Reviews by ikejiri

Here, My Dear
Taken individually, there are some excellent tracks on here. More overtly late 70s than, say, What’s Going On, with disco and funk elements added to the string laden soul, creating a very smooth overall sound. And his vocals, as you would expect, really are superb - sweet and mellifluous, but with a hint of bite (and a large dollop of self pity) that reflects the subject matter and circumstances of the album.

But taken as a whole, the lack of real variation in tempo, melodic style and instrumentation, does make it kind of merge into one sound, especially as there are a couple of repeating tracks and motifs, and then the fact that it's also 14 songs pretty much moping on about the same thing over and over makes it feel like harder work than it should.

A little bit conflicted in how to rate it. I do like it musically, but I would prefer some variance, the overall sound is smooth and sweet, and his voice never disappoints, there are some excellent harmonies and doo-wop monents, but it is long and quite one note melodically and thematically. I think I’ll settle for a solid 3.
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Playlist submission: When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You

90
Pacific, in its many remixes, is a superb track, probably the strongest one on here, although I enjoyed the overall late 80s synthy house and techno vibes. It’s a fun listen and you can hear a lot of what came after this, like the Chemical Brothers and the other mid 90s dance bands and acts.

Magical Dream has a very Italia 90 highlight video feel, which is a good thing, there’s a bit of New Order to it and some fun squelches. Ancodia carries on the upbeat vibe, maybe taking some of Soul II Soul and adding a bit more house, as well as a nice synth hook. I like how Cobra Bora ups the tempo, although some of the orchestra synth hits sound a bit dated with modern ears. Pacific really is fantastic, the wailing sax pairs brilliantly with the propulsive bass and rhythm pattern.

It slightly tails off in the 2nd half, although I like the riff in the middle of Donkey Doctor, and 808080808 has a nicely manic Mario Bros feel to it. Sunrise feels like an attempt at another Pacific without quite getting there and The Fat Shadow also feels like a bit of a retread of what’s come before.

Still, it’s a fun album with some great rhythms and hooks, and it doesn’t outstay its welcome with its 39 minute run time, and it has clearly been influential on a lot of bands I like. Not sure it’s quite a 4, so a high 3 it is.
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Playlist submission: Pacific 202

Feast of Wire
I absolutely LOVED this album when it came out, but I’m not sure I’ve really revisited it that much over the last 22 or so years.

Listening now it very specifically takes me back to 2003, and I’m also glad to say, nostalgia aside, that I think it still holds up as a very fine album of Western-Americana-Indie-Folk-Rock-Pop. The country twangs, Tex Mex horns and overall deserty feel are all deployed skillfully, never feeling gimmicky and giving the whole thing a lovely, dusty, lived in ambience.

The songs I remember most clearly are Sunken Waltz, Quattro, Black Heart and Not Even Stevie Nicks, and those still remain the stand outs, bearing lovely melodies and atmospherics, but there are other great tracks too, Across the Wire is lovely and of the many instrumentals Pepita and Close Behind are nicely evocative and Attack! El Robot! Attack! And Crumble add a great bit of jazziness.

I’m glad I still liked this, and happy to give it a high 4.
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Playlist submission: Not Even Stevie Nicks

Our Aim Is To Satisfy
I was kind of curious about this. I’d never heard of them but I saw that they were on Warp, so I thought they might be interesting, while also looking at the name and cover made me think they might be another one of those late 90s early 2000s electro also rans.

It ultimately lands somewhere in the middle though. I really like the live drum sounds, particularly on Keeping Pigs Together, Don’t Go Nowhere and The RakeXXXXX, and I very much enjoyed the clit’n’thigh song, coming out of nowhere with no warning or subtlety. And there is some nice bass playing and some nice atmospherics, Bussing has some great gentle, downtempo passages and Alaska Street has a nicely unsettling late night in the city feel.

