Definitely one of the albums from Repo's chart I was curious to hear. I don't know much about the US '80s jangle pop scene (UK and Aussie, and to a lesser extent NZ is a different matter) and in fact I haven't heard of any of these bands. The question is why though? I mean I guess for a compilation like this they would pick the bands' best songs , but this is full of good to great songs. Surely good enough that some of these bands found some sort of success? Anyway if you are not a fan of jangle pop an hour and a half of similar sounding music might be a bit too much, but if you are there is actually quite a bit of variety to be found here. It's not all R.E.M. soundalike bands. To me there was only a few where I though that. I listened to most of this while driving so I didn't get to pay attention to who was singing but during the later stages when I was home the songs by Pop Art and Great Plains stood out. Highly recommended for fans of Jangle pop, power pop, and even early indie rock, that are curious to here more from what I am guessing was an under appreciated scene. 8/10, and #68 in my top 100 for the year.
Killer write-up, Purplepash!!! ๐ So psyched you dug it too! ๐
The Setting: While this album is released in 1982, it really belongs in late 70s Hard Rock cannon. Unable to get a record contract, Chicagoโs very own guitar hero, Jordan Macarus, went to college, where he quickly realized that girls prefer guys in bands. So he jumped back on stage, and self-released this little LP here. Needless to say it went nowhere at the time, and now has been resurrected thanks to the likes of RYM as a lost Hard Rock gem of sorts.
Ther Verdict: Third Tier mid 70s Rush lacking a creative & indiviudualistic spark. It's competent and well played, but not very exciting. ๐คฌ๐คฌ ( Only recommended for die hard fans of melodic 70s hard rock)
2. Purplepash, considering how much you liked Strum & Thrum, I cannot help but give u this...
First off, generally, this is stunning and gorgeous and I love it! Easiliy going my 90s chart/ One of my favorite recent picks for this game. Specifically the opening epic "Promises Kept" is incredible. The drum solo is awesome and I usually rag on drum solos, but this one had force and power and inventiveness and sounded soooo goooood!
The guitar playing throughout this album is fucking amazing as is the other work by the other musicians. Really there is not a weak track here. But in particular I think "Who Does She Hope to Be" is instantly one of my all time favorites. One of the most beautiful melodies and so touching and deeply sad and yet aspirational...idk, this song fucking blows my mind.
Not much of a review, but yeah this is one of my favorite jazz or any genre discoveries in awhile and I'm glad I listened and I'm listening again now and its just awesome.
Okay, I have decided what to do as a "gimmick" for my list, and that is simply no gimmick, no challenge and no forcing myself to listen to anything I'm not already majorly interested in and kind of in the bag for lol - so I simply have this big list of albums I want to hear and I roughly ranked em and then now I will at random grab 10 that seem like either really cool and up my alley or ones that I feel like an idiot for never listening to em. Here we go!
+ = this is the most recently added choice
1. Monuments to Thieves by His Hero is Gone/1996 (This is a classic crust punk album. I have had this ear marked for ages. I add it here now.)
+2. Mecca and the Soul Brother AND The Main Ingredient by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth/1992 + 1994 (If you pick on of these, I'll listen to both. I got big-ish box sets of these albums back in like 2015 and I listened a couple times and I loved 'em. But then moved on to other genres and styles of interest and forgot about them to some degree and then when I came back to HONESTLY rate only albums I felt I recollected on RYM, I left these unrated because I just feel like they are vague in my memory and they deserves lots and oodles of respect and time.)
+3. Stratosphere by Duster/1997 (I recently did TWO big updates of 90s chart and I saw so many albums I need to revisit. And none more critically and nerd acclaimed than this one.
4. Mark Hollis by Mark Hollis/1998 (This is a shameful admission: I have never sat down - nor even stood up! - and listened to this album in one sitting - nor in one standing! I know I know how is this even admissible for someone that has Spirit of Eden high on his all time faves list? Idk. I have bit-and-pieced this album 1 or 2 times over the decade or so of awareness of it. I intend to rectify this soon. RIP Mark Hollis.)
5. Tindersticks AND Tindersticks II by Tindersticks/1993 AND 1995 respectively (there are several highly acclaimed and talked about Tindersticks albumsโฆ they all have cool album covers. And they have all managed to never be heard by me. Another 90s touchstone for you to maybe choose. If you choose one of these, I will focus on it but also listen to the other.)
6. Substrata by Biosphere/1997 (another on my hit list for the great decade of the 90s. I think Iโll make all these 90s albums. Anyway, electronic and ambient stuff here. Have been interested since my early days in BEA but never jumped in.)
7. I Could Live In Hope by Low/1994 (I love this album or I remember loving it. Its been awhile. I sampled it to see if I still liked it and I actually discovered I may love it now more than back in my early 20s. And after falling head over heels in love with their latest, HEY WHAT, i think going back to their beginnings is a smart and nourishing and emotional and smart move.)
