Reviews by mitch058

I own this album, and really enjoy their sound, so although this particular selection didn't introduce me to a new band, it's a great excuse to re-listen to a band/artist I enjoy. I don't feel like it's as strong as their debut album (certainly not as light-hearted), but "All my friends" and "Time to get away" are definitely among the band's better songs, and songs like "North American Scum" and "Us v them" help balance things out on the lighter end. And pretty cool that the "someone" of "Someone great" is a tribute to Dr. George Kamen (of group therapy fame) .

I know it's purely coincidence, but it's a weird experience listening to this album right after Thundercat's "Drunk" album. They both feel like very personal experiments in a kind of odd music space (even though I know "Drunk" was ten years later).

Well, this is a new one for me (band/person and album). It's hard to imagine that this is the third album by Thundercat (why would there be two other albums like this?), but also a bit confusing about why this album and/or Thundercat got included in the 1001 album collection? Many of the songs feel like some sort of pseudo-jazz inside joke among a close group of friends, of which we aren't part, although I guess there's a bit of a heavily ironic social-commentary aspect to some of them (like on "Bus in the streets"), or else kind of vanilla soul-like songs with a lot of 80s-sounding instrumentation. There's also some impressive, and impressively fast, ensemble playing in some of the songs (like "Uh uh"), and I'm impressed at how he got so many well-known names to contribute to the album (and I enjoyed "Show you the way" as well as "Drink Dat"), but I'm left wondering why? That said, "Tokyo" is a fun song all in its own right, but overall it's not all that interesting, at least to me.

Sadly, the Wikipedia entry for the album is bizarrely vapid (and a bit confusing, especially with the references to discs 1-4). However, the entry on Thundercat himself is a bit more revealing, and I have to say I'm blown away to know that he was a member of Suicidal Tendencies, as this is about as far as you get from Suicidal Tendencies, so kudos to him. (Sadly, he wasn't part of Suicidal Tendencies' side project Infectious Grooves.) Mainly, though, I just can't imagine listening to this again.

I'm not sure I've ever knowingly heard Marty Robbins' music before, so a fun new band/artist for me. "Big Iron" is a great opening track, and I really enjoyed some of the other songs on the album, mainly "The master's call" and "El Paso". The rest sound exactly how I imagine classic "cowboy" country music would sound like (complete with the harmonies in the choruses, and whispers of Gene Autry everywhere), which I enjoy in possibly smaller quantities than this album. But still a solid album for what it is; I just wish there were more original songs by him, as those seemed the strongest of the lot.

When this opened with "Judy blue eyes" right out of the gate, I kind of figured this was *the* big album for them, especially since it also has other radio-classics like "Helplessly hoping" and "Long time gone" (and to some degree "Wooden ships"). I was disappointed that the album had a lot of forgettable tunes, though; I guess "Marrakesh express" was a single from this album, but I'd never heard it before, and didn't really enjoy it, and the same could be said for at least half of the album (for me), although I did enjoy "You don't have to cry" and "Pre-road downs" for the first time. (The latter made me think of the Eagles, though.)

I've always felt like they were kind of limited style-wise, even with adding Neil Young, in part because their harmonies are so distinctive and ever-present (certainly on this album). When I hear them on the radio, I always feel like you're about to come across a Renaissance festival of some sort. But regardless, they've made their mark on American music, and this album is a big part of that.

The only song by the Happy Mondays I know I've heard before is "24 hour party people", from their earlier debut album, so it's nice to get a different slice of this band. A middling-to-OK album overall, I'd say, but either poorly mixed or just intentionally very muddy; I'm honestly not sure why this album was included in the collection *as well as* their subsequent album. There's not a lot of variety, at least to me, which is a bit disappointing, but I suppose a bit predictable.

I didn't realize until I read the Wikipedia entry that the album was inspired by both ecstasy (the drug, that is) and a 1970 film "Performance", although that latter fact explains all the obscure and random voice samples throughout many of the songs. It feels like the sort of album that only works for some people, and I'm not one of them. But to their credit, as I listened to the album I was frequently reminded of the books "Vurt" and "Nymphomation", which I enjoyed, and perhaps not coincidentally are set in Manchester (and I now just discovered there are two other books in the Vurt universe...). I was really tempted to give this a rare 2-star rating, but felt badly for them. :)

I'm not too embarrassed to admit that I'm a big Peter Gabriel fan, so it's fun to get his work in this collection, and also fun to get an early album, which I'm a lot less familiar with. And what an odd selection for the "1001 Albums" project, as this is definitely *not* one of his better albums. There are a few classic songs on this album--well, really just "Solsbury Hill" (with a fantastically odd but beautiful video, although I suspect that was done later than the album)--and some other really solid songs (mainly "Humdrum" and "Here comes the flood", although the latter is better in his later live stripped-down versions).

