Stream of Consciousness & Music Reviews

      More of the standard affair from Steely Dan on The Royal Scam with good jazz fusion. I'll say, I think that this is the smoothest album from the band yet. It's got more aspects of groove/funk in there that give it a good flow and makes it just sorta wash over you at times. It's got some good new sounds that it experiments with but nothing too crazy or too much of a step forward, similar to how I felt about the jump from Countdown to Ecstasy to Pretzel Logic. The composition of the album itself is a little wonky, with most of the better songs lumped onto the first half, leaving the second to drag a little and peter out. The quality is still very much in tact throughout and their style and sound are still up to the quality of their better works, but overall the songs aren't as memorable as the standouts that've come before. I personally still like it a good deal and say that the stuff that's good here is really good, but I do think it's a bit of a dip in...

      Man, this album's great! Lively jazz with a good range of sounds and vibes. It's mostly upbeat and often has elements of funk in there too, but has enough variety to keep it from becoming repetitive. Some of the solos especially are just amazing, the guitarwork on a few of the tracks is just transcendental and the saxophone and piano spotlights are great as well (special shoutout to that one organ part on Ducky Ducky, that shit is pure fire!). I don't really have all to much to comment on here; the music is great and I can't really find any fault with it, everything just works really well together. I can tell I'll be revisiting this one a lot.     Highlights: Look Your Behind!, Flying Beagle, Fluffy, Sand Storm, Ducky Ducky. Rating: 6/6

      I want to preface this by saying that I'm predisposed to not liking Fleetwood Mac. I have no idea why, I just don't really care for their big hits that get a lot of airplay. Oh hey would you look at that, Rumours is mostly their big hits that get a lot of airplay. The main feel of Rumours is pretty laid back and makes for some good easy listening type stuff, but it's pretty generic in my opinion and doesn't have too strong of an identity; I think that it really is best described as "radio rock" similar to Led Zeppelin (as in "broadly appealing but less unique rock that gets a lot of exposure"), but with more hints of pop and acoustic folk mixed in. Some of the tracks were standouts and were pretty memorable, like the strong drive on The Chain or the more groovey You Make Loving Fun, but for the most part the songs were mostly the easygoing pop rock sound that doesn't leave much of an impression in my mind. I will say, I didn't outright ...

      DOOM's debut album delivers exactly what I'd want from it. Great lyricism with great flow over good samples and backing. The construction and overall presentation is, although a bit scuffed, really good and gives off a strong and defined atmosphere and character. The album is able to really develop a sense of who DOOM is through it's use of the old Fantastic Four cartoon as samples, mixed and matched to create his origin story. In a way it feels like a prototypical version of Madvillainy, with it's use of old cartoon samples and emphasis on a supervillainous presence/perspective. This comparison is a little unfortunate for the album because, in my opinion, Madvillainy's more professional production gives it an edge over Operation: Doomsday and, again, makes this feel more like an "early version" of sorts (although I may be biased just by having heard Madvillainy first). In a similar vain, DOOM's flow is less refined here and (again, by Madvillain...

    Following on the heels of Ride the Lightning and Mater of Puppets, ...And Justice for All is a little underwhelming for me. It still seems to strive for the general sound that Metallica had achieved on those previous albums but falls just a little short. The energy of the guitar isn't as present as before and the overall structures of the songs feels almost like an imitation of what they'd done before that just barely misses the mark. On top of this a lot of album feels drowsy, almost? Especially in the first half, the raw energy that was so appealing is sorely missed and leaves a good chunk of the album feeling aimless and unmemorable. Thankfully the latter half of the album manages to pick up and regain the power in the feel and sound of the music. In terms of lyricism, the album continues and expands on the political nature of a lot of the songs on Master of Puppets and takes even wider swings. To me this feels like a bit of a double edged sword because while I feel tha...

