May 31, 2022

David Bowie - The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars (1972) ☠

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Pop Rock
Label Number: PCD1-4702
☠: Selected by Buccaneer
© 1972-1984 RCA Victor
Borrowing heavily from Marc Bolan's glam rock and the future shock of A Clockwork Orange, David Bowie reached back to the heavy rock of The Man Who Sold the World for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Constructed as a loose concept album about an androgynous alien rock star named Ziggy Stardust, the story falls apart quickly, yet Bowie's fractured, paranoid lyrics are evocative of a decadent, decaying future, and the music echoes an apocalyptic, nuclear dread. Fleshing out the off-kilter metallic mix with fatter guitars, genuine pop songs, string sections, keyboards, and a cinematic flourish, Ziggy Stardust is a glitzy array of riffs, hooks, melodrama, and style and the logical culmination of glam. Mick Ronson plays with a maverick flair that invigorates rockers like "Suffragette City," "Moonage Daydream," and "Hang Onto Yourself," while "Lady Stardust," "Five Years," and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" have a grand sense of staged drama previously unheard of in rock & roll. And that self-conscious sense of theater is part of the reason why Ziggy Stardust sounds so foreign. Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of them, and Ziggy Stardust -- familiar in structure, but alien in performance -- is the first time his vision and execution met in such a grand, sweeping fashion.

tags: david bowie, the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars, 1972, flac,
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David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1973)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Art Rock
Label Number: PCD1-4852

© 1973-1984 RCA Victor
Ziggy Stardust wrote the blueprint for David Bowie's hard-rocking glam, and Aladdin Sane essentially follows the pattern, for both better and worse. A lighter affair than Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane is actually a stranger album than its predecessor, buoyed by bizarre lounge-jazz flourishes from pianist Mick Garson and a handful of winding, vaguely experimental songs. Bowie abandons his futuristic obsessions to concentrate on the detached cool of New York and London hipsters, as on the compressed rockers "Watch That Man," "Cracked Actor," and "The Jean Genie." Bowie follows the hard stuff with the jazzy, dissonant sprawls of "Lady Grinning Soul," "Aladdin Sane," and "Time," all of which manage to be both campy and avant-garde simultaneously, while the sweepingly cinematic "Drive-In Saturday" is a soaring fusion of sci-fi doo wop and melodramatic teenage glam. He lets his paranoia slip through in the clenched rhythms of "Panic in Detroit," as well as on his oddly clueless cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together." For all the pleasures on Aladdin Sane, there's no distinctive sound or theme to make the album cohesive; it's Bowie riding the wake of Ziggy Stardust, which means there's a wealth of classic material here, but not enough focus to make the album itself a classic.

tags: david bowie, aladdin sane, 1973, flac,
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Big Country - The Crossing (1983) ☠

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*First pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: 812 870-2
☠: Selected by Lass
© 1983 Mercury Records
With producer Steve Lillywhite at the helm, Scotland's Big Country managed to deliver earnest, socially conscious arena anthems in a similar vein to U2 and the Alarm. The twist was their trademark bagpipe sound, achieved through the use of E-Bow. The unique sound of "In a Big Country" garnered the band considerable attention and a Top 20 single in the U.S. The Crossing, however, is an album whose richness goes beyond the single. The more subdued "Chance" is sparser and its personal lyrics are every bit as heartfelt as the more populist-inclined anthems like the wonderful "The Storm" or the thundering "Fields of Fire." The lyrics are straightforward and, despite the grand themes of many of the tracks, manage to steer clear of being overly pretentious. While this album earned the band a gold record, Big Country's sound and image (reinforced by the members' tartan checked shirts) resulted in them being tagged a novelty, and they never duplicated their initial success in America. [An expanded version of The Crossing appeared in 2012 to mark the 30th Anniversary of the formation of the group. The two-disc reissue reissue included a remastered version of the original album, as well as twenty-four bonus cuts (demos, outtakes, and B-sides) and a 20-page booklet.]

tags: big country, the crossing, 1983, flac,
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Various Artists - Streets Is Watching (Soundtrack) (1998)

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*A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Pop Rap, Gangsta Rap
Label Number: 314 558 132-2

