Reviews Supplemental

26 Jun 2014: Foo Fighters/"Skin and Bones" (2006)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/men-in-building-by-men.html

Let's get that awful album out of our heads with something SAFE AND BORING TO READ ME TALK ABOUT

In 2006, Foo Fighters released their first and thusfar only live album. It's all acoustic, naturally. Of course, a lot of material from In Your Honour's acoustic disc is present, but we've also got some other songs.

Opening with Razor was... a poor choice. I always felt this song was just kind of there, like the vast majority of In Your Honour's second disc. At seven minutes here, it's kind of annoying.
Over and Out is another In Your Honour disc two track. It's really a missed opportunity that there are so many of these. We already know what these songs sound like acoustic and shit. Give us more unexpected twists on the classics.

The first non-In Your Honour disc two track is Walking After You, from The Colour and the Shape. Apart from the chorus, I honestly think I like this version better. It's really a shame that Dave doesn't even try to sing it correctly.
The fourth track is a, uh, cover? of an unreleased Nirvana track. Look, Dave, there's a reason Marigold was never released. It's boring and shit. Thanks.


My Hero is exactly what I came here for. It's far more striking here than on The Colour and the Shape. From an objective standpoint, this is the best thing the band has ever done.
Next Year is also the best version of the song. It eliminates the stupid fucking Goddamn fucking shit-ass fucking damn fucking fadeout.

Another Round is the best song from In Your Honour's second disc, but Goddamn just let it go already.
But holy shit, Big Me. It's just so different. It's kind of retarded, but in a good way. Shame about the female backing vocalists. Nearly ruin the song.

Cold Day in the Sun is cheating. Those are DEFINITELY electric guitars. I'll forgive it only because Taylor Hawkins is singing. Big fan.
Skin and Bones (the title track!) is kind of annoying. The studio version is excellent, however.

Best of You is just kind of... done. It's done exactly like the original, so it's just kind of there. I like how Dave's voice sounds on it, though.
Closing with Everlong is just kind of a "yeah, of course" move. Good version of a great song and all that.


If this song had less In Your Honour disc two and more literally anything else, it would be far better. I wanted to hear acoustic All My Life, Monkey Wrench, and Breakout.

27 Jun 2014: Kaiser Chiefs/"Yours Truly, Angry Mob" (2007)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/hanging-onto-precipice-of-edge-by.html

So, when I was doing my impressions of GH:SNAE before my guitar decided it didn't work, I discovered another Kaiser Chiefs song I liked besides Emerald. So here we are.

The album naturally begins with Sapphire. Topaz is such a catchy song, honestly. Two thumbs up for Amethyst.
Angry Mob has an infectious rhythm. I can't help but bob my head.

Unfortunately, it soon loses momentum and becomes kind of average. Ah well.

27 Jun 2014: Black Sabbath/"Tyr" (1990)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/05/wont-get-fooled-by-agains.html

Tony Martin returns for his third album with Black Sabbath. I loved the last two; can Tyr make it a tic-tac-toe for Black Sabbath?

Anno Mundi starts off rather pretentiously, but comes back to what I came here for, so I can forgive it.
The title medley is 2/3 boring garbage. I'm glad this wasn't a concept album.

The album kind of hits a decline after the third track, and, while it does recover after the garbage title medley, it doesn't hit the same highs the first three tracks provided. It's still a great album, but the worst of the three Tony Martin albums I've reviewed.

28 Jun 2014: Jack White/"Lazaretto" (2014)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/06/julio-and-case-of-missing-xbox-working.html

Jack White's latest album, released on the tenth of June, the day before my birthday.

The album starts with Three Women, which sounds like a song Jack White would record thirty years into his career. Not a good sign.

Oh my God, this is SO BAD. WHAT WAS JACK WHITE THINKING HOLY SHIT
I never thought I'd listen to a fucking Jack White album and be praying for it to end. Where's Meg when you need her?

Alone in My Home is decent. Way to go.
That Black Bat Licorice is the closest to what I think of as "a Jack White song". Shame it's kind of awful.

"Who is the who telling who what to do" may be the single worst lyric in history.


What did I come for? A Jack White album. What did I get? A bad Jack White album. Such a thing hadn't existed until today. Worst birthday ever.

28 Jun 2014: Carole King/"Music" (1971)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/theres-something-wrong-by-no-shant.html

This is the follow-up to Tapestry, released in the same year. I hope Carole King doesn't disappoint me like Jack White.

