Reviews by uls980

Kinda a begrudging 4/5 here. Dunno why I'm resistant to giving it a 4, but I am. Just can't justify a 3. Think it's just I'm not that big into Jackson, and when I don't care for one of his songs, I just really don't care for it.

I liked this more than Bad. The softer songs are generally better than on Bad, even if I'd rather leave them than take them. The song with McCartney's a little too cute for me though.

The three song run of Thriller, Beat It, and Billie Jean is legendary though, and some other songs are solid (PYT, The Lady In My Life). The first couple tracks I did feel were a tad long though. Human Nature is probably my least favorite track.

A very low 4. Legendary highs, but most of the rest of the album is just solid.

Perhaps it's unfair to judge them based on their debut when they were still in their Mod sound, but a lot of this album just doesnt "feel" like The Who to me. There's some songs that are definitely The Who, namely My Generation (and some even when they're still in their mod sound, like The Kids Are Alright and I Can't Explain, although the latter isn't on the original tracklist, so I won't grade the album with I Can't Explain included). Keith Moon isn't quite as manic and explosive as he will become a lot of the time. Feels like on some songs he's being handcuffed from doing what he wants to do, mainly because the music on this record wouldn't compliment his insane style.

The music can be a bit too "pretty" or standard sounding compared to their monstrous dinosaur rock they'd develop later on. The covers don't feel quite right for them either, even though they were definitely influenced by those bands, it wouldn't really be indicative of their later sound.

Overall, still a good album, but it mostly hints at what's to come, which is some of the best rock music ever produced and my favorite classic rock band.

As a side note, Quadrophenia being left off this list is unforgivable.

This one's weird, but easy. Music is great. Real World being the standout, instrumental wise. If this album were instrumental, it'd be getting a 4 from me.
It's just consistently let down by the really annoying vocals. I get that's the point, but I just can't. Dude sounds like a manic Peter Griffin, haha.

Inoffensive but boring IMO, nothing special. Not as good as the Simon and Garfunkle records I had before (gave those a 3).

Basically what an entire album of songs that sound exactly like Rusted Roots' Send Me On My Way would sound like (so listening to this album, it's obvious what RRs influence was). Fine song, but I don't need an entire album of Send Me On My Way.

So listened to this album previously because I was curious, and wasn't a huge fan of it. Getting it today, don't think my mind has been changed. Generally prefer New Order simply because they tend to have a more well rounded, full sound in my opinion.

Joy Division, for me, just feels like it's either lacking a dimension or the sound is dated in a way I'm not a huge fan of.

Generally for post-punk I'm looking for either a melancholic sound if they're going in a goth direction, or a new wave sound if they're going in more of a pop/upbeat direction. For the more goth songs on this record, they tended to be the more old-school Monster Mash type vibe as opposed to more melancholic like a Type-O Negative or Have A Nice Life. For the more pop/upbeat stuff, they were missing that new wave sound New Order tended to have.

Probably my favorite track was the opener, Disorder, which came close to the New Wave-y New Order stuff that I like, but I'm not fully into it.

Still a solid record, just not what I'm looking for in this type of music.

Edit: After going back to this album a few more times, I'm starting to "get it". Still not my favorite post-punk album by any means, but I'm definitely getting more out of it than the kinda 70's post-punk sound I thought was all that was there. Definitely getting a little bit of the future New Order sound, especially on the opener Disorder. Additionally, I'm getting some Bauhaus type goth rock as well.

Some of the production choices still elude me a little bit (The really echoey sound), and sometimes his vocals aren't to my taste, but yeah.

This is definitely a lot better of an album than I gave it credit for, and am going to bump it up to a 4.

This album generally sits between annoying and boring for me. Starting off with the Macarena sounding Release the Pressure, and then following it up with Afro Left where they do that thing with their tongue and make a noise with it against their lips like a school kid taunting someone... yeah. Not enjoying this one.

Otherwise it's kinda atmospheric dance beats that are repetitive, and wouldnt be out of place on a video game soundtrack. Didn't listen to the whole thing, kinda skimmed around when I realized early on that I wouldn't like it.

Was kinda enjoying the vibe of Original, but the vocals ruined it. Dunno what it is with EDM records and their monotone talk-singing, but it just doesn't sound good to me.

Some songs like Original and Inspection (Check One) almost verge on Massive Attack-esque trip hop, but its not enough, and not good enough.

On top of that, and hour and nine minutes of this is entirely too much.

Gonna be honest, although this has nothing to do with the quality because it's a good album, but this album probably shouldn't be on the list.

Fundamentally I just dont think albums that are primarily covers albums should be on the list. But that's just me.

