Reviews by gmuzza

Even in the nineties Jamiroquai were an odd prospect, a skinny white man, usually in a stupidly oversized hat delivering soulful funk. Their music however exudes cool, regardless of whether there’s didgeridoos, strings or brass involved.
The first two tracks are classics that instantly transport me back into my teenage years.
Unfortunately the vibrancy lags over the duration of the full album and it becomes a bit repetitive.

I would to know how i’d heard this album when it came out, fresh off the back of the Beatles. As it is, the lo-fi loose nature of the songs dont jar like i suspect they may have.

Cards on the table, i love Beatles and enjoy immensely the increasing numbers of demos and studio takes that have been released, so enjoy this laid back workings of a musical genius.

Tracks like Every Night, Junk and Maybe I’m Amazed are all classics. I love the blues of Oo you and the chilled out jam that is Momma Miss America.

And my god the confidence in such a loose collection of songs to hide Maybe I’m Amazed as the penultimate track and it feel fine is just breath taking.

I love a good bit of drums, so Kreen-Akore whilst slightly leftfield delivers a perfect closer for me (although i’d happily eschew the heavy breathing)

Whilst Iggy’s vocals work wonderfully on songs like Lust for Life and The Passenger, I’m not a fan of it in general.

The Stooges backing is highly enjoyable which makes the jarring vocals even more disappointing. This is especially true on Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell, which i found borderline unlistenable thanks to the vocals. Things dont improve much with Penetration.

I Need Somebody provides something slightly different, both musically and through Pop’s more stylised vocal delivery. I quite liked it and the following Shake Appeal, but not enough to make this something i would ever choose to listen to

I dont mind some Thin Lizzy, but this was too much for me.

It’s all a bit straight down the middle rock but then that is largely my view of Thin Lizzy.

By the end i just felt bored.

You can’t really argue with songs like Rio and hungry like the wolf as prime eighties cuts. Unfortunately the rest except for Save a Prayer and the Chauffeur, just feel plodding middle of the road eighties music and may as well be rejected demos of the singles.
Even Save A Prayer feels overlong.
I was surprised by the Chauffeur though as i’m not aware of knowing that before and musically it at least offers something different in its slightly jaunty staggered approach.

Fiona Apple is a great artist and this is an amazingly composed debut album. It is so easy to listen to and she invokes each song with such character it maintains your attention throughout

I associate Willie Nelson very much with my dad. I also think of Willie Nelson as being quite old. This album was released in the year i was born and he already sounds old (checks notes he’s 92, so was younger than i am now when he released this)

That said his voice is quite pleasant and i am surprised how much i like his version of Georgia on my mind.

The covers are generally pleasant enough, but not sure unchained melody really works for Willie

This album like most reggae feels like it would benefit from being played on s sunny summer day. Unfortunately it’s a bleak October weekday, but the old school groove of the first few tracks is still infectious

Solid rather than spectacular, but enjoyable nonetheless the less

I found this quite a relaxing album to have on whilst working.

I particularly enjoyed the breeziness of track c - group dancers. That track captured lots of different styles and really conveyed energy

Kendrick is a great rapper and whilst some of the content may feel like stereotypical rap content it reflects where he has come from.

Sing about me, i’m dying shows just how to make a long rap song listenable.

Overall this is a really good album, but i dont think it’s his best

This is what a migraine sounds like.
Each track tricks you into thinking it is achilled out mellow tune and then inevitably comes the annoying repetitive beat

Brown sugar is a cracking way to kick off an album. Even though i’m not a Stones fan it hits all the right spots to be a great song.
Before listening to this i would have probably said i liked, or at least didn’t dislike Wild Horses but it feels oddly placed in the running order. It therefore feels like a misstep. Not that the tracks either side are anything to write home about.
My god Can’t you hear me knocking goes on.
Overall the album is just middling with my main takeaway being i wuite like the guitar work

I’m not sure what to think of Kizza Me, at times it sounds good, especially the guitar, at others like musicians banging away on out of tune instruments.
Jesus Christ! Is an apt response to Jesus Christ. Lacking of any lyrical progression or anything to actually say.
My apple music seemed very reluctant at times to play some of the tracks and to be honest that was a blessing. Not a fan of the vocals or most of the music here but struggling to pinpoint why.

There is lots to appreciate about OK Computer, the first six tracks are epic. However whilst harsh the three tracks to No suprises dont match up to that very high standard, as harsh as that is I dont think i can say they belong on a five star album.

This is a really good cohesive album, despite, or maybe because of, there being no standout tracks.

It’s another example of how well Damon Albarn can move from one project to another quite often with different styles.

Mother and child reunion is a great way to start any album. The only issue it sets the bar high and what follows whilst pleasant is far from the same level. The obvious exception to that is Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.

Other than those two tracks things like Papa Hobo are enjoyable just nothing noteworthy. Hobo’s Blues jointy tune does however put me in mind of a toothpaste advert, which i appreciate is my issue not a comment on the quality of the songwriting

All the way through keeping pigs together i felt like the song was gradually building to something…..turns out it wasn’t.

The introduction of MC Det at least gives the feeling the song progresses beyond the original best, but ultimately its when the music drops to just the beat that you feel this has been more than just the germ of an idea.

By Dont go nowhere i am feeling that this will sum up my experience of the album (assuming the double negative isn’t conscious)

The rough and the quick felt liked i was trapped in looped hell.

I stole you car introduces more of a traditional song structure but i still get the overriding feeling that we are going nowhere in the instrumental.

Overall it’s not unlistenable just dull. I’d much rather listen to someone like Brock Berrigan

I remember buying this album in Croydon just before a train journey home snd standing listening to it on east croydon station i was genuinely blown away by how good an album this was. Twenty four years later i stand by that view.

This is one of the greatest albums released in my lifetime and there’s not a duff track on it. The Strokes managed to build on their musical heritage and produce a punchy fresh sound that unfortunately they struggled to capture again after this album.

Tracks like Is this it, someday, Last nite, hard to explain and new york city cops are just truly great, but that probably undervalues the other tracks on this album.

I loved nostalgia ultra and Channel orange built further on that.

He manages to bring something new whilst conjuring up a level of nostalgia. The songs feel more personal than a lot of music out there.