Reviews by uergsel

I hadn’t heard the album before, and perhaps I was expecting something different. Something a bit louder. Noisier. No, the album isn’t loud. It’s more like quiet, minimalist indie pop. The call it dream pop. But the album is a bit monotonous. No, very monotonous. Individual tracks hardly stand out, and not much sticks in the mind. It’s not a bad album, but it just doesn’t work for me. If I want to listen to that sort of music, I’ll listen to the quiet songs by Velvet Underground. Perhaps I’m simply too old for dream pop.

Is this XTC’s secret best album? Their (almost) swan song, their ending on a high note? Yes, I know, there’s the masterpiece *Skylarking*, there are the fan favourites *English Settlement* and *Nonsuch*, but perhaps XTC were never closer to the Beatles – the brilliant, visionary, revolutionary Beatles – than on this album. *Apple Venus Volume 1* is an incredibly good album, fantastically produced and arranged.

The first two Deep Purple albums featuring the Mark I line-up were far from bad. With their blend of psychedelic, progressive, and hard rock, they showcased the virtuosity of Blackmore and Lord, offering a highly distinctive sound right from the start.
The classic Mark II line-up — Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice — made its debut with "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" and once again expanded the band's sound, partly thanks to the charismatic Ian Gillan on vocals and partly because the band were now confident enough to leave the boundaries of the genre behind.
It is perhaps therefore not so surprising that the Mark II line-up's debut studio album, "Deep Purple in Rock", virtually defined and revolutionised the hard rock genre. From then on, this album (and the subsequent Mark II albums) became synonymous with hard rock.
At the same time, with their solo escapades, Blackmore and Lord took their musical rivalry to absurd heights, adding influences from classical music and progressive rock to ‘pure’ hard rock with their virtuosity. The result remains stunning: "Deep Purple in Rock" is a (pun intended) rock music classic set in rocks err stone.

This is probably the ultimate folk-rock album. Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young)’s debut was already a massive success, but “Déjà Vu” surpasses it once again, at least in terms of sales and impact. With the addition of Neil Young and his rock-oriented guitar, the album became significantly more folkROCK than its predecessor, though the quartet managed to strike a balance between ballads, folk songs, protest songs and rock songs. The characteristic harmonies of the core trio (supplemented here and there by Neil Young’s falsetto) dominate the sound. A true classic of the genre and of rock history in general.

Like most people, I only discovered Nick Drake long after his death. Through a TV advert. (Now that's a bit embarrassing.) After hearing him for the first time, I quickly got hold of Drake’s slim catalogue (back then there were only three albums; today there are a few more rarities compilations). Even more so than my idol Tim Buckley, Nick Drake was completely unknown during his lifetime. Perhaps his quiet, introverted music didn’t fit in with the turbulent times of the late 1960s and early 1970s? I don’t know. From today’s perspective, his music is breathtakingly beautiful, his lyrics are magical poetry: Timeless perfection.

Add to that his clean guitar playing and his melancholic voice. “Five Leaves Left” was his debut and remains perhaps his purest album; the second (“Bryter Layter”) was perhaps a little overloaded in terms of production; the third (“Pink Moon”) remained somehow a bit fragmentary. All three rank among the best singer-songwriter albums of all time. Nick Drake was the John Dowland of the 20th century.

"Psychocandy is the debut album by the Scottish rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain. It combines catchy (SIC!!) pop melodies with overdriven electric guitars and feedback-filled cacophony. The album is regarded as pioneering for the shoegaze genre." So says Wikipedia. I see. I do indeed hear a lot of feedback, along with bored (and boring) vocals and, overall, a band that would love to sound like the Velvet Underground. Except they were around 20 years earlier and had two brilliant songwriters. Music like on this album is the reason why I’m sceptical about ‘indie rock’. Boring noise for a boring generation (mine). Terrible. And I well aware that this is considered a true post rock classic.

If I ever needed a reminder of why I can’t stand country music, here’s the perfect example of everything I find annoying about it. Cheesy music, saccharine lyrics (I love my baby, I miss my baby, my baby has left me), sluggish tempos, sentimentality instead of poetry – or at least virtuosity.

Michael Jackson at the height of his career. This album laid the foundations for the sound that would reach its commercial peak on *Thriller*. Yet unlike *Thriller*, *Off The Wall* is still deeply rooted in the sound of the 1970s. It marked the first time MJ had collaborated with Quincy Jones. The duo would go on to shape the sound of the 1980s and spin the hit machine ever faster. With a disastrous end. But the lightness of this quasi-debut by the new, grown-up Jacko would remain unrivalled.

I’ve known this album for as long as I can remember. My older brother bought it shortly after it was released. Later, it became one of my first CDs, and I’ve followed its release history with interest, including various expansions, remasters and remixes. What concerts!

The ‘core album’ remains the classic, especially in this familiar mix (though the Steven Wilson remix is at least its equal, just not nearly as familiar). The album is regarded as one of the best live albums in rock history. When you listen to it, it immediately becomes clear why: the band is at the peak of its musical prowess, Blackmore and Lord use their rivalry to create incredibly virtuosic solo duels, Ian Gillan achieves things and produces sounds with his voice that hardly any other rock singer could imitate, whilst Glover and Paice provide a confident and powerful rhythmic foundation. The recording quality from Japanese venues in the 1970s was vastly superior to that of European or American stages, and the audience fires up the band with a mixture of Japanese reserve and frenetic ecstasy. The result is pure energy. Hard rock with progressive influences at the very highest level. An eternal classic and perhaps truly the objectively best live album of all time.

