An overrated album marking the turn from solid rock to saccharine pop, of its time I guess. The hits are at the front, mediocre in the middle, and the only strongish song at the end. But… it reminds me to play the Dire Straits & Making Movies albums more often to remember how brilliant they were.
Funk in full flow. That Lady & Summer Breeze huge for good reason, backed by other solid work. A good reminder.
Beautiful haunting desolate (of its home). Svefn-g-englar, staralfur, viorar, Olsen Olsen - all stunning. An album only overshadowed because the later Takk was even better.
An overrated band, whose best track, Roxanne, is not on this album. Synchronicity was released in the years mainstream music was going bland & this only reinforced that conclusion. Every Breath You Take is catchy… but sticks in your mind like a stalker.
Such beauty seems simple and effortless. Heartwarming, vulnerable & kind. I hadn’t realised how many gems were in one place (although it is natural woman that has one of the greatest lyrics & moods of all time).
If there was a sound that encapsulated the 1970s it was this. Hypnotic, irresistible & incredibly powerfully alive. All plus a >16 minute drum track - wtf!
Smooth maybe, but easy to forget it’s playing (or that you played it). Took the soul & funk of the 60s & 70s, a good start, then smothered it. It seemed to be the thing to do in the late 70s & early 80s though, so he was definitely not alone. And the formula also seemed to work for a lot of folks. Just not me.
A valuable album for its role helping to generate the Britpop era, but in itself a set of fun 60s riff offs. The highlight is Looking Glass, where they almost break free. The better Elastica & Sleeper were to follow shortly after.
REM & Document provided a soundtrack of the 90s, directly & by influence. But while Stipe’s voice & their overall sound were immediately recognisable, it often feels laboured. End of the World though deserves its place as an icon.
So given that hip hop is not my thing this is never going to fair. But there’s powerful & clever lyrics here. It may not sound totally contemporary but it sure as shit doesn’t sound 26 years old. Kim & Cookie is brilliant / hilarious. And the Ms Jackson groove is irresistible.
Well everyone knows what they’re getting with this. As a major pop album it deserves some respect & if still in doubt about One More Time listen to the excellent Travis cover. But beyond that it tails off to average pop and flatlines about a 1/3rd of the way through (confirmed by the listener numbers).
Another Brit pop influencer / creator, so valuable as part of a great movement, but feels too heavily self-conscious & laboured to enjoy.
You always know immediately when it’s Elvis Costello, & this is a peak massive collection. But I could never really take to it.
Dream like peace - an album to lose yourself to. Plus musicianship brilliance. Also helps that he was central to opening western minds to the amazing breadth of what is hideously called ‘world music’.
Incredible rock from a band who just seem to know where each other is going at any given moment.
Some beautiful instrumental moments & laid the foundation for the likes of Rush, for whom we should all be grateful. Sometimes exciting sometimes poignant but also sometimes neither.
Haunting brilliance. Music to get stoned to, take a long drive (not at the same time of course), lie on a beach. Heat Miser could be 15 mins long instead of 3. MA seem to have a stand out on each album (Unfinished Sympathy, Protection, Teardrop, Paradise Circus) but the collective is also awesome.
A skilled & confident guitar player echoing what he hears skilfully & confidently. But I never get any depth of feeling or interest from anything here (or from other Clapton work). The iconic ISTS is good, but not as good as Marley’s original (so why bother).
I have never reconciled The Beatles’ series of simple pop rock songs in the mid-60s with the scale of their success. The lyrics are Year 10 school poems (hmmm… maybe that’s why).
Like thrash metal? You’ll love this. You’ll already know that though. Insane lyrics relentless energy massive power. But I can’t like what I don’t like.
Marked the start of a very welcome move from saccharine early-mid 80s pop towards something that rediscovered soul & integrity. It’s still a bit too light for my taste but there’s more interest here.
Shining hypnotic brilliance.
And if further evidence were needed of their collective brilliance - Live at Tanglewood 1970.
God this was terrible. Not just because I don’t like this sort of thing generally, but because it doesn’t have the humour of Blink 182 or the intensity of Slayer. The lyrics are whining, desperately self-conscious & totally unthreatening.
There may not be anything that changes musical history here, but they do rock & they do it well. All the time. And surely that’s what people want. Well at least that’s what I want.
