Reviews by ikejiri

Licensed to Ill
I’m never quite sure if they are joking on this, or if they actually mean it. I can see why they would say it’s a joke, and bearing in mind the rest of their career, I’m probably inclined to believe them. Even if their wordplay, pop culture references and delivery are all great, and whether it is all tongue in cheek or is actually sincere, the constant fixation on and references to girls, beers and defying the authority of teachers and parents does get a little tiresome over the course of the whole album.

Musically it’s also very of its time and very 80s Rick Rubin, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Led Zep sample on Rhyming and Stealing is great and sets the tone for well chosen samples and big, echoey beats, and its fusion of rock and rap is clearly hugely important, along with Run DMC (with Rick Rubin of course), in Rap's emergence into the mainstream. I suppose the flip side of that is that it also birthed some god awful rap-rock in its wake, like Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and particularly and most egregiously Kid Rock.

Rhymin and Stealin, Slow Ride, Girls, Fight For your Right, No Sleep till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey and Time to Get Ill are the standout tracks. I particularly like the Led Zep, War and Creedence samples on Rhymin, Slow Ride and Licensed to Ill and of course Fight for Your Right is a great tune. Girls (aside from the lyrics) and Brass Monkey do indicate some of the musical playfulness they would subsequently exhibit

It may be a bit low, but in the context of their whole career a high 3 probably feels about right - it shows glimpses of their sense of humour, and their ears for a hook, but it misses the sense of inventiveness and fun that you get from Paul’s Boutique onwards.
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Playlist submission: Fight For your Right

Punishing Kiss
I don’t know Ute Lemper at all and I resisted looking this up until I’d given this a listen.

I get what she is going for - that musical, theatrical, 60s cinematic, cabaret, Weimar Republic, interwar, slightly seedy, decadent, melodramatic, orchestral, torch song vibe. The problem is it sounds very dated to the late 90s/early 2000s, and consequently it lacks any sort of atmosphere or any evocation of anything it's aiming for. Rather than sophisticated decadence it sounds more like soulless ham fisted schmaltz.

I also really don’t like her voice or her vocal mannerisms. I get that the songs require that theatrical vocal style and those talked asides, and while she has a strong voice it has a quite unpleasant nasal brutality to it.

Alongside all that, I found the songs pretty uninspiring thematically, lyrically and melodically, even if they were written by people I like, like Nick Cave and Tom Waits. It was a bit of struggle to make it through the third listen, but You Were Meant For Me was the only one that really stood out, the only song where the sound, arrangement and vocal all coalesced to conjure up a dramatic and nicely overwrought whole.

I do actually like Neil Hannon and the Divine Comedy, but his records, while obviously influenced by this type of music, have some wit and charm with a much more considered sense to them.

Like I say I get what they were going for, and if you are into the musical theatre vibes of the German Elaine Paige singing Cabaret and Kurt Weill then I guess it’s a good listen, but I found it a bit of an uninspiring irritation. Reluctant to go 1, even if I’m tempted, so I’ll stick with a 2.
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Playlist submission: You Were Meant For Me

A Nod is as Good as a Wink… to a Blind Horse
This is the same year as their 2nd album and also Rod’s Every Picture Tells a Story, which Ronnie Wood plays on on every track and the other Faces appear. Rod’s voice really is at its peak in this period - obviously he has his distinctive powerful rasp but he combines it beautifully with a lot of tenderness and subtlety, as on Love Lives Here. It’s also when he had the Faces to help choose and write good material for him, and back him brilliantly, although it’s a shame he doesn’t always take the lead on here - although his backing vocals are great I’d love to hear him sing Debris for example

Ronnie Wood’s playing is great, as is that of Ronnie Lane and Ian McClagan. Kenney Jones can occasionally be a bit lumpen, but he’s pretty solid here too.

Miss Judy’s Farm is a great opener, with a very nice, dynamic, propulsive rhythmic quality to it. You’re So Rude is a decent rocker, and as much as I like Ronnie Lane, it would sound better with Rod singing. Last Orders Please is ok, but a bit pub rock really and lacks a bit of punch.

