Reviews (page 2 of 8)
No. 434/1001 Natalie's Party 4/5 Comedy 4/5 Pull Together 4/5 Beautiful 3/5 Lend's Some Dough 3/5 Captain's Table 3/5 Streets of Kenny 3/5 Re-Instated 3/5 I Want You 3/5 Cornish Town 4/5 Since I Met You 3/5 Daniella 3/5 Average: 3,33 Nice listen, but nothing extraordinary.
Nothing too extraordinary here. Rounding up from a 2.5/5
Quite nice, nothing earth shattering. Elbow vibes but better.
I wanted more sea shanty but that's just not what this was, I wouldn't be mad if I had to listen to it again though
Yet more pleasant and inconsequential britpop that shouldn't have been within a million miles of the list, but it was written by British music journalists in 2005, so go figure
The opening song is telling me that this is another one of those 90s indie bands that would nice to experience as a single song in a radio set or as a live set at a bar. It’s got some tracks I could get behind, like “Streets of Kenny,” which had a lot of energy to it, but then you’ve got things like “Re-instated,” which sounded like 70’s lite rock and caused me to suffer a bit. This might be one of those albums that will improve on a second listen when I can familiarize myself with the lyrics a bit more, since it seems like there’s something there, but for now I’ll say that it was a pleasant 90s indie album, but if someone asked me about it I’d probably have to refer back to this review.
We've already got R.E.M. on this list. Why do we need this?
Is this Britpop? Pretty dull. This is one of the few entries where I've never heard of the band, not to mention the specific album. I guess that comes with being from the wrong side of the Atlantic and all. Every now and then the band picks up a little steam but never really does anything interesting with it. With the exception of a few tracks, this album's not actually bad, just soggy and uninspiring. It's just barely good enough to keep me from rating it a 2 but it feels too generous to give it a 3, as there are much better albums that I've rated 3, and one I rated a 2 that was not good but still a bit more enjoyable. Well, now I've talked myself into giving this a 2. Sorry Shack. Essential listen: no, while it's not terrible, I wouldn't recommend this even in a casual way Desert island disc: uh, no
this was sweet, I think
[Vibe review] I wasn't caring for it, and every sound became annoying when I realized that Operation: Doomsday (1999) isn't on the list but this 1999 album is. It was probably a banger in 1999, but it doesn't have much lasting power, imho.
i feel completely neutral about this album
Not bad, but I was hoping for sea shanties based off of the album art
I really enjoyed parts of this, and other parts really turned me away -- that bridge on "Natalie's Party" ruined the whole song for me. It felt very much like an Oasis-adjacent band (and to my surprise they signed to Noel in the 2000s). I thought overall it felt overproduced and I feel like if it were stripped back in some places that it would have been more appealing.
I apparently listened to this on May 3, 2026 and can’t remember the first thing about it. Not a great sign. Can I internalize anything new that isn’t Richard Hawley?
This album has some well written songs on it and was interesting to listen to. Some songs reminded me of the folk country rock groups of the early 70s.
Groupe inconnu. Rien d’original dans cet album pop/rock. Il m’a paru très long avec ses 12 morceaux, et les morceaux s’étirent en longueur, même si ils ne sont pas désagréable à écouter. Bref, je me suis plutôt ennuyé ! Pas de seconde écoute donc. =>2/5
So surprised by this album. Another Britpop album I actually liked
This was a fine album with some catchy tunes however I fail to see how it could be included on this list.
Iznenadila sam se što postoji nešto okarakterisano kao britpop što ne znam, a onda sam nakon slušanja albuma i skontala što ne znam. Ništa posebno, već se slabo sjećam šta sam odslušala, ali nije mi smetalo.
This is yet another testament of the brit-centered nuance of this list. The album itself is not bad, and I thought it was at least half interesting. However, as in many of the albums of the same style, I fail to see the significance that it could have to have landed in a list such as this one. 7/10 [DROP]
This was good. It’s a 3’z 3 bay-be.
I’m trying to decide who these guys sound like. I can pinpoint it but I think it’s because it’s really very generic pop. Maybe the Shins? Toad the Wet Sprocket? It’s very pleasant to listen to. But it also wouldn’t be out of place in my local grocery store. It didn’t push anything forward,and I’m not convinced I would come back to this instead of the groups that did it before them. But
I find it amazing that I'm presented with bands that I have never heard of before in my life! These are bands that I like and have the style of music that dominates my collection. Well done Shack, nice album, one to listen to again but it's just missing something that'll stop it being top drawer
Fine not my thing
What a baffling inclusion to this book. A fucking 1999 britpop album. The bias for british new wave and britpop is insane. The genre was already dead by that point, this band dindt reinvent the wheel nore made something particulary good. They dindt include fucking Godspeed you! black emperor or swans but ofc this shit does. On top of bieng totally unwhorty of being on this book, its also not a good album at all. Great. Britpop/5
For some reason I bought this album when it was released. Having now re-listened cannot remember what attracted me to it. Must have been that at this time I was into the phase of Coldplay, Travis and the like. But in retrospect Shack were a very pale comparison to those two. The music is so beige and inoffensive that it should make you sink into a fluffy bed with a warm glow. Instead I just want to hit someone in the face. Another album which makes you think why the hell is it on this list? 2/5 8/9/26
Super fun folk adjacent stuff.
3.5 Pretty good but honestly fairly typical Britpop, and came out years after the genre peaked too so not sure why this is considered essential
These songs sound like AI version of songs by Oasis, Dodgy and Elbow etc., and i have to say that all of those names above should be on this list before this band. Quite generic 2nd tier brit pop from this era and it's hard to understand why this album has been selected to this list instead of one of the many better one's released this era.
I assume it's ok to try to be like Oasis... Shack does is ok!
#474 / 1089 Heard before? ❌ Revisit? ❌ Yet another Brit rock/pop band that sound utterly mediocre, but somehow is getting lifted to a pedestal by the local press. WTF. I'm getting so cross just reading about this that I'm having trouble listening to this even half way open-minded. Nah, I don't care enough. The second and third song cemented how much I do not care. It's really 1 for me, but giving it 2/5 due to decent production.
I've never heard of this album, nor this artist. I made it through 2 times, and not one song stood out as memorable or interesting. Liked songs on Spotify: 0/12 Rating: 1/5 (should be zero)
Shack was a band from Liverpool, which apparently is reason enough to include them on this list. In any case, their album “H.M.S. Fable” gives little reason to believe it had anything to do with their music. Britpop was one of those 90s genres that was already outdated by the time it emerged. Typically, there was one successful trendsetter (in this case, Oasis) and a slew of imitators that nobody needed. Fortunately, while Britpop is totally boring, it’s not as annoying as, say, Eurodance. In that sense, this album is quite tolerable, but completely irrelevant.
