Reviews by ikejiri

Grievous Angel
I really like Gram Parsons and all his various involvements, but occasionally I do struggle to put my finger on what exactly his appeal is, and why he appears to have an outsize influence compared to his output. He doesn’t have a particularly great voice, and for how often he’s cited as fundamental in the marriage of country and rock’n’roll his music can often sound very much like standard country.

However there is something to his music that I really like, perhaps its informed by his early death and that outsize influence, but probably more that his best songs have a great quality to them, slightly fragile and forlorn, but with some great melodies and imagery, especially in tandem with Emmylou - and of course this album should really be credited to both of them.

I’m not a fan of the live medley, even if Hickory Wind is a great song, but outside that there is some great stuff on here; The title track, Hearts on Fire, Brass Buttons and the superb $1000 Wedding on the 1st side, and then the last three tracks on the 2nd side. It’s an absolutely superb and for me definitive version of Love Hurts, Las Vegas is an excellent up temp country rocker with great bass, and In My Hour of Darkness is an excellent song.

Musically, Al Perkins customarily fantastic pedal playing colours and tones the whole album, and there is some excellent bass playing, eschewing country and rockabilly norms for something more sinuous and interesting.

I don’t quite think its a 5, so I’ll go a high 4.
👼👼👼👼
Playlist submission: Love Hurts

With The Beatles
I’m going to give this a 5 - it’s the Beatles, I’m emotionally dependent on them and there’s not enough Beatles in the World - but it’s probably my least listened album of theirs, or the one I have tended to find least interesting, sandwiched between two albums that I frequently return to. Please Please Me I love, as even 60 years later it's still imbued with the novelty and excitable charm of the group and you can feel the early 60s-ness of it all, and A Hard Day’s Night, which is a superb showcase of their quickly developing sophistication and cultural impact. And in my mind it even lacks some of the slightly frazzled oddness and hidden gems of Beatles for Sale.

But having said that, this is an excellent listen, with a marked depth of sound compared to PPM. It might be a consequence of the more recent CD remastering but there is a noticeable growl to the bass on It Won’t Be Long as well as more depth to it on All I’ve Got to Do, with those two songs and the sweet pop perfection of All My Loving making an excellent opening 3 tracks. It Won’t Be Long is one of my favourite early songs of theirs and the highlight of the album, a superb distillation of their early style and a hint at their ability to seemingly casually toss off moments of melodic and harmonic brilliance - a lovely descending guitar hook, a typically great off beat Lennon rhythm guitar part, a memorable tune and a winning energy and charm.

Don’t Bother Me has really grown on me over the years, George’s sullen delivery is fantastic, and I very much enjoy the sentiment of the lyrics (and the odd, thumping percussion sound at the coda). Aside from the twin classical guitars I’ve never really been that enamoured by Till There Was You, although I do like how it sits between the catchily throwaway Little Child and Please Mr Postman, with its superb lead and backing vocals. Hold Me Tight I think is a bit of a hidden gem - it seems to be very lowly regarded, and although Macca goes a bit out of tune it’s got an almost punkish energy, a great, grating guitar sound and propulsive rhythm. Not a Second Time is a bit of the inverse of Hold Me Tight for me. With William Mann’s analysis it seems to be held in high critical esteem, and while I think I can appreciate the moment of Aeolian Cadence on ‘You Hurt Me Then’, I’ve never really been struck by it.

Of the covers, Money is superb, alongside Twist and Shout their best cover, sharing a similarly raucous and committed Lennon vocal, and I always enjoy the slightly sloppy version of Roll Over Beethoven and the fun of Please Mr Postman. And You Really Got a Hold On is another of their best covers.

If this was an exercise of ranking only Beatles albums out of 5 it's probably a 4, it is certainly uneven, but if you compare it to any of their contemporaries 2nd or 3rd albums or many other rock/pop albums from 1963 it's on a completely different level. Thanks of course to George Martin and Norman Smith it sounds excellent, and they were already streets ahead in songwriting terms, even if they hadn’t reached the zenith of their pre Rubber Soul period.
🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲
Playlist submission: It Won’t Be Long
Ps - one slight non musical thing, even though the cover is still fantastically striking, I wish Ringo wasn’t just stuck in the bottom corner like an afterthought.

