Tag: review

Posted on

Licensed To Ill – Beastie Boys

I bought this album on a day trip to France with my secondary school. I remember that I was worried the album would be in French, I was somewhat naive. Can you imagine a band attempting to re-write every song for an album in the native language of every country where they wish to make a release?

This album came out and the band caused a fuss because people over the country started stealing VW symbols from the front of cars to wear on necklaces. Yes, that was a real thing in the mid-to-late 1980s. I never stole a car badge and I’m not quite sad enough to dress up as band members however, I did dress in a way to fit in with the metal crew, I dressed to fit. Teenagers, struggling to be different by rebelling along with all the others.

“Fight For Your Right” blazed through the sound waves and I remember being excited at this odd combination of heavy guitars and rapping over the top. It was good and worked really well. For similar amazement see the review of the album Judgement Night. Then, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” happened and it’s simple beat with crushing guitars and stupid solo was another breath of fresh air. The album had to be bought.

“Rhymin and Stealin” was my first and terrible introduction to Led Zeppelin. It had a drum beat sampled from Led Zep IV and I didn’t know that at the time. I wasn’t aware that bands would steal music or samples from other bands and recycle them. When I first listened to Led Zep IV I was rather shocked that the drum beat had me thinking of a rap band a further twenty years into the future.

There’s some classic 80s sexism in this album and I’m pretty sure, while it was a product of its time, it shouldn’t be erased from existence, all of these things need to be understood in the context of the zeitgeist.

If you like your singers white and shouty along with simple heavy guitars, stupid lyrics, and fun samples then this album is for you.

Posted on

Alita: Battle Angel

I’ve been to see the film Alita: Battle Angel at Rochester Cineworld cinema. It was a clear day and one where I actually managed less than 2000 steps so that’s quite impressive. I’ll tell you what’s not impressive: this film. But first, before I moan about this film I need to cover the height of the river. It was high when I went into the cinema, high enough for me to assume the tide was high. The river was lower when I left so that fits with my assumption. I wonder if the amount of rain affects this part of the river which is mostly tidal.

I rated this film on the IMDB site and there is a guide to the rating system, see this communication.

I’d had some hope for this film given it was written by James Cameron but I did know it was directed by Robert Rodriguez, when I saw his name in the credits an awful lot of this made sense. Apparently this film is based on a Manga series and I guess it shows to a certain extent. I like Manga and I like Manga films. Akira is a film I have seen numerous times and there are Manga Blu-ray in my collection. I love what comics do to film. However, this film was shit.

Virtually every plot line of this film was cliche. I couldn’t really see anything new. I got bored about half way through and after that I just kept moving in my seat and wondering when the film would finish. It is not a good film.

I’ll tell you what irritated me most. And that’s apart from the superfast battle scenes [which I’ve moaned about constantly within these communications, just because computers mean we can doesn’t mean we should] and stupid games of rollerball, the terrible dead daughter plot line, the weird emotionally dead like father, the strange nurse, the stupid fucking love interest, the murderer father who isn’t, the references to characters I didn’t understand, Jennifer Connelly is still very attractive which didn’t annoy me but just wanted to hide that fact in text, the poor plot, shit cybernetics, high-tech but poor society, falling rubbish from the sky city, and the what is that jewel in her head???????

I’ll tell you what irritated me. The URM irritated me. The United Republic of Mars might have sounded cool in the test rooms but it’s a stupid acronym and should never be spoken of again. Each time a character said it, URM, it sounded just like a natural pause in their speech. Stupid.

What is it with people falling in love in these films, being betrayed and lied to and then they continue to do their best for these people. If you get betrayed or lied to move on. Tell that person to jog on. Get them out of your life they aren’t worth it. You’ll be happier in the end. These stupid films and their infatuations. She’s a teenage girl with her first crush and yet she’s prepared to die for the twat? Get real, dump the loser and get yourself a decent lad who’s not going to lie or cheat. I was happy when he died. It gave her the chance to get on with her plans.

Why does Alita have to “win” her way to the massive city? She’s an URM [?] battle warrior, she could just go and destroy it. Oh, how I hated this film. why does her heart pump liquid? She’s a cyborg, why would it do that? It seems quite inefficient to me. Why is her heart “heart” shaped? Why is it in her chest? Why is there a panel that opens easily to her heart when it’s her power source? Why isn’t it the most protected part of her body? I hated it.

Get online and watch Rollerball and The Running Man I can assure you those films will give you better ideas of the future than this pile of poo.

Posted on

Liberation Transmission – Lostprophets

This is really hard to write and I’m not even sure what I’m going to say. I really like the music of this band and I even went to see them at the Brixton Academy over ten years ago on a really fucking hot summer’s day. It was intensely hot inside the theatre and was a complete test of stamina. It was a really good show and I had a great time. There are four albums by these guys. But I’m still not sure what to write. I’m not sure I even reviewed The Fake Sound Of Progress. There’s a possibility the reviewing system is a little broken as all the albums starting with “The” may have been reviewed already or they may be coming when I get to the Ts. I might have skipped “Fake Sound” deliberately.

