2025 in 2025: Day 135

Northern Star - Melanie C

My favourite Spice Girl goes solo and it is fairly mixed, but still very pop; a bit of dance-pop, a little bit of R&B, but also kind of alt. rock pop styles, if that makes sense? It all kind of under-delivers, but there are some really great moments. I still can not believe that this is the only album of hers that I actually have!

Highlights: Northern Star, Never Be the Same Again, Ga Ga, Go!

7/10

Not Fade Away: The Complete Studio Recordings and More - Buddy Holly

Things kick off with a home recording from 1949 that is more listenable than an MCR demo from 2019. Then it is on to his recordings with Bob and, again, it has been cleaned up so well it makes it an interesting listen. It is all very country and Buddy just sings harmony for the most part. Down the Line kicks off the real rock'n roll era. How is the 1955 recording of You And I Are Through actually worse than the recording in 1954? Once we get to 1956, it is non-stop rock'n roll awesomeness. It is actually quite amazing what Buddy Holly achieved in that year alone - he may have recorded more awesome songs that year than Elvis! And the year closes with the garage tapes? Bah gawd, those are the greatest home recordings in the history of music. 1957 may have been even better? And 1958 may be even better than that?!? After the apartment recordings close off everything recorded during his lifetime, it is on to the overdubbed versions and I will always find a lot of fun in some of the Fireballs recordings. Most of them, even - they kind of work for some, but others it just feels unnecessary. There are so many more of these songs than I remember; I always think it was like maybe 15 or 20 songs, but there is like 50 of them! It almost feels like every demo or home recording got The Fireballs treatment. This is quite possibly the best box set I have and will ever own.

Highlights: Rave On, Oh Boy!, Down the Line, I'm Gonna Set My Foot Down, Rock Around with Ollie Vee, It's So Easy, Not Fade Away, Crying Waiting Hoping [Fireballs Version], The Garage Tapes, The Apartment Tapes

9/10

Imagine if I had left these discs as separate albums - I could have deleted 5 other albums, like those NZ music compilations! Also, somewhere in all these Fireball versions was my 15,000th song. How am I only just reaching that now? How am I supposed to listen to another 10,000 in a third of the time?!?

Not Over You [Single] - Gavin DeGraw

Funnily enough, I heard this playing in the supermarket the other day. Dude has such a great voice. Why do I not that first album of his? Might be because he's a MAGA clown? Might be...

8/10

Not Shy - ITZY

Party time. Teen girls do not care what you think of them at all, so they are going to dance and since as much as they want, I guess?

Highlights: Don't Give a What, Not Shy, Be in Love, iD

8/10

NOTHING FROM NOTHING - Ayumi Hamasaki

Classic 90s hip-hop makes for a most lowkey debut for the Empress of J-Pop. She does sound like an annoying teenager here, but that kind of tracks considering she was only 17. I wonder what happened to the other dudes on this...

Highlights: Gut it-pez, NOTHING FROM NOTHING (Album Version), LIMIT, NOTHING FROM NOTHING (Single Version)

8/10

Now What - Lisa Marie Presley

The sophomore and final album from Elvis' daughter. The fact she collaborated with Linda Perry for most of it and a song features Pink should give an indication of the style of music here. Very radio pop rock. 

Highlights: I'll Figure it Out, Thanx, Now What, Turbulence

6.5/10

The Nylon Curtain - Billy Joel

A very political outing from Mr. Joel, covering things like the recession and the Vietnam war. Still channeling The Beatles pretty hard for the most part, too. 

Highlights: Goodnight Saigon, Allentown, She's Right on Time, Pressure

7.5/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 1197

FREE PALESTINE

2025 in 2025: Day 7

Anthems - Kerry Ellis
More Brian May! Kerry Ellis belts out epic showtunes and some Queen/Brian May songs, while Brian May rocks the planet. It is all as massive as one would expect. Particularly the title track (from Chess) and Defying Gravity from Wicked. It is a million times better than any other version of that song. I said what I said. Come at me, Ariana Grande and Wicked fans. Shiizzz, I ain't afraid of you mofos.
Highlights: Anthem, Defying Gravity, 
7.5/10

Anthology 1 - The Beatles
Well... there's a lot going on here. Free as a Bird has definitely grown on me over the years. From there it is lots of home demos and live stuff. The early stuff is something I probably appreciate more now as fan of older rock'n roll; hearing The Beatles as teenagers giving us some Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochrane is pretty cool. And having the Decca audition tape here is certainly historically important. And sounds great. Controversial take: I understand why they passed. Listening to the original version of Love Me Do just confirms Ringo really was the better choice from the go. The live tracks from 1963 in Sweden are pretty awesome. Actually, their performances on most of these live tracks are awesome - even if some of the recordings are showing their age (the tracks from Two of Kind in particular feature a fair bit of clipping/distortion). Not sure how many times John and Paul can sing the wrong lines in No Reply, but clearly they were trying their best! Leave My Kitten Alone deserved a proper release.
Highlights: Free as a Bird, Leave My Kitten Alone, I Saw Her Standing There (Live in Sweden 24 Oct (1963)
6/10

