Rated 8/10
Almost soured my 1st impression reading about his son & the song “I Never Wanted To Be Your Mountain”; however I can’t deny I enjoyed this mix of folk/psychedelic pop. The sugary production never quite overwhelms Tim’s voice, though I’m sure it’s too much for some listeners.
HL: Once I Was, No Man Can Find the War, Goodbye and Hello
Rated 8/10
HL: Love Vigilantes, Sunrise, Elegia
Two nice 80’s synth albums back to back (along with Cyndi Lauper), though I probably wouldn’t study with Cyndi in the background.
Low-Life has no real low-points for me, and it was a pleasure to ride the highs and lows (I’ll stop now), from the melancholy “Elegia” to the bright n’ bitter “Face Up”.
Rated 8/10
HL: All Through The Night, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, She Bop
Was never a big fan originally, worked a theatre production featuring Cyndi Lauper music earlier this year, which was probably the turning point. I’ll admit I quite enjoyed this one
September 23, 2022
Rated 4/10
HL: Breakdown, Butterfly, Honey, The Beautiful Ones
What I like about this album: Mariah Carey’s performance, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, the first 3 tracks, the Prince song
What I don’t like: the mid-90s adult contemporary gloss over almost everything. (The Beautiful Ones sounds like it samples the OG from Purple Rain, and the old drum machine sounds fresher to me than the couple tracks before it)
Rated 8/10
Quick, fun, dirty collection of rock n roll covers & originals. A tentative 4, for the live, unhinged feeling throughout the album. My reservation is that most of my favourite tracks were the covers, but hey- it’s not like I have a limited amount of 4s to give out
HL: Psycho, Roll Over Beethoven, Night Time…,
September 21, 2022
Rated 10/10
After listening to this album since I was a kid, I have come to believe the best version ends with “Silver Springs”, a song I was unfamiliar with until recently because it wasn’t on either of the two Rumours CDs in my house. (I’m sure I have multiple copies of DSOTM and Graceland too)
September 20th, 2022
Rated 10/10
One of my favourite country albums so far on this list. Harris’s voice gave goosebumps on at least a few occasions.
September 19, 2022
Rated 6/10
HL: “Man On the Moon”, “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”, “Hoover Dam”
Unfamiliar with all of this, I guess Canadian radio has this 90’s alt-rock niche filled with the Barenaked Ladies & the Hip. I appreciate it for the poppy melodies shining through the distorted guitars.
September 18, 2022
I give this album 7 key lime pies out of 5
September 18th, 2022
Rated 10/10
Chalk it up to me being over-tired while listening to this album, but I thought this was excellent. As I tend to do, I focused more on the background music than the lyrics, but the clunky mix of brass, marimbas, and miscellany painted its own picture of Waits’ smoky, rough-and-tumble city. Also the songs are good
HL: “Downtown Train”, “Tango Till They’re Sore”, “Hang Down Your Head”
September 17th, 2022
Rated 8/10
Enjoyable overall; the bookend vocal loops really annoyed me but I’m not taking track 1 and 10 into consideration when rating this. Didgeridoos, tampuras and Paul McGann unite.
September 15, 2022
Rated 6/10
HL: “Dear Mama”, “Old School”, “Young Niggaz”
September 11, 2022
Rated 8/10
HL: I Know It’s Over, The Queen is Dead, There is a Light…
September 9 2022 :0 you sly dog
Rated 8/10
HL: Tentative Decisions, Psycho Killer, The Book I Read
Relief that Psycho Killer isn’t the best song on this album; good for a debut; Talking Heads are a band I haven’t paid much attention to before this year, so better late than never.
September 9, 2022
Rated 6/10
3.5
Easy 4 stars based on the first 4 tracks or so. I did love the wacky ragtime piano in multiple tracks, and feel bad now for basing my whole idea of Madness on a Maxwell House commercial
September 20, 2022- finally listened to this on YouTube
Rated 8/10
Had to board a bus at 5:30am, put this song on and was surprised how well this album complemented the pre-dawn atmosphere.
So far the two moods are “spooky ghost” and “spooky ghost d a n c e”, and I’m satisfied.
HL: “Hollow Hills”, “Mask”, “Kick in the Eye”
Realizing that only knowing this band from Trout Mask Replica was a very limited impression. This is some great 60s electric blues (with some theremin & such thrown in) and I’m here for it.
HL: Zig Zag…, I’m Glad,
Rated 2/10
HL: “Passing Complexion”, “Kerosene”
I hit up Wikipedia immediately after the first track ended, to learn a little about Big Black/Steve Albini. Turns out he was involved (as an audio engineer) in several of my least favourite albums on this list so far (Blues Explosion, Slint, even Surfer Rosa), so my distaste with this sound is at least consistent. The demented riff in Passing Complexion was probably the high(est)light for me
Rated 8/10
Understand why some fans hated the shift in musical direction, but I also feel this album earned the constant-to-this-day radio play. And the deeper cuts were welcome discoveries, too (Wolf, Struggle)
HL: The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters, Sad But True
Rated 8/10
HL: Useful Chamber, Stillness is the Move
There were moments where the album’s frequently-changing nature almost lost me. Overall though this was a great listen.
September 2, 2022
