Reviews by littlestlassloves

I bloody loved that.

I have an affinity for a lot of 50s things: the fashion, the homewares, the music (the politics and racism is very much the opposite end of that spectrum). Somme questionable lyrics aside, 1950s rock and roll is great.

I loved his voice, the piano was fantastic, nothing outstayed it's welcome (it was one of those albums I listened to and them immediately listened to again, because for once I found it too short). It was upbeat and fun and great to clean the house to. I ended up listening to 50s rock on shuffle all morning.

5/5

The last time The Pet Shop Boys appeared on the list I ended up really sad that, away from the singles, I found it really dull. And that album had some of my favourite PSBs singles on it. So, round 2...

Reading the tracklist going into this I was happy to see Being Boring but knew nothing else. And it was fine. I think Pet Shop Boys are another artist that is firmly a greatest hits act for me. They have some astonishingly good pop songs, but over a full album? They just don't do it for me.

3/5

I went into this thinking I didn't know any songs by The Isley Brothers, started the first track and instantly realised how wrong I was.

I thought they all had great voices and I liked the funky soul vibe. I bailed out after the standard tracklist was done, but that was because I don't need to listen to the same songs again, just in shorter, single versions, not because I hadn't enjoyed it.

This probably isn't the type of thing I'm going to choose to put on again, but I enjoyed listening to it. I particularly liked their cover of Listen To The Music.

3/5

It's soooooooooooo looooooooooooong.

I paid virtually no attention to this but it passed the time while working. After what felt like half a lifetime, I checked to see how much was left and was relieved to know there were only two songs left so I could finally listen to a different artist.

His voice is nice. I like the brass. Van Morrison is another rank bastard (there's been a few on the list recently). The album was fine but far too long.

2/5

I have this issue with funk songs, and Funkadelic songs in particular:

Minutes 0-3: "This is great!"
Minutes 4-5: "Yeah, this has been going on a bit too long now, I'm ready for the next song"
Minutes 6+: "Is this ever going to end?!"

That being said, the first 3 minutes of the opening track was the perfect song to walk to work with. I was pretty much strutting. The lyrics are hysterical as well, so that was fun. Overall however, I have not pledged "a groovallegiance to the funk".

2/5

I thought I'd like this, given how much I like The Beatles but I definitely like them more together than as solo artists.

Imagine is an iconic song and definitely a stand out. Following it with the honky-tonk piano of Crippled Inside is an interesting choice - it's a bit of a whiplash change of direction. And then we get to Jealous Guy.

Knowing how much of an utter bastard Lennon was to the people he was supposed to love means Jealous Guy leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. I don't have the patience for all his "woe is me, it'll be different next time" bollocks. Good whistling though.

And then I sort of stopped really listening. The album was happening, but I was struggling to pay attention to it. On a second quick pass through the album, How Do You Sleep? might be one of the most mean spirited, bitter tracks a Beatle ever wrote, though it is a pretty good song - I particularly liked the strings.

This was a very mixed bag for me. On balance, I think it's getting:

3/5

(because I can't give it 2.5)

I've had a surprisingly patchy record with Bowie albums so far, so I wasn't sure how Bowie no: 4 would go...

I like the opening track (despite it repeating itself for what felt like ages) - the Sgt Pepper reference always seems extremely out of place though. I also liked the closing track, and other big hit, Fame because of its general funkiness.

As for everything in the middle: it was just really dull? I am still taken aback at how little I like Bowie over full albums, when I'd absolutely eat up a greatest hits album.

This is getting a 2, and that feels generous.

2/5

Back to more artists my Dad adored when I was a kid. This feels very Hendrixy and very Led Zeppeliny but then also a bit Yesy. It's precisely the type of thing he was destined to love.

I think this is alright but it didn't really click with me in the way something like Black Sabbath did when I first heard it. I think the prog parts are the bits I struggle with - in general I like the metal parts much better. Too much guitar noodling and keyboard noodling for my patience overall, particularly on the longer songs. They even managed *drum noodling* on Flight of the Rat.

I do want to briefly call out the album cover: it looks like something Terry Gilliam might have made for Monty Python and I love it.

