Reviews by john

The first few songs must’ve sounded like the fucking future back in 1984. It’s so sleek and refined. I can barely tell it’s from the 80’s. A “Smooth Operator” cover to open things right up and walk you into a rich, luxurious experience.

Equal parts loungey and lustful, this record went down smooth from start to finish. The saxophone is practically a second lead singer, I’m left wishing Sade and the sax would harmonize and do more call-and-response. “Hang Onto Your Love” finds a hypnotic groove and, for lack of a better term, hangs onto it. A little funk sprinkled into the mix for good measure. There isn’t a misplaced note on this album, but this song is particularly crafted to perfection.

“When Am I Gonna Make A Living” takes a minute or two, but slowly unfolds itself into a rewarding Motown-inspired jam. The way it asks such broad, crucial questions about hardship and society - it’s vintage Marvin Gaye.

“I Will Be Your Friend” might be my pick of the album. Not because it’s the most refined, but because it’s the more pure of heart. It’s in the same lane as “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, a song so assured in its love and commitment.

“Why Can’t We Live Together” is a wonderful closer. A two minute instrumental before any words are sung. Tactful choice. Obligatory broad stroking call to action song.

4/5, so squeaky clean that you could eat off it

"First Impression" kinda writes the review for me.

This must've frightened the hell out of some people in the early 90's. He's so blunt in his depiction of things, like the little police scanner section on "Mic Contract".

"Midnight" is SO heavy, so sludgy and mean. Classic Levee Breaks drum sample and a totally graphic, hectic story. Chilling and surprisingly timeless production. I am wowed.

"M.V.P.s" is a nice personal touch, I love a shoutout record when it's done with love and admiration.

Very thoughtful, very well-rounded approach to these songs. ICE-T dips into the life of a gangbanger on one song, then delivers a clever, silly interlude on the next track. "Body Count" being a genuine punk rock anthem is beautiful. He's co-opting the counterculture of white people, reclaiming it's black origin, and bringing said white listeners into the horrors of poor, predominantly black, underserved communities. This level of subversion is totally original for it's time and genre.

It's a 4/5. I don't think I'll go back to this one much because it's sound was iterated on in the years after, but this was really well done

With strange, unimportant albums like this one, this list will affirm the bias of anyone who thinks electronic music is uninteresting and repetitive. Every song sounds like an interlude!

The beginning of the title track is something right off DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing… . It evolves into a very peculiar spacey, breakbeat thing that I can’t say I’ve ever heard anything else sound like before. That might be the only truly unique song you’ll hear.

Hmmm. I’m gonna try to keep the practice of suggesting an electronic album I think deserves to be on here. Let’s do “Monomara” by Isabel’s Dream.

This is a flat 2/5

Three whole Tim Buckley albums? Yet another instance of dealers choice filler when Robert Dimery realized he didn’t have 1001 albums he felt passionate about - just 300 or so artists that he could double or triple up on.

This record is mostly psychedelia pastiche, most of which doesn't stand out in the crowded field of 1969's rock music. The one exception is not the most popular "Buzzin Fly", it's "Love From Room 109", which wanders off into ambient territory from time to time. I love the use of silence to create a sense of space.

I won't remember much else from this record and rightfully so 2/5

A really nice, well-rounded record! Some high-energy anthems paired with more intimate moments. So rarely do we get a non-English album that has some crossover appeal and still feels fresh.

“Bongo Bong” caught me by surprise, I had lulled myself into assuming there wouldn’t be any English on here. Given this songs memorable, simple intro, it’s a standout for me. There’s a little synth/key hit that reminds me of a similar sound on “Somebody That I Used To Know”.

“Lagrimas de Oro” was a fun, more traditional cut with some excellent horns a couple minutes in. “Luna y Sol” also had some exciting traditional instrumentation with a VERY fun vocal hook.

“Welcome to Tijuana” was one of those more intimate efforts, equal parts personable and a little funny in its rhymes.

“La vie a 2” had a nice little guitar loop that captivated my attention right when I thought this record was running out of steam.

Sleeper 4/5

Too many 2/5 star ratings in the popular reviews going too easy on this album. It’s cacophonous, annoying, and phoned-in. This is a filler submission. Don’t listen to this album.

