Iggy and the Stooges - Metallic K.O.: 7 (B+)

# [live; bootleg] [I listened to the original version only, with the first half of the October 6, 1973 show and the second half of the February 9, 1974 show each at the Michigan Palace. In other words, I did not listen to the expanded version of this, which adds the other half of each show. Upped a notch for sentimental value.]

John Prine - German Afternoons: 7 (B+)

# [folk]

The English Beat - What Is Beat? [placeholder]

Greatest hits comp also including 2 live tracks of songs I have in studio versions and 3 remixes of songs I have in original versions. The collection is not easily available, so I skipped those 5 tracks. I did listen to the 3 UK singles three times:  “What's Your Best Thing?, “Hit It,” and “Too Nice To Talk To.” None of them stood out to me personally. There are several versions of this, so I also played "Which Side of the Bed" and "Ackee 1-2-3," which are on some versions and are much better. This led me to investigate the box sets The Complete Beat and The Complete Studio Recordings. The latter would be more interesting to me, because it does not include the live tracks that are on the former, but it is ridiculously expensive. Perhaps I'll end up getting The Complete Beat though, because it's still in print, I love the band, and there are some good tracks not on their three regular-issue albums, as this investigation demonstrates.

The Ornette Coleman Trio - At the "Golden Circle" Stockholm, Vol. 1: X stars

# [jazz/live]

Lori McKenna - 1988: 7.5 (high B+)

# [folk]

The Jungle Brothers - Done by the Forces of Nature: 8 (A-)

The Jungle Brothers - Straight out the Jungle: 7.5 (high B+)

Placebo - Once More with Feeling: Singles 1996-2004: 8.5 (high A-)

Placebo - Meds: 8 (A-)

Weather Report - Black Market: 7 (B+)

# [jazz/fusion]

boygenius - the rest [EP] [honorable mention]

:-)

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes [honorable mention]

:-)

Morrissey - You Are the Quarry: 7.5 (high B+)

Morrissey - Low in High School

:-| 

Morrissey - Maladjusted [honorable mention]

:-)

Morrissey - Southpaw Grammar [honorable mention]

:-)

Morrissey - World Peace Is None of Your Business [honorable mention]

:-)

Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors [honorable mention]

:-)

The Jungle Brothers - J Beez wit the Remedy [honorable mention]

:-)

The Klezmatics - Possessed: 8 (A-)

The Klezmatics - Rise Up!: 7 (B+)

# [klezmer]

Diamond D - Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop: 7.5 (high B+)

Buck 65 calls this an "all-time classic" that "needs to be in your collection" on his blog. I would buy it, but it's deeply OOP and being offered for stupidly high prices.

Broadcast - Tender Buttons [honorable mention]

:-)

The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus [honorable mention]

:-) [4 listens]

The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds [honorable mention]

:-) [Although of course I'll pick up a physical]

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless: 8.5 (high A-)

Rosanne Cash - The Very Best of Rosanne Cash: 9.5 (high A)

I love her.

Ornette Coleman - Tone Dialing [honorable mention]

:-) [Certainly interesting. Might be a 7 (B+) but it's more # [free jazz] than "harmolodic funk" to me. Most of the time it sounds like you accidentally left two tabs playing different albums at the same time on your laptop. It also goes on for too long. People criticize the rap track, but I think that's the best one.]

A Certain Ratio - The Old + The New: 7.5 (high B+)

# [best of] [Could be an 8 (A-) but not available for reasonable prices anyway. Maybe their later comp, Set, will work. They do sound a little derivative of the Gang of Four. Maybe that's historically unfair? I do wonder why they seem to have been ignored by mainstream critics.]

Philip Glass - Glassworks: 8 (A-)

This will end up being the sum total of my Glass collection. Some of his longer works (Music in Twelve Parts; Einstein on the Beach; Koyaanisqatsi) might be interesting, but I have an aversion to long works.

