#390: The White Stripes - Elephant

The White Stripes - Elephant

April 1, 2003, V2

1. "Seven Nation Army" - 3:52

2. "Black Math" - 3:04

3. "There's No Home for You Here" - 3:44

4. "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" - 2:46

5. "In the Cold, Cold Night" - 2:58

6. "I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart" - 3:21

7. "You've Got Her in Your Pocket" - 3:40

8. "Ball and Biscuit" - 7:19

9. "The Hardest Button to Button" - 3:32

10. "Little Acorns" - 4:09

11. "Hypnotize" - 1:48

12. "The Air Near My Fingers" - 3:40

13. "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" - 3:18

14. "Well It's True That We Love One Another" - 2:43

RESULTS

Rate: 9.5/10

Best Song: Hardest Button to Button

Worst Song: In the Cold, Cold, Night

Comments

Basically this is The White Stripes response to all the people who hate minimalistic garage rock.

It's so good. Like, really good. I know that Meg White is a terrible drummer, that's no lie. It's not just about her style, as I actually like the simplicity of that certain style, it's her drumming itself, and just watching her drum is a cringe-inducing nightmare.

But Jack White is a true musician. He's the bassist, the guitarist, the vocalist. He's the talent behind The White Stripes, and although I don't really agree with his opinions on other musicians, such as The Black Keys, he's phenomenal, as per seen and heard on in this Album.

This Album features their biggest hits: "Seven Nation Army", "Hardest Button to Button", and ending in the adorable "Well It's True That We Love One Another", which features Holly Golightly and Meg on the vocals, co-leading with Jack.

It's just a really relaxing and carefree Album, that shows that music doesn't have to be about the complexity and hardcore composing to music. As long as their is a level of passion in it, the music shall be good.

#391: Jackson Browne - The Pretender

Jackson Browne - The Pretender

November 1976, Asylum

1. "The Fuse" – 5:50

2. "Your Bright Baby Blues" – 6:05

3. "Linda Paloma" – 4:06

4. "Here Come Those Tears Again" – 3:37

5. "The Only Child" – 3:43

6. "Daddy's Tune" – 3:35

7. "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate" – 2:37

8. "The Pretender" – 5:53

RESULTS

Rate: 6/10

Best Song: The Pretender

Worst Song: Daddy's Tune

Comments

So, the history to this album, was this:

During writing this Album, Browne's wife committed suicide, merely two years after giving birth to their first son.

So, with that tragedy in mind, in due respect, I was expecting some hard hitting violins, with a dark cello, and almost mysterious ambient to it, all layered on top of the sadness that must have overwhelmed  Jackson Browne.

But the songs were surprisingly cheery. The lyrics were dark and gritty, sure, but the depth of the music and how Browne performed was just boring, bland, and not as mesmerizing as I had hoped. The songs dragged through the same riffs, the piano's tapped against an empty shell of a beat, and Bonnie Raitt strikes again in the background vocals.

Yeah, this Album wasn't really my favourite. I wasn't too interested in listening to it, either, and eventually pushed myself forward, with better music in mind ahead.

#392: The Beatles - Let It Be

The Beatles - Let It Be

May 8, 1970, Apple

1. "Two of Us" - 3:37

2. "Dig a Pony" - 3:55

3. "Across the Universe" - 3:48

4. "I Me Mine" - 2:26

5. "Dig It" - 0:50

6. "Let It Be" - 4:03

7. "Maggie Mae" (Traditional) - 0:40

8. "I've Got a Feeling" - 3:38

9. "One After 909" - 2:54

10. "The Long and Winding Road" - 3:38

11. "For You Blue" - 2:32

12. "Get Back" - 3:09 

RESULTS

Rate: 10/10

Best Song: Across the Universe

Worst Song: Dig It

Comments

I've already told you about my previous obsession with The Beatles, yeah?

This Album was their final Album, thus, making it one of the most important Albums in music history. I mean, yeah, it wasn't their last song together, but it was their last Album.

This also marks the very first Album that I've completely listened to before starting the list.

I don't realize how much I like the Beatles until I actually listen to them. They are just so catchy. When they're sad, you're depressed. When they're happy, you're ecstatic. When they're trippy, you wonder what they were smoking when they wrote it. But it's so good.

Alot of people say they're overrated, and, yeah, from a personificational look, they are pretty stupid.

George Harrison got all hooked up on India or some shit, forever turning the mysterious man into "The Love Guru",

Paul McCartney looks like your British lesbian Aunt Betty-Sue,

John Lennon got whipped and chained voluntarily into fucking Yoko Ono's weird-ass metaphors,

and Ringo-

Actually, Ringo's pretty sweet, not gonna lie.

Their music is not overrated, in my opinion, though. It was never before heard, it was revolutionised, it was a beautiful symphony of the perfect goodbye, and it was all thanks to drugs and some asian chick!

Go to hell, Yoko!

