Meditative, exploratory, hypnotic. Warm and fuzzy, cold and brittle. A universe of music. Animal Collective took a lot from these guys, especially their patience. Never heard this band before, look forward to learning a lot more about them.
Not all 5s are created equal. Is this really as good as To Pimp a Butterfly? Should this really be in the same category as Bringing It All Back Home? I don’t really know, but I do know I had a hell of a good time listening to this. The best of gangsta rap meets some of the catchiest pop rap ever. The Dr. Dre-led production is damn-near immaculate. Perfectly crafted beats, absolute ear worms. Is 50 the greatest lyrical talent? No, but he doesn’t need to be. His street stories, bravado, and charisma make him an unbeatable rapper for this era of hip-hop. And the hooks! This thing is an hour long and I kept waiting for a bad song. Never came. Every song here is good to great. An all-timer for hip-hop. The influence of this record still echoes throughout hip-hop today.
Came way way more impressed than I expected. It’s rock, it’s pop, it’s synthy as hell. A lot of rock bands in the 80s did the synth thing in really tasteless ways. This is well done, a great fusion of rock guitar and rhythm section with synth heavy pop. Melodies are creative and sticky, but this would be a 5 if more songs experimented like “The Chauffeur.”
You know when you go to a museum and stand in front of a gigantic Romantic painting and gawk at the immense detail and wonder how a human being could create something so immense and detailed and overwhelming? That’s what listening to this album is like.
So much more textured and warm than Kid A. Subtle; rewards deep listening. Rich with inventive melodies and delicious tension. Reminds you Radiohead is actually a good band despite being memed to death.
Sgt who? Pet what? Peak psychedelic pop. Psychedelia achieved by reaching into music’s past - a time-traveling, genre bending pop explosion. Inventive melodies and chord changes you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. A beautiful work.
I respect what this band brings to the table. There’s a lot of good playing here, theatrical vocals, unique orchestration, winding sonic passageways. But it’s just fine. It doesn’t knock my socks off or keep my attention as much as other prog classics.
Old school meets new school. The link between Public Enemy and Kanye. Pristine beats. Need deeper listening to catch all the lyrics, but surgical rhyming and fantastic flows. Just a really good rap album. Grooves for days.
I don’t even know man. So much here is just aggressively mediocre. “How Do You Sleep” is a diamond in rough. “Oh baby” and “emotional haircut” are pretty good. The rest just doesn’t do it for me. It’s all arranged very well and sounds nice. James Murphy is typically a god-tier track builder. But everything save HDYS doesn’t hit the highs of any of his previous work. Way too long, too many bland sections. Feels like a really sanitized version of all of his punk and electronic influences. Nevertheless, I found myself grooving to a few of these tunes, and the musicianship is undeniable.
This album is the start of like 85% of the cool shit that happened in rock music after 1971. Guitar tone is absolute fire. The raw, back-to-basics sound is filled out with some uniquely odd backing vocals and instrumental flourishes. It’s a fun record. I don’t love every song (Cosmic dancer…) but most every track is a good time.
Relish every chance I get to listen to this album. Just completely, utterly iconic. Every song is perfect in its own way, every single one. The beauty of this album is that the first half just sounds like cluttered noise until you wrap your ahead around the fact that these guys are absolutely killing these tracks. Loose, frenetic, jammy as hell. And Bob over the top shouting some of the most beautiful, esoteric bullshit you’ve ever heard. The second half are Dylan’s 4 best acoustic songs bar none. Crushing, gorgeous, haunting. A 10/10 if there ever was one. And only the 2nd best Dylan album ever.
Pleasant art-pop, singer-songwriter type album. The piano playing is pretty phenomenal throughout. Vocals took some warming up too but she sings very well obviously. Lyrically unique, visceral and surreal. “Me and a Gun” is just harrowing. Most of this album doesn’t really do much for me but I understand why this would knock some people’s socks off.
