Reviews by uls980

Yeah, this isn't good.
If The Smiths decided they want to try their hand at country. With a worse singer than Morrissey (Somehow, but at least sometimes Morrissey can be a halfway decent singer). And the music in general is not good enough to make up for that either.

I'll give them some credit for being one of the first bands to make alternative country and being influential in that regard, and that's spawned some good stuff (REM and Radiohead delved a little bit into that sound, and then you got other great stuff like the Silver Jews), but this album is just not good.

I have very few 1* albums so far out of 415 (Only 6). I don't think this is quite bad enough to be introduced to that list, but holy shit is this damn close. If the music was just a tad worse, it'd easily make that list. As it stands, the music is just good and competent enough of the time (Last Dance is actually a pretty decent song overall, singing is fine in that one) to avoid that.

This album is at it's best when it's at it's most trip-hop, such as on Swim and Nothing Really Matters (Basically, when the album has a decent pulse).
A lot of this is though is pretty boring, repetitive EDM that, while solid, isn't doing much for me. Especially on tracks like The Power of Good-Bye.

And then you have a few stinkers like Shanti-Ashtangi that just sound corny coming from Madonna. But I can definitely hear the influence this album has, particularly on artists like Utada Hikaru, although Utada, in my opinion, did it better. Definitely has bangers on her albums whereas there's nothing particularly standing out as a heavy hitting, catchy song on Ray of Light.

Album could have used some paring down as well. At over an hour long, it overstays it's welcome, especially with the repetitive music.

Of the Joni Mitchell albums I've heard (Hissing of Summer Lawns - for this project, as well as Hejira and Blue), this is probably my "least" favorite of her albums, but that's not saying much since it's still a four.

A light four compared to Hissing's very high four, but still a four.

I think what's kinda keeping me from liking it as much is the vibe is just a bit different compared to those other albums. It's tough to describe what the difference is, but yeah. Still sounds like classic Joni Mitchell.

Either way, great album. Especially a song like Help Me.

Honestly, this one is doing nothing for me.
Don't really got anything much else to say. It's kinda boring to me.

Man, after the first few songs, I was almost ready to give this a five. But then I noticed how short and kind of fragmented a lot of the songs on this album are. Everything that is here is amazing, and there's definitely some songs that are the full package (Things Behind the Sun), but a lot of it is a minute thirty or two minute little ditties that kind of leave me wanting more.

In a sense, it really reminds me a lot of that Bert Jansch album I got pretty early on in the project. Amazing music, just wish it were more fleshed out.

Either way, still a fantastic album. And I'm really coming to appreciate Nick Drake's voice. I don't know how to really describe it, but it's the most "folk" sounding voice I've ever heard. Love how he sounds when he sustains a note.

Man, this is some grade-A Fallout-Core.
Helps that I'm playing through Fallout 4 right now, hits the spot haha.

Was wondering why I never heard his music in the games, but apparently a song of his is in Fallout 76. I need to check that one out.

This is some fantastic throwback R&B/soul. Everything is a winner here. Only thing for me is, this feels more like music that has it's time and place for me, not something I can just throw on any time.

Still fantastic though.

Honestly, not that I'm surprised by how good this album is, but I've mostly known Neil Young from his popular songs (And the albums Harvest/Rust Never Sleeps), so it's good to hear more great music from him.

Will say, while I think this album is on par with Harvest, I do think it's a more consistently good album. Harvest might have higher highs (Old Man, Heart of Gold) vs After the Gold Rush (I like Tell Me Why and Southern Man is an absolute classic), but I do think Harvest has some lower lows (Not that it's bad, but I've never liked A Man Needs a Maid). In After the Gold Rush, the whole tracklist is solid aside from the aforementioned Tell Me Why and Southern Man which are amazing.

So yeah. This list is chock full of CSN&Y stuff, and usually it's a great listen. This one is no exception, and Young was always my favorite. His work in CSN&Y was always the best, and his solo stuff was always my favorite.

Don't really know what it is, but I'm not feeling this one a ton.
It's got a little too much of that "70's city" feel when I normally look for 60's cocktail club vibe from my jazz. Like the first song could 100% be used in a scene of a character running through the city, doing chores/tasks while montaged to this music.

It's very good, don't get me wrong. But it has a clean-ness to it that I'm not really vibing with.

