American Gothic

When songs veered more towards pure ballads (Love's Enough, Another Friday Night), it was tolerable. I mean, I listen to enough sad sack music that I could understand how someone could enjoy this white man being sad about drinking alone on a Friday night. But the minute it went more theatrical, I was out. I like a musical but the show-tune sounding tracks just sounded dated & a bit cringe, like Doctor Doolittle was about to come in stage right and start dancing around.

Neal Diamond and Billy Joel make a musical and it sucks.

Erm...no. Weird.

Only enjoyed a single song in the entire record. Not for me.

Feels comparable to a b-movie, got me to laugh a few times but probably not intentional

sorry to those who like this. i'm not one.

(1/5) ... (Sigh)... "In its retrospective review, AllMusic wrote 'American Gothic remains one of those great albums that never found its audience. It waits to be rediscovered.' " It should keep waiting. What mediocre shit. All of the Broadway-esque comparisons are apt, and not at all flattering. It's a Dollar General Billy Joel on stage at a community theater. Another garbage pick from Dimery and co. Skip it.

If you took the worst parts of Scott Walker and Neil Diamond then instructed them to create a thrift-store Nick Drake impersonator, this might very well be the result. Tired, dated, and very dull. I don’t think I’ve been left as uninspired by any other album on this list. Also left me wondering whether an album cover has ever succeeded more in reflecting its musical content?

I did not vibe, it’s very dated for a 70s album where a lot of the classics sound fresh to this day, and the over the top theatricality grew very grating as the album went on

A couple of things I enjoy are theater and gothic imagery. Got a bit of both today. Having never heard of David Ackles or any of his music before this album gave me a good bit to chew on, and that can have its own charm. This album has a one-man theater show vibes. It’s not great to be honest. What it does have are some traditional melodies and vividly narrative songwriting. I actually found myself wanting to hear what happened next on tracks like “Ballad of The Ship of State” and “Midnight Carousel”. It did not, however, make up for the cringy try-hard sound the rest of the album has. It’s a 2/5 for me.

Overly theatrical for my tastes, but not terrible, I guess

Eh, this was fine. Nothing special but it wasn’t offensive. 3/5⭐️ 298/1089

This was a bit of an epic listening to some of the songs, with storytelling to dig into and sweeping arrangements. Certainly over the top in some places. I struggled with the production in some places where the orchestral parts would seem to rise up and take over the vocals. It was an interesting listen and a valiant effort.

they like creepily ai'd him on the cover to move in the spotify canvas vid. thats the only thing i have to say about this album, its fine

Is it horrible? No. But would I ever want to listen to this again? Definitely not. Too dramatic, self-important. I suppose if I had heard this back in the day, I'd probably would have liked it more. But now it seems dated and too earnest for my tastes. But still, it's not horrid, just dated and bland. 3 "got better things for my ears to hear" stars.

Feels sooo old fashioned, kind of Scott Walker I guess.

nah.

An interesting cabaret album. Feels like it was very inspiring to many other artists, but simultaneously also not that impressive.

Gross folk, sappy, and musically uninspired.

🤮

Jack hit the nail on the head here. Happens I'm currently in Washington DC, so I put this on while I was wandering about. Expected misery. Weirdly somber and theatrical, best track by miles is Family Band, the switch to minor key is tremendous. I can imagine him singing in an old timey bar, horrible piano in the corner, reeks of whiskey. Produced by Bernie Taupin, and once I knew this it felt a bit like Elton John -lite. Like a whole album of Indian Sunsets.

Hmm, this is nice enough, but I kinda agree with the entry in the wiki that says it's an album that never found it's audience.... I really don't know who this is for (it could be Luke). I think it has elements which are pretty good though but I'm never going to listen to this again. 2.5 but probably on the 2 side

Місцями сильний Бродвей-вайб, місцями водевіль-кабере, місцями просто така класична поп-музика. Мені скоріше так, ніж ні. Але не думаю, що повернуся до цього альбому.

Альбом стильний, цікава історія у виконавця (почитав про його звʼязок з Берні та Елтоном), красиві аранжування і красивий вокал. Все це взагалі мені нагадало Скотта Уокера на мінімалках. На мінімалках бо все ж самі пісні не дуже хітові. Але мені було цікаво слухати американську готику, можливо я навіть повернусь до цього альбому колись. 3.5

First listen Saved 0/11

Favorite Song: Ballad of the Ship of State Least Favorite: Midnight Carousel

All Music said that this was an album that never found its audience. After about half the album, I think that it needs to keep looking. Dodgy musical theatre.

