Reviews by wotanmjolnir

I don’t like jazz, but of all the jazz I don’t like this is the type of jazz I don’t like the least. Inoffensive.

Well, this is fine. You can see the punk elements in it, and it does have a bit of the Dylanesque about it, but neither of them are strong enough to carry the album. Not bad, but not the amazing album people hold it up to be.

I do like the afrobeat sound, I have done since I first heard Graceland. What Graceland has that this is lacking somewhat is a western structural songwriting style - whilst this all sounds good it is very repetitive, with songs consisting of a single rhythm pattern repeated and repeated with no bridge, verse / chorus or middle eight for variety. It’s fine, but it hangs around too long.

It’s like Graceland without the wit and charm. The rampant cultural (mis)appropriation here is breathtaking, trampling over huge amounts of African and Afro-American musical styles with little seeming acknowledgement, all over-ridden by (what I’m presuming to be, but I’m struggling for confirmation) Malcolm McLaren and a horrid cod-American accent.

Having said all that, it’s not as horrible as it could be - whatever else you can say about McLaren he had an incredible ear for what people wanted to hear, and this is … ok. It’s not great at all, and the largely uncredited appropriation leaves a bad taste, but I didn’t hate it completely.

Ok, I do love myself a bit of folk, but I just think this is a really good album anyway. Sandy Denny had a wonderful, ethereal voice and the music really complements it. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

This is not my favourite Radiohead album, but even Pablo Honey would get at least 4 stars. Pyramid Song and Morning Bell/Amnesiac are absolutely sublime, and the rest is really good.

Whilst nowhere near a brilliant album, it’s solidly in the ‘really good’ bracket. I’ve always thought the Beach Boys were inconsistent and over-rated - not bad, but not the musical geniuses they were lauded as. This solo effort by the other Wilson brother though is a most enjoyable listen, maybe if he’d picked his friends better, or maybe been a better swimmer, we could have had more.

So much of this album was spent going ‘seriously? What the fuck is this self-indulgent shithousery?!’

It’s not bad, and it would almost be background music if it didn’t spend so much of the run time jumping up and down and trying to draw attention to how very very interesting the artist was trying to be. Never listening to it again, it left no impression on me whatsoever.

I simply don’t get the Rolling Stones. Warmed over, derivative, stolen blues, the only reason they are revered is because they did it first. It’s not bad, but that’s only because it’s inoffensive sonic wallpaper. Beige music.

It’s fair to say I didn’t have high hopes for this - nearly an hour and twenty minutes of Algerian pop, with an average rating of around 2.5 on the site. However, it comfortably exceeded those hopes. It’s not great by any stretch, but it’s also not bad at all. I suppose the 2.5 score is probably about right, as it is very ok, but I’m going on the high side of it.

As 10cc (almost) said I don’t like reggae, because reggae is shit. This isn’t even really reggae, but what it lacks in authenticity it makes up for with a Jafaican accent that, if a white artist had done it rather than one whose heritage is Ghanaian, would have been called out for audible blackface.

A horrible cold turd of an album.

Of all the big players in the NWOBHM, Priest were the one that passed me by. I didn’t hate the music, but the image was just a little too overblown for me (and how anyone was surprised when Rob Halford came out is amazing). Listening now, a few decades later, I can see why they were so big. It’s not quite my flavour of metal, but it’s a really good album. Happy today.

I really have no idea why this is on the list. Soundtracks are an odd choice, and if you’ve got this one why not Saturday Night Fever or Who Made Who as well? Massively over long and a bit shit does not make me love this.

14 tracks in 31 minutes? Ok, this has to be punk or hardcore - excellent!

Yeah, not quite. It’s not bad, not at all, but it’s quite forgettable. It was ok, but I’d have been way happier if it had been punk.

I had never listened to a Springsteen album before, but this was really enjoyable. Powerful messages delivered simply and effectively. A very good album.

I’m guessing that the reason that this is on the list is because it’s Serbian, and from a time of major conflict in the region. However, it’s still a bit shit and nondescript, and for sure doesn’t need to run over an hour.

Weird electro-dance-jazz own-fart-sniffing. We are all supposed to like Bjork because she’s a proper artist. I just think she’s bonkers.

Whilst The Doors recorded some brilliant, brilliant stuff they also recorded some really unenjoyable shit. This album is no different, but when they hit their poetic majesty, especially on Crawling King Snake and Riders on the Storm, it’s good enough to outweigh the crap and keep it in the ‘really good album’ slot. There’s too much crap for it to be 5 stars, but it isn’t far away.

I got this album this morning, and then later that day got diagnosed with glaucoma. Listening to U2 was the worst part of the day.

I’ve never got the fuss about Pixies - I was into rock and metal at the birth of grunge and before, but out of all the early grunge bands and influences it was only Pearl Jam that I liked, although I have since discovered Bob Mould.

This is ok, but absolutely inconsequential for me. I doubt I’ll ever spin it again.