Reviews by giddy

Every other dream pop album can go home, this is literally the peak of what the genre can do. Every song is so space-y, it makes you feel as though you are constantly hovering slightly above the ground so that you're still in touch with what is happening around you, yet you'll find yourself swaying with each and every track, in a trance like state that does not break until the album finishes with one of the greatest songs of all time. You may not always understand the lyrics, but you know every emotion behind them is real by the intensity of every instrument, along with the amazing, angelic delivery from Elizabeth Fraser. Drugs are not needed to get swept off your feet by the love and just general musicianship, and capturing every season of the year on top of that is truly expert song craftsmanship. In short, I love this album, its dreamy.

I've come to discover that I really hate this kind of music. It's so repetitive, dull, and for whatever reason every album is thirty minutes longer than it should be. I'm assuming there is a culture barrier keeping me away from appreciating this, as it is solid instrumentally, and nothing is obviously "bad," but there are very few things I'd rather not do than listen to this or Ali Farka Touré's other 1001 Album again.

I just listened to this a mere day-and-a-half ago, yet I already forget what this album contains within it. I was admittedly expecting some amount of soft rock, not dissimilar to Chicago or the Eagles, but with a 60s flair, and I suppose I was sort of right on the Chicago aspect, but more in terms of their debut, rather than their later cheesy ballads. However, while Chicago's debut shines due to its loud big band backing atop surprisingly solid rock tracks and amazing guitar playing, this album comes off more like if the guys over at King Crimson wanted to make music for the Average Joe. Now, credit where credit is due, this is a year before both of those projects, but that doesn't make it worth sitting through. You get a couple solid pop-y tracks right before the tedious closer, Blues - Part II, leading it so the whole album just comes out extremely mediocre. The only thing really to note is that I only truly enjoyed the opener and closer, as I'd forgotten about Gymnopedie, and this was a nice reminder.

Perhaps my favorite Who album I've listened to, but I think it's still pretty telling that I enjoyed the sound of the "Radio London" parts more than most of the songs themselves.

I Want You to Want Me was one of the best live songs ever to me a few years ago, and it still shines in a category that is easy to mess up. The rest of this live album makes me want to honk memememe, though.

At the start I was worried Needle of Death would not only be the only song I knew starting out, but the only one I'd like by the end of the album, but luckily the album shaped up rather quickly, and although I'll admit almost every song I like off this album feels like a copy of Needle of Death, Bert Jansch's guitar picking mixed with his somber and soft vocal style allows many of this songs to shine through as personal ballads of a tortured yet satisfied soul. Not unlike Joan Baez's debut, many of the tracks are sold by the sheer talent at play in every facet of the album, and with artful lyrics in tow, this is just an extremely solid folk album some great instrumentals to really fill out the package.

Just like Low before it, I'm 100% sure I'll consider this one of Bowie's best in a year or so.

A collection of some of my favorite pop rock tunes sandwiched between a mediocre yet seemingly popular opener and, to a lesser extent, closer. Every track from A2 to B4 is this odd Beach Boys/Frank Zappa crossover where you can't quite tell how seriously the band is taking it, but in that aspect it rivals Sparks (my favorite band) in its eclectic take on pop music, not to the levels of parody where 10cc feel like they're better than the music on the radio, but rather, are so appreciatory of the music that they were built upon, that the jabs feel more in good fun. Those Beach Boys harmonies and manic bridges are not laughing at, but with, the 60s, and I think that's not only intriguing, but 10cc does it very well here. Clockwork Creep keeps me moving, and Somewhere in Hollywood should be one of the great progressive pop songs. Alas, it is not, and that's a shame, because it and many other songs here are amazing. Sure, it is sort of the same shtick as The Mothers of Invention, but the 70s sensibilities add a lot to the sound, and give it that extra kick to be something grand. Add in a hint of glam, and you have something that really is a hit with me. I find that opening track too "hard rock" to get the feeling I desire, so it is a shame that's considered the hit here, and there are certainly some lyrics that haven't aged the best (Hotel, in particular, has some eyebrow raises in it) but it tends to be so fun I can't help but enjoy it all. Just a great record, I love their voices. I'm worried not much else in their discography has all the right stuff like this one, but at least I have this to enjoy. Man, May 1974 was a good month for music!

Why is this considered their best? It doesn't even have any Effigy.

I respect Tracy Chapman a great deal. She pretty much defies all stereotypes of the late 80s music scene, and even in her own folk field she stands out because her tunes just feel that more genuine. However, I still don't much care for most of this music. Fast Car is iconic, but I could go the rest of my life without hearing it, especially after that so-so Luke Combs cover, and every other song here is okay, but not all too special. It's something to admire, and if Bruce Springsteen was doing them I would dislike them a whole lot more, but I still don't care for this era of music, defying expectations or not.

I feel entirely uncultured when I first realized that one of the lead guitars and vocalists in Sleater-Kinney was the same person that duos Fred Astaire on Portlandia, only to then realize I'm uncultured even more so for knowing Carrie Brownstein as "the person that duos Fred Astaire on Portlandia." The album itself lies among similar outfits from the time into this Riot Grrrl bubble, in which I feel I'm kind of starting to get a feel for. Songs that make you want to speed down a highway and overthrow someone or something, but tend to have the slight issue of variation. It's a good time, with solid tracks throughout and a lot of raw emotion pouring from the vocals and those scratchy guitars, and I even enjoy when they real it back a tad and make something more pop-y, a la Little Babies, but you definitely get your fill pretty quickly, and in turn the middle portion can live you spacing out for mere moments only to realize three tracks have passed you by. It is effectively noisy, but constantly runs the risk of just becoming noise for the listener. Luckily, I think I was just enough in the mood for this to get into it a little bit, especially with those great opening tracks, and I found myself looking at this rather fondly by the end. It is definitely repetitive, but I think it carries (hehe) itself just long enough for an extremely heavy ending track to effectively close out what is a solid bit of the 90s alternative canon. Oddly, the Kinks homage fits rather well, and I couldn't tell you why.

You finally got me Miles, I quite enjoyed this.

Robert Wyatt is a genius.

This reminds me of MGMT. No, I will not be taking any questions.

Man asses!? Where!?

This is from 1988?! Holy shit...

Is this mind-bending for 1967? Yes, but I still find it easily the weakest of the three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums. It is fuzzy and destructive, but it's all really only a thin layer over pretty predictable blues rock, a craft Hendrix would come to nearly perfect less than a year after this release, and it leaves this one feeling plain. Even the best song from the period, Purple Haze, isn't even on the original release of this album, so there's just not a lot of reason to experience this cut from the Hendrix canon unless you're a completionist.

Tiny Dancer is perhaps my least favorite of Elton John's big hits. It's melodramatic, cheesy, and feels like a gross, sloppy kiss from a relative you've met twice. It just is too ballad-y for my blood. So, it doesn't surprise me all too much that this album does absolutely nothing for me, but, man, what a slog. I don't care for Elton John wanting to be held, sure, but I especially don't want to hear him sing like he is a Native American going through it, that's a tricky topic on all sorts of levels, and a white, British guy is not doing the topic any favors. It just felt like every song wanted me to ask "What am I doing here?" and even when the album tried to sound better, it was too little too late. I have always seen Elton as a hits guy, and this album with no (IMO) good hits means I'm just listening to melodrama for the sake of melodrama, and it's kind of obnoxious. I'll take Billy Joel for my piano rock needs, I suppose.

White boy Songs In the Key of Life

This making it on here, but nothing actually by Ornette Coleman, is the perfect summary of the 1001 Album list.