Reviews by mibbiesaye

Phil Spector's production abilities curdled in the 70s in an interesting way to me. Like Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies Man everything sounds woozy rather than the dreaminess of his 60s heyday. But I like it.

Lyrically the song Imagine is the ultimate in hippiness which it isn't difficult to be cynical about. But it is good to be the ultimate in something and it is pretty if overplayed. I prefer the blasted sad and apparent self pity of the original of Jealous Guy over the more than a little preening of Bryan Ferry's version. How Do You Sleep? is mean but it is also pretty funny and fun in a school playground gossipy way to consider alongside Macca's Too Many People. Also don't think for a moment Lennon wasn't aware of how it contrasts with the title track.

I've never understood the hype around Wilco. I feel like I ought to like them given their reference points but the songs sound uninspiring and the 'experimental' bits sound tacked on to me.

So many other albums they could have picked from 1983 instead of this dreary load of old cobblers. Clearest case of boomer bias so far.

30 years on I still hear new things in every listen

The commercial arm of the New Weird America. Quite liked it.

The album that triggered a deluge of landfill. That whole era has that weird contradiction of sounding energetically youthful while wearing the musical clothing of an older generation. I like that he has a lot to say and how he paints a vivid picture of being out on the town. But why is he so angry with all the women he wants to shag? It's self loathing isn't it? Someone ought to write a thought piece in the Observer about how Alex Turner was the harbinger of the modern crisis in masculinity or something.

There's a trip down memory lane, although I knew the albums either side a bit better. Sort of midway between The Cramps and The White Stripes. Nice to see from the reviews that they still upset a few people but you've lead a sheltered life if you think this is white noise.

I came to Janelle Monáe late but I really love her last two albums. Very pleased this thing got me to finally go back and listen to her first. I don't think it is quite as good as the ones I know but that could just be that it's hard to take in a 70+ minute concept album in one day.

I had a Creedence album the other day. Levon Helm excepted pretending you were from the south of USA was quite the thing for other North Americans for a moment there. What was that all about? Anyway I think The Band's version was far richer and engaging.

Plenty is said quite correctly about the great songwriting and them having three great lead singers but I think a major ingredient in what makes them stand out is the interplay between two keyboard players. It gives them a fluid sound with more colours than the more typical of the time two overdriven guitars approximating the blues.

I like the two long slightly weirdly metronomic ones.

It is influential so it deserves its spot but I don't rate the shouty punk bits that much. I think they sound like they are cosplaying that stuff. The slinkier more interesting stuff like Three Girl Rhumba points towards where they were headed and is much better.

It is a great listen but sometimes I wish they'd put out a live album so you can hear what Colm and especially Debbie are doing. When I saw them when they toured mbv it was a revelation on the Loveless tracks.

Metallica's huge popularity baffles me. I feel like they suck all the thrill and the joy out of metal.

This was the first Neil Young album I bought. I have my ups and downs with him but I've stayed tuned in all this time and this is still a favourite. Better than its successor Harvest.

This was the one post hard-core album I really got into at the time. I always meant to properly explore more but never got round to it. Maybe nothing else would live up to it.

She's my favourite interpreter of songs by I also wish she had written more like Four Women.

There's a good sized contingent that just don't like live albums then. Who knew? Feels like your missing out on that feeling of eavesdropping on a unique moment in time when a piece of magic is worked between performer(s) and crowd. This is a very good example.

Almost everything that sounds obviously influenced by this doesn't live up to its inventiveness and variety. Sure plenty have copped the proto indie sounds of I'll Be Your Mirror or There She Goes Again but not many can match the other worldliness of Venus In Furs or All Tomorrow's Parties.

I can still hear new things despite a gazillion previous listens. E.g. I hadn't noticed before how much of a Dylan pastiche Black Angel Death Song is if you remove John Cale's viola.

I've noticed it's kind of become a thing to say you never really liked these records that much really anyway because of various reasons not least the awful way they treated Erykah Baduh. But I can't deny this record still sounds great.

I saw them on the tour for this. It was so good I lost my shoes.