Reviews by john

Bowie takes just about every rock trope up to that point and plays it to perfection. Lots of guitar hooks or little melodic moments that make you go “oh yeah and that song is also on here.”

But I think it’s his vocal performances that make this album so impactful. Bowie is practically shrieking on both the opener and closer. Imagine feeling any sort of teenage emotional disposition at the time of this albums release, and hearing him shout ‘you’re not alone!’ on the closing “Rock N Roll Suicide”. It’s like he’s reaching through your headphones and shaking you by the shoulders.

I covet Bowie’s ability to simultaneously be the voice FOR the youth of his time, and speak so directly TO the impressionable youth. I think he leans into that capability with how much he calls on doo-wop songwriting tropes. So many simple, descending melodies like the soaring “Five Years” chorus with its strings soaring over top. Or the bassline and sax combo in “Soul Love”. Or the ‘wah wah wah woah woah woah lalala’ adlibs in the back of “Star”. It all pulls from the epicenter of music made for the youth: the 50’s. I’m sure that coincides with the time period that had the most meaning for Bowie in his youth.

I haven’t even touched on the concept for this project, how it’s brought to life with such concrete execution. Ziggy really feels like a “Moonage Daydream”. So many lyrics that revere stardom and conflate love with galactic experiences.

5/5 one of the albums you’re just lucky to be alive for

I am inherently immune to the vitriol this album receives, as I had countless little league coaches growing up who all landed in the James Taylor demographic, including my parents. I can take the easy delivery of James Taylor at face value and enjoy it for what it is, not having to wring my fist the way many other reviews on this album do.

That being said, this record is just fine. Is it solely included for “Fire and Rain”? Maybe to an extent. It’s a great, contemplative, placid song. As are many others on here. But I won’t venture out further than to say James Taylor is occasionally easy on the ears. There isn’t a lot of seasoning added to the mix. I don’t think he reinvented the easy-listening wheel or anything with this project. But his recognizable voice carries a lot of weight.

I’ll take a 3/5 for this one, a 6/5 if you’re taking an Appalachian road trip

This is a throwback in the grand scheme of this albums list journey. I vaguely remember their 2001 album having some very interesting production choices, but not tons of substance to its songs.

Speaking on throwbacks, at the beginning of last year I made a resolution to more meaningfully engage with each of the albums I get every day. I largely followed through on that, scroll back through my review history to see evidence of that. That being said, albums like these make it really hard to keep that habit intact. What is this record if not another alt-rock effort done by a handful of white guys who sound like they failed upward into the platform that allowed them to release this album.

There’s a specific point where this album is at its best, and it’s the song “Something 4 The Weekend”. It’s fairly catchy and infectious. Simple and sticky. When this album is at its worst, it’s handfuls of songs in a row where these guys sound like a British offshoot of Kings Of Leon. Nothing is very memorable, the lead singers voice is not good nor personable.

I encourage anyone who’s really into this album to expand their horizons. 2/5

There are no less than 40 albums on this list that sound vaguely like this one. I say vaguely, because so many of them are vague and forgettable. I’m sure these hit if you were a certain type of teenager in a certain place at the time of their release, but hindsight puts this record in its place.

“Down On Mission Street” and “Forest Fire” almost revived this project’s pulse, but it was too little too late.

2/5 no need to listen to this one

In no way should you feel like you need to listen to this album. I’m left with the question “what was that?” and if I had to answer my own question, the only words I can come up with are scattered and mundane. This album attempts to cover a few genres, some more contemporary than others, seemingly at random. None of it is done well enough for me to hold onto anything.

A strange inclusion 2/5

“The Partisan” stops you in your tracks and makes this whole album worth listening to. Beautiful in every way, haunting and stern.

As for the rest? It’s alright. Standard Cohen stuff where it’s all about the lyrics and the minimalist instrumentals serve to create a little supporting atmosphere for the stories being told. I don’t think this is his strongest effort by any means.
“The Old Revolution” isn’t too shabby.

Soft 3/5. Doesn’t really need to be on this list with better Cohen projects, but his storytelling can’t be denied

Mindless filler for album 741, a brutal blow to my determination. Just go listen to The Doors instead. 1/5

I don’t think I’ve ever had back to back days where I’ve needed to contemplate if I just listened to two straight 5/5 records. This was really good, wildly good when you consider it came out in 2002. Some of it sounds like it’s from 2026.

The first song was an excellent, energetic song on its own, then it gave way to one of the best transitions into a following song I’ve ever heard. So smooth.

“Break You Off” was a jam, it highlights one of my only problems with the record which is that it doesn’t escape some of the misogyny of it’s time.

