Used copies of this are going for very high prices. Since it's actually an EP, at least on vinyl (six tracks clocking in at ~23 minutes), I will skip it at 7 (B+), although it would be nice to have all 4 of their Nighthawk releases. The CD version adds the track "Jamaican Style & Dub," perhaps so that it could be nominated for a Grammy for Best Reggae Recording, which it was, although it did not win.
:-) [Might be a B plus, but I'm not going to sweat the distinction when I wouldn't buy a live album at B plus from this particular artist anyway.]
:-) [Listens well, but I started to agree with one Amazon reviewer that after awhile it all starts to sound like one song. Track "100,000 Remords" is fantastic though.]
:-) [I like the Pitchfork reviewer's word "rote." De-shelved in 2020.]
All three of the albums that Christgau/Hull gave A minuses are B plus to me. # [R&B] [De-shelved in 2020]
:-) [Christgau pretty obviously gave this an A to up his "female record" count. Also his "pop" count.]
# [prog] [I'll stick with Red and the debut with this band. That's as much as any classic prog band (equal to Yes).]
:-) [De-shelved in 2020. I confess I'm irritated by her vocalizations. I generally give her two notches below Christgau and Hull, which means My Life is an A minus.]
:-) ["Nag Nag Nag" is obviously a classic track.]
Mixtape re: Paul's Boutique. No physicals. Another item of interest with respect to PB: Paul's Boutique: A Visual Companion.
:-) [Four listens. A third of the 15 songs are on I Make a Wish for a Potato – more than any other album, with Too Much Fun second at 4 songs.]
I have this on the two-CD anthology, Length Of Growth 1981-1989. I also have it on vinyl. I'll keep the vinyl - it's very close to an A minus, and it's a nice relic of the bygone 1980s indie scene - good to put on when you want to hear some Great Plains, but are worried that House's voice will get too annoying if you try to play it all at the same time.
Slight but soothing. One of those dumbass vinyl and digital only jobs.
# [experimental] This is the first volume, with two tracks: "dlp 1.1" (1:03:33) and "dlp 2.1" (10:55). Still not sure it's not just some "half-assed process art piece" as some infuriated commenter on YouTube called it. In fact, I'm inclined to think it probably is, but it is still undeniably haunting and affecting, and that says something. In the end, I would probably buy it, but it's now digital-only.
Might be an A minus, but used copies in fair condition are going for around $30, so I'm not going to try to figure it out.
:-) [Listened more than three times given how many people love it so much, but I could never get into it. When I first moved to LA, my next door neighbor was the girlfriend of the Rivers guy. He was a douche. I think that woman (Jennifer Chiba) was also with Elliot Smith when he died.]
:-) [Not to be crass, but I'd buy this if it were Diamond certified. Only 9m at this point, although on RS best 500 of all time lists.]
:-) [Many of the songs are slower and kind of on the boring side. The side-openers, "Sultans of Swing," and, to a lesser extent, "Down to the Waterline," are much better. Not as good as I remembered it from my youth, overall.]
:-) [Another one of those albums you listen to again years later and remember nothing. De-shelved in 2020.]
# [dance/electronica] [The second half of this also appears to contain about 70% of The Original Sound of Sheffield '83/'87 (perhaps in different mixes), so it's interesting to note that Tom Hull gives the latter a full A and this only an A minus. I gather he really prefers the back half of this. I listened to that separately, to see if it hit me differently on its own. Not really. The Original Sound is for some reason totally unavailable to listen to in its original form, so that's going to have to be the end of it.]
:-) [None of the songs on this one stick. I'm pretty sure I owned it once and sold it back, and I don't want to buy it a second time on the off chance it's actually a B plus. I would buy it just to own all four of their good to great studio albums, but it's selling at import prices, and I am especially reluctant to rebuy at import prices.]
Normally, I would not collect metal at the B plus level, but this is considered a metal classic, I otherwise like some of the band's work, and I listened to it when it came out, so I thought I should get it.
To me, this is one of the best metal albums (a/k/a Killing Machine).
:-) [Only three years later, and I don't recognize a single song. De-shelved in 2020.]
:-) [Another one where nothing sticks. Listening over a decade later, I can't remember a single song. Can't understand Christgau's full A for this. De-shelved in 2020.]
:-) [Listened many times, and none of it sticks. Listening almost a decade after first digesting it, I can't recognize a single song. De-shelved in 2020.]
:-) [Bought this because of Christgau's A minus, in the days when I was cowed by him, especially on things like reggae and hip hop. Banton's delivery is frankly irritating. Musically, this is a B plus in my opinion, but I downgrade to honorable mention because of his vocals. De-shelved in 2020.]
Originally bought and sold when it came out. But its reputation has held up over the years, so I upgraded from what would have been honorable mention and shelved it.
I know I'm supposed to genuflect before this, especially given the fawning reactions by prominent experts, but I just don't think this kind of early '60s pop has aged well. It seems kind of dinky, flat and occasionally shrill, and very same-sounding. Or maybe it's just prior to my real interest in popular music. In any event, I find this to be best consumed in single songs in movie soundtracks, over the air, etc. No need for something like this in an actual collection anymore. [De-shelved in 2020]
# [Swedish folk-pop] But if I were to keep one, it would be this, because it seems to be his most-loved, and maybe the EP, An Argument with Myself (because of my love of EPs). [De-shelved in 2020]
:-| [Definitely gets better on the second "side." Digital only.]
# [experimental] Later albums became less experimental, and I even shelved Lost and Safe.