Interesting, needs another listen.
This music vibrates at the exact frequency that is most naturally for me as a listener. As such, I really enjoyed this album. As much as I enjoyed myself, this album couldn't get all the way to 4 stars for me, even if I considered it.
“NO! STOP!” -Shack arbitrarily on “Pull Together”/Me when another album like this comes up on the generator. Another album where there is nothing to grip, no real riffs or hooks, passable but bland. It's music that, if you heard it played live with the vocals muffled, you'd never guess the song. It's mostly notable for… not really feeling like an album? Maybe it's just my ears, but the songs feel intentionally separated from each other, like weird audio kerning. Might just be me. Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for the sake of being the C-est of C grades.
5.5/10
Comedy is such a treat to hear. Looking at reviews it seems I might be alone in liking this album a lot. But I like what I like. And I seem to love Britpop. I love the abrupt ending to Streets of Kenny.
I'm not actually not that mad about it but I'm so tired of the brits, colonize my hole
Cream of wheat type beat
Enjoyed this. Thought it was well done and a solid bit of musical work.
Britpop and alternative rock built from chiming guitars, warm strings, melodic bass, and gently driving drums feels like being taken on a long, pleasant walk by someone who has an excellent memory for beautiful scenery, pointing out every detail along the way. There is warmth, craft, and plenty of melodic sophistication, while I often found myself spacing out or appreciating the scenery rather than feeling drawn into it.
Based on the reviews I was expecting something much worse and this is not bad, it's quite good actually but it's more brit pop, makes me wonder if most of the critics were English that there are so many brit pop albums in this list. I guess that's the problem with a 1001 list of anything, you are not only listening to the album you are comparing the album to what you've listened to and what you are expecting to listen to and I hope I can listen to a lot less brit pop.
Booooring.. absolutely nothing of note, almost soured my mood
oasis dupe
This made me think about listening to Barenaked Ladies which never happened before in my life.
nice enough
I'm 678 albums deep at this point. Yet another band that sounds just like this isn't going to impress me at this point. I'm tired, man.
Ok, this is another unremarkable Britpop album from some also-rans … but this is the music of my youth. In parts Dodgy, The Divine Comedy and Doves it’s perfectly nice lightweight indie rock / Britpop / acoustically. I rather liked it.
This album did nothing that any other British band before or after has done better
Surprised I didn’t know this existed. Interesting little folk based album but with a little punch. It was fun.
I'm struggling to figure out how I feel about this record... It's a fairly generic, tepid britpop album that's very forgettable. The lead vocals really stand out, but not in a positive way, and will likely be the only reason I ever remember this one despite really enjoying the instrumentation throughout. The guitar tones and playing sound pretty fresh for an album over 25 years old, the arrangements are great (really enjoyed the strings), the drums are bouncy, upbeat and tight, but Michael Head's lifeless vocals are terrible and sit way to up front in the mix. The lyrics honestly are kinda hokey and lame, but somehow sound exactly like you'd expect someone that sings like Head would write. I was very happy when this one was over so I could move on to something better to try and rinse this from my mind... I guess it's a 2/5 since the positives I mentioned above don't deserve a 1/5 even though the sum is less than it's parts.
Listening session: august 23rd, while getting ready in the morning Listened to before: no Thoughts: some songs feel like the soundtrack of a generic 90s movie Favourite tracks: Memory, Since I Met You & Daniella
This was boring. Britpop is a pretty uninteresting genre aside from some exceptions (Blur, Pulp, Suede [if you aren't Luke Haines!] The Auteurs, etc) - this isn’t one of them. It starts off with a couple decent tracks that aren’t anything special, but when you get about half-way through, it’s just impossible to enjoy! Nothing stands out and it’s actually bad at certain points. I didn’t hate this album, but I’d be very reluctant to revisit it.
Not a bad album, but just not my kind of thing. I was genuinely worried it was going to be a collection of sea shanties, so it could’ve been worse.
eminently forgettable basic late-2010s-sounding "rock."
I believe it was the philosopher KRR that once said on 19/08/2026 "I dont really mind it" and I fully agree. Nothing to see here, sadly just another Oasis/Beatles imitator... A lot of attempts at singalong choruses, strummy guitars and identifiable lyrics. I would highlight "I want you" as it sounds REM-ish, and "Lends some dough" is ok except for the ending. Overall this did nothing for me
This was okay, but somewhat forgetable. Did not make a big impression, but still a functional and enjoyable album. Just like yesterday, I'd say bang in the middle, 3 stars.
Straight into the pile of British albums you absolutely do not need to hear before you die. They suffer from the added misfortune of being from Liverpool. 2.0
The guy who made this list absolutely loves British music. 1001 Britpop and Post Punk albums to listen to before you die. I want to strangle this guy more every day.
I honestly can't say I was to impressed by anything done on this album. It's the most generic lackluster pop I think I've ever heard. I guess that's why it's on this list, it's just an embodiment of the hundreds of albums that sound exactly like this. Instead of having multiple albums on this list that are basically Shack's "Hms Fable", this album takes the full brunt of the scrutiny and criticism of every other album of this era that sounds like this. I'm glad it's over but I feel like I got my time wasted by listening to it. 2/10
Bueno
What is this? This list keeps inventing new British bands nobody's ever heard of. Worst case of being inspired by Kinks/Beatles I've heard in a while. This is so unserious. I imagine them wearing suits and terrible bowlcut wigs while singing. Not good 1/5
I was worried I was about to listen to a sea shanty album here. So, it's safe to say that I didn't realize that this was Britpop. I think the first track isn't so obvious, but the second track you really notice it. I think this is a pretty nice sounding album. I like the melodies, and I think the choruses on the whole are pretty good. But I think II like it less once it's coming towards the end. It's all right, sounding, it's not something I would consistently come back to though. Fav Track: Streets Of Kenny
Have never heard of this band but it was pretty good. Fluctuating between a 3/4 I’ll round up
2.4/5
252. ok
1001 reasons to question why we even bother with this project in the first place. You’re telling me this deeply boring and dated-at-the-time third LP by fucking SHACK is something I need to hear before I die? Brother, I wish I was dead.