But it's hard to shake the feeling of aimlessness to much of it, and that it’s not quite as good as the music it’s influenced by. Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead are all much better at conjuring atmospheres of dread and urban unease and are rhythmically more interesting, and Primal Scream on things like Vanishing Point are much better at the louche, bass driven electro-rock.

If I had been aware of this when it came out I think I would have really liked it, but now I’m not so sure. It’s fine, but ultimately a little forgettable, apart perhaps from the enjoyable fruity The Rough and the Quick. It’s on the edge of 2 and 3, but I’m not sure I’ll come back to it and there are albums in the style I put well above it. Out of 10 this would be a nailed on 5, but perhaps a bit harshly I’ll round down to a high 2.
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Playlist submission: Keeping Pigs Together

Untitled (Black Is)
I’m familiar with some of this as they play Sault a lot on 6 Music, and the bits I do know, like Wildfires, I really like.

The drumming/rhythms/percussion throughout is fantastic, and I love the instrumental touches throughout like the synths on something like Eternal Life or Only Synth in Church, the piano on the Sly Stone-esque Pray Up, Stay Up. It makes sense that Kiwanuka is involved in parts of it, as it shares the same vintage soul feel, but combined with more modern r’n’b sound, as well as soul, funk, pop, rock and with some psychedelic strokes here and there.

Wildfires shares some of the same feel as The Smoke by The Smile, in its slinky bass groove and jazzy drums, and that combination of bass and percussion stands out on multiple tracks, like the excellent Bow with it’s fantastic 60s-ish guitars, the sad and mournful Why We Cry Why We Die and the organny Monsters. Miracles is a great track, with slightly doo-wop, very early 60s Motown feel with some lovely guitar. Stop Dem is another interesting track, with it’s slightly discordant feel, and there’s elements of The Doors in the 5 to 1-esque sections of Hard Life. Sorry Ain’t Enough has a nice 90s soul feel, a bit Lauryn Hill, with some more excellent drumming.

It perhaps is a few too many tracks for its 56 minutes, but it is a great album, and I’ve listened to it a lot over the last day or so. Easily a high 4, keen to revisit.
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Playlist submission: Bow

Veckatemest
The amazing new album from The National Grizzly Beasts Collective On Drugs.

I enjoyed the first few songs, the influences of The Beach Boys, Love and 60s psychedelia combining to make some very pleasant psych-folk, Southern Point in particular has an excellent folky pulse and groove, and the harmonies and wonky piano combo on Two Weeks is great. I quite like All We Ask to, it has a nice sense of charm to it. But after that it feels like it takes a nosedive into a very generic, very twee and wet late 00s indie sound and feel, and it's a bit of a drag, feeling very long, with nothing as good as the first two songs to perk things up. Even something like Cheerleader, which starts promisingly enough fades into a kind of forgettable vagary of a song, the interest in the initial riff just getting lost.

Like a lot of that late 00s stuff it’s well made and nicely considered, and not unpleasant, but ultimately I’m just not that into the genre and style. I doubt I would come back to it so I’ll go 2.
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Playlist submission: Southern Point

Femi Kuti
This very much feels like 10 tracks stretched over 73 minutes, the length and similarity of each track kind of merging into one long track, even if it always sounds nice.

But it hasn’t really grabbed me in the way other albums adjacent to this have. Partially that’s due to the length of each track and how little the sound varies, but I think it’s also to do with how busy it all is. There’s a lot going on, and the jazzy sax and horns in particular don’t quite do it for me, edging it from exuberant and fun into slightly too much. It feels like it could do with a couple of sparser tracks or passages or moments to create a bit more light and shade and allow some of the instruments and songs to breathe a little.

Still it’s a pleasant enough album, 3.
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Playlist submission: Wonder Wonder

Second Toughest in the Infants
Never listened to this before, despite liking Underworld and it being from peak Trainspotting/Born Slippy times.

