Reviews by john

Man that’s a POWERFUL album opener on “Be-In”. Great looping chorus, punchy bassline, memorable vocal harmonies. Had me very hopeful for the whole album! Sadly, I didn’t really find the rest of the project to match the Be-In energy. It wasn’t horrible, but oh how things could’ve been different.

A few songs later, I’m having a hard time believing “Minnesoter” ISNT a playful impression of REM? Tell me that isn’t just my ears.
Not sure I was a fan of the downward turn the energy took on the songs “Orange” & “I Love You”, where’s the “Be-In” type songs?
“Good Morning” gave me the perspective that the lead singer is a bit of chameleon - changing all sorts of vocal deliveries and ranges to fit each song.
“Hard On For Jesus” might be a bit of a return to form that I was hoping for in terms of punch and energy levels, but it was too little, too late imo. I’m also always a bit wary of songs that are THIS on the nose with criticisms of modern religion - I yearn for something with a tad bit of nuance/originality please!
The album ends with a groovy, teasing closer in “The Creep Out”.

I’m beating a dead horse by this point, but “Be-In” was almost impressionable enough to make the rest of the album worth the time. Nothing is performed poorly, but nothing else stands out either. Does its best to escape the y2k rock tropes with some success, not much else goin on. Won’t listen again but not bad either. Soft 3/5.

I’m sure I have nothing to say about the music or context of this album that hasn’t already been said - so that means I can speak about it from a wholly personal perspective!
To me, this is a pop album 5/5, and just a general album 4/5. I think it’s soooo hard to write an engaging pop album that has multiple angles and moods and still keeps my interest. Very few dance/pop artists also exhibit such a perfect sense of how to be additive/subtractive as a means to perfectly craft a good song to dance to. Chic did it well, Daft Punk’s “Around The World” is probably the perfect example of it - and obviously “Billie Jean” is up there too. Man Quincy Jones was otherworldly.

I do think the first few songs on here are the most skippable, if you had to do so. “The Girl Is Mine” is probably my favorite non-mega-hit of the bunch. Paul McCartney was also in his bag for a good 15 years after the end of the Beatles, and he doesn’t disappoint here. It’s clear they’re both smiling and having fun during the recording of the song!

Lovely pop album known for its iconography and ways in which it was culturally significant as much as it’s known for its music at this point - which helps to forget that you’ve got a first couple songs to get through before you get to the meat of why this record broke all records.

I am writing this first but before listening to the album - SURELY 2+ hours is a bit long. And for it to be a live album too?? I have my doubts.

Conclusion: this is an old-head ball-knowers favorite live album, I’d imagine. Like Alive 2007 for white men in their late 60’s. The target audience is any old dudes now who were probably fried on some amalgamation of substances back when this came out, and record store owners.

As far as live albums go, especially for something so old, this is really good. I’ll eat my words in that regard. A lot of cosmic, fantasy influence. Great spoken word parts. This album is still way too damn long though, at least without a visual element or just experiencing it in person. If it stopped at “You Shouldn’t Do That” I’d say we have a masterpiece in our hands. But it nosedives hard as that song plays out.

There are so many good loops and chunky bass lines through this live project. The 1:10 mark of “Down Through the Night” is the first example of those loops and bass lines picking up gradually and building some insane energy.
Following that, “The Awakening” hit me right in the face - thats a fantastic delivery of a spoken word interlude. The same is true on “The Black Corridor”.
“Orgone Accumulator” could be accused of sounding a bit too much like the Doors, but it has the best vocal melody of the album to me so I give it a pass.

I wish so badly that this album was cut off a few songs shorter. The whirling synths and looped instruments got a bit too repetitive, all the good ideas felt ran through towards the end. But outside of that, really cool album. Tons of energy, performances that were very in-sync, crazy imagery. Probably tons of drugs. Light 4/5 I won’t listen very often but I enjoyed the journey.

Not a ton to say about this one. I’m glad there’s a female-fronted rock group.

The shape of the vocal melody in “Smile” might be my favorite part of the record, very catchy, very memorable.
“Waking Up” is really well-performed, I could see this being a lot of people’s pick from the album.
“Stutter” as a closer is perfect, I love when albums end on a fun, explosive note.

