Reviews by ikejiri

American Dream
I’m not always that into complaining about the list, but I think this is a bit of an odd inclusion. LCD Soundsystem are a favourite band of mine, and I think this is a fine album, but it’s the weakest of their 4 proper albums, and if there are going to be two LCD Soundsystem albums on the list then the debut album, or for me, This Is Happening are more deserving of a place.

Anyhow, like I say I do like this album, but I haven’t listened in a while, and it’s notable how much of a Berlin era Bowie inspired album this is. They’ve always had a significant amount of Bowie influence, but mixed in with a diverse range of other artists, and I think this probably suffers in comparison to their other albums from that focus on Bowier, especially combined with the slightly dour, downbeat feel it has. Obviously the last track, Black Screen is a direct homage, but I’m sure Bowie’s death, combined with the sense of aging and tiredness, and a similar tempo to a lot of the songs gives it that slightly burnt out feel (as does the slightly unnecessary length of most of the songs)

Still, they are a great band even if it’s not their strongest record and there are some excellent songs - Oh Baby, Other Voices, the Uber-Bowie Change Yr Mind, Tonite, Call the Police, Emotional Haircut and the moodily great Black Screen. And the songs outside that, even if they aren’t as strong are still very good art-rock-dance tracks, and the whole record does have a great sound.

I think this just about gets to a 4, it's too well made with too much quality to go below that, but it’s definitely not their best album.
🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮
Playlist submission: Tonite

Real Life
I had a period a few years back when I was quite into this album, maybe off the back of Howard Devoto’s appearance in 24 Hour Party People. I think I may even have it on vinyl somewhere in the loft.

But it’s been a while since I’ve listened to it, although Shot by Both Sides is a playlist staple, and it’s nice to be reminded what an interesting album it is, a great intersection of punk and post punk with 70s art rock influenced synths and keyboards - there’s obviously a bit of Buzzcocks to it, but also a nice bit of Bowie and Roxy Music amid the scratchy, abrasive guitars and rhythms.

Definitive Gaze is a great opener, some Dancing Queen-esque piano, some Eno-esque synth, some chugging guitars, melodic bass and a sneerful vocal all make it a brilliant track. Shot By Both Sides is of course a classic post punk track, a great, urgent riff with an excellent bass and organ underpinning. Burst is great too with elements of Low, elements of Bowie in general and elements of early 70s classic rock. I love The Light Pours Out of Me, particularly the big bass sound and that guitar hook. And Parade is probably the most overt nod to For Your Pleasure era Roxy Music, a great wonky bit of arty synth-post punk, with some middle eastern atmospheres.

I like how it’s clearly a post punk album in attitude and spirit, but it pulls on loads of elements of pre-punk and pop music - the vocal melodies may not always be that catchy but the organ, synths, bass and guitars add lots of great, memorable hooks.

It’s right in my sweetspot, so it's a 5 for me.
📔📔📔📔📔
Playlist submission: It’s Shot By Both Sides really, although I was particularly struck by Definitive Gaze on this occasion.

Pyromania
Photograph and Rock of Ages are dumb, but great fun 80s glam-metal-pop dumb. The rest of it is mostly just not very good dumb. A bit like Dre and the proliferation of dick sucking, they sing about rock and rock’n’roll constantly, to the point where you wonder about their insecurities.

I do have a soft spot for Mutt Lange’s production on this sort of thing, he really does know how to make this 80s rock sound spacious and stadium filling, it’s just there aren’t really many good songs on here, with nothing outside of Photograph and Rock of Ages and possibly Action! Not Words eliciting much of a response, so it all feels a bit wasted.

Definitely not the worst album, so it’s not a 1, but I can’t imagine coming back to it, ergo a 2.
🔥🔥

Teenager of the Year
I wasn’t really digging the first couple of tracks, they felt quite generic alt rock, missing some of the melodic skill of the Pixies, but Abstract Plain is great, an excellent melody and nice strings and piano, and thereafter it settles into a nice groove.

Although not every song is a winner, he is clearly a great songwriter, always doing something interesting for the genre and there are some great tracks on here; Calistan, the pop-punky Speedy Marie, Headache, the superb guitars and organ of Sir Rockaby, the dense and heavy footed Two Reelers, the Velvet Underground/Lou Reed-ish Ole Mulholland, the excellent surf-bubblegum pop of I Could Stay Here Forever, the bouncy Superabound, the late West Coast late 60s-ish vibe of Big Red, White Noise Maker, the rockabilly Pure Denizen of the Citizen.

