Dan’s Reviews

Stats

# of Reviews:

4

Average Review:

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Best-Reviewed Album:

Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman

Worst-Reviewed Albums:

Bossanova - Pixies, Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell

Best-Reviewed Decades:

1980’s, 1960’s

Worst-Reviewed Decade:

1990’s, 1970’s

Best-Reviewed Genres:

Acoustic Rock, Folk Rock, Heartland Rock, Folk Pop, Singer-Songwriter

Worst-Reviewed Genres:

Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Jazz Pop, Post-Punk, Progressive Pop, Soft Rock, Surf Rock

Best-Reviewed Scenes:

Greenwich Village Scene

Worst-Reviewed Scenes:

Greenwich Village Scene

Best-Reviewed Tags:

androgynous vocals, sentimental, conscious, melancholic, philosophical, political, protest

Worst-Reviewed Tags:

anxious, energetic, longing, lush, noisy, psychedelic, quirky, rhythmic, science fiction, soft, summer

Listen Party: 3/17/25

Released: 1988

Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Folk Rock, Folk Pop, Acoustic Rock, Heartland Rock

Tags: conscious, female vocalist, political, love, melancholic, sentimental, melodic, acoustic, passionate, androgynous vocals, protest, bittersweet, philosophical

Dan 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

I've always liked "Fast Car" and while the song has a sad tone, I never really listened to the lyrics. It starts optimistic and quickly I find I'm just jamming along without thinking about it anymore. Tracy Chapman joins some of the best artists by masking intense reality behind catchy tracks.

As an absolutely generic white guy who has lived a safe and comfortable life, I can't relate to the challenges that run through the album. In spite of that, the sincerity and emotion in the vocals, lyrics, and music make it impossible not to feel it all in a visceral way.

There are hardly any duds in the album (Looking at you "Baby can I hold you", how was this one a single). She nails the a cappella track "Behind the Wall", proving her vocals absolutely stand on their own. The variety in style and instruments keeps it interesting all the way through. Overall an impressive album that has great depth and replayability.

Released: 1963

Genres: Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic Blues, Talking Blues

Scenes: Greenwich Village Scene

Tags: poetic, acoustic, protest, political, male vocalist, conscious, mellow, introspective, autumn, passionate, bittersweet, humorous, philosophical, warm, melodic, melancholic, playful, war, breakup, love, romantic, sarcastic

Dan 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

There are a couple catchy tunes despite only having a harmonica and guitar. The political stuff is super heavy handed and comes across as naive even if his heart is in the right place. He's only 21 years old here and doesn't have to deal with 24 hour news/social media, so I'm going to give him a pass.

’Bob Dylan’s Dream’ has my favorite lyrics, but largely because I'm a sucker for nostalgia and old friends.

Roughly every other song is about some woman who sounds pretty chill in the lyrics, but he's being a passive-aggressive dick to her anyway.

Bob Dylan freewheeled himself to half the moons I have to give.

Listen Party: 3/18/25

Released: 1990

Genres: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Surf Rock, Post-Punk

Tags: energetic, male vocalist, anxious, noisy, melodic, quirky, science fiction, warm, rhythmic, abstract, summer, love, female vocalist, psychedelic

Dan

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This album reminds me of the goth kids who hung out in the mall food court. They think they're weird, and they actually are weird, just not in the way they think they are. The lyrics are totally nonsensical and the music fits that vibe. There's no continuity to the album, jumping from surf music to screaming rock to a weird Talking Heads clone. It's hard for me to like this album at all because I don't love it on it's technical merits, and just can't get into it personally.

Released: 1974

Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Folk Pop, Jazz Pop, Soft Rock, Progressive Pop

Tags: female vocalist, poetic, lush, introspective, melodic, soft, love, mellow, bittersweet, longing, romantic, passionate, acoustic, warm

Dan 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

The album is a series of disconnected stream of consciousness ramblings with a general theme of stress and unhappiness. I assume Joni Mitchell just took her therapy journal and set it to music. As a hippy swept up into a life of fame, she's got a lot to work through. Also, her romantic relationships aren't what I'd call healthy: a wandering busker, a gambler and "sweet talking ladies man", a dude who ghosts her up on a hill. Pull it together, lady.

Joni has a sweet voice, but none of the songs really pop. "Raised on Robbery" starts hard as hell for about 15 seconds, but the clavinet and close harmony fusion is immediately set aside for the boring, heavily produced adult contemporary that runs through this album.

This album is critically acclaimed so I'm sure people who understand music better than me think I'm an idiot. They can't stop me from giving this thing 2/5 moons, though.