Reviews by mark-bionix

Loved this one. Always been a fan of "Nightclubbing," but "Mass Production" was new to me and goes hard. I love it.

Have absolutely never heard of this band in my life and I don't know if they belong on this list, but it was a good record!

Paid $1 to download this 20 years ago and really didn't like it. It was the point where I basically decided to give up on Radiohead. I really liked it this time though! Maybe I should've waited to give up after Hail to the Thief.

I love the first four Pixies albums (all the reunion stuff can miss me). This one's really good. Hadn't thought about "Dig For Fire" in a minute but it gives me a lot of joy.

God I really miss this band. This shit is great.

One of my favorite 80s pop records. If it didn't have "I'll Kiss You" on it, I'd consider it close to perfect. The record is very front loaded and kind of fizzles out at the end of side two.

It's good. I like the concept, the tales, and a lot of the guest spots.

So I've gotten so many of the biggest pop records of the 80s lately, and often the singles are great and timeless, and I'm hoping to find something within the album cuts that really hooks me. This is the one where that finally happened. I say this as a huge hater of CD runtime bloat, and I really thought that's what I might be getting here. But everything works. Some of these songs go on for 5 or 6 minutes and it's earned. This is a hell of a dance club record, along with all the other things it is. Janet's incredible, it's so seamless how she navigates all the moods here. But Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are fucking rockstars, too. I'm in love with every choice they make here, even the ones that are fucking crazy (the SFX on Black Cat, for instance. Or the "wet sound?" Demented, but it works). Just talked myself into moving from 4 to 5 on this one.

Eh, it's not total ass but I've always found these guys grating.

There's still a riot goin' on. Evergreen.

I've known for a while that Alice Cooper isn't just some dumb caricature, but this is the first time I've seen that borne out on a record. This shit is good.

Discovered this album in one of those Tower Records listening booths (I'm old). I've always liked it but hadn't heard it in a long long time. Pleasant sounding jams about how much these Irish boys like California.

I knew the story behind this record before I ever heard it. I know Lindsay must have been hell to deal with in this period, but his vision 100% works. I love how it embraces the musical atmosphere of the time but still holds true as a golden-era FM album. Still has the best live drum sound of all time, plus every part of the arrangement is crisp and exactly where it should be. Who gives a shit what it costs if the end result sounds like this? I've never even come close to trying cocaine, but this album makes the best possible argument for it. (Oh and I haven't had Rumours yet, but that's also getting a five, albeit for different reasons. Hell, I doubt it's even on here but I'd go to bat for Tango in the NIght too.)

I've been getting a lot of classic metal lately and honestly I don't hate it. But two points on this one: the song "Ace of Spades" is so much better than anything else on the album; no wonder that's THE Motorhead song. But also, "Jailbait?" Jesus Fucking Christ.

I must say I've never been in love with the way this Hendrix records are recorded. The rhythm section is way in the background and the guitar and vocal sound a bit disjointed because of it. But I can't deny the songs fucking rock.

Meh. I came into this thinking Slade were pretty cool, but it's all a bit much in a full album form.

This was very cool in a lot of diverse ways I did not expect.

Into it. Biggest pleasant surprise for me in a while.

I love both of you weirdos, but there's no way in hell I'm ever listening to this again (for reference, I gave Music For Airports five stars).

Well, I pull this motherfucker out about once a year anyway, so I guess the time has come. I know the politics of this album are all fucked up. Inexcusable, even. I know he ripped off Los Lobos and countless African musicians. I know this is (albeit well-intentioned, I guess) cultural appropriation. But the songs are so goddamned good. I'm happy this thing exists.