Reviews by mitch058

I've never heard of the Auteurs before, and I'm pretty confident I've never heard any of their songs (certainly not from this album), so it's nice to get something new and different (to me at least). It's a little hard to get past Luke Haines' voice, which seems to hover on the edge of being really annoying and not nearly as full as he probably imagined it was. But despite that distraction, the tracks are largely interesting, and a few stand out as better than the rest--mainly "Show Girl", "Junk shop clothes" (although his voice really gets in the way) and "How could I be wrong?"; and a nod to "Bailed out" and "Early years".

Given all the references to formative-Britpop in the Wikipedia and "1001 Albums" entries for this album, and comparisons to Suede and Blur, it appears that this collection went all in on Britpop and its ancestors and descendants. Nothing wrong with that, but it seems like Britpop was much more interesting and relevant to the Brits among us, and not so much to the rest of us.

Argh. This is one of the unfortunate aspects of this collection and the seemingly obsessive decision to go all in on some artists: I never really disliked the Cocteau Twins back when they were a thing, but having already heard "Heaven or Las Vegas", I was only a couple of songs into this album and already dreading the next half-hour or so of that keening, jangly sound. But hey, at least this isn't the 19th Bjork album! And to be fair, both "Persephone" and "Amelia" have a somewhat different sound to them (only somewhat, but still), so perhaps they have a bit more range than I give them credit for. (Well, "had", I suppose, as it appears this album was the start of their "ethereal" phase; it might have been nice to get their earlier, non-ethereal music.) And "Lorelei" remains a quintessential track, for both good and otherwise (with "Donimo" a close second).

It's tempting to give this album two stars just because it seems like overkill having two very-similar Cocteau Twins albums in the collection, but that doesn't seem fair to this album, which is perfectly fine for what it is.

Wow. I knew I wasn't much of a Kate Bush fan, but I must admit I never dreamed she'd created an album as bad as this. And.such.truly.embarrassingly.horrible.videos! All of them somehow managed to make the album even worse: the bizarre jester-themed "Sat in your lap"; the extremely amateur and atrociously-accented "There goes a tenner" (but kudos for inexplicably incorporating gelignite in the lyrics!); the painful mime/art-dance/Riverdance moves in a wind-tunnel barn in "Suspended in Gaffa", and the culmination of all that is unholy in the title track video (or at least *extremely* offensive on pretty much every level; I mean, why didn't *anyone* tell her that dressing up people as Aborigines in some bizarre Mad-Max landscape and appropriating instruments and music and terms and some bizarre pan-faux-British jabberwocky accent, could only fail on an epic scale? And what's with the inexplicable giant masturbation-like movements with the laser beam and that poor guy's torso?). I kept thinking that she should have gotten Darryl Hannah as her marionette stand-in in the videos (a la Pris in "Blade Runner"); that would at least have made the videos a little less goofy, but only a little.

This is an atrocious album, mainly because she clearly thinks it's far more interesting than it is. I guess the only positive thing I can honestly say is that she definitely flexed her imagination in coming up with this cornucopia of clownish songs, and the fact that she not only wrote but also produced all the songs definitely saves it from a one star ranking. And I can totally see why the likes of Bjork consider this one of their favorite albums, which really only reinforces my ranking and my frustration that many other far more worthy albums got left off of this collection because of tripe like this (I'm not entirely sure I can understand why Big Boi (Outkast) also lists this as a favorite album, though).

My initial reaction to this album was that it sounded fine, albeit nothing special, although I *was* struck by how this didn't seem like something from as long ago as 1972. After reading about this album and Big Star more generally, I can see better why it was included in this collection, and I'm glad to have heard "#1 record" before I die. (Not so sure whether they warranted a second album in the collection, but I'll guess I'll find out eventually.) I'll admit their sound isn't really all that interesting to me (but no less so with their descendants like REM or The Replacements), and I do wish that it had been mixed better, with clearer vocals and not quite so tinny guitars, but it's still a very solid rock album. My favorites were probably their more (Southern fried) rocking number "In the street", their hit ballad "Thirteen" (although it felt a bit more creepy than sentimental at times), and the truly sad "Try again"; the only real dud was "The India song". Either way, though, it's sad that the record label was incapable of marketing Big Star pretty much at all, as they probably could have thrived with more attention.

