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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Paul Simon – “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” (1973)
There Goes Rhymin’ Simon is Paul Simon’s third solo album, but it’s the first that shows the next evolution in his songwriting after his work with Simon & Garfunkel. Though predominately driven by folk rock instrumentation like always, we see Simon incorporating many new instruments such as electric guitars, organs, and livelier percussion that’s heavier… (read more)
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Manic Street Preachers – “Lifeblood” (2004)
Lifeblood is the second-best Manic Street Preachers (MSP) album after The Holy Bible. For the first time in the MSP catalog, synthesizers take the lead and wash over the guitars, layering everything and making one of the most silky-smooth “rock” albums you’ll ever hear, while James Dean Bradfield’s vocals elevate the album to something almost soulful.… (read more)
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Manic Street Preachers – “Know Your Enemy” (2001)
Know Your Enemy is actually my favorite Manic Street Preachers (MSO) album after The Holy Bible. I don’t quite understand why it’s hated. Well, okay; I know what the criticisms are: 1. It’s different from their work from Everything Must Go and onward to this point. Why is that a bad thing? Those albums were different from what… (read more)
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Van der Graaf Generator – “Pawn Hearts” (1971)
Coming from the odd place of having listened to Peter Hammill‘s solo work first, I continually found myself feeling Pawn Hearts lacked the immediate, intense insanity of the wild The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage. I feel much of Pawn Hearts meanders in a way typical of progressive rock that I don’t personally care for. It’s… (read more)
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Comus – “East of Sweden: Live at the Melloboat Festival 2008”
Er, how to critique this? The performances just sound so… impassioned. The opposite of what Comus should be. They are almost the exact same as their studio counterparts, just in worse quality. “Diana” is just too abrasive here and not very listenable. There’s a little bit of improvising in the middle of the songs but… (read more)
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Better Than Ezra – “Deluxe”
‘Deluxe’ by Better Than Ezra sounds like a poor man’s R.E.M. Not enough strong hooks here to be a great pop rock album. (read more)
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The Jesus and Mary Chain – “Automatic” (1989)
I recently went back to Automatic. It was pretty good! The Jesus and Mary Chain went full rock ‘n roll on Automatic, and that of course turned many people off. No more of the sugary pop that was on Psychocandy or Darklands, the Reid brothers are bad to the bone on this one. As usual… (read more)
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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Push the Sky Away”
‘Push the Sky Away’ is the rejuvenation Nick Cave has clearly been trying to achieve with albums like ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!.’ (read more)
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Big Black – “Sound of Impact”
There’s actually two versions of the Sound of Impact live album. Though the second one—which is the album rereleased a year later—is barely documented anywhere, it seems. The rerelease is the same album except Steve Albini‘s banter is separated into their own tracks, making it 18 tracks instead of the original 15. Also, all the… (read more)
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Wipers – “Is This Real?” (1980)
It’s really cool listening to Is This Real? and realizing how much Nirvana took from it. Of course, Kurt Cobain cited Wipers as an influence constantly. That influence is never more obvious than on songs like “D-7” and “Potential Suicide,” which Cobain borrows the vocal stylings of on earlier Nirvana tracks, like the kind on Bleach or… (read more)