G. Love And Special Sauce

The band is loose but tight but the dude’s voice is so bad. It’s insane this is on the list but Sublime isn’t.

Next. Stoner blues rap. The upright bass was sort of cool but the whole slacker vibe didn't resonate with me. Like sh$ttier Sublime. I guess the sound is unique but I still can't believe an album like this made it on the 1,001 list. Ugh. Still have half the album to listen to.

Cultural. Appropriation. Dude's father was a banking attorney and he went to private school. There's no freakin' way on earth he actually sounds like this. Sure, it's cool enough, but it often made me cringe. I tried to explore why this doesn't bother me for someone like Beck, who G. Love sometimes sounds like - I think it's because Beck introduces a lot of his own stylings and he doesn't sound like a caricature of cultures he doesn't come from. I don't know what the fine line is beyond adapting and advancing (e.g., Led Zeppelin with the blues and the Police with reggae) and outright appropriation (e.g., UB40 with reggae), but I felt this album crossed that line. Tracks I liked, disregarding the cringe: Garbage Man, Cold Beverage.

Didn't really like the combination of rap and blues. Neither the rapping or the blues was very interesting honestly.

The music is not bad but I hate G. Love.

It's OK... Gets pretty boring after awhile. Am thinking about cold beverages now though.

the poor man's Beck. or Soul Coughing. or Morphine. honestly, i can't even judge this on the basis of class or anything. G. Love is superficial, unnecessary in the company of his peers. his Special Sauce backing band is fine, but his rapping is god awful, and omnipresent across all the tracks. just nothing but posturing and an assumed "coolness" that feels wholly unearned, because the guy's name is G. Love and his backing band is fucking called Special Sauce. at three tracks it's a little grating, six tracks in it's acrid, and by track 12 i am desperately watching the clock, waiting for a reprieve or maybe my internet to go out. "This Ain't Living" is a passable oasis in the middle of an otherwise dull and infuriating desert of slacker raps about food, living the easy life in Philly, and being a sexy boy, rowr. i feel like i pissed my pants and i have to walk all the way home for an hour to get a fresh pair. i feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. i'm tired. i don't even know why this is on the list. did the British music press go utterly gaga over G. Love and Special Sauce exclusively? everyone else who was involved in the H.O.R.D.E. festival -- i presume this is why it's in the "1001 Albums" book -- i could definitely recognize, but these guys didn't enter my radar until this same list recommended it to my friend Azzy. maybe they were good live? who knows? i need a drink. and new pants.

"Baby's Got Sauce" but they don't. Some of the songs give me the same feeling as drinking spoiled milk after waking up with a tequila hangover. The album ends up being a compilation of good song ideas wasted. I'm giving it 2 stars because I admit I found myself dancing to "Cold Drinks" and "Shooting Hoops", and these guys seem to be having a lot of fun recording this, so it's worth it. It's the kind of thing I'd play with my friends while we knock back a few beers.

Background music in a pseudo intellectuals basement while you're getting talked at about bob dylan. Ask me how I know.

This was sooo bad, I am starting to really question who's choosing some of these albums? DNF, Would not relisten.

Too much sauce and not enough "special". I think the concept of rapping over jazz guitar, upright bass, and drums is interesting, but not the way they do it. Basically I don't think they are very good musicians. There were very few moments when I thought "oh hey that was a cool riff" or "that was an interesting change". And wuzzup with that accent? Brother please, you from Philly.

Favorite Track: My Baby’s Got Sauce

This is like if jack white reimagined the white stripes with a groovier drummer, a jazz bassist, and jack just started rapping. God, the rapping. What is the need? Garrett Dutton (I'm not calling him G. Love) attempts to infuse his songs with a sense of swagger that bridges blues rock and hip hop, but end result is clunky and often unlikable. Instrumentally, a fine album. Vocals basically make the whole thing bad.

Not bad to listen to overall but way to long. Standout song Some Peoples Like That

Another fine album, passed me by without any major standouts, but a great vibe nonetheless.

Ok

Rather boring.

Inte så bra men roligt att lyssna på

Sounds a lot like Beck. Kind of a bluesy alt/rock. Garbage Man is a good song. Don't care much for the rap-like vocal sections. The middle of this album sucks. The end is garbage too. I take back my earlier comments aside from Garbage Man is good. This is bordering 1 star which I rarely hand out but I can't quite do it.

Honestly, I think I like the name better than the music.

Not bad but giving off sublime vibes which is kind of a turn off

Hold the sauce please.

Tries to be original with rock, folk, etc. influences, but at the end of the day, this is just Hip Hop. 1.5/5

1.75

Not bad but quite samey. First song is the best.

an interesting concept. blues music with a hip hop vocalist. but the lyrics are nonsensical and redundant. swing and a miss.

Bit contrived

Irritant om een heel album van te horen, te matig op veel vlakke

This is not a good album, for crying out loud. Why is it in this list? 🥴

Jeg tog den berømte ja-hat på og syntes egentlig ikke det var slemt. Ikke essentielt, og det rammer min irritationsnerve at den er næsten en time lang - hvis den havde været et kvarter kortere havde det nok været 3/5

Synes rappen var ret cringe men resten fungerede sgu egentlig ret godt. Der er en del rap til gengæld. Stor 2er.

