Inspiration Information

Not for me.

Ugh, I was so disappointed by this. I read his Wikipedia page first and I thought it was going to be funky and soulful. It wasn’t

Pretty poor, sounded like an older version of Jamiroquai, but without any hooks. As the album progressed, it got duller and duller, so I pulled the plug once I got into the bonus tracks.

This album sounds vaguely pleasant, I suppose. The problem was it lacked almost every quality I hope to hear in music. No clever lyrics, no interesting melodies, the album was just generally boring.

I didn’t love this album, or even like it. On the other hand I dudn’t hate it, or even dislike it. This was simply boring. Lite Jazz meets drum machine, it seemed like something I’d hear in a tourist bar on some 2nd tier Caribbean island. 2/5

The music was ok but nothing special. Probably won't ever listen again

Experimental, smooth jazz

This album was boring, even by this list's standards. The second half of the album just dragged on forever, and the first half wasn't very exciting or had much substance at all. Maybe it's an important album? But it's not apparent from listening to it.

Easy to listen to, but ultimately it’s 70s porn music

rainy day

Toch best een beetje een saai jazzy soul album. Je moet het van de drumcomputer en elektrische toetsen hebben lees ik. Vernieuwend toen, schijnt. Dan krijg je namen als 'XL-30' en 'Pling!'. Luister XL-30 en je hoort dat er nog een hele ontwikkeling nodig was op dit gebied. Tot je ineens de hit voorbij hoort komen. Smaakt inderdaad als een gezoete aardbei. Maar zit veel beter in elkaar dan alles wat we hiervoor op dit album hoorden. Ook het volgende nummer 'Sweet Thang' klinkt ok. Wat rustig en jazzy. Dan nog even 'Ice Cold Daydream' doorkomen. En dan een goed uitgewerkt (maar ook weer heel rustig) instrumentaal nummer. Dat met 13 minuten toch wel weer veel te lang duurt. In die tijd duik ik wiki op. Wat blijkt. Die laatste 4 nummers waarvan ik het wel waard vind om wat over te schrijven, zijn juist de bonus nummers, toegevoegd toen er een cd van werd gemaakt. Deze nummers stonden allemaal al op een eerder album uit 1971. Hoe krijgt de 1001 het voor elkaar? Altijd de meest verschrikkelijke debut-albums voorschotelen en dan juist nu kiezen voor de mislukte experimenten boven het staande eerdere werk. Zelf had ik deze artiest helemaal weggelaten denk ik. Als die laatste nummers er eigenlijk niet bij horen, is het toch een harde 2 sterren.

Sounds like music you'd hear in a lift, not terrible but very forgettable

A pretty underwhelming third album by Shuggie Otis. Full of extremely slow psychedelic soul and R&B there was no Inspiration Information to be found anywhere throughout. Truly one to put right to the back of the shelf in my opinion. Best: Inspiration Information Worst: Freedom Flight

It's decent I guess, but much like 90+% of jazz, it shouls be relegated to being just background music and nothing more.

Starts off like some early-mid 90s movie music for a sex scene, then about track 5 swaps to post coital music Average

Started off thinking i was going to like it a lot, but lost interest pretty quickly. Seemed like unfinished at times.

