The Glands - The Glands: 4.5 stars

The Perceptionists - Resolution: 8 (A-)

Sam Mangwana - [International] Sam Mangwana: 3.5 stars

From 1981. Syran M'Benza on guitar. Label is Star Musique (SMP 6000). Because it's a relatively early example of Parisian-style soukous, Syran is not as incendiary as usual. At least that's my guess, although I have no idea where it was actually recorded. Sometimes you see the album listed as Affaire-Disco, the first track. Probably would not have bought it after hearing it. I picked it up on a lark in a record store somewhere. It's pristine and I will keep it.

Saint Etienne - Travel Edition 1990-2005: 8.5 (high A-)

Ween - Chocolate and Cheese [honorable mention]

:-)

Silver Jews - Bright Flight [liked]

:-)

Dramarama - Hi-Fi Sci-Fi: 4.5 stars

Tom Verlaine - Cover: 3.5 stars

Pamelo Mounk'a - L'Essentiel

Really just a placeholder to note that I don't need to review this, since it contains his self-titled album from 1981 on Disques Sonics and Propulsion! on the same label from 1983, both of which I have and will review at a later date. It also contains two other tracks which don't appear to appear on any album -- "Le Travail, Toujours Le Travail" and "Adjoussou D'Abidjan" -- which I dutifully played 3 times each.

Pamelo Mounk'a - L'Indispensable

Really just a placeholder to note that this contains his 1982 album on Disques Sonics called Samantha, plus his self-titled album on Eddy'Son from 1983, the first of which I own, and both of which I will review separately. There is also one additional track - "Tamara" - which I dutifully played three times.

T La Rock & Jazzy Jay - "It's Yours" [honorable mention]

:-) [I don't usually review singles, but this is a seminal rap song. I actually almost bought it because of that, it's the first Def Jam single, and Ad-Rock is in the background. But if I did that, I would also need L. L. Cool J's "I Need a Beat" (also an honorable mention), because I already own Rock Hard. So I decided not to go down that road.]

Eric Dolphy - The Best of Eric Dolphy: X stars

Wish I could appreciate jazz, or even understand it enough to evaluate it.

Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music: 7 (B+)

# [experimental] What's so bad about this? Decades ahead of its time.

Aceyalone with DJ Fatjack - 43rd & Excellence: 4 stars

Digital only. Too bad.

Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud: 7.5 (high B+)

[Upped from honorable mention after 4th and 5th listens]

MX-80 [a/k/a MX-80 Sound] - Out of Control [honorable mention]

:-) [Contains Out of the Tunnel and Crowd Control. Sounds intermittently great, but man does it grate after awhile. Totally amelodic.]

Mofungo - "El Salvador" b/w "Just the Way"/"Gimme a Sarsaparilla": 7.5 (high B+)

I'm more or less a completist with this band, for some reason.

Mofungo - Elementary Particles [EP] [honorable mention]

Breaking protocol and adding a cover, because it's a great one. I would buy this even at honorable mention, because of the cover, because it's a great historical document of no wave, because they lived two blocks from where I went to high school at the time, and because I'm very partial to EPs. But it's way too expensive to get. Especially since the total time is 7:30.

Anna Domino - Dreamback: The Best of...: 4.5 stars

This is what I'll do instead of buying the debut and This Time. It has 40% of both, plus only 5 tracks from the things I do own.

Bent Backed Tulips [Dramarama] - Looking Through: 3.5 stars

Pretty good Dramarama album. I listened to the 20 track one on Eggbert. The original 11 tracks on that, from the original New Rose import, is the B plus. The additional nine tracks on Eggbert are more of an honorable mention. I would get the New Rose one, but it's too expensive used, not available new, and has alot of covers. Plus, it's Beatles-inspired, and it's also not under their own name. It all adds up to not adding it.

The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour: 8 (A-)

The Grateful Dead - Dave's Picks Volume 8 [Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA, 11/30/80]: 3.5 stars

The grade is only for the second set. I listened to this because of the fawning review in that long New Yorker article by Nick Paumgarten. It was fine (started out better than it finished). Because of this reaction, I never even listened to the first set, since even Paumgarten raved only about the second, as I remember. Given the B plus, for a live album by a band I'm not that crazy about, I'll pass on this. Costs a fortune anyway.

Pussy Galore - Exile on Main St: 2.5 stars

Only 500 numbered copies. Easily downloadable to hear it though. Listened because the real Exile is my number one album of all time, and I had to hear this. Audacious, I would say, and I'd pick up the cassette just to have it, if it was selling for less than hundreds.

Chad Matheny - United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobics: 3.5 stars

Digital only. [Emperor X]

Dramarama - Color TV: 8 (A-)

Dramarama - Stuck in Wonderamaland: 3.5 stars

Sweet Pea Atkinson - Don't Walk Away [honorable mention]

:-)

Donald Fagen - The Nightfly: 4 stars

Neil Young - Le Noise

:-| [drums and some bass would add alot]

Hot Chocolate - Cicero Park [honorable mention]

:-)

Hot Chocolate - Man to Man: 7 (B+)

# [R&B] On the other hand, they have one of these 5 CD boxes for $20, and I might buy that after listening to a couple other albums in that. But a greatest hits is probably all I need. [4 listens]

Don Henley - The End of the Innocence

:-|

The Grateful Dead - Nightfall of Diamonds: 3.5 stars

I see why people like this, and was very tempted to buy a new version on Ebay selling for not much more than this would have cost when it was released, adjusted for inflation, plus shipping, but a couple things stopped me. Jerry's voice is shot, first of all, but also Mydland's organ tinkling ruins everything as usual, and I already have Dozin' at the Knick, which was recorded only six months later. Finally, I don't collect live albums at B plus generally, and especially not this band.

X - Alphabetland: 7 (B+)

Upped from honorable mention and purchased with Smoke & Fiction, which turned this into the beginning of a great band's second coming.

David Byrne - Music for the Knee Plays: 7 (B+)

Unlike The Catherine Wheel collection, this veers off into # [experimental/dramatic], so I will skip this at 7 (B+). I also listened to the 8 extra tracks on the first CD edition from 2007 (which Hull upgraded from B+ to A-), but I have to say I don't think they add anything. The cover of that looked like this, and it was titled simply The Knee Plays:

Asap Rocky - Long Live Asap [honorable mention]

:-) ["Problems" and "Fashion Killa" are great tracks]

Various Artists - Down in the Basement: X stars

# [blues]

John Prine - Fair and Square [honorable mention]

:-) [Christgau is on record saying that he underrated this at ***. I'm taking that as meaning that he sees it as a B+, unless he actually regrades it. At A-, I might re-evaluate.]