Reviews by uls980

Holy shit, a Costello album other than This Year's Model that has hooks.

But yeah, this is easily the best Costello album other than Next Year's Model. I'll have to relisten to that one to determine which is better, but I'm enjoying this more than basically every other Costello on the list.

Costello was never really a chorus guy I don't think, but this album is catchy as hell regardless. Basically everything on this is great. Welcome to the Working Week, Miracle Man, Alison, (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes, Pay It Back... all fantastic and fun.

Additionally, I'll keep saying this until the heat death of the universe, but with the possible exception of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Costello is the coolest musician to ever live, and that's unimpeachable. Only difference is Elvis Costello is the nerd version of cool whereas Sinatra is just fuckin' cool.

Update: Hello from the future after relistening to This Year's Model again. This Year's Model is definitely the better album. Better produced, catchier. And honestly, it only needs The Beat to be better, the rest of the album is just icing on the cake (Pump It Up, Little Triggers, (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea, Living in Paradise are fantastic). But that's not to say My Aim is True isn't great. It is. Just This Year's Model is Elvis Costello at his peak. Also, the cover to My Aim is True hurts my eyes to read it. Not taking points off for that, but yeah, lol.

Oh hell yeah, this was one of the albums I was most curious about listening to from the beginning of this project. I already like Dinosaur Jr's more "recent" output like Farm and I Bet on Sky, and a few singles here and there (Like Feel the Pain from Without a Sound), so was curious what earlier Dinosaur Jr. sounded like.

And the answer is less polished (And their more modern music is still lofi-ish) and more noisy, which I'm here for. Everything on this is great, from Freak Scene to They Always Come, to Let it Ride.

Initial listen I was pretty much ready to give this a 5*, but think I'm settling into a 4*. I relistened to Farm after it, and I think I do prefer Farm (Which I would also give a 4*) even with it's more bluesy influences.

Great album though.

I want to like this one more than I did. Definitely think I prefer the self-titled over this one, even though this one definitely spans a broader list of genres and influences. Blur though is just a little more consistent.

I like this album more when it's hitting on post-punk like on the tracks like Colin Zeal and Pressure on Julian. Although the rest of the tracklist is still solid, although AGGRESSIVELY British sounding.

It definitely feels like Blur trying to expand their sound, searching for something to hit on.

Man, I get this is influential and groundbreaking for it's time, but it's just sounds so damn dated. I was terrified the whole album was going to sound like Hard Times, which is an absolutely awful track with some of the worst, stilted rapping flow I have ever heard in my life.

Luckily, the rest of the album is pretty standard old school hip hop in terms of flows, but I still don't really care for it. Rock Box is probably the best track with it's more busy production. But then you have songs like Hollis Crew which is just percussion and DMC/Run rapping, which is the complete opposite of Rock Box. It just does nothing for me.

Overall though, this thing has just aged so poorly that I can't get into it. Feel bad because I want to appreciate it, just can't when stuff like Kendrick, Biggie, Eminem, Mobb Deep, Nas, etc. all exist. It's like trying to go back and play the original Metroid after having played Super Metroid. Just unplayable.

Man, we need to make it illegal for Westerners to make music in the style of other culture's music. It just comes off as incredibly cringe and appropriative. Especially when there's a shitton of this on the list and not music from the actual culture that this stuff is ripped off of. I've complained about this a lot when 60's psychedelic bands appropriate Indian music, and it's no different here.

Overall, it's FINE-ish, I guess, but it's not particularly good. It just sounds like someone who doesn't really understand the music he's trying to copy. Just incredibly basic. Vocals are pretty awful when Mr. Wobble is on the mic.

And why is this even on the list? The thing it seems to have going for it is the bassist was in Public Image, Ltd., and that it was included in the 1001.
If anyone can elucidate me on why it should be included, let me know.

