Pere Ubu - Ubu Live: Volume 1: 390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo: 7 (B+)

Normally, this would be #live, but it's classic Pere Ubu, so....

Pere Ubu - Datapanik in the Year Zero [EP]: 8.5 (high A-)

Pere Ubu - Terminal Tower: An Archival Collection: 8.5 (high A-)

Pere Ubu - The Art of Walking: 7 (B+)

Pere Ubu - Song of the Bailing Man: 7.5 (high B+)

Pere Ubu - New Picnic Time: 8 (A-)

Pere Ubu - Dub Housing: 9.5 (high A)

Pere Ubu - The Tenement Year: 9 (A)

Pere Ubu - Cloudland: 9 (A)

Geese - Getting Killed: disliked

Will someone please get that kid to stop whining? Give him a pacifier or something.

Stevie Wonder - The Best of Stevie Wonder: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: X (X)

I'm not qualified to grade this, but it's obviously essential. I sold off his two vintage Greatest Hits volumes for this excellent, 35 minute condensation.

Devo - Greatest Hits [Warner Bros., 1990]: 9 (A)

Outstanding track: "Gut Feeling" (the greatest song they have ever written and one of the greatest in rock history, in my opinion)

Ready for the World - Ready for the World: 7 (B+)

Docked a notch for ripping Prince. #r&b

Van Morrison - Too Long in Exile: 8 (A-)

Van Morrison - Enlightenment: 7 (B+)

Van Morrison - Avalon Sunset: 8 (A-)

Van Morrison - Beautiful Vision: 8 (A-)

Van Morrison - Into the Music: 8 (A-)

Van Morrison - Wavelength: 7 (B+)

Van Morrison - Veedon Fleece: 7.5 (high B+)

Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview: 8 (A-)

Van Morrison - His Band and the Street Choir: 8 (A-)

Lou Reed - A Night With Lou Reed [concert video]: 7.5 (high B+)

I don't normally post about concert videos, but I've watched this one more than once and wanted to memorialize that. I like that it's short (about an hour), has Fred Maher, Fernando Saunders, and above all, Robert Quine. Some people make a big deal out of it, but it lacks that special spark if you ask me. I should compare it with the audio recording of Live in Italy. I did rate that a notch higher for some reason, even though it's the same band playing alot of the same songs at around the same time (although to a bigger crowd). Can it be that the band is so visually boring that it actually detracts from the music to watch them play it? Lol if so. Maher is definitely the only one that's fun to watch play.

Devo - Be Stiff [EP]: 7.5 (high B+)

Some of what's important on here ended up on Greatest Misses, which I might end up getting. Even if this were 8 (A-), it's too expensive to even put on a wantlist. #miscarticles

Pussy Galore - Groovy Hate Fuck (Feel Good About Your Body) [Vinyl Drip, 1987]: 8 (A-)

This is the compilation containing all of the same-named EP [1986] (including the hidden track "Spit 'n' Shit," listed as "Untitled" on this release), plus all but one track from each of their other two Shove EPs: Feel Good About Your Body [1985] and Pussy Gold 5000 [1986]. Upped a notch for sheer nerve. Buy this?

Pussy Galore - Corpse Love: The First Year: liked

Docked a notch for bloat. As noted elsewhere, this is not how to listen to this band.

The Clash: Crucial Music: The Clash Collection [Relativity, 1989]: notation

I was curious about the flow of this rare, CD- and cassette-only collection from the early CD era, so I programmed a playlist of it and gave it a spin. Not a bad song selection, but I won't be grading after only one listen. Posted cover because it's such an odd release. It looks like it was a companion release to 1977 Revisited (1990) also on Relativity. The "2" grade for this in the Spin guide is truly idiotic, which is par for the course with Sheffield, whose judgements I could not respect less and whose writing often makes me gag.

The Clash - The Singles: 9 (A)

Tempted to get the later The Singles [2007] for no other reason than it being cheap and I have a disease (see title of blog) but triumphed against the urge.

The Clash - The Essential Clash: 9 (A)

The Clash - From Here to Eternity: Live: 7 (B+)

Normally, this would be #live, but it's the Clash so of course I have it.

The Clash - Cut the Crap: 7 (B+)

The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope: 8 (A-)

Michael Hurley - Broken Homes and Gardens: liked

:-)

Faces - Five Guys Walk Into a Bar...: 7 (B+)

Docked a notch or two for extreme bloat. Two, at most three discs would have been ideal. An impressive achievement, but by the fourth listen, I was kind of waiting for it to end so I could move on, knowing I would never come back to it. Definitely not "the best box set of all time" like all the parrots keep repeating. What rubbish. #BestOf

Van Morrison - The Best of Van Morrison: 9 (A)

I also listened a couple times to the 2007 single-disc, 21-track version of Still on Top - The Greatest Hits, mainly because Hull gave it a 10 (A+). Of course I know all the songs (well, all but a few towards the end), but I wanted to see if I thought it all hung together at the 10 (A+) level. I did not. I also did not listen to it enough times to give it a grade.

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!: 9 (A)

Upped from 8.5 (high A-). I'm not sure people give this album enough credit. Thanks to my fellow melomaniac brother-in-law for helping me realize its true value.