4/10
The mix of straight-up rock music and acoustic ballads complements the album really well. Criminally underrated album!
Holy FUCK his voice SUCKS and I fucking hate britpop, there is no singular universe or timeline where this shit belongs on a must hear list. Fuck off.
We have Oasis at home
It was fine. 2.75.
I thought I had heard all 90's alt rock but this band was new to me. It sounds like all the music that I loved in high school. This album was great and I will be listening again.
2.75 - I kinda liked it. Not even remotely familiar.
Kind of middle-of-the-road dad rock.
From the album cover, I was mot expecting british REM.
This is the first one I'd not heard of, quite nice
A noisy obnoxious album. Will Brit pop ever end?
Pas marquant
A mid foothills classic reaching real peaks at moments.
RATING: 7/10 HIGHLIGHT: Comedy LOWLIGHT: I Want You
Я цих не знаю. Мабуть інді якесь?) так і є)
not good
why
3 out of 5. Another album that starts stronger but loses it by the end. Still enjoyable.
god save the britpop
Fine but forgettable
Ok sure critics liked it at its time. But does this really stand the test of time. Is this really THAT historically memorable?
Really shows the difference in X Factor between Oasis and the other bands in the Brit-Pop Genre. This music is fine, its just missing a little extra push to put it up with the best in the genre
Hér er ágætis gítarpopp í bland við mellem gítarpopp. Á þetta erindi á þennan lista? Nei. En má hafa af þessu einhverja ánægju? Jújú, í hófi.
Yet another acoustic britpop album
I like this. The songs are a bit cheesy, but kind of beautiful, too.
p851. 1999. 2 stars. Average Oasis wannabees who missed the early 90s boat. Pleasant enough, but not essential listening.
I was surprised to see that HMS Fable was released in 1999. It sounds like an American college rock group from 1990.
Eh, was fine
Not bad or anything but just ok in my opinion, kind of a less dynamic oasis vibe
Another baffling inclusion that can only exist because of the bias of the British music critics who wrote most of the 1001 albums book. Being from 1999, this one hasn’t had long enough to sit in the collective consciousness to become a classic by 2006, and it’s definitely not in 2026 either. It’s derivative of oasis and other britpop of the 90s, and not much more. On Wikipedia, the only sentence in the “legacy” section is its inclusion in this book and a very low spot on British rag NME’s top 500 albums. It didn’t sell well, maxed out at 25 on the UK albums Chart, and had only two singles that charted at 44 and 63 on British charts, which, coincidentally were the last highest charting songs by this band, ever. So why’s this basic ass britpop worth including or remembering? ⭐️⭐️
I like this! Reminds me a lot of the Pearlfishers
Get this lukewarm Temu Oasis out of my face.
this album is nothing. maybe this is one of those "suffering from success" things where a sound becomes so popular that imitations swarm the space and it loses its uniqueness (god knows britpop was big enough for it in the late 90s, for some reason) but this shit really does sound like the kind of inoffensive soft rock stock music u might hear in the background of a commercial or a video showcasing the top 10 simple life hacks u can try at home. it's real copyright free music for use in videos or streaming shit, the type of thing u could probably find thousands of examples of in the youtube audio library. cc0-core, even. i'm not sure why this is on the list tbh. i checked the wiki article for clues on why it might be notable enough to warrant inclusion but all i could see is that it's apparently notable for being on the list....? so i'm baffled. again, i get that britpop was popping (lol) the fuck off in the late 90s but surely there's better examples of it than this? .....right? this album really does feel like it was designed to fade into the background while someone tries to sell me some kind of yogurt-based drink or whatever. it doesn't actively piss me off but there's no way i'd ever choose to listen to it myself, much less recommend it as some kind of required listening experience. the only thing saving it from a 1-star rating is that michael head lays the accent on so thick in "pull together" that i thought he was singing in french for a second, which is kinda funny at least.
Meh
This happened and then it was over
4/10 Inoffensive to the point of being offensive. The fact this jangle pop wholly passed me by when when I was in my 20th year and a lover of all things Britpop shows how forgettable it was
Blegh almost right off the bat. Generic quasi-rock. It didn't improve like at all, there's no new ground being broken here, there's nothing exciting going on here at all. Blegh!
This one passed me by at the time although some of my friends are obsessive about this album. It’s a bit wet for me. Reminds me of Boo Radleys with the relentless upbeat tempo.
I was scared by the 1 star reviews but it’s not bad so far Sounds a little bit like U2
S/O to the person who pointed out this came out the same year as Kid A. Jail time for Dimmery.
Bit like Britpop but 60s. Nice.
First exposure the Shack. Enjoyed this.
Another band I’d never heard of, and the reviews didn’t seem too kind. I thought it was a mixed bag. I liked the variety of styles in theory, but I found myself not liking just as many songs as I liked. I think I understand why it’s on the list, but it wouldn’t be missed if it wasn’t. Standouts were Comedy and Re-Instated.
got some cool songs. better than most britpop but its still brit pop so, no thanks
J'aime dans l'essence. Le côté brit rock et tout. Mais je trouve ça un peu dissipé et je suis pas trop arrivé à tripper. Un goût réconfortant mais sans plus. La pochette clash avec le produit je trouve. On se serait attendu à des sea shanty ou quelque chose d'un peu plus 'roots' à la Americana, folk, blues, trad.
There are some decent tunes here. But there is quite a bitvof filler as well. Not sure how this made it to #2 in Uncut and the NME's 1999end of year list, with that year seeing releases like Blur's 13, the Peppers' Californication, Dr Dré's 2001, Macy Gray's On How Life Is, Beck's Midnight Vultures, The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin ... I don't flat out hate this, but it is a long way from good enough to be here. It sounds, at best, like a lazy Oasis effort but without the melody's, let alone the singing. Nope.
No me gustó, che. No tienen nada de malo, pero tampoco anda memorable.
I am too dejected by England's capitulation to Argentina to enjoy this, but I feel like it was sub par anyway
Just a bit generic to me. Much more interesting Britpop out there that I'd rather listen to. Some decent tunes, but nothing I'd want to hear again.
It’s taken me a couple of attempts to listen to this as it was just so dull. On the third attempt I managed it and the first couple of songs had even become familiar! I dunno. It’s okay. If I were being generous I could lump it in with Teenage Fanclub who I liked at the time. Or, alternatively with Cast and Oasis, who I don’t. There’s just so much music like this from the nineties. It sort of grew on me but it’s very average. And I don’t really need more of it. And it became more annoying as the album wore on. In the end maybe it’s more Shed Seven!
