I’ve gone through a lot of CD’s over the last month. And as Patreon supporters already saw, there’s another stack waiting for me. Most of what I have to say about any of these albums isn’t long enough for a dedicated post. But I wanted to get some thoughts out there for good or bad and maybe steer some of you towards new sounds.

Grand Theft Auto Vice City Volume 5 Wildstyle Pirate is one of many soundtracks from the video game. Within the game you can choose the radio station in your car and as is the case in real life, most of them are within a certain genre. I was split for this CD. I don’t care for skits in between songs, and that will come up again later. Some of the tracks were just there and felt like filler. The big songs like “Rockit” or “Rock Box” were great to hear again. Early classic rap from Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Afrika Bambaataa and Whodini. But this is just less than half of what’s on here. There are better collections the good songs can be found on.

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. “What’s up danger?” and other songs. I love this movie. While watching the movie these songs are used well and add so much to the film. Without the movie though it all fell flat for me. Nothing against the songs but they didn’t stand on their own for me. Granted, none of it is my usual listening so your mileage may vary.

Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is also not in my usual wheelhouse, and it features skits, but it is a classic for a reason. Huge hits and then shocker for those listening to the entire album for the first time, you know everything on here. Maybe not by name, maybe not the entire song, but you have heard it before. Shame, C.R.E.A.M. are both just stellar get a speeding ticket songs. “Method Man” became a new favorite along the drive. Really, I would end up listing every song on the album. So damn cool. Yes, I’m a shlubby white guy in upstate New York. I couldn’t be more removed from the world they grew up in. But great music of any form crosses all realms.

Major Lazer: Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do. This ended up being a disappointment for me. I know there’s something I’ve heard before from Major Lazer that I loved, but it was not on this album. Great DJ work, rap, reggae, some musical genres I can’t identify nor understand. It’s all mixed well and impressive but eventually that trip outside the wheelhouse has to end. This was too far outside for me and while I have nothing negative to say about it, just wasn’t for me.

Out of these four the top one by far is Wu-Tang Clan. If you enjoyed this stay tuned for many more reviews.

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