Reviews by oldmancthc

I had never heard anything from this album previously, but it's certainly not a departure from what I already know of Costello. Great songwriting with solid hooks and thought-provoking lyrics. As usual I enjoy the upbeat overdriven guitar-based tracks more so than the piano driven ballads, but even the latter is pretty great here. Something about Costello's distinctive voice ties it all together.

Again, this almost seems like it will be an interesting listen when it first starts, but that VERY quickly changes. Status quo for the other KoL I've been unlucky enough to hear. It's cliche, disinteresting, and a lot of the times sounds like it's poking fun at how crappy indie rock is as a whole. Truly worthless music made even worse by the terrible vocals.

Damn, this was the epitome of "rock" when I was growing up. It's not something I listen to regularly anymore, but this one has some undeniable bangers on it; Runnin' With The Devil, Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love, Jamie's Cryin', all great (it must be the apostrophes).

The Who is one of those bands that simply did not age well for me. They were a huge influence on the music I consumed and performed at a young age, but it just didn't stick. Now, I find most of their albums have a single "hit" to anchor them but are filled out with mostly fluff. This one is an outlier though, Baba O'Riley, Bargain, Going Mobile, Behind Blue Eyes, Won't Get Fooled Again, it's practically non-stop bangers. One of my favorite album of theirs.

Lots of Bowie worship here, which is cool, but I could just listen to Bowie. I do like this one better than Dog Man Star. There seems to be a few more upbeat and fuzzed out tunes on this one, which are much more fun to listen to than the melancholic ballads found on both albums. It just isn't something that, as a whole, I have any passion for or anything against for that matter.

Total weirdo shit. Flute and birdcalls on Croker Courtbullion is like some kind of Les Baxter inspired swamp-exotica. This rocks!

I was pretty excited about this on paper, but it was pretty disappointing. It took three tries to listen to it. I just kept tuning it out and forgetting I was even listening to anything, so would have to restart it. I love space-rock and psych, but this is just somniferous. Even when it starts to "rock" it just becomes so ceaselessly repetitive that I lose interest really quickly. I wish this was better. I feel like it MIGHT be something I could come to appreciate with multiple listens, but there is also nothing about it that makes me want to invest time in that.

This is great. Vocals are solid throughout. Production is unique and innovative in its approach, creating an atmosphere without detracting from the vocals. Pushead art is a bonus too. I'm learning there is SOOOO much great hip-hop from the '90s that I missed out on.

Rap parts are awful. Lyrics sound like they are written by (and for) an edgy 12 year old. Even the down-tuned metal-core riffs are unimaginative. I don't hate all nü metal but this sucks.

The god damn archetype of classic rock that ROCKS! Great live album capturing one of the '70s greatest bands. Nothing beats the sound of a Les Paul plugged straight into a dimed Marshall and this proves it.

I've only heard m b v previous to this. I think I might like that one just a little bit more but this was still great. Sounds like audio sculpture. It's very easy to get lost in the ebb and flow of sonic texture constantly being created and destroyed.

Despite my feelings on Clapton as person, I still love Cream. This... This is just NOT good.

This is decent. The comparisons to Oasis seem like a stretch. I sort of get it, but I don't find this nearly as engaging. Some of the slower burning tracks on here are the ones that slightly nudge me toward wanting a relisten, which is surprising in itself since the downtempo stuff is generally where I check out.

Beth's got a great voice. Sort of reminds me of Joni Mitchell. The opening track (Stolen Car) was pretty great and I thought maybe this album would surprise me. No such luck. The rest of this was just sort of sleepy for lack of a better term.

No-frills and lo-fi. A little all over the place in sound, this certainly feels like an artist exploring new ground. Standouts for me were the upbeat numbers; Valentines Day, Oo You, and Momma Miss America. Maybe I'm Amazed, despite being a slower track is of course incredible (it was the hit for a reason), and I do dig the experimentation on Kreen-Akora.

More '80s British background-pop. Not a song, hook, or even a moment that was remotely memorable.

Always pigeonholed these guys as hair metal based on their appearance and wrote them off. This actually has a lot more of a diverse sound than most of those acts, with much of it leaning hard into '70s glam and proto-punk rather than heavy metal. It's actually got a very approachable sound; fun and upbeat.

Lackluster "garage" band tries to get artsy... and I thought they were pretentious before this! Should have stayed in their lane. This is truly awful. The overuse of marimba should be a criminal offense.

I've always written this band off, but I'll be god damned if a lot of this doesn't sound like Chaos A.D./Roots-era Sepultura. I am a sucker for some down-tuned groove so I ended up enjoying this more than I wanted to. My only complaints are with the clean singing that's sprinkled throughout and that it could've been shorter.

Coming in as a surprise to no-one... I hate this.