Another record that I could see being huge and impactful if you were an impressionable age upon its release. Tight performances, good vocals, and the right amount of (post)punk to (brit)pop. 3/5

I am left wondering what many of these songs would be like with something other than Kanye West with minimal vocal effects on them. The production on this album is sooooo cool - everyone was going EDM at this point, but no one was going for a gritty, dark, sometimes minimal electronic sound. Yeezus has a dream list of production support.

The lyrical content and man in focus, on the other hand, is a different story. It feels like Kanye begins to lean too far into the anti-hero narrative with this project. I've always thought that after his mom passed, you could hear a marked tone shift in his music.

"I Am A God" is the first good example of how lofty the production is, and how starkly different the dry, sometimes goofy vocals are. I dont need all the lines to be serious, but it feels like there are points where Kanye is just exercising verbal free-will more than actually saying anything.
"New Slaves" has a total dancefloor synth hit, it was just decontextualized to something a bit more 'deconstructed' for lack of a better genre term. I LOVE the sample at the end - what a find! A Hungarian rockestra song! That's insane work.
Shoutout to the trap beat that is so clearly Hudson Mohawke from the horn sound. I cant namedrop anymore producers or this would become a small book.

"Bound 2" is by far the best song on here, one of the only times the hard cut production style succeeds. Something about this song is just soooo fun. Maybe part of it is the "Runaway" effect, where it's the closest you get to Kanye talking about something in his personal life that has substance and matters to him.

Mixed feelings, it's always complicated with Kanye. A lineup of hall of fame producers creating some compelling, cutting-edge art. And Kanye kinda just...being Kanye on top of it all. Another step down the tragic spiral that guy took. 3/5

Absolutely fascinating album concept and ethos for this group. I think you have to take the bad with the good here in terms of it's message. It's a bit like the 12 step AA process - effective messaging up until the parts about god, which is where it gets divisive.

"People Everyday" is the first example of some surprisingly good production on this album. Especially for the early 90's, the production choices and beats are surprisingly timeless and mostly unobtrusive!
"Fishin' 4 Religion" is my favorite here purely for it's beat. It's got a great pocket, great groove, and whether thats a sample or just a looped vocal in the background, it's fantastic. I think it's a fair critique of organized religion too? It's kinda hard to parse through it all, so much is said here. But I like the idea that he feels comfortable enough to recognize some good things about general religion whilst pointing out the many flaws large churches tend to have. Any which way about it, it's a nodder.
"Give A Man A Fish" got a bit existential for me as a listener. To realize this album was made over 35 years ago, and many of the societal questions and injustices this song brings up havent been anymore solved today - it was a lot to take in. Especially the lyric "raise your fist but also raise your children so when you die the movement moves on / cuz with the revolution aint no future in front of yall / direct your anger love nothings ever built on hate instead love your life tackle the government the spooks that break down the door are heaven sent". Wow! That's a lot to swallow in a few bars. So many thoughts come up about the movements of today that weren't around then, but this still could be directed at. That was when this album was at it's best.

It's not all interesting conscious bars though. This group kinda hammers it into your head over and over again that family and faith are the answer to everything. Also the song "Natural" gets strangely horny and im not even sure if it's trying to be a commentary on lust or if he's just actually supeer horny, there wasnt enough nuance for me to tell?
This certainly shouldnt be a rappers rap album either, my ears arent great for this but I know that it's not super varied or intricate in it's delivery, which makes the length of the album a bit hard to slog through at times.

All in all, I commend this album for the amount of prolems it takes on in the world, whether I agree with all it's solutions or not. There's something to be said for any art that attempts to take the route of grounded peace and doesnt come off completely corny - at least not the whole time. Interesting 3/5

My jaw dropped when I saw this pop up on my screen! For some reason, I didn't know this was on the list. LTJ Bukem has seen some newish success thanks to the advent of jungle officially being cool again, and the stellar album covers of his two "Producer" projects. Im so happy an album with a continuous mix gets a feature - I really hope people enjoy that format as much as I do. I'm also so glad that the jungle side of DnB tempo music gets some love.

