The three-volume soundtrack to Homestar Runner is even more “fans only” than Strong Bad Sings. So I’m probably being too kind to it as stand-alone music, but I can’t help but enjoy it.
Category: Music
Riley Goes to Detroit to See Billy Joel Live at Comerica Park, July 9, 2022
You may be wondering, why did I see Billy Joel? I have made my feelings about him pretty clear. But Jenn really likes Billy Joel, so we went to see Billy Joel in Detroit. I had only ever gotten lost in Detroit and Dearborn many years ago, and I’d never actually been there.
Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits (2003)
I was deep in my Homestar Runner obsession when this came out and yet I don’t think I ever managed to listen to it. It’s been forever, and I pay way less attention now, but I still have a strong nostalgia for when I first discovered it, and a nostalgia for everything about it.
The Chicks Live at Budweiser Stage, Friday June 24, 2022
We moved during the pandemic. And, because it was the pandemic, for a while, it didn’t really hit home how far east we moved. But, you guys, let me tell you, when you have to go to Ontario Place for a concert and you live in the east end, it’s far. It’s so far we …
And I’ll Scratch Yours (2013) by Various Artists
I quite enjoy Scratch My Back and love New Blood but, for some reason, it took me years to get around to listening tot he other half of Scratch My Back. But the thing I love about New Blood doesn’t really apply to this project (or Scratch My Back either, really, even though they sound …
Ode to Joy (2019) by Wilco
Weirdly, I bought this and then completely forgot about it. It was only when I was listening to Cruel Country that I realized I had skipped an album. And then I discovered I had indeed purchased a digital copy and just flat out forgot to listen to it.
Cruel Country (2022) by Wilco
Despite supposedly being a very big fan of this band, I completely ignored Ode to Joy. I think it’s because I mostly haven’t enjoyed their post Sky Blue Sky output.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Live at the Phoenix Concert Theatre Thursday May 5, 2022
This was my first concert in possibly close to three years. The pandemic played a major part in that but I also don’t remember what the last show I was before the pandemic closed everything down over two years ago. It had been a little while. This was my third time seeing Godspeed. Regrettably, it …
Exhumed at Birth (1997) by Faxed Head
This is a bonkers and pretty funny metal album that defies categorization a little bit, which is probably one of the reasons nobody seems to like it.
The Early Years 1965-1972 (2016) by Pink Floyd
Full disclosure part 1: I listened to this on a streaming service so a few tracks were missing, the videos were included in the track list, and I really have no idea how it would compare to the actual boxed set. (No booklets, etc.) Full disclosure part 2: the time for me to have listened …
Palmerston (2021) by Glutenhead
I didn’t realize this was an EP so on my first listen its brevity shocked me. (Suddenly a Rick Beato video started and I was very confused.)
Throwing Muses (1986)
I didn’t really know what I was getting into here. I thought I knew what this band sounded like and I was kind of surprised they had existed as long as they did. And then “Call Me” started and I was like “Wait, what? They’re a (UK) post punk band???”
Oceanarium (2017) by Deluge Grander
Literally 4 years ago (seriously) the leader of this group sent me a message and asked if I would review this album based on a partial release. I suck and so it’s taken me 4 years to get to it. (In my limited defense, my podcast was still running so I basically listened to nothing …
Forever Breathes the Lonely World (1986) by Felt
Jangle pop with a post punk aesthetic. It made more sense to me when it was earlier in the 1980s. (I guess I mean that it made more sense when it was earlier in their career.)
The Way It Is (1986) by Bruce Hornsby and the Range
I know basically nothing about Bruce Hornsby. I remember seeing his name on a Mix 99.9 ad on the subway in high school. And I know he toured with the Dead. That’s all I got.
