Reviews by uhhhellurr

although i don't think this is necessarily bob dylan at the height of his powers, this is a terrific album and one that shows essentially where he started from. maybe the most pure folk album he ever released (outside of his debut) and there is some terrific stuff on here. this album really showcases him as a pure folk singer, which i think is very important in his history, but in his relation to the evolution of popular music in the 20th century. if i can nitpick, not all of the songs are 10 out of 10 bangers, but most of them are great and there are some all-timers on here. safe to say, it's one of my favorites of his and an overall great album.

i would say strictly a good album, not a great album. the lead singer's voice is very good and i think the songs here are solid enough, but the production is quite dated in a not-so-charming way and nothing here jumps out as an amazing song or performance. it's better than average, but nothing super special either.

a pretty solid late 60's folk album. i found it to be a bit uneven at points, but really enjoyed songs like, 'no man can find the war,' and, 'pleasant street.' tim buckley has a pleasant voice and clearly is a very solid songwriter. his voice, at times, reminds me of mickey dolenz from the monkees (not an insult). i don't know if this is tim buckley at his best, but i can imagine an album where his talents converge and he created something truly great. i'm not sure this is that album, though.

obviously there's one really big song on this album and it's pretty great. it holds up. i think the hidden gem on this album is 'the sun always shines on tv' which i think is fairly lost to history (at least here in the states). the rest of the album is pretty solid but fairly unremarkable at times. still, i think the sound is fairly iconic at this point and overall, it's a fun enough listen.

yeah this one is an all timer to me. in my opinion, this is bob dylan at his peak (maybe a controversial take? maybe not). his songwriting here is top notch. i think this may be his best crop of songs on an album. i also like the sound of this album. it's sort of the midway point between 'bringing it all back home' and 'blonde on blonde' - you sort of get a good feel for where he's going but it's still pretty folky at points. my favorite tracks are the standout, 'like a rolling stone,' as well as, 'ballad of a thin man.' overall, just a great record.

on the right day, gun to my head, this is my favorite queen album. it's certainly up there for me. to me, this is the album where queen truly becomes queen. although i think they perfect the queen sound on their next album, 'a night at the opera,' this is really the bridge between the early queen sound and the 'iconic' sound they developed. you do get pieces of it with songs like 'killer queen,' but what i love about this album is the harder rock songs - songs like 'brighton rock,' as well as, 'now i'm here.' i also love the 'in the lap of the gods' duology, and of course, with that classic queen sound, you get a queen granny song like 'bring back that leroy brown.' just a really great album that i adore.

sonic youth is a tough one for me because i like a lot of music that is adjacent to them, but for some reason i can't for the life of me get into their music fully. i'm not sure what it is - i think it tends to be a little too noise-y for my taste? that being said, i did enjoy this album. especially songs like 'dirty boots,' 'mary-christ,' and, 'kool thing.' i think i liked this album more when it was raucous and chaotic more than when it was more avant-garde and noise-y. either way, it was a good time. i just wish i liked it a little bit more.

super bombastic "fun" album - fun in quotation marks because i understand the political nature of the album and the message is not a fun message, but fun to listen to. the rapping is pretty great, although i think chuck d is way better than flavor flav. the beats are great and raw in that late 80s way. in terms of all the rap from this era i've listened to, ultimately, it's not my favorite but i would still say it's pretty consistently good.

i have to preface this by saying that i am a huge beach boys and brian wilson fan and have been my whole life. i've listened to pretty much every album they and their members have ever released. i adore the music of SMiLE, but this is not the best version in my eyes. I remember how revelatory this release was at the time, the mythic album finally coming to life! you can hear the long-lost greatness! and, yeah, it's pretty good! unfortunately for 'brian wilson presents SMiLE,' the recreation of this album on the subsequently released 'the smile sessions' blows this one out of the water. to hear the then contemporary recordings of this music is astonishing to me, and this recreation some 40 years later is very good but not the same thing. as i said, i love the songs here, but unfortunately something that i think plagues brian's later career is the production, which almost always comes off as flat, stale, surgical, cold. i think that the way this album sounds does the source material a disservice, which is why i will always prefer the production of brian at the height of his powers in the 60s over this album. it's still a great time, i think it's brilliant music. just not the best it can be.

a bit mixed on this one. there are parts of this album that, for me, verge on unquestionably great. songs like, 'today' and 'geek u.s.a' are fun and definitely the highlights for me. a lot of the album is... fine but not really my thing. especially when the album tends to be quieter. i really like this album more when it's cooking than when it's soft. that being said, there's nothing bad here, just really not totally my thing. ultimately, i liked it, but didn't love it.

