Sincere
Mj Cole
2000
Album Summary
Sincere is the debut studio album by English musician MJ Cole. It was released in December 2000 under the Talkin' Loud label. The album reached number 14 in the UK Albums Chart in August 2001. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
WikipediaChoose Your Own Adventure! Just slot in "You Must Hear Before You Die" where applicable: 1001 Drum Presets 1001 Unlabeled Extended Dance Mixes 1001 Cut Big Fish Theory Beats 1001 Dreamcast Era Racing Game Menu Themes 1001 Guest Vocalists Maybe Too Willing to Lend a Hand 1001 Sped-Up Massive Attack Songs 1001 Miami Bass Tracks for Timid Whites 1001 British Albums That Charted Somewhere 1001 Alternate Takes from That One Röyksopp GEICO Caveman Commercial 1001 is a Way Bigger Number Than We Thought Key Tracks: I dunno, listen to one of the ones with the dude singing, one of the ones with the lady singing, and one of the ones with the patois guy and you'll have heard the whole album.
Boring, repetitive, and super long. Possesses about as much cultural importance as a cologne ad, which makes the album cover convenient. Best track: Radio Interlude
Almost offensively generic. It baffles me that anyone would invest time in making it listening to music this bland.
Booooring...I considered turning it off half way through the first song.
Very average sounding EDM. British bias of the list showing here. If this had come out in say 1990 vs 2000 it would be a little more impressive but I still don't think I'd feel it either way.
I could not get into this album. It was very repetitive early 2000s electronic with frustrating vocal performances. Not my thing.
I really don't enjoy electronic music and this was no exception. To make matters worse spotify onky has deluxe version of this album which is weird. Normally deluxe albums give you the album itself and then extra songs after those original ones but here they were mixed which made listening to it very annoying.
Not my cup of tea. The beats can be interesting but just not anything I would listen to
It’s a grime album. Not my go to scene. It’s good. But I’m not schooled in this genre at all.
Hella good. Nice beats with pretty good vocals all the way through. Super danceable which is always a plus. Overall, a pretty cool old-school UK garage album! 8/10
I know precisely zero about this prior to listening to it. Wow. Thinking "OK, this is some light and relatively unchallenging jazz" it turns out to actually be some UK garage. This is going to be a fun ride... OK, so this album is long. I managed to get through Oxygene by having it land on a day that I had a three hour drive. But I didn't have two hours to spare for this. Got about an hour through the first volume and there's some good stuff in here. I'd come back to it out of a sense of completeness, but I doubt it'll enter my regular play. What I can say about UK Garage is that at the time, it seemed world-changing. The direction was new, refreshing and exciting. With the eyes of time looking back at it, though, it seems tame. From UK garage's world-changing start we've seen the birth of dubstep and grime. As important and exciting as it was... It has been eclipsed by its progeny. I feel the same way about what I heard of Sincere as I do about The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. It's a good album, and one that exemplifies a sea-change in music. But they are, perhaps, the giants that other people are standing on the shoulders of.
I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. I expected an album of Sincere re-mixes and, let’s be honest, a lot of tracks sound like they could be just that - but there’s a nice mood throughout with some beautiful singing. This definitely taps into a nostalgia for a jungle sound which was briefly all you heard from car stereos and such in London. There are better jungle albums out there, though; and there are definitely 1,001 better albums than this. But it’s a nice enough listen for when you are feeling in the mood.
I'll take your Dubstep, I'll take your Grime but UK Garage is generally just a bit too polished, a little too bling for me. I mean look at that album cover. So this wouldn't have been my choice to go out gurning to in the Noughties but on this run through I did quite enjoy it as background music while I worked.
I admit I did not listen to the whole album, but it was so uninetresting. Melody was okay I guess.
Whoever produced this list mistook variety for making room for all kind of (pseudo)musical attempts despite its quality
Was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this. I didn’t think much of it at first since I just expected UK House and Dance, but Elizabeth Troy’s vocals won me over. Made me invested in the deluxe version of the album.
