Among the “1 Star Album Club,” some space must be reserved for bold, exciting ideas which have been ruined by their execution. I actually enjoy a lot of the experimentalism on this album, and I want reward any and all artists willing to go out on a limb. You can hear some nightmarish— but somewhat enticing— sounds on the second half of this record. Almost a more homespun, industrial version of the Raymond Scott/Manhattan Research tapes. Little ideas made from experiments, and some are pretty neat. That’s the instrumental second half of the album. Unfortunately for Eunsturzrnde Neubauten, most of us start our albums at the beginning, and the beginning of this album is absolutely unlistenable, and it is entirely up to the screaming, frightening vocals. Comparisons have been made to the sound of Hitler screaming one of his speeches while giving you a root canal. I think that’s not at all unfair. I can’t hear anything redeeming in those first three tracks, and that’s a lot of time to lose someone. If Neubauten was really going for this, and they actually want me to turn my mind to the dark, repressed memories of my last dentist appointment, then “Steh Auf Berlin” is a stunning achievement. And so it is with all of the good ideas on this album: ruined by horrific vocals. I’m so repulsed by them that anything else redeeming on this album is forgotten. I was going to write an unserious review, but halfway through my second go-round I realized that this band is actually deadly serious, and so they deserve to be more than just slagged off. 1 star for me.
Today, in 2023, I am no longer a 12-year old American boy. No longer am I the pimpled king of "Roller Kingdom," scared to death to meet the eyes of my middle school crush in the adjoining Birthday Party Room. Nor do I wait for the 6:45am bus, scribbling frantic answers to a history worksheet– a poor writing surface, those bus seats!– that has small, pitying holes in it from my erasable pen. These facts put me at an extreme, almost disqualifying disadvantage to rate an album like this. A genuine handicap for an album whose influence is foundational to many of my 2000's peers, but in retrospect may only be a good time if you're deep in Angst Mode. I knew kids who picked up guitar because they listened to this CD! The patron saints of Lazer Zones everywhere. In seriousness. I like my Blur, I like my Arctic Monkeys, I like my Strokes. This is hard to get through. Grating. This shouldn't happen, because I know all the songs already. Halfway through, I'm thinking, "Maybe I'm having fun! Maybe I should sneak one of these songs in at my wedding." Alas. Not Enough Fun. A generous 3 might be possible. But I have dutifully deducted a point for the refrain, "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier," sung forty times behind a gospel choir. That line's been bouncing around in my head since the Roller Kingdom Days, and unfortunately, now illuminated by the scribes of Genius, it yields no special magic. 2/5
I could not stop laughing through the first 15-20 minutes of this album. I think the song “E-mail my heart” finally broke me. Bad in an enjoyable way, and good in some ways that count. The producers are clearly having tons of fun with their assignment. It’s not jaded, apathetic, soulless pop… it’s often very silly, but you can have fun with it. So dated, too! Every one of Britney Spears’ songs have the same quality of her album covers: you can tell immediately what year it was made in, because there could be no other.
Captivating album. It really feels like you’re hearing the last breaths of Bob Dylan, as he’s nearing the end. It’s rough, yearning, full of pathos. But what really struck me about the album was the way it’s recorded! I read about the album production beforehand… how everything was done live, in this one-mic-in-the-room style, how the effects on Bob’s voice were printed on the performance as he sang. I had read all this background, but I honestly didn’t expect to hear that much of a difference in the sound. Man was I wrong! It’s such a unique-sounding album, sonically. It sounds full and live but also fuzzy, like an hazy, impressionistic version of a 50’s blues record. Something about the recording makes it feel so out of time, so strange… and made me on my toes for the whole listen. You know, 5 stars! It had me all the way through.
several classics! Liked it much more once I paid attention to the songwriting
It's definitely not an album that I thought I'd be into, but I found things to love in it after giving it more listens. I like the more 70's folk elements of the songs, and the more tender moments. Rod Stewart is kind of a force on all the songs, and I wish the songs were a little more dynamic to go along with his singing.
This album was so enjoyable! From the first 5 seconds of Willow, I was hooked. I thought many of the songs were strong, and there’s a lot of variation between tight songs and open-ended songs. The production is subtle and never overpowering. Some of the transitions between sections were just masterful. It’s a little uneven in the second half… there are just a lot of songs!… but then Evermore happens and I’m like, that’s a great end. Overall enjoyed the natural confidence of this record a lot, as someone who came in expecting things to be much more buttoned-up.
Sweet, endearing record. And possibly the most British thing I’ve ever heard. This is what I picture in my head when I think of what a random British person had on in the 1960’s, while eating some equally British foodstuffs. Just fun and enjoyable to hear. There weren’t any huge standout songs to me, but they have a very immediate, almost theatrical sound that I liked. Some almost McCartney moments with the songwriting, and I enjoyed the genre switch-ups. For me, they get a 3, via a somewhat generous rounding-up.
Another album that took me by surprise! I didn’t know what to expect coming in. This is the kind of record that oozes authenticity. We’ve all heard the inauthentic, canned, commercial version of this sound, but this feels like a record whose bona fides can’t be questioned. Plus, the band is so tight. And extremely British! Checks all the boxes for me.
Okay. This is not fair of me, I know… it’s a classic album, it’s without a doubt strong all the way through, it sounds like the fulcrum upon which music was shifting from the 60’s to the 70’s. But I just have trouble *enjoying* John Lennon’s solo music. Where people hear peace and love, I hear cynical, jaded, angry. In common parlance… he sounds butthurt! The McCartney “How Do You Sleep?” track doesn’t help adjust my perception. I think John Lennon’s writing has to contain some of the most widely misinterpreted lyrics in music. People wish to ascribe to him a mistaken sense of optimism and level-headedness that I see nowhere in sight. There’s nothing wrong with the album, the Phil Spector production feels nicely restrained, there are great sounds. He sings his heart out. But I’m not eager to return to John Lennon’s world.
I could not stop laughing through the first 15-20 minutes of this album. I think the song “E-mail my heart” finally broke me. Bad in an enjoyable way, and good in some ways that count. The producers are clearly having tons of fun with their assignment. It’s not jaded, apathetic, soulless pop… it’s often very silly, but you can have fun with it. So dated, too! Every one of Britney Spears’ songs have the same quality of her album covers: you can tell immediately what year it was made in, because there could be no other.
I feel enriched by listening to this, and there are some surprisingly touching moments. Pictures from a scene I was never a part of..: feels like a time capsule, and I’m at the show they’re playing these in. As an album, it’s hard to recommend because it’s so long, and there are a lot of records that could have been cut. But it shines bright where it does! I’ll be chewing on this one for a while, it’s not digestible in just a few bites.
I have to put down a 5. A life-changing one for sure. Bruce didn’t connect with me before this album, and this was the first one that made contact. Emotional, complex, musically perfectly on point. It got me singing in a new way. I really connect with these songs.
Really fun, super creative. Way more variety and just plain quirkiness than I thought there would be coming in. I was thinking a strong 3, but the guitar solo on the last track converted me to a totally new religion.
