Reviews by therealab

I would have put Anthrax after Metallica and Megadeth in the metal pecking order (ahead of Slayer though) before hearing this album. I'm rethinking that ranking though. Rage Against the Machine wouldn't exist without Anthrax. Sometimes you can hear the blending of 70s metal and punk that combined to make thrash metal so clearly it's like finding the Missing Link bones.

I did not like London Calling as much as I thought I would. I'm bored with rich Communists who complain about America. 14 songs in 35 minutes, that's some efficient punk. Police & Thieves is the best song on the album.

I guess this is ok? It's not terrible, like a modern Kate Bush? She's like the solo lady Velvet Underground? Loops in the Secret Society is a good song. I'm having a hard time telling exactly how I feel about this album. I think I kind of like it.

A lot of pan flute for a blues record. Considering I like Santana and the Blues generally, the title track is awful. It's like Yanni and Muddy Waters had a Latino baby. The songs with Bonnie Raitt and George Thorogood are probably my favorite songs. This is the album that gave Santana the idea for Supernatural...aging musician in a well-developed genre collaborates with younger musicians on most of the album. I also really like My Dream. The Muddy Waters album I had already was much better.

Clash-style punk is the best kind of punk. When I saw this pop up, I was not looking forward to it...but I'm liking it so far. Warrior in Woolworths is catchy. I like the lead singer.

I could do without another one of these obscure post-punk bands. Maybe I should rephrase after getting into the album a little deeper...I could do without some of those other post-punk bands...this is better than a lot of them.

I've always liked Lenny Kravitz's music but haven't ever really listened beyond the radio hits. I thought I would like this album more than I am. That's not to say it's bad, I just thought going into it, it would be better. Fear is the best song on the album. Does Anybody Out There Even Care is another good song...I'm liking the second half of the album more than the first. The lyrics to Mr. Cab Driver leave a lot to be desired...this is the nonsensical rantings of an angry 16 year old.

I am liking the lead track...it sounds ahead of its time, it would have been more at home next to releases from the Pixies and Sonic Youth. A little more standard punk on Field Day for the Sundays. Three Girl Rhumba has the beat to something I can't place. I was not expecting to like this as much as I am. Lowdown might be my walkup music. 21 songs for 36 minutes might be a little short even for me. I like the garage rock better than the punk. The first half of the album is better than the second...it leans more into straight punk as the album goes on.

Random yelling right off the bat does not give me a good feeling about this album. This is too much like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Scuzz rock is not for me I think. This genre of music could more aptly be described as garage rockabilly. It's like if Brian Setzer went to prison. Dynamite Lover is good, like if Chris Isaak decide to rock. R.L. Got Soul is the best track on the album.

The combination or electronica and found sound is like a witch marrying a demon and them having a devil as a baby. Yes, blood, I get it. I bet these dudes love Lightning Bolt. This is not worse than the sum of it's parts because noise rock is straight up unlistenable but it is not good. Some birds chirping found sound to close the whole thing out.

It's like every generation has to discover random guitar distortion for itself. This is like pre-Oasis British pop-rock. This sounds like every other 90s pop alternative band. The Gin Blossoms, Third Eye Blind, I'm sure there are 100 others I'm forgetting. This is like rock adjacent. The song they do with De La Soul on the Judgement Night soundtrack is better than any of these songs. Nothing on this album is bad, it's just very forgettable. This just gets lost in the sea of similar bands that existed immediately after them. Maybe that's the genius, they presaged those bands by a few years. Is This Music? has no lyrics but is my favorite song on the album. This album is very listenable if not really a standout.

The fact that it is not available to stream on Spotify is not a good sign to start off. The fact that is just a bunch of Whoville style instrument noises is confirmation that this is going to be a slog. Well, the songs suck, but at least they are short. This is like the jazz equivalent of hardcore punk/metal. And I don't like those genres any better than this. Good Old Days started with some promise and now has devolved into a cacophony of annoying sounds. Listening to this on YouTube makes figuring out which "song" I'm listening to impossible. The end of this cannot come soon enough. Feet Music is the first song that feels like it isn't trying to make me think it sucks. I don't know if I need to listen to Ornette Coleman to get a taste of his music or if it would just be subjecting myself to more of this torture.

