Reviews by ikejiri

Like Water for Chocolate
I quite enjoyed Be, without being fully sold, giving it a 3, but this is clearly a notch or two above that album.

He hasn’t necessarily got my favourite vocal tone, but he is clearly a dextrous and skilled rapper. An obvious issue though is the homophobia that's sprinkled throughout. He has since said he was in the wrong about it and that he wouldn’t ever say any of those slurs now, but for a progressive rap album and rapper with a strong accent on social consciousness and positivity, eg on A Song for Assata or on the anti-misogyny The 6th Sense, it is noticeably jarring.

A further issue is that it’s waaaaay too long, there is no need for this to be 1hr 17mins. I don’t think it needs 16 tracks and I don’t think so many of them need to be 5 minutes plus - like lots of albums across genres in the CD era a degree of judiciousness is missing

Aside from those elements of homophobia this is musically and, for the most part, thematically excellent, from the acknowledged Fela Kuti-isms of the excellent opener to the live drums and the overall jazzy sound. Although Kanye West’s production on Be had a fun, disposable sheen, Jay-Dee, ?uestlove, The Soulquarians and DJ Premier’s production on here has a far more satisfying sense of weight and depth, putting it alongside contemporaries like The Roots and Mos Def,(who are name checked and also appear, of course.

Alongside Time Travellin’ and the excellent A Sing for Assata, highlights for me were Heat, The Light, the synth-bassy Funky for You, The Questions, the flute-y Nag Champa, Thelonius and the 70s-ish Payback is a Grandmother.

Despite those misgivings this is a great turn of the millennium alternative/progressive hip hop album, and is easily a 4.
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Playlist submission: A Song for Assata or Nag Champa…I’ll go Nag Champa

I See A Darkness
I feel like I should enjoy this more than I actually did. It has all the elements I like, and perhaps I was expecting a bit more, but it didn’t really resonate that much with me.

I like the title track and quite enjoyed A Minor Place and Raining In Darling, but outside those I struggled to engage with it, it all felt a bit thin and reedy and a little ho hum, and that his vocal fragility seemed forced and ultimately hollow.

I don’t think it's bad, it’s just not for me and I think I’m unlikely to revisit, so a 2c.
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Playlist submission: I See A Darkness

Your Arsenal
I enjoyed this, much more than the other two Morissey solo albums on the list. Musically I’ve not been a fan of those, but this felt much more interesting and fun, there’s a kind of glammed up rockabilly twang to it, especially on the first two tracks, and it has an energy and punchiness that I felt You are the Quarry and Vauxhall & I were missing.

He’s obviously still pissy and moany, but lyrically it feels far less self pitying and solipsistic, bringing some of the humour and observationalism of The Smiths, giving the songs a more welcome lighter touch.

I don’t quite think it makes a 4, it obviously isn't on a par with The Smiths, but it’s better than the 2 stars I gave the other two solo albums, so by process of elimination it's a 3.
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Playlist submission: You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side

Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Although The Byrds were of course hugely influential and are responsible for some incredible music, as we have seen, their albums are often pretty patchy.

Even though this album doesn’t necessarily have a true standout track, and it's clearly a departure from their classic sound, I think it’s their most consistent album, with a distinct and winning earnestness and sincerity in their versions of these songs.

There are still hints at jangly, chiming guitars and their harmonies and overall atmosphere still retains a sun stippled west coast charm, and while they always had (and would continue to have) a country element to their music, it's probably hard to appreciate how people received such a straight on country record from a hip LA band.

I think the song choice is great, countryfying Dylan and Guthrie and countryfying Stax’s William Bell, and tackling the Louvin Brothers and Merle Haggard. Hickory Wind is one of Parson’s best songs but I particularly love the version of Blue Canadian Rockies and the excellently bass driven Nothing Was Delivered.