I like Grateful Dead, I could enjoy them more, I like a lot of the songs on this record. That said, for every studio version of these songs, I feel like I've heard a live version that's way better or has more soul in it, and I'm not even much of a huge Grateful Dead follower. So I think I'd prefer to listen to their live records over this. That said, I'm surely missing some context with this record, but that was my reaction.
It's hard to get myself in the mindset of what this would be like to hear in 2004. The fact that this music surely has been in 100 commercials for a new iPod is not helping. I have to grade it poorly as an album, because 1) there's just not that much complexity, and we've heard more interesting and complex garage rock albums already, with more of a character, and 2) it's a compilation album, which as an album does what it needs to do (showcase their best songs), but mostly just feels like a lot of swings at bat. I thought it was well-produced, and I have nothing against the band. Just not a great album, I'd say.
Agh, I've been fretting over whether to give this a 3 or a 4 all day! I listened to this album religiously in college, and I'm drawn to it for the same basic reasons: very striking artistic vision, anachronistic production (the new age synths, sequencing, processed vocals, with a few clean guitars in there), creepy lyrics and vocal delivery. In essence, everything a girl could want. I'm just a little hung up on some of the lyrics. There are some really mysterious, stunning lines, but some just feel either repetitive, or others obfuscatory. But overall, I want to reward albums that feel confident and out of time, and this one really feels that way.
I don’t quite know what to make of the Smiths yet, if I’m honest. I’m too distracted by Morrissey’s lyrics and the pervasive silliness of the music. There’s clearly something more complex going under the surface with these lyrics, but it evades me. It’s got this funny skip to it, most of the music… almost silly? I think I need more time with this one.
I really felt like I connected to Marianne Faithfull in this record. You can hear the years of pain, suffering, grief, defiance. I think her performance is captivating, and it helps that the music is so well produced, a really good example of this style, great guitars. The one track in the middle that sounds like an English folk tune, but with a different take on it production-wise… THAT I really liked. But it had me hooked from minute 1! Four stars!
An album that really sounds good on paper! David Bowie and Philly Soul, recorded with some current and future Philly greats. I should like this album! I ultimately wasn't very attached to it. A lot of the songs seem very jamm-y, and were no doubt fun for the musicians to play, but seem to just go on for longer than they should. The Philly Soul-inspired sound can often be much too busy for my taste... a lot going on, but not a lot of dynamics or things that are too interesting. I prefer the more stripped-down, motown-esque tracks, like "Right. And Bowie isn't his most spirited in his delivery... he seems a bit detached from the energy of the rest of the track (the backup singers are trying their hardest!) Still, there are a couple solid classics. This album really should be a a high two stars, but I put it to three stars because of Fame and Young Americans, both excellent tracks.
I can't believe I never listened to this album! What an emotional conclusion to Smile. The first two songs made me tear up, thinking of what this must have been like to actually finish after so many years. I'd listened to the Smile sessions dozens of times before, but I would always come away confused its overall direction. It felt beautiful and far advanced from Pet Sounds, but incomplete. This really feels like all the pieces of the puzzle are in their place. And what a treatment! Brian's writing is incomparable... wide-eyed and childlike, but always with some complexity lurking. Now that everything is arranged the way it was intended to be, it makes so much sense. The album plays out like a film or musical... very strong arcs. I could gush about this more, but I mean... it's one of my favorite and most cherished songwriters, finally realizing a vision that was a dream for 40 years. Emotional and captivating. 5 absolutely deserved stars. As an album, it feels completely realized, in a way that I never appreciated before
I've never really given Neil Young's music a fair listen, which is totally unfair of me. I found a YouTube video of a vinyl rip, which I have no doubt elevated the experience. Really moving songs, great performances, and I love the orchestral stuff mixed in, which actually elevated the music without it feeling corny at all. Some undisputed classics on this album as well, which felt like they happened at the right time. I really enjoyed it, and I can't believe I never gave Neil Young a chance before now! I know that doesn't need to be said, but it pains me that this isn't on Spotify, so I don't know how often I'll go back and listen to it. Scarcity in music! What an idea. We're used to having everything all the time. I enjoyed my time with this album, and hope we'll meet again soon.
I mean, what to even say. Ambitious and full of joy. Re-listening to it, I’m struck by how much heart is clearly in the making of this album, especially in Robin Pecknold’s vocal performances. There’s really nothing like it… he’s laying it all on the line for some of these recordings. It’s easy to take a backseat listen to “Fleet Foxes,” to keep it on in the backdrop and largely tune out to its arrangements, its lyrics. But poking under the surface is a real, joyful world that they carved out on this album. It’s a sound that feels like it’s always been there, but it hasn’t… it’s fully unique to this record! There are plenty of influences to string the story along, and I especially noticed some of the psychedelic folk influences this time around. But it’s really a world unto its own, which is easy to forget after 15 years. A monumentally ambitious sound, confidently realized on a debut album. 5 well-deserved stars.
Like DJ said... I liked it the more I got into it. At first I was a bit lost and distracted by the lyrics, which are somewhat jarring. The second listen was where it started to come together for me. I read that this was a radically new sound, that really nothing like this had been done, and that nobody was clear (even up to the last minute) whether it was any good or not. That made me understand the album more... it's unintentionally groundbreaking. It does feel a little bit effortless in a funny way, and not contrived. I liked it the more I got into it.
I didn’t love this album. I enjoyed the first few tracks, but couldn’t get over the lyrics toward the later tracks. Juvenile, but not in an endearing way, to me at least. I was also fairly unimpressed by the instrumentals… rather relentless. “Three Days” feels like the standout, but only because it’s a break from the more relentless pace. Agree with the other reviewers… would have loved to see live, but as an album it feels a little tedious to get through.
I’m so polarized by ABBA, and so gosh-darn ambivalent about this album! It’s probably been the hardest album for me to give a proper rating… for every individual aspect, I find things to both love and hate. At baseline, I’m just not an ABBA guy… something about the production feels fairly schmaltzy, and too “tight” in an uncomfortable way, like I’m hearing a MIDI recording, or the backing track of karaoke night. It gives me a headache if I listen for too long. It doesn’t help that so much of the more cheesy 80’s rock musicals seem to have taken direct cues from this. And the chorus/delay effects on the otherwise stellar vocals are just gratuitous and unnecessary. All I’m thinking is… if only this was recorded in a different decade. Any decade! That said… there are moments where the instrumental really locks, and it just surprises you! And there are a couple great guitar solos. Songwriting: some super moving songs, and wide open, creative structures. Love when the choruses take you by surprise! I’m much less crazy about the slight whiff of The Barber of Seville I get in most of these songs. When it works, it works, but many times it’s gratuitous or is at best a bad impression of the reference. I get the idea, but it seems to work as often as it falls flat for me. Still, I listened a second time, and I found more to like than dislike! Even if the more grating parts of the album bothered me even more. So I’m straight down the middle on this one! Hope I haven’t lost all of my friends.
