Album Reviews – Page 75 – The Light Appears

Madonna – Madonna (1983)

Posted on April 5, 2015April 5, 2015 by Michael

With her new album, Rebel Heart, Madonna recently appeared on the cover of Mojo magazine and Stereogum.com published an article on her worst to best albums. This all coincides nicely with a Christmas present that I bought for myself of Madonna’s box set containing all of her CDs in slipcase form up to 2008’s Hard Candy.

While I’ve lost touch with her over the last couple of years, in general I’ve always been a Madonna fan. From seeing the video to “Lucky Star” as an impressionable eight year old right up to the ABBA sampling “Hung Up” from Confessions on a Dance Floor. Having said that, the only purchases I had ever made from her over the years were the two greatest hits collections – The Immaculate Collection and GV2. The Immaculate Collection is absolutely flawless and a constant in my top 30 albums of all-time list. While GV2 doesn’t quite live up to that, it’s only about half a step behind. But even with these collections there were several memorable tracks still missing; “Dress You Up”, “True Blue”, “Oh Father”, “Rain”, etc.

So with that in mind, I started to tackle her box set last month starting with the 1983 self-titled debut. Most will be familiar with sparkling singles “Lucky Star” “Borderline” and “Holiday”. The first half of the album really shines with those three tracks along with club single “Burning Up” and the simple yet catchy “I Know It”. The next three songs are a bit more problematic. “Think of Me” and “Physical Attraction” are instantly forgettable and the first single released on the album, “Everybody” only slightly improves things.

Like a Virgin shot Madonna into superstardom while True Blue, and Like a Prayer were inescapable through the 80s. Through that decade Madonna appeared in films, recorded soundtracks, and was a constant in tabloids but on Madonna it was just about the music… and that music was very, very good.

8/10

Album Reviews

Tune-Yards – Nikki Nack (2014)

Posted on October 14, 2014October 15, 2014 by Michael

A few years ago Tune-Yards was blowing up with the critics. Rave reviews, appearing on year-end best of lists, etc. They sat my list of things to check out but I never got around to picking up any of their music and missed them when they came through town. When their third album, Nikki Nack, came out I jumped in. I’ve been listening to it off and on for a couple of months and took forever to form any sort of opinion on it.

The good stuff – “Hey Life” and “Sink-O” are both great, the former with a soulful chorus and the latter with a smattering of drums and scat singing. “Wait For A Minute” sounds like Amy Grant’s “Baby Baby” if remade by Soul II Soul and the dance elements of “Left Behind” really shine. Where things really fall apart is on the absolutely abysmal “Why Do We Dine On The Tots” which is in the running for worst song of the year. In the end, it’s an album not just of songs but a collection of moments that vacillate between great and awful. There is a feel in places of it being like a mid-80s United Colors of Benetton commercial. “Let’s mix up all these elements into an international stew!” Works in some places but fails in others.

6.5/10

Reminds me of…

Album Reviews

Neil Diamond – The Very Best Of (2011)

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Michael

Buying a greatest hits package for Neil Diamond is harder than one might think. Over the years, most have been littered with live versions or re-recorded versions of key tracks. So the search went on for many years. Now, usually I’d eschew Best Of collections in order to go straight to the actual albums but some artists lack a sure fire 5-star album. While boasting an arm’s length list of classic songs, you’re not going to see a Neil Diamond album in any Top 100 Greatest Albums lists.

The first half of The Very Best Of Neil Diamondis a nearly flawless collection of pop, folk, and singer-songwriter stories. The run of tracks from “Cherry, Cherry”, “I AM… I Said”, “Sweet Caroline”, and “Cracklin’ Rosie” is sublime; 60s and 70s pop does not get any better than this. The dizzying heights continue as “I’m a Believer” and “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” appear soon after. One of the few new tracks to this writer is the Robbie Robertson produced “A Beautiful Noise” which, as the lyrics say, “has a beautiful beat”.