That said, yeah, still a good album that I think is heavily buoyed by his magnificent cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt. Brutally haunting reinterpretation of the song.

Most of the rest of the album is solid country/folk songs that vary in quality in comparison to their originals (at least the ones I've heard before), but they're never unnecessary I feel. For example, Bridge Over Troubled Waters is solid, but the original Simon & Garfunkel is better and Cash's cover doesn't particularly stand out (although nice to have Fiona Apple on Cash's cover). Same with In My Life.

Can 100% understand where the idea of the Personal Jesus cover came up. Similar to him covering Soundgarden's Rusty Cage, they just recognized that the song is basically a country track, and went with it. Basically, the best covers are the ones where he takes a song from outside his wheelhouse and reinterprets them, as opposed to straight covers of folk/country tunes.

The originals are solid too, Give My Love to Rose is great.

But overall, with the exception of Hurt, it's just good.

It's weird, I think this is a better album than Talking Book, but Talking Book (If I remember right) was more listenable? Generally Innervisions sits in a very vibey space, whereas Talking Book has more bangers.

Higher Ground and Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing being the exceptions on Innervisions. Those are bop.

Either way, gets a 4 same as Talking Book for me.

Sure.

Immediately dissapointed by the dated funk of the first song with the cringe Right Said Fred vocals. The music on this record is generally fine, but way to kitschy too be enjoyable.

Stereotypical elevator/mall-ass music in Miles. Some decent jazz (In a Moment of Clarity) that I'd enjoy a lot more if it weren't surrounded by all this cheese.

Cheesy spy music around too, with The Big Bamboozle.

Probably my favorite song is The Sweetest Embrace. Which makes sense, being the song with Nick Cave on it. Probably the most accessible, "standard" song on the record?

Overall, just think this album is too silly. And I don't necessarily have a problem with that, it's just whenever you make music like this, it's very liable to age quickly. And this album is no exception. It might be good music, but hearing some of these songs out of the context of an Adam West Batman or 60's James Bond film (for example) isn't going to do this type of music favors.

First of all, this album is perfect the way it is.
That said, this album sounds like absolute shit, lol. I don't think I've heard a worse sounding album this side of black metal.

The drums sound awful, the guitars/bass gets buried a lot of the time in the mix. It sounds like a live record recorded in their grandma's basement. But again, I wouldn't have it any other way. It gives it charm.

Mostly the songs worth anything on this record are the covers and not the originals. They really add a hard punk edge to the covers that's great. The Originals I could take or leave. You can definitely tell when they're covering something and when they're playing originals (even if you don't know the originals). Strychnine is probably their best original.

As much as I'm enjoying this record, I can't give it more than a 3 purely due to mostly being a covers record.

Despite this album showing it's age (especially with the flow and some of the lyrics), I really liked the raw production and the beats on this thing. Not used to hearing raw production I'd usually find on black metal records on a hip hop record (lots of crackling, sound levels vary across songs, etc), yet here we are, haha. The beats too have this really unique style to them I haven't really heard anywhere else. This really dark, uncomfortable vibe that's really cool.

Definitely hearing this album's influence particularly in other ungrounded hip hop records like Dr. Octagonecologist (just without the juvenile humor and sci-fi weirdness. Will say Dr. Octagonecologist is a fantastic record).

D. Original and You Can't Stop the Prophet being my standouts.

Really enjoyed this album. Fantastic country-tinged folk with some slight weirdness you'd expect from Beck. Spacey, dark at times, and beautiful.

Definitely wasn't expecting an earnest folk album from Beck given his previous output, but it's welcome. Playlisted Lost Cause, Already Dead, and Little One (weirdly that ones giving me Nirvana vibes. Like if Cobain made a folk song).

Paper Tiger is probably the weakest track on the record, but that won't stop me from giving this full marks.

Overall, impressed by this record.

Edit: Thinking back on this one, while still fantastic, I don't really find myself going back to it. Think it'll fit better as a 4.

Gonna be honest, I'm thinking I'm harsher on this album than I normally would be since I'm kinda feeling like I'm not in the mood for this record. It's something I might be able to appreciate more if I give it another shot in the future, but gonna go off my listen now.

That said, I still don't think its particularly great. Extremely, distractingly overproduced, just way too much going on. Also way too long. Hour and 12 is indulgent, especially for how stuffed/overproduced this thing is.
Kinda feels like budget Kanye to me.

I Gotcha has a terrible beat. Like he's rapping over an Animal Crossing tune. Those two things don't mix unless you're K.K. Slider.

