Reviews by lukazimir_

4.5/5. If I had one word to describe this album it would be “big.” Songs like “The Working Hour” or opener “Shout” move with such a sense of gravity and drama that it feels utterly massive when listening to them. A lot of that is owed to the co-vocalists who give these songs their all, plus Tears for Fears are one of the 80’s synth bands who’s synth tone actually sounds good, so despite being very 1980’s it holds up extremely well today in most regards. It also just helps that the tracklist on this thing is stacked with amazing songs like the two previously mentioned or “everybody wants to rule the world” or even “Head Over Heels.” Really just one of the best pop records of its time.

3/5. the opening title track is of course one of the most iconic songs of the 20th century, to the extent that for a long while there were entire communities dedicated to interpreting its lyrics which recount the history of rock music through the 1960’s. However that opening title track kinda dooms the rest of the album as it completely overshadows everything else here except for maybe “Vincent” which I really love the vocal melodies on. The rest is just fairly normal folk music for the era, though McLeans voice is at least quite nice to listen to all throughout.

4/5. It’s crazy how long ago the “brat summer” of 2024 already feels. Almost seems like it was part of a different world at this point despite only being two years ago. This album was inescapable at the time, that specific shade of green and that specific font were everywhere online. Which in my opinion, it was nice to see Charli finally get her mainstream flowers as she’s been one of the more interesting figures in pop music for a while now.

And Brat itself is a very good pop album, it blends together hyper-pop, electronic and that kinda trashy blend of 2000’s dance music. It’s often very playful whether that be on bangers like “club classics” or “Von Dutch” but is also not afraid to be more sincere when it matters like on “Sympathy is a Knife” or the Sophie tribute “So I.” The whole record also just flows extremely well, it feels like listening to a really good DJ set. Brat absolutely deserved the hype.

3/5. In the grand scheme of all live albums, this one is just fine. Though I will admit part of that is the fact that The Who is a pretty major musical blind spot for me so I am not the most familiar or attached to the material being performed here. But as it is, the performances are good as is the recording quality and if you are a big Who fan this will most likely be right up your alley, but for me it just was what it was.

3/5. An album that made basically no splash upon its release, American Gothic only started getting critical attention and reevaluation in retrospect. You get a blend of folk, rock, blues, and vaudeville-esque showtunes here, and it all totals out to be perfectly fine. I think that part of the reason that this album failed to hit upon release is just that it came out in a sea of much better singer-songwriters, so anyone who would have been interested in this album at the time simply had better options. it’s not bad though I quite liked “Midnight Carousel” and the title track.

3/5. Solid psychedelic folk album from the UK. Nice and easy on the ears, with pleasant vocals from both the male and female vocalists who trade back and forth throughout the record. The biggest highlight for me was the opener “Light Flight” which I think gets the most out of both the instruments and the vocalists out of any track here. It’s a pleasant album overall, though probably not one that I see myself coming back to in full very often.

3.5/5. This is my 300th album on the generator and my third with REM, an artist who through this project I’ve discovered I actually like quite a bit. Green sees the band at a pretty major crossroads in their career after their previous album “Document” had brought them a few big hits, and they played their hand by kinda just doing more of the same while also occasionally returning to the sound of older albums such as “Murmur.” As a result this album doesn’t hit the same highs as several of the bands previous records but it’s still quite good whether that be the indie rock bop that is “Orange crush” or the slower and more emotional “Hairshirt.”

3/5. This is a solid little rock album that actually feels pretty predictive of a lot of the college-rock and jangle-pop to come later in the decade. You can hear the basis for bands like R.E.M., the Smiths and even later indie acts like the Pixies at points on this album. That being said, it’s a case where this album walked so those artists could run, both in the sense that upon its release this album wasn’t particularly successful, but also in that it just isn’t as good as most of what it inspired. Still a number of great songs though like the closing title track, the opener “I wanna destroy you” or “positive vibrations” which has a solid bounce to its instrumental.