Brother, Brother is just what I wanted. I'm glad SOME PEOPLE can make good music.
Some Kind of Wonderful isn't the same song as Grand Funk Railroad's masterpiece. It seems like kind of a retread of You've Got a Friend. Maybe it's just the "all you have to do is call" bit. Ah well.

Overall, the album's not as great as Tapestry, but it's still very good. It's a bit front-loaded, though. The last track is one of the best on the album, disregard.

28 Jun 2014: Rick James/"Street Songs" (1981)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/but-still-youre-in-my-way-by-go-your.html

Since literally both of the Rick James songs I know are on this album, here we are.

The album starts with Give it to Me Baby, which was in GTA V. Big fan.
Ghetto Life was apparently in Vice City. I didn't play that game enough to memorise its radio like San Andreas, so. All I have to say is that Rockstar have great taste.

Then there's Make Love to Me, which brings the album's groove to a screeching halt. It's obviously trying to be something more than it is, and I don't like it at all.
Mr. Policeman is about twice as long as it should be.

Then, of course, there's Can't Touch This Superfreak. It's, uh, his most famous song probably? It's good and you know.

I'm not very well-versed in funk, but I enjoyed this. Maybe it's time to delve into funk?

29 Jun 2014: Paul McCartney/"Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" (2005)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/halving-halves-by-having-haves.html

I've heard great things about this album. Mostly that it's similar to New. That's good enough for me.
Those people I heard from are wrong, but I'm still glad I listened to this. It's a lot better than most of Paul's solo career.

Friends to Go has a really nice guitar tone on it. I like the song a lot.

There's not much to talk about here, but 100% the best post-Wings Paul album, barring New. That's good enough for me.

29 Jun 2014: KISS/"Rock and Roll Over" (1976)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/07/mornings-on-fox-by-national-association.html

It's that time again.

The album begins with I Want You (She's So Heavy). This song is great and it rocks and Ace's solo is great. It's actually one of the best KISS songs I've heard. It's a sign to me that this album will be better than Destroyer. Please God.

Calling Dr. Love was DLC for Rock Band for some reason. It's so completely mediocre that I'm ashamed to say I bought it. It's the very definition of filler, and it's tied for longest song on the album. Fuck you, past me.
All that Gene Simmons' tracks prove is that Gene Simmons shouldn't be allowed to have his own tracks.

Peter Criss has that Rod Stewart-ass rasp on Hard Luck Woman. It works well for him and the band in general
Makin' Love has a sweet riff, but I wish Hard Luck Woman had ended the album.

This album is much better than Destroyer, and a complete return to form for the band. That said, 3.5.

30 Jun 2014: T.Rex/"Best of the BBC Sessions" (2008)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/taming-by-tamer.html

This a collection of live recordings by T.Rex in their prime, 1969-1971. Granted, they still had a classic or two in them at that point, and the album features only one full song and one unfinished song from 1972's The Slider, but who cares? Electric Warrior and the self-titled were better anyway.

Belatine Walk has this really neat ambiance, like it was recorded underwater. I don't know if it was intentional, or just shitty recording, but I liked it a lot.
I think Jeepster has been sped-up, and it works really well for the song. Great job, Bolan.

I'd never heard By the Light of the Magical Moon before today. Goddamn, that riff, that groove the song gets into. Perfection.
Elemental Child is a six-minute jam. The solo is great, the best I've heard from the band.

Then there's the, uh, poem. Only Jim Morrison can pull off having a poem in the middle of an album.


This album is perfect. I loved every second of it, aside from that poem. It's full of great performances of songs I love. What could be better?

30 Jun 2014: Van Halen/"Van Halen III" (1998)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/lightning-fast-fasting-by-fasters.html

This is the only VH album I haven't reviewed, and the only one to feature Gary Cherone.

The album rockets out of the gate with a filler instrumental. Nice.
The second track features Gary Cherone trying desperately to sound like Sammy Hagar. It's kind of horrible.

On the third track, Cherone has some kind of weird lisp. It's like he bit his tongue really bad, but they had to record the song RIGHT NOW (catch a magic moment) because they only booked five minutes of studio time. Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow; why put it off another day?

I can barely tell when one song begins and the next ends. Or whatever. They all sound the same, and not in a good way. It's all so bland and poorly-produced. Cherone's vocals blend into the music too much, he sounds awful, the rest of the band is going through the motions. Great job.


When the best song on your album is a filler instrumental, you've got a problem.
The worst part is that this album could have been pretty good with Sammy Hagar. Van Hagar reunion when


Here's a line from an RYM review I liked:
"Van Halen III is so howlingly, hilariously, ridiculously horrible that it makes every other bad album in history sound pretty good. Crue with Corabi? Genius next to this. Maiden with Blaze? Like Mozart."