It feels like it shares a lineage with Orbital, taking Kraftwerk, Eno, House, Techno and Electronica and making something that feels like an album with suites and passages and movements. It is long, but it doesn’t feel like it, using the full 74 minutes fully, flowing though moods and feelings at its own pace, never hurried, but never treading water or getting stuck. House, Jungle, Drum’n’bass, Ambient all rub shoulders, sometimes forcefully, sometimes subtly, all with a meticulous sense of detail and consideration, and layered with a sense of pop craft.

There’s some great instrumentation and little hooks scattered, the synth/organ part in Confusion The Waitress, the slide guitars in Banstyle/Sappys Curry and Blueski, the sequenced piano on Juanita: Kiteless: To Dream, the synth part on Air Towel, the thumping dance of Rowla. I

I think this is fantastic, maybe the best dance/electronic album I’ve heard, combining great hooks and moody atmospheres with complexity and thoughtfulness. Easy 5.
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Playlist submission: Confusion The Waitress

Blood & Chocolate
I don’t think I’ve heard this album before, I think I’ve tended to check out after Get Happy!!/Trust.

It’s much more energetic than I expected and much more akin to the early albums with its wiriness, caustic attitudes and surprisingly catchy melodies, which makes sense with it being a reunion with the Attractions.

Uncomplicated, I Hope You’re Happy Now and Tokyo Storm Warning are a great first 3 songs. The direct simplicity of Uncomplicated with its organ line is excellent, I Hope You’re Happy Now develops into an extremely catchy melody and some superb bass, and Tokyo Storm Warning is another catchy, lively rocker, with some impressively petty and mean spirited lyrics.

It feels a bit uneven after that. I know I Want You is highly regarded by fans, but it doesn’t do a great deal for me, and the lyrics venture past mean spirited into just nasty and Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind while energetic feels a bit lumpen. Blue Chair is good, although its closeness to Manic Monday with hints of Oliver’s Army is a bit distracting. Battered Old Bird feels like a cousin to Blue Chair in some ways, but I find it a bit of a slog to get through, and, despite them being decent enough, I feel similarly about Crimes of Paris and Poor Napoleon. Next Time Around is a return to the form and the energy of the first side, with a great melody, excellent bass and keys and backing vocals. It also feels like it might have inspired Stand by REM

The playing is excellent throughout, and his vocals are great, and despite some very good songs it does sag a bit and feels a level or two below his first 3 albums, so I’ll go for a high 3.
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Playlist submission: Tokyo Storm Warning

The Grand Tour
This is his 50th album! And he released 5 albums in a 4 month period in 1965, and released 6 albums in 1962. He seems to have settled into a more sedate rhythm by the time this was released, putting out just the 2 albums a year for most of the 70s. I imagine they are all interchangeable, but I think I’d probably enjoy them all interchangeably too, as he has a great, warm crooner-country voice, all backed up by skilled and sympathetic playing, and overall it hits a nice vein of cosy wistfulness, and it's done and dusted in under 30 minutes.

It’s not hugely remarkable, and the songs don’t stray too far from the template, but it is very pleasant, and if I’m in the mood for some easy listening country I’d definitely reach for this, making it a solid to high 3.
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Playlist submission: Borrowed Angel

Yeezus
‘I’d rather be a dick than a swallower’. Dreams can come true! You are a dick!

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this, but musically, over the first half at least I thought this was excellent, a kind of turbo charged Kraftwerk-Afrika Bambataa, with oversaturated sounds and noises, squelchy synths and galloping, thumping rhythms.

Lyrically though, it is pretty much uniformly crass, stupid and wholly without any wit or humour, especially compared to something like The College Dropout. Makes me sick how far we done fell. It doesn’t really make me sick, the man's just a narcissistic Nazi (Nazissist?).

I gave TCD a 4 and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a 2 and I think this falls somewhere between them, although it’s probably closer to MBDTW, as it shares much of the same ludicrous self obsession as that album. But musically, at least before it runs out of steam in the 2nd half, it’s much closer to TCD. I think it is a high 2 - I would listen again, if I didn’t have to listen to him rap. And of course he’s still a massive cunt dick.
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Playlist submission: On Sight

Groovin’
I was slightly, and nicely, surprised by the early 70s soft-rock blue-eyed-soul yacht-rock feel to the A Girl Like You, having assumed it would be more psychedelia, less Gilbert O’Sullivan.

