Reviews by mikltabey

I’ve always liked Sunshine of Your Love, and I liked Blue Condition. The rest of the album was enjoyable enough, but nothing special.

Pretty great. Is this our first Kraftwerk? I remember the first time I heard them. I was a pre-teen and in the backseat of the car. We were on a mountain road and could only get an AM station. Autobahn came on and I had never heard anything like it. It was so weird and exciting and I couldn’t believe I was the only one in the car paying attention. Then the DJ came on and declared: “That was Autobahn by Kraftwerk.”

I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for them ever since. Of course, Autobahn isn’t on this (I bet we hear it later), but this is so good too.

I’m genuinely confused as to why someone was insistent enough that I should listen to this that they put it on this list?

It struck me as just generic, regular smooth jazz. Reminds me of music I’d hear in an elevator or shopping mall. It’s just …fine.

I didn’t dislike this. I didn’t like this. It just is.

I feel bad giving this a 2, but the personal scale I’ve been using for these ratings is that a 3 is ‘I liked it at least a little.’

This didn’t earn that.

Way back, right out of college, I took a job in a call center. My supervisor constantly, for the couple of years I worked there, whistled Yellow Submarine. I asked her about it and she was like “Yeah, it just won’t leave my brain.”

What a wild job, and everyone that worked there are felons now and I’m so glad I left before I got arrested too. (I didn’t do anything illegal while there, but could see myself having been pressured into the shenanigans that happened after I left.)

Anyway, this album reminded me of that. Also, 5 stars.

Boy, did I really not want to listen to this. And I was right. I didn’t enjoy it.

I am a sucker for some twang and had to talk myself out of giving this 4 stars. It’s good. I enjoyed it. It’s not the best country music from this era.

This was fine. Not my typical thing, but I liked it OK.

You know… it’s never been my favorite. It’s got some good highlights, but not enough to blow me away.

When I look at the songs in this album, I ask myself how many of my very favorite Talking Heads songs are in this? Not that many.

It’s a good album. Not perfect. Some of these lyrics don’t quite do it for me.

Neil released a bunch of 5 star music. Is this the best one?

An album I can’t argue with being in this list. A delight. It’s only been the past few years that I’ve heard Sparks. But they rock.

I really liked most of it! Ry Cooder can play guitar! Some of it was meh.

I’m talking U2 to you!

This was another pretty good one from them. I knew the hits, but never thought I liked them. I now know that I really like at least a few of their albums. Thanks, list generator.

Hey Ya is a masterpiece. I remember the first time I heard the song (on the radio in my mother’s van with her and my sister). I remember how huge it was. It was a topic of conversation for at least a couple of weeks while it was growing in popularity. I remember a friend of mine not knowing what it was, going out to his car to listen in a restaurant parking lot (ah, the good ol’ days), and liking it.

OutKast is a great group. Andre has always seemed like the most interesting one. With his flute playing? I listened to that album. It was pretty good.

I actually think, overall, Speakerboxxx is the stronger album here. Who knew! I was tempted to knock this down a star for being two hours long, but I think an overall 4 is fair. There’s some filler I could do without, but a ton of great stuff.

The absolute way this guy dismissively negates any way his music would have any influence on kids or society, or that his words could be hurtful to women or LGBTQ people. Starting with an incense PSA so you could point to it and say “See? See?! YOU’RE the monsters!”

I mean. He gives the reason to not rape a girl as because she’s underage? Drugging her and doing it would be fine if she’s 18?

I also can see the side of: “This is art, like it or not. It portrays things you don’t like, but it’s still powerful and well done.”

Anyway…a conflicted 4 stars.

When I used to work retail, Cry Me a River would play on the PA. It was one of the few songs I could tolerate and I still think of it fondly. I enjoyed listening to it this time too.

I almost gave this album a 2 just for that song, but I disliked the other HOUR of music enough that that one good song couldn’t save it.

Yeah. This is really, really good. It’s one of this albums that started out with me liking and thinking “Ok, this is a 4 album.”

As it went up, it grew on me even more. I was initially not excited it was an hour, but now I’m OK with it.

My favorite Dead album, which isn’t exactly unique, I know.

I had the pleasure of seeing Dead & Company at The Sphere and it was a great experience.

If this came out of the blue from a different band I had never heard of, it’s hard to tell what I’d give it. It’s really good. Would it be 5 stars in that context? It’s hard to be objective.

But, this suffers from the impossible task of being compared to The Beatles’ later work, which blows this album away. So, this is a 4 because it’s not as good as Abbey Road. Even though it might be as good or better than some albums I’ve already given 5 stars to.

When The Stones are good, they’re very good. When they’re not …they aren’t.

Here, The Stones are good! I enjoyed this a lot. I’m sure we’ll get one or two 5 stars from them at some point?

I’m generally lukewarm on Mic Jagger, but I think Keith Richards is a great musician. “Mediocre frontman, fantastic musician” seems to be a theme for me: Zeppelin, Guns ‘n’ Roses, The Doors. But Mic is better than those guys.