Ok.
Tää oli aika geneeristä rockpoppia, eikä valitettavasti ainakaan ensi kuuntelulta jäänyt mitään mieleen.
I enjoyed the album.
This doesn’t really do anything groundbreaking, was ok as background music while I worked, not memorable to me
Definition of a meh album
Dit klinkt een beetje als andere bands, maar ik heb er een beetje moeite mee om te bedenken welke precies. Supergrass misschien, een beetje Blur. Al klinkt dit iets gelikter, iets geproduceerder. Geen verkeerd album, maar ik had na een track of 4 al door dat hier geen tracks op te vinden gaan zijn die mijn hartje echt sneller gaan laten kloppen. Tegelijkertijd heeft het ook weinig uitschieters naar beneden. 3,5 ster zou ik zeggen. Geholpen door wat ik recent een beetje heb moeten doorstaan ga ik Keet een 4 toespelen.
Meh it's ok I guess
Pull together was my fave.
It was fine. Beatles -esque. It works for background music
This feels like some slow paced country bumpkin music, vocals by non-native English speakers mumbling and trying to produce weird al type music, but not ending up funny. I didn't hate it, but even actively trying, couldn't find my enjoyment of it.
Never ever heard of Shack but good lord this is an awesome album! Carried a great '60's vibe. Has a real open sound that's not compressed with great harmonies and awesome instrumentals. Wow! 5-stars and more please!!
If on a great, spirited journey I'd quite enjoy this. Perhaps questing through a meadow with the Fellowship. Or on a sunburnt morn aboard a dory crossing the Mediterranean. But as background music while clacking a keyboard with the blinds drawn in an office, not so much.
I question the assertion that I "must hear" this before I die. It's pretty generic Top 40 adult contemporary rock. That said, there's nothing really bad about this, either. It's the musical equivalent of lukewarm water or plain oatmeal.
It's not bad. Kinda reminds me of Guster. 3.3
Like Halcyon yesterday, totally new to me. I think of this with the same appreciation I have for Gin Blossoms: excellent pop songcraft, memorable riffs, great stories. The production almost kills this with needless, invasive strings but thankfully only rarely. Just let it play. Would go 4 but for those glaring miscues.
I’m not paying too much attention, but it’s sort of reminds me of the Jayhawks
I went in totally blind into this listen. I missed a bunch of good bands from England that cropped up in the late '90s. Doesn't always sound effortless, but there's lots of creative songwriting and it went places I couldn't have predicted and I liked that it was at once familiar (the Mercybeat sound, I guess) and challenging. Great pick.
Not sure why it's on the list, but if I take that out of consideration, it's a decent, if unmemorable, record.
A good late 90s sound. I enjoyed going there.
Not bad. Nice chill sound.
Not what I was expecting, in a good way... just not sure if it is good enough to be memorable.
I was right in the middle of the Britpop and indie scene in the 90s, but somehow HMS Fable by Shack completely passed me by. I'd never even heard of it, so I was interested to see what I'd missed. Unfortunately, I don't think I was missing much. HMS Fable can be summed up quite simply: bland, boring and largely uninspired. Very little ever seems to happen, and despite giving it my full attention, I struggled to find anything that really grabbed me. The songs came and went without leaving much of an impression. There are a couple of decent moments. “Comedy” and “Pull Together” are enjoyable enough, but they’re not enough to lift the rest of the album. Too much of it blends into the background and feels instantly forgettable. Overall, this is another album that left me wondering how it made the 1001 list. I know it has its fans, but it did very little for me and it's not something I can see myself returning to. Favourite tracks: “Comedy” and “Pull Together” were both enjoyable Least favourite tracks: Much of the album blends into the background and is instantly forgettable Album artwork: I do love a good ship, and the album cover is probably my favourite thing about the record
A guy eventually hears so many nth wave Brit rock albums that it feels like a real treat when one doesn’t totally stink. This is one of those, but it’s not like I’m gonna go crazy with the score or anything
2.5
Ok but uninteresting
H.M.S. Fable is an album that feels both classic and timeless. It doesn’t rely on late-90s production gimmicks; instead, it relies on timeless melodies, impeccable songwriting, and sheer emotional sincerity. It is a record that makes you feel deeply, makes you want to sing along, and leaves you feeling genuinely uplifted. For anyone who loves beautifully crafted guitar pop, brilliant storytelling, and music with a massive heart, H.M.S. Fable is an absolute, indispensable masterpiece.
TAKE THIS ALBUM OFF THIS LIST I feel bad for the band, but this music is mid at best and only on this list because the author loved this album when they were 16. I listened to this album less than a week ago and cannot remember anything special or unique about it.
Not a bad album at all. Quite likes most of it. Mind you could throw a dart into a dozon or more Wnglish bands and come up with something fairly similar.
like a warmer version of Cream/The Birds....not for me
Kind of like a soft indie rock. I liked it a lot.
This was interesting. Not sure if I like it or was kinda bored by it. Very eclectic, I think I liked it, but it didn't blow me away either. Three stars.
why is this on the list? sounds like something i'd hear in an "irish" pub Would I listen again: no Deserves to be on this list: no 2.3
This is not something that should be on this list.
Not a bad album. Almost REM like. Several of the tracks blended together unfortunately so I got lost especially about the 2/3 mark. Interesting to hear an album by a band I hadn’t heard of before but I generally liked it less than aforementioned REM.
Albums like this are why I want the book. How is this influential? The Wikipedia page says nothing of the sort. I mean, I did like it though ; )
Another listened to on Friday. Reviewing Monday. Don’t remember it at all. Looking back at Spotify I liked a song. It was generic adult rock. I would never tell anyone they have to listen to this record. I am not sure why this app is telling me to. It was fine
Another album by another band I've never heard of despite me being a child of the '90s and listening to an author of Indian music. This man have never crossed my path. Whilst not bad, it also wasn't good. It was just so middle of the road.
This album has some really nice arrangements, and is truly a very pleasant album to listen to. I've liked it much more than what I thought, and it has surely been a surprise in many senses. It has many different layers and sounds, and a very beautiful atmosphere too. So, even though it's still not the kind of music I would go for, I'm surprised to have liked it that much.
3.5
Boring 90s pop slop
Oasis meets R.E.M. meets the Jayhawks. Breezy, catchy pop rock.
If I'd heard this when it came out, I'd probably have been a big fan. Sad to say, it was released when I wasn't listening to as much music and I didn't. It's pretty good but it doesn't really stand out in a very crowded field.