U2's big return to form. No lie, Beautiful Day is a good song. Then they had to put their music on everyone's Apple devices and make it impossible to get it off...what a crazy decision by both U2 and Apple. Nothing makes you want to listen to some aging rockers more than a technology company abusing it's power to control your personal devices. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of is another good one...strong start. Elevation as the third song, a song I have always argued is often the best on more albums than any other track, is good too. That's a strong start. They're losing me with Walk On and Kite a little bit. They're ok, but they should have spaced those first three tracks across the album more evenly. In A Little While is another highlight. These guys just got sideways with everyone by getting high on their own farts I guess. It feels like they have an accessible sound that isn't so watered down that it becomes unrecognizable in the sea of rock music...maybe it didn't evolve enough as time wore on. Maybe time just comes for us all and you might as well do what works for as long as possible and never worry about everyone else's reaction. The guitar in Grace reminds me of The Velvet Underground's Pale Blue Eyes, one of my favorite songs.

Thank god this is only 40 minutes long. Electronic music must be far more popular than I realized because there are a lot of electronic albums on this list. Pacific 202 is the biggest song on the album, I guess people love saxophone music over electronic beats, it's like someone took the seduction scene in Bull Durham and put techno behind it. 808080808 is the soundtrack to a movie from the early 90s about computer crime from a time when dial up was still how people accessed the internet and cyber crime was still like a science fiction premise. For what it's worst (not much) Sunrise is the best song on the album.

The singing voice of every dude in an 80s UK band sounds the same...the guy from Antony and the Johnsons has a very similar voice now too...everything's new that was once old. I'm not sure what the Blade Runneresque instrument on Happiness is Easy is, but it is awful. Speaking of Antony and the Johnsons, I bet this is their favorite album. This is just another 80s pop band from the UK...why are there so many of these albums on the list? I'm counting the minutes until this is over, Chameleon Day is a terrible song.

I've tried to listen to this album three times and I had a whole review written but I closed my browser before I could finish the last few songs...I'm not starting over again. I feel kind of mixed about this album but I think it either gets better as it goes on or the style grows on you. Don't Love You is a highlight. Upon review, I liked it.

New wave music....why is there so much of it! This is like the marriage of mid-80s Cure and INXS. Which I guess means better than 90% of New Wave music? They definitely took a slightly darker direction on this album. This Time of Night could be a Cure song, in fact for all I know it is a Cure cover. Elegia sounds like they saw Nightmare on Elm Street and thought that would make a kick-ass song. Of course it's in Stranger Things, or as I like to call it, Generation X nostalgia porn. This sounds like midi files. Face Up is the worst song on the album to close things out.

Finally, some folk rock that is not Bob Dylan or Beck that I like. These guys feel like an amalgamation of a lot of popular 60s music trends, Beatles-style pop rock, folk rock and a little psychedelic thrown in for good measure. Wes Anderson loves this band. These are all relatively short songs. The more folksy the songs, the worse they are. And the more psychedelic they are, even worse. It's an uneven effort.

Another Girl, Another Planet is their big hit...deservedly so. This another one of those bands that sounds like they listened to a lot of other, better bands, and made something in between all of them and not nearly as good. Which bands? The Velvet Underground, the Sex Pistols, The Talking Heads, David Bowie, the Clash...more I'm sure I can't think of but might come to me as the album goes on. Creature of Doom is not good.

I'm liking this better than Number of the Beast. Phantom of the Opera is the best song so far. I'm not normally a huge metal fan...but I'm liking this a lot. Transylvania is a great instrumental track. I bet these dudes love KISS. Charlotte the Harlot is their version of a love song I guess?