Nord1Kone and DJ Mrok – Tower of Babylon [honorable mention]

:-)

The Casual Dots - Sanguine Truth: 7.5 (high B+)

Digital/vinyl-only

Kassmasse - Bahil | Weg: 8 (A-)

Digital only

CMAT - If My Wife New I'd Be Dead: 8 (A-)

I'll keep the album cover, because I originally had this at 8 (A-). On a fourth listen, I don't recognize a single song or even the album as a whole and am surprised that I graded it at that. A little scary actually. Gave it a fifth listen after seeing how high it placed on Christgau's year-end list (it would be a 9.5 (high A) in my system), but I'm still not hearing it. Update (October 2025): OMG I can't keep my story straight on this one. Back to 8 (A-), and presumably there it will stay. I have a copy now, so I'm invested in it.

Front Bottoms - Theresa [EP]: 8 (A-)

Physicals not available.

Buck 65 - Strong Arm: 7 (B+)

Digital-only (basically)

Cocteau Twins - The Pink Opaque: liked

:-)

Michael Prophet - Righteous Are the Conqueror

:-|

Michael Prophet - Jah Love: 7 (B+)

Shady looking CD "reissue" probably a needle drop (no indication that it's remastered, no date, etc.), and original 1983 vinyl ridiculously over-priced. [four listens]

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Mardi Gras [honorable mention]

:-) [Not as bad as all that, but definitely their worst. Too bad, 1972 was such a great year for music. I wish they had made a qualifying contribution.]

Balka Sound - Balka Sound: 7.5 (high B+)

At 75 minutes, this gets a little repetitive and seems to go on for a long time. Plus, it looks like the CD version is one of those cheapo "jacket-only" type deals. #beembe/import

John Lee Hooker - The Very Best of John Lee Hooker: X (X)

Almost went with the double-disc The Ultimate Collection from Rhino, but Christgau, who has better blues ears than I do, gave it an A minus. I'm not going to spring for a double-disc best-of at that grade unheard (it's not on Spotify). I'm essentially throwing up my hands and giving up with this artist and stopping with this single-disc collection. His discography is a total mess. Hooker is a quadruple-disc set, which is just too much for a single artist, unless you're James Brown or someone of that stature. Of course, if I can ever play the whole thing (not all tracks are on Spotify), I will do so, and perhaps change my mind, but I would certainly never buy a monster like that without hearing it first. The single-disc Definitive is also an option. It has four more tracks than this, and came out about 11 years later, so presumably has some later work too, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. Anyway, I wish there was a good double-disc option out there, but I guess not. Again, with Ultimate, there's no way to hear it first, and not being a blues fanatic (especially not a solo blues guitar fanatic, which alot of his work apparently is), I think I'm going to just stick with this.

The Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks, Vol. 34: 8.5 (high A-)

Actually, grade is for the November 5, 1977 show at the Community War Memorial in Rochester, NY. However, this set inexplicably expands it to 3 discs and intersperses the Rochester tracks with tracks from another concert on a different night -- November 2, 1977, Seneca College Field House. Those tracks aren't as good. Why on earth did they not just do the Rochester show full on two CDs? Probably because they sold the unnecessary 3-disc sets for around $60. Ridiculous. I could print one up with just the Rochester show, but I have the right shows from the classic May run in 1977, and I'll leave it at that.

Deep Puddle Dynamics - The Taste of Rain... Why Kneel: 7 (B+)

Used physicals ridiculously expensive. Includes Sole, Doseone, Alias, and Slug (Atmosphere).

Onom Agemo and Ahmed Ag Kaedy - Tartit: 8 (A-)

Digital/vinyl-only. [Not to be confused with the Malian band named Tartit]

Various - Luxury Condos Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon: 7.5 (high B+)

# [multi-artist compilations]

Hound Dog Taylor and The HouseRockers - Genuine Houserocking Music: 7 (B+)

#blues/posthumous albums

$ilkMoney [Silkmoney] - I Don’t Give a Fuck About This Rap Shit ... [honorable mention]

:-) [Digital only anyway]

Full Time Men – Full Time Men [EP]: liked

I would probably get a physical anyway if it were a 7-inch. I do not like 12-inch EPs, especially ones with only three songs. With Peter Buck.

Philip Bailey - Chinese Wall: 7.5 (high B+)

# [r&b]

Smart Went Crazy - Con Art [liked]

:-) [Beauty Pill precursor]

Nas - King's Disease III: 7 (B+)

Digital only.

Stevie Wonder - Original Musiquarium I: 9 (A)

For years I didn't consider getting this much, because I of course have all his classic 1972-1980 run, and I never fully realized that this was baited with four new songs (one per LP side), each released as singles at the time. I have since read that this was the first (or one of the first) greatest hits albums to do something like this, although the practice seems to have quickly become to bait the collection with a bunch of crap. The four songs included here, however, are legitimate tracks, and make up something like one third of the playing time. So I picked up a used, remastered version of this in a nice digipack. If you were to grade just the 12 previously-released tracks I suppose you would have to give it a 9 (A) or higher, even if you think Wonder is primarily an "album artist" (and then maybe still not get it because you had no use for it). Strangely, though, the other tracks might simultaneously make you drop the grade and lead you to pick up a copy. Myself, I would probably grade the 12 previously-released tracks standing alone as a 9.5 (high A) (not an essential collection give how essential the source albums are), but dock it a notch for the lesser quality 4 new tracks that make up the rest of the collection, and for the one so-so track from Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.

Buck 65 - This Right Here Is an EP Release: notation

Consists entirely of new versions of previously released material.

Sebutones [Buck 65/Sixtoo] - 50/50 Where It Counts: 7.5 (high B+)

Totally unavailable at reasonable prices for an album at this grade.