First half was actually a pretty fun spin on blues and rap. I liked a lot of the songs.. But the album felt frontloaded and lost steam (and my interest) in the end.

Poor man's Beck

not for me

I was really enjoying the first song until he opened his mouth Terrible vocals. The songs quickly went south - presumably as the band got higher/drunker while recording It ended up becoming a jam session and this guy mumbling his improv Would have been much better as an instrumental album 2 ⭐️

Not a genre for me

Fine for what it was but there was a degree of smugness to it that I didn’t like.

Sounds like an album he made in his home basement for the girl he liked. She didn’t respond well.

January 9th, 2024 G. Love walked so G Eazy could walk HL: "Blues Music", "This Ain't Living", "Town to Town"

I felt like I didn't need to be listening to constipated singing/rapping/yapping? for an hour today. Then I listened to this album and now I know that my feelings were correct.

G. Love & Special Sauce somehow sounds exactly as I imagined they would despite never hearing them before. Back in college, several acquaintances and coworkers with more "questionable" musical taste were big fans (I remember one of them being super excited to go seem them live) but somehow I knew deep down that I shouldn't pursue (even if that was as simple as queuing up an Audiogalaxy download back then). Considering what "slacker rock" was in 1994, the year this was released: Mellow Gold, Bee Thousand, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, etc., this is the smarmiest, try-hard stuff I've listened to all the way through. I can only imagine this is influential, since there's no other reason for it to be on the list. I'm happy to remain blissfully unaware of what it spawned either way.

Jerk

Reminds me of Sublime

Честно говоря, ну так себе. Когда понимаешь, что это за фрукт, становится не очень интересно (а это происходит на четвертой минуте из целого часа музыки...). Звучит как Бек, но если бы Бек делал одно и то же всю свою карьеру. Лучшая песня - Blues Music.

Not for me but i understand why this would be popular

Not great. 2/5

Nothing special

4/10

Yeah I think Beck must have liked this record while he was making Odelay. Except he had the bright idea of combining this style with some actual tunes. 4 tracks in I can tell this record is too long. There isn't enough variety. Nothing is bad per se, but it's not great either. It's very loose.

fine

eh, grungey but not my kind of thing

First off G Love & Special Sauce is a wild ass name LMAOOOOOO Dudes were like "how many euphemisms for splooge can I put in a stage name" (am I even allowed to say that on this site? meh I guess we'll find out) Engaging with the actual a Quality of the music, it's an interesting on the surface blend of hip-hop, blues and jazz-rock sensibilities. Like Everlast if his main audience was music critics and not suburban dads balding in their 30s. It's unfortunate that despite all attempts to sound sophisticated and volatile due to this genre combination, it still sounds sappy and predictable. It's ultimately another inclusion that dates this book tremendously, a product of the mid-90s destined to be forgotten except by those who do this challenge. Many such cases! 4/10

I don't get this. It's trying to achieve the same super chill and weird vibe that Beck had achieved during the same time period. But nothing here was all that catchy. I'm down for weird. But you also have to mix in some solid tracks. This felt almost empty.

-whatever this is, it is so very Philadelphia-core. I will forever appreciate that -now as for the actual music itself… has some fun moments but overall not super fun. I do like the blues/rap influence, it gave it a unique feel. But few of the songs stood out too strongly to me and more or less melted together honestly -Favorites are Blues Music, Baby’s Got Sauce, and This Ain’t Living

could i write poetry to this? n

Meh.

All style no substance

I didn’t hate this as much as Joe, but I never need to listen to it again

This album is not for me, it sounded very samey and long which made me bored of it.

Heard worse but really not for me

This bored me and tbh that is really all I have to say about it

I enjoy blues. I’m ok with stoner rock. I can tolerate some non-vulgar hip hop. But I realized I’m not a fan when those three genres combine.

I feel my review is unfair, and that I should try to review this album on its own merits instead of comparing it to others, but I just felt like this was a knock-off Soul Coughing.

Album 576 of 1001 G. Love & Special Sauce - G. Love & Special Sauce (1994) Rating : 2 / 5 While Hip-Hop Blues sounds like an interesting concept, it doesn't really work here.

Maybe im not hearing him

Bluesy. Pretty boring and long. Thought this would be a band but it seems like one dude.

No ty

3/10 - It was bad and boring. The songs all sounded the same and unenjoyable.

Got annoying real quick

Sublime at home

There was no special sauce to be found

This isn't bad but I feel like it's partially responsible for a lot of dumb shit we allowed to get popular in the last 20-30 years, like Fun Lovin' Criminals, Dave Matthews, Kid Rock, Cage the Elephant, and some of the less good early Beck records.

Instrumentaalilevynä tälle olisi ropissut pari tähteä lisää.

Just so 90s. Sort of like kid rock x sublime? Way too long.

Each track I was hoping for an instrumental. Each time they ruined it by signing. The music is enjoyable blues-jazz. The vocals had me twitching for the skip button.

The G is for grating. 2 stars

Samey Samey Weak Weak.

