Reviews by mitch058

This is possibly the first time I've ever listened to this album, despite knowing for many years that it's high up in the pantheon of greatest albums of all time. "Gloria" starts it all with quite a bang, and probably ranks up there as one of the great cover songs (if it even qualifies as such); "Free money" continues the assault quite well. In some ways, though, it feels like "Birdland" and "Land" best represent Smith's vision of marrying poetry and (rock) music, and while I'm not sure I could say I particularly enjoyed either track as much as many people have, they feel pretty unique and challenging, especially for their time. I'm sure I approached this album in a more reverent way than I would have if I had never heard of it, but I can see why it's pretty seminal in the annals of rock/punk/music.

Just based on the creative track titles alone, I really wanted to enjoy this quirky and very clearly self-styled (and self-produced) album. But for a variety of reasons--some reasonable (like how it felt like yet another off-angle collection of ditties a la Radiohead/Magnetic Fields/Rufus Wainwright/Gary Jules/Jason Mraz/etc), some not so much (trying to catch up on a backlog of "1001 Albums" albums, and cursing at yet another hour-plus indulgence)--I just couldn't really get into this oddball collection of excursions into Illinois-themed history and personalities. That said, a few tracks really worked: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr" (despite how irredeemable the subject is), "Casimir Pulaski Day" (banjos and all), and "They are night zombies!! They are neighbors!! They have come back from the dead!! Ahhhh!". I think everyone, including himself, was grateful that he only did "Michigan" and "Illinois" in the US States collection and moved on to more fertile fields. But I'm also glad this was included in the collection, even if it didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

I'm not sure why exactly but this album was a lot more disappointing than I expected it to be. Much like the "Chicago Transit Authority" album, it felt like I was listening to some kind of oddball 60s/70s musical production, even with the very familiar (and rightfully popular) tracks like "And when I die" or "Spinning wheel" (or even "You've made me so very happy"); perhaps it was just the string refrains that seemed to permeate the album that created that effect. I do like David Clayton-Thomas's very distinctive voice, and occasionally the songs really shine, but the abrupt changes in tempo and style throughout created a fairly discordant experience that didn't really sound intentional, unless this really was a musical-revue soundtrack. Which I'm (pretty) sure it wasn't.

It's pretty cool to read that Miriam Makeba was able to use a film role in "Come Back, Africa", the 1959 South African "jazz opera" "King Kong", and an association with Harry Belafonte to escape South Africa's apartheid and to get a shot at a solo musical career. But I'm not all that sure this album is a particularly good showcase of her talents or her story aside from the novelty/world music factor; and of course her version of "Mbube", which would become "The lion sleeps tonight" with The Tokens in 1961. It's well-recorded and produced,in any case, and nice to read that she had a strong and long musical and activist career as "Mama Africa" long after this album.

Nice to get another dose of Bob Mould, and a better one than either his Husker Du days or his solo work, but ultimately it's kind of disappointing to get a fairly nondescript slightly-harder-than-alt-rock album from him. The highlights were probably "A good idea" and "Helpless", and I enjoyed the occasional slip into a quasi-Soundgarden territory on tracks like "Changes" or "Slick". But overall it's probably not an album that I'd listen to again.

It's nice to get an album from down under (and even better that they hail from both Australia and New Zealand), but aside from their geographical origins I'm not sure there's much distinctive to this album. I'm pretty sure I've heard a few of their singles, possibly even from this album, but their version of pop-rock isn't really to my taste. "Chocolate Cake" and "Tall trees" were the only tracks that grabbed me a bit, although they were completely offset by songs (and videos) like the sappy "Weather with you" or "All I ask".

It's nice to get a slightly more recent Bob Dylan offering in this project from amongst the (too) generous number of his earlier albums, and even nicer to get a collaboration with him and Daniel Lanois on production, as I really like Daniel Lanois' work as both artist and producer. (I'm sorry, though, that Dylan didn't end up liking the sound of the album, as I feel Lanois' influence helped him a lot.) The album starts off great with "Love sick", and I enjoyed a few others on the too-long album, mainly "Standing in the doorway", "Tryin' to get to heaven" and the very Lanois-sounding "Not dark yet". (Also funny to hear Dylan sing the often-covered "Make you feel my love", which I'll admit I associate more with Adele.)

I'm not sure if it was the Lanois-influenced sound of the album or what exactly (or maybe the extended discussion in the Wikipedia entry about creative differences between Dylan and Lanois), but I think this was the first Dylan album that made me realize that the music itself seems almost incidental to Dylan; the lyrics seem to be the start and end of the process for him. He's very good at this (as his Nobel Prize amply shows), but I think it's part of why I don't particularly gravitate towards him.

