Reviews by meemesker

Oh no, not again. First time I ran across this fucker on the list I was too nice and gave him a 2. We'll, today you're getting a 1 my man. Not because it's an entirely unlistenable monstrosity - that would be much more interesting - no, it's because it is an emotionally disingenuous piece of mediocre melodrama. Just shameless watered down Scott Walker. And, and, and... It simply does not belong on the list. Just look at the skeletal Wikipedia entry for this one, it tells you everything you need to know: nobody gives a shit. This had goddamn well better be the last time we meet here Divine Comedy. The fact that you are taking up 2 spaces on this list, while Neutral Milk Hotel doesn't even get one, is preposterous.

I generally like Ice Cube's voice and the Bomb Squad production but I find this one fairly exhausting.

Simply does not belong on the list. I remember the single "Novocaine for the Soul," and that is easily the best thing on the album, but the rest is just painfully bad. Every single song has lyrics that make me cringe, his voice is constantly strained and way too high and bright in the mix, and the production is awkwardly dated in that all over the place trying too hard to be eclectic 90s kinda way. Then there's that album cover: I'd put it in serious contention for the worst album cover of all time. I honestly can't respect an artist who would allow that kind of aesthetic nightmare represent their work.

Texture can be a very powerful thing. Sometimes texture can even overpower the underlying structure. As in food, where you might enjoy the flavor of something, but if the texture is off-putting, it can ruin the whole experience. With that analogy in mind, I can see why this album causes some people to have strong reactions. I for one enjoy the combination of abrasive texture and bubblegum hooks. If they were purely abrasive through and through, it would simply be repellent, but, since they pair it with such sweet, vaguely nostalgic melodies, it becomes a really compelling mixture. I admire their ability to take these almost skeletal little ditties and build such dense atmospheres around them that they feel practically cavernous.

This is probably my favorite Tom Waits album. I don't know if I heard this or "The Black Rider" first, but I remember listening to WAIF, a sort of public access radio station at the lowest end of the FM dial, when I was about 13 or 14 years old, and recording onto cassette anything that caught my ear in the night. Tom Waits certainly did. I then tried to get my hands on an album of his and went out and got a copy of "Nighthawks At The Diner." I was sort of confused by it though. It sounded like two completely different artists. I appreciated both modes, but definitely preferred his more experimental material.

Nothing sounds quite like his unique cocktail of influences once he hit his creative breakthrough in the 80s with "Swordfishtrombones." His music ages well too because he largely eschewed the recording trends of the time, and pursued something much more timeless. He never quite fit in anyways, so when he really started embracing his inner madman, he stuck out so much it was sort of astonishing. One of the most amazing mid-career reinventions since Dylan went electric. Waits is certainly a polarizing musical figure, and I understand why his sound doesn't sit well with many, if not most, but I've had nothing but admiration for him ever since he had me spellbound over the radio that night all those years ago. Above all I'm drawn to his focus on texture and atmosphere. Whether you enjoy it or not, he has one of the most instantly recognizable sounds in music. A genre of his own. It must have been a difficult road being such an iconoclast, bucking trends, and simply being himself in the face of showbiz, but I'm glad he took the journey.

I love the spirit of Funkadelic. Some of the most unfiltered musical expression you'll ever hear.

Just happened to have picked up an old copy of this at a record sale a few weeks ago. Side A is fantastic. They have such a dynamic range! They can go from an incredibly intense, almost proto-punk energy, to sweet baroque pop on a dime. Always enjoy Arthur Lee's unique arrangements, structures, and phrasing. However, I feel the album is held down by the loose sidelong track "Revelation." It comes across like filler to complete a contractual obligation and piss label execs off.

Love the idea of creating a soundtrack to a hypothetical movie as the driving concept, but I find the results here somewhat lackluster and unfocused, especially when he throws on covers of things like the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" theme, then the concept doesn't even hold up.

Certainly prefer this to X as far as LA punk with a dash of roots thrown in goes. Has much more of a raw vitality. You can definitely hear their influence in that "everyone who bought the album started a band" kind of way.

I prefer Pink Floyd without Syd Barrett. Would like to hear some live recordings from this era though, as I enjoy the instrumental numbers far more than Barrett's psychedelic nursery rhymes.

I already wasted my time listening to one Slipknot album for this project. The fact that there are two Slipknot albums on this list is baffling to me. I can only hope this is the last time they show up. I don't understand why they need so many band members to produce this clown metal.

