Reviews by ryzgee

This was all a bit "whatever", much like how I have always tended to view U2 generally. Nothing much wrong with the songs here, which in the main are perfectly functional and have a propulsive, driving energy to them, but I couldn't really recall a hook, riff or other feature that got under my skin at any point. "Drowning Man" was a notable low point with those horrible wailing vocals. I struggle to understand the fervour for this band.

This felt like it was trying so desperately to be off-centre and quirky, but in actuality it was all just mildly boring and non-committal. Unremarkable slacker-ish indie disguised under a veil of meaningless sound effects.

NEU! and CAN, as cliché as it sounds, were the two bands entirely responsible for getting me into Krautrock and psychedelic German music, and this album is right amongst the top of the pile for me within their respective canons. In my eyes, it marks a definitive line in the sand between the experimentation which was bountiful in the early 70s, and the much sharper and more aggressive tones which punctuated the latter half of the decade going into the 1980s.

You can hear the friction bubbling within the band on NEU! 75, where Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger pull into entirely different directions from one another, evidenced by the album being split right down the middle rather than seeking any form of compromise. Amazingly, however, it somehow works in tandem, and the sonic territories explored here simultaneously set a blueprint for both post-punk and synth-pop.

The first side is an absolute masterclass in atmospheric, keyboard driven minimalism, diverging from the aggressive propulsion and repetition of the band's earlier work; exactly the sort of music you'd want to soundtrack a night drive or stroll. Meanwhile, the second side is much more combative, sneery and raw, almost like a release of pent-up frustration from Klaus Dinger, who transitions to lead guitar and vocal duties following the restraint of the first. The dual-drumming of his brother Thomas and Hans Lampe on the final two tracks, "E-Musik" and "After Eight", in particular is truly something to behold.

Basically I fucking love this band. The debut should have been on the list as well.

David Bowie doing David Bowie things, i.e. whatever he wants. Spoiler alert: this is another absolute cracker in his catalogue!

Dave Mustaine really can't sing can he? But who cares, this absolutely slaps. Peace Sells is exactly what I want in my thrash metal – the raw, snarling aggression, breakneck tempos and anti-establishment sneer of hardcore punk entwined with relentlessly complex musicianship, where Mustaine and Chris Poland trade intense, intricate riffs.

You really can decipher Poland's background in jazz fusion through the way his solos bend around Mustaine's shredding, which really does elevate this all the more for me. The rhythm section is phenomenal as well, completely disregarding the typical thump of traditional metal drumming with frantic, shifting time signatures and creative cymbal work, whilst some truly filthy bass lines anchor the carnage.

This deserves more regular playtime on my deck, for sure.

The non-air conditioned production on this one made a massive difference to my listening experience. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound like an actual band on here rather than some LinkedIn ted talk, the instrumentation packs a punch and the songs feel much more purposeful and emotionally dextrous, often veering slightly off course from the standard verse-chorus-verse formula to inject some noisy tension. Yeah, I'd return to this.

Good, consistently solid rock that breezes by in the ears. Fun times all round and full marks from me.

Thought this was a bit better than the other The Band album on the list, but not to enough of an extent that I'd revisit. One of the top reviews describes this as music for old people to day-drink to in a park, which is a fair assessment to my ears.

A reasonable enough listen, but not one I can see myself returning to. Not sure we needed as many Byrds or Byrds-related albums as the 1001 suggests you HAVE to listen to.

Not something I'm likely to return to, but I appreciate having heard it. The list is lacking Asian representation so this is a welcome addition, and it was enjoyable enough while it was on.

I mean, other than the rampant misogyny, excessive depictions of violence, pervasive homophobia, its trivialisation of real world tragedies, dated pop-culture bashing, jarring use of skits, inconsistent quality of guest features, repetitive lyrical musings, its hypocritical "satire" defence of the lyrics supposedly being written by a cartoon character despite the album bearing his own moniker, its shirking of any accountability, sonically repetitive production, glorification of heavy drug use, depictions of incest and causing outrage for outrage's sake, this was a fantastic listen!

A fine display of the sheer, audacious brilliance of Leonard Cohen. Trading his guitar for a Casio keyboard, cheap synths and drum machines into his 50s was a drastic pivot that could have screamed "mid-life crisis" territory, had it not been executed to as stunning a degree as it was on here. It shouldn't have worked, but it somehow does.

I'm Your Man is the sound of a man completely reinventing himself to mirror the absurdity of the 80s in a clever, self-aware manner, and that wry self-awareness is reflected in the album's artwork. The friction between Cohen's sophisticated, world-weary lyricism, the unabashedly corny yet cold production, and glossy female backing vocals from his long-time collaborator Jennifer Warnes paves the way for a truly enduring experience.

A strange one, this, as it incorporates many ideas and styles which should, in theory, appeal to me. Definite Radiohead vibes in both the instrumentation and vocals, and there were aspects throughout that you could draw a through line to post rock or math rock with.

The execution to me just felt off and a bit laboured, however. Almost like every song had to build and drone towards some grand conclusion whilst "really hitting you in the feels, man" along the way. And by that, I mean that I felt nothing but mild irritation.

A classic as far as I'm concerned. A hugely important album with regards getting me into punk/punk adjacent music, owing to its ramshackle, chaotic instrumentation and sneering, John Lydon-esque energy; where the quintessentially British self-deprecating wit underlining the whole thing really did (and does) appeal to me. You were one of the cool kids if you liked these lads in high school.

Not quite my go-to Radiohead album (that's either OK Computer or Kid A for me), but still a phenomenal listening experience!

Some interesting ideas, plenty of sprawling psychedelic, artsy experimentation and enough variety to be found on here. However, at nearly 80 minutes, this is a very self-indulgent affair that I'd struggle to see myself returning to by choice, and not all of the experimentation is a resounding success.

Started out promisingly enough with some jagged, chaotic energy to the playing for the first couple of tracks, however I quickly lost interest in what followed and it's far too long.

"Seven Nation Army" is, of course, a banger. The rest of this was largely meandering and uninteresting.

I tried. Really, I did. But by track four I just couldn't continue. Not for me in a million years.

Sanitised, soulless shite! The exact same "deep" ballad repeated ad-nauseam for however long I managed, all specifically engineered for soundtracking teenage girls' TikTok reels. A sad, sad waste of a space in the book and of my time.