The Kitten Covers Tumblr blog presents legendary albums where the people of the original artwork has been replaced by kittens. As I thought the concept was genius, I decided to write short reviews of all these classic albums.

The rules are simple: I have to listen through the entire album (but if a song disturbs me, I may skip it and go to the next). There is no need to focus entirely on the music; most probably, I listen while working, doing my chores or driving.

* = Ehem, definitely not my cup of tea.
** = Well, once perhaps—but not again.
*** = OK, I could listen to this again. Maybe.
**** = Great music. Ought to give it a closer look.
***** = Wow, this belongs to my living music library.

 

Batch 1: Low-Life by New Order and Pablo Honey by Radiohead

Low-Life by New Order

I was a great fan by Joy Division, but never really fell for New Order during their heyday. The music definitely has some atmosphere, but the song writing isn’t great on most of the tracks, nor is the singing. The use of melodica was a wonderful part of the song Your Silent Face from the album Power, Corruption & Lies, but here I find it superfluous.

Number of stars: **
Will I include it in my living music library? No.

Pablo Honey by Radiohead

Sounds a lot like a band trying to imitate Radiohead; there was a lot of them around in the late nineties. Creep is a great song, but as we have seen from YouTube, it really needs an exceptionally talented singer. (It’s actually a very primitive song, with four chords being repeated over and over again.) To me Pablo Honey represents a proto-Radiohead—the caterpillar which eventually will be the butterfly with two marvelous album wings: The Bends and OK Computer.

Number of stars: ***
Will I include it in my living music library? Creep + perhaps some other song.

Batch 2: Country Life by Roxy Music and Homogenic by Björk

Country Life by Roxy Music

Wow, glamour and romance which takes me back to my highschool (swe. gymnasium) years in Helsingborg. It’s like meeting a still beautiful and charming friend from your teens and think “why did we lose touch when I like her so much?”. This music has influenced so many other acts – Duran Duran, A-Ha and The Killers, to name a few. We definitely need more romance in music!

Number of stars: *****
Will I include it in my living music library? Yes

 

Homogenic by Björk

She’s so talanted. She’s so original. She’s definitely opening up a door to how mainstream music may sound in the future. My brain founds it interesting, but how come it doesn’t affect my heart more than a spoon of water affects a teflon surface? I have no idea. It’s like jazz: I can respect the genre, but it doesn’t have any emotional impact on me.

Number of stars: ***
Will I include it in my living music library? No.

 

Batch 3: Return to the 36 chambers by Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Outlandos d’Amour by The Police

Return to the 36 chambers by Ol’ Dirty Bastard

I apologize to all the hip hop lovers out there, but this is just unbearable for me. In this genre, the only artist that I have come to appreciate is Eminem.

Number of stars: *
Will I include it in my living music library? No-oo!

Outlandos d’Amour by The Police

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Number of stars: *****
Will I include it in my living music library? Yes/No

Nevermind by Nirvana

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Number of stars: *****
Will I include it in my living music library? Yes/No

 

Kiss by Kiss

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Number of stars: *****
Will I include it in my living music library? Yes/No