Reviews by uls980

Listened to this one a few times in the past year, and it's fairing better this time around for me compared to previous.

Always was a solid new wave album, but previously thought it was kinda hit and miss, but the deep cuts are pretty good for me.

Obviously the hits are great, One Way Or Another, Hanging on the Telephone, and Heart of Glass.

Just damn solid new wave.

Think I slightly prefer this one over Be in terms of sound, with its 60's/70's soul and funk inflicted jazz (with Be being the more Kanye style chipmunk soul).

Be has just aged a little more compared to Like Water, since the whole chipmunk soul sound has kinda been relegated to the 2000's with Kanye's records. That said, while I think I like Like Water a little more due to that, I think Be is the more consistent album owing to its shorter runtime (nearly half as long), which is what's kinda hurting Like Water for me.

Honestly, if Like Water was chopped down to 50ish minutes (or hell, even 60), I think it'd be a much tighter, engaging album. Just by the end it did get a little tiring.

Either way, it does have some fantastic cuts on it, particularly The Light and The 6th Sense. The D'Angelo and Cee-Lo tracks are really good too, and great to see Questlove drumming on a couple songs.

Overall, a really good record, pretty on par with Be.

Will say this is better than the last (And only Steely Dan album) I've listened to - The Royal Scam.

But generally the same complaints there. Kinda overproduced and sterile. Which is kinda the point I guess, but yeah.
Bohisattva and My Old School are good songs, but that's more from playing Rock Band. Also enjoyed The Boston Rag.

But yeah. It's mostly just fine. Don't think Steely Dan really are a band for me. I'd like a little more grit and dirtier production, which you're never going to get from Steely Dan.

I never really have much to say about R.E.M. records. They kinda defy reviews to me.

But they're always solid listens. Obviously The One I Love and It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) are classics, but the rest of the album is just as solid.

Liking this a lot better than the last time I tried listening to it.
Definitely feels like Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago (An album that is missing from the list) filtered a little through 60's psychedelia.

But whereas 60's psychedelia generally lets me down, Fleet Foxes does a great job with it. Production is great and warm, the weird instruments and bad experimental sounds are kept to a minimum (Or done tastefully).

Just a damn good album.

As much as I love this album (And the follow up, Morning View), I really do think this is a weird pick for the list. I don't think Incubus were big, influential, or culturally important enough for it.

But either way, the album's on the list, so that's what I'm reviewing.

It really feels like with their influences being Primus and Faith No More, that bands really had two paths to go down when incorporating funk/hip-hop into metal and hard rock.

Either you became a nu-metal band, or you were Incubus who focused more on Faith No More's playing around with genre's instead of just being like "HIP HOP AND METAL LETS GO". I guess there's a third path, which is what Rage Against the Machine took and were a hip hop band with rock instrumentals instead of nu-metal bands where they were rock bands with hip hop (influenced) vocals.

But yeah, this is a pretty damn good record. Incubus just sounds like Incubus, especially with Brandon Boyd's instantly recognizable voice where he somehow manages to sing lyrics in a way that sounds like rapping a little bit. The singles are definitely the best songs on the album (Pardon Me, Drive, and Stellar), but the rest of the tracklist is no slouch. From the more nu-metalish The Warmth and When it Comes, to the more Pink Floyd/psychedelic stuff like Consequence. There are a few songs that are kinda nothing like I Miss You, but not many.

Just a great album all around.

I really thought the other Doves album was an unnecessary addition to the list, and this one isn't really doing anything to convince me otherwise.

Just sounds like brit pop with a little more folk and atmospherics at times. N.Y. is an aggressive OK Computer era Radiohead rip (sounds good though).

Honestly, I'm not liking the weird mashup of ska, metal (?), and Huey Louis and the News style 80's rock. Just none of this is working for me.

Perfectly fine jazzy funk blues. Nothing particularly standing out to me, but nothing to complain about. Onto the next album.

Really interesting contrast to yesterday's album, Ágætis byrjun by Sigur Rós (And yeah, weird that this sometimes happens. I got the Adam and the Ants album right after Fear of Music by Talking Heads. Two very similar albums that I had wildly different experiences with).

Now, the difference between these two isn't as large as that with Adam and the Ants and Talking Heads (Liked Adam, hated Fear of Music). Where Ágætis byrjun left me wanting a bit, I'm enjoying Music Has the Right to Children more. There's a little more to latch onto with this one for me, and it's definitely more of a vibe. Especially the slight creepiness to a track like Sixtyten.

One thing I noticed perusing the RYM genres on this album, is that it's listed as Hauntology as a secondary genre, which I think is helping a lot with my enjoyment of it too. It's quite a bit different from the only other artist I've heard that delved into that genre (The Caretaker), but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. It's definitely got that kinda melancholic, creepy nostalgia to it.

