I love everything I've heard from Augustus Pablo, and consider the title track to be perhaps the best dub song of all time, so it's ridiculous that it's taken me so long to listen. This record does not disappoint. It offers mind-expanding dub with massive, clattering drums, plus a variety of other instruments including Pablo's legendary melodica. There's roughly 15 minutes of amazing music and 20 more of great music here, so I'll start this at a very high 4/5.
~~~~~
2. Listen to the only one I've heard. EyeKanFly recommended this to me and I thought it was great, although I doubt you'll like it as much as I did.
A: Hours Were The Birds - Adrianne Lenker
A2: The Shadow Of Your Smile - Astrud Gilberto
B: ร Vontade - Baden Powell*
B2: Marcusโ Children - Burning Spear
B3: Wish You Were Here - Badfinger
B4: Tunes 2011-2019 - Burial
C: If I Could Do It All Over Again, Iโd Do It All Over You - Caravan
C2: Twelve Deadly Cynsโฆ And Then Some - Cyndi Lauper
C3: You Should Be At Home Here - Carissaโs Wierd
D: Live At The Jazz Cafe, London - DโAngelo
It's My Way! by Buffy Sainte-Marie
Where has this album been all my life... or more appropriately where have I been that I haven't heard this album before. This is a work of folk genius. And Sainte-Marie has stayed true to her brand in advocating for the rights of First Nations/Native American people. Honestly not a ton to say, it's a fairly primitive folk record but everything just works so well, and Sainte-Marie's songwriting talent is wonderful. 4/5
2)
Baden Powell, haven't heard that one but it's from his early career, bound to be interesting.
3)
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
61. The Writing's on the Wall by Destiny's Child (know most of the tracks but never listened to the album in full)
65. Blue Light 'Til Dawn by Cassandra Wilson
68. King's Record Shop by Rosanne Cash
71. Blacks' Magic by Salt-N-Pepa (this album doesn't have the hits by SnP that I know, so I might be going in blind)
76. Stand by Your Man by Tammy Wynette
85. Diamonds & Rust by Joan Baez (surely there must have been a more notable 60s Baez album to put on this list instead? Maybe I'm sleeping on this one)
93. ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears (same deal as Destiny's Child, definitely listened to this when it came out but don't remember all the tracks)
94. Tuesday Night Music Club by Sheryl Crow
97. Daydream by Mariah Carey
103. ุงูุช ุนู ุฑู [Enta Omri] by ุฃู ููุซูู โ [Umm Kulthum]
Now that I'm getting to 100+ I'm going to start transitioning to another list. Still TBD although I have a few ideas, and I'm always open to suggestions _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
I'm always glad of the opportunity to listen to new artists I haven't heard before in genres I don't normally listen to. This didn't do a lot for me but I didn't dislike it either. I liked the cold atmosphere I got from it, and I liked her voice, but the songs themselves were mostly a bit too electro house for me to enjoy. The exception being the track Tony, which I really got into, with a beat that reminded me of early to mid New Order. 6.5/10
Sheryl Crow next I guess. (It is a Tuesday night here for me right now, and this is sort of a music club ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ )
Top 100 Music Albums of 2020 by EyeKanFly (3 picks left)
5. Sex, Death And The Infinite Void by Creeper
9. Here To Stay! by Grrrl Gang
11. Out Of My Province by Nadia Reid
17. Woman Call by Angel-Ho
19. Cape God by Allie X
20. รons by Neptunian Maximalism
25. Optimisme by Songhoy Blues
30. Im Wald by Paysage d'Hiver
34. Room For The Moon by Kate NV
35. So When You Gonna...by Dream Wife
Tuesday Night Music Club by Sheryl Crow
Wasn't a very big fan of this, although I 100% understand why it was added to the list, due to the ubiquity in the 90s of "All I Wanna Do". I think the NPR list is fitting into an interesting pattern of albums that aren't great but have 1 or 2 incredible songs on them. And I don't think this is the first album where I've made that comment. Some albums I'm aware of the hit single but the rest of the album is just as good. This is not one of those.
2)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
So When You Gonna... by Dream Wife
Thanks for checking out Ela Minus, I think next time I edit my 2020 list, that could easily be in contention for #1. Looking back, I was surprised I had Dream Wife up this high, but I listened a bit again and it is pretty great. Also as a heads up, รons is a 2+ hr jazz album, so if someone recommends that, you may want a backup if you're not into it.
