Reviews by ikejiri

Aha Shake Heartbreak
I liked KOLs first album a lot and I liked The Bucket, when it came out and I’m pretty sure I had this album too (although listening to it now I can’t remember any of it), but I think I lost interest around that time.

All the elements are there for something I should like - southern rock style guitars, garagey drums, but apart from the run of King of the Rodeo, Taper Jean Girl and Pistol of Fire, andThe Bucket its generally a bit nondescript. It’s not objectively bad it’s just not as good as you feel it should be and kind of passes by without anything to make you sit up and notice. Whether it’s the strength of the songs or a general lack of energy I’m not sure.

I do like Ethan John’s production in general and I like the sound of the album, the guitars have a nice tone and I really like the drum sound and its place in the mix.

So overall a handful of good songs and a nice sound, but in the main pretty forgettable but fine. I think that makes a 3, a 2 feels a bit low.
⭐⭐⭐️

Step in the Arena
Your rap’s crazy whack

I’m Familiar with a couple of the tracks on here, Check the Technique, which I’d guess is their most famous song, and Who’s Gonna Take the Weight, but haven’t ever listened to one of their albums.

I thought this was great! I like his down tempo delivery style, but musically this really shines. Excellent samples (Up On Cripple Creek!), a lot piano led with a great jazzy-soul vibe to it, particularly with the double bass. And each track is really well constructed and arranged with great sounding beats.

Lyrically, despite the default of bragging about his rap abilities, there is some nice variety, from the ‘romantic’ Lovesick to the social observation of Just to Get a Rep.

It’s probably 4 or 5 tracks too long, but this is a great early 90s bit of East Coast Hip Hop, kind of straddling the older school 80s and the 90s West Coast gangster styles. This will definitely go into rotation.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Play
Don't need to spend too long on this, I have a lot of familiarity with it and 3 listens today is more than enough.

There’s absolutely no doubting the excellence of 8 of the 18 songs: Honey, Find my Baby, Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, South Side, Bodyrock, Natural Blues and Run On. All brilliant, and despite their ubiquity remain excellent bits of music.

Obviously we all know about the field recording samples on some of those songs, but their combination with the electronic foundations and occasional live instrumentation is a great idea and is superbly executed. The samples have space to breath and are supported sympathetically and very cleverly by his arrangements. Tthey still sound fresh, exciting and moving a quarter of a century after release, no matter how many times you hear them.

But there’s also no doubting that the rest of the tracks are a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from very good to pretty run of the mill 90s electronica. Rushing, If Things Were Perfect, Everloving and the cinematic My Weakness are the pick of these remaining tracks. Well crafted, evocative and very human sounding ambient and downbeat electro. The Sky is Broken could be excellent if not for the excessively wet and sticky sound of his saliva in the spoken word part.

The other issue though, is the length. At 63 minutes it’s too long, and the excellence of those songs that tower above the rest contributes to it feeling so long. Despite some very good tracks after Run On it does feel like that should be the natural end point of the record. Indeed editing this down to 12 tracks (and re-arranging as you see fit); Honey, Find my Baby, Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, Southside, Rushing, Run On, If Things Were Perfect, Everloving & My Weakness would bring it to around 45 minutes and would undoubtedly make it a 5 star album. Of course it’s still a great album but the mixed bag of tracks outside the ‘big’ songs and the resulting length means it can’t be a 5, so its a 4, albeit a high one, for me.

⭐⭐⭐⭐️

Tragic Songs of Life
I do like country and due to that podcast I do appreciate The Louvin Brothers place in the development of country music and therefore rock music. Their harmonies are excellent, the sounds of their voices intertwining together in a way that only siblings voices can.

But there is no disguising that each song is broadly identical in terms of tempo, arrangement, instrumentation and melodic style. I suppose that’s typical of the country music of this era and a lot of country music in general but a lot of the tracks do merge into one, with only Kentucky, In the Pines, Knoxville Girl and Mary of the Wild Moor standing out.

