Reviews by john

A few big ones on here (besides the obvious “Block Rockin Beats”).
"It Doesn't Matter" has always been my personal favorite. Insane low-end that almost rolls like a warehouse techno kick + bass. Jilted bloops and bleeps float on top with the type-to-talk phrase on repeat, it all goes over so well. Minutes of buildup, tension, and release. This is a certified fantastic rave song.

Really, the first three songs have you thinking The Chem Bros heard what The Prodigy were doing and wanted in on a more gnarling, visceral sound. They do it pretty well!

"Setting Sun" sounds like a miami car chase movie soundtrack, one of the most loving things I can saw about a turn-of-the-century electronic song.

Tracks 8 & 9 don't really do the job they seem to set out to do. Instead of providing some quieter, more varied sonic elements, they just seem dingy and half-baked. "Where Do I Begin" comes along and shows us how to actually achieve those things.

Quite the ambitious closer which insists on mentally sending the listener to a spiritual rave of sorts.

Something I've always thought the good Chem Bros songs do is tension build & release, as mentioned earlier. In this charged-up effort, I think there's a whole crop of moments that create these swells of energy or tension, just to crescendo or release at the right time. Additionally, Dig Your Own Hole has some nice sonic aesthetics. There's a bit of rocknroll 'crunch' to this thing, not too dissimilar to Justice's Cross.

An easy 4/5 for me. At best, this album wields a pristine energy - I felt things similar to how I felt listening to Skrillex early on. I’d still implore the listener to go hear Fat Of The Land first, but this is still super solid.

What can only be described as not quite big beat, not quite trip hop, and definitely not whatever wikipedia has these guys pinned down as.

First of all, they should’ve never let the lead singer on to sing more than a line or two. Almost strictly makes things worse when singing.

I really liked “Inner Flight” as a slowed down, acidic, carnival-style beat. But if that’s the best this thing could offer for the first five tracks or so? Ugh. Then “Loaded” comes on and I’m just thinking to myself why do we need more songs that sound like Moby but aren’t him?

I will say, the best would come after this point.
“I’m Coming Down” gave me a glimmer of hope, some colorful effects on the percussion and a crazy sax noodling session. “Higher Than The Sun” continues to dig into the dubby, washed-out aesthetics it was starting to build on. Then the ending of “Shine Like Stars” wanders like a sweet goodnight ending. The album should’ve ended there. No disc two.

Im gonna be honest, I don’t know if I have the articulation skills to say why some of the cuts here are so unlistenable / contrived, and why others are nuanced, pretty, and meditative. I don’t know where that line starts and stops. Which makes this a frustrating, complicated, patience-testing listen.

I give this a most fascinating, captivating, most light 3/5 stars award. I was gonna give it a 2/5, but I think this record did a lot of leg work to form a very specific, eventually popular 90’s sound. That ultimately outweighs the shitstorm that is a handful of these songs. In the end, I once again find myself scratching my head at many of the electronic albums added or excluded on our glorious list.

I want to grab this album by its shoulders, shake it, and tell it to speak up! There are a few good songs where the understated deliveries by Chris Martin achieve a nice sense of roomy space. The rest all blend together into something that, like everyone has said at this point, just grasp at bits of Radiohead & U2.

The run of “Sparks”, “Yellow”, & “Parachutes” all carry some well-known melodies, Coldplay can’t be faulted for not knowing how to whip up a memorable hook. But by the time the title track came around, I was good and ready for the end. Luckily, this thing is a merciful 40 minutes if you include the bonus track.

Likely a colossal work for those who held a moody disposition about the world around them, and likely more irritating for coffee shop employees at the time. Strong 2/5, I hear all the components which make this a successful record, it’s just not my jam

I’m gonna assume this isn’t on Spotify for sample clearance issues, which is a damn shame because the sampling is one of the highlights.

A strong start, a weak middle, then a shot in the arm with the one-two punch of “Tribe Vibes” into “J.Beez Comin Through” gives this thing such a firm ending. I’d think so highly of this album if it left out a few song in the middle before these.

