Reviews by uhhhellurr

my first experience with my bloody valentine and i can say i am definitely intruigued. there's a bit of noise on this one but the music was interesting and i enjoyed the songwriting here. i felt like i liked the more rock-ier songs here rather than the more noisy ballads. but definitely an album i could see myself listening to again.

i still consider myself a newbie when it comes to metal, classic or otherwise, but i enjoyed this one. it's not my favorite metal album i've ever listened to in my limited time exploring the genre, but it's solid enough. for my taste, it's not as rough around the edges as i would like but the musicianship here is good and the production sounds pretty great. overall, i just sort of wish it had a little bit more oomph to the sound, which is what i tend to like in metal. but overall, solid!

a solid enough early electronic album. i enjoyed the soundscape here, but really i don't have a lot to say here. it was pleasant, it sounded nice, it really gave me nothing beyond that.

a pretty solid new wave album. i had always seen this band's name in the cd racks at my local music store but never really gave them a thought beyond, "oh that's an amusing band name." I did enjoy what I heard here, although I felt like nothing here was super remarkable. not that there wasn't quality here, it just did not leave a huge impression on me. good, not great.

not a bad album, but i feel like traffic has better and more interesting music to offer down the line. not yet to their progressive phase, this album comes off more as a second-rate psych-blues band with not a ton to offer in terms of interesting songs or soundscapes. the highlight here is the original version of 'feelin alright' which is not as good or as interesting as the more famous cover by joe cocker. really, this is a look at a band who has yet to find their footing and doesn't offer a whole lot in terms of novel music, as compared to their contemporaries.

i've never really listened to meat loaf outside of random exposures on classic rock radio. i had always automatically put it into the bucket of 'classic rock that i don't like' despite not ever really having listened to his music or being exposed to it much beyond whenever a DJ would play him on the radio.

i have to say, i was actually surprised that i enjoyed this album. even though it makes a lot of sense based on the songs that i know from meat loaf, the album is really springsteen adjacent. i wouldn't say it is directly inspired by springsteen, but it definitely sounds like it is cut from the same cloth. it doesn't help that two members of the e street band play on this record, which helps give it that springsteen-esque feel. i also really like todd rundgren's production on this one (shocker, i am a fan of todd rundgren's production in general). the songs here are fun and corny, but it kind of leans into it, something that always irked me, but i didn't mind once i listened to this with an open mind.

'can't buy a thrill' is an interesting first step for steely dan. of course you have the two big hits on here, which are great, but you can see the more humble beginnings at play here, with some hints of the future. i would say this album feels less unabashedly jazzy than their follow-ups would. it's still jazzy to a point, but it feels more like an early 70s rock album with some tastes of jazz. i don't think there's a truly bad track on here (minus the closer, "turn that heartbeat over again" - a song that i legitimately did not remember being on this album at all, it's that forgettable). some of the album cuts i love on here are 'dirty work,' 'kings,' midnite cruiser,' and 'brooklyn (owes the charmer under me).' just a really solid album and a great debut from one of the 1970s premiere bands.

not only is this one of my favorite albums, but i would consider this a 'desert island' album for me. truly one of my albums i turn to if i need to listen to something comforting - it's like a warm blanket for me. i prefer this one to the debut 'music from big pink' because although i think 'big pink' has higher highs, this album is a lot more consistent. the production on here is home-y, country, kinda lo-fi. some of robbie robertson's best songwriting is on here. all five members of the band shine here at different parts, whether it's playing or singing. it just feels so homemade and so lovely. the famous songs on here are great but to me the standout has always been the closer, 'king harvest (has surely come)' which, to me, may be the most underrated band song of all time. it's an album i cannot be unbiased about, i think it's nearly perfect.

buddy holly is monumentally important in the advent of rock and roll and that is on display here. in a modern context, this is a quaint, bare bones form of rock and roll, but at the time, buddy holly changed the landscape. his songs are catchy, hooky, and fun. my only qualm with this album is that the strength of material is not totally there. the first side is a lot better than the second side. that being said, still an incredibly important album in the history of music

I think I'm becoming a fan of the flaming lips, and I really enjoyed my time with this album. fun, cookie, all around solid psychedelic Rock. I can see myself enjoying this album a lot more on subsequent listens, but as it stands right now, a lot of good songs but nothing here that totally blew me away. the two instrumental tracks were fine, but not totally my thing. and I could have done without the songs about bugs. but otherwise, a good time!