This album isn't really to my taste, but I feel like it should get a *lot* of credit for several things: it's remarkably brief and tightly focused, always an accomplishment but especially given that it was released in 2021; it's a genuine album (semi-concept even), a rarity in the 2010s onwards; there's actually singing on the non-narrative tracks, something missing from most of the male hip-hop albums in this collection (e.g. quite a contrast to a recent album for me, 2Pac's "Me Against The World"); and most of the musical tracks are relatively insightful without invoking excessively explicit lyrics (with a few exceptions like "Price tags").

I know I'm not really a target audience for this album (music- or otherwise), so I don't mind at all that it didn't really speak to me, but I hope there are plenty of people that enjoyed it as it seems like a worthwhile project.

It's a bit weird to get the three Blur albums in this collection in reverse chronological order, especially since the later "Blur" album is so different from this album (and likely from the other earlier album, "Modern Life Is Rubbish"). I can definitely see, though, why this album got all the attention back when it was released, as they had the early lock on the Britpop sound, and the impossible-to-avoid single "Boys & girls" (with a weird and seemingly irrelevant video of the band in front of various water scenes). The rest of the album is solid, and they sound remarkably assured given how young they clearly were, but I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't all that familiar sounding, and while it's impressively wide-ranging style-wise, it felt a bit hit or miss in terms of quality. The highlights for me were "Parklife" (and the quirky video to go with it), "Far out" (short as it is), the semi-Gorillaz-infused "To the end" (with a well-done Marienbad-inspired video), and "London loves".

Just as with their later album "Blur", I'm baffled at how little Blur's sound translated to Damon Albarn's later Gorillaz project/albums; too bad, too, as I really enjoy Gorillaz. And I'm kind of shocked at how young-looking (and kind of juvenile) Albarn looks in his Blur phase. I'm also equally fascinated and appalled that he apparently declared just before Blur's debut album that "When our third album comes out, our place as the quintessential English band of the '90s will be assured. That is a simple statement of fact." He was right, I suppose, but I kind of wish I hadn't read that about him.

I have no idea who Alex Harvey is, nor have I ever heard of the band or the album, but you have to give him and the band credit for letting it all hang out from the opening salvo of "Swampsnake". I'm guessing they were a lot to fun to watch (and listen to) live, and I'm also guessing they were super campy, or at least they should have been, since they seem to be channeling a lot of Meatloaf-style music and lyrics. And while I'm not sure anything could really excuse a song titled "Gang bang", the other songs are fairly entertaining, and kudos to them for doing a decent version of Jacques Brel's "Next" as their title track.

It's pretty amusing too that this album might just win the award for the shortest and least informative Wikipedia entry so far. Thankfully, the "1001 Albums" entry is more useful, and even has a pretty funny anecdote about how "Faith Healer" became an anthemic hit largely because they needed to fill out two minutes on the cassette side to balance the album, which was the origin of the intro loop to that song. However, I can definitely say that *I* do not want Alex Harvey to lay his hands on me.

I'm glad this collection gave the opportunity to listen to Tupac Shakur, as I really only knew of his repeated problems with fellow rappers, police, media, prison, etc. and of course his very public death. I've never sought out his music, in large part because it seemed like his music and musical abilities weren't ever really part of his notoriety, and all the rivalry/gangsta crap turned me off, and continues to. (In that vein, I really struggled to listen to the entirety of the final track, "Outlaw", especially with it starting off glamorizing an 11-year-old's desire to join the ranks of thugs and pushers.)

I can see why his fans enjoyed this album, and there are a few strong songs in the hour+ album--mainly his single "Dear mama" as well as "Temptations", "It ain't easy" and "Old school". But I was also struck by how...generic-sounding...this album is, at least in the context of the other rap/hip-hop albums in this collection. There's very few musical flourishes on the album (although it gets a bit better as the album wears on), and the lyrics don't seem very creative or particularly interesting, although he definitely has a good ear for cadence and rhymes. Ultimately, I just find his life story sad, in a very unsympathetic way, and it's hard to ignore that listening to this album. (3)

I know there's no way for me to listen to this album objectively, but I hope for all of those in this project where this is their first (or perhaps second) listen, that they can at least see why this is probably Rush's most complete album. I can't really expect most people to enjoy this Canadian trio's rocking sound as much as I did (and still do), but it's hard to imagine not enjoying the likes of "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight", and for all the Neil Peart fans out there, I'm pretty sure "YYZ" ranks up there as one of the hardest songs to play well (and not just on drums). (I also can't tell you how many hours I spent "reading" the tablature for "Limelight" in my aspirational guitar phase...)