Other highlights include “Feelin Alright”, “What You Waiting 4”, and the closing song. Softest 4/5, though I will once again scream into the void for a more detailed rating system than just 5 stars

Very strong first offering from Tori Amos. While occasionally cheesy, she largely sticks the landing with swelling ballads of love, loss, and self-image.

“Crucify” had an immediate, catchy, repetitive chorus that had me super hopeful. My hopes were not let down.

“Girl” had an instrumental that hooked me in, though this one is very clearly a Kate Bush homage. Not a bad one, but it’s hard to ignore.

My favorite moment might be the crescendo of “Winter”. What a nice way to ramp up the tension over 5 minutes. Fantastic ballad, even if the subject matter is a little corny.

I also love the macabre, parlor-style sound of “Leather”. Great storytelling with just the piano alone.

A fantastic voice and a great group of songs that vary nicely in energy and composition. 4/5!

Galavanting prog-rockestra at its best moments. At the end of the day though, it’s still prog rock so things often blend together, so many ideas get thrown at you that you can’t latch on to much.

The 17 minute mark in “Overture” was pretty great, highlighting the best part of this record: the guitar solos. Very high-energy.

This sounds like the old computer store I used to go into. CD-ROM’s of Warcraft-like games on the wall, old dudes with beards and square glasses working on opened desktops. 3/5, the mid slog continues

A very strange experience where my faith in the masses is once again affirmed when we all collectively lifted up the best song from this album, “Come On Eileen”. Because there’s some good stuff on here, but so much of it is so similar.

I loved the opening “Celtic Soul Brothers” for its dramatic energy, but by song 3 or 4 I kinda got bored of every minute sitting in the same register for singing and instrumentation. “Let’s Make This Precious” also had me going for a while.

I love the horns on much of this record, especially on “Jackie Wilson Said”.

I just don’t know with this one. Some variation in composition would’ve really sent it above and beyond for me. A nice piano ballad, some softer guitars, some different vocal deliveries. Little things like that would’ve really helped. Let’s go firm 3/5 on this one. High on the enjoyability scale, not so high on the composition/tracklisting.

Music you’d expect from a guy named Merle Haggard. Not bad, just very expected.

Best song picks are “Life In Prison” & “Drink Up And Be Somebody”.

Super soft 3/5

Very futuristic for something from the 90’s that deals heavily in electronic dance music sounds.

"Crying" is an excellent song. Such a peculiar swingy little chorus paired with a rather dark pre-chorus. I immediately think of one of my favorite records of 2025, FKA Twig's Eusexua. Really, all of "Debut" is an apt comparison. "Venus As A Boy" is so wonderous with its string passages and Indian influence. Goes well with Bjork's voice.

But my clear cut favorite for the record is "One Day". There's a bit of goa lounge in there, that acid synth arp floating in and out is downright beautiful.

"Violently Happy" is a sleeper great song too! I hear some of the groundwork for house music trends that would come in the years after this project.

Not surprised by Bjork making something forward-thinking, but I am surprised by how many dance music subgenres she covered or practically invented. 4/5 lovely listen!

Just incredibly tight for a debut punk record. And surprisingly dynamic too. The more bittersweet melodic passages in “Remote Control” dont scream teeth-gnashing 70’s punk, but damn it works so well.

I also feel that “I’m So Bored With The USA”! How relatable! To know that British people were experiencing the same burnout caused by Americas geopolitical activities that we experience today, it’s oddly comforting.

“Landon’s Burning” must’ve hit the consciousness of the bitter, conservative, elderly British population like a truck. All of this album, really. It’s all so honest, vitriolic and well-performed, all at once. Listen to that chorus on “Career Opportunity”!! Stellar bit of songwriting and infectious vocal performance. It’s my perfect microcosm of punk music - makes you want to dance and rage at the same time.

It’s a 4/5. Not complete perfection but nothing bad about this record at all. The chemistry is palpable especially for a debut record

Look I have come to LOVE Brian Eno, but does Roxy Music need 3 albums on here? That's just filler at this point.