I will say, some of the filler tracks like The Color of Fire I'm not big on, with the vocal samples just being weird to me.

Also, this album is definitely giving me Mirror's Edge vibes a little bit, especially on a few of the earlier tracks. Just that pristine, white, slightly happy but dystopian feel.

Also, another comparison that I think I'm hearing in this is Ulver's Perdition City. That one's on the darker side, but still getting similar vibes.

(And not to keep on piling the comparisons, but all these comparisons are stuff I really like, and a track like Aquarius is reminding me a bit of the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack, although the vocal lines I'm really disliking on this track. Overall MHtRtC would be better IMO had they cut all the vocal lines out)

But yeah, overall this is a hell of a record. Not one I'd go back to that often, but definitely when I want this specific vibe. Reading that their follow-up, Geogaddi, has more of a darker sound, I'm definitely going to have to listen to that soon. Feel like as much as I like this one, the darker sound on the follow up will be more my feel.

Honestly feel like if I listened to this enough, it could get up to a 4/5, but for now it's sitting in the middle of the pack for me.

First time I ever listened to it (Months back), it would have easily been a two. It's chill to the point of kinda being boring, but this time around it's more chill to the point of being chill (lol).

But what I'm wanting from this album is to really do something for me to hook onto really, and it's kinda defying that. Which, don't get me wrong, is to it's credit. But this album is feeling like the Icelandic Cocteau Twins, but the Cocteau Twins were laser focused and had hooks on Heaven or Los Vegas, whereas this one really doesn't.

So yeah. Very good album. Just not something I am feeling at this moment in time. I suspect if I listen to it more, it'll click more and more though.

Oof, I didn't expect this one to be one where I'd have a visceral negative reaction to. It's not awful. It's not even bad, it's really good. But for some reason the vocals are just killing me, and the music isn't really elevating things for me either with it kinda sounding very 90's in a way I'm not a fan of..

The vocals are reminding me kinda of James LaBrie from Dream Theater, who's not a vocalist I particularly like, but he's fine in the context of Dream Theater, whereas the vocals here are absolutely not working for me.

But yeah. One of the very few albums where I just don't like it despite it being good.

Very 80's, almost to the point where I'd dislike it, but the new jack swing vibes are generally keeping it interesting for me.
Some songs have vocals I'm not terribly enamored with though.

This is much, much better than 1984. Before even listening to this, I could tell that from the first half of the tracklist being nothing but hits. Jamie's Cryin' isn't quite as good as the other hits, but still.

Was thinking this could be a situation of the second half just completely falling off, but with the exception of Ice Cream Man, it's just as good as the first half. On Fire is fantastic.

So yeah. Great hard rock album.

You know people complain a lot about the amount of britpop on this list, and while that's true, its stuff like this that is clogging up the list.

In a sense, also britpop, but what I mean is the random ass 90's British (Scottish in this case) pop albums that go into other genres, reggae in this case. And its just not very good (No clue wtf Pitchfork was on giving this a fucking 9.7/10 - Almost perfect, really?). Like Ride On and Turn the People On sounds so cheap. The album's best when it's just aping Bob Marley, and at that point, I'll just listen to Bob Marley.

I get this was apparently big in the UK, but from my experience, I don't trust half of what got big in the UK in the 90s to be anywhere close to good. It always comes off as weird, cheap, and very novelty to me (random ass apropriation of other culture's music - although that might not be the case here with Finley's Ghanian background - my understanding is Ghana's pretty big into reggae! Learned something today!).

And this album isn't helping those trust issues.

I will give it Supreme I Preme though. That song is a bit of a vibe.

Overall, its not an absolutely terrible record. It's listenable, and sometimes a bit of a bop. But its like, there's so much better reggae music out there that I don't see the reason for putting this on the list.

I certainly did not need to hear this before I die.

Ok, well that first song promised a lot that the rest of the album didn't really deliver on.

Keeping Pigs Together really felt like I was gonna get some trip hop infused post rock (and that sounds like a combo that'd be AMAZING). Honestly fantastic track. Then most of the rest of the track list kinda veered more towards if The Prodigy and Jamiroquai had a baby with a jazz band. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not my speed.

Sometimes it tracks more towards a sound like the first track, like on Don't Go Nowhere. Still a little bit of the acid jazz on that one, but not enough to take me out.

Other times you get something like The Rough and the Quick which... woof those lyrics are bad. I'm not against sexual lyrics, but the vocals just aren't working here. It's coming off as way too try hard and honestly a little trashy/porny. The moaning at the end of the track doesn't help.

And the rest of the track list is kinda back and forth between those two vibes. So overall, OK album. Would prefer a whole album of stuff like Keeping Pigs Together over what is actually here though.

Honestly wasn't expecting alt rock/britpop when I put on this album. Seriously was expecting some Irish sea shanties, haha.