However it is a lot of information at an hour and 22 tracks, and although none of the songs hang around too long, it does feel a bit like overkill by the time we hit the track 12 and 13 mark, with another 10 or so to come. Perhaps a bit reductive but at 10-12 tracks this could have been a real corker, rather than a slightly boated very good album.

I enjoyed this a lot, although I’m not quite sure it gets into the fours, so I’ll go high 3 - I like it, I’ll come back to it, but the mood might not strike that often.
⚫⚫⚫
Playlist submission: Abstract Plain

HMS Fable
I wasn’t kind of interested in hearing this for the first time in 25 years. I’m not totally sure what prompted me to buy this out of nowhere when it came out, but I guess it was something to do with Noel Gallagher liking them.

I liked it a decent amount then, and I enjoyed it well enough now. There’s no doubt he can write good melodies in the vein of cosmic classic rock scousers in the vein of The Las, Cast, The Zutons etc and lots of Beatles and Love and a dollop of REM make it a very pleasant listen, even if it does start to run out of the steam by the end of the 47 minutes.

Still it starts nicely with Natalie’s party, Pull Together and Beautiful, all nice Sgt Pepper/60s influenced indie pop, before peaking somewhat with the suitably seaborne Captain’s Table and the Irish inflected Streets of Kenny.

I’ll go 3, I’d revisit if I’m in the right mood for some nostalgic easy listening
🚢🚢🚢
Playlist submission: Captain’s Table

Closer
I don’t listen to this as much as Unknown Pleasures, but I should as it really is an excellent, if not always fun, listen.

Obviously the cloud of his death hangs over it and colours much of it - atmospherically and lyrically it is slate grey and relentless. And while musically it echoes that greyness, it definitely feels more dancey than UP, and you can definitely hear much early New Order in it, particularly the synths and drums, although it still has the austere and vaguely oppressive feel of JD.

The tom-toms are immediately noticeable on Atrocity Exhibition (a Holy Bible song title if there ever was one) and recur throughout, and are also great on Colony, an excellent track and the the equally superb Twenty Four Hours. A Means to an End is the template for a lot of mid 00’s indie dance, a brilliant bass and drum groove. The Eternal is very Bowie (both Low and Black Star) and Decades is particularly New Order-esque. And Isolation is surely one of their best tracks, a superb song.

It’s a simple 5, a great album.
🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿
Playlist submission: Isolation

Lam Toro
I can reproduce much of the review for Djam Leeli here, as I feel very similarly about this as I did that record:

‘It’s hard to describe this other than just a lovely series of hypnotic, beautifully woven acoustic and electric guitar lines and vocals….Those excellent, circular, fantastic-sounding guitars wash over brilliantly, evoking sunsets and sunrises…The songs broadly follow the same template and do sound quite similar, but I didn’t find that a bad thing at all, the sound is so expressive and the feeling they elicit so lovely I could (and did) listen on repeat all day’

I think there is perhaps a bit more variation on this one, Toro has a bit more rhythmic pulse, Daande Lenol has some lovely flute, Hamady Boiro has a bit of funk-rock to it and Minuit goes a bit too cheese rock with the guitar.

Similar to Djam Leeli I think it does also suffer from being a bit long for only 11 tracks overall, but also similar to Djam Leeli its a 4 - some great tracks, a couple of dips, but overall a great listen.
🐑🐑🐑🐑
Playlist submission: Daande Lenol

Sweet Baby James
He still has one of my favourite voices, soft and honeyed, suiting his soft-folk guitar playing, and giving his music a warm, soothing, friendly ambiance.

I’ve always tended to listen to his greatest hits, but I am vaguely familiar with this, and of course it contains a few classics in Sweet Baby James, Sunny Skies, Country Road and the still superlative Fire and Rain. I’m not always convinced by the more bluesy songs in his catalogue, like Steamroller. I don’t actually mind it, but there is no doubt that it carries an anaemic quality that makes you think he isn’t actually a truly hot and bothered lover about to mow you down. Oh Baby works slightly better musically, but I still don’t believe in ‘old lovin’ man JT’.

Outside that some of the songs I knew less well I really liked: Lo & Behold is a very nice country-folk bluesy number, Blossom and Anywhere are both similarly lilting, enjoyable soft pop rock tracks

But Fire & Rain really is a superb song, a sad and melancholic song about suicide that is able to balance the specific and universal with a brilliant melody and arrangement, particularly the long low double bass throughout.

