Unreal walking bass on Everydays. Goes for a walk then chills for a while.
Great acoustic fingerstyle solo on bluebird.
Love the bass tone on Hung Upside Down.
Some songs come and go without leaving much of an impression, Sad Memory particularly
Broken Arrow is amazing, even if I don't fully get what he's talking about. Great song writing and imagery.
Overall some high highs and no real dud tracks. Only one that I don't love is Sad Memory.
The synth-pop stuff is definitely not what I expected, but then again it was 1988... Backing vocals are excellent. Not a huge fan of his delivery in some parts but generally the lower he goes the better. Some songs verging on being too simple for me to stay focussed. Enjoying having this on as background music though. Haha Jazz Police is gas. Favourite song so far.
Yeah all fairly enjoyable. I think it probably wasn't the best idea to listen to this while working as a lot of the "value" probably comes from dissecting the lyrics. But anyway, glad I listened but wouldn't be a go-to in future.
Love the bass on the opener. Annoyingly catchy chorus in Hanky Panky Nohow. Great orchestral arrangement in track 3. The bass has been very cool so far, as have the orchestral parts. The low volume marimba motif in Graham Greene is such a huge call. Not a huge fan of how the drums are mixed though, hi-hats hard panned to the right.
Super listenable and with a fair few bold choices, just maybe not enough for me. Highlights were the bass on basically every track, all the orchestral stuff and any time the band got to play heavier rock stuff. But overall it kind of comes and goes without leaving too lasting an impression.
Quite cool on first listen, love the first track but was less into the more straight-ahead poppy ones. Triangle Walks is a highlight. Cool creepyness to it. Last track verged too far into sheer repetition for me.
Overall I liked the vocal effects and manipulation, and some of the songs connected well, but this also confirmed my general dislike of electro as a genre.
It is absolutely outrageous how he got away with these lyrics. Seems like almost every verse he says something that would get anyone instantly cancelled today. Love the different flows and more of an R&B influence this album has versus his later ones.
Love the concept, quite hit and miss due to the sheer quantity of short tracks. In some ways seems like a lesser version of the Beatles.
Amazing production, strong Radiohead vibes which is a big plus. To be very honest I drifted off a bit as the album went on, but am intrigued to go back to it.
Pretty much amazing all the way through. Brilliant vocals, closest reference for me is actually The Mars Volta. Perfectly delivery no matter how high he goes. Meanwhile some of the instrumental parts wouldn't sound out of place on a Queens of the Stone Age song. All this to say basically that this has aged amazingly well and I'm disappointed with myself for not getting into Rush sooner. Bass is absolutely brilliant.
I was completely taken aback by the awful mixing and everything clipping, and thought there must be something wrong with my headphones at first. After reading the wiki page it seems this is intentional, and there are multiple mixes of the album out there with varying levels of distortion. I went with the Iggy Pop mix anyway and it was basically unlistenable, which is a shame because some of the songs sounded like they could be good if they were mixed well. I get that this is an "important" album in that it basically started punk as a genre, so have to acknowledge that, but I wouldn't listen to this mix of these songs again.
Out of curiosity I went and tried the Bowie mix, and it's also bad but in a different way (levels all over the place). But it's at least a lot more listenable.
Didn't click with this at all. Not a fan of the vocal style and the songs didn't really take my interest. I assume they went on to write better stuff given their popularity but probably won't be checking it out.
Loved the bass tone throughout this. Shocked that I hadn't heard of them, quite impressive 90's pop punk. I thought some of the vocal lines had a bit of a Damon Albarn/Gorillaz vibe, and funny enough he played synths on this. Some quite strong tracks and overall an enjoyable listen.
Some absolutely amazing tracks in there. Have heard many before but never actively listened to the album straight through. Really liked A Man Needs a Maid, and the obvious ones like Old Man and Heart of Gold. Will take away one star just because he plays it quite safe overall and doesn't do anything too unexpected.
Really enjoyed it, only the second Smiths album I've listened to after The Queen is Dead. Some brilliant lyrical highlights, arrangements all really solid, only a few songs outstay their welcome.
No the worst background music, but wouldn't be putting this on to actively listen. Must be another one of those super influential albums because it sounds like any other electro music I've heard.
Loved this. Another Irish act I've been sleeping on, had pretty much written him off as the Father Ted song guy. Big fan of the unique vocal delivery, instrumentation is really well chosen to mix standard rock with more unexpected sounds. Songwriting is cool, love the full commitment to the sleaze throughout. And Songs of Love is just a great song. Have to imagine Matt Bellamy is a fan, some seriously Muse-y parts throughout.
All in all I enjoyed the shit out of this and will for sure be doing some repeat listens.
Amazing stuff, not sure why this one didn't click with me when it first came out but it's just ridiculously well made. The drumming stands out, and the boldness with which he moves from style to style.
It's one of those albums where the context is key to enjoying it fully, as almost every song speaks directly to his impending death.
Took away one star as I found some of the lyrics a bit too obscure to gleam any meaning, even with some additional research on my part. But then again maybe I'm just slow.
Nice stuff and some particularly cool songs in there. Really liked Factory, even if it's a bit on the nose. The only problem I had was when the mumbling made it impossible to understand what he was saying, I actually had to laugh a few times at just how garbled the lyrics were. Still, some strong classic rock there and glad I listened.
Pleasantly surprised by this, don't think I ever heard a Queen Latifa song before. Cool track with De La Soul. Wouldn't say it held my attention too long after the first couple of songs though.
The sound of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Liked a few songs, How I Could Just Kill a Man was good. A bit samey overall though.
At least I enjoyed reading the wiki page for this one - wasn't aware Bowie and Iggy had such a close friendship and collaboration. Musically this is just solidifying my dislike of Iggy Pop. His lyrics and vocal melodies are quite low effort, doesn't seem like he's too bothered.
Going by the wiki description I was expecting something more laid back than this, but fairly enjoyable stuff for a jazz noob like me. The songs are short, some almost too short to leave a lasing impression, but there were some nice vibes.
Sharp Dressed Man is one of those songs I've heard 100 times played by cover bands, but I don't think I ever listened to the actual song until now. Really good stuff, tasteful synth usage on top of the standard rock sound. They sure made the most of the minor pentatonic scale.
First time listening to Megadeth and once again wondering how I managed to avoid them all this time. I think they just have the edge over Metallica for me, probably due to the bass being a bit more prominent. Really like the huge shifts in the songs from one moment to the next.
Not bad at all, feels like if Thom Yorke went in a completely different direction or never met Radiohead. Good voice and interesting ideas.
Enjoyed this a lot actually, holds up well sonically and some obviously bold choices made throughout. Only major critique would be the slightly on-the-nose edginess - just borders slightly on the cringe side for me. But still great music overall. Really enjoyed the live tracks at the end of the Spotify edition.
That was much more rap-heavy that I expected. Not sure where I got my perception of Fugees from but it was totally wrong. Anyway some cool stuff in there!
Love the intro. This type of music always brings back Fallout 3 memories, really nice. The improv jokes etc on Willow Weep for Me and How High the Moon are brilliant, gives a really strong sense of the atmosphere and the confidence she had as a performer. Overall really enjoyed it.
First time giving this a listen through and found it pretty enjoyable, although as a not-huge Metallica fan I don't recognise many of the songs in the first place. Master of Puppets is really well done, and some other interesting arrangements in there.
Take Five is just so good. Never gets old. The rest also quite nice, like Kathy's Waltz how it combines a straight ahead beat with 3/4 piano.