Should be a 2.5 and was on for a 3 until the last few tracks, but I really lost patience with it so:

2/5

First, full disclaimer, I think Morrissey The Person is a ginormous dickhead. It's extremely clear that he's descending into becoming a bitter old man who is angry about his lot in life, treats his fans like shit if he can't be arsed to play a show and generally thinks he's better than everyone else... and they're the least of his transgressions. I am now attempting to ignore all that and focus on Morrissey The Singer.

I don't particularly like Morrissey's voice but he's not awful - it's very grating over a full album though. The actual instrumentation is much better than the vocals in my opinion, but much like Talking Heads, I get that for fans his voice is 80% of the attraction. Johnny Marr deserved better though.

My highlight is probably The Boy With A Thorn In His side (the fact someone has transcribed the outro "lyrics" on Genius made my giggle). Ending your album with a song about boobs is probably the low point.

This should be a 2.5. Rounding down because of the annoying voice.

2/5

Finishing yesterday's beepy bloopy Brian Eno album and immediately moving on to Highway To Hell was quite a vibe shift.

I really enjoyed the chanting backing vocals of Walk All Over You, but honestly I enjoyed the whole thing. The gang vocals on multiple tracks particularly are really fun, but I didn't even get annoyed by the guitar solos. The hook of the bassline on Love Hungry Man is very funky.

Look, does this sound pretty cheesy listening to it in 2026? Yes, but you know what? Cheesy can be fun. This just makes me smile and tap my toes. The last words being spoken on the album being a quote of Mork (of "and Mindy" fame) feels very fitting, even if the song it appears on is tonally different from the rest of the album.

I am wishing for a half star, as I think this is more a 3.5 for me but it's much better than a 3 so:

4/5

No One Recieving felt a bit Talking Heads, but without David Byrne singing (thus instantly making it a bit better). The vocals also reminded me a bit of Tally Hall but I can't put my finger on why. I wish it was less repetitive, but I liked it.

Onto Backwater which felt a bit They Might Be Giants and not just as a result of the lyric "Ooh what to do, not a sausage to do". I think it was the programmed brass that really sealed it. Well that or the handclaps. I liked that too.

Kurt's Rejoinder was, to my ears, a cacophony of insane base, noise and Devo-like vocals. Energy Fools The Magician was all Yes styled prog rock, just mercifully brief. King's Lead Hat sounded like someone torturing a piano during a Talking Heads song. Here He Comes sounds a bit like a theme tune to a 70s sitcom, just far too long (but also again, a bit They Might Be Giants). I was somewhat surprised to find out Dave Mattacks, of folk legends Fairport Convention, was the drummer on that and Kurt's Rejoinder.

About half way through the album I became aware that while I was not particularly liking it, I thought I potentially could get into it with repeated listens. There were enough parts that have clearly influenced things I do like, I could see (small) glimmers of hope. And then the second half of the album happened...

I did not like the b side of this album. At all.

2/5

So getting the bad out of the way first: this is too long. My attention started wandering just past Mr. Wendal, though it locked back in around U, so I think cutting a couple of songs would have improved this (but my personal preference has always been for 45/50ish minutes max).

Other than that, I really enjoyed this. The mixing and sampling is really engaging, I like Speech's sort of talky-singy rapping style and the general timbre of his voice and I like the backing vocals too.

I realise that one of the insults that gets thrown at Arrested Development is that the lyrics are corny, and I just don't get it. The lyrics are talking about social issues earnestly and just because they aren't full of angry and violence, that doesn't make them lesser than others who talk about similar topics.

People Everyday slightly threw me for a loop, because I have only ever heard the much quicker single version, but I still liked it a lot. I even didn't mind the skit-adjacent bits of the record (although cutting them would have helped reduce the length).

Bonus point for the yodally yell at the beginning of Mr Wendal, as I've always loved it.

4/5

So it turns out I don't really like Bruce's voice very much. This project has been full of surprises.

It was alright. I didn't particularly love anything and I didn't particularly hate anything: it just wasn't for me. I liked Adam Raised A Cain, though I couldn't tell you why.

2/5

A surprising number of "classic" albums start with arguably a band's biggest track.

This was very much an album of the singles plus the other stuff. I've never been a massive ZZ Top fan anyway, so I wasn't even that excited to hear the singles, but it turns out they were the most interesting part. My mind kept wandering throughout and it was a real struggle to force myself to pay attention.

Not terrible, but (for me) not good.

2/5

I tell you what doesn't make me like prog rock more: making it sound like naff 80s rock bands.