Stay With Me is of course a classic, along with Oh La La their best song. Banger. I do love Debris, its a lovely delicate song, but as above I’d live a Rod vocal on it. The Memphis cover is great, I like the swampy low down vibe they give it. Very nice. I’ve always liked Too Bad, a very catchy Faces rocker. That’s All You Need is also great, love the slide and the outro.

I like the Faces a lot, and this is their best album, although they are probably more of a songs and greatest hits band than a coherent albums band. Nevertheless this a fun early 70s rock n roll record with some great songs, some great guitar and a singer at his peak. 4 stars for me.
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Playlist submission: Has to be Stay With Me

Can’t Buy a Thrill
It's only in the last 10 years or so that I have come to really appreciate Steely Dan. I had Aja on CD back in Durham, but I never really got it, it felt too AOR and Jazzy. But nowadays I can appreciate that no matter how much technical sophistication or jazziness they try to inject, they can’t seem to help but write incredibly catchy and satisfying soft rock.

Do It Again is the song that probably made me realise how great they are. I remember hearing it at a party at someone’s flat when I lived in London and thinking it was superb. It’s a great example of their genius as arrangers and producers - it just sounds so right, with nothing extraneous or useless, with everything feeling considered and thought through. They also manage to play and produce with such precision, while maintaining a sense of swing and movement, without it feeling static or dull.

That holds true for the rest of the songs on the album too, Dirty Work, Kings and Midnite Cruiser with their very catchy choruses and assured easily melodic verses. Only A Fool Would Say That has some lovely guitar and a slightly more cynical feel compared to the previous songs.

Reelin’ in the Years is pretty well known I presume, and is a nice upbeat song for the start of side 2. Fire in Hole is vaguely melancholic, and I like the slightly staccato piano. Not one of the most immediate songs but still very good. I really love the laid back melody and feel of Brooklyn, again with a great, catchy chorus with great backing vocals. Change of the Guard is another solid soft rock pop song, with some nice overdriven guitar back in the mix. Turn that Heartbeat Over Again is a lovely bit of wistful blue eyed soul, rounding things off superbly.

This may not be their greatest album, but I do love it, and it kicks off a great run of records up to Katy Lied. They may not veer too far from their catchy jazz-flecked soft rock pop tendencies, but they do it so well it doesn't really matter. Great album, easy 5
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Playlist submission: Do It Again

Blood, Sweat & Tears
Variations on a Theme sounds pretty schizophrenic, which sort of encapsulates the whole album. It's messy, but not in a totally uncharming or unpleasant way, although it never quite seems to catch fire and fuse all its disparate parts into a fully realised whole.

The cover of Smiling Phases starts off as a fun bit of rolling rock/soul, but then it descends into some kind of prog rock jazz club, with a A LOT going on, before picking the first bit back up. Sometimes in Winter feels vaguely out of place, it has the same jazz elements, but feels more like lounge music, and the vocals are quite nondescript in comparison to the normal lead singer, although again its not without a kind of slightly gentle charm.

More and More is fun in a funky jazz way, And When I Die’s riff feels quite Sesame Street, especially with its stop start nature, definitely something slightly children’s entertainment about it. I’m not familiar with the original so not sure if it sounds similar?

God Bless the Child’s horn arrangement in the intro sounds a bit like the Welsh National Anthem and He Ain’t Heavy, but it’s a nice enough version even if musically a bit heavy handed. Very nice and controlled vocal though.

Spinning Wheel is probably the standout. I only know Shirley Bassey’s version, but it's a great bit of blue eyed soul with a nice tight arrangement. You’ve Made Me So Very Happy is a lovely song, and again, this is a nice version, particularly the more upbeat parts.

Blues Part II, not sure about this, p robably a bit too much prog jazz and just too much happening in 11 minutes to get any sense of it, although I do like the Sunshine of Your Love bit, and it’s better than some of the Yes type songs we’ve had.

