Reviews by guggmo

I’m at a 5. Possibly higher.

I just feel somber after listening to that, which in this case, is the hallmark of a highly effective album. This is a war-based album, one that touches on real history that I believe spans from World War I to World War II, with a slight commentary on the events of the Middle East that dominated much of the 2000s on “Written on the Forehead”. It is soberingly & brilliantly written, with many of these tracks seemingly from the perspective of soldiers either in the moment or reminiscing with a PTSD-driven eye, yet it musically leans towards a garage rock vibe that anchors the album in a sort of contemporary folk-esque way. These feel like they could’ve been written years ago, and given the intense research PJ apparently did in making this album feel as accurate & sort of emotionally pulling as possible, I think she did a great job at somehow evoking the events of a century ago while making it feel palatable to modern tastes.

I’ll give a lot of credit to the production work here; this is a 2011 album, with garage rock leanings, but it feels like it could have been recorded today. None of the obvious production marks of the early 2010s are here, with a very consistent set of instruments (namely the lower, heavier percussion that anchors a lot of the tracks), and as such, it sort of adds to the vaguely timeless feel of these tracks. Sure, some of these tracks have extended intros that feel a little long in the moment, but I think they work in the sense that they build up tension very well, especially after some of the heavier tracks here. Vocally, I think “Let England Shake” is a bit of a bad tonesetter for the more thoughtful & narrative tone she takes for most of the album. I really like a lot of her vocals here, even when she goes full Bjork on “England”.

I can’t really understand some of the 1s & 2s on the site; either they didn’t pay an inch of attention to the lyricism, their brains can’t come up with the imagery that she’s trying to evoke, or they just bounced off of this for reasons I can’t possibly figure out. Yes, it should not take a (then) 42-year-old English lady to remind me of the horrors of war, but if you’re using that as an excuse to diss the album, then you were never going to engage with this in good faith. I think this might be the best PJ Harvey album we’ve gotten so far, and I already thought “Dry” was really, really good. I desperately need to relisten to “Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea”, as I think I’d appreciate it more now. As far as this goes, I think the floor here is a 4, and for my history-loving tastes & with how much I just connected to this in a sobering way, it’s easily at a 5 for me, if not higher. Very, very good stuff & yet another successful Mercury Prize-nominated/winning album.

I’m at a 2.5 that I’ll bump down to a 2, though I do genuinely think that with the right framing & a bit more immersion, it could bump up to a 3, and possibly higher, somehow.

This album is an exercise in megalomania, egotism, paranoia, & fear, with a bit of a sadistic lean, touching on things like religion, murder, & sins, mixing itself in with totally incomprehensible concepts along the way. It is musically incoherent, yet intentionally designed that way to evoke a natural abrasiveness, and it’s one that’s openly invited by the album, constantly pushing the boundaries of what it’s allowed to “musically” do, forcing you to accept it for what it is, even if you actively don’t like it. This album, in some fashion, is the audible equivalent of failed gaslighting combined with Stockholm Syndrome, and once that makes itself apparent, parts of this album make more sense.

That’s a big fucking word salad to basically say “inner machinations of a psychiatric inmate-core”. Nick Cave’s vocals fluctuate between that one homeless guy next to your local pharmacy who’s on so many drugs that you actively fear him, and shades of what would eventually come with his work with The Bad Seeds, some of whom are members of The Birthday Party. As far as the instrumentation goes, the guitar plays its role as the loudest & most distracting thing here, acting as a sort of barrier to the vague, echoing morally corrupt consciousness that Nick Cave portrays. This is contrasting against the percussion, which generally tends to find a decent rhythm on a lot of these tracks, save for the moments where it feels like they’re smashing it with such ferocity that it feels like The Hulk destroying a music store. The bass is the singular consistent instrument here, and I suppose it represents one vague thread of normality left in the minds of the protagonists of all these tracks.

This is all in combination with the lyrics, which are normally either drowned out or screamed out, save for an occasionally calmer moment. The lyrics feel incomprehensible at times, and I still think they’re written from the perspective of a total madman who’s lost all grip on reality. That is the mindset & immersion that feels like it can crack, unlock, & truly open up this album. I made it a point for the final track, “Junkyard”, to go the extra mile & sit in a room with total darkness, just to feel the track as I was listening to it. That’s an extreme measure, mind you, but I just couldn’t get that sort of “psychiatric inmate” frame out of my mind, and I just wanted to see what would happen.

It felt claustrophobic. Genuinely, as his vocals grew more intense, and as the soundscape continued to swirl up with a sort of manic passion, I found myself wanting to turn the lights on, get up, and get out. In a way, it kind of felt awesome because of just how effective it was. I’m sure that’s not the intent of the album, but I just found it so fascinating that I could feel the potential that might come with a second listen. If I came back to this album another day, I think I might be able to appreciate it as an audible journey through genuine madness. As it currently stands now, I think the album itself just has too many musically driven flaws in terms of song length, some genuinely ear-piercing mixing at times, & a few moments where the performance / facade breaks for long enough to just feel far less engaging at some points than others.

The ceiling for this album, to my mind, is a 4. I’m at a 2.5 that I’ve nearly talked myself into bumping up to a 3 on account of potential alone, but given that the first half of the album bounced off of me in a way that badly set the tone (seriously, “She’s Hit” might still be the worst track on the album given the absolutely glacial pacing), I just don’t think I could do it in good faith. I do, however, genuinely recommend this as an album one you should listen to before you die just for the aural hell of it, and I admire the vision / scope of the album & the authenticity at which they just fucking went for it, without a single care for perception or commercial appeal. It’s a 2.5 that will go down to a 2 for now, but I can see it going up should I ever come back to this.

Holy fucking shit.

I said it when we got “Sign ‘O' The Times”; I’ve always been an MJ guy and not a Prince guy, which is to say I’ve always treated Michael’s albums with incredible reverence, and only given the same reverence to Prince’s big singles. Much like back then, this album has made me realize I am a moron for not approaching Prince’s albums in the same way. Somehow, someway, perhaps through either stupidity or some level of buying into the “feud”, I have never heard this specific album in full.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s too ubiquitous in pop culture for me to know nothing about this. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life” & the rest of Prince’s opening speech is one of the most famous verses to start an album ever (though I’ve somehow never heard the rest of the brilliant madness that is “Let’s Go Crazy”), and I think everyone is at least aware of “Purple Rain”’s opening chords & the monstrous guitar solo to end it. I think it’s nearly impossible to have avoided “When Doves Cry” if you’ve heard any ‘80s playlist ever, and I’ve somehow managed to hear “I Would Die 4 U” without knowing it ever transitioned into “Baby I’m a Star”, which further cements my utter ignorance about this whole thing as an album experience.