I think I liked it most on the first listen, it diminished a little on the 3rd and 4th go round. It’s by no means an unpleasant listen though, it just does lack a bit of variation, even within the structure and harmonics of 50s country. I’m glad it came up though, the vocal harmonies are great and I like it as a document of it’s time and as one of the touchstones for the development of the later music that I love. However I’m probably unlikely to re-visit, I think I got all II can from today’s listens. Pure musical interest wise a 2, but cultural and historical value wise it just pushes up to 3, and I don’t think it’s fair to just dismiss it against what it helped sow the seeds for.
⭐⭐⭐️

The Modern Dance
I was quite intrigued to hear this, as I know lots of people cite Pere Ubu as an influence and as an important punk art rock type band.

Non-Alignment Pact and The Modern Dance I really liked. I was expecting a more thrashy punky thing but I liked the more wiry garagey post punk sounds and structure. Obviously his voice is not that conventional, but they both sound like very good post-punk style pop songs. The bass on Non-Alignment Pact is great in particular and the organ sounding synth on The Modern Dance is very nice as well.

Laughing I started to like after 3rd listen, even if it might be one of the weaker songs. The rhythm section and guitar is pretty cool, and I ended up quite enjoying the wailing and sax leading up to an actual song breaking out. Street Waves is similar to the first two tracks, a more conventional post punk style song - I like the riff and angularity of it. Good bass again.

Chinese Radiation didn’t really do it for me, I think the rhythm track is good but it Peters out towards the end.

Life Stinks I liked - the bass and guitar are nice together. Really reminded me of something but I couldn’t quite place it, maybe the Slits? By the third time round I started to enjoy his ‘singing’ style, I guess it could go either way but I liked it.

Over My Head is another great track, the sparseness is great and I liked the sound effects. Sentimental Journey I actually found quite amusing, even if I’m not sure that was the intention. I liked Humor Me as well, sounds a bit like a stylophone?

Overall not quite what I was expecting and although it may bit of a mixed bag in terms of number of good songs, but in lots of ways a more interesting experience than I thought it might be and it’s left me feeling pretty intrigued by them. It may not be the easiest listen at first, but I genuinely got into his singing style and there were 3 or 4 of tracks I really liked. And the bass was pretty much uniformly excellent. I like their singularity and I’m definitely curious about listening to this album again and some of their other stuff - I can definitely see how they would have influenced a lot of bands I like, like Joy Division, Wire, Talking Heads, Devo, etc.

I did think about giving it a 4 but I think it lands solidly as an upper 3 with potential - it definitely grew on me throughout the day.
⭐⭐⭐️

The Gilded Palace of Sin
I bought the Gram Parsons Anthology when it came out (in 2001, fucking hell), which was an overview of his career from The International Submarine Band up to his death. I really liked it and had always liked Sweetheart of the Rodeo, but for some reason I never tried any of the Flying Burrito Brothers. I guess that’s due to being in the pre streaming age when I was listening to that Anthology so had limited music purchasing resources.

Anyhow, Christine’s Tune is great, a great example of Gram and Chris Hillman’s ideas for synthesising country and rock. Leaning more heavily on the country aspect but with a great, psychedelic rock guitar break.

Sin City is a great track too, the subject matter is very country and I’m not sure how tongue in cheek it is, but it’s a great lilting and pared back country tune. 

The two soul covers of Do Right Woman and Dark End of the Street work well next to each other. Dark End of the Street in particular is fantastic, love the tack piano interplay with the bass and the harmonies are excellent.

My Uncle is a fun little country toe tapper, the pedal steel and mandolin work well together. Wheels has some interesting moments, I love the slightly hippy rock intro, the fuzzy guitar and the piano.
Juanita - have always loved this one, the intro is great, very evocative and lovely tune. The Stones loved Gram and you can see that here.

Hot Burrito 1 is another solid song, I love the instrumentation with the strummed guitar way back in the mix. Hot Burrito 2 I’ve always liked a lot too, a great propulsiveness to it and fantastic guitar and vocals. I love the warmth of the pedal steel on Do You Know How It Feels, and the piano through the verses.I’m not as keen on Hippie Boy, despite liking the Gospel outro, it doesn’t quite work for me.

Chris Hillman and Gram sing harmonies together brilliantly, but the pedal steel is probably the star of the show, kind of echoey, reverby, spacey and psychedelic, while being recognisably grounded in country.