© 1998 Roc-A-Fella Records/Def Jam Records
Jay-Z decided to get into the process of myth-making with Streets Is Watching, a documentary about his life. Unlike many hip-hop movies, the film purports to be about the real Jay-Z and how he keeps things on the street. While that matter is open to debate, it is true that the soundtrack is street-level hip-hop, both for better and for worse. Many of the artists on the collection are underground rappers -- Jay-Z and Noreaga are the best-known names here -- who all follow a similar style: hard-hitting beats and blunt (as well as blunted) freestyle raps. There are some really good moments here, enough to make it worthwhile for dedicated fans of the genre, but there's also enough repetition here to make it a little trying for casual listeners.

tags: various artists, streets is watching soundtrack, ost, 1998, flac,
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A.R.G. - One World Without The End (1991)

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Country: Finland
Language: English
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: MGMCD 2036

© 1991 Megamania
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

tags: arg, one world without the end, 1991, flac,
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Morpheus - Son of Hypnos (1993)

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*First pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: Sweden
Language: English
Genre: Death Metal
Label Number: STEP 005

© 1993 Step One Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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Jedi Mind Tricks - Visions of Gandhi (2003)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: BBG-CD-006

© 2003 Babygrande
"Horror"-core rappers can generally be counted on to pair their ultra-violent raps with dark, claustrophobic productions. Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, trackmaster for the duo Jedi Mind Tricks, has broader aims though, and he uses the group's third LP to move their sound from rote RZA or DJ Premier knockoffs into new territory. It's clear from a cursory listen to Visions of Gandhi that the group was far better off when they concentrated on that sound; the backings here -- framed by Spanish guitars, a Bobby McFerrin-type sample, and the strings of light classical pieces -- simply don't carry the right mood for the raps of Vinnie Paz (aka Ikon the Verbal Hologram). Paz alternates righteous Muslim rhetoric with "horror"-core raps that fit in so many references to so many pieces of anatomy (all of which he plans on eviscerating) that it sounds more like med school than a rap album. A few features make for better listening, including Ras Kass' guest on "Rise of the Machines," and Kool G Rap on "Animal Rap."

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tags: jedi mind tricks, visions of gandhi, 2003, flac,
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Iomos Marad - Deep Rooted (2003)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: AN-028

© 2003 All Natural Inc.
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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Iomos Marad - Go Head: E.P. (2006)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: AN-049-2CD

© 2006 All Natrual Inc.
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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tags: iomos marad, go head, ep, 2006, flac,
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Slaughter House - Face Reality (1991)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: 9 26586-2

© 1991 Metal Blade/Warner Bros. Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

tags: slaughter house, face reality, 1991, flac,
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Slaughter House - Slaughter House (1991)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: 9 26262-2

© 1991 Metal Blade Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

tags: slaughter house, slaughter house album, 1991, flac,
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Disflex 6 - Where The Sidewalk Ends (2000)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: SLI01

© 2000 Sunset Leagues International
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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tags: disflex 6, where the sidewalk ends, 2000, flac,
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May 30, 2022

The Gandharvas - A Soap Bubble & Inertia (1994)

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Country: Canada
Language: English
Genre: Alternative Rock
Label Number: WMD 89303

© 1994 Watch Music
The Gandharvas burst onto the Canadian alternative rock scene in 1994 with their debut, A Soap Bubble and Inertia, largely on the strength of the first track, "The First Day of Spring." Opening as a languid, dreamy pop song, it soon builds to an explosive rock crescendo, with vocals (by Paul Jago) bearing a striking similarity to Perry Farrell's work with Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros. The song became a massive Canadian hit for the band. Unfortunately, its impact also manages to overshadow (and set an impossibly high standard for) the rest of the disc. While there are other solid tracks on A Soap Bubble and Inertia (including the light, bouncy pop of "The Coffee Song" and the dark menacing rock of "Bundle"), nothing else on A Soap Bubble and Inertia manages to scale the same heights as "The First Day of Spring."

tags: the gandharvas, a soap bubble and inertia, 1994, flac,
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The Gandharvas - Sold For a Smile (1997)

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Country: Canada
Language: English
Genre: Alternative Rock
Label Number: WMSD 89709

© 1997 MCA Records
Vocalist Paul Jago sings like a more subdued version of Perry Farrell, while the rest of the Gandharvas have the ability to shape simple riffs into funky metal/punk anthems ("Sarsaparilla"), trance-inducing workouts ("Waiting for Something"), or Beatlesque ballads missing from Abbey Road (i.e., the chorus of "Shells"). The Gandharvas have a way of being able to take a melody line or chord pattern and expand upon it so that it's not just one-dimensional. This is true on songs like "Downtime" and "The First Day of Spring," which use the same chord progression for the verse and chorus parts. A few clunkers do exist nonetheless, such as the track "Diaboloney," which seems to take a stab at sounding like one of the most threatening songs on the album, only to wind up making you realize that attitude alone doesn't make a good song sometimes. However, this shouldn't be held against the band, because the end result of this record is one to be appreciated. After all, how many hard rock bands are willing to cover Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" and give it their own metallic reggae feel?

