Reviews by uls980

This is a very frustrating album, because it seems the band forgot the part about needing hooks. But what's there is still pretty good. It's like all the songs are missing is the hook, it generally has everything else.

Costello's voice is great, they still sound impossibly cool, but I think they tried to be a bit *too* cool for this record. No matter how cool you are, you can't survive not having hooks. Every song I'm just waiting for that catchy chorus or riff, and it just doesn't come. And once in a while I'll get it, but the song is too mid-tempo for it to actually be catchy.

Best songs are The Long Honeymoon and The Loved Ones. Human Hands is a solid track too.

Overall solid record, just missing the hooks. One of those, if I kept going back to it, I'd appreciate it, but probably won't be going back. I'll just listen to This Year's Model instead.

Full disclosure, I groaned when I saw this come up. I've never really liked U2 despite never really listening to them or disliking them for any real legitimate reason. Just whatever I got from cultural osmosis was an impression of them being annoying (I wasn't even affected by the whole iTunes shoving their album down everyone's throats episode, although that definitely wasn't a good look).

That said, I've definitely heard the songs Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day before (who hasn't), and those are good songs. Didn't really know U2 were a post-punk band (albeit a much poppier/commercial version of the genre).

This album is definitely better than I was expecting though. I was expecting more of a commercial pop sound, and while that's still here a bit, the post-punk does shine through. What I don't like though is how most of the time Bono is constantly at 110%, belting everything out. Not that it's necessarily a problem in this specific song, but The Refugee is a pretty terrible song (along with Red Light. That opening was weird and the sax was entirely unneeded). But songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Drowning Man are Bono with zero restraint. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

But yeah, better than I was expecting, but whether I'm merely just whelmed, or my preconceived notions are getting in the way, I'm not particularly feeling this either. Probably not a band I'd go back to outside of this list.

This album for me has always been both amazing and frustrating to me (this is one of those albums that I go back to from time to time to see if it clicks, and it never quite does). A lot of the jazzy vibes are right up my alley. The first song kicks off fantastically along with Jazz (We Got). However, what frustrates me is the old school style of rapping. It's not quite as archaic or Hit. Every. Beat. On. The. Note style, but it's not far off. Beastie Boys kinda had the same thing going on, but the whole frat boy angle kinda blunted my annoyance of that style.

That annoyance isn't blunted as much here, but like I said, the jazzy vibes are fantastic.

All that said, I will say this album is clicking for me a little more this time. Dunno what it is, but maybe the jazzyness is just hitting a little harder this time. Dunno if it's an album I'll ever fully appreciate (The Roots provide everything this album does without the outdated rapping style), but it's a classic for a reason.

Shout out to the album art though, easily one of the best of all time.

Well, finally got this album. Been curious about it due to what is honestly a really bad cover art that looks like the cover art to a random record you run into in the record shop thats being sold for $0.50 because literally no one has heard of that band. And the album is inexplicably in bad condition. Although it weirdly fits too.

That said pleased to see that this is a case where the cover art is not indicative of the quality of music on it. Definitely can see why Harry Nilsson was considered the American Beatle. Gotta Get Up and Down are very Beatles-esque, although Down has the more bar blues feel of an American band. Didn't realize this was the Coconut band either. Can't particularly call it a good song (although I oddly do like it, it goes weirdly hard), but it's been used/referenced in a lot of stuff I like (Alan Wake) so there's that. And Without You is an all timer of a song though, holy.

Overall good record. Kinda inbetween a 3 and 4, but since I don't really see myself going back to it, probably will land on a 3. If the rest of the record kept up with the style of Gotta Get Up, would probably have gone with the 4.

Fantastic R&B and soul record. Just not a huge fan of it myself. I did recognize I Don't Mind though since it was on The Who's My Generation. Cool to hear the original.