On "Out of the Blue" you can hear that Eno bass, which is distracting from an admittedly impressive guitar solo. I'd go as far as to say its just a tick or two below Free Bird, partially because the mix seems so muddy.

The back to back of "Bittersweet" and "Triptych" took things in a trippy direction. I appreciate the experimentation, and at the same time it kinda lost me here. What's here that I havent heard on a million other 70's albums?

Maybe a 3/5 on substance alone, but I’ve gotta 2-bomb this thing for not being the best of the THREE Roxy Music records on this list smh

File under “stuff that sounds a little too much like a Bob Dylan imitation”, which seems to be an ever-growing pile of albums.

Everything just sounded a bit too shrill, from the lead singers voice to the quality of each recording. Furthermore, I heard no willingness to venture out into some experimental territory. Every song sat in the same safe register of not too wild, but not too mellow. Seriously, not a remarkable song on here because they all sounded the same.

I fell asleep somewhere around the last song because it was 1am on New Year’s Day. 2/5 not deserving to be on this list

"New Stone Age" was a juicy opener that took the tired new wave sounds we've heard over and over again on this list and turned them into something more drastic and dramatic. It is still egregious how many postpunk/new wave albums are on here. It's like if I made my own 1001 albums list and loaded it with 30 different Anjunabeats mixes and all 5 good new school dubstep albums that have ever existed.

I am a bit more impressed by this effort considering its from 1981, it sounds like something from about 5-7 years later than that. On the note of being ahead of it's time, "Souvenir" is something that surely inspired the material on MGMT's Little Dark Age.

As this album evolved, it got more and more strong, more firm, and more gothic. I really appreciated "Architecture & Morality" into "Georgia".

And "Sacred Heart"! One of the many tracks that are happy to air things out, avoiding a need to feel so compact and poppy. Gives this album a nice sense of space.

Perhaps the most poignant of the lot is "Of All The Things We Made". So bittersweet and meditative. Beautiful song.

I'm feeling a light 4 on this one. Not gonna go back to it much but a very respectable effort.

After my kvetching about yesterday’s instrumental lounge album that didn’t go over so well, I get an instrumental lounge album that I like slightly less, somehow. Some good things about this record are the use of electronics, some hints of dub, and how Smokers Delight isn’t trying to be a film score or anything too edgy.

The problem with this album is also the inverse of yesterday - this thing got more snoozy as time went on. I had really high hopes for Smokers Delight, so maybe I’m feeling the letdown a bit, but this thing sat in the bad middle ground between neat beats and atmospheric ambiance.

Lemme take “Bless My Soul” as my favorite for its groove that had an excellent pocket (thats definitely the same drumbreak from Da Funk) and how it varied/evolved over its 5+ minute runtime - it felt a bit like a cut from DJ Shadows Endtroducing!
& “Gambia Via Gator Beach”? Not that’s a cool track. Needed more of that.

What started out as a blissful lounge album turned into something wholly unreasonable to be put on a list that should illicit some level of active listening/analysis.

Serviceable background music with a solid ambiance that has no right being in this list. Nothing about this record is so interesting or unique that it warrants a spot on such a list. If you can stand to peel back this albums layers, there's some surprises that keep the listener going for just long enough.

"The Vibes Aint Nothin But The Vibes" was almost cool enough to pique my interest, in a literal sense. Very cunning and imaginative. But still ultimately not that captivating. But then "Its Business As Usual" just came off as trite and forced. The dark and spooky voicemail was so forced. Same with "Vermillion Kisses".

"In A Moment Of Clarity" is my pick from the record, a strangely serene and slightly new-agey chiller. Also, was that Nick Cave on "Sweet Embrace"??

This one didn't hook me. I hear some appeal, the grizzly loungey quality of it. But it didn't execute well, imo. JUST creeps into 3/5 territory but man it took a lot out of me to get through

Early on in the opening "Europe Endless" heard the same synth stab and despondent vocal delivery that can be heard in "Your Silent Face" by New Order and I couldn't help but be lulled into a blissful, relaxing listening state. I know this whole album can easily be seen as rigid and repetitive, but not to my ears. What I hear is hopeful, futuristic-for-its-time, and thoughtful.

