Reviews by john

A case of my personal rating being lower than the rating I’ll give it. I recognize the appeal and I really want to like it more than I do, but it doesn’t hit AS hard as I know Stereolab hits for some. I do love their messaging and hear how well everything’s performed. Just a little bit in a middle ground sonically, not quite total lounge music, not quite pop, a little bit electronica. I’m SOOOO happy there’s some non-English on here though, we need more of that.

I liked the horns in “Percolator” towards the end of its runtime.

I really liked the message of “The Noise Of Carpet”, it’s a rallying cry to not be so cynical going through life.

The best bit of lyricism though is in “Motoroller Scalatron”, for that call and response of ‘what’s society built on?’ lyric.

Soft soft soft 3 for me

Pretty good effort from Abba, all the flair and theatrical pop with an 80’s edge at times.

On of the best opening songs on any recent album we’ve had, masterful elevation of tension and energy for a good 4 minutes.

I’m a big fan of “I Let The Music Speak”, it reminds me of “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga, just so over-the-top dramatic that it goes beyond campy and just is its own thing (both really good songs too).

Also worth mentioning is “Two For The Price Of One” for the full big circus band instrumental it’s got going on.

Yeah it’s hard to see how you could hate Abba after an album like this. Even “Slipping Through My Fingers” which is pretty poppy for this project, is super well-written and thoughtfully performed. Let yourself have fun with this one (and all Abba albums). 4/5

It’s a a it crazy how much Tupac talks about his own death on this album. It’s a bit prophetic and a bit tragic. “So Many Tears” is one of the first prominent examples of that on this album. “Lord Knows” is another time that caught me thinking ‘damn he really knew he was gonna die young’.

The title track is the most ‘west coast’ rap of everything on here.

“Dear Mama” is a point of vulnerability that probably wasn’t a prominent topic to cover at this time of gangsta rap.

But of all the songs, I liked “Old School” the most, where Shakur gets wide-eyed about his influences in the rap game. He seems very happy to talk about all the artists and cultural influences that got him into the game.

Strong 3/5, great vocal presence and a few thoughtful moments

Chunky, blaring blues/psych/proto-metal rock. Nothing crazy amazing, but not too shabby.

The guitars are seriously intentionally super loud and saturated, I think that’s a quality that would snowball into the metal that would come years after this project. The end of “Doctor Please” is the best example of how it’s just loud guitar city.

Zero variance in the structure and delivery of these songs (other than the break in “Parchment Farm”), not that it was something Blue Cheer was concerned about at the time. “Rock Me Baby” is probably my pick from the album.

Personally a 2/5, but I recognize the good things this album has going for it, so maybe a soft 3/5

There's maybe a dozen albums that I've kept in the forefront of my mind when going through this list on a week to week basis. Just a handful of albums that, upon refreshing each night, illicit an immediate positive reaction when they pop up on my screen. I pumped my fist and smiled immediately when this album turned up. I love this endeavor with my whole heart. There's a special few albums that I'll have the joy of not just writing about, but writing about how they imprinted upon me; 'Another Green World' is one of those select few.

An what an anomalous little beauty of a record this thing is. It's still hard to believe this was done in the mid 70's. AGW is both ahead of it's time and completely left of the flow of time. The confluence of electronics and instrumentation is still unlike anything I've ever heard. Much like it's artwork, the music on here is a bit liminal, a bit evocative, a bit uncanny, and a bit idyllic.

"Sky Saw" as the intro is always a bit of a front for me - it sounds more sharp and edgy than the material that follows it. But it's a very effective attention-grabber. "Over Fire Island" takes things in the opposite direction with a mumbly bassline and some meandering synths/sfx that really just set up the next track: "St. Elmo's Fire". I dont know what genre SEF is, artpop? Is there even a genre to describe it?? Much like that new Oklou project, this song has no kickdrum, but is still wildly catchy! How is that possible!! The keys melodies and descriptive lyrics are just so fun.

