Reviews by henry-winchester

Never heard of this guy, but, despite a couple of duff tracks, I really like his scrappy, laid-back sound. Beck without the weirdness, or Fun Lovin' Criminals without the cringe, or Beastie Boys without the boyish aggression.

Another album that I regret not listening to at the time because I was brainwashed by the NME and probably listening to Dodgy instead. "Antichrist Superstar" probably doesn't pack the punch it did in '96, and it comes across a bit silly and cartoony now, but there are still some decent tunes on here and the production is incredible.

Just how are these people so popular. Boring and depressing. Even the name sounds like something your grumpy next-door neighbour would say.

I find it impossible to not like Led Zep. Those riffs are so solid and erect that you can reach out and touch them, but it's the quieter, tender moments that really stick with you. They are the masters of drama, the rise and fall, the sustain and release.

I'm still not sure how Wire did a post-mortem of punk while punk was still very much alive. But it's amazing, desolate and snarling and bleak and beautiful all at once.

Looks like jazz, sounds like boring country, then goes in a very cool and experimental direction, which reminded me of Alan Parsons, and then goes back to boring country. A rollercoaster!

This is an asbolutely perfect example of the awful, boring, slow, bland pop that was popular in the 80s and 90s. It should be on the "1001 Albums That Must Die" list.

Just the noodliest thing.

Just listen to an Eno album of this era. The production is pretty much the same, but Eno's tunes are better and his albums are shorter.

Not sure if we need more than one Beck album on here, especially when every song sounds like it's about to become "Devil's Haircut."

I was really into this about 15 years ago; I loved its combination of Spacemen 3 psych, shoegazey rock, and baggy tunes. Not a fan of The Verve's later work ("History" feels like a dry run for "Bittersweet Symphony"), but this is great.

An interesting curio from the time before techno became mass-marketed and saturated. The music is interesting and experimental, the lyrics are absolutely awful and sound like they were written on a cigarette packet at 3 AM. "Move Any Mountain" shows up three times on the album, which is a shame (n) because it overshadows some of the better instrumental tracks here.

Nice to hear Slade songs that aren't that bloody Christmas song.

I mean, this is an album named after some herbs, performed by someone called Garfunkel, with a track called "Feelin' Groovy," so it would be pretty easy to dismiss it as the height of 1960s cheesiness. But there's a lot more going on here; the album is permeated with a haunting aurora that lingers long after you've finished.

I wanted to like this, but I found it a bit grating and annoying. You can feel their influence on later bands though.

Here in the UK, boring appliance company AO has vampirically suckered on to Blitzkrieg Bop for its own capitalist means. I guess the logo t-shirt royalties were going to run out eventually. But the impressive thing is that none of this can deflate this album, which deftly blasts you with perfectly formed punk pop gems like a faulty hairdryer. Let's go!

Pretty much what I was expecting; Leonard Cohen-esque moody singer-songwritering. Not bad though, and he does have a unique voice and some of the subjects are right on. I do wonder how someone who uses the N-word and sings about cocaine ended up writing "You've Got a Friend in Me," though.

For obvious reasons, I always assumed Violent Femmes were a feminist hardcore punk band and never realised they were the guys who did "Go Wild" from the Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack. Now I know! The album is pretty good too, I like their more laid-back and fun take on punk.

I've enjoyed a lot of the punk I've heard on here, but this felt unexceptional.

An album from the past decade that I've actually listened to before! And I still like it. Very post-Goldfrapp with a touch of Kate Bush.