Moss Side Story

This will be a controversial take but I enjoyed it!

Really vibey for Halloween up u til the penultimate track that literally sounds like an alarm clock you’d hear from an iPhone

Alexa, define pretentious incoherent drivel. These “songs”’would be a bit meh even if the imaginary film existed to underpin its underwhelming score. Hugely disappointing after the enjoyment of his OS album TBH. This imaginary film soundtrack will not air at the mythical Café Kelvinos. Ever.

This is indeed mostly instrumental movie soundtrack music, as described. It would definitely be better served paired with an actual movie versus listening to it on its own as a standalone piece. There's a lot of noise and random snippets of vocals, but also put-together, longer songs in the mix. It did feel cohesive, and like it all belonged together in one place. It wasn't bad, it was just missing that context.

Really good album that is hard to describe. Kind of an experimental sound experience but this time it's actually good. I listened to this a couple of times after thinking that I was going to hate it. These kind of albums are the reason I am doing this 1001 albums project.

Did I understand what was going on during a single moment of this? Absolutely not. Was it a chore to listen to? Kind of. The track I have listed as my favorite was quite literally the only one that didn't completely fade into the background as I was listening - I suppose this means I endorse this album as good background listening? I kind of forgot it was on, which I suppose is exactly why many people choose to listen to instrumental soundtracks. The acid jazz flavor of this one was more interesting than a lot of orchestral soundtracks, so it definitely has that going for it. Not exactly sure if it deserves a spot on this list, but I also didn't hate it. Perfect for Noirvember. Favorite track: Sounds From The Big House

Not super into purely instrumental albums but enjoyed this. It felt very cinematic and had a very effective anxious undertone with some cool hitters along the way. Favorites were the Man With The Golden Arm and The Swinging Detective

This is a fantastic atmosphere and soundtrack. Hits some goofy instrumentals but that may have been unavoidable with this concept. Big shouts to Diamanda Galas my GOAT Highlights: "Under Wraps", "The Swinging Detective", "The Man with the Golden Arm"

Rate: 7/10.

Jamais écouté avant. Top : The Swinging Detective Flop : Intensive Care

While Oedipus Schmoedipus was intriguing, interesting and vibey, this one is just plain boring. Less engaging, I felt like I was waiting for something to happen for most of the duration. Seems like Barry had a music career that improved with refinement and time.

This might have been okay had the film it's supposed to accompany actually existed

Soundtracks to non-existent movies is a very niche genre. I'm not sure we need two of them by the same artist on the list. I really enjoyed the first one, but this was too much of artistic exercise, and less of a cohesive album.

Interesting.

Interesting enough for what it is, but not something I would really need to revisit.

One time magazine and bad seed members solo stuff should be better known

I should have listened to this yesterday which was Halloween. It was kinda entertaining but also pretty weird. 2.5

Dette var fint

I thought this was a much better than average album. A soundtrack missing a film. Atmospheric. Some David Holmes like/lite tracks, glimpses of The The like piano, John Barry bond music. Maybe faded a bit with last few tracks. 4

Worked ok as a soundtrack to me dropping off and picking up my car for a service. Not as fun or interesting as his last album

Not as good an album as Oedipus but maybe a better imaginary film and, going on the Hitchcock/Golden Arm bonus tracks, with a Saul Bass credit sequence.

#488 He has 2 imaginary soundtracks in this list, including both seems unnecessary. I already had Oedipus Schmoedipus which I liked very much, this one less so but at the same time, I could appreciate it, maybe I wasn’t in quite the right mood. The haunting start had me wondering but it was varied in fairness. Digging a little deeper, I’ve learned this is about Moss Side in Manchester, where he is from, so I’m going to have to listen again with that in mind. Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ✅ Listen before you die?❓ Fave track(s): Under Wraps Rating: 6/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really didnt know what to make of it, I didnt know what to expect. It was actyally alright, it grew on me. Some tracks were an absolute racket but no denying the imagery was there. not bad!

I'm not going to pretend that I thought this was some sort of genius concept. In fact it isn't, it's only what classical composers and rock operas already do, but the music was actually alright. Almost industrial in places. Not a return to, but not the worst thing. To be honest, I fell asleep halfway through, which is what I do when I'm comfortable and in the moment of watching a good film. Some really interesting followup songs on Spotify though.

2/10

i dont actually think this album would work as a soundtrack. listens to me more like a modern ballet/dance piece (i guess the west side story wordplay is kind of apt). not my cup of tea, but honestly not that bad.

