Reviews by simonh

Fast, furious, short! And the first thrash punk drummer that can keep up with the band. What’s not to like. Listened loud on an otherwise chilled and lazy Sunday morning and it completely blew my thought process for a frenzied 22 minutes. Loved it.

Before University gave me much better things to do on a late Friday night, I was a Friday Rock Show regular (God bless Tommy Vance). Shine On You Crazy Diamond was a fixture in the annual Top 10. And deservedly so.



I have heard most of the tracks on WYWH over the years but have never listened to the album end to end. “Shine On” is a masterpiece. It’s a track that feels far shorter than its actual length. I wasn’t sure about reprising it at the end of the album. I thought it was lazy. But on subsequent listens, I appreciate the bookend.
Of the other 3 tracks there’s no weakness, though it does seem odd to have Roy Harper singing on Cigar - but it works.

Of the Pink Floyd albums I know (this, The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon), this is my favourite.

Never listened the first time around. Hey! I was 16 and I didn't have money to burn on prog rock dinosaurs. It looked hugely pretentious and they always seemed to be at each other's throats. I just didn't fancy it.
That being said, 'Another Brick In The Wall' (part 2 apparently) was a brilliant single at the end/start of the decade.

So 45 years later... and what a great album. Apart from the regurtitation of the same melodies over and over - but then I suppose they are attempting to follow a theme. I will definitely give this more listens. I might become a fan.

It's quite spooky that I get my first Beach Boys album the day after the death of Brian Wilson ...

(edit: not spooky at all.. someone flicked a switch and it seems everyone got a Brian Wilson album. A nice touch)

....And what a great producer and studio technician he was. And he wrote some great songs too. Good Vibrations and God Only Knows are brilliant, absolute classic songs. You can include Wouldn't it be Nice, Surfin' Safari, I Get Around in that list.

Sadly none of them are on this album. I don't want to diss the guy when he's not yet cold, but if you throw enough mud at a wall then some of it is going to stick. And this is an album of unsticky mud. Beautifully produced mud and, for the early 60s, a great wall of sound, but it's virtually the same song for the whole album. It was a pleasant listen though. But 29 minutes and 12 songs was just about the limit.

RIP Brian

How can you not love an album containing Give Me All Your Loving, Legs, and Sharp Dressed Man? The rest are good too, if a little samey. You know what you're getting with ZZ Top

A tale of good and bad. Dominion, Lucretia, Corrosion good, Flood 1, 1959 bad. I did listen twice though, so more good than bad then.

Heavy heavy jazz shit man. I need to be in a dimly lit smokey room when listening to this. So much smoke that the guys up on stage can't see each other and just trip off on their own sweet way. Then some dame breezes past the stage, the smoke wafts clear for a second, and the guys can see each other just long enough to get back on track.
The best thing about being a jazz musician must be that you can just turn up at a gig and play any old notes without the hassle of rehearsing or even knowing who else is playing with you (and when I say 'rehearsing' I don't mean that they don't practice - cos these guys definitely know their shit)
Enjoyed it. Now where's my double bass and fags.

Just as a postscript; through the fug I'm sure I can see 4 guys up on that stage. The other 3 doing most of the heavy lifting. Maybe "The John Coltrane Quartet" would have been a more fitting title?

Good to listen to when coming down from a heavy weekend. I do like a big band. And a short punchy album. I did find it difficult to distinguish between some of the songs, but I was driving and concentrating more on the road. Enjoyed it though.

Good American pop-rock. Isn't this the epitomy of what they call AOR? Good in-car entertainment when you don't have to listen too hard (probably more suited to an interstate than the busy M1 though). A bit vanilla but not bad. Recognised "I saw the light". Great track. Solid 3

As a teen metalhead in the early 80s "new wave of British HM" was my thing. Sabbs were has-beens to me so I never looked at their back catalogue. I have heard most of these tracks since and the whole album is a classic.
4½ bumped up to 5 for being such an influencer to all those NWOBHM bands

Confession time. I love Kate Bush. I could just give this a 5 and walk away. It's a cracking record.

