Pleasantly surprised by this one. There’s some very nice instrumentation on this album, particularly on ‘shining star’ and ‘africano’. The songs here are generally well made and memorable.
The real highlight here is the bass, it sounds like it’s being played by someone with three extra fingers! Very well done.
The vocal harmonies are pleasant, and contribute to the uplifting feel of the album.
Favourite tracks
Shining star
Africano
Least favourites
Yearnin learnin
All about love
The songs here are generally simple and pleasant. Mostly basic stuff though. I found youngs voice to be a bit ‘take it or leave it’. Some of the songs don’t really seem to ‘go anywhere’. Nevertheless this album was enjoyable and exceeded my initial expectations.
Generally the longer tracks were nice and crazy horse provides some enjoyable, but not outstanding, instrumentation. Overall I think the last track ‘cowgirl in the sand’ was the best of both young and crazy horse on this album.
Overall I feel three stars is appropriate. This is a good album, but I could live without it (as I might have to thanks to that fuss with Spotify!)
I liked this one. The guitar work is really good, particularly on the tracks 'That Lady' and 'Summer Breeze' which are the highlights on the album. The instrumentation elsewhere is also enjoyable. Generally the album has a relaxed feel.
Overall I'm undecided between 3.5 and 4 stars, but I think this is worthy of 4.
This one is great. The guitar work on here is excellent, as usual. As ist the rest of the Instrumentation
almost every song on here is really good, except for “ changes” which is a bit of a lull. Apart from that it’s an excellent metal album, in my top three sabbath albums. The songs here are somewhat more complicated than the first three albums, following on from sabbath bloody sabbath which took the band in this direction. My favourite songs from this album are the opener and closer, “wheels of confusion” and “under the sun”
Arguably the best sabbath album, this is well deserving of 5 stars.
Well, time to go on another Sabbath Marathon now...
Are my headphones broken? Is there something wrong with Spotify? Oh apparently it's supposed to sound like this...
I'm not sure what to think of this one. On the one hand there's certainly a unique charm to this, and I can understand how it could work its way into someones favorites. The songs, while pedestrian, are catchy and generally pleasant to listen to once the shock has worn off. They've also decided not to capitalise any of the titles. How statement-y of them.
That said, I find the songwriting a little underwhelming. The best moments on the album are when they go beyond the conventional pop-punk format such as with 'touched' .
The instrumentation warrants little comment. Expect no Jimi Hendrix here, this is all pretty basic, run-of-the-mill stuff.
The sonic weirdness here seems to be the main attraction. While at points it has its charm, and certainly is unlike anything I've heard before, the effect hardly blows me away.
Taking all that into account, I'd say 2.5 stars is appropriate. This is, by no means, a bad album, despite the general mediocrity of the compositions I found it an enjoyable experience, but seems to me to be more or less a curiosity - generally middle-of-the-road pop-punk songs with some interesting effects laid over them.
I must confess to hearing very little hip hop before this, so my insights will be a little limited.
Regardless, I found this album an enjoyable experience . The way Q Tip makes words flow was entertaining, and the instrumentation was surprisingly well done. The album has a crisp, fresh sound, which contributes to the smart feel of the music.
I most liked the songs ‘official’ and ‘Shaka’
Overall I’ll give this album a 3.5 stars. This was an enjoyable, and refreshing, listen.
Wasn't really a fan of this one. Thought the instrumentation was pretty basic, just loud.
Loud... I think that word really applies to this.
The vocals are a bit off-putting here. There were moments where I was listening to this and *almost* got into a song or two. Then they started singing. It feels like there's little variation in the lyrics and the tone. The angstiness of it gets old after about 20 minutes.
The lyrics are on an unnecessary spectrum between annoyingly vulgar and downright offensive. Homophobia doesn’t make your album any better, lads.
That's another thing about this record, its LONG. Too long for how much the songs sound the same.
The instrumentation here is pretty basic. Not really worth talking about.
I feel like I've been excessively harsh on this one, considering that I only got the time to listen through to it once, but I can't bring myself to listen to those cringeworthy vocals/lyrics again. Nevertheless this album is punctuated by better moments, so isn't quite bad enough to warrant a one.
