Reviews by mattrickpow

Overall: 3/10

This may have been exciting and fresh when it came out but I mostly find it generic and annoying. It sounds like the vocalist is trying way too hard to be Bob Dylan and it just doesn't work for me. The orchestration is the highlight for me as it actually adds a lot and the songs would feel pretty empty otherwise. At least it was short. Never revisiting this one.

Fav Song: It Won't Get Better
Least Fav Song: The Wolf of Velvet Fortune

Overall: 9/10

This album is all about the mood. I feel like I'm in a seedy dive bar, half in the bag with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. It's the kind of album you truly need to give full attention to and let the atmosphere wash over you to fully enjoy it.

Tom Waits is the ultimate showman. He has more charisma and charm in his pinky finger than the rest of us have in our whole bodies combined. He seems like the type of man who would treat everybody like his best friend. It's no wonder that he ended up getting into acting as it seems like that was the next logical step. The idea to make an album like this is honestly genius in my opinion.

If you don't want to hear a man basically do standup over some light jazz then this may not be for you. If you want to lose yourself in another world and vibe then you'll not find anything better than this. This may also be the highest rating I give to an album I don't plan on listening to often.

Fav Song: Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)
Least Fav Song: Putnam County

Overall: 6/10

I honestly expected to like this more but it was just okay. The beats are fire for the most part but they start to seem similar after a while. A lot of the lyrics feel kind of primitive to me, with Dre's raps especially feeling outdated. Having Snoop on here was pretty genius as he has a unique voice and a lot of charisma. I don't feel this is on par with a lot of other 90's rap but it's still a good time.

Fav Song: Lil' Ghetto Boy
Least Fav Song: Let Me Ride

Overall: 7/10

There's a lot to love about this album. It's sort of indie rock with a country/folk twang to it. Beautiful acoustic guitars all over this thing. The lyrics are deep but not pretentious.

I think Bill Callahan is a godawful vocalist and that's a shame. His singing doesn't necessarily ruin any of the songs, but when his vocals come in I just start to cringe. His drawl is unbearable to me. I was really close to loving this but the vocals are just so grating to my ears that it brings my rating down quite a bit. The good still outweighs the bad, though.

Fav Song: Rococo Zephyr
Least Fav Song: Too Many Birds

Overall: 7/10

Frank has such a beautiful voice and the ability to convey so much passion and emotion into his lyrics. I was feeling a little anxious this morning and this album helped me chill out immensely. Modern R&B doesn't tend to be a genre I listen to a lot but I really respect it.

Fav Song: Crack Rock
Least Fav Song: Bad Religion

Overall: 4/10

I'm impressed by the musicianship on display here, and I'm sure it would have been an incredible experience to witness this live. However, almost 60 years later, I just don't find myself enjoying this. It's overlong, overindulgent and, quite frankly, boring. I found it hard to get through and I certainly won't be checking it out again. Great musicians though.

Fav Song: The Eleven
Least Fav Song: Dark Star

Overall: 8/10

This is my favourite album by The Who for the fact that it isn't trying as hard as some of their other albums. It seems they just wanted to rock the hell out for a bit in between the goliaths that are Tommy and Quadrophenia.

This is also the only album by The Who that I own on vinyl and that might have a big influence over how I perceive the album. I remember being blown away the first time I listened to it. The keyboard work is so incredible, then you've got Keith and John killing it in the rhythm section. I also think Roger has never sounded better. The middle section of the album isn't mind blowing but it's bookended by four of the band's best songs.

I'd also piss on that stupid looking rock.

Fav Song: Won't Get Fooled Again
Least Fav Song: My Wife

Overall: 3/10

Faith is such an incredible song that I kind of got my hopes up. I forgot that this was a pop album from the 80s, which means they made one REALLY good song to sell some absolute pandering garbage. I liked a couple other songs but for the most part this is some sappy, oversexualized crap. Oh well, I guess I gotta have faith.

Fav Song: Faith
Least Fav Song: Father Figure

Overall: 5/10

It's good for what it is (I think?) but this type of music is only enjoyable to me as background music if I'm being honest.

Fav Song: Cuando Te Vea (Guaguanco)
Least Fav Song: 3-D Mambo

Overall: 9/10

It's my birthday today and I almost cried from happiness when I saw this one pop up. I've been a huge Gorillaz fan since Plastic Beach came out (15 years ago!).

I'm gonna mostly focus on Damon Albarn here because to me, he IS Gorillaz. I know that Jamie Hewlett is also incredibly important from a visual standpoint but this is Damon's baby. This is what happens when an artist is unchained and free to do whatever the hell they want. The genre hopping on this thing is crazy, with elements of hip hop, punk, ambient, electronica, etc. There's so many interesting sounds going on, and while it tends to be inconsistent in places, it's never boring. The guest artists add a lot to the album and that trend would continue with further Gorillaz releases.

This isn't the best Gorillaz album but it's probably the most important album in their (his?) discography. The idea of a fully animated band was completely original at the time and we've had other completely animated musical artists since. Plus, it showed just how great of a musical mind Damon Albarn has.

(Also coincidentally my second "perfect" rated album in a row to feature Tina Weymouth lol)

Fav Song: 19-2000
Least Fav Song: Man Research (Clapper)

Overall: 6/10

I enjoyed this one. Joan has a lovely voice and is obviously a talented songwriter. I like the folk rock feel that this album has going for it, and there's more variety in the music than I expected. I don't think it'll end up being something I listen to frequently but I'm glad to have heard it.

