Reviews by gregorsmith

Afro-Cuban percussion vibes, very energetic, I dug it

Folk Music as its meant to be, as in Ye Olde Folk Tune for Thine Soul... They getting Medieval on your ass here.

Just a masterpiece of pre-grunge alternative electronic music,dark and dirty as all hell, mean and moody as fuck. There's a underlying menace in this that you can't quite put your finger on, and it turned out to be Dave Gahan's heroin addiction.

Zero skips on this album, but "Personal Jesus", "Enjoy The Silence", and "Policy Of Truth" are top tier bangers. Just can't get enough...

I'm now used to the "In Memoriam album choice" 1001 gives us, RIP Ozzy, you wild weirdo, went out raising 200m for charity after living a life some consider a myth.

As for this album, puts the heavy in heavy metal, another kick in the face to the hippy music scene of the 60s, that was dead and was never coming back because heavy riffs, heavy drums, and heavy singing was the only way through the gift shop towards the exit.

You had to be there in the early 2000s indie scene, days where Jeff Tweedy, Conor Oberst, Matt Ward, Ben Gibbard, and Jenny Lewis and their assorted band just fucking ruled, they were pumping out classic albums like we breathe and blink everyday. Earnest troubadours here to soundtrack your twee life... Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is probably the pinnacle of those days, bands would eventually sell out from their indie label and join the massive conglomerates and eventually become the mainstream.

Some say this is just generic elevator/call hold music, I say it's more like the music The Weather Channel used for Weather on the 1s, todays high will be 94° with a 6mph wind coming from the north

The precursor to Bowie in Berlin, and Talking Heads beginnings, and, I guess, the better part of U2's discography... and it's pretty wild and weird and amazing and dull and everything all at once. I mean it opens with Phil Collins on drums and John Cale absolutely abusing a viola...

Love the Afrobeat like vibes, just serene chilled music for a lazy lunchtime in the sun.

Eels, and E in the royal sense, are a hard act to label, evey album has one absolute banger (sometimes more) that just rocks you to your core and then the rest is fucking eclectic as all hell. "Novocaine For The Soul" remains a mid-90s anthem though.

A strange one, like no stand out songs, but the whole thing is a carefully curated journey into the post punk new-ish wave world. The band are tight and Paul Weller is inspired, a nice time.

Mid-90s Punk-ish stylings, and I really enjoyed it. I remembered the "On A Rope" song after it was a surprising hit in the UK 30 odd years ago and the rest of the album was a similar delight.

Not as bad as some of the reviews suggested, and I remain skeptical when fairly recent albums appear on this list. So, is this an essential album? Assuredly not, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a listen...

An 80s era Steve Winwood album that has no bangers like "Valerie" or "Higher Love". No thanks... He was not back in the high life yet and he got no friends in the low places.

That sweet spot between late 80s jangle pop and alternative rock, early 90s shoegaze and british indie, and the forefathers of what would become Britpop.

Weird, incohesive, bonkers, yet entertaining.

A few decent songs in "Band On The Run" and "Jet" but mostly an inoffensive forgettable experience.

Well, its My Bloody Valentine, so its layers of distortion, so many layers of distortion... I did appreciate the endless drone in Loveless, and I can appreciate the endless drone in this too, but its really not for everyone. My Bloody Valentine isn't what you would call an accessible band.

I was more than prepared to write this off as turn of the millennium angst guitar based over mid beats rubbish (and it mostly is....) but then "This Year's Love" came on and I forgot how fucking beautiful that song is. David Gray has one song like this in each of his albums I've listened to, for example "Be Mine" on A New Day At Midnight and "Full Steam" on Draw The Line, just a beautiful ballad that hits the feels just right (or wrong) and makes you forget how the most of the album is contrived pap.

Then he gets you with "Sail Away" and you're gone, damn this troubled introspective troubadour playing with my emotions...

I had to follow this up with some Damien Rice, I'm not doing well babes....

I had Faces A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... To A Blind Horse not too long ago, and this is in the same vein since they were released a mere 6 months apart, it's basically a Faces album in everything but name. Rod and Ronnie Wood are the magic makers here as the voice and guitar propels this forward at a generous pace, even the slower songs.

Rod may have become a self contained crooner of old songs who hasn't had a hit record of any relevance since 1993, the younger Rod was a force to be reckoned with, between Jeff Beck Group, Faces, and his solo career, he had all time bangers by the boatload.

Absolute gratuitous prog rock wankery and its a live album too so it just feels endless and the crowd are eating it up as they cheer so loud at the beginning when they announce what they are about to do... It insists upon itself.