Reviews by stade

This might be Queen's hardest-rocking album, and relatively light on their signature theatrics and goofiness. When you disregard their greatest hits, they have a very unique flavour of glam rock that people seem to either love of hate. I've come to quite enjoy it!

Standouts: Brighton Rock • Killer Queen • Flick of the Wrist • Bring Back That Leroy Brown • In The Lap Of Gods... Revisited

I didn't hate this! Was it the most consistent record, no, but each song offered a different scene that kept the whole experience pretty engaging. Loved the French moods in Purple Avenue and You Were Meant For Me.

Standouts: The Case Continues • Passionate Fight • Punishing Kiss • Purple Avenue • You Were Meant For Me

imagine a bloke.... with a *guitar*...... and get this, he *sings*........

Standouts: Finches • Needle of Death • Angie

Unsure if the album wore on me as it went or if it's very front loaded. It was never annoying per se, but the first few tracks actually had me thinking that this would be the album to turn post-punk/shoegaze/noise rock around for me!
Nevertheless, there are some good riffs overall and I did enjoy Kim's vocals a lot whenever she came up.

Standouts: Tunic (Song for Karen) • Kool Thing • Titanium Expose

I don't know if I'm much of a Reggae listener, but it's hard to go lower here. It's rare for a guy to evoke a whole genre! The rhythms are smooth and hypnotize the listener into a good mood. Love it!

Standouts: Guiltiness • The Heathen • Exodus • Three Little Birds • One Love/People Get Ready

I've listened four times to this album trying to find something to say about it, and I keep coming up blank. I enjoy his ballads. I like the rare happy John song to close the album. His songwriting overall is really good, as expected. I guess as a complete project there's just not a lot calling to me.

Standouts: Imagine • Jealous Guy • Oh My Love • How Do You Sleep? • Oh Yoko!

In contrast to yesterday's Blur, this album is Overwhermingly American. Yeehaw! 🤠 It's a type of music that's too niche to really listen on my own, but if Big Iron and El Paso are anything to go by, Marty Robbins can still truly shine in the right cinematic context.

Standouts: Big Iron • Cool Water • El Paso

Overwhelmingly British on first listen. I'm also more used to Damon's moodier stuff, and started thinking he only got good when he discovered trip hop.
A second listen opened my eyes to how *fun* this album actually is!!

Standouts: Girls & Boys • Parklife • To the End • London Loves • Trouble In the Message Centre • Clover Over Dover • This Is A Low

A cover compilation? What are we doing here? I loved Dusty In Memphis when it came up, and yet this somehow got old by the fifth track!

Standouts: Mama Said • Wishin' And Hopin' • Don't You Know

The cover art almost fooled me, but these are indeed still the Beach Boys.

Stronger first listen than Pet Sounds, but I don't think this one has the same legs to go into my rotation.

Standouts: Long Promised Road • Disney Girls (1957)

Really wanted to enjoy this more! The production is lush, but it's hard to find any rhythm or concrete instrument to grasp onto. Maybe that's the intention? Feels like being carried by the sea current the whole time. I like the detail of the song title pairings.

Standouts: Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road • Alife

This is such a load-bearing album in my life that it’s impossible to be unbiased about it. It’s not just that it introduced me to the grab bag of different genres Damon experiments with here; Jamie’s visual work for the band has forever been a massive artistic inspiration for myself as well!

All of it comes together into a special project that musically succeeds in most of its experimentations and sets a uniquely dark and grimy atmosphere that I’ve never quite seen replicated by anyone else -- not even by the band, which has reinvented itself numerous times over the years since.

Nothing short of a classic!

Standouts: 5/4 • Tomorrow Comes Today • New Genius (Brother) • Clint Eastwood • Sound Check (Gravity) • Double Bass • Rock the House • 19-2000 • Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo) • Starshine • Slow Country • M1 A1 • Left Hand Suzuki Method

This cover art is about the raunchiest shit ever conceived, which is very reflective of the lyrical content within. I'm personally of the opinion that you're allowed to be raunchy as long as your music is good enough to match, and Snoop Dogg accomplishes exactly that and then some. With Dr. Dre's golden production, here we have one of 90s West Coast's finest beats, to be played loud on some car speakers in the California sun (in snowy Canada with some shitty earbuds works too).

Standouts: G Funk Intro • Gin and Juice • Tha Shiznit • Murder Was The Case • Serial Killa • Who Am I (What's My Name)? • Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None) • Gz and Hustlas

Well it wasn't *awful* as far as Country goes........

Standout: Return Of The Grievous Angel

That's enough, Mr. Clapton, please, no more today.

Standouts: I Looked Away • Keep On Growing • Layla

The instrumental palette keeps this from being true 60slop, as the arrangements stay mostly pretty fresh and interesting. The dude couldn't sound duller when he's singing though. I was considering a 3 until the medieval jester joint + The Fat Angel, which truly just suck.

Standouts: Three King Fishers • Ferris Wheel • Season Of The Witch

What a wonderful, mesmerizing listen. Albums like these frequently remind me that India has some of the most unique and pleasant instruments out there! Can't blame the numerous white boys who worked the sitar into Western music over the years.

Nice of the book authors to let us hear Queen at their most normal; what they sound like when they're not writing basically the greatest hits of all time. Gotta get the necessary reps in before they can write Bohemian Rhapsody! That's over a year down the line from this album, though the band's signature sauce is already present here (if a lot more subdued than we're used to hearing).

Fine album overall, a good experience for the culture but I don't expect to revisit often.

Standouts: Ogre Battle • The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke • Nevermore

Dear lord this is classy. First live album I experience where the ambience isn't in the crowd's cheers, but in the wine glasses clanking and other such subtleties. Those are the details that TRANSPORT you to the Village Vanguard, to performances where Scott LaFaro is shredding pure heat on bass. Love it!

This is basically a 4 for me as a certified 60s and noise rock hater. Sometimes you really do have to respect some innovation, a quality of this band that does become very apparent after listening to enough 60slop. While I have no hate towards the album, and even think it has some really cool ideas, sonically it's not something I vibe with enough to listen to on my own.

Standouts: White Light/White Heat • The Gift • Sister Ray