Reviews by nevele

This is Jane's Addictions Magnum Opus.
First half of the album is where this cult band rocks with the best, and especially Dave Navarro showcases his talent.
The Second half is the part of this album that has to grow on you.

There really is no bad song on this album.

4,5*

Another album of John Martyn in this list and I thought I knew what I was going to get based on the other one, but nothing could be further from the truth.
With a lot more experiment, range, more funk and more introverted songs on just one album, this is an incredible range of songs.
I enjoyed this from start to finish.

I just didn't find this interesting or engaging at all. They can sing and certainly are good with their instruments, but the songs are all 13 in a dozen, rock by numbers.
It feels like this band isn't even subtop in the 70's rock ranks, even though it's apparently a 'supergroup'

It will never become my favourite album, but I don't have these feelings of hatred this seems to flame in some others in the reviews here.

In the afterwaves of Punk, several new forms of music emerged. In Britain it was mostly the post-punk and in the US it was the art-rock that came about. But from around the years between 77 and 82 the whole music scene around the world found new ways to express itself. Restless, experimental, searching for new boundaries.

And Throbbing Gristle is no exception. It really feels these are visual artists that try and put their ideas to music. Disturbing, bleak ideas. With imagery to match. And inadvertently lay the foundation that would later become a million selling music-style dubbed Industrial, named after Throbbing Gristle's own record label.

A highly influential album, and something that's not supposed to be pretty, but made to disturb you. And that's probably why this is never going to be anything other than divisive.

My wife on the other hand was physically relieved when I turned the album off though.

There are a few of those albums on this planet that get picked apart by documentaries. Every song, every lyric, every sound, every riff on the album tells a story. Sgt. Peppers has that status, as well as Pet Sounds or Ziggy Stardust to name a few.
This REM album should be in that illustrious list. An album to listen to again and again, sometimes with headphones, sometimes in your living room and sometimes load at a party. This will give you a new look on the album every time. As most albums in REM's repertoire this one stands on its own again, before REM went into a different direction.
Absolute masterful

This is one of those albums that formed me, musically and politically.
I was already quite used to the style when this came out, due to the music of the Urban Dance Squad, but this album blew me away.

And re-listening to it now, not much has changed.

It really is telling when your debut album sounds like your 'best-of' album. Even though side B might not pack the punch of Side A, there really is not a bad song on this record, and when the mood changes I can actually appreciate Things Going On or Poison Whiskey over Free Bird.

Simple Man is such a Rock Classic is needs a star on its own.

The songs on "American Gothic" are a bit like little theater plays. They are richly orchestrated by Elton John's songwriter partner Bernie Taupin, and sometimes contain cabaretesque melodies, but are nevertheless based on the narrative folk style such as that of Woody Guthrie.
At times his voice resembles that of Neil Diamond. And I hear a bit of Kurt Weill influences. And that is really not a negative point in this one.

Many great contemporary artists I adore such as Tom Waits and Frank Zappa declare to be indebted to the work of this singer/songwriter so I was really quite keen to give this a few good listens.

Still, this album leaves me with quite a double feeling. There are a few songs I really quite rate, like "Waiting For The Moving Van" and I can really appreciate the dark undertones of most of the songs, but the combination with the theatrical and at times bombastic musical compositions and orchestrations makes this an album I don't find a pleasure to put on.

I hear and understand the quality, but it might not be for me.

An album that when it was released was unfortunately overshadowed by the suicide of Courtney Love's famous husband.

On this successful rock album you hear a woman who clearly struggles with life, with all the sad undertones of a tortured junkie.
Live Through This is listening to anger and incomprehension.

The music Hole produces reminds of the harder work of Nirvana and The Gun Club.

A grunge classic

I like Billy Bragg. I like Wilco. I love Woody Guthries lyrics.

And yet, this album does not feel like it's the sum of its parts. It's a good album, don't get me wrong, but I do think the album start dragging a bit after the first couple of songs.

If people still have an opportunity, I can really recommend listening to the 'Original Jamaican Mix' instead of the standard version.

Masters of the 3-minute-popsong.

I kept coming back to this album and listened it 5 times over the last 24 hours. What a crucial and amazing post punk record. I find it hard to word how this album has been impacting me, but songs like Jigsaw Feeling, Suburban Relapse and Switch make me listen close, to all sounds, cracks and noises. Amazing.

I was washing up the dishes / minding my own business / when my string snapped.
I had a relapse / a suburban relapse.

There's just no weak spot to be found on the album. It might not get into the heights of some songs on the predecessor or on the next album, but it's unique, compelling, danceable, maniacal, creative, neurotic, funky and timeless throughout.

This album opens with an amazing funky banger with a bass so insanely good you just can't sit still. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a false promise for the album.

Its Nasty is also still a decent song, but then comes Scorpio, one of the low points of this album. And it doesn't really get better after that.

Side B starts dramatically awful with 2 ballads where the enamel jumps off your teeth. Everything hip-hop on this album is suddenly gone.

Luckily we still have "The Message" as the last song. The famed HipHop hit on the record and most likely THE song Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five have ever released. That makes up for a very weak middle half of the album and a reason not to discard this album straight away.

Bossa Nova is a mixture of Brazilian Samba folk music with American smooth jazz influences. And this might just be *THE* Bossa Nova classic.

Smooth, ear-pleasing and very accessible music made for total relaxation on a summer evening, preferably in a hammock on a beach, with a coconut in hand and the sound of gently lapping waves in the background.

Sometimes this album - and that's mostly due to the sax of Getz - drifts a bit too much into American Lounge music and you feel it might be played in a movie scene where they have to take one of those long 118 storey elevator rides.

But it's a very enjoyable warm summer night album nontheless

25 years old already and still fresh as anything. A classic of the big beat era.

And where the big hit at the start of the album has never really done it for me, with third song Elektrobank this album really takes off. And ends in the two masterpieces Where Do I Begin and The Private Psychedelic Reel.

It's a real decent thrash metal album. According to a lot of people their best, but I have a bit of a different opinion.

In contrast to the great, hard and atmospheric Beneath the Remains that preceded Arise, I find quite a few songs on Arise unimaginative and log.
Chaos AD after this one went in a different direction and for me, that's where they re-found a sense of experimentation, sounds and songwriting.

This one falls in-between.
Still good. Not great.

It's a very disappointing Side A leading into the hippy/stoner/jam anthem Side B

It's 29 years ago that my brother, who curated the hip-hop part of our teenage years, walked into my room with his new discovery I had to listen to.
Re-listening this now, all these years later, I notice that none of the raw, unvarnished grit has worn away from this album. It has fully stood the test of time with its minimalistic samples, spooky piano riffs and most of all the incredible quality of all 9 MC's.

A stone cold classic in its genre. And my first 5* for a hiphop album on this list