I've never really given Smashing Pumpkins much of my time, and this was a lot to digest at the first go– my only major critique of the album is that it feels a little long. But from the moment Disarm came on, I was completely onboard with the sound, completely taken by its narrative voice. The tracks on the back half really allow the songs to build from ballads to these full, raw tracks. I was just impressed by the range and the performances, even if I wasn't catching everything lyrically on the first listen. One I'll definitely have to go back to. But very, very impressed on the first go. Side note: prog rock albums don’t sound good in my car! So I nearly got the wrong impression. The guitars felt misleadingly busy on a system that had poor midrange. Glad I got it on a better system eventually.
It was fun! I had a good time. Nothing super standout. Loved the Beatles-y sound and melody writing. As an album it’s a little empty in the middle, but I liked some of the cuter songs like Metal Baby.
Am I crazy?? I loved this. Absolutely loved it. All I could think was, am I supposed to not like this or something? Because on paper, I shouldn’t love it as much as I do. Plenty of the choruses and grungy “yeah”’s are so corny, the writing is so over-the-top pop anthemic, the guitar solos gratuitous. It’s like Thriller meets AC/DC meets We Will Rock You meets basement-pinball-tournament metal (complete with some early 8-bit pinball-sounding Fairlight samples). I should not like this! But I LOVED it. Something about it just works, in this super funny way where all these disparate pieces come together to form a whole. I think a lot of it is the genius of the songwriting. All of Def Leppard’s hooks are really four hooks crammed next to each other, with some death-defying way of getting from hook A to B to C to D. Almost atonal in its approach! Keeps you guessing. The songwriting is so gratuitous, but the skrelt-y metal vocals and vibrato guitar solos make things feel so silly and over-the-top that it feels theatrical. “Metal on ice.” The guitar work on some of the tracks is just unreal, like watching a high wire act. If there was only a third act with an ear break, maybe more downtempo, more complexity… if only! It would be an easy 5. As it is, an hour of just single after single tires you out. And it’s an hour! Too long. If it was, say, everything up to and including Gods of War, minus some of the more conventional AC/DC rips, I would be pretty much dead set on this. But it’s so close to perfect! I’m a convert and you’ll have to fight me. 4 stars!
Among the “1 Star Album Club,” some space must be reserved for bold, exciting ideas which have been ruined by their execution. I actually enjoy a lot of the experimentalism on this album, and I want reward any and all artists willing to go out on a limb. You can hear some nightmarish— but somewhat enticing— sounds on the second half of this record. Almost a more homespun, industrial version of the Raymond Scott/Manhattan Research tapes. Little ideas made from experiments, and some are pretty neat. That’s the instrumental second half of the album. Unfortunately for Eunsturzrnde Neubauten, most of us start our albums at the beginning, and the beginning of this album is absolutely unlistenable, and it is entirely up to the screaming, frightening vocals. Comparisons have been made to the sound of Hitler screaming one of his speeches while giving you a root canal. I think that’s not at all unfair. I can’t hear anything redeeming in those first three tracks, and that’s a lot of time to lose someone. If Neubauten was really going for this, and they actually want me to turn my mind to the dark, repressed memories of my last dentist appointment, then “Steh Auf Berlin” is a stunning achievement. And so it is with all of the good ideas on this album: ruined by horrific vocals. I’m so repulsed by them that anything else redeeming on this album is forgotten. I was going to write an unserious review, but halfway through my second go-round I realized that this band is actually deadly serious, and so they deserve to be more than just slagged off. 1 star for me.
I enjoyed this one! There were plenty of surprises. Even though it's a sound we all know, and has at this point been nailed down pretty much completely, I came away feeling like there was some definite joy in making this album and writing the songs. Open-ended structures, more exploratory sections and sound design. The parts that are meant to sound straight-ahead even do so with ease... it's doesn't feel too belabored, wrought, or (on the other hand) disinterested. I really liked it. Inversely proportional to how much I dislike the bands did this kind of thing, but with no feeling.
Just an amazing sound for Beck. Elements of psychedelic folk, twangy guitar sounds, and gorgeous orchestration. They fit so well together… it’s a cinematic sound and a great pairing. I especially loved Nigel Goderich’s production treatment on this album: inventive, versatile, but never feeling too full. How does he do it? Everything sounds like a movie. I will definitely return to these songs. It was a comfortable, contemplative morning listen.
Ah! I was hoping this would be the one for me. I’ve been hoping that a blues record would come along someday and convert me. I love playing the blues, and I think I’d really dig seeing a blues band play. So maybe an hour record of Muddy Waters, laying it all on the line, could get me there. Sadly, not this record for me. I still had a good time, and the first track is iconic. Past the first two tracks, things got more monotonous. I always feel like I don’t know what I should be listening for! What am I missing? What’s the part of the blues that I need to “get” to unlock it? A fine listen! Just not a conversion experience, which upon reflection is a lot of pressure to put on any one record. 3/5.
I am enjoying this album! I like the drunken dive bar sound of the lead singer. The musicians are very fun to listen to. They're so versatile and there are so many of them! It just sounds like a whole packed crowd of people playing. I'm enjoying listening to the unison parts, like when the banjo and the mandolin are together. These songs run the gamut. "Fairytale of New York" is too beautiful... such a good duet. A lot of these songs sound like they're in a movie. I like how joyful the music is! I got to the "Sketches of Spain" track and was like ????????. I feel like I'm hearing a folk band stretch its wings and try things out. It's long, and this is a LOT of Irish folk for me to do over two days. But overall very pleasant, at times emotional. Good time was had.
This is my second Morrissey album for 1001, on the long road to "getting Morrissey's music." I have to say... I'm starting to get it more. The production is overall pretty safe, and not super interesting, save for a couple of standouts... it has that kind of safe, U2 sound to it. Steve Albini producing, who isn't ever bad, but never really my favorite choices... other than a couple of spirited guitar solos. But the background music doesn't seem to be the point of Morrissey. I get this sense that all of Morrissey's songs are the same: there's a backing track, which is almost totally disconnected from Morrissey and his lyrics. And then front and center you have Morrissey, with lyrics that range from sarcastic to pathetic to darkly funny. In a funny way it reminds me of some kinds of hip hop, where there's this wide gulf between the musicians making the track, and the lead, who's floating above it all, in his own world. There's something kind of funny about that. I enjoy it more once I get into the lyrics and discover the darkly funny stuff, but as an album, it's got a lot of "same." 3/5.
