Vol. 2 is what I would call Miles Davis' first success. Up to this point, he wasn't exactly the most exciting artist in the jazz genre, pretty much going solely with all the usual tropes and rarely ever straying too much from the usual bebop style, and while Vol. 2 is still very conventional and nothing too great, it does prove that the musicianship of Miles and the other musicians are really good. This is the album where Miles starts to become himself. It may be a while before he would get ... read more

You should know what you're getting by now. Miles' fourth release, and the final of this odd trilogy, and it's just as okay as its predecessors.

Up to this point, I've enjoyed all of these early albums from Davis. Both parts in whatever this trilogy was supposed to be were at the very least entertaining, well-written, composed, and performed. And I guess at the end of the day The Compositions Of Al Cohn is no different, but the samey sound, this sound that you've heard all throughout each of ... read more

Blue Period, the third release from Miles Davis, is, as you would probably expect, is very similar to his debut, The New Sounds. And honestly, this should come as no surprise to anybody. Even if you were to completely ignore the fact that the album covers are exactly the same barring the colour and the text, the fact that two out of three of the songs here were recorded during the same sessions as The New Sounds should tell you everything you need to know. And when the third track actually ... read more

Miles Davis' second album is pretty much more of the same conventional bebop jazz. Although it isn't quite as generic, and I'm sure that if you listened to this after the trilogy of albums that have the exact same cover art and the exact same sound (The New Sounds, Blue Period, Compositions Of Al Cohn) that you would see this as more of a change of sound than it actually is. The thing is, Young Man With A Horn isn't bad in the slightest. By jazz standards, I'm sure this is pretty good, although ... read more

The first official studio release from Miles Davis, and it's actually surprisingly enjoyable, albeit very forgettable and generic.

Back in 1951, you probably wouldn't have heard much from Davis yet. He had collaborated with a few much bigger artists, sure, but at this point he hadn't had an album of his own out yet. Although Birth Of The Cool would have made for a much, MUCH better debut and would have had a much bigger kickstart to his career, he instead went with a more conventional bebop ... read more

The Birth Of The Cool is the birth of two things: cool jazz, and the legendary career of Miles Davis.

This compilation may have been released after many other releases from the man himself, but this is essentially his debut. With it being released a full seven years after recording for it ended, you would be surprised of the amount of people who often forget that this is the album that started it all just because 20+ albums beforehand, even though it is seen as one of his earliest classics. ... read more

Jazz. To me, this has always been one of the most difficult genres to get into. It has always been that one genre I hear in public and in soundtracks and it has always sounded so samey that I never thought I'd actually be able to truly appreciate it. But for the past few months I have been trying to get into the genre as best I can. I've been listening to some of the most acclaimed albums in the genre, constantly returning to them in order to try and understand and enjoy the genre a bit more. I ... read more

If you know me, then you know there's two things that I always love to see in a rock album: quality songwriting and excellent guitar work. When it comes to singer-songwriters in particular, you're very unlikely to get the latter. However, in Neil Young's first album with long-time backing band Crazy Horse he proves that singer-songwriters don't need to stick to a simple, laid-back sound with all of the focus on the lyrics. He understands that instrumentation is just as important as meaningful ... read more

What are you guys talking about? This album is fuckin' brilliant!

Neil Young's self-titled debut album is unfortunately overlooked by most Young fans, as well as fans of folk in general. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, seeing as every single album he would go on to release from 1969 to 1979 would end up becoming absolute classics that would stand the test of time and become some of the most beloved albums of all time. Of course anything he did beforehand would not be remembered ... read more

Despite the clear lack of motivation and ideas, Buffalo Springfield release their final album to fulfill contractual obligations, and the result is... passable, to say the least.

I'm not going to lie and tell you that Last Time Around is a bad album like I'm sure a lot of others would tell, because it really isn't. Is it really weak by Buffalo Springfield standards? Yes. Is it especially disappointing when you take into account that two of the best songwriters in folk are involved in the ... read more

With their sophomore project, Again, each member of Buffalo Springfield find their own sound, and it becomes clear that each of them needs to go their own way in order to actually get anywhere. But that doesn't mean that the album isn't worth listening to, because the content each of them provide their own songs which stand as some incredible psychedelic/folk/country tunes.

