Reviews by heavymetal

Apparently the generator has decided to get me into Steely Dan this month. Earlier last month I had Aja, which is peak jazz rock fusion. Yesterday I had Pretzel Logic which felt like they were honing their jazz rock craft. Today is Countdown to Ecstasy that feels more so like they’re flexing their rock chops, but there’s still a bit of jazz here and there throughout. It’s feels a lot more accessible and straight forward than the last two, but still very enjoyable.

I’m going to be disappointed if I don’t get Can’t Buy a Thrill tomorrow.

I realized while listening to this album that if CSNY played jazz rock instead of folk rock, they'd sound a lot like Steely Dan. To make a more modern comparison, some of the singing and composition on this album remind me of Geordie Greep on the New Sound (which better be on the user list by the time I make it there!). Anyways, as a suburban dad in his 30s, I approve.

My introduction to Nina Simone was through Warren Ellis' absolutely wonderful book "Nina Simone's Gum". The book is an exploration of the symbolism we can place in something through Ellis' life and his relationship with found objects. The focus is on a piece of gum that Nina Simone left on her piano following a performance as part of a festival organized by Nick Cave. After the show, in a state of awe, Ellis snuck onto the stage, wrapped the gum in Nina's stage towel, dropped it in a Tower Records bag, and then kept it there for 20 years as a sacred totem.

Listening to Wild is the Wind now, I absolutely get the state the Warren must have been in following Nina's performance. Such powerful, captivating singing and piano playing! The two live tracks (Wild is the Wind and Black is the Colour of my True Love's Hair) and Four Women were the standout tracks for me. What a wonderful album!

Oh man, another great post-punk discovery! I can't believe I'd never heard of Magazine, but this is an absolutely amazing album! I feel like this album really straddles the line between angsty post-punk and gothic new wave, which is just perfect for me and is made all the more impressive considering they’re one of the early post-punk/new wave acts.

Noisy punk music with a bit of a country twist? I absolutely love it! I can see how this went on to influence Kurt Cobain and I'm kind of disappointed in myself for not having looked into Meat Puppets sooner as I was a huge Nirvana fan growing up.

The only Kinks song I knew coming into this was Lola, which is a great song, but has pretty much become a classic rock cliche at this point. It's an absolute shame I hadn't explored these guys earlier because this is fantastic! Incredibly catchy songs, immaculate production, some weird 60s psychedelic experimentation. It kind of feels somewhere in between Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Thoroughly enjoyed this and I'm excited to check out more!

I loved this album growing up. It’s a great album with solid songwriting and playing all around. However, at some point I really grew to dislike Lynyrd Skynyrd and most southern rock. It all reminds me of “good ole boys”. Probably happened around the time I learned more about the symbolism of the Confederate flag.

I enjoyed listening to it again today, but it’s not something I’ll ever seek out to listen to in the future.

This wasn’t bad, it was quite well done, but it was incredibly gimmicky and I don’t know if I really needed to hear a bunch of cover songs featuring a lot of bongos before I died.

Had you asked me yesterday if I knew who Pulp was, I would have said, "I don't really listened to their music, but of course I know them." Apparently, that would have been untrue. Embarrassingly, I think I may have actually been confusing them with Blur.

Anyways, I really enjoyed this album after a couple listens. Common People is great and I've definitely heard it somewhere before. There were a lot of interesting influences throughout the album from disco to 70s pop to 80s new wave and it all built to a pretty over-the-top sound. There was also a pretty clear Bowie influence throughout the album that I enjoyed up to a certain point, but it did get to a point where it seemed like he might be trying too hard to be Bowie.

And when he wasn't trying to be Bowie, he was trying so hard to be sexy, but his whisper singing just comes off as creepy. The awful lyrics in Pencil Skirt didn't help. I've seen it pointed out that he's playing a character and being sarcastic, but it doesn't change the fact that his singing at times makes me think, "man, I really want to punch this guy in the mouth."

This is peak Bob Dylan. The culmination of his 60s rock era and a response to the backlash he experienced after going electric on Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited. The lyrics are poetic, witty, and surreal. Robbie Robertson and the rest of the session musicians are at the top of their game. The instrumentation is masterfully arranged. It somehow doesn't overstay its welcome even though it's a double album; I honestly didn't even realize this was a double album until reading the Wikipedia link this morning.