I’m not quite sure it makes it to a 5 as there is a feeling of slightness, but this is a solid 4 star singer songwriter country-folk-soft-rock delight - loosen your turtle neck, light the fire, turn down the lights, pour a glass of red wine, put this on and lie luxuriantly on your sheepskin rug.
👶👶👶👶
Playlist submission: Fire and Rain

Triangle
While this isn’t the worst example of whimsical West Coast psychedelic folk rock, it’s also not the most memorable or interesting, although there are a couple of decent tracks; Are You Happy, Magic Hollow and Triangle all all good, not quite reaching the heights of Forever Changes, but ploughing an enjoyable furrow nonetheless.

Much of the rest of it passes by rather unremarkably, only his aping of Dylan’s intonation and sardonic half laughs, the occasional over preponderance of accordion and the fact that it's well recorded really standing out. I’m unlikely to come back, but I was glad to give it a spin. I think that makes it a high 2.
🔺🔻
Playlist submission: Magic Hollow

Document
This is probably the only one of the pre mega fame R.E.M. albums I was familiar with before doing the generator, mainly as The One I Love is one of my favourite of their songs.

Compared to Murmur and Green and to some of the later albums this one stands out as being more tense and terse, with more angularity and edge to it, particularly in the guitar playing, with a harsher tone and spikier riffs. However they can't completely get away from the jangliness - even if it’s more distorted many of the guitar harmonics are still very jangly and Brydsian in spirit.

That slight change in sound also suits the songs, they feel more confident and forceful and nicely move between playful like End of the World and more sincere like The One I Love, also touching on the political with things like Exhuming McCarthy and Welcome to the Occupation. Disturbance at the Heron House and King of Birds are also excellent, the former one of those effortlessly great R.E.M. tracks and the latter with the dulcimer and a clean, dusty elegance.

There’s a couple of tracks I’m not as keen on. Although its a different sound for them I’m not keen on the sax on Fireplace, it feels a touch out of place, and I’m not sure the scratchy, seemingly funk influenced Lightnin’ Hopkins is that successful.

I’m slightly stuck between 4 and 5 - it is great, but I’m not sure it’s quite up there with their best albums. I’ll stick on a high 4.
📄📄📄📄
Playlist submission: Could be King of Birds, but I’ll stick with The One I Love

Made in Japan
I found a few versions with varying tracklists, but I ended up listening to what I think is the original 7 track release.

I kind of wish I’d stuck to the 4 track version, and maybe just stuck to Highway Star and Smoke on the Water, as they contain all you need from this really. Obviously they are very tight, the organ, drums, bass and guitars are all excellent, but it’s so long and unless you are a big fan of Deep Purple it all feels very inessential, especially as each song is unnecessarily long.

Not terrible, but not that interesting to me, and I don’t think I’d come back to it. 2.
🎌🎌
Playlist submission: Smoke on the Water

Post Orgasmic Chill
Never got into Skunk Anansie, although I always liked Skin, and she has a great voice and presence and always seemed cool. And I like some of the singles from the previous album

Listening to this album though I can see why I wouldn’t get into them as it isn’t really my sort of thing. Some of the grunge and punk elements I appreciate, but much of it feels rather too metal/US alternative influenced for my tastes, even if it never quite plumbs the moribund depths of a lot of that music.

It’s not a bad album, and there are songs and passages that I liked; the Soundgarden-ish verses on We Don’t Need Who You Think You Are, the stately Tracy’s Flaw, Lately is a decent track and Secretly is probably the real high point, but much of it does seem to drift by rather unmemorably.

I think it ends up as a high 2, I appreciate some of it, and they are likeable, but I don’t think I’ll come back to it.
🦨🦨
Playlist submission: Secretly

Elephant
I’ve not listened to this in a while, so it’s nice to revisit and remember how much I liked it back when it came out. It definitely still stands up, and I forgot that there are some absolute gems on here, alongside 7 Nation Army, which remains a fantastic track with a thrilling slide solo, despite being sport-chanted to death.

I haven’t listened to White Blood Cells in a while, but I feel like this is a bigger, more expansive and slightly more caustic step on from that album, with a more powerful punk-blues feel than a blues-folk-garage feel, and with additional instruments like the bass/not actually bass, organ and piano peeking through.

But it maintains the elemental simplicity that makes them great, and I can’t really think there’s a weak track. The run from 7 Nation Army to the superb In the Cold, Cold Night in particular is excellent, but it doesn’t really dip. I love the piano and slide of I Want to Be the Boy, and on repeat listens this became one of my standouts. Ball and Biscuit is a fantastic, as is the bassy The Hardest Button to Button, and The Air Near My Fingers, similar to I Want to Be the Boy really stood out on repeat listens, the organ giving it a great atmosphere.

