Reviews by stade

There are surely a number of stories and lyric interpretations that I missed while listening here, but that just means I'll be happily revisiting down the line. Musically, more than a few tracks floored me; Springsteen does the grandiose piano-and-horns sound so freaking well it hurts. The sheer emotion with which he sings on tracks like She's The One and Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out is remarkable, and Jungleland is just about the perfect closer to it all.
Very high 4 for an album that might just have made Springsteen click for me.

Standouts: Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out • Born To Run • She's The One • Meeting Across The River • Jungleland

This guy's singing straight up blows. There's some decent energy going on with the rest of the band, nothing spectacular, but he keeps ruining the music with his off-key singing. It's mad. Get rid of Richard Butler and give the sax guy more airtime -- that would fix all my problems with this record.

These guys have a fascinating and unique sound, but they make you wait way too long to get to it. A lot of these tracks spend 3+ minutes building up to an idea that doesn't always land. You've heard of 'trust the process', well these guys only DO the process.

Standouts: Dreams • Poppy

What a tragic background behind this one. There's a deep melancholy present throughout the album, though that surprisingly doesn't make it a depressing listen at all. A lot of it's actually quite beautiful. I just wish I vibed more with his vocal style, which is why I can't *quite* justify a 4 here -- but my god, the closing track left me speechless. An incredibly haunting way to end the album.

Standouts: Junk Bond Trader • Stupidity Tries • Better Be Quiet Now • Bye

I've never felt more neutral about an album. It somehow failed to leave any sort of impression on me, be it positive or negative. It was mild fun while I listened. Is that the perfect 3⭐? Well, it feels like an insult to lump it together with other 3-rated albums that DID leave an impression on me, so I must bump it down to 2.

Standout: Jump Boys

This is hard to rate because it's not an experience I want to revisit anytime soon, but for today I had a lot of fun with it.

...Well actually, I hated it at the start, and thought that the music's quality did not warrant 69 songs or 3 hours of my time. But as I started paying more attention to the lyrics, I came to realize that each song is a self-contained story about love, from a pretty wide variety of perspectives. Gradually I found myself being charmed by these little snippets, and as each song ended, wondering what they were going to come up with next. There's a lot of humor and tongue-in-cheek mixed in with these heartfelt and emotional stories, and it does help in keeping the whole thing fresh.

My highlight is Yeah! Oh, Yeah!, a joyful-sounding song about a couple resenting each other to the point of murder. As a standalone it wouldn't be very remarkable, and would perhaps be a bit disturbing -- but here it takes on a new meaning only possible in the wider context of this project. Suddenly it's a weirdly fun window into this darker aspect of love, and when it's over we just move on to the next.

Again, I don't think everything holds up quality-wise, but I definitely see the vision and as a whole it's one of the more unique projects we've had.

Standouts: A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off • Parades Go By • Nothing Matters When We're Dancing • No One Will Ever Love You • World Love • Washington, D.C. • Long-Forgotten Fairytale • Underwear • Acoustic Guitar • Yeah! Oh, Yeah! • Meaningless • Love is Like a Bottle of Gin • I Can't Touch You Anymore • How to Say Goodbye

I just wonder what it would feel like to hear this album for the first time as an NY native, with Nas' rhymes and references being so rooted in its street culture. I will say that you get a vivid picture of it from the lyrics and beats alone -- this album is grimy, bassy, hard as hell. Everything boombap should be.

Classic record, though far from the greatest ever by today's standards.

Standouts: N.Y. State of Mind • Life's a Bitch • The World Is Yours •

sup it's trane

It's not quite a style of music I enjoy much, but damn if he doesn't drop some heat here and there. Love to see the same excellent storytelling that Nebraska had in a more lively context.

Standouts: Cover Me • Bobby Jean • Dancing In The Dark

A very appropriate and enjoyable listen for a long autumn evening walk. It's quite nice to get a slower paced album, though it does feel a bit bloated by the end of its 54min runtime. Trim the fat, and there are some beautiful gems in here.

Standouts: Starlings • Mirrorball • An Audience With The Pope • The Fix

I see the vision but it's really not for me. I understand that it's not supposed to be a 'pleasant' listen, and as a concept album about the life of a tortured man it's excellently executed.... but to me the music itself was thoroughly unenjoyable the whole way through.

Standouts: March of the Pigs • A Warm Place • Eraser

This one's all over the place. When it's good it's great, but then they also take the experimentation too far at other points and don't really hit the mark. I consistently enjoyed the longer instrumental cuts on here at least.

Standouts: Burning Wheel • Get Duffy • Star • Motorhead • Trainspotting • Long Life

It IS fun, I'll give them that! There's a lot of misses though, and even at its best it fails to leave much of an impression, which is a shame when on paper this album should be right up my alley.

Standouts: Passive / Aggressive • Smoke 'Em • I Can't Get with That • Methadonia

I tried to have fun with it but this singing is seriously so bad. I think it's the infusion of punk that kills it for me.

Standout: A Message To You Rudy

This is an album I can confidently reach for whenever I find myself with a good listening setup. There's just a ton of musical detail going on at all times and the atmosphere is a treat to get completely lost in. I will say that even the best pair of cans won't help to understand what the hell Thom Yorke is saying, but to a certain degree that works in favour of the album's aesthetic.

Standouts: 15 Step • Bodysnatchers • Nude • Weird Fishes / Arpeggi • Reckoner • Jigsaw Falling Into Place

What the hell?? The Brits win this one. Unexpectedly wonderful sound full of jazz and funk.

Standouts: Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) • Lemon Firebrigade • Milk Film • Kingsize (You're My Little Steam Whistle) • Fantastic Day • Calling Captain Autumn

It's an incredible debut, and to my ears the band at their most unhinged (which is one of their greatest strengths). Just a wild, brilliant ride from beginning to end.

Now, is it perfect? No, that would be Toxicity. And it blows my mind that the editors included *two* Shitknot albums on the list while giving only one slot to SOAD, one of the most poignant, politically charged, and timeless metal acts of their era.... and it's only their comparatively raw debut.

And still, Slipknot could never.

Standouts: Sugar • Spiders • Mind • Peephole • P.L.U.C.K.

Mostly forgettable, but tracks 5-8 are magically heartfelt and had me slowing down, taking in everything they were putting down.

Then the Kellogg's Cornflake song came on. I sort of get why people like it, but it completely took me out of the spell the previous tracks had me under, and the rest of the album never caught back up.

Rating this as an overall album experience. Those four tracks genuinely had me feeling something beautiful, but the rest was comparatively a slog.

Standouts: Voices of Old People • Old Friends • Bookends Theme - Reprise • Fakin' It

It's always these fuckass 60s albums that have you wondering why they're on the list, until you dig a little deeper and find out that they inspired basically every artist in their generation.

I can't argue with history, I suppose, but the yodeling goes too far for me personally

Standouts: Whispering Pines • Jemima Surrender • King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

It only took 2 songs for the shtick to get old. But Greensleeves was cool.

Standout: Greensleeves