The Fall - Bingo-Master's Break-Out! [EP]: 7 (B+)

I guess I've referred to this elsewhere as a single. I don't collect singles, generally, but I do collect EPs. This is probably more correctly characterized as an EP, but either way, it goes for a fortune now, so I'll have to do without at this grade. Their very first offering, anyway.

Rush - Power Windows: liked

:-)

Pablo Moses - Best of Pablo Moses [Baco, 2026]: liked

Listened to this newly-released French compilation to see if it hit the sweet spot for compilations. It doesn’t, either for flow or song selection.

Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris - Trio: 7 (B+)

#country

Ramones - Acid Eaters: 7.5 (high B+)

Could even be 8 (A-), but ridiculously overpriced anyway. #covers

Tribute Page

I loved you all. Rest in peace. In no particular order:

Rodney Kent Wood

Daniel Imerti

Joey Giacinto

Ajay Koduri

Stan Cichinski

Mike Johnson

Sara Gillis

Mark Shuman

Tomas Levy

Miles Davis/Marcus Miller - Music from Siesta [Warner Bros., 1987]: liked

Not sure how the final Rolling Stone guide (2004) got to 4½ stars on this. I guess I could see stretching to 7 (B+) (ie, 3½ stars), but it's #soundtrack anyway.

Graham Parker - Passion Is No Ordinary Word: The Graham Parker Anthology 1976-1991: 9 (A)

 

Lorde - Virgin: 7 (B+)

#indiepop

Dolly Parton - The Essential Dolly Parton, Vol. 2 [RCA, 1997]: notation

No subtitle on this second volume from RCA, issued two years after the first. It strangely seems to focus on earlier years than the first volume. Am I tired, is this wrong, or am I mistaken that it's usually done the other way around? Anyway, this one's even easier to dismiss in favor of the 2005 Essential, in that 18 of its 20 tracks are on that later issue. "Me and Little Andy" and "Wings of a Dove" are the missing tracks. I will listen to this a couple times just because I went through the trouble to make a playlist for purposes of this post. But I'm going to focus on the 2005 one.

Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You: The Essential Dolly Parton, Vol. 1 [RCA, 1995]: notation

I could find 19 out of 20 songs on Spotify ("To Daddy" (1976) is the one I could not find). Of those 19, a full 13 are on The Essential Dolly Parton [RCA/Legacy 2005]. Of the remaining six, a full four of them are from the 1985 album Real Love, one is from Great Balls of Fire, and one is from Heartbreak Express. (I did not scientifically double-check all this, so there may be some small errors. Sue me, non-existent readers.) I listened to the 19 songs a couple times to get the flow, but there seems to be nothing to recommend this over the 2005 The Essential and a copy of Real Love, which would get you 85% of the way there. Nice cleavage, as everyone knows. I'm a major, and proud, assman myself, just for the record. I know Dolly would sympathize. :-)

George Clinton - The Best of George Clinton [EMI-Capitol, 2000]: 8 (A-)

I ultimately went with this, as an essential update to the almost as good 1986 release on Capitol with the same title. You lose "Quickie" (from You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit Fish), but you gain "Get Dressed" (from Computer Games), "Bullet Proof" (from Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends), and a decent "Atomic Dog" remix.

Various - Reggae Dance Hall Classics [Sleeping Bag, 1987]: 8.5 (high A-)

I think most write "dancehall" as one word. Anyway, my favorite dancehall compilation. Never reissued on CD.

Les Amazones d’Afrique - Musow Dance: 8 (A-)

Miles Davis - Live at the Fillmore East (March 7, 1970) [Columbia/Legacy, 2001]: 7 (B+)

#jazz/live

Linval Thompson - Ride on Dreadlocks 1975-77 [Blood & Fire, 2000]: 8.5 (high A-)

Twisted Teens - Blame the Clown: liked

:-)

Los Lobos - This Time: liked

I may have owned this at one point; possibly still do.

