Reviews by littlestlassloves

My grandpa used to sing songs in, as he described it, "a wavery voice" to try and make us laugh. Little did I realise at the time, this was actually a pretty accurate Bryan Ferry impression.

This was not for me. I listened to the first track three times, not because I liked it, but because I kept trying to listen to the album and struggling to get past track two. Virginia Plain was the only song I knew before going into this, and its probably the highlight of this album, yet I would still categorise it as "fine, I guess".

Irritating but not completely unlistenable, so by rights I should be giving this a 2/5 based on my self imposed scoring system, but I realised that when it ended, I was actively pleased it had stopped, so:

1/5

"The album begins with a long instrumental preamble" says Wikipedia and it was accompanied by a long sigh from me. Pink Floyd are a band where I really love parts of songs (the actual lyrical part of Shine On You Crazy Diamond is great*) but you have to wade through so much noodling to get to the good bits. I could have also done without the parts that made it sound like my headphones were broken. I like the majority of the title track though.

* I absolutely accept this might be down to nostalgia - both parents loved that song, and Pink Floyd in general, so I heard it a lot as a kid.

I enjoyed this more than The Wall, so I'm going for a 3, even though I think it's technically a 2.5.

3/5

I mean, it's just a classic. I could do without the sita (Ravi Shankar's attempt to educate me on the beauty of the sitar in a previous album pick has clearly failed) but I love everything else. Yes, including Yellow Submarine.

From The Beatles getting political on Taxman to apparently inventing electronic dance music on Tomorrow Never Knows, it's a collection of fantastic songs. I sometimes struggle to get through a whole album pick when the album generator is feeling mean, but I listened to this at least 4 times.

The sitar was not enough to knock this down a star, so a well deserved

5/5

I keep wondering if one day I'll wake up and have suddenly gained an appreciation of jazz. It's not happened yet. At one point during Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are, the drums reminded me of roadworks.

I did not hate this like I hated Bill Evans, but I can't say I particularly enjoyed it either. Once again, I'm bemoaning the lack of half stars.

2/5

Went into this with no idea what to expect but ended up enjoying it. I had been hoping for some blues to turn up on the generator, but hadn't anticipated my first blues album would be from Africa. Best tracks for me were the title track and N'jarou.

3/5

I remember seeing a re-release of The Exorcist in the cinema in the late 90s. Having never seen it before, I didn't really know what to expect, but both me and my mate dissolved into fits of giggles at the infamous head revolving scene. The rest of the cinema was unimpressed at our disrespect.

Anyway, to the album: it's another album my parents listened to when I was a kid in the 80s! Not one of the ones I remember with any fondness, or really remember at all minus the Exorcist theme. I am not sure how I'd blanked out the werewolf, but I clearly had.

I am glad I listened to this as an adult, I liked parts of it a lot, but for the love of god, give me a proper song structure! And less grunting.

2/5

I want disco-y goodness from Chic, so At Last I Am Free did nothing for me with it's slower vibe and repetitive lyrics. Pretty much everything else I really enjoyed though. Not sure it's an album I'll regularly return to, but Le Freak is such a classic track. I also enjoyed spotting all the song parts that other musicians subsequently sampled.

This feels like another occasion I want a 1/2 star option, but as I don't, I'm going for

3/5

I think The Wild Ones is a beautiful song and I was hoping to like this album much more as a result. But 24 hours after I listened to it, I couldn't really tell you anything about it. I think my big issue is that Brett Anderson's voice is appreciated best in small doses, as it can be a bit grating over a full album.

Not really a 2 and not really a 3, I'm going to plump for a 2 but possibly try again with this album in future.

2/5

It made me want to listen to Rocket From The Crypt.

2/5

This got off to a great start when I realised it was 5 tracks but 53 minutes, and one of those tracks was greyed out on Amazon, so I had to find it on YouTube. Plus the only track on Sgt. Pepper I have never liked is the one inspired by Ravi Shankar. But Ravi told me I had to listen with an open mind, so I really did try...