1/5

My nose started bleeding as soon as this album popped up on my screen. For whatever that's worth.

Ahhh supergroups. So rarely do they live up to their billing.
This was really ambitious - sometimes too ambitious. These guys seemed so set on making this thing as dramatic and cinematic as possible that they kinda lost themselves in the sauce. Don't get me wrong, this has some lively arrangements and decent enough singing from time to time. But I couldn't bring myself to follow the lyrics too closely. It's just missing that *something*. A little restraint and a little variation would've gone long way. Everything feels so imminent, and by proxy, forced upon the listener.

"I Don't Like You Anymore" was the final straw for me. Too much of the exact same song repeated over and over again, this time with some noticeably bad singing.

All of this for what, a sound that came and went by the end of the 60’s? A bit disappointing and doesn't need to be on this list 2/5

Ram Dass, a spiritual leader and adaptor or eastern mysticism (fka Harvard professor Richard Alpert), often preached about a psycho-spiritual technique he called "cultivating the witness". It's a method by which you attempt to "observe" your emotions and reactions to them, instead of just feeling them. By cultivating a witness, in theory you have a better ability to reflect on your situation at any given time. This may also lead to a quieter mind and, in turn, a newfound sense of clarity.

On GKMC, Kendrick Lamar has cultivated a witness not just of his own self, but in the form of the voice of his mother over the phone. He uses this technique to such perfection, it allows him to vividly express every dynamic of his adolescence in Compton.

"Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Backseat Freestyle" have a youthful, brash energy to them. Of all the highs and lows Kendrick went through in his youth, these songs are wonderful expressions of the high's, the volatility of said highs, and some of the self-recognized false-promises of the high life Kendrick is aspiring for / finding himself apart of.

"The Art Of Peer Pressure" touches on the culture of gangbanging, with Kendrick acknowledging that this is something he doesn't really want to be apart of, but succumbs to the worst parts of a social situation he finds himself steeped in.

"Poetic Justice" is the only song that isn't a timeless classic to my ears. Not because of the now-ironic Drake feature, but because of the prodduction on the beat just sounds very 2012.

Kendrick is seen steeped in the hysteria and desperation of life in Compton on both "good kid" and "mAAd city". Friends dying to gun violence, the confusion on where he stands in such an unsafe space. "Swimming Pools" is a particularly good witness testimony to the use of alcohol and subsequent addiction that follows, all in response to a need to numb one's senses.

"Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst" is my personal favorite here - a lengthy opus that's more introspective, reflective, and lyrically free-flowing. Kendrick speaks for his whole community on the second half of this song. His lamentations likened to a spiritual and emotional drought, the reason he believes is causing all this senseless violence and death around him. "What are we doing, who are we fooling?" he asks. Some eerie female vocals float behind him, elevating the sense of death and desperation he's feeling both externally and internally. Absolutely, tragically beautiful.

The cultivation of a witness comes to a head on "Real", where Kendrick can be heard literally looking in the mirror and reflecting on what he sees and feels. Much of what he observes is a facade, someone who uses material items of cultural status/wealth to convince himself he's 'real'. Within this reflection is a recognition that all of these things are fleeting and ultimately unfulfilling. What's real is who you are and how you act. The father figure over the phone comes in to confirm this, saying "real is responsibility, real is god". A man is measured not by what he has, but by who he is. What's real is the love of those who surround you.

The album closes in an inevitable fashion. Being the newly-crowned king of West Coast rap (look up the concert where this figuratively and literally happened), Kendrick joins forces with former Compton torch-barer Dr. Dre to pen a love letter to their city -- the good AND the mad.

Such an insular, focused effort that comes to life over the course of an hour. The older I get, the more I hear Andre 3000's influence on Kendrick's wild-but-personable delivery. Kendrick Lamar is a generational talent who's pumped out multiple classics that are essential 21st century listening. This one of those works of art.

5/5

This is a hidden gem to me, maybe not so hidden to others!

Very fun and full of color on first listen. With he first song, I think they've made the most of typical rock/pop instrumentation with a stylish arrangement and a spunky vocal on top.

The prechorus on "Been It" is so seamless, the way she escalates the intensity in her singing voice and the instruments get played louder - it's the functional definition of a good prechorus.

