Reviews by tjehl

Tom Petty’s debut album is quite good, not the best in his catalogue, but it’s never truly great. I mean, up until “American Girl”. What a track!

Riot grrrl infused with sampling and electronic elements while Kathleen Hanna provides her trademark vocal and lyrics. What’s not to enjoy?

Giving the amount of British britpop (and new wave) on this list, was almost physically exhausted by merely seeing this 75 minute record show up.

Of course I know the record and know I shouldn’t have been. The opening track is a myth in and of itself but by “Sonnet”, one of the greatest tracks of its genre, I was once again won over by Urban Hymns.

There’s still no need for it to be this long. It’s quite ridiculous. But it’s really good.

The Last Shadow Puppets’ debut album was the first real meeting with the more sore serious and less playful Alex Turner we would later come to expect.

The opening title track is easily one of the greatest songs of its year and the idea of putting on the symphonic soundtrack to a James Bond movie on every song also works to some extent.

But brief as it might be… I just get bored of it all rather quickly.

I now want a 20 minute version of “Chocolate Salty Balls”.

Singh explores the tabla depths of the electronic music scene with an incredible ease.

Clocking it at just over an hour it’s no surprise that OK might be a bit too long. But the ideas are never not interesting and I would’ve had a difficult time deciding what to get rid of.

The mix of the bass is beautiful and I have no problem overlooking the slightly problematic runtime. The name is underselling this record.

I would never in a million year pick up a record with that album cover. It’s horrible - but what a banger opening!

The second half is better than the first, but all in all it’s just fun and quite catchy. Just good times at your aunt’s dance party.

Beck is crazy talented and on Odelay he uses every trick from the Beck handbook. Twice.

It’s fun - and it’s also somehow too Beck-ish.

I always forget how great this debut is due to it having one of my least favorite cover art works of all time.

Is it the one QotSA album I would have picked for this list? Probably not.

Is it just as good a representation of the band as any of their other albums? Probably.

Easily the most pleasant kill streak of all time.

Deep Purple could have done nothing to make Machine Head better than it is.

It’s an obvious contender for greatest hard rock release of all time.

Backed by an unbelievably tight band, Van the Man does what he does best. For 90 minutes straight. What a treat.

Sure, as with all AC/DC releases it gets a bit repetitive at times, but there’s no doubt that Highway To Hell ranks among the top of their records.

The title track is the obvious highlight of the entire first side. It’s Side B that really gets this album moving and makes sure it sticks the landing every time - hard not to when you’re closing on “Night Prowler”.

Neneh Cherry is cool and all and her debut album is at times quite the fun listen. It’s also exhaustingly dated.

I know it’s from 1989 but even back then nobody could have thought that releasing “The Next Generation” would be a good idea.

Later she even raps:
“Chocolates, bananas, doughnuts and salami
Ain't gonna fit coz you're full of boloni”.

You’re better than that, Neneh.

Slint paved the way for several genres with Spiderland and disbanded before it was even released. Legendary.

Krautrock at its finest. It’s incredibly how easy Faust moves from droning instrumentals to more accessible song structures.

A few times Faust is almost too close to abandon their kosmische rock in favor of komische rock, but luckily they ultimately don’t go that far.

It’s a shame they wasted a cover artwork this great on such a mediocre album.

There are certainly highlights like “Goon Squad” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout)…” (not on the original track list, not an original Costello song), but I still don’t get the extreme hype surrounding Elvis Costello.

It’s almost completely lacking of the Zappa trademark humor, but everything is composed and produced to perfection. There’s a reason Hot Rats is often regarded as a highlight in his vast discography.

So prog that it should come with a warning.

The only thing wrong with Pictures At An Exhibition is that Lake doesn’t sing more than he does.

Speaking of which… I would like to start a petition for Greg Lake to sing on every album on this list from here on out. Cool? Great!

I never really gave Suede an honest chance in the past. It was britpop that my stepmother really liked - it didn’t feel “edgy” enough.
But there’s just no denying the greatness of this record. It’s extremely charming, well written and is almost exclusively made up of highs.