Reviews by syrinx

Ugh another one I know is gonna be a slog (and it was). This kind of music is just not for me. I don't feel like stealing hooks from other people's music and adding shitty repetitive electronic beats and random sounds over the top while twisting knobs to phase, fade, and pan the sound should be celebrated. Remember in Friends when Ross played keyboards and had his 'sound'? That's what this is. It was funny when Ross did it, this is not funny. Nor is it good music. 1/5

I was surprised to see this come up today - this is my third from REM and I don't feel like they need three albums on this list. Clearly this album is included because of End of the World and The One I Love. There would be no reason include this record if not for those two songs. I do really like End of the World, that's a fabulous song. But listening to these three albums has made me decide that I don't really like REM. I think a lot of it might be the way that Michael Stipe sings. They just aren't my thing and I hope this is the last one from them in my remaining 550 albums. 2/5

I know a lot of people say this is one of the best Beatles albums, but I disagree. There are some good songs on here, I love Eleanor Rigby obviously, but a lot of the album falls a little flat. I liked what came after this record a lot more. I think this is when they were just starting to get kind of weird, and I like the weird.

It's hard to rate this album - I feel like it doesn't deserve a 4 but 3 is not quite enough. I think I'm calling it a 3.5 but will round down because the Beatles have done a lot better.

I feel like disco kind of gets unfair hate. I mean, ok, it's not something that I'd really ever listen to on purpose. But the musicianship is usually pretty great, bass and guitar in particular. For this album - I could listen to these bass lines all day. Seems like it would be a lot of fun to play. The Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards combo is always a pleasure. I mean the songs are sappy and dumb but the music is good. I like it. Chic, and disco in general, are one of those instances where, when they come up, it's always really fun to listen to and then forget about it for a while until it comes up again. 3.75/5

Yeah I'm still not a fan of Steely Dan. And not of this record either - it's just too plain. There's nothing in this that excites me. I was hoping this would be a little better than the last record of theirs I got but it's pretty much the same. And that's disappointing. 2.5/5.

I'm not an electronic music fan at all and this is exactly the repetitive kind of thing I can't really stand. Apparently one of the best Australian albums ever? That can't be right. I was ready to move on about two songs in but had to tough it out for another 55 minutes. Even for electronic music, this is pretty weak. Cool cover art though. 1.25/5

Definitely the best from U2. Everyone has heard the first three songs a million times. I've always really liked Bullet The Blue Sky, I think that's one of U2's best. After that the album sort of falls off a bit, it's good but doesn't stand out as much as the first 4. Not much else to say about this album though. It's a solid album from a band I don't really care for. 4/5

I mean I like a blues jam as much as the next guy but unless I'm watching it in person or playing in the band, it kind of gets boring after a while. The playing was all great but this kind of music is just repetitive by design. I would never listen to this whole thing again. 2.5/5

Was unfamiliar with this one until today. I love it when that happens.

It's telling to me that the reviews on this make it seem a love it or hate it kind of thing. Were it not for the vocals I think this would be a 5/5 for me. I think the vocals really take away from the rest of what's going on. Some of the vocals aren't too bad - Secret 77 is a good example of how they could have at least improved the vocal lines a bit. But I think I just don't like H.R.'s voice. Sacred Love being recorded over the phone from jail is a cool story but it would have been better had the vocals been recorded in studio. It played like a backing track with shitty vocals layered over, which, I suppose, is exactly what it was.
Aside from the vocals, brilliant playing all around. It's raw, edgy, tight, aggressive, erratic in a good way, well payed. Some of the guitars are very Vernon Reid-esque in playing and tone. And that's a pretty big compliment. I really liked it but I'm going to have to dock a star for the vocals. 4/5

The surprising thing about this album to me is that it came out in 1989. I mean I had heard songs from this album over the years and always thought it was one of the mid 90s grunge/funk/metal mashups that sort of led to the nu-metal genre. Going back now and listening to it knowing when it was released, I should have known better. There are some elements of this that sound exactly like the early Chili Peppers which would have been around the same time I think.
It's a decent album, not one I would go back to. The cover of War Pigs was kind of a nice surprise. My favorite thing about it is the bass - great tone, great playing throughout. Least favorite thing about it - the vocals absolutely suck. 2.5/5 and rounding down

A band that I don't really know at all past recognizing their name. Don't think I can even name one song so I'm calling this one new to me.

