Reviews by sterry2289

Pretty cool. Kind of stadium punk? Some interesting decisions. Glad to have heard it.

Not much more to say in Aretha. The greatest ever.

I’ve been going back and forth on this one and landed on 4. I sounds so damn good. I’ve had his song “Riot” on a rotation but had never done a deep dive. Little slow at times but that’s fine. Traditionally releasing covers so song writing is maybe a little weak, or maybe it’s fine to take a couple tracks off. Whatever man. Home is where the fuckin music is.

Rock musicians trying to get in on the rap revolution led to a lot of bad music. Nu-Metal the biggest loser, RATM a rare exception. This is most apparent when bands like this forcefully include the table scratch sound. I remember this quickly became a sign of a bad song. It barely works in actual rap! My memories of this album and specifically Clint Eastwood are all tied to the music video, and that brings me to my next point: aesthetics in the early 2000’s were at an all time low. Album covers, music videos, clothes everything was in a weird new digital age and the transition was clunky as hell. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things that worked well and it could be some function of thinking the world sucked 25 years ago, but this whole cartoon universe they created sucks.

All that said, some of this impressed me. 5/4 was my favorite. Overall though, didn’t need this.

Also what the hell was Del rapping about? I read the lyrics in Clint Eastwood a few times and could not follow.

I hope this can serve as a reminder for all mankind that Mashups may fool your dumb lizard brain for a minute, but ultimately they will not bring you joy.

Pop music may not get better. Production is on another level. Crazy good on every track but Dreams is a marvel, they turned two chords into one of the best songs ever. Lottaaaa mega hits. A+

Took at 2 hour bike ride yesterday (nbd) but started with Arhitecture and Morality, then Brothers and closed with Back in Black. For the last album I felt like I could bike 1000 miles at 100 mph. ROCKING out. Fun as fuck. I think I prefer Bon Scotts voice and general vibe, but these may be AC/DC's best all around songs. They have ONE speed and its rockin.

How do they lose their singer then sell 50M records? Was Johnson contributing significantly to the song writing?

Meh. Pretty fun at times, irritating at others. Found the sound and stuck with it. Muscle Shoals recording, kinda cool.

Cool moments. Very little else to say after I don’t know how many times through. Maybe a few more hooks?

Masterpiece. Some albums feel too good to review and this is one of those for me. I've always liked Dylan but lately I've been more and more impressed. A lot of these songs have worked there way into my life at different times, but listening to this front to back is truly jarring.

Lately I've been listening to Simple Twist of Fate and Idiot Wind. The first verse in Idiot Wind brings me great joy. The punch line "I can't help it if I'm luckyyyyy", but the incredibly bizzare cadence "when they will I can ONly guUUEEssss".

In Rolling Thunder Revue I saw him perform Simple Twist of Fate at a retirement home it looks like, and he completly changed the vibe to an upbeat soulful song (would be a great version to cover). But that totally changed my view of the song (On Netflix at the 1 hour 9 minute mark - its sick).

Maybe TMI but when my first daughter was born and we finally got home I was playing various songs and Shelter From the Storm came on and my wife started crying tears of joy/relief/gratitude. One of the great moments of my life. That song also plays a pretty crucial role in the album as a relief from a lot of the sorrow and negativity.

Dylan brings the charisma, obviously feeling a burst of inspiration from the divorce. One knock on this is that its a divorce album, which can be a bit of a grind. We get it man, its sad. Comparing this to the Marvin divorce album - making a wild assumption but it appears Dylan does his best work under these stressful circumstances and Marvin maybe did a lot of coke and did not.

I'm sure you could write an essay on each of these songs so I'll stop here but god damn, thats one great fucking album. I wonder if there is a precedent for such a succesful artist to do their (arguably) best work 15 albums in. I'm going to say there is not. Bravo.

First Clapton appearance? Lately I feel Clapton has fallen out of favor, but I’ll always be a fan of his music. Probably overrated by some, but still one of the best.

One of the first albums I owned, I want to go 5 but I acknowledge faults. Starting with the good stuff, Clapton rules. The opening to Sunshine of Your Love is a great music moment. Particularly the third time through that riff, one of the sickest guitar sounds I’ve ever heard. Apparently called the “woman tone”. I really like most of these songs, one that grew on me is “We’re Going Wrong”. I recall a clip of Ginger Baker complaining he didn’t get a writing credit because the entire song is really driven by the beat.

