Z'ev - Production and Decay of Spacial Relations: liked

Posted cover because it's good. With further listens, I can imagine this going up to 7 (B+) or even 7.5 (high B+), but it’s #experimental anyway, so I’ll stop here. Very interesting work. The name apparently is Hebrew for "wolf."

Various - Loud Rocks: 8 (A-)

Prices are pretty high. Not so high that I didn't bother with an alert, but high enough that I doubt anything will ever come of it.

Lenny Kaye - Goin' Local [Yep Roc, 2026]: 9 (A)

The Isley Brothers - It's Your Thing: The Story of the Isley Brothers [Epic/Legacy, 1999]: 9 (A)

The primo tracks are on disc two of the three, obviously, but the first (with those Hendrix tracks everyone, including me, has to mention), and the third (their 1980s downdraft), are also nice. Upped a notch because it's the definitive Isleys, in my view. I don't know, maybe that two-disc Volume 2 of The Isley Brothers Story on Rhino is more "definitive" re: their peak years, but then you have to buy Volume 1 to get some early tracks, and so you end up with this, more or less. I like the new Legacy package though, and it sounds amazing. And those separate Volumes are first generation CDs (1991), so....

Culture & Don Carlos - Roots & Culture: 8 (A-)

Good luck finding this for anything approaching a reasonable price.

The Grateful Dead - The Very Best of the Grateful Dead: 7 (B+)

#bestof

Nicki Minaj - Queen Radio, Vol. 1: 7.5 (high B+)

Docked a notch for bloat. #bestof

Rod Stewart - A Night on the Town: 7 (B+)

Motorhead - Bomber [Bronze import, 1979]: 7.5 (high B+)

I have the remastered CD [BMG, 2025] with a second disc containing the live show from November 3, 1979 at Le Mans. I listened to that a few times, but will not be grading it.

Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese: 8 (A-)

Fairport Convention - Full House: 8 (A-)

Scotty Moore/D.J. Fontana: All the King's Men [Sweetfish, 1997]: 7 (B+)

#roots/blues/r&b

Mikey Dread - Best Sellers [Rykodisc, 1991]: 8.5 (high A-)

Excellent, overlooked best of. I need to finish up listening to his catalog. Anyone who had a hand in Black Market Clash (and Sandinista) deserves respect. I haven't given him enough shrift.

Phoebe Bridgers - Lost Weekend: liked

:-)

The Fall - I Am Kurious Oranj: 8 (A-)

Tom Ze - Imprensa Cantada [2003]: 7.5 (high B+)

Completely unavailable for anything approaching a reasonable price. I might be docking it a notch for bloat, in which case it's #miscarticles. Even if I uppped it a notch, it's #import anyway, but it grew on me, just like the man said.

The Fall - Perverted by Language: 7 (B+)

I have the 1998 CD release on Castle, with four bonus tracks opening and one outtake closing.

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain: 9 (A)

Their best regular-issue album, after One Nation, in my view. Yeah, "Wars of Armageddon" is on the lame side, and the title track is maybe overrated, but it earns its 9 (A) and stands up to many, many plays. A definite classic. I sprung for the 2026 CD remaster on Westbound/ORG Music, with the cover pictured above.

Black Oak Arkansas - Black Oak Arkansas [Atco, 1971]: 8 (A-)

I'm going to use the old standby that this was reissued on CD in apparently unremastered form, in which case I usually don't go back to the original vinyl. If cheap copies were available, I might make an exception, but I'm not seeing that. Thanks to Tom Hull for pointing this one out. Around a dozen plays.

Ass Ponys - Under Cedars and Stars [EP]: liked

:-)

Motorhead - No Sleep at All: 7 (B+)

Upped a notch for general regard, and collected even though #live, because it's Motorhead.

Amanda Shires - Nobody's Girl: 8.5 (high A-)

Afghan Whigs - Soft Control: 8.5 (high A-)

Chuck D as Mistachuck: Celebration of Ignorance: 8.5 (high A-)

Why is no one noticing that this genius is doing some of his best work ever as he approaches seventy?

Unholy Modal Rounders - Unholier Than Thou 7/7/77 [Don Giovanni, 2024]: 8 (A-)