The White Room
I listened to both the Director’s Cut on streaming and the 1991 release, but not the Tunes from the White Room bootleg thingy. I’m reviewing the 1991 release.

What Time is Love is an acid/rave banger, and I’ve always liked 3AM Eternal, ever since I had it on a Now that What I Call Music rip off double cassette compilation called ‘Awesome’. Last Train to Transcental is also great, riffing on the same style as What Time Is Love, and Justified and Ancient.

In between those singles it's all very enjoyable, showing their knack for big hooks and memorable samples and interpolations, a bit of The Big Country and Twin Peaks on the excellent Build a Fire.

I suppose Coldcut is an obvious comparison, and although I preferred that musically, conceptually and artistically, outside the music KLF are a more interesting proposition, I find the art school/pop art/situationist conceit of what they did very enjoyable and amusing (unless you are a sheep).

It’s on the edge of 3 and 4, but I’ll go for a high 3, its a fun album, with a good backstory but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Coldcut.
🚹🚹🚹
Playlist submission: 3AM Eternal

Destroy Rock’n’Roll
Drop the Pressure and Destroy Rock’n’Roll are playlist staples, and I likef In Your Arms, but I’m not sure I’ve listened to the album in full - although I have a vague memory of buying it.

Anyhow, Drop the Pressure and Destroy Rock’n’Roll do still stand out as excellent tracks, alongside In Your Arms, but the rest of it, while enjoyably solid-to-good, never quite feels lifts off, missing the catchiness and dynamism of those three songs

There are some great 70s and 80s samples, most obviously on In Your Arms, but I particularly like Need You Tonite with its Stay With Me till Dawn sample and the very nice strings. And the George Duke sample in Guilty of Love sounds a lot like the grid music in Mario Kart.

I don’t think it’s quite a 4 - it’s missing the elan and drama of Daft Punk or the rave-psychedelia of The Chemical Brothers, but it is an enjoyably well made and relatively undemanding dance-house-pop album. 3.
💪💪💪
Playlist submission: Destroy Rock’N’Roll

The Trinity Session
On first listen I thought this was great. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I thought it was rather lovely, with a quiet, graceful, beguiling stillness to it.

I was slightly less into it on repeat listens though, or specifically I was less into the first half, aside from the beautiful Mining For Gold, where the brushy drums and light jazziness feel a mite too breezy. The bass on Blue Moon is great, and it’s hard to make a bad version of such a great song, but I don’t think it quite works.

However it really picks up from Dreaming My Dreams With You, where the reverby guitars and hushed, bluesy country moodiness really is fantastic, evoking both Mazzy Star and a Lynchian/Twin Peaks ethereal atmosphere. Those final 5 songs are superb, particularly the excellent versions of Working on a Building and Sweet Jane, and the fantastic take on Walking After Midnight.

I’m not sure where that lands it, the opening song and the final 5 tracks are stellar, but I do get a bit lost over the first half. Rather sadly, I think that means it just lands short of a 4.
💉💉💉
Playlist submission: Working on a Building
_Ps - I listened to the version that had songs not on the original vinyl_

Nothing’s Shocking
I enjoyed Ritual de lo Habitual, and I feel broadly similar about this, even if ultimately it’s a rung or two below that album, and is arguably missing a song as good as Been Caught Stealing.

Similar to RDLH in places it reminds me of the Verve’s first album, pre-A Northern Soul. Not so much the metal/alt/funk-rock elements, more the sense of stoned psychedelic droning and drift they create on Up the Beach, Ocean Size and Summertime Rolls.