Another middle road album that features things I like and simultaneously dislike. I don't know, it's kind of a mood thing. However, there could be really something bubbling under the surface in regards to Michael Head. Maybe this might jump start a rabbit hole with the Pale Fountains.
Generic indie guitar pop whose main influence seems to be other generic indie guitar pop bands. A real shame, also because Shack's bandleader Michael Head made a truly great record (*Pacific Street*) with his previous band The Pale Fountains. Do yourself a favor and go dig that one up instead.
Initially reminded of REM. Boring and bland. 2/5
Mediocre
Sounded of the britpop era it was made, enjoyed it but I don't think I will be revisiting
If I have to listen to one more of these boring ass britpop albums I'm going to scream
Very much whatever. I will not remember a single song from this album even if it sounded Simon & Garfunkel adjacent at times.
Is this Oasis? No? Could have fooled me. Not bad, but nothing distinctive.
Pretty cool album. Love how full of life and closeknit every song feels. My favorites were Beautiful, Lend's Some Dough, I Want You, and Since I Met You, I think. 6.7/10.
Resiliently mediocre to above average.
There is nothing about this album that merits inclusion on the list.
Sehr mid 3/5
🚢👽🤟🏻🧢🍺
At times interesting but more of a bore than anything else.
Boring. British. Bullshit 2/5
Kept me entertained which certainly counts for something.
Poppy crap.
A bright, full production envelops "H.M.S. Fable", a fine rock album from the tail end of the Britpop era - a wave of mainstream popularity that largely passed Shack by. The album is well arranged and tightly performed, packed with toe-tapping melodies and vocal harmonies. Lush, sweeping brass and string arrangements elevate the tracks, while songs like 'Streets of Kenny' offer a a differing showcase of shifting, tense dynamics. There is also a distinct folk influence woven throughout, particularly on 'Lend's Some Dough' and 'Captain's Table'. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable, fine album. What it lacks is a killer track or two to make it a truly essential album. Three stars. 1 "Natalie's Party" (3/5) 2 "Comedy" (3/5) 3 "Pull Together" (3/5) 4 "Beautiful" (4/5) 5 "Lend's Some Dough" (4/5) 6 "Captain's Table" (4/5) 7 "Streets of Kenny" (4/5) 8 "Reinstated" (3/5) 9 "I Want You" (3/5) 10 "Cornish Town" (3/5) 11 "Since I Met You" (3/5) 12 "Daniella" (3/5) Total - 40 Average - 3.33 348/1001 187/348 albums reviewed were new to me.
Surprisingly good. Nice flow. Definitely over a 3. But I can’t quite give it a 4.
Pre Listen: Haven't heard of these gents, but based on the "H.M.S." in the title, I reckon it's a UK band of some sort. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Daniella - My favorite track. The simple acoustic guitar contrasts the overdone nothing burger songs that fill this album. I really like the distortion effect at the end of the song, very unique. Lend's Some Dough - Least favorite track. Embarrassing. I would say this is AI Generated, if it wasn't for this album being from '99. Post Listen: UK Band of some sort indeed. It sounded rather generic to me. Like a watered down R.E.M. mixed with something else. I already dislike R.E.M. so I was pretty bored by this album. I don't have anything particularly negative to say about any one element, it just sounded meh to me. I couldn't understand the vocals from time to time. I normally enjoy albums with wide instrumentation, interesting vocal effects, harmonies, etc. This one though, it all felt almost corporate in a way? Hard to explain. This is background music you'd hear in a restaurant you'll never return to, not because it was bad, but because you were only passing through. Even still, if you were to pass through again, you probably wouldn't go here. 2/5
I don't know about this one man; it made me kinda sleepy. Pull Together and Cornish Town were really good but everything else was a bit dull. Kept checking to see how many tracks were left until this album was over. Might be worth re-listening to outside of work/driving (I can imagine Daniella is good for relaxing) as it was fairly good music.
Неплохо, пару песен слышала до этого
It’s alright. Monotonous but alright.
Just so dull and generic. Why is this on the list?
Buen disco! Me gustó mucho el ritmo, tiene buenas canciones y buena voz.
Reminiscent of Oasis
I found this utterly unremarkable
Two random albums in a row. This one is a bit less "random" than the previous one by virtue of being British and there being a very obvious bias for British music. It is also a better album, at least I'm a bit more into this style of late-Britpop, but it's still nothing that I would deem essential listen.
Pretty boring
i really wanted to like this, as a fan of potentially-undersung jangle pop and proper-noun song titles, but god it's a shame about the production. Comedy has the structural grandeur to pull it off, and Re-Instated is stripped down and lovely, but the rest just feels like it's drowning in bad choices. there are more tracks here that have the sturdy, commendable bones of a Flying Nun band or a Go-Betweens song, but the songwriting is so consistently shouted over by horns and strings and two million guitar tracks that it all turns to mush. sad, was pulling for these guys for some reason :(
This one was completely new to me. Pretty standard 90s britpop, but I really enjoyed my time with it. 4/5
A story about her majesty's ship.
por momentos te entretiene pero por muchos otros aburre y satura, not my thing 5/10
Who is shack? Anyways this was pretty good 3.5/5
Wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much. Favorite one is Captain's table
- Never really heard of this band before but I must say I was pleasantly surprised
Forgettable
Fine to listen to at 2am (which is when I listened to it… but completely generic and forgettable
I like the instrumentals but the vocals kinda don’t do it for me
Never heard of these guys, wish it had stayed that way. BLAND.
Honestly wasn't expecting alt rock/britpop when I put on this album. Seriously was expecting some Irish sea shanties, haha. But I'm finding myself enjoying this quite a bit than a lot of the other britpop I've heard before (Even Blur and Oasis). The singing can sometimes be annoying as it sounds like he's swallowing his tongue at points, but the music is great enough to allow me to not be bothered too much about it (Pull Together is a great example of that). Overall, one of the best britpop albums I've heard before. I don't know if it's something I'm necessarily going to go back to much other than playlisting Pull Together, but yeah.
A Belle & Sebastian style indie pop bit of fun that doesn't seem immensely deep or all that important but is still pleasant enough to listen to. Didn't feel like they were from Liverpool, and had somehow never heard of them.
If AI existed in 1999 this would be the prompt....Hey we are some cool guys, but not traditionally cool, that just started a band. We really like Oasis and their vibe, I mean we are brothers too. Can you write us an album that fits our style? Then they all looked at each other and said yeah this seems easy enough that we can all play it. And poof HMS Fable, another generic (likely pretentious full of themselves) britpop album was made.
