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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

No

Insoutenable.

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.

Really difficult to contextualize an album like this. But after reading the Wikipedia blurb about it, it is exactly what he tried to do. It sounds uncannily like a soundtrack, which is amazing given that it is not a soundtrack and that it was produced in the 80s. Of course, they were capable of doing cool stuff then - but you gotta have one hell of an imagination to make this come together without a plot or the world of YouTube OSTs and movie streaming available. This isn't even mentioning all the production techniques that I'm sure are harder to achieve as one man without a big-budget movie behind you. Incredible feat. Would I listen to this regularly? Absolutely not. But great work Barry.

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.

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

Very interesting artist and album. It sounds like a movie soundtrack - come to find out he's done a lot of soundtracks. I'd listen to this again, good background music.

I’m a sucker for a dramatic film score… Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best and I can listen to that incessantly. I’m not sure this reaches tge heights of Sergio and even though it’s a completely non-existent film I appreciated the whimsy. It probably should be a 3.5 but it was more enjoyable than I expected.

I wasn't sure where to go with the rating on this one, but it's a dense and well-crafted set of songs — every arrangement is meticulous and massive, but it doesn't feel overdone. Early on, I was ready to point out perceived excesses, but I realized I was being unfair, and taking this on its own terms, it's an impressive work – song by song and taken as a whole. A lot of ideas on display here, and a real knack for songcraft, production, and arrangement.

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.

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.

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

Pretty banging for an album with no words

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.

Oh my god. A soundtrack album to a non-existent crime film by the bassist of Magazine (who was also in Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds AND Visage)? Yes please.

The first song has a very appropriate title. I’m definitely not relaxing 😂 Did not know what this was or what to expect and now I love it. How have I never heard this before?

Huh………..I- …..huh………………okay, well, yeah, huh…………….do I……like this???….Huh………….. So, let me get this straight. A noir film score, but the noir film doesn’t exist? But it ✨feels like✨ you’re watching a noir film while you listen? Yeah, actually, I get that. Like, I totally got that while listening to this. Obviously, the concept is cool as hell, but I was a bit concerned about the execution. But honestly? Adamson killed it on the execution, too. Call me a weirdo, but I think Moss Side Story is pretty great! The jazziness of it is a tiny bit restrained, and there’s a bit of kitsch soda shop sounds on the last leg that take me out for a brief moment, but if this were a literal soundtrack, it would have to be restrained because that’s the point of a soundtrack, and maybe the kitsch textures would align with what I’d be seeing on screen. And like a soundtrack, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; I’m not going to be listening to individual tracks from this on their own. Also like a soundtrack, chances are, I’ll probably only listen to this in full once every couple of years, although I could also see this turning into a Work Focus Hour™️ album for me just as easily. Really, Moss Side Story is an album about atmosphere, and it definitely creates an atmosphere, albeit an extremely Lynchian one [see: Lost Highway]. So if you want a Lynchian vibe in your home for some reason, I definitely recommend giving this a shot, because I also sometimes like to make my apartment feel a bit Lynchian for some reason. The eternal question that’s always hard to shake with this list, though, is whether or not I needed to listen to this before I died. I enjoyed Moss Side Story, in concept and in practice, and whether or not I relisten to it frequently, I still rate it highly. But would I deem it essential? What exactly does it add to the canon of popular music if it were to be omitted? Could this album change your life? Is it influential, even in concept? Could I imagine someone labelling this their favorite album of all time? For context, at the time I’m reviewing this, there are literally 51 people on here who have rated this 5 stars– that’s LESS THAN HALF OF A PERCENT of everyone who has listened to this record on here!!!!! Obviously, every album has its fans, but that is incredibly weird, especially for someone who the editors thought needed to be included on this list twice. Idk…..Idfk, really. Who the hell am I to say what belongs here and what doesn’t, especially when I actually vibe with this a lot? So fuck it, nothing matters, and I’m really fucking into this. Like, REALLY into this. So let’s make it 52 people who rated Moss Side Story 5 stars. Trust me, no one is more surprised by this rating than me.

So cool. Incredible combo of jazz and ambient

Spooky vibes, inventive sounds. I dig.

