Reviews by linkyboy

This was a wakeup call, as someone who's been dabbling in electronic music. Sometimes, the sounds that are so cool in your own room with your own equipment just don't translate into excellent songs. It was all fine, and when I listened from a synth-enthusiast's perspective, I enjoyed it. The track with John Lydon stood out. But nothing particularly blew me away.

If emo/pop-punk were progressive rock, it might sound like this. Fairly interesting, but ultimately not something I have much interest in. I will say, I initially mistook The Mars Volta for Jared Leto’s band, and was relieved when I realized they were something different.

I just think I have little appetite for country rock. At least, the way Wilco does it. It all feels like it’s been done before. Blues, but more annoying (and I’m not a massive fan of blues). It sounds competently made, but it’s too long and too uninteresting. The last track in particular made me angry with its overindulgence. The Rod Stewart impersonator singing lead coughs when things wind down, and you think it’s over, and then somehow they do another few verses. And then it ends. And then, it keeps fucking going with the band just dicking around. Ugh.

In like a lion, out like a lion. A really fast lion. Album cover like a lamb. Running away from other lambs. To complete the bastardized saying.

I liked it well enough, though wasn’t exactly blown away. But given its impact, I think it’s deserving of a placement on the list, and it certainly didn’t overstay its welcome.

I love XTC, but I find Apple Venus Vol. 1 to be a bizarre inclusion. Surely, after Skylarking, you’d want to include English Settlement, Drums & Wires, or Black Sea first. I love the opening of the record, and “I’d Like That” and “Easter Theater” are excellent tracks. But there are also some weaker ones, like “Your Dictionary” or “Frivolous Tonight” that veer toward self-parody. Slickly produced, elegantly crafted, but imperfect and far down my list of essential records by XTC.

There’s a raw brutality to this that certainly has its appeal—I imagine to the right kind of disillusioned teen, moshing to this would be euphoric. Ultimately, it doesn’t do much for me, but I feel like it’s a worthwhile inclusion.

Pleasant, easy, safe. I see how they had an influence on Simon and Garfunkel, who would put out much better music in the years that followed.

I think what people miss when they say it all sounds the same is that that’s the point: The Strokes found a sound that worked for them, and defined themselves on their debut album by sticking to it. The megaphone vocals, the panned guitars, the melodic bass, the dry production. It’s very intentional and instantly identifiable. It’s not a perfect record, but it’s a very good one, and one of the best at establishing a band’s sound.

Britain’s answer to Springsteen. I don’t like Springsteen. This was a rehash of old Sonic territory.

If I want to hear about working class Brits, I’m turning to Pulp.

Perhaps I wasn’t listening closely enough, or maybe I’m too used to these sounds… it seems like this album was incredibly influential. But nothing really captured my attention. Every now and then, I’d listen more closely. And it made me think of my own worst impulses as an electronic musician: playing repetitive beats with microscopic changes that only I like or notice. Perhaps I’ll listen again and reconsider, but for now, I found it quite middling.

I have always found the Byrds to be pleasant yet twangy, skilled yet unimpressive. I don't like country much, and while early country has some great songs and albums, this veers a little too far into the stereotypical territory that would mar the genre in the coming years. The Byrds had strong harmonies, and a strong sense of arrangement—I just don't really connect with them.

Sigh…

I like Morrissey in spite of his ego, his assholery, his pretension. No one can sing the word “hamburger” like him. He’s got a beautiful and weird voice, and such an interesting musical ear. This album doesn’t live up to the quality of some of his stuff with the Smiths, but I really like it.

I just wish he chose to be a better person. I saw David Byrne perform a few nights ago, and was struck by his graciousness, kindness, and humanity. Morrissey could have been that, but he chose not to be.

I didn't necessarily have high expectations for this... Dennis Wilson? The Wilson brother who couldn't even play his instrument? The surfer bro? Charles Manson's buddy? And since the Beach Boys were well past their prime at this point, I didn't see much reason to listen...

But there was something about the imaginative harmonies, his unpolished Joe-Cocker-esque vocals, and the sense that he was really trying something new here that won me over. I'll definitely be adding this to the rotation, and I'm glad it's on the list.

As soon as I started listening, I realized I've listened to this album before. Sure enough, it's in my library on Apple Music. But I only could vaguely recall it. I can't even remember why it's in my library.

It's a shame I've been ignoring it. It's a fun album full of catchy hooks and effective production. My favorite track is "Streets of Your Town"—Amanda Brown's vocals really hit here.

Perhaps not the most inventive album of all time, but I liked it a lot.

Does Taylor Swift deserve an entry on the list? Of course. She is, for better or worse, the most successful pop singer of her generation.

But is this a good album? I don’t think so. Competently produced, for sure, with catchy hooks, but the thing I’ve never liked about Taylor Swift is all over this album: her shameless emulation of every other successful song and artist, not out of appreciation, but for pure commercial gain. She is a vulture of pop, and a very successful one at that. There’s nothing interesting in these lyrics, there’s nothing original in these songs. “Welcome To New York” sounds like she walked around Times Square and heard “Empire State of Mind” everywhere, and decided that she wanted to be that.

I will never understand the sycophancy around her. And, despite some effective moments (“Shake It Off” minus “this sick beat”; and “Clean,” which is actually good), I don’t like this album.

I used to be so paranoid that I was inadvertently plagiarizing, that I’d write complicated, never-ending chord progressions, surprising meter changes, acrobatic vocals. Eventually, I realized that this originality came at the cost of quality. Elvis Costello, simply put, as too many ideas, as if he’s afraid that someone might catch onto his referential writing and accuse him of being derivative. Just exhausting to listen to. “Pick me” energy.

I’ve always loved Paul Simon—he’s one of my favorite songwriters. But man, if there’s a reason for Heart and Bones to be on the list, it’s to show how desperately he needed the inspiration he eventually found for Graceland.

Well recorded, decent writing, solid playing, but despite its deep listenability, it’s also deeply uninteresting. There’s a reason none of these songs get much radio play. It feels sacrilegious to award it only 2 stars, but it’s only eking out a 3. Probably because of my own personal biases toward Paul Simon.

Wow. I loved this. It’s wild that this album was negatively received when it first came out. It’s clearly incredible. So much variety, so imaginative, such a brilliant mix of styles while staying so firmly Brazilian. It’s not always easy to connect with albums in a language I don’t speak, but this was far and away my favorite from the list so far.

I can’t fault it for its originality. It sounds like the start of a new branch in the evolutionary family tree—but one that went extinct because it was too boring to survive.

Theory: the word “strife” only remains in English because it rhymes with “life.”

I didn’t hate it, but I can’t imagine choosing to listen to this. What would bring you back?

I think what really works about this album is that while it is experimental, ambient, and noisy, it never strays too far from being a pop record. The vocals are simple and unobtrusive, while delivering a welcome grapple to the otherwise slippery textures. It's fun to listen to and features a nice mix of styles. Parts of it feel like the Talking Heads—other parts like Pink Floyd—and still others like proto-shoegaze. It's an album I plan to come back to.