Not a single song I felt like going back to and it's staying that way

There are some okay songs on this. Nothing that is an ear worm that will stick with me forever…or even just a few minutes. It’s more musical than Public Enemy. This obviously has many influences. It’s okay, just not my cup of tea.

Started off all right, jazzy, funky, laid-back tunes, so laid-back they were almost horizontal. But more of the same and more of the same just got wearing after a while and I was glad to get to the end. Just kidding, I didn't get to the end.

Very 90s, very white - easy listen in the main but I did cringe inside

Stick it in the fridge.

Blech

Slacker blend of blues and hiphop. Nice drum sounds but annoying vocals.

Nothing special sauce about this album to me, a lot of the songs were just too same-y

Low

Sounds both quite disheveled and also quite precise. This album has dirtbag line cook energy. I did not hate it but i did not need that great a quantity of it, either. 2.5

Another one that shouldn't be on this list.

Not awful, but wasn't a fan. Annoying 90s tripe.

The live instrumentation for the beats was pretty cool and it was a nice and relaxed listen but the rapping was uninspired and the few comprehensible lyrics were not great. So many better rap albums that are missing from here

I don't know what to say other than ugh. It's somehow not 1 star bad in my opinion but I was so happy when it ended.

Maybe it’s because I’m not from the west, but I’ve never heard of G. Love before, and so have not been inundated with his work as it seems others have been. It does kind of sound the same after a while. It’s serviceable. I kinda like the last song. The voice became annoying after a while. If I were to listen to one song, it would be fine, but at the better part of an hour I was waiting for it to be over.

Meh

If you like this style (sparse instrumentation, drums mixed high, semi-rap/hiphop) listen to Soul Coughing, they are much better at it.

Slacker blues and perfectly listenable. Not really that compelling.

everyone knew a guy in college who “could freestyle” and it sounded like this

I think their special sauce is just ketchup with extra sugar mixed in. 2.1 stars

Eh

Hey I like Beck! Let’s do a shittier version

I don't see what's so special about this sauce. Half baked raps over mediocre blues. It's really not good at all, nobody needs to hear this. What's worse is the other acts this likely influenced. What in the Uncle Kraker was this? 2 stars

Not my thing but some good musicians

Idk there's a couple decent tracks here. Love the Philly rep, but it's pretty corny ngl

"Genre: Blues / Rap" What the fuck is this. Oh, it's just the Gorillaz after a vasectomy. Not horrible, just really samey and way too long. The fact that it sounds like a random recording of some homeless guys jamming on the street is sort of charming in a weird way.

Goodness that was tedious.

I can understand why this album appeals to some people but it was NOT for me.

Nope this is poor, sounds like the worst of 90’s music.

Awful, couldin't finish the album. Real drab rubbish

His baby’s got sauce. His band has some kind of secret special sauce. Does G. Love have sauce of his own? He may, but it is the sauce that messes up the whole dish. There are some interesting things the band is trying with their fusion of styles and sauces, but G. Love’s vocals and songwriting are the weak link.

I mean, it's pretty silly. At least it is unique? The 90s were a weird time man.

I’ve always referred to them as Glove and Special sauce. Why? G. Love frankly sounds stupid. G. Love or Glove…it doesn’t matter. This laid back rap blues fusion is too laid back for me.

Man, I’m on a bad run. This album was just kind of annoying and repetitive.

Parte instrumental é bem boa, clima de blues envolvente. Mas o vocal fica irritante.

Not special and not even that saucy. The inflection he puts on his voice makes it seem like he's trying really hard to be cool

An ok album, nothing that really blew me away, G. Love & Special Sauce missing some of that "Special Sauce" in my opinion. This album would fit perfectly in a jazz café of the 90s, mid-afternoon sipping on coffee wearing your beret that you purchased on your gap year France, perhaps also with a lit cigarette between your fingers. Best: Baby's Got Sauce Worst: Fatman

Nope

Groovy but couldn't get past the vocals (personal preference)

Grossly immature and quite stupid. I was a bit taken at first, but really, 58 minutes of this is far too much to bear. G does not love.

Correcto

Not my thing.

First listen Saved 3/14 Top track: The Things That I Used To Do

This is best poetry from the 90s. Baby Got Sauce is catchy but the rest is pretty meh, borderline cringey.

I don't know what I should make of this. The music's ok, but the vocals range from boring to annoying.

It just kept going

Cannot stand this guy's affected vocals, and every song was the same

A quirky little piss-take band. An unusual set up of guitar, drums and double bass. Watching some of their videos on Youtube, they have an oddball charm that’s missing from the album.

Not really my music style

Ok wow wtf was this. I won’t give it one star because I can totally see how G. Love has legs at a music festival—this is exactly the kind of wanna-be bluesy music that a bunch of white folks who have considered dreadlocks would groove to. It begs for a sack to be hackeyed, and I hated almost every minute of it.

Unreal this album is 57 minutes.

disjointed at times, not smooth like I'd expected of blues.

Not at all what I was expecting based on the album cover but the “sloppy” sound was not the special sauce for me and makes this album the third in a row that was just kind of irritating. Has like 40 seconds worth of fun moments on it.

