Yo Yo - Black Pearl: 8 (A-)

The Go-Go's - Greatest: 9 (A)

Elvis Presley - Tiger Man: 8 (A-)

A little corny and forced, but definitely the best part of the TV special conglomeration to me.

Bike for Three! [Buck 65 and "Greetings from Tuskan"] - More Heart Than Brains: 8 (A-)

His collaborator definitely should have chosen a different name.

Public Enemy - Power to the People and the Beats: Public Enemy's Greatest Hits: 8.5 (high A-)

Nine Inch Nails - Broken [EP]: 7.5 (high B+)

Black Eyes - Hostile Design [EP] [Dischord, 2025]: 9 (A)

Holy shit. Thank you for this.

Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs - Pharaohization!: The Best of Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs: 7.5 (high B+)

I almost picked up a copy, because it's one of the first, if not the first, retrospectives on Rhino, so somewhat of an historic release. #roots/bluesrock/texmex

The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter: liked

:-)

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm: liked

Docked a notch for bloat (songs drag on, and so does the album).

Various - Source: Music of the Avant Garde, Issue Number 4 [Source,1968]: liked

The release I listened to and am posting about here contains the following tracks:

Source Record Number One

A. Robert Ashley – “The Wolfman” (15:15)

B. David Behrman – “Wave Train” (15:15)

Source Record Number Two

C. Larry Austin – “Accidents”(16:59)

D. Allan Bryant – “Pitch Out” (17:45)

The two tracks on Source Record Number One are presented in the Spin guide as full albums, even though they do not appear to be such. At least, I could not find full albums with those track names. Or rather, there are Italian-only releases of albums with those titles, which also contain the track in question, but they are not on the Source label from 1968, as specified in the Spin guide. Anyway, I listened to those two particular tracks four times each.

Ray Charles - Doing His Thing: 7.5 (high B+)

#r&b

Lightnin' Hopkins - Blues Masters: The Very Best of Lightnin' Hopkins: 8 (A-)

I normally don't grade blues, but I feel pretty comfortable with this.

Serengeti - Kaleidoscope: liked

If I could listen to this more than the three free plays on Bandcamp, I would almost certainly give this at least a 7 (B+). Digital-only (and limited edition LP/cassette).

Lindval [Linval] Thompson - Cool Down [Clocktower, 1979]: 7.5 (high B+)

With the great Tony Chin on rhythm. Never remastered. CDs are either on Abraham (which appears to be a highly suss label), French releases, or under the title "Presents African Princess," with different track titles, etc. So I just went for a vinyl reissue on Clocktower, which I think may be affiliated, or even the same as, Abraham, but I'm frankly sick of worry about this kind of thing.

Soukous Stars - Pas d'Panique (Keep Cool): 7.5 (high B+)

#import

Lokassa et Soukous Stars - Megamix, Vol. 1: 8 (A-)

On guitar: Dally Kimoko, Lokassa Ya Mbongo, Nene Tchakou

The Fall - Palace of Swords Reversed: 8 (A-)

There are only three songs on here that I don't already have: "Putta Block," "Wings," and "City Hobgoblins." So I'm going to end up skipping this, because I don't like the prices being asked.

The Fall - Dragnet: liked

Many, many plays. To me, this is the one early Fall album I can't get behind. However, I do have a copy, because so many others seem to really like it, and because it completes my collection from Witch Trials through Kurious Oranj. Therefore, I have also posted the cover. I didn't sweat the version I bought because of my I would say disinterest in the album. Note: I way docked this from the 7.5 (high B+) appearing in a former batch review. Not sure what I was thinking/hearing at the time.

The Fall - Grotesque (After the Gramme): 7 (B+)

Upped from the "liked" appearing in a former batch review, after many more than the four or five plays that went into that original assessment.

The Fall - A Part of America Therein, 1981: liked

Live

The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials [I.R.S., 1979]: 8 (A-)

The Fall debut, studio album (despite the title). Upped from the 7 (B+) appearing in a former batch review, after many more plays than the at least three that went into that original assessment. The only remastered CD version is the two-disc "deluxe" edition -- which is absolutely swamped in crappy, worthless extra tracks, in my opinion. I listened to the extra tracks only once to make this determination. Terrible. (Well, there is a three-disc Cherry Red issue from 2019, which has the same tracks, but has the original album on its own disc, which is good. This pushes it out to three discs.)

The only other remaster is the vinyl reissue on Cherry Red from 2024. For some reason, this sells for a high price. Why didn't they also issue this remaster on CD? No doubt because it would cannibalize sales of the dumbass three-disc version.

As far as unremastered CDs, there is the original one on IRS from 1989, which is a first-generation CD transfer, and then the 1997 Cog Sinister vinyl drops, which reportedly even have skips on them. Cog Sinister did a 2002 reissue, sourced from the original masters this time, with three nice bonus tracks, but this is impossible to find. In the end, I found a VG copy of the original IRS CD issue for a tolerable price, and just went for that. Way too much agonizing over this, but the Fall catalog is a hellacious mess.

U2 - Easter Lily [EP]: liked

:-)

Moby Grape - Moby Grape: 8 (A-)

Ray Charles - Volcanic Action of My Soul: 7 (B+)

#r&b