I mean, I don't really got a ton of things to say about Bob Dylan that I haven't said in other reviews. This one's just hitting really good. Probably on par with Freewheelin' (If not better) for me.

I usually give a hard time to live albums (Although I never ding them points for being a live album) in these reviews, but if there were ever a live album to put on the list, it's this one. Culturally significant, curated playlist that avoids being a greatest hits compilation, different format. Amazing.

Fantastic performance from Nirvana on this one, with them picking out an amazing tracklist of a few big hits, a handful of deep cuts, and absolutely great covers, particularly the David Bowie track The Man Who Sold the World (Which I honestly preferred over the original).

Cobain sounds amazing (Despite him apparently playing through drug withdrawals), love Krist's bass (and accordion!) playing, and of course Grohl holds things down on the drums.

Just a very intimate, legendary performance.

Don't really got a ton to say about this one other than I'm not liking the silliness of the majority of the tracklist. It does pick up quite a bit towards the end starting with Julie With (Hilarious because those are slower ballads), but not enough to really get me into the record.
Honestly enjoyed Another Green World more. My liking the back end of Before and After Science makes sense as it's more in the ambient/post-rock world compared to the first half of the tracklist.

This is a weird one for me, because I generally like the vocals and what I paid attention to in the lyrics, just the music seemed incredibly cheap and dated. Like it belonged as a soundtrack to an 80's/early 90's video game. It would have worked great there (honestly reminded me of TMNT: Turtles in Time, haha). But as an actual album, it doesn't work for me.

Maybe I'm just starved for something better than a 3*, but this one is surprisingly hitting right for me. Got that kinda soul vibe to the blues rock going on, which is one of the few ways old-school blues rock can keep my attention. This is prime driving through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan music.

Also, much better than Manassas. No bad country rock, but still has some of the good folk rock going on. And a far breezier runtime.

About the only thing that trips the record up is the spng Black Queen. Could have done without that one.

Didn't expect Stephen Stills to be the one to save me from the 3* morass.

Let's make that an 11-streak of 3* albums.
Kinda disappointing because I do like CCR.

But mostly, the hits are great on this one (Born on the Bayou, Proud Mary), and the rest are just fine. Like I've mentioned before, blues rock is just exhausting to me nowadays. I've been overexposed to the point where if I never heard it again, it would be too soon.

Graveyard Train is a vibe, but eight and a half minutes is just brutal.
I'll be in the graveyard by the time that song ends.

The instrumental to Good Golly Miss Molly isn't great though.

Liking this one more than Odessa. Certainly a more breezy album. Some songs are very Beatles like Trafalgar.

But man, folk Bee Gees does nothing for me.

Here's my review for AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted:

"Much like the Public Enemy album I got previously, this feels a lot like a transition album from old-school to new school. It has some of the more new-school, complex rhyming and flow (Although still some of the old-school, simplistic = staccato flows). The beats are definitely on the more old-school side as well.

Overall, it's solid, but not what I really look for in hip hop. A little too old-school for me."

Yeah, not really feeling anything different on this one. I will say, I think I like the beats and instrumentals a little more on this one. They're less oldschool, but it's still just too old-school for my tastes.

Was thinking this might break my 3/5 streak, but don't think it will.
There's some really good hits on this one, like Blank Space and Style (Especially Style). Clean is a great closer. Then there are some bad singles like Bad Blood and Shake It Off (While inexplicably being guilty pleasures of mine).

And then some stuff that is fine, but I could take or leave (Welcome to New York, I Wish You Would).

Overall, fine album, but not really blowing my mind. She's got better stuff like folklore and evermore.

Very much a 2010's indie take on ambient while also being a Bob Dylan/Tom Petty worship band.

I remember liking Slave Ambient from them, and I feel like I've heard this before and liked it. But that was over a decade ago at this point, and at this point in time, it's really not doing a ton for me. Really sleepy music, even when it's moving. Good album, but pretty meh for me.

This album is a real mixed bag for me. It really jumps the gamut as far as post-punk goes.
Some more straight punk type stuff, some more goth rock type stuff (Like Motorcade), some weird 70's post-punk type stuff like David Bowie and Iggy Pop were doing.

Overall, it's better than most 70's post-punk I've listened to (Especially the aforementioned Motorcade), but with the quality IMO being pretty hit and miss, it's not doing a ton for me personally.