Some of that psychedelia surfaces on Find Somebody, but I like the acid-Byrds feel to the riff and the chorus has a fun garage rock feel, it definitely grew on me. I’m So Happy Now is quite Turtles-esque, another nice blue eyed soul feel with some Sgt Pepperiness. Sueno is a bit Love and a bit Mariachi and does feel a little flimsy. I wasn’t that keen How Can I Be Sure, again it’s a bit Love, although the horn line is nice.

Groovin’ is great, I didn’t know it wasn’t a Booker T original, it has some lovely almost samba/bossa nova sway to it. If You Knew seems to hit a similar seam as A Girl Like You and I’m So Happy, a nice bit of soul inflected pop. I Don’t Love You Anymore feels a bit of a retread of Groovin, albeit quite a successful one. You Better Run is good, it has a fun, rough-edged garage rock feel to it, recalling Find Somebody. A Place In The Sun has a nice little melody and groove even if the whole thing feels a little slight. It’s Love again has elements of Love, although I like that it feels like there is a bit more weight to it than some of Love’s more winsome and fey stuff.

I enjoyed this, more than I was expecting, even if it feels like they have 3 types of song they do variations upon, either blue eyed soul, latin groove or garage-rock, all influenced by Love and The Beatles. But enjoyable enough to be a solid to high 3.
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Playlist submission: A Girl Like You

MTV Unplugged in New York
I had it on official cassette, but not sure why I bought it, as I don’t know if I was really into them, it was kind of in that funny period before I got fully into British bands when I had some cherry red Doc Martins. Anyhow I do remember liking it at the time, listening on my walkman in the car on the way to my grandparents, and it is of course still excellent today.

Although it stretches the definition of unplugged, it does show how great Kurt’s songwriting was that the original songs all work brilliantly in stripped back form, carried by superb vocals and excellent almost jazz like softness to Grohl’s drumming. And the choice of covers is superb too, the three Meat Puppets songs, in particular Lake of Fire and Plateau are excellent and I love Jesus Don’t Want Me For a Sunbeam, the accordion is superb, giving the song a lovely swell.

It’s hard to pick a favourite song, and there is not a weak track at all, but All Apologies and Dumb are both particularly mesmeric to me, as on In Utero the plaintiveness of the cello is so good.

Easy 5.
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Playlist submission: All Apologies

Before & After Science
I’ve not listened to this one before, and before I saw it on the list I’m not sure I was really aware of it.

It has some of the feel of his earlier albums like Here Come the Warm Jets or Taking Tiger Mountain, and the later ambient albums, like Airports, with some of the mood of the Low stuff he was doing with Bowie at the time, as well as foreshadowing some of the elements of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts a few years later. And that David Byrne/Talking Heads connection is quite striking, No One Receiving, Kurt's Rejoinder and King’s Lead Hat (all excellent) feel a lot like TH songs from the album he later did with them, Fear of Music and Remain in Light in particular share that scratchiness and groove. And if you didn’t know it was Eno you might presume it was David Byrne singing on King’s Lead Hat, which was surely intentional with the song being an anagram of TH etc.

As well as those, Backwater is also excellent, it has some of the wonky pop of Here Come the Warm Jets and a great set of lyrics with canoes, sausages, Peru and Turkish Guru’s making appearances. Energy Fools the Magician is very second side of Low, with its disquieting and pleasantly sinister atmosphere. Here He Comes is great, wistful and melodic.

Julie With recalls Another Green World, I love the arpeggio and synth build, with the gentle release of the bass and keyboard part. By this River, although rather slight, is another lovely, gentle proto-Airports track. I love the delicateness of the synth and keyboard parts in Through Hollow Lands, and I find the whole track rather moving. There’s more Low vibes with Spider and I in the synth and it’s another one with a lovely gentle flow to it.

