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Post by Mattsby on Jul 6, 2021 1:20:23 GMT
Bo Carter - Twist It Babe... 1931-1940 (1974) 9/10. Remarkably charming, hilarious, harmonic. Known for his innuendo-blues, no Mississippian made more pre-war recordings except Memphis Minnie. He wrote/recorded the original Corrina Corrina in 1928.... and he managed and played with his two brothers in the Mississippi Sheiks the group that wrote/originated Sittin On Top of the World in 1930. By 1938, the band dissolved and "the brothers gave up music and returned to farming."
Bo, who was a lifelong teetotal and no womanizer at all they say, seemed ahead of his time... He brought a greatly pop-esque appealing and fictional, rather daring sauciness to his music. "You know it needs stirring" he wrote. It (whatever it is) sure did and does. Yes he wrote all the songs on the CD....... and yes I'm going thru my CD collection..... so many Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker CDs on top, I'd forgotten the gems right there underneath 'em.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 6, 2021 8:55:15 GMT
The Shivvers - Remixed and Remastered ((2014)........ 1979-82) - ~ 7.5 / 10.........
This band never got to properly release an album - just a single - but this is everything they had and like The Modern Lovers an album was pulled from these sessions.
This gets some big "lost classic" rave reviews which is a bit much - it's a poppier Blondie that could use Blondie's edge .........but Blondie were a historic band..........compare it to Kim Wilde ............and yeah that's what I thought......
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 8, 2021 8:11:56 GMT
Husker Du - The Living End ((1994)...............recorded (1987)) - ~ 8 / 10
There's only one song from Zen Arcade on this 24 song live album........one out of twenty four........and they were barely on speaking terms.........do they pull it off?
Of course they Du
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 9, 2021 6:57:33 GMT
Royal Headache - High (2015) - 8.5+ / 10
One of Australia's best bands......one of the decade's better albums
Clocks in at less than 30 minutes .......and whips by without any sort of artifice or ego just adrenaline.......and then....... they broke up......
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 10, 2021 8:13:13 GMT
The Heartdrops - This Is The Heartdrops (1997) - around a 7 / 10
Wildly out of fashion when this was made and still out of fashion 25 years later - ah well .........sort of like a less obvious Social Distortion ........when this band was hot though - which was about half the time - they were a direct hit to your pleasure center because it seems loose and natural.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 12, 2021 7:43:14 GMT
The Real Sickies - Love Is For Lovers (2021) - ...... 7.5 / 10 .......maybe higher - I'm playing it an awful lot these days
The hookiest Pop record of the year so far and like The Reflectors last year this could go from "it's ok........to "now I really like it".........to....."oh yeah I love it" ..........almost too many hooks on this ........it feels effortless in a way that possibly sounds like it's learned or studied......or like they dumped their whole record collection into a computer program and this came out
Sounds a bit like Redd Kross and Cheap Trick but doesn't have their ambition which is good........they essentially write one song here and then chop it up in different and clever ways - each song sounds like an immediately catchy sing-along but not "exactly" like the same one.
.........and they keep this up across a lot of songs too - 14 of them (!) .....
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Post by themoviesinner on Jul 12, 2021 18:13:59 GMT
Tristania - Widow's Weeds (1998) -- 10/10 This is by far (only Moonspell's Wolfheart comes close) the best Gothic album I've heard and it's one of the few that manages to convey a truly gothic feeling and mood. It's an album dark and melancholic, at times spooky, but always soulful and elegaic, it's unique medieval atmosphere is unparalleled even today. Even it's quite subpar production can't bring down it's huge absorbing sound. This is what "gothic" music should sound like.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 13, 2021 8:26:45 GMT
The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981) ...Why should I rate this? Do you rate your children? Sold something like 160 copies PER STATE in its initial release ..........then it somehow launched a million bands .........and even more beer bottles
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 17, 2021 14:34:24 GMT
Elvis Costello - King of America (1986) - 10 / 10Not merely the best Costello album since Get Happy!! (1980) it can stand with any of his first 4 classics and it obliterates the two highly acclaimed records he made in-between - the fine, but austere and pretentious "Imperial Bedroom" and the quite good not great "Blood and Chocolate". It also was dazzlingly complex - especially in its 2nd half with many detailed and ambitious narrative songs across all kinds of styles - Country, Sophisticated Pop, Ballads, Blues.....which makes a witty point here on "Eisenhower Blues" which fake fades out twice here showing he has his genius side and his playful side both in glorious effect. In fact, Costello had never ventured this far outside his comfort zone before and never would successfully again - several of these songs are outside the 4/4 comfort zone and far beyond his vocal range which makes them thrilling and shambolic. 1986's best record (and The Smiths made The Queen is Dead in that year so that's saying something) it also took less than a minute for the old nasty Elvis to raise his caustic wit "She said that she was working for the A-B-C News.....it was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use" An all-timer record....