I love the eerie chiptune-quality arpeggio on "The Hall Of Mirrors" so much. It gives the whole song a jagged, uneasy atmosphere.

"Abzug" was pretty cool in the ways it continued the "Trans-Europe-Express" motif and built on it all.

"Franz Shubert" brought back that romantic arpeggiated New Order synth/key sound which I just genuinely could never get enough of.

I think Kraftwerks genius here isn't just in their use of electronics, but the way they shaped this album. Personally it's a firm 3/5 but I respect this record immensely, anyone who rates it higher is all good in my book

What I enjoyed most was probably the flowery string accompaniments that first stood out to me on "El Harba Wine".

I see a lot of people rolling their eyes at the "Imagine" cover and I'd like to think it isn't as corny as one might think. I'm sure Imagine was one of the just dozens of English speaking songs to reach and be understood in Algeria and all sorts of primarily-not-english-speaking countries. So, is the cover great? No. But it's not abhorrent. I was a huge fan of "Tigue Lycee" that came on right after anyways, I could look right over it.

"E'Dir E'Sseba" wasn't amazing, but did have an instrumental that reminded me of like half the videogame menu theme's I heard as a kid growing up on the PS2.

Other solid tracks include "Raba-Raba" and "El Aadyene". The detractor is that I get bored of listening to something I know nothing about and have limited ability to interpret after about an hour in. Soft 3/5 I'm glad this wasn't from America/UK

Yesterday, we had The Who’s “Tommy” album. It was full of instrumental passages that simply felt arranged & executed. At least on “Every Picture Tells a Story”, Rod Stewart puts some level of passion into his performances. By the end of the opening title track, which crescendoes into that group chorus, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fault Stewart of what The Who fell so short of yesterday.

As for the rest of this album beyond a hopeful opener? Eh. Not bad. Not amazing. “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” was a much-needed switch up right when things started sounding repeated. “Maggie May” does show how needless some of the other songs on here, it’s just the best in its class.

“Mandolin Wind” was pretty solid, taking the kitchen sink approach to its arrangement, with a bit of everything over its longer runtime.

I’ll still take Gasoline Alley” which Stewart made a few years before this one, it had a bit more pop to its melodies and is sincerely impressive for something out of the late 70’s.

3/5 on this one

“Overture” had me so excited, hearing the Pinball Wizard melody in there. But as time went on, I grew less and less interested. By the time “Undurture” came around, I was altogether disinterested. Minutes of acoustic guitar passages going nowhere. I felt like I was missing a visual accompaniment or something along those lines. The musical equivalent to eating unseasoned chicken.

Surely this album’s novel concept, which it really didn’t dig into at all, carries its reputation as something noteworthy or iconic. Because there just isn’t substance to this thing. What can I hear on Tommy that The Who didn’t do better at another time? Sadly 2/5

Pull up to the unction we're genuinely enjoying this album and soaking in it's fun, infectious energy.

These guys escape some of the entrapments that come with how corny rap from this era sounds all thanks to how into it they clearly are. So much character in their deliveries, fun little innuendoes and some great instrumental ideas for their time.
"Scorpio" had to be a genuine club BANGER for it's time.

Can't argue with their homage to Stevie Wonder on "Dreamin'". He really is the greatest. Maybe I'm a sucker for artists overt tributes to their heroes, but this was a highlight.

Then "You Are" came on, and continued to widen the emotional scope of this relatively brief project.

I will have to ding this thing a bit, "It's Nasty" and "The Message" are wholly repetitive. Not horrible, but they're functionally so similar. Anyways, the sampling on the closing "Wheel Of Steel" is steller. I'm not sure how they were doing it back then or with what hardware (just turntables and maybe an 8 track recorder or something?), but it's a lovely ode to sampling that holds up to this day.

Sleeper 4 for sure. Probably overlooked in the zeitgeist of great albums from the 80's