Anthology 2 - The Beatles
This release features the best of the John Lennon demos-turned full song in Real Love. It also covers 1965-1968, which is possibly my favourite period of The Beatles. They were firing on all cylinders at the time, writing and releasing albums like Help! and Rubber Soul. If You've Got Trouble is another song that deserved a proper release - this is a great song! The live songs here are nicely recorded and the band still sound fantastic, but def sound tired, like a band that are performing non-stop. Especially on Help! I could have done with less versions of Yesterday, but hey, what's McCartney going to do? Not put lots of himself on here? And Your Bird Can Sing is completely derailed by some stoned fools laughing hysterically while trying to record their vocals. Live songs from Tokyo in 1966 show they are just done with performing live. The Strawberry Fields Forever demos are interesting in how different the feel is compared to the final release. A Day in the Life is so brilliant and then it cuts to the orchestra randomly, but still omits the ending? Good Morning, Good Morning minus all the nonsense is such a good song. Fool on the Hill is not, no matter how many versions McCartney tries to make me to listen to. This version of Across the Universe is a million times better than that 'wildlife' version that seemed to only exist to make Lennon mad. In fact, this may well be the best version. 
Highlights: Real Love, You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) [Extended Stereo Remix], Across the Universe [Take 2]
6/10

Anthology 3 - The Beatles
I'm glad Now & Then didn't make the cut for this, because it really wasn't that great. And I find it so funny how all the articles and interviews from the time make it clear Harrison thought it was rubbish. Yet, somehow, I'm supposed to pretend he would have approved of it being released 25 years later with his involvement almost completely removed. Lennon's acoustic tracks on here are a genuine highlight and part of me wishes he had sorted himself out and finished them instead of just letting them get thrown together for the Abbey Road medley, but then we wouldn't have gotten the epic medley of greatness, so either way is a lose. This version of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is actually less annoying, somewhat. The Savile Row sessions for Let It Be/Get Back/Whatever we are calling it these days are seriously good. Why is Get Back the only song from the rooftop concert? The kinda sad part is the Abbey Road period feels completely disjointed and like they are barely together. Which was the case, but the album itself at least managed to pretend otherwise. Still didn't need this odd remix of The End with all the extra out of place McCartney lead guitar playing.
Highlights: While My Guitar Gently Weeps [Demo], All Things Must Pass [Demo], any version of Glass Onion
5/10

That was basically a whole day of The Beatles. Luckily, it was a mostly varied chronological trek through their catalog - just in mostly inferior fashion. So I'm not sick of The Beatles right now. More sick of Anthologies?

"Albums" listened to so far: 59

Music Talk: Buddy Holly and μ's

You know, I have the complete Buddy Holly recordings on vinyl, via some box set released in the 70's, AND on CD via Hip-O's release to mark the 50th anniversary of his death... yet, whenever I find myself listening to his works, I do a google search to make sure there isn't anything out there I'm missing.

Shows how awesome Buddy Holly was.

You know what isn't as awesome?
Idol music.

I decided to start some sort of cleanup in my iTunes library. This has been a long time coming; I have like 23,000 songs and I know there are a bunch I either have never listened to or don't want to listen to again. So I'm starting with my Japanese artists, as that's where most of my listening is these days. And at the start of that section is none other than μ's - the stars of that wonderful anime show, Love Live! School Idol Project. 

The show rules. And some of these songs are still awesome. But I've never actually sat through the full 77 song compilation I have in my iTunes.

Today I did.

Holy shit balls - some of this is pure and utter trash. Like, I don't like idol music at the worst of times. And this is surely the worst of them. Who the fuck writes this nonsense? And are they the same people that actually write the good songs?? Because μ's actually have some good songs. Otherwise, I would never have bothered going out of my way to download 77 of their fucking songs. And believe me, the good songs are SUPER good; NO BRAND GIRLS is the kind of pop-punk good times I would expect from PASSPO☆, 僕らは今のなかで invokes good feelings from the show, Wonderful Rush is just an all-round great song. So there are good parts.

And then there are hilarious moments like LOVELESS WORLD that make me think maybe I'm listening to Babymetal. I'm not. But that would probably suck, too.

Anyways, this has sure been an experience. As I've been listening, I've been giving the songs a score out of 10, with the idea that anything from a 5 or 6 will be saved, while everything else will be deleted. About halfway through I was hoping for it to be over and had only marked a third of the songs 5 or above. But then ooh I forgot that the end credits song from the 2nd season is the totally awesome feel good vibes of the Summer. That was a highlight.

Then everything just sounded like a collection of the same songs over and over; cheesy pop-ballads or weird songs with big techno beats, and all with the cheeriest girlie voices possible. But you know what? It was actually worthwhile; I finally ticked off these songs as being listened to, I can safely delete the ones I won't listen to every again, I reminded myself of the fun of some of these songs (looking at you, NO BRAND GIRLS) AND I actually discovered a few good songs in here that I'd never heard before:

So in total, of the 77 songs, 23 made the cut! And apparently there are another 50 songs they released? Wow! There's no way I am listening to all of those!

Love Live! needed more songs by Pile, because she's awesome. I should listen to more Pile. Instead, tomorrow I'm going to listen to all of the idol music from Love Live! Sunshine!!