One of the Producers called it “psychedelic hogwash” and there is definitely some of that. Song writing is a little weak. Overall it works.

Over these last two Sabbath albums I have become passionate about Sabbath grooves. I've always been drawn to these songs, on this album it's the wizard, but I think now that this is what makes them special. On Vol 4 there are a handful. At times sounds like a funk influence and I think its because of Bill Ward on drums. Aside from The Wizard nothing really stood out. Good debut

Still struggle with the big band stuff, but mostly enjoyed this. Decent kitchen music. Bold title.

Some of these performances could work in isolation, but something about the way this album was constructed feels like a car crash. A car crash of crooning brits, up-tempo piano jigs, string sections and bad rap. Strange album!

Impressive debut for sure. Pearl Jam falls into the same camp as Oasis for me, extremely popular bands that I don't really get. I think its the serious/moodiness but mostly its Vedders singing style. To validate this feeling I went and listened to Nevermind. The essence of that album is basically the opposite of seriousness, and that may be what I want out of grunge. (Just did a quick check on Spotify and this may not be a fair comparison - it appears Nirvana may be 2X as popular) They aren't grunge, but I don't know how to square this with RATM. They could not be more serious and I love it. My history teacher in HS, who i respected at the time, said Pearl Jam was better than The Beatles, which may have poisoned my mind.

Either way, good stuff here certainly. Not for me. Not really a grunge guy, unless it's Nirvana.

Frank really fucked up my MJ listening experience. Was it really a Liberian... boy? Blocking all that out - I like Off The Wall and Thriller, everything else I could do without. That said, some of these songs rip. Smooth Criminal.... i don't care how many b.... nevermind. It's a great song!

4 years after their debut and then he’s gone. Crazy rise and fall. Went through a big phase in HS school but as I realized Morrison was basically full of shit and stopped being romantic about the idea of being a drunk dirt bag I dialed it back. I still love The Doors and have come to really appreciate the lunacy of it all.

There’s a lot to like here but what stood out to me was the snarl. This may be peak Morrison snarl. Fat and burnt out and belting out tunes with pure testosterone and charisma. The hits are tremendous and of course a couple obligatory Doors nonsense songs mixed in. I was surprised to see on Spotify Riders OTS is their #1 song. Manzarek crushing the keys/midi. JM’s voice ……so damn good. Shocking.

Last thought on this, Frank and I were discussing how hard it must be to be an imposter but still get extreme praise. Knowing you’re not what they think you are. Morrison is an electric front man and singer, but he’s not a (good?) intellectual or a poet. I do wonder if he was just a drunk front man he’d have been better off, but then we wouldn’t get the high highs of the big swings they took.

He was 27! 23 when they started. Imagine meeting a 23 year old with that voice.

Some cool moments and sounds but did not grab me.

I woke up at 6 am Saturday to drive an hour to a bus transport from Falmouth Center to Woods Hole to run a road race. Got to the bus area and there was no parking, so dropped my wife and went looking for parking. Found a spot and ran back to the bus. Dozens of empty school buses, hundreds lined up to get on. Unfortunately the narc race volunteers turned me away because I missed the “check in time”. No way to get to the start line, no road race for me and a couple hours to kill. I was completely enraged. I decided to go for my own “protest run” and immediately went to my album of the day. First song that came up was You Oughta Know. As soon as I heard Alanis as irate as I was I started laughing like a maniac. It’s not fair, to deny meeeeee!!! Logistical nightmare but a lovely protest run.

A full album of this is pretty grating. The hits are very good, although I think the drum machines were a mistake. Head Over Feet was my favorite re-listen. Still feel bad for the dude from Full
house every time I hear YOK.

Is it gay to say Time of The Season is sexy? I don’t want to bang this dude, but someone surely does. Feels like an appropriate descriptor. All time song.

Anyway, immediately regretting giving Billy 4 stars, because I gotta go 3 here and I’d rather listen to this I think. Main reason it falls flat is because when psychedelia misses the mark it misses big. Interesting that this sound/movement had already jumped the shark by ‘68. Some great songs in here for sure though.