Schoolboy Q - Blue Lips: liked

I was wavering between "liked" and 7 (B+) on a fourth play and decided to round down on account of what I perceived of as some bloat and/or a few seriously weak tracks. Was a double album really necessary in this case? Physicals are available however, for semi-reasonable prices.

Nandipha808 - No Vocal Album: liked

Docked two notches for extreme bloat (2 hr 10 min -- so, a triple album) and torturous repetitiveness. Release is #nophysical anyway. Four plays.

The Fall - The Marshall Suite: liked

Definitely degrades as it goes along. Might be a 7 (B+), but so expensive used that I’m not even going to try to make that determination.

Towa Bird - American Hero: 7 (B+)

#indiepop

Nakibembe Embaire Group - Nakibembe Embaire Group: 7 (B+)

Four and a half plays; dub "treatments" barely noticeable to me. #ethnographic/folkloric

Nobro - Set Your Pussy Free: 7 (B+)

#vinylonly

Grant Peeples - Code to Live By: 7 (B+)

#singersongwriter/folk/country

Tommy Womack - Live a Little: 7.5 (high B+)

#roots/country/folk/americana

George Jones - The King of Country Music [Liberty, 1984]: X (X)

Not qualified to grade, but I have a beautiful vinyl copy.

The Strokes - Reality Awaits [RCA, 2026]: 8.5 (high A-)

Don Dixon - Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Like To [Enigma, 1986]: 7.5 (high B+)

#roots/indiepop

The Strokes - Angles: 8 (A-)

Gurf Morlix - Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream: 8 (A-)

Kool Keith & H Bomb - 7th Veil [Sickbay EP, 2005]: liked

Two versions of "What's Up Now," together with "Frontin" and "Truth & Determination."

Various - Melodies International Presents Ariwa Sounds: liked

Mad Professor

The Strokes - Future Present Past EP [Cult EP, 2016]: 7.5 (high B+)

Vinyl-only. I would buy the 10-inch vinyl, but used copies are being price-gouged, and I wasn’t clever enough to buy it on release.

Various - Pimps, Players & Private Eyes: 7.5 (high B+)

#multiartistcomp/soundtrack/r&b

Various - Ragga Ragga Ragga! 2003: 7 (B+)

Normally, this would be #multiartistcomp, but I have it and will keep it, because I miss reggae.

Funkrust Brass Band - Make a Little Spark: 7 (B+)

#balkan/neworleans/brassband

Gurf Morlix - Bristlecone: 7 (B+)

#roots/blues/country

Various - Big Rock'n Beats: 7 (B+)

#electronic/dance/multiartistcomp

Los Lobos - Ride This: The Covers EP: liked

Not really an “EP” since it’s 29 min 45 sec. Could be a notch higher, but I don’t think so at this point, and it’s #covers anyway, so I’m not going to sweat the distinction and play again to qualify to make that determination. The cover of the Richard Thompson song strikes me as misguided.

GloRilla - Glorious: liked

Possibly I’m one notch low on this, but it’s effectively vinyl-only anyway, like so many hip-hop albums are these days. Four plays, because Christgau A-listed it (albeit very low down). I'll give her her camel case.

Primus - Pork Soda: liked

:-)

Sudan Archives - The BPM: 7 (B+)

#r&b/electronic/dance

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - In Light of Recent Events: 7.5 (high B+)

Vinyl-only

Gurf Morlix - Cut 'N Shoot: liked

:-)

The Close Readers - Trees of Lower Hutt: liked

:-)

Tricky - Different When It's Silent: liked

:-)

Various - Ragga Essentials: Ina Dancehall Style [Hip-O, 2000]: 8 (A-)

Psychic TV - The Magickal Mystery D Tour EP: liked

This is the four-track version.

Serengeti - Shark Attack [EP]: liked

This is almost certainly at least a 7 (B+), possibly even an 8 (A-) or slightly higher. But it is not streamable more than three times for free, and I refuse to pay for digital tracks in almost all circumstances, so it will sit here at "liked" for now. Seven tracks at 20 minutes. He indicates that this is part of a full album to come on vinyl.

