Reviews by j-bizzle

It's quite unusual in many ways, but has a nice vibe about it. A lot of the tracks are quite joyous and fun, and make for a good listen. Virginia Plain is a real tune. I don't really do karaoke, but that would make a great go-to karaoke hit, due to all the theatrical warbling. I've been known to tackle it in the shower on more than one occasion.

This is a really impressive album. I groaned when I saw it was a double album, and realising I rated his other album 2/5, but this flew by pretty quickly. There's a real consistency across the whole album, with no real dip in quality. There's plenty of variation too, from soft ballads, to more upbeat rocky numbers, to more soulful ones, and weirder interludes. He makes it all work together. There's an impressive amount of instruments across this, that he apparently all played himself, and does so excellently.

I really love Lana Del Rey's earlier albums, so it's such a shame not to have the chance to properly review them as part of this process. Her debut album in particular is superb, including the EP that goes along with it. There's so many big songs in there, and lots of different producers bringing different vibes to the table, while still keeping it a consistent whole. I started to fall out of love a little bit after so many albums, as they veered away from what I thought was more varied, interesting music, into more one-note 'sad jazz singer' territory only. Whenever I see a new LDR track drop, I strongly suspect it to be along those lines, and it almost always is, much to my disappointment.

Which brings us to this album..

Right off the bat with the first tracks it's clear that the above holds. It feels way more one-note, with her floaty, whispery vocals not really changing all that much, or the feeling of the songs really changing that much at all. I still like her vibe, and if I didn't have this comparison I'm sure I would be way more up on this. There's definitely moments where the music is quite affecting and her talent shines through. Despite what I said, I do like the sad singer vibe, it's just that I feel like so much of this has been well-trodden by her before, and too much of the album passes by without grabbing the attention as much as it should.

Parts of it are very good, and there ARE some different sounding tracks in there, but overall I have to mark it down. We're talking 3.5 rounded down, so still a recommendation overall I guess. But it's not an album I'll revisit very often, if at all.

The best thing about this was having the opportunity here to say that I think Born to Die and Ultraviolence are both stunning, 5 star records.

I'm reading the novel Erasure at the moment with the main character Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison, and this is the point where I realise why he has his nickname.

To the music... it's ok. It's not particularly special. It sounds kind of generic, and doesn't appear (to me) to be doing anything that interesting or different. It just kind of plods along. It's pretty harmless in itself, and easy enough to listen to, which is about all I can say for it.

2.5 rounded up.

The first track was ok, just the right side of wanky, but it leeeaped way over that line coming into track 2. Track 3 doesn't show any sign of stepping back. This guy singing is annoying me enough just listening to him, I have no idea what I'd feel if I saw them live. It's just so pretentious and pleased with itself, but the content is so bad. "Stillness is the Move" has something about it. See, this is a bit more cohesive and works for that reason. I seem to have inadvertently done a 'track by track' review again, so may as well continue. Track 5, "Two Doves", what have you got? Ehhh.. it's quite nice. I like the violins as usual. If I heard this track in isolation I might be more dismissive, but maybe on the back of the poorer tracks, something like this stands out a bit more. Track 6... Ooh I like the weird synths, but oh wait, this stupid bloke is breathing sensitively over the top again. He's starting to really wind me up. They're being all weird with the music now, seemingly just for weirds sake. Good job! I do like these mad guitars rounding out the song though. "No Intention" is a more palatable track, but nothing special. Track 8, mmmm, a delicious cup of weird indie wank, delicious. God they must be so pleased with themselves. Nearly done, track 9! Oh whoops, I completely tuned out and didn't really pay attention, I only really caught the end. Erm, let's just say that it was probably 'ok at best'.

Overall grade: 2/5, "Mostly Bad"

Opening the first track and playing the first 5 seconds... *extreme wince face*... Oh man, this is going to be an experience.

Her singing voice is really bad. Like, really bad. And not just her voice, but the performance of it. It's like she's role-playing a crone from Macbeth at times, and other times as some kind of woodland nymph, caught up in a state of perpetual wonder at the natural world. The music around her is all dis-jointed and awkward. She occasionally juts in with this extreme shrill tone, and it would always make me jolt back in an alarmed manner.

I might actually quite dig some of the music if it wasn't accompanied by such an awful performance. But let's be honest, most of it sounds like cringey, medieval minstrel music, with artsy-fartsy poetic lyrics that are WAY too earnest.

I don't just dislike this, it makes me really annoyed. Awful.

It's quite groovy. I like the jangly 60's bluesy / rock n roll guitars, and I like some of the weirdness and experimentation.

Overall, I quite like this. At it's best it's theatrical and very dramatic. Lots of people are hating on this, but I'd way rather listen to something like this than some insipid, safe pop album. This one at least swings for the fences a little bit and is doing something interesting. Funnily enough, the tracks I like the least are where other artists are involved that I'm not particularly a fan of.