I mean, what can you really say after listening to that album? Not one miss, not a single bad chord, not a single bad drum hit, and not a single bad note. You wanna talk about notes? Let’s fucking talk about the fact that Prince screeches out his passion in a way that’s infectious as hell. I knew this album leaned a little more into the glam rock sensibilities of the 80s, but I never realized it was THIS deep. His vocals on this thing are a fucking marvel, and it’s made me realize just how much Michael Jackson suddenly thrust some of Prince’s DNA from this album into his own style for everything after Thriller, and most obviously on Bad.

Look, someone else can write paragraphs on paragraphs about this thing; the synth work, the percussion, the guitar (my GOD, the guitar), the near-perfect structure of the album, the overt horniness of “Darling Nikki”, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I can’t do it. I’m just stunned. I’m slapping myself for never giving Prince a fair shake when I was first really trying to get myself into music a decade ago, and I’m slapping myself for never listening to this album in full when I could’ve had the chance all these years later. This is that damn good; I think for my tastes, it’s better than “Sign ‘O’ The Times” on account of the length & energy (though the fact that it’s even in the conversation is a testament to that album), but I’ll let other people say if it’s better than Thriller. That’s a debate I’ve got too much bias on to put my two cents into, but I will at least say this – “Purple Rain” is a far, far, far better closer than “The Lady in My Life” is, and I still love the latter. Hydrogen bomb / coughing baby type shit. This album is a 10, by the way. Maybe higher. I figured that was obvious. Fucking hell.

I’m at a 4.5 that I think I’ll bump up to a 5, though I’m a little shaky on it.

The last time we got TV on the Radio was November 2024, and it happened on a day when we got a glitch and basically got two albums at once. This album is making me wonder if I gave “Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes” a fair enough shake & not just a slightly rushed job to play catchup, because I found myself really enjoying this one. I gave that album a 3, with an analogy about it having too many upward hills on a roller coaster & not enough drops. Nowadays, I find myself a little more patient with longer songs to reach a certain point, so it could just be my tastes growing a bit, but it also could be true that this album comes straight out of the gates a lot quicker.

This album’s first 3 tracks clicked really nicely for me, especially by the obviously “It’s The End of The World”-inspired track “Dancing Choose”. I think it hit its first shaky point on “Stork & Owl”, which just totally bounced off of me for a couple of reasons (namely the vocals feeling especially weird). “Golden Age” also felt a little shaky, but it might just be bad timing given the whole religious psychosis surrounding the rapture bullshit that happened recently & the lyricism feeling just a bit too “literal” now compared to how this might’ve been perceived in 2008.

Thankfully, they rebounded immediately with how lovely “Family Tree” is – seriously, that’s a standout track. “Red Dress” is good too, but I fear the lyricism / vocals go by just a little too quickly to really comprehend the depth of the subject matter. It’s sort of a Hey Ya thing, but at least Andre draws attention to it blatantly, whereas this one feels like it’s almost an afterthought, even if it’s not. It’s a groovy one, but I just feel like it’s very easy not to hear him and just want to dance.

After that, I think the album glides to a pretty strong finish; “Love Dog” feels like a sort of lo-fi Phil Collins track about someone deeply devoted with nobody to show love to, and I think the slower tempo of the track works for it. The outro is a little long though. “Shout Me Out” is super fun, especially with the tempo change in the middle absolutely boosting the energy of the track to a higher level. The volume is a little overblown though. “DLZ” is good; it feels like a shoegaze-y Tame Impala, and it’s “that one from Breaking Bad”, but even without the context of how well it’s used in the show, I think it just grabs the attention in a way that feels kind of authoritative. “Lover’s Day” is lusty as hell, but I think the track works as a kind of triumphant ending; besides, something about the idea of relationship-affirming sex that’s so good it invokes a marching band, heavenly strings & a church choir is so comedically over the top that I can’t help but admire it.

It’s all of the “thoughs” that are present through this thing that are keeping me at a shaky bump up; I do think this has enough little paper cuts that build up to the point where I could go down to a 4, but I never found myself actively disappointed with a track other than “Stork & Owl”. The rest of my complaints are basically just nitpicks about the lyricism occasionally feeling a bit confusing (hell, the childbirth scenario of the opening track didn’t click until he said “womb”), the mixing being a little strong at times (plenty of shoegaze-y / wall of sound elements that feel a bit overblown), & occasionally some vocal structures that just felt a little too loose (“Red Dress” comes to mind).

It’s not a thousand paper cuts though, so for as much as the album feels like it has “flaws”, I just think the foundation the album is built on is strong enough (& I just enjoyed it enough) that I think bumping it down wouldn’t feel fair. It’s a shaky bump up, for sure, but I think this is a good enough album to earn it. I certainly think it’s more enjoyable than the last one we got, though I may need to give it another try. It’s a strong 50 minutes regardless, and the floor is a 3 if all the little issues do compound that badly. For me, it’s a 4.5 that earns the bump up to a 5.

You know what? I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

It’s not an album for everyone, and I can tell you that immediately. This is an oddity, and sort of an evolving one. I think the opening track isn’t a great tonesetter for what this eventually settles into, which is a trance-inspired ‘60s-style psychedelic rock album with electronica / triphop elements lending a helping hand to set the tone, in a way that feels sort of like a prototype Gorillaz (ignore that they’re both from 2001) if Jim Morrison was a member.

One’s ability to enjoy this album will come entirely in how much you allow yourself to be entranced by these beats; I’m generally predisposed to softer, somewhat ambient stuff, so the minimalist approach here worked for me. I also think these tracks layer upon themselves really nicely in a way where the longer fadeouts & outros on this album feel natural, feel earned, and almost feel rewarding. Normally, I’m one to bitch & moan whenever a long outro happens, because it usually happens once a track has felt like it’s run its course, and it’s just padding for time. That only happened a few times here, and even then, it never felt like that big of a deal. Sure, some of these COULD have been cut down a little, but I think doing so might take one out of the entrancing effect just a bit too early & abruptly.

I say all of this like it’s an album actively trying to hypnotize you in a way, and I’m not entirely sure that’s the intent, but it gives that effect regardless. The vocal harmonies this album brings feels sort of like the Beach Boys with Beck leading the way, and the vocal structures of this album glide on the beats really nicely. I don’t think I really found myself actively trying to comprehend most of the lyrics, but it’s a testament to the album as a sort of aural experience that I caught them. Part of it is the repetition (this album REALLY hits lines over your head at times), but part of it is just getting lost enough in the beat that you can focus elsewhere and still stay in the rhythm.

Again, it’s not for everyone; the floor here is a 3, and that’s if the beats just don’t feel appealing or if the repetition feels too prevalent. Perhaps my slightly distracted state while listening to the album helped a bit, but I think it’s very easy to get lost in the rhythm regardless. For as absolutely stupid as the cover art is (seriously, who let them pick THAT?), I think the album just really clicked with me. It feels like much more of a nighttime album than a daytime one, so that might help too.

For how much I enjoyed this, even though I was sitting at a steady (but slowly rising) 4 for most of the album, I think it’s just consistently good enough and entrancing enough to get the bump up to a 5. Yes, it’s a “slower” 45 minutes, but much like David Crosby’s album from yesterday, it’s the sort of slow album that makes you really appreciate it by the end of it. I certainly have. Hopefully, their other album on the list sticks to this style.