You could argue its 10 minutes too long, with a few songs, like Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine, while being very good, feeling a little like retreads of other songs. However that’s nitpicking really, it’s a great album, so it gets into the 5s.

🟥⬜🟥⬜🟥
Playlist submission: I Want to Be the Boy That Warms Your Mother’s Heart

Fisherman’s Blues
I liked this, combining the drums and bass of their expansive 80s rock with traditional British folk songs and sounds, making an enjoyable celtic-rock album, albeit one that doesn’t stick really too long in the memory.

It’s a bit like The Pogues but with all the edge and chaos sanded off into smooth child-safe corners, and even with the cover of Sweet Thing it also eschews any pretence at cosmic Irish mysticism, falling safely in the middle, existing on its own plane of pleasantness.

I’ll go 3, it's perfectly fine and I’d be happy to listen again, even if I’m not completely enthused by it and it does drag a little by the end.
🎣🎣🎣
Playlist submission: We Will Not Be Lovers

Paris 1919
I liked this a lot, its a very enjoyable, orchestral singer songwriter pop album with a nice sardonic edge and just enough John Cale idiosyncrasy and avant garde pretensions to make it more interesting and varied than other people doing similar things

A Child’s Christmas in Wales is a lovely opener, with a warm, friendly embrace to it and Hanky Panky Nohow really grew on me with its foklishness and slightly melancholy feel to the strings.

It might be at its strongest when it's at its most orchestral; the brass, strings and sweep of The Endless Plain of Fortune is superb, allied to the lyrics about early 20th century European history, the oompah/Sgt Pepper of the excellently catchy title track, the bluesiness and strings of Half Past France, with its moving and thoughtful lyric, I think, about a WW2 soldier fighting in France, and the stateliness of Antarctica Starts Here. But even outside that there are some great tracks and moments, Andalucia is a sweet little ditty, Graham Greene is a nicely off balance Kinksian bit of whimsical pop with a great reference to Chipping Sodbury. Macbeth channels a bit of Ronson/Bowie without being fully successful however.

Overall I really liked this, and it really grew on me. There are some great tunes and some excellent lyrics, alternating between archness and playfulness, and more earnest thoughts on modern European history. Tempted to go 5, but I think I’ll stick at a high 4 and come back to it to ruminate further, and it's a great discovery nonetheless.
🥐🥐🥐🥐
Playlist submission: The Endless Plain of Fortune

The Wall
As with DSOTM and WYWH it’s nice to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of Pink Floyd.

Of all the prog concept and concept adjacent albums we’ve had this is by far the best story, in that it makes a degree of sense narratively and with the wall being the physical manifestation of Pink’s psychological shut down.

It’s definitely overblown and long, and there is a large dose of po-faced self importance, but it’s undeniably a brilliant album, and a large part of what makes it so great is the pompous bombast of it all, alongside a number of superb songs, from the ones I do know, like the recurring themes of Another Brick in the Wall, Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2 and Comfortably Numb, to things like In the Flesh? The Thin Ice, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, Mother, Hey You, The Show Must Go On, In The Flesh, Outside the Wall.

Again as I’m not familiar with their catalogue I like how for much of it it seems a marriage of the atmospheric space rock of DSOTM with a leaner, more funk-rock sound, with of course some superbly evocative David Gilmour guitar.

I probably need more time to let it percolate, but, again, I can see what the fuss is about. 5.
🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
Playlist submission: Comfortably Numb

Mama’s Gun
I was surprised by how catchy and melodic this was. I do have a general liking of Neo-Soul, but too often for me it relies on more horizontal melodic and harmonic structures, and despite the quality of musicianship and singing on a lot of albums, musically it can feel like it’s very professionally delivered but relatively uninspiring drums and bass and little variation in melodic style.

The fact that ?uestlove drums on the majority of it and has a hand in the production, as well as the rest of the Soulquarians immediately elevates it, and it definitely has more kick and life to it, evident in the first two tracks: Penitentiary Philosophy has a great funk-rock groove and slight Hendix feel, with a catchy melody and her superb vocals and Didn’t Cha Know at a slower tempo has a great bass hook and weeping guitar sound, with another catchy chorus melody and more sweet and supple vocals. There’s a nicely balanced amount of jazz and soul-jazz throughout, with Roy Ayers adding vocals and J-Dilla assisting the production of the excellent Cleva, and the jazzy flutes on Hey Sugah are very nice. & On is also a nice part 2 to the excellent On & On from her first album.

