Reviews by ikejiri

The Idiot
This kicks off with the instantly recognisable sound of Bowie/Alomar with the excellent Sister Midnight, with a tight, threatening groove and then continues with the also excellent Nightclubbing and Funtime. Looking back I was a little ambivalent about Lust for Life, whereas after these first three songs I was well into this one.

Reading about it, and listening to it, it’s clear the hand of Bowie lies heavier on this than on LFL, and it shows itself in the energy, atmosphere and quality. As a lot of critics seem to note, and as he said himself, this is clearly a Bowie project, and definitely feels like a bridge between the sinister art rock-funk-r’n’b of Station to Station and the ominous atmospherics of Low. Truthfully I’ve never found Iggy Pop to actually be that interesting or compelling as an artist, and although his excellent gravelly tones suit the music, this probably appeals to me more because of the innate Bowieness, in a way that LFL, with his lighter hand on the tiller, doesn’t.

China Girl here is also excellent, obviously a muddier, darker sound than the shiny disco-pop of the Let’s Dance version, and although I really like that version, I probably prefer this one. Dum Dum Boys is great as well, I love the sludginess of the overall sound, with excellent guitars, bass and drums. Mass Production is superb too, dark and unsettling and discordant, a brilliant combination of the feel of Station to Station and Low. They are good songs, but I felt Baby and Tiny Girls to be a bit of a dip relative to the rest. The descending fuzz bass and piano of Baby is great, but as a whole I’m not quite sure.

Although I don’t think it's at the same level as Station to Station or Low I think this is still a 5. I actually think you could replace Iggy with someone else and this would still be a 5, as it’s probably more interesting due to Bowie masterminding it with his band and in the context of his career at the time. But either way it's a great album
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Playlist submission: Nightclubbing

LP1
Even though it's not totally my thing I really rather enjoyed this, and found it to be a real grower, its frosty edges softening and the whole thing becoming more engaging on repeat listens.

The vocal melodies aren’t necessarily the most immediate or memorable, they seem to fulfill more of a rhythmic, ethereal role amongst the sharpness of the synths and percussion, and its their choppy coldness I really started to like, particularly on the run of Lights On, Two Weeks and Hours. On repeat listens the jazz touches of Lights On really came to the fore, the double bass and muffled synth-horns are great.

Clearly Bjork is a big influence on the overall sound and feel, and I thought I detected hints of Enya too, and in parts it reminded me of the Solange album. But it manages, for the most part, to avoid the deliberate obtuseness that Bjork sometimes indulges in, and with its pretty singular atmosphere it feels nicely coherent as well.

That’s not to say everything lands fully, on occasion some tracks feel more like they are exercises in sound rather than actual songs, although I think they will probably emerge more clearly with more listens. But when it works it’s great; Lights On, Two Weeks, Hours, Video Girl and Closer are great, but the final two tracks, Give Up and Kicks are really quite stunning, pulling the disparate threads of pop, R’n’B, classical, dance, synth and experimental into two fascinating and unique songs.

I’m very tempted to go 5 as the more I listen the greater it gets, but I’ll go 4 for now and will definitely be listening again. I’m really glad it's on the list, otherwise I may not have bothered to listen to it
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Playlist submission: Give Up

Streetlife
I know the title track from the Jackie Brown soundtrack, although this is the slower version. Either way it's a great soulful-jazz track, the keys rolling it along with great string and horn arrangements and a nagging guitar riff.

Although it’s consummately played and produced and there’s nothing quite as good as that song, the rest of the songs flows by in a perfectly enjoyable miasma of unthreatening jazz-funk-soul smoothness, the perfect soundtrack to cruising the quiet city roads at night, or walking in slow motion into a bar in the 70s, or regrouting the kitchen tiles on a Saturday morning.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed it, it does carry a faint tang of smoothness over direction, the quality playing and the sound is undeniable, and apart from the title track it can feel a bit aimless. Night Faces starts out with some slightly ominous chords and that feeling returns now and again, but it always settles back into the smoothness pocket, somewhat blending in with the rest of the tracks.

Still its an enjoyable laid back easy listen, something I think I’ll return to in the right mood, so I’ll go for a high 3
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Playlist submission: Street Life

Face to Face
I’ve always thought that the Kinks best period started from Something Else and I’ve always tended to lump this one in with the earlier, patchier albums.

Listening now that's unfair as this is a very good album, you can hear the roots of the next few albums on here, the focus on vignettes in a more observational lyrical style and a softer style, with more baroque, music hall and contemporary influences, such as the droning, Indian feel on Fancy.

Like most Kinks albums around this time the production isn’t great, with the same tinniness, but like those other Kinks albums the quality of the songs transcend it. Party Line is a great bit of jauntiness, and a nice opener and Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home is a very affecting bittersweet tale, perhaps an influence on She’s Leaving Home, but with a slightly sharper edge. Too Much on my MInd is rather lovely, the keening riff mutating into an excellent, melancholic, introspective harpsichord-driven track. I’m not always that keen on mid-60s psychedelic harpsichords, but I think they’re great here, they work well with the style of compositions and also with Ray’s voice for some reason. They reappear on Session Man, which I really like, especially the rhyming scheme and subject matter. Rainy Day in June has a Lola vs Powerman feel, particularly the drums and is a superb, mournful track. It could probably do without the sound effects though. House in the Country is a nice rocker, with a hint of Spencer Davis group to it.

Holiday in Waikiki definitely carries a hint of 19th Nervous Breakdown, but I really like the lead guitar sound. The aforementioned Fancy is great, and a real highlight. Little Miss Queen of Darkness is interesting, I like the picked guitar and the drums halfway through - I’m not sure if the volume fading up and down is deliberate, but it does feel akin to some of the production shoddyness they suffer from. I’ll Remember I really like too, a great chorus and a nice rocking bounce to it.

And of course Sunny Afternoon is rightly a classic, and one of those songs it's easy to gloss over from hearing it so many times, but it is absolutely superb, music hall verses matched with the brilliant descending riff before the excellent refrain.

It’s a much better album than I remembered, with a slightly sad, melancholic feel running through much of it, which makes sense, post nervous breakdown, and it sets up many of the themes they would look at in coming albums.

Having said that I don’t think it’s quite a 5, I wouldn't put it on the same level as Village Green, Arthur, Lola, Muswell Hillbillies or even Something Else, so it's a high 4.
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Playlist submission: Sunny Afternoon is of course fantastic, but I’ll go Rainy Day in June

Myths of the Near Future
Another one of those 2000s bands that passed me by, although I do know Golden Skans, which I’ve always liked.

It definitely locates itself to that mid-late 00s period, with a skittish, dancey, ravey rhythms with scratchy, new wave, punk-funk guitars and shouty vocals, the whole thing has a frantic, ADHD-energy, particularly on Two Receivers and Atlantis to Interzone. On Golden Skans they hit catchy melodic gold amongst the freneticism, and it's a great track.

And there are other great little hooks and melodies amongst the busyness, almost to the point where you feel they’ve stumbled across them accidentally, and they often come and go without warning, but it does add to the slightly confused but enigmatic charm, eg. the ooh aahs towards the end of Totem on the Timeline, the stop start feel of Isle of Her. Gravity’s Rainbow is a fun track too, with a similar feel of the first few tracks and Forgotten Works has an excellent, loping bass to it, a bit PiL, a bit like The Rapture, and it's a great track.

Not all of it works though, on songs like Magick or It’s Not Over or much of Totem on the Timeline where they seem to get stuck in a bit of a musical cupboard full of noise and the only answer is to dial up the panic.

It’s also great that, hidden track aside, it clocks in at under 40 minutes - anymore and it would undoubtedly outstay its welcome.

I can’t help feeling that I would have absolutely loved it if it had come out when I was a teenager, but as it is I missed it when I was in my late 20s and I’m a bit late to it now. Still, I enjoyed it and it's a rock solid 3 for me.
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Playlist submission: Golden Skans

Younger than Yesterday
This definitely suffers from a bit of patchiness and a bit of drift - there are some great tracks, but also a few that don’t register fully

In the good column, So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star is superb, with great groove, harmonies and melody, but the real star is Hugh Masekela’s jazzy mariachi trumpet playing. Have You Seen Her Face is also fantastic, a Revolver-Macca-esque bass line, some excellent scratchy guitar, and a lovely drop into the harmony-rich chorus. I really like the country-12 string-medieval riff of Renaissance Fair with another great Macca-esque bassline - the Revolver influence is pretty clear again. Time Between is a lovely little country rock song, Thoughts and Words’ chorus is good (with added backmasking), and The Girl with No Name is another great country rock ditty, showing how many good Chris Hillman compositions there are on here. My Back Pages is another of their great Dylan covers, the harmonies and jangles adding to it considerably.

CTA-102 doesn’t quite work as a bit of studio trickery, where the influence of Revolver goes against them. Everybody’s Been Buried is pretty forgettable and the pretty poor Mind Gardens show this is not Crosby’s finest hour, only really redeeming himself with Why.

I think I prefer 5th Dimension to this a little, although that was also patchy it felt more exciting than this one. I still enjoyed it though, and it has two Byrds classics in So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star and Have You Seen Her Face, but I think it ends up as a high 3.
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Playlist submission: Have You Seen Her Face

Amnesiac
I sometimes forget about this one, coming so soon after Kid A. And it being a product of the same sessions as Kid A I think I’m guilty of occasionally seeing it as an album of cast offs, which is unfair, as when I do remember to listen to it I’m reminded that it is a superb album, with some excellent songs.

I love the clanginess of Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box’s opening mutating into a serpentine synth groove and the excellent ‘I’m a reasonable man, get off my case’ refrain. Pyramid Song is of course absolutely superb, the slow climb of the piano and middle eastern string embellishments, giving it a heavy footed sense of drama. You and Whose Army is another great, dramatic, song, I love the piano and organ doubling up in the run out. I loved the I Might Be Wrong riff when I first bought the album, and it's still a great track, and I love the drum pattern. Knives Out is one of their classic post Kid A songs built around arpeggios, a great song.

Morning Bell is one of the songs that always lingers and I find myself singing, it’s not immediately catchy, with it’s dirge-like feel but the ‘release me’ part is superb, a delicate vocal melody that lifts you above the music. Hunting Bears is a great little interlude before the excellent final two tracks, Like Spinning Plates unsettlingness is fantastic, giving a dizzying, woozy feel, and with a melody that unwittingly lodges itself in your brain. The slow march of Life in a Glasshouse, with the Humphrey Lyttleton Band is a bit of left turn after the previous songs, but is fantastic. And it really reminds of the tune New Orleans funeral band are playing at the beginning of LIve and Let Die before they kill the agent and put him in the coffin and before they start dancing around.

It is a truly great album, one I overlook too often I think, standing in its own right apart from its connection to Kid A. 5.
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Playlist submission: Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box

Better Living Through Chemistry
Although it doesn’t have the pop excellence of the big singles from the next album, or the complexity, eclecticism and depth of Dig Your Own Hole from the following year, this is a completely fine mid to late 90s dance album, with all that entails - some highlights, some dated parts and some songs that are a bit long.

I really liked the feel of The Weekend Starts here with the organ, melodica and claviolline giving it a loungey, snaking, louche 70s New York soundtrack feel, a little like a David Holmes track. And the riff from Yvonne Ellison’s version of Can’t Explain works really well with The Crunge in Going out of My Head, a great big-beat track. Everybody Needs a 303 is a similarly fun track, completing a nice triptych with the previous two tracks. I enjoyed Punk to Funk too, that has nice synth line and more of a breakbeat drum pattern.

Not much outside those that particularly stands out, although it's all decent big beat/dance fun, with bits of rave and house, although I did really dislike First Down - electroswing is definitely one of my least favourite types of music.

It’s a decent dance album that delivers exactly what you’d expect, without ever ascending to the pop heights of his next album, or the more interesting albums some of his contemporaries were doing. I’ll go 3.
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Playlist submission: Going Out of My Head

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
There are a fair few bangers on here - Love is a Stranger, I’ve Got an Angel, I Could Give You (A Mirror), The Walk, Sweet Dreams, This is the House but there are a few tracks that don’t quite work as well; the cover of Wrap it Up feels slightly monotonous and the last two tracks feel like the meander slightly toward the finish line, neither capturing the spirit of Bowie or the pop hooks they are aiming for.