Yeah, that’s a 5. Hell, maybe higher.

Very weird for this to shift from a traditional CSNY-esque album to something rather Eno-esque by its final 3 tracks, but something about this felt ethereally good. I really don’t know how to put it into words; I’m super stunned or anything, but I think it’s an album where the musicality more than speaks for itself. The first 2 tracks here are “normal” (and very good too!), and then once “Tamalpais High” hits, the album lets the aural side of music speak more for itself than the lyrics do. I could be wrong, but I think this is a really technical album for 1971. Nothing’s that crazy, but just in terms of the mixing, layering & harmonization required to achieve the sort of blend of melancholy & bliss told mostly through the music, this feels decently ahead of pace, and certainly far from expectations from one of the guys from CSNY.

This also happens to be a remarkably star-studded record, which makes it all the more impressive that they signed up for an album like this & not something more adjacent to Deja Vu – the rest of CSNY are here, as is Joni Mitchell, plus the drummer from Santana in their Abraxas era, and seemingly all of both Jefferson Airplane & The Grateful Dead. Look, I ripped heavy on the Grateful Dead for their abysmally drab live album we got 502 albums ago, but their slow, building instrumental style works wonders here, especially when combined with the rest of the musicianship on this album & David Crosby’s penchant for harmonization. This is a slow 37 minute album, and it’s one that makes you just kind of sit in for the whole runtime, but it’s the sort of slow album that makes you really appreciate it by the end of it. Hell, it made me wish “I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here” would go for at least another 3 minutes, so they did something right.

I guess my single nitpick would be that “Song with No Words” should’ve ended the album with how short the final 2 are, but regardless, it’s a deeply satisfying album, and honestly, it’s probably better than both of Stephen Stills’ solo albums on the list. I might need to listen to Graham Nash’s in my own time since it’s not here, but this shoots right up as one of the best CSNY-adjacent albums we’ve gotten. There’s still 3 more Neil Young albums on the list, which feels kind of crazy. Regardless of all that, this album exists in a blissful little space and I’m so very glad to have heard it. It’s an easy 5 for me, and probably a bit higher.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

Well, this sort of threw “sophisti-pop” on its head for me with the first track being a sort of R.E.M.-esque country cut about disdain for the mundane, and then it just kept surprising me. I’m starting to find that “sophisti-pop” is maybe just fancy genre talk for “80s singer-songwriters who stuck to pop”, because this is certainly not the same thing as Sade, the Blue Nile, or even Everything Like The Girl.

This is really just a pop album with a rock lean to my ears; yes, the lyricism is flowery at times & comprehending them that can elevate a few tracks, but I think they’re equally as straightforward, since a lot of these are just love songs. To my ears, so much of this album is guided by the instrumentals & vocals as a guide to portray the emotion, and it works really effectively; this might be one of the best-produced ‘80s albums I’ve heard so far. Thank you to Thomas Dolby. I hesitate to really label this as “sophisti-pop”, since the same sort of elements are there, but I just think this album shines even on a casual listen. Take a track like “Bonny” for example, where it feels like a ‘90s track more reminiscent of a Matchbox 20 or a Sister Hazel. Even if you don’t catch a lyric, there’s a growl in his voice that kicks the track into gear.

That sort of thing applies throughout the album; there’s plenty of new wave ‘80s tropes & production here (especially on the more synth-heavy stuff), but I don’t think this album really strays from the core belief that the music is the most important aspect. Hell, take a listen to “When Love Breaks Down” – when Paddy gets to the chorus & starts to let it out, the track just gives a sort of infectious energy, while still feeling totally instrumentally calm. That’s the energy this album tends to give off – calm on the outside, and just a bit more chaotic & nuanced on the inside. I don’t want to go on another track-by-track breakdown on what each track sort of gives off; I did it for The Blue Nile, but since I think the music speaks for itself more here, it doesn’t feel necessary.

I will say though, as far as the 4.5 goes, it’s simply that the last 2 tracks just fell a little short for me after how blissful “Desire As” became. “Desire As” is the only track where I think a full paragraph might be necessary, because it might be my favorite track on the album. For some context, given that most of the tracks here talk about the aftermath of a breakup / affair (“Goodbye Lucille #1” being an inability to move on, “Horsin’ Around” being a reckoning of immaturity & its consequences, and plenty more), I think “Desire As” is the perfect culmination of all of the lessons of those tracks coming to a head. It’s basically just choosing to walk away from a paranoia-driven relationship on one’s own accord, even if happiness existed in spades before any accusations came flying in. Vocally, it’s sort of monotonous (with some good subtle vocal shifts), but I like that approach, as it gives the track a sort of level-headed maturity. Lyrically, there’s some repetition, but I see it as a sort of self-affirmation that he’s made the right choice to walk away. The production work sells the track brilliantly; the instruments build up, from a sax line to added percussion to some swirling string work, and layered backing vocals to bring the track & the album to a sort of climax point.

When you have a track that feels like every lesson has been learned, why wouldn’t you end on that, as opposed to a track about angels killing Marvin Gaye because they’re jealous of him? OK, well, that last track is conceptually cool as hell actually (though a little flat in execution), but still – this album should’ve ended on “Desire As”. Regardless, a pair of good tracks that just fall short after a great one is no reason to bump an album down all the way to a 4. This is a good one, and I really found myself entranced by it at points. Consider me sold on Prefab Sprout as a band I need to listen to, consider me a bit annoyed that there’s not any solo albums from Thomas Dolby on the list (seriously, great production work – hopefully he’ll pop up on another album), and consider this album as being a worthy pick on the list to my ears. It’s an easy bump up to a 5.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

As most Americans probably do, I only know Shaun Ryder from being on “DARE” by Gorillaz. This is his band, and this is the first album we’re getting from the two albums they have on the list. I sort of knew about his speaking style, but I think “DARE” gives a sort of bad impression; it’s just a little bit out of his range, and the difference between his lower tone & the falsetto that the chorus is sung in makes him feel… not lazy, but more dulled down. It didn’t give me super high hopes going in, but I figured this would still be nice.

Thankfully, I’m a bit of a moron. Shaun’s got good vocals here; it could be the 15 year difference showing, but I just think these tracks are far more suited to his range & as such, they pleasantly surprised me. Yes, he’s still got the speaking style to his vocals, but sometimes he really does glide on the beats in a melodic way, especially when he’s surrounded by the energy of the instrumentals. Speaking of these instrumentals, I’m pretty surprised at how coherently this mix of styles works; we’ve apparently gotten Madchester albums in the past, but this is the first one that feels so upfront about it. This is 90s electronica meeting 60s psych rock (with just a hint of the Britpop sensibilities of the mid-90s to come), and it works very, very well.

