Saturday, November 14, 2026
Galaxie 500 - The Portable Galaxie 500: liked
Might be a 7 (B+) but it’s #bestof anyway. I wonder why this hits me so much more poorly than the original albums?
Joseph Kamaru - Heavy Combination 1966-2007: 7.5 (high B+)
Might be an 8 (A-), but it’s #import anyway. I found it spotty. #bestof
Lalu - Lalu: liked
Posting cover to avoid confusion with the French metal "project" (that is, band) of the same name. This is the Australian indie band. Could be 7 (B+), but #import/artisanal anyway. Four plays.
Derek & the Dominos - Live at the Fillmore: X (X)
I'm not going to grade this. It seems de trop when compared to In Concert. I listened to the unique tracks four times each.
Miles Davis - The Essential Miles Davis [Columbia/Legacy, 2001]: X (X)
Range is way too wide to hold together, but still a great listen, obviously.
Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance - Ooh La La: An Island Harvest [Island/Universal, 2014]: [grade to come]
This one should be on the collected list, but I wanted to post about it so I don't get confused in the future: It contains all tracks on One for the Road and all tracks on Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance (except "I'm Just a Country Boy"). A few are in alternate versions, but I'm not going to worry about that and will post a grade on this entire collection when I take a final listen. But it's at least an 8 (A-), otherwise I would not have it.
Big Star - #1 Record/Radio City: 9 (A)
One of the great two-fers of the CD era. I'd give Radio City a 9.5 (high A) and #1 Record an 8 (A-). Averaged out, that rounds up to a 9 (A) for this two-fer. I also have a separate vinyl copy of Radio City.
Superchunk - Here's Where the Strings Come In [Merge, 1995]: liked
Pitchfork 100 Best Indie Rock Albums of All Time list #44. I do tend to like this better than alot of their albums, although that's not saying much. Four plays.
Friday, November 13, 2026
Chuck D aka Mistachuck - The Black in Man [SPITdigital, 2014]: 8 (A-)
Can't even find a decent cover image on this one. Did an unusual thing for me and bought a vinyl copy, even though it was released on CD. It's just that the CDs go for ridiculous prices, and I got brand new, sealed vinyl (as the kids say) for $15 shipped. Seemed like the right thing to do. I think I might be this man's biggest fan. :-)
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
PJ Harvey - batch review
As always, I will post separately about these as I play them again in the future, but if I have them, which I do, it means they would get at least a 7 (B+), probably no higher than 8 (A-) in this case:
Is This Desire?
To Bring You My Love
Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
The Fugs - Electromagnetic Steamboat: The Reprise Recordings [Rhino Handmade, 2001]: X (X)
Not going to grade this, but I did give it four plays. Also not going to get it, since it’s mostly their four Reprise albums [Tenderness Junction; It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest; The Belle of Avenue A; and Golden Filth]. I won’t grade these individually either. Plus it’s too expensive. I also didn’t listen to the mono version of TJ, or the one or two other ephemera/misc. articles on the box set. So this is basically a batch review, without grades, for their four Reprise albums. They range from “liked” to no higher than 7.5 (high B+) and so would be #folk/protoantifolk anyway. I find them mainly irritating, and puerile, honestly.
Merle Haggard - The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology (1963-1977) [Razor & Tie, 1995]: 7.5 (high B+)
Just too much Merle for my taste. The single-disc Capitol Years is perfect in my view. #bestof
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