Reviews by suspiciousnumber

I really have no idea what to make of this album. The weirdest thing about it is that I've never heard of it, which is unusual for the rock albums that show up on this list (and I'm guessing that has a lot to do with the gender and race of Ms Armatrading). The album has a lot of range, with lots of elements of folk, blues, funk, and other related genres. Both music and lyrics are soulful, and she has a great voice with a lot of strength behind it

4/5

While Radiohead was putting out Kid A and Amnesiac, U2 was putting out this album. I guess it just goes to show you that some music is really good, and some music is fucking stupid. Did we learn anything with this comparison? No, but we didn't learn anything by listening to this album either, so in that sense, it's appropriate.

It's really hard not to see this album as vapid. I understand that U2 has to do something with it's albums if it wants to keep making them. But this feels like a weird statement from a band that was styling themselves as politically important during this period, and yet they seem to have nothing to say about the world. The fact that this album was listed on so many Top XXX albums of all time lists is truly baffling to me

3/5

God. Fuck. Fine, I'll review another Neil Young album. I'm not sure why I need to keep going through this gauntlet. There's tons of amazing albums that I haven't gotten on this list. Notably, the jazz selection is really lacking. But here we are again, listening to Neil Young. I still don't like him. I just hate the sound of his voice. He sounds like Ben Shapiro's falsetto. The ironic thing is that his vocal harmonies sound fucking great. If he would just do more of a Beach Boys things (or, dare I say it, a CSNY type of thing), I might really like him. Instead, I get one of his albums, and I just put it off for weeks because I know it will take all day.

3/5 The songs with harmonies are really great and have this timeless feel to them. Then Neil Young wanders off by himself, and I am filled with rage at his voice, which somehow combines the worst elements of Kermit the Frog and Alvin and the Chipmuinks

This album is essentially what I thought it would be. It's a nice look back at the past, but ultimately I don't feel like I came away from this album having absorbed much of it. The album certainly benefits from having multiple good producers in the band, and Shirley Manson's voice fits the grinding, distorted guitars well. It's not bad, but it leaves me feeling a bit flat

3/5

I liked this album overall, though I don't know a huge amount about the history of Afro-Cuban jazz, which limits my ability to judge its significance. It's pleasant to listen to. It sounds a bit generic to my ears, but given that it was made in 1957, it's likely because this is a genre-defining album. I would not have predicted it having been made so early. Other than that, it's all the snappy rhythms and brassy horns that you've come to know and love from Afro-Cuban jazz

4/5

It feels really weird that I've been listening to the Velvet Underground for more than 20 years, but there are still albums that I haven't listened to in their entirety. That might be because I'm lazy. Anyway, this album has a bunch of VU songs that I really like going back to when I was a kid and first picked up their greatest hits. This album really shows off how well the Velvet Underground did everything. There are conventional love songs, funky rock songs, experimental songs, and all of it very well executed

5/5

This album was neat, but I feel like it suffers a bit to comparisons from other indie bands. I like what Pavement was doing with this era a lot more. Art has to be judged on its own, and this album certainly has some things to recommend it. It's just hard when this reminds me so much of other bands whose work I enjoy more than this

3/5

This band is one of those weird blasts from the past that I sorta forgot about. I remember seeing them live some time in the 00s and really enjoying them. Then I just sorta forgot they existed over the next 15 years. I enjoy the music on this album a lot, that's where it really shines. The vocals on this album have not aged particularly well. There's nothing wrong with them, they just sound outdated now. If this album was entirely instrumental, I would have rated it higher, but the rapping especially weakens the experience for me

3/5

I wasn't terribly excited to see that I got a salsa album today, but this shit is dope. Just solid grooves running throughout, with great production that makes it sound much more modern than I would have expected for 1978. There's greatly clarity for all of the minor percussion instruments that help establish the beat. The singing is great, though I have no early idea what they are saying

4/5

What an album! It seems crazy that this album came out so long ago, when it still feels so relevant today. Every song is good, and several of them are great. Beautiful, heartfelt songs, some of which you can dance to, some of which you can cry to

5/5

What's this? An album from the early 2000s that's good? I must be truly blessed this day.

