Reviews by leekelleher

Jesus wept, this was hard work!

I've heard the whole of this album before... that time I was on hold waiting to get a refund from BT.

I like the artwork though.

Apart from the hits, I'd never listen to anything else by The Style Council. I was half expected it to be more of the same from Weller as The Jam, but no, it's in a totally different direction.

Interestingly, (this where I bang on about distribution formats), it's another album of 2 halves. Side A is quite chilled, soulful, like café jazz... with a welcome appearance from Tracey Thorn.

Side B, pop ballads, and urgh The Gospel - what was going on with white pop rap in the early 80s? Wham, Blondie - glad that fad ended.

I preferred Side A, despite You're The Best Thing is still stuck in my head a day later.

I wasn't familiar with this album, apart from Once in a Lifetime - which is now culturally engrained. It's a good album, feels quite experimental, overall I enjoyed it, probably need several more listens to appreciated it more.

Strangely, after yesterday's Everly Brothers, I thought I'd be disliking old Frank here, but I seemed to be in a more receptive mood for this crooning album.

On a tangent.
It's the first album listed in the 1001 book. Interesting tidbit, it was first issued on a double 10", then later reissued on 12". Which gets me thinking (again) about how much the medium of distribution influences the album arrangement. e.g. This album has 16 tracks, original double 10" release would be 4 tracks on each side, then for the 12" reissue, 8 tracks per side. Would the track listing flow be different if the original distribution was on 12"?
Bringing that to modern day, are artists thinking in terms of streaming playlists or maybe still in CD's max 74 mins? No breaks, no flipping over interludes, just straight through. Or maybe they just whack them on in any order, why do I care? Ha!

Welcome to 12-bar blues central, the zeitgeist of the late 50s white collar America, where the women are loose and fade-outs are cheap.

Music for ducklipped teenagers to put their makeup on to.

I like a couple of the tracks, (Bring The Pain, All I Need), but wasn't really into the rest of it.

I quite like the first half (well, maybe third) of the album. Feels dated, but in a strangely nostalgic way. 2.5

Enjoyed this more than I'd expected to.

I hadn't listened to John Grant nor this album until a month or so ago. I've enjoyed listening a few times, it's good, but I don't seem to have the same affection that many of my friends have for it.

From the tongue in cheek opening, felt like Spinal Tap-esque homage to The Beatles and Britpop, I was ready for some non-serious euro-punk-rock fun... and it sure did deliver! 3.5

I was going to say that I'd never heard of this, but I then vaguely recall hearing many of these tunes at late night cafes and clubs. I'd might feel more nostalgic if this was playing whilst copping off at said night club, otherwise it's good low-fi vibes.

It was alright. With the various Bowie albums in the 1001 list, I haven't found any of them to be overall brilliant, mostly a couple of stand out tracks on each. Golden Years was good on this one.

Enjoyable album.

Whilst I still really enjoyed the hits, as an overall album, it doesn't quite jam. 2.5

I tried to listen objectively, but about halfway through I couldn't stomach any more.

Far too self-referential, far too self-indulgent, far too much profanity - I'm not against profanity, but only if it holds value and if it's gonna be overused to the verge of losing all value, then what is the fucking point?

More like Fela Awesome-Kuti! 4.5

Didn't know about this album, first glance at the artwork, I was already impressed. Enjoyed this way more than I'd expected to.

Iconic, in every sense.