Moss Side Story

Who is this for? Who is sitting around listening to this? People who listen to this need to be on a registry.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to listen to the soundtracks of movies that do exist, let alone ones that don’t. An absolute chore.

This sounds like what it is, a soundtrack for a film that doesn't exist. Some nice bits but fairly pointless

Weird album. Weird in the best way though. I might not revisit this album in a long time but it definitely left an impression on me. That is a big contrast from other albums on this list that I forget about after I click on the 3 stars.

👎

la musique d’ambiance du purgatoire

Didn't really "get" it. Sure, nice enough concept, but one of the best 1001 albums ever?

My initial reaction to this was 'why haven't I ever heard of this?' closely followed by 'what the hell am I listening to?' The longer it went on, the more I enjoyed it. This album is like nothing I've ever heard. 'A soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist' as one article put it. It's probably no coincidence that upon further exploration I discovered this guy used to be in the Bad Seeds, who I love. I'm not sure I understand this album. It's definitely something you could only listen to as a complete album, it would make no sense at all to pick out individual tracks. It's more like an hour-long soundscape than music. I'm not sure why, but I think I love it.

Fuck me, another Barry Adamson record on the list? This surely has to be the last. This one is starting off promisingly enough, very avant-garde and soundscape-y, but I’ve got my trench coat and fedora handy, ready to skulk through dimly lit alleyways. The second track brings us into more familiar Adamson territory: repetitive lounge music layered with experimental sound effects and vocal samples. …and there it is! By track three, the trench coat comes on and we’re in a darkened alley, likely there to meet with a foxy dame who’s in over her head or maybe witness a jewel heist gone wrong. Ok, I’m gonna curb the shit-talk, this time. Wait… one more…”Suck on the Honey of Love” is giving “Set Controls For the Heart of the Pelvis” (from Adamson’s 1996 record, Oedipus Schmoedipus) a run for its money as worst song title on earth. Here’s the thing, Barry Adamson isn’t a bad musician. He is clearly talented and you can tell a lot of thought went into his records to make them cohesive, storytelling instrumental records - that’s no small feat, in my opinion. He creates an overall mood and I don’t think it’s stretch to call them “soundtracks”. If these records are supposed to be soundtracks for imaginary films, though, I’m not sure they are films I’d want to see (and I love David Lynch, who Adamson would later collaborate with). I mean, I never heard of Barry Adamson prior 2 months ago, when I reviewed Oedipus Schmoedipus, and I knew going in to this record exactly how it would play out. This one’s better than Oedipus Schmoedipus, but only by a little. Honestly, they’re basically the same record, just 7 years removed from each other.

They never made the movie to go with this soundtrack just in case the movie sucked as badly as this garbage.

Loved the idea of an album created as a film soundtrack

I don't know, is this pulled from a clips of a movie or something. It doesn't belong here, it belongs at a 20 year old art students weed party

Verging on hints of The Avalanches, what would be perfectly acceptable background music to a moody train ride is elevated to a straight up five star rating purely due to the involvement of Dave Graney in writing the accompanying short story in the liner notes of the album. Hell yeah Dave so happy to see your new pop up in this list.

Would watch this movie in a heartbeat. Started out creepy on the wrong side of relaxation and settled into classic Hollywood scores. Interesting listen.

Weirdly, I never knew of the existence of this before (despite knowing Adamson's work). Some interesting ambience. Disturbing and creepy, but sometimes becomes a bit hackneyed. Some amazing production work. A bit like a classic noir / Hitchcock soundtrack as presented in the mind of someone genuinely disturbed.

Oliver Blunt, Archangel City's best detective, is a man motivated by one thing: revenge for his son, Charles a.k.a Chucky, killed by the mafia, the heart of the city's hideous underbelly. Blunt won't rest until he's put Don Carlo, the mysterious leader of the city's shadow underworld, behind bars - or killed him with his bare hands. But at the center of the case that Blunt thinks could lead to Don Carlo's destruction once and for all is a teenage boy with striking similarities to Blunt's dead son - even the same name. On his quest for revenge, Blunt will be forced to confront both Archangel City's all-powerful underworld and the turmoil that sits deep within his heart. honestly, huge points to this album for the concept and theme, even though i didn't enjoy all the songs i still love the idea. super fun to listen to while walking around at night and think of fake noir plots to. in terms of theme, a definite five, but obviously this is a music rating too so it'll be a four. fun fact: the wikipedia article for this album lists just one professional review.

Pretty banging for an album with no words

A soundtrack to a movie that was never made, which is a win for modern day society since it sounds like a movie no one in their right mind would want to watch.

Insoutenable.

No

I'd like to image I hadn't wasted 54 minutes of my life listening to this soundtrack to an imaginary film. Unfortunately I did and I regret that. It has no redeeming qualities at all and completing it was a chore. It sounds like a music student's composition project. And not a good one. Never again.

