Ry Cooder "Bop Till You Drop" (1979)

Bop Till You Drop
release date: Aug. 1979
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: Ry Cooder
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Little Sister" - 3. "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" - 8. "Don' t Mess Up a Good Thing" - 9. "I Can't Win"

7th studio album by Ry Cooder marks another change of style towards mainstream pop / rock. His first three albums were all dedicated to roots rock and americana with music written by "forgotten" composers from before WW2. On his fourth album Paradise and Lunch (1974) he incorporated more contemporary music with a new style: jazz. On his fifth album Chicken Skin Music (1976) he mixed his americana style with gospel and Hawaiian music, and on his sixth studio album, Jazz (1978), well, I guess that sort of says it all. On this album he does what he has become famous for: re-arranging other artists compositions in new ways. The selected songs are rhythm & blues and rock & roll classics, and in Cooder's versions they are all added a certain roots rock element. The album sold well, but I don't find it as good as his more stylistic "clean" and traditional arrangements. Although, it's solid workmanship, I find that it's too much r&b to my liking.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Ry Cooder "Boomer's Story" (1972)

Boomer's Story
release date: Nov. 1972
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Jim Dickinson, Lenny Waronker
label: Reprise Records - nationality: USA

3rd studio album by Ry Cooder who keeps to his roots rock combining with americana. It's really impressive how this young-less-than-25-yo man sounds like a mature cowboy doing the blues of his life. This is just as impressive as his 2nd album, Into the Purple Valley (also 1972).
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Ry Cooder "Into the Purple Valley" (1972)

Into the Purple Valley
release date: Feb. 1972
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Jim Dickinson, Van Dyke Parks, Lenny Waronker
label: Reprise Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 3. "Money Honey" - 4. "F.D.R. in Trinidad" - 5. "Teardrops Will Fall" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "On A Monday" - 8. "Hey Porter" - 11. "Vigilante Man"

2nd studio album by Ry Cooder is an even bolder return to the heart of sources to contemporary rock. He interprets Agnes Cunningham, Leadbelly, Johnny Cash, and Woody Guthrie, and a number of other artists who made music in the earliest decades of the century. I have never been a great fan of the blues, traditional rhythm & blues nor country, but one has to hand it to Cooder: he does a fabulous job in making this music live again, and the album has an authenticity and genuine quality that simply came in smaller dozes on his debut. At the point of recording the album Cooder is 22 years old but mostly just sounds like a mature man with a long and lively life behind him.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Ry Cooder "Ry Cooder" (1970)

Ry Cooder [debut]
release date: Dec. 1970
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]
producer: Van Dyke Parks, Lenny Waronker
label: Reprise Records - nationality: USA

Studio debut album by Ry Cooder is a blues rock, roots rock, and an americana album, though, I find that the blues element is the most dominant genre here. It's not bad not at all, only traditional blues doesn't appeal much to me. Cooder is famous for mixing styles and genres in his own blend of roots rock, I just find that The Band does this better. However, the album is interesting for being released in 1970 when blues rock was almost pseudonymous with electrified rock with reminiscence of Hendrix in one way or another, and then: this has no link at all to that, but goes beyond Hendrix, the whole psychedelic rock pond, and perhaps reaches out for the very sources to contemporary artists like Hendrix: Leadbelly, Blind Willie Johnson, and the like of the earliest decades of the century.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Andy Summers "XYZ" (1987)

XYZ [debut]
release date: Dec. 1987
format: vinyl (254 783-1) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Andy Summers, David Hentschel
label: MCA Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Love Is the Strangest Way" - 2. "How Many Days?" - 3. "Almost There" - 4. "Eyes of a Stranger" - 6. "Scary Voices" - 7. "Nowhere" - 10. "Hold Me"

Solo studio album debut by former The Police guitarist, Andy Summers (aka Andrew James Somers) who had previously released two collaboration albums with Robert Fripp: I Advance Masked (1982) and Bewitched (1984), and contributed on soundtracks for films: The Wild Life (1984), 2010 (1984) and for the TV-series "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" (1986). Aside from being primary songwriter and composer - four tracks (tracks #2, #7, #8, and #10) are co-composed with producer Hentschel, who also provides keyboards and drum programming - Summers is credited as vocalist, which actually works more than just Okay, however, it's nevertheless his first and only album on which he provides lead vocals.