Man, England will let anything get radio play, huh? Like, I praise the 90's for letting anything get radio play, but generally that "anything" was pretty good. Beck, New Radicals, Butthole Surfers. But even in the wild west of weird but good music that the 90's cornered the market on, you're bound to find some trash.

Lastly, bro... can we stop with the English bands with awful names? Jah Wobble. Badly Drawn Boy. Elbow. Klaxons. The Boo Radleys. Enough. Come up with a good name for your band, otherwise I'm putting you in time out.

Was actually surprised by how much I liked this one. Was expecting more electronic stuff, and while it had some of that, it read more as more typical music to me rather than electronic music.

At least, I was surprised how much I liked it until I realized afterwards I didn't really remember much of it? I'm sure if I listened again, I would like it, but yeah.

Generator random is wild. Three Cohens in ten days. Guess the generator just wanted to get Cohen over with, because this is the last one I needed.

I would be 100% not surprised in the slightest if this album were the defining influence for Nick Cave. This is such a Nick Cave album.

But yeah, easily the best of the Cohen albums on the list. Ping pongs between dark folk cuts like Avalanche and Dress Rehearsal Rag (the best songs on the album) and stuff that's closer to the first two albums (albeit better).

Really great album.

Yeah, wasn't super stoked to hear this. Psychedelic blues rock, probably the two genres I'm most burnt out on combined into one.
Weirdly, the psychedelic stuff is better than the blues stuff?

Cryin' to Be Heard and (Roamin' Thro' the Gloamin' With) 40.000 Headman are pretty solid, and of course Feelin' Alright is the classic.

Other than that though, just a lot of stuff where, if I never heard it again, it'd be too soon. It's not bad per-se, I'm just sick and tired of hearing music that sounds like this. The list is inundated with blues and psychedelic rock, and that's where I'd start cutting. It'd be like a knife through warm butter, if only to get stuff like The Lonesome Crowded West on the list (Although I don't know if I'd cut this one. Traffic's reputation I think would prevent that).

Not really blowing me away, but probably the best psychedelic rock album not made by The Beatles on the list.

Sometimes feeling a little Beatles, sometimes there's some Dylan in there. Some classics like Somebody to Love and White Rabbit.

But yeah. It's great for psychedelic rock. Fine for me.

Unfortunately one of those albums where I just don't have the bandwidth to really focus on it. But what I did listen to was fine. Kinda Beatles. Kinda Nick Drake. Kinda 90's alt.

Feels very much like a pick a Brit would make, don't think I'd put it on a list of 1001 albums you should listen to.

Also, terrible band name, haha.

Had no expectations going into this, but weird, experimental tango music was definitely an interesting thing to hear.

I'm actually REALLY enjoying this. One of those albums where the first song comes on, and I'm almost compelled to give it full marks. Reminding me a lot of some very avant garde metal bands like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Diablo Swing Orchestra, and maudlin of the Well. Would not be surprised to hear those bands were heavily influenced by this album.

Sometimes gives me a very sitting in Paris or Italy eating food on the street vibes, other times just avant garde Coraline vibes (Kinda also giving me shades of Castlevania music as well. Shoutout Michiru Yamane for the Symphony of the Night soundtrack).

If I do have a "complaint" about this album, is that it does fall into Mister Rogers-isms here and there. Not that that's a bad thing, but I enjoy the more maudlin/melancholy stuff that dominates this over the nicer parts. But yeah, really fantastic stuff and one of those complete surprises I was not expecting.

Looking at the reviews though, 2.88 average? Really? I usually understand why an album is rated low, but not this one. No dissonance, not heavy, no lyrics to get in the way of things if they're bad. Just the type of music that I think would be very inoffensive "vibe" music to most people. I'd have expected more of a flat 3/5 on the average.

This album surely deserves a lot more praise than it gets IMO. Definitely going to relisten to some maudlin of the Well and Sleepytime soon. This is a vibe I'm here for.

Definitely the most unexpected five star I've given so far. Love the coincidence of it being my halfway album.

