Reviews by richardwiggins

It's an ice-cool aesthetic and a beautifully smudged and analogue production, but I don't know if compositionally I am particularly drawn to The Electric Prunes. Though they are certainly very interesting sounding, creating a brooding and complex atmosphere.

This is a great pop record with a unique, drag show inspired sound which still sounds fresh today. It deservedly dominated the radio waves for a decade with its stand out singles.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Make Yourself as it sits outside of my comfort zone genre-wise. The band have a formidably solid sound, with interesting production choices throughout. Tone-wise the entire LP runs off of heightened tension and a crazy level of drama but it never tips into histrionics.

Aerosmith aren't my flavour of rock music but they show the listener a great time and don't put a foot wrong. It’s a polished, perfect performance.

We Are Family sounds more like a mixtape made up of all the best songs from the era, rather than an album, it’s a truly weighty, impressive collection of huge singles with a fantastic vibe.

A solid live release from Jonny Cash, but I much prefer the San Quenten release because of its more chaotic and dramatic atmosphere. If you had to listen to one, you'd listen to the other.

Like a Prayer is obviously the stand out hit from this early Madonna album. Less interesting is the more typical 80s sunshine pop you hear across the LP (e.g. Dear Jessie.) Madonna is at her best when she has a cutting edge, which she's not quite embraced yet at this point.

The wiki article describes McLaren as an “impresario”, which is an encouraging term to hear before an evening at the music hall in London, 1883, but not before listening to a world / hip hop album from 1983.

On listening, I do find myself charmed by the scale of McLaren’s ambitions and levels of creativity (/ loving cultural theft) across this record. His on more solid ground with the world music elements. When he is fiddling with samples it sounds very unsophisticated to modern ears. The FM radio sections are especially tiring by the end, I’m not sure they actually fit the vibe of the overall album.

An interesting, singular sounding record with some cool, atmospheric soundscapes but not quite as catchy or pop-laden as Violator, which is home to all the hits.

Transformer lays claim to the best double A side single release of all time in the form of ‘Perfect Day’ and ‘Walk on the Wild Side’. The latter song has the best vocal effects of all time (the way those “doo do doos” creep into the mix is incredible!)

The rest of the tracklist doesn’t quite live up the high bar of quality those singles set. ‘Make Up’ is possibly the best example of this, but I bet it influenced Adam Green’s entire career (which is definitely worth it).

‘Satellite of Light’ is a brilliant track, it’s definitely got some of David Bowie (the producer) in it. It's also nice to hear plush studio versions of those old Velvet Underground tracks like ‘Andy’s Chest’.

The final string of tracks like ‘Wagon Wheel’, ‘I’m So Free’ and ‘Goodnight Ladies’ drag like hell. They are definition of okay. Because of this it’s not a classic in the way a Velvet Underground LP is, but the best bits make a very solid and memorable release.

Japan has a curious, careful, explorative sound. I like my synthpop to be big, bold and direct, so this is not my preferred approach. They have a cool, calm and collected sound which makes for a nice smooth listen, but the Velvet Underground cover is compositionally my favourite cut of the lot.

I was struck by how plush and dreamy Paris 1919 is, based on John Cale's contributions to The Velvet Underground I was expecting his solo efforts to be spookier and more eccentric, but instead we have a very well rounded and friendly release which has a wonderful nostalgia to it. I like both modes, but they couldn't be further apart from each other. He has a wonderful voice and infectiously chipper sensibility here.

An enjoyable hour of low key plunderphonics which, like The Avalanches debut, establish the form and show just how fluid and satisfying you can make medleys of cut up and weaved together samples.

Wild Wood is a pleasant amble with Paul Weller. He knows how to write a solid rock ballad, but is missing some of the energy from The Jam. It’s at no point either great or terrible.

Tori Amos sounds like she bridges two decades. In some ways harking back to Kate Bush, in others pointing forward to the likes of Fiona Apple. A missing link. If you ignore the occasional 90s pop rock affectations adorning her vocals (which themselves are very influential) it’s an often powerful performance with an impact that can be heard in music today.

Paul Revere & The Raiders have their own unique sound and space among mid-1960s rock bands, even if I wouldn't count them as a top tier act. There's elements of their sound which are ahead of their time and you can hear in groups that came later.

It’s REM meets Pixies meets Guided By Voices. But much more amped up and poppier than any of those bands. I like the fun Alt Rock instrumentals but am less enamoured with the vocals.

I've yet to be convinced on the brilliance that everyone else sees in The Boss and clearly this is not the album that's going to tip me over into fandom. It mostly sounds like a radio bop version of Springsteen, missing that essential spark of life which you hear in his more critically acclaimed work. Strangely it’s the Sound of Silence rip off Paradise that’s my favourite song of the lot.

Brilliant Corners is absolutely wild. It sounds like an alt-universe interpretation of a 1950s jazz album. Everything is slightly unwound, drunk and unstable. It really could be the out of tune piano that does it for me. I usually like my jazz to have a bit of aggression on menace in it, but here is a perfectly laid back piece which never ceases to put you on the edge of your seat. It's fascinating and impossible to take your focus away from.

I reviewed Limp Bizkit’s debut recently, thinking I’d never heard them before. Hearing their third album today (sorry, it’s hard to bring myself to write the title out) I realised that this was an album I listened to quite a bit as a child. Or more accurately, listened to bits of repeatedly, as it's a record chock full of skip tracks with a few big highlights.

It’s hard to review this with adult ears as it’s music designed for 11-15 year old boys in the 2000s and feels like it was never meant to travel outside of that sphere. Musically it’s not without merit but it’s not a scratch on the debut, mostly because Fred has developed into the most terrible vocalist and lyricist, overwhelming any quality the band brings to the table. Even taking into account the aforementioned teenageriness it’s frequently inexcusably bad. There is no justifying the length of this thing either. There isn’t 74 minutes worth of material here.