Reviews by j-bizzle

This was better than I was expecting after the first track. It's still not my scene, but there's plenty to appreciate. The production is really what makes the album for me, which is pretty consistently interesting and well done across the board. Girls Girls Girls works well, as does Hola' Hovito.

I'm not a fan of the lyrical content or his rapping style particularly. "U Don't Know" in particular is terrible. Ah you've got so much money and you're so great and brilliant and untouchable. Good for you.

This is the second Springsteen album I've had now, and another that I just haven't connected with on any level beyond one song.

I'm reading a lot of people raving about Thunder Road. It feels like it should be an air-punching good time but it's evoking absolutely nothing in me. I don't really like his voice, or particularly the way he sings. It feels like he's tuned into a completely different energy to me. I get why people might like him, but christ, it's not for me. And just to pick out one track in particular to shit on: Backstreets is fucking terrible, my word.

I do like a decent amount of this. I really like the interesting layers of guitars, and the quite complex picking that serves as an undercurrent for most of this album.

It's just very dense. There's lots of storytelling and lots and lots of lyrical content, and after a while it gets a bit samey.

The standout for me is 'So Long, Marianne' (which I'd already had as a favourite before listening to this album). It's got a really nice driving rhythm to it, but most importantly it's just way more direct in terms of the song writing and message. It's feels more heartfelt and is just a really well written pop song.

I'm finding it hard to tie this band and sound down. A lot of it sounds like it's straight out of the 60's. 'There She Goes' is an obvious example. 'I Can't Sleep' sounds just like the Kinks, but other tracks feel like they have lots of other touchpoints from that era. It doesn't feel 90's to me at all.

It's fine in parts, but most of the album isn't really grabbing me. A lot of it really drags. It certainly doesn't feel essential.

I'd never really listened to this album before despite hearing various songs here and there. There's some nice songs in here though. It's also a lot more chilled than I realised. There's a lot of interesting floaty guitar tracks running through it. Sparks is really nice, I really love the mood on that track. Other standouts for me are Don't Panic and Trouble.

Ps: I really like the album cover. Very simple but impactful.

There's some really nice song-writing in here. A lot of the album kind of floated by, but there are some good standout tracks. I particularly liked 'Junk Bond Trader' and 'Stupidity Tries'. I really like the instrumentation and his vocals.

Yet another album where I knew a bunch of songs, liked them quite a lot, and had never listened to the album as a whole.

Kicking off with So Young, what a way to open an album! And then straight into Animal Nitrate, wowzers. This album is upbeat and rocking in a few areas, but there's also a lot of really lovely songs with floaty guitars and really nice melodies. I like his vocal, it's quite ethereal and I think it works well with the songs.

I'll be re-visiting this again, but have also added a few additional songs to my liked list, including 'Breakdown'.

There's a lot of really nice songs on here, but I realised they're all covers, so a lot of that is simply down to the power of the song writing. She's a good singer though, of course. It's a perfectly nice time overall.

I really like the vibe of this album. Plenty of nice tracks, good song writing, nice instrumentation. Free Bird is obviously a stone-cold classic, but I really liked Tuesday's Gone as well.

3.5/5 rounded up.

I was an Offspring kid around this whole era, and I never got to listening to much of Green Day or this classic album, despite the fact that Basket Case was on constant rotation on MTV2 / Kerrang TV.

I really enjoyed this. It's really upbeat and toe-tappingly good all the way through. I really like Welcome to Paradise - this was one of the songs I did know, but it's nice to re-connect with it. Plenty of other good songs in here including, of course, Basket Case. Re-listening now on headphones I noticed lots of new little details like the additional harmonies that work really well. Overall a well made, fun, good-time album.

Music aside, this is also an awesome album cover.

It's quite nice. Easy going but with some interesting things going on.

Overall this is a really well produced album. Musically I think they're really strong and sound super tight. The drums and guitars are all solid. There's some interesting rhythmic things happening throughout. I agree with another reviewer that I really like the jamming moments and wish there were more of those / they were extended. Like I said, they play well together and those bits are great (found in songs like 'Sir Psycho Sexy').

On the other side I'm not a big fan of the general rapping and musical style for most of the songs, and it's also a long album. RHCP remain a band that I really like a number of songs from, but who I'm not that interested in overall. Under the Bridge remains a stone-cold classic.

I remember being underwhelmed with this album when I first heard it, and wrote off 'latter years Radiohead' in general, but actually it's been really nice to re-visit this. First off I think the production on this is sublime. There's so many interesting layers to the songs, lots of variation in tempo and style, and just a very consistent mood sitting underneath the whole thing. It's definitely a whole album experience, I don't think I would dip into any of these songs individually from here.

The first two tracks were quite nice. Pretty upbeat and interesting instrumentation, but I was absolutely done after 20 minutes. It got more of a slog as it went on. The third and fourth tracks I didn't like at all.

It's not the best Led Zep album, and it's definitely overlong I think. That said there's some good standout tracks, and the rest of the album is generally pretty solid. Contrary to a lot of people, I actually think I prefer the second half more. I like a lot of the chilled songs, and I think there's some real nice grooves going on. Across the whole album I found a decent amount of songs quite generic though.

3.5 rounded down.

This is a very oppressive album. I quite like how weird it is, with the rhythmic drums, layered synths, guitars and trumpets. It definitely has a unique atmosphere to it, it's just a real slog. Very repetitive and very hard going.

It's a nice listen all the way through. I actually came to like it the more I listened. Plenty of toe-tapping tunes, nice production, nice instrumentation, backing vocals and so on. Once again, I love the brass, and I love the violins. Suspicious Minds remains an all-time classic, but I've also saved a bunch of other tracks too including Long Black Limousine, I'm Movin' On, Power of My Love and Gentle on My Mind.

I found this really boring. I fundamentally don't like the song structures or compositions on any of these tracks. She effectively sing-talks over all the tracks, and each track is SO dense with lyrics, it's just incessant. She doesn't allow any of it to just breathe, or introduce any interesting hooks or melodies. She should have just written a book of poetry or something.

I liked the opening song. After that a lot of it all felt quite soft, generic indie that didn't really grab me. He's got quite a weak singing style that doesn't work for me. Maybe it'd be improved with a more dynamic or interesting singing style?

2.5/5 rounded down.

It's pretty groovy, I quite enjoyed it.