Never heard of them. Talking to music is NOT MUSIC. Just like rap crap. The talking ruins all the songs.

I thought this kind of thing was brilliant in the 90s. Not so much now.

I would be shocked if this wasn’t objectively the worst album on this list.

Wok star. Wok star. Wok star. Wok star. Wok star.

Had never heard of these guys. Drums okay. Guitar has its moments. Dislike the vocals. Found it a tad irritating, on the whole. On and on it went. Not really a special sauce - just an average sauce in a jazzy bottle. An average sauce in one of those squeezy, tomato-shaped ketchup dispensers. Actually, those dispensers are cooler than this album. In fact, I kind of want one now! 🍅 But I don't want to listen to this again.

This album sounds a lot like if you told some fairly talented guys to improv an entire project in the studio that day. I like their style a lot, I think the mix of blues, jazz, and hip-hop are really cool, but they keep resting on the same couple of musical ideas. It's chill- but almost too chill- like they couldn't be bothered to stop jamming out to come up with any sort of variety or compelling lyrics. It's a good listen, but after nearly an hour of it you can start to zero in on its flaws pretty quickly.

This sounds like some dude named Greg's attempt to do spoken word in-between basement bong rips and hackie sack sessions.

I can't tell what this album is aiming at but it lacks focus and maturity. Not Beck and not interesting at times it shows fleeting musically interesting moments but then something feels off or wrong and it all falls apart.

just okay, reminded me of sublime a little bit.

Below mediocre, above terrible...

A little too pretentious for me

Bluesy hip-hop; on paper something I'd would like. But I just didn't get into this. Just seemed a bit lazily underwhelming to me.

Somehow manages to mix beck and beastie boys and be a total bore.

Bit like a laid back Fun Lovin Crims. Gets a bit tiresome after a while.

2.5

This was a hard album for me to rate. At times, I thought this is not too bad but other times I felt they were trying too hard to get to a sound not really natural for them. I did like Cold Beverage and Shooting Hoops and nothing was outright terrible, it just felt "off" and too many times the songs seemed to run together. This is nothing I'm going to revisit but it was OK to listen to a couple times. Sometimes you think you're getting special sauce and it turns out to just be Thousand Island dressing. I think that's from Arnold when he worked at All-American burger in Fast Times. Oh, I did think these dude's sounded a little bit like the guys that sing Scooby Snacks. 2.5

2.5 Never heard of G. Love, but I can tell you that I don’t want none of his special sauce. Jokes aside, this was fine, but I have no idea why it made a list of the 1001 best albums of all-time. It’s one of the most 90s things I have ever heard, to the point where I imagine the guys were probably sipping on Crystal Pepsi, feeding their Tamagotchis, and watching Beavis and Butthead between takes. No idea why this album is still applicable as an important listen today unless mediocre, douchey whiteboy alternative hip hop is your thing. There’s nothing remarkable going on anywhere here except for Baby’s Got Sauce, which is about the catchiest abomination I’ve ever heard. One of the more forgettable albums for me thus far, though apparently this guy is playing a show near me in a week. Honestly, I’m considering buying a ticket just for the meme.

Some decent instrumentals and musical ideas. But man, this guy has some of my least favorite vocal inflections of all-time. 2/5

G. Love and Special Sauce is the debut album by the American rock band of the same name G. Love & Special Sauce. This alternative hip hop album has been certified gold in the US. One song "Cold Beverage" was a staple on college radio, and another "Baby's Got Sauce" has received high praise. I thought this was a great debut album as it introduced me to their style and left me wanting more. Give it a chance and maybe you'll love it.

This album left me confused. I liked the instrumentals. Their vocals were okay, different. Fitting for the genre. But I couldn’t make myself like them as a whole.

I’d rather listen to Kevin G

Not very memorable 90s imho

Very funky, cool and sparse. The grooves are very nice. The double bass is really good. Don't like the style of the vocalist -- sounds really fake and immature, like a little white boy trying to sound cool by putting on a really stupid "urban" way of speaking. Four stars for the music, one star for the vocals, two stars overall.

Very same-y and irritating for the most part. This ain’t living was ok

It’s not that it’s bad. It’s more that it’s not good. When I see 1994 American rock band and I get anything that isn’t grunge I’m at least somewhat pleased though.

Goofy

Not my jam.

Ágætur hljóðheimur og stundum grípandi stef, en þessi G.ást er ekkert agalega sjarmerandi. Byrjar á betri endanum en síðustu þrjú lögin eru svakalega döll. Var að hugsa um tæpan þrist en ég enda í rúmum tvisti.

I just hate this vibe and I’ve got nothing else I want to say.

Serious musicians jamming with the record button on and then putting it out as done. Sloppy may be their trademark but enjoyable it ain't. The click track at the end of the penultimate track drove me nuts. All over the place.

Das Album war nicht wirklich meins. Bin ich nicht mit warm geworden.

This album was weird. Not what I had expected from the album art at all. Indie minimal rap folk something. The guy’s voice is not that good. Rough and tumble I guess. Not my thing, but it did get better in the middle. Standouts: Baby’s Got Sauce, Fatman, and This Ain’t Living.

