Reviews by mikey_nc

Hideously long album and a little too juvenile. Still, I credit them for providing a good variety of sounds, tones, and moods. A few great songs don’t hurt either.

Big, weird, and scattershot. About twice as long as it should be. It’s a clear downgrade from Rumours, but I do appreciate the boldness here and the refusal to make a basic sequel.

I think the banana album is titanically important on a historical level, but it’s probably a little overrated as an actual listening experience. That’s not to say it’s bad—Lou Reed’s songwriting talents are on display, and the band makes effective use of Nico’s weird warbly voice. The experimental stuff is not as interesting as some insist it is, but this is an essential album nonetheless.

This album has too many long saccharine ballads, and I’m probably never gonna be impressed by Madonna as a vocalist. Still, I come away from this more impressed by her talents than either of the last two I heard.

Elvis Costello is frustrating to me because he’s such an “almost” artist. His songs are almost catchy, his lyrics are almost interesting, his sound is almost unique, his music is almost good. But none of it fully coalesces and I’m left feeling ambivalent about the guy. I can’t even get upset about the number of albums he has on the list—it’s only almost annoying.

I’m kind of shocked by how decent that was. Warm old-school beats and a pretty good flow. The French language is redeeming itself.

A very solid and capable 70s rock album. I get kind of tired of Rod Stewart but he does have some pipes.

Love the lush beats and Lupe’s flow. A quality 2000s rap album, very much from the early Kanye school.

The Ramones strip rock music to the studs. Studio tricks, instruments outside the guitar/bass/drums triad, and anything resembling “deep” songwriting are all not only abandoned, but derided. All you need, the Ramones insist, are a riff, a hook, and an attitude.

And you know what? They’re right. This is that rarest of rarities: a perfect album. Not perfect in the sense that there’s nothing WRONG with it, of course not. It’s basically the same song over and over; Joey Ramone can barely sing; the rest of the band can only play four or five chords at one speed; the lyrics are sorta subversive at best and absolute braindead schlock at worst. No, the Ramones’ debut is perfect because it captures the raw id of rock music in crystalline form. Everything the genre is about, on its most basic level, is here.

Tldr: PT BOAT ON THE WAY TO HAVANA I USED TO MAKE A LIVING OFF OF PICKING DA BANANA

There’s a few good songs here but man I can only take so much of Morrissey’s mewling and moaning. He’s the kind of artist that really needs other strong personalities to check him.

This has many of the hallmarks that critics love about glam rock: it’s raunchy, it’s edgy, it’s heavy, and it’s (kind of) weird. Unfortunately, it fails to be good.

80 minutes of this are we serious. 40 minutes of loud overproduced oversung pop would be questionable enough.

I guess this is a hood classic but I found it pretty grating.

Tom Waits kind of defies traditional definitions of “good.” This is often ugly and crude, but it’s also full of that indescribably seedy atmosphere he specializes in.

Possibly on the lightweight side, but still a great album so who really cares? A definitive “throw it on for any gathering” album.

Uhhhhh sure? I’m just not moved by this kind of music at all.

A very mild and sweet album, sung gently and arranged tastefully. Certainly not exciting or innovative, but it’s not supposed to be. A calming slow-burn listen.

My main memory of this band is that their greatest hits CD would randomly get advertised on Nickelodeon in the middle of the day. Not sure what 9 year olds were gonna buy Incubus greatest hits but anyway. This was fine, kinda like a heavier Third Eye Blind.

I was vibing until the bad Doors imitation in the last song. Too bad as I really like what I heard of their other album.

A little too sugary flower-power in places, but still a rich and varied album with great melodies.