Three songs transitioning seamlessly at the beginning of the album is especially impressive. It's a statement that the group demands to be taken as more than a pop act looking for radio success.

You know who this group reminds me of? Cibo Matto. Super sweet vocal tones, songs that muse on day-to-day life and relationships. Instrumentals that walk this line of being somehow acceptable in a grocery store but also wildly detailed, revealing themselves to be very thoughtfully crafted.

Strangely, I didn't feel an ounce of boredom until "Step On Me", which is apparently one of their most popular songs. I almost always agree with the masses and spotify playcounts reflecting the better songs on any given album.

A CRAZY cool cover of "Iron Man" that totally recontextualizes the song and really elevates the back half of this record. Perfect timing, a nice little lounge/trip-hop take.

Dreamy, airy, earnest-but-self-aware. A lovely record that works best as a complete front-to-back listen. 4/5 I even listened in my cardigan

Officially 75% of the way through this list!

“Like all of his post-Byrds records, it did very poorly on the US charts”. Oh man I’m sure I’ll just *love* this one.

“The Virgin” had me confirming all my preconceptions early on, but then “With Tomorrow” had me easing off the gas a bit. I’m a sucker for a contemplative acoustic ballad sandwiched between two more lively tracks. Unfortunately this would be the only highlight of the album.

It took until “For A Spanish Guitar” for me to really bat an eye again. Most of this was a slog through unremarkable soft rock ballads. “Tears Of Rage” had the same effect, clawing at my waning attention enough for me to remember it.

The “Stand By Me” cover was completely phoned in. He brought nothing unique to the table. I was good and done by then, only pushing through the last few songs on sheer willpower. I am uninspired.

Lowly 2/5, almost a 1/5

Unfortunately I fuck with this midwestern classic. The guitar tones are probably the most appealing part to me.

“Breadcrumb Trail” always sounds like a deconstructed Hum track to me, which is to say I have a soft spot for its sound. The mumbly, descriptive spoken word lyrics that jump into singy-screamy stanzas. It’s a peculiar musical phenomena that worked so well.

This albums reputation precedes itself, and it lives up to that spooky scary reputation the further you get into the tracklisting. Maybe the one exception is “Washer”, which returns to a more melodic composition. Everything else gets screechier, the stories get more whispery in tone.

Is this my favorite type of thing to casually listen to? No not at all. As mentioned before, I like my midwestern-emo-leaning stuff to come from Hum. But I hear the many aspects which make Spiderland a cult classic.

Respectable strong 3/5, could be higher if I was a bit less concerned with how this sounds compared to my casual listening preferences. A bit odd to give such a divisive album a middling score but it’s all I got

I think the vocalist’s range carries this project completely. I outside of a few songs, I found the music itself to be passable at best. But man, Hayden Thorpe. Non-gendered-sounding voice that goes way up and way back down with ease. I’m reminded of singers like Anohni or Matthew Koma.

I enjoyed “All The Kings Wild Men” enough to make note of it. “Through The Iron Gate” was what I had really been searching for though. An arrangement sticky enough to sink my teeth into, something besides the singers voice to hold my attention.

2/5 stars for the voice but at this point just go listen to more Anohni and the Johnson’s.

Pretty apparent from the get go that this is not worth the title of an album you need to listen to before you die (but I’m beyond the illusions that title gives new users at this point). Milquetoast early 2000’s rock that swears it’s got attitude.

“Outtatheway” into “Sunshinin” put me in a funk that couldn’t be fixed. Why is this? I ask the question not in disgust, but because I’m grasping to find anything unique about this record. The lead singer sounds like a much worse Julian Casablancas when he’s singing in a more mellow tone. The instrumentation is totally bland.

Why? Low 2/5

As I approach the last quarter of this list, one of the many discoveries I’ve made is that understanding The Beach Boys in full is to understand the broader sounds of the 60’s at the time. Ive slogged through so many ultra-macho psychedelic records. The way The Beach Boys used their voices as harmonic instruments as truly unique. The way Brian Wilson wrote music and challenged the framework of pop/rock music was truly unique. Much of that uniqueness can be heard here. Some really good ideas flower in between some less memorable songs.

