Reviews by linkyboy

I’ve always found it strange that REM achieved the massive success they did given their sound and the era they got big during—I’m not complaining! I love REM. But there is something to their sound that sounds so particular and niche for them to have become one of the biggest bands of the 80s/90s.

I’m more familiar with their next three albums, (“Green,” “Out of Time,” and “Automatic for the People”), so this one feels more novel to me. Of course, the big hits (“…End of the World” and “The One I Love”) are genuine classics. I enjoyed most of the other songs too (although tracks 5 & 9 got slightly irritating) and I appreciate this earlier sound for the band. Side note- amazing that their fifth album is still an “early” album for them.

Here’s the thing—I find much of this album rather boring, Frampton’s voice rather limited, and the choice to fade in and out tracks questionable on a live album. Yet, Frampton’s guitar solos are skilled and the use of the talk box is fun. It also does boast a couple bonafide classic track.

I’ve vacillated between giving this album 2 or 3 stars, and I think I must give it 3 (thinking of it more as a 2.5 rounded up). I don’t intend to listen to it again, but I certainly wouldn’t turn off the radio just because they were playing one of these songs.

I love the gritty, raw, imperfect sounds of CCR. I love John Fogerty’s gruff voice, I love the loose snare sound, I love the guitar tone they use. And not only that, but there are some great songs on this album, in particular “Proud Mary,” which may be one of the greatest songs ever written. Though I don’t view this as one of CCR’s best albums, it is still an excellent entry in their impressive catalogue.

I love a debut that acts as a thesis statement for an artist, and this album is one of the best examples of that. The whole concept of “De-Evolution” is both silly and satirical and they take it through each track. And in addition to the noise and weirdness, there are also some solid songs on here.

Frank Zappa is an artist who I like more when I’m not listening to him. I like the idea of Frank Zappa. I like the idea of non-conformist, complex, satirical music and a lifetime of work dedicated to it. I like his willingness to be political and silly and impenetrable. Yet, I never really enjoy listening to his music very much.

Now having said that, I like a lot of the sounds and music on this album, and I don’t mind noise or disparate elements in music. A lot of the lyrics are interesting and funny. Yet the album feels entirely like a parody, mocking psychedelic rock, and I’m left wondering, is there any joy in the music itself? Or is joy only present in the lampooning of this music? If the latter, I find it difficult to enjoy the album as anything more than a joke.

On the surface, it just seems like a fun synth-pop album that sounds like someone snorted crystallized 1980s and sat down at a keyboard. But when you see that it was released in 1981, you realize that it wasn’t a distillation of the 80s—it was the catalyst!

Though some of it sounds goofy by today’s standards, there’s a lot of bravery in an album as sparse, experimental, and synth-driven as this. For most of the album, every element is very plainly heard, nothing hiding behind lush production.

And of course, it ends with the anthem “Don’t You Want Me,” an unforgettable and contagiously catchy song. Though it isn’t a perfect album, the “daring” behind it and its legacy earn it a 5/5.

I don’t know if there’s a single artist whose name more accurately sums them up than Rage Against The Machine. With every song, they reaffirm their moniker. The songs are deeply political and viscerally angry.

I appreciate the guitar writing—the album is full of heavy riffs and interesting effects. The solo on “Killing in the Name” is amazing.

Having said all that, I found the rap-metal a bit wearisome over the course of the album, just yearning for some sort of melody in the vocals. And it’s a bit more angry than I typically feel inclined to listen to. So while I cannot deny that it’s an excellent album, I also don’t want to listen to it again. As such, it earns a solid 4/5, taking into consideration my own preferences, although it would certainly be worthy of a 5/5 from reviewers more amenable to this style.

I really like this one—great songwriting, fun lyrics, well produced and conceived. At times, it reminds me of Squeeze (which is a good thing). I can definitely hear the Split Enz connection.

This is definitely an album I’ll be coming back to—another happy discovery of this project!

I thought this was wonderful! I don’t tend to love jazz, but this was funky, groovy, imaginative, and fun! The intro to “Watermelon Man” was so weird and engrossing. And the synth riff in the first track is such a bop. This is definitely one of the best discoveries of this project to me.

I the album certainly has the mystique of Bowie’s death around it, and that does make it feel special. After all, it was (knowingly) his swan song. Yet, I can’t help but feel that this album would not have achieved its notoriety if not for Bowie’s death two days later.

I’ve always appreciated that Bowie never seemed too bothered with what would be commercially viable. Yet at times, Black Star seems too strange to enjoy.

At its best, there is some really fine, if not surprisingly sweet songwriting on this album. At its worst, it feels like a bunch of teens in their garage practicing for the “Battle of the Bands.”

I appreciate the immediacy and brevity of the album, the fun and energy, and the punk rock attitude. “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” kind of turned things around for me, and made me start to hear them differently. There’s a surprising power pop aesthetic to some of these songs that I wasn’t expecting.

So despite the amateurish quality to much of their sound, I think to some extent, that’s the appeal. It’s fun, quick, and undemanding. And that can be a good thing.

