Reviews by lukazimir_

4/5. Not my personal favorite Joni album but still a great time all around. also serves as a good example of the thing I love most about Joni Mitchell’s singing, which is her cadence. She sings in a way that feels just the slightest bit jazzy, moving just a little off-rhythm with the instrumentation which gives a very unique feel to her songs.
Decent amount of variety on this one too, you get “raised on robbery” which is a bit more of a rocker or “twisted” which is very bluesy all mixed in with the expected 70’s folk sound.

5/5. This album is peak early indie rock. takes everything established on Surfer Rosa and just runs with it to make some great songs. Banger after banger.

2/5. My second Elvis Costello album within 3 days and outside of a few highlights I just didn’t jive with this one very much. I especially disliked the vocals on this record which is odd because I didn’t mind the vocals on the previous Costello album I got. I’ll also give it credit that there’s a decent amount of variety across the track-list. But it just doesn’t amount to an album I’d ever revisit.

3.5/5. A fairly straightforward 70’s country album, however Dolly Parton is just a great vocalist and really sells any song she’s on. funnily enough though, I do not love the title track. it’s always been one of my least favorite big Dolly Parton hits. But the rest of the album is a good time.

3/5. My first brush with the Elvis Costello event horizon (or technically second since one of my previous albums was produced by him.) and it’s some decent enough rock music. Reminds me of some of the clashes stuff in how it occasionally flirts with 50’s rockabilly music. Overall though I wasn’t blown away or in love with this album, it’s just fine.

3/5. A pleasant listen but far from my favorite folk album from this period. A lot of it just didn’t stick out to me particularly much. “Father and Son” is one major exception though, that’s a great song.

4/5. It’s a testament to how consistent Fugazi’s discography is that this album would be pretty low on my fugazi ranking despite being a great album (my top three are In on the kill taker, the argument and red medicine.) during this listen-through though I did take note of how smooth the flow of this album is, the songs move between each-other very seamlessly which helps the album fly by. Also such a groovy album for a punk/post-hardcore group, especially in the bass and guitar lines.

2/5. I honestly wish I liked this more than I did. The more understated but super atmospheric electronic production is quite interesting in concept, but the album just never ended up fully grabbing me. My favorite song is probably the instrumental closer “Coconut” which uses that atmosphere the best. But most of the album kinda just faded into the background for me.

5/5. An easy 5 IMO and it’s not even the best Stevie Wonder album on this list. Just front to back bangers and jams on this thing that are injected with funk. One of those albums where when listening to it you can feel the fun that the artist had recording it. This thing is just bursting with personality, even with some of its darker lyrical themes.

4/5. I’m usually not the biggest fan of 80’s pop, but this album was pretty great. Especially that opening stretch where you get Smooth Operator, Your Love is King and Hang on to Your Love right in a row. only real knock I have against it is that it ends weaker than it starts, but so do many albums.

3/5. This album has a few very high highs. The opener “Monday, Monday”, “I call your name” and the all-timer single “California Dreamin’” are some truly great 60’s cuts. But the rest of the album is just kinda okay easy-listening. Great harmonies and a few great songs, but the album overall is just alright.

4/5. Just some great soul music. Otis Redding is an artist who I always knew of primarily because of Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, so it was nice to actually listen to a full record of his. Good stuff.

3.5/5. I’ve always been aware of some of the more modern Celtic punk/folk bands like Flogging Molly, and listening to this album you can definitely tell it influenced many of those groups. Theres a Lot of little instrumental flourishes I like on this album, like the snare on “the gentleman soldier” being made to sound like a gunshot or the horns on the closer “the band played waltzing Matilda.” This one was a pleasant discovery for me.

3.5/5. Janis Joplin’s vocals on this album are great, it feels like she was made for this type of bluesy music. Was also an interesting choice to try and make this sound like a live album even though most of it isn’t, the crowd sounds are edited in which is kind of funny to me. Not an all time favorite for me but I enjoyed it and I’m glad to got to hear it.

3/5. My personal least favorite Beastie Boys album on the list. This is when they were at their most “Frat-Rap” which is a style that tends to get annoying pretty fast for me and that slight annoyance definitely seeps into a few of the deep cuts on here. That being said the hits on here are as big as they are for a reason, and they make the album worth it. but I still prefer the sample-heavy madness of Paul’s Boutique of the punk energy of Ill Communication over this album.

4/5. Being his final album, You Want it Darker sees Leonard Cohen grappling with faith and his own mortality. The instrumentals set a nice dark atmosphere but what really sells this album is Cohens voice. The deep, old and world-weary sounding voice that he had in his later years fits this album perfectly and elevates it a lot.

3.5/5. A well produced modern R&B album which deals in themes such as self healing and black empowerment. Was maybe a bit longer than it needed to be IMO but when it hits there is some great songs to be found like “weary” or “FUBU.”

3/5. one of those albums that irreversibly changed the course of its genre. If it weren’t for Run DMC rap would likely be very different from what it is today. That being said to steal an Analogy that’s a bit overused, it’s like looking at the first ever car in a museum. You can respect how it was a revolution that changed things forever, but you can also acknowledge how things have become more refined and better since then. Run DMC set the blueprint but in terms of lyricism, flow, production, etc. they can’t really compete with what would come after them in rap/hip-hop.

5/5. One of the best psych rock albums not just of the 60’s, but of all time IMO. you get hard hitting bangers like the opener “Break on Through (to the other side” or “take it as it comes” along with slower almost dream-like songs such as “the crystal ship.” And there is of course the albums center-piece and biggest song “light my fire” with a great extended solo section on the album version. I also love the surreal and unsettling “the end” which as the title implies, ends the album off. All around a fantastic record.

4/5. Fear of Music is both extremely anxious and extremely groovy. post-punk that you can dance to but there’s also a sense of unease underneath the surface. you can also see the seeds that would lead to “Remain In Light” being planted here with songs such as “I Zimbra.” All that being said I tend to prefer the Stop Making Sense live versions of several songs on this album over their studio counterparts, especially “life during wartime” and “heaven.” Which is less a knock against this album and more a testament to how insanely good Stop Making Sense is