The piercing harmonica and nasally voice obviously won't be to everyone's taste. Hell, I grew up with the absolutely mistaken "Bob Dylan can't sing" crowd. I didn't find an appreciation for his work until much later when I happened to sit down and watch the Rolling Thunder Review. I don't even really know what possessed me to watched it. There was just a nagging voice at the back of my mind that was telling me I should probably check out some Bob Dylan. I was immediately hooked and have gone on to explore a good chunk of his back catalogue, bought the complete Bob Dylan songbook, and dusted off my harmonica.

Holy shit, what was that?! I hadn't heard a single song off this album; I've never even heard of John Martyn. Based on the Wikipedia description, I was expecting some generic blues rock with some reggae influences thrown in, but that is not at all what we got on this album. The guitar work and use of echo and delay is incredibly unique. At times his voice sounds like a much less gravelly Tom Waits. The whole album is hypnotic and sounds way ahead of its time. Discoveries like this is exactly why I'm completing this project!

Live psychedelic space rock? Lemmy Kilmister on bass? Extended guitar, flute, and saxophone solos and wild synth experimentation? This is right up my alley. It sounds like it’s a direct influence for King Gizzard’s metal albums (Infest the Rats Nest and PetroDragonic Apocalypse). What could go wrong?

A lot apparently. I’m not sure if it’s just the mix or if the band just isn’t really tight enough, but it sounds like they’re just playing on top of each other rather than actually playing together. It all builds into a wall of sound, but not in a good way.

That said, I didn’t hate the album. It’s a great concept and all the pieces are all there; it just didn’t really come together. I was going to say I think I like more space and less rock in my space rock, but I love the aforementioned King Gizzard albums and they’re definitely more rock than space.

Overall, I’m happy to have listened to it, but I can’t see myself returning to it.

I've long considered the Bends as one of my least favourite Radiohead albums, but I honestly haven't spent a lot of time with it or Pablo Honey, so I'd be hard pressed to actually choose a least favourite between those two albums.

That said, I think I may have been overlooking the Bends quite a bit because this is pretty damned good! I can totally see how some fans would prefer the earlier guitar driven songwriting over the sonic experimentation that came with the later albums. Their sound on the Bends almost sounds like a different band compared to what comes after Kid A.

I definitely still prefer their later work (Kid A in particular is one of my all time favourite albums), but I have a much, much better appreciation for this album now.

I guess we’re adding grime to the list of hip-hop sub-genres that I can’t stand. How in the hell did this beat out Blackstar for the Mercury Prize?

I haven’t even listened to this yet and All I Want to Do is already stuck in my head. It’s going to be stuck in my head all week.

Ok, I enjoyed that a lot more than I expected. There are actually some really good tracks on here. It might not make it into my regular listening rotation, but I wouldn’t be upset hearing this again in the future.

I was expecting this album would feel dated and that that was going to put me off a bit, but honestly it doesn’t feel nearly as dated as I was expecting and I actually really enjoyed it. This is some proper rock and roll and you can hear how this went on to influence so many musicians.

Also, that album cover is hilarious. Looks like 4 proud dads showing off their newborn guitars.

There’s a couple tracks on here I did really enjoy, but overall I don’t think this album is for me, mostly because their singing is incredibly grating to me. You can definitely feel their influence on the hair metal scene, which I’m not sure is necessarily a good thing in my eyes (or ears, I guess).

I think I like early Stones more than their later stuff, but they definitely haven’t found themselves at this point. This was interesting to listen to, but probably not something I’ll revisit too often.

On the Beach is one of the top 3 of Neil Young’s solo albums for me; I would honestly be hard pressed to pick a favourite between On the Beach, Tonight’s the Night, and Harvest.

There’s really not a bad song on On the Beach, but For the Turnstiles and Ambulance Blues are the stand out tracks for me. I’m incredibly happy I got to catch him on his current tour with the Chrome Hearts where he actually opened with Ambulance Blues and he’s absolutely still rocking at 79 years old!

I spent my morning snuggled in a reclining chair with my toddler watching the sun rising above a lake while listening to this album. So that’s going to factor pretty favourably into my review.

The War on Drugs have been a long time favourite of mine. I’ve always thought they kind of sound like a mix of Springsteen and Dylan with Wilco as a backing band.