As I noted last week, I've been working through the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, as presented though the 1001 album generator web site. My goal is to present a week (or so) of reviews, once every week (or so).
So here's the next few albums I listened to, subsequent to the last posting:
# Year Album - Artist - My Rating - Global Rating
7 2017 Melodrama- Lorde - 3 - 3.35
8 2007 Neon Bible - Arcade Fire - 3 - 3.43
9 1979 Highway to Hell - AC/DC - 4 - 3.66
10 1980 Remain In Light - Talking Heads - 3 - 3.64
11 1965 Live At The Regal - B.B. King - 4 - 3.68
12 1998 Devil Without A Cause - Kid Rock - 3 - 2.14
13 2004 Want Two - Rufus Wainwright - 2 - 2.92
14 1996 Being There - Wilco - 4 - 3.21
And the Reviews:
14 Being There Wilco 4
Wilco is one of those bands that I feel like I ought to like, and I’ve meant to try out. I have and like Uncle Tupelo’s Anodyne, so that’s a good sign. It is also almost 77 minutes, which is a bit long. I actually split this listen into 2 sessions. I really like the sound, very clean and open, lots of acoustic guitar, piano, banjo, etc. call it alt country, indie, whatever; it’s a style I like. This would be an high 4 if some of the fat were trimmed, maybe a 5. As it is, it it’s barely a 4. But still a solid effort, I’ll listen to this again. 4/5
13 Want Two Rufus Wainwright 2
I struggled a bit with this. On the face, it is pleasant enough. But it just doesn’t work for me. Many of the songs drag, and there’s no memorable moments. The sound is sparse and open, which works, but the songs drag. The vocal style leaves me cold, often sounding like the Violent Femmes singer, but heavily sedated and almost most mumbling at times. Which is a problem for a vocal driven album. It doesn’t suck, might even be ok for background music of a slow afternoon. I don’t hate it, but it drones on to the point I don’t like it. My weighted (by time) average of the individual songs is 1.9/5, sounds about right. round up to 2/5
12 Devil Without A Cause Kid Rock 3
I actually own this album, I must’ve been in an angry mood one day in the early 2000’s. I doesn’t really get played a lot but there’s several decent songs. That said, all of it deserves the “Explicit” label. And outside the few decent songs, some of it is pretty bad. it’s loaded with tough posturing, misogynist lyrics, and lots of Kid Rock singing about how awesome Kid Rock is. And misogynistic deserves to be mentioned again. The album is certainly well put together, well produced. And every once in a while I want to turn the music loud, cruise my Midwest suburbs in my VW sedan and feel …. We’ll something. And this fits. But not for 70 minutes straight. And not with my family in earshot. 2.5/5 for the couple of decent songs. round up to 3… barely.
11 Live At The Regal B.B. King 4
Nice set of “classic” blues from a classic blues man. The recording is better than I expected from a 1964 recording. I didn’t love the backup band, they seemed a little out of sync on the opening song, and overall had a bit of a “Vegas” feel all along. But overall a great time capsule, and a worthy listen. 4/5
10 Remain In Light Talking Heads 3
"Life During Wartime" is an great song and massive hit. And featured an iconic MTV video. But outside of that song, it's not my favorite. Not my favorite Talking Heads Album, not my favorite album from 1980. One of the things I liked about Talking Heads' first two albums was the focus on concise songs with pretty simple instrumentation. That's gone here on the 2nd of their Brian Eno produced albums. In their 1st 3 albums, the average song length is under 3:40, here it has ballooned to just over 5:00. Lots of synths and polyrythms, and looping grooves. Which is OK, I suppose, but really drags when songs are stretched out forever. They get points for evolving. I'll give 5 for the hit, 3 for the rest... call it 3/5, 'cause I can't do 3.5
9 Highway to Hell AC/DC 4
AC/DC is one of the instantly recognizable bands of hard rock, and Highway To Hell is one of their most recognizable songs. This probably AC/DC’s second best album (behind Back In Black), and one of the two AC/DC albums I own (along with Back In Black). They’re very good at what they do. That said, they’re a bit of a one trick pony. 4+/5
8 Neon Bible Arcade Fire 3
Mid 2000’s indie rock…. Pretty solid, good clean/clear sound. Nothing really grabbed me, but all of it was good. I should probably listen some more. Which I could give it 3.5, leaning more 3 than 4
7 Melodrama Lorde 3
When I saw this was a 2017 album, described as “an electropop record incorporating piano-based melodies, pulsing synthesisers and dense electronic beats.” I wasn’t very enthusiastic. But the point of this project is to broaden my base, so onward! And it’s pretty decent. It is mostly melodic, which is important to me. It is well produced, and Lorde has a solid vocal style (with hint of Melonie meets Patti Smith). On the other hand: lyrically, it’s a consistently “down” album, another example of a singer baring their soul for 40 minutes. The album cover captures this, a sad looking woman (Lourde?). Lying in bed, staring blankly ahead…. I like sad songs as much as the next guy, but it gets overwhelming for a whole album. My biggest issue is the sound; almost all electronic, except for the occasional bit of piano. I looked at the Wikipedia page for this album, just to see if there were any “real” drums : Personnel section lists 11 individuals under production, and 15 individuals under technical (engineering / mixing). There are no musicians listed. None. That flies right into my preconceived notions of what “current” music is. There’s instruments in there, but they apparently don’t merit mention. Bottom line? Not my style, but very solid. I wouldn’t mind individual songs showing up on a playlist, especially the songs that feature piano. But the overall album? Probably won’t listen to it again, but might. Don’t see myself buying it though. 3/5
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