Akron Family/Angels of Light (2005)

There are a lot of ways to describe the kind of music on this album. It's almost a perfect embodiment of the clever, eclectic and compelling alt-folk music that flourished in the early to mid-2000s. Except, no alt-folk was ever actually that clever, that eclectic or that compelling. It's less than a decade since people stopped listening to this stuff all the time, but alternative folk-rock already sounds quaint and out of date.

Not that this album is actually bad, though. At times it might even convince you that this genre wasn't the self-indulgent pseudo-folk it so clearly was. It is hard to listen to peppy folk-rock now without rolling your eyes, but when you consider that the heirs to this musical dead-end are incredibly uninteresting bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, this album could even provoke a sense of nostalgia. Despite frequently mistaking uproarious naive naturalism for alternative folk music, Akron Family do occasionally produce something that borders on genuinely great in the album's first half. The problem is, anything interesting inevitably starts to sound like every other free-form, folk inspired song because - have I made this clear? - alt-folk was only ever a mildly interesting musical dead-end, no matter how good bands like Akron Family can be. It's almost a musical law of entropy that albums like this just lose inspiration and peter out.

But it never quite does, because Michael Gira is talented enough to avoid the musical tropes that doomed alt-folk from the very beginning. His solidly decent cover of Dyaln exceeds anything his collaborators could produce, and his voice alone is enough to make you think that you could just listen to this album to the end. Gira is able to produce an effect of actual worldliness that most other bands think they can emulate by singing about counting shadows or some shit. Basically, the second half of this album makes it worth a listen, even now, and even if you largely hate alt-folk.

B+

download a solid B+

Greatest Hits (1993)

A greatest hits collection for anyone who ever heard one of the 18 tracks on here when they were drunk and happy and thought why did I never get into Tom Petty?, or maybe heard a Petty vibe in Kurt Vile or The Replacements and thought Vile and Westerberg are cool guys, maybe they're onto something?, and anyway it's a greatest hits collection for people who did that and then ended up with a collection of Tom Petty albums that can't hold, won't hold, attention, but contain hits and hooks so good you wonder how that ever happened. An instant hit of Petty goodness without the tedium. Someone's done the work for you, so relax braj. Maybe that's shallow, but I get that maybe he's shallow too. The rock n roll spirit is there (or is it power pop now?) along with shallow Dylan-isms which make for d-grade Springsteen-isms and, god forbid, b-grade Seger-isms, but we're shallow too, right? Just in it for the hooks? Look no further. It's almost beer season too

A

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Chris Bell - I Am the Cosmos (1992)

Recorded three years before Chris Bell RIP'd and then released in 1992, I Am the Cosmos alerts the listener to how much of Big Star was him even though he only hung around for their first and least impressive record like maybe Chilton felt eyes on him during the cutting edge Radio City and future ghosts on the avant-garde Third. The title track I Am the Cosmos might be the best thing by either of them and it actually sounds like it's both of them- perfect pop in a heartrending shambles either "a harrowingly schizophrenic tale of romantic despair" or "adolescent self-absorption at its most sex-starved" or an attempt at sex-starved spiritual self-absorption in light of romantic despair. The appeal's in that dichotomy the whole way through- addiction, depression, and then faith. Better Save Yourself sounds like Lennon REALLY losing his shit and sometimes Bell and Chilton just sound the same (Make A Scene)- anachronistic pop as it sits so safely in the hazy faux nostalgia of the listener's head getting torn apart and collapsing while the song staggers on. Postmodern mockery or the sound of the artist doing just that (getting torn apart and then staggering on)? With Bell, as with Chilton, we like to believe it's probably both.

A-

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Big Star - Radio City (1974)

#1 Record might be 60s english pop/folk/ideologies as heard/relayed by young men from Memphis full with false nostalgia for a colonial India with pools, sun, and gin and tonics, and rebellious rock and roll is here to stay rebuttals to parental worry. The follow up, Radio City, somehow manages to look forward to both new wave and 90s alternative rock. The guitar sound kills. The harmonica/piano jams make sense because the pop is so straightforwardly pop, but also don't at all, then drawing attention to how perfect the pop is and also suggesting that it could all collapse at any moment. The sound of pop falling apart where #1 Record promised the listener that it never would.

