Reviews by mattrickpow

Overall: 7/10

I've been hearing about Joni Mitchell for years now but never really had the interest in seeking out her music for some reason. Now that I've listened to some of it, I think it's pretty good! She has a nice voice, there's some pleasant harmonies on this album and some pretty instrumentation as well. I sadly haven't been able to dive deep into her lyrics today but I probably will at some point. For now, this was a solid album that I can see myself relistening to in the future.

Fav Song: Help Me

Overall: 6/10

I would have liked this a lot more if it was shorter. Besides that, the tunes themselves are very catchy and lyrically interesting. There was a lot of variety in the instrumentations, going from folksy stuff to pop. I dig it for the most part.

Fav Song: Caramel

Overall: 6/10

There were elements of this that I really loved and other parts that gave me a headache. I honestly didn't expect there to be so many elements of dance music. Lots of world music influences peaked through the cracks as well. Sadly, there were a lot of repetitive phrasing that I found pretty annoying. Paper Planes is one of the best songs of this century though.

Fav Song: Paper Planes

Overall: 4/10

I can appreciate the talent involved in making this, I just don't enjoy listening to it. Jazz is already hit or miss for me and it's even worse when it's improvisational. I try to find something to hook onto and I just can't.

Fav Song: Alice in Wonderland

Overall: 10/10

Honestly a perfect look into a man losing his mind. It's mostly just Syd and an acoustic guitar, showing off his beautiful voice and interesting lyrics. The choice to include some of the restarts and flubs is truly genius, in my opinion. I get incredibly sad whenever I think of Syd and what could have been, but it gives me comfort knowing that he got to share his gift with the world even for a brief moment.

Fav Song: Long Gone

Overall: 5/10

It's at least better than I expected. I never saw that monkey movie about his life so I don't really know much about Robbie besides what people have told me. I guess he was in a boy band then made this album after they split and he was in some legal trouble? Again, I know nothing of the man. It sounds like he really liked the music coming out in the UK at this time cause this album sounds like everything else that was out there. Robbie has a decent (if a little nasaly) voice and some of the songs are pretty fun. Overall, it's a mediocre album that I'll likely not revisit often.

Fav Song: Let Me Entertain You

Overall: 9/10

Yeah, this is awesome. Stevie has such a great voice, and he makes some incredible, funky music. He's capable of fun dance music, slower ballads, and he isn't afraid to bring up social issues either. Do we even have a modern day equivalent to Stevie Wonder? I don't believe we do.

Fav Song: Living for the City

Overall: 8/10

I'm obviously not going to be the first person to mention this but I love listening to Chef sing. He was one of my favourite South Park characters and this was like having a little bit extra Chef. The songs are pretty great, lots of fun instrumentations and atmosphere. I genuinely think the intro to By the Time I Get to Phoenix almost ruins the entire album for me. It's way too long and should have been it's own track (though this was made in '69 so there was no way of knowing people would be "skipping" tracks on albums). By the time you get to the actual song, you almost feel like you're listening to an audiobook. The song itself ends up being really great too. The rest of the album was great enough that I'll forgive it. Once again, it's just nice to have more Chef.

Fav Song: Walk On By

Overall: 8/10

This album started off so incredibly strong, with some legendary bangers going back to back. Sadly, the album didn't keep up that momentum and became more of an atmospheric piece, which would have been fine if I had been expecting it. Not that the more atmospheric songs were bad or anything, I just wanted another rocker or two. As it stands, this was a bit weaker than the self titled, but it still gave me incentive to listen to more of their stuff.

Fav Song: Money for Nothing (duh)

Overall: 5/10

It's nothing special. His lyrics are lame, his flow is mediocre and so are most of the beats. Occasionally there was a song that got me hyped but they're few and far in between. Jay-Z always just seemed a little fake to me as well. Not bad, not good.

