Reviews by jlazerus

I'm a little loathe to admit it but Robert Christgau's assessment mirrors what I think exactly: "The Chronic (which I still can't stand but respect for its influence and iconicity)"

"Dr. Dre: The Chronic [Interscope, 1992]
The crucial innovation of this benchmark album isn't its conscienceless naturalization of casual violence. It's Dre's escape from sampling. Other rappers, as they are called, have promised to create their own musical environments, usually without revealing how much art and how much publishing fuels their creative resolve. But Dre is the first to make the fantasy pay out big-time. The world he hears in his head isn't the up-to-date P-Funk fools say they hear--that would be too hard. Instead he lays bassline readymades under simulations of Bernie Worrell's high keyb sustain, a basically irritating sound that in context always signified fantasy, not reality--stoned self-loss or, at a best Dre never approaches, grandiose jive. This is bell-bottoms-and-Afros music, its spiritual source the blaxploitation soundtrack, and what it promises above all is boom times for third-rate flautists--sociopathic easy-listening. Even if it's "just pop music," as some rationalize, it's bad pop music. C+"

DNF

You can't fool me, I know punk rock when I hear it. Maybe it's psychobilly. Whatever it is, it's rad. Album of the week.

A Moogtastic panoply of zounds with a surprise around every corner. Wish I was there to see it!

I like most of what Fatboy Slim does. This one is not quite as taut as "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" but has similar punchy rhythms and tasty synth oscillations as its successor. If you like "Praise You" and its ilk you'll like this.

Head Over Feet is a nice song. Forgiven is a good new treatment of an old theme. She shows off some vocal chops on Mary Jane that were a surprise. Ironic is a way better song than I remember. Maybe it’s the nostalgia sauce that makes it more delicious than it used to be.

It took 43 people to make this?
Unpopular opinion but I think Amy Winehouse’s voice is weak and annoying. The songwriting left me cringing. Much like every other post 2000 female r& b artist. Very commercial and definitely not for me. Owes too much to its influences.

First time hearing any Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Really interesting. Kept me engaged over both of the albums, but kind of a bit much to take in all at once. Kind of Tom Waits-ish but without the annoying gravelly-voiced circus ringmaster character. Kind of pretentious, the songs about love and sex were compelling but lack ambiguity or abstraction that makes someone else's stories artistic. Otherwise very enjoyable on a Saturday afternoon cleaning my raingutters!

Heartfelt and nicely recorded post-punk! Listening to this I was thinking about how refreshing it is to hear women doing heavy music without relying on tropes but rather investigating and expressing their own point of view, unapologetically, without compromise. And Punk is the format for that - the idea of people outside the mainstream doing what they want, don't really care what you think. Reminded me a little of Throwing Muses, but with even more edge. Glad to hear this, I've heard of the band but never had a chance to listen. I would give it 3 1/2 stars if I could.

One of my favorite albums. Lots of deep emotion. Monster musicians, especially Manu Katchè and Tony Levin. Bill Laswell and Nile Rodgers even pop in. In Your Eyes is the best love song ever written and there can be no argument. Saw Gabriel live in October 2023 and it was life-altering. This album never gets old.

Funky, jazzy, high-energy afrobeat by the undisputed king of the genre. Throwing Ginger Baker in there creates a symbiosis that makes this album as great as anything else on the list. Pure soul from every single band member working as a team. Fun as hell and now my new favorite album. Love love love.

Here is the lyric sheet for this album: ah - ah - ah - oh yeah!
I could have gone my whole life without listening to this and I would not have missed it.

The album is derivative in countless ways and so weak musically that I was almost offended. Electric? Hardly. MAYBE "Bang a Gong. MAYBE. Whoever is playing percussion on this is trying to be heard above the drummer, so they're hitting the tambourine (or clapping, or the bongo) just before the downbeat. And it's not consistently done, either. Just random movements to offset whatever groove might be trying to emerge. The guitar sound is compressed and a little flat. The singer (Marc Bolan always made me uncomfortable and not in that "ooh, what-a-strange-and-interesting-person kind of way but in the creepy-but-thinks-very-highly-of-himself kind of way) has NO dynamics or range, the lyrics are insipid and tried. Listening to this is like watching a remake of a TV show that was based on a bad Broadway show that everyone in the 70's had to watch because there was nothing else on. A real overrated downer. Electric my ass.

The Smiths weren't really all that great, but they were definitely considered that by some in their time. A bit too challenging to be a pure pop band, but they did fill a temporal void in alternative music between post-punk and grunge.

For me, Morrisey pushes his poetic self-reflections too far. AndI realize that while it's part of the campiness, his vocal affectations obscure the songs' musical soul. Like putting too much mustard on a great sandwich. No matter how good all the other elements of the sandwich are, all you remember is that it was mustard. With the Smiths, you have to like mustard A LOT.

