Good, but outside my sphere of expertise.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Sheer Mag - Need to Feel Your Love: 3.5 stars
Upgraded from a neutral. Critical darlings, but just the kind of screechy femme punk I don't collect.
Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession: 3.5 stars
Been meaning to form an opinion of her for decades. Like it, but a little beyond my ken.
Ike & Tina Turner: River Deep ~ Mountain High: 3.5 stars
I know this is considered a classic, but I'm just not that into it. Plus it's outside my collecting sphere.
Le Grand Kalle - Volume 1: 3.5 stars
Not bothering too much with this one or seeking in physical, given the definitive compilation released in 2013.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels: 3.5 stars
Released as a free digital download, barely a half hour long, so basically an EP on steroids. Later re-released on CD, but I'll stick with the freebie and skip physicalizing it, given length, release history, and grade.
Beck - Beercan [CD maxi-single] [honorable mention]
[Down-graded from B plus and de-shelved in 2020. Kept the Loser single though.]
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Thomas Mapfumo - The Chimurenga Singles 1976-1980: 4 stars
Since I have another early singles collection, as well as a best-of, I'm not going to pick this up in physical, since they are prohibitively expensive.
Peter Tosh - Live at the One Love Peace Concert: 3.5 stars
Spotty, but outstanding on certain songs. Tosh's voice is not in its best form. And the sound quality is pretty bad. Plus it's a live one, so not going in the collection. But if you like Tosh, or reggae, you should hear this.
Rolling Blackouts C.F. - The French Press: 4.5 stars
Better and way cheaper than the first. Reasonably priced for an EP. I'm grateful to Christgau for bringing these two EPs to wider attention (including mine), but in my opinion he got the grades backwards.
Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Talk Tight: 3.5 stars
Ended up buying it, because it's NZ alternative, Xgau gave it an A, and it's an EP.
Oddisee - The Iceberg [honorable mention]
:-) [Downgraded from 7 (B+). I find his rap voice irritating. Four listens.]
White Lung - Deep Fantasy [honorable mention]
:-) [Lowered from 7 (B+)] [Not quite sure how this made the Rolling Stone list of 40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time. 10 songs in 22 minutes.]
National Badema - Original Kasse Mady
:-| [The big, long track leading this off ("Nama") is also on Les Nuits de Bamako. Otherwise, fairly nondescript.]
Spoon - The First Two Albums [honorable mention]
I think Telephono is probably the better of these two, and it's even possible that it or A Series of Sneaks is actually a 3.5 star album, but the important point, justifying the batch review, is that this sounds like a different, less consequential band, more simple hardcore/punk than whatever they later became. I don't find these albums necessary for a Spoon collection. [Four listens each. I also listened to the EPs Soft Effects and Love Ways three times each - honorable mentions both.]
Santana - The First Three Albums
Another batch review. These albums are all in the 3 to 3.5 star range, in my opinion. I'm not going to bother making those distinctions here, and will just stick with The Essential Santana, which collects all the best tracks off these three albums. I also listened to Supernatural three times and thought I had graded it but guess it slipped through the cracks. I would give that an honorable mention, RIAA status noted.
Santana
Abraxas
Santana [III]
Santana
Abraxas
Santana [III]
Primal Scream - Vanishing Point: 7 (B+)
I'm pretty sure I had this once before and sold it off. Either way, I recently found a very good copy for around $5 shipped and went for it. Ultimately, I could not justify having Screamadelica and not this. Upped from neutral. Otherwise # [dance/electronica]. Christgau and Hull both have this at 7 (B+) too. [Probably 6 or more listens]
Michael Jackson - Dangerous: 3.5 stars
For MJ for me, it's going to be Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. Probably don't even need the last one, but I picked it up for around $5 remastered.
Swell Maps - Jane from Occupied Europe: 7 (B+)
# [import] Perhaps I'll look into A Trip to Marineville.
Bunny Wailer - Crucial! Roots Classics: 7 (B+)
# [best of] This contains many of the tracks from Struggle, a pretty mediocre release in my view, but many of the other tracks are good.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Sam Mangwana – Canta Moçambique: 3.5 stars
Pretty spotty album actually. Other than Liwa Ya Niekesse. Obviously not going to seek out physicals just for that one though, brilliant though it is.