Fav Song: Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)

Overall: 9/10

I seriously didn't expect to like this so much. I'm actually glad I had low-ish expectations, despite really loving the song California Dreamin'. What I didn't expect was the way this album reminded me of other 60's artists I adore (shades of The Beach Boys, The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel). This is like Rubber Soul and Pet Sounds had a baby. Not only that, but there were moments that made me realize that these guys must have been influential on Abba and other 70s pop/disco artists.

The songwriting is so good all throughout. I'll admit that the last few songs didn't wow me as much as the rest of the album but that might change as I relisten to them. It's a shame about the band's history though, truly messed up stuff right there!

Fav Song: California Dreamin'

Overall: 4/10

Not the worst thing I've ever heard. I just can't really get into Buck's voice if I'm being honest. The songs aren't really that special themselves and neither is the production of the album. That cover is also doing it no favours.

Fav Song: The Band Keeps Playin' On

Overall: 6/10

I never really thought 50 Cent was all that special when it comes to the rap world. There's better lyricists with better voices and the beats on this album aren't super interesting. Still, there's a lot to like about this album and it could have been a lot worse. I like all of the features and there are a few songs that make me want to dance.

Fav Song: P.I.M.P.

Overall: 6/10

Pretty good, punky album. I like the vocals and the lyrics. Some of the songwriting was a bit underwhelming for me though. I was surprised I knew a couple of the songs, just never knew the name of them.

Fav Song: Brass in Pocket

Overall: 7/10

I never would have listened to this if I'd never decided to do this, mostly because I think of Pharrell as the "Happy" guy and I hate that song. As the first song came on though, I knew I wasn't getting that side of him with this album. Which makes sense, since he's not the only person involved in the making of this album.

This is honestly more of a rock album than a hip hop album and I didn't expect that at all. There's also elements of r&b which I found interesting. Pharrell's biggest strength is easily his voice, he's an incredibly talented singer and I could never get tired of his voice (unless he's singing Happy, of course). While I didn't love it, I'm glad I got to listen to this album and I'll be checking out more of their stuff now.

Fav Song: Maybe

Overall: 3/10

Maaaaan, this is so lame. Sure, the guitar work is pretty impressive, but the songs are just so dull and forgettable. On top of that, this combines my two least favourite types of albums: double and live. The only thing keeping this out of my lowest rated albums is the guitar.

Fav Song: Show Me the Way

Overall: 8/10

I don't normally like rating live albums this highly but I'll give this one a pass for two reasons.

1. There's enough variety on here that it's not just "the album already in the list but live".
2. It sounds almost identical to the studio recordings, so it's essentially a "best of" album.

Motörhead rocks, man. I love how dirty and gritty Lemmy's voice is, I love how their instruments always sound like they pulled them right out of a dumpster, I love that they don't care if one song sounds like the last one as long as people are having fun. Just a great band overall and this album captures the live energy they had.

Fav Song: Overkill

Overall: 8/10

Weirdly enough, I actually think my favourite thing about Dire Straits is that Mark Knopfler isn't a very good vocalist. It forces him to be creative with the interplay between his voice and his guitar. This wad actually my first time hearing Dire Straits outside or Sultans of Swing and Money for Nothing, and it was pretty much what I expected. Lots of blues rock with some of the coolest guitar work you'll ever hear. The style of the music can get a bit same-y in parts but it's overall a really great album.

Fav Song: Sultans of Swing

Overall: 7/10

I mean, Maps is a masterpiece. Such a gorgeous song. The rest of the album is pretty good but nothing else they wrote compares to that one song in my opinion. Everything else is kind of garage rock/punk revival, which I like. Karen has a nice voice overall and the guitar work is a lot of fun. I'd recommend this to most people.

Fav Song: Maps

Overall: 9/10

Hell yeah. I tend to love weird music made by absolute geniuses and this is no exception. Despite the fact that they would go on to make even better albums without Syd, it makes me wonder if they would have kept going down this strange route instead of becoming prog gods if he was capable of sticking around. It's one of my biggest personal "what if's" in music. He had a great voice and an overflowing imagination and his story overall just makes me sad. You can see on this album that he was truly gifted. Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Fav Song: Bike