"In Dark Trees" then gives us another shorter, synth driven cut. The reverb/hall effects give this song a slightly eerie, inconspicuous feeling. Next comes everyones favorite "The Big Ship". The simple, sweet synth chords on this track are a warm hug when it's needed most.

"I'll Come Running" is Eno's stranger, more surreal "Bridge Over Troubled Water". He sings with conviction but paints a picture that's too silly to consider this a love song. The title track is next, and it's maybe the closest you'll get to hearing a song that actually sounds a bit like the mid 70's - just some electric guitars and a moog synth in passing. After this is "Sombre Reptiles" which is the best waiting room song you'll ever hear. A dive into the ambient and strange happens as we fade into the very short "Little Fishes", which is the stuff of abstract cubist dreams.

One of the most incredible tracks I'll ever hear in all my days is "Golden Hours". I am stricken by this songs stillness, it's ability to stop you in your tracks and sit you down. So few songs are as existential and confounding as Golden Hours. Eno may have lyrically come as close as possible to manifesting the feeling of time passing, of aging, and the oddity of the human experience. Under Eno's musings is a looping synth that never really resolves itself, furthering the uncontrollable but kind of warming feeling this song emanates. "Oh me oh my" says Eno with a resolute stoicism. A fun nugget at the end of this song is hearing a drum track aaaalmost fade in under everything, only to immediately stop, and have the whole song fade out.

"Beclamed" is a warm synth lullaby that always reminded me of Daft Punk's "Nightvision". Then Zainul/Lava" comes and goes as maybe my only semi-forgettable track on the project, to give way to "Everything Merges With The Night". This is the last time you'll hear Eno's vocals, singing with more of that upright but gentle delivery about memory and the estranged feeling of the thoughts that run through his mind at night.

"Spirits Drifting" closes things out and makes sure you are left with little feelings of tacit unease. The wobbly synths truly do hover around like spirits drifting.

What I love most about this album is that it portrays feelings and states of being that words don't quite reach. Moments of full beauty and restfulness can be linked together with bizarre, minimalist passages - all within a matter of minutes. Chambered, spooky synth loops will give way to the fullness of a vibrant vocal ballad.

This album was one of the first I discovered in my early adult life with no context to hold it to. I knew nothing about Brian Eno and he blew the doors off my perceptions of how music should be linked to the time it came from with this album. I couldnt believe I found something that soundtracked an acceptance of all the oddities in life, with sounds instead of just words. I remember listening to this album in the early A.M. on the 14 hour roadtrip to Oakland for Genesis 7, sharing in the experience of being captivated by the strange & twinkly essence pouring out of it all. I love Another Green World

It's very admirable to have a discography both prolific enough and of high enough quality to have what everyone considers a "classics era". What an artistic run to go on. This album isnt even the best of the bunch and it's still gonna get a mild 4/5 stars from me.

"Smile Please" the epitome of one of Stevie Wonder's best traits: he always sounds like he's having genuine fun in the recording booth.

"Boogie On Reggae Woman" is a lively cut with that really interesting synth/keyboard lead.

"You Heavent Dont Nothin" is just Stevie dipping his hand back in the Superstition" pool - are the two songs even in the same key as well? Very similar, very very similar. But I can't complain.

Lastly, "Bird Of Beauty" has my favorite rhythm section, it's pretty close to bossanova with a great message about just taking a vacation and having a more relaxed mentality leading to appreciating everything around you a bit more.

So hard to judge this one fairly when it's sandwiched in between a few other albums of his that are also completely excellent. As I mentioned before, a mellow 4/5 for this one. Much like Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder suffers from success - he's just amazing at both playing the keys and singing from the heart

A lot of grit and teeth-gnashing with just a little bit of the still, soft-beating heart behind it. Not that I was over the moon about this one (I wasn’t), but I feel accomplished in understanding its appeal at the very least.

“Passing Conplexion” was definitely my favorite for the interesting guitar tones and looped melody. But I also liked how funny the intro of “Bazooka Joe” was.

Strong 2/5 it’s not for me but I get the appeal and understand people who may sing this albums praises if they’re into this lane of music

HAPPY ALBUM 500!!!!!

