quarta-feira, setembro 29, 2004

82. Foo Fighters - this is a call

82.FFthisisacall
82.FFthisisacall,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I am not sure why I have this - it had to have been on sale for .99 cents like the majority of singles - the two extra tracks are unimpressionable. The second b-side is okay if you don't mind the same chords played over and over again without ever really going anywhere. The other b-side is okay, Dave is using a megaphone effect on his voice - and effects on his voice are always welcome.

4 out of 10

segunda-feira, setembro 27, 2004

81. Foo Fighters - foo fighters

81.FFfoofighters
81.FFfoofighters,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I for one really like it when band members continue playing and/or join other bands. So when I heard that Pat Smear, Dave Grohl, Nate and Will from SDRE were playing together I was very pleased. I loved Nirvana, and I claim being the first SDRE fan after seeing them on 120 Minutes (don't even Meadows) and overall the album is really good - catchy - lyrically shallow - but he was the drummer after all (no offense drummers - I always wanted to be the drummer when playing). Anyway - good solid pop from two groups who at that time were done being in their current incarnations.

8.5 out of 10

80. Hole - live through this

80.Hlivethroughthis
80.Hlivethroughthis,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
Say what you want but this is a really good album - it came out a perfect time and seemed like a logical progression from the last album - some even say that Kurt wrote the majority of the songs - I don't think that's the case but you can hear Nirvana's influence.

8.5 out of 10

domingo, setembro 26, 2004

79. Hole - teenage whore

79.Hteenagewhore
79.Hteenagewhore,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I got this because of Drown Soda, which during her unplugged performance she said Kurt wrote for her or she wrote for him - not too sure... either way the song isn't anything special - as a matter of fact the other track Burn Black makes the single worth having. Also produced by Kim Gordon and Don Fleming.

6.5 out of 10

78. Hole - pretty on the inside

78.Hprettyontheinside
78.Hprettyontheinside,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
Before she was hated by millions of Nirvana fans, Courtney actually showed some promise musically - the songs aren't the most innovative but they do have a great punk raw energy that was captured well by Kim Gordon who produced (you can hear the Sonic Youth influences as well).

6.5 out of 10

sexta-feira, setembro 24, 2004

77. Nirvana - out of the blue/89 (bootleg)

Just like the Debbie Gibson album this came out of nowhere I guess. I know I am reviewing these out of order. What makes this disc great are two things: the year and the venue. Clearly consisiting of just Bleach tracks the band must have embarked on some sort of club tour throughout Europe - the banter between the band and an audience member is great, if you listen to it on headphones you can almost smell the smoke - and the sound quality is decent too since it was taped for Austrian radio.

8 out of 10

76. Nirvana - roma/94 (bootleg)

The best thing about the internet is trading shows with people. You longer have to gamble $30 on a bootleg. The sound quality isn't that bad on this - it sounds like a soundboard recording that has had 20,000 copies made of it - so you can hear the loss in quality. But the songs are great and there are 23 of them. The band seems to really be into the show - if the quality were better it would be an amazing document of the band live.

8.5 out of 10

quarta-feira, setembro 22, 2004

75. Nirvana - the priest they called him

74.NVthepriesttheycalled
74.NVthepriesttheycalled,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I know this isn't a Nirvana release - I am not sure who came up with the idea for this but it looked good on paper and sounded bad. Burrough's voice and story has enough character and merit to stand on its own - kurt's guitar just gets in the way. Luckily it's only 10 minutes long otherwise you'd shoot yourself - sorry that wasn't funny. I'll keep it because it's out of print.

5 out of 10

74. Nirvana - from the muddy banks of the wishkah

75.NVfromthemuddybanksofthewishkah
75.NVfromthemuddybanksofthewishkah,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
With Kurt dead it made sense to start releasing anything and everything by Nirvana - I was glad this came out because back then in 96' if you waned a bootleg you used to have to pay $30 or so, which I could never do - so it was nice to have an official release put out by the other members of the band. At first I thought the album was sloppy and patchy, now I release that that was the band, sloppy and patchy at times, and it was still great.

8 out of 10

terça-feira, setembro 21, 2004

73.Nirvana - unplugged

73.NVunplugged
73.NVunplugged,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
Obviously the treasure behind this album is to hear the band perform in a manner that normally you would never hear - back then MTV at least tried to act like it cared about music. It is intimate, revealing and sedate - everything a television show normally isn't. My favourite has to be Pennyroyal Tea.

8.5 out of 10

sábado, setembro 18, 2004

72. Nirvana - heart shaped box

72.NVheartshapedbox
72.NVheartshapedbox,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I obviously got this for the B-side - it's called Marigold and Dave Grohl wrote the song and sings on it, now makes perfect sense with the Foo Fighters - again makes us wonder where the band could have gone. Will trade in once I get the box set.

