Didn't love it. Too grating.
I had never listened to this album or any of the songs having never heard of the band. Generally, I don't listen to electronic music. It was an interesting mix of genres with an electronic background making it all flow together. Some of the ones with a more Motown sound were soothing to listen to in traffic, and I was genuinely surprised that I liked it.
Maybe it was subversive, edgy or outsider when it first came out but it sounds a lot like every jam band since. Reminded me of the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane. I'm not sure why this would be considered important unless it were earlier than the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane and influenced them.
I can appreciate Leonard Cohen as a lyricist, but as a singer/musician, not so much. Reading his words, I am a fan. Listening to him perform them, I am not.
I just can't get into the talking over the background sounds, which always seem slightly religious. The mood is like being in a dimly lit cathedral where some creepy cult is going to jump out of the shadows. I think this was among his last albums, and perhaps he was trying to excise some demons because he knew his time was limited.
I know I should probably like Leonard Cohen, but I don't.
This album brought a flood of teenage memories. I had this album on repeat as background music.
The lyrics are so, so personal. And that's probably why they are powerful. Hill doesn't hide anything and lays all of her emotions out for the listener. It's so different than what most girls are taught. She doesn't keep it inside.
I remember thinking how brave and crazy that was when I first listened to the album. She vocalizes her broken love in the way you always wish you could have retorted in the moment and still better than what you come up with hours later when you lay awake thinking of what you should have, could have said.
Hill's singing and rapping flow together so well. There is no "bad" song on the album.
"To Zion" is the love song every mother feels when she meets baby and realizes she has never loved anyone the way she loves that child. And it features Carlos Santana as an added bonus.
This is surely an overgeneralization, but progressive rock is music for guys. I mean, have there ever been women at a Rush show who weren't dragged there by a boyfriend, husband or brother?
Anyway, this album by Yes. It doesn't sound as clean as something by Rush, Dream Theater or Roger Waters. (Confession: I've only heard the two former because of my husband, not by choice.) It has a tinny quality, but maybe that's from the era of the recording. It seems like the band is trying too hard to be both very technical, showing off with lots of solos, but tap into some of the more mainstream success of other contemporary British bands.
The first few songs, I thought to myself, "what is this?," but as the album progressed, I realized I'd heard many of the songs previously.
I can respect that some progressive rock is difficult to play due to its complexity. However, I don't like to listen to it. I don't want to have to listen to an album ten times to get used to listening to it.
I've always liked this album. It takes me back to high school; back when you'd still listen to an entire CD because you paid good money for it. Even now, I could have it on in the background and listen to it all without selecting just one track and moving on to something else.
I remember that at the time it came out, it sounded different than a lot of other stuff on the radio, but now I notice that a lot of bands have since tried to emulate it.
Twenty-plus years later, I think the album still stands up
This album, in particular, reminds me of this group of LoDo nightclubs (not dance clubs but lounges), which opened in the early 2000s, done by this interior designer I was friends with. The designer would proudly invite some friends to attend the grand openings for VIP tables and comped bottle service. I would spend the requisite time there, covering my free yet overpriced vodka drink whilst wondering how much longer I had to listen to the bad music and some Chad in a jewel-toned button down telling me about his struggle to pass the real estate exam or his job in finance while telling me how much he liked the music.
This is not a cohesive album, more just a collection of tracks. And the transitions between them are non-existent. Each song is a jarring new sound. Add in the weird talking over the grating electronic sounds followed up by some jazz, this album is a hard no for me.
Some of this album sounded a lot like classic '70s rock - the Byrds, Bread. But other parts sounded like less instrumentally complex DeVotchKa or REM. While listening certain parts of songs reminded me both of bands that probably influenced Big Star and bands probably influenced by Big Star. I can understand why this was included despite not having heard of the band.
I'm partial to storytelling, so I like the concept of a rock opera. I also really like Lou Reed as a lyricist and storyteller, although some of his songs leave me wanting the rest of the story. This album provides that.
In my mind, I pictured the songs portrayed by puppets a la the rock opera that Jason Segel's character composes in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." But maybe puppets playing Caroline and Jim would make the tale even more tragic.
Listening to the progression of characters through different songs does require a more concentrated effort. And "The Kids," with actual children crying and calling for their mother was really effective at selling the sad tale of Caroline. It also really grabbed the attention of my three year old.
Reminds me of college and garden level bars in Boulder. Bars that got grandfathered in with smoking rooms when it became illegal to smoke inside in public. I liked it then and I like it now. I've listened to it a few times this week and I'm not tired of it. I feel like bands have tried to emulate the sound of the album since it was hit, and a few bands got a song or two, but not an entire album.
This Hole album reminds me of my freshman college roommate. She really liked Courtney Love. I, however, have never been able to separate this artist from the work, and Love has always seemed like a garbage human.
I don't have any disdain for The Rolling Stones, like some people, ahem. I will even venture to say that I like them. Will I spend hundreds of dollars to go to one of their shows? Probably not.
I think this album shows the breadth of their music - some songs are clearly rock, others are more jazz, some are acoustic and others a bit country/honky tonk.
Their impact to the music that came after them is far reaching. And yes, the whole druggie rockstar thing is played out now. Many will try to emulate their music and their lifestyle and few will be successful.
Did they just randomly pick some albums from the 20-teens? Adding R&B to electronic music doesn't improve it.
Several times while listening to the album, my subconscious thought I was listening to the radio and my arm reached to change the station.
I broke my rule of no research before a review, and from that I learned that the reason this album sounds a bit like lots of other artists is because at one point or another, anyone doing the country rock thing was either in The Flying Burrito Brothers or was in a band with someone who was in some iteration of The Flying Burrito Brothers.
I get that the band is/was important because they are an early example of a band marrying rock and country. But that was also problematic to me because I don't think they did a good job. It seemed too heavy handed, too twangy, too much piano. I particularly dislike the talking quality of the singing in "Hippie Boy" and all similar songs that followed by other artists. Either sing or be a poet, but fuck off with your in between. While I, gasp, like other bands who flirted with country and rock such as the Eagles, I don't necessarily enjoy the bands that influenced them.
And the album cover? They didn't hike out to this rural location dressed in gaudy suits, so what are they trying to convey?
I'm just going to put this out there - this is the first time I've listened to this or any album by Morrissey in its entirety. It came out in the early '90s when tween/teen me was preoccupied with grunge, which spoke to my soul. I'd heard some of his solo work but just a song here or there.
But I listened to it three times.
I can see why so many friends and acquaintances are/were big Morrissey fans. He taps into that melancholic, misunderstood energy that so many feel.
His voice is lovely and soothing, the music was easy to listen to.
Didn't hate it, didn't love it. Alright just reminded me of my junior high/swim team BFF and going to see Clueless at the movies back when you'd beg your parents to drop you off away from the front door so they couldn't embarrass you. Bonus point for that nostalgia.
My favorite Dead album. I had this on CD and know all the songs by heart.
Reminds me of cassettes my mother owned and listened to on road trips.
Sorry, Curt, I think this is a solid album.
Popular with both of my parents, I remember listening to this album a lot as a small child.
I can listen to this entire album anytime.
A classic, but overplayed. The David Bowie cover is my favorite.