The context and what it birthed is a strong part of the charm, but purely musically I think this is a high 4. As much as I love it I don’t quite think it’s in the top bracket of albums, and again re-inforces that as great as The Byrds were, they never quite nailed an album
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Playlist submission: Nothing Was Delivered

Van Halen
I enjoyed this a little more than 1984, but some of the same things hold true as on that album - namely I don’t find Dave Lee Roth at all interesting as a singer, frontman or lyricist, and despite its technical proficiency Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing leaves me pretty cold. To be fair his playing does feel slightly more restrained than on 1984, and the album is better for it, but it still has a tendency towards empty grandstanding - e.g. the oft-lauded Eruption, which in actuality is a load of old wank.

Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love is a great riff and good song, I like Running With the Devil and Jamie’s Cryin, Feel Your Lovin’ and On Fire are all fun enough. The rest is pretty forgettable but I must say I really dislike their version of All of the Day - in their hands the rawness of the original is replaced by a rather dull roominess that strips all the greatness out of it. And Ice Cream is truly woeful and not a little embarrassing.

So even though I did like it more than 1984 there’s not really enough here to make me want to listen again so I’ll go with a 2
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Playlist submission: Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love

In It For The Money
I listened to this a lot when it came out, and another one of those albums that immediately places me medially between A-level mocks and A-Levels listening to it on cassette in my Citroen Visa driving to school.

I love the moment when the droning chant of In It for the Money breaks out into the horn assisted ‘Got my mind made up’ part, kicking off a great run of songs in Richard III, Tonight and Late in the Day, the latter an introspective delight. The ‘There may be trouble’ refrain in G-Song is a lovely moment before the excellent pair of Sun Hits the Sky and Going Out. I remember buying the Going Out single, and I love that organ intro, and the outro of Sun Hits the Sky is a real highlight.

It’s Not Me mines similar territory to Late in the Day and is another delight, a lovely song. I’d kind of forgotten the trio of Cheapskate, You Can See Me and Hollow Little Reign. While they may not be quite as strong as other songs on the album, the funk-ish feel of Cheapskate and organ driven You Can See Me are very fun and Hollow Little Reign is a bit of a gem. And Sometimes I Make You Sad is great, quite 90s rock band in its looped percussion, but a lovely, odd track, signposting some of the tracks on their albums to come.

Like much Britpop, it clearly looks back to the 60s and 70s - organs are very late 67/68, the horns are very MMT Beatles and there is nice dash of Glam stomp- but its aged very well compared to some of their contemporaries (like the band themselves), I think because the songs are so well written, rather than being mere pastiche or homage, and they have such a great sense of melody. Also it’s admirable that right in the middle of CD bloat it a tight 43 mins.

It might not quite have the energetic thrill of their debut, but it’s full of moments where they musically stretch beyond I Should Coco and it despite the exuberance of Richard III, Tonight and Sun Hits the Sky it has a strong strain of self reflection and melancholy which gives it an interesting tone.

I may have got too into the nostalgic weeds with it, as it was going to be a 4 on the first few listens, but I think it has to be a 5.
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Playlist submission: Could be many, I’ll go Tonight

Caetano Veloso
Tropicália is superb, with a lovely sense of vibrancy and movement, although in the back of the mix there is a faint sound that sounds a lot like a phone ringing, and it's slightly distracting.

Elsewhere there is some great stuff, especially when the rock, psychedelia and Indian influences work their way around the Brazilian music - the organ and guitar on No Dia em que Vim-Me Embora and Alegria, Alegria, the baroque feel of Anunciação, the 60s cinematic bass of Paisagem Útil and the excellent spacey, Telstar sounding Eles.

I still liked the more straightforward bossa nova/samba tracks although I didn’t find them as interesting as those above, and although not directly analogous I found the magpieing on Clube Da Esquina more satisfying.

