Reviews by syrinx

How can someone with a voice as bad as Lemmy decide to front a band? It worked I guess. I've always kind of been on the fence about Motorhead. I like the music but it always sounds sort of amateurish to me. This being a live album, even more so despite what I suspect are some pretty heavy overdubs. But goddamn the bass tone is fantastic. Super raw, super dirty, super aggressive. I may only be a casual fan of Motorhead but I can see why Lemmy gets the accolades he does. Simple, heavy music is always welcome. I liked this album a lot. This may not be an record that I would sit and focus on but playing in the background while doing something else, it just hits almost all the time. 4/5

The title track from this one is obviously the standout but the whole album is really good. Not a lot to say about it, but it definitely deserves a listen. I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone and would buy it and play it in regular rotation. It's not quite up there for a 5 for me but a solid 4 for sure. 4/5

I liked this more than I thought I would. I mean I know that this could basically be a Bob Marley album, and I would guess that a lot of people would say that. But I think this is even more of a laid back vibe than Bob Marley. I really enjoyed it and though I don't think I would listen to this all the time, I might play it now and again if I came across the record in a shop. 3.75/5

I really hope I'll be done with the hip hop albums soon. I mean I'm not quite halfway through the list but hopefully I got more than half the hip hop albums in my first 500 on the list...
This is not really any exception. It's perhaps not as terrible as some of the others. I just hate all the stereotypical lyrics and themes in all of this music. It's so childish and embarrassing to listen to. Like I'm embarrassed for the people who make this music. I can only take so much misogyny, praise and boasting of violence, and lyrics that basically just relate how dangerous and amazing you think you are. It's just...dumb. I mean I appreciate the social commentary and issues that are sort of spread throughout the lyrics but to me it is sort of self defeating to your cause to mix in legitimate commentary on social and racial issues while also talking about assaulting women, murdering people, and the like. And usually in the same song. It's just bad music and bad writing. And the parts where he tries to 'sing', it's clear that he's really struggling to be vaguely in tune. And largely fails despite the struggle. As for the instrumentation (if you can call it that...), it's simple electronic beats for the most part. Same as all hip hop.
So for a rating, I don't understand the draw to this kind of music at all. I've tried and it always just blows my mind that people enjoy this kind of thing. It is objectively bad music. This record may be a little more tolerable than some but that's kind of like asking what kind of torture you would prefer. 1.5/5

I really respect Bonnie Raitt as a sort of pioneer of women guitar players. Sure she wasn't the first but for a while (maybe still?) she was one of the most prominent women who took over what has always been a male dominated instrument. And I'm not sure why more women haven't been considered superstars of guitar until even just the last few years.
Anyway, that's to say that I appreciate her contribution to music and showing people that women can be guitar players too. But I don't really care for her music. This album suffers from massive 80s overproduction. The list of people involved in writing, performing, recording, and producing this album is a mile long. It's too much and somehow the record still sort of lacks something. Listening now it's super dated and cheesy. I do really like the bass on most of this record though. There's something about that over-produced 80s bass that I actually like a lot. But, really, most of the album is fairly typical and forgettable. 3/5

It's been a while since I could go to the vinyl collection to listen to my album of the day! This is such a great album. I feel like Jack White can really do no wrong - White Stripes, his solo stuff, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs - all fantastic and all so different but unmistakably Jack White. Some better than others of course but it's all consistently solid.
While this may not be the best album of the various projects from Jack White, it's a super solid record that I've listened to a bunch of times. Production is great, songwriting is great, playing is great. I love it. 5/5

I love this kind of stuff but have only gotten into it in the last few years. I feel like I've kind of missed out on a lot of real punk and post punk outside what everyone knows. It has a lot to say, its fun to listen to, it energizes you. What else do you need from music? It's not exactly complicated but that's not the point. I'll definitely be listening to some others of theirs after this one and that seems like the mark of a good album to me.
I get that this is not a style of music meant to be for everyone. And that's totally fine. But why this music is more generally panned than pop country or hip hop I'll never know. 3.75/5 on this one.

Ok so first thing, don't listen to the 2 hour version of this on Spotify. The original album clocks in at like 45 min and that's way better. It seems like it's unfair to just listen to this one once, I didn't appreciate it enough the first time through. It's not great by any means but I judged it too harshly at first. I don't think I would really ever go back to it, maybe if I was in a certain mood. I don't think everyone really needs to hear this, and it doesn't seem like a staple in any sense, but I was glad to have heard it today. Some cool things going on but there is a lot of trash there too. 2.75/5

A new one for me, and that's always exciting.
First impression: I never would have guessed this was from the mid 80s. This is straight out of 1964. I get the Beatles comparison but I don't think I agree. I get more of a Donovan vibe from this. As it goes on it gets maybe a little more 80s but still clings to the 60s sound. It's a really interesting blend. I like that it's kind of silly - like the lyrics are sort of serious but it's done in a playful way. It kind of transitions to a 'what if Huey Lewis was a 60s psychedelic band?'.
I'm not sure I'd really listen to this again or seek out anything else from them but I did really enjoy this play through. I might buy this in the record shop if I came across it there and didn't find anything else that day. 3.5/5 but rounding down because it's just not a 4 for me.