I’m not really a club-going guy, which I feel like is a detriment to listening to this album. In fact, I’ll argue that there’s probably no good way to listen to this album without being in a club. I was in a car driving to Maine for Thanksgiving.

Here’s what ultimately leads me to a 2/5 rating. It’s not that the album is bad, but I zoned out to the extent that I was thinking about (and hearing in my head) other music! That feels like an indictment against this. And, when taking into consideration that this came out around the same time as Daft Punk and Air were making their (superior) debuts, I can’t help but feel that this album lacks imagination.

There was a time in my life when I was really into Billy Joel—I enjoyed his songs on the radio and bought a couple of his albums. But over time, my interest in him waned. He somehow become too schmaltzy in my mind and perhaps just because I’d heard his songs so much, I lost interest.

This was my first time listening to The Stranger in years, and it really is a great album. Track after track is a hit, and there are some standout moments—particularly for me, the piano solo 2/3s of the way through “Italian Restaurant.” I also have always loved the Satie-like intro to “The Stranger.” It’s hard to find any real faults with the album…

And yet, I can’t bring myself to give it a 5/5. Perhaps because the songs are overplayed or I know them too well to be amazed—and those reasons wouldn’t really be his fault. But it think in the end, while it is undeniably a great album, it doesn’t transcend the way the other albums I’ve given 5/5 to do.

This is the first album I’ve gotten that I didn’t have a strong opinion on, so it’s getting a 3/5 for neutrality. I’m not well acquainted with jazz, so I struggle to see the greatness of this record, but I think that is part of my limited scope on it. A lot of it sounds cliche, but that may be a result of being from 1963. It’s also all instrumental, and I have a better handle on sensing what good songwriting is than good instrumental writing.

I will say that it sounds like good dinner party music. But should that be my criteria for what makes an album worthy of being on this list? I wish their were more information available about its impact or legacy, but sadly, I couldn’t find any. If I knew, I may be able to form some actual opinions.

This is really not for me. I can recognize the considerable talent of the band members (except for maybe the vocalist), but the whole thing feels like a dick waggling contest between four men who are desperately cosplaying as masculine badasses. And the longer it went on, the more I cringed and the more I wanted it to stop.

I’ve written about this before, but there is something I find so off putting about music that is trying to make you think that they are so hardcore. It feels so… dorky. Take, for example, the following lyrics from “Take No Prisoners”:

“Got one chance, infiltrate them
Get it right, terminate them
The Panzers will, permeate them
Break their pride, denigrate them.”

These lyrics sound awesome if you’re in middle school. But I’m not in middle school. And neither are they.

I like Beck as an artist—I like that he’s always evolving and experimenting with sounds. I like that for this album, he came in with his acoustic guitar songs and worked with hip hop producers to create this genre-kaleidoscope of an album. Yet it always sounds like a Beck album, perhaps as it’s always paired with his Gen-X apathy.

There’s something admirable about creating an album that is intentionally strange and jarring and still managing to make it a hit. “Computer Rock” is one of the most bizarre ways I’ve ever heard an album end. And yet, it works for this album (and probably wouldn’t for most others).

A tremendous album—at times angsty (“You Oughta Know”), wryly humorous (“Ironic”), and heartbreaking (“Mary Jane”). So many iconic tracks. A truly iconic albums of the nineties that really defines the sound of that era.

It reminds me of a favorite album of mine from the 80s: Tracy Chapman’s debut album. This feels like the 90s equivalent, replacing the folky sensibilities for a post-grunge rock sound. It’s the gripping lyrics and unforgettable hooks. And though occasionally I can find Alanis Morissette’s vocals slightly grating, this is undeniably a stellar album.

I really enjoyed this one. Upbeat, fun, funny, immature in the most captivating way. The jazzy beats really set it apart from its contemporaries, and though there is some lyrical material that makes me bristle, there’s a wink behind a lot of it.

I’m realizing that I tend to prefer artists who don’t take themselves too seriously, especially in genres like hip hop and metal where a certain badass machismo is often cultivated. The “badasses” always seem so goofy to my, like kids play-acting. There’s something much more authentic, relatable, and brave about an artist choosing to let their silly side show.

Well, it’s certainly listenable, if not particularly interesting. “Sex on Fire” is a great track and there are some other fun moments. But it also features some of the tendencies in Top 40 rock that tends to make my eyes roll (I’m looking at you, cliche “oh-woah-woahs” in “Use Somebody”). It’s like if Hootie and the Blowfish got Blues Traveler’s lead singer and decided to write songs specifically to be played in Guitar Hero clones. Serviceable, but uninspired.

I like elements of this album: the haunting atmosphere, the isolationism and anxiety in the lyrics, the noisiness of the production, and the power of the drums. But I always struggle to get past Ian Curtis’s voice—like someone straining to sing lower to do their best Jim Morrison impression. It’s not that he’s a bad singer, but their’s an uncertainty to his tuning and a vagueness to his melodies that I have trouble accepting.

Nonetheless, I recognize that there is something special here and the album feels voyeuristic in a way that is morbidly appealing. And while I like some songs by Joy Division, they are mostly in their non-album singles, rather than off this record.