Reviews by giddy

That opening is absolutely excellent, and the rest of the album is pretty good too. I love the beats and backgrounds here, and the more jazzy sound of some of them. I'm not madly in love with this album or anything, but still very good, and the normal length (rare for a hip-hop album on thie generator) definitely helps.

This was standable, and I was generally bouncing my leg along with it, but thank God this was only fifteen minutes long, otherwise I don't think I could even manage this two. Never been so drained so quickly.

While Fear of Music felt like a manic yet well-choreographed dance, Remain in Light is like a complete breakdown on the dance floor, both in the funky way caused by its anxiety-ridden grooves that'll get you dancing with the same ants in your pants that seem to plague David Byrne, but also in the complete and utter dread that can come with the existential. This album will have you start with an A-side full of new wave bangers to spin, twirl, and whirl to, but in the back of your mind you always feel something more sinister is at play. I mean, Once in a Lifetime may be one of their biggest hits, but it isn't really the goofy yet loveable piece of 80s goodness it is often described as, at least not fully. However, it is the A-side's tip-toeing around the grimmer subjects that give it the playful undertones to allow the listener to continue their awkward, solo cavorting in peace. It is full of rich production choices courtesy of Brian Eno, and every single musician here is at top form. Every single drum rhythm, every bass riff, and even the guitar solos, are all songs within themselves that any other album would present as the highest form of art the band can muster. Not Talking Heads, though, instead often being intricately put into the mix not to be buried, but rather discovered with each re-listen. The synth arrangements are perhaps the biggest underdog here, as while they are a mainstay in both new wave and post-punk, they often feel cast aside for the proclamation of the greatness that is the drum work, but the keyboard and synthesizer work makes a lot of these feel completely in-tune with not only their current contemporaries, but also ensure this album has all bases covered for decades still to come. Nowhere is this digital backbone more apparent than the B-side.

The B-side instantly feels like something is trying to claw into the listeners thoughts, and therefore, their doubts. Sure, the danceable grooves of the first half are still present on Houses in Motion, but the slowed tempo and introduction of brass feels unwelcome in the best of ways. Something is changing, you can feel it, but not knowing what that feeling truly is gnaws at you. You keep dancing, but each following track forces you to look inside, outside, all around you, and by the end of it all, you stop dancing, and sit there and just take it all in. it's an overload of emotions, and you break down. Yet, the musicianship does not suffer, with the calmer, arcane, ritualism of it all hypnotizing you into a state of disbelief. The Eno-esque synths pull at your heartstrings, and do so with such a delicacy that you interact with the songs differently every time. Whether that be fear, loneliness, loathing, the B-side's emotional malleability is what makes it just as great as the openers. You may struggle to jump around and jam to it all, but you can still interact with it just as creatively, and an album being able to display this understanding of what makes music as a medium so enthralling this easily deserves nothing less than everyone's upmost respect, attention, and praise.

I had quite the dilemma with this album, because it may surprise you (not really) to learn that ranking purely instrumentals with a bongo as the background beat as kind of difficult. I knew I enjoyed what I was hearing, and not too much past that, but I could totally see the enjoyment and novelty of this album. I believe I'll go down the middle with my ranking, as it just seems the most accurate.

This album is cool. I was under the impression this was generic 60s rock and nothing more, but I thought the heavy use of orchestral instruments such as brass and strings was really cool, and I loved the melancholic sound a lot of songs have. There are certainly times my mind starts to blend stuff together, but there is enough here to stand out that I could say I enjoy this pretty well. I could see myself returning to this and loving it all the more.

Not going to lie, I went into this planning this one star, and it stuck through for the five minutes I could muster before I started skipping through. Each song is musically terrible, tone-deaf, and boring, and the story is not the perfect tale people (who obviously grew up with it and don't want to admit it's bad) say it is. The only reason I could see someone giving this a five is because it made them laugh so hard it's their new favorite comedy album. Seriously terrible. When the best song is still worse off than most other songs on albums I've given a one star too, then this is all the more terrible. God, this makes me angry.

This album had a lot of moments within songs I liked, but not whole songs themselves. I think a big reason for that was how horny it was, which got old quick, and the lack of real instruments, instead opting for synthesized versions, save for Kissing A Fool, which was easily my favorite song. It just made the album feel incredibly dated and stretched out. So, when I give an album like this a three, it's purely due to one or two songs doing all the leg work, and not hating the rest of it. So, good job Faith, I guess. Light three.

Similar to the Simon & Garfunkel album I got prior to this, this album is realistically more close to a 3.5 than a 4, but considering I cannot do that here, it shall be rounded up. I enjoyed the overall vibe of this album, although not every song hits the mark for me. It is a huge benefit, however, that the album is pretty short. It makes it a brief and enjoyable experience I could see myself coming back to and re-examining as something I enjoy more.

Call me a prude, but this album is kind of gross. I feel like, while embracing this sort of stuff is important, and acting as though human-beings don't have urges is gross, but it being this on the nose with not a lick of nuance in sight makes me just roll my eyes when I hear some sort of allusion to sex for the billionth time an album, and don't even get me started on what the back of the album and the inner sleeve look like. If not all of that, then covers a plenty. Overall, the album is okay, but most of it is forgettable or dated. I imagine when people say they dislike new wave, this is what they're imagining. Very light three.

