Like every early Beach Boys album, this is a short collection of an incredibly inconsistent set of songs which, on the one hand, show off Brian Wilson’s increasingly elaborate vocal arrangements and increasing compositional sophistication and, on the other, pad things out with songs so inane or derivative you want to burn the record. The …
Tag: Pop
An Innocent Man (1983) by Billy Joel
On this album Billy Joel makes me think he’s the pop version of Aaron Copland (in his most Americana phase) – an eminently talented musician who thinks that the best music is the music the people like, not the music he is fully capable of writing if he were more of a snob. I side …
Madonna (1983)
Though I am speaking with the benefit of hindsight, it feels to me as if it would have been easy to imagine in 1983 that Madonna was going to be around for a while. Even at this early stage, she’s a compelling performer and it feels like she’s surrounded herself with the right people.
10cc (1973)
I don’t know 10cc at all. I think they have a couple of hits from later in their career that I’m aware of, but I’m not even sure I could name them without googling them. (Just did: I was right, they did “I’m Not in Love.” Hearing that song never made me want to listen …
Aerial Ballet (1968) by Nilsson
Nilsson is just one of those guys I don’t get. I have listened to a few of his records now and every time my reaction is “This is what Nilsson sounds like?” You see, I am not really a fan of pop, and though this music is relatively adventurous – I stress the “relatively” as …
In Dreams (1963) by Roy Orbison
If there was one artist I grew up with from the ’50s and early ’60s, it was Johnny Rivers. But if there were two artists I grew up from the ’50s and early ’60s it was Roy Orbison. You see, we listened to oldies radio. But when we didn’t listen to oldies stations, we either …
Saturday Night with Mr. C (1958) by Perry Como
So before I get into any details I have to say that the edition I am reviewing here isn’t quite the edition on Google Play. There’s a different track listing though most of the tracks seem to be similar. Anyway…
janet. (1993) by Janet Jackson
As I say all the damn time, coming at an artist backwards is a bad idea. And yet here I am doing it again. This is only the second Janet Jackson album I’ve ever heard, but the first one I heard was the sequel to this one. The problem for me is that the sequel …
Grease Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1978)
When I was young, I absolutely hated nostalgia. I saw it as the enemy of creativity. Time, and particularly age, has softened that approach; I now understand nostalgia and even sometimes like it despite myself. But the thing is, when I do like nostalgia, it’s nostalgia for something I experienced. So I can understand why …
Come Fly With me (1958) by Frank Sinatra
For most of my life I’ve heard about how great Sinatra was as a singer and yet this is the first album I’ve ever heard. instead, I’ve mostly experienced him as an actor. (I generally think he’s underrated.)
ABBA: The Album (1977)
As a young, male, red-blooded rock music fan I absolutely hated ABBA when I was younger. I may have not know what they sounded like outside of their biggest hits, but I knew I hated them, because their songs were so damn catchy, girls like them, and didn’t they win Eurovision?
Wild Honey (1967) by The Beach Boys
I am not sure anything could have prepared me for this record, a bizarre left turn from Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile (and Smile presumably) in terms of ambition and overall sound, but also in some ways a logical follow up to Smiley Smile‘s bizarre lo-fi aesthetic. The first record the rest of the band …
Come On Over [Original Version] (1997) by Shania Twain
In Canada we have “Canadian Content” rules that necessitates radio DJs (and music video VJs!) play 35% Canadian music. As a Canadian alive in 1997, I have heard at least 7 of these songs ad nauseum. This album was gigantic in the US, yes, but I’m not sure it was as omnipresent as it was …
The Bodyguard Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992) by Various Artists
No, I have not seen the movie.
Thriller (1982) by Michael Jackson
Much like Bad, so many of the songs from Thriller were hits when I was a little kid that I know more of this record than I could have ever imagined. That knowledge once again puts me in a weird position, having the memory of what some of these songs sounded like to me as …
Saturday Night Fever Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1977)
I don’t like disco so you can imagine that when I found out this was a double album I was… unhappy.
Rocket to Russia (1977) Ramones
What do you do with a band like the Ramones if your a music fan who sees artistic evolution as an essential part of greatness? I have thought about this for years and still never figured it out.
The Velvet Rope (1997) by Janet Jackson
I had a very, very fixed idea of Janet Jackson before listening to that record. It was an idea essentially created by music videos (Janet Jackson is attractive) and the odd accidental radio exposure, but also created by the music industrial complex, which has generally marketed female performers in a particular way for quite a …
1999 (1982) by Prince
Listening to this record immediately after Marvin Gaye’s Midnight Love is instructive: Prince shows how cutting edge musical technology can be used without permanently dating a record. Hint: it helps if you write good songs and it helps if you’re idiosyncratic. Prince has written a bunch of really catchy songs – even the songs he …
Lionel Richie (1982)
I do not like Lionel Richie’s aesthetic: he is slick and sappy at the same time. That is a recipe for disaster, in my eyes (ears). But Richie has a rather incredible knack for melody. These songs are catchy, but it’s not just that. Some of his melodies for the ballads are super compelling, they …
Butterfly (1997) by Mariah Carey
I find myself increasingly in this position, while I listen to things outside my comfort zone for my podcast: I am not the target demographic for this music and I have a really hard time putting myself in the shoes of the target demographic.
Fantasma (1997) by Cornelius
I have heard Fantasm described as ‘the Japanese Beck.’ It’s a comparison that sounds kind of ridiculous but is also kind of appropriate. It’s inappropriate inasmuch as Cornelius had been releasing music with Flipper’s Guitar well before Beck was known to most of us (is Beck, therefore, the American Cornelius?) but it is appropriate inasmuch …
The Dreaming (1982) by Kate Bush
Where has this been all my life?
Smiley Smile (1967) by The Beach Boys
If you read a lot of music criticism about the ’60s, like I used to, you have heard about Smile ad nauseum. If you read a lot of indiependent music criticism at the turn of the century, like I used to, you have also heard about Smile ad nauseum. You’ve heard about Smile to the …
Bad (1987) by Michael Jackson
I grew up with “Fat” and have a hard time separating the real song, the title track of this record, from its parody. But I haven’t listened to “Fat” in so long. Listening to Bad for the first time (and to the remaster, no less), I can’t help but wonder, “does “Fat” sound this terrible …
Backstreet Boys (1997, 1998 Re-Issue)
I am listening to this for my podcast. (Well, not exactly this album, but close. I’ll get into that.) But I don’t know what to do with it for a number of reasons. I don’t like pop music like this and I don’t spend time listening to it. Here are some reasons why:
Pacific Ocean Blue (1977) by Dennis Wilson
Full disclosure: I did not want to listen to this. I don’t love The Beach Boys and have generally been annoyed by the Brian Wilson-worship that has bubbled to the surface over the last few decades. Of all the likely listeners of this record, one would expect me to be among the least fair.
United (1967) by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
It’s hard to know what to do with this weird pseudo “duet” album which, in many ways, set standards for duet albums going forward.
Imperial Bedroom (1982) by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Though I haven’t heard the couple previous albums to this one, this still feels like a pretty big stylistic left turn for Costello. The production and arrangements are both noticeably different from the first Attractions record (or his first few solo albums). It’s a brave move (if it is indeed a move) as he could …
Loving You Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1957) by Elvis Presley
Elvis’s third album, which functions in part as the soundtrack to his first major film, is fraught with the same issues as his second record, it feels like an attempt to capitalize on Elvis’ stardom while pleasing as many people as possible.