Reviews (page 7 of 7)
Yeah fine, wouldn't seek it out
"Back to Life" is still groovy but the album doesn't grab me.
a mix of sublime and shite - the rapping is woeful.
Reasonable background music. Strong last two songs, otherwise, not particularly great.
This is sample fodder, and not much else.
What on earth is this...! Keep On Movin' - Strong Opener. Fun beats and feel Fairplay - Wow this is the most annoying vocals I've ever heard on a track ever. Sorry, Rose Windross Holdin' On - This track has awful vocals too, but ends strong. Feeling Free - This is my shit. Great beat, fun raps. African Dance - Excellent. Jazzy Flute Dance - Also excellent. Feel Free - Oh okay here we go back to horrible shit. This lady is making my ears bleed. Happiness - Chill groove Back to Life - This one I've actually heard before. Great. Jazzie's Groove - Maybe my favorite one. So great. Makes London seem cool, and that's saying something. Ambition (Rap) - This album is at its best when people are rapping instead of singing. All the remixes on the 10th anniversary bonus content are also great. Many are better than on the original album itself. There's too much that I find grating her, so I cannot in good faith give it a high rating, but the good tracks are gold.
Snoozefest. Thin musically. Glad when over.
Not the most fun collection. Some stand-outs that were mildly interesting, but this feels like a very sad club.
Pretty cool, but not something I'm going to return to. Funky and enjoyable. The big hits on the album like "Back to Life" didn't do a whole lot for me.
When started listening thought it would be better than it was. Felt like a lot of filler. A cappella album version of 'back to life' pretty boring. Bonus version of tracks better.
Just not enough of a structure and beat to be enjoyable, too stripped down, mostly just some percussion in the background
was fine, what you'd expect of 90s 'club classics' nothing I'd bump again specifically
Good but not something I would listen to again.
Hotel lobby music.
Blind album and artist. Honestly this album dragged and was uninteresting between meh vocals and styles and instrumentals. Got old fast. 1.
Oh man, this has to be list man's favourite album. I think he springs out of bed in a half-trance each night and spasmodically genuflects and gesticulates obscure symbols of reverence towards a poster of this record. AS if possessed by a will not his own, author man comes to, covered in sweat with "Feel Free" skipping on the record player. It's British, electronically driven and R & B/Funk influenced. I mean the only way to make it more esoteric and cool for the psycho whose bible dictates my life these days, is if a white guy were pretending to be black. Alas, even when your standards are THIS low, still, the brass ring of perfection remains dangling beyond a glass ceiling; ever taunting, but infuriatingly out of reach. What do you want from me? This fucking sucks like I thought it would. I won't begrudge anybody enjoying this, as it's not completely hateable, but come on. Do we have to include every record from the UK? Do party/club records have to be on the list? They're really not meant to be listened to deeply. How many different ways can I express discontent with this particular list? I suppose that is the true 1089+ weekday journey I have embarked upon. Another brain dead diatribe incoming tomorrow. 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Hey, I know I'm doing the DJ thing, but I can sing too!
Got very bored with this very quickly
Why? It wasn't good then and hasn't aged well. If anyone tells me Holdin On is a good song I'm going to ask if you are alright and ask if they have hit their head recently. I chalk this up to the author LOVING him some British electronica. I also move to have this removed from the Soul genre as it's messing up my stats.
Umm... some of this is really not good at all.
Too easy-listening.
Gear: ZMF Auteur Classic LTD Shedua Artwork: 😎🌴🟨 Production: ♨️🥵💦 Music: 🔊🚫🤮 Rating: 🪩/5
Enerverende og kjedelig. Melker sin ene hit. Burde ikke vært på listen.
Snore II Snore. This is an uninteresting hour of the exact same drum machine beats with a different lead instrument taking a turn. The songs do have that club appeal of making you groove to them, but there is zero substance here. There is nothing here you need to hear, especially not be devoting an uninterrupted hour to listen to it.
"British neo-soul" et bah non hein.
Outstays it's welcome massively and you're telling me that the best version of the best song isn't on the original album? I'm not giving this a consolatory star for the anniversary edition having a worldie bonus track
Boring.
