Reviews by x-minor_miracle-x

#236

Heard Before?
Yes.

Notes:
- this is great stuff. it's decently recorded, the band is hot, the solos rip and Davis is a brilliant performer, arranger and composer.
- it is as much about the final death throes of big band (and the putting out to pasture of bebop) as it is the birth of anything.
- so massively influential that every nuance was completely absorbed into the music that followed. which makes revisiting this rather redundant.

Verdict:
A more accurate but less reverent title would be "Transitional Fossil of Jazz".

Listen Again?
Don't need to.

#235

Heard Before?
Yes indeed.

Notes:
- it's hard not to hear the vocals as either trolling, or just a series of bad decisions.
- which is too bad, because every song has some truly exciting and innovative ideas.
- clearly a producer showcase more than a songwriter effort, but what a production!

Verdict:
Awash in cleverness and wonderful timbres, but too enamored with itself to really have an impact.

Listen Again?
Both better and worse than I remembered. I think I'll stick with "Another Green World" if I want to revisit this era of Eno.

Heard Before?
Yes.

Notes:
- hard to imagine a stronger opening to a debut album.
- my goodness do i every hate the production on this album. the drums are garbage and the hideous snare is always too loud. guitar tones are indistinct and gross. the whole mix is awash in pointless reverb. at least the bass sounds fabulous.
- but the songcraft, sequencing and vocal performances save the day. uniformly excellent, with little bonus goodies around every corner.
- playing mostly backwards on "Don't Stop" is such a risky power move, but to my mind it works perfectly.
- same with grafting multiple songs together for a Frankenstein finale. awesome.

Verdict:
They try everything possible to make a virtue out of believing their own hype.

Listen Again?
I just might, in another few years. I enjoyed it more than i remembered from last time.

#233

Heard Before?
No.

Notes:
- THIS LIST NEEDS A TWO-ALBUMS-PER-ARTIST LIMIT. NOW.
- so this is what all the hype was about back in 2016? we needed better things to talk about.
- i know I'm alone in this, but i would like it better with more saxophone and less Bowie.
- production is gorgeous, songs are middling, vocals are fine.

Verdict:
Fan service.

Listen Again?
Interesting to hear a couple of times today, but no need to bring it back.

Heard Before?
Surprisingly not.

Notes:
- many many cool sounds crammed into songs that mostly go nowhere.
- i mostly tuned out the dialogue samples. perhaps they are the key that unlocks the album. I'll never know.
- did I mention lots of cool sounds? i felt more compelled to track down the sources of their musical ideas than to give this another chance.

Verdict:
Funky ambient with cultural tourist passport.

Listen Again?
Maybe. I sent it to my kid who is a huge David Byrne fan.

#231

Heard Before?
Yes, a long time ago. Coincidentally I just had "...Nation of Millions..." yesterday.

Notes:
- the beats are a bit muddy and the tempo is largely unvaried. lots of cool ideas and great samples.
- interludes lack impact.
- Flava Flav is much improved but less funny.
- Chuck D brings it, but occasionally seems drowned out by the Bomb Squad.
- "Burn Hollywood Burn" is a banger.

Verdict:
For reasons I can't quite pin down, it's less immediate and runs together more than "... Nation of Millions ..."

Listen Again?
Maybe.

Heard Before?
Yes, but not in a very long time.

Notes:
- Flava Flav remains, oddly enough, intermittently charming.
- i have no problem with irritating noises, but even for me there are too many letting-air-out-of-a-balloon samples.
- as for the rest of the beats: unparalleled.
- Terminator X is the perfect turntablist. he's got skill, but his focus is always musical.
- the live tidbits deflate the album's momentum.
- that leaves the untouchable Chuck D. i don't know that there has ever been another MC who raps with such vivid authority. whatever he says, i believe it.

Verdict:
Hiphop has gone in many interesting directions since this album, but rarely with this kind of prophetic urgency. It's an oddly prescient album for something so of-the-moment and concerned with the past. Powerful.

Listen Again?
Yes, but not for a while.

Heard Before?
Nope! Only some of their compilation and guest appearances.

Notes:
- I imagine this will be our only choral album. That frustrates me, but I'm delighted we at least have Shaka Zulu. Tokenism always fills me with similar inner conflict, but is an unfortunate necessity in any list of albums that pretends at comprehensiveness.
- the English tracks kill the magic slightly, somehow simultaneously amplifying and diminishing the exoticism.
- I love how the pieces move from unison melodies to accompanied themes to counterpoint to call-and-response and back again.
- i know that Zulu phonemes include clicks and hisses, but i love how they extend that with whoops and other sounds.
- like most great choral recordings, the reverb acts as another instrument, one which they use masterfully.

Verdict:
Deeply religious, powerfully emotional, gloriously living. I should really join a choir again.

Listen Again?
Yes! And some of their other albums as well.

#228

Heard Before?
My parents were Columbia House subscribers, and so we ended up with many popular albums that were rarely played except to indulge my burgeoning musical curiousity.

