Reviews by jillsandwich

Sleazy, theatrical and aggressively 70s - feels like something Rocky Horror Show's Frank N Furter would listen to in his downtime.

I appreciate the creativity, and some of the arrangements are pleasant, but the vocals can be very grating and other times it seems to have weird instrumentation for the sake of it. Balances out at about average.

Thriller - Beat It - Billie Jean has to be one of the greatest 3 track runs on any album. A pity that The Girl Is Mine and the pretty boring closing track The Lady In My Life hold it back from 5 stars.

Her legions of devoted fans still baffle me, but this is better than I expected. All decent tunes, varied and with no filler.

More pleasant than I expected. Not the type of music I'd seek out, but it has warmth and personality, and is a nice fusion of old and contemporary styles. The type of music that doesn't lend itself to intensive analysis, but I'm happy to just sit with it for a while and let it wash over me. And I actually like 'Shit, Damn, Motherfucker'. It has a nice groove to it.

About 61 too many, honestly. Most of the songs are quite boring and blend together, and many of the lyrics are cheesy and cringeworthy. The female vocalist is more pleasing to my ears than the man, but she is used disappointingly sparingly. There is some genre variation, but while that makes this less oppressively dull then it could be, it adds to the overall feeling of the album being sloppy and lacking artistic direction.

Alright Eddie, settle down. We know you can play guitar well, it doesn't make the songs that interesting.

Some immaculate guitar work, but to me it feels a bit lifeless, lacking a certain grit and authenticity.

As the title implies, an uneven mixed bag, but I enjoy the vocal performances and Papa Was a Rollin Stone is phenomenal.

For a band I know mostly for 1 song (Teenage Kicks) this is neither a revelation or a disappointment, it only demonstrates that the band has at least 1 full album of songs of approximately the same quality and the same bouncy energy as that song. Feargal Sharkey's expressive vocals go a long way towards preventing this from becoming bland and forgettable. Good, breezy fun. Does it need to be heard before you die? Probably not, but I'm glad I did.

Sure, this has his biggest hit, but Escapology is the better album and it's not particularly close.

A very enjoyable album. I am now sold on the concept of going space truckin', although I am not sure exactly what that entails.

Is this 1001 albums you must hear before you die or 1001 Ella Fitzgerald tracks you must hear before you die? It's very nice, but it's a little much.

Pretty, but kinda dull.

An aggressively middling collection of songs elevated by live energy, like giving flavour to white bread with condiments but forgetting the ingredients to make it a sandwich.

Speakerboxxx - 4/5
The Love Below - 2/5

Overall - 3/5

The first thing I'm struck by is all the beige in the artwork, and the music mostly matches. Macbeth and the title track are standouts, however.

Loose, exploratory and atmospheric, but purposeful. Another gem of a new discovery from this project.

I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this. A very pleasant sound and the electronic elements add texture and prevent it from feeling too run of the mill.

Does this list really need 2 albums by The Band? I just got them yesterday too so I'm feeling a little biased against them. Is this album better or worse than Music From Big Pink? Who can say? It all sounds the same to me. Another low 3 star. Competent, but not for me.