But in the grand scheme of things if I had to rate all her albums then this wouldn't be in my top 5.
Although I still love it, if I was going to be ultra critical I think it's a tiny bit overproduced; some of the tracks just have too much going on in them. I get tired of fretless base which buries her voice in some places, and the Bulgarians do overdo it a bit.

But that IS being overcritical. I could still automatically give it a 5 because Kate can basically do no wrong.

But I'm going to be harsh and also give myself a bit of rating wiggle room before the joyous days whan I get Hounds of Love and The Dreaming (shame there aren't any more albums deemed worthy on the list). Please forgive me Kate.

I don’t know where to start. How do you describe this album? Haunting. Quirky. Odd. Lyrical. Fascinating?

I found myself diving onto Google to research what she was singing about. Most of the war references were of Gallipoli. So yes England (Britain really) were involved but those battles were primarily Anzacs. And unfortunately (whatever Wikipedia may say) the bugle call used in ‘The Glorious Land’ I recognise as the US Army ‘Assembly’ call (I love that track by the way, and America is mentioned in the lyrics so I can let it go).

Minor quibbles. I love the compositions; Love the lyrics; Love the voice; Love the production. This is a superb album.

I actually rated all the tracks individually, but then thought that they are all part of a whole so I’ve binned those ratings. Overall it’s a clear 5.

I had never listened to Hole and I have misjudged Courtney Love. All I really knew of her was from the media, as the wife and tormentor of Kurt Cobain, the Yoko to his John, the Blake to his Amy. Supplier of drugs and by by all accounts a bit of a state. Oh and by the way she was in some band.

Well it appears she was in some good band and had a modicum of talent, both as a songwriter and frontwoman. Maybe she was a fucked up addict and possibly all of the above but I enjoyed this album. Fair enough it was a clone of Nirvana, but a good clone. I like the album art too.

This is hip-hop, right? So I must hate it, right? Wrong! So what's the difference between this and 2Pac and Outkast?

Its humour. It isn't up it's own arse. It doesn't have an agenda. And, most importantly it's got a great groove.

A well titled album, since it ls fundamentally a long paranoid winge. Though not misplaced paranoia as time revealed.
Perhaps there should be a special Darwin Award for 2Pac who seemed to know where his lifestyle was leading him but did nothing to change the outcome.
The one surprise was that a lot of this album was listenable.
2½

One of the better late 70s UK punk albums. Unusual in the fact that that the singer can sing and most of the band can play their instruments (though the drummer is totally out of his depth).

This isn't really a double album as 2 single solo albums. The first is the usual dull formulaic gangster rap shit; just more Stankonia. The second is a slight improvement, more melodic, more singing, more listenable, same shit lyrics. And still, on both albums, the same tedious attempts at amusing 'sketches'.
This was a real slog to get through. Over 2 hours. If it wasn't such a drag I would have considered 2 stars. But even though about 15 minutes is listenable, it's not nearly enough to drag it out of the bin.

First album - 1
Second album - 1½
Overall 1

So with Stankonia and this, Outkast drop 2 steaming turds..No more, please?

Well this was a surprise. Having listened to Depeche Mode a couple of days ago this is like the evolution of synth pop. The love child of Dave Gahan and Martin Gore.
Ethereal and weird, a surround sound of sound. Love the voice. Not something I would have ever listened too if it wasn't on the list. And not a track on the album I didn't like. I guess that's the definition of a 5 isn't it?

Where would we all be without a Urethra? Franklin owhere.
Great pipes.
Ha ha, I'm pissing myself!

Those spotty Essex oiks I saw on Top Of The Pops in the early 80s came a long way in a few years.
Dark, musical, produced to within an inch of its life, splendid record.