Reviews by verbaljazz

Taylor Swift is a master of big hooks and earworms and her songs connect with her audience.

Joni Mitchell is an artist who needs to be listened to more than once to hear the nuances in the lyrics and the music. No one writes songs like she does. But when you first hear her, it doesn't make sense as pop music because she breaks so many "rules." Nevertheless, her influence is enormous, and she lays claim to being one of the all-time great songwriters.

This is a classic. Needle and the Damage Done is probably one of Neil Young's most affecting songs. Neil Young can write more than one type of song...he can rock out, or go acoustic.

The songs are delightfully offbeat and full of surprises, including a young Bjork.

Paper Planes is an all-timer. The album started to grow on me with the second listen.

If Meg White were named Mark White, no one would be pissy about the drumming.

Some great songs, but they get repetitive after a while.

There are a lot of great songs on this record, but there are far too much filler and "bloated corpse" songs that the Beatles could put on a record just because they were the Beatles. It's almost as though they were trying to see what they could get away with.

If they had released an entire album of John and Yoko audio experiments in the vein of Revolution 9, it still would have sold millions of records.

I, for one, do not blame Yoko for the break up of the Beatles. They were impossibly young, creatively adventurous, internationally famous and under the ever watchful eye of the media. That life is unsustainable.

Why are there no Sonic Youth cover bands?

Because anyone who would be in a Sonic Youth cover band would be making their own music.

What Sonic Youth detractors often miss is that amidst the noise, there is a keen ear for melody and sounds that simply blend well together.

Back in the early '90s I might have convinced myself that I really like this.

This is a frustrating one. I can hear the artistry, the experimentation, everything that makes Queen great when it all clicks. But this doesn't click.

I saw Ladysmith Black Mambazo perform a couple of years ago at the Dakota in Minneapolis. The group has gone through several iterations over the years, but the love of the music comes through.

Writing catchy songs is an under-appreciated skill. The songs here are so catchy and earnest.

Everyone involved with this record sounds like they're having the best time. That joy is infectious.

A classic synthesizer-driven album.

I'm old enough to remember when the title track was all over MTV. We were struck by the bending of gender norms with a female vocalist having a buzz cut.

But what a vocalist Annie Lennox is!

Message in a Bottle, Walking on the Moon and Bring on the Night are simply great songs. Stewart Copeland has to be one of the most inventive drummers. The Police sounded like no one else.

The album you've heard so much that you might be tempted to rate it below other Pink Floyd albums just to be difficult ("Wish You Were Here" is a strong contender for best Pink Floyd album). But this album has held up over the years because every song is so well placed. "Time" is my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs.

An outstanding record. Every song is it's own world in an album that creates its own universe. It's a near perfect blend of songwriting and studio experimentation.

There are some great songs on here (Devil's Haircut, Where It's At, Lord Only Knows). There's plenty of filler.

The grooves and studio work are first rate, but as a songwriter Beck often feels like he's keeping the listener at a distance and being purposefully opaque with his lyrics.

Why do people hate on U2?

At its core, I think it's an aversion to earnestness. U2 started by writing emotional songs about things that mattered, and not about wanting to get laid. Rock music is about getting laid, and U2 said, "No, we want to talk about Bloody Sunday and write a song using a Psalm as lyrical inspiration."

It could also be that U2 are not virtuosos. They understand how to create compelling sonic environments using a variety of effects that make it sound like multiple guitars are playing at once.

The songs on this record are fantastic. Memorable. Earnest. Classic.

Some great songs (Green River, Bad Moon Rising, Lodi) mixed in with forgettable blues-rock. Decent record.

I wonder of John Fogerty ever thought, while recording Bad Moon Rising, that this would be a song forever associated with werewolves. Is Creedence really a werewolf band at heart?