I assume this is the soundtrack to a really terrible musical. Everything is OTT, even the way he enunciates every word. Can definitely see some bellend on stage performing this in its entirety. Dire.

rym 3.21 Singer-Songwriter/Traditional Pop 娓娓道来的惆怅与喜忧参半的释然，柔软且温暖。后半程有点弱了。 pick: Love's Enough, Oh, California!, Another Friday Night

Great voice

It sounds like a musical score, complete show-tunes vibe. Not bad, but not really into it. Spotify shows that the top track has ~500K plays and nearly all the other ones are below 100K. Unclear why this was chosen for the 1001 list.

Even though I like Elton John broadly speaking, I’ve always felt like I struggled a bit with his music. After listening to this, I now just wonder if I don’t like Bernie Taupin’s songwriting. The guy just wishes he was writing show tunes, and maybe to it’s to John’s credit that he transcends that. The cover of this album is also just unappealing and so bad that I almost come full circle and love it.

Puro teatro, primer album conceptual que me sale, no se por que me recuerda un poco a sobre ratones y hombres

Incredible

I think I need to spend more time with this album to truly appreciate it but I liked what it was doing. And if Elvis Costello says this guy is alright, that's good enough for me.

A lot of angry people in the reviews huh? 4/5

Who is this dude putting out a whole anthology of Broadway caliber bangers!?!?

Cool concept! Enjoyed it, was very different. Top bops: Loves enough Ballad of the ship state One night stand Oh California Blues for billy whitecloud

It was a good album. Something I would put on in my free time? Probably not. I wouldn't mind if someone else was playing it. Some solid tracks. 6.3/10

I love show tunes but......

Not terrible but not great either.

This feels like a soundtrack for a musical that doesn't exist. It's pretty good sometimes, I particularly liked American Gothic (the song) and how it felt like a lyrical story, and One Night Stand. That said, Battle of the Ship of State mostly felt kind of dumb, and Midnight Carousel felt like it was trying to be a bad horror song. I didn't hate this, but probably never again.

This is like a vaudeville hosted by both Randy Newman and a suburban version of Scott Walker. The end result is period music for antique shops, which is just jarring to me being contrasted with the digicore music I've been listening to. What makes me dislike this album even more is that last song, "Montana Song". It's too grand and baroque for me. If David stuck to more piano and soft-rock tunes I'd appreciate the cinematic vignettes of American life more (2.5).

What the fuck was that?

Did he bribe the author of the book?

Bon je sais pas peut-être 10 écoutes???

Not sure what to make of this, some of the tracks seems to be mixed poorly with the vocals far to prominent. It sort of sounds like the soundtrack to some pantomime or something. There are some decent moments hidden in there but you have to go digging, overall it’s just not something I would listen to again. 2.0

Not into this. It's like an avant garde musical.

‘It waits to be rediscovered’ yep, undiscovered more like it

I am not sure I want to hear this again

This is really just not my thing. Nothing stands out in a good or a bad way

Tucker was right… a theater kids dream :) Also, you can definitely see how this inspired my guy tom waits

oh shit, the group's reviews really shocked me. I loved this tbh, especially the first song. some of the songs were kinda boring or very strange, but I liked it a lot. it was funny how he can go from deep stories with cinematic instrumentals to some very weird stuff, but it was fun

This album ~might have~ influenced Tom Waits, and I ~might have~ enjoyed the album if Waits performed it. The lyrics are good, but the theatrical/musical singing leaves a lot to be desired.

day 6 of not rolling Aja by Steely Dan i think i heard this album at the local community theatre in mercer county where i work sung by some pitchy high school kids

I think I would've enjoyed this if I saw someone perform it in a one man show format, but I wasn't crazy about it as a standalone album.

Not for me.

I think there’s a timeline where I learn to enjoy this but not today.

A corny musical about America, for people that think Hamilton is too edgy

American Gothic - 7/10. Good. A little weird, but good. Love's Enough - 7/10. Pretty song. Ballad of the Ship of State - 9/10. As relevant as it was in the Nixon times, it is equally relevant and just as bitter an indictment of today and the Drumpf era. One Night Stand - 7/10. Decent song about the life of a musician on the road. Oh! California - 8/10. A fun, twisted show-tune style song. I like it. Another Friday Night - 8/10. I like this a lot. Family Band - 7/10. Very good. Midnight Carousel - 8/10. This sounds like it should be in a musical. Waiting for the Moving Van - 7/10. Solid. Blues for Billy Whitecloud - 8/10. Pretty good. Montana Song - 8/10. I like the idea and the execution of a song telling a family's story. Overall Rating - 3.82/5 (7.64/10). Sounds like Neil Diamond wrote a musical. I can see why it's not for everyone, but it's up my alley.

