Release Date: 1980
Previously Owned: Yes
First Time Listen: No
"Italian mobster/Shoots a lobster/Seafood restaurant gets out of hand"
Impressions: I'm going to lay it down now: the Clash could be is probably my favorite band of all time (I rate The Replacements as 1A.) Even so, I'm surprised that their somewhat infamous sprawling triple-album follow-up to London Calling made this list. Since it's so long, let's hit play and get started… Hard to imagine a better opener than the funky, almost-rap … Continue Reading ››
#408
Sinead O' Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Release Date: 1990
Previously Owned: Yes
First Time Listen: No
Intense.
Impressions: Coming out just before Nirvana changed the whole popular music landscape, this huge-selling album made Sinead a one-of-a-kind cultural touchstone due to her strident no-bullshit attitude, trademarked bald head, and great pipes. Haven't heard it in years, let's get to it… The tone for the album is set with the slow-building, string-backed "Feel So Different." For all the mockery she's taken over the years, her cathartic emotional voice still manages … Continue Reading ››
Release Date: 1967
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Man, what a perfect, weird album cover.
Impressions: I think The Doors get kind of a bad rap-- probably due to a combination of classic rock overexposure, Jim Morrison's pretentous artiste/drunk/shaman clowning and maybe even a little fallout from the overbearing Oliver Stone movie. All of this overshadowed a completely underrated band that played a unique, jazzy, dramatic and, yes sometimes, pretentious style of '60s blues rock. Time for their second album... Starts off with the ominous sound of Ray Manzarek's organ … Continue Reading ››
Release Date: 1997
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Probably not going to be covering Steely Dan's song "Time Out Of Mind" on this albumImpressions: This is the first of ten Dylan albums on this list so I better start getting used to his distinct nasal, reedy voice. Let's put it on… Starts off in a sort of spooky, almost dub-like mode with "Love Sick." Production wise, Daniel Lanois favors spooky, shimmering, echoey atmospheric tracks that lack hooks but provide a decent and novel texture to support … Continue Reading ››
Release Date: 1974
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
"Welcome to the OCEAN BOULEVARD/Such a lovely place"Impressions: Eric Clapton usually doesn't get me fired up one way or the other, which is a recipe for a so-so review. But, WHO KNOWS? Anything can happen on this blog… including me figuring out Cheap Trick. Onward… "Motherless Children" (which is different from "Motherless Child") starts off the record with a galloping beat, bluesy slide guitar and Clapton's neutral-sounding voice (which, as I mentioned before, … Continue Reading ››
Release Date: 1977
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
This album isn't really about golf, I don't thinkImpressions: Wire is a British punk forefather band often name-checked in relationship to bands I enjoy (R.E.M., The Jam, The Futureheads, Devo, and the previously reviewed, Minutemen,) usually in reference to the start-stop dynamics and "angular" guitar. Somehow, I never bothered to listen to the source before. Today, I bother… "Reuters" opens with a slow riff and shouting vocal letting us know that the music will arty … Continue Reading ››
A guy tries to listen to every album on the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of all time list, and some other stuff
