I start with The Bends and stop with In Rainbows. At least at this point, and assuming they are basically done.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Radiohead - Amnesiac: 7 (B+)
I start with The Bends and stop with In Rainbows. At least at this point, and assuming they are basically done.
Of Montreal - False Priest: 4 stars
I also have Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer, which I rate at the same level, but will stop after trying Lousy with Sylvianbriar (which I've already heard at least once but have no record of it because it was before I started making notes here regularly).
D'Angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah: 3.5 stars
Normally I don't collect R&B at the B plus level, but I'll make an exception for this because of impact and I've got others of his works.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Saturday, December 29, 2018
Friday, December 28, 2018
Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes: 7 (B+)
Normally, I would mark this # [electronic] and move on (like I did for Los Angeles), but I have it for some reason and will keep it as a stand-in for Los Angeles, which I like slightly better and would prefer to have if I'm going to be having anything of his beyond Cosmogramma.
The Bizarros - The Bizarros: 3.5 stars
I would buy this if used vinyl were not so over-priced. I might even spring for Complete Collection 1976-1980 if it weren't one of those ridiculous latter-day vinyl-only reissues. We know you're way hip. Release it on CD also, if you're going to go physical at all.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Monday, December 24, 2018
Various Artists - Hard Rock Cafe: Party Rock: 3.5 stars
I paid $4.95 for my copy at Amoeba in LA (still has the price sticker), after Christgau's '90's book came out and rated it the 11th best album of 1998 (!) and a full A. In those days, if you wanted to hear some of these songs, you had to have the disc, so I bought it as an excellent source of some of these tracks. Now, this kind of thing obviously makes no sense at all. And there's no point in cluttering up the shelves with this, other than for collector purposes. My copy is missing the inlay card, which makes it even less useful as a collector's item. It's also a promo. What to do? No used record store would even look at it, and I can't bring myself to throw it out. I'm putting it in my box of CDs that I recently took off the shelves because I no longer stand behind them.
Gregory Isaacs - Mr. Love: 8.5 (high A-)
Contains (and only contains) 7 out of 10 tracks from Cool Ruler (1978), 6 out of 10 tracks from Soon Forward (1979), 5 out of 10 tracks from More Gregory (1981), and 3 out of 10 tracks from Lonely Lover (1980). This seems to get it just right. Makes getting those individual releases unnecessary for all but the most rabid fans. Totally solves the "Gregory Isaacs problem" (namely, his releasing ~1000 albums in a 5 year peak period).
Gnawa Diffusion – Bab El Oued Kingston [honorable mention:-]
:-) [Another Muzikifan Africa Top 50 I don't really get.]
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Art Blakey - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk: 4 stars
Not sure why I got this, since it doesn't seem universally acclaimed. I think it's because it's one of the handful of albums that has been a "crown" album in every issue of the Penguin Jazz Guide.
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92: 4 stars
The Aphex Twin to get if you're getting only one Aphex Twin (ie, any IDM/electronic/whatever you want to call it - I guess ambient house).
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Gregory Isaacs - Soon Forward: 7 (B+)
See review of Cool Ruler. [See later discovery of compilation Mr. Love.]
Gregory Isaacs - Cool Ruler: 7 (B+)
I've never heard an album from the man that sounded like anything better or worse than a 7 (B+), with the possible exception of Night Nurse and Best of Volumes One and Two. And obviously I can't buy every one at that level so will stop with those two. [See later discovery of compilation Mr. Love.]
Sonic Youth - Dirty Boots [maxi-single]: 4 stars
Went through the whole list of Sonic Youth maxi-singles/EPs, which is something I do for very few bands (Yo La Tengo, Pavement come to mind). I'm done now, and have the ones I want, including this one. I actually have one more to try: Whore's Moaning, but I'm unlikely to get it because it was a non-US release. On the other hand, I have Nirvana's Hormoaning, which was also a non-US release and a companion to it, so we shall see.
Friday, December 21, 2018
Sonic Youth - 100% [maxi-single]: 3.5 stars
Two songs in the same version from Dirty (100% and Creme Brulee) and two previously unreleased (Genetic and Hendrix Necro). Only Genetic is a good prev un, so obviously not getting this, because even that's only a B plus.
Dele Abiodun - It's Time for Juju Music: 3.5 stars
Very repetitive. Never been much of a juju fan as it is. Vinyl only, copies prohibitively expensive. Long story short: not buying.
Sisters of Mercy – “This Corrosion” b/w “Torch”/“Colors” [honorable mention]
:-) [Don’t usually reviews singles, but I wanted to listen to something by this band, so I went with this 22:25 single, which is really an EP. Would probably buy it if I could find it at reasonable prices, because This Corrosion is an A minus, even though the B-side songs are neutral at best.]
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Sly and the Revolutionaries - Black Ash Dub: 8 (A-)
Rare exception to my general policy not to buy new vinyl issues or reissues. I'm a sucker for reggae albums with covers of Rastas smoking weed.
