Reviews by mitch058

Another nice mystery band and album from this project. At times they seem a little too earnest in some ways, but I like the kind of baroque take on folk music that sounds a bit like a 21st-century version of (European) medieval traditional songs. There's definitely more than a hint of bands like The Lumineers/Mumford & Sons/Of Monsters and Men, but not enough to seem like a Black Keys sort of homage band. I also enjoyed the somewhat odd claymation video for "White winter hymnal", despite that both it and the bizarre Jesus-and-some-of-his-disciples-in-a-manger-with-a-LOT-of-goats video for "He doesn't know why" made it actually harder to understand each song's intent (and quite the Godspell vibe with the latter video). Regardless, an impressive debut album from a bunch of hairy Seattle lads.

An interesting album, and definitely more accessible/entertaining than the other Fela Kuti album in this collection (the depressing "Zombie"). Although I'm not sure that the name "Live!" is entirely accurate, since it's an in-studio performance (a la Tom Waits' "Nighthawks At The Diner"), it's still a fun performance and definitely has a live vibe to it, and also gets some Ginger Baker thrown in for good measure on the last two tracks (plus the "bonus" Berlin concert track). I really like it that it feels more like a jam session than some sort of "world music" inclusion.

I'll admit that I'm not a big Beatles fan, and as a result not particularly familiar with their discography or history, but even a great unwashed like myself know the album's name and its place in the pantheon of rock's history and trajectory. (Although I still found it hard to read through the excessive panegyric Wikipedia entry for this album; way too many superlatives and foundational statements.)

This is one of the few albums in this collection where I really wish I could somehow listen to this album in the context of when and where it was released, so I could possibly better appreciate how earth-shattering it seemed to be to so many musicians as well as formative rock critics. There are only a few tracks that I haven't heard before (e.g. "What goes on" doesn't even sound like the Beatles to me, and not just because of Ringo Starr's rare vocal lead), and yet this is the first time I've heard the album in its entirety. I enjoyed it, and it was fascinating to hear a sort of transition from early- to later-Beatles taking place in this album.

I've never heard of Nightmares on Wax, and I don't think I've ever heard anything by them (him?) either, so that's always a potential plus for this project. It's a bit long in the tooth, playtime-wise, but that almost seems intentional given that it's more of a groove sound than anything else (another potential entry for that long-ago "Music to Code By" curated internet-radio/playlist I listened to in the later 90s/early 00s). Some tracks remind me of a more mellow (and somewhat more monotonous) version of RJD2 (of "Ghostwriter" fame), others are a bit reminiscent of MC 900 Ft Jesus (without any lyrics). But a shame we won't be getting the contemporaneous "Furious Angels" album by Rob Dougan, with the incomparable "Clubbed to death" track of Matrix (movie) fame.

It's always a bit hard (for me, at least) to rate ambience-oriented music as anything but a 3, largely because there's not really any virtuoso elements or a story or theme running throughout the songs (that I know of). Sorry for the wishy-washy, DJ EASE....

I guess if we had to endure Justin Timberlake's debut album, then it probably makes sense that we'd have to suffer through Britney Spears' debut album. But I have no idea why either of these albums are in this collection, honestly, especially since both of them produced (arguably) better albums a bit later in their careers. It *is* shocking to see how young Britney Spears looks in the videos--could she possibly be any older than 16 or 17 in most of them? Although I had to confirm it by reading the Wikipedia entry for this album, everything about the music and videos made me think of people like Miley Cyrus or Ariana Grande or Christina Aguilera, trying to transcend (and largely succeeding) their child-actor status and make the big time as a singer.

Much like fellow-Mousketeer Timberlake's debut album, it's hard to tell what if anything Spears contributed to this album, sadly; maybe the old-fashioned a-woman-is-always-there-for-you sentiment? I'm shocked that this is her best-selling album, as it seems so bland and syrupy (even down to the appallingly unoriginal cover to "The beat goes on"), although certainly more bouncy than poor Timberlake. It also seems like something that belongs to the 80s rather than the cusp of the 21st-century. But it certainly propelled her along a weird and often sad journey through the entertainment world, and likely made her and her custodians a ton of money.

