Reviews by oldmancthc

This is beautiful and the multiple-part harmonies are incredibly well done. I have really come to enjoy and appreciate African music, especially after being exposed to more of it by this list. So why don't I like this? I just don't respond favorably to the a cappella format. I respect the talent that goes into it, but I just don't enjoy listening to it.

This fucking ROCKS! Pure garage power and attitude. More music should sound like this.

Melodic and dreamy. Interesting first time listen but it's probably nothing I'll ever want to hear again.

Anyone who rates this album under 5 stars should not be trusted.

Only recently became acquainted with this band's first album and I loved it. I don't know anything but the hit from the second album, but I can't stand that fiddle-laden drivel. This one, sits somewhere between those two. There is some good soul-inspired stuff on here, that is reminiscent of their early work but never really hits with the same power. The upbeat numbers are fun and listenable. I really enjoyed the obviously ascorbic satire of shamelessly ripping off Warren Zevon while singing "It all sounded the same" over the top of it. When they slow down and Kevin switches between talking over the music lounge-singer style and full on crooning it is simply unbearable though. It feels like filler and there's just way too much of it on here.

This sucks. Congratulations to the band if the point was to make one of the most annoying albums ever.

This album opens with the two worst songs ever written, back-to-fucking-back. I'll save everybody a lot of time and just stop there.

This was a good listen. I had coworker years ago that tried to get me into this band and I just wasn't ready to give them a try. It's not my usual thing, but I found it interesting enough that I wanted to hear more. Nice mix of psych and spacey shoegaze tones delivered with a pop sensibility and solid songwriting.

Absolutely fantastic blend of psychedelic rock and soul. You Better Run is such a badass banger! Another album I wish was longer.

The fact that this is a supposed concept album about poverty, and social inequality made by a woman who was raised in celebrity is fucking laughable. This is vapid dance-pop garbage designed to make millions for a record label no matter how she chose to dress it up.

Opening track gave me chills it was so good. Total '70s soul throwback! Some of the production on here is a little sterile (modern), and not all the tracks live up to that first one, but this is still a great album. Loving the use of live instruments and the obvious reverence paid to classic soul here without outright mimicking that sound.

I like this a lot more than I expected to. It really hits the mark on fusing Nile Rodgers era disco with British goth/post-punk like the Cure and Depeche Mode. It's maybe a little too dancey for me, but the funk influence makes that more palatable. Overall it's a fun, upbeat listen.

I'm pretty picky about hip-hop, and generally speaking I don't like much made after 1994ish. Seeing this was British and from 2019 I was ready to be disappointed. Well, I was very wrong. This ROCKS! Production is mostly bare-bones and lo-fi (VERY positive from my viewpoint). Simz vocal is allowed to be the focal point (as it should be) and her voice is powerful (literally and figuratively). I really need someone to point me toward more modern hip-hop with this sound and feel.

Another album I heard many years ago, but lacked the ability to appreciate at the time. Glad my musical tastes have evolved, because this absolutely deserves the praise I've always heard for it. On the one hand, I regret being so narrow-minded in my early 20s, but on the other, it's really nice to have this as a newer discovery later in life. Lots of Beatles influence. I can hear The Kinks in there too. It's VERY brit-pop adjacent, without being easily pigeonholed into that category. Really solid release here that I’ll for sure be returning to often.

This is an interesting mix of western composition and traditional Indian ragas. It's much more than that too, and the instrumental performance suggests incredible talent. Vocals are quite beautiful as well. I also respect the themes being explored here. However, all that being said, I don't really respond to this overall. I just don't ever see myself returning to listen to this. It's not bad, just doesn't have anything within in that really inspires me to dig into it.

I am NOT an Abba fan, but this... this is a little different. It feels deeper than their normal saccharine dance pop sound. Yeah, the Abba melodies are still there, so are the danceable beats, but this time they're supported by a more complex sense of musicality. There are even some (dare I say) darker tones mixed in. Also hearing some new wave influence creeping in here and there. Not sure I'm ready to say I like this, but it's not as easy to dismiss as some of their earlier work was for me.

More '90s hip-hop that for some reason was never really on my radar. Yeah I know, this is a big one that EVERYONE raves about, but for some reason I never listened to it before now. Damn... I've been missing out. This lands squarely in my hip-hop sweet spot too. Classic '90s style; stripped-down production with simple but powerful beats and samples that really allow the rhymes and flow shine the way they should. This is great!

I get the Chemical Brothers and the Dust Brother confused sometimes. And that was BEFORE I even read about the name controversy. I'm not usually a fan of electronic music, but this is so damn good (like the Dust Brothers) I can't help myself. Solid, energetic beats. Precision sample selection and placement. A lot of times I find this music repetitive to exhaustion, but these guys have figured out just how to manipulate things so it never really feels that way. Speaking of repetitive... Damn this is good.

A little ashamed to admit this is another Wu solo album I was not very familiar with. Classic Wu-Tang production and rhymes. Top-notch '90s hip-hop here.

While it has a few moments of achievement, this is mostly jazzy in ALL THE WRONG WAYS! Post-Jam Weller just KEEPS disappointing me. This is mostly over-produced adult contemporary schlock. Some very '80s sounding pop-funk that really falls flat on here too. The inclusion of a token "rap" track is a wild choice. Unfortunately pretty common in this era of music.