Reviews by nirutam2

I have enjoyed every ELO single I’ve ever heard but had never listened to any of the albums. I was excited when this one came up, but then felt disappointed the first time through. I had actually expected it to go much harder in the weird prog rock outer space direction than it does. Folks expressed so much adulation for Jeff Lynne’s songwriting, though, that I decided to go back and listen a few times over the weekend.

I think that this time through, I got the gist. I buy everything about ELO being a kind of continuation of the Beatles and especially McCartney style songwriting. I ended up humming bit of “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Starlight.” Cool, okay, glad I tried it again.

Yet it’s still a four for me because as much as I love the tunes, I just don’t believe enough in the idea that every rock song would be better with strings attached. There’s no question that the sound Lynne created works on ELO’s biggest hits… I had to warn my wife in advance that I’d be singing “Mr. Blue Sky” all weekend. But to me it limits my overall enjoyment. There’s a specific mood in which I turn to “Mr. Blue Sky” or “Living Thing” and sure, now I might turn to this album instead. Yet it doesn’t feel like it re-programmed my brain in the same way some of the other five star albums have done.

I’m glad it’s there, it makes me smile, but that’s about it. “Hey you with the pretty face…”

Album 30 - Neneh Cherry - Raw Like Sushi - 3/5

I enjoyed this a lot but am giving it a 3 because I don't think I'm likely to return to it. The spirit in which I enjoyed it comes from being a white kid from the suburbs who grew up in the 90s. Sometime in elementary school I started listening to Top 40 radio. For a couple of years there I could probably sing all the words of all the hits, whether they were alternative, R&B, hip hop or pop. I saw the sign and I'm afraid of Americans and I don't want no scrubs and I say hey what's going on.

But like a lot of kids my age, I eventually learned what kind of music I was "supposed" to be listening to. As a local radio station used to put it, "no rap, no country" -- a particular kind of white identity. I deepened my knowledge of rock and folk and punk, but wouldn't have admitted how much a younger version of me had loved TLC and En Vogue and Boyz 2 Men. As with any most white kids listening to that music, there was a kind of fantastical imaginary relationship to some of the subject matter. We pretended we were going to a party on the West Side where "all the gangbangers forget about the drive by."

Anyway, this kind of 80s hip hop brings me back to that joyous childhood place. It's absolutely a part of my experience of listening to R&B and hip hop today, the understanding that this was an experience I lost touch with through America's never sleeping racial sorting system. In that sense the album is a five. And everyone is right, "Buffalo Stance" is a banger and anticipates groups like Massive Attack.

But at the same time I've listened to enough contemporary hip hop at this point that the rap on other tracks seems kind of rudimentary. I'd be happy if I encounter any of these tracks in the wild but probably won't put on the album again.

I'm a sucker for this stuff, 60s singer-songwriter. I remember being a kid and coming to understand that there was this whole world beyond Dylan and getting into Dave Van Ronk and Phil Ochs and Woody Guthrie and the Anthology of American Folk Music. I get the critique of it all and laughed my ass off at A Mighty Wind but I still fall for it again every time. I want songs that say something, and these guys never fail.

Yeah his voice is an acquired taste and yeah there is an awful lot of mouth harp. But most of the tracks transport me to another time and place and make me think about what the heck I am doing in my life. I love the social critiques of "The Partisan" and "Story of Isaac" and "The Old Revolution" and how you could adapt them to any time or place if you want to.

But "Bird On a Wire" is still the fav. I think it looks forward to his future, more contemplative stuff. I came to know it through the Johnny Cash version on American Recordings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eY7bGaccWI ... but I think that unlike his famous cover of "Hurt," which made the song his own, Johnny is still just commenting on Leonard's statement of his worldview. Which is maybe just a long way of saying there's only one Leonard Cohen.

