Reviews by mikey_nc

I had to take a long hard look at myself and ask, if this hadn’t been made by a Beatle, would I think all that highly of it? And the answer is, no, not really. This is John approaching his most self-righteous and pretentious state (to be fully realized in Some Time in New York City), and the sound is too sappy and overproduced for my taste. The title track has always been wildly overrated. The melody’s nice, but there’s nothing too special about it and the lyrics scream of John’s self-importance more than they relate any deep message. (But maybe I’ve been poisoned by the Gal Gadot video back in 2020.)

The album’s best moment happens when John abandons his delusions of being some kind of people’s poet and attacks his former best friend in a mean, nasty diss track. Probably more revealing than any of the peace-on-Earth stuff, which John was never the best at, no matter how much he wanted to be. His specialty was always mining negative emotions, providing the darkness to Paul’s light, so it’s only fitting that he fails by straying from the grim intimacy of Plastic Ono Band but strikes gold by mocking his old foil.

So yeah, not John’s finest. It’s not bad, there’s good songs here, but it’s red meat for the haters in some ways.

Best song: How Do You Sleep

A rich album fusing jazz and experimental sounds with Mitchell’s singer-songwriter approach. A little hard to get a handle on, but very good and deserving more listens.

Best song: The Hissing of Summer Lawns

I guess it’s an innovative album, and it has a couple decent tunes, but I’m left pretty cold by it. The guitar tone is grating, the production is bad, and the songs feel really half-baked.

The best band to come out of the nu metal/alt metal scene. Well, probably. I just know I’ll take this over Slipknot eight days a week.

Best song: Sugar

A weird witchy album with an almost childlike sound. You know, like a demented child. I didn’t really like it, but I don’t think it deserves to be one of the lowest-rated albums, either. It’s pretty cohesive and not an active assault on the ears, unlike some of the other bottom feeders.

A pretty boring album with the classic Phil Spector Wall of Sound production. Unmemorable, but not really bad.

Fascinating and weird. The Apple Music blurb describes it as “music about listening to music,” much like the Avalanches or sample-heavy hip-hop, and I think that’s not a bad description. A sometimes excessive but consistently interesting collage of pop music.

A wonderful little album full of sweet, simple songs. Dolly will forever be the queen of country.

Best song: Coat of Many Colors

You can kind of hear the sound of 60s rock change in real time on this album. Some of the psychedelic stuff is a little much, but a strong album from a great band.

It’s ABBA! Corny as hell, catchy as hell, and bedazzled to death.

Best song: Dancing Queen

Soft, moody, acoustic, atmospheric. Too saccharine at times, but an interesting turn for a big pop star.

Best song: Something to Save

Cookie Monster screams about how his daddy and the females hate him.
The sound of the band is actually not bad—often, they’re quite talented. I guess it may be my best-sounding 1/5. What an ignominious honor.

Best song: Freak on a Leash

A couple decent songs here but the album is sooooo long and so dull. Doesn’t help that Ryan Adams himself is awful.

Best song: The Rescue Blues

Rock on you Bri’ish mu’ufu’ers

49 damn minutes of WOMP woo woo woo WOMPPPP woo woo

A classic, though it’s a little too monotonous for me to rank it among the best of all time. Still, if you want to learn about metal, this is one of the first few albums you should check out.

Best song: Master of Puppets

An incredibly dismal album with a singular atmosphere. I don’t know if it’s really possible to “enjoy” any of this, but there is a vision there.

Grungy but with nice melodies and guitars. I liked it.

I am a sucker for Beatlesque rock. Solid if not especially memorable album.

A fun if repetitive album. Full of bright sounds and great instrumentation.