#393: M.I.A. - Kala

M.I.A. - Kala

August 8, 2007, Interscope

1. "Bamboo Banga" - 4:58

2. "Bird Flu" - 3:24

3. "Boyz" - 3:27

4. "Jimmy" - 3:29

5. "Hussel" (featuring Afrikan Boy) - 4:25

6. "Mango Pickle Down River" (with The Wilcannia Mob) - 3:53

7. "20 Dollar" - 4:34

8. "World Town" - 3:52

9. "The Turn" - 3:52

10. "XR2" - 4:20

11. "Paper Planes" - 3:24

12. "Come Around" (featuring Timbaland) - 3:53

RESULTS

Rate: 9.5/10

Best Song: Paper Planes

Worst Song: The Turn

Comments

ALL I WANNA DO IS

AND A

AND TAKE YOUR MONEY

Love the song, and my first experience with this Album was really good. It's dance music that takes some of it's parts from different cultures, like India and South Africa. The diverse and expressive cultures definitely solidify the foundations of the electronic and rap, making it very unique.

It got weird sometimes, but it was for sure a good weird.

Plus, the immortaly nostalgic "Paper Planes".

M.I.A. rocks.

#394: Randy Newman - Good Old Boys

Randy Newman - Good Old Boys

September 10, 1974, Reprise

1. "Rednecks" - 3:07

2. "Birmingham" - 2:45

3. "Marie" - 3:07

4. "Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man)" - 2:45

5. "Guilty" - 2:30

6. "Louisiana 1927" - 2:54

7. "Every Man a King" (Originally by Huey P. Long, Castro Carazo) - 1:02

8. "Kingfish" - 2:42

9. "Naked Man" - 3:06

10. "Wedding in Cherokee County" - 3:07

11. "Back on My Feet Again" - 3:30

12. "Rollin'" - 2:53

RESULTS

Rate: 9/10

Best Song: Rednecks

Worst Song: Lousiana 1927

Comments

Well, this Albu- WAIT A SECOND

THIS IS THE DUDE FROM TOY STORY

That's right, my childhood soundtrack singer! Let's hear all of the groovy upbeat songs about friendship, love, compassion, shari-

"They're gatherin' 'em up from miles around

Keepin' the niggers down

We're rednecks, we're rednecks

We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground"

Jesus Christ.

It's always hard when someone you've always admired for their friendliness and happiness hits you hard with reality.

I write this article in the midst of the Ferguson trials/riots, in the wake of the death of Mike Brown.

If this is still remembered of the time you are reading this, you will understand the full chaos and the state that America is in right now. It's all circling around one big subject. One gaping subject that people either abuse to their power, or ignore completely. No, it's not "Should we teach our officers to handle situations as non-lethally as possible?",

It's Racism.

This entire Album challenges the hypocrisy and bigoted minds of racism. It challenges Southern culture, and retorts North culture. Newman wrote the songs from a position of a man named "Johnny Cutler", a southern everyday man who sees the racist world he lives in. In the beginning, after seeing TV make fun of the South's racism, he judges how bigoted the North is, pointing out black ghettos and how they're treated, such as the Bronx. By the end of the Album, the miserable Cutler just accepts the fact that racism is all around him, and it always will be.

This isn't an Album, it's a whole goddamn story.

The music is still the same Randy Newman, but the subject and concept behind it is pretty amazing, so, yeah, I really liked it.

#395: LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

March 20, 2007, DFA/Capitol

1. "Get Innocuous!" - 7:11

2. "Time to Get Away" - 4:11

3. "North American Scum" - 5:25

4. "Someone Great" - 6:25

5. "All My Friends" - 7:37

6. "Us v Them" - 8:29

7. "Watch the Tapes" - 3:55

8. "Sound of Silver" - 7:07

9. "New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down" - 5:35

RESULTS

Rate: 9/10

Best Song: North American Scum

Worst Song: Sound of Silver

Comments

So, I've heard James Murphy's work with the Gorillaz, and I've discovered this little thing about his Albums.

The first half of the Albums have the underdog scores. They are songs that start off like they are going to be really irritating buzzy wuzzy electronica songs, but they each have a breaking point where the music switches into an awesome state of some form of electronic punk. The other half did the opposite, starting off with potential, and ending up bombing the song with some weird ass synthesizer solo that lasts five days. Not that it's bad, but you can't put a good song up and go "Haha just kidding listen to the sound this keyboard makes oooo eeeee ooooo".

This Album isn't necessarily a "Great" Album that defines music in general, but is still a pretty dope Album in my opinion.

Oooooo Eeeeee Oooooo.

#396: Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

March 23, 1973, Warner Bros.

1. "Do the Strand" - 4:04

2. "Beauty Queen" - 4:41

3. "Strictly Confidential" - 3:48

4. "Editions of You" - 3:51

5. "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" - 5:29

6. "The Bogus Man" - 9:20

7. "Grey Lagoons" - 4:13

8. "For Your Pleasure" - 6:51

RESULTS

Rate: 8.5/10

Best Song: Editions of You

Worst Song: The Bogus Man

Comments

Here I am, reading about this Album, hearing it to be another Brian Eno album, so I'm expecting the weird.