Fav Song: Help Yourself
Least Fav Song: Tall in the Saddle

Overall: 8/10

I'll get this out of the way since I always have to mention this with double albums: LONG!

Anyway, I've never listened to a full Bob Dylan album before. I understand from reading about this one that it was one of the earliest albums he made after "going electric" so that obviously makes this an incredibly important album. It's pretty good, and a lot different than I expected. It's sort of bluesy in a way.

Bob didn't have a great singing voice, but it works well for the music that he wrote. There's also a lot of harmonica on here which adds to the folksiness that people were probably missing at the time. In retrospect, Bob made the right decision to go electric.

I guess I like Bob Dylan. Who knew?

Fav Song: Just Like a Woman
Least Fav Song: I Want You

Overall: 7/10

This album is all about the mood, and the album cover is a perfect representation of the kind of moody, melancholic sound that dominates. While there's lots of romance, Frank sounds sad as hell all throughout. It's impressive to me how well the music paints a picture of a lonely man in a bar, drinking a scotch and rethinking life choices at 3am. The problem is that every song has a similar feeling and they all sort of blend together. Some variety would have been nice, but I can't imagine any other type of song fitting with these ones so I'll give it a pass. Good work there, Franky boy.

Fav Song: In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
Least Fav Song: Deep in a Dream

Overall: 6/10

I've realized by doing this project that I don't enjoy soul as much as I thought I did and that's honestly a bit dissapointing. The vocals are great and I enjoyed the funkiness of the early tracks. It's also a very easy listen at just 35 minutes. I think it's the constant strings that started to get grating to my ears. Maybe I just need to listen to more of this type of music outside of the project cause I'd like to enjoy these albums more than I have.

Fav Song: Cloud Nine
Least Fav Aong: Love is a Hurtin' Thing

Overall: 4/10

This one was promising based on the first song but everything was so boring and repetitive that it elicited zero emotions from me. I can see why some may enjoy it but I need more variety. If he had some guest artists to rap over these beats then I may enjoy it but the instrumentals just weren't enough.

Fav Song: Building Steam with a Grain of Salt
Least Fav Song: Stem/Long Stem

Overall: 6/10

This was a mildly pleasant surprise. I've never heard of this band or album so I didn't know what I was gonna get. It's very much a product of it's time, mixing psychedelic rock, folk and country. I actually think this mix is a detriment to the album, as it feels like they were trying to do everything at once. Only one track really stood out to me, but I enjoyed experiencing this album overall.

Fav Song: Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down
Least Fav Song: Sunlight

Overall: 8/10

I have incredibly mixed feelings about this album. I'll start with what I enjoy: lyrically, it's a masterpiece. The story is cohesive while still leaving room for ambiguity. While this is Roger's baby, I consider Richard Wright's work on the keys to be the highlight of the entire album.

Now for the negatives. I enjoy Roger's voice in small doses, but he sings on a good majority of this thing. This thing, by the way, is so overbloated and full of itself. That would be fine, but this feels like an album you need to listen to all at once and it's not as easy to set aside almost an hour and a half (!) of your day for one album.

Despite my complaints, I truly do think this is a great album. I wish it was shorter and I wish more of the songs worked on their own. There's maybe 6 tracks on this 26 track album that I ever feel like listening to. I honestly would probably give this a lower rating but I do enjoy listening to it on occasion (usually when I have a full day to myself). This is an album that everyone should definitely listen to at least once in their lives and I know I'm in the minority with my complaints.

Fav Song: Hey You
Least Fav Song: Is There Anybody Out There? (Should this count?)

Overall: 10/10

First off, this is one of the best albums of all time.

I've been a Talking Heads fan in some capacity since high school when I heard Psycho Killer and Burning Down the House for the first time. It took years for me to actually dive into their music, but the catalyst for that was my random decision to watch Stop Making Sense in my early 20s. I genuinely couldn't believe my eyes and ears. David Byrne's stage presence set an incredibly high standard for me. Not only that, but the music made me cry because it was so shockingly good. Also, as a bassist, it's not hard to fall heard over heels in love with Tina Weymouth, who may be my favourite bassist? (Very debatable)

The first time I listened to this album is a core memory for me. I was living with my parents and they were away for the night. I put the album on and I danced by myself for the next 40-ish minutes, losing myself in the rhythm. To this day it's tough for me to listen to pretty much any Talking Heads song without getting emotional in some way.

Personally, Speaking in Tongues is slightly more important to me just for the fact that it was the first Talking Heads album I heard all the way through, but this is an incredibly close second and a rare album where I have zero complaints.

Fav Song: New Feeling
Least Fav Song: They're all amazing, but I listen to The Book I Read the least

Overall: 3/10

I got Big Star's first album a while back and gave it a 7/10 (4 stars) but it's since became the album I've soured on the most. I decided to go with it since that was my original impression.

With that being said, I don't really like this one much. I find the vocals infuriating and the music ranges from bland to insufferable. A couple of tracks were okay but there's so much great music out there and I think this could have been removed for something more interesting. The one thing I will praise is the lyrics, but they would work better as poetry.

Fav Song: Kizza Me
Least Fav Song: Big Black Car

Overall: 6/10

I didn't expect this to feel as "punk" as it does. I like the vocals and it's a pretty fun album, the songs just don't wow me enough to give it a super high rating. I do find it impressive considering how young these guys were at the time.

Fav Song: Mansize Rooster
Least Fav Song: Lose It