4/10 Feels a bit embarrassing listening to this - a bit like finding some old guys ill advised sleeve on making a record 23 years ago.

Holy Christmas. If this guy can make an album, I need to learn an instrument and make one too.

So mid, but I'm wondering how flat this album sounds digitally; did it change the vibe? Seems like they had a bunch of instruments that could have sounded bigger and fuller

Based on the title of the album and the cover art, I assumed this would be country. It was not. It was almost like showtunes. It was odd. It wasn't good, but it wasn't terrible.

There were parts of this album that I quite enjoyed, but it was hard to feel like the album was a cohesive whole. It felt like many different genres, almost different artists, packed into a single album. Favourite tracks: "Love's Enough" and "Waiting for the Moving Van"

#261/1001 🇺🇸 With the title, i thought that this was going to good, some hidden gem Southern Gothic masterpiece. But no, this was astoundingly bad. Starts off like a low rent Neil Diamond and gets progressively worse. There is nothing to like here, the lyrics are dire and the music just grates on me. My wife is a fan of musical theatre and she begged me to turn it of as she jumped in the car with me and just 2 tracks remaining. I made it to the end. Only just.

Pretty good. Has a real show tunes quality to it. I love the vocal performance. Reminds me of Les Mis. Probably not getting a lot of replays as it is a very specific flavor. This album feels like a musical in a way that doesn't lend itself to "let me listen to an album"

Very not into this

Yep. Can see why it didn't find an audience

A travesty that this is on the list and Diamond's Jazz Singer isn't. Liked it s little more when it veered occasionally towards Nilsson territory

Not bad but boring

Don't waste my time

At times, I enjoyed the production on this album, but for the most part it was either a cheesefest or a snoozefest.

09/22 Interesting. Dont know what else to make of it

Great

Holy one man musical theater!

Frank Sinatra meets Sufjan Stevens meets Gordon Lightfoot meets Pink Floyd?

Oh, the deepest of sighs. The inclusion of this sort of nonsense will forever stain my experience with his list, as it's a real headscratcher why I need to hear some aspiring Broadway musical writer's shitty Neil Diamond impression in some third rate failed soundtrack before I pass from this mortal coil. Sure, the lyrics and social commentary are fine, and the orchestral production isn't bad (for a Disney movie), but the overall effect is lost on me. I'll round it up from a 1.5 only because of the perspective this list has given me regarding how truly, truly bad it can get.