But when it's good, particularly on the classics, Love is a Stranger and Sweet Dreams, it's pretty much synth pop perfection. Love is a Stranger is a favourite of mine, and Sweet Dreams, despite being played to death, still sounds superb, all 80s computer chip synth drama with loads of hooks, for what is actually a relatively restrained arrangement

Arranging definitely seems to be a strength of Dave Stewart’s, alongside the production, which sounds great for how and where it was recorded, despite there being some great hooks, nothing is overegged, there’s always space for a synth line or bit of percussion, there’s never too much happening at once.

But that doesn’t detract from it being a great album - and the beautiful blond man’s lovely voice and the chilly, cool synths is of course a winning marriage. Not sure it’s quite a 5, so it’s a high 4 from me.
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Playlist submission: Love is Stranger

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
I’ve heard plenty about this album, but have never listened to it before. I wish I had, as it's pretty great.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the skillful pop-r’n’b-pop-big band-easy listening take on Country is excellent, tracing the common, pre-WW2 American musical roots of those genres.

His voice is excellent as you would expect, as is his choice of songs and interpretation. Occasionally the strings can get a bit syrupy, as on You Win Again, but his voice never does, there’s tenderness and rasp and an overall sense of sincerity and appreciation of the songs coursing through all of it.

The arrangements are generally great as well, outside the occasional syrupyness or boominess of the percussion, as on Bye Bye Love, but it has a nice sense of space and restraint

The lower tempo, more introspective, sadder songs are my favourites, You Don’t Know Me, I Love You So Much it Hurts, Worried Mind and I Can’t Stop Loving you. Half as Much is also great.

I really enjoyed this, and enjoyed reading about it too, and it has a case as an early concept album, or at least an early thematically cohesive album along with those Sinatra albums we’ve had. I’ll go high 4.
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Playlist submission: Worried Mind

Brothers
I never got into this as much as the albums either side of it, and Everlasting Light and Next Girl kick things off with a lethargic, hazy quality that isn’t particularly immediate, reminding me why I wasn’t that into it when it came out.

But it’s worth persevering with, as the it’s a bit of grower, the wooziness of Attack and Release, the bluesiness of Magic Potion and the popiness of El Camino coming together as blooziness in the excellent Tighten Up and the catchy Howlin’ For You. It treads that path of slightly dislocated hazy bluesiness with moments of melodic catchiness for the remainder. It never quite soars or picks up from that template, but I found myself enjoying it more and more on repeat listens.

However it does feel a bit too long for that style at 55 minutes, a tighter 45 minutes would definitely make for a better album, and push it into the 4s, but although it's still a very good psychedelic-woozy-bluesy listen I think it lands ultimately as a high 3.
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Playlist submission: Tighten Up

Funeral
After enjoying Neon Bible I was looking forward to this, but I didn’t really get on board with it, it felt a lot like the same song over and over, and the same song going on and on.

And coming after the enjoyable eclecticism of SFA, the slightly po-faced seriousness of this doesn’t land that well, falling into that morass of late 00s US indie rock that I struggle with, the similar tempos and drum patterns, the similar melodies and the similar sense of self importance.

I’ll definitely listen to Neon Bible again, but I don’t think I’ll come back to this, so it's a stingy 2 for me.
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Playlist submission: Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)

Fuzzy Logic
Looking back at this in the context of Britpop it's notable what a great ear they had for melody and musical interestingness, and how apart they were from their peers in their off kilterness and comportably worn quirkiness. They feel close to Supergrass for me, but with rougher edges and less cheeky chappy personas, and you wonder how big they could have been if they weren't such an introverted and slightly awkward bunch..

Also it's notable how this doesn't really sound that dated to the mid 90s, like many of those albums do now, possibly due to the production which is less trebly and also to their eclectic selection of influences and the jam packed nature of the songs, with vocal, melodic and musical references and oddities everywhere, eg the Elvis-isms on Bad Behavior (which is very Life on Other Planets Supergras), the sunshiney 60s backing vocals throughout, the Sgt Pepper horns, the swelling organs and the harder, rockier guitars.