Notes:
- drum machine joy is real.
- crowded arrangements - it's an orgy of glassy DX7 and rompler textures.
- cheesy interludes suit the spirit of the album and aren't too long.
- "Black Cat" should have been used in the Halle Berry Catwoman film. terrible missed opportunity.
- vocal performances are neither here nor there, which really weighs down the interminable ballads.
- the naive politics occasionally tip over from heartwarming to embarrassing.
- "GET THE POINT? GOOD. LET'S DANCE."

Verdict:
I want to live in a world where we can solve racism with dance-pop.

Listen Again?
I don't need to, but it was interesting to review it after at least 30 years since the last time I heard it. Thanks, 1001.

#227

In the late 2000s I lived in a sketchy neighborhood a block away from a football stadium. Whenever there was a concert my neighbor and I would cope with the noise pollution by having a backyard party and watching illegally parked cars get towed. Bon Jovi was of course one of those concerts.

Obviously I'm a snob for picking on something just because it's popular. Yet context matters and this music is literally forced on others - the soundtrack to every dollar store, waiting room, tailgate party and tasteless coworker in existence. Regardless of any potential musical interest, I can't see why anyone chooses to listen to this when the choice is already being made for them.

It's not Bon Jovi's fault. Their gorgeous hair, sexy outfits, glossy keyboards, huge drums, wanky guitar, full-throated vocals and dorkily relateable lyrics just happen to appeal to the majority. From there it continues to be pushed on to the rest of us by a calcified industry.

Bad or not, enough is enough.

#226

Heard Before?
Yes indeed.

Notes:
- it's deeply unfashionable now, but there is something about the singing style where one strains at the very top of one's range that appeals to me.
- multiple lead vocalists... the not-so-secret sauce of many of my favorite groups.
- the mix is uneven and awkward. these are complex arrangements and i feel like the producer just didn't know what to do with them.
- I'm a big fan of all the keyboard/organ/piano work and in general the exciting interplay between musicians.
- forgot about this excellent version of "Long Black Veil", one of those pathos-heavy folk tunes I never get tired of.
- other than that, few of the songs truly grip me despite structural interest and great performances.

Verdict:
It's got "The Weight", "Chest Fever" and a simmering cauldron of
soon-to-be-realized potential.

Listen Again?
Probably not. Great stuff, but nothing I'm going to return to for a long time. Turns out I very much prefer their self-titled album.

#225

Heard Before?
Heck yeah! I've been waiting for this to come up on the generator. As far as albums from the year of my birth go, I couldn't ask for more than this and Computer World.

Notes:
- experimental in the literal sense: "let's try this!" still thrilling, even after all the other noise albums I've heard.
- most of my appreciation is rooted in visceral joy. i love these sounds, and i love how they are recorded. much is made of using the studio-as-instrument, and these recordings are a perfect inversion of that ideal.
- yet there's also a significant degree of compositional integrity and variety here. it's patient music that rewards attention. try mapping out or learning to play any of these pieces!
- for me, and seemingly for EN, it is fun to be rigidly and aggressively serious. there's no winking, no self awareness. that alone makes me smile.
- hard to separate this album from their early performances and visual aesthetic. and why would you?
- i just couldn't be happier that simply arranging and recording some sounds can occasion powerful reactions from people. art still matters, folks. you aren't bad or wrong for hating (or loving) this. in either case EN connected with you and you are more alive than you were this morning.

Verdict:
I have an evil black cat that loves this album, for real. Last time I played it, she stopped killing and/or wrecking stuff, stalked into the room and sat with rapt attention, ears twitching.

Listen Again?
Heck yeah! Although I confess I prefer Halber Mensch. I also really dig Blixa's albums with Teho Teardo, if you are interested in what happens when old punks mellow out.

#224

Heard Before?
Probably not, although none of these songs are unfamiliar.

Notes:
- not a cohesive album in the post-60s sense, but that doesn't really count against it.
- same with the fact that the arrangements and production are indistinguishable from dozens of other Stax/Volt records of similar vintage. it ain't so bad that it instantly recalls one of the more vital and exciting moments in American popular music.
- song selection is excellent, if predictable.
- thus with nearly every element confirming exactly to expectations, the main draw is, for me, going to be the vocal performance, and it delivers on every level. here Otis is not just a showstopping powerhouse, but an interpreter who completely inhabits the narrator of each song. not that these characters are subtle or complex, but the feelings feel more powerfully real when he sings.

Verdict:
Just another soul album, but an absolutely iconic one that seizes the moment in a particularly compelling way. What a voice.

Listen Again?
I'm always down for classic soul, although I do usually prefer to try recordings I haven't heard yet.

Heard Before?
Of course.

Notes:
- last i checked, Radiohead is STILL trying to avoid the obvious - this is an entire album of odds n sods.
- that said, there are some fascinating textures in these half-written songs, glimmers of interesting production choices.
- but on the whole it suffers from the same problem as Kid A but much worse: musical innovations pilfered from exciting contemporary electronic musicians, watered down and doused with sad-sack yowling.
- i would probably be more inclined to like this (many of my favorite sounds and production ideas are present) if it weren't accompanied by a tsunami of hype and adulation. context kills.