30 Jun 2014: Billy Squier/"Emotions in Motion" (1982)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/restlessly-reckless-by-relentless.html

I don't know why I put this off so long. I liked Don't Say No a lot.
The album starts with Everybody Wants You. It's a very obvious song that I can't help but bob my head to.

The rest of the album is kind of unremarkable, but still good. I like that sort of album every once in a while.

01 Jul 2014: "The Number Ones" by The Beatles

So, like, yeah. This is basically the same shit as the last three months, but with an added question:
Why the fuck is Nowhere Man here?

At least they used the full version of Hey Jude.

01 Jul 2014: David Bowie/"Pin-Ups" (1973)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/05/having-friendly-thing-by-guys-who-do.html

An album of covers by David Bowie?! How could this possibly go wrong?!
Also notably the last album recorded with The Spiders from Mars.

Let's talk about cover albums in general for a moment. Having an album full of covers is a lot different than slapping a cover version onto your album.
Even though Megadeth never did an album entirely consisting of covers, four of their studio albums to date have featured cover versions. Two are of songs from an entirely different genre and timeframe (These Boots and I Ain't Superstitious), which make them novel and fun. Two are of songs from a similar genre and timeframe (Anarchy in the U.K. and Cold Sweat), which make them pointless and kind of dull. Covers albums are lucky if they get two notable covers. Not everyone is Tesla, after all.

Of course, this shouldn't really apply to Bowie here. I've only heard two of the songs on here, after all. Both of which were by The Who. I might have heard See Emily Play at some point (or even reviewed the album), but fuck if I can remember it.
However, I can tell that these covers are just kind of there. They seem to lack any real imagination or flair. It's a nice listen, but utterly unmemorable.

I Can't Explain is far different than the original. Bowie slowed it down to the point of unrecognisability, which doesn't work. It's a bad cover of a great song.

Overall, a waste of half an hour.

01 Jul 2014: Smashing Pumpkins/"Pieces Iscariot" (1994)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-entire-body-is-in-pain-guys-by-frog.html

A b-sides compilation! Who doesn't love these?!

The album starts with the worst of the band: a slow, boring Corgan-ass ballad.
Next is what I came for: Frail and Bedazzled. No, not specifically, but it's the exact type of song I want to hear from the band, especially circa 1994. Full of energy, distortion, and a neat as shit guitar riff.

There's also a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide. YouTube commenter Gabriel Hotz had this to say about it:
""Landslide" was good, but I want a cover of "Oh Well." Corgan would do an amazing job on that (not that he didn't on "Landslide," but "Oh Well" is better to begin with)."
I like this guy.
The cover itself is good. Anything is better than Stevie Nicks.

Girl Named Sandoz has a sweet riff, but apparently it's a cover. Shame.
The final track is some shitty sound collage-ass bullshit-ass shit. Great.

Overall, a very good b-sides collection. Not quite on-par with the likes of Incesticide and The Masterplan, but very nice regardless.

02 Jul 2014: Van Morrison/"Hardnose the Highway" (1973)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/brick-by-brick.html

I don't know why it's been a month-and-a-half since I've done a Van Morrison album, after a 5 and a 4.5. I've done three Sabbath albums and fifty KISS albums in that time. Oh well, here we are now.

The album opens with Snow in San Antonio. This song is very confusing. It doesn't know if it wants to be an epic choir thing or a stripped-down emotional song. The guitar riff, when it appears, is bordering on funky.
Now the title track, there's a Van Morrison song. It's got everything you'd expect, but it seems to be missing something the songs from the last two albums had. Hmm.

Now, The Great Deception has it. It's the kind of song that makes this guy so great. Nice job.
Holy shit. There's a cover of Kermit the Frog's "Bein' Green". It ain't easy, and Van Morrison conveys that beautifully.

Autumn Song is requisite 10+-minute song. It seems to be ten minutes long for the sake of it. It's definitely not bad (it's very good, in fact), but eh.
Purple Heather closes the album, and I'm glad it did. Definitely the best here.

Another great album for Van Morrison. I hear the next one is even better somehow.

02 Jul 2014: Cage the Elephant/"Melophobia" (2013)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/10/deleting-deletion-of-deleted-by-instant.html

Cage the Elephant's third and latest album. I gave the debut a 4, and the second album a 2. Let's hope they learned from their mistakes.
"Melophobia", for those who are curious, is the fear of music. Let's hope this album doesn't give me that.

