Reviews by galway_rat

Kudos to YouTube for providing the scraps I could assemble into an (almost) intact “Throwing Muses” album. Trying to ignore that everything sounded muddy & compressed from existing on YT for 11 years, the album’s not bad; my favourite song is the new wave-y “Call Me”, but I was probably more taken with the changes in tempo/dances with genre, than the lyrics & vocals.

HL: “Call Me”, “Hate My Way”, “Delicate Cutters”, “Rabbits Dying”

December 9, 2022

As an entire album, "enjoy" is a strong word. However I hope to find more albums like this: hard-to-define, experimental pieces by artists I'm unfamiliar with. The track I was dreading listening to (an over 10 minutes-long "To the Moon's Contractor") ended up being one of the highlights for me. Then there's a song like "The Animist", which wears out its welcome about 2 minutes too soon.

HL: "Planet 10", "Bladerunners", "Moon's Contractor", "Wipe Out"

December 12, 2022 (late)

Here’s an album that 100% deserves a place on this list, but my own impression is a bit of a mixed bag.
Some songs feel like an extended roll call, where it seems like it’s done and then you hear “Hey MC Ren, tell em” & the song goes another two minutes. However their most famous songs, “Fuck the Police” and the title track, keep their momentum throughout. “Parental Discretion”, something of a celebration of the black & white sticker on the front cover, is also a highlight to me.

Solaar reminded me of the French I lost due to not practicing, so for that I give one star ⭐️

HL: “Caroline”, “Armand est mort”, “Bouge de là, Pt. 1”

November 11, 2022

I first heard of this group in a list of the worst band names. Luckily the music leaves a much better impression. Reminds me of the previously reviewed “Rise and Fall” by Madness, in terms of eclectic, 80’s English pop rock.
“The Twilight Hour” sounds like a precursor to the lava levels in Super Mario 64.
If I change my mind about the rating later, it’s because I’m sick while listening to this tonight.

HL: “This is the Day”, “Giant”, “I’ve Been Waiting…”

HL: “When the Sun Goes Down”, “A Certain Romance”, “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured”

Here’s another album I’m glad that I came across, it’s a fairly strong debut by the Monkeys but I’ll have to dig deeper for an album of theirs I really vibe with. Somewhere between the dance punk of this, the radio-friendly “AM” & the newer, jazzier stuff coming out this year.

November 10, 2022

HL: “Alone Again Or”, “Andmoreagain”, “Maybe the People…”

An album I have never heard before, yet knew of its existence for years (think it was one of the top albums in Rolling Stone’s old list); and I had a feeling I would like it. A band in the 60s doing psychedelic rock/baroque pop records would have to mess up really badly for me not to like it.
“Bummer in the Summer” is short but it’s a bit distracting in how much it sounds like the gibberish song “Prisencolinensinainciusol”.

(The night of) Nov 8 2022

Kind of perfect for the dreary, early winter atmosphere in which I commuted to work. It both complemented and served as an antidote to that atmosphere, sometimes within the same song.

HL: “What More Can I Say”, “Lilac Wine”, the title track

I’m really into the first 3 songs, hmm but the slower burns- eg. “She’s Out of My Life”- might be too much for me, man. Tracks 5, 9 & 10 are probably my next favourites.

3.5

November 8, 2022

Edit January 2025: who pissed in your cereal, 2022 Me? "Girlfriend" and "She's Out of My Life" are still my least favourite tracks on the album, but that's like saying I don't particularly care for "The Lady in My Life" from Thriller. They're alright songs in a sea of fantastic ones

HL: “Mannequin”, “Strange”, “Ex-Lion Tamer”

Think I’m leaning closer to 3 stars than 2. I suspect in this list there will be a few more punk/postpunk LPs from the late 70s/early 80s that I am simply ambivalent over. At times it sounds like an album from the 90s, which certainly highlights their influence on later alt-rock bands. And there are just enough enjoyable songs to make the “1234!DuDuDuDu” song fragments worth sitting through.

HL: “Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire”, “Downtown”

3.5
I think “B-52’s” (the album) will grow on me the same way its “Rock Lobster” did; for now I felt like I was being smacked in the head with its madcap energy after only 40 minutes.

November 1, 2022

HL: “Lady Jane”, “Mother’s Little Helper”, “Out of Time”

October 31, 2022 🎃

HL: “Sleep on the Left Side”, “Indian Tobacco”, “We’re in Yr Corner”

Today I learned about this band Cornershop.
There’s a kind of ‘cutting-room floor’ aura about some tracks, and I found some others to be overlong.
The Punjabi Beatles cover was a great note to finish on; it could be seen as a response to the many 60s rock bands using ragas and musical instruments as flavour.

HL: “Sour Times”, “Roads”, “It Could Be Sweet”

October 30, 2022

HL: “The Glorious Land”, “On Battleship Hill”, “In the Dark Places”

Not English. Still enjoyed this quite a bit. 4/5

October 28, 2022

Listened to the 3 songs NOT on Apple Music Canada first, “Regiment”, “Qu’Ran”, & “The Carrier”. (2/3 of those songs were apparently cleared of copyright issues and reinstated on streaming services. Not so.)
Liked all 3, but all felt transitory. Kind of like how “Any Colour You Like” glues 2 other songs together in DSOTM.

Upon finishing the rest of the album, that’s just how most songs are here. The mix of organic percussion, cut up vocals & cold synths can be really eerie (Mountain of Needles). Lived up to the “Ghosts” in the album title.

HL: “The Jezebel Spirit”, “Very, Very, Hungry”, “The Carrier”

October 28, 2022

Before I almost reflex-5-star this Queen album, I want to address any reasons why it might not deserve it:
“Death on Two Legs”: not a bad song, but surprisingly venomous for an opening track. Did Freddie Mercury just tell me to kill myself?
“Car”: it’s a dumb song about being in love with a car. However, if you don’t like this song you’re wrong
“Sweet Lady”: Might be filler, but I believe it’s only diminished by being on the same album as much better songs. The 3/4, or 4/4, switches are interesting.
“The Prophet’s Song”: the first time I heard the album I didn’t much care for the a cappella interlude. However this very proggy tune has grown on me a lot since then.
Taking away those songs you are left with some of Queen’s greatest work, including 3 very enjoyable old-timey ditties and the best version of “God Save the Queen” (sorry Sex Pistols). Can’t say whether it’s the best Queen album but it has just about everything one would want in a Queen album.

HL: “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “39”, “Love of My Life”, “Seaside Rendezvous”

HL: “Peg”, “Aja”, “Deacon Blues”

Shoot, I’m unsure but “Aja” gets 4 stars for now. “Peg” is my favourite Steely Dan song; yet the second half dragged more than the first, despite the 1st having longer songs. Could be anywhere from a 3 to a 5 depending on mood & location.

HL: “Do You Realize”, “In the Morning of the Magicians”, “Are You A Hypnotist”

Who else is a sucker for 2000s psychedelic-indie-pop-rock like I am?

There were times that the sweeping synths (weeeUUUooouueee) distracted me from the song itself, but despite that, I can see myself listening through this album again soon.

October 26, 2022

HL: “Frankie Crisp”, the title track, “My Sweet Lord”, “If Not For You”, “What is Life”, “Awaiting on You All”

Shame that All Things Must Pass is classified as a triple album, and not a double + bonus record. Would help with expectations.
Well, I love this album to bits. Definitely not first listen but some songs (Apple Scruffs, Art of Dying in particular) stuck out today, where in the past they’d be overlooked for the classics.