I have no specific song highlights for this comp. It's just excellent music to coerce you into a zone, or be a backing track for any activity that requires focus. The repetitive breaks are so hypnotic when paired with the atmospheric synth pads that just fade in and out so easily. I especially love when a sub bass kicks in just for a little bit, it pairs so well with the frenetic drum patterns. Any other little sounds are vocal treats, like the occasional vocal loop in "Reflections".

I love this music - it speaks to my soul and encapsulates so many feelings/experiences that go beyond words. Whether its the liminal early parts of "Above & Beyond" with its classic Amen break sample, or the more fluttery, layered "Senses"; this project brings to light such a cool sonic niche in the context of this overall list. If any of this music raised your eyebrow, then I think jungle and early DnB culture is such a worthwhile wikipedia deep dive. Learning about break sampling, the advent of the MC and the DnB jargon is super fun.

I'd be lying if I gave Logical Progression a perfect 5, though part of me wants too. There's a bit of variation missing, even if that isn't the point. There's a few dinky cuts that go too long without being additive or subtractive in their sampling/instrumentation. But outside of those few nitpicks? Beautiful stuff. Soothing, hypnotic, and cutting-edge. Big ups selecta a STRONG 4/5 from me rudeboy

Contextually, this album is a force to be reckoned with. No one was rapping like this, in multiple ways. A duo that raps to finish each others sentences, rappers that actively speak about themselves as better than all the other sucker MC's. I'm willing to bet their tone really set a standard for rap culture in the following years. The airy, basic drum instrumentals did a lot to define how east coast hiphop should sound.

How is this albums contents, though? Incredibly frontloaded imo. "Hard Times" gets your attention right away and keeps it. Shoutout to Shaun White Snowboarding for getting "Rock Box" stuck in my head essentially forever. So many memorable bars, such a cool crossover hit with that 80's rock electric guitar jamming under the rhymes. Justifies it's 5+ minute length.
From here, things get less and less impactful. Two songs about the dj Jay is at least one too many. "It's Like That" is a fair addition to the tracklisting as a socially conscious track. But by "30 Days" I was a bit clocked out, nothing new happens for the last few songs and the 80's instrumental pastiche starts to wear on the ears.

Some pioneering work worth celebrating on this album, just dont expect perfection or much variation on a front-to-back listen. Mixed feelings 3/5

The musical equivalent of a demolition derby! I would like to use this album to show that the short form, hyper aggressive, “low attention span” art has been around long before the advent of tiktok.

I’m gonna say that “Wasted” is the quintessential song to go listen to on this one, as it encapsulates the ethos of it all, and is also self-reflective. But if you can’t stomach a 15 minute album, you’ve got bigger issues.

Some problematic language lowers the listening experience a bit, it’s otherwise a vicious and sometimes fun listen! 3/5

An incredible album that I have no choice but to give a 5/5. I might go back and listen some more, hear its flaws and feel like it’s more deserving of 4/5. But this left a huge impression on me. Baroque music done well, very cinematic, great storytelling.

The opening instrumental has so much leverage and gravitas, my attention was immediately captivated.
A few tracks later, “Peach Trees” gave me the realization that everyone has when listening to this album - there’s a fair comparison to Thom Yorke here. I don’t mind how similar they are, it neither helped nor hurt my listening experience.
“Little Sister” has the most ‘period piece’ feel about it with its fluttering string section - it sends the listener into a Victorian ball.
“The Art Teacher” has the most memorable story to me, just such a great exhibition of painting a picture with lyrics.
I will say that around the “Memphis Skyline” mark in the album, it gets a little too croon-heavy for me, but even this section is still emotionally meaningful.
“Old Whores Diet” is such a perfect way to stick the landing with a super textured, vivid song and a memorable chorus.

There’s no way to tell this album is from 2004 and that’s a beautiful thing. There are reviews of this album that get into how performative, campy, or dramatic it is. I feel like that’s a listener issue, I’m having a hard time imagining a time where I listen to this album and don’t appreciate both its scale and its vulnerability.

A well-put-together album that knows it’s sound and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Some thoughtful and colorful telling of stories you’ve probably heard before, but maybe not by Nanci.

“Goin Gone” is probably my favorite track, it’s got the best slide guitar backing track and a fantastic folksy chorus.
“The Wing and The Wheel” is a very good bit of songwriting worth the listen about dreams, love, and how they alter over the generations as families form and settle.

