Reviews by uhhhellurr

john prine is one of my favorite songwriters of all time and although he had a lot of gems over the course of his career, his self-titled debut to me is his best and most consistent release. this album showcases everything great about john. his songs can have a sense of humor, or they can gut punch you. they can be political, slice of life, or over the top, but what they all are is human. from 'angel from montgomery' to 'sam stone,' from 'hello in there' to 'paradise,' there is such an overwhelming focus on people and their circumstances. one of my all time favorites from one of my all time favorites.

interesting album. very sparse at times. the subject matter seems very personal to the singer. i also found the singer's voice interesting, almost like a nina simone type of singer. at the same time, this album really wasn't for me. it tended to be a little more artsy than i like and i can't see myself picking this one up again. however, it was an interesting listen!

so over the course of this project, i am realizing there are two frank sinatras: one makes jaunty swing records and the other makes moody, slow records. this is the moody frank sinatra, which i still enjoy, but less so that the more upbeat frank sinatra. i guess i'm more used to listening to a more mature version of sinatra, because his voice sounds noticeably younger and softer here. he's covering a lot of really classic tracks. the arrangements are nice. i just didn't really get a huge thrill out of listening to this one. it's a bit too subdued for my taste. it's not bad! just not really for me.

this one has the potential to be an interesting fusion of african and western blues music but ultimately it falls a little flat for me. there are some decent moments and it is definitely an interesting concept that works, but i found a lot of it to be overly long. it's very laid back and relaxing, almost to a fault. it kind of ends up being a bit boring for my taste. can something be interesting and boring at the same time? not sure. but this sort of is.

look, i love dusty springfield. i think she has an incredible voice and her songs are some of my favorites of the era. this album is what i would consider inessential. as is par for the course for the era, all of these songs are mostly covers and/or songs written by professional songwriters. i'm not going to knock the album for that, it's just how the music industry was in 1965. what i will knock is that nearly every version on this album is worse than the original hit version. for instance, dusty's version of 'you don't own me' does not hold a candle to lesley gore's, her version of 'mockingbird' does not stand up to inez and charlie foxx's, her version of 'anyone who had a heart' does not compete with dionne warwick's. the only song here that i feel is worth listening to is her hit version of 'wishin and hopin' which i also don't think warrants the entire album being on this list. she has a great voice! but not sure that justifies the inclusion of this one.

solid album. terence trent d'arby has a really nice, soulful voice and it is definitely highlighted here. it does get a bit slow in the middle for my taste, which does drag it down a bit. but there's also some nice stuff on here too. i really liked the classic soul cover of 'who's loving you.' a mixed bag but ultimately i lean a little more positively over true neutral on this one.

what a wholly perverted album, lmao. god this was so unpleasant to listen to. i'm not a prude but also i don't really want to listen to an hour of a dude talking about sexually assaulting people. why is the word rectum mentioned so many times? this whole album is about jamming your dick in girls asses without consent the album. it sucks because the beats are actually pretty sick and i wish each song wasn't about buttholes and stuff. the beats are really the only thing barely keeping this from a 1 for me.

one thing will always remain true, joan baez has one of the most beautiful singing voices of all time. god, it is gorgeous. and here, in its most youthful form, it is not different. the one thing i will slightly gripe about here is that it is a folk album from 1960. so it's not really curated beyond "here's a handful of songs i know" and that's fine, but it makes for a bit of a hit or miss experience listening to this album. some cuts, she knocks out of the park, some she strikes out. is what it is. but god, her voice.

front to back, this album is great. one of my favorite live albums of all time. one of the best live bands of all time recorded in their prime. keith moon is frenetic, townshend soars, daltrey wails, and entwistle glues it all together. there may not really be any hits on here (if you're listening to the original track listing) but it is packed wall to wall with attitude and, boy, do i love it.

i wanted to like this so badly. it starts of quite nicely and is reminiscent of prince in terms of the funkiness. there's a lot of fun stuff in the first two thirds! the last third of this album is a lot more dramatic and orchestral and i found it a bit less interesting and not as fun to listen to. it's definitely not a bad album, but i think overall it does end up feeling a little bloated.

i listened to this album about a decade ago because it is held in so high esteem and really was not fond of it. i haven't touched it since, so i was eager to give it a revisit. unfortunately, i still really do not get this album. i am not a huge fan of van morrison's music in the first place (and to be honest, not a fan of the person either) so i guess i am just not predisposed to like it. but quite frankly, i find this album boring. i don't find it beautiful, i don't find it enthralling. it makes me want to fall asleep. at the same time, it's not awful or anything, but i don't think it's the pinnacle of music like some people and publications make it out to be. oh well!

pretty decent album, but ultimately did not move me a whole lot. there were nice moments and i enjoyed the production and overall sound here. just wish i felt like the songs had more to sink my teeth into. mostly it felt like an alright, but unremarkable synth-pop album from an outfit that I mostly identify with being more than that.

man this was a really fun album! high energy, very dancable, super classic sound. this is the sort of stuff i love to get in this project, something i probably would never have gone out of my way to listen to, but something that is just a really great, fun to listen to album.

man, i wish i liked this one more. there are some fun hits that obviously get a lot of airplay. i wish this album had more of that. when it's not those handful of songs, it's a very soft, delicate album. but I don't really have a lot of fun listening to it. it's a little bit of a drag. i don't find it interesting, i find it boring. there's other peter gabriel that i really like! but this mostly is not it.

although they are not a band i consider one of my favorite bands, i really do love the byrds. i think probably most people don't understand the context and the influence they had at the time, which is fine. this album finds them at a critical point in their history. one of the original members of the band, gene clark, who was one of their lead vocalists and primary songwriters, has left the band. at this point, their iconic folk rock sound is starting to transform. sometimes it's towards psych-rock and even jazz ('eight miles high'), sometimes it's towards country ('wild mountain thyme' and 'mr. spaceman'). it's sort of the canary in the coalmine for what's to come in music, and for them as a band. that being said, it's not my favorite byrds album. it's a bit uneven (i think the first side is way stronger than the second, even if the second side does lead off with what is the most important song here, 'eight miles high'). but listening to it, i sort of fell back in love with it, warts and all.

very fun album! sometimes it's funky, sometimes it's got a classic salsa feel. this is the kind of stuff i love this project for. i will definitely come back to this one!

way before they became a soft rock, easy listening radio staple, chicago was actually a pretty progressive band with a hard edge. nothing exhibits this more than this album. i always have loved the juxtaposition of the smooth horn section with terry kath's scorching guitar. there are some all timer chicago tracks on here, although i think ultimately, the track listing is a bit hit or miss (do we need 7 minutes of guitar noise? probably not. it was 1969, so i guess it was de rigueur). but man, the first two sides of this album are killer.

very dramatic and orchestrated, but genuinely feels like you're listening to the soundtrack of an off-off-broadway musical. lemper's voice is nice enough but the entire album has the veneer of a sideshow act. get ready for some carnival music! there's accordion and sometimes it feels like a calliope in a bad way. artsy for artsy's sake. and the last track! oh my god. 11 minutes of boring, yet dissonant nonsense! not my thing.

quirky album. kind of fun. i wish it was either more quirky (a la Sparks) or less quirky (a la most of their contemporaries) because I feel like it would've been more remarkable in either direction. it's quirky enough that it's a little offputting, but not quirky enough to be a super fun niche album. i still liked it and there are nice moments, but I just wish there was more to make this memorable.

nice enough album. too many dull sections to consider it good. heavily has the sleek veneer of genericism, which cheapens the britpop-esque sound they were going for. if this album had a little bit more bite, i'd probably bump it up a star in my esteem.