Sonic Youth - Smart Bar Chicago 1985: 3.5 stars
Even for a band I love, I'm not going to shelve a B+ live album.
Youssou N'Dour - Immigres: 3.5 stars
I wanted to get this in physical, especially because of its historical importance, but there are no reasonably priced copies available, so, for B plus, I'm skipping it.
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Lee Perry - Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread
:-| [At least five listens. What do people hear in this one?]
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Joe Cocker - Joe Cocker!: 3.5 stars
This is where I stop with this artist. Probably shouldn't have even started, but what's done is done, and I have this on a nice remaster.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Burning Spear - Love & Peace: Burning Spear Live!: 7 (B+)
I saw him on this tour, in 1993, at the Chestnut Cabaret. Great, classic show. Bought as a souvenir.
Frederic Rzewski - Coming Together/Attica/Les Moutons de Panurge: 3.5 stars
This grade is really just for the first side, the composition "Coming Together," which I like just fine. Those who love it don't have much to say about the two on the second side, so I'm not even going to bother trying to hear them, given my lukewarm reaction to the first track. [Four listens for "Coming Together"]
Elliott Murphy - Aquashow: 3.5 stars
Normally I probably would not worry about collecting this, but I've got a beautiful vinyl copy (cut-out though it is), and I'm keeping it.
Bunny Wailer - Tribute: 8 (A-)
All eight of the tracks on this are reprised on Time Will Tell - A Tribute To Bob Marley, which adds two more, "Rebel Music" and "Bellyful," which I dutifully listened to 3x each. Neither is much to write about, so I'll stick with this one, which I have on vinyl.
The Birthday Party - Hits: 7.5 (high B+)
Normally, I don't keep best-ofs at this grade, but I have it and I'll keep it. It also has half of Junkyard, which is somewhat of a minor postpunk touchstone and worth having some of.
Friday, September 8, 2017
Monday, September 4, 2017
Jimi Hendrix - In the West: 3.5 stars
I normally have difficulty with Hendrix other than his first three proper studio releases. I also have difficulty with alot of live albums. Add this all up for a B+. Normally I would not shelve this, but it's the last of the vinyl bequeathed to me by a dying friend, and so I am obviously keeping it.
Various Artists - Urgent Jumping: 4 stars
I'm going to end up not buying this for two reasons: It's too long and should have been culled down to the highpoints on one disc. And it has too many repeat tracks, including the best one - Dunia Ni Duara - which was just released on Vol. 2 More Pili by Moreno & L'Orch First Moja-One.
Sims - Bad Time Zoo: 7 (B+)
I'm probably being lazy in not shelving this or investigating the Doomtree "collective" anymore than I have. "Collectives" tire me, with their 10,000 releases and shifting personality foci and everything else. This could very well be an 8 (A-) but I'm not going any further at this time.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Niney and Friends [Niney the Observer] - Blood and Fire: 1971-1972
This is more of a placemark than a review, hence the absence of a grade. I listened to the parts of this that are on Spotify, as well as giving the similarly titled Blood & Fire 2 CD set a spin or two, and am not going further. This was all inspired by Tom Hull's reggae gradings. Other things he's given full A or A+ grades to that I have not pursued at all, or have given only one or two plays: All the ska/rocksteady/toaster compilations, The Abyssinians and Friends - Tree of Satta: Volume 1 (single rhythm), the comp Punky Reggae Party: New Wave Jamaica 1975-1980 (seems too pro forma to be spending hours looking for at decent prices etc. or fully evaluating), and the Cedric Im Brooks & the Light of Saba number (too jazzy).
Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years: 3.5 stars
Nice threads, man. Seriously, this is over-rated in the final Rolling Stone Album Guide, and I probably would skip it, but I somehow ended up with a pristine vinyl copy, so I'll keep it. And that way I have his entire initial run through Graceland.
Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs & Englishmen: 3.5 stars
Not the biggest fan, and ordinarily would not get this, but a friend who died bequeathed it to me in vinyl, and I'm keeping it. Nice artifact, if nothing more, and it is. Besides, it's hard to argue with Radle/Gordon/Price/Keys.
Papa Wemba - Papa Wemba (Disques Esperance): 4 stars
Liked this one enough to print it out and put it on the shelves. Not paying jacked-up prices for physical copies, especially when it's barely half an hour long.
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