The Rock Album Survivor Reviews Thread

[JGuy Grungeman]

I'll be reviewing stuff I need to listen to from the Rock Album Survivor. Feel free to critique my reviews if they aren't good.

First, New Wave by The Auteurs (for Britpop)


Release date: 1993
Styles: Britpop, Indie Pop

From the opening track, I knew what my opinion would be. It's a good album that's worth buying, but it's not as impressive as most albums in the britpop round. Every song on the has the potential to be a hit, because each song shows a little creativity. I mean, they're mostly nice little jingles that one can kick back and enjoy with a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. Good enough vocals for the job, decent lyrics. It's generally a good album. But it's chance for perfection is tainted by many things: an inconsistent flow, an abundant mellow feel, and a lack of rhythm. At the beginning of the album, we had two nice, cute little serenades. But then "American Guitars" came on. And instead of maintaining a feel or promoting a sense of diversity, the album just felt like a different album.

However, the album does have a feel. The feeling isn't the feel of the album, but the feeling one gets from listening to it. It's a soothing album with just a hint of bounciness, a strange kind of fun that only albums like this have. It's not one of the best albums at all, but I felt nice and calm listening to it. The album could've done so much morew with its structure and composition, but they nailed resonance perfectly.

Do I recommend it? For those looking for perfection, no. But for britpop fans, yes I do. Although the songs are simple, they are still enjoyable. There's really nothing wrong with the album in terms of fun and resonance. However, there is so much better britpop, so I'd vote it off the round.

75/100 Voting it off, but worth buying for the soothing feel.

[JGuy Grungeman]

Definitely Maye by Oasis
Release date: 1994
Style: Britpop, Alternative Rock

Had to come back and edit this.

Alright, I didn't expect to love the album this much. I knew I'd really like it, though. I'm slowly turning into a britpop guy. And if What's the Story holds up to this, Oasis will be my favorite britpop band (right now it's Blur. Need to hear more Blur as well).

What the world had in the 80's and 90's was alternative rock, which came into mainstream popularity by the early 90's along with many subgenres. Here in America, we had grunge. Yes, the angsty, lazy, raspy, riff heavy awesomeness that went against the rules of society. Britain took a more poppy route and created britpop. And I think Oasis had a much clearer idea about what britpop was and what it should be. In fact, Definitely Maybe is probably the most true-to-britpop album I know of. It is a creative, heart-filled, and super-fun album which I recommend for ANYONE.

The album's only flaw is that the lyrics need some work. Anything else that could be a flaw is saved by the things that the supposed flaw works with. To clarify, one aspect of the album which could seem bad alone is blended very well with another aspect, improving both of them and creating a yin-yang style of music. Basically, everything else fails into place fairly to very well. The aura of the album is made up of many loud guitars playing similar riffs. And even though this makes the album noisier than necessary, the album's creativity with these riffs and catchiness cancels the flaw out. There's a yin and yang for you. Two noisy guitars playing brilliant rhythms while being spot-on with the timing. And the vocals are blended so well with the rhythms that I knew how much heart Oasis put in the album. The drumming isn't spectacular at all, but they are still really nice to listen to because the drumming is combined with the tambourine to create a nice little tune. Yin and yang. Although you won't find a super amazing "When the Levee Breaks" style riff, the drumming/tambourinbe combo has a cheery feel that adds a lot to the music. The baking vocals and production seem like bonuses add more to the album's music and emphasizes the fantastic aura. If fact, the backing vocals feel like a bonus because, even though they are unnecessary in comparison to the rest of the album, they add another flair to it. And even though the album shows little diversity, it never changes it's fantastic aura. It's consistent. And the final grand component of this album is its structure. The songs are perfectly constructed, never showing anything overdone or out of the ordinary. Grand album.