This is actually my second listen to this album in this collection, but it was so long ago it's a bit like listening to it again for the first time. The main album is a bit slower than I remember, with only the title track and (to some degree) "Who says a funk band can't play rock?!" standing out, but "Lunchmeataphobia" and the live track part of "Maggot brain" on the bonus EP is also a fun addition. And I like the idea that this album has an element of progressive rock in it, although it feels more like prog funk than anything else (if that's even a thing).

It does feel like Funkadelic (or at least the two albums we get in this project) is a kind of red-headed step-child to Parliament, despite having largely the same musicians on most albums; I've enjoyed both of the Funkadelic albums, but not as much as Parliament, I'll admit. And I think I prefer "Maggot Brain" (the album, not the bonus EP song) to this one.

"THINK -- THINK -- THINK -- IT AIN'T ILLEGAL YET"

Well, *that* was an experience. Not exactly what I think of as industrial music, and often not what I really think of as music per se, but it's definitely a different sort of sound and album from most of the rest. It's hard to say there were many favorites here, but I *did* enjoy the concept of the ultra-sped-up track "United", and "Dead on arrival" was probably the closest to a more traditional track than the rest (unless you listen to the original 4m04s "United" song, which even has lyrics!).

It's always nice to get a recent album in the rotation, and I've been curious to listen to a whole album by Lana Del Ray (my only previous exposure has been to her much earlier song and video "Video games", which I enjoyed). It's a nice enough album, and her voice is definitely distinctive, but I was disappointed by how repetitive it feels overall. The lyrics *do* vary across the songs, although the themes of melancholy and loss seem deeply entrenched, and most of the tracks sound very similar, and also pretty similar to the cadence and style of "Video games". There are a few sparks of a somewhat different rhythm in a few tracks, primarily in "White dress" and "Dance till we die", but even there it's like a flash of color in the monochrome. (And why does she keep repeating that she was at a "business conference" so much in "White dress"?)

I kind of wish this was the only Spiritualized album in this project, because as much as I thought it was an interesting addition to the collection, I'm pretty sure the other Spiritualized album will feel like too much (especially since this one seems a bit too long and too much noise). The highlights for me were the overall effect of continuous waves of music ebbing and flowing, plus the opening title track (especially the background Elvis lyrics over the sea of sound), the perhaps too long "I think I'm in love", and "No god only religion" (and kudos to "Cop choot cop" for keeping my interest over much of the 17-minute-plus length). It all gets a bit much pretty quickly to the uninitiated, but I suspect Spiritualized fans probably adore this album (and perhaps Radiohead fans too when they're feeling particularly expansive).

Oh boy--this is a tough one to rate. It feels like it should get a high rating since it's the only Buddy Holly inclusion in this entire collection, and he had such an outsized place in musical history. But aside from the really big hits, and mainly "That'll be the day", I'll admit somewhat sheepishly that their sound doesn't really do much for me, as pioneering as they were in their day. To paraphrase Loretta Lynn and Fatboy Slim, we've come a long way, baby.

This is now number four of five Byrds albums in the collection, so 80% done, which is perhaps the best I can say about the album (and the Byrds). I enjoyed a few tracks on this album, mainly "Everybody's been burned" and their well-known Dylan cover "My back pages", but I suspect I'd be hard-pressed to recall any songs from this album a few days from now, although "C.T.A - 102" definitely stands out as a strong outlier, at least the second half of the song with weird sound effects and faux-backwards "alien voices" (how daring!). Ultimately, though, this album has cemented my understanding that I'm not a fan of the Byrds' style or sound, and I'm not likely to warm up to them.

I think the most impressive aspect of this quirky but entertaining (and *very* sixties sounding) album is how it predates the whole acid-house movement by several decades, and yet a couple of the tracks--the instrumental sitar-rock versions of "Jumpin' Jack flash" and "Light my fire"--have stood the test of dancehall time. There's not a lot of cohesion to the album as a whole, as the more traditionally oriented tracks have little to do with the rock adaptations, and the lack of vocals and lyrics makes it challenging to keep in the foreground (except perhaps the closing track "Raghupati", although I didn't understand the chants/chorus). The two tracks that I thought were highlights were "Jumpin' Jack flash" and "Metamorphosis", while "Sagar (the ocean)" took the prize for the most long-winded and meandering track we've had in a long time.

Regardless, it's an odd curio in this collection, and I'm glad to have heard it. Too bad, though, that he chose not to create an album with Jimi Hendrix, as that could have been an amazing experience for all.

Yet another Roxy Music album (three now, and thankfully all that we get in this collection). I'm not sure there's much to say about this album, except that I found it strangely screechly/jangly, far more so than the earlier albums, especially so on some tracks like their hit "All I want is you" (but maybe that's due to new headphones? or maybe Brian Eno's absence?). I've generally enjoyed Bryan Ferry's strangely distinctive voice, but not as much on this album (with the partial exception of the uber-dramatic "Bitter sweet"). Sorry, Bryan!