Just some good whistful country/folk/americana/singersongwriter 3/5 stars

I really wonder about this list past the year 2000. This album is great in many ways, but does it also need to be included when The xx takes up another spot with their debut album? Both of those over Jamie xx's In Colour? Hmmmm. Anyways, landing somewhere between indie pop and light club music, this album is very easy on the ears. Romy has an incredible voice and seems to constantly be singing about matters close to the heart. On that note, this album is total grammy fodder - very clean, often mellow, and undeniably safe. At no point in this album did my jaw drop or head turn, but to be fair I didnt hear anything worth skipping.

"Say Something Loving" has a lyric that goes "before it slips awayyyy" that's sung in a way that makes it sound sooo much like "The Less I Know The Better" by Tame Impala.
"A Violent Noise" has some echoey, wobbly synthwork a la Rival Consoles who put out an album about a year later than this one.
"On Hold" is my obvious highlight for its production being a little more dancey and bubbly.

My prediction for this album is that it may be remembered fondly by those who listened to it in it's heyday, but it will fade into the background as time crystalizes the musical landscape of the late 2010's. It all just feels like music meant for episodes of a netflix romance/slice of life show. Excellent singing by Romy, super clean and harmonic production, but very safe. As mentioned before, I'd rather see this spot on the list go to Jamie xx's In Colour, go listen to that instead

Some thoughtful media rations on the black experience and worthwhile lamentations about racial injustice. I liked the recontextual nature of the monologue about the color black. Instead of offering a solution for every systemic problem black peoples face, this album tends to focus more on the exercising one’s frustration or grappling with the extreme wrongs that have been done to black people on small and large scales.

“Hard Life” is worth a listen for that gritty bassline. Michael Kiwanuka makes an appearance on this albums most infectious track, “Bow”.

While this album doesn’t offer some ground-shaking depictions or intricate stories (if you were looking for TPAB just go listen to it), there’s plenty of meditative and at times cathartic songs to make up this project. 3/5.

It’s a bit of a shame this album takes up a spot on this list. I’ve had two Neil Young albums in the last few weeks, and I think the universe could sense my complaining and threw me an album with Neil featured at the end of its first song.

In the spirit of all that, just copy and paste my reviews for those Neil Young albums - anything that sounds like the harmonizing of CSN&Y is worth your time, leave out all the rest. “Tamaplais High” was a good group jam. “Laughing” achieved a similar sound. Most everything else was a bit bland and forgettable. Put it on in the background of doing something else to get at least something out of it. 2/5 much too similar to all other classic folk rock without doing anything unique, memorable, or something that CSNY didn’t do better

Dry. It’s dry. The lead singers underwhelming capability to deliver memorable vocals (outside of the beastly adlibs on “Freak On A Leash”) and the bands just passable compositions left me wanting more.

“Children Of The Corn” has a fun Ice Cube feature in concept, but wow it was clunky. And the Fred Durst feature?? That was a phoned in stinker with verses that sounded like a bad imitation of Beck’s “Loser”. There’s some recurring sound/recording technique here, I’m not sure if it’s the zipping of the guitar strings, some sort of wood/rim hits, or both, but they wayyy overdid it in the mix for most of these songs. I don’t think I’ll remember a single hook in this project, which is sad. I was ready to be captivated like I was for the Slipknot album we had not too long ago. Instead, Follow The Leader just blended altogether. 2/5.

Anyways, using this time to remember that Korn made a full dubstep album at the advent of the genre’s blowing up in America with a crazy producer features list. Additionally, the Korn lead singer was apart of Killbot, which had some real early 2010’s dubstep bangers of its own. The guy knew ball.

Outside of a couple skips, this album gave me some genuine 'wow' moments, and generally felt like water in the midst of a year-long drought.

Let's get the big ones out of the way, there are two classic rock covers on here. "Light My Fire" isnt all that appealing to me, it doesnt heighten or altar the song in any remarkable way. But the "Jumpin Jack Flash" cover to open the album was spectacular, setting the tone for the album as a whole. The colorful, textured, slightly psycadelic sound of his sitar playing lead on here, combined with that whirly synth arp in the background - it's a hit (and makes the album cover seem so fitting).

