Reviews by simonh

Bit too heavy on the bass, man.
I am not a jazz-hater but this was too samey for my taste. And I didn't rate any of the bass work - the solos seemed too long and random.
You know something's not right when you're wishing for it to be the final track. Maybe nice to have on as background in a coffee shop, but not for me as a focus piece.
2

To all the Americans whining about the glut of 'Brit' synth-pop or 80s pop or whatever - this list is obviously subjective and the decision of one person, so rather than moan about it, why not write your own book and website and then you can put as much pop-gun cop-killer gangster rap and misogynistic country shite on it as you like.

Back to the album review, and 'Uncertain Smile' is the standout track but after listening to it I ended up with an earworm of 'Feels Like Heaven' by Fiction Factory. So how did that happen? Are those tracks so similar?
Nonetheless I enjoyed this album very much as an example of excellent 'Brit synth-pop' so nerr.

If I was more mature then I would be able to separate my feelings about a band/artist from the actual quality of an album.

But I'm not, and Bono has always come across as a self promoting dickhead.

Consequently I've never really given U2 time of day..But this album is not at all bad. Bono is still a nob though.

When Bob finally succumbs and goes to meet his maker, singing to himself, guitar strap around his neck, and playing his trusty harmonica, I hope God punches him in the face, jamming it in his mouth and he then spends eternity looking like Wallace (friend of Gromit), and every breath he takes all he can hear is that fucking mouth organ. 


Then he’ll know what he put the rest of us through.

I've listened to a couple of Dylan albums on this list, a very early one and a 1990s one. Both were ok. But this album seems to be the point where fame had gone to his head. It sounds like it's been recorded by a bad Bob Dylan impressionist. He may be the great poet but how can you hear the poetry when he can't hold a note with either voice or harmonica. There are some nice songs on here. But most of it is just an aural assault.

Another day. Another debut album by another American punk band.

Much better than yesterday's though (Big Black). The fun that they were obviously having filtered through on this record, even though the sound is very garage band. And the drummer seemed to be using it as an audition for any other band that might be listening.
Add a point for being on time for punk. Lose a point for the dreadful 'I Got You Babe' cover.

An album I had to listen to on a long journey when I'd rather have been listening to TMS. So not a good start.

Noisy dull and insignificant.

Probably why in my most formative years I never heard of them at the time. And why i am not bothered about ever hearing of them again

Coming back to review this a week after listening. I definitely liked it. I can't remember why though.

The real King. King Louie. (His missus had a great voice too)

It’s a pretty good album, full of well known bangers, though ‘Working Day And Night’ is weak and ’She’s Out Of My Life’ is unlistenable. 



But how can you separate the ‘artist’ from the music? The man-child was a self obsessed freak, bleaching himself white and sporting that comedy nose - and that was even before we discovered he was sleeping with a chimp and masturbating over young boys (I assume with a diamond studded glove on his wanking hand).

Terrible harmonies. Awful voices even without harmonies. And bad recording makes the mandolin sound more like a bouzouki! After each track I was praying that I'd reached the end.
And here we go again with lyrics about men brutally murdering women for looking at other men. This record has absolutely nothing going for it.

Fucking dreadful.

What Patti needed was a strong producer to say "Enough!" "Stop" "It's done" "Move on". Too many tracks outstay their welcome. But looking at the sleeve notes this album was produced by someone from the Velvet Underground so there's your reason.
2½

Clearly a lyrical album, sung by a pleasant voice with excellent diction. But rather wasted on someone whose only language is English. My O’level French did have me concentrating hard on translating as much as I could. Fish eyes, dancing midget, heart of an old wife, veneered mountain. Ah Amsterdam I understood that bit.

I can’t in all conscience give this a 1, but in reality it isn’t an album meant for my ears. Just going to bung it an average score and move on.

4 lonely frat boys persuade their rich parents to buy them instruments. They teach themselves to 'play' them. They start a band. They have no clue how to write songs, but one of them has a uncle who is "big in the music business". They see him sneaking into a hotel with his secretary and blackmail him to let them record an album. But they only have 2 songs songs so then cobble together a few others there and then and fill the rest of the album with 10 minutes of droning *

* This has no basis in truth. But it sounds like it could do.

Extra mark for giving everybody in the band an album credit for being able to clap.

Nice songs and a good voice. Voice has a little bit of the Kim Wilde about it I thought (albeit with an American accent), and a cute wobble that gives it a lot of character.
Seems to be getting a lot of 'meh' on here which is surprising me - though maybe not with this crowd. Not that it set the world alight (probably why I've never heard of her across the pond) but there's not too much wrong with this. Looks good in Doc Martens too.
A very pleasant 4½

Ok. Inoffensive. No stinkers, though I don't understand why End Of The World was released as a single because it's easily the worst track on the album. Apart from the track that bangs on about business acumen! Though both are passable.

They do lose a point though for their shameless rip-off of the Kiss classic Firehouse... sounds nothing like it ...and they gave it the wrong title!
3½

Liked a lot of this, particularly the more unexpected stuff, Cha Cha Cha is excellent, then it goes into some Mid-European accordion ditty, and then straight into Ennio Morricone spaghetti western music - it flits all over the place and is really interesting.
It was just the rather stereotypical male/female reverbed wailing songs with soaring (similarly reverbed) strings that let the album down for me and reminded me of too many nights in Indian restaurants. I can tell from the other tracks on this album that Indian music is clearly not all like that. I'd definitely embrace more - but not the wailing thanks

I saw Elbow by mistake at the Reading Festival in 2011 - waiting for Muse - and they blew me away. I went out and bought the recently released 'Build A Rocket Boys' on the back of that performance (and what a great album it is) but never went any further back into Elbow album history than that.
Listening to 'Seldom Seen Kid' I can remember some of the tracks from that Reading set nearly 15 years ago, they are that strong and memorable. This is a really good album. I think the natural progression of prog rock (they may hate me for saying that).
The only reason it's not a 5 is Starlings which I think is a massive dud, and, as an album opener, almost puts the listener off. The rest is sublime.

As soon as i put this on and heard the first few notes of "He's the Greatest Dancer" I thought 5. That distinctive Chic style twin rhythm guitar and bass. What an opener.
I think having this album pop up on a Friday did it a big favour. I'm an aging rocker but never been one to shy away from a dancefloor. With headphones on it was difficult to keep still.
It's amazing to think all of the Sister Sledge bangers are on the one album. A couple of the slower tracks brought it down to earth a little bit, but it's still a brilliant disco album.

Poppy, hooky, upbeat album. Makes me question why Belinda Carlisle left to go solo? From what I can tell she did exactly the same sort of stuff when she left. Maybe it was just greed?
On reflection if she'd stayed with the Go Go's I think they would have been huge. Much better than her solo career. (I may be being simplistic here... they probably all fucking hated each other)
3½

There are some bands I'm prepared to give a lot of listening time to in order to like an album. 10cc are one of those.
Their singles were always quirky and different, immaculately produced and they are clearly all great songwriters.
I have listened to this album 3 times and am half way through the 4th. Generally it’s more of the same quirkiness, though sometimes I think they can sometimes be a little too smart for their own good. Worst Band In The World & Clockwork Creep get a little silly and tedious and are more what I would expect from Barron Knights (a ‘comedy’ group) than 10cc.
But overall I liked what I heard. I wanted to like it more though.