A+

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Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbert (1979)

1. Boogie Shoes

2. My Rival

3. Hey! Little Child

4. Hook or Crook

5. I've Had It

6. Rock Hard

7. Girl After Girl

8. Waltz Across Texas

9. Alligator Man

10. Like Flies on Sherbert

11. No More The Moon Shine On Lorena

A strange album from Alex Chilton, master of perfect pop songs. Intentionally terrible in every way: production, musicianship, what is and isn't being recorded. I'm unsure whether he's deconstructing and leaving imperfect rock & roll like Neil Young did on Tonight's the Night to expose a song's constituents and capture the artist's anguish, or whether he's being chaotic and punk rock just for the sake of it. Either way I like it. True, nobody would care about Like Flies on Sherbert if it didn't have someone like Chilton behind it, but it's interesting because it's someone like Chilton being so unlistenably amateurish

B+

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Traffic - The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971)

Neither compromising nor intellectualizing their skill or vision as progressive rockers, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys had Traffic going pop-jazz-rock, or still odd and jammy enough, but also writing pop rock songs. On the title track in particular, they benefit from this. It's 70s pop/rock enough to work its way into the listener's head and memories and make it feel like the song's been heard a million times. It's also pop enough that the jams between choruses never seem like complete deviations- they almost convince of their purpose. There's that enthusiasm- they're buying our prog! and that familiarity- it often makes too much sense to be completely prog. Critics argue that none of the following tracks reach The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys' level of transcendent pop and in fact weigh the record down. I'm also bummed out that a track so good got put second, but nothing else seems familiar enough to even attempt to compete. Flourishes of quiet-storm (accidentally, Smokey's single came out 4 years later) and non-elfish folk (thank god!) keep things interesting while the happy feeling from that second track remains. True, they made the mistake of climaxing too early, but at least they don't attempt it again. All I can think of is sex analogies now! Maybe it's like they give you a back-rub for the remaining 23 minutes 'cause their balls hurt, and that's fine

A

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Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

Neither dwelling in the defeated sympathy of his suitably folkish Nebraska, nor the Dylan/Waits-ish low-life existential embrace of his epic Born to Run- Born in the U.S.A. is real while the others are literature. Given his knack for writing universals, realness isn't really realness when discussed in regard to Springsteen unless you're talking about something like Tunnel of Love. Even so, here he becomes what he's talking about. He means it more. His voice is at its peak. His stories are mini-dramas that're over once the song is. He's bold enough to go pop on the opener- his Deer Hunter set to an ironically muscular, patriotic anthem. He's bolder when he goes synthpop twice afterwards- I'm On Fire and Dancing In The Dark- although he necessarily ends it all in the most stripped-down, heartland way he can with the touching My Hometown. I like his stories, I believe his passion (the vocal turn in Bobby Jean: "just to say I miss you, baby": easily one of the best moments in rock music), and I count Born in the U.S.A. as one of the very few "perfect" albums in rock

A+

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Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River (1969)

One of my favourite albums ever! I love the cover so much that I'm gonna put the back below!

It's so awesome! The weird rural washed-out-ness of those pictures makes Fogerty's reminiscences on the opening track Green River seem all the more personal to him, and also make the listener nostalgic whether or not they know where the catfish bite. The rose-tinted Romantcism- not only rural, but childhood memories leads into Commotion, where the timeless sentimental vacuum full of small but exciting details is replaced by the modern obsession with time, treadmills, and political gibberish. It'd be cheesy but the band earn the right to be Romantic every now and then by being so convincingly chaotic when they need to be. Things only get darker as the album progresses! The nasty side to nostalgia is that it can only exist when the person feeling it believes that the present and future are in decline, and that's what happens in Green River. As soon as the regrets of Commotion are out of the way, Fogerty's paranoid in Tomb Stone Shadow where he's reminded of death whenever he's happy, and practically welcomes the apocalypse in Bad Moon Rising. Part of what sells all this to me is his voice which once annoyed me but started to click as I played Green River for the first time. Wrote A Song For Everyone is moving in a way that his superstitions can't be, the down-and-out Lodi becomes all the more sympathetic, and the closing cover The Night Time Is the Right Time convinces me that he's one of rock's greatest vocalists. 9 tracks, under half an hour, all good, 3 of the best rock songs of all time, and a dark, regretful atmosphere hanging over even the more excited ones

A+

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Neil Young - Weld (1991)

1.1 Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) 5:42

1.2 Crime in the City 6:32

1.3 Blowin' in the Wind 6:49

1.4 Welfare Mothers 7:04

1.5 Love to Burn 10:01

1.6 Cinnamon Girl 4:45

1.7 Mansion on the Hill 6:14

1.8 F*!#in' Up 7:09

2.1 Cortez the Killer 9:46

2.2 Powderfinger 5:58

2.3 Love and Only Love 9:17

2.4 Rockin' in the Free World 9:22

2.5 Like a Hurricane 14:00

2.6 Farmer John 5:00

2.7 Tonight's the Night 8:45

2.8 Roll Another Number 5:19

Returning to prominence having been acknowledged by hip alt acts (The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young) and even declared the godfather of grunge, Young reintroduced himself to the world with Ragged Glory in 1990 which rocked real hard in a fairly straightforward sort of way, and then decided to follow it up or promote it with the less straightforward double disc live epic Weld, the mixing for which allegedly permanently damaged his hearing, and I dunno about that, or the godfather of grunge title, but man, Weld is so fucking heavy that I'm willing to believe it for a little bit (not the godfather part tho)

not because he's an ace improviser, though he can amaze you, but because his edges cut conceptually, rough where blooze and punk and garage jokers settle for ragged
-Robert Christgau