The rest is a kind of weird grab-bag of experiments from all over the place, likely a product of having left Genesis fairly recently. Perhaps because of Robert Fripp's involvement in the album, several songs reminded me of David Bowie (especially the concept-album-style "Moribund the Burgermeister" as well as "Modern Love" (with a pretty wild video) and "Down the Dolce Vita"), and others just seemed better left on their own ("Excuse Me" a particularly good example of that, but also "Slowburn" and much of the album's side B). As much as "Solsbury Hill" is one of Peter Gabriel's truly great songs, this album doesn't really rank higher than three stars when you balance the rest of the album against it, sadly.

Like many Beatles albums, this one has lots of short-and-sweet songs, and I was pleasantly surprised how many of them are new to me (which means they weren't radio hits, as I'm not a Beatles connoisseur). Much more of a sampler style than a concept or thematic album, which is perfectly fine, of course, but a little surprising for the 1001-albums project/collection. And now that I've read the (laboriously extensive) Wikipedia entry, I see the eclectic nature of this album was its reason for inclusion.... I admire them for being willing to branch out into studio-only recordings and techniques, as they didn't plan to have any more live performances, and I'm impressed that so many people felt that the album fundamentally changed studio recording techniques.

There's always been something about "Eleanor Rigby" that feels nearly perfect as one of these short-and-sweet Beatles capsules (and a great re-creation of the lyrics in the movie "Yesterday"). And I always thought that "Yellow Submarine" was created for the animated movie, not the other way around (and still a favorite song of mine from childhood). "Good day sunshine"--and to some degree "Paperback writer" (which wasn't part of this album but was part of the recording sessions)--sound almost like throwback songs from an earlier Beatles era compared to the rest of the album. I really enjoyed "For no one"; probably my favorite previous-unheard track on this album. And "Tomorrow never knows" is kind of mind-blowing in how it anticipates so many electronica/psychedelic music styles for the coming decades.

It's hard to know how to rank this, as it's both clearly revolutionary in many ways, but to me not the most interesting album as an album (to my under-educated ear). But I have to give credit to the huge variety and experimentation in the album, both musically and technically, and to its enduring legacy.

A fun--and surprisingly rocking--album! I feel like I've heard of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before, but had no idea what to expect, and really enjoyed listening to this album. I know the Wikipedia entry mentions similarities to Siouxsie and the Banshees and Led Zeppelin, but I heard more White Stripes and Sonic Youth, but with their own style and sound. Either way, they did a great job with this album, and I can understand why they were a popular live band--lots of energy, even if Karen O's in-your-face style is a bit wearing at times. I particularly liked the opening track "Rich", and the video for "Pin" was somewhat hypnotizing (although I'm not sure I understand the song any better having watched the video), while "Maps" is an intriguing change of pace. The album doesn't end quite as strongly as it starts, but it's still an impressive album.

An interesting direction/choice for this project, I must say. I'd never heard of Red Snapper before, and they're definitely a huge contrast to many of the other albums and bands in the collection. Just given the nature of their style(s), it's a little hard not to treat the album as good/fun background music, but even so I enjoyed the experience. Kind of a distinctive mashup of bands like Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, and others. I particularly enjoyed Karime Kendra's contributions in "Shellback" and "The rough and the quick"; I feel like the band-only/instrumental-only songs weren't able to hold my attention as much (except the last track, "They're hanging me tonight", suitably creepy and atmospheric).

It's a shame that there's so little information on the band or this album in both Wikipedia and even the entry in the "1001 albums" book (at least the 2005 edition). I don't know if that's intentional, or simply reflects that their fans aren't all that interested in providing a presence in those venues.

I'm not sure I've ever heard this album before, or perhaps even many of the songs, despite how "Smoke on the water" was probably one of the first "heavy" songs I've ever heard (or practiced playing). And for good or bad, it's about what I would have expected, and it kind of confirms that I'm not a particularly big Deep Purple fan. But still a solid album, and I don't feel badly for giving a four-star rating simply for "Smoke on the water" (with nods to "Highway star" and "Space truckin'" too).

Ironically, I think I'd always heard that the song was inspired by a fire on the banks of the Thames in London, but apparently the fire was in Switzerland, caused by an over-zealous Frank Zappa fan in the venue that Deep Purple intended to record this album. Even more ironic is that the lyrics tell exactly this story; I guess I never listened to the words aside from the chorus.... It's an impressive story of how they ended up in an abandoned hotel on the edge of Montreaux in the dead of winter, and equally impressive that they produced a decent-sounding album when they'd largely abandoned listening to the recordings because it was so cold and inconvenient to do so.