Musically, this isn't closely linked to the music by The Police. In fact, it has more in common with music by John Cale and Peter Gabriel with its bolder fusion rock and jazz fusion elements and a more obvious art rock approach. Yes, you can easily detect the guitar-sound of Summers, which has always made me wonder why he was never credited the music by The Police, 'cause how could Sting have written and arranged the songs telling Andy how to play the guitar?!

"Love Is the Strangest Thing" is the only single taken from an album, which wasn't exactly met by positive reviews, and it was basically seen as a commercial failure, which didn't have MCA invest further in Summers' career.

Personally, I purchased the album only to hear what the great guitarist of The Police could do on his own. Had I listened to it first, I may not have used money on it but I'm glad I did. No, it didn't sell and it wasn't met by acclaim, but in retrospect, I do think it's much better than rumour has it. Summers may have givin up singing after this, and because of this - the following tour and the sales numbers from the album didn't exactly encourage him to persue a career as vocalist, which I think is a shame. On this, he actually comes close to the sonic of Peter Gabriel. The music is close to that - perhaps too close - which may have had critics reject it as an original work.

XYZ is Summers' first solo album. It didn't turn out as intended - the music industry leeds its own unpredictable life. Overall, I think it's worth much more than a listen or two. It's flaw isn't because of the production sound, the mixing, nor in the song material but may likely be a result of missing personnel. A featuring artist (say Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, John Cale) here and there could likely have lifted this album from obscurity and brought it into the starlight. I do believe this very album is an example of how there's only a thin line between failure and success. "How Many Days" and "Nowhere" are both strong enough to make it to popular radio choices, but they weren't chosen as singles. The album is more than a decent first one out. It could arguably have been better arranged but the song material is there.

[ 👎allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

Bloc Party "The Nextwave Sessions" (2013) (ep)

The Nextwave Sessions, ep

release date: Aug. 12, 2013

format: digital

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,78]

producer: Dan Carey

label: Frenchkiss Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Ratchet" - 2. "Obscene" - 4. "French Exit" - 4. "Montreal" - 5. "Children of the Future"

5-track ep by Bloc Party and the last release to feature the original line-up as first drummer Matt Tong left the band shortly after this and in 2015 also bassist Gordon Moakes desided to leave.

Stylistically, it's electroindie, indie pop... something there-about. First impression hasn't changed much. That's really something new! I've always found that I needed time to adjust to the band's new style, but here without much luck, I'm stuck with something that lacks my interest. Without being near great "French Exit" is the best track, and perhaps one could argue that it shows us how the unit is left without new flourishing ideas.

Rammstein "Links 2-3-4" (2001) (single)

Links 2-3-4, single
release date: May 14, 2001
format: digital
[single rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Jacob Hellner, Rammstein
label: Motor Music - nationality: Germany

Tracklist: 1. "Links 2-3-4" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Halleluja" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Links 2-3-4 (Clawfinger Geradeaus Remix)" (2,5 / 5) - 4. "Links 2-3-4 (Westbam Technoelectro Mix)" (2,5 / 5) - 5. "Links 2-3-4 (Westbam Hard Rock Café Bonus Mix)" (2,5 / 5)

Single release by Rammstein from the album Mutter.

Elvis Costello "Mighty Like a Rose" (1991)

Mighty Like a Rose
release date: May 14, 1991
format: vinyl / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: Mitchell Froom, Kevin Killen and D.P.A. MacManus
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: England, UK