Overall there’s a lot going on in pretty much every song, which although fun, does make you wonder what this would be like with a more focused approach. But then on the flipside the jumping around, time changes and jazz excess (Jazzcess?) seem to be done out of a sense of fun and enjoyment rather than po faced seriousness, so it might lose the appeal it does have. A nice little oddity that I enjoyed, but will probably not come back to - 3.
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Playlist submission: Spinning Wheel

Californication
I really liked By The Way when it came out (and very much enjoyed them at V) and I subsequently listened to this a fair bit around that time. I haven’t listened to any RHCP since then so I was really looking forward to revisiting it.

I don’t know whether I've changed or it hasn't aged well in the intervening years but overall I found this a bit of a struggle. There’s lots I should like; Frusciante’s guitar, Chad Smith’s drumming, Flea’s obvious skill as a bassist, and it's clear they can write some good catchy hooks as there are a few very good songs, Scar Tissue, Otherside and Road Trippin’, but there’s just something about the whole thing I couldn’t connect with. I found Kiedis’s voice tough going, in a way I didn’t 20 odd years ago, and while he can come up with the odd gem there is a lot of lyrical stupidity presented seriously.

Also, I thought this sounded quite ropey - even on really good headphones it felt like I was listening on a portable FM radio from the 90s. It sounds like it’s all on one narrow band with no sense of depth, everything all bunched in the middle. The snare sound is also quite distracting. I do find Rick Rubin interesting, and he’s produced a lot of great records, but he does have quite a few bad sounding records in there too, this included.

Overall it’s not that I disliked it, or I thought it was bad, or that they aren’t very skilled, I just found it hard going over the course of a few what felt like pretty long listens. Maybe it’s a result of the production, or Kiedis’s voice or that there is a distinct sameyness to their formula but I just felt like it’s not really for me, and doesn’t hold a great deal of interest beyond those few good songs. Somewhat with regret, as I was expecting more enjoyment, it's a 3, and an album I’m unlikely to come back to.
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Playlist submission: Otherside

Doggystyle
And you even licked my balls

I love the G-funk production on this, along with The Chronic, it's probably the apex of Dr Dre’s production style and sound. He’s almost like Nirvana. In they way they scythed down Hair Metal, there’s a clear delineation in Hip Hop before and after The Chronic, from a quite trebly drum machine sound to the slowed down, laid back, bass heavy sound of this. One of the podcasts I listen to did a breakdown of Nuthin’ But a G Thang from The Chronic and they talked about Dre developing his style so it would sound great in a drop top car while driving around LA, which is interesting - it definitely sounds like it’s made for warm weather, with a funky stickiness, rather than made for parties in basements in freezing cold New York

Snoop is also, obviously, a very charismatic performer, with a great turn of phrase and a fantastic, laid back, laconic delivery. He really is one of the best.

Gin and Juice and Who Am I (What’s My Name)? are rightly classics with great sounds and hooks, particularly Gin and Juice, with it’s languid beat and deep bottom end, but there are a lot of very good tracks on here: Tha Shiznit, Lodi Dodi (great lyrics), Murder Was the Case, Doggy Doggy World, and Gz and Hustlas (great sample/interpolation)

Ain’t No Fun is pure Lonely Island. It is unintentionally funny (and not a little icky), so no wonder it gets parodied so easily and is hard to take seriously, even if it’s great musically. And the skits, while not as bad as some, aren’t great, although I quite like DJ Salty Nuts and W Balls.

It’s an easy 4 - brilliant production, great rhymes and delivery and a landmark hip hop album
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Playlist submission: Gin’n’Juice.

Le Tigre
I’m pretty familiar with this. I absolutely love Deceptacon, like Hot Topic a lot and think Kathleen Hanna is very cool.

It’s definitely a bit ramshackle and eclectic and feels quite homemade, but that gives it a lot of character and charm - I really like its blend of 90s take on punkish attitude, post punk danceability, programmed drums, alternative hip hop and 60s surf pop and girl groups. All with a tongue in cheek, political lyrical bent.

Deceptacon is a fantastic bit of off kilter danceable pop, it was always a crowd pleaser when I DJ’d. Great bass and programmed drums and brilliantly catchy in a non conventional way. Hot Topic is a very different song, but again very catchy, I love the bouncy rhythm, the Shangri-Las style backing vocals and the buzzsaw guitar. What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes is pretty amusing, if not exactly subtle, but I like the drum machine beat and the repetitive riff.

