Radiohead’s Kid A was ranked #67 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time. While researching what album to pick Scott Coates settled on this one. None of our members had ever really listened to much Radiohead and none of us had listened to this particular album.
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If you don’t know who Frank Zappa is, it is definitely worth learning as he has contributed much to music, namely the alternative or psychedelic music scene. The Mothers of Invention was Frank Zappa’s first band and this album is considered very influential. Sonic Collective member Darren Scott thought he would introduce Zappa and his band to the group and we had no idea what we were in for.
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There are a few select artists that push the envelope of music so far that they actually get a massive backlash from the public. Religious zealots and conservative thinkers love to let people know what they feel is immoral or against God. Unfortunately, they almost always miss the point the artist is trying to make. The good news is that music fans and those that might like darker music know that artists like Marilyn Manson are true leaders that push music and society in new and amazing directions. We invite you to hear our four differing opinions of this album and learn about this album.
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Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick Florence + the machine: Lungs before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Review of Florence + the machine: Lungs
Sonic Collective member Scott Gregory landed on Florence + the machine’s Lungs album for us to review for May 2019. This album is adored by many and there is no doubt that Florence has immense talent. What we wanted to know though was if this album stands up to the test of time and can stand alone as a complete album. We all admitted that though none of us had listened to much of Florence + the machine in the past that we were all very excited to listen to this release that is nearing 10 years old.
We had differing opinions of this album and we have to admit it felt out of most of our comfort zones. That being said we can offer our expertise and look at this as objectively as possible to determine if this is the type of album that you might want to add to your collection. A few things to listen for in this podcast are:
Join us and listen to our thoughts and tidbits of information on this recently loved album. Does it stand the test of time? When would you listen to this? Hear what we think and let us know your thoughts.
The Sonic Collective
Scott Coates
Overall opinion: 2
Would I recommend?: 2
Influenced my tastes: 2
Darren Scott
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 2
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 2
Influenced my tastes: 2
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 3
Please read and listen to Scott Coates pick Massive Attack: Mezzanine before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Review of Massive Attack: Mezzanine
This April 2019 selection by Sonic Collective member Scott Coates was this album made most famous for the amount of movie and TV soundtracks you hear their songs a part of. We all had to admit that the quality of the production for this electronic, ambient masterpiece stirs creative visualizations within all the tracks. It is literally hard to listen to this album and not picture a movie or TV scene. Though our scores below may not look spectacular this definitely deserves the respect it has garnered over these many years. Massive Attack is actually touring again and playing this album in its entirety and adding new mixes and visuals. Listen to this review and learn all these points below and more:
Join us and listen to our thoughts and tidbits of information on this classic electronic album. Does it stand the test of time? When would you listen to this? Hear what we think and let us know your thoughts.
The Sonic Collective
Scott Coates
Overall opinion: 3.5
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 3.5
Darren Scott
Overall opinion: 3.5
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 3
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3.5
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 2
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: N/A
Would I recommend?: N/A
Influenced my tastes: N/A
Review of Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid M.A.A.D. City
For March 2019 Sonic member Darren Scott picked Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid M.A.A.D. City. This was his second album but his first big studio album. It was important to know when listening to GKMC that it is a concept album that tells the story of Kendrick as a youthful K.Dot on the streets of Compton. You will hear more in our review and we’ve added some links below that will expend on the details of our review and rediscovery of this album but a few things you will learn in this review are:
Join us and listen to how we dissect this album and how a recent album is already known as being a major influence.
The Sonic Collective
Darren Scott
Overall opinion: 4.5
Would I recommend?: 5
Influenced my tastes: 5
Scott Gregory
Overall opinion: 4.5
Would I recommend?: 5
Influenced my tastes: 4
If you’d like to understand the story being told on the album and the suggested best order to listen to it check out this great article at Noisey.
Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick for Fleetwood Mac: Rumours before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’: 10 Things You Didn’t Know: Rolling Stone
The story behind Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’: Timeout.com
Quick Summary:
Review of Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
For February 2019 Sonic member Alain Dupuis picked this popular soft rock album. He had not really heard it before. Will he like it, will the album stand the test of time? Give a listen and let us know. If you haven’t heard the back story of this album, you really must. We’ve added some links below that will expend on the details of our review and rediscovery of this album but a few things you will learn in this review are:
Join us and listen to how we dissect this album and how it stands up like a champ.
The Sonic Collective
Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick for ABBA: Arrival before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Our Individual Review Scores
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 3
Influenced my tastes: 3
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 3
Scott Coates:
Overall opinion: 2.5
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 2
Darren Scott:
Overall opinion: 2
Would I recommend?: 3.5
Influenced my tastes: 2
This month, the group took a slightly different approach to the format. Darren came up with the idea of asking us to pick a recording artist that other music fans may not have heard of (but really should). As we picked our selected artists independently, it turned out some of the picks were new to our fellow group members as well.
Tune in to find out what we thought of eachother’s selections, so you can too can discover which of these four artists we thought had humerous lyrics, which sounded like a Led Zeppelin cover band, and which one may or may not use a ping-pong ball as an instrument.
Here are the picks from our expert panel:
Artist: Ron Gallo
Chosen by: Darren Scott
Artist: The Kills
Chosen by: Scott Coates
Artist: Greta Van Fleet
Chosen by: Alain Dupuis
Artist: Jenny Lewis
Chosen by: Scott Gregory
Please read and listen to Scott Gregory’s pick for Blink-182: The Mark, Tom and Travis Show before reading and listening to our reviews below.
Quick Summary:
Our Individual Review Scores
Scott Gregory:
Overall opinion: 4
Would I recommend?: 4
Influenced my tastes: 4
Alain DuPuis:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 3
Influenced my tastes: 3
Scott Coates:
Overall opinion: 2
Would I recommend?: 2
Influenced my tastes: 3
Darren Scott:
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: This album 2, others 4
Influenced my tastes: 3.5