"Mamata (Affection)" was a very fun time, the bossanova guitar under a wandering sitar sounded like relaxing on a beach in India.

But the best song here is easily "Sagar (The Ocean)". This song is masterful. A little while ago, I voiced my frustrations over a lengthy song on a dulldrum album (which I cant even remember currently). I said that just because you can do a long jammer doesn't mean you SHOULD do a long jammer. "Sagar" feels like a song so powerful that it was meant to happen, Ananda Shankar was just the messenger. The way this opus starts out in slow disarray and methodically brings together a long-winding sitar solo with those three acoustic chords under it -- chefs kiss! Despite the 13 minute length, I happily listened to this song again before doing this review. Those aforementioned 'wow' moments were frequent during this song.

"Dance Indra" had the impossible task of following that up, but it was a cool song in its own right for how mysterious, upright, and regal it sounded.

Lastly, I liked the messaging of "Raghupati" a lot.

I dont know how culturally relevant this was in the states back when it released, or if it is even considered honest-to-goodness Indian music from listeners in India - I'd love to hear what they have to say about it. But to me, this was a great time. I wish so badly for more diversity like this, I could go without a few post-punk, 90's slow rock, or even 60's psych-rock albums and replace them with music from all over the world. Earned a big 4/5 stars

Depeche Mode sits in such an interesting spot in time. What they’re successful at on this album (and in general) is capturing a style/aesthetic and putting it in album form. I can imagine being a teen at the time of this album coming out, it could’ve been a huge gateway into more gothic stuff, more underground electronic music, more industrial stuff. For putting all those genres together in a fairly digestible package, I applaud “Music For The Masses”.

“The Things You Said” is my favorite vocal track, with that “I never tried to hide them” call and answer in the chorus.
“Pimpf” is my favorite instrumental track, it really leans into the haunted, grand, dramatic direction this album sometimes goes in. I think I like the instrumental tracks the most overall on this project.

“Music For The Masses” isn’t totally for me, I think artists in the future iterated in this sound and took it in more intense, interesting directions. I also think this album occasionally lacks hooks, but maybe that’s just me wanting more accessible choruses in general.
All that being said, I get the appeal of this album, this band, and the time period they did it all in. Soft 3/5.

As whimsical and dreamy as ever, Kate Bush shows that her voice is an emotive, tonal instrument as much as it is the vehicle for singing lyrics.

“There Goes a Tenner” has a fun jumpy piano melody while Kate Bush surely lays out the vocal blueprint not just for this album, but surely for Björk as well.
The 3:45 mark of “Pull Out The Pin” continues that super impressive vocal work in the way Bush dramatically screams “I love life!” over and over.
The title track has the most compelling story on here, about the forced assimilation and destruction of Aboriginal life in Australia. The instrumental passage at the end of this track is stunning! It’s easily my favorite on the record and totally worth a few listens.

Strong 3 on this one, if I go back and listen to it more I could see myself converting to a 4/5!

I totally get the hype. Strong vocal presence, unique song subjects, and an unreal propensity to convey raw, bitter emotions.

“Rehab” is the classic we all know and love, but “Just Friends” is probably my pick of the lot on this record - the reggae / rocksteady influence goes off without a hitch. Also can’t sleep on the following track, “Some Unholy War”.

Listening to this makes me feel like Amy Winehouse paved a path for strong female vocalists to come, namely Lana Del Rey & Adele. I went in with high expectations and still came away impressed in many ways

A progressive blend of saturated rock instrumentation thats given time to stretch itself out and develop as slowly as it likes. If you told me this was the score to some trendy 90’s movie I’d totally believe you!

The first song started out like an early Gorillaz song and developed into a Spiritualized song very naturally.
The second song “Soul Actioneer” continues to show that this may have been an influence for some early Gorillaz work, with its fuzzy synth melody and galumphing, downtempo beat.

Beyond this point you understand what you’re in for. The only big switch up are the few songs with lyrics. Everything else is great to zone out to OR zone into. Not unlike the function of a house music dj set, you should just be along for the ride and slow development of this project; let the pacing help you appreciate the atmospheric sounds and occasional surprises - I’m looking at you, “Aisha”.

No individual favorite song, just let this one simmer. Strong 3/5