Reviews by uls980

Not really a Zappa fan, although I've enjoyed pretty much everything I've heard from him before, and when I saw this this morning, was kinda not looking forward to it because just wasn't in the mood for weird progressive, bluesy, jazz rock type stuff.

Not that it's appears on much aside from like the first track, but he has a knack for taking really cliche, overused sounds that come off as super dated and making them sound extremely fresh and interesting.

But its undeniable that this thing is amazing. Definitely gets a bump up for being almost entirely instrumental, although I don't really dislike Zappa's singing, just that sometimes I am not in the mood for it.

Gonna be honest, couldnt even get halfway through this thing (although I did skim the later songs just to confirm I wouldn't like those either).
This album feels like it was specifically designed for me to hate it. It's excruciatingly 80's. You couldn't make a more 80's sounding record. The vocalist is insufferable to my ears and it's like they tried to take every 80's music trope, sound, and production technique, and cram them all into one 40 minute album. Like they took a soundboard of every cliche 80's sound that exists and made sure to hit every button on the board.

This is... not good. The first half was generic, but inoffensive jazz pop type stuff. And then the second half came with the bad hip hop song. Then it just kept up with the terrible songs.

Props for the attempt at genre hopping, and the talent is there on the first half, but this is just bad.

I've had one other album I said I don't understand why it's on the list, but at least that album seemed to have been influential in some way. But this one's claim to fame seems to have been getting a reappraisal due to its inclusion in the 1001 albums book? At least if I'm reading the dates in the Wikipedia article correctly.

So yeah. Album IMO that has no business being on this list, unfortunately.

Absolute classic of an album.
Excited to get this one, because I remember listening to it years back and not really being able to get into it aside from the big singles.

But for some reason it's hitting right today. Kinda got that grunge edge to it, really raw and hurt lyrics. Of course the singles are great with You Oughta Know clearly being the highlight of the album (And one of my go-to karaoke songs, although Right Through You might be added to that, haha).

Really want to give it a 5, but think I'll settle on a 4 simply because I can't put it into the upper echelon of albums like Abbey Road, Dark Side of the Moon, To Pimp a Butterfly, etc. It's an amazing, classic album, but not quite a masterpiece.

Like if The Beatles and The Who had a baby who also were also slightly into shoegaze? Obviously a lot more influences than that, but those are the ones that jumped out at me.

Good album, just doesn't hit me like I assume it hits a lot of other people.
I'd just rather be listening to The Beatles, The Who, or My Bloody Valentine/slowdive, haha.

Feel like this album is feeling it's age a bit with some of its sounds, but its still basically one of the best examples of that sound.

I do prefer Jackson's harder edge on some songs here, but Dirty Diana and Smooth Criminal are the only songs that I'd really come back to. Very much don't really care for the lighter R&B songs here.

It's fine, not offensive. Definitely not the type of country I like. It's very twangy and "generic" (maybe wasn't generic in 74 and that's just a function of a lot of country since then through the 90s sounding like that), and the lyrics aren't doing much for me outside of The Grand Tour. Well covered ground for these topics in country.

Would be a 2.5 if I could give half points.

Went into this expecting a 4/5 since I've really enjoyed what I've heard from Curtis Mayfield before, but also expecting it to show some age.

It absolutely didn't. Soulful, funky, amazing. Title track and Freddie's Dead being my standouts.

I'll have to listen again to see if I want to playlist anything, but this is an amazing record.

Edit: After sitting on this for a while, knocking it down to a 4. Still a fantastic record, but haven't really felt like going back to it since I got it.

Pretty much see my review of At San Quentin. Just a solid live record. His voice is a little more strained on some songs, but it gives it character rather than taking away from the performance.

Feel like Logical Progression is too good of a title for this record, to the point where it's kind of a detriment. The evolution of the record is so slow and drawn out that it just blends together and doesn't feel like you're hearing individual tracks so much as a two hour long song. And no album can sustain itself at that length IMO, even if all the tracks manage to differentiate themselves.

