Reviews by meemesker

I like a fair amount of electronic music from this era, particularly British electronic music, but I never listened to this one somehow. Although it is slightly more dancey than most of what I was listening to back then, this would've fit right in and been a treasured part of the musical landscape. As I think the best electronic music should be, it is a fun headphone ride. I also like all the different influences they incorporate. I gravitate more towards the slower tempo numbers.

I can't help but like this. Especially the Mark Ronson produced tracks - they capture that Phil Spector & Motown vibe so well with just the right amount of modern punch, dynamics, and flair. She has an incredibly soulful voice and her more modern/almost conversational lyrics make the experience more thrilling and not just a revival record. I feel like this is done with absolute reverence for the past while not simply being a reenactment act - similar to the way say the White Stripes' influences are obvious yet they coalesce into something fresh and unique. You can tell this comes from a real place and it is of course a tragedy that she was consumed by her addictions.

Of all the pop punk bands, I think Green Day is the only one I actually enjoy on some level. I've only heard Dookie through Nimrod before though. I've seen this album get alot of praise and I wanted to give it a 3 when I first started listening but as the album goes on I feel like it collapses under its own weight. I respect the ambition but it was a bit of a chore to get through.

Not heard this before. Largely comes off as Radiohead-lite to me with flashes of Blur here and there. Got to respect the ambition though. Love it when the British don't hold back their accents while singing. Perhaps my favorite track is "The loneliness of a Tower crane driver."

Love VU but Lou Reed's solo stuff is real hit or miss with me. Love the album before this, Transformer, with Bowie's production. I'm sure we'll get around to that one. This one is a little too bleak for me though. I found The Kids to be unbearable, skipped the fucking track when it got to the kid crying. He's recycling a fair amount old unused VU material in places. Like the prominent bass by none other than Cream's Jack Bruce, but that's about it.

Trent Reznor certainly has a unique and original sound. And this is probably his strongest album. I used to own this album and a couple NIN Eps back when I was a teenager but ended up trading them back to get something else cause there was just never a time/place to play them. I give him big points for his sonic inventiveness in incorporating samples and noise and all that texture/atmosphere but I find the relentlessly dark/heavy mood and lyrics to be absolutely exhausting/draining by the end. I'd probably enjoy this much more as an instrumental album. Amazing that "closer" was a hit single. That post "Nevermind" era was incredible the way it opened the floodgates for things like this to at least temporarily become part of the mainstream.

Had to listen to this twice for it to even sink in. It just kind of washed over me. The vocal delivery is like Bono trying to channel Jim Morrison's ghost (especially on thorn of crowns). Ambitious and moody. Like a strange hybrid of The Cure, Bauhaus, XTC, and U2. "The Killing Moon" reminds me of Radiohead. I listened to it a third time (this time in the day) and it started to grow on me. Went from 3 to 4 overnight. At night it seemed so melodramatic but in the daytime it sounded a little more balanced.

Had only heard the singles. It kind of surprised me that this came out in 88 as I remember those first two songs on the album being in the atmosphere throughout the 90s and I associate her sound with the 90s. You can definitely hear her influence on alot of what came after. Ahead of it's time in that way and a very unique sound when you think of what else what was going on at the time. Such a clean/pristine/naked/vulnerable sound. I guess sometimes stripping things down can be revolutionary. Kind of an amazing that an album so at odds with the sound of the time and one that was so political was able to be such a smash hit. It gets a little more 80s sounding on "baby can I hold you" and "mountains o things" with those arrangements.

This came out when I was 13-14 years old. I was pretty much the target audience for this and it never really grabbed me back then. Still doesn't. I have a certain nostalgic thing for "Self Esteem" but that's about it. That one in particular has a more Nirvana like feel which is probably why I'm more attracted to it. Oh man the "secret track" at the end - forgot about those and how they'd translate to modern streaming. So of it's time.

I feel like this is prince's last truly great album. Kind of like his "songs in the key of life." His last big supernova before becoming a neutron star. Like he's trying to get everything out, throwing in the kitchen sink while he's at it (even a live track). I'm kind of a sucker for sprawling, all over the place, wooden rollercoaster type albums with all kinds of twists and turns from track to track. Love him playing different characters with different voices. Love the Linn drum sound. Love the playfulness and range of emotions. Love Prince. Listened to the super deluxe edition.

One I've not listened to before. Always heard praise for them but just thought of them as one hit wonders with "Come on Eileen" and kind of dismissed them. Love the way it starts with dialing through the radio. I'd bet this was a real fun live show to catch back around when this record came out. Ambitious punks trying to get soulful. Walking a fine line between earnestness and irony but it sure sounds like they are having a good time doing it. I think my favorite thing on the record is the verses on "thankfully not living in yorkshire..." (But not necessarily the choruses). Probably my favorite whole track is "tell me when my light turns green." I'd bet if I was really fucking drunk I'd love this.

