Reviews by jf01

I think I’m resonating with the gunfighter ballads. Not so much the trail songs. But this is better than I expected.

Highlights: Big Iron, They’re Hanging Me Tonight

A little long for me, and I think “Hey” and “Acetate Prophets” are obvious weak spots that could be cut. Still, I love this album and it’s bound up in so much nostalgia for me that I can’t not give it 5 stars.

Highlights: What’s Golden, Sum of Us, Freedom, I am Somebody

Wikipedia says this had seven top-100 hits. I had never heard of the artist and was unfamiliar with the songs as well. But I thought it was perfectly pleasant. “if you need me” and “you’re good for me” were two favorites.

Meh.

Boring.

Pre-listening: I think I listened to this a year or two ago while compiling an “early emo” playlist. One song (only), Luau, made the playlist. That doesn’t bode well.

After listening: yeah, don’t care for this. The first album where no songs will make my ongoing playlist.

I think a little goes a long way here. Fell on Black Days and Black Hole Sun: perfect songs, perfect encapsulations of the genre. Then, I don’t care, pick 4-5 of the others and make a great EP.

Their second-best album, one of my favorite albums, a modern classic. The only question is 4 (it does drag a little in the middle) or 5 (sprawl ii though…) stars.

I think we’re going 4: as strong as the opening third and final third are, I think the middle third is mostly meh. First four songs + month of may + final four songs = perfect, unassailable, 36-minute record.

I must have listened to this before because Nightclubbing is vaguely familiar and Dum Dum Boys is a “liked” song on Spotify. On this new listen, DDB remains the lone liked song.

This is one I struggled with when it came out and am struggling with again, listening. The genre jumping evinces an incredible band capable of almost anything, but it can feel disjointed. I know they put out two albums in 2020, but I’d almost prefer they put out four shorter ones: a rap album, an r&b album, a pop album, and a rock album.

But I enjoyed almost every song. I just want it a little more streamlined. Highlights include Stop Dem, Bow, Monsters, and Pray Up Stay Up.

One of the first “classics” I owned. My guess before listening is that the first half is still pretty good and the second half isn’t. Open question: will “The End” be Maggie’s new favorite song?

Listening: Soul Kitchen is still my favorite. Twentieth Century Fox still exemplifies the band’s worst tendencies (dumb lyrics, coasting on Morrison’s sexuality). Ugh I forgot about “show me the way to the next little girl” in Whisky Bar. If I remember correctly, the single version of Light My Fire doesn’t have the extended organ solo and is therefore a million times better.

As I remembered/suspected, this is essentially three classic songs (Break on Through, Soul Kitchen, Light My Fire) surrounded by a bunch of filler. (Soul Kitchen wasn’t even a single, so maybe my opinion of that song does not reflect a critical consensus.) The second half before The End feels entirely like an afterthought, and The End is still one of the weirdest songs on a pop record ever. In a generous light, that song is daring and transgressive, but I mostly think it’s self-indulgent and not nearly as smart as it thinks it is. (See also: this band in general.) This album definitely feels like one you’d buy because you heard two great songs on the radio—probably what I did, essentially, as a tween—and then end up feeling disappointed because little else on the record comes close to that standard.

Thinkin Bout You is an all-timer. The rest of the album doesn’t quite hold up to the standard set there, for me. Plenty good, but nothing that gets to that high. Bad Religion comes closest.

Knew I’d hate it, was not disappointed. Starlight was okay.

I was fully prepared for this to be boring—just because something was innovative 45 years ago doesn’t mean it holds up—but I really enjoyed it. The last two tracks were standouts for me.

I’ve heard this before but never enjoyed it as much as this time.

It’s three songs I absolutely love (1983 and the final two (duh)) and then a lot I think is just okay?