I guess your appetite for this will depend on how you feel about country in general. As a kind of country fan who doesn’t actually know that much I think this is a great, I like the approach, the songs themselves, the harmonies and most of all the pedal steel. It may be simplistic to compare them but I think it is probably a notch below Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which is probably the apogee for 60s country rock so for that reason I’ll go 4
⭐⭐⭐⭐️

The Specials
Another one I listened to a lot at uni but have only intermittently put on over the intervening years, although through cultural osmosis it feels like I hear A Message to You Rudy and Too Much Too Young pretty frequently.

It’s been fun listening to it today though, reminding myself why I used to listen to it so much and also thinking I might appreciate it even more than I did then - it’s great!

And through better headphones it sounds much better now than it did 25 years ago. It always sounded quite thin on CD to me, but now the drums and bass seem much fatter and fuller and I feel I can hear more instrumentation. That might be my mind playing tricks - I remember the jewel case and booklet felt quite cheap lightweight and and I don’t know about you but if the packaging on a CD felt quite lightweight and cheap I often thought the music sounded thin too.

The ska rhythms and bass playing with the more prominent lead guitar, the punk tempo and attitude with the lyrical social commentary is a winning combo. And 45 years after it was released the energy and enthusiasm is remarkable, you can still feel the sincerity and intent.

Beside the deceptively skilled playing each song is brilliantly arranged, whether its an original or an ‘inspired by’ cover. I assume Elvis Costello had a hand in that alongside Jerry Dammers, but there’s a fair bit of instrumental texture and tone that isn’t always that obvious.

I think each song stands on it’s own, but aside from AMTYR and TMTY I’ve always loved Nite Club (particularly the horn arrangement), Concrete Jungle, Monkey Man (superb keyboards), Blank Expression and You’re Wondering Now. And today Doesn’t Make it Alright, Too Hot and Blank Expression stood out

After the first listen this morning I thought 4, but on repeat listens it’s definitely a 5 for me. Aside from the quality of songs and playing it’s just a brilliant, exciting listen - danceable but also lyrically interesting, of it’s time but also timeless. I think it’s one of those albums that everyone says is a classic so you either just assume it is or find it underwhelming, but listening to it, it’s clear its a genuinely brilliant bit of musical synthesis and overall a superb album.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Seventeen Seconds
To the trees!

Firstly and foremostly, A Forest. What a song. Clearly the best Cure song and an absolute copper bottomed classic.

On first listen I wasn’t keen, every song selling an attempt to rehash A Forest, but never actually getting there.

However I liked it more on the second go around and even more on the third. Yes there is a slightly templated feel but I started to like it; Motorik drums, straight ahead bass, slight guitar delay and a simplistic but insistent instrumental hook. It’s definitely a grower, once you attune yourself to the nature of the grooves.

Secrets, I think Mike Skinner must have nicked this for Empty Cans from A Grand Don’t Come for Free.

In Your House, M, At Night and Seventeen started to stand out to me on those repeated listens.

It’s definitely not a 2, A Forest is so good it can’t be. It’s not a 4, so that makes it a solid 3 I think, one of those ones that will reveal itself with more listens. I can see me putting this one while working, the tempos, slightly repetitive template and the horizontal melodies would suit it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Live at the Star-Club Hamburg
Generally not a fan of live albums so wasn’t looking forward to this. There’s two versions on Tidal, a German release and what I presume is the UK/US release, but it only has 8 songs and different track listing from what’s on Wikipedia, but at 22 minutes I thought at least it would be over quickly.

It’s nice to have my expectations and assumptions turned on their head though, I thought this was great. The energy is fucking nuts.

Despite Jerry-Lee being an objectively terrible human being his piano playing is superb on this, and you can genuinely feel his stage presence and showmanship in the audio.

The band, particularly the drummer, are great too. Pretty much straight ahead rockabilly/rocknroll playing but they absolutely stomp. Just read it’s the drummer from The Animals. As a side note, I’ve been listening to that History of RocknRoll in 500 songs podcast and, due to musician union rules in the 60s backing bands weren’t allowed to go to the US from the UK and vice versa and take other musicians jobs. So if a singer like Jerry Lee Lewis or Gene Vincent or Muddy Waters went on tour to the UK they had to use UK musicians as a backing band, which is how I guess Barry Jenkins ended up on here.