It is a bit long at 70-odd minutes though and it does have a few spots where it dips and flirts with the less interesting, more aimless side of Neo-Soul; AD 2000, Orange Moon and In Love With You all feel a step or two below the rest. Bag Lady & Green Eyes are the strongest part of the 2nd half, although there is a little fatigue at this point from the overall length.

Still, this is an excellent neo-soul album, surely up there as one of the best of the genre, with some great songs, great vocals and excellent, confessional lyrics. Think that all collides and makes it a 4.
🔫🔫🔫🔫
Playlist submission: Didn’t Cha Know

The Holy Bible
From asinine allusions to religion and suffering with Ministry to something far more real and moving, and a truly excellent album.

I haven’t listened to this in a while, and it’s been great revisiting and remembering how great it is. I like Generation Terrorists’ and Gold Against The Soul’s more GnR inspired sound, but I really like the return to their more British, punk and new wave roots on this. The terseness, scratchiness and immediacy of the music powerfully complements the lyrical and thematic despair, making a simultaneously great to listen to and hard to listen to album.

The lyrical content is of course notable, and without labouring the point, puts the lyrics of so many (US) edgelord heavy bands into a cocked hat, covering suicide, self harm, US cultural imperialism, racism, fascism, disordered eating, and the cheery subject of the holocaust. But it never feels exploitative and despite the bleakness I’ve never found it depressing, it being much more expressive and an expression of Richey’s mental state and obsessions.

I don’t want to necessarily go song by song, but I always loved Yes, Of Walking Abortion, Revol, 4st 7lb, Faster and This is Yesterday (although I never noticed the Jam influence until today), but it struck me how there’s not really a weak song, and James’s guitar playing is as always superb, whether going fully overdriven or doing more sparse riffs and new-wave grooves.

Easily a 5, fantastically earnest and brilliantly put together, there’s not really anything else like this that I like.
✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️
Playlist submission: Revol

KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)
Surprisingly I didn’t truly dislike this, even if it's not really my sort of thing, and whatever charm it does have struggles to outlast 2 or 3 tracks, the rest just kind of drifting by unnoticed.

The religious mockery of the songs and the album title seem patronisingly quaint 32 years later, so I don’t think it’s the thematic and lyrical content that made me not mind it, I think it's more that there is a house-like groove and feel to NOW, with the ‘siren’ sound feeling slightly Chemical Brothers-esque and Jesus Built My Hot Rod is a fun, catchy thrash with some knowing silliness.

But that’s really about it, apart from perhaps Scarecrow, which creates a feeling of a foreboding atmosphere more successfully than the more thrashy tracks.

Obviously not going to listen again, but it isn’t the worst of the worst.
⛪⛪
Playlist submission: NOW

The Hissing of Summer Lawns
In France They Kiss on Main Street carries on the vibes of Court and Spark, a brilliant, classic bit of Joni storytelling, melody and rhyming meter, but with the addition of a more obviously busy, jazzy bass, a hint at the more overtly jazz-pop sound and more experimental tone of the album.

Which is overtly displayed in The Jungle Line, with its Moog and sampled percussion. It’s a great track that puts me in mind of some of McCartney II, and although it doesn’t sound typical of her, it really suits her. Edith and the Kingpin continues the feel of the first track, adding more shuffling jazziness and some great guitars and noises and Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow is classic Folk-Jazz-Joni, with superb bass and some great guitar. And Shades of Scarlett Conquering rounds out a superb 1st side with a vaguely Blue-esque piano track.

I love the chorus melody of the title track, and the little guitar/organ motif directly after it, even if it does teeter close to a vaguely anodyne feel at times. The Boho Dance is perhaps the only dip for me, never quite catching my attention fully, but it picks back up on the final three tracks with the superb Harry’s House into the jazz cover of Centrepiece, the transition from jazz-folk to jazz expertly managed, and with a superb vocal, the beautifully folkish Sweet Bird and the atmospheric ARP drenched Shadows and Light.

In some ways it’s a shame it was generated so quickly after the superb Court and Spark. I hadn’t ever listened to this one before, and while it builds on extends the jazzy artness of Court and Spark, it isn't as immediately satisfying, especially listening so soon after.

However this one is a real grower and the 1st half in particular is fantastic, and I ended up listening to it around 10 times, so I think this is also a 5, even if a bit more distance might have made it initially easier to judge it on its own merits.
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Playlist submission: Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow