Reviews by uls980

Was excited to get this. Love how the guy on the cover looks like a PS2 era character model, haha. Fantastic western tinged country. Definitely the best country album I've gotten so far on the generator. Some slight shades of Fallout-core which is always welcome.

El Paso is a standout as well. Didn't expect a 50's album to have explicit lyrics about getting shot and killed.

Does start off with its best track, Big Iron, but everything else is really good too.

I don't have a lot of nostalgia for Linkin Park personally (aside from a few songs), but there's no denying their place on this list. Honestly should not have dropped them from the list from latest edition (or preferably, in my opinion, swapped for Meteora).

That said, this is a solid debut. A little derivative of the other bands in the nu-metal scene at the time (especially Chester really channeling Fred Durst in certain songs, but this is a much stronger music than Limp Bizkit)

And obviously there are the standouts like Crawling, Points of Authority, In the End, and One Step Closer.

Solid debut for a band who will eventually find their voice and release more interesting stuff later on (as early as their follow up, Meteora).

Psychedelic proto-punk/garage rock that just isn't really for me. It's fine and an interesting mash up of genres, just isn't scratching my brain right.

Honestly not a huge fan of Grateful Dead. I like some studio singles of theirs that aren't overly long jam sessions, but thats about it. So a live album thats basically all jamming is honestly not doing a single thing for me. Honestly bores me. Technically it's good, and the sound is pleasing, but it's just not my thing.

Gotta say, while I've always liked this album, a lot of the stuff on it that I didn't really focus on is a vibe now. Stuff like World In My Eyes and Halo are fantastic.

There is some stuff I'm still not vibing with such as Personal Jesus (Electronic goth country is just a really fuckin' weird mashup. Although I'll say I'm not hating it as viscerally this listen around).

Obviously tracks like Enjoy the Silence are standouts, but my absolute favorite has got to be Policy of Truth. It gets heavy rotation on my karaoke Playlist.

The lyrics for Depeche Mode tend to be pretty great and unique too. Usually a dark loneliness and isolation, with touches of sexual submissiveness (usually not my thing, but works really well in the context of Depeche Mode's sound and Gahan's vocals).

Overall, I went into this expecting to know what I was getting into and what I was gonna give it, but it's just hitting perfectly today (with the exception of my continued dislike towards Personal Jesus).

Full marks.

Perfectly fine pop punk, with some genre experimentation.
Overall though, just not really speaking to me.

I've never been huge on 90's Brit Pop. Oasis isn't really my thing, I only really know Song 2 by Blur. The Beatles influences come in hard with The Charlatans (Along with Oasis), so it doesn't really feel like a genre that does anything particularly new other than funnel 60's British bands through a 90's alt sound. Not particularly exciting for me.

That said, this is a really solid album with pop rock bangers the whole way through. Only Teething is a great Beatles-esque bluesy song. One thing I'll give them is they do have affinity for Bob Dylan, which adds a nice wrinkle to their music.

But overall, it's just not a sound that excites me.

High energy, fun, silly, and bombastic.
Just an insanely fun record with it's 50's rock style.

However, for me it's not doing much. It's a bit too cheesy. But still a classic that absolutely belongs on this list.

Surprised I'm ambivalent on this one, because noise rock stuff tends to be up my alley.

Most of the songs just feel repetitive in a way that loses my interest, but I will say starting at Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway, things get interesting. They Took 14 For the Rest of Our Lives had an uneasy repetitiveness that was cool.

Good album. Will probably listen again sometime.

Feel like this is an album that, had it come out in the 2000's or later, with all of the sounds and influences that go along with that, I'd like it a lot more than I do (even though this album would be what influenced my hypothetical record - some real Back to the Future shit there). Not that it sounds dated, it doesn't, just that it's not doing a ton for me.

This does feel like a Flaming Lips record before the Flaming Lips existed, so I guess what I'm asking for is this record if it were made by the Flaming Lips in the year 2002.

Anyways, it's a solid album. Some interesting stuff going on, like on the song Little Fishes with it's slightly unnerving wobbliness, or the very Flaming Lips-like Sombre Reptiles. I tend to like the synths they have going on this thing.

While I wouldn't characterize most of the album as ambient (most of the instrumentals have too much drive IMO to truly be ambient), Becalmed definitely hits that mark amazingly, and is probably my favorite track on the record. Very Outer Wilds.

But overall, it's just a tad too odd for me to enjoy fully. Not much on here that I would go out of my way to listen to again, even if I do appreciate it.

Honestly trying to give this album a fair shake, but everytime it hits on something halfway decent (Witches Hat before it gets into the annoying lalalas), the sharp, high pitched sitar/instruments come in, with weird/silly vocal and instrument choices come in (kazoos for instant).
It's way too silly for how straight their playing it. And there's a dissonance to it that sometimes just sours me.

It sounds like a mixture of Ren Faire/medieval vibey music mixed with a really bad attempt at replicating the Beatles' sound when they were getting into their weird, drug fueled psychedelic stuff. And no surprise, the Beatles knew what they were doing, whereas I feel like these guys don't.

Waltz of the New Moon might have saved it, but the singing is just killing it for me.

I really don't want to dish out the 1. It's not viscerally hitting me like some of my other 1s, it's at least just barely tolerable. But I also can't honestly sit here and say I enjoy any bit of this either. It's just consistently mediocre. Robert Plant apparently heard something in this to be influenced by it, but it's going right over my head.

This is either the highest of 1s or the lowest of 2s. But I think I'll have to give the 1. I just don't enjoy it.

Wasn't really excited for this. Aside from Neil Young's solo stuff, I hadn't really been able to get into any of the other guys' stuff or what I thought I've heard from CSN&Y.