Lyrically, I do think the album is a little loose, but given that this is probably filled with a handful of UK-adjacent references & my belief that the lyrics are probably the least important aspect here (though they do enhance a few tracks), it’s not that big of a deal. I think “Bob’s Yer Uncle” is the track where they matter the most, and it’s just to give even more of a creepy lean to the character being portrayed – Shaun’s whispery vocals are already slightly unsettling & combine it with an instrumental that feels as upbeat as it does, and you get the most interesting track on the album. As far my favorite goes, it’s probably “Loose Fit” or “Step On”, though it’s the type of versatile album where I can see any track being someone’s favorite.

So, why a 4.5 and not a flat 5? Occasionally, Shaun’s flatter vocals do come in & bring down the energy, and that’s part of it, but it really does just come down to the outros on this thing adding far too much filler time to the album. I’m not saying time is an extreme premium or anything, but this could’ve easily been 3-4 minutes shorter by just trimming down some of the outros that go absolutely nowhere. I know it’s probably just a radio quirk to allow hosts to get their monologues / throws to the next track in, but… save those copies for the radio stations & not for the album version, you know?

As a whole, the flaws aren’t that big, and I just found this far too enjoyable to seriously consider bumping it down to a 4; for my tastes, it’s an easy bump to a 5. I think I wanna listen to more Madchester stuff now; I’m not sure what else qualifies on the list, but I’m ready for it if it’s there. As fast as Happy Mondays goes, I can only hope that “Bummed” is as good of an album as this one was, whenever it comes up.

I’m at a 4.5 that I think I’ll bump up to a 5 on the “I just enjoyed it, what can I say?” criteria.

It really is that simple; sometimes, I just happen to really like an album. Oh, there’s flaws here, don’t get me wrong, but as a 50 minute package, I’m just surprisingly pleased by how much I enjoyed it. Much like seemingly the entire rest of the site, I have never heard of “Skunk Anansie” until this moment, but I’m glad this album’s in the list to at least give them a showcase.

This album jumps around from style to style; in the broadest definition, I would say it’s what would happen if Alanis Morissette had gotten to lead an Evanescence album, but that undermines some of the vocal & instrumental variety here. There are some genuinely softer ballads here that feel a bit more adjacent to Janis Joplin’s ability to shift the power of her vocals on a dime, though with an R&B touch that’s slightly understated, but very present. Instrumentally, there’s some tracks that feel like Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garbage (yes, the band), and occasionally, Radiohead, as weird as that sounds. The variety that’s present here keeps the album fresh, and while it’s mostly lead by the power of her vocals guiding the emotional lean of each track as opposed to a real instrumental showcase (only a handful of really strong solos), I think the band is more than serviceable to capture the mood.

So, what exactly are the “flaws” that have me hesitating to give it a flat 5? For one, a few tracks have disconnected outros that don’t really seem to add anything to the album, since there’s not really an overarching narrative here. Secondly, I just think the band’s “serviceability” starts to really show for the final 2 tracks – they’re technically sound, but it’s clear that her vocals & the lyricism are guiding the tracks a bit more than they are. It makes the album end on a slightly flatter note, since the passion just doesn’t feel reciprocated (ironically, probably the overarching theme of the album) and while that’s not the worst thing, signs of it start to pop in by “Good Things Don’t Always Come To You”, so the last 4 tracks do slowly let off the gas on their way to the finish line, though I did enjoy all of the tracks here.

In all, even with a slight “genericism” lingering over the whole album (which I think the top review is trying to get at, albeit in a mildly pretentious way framed as trying to achieve perfection), I think this is the sort of female-led rock album that just appeals to a lot of my musical sensibilities. The floor here is a 3; if the “genericism” feels more overwhelming to the ears, then I wouldn’t blame someone for going there. If you can fully buy into what they’re selling (which I think is rather easy), then it’s probably somewhere between a 4 and a 5, and I just think I enjoyed it too much to want to bump it down, even with the flaws this thing has. It’s far from perfect, but I found it surprisingly enjoyable, and I think it earns a 5.

I’m at a 10. Hell, maybe higher.

Everyone knows Queen, right? “We Will Rock You”, “We Are The Champions”, “Killer Queen”, “Another One Bites The Dust”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Bicycle Race”, “Under Pressure”, etc, etc – an unbelievably strong stadium rock/pop catalog led by Freddie Mercury’s vocals with a spotlight on them brighter than the sun. People know Queen, even if they think they don’t. They’re that ubiquitous.

This is my first full Queen album, and I found myself rather surprised that I knew absolutely nothing here. For a band defined by singles known the world, I found that extremely strange. I figured it would still be good as long as Freddie Mercury was… well, Freddie Mercury, but I also sort of had the assumption that this album was just here to represent an era of Queen before they went big. I am thankfully, extremely, extremely wrong – this is a fucking stunner of an album that somehow feels underrated, unknown & like a hidden gem in a catalog that includes more diamonds than a Tiffany ring.

Nobody fucking told me Queen was a hard rock band with prog-esque sensibilities for their first two albums like this; much like Genesis, I think I had a vague awareness of a shift towards a more radio-oriented sound at some point, but I figured it wouldn’t be this steep. I suppose “Bohemian Rhapsody” is more of a last gasp of this era of the band, and we’ll get to that whenever we get “A Night at The Opera”, but this album feels like expanding Bohemian Rhapsody out to 40 minutes, and it is a fucking unstoppable avalanche by its second-half suite, with “The March of the Black Queen” acting as an unbelievable climax.

I really wish I could describe more here, but I’ve just got broad praise, since I think this album is far better heard than it is described. I love the sort of medieval tone throughout with the lyricism, and I guess this is really where the name “Queen” makes a bit more sense. I think Freddie Mercury takes some time to warm up, but when he fully finds himself, he feels just as fucking stunning as he always does, especially on his held notes. Obviously, the rest of the band does a stellar job here, especially in the guitar / percussion work, and the tempos this thing eventually reaches feel electric. There are signs of the stadium success to come here, but it’s concentrated into much more of a heavy rock package as opposed to some great sports-y songs.

It really is that good; I haven’t felt as in-sync with a rock band like that since the Black Sabbath album we got after Ozzy’s death (or, I suppose “Hot Rats” by Frank Zappa, but shh). I now have to acknowledge that Queen is likely far, far more than the strength of their singles, especially since this album only had one, and it wasn’t even the best track on the album (though it’s certainly up there). If this was sitting here, with this many great tracks, what the hell lies deeper in this pile? I’m extremely excited to find out, and I think that applies to their entire discography past the two albums left on the list. As far as this goes, it’s an easy, easy 10.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

Once again, Eric Clapton is an asshole. I shouldn’t have to preface that, but I feel a need to say it anyway. I’ve given him some benefit of the doubt, but from what I’ve read since… yeah, dude’s a mega asshole. Still though, good music can be made by mega assholes, and this is good music.

