Reviews by tjehl

It’s as if whenever Mark E. Smith opens his mouth he is possessed by post-punk itself - also amphetamine - but mainly post-punk.

The album opens perfectly with the hauntingly great “Frightened” that really helps set the tone for the entire record.

Throughout I was mesmerized by Karl Burns’ erratic drumming. It really encapsulates almost everything I want in a punk drummer. Nothing short of phenomenal.

There are a few misses along the way, but not once did I lose interest.

What a stroke of luck that Mark E. Smith fell ill during the first days of recording. Being limited to only one day of recording must’ve been the main factor in the frantic vibe on this. And for that I’m glad.

If you come here expecting nothing but “Take On Me”, you’re to be disappointed.

Kicking off this debut album with one of the all-time greatest pop songs, a-ha soon takes a sharp turn and turns everything down a notch. It may not be as danceable as you’d think it would, but tracks like “Hunting High And Low” and “Here I Stand and Face the Rain” are nothing but outstanding.

Then there’s of course “The Sun Always Shines On T.V.” opening the B-side - the only song on the album that’s actually able to withhold side by side comparison to the opening track.

This doesn’t quite deliver on it’s initial promise of head bopping, feet tapping 80’s pop. But it’s a great record nonetheless.

Starting the record off with “Strange Brew”, ignoring the sleep inducing “Blue Condition”, and ending the streak of perfect songs on “We’re Going Wrong”. This album is almost pure perfection.

I really enjoy “Take It Back” as well and the runtime is remarkably short. Had it been 2-3 tracks longer the more purebred blues songs would’ve annoyed me a bit.

But this still stands out as one of my favorite 60’s releases. And that’s saying something.

Al Jourgensen, you terrifically weird man.
Everything about this is pure chaos and insanity; from the bonkers album title to the production and general songwriting.
This feels utterly inhuman. And, somehow, we’re all better for it.

I still don’t get how Bill Rieflin went from drumming on this to semi-joining R.E.M. in 2003. What a career move!

There are days where I prefer The Band’s sophomore effort over their debut.

Especially considering songs such as “When You Awake”, “Whispering Pines” and the three closing songs.

Today is one of those days.

What a record - I felt paralyzed during the entire run!

The instrumentation is great, it’s bursting with humor and energy.. And then it’s catchier than the songs most hit-songwriters could even dream of composing.

This is everything I want in a punk record.

São Paulo Confessions is an obvious traveling-at-night-album. In that regard I was quite lucky, as I got to experience this during an hour long train ride at night - there was even a woman that got arrested next to me.
Couldn’t have asked for better circumstances for this album.

Sometimes you got to learn about the true nature of a place through the eyes of foreigners. And Serbian-born Suba sure does his absolute best at providing us with a glimpse into the city that he somehow fell in love with.
It’s excellent in glimpses but I still feel that it lacks in certain parts - maybe just like São Paulo does?

But in conclusion… Where is that Suba biopic?!

A Tribe Called Quest, and Q-Tip in particular, really paved way for a new era of hip hop with The Low End Theory blasting it’s way into the 90’s.

The beats are kept to a jazzy minimal with Q-Tip and Phife Dawg providing almost flawless lyrical performances one after another.

When it comes to hip hop, Quest truly is something else.

Tommy is arguably one of the greatest rock operas to ever be recorded. And it was released only a year and a half after the ridiculous The Who Sell Out. What an evolution!

The Who is easily one of the greatest individuals on each of their instruments with especially Moon shining ever so bright; there’s barely a minute where he doesn’t show off some energetic fill.

The story itself can feel slightly rushed at times (“Pinball Wizard” and the sudden emergence as a cult leader), but aside from that I simply have nothing bad to say about this masterpiece.

Talking Heads, but no one know how to sing or play any instruments.

Megadeth is, if nothing else, just Dave Mustaine showing off his technical prowess.
That’s plenty enough for me.

Everyone’s playing as if their lives depended on it in this record; apparently letting two, though greatly heroin addicted, jazz fusion-musicians into your thrash band wasn’t that bad an idea.

