Reviews by richardwiggins

It’s a strange thing listening to this album on streamers in 2025 because you’re conscious that you’re not hearing the original 1956 LP. The original album is a swift 46 minutes with studio overdubs liberally applied (60% of the “live album”. On the “complete” version, you’re firstly delivered the full 75 minute show, which is captivating, then studio excerpts from those curious overdubs. You are then presented with what is sort of the original album, with one track subbed in and one track subbed out.

The two albums sound nothing like each other! Nothing at all! I wonder if anyone at the original performance who picked up the LP months later could tell that fake audience clapping was being faded in and out!

The original unaltered recordings are sensational, really showing what Duke Ellington can do with a piano. Despite being recorded in an open air environment it’s full of warmth. I’m not hearing the original record through a gramophone set up, but listening side by side with the truly live recording it quite obviously lacks that same level of warmt. But then it sold an absolute tonne in the 50s - so what do I know about anything?

Both records are great and give you a proper rush. But the original is a stealth studio album.

Soundtrack albums are meant to be more ephemeral than this. Yet 50 years after Super Fly (the movie) has faded from collective consciousness, Super Fly (the soundtrack) is still standing as one of the most famous albums by one of the most famous Soul singers of all time.

Curtis’ vocal chops are no less satisfying than on his debut. For me though he is lyrically sidetracked, or even hamstrung by the task of lyrically following the plot of the movie. His trademark social commentary is significantly dialled back. Instead we have peppy, groovy songs like Pusherman, where Mayfield provides a character analysis of a drug dealer. It’s iconic silly fun.

Ultimately I don't think this sits as one of Mayfield’s top albums despite its legendary status. There are three killer tracks mixed in with some less exciting instrumentals and weaker narrative tracks.

I have never engaged with U2 and am dipping in mid-discography with no context. I have to ask: why do U2 sound like Take That on this album? This is quintessential 90s cheesy boy band fare. Easy listening. Adult contemporary. Whatever euphemism you want to use. Stuck in a Moment is especially toe clenching… At odds with the reputation they’re supposed to have - no? The more palletable moments veer into “cool” era Robbie Williams, but without the hit power.

Bono emphatically singing the chorus lyrics “a mole, digging in a hole, digging on my soul now, going down, excavation, ionide in the sky, you make me feel like I could fly so high, elevation.” Had me with my jaw so wide you could see through to my stomach.

Sounds way more modern than 1993 to me. There were so many rappers even in 1998 still doing that annoying “hippidy hip-to-the-hop” thing. Instead Wu-Tang defined a bold, brutal and determined style which just cuts straight through. Clearly very influential on the best of hip hop today. Once this style penetrated I don’t think the genre could ever shift back. There is something crisper more substantial about the production, a finely balanced record.

The compositions are bold, brash and basic, often even underdeveloped. The humour fails to charm me, in fact the lyrics generally lack detail or focus. To top it off it’s a frustratingly long release. At best it’s pleasant and inoffensive, at worst the unearned “punch the air” moments gnaw away at you while Rufus does a Thom Yorke impression.

An inoffensive, charming listen of historical importance, but the impact of this album will most certainly have lessened over the years. “Famous soul singer takes on country and western classics” does not have the same impact now and it would have in 1962. Expectations radically shifted in the 60s. If an artist is not a songwriter it’s hard for them to maintain the same legendary space that they once held

There’s an engaging tension throughout between Pere Ubu presenting songs in the classic form and jagged jabs of uncontrolled energy and noise. The vocals have a compelling, anxious unpredictability that goes beyond post-punk’s typical form of expression. They can screech and yelp and laugh and lurch to places well beyond a conventional approach. It’s playful, artful music which is willing to stretch and contort itself.

You can’t make music that engages in sound collage, or performance art that intentionally uses repetitive, monotonous, and unsettling elements, without people calling it pretentious. Ultimately whether this is pretentious to someone or not is just down to that gut reaction - did you enjoy it? I personally love it and love what it does to my brain. It makes me feel like I’m being turned inside out.

I am uncultured.

I need to hear some Songhai Music which is not blues tinged, because most bluesy music knocks at least a star off due to my broken brain.

My God I struggled with this record. I can hear that the performances are good. I'm into the vocals. I'm not into the hypnotic, winding melodies. If I was in a trance like state, meditating or at a serene cafe reading a book then maybe I'd be able to understand it better

Janis Joplin has a phenomenal voice. Totally unique and highly emotional. The band is tight and working in perfect unison. I like how personable and personality led the record is. It has a real sense of self.

This album washes over me in a really beautiful way. A beautifully controlled, patient, well composed LP.

I’ll admit that the moments that grab me most though are the slight glimpses of freak out jazz pop, like the backend of Criminal. I know on later records she specialises primarily in this more esoteric approach, which is where my interests lie.

