Reviews by verbaljazz

Can we stop having albums that aren't on streaming platforms?

A sign that not everything complex and difficult is necessarily "good."

The "Finnegan's Wake" of records.

I have these neighbors who destroyed a perfectly good portion of their lawn to create a prairie garden. While they may understand that a prairie garden provides more biodiversity, they expended a lot of effort to make their yard look like garbage. This album is the musical equivalent of that: a lot of effort for a "what the f*ck are you doing?" response.

This sounds like something I'd make up when I'm goofing around and want to annoy my family. I think I'll use it to wake my kids up from now on.

Passable French pop

Almost no one sounds like they put more effort into singing than Otis Redding.

This is terrible. The idea that supposedly talented people worked on this is proof that sometimes teams are weaker than their individual contributors. An all-around embarrassment of a record.

This music is giddy and infectious. It's a whole vibe, as the kids say.

Nick Drake was a genius. His guitar tunings were nothing short of spectacular.

Loud, aggressive, fast. Punk before the word was used for marketing purposes.

I saw Soundgarden on tour for this album. The venue, Tsongas Arena in Lowell, MA, was hot and sweaty and Chris Cornell was understandably peeved about people throwing their sweaty t-shirts on the stage. But the band was on fire. Chris Cornell was a generational talent who could sing while playing complex guitar riffs. The songs on this album spoke to a darker part of him.

Do people who like this like jazz? Do people who like jazz like this? I need a venn diagram of people who like jazz and electronica. Where is the overlap? All kidding aside...the music on this record sets a mood.

Is it possible that Paul Simon is an underrated lyricist/musician? He has a knack for finding the right people to work with.

A bloody mess. There's no consistent musical vision

Jazz is exploration into the limits of music. The best jazz artists shatter those limits. Miles Davis made a career pushing the boundaries of music. He could have settled in and kept making "Kind of Blue" but he didn't. That's only part of the reason that Miles Davis is one of the most important American musicians ever.

This collection could be called "Murderous Cucks," or "Cucks Prone to Domestic Violence." Country music, at its best, is about storytelling, and Yoakam spins some decent stories, even if the murderous cucks need the salvation of Jesus (See "Hold on to God," the last song) in the end. The musicianship is quite good. Overall, not my cup of tea.

Sometimes the universe conspires to prevent you from listening to a record. I started listening when I took the dog for a walk, but the music kept cutting out. Then, I started listening when I got home when the internet went out. This seems like the perfect record for needing to jump through hurdles (okay, minor inconveniences) to listen to it. It's odd, but somehow accessible.

Herbie Hancock is one of the most influential musicians. This record explores and obliterates the boundaries of "jazz."

90's alternative was just a whole lot of blah. Not horrible, not great, just melodic heavy guitars not doing anything particularly interesting, and paired with moody lyrics. It was a formula that worked okay on the song level, but led to albums that were competent but not great. Record labels saw $$$ in repeating this formula. "Alternative" was mainstream, not like the 80s where college radio stations played bands that commercial radio saw as having little potential. Not to pick on Garbage, there are some decent songs on this album, but it fits this 90s alternative formula to a tee.

Electronic music is often a relentless drone of sameness. Which is perfect for the club. Or for those times you want to focus and let the music exist in the background. The music on this record create a propulsive sense of anxiety.

It's jarring listening to Metallica and a symphony orchestra AT THE SAME TIME. Normally when a symphony takes on popular music, the music is arranged for the symphony only. The fact that the SFSO would take this project on is a testament to how good the musicianship of Metallica is. Sure, the SFSO could have seen the commercial potential of this project also. The songs are great, but the mix sounds like when you're listening to music and looking at instagram, and instagram is playing music as well.

Are the Doors a band you just outgrow as you age? Or do they have some decent songs, but then a lot of filler? Is what made the Doors unique the organ sound of Ray Manzarek paired with the dorm room poetry of Jim Morrison? Is Jim Morrison mailing it in on this record? Was he a good front man with limited vocal range? Had Jim Morrison lived, would the Doors have become another classic rock band paying tribute to its past? Did Jim Morrison grow and change as an artist over the time the Doors were making records until his untimely demise?

In 2026, we would not use the N-word even in the service of satire. And that's probably as it should be. 1974 was a much different time. "All In the Family" featured and satirized Archie Bunker, an overtly racist protagonist living in Queens. 1974 was also soon after the Civil Rights era of the 1960s when white racists were still feeling free to use the N-word as a demeaning epithet. Now, in 2026, with the Trump back in the White House, in part because young white men wanted to be free to say the N-word, Randy Newman's satire seems more fitting than ever. The music is classic Randy Newman.