8. A Blaze In The Northern Sky by Darkthrone/1992 (Just some classic old school black metal!)
9. Left Hand Path by Entombed/1990 (Bring on this absolutely classic and legendary Swedish death metal classic! I couple months ago I absolutely saw the light on Entombed's peers, Dismember, and their 1991 masterpiece Like an Ever Flowing Stream. At that time I meant to now delve into the works of Entombed... but I never did. I listened to the first few tracks of this album newly and thought it was cool but no Dismember and went back to them. Now I would like to give this one the time and TLC it deserves. I heard it awhile ago but I was not a DM fan at the time and I didn't love it just liked it.)
10. At Action Park by Shellac/1994 (A classic 90s post hardcore release that I have been meaning to play for a decade or close to. When I was updating my 90s chart yesterday I saw this and instantly remembered how much I've wanted to give this a spin. So here it is as an option.) _________________ -Ryan
Rumor Has It by Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire describes herself perfectly on this album: "plain white trash, but fancy"... that's a little out of context, but what McEntire has done is take really run-of-the-mill pop country and somehow make it slightly more interesting. The subject matter is bland, her voice is good but plain, the instrumentals are meh, but all together they somehow add up to more than the sum of the parts. Having said that, the total sum still isn't all that great, just better than looking at each component individually. It's still not really my jam, and I'm inclined only to give this 2-2.5/5.
2)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Stratosphere by Duster
No more jazz so you get this space rock album. Don't go changing your list again on me! jk, I dig the choices so far.
3)
Almost done with NPR! If this isn't picked in the next few turns, I'll probably just listen on the side and continue with Mercury's chart (or another).
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
148. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington *this marks the end of this chart!
Mercury's top albums of the 1990s
4. Like an Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
16. The Complete Blind Willie Johnson [compilation]
18. NOLA by Down
21. ...And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid
23. Rear View Mirror by Townes Van Zandt
24. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor
25. Revival by Gillian Welch
28. Lysol by Melvins
29. Souls at Zero by Neurosis
LedZep wrote:
Hey I've been watching Cowboy Bebop too! Stopped a week or so ago, still have 4 episodes and the movie haha.
Awesome! Presumably you also started watching because the live-action remake is coming out soon. Looks interesting. I've never seen the movie actually, I'll probably check it out after I finish watching the show. _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
The most like an actual post punk band of all of the new British post punk bands; therefore, it actually ends up being one of the best. I like the spoken word delivery too.
That Rancid album is the peak of 90s ska punk. For what that's worth.
G_d's Pee at State's End- GY!BE
Donda- Kanye West
Daddy's Home- St Vincent
Happier Than Ever- Billie Eilish (now y'all just trippin')
A Beginner's Mind- Sufjan Stevens & whocares
Roadrunner- Brockhampton
Sinner Get Ready- Lingua Ignota
Pressure Machine- The Killers (now we're just getting into meme territory)
An Overview On Phenomenal Nature- Cassandra Jenkins
A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals- Sweet Trip
Butterfly 3000- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Syd Barrett's second and final solo album is a cool-sounding affair and a mostly pleasant listen. As might be expected, the songwriting is inconsistent and eccentric, but there are a number of gems and no utter misses. This record's strongest point is its whimsical, mellow vibes. To be sure, there is pain in these songs, but it's presented through a different lens than on his debut. I'd rank this slightly above The Madcap Laughs. 3.5/5.
S3: At Mister Kellyโs - Sarah Vaughan And Her Trio
S4: Blonder Tongue Audio Baton - Swirlies
T: Stratosfear - Tangerine Dream
T2: Return To Cookie Mountain - TV On The Radio
U: The Four Horsemen - Ultramagnetic MCโs
V: Discover America - Van Dyke Parks
W: Why Canโt We Be Friends? - WAR
Y: Vol. 8: Immigrรฉs / Bitim Rew - Youssou N'Dour Et Le Super รtoile De Dakar
Z: Mind Over Matter - Zion I
&: 1st - ไธๅคฑ่ (Fushitsusha) _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
The most like an actual post punk band of all of the new British post punk bands; therefore, it actually ends up being one of the best. I like the spoken word delivery too.
Totally a gem! 2021 post-punk truly rules!!!
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
I liked the sort of lo-fi jangle sound to this indie rock/pop album. Some good quality melodic songwriting, with a positivity to it, but also it evoked a tinge of sadness in me as well, maybe because I already knew this was a posthumous release after his passing a few years ago (profits from this release go to the LA LGBT Center + CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). I quite liked the vocals, and maybe would have liked them to be a bit more prominent and clearer at times to get more of the lyrics, but that's just a minor complaint. 7.5/10
At first I was going to give you the really good Swirlies album but then I saw that today's album of the day is Return To Cookie Mountain and I've been meaning to get around to that album for a while so let's go with that.