That aside, the debut provides a series of accomplished ballads from a 19 year old with a phenomenal voice, who sounds several years her senior. In fact, 30 years later her voice sounds exactly the same as it did back then.

Tracks like ‘Venus in Furs’, ‘The Black Angel’s Death Song’ and ‘European Son’ enable The Velvet Underground’s debut album to still sound surprising and edgy 51 years later. John Cale’s strings, tremolo on the guitar and weird percussion/ sample effects are just some of the elements that elevate this from being a standard fare 1960s rock album. Oh, and the fact that Lou Reed is an amazing front man with an unmistakable voice.

‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ introduces a lovely psychedelic flavour to this record. Nico’s addition to the line up really helps break up the feel of the tracklisting. She sings in a low, haunting but relaxed way which sounds at odds with the frantic piano behind her vocals.

‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ are relaxed perfect pop songs that are real levellers. You’d be hard pushed to find someone who’d hate them. It’s strange that neat, cute little flavours like these could be sat on the same LP that delivers something as expansive, beefy and lyrically outrageous as ‘Heroin’.

Invigorating straight up rock songs ‘I’m Waiting for my Man’, ‘There She Goes Again’ and ‘Run Run Run’ are completely different again but they sound cohesive with the rest of the album. They manage to keep on varyin the way they write and perform without it all sounding like a disjointed mess.

The final track ‘European Son’ sounds like it is constantly on the edge of falling over, but they juggle that sound and just about keeping everything in place - its electrifying.

It would be easy to underestimate this record and mistake it for a good but standard rock LP, but its not. It is certainly a 5* album.

I think my three stars can't capture quite how interesting this record is. My favourite aspects of this record bring to mind the Animal Collective album released in the same year. There's a lot more to it than that though, they are far more fragmented, a lot more abstract, happy to hinge a whole songs off of a series of non-sequiturs. A patchwork album of patchwork songs. Its fascinating. I'm just not sure my brain can make it completely work for me.

I enjoyed this, but not to the same extent as others so I hope to return to it at some point.

The production sounds like plunderphonics in its infancy, a collage of samples which is cool and almost certainly cutting edge for the time, but falls short given what I can listen to today. The rapping is much better than the beats but it does still sound a little late 80s, early 90s to me in a way I’m struggling to get over. It could hit harder. It's obviously influential on music that I love. I’m hoping its qualities are going to dawn on me sooner or later.

This is a highly entertaining rap quartet who bring great lyrics and a real sense of fun and energy to their flows. It sounds like a talented group of friends who are trying to make each other laugh over the top of boisterous jazzy production. There’s enough single power across the tracklist that it more than earns the almost hour long run time.

There’s an interesting tension between the deliberately controversial lyrics on a song like Pack the Pipe, and the fact that you’re listening to what sounds like four classically trained theatre kids. Other tracks like Return of the B-Boy just sound like a group of boys having the most amazing party in the world.

With some notable exceptions, the humour has aged very well. In fact, the skits act as spacey, rich interludes which neatly glue the songs together. It would be a much poorer release without them. It’s also a great opportunity for them to showcase their excellent singing.

I’m not an Americana kind of guy and I quite liked this, so it must be a strong example of the genre. The band are passionate and the singing sounds genuine and heartfelt. Yeeehaw.

I'm relieved the label convinced Prince to not make this a triple album. Its charms, and clear popular / critical appeal, is lost on me. There are sparks of smart pop writing on display, but it wanders around a lot, the songs are extremely long, not particularly to the point and is missing the flare and hooks that I'm after.

I love the fidgety, playful energy Pretenders bring to each song. They sound like they are continually teetering on the edge of exploding, actively working to hold the whole production together. Chrissie Hynde is great, keeping the momentum going with her powerful voice and force of personality. It’s an album of peaks and troughs though - it has the singles you know and love and some more quality tracks besides.

Howdy partner. I unfortunately did not have a rootin’ tootin’ time listening to this record. It was a real patience tester for me. Buck Owens’ music is so saccharine that it makes Johnny Cash sound like a thug by comparison. Its open, tender heart is undermined by the repetitive subject matter of the songs - a girl is often leaving Buck!

I prefer Want Two quite a bit to Want One. Rufus is more enjoyable in this darker mode, especially when it's just him at the piano and he dials back the pomp and humour. The Thom Yorke comparisons (sorry) continue to be inevitable because he does just sound so similar, especially the major to minor transitions, but in its own way this is an enhancer. The weakest moments for me are when his trying to make the audience laugh.

The charms of the mock provincial schtick on the opening song is lost on me. If it was just this song I’d probs be able to get on board but to a lesser extent this jokey twee charm threads through the whole album and is an annoying vibe for me. I like The Kinks in other contexts but I’m not a fan of this one.