Reviews by ninexnineteen

I don't know how to explain why I liked this so much

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm not sure how this escaped my notice when it came out. I wish it wouldn't have. This album is going into my collection today.

I'm only halfway through listening, and I'm rating it at least ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is possibly the best "never heard of this band" album I have had on this list so far (270/1,001)

4.5

This reminds me of Kirk Van Houten's breakout album "Can I Borrow a Feeling?"

I definitely can say anything strongly worded about this album. It just doesn't invoke any sort of passionate response from me.

Groovy bass in The Old Man is Back Again

2.49

This is like my 500th Bowie album on this list and my patience is worn thin with him

1. Terribly repetitive atonal noise and not worth my time

2. By the time I decided to skip this track, it was already over, so that was kind of a blessing

3. More of the same. Skipped

4. A worse version of Hand Jive with coffee dripping on the burner.

5. Just plain not interested in this

6. There was no point going past the first verse/chorus and I don't know why I did

7. Not offensive, so I listened all the way through

8. Um, alright? Skipped ⅔ of the way through

9. Skipped. No value for me

10. This wasn't bad, but at this point I'm really looking forward listening to something else

11. See 10

I just can't with this guy anymore. After my album ended yesterday, it started a station based off the last track. Mississippi Kid by Lynyrd Skynyrd was the first track on that station, and I had a great time remembering that song. That's where I'm headed now

⭐⭐

You just can't argue with that nasty riff on La Grange. It just DEMANDS to be turned up to the point of hearing damage.

I'm always amazed at how much sound a good three piece band can put out

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have tried listening to this before, and I didn't care much for it. I'll give it a second shot today, and hopefully come away with a better feeling.

I definitely enjoyed it more this time around.

⭐⭐⭐

Excellent. No notes

I really appreciate the production on this album. Alanis is right on top of the mix, loud and clear. I just can't understand why this isn't the norm.

When I say Alanis has a great voice, I mean her singing voice and also her narrative style. Even as a middle-aged man, there isn't a single song on this album that isn't highly relatable to me. I think she has a way of connecting to pretty much everyone, even if they haven't had the same experiences. It's incredible to believe she wrote and recorded this album at 19.

I listened to this in my mid teens when the album came out, and I really don't think I was prepared for what I was listening to. I liked the music and thought she had a great voice, but none of the experiences really resonated with me at the time, and she's only 5 years older than I am. Wise and perceptive beyond her years, for sure. I wasn't this perceptive until I was probably twice as old, and I still can't articulate these feelings so simply and impactfully.

Alanis deserves every bit of credit and hype she ever got. That first belt of "It's like RAAIIAIIN" gives me goosebumps every time (and for this, I can absolutely forgive the misuse of the word 'ironic")

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not bad. Not essential either, in my opinion. 3? 3.

I recently watched (and very much enjoyed) the 2024 Dylan biopic, and I was hoping that movie was going to change how much I enjoy his music. Nope.

Any praise I could give Bob Dylan is immediately negated by the pain of harmonica and vocal torture. I couldn't finish this album in the allotted time, and normally when I do that, I make some time in the afternoon to finish up. Not gonna happen today

⭐⭐

If I were in a better mood, this could have been a 5 for me. Strong 4 though

Some of this is alright, and some more is good. It's interesting to me how this album and band were playing the kind of music I listened to at the time, that I was devouring music and developing a taste at this time, and somehow this never came to my attention.

This COULD have wound up becoming something I listened to a thousand times. I think everyone has a band they feel like they're the band's only fan (for me, it's Self), and I feel like this band who never came to my attention is probably that for a lot of people.

Mausoleum was really cool and caught my attention really quickly. Parts reminded me of REM

Die in the Summertime sounds like of a lot of other stuff I was listening to at the time. Sort of reminds me of Porno for Pyros(?) And sort of Alice in Chains, maybe?

I'm not sure how I feel about this album. It's good and I like it, but I feel like I'd need some real history with it to be able to rate it higher than a 3

This album struck me at a strange time. I'm having a lot of feelings of self doubt, and this album somehow is making me worse. It's not the albums fault though. This would probably be a lot of fun to listen to in another mood.

I will say this gets pretty samey same after like 15 tracks, which I think knocks the album down a star for me.

⭐⭐⭐

The split writing effort on this album makes it feel a little less cohesive as a singular work of art and a little chaotic. I don't think anything is bad here, but I just have a (maybe false) expectation that an album from the "album era" would sound a bit more cohesive than this.

That said, Stills and Nash are greats, and I was introduced to Good Time Boy, a surprising funky track written Richie Furay, whom I don't recall ever hearing about.

I think Broken Arrow and Expecting to Fly are the standouts of the album for me.

I'm not sure how to rate this. I have rated better albums 4 stars and more mediocre albums with 3 stars. 3.99?

I have never been a fan of The Girl is Mine, specifically. I think there were a couple of weaker tracks, but weak track by MJ is someone else's one hit wonder.

It doesn't hit a perfect 5 for me, but it's pretty close.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but not as good as I had hoped

⭐⭐⭐

I'm listening to this on June 12, 2025. Brian Wilson died yesterday and will be sorely missed.

Aside from my emotions associated Wilson's very recent death, I'm overcome by much of the music on this album. The dense musical layering, atypical song structures, incredible harmonies and other vocal layering, and unbelievable production make this a very special artwork to me. Additionally, the themes of simple love, self doubt, nagging feelings of not belonging, and heartbreak all touch me more than a lot of other music that tries really hard to be profound.

Thank you, Beach Boys for putting up with Brian's craziness to make this album (and all the others, really), and thank you Brian for being exactly who you were.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I wont downplay her messaging on personal, political, or racial struggles because they're all valuable and important. However, listening to these musical ingredients the way she puts them together is like eating a nutritionally complete meal in bar form. Dry, rectangular, tastes like cardboard, and just ain't the same as real food. Sure, you get everything you need from it and technically it's all you'd ever NEED to eat, but it's not satisfying or something you're looking forward to.

I don't think this album deserves the two star rating I'm going to give it because it is indeed nutritionally complete, but I don't want to eat it ever again. Because it's something I'd never look forward to, like other albums I didn't like for different reasons, it gets that rating from me. I do think this artist is capable of getting a 5 star rating from me on an album because it's clear she's very talented. It just wasn't this one

⭐⭐

All Over Now was about 3 minutes too long

Not really understanding why this album is on the list. It's not bad or anything, but definitely is a little ho-hum to me...

⭐⭐ seems too low and ⭐⭐⭐ seems too high. 3..?

This just squeaked in at 4 stars. There were a couple of track that I thought were weak