tags: the gandharvas, sold for a smile, 1997, flac,
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Speech - Spiritual People (2000)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop, R&B
Label Number: 80119-01050-2

© 2000 iMusic
Speech's third album, an ambitious knockout of sprawling, invigorating music influenced by hip-hop, soul, ragga, alternative, and folk, was released in Asia just one year after 1999's Hoopla (though it waited two years for a bulked-up American release). It begins with a vigorous polemic on the state of music (from what sounds like a sampled Baptist sermon), but Spiritual People is no less enjoyable for the scattered "message" songs present. "Brought to You By...(Music & Life)" offers a few apologies for his extravagant lifestyle (still no match for Tommy Lee no doubt), then delivers a fantastic hook that deserves a slot in the Top Ten at least. "Cruisin' in My Super Beetle" is a super pop throwaway oddly reminiscent of Matchbox 20 (though it, too, offers a few hints about the fine line between relaxation and taking things for granted). Unsurprisingly, Arrested Development fans will find a lot to love here, much more than on his previous solo albums: excellent songs with clear, positive messages like "The Simple Love of Life" and "Always in Love," the latter an earnest, string-laden anthem with the lyric "I really love you, I want children with you/be with you always, always in love." "Livin' in the Real World" is postmodern folk with an alternative bent, while "Jungle Man" and "Y-O" meet jazzy hip-hop halfway to A Tribe Called Quest. "Burning Rage Inside," a halfway apologetic anthem to jealousy, has a smooth AOR production sounding like latter-day Steely Dan, even while Speech lets it all hang out. Fortunately, the songwriting's tough enough to stand up to such a varied sound, while Speech's delivery and musical personality prove so strong that he ties it all together easily. Just like Stevie Wonder, one of his prime influences, the subtleties of Speech's music don't suffer when tied to universal themes, the type of songs most contemporary artists wouldn't touch.

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tags: speech, spiritual people, 2000, flac,
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David Bowie - Space Oddity (1969)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 9 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Folk Rock
Label Number: PCD1-4813

© 1969-1985 RCA Victor
When David Bowie's second album appeared in late 1969, he was riding high. His first ever hit single, the super-topical "Space Oddity," had scored on the back of the moon landing that summer, and so distinctive an air did it possess that, for a moment, its maker really did seem capable of soaring as high as Major Tom. Sadly, it was not to be. "Space Oddity" aside, Bowie possessed very little in the way of commercial songs, and the ensuing album (his second) emerged as a dense, even rambling, excursion through the folky strains that were the last glimmering of British psychedelia. Indeed, the album's most crucial cut, the lengthy "Cygnet Committee," was nothing less than a discourse on the death of hippiness, shot through with such bitterness and bile that it remains one of Bowie's all-time most important numbers -- not to mention his most prescient. The verse that unknowingly name-checks both the Sex Pistols ("the guns of love") and the Damned is nothing if not a distillation of everything that brought punk to its knees a full nine years later. The remainder of the album struggles to match the sheer vivacity of "Cygnet Committee," although "Unwashed and Slightly Dazed" comes close to packing a disheveled rock punch, all the more so as it bleeds into a half minute or so of Bowie wailing "Don't Sit Down" -- an element that, mystifyingly, was hacked from the 1972 reissue of the album. "Janine" and "An Occasional Dream" are pure '60s balladry, and "God Knows I'm Good" takes a well-meant but somewhat clumsy stab at social comment. Two final tracks, however, can be said to pinpoint elements of Bowie's own future. The folk epic "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" (substantially reworked from the B-side of the hit) would remain in Bowie's live set until as late as 1973, while a re-recorded version of the mantric "Memory of a Free Festival" would become a single the following year, and marked Bowie's first studio collaboration with guitarist Mick Ronson. The album itself however, proved another dead end in a career that was gradually piling up an awful lot of such things.

tags: david bowie, space oddity, 1969, flac,
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David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1971)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 9 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Art Rock, Pop Rock
Label Number: PCD1-4623

