The Insect Trust - The Insect Trust: 8 (A-)

Never officially released on CD domestically. Found a used vinyl copy for a good price though.

Pras Michel - Win Lose or Draw: 8 (A-)

Deer Tick - War Elephant [honorable mention]

Docked a couple notches for that annoying croaky vocal-fry thing McCauley does with his voice for most of the album. It ruins the whole thing for me and is impossible to listen around. Posted the cover because the music is at a higher level than honorable mention, and because it's a good cover.

Jimmy Radway & The Fe Me Time All Stars - Dub I [honorable mention]

:-)

The Allman Brothers Band - The Road Goes on Forever: 8.5 (high A-)

I have this on vinyl, bought before the 2001 CD remaster and never upgraded.

The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East: 8 (A-)

The Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters

The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach: 8 (A-)

Various - New York Rocks: 8.5 (high A-)

Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees: 8 (A-)

Brian Eno - My Squelchy Life: 7 (B+)

Not a regular issue release, I guess, but some kind of reconfiguring of Nerve Net? Anyway, not commercially available, as far as I can see, or at least not in any form I would recognize.

Bill Laswell - Ambient Compendium: 7.5 (high B+)

# [ambient] [Plus, the thing goes on forever]

Kanye West/Ty Dolla Sign - Vultures 2 [honorable mention]

:-)

Rail Band: Rail Band 1: Soundiata [honorable mention]

:-) [Upped from neutral due to the presence of one long track, the title track, essentially: "Soundiata (L'exil)." This track of course comes in several versions, with 2 others I think on this very collection, and is obviously a classic. What I think I might do here is buy the original vinyl of that one track, which is split into 2 sides of a single album released in 1975.]

Rail Band: Rail Band 3: Dioba: 7 (B+)

# [best of] I have enough of this band's individual titles/other comps to make this seem unnecessary, although I admit I haven't done a track comparison or anything, which would be laborious. Maybe one day when I can't think of anything else to do. I do have an alert on this one up for now though, in case one comes up at a no-brainer price.

Aerosmith - Greatest Hits: 8.5 (high A-)

Aerosmith - Rocks: 8.5 (high A-)

Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic: 8 (A-)

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours: 9 (A)

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac [1975]: 8.5 (high A-)

Jozef van Wissem - A Rose by Any Other Name: Anonymous Lute Solos of the Golden Age: X stars

# [solo lute]

Lupe Fiasco - Samurai [honorable mention]

:-)

Sylvester - Sylvester: 7 (B+)

# [r&b]

Sylvester - Step II: 7.5 (high B+)

# [r&b] Went to get a copy anyway, because it's a semi-official disco classic, but there are no official remastered CDs. So I got a near mint original vinyl issue for a good price.

SXL [Bill Laswell] - Into the Outlands: 8 (A-)

I have this as part of a nice set with One Down and Temporary Music by Material.

Amen Dunes - Death Jokes [honorable mention]

:-)

Robert Forster - The Candle and The Flame: 8 (A-)

Pras - Ghetto Supastar: 7 (B+)

I'm pretty sure I bought this when it came out, and then sold it back, probably jumping on the bandwagon that this much-maligned solo album sucks. Well it doesn't. If he had left off the two covers, I guess they are, "Hallelujah" and "Amazing Grace," as well as all the ridiculous answering machine tracks, I would give it an 8 (A-). In other words, I docked it 2 notches for those transgressions, which are pretty serious. But I picked up a copy after all, when I realized the other tracks are good. And the title track of course speaks for itself.

Soul Coughing - Lust in Phaze: The Best of Soul Coughing: 9 (A)

Rhino does best ofs right.

Various - The Hip Hop Box [placeholder]

If I had easy access to this, I'd play the whole thing at least once, but at 8 (A-) from both Christgau and Hull, I know I'd never buy it, so I've never worried to much about getting access.

Burning Spear - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burning Spear: 9 (A)

Grade is provisional, since it got on the shelves before I started blogging. But the only other thing it could be is 9.5 (high A). If I ever listen again, I will try to make that distinction. I guess it could be an 8.5 (high A-), but obviously no lower than that for a Burning Spear best of, in a series that knows how to pick good tracks and doesn't clutter up releases with ephemera to lure those who are already fans, as if that's what we all want.