Reviews by socksonfire

I think a little disco in your diet can be a good way to celebrate life, music and dancing. At the same time, a little disco goes a long way, and I find the way a lot of disco songs are structured, where often incredible riffs and hooks devolve into long repetitive instrumental middles, likely worked well in nightclubs and on the drag show scene, but isn’t as conducive to casual listening. For that reason I never really seek out or play whole albums of disco music.

All that said, I quite enjoyed this album.

With a rather refreshing and blissful lack of serious caring, I played this album through with no positive or negative repercussions .

There was a time when, in order to maintain social credibility, one needed to publicly declare that one rated In Utero above Nevermind. Sadly, for this project, I rated Nevermind a glowing review and 5-stars, so my social credibility is already shot.

One thing I appreciate about Queen’s better albums is they seem to just be having a blast making this crazy music. So many rock bands are so flipping straight faced.
And well, Sheer Heart Attack is certainly one of their better albums. Second best in my books.

I like a lot of metal, but Pantera never quite landed. Possibly because it sucks almost as bad as Korn. Ironically, being as good as Pantera would be Korn’s dream come true. So we really do have a quality ouroboros.

Who am I kidding? This is 100x better than Korn.

sockfire, 10 yrs old, with 3 friends lurking in an alley and dipping rhubarb staks in sugar, gathered around a battery-powered tape player listening to a hot new album: Van Halen - 1984. It was a precious moment, full of life and opportunity. The world was ours for the taking.

sockfire, 51-yr-old, sitting in his underpants at the breakfast table reviewing a draft legal brief with Van Halen-1984 crooning in the background compared…unfavourably.

Back a long time ago I used Grooveshark to make a ten-track setlist as my contribution to a three-way set swap with a couple other maniacs. This set swap was notable for many reasons. Not only was it the first set swap between the three of us, and not only did it introduce the unimpeachable concept that ten-tracks, no more and no less, is the perfect number of tracks for any setlist, and not only was one participant an epic musical degenerate, and another the most ricktangular of project partners, it was the first opportunity for me to share a sweet Prince track with these two individuals. Prince had already been my #1 for a couple decades and no other musical entity even came close, so I wanted to represent well. Not wanting to pick something too much from the “hit-single” bucket, I decided to select one of my absolute favourites: The Beautiful Ones. This is truly a track operating at another level. In order to write this song, one needs to be an absolute lunatic. It was a perfect pick. I was especially keen to hear the feedback, given how badly I wanted to be a well-liked contributor.

As we gathered at the pub a week after the set swap to discuss, and the time came to chat about my set I asked about their reaction to The Beautiful Ones. There was a pause as the other two looked at each other. The musical degenerate said “I kind of thought you’d put a Prince song on the set, but I thought you’d pick something a little more…ummmmm. ….upbeat.” The ricktangular one added, “I was a bit surprised you picked THAT song.” Not a diss, but definitely a carefully tended reaction.

I advocated they listen again, but didn’t push. I really was fine with the feedback as it stood. Some things just get better and better with time and repeated listens, and I was satisfied I’d provided a first baby-step.

At another party with the same maniacs I was put on the spot to list my top-5 albums. I’m sure I fumbled through 5-2 somehow, but #1 was easy.

How to review and rate the best album of all time? My desert island album. My easy #1 for over 35 years. An album I’ve listened to and pored over so much I almost didn’t need to play it for this, I could’ve sang the whole thing to myself. But instead I played it loud and sang along. It still rules.

There are lots of 5-star albums, but Purple Rain stands alone.

My goodness my gracious. A three-star album in anyone else’s hands. But Janis. Oh Janis. She can have all the little pieces of my mealy little heart.

A delightful way to spend a warm cloudy afternoon, beer in hand, work behind me for the day, book open on my lap. “Ahhh,” I toasted, “but am I not just getting to be a better person by the second?” No one around me could argue that I wasn’t.

I just got home from a weekend long camping folk music festival which was fun and had some good highlights, but I think also impacted my listening to this album. I heard some stuff at that festival that had this freewheeling noodling spirit. So this was hitting me in the right way during my listen. Not sure I'll play it too much in the future, but a welcome diversion while it was happening.

Wow. This one had me from the first five seconds. One of the things I’m most grateful for in this project is the light that is being shone of some little jazz blind spots. I’m very into this.

Clearly a standout WuTang solo album. While I’m pretty much into it, I always do miss the compare and contrast of the voices of the collective. Maybe it’s not fair to think that way, the guest MCs on here should solve that one. This is probably why I’ve always give the solo albums such a light touch over the years. Sitting down and really listening through them is enough to know it’s been my loss:

This is the perfect version of what it is: and what it is is “not good”.

George seems a searching sort. I like that. This album mostly pristine, but just doesn’t carry it through all the way to the end. I even respect the parts that don’t work, but can’t quite go full five.

In the early ‘90s Grant Lee Buffalo was who you name dropped to prove your legitimacy. Kind of a “band other bands liked”. It wasn’t wrong, but this album belongs to that time.

l’il devil in Nick Cave’s brain surveyed all that he had wrought and felt pride. But l’il devil’s smile faltered for a short second as he wondered, “is there another way, besides just doing tons of murders?” But then l’il devil’s doubt was gone. Because murdering is good.

I had to try this one a few times before it clicked. It clicked on a peaceful Saturday morning as I nursed my coffee and read my book. Book-readin’ music! Half the battle is figuring out when to play an album.

That’s why all these hundreds of ratings are nonsense.

While this album played, 13-yr-old sockfire and 51-yr-old sockfire reached out across the decades, clasped hands, and, for once, we understood each other. It’s very difficult to express just how many times I’ve played this album. For something that is both inspired by crap and went on to inspire even worse crap, it’s a bit of a marvel that this album just utterly rips from start to end. Like it lives in a little bubble of unrepeatable badassery.

At a time when Bowie oversaturation in this project may be legitimately be affecting the ratings, to have thi land a day after Low, and to have this be perhaps the most Bowie-sounding non-Bowie album I’ve ever listened to, is maybe unfortunate and unfair.

I will say that I generally liked it, and it didn’t overstay its welcome. The Bowieness was a bit distracting though.

As a surprising fifth (!) Bowie album assigned in the first third of this project, I reacted with maybe some negativity. I actually quite liked it though.