boy i don't really know how to feel about this one.
it was out of my comfort zone.
it is really beautiful, haunting.
it is out of my comfort zone.
it is also a lot of electronic noise.
it is out of my comfort zone.
i found it very relaxing.
it is out of my comfort zone.
it's not music i would ever seek out.
it is out of my comfort zone.
i really liked it?
it was out of my comfort zone.
but i liked it?

man this album is pretty much it. so funky, so effortlessly cool. particularly the first side is iconic. the musicianship from herbie, as well as the entire ensemble is so great. the part of chameleon where it goes out of tune is unfathomably cool. the whole thing is just cool. cooler than cool jazz. front to back.

i am a huge simon and garfunkel fan, honestly i think their body of work is some of the strongest of any group. this album is not my favorite of their output, but i still think it is very good. for my money, paul simon is at his best when he is writing quiet, contemplative music, and this album definitely has its fair share of that - "homeward bound," "the 59th street bridge song," and "for emily, whenever i may find her," amongst others. it also has two terrific covers - "scarborough fair/canticle," and "7 o'clock news/silent night" as bookends (get it?) to the album. overall, i think the rest of the album is not quite filler, but still enjoyable. as i said, it's not my favorite of theirs, but in the grand scheme of things, i still love this album a whole lot!

yeah i can't say i'm a fan of this. i don't know if i can say it's bad but it's pretty uninspiring. there's really nothing interesting here going on. i remember them being a big band but with music as, at best, middle of the road as this, i can't imagine the bland type of person who this resonates with. not for me.

i am a big joni mitchell fan and, on a good day, this may be my favorite joni album. there truly is some brilliance here, as with much of her music. her songwriting is as top notch as ever. clever, funny, emotional, great. this album has her starting to move in a direction she would continue to follow in the later part of the 70s, with it being a little more sophisticated and jazzy at points. we're not at 'Mingus' territory here yet, but it truly is her firing at the pinnacle of her powers. not only does this have great singles, like "help me" and "free man in paris" (all timers, in my opinion), but has incredible album tracks such as 'people's parties' and the title track, as well as the rocker 'raised on robbery.' because of the shift to jazzier music, she includes some fantastic musicians on here. i also love how well curated the sound of this album is. nothing really sounds like this album and it all sounds consistently great.

really, this is a moment of transition for joni, but ultimately, this might be the sweet spot for me.

elvis costello's third effort is a little bit more hit or miss than his first two, but i think the highs vastly outweigh the lows here. to be clear, the lows of this album are still very good, i just don't think it's as consistent as some of his other records. still, songs like "accidents will happen" and "oliver's army" are great (man, i should have been keeping track of how many slurs i've run into on this project... a surprise one here!). i also thought the second half of this was at least a little more consistent than the first half - the swing from the first three songs of the first side to the last three sides of the first side is a bit of a swing, quality wise. that all being said, i still greatly enjoyed my time with this album.

man, i didn't know what to expect from this one going in. i wasn't familiar with the name but saw that damon albarn and danger mouse were attached, so i was cautiously optimistic, knowing that both of them have made some quality stuff. i really didn't care for this one. it wasn't bad, i just really found it a bit boring. i felt like the pacing didn't suit my liking and the quality of the songs i didn't care too much for. the musicianship here was good but there were not very many moments that stood out to me. i did enjoy the title track and how it built, but other than that, nothing really stood out to me.

the greatness of elvis costello on full display. although it is not my favorite album of his, it's pretty damn near the top. from front to back, it's oozing with cool. snide, clever attitude is dripping from this thing. the production is great, the now-iconic sound of the organ on this one holds up quite well. elvis' lyrics and songwriting are top notch and fun, sometimes with a bitter underside. just a great album overall.

the highlight of this album is the production - nile rogers and bernard edwards knock it out of the park, as they often did with this era of disco. the title track is iconic, catchy, and still holds up incredibly well. i also enjoy the hit 'he's the greatest dancer' which holds up nearly as well. the album cuts here are not as strong, with the exception of the production (at least they all sound good), but the songs can be a bit repetitive or uninteresting at points (although it IS disco, i would imagine they would play very well in a dance club). overall, a pretty good, not great album.

a really hit or miss album for me. when this album is at its best, it's really firing on cylinders. when it's not, it's just kind of a bore. i think the performances here are very good but i think especially the slower material bogs this one down a little too much for my liking. the more uptempo stuff is great, i just think the downtempo stuff is too boring. it's pleasant enough but not enough for me to love it entirely.