Reminds me of the halcyon days of my youth without a care in the world. Not that I listened to this sort of music when I was eight, but it has that early 80s ska, reggae, bags of energy feel to it. I can't help feeling its nothing special, formulaic even, but that might be my reggae prejudices coming out. It's lively enough, and not bad, but just a little uninteresting. Plus, it has all the overproduced problems that a lot of music has - it's not raw enough, everything is perfectly produced; if there is supposed to be an edge to this music, it's lost in the compression effect unit somewhere. Overall, not bad, but not one I would return to in a hurry. Oh and this particular "deluxe" version has five remixes of the same track on it ... don't mind if I skip a couple do you?
Standout Tracks: Twist and Crawl, Rough Rider, Can't Get used to losing you
Must say, for such an old recording (c. 1938-1947) the production quality of this album is excellent. Classic dixie jazz tracks, bluesy and interesting, and played superbly, evoking images of dance halls, flowing skirts and uniformed men milling around. It's just great, so cheerful and uplifting. Bechet's clarinet playing is exquisite and fits the mood perfectly (and loved by Coltrane the rumour goes).
Standout Tracks: All of them!
I remember Beck (vaguely) from my University days, particularly the opening track "Loser", which is an infectious, guitar tinged hip hop thing, great stuff. Lots of guitar on this album. On reflection, I think I saw Beck play live once at a festival, and I have a dim memory of him being quite good. The album is a head bobbing pleasant listen, with enough things going (weird arrangements, different instruments) to make it interesting to listen to. There are elements of psychedelia, in the mode of Syd Barrett, which is a good thing - gives the album an airy feel, but with a darker undercurrent that I keep catching snatches of. All in all, a top effort, enjoyed it, a nice blend of hip hop, country, and psychedelia.
Standout Tracks: Loser, Beercan, Steal my body home (purely for the sitar!). Mutherfu*er
Fairly inoffensive 1960s throwback folk, pleasant enough to listen to. The songs are expertly crafted, if a little cliché, and I can't help but wonder whether this style of electric/acoustic folk hasn't been done before, only better. That's not to say its a bad album, not at all, but it nods a little too much in a certain direction without seeming to have it's own definition. The songwriting is great, all are well crafted, and one of them is playing a sweet sounding stratocaster (or similar single coil affair) that lilts through the album. I can imagine this stuff going down well at festivals, and you can see where bands like Mumford and Sons came from - take this style of music and remove the electric instruments, and there you go. Not bad, but not enough going on to keep me interested. I did enjoy the spiritual struggles in the title track in particular though, lyrically very good indeed (as, to be fair, is most of the album).
Standout Tracks: Me and the Major, If you're feeling sinister
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