Reviews by henryisonfire

I don’t remember liking Bob Marley this much, but this record is lovely. A relaxing, soulful listen. Pleasantly surprised twice in a row after some absolute shockers. 3 stars because I can’t imagine choosing to listen to it again, really.

I am not a Bowie fan but… this is cool. Detailed, deep, interesting. I think people who really love him didn’t like this so much - makes sense I suppose. It’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed old DB. I didn’t enjoy every track but enough to listen again, I think.

Listened to this whole thing and couldn’t whistle you a single tune from it. If you’re writing when the Beatles are putting out Sgt Peppers a year before… you’d just give up wouldn’t you? Boring, but not annoying.

I don’t like Bowie and I don’t like this. Really lazy stuff.

Keyboards will NEVER be cool.

Utterly uninspiring with a healthy dose of childish misogyny. Was going to get a 2 for the fun guitar playing but, nah.

Absolutely amazing really. Although ‘The Girl Is Mine’ is a perfect example of two people so successful they can’t tell each other an idea is a bit shit, so they have to commit to it, both thinking ‘eeeesh, wish we hadn’t gone with this’, both partly trying to sabotage it out of existence by adding more bad bits, but ultimately not having the conversation, so you get left with that. And SO many of the lyrics are totally nonsensical, made up words, ridiculous… I don’t really listen to MJ anymore because… ya know. Somehow… a 5 star album anyway.

Oof, dreadful. Managed two and a half tracks and had to bail. Glad it’s out of the way.

I would never choose R&B but I can enjoy the musicianship and there’s some particular nice bass playing here. The main problem with this record is it’s just a bit boring. Also ‘Shit, Damn, Motherfucker’ sounds exactly like an R&B song this kid I used to sit next to in year 9 would make up as a joke! Best of luck, D’Angelo.

The definition of original punk to me is ‘purposefully shit’, but then post-punk and emo came along with ‘what if we took the good bits of punk but could actually sing in tune and play our instruments’ - this is late enough that they should have taken a bit more of a cue from that movement. A bit too early punk for me - some bands need to have the guts to tell their singer they shouldn’t be the singer of the band anymore but they can stay and play guitar. I can imagine seeing them at this old venue in Croydon that I can’t remember the name of, and then never hearing from them again. But here they are? Total fluke. HOWEVER good on them for being women in this scene at that time, can’t have been easy.

This has always been my favourite Beatles album. Amazing that all these songs are on one record?! And they broke up pretty soon after this! IMAGINE being around when this came out. I’d have had to stay home for a few days I reckon. I love how they’re not making it to please anyone at all, just doing whatever the fuck they want. So many experimental elements here, from recording to songwriting, to structure… absolutely fucking mind blowing.

Not sure if I’ve ever sat down and appreciated this as an album. Can’t believe so many good tracks are on one record. A masterpiece, really. Imagine what she’d have done next.

Not annoying but utterly unremarkable.

The singer sounds like Elvis Costello! I think I enjoyed some of it but wouldn’t ever put it on again. I think I could die without hearing this one.

Couldn’t get through this one. Dreadful. Some things need to stay in the 80s.

I’ve heard much better versions of this sort of thing. Whatever.

On paper I should love Bowie but he always leaves me cold. This one especially boring. Unwise to do a Beatles cover if it’ll end up being the best track on the record. Sorry David!!! I’ll try the other EIGHT albums you have on here…

I didn’t love all of this but there’s enough real classics to get 4 stars. Always loved Dusty. Very culturally American though eh? Whatever, she’s great.

Fucking hell. Some of this sounds like it’s been written with irritating me specifically in mind. I’m sure this is ‘great’ but I tried every track and I just absolutely hate it. Best of luck to Kendrick.

I’ve always hated this band’s music. This sounds like someone dancing in your face when you’re in a bad mood, saying ‘come and daaaaance’ when your face is clearly telling them to fuck off. Annoying.