Reviews by giddy

I'm actually shocked this isn't the worst album on the list, but that doesn't mean it isn't still bad, terrible even.

I never travel far, without a 90s Big Star

Oh my God, perhaps one of the most "a good pair of headphones" albums I ever have heard, LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver has been elevated for me beyond on unimaginable limit due to not only its masterclass production, pure danceability and funk, as well as its consistency, but also because it is perhaps the best understanding of what made New York acts like Talking Heads so fantastic. There's variation, there's intrigue, there's layers upon layers upon layers, not unlike Eno's production, to every song so that focusing on just one singular instrument in each track can give you its own groove, its own song entirely. Even when the album slows down for the final track, it is so gripping in its blend of amateur vocals and heartbreaking melancholia that it's hard not to be pulled in. This album just feels like a pure passion project executed to the best of all involved's abilities to deliver one of the most outstanding dance albums of all time; one that can still appeal to those from the past looking for a new dance-y post-punk fix, and those just looking for some 2000s alternative goodness, it is an amazing time no matter how you get here. I just heavily recommend good headphones, you won't regret it when you jump out of your chair to dance.

Portishead MTV Unplugged

We're to the Keane tier on Jeff Buckley worhsip, where the band doesn't even know who they're emulating anymore, and the music suffers for it.

Easily the weakest of the trilogy of hip hop albums Public Enemy put out from '88 to '91, where the group was falling a bit behind sonically compared to performers such as A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul. Hardcore political hip hop was out, a more mellow, concious sound was in. Still, Chuck D and co. don't let this album completely slip into a gutter, with still plenty of great cuts, and a genius combination of metal and hip hop via an Anthrax collaboration, something that wasn't the first, but was far ahead of it's time, and still one of the best takes on that combo. A good album that wasn't quite as impactful, but crtically it still hits all the right beats to be a good and proper Public Enemy release.

I think I like this one more than Electric Ladyland, and while I don't know how controversial that is, I quite enjoy how compact yet thoroughly enjoyable this album is. The guitar playing is raw and powerful, but feels like it is keeping up appearances just enough to be groundbreaking instrumentally, and this album does a fantastic job showing off Hendrix's tapents without sacrificing the audiences attention. I think the only flaw is that some of the tracks fall a little too much into the late 60s stereotype, and so the vocal heavy tracks can feel a bit dated, but this is still an excellent rock record, perhaps the best instrumentally for the time that I've heard, but that was to be expected with Hendrix at the helm.

Elvis Costello never sounds like he knows where the song is going, and ad libs both lyrics and melody in order to make something that is totally unique to him, because no one else would ever think to go in the directions that he takes songs. Sometimes, this thought process works out, and even though I'm not a fan of his music, I can at least see the effort behind it. This album, though? Utter incompetence, like watching a dementia-ridden patient try and recover some semblance of music creation in a genre he arguably helped start, all while his audience just sits there and seem to spout variations of "you can do it, buddy!" despite their knowledge of its subpar at best presentation. Every song here is sloppy, annoying, and even struggles to be a vague idea of catchy. There's so little going on, and yet every time Costello opens his mouth it just sounds like someone purposefully singing with the worst voice possible to annoy their friends, and with each subsequent track it just digs into you more and more. Perhaps there is a track or two that is "better" as the album goes on, but clocking in at nearly an hour, you start to stop caring about ten minutes in, which just leads to every single track past that timestamp being torture. I listened to this album less than twenty-four hours ago, yet I could not tell you anything about any of the tracks save for "boring and annoying," and that really stings when you're subjected to just that for longer than what should ever be necessary. Lyrically it isn't much better, with nonsensical lyrics trying to be deep for the sake of sounding smart plaguing the whole thing, and only relax on the more stereotypical love songs, which are still, say it with me, boring and annoying! God, its just obvious that this is an album where a singer has completely lost his touch, and with no band to support him positively musically, and no Nick Lowe to produce, the cracks of Elvis Costello really start to show. Perhaps not one of the worst albums of all time, but one I immediately despise.

A hard rock album that evokes the sounds of the genre throughout multiple decades, from the new wave influences of Billy Idol to the metal-esque sound of AC/DC. We even have an iconic cover (maybe a couple?) of classic rock songs to wrap it all together. However, this love letter to the genre rarely comes off as creative, or even charismatic. Instead, you just get a lot of lesser versions of iconic bands' sounds, and it can be a bore at best. Sure, everything is technically sound, but it isn't important or even that high quality for a genre shift for a band. It really is like if U2 got a heavier sound, but if you don't like U2 or that heavier sound, what are you left with?

Lots of pretty, solid moments here, but I find it to be very formulaic. Each song has the same general build up and pay off musically, and while it is a good song structure, it can be repetitive. I mean, I kept waiting for Peace Train to show up because I could hear all of that song from other pieces of songs here, but that's on a totally separate album. It was nice and soothing, but I think I'd need a bit more tonal variation to praise it much more.