First impression - this is like if Creedence tried to play jazz. There are elements to this that I like but it does sound very Creedence-y which is not a good thing for me. I think I like the music but the vocals are where I'm thrown off. Just something about the vocal quality and characteristics and the way the vocal lines are formed puts me off. But there is some great musicianship on this record for sure. Drums in particular are really good. All in all it had some fun parts but wasn't quite my thing 2.5/5

This was a pretty fun record. It's kind of hard to categorize, there are a lot of different things going on here. That's good and bad - good because it definitely keeps you interested and doesn't get boring but bad because it's not exactly a cohesive album. It almost seems like just a collection of random songs rather than a full album. Some of it is painfully 80s which I suppose you can't really fault it for but just something that might not be everyone's cup of tea.
I liked this album well enough but I don't think I would really ever listen to it again. 2.75/5

I've never heard of this one (as far as I know... actually Spotify says I've liked one song by them from a different album) but sometimes those are the best records and the main reason this is so much fun. Let's jump in shall we?

This reminds me of something but I can't really put my finger on it. I feel like it's pretty standard early/mid 90s rock. But like, no more genre-specific than that. I wouldn't call it alt, indie, pop, etc. It's just kind of generic rock music. There are a couple songs I actually did really like - Stars N Stripes was really interesting and maybe more alt/grunge inspired. It was just ok, I wouldn't listen again or seek out anything else they've done based on this one. 2.5/5

You know, I don't think I really like Supertramp. I mean it's kind of weird because I love prog, but Supertramp has never really been prog to me. I don't know. They're fine. But they're too, like, squeaky clean or something. I don't really know how to describe it. And I can't really point out what I don't like about it specifically. Maybe the keys/synths are too much for me. It sounds sort of plastic and artificial. I mean I like some songs here and there, Bloody Well Right from this record obviously. But this album came out the same year as the first Rush album and for this type of music there is a clear winner and it isn't Supertramp. 2.5/5

This is not my favorite Queen album but even a 2nd tier album from Queen is better than most other albums. This album is operatic, complex, played and recorded really well, a little weird at times. It's exactly what you would expect from Queen. 4/5

Jane's Addiction is one of those bands I always kind of forget about but really enjoy when I come across them again. I hadn't heard this album in like 30 years probably.
There's a lot going on in this record. I feel like the musicianship is actually really excellent. I've always thought of Dave Navarro as a really underrated guitar player and his work on this album is just great. I'm not sure I'd really call the album as a whole a great album. There are great parts. Even within songs, great parts in otherwise mediocre songs. All in all this album is just kind of ok. Maybe I don't like Jane's Addiction as much as I remember. I don't think I would buy this album if I saw it in the record shop, although I like a lot of it, I don't think I'd really listen to it much. 3/5

I remember this album being a big deal when it came out. I don't really remember why but it was everywhere. My biggest complaint about it is that the vocal arrangements are all oddly the same. Like you can almost replace the vocal parts for one song with any other on the album. That's obviously not 100% true but still, it was something that I noticed. I can see that her voice would also be a bit of a debate for a lot of people. There are good and bad things about it, but I think I like it for the most part. It's, maybe not unique, but different enough to stand out a bit.
I don't really know her music well, but I wouldn't be surprised if this album was kind of a departure from the one she had done before - like her saying 'look how grown up and sophisticated I am now'. But I don't really think it shows that. It sounds like someone trying to make you believe that. I don't know, that may be way off, like I said I don't know her music at all, that's just how it sounds to me. And the lyrics are just bad. If you listen without paying attention it makes it better.
Overall I think this album is good, but not something that would make me want to explore the rest of her catalogue. And I probably wouldn't play it again but if it came up randomly, I'd probably let it play for at least a while. 2.5/5

This is somehow my third album from My Bloody Valentine from this list, surely this has to be the last one?
I would say I casually like this band, although I do really like the whole Loveless album. They are a band that I don't really think about much but when they come on I usually do like what I hear.
A few songs into this record and I can tell that I will be a little lukewarm on it. It's definitely not as good as Loveless. I kind of feel like they didn't really grow much in the 20+ years between these two albums, just got more into guitar effects. 2.5/5 but I'll round up because why not.

This is a really odd album. I kind of like it. I had never heard of this band at all before, so that's always welcome. I don't really know what to say about this album - it's not really what I would think of as typical shoegaze or indie as it's categorized here. There are elements of that, sure, but there's some avant garde in there, some pop elements. Goddess On A Hiway seemed familiar to me, maybe I've heard a cover of that song? I don't know but I liked that song a lot. Although I liked some of the weirder parts of this album, I think it would have been better to maybe take that stuff out and write 2-3 more actual songs. But I enjoyed it enough regardless. 3/5

I vaguely remember Emmylou Harris from when I was a kid. My dad pretty much only listened to country music and anytime I was in the car that's what was playing. I don't know that I could name any of her songs, but I'm positive I've heard a lot of them.
Country is not my thing at all. I jut don't like it. Although a lot of this could just be called singer-songwriter, it does pretty much all have that unmistakable country twang to it. And I hate that. And it's sort of overly sappy and saccharine in a lot of places. It is produced really well. The acoustic guitars sound fantastic. Voice is good. Bass is decent. Too bad I just don't like this kind of music. 1.5/5