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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 12, 2021 9:45:15 GMT
Black Flag - Damaged (1981) ...........~ 8.5 / 10
I could argue several bands topped it (maybe) .......but that's later - and nobody topped it - within its own narrow parameters - in 1981.
.............and it predicted MAR almost 40 years later now - sooner than this version even - but this is the version that sounds and feels like what that cover photo looked like.
"Sitting here like a loaded gun / I'm waiting to go off / I've got nothing to do /But shoot my mouth off"
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 13, 2021 9:50:20 GMT
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Way Down In The Rust Bucket (Live 1990) ...............(2021) - 8 + / 10
Like say Parasite has some questionable things in it - to me anyway - (the housekeeper let back in, the father ignoring his daughter).......but Parasite is still awesome anyway.........
Well this is sort of like that - when the staggering, jaw-dropping performance of Like A Hurricane plays here - 13 minutes! - it's only the awesome stuff that matters - it's some of the earlier stuff that's just ok.......but that's long forgotten........ like it was just a dream as Neil would say.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 14, 2021 6:45:01 GMT
The White Stripes - Greatest Hits (1998-2007)....... (2020) - ~ 9 / 10They were quite good for albums 1 and 2 .........really great for albums 3 and 4 ..........and somewhat hit or miss for albums 5 and 6........for all of those right from the start - weird af - brother/sister, or (ex)husband/wife, self limiting in concept - where's the bass, is that ALL the drums are going to do?!?, - where's the other colors btw, why so limiting!........pretty fnckin weird .......which was a compliment to the genius of us both. This makes them seem more consistent than they really were but not as great as they could be.......though it's missing Effect and Cause which would have made them seem even more consistent and closer to how great they really were.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 15, 2021 7:31:53 GMT
Ike Reilly - Crooked Love (2018) - ~ 8.5 / 10
My fave record of 2018 and arguably his most consistent one - greatish all the way through - and his catalog was pretty righteous already before this one.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 17, 2021 4:39:40 GMT
Teenage Head - Teenage Head (1979) - ~ 7.5 / 10
Punky but not quite a Punk debut - with a great band name (copped from the Flamin' Groovies song), at least one classic song - involving a pun about cash (below) - and that plays like the rollicking soundtrack for a hypothetical movie set in a 1980s arcade or a skating rink.
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Post by DaleCooper on Apr 17, 2021 16:14:43 GMT
Listened to this at least one time way back, but it didn't really work for me then. Listened to a track from it yesterday and really liked it so decided to give the whole album a new go. Not quite sold on the singer, but overall it's a really good album and the sound is just great. Some of the guitar work is downright brilliant. 8/10
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 18, 2021 3:46:51 GMT
REM - Eponymous (1981-1987)............(1988) - 9 / 10
Unfairly dismissed because it's just a short compilation when everyone - with any taste - was an REM obsessive who bought all those early records anyway.
But it hits almost all the obvious big ones (except maybe Pretty Persuasion), has a coherent framework and overall arc and it sounds terrific with some different versions.
.............also has a wonderful non-album track too : "Romance" where Bill Berry is the MVP ............and he often was ......
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 19, 2021 9:15:18 GMT
Screeching Weasel - Weaselmania (1988-2000) ......(2005) - ~ 8 / 10
Stealing the title (and tracklist concept) from Ramones Mania with the same awesome pros and dispiriting cons: Almost all the best songs are early just like their heroes - 1988-1993 in this case - and they also don't include enough of those AND don't always pick the best stuff (why is She Gives Me The Creeps here instead of Around On You?). But.......then there's just enough later period good stuff like ...........Cool Kids (essential)........Pervert At Large (lives up to the title) ........to make it seem like an honest difference of opinion in your preferred extended adolescence soundtrack.
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Post by DaleCooper on Apr 19, 2021 17:48:56 GMT
I have always really liked this album, but over time I've realized a lot of the songs demands some sort of attention so listening to it while working (or doing anything actively) I usually don't get too much out from it. I decided today to really listen through it from start to finish and it really is quite an extraordinary album. The music is very dense and layered so there's a lot to take in, but there are so many great melodies in there that I really appreciated more this time around. The brilliant guitar work, overall soundscape together with the dreamy vocals makes it quite the immersive experience as well.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 20, 2021 6:36:40 GMT
New York Dolls - Too Much Too Soon (1974) - 10 / 10
4 of the 10 songs are covers, none of it exactly hits in that immediate way that their amazing debut did and it flopped on its initial release (went as high as #167 - wtf).
Doesn't matter, still spectacular .....
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 21, 2021 7:26:29 GMT
Tonio K - Life In The Foodchain (1978) - ~ 9 / 10 A one of a kind record and people who know about it tend to really, really love it - and that includes me - I mean I went to give it an 8.5 but it keeps showing up as closer to (at least) a 9
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 22, 2021 4:28:00 GMT
Uncle Tupelo - 89/93 - An Anthology (2002) - ~ 8 / 10
Career spanning "best of" overview that's at least as good as anything they did in their 4 proper studio releases - but maybe not better .......... maybe cleaning them up a little too much - this song selection smooths over some of their interesting growing pains. Leaving off their takes on "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" and "Sin City" is more noticeable when you see the covers included (Stooges / CCR) and then you start to think about the contradictory impulses in this band - mostly between artistic impulse and contrivance........ but there were others too.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 23, 2021 7:25:45 GMT
The Bangles - All Over The Place (1984) - ........ ~ 7 / 10 Appropriately named debut where songs like "Restless" and "Dover Beach" sound like a good Power Pop band with sweet harmonies and all is well.......... at first........... but "More Than Meets The Eye" is just well sung crap with gooey, syrupy strings and "Silent Treatment" is a hideous gallery of 80s production trickery: all layered rote guitar and intrusive vocal lines - blech ......... that song has aged like your old gym socks left in the rain. The best song - and it is really great Pop - is a cover (below) .......... which is almost always a bad sign......