The only songs that disappoints and feels unnecessary is “I Ain’t Superstitious”.
But when your album already contains songs such as “Peace Sells”, “My Last Words” and one of the greatest thrash songs of all time, “Good Mourning / Black Friday”, one miss is completely allowed.

Another 1001 album with barely a Wikipedia page - always exciting!

Oasis if they were from Liverpool.
How come I’ve never even come across the name Shack before? This is great!

The opening trio of songs are extremely well written and for a moment there I almost thought this might be a hidden masterpiece.
There is some heavy R.E.M. vibe going on and I’m all in on Mick Head’s vocals.

Unfortunately my interest starts to fade along the way but after just one listen I was still quite taken aback by this.

Well hidden, Liverpool. Well hidden.

There’s simply no denying the pure genius that is Wayne Coyne. The man might not have the most flashing vocals, technically speaking, but that is exactly what makes Coyne the perfect pop singer. His emotions are always on full display and it’s as if he could break down in front of you every second. It’s quite astonishing.

The Soft Bulletin is easily one of the Flaming Lips’ greatest records, where the band’s understanding of intricate songwriting, instrumental layering and balance between delicate and noise is on full display.

It’s too rare that I remember to let myself get lost in the Flaming Lips’ universe - and listening to this I’m reminded that that’s a damn shame. Please, let Yoshimi show up soon.

For whatever reason, I was not expecting two Buckleys on this list.

I get while some might lose interest along the way of Happy Sad, but my curiosity was already piqued when I saw that this album only contained 6 songs.

I don’t get “Gypsy Woman” (which of course is more than ¼ of the album). I mean, what was he thinking?

But “Buzzin’ Fly”, “ Love from Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)” and “Dream Letter” are all excellent and I truly enjoyed the tone David Friedman’s vibraphone. What a sound!

I could imagine listening to this again later this year. But not often.

This is somehow an improvement of Gold, the first Ryan Adams album to appear on this list.

Note; Heartbreaker is not good. At all.
But there are a few excellent songs such as “Amy”.

Ryan Adams is nonetheless still the epitome of quantity over quality and quite the shitty singer. But I’ll hand this a 2, simply because I wasn’t as angry as I was the last time he was here.

I sure hope this was the last of Ryan Adams, though.

Let’s say you are completely unaware of the existence of the genre. If sat down to listen to Beach House and you were to take a wild guess at the genre, dream pop would probably be your first guess.

Legrand’s vocal is mesmerizing and haunting.
The tracks are extremely well crafted and there’s just something about the sound that takes you on an emotional journey for 50 minutes straight.

I might later regret not giving this a 5/5.
But at the same time, I always feel like the bubble bursts some time after listening to Teen Dream and you realize that there’s just this tiny piece missing. I might never find that piece though.

“I sure love pop, but I just can not stand the sugarcoated productions.”

Jesus Christ and his mother Mary, are you in luck!

The fact that I find this to be the superior of the three albums spanning “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” to “Harvest” just proves Young’s incredible ability for songwriting.

His voice is as beautiful and emotional as ever on this record and Crazy Horse delivers just what’s needed of them. And while having two songs fill up almost half the record might seem daring for the genre, Young knows just what he is doing.

Not the album I would’ve picked for the last of the three Talking Heads albums on this list - but that doesn’t make it any less great.

Byrne is on fire throughout the entirety of More Songs About Buildings And Food (A+ title by the way) and Frantz and Weymouth are equally amazing!

There’s not a bad song on this; but there’s a couple I would have loved for them to dive deeper into. The length is almost perfect - but for once I wouldn’t have minded this being a bit longer!

Gary Numan is one weird musician.
And I’m all here for it.

Released in 1979 this is truly ahead of its time. The lyrics are really fun to dive into, focusing on robotics and “modern” technology with Numan at times sounding almost like an android himself.

Especially the surprisingly heavy “M.E.” (I had no idea this is where Basement Jaxx sampled
from) and the hit single “Cars” are standouts, but The Pleasure Principle is just a parade of well crafted beep boop-sounds and tight drumming.