Reviews by smith__2112

I’m not the biggest rap fan but this was good. Solidly entertaining throughout with pretty great production

This is very much a mid 60s brit invasion rock album, but it’s a pretty good precursor to where the Who were going. Not their best but very good still

I was surprised by how good this entire album is. I’ve only heard We Got the Beat before but every song is basically just as good

This was already a favorite of mine. Such a weird album that works surprisingly well. The fact that the entire thing is made of samples is kind of mind boggling

Despite being mostly covers, Johnny Cash owns most of these songs (ok well not Personal Jesus). A pretty great final album

I gave the other Baaba Maal album a 5. This one is pretty good too but there’s some production oddities that feel like 90s cliches just thrown into the music that hold it back a bit

It’s ambient music, obviously, but still pretty interesting to listen to. And it’s probably some of the best music to have on in the background while doing something else. Still I prefer Eno’s more straightforward pop/rock stuff

Pitchfork used to do these videos where they would have a band discuss one of their major albums. The history of it, how it was produced, stories behind the songs etc. They had one for The Soft Bulletin and the only part of it I remember is Wayne Coyne talking about the Spiderbite Song. One of their band members started coming to rehearsal with a really bad infection on his hand. It was so bad it affected his playing. He told them it was from a spider bite, but they knew he was injecting heroin and got an infection from a needle. They had to get him help for his infection and drug use. Wayne talked about how this whole situation affected him and the emotions he felt from it. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to his friend because well that would make him feel terrible too. Empathy is selfish in a way. That idea just always stuck with me and it’s something I turn back to any time I think about relationships and the joy and pain that can come from them. “I was glad that it didn’t destroy you/How sad that would be/Cause if it destroyed you/It would destroy me”

Anyway this is an album I listened to a lot in high school, so if even if I haven’t listened to it much in the last few years I still know every song well

Potentially my favorite Beatles album though it’s pretty hard to choose. And For No One is also possibly my favorite song of theirs. But again, that’s kind of an impossible decision to make

I’d consider this a bit of a guilty pleasure. Yes it’s prog rock with a flute, but I still enjoy it quite a bit

Janis Joplin had one of the most amazing voices ever. Imagine what having a full lifetime of music from her would be like

I thought I had never heard The Cardigans before but then I got to Lovefool and went ”Ohhhhhhhhhh it’s THAT song”

I really wasn’t expecting to like this, let alone kind of love it. Wikipedia describes it as a cult album and that’s what it feels like. Kind of odd in a way that most people probably wouldn’t think much of it, but it can feel just perfect to the right person. It reminded me a lot of No Other by Gene Clark

I kind of have a soft spot for old folk music, but even then I never got into Jack Elliott. He’s fine, but he’s not really a great songwriter nor does he have enough of a personality to make his music interesting to listen to. Still serviceable folk though

The Eagles are definitely a singles band. Their hits are by far their best songs. The other songs are decent but nothing noteworthy

Some of the best soul music ever. Al Green’s voice can make anything good

Very solid British post punk. Parts of it sound like Bowie and that’s always fun

Kinda mid indie rock. I’ve listened to a lot of indie rock and never heard of this band. There’s nothing here to really make it stand out or be memorable but it’s listenable

It feels like there are good songs hiding under Bruce Springsteen’s music. The lyrics are pretty decent. The music itself is usually solid. But he just kind of ruins it with his singing. He mumbles everything. The best song on this album is Adam Raised a Cain because he’s almost getting angry with it and he’s putting actual emotion in the singing. Otherwise it’s this halfhearted mouth-full-of-marbles singing that feels like nothing

Synth pop but also kind of darker and almost goth sounding. Amazing