Ironically enough, even with how much acclaim “Layla” (deservedly) gets as the shining opus of Eric Clapton’s career, I think a lot of what I wrote from “Disraeli Gears” still applies to this album. To quote myself, “there are a handful of moments where the album repeats verses & riffs and enters a bit of a stagnant state, but those moments don’t ruin the album that badly for me. That’s mainly why I’m at a 4.5, because they’re prevalent enough to be noticeable, but not obnoxious enough to bother me. When this album isn’t in a stagnant phase, it’s firing on all cylinders; the guitar work here is as good as advertised, the percussion is an incredible anchor that feels just a bit ahead of schedule, and the vocals” – and I’m going to cut myself off there, because I think my main complaint with this album comes in Eric Clapton’s vocals.

I don’t think Eric Clapton is truly feeling the emotions he’s trying to pull out on a number of these songs. When you look at how he belted out “Layla”, you can absolutely feel it, and it’s the sort of thing that’s so raw that even if it’s about lusting over another man’s wife, you almost kind of root for him to succeed, as weird as that sounds. Compare that to the track right before it, “It’s Too Late”, and you can feel just how phoned in that performance is – it’s not a bad performance, but it’s a very color-by-numbers cover that he’s not putting his all into. That sense of not “feeling” pops up for a decent chunk of the tracks here for me, and combining that with his grittier / lower registers feeling a bit strained / forced on the more blues-y tracks of the album, it makes his vocals the weakest part here for me.

I will also challenge the whole “prevalent enough to be noticeable, but not obnoxious enough to bother me” thing – these do get just a little bit obnoxious enough to bother me. I think the solos on this album go just a little too far with self-indulgence; knowing when to cut them off is a talent in its own right, but this album lets a lot of its instrumental breaks hang in the air for just a little too long. “Key to the Highway” is the prime example here; it didn’t need to be 10 minutes, and the amount of times it blueballed hitting an exit ramp on the extended solo in the middle just felt torturous by the end. This album ends up going longer than it should because of it; I think at least 8-10 minutes worth of slightly indulgent solos could’ve been trimmed down, as well as its two most plain tracks in “I Am Yours” & “It’s Too Late”.

With all of that said, I don’t think it’s enough for me to bump it down to a 4, though it’s certainly leaning closer towards it – when this album IS rolling, it just feels infectious, and for 1970, a lot of this does feel slightly ahead of schedule, especially in the guitar / percussion work. For the high tempo stuff here, there’s no notes; it’s just great rock & roll. The blues stuff could use a little more work, but when you’re in the groove (and it’s still very easy to be entranced into the groove), it just never feels like a big deal. At the end of the day, “Layla” by itself is such a strong track that it sort of overrides all of these things that are basically just nitpicks about how I’d approach this album. I think it’s worth the bump to a 5, and at worst, I think the floor here is a 3.5 that could go either direction. For my tastes, I enjoyed it. Sometimes, it’s that simple.

Still a mega fucking asshole, though.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

When we got “Pet Sounds”, I very specifically mentioned that when my brain still thinks of The Beach Boys, it conjures up the poppier stuff, like “Surfin’ U.S.A.” or “Good Vibrations”. The entire first half of this album has finally scratched that itch; the first 6 tracks here are that poppier, doo-wop version of the Beach Boys sort of getting it all out there for the people who like it. I’m a total sucker for it, so I think they all work; certainly heavy on the repetition, and not the most compelling from a lyrical point, but in terms of a kind of infectious, joyful energy, it’s just there in spades. It’s nothing special, but it’s fun, especially once some key changes start to enter in.

The last 5 tracks (because I cannot possibly call that nothingburger of a burger-filled interview a “track”) act as a really strong precursor to the expanded effort on “Pet Sounds”, and while it’s certainly more of a prototype here as opposed to the swirling, meticulous & laborious work Brian Wilson put into “Pet Sounds”, I think it’s just as effective in terms of bridging the gap. The harmonies from the group are on full display, and when they enter the ears like that, it’s just blissful. Past that, the lyricism just feels more concrete, giving a bit more of a storytelling edge. They’re (thankfully) not trying to be Bob Dylan or anything, but it’s just slightly more mature, and it feels far more adjacent to the folksier side of pop/rock that would come into vogue for the latter half of the 1960s.

Realistically, the only reasons I’m at a 4.5 instead of a flat 5 are because of two things: the “school dance” vibes of the first 6 tracks wearing just a little thin, even with how fast each track is, and the interview being… well, totally fucking useless. Maybe a little fun, if you want to know their lunch orders, but it’s the most pointless “bonus” track I think we’ve gotten on the list. Regardless, it’s an easy enough bump up to a 5. I’m sure there’s a lot more that could be said here, but I think at its core, it’s just a nice album. It’s a good blend of the doo-wop Beach Boys & the critical “Pet Sounds” acclaim, and if nothing else, it’s a fun, breezy 27 minute record (again, not counting the last "track").

This is the third & final Beach Boys album on the list, and that’s a straight 15/15; good picks for the list, and clearly, I need to listen to more of them. Maybe not the Mike Love era, though. Once again, thank you Brian.

I’m at a 5.

This is my first time listening to the whole thing, and... I think I get it. I suppose the hype for this album comes mainly in the fact that it had to feel REFRESHINGLY new for 2001, after rock & roll had grunge’d itself into a Nirvana-shaped corner for a while, & once the sort of acoustic alt-rock of the late 90s started to feel overplayed. You can hear the rest of the decade taking shape with this album, and while it doesn’t feel as special now as it probably did back then, given how many bands took this record’s style & adapted it to their strengths, I think there’s still something special here. After all, if you’re the first garage rock band with this style to really hit it big & shift the genre for at least 6 or 7 years at the least, if not all the way through today, you have to make sure you knock it out of the park on a first swing.

Weirdly enough, I think the title track that opens the album is a lot more basic than I was expecting, but this album presents itself like a slowly rolling avalanche, so the intensity & all the extra tricks pick up as the album gains momentum. Momentum is genuinely a real thing with an album, and if you can hit on a few great tracks in a row, even the mediocre stuff can feel good in the moment. Thankfully, this album never hits a mediocre spot, and by the time it gets to “Someday”, it just feels like you can’t stop it. At its core, this album is built on really strong basic rock foundations, but it supplements it by giving the guitar & percussion a sort of subtle swing rhythm that meshes with the slightly filtered vocals. Combine that with some good lyricism (or at least, really strong vocal structures) & you end up with a recipe for success.

It really is that simple – to quote the man himself though, “work hard and say it's easy”. Julian Casablancas & friends here clearly made sure this thing sounded about as sonically good as it could possibly be, and while it sure sounds like the sort of album you could make with your friends if you practiced enough, there’s a lot of production work under the hood. All in all, it’s just a breezy 36 minutes (or 38 if you went out of your way to play both “New York City Cops” & “When It Started” like I did). I don’t know that I’d say it’s a top all-timer album of the decade/century like that, but I can easily hear the entire decade stemming from this album’s influence, and I think that probably puts it on some sort of well-earned pedestal. Regardless, it’s an easy 5, and well-deserving to be on the list; I really liked it.

