Reviews by oldmancthc

Quirky and lighthearted, this was a very cool spin-off from the Talking Heads bass player and drummer. Still has that new wave backbone you'd expect to it but leans heavily into creating its own style of minimalist funk, blending live instrumentation with electronics. I love the arrangements. Simple and repetitive rhythms anchor each song, while a host of different instruments weave unique phrases into that fabric. All of this is topped with the Weymouth sisters syrupy vocal melodies. It's so refreshingly upbeat it's like a musical antidepressant.

Another album that is very difficult for me to review outside of my own nostalgia. I know a lot of this sounds dated, but that speaks more to how influential it was. Upon it's release, and shortly before grunge exploded into the darling child of the '90s, this album occupied a very narrow sonic space, mixing the shock-factor of glam with the unapologetic power of punk, and shedding the '80s pop-idealism like nothing else before it. This was unconventional and avant garden and felt like something utterly new in 1988.

Most of the music I love would not exist without the MC5. Fuzzed out psychedelic blues played with a strong 'fuck you' attitude. Proto-punk doesn't even begin to describe how important and powerful this is. Pure musical revolution.

SNOOZER! This was so boring I forgot to write notes. With a weekend between listening and rating I honestly don't even remember listening to this. Yes, it's THAT forgettable.

I wrote this off after a single listen. It was just so forgettable and safe. But then I spent most of the day thinking about what it was I couldn't connect with about it and that compelled me to come back to it for another listen. Glad I did because the second listen really brought out a lot more for me. It is still safe; poppy and upbeat, and I don't really hear much psych in it other than the occasional use of a sitar, but it takes some chances and many of them work. I can certainly hear how this influenced a lot of later '80s "college rock."

Meh... it's not totally awful but feels really pretentious. Much of this sounds like Bowie glam-era worship. When it's not trying to do that it just kinda stinks in a boring way. I'm not hearing much I'd consider Britpop at all. It's mostly listenable, but doesn't bring anything new to the table so I'd just rather put on some Bowie if I was in the mood for this.

Such an iconic performer. Her voice is uniquely identifiable even here, late in her career. The vocal jazz ballad isn’t really my thing but it’s hard to deny how powerful she could make that. Her importance to popularizing jazz cannot be overlooked either.

Jesus... I understand that Dolly Parton died, but didn't realize that meant I'd have to suffer a full week of country albums being generated here. I can't stand this. The whole album sounds like nails on a chalkboard. It's like a master class in everything I hate about this genre.

I certainly prefer the jazzier numbers to the country ones, but it all comes off sounding like cover songs being competently performed at an open-mic night. VERY obviously inspired by Patsy Cline. In fact, it's so close it sounds more like unimaginative imitation. In no way do I consider this essential listening.

Slower country/folksy numbers didn't do it for me but the rockier tracks make for a fun listen. Overall wasn't something I'd see myself returning to, but wasn't off-putting either.

Ugh... No disrespect for the dead. I know Dolly was a wonderful person who did great things, but I just don't care for this type of music at all.

Awful, awful, AWFUL! Mostly pop drivel, but mixes in a lot of country to make it sound even worse. Not a single redeeming element here.

Great listen! I always enjoyed the Sugarcubes and it was Björk's very unique voice in such juxtaposition to the rest of the sound that really made it for me. I feel similar here. Without her vocals, this is just sort of lackluster. The music is simple repetitive melodies over sparse rhythms. Not boring, so to speak, but just nothing that really pulls the listener in. The addition of her vocal changes ALL of that, instilling an ethereal power that seemingly does not fit but ultimately provides everything needed for this to become cohesive and engaging. While I feel like this is probably the most approachable music I've heard from her, it is still experimental in that there was really nothing else that even sounded close to this upon its release.

All I needed to see was "honky tonk" to know I would hate his. Ironically, the closing track, called Honky Tonkin' kinda rocked. There was a decent piano number on here too, though pretty off-putting that it was written about Fingernails. Neither could really save this for me.

Indescribably terrible. I don't have the words.

I have to admit to enjoying this a lot more than I expected. This is just weirdo blues with some jazzy overtones. Vocal delivery is pretty unique, reminds me a little of John Spencer or Beck and it fits the music pretty well. I mean, who doesn't like cold beverages?

Started off pretty good, but really went downhill after track 4 or maybe 5. Some of the more obvious glam-era Bowie worship seemed like parody and came off pretty badly I thought. I liked the first album a lot more.

Some serious weirdo jazz here. Jaco's bass synth tone is so out there. Wild and undeniable talent in this group, but I still don't enjoy it as much as when Herbie or Miles plays fusion. There's something very dated about the sound on this.

God damn this sucks. I hate his voice. I hate his story telling. I hate his smug working-class image. There was a very BRIEF moment of soul/R&B influence on Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out where I almost felt like this wouldn't completely blow, but then he started "singing" and I lost all hope.

Classic garagey proto-punk from a local (to me) powerhouse. The influence this band and album has reaches further into my music obsession that I ever even realized, with 3 of these songs being covers on other albums I own. There is a very obvious and intentional Velvet Underground sound to this. Not surprised it was produced by John Cale. Great stuff here that I need to dive deeper into for sure.