Reviews by gmuzza

Its all just too floaty for my liking. I can appreciate that the music is good and the vocals are solid, but there is nothing that really grabs me.
I spent the first two songs trying to think what dong they reminded me of, at which point I spotted Summer Breeze down the tracklist and the riddle was solved.
Things pick up slightly with Listen to the music and What it comes down to, but otherwise there’s just Summer Breeze of interest and that pays the price for being licensed for adverts meaning i keep expecting a cheesy voice over to come in.

Enjoyable enough collection, but someone with only a vague interest in Van Morrison this is too long for me.

Listen to the Lion in particular tried my patience with it’s duration pushing nearly 9 minutes. See also caravan.

Gloria is by far and away the highlight of this album. It offers a good blues ladden tune which enables Van’s vocals to shine. Unfortunately this is not enough to lift this above a fairly dull and long live album

It’s starts quite enjoyable and obviously very funky, however the tracks are sooo long they become monotonous and boring. By half way through track two i’ve had enough and know all tracks are gonna be the same.
Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis enema squad is just shit, so the name is at least partly right. The remaining tracks fall back into meandering overlong funk.
For the second time i’ve seen Funkadelic pop up, think this will be good and then been proven quite how wrong i can be.

Imagine for all its twee sentiments is a great song and is an obvious standout, but there is much outside of that track to like here.
If you ignore crippled inside Jealous Guy and it’s so hard are great tracks.
I dont want to be a soldier provides a trippy vibe that makes you float along the laid back groove.
Gimme some truth is the real star here. It is pure Beatles Lennon mixing political rabble rousing with a great tune. Obviously assisted by that unmistakable guitar of George Harrison.
Oh my love is a beautiful tune. It floats along on a cloud of simplicity, conjuring more classic Beatles.
How do you sleep? Is a great dis track. Does it show Lennon as an insecure bitter individual? Absolutely but that doesn’t mean the song is a bad one.
How maintains this standard. Oh Yoko even finds time to throw in references to A Day in the Life

Young Americans is a good star but this process has made me wary of Bowie album and the fact that the other recognisable track bookends the album is slightly concerning.
Win lacks the punch or jollity of the opener and it feels like the momentum is sucked out the album. Fascination continues this trend despite a far more upbeat chorus. It just sounds very dated.
Right applied a similar laid back sax laden approach. This is not the Bowie I want. Same with Somebody up there likes me.
Christ! Across the Universe is my favourite Beatles track and Bowie’s version is a crime against humanity. Can you hear is equally disappointing, before we finally teach Fame. Fame is a great track and cements my increasing virw that save for a couple of exceptions Bowie was very much a singles artist. I guess in the age of cassette putting the only two good tracks first and ladt meant you could listen to the first one and the flip it over with minimal rewinding or forwarding.

Not a fan of Speed King. It opens like hard rock by numbers before a pointless organ break and then back to a minute of throwing great rock songs into the lyrics. Bloodsucker does nothing to change this.

Child in Time decides to move the organ to the start, which at least changes the sound. The vocals are far more restrained but I fear this does not improve the quality of the song as they are shocking. It is this point i realise there is still 8 minutes more of this song. It improves slightly with the change of tempo and guitar wakery, but this is more than 4 minutes in and we eventually return to the slow warble

Track 4 includes a reasonable guitar break that ventures into Jimi Hendrix stylings, but otherwise the rest of the album is just more of the song. Overall the album feels an excuse to showcase some lead guitar virtuosity, which is obviously exceptional but not enough to justify this shit.

It’s difficult to listen to the Smiths impartially, because Morrisey is just a dick and his (Smiths era) vocals have been parodied so much it’s hard to take them seriously.
That aside the Queen is Dead is a strong start and relatively enjoyable. Unfortunately the track is on the too long side and feels like it has outstayed its welcome.
Frankly, Mr. Shankly has an upbeat backing but suffers significantly from those vocals and lyrics. From here we get just dull Smiths sounding songs which musically are good but the vocals ruin them for me.
When you reach Bigmouth Strikes Again it feels a real turning point with the rest of the offerings being relatively enjoyable, especially the obvious standout, There is a Light that Never Goes Out.
Overall an ok album but i still dont get all the fuss about them

The classic Bon Scott DC album.

You cant complain about an album that opens with ‘Highway to Hell’. Which is an undeniably great rock song and shows off the band’s strengths perfectly. The opening riff, drums and the vocal intro is just faultless, as it builds to the epic chorus is so simple but also just pure perfection.

Girl’s got rhythm continue to focus on the harmony between Bon’s vocals and Angus’s guitar. AC/DC tracks always have a groove to them (as well as a fair slice of innuendo) and this one is no different.
I enjoyed Walk All Over You’s group chorus.
Touch Too Much is a fun, infectious tune and is a highlight. The other tracks follow the same blueprint with If You Want Blood being another clear standout.
Sometimes simplicity and an entire album following a very strict blueprint can mean it falls short, especially where there is such a classic track on it. But that’s not the case here, HtH is just a classic foot stomping rock album. It’s amazing to think that they were able to replace such a great vocalist who seemed so integral to their sound with another who just fitted seamlessly.