For once I'm not gonna complain about a live album being on the list, but what I will say is, how come a lot of these old live albums are (I assume) heavily cut down from the original performance? I have a hard time believing Brown only played 30 minutes of material. Is it a "We only have so much space on the vinyl, so we picked the best tracks" situation?

Another record that I don't think I've listened to but know the popular songs off of.

Kids and Electric Feel are fantastic. Usually not a huge fan of synth/psychedelic pop, but this is some really good stuff. Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters is a fantastic and beautiful track as well.

One of those "Don't got much to say, but it's great" records.

Actually never listened to this one before. Definitely have listened to their debut and Paranoid before. But all around some great doomy heavy metal. Snowblind and Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes  (heaviest songs) probably being my favorite songs.

That said, I'm not the hugest fan of doom metal or the blues inspired stuff here. But it's a small nitpick, because as far as those genres go, this is probably the best of those I've heard.

American Idiot was "my" Green Day album growing up. I knew the singles from this record, but didn't really listen to it.

That said, knew this was gonna be a banger because this album is half singles. Not quite as good as American Idiot for me (but that is also partly due to nostalgia goggles), but you know this thing is special during the transition from Chump to Longview. It goes from a decent punk record to a classic in that instant.
When you have Longview, Welcome to Paradise, Basket Case and When I Come Around all on the same record, you're getting something great.

And along with Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers, I'll die on the hill that Tré Cool is one of the most underrated drummers of all time.

This one's a little tough for me to review. One of the few albums where I'll really have to dig into it multiple times. That said, I think I have listened to this before, it's just been so long that I don't remember it at all.

But I'm really liking what I'm hearing. Very subdued but beautiful album that has a ton of unique little vocal tricks and guitar licks. I've heard music similar to this, but never music that is so specific on the little details. And everytime I get to a song that I think is just gonna peter out, he opens it up for a great finale, lik 2:45 AM. To my ears, kinda sits somewhere between a folk version of Nirvana and Foo Fighters. I'll have to dig around, but there's a specific Foos song that sounds like a lot of this album, especially Ballad of Big Nothing (which also sounds like a Foos song name). Other good tracks are Alameda and Cupid's Trick, but honestly the whole thing is great. Definitely one I'll be listening to through the rest of the day.

Edit: I'm thinking of the Foos song Big Me.

You know, I honestly haven't listened to this one before, surprisingly. I know a couple songs off it (All My Loving and I Wanna Be Your Man, both classics), but the rest of the tracklist feels kinda pedestrian, especially for The Beatles. It's good, but nothing really special. Kinda derivative of other artists at the time (Elvis, Chuck Berry, etc.).

Obviously, they'd go on to make much better, and interesting music. But as it stands, this album is just OK.

If ever there was a Beatles record to drop from the list, this one could definitely be in the running. Even during this era of The Beatles they had much better material.

I got R.E.M.'s Green early on, and I believe my review was "Don't really have anything to say, it's just good".

Kinda feeling the same about this one too. R.E.M. kinda defies reviews for me, along with a lot of 90's alt rock. It's just good. You know it when you hear it.

If I have to say anything, its I'm starting to notice how much alt-country seeps into their music. They can get a little cowpokey at times, such as on Man on the Moon.

Oh man, my excitement when this record popped up. Never listened to this album or the Cocteau Twins before, but knew a little bit about them. Dream pop, shoegaze before shoegaze became a thing.

The second her vocals popped up in Cherry-coloured Funk, I knew this was going to be an easy five. It's got a strong ethereal vibe without sacrificing a driving force. I feel like a lot of dream pop (and shoegaze) can get lost in it's own vibes a lot and meander, but this album is laser focused with purpose.

But yeah, her vocals are the high point in an album that is nothing but high points. Strong, confident, ethereal. Add in half the time I can't tell if she's singing English, let alone any language at all and it gives a beautiful, detached, alien feel that puts the dream in dream pop.

Love the goth rock/post-punk elements too. The bass feels straight out of New Order or The Cure, and I love it.

