Reviews by meemesker

Oh man. You know what... I'm not going to even listen past the first song. That's right. I'm not even going to give it a chance. I just can't stomach this right now.

Listened to this kind of early rock n roll with my dad on road trips and around town in the car. Solid.

The grand daddy of concept albums. Features, arguably, the greatest Lennon McCartney collaboration, A Day In The Life. I always used to play that tune on the juke box at the pool hall when I was a kid cause it had that secret track on it at the end and it would temporarily disrupt the place into a state of surreal confusion, much to my delight. It's only a matter of seconds but it felt like ages each time. Love the idea of them pretending to be an alter ego in order to free themselves from being The Beatles and all the expectations that went with it. Studio as an instrument on full display here. What a combination of dreary reality and escapism. Goes together like peanut butter and jelly. Listening to this on headphones, I'm hearing little details I've never noticed before. Guessing it's also partially the remastering.

What a thunderous cacophony! I'm surprised I've never heard this. I can't say I exactly enjoy a whole album of it but for a track or two this is kind of stunning in it's intensity. Two sets of drums recorded with some significant reverb and dueling saxophones going at it all at once is quite a unique arrangement. Really stopped me in my tracks when I first put it on. My ears took a minute to even be able to process what they were hearing. I like this but I'm giving it a 3 because I know I'd never put this on as an album or tolerate it if someone else did. There's very little variation of mood or relief from the intensity. Again, a track or two is exhilarating and would be mind blowing live but any more than that gets exhausting real quick.

Not in the mood for this tonight but it's alright. I'm more a fan of later Sonic Youth.

These guys were definitely listening to Big Star and Cheap Trick. Power pop to the max. Though this tends to stick more to the mellower Big Star sound than the slightly more fun/upbeat sound of Cheap Trick. Probably one of the worst album covers I've ever seen. Did they have a 5 minute conversation about what the cover should look like and then go straight over to MS Paint and crank it out in 5 more minutes? Nailed it! And the whole business with Gene Simmons owning the copyright to the image of a cash bag with a dollar sign on it is mind bogglingly ridiculous. Reason #473 why Gene Simmons is a fucking piece of shit.

In every baby boomer mom's top ten. Some big classics here but ultimately not my thing.

On second listen it is apparent to me that this is quite a unique album. Love the production. Title track is dope. Strength of Strings is a great way to follow it up. Was expecting everything to be fairly standard country rock but this is a tasty cocktail of influences. I just so happen to be heading to Mendocino where this album was conceived later this week.

These kind of blues jams are very much not my thing. Couldn't make it through most tracks. I find this kind of stuff utterly boring and tedious. Can't even imagine trying to make it through the deluxe edition .

Had this on cassette back in the day. It's where I really start liking The Beastie Boys. They are transitioning out of their earlier sound into something much more complex. Bursting at the seams with samples. Love the flow of the tracks, almost especially when they suddenly smack up against one another, culminating in the collage-like "B Boy Bouillabaisse." The album moves along at a good clip while covering alot of different moods/sounds, but mostly exuding contagious excitement and fun. Wish more contemporary hip hop had this kind of manic ADD energy.

This started tolerable and ended up becoming torture as the album drug on. Some individual tracks are okay like "When I Dream" for example but as an album I find it irritating.

Though this is not my personal favorite John Cale album (that would be "Fear"), I am going to give this a 5 because I'm pretty sure this will be John Cale's only solo appearance on the list. This is a beautiful album and I find his voice oddly comforting.

Starts so goofily but really lifts off with "Spanish Castle Magic." There's a loose almost carefree feeling to the album. Sounds like they are having fun creating things in the studio.

Man, I hope this is not the only John Lee Hooker album on this list... It's alright but I would much rather listen to an earlier record of his without all the guests.

Love it. The companion piece to Graceland. The real heart and soul of that album on full display here. So pure and recorded with just the right amount of "space" and reverb. Feels very present but also very comfortable. Love the balance and stereo play between the ears on headphones. The unaccompanied human voice is the purest and sometimes most powerful way to experience music. Would love to hear this performed in person so I could really feel the vibrations of those voices.

It's got motorik beats and synths all over it. Of course I like it. Even got Malcolm Mooney on "Ravenspoint"! Love the balance of instruments and electronics. I'm a sucker for female voices paired with electronic music.

It's very pleasant and moody and all but honestly I find it a bit of a yawn.

I like the slower number "They're hanging me tonight" but the rest is just okay to me.

I love this album's big sound. It's simply one of the most passionate albums I've ever heard. I would say it was raw passion except that you can tell the album was very carefully crafted - channeling that passion into a thing of beauty - striking a near perfect balance. Springsteen displays more authentic passion on this album than many artists seem to be able to muster in their entire careers.
I have tried, but can't seem to get into, Springsteen's first two albums, and I think alot of it has to do with the lyrics. On this album, while going for a bigger sound musically, he chose to go in a more refined direction lyrically, foregoing his more cryptic Dylanesque approach of the first two albums for something more direct and heartfelt than intellectual, and it makes all the difference. Though you definitely can hear the Dylan influence throughout, especially in songs like Jungleland, I think this is where Springsteen really comes into his own and becomes "The Boss."
This is one for the ages. Coincidentally, I just listened to this on vinyl the other day with the family. It's in pretty regular rotation in our house and everyone enjoys it.

Bowie in transition. Always surprised he didn't stick with this sound for a couple more albums being as it was successful commercially, but he just kept on mutating. This is like a sort of musical palette cleanser between main courses/phases of his career. Also, definitely worth pairing this with the "Gouster" outtakes of the same period from the "Who Can I Be Now" box set.