Started out promising…then it didn’t. Is this an album of 12 tracks of the same song and maybe 2 others that are different? Disappointed.

When it first started I was a bit intrigued. Vocals got old pretty fast and kind of wished it was an instrumental after a while

This is the perfect definition of average. Super laid back and chill, vocals that anybody can do, big college radio or open mic vibes. I guess that makes it perfectly listenable, but also very bland.

I dunno dude, why and how is this top 1001 albums worthy? I like the poeticism of the lyrics, I guess I do. Dude came up with ideas, practiced, recorded, that's inspired effort, worth 2 stars hehe.

So mid.

Rough one. Best song is the shortest song: Cold Beverage, which reminded me of Red Hot Chili Peppers, but not to G. Love's advantage. Which is saying something. A big no thank you to the whole album. Did send Spotify off on a nice track for the day, though, so there's that.

what for?

Rooty, low-fi Americana-Blues/Rap with an exceptional attitude towards success: I believe here truely is an artist working not giving 1 fuck about getting famous.

Boring, samey, uninteresting, full of copied riffs and baselines from other people music... I just don't get why this album is here for review. I'll give it 2 for effort. Other than that it's instantly forgettable.

It’s ok

This was definitely unique. I'm not sure that it was good, but it was unique. It's got this like bluesy, hip hop, rock combination thing going on. It's very slow and loose musically, it's mostly just vibing throughout. A number of times while listening to this I thought to myself that I would like it more if the singer wasn't singing, I liked the music part better than him. There are a handful of songs on here that are pretty catchy ("Baby's Got Sauce" was pretty solid), but a lot of it was just a bit grating to me. It's pretty long too at 58 minutes, so it keeps going on for awhile. Favorite song: Baby's Got Sauce Other: Blues Music, Garbage Man, Cold Beverage, This Ain't Living, I Love You 3/14/24

Nothing special

Wow.. how did this ever get released. Sounds like some guys jamming and fooling around in the rehearsal room. Probably they had good fun, but why should the rest of us be bothered?

Every song seemed to just miss the target.

too indie, too garrage for me.

Cool instrumentals. Ridiculous and stupid vocals.

I had no idea what to expect, so I went in pretty open-minded. I found it fairly monotonous and uninspiring. I didn't want to kill myself and made it all the way through the whole album - so for that it gets 2 stars.

Я ожидал, что это будет что-то на двадцать лет пораньше. А тут девяностые и читка под хаотик гитарку. Какой-то психодел репчина. Я опять бросаю курить, а потому на негативе, но... мне чёт ваще не нравится. Ну два?

This album was released on the date of my birth. Sadly that didn’t help them to make a good album.

First listen through I quite enjoyed. Bit of a blues with hip-hop, lazy singing but not in a bad way. Intrigued, I dived straight in for a second listen. Not as good. Too much hip hop, not enough blues, too lazy in parts. Third listen through I stopped half way through. Couple of great tracks but mostly misses. 2.5*

It's seems I'm in the minority around here, but this is really, really... not good. Messy, white boy rappin' blues that wears out its welcome long before the album is over. I can picture a certain type of dude who would have loved this stuff in '94 and he was pretty insufferable. Fave Songs: Don't have one. "The Things That I Used to Do" and "This Ain't Living" are tolerable.

Nothing to write home about. The review notes this album was inspired by Beck, but then goes on to say it doesn't really hold up aside from Baby's Got Sauce. First off, if it doesn't hold up _why is it on this list?_, and second off Baby's Got Sauce was repetitive and annoying haha

A laid-back, sloppy, funky mashup of multiple genres, the album is a total frat-boy beer delight. Cold Beverage was a massive college radio hit and responsible for the half-million sales. Reminds me a bit of the Beastie Boyz here and there. Not a terrible listen, but I wouldn't choose it.

Vraiment redondant et pas intéressant. Clairement les musiciens sont talentueux et pourant le résultat est tellement fade. Beaucoup de pièces sonnent comme des jams et non comme des chansons bien construites. Les chants style rap sont vraiment monotones. 4/10

Didn't really like it in 1994, and feel the same way 30 years later.

Trögt album att lyssna på. Int min grej Svag 2

meh nothing super interesting

I personally couldn’t finish this album. One can see how it helped pave the way for underwhelming, mediocre “white boy reggae” and low-effort talk singing that was pervasive in the 2010’s. The kind of meandering, meaningless lyrics and the loose, lazy instrumentation remind me of smoking bad shwag weed in my college years and being unreasonably excited about it.

OK but nothing special.

I never listened to this album back in the day and assumed it was a Greatful Dead rip-off for some reason. It was OK.

Yet another filler album

I like This Ain't Living and Walk to Slide smooth flow to it. Funky and jazzy. Most of the rest isn't clicking with me.

I couldn’t decide if I liked or hated this group 25 years ago and I still can’t

Jaja laid back aber was ein Geleier. Das war Anfang der 90er vielleicht noch etwas intuitiv, aber vielleicht auch einfach vom Stil her nicht mein Fall

Meh

Tään on kyllä aika paska. Ihme irtopisteitä "yhdistelemällä" eri musaperinteitä. 2/5

Mukavan letkeetä, mutta kävi valitettavan pitkäksi lopulta.