Overall, extremely easy five stars. Knew basically the second I put the record on and the first couple notes hit. Incredible.

Gonna be honest, when I got this album I audibly groaned. I had never heard of this band or album before, but this thing screams 80's brit pop in a way I dislike. And honestly I wasn't far off. Got the 80's right, but it's Scottish sophisti-pop.

Not that I've had a particularly bad experience with sophisti-pop on this project (except for Scritti Politti, yeah, you're not getting away from me in this review), but I always recoil whenever people come up with a genre like "sophisti-pop" or "art rock". Implying your music is somehow "better" than "low brow" genres like regular old rock or pop annoys me (I still haven't heard a single sophisti-pop song better than Kesha's Tik Tok. For all your sophistication, you can't beat out the person who brushes her teeth with Jack, lol). I know the bands usually disavow those genres names (similar to post-rock/metal and djent bands do), but still. I'm mostly ranting here as a joke aimed at fans of the genre as opposed to the artists, but yeah, those genre names are stupid as hell.

That said, very pleasantly surprised by this album. Usually when I hear sophisti-pop, I imagine an album that's kinda all over the place in sound, painfully and sickeningly 80's, or just all around so up its own ass that its boring.

But this record has an urgency or desperation to it that I enjoy. In a previous review I mentioned the difference between a good 80's pop record and a bad one. Good ones, to me, have a sort of melancholy to them, whereas bad ones don't and are generally just sickeningly upbeat. I'd like to amend that as I don't really get melancholy from this record. So good 80's pop records, to me, need melancholy and/or desperation in them. If its just upbeat that's content with itself, it's going to suck.

And all around it's a very pleasant sounding record. Vocals wise, it's clearly Bowie-inspired. Definitely not as good as Bowie, but it works.

All in all, I enjoyed it.

Darkness, Darkness really promised a lot in the first half of the song that a lot of the album couldn't deliver. Starts off with this very heavy, European-ish folk vibe, but then the vibe changes into a psychedelic feel that I just don't care much for. Really wish the rest of the album sounded like that.

Sunlight is a great little folky track as well, but then it's back to the psychedelic.

Quicksand is also a nice tune, kinda Beach Boys-esque, but again, just wish they kept the dark folk through the whole record. Ends on a bit of a high note in Ride the Wind, with it's California/Hawaiian beach resort vibes.

I don't think they really sound similar, but this reminds me a lot of the Spirit record I got previously. When they're laser focused on a folk sound, they're great. When they're not, it's just doing nothing for me.

I've only ever heard We Got the Beat from this record, and while it is a great song, honestly it might be one of the weaker tracks. The three songs before it, Tonite, Lust to Love, and This Town are a pretty damn good run of three, with their post-punk urgency. You can also hear how influential they are, drawing a direct line to Kathleen Hanna projects like Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and Sleater-Kinney.

Dunno if I'm surprised by this album being so good, but I definitely wasn't expecting a slight post-punk vibe. Plus, I'm a sucker for some good bass, and Kathy Valentine is providing that in spades. But all the members are at peak form here.

Side note: Aside from We Got the Beat, I've mostly only known them from Jane Wiedlin being on VH1 in the 2000s constantly? Don't remember much other than I think I had a crush on her, but it's weird I remember that, haha.

Album started off really rough. If it was just Kizza Me, this would be a 2 or a 1. Mainly due to the vocals being so rough.

However, it picked up pretty quick after that. Still not big on it, never been a huge fan of Power Pop, but it's cool to find out Alex Chilton is a real person and not just a character in a (fantastic) Replacements song, haha.

Can definitely see how he gained so much influence in indie scenes though. This sounds like pure, distilled Pitchfork-core. From the Beatles/Lennon (?) vibes of Femme Fatale to the country/folk vibes of some other songs Oh, Dana, this sounds tailor made to be hipster musicians' favorite band that no one's ever heard of.