210. American Gothic - David Ackles (1972) 9.20.26 Variety: 2 Adequacy: 2 Listenability: 2 Uniqueness: 2 Emotionality: 2 = 2.0 The fallen barn, the broken plow/ The hoof print-hardened clay/ Where is the farmer now/ Who built his dream this way? This is a weird one. I know I've seen the album cover before, and want to say it was on another similar list I went through way back when, but I cannot recall if I've heard a lick of this or not. If so, it either left absolutely no impact on me or was awful enough that I turned it off quickly and moved on. And I don't know anything about the artist other than he's pretty obscure at this point, and by all accounts didn't make much of an impact even at the time, remaining in that sort of fog enshrouded world of cult acts who some bigger names really like for whatever reason and who make failed attempts at helping them out ( in this case Bernie Taupin and Elton John). Elvis Costello and Phil Collins also seem to have been champions of his at various points. THE TRACKS "American Gothic" - Ok, I see it. If I had tried this one out anytime before the last 15 years or so I think this track would have stopped me dead. It's a strange sort of amalgamation of musical theater and dinger/ songwriter folkie stuff that still rankles me, but at least I think I have some better perspective on it. Like I can immediately tell this dude must be a HUGE Kurt Weil fan must have owned a cherished and well-worn copy of the original cast recording of The Threepenny Opera. This sounds like a guy with frustrated Broadway dreams who maybe heard some Leonard Cohen and Jim Croce and decided to take his failed musical and barely rewrite it to try and capture some of that audience. I have a bad feeling this is going to be a description I could just copy and paste for each song on here, but fingers crossed it gets less clunky and a bit more palatable as we go along, or this is going to be ROUGH. "Love's Enough" - This is a step up in that it has an identifiable melody, but it still feels like a solo number from a schmaltzy romantic musical. I can picture it now, this is the live action equivalent the Little Mermaid wishing to be "be where the people are". "Ballad of the Ship of State" - Ooof. Maybe with some more traditional instrumentation this would have gone over as just tolerable in a musical theater production. This was hard to finish. "One Night Stand" - On paper this seems like the sort of thing you could imagine early Tom Waits trying out as a theatrical bit on a smokey stage, just him and his piano. It leans a bit too far into the theatrical though, and I'm left wanting more of the sad barfly vibe. "Oh, California!" - Wow, this is unabashedly in the cabaret musical mode. The New Orleans jazz touches I actually quite like on this one. His Neil Diamond delivery though ( I can't not hear it now) rubs me wrong though. This one is succeeds more so than anything else in it's wholehearted embrace of the style. It doesn't feel at all like he's watering down his intentions and could stand as a legit fun, bouncy number in some stage production. "Another Friday Night" - More maudlin piano balladry, but it does at least feel like a bigger swing into the actual mode it's trying to replicate. The sweeping gospel organ and piano are fine enough, but his voice just does NOT fit the material. Get this man a cover of "Song Sung Blue" - STAT!. Maybe the facilities were not able to handle the volume, but this track in particular sounds muddy as fuck, and like they recorded it through the discarded P.A. speakers from some school. "Family Band" - The Neil Diamond gospel album no one asked for. "Midnight Carousel" - Wait a minute. We have some legit atmosphere. We get some more Kurt Weil vibes, this time without any of the distracting singer songwriter nonsense. Still, his voice though... ugh. Doubt he could have gotten it released this way, but this thing would have went down much better with a full cast, or at the very least different leads performing the more theatrical tracks, and maybe him doing interstitial narrator stuff? I dunno. "Waiting for the Moving Van" - When your material is excessively sentimental in content, it does not help to have an excessively sentimental delivery. Scott Walker could have maybe pulled this off by using a monotone and menacing delivery. Instrumentally this is not a million miles from something Randy Newman might have been doing, if a bit too many Liberace touches. "Blues for Billy Whitecloud" - More New Orleans jazz influence is welcome here. Ackles even modulates his voice a bit to go along with the more swinging vibe. It completely lacks any sort of context though and feels like a number plucked from a story we haven't heard a lick of. "Montana Song" - We get some Aaron Copeland inspired backing music here, that effectively communicates the sweeping Americana feel. This would have been SOOOOO much better with no vocals though. HIGHLIGHTS - "Oh, California!" MIDLIGHTS - "Love's Enough" - "One Night Stand" - "Midnight Carousel" - "Montana Song" LOWLIGHTS - "American Gothic" - "Ballad of the Ship of State" - "Another Friday Night" - "Family Band" - "Waiting for the Moving Van" - "Blues for Billy Whitecloud" FINAL THOUGHTS As someone who has mentioned a couple of times in my reviews how big a fan I am of The Threepenny Opera, and who has grown to appreciate a lot of musical theater, I can at least sympathize with what is happening on here. But ultimately, knowing how his dreams never really panned out, this becomes an incredibly depressing album to consider. It's so painfully obvious where this guy wanted to be, and the fact that he could not even really succeed at his backup option makes it even sadder. So I feel bad kicking the guy , but not sure this would have even been successful as a stage musical either. There are very occasional bits that are interesting, and he has a charming if cheesy delivery that reminds me quite a bit of a more lowkey Neil Diamond, but it never really comes together. Even on a track like "One Night Stand" which approaches something that could work as a standalone track, there still remains some intangible bit of hedging that he does that makes the end product fall too much to one side of the equation, where it ends up fitting in neither the pop mode or the musical mode. This was a very frustrating album to get through, despite being able to see the craft underneath it all. It just never gelled for me. Ackles should be going all in on the Neil Dimond vibes, and using his abilities to craft little pop gems, but he seems very uninterested in the genre he's decided to throw his lot in with, so why should we care either. Go listen to Billy Joel if you want to hear a legitimately successful injection of musical theater vibes into singer songwriter material. Possible turn-Offs might include: - cringeworthy musical theater pieces that don't full commit to the bit - Mawkish, schmaltzy singer songwriter pieces that feel unrealized and halfbaked - the dulcet sounds of a Neil Diamond impersonator - muddy and inconsistent production You Might enjoy this if you: - like out of nowhere weirdo projects - are a Kurt Weill superfan and are curious about how in the world he might have possibly had any influence on the early 70s American singer songwriter genre - like Neil Diamond but wish he was way more artsy and boring PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Not sure I'll ever want to revisit any of this, or seek out more Ackles for that matter FURTHER LISTENING Precursors: - The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil - Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland - Touching You, Touching Me by Neil Diamond - Scott 4 by Scott Walker - Jacques Brel Vol. 4 by Jacques Brel Contemporaries: - You Don't Mess Around with Jim by Jim Croce - Sail Away by Randy Newman - Paris 1919 by John Cale - Closing Time by Tom Waits Descendants: - The Nylon Curtain by Billy Joel - Imperial Bedroom by Elvis Costello - The Boatman's Call by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Promenade by the Divine Comedy

4.5/10

This caught me off guard in the best way. Love the darker tone on the subject matter with this record being juxtaposed by the softer instrumentation and lax singing. Really cool record. Really nice.