Admittedly better than I expected it to be, with a lot of great melodic hooks that make each song have pretty catchy moments, and while Snoop's flow is iconic to the point of parody nowadays, here it's pretty solid. I think most of it lyrically just feels a tad one note for my liking. This doesn't dive into the world of the life nearly as much as its peers, and it means much of the album is very laid back and relatively safe. This fits his demeanor, but it still struggles to stand toe-to-toe with other iconic hip hop albums from the time, but I will admit it has the potential to be better than a lot of them. It just barely misses the mark.

Genuinely one of my least favorite listening experiences ever. Back In Black I went into knowing I'd dislike because every hit there is the bane of my existence, but I had some small hope that the deep cuts here would be better in some way, shape, or form. But, nope! In fact, every single song here is arguably the exact same track as the last, and when it finally bothers to change it up on the final track, it may be different, but it's still bad. Seriously, you guys critique the hip hop albums for their objectification of women and their repetitive lyrics, but at least they don't have Angus Young producing the most mediocre guitar riff on top of that. I just fail to see how anyone cares for this band. You want high octane energy? Go five over the speed limit, you'll get about the same high.

Once again we arrive at the juxtaposition of Morrissey's assholery compared to his lovely, softspoken vocal style. However, this album has the interesting case of almost feeling like Morrissey knows he's an asshole. It doesn't peek through crystal clear or anything, but the topics this somehow darker Smiths album takes feel like Morrissey just doesn't care anymore. This is funny, of course, as it's their second record and they frankly didn't have the multitude of massive hits to fall back on quite yet, but that gives this album a sharper edge that feels fed up with the world rather than accepting being just another pawn in it. It wants to do something, but it can't, and I really enjoy that. It knows what it wants to say, and it gets in and says it then dips pretty quickly. Do I agree with all of it? Maybe not, but if the message "Meat Is Murder" resonated with my mother enough for her to become vegetarian, then it must be doing something right.

I fell asleep whilst listening to this album, but I don't think it's the album's fault... in fact, I'd say the album does a lot of great things, despite abandoning the noisy elements of their first album. It has a solid alt-pop sound, and fits right in at the time of jangle innovation. It feels a bit too wishy washy at times for my taste, and that led to an album with a lot of "almosts," but I can still see the appeal as a picture of bands changing with the times, and in that aspect it isn't amazing, but it is neat.

Inoffensive big band that never really struck a chord with me throughout our time together. Maybe I find the faux-live style disingenuous? I don't know, Duke Ellington is certainly someone to be respected, but this was just stereotypical "50s music" to my ears.

Half of this album sounds the exact same as the last pop punk song you heard. The other half has decent melodies and is famous/iconic enough, but then you remember half of THOSE were probably lifted from better rock songs. It's inoffensive without context, but still nothing special in the long run.

Very bluesy for Neil Young, and I don't mean sad, because most of his albums are sad, but this one feels like I'm in a dingey bar with poor lighting, and that can be a good and a bad thing. A good chunk of the songs just feel too stereotypical rocker for my taste, but sometimes this album gets very powerful, and you can hear ALL the inspiration for those 90s slacker rock groups, which was particularly great. Perhaps the most mixed bag Neil Young album I've heard, it was still a treat to engage with at times, just wish it embraced the somber side more, even if every other Neil Young album does that too, I'd prefer leaving it to Crazy Horse collaborations for the rock.

Yet another album where I actively dislike the song I used to have in rotation because of the tracks I had to slog through to get to it. All I Wanna Do is a solid, jangle-y pop rock tune with a neat enough slide guitar riff to get by, but it cannot save the rest of this album and its horrendous pacing, instrumentation, and frankly, just plain lack of pleasure. Every song lags behind itself to ensure the album drags for as long as possible, and even when there is some glimmer of hope, it is immediately squashed so that Sheryl Crow can warble over some other snooze fest. Most of the album I was figuring it would scrape by doing nothing to truly anger me to the point of a one-star, but that final track would NOT END. There's a solid minute or two of her barely audibly singing the name of the song, and it is infuriating beyond belief, and completely ensured I never want to hear a song by Crow again, because if this is the best popular music had for singer-songwriters, I can't imagine what sums up the state of pop music any better in the early 90s.

Like an odd blend of Scott Walker with Geordie Greep's urge to include showtunes in his music, this album was a shockingly good bit of "folk" music with plenty of gorgeous moments on top of whimsical verse, in a matter most similar to pretty much every other act that tries this style. For some reason, the folks on the generator seem to really dislike this style of music, and I fail to see how, because I adore it. Not what I expected this album to be at all, but I really liked it nonetheless.

A generic, old school country album with enough very minor twists to make the formula at least standable, such as the odd rock n roll track at the end, or the multiple plays on the phrase "let the good times roll." However, it still was repetitive and predictable, and I fail to see what makes this shine above any other country "album" from the time.