This guy again? My first thought is how the fuck did this guy get two albums in this list when there are thousands of other artists who deserved at least one! Anyway, another soundtrack to film that doesn't exist? So postmodern. If the music was actually interesting then it wouldn't be half bad. The music isn't however. I bet he sniffs his own farts. Best Tracks: Under Wraps; Everything Happens to Me; The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

ummm this is so good??? i'm OBSESSED i wish this was a real movie soooo bad omg

This is intriguing! A soundtrack to a crime movie that does not exist. This concept isn't new anymore, but maybe Bazza was the first to ever do it. Moss Side Story is at its best when it doesn't feel like a straight film soundtrack, when instead it takes the tropes and upends them. Like "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" with its pizzicato strings turned up to 11, evoking such stresses of emotion, before turning into flowing streams of love - but that's flowing like hot lava. You know what I mean? This soundtrack doesn't need a film - it creates plenty of cinematic drama on its own.

This fellow's schtick is so odd, but I think the "soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist" idea works much better here than on Oedipus. The back half of this album is straight up full of jams. Disappointed it's not an album about Maurice Moss.

So he wrote a sound track to a movie that was a figment of his imagination. imo,  that means he should go on a vacation to a place where all the people he talks with will be wearing lab coats. 

What is this? Why does it exist? It’s a curiosity, and not in a good way. The person who thought “a soundtrack, no, the score, to a movie I’m not clever enough to write, but without the movie,” should be jailed. Next to that person, whomever participated in placing this garbage on this list. It degrades the entire thing by its presence. It’s the first record I couldn’t finish. You couldn’t pay me. A just world would delete all copies this and pretend it never existed.

5/5. Not quite a concept album, but I've listened to another Adamson album before and it's always a banger. The mood creation from the music alone, and the expertise in doing so as a debut is impressive. An epic cacophony of sound, truly an awesome experience of music. Best Song: Under Wraps, Sounds From The Big House, The Swinging Detective

5 stars because the concept and execution are perfect.

Absolutely amazing

I really like the thumping industrial drums on Sounds from the big house.

10/10 Barry Adamson is easily one of my favorite musicians he is just so incredibly talented and diverse, it’s crazy I love all these songs so much, it’s very difficult for me to choose a favorite, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be The Man With the Golden Arm just because it’s such a beautiful and crazy way to end the album

I have just basically watched a fascinating movie without through the music medium. Great album, much better than the other Barry Adamson record on the list. Another contender for the surprise of the year.

Great soundtrack to no movie. Does sound like it could easily fit a mike mann movie.

I feel like I watched the movie

One of the greatest soundtrack albums for a film that will only ever be made in our imaginations

this has completely sideswiped me. i had no idea anything thoughtful or conceptual came out of moss side but it turns out in 1989 before it gained its guns and gangs reputation it was a place where someone wrote a film score to a nonexistent noir crime film and accompanied it with a conceptual short story.

Why haven’t I heard this before. So good

Lovely discordant darkness

Incredible, unexpected genius. I’m a new fan.

As another high-concept brutalist art-jazz soundtrack to a detective story that never was, this mostly reminded me of Bowie's Outside. And if you know me, you'll know what high praise that is, I am Vibing

Sick!! Really good for sampling

Brilliant. Gets a bit saxy about halfway through.

This album took me by surprise in the best way. I was expecting a straightforward jazz album, but instead, I got a jazz-driven avant-garde experience, which I'm a total sucker for. I love experimental and avant-garde music, though it often demands a specific mood and setting to fully appreciate it. However, "Moss Side Story" stands out because it's accessible and can be enjoyed in a variety of contexts. I also love that it's a soundtrack for an imaginary film that doesn't even exist in real life. It's definitely not for everyone, but I'll be revisiting this one for sure.

Pretty cool album.

Horror electronic jazz fake movie soundtrack…give this a proper chance and you will be rewarded, holy shit.

Really enjoyed the weirdness.

best new-to-me album I've heard in a while. Love love love it--very clever approach and a lot of fun.

So unexpected and weird, I love it so much.

Never heard of this guy but loved it. A blend of weird and wonderful sounds creating a funkscape so precious and beyond, spent all day listening to his music. Wot a ledge

This album is incredible. Always have just kind of known this dude's name more for being adjacent to Lynch contributing to "Lost Highway" and know he's worked with a lot of rad people. First time I've sunk my teeth in to one of his singular works though, and it's absolutely incredible and rewarding.