Anyhow, the classics are all present and correct, delivered with manic intensity, but I really love the version of Money. Great choice of song, although Money was released very early in their history, Motown hadn’t quite become the musical force and phenomenon by early 64, so it’s an interesting choice. Maybe a nod to the Beatles cover, or a nod to blues, country and RocknRoll branching out into what would become soul. Or like Lennon he just liked the literal message.

Love the version of Your Cheating Heart too, a lot of tenderness in his vocal and a nice drop in tempo before the finish. Whole Lotta Shakin’ absolutely slaps/bangs/fucks, as the kids would say.

Kind of tempted to go 5. As a snapshot of primal RocknRoll it’s absolutely amazing, but it is a live album, so maybe it doesn’t count as a a proper ‘album’, whatever that means. So I’ll go 4, but if everyone else goes 5 I’ll change it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Stand!
I’m a big fan of Sly and the Family Stone, although I think they are one of those bands that, because they were so influential and ground breaking, the slightly inconsistent nature of their 3 classic albums gets a bit glossed over.

After Booker T & the MGs one of the first multiracial bands, as well as being multi gender, and they were pretty much the first to take soul into a psychedelic direction, bringing in rock influences and laying the template for funk.

Stand! Is a great opener, despite the midget lyric. I like the build with each chorus, and the breakdown at the end.
Don’t Call Me is a bit dated, but makes sense in the context of them being a racially integrated band in the mid- late 60s.

I Want To Take You Higher rightfully endures as classic, essentially laying the template for funk. Great groove, bass and guitar.

Somebody’s Watching you is one of the weaker track, only really held together by Larry Grahams bass. Sing a Simple Song gets things back on track, the organ and horn interplay is great, very tight.

Everyday People, another classic. Love the ‘We’ve got to live together’ delivery. The message might be a bit simplistic but in the context of the times and the band themselves it’s does have some weight to it still.

Sex Machine is a funny one, I love Cynthia’s drumming and the groove is excellent, but it doesn’t really go anywhere over the course of a long 13 minutes.

You Can Make it If you Try feels a bit of a throwback to their previous album and, although a good song, it feels a bit lightweight in comparison to some of the other songs on here.

A a couple of decent tracks, a couple of weaker ones and then 3 stone cold classics in Stand!, IWTTYH and Everyday People lands this as a solid 4, especially in the context of the ethos of band themselves, the time it was made and the influences it would have in the years after.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

London Calling
Haven’t listened to this for a while, so it’s nice to revisit it and re-confirm how great it is.

Kind of picks up the template of the White Album in its eclecticism and exploration of musical styles. There’s nothing on here that really harks back to their previous more obviously punk records, apart from perhaps Clampdown and Death or Glory, but even those depart move into slightly different territories, eg the middle eight in Clampdown.

My highlights are Rudie Can’t Fail, Spanish Bombs, Lost in the Supermarket, Clampdown, Guns of Brixton, Lover’s Rock, I’m Not Down and Train in Vain, but I genuinely like every song, there’s none I would think about skipping.

Each song could stand on its own, but they work even better together as a collection. Despite the variety of styles there’s a consistent energy that runs throughout, again similar to the White Album. The eclecticism and willingness to try and do what they want rather than what is expected of them ties it all together.

Mick Jones guitar playing is excellent throughout. He was always interested in more than just 3 chord punk thrashing and his runs and textures on this are excellent, Lover’s Rock is a great example of this, a bit rock, a bit disco, a bit funk and a bit jazz. Topper Headon is great as always and I love Paul Simonon’s bass tone.

Listening has reminded me of why I like the Clash so much. Their first album is great, but they took a turn out of punk from London Calling onwards, into doing whatever they wanted, being open to what was going on around them with reggae, disco and hip hop, and looking back to the influences on the 60s bands they loved to create a kind of mishmash of all sorts. The albums after LC wouldn’t be as coherent but they still made some incredible music on Sandinista and Combat Rock (even Cut the Crap has one truly excellent song in This is England).