Some solid tunes though. Sunshine (even though the start with the stutter was annoying, Hurt Me Soul has a similar start), Kick Push, Daydreamin'.

But overall, I'm just not feeling it.

What a weird album. Feels really experimental, and kinda all over the place genre wise, but manages to stay consistent in tone/sound throughout. When Our House came up I was shocked since I was not expecting to recognize anything on this. And honestly, the fact that anything on this album broke through and became a hit is insane to me considering how much this album just does not care whether it's accessible or not.

Overally, enjoyed the album for what it was, but it was kinda silly a lot of the time and generally sits in a style that I find hard to take seriously I guess. A lot of dated sounding bass and instrumentals that while they don't sound dated in the context of the songs (In fact, they manage to make those sounds come off as really unique and fresh), it's tough for me to separate them out from other music I hear those sounds in and are extremely dated/cheesy themselves.

An album that jumps back and forth between great tracks and tracks that do nothing for me.
Rolling in the Deep. Stone cold classic. Rumor Has It? Annoying chorus. Set Fire to the Rain, fantastic. Take It All? Not a huge fan of the gospel.

He Won't Go is a great R&B track though, that one surprised me.

Generally, her slower ballad stuff bores me, and when she gets the shrill highs, it takes me out.

Fine record with some great classic, but the deep cuts generally let it down for me.

Another one that isn't really my thing, probably won't go back to, but I appreciate that it has its own unique sound as opposed to sounding like a million other bands I've heard. Probably appreciate it a bit more so than the other 4s I've given recently.

Really enjoying the spacey sounds on this album. Giving me racing video game space level song vibes, like from Diddy Kong Racing (there's a pull, haha).

But yeah, this was a nice breath of fresh air after yesterday's Screaming Trees album. Not that I didn't like that album, just that it sounded like a lot of grunge I had heard before (just with psychedelic rock slapped on top). It's cool to get an album that you hear and go "Yeah. I could pick a Pet Shop Boys song out of a lineup after hearing them once" whereas I couldn't do that with Screaming Trees.

Edit: Thinking back, this is feeling more like a 3.

It's really interesting how with any grunge band you can generally pick out their major influence that they then work into the grunge sound.

Soundgarden was Zeppelin/Black Sabbath. Pearl Jam was classic rock like The Who. Nirvana was punk/Melvins/Sonic Youth type stuff. Screaming Trees is apparently 60's psychedelic/Beatles type stuff.

But yeah, I generally prefer the big grunge bands over the smaller ones (Screaming Trees, Tad, Green River, Mudhoney), and I think there's a reason why the Nirvanas, Pearl Jams, and Alice in Chains got big while the others didn't, and the influences they drew from were a bit more accessible compared to the smaller bands. Maybe that's a more in hindsight thing, but yeah.

It's no different here for me. Dust is a fine album, but I'd rather be listening to an In Utero, Badmotorfinger, or Dirt.

Charlie Brown-ass music. It's a very high 3, and I was going to give it a 4 at one point, but it went on a little too long, and for a 60's inspired folk album, even 41 minutes felt a tad indulgent. Maybe cut one song towards the back end or something and it'd be a perfect length, around 35-36 minutes.

Me and the Major is probably the standout for me. Easily the most urgent, fun song with some great harmonica. Dunno if I'll playlist it, but yeah.

Very light four, not the type of music I'd go back to (although I did playlist the title track). If it weren't for the lyricism and the context around this album, would have been an easy three for me.

The title track goes hard. Couple songs that are fine generally (although lyrics are great throughout Leaving the Table especially) but musically aren't as interesting to me. Travelling Light and on though are on the same level as the title track.

Overall, fantastic record, and emotionally harrowing listenening to him basically on his deathbed recording this.

So I'm not really a fan of prog. Used to be when I was younger, but ended up growing out of it when I decided I wanted more concise or "intentional" music (punk, technical/math rock), or, if you're gonna have ten minute long songs, it needs to be a vibey/atmospheric type thing (post-rock/metal, black metal).

But even among prog, this is still one of the weaker ones I've listened for this project. I still gave them 3s, but I preferred the Yes albums. Mostly because those are rock, whereas this album is more folk influenced. Which is weird because I'm always down for folk, but I don't know what it was with some of those 70's prog bands and wanting their music to sound like a ren faire soundtrack.

Mostly, though, this album is just fine for me, although The Battle of Epping Forest tries my patience. It's all over the place, some really annoying (if intentional) vocal inflections, and some really weird crushed guitar picking that feels out of time. Very plinky in a select few spots.

But yeah. It's fine. Music is well done/performed. Mostly just isn't for me.