Reviews by ron_penis

the Smiths have done it again with this one (derogatory)

bobby dylan get your country ass over here my momma tells me you been in the city building an oeuvre big as a damn bus

unlike most British rap, this manages to not only not be downright embarrassing, but actually fairly enjoyable! there are some weird, cool, inventive beats on display here, especially considering it came out smack in the middle of the worst (in my opinion) era for beats. the flow is pretty angular in a way that doesn't work great for me but i think it's at least partly intentional, and partly just what it sounds like when an english person tries to rap (Little Simz being maybe the only english rapper with a voice/flow that's actually pleasant to listen to). overall it's pretty good and much better than what i typically expect from British rappers, although it does have some pretty bad low points, particularly the one-two punch of Round We Go and Jus' A Rascal, which are two of the most absolutely horrendous songs I've heard in a while

very glossy and catchy and well crafted but the more down tempo songs don't do much for me (especially album closer You Caught The Light which is a big ol skip, put Lauren back on the vocals!) and i just don't think it has the staying power to be a regular listen for me, but i gotta give it up for just how many of these songs i knew despite never specifically listening to chvrches

i love drums, i love sinking into and luxuriating in a rhythm, worth the price of admission just for Asabache and Rhapsodia Del Maravilloso. time to start my fifth listen

good but I've never liked it nearly as much as unknown pleasures, which I'm also more or less fine on. cool riffs and sounds and stuff but generally just washes over my brain. plus since i like it less than unknown pleasures it's easier for me to hold ian curtis's legacy of inspiring a generation of the world's worst vocalists against it

pretty fun album that doesn't find that much purchase in my brain

i want to like this more than i do, the repitition of phrases, both lyrical and musical just kind of wears on me. but it is still enjoyable and of course very significant

absolute bangers, spin it again jack

perfectly adequate pop music, I've never really liked Christine and the Queens and in fact kind of dread when he collabs with artists i do like. it's nothing special or unique musically and i think there are (especially now in 2026) better and more innovative contemporary queer artists to populate the list with, although i can at least imagine the appeal for others

also, my sincere condolences to the reviewer complaining about the length who seemingly sat and listened to an album they didn't like twice back to back, although i suppose it's not to the album's credit that they didn't notice

the idea that the Beta Band somehow produced two albums you Must Listen To Before You Die is just laughable. i certainly didn't like Hot Shots II, but it had a lot more merit than this generic, homogeneous pile of slop. yawn, next

kind of cool, overindulgent, i can imagine recommending this to someone but it's pretty "whatever" for me

The Cure for insomnia, maybe! this one is a Robert Smiss! the last time i consumed Pornography this bad i called for a wellness check on the performers! at least when they named the first two tracks One Hundred Years and A Short Term Effect they accurately described how long it'd feel and how long it'd stick in my brain, respectively!

there's a lot to like here, but unfortunately i would rather chew my own arm off before listening again to John Martyn doing whatever faux blues bullshit he thinks he's doing with his voice

if i never have to listen to John Lydon's nasally, grating wailing, see his smug fucking face, or think about his dumbass, self-serving, performative politics ever again, it'll be too soon. a man whose only ideas have ever amounted to "aren't you soooo mad?" and retrofitted everything else to fit that. this would just be more generic english garbage but he brings it to new lows with his caterwauling. the Ricky Gervais of music (or is Gervais the Lydon of comedy? who fucking cares)

gram Parsons you silly trust fund son of a bitch, you were what the byrds had been missing, apparently

aggravating english man weaponizes his ugly ass voice to create an incredibly annoying concept album telling the dullest story in the world. come for his jerky line delivery that could possibly be described as anti-flow, stay for the canned music that alternates between obnoxious casio beats and mismatched, overly bombastic pseudo-orchestral music. the big question this one leaves you with is: what's worse, his rapping or his singing? the answer of course is both

the kind of shit i usually like, ruined beyond recovery by a horrible singer and an absolutely unjustifiable running time

i enjoyed this well enough, but not having a ton of familiarity with Indian and Bollywood music or its history, I can't say whether this is a must-listen album or something Robert Dimery just pulled out of his ass in a half assed attempt to barely add some variety to the list. I'm not mad about it though

The Boreds