3)
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
61. The Writing's on the Wall by Destiny's Child (know most of the tracks but never listened to the album in full)
65. Blue Light 'Til Dawn by Cassandra Wilson
68. King's Record Shop by Rosanne Cash
71. Blacks' Magic by Salt-N-Pepa (this album doesn't have the hits by SnP that I know, so I might be going in blind)
76. Stand by Your Man by Tammy Wynette
85. Diamonds & Rust by Joan Baez (surely there must have been a more notable 60s Baez album to put on this list instead? Maybe I'm sleeping on this one)
93. ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears (same deal as Destiny's Child, definitely listened to this when it came out but don't remember all the tracks)
97. Daydream by Mariah Carey
103. ุงูุช ุนู ุฑู [Enta Omri] by ุฃู ููุซูู โ [Umm Kulthum]
105. The Glamorous Life by Sheila E. _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
I was expecting this to be a beautiful guitar album from Powell, and it delivers. What I wasn't expecting was just how great the other instruments are, including vocals. The drums in particular are excellent. I listened to the stereo remaster, and even with mediocre headphones it almost feels like being in the room. This is also a rock-solid set of songs with a number of classic original compositions. Gorgeous and mellow, and I'm starting it as a high 4/5.
~~~~~
2. I haven't heard any of those, but this one is on my to-do list and I love a couple of her other albums.
D2: LC - The Durutti Column
E: Yellow Fields - Eberhard Weber
F: The Reminder - Feist
F2: Dead Cities - The Future Sound Of London
G: Oktember (EP) - Gas*
H: Voids - Have A Nice Life*
I: The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion - The Incredible String Band
J: Brel [Les Marquises] - Jacques Brel
J2: Femenine - Julius Eastman
K: Aerial - Kate Bush
Donda by Kanye West
I'm not a huge Kanye fan but for some reason I thought Jesus is King was pretty good. It's not a contrarian opinion just for the sake of it, I truly did enjoy a lot of the songs, the short format was cool as it was an easy project to return to and the highlights were good. A bit disjointed and uneven? Sure, but so is pretty much every Kanye album except for maybe Yeezus and Late Registration imo. It still flows nicely and the themes and the styles aren't too different song to song. Donda is the exact opposite, it's a huge project with a number of good cuts plus a good chunk of filler, ranging from trap to pop rap to experimental to RnB, there's lowkey songs, "experimental" jibberish, several incredible experimental hip hop beats, Christian hip hop bangers and barely any drums on the whole 1h 48min album. It couldn't be more of a mixed bag if it tried to. Not sure if those "pt. 2" songs are bonus tracks or what (I've seen conflicting reports), but they really don't add much of anything to the album even if some of them are slightly better versions. It's not easy to listen to or revisit because of the length, but I can see myself returning to some songs more often. Hurricane was excellent for example, Off the Grid, Believe What I Say, Jesus Lord, Come to Life are all great. Overall though I cannot say that I've enjoyed the album a lot because it's far too long and at times self-indulgent, which is honestly a recurring problem with me and Kanye albums. I'm expecting it to grow on me because I know that I always initially underrate Kanye albums (and long albums in general), so I'm consciously overrating it ratings-wise now. 7.5/10
(2)
Aerial, before I listen to it.
(3)
This new list will be albums by bands/musicians who were supposedly past their prime or old and not particularly relevant at the time of release. I realise it might be a stretch to call some of these "past their prime" or "irrelevant", so maybe it would be more accurate to call it "several later career albums I'd like to hear from musicians I like".
Lou Reed - Songs for Drella
David Bowie - Outside
Iron Maiden - Senjutsu
Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
Summoning - Oath Bound
Killah Priest - Rocket To Nebula
King Crimson - THRAK
Bill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring
The Cure - Bloodflowers
Kate Bush - Aerial _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
This album was already on my to do list, just hadn't gotten around to it yet. I really liked their debut album (it's in my top 100 for 2018, and the song Somebody was in my top 100 songs of 2017 playlist at the end of the year), and I got to see them live just a couple of weeks after that release which was a fun set. So I was looking forward to this. It started off great with the opening track Sports!, an energetic infectious number, and the next few songs were decent, but then it lost a bit of steam with a lull in the middle of the album (which is where the strongest tracks are often to be found) where the songs just didn't seem to have that snarly, punky attitude I loved from the majority of their debut. Maybe trying too hard to be more serious and mature with the old 2nd album syndrome. The attitude came back later in the album with the title track, the other highlight of the album, but then ended with an out of place feeling piano ballad, which despite a decent message, just didn't work for me. Ultimately the album was a bit of a letdown with nothing as strong as some of their songs from their debut, and less of the riot grrrl influence that I liked which was prominent in their debut. Still a solid 7/10 because of when they do rock out it's good, and I do still like the singers vocals and personality, but not a top 100 album of the year for me.