Thanks in part to Portlandia (and also growing up in Seattle, albeit before their rise to fame), I knew of the band as well as the near-Olympia interstate exit that their name came from, but I'd never really listened to them before this. I enjoyed the album more than I expected to, which was nice, especially "Dig me out", "One more hour", "Heart Factory", and "Little Babies". I also appreciated how compact a lot of the songs were, but I guess I question why this album seems to be labeled punk, given when they emerged. They kind of remind me of a different version of Mary's Danish (but more distortion and a more muddy mix and a little less variety in the lyrics).

It didn't occur to me until reading the Wikipedia entry for the album that they didn't (don't?) have a bass player in their songs. I like it that it made for an interesting production puzzle, and that it him/them make the guitars even bigger-sounding, but for me it also explains why the album sounds a bit flat, dimensionally, or maybe just more tinny than I'd prefer (although that's also a function of the type of distortion they used).

Although I'm sure they're more important and notable than Duran Duran, for some reason I always think of Duran Duran when I hear the band name Simple Minds. And neither are really my first choice for music (or second or third, on down the line). But this is definitely my first listen to this album (and curiously, that includes the singles from this album, which I'm pretty sure I've also never heard), and good to see that we've got yet another Scottish band from this collection.

Although I can't say I particularly enjoyed the album, it was really nice to read that the band members seemed to genuinely enjoy making the album, and at least some of them reported feeling like everything just worked out, which definitely seems to be the exception for most albums and bands.

Even though listening to something like bossa nova is still music tourism for me, it feels a bit more familiar than, say, Saharan desert blues (Songhoy Blues) or Rai-style music (Khaled) largely due to this album (and probably more specifically the rendition of "Garota de Ipanema"). It's not my first choice of an album to listen to, and at times the songs kind of blend into each other, particularly notable with "Para Machucar Meu Coração" followed by "Desafinado", but that's seems inevitable given the minimalist sound and my inability to translate Portuguese. And the interplay between Stan Getz's sax and João Gilberto's guitar and voice is fantastic, not to mention the backing band members' skills. My favorites on this album are the two songs with some English, "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Corcovado", as well as " "Só Danço Samba"; the timelessness of Ipanema alone earns it four stars in my book.

I really enjoyed listening to this album, despite having little to no perspective on what makes for great jazz, or a great jazz album for that matter. It's an impressive live recording, especially for the time, as you can hear people talking and glasses clinking at times (usually during the bass solos), which only adds to the ambience and the live feeling. They had a rich sound for only three people, too; I particularly enjoyed "Gloria's Step", "Solar" and "Alice in Wonderland".

A bummer to read that this album/recording marked the end of this particular trio, when Scott LaFaro (the clearly very talented bassist) died a few days later in a car accident. Given the great chemistry among the three of them (or at least it certainly seems that way listening to the album), I can see why Bill Evans struggled for a while to even play, but glad that he continued to make music in his post-LaFaro years, at least until his own untimely early death. And it was also interesting to read up on the storied history of the Village Vanguard and the many careers launched there (or at least greatly assisted).

Hm. An odd entry in this collection, although I was a bit disappointed that the tantalizing Daft-Punk-like opening riff to the album settled into a less interesting song (although I like the use of the term "negative space"). Overall, this seems fine as an album, but not particularly distinctive, and it feels like this album's release was probably a lot more impactful to Hookworms fans than everybody else. I did enjoy "Ullswater" and "Opener" from start to finish, and with nice transitions between their surroudning tracks. But overall I guess I'm not all that drawn to their mix of emo-rock and electronica, if that's a fair description of their style.

Wikipedia wasn't much help in figuring out why this album (or band) was included, with one of the shortest album entries I've seen so far. I *did* like reading a largely indecipherable summary by a music critic (referring to their 2011 EP release): "an epic 26 minutes of sub-Zabriskie Point ambient road-movie heat haze-on-the-road sonic wipeout of the post-Loop variety." I'm not sure whether this album continues that vibe or not, as I'm not even sure about most of the quote's references, but it sounds kind of cool. I couldn't find an online copy of the "1001 albums" book to figure out why Robert Dimery wanted to include the album, but most of the Metacritic-sourced critics' reviews suggest that this album was a transformative leap for the band, but from where and to where is a mystery (to me). Also a bummer to read that the band abruptly disbanded not long after this album was released, largely based on a social media storm surrounding accusations of sexual assault by the lead singer. Not the way anyone wants to go, but also not the way anyone wants to be treated.

I don't think I've ever heard any of this album beyond their two singles, which of course I and everybody else in the (western) world has heard ad infinitum. A fun album, and impressively cohesive, and definitely harder-edged than I'd have guessed based on their singles. I remain perplexed about how exactly this album got pigeonholed as a "cornerstone New Wave" album (but no more than having them described as pop-punk either, although I can see the surf-rock label a bit more), but that doesn't make this any less fun to listen to. And an incredibly impressive performance as a debut album. I also like it that "Fading Fast" seems like an alternate universe version of Nancy Sinatra's "These boots are made for walking", and I really enjoyed "Automatic". I was torn between a three- or four-star rating, but it feels like they deserve 4 stars for some of their unexpectedly catchy tunes, and also for how much they inspired a lot of women by being the most successful all-women band of all time.

