Reviews by kenny-mike

This entire album feels like one giant deep cut from The Who, aside from the familiar “I Can See For Miles.” THAT song is truly among their very greatest. Along with, you know, all those other great ones. Otherwise the album is VERY reminiscent of the Kinks. It pairs up nicely with The Kinks’ “Arthur.”

It seems like The Who heard Sgt Pepper and asked themselves, just how hard can we lean into this whole concept album idea? This seems like their first answer, but it wouldn’t be their last. It’s a prelude to “Tommy” - their first, but not last, complete Rock Opera.

The bonus tracks “Glittering Girl” and “Melancholia” are fantastic. I really wish I could hear JUST original album / track listing on Spotify, especially for a project like this, but at least in this case the offerings are so strong. Not sure how these songs didn’t make it onto the original album, but didn’t research that either.

It doesn’t feel like a full 5/5 but I will round up for Keith Moon, for “I Can See for Miles” and to honor this premier British Invasion band.

Frank Zappa can create some weird magic. This album is ultimately rock and jazz fusion, but with Zappa’s vision it seems utterly unique.

The track to return to is “Willy the Pimp” because you have vocals by Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart as well as some phenomenal guitar work.

I was wondering when I would return to the rest of this weird magic, and concluded that my life isn’t weird or magical enough to ever have this playing as the soundtrack. But it’s great stuff.

The comparisons made with Public Image Ltd are apt. And when it comes to the music backdrop, I love it. Kind of like PIL’s Metal Box (aka Second Edition), but brighter, shinier and less brooding. Wonderful post-punk vibe.

When it comes to the vocals, Mike Smith channels Johnny Lydon but for some reason I’m less forgiving. Not so interested in a derivative PIL here. It’s like, dang, the music sounds so good I’d love to see what other direction this could go.

Teenage me would have loved this though. That leaves me unsure whether to round down to 3/5 or up to 4/5. I don’t know what I’ll do but by the time you read this review I will have made my choice.

The combination of folk and blues reminds me of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” but this is more smoky and more bluesy. Loved “Don’t Want to Know” (about evil) which was a sentiment cleverly contradicted by the following song “I’d Rather Be The Devil (Devil Got My Woman).” “May You Never” is another favorite track.

When the mood is right, this is near-perfect background music…which sounds like a criticism but is in no way intended as such. It can add brilliance to the background of a boring day.

Strong 4/5 and maybe deserves a 5/5…

There are flashes of brilliance here: "Roadhouse Blues," "Peace Frog," and "Queen of the Highway" are at the top for me. The rest of the album is solid enough, but few songs have the complete package: great music with memorable lyrics.

Still, I'm really glad to receive a Doors album today. Jim Morrison had too many demons to keep the band (or himself) alive, but where would they have gone given more time? It doesn't seem they were going to join the soft rock parade like some of their contemporaries; they were sticking to their roots, to their groove, and to the blues.

They’re going to tell you that this album is only 15 minutes long.

But… what else could you do with those 15 minutes?

— Call and check on a loved one.
— Enjoy a hot chocolate.
— Read the first chapter of that book you’ve been meaning to get to.
— Watch a video about how to make homemade bread, or how to roll your own cigarettes.
— Sit in silence.
— Doom scroll.

Any of these options are better than the offer made by the 1001 Algorithm today.

This album was just good enough, and just bad enough, to make me want to go listen to something else entirely. Since I was in the early 80s anyway, I went for Was (Not Was) and heard a couple great tunes—“Out Come the Freaks” for starters, and then “Knocked Down, Made Small.” Great stuff.

Anyway, back to this album. It is just good enough, and just bad enough, to merit 3/5.

This probably isn’t the first album one should hear (before they die) by Goldfrapp. But alas, for me, it is. There is evident talent, a beautiful voice, and a really catchy song called “Happiness.” Another song, “A&E,” was a single and brought the tempo up a notch. Otherwise, it’s a quiet album. I can respect it but it’s hard to get excited about on first listen. I’m left curious to get another, differently styled album.

There’s punk. There’s post-punk and new wave. Then there’s… this. Something altogether different, and varied, and fun, and at times vulnerable.

It was when Mick Jones started singing about childhood fears - lost at the supermarket, hearing “the people who live on the ceiling” - that I started thinking, “Did the Clash open up a new lane?”

Apparently so, in one way or another, judging by reviews of the album in the 80s. In my view several musical streams converge here, effortlessly and successfully.

In any case, it’s downright enjoyable.

New Wave was a cool genre and the Pretenders show exactly why. You have the energy and attitude of punk, but infused into melodic maybe-pop rock.

Of course, Chrissie Hynde might just be the Queen of Cool anyway. She is the chief songwriter and visionary here, with vocals described well as “casual but sensual.” She introduced the band to an old song by the Kinks (“Stop Your Sobbing”), made it the band’s first single, then had a baby with Ray Davies.

