Reviews by nofaithmed11

Probably my least favorite of the three Cave albums I've heard so far, but still pretty damn good. "Into My Arms" is undeniable. A light 4 stars for now.

4/5

Like Boston's self-titled debut, pretty tough to deny.

4/5

I'm a big jazz boy, but bossa nova isn't fully my bag. It's good, and I suppose I understand why everyone loves it, but give me literally everything by 50's/60's Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, Hank Mobley, Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Red Garland, etc. before this.

3.5/5

Weird record. Some really cool stuff, some really bad stuff. Will need to come back to it at some point.

3/5

I had this album fairly high in my Bowie ranking when I initially did the dive of his discography. After relistening a few times since then, I've softened on it a bit. Blue-eyed soul Bowie is not my favorite Bowie, and although I like "Win", "Fascination", and "Somebody Up There Likes Me", I find I need to be in the right mood for them. Additionally, his atrociously oversung "Across the Universe" cover is good for at least a half-star reduction. However, the two best-known tracks deserve all the praise they receive. The title track is an absolutely perfect album opener, and "Fame" continues to rise up my list of favorite all-time songs. Lennon's backing vocals are a trip, Alomar and Slick are totally locked in with each other, and Dennis Davis lays down - for my money - the deepest, dirtiest pocket ever recorded. All in all, it's somewhat of a mixed bag, but I also don't dislike anything other than the Beatles cover, so I'll settle on a high 3.5.

3.5/5

I can't yet get to the full 4 stars on it because I found elements of the second and third songs to be a bit middling. However, it's undeniably VERY strong, and I think I can definitely raise this rating one day.

3.5/5

Pretty good overall, though I think most everything on here would sound a thousand times better if My Morning Jacket was doing it.

3.5/5

First listen: Interested to see how I feel about this on repeated listenings. The first couple songs didn't grab me much, and there are a few too many songs that drifted off into anonymous indie nothingness, but the highlights are *damn* good.

Second listen: As suspected, this album grew on me. I initially scored it a high 3.5, raising it to a decently solid 4, and it could continue to rise in my estimations. I dig the sound overall, and I think Cox has the perfect voice for this genre. "Revival" and "He Would Have Laughed" are my personal standouts at the moment, but I genuinely like every track to one degree or another.

4/5

Wow, I liked this much better than anticipated! Straight-up funk only usually goes so far with me, and I get nervous whenever I see a "funk" album that's been released later and later into the 70's (don't try to dress up the word "disco," we all know what it is). But this shit is *real* funk, only ever as repetitive as it needs to be with just the right amount of variation. And, of course, top notch playing. Great shit.

4/5

Dimery should be fucking arrested for including this.

1/5

4 stars, and a relatively high one at that. There’s a deep sense of yearning that I feel throughout this record, even in its more upbeat moments. I think Mavers has a cool, unique voice, and it feels earnest without being overblown in any way.

4/5

I'm somewhat of a Stevie agnostic; I recognize his immense talent and influence, and I do love some of his music, but he'll likely never be an all-time favorite. This record in particular is just a bit too smooth for my tastes.

3/5

It's neck-and-neck with Sticky Fingers, but I *think* this is my favorite Stones record, and their first perfect album. They finally embody the blues music they grew up worshipping and turn it into something genuine and original. Additionally, they're not chasing the trends of their counterparts AS much. Absolutely love it.

5/5

Not bad, but given how much I generally like Tribe, I found the overall sound of this disappointing.

3/5

My second favorite Joni. Absolutely wonderful.

4.5/5

Goes on a bit long and is a bit too "straight" for my tastes, but there are some truly transcendent moments. I could stand to come back to this.

3.5/5

I was expecting/hoping to dig this a bit more on relisten, but I’m still not fully into this one. I dig the overall sound and ~vibe~ (I hate using that word), but the melodies/songs themselves leave a bit to be desired. I definitely don’t think this is on the same level as a lot of their 1993 “alternative rock” contemporaries, but I’ll remain optimistic that it will grow on me yet.

3.5/5

As always with The Smiths, Johnny Marr is the star of the show for me on this record. Some really amazing, versatile guitar work here. "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish", "Death of a Disco Dancer", and "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" are probably the main highlights. I honestly liked this a little less than last time, though. I want to like them more; I remember liking The Queen Is Dead fine enough when I was growing up, I was pleasantly surprised by Vauxhall and I when I got it early on in my personal project, and I thoroughly enjoyed the last two Ducks Ltd. records, which I realize are essentially musical love letters to The Smiths. But in recent years, whenever I've sat down with them, they've consistently fallen into that cursed category of "this is totally fine, I just don't care much about it." I'll have more chances to fall in love with them throughout this project, though, so fingers crossed.

3.5/5

Once again, true perfection from the boys. Only my fourth favorite album of theirs, and still likely a top 25-30 all-time album for me.

5+/5

To this day, Pet Sounds is still, for me, the quintessential album where I’m waiting to hear what everyone else is hearing. When I listen to the classic albums by The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and so many others, I *hear* these albums that are so highly praised. Even albums that I don’t particularly enjoy from a stylistic standpoint like Thriller, I totally get them. It’s not that I don’t hear some majorly impressive things on Pet Sounds; I decidedly like about half the songs on it. But even after reading all the dissertations on it, I’m just not there with it. I’m not enamored with so many of the precious baroque influences that are scattered across it; I’m not saying that the style itself is bad or even that they do it badly, it has just never been something that resonates with me. Fuck, as much as I love “Penny Lane”, it’s never been anywhere near a top 50 Beatles song for me, whereas everyone else seems to have it as a top 10 song, and I think part of it is that aspect. And I apologize if anyone loves any of these songs, but I just get absolutely nothing out of “You Still Believe in Me”, “That’s Not Me”, “Don’t Talk”, or honestly, as much as I know I’m *supposed* to love it, “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times”. I’ve heard all of these songs god knows how many times and I’ve paid close attention to the melodies and arrangements and lyrics and at best, my response is, “Okay, sure.” These songs, and this band as a whole, do not move me in the same way that so many of their contemporaries do, no matter how many times I’m subjected to the argument that this is Brian’s grand masterstroke of describing his loneliness and isolation through the voice of his inner child. I know I’m the “wrong” one, but I’m also not trying to pull any edgy contrarianism bullshit. I not only respect this album’s influence, I respect everyone who holds it in such high regard. It’s just not “my” album, if that makes sense.

3.5/5