Reviews by pageantree

When I first put this on, I had to double check that I was listening to the right album. It sounds way ahead of its time, more 90s alternative than early 80s music. I knew the first song immediately, "Blister In The Sun". It's a catchy pop-infused song, like several other ones on the album. The Wikipedia article says folk punk, but maybe that's just what 90s alternative can be sometimes. The lyrics are engaging and funny at times. I liked how unlike other 80s music this album sounded (those synths can be tiring).

I was expecting samba because of the album title, but instead this was jazzy and grand (the kind of theatrical jazz that reminds me of Sinatra's style). Gilberto's voice is soft and beautiful, and it helps lend a coffee-shop quality to the songs. Overall, this album gave me a warm and peaceful feeling on the dreary afternoon I listened to it.

As this album came out in 1966, it's predictably psychedelic rock. The only "punk" thing about it was that the drums could be considered fast-paced. The lyrics were also pretty cheesy. This kind of music is usually just too weird for me.

This album sounds like bluesy hair metal. At least, the singer's voice strongly lends to the hair metal vibe. It's not really my genre; my parents liked to listen to this kind of music, and it's just okay to me. The lyrics and songs here are very repetitive. I'll say "I Don't Mind" was the best song on here.

Talking Heads is one of those bands I've heard a lot about but never listened to. I expected a rock band, but instead the music is infectious: groovy, funky, danceable, and with doses of psychedelia. The lyrics are not so much sung as spoken in a shout, and they're witty. It's quite unique, no wonder it seems to be popular. I liked that I got the debut instead of something later. My personal favorite song was "No Compassion", because it has more of the darker elements I like in songs.

I do love a dark, heavy rock album. This one has the added benefits of having strong riffs and bass lines, that 90s guitar sound, and some punk mixed in. Audio samples were also used strategically throughout. My favorite songs (because of the amazing riffs) were "Mausoleum" and "Die In The Summertime".

This is a reggae album with socially conscious lyrics. I do mostly like the reggae beats, but they can get repetitive. This was by no means bad, though.

I found this album to be very Beatles-esque (60s Beatles anyway) in terms of the vocal harmonies and catchiness of several of the songs. However, the music is heavier and more experimental at other points ("The Ox" is a perfect example). There are also more blues elements, like keyboards and a groovy swing ("I'm A Man" is a better example of the blues style coming out).

This is one of the more unique albums I've listened to. I loved it so much, it was so beautiful and enchanting and amazing. I had goosebumps almost the whole time I was listening to it. I suppose it would be considered a kind of folk music, but it's hard to describe otherwise. The songs are long and few, but they're sweeping and go high and low, both in dark places and in light places. Each song was able to go in so many different directions.The stories Newsom tells through the songs are rich, detailed, and emotional, and though her voice cracks many times, it shows how human she is. The first song, "Emily", was probably my favorite and hooked me immediately, but "Cosmia" was just as wonderful.

The reviews for this aren't the best, unfortunately. But this album is worth listening to because it's so unique and it tests boundaries, and that's one of the amazing things about this project at the end of the day. I used to think I only liked heavier rock music, but that's not actually true. I love discovering gems like this that change my mindset.

Sinatra's jazz is whimsical, grand, romantic, and just plain catchy (among many other things). It makes you want to dance and soar high above the clouds. I liked the other Sinatra album I received recently too ("In The Wee Small Hours"), so this is pretty perfect.

I've heard some Arctic Monkeys before, and I was aware that this band was a side project. The music is in the same vein as Arctic Monkeys (dark and mysterious). This album brings in more theatrical and dramatic elements, as well as being fast-paced and tight in both timing and musicality. It sounded like a soundtrack to a James Bond film, complete with strings. I liked this a lot.

To my surprise, I had already heard a few of these songs already ("Green Onions", "Rinky Dink", "Twist and Shout", "Comin' Home Baby"). The songs are instrumental and veer between an old-timey rock n rock sound, blues, and just plain grooviness. Most of them are also covers, but songs get covered more when they're popular. Overall, the album was catchy and mostly fun to listen to.

I haven't listened to much Bowie (just "Low" and "Aladdin Sane" so far), but I could tell this album was different from his typical fare at the time. Most of the songs were 80s-sounding numbers complete with soulful vocals, choir backing, and liberal use of saxophone. In fact, the song that sounded the most like Bowie was a John Lennon cover song, "Across the Universe". Because I'm not into 80s R&B, I wasn't a fan of this album. But sometimes artists feel the need to experiment with their music, and that's fine too.

This does indeed sound like very dreamy, spacey pop-rock music. Additionally, I would describe the music as strange and ethereal. The songs all seemed to have the same aura running through them, and they never really went anywhere exciting.

I received "A Rush of Blood to the Head" before I got this album, and it only took one song for me to determine this is the better album (other people agree as well). The songs are an indie pop/rock type of music with a reflective feel to them. There are elements of darkness, melancholy, longing, urgency, and just passionate emotion in general. The songs were mostly softer, but I liked how the music enveloped me and made me feel. I think my favorite song was "We Never Change".

I'm familiar with Iggy Pop through Joshua Homme (one of my favorite musicians). I've heard the Post Pop Depression stuff and the generator gave me The Stooges (which I enjoyed) not too long ago. This is one of Iggy's prominent albums, which also happens to be a collaboration with David Bowie. The music incorporates Iggy's edgy punk style with some of Bowie's flair. I'm assuming the music style was unique for its time and kind of weird, but I'm into that a lot of times. There are plenty of known singles on here: "Lust For Life", "The Passenger", and "Success". My personal favorite tracks were "Sixteen" and "The Passenger".

I watched the video version of this album. Rock music and orchestras go very well together, in my opinion. In this case, neither overpowered the other.The orchestra could be heard clearly over the songs and added enhancement to the base songs. Additionally, I liked watching the crowd singing along and seeing the band enjoying themselves. There were a lot of musicians and this looked and sounded like a lot of work went into it. I thought it was very impressive and it was easy to immerse myself in (but I generally like live albums and interesting mixes).

This was a mix of pop and dance music. It was designed to be catchy apparently, but though it had a good beat, the songs all blended together and were mostly the same to me.

I listened to this album on purpose sometime last year and I remembered liking it. Much of the album was already familiar to me anyway because of the popularity of the songs in mainstream culture. The Chili Peppers have such a distinct sound that you really can't mix them up with anyone else (a funky mix of alternative rock).

One of each instrument (vocals, guitars, bass and drums) gives each element room to stand out. The guitar is dominant and busy; the bass is funky and groovy; the drums keep a fast beat; and the vocals are rapid fire. For those reasons, the songs are memorable and catchy. The front half of the album is amazing with no skips, and though the second half isn't as much so, it still holds its own. Memorable songs: "Californication" has such a lovely and longing-sounding guitar solo, "Otherside" is dark and moody; and "Porcelain" is just a beautiful song in general.

This was a mix of country, folk, and psychedelia. It had a kind of subdued feel, and even though I listened to it twice, I couldn't vibe with it. It was, to be honest, dull to me.