Give a short subjective review with stars out of 10 for albums by a favourite band

heart of saturday night - 7 (again some pretty melancholy undertones here, more confident vocal-wise, all very tuneful and ballad-like, weaker set of songs ultimately)

nighthawks at the diner - 8 (absolutely love the way this thing is paced, immortalises tom as a storyteller, enjoy tapping into this one over a series of whiskeys and spliffs)

small change - 10 ( never heard a record quite like this, every track is lyrically dense with world-weary vocals that elevate the impact of each phrase, a whole ton of classics here and the whole thing feels really varied despite the relatively downbeat feel of most of the songs. 'tom traubert's blues' is the perfect anthem to a spirit broken by the deceptive allure of nightlife)

foreign affairs - 9 (how could i not give at least a 9 to a record that features 'burma shave'?)

blue valentine - 7 (extremely slick sounding, perhaps overly polished in places, losing some of the more rugged appeal of earlier works, also a little uneven, 'hooker..' is fantastic however, and 'whistling past the graveyard' gets me off the chair a-bopping, much like the cure's 'lovecats')

heartattack and vine - 7 (a little too unfocused, some pretty mundane tracks here, nevertheless 'jersey girl' is incredible and a near-perfect musing on the impact of true love)

The Good Will Out – 5
Some amazing songs done really badly – the production is thoroughly unpleasant, really impersonal and stilted, probably a result of them spending about 6 months too long recording / fucking around with it, and not having a proper producer. I absolutely adore most of the songs here, bar Come Back To What You Know which I never liked, but they’re just nowhere near as good as they are on the early EPs or live. The running order’s all fucked-up too.

Drawn From Memory – 8
The songs aren’t as strong, but by God the album as a whole works so much better. They really have fun playing, escaping the “indie ballads with strings” things, and they do it well. The amount of mad keyboards, kazoos, guitar effects, horn breaks and weird bits of scratching and percussion is just wonderful, the album’s laden with little spots of light that stay in my mind. This record made me love them properly.

If You’ve Never Been – 6
The first track, last track, title track, and track 4 are all wonderful, expressive, beautifully arranged, fun (the title track, a romping Beach Boys homage), great melodies… but the rest falls flat. It’s pretty wonderfully recorded and produced but it’s slightly defeatist in tone. It could have been a great mood album with a couple of moments of energy, but it doesn’t quite work as that or as an album of straight songs either.

Out Of Nothing – 7
Some amazing BIG SONGS, every melody a killer, the first 8 tracks all potential singles, with huge energy and attack, but it’s the last two, a spacey, bleak groove and a mournful piano ballad that erupts into three minutes of white-noise, that I go back to, that I really love. The first half of the album is probably too overloaded with BIG SONGS, it gets a bit wearing, but they’re good BIG SONGS.

This New Day – 7 ½
The sequencing is a bit fucked-up again (swapping tracks one and 7 would make the album much better balanced) and the mixing is way too loud, brittle and impersonal, but the songs and arrangements are great, psycho clatter and dirty disco mixed with uber-melodic pop. Their biggest and rockiest record, but their most polished too, which lets it down.

Dry Kids (B-Sides 1997-2005) - 8
It’s the b-sides I really love with this band, and I got to do the sleevenotes for this compilation which was wonderful, but it’s not quite the selection I’d have chosen, although probably 3/4s of it is. My favourite three or four Embrace tunes are all on here, dirty punk screamers, big psychedelic grooves, really minimal ballads. About three or four of the 12 or so b-sides they’ve had on singles since this came out ought to have been on here, but sadly they didn’t exist when it was released!

You were obviously a little bit too hungry and therefore started to hallucinate. I mean, SERIOUSLY, this is a great album! :-)

Am tempted to review my dEUS records, but I can't write anymore.

I wasn't aware of the Beefheart/Waits influence at the time but they're still enjoyable after realising it is the main thing.