Incredible! Such a creative, spirited album. You can read much about Amanda Shankar’s ambitions for this album— he put his statement right on the cover!— so it’s a manifesto kind of album. His goal is to combine his advanced study in the sitar, plus Indian classical forms, with 60s psychedelic rock, heavy Moog synths, big operatic arrangements. A platform for him to show us how expressive the sitar can be. On every one of these points he succeeds. The album is innovative as a piece of music for its time, but it’s also fun, and you can tell that everyone is having fun. The idea of combining Sitar and Western music could have been boring, or academic, or shallow in its exploration. This album is none of these things. I get the sense that Amanda Shankar is exploring this idea to its absolute fullest, complete with some crazy Moog sound effects on the tracks! And it’s a perfect environment to show us his skill in playing, with different shades of an instrument you might have overlooked. I’m getting major Herbie Hancock vibes on this album, in the way the album feels so inviting, excited about its own sound, like he’s the first explorer. And the musicianship is just amazing throughout. This album made me re-discover the sitar! Which makes me one more convert to Amanda Shankar’s way of thinking. What more can you ask for. 5 stars!
I enjoyed listening to this album! It was fun to have on in the background. Some of the songs are undeniable, and I especially loved their Dylan cover. They suffer somewhat from the same affliction that so many bands had at at the time, which is being difficult to distinguish from being a b-side track on a Beatles record. But of those bands (there are many), I found these guys to be pretty fun, and at times more experimental. when they lock, they locked! Enjoyed my time with this record.
this was a stunning album on first listen... so pointy, and almost unapproachable? I keep thinking about pointy towers and brutalist architecture when I hear this album. I gotta say that I enjoyed the lyrics as well... Never too on the nose for me, maybe it's in the delivery. I feel like I'lll return to this album. Great morning punk listen while buying groceries at the co-op! To quote Charlie, "I feel like this should be 4 stars, but I can't exactly point to why." 4/5!
Undeniably a good album. There are just too many hit songs, it’s hard to believe given how short it is! I love the fun childish energy of the Band all over this… it feels like they’re really leaning in to their strengths. Unfortunately for me, I grew up after Green Day had already come and gone through the halls of my high school… really, in Green Day’s wake. That unfortunately means that I remember one or two kids who seemed to base their entire whiny personality on Billy Joe Armstrong’s most tortured vocals. So it’s no fault of the band that I have this strong association between their lead singer and some bullies from 2006, but there ya go. 4 stars, without a doubt a classic. Thank you Billy Joel Armstrong for inviting the whole front section onto the stage at the Tweeter Center in 2009, sorry Billy Joe Armstrong if I offended you in an unflattering connection to our high school “punk scene.”
Three punk albums in one week… all from very different eras! This might be my favorite time period. It just feels so silly and unserious, and then you get behind the lyrics and there’s more to it. I think the singer alone gives this album an extra star, he’s so unique. Holiday in Cambodia is pretty amazing. When he started screaming “Pol! Pot!” I must have been at peak Dead Kennedys. I really wish this album were mixed better. It’s a shame that it sounds like a pretty lofi, live recording… some more fidelity would have done a lot for me. Thank you punk albums for being so short! In and out and done! Thats how it should be.
This is the perfect blend of sweet, salty, and bitter to me. It's got tons of that anxious, foot-tapping energy, mixed with a tiny bit of that Steely Dan cynicism, but plenty of wacky fun in the production. Lots of Beach boys backing vocals, funny early Fairlight sampling, just silly songs performed seriously. Sounds like an extremely contentious recording process, from reading the Wikipedia. On that page, there's a picture of Andy Patridge self-seriously belting into a mic while reading from a comic book, and I think that pretty much sums it up for me! So wacky and fun and also serious. Gets me in all the right ways.
Captivating album. It really feels like you’re hearing the last breaths of Bob Dylan, as he’s nearing the end. It’s rough, yearning, full of pathos. But what really struck me about the album was the way it’s recorded! I read about the album production beforehand… how everything was done live, in this one-mic-in-the-room style, how the effects on Bob’s voice were printed on the performance as he sang. I had read all this background, but I honestly didn’t expect to hear that much of a difference in the sound. Man was I wrong! It’s such a unique-sounding album, sonically. It sounds full and live but also fuzzy, like an hazy, impressionistic version of a 50’s blues record. Something about the recording makes it feel so out of time, so strange… and made me on my toes for the whole listen. You know, 5 stars! It had me all the way through.
This was a fun listen. They undeniably have hits! This was one of my mom's favorite bands, growing up. I like to picture her getting this record as a brand new vinyl, and putting it on for the first time. It really is like time-travel music. That's how I'm getting to understand bands like Jefferson Airplane more... not as particularly groundbreaking, not because they have the most poignant songs, but as capturing a very particular energy and time. It feels like the music that plays as the backdrop to so many young people's adventures in that time. There's definitely more depth to the music than I may be leading on, but that's my overall impression.
I wasn't able to give this album the listen it deserves. My impressions are that this reminds me a ton of garage rock bands from my hometown in MA, and sure enough, they're from Amherst! It's really endearing. But I have to dock points for the mixes! Some of the recording and mixing on these records (especially the first few ones) are so, so bad! And not bad in an endearing kind of way... they just feel pulled right off the board, or like they were referenced in a really bad room. So I'm feeling a safe 3. I'll definitely return to this, and it feels buzzy and creative, reminds me of my hometown. But could be so much more listenable.
I did not love this. There are moments of earnestness, longing, excited energy in the songs, which makes it feel like the records are about to turn a corner. But really, it's just bathed in a morass of pretty bland arrangements, songs that are too long, chord changes and structures that feel uninspired. "The Drugs Don't Work" is genuinely great, and there's something to be said for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" being an undeniable timestamp of the era, of that scene, of what being in middle school was like for every middle schooler in 1997. But even that song don't hold up well! I was looking for something more, and there are hints of it, but I didn't find it.
This is one of those albums that makes me wonder how the 1001 Albums list was conceived, and what possessed the writers to put this on it. The album isn't bad by any stretch! Just fairly middle of the road. A stalk of grass among many, cut to exacting length. It's hard for me to get past the production, which seems very, very safe. Which leaves me with questions! Why is this on here? What cultural, historical significance does it have beyond the music? I must be missing context here. It certainly is hard to find in the music.
We are closing out 2022, and it is time I put aside all the old, well-worn prejudices against Green Day that I harbored in high school. The sins of the fans– the many sins of some *particular* fans I knew in high school– are not the sins of the band, and they should not cloud my judgment. At this point, 50 albums in, I am like Spock, a Vulcan reviewer, evaluating albums on pure logic. So utterly removed am I from emotion. So advanced beyond the petty, petty drama from 2007. I have attained escape velocity. The baggage I once came to this record with has all but escaped my mind. I have forgotten it. I am one. With Green Day. To listen to this album is to experience a divergence... a dissonance. On one hand, here I am with all of my prejudice. On the other is a genuinely captivating record. Oozing with ambition, with confidence and vision and rock opera-ness and so many goddamn hits that it seems impossible they're all on this album. The height to which this band climbs on this album is so impossibly high, it's hard to not just gawk at how high up things are. It really feels like a capstone record for a time, and maybe for the genre altogether. The conclusion of something. I think the band should be extremely proud of the record, and they really deserve the praise they get for it. And really... really, I'm over it. I swear. Really. I'm going on two listens. We'll see about 3.
