L.A. Woman review

The 6th album by The Doors. Tragically, this is the last one before Jim Morrison's death in 1971. It is regarded as one of their best albums.

Tracks:

1. The Changeling: 8/10 a hugely enjoyable and pleasingly simple opening track.

2. Love Her Madly: 8/10 while relationship songs are common, this one still manages to feel relatively fresh and boasts a cracking tune.

3. Been Down So Long: 6/10 a screechy and uninspired rebellion song with some good bits.

4. Cars Hiss By My Window: 9/10 the quietest so far yet also the strongest, and an excellent break-up song that really delivers.

5. L.A. Woman: 8/10 occasionally confusing, but otherwise a blast.

6. L'America: 8/10 ditto.

7. Hyacinth House: 8/10 an unusually melancholy song for Jim Morrison, this is a testimony to his skill as a writer.

8. Crawling King Snake: 7/10 pretty fun even though it's just a single idea repeated a lot.

9. The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat): 8/10 more of a poem than a song, but still very interesting.

10. Riders On the Storm: 9/10 another fabulous and insane album closer that's up there with The End.

Best song: Riders On the Storm
Worst song: Been Down So Long

Summary: L.A. Woman is a solid, highly satisfying album. The Doors still lack the punch of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, The Who and many other bands of their time, but they're certainly an enjoyable music act with a lot going for them. Jim Morrison's final album with them is a good swansong for him, and L.A. Woman boasts some of The Doors' best songs in their entire discography. The album benefits from plenty of insanity and excellent tunes, but is brought down slightly by repetitive melodies and confusing lyrics.



Final rating: 8/10

Hail to the Thief review

Sorry it has been so long since my last post; I have been travelling for the past 3 weeks. Having been to a Radiohead live gig (Sort of, I didn't have tickets but I listened from nearby), here is my review of Radiohead's 6th album.

Tracks:

1. 2+2=5 (The Lukewarm): 9/10 a hugely enjoyable and delightfully cynical rock song, and a welcome return to Radiohead's previous guitar-driven music.

2. Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders): 8/10 this one is repetitive, but as always it's musically brilliant and has a terrific outro.

3. Sail to the Moon (Brush the Cobwebs Out of the Sky): 8/10 one of the best lullabies of all time, even if Thom Yorke's vocals are at their most moany here.

4. Backdrifts (Honeymoon is Over): 8/10 this excellent track represents a skillful mix of the electronic Kid A/Amnesiac material and the rock stuff which came before.

5. Go to Sleep (Little Man Being Erased): 9/10 as I've said before, Thom Yorke really should write a horror film.

6. Where I End and You Begin (The Sky is Falling in): 10/10 a masterful and poetic song which evokes very favorable comparisons with OK Computer.

7. We Suck Young Blood (Your Time is Up): 9/10 a brilliant musical nightmare. Why I haven't seen this among more 'Best of' lists of Radiohead songs is a mystery.

8. The Gloaming (Softly Open Our Mouths in the Cold): 8/10 a haunting, highly unsettling and deeply interesting attack on Right-Wing politics.

9. There There (The Boney King of Nowhere): 8/10 not the album's most lyrically sophisticated song, but one of its most powerful and enjoyable.

10. I Will (No Man's Land): 9/10 short but devastating.

11. A Punchup at a Wedding (No no no no no no no no): 6/10 far less interesting than most of what's on the album, but at the same time not bad in any particular way.

12. Myxomatosis (Judge, Jury and Executioner): 8/10 confusing at times yet it's an unusually deep and intelligent examination of the dark side of fame.

13. Scatterbrain (As Dead as Leaves): 8/10 a shapeless, strange yet endlessly compelling song.

14. A Wolf at the Door (It Girl. Rag Doll.): 10/10 a brilliant, haunting and stunningly clever album closer which is also the closest thing to a hip-hop song Radiohead have ever done.

Best song: Where I End and You Begin
Worst song: A Punchup at a Wedding

Summary: Radiohead seem to dislike this album, but it's hard to see why. It may have some extra baggage, but it is a superb work. With terrifying yet relevant lyrics and a brilliant mix of guitars and electronics, Hail to the Thief forms a brilliant bridge between the pre-Kid A stuff and Kid A/Amnesiac. Some of the songs could have been cut loose and if they had done the album would probably have been a masterpiece. Still, the album we got is hugely impressive.


Final rating: 9/10