Top 97 Music Albums of 2020 by Repo (2 picks left)
2. Ravening Iron by Eternal Champion
5. Pith by Melkbelly
9. Blue Hearts by Bob Mould
11. Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain by Gwenifer Raymond
12. Traditional Techniques by Stephen Malkmus
13. Ricky Music by Porches
18. Silver Ladders by Mary Lattimore
19. Out Of My Province by Nadia Reid
20. Lifers by Local H
25. What We Drew ์ฐ๋ฆฌ๊ฐ ๊ทธ๋ ค์๋ by Yaeji
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
Hard to say what I thought of this. Perhaps today I am just not in the mood for imprecise, moody, slowcore or space rock slacker rock stuff. The vocals tended to bother me how simple and un-...-anything they were. The melodies were fine but nothing particularly interesting. The cool little sonic sidebars were cool, when they leaned into sound manipulation. The rock parts, when they got heavy, were alright. Overall, though, this album just sort of came and went and I never found myself moved by any of it. This is one I will probably give another shot at some point later.
-------------------------
@Purplepash, listen to this one, i thought it was good.
Okay, I have decided what to do as a "gimmick" for my list, and that is simply no gimmick, no challenge and no forcing myself to listen to anything I'm not already majorly interested in and kind of in the bag for lol - so I simply have this big list of albums I want to hear and I roughly ranked em and then now I will at random grab 10 that seem like either really cool and up my alley or ones that I feel like an idiot for never listening to em. Here we go!
+ = this is the most recently added choice
1. Monuments to Thieves by His Hero is Gone/1996 (This is a classic crust punk album. I have had this ear marked for ages. I add it here now.)
+2. Mecca and the Soul Brother AND The Main Ingredient by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth/1992 + 1994 (If you pick on of these, I'll listen to both. I got big-ish box sets of these albums back in like 2015 and I listened a couple times and I loved 'em. But then moved on to other genres and styles of interest and forgot about them to some degree and then when I came back to HONESTLY rate only albums I felt I recollected on RYM, I left these unrated because I just feel like they are vague in my memory and they deserves lots and oodles of respect and time.)
+3. ใใใฆใ (Pneuma) by ้่ๅธๅญ+ไธๅฎ ็ด+ๅฑฑๆฌ้ไน +ๆธก่พบ็ญ (Ichiko Aoba, Jun Miyake, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Hitoshi Watanabe)/2017 (As a pretty recently converted Aoba die hard and fanatic, this album having not been heard is a crime. So whether this is chosen soon or not, I will be listening in next couple days. Still, here it is for possible choosing.
4. Mark Hollis by Mark Hollis/1998 (This is a shameful admission: I have never sat down - nor even stood up! - and listened to this album in one sitting - nor in one standing! I know I know how is this even admissible for someone that has Spirit of Eden high on his all time faves list? Idk. I have bit-and-pieced this album 1 or 2 times over the decade or so of awareness of it. I intend to rectify this soon. RIP Mark Hollis.)
5. Por este rio acima by Fausto/1982 (The album cover of this for some reason holds sway over my heart and I have been mean ing to check out this album for a long time... maybe I did back when I was doing some 1982 deep diving. But I can't remember. I don't think I ever did though. So this Portuguese folk/singer songwriter album it is.)
6. Moon Pix by Cat Power/1998 (I neeeeed more Cat Power in my life and for some reason I never rated this on RYM or here and I don't recall what this one is like and this is one of her more loved LPs. So this one is an option)
7. Giles Corey by Giles Corey/2011 (This was Low's debut, but I relistened a few times and now its pretty high on my 90s chart, so now I change the album to this! Now its this dreary and quite depressing slowcore singer songwriter affair which I have heard but for some reason I never quite got back in the day.)
8. McClusky Do Dallas by McClusky/2002 (Another classic post hardcore album that I have been meaning to check out for literally 7 years.)
9. Left Hand Path by Entombed/1990 (Bring on this absolutely classic and legendary Swedish death metal classic! I couple months ago I absolutely saw the light on Entombed's peers, Dismember, and their 1991 masterpiece Like an Ever Flowing Stream. At that time I meant to now delve into the works of Entombed... but I never did. I listened to the first few tracks of this album newly and thought it was cool but no Dismember and went back to them. Now I would like to give this one the time and TLC it deserves. I heard it awhile ago but I was not a DM fan at the time and I didn't love it just liked it.)
10. At Action Park by Shellac/1994 (A classic 90s post hardcore release that I have been meaning to play for a decade or close to. When I was updating my 90s chart yesterday I saw this and instantly remembered how much I've wanted to give this a spin. So here it is as an option.) _________________ -Ryan
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