I usually complain about getting multiple albums from most bands, but for whatever reason I don't mind at all getting three Simon & Garfunkel albums in this collection (and this is #2 for me, with "Bookends" preceding it, and apparently "Bridge Over Troubled Water" as #3 at some point). Probably because of the bare handful of albums my parents owned, I think they might have had two Simon & Garfunkel records (or possibly just a greatest hits album?). Although I'm not entirely sure whether I've ever heard this album in its entirety before, I definitely recognize many of the songs, and enjoyed the visit down memory lane. It's definitely doesn't pack as much punch as "Bridge Over Troubled Water", but their hits (mainly "Homeward bound" and "59th St. Bridge Song" (such a Dylanesque title, and far more effective than the poor-man's-Dylan "A simple desultory philippic" on this same album)), and even "Scarborough Fair" and a few others are enjoyable S&G standards. "The big bright green pleasure machine" is a very strange detour for them into a sort of Beatles-inspired and drug-insinuating rockin' tune (apparently meant to be satirical, but not very convincingly), while "The dangling conversation" sounds very much like a harmony-filled version of a Leonard Cohen song. I also really enjoyed the last three songs on the album, particularly "For Emily, wherever I may find her". And a tip of the hat to them for keeping the songs and album refreshingly brief.

Hm. Probably not a good combination to get Bjork on one day, and Orbital the next, but that's the way it goes somedays. I'd actually gotten the other Orbital album in this collection early on ("Orbital 2"), and I'd have to say I'm hard pressed to distinguish between the two albums. I enjoy their music overall, but more as background music than an active listening experience, and I find it hard to believe that this was intended to be rave/dance music, frankly, but then again I wasn't living in the UK during that time, or seeing the Orwellian impact of things like the Criminal Justice Act, which it seems Orbital was railing against. (That said, the US has had its own share of social decay and disintegration over the decades highlighted by misguided political strongarm tactics.) "Crash and carry" and "Quality seconds" were the only two tracks that I noticed, the former for being more dance-oriented and the latter for being almost Ministry-style.

A few years after this album was released, I remember discovering an internet radio station labeled "Music to code by", and this fits that bill quite well both then and now. (I wish I could remember the site that provided access to these curated "stations"; I think it was something like Live365 but with a different name, and plagued by *lots* of buffering and outages, but regardless I remember that particular station had more Everything But the Girl and Portishead than Orbital, but still....) And while it's waaay too long, even for the ambience, the album has a creative/amusing cover.

I now realize that we get four (4!) Bjork albums in this collection (plus of course one Sugarcubes album), and I'm hard pressed to distinguish that many different Bjork-led albums, I'll admit. This album does sound a bit different from the previously-heard "Debut"--more of what I think of as her polished and refined sound--but it's still not *that* different, and I can only take so much of her strange girl-child-woman voice and the electronica style in one sitting. I *will* say, though, that she has consistently mesmerizing videos, and this album is no exception: "Hidden place" is uncomfortable to watch with all of the creepy alien-like liquids going through her eyes and mouth and nostrils, and left me feeling like I needed to blow my nose and wash my face (no idea what the song was about, but that's par for course with Bjork); and "Pagan poetry" is a little more explicit but still an interesting mix of animation and regular video. (YouTube Music didn't provide the video for "Cocoon", and I didn't bother to hunt it down.) The remainder is that weird mix of Bjork sound, occasionally pleasant, occasionally creepy or unsettling, always indecipherable. (Small exception for the more experimental "Frosti".)

I think my preferred dosage of Bjork is a song or two on a shuffle mix, so this was just too much of the same lilting Lovecraftian music to properly appreciate.