The pacing/order of the tracks for the most part works like a charm. Many slower tracks such as “Love On The Rocks” are surrounded with their more upbeat brothers so there is hardly a letdown… almost. The album sags right at the midway point when “Song Sung Blue”, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” and “Hello Again” take some of the air out. After that, the album is a bit hit and miss and isn’t fully redeemed until the one two punch of “Kentucky Woman” followed by “Shilo”.

Back in the 90s, the movie Pulp Fiction suddenly made Neil Diamond cool again. Brooklyn born Diamond is so beloved that there is not even a sniff of irony in Boston fans singing “Sweet Caroline” during Red Sox home games (even if that tradition is getting a bit tiresome). While there is some schmaltziness that appears here and there, for the most part this is all well- crafted, life-affirming perfection.

9/10

Album Reviews

Lykki Li – I Never Learn (2014)

Posted on September 14, 2014September 15, 2014 by Michael

In 2008, Swedish born Lykki Li put out one of my favourite albums of the year with Youth Novels. The synth pop tracks fit in perfectly with Robyn and Sally Shapiro. Wounded Rhymes followed in 2011 and was rougher around the edges, a bit more angry and seemed to signal a new direction. I Never Learn is Li’s third and takes another turn in her career. The bright eyed pop songs are gone as are much of the harder edges of more recent times. With the help of Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, this collection of songs is far more grandiose than what’s come before.

The title track, and first song, sets the bar high. It’s one of the more stripped down tracks with mostly just an acoustic guitar but still sounds heavenly with the addition of strings and “ahhhhs” that appear midway through. “Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone” is raw with Li’s most pained vocal, her voice straining in the chorus as she sings the title. You can literally hear her heartbreaking as she sings.

“Gunshot” gets a smack in the arm with the chorus but sounds like it could be sung by any new pop starlet that the music industry endlessly pumps out. The titles of “Never Gonna Love Again” and “Heart of Steel” say all you need to know and would fit in with any Diane Warren track written in the last 25 years. While impeccably produced and better in small doses, I Never Learn can be a hard slog when swallowed whole.

6/10

Album Reviews

Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence (2014)

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Michael

In 2012, Lana Del Rey shot to stardom (or maybe just infamy) off her first single, “Video Games”. From out of nowhere, everyone seemed to have an opinion on her. From Del Rey’s love it or hate it appearance on Saturday Night Live (I loved it), her much talked about past, a massive amount of remixes and a clutch of singles that eventually lead to very mixed reviews of her major label debut, Born To Die. Right from the start I loved the singles but stayed away from the debut after the reviews started to come out. I ended up buying Born To Die several months later and thought much of it was brilliant and as a whole, hung together quite well. Now Ms. Del Rey is back a sophomore effort, Ultraviolence.

There isn’t much variation throughout. The music is a bit 60s, a bit Portishead, a bit cinematic, etc. The vocals are all deadpan, played straight and without much feeling. The first third of the album, including the title track, all slip by without much notice. “Brooklyn Baby” doesn’t sound much different from what came before but what sets it apart is the lyrics and how they are sung – “you say I’m like the ice I freeze, I’m churning out novels like Beat poetry on amphetamines”, the one word Brooklyn accent in the second chorus, and the “da da da”s along to the guitar. Single “West Coast” follows and hits a bit harder both musically and vocally than anything else on the album before the beautifully lush chorus.

Lana Del Rey is not as good a singer as Adele and the music here isn’t anywhere near as classic sounding as say, Dusty in Memphis. Where Del Rey shines when her ultra-cool stories border on the ridiculous and are sung with a wink. It’s hard not to smile while listening to tracks like “Money Power and Glory”, “Fucked My Way To The Top” and especially bonus track “Florida Keys” where she’s slinging drugs in Miami. That’s the Del Rey that I like, far too cool and completely over the top, unfortunately there isn’t enough of that here. While Ultraviolence is ultimately not quite as consistent as Born To Die, there are still a handful of songs that shine and are ready made to be remixed over and over again.

7/10