The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project

Lee Newman said:
I’d really like to understand Allmusic’s scoring Calculus. That does not read like a three star review.
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I have often wondered if like editors get the final say on the rankings. I have seen several similar reviews where the writer gushes over the album and then gives a mediocre ranking or a reviewer who seems very unimpressed but the album still has like a 4 star ranking.
 
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Lee Newman said:
I’d really like to understand Allmusic’s scoring Calculus. That does not read like a three star review.
Click to expand...

TenderLovingKiller® said:
I have often wondered if like editors get the final say on the rankings. I have seen several like reviews were the writer gushes over the album and then gives a mediocre ranking or a reviewer who seems very unimpressed but the album still has like a 4 star ranking.
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Back when I used to read TV show reviews on IGN I had many very similar WTF moments.
 
Lee Newman said:
7/24/23

View attachment 178447The Police - Reggatta de Blanc



www.allmusic.com

Reggatta de Blanc - The Police | Album | AllMusic

Reggatta de Blanc by The Police released in 1979. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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Gordon's pulsing bass guitar, Andy's jangling guitar and Stuart's throbbing. snapping drums pulse and jangle and throb and snap excellently throughout the record.

I've only ever really listened to the singles, so it was nice to sit down and hear the album tracks too for a change.

3 / 5 stars.
 
My brother-in-law is a very talented musician who can play almost any instrument well within a couple days of noodling around with it. That said in the 2000s his musical taste, while vast and with a lot of good in there, had some really wtf components. Namely, his three favorite bands for that decade of his life:
  • Oasis. This one I was good with and took him to see the band as a present on their last tour at Red Rocks since he'd never been able to see them. He was disappointed. The 'Oasis Brothers'--thank you Bob Dylan--were so filled with contempt for each other that they wouldn't even look at each other on stage. But Jet opened for them and put on one of the most energetic and fun rock and roll shows I've ever been to. I didn't even really care for them, but what a show and they showed up Oasis by a mile, which really crushed my bro.
  • The Police/Sting. Having to hear him play them so much (we worked together for a few months in the late 90s/early 00s) was torture after a while. And would have been the worst of his music crimes against my ears, were it not for the band that he loved even more.
  • Mother fucking Nickelback. And I blame myself for this a little because I got tickets for us to a show called Not So Silent Night to see VAST and Everclear, but tickets for the first night featuring headliner The Bloodhound Gang and opener of a band that had just released their first single, Nickelback, didn't sell so they combined the nights into one big show. That first album wasn't even bad, but he loved them at their height.
So I could go with never hearing The Police again. Even though if you took Sting out of it, there is some great music. With Sting it's not even bad, his voice just does the same thing to me that Bono's does (actually, I'd rather listen to Bono) and it starts to grate on my ear drums.
 
I really like The Police. I really like this album. It still has the energy of the first album, but as said above and elsewhere, the sound that would dominate the rest of their career and the 80’s is here.

Some really smart Psychology or Sociology grad student should write a paper on what it is about Uber successful front men that bristles people the wrong way.

I do think Sting is different from Bono and Morrissey. Moz, I suspect, has a certain amount of self hate going on. I truly believe Bono is hurt by all of it. I don’t think Sting gives a fuck.
 
Lee Newman said:
I really like The Police. I really like this album. It still has the energy of the first album, but as said above and elsewhere, the sound that would dominate the rest of their career and the 80’s is here.

Some really smart Psychology or Sociology grad student should write a paper on what it is about Uber successful front men that bristles people the wrong way.

I do think Sting is different from Bono and Morrissey. Moz, I suspect, has a certain amount of self hate going on. I truly believe Bono is hurt by all of it. I don’t think Sting gives a fuck.
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Lol! Moz has pretty much openly had a tonne of self derision going on since the very beginning.

I disagree with you on Bono. I think he has an enormous God complex going on and it all washes off him so long as he is able to leverage his fame to push his agenda. I think where the hurt lies is with other band members flowing from the negative publicity that he’s brought to their door.

I just have an irational hatred for sting. He always just creeped me the hell out.
 
Lee Newman said:
7/24/23

View attachment 178447The Police - Reggatta de Blanc



www.allmusic.com

Reggatta de Blanc - The Police | Album | AllMusic

Reggatta de Blanc by The Police released in 1979. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
Click to expand...

Put this on at work. Besides "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon", nothing stood out to me. Just sounded like 41 minutes of the same song over and over again. I guess if that's your thing if's fine but I've never been a big fan. 2/5.
 
Joe Mac said:
Lol! Moz has pretty much openly had a tonne of self derision going on since the very beginning.

I disagree with you on Bono. I think he has an enormous God complex going on and it all washes off him so long as he is able to leverage his fame to push his agenda. I think where the hurt lies is with other band members flowing from the negative publicity that he’s brought to their door.

I just have an irational hatred for sting. He always just creeped me the hell out.
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I feel the same way about Sting. Who else would start a tantric sex rumor about themselves? Although I do think that creepy perv factor has made me like some of his acting roles where I think it works.

I don't like U2, but Bono doesn't creep me out. I do think he had a bit of an over-inflated ego and the backlash to the free album fiasco at least wounded that a smidge. He's at least done some good in the world, but I would agree with @Joe Mac that I think this has given him more of a God complex.

I think there are uber successful front men that don't come across as complete chodes (Paul McCartney; Billie Joe Armstrong; Eddie Vedder). But I imagine a lot of that fan worship and fame plays a huge role in making people overestimate themselves and act like tools (Roger Waters; Axl Rose; etc).
 
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