Clams Casino - Instrumental Relics: 7.5 (high B+)

Vinyl and digital only, otherwise I might listen again and up it a notch. By my count, this has 5 songs from Instrumental Mixtape 2, 4 songs from Instrumental Mixtape [1], 3 songs from Rainforest, 1 song from Instrumental Mixtape 3, one b-side "I'm the Devil," and 1 song only released here "Caves." Apparently, Mixunit will sell me a CD of this, which I will order if they ever send me the other thing I ordered. It's probably an 8 (A-).

Star Number One - No. III de Number 1 [placeholder]

Classic compilation, but 7 of its 11 songs are on La Belle Epoque (one song is spelled "Alee" on one comp and "Aale" on the other). The four tracks are "Junto A Un Canaveral," "Yonou Dara Ji," "Yeli Bana," and "Takoussane." I played the latter 3 times -- which is not a nothing, they total about 34 minutes of music -- and I'll just keep La Belle Epooque.

Dinosaur Jr. - Ear Bleeding Country: The Best of Dinosaur Jr.: 7.5 (high B+)

# [best of] [Probably buy it anyway if I could find the original single disc version for a reasonable price. I know it seems minor, but that three star grade in the last Rolling Stone album guide should really have added a 1/2 star.]

2Pac [Tupac] - Strictly 4 My [N-Wordz]: 7.5 (high B+)

I am really with the late Greg Tate on 2Pac, as represented by his entry in the last Rolling Stone album guide. At least in that he rates this, All Eyez on Me, and Greatest Hits as 2Pac's best albums. Of course he gave them all 5 stars, and I give them all 7.5 (high B+), but still, I agree with him on what are the artist's peak works. And this album is completely "slept on" as the hip hop nerds like to say. Quite good early '90s hip hop.

Justin Warfield - guest appearances

"Kling to the Wreckage" - The Crystal Method

"Not Another Drugstore (Planet Nine Mix)" - The Chemical Brothers

"Spite & Malice" - Placebo

"Broadcast Channels" - Freestylers [he may have just co-written this one?]

I also listened 3 times to the Warfield tracks on the Q.D. III-produced compilation, Soundlab (credited as Justin Warfield with The S.O.U.N.D.):

"Ridin' with the Rhythm"

"Steppin' with the Sound"

"Season of the Vic"

"Season of the R&B"

Josky/Rigo Star - Jotongo: 7.5 (high B+)

Used copies are too expensive.

The Royals [Roy Cousins &] - Pick up the Pieces: 7.5 (high B+)

# [import; or even rock steady] [Many different covers on this]

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Claudine: 7.5 (high B+)

# [r&b; soundtrack] [Almost picked it up as a twofer with Pipe Dreams, but that one didn’t pan out on first listen]

Justin Warfield - The Black Hesh Cult Mixtape: 7.5 (high B+)

Digital-only

Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso [1968]: 7.5 (high B+)

# [tropicalia]

Morrissey - Viva Hate: 7.5 (high B+)

Various - Scion CD Sampler V. 28 - Dub Police [placeholder]

[Was able to find about a third of the tracks from this to stream. Did not inspire me to spend the necessary hours or dollars to find or hear the whole thing, respectively, but I would play it if I could find it. Christgau B+]

Nightmare Alley/Bop Ramboe: Victim Turns Blue/Ratbags on Parade [placeholder]

[Was able to find 3 tracks from each of these EPs. Did not inspire me to spend the necessary hours or dollars to find or hear the whole thing, respectively, but I would play it if I could find it. Christgau B+]

Saul Williams - Martyr Loser King: 8.5 (high A-)

[Co-produced and recorded by Justin Warfield]

The Folk Implosion - Early EPs/single - batch review [honorable mention]

Palm of the Hand

Insinuation

Pole Position

Willie Nelson - I Don't Know a Thing About Love: 7 (B+)

# [country]

AC/DC - High Voltage [honorable mention]

:-)

The Justin Warfield Supernaut - The Justin Warfield Supernaut

:-|

Band of Horses - Things Are Great [honorable mention]

:-)

The Folk Implosion - Take a Look Inside [honorable mention]

:-) [Basically an EP]

Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus - Rastafari Dub

:-|

Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus - Rastafari [honorable mention]

:-) [I have this on the combined-release None a Jah Jah Children, which also contains Kibir Am Lak (Glory to God). This may in fact be a 7 (B+). I should replay to make sure, but buying it for $17 shipped with Kibir Am Lak seemed like a no-brainer.

