Reviews by gmuzza

Just dull, boring music

Live albums are generally for proper fans of an artist or a way to get a greatest hits of live versions. Unfortunately whilst i dont mind the who my interest does not extend to a live album on which only Substitute and My Generation really peak my interest.
My patience was already wearing thin before i reached the introduction to A Quick one…. And at that point i was broken.
Their cover of Summertime Blues is frankly atrocious.
Fortunately the last three songs are the album’s strongest, but the damage has been done and the studio versions are far superior

Other than Move Any Mountain, which wasn’t even on the original release, this album is everything I hated about 90s dance music. Call me a fool but i dont see the appeal of music that sounds like there’s a car alarm permanently going off in the background.
At best this is music to lose yourself to whilst high in a club, but not to listen to otherwise.

Quite simply s classic. Both Band on the Run and Jet sound timeless today, as i can only imagine they did on release.
Bluebird and Mrs Vandebiliit are prime cuts of McCartney melodic storytelling, but Let Me Roll On it is the true star. It is the most Beatlesy song here, especially the riff that permeates throughout.
Some more classic stories, including a revisited snippet of Jet before you reach another of the album’s highlights Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five before Band On The Run gently wanders off the stage where it came in.

60s music funnelled through garage rock is a strange experience and generally feels like listening to a pub band. There are a few tracks where it works and sounds timeless like have love will travel but overall the style and the songs seem somewhat disjointed

Pleasant and inoffensive enough. I enjoyed the harmonica on Operator, but generally this album just passed me by, without really grabbing me. For an album that came out in 1970 in feels ver 70s America.
Truckin is the clear star with the contrasting, sounding in places like The Ballad of John and Yoko.
Ultimately i think this is a fairly middling album and would have naturally attracted a 2.5/5 marking had it been available

I came to Sufjan Stevens late, but live all his work of which this is arguably the best. His music sweeps you along. At times it reminds me of groups like Flaming Lips, but somehow more focused.
Chicago is a real standout with its choral esque chorus and tambourine and trumpet feature.
The album as a whole has a dreamy quality to it, punctuated by the occasional bit of brass (especially tracks like the man of metropolis steals our hearts)

What’s not to like.

Absolutely pointless.
Not sure how this epitome of mediocrity makes a list of 1001 things to listen to. It is instantly forgettable with several 40 second tracks and rubbish instrumentals

The man writes beautiful songs, i just wish he’d give them to Someone else to perform

I love the White Album. Is it the start of the end of the Beatles with lots of siloed working, undoubtedly but it doesn’t stop it from being a great album.
Its size gives full space for the Beatles to explore their full range. Opening with the classic rock of Back in the USSR, before slipping into the beautiful understated elegance of Dear Prudence.
The psychedelia of Glass Onion and the feeding of the conspiracy theorists … “the Walrus was Paul”.
I know Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da is divisive and see as a joke to many but it is just infectious nonsense and i for one am fine with that.
Tracks like Honey Pie and Bungalow Bill show the influence the Goons had on the Beatles and that regardless of your status you have to have a sense of humour. The latter also has yet another catchy chorus.
The opening of While my Guitar Gently Weeps comes it like the chiming whistle of a bullet and quickly showcases how underrated George was in the band. He wrote beautiful songs snd none finer than this. Happiness is a Warm Gun compliments it perfectly and throws so many different styles into the one song so effectively.
Blackbird is one of the most beautiful songs/melodies ever written and makes the perfect lullaby.
Piggies merges baroque stylings with social commentary and humour to great effect.
I have always loved the story telling of Rocky Racoon and the gin swilling doctor. Even Don’t Pass Me By is a fine Ringo song and leads perfectly into Why Don’t you do it in the Road.
Julia closes the first half perfectly witj simple beauty
Disc 2 continues the eclectic collection with rockers like Birthday and Helter Skelter sitting amongst lighter tunes like Mother Nature’s Son.
Revolution 1 brings in Beach Boys vibe and again showcases the Beatles playfulness.
Honey pie is another slice of old fashioned music hall, which Macca’s vocals fit perfectly

I’m not a huge Kate Bush fan, but you cant really fault Running up that Hill and Hounds of Love (albeit the Futureheads cover is far superior) for an opening.
Unfortunately and somewhat unsurprising the quality and interest levels drops off after that. Overall it’s just a bit dull which is odd given it is a fairly eclectic collection. Under Ice and Waking the Witch mistake eccentricity for creativity.