Overall I'd give this one two stars. It's okay. It's great (probably) if you're an angsty teenage boy who's cross about homework or whatever kids do these days, but I didn't find it particularly appealing. Maybe I'm getting old...
I generally liked this one. This one was really strange, and I'm into Van Der Graaf Generator. The first three tracks, notably, 'de la mort' were probably the best ones. Really intense and ominous. Reminds me of Van Der Graaf, but at the same time it's nothing like I've heard before. Definitely an album which I'm gonna have to get back to, to really understand. 'les enfants' I found the weakest track on the record. A bit too repetitive.
The vocalist here sounds pretty much like he's just smoked all the cigarettes in Paris, but that kind of fits the music. Instrumentation is generally good, but the real draw is the songwriting.
Overall I'll go for 3.5 stars here. This was a good, and really interesting, record, but I felt that there was a drop in quality towards the end of the album.
This one grew on me. There's some beautiful harmonies here, particularly I liked the songs 'Please let me wonder' and 'she knows me too well'.
This album is split into two parts, with the A-side taking up more upbeat songs, and the B side more intimate ballads. I found that the B side was more interesting than the A side.
The instrumentation here is mostly run-of-the-mill, it's the sublime harmonies which provide the main draw.
Overall I'd give the album 3-3.5 stars. 3.5 stars for the B side and 2.5 for the A side
I thought this was pretty good. As expected, Robert fripp provides some great guitar work here, with a trademark tumbling-down-the-stairs solo being heard. The instrumentation is somewhat difficult to penetrate, do to the dominance of the vocals in the mix and the dense nature of the instrumentation, but it’s good.
Side a contains some pretty solid Bowie songs, while side b is comprised primarily of ambient pieces, which were nice, and reminded me of German bands such as popol vuh (particularly moss garden) or tangerine dream (Neuköln)
I feel like this is an album which would benefit from being churned around in my mind for a few days.
Overall I’d give it a 3.5 to 4 stars. Generally strong, but not my favourite Bowie work.
Ehh… this one was weird. A bit everywhere.
The problem with a lot of the songs is they’re just a bit… annoying. I imagine the spoken sections don’t age well through multiple listens.
There’s some nice instrumentation but I’m not gonna sit through one of these songs for it. I had to ask myself if this was some kind of satire at one point.
The two nicest tracks are, consequently, the instrumental tracks. Gonna give this an extra .5 stars for em, as they’re generally pleasant.
This isn’t my worst two stars, but it’s gonna be a 2.5 from me
I thought this one was pretty good. The songs here are pretty basic stuff, but well-made.
There's some nice solos on here, particularly on 'confetti' and the title track.
Overall I think this one is a three stars. It's good, but the songs aren't really adventurous or inventive enough to warrant anything more.
This is very pastoral. The first song ,Scarborough fair’ was the best one. Pretty simple songwriting here but it has its charm.
Overall I think 3 stars for this one. It was enjoyable but pretty run of the mill.
My first thought when I saw this one was “ANOTHER singer-songwriter, yay…”
HOWEVER, I thought this one was pretty good, there’s some nice instrumentation here.
The most enjoyable songs on this record were ‘devils eyes’ and ‘make it right’ though there were a number of good songs here.
The lyrics are… interesting. Not the type you’d want to play out loud next to a busy window (which I found out the hard way). The singing is nice though.
Overall I’d give this one a 3.75 stars.
This was a very angst-y album, Porto-thrashy.
This reminds me of my music taste a couple years ago, I was into thrash and this reminds me of the likes of Anthrax but it doesn’t really speak to me now. If I listen to thrash these days it has to be when I’m in an increasingly specific mood. The guitar on this album was nice.
I think I’ll go for a very middle of the ground 2.75 stars here. It’s like thrash metal - it’s got the raw power which attracted me the but not as much technicality which appeals to me now.
So this is basically neo soul AFAIK, pretty lo-fi. Made by Beyoncé’s sister. Seems to be a concept album about the black American experience.