Duotones (1986) by Kenny G
Upon reflection it seems kind of cruel to assume that Kenny G isn’t actually a good saxophone player just because he doesn’t have taste. If I learned one thing from this preposterously popular record, it’s that Kenny G can indeed play. Now, that begs the question, what is worse, someone who has talent and uses …
Express (1986) by Love and Rockets
I spent way too much time in my review of Earth Sun Moon obsessing over how these guys weren’t Bauhaus. It’s a weird review that I find hard to read now. I wish I had focused on the music so I could try to compare the two records and understand why I appear to have …
Blood and Chocolate (1986) by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
At some point a career goes on long enough where it starts to divide the true fans from the people who just got into the artist because they were in the ether, but sometimes the critics will continue to care and sometimes they won’t. I don’t know where exactly that point is with Costello but …
Word Up! (1986) by Cameo
Like so much other music released in 1986, this sounds extremely “modern” or, perhaps more appropriately to us 21st century folks, “contemporary.” It’s aggressively of its era, which is a good thing for some people I suppose, though obviously not for me.
Mark of the Mole (1981) by The Residents
I read about The Residents as a teenager and thought their origin story was really cool and then later I fell in love with the cover of Third Reich ‘n’ Roll and so I thought I would get around to listening to a bunch of their records. Nearly two decades later this is the second …
Penthouse and Pavement (1981) by Heaven 17
This is on the funkier, more organic side of British synthpop in part because of the instrumentation but also because of the songwriting. As such, it almost feels somewhere on the spectrum between synthpop and post punk, even though the attitude of this band is very much not something you would associate with post punk …
Wanna Be a Star (1981) by Chilliwack
I came of age musically listening to Classic Rock Radio, specifically Q-107 in Toronto. And I came to loathe virtually all CanCon played. (Obvious exceptions: Neil Young and Joni Mitchell when they counted, Rush. No The Band doesn’t usually count.) And so I figured I loathed Chilliwack, though I couldn’t name a song. Another albums …
Happy Birthday (1981) by Altered Images
Post-punk was really evolving by 1981, and I think it’s safe to say that a number of bands were starting to realize they didn’t have to sound like Joy Division. Altered Images’ obvious influence is the Banshees but Grogan does not sound like Siouxsie Sioux (and she really isn’t on her level, as a singer, …
Private Eyes (1981) by Daryl Hall and John Oates
For years and years, I avoided Hall & Oates because I assumed they were yacht rock. I was only vaguely aware of their songs and sound – actually the only song of theirs I really knew was their cover of “Jingle Bell Rock.” I became vaguely interested in Daryl Hall once I knew about his …
Spirit (1976) by Earth, Wind and Fire
As usual, Earth Wind and Fire manage to combine a lot of different styles (relatively speaking) for what is essentially pretty soul with touches of disco, world music and jazz. Though they are always slightly too slick for me, I find their diversity extremely refreshing compared to their contemporaries. But something about this album isn’t …
Blackheart Man (1976) by Bunny Wailer
When I first heard Peter Tosh’s solo stuff, it was a revelation. I couldn’t believe how much more I liked it than the Wailers. And I sort of stupidly assumed that it was specifically Tosh I liked and the Wailers I didn’t like so much. I already knew I liked Tosh’s Wailers songs more than …
The Bob’s Burgers Music Album Vol. 2 (2021)
The second volume of music from Bob’s Burgers is another massive collection of original songs interspersed with some deliberately bad covers. Like the first volume it is full of catchy stuff performed extremely campily. It’s more evidence that this show has about the best use of music of any similar “sitcom” since The Simpsons. There …
It’s a Wonderful Life (2001) by Sparklehorse
Mark Linkous was one of the more reliable lo fi singer-songwriters of the 1990s, both for quality of songs – and relative paucity of song fragments – and for relative stylistic diversity with those songs. I’ve only heard the first two records before this one but I appreciated his diversity paired with song quality and …
Come Clean (2001) by Puddle of Mudd
This album sold 3 million copies in the US. And though it didn’t do as well anywhere else, it still went platinum in a few other English-speaking countries. And it produced multiple hit singles. Why?
No More Drama (2001) by Mary J. Blige
So, I basically only know Mary J. Blige from her hits and maybe some guest appearances. I thought I had listened to an album of hers at some point in the past but there are no reviews so I must have decided not to. I’m not really sure why, I guess I decided the combination …