Have enough albums for a page, and planning to cover them: 11 The Who 15 Prince 26 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 28 PJ Harvey 29 Kanye West 30 Sonic Youth 32 Marvin Gaye 33 Beck 36 The Doors 41 Public Enemy 47 Björk 49 Michael Jackson 50 Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention Kendrick Lamar (I grabbed this list a few years ago, and Lamar’s climbed into the top 50 in the meantime).
Interested, but haven’t heard enough yet 5 Miles Davis – so many albums, and I’m not confident in writing and judging jazz. In A Silent Way is amazing though, so I might do a little page on his fusion stuff sometime. 27 John Coltrane – same as Davis, it’s an intimidating discography. 34 Lou Reed – I don’t think I’ll ever manage to cover more than his 1970s prime – I’m bored by acclaimed late-career albums like Magic and Loss and New York. 38 Beastie Boys – haven’t ventured beyond the Sounds of Science compilation and 1989’s Paul’s Boutique.
Not really interested 21 Nirvana – I’ve given them a few chances, but I don’t enjoy listening to them. I’d rather listen to Husker Du or The Replacements or lots of the other 1980s alternative bands that did similar stuff first. 22 Bob Marley and The Wailers – I used to have all of Marley’s major label albums, but found them a chore to sit through – Legend is great though. I like his pop side, not his militant side. 48 Elvis Presley – seems like a singles kind of guy?
Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
Carly Rae Jepsen placed third on Canadian Idol in 2007, performing songs by Janis Ian and Rickie Lee Jones. She made a likeable coffee-shop pop album in 2008, which was released only in Canada and which featured a cover of John Denver’s ‘Sunshine on my Shoulders’. Jepsen wrote a folk […]
Faith No More’s origins go right back to 1979 when the rhythm section of Mike Bordin and Billy Gould formed a band. By 1982 keyboard player Roddy Bottum joined and they had become Faith No More – a young Courtney Love was among their early members. By 1988 they had […]
The band most likely to win a Scrabble tournament, The Decemberists hail from Portland, Oregon, and are notable for flaunting their extensive vocabulary in song. Despite their American heritage, they’re staunch Anglophiles; many of their early songs are set in Victorian England, while leader Colin Meloy is a fan of English […]
I usually add a couple of artist pages to this site each month. Refer to Upcoming Reviews for a list of artists that I’m planning to review. Planned pages for the near future include The Chills, Dawn Richard, and Curtis Mayfield. I’m also planning to create mini-pages for newer artists […]
Math-rock band tricot formed in Kyoto in 2010, releasing their debut album in 2013. Tricot spent time as an all-female trio, but drummer Yuusuke Yoshida was added in 2017. Yoshida provides the engine for the twin guitar attack of Ikumi “Ikkyu” Nakajima and Motoko “Motifour” Kida and bassist Hiromi “Hirohiro” […]
Syd Barrett was the creative force behind the original lineup of Pink Floyd. When his behaviour became too erratic, often attributed to schizophrenia and the use of psychedelic drugs, the group recruited David Gilmour as a live replacement. The group hoped to keep Barrett as part of the group as […]
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
Jeff Tweedy was the junior partner in alt-country outfit Uncle Tupelo, playing bass and fronting the occasional song. When the group split, Tweedy formed Wilco with other Uncle Tupelo musicians – notably bassist John Stirratt, Wilco’s only other constant member. Their first release, 1995’s A.M. was pleasant, but the group […]
Ten worst pop stinkers ever I wrote this in response to a list published in a major New Zealand weekly magazine (The NZ Listener). It was published, despite its unusual format, in February 2002: Even though the enjoyment of a pop song is highly subjective, depending on the listener’s age […]
A quirky alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, the Pixies effectively bridged two eras in guitar rock; the underground bands of the 1980s like Hüsker Dü and the mega-selling 1990s alt-rock bands like Nirvana and Radiohead. The four-piece guitar band is known for extreme dynamics, often juxtaposing quiet verses with […]
British soul collective Sault have broken almost every rule of album-making during their brief career. Debuting in 2019, they’ve already released 11 studio albums; yet they’ve never played live or given an interview. Their already sizeable catalogue has taken in everything from smooth R&B to raw post-punk, gospel-tinged soul to […]
In the 21st century, Queen have emerged as the most-loved band from the classic rock era. They enjoyed little critical respect and struggled to sell records in the US for much of their career, but they now outperform more acclaimed acts like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones […]
Frederic Fatzer grew up in the small town of Kinsley, Kansas, notable for its equidistance between New York City and San Francisco. He sensibly adopted the stage name Freedy Johnston. His small town background initially constrained his music career – with no local music store, he bought his first guitar […]