You have to be on a little bit of a sad streak for this album to hit right. Luckily for me, I picked this one up in the late afternoon on the second shortest day of the year, after my girlfriend had just left to go home. So, as the late afternoon crept into a very dark Vermont evening, I put this album on, and it was perfect. A world unto its own.
I mean, man. Tom Waits grew on me. Not on listen one, not even on listen two. My first listen, I was pretty close to repulsed. Such an abrasive voice, it’s easy for it to feel like sandpaper on your ears. But something was telling me that there must be more going on, must be something there. Tom Waits on this record is deep in America’s underbelly. We’re in the deep, dark caverns of depravity along with him, and for someone like me it’s just pure shock and distaste as he pulls you in. Honestly, I was gonna turn it off until I got to “On The Nickel” and I was like wait… this is a genuinely heartbreaking song. So I went on the journey with Tom Waits. And 3 albums in (I listened to the late career, sultry bayou villian-character record Blood Money, as well as the genuinely charismatic Closing Time, with barely a family resemblance to his later self), and… I’m a convert. It’s a fulcrum record, on which Tom Waits is becoming the character, getting drawn into the darkness. And it’s now genuinely captivating. I can’t tell what is the performance art, or where the character ends and the person begins, but I’m enthralled. Consider me a fan.
Definitely a high 3 for me. It’s always hard to get inside the mind of someone hearing this for the first time, and having their world changed. There are aspects of the sound that are just starting to get more progressive, for sure. The guitar tones in particular are starting to sound more biting, the drums more pushed and distorted (at times it feels like they’re literally pushing the recordings as hot as it can go). But for a listener today, this album feels like a point on the drive, a stop before the destination, for both harder music and The Who as a band. Still, I really enjoyed listening, and there are some catchy ones!
Wow, maybe my favorite Christmas album I’ve ever heard? I didn’t just have a good time… I had a Great Time. Phil Spektor in his prime! The Ronnettes with their most Brooklyn accents! Lots of fun sound effects and orchestral stuff. Always fun, never too jaded-commercial, always having-a-good-time-with-it-commercial. I gained a new appreciation for songs I’d heard before, it helped fill out the missing pieces of the puzzle for me with these Christmas songs I’ve no doubt heard in countless shopping experiences. 4 stars! I have been gifted.
I had high hopes coming into this album, as with all my exposures to Bowie from this period. This is late 70s Bowie, however, and it would seem that much of the album was made in the absence of our leading star. At least that’s how it sounds to me on my first few listens. There are so many tracks that are puzzling to me; on the one hand, here are some of the best instruments and production on any Bowie album, with really creative instrument choice, sound design, and arrangements, especially for the period. And almost nothing Brian Eno touches is without merit. That said, it sure sounds like Bowie phoned it in on top of a couple of these instruments after they had been recorded. I keep waiting for Bowie to come through with one of his signature, aching yet effervescent rock star lines. But he’s almost nowhere to be found! And when he does arrive, it’s too little too late. I’ll have to hear the rest of this supposed trilogy, but until then, I am left none to impress. 2/5. This review was translated and dictated by Becca Lipstein. No proofing was done.
Instant conversion experience! A band that, for silly reasons, I never gave the time of day. And then 1001 Albums Generator made me sit down and really listen. And I realized… I already knew half of the songs! And they’re amazing. I just get a great feeling, listening to this album. I’m sure others have some background on this, but one thing that surprised me was the recording quality, for the period. I think this was 1971, and it really sounds like a big upgrade in overall sound quality, compared to rock albums beforehand. The guitars in particular sound perfect. That’s the sound in my head that I hear when I think “guitar.” Just amazing. Going back for my second go-round, driving across the Midwest. Perfect.
I am completely unimpressed by this album. I must be missing something! To me it just sounds really boring. The recordings and arrangements just sound really… square? There’s some interesting sounds, sonically, but overall I feel like I’m being beat over the head repeatedly. The lyrics I tuned into are all pretty corny. I must be missing context! I dunno… maybe all of the ways this album was groundbreaking or original have now been beaten to death. To me, it sounds boring, slow, and square. I don’t think it should be on this list.
Stunning, stunning debut album. An album that feels like it set the tone for an age. A great case of an album that I was super familiar with in high school— I probably played it a few dozen times while driving around— but a retrospective listen only caused me to love to album more. The first half of the album (up to Kids) is just immediately iconic… but the production was what caught my ear! 15 years later and I’m like… something about this sounds so Flaming Lips. And sure enough, it’s Lord High Wizard Dave Fridmann on production! An amazing combo. I feel like listening to this album deeply got me a masterclass in dynamic, full, quirky, Phil Spektor-y wall-of-sound gushiness. I don’t know much about the background on the making of this album, but it sounds like a perfect pairing to me, between the silly, irreverent lyrics and the Phil Spektor-y symphonic sound. I loved it all the way through. I got so many ideas from just listening to the instrumentation. For a debut album? Nothing less than a perfect first ball.
Really enjoyed this one. From track one! Such a perfectly tight sound, subjects, political messages, fun, all those great grooves. I felt like the band was so tight! Listened a few times this weekend. Overall great stuff.
How to review an album like this! Something that’s so self-evidently influential, that it must have inspired every producer within a 15-year timespan afterwards… from Alchemist to No ID to Nujabes to Doom. It’s all there. I get why it’s on the list… it’s very significant. Supposedly it’s the album that got Radiohead to start sampling on OK Computer! It’s kind of the moment when it all crystallizes for hip hop… when sampling really takes on a life of its own, is coming into its own as an art. And I’m really happy that 1001 made me finally sit down and listen to this album… one I always said I’d get around to. It’s also really, really interesting to listen to still. There are things about it that are funny, like the skits (which hip hop is now replete with). There’s sentimentality… I can just picture a younger Nujabes listening to this and the gears start turning. And still, there are aspects of the production that are surprising, or feel like you haven’t heard it copied to death yet. All on an MPC60, which makes the record sound both familiar and yet like sonic unobtanium. It’s the way samples are supposed to sound to so many producers, because this is how they hear it in their heads, but it’s more truly lo-fi than all of that. Inspiring as heck. Even the super dated parts feel fresh on this album. Long live sampling! 4/5.
Didn’t love it, I’ll be honest… and I really tried to get in deeper. Listened a few times on this road trip. You can’t deny his sincerity… I just didn’t quite get onboard.
Had a great time with this record. And now I feel like I understand the British ska scene more, which always seemed opaque to me. The styles on this album run the gamut, but the pervasive feeling of cynicism, feeling trapped, angst is present throughout. But it’s also fun! I just appreciated how deftly this album moves between styles… things feel very urgent and never overwrought. I read that it’s not unlike a live album, and I really get that sense. Great listen!