En algún momento me topé con la música de Barry Adamson hace muchos mucho años y desde el inicio quedé enganchado. Creo que cualquier persona que tenga alguna apreciación por la música ambiental/instrumental/soundtracks puede encontrar cosas interesantes aquí, incluso si no se le hace brillante. En mi caso siempre me ha fascinado la manera en que trabaja y el tino que tiene en crear historias y narrativas enteras aun cuando los guiones e historias no existan. Este tipo de trabajo de hacer una banda sonora de una película inexistente, aunque no es lo único que hace, lo ha realizado un par de ocasiones y siempre con efectos en mi opinión espectaculares. Todo un arco, desarrollos, elipsis, un climax y una resolución totalmente imaginarios y en perfecta sintonía con la temática.

God dang it I've had this thrust my way before in a poll although for the life of me I can't think what the category was. This is one of the strangest and compelling albums I've come across- strange noises and tunes that predated Portishead's 'To kill a dead man' (although they DID make a short film for that). There is no such film created apart from one in Barry's head. Genius.

Definitely can feel the influence in terms of cinema and scores - moody, creepy, unsettling at times - effective!

This is the kind of stuff I signed up for

J’ai adoré cette fausse trame sonore qui préfigure son travail avec David Lynch. J’hésite entre 4 et 5

Excellent soundtrack to imaginary movie. Varied instrumentals.

Never heard of Berry Adamson before this. I did not know what to expect but it was fantastic!

Very good atmospheric jazz?

very cool

Utterly delightful, very noiry.

As opposed to yesterday's album, this one was quite perfect for driving to. My usual boring commute was filled with emotions, thrills, and intrigue. Exciting and fun, I enjoyed this imaginary soundtrack very much.

Elokuvissa on se ongelma että niissä selitellään ja tehdään virheitä. Musiikissa ei taas välttämättä ole virheitä, kaikelle löytyy syy ja artistin visio. Elokuvissa visio peittyy yleensä tuotantoon liittyvien ongelmien takia. Suuri paha on myös kuluttajille suunnatun sisällön tuotto, jota on ollut elokuvissa aina. Elokuvista harvoin tulee kauniita kun kuvataan leikataan ja käsikirjoitetaan palkan takia. Musiikkialbumiin artisti voi taas itse vaikuttaa enemmän jos haluaa ja kykenee. Joskus ei tarvitse ajatella nykyhetkeä, ja voi itsekkäästi tuottaa musiikkia josta itse pitää, ja tehdä se niin hyvin kuin vain osaa. Nykyhetki voi kuitenkin piirtyä teknologian takia ja joskus eivät ajalliset tyylisuunnatkaan pääse karkuun itse artistia. Joskus artisti syö sisäänsä näitä suuntia ja paskoo niitä musiikkiinsa. Kuitenkin kun artisti itse ne paskoo pönttöön on se parempi kuin toisten pökäleiden keruu ja niillä herkuttelu. Omat pökäleet ovat kallisarvoisia. Tämä albumi on magnifisentti pyyttoni, oikea kuningaskobra. Tästä tehty elokuva olisi varmaan sekasiittoinen mätä paska. Mutta tämä.. hyvä paska..

Possibly the most interesting album I heard today.

Both Moss Side and West Side are very important to me.

Wasnt sure what this was when it started. It sounded like I was listening to a horror/film noire movie. Sure enough, I read about it after listening to it and its written as a soundtrack to a nonexistant noire movie. Awesome and unique concept. Its experimental without being too avant-guard-y. Im a sucker for anything noire, will revisit this for sure.

Great instrumental concept album

First thoughts: Noise? Now on Central Control and I'm intrigued as ****... what is this?? Need the back-story to this. Sounds from the Big House: Sax! 😎😎 I'm all in. The piano in Everything Happens to Me! Glorious. Autodestruction, no. Lost me for a bit but finished strong with Man with a Golden Arm. Well, that was a piece of art, I don't care what anyone says!

I caught glimpses of the Matrix and NiN. It's interesting how the Noire type aesthetic ties into the sounds of Industrial music. Replace the instruments with more synths and you're basically there. Alfred Hitchcock Presents is pretty trippy. Great example of an album that belongs on this list.

Never heard of this album or artist, so I'm going in blind. I don't even want to read the wiki for a change. Very unusual/atmospheric intro track, almost like a film soundtrack. I think I recognise the second track though, "Under Wraps", not sure where from. I'm enjoying this overall, however it does fade into the background a bit. It feels a bit disjointed, like a collection of tracks from different film soundtracks. Very interesting in places though. Ok, so after a second closer listen, I think this is actually quite cohesive. It would work very well as a soundtrack to a lot of films. I love the blend of old and new styles here; this could easily soundtrack something like Casablanca, or something like Se7en. I can hear the influence of this album on music from throughout the 90s as well - particularly David Bowie's "Outside", some elements of NIN, the Prodigy, and (especially) the jazzy drum and bass that Amon Tobin released towards the end of the 90s. Overall, this is a very interesting, unique, and experimental album. Probably one of the most interesting I've discovered from this generator so far.

