Reviews by galway_rat

HL: “Bonin’ in the Boneyard” (is Mario Kart music in the best possible way), "Ghetto Soundwave", "Pouring Rain", "Freddie's Dead"

October 26, 2023

2nd xx album, and now we'll have a moment of silence; for both have been removed by the latest edition, like everything by Adele & Kings of Leon :(

After “Dangerous”, I was ready for things to get *funky* yet they stayed relatively xx-brand melancholic in subsequent songs.
I’m not knocking I See You for that, I enjoyed it about as much as their last record. The samples here are pretty creative (who knew that was Hall & Oates in “Hold On”), and overall it’s a sunnier vibe than their wintery debut.

The polished gleam coming off these songs (& the album cover) won’t be to everyone’s taste but what is?

HL: “Dangerous”, “Say Something Loving”, “Replica”, “Brave for You”, “On Hold”

oh wow, Thin Lizzy! "Dia dhuit!"

I've never listened to them very religiously (or even agnostically) but I'm starting to see why live albums are part of this list. I'm getting more out of "Jailbreak" & "The Boys Are Back" today than I normally get from the oft-heard studio recordings. Canadian rock radio will give you those two songs and nothin else

HL: "Jailbreak", "Emerald", "Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in Its Spotlight)", "Cowboy Song"/"The Boys Are Back in Town",

October 24, 2023

After listening to over an hour of this, I see the book uses the 1990 vinyl tracklist, with no repeat tracks. Well that’s just fantastic, how was anyone supposed to know that?

& one of the guys died promoting this album?
En-Tact is really sending me down a rabbit hole, and it’s not even 10am!

I wonder if this would be rated as low as it is without all the fluff needed to pad this to a CD length. If I pretend the album ended at “Hear Me” like the book promised, then I’d say it was decently enjoyable.
(The 3rd song where the lyrics going back to “Move any Mountain” in the online version didn’t do much for me)

Right now it's a 3-star for me, if more for the textures & samples over the singing (& especially rapping). Certain 90s electronica I've been exposed to goes past right dated, into a dusty backroom & through the looking glass to a strange world where club music and the RuneScape soundtrack weren't all that far apart. And I kinda like it

Only other case of album version madness like this is Opus Dei by Laibach, which is a fascinating 40 minute album to me but an interminable 60 minute album, with all the extra CD tracks.

HL: “Move any Mountain” (which technically isn’t even in the *real* tracklist), “Hyperreal” (either of the two versions), “Possible Worlds”, “Omega Amigo”

HL: “The Whole World in His Hands”, “Make the Woman Love Me”

It’s just nice! It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just nice! (Srry I’ve been on a musical theatre kick lately)
Saying this as someone who gave the Phil Spector Xmas album 5 stars, he absolutely violates this record.
You could argue he did the same with the Beatles output of Let it Be, ATMP, & Imagine, but on the other hand those songs were generally good enough that the Spector (over)treatment didn’t matter to me.
These songs are decent but fold under the weight of the 7-minute orchestral versions.

HL: "Man at C&A", "Do Nothing", "Stereotype", "I Can't Stand It", "Rat Race" (bonus)

Even more Specials! Oh good, I was just thinking I haven't heard some good trombone in a while.
It's an album with an identity crisis, but I enjoyed this more than the 1st Specials. The kitschy synths in songs like "I Can't Stand It" just put me in a better mood somehow. I was a little put out upon realizing that "Ghost Town" isn't actually on this, and was recorded ca. a year later, but "Man at C&A" has a similar ominous vibe. Like dark clouds on a sweltering summer day

Maybe it's because of all the times they refer to nuclear war

October 21, 2023

I kinda wish I was introduced to the finer points of lo-fi indie earlier in life, because now it's nearly always jarring to hear music that's deliberately released in an unfinished-sounding state, and recorded by a russet potato.

However, I'm pleased to have been misled by this band; Guided by Voices sounds like a culty new-age group, so I'll take the lo-fi indie.
Kinda on that note, Alien Lanes sounded fantastic on my portable Bluetooth speaker, whereas other albums I've tried with it sounded terrible (the polyrhythmic Remain in Light and densely-sampled It Takes a Nation of Millions, to name two)

Even though the nature of the short tracks means that few had a chance to really make an impression on me before the next one comes blazing in, the overall experience was quite pleasant. It's as though I fell asleep during a Kinks song, and that song kept distorting and permutating throughout the dream, picking up influences from Weezer & Dinosaur Jr along the way.
It's neat 👍 and I'll probably enjoy it more with time, once I've processed it a little

3.5

HL: "Watch Me Jumpstart", "Game of Pricks", "Closer You Are", "Motor Away", "Always Crush Me"

October 20, 2023

HL: title track, “Angel of Death”, “Altar of Sacrifice”, “Postmortem”

I wanted to make a joke about how “Angel of Death” is my favourite Bangles song, but now I can’t even find the brilliant YT mashup to back it up :(

In most cases, the extreme subject matter would be an instant turn-off for me. Yet somehow, this sits within the very limited threshold of thrash metal I enjoy. Blame Guitar Hero III.

In most cases, it’s the same kind of campy occult horror of witches and devils that put Venom on the map; but not only is Reign in Blood more polished than that band, it adds real-world examples of evil that, for better or for worse, leaves a lasting impression.

Also its short runtime keeps it from being completely exhausting

Spooktober 19, 2023

Allow me to say, I love "Ain't No Other Man", but I'm going to have to pace myself here. The Wall is the same length!

Ok, Disc 1 is done, I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would, more than other crooners like Britney Spears & Mariah Carey.

Disc 2: oh this is a Tom Waits record
Alright it isn’t, but she had me fooled

It’s melodramatic, and the bloat is real, but I’d still go far as to say that they should’ve kept this in the book. It’s a decent representative of 2006 pop music, and it’s kinda silly only 4 albums make up that year in the new edition of the book

HL: “Makes Me Wanna Pray”, “Ain’t No Other Man”, “Slow Down Baby”, “Here to Stay”, “Candyman”, “I Got Trouble”, “The Right Man”
Not as crazy about: “Hurt”

HL: "Barmy", "I Am Damo Suzuki", "Cruising Creek" (bonus)

hm- that's an acquired taste if I've ever seen one. According to the 1001 Albums book this is meant to be one of the most "pop" Fall albums.
I should revisit songs like "L.A." and "Paint Work" after a time, since they're intriguing (and apparently highly regarded) but didn't really land for me.
Faust, Sonic Youth, Pavement, and now this: examples of bands whose experiments with sound & distortion sometimes just sound like bad music to me, recorded & sung badly.
This is far from a bad album overall though; "What You Need", "Spoilt Victorian Child" and "Vixen" had my head bobbing right off the bat, "Barmy" fascinated me with its oscillation between power pop & darker atonality. "I Am Damo Suzuki" doesn't really sound like anything I've heard, but says on the Wiki it's very inspired by Tago Mago, an album I will hear at some point on this journey.

October 17, 2023

I quite liked Ocean Rain, but probably haven't heard a single Echo song outside of that record. Let's see how their debut compares!

God this sounds like early U2 sometimes, but since this predates U2's Boy by several months, maybe it's more accurate to say U2 sometimes sounds like early Bunnymen

The moodiness & spook factor is noted & appreciated

HL: "Pride", "Villiers Terrace", "Pictures on My Wall",

October 16, 2023

Hm for some reason I’m biased against certain 90’s bands on this list that I’ve heard too much on the radio growing up (Soundgarden, The Offspring) yet others I’m totally fine with (Green Day, yesterday’s Black Crowes)
Definitely heard Pearl Jam one too many times, but maybe the album as a whole will be a better experience

As David Byrne once said, 'and it was'
I wouldn't say I learned much more from the deeper cuts than the aforementioned radio hits, but it's quality stuff throughout

HL: "Even Flow", "Alive", "Black", "Oceans", I guess "Jeremy", + that weird hidden track

October 15, 2023

HL: "Hard to Handle", "She Talks To Angels", "Twice as Hard", "Seeing Things"

As awesome as it is non-essential

It stays in one lane, & that is delightful southern rock. It has a gospel-seque singalong in "Seeing Things", and even though the song playcount suggests the album ends at "She Talks to Angels", "Stare it Cold" is a pretty triumphant closing track

October 14, 2023

Technically the 1st album for me that actually has Nick Cave on it

First couple songs are a mixed bag, don’t really like Jarvis Cocker’s ‘cool sexy dude’ thing removed from Pulp’s music
“The Vibes Ain’t Nothing…” is a step in the right direction, with its jazzy ambience

Hm I’ll have to think on this one. Couldn’t really get a sense of the story of this fictional movie, if there was one.

