PLAYLIST:
Sleater-Kinney - Call The Doctor
Sleater-Kinney can do no wrong. They made a few better records than this one, but Call The Doctor is still excellent. The whole riot-grrrl tie-in never made sense to me--they're women who are very proud of being women, but they're hardly Bikini Kill. It's just rock 'n' roll with a feminist edge. (4 stars)
Clinic - Do It!
There's nothing particularly wrong with this album. Clinic is a fine band, with their whole retro-synth-fueled-psych-pop and what-not. There are a couple songs I enjoyed. At another time, when I wasn't analyzing everything I listened to, this would've passed by without concern. But I just don't think I'll want to listen to it ever again. (3 stars)
Misfits - Walk Among Us
Not quite the classic it's made out to be, but still one of the better punk albums ever made, and certainly the pinnacle of "horror punk," whatever that is. The album is catchy from beginning to end, and Danzig's bellowed hooks are downright infectious. They put up a tough image, but these guys weren't nearly as scary as the cramps. This is pop. (4.5 stars)
Royal Trux - Radio Video
I fully admit to knowing this EP because of High Fidelity, and though it's easy to turn your nose up at the reference, "Inside Game" is by far the best track here. It's arguably the best track Royal Trux ever made. The rest is standard RTX madness, only filtered through an odd dub sound that I wish they had held onto a little more. (4 stars)
The Gun Club - The Las Vegas Story
It took me a long time to listen to anything Gun Club did past Fire of Love. It's still their best album, to be sure, but once Jefferey Lee Pierce dropped the punk overtones and dedicated himself to the barbed wire blues in his soul, the band took a turn that I wasn't quite prepared for. This is miles away from "Sex Beat," but no less riveting. It doesn't rock nearly as hard, but in the end, that's just fine. (3.5 stars)
The Lemonheads - Car Button Cloth
There's only one good song on this album, and it was co-written by Eugene Kelly of the Vaselines. That tells you about all you need to know. (2.5 stars)
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
Nobody rocked like AC/DC. Nobody. Hell, even Albini digs 'em. They're a hard band to refuse. Highway To Hell is classic Bon Scott material, but the band would definitely do better than this. The material is solid throughout, but the only real classic on here is "Highway To Hell." (4 stars)
The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile
I love a good psych-influenced record, but true 60s psychedelia just pisses me off 99% of the time. I'm sure it sounded revolutionary on LSD, but most of those albums aged horribly, and just sound like a bunch of people tripping and making strange sounds for their own amusement. In the wake of Brian Wilson's failure to produce Smile, that is exactly what Smiley Smile sounds like--the Beach Boys holed up in Brian's house, making ridiculous songs in the vague sketch of the would-be opus, just to put out an album. It's worthless crap. Except for "Good Vibrations," of course--possibly the greatest pop song of all-time, and the only real fleshed-out studio effort here besides "Heroes and Villains" (which is okay). (2.5 stars)
---
DELETIONS:
- Les Savy Fav - Inches. I used to love this band a lot in college. Now, not so much. I'm tempted to clear the band out altogether, but there's a chance this comp just isn't on par with their other stuff.
- Clinic - Do It!. See above.
- The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile. See above.
- The Murder City Devils. They actually came up from my list, but I realized I really don't like them all that much. College remnant.
---
ADDITIONS:
- Reptile House (#665). Baltimore art-punk from the 80s, lead to the creation of Lungfish. Added I Stumble As The Crow Flies.
- Boredoms (#111). Added Wow 2.
- Out Hud (#599). Band that formed a good chunk of !!!. Added S.T.R.E.E.T.D.A.D. and Let Us Never Speak Of It Again.
- Bauhaus (#69). Goth rock gods. Added In The Flat Field and Mask.
No comments:
Post a Comment