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 18, 2021 1:52:30 GMT
The Wind-Ups - Try Not To Think (2021) - ~ 8 / 10
Very punky, very short Power Pop / Garage Rock record that evokes the Ramones and some quirkier stuff too.
Could be a set up record for something great down the road........this mini-LP doesn't hit 20 minutes - short, sharp and something of a knockout in this limited form. But .......impressive........
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 19, 2021 11:02:45 GMT
The Adam Brown - What We'll Never Know (2020) - 7 /10
Great name for this Canadian band (and it is a band) - THE pacinoyes review is that it's very light and low key - and the vocalist - the aforementioned THE Adam Brown sounds like Marc Bolan (or sometimes Prince) and is helped by female backing vocals that make his sound even more fey and removed.
Doesn't add up to much .........but a fizzy good time while it plays.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 20, 2021 2:36:34 GMT
Greg Antista and the Lonely Streets - Under The Neon Heat (2021)..........6.5 / 10You think this would blow goats - 4 old dudes - who play earnest Dad rock.......these guys don't even look like they'd know each other (or in some cases good hygiene) much less be in a good band....and they aren't .........but they're not a bad band either and their whole "hey let's put on a show" routine is kind of sweet ........it's about half pretty good......which somehow makes it seem like a small miracle
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 22, 2021 7:06:37 GMT
Jerry Lee Lewis - Live At The Star Club , Hamburg (1964) - 11 / 10You know that weird thing you sometimes do on MAR where you ask yourself "would I get along with that person in real life?" Well if you said anything remotely negative about this album, I'd break a beer bottle over your head dumbass......
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 23, 2021 8:05:58 GMT
Geoff Palmer - Charts & Graphs (2021) - ~ 8 / 10
The long, glorious shadow of Paul Westerberg & The Replacements looms large over this record: co-produced by Westerberg main man Dave Minehan - with a great anthem that name checks Jesus himself .........or Saint Paul at least ("What Would Paul Westerberg Do?") and Palmer's publishing company is even named after a Replacements lyric ("Walking Bowl of Punch").
He's almost always worth listening to and sometimes he's spectacular - in any form - solo, with Lucy Ellis, The Connection, The Guts, The New Trocaderos (there's more!).........and that's the case here.
On the "where did THAT come from?" title track here - written by Emma Tobin (who?) - he pulls off a highly improbable, straight up piece of AM Pop Radio Song Fellatio that's one of his greatest curveballs ever. On "Count Me In" he is hilarious in listing his favorite artists - in his religion of Rock and Roll of his misspent youth - which is punching his ticket to Hell - nostalgia was rarely so smart and winning.
Falls short of the tight flow of ex-bandmate Brad Marino's Looking For Trouble (2021) due to a shaky start (tracks 2 through 4 where he's on autopilot)........ but tracks 5-10 are beyond what Marino can do.
Both of these are in my top 5 at the moment.....
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Post by DaleCooper on Jul 23, 2021 20:57:45 GMT
A really strong album, although not one of my absolute favorites by Maiden. The title track is iconic: fantastic main riff, incredible vocals by Dickinson, nice fill between the solos as well as a classy solo by Smith and then some great basslines by Harris. Children of the Damned, The Prisoner and 22 Accacia Avenue are fantastic songs as well. Hallowed be thy Name is possibly the best heavy metal song ever crowned by an absolute insane vocal performance by Dickinson. I could do without Run to the Hills honestly, though, nice bridge aside. 9/10
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 24, 2021 8:00:50 GMT
Who Saved Who - Songs To Play Live : 3 Song EP (2021) - ~ a little less than 7 / 10
Could get big........really big........and.......I don't care because: 1 "whoa" standout song out of 3 - "Moving Out Of State" - that reminds me of The Walkmen's "The Rat" ...........but it isn't as righteously earth-shaking as "The Rat" was (yeah no shit) ........... and the other 2 songs make it seem like a fluke anyway..........which it probably is....... Prove me wrong .......I really want you to.......
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 25, 2021 9:42:47 GMT
The Real Kids - The Real Kids (1977) - 7 + / 10
John Felice, a sometime (not on the record) member of The Modern Lovers formed this band - which is a lot less conceptual (and not as good) - but not suited to albums too much.
The best songs are the ones you can take off the record - fully formed like they are meant for a mixed compilation but not a stand alone unified longer work........on album the rest sound redundant and unnecessary ..... and they sometimes have an odd nasty streak - sexually creepy or worse which makes their throwback sound seem incongruous.
The Rolling Stones can get away with that but The Real Kids don't have their wit, humor, or anywhere near their artistic reach.....but there's a lot to enjoy anyway on this debut - not unlike the more lovable The Dictators (but not as good).....
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 27, 2021 6:29:38 GMT
The Muffs - Really Really Happy (2004) ~ 8+ / 10 ..........