I was a fan of Eno before we started the list, but my appreciation has definitely increased over the course of it. While not everything he’s involved with is successful, it's nearly always interesting and thought provoking, and when it’s good it’s fantastic, and this falls in that category, a superb combination of arty pop and arty ambient.
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Playlist submission: King’s Lead Hat

Very
I preferred this to Behaviour, but it’s not as good as Actually, so I think it lands as a solid 4.

As always he has a real knack for very affecting and slightly unexpected melodies, and his distinctive vocal tone sounds fantastic on here. And the base level of songs is high, but it feels like it’s really missing a top notch PSB banger or two, there’s no equivalent of West End Girls, Opportunities, It’s A Sin, What Have I Done, Left to my Own Devices etc.

Can You Forgive Her and I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing perhaps get closest to those songs, Can You Forgive Her in particular touches on the heightened everydayness of their best songs. And Go West is of course good fun.

It does suffer a bit from some slightly dated production, the pulsey beat on I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing, the wah wah on the nicely tender Liberation, the synth orchestra stabs on A Different Point of View slightly distracts from a great chorus melody, the bouncing-around synths and sequenced backing vocals on One and One Make Five, the sax on To Speak is a Sin.

Overall though it’s a very enjoyable listen, some very good songs and melodies and no obviously weak moments, but it doesn’t quite reach their best stuff.
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Playlist submission: Can You Forgive Her

Led Zeppelin IV
Hobbit me up, bitch.

Definitely my favourite Led Zep album, their best synthesis of blues-rock and elves and goblins, with one of my favourite ever Led Zep songs in The Battle of Evermore.

But then there isn’t a weak song on here - I suppose if you are only putting 8 songs on the album they all have to be bangers, and they are. Black Dog for lascivious blues rock, Rock’n’Roll for breakneck rock’n’roll, The Battle of Evermore for wailing Sandy Denny and folky mystical Hobbitry. Stairway is of course overfamiliar, but listening objectively it is a stupendously great song. I love the electric piano on Misty Mountain Hop. I’ve never really thought about it until today, but Four Sticks, particularly the guitar, sounds quite like Bodysnatchers from In Rainbows to me? Going to California has that lovely folky lilt and When the Levee Breaks with its oft-sampled powerhouse drumming.

There’s not a bad song or weak moment, it’s a masterpiece in 70s blues-folk-rock. Simple 5.
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Playlist submission: The Battle of Evermore

Kenza
He’s sold 80 million albums! Shows how anglo-centric my music knowledge is.

I’m not sure what to make of it. I know nothing of Raï, but reading about it apparently this is an ‘accessible’ album with elements of western pop, reggae, funk etc. Without knowing his back catalogue or the context I don’t know how accurate that is, but it does feel like those western elements are pretty generic and with the production and playing feeling very very professional polished session musician the whole thing feels like it has been pulled in a very MOR direction - the wah on Trigue Lycee, the bad funk of E’dir E’sseba, the salsa of Gouloulha-Dji - and feels much the worse for it. And let’s not speak of the cover of Imagine (although it's certainly not the worst version I’ve heard)

I assume the intention was to make a crossover album and it may not be a reflection of Raï and his other records, but that polished, cheesy sound does take away from the best bits; the vocal melodies, the North African strings and the traditional instruments, as on Aâlach Tioumini or Ya Aâchkou, that sneak their way in amongst the 5 string basses and keyboards. And it works best for me on what I assume is the most traditional sounding song, Mele H’bibti.

I’m glad this came up as it's a genre I’d never heard of and I’m interested in finding out a bit more about it and Khaled too, but I’m uncertain how to rate it. I’m reluctant to give it a 2 due to ignorance of him and the genre, but the cheesiness of the western elements, and its length does put it in that area. However I think there’s enough in the good bits to make me think about listening again, so I think I’ll just sneak it to a low 3.
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Playlist submission: Mele H’bibti

Homework
As a fantastically constructed set of songs this is great, and has some great memories and nostalgia attached. But I’m not sure it totally works as a whole album, especially over the course of nearly 74 minutes. It definitely feels like a series of tracks, and I don’t think it's quite at the same level as Discovery, Random Access Memories or perhaps even the Tron soundtrack.