a really cool late 60s folk album. in a lot of respects, this reminded me of fairport convention, who were one of their contemporaries in this space. very delicate folk music, very beautiful. what i liked about this one is that there is a full band aspect to it, you have drums and bass (although not used all the time) which allows for a greater range of dynamics. big moments can be big and soft moments can be soft. definitely an album i will come back to!

i'm a talking heads newbie so i'm not familiar with their album cuts, really. this was my first time with this album and i enjoyed it! the thing that i have come to appreciate about the talking heads is that they were bringing in a unique style in an era that i think was fairly homogenous. my only qualm is that i find a lot of the deeper cut talking heads songs are a little too rough around the edges (read: dissonant) for my taste. it is interesting, but i would have to dive in on repeated listens to appreciate it more, i think. overall, a cool album!

historically, i am much more of a 60s dylan person than a 70s dylan person. this album in particular i've had no interest in since it was sort of force-fed to me growing up while being told it's great. that being said, i've been in a bob dylan mood lately and so i listened to this album for the first time with an open mind and, i really enjoyed it. even though his music and songwriting had evolved over the previous decade-plus, at his core, he still is dylan and his lyrics are terrific and evoke great imagery. although i think the crop of songs here may not be as iconic as some of his 60s albums, i think they are all at least pretty good, my favorites being, 'tangled up in blue,' 'idiot wind,' 'if you see her, say hello,' and, 'shelter from the storm.' i may not have been a fan going in, but i truly enjoyed it all.

a really great, aggressive hard rock album. i haven't had much exposure to the stooges, but know they are held in very high regard in terms of being the bridge between 1960s garage rock and 1970s punk. lots of attitude, lots of fun. my only gripe here is the production, which is extremely flat and it looses some of the frenetic energy (although doing some reading it seems like remixes have been controversial). despite that, i had a really great time listening to this one.

although i have not listened to his complete discography (nowhere even close), i consider myself to be a fan of neil young. i'd never listened to this one and so i didn't know what to expect because most of my neil young experience is in the 60s and 70s, not the 90s. at first i felt a little underwhelmed by the songs, but as the album went on, i found myself liking this one a bit more. it's interesting because it sounds like neil young is almost trying to find his footing in the grunge era (although, you know, he is the godfather of grunge). it's got all the hallmarks of a neil young album, abrasive guitar, lyrics with attitude. i could see myself enjoying it more on subsequent listens, i think it could really grow on me.

sincerely one of my favorite albums of all time. i like a lot of elvis costello's stuff but i can't say i am a super fan. but this one always stands the test of time for me. every song here, to me, is like an exercise in writing short, great, hooky power pop tunes. every song has a hook and they have all gotten stuck in my head at one point or another. of course, it wouldn't be elvis costello without his signature lyricism style, and i really do love the production here from nick lowe.

yep, this is one that gets a lot of hype and i can say it is deserved. dr. dre's verses are great and his flow is iconic. the combination of him and snoop dogg creates a great tandem that stands above a lot of the music that was coming out in this era. what pushes this album over the top for me is the production, of which dr. dre is famous for. every song here sounds great, sounds of the era, but does not sound dated (a distinction that i think needs to be made). iconic beats, iconic verses, iconic album.

most of this album is a pretty pleasant samba album from the late 60s. astrud gilberto's voice is iconic and the album, for the most part, is really calming and chill.

there are two big exceptions to this: one is 'a banda (parade)' which is an old fashioned marching band song??? and sounds like a song more fit for the soundtrack of the musical, 'the music man' than a samba album. the second exception is a bizarre cover of the lovin' spoonful's 'you didn't have to be so nice' that is a duet with her young son. i guess it would be nice and sweet but the kid cannot hold a note like his mother can, and you can REALLY tell. it is pretty god-awful to listen to. i'm sure it was a nice moment for them. the rest of the album is pretty decent to good and fun to listen to, but those two tracks drag it down some.

pretty solid album here. in my opinion, it sort of starts off slow but does pick up towards and through the second half. at times it reminds me a little bit of REM and similar bands from that era. definitely has a college rock feel to it. solid production and solid instrumentation. i sort of wish i was wowed by it a bit more but i can see it as an album i would be interested in returning to at some point.

a really neat indie album. from the first little bit, i wasn't sure i was going to fully enjoy this one, but the second half of the album really picked it up for me. good instrumentation and nice songs. the sound sometimes borders on cliche indie from the time period, but never overdoes it. just a pretty nice album from front to back.