The end is night!!!! I swear the next one’s the last!!! (probably)

1)Swans, Love Of Life: I used to think this was a dull retread of the previous year’s White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity, but that’s not quite true, it’s in the same vein but not really a rehash. For one thing, it doesn’t beat the “apocalyptic but beautiful” style to death the way that album did, it’s got a couple other substyles on it. Secondly, it’s a merciful 52 minutes instead of White Light’s 70, so that’s nice. It’s still not really a great album (and sadly, due to all these quality-lessening relistens, I’m fast coming to the conclusion that Swans have probably twice as many mediocre, weak or forgettable albums as good ones). It’s only got one great song–the rolling title track–but hey, so did White Light, even if that one’s classic (“Song For Dead Time”) was better. There are a couple other passable numbers like the forlorn closer “No Cure For The Lonely.” Still…I’m really starting to wonder just how much I ever actually liked Swans. I bet my opinion of The Seer would drop if I were to relisten to that one too…

2)Soundgarden, King Animal: Their 2012 reunion album. Didn’t get a lot of press–I remember more attention being paid to Alice In Chains’ Black Gives Way To Blue, which was a better album than this. It sounds completely professional and not at all tired or out-of-date, even though it could have easily come out in the mid-90s; this is good for Soundgarden, since their 90s sound was a Zeppelin-Sabbath throwback to begin with. Too bad Cornell and company didn’t come up with many great songs–I gave this a good rating in 2012, but that’s because it didn’t sound like dinosaur music; now, only “Bones Of Birds,” which has an eerie chorus like “Limo Wreck” or something like that, really strikes me as a classic Soundgarden tune. I’ll also maybe go to bat for “Black Saturday,” “A Thousand Days Before,” “Blood On The Valley Floor” and “Taree,” but that’s still only five out of 12 songs and who cares anyway. The opening track is a rewrite of “My Wave” and the album closer is this dull go nowhere blues tune that repeats itself to death. Worst of all, they don’t do much of any of the cool psychedelia that made Superunknown so good. A mediocre end to one of the better 90s bands, even if they weren’t good for all that long!

3)The Psychedelic Furs, The Psychedelic Furs: The 1980 debut album; I once considered it on par with the two semi-classic Furs albums that I actually purchased on CD (Talk Talk Talk and Forever Now), but now I don’t. It’s got some energetic punkish rockers like “India” and “Pulse” that I was glad to revisit, but the psychedelic tune “Sister Europe,” the one song I kept listening to all these years, now strikes me as slightly inferior to a song that clearly ripped it off, the Replacements’ “Within Your Reach.” I thought “Blacks/Radio” was a cool classic back then but now it’s seven minutes of lukewarm. “Wedding Song” is still alright, but a bit weird. Certainly nothing here is on par with the Furs songs I got addicted to (“Love My Way,” “Into You Like A Train,” “She Is Mine,” “Yes I Do (Merry Go Round),” “Run And Run.”) I also never bothered to finish these guys’ discography like Mod Lang did. Maybe someday…

4)The Chameleons, Strange Times: I’d still consider this 1986 album a four-stars-out-of-five level platter but like Script Of The Bridge, it’s kind of a grudgingly kind rating. Unlike on their second album, the Chameleons did not rehash Script here; they tried to branch their Goth-rock sound out, which was a good idea; even though they probably came up with a more consistent album than Script this time out (Script would be a masterpiece if not for the way it collapses into near-total boredom in its second half), they got into a bizarre habit of making the songs too damn long, nearly ruining tunes like “Soul In Isolation” and “Caution.” Still, those are powerful 80s-Goth tunes, as are “In Answer,” “Mad Jack,” the moderate hit “Swamp Thing,” the pretty “Childhood,” the pop-friendly “Seriocity” and a few bonus tracks that I don’t think I heard back in 2018 when I did the 80s Chameleons discography, “Ever After,” “Inside Out,” “Tears (the “full arrangement” version) and “Paradiso.” Oh, and a cover of “Tomorrow Never Knows” for people who didn’t like the Phil Collins’ version. Good album, but a tiresome and lengthy listen (like, y’know, Script.)

5)Sly And The Family Stone, Stand!: One of the most beloved albums of its time…but “Sex Machine” and “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey” are 20 minutes of wasted time. Sorry, but they are. Never liked those songs. Most of the rest of this is fine, sure, yeah, whatever. It was nice to hear the title track, “Somebody’s Watching You,” “You Can Make It If You Try,” and the hit “Everyday People” and “I Want To Take You Higher” (which got a great use in Zodiac!) again, but I’ll probably never purchase this due to the 20 minutes of wasted time. Me so solly! Now let’s see how There’s A Riot Goin’ On holds up…