Reviews by kenny-mike

What if Blood, Sweat, and Tears was just garage/psychedelic enough to be less popular?

That would be Moby Grape.

And it sounds good!

Only bummer is this is not on Spotify, though easily found on YouTube. 🙄

A easy on-ramp, and then such a smooth ride.

Me: White kid in the 80s, ingesting copious amounts of R.E.M., Talking Heads, and P.I.L.

Also Me: White kid in the 80s listening to copious amounts of Sly & the Family Stone, especially Life!, Stand!, and this masterpiece - There's a Riot Goin' On.

Me, today, 40 years later: White guy in my 50s, and on a REGULAR basis the opening sounds of this album run through my head. The album has never left me.

Sly & the Family Stone changed music at least twice. Their 60s sound was dynamic and revolutionary, performed by a multiethnic band that was quite a rarity in those days (at least in the main). Then with this album, something totally new again.

I also remember seeing Sly Stone on TV in the late 80s. He was such a huge figure to me musically, but by this point he had become a much smaller version of himself. The drugs that no doubt fueled this album had shrunken him. Like one that dies giving birth... we are the recipients of something unforgettable, but it took the life of its maker.

Rock/indie/just good.

Started out strong. And Whenever it started to lose my interest, it gained it back again.

Strong 4/5.

I was introduced to Belle & Sebastian with 2006’s The Life Pursuit. I LOVE that album.

Alas, it’s not on this list.

But on this list is what is supposed to be their finest album, If You’re Feeling Sinister. It’s a good album. But it doesn’t have “Sukie in the Graveyard” or “The Blues are Still Blue.”

So, enjoy this, but for some extra fun meet me over at The Life Pursuit afterward.

This is the sound hard rock makes when it's just started therapy.

"Jeremy" - heartbreaking, powerful, make sure you know the backstory. Skip everything else, love everything else, but this one is a testament for the ages.

Six out of Ten.

The 4est of 4 star albums.

A great sound, in fact some of the best sounds the early 90s could offer to lovers of indie and alternative.

Yet it needs something more, probably lyrically, to pull it all the way over the top.

Favorite song - Dixie Drug Store.

This album is a lament.

We need it.

I like the Smiths without really liking the Smiths all that much. But I listened all the way through and was rewarded. Several quality songs on this one, and by the end I could appreciate it.

Favorite songs:
"That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore."
"Well I Wonder"
"Barbarism Begins at Home"

Fun, usually-quite-energetic album, with some staying power. Based on just one listen, I’d say either my favorite songs were in the second half…or maybe it just grew on me. Either way, “Runaway” stands out, as well as “Dull Life” and the “Dragon Queen” for very different reasons.

Let’s call it 4.6 so I can round up to a full 5.

Someone quipped that Bookends is like the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” played out over an entire album. That seems right. I can feel the influence and vibe of Sgt Pepper here, even though the acoustic presentation provides misdirection.

Along with Mrs Robinson, there are some great counter culture gems here (Save the Life of My Child, Fakin’ It, Hazy Shade of Winter). “America” is a Simon and Garfunkel classic.

Yet there are low points. Overs, Voices of Old People, and Old Friends is a skippable trilogy. A song about Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and another about the Zoo probably contain profound insight…somewhere…but feel like filler.

I think the Beatles had the right idea in keeping it to one song. But — man, the great songs here are really deserving. Put the best songs on a playlist and that playlist should indeed be heard (a few times) before you die.

Three stars for a good album that is just not a favorite artist for me, and after reading the full Wikipedia article - just, yikes. It’s a good thing Mr. Bowie received the help he needed.

I've lived decades thinking Elvis Costello was either overrated or I was missing something.

I was missing something.

His first two albums (My Aim & This Year's Model): energetic, fun, rocking new wave.

His third album (Armed Forces): Stylistic change, not so excited about it.

Don't know about the lay of the land from there to here, but this 1986 album has the same energy as those first albums. It's different; he's expanded his lyrical scope, the songs are longer. Kind of like a garage band that's had a very, very long time to practice and develop their craft. These are songs I want to return to.

Reminds me of an album like Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, but more direct, more rock/garage and (for me) more musically arresting. Or a collection of songs like you'd get from The White Stripes, but less blues.

I get it, some people are still feeling Elvis Costello is overrated. I just encourage you to consider that maybe, just maybe, you're missing something.

This is great stuff.

Alternating wit and anger and heartbreak. I was sometimes interested, sometimes impatient, sometimes checked out.

The White Album! What more can be said? How about this:

The Beatles defined a decade one album at a time. With the White Album, they went the opposite direction of the previous year’s revolutionary Sgt Pepper. The fact that the album cover contained NOTHING (besides the band's name) is the first clue that this is something very different from their previous year's musical revolution. They moved from the optimism (and "pop"-timism) of the Summer of Love to something more individualistic, varied, and untamed, and at times more overtly political. There is a wider emotional range as well, more deeply emotional and raw.

So this album - like all Beatles albums - is best heard in the context of the band's history and the history of the counterculture.

Also, this album - like all Beatles albums - is ridiculously amazing and still holds up nearly sixty (!!!) decades later.

Where the the vocals end the real enjoyment begins. It took a few songs to get past the 80s tropes, but when “Uncertain Smile” turned into a piano jam session, I was drawn in.

60s British folk meets 70s singer/songwriter meets an occasional energy drink.

Opening track and title track were two favorites.

Yes. This was good.

Am I being generous by giving 3 stars? Or do they deserve better and I’m just biased against them for later recruiting Rod Stewart? I can’t tell but I’m ready to move on. Next!

If you loved Brian Eno’s work in the 70s and his work as a producer for Talking Heads and U2… well, you will probably enjoy the opening song of this album.

And if you are a fan of Bob Dylan, you might appreciate the homage “Blues in Bob Minor.”

Each of those songs deserves a star. The rest, not that I can tell.