I always think of this album as Rush's version of (Van Halen's) "1984", where they embraced more synthesizers and had a few (semi) radio-friendly hits. And while I still rank "Permanent Waves" as my favorite Rush album, this one is a great inclusion in the collection. I *will* say, though, that this collection has helped me understand why people often lump Rush into the prog-rock category along with Yes, Genesis, ELP, etc., especially since the only other Rush album in this collection is "2112", which is a tough slog for any non-Rush fans. (And "The camera eye" on this album is pretty much quintessential prog-rock, sadly.) Nonetheless, I will always enjoy Rush for their place in my very early music journey, and while I moved on when they did too (starting with "Grace Under Pressure"), I still admire them for a long and successful career. (4)

Although I know this collection has far too many albums by a select few artists, and Leonard Cohen is definitely one of them, I always enjoy his music, and I'm impressed that such a recent album of his is included. And what an appropriate title for his last (living) album, since his biggest weakness (and part of the reason why I prefer Nick Cave so much more) is his unrepentant romanticism that rarely tends toward the dark; who knows what his future albums might have been like with this turn? The opening title track sets a great mood for Dark Cohen, and thankfully many of the other songs carry this mood on, all without sacrificing his distinctive voice and style. I particularly enjoyed "Treaty", the haunting "Leaving the table" (not so much the video, though) and "Traveling light". I'm also extremely impressed that you can't really hear all of the pain of his wracked body in these songs, or that he was so housebound by his broken back that he recorded his parts solo and emailed them to his collaborators. I can only hope that he felt happy/content with this album, as it feels like a beautiful coda to his life (and so much more satisfying as a final album than several others in this collection, including David Bowie's Blackstar, Billie Holiday's "Lady in Satin" and perhaps even Johnny Cash's "American IV").

It's always interesting in this project to get an artist's albums out of chronological order, and in this case her debut(esque) album is coming to me long after I listened to her 19th studio album ("Red Dirt Girl"). This album is definitely *much* more traditional-country-oriented than her later album, and while I can see how this helped her break out to country audiences, I didn't really find most of the songs all that compelling; my favorites were probably Rodney Crowell's "Bluebird wine", her ode to Gram Parsons in "From Boulder to Birmingham", and Shel Silverstein's "Queen of the silver dollar". (I also had high hopes for her covers of Dolly Parton's "Coat of many colors" and The Beatles' "To no one", but they kind of fell flat for me in very different ways; the former seemed too similar to the original, while the latter is a far more creative cover sound wise, but ends up sounding like so many other country laments in the process.) It's impressive how many connections to artists like Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton she'd already made by the time this album was made, and fun to think how those three would all collaborate many years later on "Trio", and I'm also impressed at the lineup of band members she and the producer arranged for the album (and some of them as part of her touring band).

What a strange and somewhat schizophrenic album. I haven't yet heard their debut album in this collection, which is kind of a shame, as I could have perhaps had the experience that many of their early fans must have had when they heard what had happened to their ska-rocking band, especially the dramatic and undoubtedly alarming shift from side A to B as "Sock it to 'em J.B." transitioned to an almost unclassifiable and immeasurably schmaltzy "Stereotypes/Stereotypes Pt. 2". It's hilarious to read so many anecdotes that their peers all assumed that the album was a product of them touring and traveling too much, and all that exposure to Musak in hotels, bars and airports (curious that this seems to be attributed as a distinctively American phenomenon, as I naively assumed elevators and airports the world round had adopted weak loungey music at the same time). Sad, though, that the widely divergent visions among the band members for the future direction of the band, universal exhaustion from touring, and Jerry Dammers' militant insistence that Muzak was the future of interesting music, led to a clearly talented and functional band breaking apart not long after the album was released. I enjoyed reading about the context of this album perhaps more than I enjoyed listening to it (this is especially true of the second side's goofy tracks), but I have to say that the unremittingly bleak lyrics set to often upbeat and/or kitschy music was pretty engaging at times, especially "Man at C&A", "Pearl's Cafe" and the two renditions of "Enjoy yourself" (and "International jet set" sets itself apart with the Coen-Brothers-like macabre story set to vibraphones). It's interesting that the Wikipedia article connects this album to later trip-hop bands like Massive Attack and Portishead, as I see a lot more influence from The Specials (or maybe just this album) on bands like Fishbone and to some degree The Clash's Joe Strummer's solo work.