But I'm finding myself enjoying this quite a bit than a lot of the other britpop I've heard before (Even Blur and Oasis). The singing can sometimes be annoying as it sounds like he's swallowing his tongue at points, but the music is great enough to allow me to not be bothered too much about it (Pull Together is a great example of that).

Overall, one of the best britpop albums I've heard before. I don't know if it's something I'm necessarily going to go back to much other than playlisting Pull Together, but yeah.

60's psychedelic music is to songs as bitters or Malort are to cocktails. They are to be used extremely sparingly otherwise they will overpower the entire thing and absolutely destroy the palette.

Most of this album is just fine (tm), but when it's bad (Such as on Carnival Song), it's because the whole song is 100% in on psychedelic (bitters). I don't understand why bands/artists in the 60's thought slow as mud ren faire music where they drunkenly wail and slur their words over the whole song was good. And every band had one. Or meandering songs that go absolutely nowhere (Hallucinations).

The 60's had great music, for sure, but short of the 80's (Which I used to think was the worst, but have come to appreciate more with this project), I can't think of a decade that had a higher concentration of music that is god awful, yet still is considered influential and good. IMO, 60's psychedelic music was not all that often good, and often absolute trash (Robert Plant, I like you, but your love of The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter is inexcusable). Why is it highly revered? I get it's experimental, but experimentalism by itself is not necessarily good.

Additionally, I don't know what instrument it is, but it sounds like a sitar (Despite me not being able to find a sitar used in the album in the liner notes). So I can only assume it's a guitar used to imitate a sitar (Maybe a slide guitar?). Either way, another sin of 60's psychedelia is all the Americans and Brits having to bring in eastern instruments into their music (With no experience in the culture of those instruments), and it always comes off as cringe and appropriating to me. We need to take those instruments away from them, Jesus Christ.

ANYWAYS. That's my giant rant on 60's psychedelic music. I know I've complained a lot before, but never really this in depth. Carnival Song kinda forced me.

But like I said, overall, most of this album is just fine. In fact, it has some pretty great tracks as well. Pleasant Street (Even if the crescendo choruses do dip into a little too much of the psychedelic sound I can't stand). Pantasmagoria in Two is great too. Basically when the album sticks to it's lane as a folk album, it's great. When it decides it wants to sound like a Monty Python skit such as in Knight-Errant, it sucks, and it sucks hard.

Goodbye and Hello is one of the few ren faire-y songs that somewhat works due to how folksy it is, until you get to the higher energy verses, similar to Pleasant Street.

So yeah. This is an album that's very back and forth. A couple pretty great tracks. A couple fine tracks. And some truly awful examples of shitty 60's psychedelia. As good as Pleasant Street is (Might actually playlist it, shockingly), I don't think it's good enough to escape getting a 2 from me.

Couple things. First, the name The Boo Radleys is a terrible band name, and I'm not surprised I've never heard of them before. When you kneecap yourself with a terrible name, shouldn't be surprised.

Second, while I'm enjoying this album quite a bit, it being over an hour long is a bit much. I know the 90's were a time of inflated album lengths, but come on guys, cut it down to a trim 45.

Thirdly, I get this is a highly regarded shoegaze(ish - It's more more on the indie alt rock side with some songs verging on shoegaze), 25th on Pitchfork's 50 greatest shoegaze albums, but lets be honest, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride are probably the picks from the genre for the list (Already have them on the list, and already have too many MBV albums, and no Slowdive, which is a crime).

But yeah, pretty solid alt-rock that verges on shoegaze at times. Really dig the tracks I Hang Suspended and Wish I Was Skinny. Kinda has a britpop thing going on that I'm not quite enjoying though (Best Lose the Fear - very Beatles/Oasis-esque).

Overall, the album could use some pruning down and focusing. It's a little all over the place with sounds and styles.

It's interesting. Don't know if I'm burning out slightly from this project, or what, but early on in the project, it feels like I was more likely to give albums/artists I've never heard before higher ratings (It's been over 30 days since I've given a 2 as well. So it's not like I've been getting stuff I don't like, just not been getting almost any new discovers that I would particularly like to go back to). Things really seem to be settling into a place where everything is a 3.

At this point, it's basically just artists/albums I've heard before that are getting higher than 3s, whereas artists where I'm discovering them for the first time are struggling to get higher.

That said, I'm still enjoying this album quite a bit despite the 3 I'm planning on giving it. I do prefer the Sugar album (Copper Blue) from Bob Mould over this one due to it having more melody and catchyness, and I prefer the production on that one. This one is still really good, but slightly more on the punk/abrasive side. It being over an hour long is a sticking point too.

I'll give them She Floated Away though. Wasn't expecting a straight up alt rock sea-shanty to pop up on this album. Nice change of pace for the album.