Both album #1 and album #500 are Miles Davis!

I don’t have much to say about this album in a song to song basis, as it defies typical song/album structure. But on the whole it’s spectacular. Functions both as a good background listen and a project that you can really focus in on from moment to moment.

Halfway through “Pharoahs Dance” is when I knew I’d be enjoying this album. The first two minutes of the title track also stand out with how jagged all the instrumentation is, it really perks your ears up. The last two minutes of it also dive into some really interesting bits of silence and more muted instrumentation.

My pick from this album is “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down” for its guitar work and rhythms.

Worth the full album run time 4/5 stars also has the exact color scheme as Porter Robinson’s Spitfire EP.

I suppose the album title is apt because there isn’t much more to be very descriptive about. I won’t go as far as to say Madonna phoned it in on this one, but her lyricism and vocal performances were pretty vague. The production choices were waaaay better than the vocals/lyrics.

A decent opening track with some chunky drums/bassline had me hopeful, and the vocal chopping on “Impressive Instant” kept my hopes high.

But it wasn’t until “What It Feels Like For A Girl” that I found anything worth while - I liked the synth pad textures and harmonies, it sounds like an instrumental that could’ve played on Postal Service’s “Give Up”.

We know that shes give this sound more life and thump on “Confessions On A Dancefloor” 5 years later, which just adds to this albums meandering quality. It’s a shame, there’s some influences from house, trance, and even downtempo/goa lounge all on this album. But the songs dont really do anything within those genres. Wanted and hoped for more, strong 2/5

Was her cover of “American Pie” a bonus track on this album? If so, go listen to that mess just for fun

Much like the Big Brother album we got a week ago, this project is carried by Janis’ vocal presence & amazing singing voice.

While “Me & Bobby McGee” gets all the attention, I really liked “Cry Baby” myself.

Not much more to say, I’m feeling a light 3/5

Ok so I got a lot of this album and appreciated how it made the most of its 90's sound pallet. I have a lot of little nuggets and moments to go over, so let's get into it (I ran my first marathon today and this album got the buff of being listened to while running so i was extra attentive).

First of all, " Fifty Years After The Fair" doesnt have Tom Petty on it, but holy shit is that not a one-to-one impression of Tom Petty on backing vocals during the chorus??? It bugged me so much trying to figure that one out. Interesting song, just really threw me for a loop.

"4th Of July" is when I'd say this record really perked my ears up and started to play itself out of my dread that this would be just another 90's rock/acoustica album. This is the first instance of some of the more serious, forlorn songwriting taking effect.

"Stupid Thing" is probably the microcosm of this albums message as a whole - going through some breakup/bad shit and just being so done with it all. Also sonically picking up on how this could be a starting point of a line you could eventually draw to todays tastemakers like the Boygenius girls.

"Jacob Marley's Chain" had an excellent, simple guitar into and a memorable topic that got a little more existential than the songs so far. I LOVED the grand percussion line that made everything sound a bit like a circus show march.

"Way Back When" had a great ending, including the secret ending after some silence.

But I have to go back to "Mr. Harris". What was this. WHAT was this??? In the midst of songs about personal strife, relationship failure, and general disappointment, Aimee Mann hands us a song about...wanting to marry a much much older man??? Who she really loves?? And that's maybe not even the craziest part. The wild thing is that this song is really, REALLY good! That woodwind section over the piano melody at 2:20 into the song is beautiful. This whole song is shockingly beautiful. I got shades of "Desperado" by The Eagles, which is like the highest praise I can give a piano ballad. It was just such a neckbreaker to hear a song was earnest and gushy as "Mr. Harris" buried behind 8 prior songs the opposite of hopeful about love. I will forever be equally puzzled and happy that she kept this one in the back pocket.

I think I have to give this one a soft 4/5. "Mr. Harris" really pushed it over the line. I wouldve liked a bit of variation both in tempo and song topics, but that's about all I can nitpick. Good hidden gem!

The complete track panning fad that plagued rock from the late 60's onward is the bane of my existence - so naturally this list loads you up on psych rock album after psych rock album.

