Reviews by lukazimir_

3/5. A solid solo effort from John. That being said I am personally more partial to his rawer and more emotional solo album “Plastic Ono Band”. Favorite song is definitely “how do you sleep”, which is basically a diss track about Paul McCartney and he gets some solid jabs in.

2.5/5. Didn’t do a lot for me especially when thinking of other Dinosaur Jr. albums such as “you’re living all over me.” Which is a shame because I typically quite like late 80’s/early 90’s indie rock.

3.5/5. One where I didn’t recognize it at first but then the song “Le Freak” came on and I immediately realized this is one of those records I’ve absolutely heard songs from but just never knew who it was by. And this is quite a good record, some quality disco music here. Especially liked “I want your love” and the closer “(funny) bone.”

2.5/5. I think this album actually starts out pretty strong. the opener “the faintest of the seasons” and “these days” are both great songs, and I also enjoyed the title track. But much of the rest of the album is just pretty forgettable. Also bogged down at points by some unnecessary orchestration. I love Nico’s contributions to the first velvet underground record but I was left underwhelmed by this solo album.

5/5. Obviously this was not intended to be Nirvanas farewell, but even so it feels very fitting as one. Front to Back this is just a fantastic live set and I love how Kurt used it as an opportunity to platform music and artists he loved with all the covers instead of just playing Nirvana’s hits. I especially love their renditions of The Man who sold the world and Where Did You Sleep Last Night. The latter specifically has probably my favorite vocal performance by Kurt.

4.5/5. Easily the best post Simon and Garfunkel Paul Simon album. Lyrically he’s at the top of his game here and his collaborations with south-African musicians give the instrumentation a great sense of personality.

3/5. A fun slice of danceable mambo music. Not bad but not particularly noteworthy and even with its short runtime it’s quite samey.

3.5/5. The album where CCR gained their footing and cemented themselves as a foundational Swamp Rock/southern rock band despite being from Northern California. There’s a nice mixture or shorter, harder hitting songs and longer, jammier songs on here. That being said it is a case where everything done on this album will get done better by the band on future albums in my opinion.

4/5. I have always loved Ride’s second album “Going Blank Again”, but for some reason never bothered to go back and listen to the debut. So this was a good chance to do just that and it was very worthwhile. Great slice of shoegaze mixed with a bit of brit-pop flair. The streaming version of this album also contains quite a few bonus tracks which are also all pretty solid. I still do prefer the follow-up, because how can you beat songs like “leave them all behind” but this was very good stuff.

2/5. I try my best to enter every album with a fully open mind. That being said Arcade Fire is just one of those bands that I’ve never been able to get into. Which is odd, I typically love indie rock, but something about their music has always just turned me away. That being said I will say I thought the opener “Black Mirror” and the closer “my body is a cage” is solid too, though I actually prefer the Peter Gabriel cover that’s featured in the season 2 finale of the show Dark.
Didn’t love it, but I can at least appreciate its place in 2000’s indie rock.

4/5. First album I’ve gotten in this project that I hadn’t heard before. However I tend to love jazz-rap so this was mostly right up my alley. I unfortunately do not know any French though, so I plan on trying to find some half decent translations online for the lyrics. But musically I enjoyed my time with this one quite a bit!

4/5. Not my personal favorite Sonic Youth album, but still a great burst of noisy rock/punk music. Not too much to say really, this album slaps.

2/5. I am admittedly not the most familiar with Big Beat as a genre. I basically only previously knew the Prodigy with the crab album (fat of the land.)
Fatboy Slim was another one of the large artists in that scene, and he was up there with the prodigy as one of the few big beat artists to make a splash in the U.S.. as for this album it’s some sample-heavy danceable electronic music. A lot of the songs I started off thinking “this is kinda catchy.” But then the biggest flaw of this album for me rears its head, and it’s that every song on here is just a minute or two too long which turns it into a slog to get through.

3/5. A pleasant surprise. Coldplay is one of those bands that has a stigma around their music, and I would agree that much of their catalogue is pretty bad. However this debut album is actually pretty alright. Some easygoing alt-rock that highlights Chris Martin’s strong vocals. Also some solid guitar parts. Quite enjoyed shiver especially.
The biggest flaw of this album is that it’s just a bit samey, which causes it to feel very front-loaded. nothing in the back half really gripped me as much.

4/5. One of the foundational pillars of heavy rock and eventually metal and it still hits hard to this day. As a child of the late 2000’s and 2010’s I grew up on the rockband and guitar hero games, and Highway Star was for a long time my go to song. Catchy riff, great solos and a fun vocal performance, so much to like on that song alone. It was one of the first songs I learned when I picked up a real guitar too. and of course there’s smoke on the water, an all time classic that’s also the nightmare of every guitar store employee. I also absolutely love the closer Space Truckin’, that song is a banger.

1.5/5. The first album I’ve heard in this project where I question why it’s even really part of the list of “1,001 albums to hear before you die.” It doesn’t really do anything that tons of other albums from the 90’s already did significantly better. And it doesn’t really seem to have left much of a cultural impact, I never hear it talked about. An album for me that’s just in one ear and out the other.

5/5. This is one of those albums that’s been with me essentially my entire life, it is part of my musical DNA. so I am definitely a bit biased. But still what a great album, it’s insane that it came out in 1983 because everything about this album sounds like the 90’s. from the rougher/unpolished vocals to the “horny in a depressing way” lyrics. Also some of the best bass playing you’ll hear on any rock album.
I got to see the Violent Femmes live in 2021 and getting to hear some of these songs live was great and made me appreciate Gordon as a vocalist even more.

3/5. Vocal performances and high intensity instrumentals are so fun that you almost forget Jerry Lee Lewis married and had children with his 13 year old cousin.

2.5/5.
It is a very listenable album, but there’s also so many albums from its time that do what it does better. admittedly doesn’t help that I’m a big Dylan fan so every time one of the Dylan covers came on I just wanted to listen to the original instead.
But yeah, it’s okay and pleasant, but nothing I’d return to.

5/5. A 5/5 album on my first week, how lucky! Thousands upon thousands of pages have been written on this album about why it’s so great and a landmark achievement of 60’s pop, but to me the first thing that comes to mind is beauty. This is such a beautiful sounding album. Some of the finest production of its time mixed with heavenly harmonies, it is just so nice on the ears. plus the songs are also so damn good. A lot of fun small things too like the bicycle horns on “you still believe in me.”

An all time great and it’s a shame we lost Brian Wilson last year, one of the most interesting minds in pop history.