13th studio album by Elvis Costello following more than 2 years after Spike is his second album for his new label, Warner Bros., and it's also his second consecutive album not to feature The Attractions, although, drummer Pete Thomas is credited as additional musician. Alledgedly, Costello had wanted to record the album with The Attractions and sent invitations to the various band members, but only received rejections as they didn't like how they would be credited. On top of that, bassist Bruce Thomas released the semi-biography "The Big Wheel", in which he portrays life in a band with a lead singer, who ends up distancing himself from the other members - ultimately, yet with no further precision or identification, describing his band life with Elvis Costello. The two musicians had been on a relational slope, but this didn't make things better. After Thomas then sent Costello a copy of the book, via a friend of a friend, Costello wrote and recorded the song "How to Be Dumb" (track #3).
The album was recorded with Costello in a strong controlling role, where he came to the studio with pre-arranged songs and a final playlist, which left little room for Froom and Killen to have their say regarding arrangements or sound. It appears (even) more complex than Spike, and Costello also employs a Phil Spector-like approach by using multiple track recordings of his lead vocal. The end result is a rather complex album filled with strings, brass and extra keyboard tracks, and it doesn't really suit his songs as they at times appear muddy and over-produced - making me recall his Goodbye Cruel World period. However, Mighty Like a Rose contains better songs, e.g. "The Other Side of Summer", "Georgie and Her Rival" and "So Like Candy", but it doesn't come without fillers or what appear as unfinished ideas.
Bottom line, it's really not one of his best, and with this I simply lost a lot of my adoration and my expectations concerning new music from Costello was at a unprecedented low.
Not recommended.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5, NME 2,5 / 5, Blender, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

The Blue Nile "Hats" (1989)

Hats
release date: May 13, 1989
format: vinyl (LKH2) / digital
[album rate: 5 / 5] [4,78]
producer: The Blue Nile
label: Linn Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Over the Hillside" (5 / 5) - 2. "The Downtown Lights" (5 / 5 ) - 3. "Let's Go Out Tonight" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "Headlights on the Parade" (5 / 5) - 5. "From a Late Night Train" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "Seven A.M." - 7. "Saturday Night" (4,5 / 5)

2nd studio album by The Blue Nile. All songs are credited vocalist and guitarist Paul Buchanan. I recall how I impatiently awaited this second album while I kept trying to figure out if they had already disbanded. Most other artists released at least a new album each year but it took 4½ years before this one came out. I rushed out to buy it, which wasn't really easy, and I remember playing the album over and over for years to come. It's really another classic work, and again, mostly just artists and critics were overwhelmed. A remastered 2-disc Collector's Edition was released in 2012 by Virgin, and it feature live versions, alternate mixes and two new studio songs ("Christmas" is previously unreleased, whereas "The Wires Are Down" is a B-side to the single "The Downtown Lights").
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, NME 4,5 / 5, Records Mirror, Sounds 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3/5, Q Magazine 5 / 5 stars ]
[ Danish review ]

1989 Favourite releases: 1. Pixies Doolittle - 2. The Blue Nile Hats - 3. Kitchens of Distinction Love Is Hell

Show lyrics <- click...

~ ~ ~

"Headlights On The Parade"

"And if in love she cried
Something wasn't right
'I'm sorry' - would be easy
To say I love you

Headlights on the parade
Light up the way
Headlights on the parade
Light up the way
I go, yeah

Close your eyes come with me
Only love is alive
Close your eyes can't you see
Only love will survive, yeah

Headlights on the parade
Light up the way, I love you

Headlights on the parade
Light up the way
I've made up my mind
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Only love will survive
Yeah

The city wins while you and I
Can't find a way
Oh, headlights on the parade, yeah, yeah

Fly little angel
Fly little angel
Yeah"

~ ~ ~

Chumbawamba "The Boy Bands Have Won" (2008)

The Boy Bands Have Won
release date: Mar. 3, 2008
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Chumbawamba
label: No Masters - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Add Me" (live) - 4. "Hull or Hell" - 5. "El fusilado" (live) - 7. "I Wish That They'd Sack Me" - 11. "Lord Bateman's Motorbike" - 14. "(Words Flew) Right Around the World" - 18. "Compliments of Your Waitress" - 24. "Waiting for the Bus"