Alkoi kiinnostavammin kuin päättyi, tällaisena liian pitkä. 2/5

The super slow bluesy style with rappin' doesn't work for me. Baby's Got Sauce is probably the most interesting, but ultimately i was anxiously waiting for the end by the time the 2nd track started.

Well, here it is. The last album of 2023. I've only been doing this for a few months, but the end of the year is still an important milestone. So, does G. Love And Special Sauce feel like a good album to end on? Probably not. It's not like this album's insanely iconic or anything. It really doesn't need to be on this list. But is it good? Eh. It's fine. I like the instrumental sound. I think that the jazz and blues influence was a good choice to make. The last song wasn't good though. However, I must specify that it is the sound of the instruments that I like, because the singing, if you can call it that, isn't great. He sounds weird. There might also be an effect on his voice, but I honestly can't tell. The writing is also confusing. I can kind of tell what some songs are about, but others don't really make sense. That can be good, but I don't think it works here. Overall, while this album is pretty decent from a sound perspective (mostly), it doesn't really stand out to me in much of a good way other than that. High 2/5.

The blues are great but the vocals are not for me - it's like a shitty Sublime.

I love this album, the blues, the jazz, the grooves, oh. my. god! There's so much space for improvisation and this band is so tight! But this guy... THIS FUCKING GUY! HE RUINS EVERYTHING! Probably a bit late, but yeah! Get rid of the guy, and it's genuinely a good listen.

Nicht meine Richtung. Mag ich nicht

The music here is alright, the vocals suck.

Did not enjoy this at all. Felt like proper stoner music with little to none of the charm. No energy, not much storytelling, very little to like. 2/5

Meh

“David [Fincher] said, much to my chagrin, that he wanted music [for Fight Club] that sounded like it was from white guys who thought they were funky but really weren’t,” says King [of the Dust Brothers]. “I was like, ‘Thanks a lot.’ But he was being creatively honest. We didn’t have to try to deliver that—we were white guys that thought we were funky.” This album made me think of this quote.

Tan noventer com és possible ser. I, com era propi de la década, la fusió de géneres és el seu principal leit motiv. El hip hop és el que porta la batuta, aquí barrejat amb influències del soul, r&b, fins i tot del jazz. Força respectable i fill del seu moment. Però no conté cap tema memorable

Hate the name but tolerated the music. An experiment for sure but one that I don't plan on returning to.

My immediate reaction was that this would be better if the person who adopted the bluesy/hip-hoppy/street-corner delivery wasn’t a rich kid from an upper class neighbourhood in Philly. But I didn’t think of looking at Mick Jagger or Tom Waits through that Lens. However, their music was better. This conjures up memories of Beck. I’ve been rounding up too much lately.

Not for me 2

It's not bad. I mean, it's not good either, but it's not bad. I feel like what could have been a decent album was ruined by his vocals and lyrics.

I kinda of tuned out. Less offensive version of Sublime 2.5/5

- respectfully, i’m bored

Meh

I liked the music but the lyrics and vocals were a turn-off. Far too immature really. If it was an instrumental album I'd rate it much higher.

Unforgettable and unremarkable.

I did not like this album. I hated the singer's half-singing half-slam poetry style, and the only thing carrying me through this album was the funky and groovy backing instruments. So the songs that didn't have good backing instrumentation were terrible. I feel like I needed to be high in order to enjoy this album, but I was not, and so I didn't. 2/5 Favorite song: Baby's Got Sauce Worst song: I Love You

It's that form of 90s jazzy blues that precedes the White Stripes. It's cool, chill, but utterly unremarkable. Has a couple hits but nothing spectacar, and most of it is forgettable. Lots of repetition, and lots of it blends together, just with different grooves and tempos. For every trick they pull, it reminds me of other bands who've executed them better. If it wasn't obvious, Spotify's recommended songs reminded me of several examples between Minutemen, Jon Spencer, and the Beastie Boys. Last 5 have nothing noteworthy. Like with every other 90s record, the hour length works against its favor, dragging on too long for comfort. As a record, it is coherent. In the end, I can't say any of it is grating due to its chill vibe. Could be worse. I've heard their later attempts to sell out.

It's a jam band doing blues. Sounds a bit like White Stripes but without the quirk or structure. The production is live and loose, and there is an annoyingly boinky snare throughout. It also introduced Jack Johnson to the world, who by being SO inoffensive, offends me to my very core... Do something unexpected you handsome, sweet, surfer with an acoustic guitar, you absolute Ken.

ihan kiva. söpö. pikku vauvveliinin eka albumi taputtakaa...waaauuuu...niin spesuaali, laitetaan spessuluokkaan pikkunen... niin hyvin tehty... joo iso ääni tulee rummuista joo ISO IIISOOO ÄÄNI... HYVÄÄ.. town to town

Meh to the hip hop

Mixed feelings about this album. The backing tracks are mostly good, especially the bass, and would fit in with any of the Golden Age hip-hop albums. But I'm really not a fan of G. Love's voice or rapping technique. I think I pieced it together by the end; it's like if Anthony Kiedis had a hip-hop career, the vocabulary of a kindergartener, and was also really into Sublime. I don't think I ever need to hear this again.

