No Earthly Connection by Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman is Yes's keyboard player, in case you were wondering

This album is fairly typical prog rock wank in my eyes. A moment here or there was interesting but then it was drowned out by 14 minutes on either side of the song

I don't remember where I heard of this album or why I wanted to listen to it. If you recommended it to me, I apologize

Rating: Bad

Ha, I really dislike Yes for the sole reason that Roundabout is in GTAV and its f*** 10 minutes long with a stupidly long keyboard solo and occupies the rock station for way too long. Guess I won't be checking out that band anytime soon.

OK Computer by Radiohead
Finally an album I went into with high expectations and left pretty much entirely satisfied. I've heard from pretty much everyone on MG that this is a great album and I missed the week it was our listenalong album. I liked it a lot. A few songs were very space-westerny. It just had a really good sound throughout with some experimental stuff. Highlights were Paranoid Android, Exit Music (For a Film),Karma Police, Electioneering, No Surprises, and The Tourist.

Pop Up by Yelle
So Yelle are a French electropop group that I discovered on accident while browsing somewhere on the internet I don't remember, probably some reddit thread. The song linked was Ce Jeu, the first song off this album. I really liked it and ended up listening to their second album (Safari Disco Club, which is fantastic btw) and skipping this one. I sort of forgot about this one until now, but I'm glad I found it because it's good, but not as great as the second. I obviously don't understand any of the lyrics but the songs have really nice beats and it just sounds really well put together. Highlights were Ce Jeu, Tristesse/joie (this video is hilariously bad), Tu es beau, and Amour du sol.

Room on Fire by The Strokes
I've loved Reptillia since it was in Guitar Hero 3 but hadn't heard anything else by The Strokes. I actually knew who Julian Casablancas is but didn't know the name of his band until I looked up these guys after listening. I thought this album was fantastic. I loved every song off it. This band's sound is just so good to me. Almost every song had some part where I just thought "wow that is just really fun sounding." I also just really like Casablancas' vocals. Apparently, despite getting really good reviews, this album has been criticized for being too much like their first album, which has been called one of the best albums of the 2000's. I'll probably listen to that along with tomorrow's album and share thoughts here.

I Robot by The Alan Parsons Project
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You is a pretty core dadrock song that I've known for a long time. I had heard random other Alan Parsons songs before, and Term recommended this in a plug one night. I liked it! It was more prog than I was expecting but it wasn't bad at all. None of the songs were 12 minutes long comprised entirely of instrumentals. It sounded very sci-fi, with a few songs you could probably stick in Metroid and they would work really well. Highlights were I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You, Some Other Time, Breakdown, and Genesis Ch.1. V.32.

ok Roundabout is a brilliant prog song and I will f*** you up

I mean I've never listened to the whole thing because you're never in the car for 10 minutes. I always just switched the station when its on lol

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
a simple LP made by a very talented and sad man. not as memorable as bryter layter or five leaves left (at least at first) but still immensely enjoyable and pleasant. nick drake was a fantastic singer and songwriter.

fav track: i liked most of these songs equally. Parasite was cool.
8/10


Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
im sleepy rn so i dont feel like reviewing this. i liked it it was pretty good and better than the first one. killer mike is great and el-p is a nerd but they work well together

6-7/10 prob

fav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkGwI7nGehA

swg

Today's the day

I generally quite like Yes, it's just this solo album I'm not a fan of at all

All 'N All by Earth, Wind & Fire
This album was funky as s***. I'm a big fan of EW&F really well known songs September and Boogie Wonderland, and I was a big fan of this album! The vocal range and harmonies of these guys is so good. I don't really have that much else to say about it. If you like funky s*** check it out! Highlights were Serpentine Fire, Fantasy, and Jupiter.

As a side note, I listened to Is This It by The Strokes to see what the criticism for Room on Fire was about. I can see how if I had listened to Is This It first and waited two years for the followup I might have thought of it as more of the same, but honestly I love the music so much I don't care how similar they are. They're both terrific albums that I'd recommend to everyone.

I'm thinking about ranking all the albums at the end of the month with a little blurb about them. Sort of like a tl;dr of my thoughts on them. I'll probably do that.