Godly music. Spitfire improv over some of the gnarliest grooves ever concocted. Essential listening for every human being.
On paper, I should love this. But I had a hard time getting through it. Every instinct this record has goes against my own. I might enjoy the guitar lines if they were tighter and less out of tune. I might like the vocals if the default delivery wasn’t a half-sung/half-screamed caterwaul. I might enjoy some of these songs if the first riff wasn’t repeated ad nauseam without variation. What’s a guy gotta do to get a good hook around here? And if I’m supposed to stick around for the lyrics, why is the music so unrelentingly bland? It’s kinda punk, it’s kinda dance, it’s kinda pop, yet it’s not enough of any of these things. At its worst, it’s the most sterile kind of punk/dance/pop. Heard this done better, no need to return to it. I listened to 2 minutes of Bikini Kill afterwards to compare and it’s no contest. Listen to Bikini Kill.
Couldn’t wait for this to be over. Country without any heart. Folk without any passion. Rock without any bite. Lynyrd Skynyrd without any sense of fun. The Grateful Drag. Credence Clearwater Revulsion. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Yuck. Should I keep going? Eagles suck man.
A magical little record. “Cosmic music” is spot on. Both halves are chock full of interesting ideas and transportive passages, albeit in be very different ways. Worthy of some repeat listening.
Quite an eclectic rock record. Prefer the heavier, jammier portions. Not big on his voice. Interesting listen, glad I gave it a spin, but nothing that blew me away.
I think maybe I get electronic music now? This thing is alive. Morphing, molting, evolving before your very eyes/ears. A massive collection of music that never once drags. A gargantuan feat.
Inject this shit right into my veins. Little Richard as an artist is a 5/5. Unbelievable performer. Hugely influential for me. How a human being sings like that is beyond me. The rough production only adds to the raw, fiery power of these tracks. I can’t say the album itself as a piece of work is a perfect 5/5, but this music deserves a place amongst the greats.
28 exceptional minutes of music. Mesmerizing, gorgeous, but also hooky in very unique ways. The way he composes is unlike anyone else. Man and guitar fused, sounding like an orchestra.
First of all, Sabbath rules. There are 4 essential Sabbath tracks here (Wheels of Confusion, Tomorrow’s Dream, Supernaut, and Snowblind). These are behemoths, metallic marvels. The rest is not bad. Decent fun with some instrumental experiments thrown in. I’m really not that jazzed about Changes. Classic Ozzy track but not really Sabbath’s forte. There are more complete Sabbath records, but you can’t go wrong with this one.
Hearing this album in 1990 must have been wild. Production is usually on-point, Ice Cube is charismatic as hell, and there are some genuinely harrowing, darkly comedic tales on this thing. It’s an important record with themes that still resonate today. But in a post-TPAB world, this just feels outdated. No part of this blew me away, other than maybe the song about Ice Cube wanting to murder a pregnant woman so he wouldn’t have to pay child support. That blew me away, but not in a good way.
Duane speaks the gospel truth through his guitar like few can, and the rest of the band ain’t too shabby either. I like the Allmans, and live Allmans is the best way to hear them. But for some reason the jams just never really “get there” for me. It’s a lot of fun, it sounds great, but the improv never hits the next level like the Dead/Phish/any number of jazz acts can. Still great, top-notch musicianship, and the song writing/song interpretation is good too.
Pains me to rate Amy so low but this is not good. First couple songs were not bad but then this thing just drags. Production is repetitive and bland, songwriting is nothing to write home about. The only redeeming quality here is Amy’s voice, which is one of the best of the 21st century. Back to Black is WAY better.
Really good hard bop. The playing is exciting, but the hero here is the composition. Monk writes a set of inventive, out-of-the-box tunes that are a blast to spend time with. I prefer my jazz a little more out there or a little groovier, but this was almost as good as some of my favorites.
The playing is obviously top notch, and these tango meets jazz meets classical compositions are cool and all. But I just can’t get down with vibes and accordion as lead instruments. I’ve heard better jazz, I’ve heard better classical. But ain’t nothing really wrong with this.