The very niche sub genre on here, the non existent movie soundtrack. A concept album no? Presume it’s race issues and crime (story) in the then notorious Manchester area, a concept album of that as a story, if it was a film and this is the soundtrack to that. And that’s the concept? Or it’s for a fake movie, whatever. Musically give it 3, but it’s too far up it’s own arse with all the it’s this and that, 2 Star.

Not bad but not the greatest.

A grand filmic soundtrack that slips near to industrial: for a film that does not exist. The first few minutes are dull but the actual soundtrack when it starts is interesting. Kind of loses the cohesion when listening in isolation. The story and the liner notes would really help.

Interesting concept and I really enjoyed it. Added a few songs to my Halloween Playlist.

this was a gripping listen for me. didn't know what to expect and while the soudntrack to a non existent film concept is not inherently new to me (maybe it was novel for it's time?) it has a kind of jaunty fun jazz and weird instrumnetal vibe all over the record. The production is a little lo fi but that may be intentional? IDK surprisngly enjoyed it

Okay this is On the Wrong Side of Relaxation because I am absolutely spooked. This was way spookier than I anticipated. I had fun but I'm definitely not going to listen to it again.

different. soundtrack. noir. edge of your seat.

How did this make the list? almost unlistenable.

Well written soundtrack music, but it doesn’t do much for me.

Isn't there already an almost instrumental album that's supposed to be a fake soundtrack on the list? A good soundtrack enhances a film while a phenomenal soundtrack is great to listen to on its own. "Moss Side Story" would fall into the former category. There's nothing of note on the album at all. What I can tell you is that there are no bad tracks. 3 stars for "Moss Side Story".

This sounded like the soundtrack you'd have in a game where a silly platformer character like Crash Bandicoot gets put in a much darker setting like Dead Space.

Maybe even a four, idk. A film score to a movie that never existed. Great for my late night drive back home, Lost Highway shit *bumped up to a four, I forgot about Alfred Hitchcock Presents!

If this was a soundtrack for a real movie, I don’t think it’d be on this list. It’s odd that a fake soundtrack is here but is there a real one on here?

A concept album/soundtrack consisting of instrumental back tracks for a non-existent movie. It’s strange and out there; the only “vocals” were an occasional scream from a woman who I assume is in dire straits in this fake film. My feeling after I was done with it was that this isn’t really a listenable album; the arrangements are too strange and there’s no real connection to be made. I’ll give it a 2/5 simply because I didn’t outright hate it.

Ok I HATED the first four minutes of this, but it gets slightly better. Good Halloween background?

Interesting and fun to listen to, wouldn’t do it more than once or twice

It’s not bad but it’s weird.

This was very interesting. Not exactly what I was expecting. It felt as if I was walking through a horror movie for 53 minutes. Some cool musical ideas, just not the greatest thing for casual listening. 3/5 ⭐️ 288/1089

I was dreading this but it made for pretty interesting listening. It's really atmospheric. I will probably never listen to it again.

Honestly I think this was a real failure of execution. Supposedly a soundtrack to a non-existent film noir, yet aside from a moderately jazz-leaning middle section the music here really doesn't fit the brief at all. There's maybe a couple of tracks that feel more of a piece with a horror movie, but there's also plenty that feels so discordant and meandering that I'm not sure they'd be of actual use to a film score. And if you strip away that context and instead consider the album as a piece of music it's not much improved. There are ideas here, but none of them feel particularly interesting and the album's best moments feel pretty derivative.

why?

it's certainly doing a bunch of different things, but i don't think any of them are particularly robust enough to survive a detailed go, and the overall package isn't quite weird enough to land

2,5

Eerie soundtrack music for a film that doesn't exist. It's like I'm starting to tell you about a novel by Don DeLillo in which the reader/listener is increasingly drawn into a noir of musical pastiche. Barry Adamson's Moss Side Story is a tightly plotted mystery, but it's ultimately an exploration of the nostalgic search for meaning amid a paranoiac, conspiratorial system of competing surfaces. An interesting first listen, and easily one that I could throw on again if looking for some tense background sounds while I bang on the keyboard anxiously.

theatrical.

So Barry made this to get some work writing film scores, and he succeeded so good on him. However the sleeve is a tragedy and at times I thought I was listening to an Casio keyboard demonstration. If this is all 1001 has to offer I might look elsewhere.

