Release Date: 1994
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
Love a great '70s drawn album cover. By Source, Fair use, Link
Impressions: Well, if you want to try to win me over from the jump, throw a Phife cameo rap at the beginning that references A Tribe Called Quest in a almost Marvel comic crossover fashion. Good start. Sounds like vintage early '90s hip hop-infused new Jack Swingish, R&B. "Creep" showcases TLC at their best: solid samples, … Continue Reading ››
Release Date: 1994
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: No
This album is best heard in Cinemascope.Impressions:Dummy is of those albums that somehow made a stir with both DJ electronic music types and regular civilians when it first came out twenty years ago(!) Not an easy trick to pull off. Let's put it on and see what all the fuss was about… Opens in typically spooky fashion with "Mysterions." Everything is there from the drop: Geoff Barrow's muted, tasteful hip-hop beats, Adrian Utley's retro spy guitar, Beth Gibbon's ethereal torch crooning, all served with a … Continue Reading ››
Release Date: 1994
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: Yes
I did! I did live through this!Impressions: We shall see if I can live though this... Snappy opening song "Violet" indicates the music and production is state-of-the-art for 1994, well into the grunge hayday. It goes without saying that Courtney Love is a mess vocally and personallly, but it kind of seems like by design? She also mimics her husband's Kurt Cobain's wounded hollering (or was it the other way around?) but adds a feminist edge. Harrowing songs like "Asking For It" … Continue Reading ››
Is Raekwon getting photobombed here?Impressions: The title of the album itself is a challenge: "Are you tough enough for this?" I guess we'll see. Hmmm, kinda takes a while to get going... "Knuckleheadz," production boring, but bouncy. Not bad, but seems a bit ordinary for '90s hip hop. "Criminology" clicked a bit more from me. This album's vibe takes me back to college; living in a post-graduate haze back in the "slums" of Champaign, IL, shooting hoop and … Continue Reading ››
Previously Owned: No
First Time Listen: No (I went to college that year, c'mon)
Impressions: Let's start with this: I don't hate Pearl Jam, nor do I love them. For whatever reason, they generally fail to leave a mark, but let's give them a fair shake shall we? Album ON! The dry, unadorned production helps the songs like the opener "Last Exit" and the punk-tempoed "Spin The Black Circle" and the hits like "Not For You" "Nothingman," "Better Man." But these songs seem like they are aiming for classic rock radio rotation twenty years in the future: solidly played, lean … 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