I don't know... usually, hip-hop with jazz elements isn't something that would ever bother me... but this album feels like you're sitting in a nice café where there's live music, but the band doesn't care that they're playing way too loud because they're so absorbed in their lyrics and rhythms. The female vocals are the best part.
In a nutshell: the roots of British R&B There is something uniquely British about this album. The sound, the style, the vocals. It’s not my thing but I can see some merit in its importance. Overall: 2/10
Tant mieux pour les pistes de danse du Royaume-Uni si ça a fait danser les gens dans les années 90, mais la soul et le R&B de cet album sont vraiment pas venus me chercher.
Ritmo cansino
I did not need to listen to this before I died. I see in some other reviews they mention a drunk uncle. I get that but he also gave me Flight of the Concords vibes. I was laughing through much of the first half of the album. It's more comedy than soul. This album did not age well.
Not for me
Is this AI? (checks date) Nope, I guess it just sucks. This music sounds like it was created in a lab by people that had only ever read a description of what music is.
Why did people listen to this?
Very unlike any of the dingy clubs I ever went to. But, still, perhaps the club of the title is the best place to experience an enjoyable enough collection, but decidedly not an album. 1.5 I hear Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) on the radio most days. A classic, no doubt. Apparently it isn’t actually on this album - which put me in mind of how frustrating it is that Björk’s original mix of All is Full Of Love isn’t on Homogenic. On that album too, a very powerful track is omitted in favour of its rather wishy washy a capella version. Of course Homogenic, positively stuffed with terrific music anyway, gets away with it. Club Classics Vol One, on the other hand, is pure rubbish and could really use having that genuine classic on it. I’m giving Soul II Soul a 1 here. Is part of that rating me lashing out because Homogenic isn’t on the list and this naffness is? I will inspect my conscience. 1/5
when i go to the club i don't wanna hear these club classics
This was not good at the time and it hasn’t improved since.
not my style
Lame. Varte for lenge.
Pretty terrible
Couldn't finish, I don't know why...
Not for me
Loose, low-slung grooves built from deep, rolling bass lines, off-beat rhythmic accents, airy keyboard washes, relaxed breakbeats, and gently spoken, chant-like vocals move this club-soul album like drifting through warm night air on half-alert senses—smooth, spacious, and so laid-back and repetitive that its cool sway feels unfocused rather than immersive.
alles maar dan ook alles klopt niet aan dit plaatje... plastieken geluidjes met zeemzoeterig gekweel er over...
Someone please tell me how a group with barely one song, a dance club hit at that, makes it onto this list?!?
Not bad. Just something I’m not as interested in. Back to life is a great tune.
I don’t like to talk bad about music, but I disliked every second of this album. I didn’t find anything to enjoy at all, so we are down to a single star today
How os this supposed to be dance music without a little speed to it? Really not worthy of this list
Elevator muzak. Terrible!
So you’re either so full of yourself claiming your music is going to become classics or it’s a greatest hits album and in that case why would that be on this type of list? Either way I made it halfway through and wasn’t familiar with a single song. So much for being classics. And then I heard back to life start. Wow something I’ve heard before. But not enough to keep me willing to listen.
Ugh
Meh
Not sure why this is on the list.
Overall this just felt like really watered down and distilled dance music, with a few catchy melodies. But it was just too uninteresting, and I found myself skipping around after a while. Nothing to really draw me in, just in one ear and right out the other.
The tunes are straight pop. I don’t know what’s so influential about this. I would normally give an album like this a two (fine, but i didn’t *need* to hear it). But the male vocalist is off key so frequently, it really distracts from the album’s overall unremarkability. A 1.
Fucking elevator club shit.
0815-Gedudel
Groupe inconnu. Le chant féminin est assez intéressant, mais ce n'est pas le cas de celui masculin (type hip-hop : -1), ni de l'accompagnement, assez répétitif ... Je me suis ennuyé très rapidement et je ne suis pas allé au bout; =>1/5
# Album Name: Club Classics Vol. One # Artist: Soul 2 Soul # Rating: 1/5 # Comments: Not my bag. Soul rubbish # Top Tunes: None # Would I listen to it again? No
This was awful, another 1 star! Bring on the next
I did not care for this
Painfully boring. I never want to hear this again.