I love this. I LOVE THIS. Makes me feel the way I felt listening to Elvis Costello the first time (Armed Forces 20+ years ago). Love the piano, love the pace, love the themes and the way they wear them so lightly. I think I was only vaguely aware that they were a Britpop
band though of course I knew “Alright” from
“Clueless.” I’m excited to keep coming back to it.

I think my only critique would be that the energy seems to dissipate near the end of the album… I could see this being one where I lose track of the tracks near the end. But there are plenty of albums like that which I have come to love when I pay more attention.

Mostly I’m just happy to have encountered this today. Lifted my spirits amidst yucky weather.

Love this guy. Love his collaboration with Bowie. Love this album, though maybe his image on the cover even more than any individual song. Nah, I love "The Passenger" more than the photo, who am I kidding?

But in the end I have to give it four stars, I think. There's just too much clowning around for me to say it belongs up there with Abbey Road, Ziggy Stardust, or even a Stooges album. I like it best as a moment in the story of Bowie and Iggy and Berlin, not so much as a moment in musical history. And that's okay. "Here comes Johnny Yen..."

Every feeling I have about Oasis is colored by nostalgia. But as an American who only had a few records at the time "Wonderwall" dominated the airwaves, it's nostalgia for the singles, not the albums. Nevertheless, every few months, I'll get in a mood and put on "Oasis Essentials" or "I Miss Britpop" from Apple, the same way I'll sometimes do with U2 or R.E.M.

I think this is my first time actually listening to the album all the way through. Since I got this one over the weekend, I actually decided to do the first three albums for context. "Definitely, Maybe" and "Be Here Now" felt like I was still listening to the playlist -- good stuff, but eventually it all drifted together into "Yup, that's what Oasis sounds like."

But WTSMG gave me a distinctly warm feeling that I think the nostalgia must have been all about in the first place. My preferred track has always been "Champagne Supernova" over "Wonderwall," and I'm glad it comes at the end. in context, it feels more like a concluding statement to a collection of songs that I see now were nostalgic in their own way for the world the Beatles promised us but never arrived.

That emotional connection rather than any kind of rock virtuosity is why it's a five for me. "How many special people change..."

I have about five different favorite bands at any given time but Radiohead has always been on the list. There’s no point in me adding to the zillions of things that have been said about their greatness but I’ll add a bit about this album.

I think you could make the case that this is the best Radiohead album, though I never actually hear anyone make it. I suspect that if I had to rank every single song and assign point values, then add them together by album, In Rainbows might win. Sure, it’s not a giant statement about the future of humanity like OK Computer, but every track feels essential.

And I think it opened the door to a future where Radiohead could channel our angst while also being kinda chill about it. They can be who they are but also do stuff like a Bond theme (kind of) and The Smile. That makes me happy for them and for all of us.

PS since this is Thanksgiving, I should say I keep a gratitude journal and I’m sure I have written that I am grateful for Radiohead, for Thom Yorke, for In Rainbows, many times…

I ought to be into this, but I am not. I fit the profile as an electronica-curious 90s kid. I get the role that they are supposed to have played in the evolution of the rave scene. But in practice, it feels kind of flat and tedious to me rather than dark or challenging. I think that to feel what this album is trying to make me feel, I would rather listen to NIN. They were a couple of moments. I enjoyed but to really love it. I think I would need to have been part of the scene.

Loved this. Totally different from anything I've heard from the generator so far. Mysterious. Sexy. Political. Amorphous. Grounded in the Black experience yet also feels like it could have been written by space aliens. I had encountered songs from the group on playlists before but didn't get what they were really about until listening through a whole album. Looking forward to further exploration of their mysteries.

I have no problem rating it a five, but my persistent question is why is this THE album everyone seems to own and the #1 rated on the list? I actually think Apple Music’s analysis is pretty good. Paraphrasing heavily, Rumours takes everything interesting going on in the 70s, runs it through an adult contemporary filter, then makes songs out of only the finest parts that remain. So You Make Loving Fun kinda sounds like a Stevie Wonder song and The Chain kinda sounds like a Zep song and Gold Dust Woman kinda sounds like a Patti Smith song. But they’re all just the Mac.