This is not very good for me. I hadn't heard this before, but it feels very "of it's time". I thought it was boring. 2/5

Not terrible, just pretty boring.

I've heard of G Love and Special Sauce, but I've never listened to them (maybe they were on the bill for a festival I went to). Honestly, I thought they came about in the late aughts, I had no idea that they'd been around since the nineties. Also, I had no idea that they'd sound like this. Surprises all around I guess. On to the matter at hand: this album wasn't really up my alley. The instrumentation felt repetitive, and it felt like a chore to get through the entire hour of this album. The rapping, or singing, or whatever you want to call the vocals, wasn't really to my taste either. I've read some reviews that compare this band to Beastie Boys or Beck, but Beastie Boys lyrics carry some tremendous punch, and Beck may not be a powerful vocalist, but he knows how to create some truly unique sounds. My point is, I'd take Beastie Boys or Beck any day of the week over G. Love and Special Sauce. Even though this album wasn't to my liking, I can understand why it made the list. There's something about the sound that made me think "yeah, this album probably found a pretty good-sized audience in the nineties." I also think they did an interesting job of taking the Philadelphia-soul sound, and doing their own thing with it.

Sloppy jazz. Stoner white boy hip hop. Random college rock. Whatever it is, it’s unique. That doesn’t always mean that it’s good. This? Eh. They’re from Philly. I’ll give them a bonus star.

Downtempo Red Hot Chili Peppers. No thanks.

Good

Slackness in music is not quite ma thing

Pros: - There’s a cohesive sound. It’s got that blues/rock/hip-hop slacker thing down to a T - I quite like said sound, in small-to-medium doses Cons: - It might be *too* cohesive. 58 minutes of the same thing does not make for a great album - Not bad, but a bit ordinary? 2.5. Nearly a 3, but it just dragged a bit too much.

I didn't get it; was pretty much background noise. Poor singing and nothing really jumped out at me. Big "meh" all around. 5/10.

Meh

McSauce AKA Scott McTominay loves this one. I don't.

My wife used to make me listen to this album all the time and I remember enjoying like two songs — Baby's Got Sauce and Cold Beverage — and thinking the rest of the album was mid. That opinion still holds. I admire what he's trying to do, but this just doesn't work for me.

Though the sentiment may be sincere, the performance seems a bit affected.

I can see how this can be fun to mindlessly listen to in the background while doing something chill on the weekend. But did I really need to hear this album? I don't think so.

Groovy. 2.5/5

2.5

I gave "G. Love And Special Sauce" a spin, but it just wasn't my jam. The tracks blurred together a bit too much for my taste. Probably won't revisit.

I remember when some of the songs from this album got some air play. At the time, it was a bit different-sounding to me and I liked that. Honestly, although it’s kind of fun to walk down memory lane here, I wasn’t as into it giving the album a listen now. Still has some interesting and catchy aspects to it, though.

I really hated this at first...it did grow on me a little bit once I adjusted to the vibe, but this blend of blues rock and early 90s white boy rap is just not good. Maybe still among the best stuff in G. Love's larger body of work though.

Interesting idea, but so boring and dull.

I am sure that album is someone's favorite album, but it didn't really do much for me. Instrumentals were pretty cool but nothing special

Mid

Wel weer eens leuk om te horen

Iets te saai om lang leuk te blijven.

The album had some interesting musical moments, but this particular mix of genres is not novel for the time and has been done better. However, what really annoyed me were the vocals. There was so much inconsistency with the affectations that I couldn't take it seriously. At certain points, he sounded like he was trying to sound like a rapper from the UK. It was just over the top in the worst way.

Less energetic RHCP

Not my style. 2.5

C'est nul, quelle surprise !

This is the worst album I’ve encountered on this list so far. There is nothing special or interesting about it. Whatever the special sauce is, I think it’s gone bad.

how did this one end up on the 1001 albums list? it had a middling critical reception, i'd never heard of it before doing this, and it sold well but not well enough to justify it being here on popularity alone. either way, it's the worst albums i've heard in recent memory! it's in the uncanny valley between being unnoticeably coherent and charmingly incoherent. i will never complain about the Red Hot Chili Peppers again for the next like. week or so. it's bad blues, the rapping is horrible, and like. all of that could be somewhat forgiven if this album actually leaned into its roughness and did something new and interesting instead of being stereotypically 90s monogenre sludge. deserves to be one of the 1001? nopeeeee

I don’t like this album and I’m not interested in his Special Sauce!

Pour the special spice all over this an set it on fire

Favorite track(s): Whenever I mentioned playing bass at parties in college, people would tell me "Oh, my friend here plays guitar!" and I would then have the misfortune of getting introduced to a guy like G. Love.

Who likes this ? It is not inventive, it is lazy, it is long and terrible. The special sauce my man can keep, the vibe is so sleazy it reeks.

Boots cheeks

Play that funky music white boy, or rather, don’t.