Nice little lesser known gem from the era. Cool that it's on the list. Sounds like some thing between Nirvana, The Pixies, and Dinosaur Jr., with a dash of XTC thrown in for that pop element/vocal delivery that almost gets gleefully overdone at points? I feel like "A Good Idea" (which sounds like a Pixies outtake) is the standout track here by far and nothing else can quite touch it on the rest of the album. Definitely some unexpected/interesting sonic touches throughout that I didn't expect. 3.5 rounded down to 3.

My favorite Nilsson album. Nobody sounds quite like him. Has a sort of timeless quality. Amazing voice and gorgeous arrangements. Incredible range on display here in terms of emotions/moods captured and influences that he's woven together with impeccable pop craftsmanship. I feel like he sort of went off the rails in some ways after this album but this is him at his absolute apex. Love the album cover too. It's so bravely honestly vulnerably human, especially for the time. So comfortable with himself/who he is. I feel like it was a comically self deprecating way to balance the sheer beauty of the music. That and poke fun of the egos of so many other music performers.

I know Jah Wobble more from PIL and his collaborations with Holger Czukay of Can. I like him as a support player/collaborator but maybe not so much as a solo artist. He's got a ton of releases and I wonder why this particular one was chosen. I feel like this list is pretty solid in its picks the further back it goes but right about here in the timeline going forward it gets a little more spotty. Can't say I really enjoyed it, like I don't want to listen to it again, but it wouldn't really bother me if someone had it on in the background. Okay, skipped through the tracks again and I like the first song alright as a single but the rest of the album doesn't have the same vibe. 2.5 rounded down I guess?

I tend to not love live albums unless there is something really unique in the performance. This one, being a double album, I found to drag on a bit toward the end. I liked the 4 song run between "Dancing in the Moonlight" and "Johnny the Fox," gravitating more toward the slower songs.

Oh my God. I love everything about this album. Every single song. Best T Rex album hands down. He caught lightning in a bottle here. What a tight little package - so efficient/effective. Cooked to perfection with just the right amount of seasoning in the production. The thing I think I love the most is probably his intonation/phrasing/inflection on nearly every line. So passionate and memorable. Burned into me. Unlike Donovan, Marc Bolan figured out how to transition out of the mystical 60s folk thing and into the sexy ass rock of the 70s. Both a sensitive whimsical dreamer and a rocker with some serious balls. So much catchy joy through it all. Highest caliber pleasure. There might be albums that I like more in one way or another or that mean more to me but I consider this a perfect album. Even the imperfections are perfect. Gotta listen to the expanded and remastered version. Bonus: cult favorites of mine, Flo and Eddie of the Turtles, are on backing vox. I feel they might be the real secret ingredient in making the mix really shine.

Never listened to a whole Tito Puente album. Really enjoyed listening to this, both by myself and with the family. Love the dance of the lead voices with the chorus and of course the layers of percussion is right up my alley. The "living stereo" mix sounds great and for its time is incredible. Favorite tracks: Llego Mijan and Mi Chiquita Quiere Bembe.

I have a very special place in my heart for Donovan. I don't know if I can quite articulate it. I get the sense he was very true to himself somehow... I guess that it comes down to the fact that I don't get the slightest trace of cynicism from him. I feel like he was one of the hippies who actually believed in the flower power and in doing so had a hard time adjusting after the summer of love came to an end. I don't know if he has an entire album that is a masterpiece per se but I love his sound, even as it changes from song to song. Always interesting arrangements and fusion of influences. Dare to be gentle. Favorite tracks: "Season of the Witch" and "Celeste." Sounds like this album could use a good remastering.

I like the smiths alright and this was one of their biggest albums but I can't really get into this one as much. It's weird cause I like the album before this one and the album after this one much more. I'd bet that the latter one, "the queen is dead" is on this 1001 list too. "Well I wonder" is probably my favorite track on the album. Morrissey gets all the glory but Johnny Marr is severely underrated in the US. Moody brooding.

Love the bass forward sound. Love when bass has more of an equal share in the mix and more freedom to be a melodic contributor alongside the guitar, rather than simply being a support. I'd argue that the bass is actually driving the hooks here and is in a sense the main the melodic instrument, with the guitar playing more of an accent /support role stabbing in there with a really trebly sound. Lots of interesting changes and movement/stopping/in/out/bursts of energy. I'm a sucker for this flatter yet still passionate singing style too. Like the way they seem to cut in lower fidelity possibly demo recordings into the mix for effect at certain points throughout. Lyrics and subject matter are my cup of tea. Not too much love and relationships shit here. Punk with a college degree. I might be an Anglophile. Listened to this several times.