It seems odd to me that this is the lone Wu-Tang Clan album in this collection, given their legendary reputation and status over the years. But apparently this is it, and I'll admit that I'm perfectly fine with just one album for a band (if only the book's editors could have followed this as a rule...).

Listening to it in 2024, this album isn't all that compelling (even allowing for the endless f- and n-bombs), but I also suspect they set the foundation for East Coast rap/hip-hop for decades. I *did* enjoy the whole epic-rap-battle format of most of the tracks, with the various clan personalities taking turns trying to impress us all (and sometimes successfully); "Da mystery of chessboxin'" and "Protect ya neck" are probably the highlights of this style on the album (and a fun video for chessboxing). However, I just couldn't really get into the whole martial-arts rap-battle theme, but hey, wu wu wu!

I know she's a pretty iconic name among singer/songwriters, but I've never really managed to get into her style or music aside from the occasional single. So this wasn't quite the magical experience (or memory) for me that I think it is for others. It all seems so earnest and serious, but little joy or really much emotion at all; it kind of feels like a more modern version of the kind of tunes you'd hear in an old-fashioned Italian restaurant. (I'm not sure how or why she felt compelled to call this album a "postnuclear cabaret", a phrase that promises so much more than what she's delivered.)

Since this album has her most well-known songs ("Constant Craving" and "Miss Chatelaine"), I'd kind of hoped that this would be the sole k.d. lang album in this collection. Sadly, no. But I *am* glad to find out that she did most of the soundtrack to the quirky movie "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", as I enjoyed the movie and music. That doesn't really boost her rating here, though.

Whenever I get a band I've never heard of before, I feel like this project serves up one of two possibilities: an eye-opening sample of a band or person that may not appeal to me, but seems very worthy of inclusion; or some incredibly bland or derivative or otherwise uninteresting 30-60 minutes. Today the book served up the former, for which I'm grateful. I'm not sure I'd necessarily listen to more of their music, but I really enjoyed Scissor Sisters' sound and attitude and music selection on their debut album. I'll admit I had very high hopes for their version of "Comfortably Numb", and wasn't exactly rewarded by my hopes, but I have to say it's easily the best disco version of Pink Floyd I'll probably ever hear. And I really enjoyed the energy throughout the album, with a lot of Elton John vibes at times (especially in "Laura" and "Mary"); the video for "Take your mama" is kind of dated-looking in a way but still has a fun energy to it (Jake Shears is quite a dancer). I particularly liked "Tits on the radio" and "Music is the Victim" (and also the somewhat jarringly downer "Return to Oz"). I also just liked how strangely eclectic this album is, and how they somehow managed to avoid seeming like a novelty act yet are clearly having fun hamming it up. I'm not sure it quite deserves 4 stars, but they get a bonus for just being unexpected.

What a strange selection for this collection. I've never heard of Dion, and am staggered to find out this was his 14th solo studio album, but having listened to it I'm not particularly surprised that it didn't make much of an impression when it was released. And very sad to find out (from Wikipedia) that Dion himself disowned the album due to Phil Spector's mangled production--Dion's description of the album as sounding like "funeral music" is spot on. (It also makes me wonder why any album that's been dismissed by its own artist was included in the project...) I *did* enjoy the bleak-but-hopeful "Your own back yard" and the simply-bleak "New York City song", perhaps because they were the two non-Spector-produced songs on the album.

If nothing else, it's quite a contrast to his "Runaround Sue" jukebox days; in that sense it's a bit reminiscent to Dennis Wilson's solo album, albeit in a sort of reverse sense in terms of sobriety. The album also sounds like it should be played at a higher rpm or something, as if we're hearing it in slow-motion (or underwater). At least it's a pretty brief, unremarkable album. (2)

About 300 albums earlier I got my first Steely Dan album, and I'll stand by what I wrote then: "I've always enjoyed listening to Steely Dan, but I also feel like one album is more than enough to give us a sense of the style and flavor; his music is largely interchangeable, so getting another selection later on would be a bit disappointing." Little did I know that ahead of me there would be 3 more Steely Dan albums and a Donald Fagen thrown in as well. Thankfully, there's only one more Steely Dan for me after this ("Pretzel Logic"), so I will eventually return to simply enjoying it when I hear Steely Dan on the radio or on my shuffle playlist.

