Reviews by linkyboy

I like the sound of a lot this music—feels at times akin to Joy Division, Midnight Oil, The Smiths. It’s a solid album, but I don’t know if it’s great. I think it comes down to the vocals in the end—they don’t feel quite as strong as the rest of the arrangements, melodically or tonally.

Monkeys, Crocodiles, and Do It Clean were probably my favorite tracks.

I really enjoyed it on my first listen, and on my second listen, I found my appreciation for the album growing. The interplay between the drums, bass, guitar, and vocals is so esoteric and interesting throughout—there’s a counterpoint to everything that I think is actually fairly rare to hear in pop music like this. While I do find Sting’s “Jamaican accent” a tad cringey, he is a charismatic vocalist who complements the music perfectly.

Of course, a lot attention is (deservedly) given to Sting—whose melodic basslines are often the highlight of a song, as in “Walking on the Moon”—but this doesn’t give enough credit to Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, who are incredible musicians just as crucial to the success and sound of The Police. In fact, Copeland’s drums are the star of this album. So erratic yet controlled, the fills are perfectly placed, and his tom work is so tight and exciting.

I was expecting myself to like this album, but I wasn’t anticipating giving it a 5/5 rating! This will definitely be revisited many times over.

It’s interesting how old white people praise Johnny Cash, who sang countless songs about killing people. And praise Bob Dylan for his political lyrics. And love bands like Aerosmith who wrote all these songs about sex.

And then they’ll decry how violent, sexual, and subversive rap artists like NWA are. Is it racism? Yeah. I think so.

This album is electric. So much energy, so lively. The beats are funky and fun. The mix is exciting. These songs are inherently political. “Fuck tha Police” is just as relevant today as ever. And “Express Yourself” is a call to action for rappers (and to the tone deaf media), proclaiming the importance of freedom of expression—ironically avoiding profanity while criticizing rappers for avoiding profanity to end up on the radio. It feels like they’re creating a “sleeper cell” to infiltrate the radio and bring people to their album. Brilliant. Has some of it not aged well? Yeah, but neither have a lot of the greatest pieces of art.

What an album. There’s a reason NWA changed the game.

I was in a turbulent airplane when I listened, and as Pitchfork suggested about this album, it was indeed nauseating. While some of the sounds and ideas were interesting, I simply can’t say I liked it—and I struggle to imagine anyone choosing to listen to this except to induce vomiting.

P.S. — I highly advise against listening to the track “Dead on Arrival” while your airplane is bumping about through a storm.

P.P.S. — Also, the child’s voice on “Hometime” is a jump scare. Which is weird, because they honestly seem like a nice kid.

P.P.P.S. — I liked track 9, “AB/7A.” So that’s nice.

I had no idea New Order was an offshoot of Joy Division! Mind blown. Such a different direction they went in, especially on this album.

I knew the opening track “Love Vigilantes,” but nothing else. I love this kind of new wave synth pop stuff, although at times it might sound too stereotypically 80s to hold the same weight it did back when it was new.

A solid, if not perfect album.

I really liked this album. Funky, political, well performed, fun orchestrations. I’m also impressed that it was a soundtrack! Few film soundtracks feel so cohesive as an album, even when they’re recorded by one artist! This will definitely enter my rotation!

I’m trying. I’m really trying to appreciate metal. But when I listen to it, I don’t feel any excitement or interest, I just tend hear hyper-masculine posturing.

There’s something weirdly empty or sparing about this album. Like, it all sounds too samey. Everyone is good at their instruments I guess. But I don’t really like it.

I do appreciate the political nature of the lyrics on this album, rather than the typical metal imagery that I find so dorky. So they get some bonus points for that.

This is an album I definitely will come back to. The production was really exciting, and the use of brass, strings, and a gospel choir were captivating. I had no expectations going into it, but coming out, I am certainly impressed. This is probably my favorite album I’ve heard in the “shoegaze” genre.

My only complaint is that I could have done without the 17 minute long closing track—I already felt that the track preceding it was a triumphant end to the record and this one was kind of down tempo, sprawling, and droll.

Loved the first track, “Peaches in Regalia!” I struggled to connect to “We’re Only In It For The Money” with the Mothers of Invention, so I was a bit wary of this record before hitting play. But that first track put me at ease—it was inventive, exciting, and rocking.

Zappa really shows off his guitar skills on this album, which is exciting to hear!

Surprised to read the negative reviews! I love these songs—fun, high energy power pop. “I Want You To Want Me,” “Ain’t That A Shame,” and “Surrender” are all classics, and the enthusiasm of the crowd is incredible. The quality of the recording is lacking, but it makes up for it in the energy of the crowd.

