Reviews by owen

This is definitely longer than it needs to be, and at the two thirds mark, I was ready to give it a three on that basis. But it continued to win me over, and I think somewhere around Dracula's Wedding I tipped me over into four. Big Boi half good, Andre 3000 half better. (And I loved the version of My Favorite Things)

Already a fan of Little Simz (Lotus is fantastic); this is great. I love the production on it; very varied, and her flow is inventive and interesting. One of my favorite rap artists.

I like this a lot; obviously Cars is the standout, but M.E is also great (as recognized by Basement Jaxx), and the general vibe is very much to my taste. Maybe one or two slightly filler-y tracks, if I had to find a criticism.

I like this a lot, but it's not quite at the highs of Nevermind. Maybe some of that is familiarity, though. Some great songwriting on here; Heart-Shaped Box and All Apologies are the highlights, and I liked Radio Friendly Unit Shifter.

Phew! Finished the gauntlet of six Elvis Costello albums! And the last two (this and My Aim Is True) were the best. Pump It Up is probably my favorite Elvis Costello song.

Gallops along in a rather fun way, even if it is all a bit of nonsense. Dickinson is a better singer than Di'Anno, but he's a bit too operatic for my tastes.

I don't this is especially memorable. But I quite enjoyed it. Low three.

This was in general more country than I typically like, but I recognize the quality of the songwriting, and there were a few songs that I thought were excellent: Hello in There and Angel From Montgomery were a couple of standouts. A very strong three. Actually, no, I think the songwriting sneaks it into four.

I feel like I was overly harsh on the Beau Brummels yesterday, because although I disliked it, I can see the difference between mere dislike and the reaction this instills in me. I gave it a solid try but had to bail just past the halfway mark.

The first Temu Dylan track wasn't too bad, but the rest was pretty annoying. Not sure whether this is a low two or high one. Will go with the latter

Was there ever a bigger glow-up than Hazard's version of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" to Lauper's? This album is a lot of fun, even if it tails off a little towards the end. A strong four.

I quite liked Sacred Attention , but then really disliked Elixir is Zog. Overall there were moments I liked here, but also plenty that was just ok. High two.

The top review at time of writing says "She tries too hard to be weird for the sake of being weird", which I take issue with for two reasons:

" This is not "weird for the sake of it" - I think Björk just does whatever she feels is interesting.
* It's not even that weird. This is pretty accessible stuff as far as Björk goes.

Anyway five stars from me.

I loved Birdland, and the scratchy guitar sound on Land is great. Definitely see the lineage here to later singers I like, like Kristin Hersh and PJ Harvey. Strong stuff, a very high four.

I liked the opening track, but the rest was too smooth for me, though I appreciate the musicianship. A high two.

This might be my favorite of the Stones albums we've had so far, but it's still a high three rather than a four. It seems to me the Stones aren't really an album band; there's always one or two great songs on each album, but also quite a lot of less outstanding work. Best consumed as a greatest hits package.

Any one of these songs individually is fine, but they are too samey to grab your attention, especially over the course of two hours plus.

This was quite a surprise to me, because I fully expected to really like this, but for some reason it didn't quite vibe with me. Liked the spoken word H2Ogate Blues more than the rest. I liked elements of the others (including some nice bass), but the whole wasn't quite what I was expecting. Low three.

This was joyful. The marimba solo on Hong Kong Mambo is fantastic. I listened to the original 1958 track listing, which at less than 40 minutes didn't outstay its welcome. A strong four - pretty close to a five.

I liked this, in smaller doses; I had to break up listening over two days, as it was all getting a little too much for me. Standout track was 2 Far. I like the energy and abrasiveness, but an hour is a little long. A low three.