Yeah, I think I’m at a 10.

Just a flawless album, really. I mean, sure, I can nitpick about some tracks maybe going a little long or some occasional notes that are a bit too loud, but in terms of a tight 48 minute club set, with transitions smoother than any Anthony Fantano ending & an endless supply of energy, how can I not go up to a 10 with how much I enjoyed this?

This is my first time listening to this album as a full, uninterrupted experience, but make no mistake about it; this album’s presence has been in my life since the first time I ever heard a SoundCloud mashup. OK, maybe not literally, but if you were ever on the site in the mid-2010s, Justice tracks became an essential staple of mashup culture, and that’s something that I think still rings true today. “Waters of Megalovania” has 23 million fucking views, and that was made a decade ago. People are still doing fresh stuff with this album, and that’s solely from a mashup perspective. The amount of albums at the professional level this must have inspired has to be immense. This album is nearly 20 years old, and I think it sounds like it could’ve been made this year. That’s how ahead of pace these guys were.

The songs I recognized on this listen were “Genesis” (again, SoundCloud), “D.A.N.C.E.” (by far the biggest hit), “DVNO” (helped write a Jeopardy clue about it once), “Stress” (surprisingly enough, from the Jay-Z curated soundtrack to NBA 2K13 – good fucking pick, Jay), & “Waters of Nazareth” (yet again, SoundCloud). 5 out of 12 is a pretty good track record, and I think the other 7 hold up pretty well. Hard to say too much about them, given that this is an album you simply have to feel for yourself to really judge the quality on, save for “TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY” effectively showing me that Kesha REALLY stole that flow from Uffie (who I have never heard of before today) for TiK ToK.

It’s hard to not acknowledge some sort of Daft Punk comparison here, but I honestly never thought about it THAT much during the course of the album. This is a little harsher, a little more techno-y, and the grit in the synths gives this a bit of edge that I can’t say I remember “Homework”, “Discovery”, or “Random Access Memories” having, at least not to this degree. It’s certainly possible that “Human After All” or the “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack has a bit more like this, but I’ve just never heard them. Either way, the comparison is warranted, but to my ears, it’s just not that linked, you know?

Overall, I think this album feels like an introduction to the EDM sensibilities that would enter mainstream pop for the 2010s, while standing on its own as a kind of pinnacle / bar for the bass-heavy electro-house style that people are still chasing. It’s a SUPER tight 48 minutes, and even in the minor spots where the album hits some sort of a lull, it knows exactly when to pick back up with something that refreshes the energy instantly. This flew by for me, and I’m very glad to remedy my ignorance of not having heard this in full before. I think it’s a 10.

I’m at a 4.

I wouldn’t necessarily call this “folk rock” – I think it puts the album into a Dylan-y box that’s hard to shake the perception of, given that the first track has some of the most unconnected lyrics I can remember in a bit, and overall, the lyricism doesn’t strike a “folk” tone at all. This is easier to classify as a blues rock album with folksy elements, leaning towards an instrumental minimalism more adjacent to folk rock, but not exactly a vocal one. With that framing in mind, I think this is a strong blues rock album.

I do think “The Dolphins” suffers from the chorus being shoehorned in, but after that, this album finds a really nice rhythm. It’s rather easy to be serenaded in by his sadness & his joy, and the way the instrumentation is recorded gives the whole thing a very minor wall of sound effect that adds depth to the deeper tone, but not to the higher ones. Part of the higher tones of this album include the harmonica, which I’m just a complete sucker for, as well as the guitars, which tend to find really nice melodies and just settle there, in a way that’s certainly repetitive, but not obnoxious, so it works just fine. It’s a weirdly hypnotizing album in that way. Since his vocals are in that deeper range, and oddly reminiscent of Randy Travis (a guilty pleasure ‘80s country singer I like), they pop out in a way that glides on the instrumentation, even if he strays off the percussion for a solid chunk of the album.

So, why a 4? Few tracks just didn’t click, simple as that. “The Dolphins” feels a bit flat as an opener, and a weird tonesetter for my ears. “Ba-Di-Da” feels like the vocals don’t match the woeful urban city life the track should be going for & it just doesn’t meet the potential it could have. “Green Rocky Road” has a great instrumental rhythm, and his vocals glide, but I’m just stuck on the lyricism feeling totally incohesive.

I’d be remiss to not talk about the 8 minute closer that is “Cynicrustpetefredjohn Raga”, which is a solid experimental instrumental, but it just doesn’t feel as… clean as it could be. It’s a raw track, & it feels a little unrehearsed, but I admire the swing of trying to make a sort of sitar-y / Indian-inspired song using more of a bluegrass base for the instruments. When it’s all in rhythm together, the track works really well, but I’d say it only has a cohesive rhythm for sections of the track. That inconsistency feels a little frustrating as a straight 8 minutes; it feels like listening to a track where the volume fluctuates against your will & you constantly have to adjust. I do wonder if the track would be better if it was trimmed to a more concise 4 minutes.

Overall though, when this album is rolling, it’s a damn fun listen, at least to my ears. I didn’t find myself ever hating it, and in all, it’s just a strong 38 minutes. I don’t know if I can ever see myself going up to a 5, but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone else gets there. If the minimalism & his vocals just bounce off, this could easily be a 3 or even a 2. I’m fine with a 4 here; it’s a totally inoffensive, play-it-safe album that never hits a low point & takes one big swing where mileage may vary. I liked it.

It’s one of the most fascinating 2’s I think I will give.

This is album 627. We’ve done a lot. I’ve never heard an album like this before, and I can’t say I want to listen to it again. However, I found myself utterly captivated by this thing as an experiment in what constitutes music.

Oh, trust me; this isn’t good. I wouldn’t recommend it with headphones in (take it from me), but in a weird way, I think I would genuinely recommend listening to this before you die & I think its presence on the list is a wondrous experiment. My brain is imaginative at times, and for this album, once it revealed itself as a cacophonous mess of unstructured, yet structured chaotic jazz, my brain immediately went to Eric Andre’s intro where he just destroys his fucking set.

Effectively, that chaos is this album. This is a rage room for session musicians, captured with full improvisation, in different audio channels, at different tempos & with reverb caked on top. It’s the type of chaos that you cannot truly put into words & only feel. In a weird way, I think this may be the most potent example of chaos ever put onto tape in an audio sense, at least from what I’ve heard. I’m sure there’s something else utterly baffling out there that qualifies as even better / worse, but I don’t think I’ll try to seek it out.