Very good album. Can’t go all the way to 5 but this is a very strong 4/5.

Black Sabbath appear as easy prey for Satanic Panic, so it’s a brilliant twist to open the album with these lyrics:

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to Mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds...
Oh Lord yeah!

So, who exactly should we be afraid of?

It’s so interesting how these early Black Sabbath albums use religious themes and spiritual consequences (eternal judgment, hell) to add weight to morality plays. Sometimes, as on “Hand of Doom,” a soul is lost through the very natural outworking of a very bad habit.

Meanwhile, “Paranoid” and “Iron Man” are classic tracks. “War Pigs” and “Fairies Wear Boots” (with apologies) are famous second tier tracks. I rate this album just below their self-titled first album which somehow feels “thicker” and “heavier” overall. And don’t miss their album Master of Reality which has my favorite of their “Christian rock songs” - “After Forever.”

“Let me go wild.”

I love the raw, acoustic energy here.

I can hear the influence of bands such as The Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, and The Clash, and yet the Violent Femmes have a distinct vibe. In part it’s the “now I need to spend more money on guitar strings” vibe.

Although I was a late adopter in the 80s to VF’s attitude and posture, I was eventually sold on the music. Four decades later the musical energy still holds up, unlike so much from this era.

Round up to 5.

The Kinks are a sometimes overlooked band that should be placed below the Beatles and Dylan but right there alongside The Who, The Rolling Stones, and The Byrds. They had great singles, good to great albums, and their own distinct offerings to the story of Rock and Roll.

That said, they can sometimes lag behind in production quality and musical innovation. This album often feels that way even though it is known for its lyrical quality and storytelling style.

Because it’s the Kinks it’s at least a 4/5.

This album is like letters your therapist told you to write… but didn’t expect them to be made public. I think it’s also one of the best and most interesting albums of the 90s, an unleashing of emotion, a protest against abuse, and sometimes the sound of being set free.

So many famous songs here but don’t miss the (few) deeper cuts, especially:

“Perfect” — “We’ll love you / just the way you are / if you’re perfect”

“Not the Doctor” — “I don’t wanna be the glue that holds your pieces together / I don’t wanna be your idol / See, this pedestal is high and I’m afraid of heights”

5/5

Red is Taylor Swift’s Revolver.

1989 is her Sgt Pepper.

5/5 for a pop masterpiece, from a male Swiftie who (like so many) heard her talent on Folklore and worked back from there. Much more of her catalog should be on this 1001 list, and it’s actually funny that the best they could come up with was this obvious choice and Evermore…

There is an Ick Factor to the Stones that is particularly pronounced on this album, classic as it may be. Just when you think there may be a noble sentiment it turns gross. Basically it seems like Mick Jagger & Co. enjoyed using women, and they have trouble rising above the most sensual and selfish desires. Sometimes it’s overt and sometimes it’s just barely hidden, but it’s always just a kiss away. Practiced at the art of deception indeed.

How can an album be this bland when Stephen Stills was producing such great music, this very same year no less, with Crosby, Nash, and Young? Jimi Hendrix is on track four (IKR!!) and yet... even this falls flat. How does that even happen?? I don't blame Stills or Hendrix, I blame the Seventies. Clearly the Seventies were determined to smooth the edges of the Sixties, emboldened by what they were able to do to Paul McCartney. There were forces at work here we may never fully understand.

I gave Electric Warrior a well-deserved 5/5 so it feels unfortunate to give a lower rating to this follow up, when I enjoy the music so much and it’s so similar. I think the problem is that it IS too similar, yet it lacks some of the magic. Electric Warrior is just on a higher plane.

It also feels unfortunate to be so critical of a 4/5 album. Each song sounds great and better than the many softer and/or countrified offerings from the early 70s. Enjoy!

I grew up in the 70s and remember a worn copy of this classic album among my siblings’ records. It was the American version, in which Capitol Records removed songs like… “Drive My Car” (??!!). To this day I have to wrap my mind around the original British offering, and remember that it’s not merely an album of acoustic gems. By the way, during these recording sessions (which lasted just one month in 1965!) also included “Day Tripper” and “We Can Work it Out.”

Capitol Records was squeezing every penny out of this band and their revolutionary run. But the Beatles were just giving us so much.

Anyway, the American version rates 9/5 and the actual album with the original track listing rates 10/5.

I am rounding the legendary Joan Baez up to 5/5 despite those coupla times her sustained high notes had me scrambling for the volume control. And I’m doing so because Joan Baez, along with Bob Dylan and maybe others in the early 60s folk pantheon, formed one of the tributaries into much of my favorite music: the revolutionary music of that decade and its descendants. I would like to think that if I were a young man in 1960 this would have been on my turntable.