This is remarkably forgettable.
3.7 nada innovador, en su mayoría canciones radio-friendly britpop de los 90s pero funcionan bien, y es mejor que cualquier cosa que haya escrito Damon Albarn en esa epoca
Cookie-cutter pre-packeged pop rock. It's just ok, if not a little annoyingly dull. It's listenable but it feels like it wants radio play without doing something special, I guess it might just be the stripped down radio sauce that existed prior to that more iconic 2000s pop-rock sound. I find it hard to believe this album is a must listen, it's feeling pretty uneventful. 2.1/5
It’s fine
Enjoyable but not necessarily memorable.
Very easy listening both in musical technique and lyrical content, relaxing finely made but more or less not my thing. I did enjoy it especially the final track "Daniela" which acts as a nice end point to the album that actually plays into the simplicity seen in the album really well by letting the singer stretch his legs and approach the song much differently to the rest of the album.
some good songs on this
Nothing particularly bad about it, but it just did absolutely nothing for me. Just came off like a local band with a descent following that never made the jump to anything more.
Recycled rubbish!
Surprising not to have heard this before but I really recognise the album cover so maybe I just never got round to it. Good indie that got surprisingly ambitious and good as it progressed.
I recall this album being acclaimed at the time and I have heard Srreets of Kenny before though probably not in a quarter of a century, but overall it's not aged well. I noticed a number of times that the best parts of the songs are usually the first or the last 20 seconds, but unfortunately the in-between sections, the core of the song is where it's pedestrian and formulaic. It's not a bad record and I quite enjoyed Pill Together and Daniella
Hear me out, this album is like a Chili's. You'd almost always rather go somewhere else, but somehow you find yourself there. Once you're there, it's kinda a vibe. But by the time you finish, you're ready for a long break from it. This band is just as memeable as Nickelback. One day gen alpha will find out.
#949. Inoffensively boring. 3/5: it's there
sau öde
Irgendwie zehn Jahre zu spät Und dafür nicht gut genug
Lowkey liked that
Not a Britpop fan
Never heard any of the tunes on this. Would have loved this when i was a teenager.
3.5
Ok, generic Britpop album #267 appears! I don't expect it to be that much different than any of the other generic Britpop albums on the list. It isn't. It's mostly just boring pop with bad vocals and nonsense lyrics. There is some hookiness and songcraft here, but the vast majority of it is uninteresting. I genuinely can't see why this is even on the list, which has been the case far too often. "Essential listening" does not mean "random shit that wasn't even good when it came out and was completely forgotten". This is legitimately bad music because it's just there. It does nothing for the listener, and that's perhaps the most damning thing you can say about an album.
Meh, pretty mediocre in my opinion. A little too boring
“Comedy” stood out for me. “Re-Instated” for me. I liked the album for a basic (not in a bad way) rock album that I sometimes crave.
I was so, so bored.
Ok. That was good. I’d listen again. There were tracks that wandered into renaissance fair music but mostly quite nice. 3.5 stars but I’ll round up because I’m a sucker for britpop brothers with heroin addictions.
Edgy Scouse Oasis
Hadn’t heard of them before and had a hard time connecting to the album. Not for me.
Good music but the vocals were jarring and sounded really amateurish karaoke. A shame because I enjoyed the Britpop indie guitar vibes. 3/5
For a long, long, long time I just kinda figured all British bands were a bit askew. If they were ever conventional - Oasis - it was in the direction of classic rock trappings. Otherwise, they could communicate emotions without being overbearing, usually carry a tune, not as much screaming, but still scanning as different, alternative, not “pop” exactly (but not not - part of championing alt and indie rock was a belief that this music should be perfect for radio etc). So to my surprise, when I was part of a britpop scene in late 90s/early 00s Boston, I found out there was plenty of straightforward, very basic rock and pop that hailed from the land of the Cure, Ride, and Blur. When the “post OK Computer” bands arrived, groups like starsailor or jj72 or even the more successful Coldplay and Travis, they had a built-in audience that liked Gene, Shed Seven, The Bluetones, Dodgy. Not bad groups, but not terribly remarkable and largely unheard outside UK radio. This is where we find Shack. A consistent part of the second and third wave britpop bands is that they were made up of lifers. They’d gone through trends in the 80s and early 90s and were still looking for a hit. This is not dissimilar from most of the grunge bands associated with the “Seattle Sound.” Go back a few years earlier and you’ll see STP and AiC flirting with hair metal and alternative funk, pre-Pearl Jam bands Green River and Mother Love Bone both more than happy to share a bill with Poison or Whitesnake if that would get them in front of an audience. The Pale Fountains were the pre-Shack band. This story is replicated all over britpop, bands ending and starting anew the same way attorneys go from firm to firm or a tech bro with start-ups. This isn’t entirely a bad thing. The music fan’s wish is finding a rare gem, a sui generis genre creation all via one song, but also, sometimes, a group that has enough talent and craft to evolve their sound, chasing trends, muses, an entire zeitgeist if they’re really lucky. Blur were a not very good baggy/indie band called Seymour and didn’t really hit their stride until album 2, Radiohead likewise. But you still have to retain that spark or what in acting is the impression of the first time - youth goes a long ways in disguising material that is rudimentary or basic because, well, passion and looks sell. That’s enough to get you in the door, but absent a songwriting team, the rest is down to luck, perseverance, deals with devils. Shack never caught fire the way even Travis did, registering a blip on American radio and MTV, doing theatre tours, opening for major label artists. Instead, they somehow made it into a compendium called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. I had only ever heard of them by accident trying to track down a song from the aforementioned Boston britpop scene (years later: still looking). The HMS Fable is adult-oriented Oasis, perfectly fine to throw on at home on a weeknight maybe while you’re making dinner (like I did last night in Toronto). Well-made, workmanlike, 1 pretty good song, and a bunch of album cuts.
boring britpop. like why is this on here??
Big empty music. Attempts to sound grand and sweeping, but nothing about it ends up sticking. Everything is competently made but there's barely any standout lyrics, hooks, melodic ideas, instrumental passages. There were many instances where I assumed I was 5 minutes into a song's runtime, checked the progress, and discovered it was only 3 minutes long. It gets slightly better towards the end, I think Cornish Town, Reinstated, and Daniella are solid songs, but not enough to save the whole experience from being too boring to remember.