There are some cracking songs on here too, amongst all that; God! Show Me Magic, Something 4 the Weekend, the very Britpop Frisbee, Hometown Unicorn, the excellent If You Don’t Want Me to Destroy You, the woozy fairgroundness of Gathering Moss and Bad Behavior. It does tail off after Bad Behaviour, only picking up with For Now and Ever, although this has slight dirgey, dragging quality, despite some Kinksian spoken word.

It’s a great, fun album full of interesting moments and some great songs, but because of that drop off I don’t think it’s a 5, so I’ll go with a solid 4.
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Playlist submission: God! Show Me Magic

The Who Sell Out
I really like the Art-School conceit of this and I’ve always read it as very 60s and very Pete Townshend in its interesting if slightly simplistic comment on pop music and commercialisation. And it does actually work as a concept, and notably the jingles and ads feel very much like a free version of a streaming account, or listening to an album on Youtube.

However, those ads and jingles simultaneously disrupt the flow of things but also hide the slightly ragtag and inconsistent collection of actual songs, with I Can See for Miles and Tattoo probably being the only truly great Who songs on here. I do like Armenia City in the Sky, Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand, Our Love Was and I Can’t Reach You, but they aren’t at the same level and it feels like a lot of it sits a bit uneasily between their r’n’b/mod pop period and their more cohesive period from Tommy onwards, with an added dash of slightly ill fitting psychedelia.

And as with all their stuff pre Tommy it’s not helped by the tinny and unsatisfying production, lacking punch and weight, with only I Can See for Miles actually sounding good, and it very noticeable stands out among the rest of it.

It’s a bit unrepresentative of my feelings about them as a band in general but this is a 3 for me - it’s fine enough as a mid 60s album, and the concept is good, as is the cover, but there isn’t quite enough to it to come back to regularly
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Playlist submission: I Can See for Miles

Crocodiles
I’m not sure what prompted me into it, but I bought the Bed Bugs and Ballyhoo best of around A-Levels and I remember being very keen to see them at V97. It was before (How Does it Feel to Be) On Top of the World, so it can’t have been that, it was most likely their Evergreen album from that time.

Despite really liking them I think I’ve only really listened to Ocean Rain, so it's great to listen to this properly. It has all of the elements of what makes them great, and there are some excellent songs in their melodic post-punk moody style, and it’s notable how much of a 60s influence runs through it despite that post punk mood, much like many Liverpool bands from the 80s onwards.

Guitar and bass-wise there are obvious comparisons to The Smiths, in the jangliness and disco-influence, and although this is a little bit before The Smiths, I think Will Sergeant is probably a bit overshadowed by Marr and other contemporaries, but he really is an excellent guitarist

Going Up, Monkeys, Crocodiles, the excellent Rescue, Villiers Terrace and All that Jazz are the real standouts, and I quite like the Doorsian Happy Death Men, but it does dip in a few places, Stars Are Stars, Pride and Pictures on My Wall not quite catching light for me. But it is a very good album by a great band, which I think adds up to a 4.
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Green Onions
The title track is, obviously, fantastic, a classic bit of 60s 12 bar soul-cool, the irresistible combination of the organ line surging and swelling, Steve Cropper’s guitar stabbing and biting and Al Jackson’s excellent drumming and the steady, metronomic bass.

It’s so good it naturally casts a large shadow over everything else, not least the This Guitar Can’t Keep From Crying of Mo’ Onions to the While My Guitar Gently Weeps of Green Onions.

Occasionally the organ/keys verge into Take Hart territory, especially on Rinky Dink and Stranger on the Shore, belying the early 60s-ness of it, but it's still an incredibly enjoyable album, I like to imagine people dancing along to it in an early 60s house party in a small flat in Marylebone in 1963.

Despite the odd dated element, I think it still endures, probably due to the rock solid quality of the rhythm section and Steve Cropper’s super playing on his Tele, with strong elements of country and blues added to the r’n’b feel of it all.