It's a pretty solid, upbeat and bouncy album, but it doesn't ever reach beyond that. There's some good tracks in here, but nothing particularly standout. It's just generally a good time.

This is very accomplished, and musically it's very good. It suffers (in my opinion) in the same way that a lot of these long-form jazz / jam type sessions do, in that the tracks end up feeling very repetitive. I wish they were much shorter and with more structure, because the music itself is good. There's some real nice jams in there.

The opening track is a slog man. I mean, it's going for a particular scene and I get that, but it's not for me. Then you have a cringey spoken work poem about religion, subsequently added to music. Some of the songs in the middle did pick up a bit and my foot DID tap at times, but so much of it is just rubbish.

I had to look this up, and found out that John Lydon was still very young when he made this. Which gives him more of a pass I guess, but it still feels completely juvenile.

It's relatively pleasant, but the mix is muddy and a lot of the instruments sound flat. I feel like the music would be way better if it was a bit more dynamic in the mix. More guitar and drums, and take the organ back. 'Are You Happy' has got some great rocking moments. And this is the moment I realise that the title track was used famously in the Simpsons, hah! This has been said, but it's got a real Doors-y vibe at times. A way-overlong track with plenty of filler, but also some great jams.

This album is great – what a brilliant find!

The opening track is funky as FUCK. That trumpet! Those keys! The second track is on, “Rip This Joint, and there’s that SAX. This is the first time in this whole process I’ve ever exclaimed out loud while listening to a song, made a hand movement to indicate “Yeah boy this is sick!” and then immediately CRANKED the volume. It makes me want to jump on a dancefloor and spin a pretty dame all about the place.

It was so explosive at the start, to the point that I was really, really loving it. So I was slightly disappointed when it came down in terms of that energy afterwards, but the rest of the songs are still really accomplished. They cover a lot of styles, and do them all really, really well.

The actual musicality on display is so impressive, and probably the thing that stands out the most for me. I love the huge range of instruments all played perfectly, the variance in styles, the soul backing singers. The keys. The brass! When it all comes together it’s exquisite. There’s some monster tracks in here.

It is strange how they’re a British band, but this is so massively inspired by American Blues and Soul. They do it so well though. They’re the real deal.

It's an overall really nice album, with some great hits in there. It's strange, but when you're actively listening to an album you notice so much more. I wasn't too aware before just how much organ was on some of these songs. I also like the jangly guitars and the violins. There's some standout songs in here. Everybody Hurts has to take it though, it's such a beautiful song, my god. My favourite songs are generally the ones I already knew, but 'Find the River' is a lovely end to the album. Great stuff.

I thought I would like this way more. I was expecting a super happy uplifting electro time, and to be honest I found a lot of it quite weird and discordant. It's mostly a miss for me and I won't be re-visiting it. There weren't even really any standout bangers. Really disappointing.

2.5 rounded down.

The opening track sounds SO dated. The drum machine in particular roots it firmly in that specific early 90's era, and to me it just makes it sound really hollow and superficial. I was fully expecting to give up about half way through this with a verdict, but to its credit it did pick up and there were some nice tracks in there. I don't know if this is a positive or not, but it drifted into the background really easily, so there's... that?

2.5 rounded up.

This is such a hard album to properly review, because it swings so violently between dark, sombre, interesting ballads, and just utterly weird, maniacal shit. And then I need to consider how much I respect and appreciate him doing something interesting and unique, with a real particular voice, against how much I actually enjoy the album.

So... I really like the ballads. They're quite affecting, and dark and brooding. I don't like his voice in general, but it does work on these tracks. The rest of the album brings it way down, because it's just nonsense and complete shit.

2.5 rounded down. I have spoken!

It's nice to discover a band like this that I knew literally nothing about beforehand. Nearly every single 'post punk' album on here I've actively disliked, but this one hits for sure. It's actually cohesive, and the kind of post-punk mania generally works in its favour.

I definitely really like the music on here, across the whole album. I like all the different instruments. I like the weird sci-fi synths in particular. I like the energy and drive of the music itself. I'm not a fan of the singing though.

Shot By Both Sides is great. Really nice driving rhythms and guitar in there.

3.5 rounded down.

As I said with their last album, I quite like the dark moodiness that sits across this, and I like some of the dramatic instrumentation. I way preferred this one to 'Music for the Masses', but it still doesn't quite hit 100% for me, and isn't something I gravitate towards in general. It IS slow and brooding, but not in a way that works for me.

Enjoy the Silence is a great song, but even so it's still not really a song I would actively seek out or bop to.

There's something about this. It's very atmospheric. It exudes a lot of cool. The album cover is cool as fuck. It's quite repetitive within the rhythms and construction of the individual songs - but somehow that works in it's favour. It's really interesting and unique in that respect, maybe because it has such a consistent mood and vision.

I like the driving beats on some of the songs. I want to hit up a goth club, stare at the floor and kind of generally flail about a bit while looking desolate. Outside of the goth club where I won't be judged, there's plenty of toe-tapping going on.

3.5 rounded up.