There’s some explanation needed here although I’m still struggling with all of it really. Firstly, this is a really good album. I really like it and I thought the Lostprophets brought something new to the table in terms of sound and popular metal / rock.

BUT

The singer is a convicted paedophile. If it’s ok to list the types of bad there is then he is pretty much down at the bottom as a complete sick-fuck. I haven’t listened to a single song by this band since that happened. I don’t even know if it’s OK to listen to their music. I don’t know if it’s OK to admit really liking the songs. I don’t know if it’s OK because the singer is a sick-fuck. It distresses me, just writing this is hard, because I know it’s easy to be taken out of context. It’s easy for something to think the wrong thing about my intentions. But, at the time I thought this was a good band. I guess they still were. It’s just the singer is a sick-fuck.

Posted on

Let There Be Rockgrass – Hayseed Dixie

Ever wanted your heavy metal and rock to be a little more . . . redneck? This is the album for you. I’m not sure I could go and see them live, this is definitely an album of piss take which just happens to have allowed the band to make a decent living I guess. It’s like the album I have of Metallica songs played as lullabies. Here’s the track listing:

  • Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
  • Fat Bottom Girls
  • Whole Lotta Rosie
  • You Shook Me All Night Long
  • I Believe In A Thing Called Love
  • Ace Of Spades
  • Detroit Rock City
  • Corn Liquor
  • Feel Like Making Love
  • Walk This Way
  • Centrefold
  • I’m Keeping Your Poop
  • Highway To Hell
  • Will The Circle Be Unbroken

A couple of things to note. I spelt Centrefold correctly for UK usage. I’ve not listened to “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” but I suspect that it’s about a jerk-circle.

Posted on

Let There Be Rock – AC/DC

Nearly anything by AC/DC has to be on the good side of good. This album . . . . . . . I don’t know why but this album has a much dirtier, grungier sound than all the others especially those from the Bon Scott era. I think they turned the grit up and balanced the bass a little deeper. It’s got a gorgeous sound, which, the first time I heard it jarred me a little because it didn’t sound like AC/DC.

Whatever you think about the production you can’t argue with the writing. There is not a bad song on this album. In fact they still play fifty percent of these songs on stage now, Y years later where Y = current year – 1977.

“Go Down”, I explained to a class recently that while they think most rock and metal is about death and destruction most is about love and sex. This song encapsulates that.

“Dog Eat Dog”, feeling blue? Listen to this.

Then the masterpiece “Let There Be Rock” a biblical version of the history of rock. Such high energy and an amazing song. Everything about this should be taught in every school.

“Bad Boy Boogie”, what other song are you going to get an old man to prance around the stage and eventually reveal his arse to the crowd?

“Problem Child”, amazing song, aren’t we all?

“Overdose”, it’s sad.

“Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be”, reminds us all that we should be having fun and that heaven and hell are bullshit (that’s my own take on it).

“Whole Lotta Rosie”, holy fuck this is an anthem of a song.

Get this album, get anything by AC/DC before 1982. It such lovely summer sounding music and mostly about sex. FIVE stars.

Posted on

Led Zeppelin IV – Led Zeppelin

Of all the Led Zeppelin albums this one is the biggy in my mind. It is the first I listened to and I was blown away by how complex it is and just how much this band influenced later music. I can’t remember the last time I listened to it. My tastes have moved on and I am in another world altogether. The current plan is to review all the albums from before my current aggrotech phase and then go back and review all those I have bought since then. It’s a project.

Led zep 4 – not a bad song on it. Ground breaking and stunning.

Posted on

Led Zeppelin II – Led Zeppelin

Of the Led Zeppelin albums I own, and hopefully they’ll be done soon, this one I’ve listened to least. Looking at the track listing I can only remember what one song sounds like and that one is “Whole Lotta Love” which is iconic enough to be known without this album along with being a theme from the television show about music.

Posted on

Led Zeppelin I – Led Zeppelin

This could cause some controversy but I’m not fussed. Opinion is just that. There are critics out there whose job it is to justify their thoughts and these are the people to rate the “excellence” of all forms of art. Whether I agree with them or not doesn’t really matter. I do think that there’s something important about the idea of learning how to appreciate certain aspects of art. It’s hard for me, as a layman, to see how a movie has been put together and what was difficult with it although that might still not make it “good”.

I don’t know how much we can standardise our subjective thoughts. We might take expert opinion and use many of those to form a consensus about certain issues, that seems a sensible approach. Suppose we asked the population the question “what is the best food?”. You might imagine many many types of answers to this and I would need clarification because sometimes a burger is what you need and sometimes cheese on toast is required. These views across the population could possibly be why this country is in this particular political state at the moment. Maybe we shouldn’t ask the population its thoughts on things as the population is quite often wrong.

