Rated 6/10
HL: "Fearless", "Hillbilly Highway", "Someday"
The blend of mid-80s radio rock & country kinda slaps for the most part; I‘m skeptical that it’s Earle’s best album but it’s probably the first I’ve heard front-to-back.
January 19, 2023
Rated 6/10
One of those albums I’m surprised I like. Late 90’s pop punk? Except it has more in common with The Bangles & the B-52s, artistically speaking? Maybe that’s not too much of a stretch (Edit: it’s called “riot grrl” apparently)
Fuck Giuliani, indeed
HL: Deceptacon, Phanta, Hot Topic, Les and Ray
January 17, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: “Sail Away”, “Powderfinger”, “Into the Black”
January 25 2023
Rated 4/10
HL: "Lady", "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine", the title track
I was a bit disappointed- & after reading about D'Angelo, and how he performed almost every instrument on this album I was disappointed that I was disappointed.
Or maybe the multi-instrumentalist production is why I couldn't connect, since I'm sure I'd enjoy much of the album's content live and in the right setting.
Perhaps Voodoo or Black Messiah would deliver for me what this album doesn't.
January 15, 2023
Rated 6/10
HL: "Jesus Gave Love Away For Free", "Colorado", "It Doesn't Matter", "Move Around"
First I'm hearing of the supergroup known as Manassas.
I did appreciate how each side is curated by style/genre; my favourite might be the country/western side 2 somehow. So points for organization, and points taken off for the bloat shared by its contemporaries "Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs" & "All Things Must Pass", without the soaring heights of "Layla" or even "Frankie Crisp".
January 14, 2023
Note to self: doing this 1st thing in the morning just works
Rated 10/10
HL: “May this Be Love”, “Fire”, “Manic Depression”, “Red House”, the title track
Oh there’s a US version?: “Hey Joe”, “The Wind Cries Mary”, “Stone Free”, “Purple Haze”
So many editions of the same album 🤯 I choose to rate the combined tracks together (book has the UK tracklist), since it feels like a greatest hits comp of Hendrix’s career. And it’s his debut!(s)
January 13, 2023
Rated 8/10
(Precursor, Jan 11) I've enjoyed Ultraviolence & Lust for Life enough to call myself a Lana Del Rey fan, but I haven't really touched this one. Will listen tomorrow, but not before putting on some Norman Fucking Rockwell
HL: "White Dress", "Wild at Heart", "Not All Those Who Wander", "Yosemite", "For Free"
Okay, well the parallels to how recent albums Folklore & Evermore (Swift), and Solar Power (Lorde) sound are there, thanks to Bleachers Antonoff. I think the folksy, organic sound suits Del Rey just fine, though it is a little funny the editors included this along with Evermore instead of Rockwell & Folklore.
It doesn't sprawl in length like her past releases Rockwell & Lust for Life. It's got an unexpected Weyes Blood at the end (I just listened to And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow two days ago). The title track is her throwing a bone to those preferring her earlier music, even though Chemtrails isn't so much a radical redesign as a palette swap.
Trying to assess this album in a vacuum, ignoring her other releases, it's a pretty strong, piano-driven pop record, & the dips into Laurel Canyon folk are welcome.
There's a moment in Dance Till We Die that reminds me of maybe the best Antonoff collab album, "Daddy's Home" by St. Vincent. But she's already in the book, and I'm glad Lana Del Rey has some representation at least.
Rated 6/10
HL: "Yes", "Revol", "Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart", "This is Yesterday"
Hard to rate; the musicianship + melodies are like a 4-5 but the lyrics are like a 1-2 for me (I listened to much of it with the lyric sheet open after not getting most of what he was saying). I have a surface level understanding of the Manic Street Preachers/Richie Edwards, but it feels like his struggles were trivialized, so long as he was able to stay productive & finish the record.
It's also too easy to hear elements of a breakdown after the fact; perhaps the difference between this &, say, NIN's The Downward Spiral, is that the lyricist survived the press release/tour.
January 11, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: "Tiger in Your Tank", "I Got My Brand On You", "I Feel So Good", "Hoochie Coochie Man"
Picks up speed like a rollercoaster, then ends on a downbeat "Newport Blues". No sifting through layers with this album, just some good blues vibes. Hard for me to listen to Muddy Waters without imagining Plant/Page or Jagger/Richards prowling nearby with hungry looks in their eyes.
January 10, 2023
Rated 10/10
HL: "One Love", "Three Little Birds", "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Natural Mystic"
Not much to say about this one; uh it's a triumph I guess. Surprised after all the times I've listened to "One Love", that opening piano chime transports me.
