Reviews by therealab

This could be a Stevie Wonder album. Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey probably felt to parents in 1969 like gangsta rap felt to my dad in 1989, but just repeating shocking lyrics is like that song on the Limp Bizkit album where Fred Durst says "fuck" 1,000 times. I like some funk. I don't love this though. Somebody's Watching You sounds like a song from Sesame Street, and not in a good way. A lot of this album has been sampled, especially Sing a Simple Song. And Everyday People is a Toyota commercial. There are not many 13 minute songs that work. Sex Machine is definitely not one of them. It may, however, be the soundtrack to Fritz the Cat.

This album was recorded in 1964, Jerry Lee Lewis had to be well into his downswing by then. Jerry Lee Lewis vs. Elvis, The Stones Vs. The Beatles, Jodeci vs. Boyz II Men...always have there been musical rivals and ever will there be. This is a good live album, he's like the white Little Richard, and not only because he covers Good Golly, Miss Molly. There's nothing but hits on this album, Jerry Lee knew what the people wanted. It helps that covers were so widespread back then. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On is his best song, no matter what Top Gun tries to push. That's maybe the shortest album on the list, all hits, no filler. I wonder if his actual show went longer and it just didn't make the album.

Apparently in the UK the Verve were not a one-hit wonder. This is better than Urban Hymns. They feel like a band very much of the Oasis era. There's something very whiny about this, like they took the angst from grunge but forgot to take the garage band sound that made it feel authentic. This album definitely feels like it is of a time. Maybe I don't like it better than Urban Hymns. This album is depressing enough to put on when you're feeling low, but not good enough to have it scratch that itch. A lot of longer songs too. You aren't the storytellers you think you are, The Verve. Drive You Home just drags on with repeated lyrics. This album isn't bad, but it goes on too long. A boring 6 minute pseudopsychedelic instrumental track to end the album.

This is like the precursor to Foo Fighters. This is the definition of pop rock. This is like the Singles soundtrack except for college graduates based in New York rather than slackers in Seattle. Basically like the music to a very special episode of Friends or Melrose Place where someone loses their job or a boyfriend moves to Europe. All that being said...I don't hate it.

A double album?!? Not a promising start. Back in the U.S.S.R. is a good start though. Every track on this album has its own Wikipedia page, that's insane. Dear Prudence is a good album track. Even as they were falling apart, they had some playful songs. While My Guitar Gently Weeps is my favorite Beatles song, I wonder if that has anything to do with Clapton on lead guitar? Happiness is a Warm Gun is another great song. I love Blackbird. Rocky Raccoon vacillates between goofy and melancholy and it works perfectly. Julia is a beautiful song. The album is good if a little uneven. Going from Julia to Birthday as someone changed the records must have been a shock. Helter Skelter is the most overrated Beatles song of all time which puts it in the running for most overrated songs ever. Revolution 1 is good, Revolution 9 is awful. I wonder how many bands that loved the Beatles turned to these stupid "found sound" songs/albums because of this song. Good Night is the totally incongruous end to a pretty incongruous album.

I don't know, maybe it's his voice, but there's an edge to Dylan that just isn't there in other folk rock. He did it first and he did it best. Lo and Behold has a Tracy Chapman vibe, I bet she loves this album. Steamroller Blues too. He has the least soulful voice. This album is the moment that "folk rock" became "soft rock". Steamroller Blues is like someone pretending to have the blues, I'd guess it made Muddy Waters vomit. Here's the Pete Seeger moment where he covers a real folk song. Oh, Susannah sucks. Fire and Rain is the hit, it is also the best song on the album. Sweet dreams and flying machines flying safely through the air. This is too soft. This dude is not a bluesman...so corny. I hate that The Band is what follows this on Spotify.

Duran Duran straight ripped these guys off. As far as New Wave music goes, I guess these guys are better than most? Seriously, if you told me this was a Duran Duran album, with Bondesque song included (In Vogue), I would have no questions. Holy shit, Giorgio Moroder produced a song on the album! Nailed it!

Straight Outta Compton is another strong contender for best first track off a debut album. This was Gangsta Rap's big break. Fuck Tha Police is another great song. Ice Cube is by far the best MC in NWA. Dre's style is so different in each phase of his career. If It Ain't Ruff has an awesome beat. Express Yourself is Dre's chance to rap. This is like the Ice Ice Baby sample where it's just lifted almost whole cloth from the original. I love that rappers in the 80s. even gangsta rappers were claiming they didn't smoke weed. Compton's N The House - Remix is hilarious in it's use of the words "wacky wack" over and over to dis other rappers being "wacky wack". I Ain't Tha 1 is the NWA version of the Beastie Boys Girls. The numbers in song titles dates this album. Something 2 Dance 2 is a throwback to Dre's Worldclass Wrecking Crew days.

The greatest assemblage of Armenians from Los Angeles this side of the Kardashians. I'm glad this isn't the album with Chop Suey! That song sucks. The goofy voice on Suggestions is not a pleasant listening experience. I like all the standard length heavy metal songs though. From song to song I can't tell if I like the lead singer more than most heavy metal vocalists or worse. I'm getting some nu metal vibes on Soil...not a good turn. It all sounds like Nu Metal now...maybe I need to relisten to this with a more critical ear. Now a song about Armenian Genocide...I knew these guys were way into making that more widely known thing. I guess calling Turks heathens is ok when they were genociding your people. And now some Cookie Monster voice. Some carnival-type music added into Peephole...these guys were trolling all of us before that was a thing. Another genorcide song.

