Reviews by stade

Gotta respect any 60s album that actually sounds ahead of its time!

Standouts: The Garden Of Earthly Delights • I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar • The American Way Of Love

A '71 album emulating the 60s... it could have been cool with the right execution, but no, this just sounds bland and uninspired. And my god....... the Elvis impression, it's atrocious...... 🥀🥀

Obviously an iconic band, but I don't think their sound can really carry an entire album, not even a short 37 minute one. There's one trip hop-sounding song that stands out here, the rest all sounds like In The End rehashes with varying degrees of rap quality.

I do respect Linkin Park a ton, so I'm truly devastated that I had more fun with the Limp Bizkit album.

Standouts: In The End • Cure for the Itch

There's a lot of charm here!

Standouts: Fever • The Girl Of My Best Friend • Dirty, Dirty Feeling • Thrill of Your Love • Reconsider, Baby

This was a fun one! Despite Alex Turner's involvement, it doesn't feel like *just* an Arctic Monkeys spinoff, which I was very pleasantly surprised by. The orchestral arrangements really elevate the album, and the whole thing ends up having an old movie soundtrack feel. At a short and dynamic 30 minutes, I can see myself coming back to it for sure.

Standouts: The Age Of The Understatement • Standing Next To Me • Separate And Ever Deadly • Only The Truth • Black Plant • I Don't Like You Anymore • The Meeting Place

Real raunchy rock. They're objectively sick with the guitar, but the music somehow does absolutely nothing for me.

Standouts: Going Down/ Love In An Elevator • Dulcimer Stomp/ The Other Side

Cool guitar jams for the time, that's about it. 60s psych rock isn't my thing!

Standouts: Sunshine For Your Love • Blue Condition

A refreshingly different entry on the list. It sounds pretty dated, but the jams are still groovy and head-boppable as ever. I wish they did more of the trippy shit they pull on 666 Edit!

Standouts: Move Any Mountain • Possible Worlds • Omega Amigo • Lightspan • Hear Me • 666 Edit

I despise everything about their aesthetic. I'd be embarrassed to be caught listening to this. The lyrics objectively suck ass. Outside of the admittedly good riffs, it's all so over the top trash that it's impossible to take seriously; so much so, that it weirdly loops back to being kind of fun. I don't know, I think I kind of limp with the bizkit actually 😭

Standouts: My Way • Rollin (Air Raid Vehicle) • Getcha Groove On - Dirt Road Remix • Take A Look Around • Boiler • Rollin (Urban Assault Vehicle)

The Rubber Soul prequel! Fun to hear the band at the turning point, right before they reach their full power. Also just a great, catchy album, period!

Standouts: I Should Have Known Better • Tell Me Why • Can’t Buy Me Love • Any Time At All

An acoustic assault on the senses. Look, I've only recently managed to get into Bob Dylan, a folk album like this is way too heavy on weird fuckery for me to handle right now!

Standouts: The Body Breaks • Todo Los Dolores

It starts out as a delightfully chill listen, but David Gray gradually ditches the cool instrumentals in favour of a very bland acoustic sound. It seems the white ladder just leads to Ed Sheeran.

Standouts: Please Forgive Me • Nightblindness

GOD these arrangements are perfection, there's no better description for it than 'prog soul'.

Standouts: Walk On By • Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic • One Woman • By The Time I Get To Phoenix

Bob Dylan is not my usual cup of tea, and yet this first listen left me wanting to revisit and dig deeper into a few of these stories in the future. He's obviously a great storyteller, but in a very uniquely personal and charming way, as if every song is recounting something that happened to him just last week. I was engaged the whole way through! Very pleasantly surprised by this Folk pull!

Standouts: Idiot Wind • Meet Me in the Morning • Lily, Rosemary and the Jack Of Hearts • Buckets of Rain

Two listens in and I'm having trouble putting a number on this!

On one hand, they set an atmosphere unlike anything I've ever heard before, perfectly matching the snowy nighttime walk I took with it. A memorable album experience for sure, but at the same time -- perhaps also due to the novelty of it -- there's nothing about the music that really clicked, other than ‘vibes’. The vocals especially were hit or miss, though that's surely something I can warm up to.

I'll set a 3 for now, but it's a sound I definitely want to explore more! I look forward to Heaven or Las Vegas!

Standouts: Lorelei • Persephone • Pandora (for Cindy) • Aloysius • Donimo

Perfect listen for the local boomer bar, but outside of the slightly nostalgic No More Mr Nice Guy there's very little I actively enjoyed. I will say that this level of glam surprised me out of a 1973 album; it feels way closer to an 80s sound to me.

Standouts: Unfinished Sweet • No More Mr. Nice Guy

The most plainly American 70s pop rock record I’ve ever heard. Time really hasn’t done it any favours, but I'm feeling like it's not entirely their fault in this case. Sure, the album all sounds a bit generic hearing it fresh today, but there are glimmers of experimentation here and there that still feel novel and charming, like the band's actually trying to bring something new to the rock scene -- no matter how silly those ideas may seem now (I'm looking at you, loud-ass tweety bird).

Standouts: Witchy Woman • Most of Us Are Sad • Earlybird

I kept waiting for a big climactic payoff that never came. As it turns out, this is not that type of album! It's all about the textures and hypnotic rhythms, and going into a second listen with that in mind made all the difference for me. They do a great job of mixing in gentler tracks between the more distorted, aggressive ones, so all in all I found it to be a surprisingly engaging listen for a drone/ambient-adjacent record. Loved it!

Standouts: Come Down Softly To My Soul • Revolution • Let Me Down Gently • Lord Can You Hear Me

Wasn't expecting much out of an alt rock record, but by the third track I was fully into these guys' sound. Lovely guitar tones and basslines abound! They strike a perfect balance between slow, melodic tracks and more aggressive and grungey ones, which makes for a very fun listen overall. Great pull!

Standouts: Homesick • Country Yard • Factory • Ain't No Room • 1969

It’s certainly abrasive, but in a way that actually feels purposeful. I could see this being pretty enjoyable to someone who’s more punk-inclined than I am.

Standout: Cliché