Overall, Oasis' debut deserves to stand the test of time. Heck, even after every copy of Oasis is, like, destroyed by an apocalyptic meteor shower or some junk like that, Oasis' should still be remembered by alternative fans. Maybe not the best album in the world, but one of the best alternative albums. I can hardly imagine What's the Story being better. This is one of my favorite albums.

95/100. Not voting it off until I get to Dog Man Star by Suede.

Best Songs: Supersonic for being more creative than the rest of the album, Cigarettes and Alcohol for it's cool T. Rex "Get It On" aura, Slide Away for being full of heart,

[JGuy Grungeman]

Having a Rave Up With the Yardbirds by The Yardbirds
Styles: Blues Rock, Garage Rock
Release: 1965
Round: Rock and Roll.

I decided to listen to a couple rock and roll albums since it was proposed that rock and roll would be the next genre the survivor thread handles. So I started with Yardbirds. Still, I do not feel this is a rock and roll album. So I can't rightfully vote that it stays on the list. It has a little rock and roll to it, but this is really more of a blues rock album that took influences from rnr, mod, psychedelic, and was one of the earliest entries in the garage rock scene. The album's very garagy, so much that I can easily see this being one of Jack White's favorite albums ever. So I'm voting it off the list since I don't feel it's really a "rock and roll" album, not like a Chuck Berry album or an Elvis or Little Richard album.

However, voting it off for that reason does not mean I think the album's bad. You see, I feel the Yardbirds are one of the most essential rock bands in the music industry because the band was a "pre-supergroup" of some of the most famous and influential members of blues rock. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton were all members. And this shows in The Yardbirds' most famous release: Having a Rave Up. And obviously, the Yardbirds had talent to spare. They just didn't reach their full potential with the Yardbirds, but they sure did show it on their most notable work.

For this album, we have Jeff Beck on guitars on side A, and Eric Clapton live on guitars on side B. The album's style is a combination of the blues rock that has been reigning the rock industry in the 60's and went on to inspire many new forms of metal and rock in the future, as well as being an early entry in a rising garage rock scene that would be famous for The Sonics, The Stooges, MC5, and Paul Revere. As far as the actual music goes and not the genre, the guitars are all extremely focused on maintaining the rhythm rather than amazing people with riffs. This gives off a vibe that states "this is clearly before the band reached their full potential, but they know a lot about wiriting music." The band members were still just starting out. So although the album doesn't quite reach the musical capabilities of Layla or LZ1, the album still has a lot of fun guitar riffs and rhythms. Like I said, the band seems to be very focused on their songs. I can't say the same for the vocals. Nothing spectacular about the vocals except that they are very well produced, more well produced than the drumming and the guitars.

That's all I really have to say about this album. The only real flaw is that the album doesn't have the same song writing quality as future albums by the band members. However, in Having a Rave Up the band displays extreme dedication to the music and clever (not amazing) guitar playing. It really is a great entry into the blues rock scene of the mid-60's. But I'm voting it off because the song structures are hardly rock and roll, and the guitars are more fit for garage and blues. I hardly got a "rock and reoll" vibe from this.

90/100. Voting it off for not being a real "rock and roll" album.

[JGuy Grungeman]

Houdini by Melvins



Style: Stoner Rock, Sludge Metal
Release: September 21, 1993
Round: Stoner Rock

That's right, the famed sludge album co-produced by Kurt Cobain. I decided it was time to get Melvins out of the way, and now I have a consensus. The most interesting thing about this album is the seemingly gibberish lyrics in some of the songs. I can't make them out, but I can get an idea:

"Your make a doll a ray day" could be "You make a dollar a day."

I'm not sure, but I'm going to assume there's some level of lyrical creativity there since it doesn't completely sound like gibberish. However, Osbourne didn't have a deep message in mind when he wrote this, so idk. I won't write anymore about that, since I can't interpret them very well. They are interesting, though, and they're worth looking into if one wants a message.

