Reviews by ron_penis

wow! it's the combination of new wave and musical theater i always knew i never wanted!

6 years on from live at the witch trials they appear to have mostly abandoned the freewheeling air that was about the only they had going for them, while mark smith has committed to keeping his vocals solidly in the "forgettable to grating" range

this era's leonard Cohen was extremely good at doing what he did, which was mostly writing sparsely instrumented, fairly languid folk songs. unfortunately, that's a style of music that just doesn't jibe with me. that being said, this is a very good, brisk album, and "a bunch of lonesome heroes" is about as close to a banger as you could hope for from early leonard Cohen

i was aware of this album but didn't think i had ever heard any of it, but turns out i was wrong, I've heard several of these songs.... over store PA systems. which to me is a pretty good summary of the whole thing: pretty pleasant, some catchy stuff, and it's got pretty broad appeal, but the flip side of that is that it doesn't have any weird hard edges or big swings for me to latch on to. it's fine, but doesn't leave me with any really strong impression

based on the cover and time period i was expecting something whiny, maybe smashing pumpkins-adjacent, so the general inventiveness and atypical rhythms and structure were a very pleasant surprise, although i can't help but think I'd enjoy it much more as a purely instrumental album

personal fav, absolute classic, 10/10 if you think this is like "being yelled at by your girlfriend" I'm sorry that you hate women

yeah it's good but did we really need 5 sonic youth albums on here?

what were they putting in the water in the 2000s that made all these dudes want to produce the most corny, lame and unimaginative music possible? music to watch paint dry to

the pee pees

the Smiths for people who hate music

more danceable talking heads?

desperate youth, bloodthirsty babes was interesting and weird but not my cup of tea, this is just some barely-more- interesting-than-average indie rock with some pretty consistently aggravating vocals

absolutely deserves a spot on the list, being as notable as it is for its uhhh well, it's bluesy, and you see, um, ronnie lane does a bit of a bob Dylan thing with his voice on track 2?

it rocks

marginally better than most of the new wave/post-punk pablum on this list

i have no problem believing this was important and influential at the time, now it's just kind of limp and unremarkable

perfectly emblematic of the bland, shallow indie pop rock the 2010s were so good at producing. even if you haven't heard this album before, yes you have

now where have i heard this before....

I've always hated these guys and their awful cover of tainted love. sure, it's maybe not as bad as Marilyn manson's version, but it's still a crime that this limp, lifeless garbage is more well known than Gloria Jones's amazing original, not to mention it's always corny, cowardly and just downright lame to change the pronouns/gendered nouns in a song you're covering

besides my personal axe grinding, it's just more weightless, grating, and ultimately forgettable, english synth pop new wave bullshit. yawn

oh no someone dropped Oasis and left it outside for a couple days 😞