Reviews by londonhawkredux

Oooooh - now this is a tricky one to rate. On the one hand, there is no denying the seismic impact this had originally. Although marginally too young to fully understand, my 2 (much) older brothers had this virtually on repeat and so "Relax" and "Two Tribes" are etched into my brain forever. On the TV you could see the self-belief coursing through Holly & Paul which, teamed with the relentless groove, was like nothing I'd seen before. And then follow that up with a massive Christmas track, because, well, why not.

But, in the cold light of day, there's some (actually, quite a lot) of filler.

I feel like it should only get a four, but, should this be "THE LAST VOICE THAT YOU WILL EVER HEAR", then you're going out in style..........

But why is this here?

"Oh, Afghan Wings. I'm vaguely aware of them and feel like they might be a band that I should have been more into."

Hmm.

So many good tracks here. "School Mums overdoing the prosecco on a night out singalong" favourite "Girls..." the biggest smash here, but just listen to that vocal / synth combo on "All Through the Night". If this was released by Gaga today, it would 100% be devoured by her fans - fabulous example of how great the 80s could be.

Blues soundtrack for an 80's porno.

Some nice folky warblings contained here if you listen to the whole thing, but is under-produced and clearly not really thought about beyond "man make noise in studio".

Which is understandable if you read the backstory to the dude, but doesn't warrant inclusion on this list.

Less good than Husker Du.

Hot Shots! Part Deux - they were really scraping the barrel at this point weren't they with a ridiculous plot involving Saddam Hu.......................... sorry, what's that? I've listened to the wrong thing?

My cool mates loved this album and I thought it was a load of tedious old balls.

This is what the project is for surely (and don't call me Shirley). Maybe everyone in his home country thinks he pumps out the most bland shit imaginable and the music press there are super snooty about anyone who likes it.

But this is a banger no?

That's enough Nick Cave thanks.

Bonus point for Kylie bringing the sexy back on "Where the Wild Roses Grow"

Pleasantly surprised that the scores are as high as they are to be honest. Yes, there's a lot of 1-star hate here because of who she is or because it's pop and she's the biggest artist in the world.

If I had one (small) criticism, it's that it's too clean, too produced but this is exactly what pop should be. Great writing, great tunes, great voice.

The couple on the front of this album cover are almost certainly cousins.

Paul Simon, but without any of the good songs.

As a teenager, this always seemed excessively silly and angry to me despite (perhaps) being in the core demographic for them as a band.

And it still holds true 25 years later. The very worst of the resurgence of the genre around that time.

Later-era Dylan eh? He hasn't quite become completely unintelligible yet, but the signs of the "old man grunts tonelessly into microphone for 2 hours" are certainly there.

I'll stick with the early stuff thanks.

I feel I grew up in a period (late 80s / early 90s) where disco wasn't really a thing. Nobody was bothered enough to declare that it sucked, whilst you didn't really hear it anywhere either.

But, at student club nights, they would always be a few classic from the 70s thrown in. A wedding party wasn't a wedding party without some classic and here we are today with Nile being the boss of everything in the world.

And rightly so to be honest. Whilst there's not quite enough here for me to go for the full 5 because I don't think I could listen on repeat on a desert island, there's still a LOT here to love.

I guess unfairly maligned as "Mrs Kurt" there's some really excellent stuff here. I'm not sure I like it quite enough to go for the full-5, but the opening to "Celebrity Skin" (the track and indeed, the album) means a minimum 4 alone.

"Oh make me over" bwang, bwang, bwang, bwang, bwang BWANG.

I wonder how different the world would be if hip-hop had been more about the vibes than the hoes?

I remember the track "Mr Wendell" from a compilation album I had (one of the NOWs maybe - not sure) and always enjoyed it's laid-back nature, but had never thought to listen to the whole album. And now I have, and I enjoyed it very much

Every single song is the same. "Brap boo baa brap, bingy bangy bingo"

Tedious then, tedious now.