Reviews by nofaithmed11

Moments of greatness ultimately drowned out by way too much fucking reverb.

3/5

I still want to do a bit more research pertaining to this album’s release history, the original track listing, etc. But going off what seems to be the commonly accepted album, I dig this well enough. With music I’m not inherently versed in, I always struggle to gauge my enjoyment of songs in the album format. I want to say that I was much bigger on the title track and “Pitche Mi” than I was on “Taaw” and “Badou”, but I don’t know if that’s just a case of the genre “wearing off” on me as the album continues. Whatever the case, I’ll definitely return to this and try to refine my opinions a bit more on it. Cool stuff.

3.5/5

Stunning vocals and guitar work.

4.5/5

There’s a 4 star OutKast album in there somewhere for me, most of it coming from Speakerboxxx. Too much shit I don’t care for or don’t care about.

3/5

I just love the sound of this record. Pure early 90’s goodness. True to the album title, everything is so perfectly dry. Especially the drums, which still manage to sound huge. Rob Ellis is, in many ways, the secret weapon of this album. Equally creative, tasteful, consistent, and powerful. He, Steve Vaughan, and PJ are really just a hell of a power trio. “O Stella” has such a killer punk-blues energy; “Victory” is another barnburner, and PJ’s slide work is next level; “Sheela-Na-Gig” is the ultimate example of “how can only three people make THIS much noise?” In the best way of course.

There are highlights abound for me. I love her take on Samson and Delilah on “Hair”, as well as Vaughan’s bass work on it. I also love her guitar playing on “Joe”. I think the acoustic demo-ish feel of “Plants and Rags” is a nice dynamic change of pace for the record, especially with those cool-as-shit strings. However, “Dress” is the shining star of the album. Although I think she progresses as a vocalist and lyricist throughout her discography, she’s firing on all cylinders on this song. Vocals and lyrics aside, she also contributes a hell of a guitar track and some sick violin for good measure.

I know there are some albums coming up that I’ll ultimately prefer, but this is a pretty damn solid opening statement from Polly Jean. Solid 4 stars.

4/5

Anyone who dismisses the Dead simply as a jam band has no idea what they're talking about. Some absolutely beautifully written and performed songs on here. One of the best of the year.

5/5

...surely they could have included Weezer's debut over this.

1.5/5

Relatively decent hippie folk fare.

3.5/5

A bit more convinced by the instrumentals than the tracks with vocals, but I overall dig the contrasting styles of sides A and B. I like most everything I’ve heard from Neu! in general.

3.5/5

Major, major surprise here. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "Time After Time" have never been my least favorite 80's hits by any means, but I've never wanted to intentionally listen to them. I thought I was in for a rough go here. But hot damn, not only do those songs make so much more sense to me in context with the record, I was clearly just unfamiliar with Ms. Lauper's game overall. What a cool blend of new wave, art pop, and various other styles. I'll echo the love for "Money Changes Everything", what a hell of an opener. The cover of "When You Were Mine" is killer; "All Through the Night" rules; the reggae tinge of "Witness" shouldn't work as well as it does. Excited to keep revisiting this one.

4/5

Very little here in the way of originality, but they deserve all the props in the world for giving us "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone".

3.5/5

This is probably my favorite of the three J&MC albums I've heard. Going with a light 3.5 based on its relative tunefulness and easy listening. But overall, I definitely don't get the hype over this group. I don't find either of the brothers to be exceptional vocalists or lyricists, and I haven't yet keyed into anything particularly interesting or noteworthy from a musical standpoint. Again, it's fine, I'm just a bit bored by it. There is far better stuff from 1987 in my book, most of which doesn't include these awful drum machines.

3.5/5

I know most people find this badass, but I just think it's so silly.

2/5

Perfectly pleasant and completely inessential.

3.5/5

I can never quite get up to 4.5 stars on this one because, for me, side B is such a clear and noticeable drop-off from side A. But it's all still good, and side A is damn near perfect.

4/5

Nesmith's songs are my favorites of the bunch, along with Dolenz's "Randy Scouse Git", which has a surprisingly badass chorus. I definitely lie somewhere in between the two extreme stances that people generally tend to take on this group ("they're a complete fucking joke" vs. "they're one of the best, most misunderstood bands of all-time"); I doubt I'll ever be a full convert, but most of this is perfectly listenable at worst and quite good at best.

3.5/5

Always much more diverse and compelling than I remember it being.

4/5

"We have Lauryn Hill at home."

2.5/5

As a Stevie agnostic, this is my favorite album of his and it’s not even close. Really great stuff. Not sure it will ever be an all-time favorite, but it may continue to rise in my estimation.

4/5

Perfection. Daltrey and Moon in particular steal the show for me, but the whole band sounds absolutely amazing and as powerful as any rock and roll band has ever sounded. One of my favorite live albums of all-time, the original tracklist or the expanded edition.

5/5