I just had another Kings of Leon album last week, surely they didn't even merit one album on this list, but two? Come on...
This one is more of the same. I think Kings of Leon are kind of like Nickelback - they found one sound that masses of people liked and just stuck with that to keep selling records. I mean Nickelback gets a lot of shit but they sell tons of records and I think that applies here as well. I can't really put my finger on why I don't like this - the music isn't bad, the vocals are but not off-puttingly so. It's just...plain. This album is the equivalent of lightly toasted dry white bread. Some people like that because it doesn't challenge you in any way. I did appreciate some of the bass lines and the drums are really well played. I wouldn't ever really listen to this on purpose though. 2/5

My third from Beck which seems a little excessive. I mean I like Beck but don't feel like he did enough to merit three albums on this list. I rated both the other two from him 4/5 so apparently I do actually like his music when it comes down to it. For this album, I like Go It Alone and E-Pro but the rest seems like kind of just standard Beck Alt. It's not bad but it's not something that I feel needs to be on this list. I do enjoy this album and was glad to have listened to it today but it's not something that I feel I need to return to very often. 3/5

If you like Adele you'll love this album. Every time I hear Adele I'm blown away by the voice on that woman. She can sing. Her music isn't really something that I would listen to all the time but I can absolutely appreciate the ability she has. Part of the problem with this album in particular is that it all feels a little too formulaic. Like she found a sound she wanted and stuck with that throughout the entire record. Most of the songs have similar vocal lines, similar instrumentation, and are produced to all kind of sound the same. I feel like that's intentional. I do think this is probably a better album than 21 on the whole. It's another tough one to rate because I don't think I'd give it a 4 but 3 is way too low. So I guess I'd call it a 3.8 and round up to 4/5.

I guess I enjoyed this album. Van Morrison is not someone I would ever remember to listen to but it was decent enough. Good energy, well played, well recorded. Im not sure if there were overdubs but if there were they did a good job of blending in. One and done for me but I liked it well enough. 3/5

This album sounds like standing in line for space mountain. Like if you mixed that with old school original Metroid. 2/5

Good god. This is not just music that is not my taste. This is simply just bad music. Some of the worst lyrics I’ve ever heard. Literally sounds like it was written by an elementary school girl with a crush on someone. It was absolutely a terrible album and should be taken off this list. 1.5/5

This album was not my thing. A lot of it sounded like a parody of electronic music. I listened to on a long road trip and it somehow made the drive longer. 1.5/5

The first two songs were great. I was hoping this would be better than their radio hits. I was let down. It turned into a vanilla, boring, unimaginative record that I’ve already forgotten. 2.5/5

There's something about this kind of music I just love. Yes it's simple and dumb but that's kind of the charm. You can always tell that these kinds of punk bands were looking for an outlet for their frustrations or whatever they needed to vent and forming a band was, for some reason, the best or easiest thing for them. This album, at a whopping 14 songs and 15 minutes, is such a great example - fast, loud, brash, roughly played. It's the kind of album that a kid would hear and think 'if these guys can put out a record I probably could too....' It's the kind of album that makes kids want to pick up an instrument whether or not they can play it. And that's a fantastic thing in my book. I do wish the songs were longer, it loses some points for that but I think that's also just sort of standard for the genre. Not like you have a verse and chorus in most of this.

One thing I would point out about this is that the drums are really really great. Super tight, always right on. Playing drums well for this kind of music is a lot more difficult than it sounds like it would be, Lucky Lehrer should get more credit for that. Interestingly he was playing jazz before this, it kind of shows. 4/5

I don't think I'd say that Janis Joplin had a good voice. It's decidedly not good. But it's so unique that it's absolutely amazing for the music she made. Her voice is so strong that it doesn't matter if the pitch is off a bit or if it's uneven. She forces you to listen to her and that's why it's great. I can certainly see the influence this album has had on basically every woman-fronted rock band since.
This is a good album. It's not a perfect or even a great album. There are some songs on here that I wouldn't really listen to again on their own, but playing the album as a whole is the way to do it. 3.25/5

As cool as this album is, it's almost unbearably 80s R&B/Blues/Soul. I can't really put my finger on it but there was something about the production of this kind of music in the early to mid 80s that is just unmistakable. Maybe it's the long fade outs on every song? Cheesy synths? The over-tight sound of the drums? All of those things? I don't know. It was a fun record to listen to but any longer and I would have struggled. 2.5/5