Reviews by tipula

Oh right, Joan Armatrading! She has a really distinctive way of singing - I remember her on the radio, singing "down to the ground, down to the ground." And her guitar work also has some interesting bits, for example the opening part of "Like Fire."

Backing music is well done too, with musicians like Fairport's Dave Mattacks on drums. But I was never really attracted to this record enough to buy a copy and honestly still probably won't look into it again. I'm more interested in music than vocals these days, and this is a little too straightforward for my current mood. But for what it is, it's very good.

Very high 3, maybe 3.8?

Woo hoo, I've listened to a Britney Spears record.

The fast songs are catchy, but they're also kind of annoying. And the slow songs are boring and REALLY annoying. I've read that this is a revolutionary album for teen pop, but it doesn't sound very different from a lot of other things to me. But maybe that those other things came out after this? Why am I acting like I know what I'm talking about, I don't know anything about "teen pop" since I didn't even listen to it when I was a teen.

I think this is a good record, for the genre at least, right? But unfortunately, it's a genre I really can't stand.

2 stars.

Here is where I confess that while I love immersive, percussive music with gloomy vocals, I never bought either Joy Division record back in the day. Which from my current perspective makes no sense; I suppose if I ever go back in a time machine, I will give 1980-me marching orders.

This is especially dark considering Ian Curtis' sad demise shortly before its release. And of course as always the one song you'd want to hear most from this period is "Love Will Tear Us Apart," but it was a post-album single. But still, as I said above: music combined with vocals like this always works for me, so I really enjoyed this, especially the opening track "Atrocity Exhibition."

I pondered 4 stars since this was my first listen, and I need to get into it more. However, I'm sure I'll want to listen to it again, so I'm giving it 5 stars, if nothing else than to encourage 1980-me to run out and buy a copy.

Ah yes, Physical Graffiti. Back when this came out my favorite bands were Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and this was one of my favorite Led Zeppelin records.

It was fun listening to this again after who knows how long. "Kashmir" and "In the Light" were my favorite songs off this album then, and hey I still like them now. I can see how those tracks and some of the other stuff on here prepared me for the 20-minute-long prog extravaganzas that I was going to discover a year or so later, and some of the newer stuff I like now. So except for Robert Plant's voice starting to grate after a bit, I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Probably won't listen to it again anytime soon, but: 4

Another record that I put on the instant it appeared in my queue despite it being 7:30 in the morning, because I love it so much.

The lyrics, the weird humor, the occasional lapse into Spanish, the inchoate screaming, the buzzy noisy layers on everything, the odd comments, the guitar. Too many good songs to list my favorite; if pressed I might say "Vamos," but that's probably just because that's what's playing as I write this.

5 stars

Ah yes, this record. There's something about Joni Mitchell records that don't quite sit with me anymore - I think it's her swoopy her voice and that mellow 70s California jazz-rock vibe that makes me think these songs are best left in the past. But let's listen to it (again).

These songs do have excellent lyrics, though, and she has a way of singing that accentuates the important parts. I've always liked "Free Man in Paris" - it describes so well that desire to quit your stupid job and go back someplace where you'd traveled in the past and weren't held to any expectations. And the goofy "Twisted" at the end is something we all thought was hilarious in 1974, and I guess it retains some hilarity now.

3 stars

Another sing-along record! So many songs I love on here: "North American Scum," "Someone Great," "All My Friends," "New York I Love You [etc.]"; I love this record.

There are so many memorable lyrics on this album that I feel like listing them all would make this review go to 3 pages. "Someone Great" and "All My Friends" always make me cry because they feel so true.

There are a couple songs that aren't all that compelling lyrically (e.g., Us v. Them), but they make up for it with something interesting in the drums or other instrumentation. (OK, "Watch the Tapes" is a bit of a dud that I often skip, but I think the rest of it makes up for it.)

I still listen to this record a lot, and always enjoy it: 5 stars

I love this record; had great fun on a long drive listening to it today. And singing along, of course, even though I still have no idea what he's saying 80% of the time. It's a band that's stuck with me - the jangly guitar, the fun stuff happening in the rhythm section, Stipe's incomprehensible vocals, all the songs that I've continue to love since first hearing it 40 or so years ago.

I love the cover, too - it feels so much like home, vines covering everything in sight. It's not pretty, but you'll know what I mean if you've spent any time in the mid-Atlantic or southeast US.

This is an important record in terms of influence, too. We've got a jangle pop comp CD around here somewhere and a full two-thirds of the songs sound like the Murmur track "Talk About the Passion." I guess if you don't like jangle pop then REM has a lot to answer for, but that's one kind of pop that I like.

5 stars, of course

Some of these song titles ("Fall in a River," "Cause a Rockslide," etc) sound like a series of events in a disastrous camping trip. Was this the source of the melancholy that pervades this record? It's ok sweetie, come inside and we'll get you some dry clothes and a cup of tea.

Seriously though, I can't say that this is terrible - there are things in many of these songs that I like, interesting bits of guitar and strings here and there. But I couldn't get interested in the lyrics, so I got tired of it all around song #8 and there were still 10 songs to go. I think this is another one of those albums best heard one song at a time in a radio set. A whole album of it is just too monotonous.

3 stars

I know about Emmylou Harris, of course; she's from here in the DC suburbs. Part of this recording was done right here in my neighborhood, in fact. But I never went to the effort of checking her out when she was making records in the 70s because she was country and I was prog, and that was that.

The faster songs on here have some really good toe-tapping guitar, fiddle, and mandolin and such, and her voice of course is great. I struggled to get through the slower material; I do like "Boulder to Birmingham," though, since I'm a sucker for a sad travel song, and of course Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors" has such touching lyrics.