I’m not sure if it’s just the means of recording, or if it was intentionally performed in such a way, but the ending chorus of “Do You Wanna Dance” is both harmonic and slightly discordant to my ears. Did they mean this? Was this a reflection of some of the anxiety Brian Wilson was feeling at the time? Or am I just hearing things.

“Help Me Rhonda” is the other hit that deserves the attention it got. The “help me rhonda help help me rhonda” is sung in such a way that it could become a verbal tick.

Most everything else is alright. What’s noticeable is a few funny instrumentation choices. A lot of lines about hoping a girl they like will sleep with them. Standard 60’s rock sentiments.

3/5

Well well well if it isn’t the album that’s better than Thriller. This, to me, is the anatomically correct fusion of pop, disco, and funk. Quincy Jones managed to do the impossible: seek perfection and NOT shave away any character/personality in the process. Michael just had to be his high-performance self (before the transgressions he took in his later years which should maybe have him removed from this list).

Unlike Thriller, this project is hot to the touch on first contact. “Dont Stop Till You Get Enough” is an excitable pop song that you’d swear was the most perfected thing you’ve ever heard — until the next offering of “Rock With You” comes along. It’s a slightly more subdued jam but still achieves that same perfect pop clarity.

“Get On The Floor” is far and away my favorite song on this album, it’s one of my favorite dance songs of any decade. Sweaty, blissful, aerodynamic, air-tight disco. I love riding the little wave that the hook takes the listener on. A bassline and drum pocket that play off each other so well. Soaring strings and explosive horn snippets. A little reverb makes this whole thing sound like it’s a transmission from disco heaven.

How about “Girlfriend”! Dreamy and boyish, you don’t need liner notes to hear the Paul McCartney fingerprints all over this song - there’s an unmistakable ease in the composition. Just like you can hear Stevie Wonder from a mile a way on “I Can’t Help It”. A little itch that needs scratching is left with the listener, as I feel like Wonder probably could one-up Michael on his own version.

“She’s Outta My Life” feels like an obligatory heartbreak ballad, continuing the boyish, clear-eyed, earnest persona Jackson puts forth. This isn’t the greatest soft ballad of all time, but I’ll be damned if they didn’t find another fantastic way to wrap up a chorus.

It is true that this album loses its generational mojo towards the end. You can easily coast off of the incredible vibes the first half leaves you with. Nothing offensive in the last few songs, just not what the front half of the record was.

It’s an incredibly firm 4/5, about as close as you can get to a 5. My god, that first bunch of tracks. Amazing.

Hmm. Some genuine gems in the first two thirds of the album, a very stale last third.

"For Tomorrow" sounded a lot like Albarn doing a Bowie impression, and I'm not even sure how intentional it was. It's a bit hard to pick apart what is and isn't sincere about these recordings (and maybe that's the point).

"Star Shaped" felt like the crux of Albarn's position on everything. "I've been making plans, become an unconscious man" he says against the backdrop of some too cheery backing vocals. There's a feeling of cynicism and irony sometimes just undercutting things, sometimes fully in focus. The group seems perfectly happy to experiment with pop tropes while the lyrics often wander off about one thing or another

"Chemical World" brought back moments of Bowie impressionism, but this time I didn't mind, the writing and melodic structure was really catchy. I saved this one. Best on the album easily. Not to mention that wild second half! This song deserves it's own album.

Then the baroque textures on "Sunday Sunday" that start slow then break off into something more like a 90's sitcom intro song - super interesting. I don't really know or care about what's being said here, or on many songs - there's enough to entertain me instrumentally.

I did not hate this NEARLY as much as I thought I would. While almost all britpop leave me yearning for something more, there was a handful of genuinely special passages peppered throughout this record. I'd like some more discernable lyrics, like the beginning of "Miss America" - that was nice and digestible. Sadly, every song afterwards felt dull and unnecessary.

So it all evens out to a perfectly acceptable 3/5

An interesting choice to put on here. I’m not gonna say it outright shouldn’t go here, because in a vacuum there’s some well-produced songs on here. But this isn’t nearly as good as their self titled debut, it’s clear the phenomena of the masks and the bands general high-profile aesthetics carried them as far as having two album on this list.

This is way more political than their last offering I heard, but offers nothing more specific than broad strokes about America having imperialistic tendencies.

