Rock
Noah’s Barks pages related to the rock music genre. Combine with other tags for subgenres, e.g. “alternative+rock,” “noise+rock,” and “indie+rock.”
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Queen – “Hot Space”
Many consider Hot Space to be Queen‘s worst album (personally, I believe that title goes to The Miracle), and it’s fans often abhor it for its shift from rock to pop, featuring many songs driven by synthesizer dance beats. Certainly, a move that could (and would) easily anger the band’s long-time fans and rock purists. But… (read more)
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Interpol – “Turn On the Bright Lights”
I just want to chime in and say Turn On the Bright Lights sounds almost nothing like Joy Division, other than possibly Paul Banks’s freak-out vocal delivery at some parts, and a comparison that simple can find a parallel with other vocalists even before the time of Ian Curtis throughout the earliest new wave movement. Joy Division’s guitars… (read more)
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The Sonics – “Here Are the Sonics!!!” (1965)
Here Are The Sonics!!! is the 1965 debut album by The Sonics. Considered very influential to both punk music and garage rock, the album receives near universal acclaim. But helping to pioneer some burgeoning genres does not alone make this a great album. For starters, 8 out of its 12 songs are covers, and while… (read more)
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Queen – “A Day at the Races”
Queen’s albums became a lot less consistent after A Night at the Opera. Fortunately, they didn’t fall too hard yet on A Day at the Races. The biggest problem with this album is that it really is, in many respects, just a lesser version of its predecessor. Many songs here evoke the same feeling. The… (read more)
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The Electric Prunes – “The Electric Prunes”
There’s a little bit of all the great ’60s rock acts here. Considering The Electric Prunes formed in ’65, it’s clear that they’re trying to latch onto a scene. But integrity in pop music can be forgiven if the songs are good—so are they? (read more)
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Fugazi – “Steady Diet of Nothing”
How can anyone not love "Steady Diet of Nothing?" Like every Fugazi album, it’s in the running for their best, for its own unique reasons. (read more)
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The Mothers of Invention – “Freak Out!” (1966)
The fantastic thing about Freak Out! is that Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention made it as a direct satire of dippy-hippie flower power culture, yet even as a psychedelic rock album it competes at the quality level of its sincere, acclaimed contemporaries. If not, it surpasses them with its sense of humor and… (read more)
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XTC – “Skylarking” (1986)
On Skylarking, songs are varied, have compelling instrumentation, and most importantly, are great. I kept listening to Skylarking expecting the quality to suddenly take a nosedive after each track, like many seemingly great albums (disappointingly) do—but it never happened. Fan-flippin-tastic psychedelic pop. Absolutely loaded. I disagree with those who say it sounds very similar to… (read more)
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The Raconteurs – “Broken Boy Soldiers” (2006)
Broken Boy Soldiers has a lot of decent to good songs, but not enough great ones. “Steady, as She Goes” is an obvious winner. I also quite like “Hands” and “Intimate Secretary,” but the album gets tiring quickly. I suppose it’s a good thing it’s only 33 minutes total. Though The Raconteurs have some great… (read more)
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The Mothers of Invention – “Uncle Meat” (1969)
To this day, Uncle Meat remains one of the most unique listening experiences I’ve ever had. Unique to the point where I almost don’t even want to call it “music.” Not as a value judgment, but because it genuinely feels like improper categorization compared to literally everything else in my library. Uncle Meat isn’t something… (read more)