Kivaa laulua vokalistinaiselta, mutta ei tuollaiset klubimönkötykset kiinnosta
?? schon wieder vergessen c
Honestly thought most of the songs were boring.
You can listen to it, but should you? Nothing new after hearing it. Is club music and is from the late 80s, I get it. Hedonistic thingy. Basically is just another sterile attempt to add something new to the music history. You can record this album, but should you?
(26/100)
It’s like a mix of Reggae music and rap and sorta like a santanaish vibe if made black… it’s not horrible but not my vibe. If 1.5 stars was an option that would be my rating.
Soulless. Go away.
Awful in so many ways.
I'm really struggling to see why this is on the list or even what the "hit" is on this album. It's kinda sad when your best songs rely on guest stars, when the rest of the bands open their mouths, you can see why. There's some funky bass lines on a few tracks. Oh I enjoyed Ron Burgundy's guest appearance on flute in African Dance.
This was the album that made me get the book. I had to find out why this was on the list. This was just boring. Every song felt like 2 beats on repeat. One of the vocalists managed to make it even worse and the lyrics detracted even from that experience. This felt like nothing, and I have no desire to ever give it a second listen.
All that I dislike in music wrapped up in a single album. 1/5 26/8/25
Kinda boring….i feel like I would hear this at a store that’s too hip for me to go into. Yawn
Is there a word in English to express "the opposite of nostalgia" ? Because that’s what I feel when listening to this album. I was a teenager when that kind of music was around, and I hated it. I really tried to give it a fair chance by listening with a fresh ear - but no, I still hate it with a passion. It’s the by-product of a bygone era that should absolutely remain bygone. Did it pave the way for other stuff like trip-hop ? Maybe. But I cannot think of any circumstance where I would want to submit myself again to such musical torture.
Some moments sounded nice but overall I was not feeling this
Club Classics Vol. One - Soul II Soul ⭐️ This would likely be a three maybe a four at a happening nightclub after a few cocktails but just as a regular listen it's pretty dull. I just finished listening to it & I already forgot it almost entirely. OK, I have to go now.
R&B continues not to be my genre
1,2/5
ass
Dire. The two big hits are both musical annoyances, and the rest of the album was just a constant drab noise. Very glad to find that everything after the first ten tracks is a "bonus" so I could skip it.
I. REALLY. HATE. CONTEMPORARY. R&B. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE ALBUM GIVEN TO ME YESTERDAY AND THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY IS TWO OF MY ALL TIME FAVS. 1/5
1. moving - 1 2. fair - 0 3. holding - 1 4. free - 1 5. african - 1 6. dance - 0 7. feel - 0 8. happinezz - 1 9. life - 1.5 10. groove - 1.5 11. ambition - 1.5
This is definitely not my jam… Too buttery soft at times, and too boring at other times
I had never heard of this band or this album. The first thing I thought when I saw this record cover was "New Jack Swing"? I was 100% right. This album asks and answers a couple questions. Can you judge an album by it's cover? Sometimes. In this case, yes. Do raps REALLY need to rhyme? Yes. Yes they do. What is New Jack Swing? It's like Trip Hop, but really lame. Why is this album on this list? That song "Back to Life"? I really don't know. Were the pop charts in 1989 full of straight garbage? For the most part, yes. This must have seemed super innovative at the time. Was Ice Cube Right? .....um about what? "And you can New Jack Swing on my nuts" Yes, truer words have never been spoken.
Drum machines, insipid disco strings, monotonous rhythms and vocals. It's all great and appropriate for dancing and dance clubs. So, it's perfect for that. But, I never went to dance clubs because I don't enjoy dancing. So, this music just bores me.
Honestly was excited for this one. Not thrilled with it. Not necessarily bad but just not for me. 3.1/10
There's a bar somewhere playing this album thinking it makes them hip... Another shining example of the regional bias of this list. Maybe this album had a place in time that it stood out, this is not that time.
Ok so Back to Life was the hit off of this I figured out. That song is nothing extraordinary. The rest of this pretty mediocre with some songs bordering on cringe (I’m looking at you Dance, or is it Daahnce?). Needless to say I was not impressed and did not need to hear this before I die.