      More good jazz-rock from Steely Dan and some blues thrown in in the first half on Katy Lied. The band, at this point primarily a duo between Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, continues the excellent output of tightly composed and well performed jazz fusion that the first three albums established. Katy Lied is able to provide more of this style while refining it further and adding enough variety for it all to feel fresh, especially after Pretzel Logic's experimentation. The composition in the instrumentation and especially with the various solos are still great here and really get across whatever mood each song is going for, be that jazzy, blues, or whatever else. The lyricism, which I normally greatly enjoy in SD's works, is a little lacking in places/perhaps a little too vague to where I had trouble grasping onto a songs meaning from the lyrics. Not a big issue as I still think that they're good overall, but thought I'd mention it since it stood out to me a little....

      After more development time than I care to admit, my new game "I'm Going For A Walk" is out now!  Link to the game! It's an interactive fiction game with simple mechanics and an emphasis on walking around (so more "fiction" than "interactive" I guess). Explore at least 1 area and discover the secrets held within (and without)! Uncover the mystery of whatever is going on, it's not really clear! Estimated playtime is around 2-2.5 hours. And of course feel free to reach out to me if you get stuck or need help, I'll be happy to help you within 1 business day. Thanks for reading and happy trails! Special Thanks: The Inform Recipe Book intfiction.org Forums My friends :) Steely Dan

      Revolver seems like a shift in what The Beatles want to make, expanding out from their typical pop focused tracks to being more experimental and creative with their music. A lot of the songs here still have pretty similar structuring as before, with lots of short 2 minute verse-chorus-bridge songs, but the instrumentation and timbre of everything does a great job of helping all the songs sound unique and gives Revolver its own solid identity in the band's discography up to this point. Different styles of guitar between both acoustic and electric, implementation of fully realized string units, and the introduction of their beloved sitar really make it feel like the band is coming into their own and moving past the initial pop rock sound that found them their fame in the first place, and in my opinion I think that it's all pulled off pretty well. They're able to take their established identity and incorporate these new elements smoothly in a way that simultaneously do...

      Deceptive Bends is a little all over the place, which is not a good thing. Typical of art/prog rock, the album tries a variety of different styles and sounds across its tracks that turn out being pretty hit or miss. Some of the songs have nice distinct feels that I found easy to get into while others felt pretty generic and weren't too captivating. This also leads to the album as a whole not really having a strong identity or feeling too coherent, because the different styles they try out don't fit together all too well. The standout aspects of the music are the guitar, both acoustic and electric, and the vocal harmonies, which all sounded great and I thought were creative and well performed. Other than that no single aspects really jump out one way or the other; the songs that didn't grab me just didn't leave much of an impression and thus have nothing of note to really mention. I will say, however, that a sizeable chunk of the songs feel... dated? That's abo...

      Pretzel Logic really feels like the band is just spinning their wheels for the runtime. The album overall is more of the same from Countdown to Ecstasy but not quite as good. The music still generally has that Steely Dan smooth flow for a lot of the songs and the performance and presentation are still good, but it feels a little generic compared to what else the band had already made by this point. The structure of the songs are all same-y and unambitious, with most of them being characterized by simple alternating verse-chorus with a bridge in the middle. The band doesn't try to experiment or branch out too much, but on the few songs that they do I found it to be good and wish that they had maybe tried more weird stuff here since I think that it probably would've worked well and given the album more of a distinct identity. The instrumentation is strong as is though, and has some nice variety between tracks. Pretzel Logic is overall a fine album that I enjoyed but i...

      Meddle is a fairly experimental album, at least in terms of its scope for Pink Floyd. The band employs a wide variety of tones and timbres to create a broad array of sounds that really showcases their prowess in the studio. The different ways they're able to use the instruments to make the different sounds for each track is very impressive, having haunting guitar and vocals on One of These Days and Echoes, to the softer acoustic ballads of A Pillow of Winds, the almost tropical carefree sound of San Tropez, the straight blues of Seamus, it's all done so well and really shows the band's talents. To go along with this, the overall production value is very high, and some of the tricks and techniques that they show off (such as delayed guitar riffs, manipulation of vocals on tape, and especially some of the stuff that they do on Echoes, like the *ping* at the beginning or the shepherd's tone near the end) are fantastic and create such a strong atmosphere. My only real...

