Category: Album Reviews

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G’n’R Lies – Guns And Roses

So, it has taken a while and we are finally into the Gs of my album reviews. These reviews have been organised by album title and also don’t include a lot of the aggrotech that I have bought over the last two years. I doubt I’ll get around to those, also I am starting to stream music more than just buy or download albums. I’m not sure how that will turn out, I like the idea of “owning” an album rather than knowing it’s there to listen to via streaming. Let’s wait and see.

There’s an overriding problem with all of the cock rock from the 80s and G ‘n’ R is one of the main culprits. The lyrics are very sexist, bordering on obscene. I don’t think that the music alone can justify these lyrics. We could use the argument that society of the time was embedded within these albums but I’m not sure about that either. There have always been people working towards equality. Let me make this clear: equality means everyone being treated the same, it’s that simple.

Anyway, on to the album. This was released after Appetite For Destruction but has songs from before those days. It’s a pretty good rock EP and displays the destructive talent that was Guns and Roses. Patience is a pretty good ballad. Used To Love her is a great song. It reminds me of a time I saw Guns and Roses at Milton Keynes with a recent-ex-girlfriend. I may have sung along to Used To Love Her very loudly. The acoustic version of You’re Crazy is a delight.

The biggest problem is the song One In A Million. Whether we should judge the entire output of a band upon one song and the lyrics it contains or their behaviour off stage is something I haven’t got an answer for. I do know that I don’t listen to any LostProphets any more, it makes me feel ill. So, the dodgiest lyrics in One In A Million are:

Police and Niggers, that’s right
Get out of my way

Immigrants and faggots
They make no sense to me

Radicals and Racists
Don’t point your finger at me

I don’t know if these lyrics mean Guns and Roses are homophobic, racist or just trying to be controversial. Maybe it’s something we can’t know. They seem immature and a poor decision. The sort of thing a young person would write when trying to connect with the world.

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Fuckit – :wumpscut:

This was the first album by :wumpscut: that I bought. Along with my descent into aggrotech and hellecktro I started searching and reading Wikipedia about the genre trying to find new artists. There also seems to be cross pollination within the genre as quite often songs are re-mixed by other artists so by reading credits on albums it’s easy to see which bands associate with others. For instance Rotersand have remixed stuff for Aesthetic Perfection. Another method for finding new bands is to read the gig leaflets given out at venues [even if the mostly end up on the floor like a carpet of unwanted postcards].

wumpscut

So, :wumpscut: has been around for ages. This is a nicely produced album with some great tunes. It’s never going to make the mainstream but all the songs have a good beat and it’s well worth a listen. Youtube carries plenty of the music with people adding their own images. Go have a look.

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The Fragile (Right) – Nine Inch Nails

NIN. The place to go when you want dirty industrial with haunting melodies and lyrics that speak to you. Along with the Left this album is great for me to listen to while working. It has all the usual NIN experience and hasn’t been overplayed by me so always sounds fresh.

I’ve seen NIN twice, once at Wembley Stadium [the old one] when they supported GnR and also at Brixton Academy [or whatever it is called now]. The Brixton gig was damn brilliant.

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The Fragile (Left) – Nine Inch Nails

It’s been a while since I posted anything about album reviews. In fact it’s been so long I can’t remember the format I worked on. That doesn’t matter. I wrote about Broken and also Fixed. Nine Inch Nails are an awesome collective who write angry industrial sounding music. Trent Reznor follows on from the Revolting Cocks and Ministry and others and creates a niche sound. Everything NIN is clearly him.

This album is good. If I want that sound then this is where I come. It’s not an album I have over played and so I can listen to it and it always sounds fresh. A good start point although you should really go to The Downward Spiral first.

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For Those About To Rock – AC/DC

It’s an 80s album that begins with “F” from AC/DC. This means it’s not that good. Even the title track isn’t that great, but it is played as the last song at every concert.

I may be slightly out of touch here as when I bought this album I bought it on vinyl rather than tape like most of the other AC/DC albums I had. This meant I listened to it less that the others. I don’t really know the songs, they just don’t bother me.

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Fly On The Wall – AC/DC

Up front confession. I really like AC/DC. I always have. This album is far superior to Flick Of the Switch. I think the production has a better quality and the vocals are cleaner. Obviously most of the songs are about sex, as with every single AC/DC album ever.

A few years (many years really) I bought a couple of AC/DC VHS tapes. One was the video of them live in Paris, the ending of which I cried at. The other VHS tape was a collection of the videos from this album.

Fly on the wall – the anticipation for the start of the steady beat makes this song genius.
Shake Your Foundations – awesome riff and a real “boppy” feel.
First Blood – Good steady rock track.
Danger – Just don’t talk to strangers. A scary opening sound!
Sink The Pink – obviously it’s about playing a game of snooker/pool! A great song.
Playing With The Girls – good song with a rolling rhythm.
Stand Up – ingenious mix and arrangement with the kick drum.
Hell or High Water – The verse riff annoys me a little but the chorus riff is great.
Back In Business – A faster, almost ZZ Top, song!
Send For The Man – Good opening riff. The rest is OK.

There are three albums from the 80s for AC/DC which don’t reach the majesty of the 70s music. This is one of them. They all start with “F”.

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Flick Of The Switch – AC/DC

I love AC/DC. Even the shit albums. This is one of those. There was a period in the 1980s when, after Back In Black, it all went a little sideways for AC/DC. But then, what would you expect with one of the top ten albums of all time behind them? Regression to the mean.

The songs on this album are solid AC/DC. They are well written and jaunty. There isn’t a song they play live though.

For sheer crazy you could try Bedlam In Belgium.

I would argue that Guns For Hire is a pretty good song, especially the opening few bars!

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Flesh & Blood – Poison

COCK ROCK!!

I remember I poster in our sixth form common room where all the members of this band looked like women. Tight clothes, big hair and loads of make up. Very strange.

This album isn’t that great. I’ve listened to it while writing this and I find it mostly irritating. I can see why the teenage me liked it, it has power chords, ballads and lots of “bouncy” tunes. The current me doesn’t like it much. I’m into dirty sounding electronic music with nasty lyrics.

If I try and be slightly objective then I would say there are a couple of good songs:

  • Sacrifice
  • Let It Play

However there are some terrible songs, the worst being Unkinny Bop.

Sorry Pom.

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Fixed – Nine Inch Nails

This is the remix album companion to Broken. Broken is pretty good but this is better. I like the combination of decent drum beats and blistering guitar sounds. I even played this in the car with my sons so they could listen to lots of drumming.

This is very much worth owning.

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Fire – Electric Six

I bought this album so I would have access to two songs:

  • Danger! High Voltage
  • Gay Bar

Upon listening there are some other pretty good songs on here. I would recommend the following:

  • Dance Commander
  • Nuclear War

This is an album full of fun songs. The videos are hilarious too. Worth owning.

 

Another reason for liking this album is that it contains two songs played by Ca$hback, a band from the early 2000s. Check out the concert list on this page.

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