Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky: The Best of Norman Greenbaum: 8.5 (high A-)

Upped a notch for sheer audacity and outsider integrity. [Varese Sarabande, 1995]

Thomas Anderson - Hello, I'm From the Future: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - Rainbow Bridge [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies 2: 7.5 (high B+)

Very tempted to get this, just for its rarity and oddity in the Hendrix catalog, but the prices are too high even if I bumped it up a notch on some pretext or other. Anyway, the "Ezy Rider" included here, from the first show at Berkeley, is I believe the only track that is not available elsewhere. # [live]

Jimi Hendrix - First Rays of the New Rising Sun: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection: 9 (A)

Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies: 8.5 (high A-)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Live at Winterland: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - The Cry of Love: 8 (A-)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Smash Hits: 9.5 (high A)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland: 9 (A)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love: 9.5 (high A)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - Johnny B. Goode [EP]: 8 (A-)

Weird little live hodgepodge release, which is actually the soundtrack to a 1986 video. It's an EP marketed, as is often the case, as a "mini-album" and contains music appearing on other releases: an edited version of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" later appearing in full on Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival, "All Along the Watchtower" and a short rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" from the same release/show, "Machine Gun" later appearing on Live at Berkeley, and the title track taken from the first show on the same date at Berkeley, which is not on the former release, but had already been released on Hendrix in the West.

Breaking this all down, who needs a short rendition of the national anthem, when the classic, longer version is on the Woodstock albums, and presumably one already had Hendrix in the West (as I do) at the time. The truncated "Voodoo Child" from Atlanta seems to be a kind of sacrilege, and so that leaves you with the 11-minute "Machine Gun" from Berkeley and the 4-minute "Watchtower" cover from Atlanta. Given that the latter is a cover that has been done to death (and in my view is not that good here), is this worth it for the "Machine Gun"? While that track is clearly the centerpiece of the EP, I don't think it justifies the purchase. I did listen to the whole thing three times, after stitching together a temporary Spotify playlist, to see how it flowed and to be able to grade it with integrity, although I had to use the full version of "Voodoo Child" (really not sure how they cut it down to 4:30, without taking out parts in the middle of the song). In my view, it does not flow stupendously, which it would have to in order to make this a compelling addition. Still, I do like the live EP concept for Hendrix. Live at Berkeley is on my listen list, and so I also might end up getting this version of "Machine Gun" as part of that release, especially if the rest of the show is near that level. I tend to like live Hendrix more when he stretches out and isn't trying so hard to be incendiary.

Sekvoya - Gathering of Enchanted Herbs [EP]: 8 (A-)

Digital-only (as far as I can tell). Too bad.

Comet Gain - Say Yes! To International Socialism [EP]: liked

:-)

Chairmen of the Board - Greatest Hits [HDH/Invictus, 1990]: 7.5 (high B+)

Christgau has this as 1991 for some reason. At least I think this is the right one. There is a later compilation from 2002 with 5 less tracks that I am going to try. Perhaps this is too much of a good thing. This is 51 minutes long with 15 tracks. The other one, The Best of Chairmen of the Board, is 10 tracks and 35 minutes and is on EMI-Capitol. All ten tracks are also on this. Maybe that'll bump it up to 8 (A-). # [r&b]

Lambrini Girls - You're Welcome [EP]: 8 (A-)

Vinyl-only. I would still buy it, because I like it and the cover, but it's selling for full-price for six tracks in sixteen-and-a-half minutes (we're talking $64 shipped off Bandcamp, for example), so I'll pass. I guess I could get it off Amazon for $24 shipped, but it's a 12-inch EP, and that's a little pricey even so, and 12-inch EPs annoy me. Basically import prices.

The Everly Brothers: 16 of Their Greatest Recordings [Music Club, 1997]: placeholder

I de-shelved this in 2022, just as a semi-appealing CD-era comp of oldies, perhaps thinking I would search out a better, older vinyl comp at some point. Christgau likes it because it contains only 16 of the Cadence tracks the brothers recorded, rather than all the other comps which have too many. He also noted that there were only a few, slightly later Warner tracks worth compiling, and that there was no similarly slight collection of those. However, just a year or two later, Rhino put out All-Time Original Hits, with similarly cleaned-up sound, and the same number of tracks as this. However, that Rhino comp shit-canned even more of the Cadence tracks, specifically, these six:

