Review: Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare:

Upon first listen this is a giant pile of mediocrity. The beauty of their debut was the tightness they displayed with their cocky attitude that somehow managed to not turn you off. That beauty has been bastardized as they don't sound like the uber-tight band that we all over-hyped.

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Purchase for $9.49

Arctic Monkeys tomorrow. Rest of week off.

I'm actually out of CDs to review. I don't have anything new and I've stopped mining some of the older artists for a little while. Recommend me something.

Review: Neil Young - Live At Massey Hall 1971:

Upon first listen I have removed all of the previous Neil Young albums from my DAP and have replaced them with one Neil Young album; this one.

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Review: Various - Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration:

Upon first listen there are some great covers on here, but they're buried amongst a whole bunch of terrible ones.

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Review: Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings And Food:

Upon first listen it doesn't seem as tight as 77 does, but that's likely because 77 has been playing constantly on my computer for the past few weeks. Still, I can't wait to give this one more of a chance as it has the potential to be great.

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Review: Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero:

Upon first listen this album is so 'industrial' it's a frustrating listen. Especially, when I thought maybe, just maybe he was getting away from such noise.

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Review: Patty Griffin - Children Running Through:

Upon first listen I had trouble getting past some of the over-singing and thus did not enjoy the album.

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Review: Brandi Carlile - Brandi Carlile:

Upon first listen this folky, classic rock-esque album shows a lot of promise for the heretofore relatively-unknown Carlile. A lot of promise that isn't fulfilled on this outing but could be further down the road.

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Purchase for $8.01

Review: Bright Eyes - Cassadaga:

Upon first listen there is no doubt the Mr. Oberst of capable of greatness, it's just that he still hasn't achieved it. There are, as usual, so really good tracks on here, and mixed with the left off tracks from the Four Winds EP, could make a pretty solid album, but it still just doesn't have that final piece to the puzzle that's been lacking for his entire career.

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Purchase for $7.59

Review: Neil Young - On The Beach:

Upon first listen this is easily the weirdest Neil Young album I've ever heard (though I'm told it's not nearly his weirdest). Still, it's got some good tracks but falls a bit on the uneven side of the tracks.

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Review: Neil Young - Harvest:

Upon first listen this is the album that Neil Young finally realizes his orchestral vision that began with Everybody and was tightened with Gold Rush but completes itself here. It's still a frustrating listen at times because some of the songs are too short and could use some of the aforementioned piddle-farting to help amplify the track.

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Review: Neil Young - After The Gold Rush:

Upon first listen Young spends less time piddle-farting around and just sings the songs. And it works masterfully.

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Review: Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere:

Upon first listen and with great naivete and enormous hindsight I found the album to be lacking in emotion, passion and overall execution as most of the tracks failed to impress.

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Review: Kings of Leon - Because of the Times:

Upon first listen it took me most of the album to really appreciate the voice and delivery (as it did with their previous effort) but once I did I found myself dancing along and enjoying every minute.

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Review: Fucked Up - Hidden World:

Upon first listen I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this set as I hadn't heard anything by them previously and hadn't seen much good press (save for the Pitchfork review) but I wasn't pleasantly surprised. There are a couple of really, really great hardcore-but-not-hardcore tracks on here that convince me of impending genius. There are also a couple of tracks that seem like very traditional hardcore tracks with a couple of strings or whistles tacked on. Ultimately it's an album with the band looking over its shoulder, making sure it's OK to move forward and once they realize that it is, look for them to run free.

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Review: Sterling - Cursed:

Upon first listen there is just too much good instrumental and crescendo-building music around to recommend this one.

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Review: Shook Ones - Facetious Folly Feat:

Upon first listen they decided not to copy Kid Dynamite as much and I decided I didn't like them as much.

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Purchase for $10.00