13th studio album by Chumbawamba following A Singsong and a Scrap (2005) is like most of the band's recent albums played in a style of a cappella, English folk music, i.e. folk with focus on vocal harmonies. The album contains 25 listed tracks of which approx. half are just around one minute long, which in that respect follows the same formula as WYSIWYG from 2000. The full title of the album is actually: The Boy Bands Have Won, and All the Copyists and the Tribute Bands and the TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture to Be Shaped by Mimicry, Whether from Lack of Ideas or from Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try to Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother's Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don't Just Regurgitate Creative History, or Hold Art and Music and Literature as Fixed, Untouchable and Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try to 'Guard' Any Particular Form of Music Are, Like the Copyists and Manufactured Bands, Doing It the Worst Disservice, Because the Only Thing That You Can Do to Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It's Over, Then It's Done, and the Boy Bands Have Won. - needless say the title is commonly abbreviated.
Thematically, Chumbawamba hasn't changed its lyrics much over two decades. The change one will notice here is a stronger (local) social awareness in the bands' topics to direct its criticism on English politics that involve the ordinary Brit, and in that way this may be seen as a nice return to form.
At first, I found it a peculiar step away from the band's more musically pop- and dance-minded albums of the '90s, which brought the band fame, good reviews and some fine sales. I must admit, though, that this is no such thing as a lesser album. It's just very different. I think, they may have realised that all their good intentions about reaching more people with their messages through popular music was something they couldn't win. If the songs were popular, well, they were that, but the message drowned in a pool of commercialism, and where WYSIWYG was neither fish nor flesh, this presents a welcomed return of Chumbawamba as the world has come to know of it.
This album is smooth and beautiful - a truly fine accomplishment.
Recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Ben Watt "Hendra" (2014)

Hendra
release date: Apr. 14, 2014
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,26]
producer: Ewan Pearson
label: Unmade Road - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Hendra" - 2. "Forget" (live) - 3. "Spring" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Gun" - 8. "The Levels" (live) - 10. "The Heart Is a Mirror"

2nd solo studio album by Ben Watt released on his own label Unmade Road. Ben usually releases new material as part of Everything but the Girl together with his wife Tracey Thorn, and this is his only solo album in more than 30 years following his solo debut North Marine Drive (1983). The album comes out more or less simultaneously with his autobiography "Patient" - the story of how he was struck by a rare but serious decease, which had him hospitalised for a long period of time in the early 90s - and appears to be named after his recently deceased older sister's cottage, which bore the name, meaning 'home' in old Cornish. So, that also makes the album a hommage to his sister.
The music is like a return to the initial style of EBTG, which means sophisti-pop, jangle pop, and jazz pop. Add to that an element of singer / songwriter, which makes me think of Aztec Camera / Roddy Frame or Prefab Sprout. This is primarily acoustic driven music apart from collaboration artist Bernard Butler's background and laid-back electric jazz guitar. It's nice, quiet, and pretty neat - I like it, it's good. It doesn't stir up anything or anyone, and the music sounds like fine background noise at the hip cafe featuring a mature audience chatting quietly while sipping the latte before returning homeward. The single "Spring" is the strongest highlight of the album.

Rammstein "Mutter" (2001)

Mutter
release date: Apr. 2, 2001
format: cd
[album rate; 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Jacob Hellner, Rammstein
label: Motor Music - nationality: Germany

Track highlights: 1. "Mein Herz brennt" (5 / 5) - 2. "Links 2-3-4" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Sonne" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "Ich will" - 5. "Feuer frei!" - 6. "Mutter" (4,5 / 5) - 7. "Spieluhr" - 9. "Rein raus"

3rd studio album by Rammstein who continues to work with Swedish producer Jacob Hellner. He has been with the band from the beginning i.e. since 1995.
Compared to the previous album Sehnsucht (1997) the style remains the same. It's a collection of almost brutal energy and with the usual one or two slow songs - the title track and "Nebel" (#11) to balance the high tempo. The recipe worked on the '97 album, so why not repeat the formula with a bunch of new songs, you may ask, and the end result is that the band succeeds like never before.
Mutter is stronger than any of their previous albums, and in hindsight it's also the band's best album ever. It contains several (blasting) great compositions (the first three + the title track).
The album produced several singles - "Sonne" was the first and only to precede the album release, and it was followed by #2, #4, #6 and #5 in that order, and with a total of five single releases. The first single peaked at number #2 on the national singles chart list, and the remainders failed to enter top 10. Nationally, the album topped the charts, which it also did in Austria and in Switzerland, and it was the band's first to sell double platinum (+600.000 copies) in Germany.
The track "Links 2-3-4" is the band's answer to critics accusing it for right-wing and fascist sympathy. In the chorus line it says: "My heart beats to the left, 2-3-4" implying a political stand on the left with supposed allusions to a revolutionary Bertolt Brecht song.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Blender 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

