2)Soundgarden, Ultramega OK: I *think* what I listened to was a very recent remaster of this album, because reading around about it the one key takeaway is that it's been accused of being poorly produced by Jack Endino, the guy who recorded Nirvana's Bleach for $600 or so the year after this. Me, I don't think it sounded bad at all--this seemed like a very cool new band to be listening to in 1988. And Soundgarden were obviously very energetic and hungry and alive and "cool" and could certainly play well in 1988, but the songs...well...all I really like here are the hard-driving "All Your Lies," the slightly dark opener "Flower," and maybe "Beyond The Wheel" and "Circle Of Power"; the rest, including three short novelty tracks, pretty much dissipates shortly thereafter. None of them are terrible, but all I can really remember about any of them are that a couple of them were rewritten as "Holy Water" and "New Damage" on Badmotorfinger, the first strong Soundgarden album. I wonder who all heard this in 1988 and "knew" that Seattle's big moment was just around the corner...
3)FFS, FFS: The most forgettably catchy album I've ever heard. I do pretty much like it, but it's in a weird category all by itself--with nearly all the songs catching on while they're playing, but I forgot probably ALL of them except the best, "Johnny Delusional," within a week of finishing the record right after it came out eight years ago. Did that happen with any of you? There are other good ones--"Call Girl," "So Desu Ne," "The Man Without A Tan," "Police Encounters," "Save Me From Myself"--but they all slipped away afterwards! And that's because...it's a *Sparks* album, and these are *Sparks* songs, and that always happens with them, regardless of the quality of the album. Bouncy, simplistically catchy, energetic, repetitive title choruses, silly dumb obvious "arch" humor, keyboards keyboards keyboards. "Franz Ferdinand & Sparks" my ass--the only song that the Maels didn't have a hand in cowriting was a weird little song "Little Guy From The Suburbs" that Alex Kapranos sings solo and which sounds nothing like the rest of it. As the Pitchfork review perfectly stated, "this is a modern band throwing their weight behind a cult act, and the cult act showing everyone who's really in charge." It did by and large work though--Franz Ferdinand's indie rock backup was able to provide enough cool modern sheen that you forget both Mael brothers would have been past 65. Now let's see if I forget the album a second time.
4)Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Blank Generation: Right, right, "fill in the ____." I'd forgotten every note of this from 15 years ago and really only recalled not the title track or anything like that, but that "he did Sinatra, right?" That was "All The Way," a bonus track. That and the silly old timey shuffle "I'm Your Man" are the bonus tracks, and I liked them more than the album proper, which is...well, it's punk attitude, and it's stripped down rock, but it's weird to think of anything with Robert Quine playing lead guitar as punk rock music. (I'd forgotten about Quine being the guitarist here, too....and also that Hell tried to write poetry before doing rock music.) Hell was in Television in 1973 or so and played with them at CBGB, and his voice sounds like a yelpier, whinier, less mature Tom Verlaine, and the best song, "The Plan," sounds uncannily close to "Prove It" by Television. As for the punk stuff, it didn't hurt to hear "Blank Generation," the proto-Buzzcocks "Love Comes In Spurts," "Liars Beware" or maybe that eight minute closer "Another World" again, although I really only think this album is passable at best, these songs are good but not masterful, every other big punk act that released an album in 1977 had a couple awesome songs, Hell just had okay ones. Never mind all this: did you people know Hell was originally from Kentucky? The quintessential New York punk character and he's from Kentucky...
5)The Posies, Dear 23: An infuriating disc, because pretty much every song on it is pretty good, though only "Apology" and "You Avoid Parties" approach "great," and they are curiously the two "saddest" songs on the album, the closest to melodrama. All I really remembered from this album was that they sounded a lot like an updated Big Star (other reviews brought up the Hollies, which means...I've never heard a Hollies album! I guess I should?) and as any Big Star fan knows, leaders Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow joined the reunited Big Star in 1993 and even ended up writing actual Big Star songs. As Big Star wannabes go, this is definitely a better album (and certainly a less juvenile and obvious album) than Teenage Fanclub's slightly embarrassing Bandwagonesque, but doesn't have any tracks on it as great as "Alcoholiday" or "The Concept." I may even pick up a copy since every song (I don't feel like a track by track) is good. Has anyone still here heard any of the rest of their albums? Any good?