But this is the best they did and is rightfully up there with the best albums of all time
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

And as Paul is obsessed with length and requested I address it in my review, I shall: It isn’t too long.

Evermore
I’m pleased this came up as I have no idea where to start with Taylor Swift. I know some of the bigger singles but she seems to release an album every few weeks and I get a bit confused by it all. Indeed I’d never actually heard of this album but understand it was released not long after Folklore, which I had actually heard of, but never listened to.

Willow, this is very nice. Love the percussion and pared back instrumentation. Champagne Problems a bit of the opposite of a grower, as it started to grate a bit after a couple of listens.

I really liked Gold Rush, love that pulse under the chorus and the slightly dreamy feel. I wasn’t as keen ’Tis the Damn Season. Although the electric guitar figure is nice the use of Damn in the title I find a little irritating. Tolerate It is a fine bit of slow tempo pop music, and I liked the percussion on it.

No Body, No Crime, I really liked this one on repeated listens. I like Haim anyway but I enjoyed the revenge fantasy lyrics and - enjoyed the Nebraska style harmonica. Happiness is a grower too, really nicely constructed with a spooky mistiness to it.

Dorothea I found a bit forgettable, it has a bit of a 90s soft rock feel to it. Coney Island, however, I really liked. Her and the guy from The National’s voices work really nicely together.

I liked the guitar on Ivy, although at times it veers quite close to Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants. Cowboy like Me is another fine bit of country indie pop if a tiny bit forgettable. Long Story Short was nice change of tempo, although it feels like it never quite takes off in the way it should.

Marjorie really passed me by and Closure I wasn’t keen on, the vocal intonation on ‘do-in better’ is annoying.

Evermore is great though, love the piano riff and the duet. Excellent closing track with a great feel.

I’m not sure if you are supposed to listen to Folklore first to understand the context of this and also I don’t know enough about her whole catalogue to judge how this sits alongside her other stuff but I thought this was a great collection of country-ish indie pop. She seems to have that great knack of making things seem effortless, and I like her approach to vocals. I guess she can belt things out if she wants but sings with a tasteful restraint and poise. Sure there is a fair bit of earnestness and sometimes she does walk the line of winsomeness but I think she just about keeps out of trouble in the main.

Overall I really liked it, but it is a little bit long at an hour. I get that there is a consistent musical and stylistic intent behind this, which I think has been realised, but an hour is a lot, it definitely dips in places. It would benefit massively to lose say Champagne Problems, ’Tis the Damn Season, Dorothea, Marjorie and Closure and bring it down to 45 mins.

Vacillating between 3 and 4. It’s a very well made and tasteful album with some very very good songs, and I would definitely put this on again. It also makes we want to give the albums either side of this a go, so I’ll just tip over to a 4.
⭐⭐⭐⭐️

Autobahn
I do love this album although in totality it’s not quite on the same consistent level as Trans Europe Express or The Man Machine for me. But then the title track is one of the best things ever recorded.

Side 1 - 22 minutes of brilliance. It doesn’t feel long despite only a few variations on its structure and melody. It’s hypnotic and propulsive rhythm evokes the movement of the car, while the synths create a feeling of space, vista and excitement. Actual car journeys can be boring, but this feels like a car journey without the boredom. It is a truly remarkable bit of music, fantastic, massively influential and ultimately incredibly satisfying.

Side 2 has its moments but doesn’t reach the heights of Autobahn, although Kometenmelodie 2 is a great track in its own right, I guess a soundtrack to a comet flying through space before accelerating and burning out.
Mitternacht always sounds a bit like Save the Life of a Child to me, with the synth sounds and chords, also combined with a bit of Higher than the Sun by Primal Scream.
I love the flute and pain on Morgenspaziergang, and although it does give me the feeling of a spring woodland in the morning, it does feel like a nice idea in search of a fuller composition, perhaps similar to Mitternacht in that regard

They are incredible though in how what they do evokes feelings and touches the senses, considering they are 4 slightly odd men building electronic music with an almost stereotypical degree of German practicality and logic.