Van Morrison - The Best of Van Morrison Volume 2: notation

The original volume is greatly beloved by all (even begrudgingly by me), and this one is slightly less beloved by many, so normally I would give it a listen and rate it, but for some reason it’s not on Spotify or YouTube. I don’t want to take the time to create a playlist, however, because all the songs except the live track and the Irish Heartbeat track are on albums that I have, or have/will review. And since for me it offers only 7 of 15 tracks - two from A Sense of Wonder, one from Irish Heartbeat, one from Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast, two Them tracks, and one Hymns to the Silence track - and only three I would want (the Morrison studio tracks), I will just move on. Volume 3 is similarly unavailable, much less beloved, and is apparently full of covers, etc, so I will not bother with that either. I will give Essential a try though, since it’s on Spotify.

Devo - Greatest Hits [BMG, 1998]: notation

I’m posting the cover to avoid confusion with the 1990 release on Warner Bros. with the same title. As noted in the title of this post, this is the 1998 release on BMG. It should be subtitled The Restless/Enigma Years 1988-1990, because all 10 tracks are from the band’s three album run on that label: Total Devo [1988], Now It Can Be Told: Devo at the Palace 12/9/88 [1989], and Smooth Noodle Maps [1990]. The first five tracks are from the live one in the middle, recorded at a show in 1988, obviously. The second five tracks are from the two studio albums that flanked the live one, including a version of the Grateful Dead’s “Morning Dew,” of all things. I listened to those five songs three times and would give them a 7.5 (high B+) but not collect it as #bestof. I could not find the five live tracks to stream anywhere, so that is why there is no grade for the full album.

Janis Ian - Between the Lines: liked

Breaking protocol and posting the cover because this is one of the three or four albums my parents had and played often when my siblings and I were growing up. How did they give rise to such a melomaniac?

Various - Bowling Balls From Hell: 7 (B+)

#MultiArtistComp

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange [Matador, 1994]: 7 (B+)

I got this when it came out and sold it off, which means I played it at least three or four times, very possibly more. And I just played it again for confirmation. I would get it just for sentimental value if it were selling for budget prices. #junkrock

Ben Webster - King of the Tenors [Verve, 1957]: X (X)

I'm not qualified to grade this but note that Christgau gives it a rare "A+". Tom Hull rates it slightly lower at "A" but still puts it on his 1000 albums list. Originally released in 1954 as The Consummate Artistry of Ben Webster. Soulville, recorded four years later, appears to be the one everyone gets behind the most. # pre-bop

The Spaniels - 16 Soulful Serenades [Solid Smoke, 1984]: X (X)

I would actually get something by them, if a good, short-ish, remastered CD were available. But this is nice, and I was glad to be able to hear it finally in the streaming age, after seeing it for decades in Christgau's "Gone But Not Forgotten" list in his 1980's guide. This is a vinyl-era comp from 1984. Interestingly, there's nothing by them in his 1970's guide. Here's a Spotify playlist: 16 Soulful Serenades. # r&b

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Devotional and Love Songs: 8 (A-)

Not to be confused with Devotional Songs, with a very similar cover:

Devotional and Love Songs has five of the six songs on Devotional Songs, plus five more songs (presumably, the "love" songs). Both were released on Real World in 1992.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Intoxicated Spirit: 8 (A-)

Alpha Blondy - Revolution: 7.5 (high B+)

The Mighty Clouds of Joy - It's Time: 8.5 (high A-)

I agree with Christgau that this is one of the best albums to come out of Philly during the classic era. I overlooked it for many years because I thought it was gospel, which is understandable but still wrong. I have a nice vinyl copy.

Dillinger - Cocaine [Charly, 1983]: notation

This album is listed as a main album on AllMusic and receives some good star ratings, but it appears to be a compilation re-released many times throughout the years with different track counts, titles and covers. It almost seems like the conflated fictitious self-image of a narcotics-addled discography. Given all the smoke and the title track, I presume Dillinger is no stranger to freebasing. The title track appears to be a re-recording. The original issue in 1982/1983 has 9 or 10 tracks, only two of which (other than the title track) are on Ultimate Collection and The Prime of Dillinger. Update: I actually found this on Spotify and will give it some plays to see what it is. For some reason, it doesn't turn up in his artist folder, but it's on Spotify and can be found in other ways. Weird.

Dillinger - CB 200: 8 (A-)

Blondie - Eat to the Beat: 8 (A-)

The Murmurs - Pristine Smut [MCA, 1997]: 8 (A-)

Upped from 7 (B+) on sixth listen. Just squeaked in at 8 (A-). Really a 7.75, but I don't give grades at that fine a distinction, so I rounded up. The album gets better as it goes along and starts rocking. And I love the fact that it's on MCA for some reason. Seems like it should be on Matador, or some other hip indie label.

Blondie - Parallel Lines: 8.5 (high A-)

The Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 8: Harpur College, Binghamton, NY, May 2, 1970: liked

I'm breaking protocol and posting the cover anyway, because this show seems beloved by so many (and I also like the cover). But the acoustic set seems a little boring to me during three good listens, and the solos on the electric sets are the kind that look good on the outside but are empty on the inside. I think having Keith Godchaux in the mix brought out the best in Jerry Garcia, and I loved what Donna's vocals did for the band. She wasn't just a beautiful face, although I think sometimes people denigrate her that way.