I enjoyed the singles and a little of the first half was good, but after Setting Sun the album drops off for me. In particular it doesn’t matter and don’t stop the rock were slogs.
The psychedelia of Where do i begin is a pleasant sidestep but overstays its welcome and the last two minutes just feel like they didn’t know how to stop it.
The psychedelia continues with the final track but again this is overlong and soon resorts to the standard big beat lack of actual tune

At times this sounds like Primal Scream fronted by a low energy Bono. Somehow it’s not quite melodic enough, whilst also not being quite industrial enough. It feels like it needed to lean into one or the other a bit more to connect.
Whilst there are glimpses of promises it all just falls a bit flat and boring.

1999 and Little Red Corvette is such a strong way to open an album and sets the mood for an upbeat groove of an album. I absolutely love the guitar on 1999, it’s such a great song that i dont think you should trust anyone who doesn’t like it.
D.M.S.R delivers on the funk and has such an infectious groove to it which makes it difficult to dislike….but at over 8 monutes it pushes its luck. I guess this has always been my issue with Prince, he is an unquestionable genius but he is so prolific that it feels he needed reigning in a bit more at times.
This feeling isnt helped by the appearance of automatic, which isnt as enjoyable and is even longer in duration. The last 3 and a half minutes would be unnecessary on the 12” remix let alone as an album track.
Something in the water finally provides a shorter length track, but unfortunately fails to deliver on the song front. The funk laden backing is replaced by musical equivalents of a builders yard and doesn’t make for an enjoyable listen.
Lady cab driver brings back the overblown pointlessly long track length.
Overall as with most Prince, there is much to enjoy but it is held back by the tendency to be overblown. Someone just needed to tell him no occasionally.

Three girl rumba is definitely an improvement of the riff stealing Elastica.
Overall i didnt mind it but songs like Mr Suit and Different to me just made me anxious so i dont think it is something i would ever seek to revisit

I’d forgotten just how good an album this is. Songs titles things like Intro usually bring a sense of filler to them, but not here.
There’s not a bad track on this relatively short album.
It’s difficult to remember whatvthe singles were, the album just works as a cohesive piece.

I think it is safe to say i do not like prog-rock. I do not like ELP and some of yhe songs here have not aged well.

Even Are you Ready Eddy’s more straight rock approach comes across as just pointless and is only of note, due the handbrake turn from most of came before

Thunder Road provides a solid if unexciting start to the album. It is everything i associate with Springsteen, solid blue collar rock. You can certainly hear the influence that Springsteen had on Brandon Flowers’ vocal style in Thunder Road.

I enjoyed the addition of brass and keys that come with Tenth-Avenue Freeze Out, however it always feels like he is straining to deliver any vocals that are beyond the more speak singing vocals.
Night and Backstreets (that is once you get to the end of the latter) unsurprisingly follow the same formula and are instantly unforgettable.
Born to Run is obviously a different fish. Yes it doesn’t stray from the established formula but it finds that sweet spot of magic that elevates it above the rest. Maybe its the fact that the prominence of the synth and brass driving the tune that help carry the relatively mumbling vocals or maybe it’s just a great song but tracks like this make me understand why some people love him as much as they do.
She’s the One,Meeting Across the River and Jungleland maintain this more interesting theme and ensure tye album ends on a high note. In particular i think Jungleland is potentially an equal to Born to Run.

Overall it’s a 3.5/5 but i think it’s more 3 than 4

Some good old rock n roll. Tracks like Tutti Frutti and Long Tall Sally are quite rightly classics and the piano driven, upbeat style is the blueprint for all here. Unfortunately that strength is also the album’s weakness, as it doesn’t stray at any point away from that and therefore all feels a bit too samey.
Overall lots to enjoy, but not really a classic.

I think this was the last PSB album i bought. It lacks the infectious pop hits that came before. That said, even as a 12 year old i enjoyed the sarcastic urony of a very downbeat song addressing critics who labelled your music as boring. Unfortunately after Being Boring it’s all a bit meh until you reach So Hard, which is the standout track.
Nervously maintains this new found energy, as does The End of the World. Maybe the album would have been better if sequenced so these weren’t all hiding at the end.