Album reviews

Largely forgettable stuff tbh

You cannot fault the musicianship on this album but its a meaningless mess and possibly prog rocks nadir

give it a miss

William Shatner aka Capt Kirk sings well speaks on top of a smattering of new prog rock tracks...and its mainly a mixed bag where it works at times

So why have I rated it a 7 simply because the music is actually really...lovely and quite stirring

Lots of guests on this record like Rick Wakeman, Steve Vai...

genesis 3rd album at the height of prog and its all musical without really being memorable - Phil Collins vocals on the track For Absent Friends is rather cool but normal vocalist Peter Gabriel really gives it some theatricality on some tracks specially the opener The Musical Box

Ok sounding psychedelic era stuff with really White Rabbit as the only standout track

I heard this many years ago but gave it another listen yesterday

A few good songs namely Should I Stay Or Should I Go, and Rock The Casbah plus a mix of reggae and ska in some tracks

Joe Strummer's vocals are annoying as hell but tits quite an interesting ambitious album

The Doors second album and its largely cool with the spoken word/poetry piece Horse latitudes, the poppy dirge of People Are Strange and the epic jazz-ish workout of When The Music's Over

A spin off project for Nirvana/Foo Fighters Dave Grohl in which he assembled different old timme favourite rock/metal singers to add vocals to tracks he created with the only exception being Shake Your Blood co written with Lemmy from Motorhead

Its not bad but it does emphasise how childish the metal scene really is/was and it does emphasise that Grohl is more creative than first appearances

People expecting punchy instant hits on this album will be disappointed but it is worth a listen once with its quirky art pop psychedelia

Nice sounding and has some good moment but this rock/metal album has not much going for it

Fucking Groovy

This is almost a perfect capture of the Psychedelic era - though it lacks the melodic hooks of Sgt Pepper and the sheer trippiness of The Monkees Porpoise Song its still worth a listen

TRIVIA - The band got namechecked in an early edition of Marvel's Avengers comic

Radiohead have a change of direction of sorts on this album with some electronica and almost chill out material...BUT its still tied to Thom Yorkes whiny vocals...An interesting diversion for Radiohead fans but nothing that will attract the common man into the fold

Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re are a Japanese female trio a punk art rock group.

This album is one of the noisiest and heaviest I have heard - Imagine a mix of L7 and Voivod

They have a good grasp of melodies but this is so fragmented it sounds almost like Voivod's Nothingface

I may check out there other stuff and wonder if they have recorded in English

Lots of ethnic African influence on this album but its too irritating to be ambient and too boring to be a proper album...I like to sleep to ambient music and this just didnt do the trick

The 80s version of Adele, Alison Moyet sings over poppy 80s synth stuff and most of it is ok and reaches its pinnacle on the excellent Only You. A couple of tracks are just weird vocal experiments - dont ask and detract from a solid album

Apart from the hybrid glam electro stomp of I Love It this album is quite weak...nothing really as ballsy appears on this album and theres even an attempt at a ballad...funnily this whole thing reminded me of Avril Lavigne...just imagine her dicking around with a synth and this what you would get - all shouty teen anthems meaning absolutely fuck all

The Doors on auto-pilot so there is not much of lasting interest here

Its noisy and its as if Jim Morrison had turned punk but amazingly its not as fun as that sounds

Nanobots by They Might Be Giants

TMBG continue their absurdist dada-esque route laid out years ago on their album Flood but unlike that album this is completely forgettable in all respects

I eventually got around to listening to this...Buckleys vocals and performance are great on this album - IMHO a weird mix of Nat King Cole and Robert Plant...but like some great vocalists he simply needed better songs. Very nice to pass the time but do not expect to recall anything other than his singing a few hours later

Very much Joy Division-lite in its sound but unlike that group this has nothing new to offer so just becomes an album to pass the time. I am struggling to recall anything great about this...not even lyrics or performance. Some good soundscapes I guess but nothing else

High energy pop punk new wave songs by Britains answer to the B52s

Surprisingly good stuff beyond the single Top Of The Pops

possibly Pink Floyds peak - How do you follow up one of the most popular and critically acclaimed albums of all time...simplify! This is an almost perfect balance of Gilmour and Waters

TBH I think they should have just cut the album after the title track as the rest is largely redundant

Second album from Pink Floyd following much the same territory as the first - so if you liked Piper you'll like this

A nice summer-y feel to this pop rap album - Just imagine an American version of Betty Boo

Enjoyable - in fact I may check out some of her other music

Very enjoyable psychedelia but you can see how temporary it would be as the Barrett written tracks become tiresome (Another quirky Alice In Wonderland type of thing - what a surprise!) but the group written tracks help balance this out very well

Former Canadian prog rockers produce a kind of weird rock album. The first half is largely workman like and totally uninspiring - even a rap in one song doesnt really lift it out of the mundane...BUT the last 3 tunes are great - Ghost Of A Chance, Neurotica and You Bet Your Life are all inventive smart punchy rock songs and could have easily come from Moving Pictures era which made purist fans frown with its accessibility and use of synths

Would have made a great EP

Great sounding with the psychedelic era abundant here but the songs aint that great - 8 Miles high is good though

3 chord rock saved by the fact that most songs are short - They really should have avoided slow numbers where it becomes clear just how not-good The Ramones actually were - I dont quite understand why people would diss Status Quo as derivative rock but praise this- nothing really to shout about despite the presence of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker which is cool

Vienna Circle are a new prog rock band consisting of 2 English brothers and various musicians.