But the highlight of this record is EASILY “Water”. A convicted performance on its chorus during a structured first half that turns into a sonic drug trip / night on the street which the first half of the song warned about. Stellar storytelling through sound. I’d give this song a 6/5 if I could.

It’s cool to see Jill Scott on here, just days after she dropped her own album thats been getting a lot of praise this week. Lots of life-affirming songs on her album.

I’m gonna give this a 4/5, but this is an inverse of my problem yesterday, I may regret not giving this a 5/5

Lots to unpack here! Most of it is a welcome surprise. This was a hidden gem for me and I needed to listen to it twice to decide my exact rating, and even then I was still so split right down the 4 and 5 mark.

Some scattered thoughts on various songs:

The opening “Holes” sounds exactly like an M83 HurryUp, We’re Dreaming instrumental layered under a Flaming Lips vocal (yes, the rampant Flaming Lips comparisons are valid). I think it’s fair to continue the FL comparison on the following “Tonite It Shows”. Very melancholy, very Yoshimi.

“Endlessly” absolutely rips a “Silent Night” lead melody and I can’t I hear it.

One of my favorite songs was “The Happy End” for its marionette, macabre, circusesque atmosphere. I LOVE when an instrumental interlude ends up being the track that stands out. These aesthetics continue again on the end of “The Funny Bird” and into the beginning of “Pickup If You’re There”. Truly one of the albums most prominent qualities is this atmosphere.

Does anyone else hear some of Lennon’s “Mind Games” in the song “Opus 40”?

The closing “Delta Dun Bottleneck Stomp” was really the only lowlight for me, as it’s jarringly different, like a more upbeat rock song that belongs on a different album.

Will I regret giving this a 5? Maybe. Especially because it’s functionally so similar to the Flaming Lips Pink Robots album, which I’ve already given a 5. But this thing was strangely good

They kinda take a PFunk approach to the music with the gang vocals and high energy music. “Renegades of Funk” as a song title feels like an accurate descriptor for this project aa a whole.

It was a pretty rough first half, admittedly. But I really really liked “Who You Funkin With?”, and in general the second half of the record was a good time. Except the closing “They Made A Mistake”, which sounded oddly like it belonged on a previous record. The recording and mix was all strange.

3/5, if you can get past the clunky nature of some of the late 80’s soundfonts, it’s a vibe

While one wishes for the type of diversity that doesn’t involve collaborating with an American guitarist, one takes what little one can get on this list. It was pretty solid. Fell off a bit towards the end due to repetition, but otherwise an easy listen front-to-back.

I’ll take “Bonde” and “Amandrai” as my favorites, with the latter being a much needed change of pace in the tracklisting.

Light 4/5 a jam

Gives you a lot to unpack while also feeling like a project that just blurs right by. I think it’s best to treat this album as one long song.

Newsom shows a penchant for writing great vocal melodies but often stuffs those melodies under instrumentation thats doing too much. She can’t beat the sounds like Björk allegations, but that was kinda just a style cropping up around this time so I’m not gonna fault her too much.

The best parts of this record are the obvious ones - the baroque and medieval instrumentation that create a very specific set & setting. There are moments where Joanna Newsom matches the instrumentation with a whimsical vocal run, or a melancholy story. I just wish it all was a bit more refined, I wish for a few more cogent moments. I feel involved in the world of this album, but sometimes a little lost in it.

This is wildly cool art though, and all the people bitching in the reviews for this one dont make sense to me. I’ll take “Sawdust and Diamonds” as my favorite song, 3/5

The Wikipedia article for this is surreal. Someone a lot smarter than me could make a whole paper out of this albums political rhetoric, and it could be a fantastic read. Fela Kuti aims his criticisms not at the decisions made by those who hold power, but by those who follow orders.

The ending of the title track “Zombie” with the horn playing the ‘charge’ theme is a thoughtful touch to a jam track about how the Nigerian soldiers mindlessly acted on command at the time.

Track two stayed on the same topic, but I loved the pocket its instrumental found.

“Observation No Crime” took a more hands off approach, seeming content to let the horns do much of the talking. It’s as if he truly wanted you to give way to the songs namesake and just observe for a while.

Surprised at how well a live song bookends this otherwise-studio-recorded album so well. 4/5, this didn’t have to be anywhere near my wheelhouse for me to praise it. Neat blend of Nigerian heart/rhythm with some jazz instrumentation

Studio quality work plus the occasional improvisation performed live in a prison. Johnny Cash was built different, he really lived for this. His vocal presence is surreal here. He gives the listener so much character that you can practically close your eyes and be there in person.

"Dark as the Dungeon" helped me settle into how fun this listening experience would be. "Cocaine Blues" is just so wild given the set and setting. "The Long Black Veil" was a perfect time to quiet things down.