I gave the album two listens because I realized after the first that I didn’t give Dylan’s lyrics the attention they deserve. After all, though Bob Dylan is a singer, guitarist, and harmonica player, he’s fairly mediocre at all three—what makes him great is his songwriting. His lyrics are witty, poetic, at times humorous and political. His simple and effective. The album is so stripped down, it’s rather difficult to rate it on the same merits I’ve rated other albums. When I think of other albums from the early 60s, I think there’s a maturity to Dylan’s lyrics that are beyond his years. I think it’s an excellent collection of songs, but I wonder whether I’ll ever feel that an album of his can be a 5/5.

Of all the amazing artists and albums not represented on the list, I can’t for the life of me understand why this was included. Bland, boring, awkward, and sonically dated. It’s not offensive to my ears, just lame. It’s like if you took Ed Sheeran and subtracted from him until all that remained were the things that make him uninteresting.

Instant 5 stars for me! I’ve loved this album for a long time. Pure power pop! Fun, energetic, and timeless. And nobody knows how to write a catchy synth riff better than The Cars.

Even the experimental songs that on the surface seem rather gimmicky— “Moving in Stereo” and “I’m in Touch With Your World”—are still memorable and catchy! And with “Good Times Roll,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” and “Just What I Needed” being the first three tracks of the album, it’s an unbelievably strong start to an album. And it doesn’t stop there! All the tracks are classics.

Damn. I love the Cars.

Initial listen: I liked it, but wasn’t blown away. In fact, on Motorcade, I was almost distracted by how it sounded like Midnight Oil (who I feel are glaringly omitted on this list). But taking into consideration the year of its release and the artists Magazine influenced—including Radiohead and The Smiths—I started to listen to the album with different ears.

In fact, it predates “London Calling,” “10-1,” and “Drums and Wires.” A lot of the sounds that initially seemed derivative were actually quite the opposite: they were foundational! And given that it was founded by Howard Devoto of seminal punk group Buzzcocks, it seems quite likely that this album is responsible for Post-Punk existing at all!

I gave the album a second listen, and it’s actually so well done—interesting melodic ideas, some polytonal guitar solos, creative instrumentation choices.

This fuckwad appropriated hip hop and trailer trash in one album. No person is better at using great samples so terribly. I’ll never forgive him for telling me to put his balls in my mouth. Also, IT’S FUCKING AN HOUR AND A QUARTER! What the fuck!? I hate this album nearly as much as I hate Kid Rock, and nothing makes me happier than giving him 1 star.

I am devastated—DEVASTATED I TELL YOU—that I got all three CCR albums within a week of each other. I love CCR and would have rather spread them out to be a little tasty treat for my ears.

This is my favorite of the three CCR albums on the list—some certified classics and also features CCR really experimenting with their sound on a few tracks. I do find “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” unnecessarily long and CCR has always excelled at creating great singles rather than cohesive albums, so this one still earns 4/5 stars. Nonetheless, they really were a one of a kind group that wrote some of the greatest songs in the rock and roll canon.

Also, let’s pour one out for “Willy and the Poor Boys,” which easily could have been on this list and features my favorite CCR song (“Fortunate Son”).

A fun, early hip hop album that is proudly black and African. Though a lot of the rhymes and flow seem basic by today’s standards, the themes and social consciousness of the album stand out. A lot of the beats are fun and funky, though I feel that a lot of the melodic parts of the album seem to be in tonal conflict, which maybe was a choice, but doesn’t sound great to my ears. I’d probably give it a 3.5/5, but I’ll round up given this album’s significance and acknowledging the “Seinfeld Isn’t Funny” trope that may be coming into play here.

Top tracks: “Doin’ Our Own Dang,” “Acknowledge Your Own History”

I like it. Reminds me of “Latin” by Holy Fuck, but precedes it by 20 years. I wasn’t totally sold at first, but as it went on, I was impressed by the number of ideas and textures they conjured up. After the first 20 minute track, I was expecting the rest of the album to have a similar sound, but the second track really surprised me by how big it sounded.

I wasn’t familiar with the term “post-rock” ahead of this listen, but I like the idea of it. Focusing on timbre, texture, and minimalism—I definitely hear the Steve Reich influence, and about 11 minutes into “Djed” reminded me of Terry Riley’s “In C.”

I suppose if you were a MBV fan and waited 20+ years for a follow-up to their best work, hearing this album would feel gratifying. To me, it felt as though they are a one-trick-pony.

Having said that, they do the trick well, and there are some tracks I will listen to again. But overall, I find them too sound mostly like pointy background music. And frankly, I hated the airplane experience of the last track.

My only disappointment is that this site generated this album only three days after I got “Bayou Country.” I would have loved to spread my CCR experience out a bit—they’re like comfort food music to me.

Many of my general statements from Bayou Country still apply here, but I’ll add that I think “Green River” is overall a stronger album. The title track is great, as are “Bad Moon Rising,” “Lodi,” and “Wrote A Song For Everyone.” And no bad tracks either!