Ultimately a high 3 I think - I love the spirit of it, there’s some great songs, but as a whole album, like a lot of late 60s psychedelia, it feels a little uneven. Great cover art though.
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Playlist submission: Tropicália

Dr Octogynocologist
_And then, when you run out of fingers, move on to vegetables_
I wasn’t really expecting much from this, so it was a nice surprise that it was actually pretty great

I suppose lyrically/thematically you could go either way on it. The story of an extraterrestrial gynaecologist with a scattalogical obsession and who molests his nurses and patients may not seem on paper to be the recipe for a fun time, and if you’re not into that it's probably quite tiresome. But I think I take it as a kind of gross-out tongue in cheek schlocky comedy-horror film and it has such an oddball over the top weirdness that I find it very enjoyable, even if there is of course a tang of misogyny to some of the lyrics.

What I love most though is the sound of it, it feels very proto Handsome Boy Modelling School and Lovage - which it obviously would with Dan the Automator producing it. The beats, bass and groove of it is excellent and the combination of live instrumentation and scratching is also fantastic, essentially, from what I’ve read, helping instigate that sweet spot of mid-late 90s alternative hip hop, ala J5, DJ Shadow, Roots et al. It also has echoes of Afrika Bambaataa (and consequently Kraftwerk), especially on the excellent Earth People, a kind of 50s sci-fi feel on halfsharalligatorhalfman as well as a soundtrack feel at times, as on Blue Flowers.

Despite some excellent tracks - 3000, Earth People, No Awareness, Technical Difficulties, Bear Witness, Wild and Crazy, halfsharalligatorhalfman, Blue Flowers and Waiting List - it is a little bit uneven. That’s probably due to its length I think - thematically it's tough to sustain for an hour, even if musically it's more consistently enjoyable.

I don’t think it quite makes a 5, it's more of a 4+ - a great discovery and more interesting than a standard 4 but not in the top bracket.
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Playlist submission: Earth People

Next
I always thought these were a folk band, rather than a glam-blues-rock band with a strong Playground Bang Around vibe.

Musically it has some decent moments, and it has a really nice polished 70s glam rock sound, particularly in the guitars and horns. However I didn’t really like many of the songs, either for the sub Alice Copper Rocky Horror cabaret in a pub vibes, his overwrought but oddly characterless voice, or the seedy, icky lyrics.

I’m not sure whether it's somewhat tongue in cheek, it may very well be, but it all felt a bit tawdry and try hard to me, particularly Swampsnake, Gang Bang and The Last of the Teenage Idols. Also Now is truly a terrible song.

I did like the intro and wah wah of Vambo Marble Eye, but the only song I really liked was The Faith Healer, a great, pulsing track where their creepy lyrical tendencies actually suit the subject matter of a con artist faith healer.

It’s not a true one star basement dweller, it’s close but it's not as bad as some albums we’ve had and The Faith Healer does redeem it a little, so I’ll go 2.
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Playlist submission: The Faith Healer

Dare
Thinking about this and Gary Numan the other day, it's a shame that growing up in the 90s that 70s/early 80s synth music was often derided as a novelty and not ‘proper’ music, when in reality it was not only great, but also hugely influential and important. It seems to me a natural continuation of punk’s DIY spirit, and it's interesting how much British Synth Pop came from Sheffield, with the percussions and sounds of the music echoing the sounds of factories and declining industry.

Phil Oakey’s hair, the slightly flat female response and the reference to aspirational-cocktails of the excellent Don’t You Want Me I think also probably skews the perception of The Human League, as the rest of this album is far more than the catchiness of that song would suggest. The synths obviously recall Kraftwerk, and the Bowie influence is a given, but you can also hear the influence of Soul and Northern Soul, not only in the music, but also in the emotionality of the lyrics, although lyrics filtered through a British (and Sheffield) prism, arguably founding the lineage of Pulp and Arctic Monkeys

The first 5 tracks really are excellent, mixing darkness and lightness, heaviness and brightness particularly the combination of the gloomy The Things That Dreams are Made of and the shinier Open Your Heart. They kind of pull the same trick with the atmospherics of Darkness between The Sound of The Crowd and Do or Die. Get Carter is very Low-esque, with the similarly Bowie-esque I Am the Law and Seconds making a nice trio of songs before the excellent synth-soul-gospel of Love Action and then Don’t You Want Me.

