Reviews by tjehl

It’s normally hard to defend a runtime of 80+ minutes. But this is essentially two albums in one.
And even if it wasn’t… It’s Nick Cave, he can do what he wants, shut up.

I first fell in love with the band around Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and the opening record of this double album, Abattoir Blues, hits that exact vibe with a howling and mad Nick Cave accompanied by the bluesy and frenzied Bad Seeds on a never ending stream of perfect songs where “Get Ready For Love”, “Hiding All Away” and “There She Goes, My Beautiful World” stand out in particular.

The second album, The Lyre of Orpheus, is a completely different record altogether. It’s more melodic and mellow with a Nick Cave in front that seems more aware of what The Bad Seeds would eventually become. In that regard, this double album seems to serve as a kind of portal leading from one era and into the next.

I personally prefer the first half, but both albums are undoubtedly 5 star records. So there’s no actual consideration going into the final score.

There’s no denying the force that is B.B. King. The wailing guitar and powerful voice. He is a legend for reason - and the audience at The Regal this night obviously agreed.

Personally, I’m just not feeling the blues that much.

This is basically where it all started. The birthplace of what was to become the great, big battle of the 90’s British music scene.

Blur are at times leaning noticeably closer to a rougher and more heavy guitar driven style on Modern Life Is Rubbish - and I’m all here for it.
While songs like “For Tomorrow” and “Chemical World”, “Oily Water” stand out, there’s not a single bad track on this monster of a record.

Parklife might be the quintessential Blur album.
But this is their best.

Momentarily inspiring tunes drawing from both Middle Eastern and African traditions. There’s some great production choices on this record as well.

In the end, unfortunately, Rising Above Bedlam is just wildly unfocused, unable to convince the listener that there’s any sort of plan - but most of all it’s just rather tedious.

I really like the cover art. Gave me hope that Fire Of Live could easily be one of those post-punk gems I’d missed.

Instead I learned that I really don’t care for punk blues at all. What a turn of events.

Bob “Judas” Dylan puts on the show of a lifetime in this legendary era of his career between his folk origins and going electric.

The same people that are booing at the end of what is essentially one of the greatest live albums of all time are the same people scolding people for listening to modern music today and insisting that everything Dylan touched turned to gold. It’s a funny thing, retrospect.

My new favorite pastime activity is watching old clips of those 1966-era 4chan users losing their minds from Dylan having the audacity of being within 10 feet from anything electrical. It’s just hilarious.

Would you have guessed that these two guys met as students at a private design school? Oh you would, okay.

Lightning Bolt presents some cool and bonkers idea on Wonderful Rainbow, but it’s never enough for it to really work for me. It’s not bad - it’s just not anything extraordinary either.

Okay, hear me out… This might sound conspiratorial but I think I’m onto something.

Following the horrendous mess that was Bummed, I firmly believe that the record company got rid of the entire group and replaced them with actual instrumentalists and competent songwriters. Nothing else makes sense considering the change in quality in the short amount of time.

I deduct one star as I normally wouldn’t condone such KGB methods. This time I will make an exception though.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik was the album that finally saw RHCP finding their way into more melodic based songwriting - no doubt thanks to the invaluable contributions from one Mr. Frusciante.

It took them 70+ minutes to get there which, considering songs like “Apache Rose Peacock” and “The Greeting Song”, is obviously a bit too long. But the end result is still one of the most iconic records of the entire 90’s - even considering the majority of those damn lyrics.

Infuriatingly bad album cover and a solid amount of equally horrible production choices.

There are a few solid songs on the album that keeps it from being unlistenable to anyone but die hard new wave fans.

A stunningly complex, atmospheric, unique and mystic recorded under pretty unusual circumstances.

Robert Wyatt certainly isn’t for everyone but if you catch his vibe and let yourself into his world there a lot to unpack on Rock Bottom.

Side A is great, but it’s on the soundscape-y, artsy and altogether brilliant Side B that you fully get why this album is on the list.

Jack White continues to be one hell of a blues guitarist. There’s no denying that. The songwriting of The White Stripes still doesn’t quite get to me though and there’s just too many moments on White Blood Cells I wouldn’t care about if it weren’t for the name Jack White.

Also the entire situation that is Meg White on drums doesn’t help either. Did you know that she has won more Grammys than Neil Peart, John Bonham, Mike Portnoy, Danny Carey, Dave Lombardo and Buddy Rich combined? What a world, huh?

90’s Green Day was such a power trio. Dookie truly shaped an entire genre almost entirely by itself. A true piece of music history.

The rhythm section is incredibly tight and Armstrong’s vocals are as iconic and youthful as ever. Some of the shorter and faster closing songs don’t quite live up to songs like “Longview” and “Basket Case” but Dookie is just one of those nostalgic albums you simply are unable to not enjoy.

For whatever reason I’ve never really dove into the world of Lana Del Rey until this forced me to do it. Did I have a premonition that it was boring? Was the hype too much? I don’t actually know.

The fact is I finally listened to Chemtrails Over the Country Club now. And if you have an appointment with me in the next week I would like to apologize in advance, as I am busying digging through the rest of her discography.

What an absolutely stunning record. I already had goosebumps from her vocal performance on “White Dress” and it just never let go from there.

Also; Jack Antonoff is a huge part of this so of course it was foolish of me to doubt it all.

I feel very stupid now. But also glad.
Thank you, Lana.

Those are some funky beats. It’s almost too ridiculous at times, but it’s still fresh and fun.

Extra credit to Cypress Hill for producing better metal covers than a lot of metal bands.

The last Slipknot album to include the original lineup is also one of their best.

The songs are more structurally listener friendly and there are even ballads on this thing (“Snuff” in particular) but at the same time Slipknot manages to never lose the anger and dizzyingly massive sound and even delivers some of their heaviest material on “Gematria (The Killing Name”.

Especially the trio from “Sulfur” through “Dead Memories” are as perfect as it gets, but there are still moments on All Hope Is Gone where I can sense the difficulty of being 9 people in a band all contributing to the songwriting to some extent.

There would be less conflict in the world if more people just listened to Jazz Samba.

There’s no excuse for it being that long since I last heard this. Every song is brilliant and you’re left with an almost perfect debut album.

Then to close it off “I Am the Resurrection” comes along and finally makes it just that. A perfect debut album.

You probably need a certain degree of nostalgia to appreciate the first Linkin Park records as much as I do. But even without the nostalgic goggles, Hybrid Theory is still hard not to fall in love with. They don’t make music like this anymore - and that might actually be a good thing. Records like these have a better life trapped in its time vacuum.

Meteora is the 5/5 record for me. The debut is a close second.

This is like a meal made from great produce only to be undercooked and seasoned with air and false hopes.

The songs are like attending a high school dance. Everyone pretends to be rather unique and interesting. But just below the surface everyone is either the same amount of pretentious, boring or insecure - or a combination.

Also, did I mention the horrible lyrics?