And that's what this album is to my ears - just another psych rock record. I know there's a lot of praise for it, and I can see a few reasons it deserves a bit of love; this album is very sonically clean for something out of 1968. I also think there are nuggets of good melodies and ideas like the chorus of "Maybe After He's Gone". But so few songs left me feeling satisfied from start to finish.

"Beechwood Park" very much sounds like something a you'd hear on a good soundsystem as you walk into a record store - which has to count for something.

I couldve gone without the middle part of the album from tracks 5-8 tbh. Just the usual stuff youd hear in a British psych rock album.

"This Will Be Our Year" is a pretty neat, hopeful track that warrants the many ways it's lived on into modern times.

So interesting that they chose to end the album with the clear hit in "Time of the Season" - I suppose they figured that with the way vinyl records were are listened to that it would nudge people to sit through the whole record with patience. I think the song is much better than erything else on the album because of the tone shift - it's much spookier, sporting a bit of edge in it's composition.

Just not enough good to get over all the mid 2/5

Leonard Cohen seems pretty down and out on this one, but in a good way

Something tells me I've heard "Avalanche" at least a few times in shows or movies - it's so sure and dark. Pretty much a aperfect opening song - it drops you right into the mind of Cohen.

The next few songs were abit of the same - solemn storytelling, downtrodden and minimal but pretty instrumentals.

"Famous Blue Raincoat" is deserving of all the praise it gets - it's an extra bit haunting and sorrowful.

Won't listen to this oneagain as its too sad and minimal for me, but I get it. 3/5

It was just ok, and considering the amount of Elvis Costello on this list, that might not be ok. He is technically competent and has some stories to tell, but always feels like he’s slightly off the mark for landing a hit song.

“The Long Honeymoon” was an interesting story with some suspenseful ambiance, I liked that.

My favorite was “Human Hands” but only because the vocal refrain of ‘whenever I put my foot in my mouth’ sounded melodically and verbally a lot like Meatloaf’s “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth”.

Instead of my usual plea for this list to erase an unnecessary album with literally anything dance music or 2010’s pop, it would’ve been nice to had an album from somewhere that isn’t predominantly white/English speaking. Not enough of those.
Strong 2/5 for this one

The music was alright. I think this album since in an awkward no man’s land between the fun textures of something The Avalanches would make and the more dancy/ravey stuff that Orbital would go on to make. I’d rather hear something on this list with one of those two characteristics, instead of this.

The intro track was pretty sticky and had me hopeful that I could get some memorable bops out of this album. The memorable bops were around, but rare. The biggest bop was easily "Stop This Crazy Thing" with that iconic In The Hall of the Mountain King melody reimagination - really really cool.

"Smoke Dis One" was memorable if only for the reminder that Queen Latifa was really good back in her day on the mic - I learned that with one of her albums on this list earlier. A few fun sound sampling moments were the rest of what I took from "What's That Noise?", everything else felt like it couldn't make up its mind on what it wanted to achieve musically. Soft 3/5

Ahhhh yea the other big Parliament Funkadelic album, the last one was a few weeks ago. Mothership Connection. Both albums are great for different reasons, and to argue over which is better might be splitting hairs.

This project is much heavier on the ideas and its willingness to push the envelope. Some craaaazy cool stuff going on here.

An atmospheric opener into “Can You Get to That” which is just teeming with life in its vocal execution.

“Super Stupid” stood out to me as a total jammer, the energy really started to pick up with this cut. A bit of Jimi Hendrix in the vocals if you ask me. And I suppose in the INCREDIBLE guitar solo at the end too!

The opus is obviously “Wars Of Armageddon”, an imaginative, surely-drug-induced heater. The insane drum work, the riffing, the OUT THERE sound effects. This has it all.

What a great blend of rock and funk and imagination and originality. While Mothership Connection hit me harder on first listen, I must give this album its flowers for boldly going where no one had gone before - and doing so with such pizazz! Great memories associated with this album. Strong 4/5, could be a 5/5 on some more listens

My biggest takeaway is that it makes so much sense how successful Janis Joplin would become as a solo artist. Her voice is just unreal on this record. She was one-of-one.