Lovely discordant darkness

I'm curious to see how others rate this one. One of my favorites so far. It's like David Lynch and Trent Reznor made a record, produced by Richard D James with just a pinch of Brian Eno

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

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

Sick!! Really good for sampling

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

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.

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

So unexpected and weird, I love it so much.

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.

Utterly delightful, very noiry.

This is the kind of stuff I signed up for

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

Why haven’t I heard this before. So good

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!

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.

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.

Very good atmospheric jazz?

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

Possibly the most interesting album I heard today.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

5 stars because the concept and execution are perfect.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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

Pretty cool album.

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

Wow! I loved this!! Never heard of this artist and was totally surprised!!

Dude this is fucking awesome!! The last few tracks of this was too circusy. But i enjoyed the creepiness in the beginning. I'll give it 4 stars. The song that came up after this song was another by this guy called Something Wicked This Way Comes. I have heard that one before.

why does no-one ever make the imaginary film for an album

Why is this label as "Rock"? It's more like some strange form of Jazz fusion of random stuff. Weirdly enough I did like it, it was weird but in a way that I found entertaining, not always good but entertaining.

A concept album, a soundtrack album to a non-existent crime film (set in Moss Side, Manchester, UK). I thought that it would be pretentious, but it wasn't, it was actually quite good, reminiscent in places of Brian Eno's "Music For Films" and Pink Floyd's "More".

I mean, sure, it's an interesting little bit of musical history, and parts of it I liked, but a must-listen album rather than odd curio?

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.

Avant-garden high concept art music that comes up short Sounds like an movie playing in the background but not one I care about. Albums by John Zorn, David Holmes, Cinematic Orchestra have done less conceptual albums with the same idea but are worth repeated listening

The concept of making a fake soundtrack is very intriguing.

For me this album really took off at Everything Happens To Me, which had me mentally floating among billowy…never mind, I like it. The explosive Swinging Detective has these crazed Wagnerian screeches, fantastic. After you catch your breath comes Auto Destruction, screeching metal, doom drums, and schoolyard chants result in an excellent industrial freakout. Intensive Care gives you two minutes to calm yourself when boom! comes the swirling, pulsating, cartoonish The Most Beautiful Girl. Oh, don’t miss the Sounds From the Big House which creates impending doom by pounding big things while a jazzy organ dances in the background. Buy it, play it, love it.

Damn, what's with all the low ratings? This stuff is catnip to me! If you can listen to something this out-there and consider it to be a waste of your time, then I'd question why you're even doing this project? 🤷 Is it just that some people have a really narrow use case for music? They want upbeat songs they can dance to, and maybe songs for one or two other specific moods, and then anything outside that is just noise to them? Or, an idea I've been idly mulling over the last year or two - is it an aphantasia thing? I'm a 4 or 5 on the aphantasia red apple test, so this album absolutely lights up my internal cinema screen. Every track suggests new scenes and images, it's a pretty wild ride! I guess if you're mostly aphantasic you don't get that. Sad. 😔 Fave tracks - doesn't make too much sense to talk about tracks in isolation on this one, but "Suck on the Honey of Love" was the point I thought "damn, this is a five" on my first play through. On my second play through, "The Swinging Detective" stood out as being particularly badass. I'm definitely going through the rest of Adamson's back catalog after this! 😎

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..

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

very cool

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

Brilliant. Gets a bit saxy about halfway through.

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.

Really enjoyed the weirdness.

Absolutely amazing

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

Great instrumental concept album

I actually really liked this. way different than what I usually listen to

Quite fun. My grandparents lived a couple miles from Moss Side. I like the 60s-tv-theme-song sound with horns and bass.

Brilliant

I’m not really paying attention to the story this album is telling, which is likely important because it’s a concept album, however, the instrumentation is so unique. Gorgeous at times, disturbing at others, it does a phenomenal job of making you feel a certain way and guiding your emotions along the journey of the story they are trying to tell (even though I haven’t really paid attention to that story lol. I’m just letting myself listen and feel). So far probably a solid 9-9.5/10

Insane vibes. Feels like inspiration for a lot of scene setting music now. I was getting the white lotus energy from this.

if Lynch effed with you, I eff with you.