Redeemer of Souls by Judas Priest



Pretty great until around the middle, then kind of falls off. This album should be commended for at least showing that Judas Priest have aged pretty well. Rob Halford retains his title as the best gay man in metal and his voice still works well, though it's definitely lost some of it's pitch and screech. Dragonaut was just solid, straight-forward Judas Priest. Redeemer of Souls was pretty antehmic and sounded great. Halls of Valhalla is my favorite, it sounds like Painkiller but not to the point of imitation, the guitars sound great, and the chorus and riff are satisfying. Sword of Damocies sounds pretty badass and has a nice interlude in the midle. March of the Damned is where I first noticed Halford's weaker voice, but the rest of the song is pretty good. Hell and Back has a nice riff, Cold Blooded has a nice outro and from there on the album is just kind of the same, the songs kind of lose their touch and this album gets a little boring. The last song was a much needed break and was slower, unfortunately it was a pretty unimpressive song anyway. Still, this album still sounds pretty fresh and you should give it a try. Not great, but not bad. Stand out tracks were Dragonaut, Redeemr of Souls, Halls of Valhalla, Sword of Damocies, and Hell and Back.

7/10

Since I'm behind on like, four or five albums I'm gonna review them out of order cause I can't really do any more metal right now.

Larks Tongue in Aspic



Despite listening to dumb live versions of pretty much this entire album, I really liked what I heard. They really toned up their experimentation on this album but still retain that great King Crimson jazz sound. Having said that, they replaced the saxophone and brass from COTCK with lots of violin. The first track is pretty great. It introduces the weird, sort of improvised violin-oriented progressive rock that they're all about. Then it ends with a wonderfully eerie outro. Book of Saturday is where the vocals come in, and while they are good, this track wasn't too great and I didn't notice much about it. Exiles had some nice ambient sound and erratic drumming to build up a frantic atmosphere. Easy Money is an all around solid track with great instrumental playing. The Talking Drum was fun, loud, really showed off their progressive roots, and was my favorite track. Larks Tongue II mixed in a heavy metal sound, one of the guitars is loaded with distortion while the other is a bit more clean, and the bass is pretty booming too. If you're into prog and you don't mind looooonnnng songs to build up great atmospheres definitely check it out. Stand out tracks were Larks Tongue Part 1 and 2, Exiles, Easy Money, and The Talking Drum.

9/10

"mixed in" a heavy metal sound huh

consider: the album came out in 1973. the only points of reference for heavy metal at the time were blue cheer and black sabbath. they were literally writing the book of heavy music all by themselves.

not to mention they put out red almost exactly a year and a half later, which foreshadowed everything from slint to opeth in 1974 of all years

what a band

EEEEAAAAAASSSSYYYY MONEEEEEEEYYYY

best kc album

Obsidian by Baths
Preview: Miasma Sky

So this is kind of a quieter electronic album with some high vocals. I thought it was p neat! There were some areas with a lot of layered sound/vocals like the preview track that really drew me in, and I like the vocals a lot. The song "Incompatible" made me a bit uncomfortable w/the lyrics so I guess that makes me a s*** or something. Did enjoy the album though, will probably give a few more spins.

Rating: Good

Greatest Hits by Wesley Willis
Preview: Rock 'n' Roll McDonalds

Originally I was gonna listen to the album with his hit song Suck My Dog's Dick, but I couldn't find it anywhere

Wesley Willis is a comedian/insane dude who writes s*** songs about things. Every song has exactly the same structure and most of them use literally the same background music played at different speeds

Wesley Willis is a lot of fun when you listen to three or four of his songs on Youtube, but it's not as fun to listen to a whole album of his songs. These greatest hits should be condensed to 4-5 actual greatest hits

I'm not gonna rate this because it exists outside of the musical spectrum. I don't think it needs to be on the same scale as Kanye West

Crack the Skye by Mastodon



Not my favorite Mastodon but it stands up with their other stuff. I listened a while ago but forgot to review it so I'm just gonna say it was a little slower, more atmospheric and had some nice, subtle ambience in the background.

8/10

Reise, Reise by Rammstein



Not much to say about this album really. It's just more Rammstein. Riff-heavy, growling vocals, industrial, choruses and orchestras in the background at times. Good for what it is but won't blow you away. Los was great though and my favorite track. It had an interesting acoustic riff repeated over and over. Everyone's heard Amerika. Dalai Lama was good, and Amour was a nice, quiet ending. Again, nothing amazing just more Rammstein. Catchy riffs and a bit of creativity in the production help it hold up with their other stuff though.

7/10

I don't really want to write a whole lot right now

Poni Hoax was pretty neat, but not something i want to really listen to again

Agalloch was good, I enjoyed it. Will listen again when I'm in the headspace for this kind of music