Reviews by ryzgee

I've been on a shit run of albums lately, but have finally landed on another one which I feel passionately enough about to chat about in detail. This is absolutely one of my favourite albums of the decade so far, and it would be in my retroactive Top 10 of 2020.

I absolutely love how fiercely and unapologetically off-centre Fiona Apple veered towards here, both in terms of the album's songwriting complexity and through the tactile DIY energy which is harnessed through its production. Coming just as the first COVID lockdown hit, that Fetch the Bolt Cutters was composed largely using homemade percussion, and that it documents life within her four walls through the incorporation of everyday background noise very much lends it a pre-emptive feeling of events that would soon follow. It sounds raw, unfiltered, unpolished and authentic, with a truly primal energy to many of the songs.

Lyrically, the album is a defiant statement with Apple exploring themes of achieving self-acceptance and liberation amidst the challenges she faced within society and the music industry. It absolutely refuses to be suppressed, whilst Apple's vocal performance is wholly untethered, genuinely sounding the most unhinged and versatile she has in her career.

Easy five stars from me.

Quite dull and forgettable, all told. Even the more energetic and vigorous numbers on here just lack any real sense of danger or excitement. It's all methodically contained within itself and rather boring.

Reggae is just not my bag, and this rapidly became boring to me. It's not terrible but doesn't sustain my interest in any way.

Fairly decent Sky TV Guide menu music across large spells, but a baffling selection for the list really, and it's surprising to learn that it has continued to dodge the axe in more recent editions of the book. The album is clearly all a bit of a piss take which does endear me to it somewhat, but all told there perhaps isn't enough meat on the bones or genuine ambition on offer here for me to feel the need to revisit any time soon.

I bought this record a fair while ago on a complete whim, and on being aware of the high regard that Pixies are held in. I think prior to today I'd played it once, where I thought it was OK but didn't feel overly compelled to revisit. I've been looking forward to re-evaluating my view, and on this listen it's clicked in a big way for me. Much prefer it to the other Pixies album I've had so far in Surfer Rosa – it's far more hook-centric, catchier, generally more optimistic in tone and a bit more pleasant on the ears vocally. Good stuff, it won't be joining the clear-out pile.

Fucking hell, back to back Neil Young albums! Anyway, this is a definite improvement over yesterday's offering with regards to songwriting craft, and even vocally, although they still aren't anywhere near my absolute favourite. I just struggle to imagine when I'd ever sit down and think "you know, I really should listen to some Neil Young today".

Instrumentally, this isn't too bad at all – it's actually quite emotional and evocative on tracks where the piano takes a greater hold of the songwriting, and I like the rough-around-the-edges sound which allows some of the riffs to slice through effectively. I just can't get past the horrible whiny, off-key vocals on a great number of tracks, or indeed the use of harmonica.

Bland, but passable enough country rock in an instrumental sense, although with a typically awful vocal performance for the genre akin to a sheep undergoing an exorcism. Not amongst the absolute worst things I've had to contend with on here, but still pretty rubbish.

Sorry, but I'm not bothering with a single second of a 2hr 14m running time from an artist that I already know I don't like, and have already awarded a one star rating to prior, courtesy of their other entry in the book.

This might be the most offensively boring album I've ever heard, or it is at the very least right up there. Completely hollow, pathetic, vapid, weak shite without a single shred of charm, conviction, danger, individuality or anything otherwise remotely engaging about it. A bona-fide contractual obligation of an album. Genuinely don't think I could have been dealt anything worse for my soul after last night's England disappointment – in some perverse, sadistic way, it kind of accentuates that feeling of yet more hopes and dreams swirling down the plughole as entirely soul-destroying stuff. It's put me in a horrible mood.

An interesting take on country-punk to begin with, but this quickly lost momentum and began to grate in a vocal sense. Not for me.

Inoffensive but wholly unremarkable rock. Whilst I have listened to this before, I couldn't recall a single detail about it on this listen, and I'm struggling again on this attempt immediately after the fact.

My second Nirvana album within a week, and again there's not much point in waffling about this one as it's so ubiquitous at this point. It's an iconic, classic album that soundtracked my chaotic teenage years whilst I was figuring out my sense of identity, although it's perhaps not the flawless masterpiece it's frequently cracked out to be. I'm not massively keen on "Polly" or "Drain You", but the strength of the other 10 tracks ensures it receives a 9/10 and five stars from me.

There are two types of prog for me; that which truly takes you on an emotional rollercoaster of a journey with proper care paid to songwriting craft, and that which just widdles around without much rhyme or reason because it can. This is the latter in my view and, resultantly, it's nothing special, despite the obvious talent and proficiency.

I've never really understood how this album lives up to the towering mythos and adulation often associated with it – I've always found it to be one of EatB's weaker albums, despite occasional moments of greatness though numbers such as "The Killing Moon" and "Nocturnal Me". It hits a real lull otherwise, where the grandiose production starts feeling like a crutch to mask meandering, melodramatic hook-sparse songwriting lacking in energy.

This was very different to prior Springsteen I've heard and far less saccharine on the whole than I was expecting, showing that Springsteen has multiple strings to his bow. There were aspects of this that I was able to appreciate, such as the piano playing on multiple songs and the tight, warm bass guitar radiating through the album.

However, stylistically, it kind of felt like an inferior Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds in some ways, the vocals frequently became tiresome for me and I just struggle to relate to the very Americanised lyricism.

It's not terrible, but the twangy instrumentation/vocals and fairly unsophisticated nature to proceedings aren't much my thing.

More cynical, characterless cash-grabbing crap with next to no memorable qualities or redeeming features.

It's all been said before innit? Comfortably my favourite Nirvana album

I was somewhat nervous heading into this, thinking I'd be greeted with a fairly standard wanky 80s album, but this was far more volatile, unhinged and fractured than I could have ever hoped for. Structurally, this felt disjointed in the sense of each member seemingly wanting to pull into different directions from one another – there were some interesting diversions and complexities to the songwriting, even if the album itself is largely indebted to pop-rock sensibilities. Tonally and sonically, it also felt rather angular and off-beat in some aspects, with a dark psychological undercurrent to it. Therefore, I can see myself returning to try and further unpack the intrigue, and perhaps even purchasing this.