Reviews by gregorsmith

Their equivalent to The Beatles White Album, a long double album that's a little incohesive as it feels like all manner of shit was thrown to this particular wall to see what would stick, where the highs are so so so good ("Trampled Under Foot", "Houses Of The Holy", "Kashmir", "In My Time Of Dying", basically all of disc 1), but the lows are pretty meh ("Down By The Seaside", "Night Flight", "The Wanton Song", "Boogie With Stu", "Sick Again", basically all of disc 2). But it's Led Zeppelin so you can forgive most of it.

It's the fuckin' Germs man, the fuckin' GERMS! And it's not as great as the legend suggests. 15 1 to 2 minutes songs that are so hardcore punk, this band can barely play but does speed thrashing, and 1 10 minute long slog that overstays its welcome by about 9 minutes.

If not for the expanded lore of the legend of Pat Smear and the knowledge of what could have been with fuckin' Belinda Carlisle on drums, this would be a solid 1 stinker.

FUCKIN' GERMS MAN! FUCK-IN' GERMS!

Now, I'll admit I bought this CD back in 2000 and I loved it then, and I haven't listened to it, or anything else by him for that matter, in probably 20 years now... And what seemed earth shattering to my naive reptile smooth brain back then is kinda boring now. It's just dull turn of the millenium indie music innit?

I still enjoyed songs like "The Shining", "Another Pearl", "Magic In The Air", and "Disillusion", add in a couple more and a killer EP they would make, but this was just too long and too stuffed with filler like instrumental tracks to be enjoyable as it once was. And don't get me started on the aural assault that is "This Song", do not wear headphones for that.

Not enough albums containing songs that endorse beating up kids with a hefty lump of wood. Truly different times... This is pure punk, three chords, repetitive beats and bass, simple lyrics also repetitive. So repetitive I lost track during a three song stretch of "I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement", "Loudmouth", "Havana Affair" and and couldn't remember when one ended and another began...

Music to listen to while you kick back in a warm bath, enjoying a bottle of wine, and just let the Beck-ness of it all wash over you. And then when you're nice and toasty, pop open a vein...

Lenny in his early psychedelic rock phase, but not really... A little funky, a little bit in his feelings, has quite reached his Hendrix guitar shredder phase of the early 90s. So it's hippy music, mostly, 20 years too late.

But my one abiding memory is a friend who'd change lyrics of songs while singing them, so we gotta let dogs drool (LET DOGS DROOL)

Always skeptical when a recent album appears, but this was released 3 weeks after George Floyd's murder and seemed to encapsulate 2020 pretty perfectly. Strength in unity.

It has "America", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Hazy Shade Of Winter", what more do you people want from a sub 30 minute album?

The author of this book must have an Elvis Costello kink, there's no reason to explain how many times ol' Declan has appeared... Anyway, another bland album that has 2 hot songs, in this case "Alison" and "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes", but is that enough??

Maybe the 1001 author should just have included an Elvis Costello greatest hits album and spare us the misery of 6 of his albums? Oh well, 4 down, the only way is up, right?

That monster Alice In Chains sound, the Layne Stanley voice, the Jerry Cantrell guitar, it's here and in full effect as they are at possibly the peak of their powers. Loaded with songs you half remembered like "Rooster", "Them Bones", "Down In A Hole", and "Would?". This mix would sell millions and was worth every penny.

Starts off a little funky, but not overly funky, but then transforms quickly into elevator muzak. Not on the same level as other Steely Dan albums here, and honestly sounds like the inspiration for late 70s/early 80s Chicago albums. Make of that what you will...

Not so much an OutKast album as two solo albums packaged as a double album. The division is quite obvious, Big Boi's Speakerboxxx has big beats and solid bars and guests to die for while Andre's The Love Below is mega overindulgence and the first stop on the road that leads to jazz flute albums.

Can the two halves equal a whole? For the most part yes, but the amount of skittish interludes on The Love Below pulls it down for me.

Blues with a worldly twist, great ambience. Something I'd never normally listen to, but I'll Definitely give this another spin

Liars, everywhere... They were the liars when they thought they could create music, the list creator was the liar when they said this album was worth listening to.

I will say, track 2 "Steam Rose from the Lifeless Cloak" being the musical manifestation of a migraine, that pounding feeling of blood through your veins like native drums along the Orinoco, is the only reason I didn't give this a 1 star.

Just a jizzy jazzy party, riffs and riffing, sax and sex.

A literal journey into electronic music, hypnotic and relaxing, and like most car journeys, I end up falling asleep halfway to the eventual destination.

There's just something wild about David Bowie and Iggy Pop getting so fucked up on whatever that they had to move far, far away from the American scene in 1976 and then go on an all time tear of recording and releasing 4 outstanding albums in a year. 1977 was a special time, before my time though.

This album is dark, moody, brooding as they weaned themselves off the addictions. It's hard to tell who was the catalyst, Bowie with the music or Pop with the lyrics.

I am usually the first in line for anything psychedelic, but with Oar, the old joke rings painfully true: Skip by name, skip by nature. While the "tortured genius is mental" backstory is compelling, it carries the album more than the music does. Most of it sounds like half-baked, muddy demos, just an overly medicated busker mumbling over chaotic drumming. While "Weighted Down" and "Grey/Afro" show flashes of real talent, the rest is meandering, self-indulgent rambling. It’s an exhausting, uncomfortable listen that is more interesting to read about than to actually hear.

The first 35 seconds of "Bone Machine" is all you need as an introduction to the Pixies, the drums, the bass, the guitar, and Black Francis yapping in the background, thats it, get past that and you'll utterly appreciate this un-80s album that set the table for rock and grunge that came after it.

Everything is short, punchy, and near perfect.

I mean, its fuckin Bad Brains, the preeminent hardcore band of their time, and they're going reggae and funk...