Reviews by uncle_ducky

This is tough because, like I said in my Appetite for Destruction review, these were the two first cds I got for Christmas in 1987. As an eleven year old, I loved the singles from both of these bands but I definitely listened to this one more. Listening now, I can still enjoy it as an eighties pop album. Their post punkisms are mostly gone by this point but it’s not bad and it definitely gets worse.

I was going to college in Michigan when the White Stripes debuted. Despite seeing some great Detroit garage rock bands like The Dirtbombs and The Demolition Doll Rods live and loving them, I never got the appeal of The White Stripes. I can understand the appeal of the early albums but this one leaves me cold.

For some reason, this album was pulled from the list today to be replaced by less important albums. I thought it was great. I’ve been a fan of his earlier albums for a while but, like most artists of the era, I’ve never wanted to dip into their later releases. This is surprisingly good (unlike the newest Rolling Stones album that bumped it from the list).

Five star song writing. She wrote songs so good that others got famous from just covering them. If this album does nothing for you, most likely your soul has rotted away without you knowing it.

At the time of this review Nowhere is not currently on my streaming service. Luckily, I’ve own it and have listened to it so many times because it’s one of my favorites. Just a warm, fuzzy listen.

Only two weeks ago I reviewed the Getz album, Jazz Samba and wrote that it could only get four stars from me because I liked this album more.

This came out during my freshman year of college. I was an indie rock sponge. I couldn’t get enough. If the record store had a new release from Touch and Go, Drag City or Merge Records, I’d buy it without even hearing it first. I recognize this album but I gotta say, back then (and until today) this artwork and logo is an automatic skip. The art is horrendous and the logo is more fitting for a jam band. I feel like these things are important to a band’s identity. Listening now, I’m not sure this would have made it in my collection if I’d heard it back then. There’s places where it sounds like The Lemonheads or Teenage Fanclub but my main issue is the music is all over the place. I feel like I’m listening to a 90’s Alt compilation. When you hear a Dinosaur Jr, Pavement, or Superchunk song, they are immediately recognizable. There are great tracks like Goldfinger and not so great tracks like Kung Fu.

This album in on here because The Message, the song, is on it. There I one other great track and that’s Scorpio, which is an early electro sing with amazing vocoder. It’s Nasty is good but the Tom Tom Club sample is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The rest feel like filler songs. Dreamin’ and You Are were painful to sit through. The Message, being so significant, brings the album up to three stars.

Look, I love Neil Young and I love this album. Sure some albums are better than others but do we really need to go over the significance of an artist over and over again?

This is a tricky one. It’s hard to rate an album so wound up in social and political topics. As a bleeding heart liberal, I support the message 100%. As a huge music nerd, I just want into the music. It sounded like sketches of song ideas. Half the time I kept wondering if the music was samples or an actual band (or maybe they were sampling themselves?). Anyway, messaging = 4 stars, music = 2 stars.

This is a tough one. A good backstory can give cred to a piece of art. The issue I’m having is even though I’ve never heard this particular band, I have listened to “African Rock” compilations and I’m having a hard time hearing what separates this from the rest. Maybe it’s because I don’t speak the language. All to say, I liked what I heard but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it.

One of my all time favorite pop albums from the eighties.

Just a perfect rock album. It’s amazing that Smoke on the Water, being their biggest hit is not even close to the best song on here. These guys and Blue Oyster Cult had the heavy rock formula down on the seventies.

Everyone knows her voice so I prefer to talk about the music. I love the sound of 60 psychedelic blues when it has this nice crunchy warmth to it. So many artists try to create this sound but it comes out way to clean. I also appreciate when there aren’t three minute blues guitar solos in every song.

The musical equivalent of sport jackets with hoodies sewn into their collars found at Target. Do yourself a favor, turn this off and discover the band Pussy Galore.

Being an eighties kid, I grew up with The Beastie Boys. Bought their first album on tape and still have it somewhere. But after that, I could never get back into them. I liked the songs (and videos) that I’d see on MTV, but never felt the desire to buy another album. Trying to listen to an album in one sitting is too much for me. I love them in small doses.

I heard this in high school, 1994 or 5 and instantly fell in love. This will always be a five star album to me. I can’t think of a band other than the pictures that I’ve listened to more consistently than The Pixies.

“In the walking dude!” Such a fun thrash album. It’s funny because yesterday I had British Steel by Judas Priest and although I understand its importance to all things heavy metal, it’s not an album I listen to. Not this album on the other hand, it’s just fun. Maybe it’s because I was into punk and hardcore before discovering that I liked metal but these early thrash albums are totally in my wheelhouse.

I don’t have much to say since they’ve never clicked with me despite being a lover of metal. I enjoy listening to them, I just never get that itch to keep listening after it’s over.

If only ever listened to the Getz/Gilberto album after I became obsessed with Brazilian psych music which led me down the rabbit hole of amazing Brazilian music. This album is great but I’m not sure I can put it on the same level as Getz/Gilberto.