Okay, I'm definitely warming up to this one. But it was a long road to get there. My first reaction to hearing this album was feeling a little distant from the music. I guess that's a fair way to put it... listening to Elvis' voice has always had the quality to me of viewing an historical artifact behind a glass case. Very much like listening to a broadcast recording of Churchill. You can't help but listen to it and go "oh, that's just Elvis The Historical Figure," and it almost rolls off my ear like it's a museum piece. It doesn't help that– and I'll be honest here– Elvis really hams it up. An amazing performer, no doubt, but you get the sense he could be singing about anything! I'm always wondering who's the man behind the singer, what his internal life must be. Whether he is actually connecting to the words in "In The Ghetto" (written by Mac Davis). Is he really feeling it? Why am I getting the same feeling I get when I hear an audiobook reader recite someone else's book? Where is Elvis in this picture? All that said: This is just a really pleasant album to listen to, and a great example of a crossroads album between the Nashville sound and some soul/ Motown influences. It's just a good mix. Part of me is like, eh, the playing is nice, but have you heard the basslines that James Jamerson is doing on all those Motown records? Really any late-60s Motown record puts this record in stark relief. Especially for 1969... a LOT has happened to develop that sound by then. But the cool thing about this album is that Elvis is doing it, and he's doing it *well.* I need to stop wishing that an album *isn't* this other, better produced album, and just appreciate the moment that we get. And it is a treat that we get to listen to this kind of crossover. 3/5
Here's what I'm here to say. This is absolutely some of the tightest playing I've heard on any funk record period. This is the album that should be referenced as what playing in the pocket sounds like. Everything, from the keys, bass, guitars sound like one machine. And most of it was played by one person! Insane. I'm not getting any of the lyrics on this listen, and they're hidden, darkened, almost like the singer is trying to confess something but is somewhat timid to say. But supposedly the lyrics cast a long cynical shadow on the record. And the dark, dull, supposedly heavily overdubbed recordings add to that flavor... the record feels a little dour, even as it's some of the catchiest and funkiest playing you'll hear. I'm totally onboard. I think it's only a 4 for me because I wish the lyrics took these instrumentals to that next level, and really dug their heels in. But I'm definitely playing this album a bunch more times. It's a weirdly cozy, Sunday afternoon pleasant record to put on, dark as it is, and I'll be putting it on many more times.
At least one star has to be given to them for Scarborough Fair... an unlikely hit if there ever was one, and one that perfectly captures the woody nymphy folk sound of the era. I'm a huge fan of where that genre ends up... I think psychedelic folk might be one of my favorite ever genre for how weird it gets... and this song is definitely in the minds of a lot of artists as they go in that way. The rest of the album is a mix. Homeward Bound and 59th Street Bridge Song perfectly capture the lyricism, the playfulness that I love about Paul Simon's songwriting. Tongue in cheek and then yearning visual, pulls you in. At times I think he's a little too clever for his own good, but what can you say about an English major who soon to become one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. That's the artist's journey. I'd absolutely listen to this a few more times. There's always more to the lyrics to pick up. We're right around the corner from Bookeneds and that's when my ears start to really perk up. But there are some really tender moments on here. Two caterpillars in metamorphosis.
Something about this album just isn’t clicking for me, even after 3 listens over a couple of days. I am not sure if it’s the album’s problem, or mine. I am not counting out CCR… this is just the first time I’ve given them a real, honest listen. There are some guitar parts that feel *awesome*, like they really get you going. The lead singer is selling it on those first two tracks. But I feel pretty distant from this music, like it’s a culture I will always be an outsider to, and I’m craning my neck for some vantage point to get a proper look in, but it’s no use. It all feels a little foreign to me. I think I need another entryway in, and maybe there’s another CCR album that gets me there. For me, 3 stars is “had a good time,” and I’m still standing outside the venue, trying to figure out what the whole thing is about.
I didn't like this record, but I'm holding out that there's something I'm missing. Sign me up for pained, afflicted, sobering, wistful country. Some amount of dirt, or edge there. The songs here feel simultaneously safe and pitying. Nothing goes right for Dwight Yoakam. It's all pain, denial, rejection, affliction. That's a part of the story, of life, yes. To me, it felt like too much of the same note. Maybe this just isn't the time of my life to hear this record. Maybe I need a breakup and a rejection and my best friend dying. Even so, I don't think this is the one I'd reach for. 2/5
Okay before I write anything, just know that I am *for sure* buying this album on vinyl. And it is going at the absolute top, most-easily-accessible place in my future dream record playing room A cooky, campy, proggy symphony if there ever was one. I came into this listen with LOW expectations. A while back, I saw a YouTube vide of Mike Oldfield performing the title track of Tubular bells, and 20 minutes left I was left feeling dizzy, Eurovision-y, a little numb from its sheer length (?), and feeling super unimpressed. Just confused, like... what is this silliness? It felt very indulgent, but the music behind it was so uninteresting, very loop-y. A guitar would come in after 15 minutes and you'd be like, oh wow, something new. And then lost again. I don't know where *that* piece of music is on Mike Oldfield's original Tubular bells from 1973... it seems to be absent. This Tubular Bells is very different. There are high highs and low lows. My high point was probably the growling muppet prog rock in the last third of Tubular Bells Pt.II... so silly. Then there are themes that, no fault of Oldfield, have been completely beat into your brain by every video game composer of the 90s and 2000s. The opening track, while I'm sure was used well in The Exorcist, sounds... kind of lame. We've heard it. But again, there's so little continuity between the vignettes that, at some point, he just pulls the rug on you, and you're off to some other land. Super proggy (especially the second part, which I liked vastly more than the first part), never too serious (I'm thinking of the "And Now... Spanish Guitar!" sections), sometimes genuinely interesting or beautiful. Really a surprise, a grab bag. And recorded in one of the best years for music recordings, so that doesn't hurt either. It's hard to hear it, today, as something groundbreaking, but sounds like it really was. Nowadays, it may be a little unserious, a little silly, medieval, parochial, but... it's one of those one-of-a-kind experiences. Absolutely worth a trip. 4/5 PS: I found the YouTube video that I saw, of a very late 90s Tubular Bells... prepare thine ears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSRJvq4Wd48
An album that I would always look at and say, "oh yeah, I played that a million times in high school." Apparently I didn't have the full one on iTunes, because quite a few of these songs are brand new to me! I know so little about Grizzly Bear's story, but to hear this album up against their first is like seeing boys becoming men. The records on their first project are wandering, searching, somewhat nervous lofi when put up against this album, and I can't help but think that the songwriting is a huge part of that journey. I can't get enough of Daniel Rossen's songwriting... I think he's just a really unique writer, both in tone and in the way his melodies and chords work. The Rossen songs tend to be my favorites, especially when you can feel the band going off the deep end a little, but oh man! That last song "Foreground!" That's an instant favorite for me, and it hits me right in the heart. "Two Weeks" is an obvious giant hit, but it feels a little misplaced on this album, like it's an entirely different band from the one that does "Southern Point" or "Dory." A real mystery of a band! Some of the textures are some of the most beautiful things I've ever heard, other songs feel a little meandering or confused, sort of like their earlier works. It's a little uneven for an album, but I wouldn't want to live in a world where this album didn't exist. 4/5