I’m still not a fan of his vocals and vocal tone, but the excellence of the bass and Navarro’s guitar really carry the album, and although I’m not so into those funk-metal parts the sense of groove makes it far less aggravating listen than many of their peers, even if songs like Had a Dad, Standing in the Shower Thinking and Pigs in Zen do pass me by a little. Mountain Song is fun though, and the acoustic shuffle of Jane Says is a nice counterpoint to the heavier tracks.

Because of that I can’t help feeling this is better than it should be. Although I may not come back that often it is enjoyable enough and with enough interesting things going to get into the 3s.
⚡⚡⚡
Playlist submission: Summertime Rolls

One World
It takes a while to get attuned to this I think, but once on its wavelength it's an excellent listen, mixing folk, rock, jazz, dub, ambient and his excellent gruff-slurry vocals to make a singular and atmospheric record.

Dealer, although good, is possibly one of the weaker songs, and for me the album really starts with One World, with its jazzy, spacey ambience, with an Eddie Hazel feel to the guitar. Smiling Stranger has a vaguely ominous feel and I love the ‘Eastern’ flavoured strings, reminding me a bit of the Moonlight Mile string arrangement.

Big Muff and Couldn’t Love You More, split between the end of side 1 and the start of side 2 are the centrepiece of the album, both recalling some of Solid Air in the slinky, wah wah groove and the delicate, heartfelt folky spaciness.

Certain Surprise also reminds me a little of Solid Air, I love the organ, strings and horns, and Dancing is also great, carried by an excellent riff. Small Hours is the most obviously ambient-influenced and ambient influencing track, with a lovely melody and a graceful, swelling sense to it.

I thought this was great, an excellent, atmospheric and striking album, and a 5.
🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍
Playlist submission: Couldn’t Love You More

…And Justice For All
The contrast to Iron Maiden is stark, whereas that had melodic and rhythmic interest, this is almost completely moribund.

I’ve always read that people think Lars is a poor drummer, and this album really hammers it home. It’s not helped by the drum sound and its strange position in the mix, but it is completely without any swing, groove or personality. I suppose the lack of bass doesn’t help, but I’m not sure it would make that much difference.

Thematically it is as moribund as the music. I’m not sure how many times metal bands can re-hash the same banal observations about corruption and war - they don’t have much to say in the first place, but they sure keep saying it.

The artwork is rather poor too.

Enter Sandman is a fantastic song, as is Master of Puppets, but this is weak in comparison, and extremely repetitive and wearisome. 1.
⚖️
Playlist submission: One, I suppose

The Pleasure Principle
This is a fantastic combination of synth and nascent electronica, krautrock, Bowie and the grey, gloomy late 70s and early 80s of our imagination, all Clockwork Orange, bin men on strike, JG Ballard and a kind of depressive British futurism, where robots are everywhere and they all feel quite sad.

Cars is clearly the catchiest and most immediate song, and while it's true that many of the songs follow a similar rhythmic and synth based pattern it doesn’t really matter when so many of them are so great, and when the overall feel and atmosphere of the album is so fantastically austere and beguiling. Which also makes the use of the fiddle on Complex and Conversation so striking, as well as the element of live drumming, giving the songs an edge of organic warmth amongst the cold exactingness of songs about androids and machines longing to be humans.

Observer might be the only dip, it’s similarity to Cars a little too stark, but the rest of it is excellent and I particularly like the first side, from the superb Airline to the Where’s My Head At of M.E.
I don’t know why, but I also love the one word song titles, with their kind of art school concept feel, matching the technological themes of the album.

I would love to have heard this for the first time when it came out. Although it obviously shows the influence of Kraftwerk, Neu! and Bowie, melding them into a techno-centric electronic pop album still sounds amazing today, and must have sounded incredible back then. 5.
🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗
Playlist submission: Cars, obvs, but I’ll go Conversation for the sake of it

FOLLOW the LEADEЯ
I do genuinely find his bowa-ooh-bah-dah-ooh-ooh noises enjoyable, although in a very silly way.