I’ll go 4, it’s a great listen and I’ll definitely be back for mo’
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Playlist submission: Green Onions

Stripped
This is much better and much more interesting than I expected it to be, and is probably better than it was meant to be, but it is not without a few issues, and I’m not sure it means it is actually a good album.

In the plus column:
Dirrty is a banger
Beautiful, despite being quite cheesy and lyrically platitudinous is a great tune, and I do actually believe the sincerity and earnestness
Can’t Hold us Down is a good bit of r’n’b hip-hop pop
Fighter has a catchy chorus
I quite like Cruz, it has a pleasing 80s power ballad vibe
Although not always convincing, particularly the rock ones, there are a few different genres

In the minus column:
It's a severe victim of CD bloat, why is it 1 hour and 20 minutes long?
That length means there’s quite a bit of aimless chaff that should have been binned
There is a slight monotony of message, most of the songs return to the same theme of power/affirmation/underappreciation/defiance. Not a bad thing but the message is pretty diluted by the end.
The signature wailing, woooah vocal runs get a bit much after 20 minutes
Infatuation is annoying
Makeover is essentially Overload by Sugababes

It’s much better than Back to Basics (although that was pretty wretched), and it is a decent if significantly flawed album, with some highlights and quite a few lowlights. I’m unlikely to listen so I’ll go high 2, not yet a 3 (sorry wrong singer)
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Playlist submission: Dirrty

Skylarking
I really thought I would like this more than I actually did. I had high hopes based on reputation and particularly after really enjoying Apple Venus Vol 1, but it never quite landed for me.

I think a major part of it is the combination of the production and Andy Partridge’s voice. Despite being a Rundgren fan it just feels the wrong side of mid 80s pop-rock, feeling a bit too spacious and lightweight and plasticy, it never quite soars who you expect it might, and the nasal tone and intonation to his voice kind of detracts from the melodies and overall feel.

Which is a shame, as often the songwriting and arrangements are very good, with nicely Beatles-esque touches, like the strings on 1000 Umbrellas and the Macca-esque backing vocals throughout, particularly on Ballet for a Rainy Day, and some nice, slightly leftfield synthy quirkiness, as on Mermaid Smiled or That’s Really Super, Supergirl. Dying and Superficial Bonfire are also a nice songs.

But, ultimately I struggled to engage with it, it didn’t strike me in the same way Apple Venus did, and it all feels a bit crusty and Levelers-y, especially when compared to something like Drums and Wires.

I’d like to give it another go in future, so I’ll go low 3. There is too much songwriting quality to be lower than that but I didn’t really enjoy it that much
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Playlist submission: 1000 Umbrellas

Nighthawks at the Diner
The recreation of a smoky jazz blues bar is spot on, but I can’t quite work out whether it’s in earnest or tongue in cheek, and either way I didn’t really care for it that much, I found it a slightly irritating affectation, and it really reminded me of the scene from Weird Science when Anthony Michael Hall is drunk in a bar pretending to be a blues man.

Still, the band are great, particularly the double bass and as it’s Tom Waits, it has a degree idiosyncratically brilliant charm, and some of the songs are very good, particularly On a Foggy Night, Eggs and Sausage, Nighthawk Postcards, Spare Parts I and Big Joe and Phantom 309, all of them evoking the Edward Hopper feel he’s going for.

But ultimately it's not my favourite of his, I think the other albums on this list are a bit more interesting, and the gimmick of the jazz club atmosphere is tiring, so I’ll go 3.
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Playlist submission: Big Joe and Phantom 309

Toys in the Attic
I LOVE Sweet Emotion, and Walk This Way is a great riff (although I probably prefer the Run DMC version) but this suffers from the same issue as Rocks in it being largely a collection of rather pedestrian to not very good songs enlivened only by some occasionally decent if derivative riffing, and in the context of knowing Steven Tyler, some horribly dirty, grubby lyrics. And it has Big 10 inch Record which might be one of the worst songs in the history of recorded music.

It’s not a good album but despite Big 10 Record it’s not completely awful, and Sweet Emotion is superb, so I’ll go 2.
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Playlist submission: Sweet Emotion