Needs a very specific time and place but once you find the right mood it completely takes you over.
Could not stop banging my head. This is a great album to code to. Great vibes, great beats, great melodies, but it wasn't anything that makes me go "10/10 album!". 4
One of my favorite new finds so far. Some really dynamic sampling and amazing vocal performances throughout.
I would never normally listen to this but it was exactly what I needed today. Weirdly it really helped me concentrate on work.
I enjoyed this relaxing soul electronic trip hop album. Love the hypnotic drumming beat with calm balanced voices that makes today autotuned albums seem pointless. Easy to listen and keeps you hooked during the whole album session. Definitely will give this another go. Probably more.Tip. The deluxe album more tracks (clubbing sounding remixes) . There are avoidable if you need the time.
I understand why it is called garage music. Is good to listen to though
Odma da komentiram da je cover čisto sranje, fucking 'ell. This albums fucks tho, mislim da kad bi se ovako pustio bilo gdje, pasao bi, pogotovo onak negdje u beach baru il šta ja znam, na otvorenom, lagano đuskanje. Sviđa mi se.
Digging this one actually. Been kinda into early 2000s/late 90s house music and this fits the bill.
This was Ok, pretty good even, but I did kind of find myself tuning it out into the background.
OG British garage /dub. Never knowingly heard any of this guys tracks before. Bandelero Desperado sounded like the birth of garage/jungle. Definitely paved the way for Chase & Status, even Dizzee Rascal and early grime etc. Actually really enjoyed it tbf. 3/5, cos it doesn't sound classic enough to be a 4
really enjoyed this! it was a tad repetitive but it’s clearly an influential album and i completely get the appeal. elisabeth troy murdered those vocals i loved every track she was on
Felt like going to the house party of someone outside your friend group.
-Some nice flows and catchiness in "Bandelero Desperado" -"Rough Out Here" is pretty solid. I like that it is pretty upbeat and not as repetitive, and the singing is great -"Free My Mind" is nice but also pretty repetitive
I would say I'm glad I hear this and liked the title track Sincere - but I wouldn't listen to a lot of it again. I respect it though!
This isn't completely classic in terms of British garage I feel... it's not exactly banger after banger but more sinks into the background. I guess there isn't really such a thing as great garage albums as people aren't creating garage for album purpose but more single bangers for the club. I actually still really enjoyed the whole album to work to as it does inspire focus and productivity haha, but it's not classic enough for a 4. I didn't find any tracks particularly exciting or special really.
This was an enjoyable album, with a housey-jazzy-R&B vibe. I gather from some of the reviews that this album prefigured a lot of UK garage music, but it feels a little dated to me, coming out all the way in 2000. I still like it for the most part. It would have been better had he just let the singers sing and done less chopping up of the vocal pieces. Fave Songs: You're Mine, Crazy Love, Rough Out Here
A nice enough album. It launched UK Garage apparently, though I don’t think UK Garage got played much in the clubs on this side of the pond, but what do I know, I’m 62. As I’m sure I’ve said before this type of music not well-suited for the LP format, it’s all about the singles, but I think you could say that about a lot of 60s albums as well.
Did not know this album in advance. It sounded quite dated, usually I am fine with that and also in this case.. ..it is certainly an album I would not mind listening to again (it sounds great, especially over headphones). On the other hand, it can easily be replaced by any other solid dance/house UK album from that period. So, hard to see why it is included on the list.
ENTER With the 2 step crew flibbi dibbi dibbi you know what to do not nigel on the 1 2s i should well be a garage MC. i was hoping for a guilty pleasure album but it was just a bit meh. however it was surprisingly easy to listen to.