I remember this album cover from somewhere, but can't remember it. Well it's a different genre from rock at least. First song, vibey, expected from funky genre. It's very chill, good background music. There is different sound in each ear, also some instrument in my right ear, and beat is in the left one. It included jazz, so not as bad as I expected. Second song, elevator vibes. This is so slow compared to the last song. He sings in a background vocals way. Main part in the song is the instruments, and paying close attention will make one discover new sounds in each 10 seconds(idk). I like that it's smooth and easy listening. There are different things going on, now it's piano in the left ear and some weird sounds in the left one, while the beat is in the middle. Long outro, but not boring. Third song, oh, it's already ear changing sounds. After two minute intro, the lyrics came in. It's monotonous, but it has a vibe I enjoy. Not as bad if you get it. Fourth song, lyrics are early. The name is weird. Slight diversity between the ears. It's getting to sound similar, but I guess that's the point. Nothing unique. Fifth song, it's a faster. There is weird pause of the best and star-like sound Starting, it was an interlude I think. Sixth song, this has an old jazz vibe. Was quite slow and less interesting, basically no lyrics?! Umm he has a Voice right, should use it. Same with the seventh song, he doesn't sing, it's weird ai sounds. I mean it is something but not I would listen to because I wanted to. 8th song, it started so good what happened. It's like lofi(idk). It's relaxing plus fun, I almost fell asleep. Outro was a littlee different. 9th song started differently, upbeat and stuff. Oh now it's upbeat info the winning minute back 10th song, finally he sings, before that there was different style i think. It's different with the Christmas sounds going now especially. He stopped singing and made me fall asleep again(almost). 11th song, again instrumental, I was rating this 3 starts, now that's a stretch. Just background voices were heard, not Something I wanted. 12th song, it's good, uplifting, and a little interesting. The lyrics are not much, but now it's rocky guitar, didn't expect that from this album. 13th song, 12 minutes?! For a literal elevator music, a good quality one I guess. The progression is fun, it's jazzy vibes now. Guitar is still playing. Obviously some weird noises. Why is this album a must listen I don't get it, I mean it was interesting and stuff, but not that much. Imma quickly say that, it was much worse than I expected, why does he not sing, I mean at least the instrumental could have been better. It came down from 3 to 2 star album, that 2 stars is because of the first few songs that actually had something, at least lyrics. It's chill and I get it, but this kind of songs ask for something, than just making it same and boring.

Made for some pretty good background music, but not much else I'm afraid. 2.5

Blind album and artist. Gives off vibes for sure and mellows me out, but these aren't my vibes and it ain't my flow.

There were a couple good tracks in this, but most of it bored me. I also feel like the tone was inconsistent. Favorite track was not available

It's easy listening, its kind of groovy, its smooth, cool, and has a hint of the 60's abotu it. It also has a hint of 'elevator' musak about it. This isn't really my bag, it's inooffensive and, whilst it does play with soe dissonant harmonies here and there, relatively uneventful.

Smooth & mellow & kinda sat in the background like elevator music.

just not feeling it at all

I'm sure for the right crowd this is great but just didn't hit it off for me. Wouldn't even say I have a best song, it's all just very mediocre (not terrible though).

I felt like every track almost pulled me in, with the feeling that by the end songs would finally be grabbing me enough and I'd be enjoying myself, but then halfway through it felt like the album gave up and became relatively boring instrumentals. Nothing bad, but we went from smooth vocals and neat progressions to what many would consider elevator music, and it left a sour taste in my mouth, even if I did enjoy the intial run of tracks on side A. Perhaps I could turn to enjoy side a enough to bump the score up a bit on this album, but as it stands I just leave feeling a tad ripped off, and not much else.

Not horrible, not great. Slightly tone-deaf, generic funk/R&B. Not sure there are any tracks on here that stand out to me.

Known Before: Standouts: 11. Sweet Thang 4.5

Boring but inoffensive. Soft 2.5

Loose laid back funk with a jazzy feel and a tropical psych vibe. Busy rhythms with drums, bongos and more percussion doing polyrhythmic stuff and a tight bass sound high in the mix linking that to the array of textural instruments: acoustic guitars, flutes, strings and horns and cheesy keyboards. There's odd fill/noodle but no leads/solos really - like pure background jazz bordering elevator music. The singing is a bit tuneless and flat. Pleasant but dull overall, great for the pre-show music at your next coffeeshop poetry open mic. Favorites: sweet thang, Island letter, strawberry 23

Could be background music at a party.

funky

Rollo. Soniditos.

Hier haben die Absoluten Beginner ihren Beat fürs "Liebeslied" her! Das Album ist anfangs noch recht rockig mit Blues- und Funkanleihen. Später wird's dann rein instrumental in eine jazzige Ambientrichtung. Nicht meins.

Those Casio drum loops kill the vibe completely. Padding out the tracklist with 4 songs off his last album is lazy as hell too.