I *do* appreciate it that this album has several of their radio hits, including two right out of the gate. (Ironically, I'm not sure I ever realized "Dirty work" was a Steely Dan single, as it always made me think it was likely an Eagles or CSNY song, or some group more in that vein with the harmonies.) It was also nice to revisit "Reelin' in the years", but the rest of the album doesn't quite seem as strong as some later albums; they seem to be feeling their way a bit on this debut album, perhaps in part from having David Palmer as lead vocals on several of the songs. I feel a bit badly only giving their debut album three stars, but I can't really justify giving every Steely Dan album four stars, and this one sacrifices quality for variety more than the others.

I wish I could say that I'd heard of Pavement or recognized some distinctive trait of them, but other than the somewhat later release year of this album, I'd be hard-pressed to distinguish them from a slew of 80s/90s indie bands like Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets, Wilco, etc., except perhaps a somewhat lighter edge and perhaps slightly-more-audible lyrics. But I'm also struck by how challenged I am to even remember the differences between most of the tracks on this album--"Stop breathin" and "Newark wilder" are a bit more acoustic-oriented than others, I guess? and "5-4=Unity" *does* have a somewhat more distinctive style/tone, in part as it's an instrumental. And although Wikipedia tells me that "Cut your hair" helped get them more attention, I certainly don't recall ever hearing it before, and aside from a somewhat quirky (and equally annoying) video, it didn't really make a big impression on me either. That said, I found "Range life" the most interesting song on the album, and its somewhat mesmerizing video centered on a Dutch music festival is worth watching (also hilarious that their mocking lyrics of Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots got them booted from their scheduled appearance at Lollapalooza in 1994).

I believe Robert Christgau that in his eyes they're the "finest rockband of the '90s," but I just don't hear it, frankly. Although it looks like I'll get a second chance, as we're also going to get to hear their debut album in this collection ("Slanted And Enchanted"). I can't really capture in words how excited I am at this prospect....

I'm not a huge Doors fan (or afficionado), but I *am* impressed with how strong their debut album is. It's kind of like they exploded onto the music scene full-grown and fully-developed, although I suppose that could also imply that they didn't really evolve much as a band over their relatively short career. Regardless, there's not much filler on the album--"The crystal ship" is probably the only real dud (but perhaps not to the psychedelic crowd), and while iconic "The end" is far too long and a bit tedious (although it might have been fun to hear the version that got them fired from Whisky-A-Go-Go). And there's an impressive number of long-lasting radio hits to counter the less interesting stuff. And it's always a pleasure to hear Ray Manzarek's organ playing, as he made The Doors who they were more than even Jim Morrison's distinctive voice.

Although there are simply too many Rolling Stones albums in this collection (and this is only #2 of 6 total, sadly), I'm appreciative that this is a strong Rolling Stones album at least. It's bookended by two great classics in "Gimme shelter" and "You can't always get what you want", while the remainder in between is largely new to me and pretty uneven, which is about what I expected. "Midnight rambler" and "Monkey man" are strong songs (and possibly part of their repertoire? They sound familiar, in any case). Thankfully, there aren't too many stinkers in the lot, although "Love in vain" is pretty painful (and also surprisingly Dylanesque, although I now discover that it's a cover of a Robert Johnson song from 1937), and I'm not really sure what to make of "Country honk", as it's clearly the same song as their classic "Honky tonk women" but this version is weirdly thin and not very Stonesy (I wish they'd dropped this version from the album and included "Honky tonk women" instead of releasing the latter as a standalone single, but I'm sure that was a money thing). Likewise for the title track, which starts off feeling like some weird saloon version of itself--is this really the version that got so much airplay for years afterward?

