Tracks
- Come All Ye
- Reynardine
- Matty Groves
- Farewell, Farewell
- The Deserter
- Medley: The Lark in the Morning, Rakish Paddy, Foxhunters' Jig, Toss the Feathers
- Tam Lin
- Crazy Man Michael
Liege & Lief is a pretty album. Fairport Convention have adapted old English folk songs to modern folk sound. Not only did they do that, but they also made these folk songs rock.
The songs are full of rich melodies and Sandy Denny has a wonderfully powerful voice. I like English folk music, especially the way Fairport Convention play it. They make it lively and exciting.
This is certainly an album worth listening to. I'm not sure what influence Fairport Convention has had on music to come, but their material and interpretation thereof is certainly notable.
The stand out songs are Come All Ye, Reynardine, Matty Groves, The Deserter, Tam Lin and Crazy Man Michael.
★★★★★★★★★☆
Tracks
- Bird on the Wire
- Story of Isaac
- A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes
- The Partisan
- Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
- The Old Revolution
- The Butcher
- You Know Who I Am
- Lady Midnight
- Tonight Will Be Fine
Songs from a Room is a broody album. The music is folk. It's slow, dark and personal.
The songs fit together well. The music complements the lyrical content and does well to focus the listener on the singer.
I like this album. It's definitely worth listening to. Leonard Cohen makes his folk music personal, but in an emotionally detached and cold way. Story of Isaac is a good example. In that way, his style of folk seems a lot different from the other folk artists on the 1001 Albums list.
The stand out songs are Bird on the Wire, Story of Isaac, The Partisan, Seems So Long Ago, Nancy, The Butcher, You Know Who I Am and Tonight Will Be Fine.
★★★★★★★★★☆
Tracks
- 21st Century Schizoid Man
- I Talk to the Wind
- Epitaph
- Moonchild
- The Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King is both a frightening and beautiful album. This is one of the first rock albums which isn't heavily influenced by the blues. Its influences come from jazz and classical music.
The opening and closing songs are fast, heavy and chaotic while the middle three are slow and concentrate more on melody; although, Epitaph stands somewhere in the middle.
In the Court of the Crimson King is one of my favorite albums, so of course, I'm going to say it's worth listening to. But more objectively, it's worth listening to because it's an excellent example of both a shift away from blues-based rock and the extreme direction psychedelic rock has taken with long songs, the focus on musical ability and musical experimentation.
The stand out songs are 21st Century Schizoid Man, Epitaph and The Court of the Crimson King.
★★★★★★★★★★
Tracks
- Victoria
- Yes Sir, No Sir
- Some Mother's Son
- Drivin'
- Brainwashed
- Australia
- Shangri-La
- Mr. Churchill Says
- She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina
- Young and Innocent Days
- Nothing to Say
- Arthur
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is a wonderful album. It's a straightforward rock album filled with great melodies.
Ray Davies writes really clever and interesting lyrics. It's always fun trying to figure out their meanings. Also, Kinks' songs always seem to be upbeat even when the lyrics aren't. Ray Davies' humor is peculiar.
The album starts off strong and continues on an even keel all the way to the end. Since it was a concept album to accompany a television play (which never came to be), the album is consistent and the songs work well together. The themes deal with late Victorian England, the Great War, World War II, and post-World War II life and life in Australia. Seems like ancient history.
This is definitely an album worth listening to. The only drawback may be the lyrical themes which may not interest some. However, it's refreshing album to listen to after all of the psychedelic rock albums from the past few years.
All the songs are really strong, but the real stand outs are: Victoria, Yes Sir, No Sir, Some Mother's Son, Brainwashed, Shangri-La, Mr. Churchill Says, Nothing to Say and Arthur.
★★★★★★★★★★
Tracks
- Dark Star
- St. Stephen
- The Eleven
- Turn On Your Love Light
- Death Don't Have No Mercy
- Feedback
- And We Bid You Goodnight
Live/Dead is a long album. It's a live album and the music is standard psychedelic rock.
The Dead clearly like to jam during their shows. I'm still not sure whether I'm meant to tune in or tune out when I'm listening. If I'm meant to tune in, then this album didn't keep me interested. If I'm meant to tune out and let the music exist in the background, then it's a worthy album.
Because it's the Dead's thing to do long jams, it's not possible to question whether or not they are necessary. They are essential. The songs themselves are enjoyable, but are they enjoyable for ten or more minutes? I don't think so.
As for recommending this album, it's certainly worth listening to once, if only to figure out whether it's worth listening to.
Turn on Your Love Light and Death Don't Have No Mercy are notable songs. St. Stephen is also enjoyable at times.
I'm giving this album eight stars, instead of seven or six, because I do enjoy it as background music.
★★★★★★★★☆☆
Tracks
- Walk On By
- Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic
- One Woman
- By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Hot Buttered Soul is a sexy album. With this album, Isaac Hayes charts the course soul will take in the 1970s. It may not seem like soul music of the 1960s. However, Isaac Hayes has the charisma of Sam Cooke and James Brown and the music has elements of James Brown's funk. What's different is it's got a harder edge to it and the groove is a lot slower.
For those who like long, slow, funky jams then this is a great album. For others, it could become boring and repetitive very quickly. I like the progression within most of the songs. They are slow, casual and carefree and slow from the outset, but slowly build up to a powerful climax.
There are only four songs on the album and they are all excellent, but none stand out above the others.
★★★★★★★★★☆
Tracks
- Darkness, Darkness
- Smug
- On Sir Francis Drake
- Sunlight
- Double Sunlight
- Beautiful
- Turn It Over
- Rain Song (Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down)
- Trillium
- Quicksand
- Black Mountain Breakdown
- Sham
- Ride the Wind
Elephant Mountain is a strong album. It's a mix of folk, rock and roll, and jazz-sounding songs.
Fortunately, Trillium and Quicksand Trillium is a short jazzy jam and Quicksand is similar thematically to Darkness, Darkness. Sham is another strong song like Smug. Ride the Wind is a good song to end the album on, but it would have been better to precede it with On Sir Francis Drake.
Elephant Mountain is much better album than I thought it was when I first listened to it. I think it could have been stronger if the tracks had been rearranged. Darkness, Darkness overshadows everything that follows which is unfortunate on the first listening because most of the other songs are really good, but you might get the impression that they're merely OK. It probably explains why I wasn't too impressed with the album the first few times I listened to it. The other problem is that there are too many different styles which naturally affects the flow and consistency of the album.
Darkness, Darkness is the best song on the album and one of the best songs I've ever heard. There's a lot of conviction in Jesse Colin Young's voice. Rain Song irritates me and might also have been the reason I didn't take to the album right away. It's not really a bad song but I just can't stand hearing the lyric:
If the world was peanut butter, we'd be sticking by each other.
(How stupid does it sound to you?)
Darkness, Darkness, On Francis Drake, Trillium, Quicksand and Sham are the stand-outs.
★★★★★★★★☆☆