It’s a great album, with excellent hooks, melodies and lyrics all demonstrating their songwriting skills, and it sounds excellent too. Another 5.
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Playlist submission: Love Action (I Believe in Love)

Tical
I bust rhymes like jism

Method Man is probably my favourite Wu Tangsman, and Bring the Pain is definitely one of my favourite 90s hip hop tracks - I love how that two note bass hook manages to be both catchy and able to sustain the whole song - and this is a very good album.

The obvious comparisons, outside actual Wu Tang albums, are to Liquid Swords and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Liquid Swords I really loved, and Cuban Linx is also great, but a step or two below, and this probably sits somewhere between the two. Although I prefer Method Man’s delivery over both of them I don't think this quite has the same sense of claustrophobia and weirdness of Liquid Swords. Perhaps as Method Man is more obviously humorous and extroverted it perhaps lacks a bit of the mysteriousness of RZA’s album, and although he produces both of them I think this missing the thinner, piercing snare sound of Liquid Swords.

I love the sample of what turns out to be a film company ident at the start of Tical, and the drums rolling in are great. I really like the interpolation of All I Need to Get By on a slightly wonky organ, and Meth vs Chief is excellent, using a similar two note hook to Bring the Pain. Release Yo’Delf is also excellent with the Rocky-esque Herb Alpert sample and I Will Survive interpolation, even if the lyrics aren’t that interesting. I like P.L.O. style too, with another great horn sample, and I Get My Thang in Action is great too, with a slight Nas feel and I really like the drum sample/beat. I’m not a fan of the interpolation of the hook in Mr Sandman, but musically I love it, the organ and cinematic feel giving a great sense of drama, particularly with Inspectah Deck and RZA contributing. The Method Man remix feels a little extraneous. Even if I love the hook, the original on 36 Chambers is much more fun.

Liquid Swords was a 5, Cuban Linx was a 4 and as this sits between them, I’ll go for a high 4.
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Playlist submission: Bring the Pain

Shaft
I don’t remember this being so long, I don’t think I realised it was originally a double album when I had it on CD, and I only really remember a handful of songs.

The theme from Shaft is of course one of them, and it is a fantastic piece of music, both as an introduction to the character in the film and as hugely influential wah-wah and string driven music, foreshadowing disco and laying the template for much of the 70s soul sound as well as Blaxploitation soundtracks.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the film, but the first half/record/disc/volume in particular very much sounds like a film score, rather than a coherent collection of songs. Musically it is often brilliant, rhythmically excellent and with some great motifs and themes - Shaft’s Cab Ride, early Sunday Morning and Be Yourself are great - but its so clearly written to match the visuals, and with so many sub two minute pieces it’s quite hard to get a handle on it.

On the second volume the songs are longer and are able to stretch their wings, out bringing in more of the psychedelic-funk-soul sound of Hot Buttered Soul, and it's a more satisfying experience; Soulsville is excellent, No Name Bar has a great groove, and Bumpy’s Blues and Shaft Strikes Again have a nice, languid jazzy feel to them. And Do Your Thing is a superb 20 minute soul-funk-rock epic.

There’s a lot of great music on here, and overall it's incredibly enjoyable and very easy on the ear, but it does feel slightly disconnected as a 70 minute listening experience. I think the highlights and the overall feel to it gets it to a 4.
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Playlist submission: Could be Do Your Thing but the title theme is a classic.

Future Days
If you like drumming and bass playing this album is a winner - balancing the esoteric, ambient, and spacey with a great sense of accessibility and engagingness, eschewing some of the german-funk tension of Ege Bamyasi and the avant garde over the topness of the 2nd side of Tago Mago.

It definitely shares some common ground with Neu, who I think had released their first two albums between Ege Bamyasi and this, although more for some of the dreamlike ambience rather than the motorik beat. On here Jaki Liebezeits percussion and drumming is much more subtle and supple, combining brilliantly with Holger Czukay’s excellent bass.