What really took me by surprise was Corey Taylor singing in a melodic, relatively 'normal' singing voice. He isn't half bad, at least no worse than the Shinedown's or Foo Fighters of the time. It was so strange hearing him just *sing* on "Psychosocial".

I liked that the band doubled down on the normal singing and abandonment of nu-metal on "Dead Memories", especially the quiet bridge around 3:10 in the song. I'm sure many Slipknot loyalist saw this as selling out.

"Snuff" does what I've begged a lot of metal records to do, which is to actually build a song around a melody and not around a thrashy 4-minute sprint of noise and energy. Is this song a little cheesy? Yeah, it's got shades of "Face Down" by Red Jumpsuit. But it's not bad!

The last two songs also bring things back down to earth. There's a happy amount of variety on here. That's all I could really ask for. Let's say 3/5

Not really deserving of a spot on this list. Indistinguishable from every other band within the continental radius of britpop and alt rock of the 90's. ROUGH vocals that sit in a nasally register for just about every song. The only bit of mercy is that it stopped after 11 songs. No techinically impressive instrumentation to bail it out, no great hooks buried under the shitty presentation of the music. Sometimes the mix even felt off, like the random keys barging in at 1:36 on "How High".

Felt dead on arrival 1/5

*angry rant only tangentially related to the music incoming*

I made a terrible mistake by reading some of the more popular negative reviews of this album (and, by proxy, the Eagles) at the ripe ol time of 4:30am this morning. I think Ive stumbled upon one of the more noticeable instances of people hating for the sake of hating. Something similar to the phenomena back in the day of hating Nickleback because it’s popular/funny. A lot of hate also directed at the band members for what is, most of the time, standard rockstar misbehavior - lawsuits over naming rights, despising critics, lyrics about how women are often in the wrong about a relationship etc etc. If any violent or physically harmful acts were committed that I dont know about, I'll happily retract my statement on that.
Where the hell is this vitriol for folks way more deserving of it?? Like Steven Tyler, anything he’s been involved in shouldn’t be on this list imo, he did some actually BAD stuff. Or Neil Young, if you wanna come to your senses and make it actually about the music. Neil’s voice is hackish and shrill, and clearly paved the way for the Eagles. He’s also flippant and just as annoying than the Eagles, if not way more.
Additionally, I feel like the conflation of Eagles music with hardline American conservatives and ladder-pulling boomers is so lazy. Like yeah, of course there’s a correlation there. The sky is also blue. This is what was popular back in the day. Very popular. And it turns out, for some good reasons! Conflating the eagles cultural impact with conservative America is just as bad as conservatives criticizing music they think has “gone woke”.
Above all of this, the Eagles music clears most American rockstars of their time!

Ok, with the rant mostly out of the way, how was this album? Pretty darn solid. Not the bastion of perfect music, but not at all grading on the ears either. The Eagles can be observed taking the fusion of country and rock to it's logical conclusion. Perfect harmonies, quick hooks, standard guitar solos.

The opening title track has got to be America's version of Stairway To Heaven (maybe Free Bird can claim that title though). Instantly recognizable melody with a linear but mysterious story.

"New Kid In Town" is not the best of their slow, acoustic jams in their rock era. Yet they still pull off a chorus that ends in such a sticky way.

"Life In The Fast Lane" is really on the nose, but is one of a few songs on here that are critical of the American maximalism of it's time. I keep going back to these songs and then try to understand what people want from this band when they're so critical of them being pretty boys from L.A. with hypocritical habits. They're literally making pointed critiques of the awful lifestyles they steep themselves in. "The Last Resort", line by line, is about destroying the natural land in America for capitol gain. What more do you all want from them.

I also really appreciated the reprise of "Wasted Time", it was a thoughtful touch right when a little change of pace was needed.

I've been so heated about these negative reviews, it derailed my ability to get through this review cleanly. The Eagles greatest hits goes nine rounds with most other classic rock bands greatest hits. 4/5

I appreciated the second track a bit more than the first, just preferring the instrumentation. The guitar gliding over some of the more subtle instruments like the keys playing a melody on loop or the drums fading in and out - that all was quite lovely. I don’t have much to say on this one. I think I’ve been more impressed by other Miles Davis records, but this is no slouch. It will always blow my mind how long these recordings go on for. How on point all the musicians had to be.

3/5