A good mix of albums in this tranche.
The top pick from the albums new to me was Leonard Cohen'
s last album, which his terrific world-weary voice. This one got added to my Qobuz playlist, and may get more permanently added to my library.
Also of note was Seventeen Seconds by The Cure. I have this on the original vinyl and I suspect my affection for this album rests a bit on my age! However, this album was pretty influential on the development of post-punk and Robert Smith was in a bit of a nexus between The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, together with other side projects at the time.
Another notable album in this set was Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. As a bit of a long-time Cave listener, good though it is, it's not an album I'd have chosen for this list - there are other albums from the band I'd rate a bit higher. Having said that, it does have the wonderful collaboration with Kylie Minogue...
| 220
Aug 16 2024 |
Let's Get It On | Marvin Gaye | 4 |
3.76 |
| Oh my. Getting it on...loving to ball...plus a load of sadness in there. | ||||
| 219
Aug 15 2024 |
The Sounds Of India | Ravi Shankar | 3 |
2.86 |
| After the 'instructional' first track, this album was rather pleasant to listen to, though perhaps not something I'd play very frequently. Good extend the range of albums in this list. | ||||
| 218
Aug 14 2024 |
Emergency On Planet Earth | Jamiroquai | 2 |
3.25 |
| Really dull noodly jazz funk wannabbees. Really overstays its welcome. | ||||
| 217
Aug 13 2024 |
Iron Maiden | Iron Maiden | 1 |
3.39 |
| Awful music, awful sleeve. | ||||
| 216
Aug 12 2024 |
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space | Spiritualized | 4 |
3.14 |
| I like Spiritualized - have had this album since release. This album has a strange mix of gospel and psych with a good dose of space in there. | ||||
| 215
Aug 11 2024 |
Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water | Limp Bizkit | 2 |
2.46 |
| This is one of those albums that make me wonder at its inclusion on this list. An extra point for the limp attempt to illustrate the title on the cover. | ||||
| 214
Aug 10 2024 |
Rio | Duran Duran | 2 |
3.48 |
| I never liked Duran Duran at the time, and while the passage of time has made these songs better in my memory I'm still not fond of them. For me this is a rather dull album. | ||||
| 213
Aug 09 2024 |
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm | A Tribe Called Quest | 3 |
3.61 |
| Oh dear. more hip hop. The album is a bit too long. | ||||
| 212
Aug 08 2024 |
Medúlla | Björk | 4 |
2.75 |
| I found this an interesting album, with its focus on using the human voice for most of the music. I think this is an album that would repay more listening than I could offer it over a 24h period! I'm not wildly keen on Bjork, but I can see her obvious qualities as a rather experimental artis shine through here. | ||||
| 211
Aug 07 2024 |
Pelican West | Haircut 100 | 2 |
2.98 |
| This is a pop album that fits well to the early 80s pop world. Catchy tunes, great percussion. Despite the songcraft, a lot of this album comes across as a bit twee, not helped by the band's image. Chief songwriter Nick Heywood left after the release of this album and soon after the band folded (bar some later reformations). So, I found this album better than I expected, but I don't see it as a great or influential record. | ||||
| 210
Aug 06 2024 |
You Want It Darker | Leonard Cohen | 5 |
3.35 |
| This is a cracking album, especially given the circumstances it was recorded under. I would claim to be a Leonard Cohen aficionado but I did like this one. | ||||
| 209
Aug 05 2024 |
At Budokan | Cheap Trick | 2 |
3.1 |
| I can remember this album's spectacular popularity when it was released. I was, and I still am, perplexed by why it was so popular. I'm listening to it many years later, and it still seems to be a mediocre record. | ||||
| 208
Aug 04 2024 |
Murder Ballads | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 4 |
3.09 |
| I like Nicka Cave and the Bad Seeds a lot, and have most of not all of their albums. However, I'm not clear why this among that huge body of work was chosen for this list. It's not a bad album, but it's not up there with Cave's best work. I suspect it's to do with sales, with the album boosted by Where The Wild Roses Grow featuring Kylie Minogue getting into the charts. The album's a mixture of traditional and cover songs with originals by Cave, and it has a rather stellar collection of collaborators. | ||||
| 207
Aug 03 2024 |
Seventeen Seconds | The Cure | 5 |
3.35 |
| This is the album where The Cure moved forward into atmospheric post-punk, almost gothic territory - stimulated by Robert Smith spending time with the Banshees. It's almost sound painting. The single A Forest is excellent, as is Play For Today. An enjoyable album, and quite influential on other bands around this time. | ||||
| 206
Aug 02 2024 |
Berlin | Lou Reed | 4 |
3.1 |
| This must be one of the most grim, bleak and unrelenting albums in rock history, and probably all the better for it. Released the year after the seminal Transformer, it's a concept album. I like it a lot. | ||||
| 205
Aug 01 2024 |
Traffic | Traffic | 3 |
3.08 |
| This appears to be one of those albums by one of those bands that featured in the great late-60s diversification into different musical styles (and into super-groups). I can't really fault this record, though it doesn't really grab me in the way that popular music really should. I'm glad I listened to it though. | ||||
| 204
Jul 31 2024 |
The White Room | The KLF | 3 |
2.74 |
| From a 2024 perspective, this album has some strengths but quite a few weaknesses. (And from a review perspective, its existence in several variants doesn't help!) I think KLF were key players in the acid house club scene, so naturally there are going to be some good tracks here, but quite a few duds, for example where the samples are better than the complete track. Good but not great. | ||||
| 203
Jul 30 2024 |
Chirping Crickets | Buddy Holly & The Crickets | 5 |
3.32 |
| Only one album in Holly's short life. It short but full of classic songs. Wonderful. | ||||
| 202
Jul 29 2024 |
Remedy | Basement Jaxx | 3 |
2.71 |
| I love electronic music. But I prefer music that's challenging, and I'm afraid that an album of electro-tinged dance music misses the target here. I do think, however, that it's a question of how this is played. I reckon (were I to be back in my clubbing days), that I'd love individual tracks in the club situation. But not really as a rather lengthy album. | ||||
| 201
Jul 28 2024 |
Odelay | Beck | 3 |
3.47 |
| Mixed feelings about this album, which doesn't seem to hold together too well. The opener, Devil's Haircut, has a riff that I swear is straight from The Seeds. And I liked it. Other tracks seem to be informed more by hip hop standard rapping rhythm, which I find a bit limiting. It's a nice enough album, with a few highlights, but I think it's not a great album. | ||||