I also noticed this time through that the band is incredibly locked in… in a way that feels almost unreal. I think that explains the magic of The Chain especially.

So I’m content for it to be one or those mega-records like Thriller. It’s just a *little* too slick to be a favorite record for me. I have trouble imagining anyone breaking down and crying hearing Rumours, and that’s the effect I ultimately want a great record to have. But I’m still humming… don’t… stop… thinkin about tomorrow…

Shoulda been “21.” My respect for Adele is grounded in songs from that time, which my wife and I would play every day to get psyched up on the way to work. I remember feeling a little let down when “25” came out and I guess I still feel that way. There’s no denying the power of the opening track “Hello” … it shows she’s the undisputed master of a certain mood, but it’s not a mood I seek out from music very often. So I kind of get lost in the other tracks that reflect that. I liked the theme and sounds of “River Lea” and “A Million Years Ago”’… but honestly if this comes on I’ll probably switch to her other albums or songs.

That probably doesn’t sound like a four star review, but it feels impossible to rate Adele lower. If I had no idea about her other work this might have been a three

Album 19 - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - 4/5

I’m just a casual fan of them so I don’t know that I have anything to offer beyond what other reviews have said:

Holy cow, imagine hearing this in 1970 when there had never been anything like it before.
Huh, they were pretty bluesy on that first record.
For all the greatness that is there, there is something about it that seems unfinished. As much as I enjoy “The Wizard,” after I was done I just found myself humming songs from Paranoid.
But I’m glad I pulled it today… helped me get through a stressful parenting day, which I think would make Ozzy smile.

This was the first album I've pulled that I knew pretty much nothing about. If you had asked me, I would have guessed that Can was a jam band rather than Krautrock. And that's the spirit in which I enjoyed most of the album. I can see why it's influential and can imagine listening to several of the tracks again. But man, "Ajman" and "Peking O" put me off -- I like me some crazy noises and I couldn't keep track of what was going on. If I listen more will I figure it out, or is this pretty much how everyone feels about the record?

I had thought this might be three stars but re-listened to the rest of the tracks later and really liked them, which pulled it up for a 4.

Wow, I expected to like this, but I never expected to like it as much as this. Of course I knew about Isaac Hayes from his profile in pop culture. So I was just expecting sexy slow jams. Instead I feel like this is reprogramming my priorities in life. The grooves are so great I don't know how to comment on them. The first and last songs (Walk On By, By The Time I Get to Phoenix) were already ones I enjoyed but also wondered if they contained something more... and here it is. No idea how I didn't know these versions existed. Anyway, because I'm just a white boy from Kansas I have no idea where it rates within its genre, but it's definitely a five for me.

Guys, I’m sorry, I hate it. I’m old enough to just come out and say I hate it. Maybe it’s just a 90s punk kid hating anything that was mainstream in the 80s. I want to tell a story about how Reagan and the right misappropriated it and all that, but in the end I just don’t care, I don’t want to listen to it. “I’m On Fire” creeps me out, “Glory Days” creeps me out. I like “Dancing in the Dark” and a few other moments, but honestly I was thrilled when it was over and I could put on Nebraska instead.

My dear old friend. No idea what I can say about it that hasn’t been said. It’s been with me about half my life. Long enough ago that I got it at a used CD shop, college I think. Its meaning has only expanded for me over the year. I have fantasies about doing a karaoke version of “Free Money” but doubt I could ever keep up. But I’ve certainly said every word many times. Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine…

Everything it was made out to be! At first I thought it would be 4 stars for me because it felt like a work in a genre I didn’t understand. Then I picked up on the continuity with more recent trippy stuff I like. Then I fully committed when the choir came in. And the riff of Siberian Khatru won’t be denied.