And though I don’t think that’s the effect he’s going for it’s probably the only redeeming feature I can think of, as this really is musically, conceptually, lyrically, vocally and thematically a very poor album.

I imagine it’s quite hard to plumb the depths of the insipid musical cul de sac that is Nu Metal but they somehow manage to find hitherto unknown pockets of miserable banality, which if not impressive is some kind of achievement I think.

Not great, Bob.
🌽
Playlist submission: Freak on a Leash

The Contino Sessions
A fun part of this list is revisiting albums from the 90s that I loved at the time, but haven’t really listened to since, and this is of course one of them. I’m sure I bought it off the back of Aisha, which despite fitting the dark, claustrophobic atmosphere of the album, perhaps feels like a little bit of an outlier in its slight novelty feel.

Listening now I can really remember the cardboard sleeve over the CD case, and also how much I liked the opener, Dirge. It’s still a fantastic track and sets the tone for the album, a kind of grinding, darker, gritty, electronica. There are a lot of obvious touch points; the slowed down Chemical Brothers rave/psychedelia of the excellent Death Threat; the motorik/Neu! beat of Aisha; the ethereal and atmospheric side of Neu on Flying and Lever Street. The Primal Scream album Vanishing Point from a couple of years before seems a big influence too, particularly and obviously with Bobby Gillespie on Soul Auctioneer.

It does sit in that mid-late 90s period of imaginary soundtracks, like Vanishing Point, or David Holmes’s Let’s Get Killed or the Barry Adamson album we had the other week, but it's definitely one of the stronger examples, I think due to its consistency, both in songs and in feel - even the relatively lighter Aladdin’s Story still has a grimy, scuzzy undercurrent that the rest of the album has. And when it approaches a feel of euphoria with the horns on Neptune City it still has an excellent psychedelic muddiness to it.

It’s been fun revisiting and remembering what a great album this is. Even without the nostalgia it's comfortably a 4.
⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️
Playlist submission: Dirge

The Number of the Beast
I love Run to the Hills, it's a great song, and The Number of the Beast is great too, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the rest of this as much as I did.

It’s not necessarily that it's a great album, and a lot of the signifiers of metal that I’m not keen on are clear and present, but it is actually a fun listen. There’s an energy and a sense of dynamism that is missing in much of the other metal albums, aided by the very good rhythm section and they aren’t averse to melody, either vocally or in some of the guitar riffs, runs and fills.

Despite the subject matter, I don’t get the sense that it's too far up its own fundament - obviously there’s a degree of earnestness, but the delivery has a knowing sense to it. War is a common metal trope, but it's nearly always approached in a cack-handed and obvious way, but here by writing more specifically and with a horror/adventure film narrative feel, it makes it far more engaging than their contemporaries.

Aside from The Number of the Beast and Run for the Hills the whole of the first side is good, particularly the bouncing Invaders and the power-ballad-y Children of the Damned, with an excellent opening section. And on the second side Hallowed by Thy Name is excellent. It certainly has a portentous, Stone ‘Enge-ian edge to it, but it’s a great song, with a slight funk feel, and a cinematic scope to the lyrics.

It feels in the lineage of Black Sabbath, but with less of a bluesy sludge, and similarly to Black Sabbath it feels to me like it established some elemental components of metal that would be taken to moribund and lifeless dead ends by the bands that followed.

It’s on the cusp of a 3 and 4, but I’ll tip to a 4 as I will definitely listen again, and, again similar to Black Sabbath, it is a very good exemplar of this style of music, before it went up its own shithole.
🏃🏃🏃🏃
Playlist submission: Run for the Hills

I’ve Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You
A fantastic 32 minutes of archetypal late 60s soul, a great combination of the upbeat; Respect, Good Times, Save Me (it always sounds to me like she sings ‘shave me’ in the opening line), slower burns; Drown in My Own Tears, Baby, Baby, Baby, Do Right Woman, Do Right Man as well as the soulful title track, Soul Serenade, the Bacharachian Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream, the fantastic Dr Feelgood and an excellent version of A Change is Gonna Come

The vocals are of course excellent, but the song choice really is superb, each song suiting a different facet of her voice. And the playing, particularly the piano, keys and bass (Tommy Cogbill again) is never less than stellar, all wrapped up in a fantastic sound and production. If this was recorded a few years earlier I’m not sure it would sound as good as it does today.