This one was a pleasant listen. Solange had a great voice, which was really nice to listen to, but there’s not a massive amount of differentiation between the songs, particularly in an emotional sense. I feel like this album could do with being about 10-15 minutes shorter, then it’s Spiel wouldn’t get old so fast. They’re pretty basic stuff, nothing groundbreaking here.
The concept of the album was interesting, though I would be surprised if this concept wasn’t well-covered ground in music.
Instrumentation here is pretty basic.
There’s these spoken word interludes which break up the songs. It’s nice how the album flows through these, making the whole thing sound like a cohesive project. A couple of these were pretty interesting anecdotes. However, I feel like spoken word stuff in general wears thin after several listens, so detracts from the longevity of the album.
Overall I think another upper 2.5 stars. This wasn’t bad. But there wasn’t really enough to attract me for further listens.
I thought this one was nice. The sprinkling of guitar was a pleasant surprise. The production was also great here.
Ultimately though I didn’t find the album massively interesting. Again this is an album that could maybe do with being about 10-15 minutes shorter.
Overall I think this is another 2.5 stars.
This one was nice. The songs themselves are pretty basic, but there’s some nice instrumentation here, such as on “Alexander’s ragtime band”.
I’m gonna slap a 3 stars on this one. The most impressive and interesting thing I’ve heard on this in a little bit.
So apparently this band was the first rock band, with two guitars, bass and drums.
This album is very 50s. Very soppy, hetero-normative love songs for the most parts.
Looking past the lyrics, most of the songs are pretty simple in retrospect, pretty much all around 2 minutes long. About what you'd expect from 50s rock. They have their charms though, and make for a pleasant listening experience. The best songs were probably 'Not Fade Away' and 'Maybe Baby'
The instrumentation here, again, is largely simplistic and, while good, has, again, been done better later. There's some good guitar parts on 'I'm Lookin' for Someone to Love' though.
This album has it's fair share of filler, however.
All in all I'd rate this one 3 stars. This was a pleasant experience, if dated.
This feels like a mediocre britpop album. This was a pleasant listen, but no ne of the songs stand out here as more than generic. There was a sprinkling of nice instrumentation here. I think I heard some mellotron on 'one of God's better people' which was a pleasant surprise on an otherwise mediocre track. On ‘clean’ Robbie tries to be sgt pepper with a middle of the road guitar solo.
The hits are far too overplayed for me to take seriously, but there are some solid (read:three stars) songs on here most notably 'ego agogo'
Overall I think this deserves a 2 star. It’s a pleasant but unremarkable listen.
When I went into this record I didn't have high hopes. I was expecting another Korn. However, I was pleasantly surprised by what I got. Suffice to say it’s miles better than the afforementioned record.
I still don't really get the whole metal/rock-without-solos thing. Why cut out the best bits? Nevertheless the drumming on this album was surprisingly good, which gave the songs a big boost. Nevertheless I agree with other reviewers that this record could do with being about 7 or 8 minutes shorter.
Favourite tracks - ,nowhere fast’ for its drumming and ‘battleschratch galactica’ for being a pleasant and jazzy surprise. I don’t really get the hype over tracks like ‘stellar’ and ‘drive’ they seem a little too family-friendly-radio-at-8:15 for me, and I found the solo on the latter track underwhelming.
That said, most of the songs here are pretty simple.
This, to me, is an example of a very good three star record, but not quite 3.5 stars.
Not exactly my thing but 'twas solid. "I'm losing you" was the best. Will probably listen again
Fairly entertaining but not really my thing. Might listen again for the title track
Already listened to this one and it’s quite my thing so I’ll definitely listen again
This was pretty good. Probably listening again
Liked this one. Probably will listen again
There is literally nothing more to say about this album
Really good proggy folk rock
This music feels both very of its time but also timeless. Listening to this in 2024 means that there’s little surprises here, because pretty much every aspect of the music on Elvis Presley(1956) has been expanded on in some way in the 67 years since. Nevertheless, this is still a really fun listen, the version I listened to *sounded* really good, and with a runtime of 28 minutes it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Morissey Bad but Album Good