It started so bland I thought it would be such a boring hour. Even though their singer might be the first ever scouser I’ve been able to understand without subtitles on my first attempt. Anyway, I have to say that the album actually turned out to be evolving and different but still pretty solid and consistent overall and it was a pleasure to listen to it. No way it was an album I should’ve listened to before I die, obviously. But I do enjoy brit pop, so I don’t mind.
Ok but nothing to come back to
In which we learn that whoever wrote the book this is based on is British, because how else would this be here. "Those chaps across the pond probably never 'eard of SHACK - gotta put 'em on." I discussed with John while listening to this that a mark of a mediocre work of art is that the best you can say about it is that it purely evokes a specific time and place - and with this one can maybe I can somewhat grasp the feeling of being 10 seconds away from being carted off in a NHS ambulance due to being mutilated in Liverpool over soccer or some shit while piss drunk in the late 90s. A very saccharine, overwrought, and uninspired by anything but Oasis + strings 10 seconds. Good god, the chorus of one of them is "You and I .... gotta pull together!" C'mon. Any list like this is going to be impossible to get right but there's like one Coltrane album and here we are with some C - tier britpop. It has it's moments, it's got a novelty to it, and I wouldn't say it's bad, but wildly undeserving of such a spot.
Lameeeeee
What is this random British slop clogging up my generator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VINtwoyaF_8
I KNEW this run of incredible albums was ending soon. This is Britslop. This is Fauxasis. Fuck this shit. edit: don't mind the last song actually. 1.5 anyway. fuck you
to quote skydawg: britslop. (although he never clarified if that was a play on britpop. cause libertines aren't. but this is.) to quote joi diddly: fauxasis to get original ideas down: the musical equivalent of "break in case of be here now being good enough to keep the 'cool britannia' soft power train rolling on." alternatively, BTEC NME (as it turns out they Still think it's a top 300 album of all time; maybe they're just) rubbish. the ending of comedy (+ beautiful {although that song has the added benefit of being perfectly designed sync music for simon cowell and co. to do schadenfreude on the mentally ill [as it turns out the string arranger also worked on x factor themes. ladies/gentlemen/theys i DO this shit]}) sounded nice. add even more cowbell to pull together. that'll fix it. useless fucking shitey blarney merchant geezer wasteyutes. coincidentally this demographic would've loved streets of kenny. music that helps you and your mates cope after realizing "chucking a whitey" isn't just overwrought EDL propaganda; it's also what (probably) happened to richey edwards. since i met you has a nice descending violin line. all the good stuff on this LP's from the violinist's detritus. daniella belongs on a better album. with a better verse chord progression. ultimately we didn't need baggy/shoegaze to beat the gallaghers. what we Really needed was (for copyright purposes) the london suede to pull it out. to end the world's first compliment big mac: captain's table isn't terrible. 0.8-1.4.
Favorite Tracks: - Comedy - Pull Together - I Want You - Daniella
1999.
Not great.
Generic Brit Pop. Nothing to really hold on to. It’s been a few hours since I listened to the album, and I’ve largely forgotten it.
Worse than cold play
Just washed over me
A great find. Liked it very much.
This album is easily forgettable.
Not my style
I hear a lot of different influences here, not bad but a bit too melancholy for me today.
Not bad, musically competent and the vocals are clean and well done. It's a bit of a fight to keep it from drifting into the background however because it doesn't demand attention, it seems content to mosy on with or without you. There are tracks that are highlights like Pull Together and Captains Table.
I feel like I should like this because it’s folky, Beatlesque, Brit-pop, and the songs are all pretty distinct from each other, but it just feels very derivative. I like it when you can tell what artists influenced the album, but maybe there’s a limit to that. Or maybe the album’s just kind of bland for as much bells and whistles it has.
Don't get me wrong, the music is somewhat okay and not bad. It just does not belong onto this list as it does not offer anything new or special. It's standard pop without any extra. There are definitely better records that are there for the masses to play on the radio. 2/5
Boring 90s background music
At first I was like, this ain't too bad. Then the next track was meh, then again, and again, and again.
Qué maravilla y qué delicia de álbum, con vibras de REM y de The Decemberists en lo que se refiere a su desarrollo de un rock alternativo a partir de presupuestos folk. Aunque se empeñen en encasillarlos dentro del fenómeno Britpop, Shack se desmarca bastante del hype de los Suede-Blur-Oasis y se concentra en crear buenas canciones, redondas en composición y perfectas para el mainstream al que, por lo que yo sé, no llegaron. Otra banda para reivindicar. “Beautiful”, “Comedy”, “Re-Instated” son mis preferidas.
So boring
I so need a break from this genre …sigh
i can listen to this, but i fail to understand what is remarkable about it
This is fine. Serviceable Britpop but from 1999?? Very Liverpool.
OK i guess but also pretty bland and boring.
I was really expecting some 60s/70s nautical nonsense from that cover, was relieved to be met with mid-of-quality 90s soft music instead
I really didn't know what to do with this. I was excited about their listed influences but then I didn't really hear them. Liked the beginning the most and lost it as it went on.
Увидев совершенно незнакомое мне имя, и прочитав про этот альбом ничего не значащее описаниие в Википедии , я ожидал, что прослушивание пройдёт незаметно и не оставит никаких впечатлений. Так и получилось. Завтра я и не вспомню названия этой группы.
Surprisingly interesting and chill album, kind of like Oasis meets Ben Folds
Dimery's taste in 90s music beyond the obvious classics is incredibly suspect. To include this completely nondescript album over In the Aeroplane over the Sea is..... something
Meget nice Indie Rock / Brit Pop album gode sommer-vibes og en levende mix. Standouts: Comedy, Pull Together (Hej Oasis), Since I Met You (interessant atmosfære)
Enticing for the first couple-to-few songs, the music sounds nice but the songs don't do enough to stand the test of time against their rivals in the britpop greats. Some pretty parts, only too shallow a whole
helt ok!
2/5. Ganska basic?
Yesterday I got The Coral who were innvoative with their jangly scouse pop. Today I get Shack who are derivative with it. Massive difference, don't like this at all.
Було нудно, лише Даніела сподобалась
Fun
More brit-pop slop and this is worse than most. “Pull Together” has some kinda cool elements at least.
Always a pleasure to listen to this
Enjoyed this a lot-would revisit
Blimey, Michael Head, whatever next RGP…not the best thing in his back catalogue, which touches on remarkable quality at times, but a very solid two stars. Tom.
helt ok!, typ 2,5/5
Decent rock album. 3.5/5
Typical 90s pop rock record, very soft and relatively corny throughout. Ends with a softer and more melodic song, but overall the record is quite basic. Not my forte, but I don't absolutely hate it.