They took a 5 year break (!) and picked up exactly where they left off with a whopping 17 new songs (!) here and didn't break a sweat .........the next one would take 'em 10 years (!!).
She has a bottomless well of pop songwriting mastery with a dazzling economy of expression - nothing feels rushed or incomplete - and 14 of these clock in at under 3 minutes......songs grab you within 15 seconds and 1 verse....
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 28, 2021 7:56:55 GMT
The Jam - The 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Jam [Canada] - (2003......1977-1982) - 9 / 10
There are 2 quickie, slightly different compilation albums with this title -
Neither sums them up - they're too major for a short compilation - but the US version is weaker and a weaker introduction than the Canadian - and you can tell them apart because only the Canadian edition has this all timer song - a kick ass stand alone single:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 29, 2021 8:17:12 GMT
Nirvana - Nevermind (1991) - ~ 10 / 10
Look, I know the contrary POV - their sound and style was very easy to copy (and boy was it ever copied) and they weren't necessarily "greater" than the great bands they were in the tradition of - but that only matters if you see them as something new rather than the end of an American rock tradition.
A precise and buoyant album - it's really the "second to last album" of 80s American indie (Slanted & Enchanted, in 1992 ends the era)..........I can find fault in albums 1 and 3 - though they each have high points - but album 2 is a top to bottom, throat shredding triumph........and it sounds a lot better in between Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr than it did in between Journey and Foreigner......
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 2, 2021 7:28:09 GMT
Green Day - Dookie (1994) - ~ 7.5 / 10
Not nearly as good as it is important................. but not nearly as important as its record sales say it should be.................there are "fans" who reduce this record to just 5 songs (all the hits!) - and who rarely play some other good ones here: Coming Clean, Sassafras Roots, Emenius Sleepus ......which is weird because fans almost always overrate any bands best album, they don't usually let radio programmers dictate their tastes ......
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 3, 2021 7:12:04 GMT
The Muffs - Happy Birthday To Me (1997) - 8.5+ / 10 ......
This one - their 3rd - was Kim Shattuck's favorite and while you could pick any of their albums .......this one like Blonder and Blonder is a pretty safe choice.
The jarring thing here is how tight and sharp musically the group sounds - they were always solid - even with a different drummer and a 2nd guitarist on the first album. But here - again as a trio (which would remain until the end) - they now noticeably stand out: The (stupendous, again) songs are supported in the playing - as they speed up, slow down, swing, groove, and shift - within seconds - without ever losing their structure.
This is the first time you really notice the specifics of the other 2 members - and not just their fearless leader....
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Post by DaleCooper on Aug 4, 2021 11:50:32 GMT
One of those albums where I keep finding new favorite tracks. First I was hooked on I Would Hurt A Fly (those drums, guitar fills and Martsch voice in the first minutes are just magical) which is an abolute cracker of a song. Then I was thinking Randomly Described Eternity and Kicked It In The Sun are absolutely fantastic songs. After a few more listens I'm now of the opinion that Velvet Waltz might very well be the best song of the 90s. Those lyrics, vocal melodies and the guitars in the middle of the track is definetely some of the finest music, well, ever. It's an absolute powerhouse of an album, and one of my favorite albums of the 90s.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 5, 2021 8:15:41 GMT
REM - ...........And I Feel Fine - The I.R.S. Years: 1982-1987 (1 disc - 21 song edition) - ~ 9 / 10
In '82-'84 they were Revolutionary Godhead and in '85-'87 they still routinely did some superb stuff across 3 albums with ace high points......after '87 they began to pay diminishing returns for me but that isn't in effect yet:
This compilation covering their first 5 albums + the EP maybe saves you the trouble of buying albums 3 - 5 although they were still among each years better records anyway - it really just depends how much cash you got and how much you love 'em ....... but this record would be a 10 with 2 or 3 adjustments:
(the limp) "Cuyahoga" removed for (the exciting, superb) "These Days", (the ok) "I Believe" removed for (the weird, fascinating) "Swan Swan H" and "Green Grow The Rushes" is weirdly missing here too .......but I just review 'em, they don't let me pick the songs dammit.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 6, 2021 7:41:10 GMT
Lucy Dacus - Home Video (2021) - I rate it a 36 out of 10 because that's how many f'n shots it's going to take me to get that taste out of my mouth In the most unholy partnership in Pop music since Lucifer introduced Rod Stewart to the Great American Songbook, Lucy Dacus has entered into a sinister pact with 2021's Satanic High Priestess Julien Baker ..........and the results are utterly terrifying. Baker is her friend (ha!), record label buddy, touring partner and bandmate (in boygenius) and here she appears on 3 songs (2 are duds, predictably). Now this record is all Dacus - writer, her name is on it, she's the sole lead vocalist - but it's hard not to see her and Baker as spiritual co-conspirators - even on the songs Baker (allegedly) is not involved with at all - like "Brando" - which is so monumentally misguided - it couldn't possibly be the work of just one person.
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