176. Red Hot Chili Peppers

January 20, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(July 2018) I have completed episode 176 of my “opus project.” This edition: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS. Many excellent songs. But overall, the sum does not equal the (funk + rock + punk + jazz) parts. Their early stuff was ground-breaking (esp. Get Up and Jump). Everything after Californication is boring. In the 1980s, you’d put on their latest album to show how punk you were. In the 1990s, you’d put on their latest album to show you were edgier than your friends who listened to Gin Blossoms and Dave Matthews. In the 2000s, you put on their latest album to show that you once thought of yourself as punk and edgy.

Favorite album: One Hot Minute

Favorite song: Give It Away

Special sauce: Flea

Compared to expectations: same

175. Fiona Apple

January 20, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(July 2018) I have completed episode 175 of my “opus project.” This edition: FIONA APPLE. Of the many female singer-songwriters to come out of the 1990s, she is perhaps the most enigmatic and interesting.

Favorite album: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

Favorite song: Criminal

Compared to expectations: ↑

174. Len Price 3

January 20, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(July 2018) I have completed episode 174 of my “opus project.” This edition: The LEN PRICE 3. If you like early The Who, early Kinks, or garage rock in general, you should check out this contemporary revivalist group. It’s like listening through a kick-ass time machine.

Favorite album: Pictures

Favorite song: Mr. Grey

Compared to expectations: same

173. Roxy Music

January 20, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(July 2018) I have completed episode 173 of my “opus project.” This edition: ROXY MUSIC. The review confirmed my impression that much of Roxy’s music is unremarkable. But it did introduce me to their first two superbly glam-tastic albums — the ones with Brian Eno (because everything Eno touches turns to gold).

Favorite album: For Your Pleasure

Favorite song: The Bogus Man

Least favorite album: Flesh + Blood

Nostalgic album: Avalon

Compared to expectations: ↓

169. Badfinger

January 20, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(June 2018) I have completed episode 169 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: BADFINGER. One of the three Pillars of Power Pop (along with Big Star and the Raspberries). No one excelled at the power ballad quite like Badfinger.

Favorite album: Straight Up

Favorite song: No Matter What

Hidden Gem: the first album (Maybe Tomorrow, issued as The Iveys), with period-apt psychedelics and baroque pop

Compared to expectations: same

167. Mazzy Star

January 20, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(May 2018) I have completed episode 167 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: MAZZY STAR. An underrated band from the 1990s IMHO. A distinct sound — hazy, echo-y, spare, not quite alt-country, with subtle bits of psychedelia — that I might label “sultry shoegazing.”

Favorite album: So Tonight That I Might See

Favorite song: Halah

Compared to expectations: same

164. Devo

January 19, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(April 2018) I have completed episode 164 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: DEVO. As my interest in late-70s New Wave has grown, so has my appreciation of Devo’s first few albums. They’re more than a one-hit wonder, but their sound never really “evolved” (pun intended) from its one-dimensionality. If repetitiveness is proof of concept, they succeeded.

Favorite album: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Favorite song: Uncontrollable Urge

Worst album: Total Devo

Compared to expectations: ↓

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162. The Allman Brothers

January 19, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

I have completed episode 162 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE ALLMAN BROTHERS. They didn’t invent Southern Rock*, but they pretty much defined it (see Midnight Rider and Blue Sky). A always enjoy the fret and slide work of Dickey and Duane. Their output after the 1970s often resembled little more than talent-rich bar band.

Favorite album: Idlewild South

Favorite song: Jessica

Favorite period: 1969-72

Compared to expectations: same

* Gregg Allman once made an astute comment that “Southern rock” was a redundant term, like “rock rock.”

161. The Sonics

January 19, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(March 2018) I have completed episode 161 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE SONICS. The Beatles, Stones, Who and Kinks of the mid-1960s deserve all the accolades they’re given, but none of them rocked harder than the Sonics. Out of Tacoma, WA, they were a definitive garage band, and their tonal aggression clearly influenced punk. After some 50 years, they were still spry enough to put out a kick-ass album (2015).

Favorite album: Here Are The Sonics

Favorite song: The Witch

Compared to expectations: same

158. Squeeze

January 19, 2019April 11, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(March 2018) I have completed episode 158 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an band’s full discography. This edition: SQUEEZE. I’ve long been a fan of the clever song-writing of the Difford-Tilbrook collaboration, who created one of the most melodically tuneful outfits from the UK New Wave. The first five albums are great; the 80s and 90s are serviceable but not memorable; the 2015 and 2017 albums are rather catchy.

Favourite album: East Side Story

Favorite song: Is That Love

Most resembles a late-period Paul McCartney album: Cradle to the Grave

Compared to expectations: same

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