Reviews by jlazerus

Last of the great U2 albums. Catchy guitar/bass/drums rock music, this is all we ask of U2. Though they ask more than that from themselves and that's when it goes a little bit off. Which is why songs like Elevation and Walk On are great - they go hard emotionally, it's sincere and the band isn't trying to do something that doesn't fit them. Incredibly entertaining live band and an astonishing lifetime of work with virtually no controversy except people think Bono is cocky, or something. I love U2 and I was glad when they made this as a kind of return to the form that made them so outsanding in the first place.

I have probably listened to this more than all but 5 others in my collection. Perfect - from the otherworldly piano to Miles sweet and raspy style. Beautiful, touching, playful, and played by jazzbos at their peak. I mean COME ON man, you have Coltrane AND Cannonball Adderly, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb all in the same room. All at their peak. Compositionally groundbreaking, Kind of Blue sets the tone for Jazz forever after. You can not overstate how important this album is. If I could own a single album, it might be this one. Needs more stars than 5.

I think this is my new favorite band. This has some inventive poppy-sounding stuff with a dark edge that I find really appealing, like Talking Heads or Beck. Arty and played with confidence. A nice surprise, I had heard of them but never heard them.

Assuming they intended to make sounds like this and it wasn't accidental, this album is spellbinding. MBV use standard rock forms as a basis. Clear verse/chorus composition, drum/bass/guitar/vocals instrumentation, vocal hooks, and from what I can tell, love songs as a major theme serve to create a framework for dismantling ALL OF THOSE. The instrumentation degrades into dissonance. The vocal hooks disappear as soon as you getr to know them. The compositions start with familiar forms and branch off into territories unknown. Really arty, I enjoyed it a lot even though it's hard to listen to sometimes, it demands attention in a world where that is a scarce commodity. Still trying to figure this one out.

WHHHYYYYYY!!!!!????? 😭
WHY are there two albums by this person on the list?

Linkin Park lean heavily into the psychological domain, trauma, and despair. Well executed and heavy. Chester Bennington (?) is an excellent singer, died tragically young. Great band. In the End is a classic, great hook, thoughtful and emotionally expressive. Well executed angry youth anthems.

Nice pop album. Romantic and lovely. Anita Baker has a voice like no other. Not a style of music I choose first, but a superior example of that style.

Deep. Helps me understand what some folks have to go through, and we absolutely need constant reminders. Which sucks. Hopefully there will be change someday.

Oh, also great music by a excellent singer. Solange delivers her message in a sweet-tasting way, making it easy to listen to - gets your attention, makes it enjoyable while not berating or lecturing. Just brings you to the experience.

This band has grown on me a lot in the last 20 years (woah). I love their novel vocal harmonies, the dynamics, the artful two guitar attack, the musicianship from the rhythm section. Even the judicious use of a dj for some skritchy punctuation, mashing up funk and grunge and alternative, works for me. Perfectly recorded.

Nothing to see here. Maybe even less appealing than Method Man's "Tical" which was unbearably tedious. Every "song" starts with some dude talking ("n-word, n-word, shit motherfucker etc.) over a background of some lofi tape mishap. It's a formula and it sucks.

Y'all SUCKAS listenin' this shit

A very heavy work of art, not really FOR me, but I get the hype. I like that he brings a lot of jazz and funk into the grooves. Kind of "next generation" rap. A bit long and pretty sad.

Absolute traditional country classic top to bottom. Not a wasted note. Loretta Lynn is not taking any shit. I love that.

Every time I get Morrisey (and that is often apparently) I think "Ugh, oh boy, I'm going to hate this" but then I always kiond of like it. THis one has some really excellent guitatr and the usual moping. Perfectly ok.

Unmistakenly Elvis Costello. Has some of the bitterness, envy, and anger of the first two albums without all that pesky political nonsense (I miss the political Elvis). Some new and unique POV in these songs now, though - is the singer in "Poor Napolean" a woman? Nothing all that memorable except "I Want You" which is strikingly creepy, "Battered Old Bird" a surprisingly touching tune - "He'd better have a dream beyond these four walls" - and the three-chord verse/chorus banger "Next Time Round."
Totally worth a listen, but one that the anti-Elvis crowd here will present as evidence of two much Elvis.

Actually pretty great.

I tried. The voice is annoying, the lyrics are juvenile and lowbrow ( not in a sincere way, just weirdly crude), everything lacks dynamics, very one dimensional.

These grooves are funky, heavy, cool, infectious. Gangsta is a genre I don't really "get," it's not my culture, it's too violent. So, it doesn't appeal to me lyrically. It's hard to get past being offended. But I can see how some guys would be attracted to Mr. Cube.

Killer grooves though, foot tappin' production. Please don't make my head explode like a cantaloupe.

I really enjoyed this one. A discovery for which I am grateful to the curators of the list.

Krautrock inspired Folktronica with a heavy spiritual vibe, atmospheric, cinematic, very unexpected. It's rare when listening to one of these albums moves me, where the music gets my attention and keeps it, and then takes me to a... place I haven't been to before in my mind (or, haven't been in a while).

But, a mood lifter. SO much here is inward-looking lamenting, or outward-looking complaints. This looks both inward and outward but in a much different way. Like I said earlier, it's spiritual, some of the time verging on silly. But again, a rare case of transcendence.

Had a couple - three whiskeys. At home listening on the old stereo.

This is truly great, and I'm sorry Clapton turned into a judgemental weirdo. Because this has a sincerity and desperation that cuts to the bone. EVERY song has the best guitar solo you've ever heard. Clapton's voice is in perfect form. He still has some George Harrison in him. And it's ALL BLUES. Bell Bottom Blues and Layla are two of the best rock songs ever written. Colossal.

I listened to a few times trying to understand what I thought of it. Great singer, some nice orchestration, a couple good songs (Killing Moon is great), but just... flat, uninspired and overworked. I wanted to like it and every time I listened it just let me down. :(

Beautiful vocals and kind of innovative for the pop vocal style that was so dominant at this time. Love Hurts is enigmatic. Impressive.