Lyrics aside, it seems to me this album has given me a very good idea of sludge music (which I'm very new to). It also taught me something about the Melvins. You see, they don't write simple songs, and are a bit creative. However, their rhythms are a bit simple. Ity seems like they spend a lot of time playing the same note slowly or quickly. However, it still sounds good. Each song is fairly creative enough to differentiate the release from other metal albums. Plus, the songs are sung by Buzz Osborne's deep, powerful metal vocals that seem to bring a form of soul to the album no matter what schizophrenic gibberish he sings. He has multiple ways of singing, some manlier ways, some sludgy ways, and some weird ways. And let's not forget the weird, unique guitar tricks used to bring a strange, drugged up sound during some instrumentals, notably the instrumental on Sky Pup.

Music dfoesn't have to be very creative to be good, but it should be true to the sound its going for plus attempt to steer away from genericness. All I know is that Houdini wis not a very "creative" album when compared to other metal greats like Paranoid, Operation Mindcrime or Seven Keys 2. But it does have some creativity to it because it adds a lot of dark sound effects to the music, making the listener wonder what's going on. Plus, it was a true metal album with real metalheads as band members, guided by Cobain's production, and he did a better job at producing Houdini than Steve Albini did on In Utero.

Melvins have proved don't need fantastic songwriting skill to be a talented band. All they have to back themselves up is a true metal soul and stay as weird as possiblew without overdoing it and without straying away from metal feels. And with that, they can make anything they do sound good. I'm very sure if Houdini was written by anyone else, it wouldn't be as good. I'd say this is a very worthy metal album and a grand addition to the stoner and sludge scenes.

94. Not voting it off. Yet.

[JGuy Grungeman]

Songs for the Deaf by QOTSA.



As fans will know, the album is played in the perspective of as radio show, taking very short commercial breaks with guest star musicians for announcers telling you how much they love Queens of the Stone Age. I suppose if the radio stations are playing this album, they have good reason for it.

It was a smart move of me to choose this after Houdini. Now I can compare one stoner album to another, and see what the rave is about this album and how well it holds up against other stoner and alternative albums. Well, I have to say that the album has many strong points, and very few weak ones. The first thing to notice is how unconventional Josh Homme plays his guitar. He adds a slight alternative feel to these stoner anthems by playing weird little tunes on a somewhat higher pitched guitar, still attempting to maintain the druggy sound of Desert Palm's notable scene. These riffs blend very well with the fast paces bass/guitars. And if one listens closely, they can tell the drummer is the amazing Dave Grohl, who plays his drums like he did with Nirvana, likely one of his Gibson sets. He uses the same light tapping on the symbols throughout his riffs. And what is possibly the best thing about the album is how well Homme holds his wonderful vocals when he's not screaming for the heck of it. And the vocal compositions work so well with the soothing vocals of this heavy stoner band (the vocals of Homme as lead, and the backing vocals of Grohl, Oliveri, and Lanegan from Screaming Trees) all contradicting their fast paced music by singing their songs as if they were lullabies. This contradiction does not tamper with the music, however. It's perfectly blended, which is somewhat amazing of the band to pull off.

As far as the consistency of the album goes, the album remains perfect until Six Shooter, which is just a decent punk song where Homme's screaming. Stick with singing. The album drops a little when it reaches the second half. Still, the album remains lovable. In fact, the consistency picks up on track 13, A Song for the Deaf (if you count it as a title track, it's one of the best title tracks I've heard). A really cool, kind of dark and haunting song with cool riffs.

Songs for the Deaf is that kind of album that grows on the listener. There's always something fantastic to find about this album, whether it's the vocals or the guitars. Songs for the Deaf is one of, if not the essential stoner rock album. Forgiver me if I speak to much of the genre, but I honestly feel that way about the album. It's an essential release, on that deserves the great recognition it gets.

97/100. This could be the one album I don't vote off when the stoner round comes along.