The The Empty is probably the most like a Bikini Kill song with it’s very punk verses, but i like the contrast with the almost bedroom melody of the chorus. Phanta is a little sci-fi oddity, I like the organ riff and the little squiggles, even if the song is not the most coherent. Get a little bit of The Specials in the vocal melody.

Eau d’Bedroom Dancing is a great tune, with lovely bass and a pleasing slightly off centre downtempo feel.

It sounds like a not quite as good version of Deceptacon but there’s a great groove on Let’s Run, and I really like the little organ and morse code sounds.

I like the 60s garage rock vibe of My My Metrocard combined with some punk shouting. Great tune.
I get a sense of the Beastie Boys with Friendship Station and Slideshow at Free University, the beats and piano loop on Friendship Station sounds quite like the Check Your Head/Ill Communication era, and Slideshow sounds like it could be on a Money Mark or Cut Chemist album. Both fun tracks.

Dude, Yr So Crazy! is pretty funny, again Money Mark vibes and nice little xylophone loop. The guitar sounds a bit Portishead too.

Les and Ray feels like an attempt at a 60s girl group song that comes out a bit wonky, and consequently is great. I think that’s what I like about Le Tigre, is that they are one of those bands that try to write a song along the lines of their influences, but it comes out slightly off kilter and odd, but in a great, charming way.

Itay not be the most consistent or coherent album, but there are some great tunes, and the lo-fi energy, charm and overall sense of fun easily makes it a high 4 for me. Great stuff.
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Playlist submission: Deceptacon

Moondance
I’ve never been a massive fan of the title track, I do appreciate it, but I’m not as keen as I am on the rest of the album, which includes a couple of my favourite VM tunes - Crazy Love, Caravan, Into the Mystic, Everyone and Glad Tidings.

It’s easy to see it as suffering in comparison to Astral Weeks, but even though it is the follow up it’s a very different proposition, and of course a fantastic album in its own right. Whereas AW is more impressionistic, ethereal and abstract, MD is more concrete and conventional, although you can still hear the threads of AW in some of the jazziness and the horns and in the philosophical delicateness of tracks like Into the Mystic.

And it Stoned Me is kind of emblematic of the departure from AW; a little bit of jazz but mainly a kind of soulful r’n’b folk rock with more traditional structures. Love the rolling piano.

Like I say I’m not a huge fan of Moondance, although I can see why its popularity has endured, but Crazy Love is an absolutely superb song, again kind of wonder how such a knobhead could write so tenderly.

Caravan is great, The Last Waltz version is possibly even better than this, but it pairs brilliantly with Into the Mystic. I’ve already mentioned it twice, I know, but it’s absolutely superb - mesmeric and strange, but with palpable warmth and sense of magic. I never tire of hearing it.

Come Running works really well with These Dreams of You, great bits of soulful folk pop. Come Running in particular is very catchy. Lovely bit of slightly bluesy business on Brand New Day and some super backing vocals.

Everyone, another super track has that lovely harpsichord and a great upbeat melody. Great use in the Royal Tenenbaums. And I love Glad Tidings, the bass really drives it forward and the horn arrangement and answering motif to the ‘la la la la’ is great. Also used really well in The Sopranos, particularly the ‘bring you glad tidings from New York City line’.

Because I love Astral Weeks I sometimes forget what a fantastic album this is, it’s been great listening to it today. Can’t be anything but a 5.
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Playlist submission: Into the Mystic

Teen Dream
Another ‘dream’ album.

I’ve never heard of Beach House or this album, so had no clue what to expect, from the name I thought it might be some kind of Junior Senior style fun party music but it’s not a million miles away from The War on Drugs, but also a more restrained and melodic My Bloody Valentine with a bit of the XX. It also reminds me very strongly of something else, but I can’t work out what. Something like Turin Breaks, but not Turin Breaks.