"I Wonder if I Care as Much"

"Claudette"

"Poor Jenny"

"Be Bop-A-Lula"

"Like Strangers"

"I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail"

This makes room for the following six Warner tracks:

"Cathy's Clown"

"So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)"

"Ebony Eyes"

"Walk Right Back"

"That's Old Fashioned (That's the Way Love Should Be)"

"Crying in the Rain"

To me, this makes All-Time Original Hits even better than the Music Club comp, since those six songs were right in sequence with the Cadence tracks, so it's not like there are any jarring transitions. They are all around the same time period. I suppose someone could argue that there should be a couple more Cadence and a couple less Warners, etc., but I think Rhino did an amazing job of picking, and not overdoing it just because they had the space, so I went for it. I will post about that release separately.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1: 7 (B+)

Digital-only remix mixtape. Upped a notch for mystery and meta-squared-identities.

[Orchestra] Baobab Guy-Gui - Mame Diarra Bousso [Studio 2000, 1986]: 7 (B+)

Cassette-only release, all information from Discogs only. Probably upped a notch just for sheer rarity and wanting to get the cover up there. I might even buy this on cassette, were copies remotely available.

Various - Only Soul 1970-1974: 9 (A)

I'm not sure how I stumbled on this midline collection, but I'm glad I did. I explored the tracklists on the four dozen or so other titles in the mid-1990's "Only" CD/cassette series, but the "Only Soul" subseries is the only one that really intrigues me. There were four of those, and I will probably make Spotify playlists for the other three over time and assess them, given how good this first one was. The others are 1975-1979, 1980-1984, and 1985-1989.

Loretta Lynn - Greatest Hits: placeholder

Not as easy to dispose of as the second volume -- six out of 11 tracks are not on other necessary comps. I would say that those six are not as good as the three on the second volume, and the physical situation is otherwise exactly the same, so, same result, and same listening protocol. Here are the six:

"Before I'm Over You"

"If You're Not Gone Too Long"

"Dear Uncle Sam"

"The Other Woman"

"Success"

"The Home You're Tearin' Down"

The other consideration is that these six songs only represent 15 minutes of music, given the shortness of early country songs.

Loretta Lynn - Greatest Hits Vol. II: placeholder

Love the cover. However, eight of 11 tracks are on other comps which are probably necessary given the confusing state of her discography. There does appear to be an undated, un-remastered first generation CD-transfer out there, but I generally don't do those, and I'm not going to spring for original vinyl just for the great cover and these three songs: "I Wanna Be Free," "Ain't It Funny," and "What Sundown Does to You." Those songs are good, but not that good. I did listen to this twice to get the flow but won't be assigning a grade.

Various - Masters of Jazz, Vol. 2: Bebop’s Greatest Hits [Rhino, 1996]: X (X)

Recorded 1945-1954. # [jazz/multi-artist comp]

Various - Funky Stuff: The Best of Funk Essentials: 8 (A-)

Miles Davis - Love Songs: X (X)

Alot of bitchy little reviews of this compilation out there for some reason. The songs are classics, they sound great, and they hang together well, and really set the mood. What's not to like?

The Temptations - Greatest Hits: X (X)

I stupidly de-shelved this a couple years ago, I think because I thought it was a terrible early CD-era compilation with a terrible cover and packaging, etc, and why keep it around when it is streamable easily? But I don't think I considered at the time that this was the original, terrible cover from 1966, and what I had was a faithful reproduction of that from Motown, with massively cleaned-up sound on a remastered, 1998 re-issue. So I rescued it. It's a learning process. I still feel unqualified to rate this, but I'm sure it deserves a 10 (A+). What else could one give it?

New York Dolls - A Hard Night's Day: 9 (A)

I'm with those who think that, other than the first album, obviously, this is probably the ideal way to hear the Dolls. And in some ways it's better than the first album. Absolutely essential.

Hound Dog Taylor and The HouseRockers - Deluxe Edition: 8.5 (high A-)

Various - Totally Hits: 8 (A-)

I would say Christgau's grade for this is probably 8.5 (high A-). I'm not sure I can quite get there, but after 5 listens, as always, his mostly unerring ear for this kind of compilation is truly impressive. Of course, once the streaming era hit, there was no longer any need for this kind of thing, but at the time, they served a purpose: allowing you to hear at will, or when people came over to play, songs that would otherwise never be at your fingertips, in a highly pleasant and enjoyable configuration. So, a worthy late-1990's artifact, and I should probably up it a notch. And it went platinum.

