Buddy Holly & The Crickets, The “Chirping” Crickets
Release Date: 1957
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Looking sharp, Crickets.Impressions: Early nerd rock and roll. Let's do this… This album blasts to life with "Oh Boy!" and then the rumbling, much covered "Not Fade Away." Holly, who was 21 when he recorded this, has a real nervous energetic delivery that gives the songs a little edge. Love the choppy percussion of "Not Fade Away." Their mix of R&B, rockabllly and country is so natural and set the stage for, well, everybody. Songs like "That'll Be The Day" and … Continue Reading ››
Release Date: 1990
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Groups of Girls singing songs. What did you expect?Impressions: This somewhat difficult-to-find collection of the best tunes of'60s girl groups finishes off a run of three similar collections in a row on this list. Let's put it on… The familar motorcycle themed "Leader of The Pack" by the Shangri-Las starts off with cooing voices, screeching tires, revving motorcycle … Continue Reading ››
The Ronettes, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
Release Date: 1964
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Sorry, no Betty...Impressions: This album comes in a middle of a pocket of three '60s girl-group entries on this list. A coincidence? Or just some weird thematic grouping by the editors? Who knows? Let's put it on… Immediately recognizable Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" production style, in "Walking In The Rain" which won a Grammy for Best Sound Effects for it's rainstorm noises. Some of these songs suffer a little in comparison to … Continue Reading ››
Another anthology… sighRelease Date: 2001
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Impressions: A sprawling 2-disc anthology of the, well, supreme Motown group that has at least three different versions that were released. Let's dive in!… The earliest songs are mostly new to me and range from novelty tunes about a man who only eats "Buttered Popcorn" to weird moody organ/flute driven doo-wop of "I Want A Guy." The singing is already top-shelf from the get go and the dreamy Latin-accented, Smokey Robinson production "Your Heart Belongs To Me" shows everything all coming together … Continue Reading ››
Blurs Blursteen and The Blur Street BandImpressions: Another late-career effort by Bruce. This one came out as a direct response to 9/11. I guess someone had to address the subject, so why not the Boss, right? Let's put it on… "Lonesome Day" offers up solid, if standard meat-and-potatoes rock with affecting but vague references to 9/11. The production by Brendan O'Brien is a little better than most late-career AOR offerings, although he likes to toss in little weird noises and … Continue Reading ››
This must be his flag design.Impressions: I'm not a well-informed on country music. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the '70s, so country music was at the time the butt of many easy jokes (think of the "Bob's Country Bunker" scene in The Blues Brothers.) It also didn't help that most of my early exposure to country was from cheeseball TV variety shows like The Mandrell Sisters or Hee Haw and that lots of today's country is completely awful. Despite all … Continue Reading ››
Previously Owned: No
Nice of them to include a pillow with the album in case it's a snooze.
First Time Listen: Yes
Impressions: Peter Wolf,former J. Geils Band front man ("Angel Is A Centerfold,") and WXRT favorite, has never won me over as a fan. Like John Prine, Warren Zevon, and Boz Scaggs for me, He falls into that regular guy rock/blues singer-songwriter category of interchangable white dudes that get mashed up together in my head. Completely unfair of … Continue Reading ››
Impressions: I'm not sure why they cluster similar albums together on this list. I just reviewed Eno's Here Comes The Warm Jets at #432. Perhaps spreading these albums further apart for variety sake would have been considerate towards idiots like myself who are listening to the entire list in order, I'm just saying. Let's fire this one up… Seems even more experimental than … Continue Reading ››
Impressions: Fairly popular band with the kids of now. Let's hit play… Trust-fund angle to the packaging, music, lyrics…even album titles like "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." They describe their mix of sounds as "Upper West Side Soweto." "Mansard Roof" starts off with a galloping beat and some tremelo guitars. At least, singer Ezra Koenig is trying to question his privilege with a chorus of "Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?" He's got a very … Continue Reading ››
PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Release Date: 2000
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Stories from the PJ, Stories from the HarveyImpressions: I completely missed out on one Polly Jean Harvey, for whatever reason, in the '90s. Maybe I was too busy listening to Korn, or Staind, or Puddle of Mudd or something. Well, that's not true, but let's hear what she's got… Leads off with an Y2K, alt-y guitar rock opener "Big Exit" with a suitably huge … 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