[Tristan_Geoff]

Originally Posted by JGuy Grungeman

Houdini by Melvins



Style: Stoner Rock, Sludge Metal
Release: September 21, 1993
Round: Stoner Rock

That's right, the famed sludge album co-produced by Kurt Cobain. I decided it was time to get Melvins out of the way, and now I have a consensus. The most interesting thing about this album is the seemingly gibberish lyrics in some of the songs. I can't make them out, but I can get an idea:

"Your make a doll a ray day" could be "You make a dollar a day."

I'm not sure, but I'm going to assume there's some level of lyrical creativity there since it doesn't completely sound like gibberish. However, Osbourne didn't have a deep message in mind when he wrote this, so idk. I won't write anymore about that, since I can't interpret them very well. They are interesting, though, and they're worth looking into if one wants a message.

Lyrics aside, it seems to me this album has given me a very good idea of sludge music (which I'm very new to). It also taught me something about the Melvins. You see, they don't write simple songs, and are a bit creative. However, their rhythms are a bit simple. Ity seems like they spend a lot of time playing the same note slowly or quickly. However, it still sounds good. Each song is fairly creative enough to differentiate the release from other metal albums. Plus, the songs are sung by Buzz Osborne's deep, powerful metal vocals that seem to bring a form of soul to the album no matter what schizophrenic gibberish he sings. He has multiple ways of singing, some manlier ways, some sludgy ways, and some weird ways. And let's not forget the weird, unique guitar tricks used to bring a strange, drugged up sound during some instrumentals, notably the instrumental on Sky Pup.

Music dfoesn't have to be very creative to be good, but it should be true to the sound its going for plus attempt to steer away from genericness. All I know is that Houdini wis not a very "creative" album when compared to other metal greats like Paranoid, Operation Mindcrime or Seven Keys 2. But it does have some creativity to it because it adds a lot of dark sound effects to the music, making the listener wonder what's going on. Plus, it was a true metal album with real metalheads as band members, guided by Cobain's production. Any simple by Cobain's production, and he did a better job at producing Houdini than Steve Albini did on In Utero.

Melvins have proved don't need fantastic songwriting skill to be a talented band. All they have to back themselves up is a true metal soul and stay as weird as possiblew without overdoing it and without straying away from metal feels. And with that, they can make anything they do sound good. I'm very sure if Houdini was written by anyone else, it wouldn't be as good. I'd say this is a very worthy metal album and a grand addition to the stoner and sludge scenes.

94. Not voting it off. Yet.

Great album. I hate when people classify Melvins as stoner though, and I question it's placement with the others in the round. I mean, some Melvins is stoner (Senile Animal especially) but it doesn't dum them up overall as well as sludge does.

Also, I'm curious as to why you hate Steve's production on In Utero, as I love his raw aproach (also, REM producer Scott Litt did remix about half of that album so it'd sell better and be more radio-friendly so that might have helped with that too). But I'm a huge Albini fan, so I'm still gonna question you as to why, just curious.

[JGuy Grungeman]

I never said hate. I said this production was better. I like Albini's production. I forgot to delete that part of the sentence in the review, and I guess it showed up as something different. Well, fixed now. I mean, don't get me wrong. Nevermind';s the most well-produced album I know, but In Utero had great production.

[JGuy Grungeman]

The Man Who by TRAVIS



Styles: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Birtpop
Release Date: 1999
Round: Britpop

This is the first time I've heard a Travis album, and the first thing I noticed upon playing it is the similar drumming style to Radiohead, notably “Airbag.” “Writing to Reach You” is heavily radio-friendly, but it's cute and well produced, charming in that weird radio-friendly sense because it's not bad at all. Fran Healy's voice is so melodic it's a wonder how a person can sound so calm. I had a feeling I would love the album on some level. As far as the opener went, I was very impressed. 95/100 song. And then came the second track, “Fear,” which continues displaying Radiohead influence. I suppose that won't be a surprise anymore throughout the album because they sound like a second Radiohead. The influence much heavier in “Fear,” which does not reach the rhythmatic or vocal quality of the opener. Because of this, the Radiohead influence is more heavily emphasized, almost to the point where it feels like a rip-off. So I'm gonna stop mentioning Radiohead since the whole album is possibly influenced by them, and it'll get tiring.

