2025 in 2025: Day 193

1984 - Ryan Adams

Look, the guy is a total douchenozzle, but I will be damned if this is not the raddest 15 minutes of raw punk rock.

Highlights: Rats in the Wall, When the Summer Ends, Change Your Mind, Push It Away

9/10

1989 - Ryan Adams

Funny that the last proper Ryan Adams album in this marathon is the album that you can actually trace the end of his career back to! Taking a women's work and making it his seems totally appropriate. I think he nailed the style changes for a few songs, and a few it is just like 'yeah, we get it, you are depressed'.

Highlights: Style, I Wish You Would, All You Had to Do Was Stay, Bad Blood

7/10

1989 - Taylor Swift

Due to the production, this is probably the only Taylor Swift I can enjoy - some of the songs have a bit of a Eurythmics kind of vibe, and I really dig that. Bah gawd, Swifties are the absolute worst and make their cult leader even more insufferable. The songs that feel a bit more genuine are the better songs.

Highlights: I Wish You Would, All You Had to Do Was Stay, Out of the Woods, Welcome to New York

8/10

1991 Christmas Single - Pearl Jam

The first Pearl Christmas single. Just one simple song and the band recording a message to their fans. There are many more to come...

Highlights: Quick?

5/10

1991 Remixes - Queen

When their studio albums were initially 'remastered' and re-released back in 1991, there was this fun gimmick of a few songs getting remixed in various ways. Most of it involves just adding a bunch of reverb to the vocals and drums. Some got a bit of a dance remix happen. And then Rick Rubin turned We Will Rock You in to a completely crazy hip-hop style thing. 

Highlights: Tie Your Mother Down (1991 Remix by Matt Wallace), We Will Rock You (Ruined by Rick Rubin), Flash's Theme (1991 Remix by Mista Lawnge)

7/10

1992 Christmas Single - Pearl Jam

One of the best songs recorded by Pearl Jam and then a mess of samples? You know what? I deserve this.

Highlights: Sonic Reducer

6/10

1993 Christmas Single - Pearl Jam

Similar to the 1992 Xmas single, where the A-side is brilliant and the B-side is... not. At least this time it is a live jam where they were being pelted with shoes.

Highlights: Angel

6/10

1994 Solo Recording - Ryan Adams

Acoustic country numbers - sounds like they were recorded during a radio appearance or something? Who the hell wanted DRA on their radio show in 1994?

Highlights: I am still awake - or is that a lowlight?

5.5/10

1995 Christmas Single - Pearl Jam

There was no single in 1994 - I must have forgotten that. This one at least features four songs! And they are all live performances of covers - including a performance from the first concert I ever went to. 

Highlights: History Never Repeats [Live in NZ w/Tim & Neil Finn], Sonic Reducer [Live in New Orleans w/Joey Ramone]

6.5/10

1996 Christmas Sing - Pearl Jam

One terrible song about not being good enough for the Olympics, followed by a very average live performance of a song off No Code.

Highlights: 1996 was 30 years ago?

4/10

1997 Christmas Single - Pearl Jam & R.E.M.

Dudes could not even muster the effort to record another rambling nonsense for their fans, so had to get another band to do it for them? Fair call; if I had known that was an option, I would have got someone else to listen to their music for me!

Highlights: I saw Kiss live for the first time in 1997

4/10

1998 Christmas Single - Pearl Jam

These recordings of two super bland old pop songs from the 60s were later released to the general public and Last Kiss became a big hit. I wonder if Eddie Vedder had given up pretending he was "very punk rock" by then...

Highlights: So very punk rock

6/10

1999 - Prince

Oh, thank Prime! This is pure 80s Prince R&B pop and funky rock. There is a bit of something for everyone. Especially the sex addicts?

Highlights: Little Red Corvette, 1999, Let's Pretend We're Married, All The Critics Love U in New York

8.5/10

1999 (Super Deluxe Edition) - Prince

Boy, there sure are a lot of 1999-era demos on here. Oh, wait - this is the 1999 box set! For some reason, I thought I was listening to the Purple Rain vault tracks. The really interesting part of these, for me, is that so many of the unused songs just got re-worked until Prince was happy enough to give them a home on an actual album. 

Highlights: How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore? [Take 2 - Live in Studio], Moonbeam Levels, Irresistible Bitch, Lady Cab Driver/I Wanna Be Your Lover/Head/Little Red Corvette [Tour Demo]

7/10

1999 Christmas Single - Pearl Jam

Yawn. What a boring Christmas.

Highlights: 1999 with Prince was more of a party

5/10

1999: Promo Mixes & B-Sides - Prince

Speaking of partying like it is (was?) 1999... lots of edited versions of songs - which is kind of wrong, because these songs are classics, but radio is a bitch like that - and a couple of equally awesome B-sides. 