Certainly not music you'd hear in Olive Garden, unlike the other Miles Davis album I've gotten before. However, I would of vastly preferred that over this noise. Is me slamming on a piano for ten minutes really count as a song? Sure, if you want, but why would you want to listen to it? I'm certain this album is purely being carried by the name(s) behind it, because otherwise this is awful. You're lucky if you hear even a minute of something that sounds vaguely organized, or even listenable, and the fact that there is an hour-and-a-half of this in this album just makes it all the worse. Maybe I'm just too dumb to realize how "amazing" this is, but it genuinely sounds like at best a sound check, at worst: toddlers. Makes me angrier just writing this review.

Y'know, I was gonna call this more rockabilly/jazzy Ziggy Stardust, but considering Bowie himself calls this album Ziggy goes to America, I can't think of a more apt description. Really excellent range of songs here that is brief but extremely enjoyable and still undoubtedly Bowie-esque. I love when this album gets really out there for the era, with stuff like the opening guitar for Cracked Actor, and when Lady Grinning Soul closes the album I know no other bliss. Not my favorite Bowie album, but still absolutely excellent, which seems to be a common belief around these parts.

I had hopes as the album started that it would be something that I would like, despite the country and punk influences, due to the era and some snippets I heard before, but this album just gets progressively worse as it goes on. The fiddle isn't the issue, it's the barrage of sound this album presents with no real weight behind of it. It gives it a "band playing at a music festival you don't wanna be at" vibe, that is only saved because it never is offensively bad save for the one or two times it absolutely zapped my motivation in the moment. I do think my sister will think this album is amazing, as she loves everything going on here, so thanks for that Mekons, someone is getting something out of this, it just isn't me.

I really love this chamber pop style, which is the same reason I went against the tide and gave A Short Album About Love by The Divine Comedy a 5, horse lyrics and all. I really don't understand why people take music like that so seriously... any way, Coles Corner! I don't love this as much as that album, but this is still extremely good! I just believe it may have gone on a tad long overall, and some of the more guitar heavy songs weren't nearly as enjoyable as the more orchestral sound of the rest of the album. A lot of it reminds me of less so Sintra like a lot of people are saying and more so Roy Orbison if his voice was lower and not quite as vibratto-y. Any way, still very good, just maybe too big for its britches.

Damn, the generator went from giving me none of the Beatles stuff to almost all of it in the same 100 albums. Anyway, this album rocks. I've always said Abbey Road is the best album by the Beatles, but this is the BEATLES album, if that makes sense (and White Album is my favorite). Just the amount of musical innovation here that was overshadowed by Sgt. Pepper shortly after really goes under-appreciated due to it in the modern eye. Sure, Eleanor Rigby is the beginner's song for getting into the deeper Beatles discography, but are you jamming to the dissonate chords in I Want To Tell You? Obviously, no gate keeping here, like what you like, but basically, this album just has everything for everyone. Want rockier stuff? Sure! Ballads? Hell yeah! Weird trippy shit? Gotcha covered! It just is such an excellent thirty minutes that happens to have the smudge that is Doctor Robert, and that's okay! Even the punching bag of this album, Yellow Submarine, is too iconic and jolly to dislike unless you're too far up your own ass. I'm partial, personally, to I'm Only Sleeping (the better of the Lennon sleep cycle duology), Here, There, Everywhere and For No One. God, I didn't think I liked this album this much, but writing this reviews makes me feel I have so much to say here, that I'll cut myself off. Easy five stars, though.

I knew hardly anything about The Kinks before starting this generator, with them just being one of the other British Invasion bands for me, but as my partner got a couple albums by them and showed me a few of their songs, I really fell in love. It is just so creative and charming compared to the rock 'n' roll focus still happening at the time. Obviously, The Beatles were also at their creative peak, but that doesn't stop The Kinks, and especially this album, from really standing out. Really looking forward to their three other albums on this list, as this one was awesome. Shame that the leads of the band seem to be twats at times, but that doesn't matter here!

Song from the hit 2005 animated film Robots and fourteen other hits!

Pretty good, love the piano in here.

A really strong start with 2 + 2 = 5 that lulls for a good chunk of the middle before coming back with an excellent last few songs. I can see the idea with a lot of the album, with a lot of songs building up to one part, but this one part is not given enough room to breathe, and the song feels cut off most of the time. I think the album would actually benefit from less songs, but make them like seven minutes long, as I can here things that are predecessors to the longer songs by bands like MGMT and Tame Impala, but the songs here are far too short. Those last four or so songs are doing so much heavy lifting for this album that it gets a light four.

It is actually pretty amazing how similar this is to my album from yesterday, The Velvet Underground, and how it's that sort of Psychedelic Rock that never goes too far out there. This album, just like that one, I think would've benefitted from some more out there performances and more use of the female singer, as all the best songs are performed by her. No matter what, this was better than what Jefferson Airplane would be turning out by the mid-1980s.

I absolutely love how focused on the bass is in this album, often being the main part of a song, and it makes it so even the songs I don't like as much are still fun to at least bop your head to at various speeds. I was worried I would end up not liking this album too much, as I got their second album already and I figured they had honed their craft more at that point, but this was far more enjoyable. I liked the manic energy that I assume spawned from the punk influences, but the dreary sound makes it so each song doesn't really sound the same, which is my main issue with a lot of punk albums. A really solid four, and I imagine re-listens would only help its cause.

I was optimistic about this album, because my partner seemed to really like it, but this is kinda generic at best, save for one or two instrumentation parts. A couple of the last songs certainly picked it up, and Hot for Teacher has an awesome intro plus I quote "I brought my pencil! Give me something to write on," all the time, so I'll give it a really light three, but disappointing for sure.