Reviews by jlazerus

She says “Losing love is like a window in your heart
Well, everybody sees you’re blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow”
Probably should write an entire essay about this album. Linda Ronstadt. Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Youssou Ndour. Adrian Belew. African skies. Diamonds. It’s all good and we forgive Paul Simon for whatever sins of appropriation because this album introduced a huge audience to a kind of music we were previously unaware.

NO
MORE
ROD
STEWART
PLEASE!
Jeff Beck is amazing, but he gets stomped by Rod Stewart and the ham-fisted piano player. Also you guys need to practice a little more, the drummer is trying to swing but my god is it awkward. Find the groove! Although with rod stewart screaming all over everything I can see how difficult it would be.

If only there was an instrumental Jeff Beck album 🤔🤔🤔

First time hearing this band and I have to say I am impressed, especially by the Dave Mattacks' drumming. Effectively mashing-up a fairly heavy rock sound (at times) with British folk sounds very natural for the band, at a time when LITERALLY EVERYONE was trying to be Bob Dylan. They find their own roots, resulting in a sincere and interesting sound. No one is trying to do the Blues®, or R & B, or Soul or country. So much has been said praising Sandy Denny that I'm not going to mention her except to say she makes this. Without her it's just ok, a nice try. Simply great.

Not bad. Probably overrated due to the Monkees' popularity, but a fun effort. A little light psychedelia here and there mixed with songs about holding hands and pretty girls. "Sunny Girlfriend" brings a little country to the party, and the first three songs could be on any alt-rock band's covers list. Not intense.

The best of the “grownup” R.E.M. albums. We are all alone, together. No jokes today.
A really professional production, some brilliant songwriting and spotless execution. Though I usually like my REM less polished and more inscrutable, this album hits hard emotionally. Looking back at it now makes it feel even heavier. This came out in the deepest part of grunge, a pretty rebellious move for a pretty sounding album. Find the River kills me. Check out the video.

Super interesting at times. A lot of what you hear about this album revolves around the story of the bad piano and how everyone overcame their problems to produce one of the best Jazz albums ever. It's like the Michael Jordan \"flu game\" in the 1998 NBA finals. You won! Why belabor it? If I didn't know any of the story, I think I might like it better. Is the story making excuses for a poor performance? Doesn't sound like it.

The music itself plows vigorously through a wide range of feelings, tempos, techniques. I don't know a lot about music theory but I'm sure there's tons to dissect in this. It really is an impressive work. Verges on stepping into uncharted territory sometimes, but is a little timid in that regard - I would like to here more experimental sounds. I really like some of the atonal harmonics the piano gives off, especially apparent in the first minutes of Part I. I hear a lot of influence, from Bob James to Radiohead. Interesting album and pleasant. A little like a soundtrack, as Keith Jarret himself has said, but transcendant nonetheless (felt like pretentiousness was appropriate for this one).

I love Losing You, the Kenny Jones solo at the end is superlative. Maggie May is okay. A lot of the rest sounds like a bar band jamming too late at night, as another reviewer here mentioned. The misogyny and racism on Every Picture Tells a Story is awkward. That's Alright is an abomination - the phrasing is off-putting "Well that's alright MA-MAMA" instead of NOW MAMA is irritating. Another case for me of "Why do so many people like this?" Was there a dearth of quality music in 1972? Is everyone (and by everyone I mean critics and record buyers AT THE TIME, check out the Wikipedia stats and critical reception) just overly impressed by British pub-rockers playing American country music? I know the Stones did this a lot in the 70s as well, never really found this appealing. Maybe it's more impressive if you're British and not ever been exposed. This is a bit third rate. He shouyld have stayed with the Faces, man!

Third garbage album in a row!
This is the first album I ever bought with my own money. Best $5.99 I ever spent.
Never gets old. 10,000 out of five.
Last thing: listen to Plant screaming \"GO AWAY HEARTBREAKERRRRR!\" at the end of that song, then we can talk about Robert Plant, okay?

I came to the realization, after listening to this, that it's just a sideshow and each song is a different freak. Points for attempting to be entertaining. Tom Waits is the emcee/barker. This is not "rock" music however, and should not be categorized as such. If I think of it as an attempt at being folk-adjacent, it makes more sense. But I get the feel that Tom Waits is simply aping some persona, perhaps a troubadour William Burroughs? To my ear the music not really sincerely felt by the singer or has much of a folk soul.

