If you had asked me what I knew of Natalie Merchant before I listened to this album, I would have told you I know she was the lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs and I know she’s a featured vocalist on a couple of the Mermaid Avenue songs. That’s it. Well, now I know better.
Tag: Pop Rock
Little Creatures (1985) Talking Heads
Talk about a left turn.
The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985) by Sting
Sting’s songwriting grew leaps and bounds while The Police were together. But what grew more was his musical palette, as the police moved from a band that played one style of music (essentially poppy art punk-reggae) to a variety of styles. The Police basically never really got along with each other but, at some point, …
The Game (1980) by Queen
One of the great things about Queen is also a major flaw of the band: they were a songwriting democracy and that led to both a greater diversity of sound and a lack of consistency.
Main Course (1975) by Bee Gees
This album is considered a bit of a landmark in the Bee Gees catalogue because it marks the transition (or the beginning of the transition?) from their earlier baroque pop sound to their disco sound, as well as the introduction of Barry’s falsetto. This is as far as I know one of their albums.Personally, I’m …
Joan Jett aka Bad Reputation (1980)
Joan Jett was pretty young when she made this record – only 19 or 20 – but it sounds like it was made by someone 10 years her senior. That’s often a compliment but it’s not here: like so many punk-adjacent albums of the late ’70s and early ’80s, this one is obsessed with the …
Venus and Mars (1975) by Wings
Every Wings album is a reminder why the Beatles were great. Every Wings album is a reminder that, though they may have hated each other at the end, Lennon and McCartney needed each other artistically.
Captain Fantastic and the Dirt Brown Cowboy (1975) by Elton John
I keep having the same experience over and over again with artists I’m relatively unfamiliar with, like Elton John: I listen to 2 or 3 or 4 albums and I’m unimpressed and then I get to like the 5th album (or sometimes even the 6th) and I have some kind of epiphany and suddenly worry …
Around the World in a Day (1985) by Prince and The Revolution
I suspect the degree to which I like this album is heavily influenced by the narrative around it, and my lack of engagement with that narrative. Prince is a known iconoclast when I’m listening to this record for the first time. He’s done things such as change his stage name and fail to release completed …
Empty Glass (1980) by Pete Townshend
The story goes that Townshend was writing songs for both this album and the subsequent Who album and Daltrey at least feels like Townshend kept most of the good material for himself and gave the band the less good stuff. (I should point out I’ve never bothered with Face Dances because one thing I don’t …
ABBA (1975)
When I was an older teen and a young adult, I got extremely skeptical and wary of artists and bands that elevated melody above everything else. I don’t exactly know why I felt this way but some of it had to do with trying to stand out among other people at that kind of time …
McCartney (1970)
It is incredible to me that this album now has a pretty good reputation. It speaks to McCartney’s fame and immense presence in the music world that an album which was once at least partially attacked by critics is now beloved. In fact, the fact that the album received mixed reviews at the time only …
I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (1990) by Sinead O’Connor
Sinead’s second album is considerably more self-assured and even than her debut, though it’s lacking a bit of the energy of the debut and, also, the pure shock factor of a woman so young seeming like such a self-assured songwriter and performer. And like the debut, it hasn’t dated that well, but that’s sort of …
Glass Houses (1980) by Billy Joel
I read somewhere that this is supposed to be Joel’s “punk” album, not in that it sounds like punk that it is his response. I think that comes from a way too deep reading of the lyrics to “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, and if it is indeed his response to these trends …
Katy Lied (1975) by Steely Dan
Here we go again: I do not like Steely Dan. This album does not change that feeling in any way. The problems I have with Steely Dan records are as present on this record as any of their ’70s records I’ve heard. The more albums I listen to, the more I become convinced that, once …
The Original Soundtrack (1975) by 10cc
10cc are just an absolutely maddening band: full of brilliant, path-breaking ideas (with a sense of humour!) but obsessed with making accessible pop music that I find extremely boring. I can honestly I’ve never encountered another band like them.
