Opens strong with Sympathy for the Devil. Very US Bluesy feel that I can dig, but I miss the more produced feeling from the Greatest Hits on 40 Licks. Parachute Woman feels particularly roadhousey. Jig-saw Puzzle has a kind of Beatles vibe to it that I like. Street Fighting Man works much better as the slow introduction song in 40 Licks than it does as the mid-point of this album. Salt of the Earth ends the album and it's good - hypey.
Camper and more poppy than I associate with The Smiths which I think is why I am enjoying this so much. As it's gone on, it's got weirder and mopier. "I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday?" Puh-leaze.
The whole album is kind of corny. There's a real proto-rap feel to it that I don't like. Compared to more contemporary music, it has a stale, repetitive sound. Words words words words words WORDS WORDS for each bar.
33 tracks and a 1 hour 44 minute run time? That's a lot. First song has some vaguely U2 sounds to it. It's growing on me over time - there's a sort of campy Suicide meets the Doors feel to it. The Surfin' USA cover is suitably dark and gothic.
An extremely fresh sound - chill beats so far and a real sort of jazzy/funk overlay that gives mad summer vibes. The flutes in "If you only knew" give it a Jethro Tull meets hiphop sound. The snare hits in 'Break' is so tight and clean. High Fidelity has crazy good beats. It ends really strong as an album.
Wrote a review and lost it by mistake. It sounds a bit like Queen meets Sea Change Era Beck meets musical theatre at times. Not Zappa-like at all as some reviewers seem to comment. It's kind of morose and grim as it progresses but I don't hate that at all. There's also a very Muse/emo harmonic piano meeting depressed lyrics with strong vocals. It is, above all else, beautiful.
That's the Good News gets real weird real quick with a bizarre German accent that I think is supposed to resemble Kraftwerk? It's also kind of like the I need Compliments song. That said.... it fucking slaps. Supernatural Defribulator continues this theme with an Electric-Six style electo-pop mix.
Highs - Chicken Bone, Queen of Denmark, That's the Good News, Supernatural Defribulator.
Has a razor-thin punk edge to the glam rock that this definitely is. Malibu Beach Nightmare has a Ramones surfer music vibe and then weird rockabilly harmonica but it's a banger. They are somehow 'heavier' than more traditionally melodic glam rock whilst still having a very intense 80s vocal curl. Lick Summer Love is a horrendously rapey narrative in the way that the 80s kind of excused a lot in media. Beating Gets Faster has a Blue Oyster Cult feel that really stands out.
The good - Malibu Beach Nightmare, Beating Gets Faster, Back to Mystery City.
The low - Lick Summer Love
Opening track has a Duran Duran meets Spandel Ballet vibe. It's very poppy in a way that I would have liked a lot more once. Kingsize (You're my little steamwhistle) is particularly Rio-esque, though the lyrics seem to say "You're the little fat one" which is great. The whole album has a sort of Club Tropicana feel and it loses charm really quickly. It is upbeat, but it's also just kind of dull and repetitive.
The good - Kingsize.
The opening song, Being Boring is quintessentially Pet Shop Boys. Suprisingly industrial feel in some of the tracks that synchs well with the synth pop tones. How can You Expect to be Taken Seriously is strangely 80's poppy again with a drumbeat that kind of resembles Sledgehammer. A little too samey for my taste - the songs run together so seamlessly that it is an awful lot of something that's only okay.
The goods - Being Boring
Opens strong with Jumpin' Jack Flash. Has a nice hippy rock feel to it even prior to the sitar. Pleasantly psychedelic. Sagar (The Ocean) goes into full atmospheric, psychadelia with 13 minutes of strange ominous rising tone and hollow 'wind effect' in background. Raghupati is bizarrely catchy and falls almost into a Polyphonic Spree hit.
High points: Jumpin' Jack Flash, Light My Fire, Sagar (The Ocean), Raghupati.
Strange. Blend is smooth. Earth music is catchy and fun but not really my things. The tracks tend to run together a little. It was fine, but sounded more like Nandos background music than a powerful album.
The Good - Olel.
Opens strong with a jazzy melodic surprisingly touching song about the intangible nature of youth and identity. From there the rest of the album is great Frankie and Bennies music. A lot more to this than most albums like this.
The good: Just a gigolo, The Lip
An all round very smooth album. Less high-octane than I expect from James Brown, much more soulful than funk. May have been earlier in his career?
Goods: I'll go Crazy, Lost Someone.
Chill blues album. Songs become very repetitive and samey as it goes on. There's a smoky, magical sound to some of the tracks which feels good and Hooker's voice is soft and smooth and perfect for this kind of music, but it's just too much of the same.
Nostalgic. Prefer greatest hits albums for Aerosmith.
Back in the Saddle is a good opener with a high-tempo glammish sound. Last Child has a really kicking bass rhythm and the vocals, whilst not as impressive as some songs, give it that typical Aerosmith. Rats in the Cellar could be a Guilty Gear BGM.
Goods: Back in the Saddle, Rats in the Cellaer
Bads:
I always consider Van Halen an 80s hair-rock band, rather than anything that would be producing an album in the late seventies. This opens with the melodic Running with the Devil which eases in smoothly with harmonies and soft riffs. The long guitar solo in the next track Eruption is far closer to what I consider Van Halen but in the most positive way. Jaymie's Cryin' is an interesting departure from the rest of the album so far - a bit more like an experimental version of the opening track - I'm not convinced that it works though. Ice Cream Man is almost a novelty hit, reducing back to a much more 50s rock and roll sound but performed well and sliced open with a very hair metal guitar solo.
