Average Rating: 3.25 Rating Variance: 1.81 Objectivity Score: 79% (Well Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicLed Zeppelin Led Zeppelin4.5 superbPink Floyd Wish You Were HereThe thing I love about Pink Floyd is their ability to build emotion up and down seamlessly, through the stunning use of triumphant synth pads, very clean, distinct, and genre-defining guitar riffs, and airy vocals from Roger Waters. The thing I dislike about Pink Floyd is the fact that this unrelentingly takes 10 minutes, give or take, to work best. Floyd, along with Rush and Swans, stand as one of the most persistently progressive to the point of almost pretentiousness. For anyone willing to sit through that, refer to the pros mentioned. However, for those unacquainted with this frame of work, it can be hard to swallow, even a little for yours truly. Once past that, you get the incredibly well-produced instrumentals, tied together with high synth pads, bewildering time and key changes, and meaningful lyrics. Wish You Were Here is no different. Built around the 25-minute epic "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", this 5-song album never varies from Floyd's mainstays, and is coupled with an interesting lyrical theme, too. We follow the narrative of a young artist, who, in Shine On pts. 1-5, is revealed to have chosen stardom over integrity, and has alienated his friends. As we continue, "Welcome To The Machine" (my favorite track) and "Have A Cigar" are from the perspective of the Machine, the music industry, looking to capitalize on the artist. ("We told you what to dream", "Have you seen the charts?") The final two tracks, "Wish You Were Here" and "Shine On Pt. 6-9", return to the perspective of the friend, melancholy about the choice of the artist. Instrumental themes support lyrical themes throughout. Overall, it just depends on how willing you are to sit through 20 minutes of synth pad instrumentals to get to the great artistry.4.0 excellentThe Offspring Greatest HitsA widely ignored rule is that punk is supposed to be poppy, a push back against the highly formulated music of the early 70's or late 80's, the Bostons, Journeys, Rushes of the world. The original mid-seventies punk band, the Ramones, were trying to harken back to the early Beatles, at least with their early records. Ironically, the genre which we call pop-punk, with Green Day and the like, has evolved into a style even more complex than original punk. And, this makes some great albums. Eventually, however, one needs a dose of true youthfulness from punk. The Offspring, a singles band if there ever was one, provide just that with this extremely jammable album. Lyrical topics on here range from false assumptions about one's coolness ("they didn't have Ice Cube so he got Vanilla Ice"), foolish violence ("if you're under 18 you won't be doing any time"), or genuine anger ("how could one little street swallow so many lives?"). The Offspring, on every one of their hits, bring back instrumental simplicity as well. We see the buzzsaw strumming popularized by Johnny Ramone, the newer pop-punk power chords as in The Kids Aren't Alright, and relentless ever-poppy chord progressions. There are several mainstays of punk then and now, such as megaphone-like vocal distortion on Can't Repeat and Why Don't You Get A Job?, picked bass on 8th notes, (see: every early Ramones song), and even some hardcore-punk sounding guitar, proving the Offspring a unifying punk band. If I have one big qualm with this album, however, it's the song lengths. Offspring songs are made to be under 3 minutes long, and only maybe 4 songs accomplish that, with my 2 favorites, The Kids Aren't Alright and All I Want, clocking in at under 3 and under 2 minutes. However, most go on with unnecessary codas, solos, bridges, and other nonsense, extending the length to over 3:30. However, that's the direction punk is headed, so I'll take the good with the bad and call this a great pop album.Twenty One Pilots BlurryfaceOh boy, a relevant album to review. I want to start this review by saying I believe creating catchy songs is more of an art than some classic rock "purists" would have you believe. Artists like Taylor Swift, Paramore, and yes, twenty one pilots have managed to do this while still maintaining a semblance of great artistry with their lyrics and melodies. With their sophomore major-label album, Blurryface, twenty one pilots took this to the next level, combining some of the catchiest genres ever, (ska, electropop, and others) to create a new-sounding yet very familiar feel. To use an example, the song "Ride" draws heavily from the reggae and ska genres, with syncopated and bouncy piano chords, and sing-along Whoa-oh-oh-oh refrains, but also blends in some banging dance riffs, and Gorillaz-sounding verses. "We Don't Believe What's On TV" brings the ukulele back, creating a very poppy sound, but with the picked root note bass and anti-media lyrics, also presents itself as punk. For the most part, all this is executed well, from ska to 90's hip hop to rock to electronica, creating an unbelievably fun album, but there are a couple problems. To start, the lyrical themes on this albums prove inconsistent at times, which makes it feel more like a compilation and less seamless. My main problem, however, comes from what is also the best part: the instrumentation and production. Every genre brought into this album only feels new and exciting for one or two songs, then feels formulated. Because of this, a good number of songs on the second half of this album feel less exciting then what was intended. Songs like "Doubt" and "Message Man" exemplify this with their overuse of dubstep concepts. This album would be best delivered with 8-10 songs, not 14. I felt like there was a reversion to Calvin Harris-like beats on songs like "Hometown", and this album should deliver new pop. I can't keep from smiling, however, at least on the first half. Really, the best thing would be to get rid of "Doubt", "Message Man", "Hometown", and "Not Today", and this album could be a 4.5, but as it is, not quite.3.5 greatTaylor Swift 19892.5 averagePearl Jam TenMy feeling about Pearl Jam, or at least this seminal debut, is that they are for arena rock what the Ramones or MC5 were for early R&R. That is, a revival of an otherwise mostly dead genre 5-20 years after the fact. Nirvana, their grunge counterparts, were the third in the R&R revival, bringing back punk with a more hardcore, moodier, noisier feel. But Pearl Jam, at least instrumentally, were the love child of U2's stadium rock and Aerosmith's hard-hitting riffs. Before addressing that, let's look at the message brought across by this album. Throughout, Eddie Vedder uses his Bono-esque voice to sing about topics like insanity, loneliness, disturbed children, and denied love. Yeah. Not exactly "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)". The execution here is great, with just enough psychedelic undertone to broaden the application of the lyrics. Just look at "Jeremy", a song lyrically about a disturbed, abused child who scares the speaker, "speaking in class today" about strange things, as you do. The greatest line on the whole album of great brooding lyrics: "Try to erase this from the blackboard".This is an excellent vocal album. However, going back to the instrumentation and style, this is where it falls short. Pearl Jam were grunge for those who wanted dark lyrics, but still clean and polished instrumentation. Time an again we revert back to bass-snare drum lines, open hi-hats, arpeggios leading into power chords, etc. This album does not stray from its classic rock ancestors. Although it presents itself as anti-mainstream, it's important to realize too that this was by no means revolutionary, the melodic distorted guitars over vocals, the mindless repetition of song titles, the strict verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-bridge-chorus structure. Nothing new. Where it does become unconventional is where it shines, on tracks like the deep "Oceans", and the tortured "Release", the nine-minute epic closer. But on most tracks, I just find myself bored, bored of a structure that's been used since the 60's.1.5 very poorThe Script #31.0 awfulJustin Bieber My World 2.0
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
