Search Results
7/24/2025, 5:17:35 AM
David Allan Coe
Distinctions Not Cost-Effective [1970s]: Has never killed me.
Distinctions Not Cost-Effective [1970s]: Has never killed me.
7/24/2025, 2:38:42 AM
One Man Dog [Warner Bros., 1972]
James Taylor with panache. C+
James Taylor with panache. C+
7/22/2025, 9:09:31 PM
Master of Reality [Warner Bros., 1971]
As an increasingly regretful spearhead of the great Grand Funk Railroad switch two years ago, in which the critics defined Grand Funk as a good ol' white boy blues band, even though I knew of no critics, myself included, who played the records, I feel obliged to put this one in its place. Grand Funk are American--dull. Black Sabbath are English--dull and decadent. I don't care how many rebels and incipient groovers are buying, I don't even care if the band actually believes their own Christian/liberal/satanist much--this is a dimwitted, amoral exploitation. D+
As an increasingly regretful spearhead of the great Grand Funk Railroad switch two years ago, in which the critics defined Grand Funk as a good ol' white boy blues band, even though I knew of no critics, myself included, who played the records, I feel obliged to put this one in its place. Grand Funk are American--dull. Black Sabbath are English--dull and decadent. I don't care how many rebels and incipient groovers are buying, I don't even care if the band actually believes their own Christian/liberal/satanist much--this is a dimwitted, amoral exploitation. D+
7/13/2025, 3:50:03 PM
Rio [Capitol, 1982]
With music drily electronic enough to pass for new wave and pop moistly textural enough to go over as pop, lyrics that rearrange received language from several levels of discourse into a noncommital private doggerel, and a limitless supply of Bowie clones to handle the vocal chores, this is Anglodisco at its most solemnly expedient. It lacks even the forced cheerfulness of (whatever happened to?) Haircut 100 (wait, I don't really want to know), as if it had as many hooks as A Flock of Seagulls (not bloody likely) it still wouldn't be silly enough to be any fun. C-
With music drily electronic enough to pass for new wave and pop moistly textural enough to go over as pop, lyrics that rearrange received language from several levels of discourse into a noncommital private doggerel, and a limitless supply of Bowie clones to handle the vocal chores, this is Anglodisco at its most solemnly expedient. It lacks even the forced cheerfulness of (whatever happened to?) Haircut 100 (wait, I don't really want to know), as if it had as many hooks as A Flock of Seagulls (not bloody likely) it still wouldn't be silly enough to be any fun. C-
7/10/2025, 9:01:07 PM
Best of Bee Gees Vol. 3 [RSO, 1980]
Not that I don't think "Jive Talkin'" and "Stayin' Alive" aren't "great." But I would never trust any pop group that leaves out of its own canon such masterpieces of monumental schlock as "Lonely Days" and "How Can You Mend This Broken Heart?" This collection features twenty late '70s hits, B-sides, and rarities. But I remember. B
Not that I don't think "Jive Talkin'" and "Stayin' Alive" aren't "great." But I would never trust any pop group that leaves out of its own canon such masterpieces of monumental schlock as "Lonely Days" and "How Can You Mend This Broken Heart?" This collection features twenty late '70s hits, B-sides, and rarities. But I remember. B
7/1/2025, 2:54:45 PM
The Runaways [Mercury, 1976]
Don't let misguided notions of feminism, creative convolutions, or the idea that punk rock should transcend ordinary musical ideas suck you in--this is Kim Fowley's project, which means it is tuneless and wooden as well as exploitative. How on Earth the man can hang around El Lay this long without copping a lick or two defies comprehension. The answer must lie in sheer perversity, which in of itself makes for the one truly perverse thing about the man. C-
Don't let misguided notions of feminism, creative convolutions, or the idea that punk rock should transcend ordinary musical ideas suck you in--this is Kim Fowley's project, which means it is tuneless and wooden as well as exploitative. How on Earth the man can hang around El Lay this long without copping a lick or two defies comprehension. The answer must lie in sheer perversity, which in of itself makes for the one truly perverse thing about the man. C-
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