2/5. Many bands formed in the 1960’s whose music felt like a response to the counterculture of the era, especially post summer-of-love. And one of those bands who rose to the occasion was the Grateful Dead, who’s response to the counterculture and hippie movement was to jam the hell out and smoke some weed. basically every big jam band to come after to some extent can trace their DNA back to the Dead. They also had one of the most loyal fanbases out there in the Deadheads, many people had an almost cult-like devotion to the band, following them to every stop on their tours.

So with all this massive history and importance to an entire musical scene, are the Grateful Dead good? Ehhhhhhhhhh. I’m sure it probably hit much harder if you were actually there to see it live, but I’ve never felt particularly impressed or immersed by the groups jams and that stands true even with Live/Dead here. The one exception is “The Eleven” which actually has some movement to it, but beyond that track I was really just didn’t get much out of this one.

3.5/5. As someone who’s only really familiar with PJ Harvey’s 90’s material, this album was not what I was expecting at all. It’s a much chiller album musically, though thematically it’s still pretty heavy, tackling the complex feelings of wanting to be proud of one’s national identity while being aware of the horrible things their nation has done, in this case England and its history of war and imperialism in the 20th/early 21st century. At points it almost feels like she’s doing something musically similar to 2000’s indie acts like Arcade Fire. I’m still more into her 90’s work, but this was a pretty good and very different album from PJ Harvey.

3/5. Something I’ve realized throughout my journey on this generator so far is that I like Beck’s music far more than I thought I did. That being said Guero feels like a step down to me from a few of Beck’s previous albums like “Sea Change” or “Midnite Vultures.” Though not without its highlights such as the groove machine that is “Missing” or “Black Tambourine” which features in the David Lynch film Inland Empire. In some ways it feels like Beck revisiting everything he’s previously done up to this point whether that be tracks akin to his 90’s alt-rock/rap fusions or some tracks that are slower and more meditative like the ones found on “Sea Change.” Not his strongest work, but still a solid enough listen.

5/5. The White Album is in many ways THE double album. It represents so many of the general stereotypes of a two disc record, and you mix it in with the Beatles pretty much exploding internally during this albums recording and you get what is a very flawed album in many ways, but also the most fascinating album to dissect and think about in the Beatles career.

In the 30 tracks that make up this album there is just so many ideas whether it be the weird western of “Rocky Raccoon” (featuring Paul’s hilarious attempt at a southern accent), or the almost proto-hard-rock “shelter Skelter.” It bounces between these ideas in such a rapid succession that it doesn’t make for the most cohesive record, yet it all just works together. There’s even a few weird ass songs that are absolutely filler like “Wild Honey Pie” or “why don’t we do it in the road?” Yet when I listen to this album I never skip them, and I’m never upset when they’re on in the context of the album. It even has the balls to put an eight minute musique concrète piece near the end of the album in “Revolution 9.” Does it feel extremely out of place here? Yes. Does it kinda kill the pacing of the second disc of the album? Yes. Do I still love it? Yes.

It also helps that this record has a solid helping of all-time great songs like “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Dear Prudence”, “Blackbird”, “Helter Skelter” among others. This album is a strange, messy journey that accelerated the destruction of the already deteriorating relationships between the members of the band, it is an album with so many weird twists and turns and not all of them really fully work, yet any time I listen to this album I am just in awe, it transcends good or bad, it’s the white album.

(2/5). like space itself this album is vast and occasionally pretty, but mostly empty.

5/5. This is Radioheads best album. It’s as simple as that really. The opener “15 Step” sets the tone of the whole thing perfectly beginning with a strange little percussive electronic beat and then slowly adding in more and more elements. First you get Thom Yorkers Vocals, then the beautiful warm feeling guitar line, and finally the great bass-line and from there the song is just operating at full power.

“Beauty” really is the word of choice with this album, whether that be the guitar arpeggios of “Weird Fishes” or the slow and almost orchestral “Nude” which ends with a great vocal buildup, or even “Reckoner” which is an absolutely stunning song sound-wise. But there’s also time for some bangers on here whether that be the albums hardest rocker “Bodysnatchers” or the crazy guitar parts of “Jigsaw falling into place.” And of course it wouldn’t be a Radiohead album if it didn’t end by making you feel very sad, and “Videotape” packs one of the strongest emotional punches in the bands entire catalogue.