It gets a 3 simply because what's there is solid outside of the 2 hour runtime, but I really, really didn't need 2 hours of very similar-ish music. EDM just escapes me everytime.

The lack of an Oxford comma notwithstanding (I won't ding it for that, but I will register my dislike of it not being there. Mentally painful to not be able to write that comma in), solid album, but S&G have always felt like they never had enough of an edge for me. A little too cozy a lot of times, although 7 O'clock News/Silent Night does go hard. Thinking back, Mrs. Robinson is a political song, but I never thought of S&G as political despite coming from the 60's. Maybe should pay more attention to their lyrics.

The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine felt very Beatles, so points for that.

I'm thinking this is a case of an album aging particularly poorly, but this album just sounds dated and cheesy as hell, which is what I imagine happens to most sensual "bedroom" R&B music (Marvin Gaye excluded). The funky record scratch type guitar sound (someone help me here. I dont think its a flanger, whats the pedal used for the guitar sound that comes out right away in the first song, assuming it is an effects pedal?) just dates this album so hard.

Also comes off as a bit elevator-music or dentist music-y at times.

But even still, I've listened to much better neo soul before (D'Angelo's Black Messiah is fantastic, and D'Angelo is a much better singer), so even for the genre, disregarding how poorly it's aged, it's still not good IMO.

If you took The Beatles and gave them The Who's penchant for rock operas?

Half the songs on this album I expected the chorus of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds to break out. It's very Sgt. Peppers.

Great album. Balloon Burning weirdly sounds a bit like a late 2000's, early 2010's indie rock song.

Don't think I'll ever go back to it or playlist anything on it, but its very good.

Don't have a ton to say. It's very Bowie, pretty good. Just not really into it much, and sounds pretty dated for a 90's album.

One of the best hardcore punk records out there with biting lyrics that feel just as relevant today as they likely did back then. Every song is amazing, but especially stuff like Kill the Poor, Let's Lynch the Landlord, California Uber Alles, and Holiday in Cambodia.

East 5/5 for me.

Don't got a ton to say about it. 10 years ago might have been a 4, but not really looking for this kinda indie rock right now, personally.

Some really great afrobeat/jazz. Apparently some scathing political themes that got his mother killed and him nearly beaten to death, but not going to be able to dig into that for this review.

Ultimately though, while I recognize it's great, it's just not for me. I'm super picky when it comes to jazz (Mostly just like 50's jazz and jazzy conscious hip-hop type stuff), so it just isn't for me.

Gonna be honest, don't really see why this album belongs on this list. It feels incredibly derivative and just bored me to tears. Reading on Wikipedia, it says it's pretty influtial to artists like James Blunt, Ed Sheeran, etc., but I wouldn't put any of them on this list either, so I don't really get it. Maybe it's a situation of the "original" feeling passe because everyone today does it now, but like I said, it feels incredibly derivative (Singing is like Bob Dylan, but not in a good way, a lot of the songs sound like folk music I've heard that was made prior to this album).

Yeah, just a very forgettable, boring album to me.

Kinda in the vein of Tanto Tempo and Siembra. Vibe/experience music that isn't something I'd put on while in the car or just listening to music, but could get behind in the right contexts (Dancing, soundtracks, etc).

Only difference is, a lot of it is just rhythm based with minimal music, so a lot of the album does not do anything for me really.

I'd give it a 3 if it weren't for the rhythm based stuff.

Just like the debut, two great singles (Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane) and a middling single (New Kid in Town) surrounded by awful to middling tracks. At least this album felt like it went by quick despite multiple songs dragging on way too long. Wasted Time felt like it wasted my time, and the reprise was wholly inconsequential. Pretty Maids All in a Row had awful singing, and The Last Resort was about 4 minutes too long.

The Eagles are a singles band. Don't ever bother with whole albums, just listen to their greatest hits records.