Although I didn't initially think I'd ever heard anything by Cornershop, when I saw that "Brimful of Asha" was on this album, I was happy to *finally* put a band's name to that insidious late 90s earworm (although I now realize that I might have heard Fatboy Slim's remixed version of the song more than the original). And unlike a few other bands we've had in this collection where their breakout hit didn't seem to fit with the rest of the album (with The La's "There she goes" a perfect example), the remainder of "When I Was Born for the 7th Time" has a similar vibe to "Brimful of Asha", which is nice (although I *still* don't really understand most of the lyrics to that song, I'll admit, even after watching the fun video). The album is a bit long in the tooth for what it delivers, and it probably could have done without a number of the instrumental and sample-heavy tracks, but it's still a fun listen and an interesting blend of Indian and British styles; my favorites (in addition to "Brimful") were "Sleep on the left side", "Good shit" (and hilarious that both Target and MTV Europe changed the refrain to be more family-friendly ("Stuff" and "Ships" respectively)), and the strangely-country-influenced "Good to be on the road back home again" (with an equalyl odd video). And what an impressive journey for a band that started off emulating The Fall and somehow got to this low-fi-ish/groove style, and I like it that they ended the album with a sardonic take on the Beatles' Indian fascination.

I think this is number four of six Rolling Stones albums in the collection, so more than halfway through our allotment of Stones now. I'm not all that familiar with their discography, but I *did* recognize the album title, so that seemed promising, although I was surprised scanning the song list that there weren't many obvious Rolling Stones classics listed aside from "Tumbling Dice". And as I listened to this long dive into the Stones' version of American rock-n-roll, I was kind of disappointed with the album, largely because of all the accolades I was reading about how it was reassessed as their best album several years after it was released. As I listened to track after track of largely similar bluesy-rock (and grateful for a few deviations, like "Sweet Virginia", "Sweet black angel" and "Let it loose"), I thought of Paul McCartney's dismissive critique that the Stones were a "blues cover band", and thought that this album perhaps help justify to him this unfair caricature. It probably says something that Mick Jagger said just after the album was released that he was himself bored with rock & roll; I found the album kind of boring in a way that I haven't found other Stones albums in this collection so far, and I didn't put months of sweat and effort into it. (I also agree with Jagger's later criticism of how poorly mixed the album was, largely the result of more than half of the band/producers constantly abusing drugs during the recording; the 2010 remastered version definitely helps, but still.) But I also like it that this was clearly Keith Richards' labor of love, down to his lead take on "Happy".

Another unknown for me, and thankfully an entertaining entry in this collection's mystery grab bag. I can definitely see how this oddball album from 1966 could be considered an early entry in the punk annals, although I'm not sure any real label applies to this incredibly prescient-sounding album, and the weird release history of the album makes it even more bizarrely backwater. It says so much about the American recording industry that the style and content of their music was so appalling to the studios that the album was never distributed in the US until 1994, and that the German label that produced the album apparently didn't care what this ex-US-military band was saying, about Vietnam or culture or anything, as long as it was an American rock band. It's nearly impossible for me (listening in 2025) to imagine how the music or the lyrics would have seemed so experimental and dangerous, but apparently it was. I really enjoyed the experience of listening to this album, and a few tracks really stood out--the outrageous opening track "Monk time", the driving dirge "I hate you" (which apparently was part of "The Big Lebowski" soundtrack, so kudos to the Coen brothers), and the eviscerating "Complication". I probably won't revisit this album, but I really like it that I've now heard The Monks (subversive as they apparently were) thanks to this project.

Another Joni Mitchell entry in this collection, but at least it's what seems to be regarded as her finest. I'm still not a big Joni Mitchell fan, and most of the tracks don't really do much for me (and the place-name-dropping lyrics in "Carey" and "California" kind of rub me the wrong way), but I'm glad I've finally listened to this album. I enjoyed the remarkably dark and gritty lyrics on the title track, as well as the sound and style of "This flight tonight", and who can deny "River"? I'm also struck by how raw many of the songs are (and confidently sung), and by how much this album clearly influenced all of the later confessional (and often debut) albums by women singer/songwriters featured in this collection (k.d. lang, Suzanne Vega, Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette, Liz Phair, etc.). That legacy alone warrants four stars.