Lekkere beat. Vooral mooi die combinatie met de piano, wat dan weer dat klassieke randje aan het geheel geeft. Ik houdt er wel van. Lekkere zang ook. ***
Eh, I didn't like UK garage at the time, and this hasn't converted me. At least it didn't actively piss me off, which some of the genre definitely did back in the day. Fave track - "Rough Out Here", but maybe that's cheating as it's a straight ahead soul track, not very garagey. "Slum King" sound amusingly like it could come from "People Just Do Nothing" 😆
Important: seek out the album proper and ignore the additional mixes tacked on the end of the collection after about track 16 (free my mind). Inoffensive and very well produced UK Garage. Quite mellow. Excellent singing by Elisabeth Troy. I am surprised to say i like this. Sincere (the song) is well known and a club classic. Definitely a 3, but although early UK Garage and influential, probably not a 4. Enjoyable enough.
Genre: 2-Step 3/5 Well, go figure, another white DJ trying his best to insert himself into the culture a la David Holmes. This time, though, it's done with a bit more class, and a lot better production and songwriting. 2-Step, somewhat of a continuation of the UK garage and house music fads that swept the 90s, is part-techno, part-hip hop/neo soul. Plenty of talented vocalists, all lesser known in the broad world of music, lay down some decent performances over what are essentially more ambient, more thought-out breakbeat tracks. The title track, Sincere, was a moody, sensual track with some neat vocal sampling and good arrangements and production. Attitude was another interesting song early in the setlist that piqued my interest, but lasted a little longer than necessary. A lot of the tracks on here, enough to run for a 67-minute span, are somewhat stale representations of a genre that sounds like it has ample room for experimentation. Others are just blatant trip-hop ripoffs that sound stolen from old Massive Attack projects. A bit stale as a whole, but not bad, fairly inoffensive, and easy to listen to.
First 4 tracks I was "WTF?" but it really kicked in after that. Brave move putting out a 2 hour album, but it worked.
This genre is right up my street usually. Unfortunately a bit distracted to take it in fully. Some good tracks but still only worthy of 3*
way tooo long as an album with repeated songs. sounded like something from the late 90s and I was almost right
Very cool drum n bass rnb record. I enjoyed it. Production was fresh (for a 22 year old album), performances were cool. Hard to try to break it down and understand what was done "in the box" and what wasn't but maybe that's more fun to not know what was sampled and what wasn't. I think drum n bass deserves some spots on this list but I question whether this is one of the best ever. 3/5 for me!
Fun, appealing dance music. I’m not sure I’d be able to pick MJ Cole’s style out of a lineup of other DJs / producers but this is solid music for dancing or working out. The back half gets a little more eclectic. There’s some moody, atmospheric numbers and the disco-soul of “Rough Out Here” was a pleasant surprise.
Some decent tracks. I've never been a big fan of UK garage/UK-style house, and even if this is a landmark record of the genre, it still doesn't really resonate with me.
Some fun edm, it definitely has its moments although an hour of it is a bit much
Un bon album de salon de coiffure house. Celui-ci commence par une attente assez courte sur le canapé proche de la porte. On est ensuite pris en charge par Jessica qui vient nous enfiler une blouse puis nous shampouine avec beaucoup de délicatesse. On s'installe ensuite devant le miroir et explique à celle-ci comment on va les couper avec l'aide d'une photo de Robbie Williams. Jessica se met alors au travail et nous pose des questions de plus en plus intrusives : "Ca va ? Ca fait combien de temps que tu les as pas coupés ? Tu mets de la cire dans tes cheveux ou pas ? Hein ? Alors ? Tu réponds oui ou merde ?!" Elle nous montrera ensuite l'arrière de notre tête puis nous fera enfin payer. C'était pas trop tôt.
This was actually a bit better than I was expecting. Not amazing, but better than a lot of the other electronica albums I have listened to. The songs actually manage to be interesting and aren't way too long. My favourite songs were Rough Out Here, Hold On To Me, and Free My Mind.