Is this good? I mean, not really. It’s fine. Repetitive and vocals are sometimes cringe. Beats are usually well put-together but kinda sounds like a mall soundtrack, or music for a bad racing video game. Do I want to hear this again? No, but I wouldn’t be upset if I did.
In theory, I should love this thing. I just don’t connect with it. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Just not my thing. Certainly doesn’t hold a candle to Room on Fire (the best early aughts rock record). But “Date With The Night” will always rip, and “Maps” is god-tier indie rock. Wish the rest was as good as those two.
Roundabout is a goofy song. There, I said it. But I think I’ve finally come around to this one. I’m a Close to the Edge diehard, but this quirky little record is worming its way into my heart. My tepid response to Roundabout has been holding me back from enjoying this album. South Side of the Sky is that shit. All the short solo pieces contrast beautifully with the group numbers. Yes’ brilliance is rooted in the fact that it’s 5 virtuosos pushing each other to higher and higher peaks. Fragile lays out that competition plainly for all to see. And when they choose to cooperate, the results are transcendent.
Came way way more impressed than I expected. It’s rock, it’s pop, it’s synthy as hell. A lot of rock bands in the 80s did the synth thing in really tasteless ways. This is well done, a great fusion of rock guitar and rhythm section with synth heavy pop. Melodies are creative and sticky, but this would be a 5 if more songs experimented like “The Chauffeur.”
Some of the worst of 2000s indie rock. This is The Lumineers for people who think they are too cool for The Lumineers. Bad art masquerading as good art. Go find something else, really anything else to listen to. You ain’t missing anything here.
Pleasant enough, but nothing really stood out to me. Blend of grunge, alt rock, and psych rock is a good idea, but the execution should be more memorable than this. Wouldn’t be upset if one of these songs came on, but I’m not reaching for this one on my own again.
Eh — just not my kind of punk. Nothing that stuck in my head, nothing that made me wanna punch something, nothing that blew me away musically.
Meditative, exploratory, hypnotic. Warm and fuzzy, cold and brittle. A universe of music. Animal Collective took a lot from these guys, especially their patience. Never heard this band before, look forward to learning a lot more about them.
Grooves for days. A hell of a lot of fun. Crazysexycool is more than a title, it’s an ideal state of being, and a unifying concept for the record. Most songs hit the mark in peeling back the layers of crazysexycoolism. Some of the lyrics leave something to be desired, and some of the songs don’t feel as essential as others. But this is a landmark album for hip-hop and R&B, and it still holds up.
80s/early 90s rap is tough man. It’s like 50s rock n roll. I can appreciate that it had a big effect on the public and paved the way for the genre, but it sounds so dated now. This record is supremely dated. Beats, flows, lyrics, wordplay, all dated as hell. It doesn’t offend my senses, but I’d never choose to listen to this again.
Not all 5s are created equal. Is this really as good as To Pimp a Butterfly? Should this really be in the same category as Bringing It All Back Home? I don’t really know, but I do know I had a hell of a good time listening to this. The best of gangsta rap meets some of the catchiest pop rap ever. The Dr. Dre-led production is damn-near immaculate. Perfectly crafted beats, absolute ear worms. Is 50 the greatest lyrical talent? No, but he doesn’t need to be. His street stories, bravado, and charisma make him an unbeatable rapper for this era of hip-hop. And the hooks! This thing is an hour long and I kept waiting for a bad song. Never came. Every song here is good to great. An all-timer for hip-hop. The influence of this record still echoes throughout hip-hop today.
This one really grew on me. I was ready to give it a 2 after the first song but it hooked me by track 3 with some of the punkier stuff. I’m still not totally sold on the sonic schmear that is shoegaze, but I think I get it now. Big broad brush strokes. I wish the vocals were higher in the mix but I know that’s their thing. Looking forward to digging into this more.