Reviews by stade

This one took me a few listens to truly warm up to it, but it somehow kept me coming back each time. The arrangements are honestly gorgeous and set a very uniquely melancholic mood -- one that reminds me a lot of Beck's Sea Change album we got earlier in the list (one that I also loved!)

One special mention to Holy Man, which despite being a bonus track is one of the most beautiful instrumentals we've had on this list. Go listen to it if you stopped at End of the Show!

Standouts: Friday Night • Dreamer • Time • Pacific Ocean Blues • Holy Man

Now that's soulful! A wonderful mix of many genres I enjoy, from jazz to bossa nova, anchored by Dusty's enchanting voice.

Standouts: Son of a Preacher Man • Don't Forget About Me • Breakfast In Bed • The Windmills of Your Mind

This one's just filled with great energy. I love the variety of genre influences on display. It does lose a bit of overall cohesiveness as a result, though that doesn't make the music any less enjoyable. I had a blast!

Standouts: Street Signs • (Who Discovered) America? • Saturday Night • Dejame En Paz • Nadie Te Tira

Now this is a flavor of east coast hiphop that I can really get down with. Absolutely immaculate production on these beats. It's funny, I found them to have a similar sound to Tribe Called Quest, and I kept being thrown off by the De La Soul references without any Plugs appearing. Turns out they were all part of the same collective, which is a delightful discovery and makes total sense!

What I don’t get is why the Jungle Brothers never ended up as widely celebrated as Tribe or De La Soul. The quality here is absolutely on par, and it feels like they deserve just as much recognition. A fantastic record.

Standouts: What "U" Waitin "4"? • Acknowledge Your Own History • Belly Dancin' Dina • Good Newz Comin' • Tribe Vibez • J. Beez Comin' Through • Doin' Our Own Thang

Front to back banger. The Talking Heads vibes were so strong at certain points that they indirectly got Psycho Killer stuck in my head for an afternoon.

Standouts: Don't Cha Stop • Bye Bye Love • All Mixed Up

We've gotten other Beatles albums on the list, and I haven't been much of a fan. The reason, I thought, was that despite their admirable experimentations, at their heart they still had that 60s rock sound I didn't much care for.

Tell me, then, why this album -- with no hits and as pure in the 60s rock sound as I've heard them -- is the one that truly gets me bopping?? Every single song here is a slapper!

Fantastic album!

Standouts: You Won't See Me • The Word • Michelle • In My Life • Wait

Lots of cool things going on, I don't think we've had any other album that sounds quite like this, almost like a very early shoegaze. If I have one complaint, it’s that the record can feel a bit aimless at times -- most notably on the 7min closer Voodoo Dolly, which kind of builds up and peters out into nothing. Still, very interesting and distinctive listen.

Standouts: Monitor • Night Shift • Sin In My Heart

That's some rock n' roll alright. I got flashes of Elvis on a few songs; these boys may not have his swag, but they could still make a fun record.

Standouts: Oh Boy! • I'm Looking For Someone to Love

There's just so much going on at once, it's like every instrument is trying to overpower (lol) each other.

As for Iggy Pop, I don't know what's worse, his howling or his mixing. I found the Bowie mix to bring some much needed clarity here, though even that doesn't do much to salvage the record.

In truth this wasn't as offensive as other 1 stars, but as I sit and write this I can't think of a single element I enjoyed about this album. To the banished realm it goes. 🥀

Look, there might be a context where I jam my ass off to a couple of songs on here, but I gotta rate this as an album, and this is just too much Pogues!! I tapped out around track 14/19.

Mind you, they're very good at what they do, and individually these are all pretty fun! I did also enjoy the genre fusions they threw in here and there. I would not see myself revisiting it as a personal listen however.

Standouts: Metropolis • Fiesta • Sketches of Spain

I found the songwriting to be lovely to be quite honest. I hear her lyrics range from ok to straight stinkers; personally I have a bad case of lyric deafness so I didn't really notice that problem (though I guess I'm also missing out on half the appeal of her music lol)

I'm at least glad to finally have a sound to put to her name!

Standouts: gold rush • evermore

Weird album. They're really good at the funky, danceable tracks they open the album with, but they gradually shift into some Kraftwerk-style, almost industrial synth experimentations.

There's an ironic touch I enjoyed about the final track -- they're singing about dancing their way through collapse, meanwhile all of the danceability they had at the start of the album has crumbled away by this point.

The entire B-side was a rough first listen, but there’s something strangely infectious about it that kept pulling me back. I think I’ve come around on it now, I think it's a solid record, though not one that's going into the rotation.

Standouts: (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang • Play To Win • Soul Warfare • Let's All Make A Bomb

Plenty of strong riffs and cool ideas here, and I respect the ambition of opening with a 20min sci-fi epic… at least in concept. In execution, it's too heavy on the cheesy arena/dad rock sound. That's not a knock on their talent -- they're clearly great -- but it's not something I see myself returning to often.

Standouts: The Twilight Zone • Tears

The vocals took a bit to warm up to, but I think they work really well with the rest of the ambience. It helps that I actually listened to the lyrics for once and found them surprisingly real (if a bit depressing). What really elevates this to a 4 is the consistently excellent synth work, complemented from track to track by guitar riffs, piano solos, accordions, and other really cool experimentations. I loved it!

Standouts: I've Been Waitin' For Tomorrow (All Of My Life) • This is the Day • Uncertain Smile • The Twilight Hour • Soul Mining

One hell of a disorienting first listen, but I started picking up on that delicious prog rock goodness on the second one. This is one to truly unpack over the coming days and weeks; for now I'm content with a 4, there is a lot of interesting drumming and riffing through rhythm changes that kept me very engaged, especially on the back half. Weird, heavy, fun!

Standouts: Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part I) • Easy Money • The Talking Drum • Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part II)

My favorite part of this was rediscovering the songs I've heard all my life, and truly listening and admiring their production for the first time ever. The hits have always been catchy but this is the first time I notice these IMMACULATE synths.
Through all the Rock stuff on here, albums like these are a reminder that Pop can, in fact, go hard.

Standouts: Girls Just Want To Have Fun • Time After Time • She Bop • Witness • Yeah Yeah

The riffs here are solid enough, but nothing really mindblowing coming from this genre. Certainly not good enough to carry the off-key shouting-style vocals that really put me off the whole experience. I still found myself nodding along here and there though, so I guess a 2 star is fair.

Standouts: Mr Suit • Mannequin • Champs

Wait that was kinda great! I don't have much to say, except that I unexpectedly enjoyed a lot of the deeper cuts on here, and that it has aged pretty damn well after 14 years.

Standouts: Rolling in the Deep • Don't You Remember • Set Fire to the Rain • He Won't Go • I'll Be Waiting • One And Only • Lovesong

A 1989 album emulating 1960slop would normally be an auto-1⭐, but to their credit the instrumentation is solid enough to be engaging through most of this. Unfortunately that just makes it a bland experience -- whereas The Fall was so bad it makes me shudder anytime I think of Mark E. Smith, The La's existence will simply be forgotten in about two days.

This is one of those flawed albums I can't help but love. I don't think anything here is as technically impressive as Aja, and it does hit a bit of a slump in the back half. Despite that, the high points more than make for it with how fun they are. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo stood out as a shining highlight, haters be damned -- Steely Dan is based as hell for the Duke Ellington nod there.

Standouts: Night By Night • Any Major Dude Will Tell You • Barrytown • East St. Louis Toodle-Oo • Monkey In Your Soul