There’s no doubt though that they are absolute masters at assembling tracks through layers upon layers of kicks, snares and keyboards, building up the anticipation and excitement through the kick drums - it’s amazing how often they manage to make repetitive, relatively simple phrases and hooks sound thrilling and addictive, most obviously on Da Funk and Around the World. But there are other excellent tracks too, the Kraftwerk influenced Daftebdirekt, the sunshiney Phoenix, Fresh, Rock’n’Roll, the superb disco bass of Burnin’, Alive.

It’s actually slightly tricky to rate, taken individually each track is very good, and in its field it's excellent and of course hugely influential, but as an album as an entire listening experience I don’t find it as fulfilling as each track on it’s own, and it does feel very long by the time we get to Oh Yeah or Burnin’. Because of that I think it lands as a mid-high 4.
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Playlist submission: Da Funk

At Mister Kelly’s
Although on occasion her vocal style feels very of its time, she does of course have a lovely, relaxed warmth to her tone and its truly great voice. And it's nicely mirrored in the understated and thoughtful playing, the piano moving delicately around her voice and the bass and drums never getting too showy or splashy.

Although there are some great songs by some great songwriters on here, I think it works a bit better as an overall feeling and atmosphere rather than as focus on individual songs - there are occasional missteps, and it doesn’t feel as tightly improvised as other albums we’ve had, but the relaxed, undemanding spirit makes it a charming listen, even if it never really gets out of 3rd gear.

I’d certainly listen again if in the right mood, and her voice is lovely, but I think it tops out at a high 3.
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Playlist submission: Stairway to the Stars

S.F. Sorrow
Musically there's a lot to like on here. S.F Sorrow is Born is a great song in it’s own right, excellent riff, I love the strings acoustic lead with the bass carrying the riff and some very nice Beatles-esque horns. She Says Good Morning has some great guitar with a Kinks feel to it. Private Sorrow is excellent, that flute riff is superb, surely that’s been sampled somewhere? If not it should be, I feel like I can hear someone like J5 rapping around it. I like the driving rhythm of Balloon Burning, again some interesting guitars for 1968. Death has a nicely sinister feel, Baron Saturday is nice and I like the Cream-esque I See You, with its lightly sprinkled psychedelia (and distracting panning). Old Man Going is great, with a real Black Sabbath feel to the guitars and toms. And Loneliest person is a really nice folk-ish ditty with a nicely caustic edge to it.

Conceptually however, why are these sorts of things always so wonky? Not necessarily in the bones of the overall story, but in how they actually tell it? I know they are not playwrights and are working within the world of free wheeling psychedelia, but it always seems gets so wooly and silly and ends up in a sequence of things that happen to the main character, always with one more ludicrous thing that happens, and all tied up with some rather obvious and trite message.

As well as the Beatles (and specifically Sgt Pepper), clearly a huge influence, (see the ‘awaaay’ intonation on Bracelets of Fingers) and the Kinks, the obvious comparison is Tommy. That has similarities of an overall story that kind of makes sense, but told in a way that is a bit lumpen and confusing, but musically Tommy is much better as a suite of music, with passages and phrases coming in and out across the tracks, making it feel like a coherent musical piece. While the music on SF Sorrow as individual tracks is good, it only occasionally hints at the SF Sorrow is born riff and it doesn’t feel like a musical suite to match the overall story.

Having said all that I liked this, production-wise it is a bit ropey, but the songs are good and the story doesn’t really matter as much as the fact that it is a concept album that sticks to its themes, and it does feel superior to a lot of the blues-psychedelic music from the same period as well as some other conceptual stuff like Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake. I think it gets into the 4s.
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Playlist submission: Private Sorrow