Barry Adamson really got Miles Davis sounding like the Undertale soundtrack

Maybe round up to a 3 for its eclecticism, while withholding those other 2 stars for some bland mush in between

HL: “Miles”, “Achieved in the Valley of the Dolls”, “The Big Bamboozle”, “The Sweetest Embrace”, “The Vibes Ain’t Nothing but the Vibes”

Friday the (October) 13th

Good thing I like the Byrds, because my journey now includes 3 of their albums, 2 Gene Clarks, 1 David Crosby, & 1 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

HL: “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”, "You're Still On My Mind", “Hickory Wind”, "Nothing Was Delivered", "Pretty Polly" (bonus track)

It gets a little snoozy at times, which might be because my love of country music is conditional and fickle. I have the Flying Burrito Brothers as well as Gram Parson's solo stuff to see whether this particular strain of country rock gets more interesting.
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is still a pleasant listen overall, but the more albums I hear by the Byrds, the more I feel the 3 stars I gave to Younger than Yesterday was too harsh.

October 12, 2023

Having had the chance to see Wu Tang, Nas & De La Soul this week, it’s time for a slightly different New York State of Mind

Even though this is technically the 1st time hearing this record, I was more than familiar with 6/11 tracks since they were in The Best of Simon and Garfunkel.
They’re aight, the title track & “The Boxer” are just some of my favourite moments in pop music, so we don’t need to dwell on them.
How bout that brass in “Keep the Customer Satisfied” & “Why Don’t You Write Me”?
Or “So Long Frank Lloyd Wright”, which I found a bit slight on 1st listen but ended up being won over by its interesting jazziness & slightly dissonant melody.
I think when the nadir is a perfectly serviceable Everly Brothers cover, we have a real winner here.

HL: "The Boxer", title track, "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)", "Cecilia", "Keep the Customer Satisfied", "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright", "The Only Living Boy in New York"

October 11, 2023,
one of the best autumn albums I could hope for, cover & all

HL: “Rikki”, “Barrytown”, “East St Louis Toodle-Oo”, title track, “Charlie Freak”

Idk what’s more shocking, the fact that this is the 3rd Steely Dan I’ve seen on this website or that they’ve all been pretty great?
Whether I like this more or their debut (Pretzel Man is my favourite album cover of theirs tho), there’s a lot of fun directions taken; the highlight might be two contrasting songs side-by-side, the Byrds-y “Barrytown” leading straight into an odd Duke Ellington cover, “East St Louis”.

October 9, 2023 🦃

HL: "Is That Enough", "Everybody Needs Love", "Time to Get it Together", “Anna’s Song”, “I Met a Little Girl”

It’s been about 500 albums since the last Gaye on this website, so I don’t have the most insightful comparisons to Let’s Get It On.
I did see the controversial stat on this website showing Here, My Dear as the lowest ranked of his, and I get why.
It’s fooken miserable, that’s why- or as the book tells it, “grimly fascinated” by misfortune.
To quote Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay: "It doesn't quite get you the first time”
and… same. Part of me understands this is some great 70s soul, while the other part tried and failed to be prepared for the bitter 70 minutes of this double album (alright, 62/70 minutes)

October 8, 2023

October 7, 2023

As I may have noted before, a 3 star can mean very different things to me. Yesterday, Fun Lovin' Criminals' debut didn't move the needle too much in either direction, whereas this debut has soaring highs & outrageous lows. Take "Bonnie & Clyde", whose subject matter is depicted on the album cover. Would I still enjoy it if the humour of the Will Smith interpolation wasn't explained to me years earlier? Or would I be more shocked if I didn't hear arguments from supporters and detractors of Eminem's music my whole life essentially (I was 2 when this LP was released).
Of course, the tastelessness did get to me after 60 minutes. "Guilty Conscience" is a perfect example of the artisanship on display, where Dre & Slim Shady duet in a twisted game of angel/devil, yet the vileness of the 2nd verse undermines the humour.
Occasionally, in songs like "Rock Bottom" Eminem accidentally comes across as a real person.

3.5

HL: "My Name Is", "Bonnie & Clyde '97", "Cum on Everybody", "Rock Bottom", "Bad Meets Evil"

HL: "Smoke Em", "I Can't Get With That", "We Have All the Time in the World"

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
had my head bobbing at least once or twice

Oct. 6, 2023