Waits is just a kind of guy that got stuck writing high-school level poetry (one laughably typical example "Oh, when the moon is a cold, chiseled dagger/ And it's sharp enough to draw blood from a stone") and little stories about murder and bad people (that he imagines are out there). I don't get the gravelly voice affectation, I suppose it adds to the persona Waits is attempting to create. All of these little creations are deeply disturbed or whatever, and I'm not interested in meeting them or getting to know them, thank you very much. Keep them in your "closet of dreams" or wherever they came from.

This album is not something I would purposely play. I understand what he's trying to do and I respect it, it has artistic merit definitely. But it's just unpleasant and darkly weird. And some listeners really like the darkly weird. I do not, really.

Please stop yelling, Tom.

Sorry Zoomers/Gen Y, I was like 50 when this came out so it's one of the worst things to ever happen to me. I AM sorry it's not King Crimson or whatever

I am firmly in the ‘Paul Simon is a songwriting genius’ and the ‘Simon and Garfunkel’s harmonies are without equal’ camps.

Ginger Baker’s weird snare tuning and signature Tom sound. He also sings a song on this album, which was possibly not a great idea. Everyone was under the influence here, including the producer, how else to explain “Mother’s Lament 😭”
The best songs on the album are the ones you’re familiar with - Sunshine of Your Love, Tales of Brave Ulysses, Strange Brew. Which are great. Except for these standouts, it feels a little low-effort. Clapton was beloved back when this came out, but his style never touched me all that much. And apparently he was just as much of an a*hole in his early years as later (citation: A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, episode 126 - For Your Love by the Yardbirds, Andrew Hickey) so anything he could say now to turn people against him is pretty irrelevant now.

Ultimately for me there’s a lot to love here (Sunshine of Your Love, Jack Bruce’s falsetto) and a lot to just forget (Blue Condition, bearded rainbows).

Great album. I love Latin music and this is really enjoyable and extremely well executed example. Interesting variety of moods. Too bad I don’t speak Spanish 🇲🇽😌

I always want the Ramones to go harder. Good album though, short and sweet. Never really saw them as a Punk band, but I suppose for most listeners “punk” is more a musical style than a social group association so it probably qualifies. They have a good sense of humor and you get that the early Ramones didn’t take themselves too seriously. The later Ramones did have to be THE RAMONES and I wonder if that limited their artistic range. This album absolutely defines The Ramones, for better or worse. Good job attacking the status quo!!!

Oooohh hmmm. Really wanted to like this but the big symphonic swells and background (FOREGROUND) vocals left me feeling … betrayed. Ray Charles is amazing though.

Kind of a wild ride as it always is with Pixies. I love the Kim Deal/Black Francis harmonies, the dual guitar wall of noise, the verging on out of control lead vocals, the esoteric and inscrutable lyrics, the asymmetrical over the bar line compositions, the unusual but not too avant garde chord progressions... I will have to listen to it a few more times again to get the full experience. THis album bears repeated listening for sure. Also interesting to hear it in the same week as the Throwing Muses album, lots of compare-and-contrast available between these two. Killer album from an important band.

Cool album, side 2 is especially good. Ronnie Lane doesn’t need to sing when you have Rod Stewart in your band. I liked it more than I thought I would. Love the guitar.

1 cup post-punk poetics
1 tb each b52s, au pairs, and gang of four
season liberally with arpeggiated major chords and unusual rhythms
serve slightly undercooked
pairs well with the unmistakable Kristin Hersch/Tanya Donnely harmony
{chef's kiss}

Just want to add - listen to Joe Morello's left hand on Time Out. Masterpiece. The subtlety and understatement is from a higher level. Beautiful example of dynamic range in that tight rhythmic structure. Great album, historically significant, an old favorite. I love every note on this and I am NOT a big saxamaphone guy!

I really enjoyed this. Some great story-telling and humor. A little bit of Peace and Love with "A better Place to Live," some sweet gospel, some humor ("Travelin Man"). But it has my new favorite song, the stunningly beautiful "Early Morning Breeze."

Short and sweet. Dolly Parton has such an iconic voice and her songs are more interesting melodically and lyrically than the Porter Wagoner ones. Still great overall. Coat of Many Colors has a comfortable, folksy tone, simple instrumentation that highlights the songs and Dolly's lovely voice.