Seems like the most common way to get into James Taylor is by way of your mom and you grew up listening to it. That wasn't the case for me, so I have no special reserve of nostalgia for his music, nor does it strike me as being noteworthy in any particular way.

Definitely my favorite album of the two. The atmosphere is spare, with the perfect amount of texture. Similar to the iconic cover in that sense. The reverb and mixing give it so much space to breathe and envelop you. I enjoy all the experimental flourishes throughout, and delighted by the dark hypnotic power they wield when they bring the tempos down. The stiff soulessness of it is like narcotic to me. Perfect pairing of artist and producer, and great example of how big a difference a producer can make. Practically pulled a new genre out of them.

Not immediately off-putting or anything, but not sure how this ended up on the list. The album got more annoying as it went on, particularly when it hit "Ride On and Turn the People On."

What's worse than a bunch of vapid young dudes playing sleazy, overproduced glam metal in the late 80s? A bunch of vapid old dudes playing sleazy, overproduced glam metal in the late 80s.

I like Elvis' Sun Sessions material, some of which is used here. It has a raw vitality and moodiness to it that he never quite captured again as he became a more polished pop act. This album was an absolute phenomenon, which, as we move further away from its release, becomes harder to understand the true depth of its significance. I know that culturally this should be a 5 for its impact. It's one of the keystones of rock and roll, upon which everything else is built, and sort of tipping point for the genre, but the thing that really gets to me is when he covers things like "I Gotta Woman" or "Tutti Frutti," and they just pale in comparison to the originals. Drags the whole thing down. Also, mixing the Sun and RCA material gives it a weird, unbalanced feel. I will give him one thing though; he is a hell of an emotive singer. As a purely subjective listening experience this is a 3 for me (though the Sun material is more of a 4-5).

This is the best drinking album of all time in my experience. An emotional rollercoaster of anthems and sing alongs. The beginning of the Jimmy Miller era, where The Stones settled into the sound that would define them for the rest of their career. Man, if you wanna see the magic of them creating a song in the studio, watch Jean Luc Godard's "Sympathy for the Devil." That song began as a folky acoustic country campfire thing and just kept building and building like a drizzle into a thunderstorm. So many songs on this album seem to capture what I can only imagine was what it really felt like to be alive at that time. Especially a song like "Street Fighting Man." It's like the antithesis of "All you need is love." I'm glad they ditched the psychedelia and came back down to earth.

We used to play "Down By The River" on the jukebox all the time to get our money's worth. I like Neil when he has Crazy Horse putting some real heaviness behind his folk and country roots.

Starts off heavy with one of the most intense and emotional guitar solos of all time, then reverses course, and goes on to lay down some of the catchiest funk jams known to man. A beautiful slab of manic-depression that I think would make Jimi proud.

I'd argue that Parliament/Funkadelic is THE archetype of funk. By comparison James Brown is simply a genre of his own. Incomparable really in how he predated everyone by so far. I'd say he was proto-funk in the same way Iggy Pop was proto-punk. Only other major contender for the title is Sly Stone, and I love Sly, certainly another major pioneer, but he and his Family don't jam nearly as hard, nor were they as eccentric and flat out buck wild as George Clinton and his crew of fearless maniacs. And that's what I think it takes to be truly funky; that no holds barred eccentricity where you can really let that freak flag fly. Holding nothing back. Like straight up just overdub fart sounds into that last track. No fucks given. Definition of funk to me.

To me this is a major improvement over "Screamadelica." I sort of enjoy the unfocused, atmospheric mess of this, and the influences are top notch. I hear wafts of Can beats, samples of Miles Davis' fusion material, some Stooges rock that slaps you in the face out of nowhere, and of course a strong Dub influence (with Augustus Pablo on melodica no less!). I'm into the hazy, druggy, loose, kitchen sink experimentation of it all. Using the Vader mask on "Motorhead" is a good clue that they weren't taking themselves too seriously and were just fucking around, having fun, and being themselves. Probably would've been a blast to hang out with them during the recording of this.

Having disliked "Screamadelica" (I rated it a 2), I thought I was going to hate this. But I have to say, as I continue to listen to this album, I've gotta give them the Most Improved Artist award. Actually kinda regret I wasn't into this upon it's initial release as it would've been right up my alley.