I'm not sure why this Rolling Stones album in particular made me feel particularly aware of how much (blues) appropriation they profited from (it could have been all the reviews talking about how "authentic" they sound), but it does, and it's hard to unhear now that I've noticed it. It also makes it hard to know what to rate this album, but misgivings aside the number of classic songs means it's probably deserving of four stars.

What a strange album, and a strange life story for Jah Wobble (sadly quite violent at times). I'm glad it started off with "Visions of you", particularly because of Sinead O'Conner's appearance and distinctive voice, but also because it kind of eases you into a weird mixture of often generic-sounding bass/beat-driven world music tunes. I felt like this was more of a soundtrack to some world-hopping independent film than an album, although I'm not entirely sure it's a movie that I'd have chosen to watch. But I like it that at some point (post-PiL, post-substance-abuse) while working for the London Underground he supposedly pronounced over the PA system, "I used to be somebody. I repeat, I used to be somebody." Indeed.

Although I'm not at all surprised to find this album in this collection, but I'll admit it's not at all a favorite of mine. There's nothing wrong with the album, the songs or Norah Jones' style, but every time I've heard this album (and I've heard it a few times, strangely), it just feels like there's nothing there. It seems like she assembled a good group of session musicians, and she clearly has musical talent, but there's little to no affect in her voice, even when she's singing about sadness or regret or even happiness or love. Too bad, since this is the only chance Norah Jones gets in this collection (unlike, say, Amy Winehouse, who was clearly still finding her way on "Frank" but then got into her groove with "Back to Black", and we get to give her a second chance).

I suspect we won't get too many artists or bands that have had 19 studio albums behind their name (especially by the year 2000), so that in itself is impressive. And this is an interesting album, at least for someone (like myself) who doesn't really know Emmylou Harris' prodigious output aside from knowing (vaguely and maybe incorrectly) that she's primarily a country singer. I liked how the opening track ("The pearl") had a very Daniel Lanois-sounding vibe to it, and I also like it that she wrote or co-wrote most of the album's songs. (And I appreciate it that the "1001 albums" entry notes her connection to Daniel Lanois, as his style and influence is strong throughout much of this album.)

Her default folk/country sound isn't my favorite, but she does it well and there's a lot more variety throughout the album than I expected; I particularly enjoyed "I don't want to talk about it now", "Red dirt girl", and "J'ai fait tout". Thankfully it doesn't sound at all like she's just dialing it in after 30+ years of surviving the music circuit and a lot of ups and downs, plus an amazingly broad number of collaborations and shared music projects across the decades. (I'm now very interested in hearing her collaborations with Mark Knopfler as well as with Rodney Crowell--I'd guess those are great combinations.) The album is a bit long in the tooth at times, and some songs are just too we-are-the-world-invoking ("One big love" especially), but I enjoyed listening to it much more than I expected.

I'm not sure if Chris Robinson's misophonia-inducing voice prevented me from ever noticing back in their heyday how much the Black Crowes sound remarkably similar to Aerosmith, mixed maybe with a bit of Rod Stewart. But listening to this album nearly 25 years later, and far removed from their ever-present rotation on the radio, the similarity seems pretty striking (to me, at least). And thankfully his voice isn't as grating as it once was. I'm not sure I can really go so far as to say it's a good album, and the videos to their singles are appallingly uninteresting, but it's also not a bad album overall. Could they use more interesting lyrics? Yes. More varied music on the album? Yes. A more talented video producer? Absolutely. But hey, it's their debut album, and getting so many singles with so much radio play is an impressive accomplishment for *any* album. I should probably give this four stars, but my ambivalence sadly runs too deeply for that (not to mention my visceral reaction to Chris Robinson's voice). If I could give a half-star extra, though, I would, simply for the fact that they got fired from their tour with ZZ Top because of a tirade against Miller beer.