Pretentious and melodramatic, in the best way. A timeless classic, Corgan kills it on so many of the songs. The length of the albums, the renessaince painting cover, the strings and orchestral instrumentation all add to this album's ability to stand apart, and it handles the spotlight with ease. This album is the result of a band bursting with creativity, knowing they were at the top of their game, and not being afraid to dip into extravagance to show off to the world.
Whether this eclipses siamese dream is another question, but smashing pumpkins definitely smashed it with this one
Highlights:
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Tonight, Tonight
Zero
Quite a transition from Smashing Pumpkins yesterday.. this one was really interesting! I've always been interested in Gil Scott-Heron, since hearing I'm New Here it was clear he had quite a history with music, and that title becomes more tongue-in-cheek as I listened to Winter In America. It's hard to pick a favorite here from first listen, H2Ogate blues definitely is prophetic in both it's political message and musical style, there are through lines that can be drawn to today's underground rap, the title track is so groovy with that incredible flute solo..
I love the stripped down production, relying on equal parts jazz, Gil Scott-Heron's songwriting, and importantly on negative space
Will definitely be revisiting
Another band like Gil Scott-Heron that I've wanted to explore more of, I love Maggot Brain and didn't really know what else to check out by these guys. This was a really fun listen, Promentalshitbackwash... was a great track despite the name
Will listen again
I typed a bunch here but it didnt save..
Enjoyed for the most part, but unfortunately the production value is a turn off for me with the poor recording quality and the audio panning. Will listen again though
Not really my vibe, may need to revisit later down the road but for now it just isnt clicking..
An absolute classic! So glad to see this one pop up, i love super long tracks and these are some of the best!
This continues to be a classic
Really enjoyed this! I dont know about jazz enough to know why this is considered "the" live jazz album, but there were a lot of elements that really tickles my ears in a good way. Loved the buildup in "Solar", how the trio started drifting apart and then comes back together in unison, super professional and just a joy to hear. Will listen again!
First album I've got from the 21st century! And a bit of a letdown.
This one did not click with me.. I'm always intrigued by PJ Harvey but her aggressive, inaccessible writing style is just hard to parse sometimes. I'd need several more listens to "get" this one, and right now there aren't any songs that stick out and make me want to hear this again...
I was excited to hear a country/singer-songwriter album, but this didnt do much for me.. it was fine, but I couldnt hear what made it "1001" worthy, if that makes sense...
Big fan of this one! Wasnt sure what to expect, but i recognized the album cover instantly and knew this one is highly regarded..
I love the singer-songwriter and traditional aspects of this record, but it also uas exceptional production, and feels cinematic at parts, which really surprised me. Will definitely listen again, and a few songs are going in to my regular rotation
Faves:
Todo o Que Voce Podia Ser
Dos Cruces
Ah yes, the plunderphomics album. Ive always enjoyed this album, but to be honest I've never seen why it's held in such high regard by some people. I've seen this on the top of many people's personal favorites, and it just never clicked that much with me. The absurd amount of sounds and textures, while being the main gimmick of the band, push me away to an extent.
On this listen however, I did notice the mid-song transitions hit a bit differently, like the title track or frontier psychologist, which continue to not only be my favorite tracks on the album, but the only two I regularly return to.
I think the biggest compliment I could give this album is the fact that I was not at all in the mood for a rock/punk album from the 70's, yet by the time Sixteen came around I was in love with the record.
The darker tones of the music made this record age really well, it gives the sound a sort of tongue in cheek sarcasm that goes hand in hand with the rougher production quality. Will be listening again
Faves
Sixteen
Some Weird Sin
Fall in Love with Me
Rumours is one of my top 3 records of all time, and while Tusk doesnt come nearly as close to the top, I still absolutely adore it. So many wild choices were made with Tusk to set itself apart from Rumours' shadow, and while it misses the mark pretty often it is still brimming with creativity and a strong double album of 8/10's is still so respectable
I consider Rumours to be the front end store, the smaller curated selection of the best songs, and Tusk is like the warehouse behind it. Once you get hooked on Rumours and want to explore the sound further, you can wonder into this double album and look through all of their different ideas that wouldnt see the light of day in the same way that The Chain or You Can Go Your Own Way did. It's more work, less immediately rewarding, but Think About Me, Sara, Walk a Thin Line, and so many other tracks slowly unfold for the patient listener and have their own treasures to reveal.
5 stars, fleetwood mac continue to deserve their place in history
I think this is the first artist and album that I was completely unaware of! I love the album art, but admittedly did not listen to much of this album. This doesnt seem to fit the format of "1001 albums to hear before you die" or any sort of album a day thing, because the songs are deceptively complex despite being so soft and simple sounding on first listen. I feel like the songs may be rewarding enough on repeat listens to warrant the high praise the album obviously received, but listening to it once it's frankly too hard to tell. It makes me wish this site had a "listened but cannot rate" option, I would choose that, otherwise I'll go in the middle of the road with three stars, and I will probably revisit again later
First of all, super creepy to get this one literally the day after Queen Elizabeth died..
Secondly, wow, what a treat to get one of the absolute best albims ever made, so early on for me too!
There is a Light That Never Goes Out might be the most beautiful "pop" song (I'm not sure what genre to put The Smiths into, wikipedia lists Jangle Pop as one of their genres and I think that fits closest?) I've ever heard.
What else is there to say that hasn't been said already? This is the quintessential album you must hear if you're going to do something like this, the music is beautiful, the band was influential, the album directly inspired contempraries and future artists... this is the whole package.
I'm not a huge REM fan, but this one was not bad at all. Enjoyed the simple rock songs, Laughing and Shaking Through were solid tracks
Don't want to waste too much time writing about this one, honestly it's such a standard "classic" album that it's boring. It's the free square on a Bingo board. It's vanilla in the best and worst ways, 5 stars out of obligation.
Favorites:
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
When I'm Sixty-Four
A Day in the Life
This album gets into such a hard groove at times, a lot of fun to listen to!
I just wish it wasn't such a horny album, Tim was down bad the entire duration of Greetings from LA
Get on Top
Make it Right
This album was fantastic, i knew Tangled Up in Blue was great but hadn't heard the rest. The standout track gor me was Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
It's still a Bob Dylan record though, and like most they come off feeling a bit.. formulaic at the end? Not that it's bad, just a bit too similar to his other work to give it 5 stars. Perhaps multiple listens would convince me otherwise
Love the grooves here!
Fave is Historia de Jorge
Life on mars and queen bitch are timeless
Really liked the folksiness of this one, will definitely return to it