Since I can’t put it into words, I can only say… give it a listen & just feel it. I found a comedy to it; beyond Eric Andre, I thought of the one scene in "Band Geeks" from SpongeBob (yes, the one with "Sweet Victory") where they decide to play loud & contort Squidward’s face to hell. It’s a baffling album, and I think it’s certainly taking a spot away from one that deserves it more, but it’s a fascinating 2, and one that I would recommend listening to, if only for the experiment of one’s reaction. This could be someone’s 5 if it clicks like that, and in some way, I can’t possibly argue with that. It’s also just as easy to give it a 1. It is a raw, unfiltered album, a complete mess, and yet there is JUST enough of a semblance of the typical jazz one might know that it clings onto a sense of normalcy that never truly arrives, but is always just pertinent enough in the background to keep a bit of a hook, if you can tolerate this thing for any more than the first 5 minutes. I didn’t hate it, and I almost have half a brain to give it a 3 just for the hell of it, but from a purely musical standpoint, I think I have to stay at a 2.

P.S.: If nothing else, it makes for great noise to clean your ears out afterward. Literally. I used a Q-Tip (not the rapper) and it worked really, really well. Make of that what you will.

I'm at a 5. Perhaps a little higher.

Color me impressed; maybe it’s the 477-album gap between this album & “A Short Album About Love” expanding my tastes a lot more, but I found this to have much, much more character behind it. That album came out of the gates bombastically, but it felt like it was using the past as a crutch; it never really built up to a point where I felt like I could properly believe in what they were trying to do, nor did it really stand on its own original merits. This album feels far more original from Track 1, as it immediately sets the tone by introducing the titular Casanova as a living, breathing womanizer of a character in the first track, and simply explores love through that occasionally deprived, sometimes icky lens. This feels much more like a 90s album out of the gates, and that contemporary nature helps the album find its own feet immensely. I really enjoyed this.

With the knowledge that this is all generally a character, I can’t find any real fault in the lyricism; a little much at times, sure, but that’s Casanova’s vaguely misogynistic character speaking. Since it feels far more grounded to me, I think I just found it far easier to believe in this album’s premise, and as such, trust the arc of the “story” they’re telling here. This does have a loose framework, and while it’s definitely a concept album, it’s not rigid. That’s not a negative; I like the looser approach here, as it allows the album to jump from scenario to scenario & explore a wider range. If this had been boxed into following a plot, I think it would’ve suffered. This album kind of reveals itself as a sort of vague radio production by “Theme from Casanova” (which should’ve ended the album, but we’ll get there), and I think seeing it as a bunch of individual scenes with the same character keeps a good consistency & moral bar to hit.

Instrumentally & vocally, I think this album really really shines; there’s a lot more variety present here than on “A Short Album”, and the orchestral work feels fully earned when it comes in after setting a more traditional, Britpop-y rhythm for each track. I wish I could offer more specifics on this part, but it’s genuinely just worth listening to. I hear a lot of other British bands throughout this thing; a bit of Pulp, & a bit of Simply Red, but I’m most struck by how much this kind of reminds me of “Scott 2”, which we got back in May. This album has a sort of “Disney” feel to it, much like that one did, and while it’s a lot more horny & nowhere near as starry-eyed, the energy just feels fun & uplifting throughout, and it’s a really contagious feeling that kept me from ever truly noticing the length of this thing. Seriously, this was a brisk 52 minutes.

If I have any minor nitpicks, it’s that if you’re gonna provide a sort of meta outro on “Theme from Casanova”, it should’ve ended the album. It would’ve thematically fit better with “The Dogs & the Horses” as proof of the dogs having their day & the horses having their year, and the lack of a final real orchestral lift / swirl would’ve fit better as an indication of being past your prime. Instead, where it’s at just feels like a bit of a letdown given the building tension, though “The Dogs & the Horses” is a damn good closer regardless.

I think they really did hit on this album, and it makes the inclusion of “A Short Album About Love” in the list all the more baffling; maybe I need to give it a re-listen to see if my thoughts hold up, but given that this is here and immediately a superior & more satisfying album, I question its inclusion. Regardless, I shouldn’t use the other album as an excuse to lift this one up; it absolutely stands on its own merits, and I think it’s just a delightfully strong listen. Great instrumentals, great vocals, strong lyricism, and ultimately, just an album I’m far more inclined to believe in. A good first impression really can make or break an album, and this set a damn good one off the top and never looked back. Hence, a very strong 5, and arguably a bit higher. This one deserves to be on the list, for sure.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

Just some strong socially conscious soul here from Curtis Mayfield, who I’ve heard of before, but apparently never actually heard, even with how famous his name is. I know the “Superfly” soundtrack is on the list, and I’m definitely looking forward to whenever we get that. For this album though, it does take a little bit of time to really find its groove & messaging – “Billy Jack” is a solid storytelling opener, and I did like it, but the sense of progression feels really slow, and the instrumentation feels kinda stagnant.

“When Seasons Change” takes those issues and arguably makes them worse; it’s the weakest track here, by far. I think the instrumentation is just too simplistic for the vibes it wants to capture, and without a compelling vocal hook to pick that up, the track just feels like it’s only giving half effort into both. The lack of focus in a lot of the lyrics didn’t help either; I get the “be thankful if you can sustain yourself” thing it’s got going, but it switches from someone who can and someone who can’t, and there’s not really a cue to tell when it happens. While it does touch on the themes the rest of the album carries to a greater degree, as a sort of torch-bearer to introduce them, it’s a rather flat track.

However, once “So in Love” begins, something about the whole album fully changes; his vocals get more confident, the instrumentation finds more of a groove, and the lyricism gets tighter, more precise, and everything really clicks into place. “Jesus” might be a little long, but it’s got the same sort of religious approach Stevie Wonder took for a lot of his stuff, and that extra idealized version of Jesus works for me, even if my faith is beyond shaky. It helps that it’s groovy.

From that point, the album slides out on a 3-track look at the mixed sense of community present in the world at the time; “Blue Monday People” is basically just a far more effective version of “When Seasons Change”, with a nice sense of coordination & hope behind it. “Hard Times” is a flipside of that, tackling the racism that’s still beyond prevalent then (and now), with even a cruel twist of another black man holding Curtis up. “Love to the People” is basically just a “yeah, everything kinda sucks, but I’m not giving up” track, and it’s a good sense of positivity to close the album on. All 3 are rich with the instrumentation & vocals (especially in the guitar / bass), and they work in a good harmony.

The singular “bad” track here is enough to pull it down to a 4.5 from a flat 5, but it’s an easy bump back up. I just thought this was a good album, and while it did take 2 tracks to really get going, I think the album wouldn’t work without them. They just needed some work, that’s all. Overall, I’m just glad I listened to some Curtis Mayfield now. If the “Superfly” soundtrack is supposed to be his magnum opus of sorts, then I’m definitely excited for it. As far as this one goes, it’s an easy bump to a 5.

I’m at a 10.