Also, the album art is great. Very KISS.
Good - You Really Got Me, Ice Cream Man
The opening sound like the Horrible Histories Tv theme. Its like good pop punk. Enjoying it so far. Second track, Caught by the Fuzz is also good. I wasn't aware that Supergrass had such a punky sound to them. Track 4 is also a banger, though I like it less than 1 and 2. Track 5 also slaps.
Goods - I'd like to know. Caught by the Fuzz.
It's very camp disco. Not really my thing. It's good for what it is. Le Freak is a high tempo fun hit but in the first half of the album, Happy Man is the strongest track with a sort of Madnessesque hook.
The good - Happy man.
The first track slaps. There's a sort of Paul McCartney vibe. Carries on with a sort of Clapton feel. Just the way you are is cheesy bullshit. Where it works, the album is solid easy listening rock, but where it fails its soulless cliche.
Good - Movin' Out (Anthony's Song), Only the Good Die Young.
Bad - Just the way you are, She's Always a Woman.
More 80s weird pop. Terence Trent D'Arby's voice is melodic and calm and passionate all at once and he carries these funky tunes with his performance. Dance Little Sister has hints of a much better Michael Jackson performance.
Good - Wishing Well, Dance Little Sister, Sign your Name, Rain
I mean, hell yeah. As the album goes on, I like less of this than I expect to. Some of it is crazy high tempo pansexual gender-queer pop at its finest. Others are... muddy and lost. Purple Rain is a jam for sure, but its not good consistently and its like 10 minutes long, if you want me to listen to a ten minute song it has to be good all the way through.
Goods - Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry
Bads - Take me With U
Fills the same niche as sleepy-time 80s easy listening Bowie. The vocals are calm and soft, the lyrics are shoe-gazey and poppy. At it's best when it combines these with hard snares and bells. It's hard to get excited about it, but it's not bad and is actively good in some places.
Good - Stay, Heatwave.
Bad - Tinseltown in Rain
Artwork - Sets the mood of the album. The black and off-white suggest a deceptive simplicity. The men are staring at something I can't see, interested in something I can't quite lock down and that is how I feel listening to the album. It feels as if there is a great deal just out of reach from me.
Shines in comparison to the last few albums that have been lazy 80s mumblecore. The heat and the passion and the excitement here sell the album. Ray is damn good. There's a definite country western thing here (duh) but my boy Ray plays that piano so damn good that I can ignore it. And then it gets to the second disc and it's just not very good. First disc is a 4, second is a 2 so let's call it a 3.
Goods - Just a Little Loving Girl (Will go a long way), Hey Good Lookin'
Bads - the second disc is weaker.
Art - Classic. The bold colours and thick lettering give it a solid impression. Ray is mid song, the passion clear in his expression.
It's interesting. Like, is it good? I don't know. It seems like a critique of music of the time maybe? As it goes on, it becomes folkier and more melancholy. The sleeper hit of the album is the much less whiny Nature Boy with its melodic piano and haunting vocals.
Good - Til the End of the Night, Blue Moon, Nature Boy
Art - I like it, but it's also weird that there's the two images in different resolutions.
Hell yeah! I mean, its very jazzy jazz and it all blurs together, but it's all very good. It's too long to be accessible, but you can hear Davis doing his craft.
Good - All of it?
Art - Powerful imagery, even if it looks like a bad fantasy cover from a pulp magazine. The blending of different environments and the melting of borders prepares you for the flow of the album.
Holidays in the sun opens hard. The play hard and fast thing is fine in punk, I like punk more than I think I do, but some of this is very samey. Or maybe I just don't appreciate it properly, but yeah. The lyrics are so repetitive and ham-fisted. I can see how this was all shocking in 77 but in the days of WAP, it falls a little flat in terms of how controversial it is.
Goods - Holidays in the Sun, No Feeling,
Bad - EMI
Art - Meh. I get the bold writing, I get the stark yellow and pink, but despite its classic status, it's doing nothing for me.
Atmospheric, kind of gloomy but not melancholy. The ethereal elements are strong and combine well with the Indie snare drums in Words.
Good- There goes the fear, Last Broadcast
Bad-
Art- It's a pixelated skyscape. The colouring, spacing and lowercase font emphasise the indieness but don't show how polished the whole album feels.
Kind of hippy funk rock in places. Plays right at the corners of a couple of different genres. There's hippy psychadelia, the French tracks, a sort of Presbyterian Dwight Shrute sound, a blue grass meets Fleetwood Mac thing too.
Good - Si tu dois partir.
Bad - Maybe Percy's song - its catchy though.
Art - I really like the composition. It's stereotypically English and the lack of title or band name create a much fuller image. The view of the band through the wooden trellis is also inspired. Very good.
I don't know Neil Young, so I'm kind of intrigued for this one. It's a lot folkier than I imagined with things like Sweet Caroline, the slow pace is good.
Good - Harvest, Heart of Gold,
Bad -
Art - Classic, simple, nice font, the orange moon against the beige is beautiful.
Track one opens with a bold jazz sound that I dig a lot more than I imagine I will the vocals. Not a fan of English rap in general, but so far this is alright. Enjoying through track 2, Simz cleverly avoids the drill style that she could easily fall into and instead opts for a more classical hiphop sound. It's a little Minajy but with the pop elements stripped away to leave something rawer and less produced.
Good - Boss, 101FM, Venom
Bad - None really.
Art - It's stark, the face and sit coupled with the trainers in the background make a nice impact.
