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 …
Tag: Power Pop
The Spirit Room (2001) by Michelle Branch
I know this much about Michelle Branch: I thought she was Vanessa Carlton.
Especially for You (1986) by The Smithereens
Like many people, I’m probably listening to this – and taking it seriously – in part because of Kurt Cobain. I did not enjoy Green Thoughts but it’s been long enough that I forgot about that, so I was able to approach this with fresh ears and be more charitable to it than I would …
Beauty and the Beat (1981) by Go-Go’s
This is undoubtedly an important record. It is possibly the most successful debut album by an all-female band, at least to this point and history and it might have also been the first all-female band album to hit US#1 (though I’m not 100% sure where I read that and can’t find it now). It’s trailblazing …
Oh, Inverted World (2001) by The Shins
I listened to Chutes Too Narrow 12 or 13 years ago, when I possibly could still remember the Garden State thing, and it made no impression on me. I haven’t listened to this band since.
The Tyranny of Distance (2001) by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
I fell like I had some vague idea of this band’s existence. The name certainly rings some kind of bell. But I certainly didn’t know that they were born as a bedroom project and the bound was founded after they were named. (Which is really more common than you would think.) Anyway, I didn’t know …
One Chord to Another (1996) by Sloan
Wow, I really, really thought I had heard this record before. Sure, I know the hits, but I seem to know some of the deep cuts too, and I can’t figure out why since there was no review. Anyway…
East Side Story (1981) by Squeeze
Can I admit something to you? I thought “Tempted” was from the ’60s. Of course, if I’d really listened to it, I might have noticed it wasn’t. But I became familiar with it when I was young and before I had an ear that could spot time and genre differences. And I guess I just …
Candy Apple Grey (1986) by Husker Du
This is the last of the classic (i.e. everything but their debut) Husker Du albums I’ve listened to. And, not coincidentally, it seems to be the least well regarded. (I regularly start with bands’ best regarded albums.)
Girls Can Tell (2001) by Spoon
There are a lot bands that I’m vaguely aware of, and feel like I should probably listen to but don’t get around to. And one reason I never get around to them is because the little exposure I get does nothing for me. Spoon is definitely one of those bands. I know people love Spoon. …
Mass Romantic (2000) by The New Pornographers
Will never understand the big deal with power pop. I’ve listened to many power pop albums over the years and I just don’t get why people like it so much. I can only conclude that the people who love power pop – and get way too excited by records like this – like different things …
Autoamerican (1980) by Blondie
I didn’t grow up with Blondie like I should have. With their biggest hits accessible enough for mainstream radio, and my dad buying a Greatest Hits record, it’s kind of weird I don’t know them better. But he bought that compilation in my mid teens and they were always too recent to be played on …
Flip Your Wig (1985) by Hüsker Dü
Time can really change perception, especially when it comes to cultural artifacts. I have read online abbout how this is one of Hüsker’s great albums, perhaps even their best. But I don’t hear it. I don’t know if that’s because I haven’t sat down and listened to New Day Rising recently or whether it’s because …
Ben Folds Five (1995)
At some point during the last 30 or so years before this album’s release, the piano stopped being a rock instrument. That’s particularly weird given its primary in the creation of rock and roll, as it was piano and saxophone, before electric guitar, that helped create what became rock and roll (in part because they …
Voices (1980) by Hall & Oates
I must say, I had a pretty fixed idea of what Hall & Oates sounded like before I listened to this album. And it wasn’t a very good idea because it was based both on the few hits of theirs I knew of theirs and the fact that I absolutely didn’t know some of their …
A Catholic Education (1990) by Teenage Fanclub
I’ve heard so much about Teenage Fanclub the power pop/jangle pop band that I really, really wasn’t ready for this. And because I really wasn’t ready for this I might have overrated it a tad. Such is life.
Underwater Moonlight (1980) by The Soft Boys
The beginning of the first song got me excited. Then the rest of the album happened…
All Hands on the Bad One (2000) by Sleater-Kinney
I like this band. I really like their aesthetic and I like their songs. But, at some point, I’ve come to realize that they are an AC/DC type band rather than a band that is concerned with making big artistic strides on each record. (I should probably pick a bett4er comparison given AC/DC’s lyrics, but …
I Should Coco (1995) by Supergrass
Every couple of years – hell, sometimes more than once a year – a new British band comes along that sounds like many previous British bands, but just different enough to sound “new” to enough people, and the British music press and some of their public lose their fucking minds over them. The band makes …
Figure 8 (2000) by Elliott Smith
I think Elliott Smith is a good songwriter. As I have said when reviewing his other albums, I really don’t get the idea that he is one of the great songwriters of his generation, but he’s certainly very good. His songs are a little too poppy for my tastes, but I can at least appreciate …
Ball-Hog or Tugboat? (1995) by Mike Watt
What do I do with this sprawling, all-star record? It’s as if Watt wanted to make a new Minuteman record with 17 different bands. The results are, uneven, to say the least.
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 …
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 …
Astro Lounge (1999) by Smash Mouth
Like, what even is Smash Mouth?
Candy-O (1979) by The Cars
Did you want to read a hot take about the second Cars record? Well I have one for you: It’s better than their “classic: debut album. (Shock! Horror!)
All Over the Place (1984) by The Bangles
So many of my impressions of ’80s bands with only a couple of hits have been formed by those hits, and so I often find myself encountering a band with strong preconceived notions and finding them just blasted apart by albums. I don’t know if I’m alone in thinking “Walk Like an Egyptian” is gimmicky …
Kimono My House (1974) by Sparks
Sparks is one of those bands with such a big cult following that you inevitably encounter someone who loves them. I have, at some point, but it wasn’t a friend, just people on the internet. Reading a lot about a band always gives one impressions, and those impressions are often wrong. So it was with …
Outlandos d’Amour (1978) by The Police
The Police’s debut album is a bouncy energetic thing, with way better than you’d expect musicianship for their music scene and the kind of performances you would require from that same scene. Much of what initially captivated people about this band, present on this album, would disappear by the end of their career.
Celebrity Skin (1998) by Hole
In 2011 I heard Live Through This and generally hated it. I don’t remember the record at all, but my review at the time suggests I thought it was overproduced for what it was. Five years later I heard Pretty on the Inside and loved it.
Lincoln (1988) by They Might Be Giants
I have heard so much about They Might Be Giants over the years that I was bound to be disappointed by what they sound like. So count me disappointed by this record.