***BEGIN CHATGPT PROMPTED REVIEW***
"461 Ocean Boulevard" by Eric Clapton is a lackluster attempt at revitalizing blues classics through the lens of the so-called "California Sound." While tracks like "Mainline Florida" and the standout "I Shot the Sheriff" provide fleeting moments of intrigue, the album predominantly relies on covers, reflecting what seems like creative laziness from Clapton. The appropriation of reggae elements in "I Shot the Sheriff" may resonate with some listeners, but it also raises questions about authenticity. Ultimately, the album falls short of delivering the innovation and depth expected from an artist of Clapton's caliber, resulting in a forgettable collection of uninspired renditions.
***END CHATGPT PROMPTED REVIEW***

One last note: if Clapton only played guitar there would be no problem.

If I saw this in the store as a teenager there's no way I want to know what's on this. No way. Based on the cover alone. I don't know who that red-faced squinty guy is, but he does NOT look like he will add musical value to my life. Or the Ron Wood-lookin dude on the left. The front guy just seems like he wants to be anywhere else and the only person who looks even somewhat like a rocker is being hidden in the back.

This better be good.

Well, it was good.Really good. Exactly the kind of thing I would have loved as a teenager actually. Like a cross between the Violent Femmes and the Buzzcocks with a bit of early rock influence (think Elvis Costello more than Elvis Presley).

The Only Ones are great instrumentalists, wrote hooks, and simply great all around. I guess these guys worked on the music more than how they look, which is perfectly fine considering the result. I apologize for my earlier remarks. This is a basket of fun danceable tracks mixed with some odd (in a good way) slower tunes. I'm astonished that I'd never heard of them. This album lives up to the "1001 Albums You Have to Hear" rule for me.

Seems like a bit of an experiment gone off the rails. Pretty aggressive and anti-establishment, but better as a concept than actual music. It's okay, I'll allow the proto-punk label (because I am, yes, the official in charge of allowing labels, suck it). Entertaining.

Progressive! Wish I could hear it on something other than youtube though.

The defining album of the Album Era. That cover. The long long chart run - 736 nonconsecutive weeks (from 17 March 1973 to 16 July 1988) including a run of 593 weeks. Nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. My own reflection listening again after many years:
- Still perfect.
- Owes its existence to Rick Wright and Nick Mason.
- The band is firing on all cylinders.
- Perfectly balanced between the head and the heart.
- An exquisitely beautiful work of art.
- Ironically, the start of the Roger Waters Corporation Business Interest Ltd. Money, indeed.
- There is a throughline from CAN to this to Talk Talk's "Spirit of Eden" to late 90s Radiohead.
- Still powerful and really great to listen to, front to back.

The algorithm is really trying to bring me down. First Eminem and now this. I have avoided listening to this wannabe Alice Cooper my whole life and frankly I'm sorry to see it show up on this list.

Pretty inconsequential gross-out music, it proudly wears the Trent Reznor industrial-metal brand right up front. So if you like that stuff, which not everyone does, you'll like this.

Gives rise to some of the most extreme music to come, like Dillinger Escape Plan and their ilk. Marilyn Manson's (if that IS your real name) attempt at genre-bending transgressive provocation is merely a passable mashup of Nine Inch Nails, the aforementioned Alice Cooper - who, by the way, did a far far more interesting and entertaining version of this schtick 25 years prior - and possibly Throbbing Gristle. Take that mix, dirty it up, and voilà! Rock stardom! Fame! Fortune! It's all very self-referential. Wow, that's deep man.

I "like" extreme metal, and you might lump this in that category. But it's unoriginal and frequently boring, and like a lot of stuff that doesn't hit me, devoid of soul. This feeIs like a stage show that just needed a soundtrack. The music kind of sucks, the majority of the people involved are huge assholes, and while that's not in itself a disqualifier of good music, the shenanigans are a distraction.

P.S. The U.S. Congress in the 1990s really had some serious issues, why are they so worried about what your kids are listening to? If you want to MAKE 100% sure kids hear this shit, make a big deal out of how they shouldn't get to hear this shit.

Pro: Vocals("Music Is Love", "Laughing", "What Are Their Names"), some cool experiments("Music Is Love", "Orleans", "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here"), Graham Nash, Neil Young, Crosby's guitar, Mickey Hart

Cons: Jerry Garcia (does he know more than the one guitar solo?), the cover, too much Grateful Dead slopping all over, heavy sedation

Listened to it several times trting to come up with a proper review, but you know, you just gotta hear it. Brilliant folky Latin Jazz, heartfelt, for the love of the music and nothing else. The musical equivalent of a National Park.

If I criticize this, then I am one of the people he complains about, so I'm not going to feed that. Although reading about this album did introduce me to a new term, "transgressive art," so I did learn something. "You know how a lot of white Establishment types think Rap music is nasty? Watch this!" As juvenile as anything else this dude does.