Anyway I’m not entirely sure that this works for me. I liked the first two tracks, particularly Silver Soul with that lovely slide guitar, and while none of the rest of the tracks are bad, I started to find the slightly aloof, studied 2010s indie-ness of it rather cold and unmoving. While I could appreciate a lot of it, the construction of the tracks, with some very nice sounding guitar and bass, and the overall shimmery vibe they were going for, I don’t think the songs are actually that strong. It’s not a direct comparison, but for an album from a similar time in a slightly similar-ish genre, The War on Drugs album is far better at fusing musical texture with songs and melodies, and as a result it’s a better album, one that you want to come back to.

Overall, not bad but not really for me, there is a decent amount to admire, but not much to make me want to come back to it. 3.
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Playlist submission: Silver Soul

Lost in the Dream
I’m very aware of The War on Drugs, but I’m not sure if I’ve actually heard any of their songs, although they are the sort of band they play on 6 Music.

I was expecting something similar to The National, perhaps a bit plodding and indie-serious, but I found it more rewarding than that National album we had. While it does share some of the same earnestness, it’s more interesting, musically, melodically and atmospherically. While the subject matter isn’t the happiest, there are a lot of upbeat melodies and a relatively joyous vocal delivery.

There’s no doubt many of the songs share a similarity to each other, rhythmically many of them are almost identical, just at different tempos, but on repeat listens I started to notice some nice details in the instruments, and some great little pop hooks, like the piano figure and slide on Under the Pressure. Red Eyes really sounds like something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Again Suffering sounds very familiar, but is a very pleasant tune.

An Ocean in Between the Waves in the second half sounds quite like The Chain to me, but again, is a lovely nice song. I really like the 80s percussion and bass sounds on Disappearing, again a nice track.
Eyes to the Wind, another very nice track, sounds quite Jackson Browne to me. Big Springsteen vibes on Burning, particularly the yelps, which are very reminiscent of State Trooper

Although all 10 songs are worthy of inclusion, some judicious editing of their lengths would probably be welcome. Although I get the atmospheres and drone like grooves they are building, there are a lot of extended echoey and reverby outros (I don’t think Under the Pressure needs to be 8 minutes for example) so the whole record feels a little long at an hour. Lost in the Dream is also another very tasteful and nicely done track, the harmonica back in the mix is really lovely. And In Reverse is another very nice song, with a well crafted atmosphere and some very nice little musical moments and hooks.

Looking back, it seems as though every track reminds me of someone else, but I don’t think that's a negative, sometimes it just works to borrow some good bits from some great artists and mix them all up.

I liked this. I don’t think it’s quite in the Wilco or My Morning Jacket bracket for atmospheric songscapes and textures or variety and inventiveness, with many of the songs on here tending towards being nice, tasteful and pleasantly catchy, rather than emotionally or musically dramatic and affecting. But that niceness has its place, and in this case it’s very well done, with more than enough musical subtlety, nuance and skill to stop it being anywhere near bland, and I’d definitely listen again, perhaps when autumn comes. It’s on the cusp of 3 and 4, but I’ll go 4 as it’s a very nice album.
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Playlist submissions: All would be fine, but I did like Burning and An Ocean Between the Waves in particular. I’ll go Burning.

Quiet Life
‘It’s certainly crowded, I’d love to go’
I was hoping Life in Tokyo would be on here, but alas it’s not. So we’ll just have to do with a very enjoyable collection of Bowie and Roxy Music influenced Synth Pop.

This has that great late 70s early 80s atmosphere, a bit of Kraftwerk and Berlin style detached neon coolness with the above mentioned Bowie and Roxy Music stylings.

Duran Duran must have heard Quiet Life. It’s a great track, a super bit of new wave early synth pop. Fall In Love with me is very good too, not quite as immediate as Quiet Life but still a great bit of new wave pop. Despair is fantastic, with its modernist gothic atmosphere, and portentous piano and choir. I can see how this might rub people up the wrong way but I loved it.

In Vogue has a lovely string outro, sounds like one of the Bond orchestral motifs, although this and Halloween are slightly less strong than the others, but I admire the consistency of sound and style.