Finding it quite hard to score, the second side, despite moments of brillance is inconsistent, particularly compared to side 1, which I think pushes it down to 4. But then Autobahn is so good it could be a 5 all on its own. I think I’ll go 4, just in comparison to TEE and TMM and also, like some other top tier artists I’m holding them to a higher standard.
⭐⭐⭐⭐️

Violent Femmes
Blister in the Sun is another Durham memory trigger, watching Gross Pointe Blank on VHS and listening to the soundtrack. Clearly the standout track on here, a great song. Is it about wanking? I never felt like it was to me.

They have a distinctive sound with the acoustic bass being almost the lead melodic instrument and the no frills drumming. It does give each song a very similar sound and feel, but after a few listens I realised I really liked that sound and their style. A kind of wonky slightly off kilter jittery indie pinkish pop that I found very endearing. I think they must get a lot of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers comparisons as there are a lot of commonalities; unexpected slightly caustic lyrics: a punk sensibility but on acoustic instruments and an overall very singular style. And I presume they were very influential, especially on the 80s and 90s US lo-fi stuff.

Kiss Off I liked, echoes of Solitary Man in the intro and Please Do Not Go too, even if on first listen it sounds like it might be a rewrite of Blister in the Sun.
Add it Up has more than a hint of One by One by Foo Fighters. I like its energy and its build towards the end. Confessions is a nice change of pace until the last minute or so, I do like the chaotic ending.
Prove My Love is probably the 2nd best song behind Blister in the Sun, as another great bit of catchy indie pop. Really enjoyable. Promise is a bit Prove My Love part 2 without being as good although I do like the musical hook.
To the Kill I liked a lot on repeated listens, has a kind of insistent groove to the music and like the melody of the chorus. Gone Daddy Gone is a bit of a re-has of Add it Up, although I liked the xylophone as a slight differentiator.
Good Feeling I really liked, I really enjoyed the wonky sweetness of it and the fiddle is a nice addition.

Overall I really enjoyed this. On first listen it felt quite samey but I really got into it on repeat listens and a few songs really stood out, Add it Up, Confessions, Prove My Love, To the Kill and Good Feeling, along with Blister in the Sun. In terms of a rating I’m stuck between a 3 and a 4, but I think I’ll tip over into 4, mainly as I enjoyed it for it’s offbeat energy and distinctiveness, and that I’m certain it will be a grower as I’m definitely going to revisit it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bryter Later
It’s pleasing that by the end of this we have will have had all three of Nick Drake’s albums in chronological order. Bryter Later is sometimes my favourite of the three but they all swap around depending on the day. And obviously they are all 5 star albums.

I won’t go through track by track, each one is a little gem of beauty, but my highlights are always Hazey Jane II, One of These Things First, Fly and Northern Sky, which is probably my best ND song.

I enjoyed reading a bit about the album today and how he wanted to evoke Pet Sounds with the instrumentation. I can kind of see that, although obviously it sounds very different but I can see the common threads. Also I never realised that John Cale and Fairport Convention played on it. I must have read that on the CD liner notes but I don’t remember that at all.

I do really like the arrangements and overall sounds of this, particularly in contrast to the pared back Pink Moon and the kind of in-between FLL. Although they does walk a fine line between pretty and MOR, the strings and horns I think are great, and the playing is also very good. It would be quite easy for that also to slip into slight schmaltzy-ness, but it doesn’t, keeping things relatively simple and straight. Along with the strings and horns, the playing really enhances the gentle, bucolic atmosphere. It really is a very lovely listen.

So, obviously a 5 for me Greengrass
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Seldom Seen Kid
I’ve always struggled a bit with Elbow. I bought their first album when it came out as there was a lot of hype, but I couldn’t get on with it despite trying, ultimately finding them a bit dull.

I did however like Grounds for Divorce when it came out and it still sounds great, a lovely bit of slightly off kilter pop/rock. One Day Like This has been absolutely BBC’d to death, and despite it being a well crafted and catchy bit of music, I’m just not ready to embrace it yet.

Starling is nice, with some nice little touches and I liked Mirrorball a lot. I loved the horns on Weather to Fly, the brass band feel kind of reminds me of When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease any Roy Harper. The Fix is also great, the carnival organ and our old friend Richard Hawley lends a very pleasing gravity to it. A very nice song. A lot of the rest of it however passed me by a bit, kind of merging in to one slightly pedestrian one-tempo slog.

