Reviews by jlazerus

This is a great palate cleanser from the bitter nastiness that is The Slim Shady LP! I'm getting a lot of influences here ranging from Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, and the Beatles among them. It's nice, inoffensive, comforting folk-rock that ends up in Southern California and spawning a whole generation of singer-songwriters that punks and metalheads would later rebel against. The baby boomers did get to lay claim to some really interesting and iconic music that could give you something to think about. But only if you wanted, no effort needed! Graham Nash seems like a fairly cool bloke, too. And oh yeah, harmonies, lest I forget ;). 1969 was a watershed year for albums wasn't it?

Gross. I get it. Critically Acclaimed® (lol), but I don't want this in my life. Trolling. Seek professional help, this is not serious art.

Changed pop music not necessarily for the better. Didn't age well. The hits are awesome, Beat It and Billie Jean especially. Important culturally as R & B has completely replaced Rock as the mainstream in pop music. Mostly cringey (especially in retrospect), and MJ's voice doesn't work well in most of the material.

With all due respect, and I mean this most sincerely, this is yet another example of how Critical Acclaim® is a poor determining factor for whether I will like something. In fact Critical Acclaim® appears to be something that puts me off more often than not and unfortunately this very list is just a list of Critically Acclaimed® albums.

Critics™ want you to know they have better taste than you, possibly. Maybe you meet the artist, that's very special, so now you give an excessively positive review otherwise that artist (and their record company mates) won't be as willing to give you any attention in the future. Bit of a racket when you really sit down and think about it. Especially back in the 60s through the 90s when Major Labels™ and The Radio® were the primary form of music delivery. Critics at places like Rolling Stone and the NY Times could influence opinion for the unwashed masses who had neither the time nor the taste to decide for themselves what was good and what wasn't, after the Labels and The Radio told them what they should be hawking. It was a good system for those inside it. Everybody made a dollar (except the artists, of course!)

I'm not trying to be one of those trolling contrarians (everybody knows one - check out yfbspod.com for an amusing example of the contrarian taken to an extreme for comedic effect), but for reasons I am still trying to understand, if all the critics love something then I am immediately biased against the disc right out of the gate. Don't tell me what to think, I guess.

Which is why, after a mere 83 albums, I must remind myself NOT TO READ ABOUT THE ALBUM BEFORE I LISTEN to it so that I don't otherwise taint my own review. For some of the older albums I am already aware of the Critically Acclaimed® label (CA from here on out) and my own bias about that.

You gotta ask yourself: maybe there's a reason why every mainstream rock journalist can't keep themselves from being the first to fawn over certain albums (this, and all Bruce Springsteen albums, or anything by Tom Waits, for instance), put them on the best of the year lists, and so forth? Maybe this work is real world changing music unlike anything ever known, which will upend your existing worldview and alter the very course of the culture of humanity. It is possible, and I do myself a disservice by not allowing it.

Anyway, this is one of the most CA albums ever made. It's okay, a little dirgy, takes no risks to speak of, the instrumentation and technical quality is generally middle of the road. Springsteen isn't hurting anybody, and that's fine. There's some catchy songs here and some thought-provoking lyrics. The band is good, Clarence Clemmons (sp?)has a recognizable style and Springsteen's iconic voice is familiar and welcoming, but he can bring the heat when needed (not too much, though, we're not here to upset people). All due respect. Springsteen is an icon. That doesn't make it great. I'm going against the critics on this one.

Decent post 9-11 indie Rock. Somewhat dismal thematically like a lot of Arcade Fire's stuff is. Nice execution. Some really interesting orchestration and instrumentation to deepen the mood. No Cars Go is a great tune.

Thoroughly enjoyed Miles Davis embracing a minimalist approach and the innovations he adds. More approachable that the later electric work like Bitches Brew. I especially like the reprise on In a Silent Way, kind of the second half of side two, where the guitar plays an ostinato that reminds of Eno's Music for Airports I, the melody kind of revolving around itself without ever fully resolving. Innovative and lovely. Really subtle, bears repeated listens.

Let's talk about William Babinski's "The Disintegration Loops" album instead for a moment.

The Disintegration Loops album https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Disintegration_Loops# (actually 4 albums spanning nearly 300 minutes) are a museum piece, not necessarily music. Babinsky is a sound artist who used tape loops a lot in his work to evoke feelings that traditional recordings do not. The disintegration loops are recordings of some of these sound loops - recordings of voices, old music, found tapes, etc. - literally disintegrating as they pass across the tape heads. Each time they pass through the machine, a little more gets worn off. It's really interesting ambient music. There is a haunting beauty hearing the music itself completely fall apart. The falling apart is the music. The rhythm comes from the loop repeating, the sound changing ever so slightly as it goes on. Certain sections are beautiful, others nasty. When I listened to this, as more and more of it goes away, the more I found myself wanting it to remain in the world even though the whole point was it's own destruction.

Listening to something disintegrate works as a museum piece. As a rock album, especially from The Beatles, it just hurts a little.

Three stars was a bit harsh - many of these songs are in the "Dark Side of the Moon" range, like Dear Prudence, While My Guitar, and others. What I'm referring to above is that it just doesn't hold together, it's more of a couple solo albums, and Ringo gets short shrift.

Very poetic. I'm not very familiar with his work, which should appeal to my avant garde sensibilities. This album probably needs more context (time, place) for it to make sense to me. Another critically acclaimed record that made me wonder why. I like a lot of his later work better. Not sure what I'm missing here. If I had more time I would probably listen a couple more times.

Brian Ferry sounds like he's doing a character. It lacks emotional depth and clarity for me. Not very sincere, but it feels like that's kind of the point (?). Songs aren't very memorable. That being said, Phil Manzanera is extremely good on here. Out of the Blue is a GREAT song though! And you can here the New Wave influence in a lot of this. Not awesome.