What a bummer to discover that the only Gorillaz album in this collection is their debut album, which is by far the weakest of the lot. I guess it makes sense, since the editors seem to really like Damon Albarn, but probably only in his Blur days, and so this was the lone bone they threw to Gorillaz. Ah well; at least Gorillaz made it into the mix, unlike a lot of other artists and bands that didn't even make the cut. My favorites are the tracks I know pretty well--"Tomorrow comes today", their instant classic "Clint Eastwood", the strangely catchy "19-2000", and "Slow country"--and I enjoyed seeing the (animated) videos that accompanied a lot of them (especially the great video for the middling "Rock the house"). I also enjoyed a few others I wasn't all that familiar with, like "5/4" and "Double bass". I was also struck by how much they seemed to be channeling sounds like Portishead or trip hop bands on some tracks; very different from later releases.

Even though this particular album isn't likely to turn on too many people to Gorillaz, It's kind of fun to hear Damon Albarn and company stretching their legs with this album, starting to grow into their "virtual" personas that seem much more defined and engaging in later albums like "Demon Days" and "Plastic Beach". And I'm so glad to finally find out why the Gorillaz animated videos looked so familiar: they were drawn/animated by Jamie Hewlett, of "Tank Girl" fame.

Well, this is now number two of three seemingly interchangeable and equally obscure Tim Buckley albums. Nothing wrong with this album, I suppose, and definitely less rock-oriented than his later "Greetings From L.A.", but also not much to distinguish itself, except perhaps a bit too heavy on the vibraphone sauce for my taste. The highlights for me were mainly "Buzzin' fly" and aspects of his Doors/Santana-esque hot mess "Gypsy woman", and I'll admit there's a certain degree of charm to his meandering voice and style, although his 10-minute-plus tracks perhaps meander more than a bit too much (I do like it that the producer added the oceans sounds in "Love from room 109" to mask the 8-track's electric buzzing noise in the recording).

Interesting to finally discover that another obscure (to me) artist in this collection, Jeff Buckley, is in fact his son, although it sounds like mainly in the biological sense, as it sounds like Tim wasn't a very present father. And sad to read that he died of a heroin overdose when he was only 28....

After listening to "Soul Mining", I wouldn't have particularly guessed that we'd get another album by Matt Johnson in this collection, but I'm glad we did (or at least that's true for "Infected"). It seems like Johnson cranked up the darkness and dystopian views, and toned down the synth-pop aspects, and produced a strangely compelling album whose despair at the state of the world remains sadly topical 40 years later.

It's also very impressive that he convinced CBS to cough up the budget to make videos for every single track on the album, and the videos definitely added to the experience. My favorites on this album are "Infected" (what a bizarre setting in Bolivia, with a guy strapped to a chair and eventually burned in a bonfire outside a church, and as far as I can tell having absolutely nothing to do with the lyrics, plus an apparently even hairier experience filming this and "Mercy beat" among drug experiences, biting monkeys and snakes and even Amazonian communist rebels), "Angels of deception" (with a fun Kafkaesque stylized city set), and "Sweet bird of youth" (I'm not sure there's really a storyline in the video, but it's a pretty damning indictment of military interference in the world (apparently specifically about US involvement in the Middle East, which delayed the single's release when the US bombed Libya)). I'm not all that surprised to read that Johnson was very challenging to work with, but I'm glad he managed to make this album.

Well, now that I realize we get two George Michael solo albums in this collection, I feel a bit better now for having given his debut album only two stars. And there's nothing here to alter my rating or estimation of his music; if anything it feels like *this* album could have and should have gotten a pass far more so than his debut. Aside from the lone hit I recognized, "Freedom! '90", there's nothing here that really adds to "Faith"; if anything, his attempts to be more introspective and moody and acoustic make for a less engaging and interesting album (even his musical borrowings--like on "Freedom" (Primal Scream) or "Waiting for that day" (Rolling Stones)--seem tepid and tame). That said, I still admire it that he composed and produced all the songs on this album too. A shame that his turn towards being more artistic also became effectively his swan song.

I know I've heard the name of this band before, but I'm not sure I've ever really heard anything by them, and certainly not from this album. And perhaps with good reason--this is *not* my idea of a fun or entertaining album, however "innovative" their guitar work seems to be. I was constantly reminded of a goth version of The Cocteau Twins, minus any ethereal nonsense lyrics, or at least I think those are actual words being spoken on this album, because it's largely impossible to make out much of anything on nearly the entire album (so maybe more of an ethereal Dinosaur Jr?). Given that we get two more albums by them, I'm hard pressed to believe that this debut album was really worth including; of course, I haven't heard the other two yet....