This is all rather nice and in places sounds like Elton John meets Yes - in a good way. I'll stick my neck out and say this is THE best modern prog rock album I have heard, not too complex to putoff the casual listening and it simply sounds...nice

Robert Johnson was a key player in the birth of Blues and this set of recordings is interesting from a historical basis but IMHO it aint that great as each song sounds almost identical to the others but good to hear music which is basically recorded live, as if they had any other choice! ...I particularly like the way it sounds as if 2 or 3 guitarists are playing at once through his playing style

Like a LOT of famous for 15 minutes punk/new wave acts XRaySpex had a good grasp of pop sensibility, interesting lyrics and catchy melodies

Good stuff and more varied than you'd imagine

Well this is heavy on its use of sax/brass and when it works as on the classic title track and Jungleland its really great - the other songs just aint that good IMHO - still its worth a listen as the sound is HUGE - this came out around the same time as Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell which its is similar to but Bat pulls it off far better

Typical J POP from an all girl trio - high energy pop rock dance ballad stuff that is both dated and futuristic at the same time - the sound equivalent of coca cola - bubbly fizzy refreshing but saps your energy after a while

Some catchy tunes, good guitar workouts (were they really ripping off Lust For Life at the start?) and one track is almost like a kids version of Daft Punk

Good album of its kind

The Beatles continue their dive into pop psychedelia and its rather good...apart from a few duff tracks this is hugely enjoyable

Yes with a different vocalist than Jon Anderson isnt really Yes IMHO...the sound is fine, musicianship fine, production fine but its all a tad forgettable...It sounds a bit like Mike Oldfield in places

Much vaunted album by 70s American pop rockers Big Star - if you like a mix of The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Beatles plus a little glam rock and country sounding tunes then this is for you...BUT anyone looking for decent songs will be found searching and searching its as if they were scared of actually creating a decent song!

Give it a miss nearly 40 minutes of your life are better spent elsewhere

Number 1 Record...in their dreams

The 5th album by Avril in which she tries and fails to shake off her pop rock designer rebel skater girl image...and fails kind of. Not because she cannot move into other areas of pop and rock well (the ballads such as Hush Hush on this album are damn fine...and there is an almost electronic/dubstep track which is very close to Skrillex),BUT because the standout tracks are those bubblegum teen anthems which are getting dated

Excellently produced and would have made a great short album if she ditched her old "sound" She is nearly 30 and still singing about first kisses ferrchrissakes!

I realised that modern albums are ultimately a repository for filler tracks...how does an average artist fill 50 to 60 minutes? In the old days albums were about 35 minutes long and it was rare for an artist to have enough material to fill a double album which is effectively what todays artist have to do...filler material is inevitable

fairly varied punk new wave album by the most poetic leaning band of the genre

Standouts are Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn'tve and Late For The Train a surprising almost psychedelic in feel instrumental

This was more of a rock album than a pop album for The Kinks

Interesting sound but nothing memorable apart the classic Lola and Apeman

The Monkees break off their manufactured shackles partly and this is largely a competent pop rock affair of course heavily influenced by the Beatles...other than 2 standout tracks the international singles Words and Pleasant Valley Sunday its not that interesting

Great album title though

One of the KLFs obscure albums before becoming famous (in the UK)

Its a mess to be honest with half assed ideas and abysmal rapping/singing from co-creator Bill Drummond which just doesnt work

Low fi diy pop punk way out of its time - this would have been great fun in the 1970s...

Kind of enjoyable in a stupid way and the group seem like they were having fun - Kandy Pop still sounds fun

Rated 5 simply for the attitude rather than the songs - technically an EP as it clocks in at about 15 minutes

It starts very well with the slow building anthem Wings and then really does nothing extraordinary and stays in the singer/songwriter vein for the rest of the album
She is a good singer and deserves better material..this isnt it

Fire Within is barely a spark

Alternative band of XTC this mini-album just indulges in Beatles-like psychedelia...and its all rather good fun

Apart from White Riot and a kind of cool cover of Police And Thieves this is really noise struggling to find its place in tunes

I like The Who but this is quite boring - though the version I listened to had live versions of Squeezebox (The best tune on the thing ) and Behind Blue Eyes

A very solid "sequel" to the original album

The production is simply huge, the songs are strong and each song sounds both unique and related...I specially like the fact that writer/producer Jim Steinman understands that you need different sounds and textures from song to song...oh and a lesson for young songwriters/producers if you going to write lyrics make them interesting and clear in the mix

Too many good points to list so its a must-listen album imho - 20 years old and stands the test of time

for the main part this album is an enjoyable indie bombastic rock thing quite similar to Muse or Smashing Pumpkins but the singers falsetto vocals grate after a while

I like The Doors but this is mainly a traditional Blues based album and fairly average apart from the tracks LA Woman and Riders On The Storm