The Coral - The Coral (2002)

Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue (1977)

ELO, or the Electric Light Orchestra as they honestly thought anyone would write out, has two songs everyone knows- an instrumental called "Fire On High" and that song where they really don't want Bruce to upset them. Apparently they wrote entire albums of music that might be worth listening to. Or maybe just one in the case of my Big List. Or maybe none, depending on how I feel about it.

The Auteurs - New Wave (1993)

Thanks to Roni Size I am not at all looking forward to this album. I'm being totally unfair to The Auteurs here, but holy shit, New Forms was a horrible waste of time, and I'm afraid New Wave might just be more of the same crap just based on the name. It's completely unreasonable but I can't ignore my feelings.

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989)

Ah, (the) Beastie Boys. It doesn't take long for them to  piss me off. Nothing like name-checking yourself, Mike Dee, to inform us you're busting rhymes and whatever. The first song sounds like every bit of melody, if you can call it that, is a sample of a potentially better song. In 1989, Paul's Boutique was considered revolutionary and a major turning point in music for it's heavy use of sampling. And I have to admit, as much as I hate sampling as a basis for producing music, the sound on this record is pretty impressive.

The Kinks - Are The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba (1962)

It's been a while since I've looked into jazz, and I don't think I've heard any samba yet. So this could be exciting. I'm also sadly looking forward to this being a relatively short album at just over 33 minutes. Should be a breeze, right?

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

So I saw this article on Buzzfeed... Lou Reed Thought The Beatles “Were Garbage”. The subheadline read "I mean, they were just painfully stupid and pretentious." Now I'm certainly not a huge fan of The Beatles. On some level I appreciate anyone who's willing to  take a shot across the bow of the unassailable Beatles Fanship. But Lou Reed? Calling someone else pretentious? Whoa...

Bee Gees - Odessa (1969)

So... Bee Gees. Everyone knows "Staying Alive" by Bee Gees, and everyone loves that one song by Bee Gees. So clearly there are two things that could make this listen and review a total disaster. First, are there actual Bee Gees fans out there that salivate over entire albums by this band? Not that popularity alone would legitimize whether or not an album or band were good. But a band that had such an Earth-smashing hit like "Staying Alive" you'd think would get some sort of fandom. I just never hear from such fans, unlike say people who love ABBA. Second, this album came out before "Staying Alive" and disco became big. What the hell is early Bee Gees going to sound like? Actually, since I only know that one song, and for all I know it's a total outlier, what the hell are Bee Gees going to sound like at all?

Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire EP (2003)

The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free (2004)

It's all too clear to me. Hip-hop and rap really do strive to destroy all music. A Grand Don't Come For Free opens with bombastic brass orchestration which is hacked up and pasted together to fit the song's beat. The editor must have been using a cassette tape and a pair of scissors to do such a shitty job pasting this together. It only took 5 seconds for this album to send me off into another angry rant.

Einstürzende Neubauten - Kollaps (1981)

The Beatles Interlude - An Outro...

It has been a long couple of weeks where I have thought of little but The Beatles and their music. That was a tall order for someone like me who does not consider himself a Beatles fan. I'm sure those of you reading this who are fans probably think I've unfairly maligned the band. You may have a point. After all I'm probably in the minority of those who have a strong opinion of The Beatles music. I'm betting most people in the world don't care. Of those who do care, most are in the "I like their music" or "I LOVE their music" category. I am in probably the smallest category, in that I don't really care for the bulk of their music.

The Beatles - Let It Be/You Know My Name & Let It Be (1970)

The Beatles - Abbey Road & Across The Universe (1969)

In my previous review I noted that The Beatles next project after Yellow Submarine was going to be an album called Get Back. The idea, proposed by Paul McCartney, was for The Beatles to go back to their roots of playing live shows and recording the bulk of their music live as a group, as opposed to the four members largely doing their own thing and collaborating on overdubs later. Recording together proved not to be the tonic to reunify the band, and the recording sessions for the Get Back album were put on the shelf. At some point they were able to get in the studio and record a set of songs they really liked, and that became today's subject for review.

The Beatles - Yellow Submarine, Get Back/Don't Let Me Down, and The Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe (1969)

Now that I've had time to recover from "the white album", which really messed me up and made me feel depressed, I can move on and... well, review some more Beatles material from around the same period. This is a very small sample that probably doesn't all fit together. Then again most of the stuff The Beatles were putting out at this time wasn't part of a cohesive whole so there's no real problem reviewing it as one chunk.

The Beatles - Hey Jude/Revolution & The Beatles (1968)

Sorry I'm a bit late in posting, but I was a bit nervous about this review. Read on and you'll understand why.

The Beatles - Hello, Goodbye/I Am The Walrus, Magical Mystery Tour EP, and Lady Madonna/The Inner Light (1967)

 

The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and All You Need Is Love/Baby You're A Rich Man (1967)

The Beatles - Paperback Writer/Rain & Revolver (1966)

The Beatles - We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper and Rubber Soul (1965)