Reviews by theblanderman

A fine, short, country album. I did like how low his voice went on Streets of Laredo. 2.6/5 -> 3/5

It's very interesting that jazz with such unique and varied time signatures can sound so paint-by-the-numbers. It may be testament to the high quality production or tight-knit organization by the band (which is not a bad thing), but the feeling that sits with me is an inauthentic undertone that I can't shake. Where other jazz performances are looser, more fluid and occasionally feel alive, this record feels like jazz at it's most restrained and algorithmic (but maybe that's more a product of "cool jazz" as a genre).
Still, the technical skill of the members and overall song quality cannot be discounted, as there is a lot to like here. 4/5

Not really for me. Pretty simple instrumentals and Boy George doesn't have a very commanding presence on this imo. Some ok bops but not a particularly strong album experience. 2/5

On the surface this may seem like a bloated, badly mixed, bland electronic album, that makes poor use of it's samples - but if you look deeper you'll see tha it's had no impact nor relevance since it crawled out from the UK postelectronic womb directly into the grave of obscurity.
On extended listen, I'll hand it to them for versatility. Through the tracklist I hear a number of very UK-centric genres: electronica, trip-hop, dance, drum'n'bass. Unfortunately though I get almost no understanding of the personality or style of the band. The final track They're Hanging Me Tonight (as well as parts of Alaska and Bella) is what pushes this up for me. 2/5

Pretty good reggae album. I prefer UB40 and Marley so for but not bad at all. 3/5

This was honestly pretty impressive. I'm not usually that into blues or afrobeat as I find them a bit repetitious in many instances (I prefer jazz which has more versatility), but this was the a good marriage of both. Really talented musicianship and catch tracks which even had my kids singing in the car ("Maliiiii, mali"). My only gripe is that some songs are a bit too repetitive, but good all around. 4/5

Not my personal pick for Prince's best work, but still some very good tracks here. Side A/B are outstanding, with 1999, LRC and LPWM all being 5s for me. Delirious is a bit too squeaky and bubblegum pop for my taste. The rest of the songs are all solid 3s imo except for International Lover which I'd round up to a 4. Totalling the scores and averaging is a 3.6/5 -> 4/5.

Pretty uninteresting punk/post punk. Androgenous was ok, but most of the other songs didn't do it for me. 2.4/5 -> 2/5

I was fully prepared to come at this album with a 1 or a 2 due to how annoying I find wonderwall and champagne supernova in a vacuum. But I'll be damned if this is one of those cases where everything sounds more palatable in the context of the album. Good instrumental layering, pretty good variety, and while I find the vocals unappealing they weren't a deal breaker. 3.5/5 -> 4/5

Really impressed with this one overall. It's a shame that some of the songs are either covers or not written by her, but she owns every performance. She Bop is a killer track. Some meh bits but overall good throughout. 4/5

I liked this infinitely more than his The Rising crap (finished this album at 9:11, sorry Bruce). But as a collection of songs this really dragged on. Nice guy and good voice so more positive than negative. 3/5

Some bops, some annoying tracks, but all around not bad. 3/5

Honestly, I may have had higher hopes than I should have going into this. I liked the warm, nostalgic throwback to cozy smooth jazz winters in the 90s at my parents' house, but really this album didn't do much more while it was on. Not to mention that Prince cover was absolutely atrocious. Sorry Mariah, I'm going to stick with your xmas work. 2.4/5 -> 2/5

I definitely preferred his work when he was a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The folk elements were good enough, but the psychedelic elements were basic and uninteresting. Overall I found the album forgettable which is its biggest detractor. 2.4/5 -> 2/5

On one hand this album goes hard on some tracks, but on the other it's pretty repetitive with it's themes and beats. The features were not well used (eg it was annoying to see Eminem twice). Overall it was fine. 2.5/5 -> 3/5

This one barely made the cut for me. One of my big pet peeves of the rock bands of the 60s and early 70s was all of the blues covers on the first albums. Jeff back did have a unique voice though, and some of the instrumentals were pretty nice. Ok, overall. 2.5/5 -> 3/5

This was a heavy and fun listen. There could have been a bit more variety in the tracklist, but I thought it was overall interesting. 3.7/5 -> 4/5

Different style and a good closer. Some forgettable songs but not bad. 3/5

Short, simple, fun enough, no complaints.3/5

Very mild, pleasant, diddling music. 3/5