Reviews by mikey_nc

Bizarre, elliptical, sort of stupid… but memorable. The production is pretty dense, the melodies are pretty good, and I come away uncertain but interested.

Best song: I Can’t Own Her

Moody, rich, and immaculately crafted, fusing the darkness of blues, the sound of jazz, the edge of rock, and the hooks of pop as effectively as anyone ever did. Greatest debut album ever?

Best song: Light My Fire

I respect the earnestness of this, but the preachiness and the monotony both turn me off. I’ve always been a bit skeptical when people call melodies derivative, thinking that a good melody should always be a good melody, but this album really made me get that criticism. To be fair, it all might have worked better if he didn’t sound like… that.

Best song: The Warmest Room

This isn’t the most exciting album in the world, but it is very smooth and well-produced, and a little innovative to boot. You could throw this on almost any time for almost any mood. Still, its applicability to everything means it ends up not being specific to much of anything.

Best song: Islands

That started out alright before descending into utter madness. Not for me.

Best song: Obatala

A sharp, spiky, paranoid album. Very much “post-punk” in a way that I prefer to a lot of actual post-punk albums. Really like the sound here, atmospheric, mixing heavy and light textures together.

Best song: I Against I

I’ve always found it pretty easy to slot the Who at third place in the imaginary contest between the Big Three British Bands of the 60s (the Beatles being 1st and the Stones being 2nd, naturally), but I will always give them their respect for this album, a towering and majestic peak if any artist ever had one. Possibly my favorite opener-closer pair of any album, and everything in between is pretty awesome to boot.

Best song: Won’t Get Fooled Again

A few nice melodies, but such a grungy and dingy sound. I kinda want to like this, but not much memorable here unfortunately.

Best song: All I Know

This is pretty well-crafted, but man is it a drag. Listening to this feels like I’m 8 years old and have been forced into attending an orchestra.

Best song: Solsbury Hill

That’s pretty rad. Great riffs and hooks and energy. Quintessential hard rock.

Best song: Cowboy Song

A scattershot “slacker rock” album that feels half-finished on purpose. I do appreciate the colorful sound here, disparate genres mashed together to craft interesting textures… but come on, is this really “good” by any normal metric? I guess it was to Kurt Cobain, who translated these ideas into much better music.

Best song: Tony’s Theme

I was vibing with this until the male singer came in and pretty much ruined the album. Doesn’t help that it feels quite dated.

Best song: Keep On Movin’

A 1 feels really harsh but I am absolutely not finishing this. It literally gave me a headache.

Best song: There were songs?

Fast, nasty, hard-hitting. Cool song structures and some good guitar stuff. Off-beat but I was into it—is my faith in punk rock being restored?

Best song: Lexicon Devil

Some might describe this as calming—I’d describe it as eerie and droning. I get why people would be into this, but it’s not my cup of tea.

Best song: Run

It's hard to describe how I feel about this one. It reminds me of Blackstar, with a different sound but similarly dour tone, and it has a couple really strong songs that stand up with Bowie's classics. But the whole thing just sort of drags, and the album cover really sets an accurate tone; an old, ragged, dismissive, and derivative take on Bowie's peak years in the 70s. Today is another day, and where are we now? Just as in the song, he sounds tired and unsure of the answer.

Best song: The Stars (Are Out Tonight)

Probably my favorite Neil Young album, and the best fusion I’ve heard between his acoustic side and electric side (though there still is some tension there). A great set of songs delivered with his distinctively emotive weariness.

Best song: Powderfinger

The last two Smiths album made me question whether I actually liked them, but this album reminded me that they do have a lot to offer. Still, l’m not as high on them as I once was… partly because their bizarre lyrics now read as more annoying than clever, partly because they lack for sonic and emotional range, and partly because I don’t like Morrissey’s voice (though he is unique, I must give him that). But I don’t want to be too negative. In spite of everything, this is a pretty great album with a few classic songs.

Best song: There is a Light That Never Goes Out

After the Slipknot album I thought I was warming more to metal but nope, I don’t really like this one. I think the number one culprit is Phil Anselmo’s voice. Whatever he’s doing, I hate it.

Best song: Walk

Well that sure was some 80s pop. Luxuriously produced, quite polished, and incredibly syrupy. I wouldn’t call this terrible, I think it’s just not my taste at all.

Best song: Faith