The Beach Boys Today! (1965)
Well this is the moment when the Brian Wilson who has been endlessly celebrated by the music press truly emerges, at least in album form. Though the lyrical sophistication of these songs has been greatly exaggerated (to a degree I don’t think I can stress enough) the musical sophistication is leaps and bounds beyond most …
No Jacket Required (1985) by Phil Collins
The more I listen to Phil Collins’ solo work – and, to a lesser extent, post-Gabriel Genesis – the more I have come to respect him, both as a performer and, especially, as a songwriter songwriter. His sense of melody is really strong and his lyrics are definitely above average. I know from Genesis that …
Get Happy!! (1980) by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
I don’t know Costello’s career as well as perhaps I should, given his sheer volume and his reputation as perhaps (British) New Wave’s preeminent songwriter. But I feel like I know it well enough to mark this as the first record when he began his genre-driving. It’s not as drastic as a departure as some …
Sweet Baby James (1970) by James Taylor
I don’t like James Taylor. But I’m not sure I knew that before listening to this album. I don’t think I’d ventured much of an opinion about him before, because he never seemed very interesting to me. I have a friend who likes him, and I think tried to get me into him at one …
The Rapture (1995) by Siouxsie and the Banshees
This is my first ’90s Banshees album and I must say I was a little reticent to give it a listen, for two reasons. For one thing, though I feel like their ’80s records have dated rather well for ’80s music, I must say I was worried that this record would sound pretty damn ’80s. …
Flood (1990) by They Might Be Giants
I was pretty overwhelmed by Lincoln and not necessarily in a good way. I had heard so much about the band but didn’t really know anything. On Lincoln they came across to me as a sort of poor mans’ Camper Van Beethoven, which probably not fair for many reasons. But I feel very differently about …
Pretenders (1980)
I avoided the Pretenders for so long for two reasons: when I was young, nothing about their hits appealed to me – nothing really grabbed me and told me I needed to listen to their records – but also Hynde did an interview for a documentary I watched about the New York Dolls which I …
Stealing Fire (1984) by Bruce Cockburn
I’m sure there’s a great songwriter under here somewhere.
When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ‘fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right (1999) by Fiona Apple
I could have sworn to you that I had heard this record before; I thought I had heard all of hers. But I went to check my old review and there was no review nor any rating. And that begs a question: did I listen to this and forget to review and or even rate …
Heart Like a Wheel (1974) by Linda Ronstadt
Despite her relative commercial success, I don’t know much about Linda Ronstadt or her music, beyond “You’re No Good” and maybe the odd other hit song that I’ve heard through the ether – oh and backing vocal guest appearances on Neil Young albums and elsewhere. So I really wasn’t sure what to expect.
Damn the Torpedoes (1979) by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
This is the Tom Petty I like – full of attitude and spunk, with a touch of meanness or bitterness. Like basically everyone, he mellowed out significantly with age, which is the version of him I’m much more familiar with.
Tusk (1979) by Fleetwood Mac
The number of times I’ve heard that Tusk is “experimental” in my life…well, if I had a dollar, I still wouldn’t be able to afford a down-payment on a house in Toronto, or anything, but maybe I could lease a car or something. The problem with pop music fans telling you that some pop album …
Crime of the Century (1974) by Supertramp
Before I knew what Prog Rock was, Supertramp was just a band on classic rock radio that I didn’t exactly love. Once I figured out what Prog Rock was, they became this caricature for me – my friends who hated prog hated it because they hated Supertramp but, to me, Supertramp wasn’t prog at all, …
Hootie and the Blowfish Live at the Budweiser Stage August 29, 2019
You read that right. Last night, I went to see Hottie and the Blowfish. The band I wrote this review about. I went because my girlfriend wanted to go. I hadn’t been to the Molson Amphitheatre Budweiser Stage in so long I almost forgot what it was like. It seems they have made it a …