Reviews by simonh

Sound like a band very much up their own respective backsides.

Chilled and mellow. Good songs, well played. Made walking around Tesco almost bearable. But the bloke can't sing in tune. Sounds like a pub singer. I'm interested to see how he can command a young Glasto headliner audience in June with this sort of slow dirgy stuff.

Surprised by this. Great bassline. Love the jazz funk vibe. Amusing rather than the standard whinging hiphop lyrics. Had me dancing around the kitchen.
I didn't think I was into hiphop that much but this is really rather good.

I’ve found a formula that works and I’m going to damn well stick to it. Same few chords, same strings, same vocal harmonies. Not quite as good as Electric Warrior though.

Love me a bit of Frank Zappa. Weird and amusing and then even more weird. It's a bit long for one sitting but I made it through. Not the sort of thing I can listen too every day but I will listen again and the score may go up.
(edit : I have and it won't)

I'm writing this review a couple of days after I listened to the album, I remember thinking at the time that this album was like a Double Decker chocolate bar. A rocky bottom topped by a punky chewy top layer. But the tracks were a bit samey.
And now a couple of days have passed I can't really remember a lot of the tracks.. so ...forgettable.
On listening I thought I'd rate it a 4 but downgrading to a 3 because of... I've forgotten

I love The Cure and really wanted to give this a 5 star review, but it's not quite all there. A Forest is an enduring classic Cure track and will be forever. And some of the rest - Play for Today, In Your House, M are great.
But there's a bit too much dullity (At Night, Three I'm looking at you) that just pull it back from excellence.
I like the short instrumentals which some have dissed, particularly The Final Sound which is a great prequel to A Forest.
All in all a 3½. Pushed up to 4 because this is The Cure after all.

Nice looking, Nice vocal. Boring name. Boring album cover. Quirky songs.
Ah yes, Lovefool I remember that now. And a superb Iron Man cover.
I can't believe they are Swedish.. can't detect any accent.
Yeah pretty good. 3½
Marking up to 4 cos she's fit.

Not heard of her yet she’s been around for years. Runs her own label. Maybe that was her mistake? Sadly half the battle is marketing and publicity. Surprised by how good this is.

One of the reasons I’m enjoying 1001 albums is that it throws up albums I’d never normally listen to, and sometimes those I’ve never even heard of. But also because sometimes it throws up an old album that I played a lot at the time, but haven’t heard for many years. This is one of those.

I had it on CD in the car and listened to it to death. I loved it then. But 20 years later and Coldplay have become the band that everyone loves to hate. Chris Martin is a bit of a twat. In fact whenever I’ve seen them interviewed the whole band come across as nobends. Every album they made after 2010 was shite. And when I took my family to see them at the Emirates in London about 15 years ago the sound was diabolical. And they had the gall to have the fucking dreadful Rita Ora as support (because she was a 'prodigy' of Martin's bestie JayZee by all accounts). So their decision making is clearly suspect too. And they’ve headlined Glastonbury far too many times. So...if everyone hates them … why do they still sell out stadiums and fill the Pyramid Stage field? 


Basically I’m hunting for reasons to dislike this album. But I can’t because it’s still brilliant. Pity.

Essentially an album full of samples of other people's stuff.

I know it's true to say that a lot (indeed most) bands are pretty recognisable whichever of their songs you are listening to. But I don't think there are any bands MORE recognisable than ELO.
Out Of The Blue is another so-called 'classic' album that I've never listened to in full before (even though my wife has it in her vinyl collection). Although it was hugely commercially and critically successful I think the reason it passed me (and a lot of people) by is its timing - being relased just at the start of Punk - when such bands and overblown albums were having the piss taken out of them relentlessly.

Nonetheless I loved it. It's a great listen and a 4+

Very Kinky

Ok puns done. Listened 3 times now over the course of 3 days. I do like it, and I think Ray Davies is a great songwriter, but some of the tracks do seem a bit simplistic and banal. And some are overly long (Australia). [ironically my first listen was straight after spending 3 hours looking for and booking a flight to Oz... spooky],

I don't think it's their best work. Still worth a 3 though

Not hardcore. Not punk. Not Bad

There are a lot of moaners on here. And I've read the word 'annoying' a lot in the reviews, but I think it's a great concept and well packaged. Ironically most of the people dissing this probably listen to US (or UK) commercial radio or are too tight to pay for Spotify and so what is the difference. I'd rather listen to spoof ads than real ones.

I certainly prefer 70's The Who to 60's The Who. And it does seem here like they are just following the 1967 psychedelic trend, but Sell Out works as a concept, even down to the album art, and has some great songs (I Can See For Miles, Mary Anne With The Shakey Hands) But there is unfortunately some cack to wade through too (Silus Stingy, Rael) so it's a 3½ from me

I can't listen to Morrissey without thinking of The Smiths. The voice is so distinctive that there's no escape. And whilst the melodies and sound aren't as good as The Smiths, the album is pleasant and obviously bears more than a passing resemblence. Nothing standout. Nothing excrutiating.

I once watched The Exorcist in a student halls common room. When the spinny head shenegans started, someone laughed and the whole room disolved into giggles. The film became the best comedy I'd seen all year.

This album is a bit like that. It's so violent and shocking that it's comedic. Like Tom and Jerry the sound effects and lyrics become meaningless and funny. There is some great wordplay on here too and the tunes are listenable.

The only problem with albums like this (and films and games) is that some non-level headed people can't handle them and take them too seriously (a fact that is aluded to in some of the lyrics). That's when it gets a bit dangerous (like the nut job Stan). So a wider social question is should this/that sort of stuff be banned?

Anyway, that's getting too deep. I quite liked it - but then (I think) I'm normal.

Talentless chancer with a penchant for hamburgers and 14 year old girls releases collection of other people's songs and covers and inadvertently helps kick off rock and roll as well as a stream of fat Elvis impersonators and wedding chapels.

The king? Fuck off. Alvin Stardust, Stray Cats and Mrs Mills did a better job.

For Christmas 1974, my Aunty and Uncle bought me a T-Rex compilation album called 'Get It On' which had a lot of these tracks on. I was 10 and couldn't hide my disappointment. I didn’t really know T-Rex or care for that sort of music at that age. When I got older I realised how shitty it feels when you give a present to a kid and they hate it, and what a spoiled brat I must have seemed. 



Now that being said, 10 year olds are musically immature fools. This album is chock full of glam rock bangers. Cosmic Dancer I’ve not heard for years and is a standout. Even the filler between the hits is great. So I apologise to my now dead Aunty Eileen and Uncle Alf. What a fucking ungrateful idiot I was.

Mad for it