The album opens with Spiderhead. I can't decide whether it's okay or just annoying. I'll go with the latter.
Come a Little Closer alternates between being Cage the Elephant and trying to be The Strokes. This is good, since The Strokes obviously haven't been trying to be The Strokes.

Black Widow has that annoying falsetto that made the Bee Gees famous.
Teeth is just a mess. It's like their heard one of those noisy Nirvana bonus tracks and copied it with no regard for why they were good. And that pretentious spoken-word bit at the end? Awful in ways I'd never expected. At least Stone Sour had the decency to put their stupid spoken-word things as separate tracks. I guess it doesn't matter when the song it's attached to is fucking horrendous, though.


Cage the Elephant have completely lost sight of what made their debut good, and have decided to live in the realm of horrible pretentious drivel. That's fine. I'll just keep giving their albums bad ratings.

02 Jul 2014: KISS/"Love Gun" (1977)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/08/kurt-cobain-was-murdered-guys-by-frog.html

You know a band that's never pretentious? KISS. The jury's still out on horrible, though.

I Stole Your Love opens the album with its sweet riff. Nice job, Ace. The song would probably be mediocre without it, so I'm super-glad it's there.
Everyone on RYM seems to like Shock Me best, but I find it rather boring outside of the solo. Probably the worst song on the album.

The title track opens the second side. Of course, it rocks pretty hard. It's the only song on the album I'd heard before today, by the way.
"I went down to the candy store; if I had a nickel, I'd buy some more" Deep lyrics from KISS, as always.


No other artist can pull of the KISS style. Half-hour albums full of songs about nothing but sex. Albums where I don't mind the filler tracks at all. No other band can wear makeup like that. I have a great respect for the band's commercial success despite how stupid it seems.

03 Jul 2014: Ace Frehley/"Ace Frehley" (1978)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/08/layne-staley-was-murdered-dudes-by-toad.html

In 1978, every member of KISS released a solo album on the same day. This was apparently part of their contract. I'm going to do them all, TONIGHT, in the order RYM lists them.
Apparently, this is the best one. I don't doubt it, myself.

As always, Rip it Out's solo is great. The drumming is great, too. Ace had me at "hello" here.
Speedin' Back to My Baby is pretty much perfect to describe the album as a whole. Ace's vocals may not be the best, but he makes up for it with his guitar-playing. I can respect that.

The second side of this album is where it's at, though. The three best songs reside there.

The only song I'd heard on any of these albums beforehand is on this one. It's called "New York Groove", and was in GTA IV. I didn't hear this version, but rather the original. It's a cover, you know. It's still pretty sweet.
I'm in Need of Love has a great, memorable riff. It's very spacey, which is appropriate, with Ace being the Spaceman and all.

Wiped Out has that guitar solo. Just, yes. All I have to say is yes. More please.
Hell, the final track is an instrumental and I don't even hate it.


This is the best album by anyone related to KISS. Great job, Ace. It's all downhill from here.

03 Jul 2014: Gene Simmons/"Gene Simmons" (1978)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/08/chris-cornell-was-killed-and-replaced.html

So, what happens when the worst singer of KISS makes a solo album? Magic, let me tell you.

Radioactive starts off so pretentiously that I think I don't feel "pretentious" is a strong enough word for it. I never thought I'd call something KISS-related pretentious, but here we are. The rest of the song is fine, but that intro ruins it completely.
Speaking of "ruins it completely", Burning Up with Fever features female backing vocalists. 10/10

Surprisingly, the best song on here is a ballad. Because if there's one thing I think of when I think of KISS, it's ballads. Gene, you crazy, dog.
The final track is a cover of Disney's When You Wish Upon a Star. That may sound like a bad joke, but I swear I'm not the one telling it. It's worth it for the novelty alone, which is good, since it has literally nothing else going for it.

Far worse than Ace's, and the worst KISS-related thing I've listened to.

03 Jul 2014: Paul Stanley/"Paul Stanley" (1978)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/08/eddie-vedder-is-okay-people-by-chameleon.html

The usual KISS frontman. Not much else to say about the guy, really.

Move On has a great guitar solo. I assume Stanley himself is playing it, and if so, it proves that KISS isn't lacking in guitar talent at all.
Ain't Quite Right is pretty much as good as a song like that can be. It uses the backing vocalists at exactly the right time and place to make it work.

Take Me Away tries really hard to be epic, and it very nearly succeeds.
Love in Chains needs to be in a guitar-based rhythm game right the fuck now.


This album has proven to me that KISS would be fucking great if Gene Simmons weren't involved. This is the second-best album by anyone related to KISS.

