Reviews by oldmancthc

I like my hip-hop stripped down and this is just too busy. Great moments here and there, but the production pushes me away.

The Zeppelin album I feel like I (we all) know the best. It's got some bangers for sure, but most of those I overplayed before my 12th birthday and now it's hard to focus without them just turning into background noise. Anyways, more solid blues based arena rock here. I know this was groundbreaking for the era it was made but it's hard not to let the effects of history diminish my interest in this band's catalog.

I love that this conceptually revolves around social consciousness. Beats and production are really good. R&B portions are a little too modern for my tastes. Afrobeat influence is present, but not nearly prevalent enough. Vocals, despite being well performed, just never seem to catch my attention. Maybe it's because the vocal is often just a repeated chorus, often a single word or line. There is a message there, but it's lost in monotony. It's better than most of what I've heard released in the last 5 or so years, but still just not something that really hits me in a way that makes me want to listen to it again.

This album has a lot of hype behind it... and it deserves every bit of it. This fuckin' rocks! Space Truckin' alone earns it 5 stars.

I've got a known track record here for hating on UK electronica/beats/whateverthisis. This didn't convince me otherwise. Frenetic beats over monotonous bass lines with some bleeps, bloops, and samples thrown in. I don't think I do the right kind of drugs to appreciate this. The occasional vocal elevates this to "barely listenable."

Another band I've heard of but never listened to. Not what I expected. Dreamy, shoegazey layers with captivating vocals riding on top. I like this more than I expected I would.

Here's an album I've known since I was 14, and was inarguably one of the gateway albums to my love of punk. Blister In The Sun, Kiss Off, and Add It Up remain timeless classics. How these songs still sound so aggressive, played on acoustic bass, a cocktail drum kit, and a guitar with virtually no fuzz is still a mystery to me. Proof positive that early punk was an attitude more so than a sound.

For the amount of love I have for Tainted Love, it was pretty disappointing to find the rest of this album to be mostly mindless '80s dance club jams. Really happy I did not listen to the whole 30+ Deluxe edition.

Really nice vocals here. Production is well done too. Just not anything I'm interested in listening to.

Never heard of this band or release, and it straight up ROCKS! Perfect late '60s fuzzed out rock with seam jazz sensibilities and lots of vocal harmonies. Not a bad song on here.

Classic album by a great band that is outgrowing its punk roots and experimenting quite a bit. Most of it works. I miss the stripped-down garage style sound they started with, but this still maintains that same energy, just focuses it on expanding their horizons. In fact, even more so on this album than previous, the band seems to be writing songs that (intentional or not) are anthems. Very powerful stuff here.

OK, I'll admit I don't know much of anything from Green Day since they left Lookout records and were a cheap rip off of Ramones and Cheap Trick. This... is... rough. It's wildly overproduced milksop powerpop. While it has its moments, it's for the most part forgettable. I don't feel enough to say I hate it, but I would NEVER think to ever put this on to listen to.

Solid album. Well played jazz. Not my favorite in the genre. It's pretty laid back. I want to call it background music for a fancy cafe, but that's insulting and dismissive. I guess nothing really sticks out to me and that's why I feel that.

Better than Cave's solo efforts IMO. Some interesting stuff here. Seems like it might have inspired some of my favorite noise acts, but I still can't really get into it. Something about it just seems very contrived; staged and theatrical. I can't get over that.

Lots of interesting things going on here. A lot of Spanish guitar and vocal throughout, but it really gets interesting for me when he works in a little psych here and there. Digging the organ work on a lot of this too. I had to go through this one twice to really get the feel for it. It was a little disjointed in its attempt to fuse multiple styles but in this context I liked that. Felt like I was along for the ride as the artist went through a discovery process. Veloso is basically defining the Tropicália sound here.

Perfect album. Great sound, great message, great performances. I just love '70s funk/soul. Could listen to this all day.

BANGIN' southern rock/blues album here. Only one slow-burner I could skip.

LOVE this! I don't know why I always heard the name Pere Ubu and thought they were a crappy Pet Shop Boys clone. This album has a great post-punk sound with a LOT of artsy experimentation. Really fun first listen, that inspires replaying for sure.

Straight up blues record. I dig it. Hilarious that the background is them holed up in France, evading taxes and the album becomes this personal anthem to their own outlaw status. Also fascinating that this mostly grows out of hours-long jam sessions, many with other musicians sitting in too.

Not a Beach Boys fan, but this one at least is more interesting than the older stuff. Big Phil Spector sound on a lot of this. Not EVERY song revolves around girls, beaches, and cars at this point. Saccharine harmonies are still there though.