Album Reviews10/10
The Velvet Underground & Nico Mapped Rock’s Darker Territory Before Anyone Else Dared
A record of noise, daring, and habits nobody else would touch — eleven tracks that still play like a warning.
CLAY TRIBUNE / THE ARCHIVE
Category: Album Reviews
Records we have scored.
Album Reviews10/10
Noise by Noise: Public Enemy’s ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’ Still Takes What It Wants
A record from 1988 that takes attention and never gives it back, full of noise, fury, and voice.
Album Reviews5.8/10
Twelve Years On, The Endless River Still Sounds Like Pink Floyd Clearing Out the Attic
A farewell record of mood, not song, wherein Pink Floyd leaves much unsaid, and calls it, at last, an ending.
Album Reviews6/10
Young Bites the Sponsors’ Hand: ‘This Note’s for You’ and Its Anti-Advertising Snarl, 38 Years On
A grim tale of Neil Young's 1988 Bluenotes record, its banned title song, and the guitar that saves it from excess brass.
Album Reviews6/10
Old Ways Was the Full Country Swerve of 1985, and Only Four Songs Earn Their Keep
Neil Young turns country on Old Ways, ten plain tracks of steel guitar and sentiment, with four songs worth keeping.
Album Reviews4/10
Landing on Water: Neil Young’s Machines Cover the Writing
A look at Neil Young's 1986 Landing on Water, where heavy production covers the writing beneath its own weight.
Album Reviews9/10
Neil Young Opens ‘Freedom’ Soft and Ends It Loud — a 9/10 Return to Form
Neil Young's Freedom opens soft and ends loud with Rockin' in the Free World, a record that holds every side of his sound together.
Album Reviews9/10
The Wall at 47: Pink Floyd’s Brick-by-Brick Masterwork Still Stands
A look back at Pink Floyd's The Wall, a sad tale of a man's solitude, wall raised stone upon stone through spirit and sound.
Album Reviews7.8/10
Feeling Through the Machine: Neil Young’s Trans
A voice made distant by machines: Neil Young's Trans weighs feeling against synthesizer and voice box, a strange record time has judged kindly.
Album Reviews9.1/10
A Short Film in 15 Tracks: ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ Remains an Instant Classic
A single day in Compton becomes a full story across fifteen tracks, a good kid moving through a mad city without losing the fire.
Album Reviews6.5/10
Volume 2: The Bouncing Souls Make Their Old Songs Quiet — And Mostly Make It Work
Volume 2 gives quiet, gentle new life to old Bouncing Souls songs — a calm look back rather than a bold new work.
Album Reviews8/10
A Decade Later, The Bouncing Souls’ ‘Simplicity’ Earns Its 8/10 by Wasting None of Its 29 Minutes
The Bouncing Souls return to quick, short songs on their new record, a swift turn back to what once made them work.