Verdict:
Today this is just a boring album of tossed off sketches. But back in 2001, when you had to wait three hours to pirate one song with dial-up internet and all you got was "Hunting Bears"? Rage-making.

Listen Again?
I was actually pleased to hear "Life in a Glasshouse" again. But no, I don't need or want this album in my life.

Heard Before?
No. I was never much for gangsta rap.

Notes:
- typically i complain about intros and skits, especially on already-too-long rap albums. but these inserts are chilling and effective.
- his flow delivers diminishing returns, but very powerful in small doses. at the same time I'm not sure this strongly focused work would benefit from more guest features.
- beats aren't as creative or varied as some of the other great albums of the era, but they work and there are no duds.
- obviously this is a lyrics album, and one more concerned with political righteousness than political correctness. and it is every bit as harrowing and visceral as it tries to be.
- highly recommended for anyone thinking about a career in policing.

Verdict:
Violent. Serious. Political. Unrelenting. Essential.

Listen Again?
Not my thing, but I'm very glad I heard it. Uncomfortable in the best way.

Heard Before?
Only "Nothing Compares".

Notes:
- string heavy arrangements and reverby vocals are a bit distracting, but the production doesn't get truly bad until "The Emperor's New Clothes".
- fantastic vocals. powerful and highly inflected without pointless showiness.
- songs are all too long.
- I'm always down for an anti-cop anthem ("Black Boys on Mopeds") and a divorce treatise ("Last Day of Our Acquaintance").

Verdict:
Like a returning comic book villian, tacky studio gloss ruins yet another set of powerful performances.

Listen Again?
Unlikely. I have nothing but respect for Sinead, but these songs (and especially the production) don't really do much for me.

Heard Before?
Those singles were EVERYWHERE. I did listen to the whole album at the time but mostly forgot it.

Notes:
- at first blush, an obvious singles+filler release, especially since the singles have different production and songwriting styles than the rest.
- plenty of the exciting sounds and interesting textures that so much of this list lacks. a production goldmine.
- vocals are servicable, and the lyrics are there. rarely if interest, but rarely embarrassing.
- the right kind of 70s-rock revival. curious but not reverent. plus a bit of spacey surf on "4th Dimensional Transition".

Verdict:
The title fits. It predicted the future and continues to outshine its many imitators.

Listen Again?
Perhaps. Listened multiple times today and surprised a friend who had also written them off. At the very least I'm inspired to check out their later releases, which I had completely passed over.

#219

Heard Before?
Yes, but not since I became a synth nerd.

Notes:
- i complain about the jazz albums on this list but consistently give them five stars. i think it's because even the most overplayed jazz-for-beginners albums aren't blaring from every grocery store and tailgate BBQ. plus with so few jazz albums here and an avalanche of classic rock filler, there's going to be more hits than misses.
- to this day, few players have had jazz chops AND synth chops like Herbie. I have a sinking feeling we aren't going to see Sun Ra on this list, so this is my big chance.
- recording so crisp and dry i forgot to really think about how great it sounded until later.
- great balance of collaboration and showy solos. the heads are catchy as hell and all the players get a chance to flex. while at the same time Herbie is both the star and the anchor.

Verdict:
It's head music, it's body music. Bring it on, funk nerds.

Listen Again?
For sure. It's weird I left this for so long.

#217

Heard Before?
Only a couple of songs. He was big on CBC radio here in Canada.

Notes:
- i find all the post-2010 picks on this list a bit odd. i love current music, but i feel like the list makers just aren't familiar with the contemporary musical landscape.
- is there just one producer for this whole genre? the instrumentals for this and any Khurungbin / Glass Beams / etc album are interchangeable.
- generic wistful sad-sack lyrics. easily ignored. song structure is mostly unremarkable.
- unlike most too-long albums, i dig the intros and interludes. these are the only surprise elements, and they are stuffed with extra production goodies that kept me listening.
- arrangements are so tasteful and well-considered it almost hurts. almost suffocating in its splendid subtlety.

Verdict:
Inoffensive coffee shop neo-soul with faux-vintage production and gorgeous vocals. No more, no less.

Listen Again?
It wouldn't hurt, but I'm not going to sell it out. But maybe I'll give Greentea Peng another try while we are on the British neo-soul kick.

Heard Before?
Never even heard of it. So far in this list that means it is going to be British and bad.

Notes:
- well, it's certainly British.
- obviously dance music is going to be repetitive and long. i get it, i love it. but why do these songs mostly go nowhere at all? there's very little in the way of builds, breakdowns, beat switches or even new melodies. compositionally thin even by Daft Punk standards, this album makes Fatboy Slim look like Mozart.
- so with zero of structural interest, bland samples and phoned-in guest vocals, what do we even have here? lots of interesting, if rather dated, sounds and textures. the one big build on the opening track does exactly what it's supposed to.
- these drums were deeply unfashionable already by 1999, making the whole thing sound like a PS2 game.
- at least "Death Threat" leans into the soundtrack vibe. it's my favorite here.

Verdict:
Justifiably forgotten NME hype-fodder with occasional fascinating juxtapositions.

Listen Again?
No. Another third-tier pick from Dimery. Maybe he was friends with all these people.