Reviews by giddy

As a massive Beatles fan, I'm disappointed by how just "okay" this album is. It's certainly not bad, but as the first of the actual solo Beatles albums (I think?) this leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe I'm Amazed is certainly a fantastic ballad that matches with McCartney's output in the late Beatles era, but the rest of the album feels like ideas that don't come to fruition. I mean, having both "Junk" and "Singalong Junk" just to fill an already small runtime reeks of too many idea with hardly any fleshed out. It really is just okay, nothing more, nothing else.

So, I'll ask, where's Ram? How did this get here over Ram, which is not only the best McCartney album (Wings or otherwise) but arguably the best solo Beatles project, although All Things Must Pass comes close? Ut seriously baffles me. I feel like the author just didn't want to include more McCartney albums than Lennon, but this album didn't need to be here, that one did. If you're reading this, listen to Ram.

Perhaps the low production values led this album to be one of the first "indie" (I use that term loosely here) albums of all time, but then why aren't artists like the Shaggs here for also inspiring artists without being something actually of high quality themselves? And once again, WHY ISN'T RAM HERE?!

This album was far better than the other Super Furry Animals album I got, but unfortunately on a five star scale the difference isn't big enough to add that extra star, so they look like they're equals here. I just feel as though I'll actually remember this one way better, and there were even some tracks here I liked quite a bit, but I have to agree with the consensus that I don't know why I wouldn't just go seek out the musical styles they're trying to emulate here. The singing feels like a mix of Blur and The Flaming Lips, which is interesting.

Despite I think being earlier than a good chunk of bands I would compare this to, I still can't shake the feeling that this is like if an AI was told to make a sophisti-pop album. It is certainly surface level solid, but past that nothing here grabs me, with it being funky, but no baseline being memorable, and the singer has a great voice, but I'd never be able to pick it out of the crowd. I'll give it credit for being something I'd say I enjoyed, but it doesn't go much farther than that.

I had big hopes for this album, and the opening of the first track had me thinking this was going to be a lot folk-ier than what the genres had told me, but I was okay with that, as it sounded nice, but that was ripped away from under me mere moments in, and it never really returned to that sound. There was a repeating motif throughout the album that sounded nice, and they started getting somewhere with the final couple tracks, but it was too little, too late, as I was already pretty bored out of my mind. None of it is BAD, per se, but psychedelic rock in its lightest form comes off now more as dad rock than anything with actual edge, and they would've, quite frankly, been better off just going the folk route I so desperately hoped they would aim towards.

Like a weird combo of U2, The Pogues, and Bob Dylan, but certainly better than the former two. It had a great, no, amazing thing going with the first part of the album, but let itself go into basic celtic rock with no interesting deviation as the album went on, with only hits of that great start the album had. I didn't outright dislike anything here, though, and the length of the album was hardly noticeable, which was unexpected. I'd say if one were to shave this albums rougher parts off you'd have something here that really is great. Instead, I can just say I'm glad I listened to this for those parts that did shine through.

Similar to the other two R.E.M. albums I've gotten so far (and I can only imagine there's more) this album didn't leave too much of an impression on me. That isn't to say it's bad, it's just most definitely R.E.M, and that's the only way I can seem to describe it. If you like R.E.M. that's a good thing, but for me it just means that even though each of these albums sound somewhat different, they still blend into one homogenized glob.

There are absolutely great songs on here like Smooth Criminal, and I cannot deny that, but everything here feels incredibly aged, for mostly worse, and the fact that the best song (Leave Me Alone) isn't even on the original track listening is kind of the final straw that makes this album feel incredibly mediocre. 2.5, round up to a 3.

This album feels extremely generic, and gets to the point where it is trying to cash in on the success of artists like Prince and just the Minneapolis sound in general. The issue is that this a British white guy, so it does rub me the wrong way ethically. Outside of that, however, the music sure is from the 80s. Artificial sounds aplenty, and reeks of cheese, but it is inoffensive. The album flies by, and I'm 100% sure one or two songs played without me even noticing. Sounds like their EP "4 A Sides" is something far more worth listening to, but we'll see if I get around to it ever.

I like the idea behind this album, it feels cool to have such a synth heavy prog album, pretty much removing any signs of guitars, but all it really does is open my eyes to how much guitars are needed for an album like this. The whole album, even the twenty minute song to an extent, felt like a build up to some amazing pay-off that never really came. Unless you count a weird rock n' roll track at the end as the payoff. Still, I will give it credit for the attempt here, and the church organ on one of the later tracks was the closest the album got me to feel like something here was truly trying to do something that wasn't done before.

I can see where the harsher sounds found on Daydream Nation came from, but I think the poppy-er tunes from that album help balance out the package a bit more. I mean, this is still good, especially a fan of the final track and it's guitar, but I can't imagine anything here will stick with me quite like 'Cross the Breeze or Teenage Riot. Again, though, I was bumping to this enough to inch into four star range.

Very solid background music, but it doesn't feel more. In fact, don't some of you find this to be a tad cheesy? Some of the payoffs in songs sound like the soundtrack to a movie where the characters are celebrating, and it starts to wear a little tiring by the end. Certainly a decent little project, but probably won't stick out too much to me in just a few days.

