Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority

😑

The Doors - Strange Days: 7 (B+)

Kendrick Lamar - Damn: liked

I actually come close to despising this album. The "liked" is for other people's honorable mentions of it. With all the accolades, and A- grades from both Christgau and Hull, topping Pazz & Jop, the Pulitizer, etc. I don't see how I can't own this. So I put it on the shelves.

Donovan - Sunshine Superman: neutral

:-|

U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky: 7 (B+)

 

# [live]

Juana Molina - Segundo: 3.5 stars

Sounds good. Again, not my style. Beautiful hair though. I'll give Tres Cosas at least one listen, and if I post nothing further on her, then that will be that.

The Bangles - All Over the Place: 7 (B+)

# [pop rock]

The Bangles - Greatest Hits: 7 (B+)

# [best of; pop rock]

Bang on a Can - Terry Riley: In C: 8 (A-)

Upped from 7 (B+) on a 5th listen.

Khaled - Liberte

:-| [Goes on forever]

John McLaughlin - Extrapolation: 7 (B+)

This has been a "crown" album in all editions of the Penguin guide, so I'm keeping it. I have it on vinyl as a bequeathal from a friend who passed away, and so it also has that special relevance to me. I'm also happy I have it on vinyl, because the only CD version available looks to be a first generation transfer.

Tears for Fears - The Hurting: 4 stars

Way better than Songs from the Big Chair in my opinion.

Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair

😑

Koffi Olomide - Tcha Tcho: 7 (B+)

 

Selling used for ridiculous prices.

Caetano Veloso - Livro: 7 (B+)

#tropicalia

Japandroids - Post-Nothing: 4 stars

Japandroids - Celebration Rock: 4 stars

Papa Wemba - L'Esclave: 8 (A-)

This is the Gitta LP, not the Soneca Zaire CD, which only shares the title track. I have the latter but have not graded it yet. I have this as a downloaded file, but have printed it out and am putting it on the shelves, at least partially because Christgau gave it a full A.

Sampha - Process

😑

Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob

:-|

Eno Moebius Roedelius - After the Heat: neutral

One of "Eno's ill-fated LPs with Cluster," per Christgau. Half of this and half of Cluster & Eno are compiled on Old Land. Four plays.

(The Original) Black Sabbath - The First Six Studio Albums - batch review

First, will everyone please stop using the tiresome term "sludge" to describe this band's sound? Enough with that. It's not even that accurate, just a huge, lazy cliche at this point.

I have Paranoid, because I like it the best, and it seems to be their acknowledged classic. I also ended up getting the debut. Here are the grades/designations:

Black Sabbath - 7 (B+)
Paranoid - 7.5 (high B+)
Master of Reality - honorable mention
Vol. 4 - honorable mention
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - neutral
Sabotage - neutral

Update (July 2026): I ended up with all of these, for reasons that I won't get into. I'd probably up them all a notch from what's above at this point, and have the final two because I am a melomaniac. In fact, all but Paranoid could probably be skipped as #metal, but I don't really consider them that. They seem more proto-punk to me.

Various - Sound d'Afrique II: Soukous: 8 (A-)

The Rolling Stones - Blue & Lonesome: 7 (B+)

Mbilia Bel - Phenomene: 8 (A-)