© 1971-1984 RCA Victor
After the freakish hard rock of The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie returned to singer/songwriter territory on Hunky Dory. Not only did the album boast more folky songs ("Song for Bob Dylan," "The Bewlay Brothers"), but he again flirted with Anthony Newley-esque dancehall music ("Kooks," "Fill Your Heart"), seemingly leaving heavy metal behind. As a result, Hunky Dory is a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class. Mick Ronson's guitar is pushed to the back, leaving Rick Wakeman's cabaret piano to dominate the sound of the album. The subdued support accentuates the depth of Bowie's material, whether it's the revamped Tin Pan Alley of "Changes," the Neil Young homage "Quicksand," the soaring "Life on Mars?," the rolling, vaguely homosexual anthem "Oh! You Pretty Things," or the dark acoustic rocker "Andy Warhol." On the surface, such a wide range of styles and sounds would make an album incoherent, but Bowie's improved songwriting and determined sense of style instead made Hunky Dory a touchstone for reinterpreting pop's traditions into fresh, postmodern pop music.

tags: david bowie, hunky dory, 1971, flac,
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Captor - Lay It To Rest (1993) ☠

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Country: Sweden
Language: English
Genre: Death Metal, Thrash Metal
Label Number: EURO - 933 CD
☠: Selected by Buccaneer
© 1993 Eurorecords
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

tags: captor, lay it to rest, 1993, flac,
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Bored Stiff - Ghetto Research (2001)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None

© 2001 Lifelines Publishing/Soul Note Records
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tags: bored stiff, ghetto research, 2001, flac,
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Bored Stiff - From The Ground Up (2007)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: HLR-2007

© 2007 Hella Records
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tags: bored stiff, from the ground up, 2007, flac,
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Autumn - Chandelier (2018) ☠

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*This is digital store download purchased from Bandcamp. 
The files have been tagged and sorted for convenience.
This version contains 14 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Gothic Rock
Label Number: None
☠: Selected by Lass
© 2018 Sett Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

tags: autumn, chandelier, 2018, flac,
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May 29, 2022

Ian McCulloch - Mysterio (1992)

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*First pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Jangle Pop
Label Number: 9 26684-2

© 1992 Sire/Reprise Records
Mysterio is a valuable opportunity for fans of Echo & the Bunnymen who did not keep up with Ian McCulloch between their 1988 breakup and 1997's Evergreen. Mysterio is hit and miss at times, but it also showcases some of the same brilliance which led the rock press to dub Echo the next U2. Mysterio has been criticised for its attempts to be too much of a Leonard Cohen album, and it does include one of the singer/songwriter's best in "Lover Lover Lover." Mysterio would be McCulloch's last solo album until the yet-to-be titled project due out in late 2001 or early 2002. He has admitted to being uncomfortable writing songs by himself and felt disinterested in his own solo work. That would explain some of Mysterio's inhibited sound. (Interestingly, McCulloch voiced an interest in having people like Nick Cave write songs for him in the future.) However, Mysterio is a worthy item for all Echo & the Bunnymen fans. "Honeydrop" and "Lover Lover Lover" were released as singles. It is easy to understand why, the former sounds like a massive U.K. hit song, the kind no one in America has heard. Similarly, Mysterio is an underappreciated album worthy of a little investigation. Standout tracks include "Magical World," "Dug for Love," "Close Your Eyes," and "Damnation" which is enough to make this a strong album, McCulloch's opinion notwithstanding.

tags: ian mcculloch, mysterio, 1992, flac,
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Abstract Mindstate The M.O.D. - We Paid Let Us In! (2001) ☠

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: CRE 7142
☠: Selected by Lass
© 2001 C.R.E.A.M./404 Music Group
Even if this Chicago duo's moniker doesn't clue you into the fact that they're coming on the conscious hip-hop tip, it should at least make it clear that this is not your typical bling-bling, bitches, and gangsta crap. Instead, you get progressive, positive songs like "Equiponderance," which blends jazzy beats and slinky string samples with clever lyrics that present the duo as "the underground masters of twisted wordplay and delivery." Even when the group takes a more tough, street-minded approach on songs like "Wonder Twins," it's just to take on wack MCs and "ten hoes with no flows, all rockin' Timbos." For an underground hip-hop group, the production on We Paid Let Us In is both impressively tight and diverse, ranging from the soulful groove of "The Storm" to the stripped-down minimalist funk of "Taoism." And though the group needs to master the art of crafting memorable vocal hooks, their crafty blend of intelligent rhymes and colorful samples places Abstract Mindstate the M.O.D., alongside artists like Common, among the best Chicago's urban scene has to offer.

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tags: abstract mindstate the mod, we paid let us in, 2001, flac,
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