Dinosaur Jr. - Dinosaur [honorable mention]

:-)

Romy - Mid Air: 7.5 (high B+)

 # [dance/electronica] [5 listens]

A Certain Ratio - To Each ... [honorable mention]

:-)

Howard Shore/Ornette Coleman/The London Philharmonic Orchestra - Naked Lunch (Music from the Original Soundtrack): X stars

I'm in no position to grade jazz or soundtracks. I listened because the Spin guide gave it a 9/10. I will say that it did not speak to me personally.

Delta 5 - Singles and Sessions: 7.5 (high B+)

# [best of/odds and ends]

Chet Baker - Let's Get Lost (The Best Of Chet Baker Sings): X stars

Various covers and titles on this one, but it contains 20 tracks, some versions 24. Anyway, I owned it, before I ditched it for the reissued 14-track version with the red, yellow, and blue swaths on the cover.

Prince and The New Power Generation - [File Under Prince]: 8 (A-)

Prince - The Gold Experience: 8.5 (high A-)

Prince - Musicology: 7 (B+)

Prince - Sign o' the Times: 8.5 (high A-)

Prince and The Revolution - Purple Rain: 8 (A-)

Prince - 1999: 9 (A)

2Pac [Tupac] - All Eyez on Me: 7 (B+)

[Docked a notch for bloat]

2Pac [Tupac] - Me Against the World [honorable mention]

:-| [Down from honorable mention on fourth listen. Tedious, with a decent groove at times though.]

Various: No Make Palaver (Very very music from West Africa!): 7 (B+)

# [live; multi-artist] [I actually have a copy of this, which I bought because there was no other way to hear it at the time and Muzikifan put it in his Africa Top 50. I will put it in the sell pile, although it's a good listen.]

Kool Keith - Mr. Controller: 7 (B+)

Vinyl-only (okay bro)

Albert Ayler - Nuits De La Fondation Maeght, Vol. 1: X stars

The Spin guide gives this a 10. No way I would presume to rate this.

Big Audio Dynamite - Planet B.A.D.: Greatest Hits: 9 (A)

I never really got into any of their regular releases, but this compilation is great.

Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings [EP]: 9 (A)

This was a difficult one to figure out, largely because I think I was misled by the brilliant Dave Hickey. His essay on this album is one of the finest things I've ever read. But I think he was confused or misremembering the particulars. He was kind of a genius, so I think we need to give him some latitude in that regard. Anyway, he tells the story of buying this in 1954 and it being his "all-time favorite record." I'm sure it was, but he later describes it as "made up of eighteen two-and-one-half minute cuts." The first version of this, which came out in 1954 as he describes, was a 10-inch LP with the above cover, with 8 cuts averaging more like 3 minutes and coming in at just 23 minutes in total. Basically what we would come to call an EP. I would buy a copy, but it's at least $100 for even a shabby one, and I don't love it like Hickey did. But that is my preferred way to hear it, and the grade is for that. 

There is a 12-inch version from 1956, and I thought Hickey might have been referring to that, but that one has 14 cuts, not 18, so I'm not sure he was talking about that. The cover of that one looks like this:

AC/DC - Who Made Who: 7 (B+)

# [odds and ends; metal] [new stuff: title track, two instrumentals, and two tracks from Fly on the Wall]

The Naysayer - Pure Beauty [EP]: 7 (B+)

# [folk/indie pop]

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill

:-|

Marshall Ruffin - Plus Sized Dan: 8 (A-)