Reviews by gregorsmith

I believe Billie Eilish awes a lot to this album, so its no coincidence they both came into the world around the same time period. This marks the time where Bjork went full weird, 90s Bjork was at least accessible. 2000s Bjork just went off the deep end sonically.

Repetitive? Yes. Did it need take up an entire CD runtime? No. Worth it? Absolutely.

I dunno, should I give a bonafide classic 5 stars just because it's a bonafide classic?

Should I weigh the pros and cons of each track though a modern prism and say things like "Fire" is some basic ass lyrics; it's just "let me stand next to your fire" over and over...

Should I say something inflammatory like, while Hendrix's guitar playing was revolutionary at the time, he's really just a cut rate Jack White and can't hold a candle to The Edge.

No, that would be foolish, because this is a bonafide classic and it deserves its 5 stars, deserves and earns.

I'm finding that a lot of these early to mid 90s rap albums are not aging particularly well, it's hard to not view these through a modern prism and find them utterly reprehensible. I mean, I loved this 30 years ago but now it either horrifies me for its graphical content or repulses me for its childish immaturity, how can I really be objective?

Psychocandy, qu'est-ce que c'est?

This is the good stuff, a slew of killer covers like The Temptations "My Girl" and Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" and, weirdly, Aretha Franklin's "Respect".... via a quirk in the space/time continuum, apparently he recorded this two years before the superior original came out, go figure.

The bassline on "A Certain Romance" floored me in 2006, and still does in 2024...

Oh, in five years time, will it be "Who the fuck's Arctic Monkeys?".

Tupac is always a weird one for me, I didn't really hear much until he was dead, and the last album was all very much Gangsta Rap and I was past all that. This one is more mellow in that regard, more introspective? Mostly dull.

A beautiful album that might have been *too* good in retrospect. The start of the Elliott Smith downfall can be traced here, bigger acclaim and bigger visibility leading to a bigger record deal and bigger expectations that leads to bigger problems.

But let's just accept it for what it is, a beautiful album.

Give this lady her flowers, long overdue.

If Orange Juice has a rancid or off flavor, then it's gone bad... Applies to this too.

This album introduced me.to the wonder of the Theremin via "Richard III", and "Late In The Day" still hits the right notes, the rest of the album is mostly forgettable though.

I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail is a the epitome of the Bakersfield sound. While its kitschy aesthetic might strike some as cheesy, it has tight arrangements, Don Rich’s sharp guitar, and Buck’s signature twang make the 32 minutes pass reasonably fast. Essential if that's your kind of thing, but it wasn't for me.

Would Sir care for a starter of some garlic bread perhaps?

No, thank you. I will proceed directly to the intravenous injection of hard drugs, please.

Ray Charles doing country is a crazy thing, The mad man did a reverse Elvis and appropriated the white man's music. While his soulful piano and iconic vocals on tracks like "I Can't Stop Loving You" are masterful, the album is frequently weighed down by dated, overly schmaltzy string arrangements and syrupy backing vocals that struggle to age gracefully.

Pure unadulterated rawness here, usual artists take time to grow into who they want to be.... Not Polly, she's kicking arse right out the gate.

You gotta boil it down to the essentials. It's like Cube says, "Life ain't nothin' but bitches and money."

I had Funkadelic a few days ago, now I get Parliament and that means George Clinton is responsible for me being *at least* 72% more funky this week. I'm super funky, fresh and fly, y'heard?

First things first, how the fuck is this pile of shit 20 years old? Retro glam rock wankery thats good for 1 song and they somehow made a career out of it. Where's the justice in THAT? I mean, sure, it was probably better than the sludge that was bubbling around in 2003, but let's be honest, if Justin Hawkins didn't have a glammed up onesie split down to his taint in the video for "I Believe In A Thing Called Love", would anyone really care?

A few good well known songs but its 80s low tier rock, proof that a memorable music video can make a middling song better.