Friday, December 14, 2018
LL Cool J - 14 Shots to the Dome [honorable mention]
:-) [This is the kind of album you listen to several times and just can't manage to hold onto any of it, except for one or two parts that annoy greatly and one or two parts that soar. Plus it overstays its welcome and Marley Marl should have told LL to tone down his screaming delivery.]
Various Artists - African Moves: 4 stars
Normally, I would pass on a compilation like this that has several different African music styles on the same album (in this case, soukous, juju, and highlife). But this one is good; it actually flows nicely; it's from Stern's (whose legitimacy in the area is beyond question); I already own it on a nice first generation CD issue; and it's from the early days of African music releases in the US/UK, in which this kind of hodgepodge sampler was forgivable.
Various Artists - Edition Veve [honorable mention]
:-) [Normally don't include covers for non-graded albums, but there are so many similarly titled albums to this, I want to document which one I'm talking about here, which conveniently has song titles and band names on the cover.]
Led Zeppelin - Coda
:-| [With this band, I'm sticking with the classic four-album run of III-Physical Graffiti, plus the latter-day In Through the Out Door]
Gregory Isaacs - My Number One: 7.5 (high B+)
# [best of] Eight of this one's 13 tracks are on Best of Volumes One and Two, so I'm obviously not picking this one up too. Rating is for the 5 other tracks.
Wailing Souls - Wild Suspense: 3.5 stars
Possibly an A minus, but this is unavailable at reasonable prices, so I'm not getting it and not going to sweat the distinction. Still, I had always bought into the general consensus that they were second-rate reggae artists and so was pleasantly surprised by this. Thanks to Tom Hull.
Gregory Isaacs - Best of Volumes One and Two: 8 (A-)
Perhaps to state the obvious, this contains the entirety of Best of Gregory Isaacs Volume 2 on GG from 1981. It also obviously contains all the songs from The Best of [first volume, although not so named at the time] -- when that was released on CD in 1992, it was renamed Willow Tree and two songs' names were changed ("Everything Is Going Alright" became "Double Attack" and "Happiness" became "Freedom").
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Gogol Bordello - Trans-Continental Hustle: 3.5 stars
I have a complicated reaction to this one. First of all, I don't really trust my reactions to this band, because I admire and respect them way more than I ever want to listen to them, which is pretty much never. They are very good live, but I had almost the same reaction. Long story short, while I like this as much as any of their work, and might even see this as an A minus, people who love them much more than I do (Pitchfork, Christgau, Rolling Stone) had a lukewarm reaction to this (although Tom Hull seems to think of it like I do), so I'm going to skip it. I will note that it is strangely out-of-print since it's only 8 years old, and I would still buy it if I could find it for $9 new like some of their other releases. But as it is I'm going to let their other albums that I do own stand in for this one, which, again, I would probably never voluntarily pull off the shelf if I did own it.
Pulp - Different Class: 3.5 stars
# [britpop] But I own this anyway because it keeps showing up on lists.
Blur - Blur [honorable mention]
:-| [See review for Parklife. This one is generally held in a hair less esteem than Parklife and those two Oasis albums, so I’m not collecting it. I also agree with the general view. I will note that the very best songs on this one seem better to me than the best ones on Parklife, but overall, Parklife is the better record by a hair. I found myself waiting for this one to end a little.]
Blur - Parklife: 3.5 stars
Even though I'm not much of a classic "Britpop" person, I own this at B plus for the same reason I own those two Oasis albums. They are basically essential.
Junior Byles - Rasta No Pickpocket: 3.5 stars
Not paying high-range full release prices for a reissue of a 20 minute EP padded with some (admittedly decent) bonus tracks. [Listened to actual EP songs four times just to be sure.]
Saturday, December 8, 2018
David Johansen - Live It Up: 3.5 stars
I need a good reason to add a B plus live album to the collection. As in Van Morrison's It's Too Late to Stop Now, which is so loved that I shelved it. This I will not.
Van Morrison - It's Too Late to Stop Now: 3.5 stars
Not sure why many people think this is so great. I've listened to it a dozen or more times and am always left a little underwhelmed.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Imarhan - Temet [honorable mention]
:-} [These Tuareg guitar band albums are all starting to sound a little the same.]
Dr. Feelgood - Down by the Jetty: 3.5 stars
Not paying expensive import prices on this for a B plus. And since this is generally acknowledged to be their best, this is where I stop with them.
Wreckless Eric - Wreckless Eric: 3.5 stars
Five tracks from this are on The Whole Wide World (ie, half of this). Five tracks from The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric are also on that comp (ie, half of that second album). Add three tracks from his singles to the comp, and that adds up to just keeping the comp. Not even going to give the second album three listens.
Saturday, December 1, 2018
The Lordz - The Brooklyn Way [honorable mention]
:-) [Appearances by Everlast and Tim Armstrong bump this up a notch]
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You: 4 stars
To me, this is clearly the best of her first three albums, although her first one is probably the most universally liked. But I agree with Christgau and Tom Hull on this one, although they like her other work more than I do. I am going to just stick with this for her.
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