Highlights: How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore, Irresistible Bitch, Horny Toad, Little Red Corvette [Special Dance Mix]

9/10

'Albums' listened to so far: 1956

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2025 in 2025: Day 85

Gravity - Our Lady Peace

The irony of a band firing their long-time guitarist because they claimed he was not good enough, and then replacing him with a guy that does less than nothing and move their sound further towards generic radio rock is not lost on me. Also hilarious that the absolute best songs on the album were all co-written by and/or still feature their original guitarist. Make of that what you will. Innocent is the anthem of the century.

Highlights: Somewhere Out There, Innocent, Sorry, A Story About a Girl

8/10

The Great Christmas Album - The Christmas Angels

A mix of Xmas carols and Xmas classics, sung by a group of singers that range from acceptable to laughable, backed by simple midi sounds straight out of Logic. Since when is Amazing Grace a christmas song??

Highlights: The hilarity of the Rod Stewart imitator singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

4/10

The Great Christmas Album - Various Artists

Wow, how original. This is a collection of Xmas songs - not just carols, thank Prime - and at least they are actually sung by proper singers, like Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra. Somewhat more of an acceptable listen at Xmas time... which is 6 months from now...

Highlights: Jingle Bells - Big Crosby & The Andrews Sisters, Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Frank Sinatra, The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Vaughan Monroe

6/10

The Great New Zealand Songbook (Souvenir Edition) - Various Artists

This is a massive collection of NZ songs. I will be honest; I have already whittled this down a bit, because it was originally almost six hours long and there was no way I could survive having to deal with that with all the terrible stuff that was included. And this listen will hopefully get rid of some more. While I will contend that the selection process for this must have been very flawed, because there are some genuinely great NZ songs that are missing (e.g. Escaping by Margaret Urlich immediately comes to mind), there are a number of very good songs in here. In fact, this was not nearly as torturous as I was expecting!

Highlights: Heavenly Pop Hit - The Chills, Dominion Road - The Mutton Birds, For Today - Netherworld Dancing Toys, Give it a Whirl - Split Enz, Be Mine Tonight - The' Dudes

7/10

The Great Twenty-Eight - Chuck Berry

I am not going to say all twenty-eight are "great", as some of them are just "okay", I guess. But the ones that are "great" are so great, we probably would not have rock'n roll without them!

Highlights: Maybellene, Thirty Days, You Can't Catch Me, Too Much Monkey Business, Johnny B. Goode, No Particular Place to Go

8/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 705

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2025 in 2025: Day 37

Christmas Apocalypse (Part 2) - The Shit

Christmas has come early in the house of LOGMAN! This is possibly my 2nd fav The Shit album. I had stuff to write, but the album was over before I could get my head in to gear.

Highlights: Shenanigans, Jesus H. Christmas, Jimmy Hackeysack, Jacques Cousteau Punch Him in the Nuts, Happy Birthday Officer David Livingston

7/10

Christmas In The Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album - Meco

C3PO and R2D2 team up with disco king Meco to bring us the weirdest Christmas album possible. There is sadly no disco to be found, just a whole lot of saccharine and Star Wars references and Christmas nonsense, delivered in spoken word by C3PO and beeps from R2D2. Some other robots or something discuss the presents they have bought for other Star Wars characters. And now some kids are singing Merry Christmas to R2D2, but they just sang about him coming down the chimney. Do they think he is Santa Claus? Also, warming his wires by fire sounds like a serious fire hazard! If you need a singing teacher, C3PO is about the last person I would recommend. And you are clearly poorly-programmed droids if you think whistling is singing. At least Ryan Adams had the decency to sing about people getting punched in the nuts at Xmas time...

Highlights: The Odds Against Christmas, What Can You Get a Wookie for Christmas (When He Already Has a Comb?)

5/10

Christmas Will Break Your Heart [Single] - LCD Soundsystem

The most depressing Xmas song? This was the big LCD Soundsystem reunion single. Again, there is no disco to be found. If we're going to do Xmas with disco acts, I would like some disco, please.

6/10

Chronicles - Steve Winwood

Nothing like some 80s Winwood to wash away the silliness of Xmas celebrations in March. This is a good reminder I need to do a more in-depth listen to Steve Winwood's solo work; this is a good compilation and I enjoy the remix nature of some of the songs, but I am interested to hear the rest of his 80s output and get more of a insight into his songwriting.

Highlights: Valerie (Remix), Higher Love

8/10

Chu~♡ - F(x)

More random K-Pop songs in my iTunes library. And I am not complaining.

7/10

Cinema Trip - PASSPO☆

My favourite album? The greatest album? Have I claimed both of those things for 50 other albums so far? I don't have a lot more to say about this one, except 5 1/2 years later it is still the highest played album in my iTunes library - and on last check, バチェロレッテは終わらない was about 100 plays ahead of anything else. By Prime, those last three songs on this album are absolute perfection. Passenger for life!