I think Bloodflowers is a strong album and worth hearing. It's in the lower reaches of my decade chart
Top 100 Music Albums of 2020 by EyeKanFly (2 picks left)
5. Sex, Death And The Infinite Void by Creeper
9. Here To Stay! by Grrrl Gang
11. Out Of My Province by Nadia Reid
17. Woman Call by Angel-Ho
19. Cape God by Allie X
20. รons by Neptunian Maximalism
25. Optimisme by Songhoy Blues
30. Im Wald by Paysage d'Hiver
34. Room For The Moon by Kate NV
38. Good News by Megan Thee Stallion
This album was already on my to do list, just hadn't gotten around to it yet. I really liked their debut album (it's in my top 100 for 2018, and the song Somebody was in my top 100 songs of 2017 playlist at the end of the year), and I got to see them live just a couple of weeks after that release which was a fun set. So I was looking forward to this. It started off great with the opening track Sports!, an energetic infectious number, and the next few songs were decent, but then it lost a bit of steam with a lull in the middle of the album (which is where the strongest tracks are often to be found) where the songs just didn't seem to have that snarly, punky attitude I loved from the majority of their debut. Maybe trying too hard to be more serious and mature with the old 2nd album syndrome. The attitude came back later in the album with the title track, the other highlight of the album, but then ended with an out of place feeling piano ballad, which despite a decent message, just didn't work for me. Ultimately the album was a bit of a letdown with nothing as strong as some of their songs from their debut, and less of the riot grrrl influence that I liked which was prominent in their debut. Still a solid 7/10 because of when they do rock out it's good, and I do still like the singers vocals and personality, but not a top 100 album of the year for me.
This is really interesting, makes me want to go back to the debut, because I initially rated the 2020 album much higher than their 2018. I also want to mention that unlike the debut, So When You Gonna... has a 100% female production staff (mixing, engineering, production, and writing as well). In fact the only male on the album is the drummer (same drummer as the first album). This is the first album I've ever heard of that does that, with the exception of singer-songwriter music that's self-produced (aka one person does everything). That to me really embodies the riot grrrl spirit, and I guess knowing that before listening probably made me tune into the riot grrrl aspects while ignoring the diversions. Thanks for listening and for the review!
(I still need to listen to Rosanne Cash, so no new recommendations from me yet; although one thing I will say is that the artist Grrrl Gang is... not riot grrrl, it's more like twee pop with a riot grrrl influence) _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
This is really interesting, makes me want to go back to the debut, because I initially rated the 2020 album much higher than their 2018. I also want to mention that unlike the debut, So When You Gonna... has a 100% female production staff (mixing, engineering, production, and writing as well). In fact the only male on the album is the drummer (same drummer as the first album). This is the first album I've ever heard of that does that, with the exception of singer-songwriter music that's self-produced (aka one person does everything). That to me really embodies the riot grrrl spirit, and I guess knowing that before listening probably made me tune into the riot grrrl aspects while ignoring the diversions. Thanks for listening and for the review!
(I still need to listen to Rosanne Cash, so no new recommendations from me yet; although one thing I will say is that the artist Grrrl Gang is... not riot grrrl, it's more like twee pop with a riot grrrl influence)
I did not know about the 100% female production. That's cool, and good to hear about. Should be more of it. And it fits with what their debut and live show was all about. More power to them. I really hope they come back with a belter of a third album.
Without wanting to influence anyone's next choice but as you mentioned it the Grrrl Gang album does interest me. That and the Songhoy Blues album. But I will happily listen to whatever is chosen. Even a 2 hour jazz album if I have to ๐
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Aerial is 80 minutes of consistently very good music - solid in terms of vocals, songwriting, and production. There are a couple great songs on the second half, but overall not a lot of highlights or lowlights. My least favorite part is probably the extended laughing in the closing title track, and singing the digits of pi is pretty corny too. This album doesn't really justify its length for me, and could use some significant trimming. But while it might not be one of her best, it's still beautiful music that's well worth a listen. 3.5/5.
D2: LC - The Durutti Column
E: Yellow Fields - Eberhard Weber
F: The Reminder - Feist
F2: Dead Cities - The Future Sound Of London
G: White Light - Gene Clark
H: Little Queen - Heart
I: The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion - The Incredible String Band*
J: Brel [Les Marquises] - Jacques Brel
J2: Femenine - Julius Eastman*
K: Failer - Kathleen Edwards
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