The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project (aka Preachin’ about the Preachers if today’s selection sucks)

Lee Newman said:
10/17/23
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D’Angelo - Brown Sugar



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Brown Sugar - D'Angelo | Album | AllMusic

Brown Sugar by D'Angelo released in 1995. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
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He is among the GOATs in the genre. One of my top50 artists all time. All three studio records have been spaced out so far from one another. Yet each sound incredibly unique, epitomizing the (at the time) new essence of groove by emphasizing the downbeat with steady snare. The influence on modern R&B cannot be understated. Looking back, much of 90s R&B was not great, and is kinda cringe now.

But truthfully, the best D'Angelo record? The one that I last played.

Rating: 5/5 [Masterpiece]
 
Lee Newman said:
10/18/23
View attachment 184848
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You



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I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You - Areth... | AllMusic

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You by Aretha Franklin released in 1967. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
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An arrest warrant gonna come for me if I don't assign it a perfect score. So I will. It is deserving, and bears classics important to the history of soul music.

Rating: 5/5 [Masterpiece]
 
So I listened to my MoFi Pretenders (yes it is great) while reading this:
www.rollingstone.com

The Pretenders Ain't Sobbing

Chrissie Hynde on her early days as a music critic, being a woman on the road, and almost losing her virginity to Ron Wood
www.rollingstone.com
Before spinning Aretha and it seems very much like that album is a direct reaction to this one now.

Also, Kurt Loder is a hell of a writer.
 
So I listened to this a couple of times when it came out but never really paid too much attention to it. I really dug Pageant Material. I kind of found this direction disappointing at the time.

Also, I had no idea that Trailer was her fourth album.
 
Lee Newman said:
So I listened to this a couple of times when it came out but never really paid too much attention to it. I really dug Pageant Material. I kind of found this direction disappointing at the time.

Also, I had no idea that Trailer was her fourth album.
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I agree with all of this. Golden Hour is a very good album and was absolutely the album she needed to make to break through to the mainstream but I enjoy her two previous albums much more.
 
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Lee Newman said:
10/19/23
Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
www.allmusic.com

Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves | Album | AllMusic

Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves released in 2018. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
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Not a slam dunk like the two albums before it, but still a pretty good pop country record. Light 4/5.

favs: "High Horse", "Oh, What a World", "Wonder Woman"
least favs: "Rainbow", "Mother"
 
I had been a fan of Soundgarden since Louder Than Love and think Bad Motor Finger is a top twenty all time album, top ten metal album and only second to In Utero in the whole “grunge” thing. Even before Black Hole Sun got played into the dirt, I thought this slick, well produced album just felt an awful lot like they’d lost everything I loved about them.
 
Lee Newman said:
10/19/23
View attachment 185024
Soundgarden - Superunknown



www.allmusic.com

Superunknown - Soundgarden | Album | AllMusic

Superunknown by Soundgarden released in 1994. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
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I liked (even loved) this in college back then. Now? Eh...I kinda don't. Certainly wouldn't have any space in my vinyl library.

It has had its time. I'll smile when a song comes on the bar radio, then shrug my shoulders and move on with my life.

Rating: 2.5/5 [Decent]
 
Lee Newman said:
I had been a fan of Soundgarden since Louder Than Love and think Bad Motor Finger is a top twenty all time album, top ten metal album and only second to In Utero in the whole “grunge” thing. Even before Black Hole Sun got played into the dirt, I thought this slick, well produced album just felt an awful lot like they’d lost everything I loved about them.
Click to expand...
I agree that Badmotorfinger is their greatest moment, and a top ten metal album of all time. This is their shot at the mainstream and their version of Metallicas black album in that sense. I remember a review of that said something like “they’re travelling on the wide highways of the mainstream on this album, but they’re riding in the pitch black dead of night and fast as hell”. This is my take as well. Songwriting is still great. The slick production puts a commercial sheen on everything though, which is a bit off putting.
 
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