Less an album to listen to for entertainment and more a sitar lesson, I can absolutely see they're skilled musicians but it's just not for me. I would rather listen to his daughter (sorry Ravi, but Come Away With Me is a lovely song).

2/5

I have a major issue where I expect every CCR song to at some point morph into Bad Moon Rising, and on this album at least it never happened. They certainly have "a sound".

That's mostly due to that guy's voice, which a definitive rock and roll voice. I enjoyed this album, particularly Run Through The Jungle and Up Around The Bend which I already knew.

I think this gets a 3 because I enjoyed it and would happily rap my foot to it if I heard it in the wild, but I can't see me choosing to put it on.

3/5

It's things like this that is why I wanted to do this project - there's no way I'd have been listening to a 60s Brazilian rock band without it.

This was weird, and when it stayed the right side of the weirdnesses line, I really enjoyed it. The Mamas & The Papas cover was great and got downloaded as a result, but I liked a lot of the original songs too. Sometimes the desire to add a completely tuneless solo of some description completely lost me though.

If there is ever a South American equivalent of Austin Powers, something from Os Mutantes should definitely make the soundtrack.

3/5

An album I owned as a teenager, and which I'm pretty sure I last listened to in the 90s.

It turns out I have the same issue with it now that I did then - Noel has a significantly less annoying voice than Liam, so let Liam fart around with a tambourine or something like Bez from Happy Mondays, and I'd enjoy it more. But clearly Oasis, and this album in particular, did perfectly fine without my advice.

A band who expertly stole the best bit of lots of other artists who came before them (which sounds like an insult, but it's really not). It's very obvious why this made Oasis stars, not least that it oozes confidence.

4/5

Sour Times and Glory Box are perfect alternative pop songs and I'll not have a bad word said against them. Despite how much I love those songs, I'd never listened to Dummy before.

I'm apparently not someone who is going to really love a full album of trip hop. It just becomes a bit samey over 50 minutes. Also I listened to this in the morning before work and it's definitely an evening album.

So I think this makes it a:

3/5

Beautifully chaotic. I enjoyed that despite my previous protestations that I prefer music I can sing along to at high volume - this feels cathartic in a completely different way. And I love the percussion and her voice.

I feel like this is better than a 3 but not quite a 4, but as I need to pick, I'm going for 3.

3/5

Impossible to listen to in the UK on streaming, but after my friend bought a secondhand CD, I've come back in time to review it.

Why is this not on streaming?! It's catchy as hell. It merges so many styles, so it's never dull. It's perfect warm weather music. It won a Grammy (Best Latin or Alternate Album) for goodness sake!

I particularly like (Who Discovered) America, Who's To Blame and Saturday Night is fantastic.

This has been my biggest surprise of this project so far. Clearly given the difficulty of getting hold of it meant I never would have heard it otherwise, but I'm so glad I did. My actual album today was Leonard Cohen, and my goodness, this was the perfect antidote to that...

4/5

The first 1/3 of the first track on this record very nearly made me give up (the project, to be clear, not life). I don't understand how anyone can sit down and listen to that for pleasure.

I don't know if it was some sort of Stockholm Syndrome but I enjoyed some small parts of some of the later tracks. Overall however this was not a pleasant listening experience.

I didn't hate it as much as some other albums, but it's really not deserving of a 2/5, so it's going to have to be another:

1/5

I did debate not even listening and just automatically awarding 5 stars, because I adored this album in the 90s, but I thought I better check.

Still love it.

Especially "End of A Century" and "This Is A Low".

5/5

"Ely sang backing vocals on the Clash single "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"." 😳

I always, without listening to much at all, assumed I didn't like Country music. It turns out that's true. I liked Boxcars, and can objectively see this is probably a good example of a Country album, but it just doesn't grab me like other genres of music.

2/5

They can certainly come up with a fun song name. Its a toss up between "If You're a Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses?" and "They Don't Want Your Corn, They Want Your Kids" for me.

But sonically, it's 99% noise and nothing much else. It sounds a bit like it should be playing in a dark basement in a Blade movie.

A rare: 1/5