Reviews by mattrickpow

Overall: 5/10

There were moments in here that I really enjoyed, but it hasn't aged amazingly and I had a hard time focusing on it. Kind of bland by today's standards.

Fav Song: "U" Make Me Sweat

Overall: 4/10

Not a bad album by any means, but very generic and boring. Wasn't really feeling it at all and the generic punk sound got old pretty quickly.

Fav Song: Bombsite Boy

Overall: 6/10

One thing I really like about this album is the atmosphere. The slower songs were very pleasing to listen to. I will say it took a few songs for me to get into the rhythm, and I don't think this is something I'm likely to come back to, but I'm glad I heard it and I'd recommend it to most people.

Fav Song: Soul Mining

Overall: 8/10

There was a lot of jazzy stuff going on with the first Quest album, but this one goes all in on the jazz rap concept and they absolutely kill it. The flow is always on point and while the lyrical content isn't perfect, it's always interesting. I think I like this one slightly more than the first album.

Fav Song: Jazz (We've Got)

Overall: 8/10

I love Björk and she seems to be having so much fun on this album. The entire album is a blast to listen to, and it's one of the weirder ones lyrically.

Fav Song: F***ing in Rhythm & Sorrow

Overall: 2/10

This was so bland and boring and not worth listening to at all. Just a nothing of an album.

Fav Song: Kelly's Blues

Overall: 7/10

I found this to be very beautiful and charming. It's great for relaxing and while it was hard to stay fully engaged the entire time, there were lots of moments that made me stop and pay extra close attention to.

Fav Song: Raga Pahadi

Overall: 8/10

I used to like this one a lot more, but I think it actually loses some steam by the end. Kendrick is one of the best voices in hip hop in the last 20 years and this one is really special. I love this man's brain so much. I just prefer where he went after this one.

Fav Song: Backseat Freestyle

Overall: 8/10

I wasn't a huge fan of the last Jesus and Mary Chain album I listened to, but a big issue with that one was the terrible production, which seems to be fixed on this album. It's atmospheric and very chill.

Fav Song: Happy When It Rains

Overall: 7/10

This album opened up with a noise that was so grating to my ears that it took me a couple songs to really get into it. Here's a tip for any aspiring musicians, if you want people to like your album instantly, don't open it with the brown note.

Once I got over that little mishap, this ended up being a really cool album! I found myself rocking out quite a bit, and there's some unique and interesting instrumentation here. The female vocals are also very pretty and relaxing. There's a mix of french and english lyrics as well, and I honestly prefered the french stuff. It fit very well with this music.

That cover is straight garbage though, I always assumed I would hate this just from looking at that thing. Thankfully I didn't.

Fav Song: Tomorrow is Already Here

Overall: 6/10

This album is stylistically diverse, and that's something that I really appreciate about it cause the styles mostly work together. I'd like it a lot more but it starts to lost a bit of steam about halfway through, and there's an admittedly decent cover of Born to Run, but I absolutely hate that song with a passion.

Fav Song: Relax

Overall: 10/10

This is a very unique album. I've never heard a voice quite like Joanna. It fits perfectly with this sort of whimsical style she has. The instrumentations seem to incorporate a lot of harp and classical instrumentation, which I found really beautiful. It's a challenging album with songs that pass the 10 minute mark, but I never found myself struggling to enjoy it. It's just too stylish for me to think of it as anything but an ambitious masterpiece.

Fav Song: Monkey & Bear

Overall: 6/10

This was way too long. The songs were good but not good enough for the amount of songs they put on here. Maybe if they trimmed it a bit I'd like it more.

Fav Song: If You Loved Me at All

Overall: 9/10

I love this album. It's psychedelic and heavy, but it has moments of chilling out as well. I do think Are You Experienced is a bit better but it's pretty close.

Fav Song: If 6 Was 9

Overall: 7/10

This is a very raw album, and I get the feeling most of these covers were done better by other people (the ones I know I can pretty much gaurantee that), but man, Elvis had such a great voice and he was one of the most charismatic people to ever exist. Unfotunately, the man did take black music and watered it down for a white audience. In a way I would say that's not entirely bad, since that music is now enjoyed by a wide range of people. On the other hand, the credit should really go to the people who made it in the first place. In any case, I do think Elvis becoming popular was a positive for pop culture, and I enjoy listening to this album.

Fav Song: Trying to Get to You

Overall: 7/10

This album is kind of all over the place, but it's not a huge deal because it's still Peter Gabriel. The actual worst thing about this album is that he had to leave Genesis to make it, and I'll never forgive him for that.

Fav Song: Solsbury Hill

Overall: 9/10

Omg the Gilmore Girls song is on this.

I was quite surprised by the fact that I'd only heard 2 songs from this album before, because I feel like it's one of those classics I just never got around to for one reason or another. This is just a very relaxing album, not exactly challenging to listen to. Not every album needs to be a prog rock masterpiece after all. Put this one on and let Carole King soothe your troubled mind with her beautiful voice and equally beautiful songwriting.

Fav Song: Where You Lead

Overall: 10/10

I would love to write some big long review for this, but I also have absolutely nothing new or original to add to the conversation so......

Classic.

Fav Song: When the Levee Breaks

Overall: 8/10

Alright, I'll get into the negatives first. It's early 90s gangster rap, which means it's misogynistic, homophobic and very violent. Not only that, but if you've seen any interviews with Cube recently, you get the sense that he doesn't stand by the political lyrical content on this album anymore, which lessens some of the impact.

With all that being said, the songs here are so good. Incredible, danceable beats are used for politically charged songs about the black experience, especially as a black man living in California. I think his flow had evolved since his N.W.A. days as well. Despite some of the unfortunare lyrical content, he sounds his most mature here.

Now we get to It Was a Good Day. What an absolutely incredible rap song. He just tells the story of a good day that he had, and it's captivating. I think that song is a masterpiece. It's a shame that Cube has changed so much since this point in time, because he really was a great voice in the rap industry.

Fav Song: It Was a Good Day

Overall: 4/10

I'm usually a fan of strange music, but this was something I have absolutely zero interest in ever hearing again. His voice isn't bad but the songs just aren't there.

Fav Song: Plastic Palace People