Reviews by gmuzza

The Who I like (and I am learning that is a very qualified phrase) is the windmilling guitar rock out Who. This is not that.
I Can See For Miles, is as good it gets. I appreciate it’s a concept, but the fake ads are just annoying

Brothers in Arms is one of those slbums that feels like its always been part of my life. My dad loved those album and therefore it soundtracked many a car journey. It was also part of one of my GCSEs and is an album that I continue to listen to periodically.

I know critics will point to Knopfler’s vocals being nasally, but they just work so well with their music.
‘So Far Away’ is s great opener and has a great groove to it…and that guitar just makes me smile.

You cannot disike ‘money for nothing’ or ‘walk of life’ they are both timeless classics, even though Sting has gone firmly from singing about the future to the past (RIP MTV). Both these songs really show off Knopfler’s wondrous geetar playing, this guys not dumb. I do however still get confused about what needed installing with a microwave.

I love the guitar intro to ‘why worry?’ and is s genuinely relaxing sound, suiting Knopfler’s vocal perfectly.
‘Ride across the river’ is a little too long and doesn’t reach the heights of the rest of the album, despite some obvious great guitar.

‘The man’s too strong’ quickly gets things back on strong though with more of a gunslinger country feel to it (see Notting Hillbillies)

For me the title track of this has always been the star. Its dark brooding majesty is just sublime.

Already sounding like the most spectacular band ever.
Such a ridiculously overblown collection of songs for a second album, only Queen could get sway with it
Father to Son showcases all the key elements that would remain throughout their long career, Brian’s virtuoso guitars, Roger and John’s driving rhythm section and Freddie's incomparable vocals. It also shows the layered vocals that they do so well.
White Queen is s delicate beauty of a song. Ogre Battle is another of my favourite early Queen tracks, as is the March of the Black Queen.
I love that like Queen I, this album closes with Seven Seas of Rhye. Now fully formed with a classic Freddie vocal and a snippet of ‘I do like to be byside the seaside’
Not their finest, but still takes some beating

Now this is classic soul and there is no faulting the song ‘let’s get it on’, which is simply a masterpiece.
Unfortunately the rest of the album feels a bit too much one note for my liking. ‘Keep getting it on’ as the tigle suggests tries to rely on the glory of the opening track, but falls short.

You cant beat a blues harmonica and this delivers from the first track. This is just good old fashioned blues with tracks like ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ showing the art off to its finest. The mix of instrumentation is just a joy.
‘Tiger In Your Tank’ is an upbeat burst of energy. Yes a lot of the lyrics are Muddy repeating the title over and over, but it is still fun.

‘I’ve Got My Mojo Working’ is a great track that definitely gets your feet tapping. Not sure we really need it reprised though.

Overall i dont think this is a great album, but it’s still highly enjoyable and a good example of the music that went on to influence so many thst came after it.

Even if i didn’t already know that i didn’t like Aphex Twin, the title ‘Selected Ambient Works..’ would not raise my expectations.
Unsurprisingly then i dont think there was a single track on this i remotely enjoyed and my god over 7 minutes of ‘We are the music makers’ is enough to push me over the edge.

A full album of this was just too much. Aside for the first track I didn’t mind a lot of the tracks here (especially ‘another girl, another planet). However, i’m not sure i would go as far as saying i enjoyed this, i just didn't hate it. It feels like potential unfulfilled.

It’s just all a bit twee. ‘East St. Louis Toodle-Oo’ had promise but quickly descended into meh. I di enjoy the piano bit though.

The vocals on the first song immediately put me on edge. The abundance of synths dont help either.
Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun is undeniably catchy and as someone who was five when it was released brings with it a heavy dose of fun and CB is a clear highlight of the album.
‘When You Were Mine’ feels a bit throwaway, lost sandwiched between the album’s two heavyweights.
‘Time After Time’ is a great song and shows a different side to GJWHF.
After this the album feels even more dated. ‘All Through the Night’ served only to remind me of Farenheit’s ‘Keeping the Dream Alive’
After that it just goes trashy eighties, except ‘he’s so unusual’…sigh

This is such s good record, delivering on good beats and strong lyrics. I’m not sure i appreciated som of the meaning behind the lyrics as a ten year old kid growing up in Yorkshire, but i loved it then and i love this now.

You cant deny that an album that opens with ‘Bring the Noise’ and ‘Dont Believe the Hype’ is not here to play and the quality is maintained throughout.