The title track has a lovely, dreamy quality and I love that bass part in Spray and the spooky organ with the clangy drums and Moonshake is fantastic, insistently catchy and nagging. And I love all 20 minutes of Bel Air, showing the brilliance of Liebezeit as it moves through different moods, and his drum part over the last few minutes is fantastic.

This makes it five 5s in a row. It's an excellent album that works both as a hazy, dreamy listen to wash over you, but also has so many details and moments of complexity and interest. Superb.
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Playlist submission: Bel Air

White Light / White Heat
From pared back and sweetly tender to scuzzy and discordant, eccentric and abrasive in the most brilliant way and an equally brilliantly absorbing listen.

The title track is a banger, doing the classic VU trick of a kind of simplified 50s rock and roll structure combined with a droning dissonance and lyrics about the seediness and grubiness of drugs and 60s New York. Sister Ray takes this same template into overdrive, adding an ecclesiastical organ and lyrics about sucking on ding dongs and is an absolute behemoth of a song, an utterly fantastic, relentless, addictive, pounding classic.

In between I love Here She Comes Now and I Heard Her Call My Name, similarly simple in construction, but just as great. And over the years The Gift and Lady Godiva’s Operation have really grown on me. When I first had the album I didn’t much care for John Cale’s spoken word stuff, but now I think it’s great, darkly humorous but played straight with his South Wales accent.

It's a fantastic album, and of course hugely influential, you can hear threads of it all through the 70s and 80s and the 2000s. Another easy 5.
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Playlist submission: Sister Ray

Stardust
From the brilliantly grandiose and wide ranging ArchAndroid to the equally brilliant but pared back and direct Stardust.

I’ve never been that into the Great American Songbook - or rather I’ve never really liked the Rod Stewart/Robbie Willims ersatz Big Band, undone bowtie, dinner jacket over the shoulder, pull up a memory or two bullshit version - but this setting, stripped of the big band bombast, with country, jazz, soul and folk influences, emphasises what truly great songs these are. I love the sense of craft and economy of songwriting style, fantastic, engaging melodies combined with a lovely turn of phrase and straightforward emotional imagery.

And it shows what a great singer Willie Nelson is, his voice careworn and tender, and his interpretations spot on. In combination with Booker T’s superb, sympathetic arrangements and production it makes for a fantastic listen and a set of lovely, masterful versions of these songs.

I don’t think there’s a weak moment, each song a little gem, polished through use and wear rather than showbiz shine, and I was very happy to let it go round and round. Straightforward 5.
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Playlist submission: September Song or Stardust? Stardust

The ArchAndroid
Despite liking Dirty Computer a lot I’ve never listened to any of her other albums, so I’ve not listened to this before.

I wish I had though as it is a brilliant listen. While I’m not necessarily totally sold on the more swing/big band inflected tracks like Cone Alive of BaBopByeYa, the imagination, eclecticism and sense of grand scope, while feeling thematically coherent and musically satisfying, is truly fantastic.

Prince is a big influence on Dirty Computer, and you can hear him on here too, cherry picked alongside jazz, funk, rock, hip hop, prog, synth pop, classical and a bit of Bowie, Beyonce and Michael Jackson, making a genuinely unique concept-soul album.

Although stylistically I’m not as keen on Come Alive I don’t think there’s a weak moment in Suite II, even the atmospheric interlude style tracks, the overture, Sir Greendown and Neon Gumbo are great, serving the concept. And the songs all transition well, the afrobeat feel of Dance or Die with its excellent bass, the duo of Faster and the Beyonce sounding Locked Inside with its catchy chorus are great. Cold War is a fantastic track, with a BoB style d’n’b drum pattern and a great chorus. Tightrope is equally good, I love the bass under the verses and the retro soul chorus and Big Boi’s appearance is great. I really like her vocals on Oh, Maker, the contrast between the gentle almost Parklife organ driven verses and the overwrought chorus works really well. And Mushrooms and Roses is superb, part psychedelic Beatles, part psychedelic soul, part Parliament/Funkadelic, part Prince. It sounds like one particular song I can’t put my finger on and it’s really bugging me