A brilliant album. 5.
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨
Playlist submission: Dr Feelgood

Live At The Witch Trials
I like The Fall, but I’m only really familiar with This Nation’s Saving Grace. I’m sure I’ve listened to this before, but it doesn’t really ring that many bells.

It's pretty great though. Obviously Mark E Smith is a bit take it or leave it, but I’m into his ragey, splurgey, stream of bile proselytising. It's not always what he's saying, it's often that I just like the sound of it, especially when he lands on a phrase he likes and he hammers it into submission. I feel like he’s kind of the British post punk Tom Waits, but with a different set of obsessions - Smith’s into singing about idiots, Waits likes dwarves and sailors

Musically it's fantastic though. I love how its scratchy, bassy, post punk, new wave, dissonant, angular feel, obviously in thrall to Kraut-rock, is combined with a wobbly, uneven feel, often provided by the vaguely comical organ sounds.

That dynamic of repetitive and teutonic with a staggering, collapsing sense makes a great dynamic and leads to some great tracks. Frightened, Rebellious Jukebox, No Xmas for John Quays, Mother - Sister! Underground Medecin, the very Neu Two Steps Back, Music Scene.

It doesn't always work, but that’s probably par for the course for a Fall album, but its a great album nonetheless and an easy 4.
🪄🪄🪄🪄
Playlist submission: Two Steps Back

Life’s Too Good
This is an interesting album, one that really grew on me. I love the contrast of Einar’s deadpan delivery with Bjork, and I like its combination of new wave/alt/gothic with a wry pop sensibility. And there are some great bass lines.

Traitor has a Siouxsie and the Banshees atmosphere, but with some added harmonica, whereas Traitor and Delicious Demon have more of B52s new wave feel. Birthday is great too, a great combination of foreboding gothicness with a New Order feel. Those seem to be the main touchstones, sometimes more overtly catchy like Blue Eyed Pop and Deus or sometimes a bit heavier and darker like Coldsweat or Take Some Petrol Darling, which has a slight sense of Station to Station.

I wasn’t that into it at first, but I started to really like it on repeat listens, enjoying how it’s influences are clear but come together to make something slightly unusual, especially through an Icelandic lens.
🧊🧊🧊🧊
Playlist submission: Delicious Demon

Paul Simon
Across all the different characters I love the vague undercurrent of sad wistfulness on this album. Although there is a degree of typical sardonic humour, even the more upbeat songs like Mother and Child Reunion, Me and Julio or Paranoia Blues have a plaintive sense to them, a feeling of longing or resignation, not least on Papa Hobo with its melancholic portrait of Detroit. Everything Put Together Falls Apart feels like it jumped off Junk, with the opening line of paraphernalia and a similar atmosphere.

Musically it’s superb too, pushing out into different genres that were hinted at in S&G, most obviously reggae with Mother and Child Reunion, but there’s a strong streak of blues and jazz, as well as some Latin and European sounds alongside characteristic folk-pop.

It’s sequenced brilliantly, and there isn’t a weak song, but alongside Mother and Child Reunion and Me & Julio I particularly love Run that Body Down, Peace Like a River, Armistice Day and Congratulations. It has a fantastic low key production, with sympathetic embellishments, a contrast to the grandiosity of latter day S&G.

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of his first 3 solo albums, but this is probably my favourite of his, and one of my favourite of all time. Straightforward 5.
🐔🐤🐔🐤🐔
Playlist submission: Could be any song, but I’ll go with Congratulations

Basket of Light
With its combination of medieval vibes, folky, bluesy, jazzy shuffles and Eastern influences it feels like this could very easily be quite awful. But somehow it's the opposite, it’s fantastic, beguiling and odd, with some fantastic melodies and atmospheres, and some characteristically excellent Bert Jansch guitar playing. It also reminded me of the excellent Matthew Holness character of Merriman Weir.

