Reviews by suspiciousnumber

On the one hand, I think Jerry Lee Lewis is a gross human being, and no sane country would have allowed him to marry his 13 year old cousin (once removed). One the other hand, this concert would have been fucking ecstatic to attend. You can feel the electricity of Lewis's energy through the recording. The only real criticism that I have of it is that it features very little of his original songs (only Great Balls of Fire and Lewis Boogie). I like all of the covers he does though. I suppose that it's okay to like this one since the bad man died long ago (checks Wikipedia). HOLY FUCKING SHIT, DID YOU KNOW THAT JERRY LEE LEWIS IS STILL ALIVE?? DUDE RELEASED AN ALBUM IN 2014. What the fuck?

4/5

This album was fine, but didn't really grab me. I like disco, and definitely don't think it gets its due as a genre. However, much like the other Chic album that I reviewed, I just couldn't really get into this one

3/5

It's really too bad that I live in such a dogshit era for country music. I've never really had much of an appreciation for it because I came of age after most of the greats of old country music were long passed their prime. I think I would have enjoyed the genre a lot more if I was present during eras like this where you had good musicians making earnest country music, rather than the completely manufactured generic rural word salad that modern country has become.

Earnest is certainly the word that I would use to describe John Prine. The album feels intimate, personal, like it's just you and him and he's really opening up to you. Then the album first started I thought it was good but not for me. As it played on, I started to enjoy it more and more. He wins you over.

"There's a hole in daddy's arm where the money goes, and Jesus died for nothing I suppose" God damn

4/5

This is one of those albums that sounds okay on it's own, but whose real merit lies in its influence. You can here the synthpop sound clearly for the first time in this album. Artists like Gary Numan and the Human League were clearly listening to this. So much changed in electronic music after this album that it's hard to understate its important. It sounds good too

4/5

This album serves as a fascinating companion piece to David Bowie's Low, which was made around the same time. Both albums were a product of Bowie and Pop working together in Berlin and experiencing the Krautrock movement that was still underway at the time. At first listen, I still prefer Low to this album, but the consistency of the sound between the two albums is really striking. It's like two artists finishing the same half-painted canvas in two different ways. The similarities between the two serve to highlight the core differences between Pop and Bowie.

The Idiot is the more dark and gritty of the two. Even when it's upbeat it's a little off. The electronic elements on the album work very well with Iggy's lyrical style. This is one I think I'm going to seek out on vinyl

4/5

Well, to start off, I didn't know KD Lang was a country artist at her debut. I only knew her from the song "Constant Craving" and always thought she was more of a pop artists from the R&B side of the music world. That said, her voice grabs you from the beginning of the first track. She has the perfect female country voice: powerful yet subtle, soft and filled with emotion. This album has a real blast from the past feel. KD Lang isn't Patsy Cline, but she does a hell of an impression.

4/5

I found this album fascinating. It really shows how fast punk was evolving during the 80s, as it sounds almost nothing like the punk albums of the late 70s. It has a lot of elements that make it sound like alt rock works of the 90s, though I'm finding hard to describe exactly what it is that makes this album sound like a 90s album. Lots of little things, I guess. The hardcore punk influence on the song lengths really shines through on this one. It's a weird structure for an album that isn't screamed out at 200 bpm, but it allows this album to cover a lot of sonic ground. Really cool work, and a nice companion piece to the other major punk double album from this year, Zen Arcade

5/5

This is sort of a tough one to rate. It's a Leonard Cohen album, no doubt about it. It's certainly not my favorite Cohen album. Like most of his works (at least the ones that I've listened to), the album is heavy on the poetry and light on the music. There's nothing wrong with that, since even in his waining days, Cohen could still carry an album on the strength of is poetry and his voice.

His albums always leave me wanting something more. I've not heard any that I didn't like, but this one especially feels a bit stripped down. It's good, but also not in the same galaxy as Blackstar by Bowie in terms of albums made during an artist's dying days. Setting that comparison aside, this album is worth a listen, though not one that I'm likely to come back to

4/5

This album really hits the sweet spot of late 70s/early 80s muzak that I just completely hate. There's something about the tone on the bass especially that I just can't stand. It's not bad overall but there's nothing about it that I really like either

3/5

When I first started listening to this album, I would not have guessed that it was from 2018. I'm not sure that I could place when exactly it was from, but this album is a throw-back to earlier synth music in many ways. There are also many modern elements, and everything blends together seamlessly. Some parts of it compare favorably to Animal Collective's sound. Really cool synth pop with solid if not overwhelming lyrical content. Dope.

