Reviews by simonh

Unmistakably late 60s and a pleasant one-off listen. But rather stuck in that era.

I didn't realise Lennon had quite so much baggage. He lets it all out here for sure.
It might be quite Dylanesque, but Working Class Hero is a masterpiece. The rest ain't bad.
4½

“Hey, ChatGPT, knock me out a nine-track album of generic thrash metal. I require thumping bass, chugging guitar riffs, growling vocals and the occasional squealing solo.”

I’m very late to the Sepultura party—I’ve only just arrived—and Arise certainly isn’t bad. But to my ears, it’s generic thrash with very little feeling or personality of its own.

On the plus side, they beat AI to it by about 25 years.

Never heard of him or this album.
But what a CV the guy has.
I thought this was a reasonable listen, although some of the more 'ethnic' tracks dragged on. The album art is pretty off-putting too.
2½

A chilled out Daft Punk.
I don't know who did it first but I'm so over robotic vocoder vocals.
And Sexy Boy, for all its success, is not very good.
The rest is better. Good enough for a 3.

(Listens : 1)

There are some strong songs here, and Chapman’s Armatrading-esque voice showcases them well.

I’ve always been a bit sceptical of protest songs—they’re generally better at whingeing than bringing about actual change, and history has not exactly vindicated Chapman’s hopes for social progress.

Still, the melodies are solid.

Of course everyone knows 'Part 4' from the massive European hit and from those concerts where he projected stuff onto buildings.
The rest is ok.
Pretty chill.
And very good on noise cancelling headphones for a 50 minute tube ride across London!

(Listens : 2)

Annoying.
Hey, just pick a language, mate, and stop playing video games.
I'm sure he's talented but I didn't appreciate what he's done with that talent here.
Nope. Won't be listening to this ever again.

Contrary to popular belief on this site, you don't have to be spaced out on drugs and/or alcohol to like acid rave electronica dance music. I am long-time evidence of this. Just get up and throw some shapes. Man.

(Listens : 3)

I think I prefer not to be able to understand hip-hop lyrics (although some of the US hip hop acts are a push to understand anyway). That way i can just listen to the rhythm of the vocal and to the voice itself.
I like the language, the tone and the rhythm of this. The tracks were all ok (except Ragga Jam which was shit).
A perfectly reasonable album.
I won't be listening again, though, unless I open a boutique on the Kings Road or a coffee shop in Hampstead.

(Listens : 1)

This album is seemingly Prince shagging everything that moves, from a taxi driver to all the passengers on his airline.

Not an album I would put on in the car whilst taking my mum to the shops or the kids to school.

I quite liked it though. I especially liked the longer jam tracks.

Prince is so much better without his clunky drum sound.

Early days for him I suppose, before he went a bit nuts.

(Listens.:.2)

Another gangsta rap album I didn't expect to like. But somehow enjoyed. Much of it because of its ridiculously exaggerated adolescent macho fantasy. Comical in its sexual boasting. Like a 14-year-old schoolboy fantasising about what he would do with a girlfriend if he ever managed to get one.

Perhaps I am softening towards gangsta rap, because I found much of the album genuinely funny, although its misogyny is often ugly rather than merely ridiculous. As social commentary, maybe it captures a moment in the early-1990s, but its attitudes towards women now feel dated and out of touch.

Entertaining but ridiculous.

Some time (at least a year) ago I reviewed an album by an American punk band (I forget who) released in 1982 (I think) and I slated it for being typically American - late for the party.

Well this is a slap in the face isn't it. MC5. 10 years EARLY.
Well done you.
For me this is a little bit shouty and a little bit messy. Being live doesn't help it either even if it does get across more of the rawness.
So... No I wouldn't add this to any playlists. But it definitely fills the brief.

More depressing songs by another manic depressive.
I think the second listen, in the garden on a hot Sunday morning, mellowed me a little to this.
First time around I was bored by the lazy unoriginal Lou Reed-esq vocal delivery. But second time I could buy in to the mellow lazy feel.
Ok 3

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Sometimes my view of an album is influenced by what I've listend to before. Yesterday it was SZA: an album of pasteurised vocals. smoothed and sanitised by pitch correction and autotune.

Although I'm not a great fan of this collection of 'music to slit your wrists by' songs, I respect Leonard Cohen's voice, the imperfections in pitch, the way notes trail away at the end of a phrase — these are the very things that make it human. And they are something that would be scrubbed away by modern producer's compulsion to polish every vocal until all character and emotion have been battered to death.

That said, this isn't an album I'll be returning to often.

But fuck-you auto-tune - this is the way music should be recorded.

2. + 1 for being real.

She might have a nice voice.
But you can't really tell through the layers of vocal processing and pitch correction.
Still, I've learned an awful lot about her pussy.
Has some great melodies and bass line.
But I just can't get past that horrible autotune. And the "guest" performances are even more processed.
An opportunity wasted.

Cool and funky. A great album for gettin' it ohn
3½

I'm sorry, Elvis, but I just can't take a whole album of your voice. The odd single track on the radio maybe. But not a whole 45 minutes.
The songs have merit. Nobody can dispute your songwriting talent. Though you do like to drag some songs out waaaaaay too long.

Has the air of a West End musical score being performed in a sweaty Glasgow glam-rock club.
It's theatrical, rocky and entertaining and sounds like it belongs to the same cultural moment as Rocky Horror.
3½

New Year's Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday,Two Hearts and a load of filler.
But no.
Not a load of filler.
Actually pretty darn good.
Which is sad because U2 is a band I really want to despise.
I must learn to separate the product from the personnel.
Dammit