Reviews by simonh

Bloody brilliant. So good to hear this again after a very long time. And still remember most of the words. A rite of passage for any rock fan now between 60 and 70. Awesome record. Easy 5 from the moment it appeared on the screen (though of course I listened to confirm).

Super album. But not perfect.
Black Math is a mess. You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket is heavily borrowed from Rush’s Rivendell (lovely song, but… it’s Rush’s) and Little Acorns is just shite. Apart from that...

In some ways I feel I owe some sort of loyalty to my generation. Early 80’s was when I was in my late teens/early 20s. And The Cutter and The Back Of Love were banger songs from my formative years which I liked as much as anyone else down the student nightclubs.
So surely I should rate this album?
I gave it a good go. First listen… it all seemed a bit waily. Just a bit monotonous. Give it another go! Headphones. Better? Not really. Still a bit…nothing. 3 listens. No I’m wasting my time. Believe what you hear. Dullness.

This album is the equivalent of being fluffed by Hylda Baker for what seems like an eternity... before Gemma Arterton slinks into the room and sits on your dick.
It was a real dirge, dull songs, uninterested vocal and bad arrangements, plodding along down one-star street until BAM! just when you think you can't take any more you're smacked in the face by ‘Why D’ya Do It’ at the very end.

Was the whole album a set up for the sucker punch?

Why D’ya Do It is a sneering, vulgar, emotional masterpiece of a tune and worth the wait (just).
From bumpy one-star street I can’t now give the album more than a 3 - after all it’s basically one great song - but that song is a 5.

Enjoyed my day with Hanoi Rocks. It's not for me to question why it's on the list. But it is and I'm happy about that.

Fun fact : My stepbrothers' band supported them on their 1984 UK tour. Sadly I never went to any of the gigs.

I thought I liked the RHCP but it seems I was wrong. The whole album sounded like it was the same stuff regurgitated. The same sound. The same lyrics. Repetitive 'California' everywhere. I think it may improve giving it another listen with headphones but I just can't feel the urge to even be bothered. It's not you it's me. I'm not angry just disappointed. We move on. 2

Edit: So the weather has got a bit cooler and I'm not so tetchy. I did listen again and it's growing on me. But not that quickly. Now a 3

A whole hour I waited and my burrito never arrived!

I bought 'Once Upon A Time' in 1985 and I thought if there was going to be a Simple Minds album on this list then that would be it.
But it’s not.
This is.
And it’s just as good.
Unmistakably 1980s. And what's wrong with that? A huge band. Stadium rockers and Live Aid alumni. And Jim Kerr was my man-crush too (sorry, Jim, but you’ve not aged well).
But your band has. 5 All the way.

The backing tunes aren't at all bad except some annoying bloke keeps talking over the top of them.

I thought this before I read it in another review, but it hits the nail right on the head.
Too much Prog not enough Rock.
Easy Money is a great rocky track. Worthy of any Pink Floyd album. But the rest is a bit stop/start. Good meaty bits and then a lot of fucking about. And often when the green shoots of goodness start to poke through, they are stamped on by the grade 3 violin scraping in. I gave this 3 listens and the good bits were growing on me. But I hope Fripp fired the violinist
2½

Not bad for a first album. Not sure I'll be searching out any more though. Fair tunes, good lyrics.

Vocal performance not the best. In fact she basically can't sing and has no cute idiosyncrasies to sweeten the pill. Sounds like she's smoked 40 Rothman's a day since she was 14.

Liked it more on second listen.
3½

The thing is, like a lot of people, you’ve heard pretty much every Beatles track there is, but just have no idea what album each one is on. So it’s been interesting to listen to Rubber Soul and wonder what might be coming next.

There’s some great stuff that I’ve not heard for years … Think For Yourself, Girl, Wait, The Word (which became an earworm for a few hours).

There’s utter classics like In My Life, Michelle, Drive My Car and Norwegian Wood.

And there’s an obligatory crap ‘Ringo’ track; What Goes On. (If I Needed Someone is weak too).



In order not to be a total hypocrite I need to acknowledge the lyrics on Run For Your Life, having been scathing about similar sentiments on some gangster rap and country albums. You naughty boys. It’s a great tune though; such a shame. 



Overall not quite a 5.

Is it shallow to refer to the attractiveness of the artist in an album review? Because Björk is interesting, expressive, amusing, deep and fucking gorgeous. So if millions of pubescent 13 year old girls can objectify hundreds of boy-bands just because they want them to….well just ‘because’, then surely I’m permitted to as well. 


But she’s more than that. She has such a beautiful expressive voice. I love the way she moves it around a tune. You can hear all the emotion and feeling she’s trying to put in. And it helps that I love the dance music vibe and the great production. This is a perfect amalgamation. Such a good album.

It's fair to say that Ray Davies wrote some of the best songs that came out of the 1960's. Lola, Waterloo Sunset, You really Got Me, Sunny Afternoon - ok so Lola was 1970.

On Face To Face it's like he's writing songs based on just stuff that happened to him the other day. He heard a strangers' voice on a phone call. Ah Party Line. One of his session musicians pissed him off. Session Man. A girl he saw at a disco. Little Miss Queen Of Darkness. Holiday In Waikiki. Did he?? Lucky bastard

I can't decide whether it's genius or just filler. I've only had time to listen to this album once so I'm going to go away and listen to it again before final judgement. In the meantime it gets a 3.

I only know Elvis Costello from his first few hits. Oliver's Army. I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea. Watching The Detectives. Pump It Up.
All great punky songs.
Then he seemed to go all mush. Some song about Roses and a fucking dreadful cover of the Charles Aznovoice song She. I've never listened to Elvis Costello since.
I was surprised that this album still sees him still a bit punky. So what happened to turn him back to his roots? Same sneery voice which seems to have mellowed since the early years (although I can do without the new Mariah Carey vibrato). Just the songs didn't really grab me at all. And it suffered from 1990s CD syndrome. "We've got an hour's playing time so we're going to bloody well use it all". Too long. And not enough pull to want to give it a second listen.
Sorry Elvis (you're still better than that other Elvis though).

Monotonous and uninteresting. The vocal sounded like he recorded it straining on the toilet. Once I had that picture in my mind I couldn't get it out. Neither could he it seems. Even the song I knew fromm my youth - Bad Moon Rising - sounds a bit crap now.

Debating whether to give it a second listen. And even Outkast got that. It wasn't as absolute shit as Outkast though so it's probably a 2.

Ah so this is Love? As soon as the first track started I recognised it, though I know neither the band or the album.

If you were mute and blind and listened to this album knowing nothing about it (aha - as I did) then it would scream 1967 at you. It couldn't be more 1967 if the lyrics were exclusively "nineteen sixty seven, nineteen sixty seven, nineteen ...". So yes it's of its time. But on a steaming hot sunny day in the garden it takes you right back there (not quite as I was only 3). I really liked it.

Beige

I must say I was surprised to see this album rating average 3.74 (at time of writing).
I thought it was "ok". Nothing special. But not terrible, The one thing that did get on my tits though is using the lyric "I don't mean maybe" to rhyme with baby. Fucking annoys me, that. Lose a mark.

I pretty much had any love for reggae knocked out of me when I used to share a student house with someone who listened to it incessantly. So when I saw Exodus pop up this morning I let out an audible groan. But it has surprised me. Not only because it has so many hits on it. No, the surprise is that the tracks I am not familiar with are so good too.