Reviews by keithb

Mostly harmless

The only way to feel the noise is when it’s good and loud ….

No sleep starts with what was considered the fast heaviest song ever the ace of spades . It’s fast and loud but not great . The guitar is too low in the mix

A good performance of some great songs but suffers from being a live album . All I am left with is wanting to listen to the original songs

Best song on it is surprisingly “we are the road crew”( apart from the cringe opening)

Starting a song let alone an album with what sounds like water drops is bold .
After the weird synth intro Edwyn’s odd vocals carry the song and the rest of the album, resulting in a patchy experience.

80s synth Pop, “I can’t help my self” but love some of these songs.

When they’ve good they are great , just does not happen enough

Ooh that opening chord is just so dirty and sloppy.
The intro drags on for almost a minute before Ozzy’s mellifluous tone start to rant about old guys sending their kids off to die .

Add on top of that great riffs . Steady drumming from ward and almost funky bass by geezer.

Normally political statements in metal are hackneyed and trite (looking at you Dorro) but even at 7 minutes war pigs does not over stay its welcome lyrically or musically.

Oddly war pigs is not the best song on the album . It’s followed immediately by Paranoid , before slowing down for the trippy but brilliant planet caravan before Iron man kicks in .

With 3 of those 4 opening songs being the perfect song to describe not only Sabs but heavy metal as a genre..

5 stars for everything but the cover. If only this had a mob rules styles cover.

Slow soulful and brilliant

With Curtis I’m never sure if it’s soulful funk or funk full soul - probably the former due to the slow tempo

Wah wah guitars , trumpets , socially conscious lyrics and a perfect falsetto voice

Fun distraction but nothing else (maters).

Staring with a Ennio Morricone is an odd choice for Metallica but it sets the tone for what to expect for S&M: stagy and orchestral, building to big finishes.
Thrash metal with a symphony.

“The call of Ktuhul” continues that and finally adds the heavy sound of the band to what is essentially a bond theme.

The opening of master of puppets loses a little with the fiddles getting in the way of that iconic riff. Same all the way through really . It’s good and would have been even better live ; but like most live albums it makes me want to listen to the original.

Classic who album … do I feel I absolutely needed to listen to that? No

Was this album distinct enough to create a whole sub genre - mod … apparently. I understand why the rockers were all worked up - it’s average and acceptable but nothing more . The style and looks are more important than the music.

“The goods gone” is pretty apt. An aptly titled song that is perfect exemplar of the album .

“My generation” is a great song but has dated like milk . The generation is now boomers … now I understand why they wanted to die befor getting old .

Crisp sharp art rock. Ff are great but I prefer them when combined with the silliness of Sparks . that will come later for the band .

Parliament on prosaic. Funk soul jazz at a laid back pace .

Bosa nova normally brings forth images of chilling on a beach and warm sunny days - but unfortunately not this album: it just leaves me cold

Inoffensive and mostly well done but nothing of interest - but then “parade” comes on and it turns in to novelty album - enough to drag it down to 2 stars. Oba oba does not help
But as the album goes (drags?) on I’m more inclined to a 1 star review but only her voice and the quality of the playing raises it to a 2 .

“You did not have to be so nice “ is 0 stars all day long. A Fucking “grandad we love you “ but from the 60s . The album has a long way to go to drag itself to a respectable 2 stars.

He can’t really sing . It’s just him and a guitar playing songs that all blend together . This just should not work but it does

Good beats, good lyrics, good delivery. Not eat coast or west coast and hallway to daisy age . Interesting rap with different influences

Somewhere between early Taylor Swift and Emilliu Harris is Nanci Griffiths . Traditional girl country meets modern girl indie.

Her voice carries the album through some slightly repetitive song structures . It combines so well with a steel guitar I find my self enchanted- sort of the opposite that Donald Fegan keyboard combo from steely Dan that leaves me so cold .

I do find jaunty honky tonk style country to be very novelty song in vibes - the first bars on banks of Pontchartrain for example .

I would not have guessed that critically acclaimed debut pop album in 2010 would be a concept album based on Metropolis… fun and exciting all the way through

This might be the first ( in this project ) concept double album that does not need to be trimmed to 1 from 2 albums

Starts with a song so good that it gets Elaine Benis dancing …

Earth Wind and Fire can at times come across to a modern listener as campy cliched funk- disco ala Boney M . They are not And this album show cases funk that strays close to disco while being catchy and danceable along with more soulful songs like the title track .

Pity “all about love ( first impressions)”drags the whole thing done - I’m only not dropping it a star as the horns on that song are great . Along with that spacey outro.

He is not afraid of a preset rhythm on his keyboard but that does not stop the album from being great - which is a pity as he is so problematic .

For every “Paranoid Android” on the album there is an “Exit music”

3 great songs and the rest are meh . Surprisingly Tom Yorke’s voice is no more fun to listen to than that speak and spell fake Robot one

2 stars feels bad for an album with 3 great songs on so it’s 3

As jarring as it was to hear a new singer with AC/DC Johnson’s voice here is at its peak and fits perfectly with the rift laiden rock n roll .

Great album that unfortunately is rife with horrific misogyny and the constant objectification, if not actual predatation, of women.

“Giving the dog a bone” is the weakest song of the album . But even here Johnson’s vocals are good in the second half of the song and the tight rhythm section drags it along at pace.

4 musically but a 2 lyrically. If one stops and analyses it .

As decisive as beefheart . Experimental pop. I might like it but for his voice

I thought I was being clever with my review of “This is a long lost Blur album and no one can convince me otherwise “ not knowing this was a Albarn side project.

So glad I did not post that