Reviews by prometheus

Merely knowing this is from 2012 gives me a little dislike reaction almost as a reflex. I know I’d be far more delighted to listen to these exact same songs had it said they were from, say, 1987. I know it’s irrational and stupid, but that’s just how it goes. Acknowledging and trying to not mind it is the best I can do.

That being said, this was quite good, especially given all the aforementioned. Lots of lovely analogue(-ish) synths and drum machines, even though I’m not too into the more indie sounding stuff of this millennium. A pleasant surprise, nevertheless.

The version on Apple Music is, at least for me, missing one song and the length is just over 20 minutes or so and it felt like the album had barely even started when it was already over. Apparently the missing song in a good ten minuter, so that's one third of the whole album lacking. Bummer.

Anyway, I've been meant to check James Brown out properly simply due to the guys in Can mentioning him as one of their biggest influences. Well, to be perfectly honest, this didn't quite match my expectations. It's perfectly fine, but I was expecting something a lot wilder somehow. I also feel like a mere 30 minutes isn't enough for a live album, unless it's punk or something other, extremely intense material, which this really isn't. That said, maybe missing one third of even that just makes me disillusioned about this album a bit.

Yeah, I really wanted to like this, but I guess my expectations and assumption of what it'd be like were completely wrong. Can't get into it, sorry.

The kind of 00s American alt-rock I absolutely cannot stand. Annoying vocals, the production is too clean and the compositions themselves do absolutely nothing for me. And apparently there's two more of their albums left on the list. Fucking hell.

Okay, was going to give it two stars at first but the further I got in, the more annoyed I got. One star it is, no way around it.

Like I’ve said before, I’ve always felt Sonic Youth are a bit overrated. They do their thing well enough and I respect them for their influence but do I, at any point, feel like putting one of their albums on? Not really. This is a perfectly fine album too, but… that’s really it.

Weird album to categorise for me. Initially it sounded like prog, then there's psychedelic rock, suddenly a Beatles-like song, new wave here and there... It's certainly a bit confusing first listen and that doesn't happen to me often these days. That's makes it all the more interesting though. I feel like I can't really give this a very decisive rating based on just one listen but I did like it in the end a good amount. Probably have to listen to it again later on.

There really is no worse feeling on this site than enthusiastically pressing the "rate" button, hoping for something really good to pop up, only to get a fucking country album.

Yeah, it's country. The very basic kind at that. Meaning this really does absolutely nothing for me. The violin is nice in the couple of tracks it's in.

How many times have you heard someone say ”fucking hell, they really raped Cash’s song” when Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt is playing? Two (2) times for me — so far.

When I started this journey, I saw people complain a lot about too many British albums on the list. I thought it was nonsense but now that I’m just about halfway through, I can see what they mean. I don’t personally mind it though; most of English language music discussion on the internet – at least from my experience – is heavily biased towards American bands, American culture and American nonsense, so I actually welcome being introduced to more British music I haven’t come across yet.

This is one of those names that I remember from back then, but have no recollection of what they actually sound like, besides being 90s electronics techno or what have you.

Well, what do you know! This is actually really good. Most of these 90s British electronic albums have been okay, but not really something I'd feel tempted to listen to later on, but this one will definitely go on a later rotation too. The kind of stuff I've been looking for but will all thee white label 12"s, compilations and whatnot, this type of music is quite hard to get around to, coming from your standard rock type of approach to releasing music. Just give me a full-length album by an artist and I'm happy.

Aight, I'm actually in a good mood today and this happened to hit just the right nerve; let's make it five stars, why the hell not.

EDIT: Listened through it for the second time, as I tend to do with every album I'm pondering about giving five stars to that I'm not already familiar with. Yes, it definitely deserves it. What a great find this album is.

Not much of a Maiden connoiseur, but I still find it a bit weird this and the debut are the only ones on the list. I’d vastly prefer Somewhere in Time or Seventh Son myself, but I guess they aren’t quite as iconic or seen as important as these two.

Anyway, it’s a good album. Good, but nothing more. Even though I was a metal kid and a teen back in the day, I never really got into Maiden until much later, when I finally could see what their ”thing” was. I feel like they’re the kind of band you have to discover as a kid to really get into, so I, of course, am not on the same level and merely like and respect them, so to say.

What am I rambling on about? No idea, but this album has some absolute classics that, to be fair, are vastly overplayed nowadays.

But yeah, if I ever feel like listening to Maiden I’ll just put on the two aforementioned album and that’ll be enough of a fix for me. This one’s, despite everything mentioned, just ”good”.

Everytime I see this cover I think it’s Prince for a second.

I was hoping to get Venom since Cronos’ death was announced yesterday but instead I got whatever the fuck this is. Unbelievable.

Anyway, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit keen for these early 90s electronics. This, of course, isn't the best example by any means but I wasn't annoyed by it. I am, however, still annoyed that I got this album instead of fucking Venom. Unforgivable, truly.

Listened to the original version off of Youtube, obviously.

It's weird how I have no recollection of ever hearing about this group before, but that just might be due to their thoroughly forgettable name that I've just never registered them being discussed. Anyway, this is actually quite nice. Very nostalgic, despite, as far as I know, my first time listening to this. Reading about the background of the group and their publicity stunts or whatever you want to call them, I'd say they seem pretty interesting. Really the kind of stuff that could only happen in the 90s. I might have to read more about them. The album itself, well, can't give it a full five stars just yet, but I'll probably give it another listen later on.

The first song was actually quite decent, but then it, again, went back to the usual country slop, which I personally can't stand.

Okay, there are some a bit more interesting songs later on. I'm gonna give it two stars for those songs making this a tolerable listen.

Sounds a lot more interesting on paper than it actually is. Some very nice moments here and there but overall it’s quite forgettable.

Was actually looking forward to this a bit since most (not Kid Rock) of the lowest-rated albums on this site are actually excellent and this was one I hadn't heard anything about before.

Well, sadly, this doesn't really do much for me. I can see why a more normie listener would find this "weird" – which, more often than not, just means it's something they're not accustomed to hearing – but I felt it could've been even more experimental than it actually is. From what I gathered, these are interpretations of songs written around 1920s or so, which probably is what doesn't quite click with me. I could imagine looking more into the concept of this album I could perhaps get into it, but for now, I can't really go higher than 2 stars. I applaud them for including something like this on the list though. As I said in my Einstürzende Neubauten review, this is the kind of stuff this list SHOULD be for.

One of these songs used the same preset sound on keyboards that’s used in Mario 64’s Dire Dire Docks.

Was quite excited about this during the first track, but my enthusiasm watered down extensively once we got to the rest of the songs. Really like the wilder, more eccentric title track(s) but the more traditional songs in-between didn't really do anything for me. Still, not band per se.

Like others have already commented, I don't think compilation albums should be on this list. That said, making a compilation album that's only 28 minutes long is something I, on the other hand, do admire. Swedes really did the early 2000s garage rock revival the best and this album just about proves it. Not a single wasted second here, it's all just about as good as it gets.

She’s got a nice voice, but you couldn’t really make more generic pop-country even if you tried. It’s ”well-made”, but that’s basically what makes it boring. One of those albums a friend of mine could get off this list two weeks from now and I’d have no recollection if I’ve heard it yet or not. It didn’t annoy me enough to give it a single star, so let’s make it two.

Feels like this one’s a bit all over the place. Starts off pretty nicely, some trip-hoppy stuff, then some ethno-influenced hip-hop, a Disney ballad, Indian stuff… would need more listens to get a coherent pic of this. Some cool moments, but I’m mostly just confused.