Wow. I get what all the fuss is about. This is the kind of album that 1001 Albums was made for... an album that you might have some ambient awareness of, that you might think, abstractly, "that sounds like it would be good," but never actually gave it your ears. This is the first time I've ever properly sat with a Led Zeppelin album, and I've gotta say... it was pretty unforgettable. I was taken from basically the first moment of the first song. So many things were clicking for me... Robert Plant's feverish, skrelt-y vocals that immediately recall a half dozen other singers so clearly indebted to his sound, the drums (the drums!!) and how creative the fills were, the inventive ways they're re-interpreting blues records... I really, really got it. It was like a lightbulb moment... ah, so that's why every late 60's band and their mother was trying to make this kind of music. They were all listening to Zeppelin! I was really on the edge between 4 and 5 here. Truth be told, I spent the next several hours mainlining as much of Led Zeppelin's next 3 albums into my ears as I could, and what I heard was... insane! So now I know where the story goes with this band. I know how they rapidly evolve, how some of the best music they ever did is yet to come. But for introducing me (and the world at the time) to such a bold, intense, sexually-charged-guitar-solo sound, I have to give the album high marks for sending me in a tailspin. With so many albums to get through, it's rare to have an instant conversion experience. A well-deserved 5/5
Finally had a breather after a crazy week to review… a funny album. The Streets’ “A Grand Don’t Come For Free.” An album I’m already a little endeared to. Perhaps unreasonably attached. I kept thinking “I’ve heard this before!” But I just couldn’t remember where. I think it was midway though a heavy alt hip hop phase I had. Here’s what I’ll say. It’s an ambitious concept. Some blending of musical theater, lyrical storytelling, multiple characters, etc. And all about such a mundane life and characters, with mundane problems, that it’s pretty funny. I actually like the cheap 2000’s production… you get the sense that the main character is so strapped for cash that he could only afford the absolute cheapest sampler and a Casio keyboard. A few of the songs sound basically unmixed. Something about it kind of works. It’s a pretty unique album because you get the sense this could have almost been cleaned up to be a… musical? Maybe it just wasn’t the right time. With a good editor, maybe broadening the other characters out, I could see it. But I mean, some of the lines are just grating to hear… after a while, are you sympathetic to the main character, or just annoyed at his stupidity? I guess that’s kind of the point. But it doesn’t make you want to return to the album a ton. But yeah, this kind of storytelling is kind of normal for hip hop, you hear some version of this everywhere. Mundane problems, gossip, axes to grind. Which is all really fun if the music grooves. This music is intentionally not tight and almost low effort, which again, fits with the story, but makes it less of a fun listen. I’ll still feel vaguely affectionate to it if it were to come on randomly, but I don’t think I’ll be returning by choice. 2/5
I’m left a little confused by this album. Stylistically it’s all over… and many instrumental records that feel out of place. I’d say the rap… wasn’t bad?… but the songs played for me too close to their genre templates, and didn’t really surprise me. It’s eclectic, but throughout the album I was hoping for more cohesion, more of a reason why.
We’re far enough into 1001 Albums, and I’m hooked enough, that having a mediocre album feels like a genuine bummer. This album was just really boring! There was nothing about it that I really connected with. A while back, I got really deep into early 90s sample CD’s… when sampling had escaped the hardware, and now there were hundreds (!!) of loops available for use on the computer. And boy, it’s some great stuff, but it all sounds so, *so* impossibly 90s. Like, every sound in those early sample CDs made it into every CSI episode, every late night thriller b-movie, ever 90s techno or dance track. This album is nothing but those CDs! I can barely hear anything else, past the super dated sounds and loops. I like those sounds, in a kind of fun endearing nostalgic way, but the compositions here just left me super bored. The ending of the album had a tiny bit more for me to like in it, but everything else is just hard to listen to for very long. And I’m not a listener who hears the lyrics first, by any stretch, but you get the sense that William Orbit actually does not care what lyrics his singers are saying. Hoping for something spicier tomorrow… 1/5
Loved loved loved this album! I thought I had combed over most of the highlights of Tribe and the individual members, but this one must have totally passed me by. This was pure quality. The Norah Jones record was amazing!! D’Angelo feature at the end was so up my alley, like right in the center of my zone. I love q-tip’s delivery, I love the funkiness of the record, I love the BASS PARTS. WHO IS PLAYING THESE BASS PARTS. The sample selection is amazing, harmonically in a totally different zone if it’s own. This is really really great. Sad to have missed this album for so long.
This album is basically impossible to review. I've turned it over a dozen times in my head, in the last week. Did I enjoy listening to it? Almost universally no. Pretty much anything in this corner of pop, anything ABBA-adjacent is baseline annoying to me. But then...! You go into the history behind this record. Madonna's intentions, to make an album about forgiveness, atonement. A reckoning with her Catholic upbringing. The last song ("Act of Contrition,"), with the backwards music, where she realizes all the platitudes, the posturing toward God doesn't get her into heaven. I mean... that's an Extremely Good premise for a record. The parts that are darker, more moody... I like those parts. I like how human Madonna feels on some of these records. I like Prince's guitar playing, I like his duet. Can this record pull itself from under all the cheesy 80's production, all the misguided choices? I am completely unsure. I'm not gonna lie that I thought about this record a lot. Even if it's not to my taste, I have to give Madonna credit... there's a lot of ambition here. 3/5
A brilliant and talented band that very rarely makes any songs I like. You can hear very clearly in this album that their showboating, free-wheeling arrangements are nothing new, and they had been doing this thing for quite some time before Bohemian Rhapsody et al. Killer queen is a song where that kind of energy works brilliantly. Something about it focuses in just the right way, with just the right elements, that it’s infectious. It just works. The rest of the album— with a couple exceptions— just doesn’t work for me. The pacing is too frenetic, there’s a lot of quick switch-ups, effects, guitar solos, but behind some fairly lackluster writing. “Bring Back That Leroy Brown” perfectly illustrates this. There’s barely two bars strung together before an insert, effect, banjo strum, bgv, guitar solo, harpsichord solo, etc. Can you imagine recording that live to tape? The musicianship necessary is next level. But it makes me feel nothing except mild anxiety, and some annoyance. I get that it’s the style, it’s this dinner theater style! But it tires my poor ears. And for what? For an okay song. That’s this album for me.
