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 [honorable mention]

:-)

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 [honorable mention]

:-) [Would probably be a 7 (B+) if it weren't just basically a retread by a band that had a classic period that ought to just stand on its own. I'll stick with that classic period for them. The real problem though is that it's selling at the highest price for a CD, and it's only 27 minutes long.]

David Byrne - Music for the Knee Plays: 3.5 stars

Unlike The Catherine Wheel collection, this veers off into the "experimental"/"dramatic" section (#), so I will skip this at B plus. I also listened to the 8 extra tracks on the first CD edition from 2007 (which Hull upgraded from B plus to A minus), 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.]