There is undoubtedly a lot of sincerity, craft and skill to it, but much of that craft does feel too deliberate and too confected on occasion - too much perspiration rather than inspiration. though, , but I can’t quite shake a feeling of ambivalence. There are lovely moments sprinkled throughout, and Guy Garvey writes some very good lyrics, but overall it does get a bit plodding. I know it’s not necessarily what they are aiming at but I did wish there was a bit more energy or excitement to it

I definitely didn’t dislike it, there is a lot to admire, and they know how to do what they do really well, but in the end it doesn’t quite resonate with me beyond the 4 or 5 songs above. As I’m unlikely to listen again it could be a 2, but that does feel a bit low for the craft on here so I’ll go 3.
⭐⭐⭐️

Fear of Music
I love Talking Heads and I love this album, although it’s probably in the 2nd tier of their stuff for me. It’s probably the hardest to get into melodically but I love the rhythms on it and its overall atmosphere and sound. Eno’s fingerprints are all over it, adding texture and texture electronic gurgles and noises. Love the cover too.

I Zimbra is one of my favourite songs on the album, with that Tina Weymouths bass, the shuffling beat and the African style guitar. Mind has its moments, including the guitar at the back end but it never quite feels like it quite comes together.

I really like Paper, great guitar and bass and I love whatever David Byrne is barking on about. Kind of nice synthesis of Television and the disco-ish dance beat they play with. Cities is great too, quite a simple piano riff but I love the words.

Life During Wartime is probably the strongest song on the album and is a great example of their combination of angularity, jerky rhythms and catchiness. Excellent.

Despite the ominous bass and overall tone of Memories Can’t Wait it’s not one of my highlights.

Air is great though, kind of funny lyric about breathing being bad but I love some of the little melodic runs before they veer off into odd directions.

Heaven is superb too, the most conventional song on the album, with a noticeable air of sadness and melancholy.

The ‘nuts and berries’ bit of Animals is great, but I’m not a fan of the rest of the song. Electric Guitar is fine, similar to Air in its unexpected melodic moments but not necessarily the strongest.

And the. Drugs is fantastic, up there with Life During Wartime as a stand out track. Simple and insistent, atmospheric and oddly melodic, it really gets under your skin.

For a lot of contemporaneous bands and a lot of bands in general this would be a 5, but for Talking Heads I’ll go a 4. That feels a bit low considering other albums I’ve given 5 to, but I think I’m judging them to a higher standard (a bit like Richard Hawley actually). There are some great tracks and in terms of ambition it is a step forward from More Songs About Buildings and Food, but it doesn’t feel as coherent and as rounded as Remain in Light, or my favourite, Speaking in Tongues.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Coles Corner
I like Richard Hawley, and I really love the track Time Is from Further, but I’m not that familiar with a lot of his oeuvre, including this one, although I am aware of it.

Coles Corner is not a promising start at all, pretty anaemic and very Bridget Jones soundtrack. Just Like the Rain and Hotel Room are better but only marginally, (although I did warm a bit more to Just Like the Rain on the 2nd and 3rd listen)

Darlin wait for me is really rather lovely though, more what I was expecting. The Ocean is very nice too, the circular strings arrangement is very evocative.

Born Under a Bad Sign I wasn’t as keen on, again drifting a bit close to the line of inspipidity

I Sleep Alone is great, and again more in line with what I was expecting. Love his voice on it. Tonight I also liked a lot, lyrically and musically, particularly the lead guitar sound and the string motif. I also really like the Sun Studios slapback echo production style and Johnny Cash-ness on (Wading Through) The Waters of my Time.

Who’s Going to Shoe your Pretty Feet and Last Orders passed me by a little bit, they felt like interesting musical ideas that don’t quite reach fruition.

I get the impression that he’s finding his style with this, working out how to combine his influences (Morrisey, Johnny Cash, Rockabilly, Country, Crooners) into something more unique and representative of him. I also definitely prefer his voice on his recent albums where it’s a bit rougher round the edges, a bit careworn with a more lived in feel to it.