Man, this one seemed destined to get a 3 from me. Funk. Movie soundtrack. Over an hour long.

But then No Name Bar and Do Your Thing happened, and those songs just HIT. Really good stuff.

I don't got too much else to say, it's just a damn good soundtrack. It vibes.

Electronic. UK Garage. House. Ni fu ni fa.

Generator random strikes again! Two Cohen albums in 3 days.

But yeah. A slight improvement in basically every way compared to Songs of Leonard Cohen. The music is better, less boring, and a little more catchy. The vocals/lyrics stood out more for me. And he excised the psychedelic elements I didn't like. Decent album.

For a three hour long album, don't got a lot to say other than that it's really good. Three hours of Fallout-core isn't a bad thing in my book.

But yeah, it very much is vibe music for me. Can't pick out specific songs I like when it all blends together, especially at that length. Just sit back, listen, and vibe.

I've enjoyed the previous Leonard Cohen albums I've gotten, but this one is just boring. Basic, psychedelic inflected folk music. Feels like an album that rides and dies on it's writing and lyrics, and those aren't aspects I really look for in an album on the first couple listens, so this one is really falling flat for me here.

Surprisingly great album. Never heard of him before, but really enjoying this.

Kinda an Elton John meets Father John Misty (minus pianos). Definitely has the weird lyrics similar to FJM. Would prefer Father John Misty being on the list, but alas.

What in the Stayin' Alive, Bee Gee's-ass cover of Comfortably Numb is this?
The rest of the album is pretty solid honestly (Mary, Lovers in the Back Seat), but at the risk of coming off as an old man defending the honor of a bunch of old rich assholes (read: Roger Waters), that cover is just offensively bad. Like, a complete misinterpretation of the original song. Making a dance-y, disco cover of a song that's all about being so drugged out of your mind that you can't move is just a weird ass take. And I don't even care much for Wall-era Pink Floyd. But what do I know, Waters apparently liked the cover, so fuck me I guess, lol.

But anyways yeah, the album isn't half bad. Kinda in line with other weird throwback bands on the list from the 90's and 2000's like The Cardigans and Darkness (Cardigans being the clear winner of the three IMO). Would I put it on the list? Absolutely not, but definitely not an album that isn't worth a listen. But not really my vibe either.

Good palette cleanser after yesterday's Slits album.

Mostly not really wowing me, but a couple tracks here and there are really good. Kinda got a slight Leonard Cohen/Johnny Cash thing going on with a few of the cuts.

Definitely falling into that "I'm too American to understand why this is on the list" category for me though. But I don't really begrudge the pick. It's a solid album.

Not that I would have enjoyed it that much more, but I was really expecting some perfectly fine punk music from this.

Not experimental post-punkish type... whatever this is. This is a bit in line with stuff like The Idiot by Iggy Pop and Fear of Music by Talking Heads.

I know this is a bit hypocritical coming from someone who likes extreme metal, but just in general this era of post-punk is just incredibly unpleasant music. Its got this sour, spoiled feel to it that I legitimately struggle to understand how anyone can enjoy listening to it.

Bands like The Cure and New Order really did save this genre from itself and turn it into something good. I legitimately enjoy a lot of post-punk, but its gotta be 80s and later. Without exception, 70's post-punk always comes off as a bunch of music nerds trying to break the rules of music because they think they're smart, without understanding what the rules are in the first place. The 70's equivalent of 2000's hipsters trying to convince everyone their shitty folk music is good (and the hypocrite I am, I do like that shitty folk music, but I don't begrudge anyone who says Neutral Milk Hotel is garbage, lol). I want to go back in time and stuff them all in lockers. Maybe the embarrassment will convince them to write a decent hook for once in their life.

But joking (kinda) aside, there are some tracks on this that aren't completely awful. FM and Newtown are kinda decent with a sorta reggae vibe, but again, that 70s post-punk is doing it no favors.

Also Typical Girls is pretty solid. Probably the best track on the album.

But yeah, not really much good here.