Reviews by rhymingnonsensically

I enjoyed looking at the Spotify profile picture

Our Great American Rock Band. It feels very American that a bunch of San Francisco boys could ape the Deep South this successfully. They've always felt a little like an anomaly, I can't think of a band that evokes the Sixties and Vietnam more than these guys but they don't really sound like anyone else from that era.

Graveyard Train could've been 2.5 minutes instead of the 7.5 they give it but this is me quibbling, Born on the Bayou, Bootleg, Proud Mary, and Keep on Chooglin' more than make up for that shortcoming. Bootleg is a goddamn banger. Maybe with more familiarity and time with Graveyard and the Penthouse Pauper this can get to a 5 but this is a solid 4.5.

A STRAIGHT LINE EXISTS BETWEEN ME AND THE GOOD THING

It's the fourth-best Talking Heads album, all the live versions of these songs on Stop Making Sense are superior versions and it's still a fucking masterpiece. Get ready to dance and be agitated.

Finally, as a rebuttal to Mr. Byrne: I wouldn't live in New York City if you paid me to.

Thelonious Monk has to be the most distinctive musician we've had since they started recording music. The notes sound incorrect but it just works. He's just as impressive for what he doesn't play as for what he does.

Solo Monk on I Surrender Dear has to be one of the loneliest sounds out there. It's not a warm, comforting solitude like Bill Evans or Marty Robbins yodeling his cowboy songs, this is the solitude of the guy you ignore asking for money at the exit on the highway.

Splendid to return to the chart toppers of the high school years. Had completely forgotten pounding desks shouting RUMOR HAS IT waiting to start religion class.

Adele is one of our best singers working. However I wish she had better judgment in picking what's going on around her voice.

This worked shockingly well for me. Delightfully hypnotic with the repeating drums and droning synths or guitars or whatever it's got going on and her vocals are quite otherworldly. Felt almost like the Minecraft soundtrack.

This reminded me of the first time I listened to Lee Hazlewood, rarely do you get to listen to an artist for the first time and have them scratch almost every musical itch that you have. I think this is what I wanted Nick Drake to be when I was listening to him earlier in the process. 4/5 for now with the chance to grow into a 5 with time.

I was genuinely startled by the first guitar hit on The Nurse, don't if that's ever happened to me when I've listened to music.

They're able to cut their own path and respect the many rock traditions they're working in without being a purely derivative band like their fellow Michiganders Greta Van Fleet.

I've always thought of the White Stripes like Detroit-style pizza, hometown heroes fiercely defended because they're local and it must always be Detroit vs Everybody. However, unlike Detroit-style pizza, I've sampled this and found it actually matches the hype.

I am sad to report I did not make it through this album. This is fun music to play in the background during nocturnal adventures but I can't imagine just listening to this by itself so I was fucking floored to see two of their top ten songs on Spotify were live renditions of their songs.

2.5/5

First half of this album was delightful. Jazzy little ditties to tap your toe along on a nice cool morning. Takes a turn at A Gospel which functions as the Jazz Police of this album in the literal sense. Strength of Your Nature felt like when Monty Python yelling "and now for something completely different" halfway through the album. Overall an extremely pleasant listen, probably a 4.5.

The musical equivalent of answering the doorbell and stepping in the flaming bag of dogshit the neighbor kids left on your stoop. Bjork has a way of phrasing words in the most annoying fucking way possible.

de-vvvvvvvOOOOO-SSSShhhhiooonnnnnn

Look past the white people with dreads and shitty graphic t-shirts and see what is an outstanding album.

Typically I'm not really a David Bowie guy and I was very lukewarm on this album when it came out but listening to it ten years later good gravy does it hold up. Probably a 4.5/5 but the title track is as good a song as any popular musician has made the last 50 years.

This is an album that's less than the sum of its parts. Everyday People and Stand! are all-time bangers but the rest of this album is pretty underwhelming.

I listened to this imagining I was a detective in an 80s neo-noir movie where I go into a downstairs nightclub in the Midlands or a seedy part of London to search for my quarry among the men with hollow faces laid off because of Mrs. Thatcher's austerity.

KNICKS IN FIVE

Sometimes you need to encounter music at a specific time in your life to truly appreciate the artistry. If only I had encountered Rage Against the Machine as a sweaty eighteen year old in my dorm room instead of many years later as a suburbanite with a mortgage who likes fussing in the yard. We could have had a fling once upon a time, Rage, but when you own land you are the Machine.

EDIT: Listening to this later in light of the onslaught of outrages coming down from our present day wannabe fascist regime is definitely an experience. I appreciate the lyrics much more now but I don't think I'll ever be able to get over the metal-rap thing. But I have more respect for the band and its fans.

Things to do instead of listening to Bono's whiny-ass treacly screeching:

1. Watch paint dry
2. Taxes
3. Rip your fingernails off
4. Sell life insurance door to door
5. Stare directly at the sun

This album fucking sucked. I've never understood why people lose their shit over this band.

Too much of this album reminded me of Adriana’s ex-boyfriend’s band from the first season of the Sopranos that she wants to produce with the rapper that wants to sleep with her until Christopher beats the shit out of the guy that owns the studio and holds the band at gunpoint.

Hallelujah is an outstanding cover though. Now that's a hit.

Nice little album, getting exposed to a genre you've never heard of in Folktronica is what keeps you coming back to a project like this. Unfortunately I found my mind wandering way too much while listening to this album. Blame the phones.