Reviews by magsmusic

I like slower rap because I can understand it better and there are a lot of good rhymes. Now I don't like all the b*tches, hoes and misogyny. I also don't know if I look at the violence as trying to make a political statement or just being violent. Plus P. Diddy just sort of makes this all tainted of me. Is it influential...for sure East Coast and West Coast probably wouldn't be nearly what it is without it. I just think maybe for actual music and not just cultural influence, others do it better.

Outkast is really amazing and creates something that is so different yet pulls on themes from rap, R&B, jazz, blues that traditionally work well together and mesh with deep electronic/techno techniques. Is it a little vulgar, sure but its also building on musical themes and so different and unique, yet so consumable. They also look at some deep political and social themes in a really intelligent and well done manner.
This album is really a story and builds upon itself, bringing a cohesion but also allowing for songs like Ms. Jackson and B.O.B. to stand on their own. I also think its amazing how two individuals with such different approaches to music styling mesh so well together. I would love to be a fly on the wall of their creative sessions to see how they create their music.

Overall I really enjoyed this. The Celtic folk vibes mixed with rock are awesome. I see how this group probably influenced modern bands like Flogging Molly. I also like groups like this that connect with their original roots but expand to more modern sounds.
I will only give them a 4 because some songs just went a little to long, like We Will Not be Lovers or And a Bang on the Ear. They are really cool songs overall but I didn't need it to be over 5 or 6 minutes.

There were some beautiful moments, but also just a little too experimental. I really liked This Woman's Work, and lyrics were interesting and deep in songs like Between a Man and a Woman or the Fog. But then those just became more singing poetry or singing story telling. They didn't always tie together as a song, leaving me wanting something more from them that tied each together. Her voice is also a little much after a while. It works with the 80s musical stylings, but it just also just is a lot after the whole album.

This is just love, pure and simple. It is not pretentious, possessive, or overtly sexist. It is just pretty and beautiful. I really like You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me and Too Marvelous for Words, they were just about pure love. All the songs were really short, which is kind of nice. Each song was its own feeling or expression of love, so the variety in this kind of music was beautiful. For me it did start to blend together, and if I wasn't focused on different songs I missed that it had changed. I do always question singers from this genre on how much is original or how much are covers, so I do wonder that (I know Anything Goes was a musical and that was the title song). But even if not original he did bring life to these songs with his beautiful voice. His voice, very few compare, I would love him to sing me every one of these songs all day long.

This is a beautiful album and U2 is a beautiful band. Bono is such an amazing song writer and Edge is a great guitarist. They work so well together to create beautiful, thought provoking and important music. This album brings to light so much sadness and tragedy, and they don't shy away from events that happened. Yet they advocate for change and being better humans in a way that makes the music uplifting and hopeful. They are also unique and focus on their strengths and don't try to emulate anyone else or be anything they aren't.

I wished I could have listened to this one when it was released. It is psychadelic folk rock...I feel like I have listed to 3-4 albums like this during this project. So the idea of it being great or influential with today's lens isn't one I see. For that genre it is fine, nothing amazing, but nothing terrible. It is a little depressing and sort of a downer. Probably wouldn't listen again because I prefer others that have done similar music more.

Overall a good album, and interesting none of the big hits were on here. They really have a good rock, folk, and roll vibe. Its almost 1950's and country at times but really upping the rock vibe. Sweet Virginia was my favorite and Tom and Frayed and All Down the Line were seconds. Shake Your Hips sounded just like they covered ZZ Top, but actually ZZ Top stole it from RS who covered it from Sim Harpo and he was not even the first. I didn't appreciate the second half as much because it got long, especially Let it Lose.

Just beautiful. Her voice is just beautiful and full of raw emotion. The lyrics really touch the heart and the time period. Listening to the whole album was so much better than just one song because it of all worked together to write a story. I hate to say this b Bobby McGee (beautiful song!) almost felt out of place and to commercial for the rest of the album. Half moon and my baby were my favorites.

There are some good moments, but all in all it seems too straightforward and amateur. Hungry Freaks, Daddy was weirdly spoken word and kind of felt like third graders 'singing' at a school concert. Who are the Brain Police again felt really amateur and little kiddish. Go Cry on Someone Else's Shoulder has roots of being good, but they didn't do anything cool and different, it just felt like they were trying to mock it but didn't do anything cool, they just played bad. Wowie Zowie, I get it you are trying to be satirical, but you weren't good. Then Return of the Son Monster Magnet was just some weird bad LSD trip sex orgy, that a person didn't want to be at and was trying to get out of but couldn't seem to find a way out because everyone was wearing bird or monkey masks before turning into cartoon chipmunks that just kept going (much like this sentence). Motherly Love was okay, but left me confused. Are you actually saying you are mama's boys or mocking being a mama's boy...I honestly can't tell and I think that might be one of the overall problems with this album. I can't tell what they are trying to do because they aren't really doing any of it well. It really felt like third graders wrote and performed this album.

