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.
Tag: Power Pop
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.
Parallel Lines (1978) by Blondie
My dad bought a Blondie compilation sometime in my teens. It was a double disc. So I feel like, to the extent I know Blondie, it is through that compilation. Had he bought it 10 years earlier, I would likely know all their hits very well. Alas, he bought it a few years before my …
Love Bites (1978) by Buzzcocks
I am not a fan of the Buzzcocks. They are way too far on the pop side of the pop punk spectrum for me. (Yes, going by that, it’s safe to assume I don’t like pop punk.) I acknowledge their importance in the evolution of punk and particularly in pop punk, but I would just …
Become What You Are (1993) by The Juliana Hatfield Three
For some reason Hatfield’s voice reminds me of a flatter, punkier Lisa Loeb. Anyway…
Stunt (1998) by Barenaked Ladies
You can count me among the many (millions?) of Canadians who were shocked by the success of this record in the USA when it came out. To me, Barenaked Ladies were a comedy novelty act who had some funny songs and videos, which I had mostly grown out of by the time this record came …
Altered Beast (1993) by Matthew Sweet
When I was a teen, I didn’t get Matthew Sweet. He had the odd video on Much Music and those videos made no impression on me. But some people in the media (and probably even some people I knew) spoke about him as if he was…someone, as if he had done something in the time …
Temple of Low Men (1988)
Like so much other music, I have come to this band backwards, having recently listened to Neill Finn’s solo debut before I had ever heard any of their records. What I discovered on his solo debut is that he is not my kind of songwriter and often not my kind of performer. This is not …
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 …
The Cars (1978)
The Cars’ debut album marks the point where, for better or worse, New Wave goes commercial. Basically very previous (American) New Wave album was too arty, too quirky, too herky jerky to connect with the average listener. But Ocasek and company found how to merge New Wave with that basic American need for big dumb …
Navy Blues (1998) by Sloan
I thought this was the third Sloan album I’ve ever heard but apparently it’s actually the second. I saw Sloan before I ever heard an album. I saw them a very long time ago and they were fun. Some assholes in the crowd threw beer at them (it was frosh week) and they still persevered, …
Frank Black (1993)
At first, it might be tempting to write-off Frank Black’s debut album as ” softer Pixies plus keyboards” and I can sort of see that. But I think that such a view obscures what’s really going on, and that is the rather huge growth of Black’s songwriting.
Hootenanny (1983) by The Replacements
This is a bizarre, jokey mess of a record, as much of a transition record (in hindsight) as any record I’ve heard by an American band.
Green Thoughts (1988) by The Smithereens
This is one of those records that basically just fails to move me. I understand that it’s all very competent and I do not dislike the aesthetic, really, but something here is missing for me.
Another Music in a Different Kitchen (1978) by Buzzcocks
Full disclosure: I don’t like the Buzzcocks. Until hearing this debut, I’d only ever heard A Different Kind of Tension and that record likely biased me towards this one and its importance.
On the Mouth (1993) by Superchunk
By reputation, I always thought No Pocky for Kitty was the Superchunk album to listen to. Then I listened to it and, though I appreciated why people like it, I didn’t love. I see the RYM rating is higher for this one. I think I know why. I mean, maybe I know why.
So Much for the Afterglow (1997) by Everclear
I don’t know this band save for “Wonderful” so I cannot tell you whether the Beach Boys-esque opening to the title track is a giant left turn or not. If it is, that’s brave of them. But, for those of us who do not know this band, it’s the wrong note to start the album. …
Tone Soul Evolution (1997) by The Apples in Stereo
I am not very familiar with Elephant 6 but, to the extent that I am, I am familiar with weird, idiosyncratic indie pop bands, with a big emphasis on the “indie.” I assumed that Apples in Stereo would be along the same lines as the other Elephant 6 bands but, at least based upon this …
The 2015 Wolfe Island Music Festival August 7-8, 2015
The annual pilgrimage to Wolfe Island Music Festival (WIMF) got off to a bit of an uneven start but ended up being one of the better festivals I have attended over the last half decade or so.
Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who (2007, Paul Crowder, Murray Lerner, Parris Patton)
This is a fawning, awkward fluff piece of one of the greatest bands to come out of the British Invasion. I love The Who – there was probably a time in my life when they were my favourite band – but this film feels like the Official Version, something vetted by Daltrey and Townshend so …
Live at Leeds (1970) by the Who
Is this the greatest live album of all time? I never used to care about live albums. I never used to care about live music. Music used to live in my bedroom and I had no idea that there was some other side to it. Frankly I didn’t understand why people went to concerts. The …