What if Dominic Fike was from the 90s and also sucked? Lyrical spiritual miracle

I never thought that an album could make me wish I was listening to Beck instead

Boring, uninspiring and not something anyone must listen to before they die

rly didnt like

I didn't like this. I've heard of this band before because they play them on The Current. This is not for me.

If this is what college rock (jazz? rap?) sounds like then I'm glad I went to a non-traditional university. Bleh

Music for American community college students to play hacky sac to. Spiritual cousins to Jamiroqui. Fucking dire - could not finish

This sauce is moldy

East coast Sublime. No one asked for this. If someone did? They were wrong. This shit makes me want to punch my ears. This shit makes me want to invent a time machine and beat the crap out of every jock that ever picked on me. And Dan Akroyd. He's responsible, somehow. I'm listening to RECORDED meetings at work just to break this up.

Ruim

#222/1001 🇺🇸 Finding it hard to say anything nice about this so I won't. Best Tracks: ......

Verschrikkelijke zanger

1.5/5 https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/g-love-and-special-sauce I feel like some albums are just included in these books because the one choosing the album has a stake in its inclusion somehow. This album is a good example of that. Who the fuck are G. Love and Special Sauce? Why do I need to hear this before I die? I would rather have not heard this. There's a good riff here and there but the vocals are complete poopoo and each song lasts a minute too long. Also, not that RYM is the golden standard of music knowledge, but the fact that none if this act's albums have more than about 150 ratings (aside from this one due to its inclusion here) says that this is NOT anything to hear before you die.

This album is a great example of everything I didn’t like in 1994, and my opinion has not changed. Self-indulgent and lazy vocals over repetitive (but skillfully played) music that never leaves the same temperature setting. I didn’t make it all the way through. ⭐️

This is kind of like the Fun Lovin' Criminals without the fun or the loving but with music crimes. Utterly inconsequential and a bizarre choice.

Heard the name, recognise the album cover, never listened to the band before. I don’t know if that was on purpose or just a very lucky escape. This was shit. Didn’t finish it as really disliked it immensely. Played snippets of each track to see if it improved. It didn’t and I’m now listening to much better music - although to be fair that’s not a high bar to aim for. Any guesses to my rating for this ONE? Thought not.

bluesy rap, I guess. Not much to like for me here a solid 1 star

I really thought "Baby's Got Sauce" would be able to hold this shit up. It does not. It cannot. I liked the novelty of the song back when I was a kid but listening to a whole album of this dude do his best impression of what he thinks black people sound like was just terrible. Idk why you would even put this on. Like what function was playing this back in the 90s? They need jail.

Not too keen on this

Dreadful, but in an interesting and unusual way.

Nothing good here

No comprendo que sea uno de 1001 discos que tengo que escuchar antes de morir. Repetitivo y aburrido. En sus mejores momentos me recuerda a los peores de Gorillaz o Jamie T. Sin más.

not really mine.

It was awful. Absurd name for a band that has nothing to offer. Total miss on this one.

G Love seems cool but white people copying blues is never a good recipe. Terrible frat blues rock. Beck did it better and I dont really like him much either. Cigarette moms everywhere love this shit though. I remember one lady I worked with her favorite song was Loser by Beck. Having a loser complex I guess is something cool in the 2000's? Idk bro maybe if you didnt listen to the worst music ever maybe your personality would be more likeable. Gonna go jork it to some Miles Davis or Mingus just to feel superior ✌️

Hated this! Like Sublime without the sauce! White boys impressed with themselves for knowing blues music AND hip hop like that’s some great accomplishment. Insufferable and far too long.

Boring as hell

I don't get this, but it's pretty typical of some of the crap that came out of the 90s. I could round up to 2stars, but rounding down because it seems so fake.

Lord save us from more annoying white boy blues schtick. Folks this is just another Tower Records bargain bin pick. The record was cheap and it's helping to pad out this damn list.

I must listen to this before I die? But what is it kills me?! Terrible. He can't sing, can't rap, the musicians aren't anything special, the compositions are dull, words are just plain irritating. Maybe a bit hard on the musicians there, but when the vocals kick in it just does not work. Not one little bit.

Maybe if you are on a beach and this is on in the background… maybe… otherwise found it a total chore to get through. Awful name too

Incredibly corny. It sounds like Beck but without any talent. The singing is unbearably bad.

First album I dreaded listening to on account of the 'white hip-hop'. A shame, really, since some of the tracks have genuinely good instrumentals. Couldn't finish most of the songs except for - Rhyme For The Summertime, Walk To Slide, and Some Peoples Like That. Can't give 0 stars, so 1 it is.

piss off

Kind of like early Beck, if Beck fucking sucked

This guy’s slurred-speech affectation is insufferable. Is he trying to put on a Blaccent or is he drunk? Either way it sounds like a very misguided attempt to seem cool. The music isn’t terrible but is uninteresting - reminds me of Soul Coughing but with less soul and creativity.

Didn’t like them live in 2001. Liked them even less on this relisten. Reviews on this site cracked me up though.

Sloppy and unfocused. It felt way too long.

Day877 - sounds forced and phony