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Apr 23, 2021 8:06:11 GMT
"Silent Treatment" is a hideous gallery of 80s production trickery: all layered rote guitar and intrusive vocal lines - blech ......... that song has aged like your old gym socks left in the rain. Not super into the sound of the layered guitar at times, I agree, but I'm actually a sucker for this kind of vocal counterpoint and don't find it intrusive at all but rather welcome. I like harmony.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 24, 2021 8:47:18 GMT
The Humpers - Positively Sick On 4th Street (1993) - ~ 7 ++ / 10 but ...........varies depending on my blood alcohol levels .....
Ugly and thrilling soundtrack to your next meth deal and you'll want to love 'em because a lot of people will hate 'em and they half reward that love - their attitude goes a long way and there's Heartbreakers / Dead Boys / Stooges in this sound ........but their attitude unfortunately doesn't go nearly as far as 15 songs. Still - I admire this energy, their influences, the offhanded offensiveness ............and that pun album title is
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 25, 2021 7:33:22 GMT
The Muffs - The Muffs (1993) - 8 + / 10
I champion everything she did after she left The Pandoras - her outtakes, side projects, B-sides, this debut, whatever.......and I hate most things. A bunch of gorgeous melodies, candy coated hooks and her Pop Wallop......
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Archie
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Eraserhead son or Inland Empire daughter?
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Post by Archie on Apr 25, 2021 19:20:27 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 26, 2021 8:15:00 GMT
The Boys - The Boys (1977) - 7.5 / 10 .....sometimes a bit higher.......if I'm in a rush......
Very influential - to The Exploding Hearts in particular - who improved on this by using it as their stylistic template starting point.
So catchy it's almost TOO catchy - some of this sounds like The Bay City Rollers gone to the darkside - bonkers and desperate. No song even hits 3 minutes and several jumble verses, choruses and bridges because song construction is a luxury they have no time for.......my favorite song of theirs doesn't break 2 minutes even and is so simply inspired you can't believe no one thought of it before......
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 27, 2021 9:26:36 GMT
Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band with Buddy Guy (1965) - Hoodoo Man Blues - 10 / 10
One of the greatest Blues studio albums ever made - I could make a case for it as THE greatest personally - and it's forward thinking too in material and arrangements ........still sounds fantastic and I suspect it will 50+ years from now too.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 28, 2021 7:04:26 GMT
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp! (1979) - ~ 7.5 / 10
Some people say his first 2 records are underrated compared to Lowe/Parker/Costello.........I'd say not really - those guys made better albums than this.......but if you could cherry pick the 10 best songs off those first 2 Joe Jackson releases combined .......well maybe ........which is probably what some people meant anyway....
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Post by countjohn on Apr 29, 2021 3:20:59 GMT
Songs of Pain Daniel Johnston 1981
I've been wanting to check this guy out for a long time, I know he died a few years ago. Listened to his debut album this evening.
I know this is the comparison everyone makes but it reminded me of SMiLE era Brian Wilson the whole time, only without the big production of course. I know a lot of people think it's just a crazy guy noodling, but the songs just work, at time funny and other times very very sad. He clearly had serious issues and needed help. "Monkey in a Zoo" really seemed to predict his relationship with his later cult following ("I don't have no friends except all these people who want me to do tricks for them", "you come to look at me you seem so amused"). I'll probably check out a sampling of his other albums soon.
8/10
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 29, 2021 7:15:31 GMT
Spoon - Gimme Fiction (2005) - 9 / 10
Middle album in a tremendous run of 3 really great ones in a row from 2002-2007 also the weirdest and least eager of those 3 to please the masses.
Which occasionally makes it the Spoon album I prefer - particularly when it's the loudest of those 3......... which it often is.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 30, 2021 6:48:31 GMT
The Who - The Who Sell Out (Super Deluxe Edition) (1967..........2021) - 9+ / 10
My favorite The Who studio album........I prefer them as a singles band on Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy tbh ........but this sounds great and is exhaustive on different takes and supplements....... has plenty of highlights (most released before but not all) and also sounds like terrific Pop............ which they don't get enough credit for.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 1, 2021 7:58:55 GMT
Guided By Voices - Earth Man Blues (2021) - 7 / 10
Grand wizard Robert Pollard is playful and comfortably weird here - but not so much that he loses you which he can (easily) do .....but the 2nd half still sorta loses you anyway.
Best line: "Can't hear the (school) bell ...........because no one gives a sh it....."
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dazed
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Post by dazed on May 2, 2021 4:05:48 GMT
girl in red - if i could make it go quiet
8-8.5/10
This album slaps, especially the first 4-5 songs on it. Listened to her singles here and there, but didn’t think her debut album would be this good. Pleasantly surprised.
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