The album is really interesting. They go through a lot of different sounds and styles while still keeping it coherent. The production is excellent and gets great texture out of the music. This is one that I might have to pick up on vinyl if I can find it

4/5

I thought this album was good overall, though it is definitely a bit uneven. The psychedelic stuff is where the band really shines, but their folky and blusey stuff is just okay. Those songs bog the album down, which is a bit of a bummer.

3/5 Worth a listen, but the only thing I really got out of it is that I like the songs that I already knew that I like

It's funny how some of the scenes emphasized on this list really annoy me (like 90s-00s Brit Pop), and some scenes I really enjoy. Post-punk is definitely one of the latter. I don't have a lot to say about this album that I haven't said about previous post-punk albums, but this album is really cool. More explicitly sexual subject matter than was often present in punk/post punk, which is neat. I don't love the singer's voice, but he makes it work

4/5

I really didn't enjoy the last The Fall album that I got on this list, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It was much more accessible than the other album. It was also easier for me to fit this album into what was happening in rock at the time, which helped me appreciate how interesting some of the musical choices they make on this album were. I don't think I'll ever be all that into this band, but this album helped me understand their appeal a lot more

3/5

This album must have sounded so fucking alien to the people that heard it in 1970. I can understand the elements present in this music, and how this group came to be, but it still feels so early for when it was made. I'd call it similar to Maggot Brain by Funkadelic in that way.

I think I like the first Stooges album better than this, but this is still a great album that helped to absolutely revolutionize rock music everywhere it landed. The production is gritty and blown out, but that's perfect for this band. Every piece of the band fits together to perfect to produce one of the most revolutionary albums of all time

4/5

I'm pretty lukewarm on prog rock overall, since I like the idea of it, but feel that it tends to be pretty self-indulgent in its execution (looking squarely at you, Roger Waters). I enjoy the more lightheared prog stuff, and this falls into that basket. I don't think this is one that I'll come back to, but it's pleasant overall. The music is interesting and well produced, but it also tends to fade into the background for me

3/5

D'Angelo is one dude who's career is far more interesting than I had imagined. It's weird that he wanted to do all this interesting stuff with music as part of the neo-soul movement, but was essentially considered to be too sexy to be taken seriously. It's a bummer that he didn't put out more music as a result of his struggles for creative control, but I have a hell of a lot of respect for him. Anyway, this album is before all that, and I don't have a huge amount to say about it, but it's dope

4/5

Station to Station serves as a precursor to my favorite period in Bowie's period, the Berlin Trilogy. Low is my favorite Bowie album, and you can hear some of the sound of that album here and there on Station to Station. This album suffers a bit from the comparison, but considered on its own, it's a great album (sort of like comparing The Bends to OK Computer or Kid A).

Thematically, this album is dealing a lot with transition, which is always appropriate with Bowie. Really varied sound on the album, but every single song is great

4/5

I think this is an album that I might have been less interested in if I hadn't read some of the background. Knowing that this band was highly influential on the hair metal bands of the 80s, especially Guns N Roses, provides a lot of useful context when listening to it. Sonically, the album is really good. It's wel-produced, and the songs are fun with a lot of energy. So much of what makes hair metal fun is found here, and I can't really think of anywhere else I heard a lot of these motifs before this album. I don't know that this is an album that I would have ever picked up on my own, but fitted into its proper context, it's an easy album to appreciate

4/5

If you'd told me that an album meant to sound like an 80s album was released in 2014, I would not have predicted that it would have sounded like this, nor that it would be this good. The album has a very Springstein vibe that really works. All the little 80s sounds are here, and integrated perfectly. It doesn't even make a lot of sense, yet it works really well

4/5