    That's the Way of the World, Earth, Wind & Fire's sixth album, really showcases why they're an iconic soul/funk group. This album, serving as the bands initial big breakthrough hit, is an excellently crafted piece of work. The composition in these songs is great, both for the funky chart topping type songs and the slower ballads. There's not much that I can say to really explain how good it is; it's Earth, Wind, & Fire, you've heard them before and know that they're good. And the vocal performances are just phenomenal as well (Maurice White has just an amazing voice, especially in his falsetto). I really wish that I had more to say about the album, but my thoughts just boil down to "it's really good and all of its elements are great without anything that I can find much fault in". It's very high within its number ranking, but just shy of crossing the line to the next one.     Highlights: That's the Way of the World, All Abou...

      Steely Dan's second album continues the lively soft rock that they established in their first album and builds on it. The sound is a little more straightforward rock this time around, sounding almost 60's-ish with a good amount of jazzy elements mixed in, and I think it works pretty well with what they already had going. The songs aren't quite as catchy as they are on Can't Buy a Thrill, but the bands ability to create captivating and creative melodies and riffs is still perfectly intact. Given how the album is able to play around with numerous styles and the time when it came out (1973!) I might even call this a little ahead of its time, it's very impressive. Not quite to the height of Can't Buy a Thrill but it's still very quality and a good listen.     Highlights: Razor Boy, Your Gold Teeth, Show Biz Kids, King of the World. Rating: 5/6

    The Yes Album is Yes' third album, the predecessor to Fragile, and where the band found their footing and took off. It's pretty good, sharing some of Fragile's DNA while still being an obvious stepping stone for the band to get there. The sound is a little more blues-y overall and more traditionally prog and I think that the band does it really well. Composition is great, melody and harmonies are still excellent, and the performance is fully realized. I don't like comparing it to Fragile so much but it's my only point of reference for Yes' other work, but the encapsulating totality-ish feeling that I got from Fragile isn't here, if you get what I mean. Where Fragile was able to grab onto my brain with it's music and melody and complexities, The Yes Album merely pokes my brain, encourages that engagement and then leaves. Still very good but not as gripping as its follow up would prove to be. Additionally I think that the structure of the album is a go...

      Prince's second album follows in the footsteps of his first and is almost as good as it. The self titled Prince continues Prince's mixing of pop, funk, and various other genres for his unique sound that's still great. The overall sound and feel remains largely the same, but maybe a little less acoustic and a little more 'electric' than For You was, although it's not a very noticeable shift. His singing and performances are still top notch, and his near solo production of the entire album is still exceptionally impressive given how great its quality is. An odd thing here is that the more up tempo songs that were my favorite part of For You aren't as good here as they were there (they're still great, just overall not as much as they were previously) and the slower more sentimental songs are much better here and engaged me a lot more. I think that For You had a better mix of  songs and was structured better, but this is another strong showing from Pri...

    Uh oh. Guess who doesn't like another one of the best albums of all time? Rubber Soul just didn't do it for me unfortunately. The main thing that I liked about A Hard Day's Night was the melodies that were catchy and simple, which are almost completely absent from RS. This leans into a problem that I had with Help! that carries over here, being that a lot of the songs feel empty. The instrumentation is too light, with sections containing maybe 2 different parts before going to another section that adds 1 new instrument, exciting! This thinner timbre and lack of really memorable melody just bored me throughout a large chunk of the album. Although the album is lacking in melodies, it sure does try its best, having a lot of the songs repeat their choruses like 5-6 times, which only compounds my disinterest. Thankfully the classic Beatles harmonies that I've liked are still here and still good (for the most part), and there are hints of their future works here that I ho...

      I've been wanting to review this album for a while because of a couple of the tracks that I heard a while back that just absolutely grabbed me; and boy am I glad that I finally am, this albums pretty damn good. Partners in Crime is Rupert Holmes' 5th album and his most popular, holding a few of his most popular songs (I know for a fact that you can't count the amount of times you've heard Escape on the radio). I think that this album earns its relative popularity because of how well crafted the music is. From my cursory knowledge of Holmes I've heard that he's praised for his storytelling ability in his songs and I'm going to join that crowd. The scenarios and situations that he creates in the songs are near-unrivaled in my listening experience, creating such a vivid world in each track that just captures the listeners mind. It's astounding how good he is at telling unique little tales in such short time. And this is backed up by the excellent soft...