April Recap

Perhaps it's a growing confidence in knowing how to be more objective in reviewing albums, or maybe it's that it's taking more and more to impress me, but April saw very few albums receive the maximum five-star score. That's not to say there weren't some great albums, but I definitely think it's taking a lot more than just 'really good' or 'great' to earn a maximum rating.

Best Albums of April

Four albums received either a 5 or a 4.5. Of those, only one earned five stars. They were:

Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand (5)

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (4.5)

GZA - Liquid Swords (4.5)

Dio - Holy Diver (4.5)

Worst Albums of April

Man, there were some right stinkers this month (and a contender for the Worse than Nickelback Award). The worst albums this month were:

Rogue Traders - Here Come The Drums (0.5)

The Easybeats - Volume 3 (1.5)

Andre Rieu - And The Waltz Goes On (2)

Coming Up

This month's schedule is still under construction. However, this month I am going to be testing out a new scoring system. To allow me more scoring flexibility, I am moving from a five star system to a score out of 10. I'm hopeful this will allow me to differentiate better between albums in terms of their quality.

Thanks again for continuing to read....only two thirds of the year to go!

March Recap

March Recap

This month on The LOAD Project has seen some unusual and unknown albums, with a few big selling releases sprinkled in between. It's probably been one of the more varied months too, with everything from obscure 70s jazz fusion to booming thrash metal to 80s pop magnificence. 

Next month, I'm hoping to bring more requests into the schedule, along with trying to find some more "big" albums, in terms of popularity, critical acclaim and general Importance To Growing Up.

Best Albums of March

A whopping five albums received a full five stars in March. They were:

Megadeth - Rust In Peace

Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

Madonna - Like A Prayer

Tool - Lateralus

Worst Albums of March

There was also some terribly awful shite that penetrated my ears this month. The worst of the worst were:

Girls' Generation - The Boys (0.5)

Joe Cocker - Fire It Up (1.5)

Atoms for Peace - Amok (2)

Coming Up

Checking last month's recap, I saw there were some artists I'd teased that I didn't do in March, so I'll be looking to do them in April instead. While I haven't finished my schedule yet, some artists coming up in the first half of the month are:

• Dire Straits
• The Beach Boys
• The Easybeats
• Opeth

Plus, I settle the age-old question: Blur or Oasis?

February Recap

Well, we're two months into The LOAD Project, and this month was the more stressful of the two. A few late nights with band commitments and work have often meant that the album listen has been a late night scramble, with the review following the next day. It's not an ideal situation, but so long as I continue to listen to one album each day, I'm continuing to meet my goal.

(Quite what I'm going to do if I go on camp with my students in July, I don't know yet.)

It also didn't help this month that I lost the February schedule. Consequently there were a few requests that are gone, and I'm trying to remember as many as I can. There's a few albums that were going to be done in Feb that have been moved to March instead.

Best Albums of February

Two albums received the coveted* 5/5 rating this month. They were:

Devin Townsend/Ocean Machine - Biomech

Radiohead - Kid A

There were also a host of albums that I gave 4.5 or 4 to as well (including but not limited to The Woods, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Beggars Banquet and Freedom of Choice).

Worst Albums of February

There were a few albums I listened to this month that weren't much chop, as far as I was concerned. Now, admittedly, they make for easy targets, but having listened to them it's fair to say that they bring it upon themselves.

The pick of the worst, though?

Skrillex - Bangarang (0.5)

Snow - 12 Inches of Snow (1)

William Shatner - The Transformed Man (0.5 for aesthetic value, 5 for PURE COMEDY GOLD VALUE)

The first two at least have some artistic merit, even if I thought they were utterly terrible. The latter, though? What is heard cannot be unheard. EVER.

Coming Up.....

I'm continuing to try and keep the variety coming, so March will hopefully be very eclectic. A few of the artists coming up in March are:

• Spinal Tap
• Mansun
• Guns 'n' Roses
• Pink
• Miles Davis
• Lady Gaga
• Guided By Voices
• Seasick Steve
• Tool
• AC/DC

Thanks again to everyone who keeps reading my collection of crazy opinions!

January Recap

A Recap of January

It's been a very interesting month for me to kick off this project. Already I feel as though my tastes have been broadened somewhat; there are some albums that have now entered my permanent collection (In Utero, Enter the Wu-Tang and Rock On, I'm looking at you.) I've also learned that perhaps hip hop is not the vapid desert of musicality and creativity I thought it was.

I also want to say a massive THANK YOU to all of you who are readers of this blog. Even though I'm sure many of the albums don't interest you in the slightest, it's nice to know that somebody is interested in my ramblings. I'm going to try and streamline my reviews a little bit more where I can though, as I know sometimes they can be a little long.

Anyway, the end of each month will bring a brief reflection and recap: which will simply be the three best (and worst) albums reviewed, with links to their reviews. All the other albums can be found in the Page Index, should you ever decide that you're shattered that you missed that Sia review.

There will also be a taster of what lies ahead in the next month.

Here we go:

Best Albums of January

Four albums received a maximum 5/5 score this month. They were:

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command

Prince - Sign o' the Times

Worst Albums of January

Aqua - Aquarium  (1/5)

Nickelback - All the Right Reasons (0/5)

Lorde - Pure Heroine (2/5)

Coming up in February.....

Here's a small selection of artists coming up this month:

• Led Zeppelin
• Buddy Holly
• Midlake
• You Am I
• Devin Townsend
• Iron Maiden
• Parliament
• Paolo Nutini

And MANY MORE!!!

There will also be an opportunity for you to select an album to close out the month of February, so stay tuned!

Till next time, thanks for reading!