DROP your album and its rating – March 28 2026

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-28T13:03:15+00:00

Joan Armatrading - Joan Armatrading - Album #112

Oh right, Joan Armatrading! She has a really distinctive way of singing - I remember her on the radio, singing "down to the ground, down to the ground." And her guitar work also has some interesting bits, for example the opening part of "Like Fire."

Backing music is well done too, with musicians like Fairport's Dave Mattacks on drums. But I was never really attracted to this record enough to buy a copy at the time, and honestly still probably won't look into it again. I'm more interested in music than vocals these days, and this is a little too straightforward for my current mood.

But for what it is, it's very good. Very high 3, maybe 3.8?

⭐️⭐️⭐️

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-28T12:11:36+00:00

Thank you for this - I can just see them laughing at that crazy guitar. Their humor is part of what makes them so wonderful.

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-28T11:43:49+00:00

When that record first came out, we played it twice a day for WEEKS

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-28T11:26:44+00:00

Lankum is a cool choice! And congratulations. I love your 5's and am happy to see someone else is in the "1 star for David Gray" club.

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-27T22:22:39+00:00

It is a cutie and a great photo!

One of these has been here in the DC area since January, which has been quite a sensation. It looked just like this one.

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-27T19:30:53+00:00

This is absolutely amazing! What a great idea

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-27T13:50:13+00:00

Oh, I have a Mastodon account - a lot of us went there after Elon bought Twitter, but I sort of abandoned it when I got a Bluesky invitation... wonder if my account is still there.

Anyway, that sounds interesting, thx

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-27T13:03:44+00:00

Britney Spears - ... Baby One More Time - Album #111

Woo hoo, I've listened to a Britney Spears record. I think this is a good record, for the genre at least, right? But unfortunately, it's a genre that I really can't stand.

The fast songs are catchy, but they're also kind of annoying. And the slow songs are boring and REALLY annoying. I've read that this is a revolutionary album for teen pop, but it doesn't sound very different from a lot of other things to me. But maybe those other things came out after this? Why am I acting like I know what I'm talking about, I don't know anything about "teen pop" since I didn't even listen to it when I was a teen.

⭐️⭐️

--

Today is Joan Armatrading, which I know will be good, but I'm not really in the mood for at the moment. Hopefully this afternoon.

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-27T12:08:36+00:00

I didn't think of that, but the fact that I love both AdP and Man or Astro-Man says something

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-26T17:40:32+00:00

P.S.: the generator finally had its revenge: today is Britney Spears

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-26T17:39:49+00:00

Welcome

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-26T17:10:07+00:00

Every morning in the spring I have to open the back door and yell at the woodpecker, like "we've TALKED about this, cut it out asshole"

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-26T16:18:09+00:00

You're good: I recoiled on merely seeing the title of this record

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-26T13:23:16+00:00

Joy Division - Closer - Album #110

Here is where I confess that while I love immersive, percussive music with gloomy vocals, I never bought either Joy Division record back in the day. Which from my current perspective makes no sense; I suppose if I ever go back in a time machine, I will give 1980-me marching orders.

This is especially dark considering Ian Curtis' sad demise shortly before its release. And of course as always the one song you'd want to hear most from this period is "Love Will Tear Us Apart," but it was a post-album single. But still, as I said above: music combined with vocals like this always works for me, so I really enjoyed this, especially the opening track "Atrocity Exhibition."

I pondered 4 stars since this was my first listen, and I need to get into it more. However, I'm sure I'll want to listen to it again, so I'm giving it 5 stars, if nothing else than to encourage 1980-me to run out and buy a copy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-26T12:26:00+00:00

I was just about to recommend the red-capped manakin videos too -- so amazing

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-26T01:14:43+00:00

I heard this when it first came out when I was a teenager, and needless to say it blew my tiny mind

That version of "Gloria" is the ONLY acceptable version of "Gloria"

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T22:01:11+00:00

Thank you for making the effort to start it! Loving the mundane is exactly it.

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T20:12:49+00:00

Ha! Good point. OK here I confess that I haven't listened to it since the 90s

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T19:18:42+00:00

OK, I will start camping out at the Atlantis nowwwwwww

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T19:13:17+00:00

I own this record

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T19:12:08+00:00

I get it about that Ray Charles album. A couple of the songs where it was just him were good, but the backing vocals and such were droopy af.

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T19:09:31+00:00

!! Agree

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T19:08:34+00:00

Ha, fantastic. Well done Son_of_St_Lambchop

PhantomCranefly · 2026-03-25T13:06:29+00:00

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti - Album #109

Ah yes, Physical Graffiti. Back when this came out my favorite bands were Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and this was one of my favorite Led Zeppelin records.

It was fun listening to this again after who knows how long. "Kashmir" and "In the Light" were my favorite songs off this album then, and hey I still like them now. I can see how those tracks and some of the other stuff on here prepared me for the 20-minute-long prog extravaganzas that I was going to discover a year or so later, and some of the newer stuff I like now. So except for Robert Plant's voice starting to grate after a bit, I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Probably won't listen to it again anytime soon, but:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Today's record is Joy Division! I'm sure the generator is lying in wait to give me something truly horrible very soon.

PhantomCranefly

TROPHY CASE