All Tomorrow’s Parties is a great cover, I do love the VU original, but I like the moodiness of this a lot, it suits the slightly odd child-like melody of the chorus. Alien is good, it has a creepy vibe to it, with the upbeat and poppy horns and then I love the piano figure in The Other Side of Life, a suitably atmospheric and slightly overwrought finale.

This is something I never thought I’d say, but there’s a lot of great fretless bass on here.

Overall I thought this was great - I wasn’t sure what to expect but I like the synth, Bowie, Roxy, New Wave mash up, lots of ominous sounds and slightly strangled vocals, and seemingly very smartly constructed arrangements. Was actually tempted to go 5, but I don’t quite think it’s in the top bracket, so I’ll settle on a solid and very enjoyable 4.
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Playlist submission: Quiet Life

Dusty in Memphis
The difference between this and the other Dusty album we had is immediately very stark: the song choice, the playing, the sound, all are instantly better on Just a Little Lovin’, more sympathetic to her voice, poppy and accessible but also. That continues with So Much Love, even if these two songs are quite as strong as some of the songs later on.

Son of a Preacher Man. Despite being very overfamiliar it is, of course, truly excellent. Atmospheric, mysterious with brilliant playing and a fantastic vocal.

I Don’t Want to Hear it Anymore, has, as usual a great vocal, and a very nice 60s pop feel with a nice build.

Don’t Forget About Me and Breakfast in Bed are both superb. Never heard either of them before, but both are excellent. I love the guitar and the stomping chorus on Don’t Forget About Me in particular.

Just One Smile felt a little cloying to me, the arrangement perhaps a little big band. The Windmills of Your Mind is a fantastic song, but I’m not as keen on this version. The vocal is super, but I’m not keen on the arrangement with the Spanish guitar, it feels a bit lounge. The strings towards the end are good, but I’m not sure they quite rescue it.

In the Land of Make Believe is great, it has a very pleasing delicacy and although there is quite a lot happening musically it’s placed back in the mix to give it some sense of restraint.

No Easy Way Down falls a little close to easy listening, but is just about rescued by the vocal (of course) and the playing, the organ is particularly noceI Can’t Make it Alone has a lovely build and crescendo, it’s good, even if not quite as strong as some of the others

When it’s good this is great, and although it's far superior than the other album we had, there are some songs that don’t quite work for me, sailing a little close to easy listening or lounge, which stops it from getting into the 5s. A 4 feels about right, reflecting the quality of singing and playing.
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Playlist submission: Preacher Man is the obvious one, but for a change I’ll go Don’t Forget About Me

New Boots and Panties!!
‘Arseholes, bastards, fucking cunts and pricks’
I’ve always loved Sweet Gene Vincent, and, even though it’s not on the OG album, Sex and Drugs is obviously superb too.

I’m a big fan of his voice, that great combination of roughness around the edges and warm tenderness. I find its vulnerability very affecting.

Lyrically he is great, again another great combination, this one of sardonic and sincere, funny and moving.

Musically it’s a lot more interesting than the pub rock he is often associated with. There’s great bass playing everywhere, with a lot of funk and disco elements, and I really love the drum and percussion sound. On top of that there are notable rockabilly, punk, jazz and music hall influences.

In other hands Billericay Dickie or Plaistow Patricia could easy descend into end of the pier novelty, but his skill as a lyricist and vocalist makes them great character sketches, poking fun, but also empathetic.

A great album, I thought it might be good but I really enjoyed it. An easy 4 on first listen, but the more listens I give it the better it gets, so it just about tips over into 5.
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Playlist submission: Sweet Gene Vincent

Walking Across the Rooftops
Didn’t quite know what to expect, one of those bands that you hear about, and sound a bit boring when you are in your 20s, but are actually very good, and maybe can only be appreciated when you are older.

Love the big bass coming out of nowhere on A Walk Across the Rooftops, with the pizzicato strings. Very nice. Tinseltown in the Rain - big Bowie vibes, but almost latter day Bowie, I can really imagine this on The Next Day. Feels like it might burst into Running up that Hill in some parts, but great stuff

Very Baba O’Riley synth loop on From Rags to Riches, giving it a kind of bouncy feel, but contrasting with the mournful vocal and melody and percussion coming from another room.