Overall it’s a bit of a mixed bag for me. There are some really lovely songs, and maybe it suffers from high expectations, but there’s a bit of a pervasive sense of Radio 2 to much of the rest of it, a sense that if this was a Chris Rea or Mark Knopfler album it would likely be dismissed as bland and middle of the road. However those good songs and interesting moments do elevate it, and even if I wasn’t already aware of him I would be intrigued to delve into his catalogue and find out more about him.

I’ll go 3, that maybe low but I think I’m holding him to high standards.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Ps I think Paul might mention his train journey at dusk playlist in his review)

Me Against the World
'I was raised in the city, shitty
Ever since I was an itty bitty kitty
Drinkin' liquor out my momma's titty'

I’ve not really listened to 2pac much, aside from California Love, which I probably like more for the Dre production. I never really liked his delivery and the sense of aggression I perceived him to have (although I have to acknowledge that might be unconscious bias against the stereotypical angry black man on my part). However I’ve seen a few docs and read a bit about Hip Hop and him and it always seems like there’s much more to him than the perception of a a violent gangsta rapper. His background and life story are pretty interesting, a lot conflictions and contradictions, so I was interested to listen to this.

I suppose there are two or three things to listen out for with a lot of hip hop albums, the production and the rapping style and lyrics.

Production-wise, I’m not so keen on some of the drum sounds, but I do like the west coast tempo and the construction of the beats themselves. And in general I do like the g-funk sound, with that whistley keyboard (?) sound in the background, as on Lord Knows, and the 70s soul guitar and string sounds. Some of the backing vocals and vocal hooks I really don’t like though, particularly the male vocals on Young N-z and the female vocals on Can U Get Away. There are also some great samples, eg Walk on By on If I Die 2Nite and Stevie on So Many Tears.

Lyrically while on the surface there’s a fair bit of N words, drugs and violence, for me isn’t necessarily a simple glorification of those things - similar to Nas it feels more like reportage of what he’s actually seen and done. And Songs like Dear Mama and Can U Get Away are quite unusual set against the pervasive misogyny of a lot of the other rap around at the time. And overall there just seems to be a resignation, sadness and bleakness about it all. Even Intro, which could be seen as braggadocio about being shot and checking out of hospital feels more like an attempt to acknowledge some kind of trauma to me and it’s striking how often he undercuts and questions the violence, the assumptions and hopelessness of what he experienced, particularlly on Death Around the Corner and Outlaw. That’s not to say there’s no stereotypical guns’n’hoes stuff on here but it’s less frequent than the more considered and thoughtful stuff.

I also started to appreciate his delivery more after this, he does have a unique style but some of his rhymes and wordplay are great. There is also something faintly Dylanesque with his cadence, the way he delivers Me Against the World and some of Dear Mama for eg.

Reading a bit more about his career he seemed to embrace a more overtly gangsta stance and style after this album, becoming almost a caricature of the West Coast Thug Life rapper. I guess that might overshadow this album or paint it in the same light, but I don’t think that would be fair, as it seems to me there is a lot of depth lyrically and thematically to this.

I’m by no means a hip hop aficionado, and obviously his experience is so far removed from my own experiences but I really liked this album and found it really interesting. Even if some of the production elements I wasn’t as keen on I enjoyed the sound overall, and the lyrics and delivery are worth repeat listens - there is a lot of density to it and getting beyond my initial perceptions of him being a gangsta rapper and aggression I got a lot out of it. I’m definitely going to give the albums before this a listen and may give All Eyez on Me a listen too, for a bit more context.

It’s probably between around a 3.5 but I’ll round up to 4 as I was surprised how much I got from this and I’m sure I’ll be revisiting it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Clandestino
I feel like I’ve been trapped on a canal boat with an 55 year old weirdo who hasn’t finished doing it up or hasn’t cleaned it in ages. It smells of BO and stale weed. All the cups and mugs are really tea stained. There is a bed but there are no sheets on it. However there is a duvet cover on the very thin duvet and a pillow case on the single pillow. The furniture is made from bits of fucked wood. I want to leave but he’s trapped me an intense conversation about being a common law freeman.
⭐️⭐️