Where their self-titled debut was more amateurish and only had a handful of highlights, Again shows mature songwriting, ... read more

Who said country rock wasn't good? On Buffalo Springfield's self-titled debut, you get two singer-songwriter legends, Stephen Stills and Neil Young, constantly outclassing each other, making a ton of stunningly beautiful examples of what can happen if you merge country, folk and psychedelic really well. You also get a few examples of what happens if it isn't done well.

First thing I should get out of the way is what version of the album I'm actually reviewing, because there are actually three ... read more

Gibbs returns once again to gift us with yet another bangin' album, and he succeeds in showing us yet again why he is one of the best rappers of the past few years.

Much like his collaborations with Madlib, this album shows a perfect chemistry between the two, with Gibbs' near-flawless performances going together so well with The Alchemist's orgasmic production. And honestly, as much as I love Gibbs, the production is definitely the main focus of this album. Gibbs' lyrics and flows may ... read more

Bob opens up the Great American Songbook one last time and closes off his Sinatra trilogy with the best but also most bloated entry in the triad.

It's honestly really ironic how this is the only album of the three that's actually worth a listen. Both Shadows In The Night and Fallen Angels are so damn boring that they just aren't worth the listen, and Triplicate actually has a number of covers that I'd actually argue are worth listening to. But then you realize that the album itself is 90 ... read more

Dylan brings out the Great American Songbook once more, covering more classic songs that have been recorded by Frank Sinatra, making the second album in his Sinatra trilogy. And it ends up being pretty much exactly the same in terms of sound and quality.

If you've heard Shadows In The Night, you've heard Fallen Angels. There is absolutely no difference between the two outside of the chosen tracks. They're both tiresome, slow, and really unimportant in the grand scheme of things. While there's ... read more

Dylan's Sinatra trilogy begins, and it sets the standard of what to expect of the remaining albums in the trilogy.

Bob pulls out the Great American Songbook and covers a bunch of classics popularized by Frank Sinatra. If you thought that that sounds like a bad idea on paper, then you can only imagine how the album actually sounds. Already just that idea alone brings up many notable issues. Firstly, how the hell does Bob Dylan of all people expect to cover songs that Frank Sinatra of all people ... read more

Dylan kicks off his 2010s releases by showing that even after a brief decline in quality he is still capable of consistently pumping out albums of a similar quality to his 2000s releases. The result is an album that may not be his best but is certainly a good one.

By this point in Dylan's discography, I think a lot of his fans have grown tired from this blues phase he has been going through. The past few albums in particular - namely Modern Times and Together Through Life - proved to be some ... read more

Eh, I'm not surprised. I got exactly what I expected I would get: an extremely bloated mixed-bag which vaguely resembles something that could have been a really good 40 minute album.

I should probably get one thing out of the way first, and that's that I've never really cared for The 1975. I've never disliked them too much, but I've also never really liked their music either (ignore my outdated rating for A Brief Inquiry). They've always been a band who, I've felt, made a few good songs, a few ... read more

I'm going to put as much effort into this review as KISS put into their album.

Monster shows KISS doing absolutely nothing new, making a Sonic Boom Part 2, only this time it's somehow even less interesting, enjoyable, and memorable. I mean, thank fuck this is likely going to be their last studio album, but still, you would think that a band as popular as KISS would have a closing album where they at least try. This whole album sounds far too forced, out-of-touch, and like they put no effort in ... read more

After an eleven year break, KISS come back once more to continue to try and gain some sort of relevance. This time, though, they actually somewhat succeed, making an album that's very reminiscent of their '70s output and is arguably their best release since 1982's Creatures Of The Night.

Sonic Boom may not be their most enjoyable, memorable, or even impactful release, but it surprisingly does have a lot going for it (at least when taking into account the majority of KISS's discography). The ... read more