User Profile

Dirk Hanssens

Hi all, I'm from 1963 and live in Belgium and have been following music a long time. I have gone through many musical stages like the Beatles, Metal, classic guitar rock, punk music, Indie, Grunge etc but the main focus is still on guitar music: favourite bands are of course the Beatles, but also The Kinks, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Husker Du, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, dEUS, Metallica, Guided by Voices, Sonic Youth, ...

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Collection 127

Dirk Hanssens's Album Reviews

This is the 69th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "Palomine" by Bettie Serveert.

This is a difficult one: I discovered the Screaming Tree via this album (which is definitely not their first) and especially by the main track "Nearly Lost" which had a lot of airplay on the Belgian radio. But the fantastic (although with a sound quality which is less than average) compilation from their SST years I discovered later has many more good songs.

However I stuck with "Sweet Oblivion" where the voice of Mark Lanegan, who I kept following during his long solo career and cooperations with ao Greg Dulli and QOTSA, really excells.

There is one song of this album which appears in my personal songs top 1000 and 5 more on other albums:
- Nearly Lost ou (this album)
- The Turning (Anthology SST Years 1985-1989)
- Back Together (Anthology SST Years 1985-1989)
- Smokerings (Anthology SST Years 1985-1989)
- All I Know (Dust)
- Story of her Fate (Uncle Anesthesia)

Next album in this thread: "MTV Unplugged in New York" by Nirvana

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This is the 86th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "Under the Bushes Under the Stars" by Guided by Voices.

Built to Spill is a bit between a pure indie band and Crazy Horse because of its guitar riffing. The have issued a string of good albums of which this one is the best.

There are 3 songs of this album in my personal songs top 1000 and three more on other albums:
- The Plan (this album)
- Sidewalk (this album)
- Broken Chairs (this album)
- Cortez the Killer (Live)
- Tomorrow (There is no Enemy)
- Goin' Against your Mind (You in Reverse)

Next album in this thread: "Billy Breathes" by Phish.
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This is the 81th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "Painful" by Yo La Tengo.

Albums like this are not made anymore: the moment I bought "Troublegum" it grabbed me by the throat by its sheer energy and it has continued to do so since then.

This album doesn't contain one lesser song and the combination of the voice of Andy Cairns, the guitar playing and the songwriting makes this album a stand-out. Also live Therapy? emits the same energy.

There are 5 tracks on this album which appear in my Songs top 1000 and one on another album:
- Knives (this album)
- Stop it You're Killing Me (this album)
- Nowhere (this album)
- Die Laughing (this album)
- Trigger Inside (this album)
- Stories (Infernal Love)

Next album in this thread: "Blue Sky Mining" by Midnight Oil.


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This is the 77th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "Against Perfection" by Adorable.

As on the previous album in this thread, "Frosting on the Beater" by the Posies contains a classic opening salvo of three killer tracks: "Dream All Day", "Solar Sister" and Flavor of the Month" (with the classic chorus: "The flavor of the month is busy melting in my mouth, getting easier to swallow but harder to spit out"). But the Posies had a lot more classic CD's than Adorable even after the year 2000. This is again one of my absolutely favorite bands.

There are four songs of this album which appear in my personal songs top 1000 and 5 more appear on other albums:
- Dream all Day (this album)
- Solar Sister (this album)
- Flavor of the Month (this album)
- Earlier than Expected (this album
- Golden Blunders (Dear 23)
- Ontario (Amazing Disgrace)
- Everybody is a Fucking Liar (Amazing Disgrace)
- Friendship of the Future (Success)
- Conversations (Every Kind of Light)

Next song in this thread: "Siamese Dreams" by Smashing Pumpkins.

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This is the 48th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "White Soul" by Green.

I know the Blue Aeroplanes are not the most famous band in the world, but if you do discover them you're in for a treat because this album and its predecessor "Swagger" are real gems.

These tracks are not so much song but are nearly spoken word but there is a kind of special atmosphere around them which makes them very likeable.

Apart from these two albums, the rest of their musical history is not that great but these two make it all good.

There are 3 songs of this album which appear in my personal songs top 1000 and 3 more on "Swagger":
- Huh! (this album)
- Yr Own World (this album)
- My Hurricane (this album)
- Weightless (Swagger)
- The Applicant (Swagger)
- Cat-scan Hist'ry

Next album in this thread: "XO" by Elliott Smith
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This is the 45th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "The Asylum Years" by Tom Waits.

If not my absolute favorite, this is certainly my favorite metal album of all times. All tracks on this album are just so fantastic that it cannot but excel on all fronts. Although it is often said that it mimics nearly exactly the different tracks of its predecessor "Ride the Lightning" every single piece on "Master of Puppets" and not in the least the title song which is like a kind of metal opera with all its twists and turns (a bit like "One" which doesn't appears on this album but on the next one "... And Justice for All". Also "Battery" is an absolute favorite of mine.

In fact all first four songs of this album appear in my personal top 1000:
- Battery
- Master of Puppets
- The Thing that Should Not Be
- Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

And although not all of Metallica's albums are as good as this one 10 more of my personal top 1000 songs by Metallica appear on other albums:
- Seek & Destroy (Kill 'em All)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls (Ride the Lightning)
- Fade to Black (Ride the Lightning)
- Creeping Death (Ride the Lightning)
- Blackened (...And Justice for All)
- One (...And Justice for All)
- ...And Justice for All (...And Justice for All)
- Enter Sandman (Black Album)
- Sad But True (Black Album)
- Nothing Else Matters (Black Album)

Next album in this thread: "Tender Prey" Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
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This is the 21st album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "Seventeen Seconds" by The Cure.

I think the Stranglers were the first punk band we heard of in Belgium, not because we heard the music but because there were a lot of scandal press messages that songs of the Stranglers were banned from the BBC, of course with "Peaches" at the top of that (later on the intro of "Peaches" became the intro of a famous Belgian sports program on national television).

I think the first time, the Stranglers were actually played on the Belgian radio was "Something Better Change" and "No More Heroes", both from their second album which I bought in an earlier stage than their first album.

But in a way I like "Rattus Norvegicus" better with one important reason: "Down in the Sewer", a sort of screwed up mini-opera but an incredibly good song. And there are many other good ones like "London Lady", "Hanging Around" and of course "Peaches" on this album.

Then there came a period when I didn't like them as much with their slower songs like "Golden Brown" and "Always the Sun" but recently they again issued some very good albums like "Norfolk Coast" and "Suite XVI".

Recently I saw them live on the Reorock festival in Roeselare Belgium (together with the Undertones) and they still rocked and most importantly: the pumping bass played by JJ Burnell you can recognize from a mile away was still there.

Come to think of it: although not an original album: check out "Punk: The Early Years"" where the Vibrators do some excellent covers of punk songs which sometimes turn to be more punky, more energetic and in many cases more definitive than the originals of whcih "Get a Grip on Yourself" from the Stranglers but also "Stranded", "White Riot", "New Rose", "Pretty Vacant", "Teenage Kicks", "Beat on the Brat", etc etc.

Of the three songs of The Stranglers which appear on my personal Songs top 1000, 1 appears on this album:
- Down in the Sewer (on this album)
- No More Heroes (No More Heroes)
- Something Better Change (No More Heroes)

Next album in this thread: "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols" by the Sex Pistols
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This is the sixth album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "Viva!" by Roxy Music.

Still mainly focused on listening to the radio instead of buying albums, I discovered "Whole Lotta Rosie" by AC/DC which entered the Belgian and Dutch hitparades in June 1978 and really blew my mind. In fact it was a pity that I listened to the radio version because the guitar solo on the album version (Let There Be Rock) was much better (and longer) but I didn't know that at that time.

Anyhow I prefer their fantastic live album "If You Want Blood You've Got It" on which this song also appears. Of course like all real AC/DC lovers I prefer the Bon Scott period ;)

Other real standouts on this album are "Let There Be Rock" and "The Jack". AC/DC is still one of the bands I would have like to see live and I suppose it's too late now.

There are 4 songs of this album in my Song Top 1000 and one more on another album:
- Whole Lotta Rosie (this album and Let There be Rock)
- The Jack (this album and T.N.T.)
- Let There Be Rock (this album and Let There be Rock)
- High Voltage (this album and T.N.T. )
- Highway to Hell (Highway to Hell)

Next album in the thread: "In Rock" by Deep Purple.
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This is the 90th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "In a Bar Under the Sea" by dEUS.

Ken Stringfellow was part of the Posies which have already passed in this album top 100. This album is just a beautiful solo sidestep.

There are two songs of this album which appear in my personal songs top 1000:
- This One's on You
- Uniforms

Next album in this thread: "Kicking Television: Live in Chicago" by Wilco.
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This is the 74th album of a thread of album reviews in which I'd like to guide you through my personal musical history based on my top100 Album list you can find in my profile: the previous album in the thread was "Fragments of a Rainy Season" by John Cale.

Magnapop is one of my favorite girl bands, and boy, they rock. This first album sounds a bit naive and this together with the strong delivery gives this album an edge which I really liked and still like. However the softer songs like "13" (however the original by Big Star is a bit better) and "Favourite Writer" are the real highlights.

The follow-up album "Hot Boxing" was also very good with the very powerful and throbbing "Lay It Down).

There are 3 songs of my personal songs top 1000 which are featured on this album and one more appears on another album:
- Favourite Writer (this album)
- Merry (this album)
- 13 (this album)
- Lay It Down (Hot Boxing)

Next album in this thread: "Smeared" by Sloan.
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