amp-relection - School Food Punishment
Going in to this, I was under the impression this was some weird electronic lo-fi chill out album I had picked up from a friend some years ago and had listened to once or twice to no major impression. And this intro starts and I'm all like 'Yeah, just what I thought'. And then the first song goodblue starts and I'm like 'Oh I am all kinds of wrong!' because this album is my jam, right here! Power-pop with electronic elements and all sorts of good stuff going on. I hope you take a lot from my technical breakdown.
Highlights: goodblue, future nova, 駆け抜ける
7.50/10
And Now... The Runaways
Joan Jett fronting The Runaways is always good times. Apart from a terrible cover of Eight Days a Week. And the middle part of this album. And Takeover might be the dumbest song Jett has ever written - it's total cold war propaganda, complaining about how the Russians are causing all sorts of trouble? But then again, look at the modern world and tell her she's wrong. Anyways, there are some good songs in here, but this is definitely the lowest of The Runaways' discography.
Highlights: Saturday Night Special, Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Black Leather
7/10
...And Then There Was X - DMX
Aaah of course, this is just Party Up (Up In Here). Because it is the meanest, angriest, grooviest hip-hop song on the planet. Adding the rest of this album to my list of albums to update in full.
9/10
Angel Dust - Faith No More
Fun story time: on my first day of high school, a 7th form guy in my home room came to me and asked me if I liked Faith No More. I was familiar with Epic and a couple of songs from The Real Thing, I think, and I liked Midlife Crisis. So the next day, he brought in his Faith No More tape collection and told me to go listen to them. He also suggested that Angel Dust might be a bit different, but to give it a chance. He was right on all counts, because Faith No More were generally very good, and this album is their peak. Not sure what Sir James Martin's problem was, because his riffs and shredding are key to its success. Station. This whole thing rides the line between alt rock and whatever pretentious nonsense Mike Patton has going on in his head. Because there is some bizarre stuff going on here; cheerleaders, war marches, songs desperately trying to sound like Primus... but then there's some killer hooks and funky grooves. Plus, Patton's hairstyle during this period was on point. Please file my report at the Faith No More Spiritual & Theological Centre.
Highlights: Land of Sunshine, Caffeine, Mid-Life Crisis, Everything's Ruined, A Small Victory
8/10
Animalize - Kiss
Shredder!!! Modern Kiss should have attempted this album live - it would have been hilarious to hear Thayer try and do even the tiniest bit of this shredding. It would be like... me trying to do even the slowest bit of shredding. In the grand discography of Kiss, this would be totally middle of the road if Mark St John wasn't shredding everything everywhere all over your face. Oh you want some more ridiculous shredding? I think I can only spare another bit of that in every song!
Highlights: Shreddy-shred-shredd-shred-shredder!!
6/10
Soul Taker - Anipara Superband
This sounds like some live version I picked up somewhere... Pretty sure I scored this because it features Psychic Lover (I can def hear YOFFY singing some backing vocals and that guitar solo sounds suspiciously like IMAJO). I despise romaji, so I think I need to update the band name in iTunes to correct Japanese. Or just delete the song, because it's garbage.
2/10
ANOMALY - The Hiatus
The greatest band name ever. Featuring the greatest band member ever. And still only his third best band. It took me a long time to actually give this album a decent listen, because the opening is just... too much. BUT once you get past it, there are some great songs on here. A bit more aggressive than their first album. And a lot harsher. However, this may be 細美さん's best vocal performance on any album - he really let's it rip on songs like Insomnia. I would gladly wake up the world by playing ベテルギウスの灯 too loudly. But then, how could I play that song too loud?
Highlights: Insomnia, ベテルギウスの灯, 西門の昧爽
7.5/10
Anomaly [Deluxe Edition] - Ace Frehley
Oh, look - another album with the same name. And, hilariously, these were only released nine months apart. Anyways, a couple of years ago when playing catchup on my Ace Frehley collection, I finally picked up the reissue of this album. It's the same album, just with some bonus tracks that are completely pointless. Luckily, the rest of the album is unchanged, because this is still one of Ace's best albums. Genghis Khan features some of his absolute best playing in ever. And Fractured Quantum always gives me the utmost feels.
Highlights: Genghis Khan, Sister, Fractured Quantum
7.5/10 (again, take away the bonus tracks and this is a solid 8)
Another Disc - Brian May
This is the bonus disc for the Another World reissue. I finally managed to pick up all three Brian May solo box sets for more affordable pricing last year, and that made my little Brian May corner very happy. Nice touching tribute to Cozy Powell to open this - dude was a phenomenal drummer, as accentuated in the remix to Business. Then we get a bunch of covers of old rock'n roll songs. Including Hot Patootie from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Brian May doing Buddy Holly is a combination of two of my most favourite legends. This is all good, but then the whole collection trails off in to unnecessary reworkings of Business. Which makes me sick of Business. Which is a shame, because Business is my favourite track on Another World. I'm saying Business all the time so that you, too, will also be sick of Business.
Highlights: The rock'n roll covers, giving me the Business over Business
5.5/10
Another World - Brian May
I got so caught up in listening to this album I almost forgot to write anything. Business is awesome - being sick of it lasted about 30 seconds. The Guv'nor should have been the theme song to The Governor in The Walking Dead - I'm going to need someone to edit together some sort of highlights package for him to this song. Everything here is good, just fairly standard rock/blues type of stuff, with some nice ballads thrown in. Is it exceptional? No - but it is Brian May, so there is nothing bad about any of it.
Highlights: Business, The Guv'nor
7/10
"Albums" listened to so far: 55
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