Reviews by ohlessergod

Most people don't know that Iggy Pop and David Bowie used to collaborate and David Bowie produced this album and composed Lust for Life. I think because the two went their separate ways for so long people and history kind of forgot these two music giants worked together at one time. That fact only makes this album even better. Lust for Life has unfortunately been overplayed at this point, though. Pop must have sold out because this song makes me think of a car commercial. It's still a great song if you can separate it from that cultural identity. Same with The Passenger, which would make an even better car commercial song and probably did. Again, still great, simple lyrics and all.

I am ashamed to admit that I have never been able to get into Frank Zappa. I also have never listened to a Frank Zappa album front to back. I was surprised by Hot Rats. I do like jazz and that's what Hot Rats is more than anything. But it's weird jazz because I know how weird Frank Zappa was. But it isn't bad jazz. I'm not sure if it's a right of passage or something that all dads must like Frank Zappa as soon as they become dads. Or maybe Frank Zappa tapped into the insanity that is being a father. I don't know what hot rats are but I liked them.

How have I never heard of John Grant? I found this album to be incredible! From the first song you can tell John Grant is gay and he has something tortured inside him trying to come out. There is a lot of humor in this album but also a lot of self-deprecation, two of my favorite things but not always combined well to make good music. But thankfully John Grant teamed up with Midlake for this album and the music is as beautiful and interesting as the lyrics. Come to find out I have many more John Grant albums to discover and I plan to one day, but I am thankful this was thrown at me because it was a beautiful little surprise.

I enjoyed this album way more than I thought I would. I'd heard 100% and liked it but I've always found Sonic Youth to be too abrasive for my taste. I like metal. I like Screamo. But Sonic Youth is always heavier than everything. But listening to this album in full gave me a chance to see through the grit. Dirty is real fucking dirty. Kim Gordon sends out the most gutteral screaming grunts. The guitar work is all fucking over the place, but it somehow works. It's like they put a ton of practice into making it sound like they didn't give a fuck. The lyrics are obscure and hard to hear but they are very socially conscious while also being very personal to the band. This album is incredible. There wasn't a single song I didn't want to hear again. And thank you 1001 for finally making me listen to an entire Sonic Youth album and for helping me understand their rightful place in music history.

I remember hearing Young Americans at the end of Dogville by Lars von Trier. It fit so well with the film because it felt like a sharp commentary on American life (much like Dogville itself). Young Americans feels so snarky and feels like it is almost making fun of the black backup singers and the soulful music. I didn't expect to learn that Bowie loved that sound and was basically making an entire album in that style. And then I find out Luther Vandross is one of the backup singers. And the Across the Universe cover actually has John Lennon playing guitar and singing backup. Oh and Lennon helped write Fame and plays on that as well?! Insane. Those three songs are probably my favorites, but while listening I also enjoyed Win and the titular Right. I'm honestly not keen on the soul, R&B sound Bowie was emulating but I definitely understand it's place in music history. It's just not my style. But there are enough songs that either seem snarky to the style or are just bizarre enough for me to enjoy here.

I have a few Tribe albums on vinyl but for some reason I can't remember ever listening to this one. As always Tribe perfectly incorporates the best jazz music and rhythms with their own brand of hip hop. The lyrics are great, the music is great. Great album front to back.

I remember this being released and then hearing some of the songs on NPR after Leonard Cohen passed. The prophetic lyrics (I mean he knew he was at the end) made me sad. I didn't know much about Leonard Cohen aside from his name being mentioned in Pennyroyal Tea by Nirvana. I believe I looked him up based on the lyric and I was probably too young to be into his music. Such a deep dark voice on this album. It's not entirely my type of music but there are songs here that I enjoy and all of the lyrics are deep and sound as thoughtful as a man on his death bed could write. It's just not an album I want to listen to all the time but the background makes it something special.

I listened to maybe 4 songs of this on YouTube before I gave up. I know others have had a hard time finding this album too. I'm not entirely sure why that is. What I heard sounded like contemporary middle eastern music and it wasn't bad but it's definitely not something I'm going to seek out.

Never heard of this or ifi have I don't remember. It did seem slightly familiar. I liked Scooby Snacks and so did the UK apparently. There were a couple of good songs but generally nothing that wowed me.

The funk is heavy with this one as it should be. But I'll be honest and say the talking kind of makes me not want to listen again. We want the funk though! The music itself is good but all the concept album story setup is kind of overkill for me.

This really is a great album. I think I gave this to someone once and they burned a copy for me and it stayed in my CD player for quite some time. Looking at the track list, I know the first 6 songs were amazing but I do want to make it all the way through to the end because the rest have to be as good right? I don't care if The Killers made it big and are too popular. They do make good music that I enjoy and I am not afraid to admit it.

The second half of the album really trails off from the first half. I'm not even sure why. The songs aren't that bad, but they just aren't as catchy as the first half. And the last song about indie rock just kind of sucks. But the first half is so strong I have to give it 4 stars.

I liked a lot of the songs on this album but I wasn't totally sure about Evan Dando's voice. It sounds a bit as if a rock band brought in a singer who was more attuned to solo acoustic instrumentation than rock/punk. It's an interesting dynamic, but I'm not sure it worked perfect for me. Again, there were a lot of songs I liked and I should probably revisit the entire album. I enjoyed reading about the band's experiences with all these other larger acts that aren't that well-known. I also thought it was awesome that Dando helped write "The Last High" with The Dandy Warhols! Such a great song.

