Reviews by nevele

It's a classic of the Outlaw Country genre, but I'll be honest that for me the big redeeming factor of this album is its runtime of 27 minutes. It's really not overstaying its welcome.
The first track was a bit country rock and I was looking forward to a bit more Honky Tonk, but the rest of the album was a lot more pure country.

I fully understand why this is considered a classic in its genre. But its genre is just not for me.

Until further notice, this is unequivocally the best hip-hop album of all time. The length plays a major factor in this: 9 great songs without unnecessary fat or unfunny skits. 40 minutes of gold. Many other hip-hop acts could take a cue from this.

Then there's the beats & rhymes. The dark energy coming from the creative beats and samples create a coherent, lively soundscape on this album that would appeal to the imagination even without lyrics, while all influenced by gritty jazz sounds of years gone by.
And of course also the content of the lyrics, which guide you through the rough streets of New York and his personal psyche, which is based on the cover are symbolically inseparably intertwined.

In short: This is the closest I've ever heard hip-hop come to perfection.

When the Talking Heads lost themselves on a tropical dancefloor

This was the darling band of a lot of my friends growing up. And while I agree that this is Wilco's best, the album really could've done with some culling of the lesser gods on this release.

Pure, raw, emotional energy, with a good portion of noise.
Completely helped by the famous minimalist touch of Albini's production, which makes the album sound claustrophobic at times and straight in your face at others.
When PJ Harvey turns to storytelling, it's always injected with a lot of dark humour, but when the songs turn autobiographical the music and lyrics are seething with anger and lust.

This album is incredible

So let me pre-empt this small review by stating that Brian Warner is human filth. I hope the reckoning will come.

This album however is the peak of Marilyn Manson (the band's) discography. This album is raw and energetic and brings the whole thing, where the album is more than the sum of its parts.

The lyrics with their scathing attacks on corruption, societal hypocrisy and religion. Graphic designer P.R. Brown's artwork with its impressive packaging and dual covers.
The bleak, aggressive and claustrophobic song material by a very talented band is backed a lot by Trent Reznors incredible unsettling production which creates an almost nihilistic atmosphere: it's all there.

It all culminates in "The Reflecting God," already an hour into the 70 minutes. This song where the protagonist (antagonist) of this concept album gets to the end point. Full of riffs, style changes, warped sounds, aggressive crowd sounds and clever lyrics.

This album was an assault and stands as a classic in the industrial metal.

This really was something when it was released, but in retrospect I have to admit their second album is a lot better and is the one I still put on my record player every now and then.

The first four songs on here have luckily really stood the test of time, but after 'Three Little Birdies Down Beats' the album drops off in the middle with uninteresting and at times - dare I say it - even boring beats, but luckily picks itself up again with Life is Sweet.

Still, it's nice to hear this again after all these years. No matter how many synthesizers, drum loops and samples are used on this album, almost everything sounds warm and organic and lively.

It's a 3,5* album

Jean-Michel Jarre shows here, for me, that being a pioneer doesn't automatically means that the music will be really good.
I was a fan of this type of music in the 80's - my earliest memories are from Kraftwerk, Der Plan, Tubular Bells and Jarre - which made its way into more synthesizer music during my life.

Jean-Michel Jarre certainly uses warm analog synth sounds here and even organs, but the music keeps falling between ambient and emptiness, where he plays with new sounds on this new found musical instruments. But I'll be honest: the first 3 parts I found almost grating, where after Oxygène 4, but especially 5, the album picks itself up a bit.

I remembered this more fondly than this re-discovery was able to give me, I'm afraid

It cannot be overstated how much I love this album. The songwriting of Cantrell in a dark minor, the guitar solo in Junkhead, the vocal harmonies and how the voices of Cantrell and Staley go so well together, the music that's holding that edge between grunge and metal, the tuning of all instruments in e flat to give it that dark texture, the pained and tortured lyrical poetry of Staley and that there is just not a single bad moment on this album.

Fantastic album from Drive Like Jehu. It's a great post-hardcore record full of passion, energy, intensity, and incredible noise. It brings together a perfect balance of hardcore, punk, no-wave, and post-rock where the quieter parts are a bit Slint-like and the hard energetic parts are very reminiscent of Fugazi from the same era.

No wonder this is slowly starting to gain a justified reputation as an overlooked masterpiece of its time.

It's ok. A bit bland, a bit boring.

Clever, punk, political, one of the most exciting albums I've heard

I have such a soft spot for Joni Mitchell I've noticed. Musically and lyrically.
This album as well, with its wide range of styles, from folk to pop to jazzy and we're even rocking on some songs.
This might not be as perfect as Blue or Hejira but it's close.

I don't rightly know what it is, but CSN&Y just aren't for me. I've now listened to most of their albums and their solo work, but none has really stuck out.

I believe that in retrospect this album and its genre were a bit less important than many people in the British and Dutch press made me believe at the time.

Brown Paper Bag is still an absolute diamond though, what an incredible song.

I really don't remember this album being this bad. What was I thinking at the time?

I'm now 746 albums into this list, and something that I've noticed is that albums that have pioneered genres are in most cases not the best ones. Ideas and guts aplenty, but not the ability to really put it into cohesive songwriting (yet)

And then there's this one. Not from the sunny beaches of California, but from the grey streets of Birmingham, a polluted city that was being rebuilt after WWII bombings with brutalist monstrosities. And such a city makes way for the first two albums of Black Sabbath, albums that still reverberate throughout the ages.
If you have War Pigs, Paranoid, Planet Caravan and Iron Man on side A, showcasing Iommi and Butlers quality with the downtuned sounds. Osbourne's lyrics have also taken a major step forward here, with War Pigs' anti-war rhetoric still very much on point 55 years later.
Only minor attach on this album is that on side B they're giving Bill Ward his spotlight as well. And while a really good drummer, the drum-solos break the album up and feel unnecessary.

So maybe not perfect, but nigh on. And one of the most influential albums on hardrock, stoner rock and heavy metal there ever was.

It's good, but not great. Lyrics miss the mark, even though the subjects are interesting. Musically the album starts off very strong with the first couple of songs, but then fizzles a bit to the end. It's about 20 minutes too long.

Amy Winehouse is clearly influenced by 60s soul and reggae, but still has her own style, singing and lyrics, immensely complemented by the production of Mark Ronson, who was able to put the 60's sound in a modern jacket.

Amy Winehouse is perfectly capable of singing over the wonderfully full sound that Ronson is able to produce and with her - here still relatively unintoxicated - enthusiasm and great voice, she knows how to lift songs to a higher level. I think that's incredible, especially when you realize that she has put this old style back on the map with her music.

It has taken me a couple of years to realise what a classic this album has become. But almost 20 years old now and a song like Back To Black, the highlight of the album, still brings shivers down my spine.

Green Day never sold out. They didn't change their sound to reach a bigger audience. Almost none of the bigger pop punk names of the era did. It's just that their music became popular all of a sudden on the wave of more rockier alternative music in the early to mid 90's.

And while this might not be greatest of all albums, it's full of youthful enthusiasm and lyrics that are ripe to sing along with. Which I have done, very loudly, this last day.