Suite III overture is great, expanding on the cinematic/Bondian Suite II overture, and the rest of Suite III, while connected to Suite II is just as great. More Prince on Neon Valley Street, Make The Bus is a great pseudo 80s pop song and Wandaland is excellent, I love the lyric and the dreamy, synthy feel. There’s obviously a big Simon & Garfunkel influence on 57821 and it’s got a lovely, gentle sweep. The use of Clair de Lune in Say You’ll Go is great, and it has a very 40s/50s/60s film feel to me. As I say I’m not that keen on the big band elements of BaBopBye Ya, but I like the orchestral grandiosity and sense of conclusion it brings to the album.

It’s really quite nuts for a debut album to feel so conceptually fully formed yet musically eclectic, while feeling like a coherent whole, and with such a sense of self assuredness and ambition. And while the concept does have a touch of prog to it, it is actually satisfying and interesting, and crucially it’s populated with a diverse collection of excellent songs.

I loved this, both as set of songs and as an artistic expression, so its an easy 5.
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Playlist submission: Mushrooms & Roses

After the Gold Rush
A real gold rush of memories with this - the brown carpet in Hawthorn Terrace, Virgin Records in Newcastle, minidiscs, head tennis and the vhs recorded off the telly of Live at the BBC.

I don’t listen to this as often as I should, probably as I listened to it so frequently back in those (old folky) days, so it’s been great revisiting for this, both for nostalgia and as a reminder of what a fantastic album it is.

It’s only 34 minutes and then instrumentation is often relatively pared back, but it feels dense and rich, with not a weak moment or song. It moves from from excellent forlorn country-folk love songs (Tell Me Why, the classic Only Love Can Break Your Heart, the cover of Oh, Lonesome Me, the fantastic I Believe in You) to the two Crazy Horse workouts to those lovely side ending ‘throwaway’ tracks. But 3 songs really stand out - the enviro-prescience of the title track, with its absolutely beautiful flugelhorn part, the delicate balladry of Birds and one of my absolute favourite NY songs, Don’t Let it Bring You Down, driven by fantastic bass and an arrestingly image laden lyric.

A straightforward 5.
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Playlist submission: Don’t Let it Bring You Down

Smoker’s Delight
Although this is from 95 it has more of a late 90s feel to me, reminding me of some of those easy/chill-out bands from the turn of the millennium, like Zero 7.

On the whole this glides along very pleasantly, and it's very easy to listen to, especially while working. It occasionally drifts into slightly more interesting darker, gloomier trip hop territory, and while I think I would like a little more of that I don’t think ultimately that’s the vibe they were going for.

For the most part it also sounds very good, but sometimes it shows its 90s hand a little, especially the guitar on something like Pipes Honour. It is looooong though, even without the bonus tracks.

I’d definitely listen again, most likely when I need something to work to - although there are other albums that do that job I’d probably go to first - but I don’t think it quite reaches a 4.
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Playlist submission: Bless My Soul

Burning Spear
I find Reggae hard to write about. I like it, some I like more than others, some is excellent, some isn't, but I can’t seem to articulate much beyond that.

I definitely like this, I think it’s great - I like his voice, the grooves, the horns, but I really can’t think of much else to say, other than I listened to it a lot and it's a 4.
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Playlist submission: Old Marcus Garvey

Deep Purple in Rock
Child in Time is a brilliant bit of hokum, and probably the only time when the bombast of the music and their silly pretentiousness creates a sense of dramatic interest.

Otherwise it generally either feels more Spinal Tap than Spinal Tap, the organ solo in Speed Master is pure Viv Savage for example, or its feels more Kula Shaker than Kula Shaker, particularly on Flight of the Rat.

It’s by no means a bad album, and its unintentional silliness is fun, but I don’t think it will bear a great deal of repeat listening, so I’ll go for a high 2.
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Playlist submission: Child in Time