“As You Are” is much softer than the first two tracks. The only rhythm in the track that's worth noting is the rhythm held only by Healy's vocals. Nothing in the music does anything to emphasize the rhythm, so it feels like a simple piece of filler. However, there's a decent guitar solo. But after that, the song went back to it's old tricks (if any). I felt like skipping it. “Driftwood” seemed to take a more alternative turn, being a little heavier and more abundant on the acoustic guitars. The lyrics seem to have more meaning to them than the last few tracks. Travis does make a good group of songwriters; they just need better rhythm. And although the chorus has little to none of it, the acoustic guitars are so much fun. “The Last Laugh” is better. The vocals are more organized and the guitars actually have a legitimate tune instead of playing a note every slow beat. This has a tune, even if it's a little drowned out. “:Turn” is a complete turnaround from the lackluster filler that's been going on. It manages to differentiate itself a bit through quiet, fast paced bass in contrast to “Turn's” slow, cute guitars playing. “Why Does It Always Rain on Me” is another lackluster song needing rhythm, except continuing the emphasis on acoustic guitars. Nothing special. “Luv” is special compared to the filler. It's back up by some harmonicas. Still, it feels like cute filler like the rest. So, next. “She's So Strange” is carried by drums. And Healy goes for a different vocal trick, attempting to make himself sound more fit for alternative music buy toning down on the high pitched (most of the time), almost like Sting was singing Radiohead. Nice tune. “Slide Show” is the final track, starting out with a nice little guitar solo as Healy goes for a much more mellow approach, singing along a pair of violins. Super “alternative” if you ask me. Smart move to make the finale different from the rest so that the listener isn't left thinking “That was the same thing for 45 minutes,” especially since the guitar solo was actually quite good.

It's a cute listen, and I already mentioned many times how it's like Radiohead. But that barely saved the album from its flaws mostly consisting of the musicianship. Good to great lyrics are almost wasted on filler, but it's still enjoyable because the production is good and the album has a very appealing, calming essence. Would I recommend it? Well, if you want a nice listen for going to bed or if you want music similar to Radiohead, I do recommend it.

75/100. Voting it off. Nice way to calm my nerves, but it's the worst album in the rest of the list.

[Tristan_Geoff]

Originally Posted by JGuy Grungeman

I never said hate. I said this production was better. I like Albini's production. I forgot to delete that part of the sentence in the review, and I guess it showed up as something different. Well, fixed now. I mean, don't get me wrong. Nevermind';s the most well-produced album I know, but In Utero had great production.

Alright fair enough

[JGuy Grungeman]

Entertainment by Gang of Four



Style: Post-Punk, Art Punk
Release: 1979
Length: 39 min.
Round: Post-Punk

It's funny. Punk was coming out with so many subgenres very soon after the punk scene started. And in 1979, post-punk was still in the experimental stages. How can I tell? Entertainment is different from most post-punk because of it's lack of multiple emotions. As far as spirit goes, Entertainment seems to go back to the Ramones debut by playing their songs as if they thrived on their anger.

Sure, they have less time and structure restroctions, so they can be grouped with other post-punk bands. But the punk/post-punk vibe was combined with dance-punk and new wave elements to bring about a very "movable/dancable" album, instead of the deep, emotional content more modern post-punk and 80's post-punk are notable for.

As far as songwriting goes, little to no flaws on the structures, good lyrics, decent vocals, great guitars, and it all works so well to create a sound and a name for Gang of Four, as well as lovable songs for any punk lover. It captures the true spirit of punk that the scene was known for, and that overcomes most of the flaws/things that could be better.

95/100 Gonna be staying on that round.

I should focus on rock and roll since that's coming up.