Rated 8/10
HL: “Bloody Well Right”, “Dreamer”, “Hide in Your Shell”, “Asylum”
I’ll swing towards a 4 for this one, I admit to having my parents’ Supertramp Greatest Hits CD playing in the car on at least one occasion. There’s a shared sense of theatrics + pomp with Queen, ELO, Styx, etc, with a little less glam and a little more jazz. Nothing to get overly excited about, but I like it well enough.
December 8 2022
Rated 8/10
HL: “Silver Dagger”, “All My Trials”, “Wildwood Flower”, “John Riley”, “El Preso Numero Nueve”
December 5, 2022
Rated 10/10
(Dec 4) Speakerboxx
HL: “GhettoMusick”, “Unhappy”, “The Way You Move”, “The Rooster”, “Bust”, “Flip Flop Rock”
(Dec 5) The Love Below
HL: “Spread”, “Hey Ya”, “Roses”, “Love in War”, ”My Favorite Things”, “Take Off Your Cool”
Once again, I hear a double album that I’m not sure I’d give 5 stars to each individual disc, but I would to them combined (Mellon Collie, Songs in the Key of Life). Can’t say how this project compares to “real” OutKast albums, since this is the only full-length one I’ve heard so far, but it’s a great introduction to both member’s talents & musical influences.
Rated 6/10
- oh shoot, Steve Winwood plays just about every instrument here (slight exaggeration except when it’s literally true)
- seems like Traffic was smoking the same weed that Tim Buckley was on Happy Sad (the last album I listened to before this one)
- while I’m something of a Winwood fan- that voice! those keys!- this album feels incomplete, especially so with the inclusion of 2 Winwood demos in the version I listened to.
- zoned out in the first half to the point I can’t really provide much insight. Good sax 🎷
HL: “John Barleycorn”, “Every Mother’s Son”, “Empty Pages”
December 1, 2022 (late)
Rated 6/10
Of the two looong songs on this album, thought “Love From Room 109 at the Islander” was beautiful, and “Gypsy Woman” to be pretty aimless jamming. The rest is decent enough, the kinda freeform nature of the album sets it apart from other 60s folk records I’ve heard, even from the last Tim Buckley album I heard (“Goodbye and Hello”)
HL: “Room 109”, “Strange Feelin”, “Sing a Song For You”
December 1, 2022
Rated 8/10
I have heard a lot of about half this album, as when my family gets together the playlist is often a bunch of the same albums on shuffle. This brings me nostalgia, much like “Buena Vista Social Club”, “Graceland” + the Beatles’ “1967-1970” compilation are all ingredients in a big, nostalgic soup.
So maybe I was conditioned to like this, though it may not be quite as good as Cohen’s “Songs” from ‘67.
“Take this Waltz” is an example of some dated synth strings, but it’s still in my top 5 Cohen songs. And “Jazz Police” is delightfully weird & unfamiliar to me, considering how much I’ve listened to “Manhattan”.
HL: “First We Take Manhattan”, “Take This Waltz”, “Everybody Knows”, “Jazz Police”
November 30, 2022
Rated 6/10
2nd half was better, but maybe that should because there were fewer distractions (listened to in transit, a couple songs at a time)
HL: “History” “On your Own” “So it Goes” “No Knock…”, “Life’s an Ocean”
3.5
Nov 29 2022
Rated 4/10
Highlights: “100%”, “Purr”, “On the Strip”, “Chapel Hill”
Listening to this made me return to “Sister” to try and figure out why I enjoyed that album more than this one. There’s catchy riffs in both, as well as plenty of distortion & screeching.
I read there’s 5 albums by Sonic Youth, so maybe after the other 3 I’ll get why this entry is so acclaimed.
Though I prefer Lady Soul (of the 2 Aretha albums I’ve listened to in full), there’s a certain gift in performing decent songs and making them sound like the anthem of a generation. Those Redding & Cooke covers, they’re enough to justify listening to this in full.
HL: “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.”, title track, “A Change is Gonna Come”, “Save Me”, “Don’t Let Me Lose That Dream”
Rated 8/10
HL: “Violet”, “She Walks on Me”, “Asking For It”
Quite liked it despite the grunge.