Highlights: Music Navigation, 7's Up, Playground, ギミギミaction, フィルム, バチェロレッテは終わらない

9.5/10

The Circle - Bon Jovi

Man, these dudes knew how to open an album! The rest is very inspired by the times; think Coldplay and U2 and One Republic and similar type of bands. When it works, it works - because Richie Sambora is awesome. Some of the lyrics are pretty cringe; this was the middle of a global recession, so a lot of people were struggling, and Jon Bon Jovi tried to reflect that in his lyrics, but a rich rockstar singing lines like "They took my pension" just sounds lame. Your pension is safe and sound, buddy - just release another deluxe edition of Slippery When Wet and you'll be able to fund another beach house or restaurant to help feed the homeless. 

Highlights: We Weren't Born to Follow, Brokenpromiseland, Happy Now, Learn to Love

7/10

Circus Animals - Cold Chisel

I had been led to believe that by this album, Cold Chisel were not releasing good music. You only need to listen to the first song to realise that is a lie; there are three stone cold classics on this album and a bunch of badass rock'n'roll songs to accompany them. I definitely prefer the live version of Bow River - the harmonica solo just lifts the song to different level - but Barnesy's delivery of the last line of the studio version here is awesome. Ian Moss and Jimmy Barnes had super cool harmonies; such completely different sounding voices, but when harmonising together, it sounds fantastic. 

Highlights: You Got Nothing I Want, Bow River, Forever Now, When the War is Over

7.5/10

The Clash - The Clash

You can't go wrong with some classic English punk. And this album is about as English punk as it gets. Except, hilariously, this is the US version. Look, I don't know what's going on at the best of times. Just roll with it for now... I might have to get the UK version one day and compare the two, because this album is all sorts of cool.

Highlights: I Fought the Law, Clash City Rockers, I'm So Bored with the U.S.A., London's Burning

8/10

CLASH EP -  小玉しのぶ

Fun story; after seeing BiSH live in Kanagawa, I was at a train station in either Kanagawa or Yokohama (I don't recall correctly) and outside was a young woman performing songs and selling CDs. She was very talented, so I picked up a couple of her CDs - and I have never regretted, because this EP is brilliant. I'm not just throwing around hyperbole when I say Say may well be the most underrated pop rock song on the planet. It is a genuine reminder that great music is anywhere if you just go looking for it.

Highlights: Say, 境界線

9/10

The Clash Tribute - Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen & Steven Van Zandt

This was a performance of London Calling by a bunch of old dudes. I liked it at the time. Now not so much...

5/10

Class Mythology - Ryan Adams

I don't remember much about this release, except that it is just chill acoustic numbers. Really chill. Except Future Sparrow - that sounds like a full on Cardinals song.

Highlights: Your Name is on Fire

6.5/10

Cloud Nine - George Harrison

This was probably my first exposure to George Harrison outside of The Beatles; Got My Mind Set On You was a big hit and I probably taped it off the radio like most kids in those days. It stands as probably my favourite album of his from the 80s, for sure. He and Jeff Lynne were a fab team. Probably the most pop collection of songs he made in his whole solo career. 

Highlights: That's What it Takes, Got My Mind Set On You, Fish on the Sand, Devil's Radio

8/10

Clumsy - Our Lady Peace

By Prime! OLP were a force on this album. Raine Maida certainly has a unique voice that you either love or hate, and I fall in to the camp of the former. When he nailed his falsetto stuff it really added something to the songs. Lyrics on this album are top tier, although I still don't really know what he means by "the world's a subway". I have added a terribly-recorded live performance of Dear Prudence to the end, for some reason. 2025 LOGMAN would not do such a thing to an album...

Highlights: Superman's Dead, 4 A.M., Clumsy

8/10

Coach Carter: Music from the Motion Picture - Various Artists

This is purely Hope by Twista and Faith Evans. It is a solid groove; Twista's flow is not over the top and Faith just hooks us up with a nice chorus. Nice song.

7/10

Coachella - Ryan Adams

Even when I was a fan of this dude, this was kind of not that great to me. I just didn't think much of the performance and I still don't. Granted, it must have been difficult with all the noise from the other stages - hardly makes for the usual type of atmosphere he played in. 

Highlights: Making comments about everyone getting sad in the desert

4/10

Cold Chisel - Cold Chisel

I will repeat myself; the US mix of Khe Sanh is the best version - Barnes' vocals are just more polished and that harmony he pulls off is awesome. The rest of this album is very blues rock. And very Cold Chisel.

Highlights: Juliet, Khe Sanh, Darskarzine, H-Hour Hotel

7/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 314