1/5

It's another album my parents played to death during my youth and which I probably haven't listened to once as an adult.

Paul Simon has such a soft, lovely voice and he writes great lyrics - it's a killer combination. Especially on this album which, depending on your viewpoint, is infused with the sounds of South Africa / stolen from apartheid Africans.

I haf no idea that Simon was a bit of an arse who stole the whole idea for this album from someone else (Heidi Berg) who he was supposed to be producing an album for. Major tut. I listened to this while reading a message board post from 2011 where Paul Simon stans argued with each other about how much of this album can be credited to him and it was genuinely fascinating. Parasocial relationships with artists are nothing new.

Back to the music... Ladysmith Black Mambazo have just the most beautiful voices - there are some great songs on this album that are so well known, but Homeless just is so lovely and tragic and gorgeous.

I really enjoyed revisiting this album, and regardless of it's complicated back story, it's so understandable how this became the huge hit it was.

4/5

Lovely voice. Lots of 12 bar blues. The Levi's advert from the late 80s where the bloke takes his jeans out of the fridge. Harmonica solos. I Can't Be Satisfied was great. The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll, Pt. 2 is an amazing name for a song.

I am feeling very bluesy. Maybe a bit too bluesy (I think this slightly outstayed it's welcome for me despite the obvious quality).

3/5

The "solo" on track 1 set a worrying bar for quality early on. I did appreciate a song with Frigidaire in the lyrics though.

I quite like a lot of rockabilly, and I absolutely like a lot of punk, though to the best of my knowledge, I've never really heard much psychobilly. I am a bit concerned that The Cramps might be considered the best psychobilly has to offer though.

The vocals are the end of punk where the singer has little ability to actually sing, and while I'm all for the punk attitude of "just get up there and do it, regardless of ability" that doesn't mean I want to listen to it. I'm also not convinced they were capable of playing a full song at a consistent tempo? The drums kept seeming to slow down then speed up, mid song - it was a bit White Stripes, just with zombies.

I wanted to like this (tongue in cheek songs about werewolves and spooky stuff should be right up my alley), alas, I did not.

I was a bit concerned that there was going to be 53 minutes of this album, allowing me to really build up a festering hatred, but I then checked Wikipedia and discovered the original album contained 13 tracks, mercifully allowing me to bail out 5 tracks, and 15ish minutes, early.

As a result, this gets a generous 2/5.

As someone who (until this project) solely knew The Police through singles, it appears they were far, far, far weirder than I ever previously appreciated.

The start of the opening track sounds like a mobile ringtone from before the time we had mobiles, and later has a lyric I misheard as "spirits that will spoon me" (he's actually singing "spiritus mundi" aka world spirit in latin and that's equally odd just for very different reasons).

Sting's pronunciation of footsteps, in Walking in Your Foodsteps... I mean Footsteps... was fascinating. And, you know, unexpected songs about dinosaurs always get a tick from me.

Wrapped Around Your Finger resulted in another excellent misheard lyric: "vegetable well, a bastard" aka "[I will turn your] face to alabaster". I'm not sure if it was Sting's pronunciation or my ears, but there was ample opportunity for misunderstandings during this listen.

I thought Murder by Numbers was a good way to round out an absolutely bizarre album.

Now, to address the elephant in the room, which I have so far skipped... Mother. I started off thinking "What is this shit?" but something happened before the end.... I think I started enjoying it? Given that I enjoyed the rest, and (I'm sure to the horror of the other listeners in my group) I actually liked Mother too, I think this gets a:

3/5 (but I was very close to a 4)

Third, and final for this project, Yes album. After getting over the shock of the extended version being over 4 hours, I listened to the first 3 tracks* of the Deluxe album so I could hear the album as the artist originally intended (and only have 37 minutes to get through).

For me, it's very much like the other Yes albums on the list: I quite like the singing bits, I don't have patience for the non-singing bits. This album also didn't have the same nostalgia factor for me either, as there was only one part I think I recognised from my Dad playing it around the house.

A chunk of the modern music I've been enjoying recently is being described as prog rock, which I find bizarre based on my complete indifference to 70s prog rock, but maybe that's what listening to a lot of my father's record collection in my youth has done for me.

2/5

* Which because it's Yes, are actually like 9 tracks squished together.