Face Is Valued - 5
This debuting effort from the Genesys drummer when he is solo is scampered by the amelodic avantgarde leftwing noises emenate from tracks I Miss You Again and Tell Me Tomorrow remindisce of German stormtroopers Stock Howsen. But it is redempt by queerly melodic offerings You're In My Hair Tonight and Leave Me Wife, Not Easy which give greater offer of promise of star career to follows.

Hello I Am Goodbye - 9
He is first masterpiece as he abandoned Enos wretch wrench noises and consentrate on heartfeel, mellows melodic ballads such as You Can't Take My TV and Who That Man (Why I Not Break His Jaw) but also his first Number One hit in uptempo disco dancer champion Canterbury Love with his hialrious Blue Brother routine in videotape.

No Jackets Allowed - 10
It is supreme effort of the 80's with every song a winner, like Sue Studio, so good that Prince rip it off for his "song" 1999, and heart feel duos like Starve With Sting, The Room In Your Hotel and Easy Lava. No record is better than this, other than other certain ones.

You Cannot Be Serious - 10
But this is even bet than the Jackets for it finds superstar Collin in groovy compassion mood. No artist define the heartfree eightys with its ThatcherReganism more deep than Phil Collins with his heartfeel anthem "Another Day A Parasite." Then he sing "Hand To Heavn" with brass from the Jacksons Five and it is party wild he is the Best!

A And B Sides - 8
This is not so good in fact I cannot think of tracks individ from it but it is stil Phil and tehfefore more valid than scurrulent offerings from Britpopp pretend like Slayer and Orbs before proper songs come back with Osis.

Dance With Me Tonight - 5
This is a bad mistake this record. Instead of the hugely melodic ballads with which he make his fortune like Again You're Odd, we get confuse venture into coloured rhythm dominate Africa musics which are reject as amelodic. It is no wonder he return to Genesys not long after with more stringy best selling album like Invisible Mama and Dance With My Duke.

the ideal crash is excellent, with many well-constructed songs. completely different in tone and approach to anything the band did before it

pocket revolution is probably better than i had any right to expect it to be after such a long period in the wilderness

AWESOME phil collins reviews! i love how i get to read phil collins revies on here

-- dance dance counter-revolution (...), September 28th, 2006 2:52 PM. (fandango)

In The Bar no matter what happens will always be my fave though, simply cos I've had it since I was very young and impressionable and the only person I knew who'd even heard of them at the time. I've recently introduced an older musicfan colleague to them and he says Ideal Crash is the best album he's heard since In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

Give me money then.

Germ Free Adolescents - 10
It's fucking great. BUY IT!

You didn't give the last two marks.

x(etc.)post

But some of the best tracks can be found on the gazillion EPs.

revisiting 'in a bar...' now.

fell off the floor fell off the floor fell off the floor, man!

also, 'disappointed in the sun' is a real gem

LOL

GOD WEEN SATAN - 10
KICKASS

THE POD - 10
ALSO KICKASS

PURE GUAVA - 10
KICKASS AND CRAZY

CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE - 10
UNDERCLEAVAGE

12 GOLDEN COUNTRY GREATS - 10
GOOD TIMES

THE MOLLUSK - 10
*makes twirly finger pointed at head "crazy" gesture*

WHITE PEPPER - 10
BANANERS AND BLOW RUELZ

QUEBEC - 10
NOW THEY ARE OLD AND MOODY

except 'ice cream man'

Murmur - 10
Reckoning - 10
Fables of Reconstruction - 5
Life's Rich Pagent - 8
Document - 8
Green - 7
Out of Time - 7
Automatic for the People - 9
Monster - 10
New Adventures in Hi-Fi - 9
Up - 5
Reveal - 4
Around the Sun - 2

More Sad Hits: 9
The Wonderful World of...: 7
Playback Singers: 7
...with Ghost: 7
The Earth is Blue: 9