January 9, 2023 (day)
Rated 6/10
HL: "Stronger than Me", "Help Yourself", "Moody's Mood For Love", "I Heard Love Was Blind"
January 9, 2023 (night)
Rated 6/10
There’s something undeniably cozy about listening to this on the ride home from work, but it’s probably too 70’s-easy listening for my taste. “Blue Eyes Crying” started playing after the album ended, and now I feel I didn’t give *that* Willie Nelson album enough love.
HL: “Blue Skies”, “Unchained Melody”, “Moonlight in Vermont”
January 7, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: "Falling in Love With Myself Again", "This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us", "Here in Heaven", "Amateur Hour", "Thank God It's Not Christmas", "Lost and Found"
"Falling in Love..." was a morning alarm for me a few times in 2022, and I've seen the documentary the Sparks Brothers, yet this is the 1st time I've listened to Kimono My House front to back.
Super likable album, a 4 for now but maybe a 5 tomorrow. I do think the songs are a little better in the first half, but I can't find any filler.
The tongue stays firmly in tongue throughout, which I understand is a Sparks trademark.
January 5, 2023
Rated 8/10
HL: “You Never Should”, “Lose My Breath”, “All I Need”, “I Can’t See It”
A while ago on Audacity, I played around with audio files and applied this effect called “Paulstretch”, where simple musical phrases would be blown out & stretched beyond recognition. That kinda gave me the same feeling shoegaze/MBV does.
As I get into ‘23, time to acknowledge I do enjoy shoegaze quite a bit, though the indistinct, often abrasive effects can stress me out as often as they evoke a dreamlike atmosphere. Isn’t Anything doesn’t have as many layers as Loveless, but there’s moments of that peaceful/stressful feeling in tracks like “All I Need”, as well as more straightforward altrock in “Cupid Come”.
January 6, 2023
Rated 6/10
HL: "For Tomorrow", "Star Shaped", "Blue Jeans", "Chemical World", "Turn it Up"
Had to go thru the tracks the next morning to get the highlights, when I got a better appreciation for the melodies & different influences on display (the initial listen left me a bit cold, but I'm not sure why). Pretty sure my overall appreciation of Blur fluctuates with time; I thought their self-titled album was pretty great but I haven't felt a strong urge to return to it since.
3.5
January 8, 2023
Rated 6/10
HL: "Not Great Men", "Damaged Goods", "5.45"
3.5
The caustic lyrics and catchy rhythms set this apart from otherwise similar post-punk bands I've listened to.
January 4, 2023
Rated 6/10
HL: “On Some Faraway Beach”, the title track, “Some of Them Are Old”
Don’t know if side 2 is better or if I was late warming to the overall sound & vibe, but there’s some instrumental passages I really enjoyed. The first 5 tracks I was unsure about, surprisingly rockin’ but nothing that grabbed me (at least on this 1st listen)
Didn’t know Brian Eno sang
December 30, 2022
Rated 6/10
December 28, 2022
3*
1st cabaret-esque record
Points for the theatricality and eclecticism on display, conjures up a stormy Broadway musical
thought I knew what I was getting into with the Walker track (based on “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”), the brief break from dissonance was a goosebumps moment, but it definitely felt its length
The album leaves me more curious about The Divine Comedy/Neil Hannon, and about Ute Lemper’s career (sounds like this English crossover was kind of an anomaly)
HL: the Tom Waits ones, “Little Water Song”, “Punishing Kiss”, “You Were Meant For Me”, “The Case Continues”
Rated 6/10
HL: “My Curse”, “Debonair”, “I Keep Coming Back”, “Brother Woodrow”
Read during listening that the Afghan Whigs are heavily influenced by soul. Feel like it didn’t come thru until the final 3rd, which was disappointing (but that’s on me, I created expectations prior to listening).
Is this an essential listen? Not at all in my opinion.
Did I like it? Yeah, it was pretty good.
December 28, 2022 (late)
Rated 8/10
this is the way
this is the way
(Listening to Colony): reminded of that quote in GH3 that says if you can hear your bassist, they’re playing too loud
Dk which is better: “Unknown Pleasures” or this one. The frenetic percussion of the opening “Atrocity Exhibition” makes one think it’ll be a punkier, more danceable record, but just like the outro in “Passover”, it slows down, going into the brooding, Gothic second half.
HL: “Twenty-Four Hours”, “The Eternal”, “Isolation”, “Decades”
