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.”
-
The Byrds – “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
A solid album by The Byrds, but I’d have to say this one is only for fans. There are a couple of great songs on here, but an equal or greater amount of material are merely decent or good. The Byrds started to write more of their own material on Turn! Turn! Turn!, but they… (read more)
-
The Red Crayola with The Familiar Ugly – “The Parable of Arable Land” (1967)
Brilliant approach: just bash your guitar on the wall until you hear a new sound instead of reaching it naturally. I can’t respect The Parable of Arable Land at all. Tunelessly playing your instruments at random as if one gave a five year-old an electric guitar they’ve never picked up before is a result obvious… (read more)
-
Love – “Da Capo” (1966)
The first half of Da Capo is pretty solid psychedelic pop rock despite Love’s ridiculously hammy vocalist. Listening to “¡Que Vida!” and hearing Arthur Lee’s accent could be a contest for how long one can go without laughing. He’s trying to come across as a sensitive, whimsical poet, but it’s so lamely contrived. Speaking of,… (read more)
-
The Who – “Tommy”
I’m gonna be upfront: I hate rock operas, honestly. Tommy is not an exception. A melodramatic story that’s impossible to relate to in its campyness and is amateurishly written to boot. There’s a reason The Who are musicians first and not authors, though listening to Tommy almost tempts me to forget the reason for even… (read more)
-
Refused – “The Shape of Punk to Come”
"The Shape of Punk to Come" has the band Refused delivering a manifesto to the punk movement, daring them to be ambitious and unpredictable. (read more)
-
Renegade Soundwave – “Soundclash” (1989)
Awesome. Renegade Soundwave are cool as fuck and they know it. During 1989 on Soundclash, they were already in the future. Industrial-esque riffs covered by gleaming synths with catchy beats underneath it all while a suave, rhythmic vocalist grooves on top. Soundclash is as dirty and hedonistic as the cover’s dominatrix-featuring nightclub sign suggests. I… (read more)
-
Alice Cooper – “From the Inside”
Despite the tough-looking cover, ‘From the Inside’ is Alice Cooper’s most flaccid album yet. (read more)
-
Alice Cooper – “Special Forces”
Alice Cooper attempts jagged new wave/art rock on Special Forces and fails completely. There is no energy at all in this album. It’s like listening to and watching a stone golem dance in an ’80s night club. I promise you that’s a decent analogy. Take Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) and invert its quality and… (read more)
-
Alice Cooper – “Dirty Diamonds”
Alice Cooper returns to the glam rock of his heyday and surprisingly not to his garage punk angle, but rather a new “old” direction inspired by suave cheeky barnstormers like David Bowie and Marc Bolan. This unexpected move is what brings the true punk out in him for possibly the last time. Dirty Diamonds is… (read more)
-
Boredoms – “Vision Creation Newsun”
Definitely a trip, but I don’t find the grooves very inspiring or engrossing, and Boredoms really overextend the reach of them with this 70-minute album. All of the songs naturally move and shift as they go along, which is the best thing about Vision Creation Newsun. It keeps the trance going while avoiding repetition and… (read more)