Pépé Kallé - Larger Than Life: 3.5 stars

Another one with ridiculously over-priced physicals. I need to change my listening habits.

Bob Weir - Ace: 7 (B+)

Might be an 8 (A-). I would get the remastered 2005 CD on Rhino if I could find it for a reasonable price. The 1972 LP is also hard to find for a reasonable price. Finally, the 2023 remastered "50th Anniversary" release comes padded with a second disc containing a recent live replaying.

Bon Iver - 22, A Million

:-|

Kaytranada - 99.9%

😑

The Silos - Cuba: 3.5 stars

Yaa-Lengi Ngemi - Oh, Miziki: 3.5 stars

 

Hawkwind - Quark Strangeness and Charm: 3.5 stars

Good one, but not going in the collection at import prices. I'd listen to Space Ritual if it were on Rhapsody.

Miles Davis - In Concert: 4 stars

I like this one a lot, but with greedy sellers asking for ridiculous prices on the 1997 remastered CD, and his estate only selling it in digital format, I'm going to skip adding it to the collection. Plus, there is too much other great double live electric Miles to fret over this one.

Eek-A-Mouse - Wa-Do-Dem [honorable mention]

:-) [5 listens, because it seems to be the one most people think is his best]

David Bowie - Stage: 3.5 stars

 

Never been a rabid Bowie completist, nor much of a fan of live albums, but this is pretty good (although not becoming part of the collection). I also gave Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture Soundtrack a listen or two (and watched the movie), and stopped at that. I still have to finish evaluating Live Santa Monica '72, because I feel like some live Bowie from his heyday is probably called for. Not even going to bother with David Live.

Various Artists - Epic AF: 3.5 stars

Virtual album or something. Kind of like a playlist, but good.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree: 4 stars

Way upgraded from neutral after my brother-in-law convinced me to listen yet again.

The Peter Brotzmann Octet - Machine Gun: 4 stars

 

My wife brilliantly described this as sounding like "some kind of machine malfunctioning." Sounds like a compliment to me. I streamed this only, because physicals are sold for extortionate prices.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - In Step: 3.5 stars

 

# [blues] [although I think I later got this as part of a box set]

The Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South: 3.5 stars

I'll stick with the best-of for this band (Carry on up the Charts). And Blue is the Color. But Woman in the Wall is the best song I have ever heard by them.

Royal Crescent Mob - Land of Sugar [EP]: 7 (B+)

Way too expensive used. I could try to buy it as part of SNOB, but I don’t want the extra live tracks, single, and alternate version (see separate review of that album). The whole point is that this is a mini-album.

The Housemartins - The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death: 3.5 stars

The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4: 3.5 stars

Never been a big fan of Heaton's voice. Neither of this band's records are going in the collection, although I recognize and appreciate their artistry. They also do not appear to have kept their original relevance. I am marginally more open to The Beautiful South, I think because that band happens to be a more suitable backdrop for his voice. And that's all the thought I intend to give to the matter.

Solange - A Seat at the Table

😑

Paris - Pistol Politics

:-| [To me, 2010s Christgau has become to hip hop what 1980s Christgau was to R&B: over-inclusive and occasionally out of touch. This album is hugely repetitive.]

Atmosphere - Fishing Blues: 3.5 stars

Another solid effort.

Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygène

😑

Rodney K. Wood - Goodbye, my friend

I always got strength just from knowing that you were out there. I am glad that you are finally at peace wherever you are. Thank you for befriending me in that sunny hallway in Topliff Hall, on that fall day of the first football game of our freshman year. The world seemed full of nothing but beauty, light, and possibility, for the first time in my life. Everyone else had gone back to the game after gathering around a keg in that hallway during halftime, but you and I remained, alone and joyful together, both realizing we had found that rarest of gifts, a friend for life, and beyond. I'll rejoin you soon, my friend, wherever you are!

De La Soul - and the Anonymous Nobody ...

😑

Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression

😑

Eliot Sumner - Information

:-|

Pretenders - Learning to Crawl: 4 stars

Chimurenga Renaissance - Rize Vadzimu Rize: 7 (B+)

Vinyl-only