Cheap Thrills mostly escapes some of the pitfalls and annoying tropes of its time/genre. I never got lulled to sleep by a fuzzy 12 minute psych rock trip. The opening song would be my pick from this album. If you haven’t heard “Piece Of My Heart” by now I don’t know what you’re doing.

Not my favorite type of album, but good for its time. Direct enough for pop listeners ears, but also unique enough for those that were transcending various states of mind or planes of existence at the time. Soft 3/5 very cool fake live crowd

Can’t really put my finger on a single thing this album has going for it. I’m not sure I’ll remember much of anything at all about this record. Maybe it’s good to put on in the background, but it certainly wasn’t easy to follow along with what the guy was singing about. It seemed like the band was into their general aesthetics as much as they were into the substance of the music they made on this project.

“On The Lash” was alright? This just wasn’t hitting for me. The constant saturation wasn’t an additive feature to give the music more texture or character, it just made it all blend into a gritty wall of sound.

The closest Ive come to liking anything like this was enjoying U2’s “Vertigo” passively as a kid. James Addiction, this album, and anything else that sound like it have never done it for me. If you couldn’t give up a rigid allegiance to rock n roll in 2004, maybe you got something out of this. 2/5

A cool concept that may supersede its actual execution on the album.

“Broadway Melody” into “Cuckoo Cocoon” have some interesting bits of Zeppelin IV influence with the rolling melody guitars and flute playing.

“In the Cage” was a cool rockestra thriller and used that whirly synth really well for it’s time, but even then I’ve heard Genesis and other bands do songs like this in a way that stuck with me more than this track did.

“Back In NYC” was the mail in the coffin for me. There’s plenty of bombast and dramatic composition, in fact, there’s too much - I had a hard time grasping what was going on lyrically. The fact that this was only maybe a thiiiird of the way through the albums 1.5 hour runtime was daunting. The rest was a slog.

Maybe a close reading or a visual companion would’ve got this one over the line, I just wasn’t able to get as lost in this world as I wanted.
I know Genesis was capable of more than the sum of this projects parts, and I think the shortcomings can be largely attributed to the bands internal troubles with Peter Gabriel at the time.

Paul Simon has been given a gift of making everything he creates sound so effortless. It's crazy how I think this is one of his weaker efforts that we've heard on this list so far (fourth or fifth album of his/S&G by now?), and I still got SO much out of many moments throughout the 55 minutes of runtime here.

The title track is so placid and serene which is CRAZY considering it's clearly about his failed relationship with Carrie Fisher and also possibly about the fallout with Art Garfunkel? That'll be a big theme on this whole album. Those little tropical mallet hits at 4:10? Such a beautiful touch.

Not too be too much of a downer, songs like "When Numbers Get Serious" or "Cars Are Cars" are moments of reprieve, covering still-serious matters of the heart, just with some fun jingles and one-liners.

"Renee and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War" is so touching, so vivid, and just so sweet. It gets at the heart of love going beyond time and location, how it endures through the hard times to find beautiful moments like them finding the cabinet with all their personally significant trinkets and moments.

"The Late Great Johnny Ace" is an endearing tribute to both Johnny Ace and John Lennon. Simon weaves these impactful moments together and sticks the landing with the decision to end the song with an "Eleanor Rigby" style string section.

The only thing this album has wowrking against it is that I'm not sure how the track sequencing feels to my ears. All the acoustic versions are fine, but some of the 'full' song versions are already sonically mellow and dont differentiate themselves a ton from alternate versions. I also think this project meanders a bit for moments.

I was gonna give this album a strong 3/5 but damnit I just can't go that low. Paul Simon is an incredible singer/songwriter who once again masters the art of injecting his personality into these songs while also telling colorful stories. There are songs about partnerships completely falling apart on here, songs about one's brain not being able to shutup - and he makes all of these sound so easy on the ears, sometimes fun even! It is perhaps my biggest positive discovery to find how much I like everything I've heard from him thus far. 4/5