That said, pretty shocked when the first two songs I recognized and regarded as fantastic, along with Woodstock. This is some primo Upper Peninsula driving music.

The second half of the record does let up a tad (although Country Girl is fantastic, but its to be expected with Young singing), and I'm not the biggest fan of the more country tinged stuff, but this is a fantastic record.

Generator random strikes again. Got Nick Drake 3 days ago, and got him again now.

And again, just another fantastic set of folk pop tracks. Although I will say I do prefer Five Leaves Left. Bryter Layter is great, but for my money, it's a tad too lush and orchestral. Some of it reminds me of Joni Mitchell with it's slight jazziness, but it's just not hitting me like Mitchell does. Hazey Jane II might be my favorite track, with it's Charlie Brown ass sound, feeling like it's a huge inspiration of Belle and Sebastian.

So yeah. Great album. Just slightly prefer Five Leaves Left.

Costello continues with his 50's inspired new wave sounds, sounding as effortlessly cool as ever. However, I will say that it's just not really grabbing me. Luckily, they remembered to have hooks this go around (Imperial Bedroom was hookless), but yeah. Just not hitting my ears like Next Year's Model did.

It's better than Imperial Bedroom, just Next Year's Model is my benchmark for 4s when it comes to Costello, and this doesn't hit that level.

Solid album though.

For my money, this is the last great classic rock album. For an album from the mid 2000's, it definitely has that air of classic rock bombast that comes from bands like Led Zeppelin and especially The Who, even if it isn't really borrowing from the sound (But again, it does have some Who-like qualities, setting aside the rock opera aspect).

I will admit, part of me giving this a perfect score is from nostalgia. I still vividly remember getting the CD for this album for Christmas, and absolutely running it into the ground playing it. But even aside from that, it's just a damn good record that still resonates today.

American Idiot obviously is still the most applicable song on the record to today's political climate, but the record rattles off a string of classics after that with Jesus of Suburbia (Probably my favorite song on the album), Holiday, and Boulevard of Broken dreams.

There are some songs that don't hit those highs such as Are We the Waiting, Give Me Novacaine, and Extraordinary Girl, but they're still fun enough to where I wouldn't consider them skips. Additionally, Wake Me Up When September Ends and Homecoming (With it's 50's vibes) are great tracks. Generally, when the album slows down is when the songs don't hit as well for me. The hardcore punk section of Are We the Waiting/St. Jimmy is great, but the slow part like I mentioned is what brings it down a little. Letterbox is better than Extraordinary Girl.

So yeah, fantastic record, probably my favorite Green Day record and their most cohesive (Although it's definitely a generational thing, as a Millenial who grew up during the Bush years, I'm contractually obligated to prefer this album over Dookie).

And I'll keep repeating this until I start hearing other people say it, Tre Cool is one of the most underrated drummers around. His work on this album is great.

Also, side note, definitely one of those albums where the "PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT" sticker is synonymous with the album, which is always fun, haha. The album art wouldn't be as good without it.

Edit: Despite me going on about it being a 5 due to nostalgia, I am thinking back on this and just seeing the rest of the albums sitting in my 5 rank, and realizing it doesn't quite stack up to those. So yeah, whoops.

Some really fantastic folk here. Some of it's got a western vibe that gives me shades of Jose Gonzalez and Gustavo Santaolalla (particularly his work on Last of Us) with songs like Three Hours. Some jazzy southern Lynyrd Skynyrd-like stuff like Saturday Sun. Weirdly Time Has Told Me is giving me Alice in Chains vibes? Maybe some Elliot Smith on some of the songs too. Suffice to say, Nick Drake is highly influential.

But yeah. Beautiful folk music with an amazing warmth to it. Was excited to get some of his stuff because I saw people always give his albums Bryter Layter and Pink Moon great reviews. Was not disappointed with this one.

Edit: After sitting on this, and kinda getting obsessed with it lately (Especially with the song River Man), I'm bumping this up to a 5.

Yeah, not enjoying this one. Between his vocals and the lyrics just being juvenile, it's gonna be a no from me. Musically, it's fine, ranging from bluesy jigs and glam/hard rock cuts, but everything else is just not for me.

Old school hip hop similar to Beastie Boys stuff just a lot more stripped down and sparse. It's fine, just not something I'd really go back to. Walk This Way is the obvious highlight as its got more going on.

At this point, New Order is jockying with The Cure as my favorite post-punk/goth rock band. And this album just makes it tougher to decide between the two.

Low Life is probably their most consistent album, along with being their best by a slight margin. I got Technique previously and absolutely love that album, however, it does stumble right of out the gate with Fine Time, probably the weakest song from what I gather are their top 3 albums (Power Corruption and Lies, Low Life, and Technique). That song alone stopped me from giving Technique a 5 (although another song or two start with intros that I'm not super hot on).

While Low Life doesn't quite hit the highs of Technique (Dream Attack), it also doesn't have the lows (Fine Time). PC&Ls is hit or miss for me. Age of Consent and Leave Me Alone are fantastic, but the rest of the track list I really am not big on.

Low Life though has a great tracklist the whole way through (I'm not 100% sold on Face Up, however. Points for being silly though). Especially songs like Sunrise and Sooner Than You Think. Elegia is a great instrumental, and I quite like This Time of Night as well. Low Life really strikes a balance with their previous sound vs the sound they'll develop on Technique, and it's just great.

Well this was an interesting introduction to Grime music. Impressive that he did this when he was 16. Probably not something I'd go back to, but it was a solid listen. Kinda feels like it predicted Kanye's Yeezus a decade in advance. Yeezus wothout the industrial aspect. Cool stuff.