554. Atomizer

Atomizer
Big Black
1986

Tracks
1. Jordan, Minnesota
2. Passing Complexion
3. Big Money
4. Kerosene
5. Bad Houses
6. Fists of Love
7. Stinking Drunk
8. Bazooka Joe
9. Strange Things
10. Cables 

The Book made a mistake with this album, as it is from 1986, and we are still stuck in hopeless quagmire of 1985. The listmakers frequently make me feel inferior, with their snooty essays and insistence that bongos can carry an entire album. So I must savor this victory over them. 

Okay, the moment has been properly basked in. So the first thought I had about this album was that it wasn't music, it was just loud noise. Fully aware that this was the sentiment of a grumpy old man, I did some research and found that this album was tied to the birth of "noise rock," so apparently I wasn't too off in my reaction. 

So here's hoping the next album actually contains notes, and not the industrial sounds that aliens would listen to on their commutes.

RATING: 2/5

553. Fear and Whiskey

Fear and Whiskey
Mekons
1985

Tracks
1. Chivalry
2. Trouble Down South
3. Hard To Be Human Again
4. Darkness And Doubt
5. Psycho Cupid (Danceband On The Edge Of Time)
6. Flitcraft
7. Country
8. Abernant 1984/5
9. Last Dance
10. Lost Highway

Alt-country apparently begins with this album, although any time you cite an album as the beginning of some movement, some angry entity is summoned and cites three albums before that which ACTUALLY started the movement, and then they spit on you for good measure. 

Anyway, it's not a genre I am well-acquainted with, so it's hard to say at this point if I don't like the genre or I just didn't enjoy this album. I like "Darkness and Doubt." It would be a good song to discover a dead body to.

Is it racist that the idea of a group of pasty Englishmen releasing a country album makes me giggle? I hope they try rap next.

RATING: 2/5