Ella Fitzgerald is the superior vocalist. I'm actually finding her voice kind of grating. The songwriting so far is not nearly as corny as the Gershwins. I really don't understand her popularity.

All these goddamn techno albums are so long. 75 minutes of this is too much. Daftendirekt makes me wish this album was just Around the World for 75 minutes. At least it's made up of 16 relatively normal songs instead of 12 really long songs. Da Funk rings a bell. So many songs. As far as electronic music goes, it's fine, maybe even better than most. These guys are like Dua Lipa's producer. Mark Ronson's favorite group. Around the World...this song was literally everywhere in 1998. In a world before YouTube and where MTV still played music videos, it was there too. Seven minutes is too long for three words to be repeated incessantly. They could use this as torture. How on earth did this get so popular? I'm not normally a fan of just scratches and distortion...but this morning there is something about Rollin' & Scratchin' that is getting to me. Not the title with the truncated g's. LCD Soundsystem heard Teachers and Losing My Edge was conceptualized. Rock'n Roll is one of the worst songs I've ever heard. This album is the house playlist for one of those early 2000s local pizza places that only has really attractive employees...everyone looks like a model and their pizzas all mimic something better only on top of a pizza. I have been listening to techno for too long. This album needed three fewer songs.

Jump is overrated and Panama is probably more associated with strip club floor routines than anything else. These dudes are horny. Drop Dead Legs is a good album track. Hot for Teacher is the best song on the album, there's a ZZ Top vibe to it. I'll Wait is good even though I don't usually like the futuristic laser keyboards.

I'm not loving it so far, and the comparisons they use in his Spotify writeup are insane, but it's not terrible. He's more like low-rent Elliott Smith than anything else. Or like a precursor to The Shins. Stone on the Water is the best song on the album so far. Critics complained about the Rolling Stone 500 being too "American" but this list is way too British. As indie folk, this is not as good as Iron & Wine. Parts of Bewilderbeast sound vaguely like The Doors Land Ho! Blistered Heart is one of the better songs. The music is better than his singing. Epitaph is a good song to end on.

It's too bad Rod Stewart turned to easy living, he has a good voice for blues rock. Ol' Man River is an interesting choice. Greensleeves? Jeff Beck has unique musical tastes. Beck's Bolero is another interesting choice, but I like it.

These guys were "the biggest band in the world" for a few years after this album came out. And, much like U2 before them, people immediately began dumping on them and anyone who liked them. This is timely because they're in the news again because their concert kiss cam caught a CEO and his VP of HR having an affair. They are like post-Radiohead U2. This is a great album, I don't know why people hate on them...maybe they just got too big. Three solid songs to open the album and I haven't even gotten to my favorite Coldplay song yet. The Scientist is a beautiful song. Clocks was a hit but I never really liked it but listening now, it is much better than I remember. Even the worst songs on this album aren't unlikeable. This album is consistently good with one standout hit. That's pretty good. The back half of the album is decidedly worse than the first half. The title track is a good one though. This is a really good album.

I like Talking Heads more than I thought I would. They're right on the edge of "too weird". Of the two weird goofball bands from this era, I like them better than Devo. I like Fear of Music better so far. David Byrne's delivery is so distinctive that it sometimes makes all the songs feel like one big piece rather than separate songs. Stay Hungry is not a good song. The basslines sound like the 80s, Blondie and the Pretenders. The cover of Al Green's Take Me to the River isn't as good as the original, but I love a totally unique cover over even a really well done approximation of the original. And they lose me with the snobby as fuck lyrics to The Big Country.

The first score on the list. It feels like Sofia Coppola would have gotten Elliott Smith to do the first song if she could have. It seems a little odd and against the spirit of the project to include scores or soundtracks, same with compilations or greatest hits. As a score, I really like it. As a popular music album, I like it less. This works because I've seen the film, I'm not sure this stands by itself. Dead Bodies is the best track on the album.

Three The Fall albums out of 1,001. I really hate music critics. This guy heard the Clash and thought he could do exactly the same thing. No Xmas for John Quays is the worst song so far. Maybe the less said about this the better.

She has a beautiful, soulful voice. She's a wonderful interpreter of songs, like Frank Sinatra. Mockingbird is a terrible song. Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa almost tricked me into believing it was Down in the Boondocks. Anyone Who Had a Heart is a good album track...it reminds me of something I can't put my finger on. Will You Love Me Tomorrow is a great song. I'm sure she gets judged nowadays as a cultural appropriator because of all the R&B songs she covered. Every female blue-eyed soul act owes this woman their career, Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone, all of them.

This is not off to a good start. Depressing Swedish electronica is not something I would ever listen too. This is like if a Swedish girl decide Bjork wasn't weird enough. I bet David Bowie was listening to this when he wrote the songs for Blackstar. Triangle Walks has the music from every 80s/early 90s movie that took place in the rainforest. I understand Swedes have an odd fixation with death but this is super depressing. This is awful. Coconut is the best song on the album even if it is almost 7 minutes long. I liked her better in The Knife.