Reviews by mikey_nc

An utter slab of shit. Actual money was spent to record this. It really makes you think.

I hate horror movies, Hot Topic, and body odor, so one would think I'm inclined to hate Slipknot. This album was a pleasant surprise, though, even if I may be one of the first people ever to apply the word "pleasant" to this thing. The riffs were consistently great, and the band shows a bit of range, sprinkling in clean vocals here and blast beats there to prove they can do more than one type of metal. As shocking and off-putting as they are on the surface, their sound is actually pretty polished and well-produced, and while I understand why that might make them a joke to a lot of metalheads, it definitely helped things go down easier for me. I didn't love this, but I did enjoy a lot of it and I now get why they have (had?) such a big fanbase.

Best song: Psychosocial

Definitely some good material here, but does it really have to go on for so long? You can feel Zeppelin starting to sag under their own weight by the end of it.

Best song: Houses of the Holy

Oozing with creativity and packed with virtuosic guitar playing, this album ushered in the psychedelic era more than any other. Hendrix’s career wasn’t long but it was impactful, and this is probably his most impactful release.

Best song: Third Stone from the Sun

A wonderfully bright and simple album. It might seem primitive at times, but the template for generations of pop and rock music is laid out here. Fun, wholesome, and pretty impressive.

Best song: Not Fade Away

Why the hell do I like this album so much? I could easily chalk it up to being a child of the 2000s and call it a day, but there’s something more here, from the massive glitchy production to the killer riffs to the legitimate hooks permeating almost every song. Linkin Park are very easy to mock, but I will stand by this forever as a genuinely good album.

Best song: With You

Light, dreamy, well-crafted album somewhere on the edge between dance and indie pop. Not what I would naturally seek out, but a great piece of work.

Best song: Nothing Can Stop Us

Lively, gritty, warm album. Great sound quality and crowd interaction. Big fan.

Best song: (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons

A fascinating instrumental album with a well-defined vibe of mystery and strong musicianship. Post-rock can look difficult to get into but in my limited experience it’s a pretty strong genre, and this album reinforced that for me.

Best song: Djed

Oh God, Clapton. It’s not even like this is bad, it’s actually pretty polished for what it is, but I have zero desire to hear it again. The only memorable song is I Shot the Sheriff, which is all well and good except that it’s just a meek and flabby version of the much better Bob Marley original. Clapton please go away now.

Smooth, muscular, and very fun old-school rap. This feels like a major vibe and sound shift from most of the other 80s rap I’ve heard on the list, as full bass-driven beats dominate here. LL Cool J isn’t exactly a virtuoso, but he’s still a charismatic and talented rapper who sells every song successfully.

Best song: Mama Said Knock You Out

I get why this album is a big deal, but man it is hideously dated. There’s just not a lot here that I find engaging.

Best song: 30 Days

That didn’t necessarily sound horrible, but wow did I hate it. Worked about as well as you’d expect white man sex funk to work.

A very odd little album for something that apparently was such a big hit. Listening to it I think mainly of Talking Heads, as it has a similar sense of paranoia, but it sounds much lighter and softer than them and I’m not certain that works. There are some boring moments and some bizarre turns (Mother??), but the good songs are really good. So it’s hard for me to get a handle on.

Best song: Synchronicity II

That was stupid as crap, but the guitars were pretty nice.

Best song: Are You Ready (For Some Darkness)

My first exposure to Stephen Stills was watching the Americana Music Awards with my dad when I was around 15. He was receiving some sort of lifetime achievement award, and the ceremony closed with him performing Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” with a giant band for about ten solid minutes. For What It’s Worth is a pleasant (if overrated) song, and I was willing to go for it. Then the performance started, and I quickly realized this band was going to attempt to go full Americana and mix at least five genres together—rock and roll, folk, country, psychedelia, blues, and bluegrass were all there, and most of them were not welcome. As the band riffed on and on, as countless white man blues guitar solos rained down, and as old man Stephen Stills kept wailing the by-then meaningless hook (“STOP HEY WUT’S THAT SOUND? ERRYBODY LOOK WHAT’S GOING DOWN!”), I became so utterly disgusted that I resolved never to watch the Americana Music Awards again. Listening to this album, whether fairly or not, reminded me of that experience. There are a few songs I like here, but it’s just a big fat messy hodgepodge that goes on way too long for its own good.

Best song: Colorado?

Sensual yet robotic, sharp, seedy. I’m not really into the vibe or sound of this, but I can see how it might have impressed a lot of people back in its era.

Best song: Red Alert

A bright and heavy rock album with some funk influence mixed in. Nothing special, but a fun listen.

Best song: Cult of Personality

British techno slop. Pass.

Not really sure what this had to do with Kenya, but it’s a solid swing album with a neat mixture of Latin rhythms.

Best song: Blues a la Machito