I listened to this entire album thinking this was a female band and was surprised to find it is a duo of brothers. And I have heard about the Sparks brothers because of the more recent album and movie that was released about them. Listening to this, I couldn't help thinking how unique the sound was. This is an interesting album and I ended up liking most of the songs because it really isn't like a lot of other music. And to know this was made in 1974 also blows your mind because it sounds so ahead of its time.

Love the The The band name. I've maybe heard one of the The The songs but I've never listened to the The The's albums in full. Eager to check this The The album out! Uncertain Smile was the song I knew from the Left of the Dial box set that highlighted so much great 80's music. It's still probably my favorite song on the album but I enjoyed every song almost as much as the next. This band had a great style. They had a distinct 80's sound (a lot of synth and bass) but also they sound more advanced than a lot of 80s groups both musically and lyrically. I wonder why The The never exploded. I suspect the name may have given them issues. This is a great album regardless of their band name (which I don't hate, but I can see trouble from a marketing perspective).

There are some very famous pop culture songs here, but I don't think the Carole King versions are the ones everyone knows. I think the Aretha Franklin versions are more well known (and better). She may have co-written some of these with her ex-husband or others (James Taylor) but the other singers are the ones I associate these songs with. I didn't find Carole King's voice very unique or very good. My wife said she might have been the Taylor Swift of her generation and that's almost true except I associate Taylor's songs with Taylor and not another artist. I do like the songs and I do appreciate that some of them were originally created by Carole King but I did not care much for this album.

Maybe not as good as More Songs about Buildings and Food but still good. I'd like to dive into this more!

I don't even know what this is. How many albums are on this list again?! Will I like it? Let's judge an album by its cover. We have a very aged looking photograph of a man and a woman and the man has a suit on and a boutonnier - classic prom shoot. But they look like they may be a gay couple (she has short hair - could just be the 80's; and he is maybe a bit ambiguous - I'm not judging, just guessing). The title is Everything But The Girl, which could either mean he has everything but he laments losing her or he wants everything but the girl. Let's listen and read some Wikipedia and Genius Lyrics and find out!

Well I was wrong, the title isn't Everything But The Girl... That's the band name. The album name is Idlewild, which evokes images of being wild within the confines of your home. I imagined the man singing but now I think maybe the woman will sing based on some of the song titles. So, they're married and forgive me about the assumptions I made earlier. Do I know any of these songs? Well this is 80's prom music so I guess I was sort of right. Woof. I'm not sure I like this. It's like it made way for some Jewel or Pink or Natalie Imbruglia in the 90s. OK but as a guy whose wife is pregnant with twin girls, These Early Days got me. The harpsichord crap is terrible though. Oh but she ruined it by using a boy's name at the end. Damnit Jimmy. There were other songs that I kind of weirdly enjoyed. I kept saying this isn't for me. This is a lounge act. This isn't good. But then I started liking songs and I said fuck it. There's something here, but I'm not sure what it is. Fuck it. 5 stars. I was going to go with 3 stars, but no. 5 stars. Don't tell anyone.

I think I only know Relax (and who doesn't know Relax?) by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. This should be interesting.

And it was... There's some stuff here that is just kind of weird (the covers) but I think that was kind of the point. We're here, we're queer, and we're weird and we don't give a fuck. Highlights of course include Relax, which has been featured heavily in pop culture despite its raunchiness. Krisco Kisses also gave me a bit of a chuckle. Black Night White Light is musically maybe one of my favorites. Great synth sounds and funky 80's bass grooves. There were a couple others that grew on me but it was a bit hit or miss. Relax hit it big for them, but it's obvious why the rest don't seem to be as well revered.

Great album. Some of the best psychedelic rock (I wouldn't say it's trippy though). The only song I hate is Blue Condition and I'm not sure why. Why Disraeli Gears? Something something some guy mixed up a British prime minister's last name from the 1800's with a type of bicycle gear. SWLABR? (Great song by the way) She Walks (or is it Was?) Like A Bearded Rainbow! I immediately fell in love with Sunshine of Your Love years ago. Arguably Cream's best song. What pisses me off though is that Clapton said shit like "Keep Britain White" and then didn't want to perform on a stage where there was a "discriminated audience" during Covid when concert-goers had to be vaccinated. So on the one hand the man is discriminating about who can live in the country he lives in and then feels his audience is discriminated against because they won't do something not only helpful for themselves but helpful for everyone in attendance at a concert? Hypocrite. Now I can hardly stand to listen to Clapton. I'm going to still rate this highly because it is essential and it is a great piece of music and because other personnel were involved (I do not know their political stances). Fuck Clapton though. I used to look up to him when I was little. Now I just see another old racist conservative white man that used to play the guitar really well (and probably stole most of his riffs from black music anyway - hypocrite).

I had heard bits and pieces of this album but never listened to the entire thing. It's hard sometimes to get through an entire Björk album in one sitting. Another very unique voice finds its way to this list and there may be no other voice that is more unique than Björk's. It's abrasive and scratchy and delicate and wistful all at once. She screams into whispers and whispers into screams. I was caught off guard by the pure dance beats some of these tracks are backgrounded with, but that's actually why I am rating this so highly. She has since shifted to a more symphonic sound, but the 90's dance music here is actually perfect for her voice. I think I enjoyed every song on this album, which is not an easy feat for a Björk album. A very good Debut indeed.