Inoffensive, but not exactly exciting either

Too long

No thanks

kinda boring

Groovy as fuck but kinda forgettable

Strawberry letter 23’s a banger but could live without the reat

Most recognizable song is 'Strawberry Letter 23', which was later made famous with the Brothers Johnson release; this later version was used in two different Tarantino movies.

Glemt allerede

Pleasant, but boring.

Huske kje, va sikkert greit

It's bearable when he's not singing

man, I was so looking forward to this but it's kind of... boring. Smooth jazz meets soul/funk. Strawberry Letter 23 is still a jam but the rest of the album is just ok.

Felt kind of slow and boring, just not for me I guess

And it lingers on ...

Yea, not bad! I was vibing to the first half of this but it was mostly forgettable!!!

Couple decent tracks, but also a lot of filler. Songs with vocals are the best ones while the instrumental tracks feel more like interludes. Talented musicians on this album but felt pretty boring and same-y throughout.

This album was fine.

Middle of the road album for me, nothing special.

Wikipedia describes this as Psychedelic / Progressive Soul / Funk - I'd describe it as inoffensive soulful funky lift music and nothing to write home about.

Funky and at times weird, but ultimately it was a little sleepy for me. I feel like this would be an enjoyable listen to vibe to with the help of a recreational substance but without it, only a 2-star listen

One of the most inoffensive albums i've heard. There's not much here, good or bad. Surprisingly, the bonus tracks on the reissue are actually really good, and much better than the rest of the standart album.

Solid album, but a bit indistinguishable. Liked island letter in particular.

Hintergrundmusik, paar gute Sachen dabei, aber kein großer Ohrwurm hängengeblieben

2.5

Unfinished funk. It has a 70’s incomplete vibe. Some cheap beats that lead nowhere interesting.

Soul just really isn't the genre for me, although I'm sure this album is great if you do like it

Ok music, not something I would listen to outside this context.

Totally devoid of any energy. Made me feel more tired after listening to this, than before starting. Listen to this album if you want to lull yourself to sleep. Starts promising then half of the album transforms into elevator music. Also I find Strawberry Letter 23 to be delivered better by The Brothers Johnson band. Best song: Inspiration Information (The only song that vaguely sounds interesting) Worst song: XL-30 (Dollar-store Tangerine Dream)

Great opening track

Funky. Soft rock from a band I'd never heard of. Interesting listen. I enjoyed the song Miss Pretty, but overall the album was a no from me.

Didn’t really connect with this.

Not quite for me. Half way through it seems like he gives up on singing, lots of instrumentals.

Not sure about this. Not a big fan of soul anyway but I just thought it was lacking something. The funk wasn't funky enough! Not enough bass. Inoffensive enough but didn't do anything for me. Recognised strawberry letter 23 but nothing else Shouldn't think I'll be listening again

Yeah summer beer garden music.

Groovy, funky good vibe

The first half of this album was just ok. Just as it started to improve, it stuck me with boring, repetitive instrumentals that sounded like an extended song outro.

felt bloated, way too long. vocals weren't pleasant to listen to, too much groaning. Would have been better as an instrumental. 2.

PRettz cool ambience albumm nothing fantastic though 2.5/5

Great background music, some nice vocals, nothing that I would say is absolutely amazing though it is all very pleasant.

1970s soul R&B album. The first side features tracks with vocals, whilst the side 2 is almost purely instrumental. It's chilled and pleasant enough, but not one I'll remember this time next week. Rating: 2/5 Playlist track: Inspiration Information Date listened: 12/10/22

it felt like everything was filler for inspiration information, happy house and aht uh mi hed.

meh

really not for me

Bit of a confused album overall. Not bad per se just all over the place

It started off so strong and I had so much hope, but it just fell flat after the first song :(

Boring album.

I nice sound that I couldn't quite pin down to a specific genre. Almost like jazzy reggae elevator music? I think I'm way off. A few too many instrumentals too.

I wanted to like this but I felt stuck in an elevator. The longer it went, the more desperate I was to get out and move on to something else.