Fo me however, its just fine.

Don't got a ton to say about this, it's just some damn good jazz. Not quite the vibe I look for in jazz, I tend to like jazz that gives me suits, cocktails, and dinner vibes and this is more straight live music setting for me with it's more fusion/almost-verging-on-funk style, but yeah. Can't really explain it better than that. Second song, In A Silent Way is more the vibe I like.

I was always more of a Coltrane fan though, to be honest, but Miles is fantastic.

Honestly never been a huge Metallica fan. Always preferred Slayer and Megadeth. Slayer because they're more extreme, and being a big fan of drums, Dave Lombardo is easily the best drummer in the Big Four of thrash (always hated categorizing bands like that). Megadeth because they generally just had more range in their music. Metallica kinda always felt like they fell into a formula. And I probably would say I like Metallica over Anthrax, but Anthrax is a more fun band.

That said, it's been a long time since I've really sat down and listened to Metallica, so we'll see if this holds up once I get the other Metallica albums, but I always thought this was my favorite Metallica album. Everyone rates Master of Puppets higher, but I remember not liking the back half of the tracklist on that album.

But this record starts off with two fantastic classics, and just keeps the quality up. Love the aggression of Blackened, and the proggy riffs and licks throughout ...And Justice For All and Eye of the Beholder. It's very lightly treading on territory Coroner laid down (probably my favorite thrash band), just more in a prog direction vs technical.

Then you got classics like One which as much as I hem and haw about how Metallica has never really wowed me, is still one of the greatest metal songs of all time, and thats inarguable. Probably their opus song wise. And for better or worse, the song that they've kinda been chasing ever since.
The rest of the tracklist is great too, especially Harvester of Sorrow.

The only thing kind of holding this album (and Metallica) back is Lars' drumming. Not that its necessarily bad. Its fine and does exactly what it needs to do (lays down a beat, follows the guitars), but for a band that treads in a prog direction, you kinda want more interesting drumming with fills that do more than just basic snare rolls. It contributes later to the whole feeling of Metallica being formulaic, with Hammet kinda always feeling like he's trying to remake One on later albums. Will say, Lars' drumming on Harvester of Sorrow is legit good, with some nice bass kick patterns.

Lars is kinda like Anthony Keidis from RHCP. Clearly the weak link of the band by a wide margin, but they wouldn't be the same without him.

That said, I don't think I can knock this album for those gripes because this is just a damn classic album. Went into it thinking I'd give it a 4, but honestly feeling a 5 now.

My thought process: "Ooh, I'm getting some good punk tod- why is it rated so low? Oh, this isn't The Descendents or The Replacements..."

So anyways, this is a weird one. It's a Looney Tunes horror show by way of Primus, and Bugs Bunny is on LSD or something (well, the other way around. This is Primus before they existed. Insane to imagine there is a less accessible Primus).

Maybe I'm just in the right kind of bad mood today, but for some reason this is hitting? Is it something I'd ever listen to in my free time? Absolutely not. Will I ever go back to it? Probably not.

Like, I get why this is one of the lowest rated albums on the list, and it kinda deserves it. It's not a comfortable listen, and I don't think there is a single pleasant sound on this thing. Everything is screechy, dissonant, high pitched horns and electronics and intentionally bad vocals. But I'm weird and can enjoy uncomfortable things if its got a weird horror vibe, albeit a messed up cartoon version.

I'm kinda afraid I'm overrating because its rated so low, but I kind of like this thing also? It's weird.

Much like the bossanova and salsa records I've gotten previously, this is one of those "It's really good, but it's not the type of music I'd go out of my way to simply listen to". For me, it's good soundtrack or background music.

As such, it's simply getting a 3.

What I will say is that at the least, I can see this type of music's influence, usually in prog metal, weirdly. Tool and Intronaut use this style of drumming from time to time, and it's generally cool in those contexts.