Reviews by simonh

Had a good rhythm, but tracks could be a bit shorter and less repetitive.
I'd had enough by the 5th track, on the first listen. But my second listen I really got into it. Great party background music.

Take On Me has a special place in my heart as a track that reminds me of a particular moment in life. Notwithstanding it's a classic anyway.
The rest are pretty good mid 80s pop. Morten Harket struggles sometimes; his range is great but his tuning a bit suspect in places. But then he was probably very much chosen as a frontman for his looks rather than his singing talent.
The single releases were obviously picked well, but the rest isn't all bad.
Generally a 3, but boosted to 4 because of Take On Me

What can you say about The Beatles without sounding like you’re jumping on the bandwagon.
Nothing.
They are head and shoulders above anyone else. Like cricketer Don Bradman; they are not just the GOAT, but they are so far ahead of anyone else before or since that they may never be surpassed (partly because the evolution of cricket/music make it almost impossible).

Revolver has everything. From the effects to the production, to say nothing of the quality of the songs (yes even Yellow Submarine sounds great).
Nothing more to say here. Except I don’t even think this is my favourite Beatles album.
...And I can't put into words how good Eleanor Rigby is

Clearly influential.
You can see the green shoots of UK punk sprouting from here (with a bit of Ramones thrown in). The sound here clearly had a major impact on The Hives, a band I'm a big fan of. 

Listened 3 times. Sounds like it was recorded on a tape machine in a garage. I prefer the Bowie mix (probably only because I listened to it last) but to be honest it’s difficult to spot much of a difference. Clearly there wasn’t a lot to mix as both mixes sound raw.
The material isn’t great. But it’s better than The Stooges album where they ran out of material after about 10 minutes. 

3½

Foot tapping and high energy rock & roll. It must have been a real experience to be a young kid at one of his concerts. Though perhaps not a young girl.

I had no idea he tried to kill Elvis!? So he wasn't all bad then.
3½

This album is cool—and it's a grower.
Trying to listen to it, preparing for a bike ride, eating a bowl of porridge at 7:30 a.m. was a bit tough; my mind couldn't keep up.
But sitting in the garden on a warm evening with a cold beer and the barbecue going, it all clicked. The album is packed with great sounds—from the flamenco guitar and piano to the incredible noise coming from that trombone.
You might want to treat it as background music, but it constantly pulls you back in. The performance feels so spontaneous I can’t imagine them playing the same thing twice. This is definitely going on my playlist for when I want to impress people.
4½

I remember all the hype when this album came out. Was it really over 10 years ago?
Fundamentally it’s a massive whinge about being 25 and past it. Bleedin' millennials! get over yourselves. Well you’re nearly 40 now so suck it up!

Some songs are really great, When We Were Young, Send My Love (later to be ripped off by Self Esteem), but there’s a lot of mediocre. I find it a bit suspect that each one has a different co-writer? Adkins/Uncle Tom Cobley Adkins/Pew/Pew/Barney McGrew. Either she’s difficult to work with (surely not!), or else these are songs that she’s added a line to and claimed a writing credit. Should I be such a cynic?
I also think her voice is overrated. Yes it's striking and in tune, but personally I find it a bit shrill.

Overall ok. Some great songs, mostly dull filler.
2½

Great voice 

Great songwriter
Sad loss

Look, you really must learn to detach the artist from the album. 

I didn’t manage to do that when I listened to Michael Jackson. Because whatever his sad fanatical fans and the Michael Jackson Estate lawyers say, he was a fucking weird plastic skinned chimp loving nonce.
However I admit I’m a total hypocrite because if there was a Best Of Gary Glitter album on this list then it would get a 5 from me, whatever the creepy fucker has done. 

And similarly, as stated in the top review (at time of writing), Chris Martin may be an insufferable cunt, but this is a superb album.
Sorry.
5

The problem with Spotify is that it ploughs through all the tracks on an album, one after the other, with no consideration for the natural breaks that were designed into a vinyl record.
Hence I was really enjoying this...and then it suddenly changed and I wasn't ... and then it changed back and I was again.

On second listen and after some research, I discovered that the album is split into 'themes'. So you get a natural break when you get up to turn a record over.
I sadly also confirmed that I really can't abide more than about 3 minutes of bluegrass at a time.
If I was a record executive in 1972, then my advice to Mr Stills would be ...keep sides 1 and 4 for a single album, release side 3 as an EP, and just dump side 2 on a bonfire.

In summary, I'd have given this a 5 but side 2 spoiled it.