Pretty solid, did not mind this album.

This album makes me feel like I'm on hold but the company have given a bit more thought to their muzak. Or I'm on hold with Ann Summers or something.

Completely different to the album yesterday, but somehow exactly the same. Some very nice sounds that are gentle and easy to listen to, but nothing that is in any way memorable. Just read the Wikipedia page, and I know that album sales aren't everything, but it reached 184 in the album chart at its peak and the single hit number 56. It's not particularly influential I don't think, there's certainly nothing new here as far as I can tell. Literally no idea why it's on this list. 2/5.

Love this dude's name. I'm not sure if Shuggie is his birthname or a nickname. Or, maybe his first name is Otis and "shuggie" is like a cool adjective that describes him? Like, "Man, you are shuggie, Otis." Either way, that was the most interesting part of this album.

p316. 1974. 2 stars. This ain't aged well. Vague echoes of early Hall and Oates but without the melodies. The boy's got talent - he plays nearly everything on the album, and some tracks like Rainy Day, Sweet Thang and Freedom Flight show promise - but there's a reason why this didn't sell in the first place, and its because its utterly forgettable. Why is this even on the list?

Meh, not doing much for me

Too often smooth and ponderous, but admirable as a declaration of love for his heroes, who are also my heroes.

It's a nice album but it's a little too -backgroundy- for me. It was hard for me to be grabbed by the music without sitting intently and paying attention to everything going on. The vocals being so soft probably played a part in this. The track "XL-30" was cool- I think it's like mimic-ing what a robot would sound like with some early electronic sounds? That was unexpected and while I do like things like that, I think that it's just kind of added to this album for the sake of adding something different? I'd rather they got experimental in the other tracks and throughout the album rather than all at once to try to spice things up. Got nothing wrong with chill music but this didn't do much for me.

way too long first song is decent though

Struggled to get this to two stars but there were a couple of songs with interesting sounds

A wholly okay album. Inoffensive to the ears, there are some moments that stand out, but it never really gets past its 'easy listening' stage.

So strange that all the things they learned about producing music in the 1960's seemed lost at times. Why is this so muddy? Still, if you are going to get stoned and look out at the schoolyard from the back of your Chevy van, this is a really good album for it. (I have now learned that he produced it himself. Don't do that.) I'm not going to do any of those things. But it was a fine groove for being inside on a grey day in Cambridge.

Rollo. Soniditos.

Somewhat palatable psychedelic jam band vibes. annoying mumble-y first half. frustratingly close to being good

the version i was listening to stops streaming after about 7 tracks. can't say i was disappointed. too smooth for me.

Sexual prowess diminishing with every breath. Jesus living in a dustbin, smoking cigars and doing crosswords. A filthy little dwarf ruining a picnic. A friend of a friend of a friend once told me never to eat the tits off tiger whilst it's laps at saucer of milk.

SHACK loves lamb chops

Oddly unfunky funk.

Not a huge fan of this album but I'd give some of his other work a listen to see if I like it.

I didn’t care for it. Not My tempo surely. Best I can tell you is if you dig ‘70s funk/pop this’ll hit for you…I don’t though.

Basically nothing. This genre of music is just white noise to me. "Rainy Day" really sounds like a rainy day somehow, I'll give him that. Sounds like a song I would listen to while I'm having a headache. Nothing else caught my attention.

could be one star, nothing good about it except its chill, very boring

Empieza muy bien pero consistentemente perdió mi atención. Demasiado tranquilo o algo pero tendió a aburrirme. No es nada malo pero creo que no es mi gusto. Songs: Inspiration Information

Not for me, sounds like Bruno Mars filtered through an Easy Listening radio station. Dull.

weird vibes not sure why this is so popular

Well put together, but not my style

Not bad. I wasn't really engaged with it though. It seems like some good background music. 5/10

Wel okay, meer achtergrondmuziek dan echt actief luisteren

Liked a couple of songs,but that's about it

Nah. But glad I listened

The phrase "Casio concerto" kept coming to mind. Maybe the programmed drums were cutting edge in 1974, but this sounds like someone playing tunes on a Casio over some pre-programmed fake drum track. BORING. It's a shame because the album started strong - "Inspiration Information" is a smooth groovy song. I liked "Sparkle City," "Happy House" and "Rainy Day." Pretty sure the one constant across those tracks is real drums, confirming to me that the programmed drums just killed this album.