Stay is probably the most immediate song and a supper bit of slightly reserved synth pop. Easter Parade is fantastically unassuming track, very delicately sad and tender, but lovely nonetheless

Heatwave is such an arresting track, sneakily melodic and melancholic, fantastic, as Automobile Noise. Echoes Duchess by the Stranglers but a great, hopeful but downbeat closing track.

The genesis of the album is quite Interesting with Linn, and it makes sense for the way it sounds. Big and reverby, digitally drive sound with spare and austere arrangements, but with a real warmth and tenderness. It’s a fascinating album, one that I’m sure will percolate more and more over time, but it’s easily a 5.
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Playlist: From Rags to Riches

Talking Book
5 star banger.

Never noticed the sobbing sounds around 1.47 of You are the Sunshine of my Life when he sings ‘lonely’. Great opening track, love the laid back melody, rightfully a classic. Always loved Maybe Your Baby, the tension that the intro and verse build before the relatively subdued chorus is fantastic.

I love the Theremin sounding synth on You and I, and the song itself is great, one of his best ballads I think. And I love the whole atmosphere of Tuesday Heartbreak. I don’t know what I’m talking about but it feels like he’s singing slightly behind the beat, giving it an lovely unhurried swing. Love You’ve Got it Bad Girl, not sure why it but it always sounded like California to me.

Superstition. Can’t really say anything that’s not been said, but I’d recommend the One Song podcast in this song, the stems from the drums are amazing.

Big Brother is another sunny sounding song to me even though it’s quite a bleak lyric, but I love the melody and harpsichord style synth.

Blame it on the Sun is probably my least favourite song on the album, but it’s still a very good 70s Stevie ballad.

Lookin For Another Pure Love on the other hand is great, one I didn’t appreciate when I first heard the album but now I love.

And then I Believe, which is just an utterly joyous and fantastic love song, one of my absolute favourite Stevie songs.

Obviously it can’t be anything but a 5, even if a couple of songs don’t quite reach the heights of the others as a whole album it’s one of the greatest ever.
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Playlist submission: I Believe (When I Fall In Love it Will Be Forever)

Melodrama
Oh lordy

Musically I actually liked this a lot, lots of ominous bass, big echoey spacey production, some great synths, overall a pleasing electro pop sound. Melodically I quite like it too, there’s some good hooks and some well constructed tracks, with a lot of very obvious Kate Bush influence.

But vocally it’s irritating as fuck. That annoying, affected, bullshit, excessively and falsely american sounding cursive singing style, where no-one can sing Rs properly, even though they can when they speak normally. She’s from New Zealand. Lyrically some of it is a bit cringe too - like a 19 year old’s instagram posts set to music. But then I don’t think she wrote it with me in mind.

Despite the vocals and lyrics, I did like quite a few of the songs. Green Light is a bit of a banger, The Louvre is pretty good, Hard Feelings/Loveless is good and Supercut and Perfect Places are decent enough bits of pop. The rest is forgettable really.

Soundwise I do like this, it has some great musical and instrumental moments and some good songs, but that vocal style really does grate on me, so it straddles 2 and 3, I’ll tip over to 3 so millennials will like me.
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Playlist submission: Greenlight

Honky Tonk Masquerade
I kind of know who Joe Ely is, as he features in the Joe Strummer doc The Future is Unwritten and seeds to have been pally with the Clash. Which kind of makes sense as the Clash clearly loved Rockabilly and country. He also seems to be an interesting guy.

So I was interested to hear this. I like alot of Country but I’m not that familiar with the differences within the genre. From the title I presume this is Honky Tonk, which I think I like. And philosophically it feels to me it sits in that gap between the more confessional singer songwriter early 70s country and the more bombastic line dancing 80s country.

Some great slide tones, quite jarring, but in a great way, especially on Boxcars. They kind of counterpoint the country format, like an evolution of some of the stuff on the Burrito Brothers albums. There’s also some slightly unusual instrumentation like the accordion on West Texas Waltz and the synth on Fingernails.