The plebiscite was wrong about proportional representation and the “leaving the EU” question. In fact, most people didn’t vote. That is what is amazing. This country is heading towards a cliff top at full speed because it is the “will of the people”. Well, fuck you. It was the vague idea of about 35% of the voting age population. The rest of the lazy cunts didn’t vote. People didn’t know what they were voting for. People don’t understand the issues because it is really fucking complicated. Don’t ask the people! We have an elected representation of (hopefully educated and intelligent) people who we let make these decisions based on our behalf. Even when some are wankers, some are thick, some are motivated by unreasonable needs and some are just plain corrupt.

This brings me to this and the next few albums. Because I have been reviewing these albums in alphabetical order by album title it means that most artists are spread out throughout this website. But there is Led Zeppelin who named their first four albums (maybe more) numerically. This means there follows two more communications about the same band. This is slightly annoying.

Led Zeppelin lie in that circle on the Venn diagram of bands I know needed to exist to create the music that inspired all the music that I like but at the same time I find them a little boring. This boredom is precisely because they inspired my kind of music. My kind of music has moved on, it’s evolved, it’s become dirty and dark and is allowed because bands were magical in the early 70s and 80s. Along with Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin inspired the heavy metal bands that formed ten years later. All music is traceable along the ages.

This album has some excellent songs on it. It is historically important. It is highly rated by critics and is important in the history of music. It is summer music. I don’t play it that often.

Posted on

The Favourite

Yesterday I took a saunter over to Rochester so visit the cinema. I’d been looking at what’s on during the week and there wasn’t a huge amount that impressed me. But, I decided to go and see an historical drama. I don’t really like any form of period dramas. The idea that someone has scripted what *might* have happened and been said really bothers me. It moves those imaginations into the common collective about what really happened. It seems that these sorts of things are really popular with The Crown on Netflix and other things always being watched on classic television. I don’t mind fiction period drama as much, although I’m still not keen, because you can say what you want, it’s your story.

I noted that the tide was pretty low as I arrived at the cinema. Lots of the mud bank on the west of the river was showing and the boats seemed below average protuberance. As is usual I rated the film on IMDB, there’s a system so perhaps you should read this communication which explains that.

While watching I normally fixate on three or four things and try to remember them to write here. This isn’t perfect and I often forget what I was going to say. I guess I could take a note book into the theatre but I’m quite convinced that would be rude and somewhat professional, I don’t want to raise these reviews of movies to a level where object criticism could be placed at me. These reviews are mine they don’t represent any form of global ratings. If you know me then they probably make sense, if you don’t then your experiences of a movie could be vastly different to mine.

For the first thirty minutes or so of this film I didn’t even think about what to write here. That probably means the film was pretty good. If it was terrible I would have been pondering my context of this communication for a long time. I wasn’t really sure where this film was meant to be set or when Queen Anne reigned over us. A quick Wikipedia reading left me to understand that the action takes place at Kensington Palace and she was queen at the start of the 18th century. I am slightly worried that this communication will descend into a rant about society, hierarchy and the feudal system but I will do my best. You can read previous film reviews to see what I mean.

My short summary about this movie would be thus:

More lesbianism than I was expecting.

There should be other things to say about this film and so I shall put them here. I had three main points to say once I left the environs of the cinema. Firstly, not knowing anything about the movie on the way in I was slightly surprised at the level of lesbianism contained within.

Next, there were quite a few establishing shots where a fish eye lens was used, which in itself is fine but then they moved the camera and it felt like watching a VR film somehow and if the shot had gone on much longer I think I would have felt slightly sick.

The next thing that surprised me, but I guess shouldn’t have, was the fair usage of the word “cunt”. I am not bothered by usage of this word and it is interesting knowing the general reaction of the populace now compared to what was probably common usage three hundred years ago.

This film was probably more “arty” than it needed to be. There were plenty of lingering, holding shots that could be different and I guess the director wanted to make a statement. I’m not sure what the intention was but a statement was made. At times the soundtrack consisted of quiet repetitive sounds that slowly increased and stayed in the scene minutes more than would normally be expected. This was slightly irritating and a purely artistic choice, possibly one that I would not have made. It made it feel quite “my first art film”.

A quick read of Wikipedia about Queen Anne and you can see how much of this film is fiction. How much of it is speculation rather than being a well sourced historical film. I would rather have an as-close-as-possible film than this, but I guess it made a good story. Queen Anne is a fascinating subject and more complex than could be shown on film. I will state that Olivia Coleman was stunning and her facial acting in one scene was outstanding, you can read the emotions and thoughts of this queen perfectly, it was all so subtle.

This is the second film with Rachel Weisz in period costume that I have seen in the last year. I don’t think that’s enough for a trend but given I didn’t know she was in the film I think I’m excused.

A lot of the filming was done at Hatfield House, which I have never been to see, but my mate’s mum used to work there so I’m claiming a personal connection to that. It turns out that Abigail Masham is buried in a village near where I grew up, High Laver, and so I think I will visit the grave and see the church as it turns out that John Locke is buried there too.

Posted on

Lean Into It – Mr Big

This, as far as I know, was the second album by Mr Big. They were a supergroup. They had a massive hit with the dong “To Be With You” which is the last song on this album. Can I remember any of the other songs? Not really. I think the album is fine for a US rock band. It’s just never really hooked me in.

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress