). And I know how much this list loves sophisti-pop, so not having that on here seems particularly strange.
But that’s for another night 🥱 got to be up early for first aid class

HL: “The Thrill of it All”, “Out of the Blue”, “Bitter-Sweet”?, “Triptych”

April 10, 2024

HL: “I Gotcha", “Kick, Push”, “Sunshine”, “Daydreamin”

A day where I’m grateful this website includes excised albums. A mid-2000s treat I was (mostly) unaware of

HL: "Sultans", "Wild West End", "Water of Love"

Dire Straits are a comforting band to listen to for me. Maybe I don't like this debut as much as Brothers in Arms, or even Making Movies, but perhaps that is because today is the first time I've heard this from front to back.

April 7, 2024

Eccentric collection of songs, that makes a mostly enjoyable listen. The low-quality recording makes it feel older than 1958 to me.

Didn’t expect the Boll Weevil song today, my dad played the Brook Benton version to me as a kid

Also why tf is “Dink” censored on Apple

HL: “Boll Weevil”, “New York Town”, “Dink’s Song”, “Old Blue” (bonus)

Two notes about Bert Jansch:
1) I had heard “Needle of Death” previously, from 1001 SONGS you Must Hear Before You Die,
2) I gave his band Pentangle 3 stars about a year ago, but had its faux-medieval folk grow on me long enough to buy it on vinyl recently.

A remarkable performance, though more impressed by the guitar craft than the songs for the most part. “Needle of Death” is rightfully acclaimed for its terribly tragic lyrics and beautiful melody, but that really isn’t typical of Jansch’s self-titled. More blues than elegiac ballads.

3.5

HL: “Smokey River”, “Needle of Death”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Running From Home”

April 5, 2024

April 4, 2024

HL: "Satanic Reverses", "Language of Violence", “The Winter of the Long Hot Summer”, "California Über Alles"

Nice of Apple to provide some of the album :/ I guess some samples weren't cleared or something?

Well, this is my first time hearing the Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Digging through 15 year old YT videos to find every song is not an ideal way to listen to any album, but I think it was worth it to get the whole package. While it borders on jazz rap like A Tribe Called Quest, that sound is obfuscated by Public Enemy-like bursts of noise. Combine that with menace like "The Tower" from Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster, and we have a surprisingly good combination. Oh, I forgot to mention, throw some Dead Kennedys and Gil Scott-Heron in there too, THEN you have a combination.

Final song, "Water Pistol Man", sounds like an atmospheric video game from the late 90s

Eating good ramen while listening to this, which is about as much of a high as lighting up 🔥

I put on De la Soul is Dead a few days ago. Time to further my Native Tongues education!

Yeah, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm kinda confirms my belief that the N.T.'s era of hip-hop died too soon.

Catchy, goofy at times, but also smooth as heck.

Much like yesterday's listen of Beyoncé's new album, a Beatles sample almost never hurts ("Luck of Lucien")

HL: “Push it Along”, “Footprints”, “Can I Kick It”, “Mr. Muhammad”, "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo"

April 2, 2024

HL: “Two Years of Torture”, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, “Just for a Thrill”

Was looking forward to a brassy good time but something about this left me cold. At least there are moments where Ray and his piano aren’t totally lost in the mix

HL: “Complex”, "M.E.", "Cars"

Maybe I’m wrong for rating such a repetitive album this highly, but…
The retro-futuristic takes on robots and A.I. have been fun, and Numan and co. squeeze a lot of potential out of the limited sounds and synths.

HL: “Suite”, “Marrakesh Express”, “Helplessly Hoping”, “Long Time Gone”

“I didn’t realize how much my RNG was holding out on classic 60’s albums until this month”- Me, halfway through March, who would also get the Burrito Brothers, Neil Young + Crazy Horse, and CS&N’s debut within days of me typing that.
Maybe it’s not interesting to anybody who isn’t me, but ten groovy 60’s albums this March, vs seven in the previous 3 months, has been an unexpected treat.

I do feel this is an album where I like the beginning and the ending the best; the middle tracks are good but pale in the majesty of “Judy Blue Eyes” or “Helplessly Hoping”. Still enjoyed it quite a bit, a great album for melting snow and visiting family for the holidays 🐣

March 30, 2024

CanCon alert🚨 🍁- oops, retracted. We don’t actually own the maple leaf

Love “Birdland” already, but we’ll see where the rest of this album takes us.

HL: “Birdland”, “Teen Town”, “The Juggler”, “A Remark You Made”, “Havona”

My love for jazz fusion is fickle, with albums like Head Hunters and Bitches Brew being favourites from this generator, while others (idk if Street Life counts as jazz fusion) bored me, with my ears discounting fierce, virtuosic solos as samey mush.
Heavy Weather has a little of the latter example, but also a lot of what I liked about the former, with Latin percussion, spacey synths, and a willingness to explore contrasting textures (the suspense in “Teen Town”; the melancholy in “Remark”).
I can’t find much online about it, but “The Juggler” is an understated highlight, with a galloping, African rhythm and a playful descending riff from Zawinul.

A real bop from an era of jazz that I’ve often dismissed as background music of the Weather Network.

wait Weather Network… Weather Report… what does it mean…

The generator has drip-fed the odd Jay-Z feature, like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), & Beyonce (2013), but today is the first time I tried listening to a full-length release of his.