Nie podobało mi się Nie to tańczyć do tego nie to się uczyć nie relaksować Wkurwiające
Pff, saai en repetitief. Niks speciaals aan imo
What's most mind-boggling to me, is that this had a 10th anniversary edition. It implies someone still wanted to listen to this watered down and cliched amalgamation of soul and electronic music in 1999. Although looking at what was popular in 1999, maybe it's not so surprising. 1 unceremonious thumb down out of 5
I understand why dance tracks of this era had to come out in albums. I do not understand why such albums are considered to be essential listening
It is really a time or sound capsule of 1989...it feels a bit cliche by now. Could not go through the whole LP.
I was really worried at the beginning as I identified the album as RnB (that has little in common with "rhytme and blues", which I have more than disdain for. The singers spend to much time listening to their vocalizes with no real purpose of melody. That's only my point of view. But then I felt the Trip hop vibes even recognized two tracks, the hit back to life and jazzy Groove. So I managed to get through all the album without too much suffering and even pleasure sometimes. I won't do it agaoin though. What I like is thtat for me it's the big brother /sister of the coming troip hp of the 90's British scene : Massive Attack, Sugar Cubes, Morcheeba (that I once saw live in Beijing in 2002), tricky and a lots of Ninja Tunes. But's it's always better with a real drum !
The only song I know from this album is Back to Life. It embodies everything I don’t like about ’80s music. Here, everything is a lie, jazzie’s Groove doesn’t sound groovy or jazzy, African Dance doesn’t sound African (though I do like the flute), and the rap is depressingly bad. Despite good videos showing drums, piano or guitars, it relies heavily on machines, only to prove how huge tech progress have been since 1989. The beats are repetitive, and the vocals are unbearable to me. I get why this album is on the list—its sales, its role as the dance music of the time—but I gain absolutely nothing from listening to it, and I find it particularly painful. As a teenager in ’89, I have depressing memories of all those kind of hits which were absolutely everywhere … and the result for me was to dive more deeply into alternative music. I understand that this era had to happen to pave the way for more mature movements. If we have to talk about soul, De La Soul released their debut the same year—and it was in my opinion much better.
Was für ein langweiliges, schlecht produziertes Album. Die Musik klingt wie ganz schlechte Clubmusik und die Texte sind oft so peinlich. Ganz, ganz schwach.
No
Favourite song- Feeling Free Unskippable album- no Listen again- no
Not my genre.
I am bored
Niet voor mij gemaakt
I could not get into it
Um....no.
I'm sorry, but no
Absolutely hate this. Who listens to house music outside of a club?
first song was fine, the rest, besides the last two were downright hard to listen to.
I’m, Soul II Soul was lacking….in Soul. Sorry, the a cappella songs were okay but those drum machines were monotonous. Give me some Parliament, Commodores, Earth, Wind, & Fire, or Chic for my Soul fix.
Soul II Soul, those two singles were massive back when I started to go to proper nightclubs in 1988, where you had to get dressed up in suit and tie, those were the days! Those two songs were my two favourites from those days and evoke such happy memories of Sweetings in Bedford and Golden Flamingo in Milton Keynes. Shame that the album version of 'Back to Life' is some shitty accapella version, so due to only having one decent track on it, it's getting a high 1 star. Sorry!
Not because I didn't enjoy ... but doesn't belong on this list for many reasons
It's fine. Not for me though.
Nah.
Hell, that's aged badly
Maybe it wasn't my cup of tea, but this album was awful.
You can't be serious.
This Shouldn't Be in the Book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Vol. 739
''I too could make club classics, check it out!" *Proceeds to write the dumbest tracks you've ever heard*
If this album was released anywhere else than in the UK, it wouldn't be here. As long as I love UK music with all my heart, it's not the center of the world as the author of this list may believe.
I could barely get through this. Just boring. Admittedly I'm not a big fan of the genre; so I'd have to ask: was this highly influential to other artists? Because I don't get it's placement here otherwise. It comes off as super generic and uninteresting the whole way through.