This isn't the kind of album you want to listen to on a Saturday morning. Maybe I was just in the wrong mood anyway, because I didn't get into it at all.

The list of 1001 albums to listen to before you die has to have some rules, and one well established standard is the exclusion of compilations or film soundtracks (with a few notable exceptions). Ergo, I posit that this shouldn’t have been included because: a) it’s a film soundtrack (even if said film is made up) b) it’s not worth listening to

Warmed up to the album as it progressed, quite enjoyed it

Don't know what to make of this, but at this moment I would say this is ok.

I quite enjoyed the idea behind this album

Quase dois álbuns seguidos desse tal Barry Adamson. Nunca tinha ouvido falar dele antes, interessante, não esperava que ele teria dois álbuns na lista. O primeiro que ouvi foi interessante e curioso, então cheguei nesse com uma certa expectativa. Esse aqui possui um foco bem mais instrumental. Aparentemente, ele possui o conceito de ser uma trilha sonora de um filme que não existe. Já ouvi essa história antes. Então os poucos vocais presentes aqui são só curtos fragmentos. Algo que eu elogiei no outro álbum de Adamson que gerei foi a maneira que ele prendeu minha atenção por toda sua duração de quase 1 hora. Aqui em sua estréia o mesmo não acontece. Esse álbum aqui é bem menos interessante e intrigante, e em vários momentos ele me perdeu. Poderia ser melhor. 2/5

Interesting choice. It's cool that Adamson ended up contributing to Lost Highway, and a few other films, but why this was selected is beyond me. Musically it's solid, but it's still a noir score to a film that doesn't exist. Feels more like a vanity project rather than a defining album. I don't understand why a knock-off film score made this list of albums you have to listen to before you die. It's fine, even good at many points! But nothing more.

meh instrumentales de peli

Niin kuin elokuvan soundtrack. Etäisesti tuo mieleen Fatboy Slim tyyliset artistit Sample pohjaisella musiikilla

Sounded like some scrapped James Bond theme songs mixed with some repetitive bits and really jarring weird stuff. I enjoyed parts of it though

"A soundtrack to a nonexistent crime film" ey? Think that's just an excuse to justify why the music doesn't stand up on its own. Id say it was more like rejected songs from the phantom of the opera. A bit creepy at times but largely in a camp 80s way. Sort of getting towards interesting times I suppose which I think gets it to at least a 1.5 but no more.

Really bizarre. I saw the title of the album and didn't mind it; being from Manchester, it is a little funny. Alas, that was the last time I was happy while listening. Really weird, scattered, confusing, oddly camp, dull, blaring, obvious. Too quiet and too loud at the same time. Oedipus Schmoedipus yes. Moss Side Story no.

What a strange album, a completely instrumental soundtrack to a non existent movie..... What? Why do I feel like we've had another album which did a similar thing?? I didn't hate it musically, but I'm never going to choose to listen to it. In fairness I did think some of the tracks matched their titles in how they sounded 2

What on earth is this… come on?! Not into the faux, weirdo movie soundtrack vibe on this record whatsoever. Without the grounding context of an actual film this makes no sense. It's odd, over-engineered and quite frankly a bit jarring to listen it. How this made the 1001 albums to listen to before you die list I'll never know.

Si quisiera sonidos ambientales mejor veo una película.

Track 1 "On the wrong side of relaxation" - I gotta say, this is weird as fuck. Weirder than I ever listened to, but not more experimental than I listened to. It really does sound like a soundtrack, and yes, it was not relaxing. 8.9/10 Track 2 "Under wraps" - this sounds like the scenes where the detective is either walking around an active bar, asking around, or a fight scene in said bar. 8.6/10 Track 3 "Central control" - detective found clues 8/10 Track 4 "Round up the usual suspects" - interlude na/10 Track 5 "Sounds from the big house" - a chase part of it, I guess, or like finding clues, walking around, driving around. Nice jazz. 8.3/10 Track 6 "Suck on the honey of love" - slow, fun, 7.8/10 Couldn't finish it in time, but will listen to it in full one day, it's weird, very weird. But good

This album is not at all what I was expecting. I guess I didn't read past the first line of the Wikipedia?? I got hung up on "who is this guy" and then I went to his Wikipedia and I was still like "... Who???" Anyways I digress The important point to be said here is this was great! The concept is good and the overall storytelling is phenomenal. No, I couldn't always tell what it was trying to get across without reading the title of the song but that's not anything abnormal! The only thing that takes this down from a five for me is just that the mixing could have been better and I can't see myself listening to this album again

cool ambience, didnt really grab me. maybe just not the right time for this for me.

