Reviews by ron_penis

anybody who says Fairytale of New York is their favorite Christmas song should be treated with the same contempt as somebody who names Die Hard as their favorite Christmas movie

I'm shocked that a hit 80s song that represents almost the entire modern legacy of a band comes from an otherwise completely forgettable and/or annoying album! probably the only time that's happened

it's so against my brand to like this. french electronic duo? this is devastating. absolutely unfair that this is so groovy and ominous and thrumming

blandly pleasant!

i dunno, by all rights i should probably dislike this, but I've always loved tracey Thorn's voice and for some reason the whole package just really hits. good thing I'm not a real critic because 'it just hits' probably wouldn't fly!

i liked the modern dance but no thanks

there's nothing wrong with cribbing from your inspirations, lots of great art and especially music does it, but you do have to put something interesting or novel into the mix, or what's the point?

i liked Idiot Brother at least

better than a lot of the new wave/post punk on this list, lots of interesting and varied sounds, but also a very good example of what i call 'post punk voice' (guy who mostly can't sing and instead puts on a flat affectation as if he's the second coming of ian curtis)

I've been listening to ELO since i was a kid, and honestly, this is not nearly my favorite album of theirs. it's their big pop album with many of their huge hits, but i just think it's a lot less interesting than a lot of their other work. it's probably also the album that introduced me to the concept of an album being too long and having too much filler. i still love it, and comparing it to the rest of this list in general, it's gotta get a 5, but if Face the Music, Eldorado, ELO 2, etc etc were on here it'd be getting a 4 just in relation to those

it wouldn't be until Hey There Delilah that this level of cloying, twee irritation would be surpassed

i still don't love his voice but I'll be damned if i don't pretty much love everything else here. after all, guys like me are mad for turtle meat

i feel like Sisyphus except instead of rolling a boulder up a hill it's listening to mediocre new wave albums

twee 2010s indie pop rock drivel

it really blows my mind that Q-Tip doesn't come up more in conversations about the greatest rappers of all time, not to mention how talented he is as a producer. this is so funky and groovy & lyrically dense and cool, especially when you put it up against almost all of its contemporaries

blandly pleasant

like all frank sinatra, tops out at "nice background music." I can't really say it's bad obviously but you will never catch me actively listening to frankie by choice. great example of a 3 but I'm feeling spiteful so minus 1 point for all the dumb guys who think frank Sinatra is the pinnacle of music

there will be a speaker in my tombstone that plays 1983 on repeat

some really cool riffs and hooky songs punctuated with extremely grating moments. bonus points for a band name I've always found to be eye rollingly annoying!

cool weirdo shit

keep going, I'm sure the next forgettable new wave album is the one that I'll finally love (at least karma chameleon is good)