Also, what a crazy origin story (if the Wikipedia article for this album is to be believed): after seeing the Sex Pistols' final performance in 1978, Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, and Margot Olavarria decided to form a band, and "although none of them actually knew how to play instruments, they quickly learned..." Talk about paying it forward--if only the Monkees could have also gotten into that! Also hilarious that they supposedly returned the towels used in the front cover photo shoot to Macy's the next day.

I had a friend in college who absolutely worshiped Neil Young, and I never really understood why, but many years later when I finally listened to this album from start to finish, I can see why he felt that way. I'm not a huge Neil Young fan, but even I know this is probably his finest complete album, and it's an amazing, and sad/poignant journey. It could be because my friend was from Utah, or maybe because of some of his album titles and the name of his frequent backing band, but I also always associate Neil Young with the American West (even though I know he's Canadian and didn't really spend a lot of time in the American or Canadian West, unless you want to count his ranch in Redwood City). Admittedly, part of that impression could be from his collaboration on Jim Jarmusch's excellent anti-Western film "Dead Man".

I really like how many artists are on this album, and it's pretty cool that he was able to get the London Symphony Orchestra as well, although I do feel like "A man needs a maid" is probably one of the weaker songs on this album despite the Orchestra's participation (and possibly as a result of their contribution, as both it and "There's a world" sound more like a part of a musical or concept album than the other songs). And I had no idea that part of the reason "Harvest" is more mellow and largely acoustic was because of a horrible back injury that literally laid him low.

I really like the quote on the Wikipedia entry for this album that Young wrote later: "[Harvest] put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."

I'm surprised it's taken nearly 175 albums for my first Led Zeppelin album in this collection, but I'm glad it's a classic of theirs. I've never really tracked which albums their ever-plentiful radio-played songs came from (and I'll admit I've never owned any Led Zeppelin albums), so I'm really impressed at how much of this album I've heard before; I think this is my first listen to just "The Lemon Song" (and maybe "Moby Dick" too, although I feel like I've heard Bonham's solo before...).

I find it very odd that they never released any singles in the UK while they were active (according to the Wikipedia article for the album), and also odd to find out that the only single from this album (released only outside the UK) was "Whole Lotta Love"; just based on their radio plays in the US, I'd have guessed that several others were singles too (especially "Heartbreaker", "Living Loving Maid" and "Ramble On"). And very cool to find out that Jimmy Page had a huge role in the recording/producing process across the the various studios they recorded this album in while touring.

Regardless, this album has a very classic Zeppelin sound, which has never been my first choice to listen to, but it's hard to deny either the strength of the album or their heavy influence (pun intended) on later bands!

Thanks largely to a friend in college who *really* liked Dinosaur Jr (and Mudhoney and pre-Nevermind Nirvana and others), I've tried many times to get into Dinosaur Jr's garage/wall-of-noise sound, and never really succeeded. Like so many bands of this era, there seems to be more sloppiness than anything else (mixing, singing, instruments), although I'm pretty sure that they played each song more or less the same way each time they performed. I think what bothers me the most (or perhaps is just a sign of my laziness) is that it's nearly impossible to understand the lyrics most of the time, which makes the album a somewhat uninterrupted stream of distortion, barely discernible bass and drums, and muffled singing (I think that's why I enjoyed "Pond Song" a bit more than the others, and *really*, intensely disliked "Don't"). A shame, since this seems to be generally considered their best album (or at least most referenced). But I can definitely see how influential the band was on later alt-rock bands.

What always baffles me about my reaction to Dinosaur Jr is that I really enjoy listening to most of what the Meat Puppets have produced, and I'm sure you could make a similar argument about them (except perhaps the wall of noise part). Sorry Dino Jr!

I feel like I've heard of Nas for a long time, and this album too, but never really had a sense for what the fuss and attention was about, and also never bothered to seek it out. So thank you, 1001-albums project!

Overall, I enjoyed listening to it, and particularly liked "Life's a Bitch", "Memory Lane", "One Love", "Represent" and the video for "The world is yours" (not as much the song, though), as well as his impressive lyricism throughout. I particularly appreciate it that the themes of many of the songs are thoughtful and not glamorizing tropes of gangs, drugs, women and violence (but clearly based on a lot of experience among all of that). I do feel like one of the unwashed masses listening to this album, though, knowing (after reading the extremely extensive Wikipedia article about the album) that this was a seminal moment/album in East Coast hip-hop. Kudos to Nas for breaking ground 30 years ago!