Rock and Roll the way Satan intended! An all time favorite of mine, reminds me of 8th grade.

Although Critically Acclaimed®, still one of my all time favorite albums. Not a throwaway on here, but Angels Want to Wear my Red Shoes, Watching the Detectives , and Allison are outstanding. This is Elvis' debut, making it all the more amazing.

Interesting. Lots of juicy progginess disguised in early '00s Americana clothes. Has a strong psychedelic skeleton, and yeah, the rhythm section is great, throwing a lot of notes in there. Like Rush for Deadheads. Pretty cool, a good listen.

Dark dark dark. This is probably going to be the heaviest rock that we get on the 1001 albums list. Vinnie Paul shows here why he was considered among the best metal drummers to ever play. Clean on the fast parts. Massive on the slow parts. This brings a heat and rage that is not matched by any other genre. Unlike the storytelling you get with Iron Maiden or the confused existential soul-searching of Metallica, Pantera has an incessant raging emotional fire. Sonically crushing, creative, and astonishingly tight, this gives birth to some of the best metal to come after it: Gojira, Avenged Sevenfold, Lamb of God and Trivium among them. This album seems to have brought this sort of dark introspective hardcore more into the mainstream. Underground black and death metal existed at the time but it certainly wasn't as accessible as this or the early thrash of Metallica and Anthrax, etc.

It's cool, though. A lot of newer genres rear their ugly heads: djent, prog, post-hardcore, melodic death metal, southern (think Mastodon or Baroness), and whatever it was that Alice in Chains was doing.

Criticisms: can be same sounding, guttural screaming is a good effect when used sparingly but here Anselmo WANTS YOU TO HEAR HIM (fair enough given the subject matter), sometimes the subtlety sounds forced. Overall a good record with tons of intensity that I wish Pantera could have built on instead of started luxuriating in for most of the ret of their career.

You know the generator is up to something when you get Elastica so soon after the two Blur albums.
I love this A LOT. New wave? Really great post-punk, power-pop. A real headbanger, one of my favorites so far. No complaints, but with 16 songs you do get some monotony into the middle. A bit saucy and a blast of energy. I'd say a lot more about this but I'm falling behind in my listening so I gotta move on. Listen to Stutter.

Great voice, classic soul singer doing some less-than-usual tunes. I especially like the second half of this LP with "Won't You Give Him (One More Chance)". Nicely recorded and put together collection of singles and filler, none of which are throwaways. A nice, positive record if you're into that kind of thing. Didn't blow me away but has a good energy. Influential.

Weird without being pretentious. Pixies came out of the womb fully formed, somehow. I always forget how heavy their stuff is. Gigantic is such a catchy, avant-pop song, as is the ubiquitous "Where is My Mind." Joey Santiago's solo on Vamos brings out the ghost of Andy Gill and is a thrilling surprise. The best albums (of which this is one) bear repeated listening and it seems like each time you play it, you hear something new. More accessible than some of their other stuff, possibly. One complaint: that song Cactus is trying a little too hard to sound like Nirvana ;)
And yeah, I give a lot of five star reviews, what about it?

A short, non-exhaustive list of things I liked about Blur's "Parklife":
Eclectic song styles keeps it interesting - a little dance music, a little post-punk, a little smooth Continental pop (I don't know what I mean exactly by that, but a lot of this album has a very "European" feel), a little new-wave, a little of that atmospheric Britpop sound but with *just* a hint more edge.
Drums, bass, guitar and vox all pretty resplendent, and excruciatingly tight even when purposely breaking into the sloppier compositions. Incredibly well balanced and "fresh" without sounding forced. This Is a Low is a great example.
Unapologetically anglo-centric.
Different and a wee bit odd without being overly challenging. Everything has a familiarity. But not predictable. Again, nicely balanced.
Has a good beat, you can dance to it :)

Her: I'm gonna pull a Tom Waits song out of my ass RIGHT NOW:

On a Thursday the rivers run raw
His garbage mitt can't catch the claw
The jailer-man don't obey no law
He planned it out, he killed his Ma

On Friday all the beggars fry
A rat-burger below the bigger sky
And now and again amongst the rye
We make all your mamas cry

There ya go. I'll be back later to pick up my Grammy.

I love the heaviness P.E. brings to the party. I don't love the constant badgering. The audience for this is not going to listen to it anyway. I the end it comes off as complaining more than anything else. Some high-quality socially conscious takes are here though and sometimes those things make for an uncomfortable listen. I like Flavor Flave more than I should though. There's nothing I *don't* like sound-wise on this album. At the same time it's just more of the same. Not clear why it made tis list except for the Anthrax collab which is pretty groundbreaking.

Hendrix is without question the BEST rock guitar player who ever lived - a fact I just came up with out of thin air, but also confirmed by Rolling Stone. The songs on this seem to me either overly numbed or excessively energized, neither to a satisfying effect. BUT SO CLOSE it's a little frustrating for me. I don't think that was the intention. It's hard to say what the intention was.

The music is just not completely formed. There's quite a bit of experimentation and what sounds like goofing that might have been left out. Heavy, innovative guitar sounds are sometimes squashed by the production: the stereo panning, the compression, the tape bouncing and flanging muddy the waters, if you will (see what I did there? Hendrix was kind of a blues guy? whatever, nevermind).

Ladyland is great but not awesome, with flashes of brilliance so blinding you have go over it again to make sure you heard what you thought you did. Overall groovy album with a few rough spots here and there mostly from the production stuff.
All the guitar panning made me dizzy. 😵 Not kidding.