November 25, 2022
Rated 6/10
HL: “I’m in the Mood”, “That’s Alright”, “No Substitute”
I like how Hooker gets the last couple songs to himself. The roster of all-stars is mostly enjoyable, I think some of them could have contributed more- except in cases like the title track where the scales tip in the opposite record & it feels like a Santana album.
Charlie Musselwhite is a welcome guest (I saw him live a while back with Ben Harper)
November 25, 2022
Rated 6/10
HL: “My Weakness”, “Run On”, “Porcelain”, “Find My Baby”, “Natural Blues”
Leave it to me to be well and truly done with this album at the end, then get enchanted by the final track “My Weakness”. Some really good tracks, and some tedious stretches. It really sold 12 million copies, eh?
November 24, 2022
Rated 8/10
HL: “Junk Bond Trader”, “Everything Means Nothing…”, “In the Lost & Found”, “Son of Sam”
There aren’t just shades of John/Paul/George, but possibly a bit of Syd Barrett & “The Piper” too. As with other artists whose tragedy precedes their music, I went into this expecting a far bleaker album than what I got: what a relief.
November 23, 2022
Rated 8/10
Think I enjoyed the first suite the best, church organs, cacophony & all.
My favourite 70s, prog, non-Floyd album is between this and the Court of the Crimson King now.
November 23, 2022 (late night)
Rated 6/10
HL: “Like the Swallow”, “Girl VII”, “Spring”, “Nothing Can Stop Us”, “London Belongs to Me”
Some unexpectedly psychedelic moments (like “Wilson”) I liked;
I’m confused as to why, with all the influences and genres at play, the album as a whole sounds *dry*. Is it a victim of the early CD era?
I was going to add the album was overlong, but turns out I had a deluxe version which was about 10 mins longer.
November 19, 2022
CanCon alert:🚨 They said Winnipeg
Rated 6/10
HL: “Stress”, “Phantom, Pt. 2”, “Genesis”, “Valentine”
Enjoyment may have varied (I’ll have to think whether any of the guest vocals were necessary), but other tracks are deeply funky and kind of addictive. Idk is “dark disco” a thing?
Daft Punk 🤝 Quincy Jones 🤝 Deadmau5
3.5
November 19, 2022
HL: “When Seasons Change”, “So In Love”, “Jesus”
A serious but (I think) somewhat optimistic album which leans into gospel. I’m in a grey area where I don’t have much tolerance for evangelism but I love gospel music, so ultimately the spiritualism in Mayfield’s lyrics added to, rather than detracted from, the album’s calls for action.
November 20, 2022
Rated 8/10
-Fitting that I’d get at least one album from Kate Bush in the *Year of Bush* (a phrase that I will not use again).
-The music occasionally has an ambient element, which may frustrate listeners searching for a pop hook/structure, but the way the album carefully weaves between those songs, and more urgent-sounding ones like “Rocket’s Tail”, meant that each individual song felt like a movement in a symphony.
-I found out why track 9 sounded Pink Floyd-y. David Gilmour guests on that (and “The Fog”).
HL: “The Fog”, “Heads We’re Dancing”, “Deeper Understanding”, also a continuing appreciation of Uileann pipes as heard in the title track
November 18, 2022
Rated 8/10
I’ve only heard the 3 big songs (Photograph, Foolin’, Rock of Ages) a thousand times on classic rock radio, and there’s not really any surprises outside of those.
Without listening too closely, Track 1 might as well be AC/DC.
“Stage Fright” and “Too Late for Love” are pretty hooky & catchy, I might even like the former more than “Rock of Ages”.
Despite my own musical interests drifting away from 80s hair/glam metal as of late, I’m happy this list led me back there.
November 16, 2022
Rated 8/10
Only knowing (the really pretty) “Waterloo Sunset” from the song list, I didn’t have much expectation, but:
Death of a Clown
Lazy Old Sun
End of the Season
Two Sisters
Harry Rag
were also standouts to me. Despite the jolly harpsichord & brass, there’s a melancholy air that I was drawn to.
November 14, 2022