2001 Favourite releases: 1. Björk Vespertine - 2. Nathalie Merchant Motherland - 3. Rammstein Mutter

The The "Mind Bomb" (1989)

Mind Bomb
release date: Jun. 13, 1989
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: Warne Livesey, Roli Mosimann, Matt Johnson
label: Epic Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Good Morning Beautiful" - 2. "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)" - 4. "Kingdom of Rain" (feat. Sinéad O'Connor) (4 / 5) - 5. "The Beat(en) Generation" - 6. "August & September"

3rd studio album release by The The following more than 2½ years after the acclaimed Infected (Nov. 1986). Previously, Matt Johnson had been the only official member of his band as he had worked with studio musicians to record his former albums, as well as working with and hiring various members for live performances. But for this, Johnson included a fixed group of members, and fundamentally changed his project to a functional band, all depicted on the back cover. Band members here are now Matt Johnson on vocals, guitar and keyboards, Johnny Marr (The Smiths) on guitar and harmonica, James Eller (Julian Cope band) on bass, and with Dave Palmer (ABC) on drums. Eller had been hand-picked by Johnson, who had enjoyed the bass-sound on the albums Saint Julian and My Nation Underground by Julian Cope, and he had wanted to continue working with Palmer who had been the drummer on Infected. On songwriter / composer level it doesn't make a big difference since all tracks except one are written entirely by Johnson, so he hasn't given away much in the decision process. The only noticeable difference is a change to a stronger pop / rock style with less room for experiments and art pop, and the sound is very 80s in a not so positive sense with much focus on drum and bass. That said, the album still differs from contemporary releases by incorporating instrumentation and styles from a broad variety.
The album is his so far best-selling album making it to number #4 on the UK albums chart list, and the single "The Beat(en) Generation" is the best-faring single by The The peaking as number #17 on the national charts, as many may have found this release more (mainstream) digestible. The album had the working title of "Psychonaut" - together with the actual title this referred to Johnson's perception of the deceptive mind - whether the topic is religion or ideology. Both Johnson and Livesey had aimed to release "Kingdom of Rain" as promotion single, but apparently they had all 'forgotten' to have O'Connor accept this whilst her mind was set on her album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990).
Following the relase of the album, Johnson and the band prepared for Johnson's first live tour in almost a decade - he had detested and feared performing live, so he had always found ways around that - with Infected it became a film project including every song on the album directed by Tim Pope, but now with this great line-up, he admitted to his colleages that they were much better experienced with this, and they rehearsed in dept to just get to some point of acceptance that yes, they were able to do this. A complete world tour was scheduled: "The The Versus the World" it was titled. Halfway through an exceptional succesful tour, while Johnson and girlfriend Fiona Skinner were on a week-long break on Mallorca, he got a phone call that had him consider calling the tour over. His younger brother Eugene had been found dead back home from a ruptures brain aneurysm. They hurried back home to find everyone devasted - his mother never fully recovered. After awhile, Matt decided they should finish the tour - life had to win. Alledgedly, he found it more than hard to go through the rest of the tour with Eugene having taken a role helping out, selling merchandise and attending gigs. Matt kept seing his brother's face in the audience - and he had to cope with his own mind going astray when thinking how he called the album "Mind Bomb", with what that implied, thoughts on religious matters, AND a brother who died from a decease in his brain... entering his mind... a Mind Bomb! No wonder he was caught off foot. I have always been in two minds about this - I think, it's more than just good, on the other hand I somehow don't find it as interesting and unique as Infected, and then I'm not a huge fan of the production sound here, and then again: "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again", "Kingdom of Rain" with Sinéad O'Connor, and "August & September" are absolute great songs. "The Beat(en) Generation" might be one of his most familiar songs but it's also a track, I find doesn't show Johnson as the great songwriter he truly is, and according to his autobiography "Long Shadows, High Hopes" it's neither one of his personal favourites.
This is one of the few albums that doesn't have cover art by Johnson's brother Andy Dog; instead Johnson's girlfriend Fiona Skinner is credited artwork [The The logo magnified on back cover, sleeve and inner sleeves] together with stills by fashion photographer Andrew Macpherson to match the label's wish to sell the album with a photo of the main man behind the music, which should have more people fall for the cover instead of 'masturbating devils' or the like - meaning the art by Johnson's brother, Andy.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark "Sugar Tax" (1991)