Never heard of these... I mean, it's not brilliant. But I probably would have really liked it in the late 90s.
This started out strong but quickly faded and became dreadfully dull by the end. “Natalie’s Party” and “Comedy” are great songs, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately this album just couldn’t keep the momentum. This is definitely one of those “why is this on the list?” albums.
Bland and inoffensive but certainly not an album you have to hear. Why this album instead of Cast, Dodgy or the Bluetones or any other mid-tier Brit-pop band, and I say that as someone who was a fan of those other bands at the time. Shack totally passed me by at the time. 3 stars
Initially, I thought this was just the standard Brit Pop entry of the week. It felt like one of a thousand standard pop albums, but just as I was about to write it off as such, it kept offering little hints and signs of something better. Granted, it is Brit Pop of the late 90s, but it shouldn't be overlooked. I liked the Beulahesque "Reinstated" and "I Want You" and Natalie's Party.
Sometimes you just gotta shake your head and laugh at how British-pilled the author of this list is. Shack is one of a hundred similar Britpop rock acts from the 90s; they don’t stand out over any of the others in any way. Most of the songs on this record had around 10k listens each, wow such an influential piece of music history! Shack is the rock equivalent of beans on toast, it’s gross and a bit soggy, but i guess it’s technically food. Fuck the author for this, at least the German guys banging on sheet metal were at least mildly interesting. 2/5
Album was fine, nothing stood out or was special to me. Probably wouldn't listen to it again and no takeaways for me
This was a nice listen all the way through. Sometimes they sounded a little like a British REM to me… other times the vocals almost made me think of They Might Be Giants. I didn’t think it was going to stand out enough to avoid the middle-of-the-road score at first, but starting with Captain’s Table I think the album actually gets stronger and maintains it all the way through the 2nd half. I Want You and Daniella are the best two songs and saved for near the end and last. I think the story about the Waterpistol album I read while looking up Shack was the most interesting thing I learned. Nothing stood out to become an immediate favorite, but everything was pretty good.
Pretty groovy and chill early 2000s Britpop; I liked it.
I'd never heard of Shack before, despite liking and listening to quite a bit of Brit rock in the lat 90's and early 00's - though I'm from America, so my exposure was naturally a bit limited. Anyway, this is a b-tier album to me from that time and scene, but I do like it, and I think it is very interesting and fills in some picture of that time. However, I still don't believe it belongs on this list when there are so many small American bands that were doing more unique stuff that aren't on this list. I'd give it 3.5 stars, but I'll round up here, as I still think it is more interesting and varied than some other "just good" things on this list.
This ended up being an incredibly odd-feeling album. 'Coz looking at it from a distance, it should be something I really enjoy. Even through the groan of this being **yet another** British album from the 90's I'd never heard of before now, the melodies and instrumentation are all in place. As a soundscape — which is how I tend to judge albums over everything else — it fits the bill. It fits perfectly, in fact. Maybe even a little ... too perfectly? Even from track three, I was getting a weird feeling from this album. Like if I looked closer I wouldn't see actual humans, but instead manniquens. And, sure, yes, they're polished to a sheen and **look** great — but in the end, they're still plastic. And that's how this album feels: like the perfect, plastic general idea of Britpop. This is not Oasis blowin' the roof off, and it's sure not blur getting down in the muck and experimenting. If it's anything, it's perfect for the radio and people who aren't all too discerning. It's just not terribly authentic. And if there's anything I value more than soundscape, it's that.
It's decent, but it just sounds like way too overproduced. 3.5 bumped down to 3.
I’m at a 2.5 that I’ll bump down to a 2. Eh. That really is the word to sum up the album for me: “eh”. This is just mired in mediocrity. Mediocre songwriting, often creating a feeling that the song has started at its halfway point with no context or buildup to create the emotional tissue each song is desperately trying to capture. Strong instrumentation that unfortunately loses all luster because all of its glitz & glamour feels unearned by the structure of each track. Once again, because the songwriting doesn’t really know how to paint pictures that lead up to the emotional release of the chorus as fruitfully as they’re expecting, the big solos here just feel like forced lifts as opposed to natural crescendos. They sound good, but without the investment towards the track, it’s impossible to really get into it. The real issue this album has, beyond the songwriting / structure of each track plaguing the emotional pull, comes in the production itself – listen really closely to this thing, and tell me; do you hear an ounce of natural room tone at any point in this album? It’s not there. There is no natural warmth in any of these tracks; whether it’s the wall of sound that permeates a lot of this album’s guitar work & muddying it up, or the reverb placed on the vocals & harmonizations that creates a bubble effect that compresses & insulates them, this album just feels artificial. It’s part of the reason why the instrumentation doesn’t work as well as it’s executed – the bubble around everything feels unnatural to the ears, and that cascades its way to the vocal delivery & the lyricism. There’s no connective tissue that makes this album feel as alive as it wants to, save for maybe “Comedy”, “Lend’s Some Dough”, & “Captain’s Table” as the only 3 tracks that really clicked with me on a first pass here. I just spent the vast majority of this album trying to get into it and never really clicking with it at all. If I only enjoyed 25% of the album on a first pass & can barely muster up even a loose admiration for certain aspects of some tracks past “it’s fine”, it’s just not worth bumping up to a 3. I do understand why it might click for other people, especially if some of the more localized references in the lyrics make more sense, but it really is just mired in mediocrity to me, and it doesn’t feel like it stands up with the other Britpop-adjacent albums on the list. For 1999, it feels like it’s 10 years out of date, if not a bit longer. It just did not click for me at all, and I feel inclined to bump it down to a 2. It’s not so bad as to earn a 1 but… damn, it just doesn’t feel like it needs to be on the list. Eh.
Ekkert spes. Skil ekki erindið á listann.
Ágætis eitís rokk. Rúllaði án óþæginda en ein hlustun var alveg nóg. Á auðvitað ekkert erindi á þennan lista og kemur afskaplega illa út í samanburðinum við Sgt. Peppers.
Favorite Song: Comedy
Good vibes, some instrumental bits
A very generic 90s Britpop album that’s too late to the party. Mostly dull and bland - while there was nothing specifically offputting, I had little interest and expect I’ll never think about it again.
Pretty unremarkable. Seems like with so much amazing music in the world...
Entertaining 90s tracks. Whatever happened?