Rollo. Soniditos.

Werkte me gek genoeg behoorlijk op de zenuwen

Hmja, het was zeker niet vervelend om naar te luisteren, maar om nou te zeggen dat ik iets wereldschokkends heb gehoord..... nee.

Regular

Quite enjoyable but forgettable.

Ok I guess. Just couldn’t get into it.

2/5 instrumental music, somewhat experimental but i didn't like it

Meh, musica de restaurante chique. Outras musicas dele sao muito boas tho, tipo Ice Cold Daydream, e ele lembra um pouco Jimi Hendrix (Curtis Mayfield tambem)

Upsettingly, spotify seems to have taken each song from another album. I'm willing to bet that the original albums records sound like they flow together, but this rendering from spotify doesn't. How can you mix cuts from remastered 2013 collections with original album versions of songs from '74? Of course its fucked. Well other than those issues of disjointed moments, I really enjoyed the album. Did I think it was profound? Hell no. Do I really the tracks? Most. I think a lot of the music is something you can really sink your teeth into instrument wise. I wish some of the vocals were clearer, but that might be the cutting again. I also wish the instrumentals were more evenly distributed. Real OG shit though. I'm also biased because I really like Shuggie. His voice is very pretty. I have to give this album a 2.5 though, because the mix is just atrocious. I mean you can get better uniformity of quality on some low budget debut albums. Also because the song ordering needs help.

The first half of the album is good. "Inspiration Information" is a great single, but very little else in the album stood out to me. The second half of the album (the instrumentals) sort of faded into the background.

Some vibes hits but overall a bit boring.

Imagine you step into an empty elevator. Doors close. You notice the song “Aht Uh Mi He’d” playing through the tinny speaker, and you think ‘not bad for elevator music...’. and then the elevator gets stuck and your stuck with the rest of the album. Not much going up here. It’s floor 2.5 - going down.

eh

Meh

This is good. Completely unknown to me. Would make a good lo fi groove station.

This was just okay, really my kind of thing, but it didn't grab me

Letkeätä fiilistelyä joka ei jättänyt parilla kuuntelukerralla suuria muistijälkiä. Ehkä tämä olisi pitänyt ottaa käsittelyyn vähän paremmalla keskittymisellä. Jotain samaa tässä oli tunnelman puolesta kuin aiemmin päivällä kuunnellussa Erykah Badun levyssä. Ei tarjonnut suuria elämyksiä negatiiviseen tai positiiviseen suuntaan.

Some songs were good. Others

Nice enough.

ok album. Just not one of the top 1001 albums that I needed to listen to before I died.

Osittain meni ohi puhelimen takia, mutta ei käynyt mielessäkään soittaa alusta uudelleen...

Forgettable. Wouldn't make my top 1000, though it did lead me to "Strawberry Letter 23" from his previous album, which is good.

can i give 0

Nice shoes Shuggie, shame about the music (and the hair) 1/5 22/8/26

bit too mellow for me

Auditory ambien and not in any good way

Couldn't get it to play

No, no, no

Jazzy with one tune I remember from my childhood

Meandering, aimless and ultimately random sounding. You can tell this is a solo effort: With a band, you are forced to get to the point instead of indulging your own idiosyncracies. On a positive note, I like the sound and vibe of those 70s drum machines.

Jazzy R&B bar blues by Johnny Otis son.

Boring background funk

like i dont wanna finish listening

mäßiges Geschwurbel

1/1

not a fan

Didn't enjoy this one.

I would have thought I liked Shuggie Otis more. Maybe I only like the "hits". Or maybe just Sweet Thang? Aht Uh Mi Hed sounds like video game music with lyrics over it. Happy House is worse though. This is not a good album.