I wanted to like this album, but couldn't. It's not my vibe
For the record, Holdin On is one of the worst songs I have heard in a long time. Terrible lyrics poorly delivered. Also, this record suffers from the shitty drum sounds that pervaded (perverted?) early 90s dance records. It didn't have to be this way but it was. Hip hop, acid house, freestyle all had much better drum sounds then. This 1001 list must have been made by a British person, because Soul II Soul wasn't so big over here...and there is nothing about revisiting this today that is making me regret ignoring it when it first came out.
As strong a song as Back to Life was, I was expecting a bit more from thiis album. I ultimately felt like the whole album was underwhelming which was disappointing because Caron Wheeler is a good singer.
Maybe this is great but unfortunately I hate dance music
This is not for me. I find this RnB stuff uninspiring.
I'm sure it was good at the time but now it just seems boring and repetitive, something you'd zone out listening to. Some long tracks mixed in that don't go anywhere. Some parts do seem like later house music but less inventive.
This is what's playing in the background in a trendy bar. Wildy uninteresting beats.
The irony of this review, where I'm probably going to refer to the album as "forgettable" at least once, and yet clearly I'm going to have a lot of thoughts. The record straddles a line between 90s R&B, and early house music. It seems like, in the latter genre, lyrics aren't as huge a focal point as the groove. The record delivers on neither: the instrumentals are fine but forgettable (hey!), and the lyrics really just feel very, very, very off-the-cuff and "yeah that's fine man, sound". It feels like a record that got into this book on vibes alone, if the vibes are a middling club or party where people are having an alright time. I think you can sum the record up by looking at the last track: over a decent instrumental, the male vocalist discussing the future of the band spontaneously, as if anyone would fucking care the moment the record ended.
This is what I missed not going clubbing? Is Holdin' On a real track? The vocals on that sounded incredibly sour to me. You guys, what is this? This isn't even background, this is actively annoying me. And the single wasn't on the actual record? What was happening in '89?
This is basically just slightly elevated shitty club music. For the most part it's fine. There's some parts that aren't good, and the style is just boring.
Synes beatsene var ret kedelige, og vokalerne var ret træls (specielt når det basically var spoken word). Jeg er sikker på at det er indflydelsesrigt men det gør bare ikke noget for mig
Wow shit
112/1001 🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑
Ugh. I expected something with more groove from “Club Classics.” Most songs seemed to take forever before they even took off, then still only had a few bars of anything worth listening to, if anything.
I believe that the history of recorded music can be written without referencing this one
does not belong here. not absolute garbage but its bad.
Fy fan. Är det här musik? Har det verkshöjd? Riktigt skit. Var tvungen att lyssna på annat flera gånger för att återfå hopp om mänskligheten.
Truly awful
Overall, not anything special. They do touch Greatness on Back to Life (However do you want me), but other than that forgettable
Somewhere there is an Old Navy store with no music playing because someone stole this album out of the Cd player to put it on this list. Who listens to this kind of shit besides retail workers at Old Navy or The Gap? Shit really triggers my PTSD of going back-to- school shopping with my mom.
Struggle listen. Just kinda dated and goofy. Sorry folks.
Definitely not impressed with this one. The woman singing was pleasant enough, but then the guy comes in after a few songs and kills the vibe - he just doesn’t have an impressive or interesting voice. The grooves are ok, but nothing that truly gets me moving. The songs don’t build, progress, or generate excitement. Not sure what is significant about it overall. Wouldn’t care if I never heard this again, just not really digging it and find it boring.
not for me
1 for one recognizable song
Not in the slightest something I want to listen to. This is a mix of hip/hop and soul, some jazz... Among other like genres. I just don't care for this shit. This album sounds disjointed and more of a compilation of songs than an actual album. Which, maybe I'm wrong with the idea of this 1001 thing... But various artists/compilations don't belong on a list of albums that I need to listen to. Even if they're good. They're good as songs. Not albums. Next.
The music fairly dull though tolerable at times, but most of vocals... are really bad. Like they wouldn't get through auditions for a middle school talent show bad.
Ironic that Soul II Soul created an album with absolutely no soul in it. This was hollow. Was it an easy listen? Yeah. Was it good? No. It was empty. I felt bored and waiting for it to end. I do not think this was an album I needed to hear before I died.