I think I'm a 3 on this one. She's still pretty country, and I'm still pretty prog, so while I think this is very good for what it is, it's still a little too calm and sweet for my liking.

I've heard that Little Simz stood out from the general hip-hop genre, but I'd never listened to her before because i really don't ever listen to this kind of music. But hey this is pretty great, especially when I was able to step back a bit and concentrate on the music. This has an interesting Caribbean feeling to it sometimes that's different from the usual folks I hear from this country. And yes she certainly can rap.

Dunno if I'm going to download a copy, but I'll give it a 4 because I think it's pretty great.

It's not often that my reaction to seeing what my album is first thing in the morning is "Yes! Let's listen to this RIGHT NOW!", but here we are, listening to Sly and the Family Stone and turning it up just a little too loud for early Monday morning.

Last year when Sly Stone died, I heard a lot of these songs on the radio again. They all felt so motivating and forceful that while I remember most of them from when they first came out when I was a kid, they're making a huge impression on me now because of how contemporary they feel.

And the music is wonderful too, of course. So many great singles on this record, like "Stand," "I Want to Take You Higher," and "Everyday People." And on top of all that, there's an absolutely brutal 13-minute funk instrumental.

Just a fantastic record. 5 stars.

More country! As always with stuff like this I like lively songs more than slow, sad ones, and songs with interesting stories over love songs. So I didn't love the whole thing, but a couple of them got me thinking.

"Banks of the Pontchartrain" was one that stood out; I'm a sucker for a train-riding travel song. Her cousin Libby's going to be standing by the tracks when she arrives, so obviously we're in the country now, since doing that at Penn Station would be a little more complicated.

"Love at the Five and Dime" reminds me of when I worked at a Woolworth's in the 70s and the attached luncheonette was going to be shut down by the health department, so everyone on the restaurant staff had to work overtime all night long cleaning it up. My heart goes out to those workers now, though at the time I just thanked the fates that I was in the music department and didn't have to deal with that.

And "Looking for the Time (Workin' Girl) had a good attitude - yeah, you leave that working girl alone if you're just going to waste her time, ok?

I can see why this is good and has been included in the book, though for me a whole record of it took a bit of patience. I wish there were a couple instrumental songs on here, since it sounded like the backing musicians were really good (Béla Fleck is on banjo!). But it's a vocal album, so I shouldn't complain that there are too many vocals.

3 stars

I've always kinda liked the single from this "Come Out and Play" - the cute little guitar lick, the way the other guy comes in with "gotta keep 'em separated." It was fun to hear on popular radio at the time, felt a little transgressive.

Unfortunately, the rest of the record doesn't do it at all for me. It all seemed kind of insincere, like they wanted to be badass but weren't able to pull it off. I think my problem with pop punk is that I'm not 14 years old.

3 stars though, because I do like that one song. Too bad the rest of it is so vacuous.

I wanted to take the time to listen to these stories carefully, so I marked this "did not listen" last night and picked it back up again today.

And this is a great record. It's the emotional intensity of how much the inmates loved this concert, the sincerity and simplicity of the music itself, and how kind Johnny Cash sounds when addressing the audience. Absolutely marvelous.

5 stars

I've never been into the White Stripes (either pro or con), so I have no way of comparing his solo material to that, and am going into this completely cold.

So here's some blues rock - not super original, but well done for what it is. I hear this album as an updated take on the kinds of American rock music you'd hear in the 70s. Guitars sound good, some interesting vocals and keyboards, good production. But while I wouldn't turn any of this off if it was on the radio, I'm not clamoring to get a copy of it either.

I do like the Black Vulture that Jack's got on his shoulder there. Is that his pet?

3 stars... it could aim closer to 4 on a second listen, but I'm sticking with 3 for now.

Pleasant enough but mostly unoriginal alterna-stuff. At least it's in a genre that I usually like? The songs that verge on trip-hoppy have potential, at least, but still, nothing really grabbed me.

I thought this was going to be a fun listen because they had a catchy emo-Portishead kinda song on the radio at the time ("#1 Crush"). But nope, not on this record: it was the B-side of one of these singles.

So since the only Garbage song from that year that keeps my attention isn't on this record: 3 stars

"Killing in the Name of" is beloved for a reason - the way it builds slowly and then explodes? Fantastic song. The rest of these songs mostly all sound and feel like that, but that's ok with me.

Album is recommended for those days when you've made the mistake of reading the news, or when those helicopters that are always circling over your city start to get on your fucking nerves.

5 stars

I remember "That Lady" from the radio back in the day, and that was fun (though I kept thinking that the guy should just accept that the lady doesn't want to date him, and move on!)

Lots of this is good; as always I really like the funk part of these songs, and of course these guys are great musicians. But I don't really enjoy slow soul songs, or covers of songs when I'm not a fan of the originals (e.g., Summer Breeze). And that makes up a lot of this album.

So this is ok, but not something I'd return to.

3 stars

I've somehow always ignored Big Star, despite it always being listed in those kinds of lists that bands get listed in like that. I did have an Alex Chilton record on cassette at one point, though. But anyway, here goes.

So this is all right. It's power pop, I guess, which was never my favorite genre. This record definitely has its good points; some of the tracks are blurry and interesting. But the cover of "Femme Fatale" made me long for the VU to be playing it instead, and some of the other tracks were so sleepy that I had to skip to the next one after the first 30 seconds or so.

I guess I'm not sophisticated enough to appreciate whatever it is about Big Star that the record reviewer lists think is important about this record, so I will continue ignoring them. 3 stars