Dated

Musique d’ascenseur. Vraiment pas fan. Pour pas dire complètement à chier

I could have gone without. It didn't appeal to me whatsoever

Not my thing. slightly boring in fact

Like one good song

Oh, I recognize this album from when I was on hold with any company ever

I feel like some inspiration would have been a good idea This was incredibly dull

1. information - 1 2. izland - 2 3. zparkle - 1 4. hed - 1.5 5. happy - 0 6. rainy - 2 7. 30 - 0 8. pling - 1 9. available - 1.5 10. letter - 1 11. thang - 2 12. ice - 1 13. flight - 2

Artisti ei jaksa säveltää eikä laittaa heiveröistä ääntään minkäänlaiseen hyötykäyttöön. Jazzahtava himmailu sen sijaan tulee luonnostaan. "Pling!" osoittaa, että hän tietää tämän kaiken.

Chilled out soul music that is just a little boring. It feels like the album wants to go somewhere but it doesn’t quite get there. In short this album is dull. Favourite song: Least favourite: Album artwork: Not one for the wall at home.

Sem animo pra ouvir

So laid back he was laid out?

I don't need to listen to this again.

So Shuggie Otis was an artist that I had never heard before, and I found this to be a completely forgettable album… As I always do when I get one of these headscratchers, I was perplexed why this is even on the 1,001 list… Found this little ditty about the “Inspirational Information” album – “…Released in 1974 on Epic Records, it reached number 181 on Billboard's Top 200 Pop Albums list that year…”. Wow – 174 of 200 at it’s peak, we definitely need to get that one on the 1,001 list for sure… : ) Anyways, just found it incredibly odd all-the-way around, as songs go on much longer than they need to, while others stop suddenly when they should have gone on a bit longer – and vocals, forget about it, as they are absolutely dreadful… Actually found the instrumentals to be a bit better, but that may have just been because Shuggie wasn’t singing… This sounded like it could have been the soundtrack music to the old 70’s sitcom “Sanford & Son”… “…I think this is the big one Elizabeth…” though nothing big about this album, and giving a generous 1 for my rating…

Dull.

Didn't care for it. Some tracks sounded like elevator music to me.

Having to restart an album multiple times during the day is a bad sign. The beginning of the album sounds like elevator music or being on hold with your health insurance. The ending (last two songs) are stronger but jeez, before you even get there… 1/5

Good God, this is awful. It kicks off with kind of "sexy time music", and then plunges into music so utterly banal as to be immediately forgotten.

all double albums get 1 star. i don’t make the rules i just ruthlessly enforce them

Very smooth and calming just not for me

Too Long. Many meh songs then suddenly a Bee Gees sounding tune.

Who? That’s why I have never heard of him. First album at 23 - ok. Hard to break into the music industry. One star

Disintegrates into noodling in the background

I ALREADY RATED THIS YOU IDIOTS

Super long album with maybe one or two alright songs

Very very dull, would listen to several songs without realising the track had changed. Accidentally listened to the start of the second album it's paired with on Amazon, exactly the same. That's enough Shuggie Otis for a lifetime I think.

Disappointing, found the album quite lacking in all areas. Needed far more funk to liven it up. The instrumental parts are not interesting enough to have so many.

This album was boring as fuck and idk why is it on the list of 1001 albums you need to listen to before you die. There are other albums that deserve your listen way more than this, as a composer i guess this guy has some merit but jesus i couldn’t help but snore cuz it all sounded like elevator music or some shit you play at a bland ass PG-13 dinner party

So fucking boring.

I always wanted to know where the riffs came from on the soundtracks from 1970s porn. Now I know! The audio without the video just doesn't do it.

Better listen to Bill Withers

I should love this, however, found it kinda underwhelming and forgettable. Maybe it's a summer album.

2/3 strong songs but not a great album. If realeased in modern times the filler ratio would have killed it.

Instrumentals fine. Songs from another era, best for sampling.

Meh, saai

Noise

cheap vanilla ice cream

Demasiado tranquilo. No es mi estilo

Didn't like it. Boring.

Chill but not that deep

rap