But when "Do the Strand" and "Editions of You" came on, I was baffled on how the two songs were so good. They were catchy, they were upbeat, they had good chorus and verses...They were just so fun.

Of course, being Brian Eno had a big hand in this, the rest of the Album was pretty down and dark, with some nonsense chanting, creepy lyrics, and undertone galore. It was still fine, but it was artistically crazy. Good vocals, good guitar, wicked synthesizer. 

But the two upbeat songs belong in classic rock genre, not art rock.

Also, the model on the front cover has a really insane backstory. Amanda Lear, check it out.

#397: Massive Attack - Blue Lines

Massive Attack - Blue Lines

April 8, 1991, Virgin

1. "Safe From Harm" - 5:19

2. "One Love" - 4:49

3. "Blue Lines" - 4:22

4. "Be Thankful for What You've Got" - 4:10

5. "Five Man Army" - 6:04

6. "Unfinished Sympathy" - 5:05

7. "Daydreaming" - 4:15

8. "Lately" - 4:26

9. "Hymn of the Big Wheel" - 6:37 

RESULTS

Rate: 6.5/10

Best Song: Safe From Harm

Worst Song: One Love

Comments

It was a very strange Album.

Featuring electronic beats, and the most chilled mellow rapping I've ever heard. This one line from the song "Hymn of the Big Wheel" is stuck in my head. "The Earth spins...On it's axis."

Science in rap. Always cool.

But yeah, this is a pretty good Album if you're falling asleep but otherwise it kind of sucks.

That's really all I have to say because this Album is just so weird.

#398: ZZ Top - Eliminator

ZZ Top - Eliminator

March 23, 1983, Warner Bros.

1. "Gimme All Your Lovin'" - 3:59

2. "Got Me Under Pressure" - 4:00

3. "Sharp Dressed Man" - 4:13

4. "I Need You Tonight" - 6:14

5. "I Got the Six" - 2:52

6. "Legs" - 4:35

7. "Thug" - 4:17

8. "TV Dinners" - 3:50

9. "Dirty Dog" - 4:05

10. "If I Could Only Flag Her Down" - 3:40

11. "Bad Girl" - 3:16

RESULTS

Rate: 9/10

Best Song: Legs

Worst Song: Thug

Comments

With a God Tier Album cover and probably the most manliest instrumentals and vocals to ever grace the earth, ZZ top rocked it was this Album.

The first six songs are so good. Even when a song started bad, they so made up for it, "Legs" and "Sharp Dressed Man" being absolutely legendary hits for the band, really setting their career in full motion. I liked this Album a shitton more than the other Album they made me review. The songs are catchy, full of life, funny, and just overall great to have playing in a bar. 

Note to mom: Is it ok if I grow a beard like ZZ Top?

#399: Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

September 30, 1985, Island

1. "Singapore" - 2:46

2. "Clap Hands" - 3:47

3. "Cemetery Polka" - 1:51

4. "Jockey Full of Bourbon" - 2:45

5. "Tango Till They're Sore" - 2:49

6. "Big Black Mariah" - 2:44

7. "Diamonds & Gold" - 2:31

8. "Hang Down Your Head" - 2:32

9. "Time" - 3:55

10. "Rain Dogs" - 2:56

11. "Midtown" (instrumental) - 1:00

12. "9th & Hennepin" - 1:58

13. "Gun Street Girl" - 4:37

14. "Union Square" - 2:24

15. "Blind Love" - 4:18

16. "Walking Spanish" - 3:05

17. "Downtown Train" - 3:53

18. "Bride of Rain Dog" (instrumental) - 1:07

19. "Anywhere I Lay My Head" - 2:48

RESULTS

Rate: 8.5/10

Best Song: Downtown Train

Worst Song: 9th & Hennepin

Comments

I don't really know if Tom Waits is even music, less than he is a storyteller with a gruff voice and a sad guitar.

Kieth Richards is in this one, playing a couple tracks. Didn't recognize him, but, he's there. This Album is like his last one. It's just some rough blues played by Waits, and you kind of feel like changing it to something else until you pay attention to the lyrics.

Oh, and he has a "Talk-Song" in this one, too.

"9th & Hennepin" is a guy who talks about a hotel. Neat, sure, but I can't really jam out to it. I guess that's not really the point, though. Still, the songs are kind of dull enough as is, so, why make a speech track?

That being said, I gave him high ratings for good reason: Waits is just enjoyable to listen to.

His songs are little stories and life lessons, and sometimes you need a raspy voice to give you a dramatic example of what happens when you go downtown alone.

Also, "Anywhere I Lay My Head" messed me up, because the track is digitally made to sound like the CD is starting to become scratched and skip parts. It's not, and I KNOW it's not, because it's Tom Waits.

Tom Waits, ladies and gentlemen. Making me listen to the same song on 5 different websites to make sure that that's what the song is supposed to sound like.