Going into this, I was generally expecting something akin to “Sound of Silver”, their other album on the list: electronica indie rock, with a fun bouncy lean, some fast tempos & catchy rhythms, and overall, just a more headbanging record. Instead, what has emerged feels much more akin to a post-punk electronica Bowie / Talking Heads record, and while it’s a different vibe from the groovier stuff on “Sound of Silver”, I think the emotional depth & maturity present in the lyrics here creates a far more impactful record, and one that certainly touches on some stuff that feels a bit closer to home. Weirdly, I think my closest comparison is to Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, at least in terms of the vibe.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the moment while listening to these, as they all do slowly find a groove, in a sort of Kraftwerk-y building way, layering over time to reveal the instrumentation in full, before letting the vocals & lyricism guide the emotion. One thing that’s apparent to me though is that you have to know that LCD Soundsystem disbanded in 2010 to truly get this album’s modus operandi. This album, in part, is about the uncomfortability of reforming the band. “oh baby” spells it out, in a roundabout way; it’s effectively a track about two exes who’ve stayed close, and one of them begging the other to take the increasingly obvious hint that he’s ready to get back together.

“other voices” is rather obviously a massive Talking Heads tribute, down to James Murphy channeling David Byrne’s vocal style, and the whole thing is just a 5 minute bop about how easily you can be manipulated & influenced by everything surrounding you, especially with the passage of time. It might be my weakest track on the album, but it’s still a good one.

“i used to” is effectively the denial stage of grief over someone’s death; someone who clearly meant a lot to James. I mentioned the uncomfortability about reforming the band, and that line about “uncomfortability” comes directly from one David Bowie, who, in many ways, is the other focal point of this album’s theming. He’s the one being mourned here. We haven’t gotten “Blackstar” yet, but I’m looking forward to it, as sad as it’ll be. It’s clear that Bowie’s death shook James up.

With that in mind, “change yr mind” is basically just a Bowie track, with oddly, a sort of Morrissey lean to it. Yes, I know, strange comparison, but it feels like a song Morrissey might write if he tried to reunite The Smiths so soon after leaving (and if his solo stuff had flopped). It tackles some of the self-doubt about performing, while acknowledging that it’s not going to be the same as before, and you may as well take them as they are. It might be a bit self-centered, but it’s at least earnest & honest.

“how do you sleep?” is a 9 minute callout of a guy who formed a record label with James years ago, breaking down the slow deterioration of their friendship. The lyricism is a bit loose, but with some of the context I looked up, it’s… pretty friendship ruining stuff, especially as it relates to money. The instrumentation here is a highlight; a slowly building intensity with near-perfect progression & ending in a fully swirling synthy soundscape that feels like an Eno/Kraftwerk collab.

“tonite” is funky as hell from the get-go, and it makes a pretty solid point that all the songs about living life like it’s your last day do generally mention the word “tonight”, as if it really IS about to be an inevitable young death. I think I recognize one of the synths in the song as coming from Bomberman Hero’s “Monogenic”, so that was cool. It’s a groovy, groovy track, and the entire last verse is one of the best on the album.

“call the police” is remarkably prescient, especially in light of some… recent events. Hell, maybe every “recent” event imaginable. Instrumentally & vocally, there’s a bit of a U2 vibe, with a “Friday I’m In Love” bend to it & a hint of Bowie throughout. Great lyrics throughout addressing the generation gap & the elderly clinging to power, and it’s just a banger of a track.

“american dream”, from an instrumental standpoint, feels a little bit like “Love on the Brain” if it was produced by Brian Eno. Lyrically, it’s acknowledging the destructive cycle of a self-wallowing pity party sustained only by cheap sexual enjoyments, as a sort of midlife crisis. By this point, that “american dream” feels far, far out of reach. It could be a bit autobiographical, I dunno. The swirling synth work in the latter half of the song has the same effect as “how do you sleep?”, and his despondent vocal tone mixed with the flooding heavy synths feels almost like drowning. I think it’s a track that’s so strong it could’ve ended the album, and it arguably should have. Probably my favorite one here.

“emotional haircut” has a bit of a garage band vibe to it in the instrumentation, which I kinda rock with. It’s definitely the most post-punk track on the album, feeling more reminiscent of DEVO but with just a hint of 90s grunge to it. Lyrically, I don’t know if I quite grabbed this one, but I think it’s just sort of a callout to the people who were vehemently against LCD Soundsystem ever reforming, and basically telling them to stop mourning their “death” & just listen to them as they are now.

Of course, the irony comes in “black screen” being the final stage of grief in accepting David Bowie’s death. I’ve learned that James Murphy was supposed to be one of the primary co-producers of “Blackstar”, but he just didn’t feel confident enough in himself to commit to the project. It’s a rather sad track, and as a tribute to Bowie, I think it works as a strong album closer. I’m not sure if the 5 minutes of Eno-y piano driven ambience were fully necessary, but they do act as a chance to reflect & release some of the emotional tension of the album.

I wouldn’t write a paragraph for each track here unless I think it deserved it; this is a wonderful album, and for the top review on the site to disparage it this much is beyond disappointing. I guess I’m the target audience here, because something about this appealed DEEPLY to me. I think it’s beyond worthy of being on the list, and I can only hope their next album actually comes out… well, soon enough. They can take their time. For now, it seems like I need to go back to both their debut & “This is Happening”, because I’ve clearly been missing out if this is supposed to be “worse” than those. This is a 10 for me, and I’m very, very glad it’s here. Stellar stuff.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4.

It’s a good album; it’s Brian Eno’s first solo work after leaving Roxy Music, so he’s still far more inclined towards the glam rock side of things, but it’s a strong showcase of the avant garde production work to come, as well as some small previews of his more ambient stuff throughout a lot of these outros. All in all, in terms of the musical aspects, I don’t think I really have that many complaints. It’s 42 minutes of super solid rock, with a few earpiercing synth moments here and there, good vocals throughout, and some manic instrumentation, including a few guitar solos from Robert Fripp of King Crimson.

So, why the bump down to a 4? Just a couple of small nagging things that added up over time. “Needles in the Camel’s Eye” is a little underbaked as an opener to my ears, and its shoegaze-y aspects feel like they set the wrong tone for the album. “Driving Me Backwards” feels just a little too out there, at least as the 5th track. It’s so tonally different from anything else here that it’s jarring, and while I admire what it’s going for (successfully, at that), I just think it feels out of place on the album. “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” has a bit of a repetitive structure, and the sense of progression in the track suffers because of it. I think “Some of Them Are Old” should’ve ended the album, flipping with the title track, which progressed too slowly to my ears, even though I like the layering.

As an album experience, these are all minor things, and they don’t matter THAT much, but to my ears, it’s enough of a structural issue to pull the album down to a 4. There’s other little things; some louder synths, some wildly different subject matters back to back that are jarring, some cynical lyricism at times… it’s all nitpicky, but it just doesn’t feel as tight as it could be. For a debut solo album though, if we’re only dealing with the minutiae of structure, you’ve still made a good album, and it’s one that can easily be improved upon. Lord knows Brian Eno would improve on it, especially in his production work. Hell, for 1974, this thing occasionally feels far ahead of schedule, especially on “The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch”. In all, it’s a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4, but it’s a recommended one regardless; I enjoyed this a lot.