Reviews by tjehl

If you decide to make fun of Coldplay, please make sure it’s of the band post-Viva La Vida.

Parachutes is an almost unbelievable debut album with a sound so developed most groups never achieve anything like it. It helped define the 00’s as a whole, there’s no way around it.

The musical equivalent of drinking wine and having a mistress. This album is unequivocally French.

Also; did Serge Gainsbourg somehow invent trip hop in 1971?

Melodic, catchy, well (and at times sloppy) played with chorus hooks to die for. That’s punk to me!

I was only aware of Richard Hawley by name so this really hit me out of nowhere. Beautifully composed and atmospheric - Hawley’s vocals and his melodies really go together like bread and butter.

Minus one star for not bothering shooting the album cover photo at the actual Coles Corner. Lazy much?

There are signs of the madness that was to come on “Electricity”, but it’s still hard to fathom that there’s only two years between this and the insanity that is Trout Mask Replica.

Also it seems that there is no proper way of getting into Captain Beefheart.

Start at Safe As Milk? Trout Mask Replica will eat you alive.

Start with Trout Mask Replica? Everything else will seem sane and borderline boring in comparison.

The jazz equivalent of just doing one line of coke that late night in town. It might seem innocent at first until you wake up 10 years later going through every record store looking for that one John McLaughlin bootleg where, rumor has it, he unintentionally skips a beat.

Jazz. Just do it kids.

Nick Cave has two modes: wildly erratic or deeply emotional. With the Birthday Party he does a bit of both … But mainly he screams and roars as if possessed. What a treat!

Also; find me a better song title than “Big Jesus Trash Can”. I dare you.

Little Stevie Wonder really grew up on this one.
Mature, funky, soulful and a small wonder both instrumentally (of course, performed almost exclusively by Stevie himself) and compositional.

Sonic Youth just delivers every time.

Though the album peaks early on with the perfect “Theresa’s Sound-World”, where Moore delivers an incredible performance, the entirety of Dirty (not including “Nic Fit”) is just brilliant.

There’s no denying what an incredible drummer Steve Shelley is, but on this album he shows up to become one of the greatest alive. His playing is so varied, expressive and explosive that I find myself in awe every time he hits just anything.

When I read that Gram Parsons’ considered his own music Cosmic American Music I was intrigued.

When I found out that it just covers country rock I was a bit let down.

But then I was pulled back in when I realised that almost everything is pretty solid.

A noteworthy mention of Parsons’ jealous widow who removed Emmylou Harris’ picture and name from the cover. Cause this is indeed a double album and not just a Gram Parsons record.

Every member plays a shit ton of instruments, they all sing lead and you never know exactly what to expect around any corner when listening to a 10cc record. They are just delightfully weird and intriguing. Especially “Old Wild Men” and “Somewhere In Hollywood” are gorgeous.

And let’s not forgot that one part of the quartet is called Lol Creme. How great is that!?

On Phaedra Tangerine Dream call on all the wonders of the cosmos and the myths of old to create a truly breathtaking piece of electronic music history.

My first meeting with Patti Smith when I was quite young was on R.E.M.‘s “E-Bow the Letter” and I instantly fell head over heels for her vocals.

Horses contains some of her greatest songs ever including “Birdland” and “Free Money”.

Patti Smith is a legend in every right and Horses is the quintessential sound of New York City.

Part dystopian noir, part psychedelic acid trip, part britpop.

Vanishing Points is definitely more interesting than Screamadelica, but having listened to both of those albums now I’m convinced Primal Scream had absolutely no clue what band they wanted to be.

It’s all over the place.

This is undeniably cool. Everything is unpolished in a gorgeous fashion. And while there are a few lows, “Tick” and “Black Tongue” especially, the highs in “Pin”, “Maps” and “Y Control” are incredibly high.

The greatest homage to roads since John Denver.

In today’s edition of how to make a man cry in 30 minutes or less…

What? An ABBA album filled with meticulously crafted pop songs? *acts surprised*

What a voice, what a band, what a sound, what a crowd!

A divorce album, dedicated to and profiting his ex-wife with artwork depicting Gaye as a Roman sculpture. The energy on this is wild!