Wasn't a fan when it came out and still feel the same.
Lame
maybe if i were drunk in a dance club
Good music for when you’re barfing or being killed by someone who’s barfing
This is a little too good at being background music. It never really did anything to grab my attention. First listen was fine but the second listen honestly earned it negative points. Only favorite was Feeling Free
Are there 2 songs here or only one?
Too repetitive-
Monotonous and dated. Only enjoyable in certain contexts and IM NOT IN THE MOOD
This does nothing for me. Bland, tasteless, fluff. The white bread of music.
An album devoid of anything musically worthwhile. Soul-less.
nah. not my style.
Bad singing, bad rapping
Not my cup of tea; I hope 3 Feet High and Rising is on the list!
Did not like this one. Not my cuppa tea at all. I had to push through to the end.
Ugghhh no
there's nothing good about this
Empty and soulless - the music they play in the waiting room.
i feel so bad but i didn’t like this one
1/5. Wasn't terrible to listen to just very forgettable. Would rather listen to better versions of the same genre. It's club music but if the club was occupied by 3 people who all don't really want to be there.
This was dreadful garbage. Generally, the U.S. does a pretty good job exporting its crap to other countries, not sure who was working the customs office when they allowed this one in.
I'm listening to the album and reading a lot of the reviews that this album among others heavily influenced the sound of 90s (and beyond) soul/R 'n B, dance and hip hop, especially in the UK. That this album still stands like a house. That it's very dance-able and excellently produced. That this was very innovative music for its time. That this brought a very useful broadening to dance music. But all I'm genuinely hearing a simplistic electro beat, and music that has neither soul nor funk and falls flat in every song. I'm probably really missing something.
mediocre dance record with a messiah complex
No
Fuk em
Every note. Every second. Every vocal trill. Every electric piano. Every fake internment. Everything in this record pisses me off. I don't just hate this record. It activity makes me angry.
Inget skit att ha
bland
This was lame even when it came out in the late 80's.
Dull, dated, yuppie wine bar vibe.
90's house soul. I didn't think I would hate it, but I do.
Different strokes and all that, but 28th Greatest British Album Ever, Q magazine?! I really don’t get what’s so special about this album, even if you like this kind of music. Which I don’t. I thought Back To Life was going to redeem it somewhat, but the album version, it turns out, takes an age to get going. 1.5
PA$$
I just can't stand bland R&B. It's just dull. I remember my sister listening to this when I was a teenager. I hated it then and I hate it now. Best Tracks: Keep On Movin'; Back To Life; Jazzie's Groove
Not for me, very repetitive
Not really my kind of music. Didn't like any song, sounded very repetitive.
Keep on Movin' didn't start me moving. Fairplay sounds OK.... for about 15 seconds, then it descends into depressing lameness. The women have good voices but the songs are so uniformly awful that I just kept skipping. Back To Life is a step above the rest but not enough to save this borefest from a 1 start rating. If Jazzie's Groove was on a 5-star it would drag it down to 1 star. That is the worst assault on my ears ever. Although Ambition goes close. Worst rapping ever! No competition! Whatever drugs they were on are a danger to humanity.
To quote a younger generation "I just can't.....". I tried to listen through this, and although I can't say I hate it, I just kept reaching for "skip" for so many songs, just nothing grabbed me.
Probably not a 1 but man I was really not feeling this one today.
nope
Ok 2 The whole album sucks, and then the remix of "Keep On Movin'" comes and brings the best beat I've ever heard. A 1 though, because the remix doesen't count.
dont like
Repetitive and cloying, mainly thanks to bargain-bin beats and the most British vocals you can find. Some tracks on the back half manage to eke their way into mildly catchy territory, but after the absolute slog of the first half the LP needs a lot more than a few bangers to atone for its sins.
Didn't enjoy
Weird "club" music, sounds like it's older than it is
Not my cup of tea
absymal
TRASH
Not for me, just not my style
Not for me thanks.
Not a big fan of this one. Songs got old quick I didn't make it all the way through.
No.
Like it more than I thought I would. Groovy sounding but not in a funk or disco way. Very early 90s rnb.