Sugar Tax
release date: May 7, 1991
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,92]
producer: OMD, Howard Gray, Andy Richards
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Sailing on the Seven Seas" - 2. "Pandora's Box" (3,5 / 5)

8th studio album by OMD, which by now has become a solo-project by founding member Andy McCluskey. That is to say: McCluskey has teamed up with a new backing band consisting of the two keyboardists Nigel Ipinson and Phil Coxon reducing OMD to a trio - for live performances the band was extended by Abe Juckes on drums; however, the one-man project becomes more evident when looking at the songwriter credits as keyboardists Lloyd Massett and Stuart Kershaw are credited on some of the album's tracks (without participating) and with McCluskey being sole writer on half of all tracks.
Stylistically, the album was launched as a comeback after 5 years of silence with a new danceable style. The album was well-received - at least by fans, which put the album on #3 on the albums chart list in the UK, equalling the band's highest charting album Architecture & Morality. The single "Sailing on the Seven Seas" was released to promote the album and it also reached #3 on the singles chart list. Critics were split, although, several magazines welcomed the new style.
I only saw it as a confirmation on the band's detour into mainstream. I remember how a friend gladly presented the album to me, and all I could think was how in the world he was unable to hear how poor it was. To me, this certainly didn't make me want to check out new material from OMD, which I sort of continued to neglect for another decade or more.
And yes, the first two tracks suggest a much better album. But the remaining songs are so-so or just fillers to what could have been stretched to a decent ep.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Sleeps With Angels" (1994)

Sleeps With Angels
release date: Aug. 6, 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: David Briggs, Neil Young
label: Reprise Records, Germany - nationality: Canada

Track highlights: 1. "My Heart" (4 / 5) - 2. "Prime of Life" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Change Your Mind" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Train of Love" (3,5 / 5) - 12. "A Dream That Can Last" (3,5 / 5)

21st studio album by Neil Young is released as Neil Young & Crazy Horse. It seems Neil has found his strengths as he hasn't released a "strange" and stylistically experimental album since 1986 with Landing on Water. This is perhaps his most restrained, dark and soft rock folk rock (official) release with Crazy Horse. Only exception is the hard rock track "Piece of Crap". Overall, it appears to me to be closest related with Tonight's the Night from 1975.
Although, the album was well-received, it's not really one of my favorites. I think, it serves well as background noise for interesting conversations but somehow also bores me somewhat. The only real exceptional tracks are the first and last: "My Heart" and "A Dream That Can Last", the latter being a rare Neil Young composition that has a certain circus feel and near The Last Waltz theme by The Band to it.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Mew "Half The World Is Watching Me" (2000)

Half The World Is Watching Me
release date: May 4, 2000
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: Mew, Morten Sidenius and Flemming Rasmussen
label: Evil Office - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: 0. "Ending" - 1. "Am I Wry? No" (4 / 5) - 2. "Mica" - 3. "Saliva" - 4. "King Christian" - 5. "Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years" - 6. "156" - 7. "Symmetry" - 8. "Comforting Sounds"

2nd studio album by Mew issued on the band's own label and originally released in only about 5000 copies. Swedish singer Stina Nordenstam features on track #5, Georgian Becky Jarrett on #7, and the producer of the debut album, Damon Tutunjian sings rap on "King Christian".

