Reviews by j-bizzle

This is almost impressively boring, given how much energy he seems to put into it. I can't believe this was top of the charts for so long. I don't recognise ANY of these songs, so it goes to show how well it's endured in the culture. As others have said, it doesn't help that the 80's aesthetic is dreadful.

This is really great, and a genuine find. A varied album with lots of different flavours and influences. I love the strings and brass, the Mexican-infused elements, the darker notes. There's a real atmosphere that sits across a lot of this album, and it's quite melancholic in places.

Despite being part of the nu-metal 'scene' I was never that into Slipknot. I might like the odd-song, but it never really appealed beyond that. There is some good stuff in here, but it gets a bit much after a while.

They became a much better band over time in my opinion. This one is just quite raw and messy. It's not that bad though.

Ah man, I reeeeally hoped that this album would live up to the sensational album cover. There were moments in the first track, particularly with those cool synths where I thought it matched well - but then it just goes on waaay too long. Then the following tracks tend to go on way too long as well. It becomes so repetitive within each individual track, and you end up feeling bored - which really does feel like a betrayal on what's seemingly promised with the album cover.

Like others, I had no idea Renegades of Funk was a cover by RATM. It goes to show what a cover can be when you do something completely different, but have it still in keeping with the spirit of it.

2/5. It really has aged poorly.

Yeah, it's alright. Instrumentally it's pretty good. I quite like some of the weirder elements of it. I've not been tuned into the general vibe of Talking Heads across their various albums I've had so far though, and it remains generally the case here.

I mean, yeah, it's nice enough, but it's also boring. It's too country for me.

I don't think this is great by any means, and when compared with similar artists it also doesn't hold up as well. However, it's also not bad. It's a perfectly ok, reasonable listen. I wasn't upset by it. It's got some consistency and it plays nicely enough in the background. It also made me revisit the Reeves and Mortimer Slade sketches, and that was an added bonus.

I'd never heard of this before, or had any idea he'd done anything like this. It definitely plays into his artsy vibe though so it makes sense. I'm pretty up on it in general. At its best it's very atmospheric, it's dark and it's interesting, and the music is very well put together. I think I like the idea of it, and the idea of him doing it more than I like the album in general though. Overall it's pretty decent but it's not something I'll return to - whereas I will return to something like Transformer.

I've found Elvis Costello to be very middling across the various albums I've heard. This still holds - but this one maybe feels a bit more accessible. There's not a huge amount of stand-out tracks, but overall it's pretty decent and has some personality to it. Not too bad. It's a very 3/5 album.

I'm not sure if I have many strong thoughts about this one. It's good. It's consistent. It whips along at a fair old pace, and even though there's some variation in there it still somehow all feels very similar. The drums and guitars are kind of the same throughout, without anything really pushing the envelope.

However it's nothing other than very listenable.

3.5 rounded down.

I prefer their more dynamic songs. This one is a bit dreamy / lo-fi. I can't believe 'Clowns' was a single. It's so gentle and slow. There's not many other tracks on here that help raise the level either unfortunately. I guess it's nice enough, but it really isn't exciting in any way.

2.5 rounded up.

I'm not really into it. I like the idea, but it's all very samey.

I really don't understand why people are cheering, laughing and clapping at him saying the most inane shit.

It's much better when he gets into actual songs. If you cut out all the bullshit chatter then it might get an extra star.

This is a perfectly lovely album. I like the band music, the gentle strings, and of course her voice which is JUST sublime. It's properly old-timey, but not in a jarring way. It's very accessible. Just a thoroughly pleasant time really.

I didn't listen to the whole thing of course, but I don't think that says much. It's kind of ridiculous to include a box set on here as opposed to a single album.

3.5 rounded up.

I know everyone makes the comparison to Sgt. Pepper's, with a sprinkling of Pink Floyd and the Who or what have you, but it really is apparent. I thought it was a nice enough listen. It's very familiar and of that time. There were some notable bits that stood out to me, in particular the moments of deep, layered FAT guitar. But it started to feel overlong by the end.

The album is perfectly encapsulated by the cover. All brown. Dull and lifeless. Boring. There's some nice instrumentation in here, and it's easy enough to listen to I guess, but all the songs bleed into each other with no real distinction between themselves, and no real elevation into anything more interesting.

2.5 rounded down.

This was a very nice, fun listen. I really like Neil Tennant's voice, and a lot of the songs are just a good time. I ended up leaving random Pet Shop Boys songs on for a good hour or so afterwards as it was such an easy listen.

A perfectly cromulent album. There's nothing exciting about this, and nothing bad about it. The needle sits perfectly in the middle. Not a single fist pump or foot tap from me, but I also never thought it was anything other than well played and well put together.

It's a perfectly acceptable album and worth a listen. It's kind of fun, and he's got a good voice. There's lots of people on here with raging hate-boners for British musicians, but this is better than many other albums from the era that show up on here.

What a strange album. It's a fun listen, but it's definitely quirky. There's some good tracks though, and good instrumentation, good synths, interesting approaches. It's an overall fun time.

It's not their best is it? They have their trademark (excellent) production, but it's kind of unremarkable as an album outside of some standout tracks and individual moments that pop. There's also a sprinkling of their trademark pretentious-wanky streak in here in places. I guess overall I'd go with 'generally solid and pretty listenable'. Maybe I'm naturally comparing it to their better albums and being overly harsh, who knows?

It does have my favourite track of theirs though, in There There. I used to actively dislike this track when I only knew it from the music video, but I came round to loving it. It's so good when it kicks off.

3.5 rounded down.