It is an album bound to the premise of making a soundtrack to a non-existent film and there is an atmospheric quality to it that satisfies that notion. However, it is a bit of a nothing burger in that it lacks the gravity to make it truly a relevant album. 7/10 [DROP]

Enjoyed it more than I expected - definitely one to give more time to

I thought this ended up ok, a little all over the place at times but I didn’t turn it off like some of the other recent entries….

This is weird and I don't understand why it's on this list.

Nope, too high concept. But suffers from the 80s bad electronic instruments and production

It reminds me of a soundtrack to one of those straight to VHS movies.

Wasn’t sure what to think of this from the title and track list alone. But dang! This was awesome, a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. It’s atmospheric, moody, brassy and quite frankly, just fucking cool. Very pleased with this, if my life were WAY more interesting, I’d want this to be the score.

Look, if I was auditioning for someone to do a soundtrack for some low-budget noir, yeah it might be worth a listen, but otherwise what is this for? What's his next big idea, a book without the words? Salt and pepper without the steak? I give this a rating without the stars.

cool soundtrack mr gauy

What a weird fucking album. But also, respect! I felt the cinema behind the music before reading the album's wiki entry. I want to listen to this album, while smelling Xyrena (pick any scent, they're all unnerving), and watching a liminal space office building tour. I will never listen to this again, but I'm glad I did!

Very cinematic, great album for daydreaming specific scenes. Almost had an anxiety attack though.

What was that?

This was a commendable effort! The premise of "Moss Side Story" being a concept album soundtracking an imaginary crime film is a very fun idea to attempt to bring to life. While the execution didn't grab me, the potential is there. I think I'd appreciate it a lot more if I knew more about classical music and music theory.

Of all the great music from Manchester. Buzzcocks, The Smiths, Joy Division, New Order, Stone Roses, Oasis. You give me this.

This is an interesting challenge as a music project. I'm not sure it's entirely successful but I applaud the ambition!

I think when an album says it’s industrial I gotta be prepared for ehhhhhhhh music

Why make a soundtrack for a spy movie that never came out? I'm sure it would have worked, but this feels so pointless to listen to. It just feels weird to listen to without the visuals. I'd rather not have this experience again...

This album needs a few listens to fully take it in.

Ugh. I don’t love this. I could swear this is not the first soundtrack for a nonexistent movie that this list has churned out. Almost certain there was another.

I’m feeling generous and rounding up my review. I can’t say I dislike it but doesn’t quite make it an OK album either. Dumb premise.

First Listen; 3; Very interesting album - sounds like a soundtrack to some horror/crime-noir. It is alternatively a difficult and somewhat enjoyable listen. Certainly different sounding than other albums on this list, and I think probably worth its inclusion. Favorite Track: Auto Destruction

At this point I wish this book was about albums that don’t exist so I wouldn’t have to cringe so often 🫣 absolutely pathetic

Interesting record. Don’t know if I’ll ever listen to it again. Can’t help but respect.

cool i guess

I found this interesting at times, but overall I did not like it. But i do wish I understood more about music as I suspect this knowledge would enhance how I experienced this album.

If you listen to movie soundtracks I automatically assume you need mental help, let alone listen to a soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist. 1/5

Musical scores to film serve a purpose, but only the truly great ones stand up to be listened to in isolation or without a strong attachment to the film. Obviously you cant have an attachment to a film that doesn’t exist and this is far from great. This has to be one of the most annoying listens i’ve had on this process and there have been some bad albums!

“On the Wrong Side of Relaxation” pretty much sums this entire album up.

One of my most hated things is albums where essentially nothing happens except atmospheric droning for the first minute or so. I didn't know that about myself before starting this project, so thanks I guess? When would you ever sit down and think "You know what I fancy listening to today? That album that starts with the sound of a woman clearly in distress as she's stalked and then murdered!"? The whole first track made me anxious., and I hated pretty much everything that came after. The worst thing about this record was discovering he has another entry on the list I'm going to have to listen to. 1/5

Not really much going on here. Adamson shows her can write music that sounds very close to various styles typically heard in movie scores or soundtracks. But they don't really add up to a unified whole.