It says they are classified as folk, but for me its a little closer to celtic hippy, with an Alice and Wonderland playfulness and Indigenous undertones. I imagine this group sitting around a bonfire with a large group of people dancing around with long hair, flowers, limited clothing, and a lot of mind altering substances. It is really its own kind of thing, that I could really see was new at the time.
Lyke-Wake Dirge felt a little cultish. I liked Training Song and Hunting Song (but it got long). I don't hate it, but I don't think I would seek them out again. Sally Go Round the Roses was good but felt really out of place.

This was an rocking album that kept me grooving until the end. So much angry beautiful girl rock, that showed how we can be strong but still have weak moments. Rich was rocking, Date with the Night was good and Man had a fun voodoo vibe. No no no grew on me and then kind of went weird. Maps and Y Control are just downright amazing. Tick was kind of a weird short ok interlude, Pin was better.
I also love their background and that they have such classical training but then go so punk rock with the band. Will I listen again? Yeah, yeah, yeah!

I always loved the Black Keys and their songs on the radio but never listened to a full album
The Go Getter was not my favorite but that was about it. Beyond the hits it was still great. Ten Cent Pistol, Everlasting Light, Howlin for you all great.
I also liked I'm Not the One, it just had a dark gritty sound that was great.
Unknown Brothers was good, had a loving vibe (maybe it was the jingle bells) that just feels heartwarming in a rock way.
These Days was beautiful, touching, emotion filled and brings a tear to my eye.
Their sound is just so uniquely them. Spotify calls it blues, rock, and it is but also more. The voice, the synthesizers, use of drums, and everything just makes these sound that is so deep, raw and something worth listening to again and again.

His voice is beautiful and you can feel the emotion. The band is also beautiful. I feel like this music all blends together after a while. Reminds me of watching Lawrence Welk with my grandparents.

I love Fleetwood Mac...they are so calming, beautiful and deep. I would also say they blur the lines of folk, rock and a little of their own. Even when they were young they were still mature and deep. Stevie is wonderful and deserves the praise, but Christine and Lindsey are also amazing (and don't get enough credit). They have such depth and range and this album was a beautiful example of that.

It has some hits on it, but those hits are pretty overplayed. As a whole it is cohesive and let's me know who they are and what kind of music they are. Lead singer has a unique and interesting voice. There is also something hard about them, but also kind of mellow which is a bit of a change.

Yacht Rock...a genre I don't think we have had yet. It starts off fine, nothing super special in my mind, but just was yacht rockesque. Reading I did see he did pretty much all of it himself and there was some cool recording techs on the second half of the album. It got long but the lyrcis were really what bothered me. Slut, just straight up rude, Marlene is 17 and you don't care because you "love" her, Some folks whiter than me...just not going to try and change problems because it ain't your problem, Piss Aaron...I don't even know what is happening in this one. So I don't think I am going to be listening this one again.

So I like The Darkness (I Believe in a Thing Called Love is one of my FAVORITE songs!) but I always thought they were an 80's hair band, so when I originally found out the album was released in the early 2000's I was shocked. Everything about them screams 80's hair band, doing their rock and roll thing. So when it comes to be influential I am not sure I can really consider them that, because they really just bought into something that was already there.
Now they did it well...its a fun album and they don't take themselves seriously. They seem like some guys that liked 80's music and said f@ck let's just have fun, make some music and add a 2000's flamboyantness to it. New to me favs were Givin' Up, Stuck in a Rut and Holding My Own (classic 80's ballad).
I waiver between a 3 and 4, because I really like the music, I like the album but is it influential, I don't think so.

It was an interesting mix of Pop, jazz/blues and something of the aethereal 80's vibe. Overall not a bad album. It was all very pop but something a little deeper. I was not a big fan of I Believe, it was sort of slow and blah. After a pretty up beat start, it seemed really down. Everybody Wants to Rule the World is a winner in my book. I didn't realize they did Shout and Head Over Heels, so that makes it pretty cool. The Working Hour and Listen weren't too bad either. Listen was cool but it got a little long. I wonder with songs like Listen, is that something the band really liked and believed in and so they fought to get it on the record but the producers were like, nope that is not good but we will give you one.

There is a reason Will Smith, Coolio, Ja Rule and Snoop (probably more) all sampled songs on this album...its great! I think I envisioned more albums like this on the list. Looking at the samples you can easily see how much his music influenced so many musicians and future music. Pastime Paradise really got me, Gangster Paradise was just a rip off of this song! Stevie Wonder is so amazing, this album makes me want to dance and move with such ease. I always knew he was amazingly talented but I had never listened to an album. The second album started to drag after the first couple, but As was a good addition late in the game.