Reviews by magsmusic

I don't really get the need for the live but not live parts of this album. Neil Young is a great story teller and is beautiful on the guitar. I do feel like I need to be in a melancholy mood to listen to him, to truly lose myself in the lyrics. (Besides the last two songs, they went hard for Neil Young, and I wasn't hating it!)
Today is not that mood so its more of a 3, but on a different day I could give it a 4. Side note, he wants to hang with Pocahontas and Marlon Brando...rando!

Legend of a Girl Child, Bert's Blues and Guinevere never seemed to end. The Trip was a good song Sunshine Superman was one I knew before and liked. It was just a psychedelic rock album, not bad, just didn't feel special. Now one thing did say this album influenced a lot of other music in this genre, so in that case I see the influence but there were no songs that stuck with me. Side note...what is with the medieval themes?

Its never good when the only reason I have heard of him is because he was called out during the Me Too movement. Bad test in my mouth from the start!
Without that, there is some heartfelt sweet lyrics and some fun songs. But then thinking about it, makes them smarmy and kind of gross. Then you get to Nobody Girl and I don't really get what he is doing there. Would I listen to some of them again, for sure, especially if I didn't know it was him. Will I ever seek him out....no, but that is due more to his personal issues and not necessarily the music.

This was fun and I really enjoyed. A little punk, little 80's rod stewart rock, and also fun! There sound was fun and a good blend. Also loved hearing the song from Clueless!

Another example of who you know, how you market and how some people to have it. This is not an band that is commercially popular but they sound a lot like the Rolling Stones and other bands of that time, but they aren't as well known.
I enjoyed the bluesy folk sounds they added into their rock and rol. 32-20 was a pleasant change. nothing amazing, but still pretty good. Little sad they didn't get more press.

I was worried today was another death head metal day so honestly this wasn't soo bad. There were bad moments in Stuka and Motorhead but overall it was all palatable. It did just become one long techno trip where it felt like everything was from the movie Gone in 60 Seconds (or Trainspotting!). So I can listen to it, I can appreciate it, but I don't want to listen to it as an album again.

Wait, are we mad at the Peace Corp because they aren't real hippies??? And why do we have to poke fun at fat people, women and sad people over and over?
I get it, its satire on the music and people of the time. But typically satire is making fun of a group to support the counter argument, but then he made fun of the other side leaving us with no side to believe in. For me this is truly one of the most frustrating kinds of points, people that are feel superior then you, believe they are so smart, deep and beyond anyone else so they mock them all but offer no real effort to make the world a better place. Then what the hell was the last song! There is some musicality here and the satire concept isn't bad or necessarily badly done. It is also kind of an sketch comedy type concept to an album which is sort of cool and different. I just really hate the actual lyrics and persona it is embodying. The hate for the lyrics and the overall smug meanness are too overwhelming to look past.

I knew Boys are Back. It was interesting because I didn't realize they sang it , and for 3 or 4 songs before it played it I thought wow this sounds sooooo familiar. Then Boys are Back and I was hit in the musical face with a ton of bricks. So it is cohesive, but maybe a little too cohesive and all starts to sound the same. So is that good that their sound is unique and identifiable or does that mean they don't have range and do one type of sound really really well.
In terms of live album, in the beginning they did a lot with the audience and then it tapered off and it didn't feel life anymore. I also read the review stating it was overdubbed a lot! I never thought about that, the idea of a live album is that its live not lip synched over, so that lost a little of that for me.

This was different in a good way. I always loved Cult of Personality (introduced it by Guitar Hero). After that I didn't know a lot about the band, so this was really interesting. Some songs went kind of different directions (Funny Vibe) but it fit with their overall aesthetic and musical genre. Metal, 80's-90's rock is so dominated by white males and hearing a different perspective on the genre was really awesome. Moments reminded me of other artists (Kravitz) but not so much that it was copying. And props to Vernon Reid, I do not understand how he is not on my top guitarist lists (racism doesn't exist right), he is fabulous and extremely talented.

So just listening on the surface and not getting too deep, it was good. Lots of good beats, rhythms and hooks (except maybe Kevin Carter, just a little repetitive). But then I read a little more into the lyrics and they are really poetic and deep, but ALL over the place. We are mad about British culture being overtaken American culture, mental health related to being overwhelmed by world atrocities, please like our new songwriter and more commercial songs, I wish I hadn't forgotten my working class roots...just really all over the place. As one off songs it would make sense, but as an album it was just a lot of different things to focus on.

I enjoyed it but as I listened longer it got to be a little too much. His music is good but all very similar.

I enjoyed these as individuals songs but as an album it felt a bit all over the place. I really like folk but sometimes when you add the psychedelic 70s aspect into it they lose me. Folk can be so calm, endearing and deep but then they get into drugs and it just becomes to pretentious. Its like they get high and think wow we are being so deep and this is life changing but if they left the drug haze for a while they would see that it wasn't anything special, just another simple song that could be great if they just cleared their mind and focused. For me this album suffered that in waves, its just like they sat around high and kept saying you know what would be cool, then all chuckling and saying yeah. Nobody questioned anything just went along going way off track.

Reading the reviews I didn't realize Billy Joel was so controversial! I mean is he mainstream, yes but really there is nothing to be offended by in this music.
He has a great ability to tell a story and the music surrounding it is pretty. It is borderline yacht rock sound but the stories are deeper and prettier. I will admit an ex really introduced me to Billy Joel so some songs are a little tainted in terms of personal experience, but Vienna is so pretty and Scenes from an Italian Restaurant tells such an interesting story. Then there are so many singles that are great. I don't know how this could be offensive.

I wish we could all be this reflective, calm and introspective. Cat Stevens questions life but not in a judging angry way, but in a way that welcomes us to ask the same questions if we want and not pass judgement if we don't. He wants to be questioned and learn from the good and the bad.

I enjoyed this one, it was smooth, soulful and full of emotion. Love and loss were oozing out everywhere. Her voice is a little different and just seeps into every pore.

Everything about this is 80s. It's a little techno but still complete 80s. Nothing super deep or different but enjoyable.

I feel like I should like this and Bjork but I just can't get into it. Everything just feels so random and I am not really coherent. I was cleaning while listening and realized I kinda of blocked it out and didn't really focus on any of it because it was just not that enjoyable.
Personal weird story however, during Submarine and the song repeating "Do It Now," I found a sticker with the exact same words. Bjork is doing her best to force herself into my head :p

When I first saw the album and band name I really had no idea what I was in for. After starting I was excited and enjoyed it. I know a lot of things are comparing it to jazz, but it felt a little more big band music to me :) It reminded me of watching the Lawrence Welk show with my grandparents.

I listened to this while making dinner so it all sort of smooshed into each other and I didn't know where one song ended and another started. It was good background music, but nothing life changing. I would listen again and enjoy it, but it could have been many other things.

Maybe it would have meant a lot more if I had seen the movie. Otherwise it feels a little low impact. Is it good background music, yes. But it is good background music. It has some emotion in it and would work well with some visuals, but on its own it wasn't super interesting.