4/5

This album seems to serve as a neat bridge between the post-punk and alternative music movements. The band they kept reminding me of while I was listening was Faith No More, though it's hard to describe why. Regardless, it's a very interesting album musically, as it leans heavily on digital instruments while still having a rock feel to it.

I thought this was cool. I wasn't really aware of the Beach Boys post-Smile, pre-Kokamo career. This was better than I thought it would be given the reduced influence of Brian Wilson. I didn't really feel like there were any standout moments, but the album was pleasant overall

4/5

Another album I own on vinyl. This album is fascinating for so many reasons. Television emerged in the same scene that gave rise to the Ramones, Blondie, the Talking Heads, and Suicide, among many others. Television doesn't sound like any of those bands (though to be fair, those bands don't sound anything like each other). This album feels both radical and yet very much of its time. It's absolutely stellar both musically and lyrically. Lots of musical energy to provide some grounding for the poetic lyrics.

It's another weight on the scale that has swung (very much to my surprise) to the conclusion that the 70s were the best musical decade.

5/5

I've listened to this album a couple of times now, but I still don't have a lot to say about it. I like it, though. It has some genuine hits on it, and the rest of the album is diverse in terms of its style. It's sweet and mellow, sometimes, fun and funky other times. The album is also filled with great instrumentals

4/5

If there is a single word that I could pick to describe hardcore punk, it would be efficient. I've been listening to this album for 2 minutes and 45 seconds, and I'm already done with three songs. This album gets through 14 songs in less than 16 minutes. Like I said, efficient

This is a fun early example of hardcore and the style of the developing west coast punk scene. I feel like hardcore punk is a bit limited as a genre, but I also know that I would have fucking loved seeing this band when I was a teenager. As I get older, raw power in music appeals to me less and less, but when you're young and full of hormones and anger, it makes you feel like someone else gets it. This album is perfectly that. It's high energy everyday boredom and disaffection. And if you don't like it, it's over in 15 minutes

4/5

Folk-Punk is not a genre that I would have thought to be particularly fruitful in terms of good music. The Pogues certainly provide a nice counter-argument to that assumption. The music is fun, mixing traditional Irish instruments with a variety of musical styles. I would lump the Pogues in with Flogging Molly as music that is great to have playing in the background, even if it doesn't sound particularly outstanding in the foreground. I like each individual song, at least as far as I've gotten into the album, but it does get a bit repetitive after a while. Like I said, though, if you put this on in the background while you do something else, it'll keep your foot tapping while you work.

4/5

This album is absolutely iconic from the very first bass note. I would consider this the best marriage of jazz and funk ever put together. Headhunters would serve as a template for a lot of great improvised music to come after it, especially for jazz artists like Medeski, Martin, and Wood. It's so smooth and yet infinitely groovy and danceable. A song like Watermelon Man shouldn't work as well as it does, but that's the level of skill that Hancock brings to this album, and he makes it look easy.

There's lots of points in Herbie Hancock's career that you could point to as the pinnacle. The man played on some of Miles Davis's best albums for christ's sake, but for me this is the absolute best. It's a towering dance album that exists somewhere in the tension between the analogue and digital realms. It's not one to be missed

5/5

This album really brings into conflict all of the things that I like and hate about Pink Floyd. There are some great songs on here, especially Have a Cigar and Wish You Were Here. The songs are musically creative, well-executed, and have interesting lyrics. That's what I like about Pink Floyd.

Then there's the bad Pink Floyd. The one that disappears into interminable jams for half of the goddamn album. Shine on You Crazy Diamond could be a good song if it wasn't so unstructured for most of it. Pink Floyd has made several long songs that I like (like anything off of Animals), but on this album it just feels like filler. This album is great when it's good and deeply frustrating when it's not. I think overall the good outweighs the bad on this one, but it's close, and that's why I don't listen to this one often

4/5

Love this album. Having just listened to Violator by Depeche Mode and thinking about how far synth pop came from 1980-1990, it's very interesting to think about the fact that this album was made only 6 years after Violator. It feels like all the rules changed in the intervening years. The mixture of hip-hop with electronic music creates the real power of this album. The drums bang hard on most of the tracks. The rest of the musical score feels like flavor added to the rhythm section. It's a much different approach to electronic music than was prominent before this time, but it really works and it had a massive impact on the future of electronic music and hip-hop

5/5

Much like when I got Ritual De Lo Habitual on this list, I like this album, though I still don't see myself ever putting on a Janes Addiction album of my own volition. This album certainly feels more revolutionary than the works that came after it by this band. It definitely doesn't sound like an album from 1988, and was clearly highly influential in its time. I had no idea that Jane Says was made this early. I always thought it was mid-90s from the way it sounds

4/5