They say it’s one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. OK, now it’s official. I just can’t get into hip-hop. A barrage of words over the same old beats, over a words, over beats, over words, over beats. I suppose it’s all very meaningful. But musically, it bores me to death. Not my cup of tea. Definitely not my cup of tea.

Unlike what most music fans probably think, I find *Led Zeppelin II* to be the band’s most boring and weakest album. Too much blues, too much posing, too many swaggering guitar solos and “every inch of my love”. Yes, I know, that’s what many people love about rock ’n’ roll, but it’s also exactly what bores me out of my mind. Fortunately, the band has made far better albums. Highlights: Ramble on, Thank you.

I keep this short. Otis is Soul music. Perfect phrasing, an expressive voice, pure feeling, not a single note out of place, plus a tight band, and every song is sung as if it came straight from the bottom of his soul. Otis even manages to breathe real soul into the Stones' rubbish ‘Satisfaction’. Soulful perfection.

That was truly the most dreadful album I’ve had to listen to so far in this challenge. Marilyn Manson embodies everything I detest about 90s rock music: posing, senseless extreme volume, deliberate provocation and calculated shock tactics, all for the sake of causing a scandal. Musically, there’s nothing special behind all the screaming and those late-adolescent porn lyrics: Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper did the shocking stuff better back in the 1970s, and Gary Numan’s ‘alien image’ was far more convincing and less ridiculous. Music for 90s kids who wanted to shock their parents. Nowadays, nobody talks about Manson anymore. And for good reason.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the English underground music scene was highly politicised within the burgeoning indie scene. Suddenly, there was music from working-class neighbourhoods for working-class people, with a trendy sound. Ska was danceable and lyrically driven (far more so than disco) and reflected the reality of life for young people in the urban jungle. The Police borrowed this ‘white reggae’ (Regatta de Blanc) from bands like The Specials, whilst Madness were set to make this new ska sound even more popular.

When the album came out, I was too young to understand its significance. Back then, I saw The Specials as a slightly less fun version of Madness, though it was actually the other way round: The Specials were Madness’s bigger, more sensible older brother, musically more versatile and lyrically far more astute.

This is certainly a Britpop classic, released at the height of the Britpop wave and the hype surrounding the ‘feud’ between Blur and Oasis. And yes, the album has a few catchy hits (‘Girls & Boys’, ‘Parklife’), but in the long run it’s too cocky, too superficial for my taste. I prefer Blur’s later albums, as they sound a bit more mature; I can’t really get into this one over the course of a whole album (and even less so with Oasis). Perhaps because I’ve never really warmed to the Britpop wave. Good, probably very good, but just average for me.

Oh, I remember it well when this album came out. It made a huge impact. Tracy Chapman became world-famous overnight thanks to the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert. The debut struck a chord with the spirit of the times: racism, social injustice, misogyny, the lack of prospects for the working class – all these were issues that played a major role in the politically charged 1980s. Add to that Tracy Chapman’s clever songwriting, her expressive voice and the – from today’s perspective – timeless production, which make the album a true singer-songwriter classic. Chapman was never able to replicate the commercial success of her debut, nor perhaps the extremely high artistic standard of this album. But she doesn’t need to, as this album already establishes her as one of the most significant female songwriters of the 1980s. It is shocking how relevant the lyrics still are. It’s as if 40 years haven’t passed…

Whenever I listen to Beck – which is rare, I confess – I find myself thinking that I ought to listen to more of his music. Or that it just doesn’t move me. This album is certainly one of his best. Beautifully sad, a love child of the Velvet Underground’s debut and early Radiohead, slightly drunk, introvert and definitely depressive. And yes, I understand why he was (or is?) such an important figure during the decline of rock music, and I do like what I hear. But even this album doesn’t quite resonate with me. Maybe I'm getting too old for this kind of music. Or I just have enough of this music in my collection. Still, I’ll put it on my to-listen-again list.

The album offers pure electric blues performed by a superb band. And yet, at the same time, it contains everything I detest about blues: clichéd lyrics, predictable solos, rigid structures. The “Oohs” and “Yeahs” from the audience complete the stereotype. Yes, the album is certainly a role model for many blues (rock) musicians of later years. But I simply can’t relate to this 12-bar blues structure and the “my baby, she left me” lyrics at all. Because I’ve heard it all a thousand times before and it always comes across the same. If you're a Blues fan, this album is a full ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, but for me, as a Blues skeptic it's barely a ⭐⭐ because I have to give some credit for musical excellence.

‘Songhoy Blues’ – the band name made me fear the worst. Because anyone who knows me knows how little I can be bothered with 95% of the blues and blues-rock noodling out there. But fortunately, the album has very little to do with classic blues or blues-rock; instead, it is an excellent example of African ‘Desert Blues’ (according to Wikipedia), which is musically much more complex. Although, of course, you can’t understand a single word – the lyrics are apparently in Songhay, the language of northern Mali – the music is rhythmically structured and universally accessible. A good example of an album I probably would never have heard if it weren’t for the “1001 albums you must hear before you die” website.

Zeitgeist. It was the era when science fiction was booming. The era when astronauts were working in multinational space stations. The future was just around the corner. I’ve known this album ever since it came out. In German. The English-language version still sounds strange, a bit off. Perhaps also because the strong accent makes it clear that the lyrics were never intended to be in English. But that doesn’t matter. Because with Kraftwerk, it’s the atmosphere, the concept, the idea – and the music, of course – that counts. The album is a masterpiece. Their most commercially successful one. And perhaps not even their very best. But great. Still visionary, almost 50 years after its release. And the future is still around the corner. For better of for worse.