03 Jul 2014: Peter Criss/"Peter Criss" (1978)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/08/scott-stapp-is-alien-sent-to-kill-us.html

Here we are. The last one. This one is so near-universally-hated that I really feel bad for Peter. I hope I like it.
Drummers generally have shaky relationships with microphones. Not everyone is a Ringo or a Phil Collins. Based on his songs within KISS, I like Peter. He's got a nice voice. Honestly, he's a lot like Ringo in that regard. He doesn't get many songs, but they're always fun when they appear. Easy Thing is one of his better vocal performances, if you're interested.

There's literally nothing wrong with this album. People are just mad that it's not really a rock album. I'm kind of mad at them for it.
This doesn't have the highlights of Paul's or Ace's albums, but it NEVER hits the lows of Gene's. A solid effort, honestly.
KISS should have been a trio: Ace, Paul, Peter. That's all they needed. Maybe we'd still have the original line-up if Gene stayed in Israel.

04 Jul 2014: Black Sabbath/"Dehumaniser" (1992)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/06/georgia-always-on-my-mind-by-ussr.html

The third and (sort of) final Black Sabbath album to feature Ronnie James Dio. That's right, he's back. As much as I love Tony Martin, Dio's just got him beat. R.I.P.

Dio's vocals and Geezer's bass are definitely the stars of the first track, Computer God. That's not to say Iommi is being a slouch, however. That guitar solo is perfect. A great start to the second coming of Dio.
After All proves why these guys need Dio and he needs them. On one hand, Ozzy, Tony Martin, or whoever couldn't pull this off. On the other, Dio's solo work at this point was not this strong. I don't know why he left after this album, but I wish he hadn't.

TV Crimes is one of those songs that just rocks so hard that there's really not much to say but "holy shit".

This is the best album Dio did with the band, if not their best album full stop. Huge fan.

04 Jul 2014: Ozzy Osbourne/"No Rest for the Wicked" (1988) REVISITED
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/steadily-going-steady-by-steadies.html

I'm usually confident in my reviews, but there are a few ratings I'd like to revisit and reassess. This album was Ozzy's first with Zakk Wylde, released before the brilliant No More Tears. Since I liked its songs on Just Say Ozzy a lot, I decided to give this another shot.
Honestly, this is probably the highest-rated album on my list to revisit, so bear with me. Apparently, this was my review for this day two years ago. This wasn't planned, and I'm kind of spooked.

Miracle Man is a very strong opener, even with that weird vocal effect saying "MIRACLE MAN" in the choruses. Zakk's squeals are also tastefully-done here.
Devil Daughter is one of Ozzy's worst vocal performances of the '80s, but that riff is nice. Shame it's twice as long as it should be.

Fire in the Sky is incredibly boring. Just, boring. Very boring.
I'd said that Hero was the best song on the album, but I was wrong. It's not as good as Miracle Man, really.


So, I think this may have backfired. This album is exactly as good as I thought it was two years ago.
PREVIOUS RATING: 3.5
NEW RATING: 3.5

04 Jul 2014: Otis Redding/"The Dock of the Bay" (1968)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/bailed-to-wall-by-typoing.html

I don't know why I added this to my "to review" list, but I'm fucking doing it.
This is a posthumous album, cobbled together from b-sides and whatever else was lying around.

So, there's that title track. The one everyone knows, and everyone loves. I can't say much about it. It's just perfect, you know.
The problem with opening on Dock of the Bay is that it sets such an unreasonable standard for the album. You just can't compete with it.

I don't get how Dock of the Bay is so clear and perfect when the rest of the album is nigh-unintelligible. The phrase "recorded in a toilet" comes to mind.
I'm Coming Home steals the riff from Louie, Louie, and is probably the best non-title track song yet.

Tramp is awful. Awful concept, worse execution.


This album would be garbage without Dock of the Bay, or maybe not. Dock of the Bay is so good that it makes the rest of the album seem far worse, and that's not okay, bro.

05 Jul 2014: Elvis Costello/"Get Happy!" (1980)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-i-want-by-wanting.html

I have a shaky history with Elvis Costello. I loved his debut, but hated his second and third albums. This is his fourth album. I chose it because its songs are rarely over three minutes long, so if I don't like one, it'll be over quickly.

B Movie is just so good. The phrasing is impeccable. Just, damn.
Human Touch is just so infectious. Those vocals, that guitar. Big fan.

This album may not have the energy or impressiveness of My Aim is True, but it's very enjoyable. It even hits its stride at the end for a pleasant surprise. I think this was a great step for Mr. Costello, and I can't wait to see him fuck everything up.