Stereophonics - Just Enough Education to Perform

"Costner's back and to the left, the picket fence, the better bet"

You know how I'm always saying, "there aren't enough songs about armored car drivers, who eventually rob the armored car and wind up in prison?" thankfully this album contains one. It also contains many songs about traveling, one of which is quite good (Nice to Be Out), the others, not so much. This is a very mid tempo, acoustic based Stereophonics record. This is usually the kind of songs I like from them, but not necessarily an entire album of them. "Vegas Two Times", the album's opener, is the only up beat track, but it isn't all that good. There are some good songs on here though, such as "Rooftop", but as a whole, it's kind of lacking for me, especially when compared to the band's other work.

3/5
Favourite Track- Rooftop

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is

"10x10, 3x3 was the house that buried me. Did I really drown?"

To say I don't listen to this EP on a regular basis, which is the point of this blog, would be a lie, but it does follow     my alphabetical pattern and it's awesome, and it's my damn blog anyway so I'll do as I please. It's been out for 4 years now and I still listen to it every couple of weeks it seems. It, to me, is the best collection of Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs to date. Nick Zinner became one of my guitar heroes because of the songs Isis and 10x10. It's not lyrically earth shattering or anything, but the feel of the record just oozes cool.



5/5
Favourite Track - 10x10

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

"Keep your head up and fight, you don't need to know the reason why"

Kind of a trippy do wop album from Atlanta's Deerhunter. I took a Sunday drive through Polk County's back roads today, and this was a wonderful companion.









3\5
Favourite Track - Desire Lines

Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorists

"The more you own the more you are, lonelier with cheap desire"

The Manics first album is a great taste of things to come on future, superior, releases, such as "The Holy Bible" and "Everything Must Go". My only real gripe with the record is that it is too slick sounding, I wish they'd have recorded these songs as they sound live. Richey James' lyrics are like prose set to music, so it doesn't always flow as you'd think lyrics should, but that's okay, it very much defines their style. Musically, James Dean Bradfield's guitar work has never been flashier, you really get the sense of how good he is on this album. 

4/5

Favourite Track- Motorcycle Emptiness

The Cure - Faith

"No shapes sail on the dark deep lakes, And no flags wave me home"

This is a massively depressing album, there's no "Friday I'm in Love" or "Love Cats" found anywhere. It's beautiful and sad. It flows, effortlessly, from track to track. I wish I could write an album like this.








4/5
Favourite Track- The Drowning Man

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

"There it is, we a only one push from the nest. There it is, we are only one argument from deaf"

So, the best thing about Easy Tiger is that not many of the songs are longer than 3 minutes. I returned to this album today after initially dismissing it, hoping that time would somehow make it better. It did not. I read the lyrics as I listened to the record and found I liked it even less. Halloweenhead has to be one of the worst Ryan Adams songs ever recorded, but there are several others that could take that honour on this album. The lyrics are terrible, yet there are some good vocal melodies to be found throughout and the song "Two" is pretty good.



2/5
Favourite Track- Two

Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town

"I've done my best to live the right way 
I get up every morning and go to work each day 
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold 
Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode 

Explode and tear this town apart 
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart 
Find somebody itching for something to start"

It's the Boss, that's all you really need to know. His best guitar work ever is on Adam Raised a Cain.


5/5
Favourite Track- Adam Raised a Cain

Pedro the Lion - Control

"If you're lucky they'll turn out as good as you, you tell them that they're good kids but you know that it's not true"

So, I listen to this album all the time. It is easily one of my top ten favourite albums of all time. David Bazan is one of the most brutally honest lyricists in the world and it shows on this album. It's not a concept album, per se, but a connection can be drawn between all of the songs. To me, the lyrics reflect the hidden sadness and despair involved in middle american life. The only song of happiness, Rapture, is the result of a deplorable act. There are songs about infidelity, corporate greed, and loss of hope. The storytelling is tremendous, especially on Priests and Paramedics. Apart from the excellent lyrics and storytelling, the guitar tone of all the tracks, especially Second Best, blow my mind. The drumming is also quite moving, simple but creative. Point is, David Bazan is personal hero of mine.

5/5

Favourite Track- Priests and Paramedics

Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising

"inside my head, my dog's a bear, she was significant, I'm insane"


This is certainly not an album containing any singles. It's a performance piece for the first 7 tracks of no real order or structure. It has to be experienced as a whole album or it wouldn't make any sense, not that it makes a lot of sense that way either. It actually would be better to see and hear performed live. It's a lot of guitar noise and feedback until Death Valley 69 which creates insane amounts of tension and features a duet with Lydia Lunch, whom if you've ever watched Kill Your Idols, is absolutely insane. This is actually the first time I've ever listened to this album, although I've had it on my computer for years. Brilliant art piece.



3/5
Favourite Track- Death Valley 69

U2- Achtung Baby

"And a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle"


So, first album discussed will be an album that is not at all obscure, but hipster crowds will definitely identify it as best U2 album. While I'm not too fond of the hipster crowd, I would probably agree with them on this. This album, to me, is the first time U2 really departed from their signature icy, sparse sound and made something with some real swagger. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen really make this album, with the best rhythm section work to be featured on any U2 record. But the Edge also goes for a funk/noise rock sound that is not to be overlooked, "Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" is a prime example of this. They've tried to reinvent themselves many times after this record, but it wasn't nearly as superbly executed as on Achtung Baby.


5/5
Favourite Track- Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses

365 albums

In an effort to reconnect with albums I may have forgotten about or just haven't listened to in awhile, I've created a blog.