I enjoyed this a lot. It’s not the best album we have come across but it’s a fun listen within enough moments musically and lyrically to separate it from other country. A very solid 3 with good re-listenability.
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Playlist submission: Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown

Apocalypse Dudes
Never heard of Turbonegro or this album.

The opening track starts out quite Oasis-like, with the acoustic and some Noel-esque lead, before going a bit Baba O’Riley before then turning into some kind of garage metal? The first two bits are fine, the last a bit boring, whatever you might call the style.

And that's where it stays, a kind of hard rock garage punk type thing. Which is fine if you like that kind of thing but it’s pretty dul really, the occasional decent bit of riffing apart. I don’t really like his vocals either, a bit like the Hives singer but without the charm. I guess the lyrics are supposed to be deliberately provocative with tongue in cheek, but they just sound a bit lame and try hard.

I guess it’s fine for what it is and trying to do, but to me it doesn’t even really work as a dumb fast rock album, it just feels kind of pointless. It’s not particularly exciting, it doesn't do anything particularly interesting, it just kind of exists as loud guitars and solos, a bit of shouting, some silly lyrics and not much else. The lack of harmonic, musical or instrumental variety starts to drag after about 4 songs and makes it a slog to get through.

It’s not the worst album, but there seems to me to be a lot better examples of this kind of thing, so there’s no reason to ever come back to this.
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Playlist submission: The Age of Pamparius, as it’s the only one with anything vaguely different about it.

Slippery When Wet
I’ve always been very partial to Wanted Dead or Alive and the pop power of Livin’ on a Prayer is undeniable, as is that of You Give Love a Bad Name, although probably to a lesser extent.

I was hoping that the rest of it would be a bit of cheesy fun, but it's basically either some kind of attempt at a Spingsteen knock off (Wild in the Streets), or it sounds like something from the closing credits of a forgotten 80s movie (I’d Die For You), or is the theme song for a cartoon that was created purely as a vehicle to sell a new toy range, like your Bravestars, your M.A.S.K.s etc. Raise Your Hands is the best example of this, so much so that I tried to think of the cartoon it would be from. I decided its called McCall Two Hands, about a space vigilante called Colt McCall who has two bionic hands that can detach and act independently, shooting grenades, guns and ropes and helping capture the baddies, who are led by his nemesis Caxton Duplantis, who is secretly also the Mayor of the planet Srixion 7, where this is set. Replace the chorus of Raise Your Hands with McCall Two Hands and it all comes together.

I think the thing I’ve always felt with Bon Jovi is the sense that they seem take themselves very seriously and have a rather self important regard for the profundity of their music when in reality they are writing perfectly fine but pretty standard pop music - strip out the guitars, posturing and self regard and add some semblance of fun or joy, and a lot of these songs are really very similar to something that Max Martin might write for Britney or the Back Street Boys in the late 90s. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that at all, a lot of those 90s era pop songs are absolute bangers, but they generally aren’t pretending to be anything they're not, whereas it feel like these songs are designed to be as popular as can be, but with the transparent veneer of rock n roll rebellion and cool.

Lyrically is where the disconnect between what they think they’re doing and the reality is really apparent. I can imagine JBJ sitting on an amp case in the studio, pensively writing his lyrics on a notepad, before declaring ‘I’ve got it!’ “Let it rock, let it go, you can't stop a fire burning out of control”, ‘Yes Jon! That sounds dangerous and rebellious and exciting! Let’s get to work!’. Exactly the kind of lyrics 14 year olds would love, but are ultimately a load of old and tired cliched, vapid piffle. Fire also does seem to be his only metaphor, appearing with some regularity.

Also hopefully you can tell me what the technique is for that little squiggle guitar bit that Richie Sambora does ALL THE FUCKING TIME.

Wanted Dead or Alive, Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name aside, there isn’t really much of interest here, ultimately I think the self importance overrides any enjoyment or sense of fun you might get from the 80s-ness.

A shame, but it’s between a 2 and 3, probably closer to 2, those 3 good songs aside I can’t imagine coming back to it, unless I finish off my script for McCall Two Hands of course
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Playlist submission: Wanted Dead or Alive