Like a lesser Scott Walker. Ackles can only dream of having the songwriting chops of Walker. It's not shit, but it's quite boring for something seems to want to be grandiose and bombastic. Not for me

Number: 256 Familiarity: None (1) Rating: 2 ======= Never heard of this guy, let's see what we got...Oh...so, I didn't like this at all really but I did not hate it. Overall rating was 2.4 with two 4s, two 3s, and seven 2s. Not sure why it's on the list but it was interesting to listen to.

Storytelling type album. Some catchy songs, overall decent but nothing crazy either.

There is a good Folk album here, hidden behind all the overproduced trumpets and choires. I was quite hyped for this one, despite the low rating on here. From the golden age of Americana and Folk music from an artist I'd never heard of. It doesn't really sound all that American or gothic at all though. I find these songs to be quite beautiful, until that damn orchestra comes in and clashes with the vibe it nailed before. Folk can certainly mix with other styles but this one doesn't mix. I still like it somewhat, but it's hard to look past some of the awful stylistic choices here.

Never heard of this artist. A little too soft for me but definitely have respect for this artist.

I just don’t know how to rate this one. I can’t say I really liked this. And you know how you’re listening to things in headphones at work. And you’d be extremely embarrassed if someone asked what you’re listening to. But there was something intriguing and entertaining about it. Very theatrical like listening to the Hamilton soundtrack. I’m sure there was some theme or story. So I’ll go 2.5 but I think I’ll round down because I feel like there could be albums with musicals that would be as good or better than this. Also pretty funny to write a song called one night stand just so people know you’re getting some strange. Suuuure Davie boy.

Kinda sounds like an over the top Neil Diamond. That should be awesome, but I didn’t love it. Thought it was fine. And now I’m listening to Neil Diamond. And maybe watching Saving Silverman tonight. 2.75/5

Not my cup of tea tho the vocals are great!

Singular, muscular, very dramatic - drawing on Kurt Weill with sprightly, powerful songs about personal dramas and misery. I saw another well-written review which listed 75 LPs that belongs in this list more than American Gothic does. I tend to agree with that post, at least as far as those LPs deserve more recognition. But rather than remove this singular musical vision, I would take out lots of the dull, unimaginative indie rock in the list to make room for the mavericks. How many Kings Of Leon LPs do we need to hear? Also - how many glossy over-produced and over-long mainstream pop CDs do we need to hear? Broadening the selection would make it a richer listening experience

This was used background noise, and I won’t seek out David Ackles. Never heard of him before this.

An ok album, nothing that really stands out, but the album is nice as a whole.

My Dee Lite review got lost somehow. Groove in the hear is awesome. Rest is not. Now onto this one. This dude is like a poor mans Neil diamond without an edge, catholic and pretty boring. I had though of some clever things to right during my ride to work while listening to this but have since forgotten. Just like I forgot all these songs.

Maybe this is amazing when you pay attention to the lyrics, but I did not. As it stands, I straight up did not enjoy this listen. I didn't like the orchestral swells. The occasional "talk-singing" style didn't do it for me either. I can usually appreciate some qualities of a record that isn't my cup of tea, but this one didn't do it for me.

For some reason I was expecting more generic folk. Instead we get some over-the-top, highly theatrical cheese by a Scott Walker/Elton John hybrid. Which sat just fine with me on this beautiful early fall Friday morning.

Signed up to listen to albums I may otherwise have missed, wouldn't have minded missing this one.

What the hell was this album? Not at all what I was expecting but I was rocking with a good chunk of it

A mix of singer songwriter with some big band crooning, gospel, broadway and even a disney soundtrack. A bit of a mix of everything that got tiresome very quick. there is even a bit of subtle racism thrown in the middle. Not going to be listening to this again. Waiting for the moving van was ok. 2 stars

An artist I'm unfamiliar with and tough to warm up to on initial listens.

I assume this album made the list solely because of its likelihood to actually cause death in the listener and therefore making it THE album they had to listen to before they died.