Aphodite - what a great album. Joyous electro pop like Little Boots' first album Hands. Very 80's but no the less great. unashamed Bouncy pop songs. Lyrically yeah not very interesting but that's all my complaints are. Plus All the Lovers is a great great single.
Body Language - starts as a minimal electro feel with Slow, then turns minimal house tracks and then just gets funky and it's glorious. Cohesive sound to the album this time. Her voice is amazing. Someday is beautiful tune as well. I ended up buying this this morning a charity shop. I surprised myself.
Impossible Princess - Mr James Dean Bradfield and Brothers in Rhythm are credited on this LP so I had no idea what to expect. It can't keep a consistent tone which I always find frustrating. It is in places a dark and trippy dance album ala bjork but in others it could be a Garbage record. Some gems on here that in the style I wasn't expecting and very interesting listen to Kylie take a side step in music direction.
Fever - starts poor with what feels entirely loop based songs. Apart from Can't get you out of my head (which is still catchy as hell). After a few tracks that are not upbeat enough to be danceable or slow enough to be slow. However after Come into my world and in your eyes, the pace picks up and my foot starts tapping.
Yes-terday
I just want to say all these albums are 5 mins longer than one of my fave LPs of all time, Rocket to Russia by Ramones, and they all feel twice as long. Listen to that, Instead!
Yes - It's a jazzy folk rock album without many memorable moments, no its not bad, no I would not complain if I had to listen again but would I reach to buy it nope. Definite highlight was Looking Around ( which is repetitious but it just builds and build with every cycle of that riff.) every little thing features the Don't Fear the Reaper ( it's meant to be Day Tripper) guitar riff in the right ear too.
Time and a word - starts better than the last. Much more dynamic sounding. The orchestra is a great addition to the sound. The organ work is sublime on this thing too. It gets a bit weird after the first few tracks. Blink and you won't know what's happening. Tracks that are more soloing than actual songs get really disorientating.
The Yes Album - this is what I feared would happen. They have expanded upon the bits of the songs I don't like. The dense rock sound, everything feels like a solo not just an instrumental passage, vocal segments that are one repeated stanza and repeated between solos. Track number 2 is just a classical guitar workout. Then the rest are just solos with classical guitar interludes and with sudden leaps in tempo up and down its just chaotic. However great use of stereo.
Fragile - Roundabout has such a delightful funk bassline but it goes on too long. I actually thought the track had finished with (Yet another) Classical guitar but that was only half the song. The rest of the album I just didn't get. More classical instrumentals and meaningless words and virtuosity.
Close to the edge - 3 tracks on this album. Just didn't get the first two. Really long slow things that just didn't click with me. The last track brings back that funk bassline of Roundabout and found my foot tapping.
I have come to the conclusion after suffering all day that Yes are not my cup often. I admire the skill. Love the keys on all these albums but that is not gonna bring me back to these albums. Sorry Yes but but it's a no from me.
And on that night as he closed his eyes to go to bed and all he could hear was improvised organ lead symphonic rock music
Grandaddyday
Under the western freeway
The broken down comforter collection
The sophtware slump
Sumday
Just like the fambly cat
Alice Cooperday
Killer starts as a Glam rock album then moves into rock music ala Free/ Faces and then moves into some progier stuff towards the end but it never stops rocking. Stripped back dirty rock and roll.
Schools out - American Glam rock. In places it's The Stooges and in places it's New York Dolls but most confusingly there are horn and string sections in this thing. Unexpected but work really well ; Blue Turk is just a straight up jazz track and Luney tune has some giant strings. It's Harder to pin down Alice Cooper based on the guy he has been Pigeon holed into over the years.
Billion dollar babies logical progression after Schools out. More ambitious, bigger sounding, but doesn't lack the tunes. Elected is a smashing track as is no more Mr nice guy.
Welcome to my nightmare - shock rocks definitive album that falls flat on my ears. It's too theatrical, a bit noodley and I just don't find myself invested in the concept. The theme of these albums is there is always some corkers on these albums even if the album as a whole doesn't work.
Goes to hell- don't like it. The tracks are much lower, the riffs aren't as dirty and most are ballads. I hate ballads. It seems to last twice as long as well. Also one of the tracks borrows the effect of the guitar on shaft.
Paul Simon's Day
The Paul Simon Songbook - a solo take on the acoustic guitar lead folk music that he was producing with Art Garfunkel. Billy Bragg borrowed a line from Leaves That are Green for his anthem A New England. It's also very Dylan esque too. There is also one track that just shouted Courtney Barnett to me and that's mainly the vocal delivery. I like it. The songs are never boring.
Paul Simon - does this album really start with a reggae track or did I just imagine it? This is Folk with fiddles and harmonica. It's got light percussion and a full drum kit in places. It is more dynamic than the last but doesn't sound as interesting. Very middle of the road to me.
There goes Rhyming Simon - glorious folk rock album. Feels like it should be middle of the road but it's cohesive sounding. Some great piano lines, from interesting ( one man's ceiling is another man's floor) to heartfelt lyrics and great arrangements. Kinda feels like Hunky Dory minus Queen Bitch.
Still crazy after all these years - this album, upon looking at the cover, looks naff. Never seen Paul Simon with a mustache. Looks are deceptive cos this is amazing. It's soulful, funky, folky, jazzy. The song writing is witty and playful. I actually found myself smiling at the track, 50 ways to Leave your Lover, when the funk break comes in.
Graceland - you can't do a day of Paul Simon with his 'classic' album. Previously being a massive Talking Heads fan all this sounds like is Talking Heads with BIG eighties synths (You can Call Me Al), Acapella (homeless) and a certain swing to it (whole album). Cohesive album sound. Toe tapping, interesting and unlike his debut in every way.
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