Reviews by henry-winchester

Not sure how Lauryn Hill found the time to record an album when she was so busy paving the way for Beyonce.

One can never have too much reverberated screaming of a Monday morning.

Great lyrics, with a nice touch of feminist wit and a heartbreakingly honest sadness in places. But the trite, predictable arrangements let it down.

This feels like the missing link between punk and Pixies, just without any of the excitement of either.

A strange album that can't quite make up its mind of what it wants to be, but gets really good when it goes full jazz.

This made me like The Doors. A subdued Heroin fog of an album.

Maybe not an essential Sonic Youth album, but still very good.

This feels like it was made when people were still working out how to use samples. It's interesting and I'm sure it pushed things forward a bit, but it's just not always that listenable.

Just when you think it can't get any better than "Buffalo Stance," it hits you with "Manchild." Although the rest of the album can't quite top that opening double act, it still has an aggressive hip-hop streak that took female pop out of the 80s and into the 90s.

Did people forget how to make albums in the 2010s? This starts well, very post-Scissor Sisters, but with a unique folkiness and sense of humour. But after 40 minutes it runs out of steam and becomes such a drag.

Crazy and infuriating, but occasionally a nice melody or rhythm shines through. I was expecting more spy music.
YT link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCHB5LLPQ3s

Very likable and progressive, but I'm not sure if I'd listen to this again.

REM for people who don't like REM. Just love the structure of the songs and Bob Mould's introspective sadness, which feels a bit more genuine and less showy than Michael Stipe's.

Stupid clown music.

A fascinating little slice of history. Weird to think that this album was released closer to when Marco Polo discovered America than today.

Unconvincingly haunting the no-man's land between Dylan and Bowie.

I like the concept, and Meat Loaf was obviously a larger-than-life character, but I feel like this has dated. The idea of buying an album and putting it on to "experience" it is something people don't really do anymore, right?

Stupidly good.

Slow and boring in a 90s smoky jazz way, but it does come together in "Constant Craving," which is somehow really great. Just listen to that song instead of the whole album.

Not exactly the hard punk I was expecting, but not unenjoyable either. Reminded me of Half Man Half Biscuit quite a lot.