8 out of 10

71. Nirvana - in utero

71.NVinutero
71.NVinutero,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
Supposedly this is Chad's favourite Nirvana disc - I like it - it's thick and vicious but not as good as Nevermind - nonetheless great. Makes everybody wonder where the band could have gone.

"all in all is all we all are"

9 out of 10

70. Nirvana - incesticide

70.NVincesticide
70.NVincesticide,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
Nice little collection of b-sides and singles put out to clearly capitalize on the success of Nevermind. The tracks are interesting but by no means a proper follow up. I noticed that two of my tracks are scratched.

6.5 out of 10

69. Nirvana - come as you are

69.NVcomeasyouare
69.NVcomeasyouare,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I got this because my cd did not come with the hidden track 'Endless, Nameless' - which is nothing special but is interesting. It's backed with two live tracks 'school' and 'drain you' - which are of good quality and are great tracks. I will get rid of this though if it's on the box set for the end of the year.

7 out of 10

68. Nirvana - nevermind

68.NVnevermind
68.NVnevermind,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
well this is an easy one. I actually don't think I want to say anything about the music - I got this when I was dating sarah in high school. One of the things that i love about music is how it stays the same and never leaves.

10 out of 10

quarta-feira, setembro 15, 2004

67. Nirvana - bleach

67.NVbleach
67.NVbleach,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
Like the rest of the world, I purchased Nevermind first and then ran out to pick this up. The album hints at what Nirvana would eventually become - by listening to this it becomes apparent how confident kurt became in his singing and the talent that Dave Grohl would later add.

8 out of 10

segunda-feira, setembro 13, 2004

66. Love Battery - dayglo

65
65,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
This is a great album - solid from beginning to end - it grabs all the good moments from the first record and makes them better. It has aged very well.

8.5 out of 10

65. Love Battery - between the eyes

64
64,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I don't know much about these guys outside of the drummer having joined Presidents of the United States several years later. The album is pretty good - at this point I am not even sure what grunge is exactly anymore, but these guys have a unique sound - poppy and psychedelic even...

7 out of 10

sábado, setembro 11, 2004

64. Big Chief - face

63
63,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
This is an interesting one, and somewhat odd for Sub-Pop. The band is from Detroit and their sound is a mix of grunge, soul and metal at times - so you find yourself saying 'wow this sounds pretty good, but wait, that was a cheesy solo just now'...again it came out in 91' when a lot of bands were progressing onto better sounds...

6 out of 10

quinta-feira, setembro 09, 2004

63. Seaweed - despised

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62,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I remember hearing a track off of this in Brasil and writing the bands name down - it was the song 'one out of four', which I still like - but that's about it really, the rest of the album just sort of goes through the motions - I thought listening to it now I'd enjoy it a lot more...

3.5 out of 10

quarta-feira, setembro 08, 2004

62. Pond - the practice of joy before death

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61,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I had to use my Sound Splash credit before leaving WPB, not worth explaining... I guess the band is trying but nothing worth listening to twice is coming out - a shame.

3 out of 10

61. Pond - pond

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60,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
While the major labels were signing bands like 'War Babies' Sub-Pop was cleverly not 'labeling' itself as just a grunge label - I think that they were just signing bands they liked and this release by Pond hints at how diverse the label would eventually become. The album never becomes predictable, but the vocals do, and are just somewhat weak and keep the album from really being something memorable...released 1993.

7 out of 10

60. Tad - 8 way santa

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59,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
This was the bands proper first full length release on Sub Pop - it was produced by Butch Vig pre Nevermind, I think...at the time I really enjoyed this album, and to an extent still do, it just suffers from being good, but not good enough - it has the bands signature 'grunge' sound, but also has some lighter poppier tracks - staying in my collection.

7.5 out of 10

59. Tad - salt lick

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58,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
Originaly this release consisted of two seperate ep's "Salt Lick" and "God's Balls" - one ep was produced by Steve Albini and the other Jack Endino. I am not sure how I heard about Tad, I probably just purchased it because it was on Sub-Pop, but my first record was "8-Way Santa", I then ran out and picked this up. You can tell that the two ep's were stronger seperately than together - it has its moments but ends up being just flat.

5.5 out of 10

sexta-feira, setembro 03, 2004

58. Mudhoney - every good boy deserves fudge

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57,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
I either never realized how good this album was - or I forgot...very good - not as intense as their previous effort, but very bright. I remember getting rid of their 'slice of pie' record, and now I am wondering why (possibly my 21 year old self was correct in not liking it) - but it seems now like it was worth a second chance at least.

8.5 out of 10

quarta-feira, setembro 01, 2004

57. Mudhoney - mudhoney

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56,
originally uploaded by jrd550.
The definitive grunge album - or at least one of them. Brilliant from beginning to end. Still as fresh as when I first heard it.

10 out of 10