Everybody probably wants to be able to play guitar like this and as we all know, the songs are really good too

Neil Young live 'cause he's never sounded this heavy in the studio, and so it's what you need from a live album

A+

Scarecrow (1985)

Somewhere between the lyrical working class heroism of Springsteen, and the lyrical moral preachiness of Dylan lies Mellencamp's Scarecrow, which is all working class patriotism and morality. Why isn't it as revered as material by those two then? It's the lyrics, mainly. Where does that leave Scarecrow? Occasionally it rocks but not like Springsteen. And there's the lyrics which are harder to I don't know accept than Dylan's. But such comparisons are mostly unfair. The album does its job and you'll probably enjoy listening to it

A-

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The King Khan & BBQ Show - What's For Dinner? (2006)

1. Treat Me Like a Dog 3:55

2. I'll Never Belong 3:52

3. Zombies 2:08

4. Dock It #8 2:52

5. Why Don't You Lie 4:18

6. Cap'n Captain 4:35

7. Too Much in Love 3:20

8. Learn My Language 0:15

9. Blow My Top 3:50

10. Into the Snow 3:17

11. Operation 1:33

12. The Ballad Of 2:45

13. What's for Dinner? 2:27

14. Suck It n Smell 2:31

Insanely charismatic garage punk reminding of Exuma in places. The melodies are fantastic

Highly recommended

A-

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Prince - Purple Rain (1984)

1. Let's Go Crazy 4:39

2. Take Me With U 3:55

3. The Beautiful Ones 5:15

4. Computer Blue 3:59

5. Darling Nikki 4:15

6. When Doves Cry 5:52

7. I Would Die 4 U 2:51

8. Baby I'm a Star 4:20

9. Purple Rain 8:45

The album where Prince managed to fully break into the mainstream and also get a white audience. His musicianship is insane, his songs are catchy, and Purple Rain is consistent and passionate. Great record by a guy who made it big through nothing other than hard work and talent

A+

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Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love (1987)

1. Ain't Got You 2:11

2. Tougher Than the Rest 4:35

3. All That Heaven Will Allow 2:39

4. Spare Parts 3:44

5. Cautious Man 3:58

6. Walk Like a Man 3:45

7. Tunnel of Love 5:12

8. Two Faces 3:03

9. Brilliant Disguise 4:17

10. One Step Up 4:22

11. When You're Alone 3:24

12. Valentine's Day 5:10

Tunnel of Love is Springsteen's follow-up to the immensely successful Born in the USA. The former had Springsteen modelling himself on Deer Hunter's scathing blue-collar nationalism mixed with Rambo's exaggerated masculinity, with bombastic working class anthems to suit. Tunnel of Love, on the other hand, had him stripping back Born in the USA's epic hard rock arrangements and appreciation of the universal working class for the sake of sparse, sad songs, with very personal lyrics. Marriage in decline, his tunnel of love is unlike the ones found on terrible cards where couples honeymoon for a bit and then have to face stresses such as children, jobs, and debt. Rather, it's one that nobody ever leaves, going in together and then wandering alone. Anyone who thinks when you're alone, you're alone is a useless truism has never had his or her heart broken. Cheesy but profoundly touching, particularly if you're a fan of the boss.

Pretty much perfect for forever alone day, sorry I'm four days late posting it

A

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Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975)

1. Thunder Road 4:50

2. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 3:11

3. Night 3:01

4. Backstreets 6:30

5. Born to Run 4:30

6. She's the One 4:30

7. Meeting Across the River 3:19

8. Jungleland 9:33

I'd like to apologise to anybody who has ever lived with me for playing this album nearly every day for I don't know how long.

Born to Run is one of those perfect albums that you play and then you're pissed off that nothing can follow it up so you listen to it enough times to kill your appreciation of it for the day and move onto something completely different. Int'l Players Anthem does the same thing for me.

I swear it does what Dylan should do for me but doesn't. Well, that injected with sax parts, big piano parts, leather jackets and masculine screams. Oh, the masculine scream. The Replacements' Paul Westerberg got his voice from that masculine scream (in my mind any way) and then Kurt Cobain got it from him (and Lennon) thus establishing the four greatest rock vocalists evuhhh (in my mind any way).

From the cheesy line I've got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk (guitar part) to the 10 minute has everything in it but still sounds really passive closing track Jungleland, I wouldn't change a thing about it.

How many ways can you say hey girl let's ruuunnnn? At least 8 really good ways. Thank you, Bruce Springsteen, I love you, man.

A+

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