Reviews for this band are all over the place, although British Steel seems to be the ultimate favorite. I have that, plus Hell Bent for Leather (aka Killing Machine) and Unleashed in the East, basically their 1978-1980 three-album run. See individual posts on those. At least five plays.
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere: liked
De-shelved in 2020. Played it again twice 14 years after it came out, after having listened to it enough times to shelve it around 2006 and couldn't remember anything but "Crazy" and bits of a few others. Sounds good, but doesn't stick with me. I need some kind of grade for that. Could be a 7 (B+), but #r&b anyway.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Holy Modal Rounders - Good Taste is Timeless: 8 (A-)
I like this more than Christgau/Hull do. Also love the Hurley cover. Unfortunately, nice copies are going for unreasonable prices, and the Sundazed reissue on CD is mastered from a vinyl copy. Not doing that. I have an alert up on Discogs and will snag it if one comes up with a decent price. Update: Got a *sealed* copy of the original 1971 release on ebay for $37 shipped!
Monday, September 28, 2020
Peter Stampfel and the Bottle Caps - Demo '84: neutral
Demos for the self-titled debut of this band, which I already own. Not sure why Christgau, Hull, and apparently Jeffrey Lewis think these are such a revelation. In any event, this is digital-only. At least four listens.
Youssou N'Dour - Best of 80's: 8 (A-)
This contains the albums Dikkaat and St-Louis (St. Louis I wonder?). Not findable at reasonable prices. May also not be 8 (A-) for each. They definitely average out to that though.
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Saturday, September 26, 2020
Youssou N'Dour - Mballax Dafay Wax: 8 (A-)
I gather this is in physical somewhere, but I can't find it. I assembled a YouTube playlist from N'Dour's official channel. Outstanding track: "Pot Pourri 1," which is a medley of some classic tracks, so kind of a "best of" in miniature. That describes most of the tracks, actually. Apparently, it has never sold on Discogs.
Friday, September 25, 2020
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: liked
This is like their Tommy, which I also don't have. This might be 7 (B+) too, but it would still be #rockoperas anyway. Way better than I ever thought it might be.
The Kinks - Everybody's in Show-Biz: 7 (B+)
I agree with Christgau that this is mainly notable for the second, live disc. Even so, at this grade, it would be #live. But the studio disc inspired me to go for it, especially since the label did the right thing and re-issued the original release as a standalone, remastered, single CD in 2022, with only a single bonus track, for those who didn't want the 2 CD "deluxe" set. After decades of listening, I'm calling this band (or more properly, Ray Davies) an acquired taste. Issued in 1972 - one of the greatest years in music.
Killing Joke - Killing Joke: 7 (B+)
US version with "Change" not available on CD or vinyl at reasonable prices.
NRBQ - At Yankee Stadium: neutral
Not generally a fan of the band, but I reviewed this because it is the users' favorite on AllMusic and Christgau gave it a B+. I could try Kick Me Hard, which he gave the same grade, but it rates much lower with AllMusic users, so I'll skip it for now. Maybe one day.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
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