The music is generally very interesting, however, being familiar with Frengers (2003) as the first Mew album, the first two albums mostly just generate great 'demos' to that. Frengers is then nothing more than an upgraded compilation, encompassing this album and the debut, A Triumph for Man (1997). What is striking about this, the band's second effort, is really the fine raw material, and alas, also the somewhat narrow production sound, although, the album comes out as slightly bettering the debut. Tracks like "Mica", "Saliva", and "King Christian" could easily have been included on Frengers, and in the hands of producer Rich Costey, only imagination can perceive how great these songs would have shone alongside the other tracks from the first two albums.

[ Gaffa.dk 4 / 6 stars ]

The Smiths "Sweet and Tender Hooligan" (1995) (single)

Sweet and Tender Hooligan, single
release date: May 23, 1995
format: digital
[single rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: John Porter
label: Sire Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Sweet and Tender Hooligan" - 2. "I Keep Mine Hidden" - 3. "Work Is a Four-Letter Word" - 4. "What's the World?" (Live)

Single release by The Smiths issued in May 1995 by Sire to promote the reissue of the compilation album Singles. The track was recorded back in 1986 and may be regarded as an outtake from the 1987 final studio album Strangeways, Here We Come. The single was issued with a sticker claiming it as "Previously unreleased"; however, the title track is found on the compilation album Louder Than Bombs from 1987, and the two following tracks are found on the 12'' single version of "Girlfriend in a Coma" (1987), and the live-recording "What's the World?" was previously released as B-side to "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" (1987).
The single cover features a still of boxer Cornelius Carr from the music video for Morrissey's single "Boxers", as directed by James O'Brien in 1995.

Jean Michel Jarre "Chronology" (1993)

Chronology
release date: May 1993
format: cd (2015 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,96]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Track highlights: 1. "Chronology, Part 1" - 6. "Chronology, Part 6"

11th studio album by 'Jean Michel' Jarre originally released as Chronologie by Disques Dreyfus.
On this Jarre blends his own original style of progressive electronic of the 70s with something that sounds like disco rave or electronic dance, which may display a nicely produced sound - at least on the remaster, but the compositions doesn't work all too well, I think. There's a bit too much re-takes on his repertoire, which makes it sound more like a remix album - updated bits and pieces from other familiar compositions.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

The Cure "Disintegration" (1989)

Disintegration
release date: May 1, 1989
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]
producer: Robert Smith, David M. Allen
label: Fiction Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Plainsong" (3 / 5) - 2. "Pictures of You" - 3. "Closedown" (3 / 5) - 4. "Lovesong" - 6. "Lullaby" (2,5 / 5)

8th studio album by The Cure. During studio work on the album co-founder Laurence Tolhurst was fired from the band (allegedly after long-time alcohol addiction) and Roger O'Donnell took over Tolhurst's place as keyboardist. The style is in the same ballgame as the previous album, but with a stronger focus on a dream pop and neo-psychedelic sound, and a small move away from their most popular universe of sweet melodic love songs. Some see it as a return to darker gothic rock and post-punk but I find this progression more than hard to see. To me, this is just more of the same songs and compositions in new disguises, and my disappointment with the band had come to a final draw. I couldn't stand listening to Robert Smith and the band's lamenting songs. Yes, I purchased the album, but I never really got accustomed to it and resold it only a few years later. O'Donnell left the band in 1990 before they started rehearsals for a new album. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark "Sailing on the Seven Seas" (1991) (single)

Sailing on the Seven Seas, cd single
release date: Mar. 18, 1991
format: cd
[single rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: OMD
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Sailing on the Seven Seas" - 2. "Floating on the Seven Seas" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Sailing on the Seven Seas (Larrabee Mix)" - 4. "Sugartax"

Single release from the forthcoming album Sugar Tax by OMD. The cd single consists of two tracks (#2 and #3), which are variations of the title track plus the track "Sugar Tax" that never found its way to the album. The style is a combo of synthpop and dance pop, which emphasises drums and keyboards in a very simple and repetitious manner.
The single sold well, positioned the band and made way for the forthcoming album. I can't say that it's a truly great track and I only bought it around 2012 in a second-hand store for next to nothing.