(Argh...thanks to my inattention and YouTube Music's maddening algorithm, the following review is based on listening to a 2001 tribute album "Brand New Boots and Panties" rather than the original 1977 "New Boots and Panties"; at least this explains my confusion about how modern it sounds and all the guest artists, none of whom were mentioned in the Wikipedia entry. But at least the Blockheads did nearly all of the tracks on the 2001 tribute album, and listening to the 2001 version certainly made me even more receptive to the 1977 original....)
I'm not familiar with Ian Drury, so I wasn't sure what this album had to offer, but the album cover certainly kept my expectations low, which is always a good start . And I'm really impressed at the range of music styles as well as the *really* impressive guest artists gracing the album, not to mention a really tight and solid backing band. When I saw that Sinead O'Connor sang on the first track, I was really confused and had to double-check this album was really 1977; this must have been *very* early in her career, and I really enjoyed "Wake up and make love with me" in large part for how unexpected her appearance was. I'm not as familiar with a number of the other singers, but I still enjoyed nearly every track (especially "Clever Trevor"), and really enjoyed how all of them are homages to his roots in the great London area, and I loved it that he included Billy Bragg on "Billericay Dickie". (And kudos to Paul McCartney for belting it out in "Abracadabra".) At times I was reminded of The Kinks' "Village Green Preservation Society" (especially on "My old man"), but I like it that Dury's sound is his own and he owns it completely. I'm also struck at how much later this album sounds than 1977 (in a good way). Dury certainly earned four stars for this album (now revised, below).

(And since I feel like I needed to actually listen to the original album, here's a truncated review after listening to the 1977 album.)
It's hard to say exactly what I might have thought of this album if I hadn't inadvertently listened to the tribute album version first, but I *can* say that I appreciated the original album more as a result of having heard the 2001 version first and from reading in advance about Ian Dury's life and the album's concept. I *do* wish that Dury had chosen to include his better-selling singles from the recording sessions on the album (especially "Sex and drugs and rock and roll", but also "Hit me with your rhythm stick" and "Reasons to be cheerful, part 3"), as those have a bit more punch than most of the album's tracks. My favorites from the original album are similar to those from the tribute album--"My old man", "Clever Trevor", and "Billericay Dickie"--although only the 1977 version of "My old man" seems even better than the tribute versions, I'll admit. I'm really glad I listened to this album twice, and in the order I did, but I feel like I need to downgrade the rating to three stars since the original isn't as compelling on its own.

I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything by them, or anything from this album, so a nice addition from the mystery bag of the collection. And from the outset it's definitely a different sort of sonic experience (especially compared to my previous album "Green Onions" and its instrumental bar snacks). I'm not sure their sound and this album is really to my taste, although I have to admit there's something a bit appealing about the industrial-adjacent tones of the opening track "Broken witch" and a few other tracks. A few other tracks sounded strangely reminiscent of Radiohead, though, which was kind of a fun contrast, especially "We fenced other gardens with the bones of our own", and the whole horror story and industrial/experimental noise aspect kind of reminded me of Marilyn Manson. I probably wouldn't have realized there was any sort of storyline or thematic unity to the songs, or the references to a German mountain called The Brocken, or an apparently pervasive element of horror storytelling throughout, without reading about the album in Wikipedia and the "1001 Albums" entry, so I'm not sure the concept album aspect is all that strong to the uninitiated. Regardless, though, it's hard to argue with their choice of a great album title (I also loved the Philip K. Dick reference with the final track title "Flow my tears the spider sais), and it definitely feels like this could have been a soundtrack to a horror film like "Blair Witch Project" or even "The Ring" at times.

Although I was pretty sure I'd heard something from this band, and at least one song would likely be familiar from this album, I was impressed that the opening title track would be as iconic as it is. And I'm not sure I've ever appreciated until now that "Green Onions" (the song) is an instrumental--I can't think of many classics that have endured that are strictly instrumentals (even "Tequila" has that one lyric). It's also interesting, although a bit disappointing, that the *entire* album is composed strictly of instrumentals, mainly because the tracks on this album aren't long-lasting jam sessions, or even particularly musically complicated, and most are covers of songs that originally *had* lyrics. Maybe the album was meant to be played at parties as a poppy background? The more I listened, the more it felt like a weird novelty album. But those onions are pretty compelling, I'll admit ("Green" and "Mo"), and I also enjoyed their renditions of "I got a woman" and "Twist & shout".

I'll admit that when I saw that Wikipedia classified Ride and this album as "shoegaze", I had no idea what that might mean or sound like. But from the opening salvo of "Seagull", I was transported back to the (very) early 90s, and realized that "shoegaze" was referring to that often-annoying wall of sound with indecipherable lyrics that seemed to define (mainly British) indie bands for a while (at times it feels to me like some sort of bizarre mashup of Meat Puppets, Cocteau Twins and Smiths/Cure). It appears that Ride was one of the biggest proponents of this style, so I'm glad they got their 15 minutes in the sun in this collection, and I appreciate it that their LP was under 40 minutes, but I'm a bit hard-pressed to identify any favorites from the album, I'll admit. Maybe "Vapour trail", if only because it was their only real hit?