It's Led Zep IV.
The best Led Zep album.
I loved this album.
So why was I not excited to listen to it again.
Maybe I'm just a bit tired of it?
Don't get me wrong - it's a great album. It's an automatic 5.
But I'm just not in the mood. Not like I was about 2112 or Selling England when those popped up.
Should I just give it a 5 because really, deep down, I know it is?
Or should I go with how I'm feeling right now after hearing all these tracks again for the umpteenth time??

I enjoyed the second track more than the first, though both were pleasant enough in a chilled out sort of way. It's the sort of music I want to fall asleep to, rather than to sit listening to in a critical way. But I will critique it anyway...

Half of the time Miles Davis isn't playing, so big up to the rest of the band. I do think that some artists get a lot of credit just because of who they are and not necessarily for the album itself. It's Miles Davis so it must be a 5?. If this was just any old trumpeter then the album may not have even been made. However I do like the way that Davis makes his trumpet sound like an oboe with the mute he uses. But you do have to think why not just use an oboe?

All things considered, I liked it. I will keep it in my library. But I think I will need to be an a particular mood or in a specific headspace to listen to it again
3½

I'm not a big hip-hop fan. All the nigga and hoe stuff is outdated, jarring and tedious.
And whilst this album does have its fair share of that, I found it to be varied and surprisingly listenable. it may even stay in my library as my nod to hip-hop (you gotta have one I guess, just to be polite)
3

Pretty much as it says on the tin. It's The Temptations. Good soul music. I don't know where the "psychedelic" comes on though, except Runaway Child drags on a bit. But all in all a pleasant listen.

Like a 3 minute 'comedy' sketch. Of a knarled old jazz club compere, at 1am, after a skinful of bourbon, trying to make lame gags and then growling half a tune over the house band.
Only he drags the sketch out to over an hour. And if you bought the double album then you'd feel compelled to listen to it over and over again.
I'm so glad I didn't buy it.
(redeeming quality; the house band.; drags this up to a 2)

Good songs, good hooks, good vocal, good lyrics, good album.
If John Peel loved them, then that's good enough for me.
3½

Thankfully I had a long solo car journey to break the back of this. But it was a slog. A triple album of banjo, fiddle, guitar and ‘harmonica’. And sometimes ‘voice’. 2 hours of monotony. Good skillful playing, but soooo repetitive and sooooo over long. I actually took the sat nav off mute so I would have an occasional "in a quarter of a mile turn left" to break the tedium.

I will admit a couple of the tracks were ok. Exclusively they were instrumentals though, Nashville Blues and Lonesome Fiddle Blues were ok. And the version of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now was lovely (possibly because it was just a lone guitar - they didn’t let the rest of the band join in to fuck it up)

But the majority, indeed all of the sung songs were just awful. And some tracks (My Walking Shoes springs to mind) were so bad I was tempted to crash the car to make it stop. Oh and the chit-chat tuneup tracks? Just why!? I don’t fucking care how you recorded it, or what instruments you like!!

Just play the songs and shut the fuck up.

Special shout-out though to the female singer. Maybelle Carter, I think was her name? Dreadful! Utterly tuneless. Tone deaf. They could have found a better voice in a dockyard karaoke bar. I don't know how she persuaded the executive to give her a recording contract, but it certainly couldn’t have been by singing.

In summary I realise this album wasn’t recorded for me. And I understand that there are plenty brought up on this kind of music that love it. And good for them. But beyjesus, you should have gone for quality over quantity.
1½

Great storytelling. Great playing. Great to hear singing in a Yorkshire accent. Great album.

The top general review of this album is a 5 and it reads as follows…

“I love that this band doesn't sound the same in every song”.

Now either the reviewer is being super ironic, or is totally deaf.
Because to me every single track sounded EXACTLY the same.
I liked the first track. Hey it sounds quite like “Take Me Out” by… erm …
Then the second one was… the same jangly guitar riffs. The same drum beat. Ok a slightly different melody and different words, but…
And then the next one..oh that IS ‘Take Me Out’.
And then the next one. Same tedious riff. Same beat.
And the next.

I was praying for it to end. And surprised when I looked at the track list that I only actually suffered for 40 minutes. Felt like over an hour.
I’ll give it a 2 because I quite liked the first track. I just didn’t want to hear it 11 times!

Never cared for Blur that much, or a lot of britpop in general at the time. But since hearing Pulp’s Different Class and now this album, I admit it must have had something going for it. 
I know this album is ‘famous’ and highly regarded. I’ve even been asked a pub quiz question about the album cover so it must be well known
And yes listening to it in full a few times now, that reputation is deserved. It’s a good collection of songs. Tracy Jacks is the best track on the album so it’s really surprising that it was never released as a single at the time. I liked it. But not quite to a 5 level.