Bettie Serveert - Tom Boy [Matador, 1992]: notation

I'm a semi-completist with this band/her. This is a CD single/maxi-single with four tracks: the title track of the single (same version that appears on Palomine), the B-side of the single ("Smile"), a demo of a song that appears on Palomine ("Balentine"), and what appears to be a demo from the Palomine sessions that never made it onto the official release ("Maggot"). So the B-side is the real draw here, but I did not get a copy of this just for that.

The Strokes - The Modern Age [EP]: 8 (A-)

The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth: 7 (B+)

The Strokes - Room on Fire: 7.5 (high B+)

The Strokes - Is This It: 8.5 (high A-)

Ass Ponys - The Okra Years [Shake It, 2005]: 8 (A-)

Normally, I would get this, but copies are so expensive that I'm not even going to bother with an alert. This is presumably the best way to hear their first two albums -- Mr. Superlove [1990] and Grim [1993] -- since Cleaver picked the best of the 26 tracks on those two and remastered them for this two-disc, 24-track set, with some other add-ons. I wish I had had the sense to pick up a copy when it was released. Oh well. I'm not going to play or listen to the two original album configurations, since this is basically offered as a better alternative. Who am I to second-guess their judgement?

The Jelly Bishops - Kings of Barstool Mountain: 8 (A-)

Langford/Mekons/Three Johns side project. My copy skips on the first track on both sides, but I got it sealed for almost nothing, so.... What am I going to do, return it? I'll just deal. Still glad to have it.

Four Tet - [Wingdings album, 2026]: liked

:-)

NOFX/Rancid - BYO Split Series, Vol. 3: liked

Only reason it's not an EP, at 26 min 57 sec, is because it has 12 tracks.

Chicks on Speed - Will Save Us All: 8 (A-)

Los Lobos - The Ride [Mammoth/Hollywood, 2004]: 8.5 (high A-)

It was the four-star review in the last Rolling Stone album guide that opened me up to this one. Slipped somewhat under the radar, I think.

Various - Black Label: Hip Hop 101 [Tommy Boy, 2000]: 8 (A-)

I filed this one under "H" because some sources drop the "Black Label" part of the title.

The Chemical Brothers - Loops of Fury [EP]: liked

:-)

Laurie Anderson - Let X=X: 7.5 (high B+)

With Sexmob [Sex Mob]. This is #live, but I may reconsider if it starts getting more attention over the coming months. Also, a little overlong (1 hr 34 min) for a show (for me), but also for an album. Also, very large portions of this are spoken-word. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I do really focus on music. And on the tracks when the band gets going, they really rock out. I wonder what this would sound like boiled down to only the more musical tracks? Two-disc physicals are available though, so we shall see.

The Three Johns - Volume: notation

Has Atom Drum Bop, The World by Storm, the Brainbox EP, and singles. I have The World by Storm on nice vinyl. I will grade these all separately as time permits. This also contains everything that's on (Crime Pays… Rock and Roll in the) Demonocracy - The Singles 1982-1986. 

I would also like to hear Eat Your Sons [Tupelo, 1990], but there are no digital copies or streams that I can find, and I'm not paying the prices being asked for a physical sound unheard, considering that the admittedly limited number of reviews I can find of it (Hull, AllMusic) are not encouraging. I did sample the few tracks I could find on YouTube.

I also thought I had The Best of the Three Johns [Dojo, 1996] on CD somewhere, but now I can't find it.

Dim Subooteyo - Lakeside: notation

I'd love to hear this one day, but prices are just too high to buy sound unheard. A Jon Langford (Mekons) "side project." Apparently this was the only release under this band name.

The Killer Shrews - The Killer Shrews: 8 (A-)

Peter Laughner - Peter Laughner [Koolie EP, 1982]: 7 (B+)

This is #miscarticles, but it's too expensive even if it came in a couple notches higher.

Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminals' Starvation League - From the End of Your Leash [Bloodshot, 2004]: 7 (B+)

#country [De-shelved]

Latin Playboys - Dose: 8 (A-)

The Hold Steady - A Positive Rage: 8 (A-)

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive: 8 (A-)