When i saw Eno pop up as today’s album i thought this was gonna be a hard slog. It was a pleasant surprise then that ‘no one receiving’ was an enjoyable and interesting listening. Even the vocals work well with the eclectic backing.
Whilst not as good ‘backwater’ maintains the ‘better than i expected and has the great lyric “not a sausage to do”
It dips from here on, ‘King’s Lead Hat’ is annoying.

I got this album when I was 14 and considered it very much in the same vibe as De La Soul and ver different to the more prevalent gangsta rap.

I love the loose, almost improvised sound of the music, which gives it the feeling of a genuine creative collective.

I love their spin on People Everyday and it’s good to be reminded that the original album version is quite a different version to the hit (see also Brimful of Asha by Cornershop)

Mr Wendell grabs you straight out the box. It’s inherent catchiness make it easy to miss the socially aware message that it conveys. Somehow makes me think of sunny days (i am listening to this on a cold, grey January day.

Give a man a fish continues the blend of social awareness lyrical messages with an infectious groove, which separates this from a lot of music that either goes aggressively on the messaging or focuses on the music.
U lifts the tempo and highlights Speech’s skills to great effect. It also lifts part of it’s melody from Me, Myself and I which only reinforce my association with De La.

Badlands sounds like Meatloaf’s blue collar step brother. Like the majority of Springsteen its fine, straight down the middle rock.
Adam Raised the Cain is more straight Bruce, but somehow lowers the interest level as a result
From here on in it’s pretty much Springsteen by numbers

Gimme all your loving is probably the first track that comes to mind when i think of ZZ Top. It’s a fun groove laden rocker which ticks all the boxes.
I got the six sounds like a combination of ZZ Top and AC/DC cover bands to create one god awful noise.
Legs is back to that classic sound, but its abundantly clear why the singles were the singles off this album.
Unfortunately when you have such a distinctive sound songs can stray into sounding like parodies and that is my lasting view of this album. Better off sticking to a best of compilation

Even the atmosphere of a misty Sunday morning dog walk fails to lift this album. I really dont like the vocals, but YYZ makes it clear that this isn’t the sum of my issues. There are far too many synths for my liking and the whole album is just overblown pap

This album hits me on two levels, as not only is it a truly great album, it is also one that holds significant nostalgia in terms of my childhood.

Firstly i know there are criticisms of Paul Simon’s appropriation of African music for songs on this album, but it was always clear where the inspiration was from and without i would never have known about Ladysmith Black Manbazo, let alone seen them live.

Opening with The Boy in the Bubble and Graceland feels a brave move, but there is no letting up on this album. I have always loved I Know What I Know, with its humour infused lyrics and general catchiness.
Gumboots and Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes showcase the music that inspired this album and i remember how fresh these sounded amongst the synth crap that dominated 80s music.

You can call me Al is another one of those songs where it is hard not to picture the video in your head. Yes Chevy Chase maybe a dick but it is an iconic video. It’s hard to know what to focus on the lyrics are great, the brass section, but i think for me it’s the bass that just about nicks it.

Mannish Boy is simply a blues classic and sets the album up perfectly. The live vibe of the track certainly gives it even more depth.
Bus driver continues the good times with plenty of blues guitar and honking on the hobo.
There’s a lot to like about this album, i especially enjoyed the good old blues of The Blues had a Baby and they Named it Rock and Roll.
Overall i think this is a3.5/5 but there isn’t quite enough for a 4/5 so we are where we are

I instantly dislike the vocals on this and the music doesn’t offer much to cancel that overriding feeling.
I was a teenage werewolf at least has an enjoyable and recognisable tune to it.
The cover of Fever is a highlight if only because it sounds different to the rest of the album

Not a classic by any stretch. Whilst i’d generally say the Police always deliver a listenable tune at worst ‘mother’ proves that wrong.
Every breath you take is obviously a classic but overall the album is just meh

Oh great more prog rock. You cant beat an album where you have to wait before the music actually starts. When it does it’s the sound of instruments falling gradually down a winding apartment block stairwell, punctuated by shrieks.
3 minutes and something vaguely resembling a tune comes in, goes nowhere and then completely different tune comes in, this time with horrendous vocals. Around 9 minutes in it sounds like even the band may have given in. Frankly i wouldn’t blame them.
13 mins in, we get a load of wanky keyboards which eventually get even more excited and speed ip like a kid increasing the tempo button on their casio keyboard.

Track 2 agains starts as if joining the band getting ready to start playing

This is in your face rap oc the highest order.
This is very much the sound of rap of my youth that unmistakably Def Jam footprint across everything here. Lots of the music conjures a combination of street party with old school sampling and scratching with the lyrics delivering potent messages about the state of the world as they see it.
Welcome to the Terrordome is a classic, as is obviously Fight the Power.

Overall the album makes me very nostalgic for my youth when rap still felt very new as was pivotal in educating on the challenges faced by black Americans

I enjoyed the first track Yela, but it appears this created misplaced optimism.
The rest of the album just feels too synthy/poppy (or even worse too Glockenspiely) for my taste in world music.