New Order - Get Ready: 8 (A-)

New Order - The Best of New Order: 9.5 (high A)

New Order - Substance: 9.5 (high A)

New Order - Brotherhood: 9.5 (high A)

Bruce Springsteen: Land of Hope & Dreams [EP]: liked

Docked a notch for giving us plebes a lecture on politics. Always hate it when the most powerful people on earth complain about the power structure that they embody and benefit enormously from, as if it came from somewhere else and they are not complicit in keeping 99% of the country and world down. What a blind, pretentious jackass. Such a fake "everyman." Cries about his dad's plight and everything, as if he doesn't have everything he wants now and doesn't fly private jets. Music's decent though, thanks to his band.

Various - The Perfect Beats: New York Electro Hip Hop + Underground Dance Classics 1980-1985/Volume 2: 7 (B+)

# [multi-artist comp] I played this because it is one of the few compilations in the New Rolling Stone Album Guide to receive a 5-star rating. I’m not sure why it received that rating. I do love the cover though.

Kate Bush - The Dreaming: 7 (B+)

There appear to be only first-generation un-remastered CD transfers, and remastered editions on the artist's own label, selling for a small fortune new and/or used. In fact, all NM copies of this in any edition seem to be selling for a small fortune. Not sure why there isn't a $15 remaster easily available anywhere. Anyway, the album is very experimental and takes some getting used to. It grows on you though.

X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents: 8 (A-)

I have the version with the track order revised from the original album, plus 4 additional songs: "Age," "Highly Inflammable," "I Am a Cliche," and, of course, "Oh Bondage Up Yours!". I think some people got worked up about that, but I think it flows well, and I'm glad to have that last song on something of theirs.

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter VI: liked

Not nearly as bad as everyone seems to be saying. Docked a notch for bloat and for the relentless use of words I cannot say.

Les Abranis - Album No. 1 (Id Ed Was): 7.5 (high B+)

This is a vinyl-only re-issue. Could be an 8 (A-), but the original vinyl is ridiculously expensive, and I'm not going to play it again to make sure.

Tom T. Hall - The Essential Tom T. Hall: Twentieth Anniversary Collection/The Story Songs: 9 (A)

Woody Guthrie - Dust Bowl Ballads [Rounder]: X (X)

I am not qualified to critically assess.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll: 8.5 (high A-)

This is the 1987 release on vinyl by Demon. I once owned the same-titled 1992 release on CD by Rhino but sold it off. It has all the songs on this, plus more, which I think I thought was too much. It also has this regrettable cover:

Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor [2005]: 7.5 (high B+)

George Jones - The Best of George Jones (1955-1967): X (X)

I am not qualified to critically assess.

George Jones & Tammy Wynette: Greatest Hits: 8.5 (high A-)

George Jones - Anniversary: Ten Years of Hits: 8.5 (high A-)

George Jones - All-Time Greatest Hits - Volume 1: 8.5 (high A-)

George Jones & Tammy Wynette - Greatest Hits Vol. 2: 8 (A-)

Top Albums of 2025 [very spotty and incomplete effort on my part this year so far]

10 (A+)

None

9.5 (high A)

None

9 (A)

Soul Coughing - Live 2024

8.5 (high A-)

None

8 (A-)

None

7.5 (high B+)

None

7 (B+)

None

Soul Coughing - Live 2024: 9 (A)

The show I saw on this tour was one of the best I've ever seen by any band. I might subconsciously be upping this a notch as a document of that, but I don't think so. I've enjoyed playing and replaying it many times on its own merits, even with a 90 minute running time.

Billy Woods - Golliwog [disliked]

 :-(

The Dils - Studio Tracks [EP]: 8 (A-)

The Kinman brothers' band before they formed Rank and File. This doesn't actually seem to exist, so I just made a playlist on Spotify. I only learned about these guys from the Comet Gain song "The Ballad of a Mix Tape" from their album City Fallen Leaves. These are the songs, and the total running time is 18 minutes. Put out an EP already! It's not that hard to do. I'll do it for you if you want, for free, and give you all the proceeds!

"I Hate the Rich"

"You're Not Blank"

"Blow Up"

"Class War"

"Mr. Big"

"Sound of the Rain"

"It's Not Worth It"

"Red Rockers"