In a career full of highs, In Rainbows stands out to me as the highest peak, as Radioheads best work. An album without a single weak song, where no second, no instrumental flourish is wasted. Also of course you can’t talk about this album without also mentioning how it was released. Radiohead put it up on their website with a “Pay what you want” rule, even if you wanted to pay absolutely nothing for the album, which with one of the biggest musical battles of the 2000’s being “how do we distribute and value music in a post-internet world” definitely sparked a lot of discourse at the time.

3/5. Definitely one of the more unique listening experiences on here. This album is very minimalist and downtempo with occasional light touches of horn and strings, almost feels like it should be soundtracking something. Like with the delicate orchestration on “Horse Tears” or the almost circus-like horns on “Oompah Radar.” Not every song worked in my opinion, but it was still an interesting listen that I appreciated quite a bit.

3/5. The opener to this album “Sympathy for the Devil” is one of the best songs of the 60’s, sung from the perspective of the Devil himself as he recounts how he’s interfered in many historical events, backed by a great instrumental with those infectious background “woo woo’s.” Most of the rest of the album unfortunately doesn’t live up to the greatness of that song. There’s a few other highlights like “Street Fighting Man” or “Dear Doctor” but a lot of it is just kinda standard bluesy rock stuff. Theres also “Stray Cat Blues” which is about someone having sex with a 15 year old. Even if sung from the perspective of a character, it’s still a bit concerning considering the long history of early rock and roll musicians and that sort of thing. A few highlights for sure but I’ll admit I’ve never really been a big Stones kind of guy.

(3.5/5). Kinda baffling to me that this is in the book but LCD’s 2010 album “This is Happening” is not, as American Dream is to me the groups weakest record (though still solid!) After This is Happening and a final big farewell tour (documented on the great live album “The Long Goodbye”) LCD Soundsystem had officially split up in 2011. But then they seemingly changed their minds and reformed later in the 2010’s with this being their only post-reunion album so far.

So how did LCD Soundsystem adapt to the 2010’s? It turns out, by mostly staying the same. A song like “Other Voices” feels like it could fit in on This is Happening with its long, jammy electronic grooves. Though there are some new ideas here too like the opener “Oh Baby” which is slower and more cinematic.

Another aspect of this album is that it came out after 2016, the year where a ton of famous artists who directly influenced LCD Soundsystem died (Bowie, Prince, Cohen.) So even more than usual this album sees James Murphy paying tribute to all the artists and sounds that influenced his work and creative process. Still a good album to me, LCD Soundsystem doesn’t really have a bad album in their catalogue, but I also feel like This is Happening or even their debut should be on this list instead.

Volume 1: 3.5/5. This album sees Ray Charles reworking a selection of folk and country songs into what were at the time more “modern” genres such as Pop, Soul and Vocal Jazz. partially as a way to breathe new life into these songs/standards and partially as a way to challenge the racial barriers present in the music industry (and America at large) at the time. You get a decent variety throughout this track list like the big band styled “Hey, Good Lookin” or the slower and more dramatic “Born to Lose.” Maybe not one of my all time favorites but still a good collection of songs and an important piece of pop history.

Volume 2: 3/5. More of the same really, though with just a slightly weaker track list than volume 1. Was very interesting to hear such a different take on “You are my sunshine” though.

2/5. A case where I left the album not feeling much of anything. Stewart’s Smokey/raspy voice is kinda interesting but not interesting enough to carry what is just an okay folk-rock record. It’s not unlistenable or anything but just completely uninteresting on both a musical and lyrical front to me.

4/5. One of the best post-hardcore records of the 90’s. It doesn’t waste any time either as it comes out swinging with “Here Come the Rome Plows” with its pummeling and loud guitar riffs. And from there every song hits so hard and they all take so many interesting twists and turns like on the long “Sinews” which starts out slow but then goes all out in its final few minutes. Discussion of 90’s post-hardcore often gets shortened down to just being about Fugazi and Unwound but I fully believe this record should be in that conversation too.