I wrote this a year ago about Raekwon's solo album:
' "Mafioso rap", as Wikipedia described it, has generally been the hardest rap subgenre to get into for me. '
Yet, I don't find it hard to get into this at all- in fact, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. A part of it, however, might be acclimation to hip-hop at large. Even though I may not relate to the life-of-crime narrative, or the brazen machismo (eg. the ballerina crack in “Takeover”), The Blueprint’s steamroller verses and immaculate production create an almost euphoric atmosphere.
Neither Illmatic nor 36 Chambers got much appreciation from me on 1st listen, but as that appreciation deepened over time, it opened a gateway into enjoying other rappers that I’d previously ignored. Like Jay-Z!

Definitely thought the Timbaland feature was "Jigga That N*gga", but turns out it's the new-jack-swinging "Hola' Hovito".

I also have a new appreciation for Yeezy's early production work, along with Common's Be and The College Dropout

HL: "Takeover", "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)", "Hola' Hovito", "Never Change", “Renegade”, "Girls, Girls, Girls (Part 2)"

March 27, 2024

HL: "Dancing Queen", "My Love, My Life", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Money, Money, Money", "Why Did It Have to Be Me?", & the title track

and "Fernando"

Oh come ON

March 26, 2024

"Take it, Dolly. Dale"- Pitbull

HL: title track, "Traveling Man", "Here I Am"

I might like this album a bit less then it deserves. I pulled up another 70's country album from my personal listening list, I'm Jessi Colter (1975) to try to pinpoint why. After liking the latter more, I realize it ain't that complicated. My ideal country is watered down with other genres- as in Colter's case, soft rock, pop & blues. Some of my favourite albums this year have been country-ish, with Gram Parsons, the Band, even k.d. lang representing that one foot in, one foot out mentality.
Coat of Many Colors is pretty traditionalist, and essential country listening, it's just not generally what I'd choose for everyday listening.
The title track is admittedly wonderful, as is "Here I Am" towards the end of the album.

HL: “Right Here, Right Now”, \"Rockafeller Skank\", “Praise You”, “Love Island”

I almost made it to April this year before getting an album I was ‘meh’ about. It was bound to happen…
Not that it was a waste of an hour, I understand this could be a banger in the right environment, and I almost always have time for “Check it out now, Funk soul brotha”!
But like some other 90’s electronic jams on this list, I felt tested listening to it in full. It seems like many of the songs- “Like Heaven”, “Kalifornia”, “Acid 3000”, the last minute of “Soul Surfing”, yes even my beloved “Rockafeller Skank”- have some element I find so irritating that it distracts me from the otherwise cool samples n beats.

Part of my drive to complete every album stems from the fear of my music taste fossilizing: being only to derive pleasure from MY music, not whatever YOUR music is.
Oddly though, that anxiety works both ways. Since I’ve had so many 4s and 5s recently, I was starting to wonder if I’m not putting ENOUGH critical thought towards those albums.
Thanks to Mr. Slim, for reminding me there are genres I still have to work hard to appreciate. You’ve earned both these stars.

March 25, 2024

Note to self: Adam and the Ants, and Alien Ant Farm, are NOT the same 🐜

HL: title track, “Dog Eat Dog”, “Feed Me to the Lions”

HL: “Starlings”, “Mirrorball”, “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”, “One Day Like This”, “The Fix”

Despite having half-heard this album like 10 years ago, I still don’t really know The Seldom Seen Kid, or Elbow for that matter. Considering Apple Music positions its sound between Pink Floyd and Coldplay, I really should’ve gobbled it up when it was new.

The three songs that really stood out from hearing years ago are the soft/loud “Starlings”, the spooky “Fix” (which features Richard Hawley, whoa), and the crowd-pleasing “One Day Like This”. Luckily the rest of the album lives up to that standard, HOWEVER:
The one song I’m on the fence about is “Grounds For Divorce”, which is part dreamy psychedelia, part truck commercial cock rock which seems at odds with the rest of the tracklist. At the same time, I don’t hate it…

The album quiets down in the 2nd half, but it doesn’t lose steam, with some of the prettiest moments nestled in songs like “Crane Driver” and “Some Riot”.

March 22, 2024

HL: title track, “Bottle of Smoke”, “Fairytale of New York”, “Thousands Are Sailing”, “Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant…”, “Streets of Sorrow”, “The Battle March Medley”

I have this on CD 💿
Though this is actually the first complete listen, as last Christmas I only played the first half (including “Fairytale”).
And while I loved this album pretty consistently throughout, the first few songs illustrate the 80’s excess/absolute mayhem on display. Going from the profane “Bottle”, to “Fairytale” 🎄 🎄, to the James Bond brass of “Metropolis” is almost too jarring to be on the same project. The key word being ‘almost’.

I think I skipped ahead to “finish off” this album because, coincidentally, I had just listened to a Chieftains album called Santiago in the wake of St Patty’s Day, which ALSO contains Irish folk mixed with Spanish folk and orchestras. Truly an underrated genre fusion- but where Santiago is reverent to its influences, IISFFGWG is proudly anything but.