Wow! What an incredible album! Barry apparently wrote this album to be a business card for anyone looking for movie scores, and boy did he succeed. I can easily imagine the movie this goes to, and the baseline under the tracks are absolute bangers. I didn't expect to have a faux-movie soundtrack be a workout power song, but The Swinging Detective really brings it. Same with The Man with the golden arm. Auto Destruction and Suck On the Honey of Love are incredibly evocative songs for me. My music tastes are driven by a search for novelty, and that's what has drawn me to electronic music in the past. I did not expect a movie score album featuring standard instruments to scratch that itch so well, but it did. I said it before, but man what a cool album - from start to finish I feel like I experienced a murder mystery and I'm glad I heard this album.

I really enjoyed this. He did a good job capturing the noir feeling. Would definitely listen to it again.

5/5 dope ass soundscapes!!! amazing in surround sound. Very eerie

Pretty excellent background/soundtrack music, Jazz devil is great!

4.0

nice jazzy bluesy film music

A polarising album - but I like soundtracks and I like the concept

Don’t know what I just listened to but I liked it

Conceito muito bem executado. Quando não precisa tero filme para fazer a trilha sonora.

Nice and moody

Based on the cover I'm expecting something political. Based on the name I'm expecting show tunes. Diving in, I couldn't be more wrong. The name of the first song, On the Wrong Side of Relaxation, is super evocative. The song itself is very tense, sounds like the opening to a scary sci fi thriller. Panning over a cold alien landscape into a lab with knocked over beakers and other troubling signs of something gone wrong. No people in sight just whispering in the distance getting louder as we move more and more quickly through the facility to finally arrive at a yawning hole in the floor. Suddenly we cut to a shot fading in like we are opening our eyes and our vision clears to see a lovely nurse talking to us lying on the floor. This music super sounds like a film score. The song titles imply a crime drama, possibly gritty, or even, as the album cover implies, black and white and raining, maybe in the style of Sin City. The second song sounds somewhat mod so maybe set in the early 70's. I've never heard of the movie though does it exist? ...Wikipedia explains no, this is the soundtrack to an imaginary movie. Which is fantastic. Love the premise. Loving the music. Tracks 6 and 7 are particularly lovely. 10 is a great mood piece. 2 and 11 and 13 are so fun. 15 makes me think of James Bond. Overall a little weird, but in a good way. I like it.

Really interesting concept and surprisingly modern sounding for a 30 year old album

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

Ah, some more Barry Adamson. This is an absolutely wild album to have come out in '89! Dark jazz/Sound collage type stuff. I think I prefer Oedipus Schmoedipus, but this guy really nails a weird and (mostly) dark atmosphere. I dig it well enough, but I'm not exactly gonna throw it on for a pleasurable listening experience, it's weird as hell. 3.5 rounded up because too many of y'all obviously don't appreciate Angelo Badalamenti either. 🙄😆

"Finally, some good fucking food." Memes aside, this is the type of album that gets me on concept alone: imaginary score to a noir thriller set in Manchester. Love the idea, let's see how the execution goes... UPDATE: Loved it.

I love a good movie score

Pretty good! Noir soundtrack with some contemporary sounds at points, worth listening to again for sure.

What a cool concept witch excellent execution.

Years after Magazine's heyday, their bassist Barry Adamson decided to try something new... composing a soundtrack for a non-existent film. Hoping to seat himself into the film composer's chair, Barry scores varying storylines into chilling, at times boisterous degrees and mainly succeeds in the interim. Not a bad first start in the business of show. Favorites: Under Wraps, Central Control, Sounds From the Big House, Suck on the Honey of Love, The Swinging Detective, Auto Destruction, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, Chocolate Milkshake, The Man With the Golden Arm.

I liked it a lot

Spooky lil freak

Interesting idea for an album. That being said, I'm not sure that this needs to be on the 1001 list. In fact a few of these songs gave me a headache.

I found this really exciting and ambitious

If this was a team competing at the controversial FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, it'd be Netherlands. Cody Gakpo is the GOAT.

Great soundtrack music with a heavy dark feel - love it but not sure what situation would prompt me to play this music as a backdrop....

More enjoyable than I expected

A bit of a revelation - I'd never heard of this. It's interesting & intriguing.

Sleazy listening.

Will listen to this again

This is the album I have been most excited about until now. I love everything about the album cover and it makes me so intrigued! Is this som dark noir crooner with an 80's production? What is it? I'm so excited and I'm really setting myself up to be severely disappointed. But I'm not! It's quite good. A trippy homage to neo noir soundtracks. And actually some accidental dungeon synth sprinkled in there.