It is however difficult for me to hear the opening refrain without expecting James Dean Bradfield to come in screaming’repeat after me fuck queen and country’

I spent most of this album, thinking was a good strong 4/5, but at the end i realised this couldn’t be made any better and comfortably deserves to be a 5/5

I webt into this expecting to like it, but the bocals were a huge issue for me. On
‘the night they drove old dixie down’ they sound like Kermit the frog has taken the mic.
Generally it’s all a bit meh and the same tempo.
‘Look out Cleveland’ at least injects a bit of life into proceedings, but doesn’t really deliver in terms of quality. overall just a bit uninspiring.

Finally a Bowie album i know i like, which appears to a lit rarer than i thought before this process.
Changes is a classic, overplayed yes, but that shouldn’t detract from what a great song it is. ‘Oh You Pretty Things’ continues the piano heavy good time feel.
Yes ‘Eight Line Poem’ doesnt match the first two songs, but it’s not a bad song….and it does lead to ‘Life on Mars’ which would be a highlight of any album.

Kooks is fun and inoffensive and generally enjoyable.

“I hear the train a coming….” There is no mistaking those e vocals. Johnny Cash is such a great storyteller and the notion of recording a live album and opening with a song about it is just perfect.
I love the guitar mimicking the rhythm of an old train chugging away.
Cocaine blues continues the crowd pleasing call outs to the prison.

The music here is so tailored to an audience of inmates adds to the overall atmosphere of what is already a good set of songs

Led Zeppelin were fully formed straight out of the gate, this is far more mature than your average debut rock album.

The opening four tracks are classic stomping blues rock tracks are really show how tight a group Zeppelin were. ‘Your Time Is Gonna Come’ introduces a glorious choral element to the album. ‘Black Mountain Side’ is a beautiful instrumental which shows off how adaptable they could be away from the straight blues rock.
‘Communication Breakdown’ is a classic, sounding like a wild release of frustration.

I like it when tjis project throws up something i have never heard of and this is just that.
My initial thoughts on this album was that i didn’t mind the music, but the ‘vocals’ were just irritating. That said even the music felt a bit repetitive by the end of track 1, although there was a bot of variety in the random noises in its final minute.
Not sure if it was Apple music or the actual album, but the change of tracks was quite harsh and badly edited. Track 2 starts very slowly and as my eyes glance toward the track length …and the appearance of some synths i begin to lose all hope. It does however pick up with the introduction of the spoken samples. However, all hope is dashed again with constant fading out and then in toward the end of the track.
Track 3 was far more efor large parts until the vocals dropped off and then it was more of the same shit.
Least said about track 4 the better, with again the spoken samples (i keep referring to these bits as samples but assume they are fake samples created for the album) are ss close to highlights as you get

Oh i miss this version of Kanye. His production was great and worked perfectly with his delivery. No where is this clearer than on ‘Power’ which matches Kanye’s flow with an infectious choral arrangement punctuated with a throbbing bassline and percussion, including some great handclapping.
All of the lights brings real star power, which is no finer than the unmistakable piano of John Legend in the interlude version.

I have to admit this album is not as strong as i remember it, although i have always preferred his first two albums. That is not to say there are not great tracks here such as the Devil in a New Dress and Runaway.
Lost in the World makes great use of Bon Iver’s ‘Woods’ and adds to this by including the man himself, creating a layered soundscape for Kanye to deliver over.

Old school gangsta rap at its finest. Yes there are problematic lyrics in terms of how Cube refers to women and content around making someone wet with blood, but this is the sound of righteous anger. The Rodney King killing was symbolic treatment of black people (I would like to say at the time, but I fear that probably isn't the case). Cube was the best rapper in N.W.A, but this hasn’t always been the case in his solo output, so this serves as a reminder of how vital and meaningful he can be as both lyricist and rapper.
Not sure why ‘It was a good day’ is greyed out on the explicit version of the album on Apple music, it’s a great track and needs seeking out rather than missing

Fifteen good tracks in 39 minutes, what’s not to like. Here Comes the Man is a great song and stands out but the rest of the album is far from filler

Any album containing Perfect Day, Walk on the Wild Side and Satellite of Love is always gonna be a strong album and this does not disappoint.

Too synthy for my liking. Yes ‘Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence’ are at the better end of the DM scale but that is not enough to lift this. Waiting for the night to fall sounds like a ringtone. Policy of Truth is not as good as i remember and sounds exceptionally dated.
World I'm my Eyes is frankly abysmal and ensures the album closes on the lowest possible note.

I think this is probably a 1.5/5 for me but will have to settle as a one as the two tracks just aren’t enough to lift this from the slums