I was somewhat hopeful for this album before I listened to it. I mean, I liked the Massive Attack album pretty well, and Goldfrapp appearing on a few tracks was also a really good sign, but this felt very lacking. It felt like a Massive Attack album without any of the intrigue or smoothness for the most part. Sometimes the vocals that weren't Tricky were good, but then I question why this album is even credited to Tricky, or why he felt the need to split away from Massive Attack, as most of the time he is hardly in the song, being more of a hyper man, and his weird "Hamburger Lady"-esque vocal edits on his voice got annoying. I feel like the author only put this album here because he liked Massive Attack, but then again he left off Mezzanine, so I don't know what to think.

I remember finding the other Suede album to be a pretty lackluster album that did not leave an impression at all, so to see this one do far better in being something worth listening to is nice. I find that this album strays away from the stereotypes of britpop far better than most of its contemporaries, being more alternative rock than anything, and at least attempting to avoid that nasal that many bands similar have. I think this album just tries a lot harder to be its own thing, and I respect that quite a bit. The Pulp/Divine Comedy-like closer really bridges the gap to becoming a love letter to the era Suede is currently apart of, and it works magnificently. At the end of the day, still a britpop album, so there's a few boring tracks, especially on the front half, but the back half is good enough to really let the album pull through. Perhaps I need to give their self-titled another shot.

I think this is the first album to ever scare me, as the son It's Business As Usual had me looking over my shoulder, and wasn't a pleasant experience, but in a good way, as it was really effective horror if it got me that wrapped up in it. I'd say the album as a whole is cool, it's got this neat spy thing going on that was surely a big inspiration to artists like Portishead and Goldfrapp. I'd say it started to drag a little near the 3/4s mark, but pulled me back in enough with the Nick Cave appearance. Just don't listen to this album at night, is all.

I actually had such a strong urge to listen to this album a while ago that I figured it would be a bit before I got it on the generator. That was about six months ago, so I was mostly right! This album is really great, the opening track "Turn to Stone" is such a good opener, and the album gives you that same dopamine rush throughout the album with various other tunes. It's just so fantastical, and despite the whole genre of "baroque pop" I don't think any one band has mixed orchestration and pop music this well, save for perhaps Moddy Blues' Days of Future Passed. It admittedly does lose a little steam, since the long length can make the album feel a little bloated, but they pepper in so many goodies throughout that I hardly minded, and it still holds true enough for me that this is a fantastic record.

We all know that this is viewed as "lesser LCD Soundsystem," with its emphasis on a slower, synth-heavy production that oozes the sound of the after party more than the party that is prior albums in their catalogue, and while I understand that at first that can be really deterring to one looking for this band to be their 21st century Talking Heads, with the dance-y existential grooves to get their toes tapping and hips swaying, but I think once you remove a little context from an album like this, you start to appreciate it a little more overall, and those slow songs become deeply layered tracks with so much to enjoy and pick apart, that are so deeply moving they sweep the listener away with each trembling, robotic chord, and you really get taken up away in it all. This is an album not for partying, but rather the loneliness that strikes when the party is over, and I know very little in the musical world that captures such a feeling so well, especially in the titular track, perhaps one of the best in the entire group's discography. It does have those moments of dance to them still, such as the seemingly fan-favorite Call the Police, and nearly every track here having that build up that is always landed with perfection, making each song something to look forward to, because even if the start slow, they almost always make the long listen worth it, and at over an hour long, its incredible how little the album drags, only really rearing its head with the final track's admittedly hefty load which is not worth the sum of its parts, unfortunately, but even sitting there in those final moments of loneliness I'm taken aback into a feeling I've hardly experienced, and it can certainly be a gut punch, but one I'll happily embrace multiple times over. I do hope that an eventual LCD Soundsystem return will return to the upbeat dancing, but its important to explore a group's options, and I feel time will only be kind to this album, and if we never do get that next album, then this will be something oddly poetic as closure, something I'm happy to say I enjoy.

That album, is personally, my least favorite of all the Talking Heads on this list because of that reason, controversial, I know, but I feel when a whole album is made with that style rather than just a couple of the songs, it works far better. There's songs here where the synths feel like they're sweeping you off your feet and it's magical, and when it does get you moving on the rare occasion, it is very satisfying. I can definitely see this as boring, but I think in the right mindset, this can still be very engaging. Even the bloated length doesn't feel too bad, which is impressive.

While I understand the pride here comes from the quality of the music playing, I do struggle to see why one may prefer most of these versions to that of their studio counterparts. At the end of the day, it's a Deep Purple album, and you know what that means? Three stars! Truly the band of all time!

Black Magic Woman is a fantastic track, and there's some other pretty solid songs here as well. Just a bit too instrumental for my taste, and the other vocal tracks just don't scratch the itch Black Magic Woman does.

Nick Cave either I enjoy quite a bit, or is just alright, and this is one of the latter. There's some good tunes here, but also a good chunk of boring ones, and despite the normal length, it does drag on. Still, pretty okay, just know there's better.

Was Machine Head this prog-y? I like this one a lot more because of it, it feels way more earned when something aggressively happened, as it comes to be a payoff rather than only a simple hook. Still a three, as it feels a little generic biker rock at times, but this is at least cool, especially for 1970.