Reviews by j-bizzle

This is exactly the kind of album I want to hear. A band I know nothing about, and a style and delivery which sounds completely unique.

It doesn't really sound like anything else at the time (that I'm aware of). In fact this sounds really modern, and not like the mid-80's at all.

It's got a real murky, unusual sound to it, with lots of distortion. It's very noisy, but not in an aggressive, unpleasant way. I really like the cool driving bass and drum beats.

3.5 rounded down.

Eh... I don't know. I think this is mostly fine, but the overall style and delivery doesn't really work for me. Maybe it's just modern production, or modern pop music in general. The blurb describes this as a "maximalist departure from the minimalist hip hop-influenced production of its predecessor"... admittedly I haven't heard that album, but I am NOT getting that. This feels so minimalist in the entire delivery. Stripped back, whispery vocals and beats. Sure, sometimes there's an interesting piece of production in there, and maybe some of that layering counts as 'maximalist' in a technical sense, but that certainly doesn't translate on a general listen. It mostly feels slow and awkward.

Maybe I want to feel it more on an emotional level. It feels so cold. I kind of wish she'd just go bigger and really belt out a track - but then of course that's not what this is, and I guess it's just not for me.

2.5 rounded down.

There's so much of this kind of thing on here. It's ok in places... I like some of the variation in instruments... but it's not for me. At its worst it's warbly, and long-winded, and boring. And that's an awful lot of this album.

It's a real nice time. Lots of foot tapping going on over here!

3.5 rounded up.

You know I've got a lot of time for this. You can't accuse Kate Bush of being boring, and I respect how weird, bold and out there this is. I can see how her music would have influenced some other artists too. Even though it's kind of different, it reminds me of Janelle Monae's ArchAndroid in places, and how weird and quirky that can be. Just that complete lack of fear to stick it all out there and do whatever the fuck you want.

You have to admire her as an artist, although I concede that some bits of this are objectively hilarious. I like that though.

3.5 rounded up.

Well that was certainly something that played while I listened to it. What else can I say about it? It had a bit more to it than I was expecting? That's such a low bar because I was expecting very little based on the write-up and reviews. Someone absolutely nailed it by saying it's 'perfect for mid-range clothing retailers who want music to make them appear hip while blending smoothly into the background'. It's exactly that. It's almost perfectly designed as something to enter your ear but without registering at all in your actual brain. You just have this kind of vague sense of something happening, and a mild desire to go out and buy a pack of 3 basic tees on the 3-for-2 offer.

It's quite an unusual album this. The music in it is strangely engaging, even though it's a bit mad and frantic, and with weird synths. I'm not sure I've ever really heard anything else quite like it. It's very 80's in terms of production though. Way stripped-back sounding and without much oomph.

I'll be generous because I appreciate the weirdness.

2.5 rounded up.

It's a chill time. A bit unremarkable and 'background', but it's put together nicely enough.

There's a few tracks that stand out and have some oomph to them, with some good instrumentation. But my god, some tracks are so fucking boring. I genuinely nearly nodded off during 'April 5th'. Lots of this is so slow and nondescript, and it genuinely feels like something is a bit off with it.

Thoroughly pleasant. It’s such a smooth, easy-listening time. It’s not ever going to massively grab my attention, but it doesn’t need to. It’s just a nice listen, and that's ok.

3.5 rounded up.

Ah man I love this album. It’s such a gentle experience, but there’s so much mood and texture to it. Beck’s voice is simply sublime. I was lucky enough to see him at the Royal Albert Hall last year, along with an 80-piece orchestra (!) and it was one of the best gig’s I’ve ever seen. Naturally he mined quite deeply from this album. Going in, I was very much looking forward to them getting into the ending of ‘Lonesome Tears’ and it did not disappoint. Spine shivers!

It's also worth pointing out that thanks to this 1001 project I can now also identify how much ‘Melody Nelson’ influenced the track Paper Tiger (in particular). The bass and strings are completely on-point. I think you can charitably call it an homage.

I love this. And mad props to the guy for putting out such a vast array of music in all sorts of styles, and doing all of them so well. He’s a true artist.

I saw Motorhead at Glastonbury and my overriding memory was Lemmy addressing the crowd: “You like rock n roll don’t ya? Say yes goddammit!” before tearing into another blistering song.

This is what this record is. It has a singular vision to just rock your socks off, and it does it so well. Kicking straight off with Ace of Spades is a real sign of intent, but it holds up for the whole album. Really great, fast-paced, driving rhythms, excellent guitar work and hard solos, and a voice of rough leather and pure attitude over the top.

4.5 rounded up.

How on earth am I supposed to listen to this album while sat at my desk working? I want to constantly do that Angus Young guitar jig up and down my office. Maybe chuck in a rock twirl or two, some overt air guitar improvs, and have a kind of gnarly, guitar playing gurn-look on my face.

Let's chuck some horns up to this one \m/ \m/

The whole thing rocks like a motherbitch from start to finish \m/ \m/

I don't think I'd ever heard this whole thing before, but I really love the energy on this album \m/ \m/

Lots of 'oh my god' moments, as they (for instance) casually move from Back In Black into You Shook Me All Night Long. There's just so much consistency here, and so many absolute bangers sprinkled in. They've got the formula, man! \m/ \m/

It's not a bad time. It's quite stripped back and chilled, and I like some of the instrumentation going on in here, particularly with the strings and brass in places. Sunday Shining is a nice track and perhaps the standout.

I nearly dropped a star because the last 3-4 tracks were very poor. It's like he completely ran out of ideas.

A strong dose of “ehh” on this one. Competently made, and with reasonable-enough musical ability. It’s just not engaging, and wafts and rambles through the whole thing. Boring.

2.5 rounded down.

It’s pretty good, but I think I would appreciate it more if it were more standout tracks. I mean it literally segues between songs, but it does feel a bit samey overall, to me at least. It could be that I’m just not connecting with it that much.

The fact remains that he has a great voice, and I still like the orchestral elements very much. I think I’m more of a casual fan of particular tracks, rather than his general discography.

3.5 rounded down.

There's some good beats in here, but it's hard to really engage with it outside of a general background-listen way. It got too much after about 5 tracks and I was pretty much done with it.

2.5 rounded down.

It’s taken about 4 tracks before I’ve realised I’ve actually been listening to this. It’s not the most exciting. It’s another nice, sitting in the background kind of vibe, with not much to properly connect with. It’s nice enough I guess but it’s not for me. Too much of it I find boring.

2.5 rounded down.

The vocals are so hilariously stupid and bad. It's like someone pretending to be an angry dog, but in like... a funny way. Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff! Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff! Sausages! They just make me laugh. I'm not sure that's what the band were going for.

But some of the guitars and rock melodies are good, so at least there's that?

I was unfamiliar with a lot of this album. But then the Kinks have such a huge discography that’s to be expected. To me it’s nothing less than a really good, fun and very listenable album. There’s great musicianship, catchy grooves, and a good energy overall.

3.5 rounded up.