Reviews by jlazerus

It's alright late 70s British punk, which has pop leanings. Unlike some American or hardcore stuff, less experimental as well, more produced and less DIY sounding. There are exceptions on both sides of course. Thematically this stuff is more like what I understand "pub rock" to be, a little violent and reflecting a lower economic class' attitude as a reaction to the last ten years of hippie infused prog nonsense.

But The Adverts are leaning to pop more than even The Damned, maybe not as much as The Stranglers. "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" has a spooky feel, I want to call it proto-goth. Overall well done with a couple of snoozers and nothing really exciting or outstanding in a genre crowded witgh interesting and important music.

Heavy music with my favorite post-punk influences. Good singer, and I GET why this has so many huge fans. Intelligent.

It is, however, really difficult to listen to in light of the tragic disappearance of Edwards. Unpleasant to hear this person's mental breakdowns play out.

This is more metal than punk, thematically, inwardly-turned violence and self-loathing. E.g., name dropping Plath in a chorus is a BOLD CHOICE. If I heard this when it came out and I was a teenager It would be my favorite album of all time also.

Was really looking forward to hearing this album someday, glad it popped up here!

Novel. Well recorded debut, highly talented guys breaking with that mid-00s alternative rock/dance trend (like Snow Patrol, Arcade Fire, Killers, etc. etc.). I like music that confronts the artist's escaping youth and the shallow enduring pain that goes along with lost childhood, lost innocence. 21 Pilots do this well, also.

I really liked this album, the sounds, the songs, a lot of sonic variety. I'll put this on again. Better than a 3 but not quite a 4 but yoou have to round up sometimes.

The first half was heavy and cool, glitchy and “mathy” with some cool sound collage and found sounds. It devolves into the usual and tired tropes in edm with the twee-singing chill hop and Daft Punk influenced dance pop. Disappointed after an intriguing start.

Delightful. The drummer on this album is FEASTING on these rhythms, and, with a couple exceptions (A Parade and You Didn't Have to Be So Nice - cute though it is) everyon sounds great. Excellent late 60s Brazillian pop Jazz.

An old favorite. A lot of these songs hit hard emotionally. I love Bonnie Raitt’s voice, songwriting is unassailable in my opinion: hooky pop tunes with a little country flavor (?). A desert island disc with a lot of subtleties below the surface and super clean production that brings the song into the light.

So mediocre it took all my energy just to write these thirteen words.

Like something that would come out of a university songwriting class. Professional but a bit soulless.

Adult Contemporary. Some interesting stuff, but even more sterile than Steely Dan. Exceptions: I.G.Y. wiht it's new-wave tinged funk, "New Frontier" which has a very soothing melodic chord progression - I could listen to this all day - a kind of pulsing 16th note rhythm underneath the signature Fagan smooth vocals. And finally "The Goodbye Look," this pseudo-carribean thing that is just silly.
Overall not as awesome as Steely Dan, still pretty good. No rough edges, sometimes you need this. Yacht rock!

I was going to say “the poor man’s David Bowie” but that’s insulting to the poor man. Formulaic and over-produced.

Cheesy psych pop for the most part. The album version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is amusing. Very surface level Doors-ish stuff.

Quite epic. He has a lot to say as most rappers do. Again I’m not the audience for this but it’s appealing. Really moved by KickPush and the reprise at the end. Listenable with shades of jazz and soul. Not bad!

Grant-Lee Phillips has a great voice, the compositions and recording are perfectly complementary for the mystery and depth of the songs. Poetic, but unpretentious (maybe a little pretentious). Bears repeat listening for sure. Saw them live when this came out and it was memorable, really high-energy, dynamic. Excellent band, glad to see this album on the list. Well deserved.

Another self-indulgent, self-important overly long album that like Casanova by The Divine Comedy. The pretentiousness, rather than being witty and self-conscious, weighs this music down. Honestly, this feels really judgemental, and "This is Hardcore" made me think "ew."

All from the singer, by the way. Nothing about the music made me feel anything, really.

We often wonder what the requirements are to be considered for inclusion on this list. Dark Side of the Moon? Makes sense. Nevermind? Sure. But this...

Passable power-pop. Potentially pleasant, perfectly palatable permutations: perhaps predetermined, prescribed possibly. Pundits praise, perplexingly.

In my top ten. Absolutely brilliant in so many ways. Aged well. I will never get tired of Minutemen and this is their magnum opus.

I’ll pile on. No reason for this to exist. Not even Perfect Way - a nominally passable pop song - saves the juvenile and cloying cringefest that this album is.

Boom! 💥 Roasted!

It was meh. Some stuff reminded me of Madonna at her least exciting. Didn't offend me, but didn't surprise or excite me either. DNF

Intense, definitely has an "indie" sound. I've never understood the love for this record, thouggh."Fuck and Run," "Never Said," and "Canary" stand out. The whole thing is clever and hass a very cool basement-dwelling lofi sonic quality. Dismal though, there's no relief. It's all awash in disappointment bitterness and existential dread.

Interesting mashup of Gang of Four/Talking Heads/80's New Wave synth references with a bit of disco. I found "Emotional Haircut" and "Black Screens" to be especially entertaining, but some folks at my party thought it was a bit of a drony downer. Maybe too intellectual, and seems kind of self-pitying? Everyone gets older... I dunno, maybe a little self-centered and relies on a relationship with the listener, or some prior knowledge of James Murphy himself to create emotional connection to his material.

Wow. Dark. Did not expect this. Good album, weird for Springsteen. Or weird for my expectation of Springsteen as I'm not a huge fan. This was really compelling though. Story songs for the most part about criminals and dudes who made bad decisions. What does this all represent for Bruce himself? Well done, sounds great, all acoustic, very intense. Interesting contrast to the Leonard Cohen album I got just before this, or even Neil Young a couple days before.