Revolver is a basically perfect album, by an imperfect, human, but nonetheless a one-in-a-million, band. I mean, what are the freaking odds that two of our greatest songwriters are in the same band? And that they are coming into their own, writing-wise, at exactly the same time, pushing the band in two divergent, competing directions. Lennon’s mystic but somehow cynical, afflicted songs, about the mundane things in life that somehow keep you wanting. McCartney’s way of encapsulating phases of love and living in a small turn of phrase, so earnestly, but from the perspective of the songbird, maybe the muse, looking below on the human condition. And all of this song-y-ness happens in… 2 to 3 minute, experimental, baroque pieces of music that bear more resemblance to Mozart than music today. All while being silly, whimsical, experimental, uncompromising in its quality. On four tracks! It’s actually like going to the Moon. The talent here for everyone involved is just staggering. I’ve given a lot of records from this period 3 stars, 2 stars, because Revolver etc. loom large in my mind. So many records of this time, sonically, sound like the era they’re from… chambers, stringy guitars, wall of sound, tape breaking up. And, well, Revolver actually sounds nothing like that. Totally a product of its time, but outside of it. These focused chamber arrangements, minimal and still whimsical, playful. I can actually hear the limitations of George Martin and the band as they struggle to fit their ideas down into four tiny tracks of tape. But rather than push the tape, they edit the arrangement, obsessively. Condense, break it up. There’s never too much or too little in the production, it’s exactly the right amount. Really impressive to hear. I used to say this was my favorite Beatles record because that’s what everyone always says. Now, with 15 years worth of returning, and having gotten into the actual business of songwriting and production, I can say it’s got to be one of the brightest. Maybe the best example of their songwriting chops in action, George Martin’s budding experimentalism. It’s just tight, there are no misses (okay I never *loved* Dr. Robert), and it’s some of the band members’ best individual efforts. It’s the Beatles as maybe they should be best remembered. 5/5
Am I being too cynical here? I’m imagining Robert Dimery going, “Oh no, we forgot that we need a Latin album in the book… what about the album that won the Latin Grammy last year?” In today’s world, where English-speaking artists are releasing high profile Spanish-speaking collaborations with huge Latin artists and dominating charts, where these artists are not just ascendant, but genuinely groundbreaking… should *this* be one of the few Latin albums on the list? For me, 1 stars means no, it should not. 1/5 I did like the Killer Mike sounding guy though. Not saying the music was unpleasant or even un-fun. But it should not be here.
I liked it! I’m intrigued. I’m eager to hear more from the Doors. Some of the songs give you this offbeat, unsettled feeling. You get the sense that there’s something odd about Jim Morrison. He’s not immediately scannable. Like there’s something brewing under the surface. I’m only getting a quick look with an album that has a couple of standouts, but is mostly a mood. Where do they go next? (No spoilers). 3/5
I must be by far the least knowledgeable of the Bob Dylan reviewers on here. I have always been a “music first, lyrics… eventually?” kind of guy. This is changing. Now I crave music with something to chew on. Meanings superimposed on meanings. Poetry, which gives every shade of grey a sense of contrast, another color. Or turns a sad story into a joke, or a twist of the knife. A sense that things can be more than what they appear to be. And I never feel more like the uncarved block than when I come to Dylan. totally uninformed, but… moldable. There’s just something mythical about his writing, and it makes his stories feel out of time. They are archetypes, but they’re very playful, referential. In a moment he’s serious, and at the next moment the collapses as a joke, or a play on words. I’m entranced. Even in his most irreverent, most referential, whatever… there’s always “something there” with Dylan. The lights are on. You get a sense that there’s another layer you need to unravel, that there’s a reason he’s pointing you to this archetype, that situation. Much to take in. 5/5
I liked it, I had a good time! I heard a vinyl rip of it, as Neil would have wanted. come to think of it, Neil probably doesn’t want me to hear a version of this album that isn’t direct vinyl. Nothing really stood out up re-visiting, but I’m open to putting it on again. His mix of melancholy is always home-y to me. It didn’t have the same effect on me as Harvest. But I had a good time!
A real question… why do I like this so much, and yet similar versions of this style that are only 5-10% different are almost unlistenable to me? What’s the magic that makes this work for me? The first thing that stood out to me was balance… the elements that might seem dated, that otherwise would irk me, always feel properly balanced with other ideas. Something about the breakbeats, drum machines, the lonesome and somewhat desolate vocal, and the string arrangements… it all feels balanced. It just all works really well together. Where other examples of this 90’s dance, breakbeat style don’t hold up to me, this music is well-served by its counterweights. That’s true in the mixing as well… everything sounds very natural, never too slick. Never cheesy. I had a great time listening. It’s also a clear jumping off point for artists today, some of whom are contemporaries. I think this is great, and genuinely feels like it could have been made a decade later and still be intriguing.
Today, in 2023, I am no longer a 12-year old American boy. No longer am I the pimpled king of "Roller Kingdom," scared to death to meet the eyes of my middle school crush in the adjoining Birthday Party Room. Nor do I wait for the 6:45am bus, scribbling frantic answers to a history worksheet– a poor writing surface, those bus seats!– that has small, pitying holes in it from my erasable pen. These facts put me at an extreme, almost disqualifying disadvantage to rate an album like this. A genuine handicap for an album whose influence is foundational to many of my 2000's peers, but in retrospect may only be a good time if you're deep in Angst Mode. I knew kids who picked up guitar because they listened to this CD! The patron saints of Lazer Zones everywhere. In seriousness. I like my Blur, I like my Arctic Monkeys, I like my Strokes. This is hard to get through. Grating. This shouldn't happen, because I know all the songs already. Halfway through, I'm thinking, "Maybe I'm having fun! Maybe I should sneak one of these songs in at my wedding." Alas. Not Enough Fun. A generous 3 might be possible. But I have dutifully deducted a point for the refrain, "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier," sung forty times behind a gospel choir. That line's been bouncing around in my head since the Roller Kingdom Days, and unfortunately, now illuminated by the scribes of Genius, it yields no special magic. 2/5
I mean. It's spectacular. Ambitious. An artist who took the idea of "concept album" and ran so hard his legs fell off. Insane to think that he wanted to do one of these for each of the 50 States. It's too long! But... damn. Small sacrifice for such a complete work.
Four years after hearing this for the first time, this is an album is the one that stuck like glue on me. Far, far away from cynical land, commercial land, cool land, exists this child-like id this so so beautiful, so unconfined, so premature… but always with a hint of sadness. The big-ness of the world as seen through the eyes of a child in the backseat of the car, whose seemingly incoherent babbling may at first be inscrutable to the adults, until realizing that— hold on— what exactly is he saying? Maybe… there’s something profound he’s getting at? Out of nowhere, the words: “I stood up and I said YEAH,” you immediately understand. That’s The Flaming Lips. Also, laying my cards out. I realized this year that I’ve been a Dave Fridmann acolyte my whole life, as a producer. And I had no idea. It’s because this album’s production DNA is stamped on so many follow-up indie records for the next 20 years. By now, it’s been somewhat codified, figured out. But there’s something so wild and untamed about the arrangements that use Disney-sounding orchestration on some 90’s synth patches, butting up against some really hard, intense shimmery synth jam. The rapid switch-ups, the wall-of-sound big-ness, the kid instruments. By now I have you figured out, Dave Fridmann. But this is a version of The Flaming Lips that isn’t fully figured out, so it’s more raw, more unpolished, than Fridmann’s later work. And I like it more. PS: if nobody’s told you this, go listen to the Live At Red Rocks version of this album, with the full orchestra and choir. You’ll be glad you did. 5/5