Just a wild set of songs. The instrumentals only oscillate between “Walk The Line” style songs and acoustic ballads, with the exception of a little doowop inspiration on “Green Green Grass Of Home”. But the subject of each song is always engaging. Stories of men who rightfully deserve to be locked up, stories about being on the run. Crazed inmates trying to make an escape, the moments before state execution, a ballad about missing your newly freed inmate. This is where Cash shines. “Give My Love To Rose” is quintessential Johnny Cash.

Incredible presence, incredible command of the audience. On of the true justifiable live albums. 5/5 easily

Was this the first recorded instance of the term “bad bitch”?

An accidental experiment has been done on the state of Metallicas catalog today. I accidentally told Emma to play the album “And Justice For All” instead of this self titled album. Something interesting occurred. So here are my thoughts on And Justice For All:

“It’s no Master of Puppets” - me, and probably most other people. While this album is no slouch, I just don’t think it holds a torch to its predecessor. There are some moments worth listening for here, like the really chunky, slower “Harvester or Sorrow” which slows down its powerchord formula to a pace that makes you feel the thump of the drums and guitars. Then the obvious highlight on here is “One” which is truly among the best metal songs you’ll ever hear, if not the singular best. Metal will never be my in my powerhouse, but I can still appreciate this album in the same way I appreciated MoP: incredibly clean production and composition that stands the test of time, an instantly recognizable sound, and solid storytelling/imagery. Sadly, a point down for this being too similar to MoP.

Now here’s my review for THIS actual self-titled album, in direct comparison to MoP:
It’s mostly the same.

Self-titled has a bit more variety and well-roundedness, but I am left with the same feeling of power chord wall of sound fatigue by the end. “Enter Sandman” is this albums “One”, though I fear One is not only better, but placed at a more refreshing place in its respective albums tracklisting. Or Self-titled felt like a slow devolution after the peak of Enter Sandman. I wince a bit at the potential group of guys that took “Dont Tread On Me” as their personal anthem.

“Nothing Else Matters” proves that Metallica’s only other note to hit is the solemn plucked guitar melody-turned-anthem. And again, with the knowledge of the song “One” out there existing in the universe as a superior song, it just feels a little too according-to-script.

I am left with but one logical conclusion to this experiment: Metallica is best enjoyed as a vibe, as an attitude. Need a hyper-masculine soundtrack to push day at the gym? Need motivation to drink 6 beers in under an hour? Need to strikeout the side to close out an AL East rivalry game? This is it.
I hope this is the last Metallica album, and variation on their delta listed sound can be left for the heads.

MoP got a respectful 2/5, so will this album

The actual rambling made things very literal. Probably was pretty forward thinking to use his some of his time in the booth to speak/ramble before some of the songs.

“Bed Bug Blues” was really funny to me for really just being about how much bed bugs suck. Outside of that? Meh. Sometimes personable, sometimes forgettable.

Strong 2/5

While The Cure conjure an impressive sound thats bleak, heavy, and even dreadful, I can’t bring myself to enjoy it much more than admiring it from afar. I often hate reading reviews on here about albums I like which boil down to “yeah this just isn’t my cup of tea”. But this just isn’t my cup of tea.

I can hear the goodness, I have a hard time getting into it 2/5

About as complete and thoughtful of an album as you’ll get, at least for its genre and time.

You can hear this albums influence reach out as far as The Strokes - just listen to “Venus”. What a song!

The title track is an opus, with so many phases and escalations, all to land back at that same little guitar melody.

Then “Torn Curtain” is such a stellar closer. So much drama packed into a rock track.

If Eno wanted to make this more like the stuff he was doing with Roxy Music, he woulda ruined it. If he wanted to make it more like the electronic stuff his solo work was becoming…I’d hear that out. All hypothetical though.

Not a ton to say about this one other than how well put together it is. A full 5/5

Hindsight is incredibly kind to this album. The first real triphop album ig it’s time holds up SO well. This must’ve really sounded like the future upon its release, and that’s exactly what it was.

The focus on creating an atmosphere with the music through minimalist, repetitive techniques is akin to something you’d hear in house music. Blue Lines just takes an acidic, trippy, slowed big beat approach to it.

“Unfinished Sympathy” is a monster of a track and easily my favorite. “One Love” was good too.

4/5. There was a time where I didn’t have the patience or pallet to find greatness in this record, but there is greatness indeed

Ice Cube is either prophetically conscious about the injustices that plague black America, or frustratingly misogynistic in ways you may have never even heard before. The dichotomy is jarring, but nothing new for 90's rap. He holds a strong vocal presence for the whole album, constantly high-energy.

I'm not the most educated on it, but some of these songs seem a little cold and east-coastish, like "Wicked".

Some of the tape and tv recordings at the beginning/end of songs were my favorite part. Firm 3/5