There’s no doubt there’s more than a touch of Diana has put away her bosom, Apollo has lifted his skirt, the day has been launched, but rather than evoking Renfaire cosplay for me it more highlights the creepiness of much of the old folk music they are drawing from, not least in their version of House Carpenter, a song I love.

Of the original compositions I love Light Flight, Springtime Promises is excellent, Train Song is catchy in a brilliantly odd way, as is Hunting Song. Alongside House Carpenter, The Cuckoo is also excellent, and the cover of Sally Goes Round the Roses is fantastic, particularly the folk-country-rock guitar.

I thought this was fantastic, treading the line between Steeleye Span and acid folk brilliantly to make a uniquely excellent album
🧺🧺🧺🧺🧺
Playlist submission: Could be any song, but I’ll go Once I Had a Sweetheart

Hunting High and Low
I’ve heard Take on Me too many times, but it is an undeniably great song. Despite it being more of a New Wave synth pop style it’s almost ABBA-esque in its efficiency and in the way virtually every element of it is a hook, from the drum pattern to the main synth riff, bass and all the synth fills and runs.

The Sun Always Shines on TV is arguably an even better song, the melodramatic intro and subsequent build into hook-laden exuberance, with a brilliant, catchy chorus is fantastic, a truly excellent song.

Although nothing quite reaches the heights of those two songs, catchiness abounds elsewhere; the Bowie-isms of the incredibly catchy Train of Thought, the stately solemnity of the title track, Blue Sky, the digital wistfulness of Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale, Love Is Reason and the closing Here I Stand and Face the Rain.

As Culture Club came up recently they are an obvious, if not quite direct, comparison. And whereas CC had more of a soul influence compared to the more synth pop/rock of this, I found this more consistently satisfying, with a stronger set of melodies all coming in at a nicely succinct 37 minutes. I think that all adds up to a 4
📺📺📺📺
Playlist submission: The Sun Always Shines on TV

Chelsea Girl
6 music jizz themselves stupid about her version of These Days, but it is excellent, as is the rest of this album, a great collection of blues-baroque-avant garde sometimes discordant experimental folkiness bound up around her superbly idiosyncratic and evocative voice.

The juxtaposition of supporting artists is great, Jackson Browne’s superb country folk songs alongside a stripped back and pared down Velvet Underground, especially on the 1st side with The Fairest of the Seasons and and These Days alongside the odd chamber pop of Little Sister and Winter Song and the superbly off kilter It Was a Pleasure Then, which reminds me a little of Can, and the VU of course.
The second side is perhaps not quite as strong, but the string laden version of I’ll Keep it With Mine is superb, and the excellent baroque treatment of Somewhere There’s a Feather is rather moving, as is the austere version of Eulogy to Lenny Bruce.

I found myself getting more and more absorbed by it on each listen, its strange and stark atmosphere working its charms, and it feels well ahead of its time for 1967. It leans on some of the baroque and chamber pop that was popular in 66 and 67, but takes it into some odd corners. So for all that I think it just nudges a 5.
👭👭👭👭👭👭
Playlist submission: It Was a Pleasure Then

Joan Baez
There is nothing bad about this album at all, it’s very good. I love the tone and timbre of her voice, the playing has a sweet and delicate poise, and the song selection and arrangements are excellent.

But I do struggle a little to get past the sedulousness that pervades this. I love the opening three tracks, but there is an earnestness and seriousness in this period of folk music that can at times undercut the quality of the music, and I think that's the case on much of this, particularly over the last half where she dials up the tremulousness.

It’s a very pleasant listen, but I wish it was more than that - it is beautifully sung and played but it feels like it’s lacking something to make it truly stand out, so I’ll go for a high 3
😁😁😁
Playlist submission: East Virginia