Easily my favorite WS album. At the turn of the century, they were the stripped down simplicity that the aging 90s “alternative scene needed! If you agree, I can tell we are gonna be friends…
Sly & the Family always get me in the groove. This album is slower & darker than their other earlier albums, but sometimes you need this! And so many parts of this has been sampled and covered.
So fun! P-Funk is the obvious bridge from early R&B and Rock n roll, soul, James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, etc to early hip-hop— & especially Snoop Dogg. I always forget I know all these songs, in the original, & in all the samples.
Poor production:Tinny, almost no low end, so you only hear the slap on the percussion, the top of the vocal range, the high horn, guitar, keys notes; it sounds like I’m listening to this on cheap headphones someone took out of their ear to talk to me.
It distracts from the actual music, which seems like I’d like more, but it’s hard to say bc this is my first listen
A good, mellow, slightly… blue album. Good, but I gotta be in the mood…
I once heard Marvin Gaye’s voice described as “silk rubbing on satin”, & I don’t think I can top that.
So fun. The seemingly robotic sounds are hypnotic
So much of my taste in hip-hop comes from NYC-based 80s & 90s crews. You can hear Gang Starr’s style’s influence in later stuff too… I forgot how much I liked these guys when this was new. It was great to be reminded!
Actually a 3.5. It’s fun and you can hear what comes later, and , with The Beach Boys…
Wow! How have I never heard these guys before?! This is going in rotation, stat! So many good sounds: driving rhythms, sound fx, textured vocals…
Something about this album, one that I know all the songs bc it has been a classic rock staple for nearly half a century… bugs me. It’s goofy. Not terrible. & all the songs sound pretty much the same. & it seems that they are making songs that combine stuff earlier artists that came before, yet did it all better: Queen, The Who, Black Sabbath; & became the “corporate rock”/arena rock template for the 70s-early 90s. It’s like the music the younger brothers of all the pre-1975 bands made an album, & its core audience are people who were 20-25 in 1976. Underwhelming despite their technical virtuosity…
Basically it’s music for people who prefer Jefferson Starship to Jefferson Airplane
Growing up in LA & its 80-90s punk/alternative scene, this is a foundational band for me… they have an edge, an urgency, (“We’re Desperate, get used to it!” Amirite?!) to them, unlike some of the middling bands on the list that sold way more records (Steely Dan, Coldplay, Boston), the sort of edge Rock ‘n’ roll always was supposed to have going back to Chuck Berry (who’s obviously an influence on Billy Zoom) & Little Richard (influenced Exene & to a lesser degree John Doe)… plus as Anthony Kiedis once said John Doe’s “voice is made of gold…”
Whenever I listen to X I think about “Decline of Western Civilization”’s performances by the band, or where they’re drunk & Exene gives herself a homemade tattoo… those other bands above would never do those things… nor would they make music like this.
Sometimes you just need to hear a sweet voice simply accompanied by a guitar
I remember when this came out, my first semester of college. I was really into it. Even though I was a bigger fan of Mould’s Hüsker Dü, this was one of many great “alternative albums that dropped between 91-97 or so, where a lot of underground acts from the previous 20 years got their day in the sun., & it’s easy for so many of them to get lost in the shuffle. So happy it’s back in…
I remember watching the movie & knowing Air did the soundtrack, thinking it’s so very dreamy, so very “Air”… it’s still that dreamy sound today…
I’ve always found this album interesting. I can tell how it influenced many post-punk bands that came after…
So much of what Michael Franti raps about starting even from the first song is mostly still true today… instead of television you can say social media or substitute, new wars, or economic situation or countries, but nothing has changed in 30 years. Except Michael Franti this band always seemed like the transition band Franti had between the Beatnigs & Spearhead as well as his solo work. But I remember when I bought this album when it came out, thinking how revolutionary it sounded to me go now I know the more things change the more they stay the same.
I was born into a house with Neil Young records in, played often. But as a teenager, it took time for me to connect the guy on “Mr Soul”, “Helpless”, & “Cinnamon Girl” was the same rowdy, defiant, & funny guy in “This Note’s For You”, “Rockin’ In The Free World”, “Fuckin’ Up”. He was probably the only 60s icon who was still relevant deep into the 90s, save for David Bowie.
Flea once wrote that his test for career decisions was to ask himself “Would Neil Young do it?” & if the answer was “Fuck no!” The we should run the other way. Joe Rogan would do well to consider that test…
This album is not my favorite NY album, or even top 5 Young records, but when NY & Crazy Horse get going, you realize they have to compete with his nearly 6 decades of music back to his first band with —Rick James, bitch! It’s still great!
This is NY & CH in all their ragged glory.
This is probably one of my most listened to albums ever. I wasn’t that into DM until I saw them at the Rose Bowl on this tour (my 1st concert) w/ Wire, Thomas Dolby, & OMD. A few friends went along, and I ran into others I had no idea were going. Back then DM was largely an underground band. But then they got bigger and bigger, & it seemed they were always on the radio, everyone around my had this album & their next (“Violator”). This is one of the pinnacles of 80s New Wave/Electronic music. It’s Still great!
I saw this band in the mid-90s when they played a small club with my friends’ band. I remember we all confused by them. They showed up late for their performance, dressed shabbily, yet they seemed to have brought very “Hollywood”-looking groupies, expensive equipment (which they could play very well, like Steely Dan, also on this list, though SoaD is more interesting), but were just doing an extended version of The Pixies/Nirvana soft-loud-soft format, w/random freak outs. Then I was always mildly turned off my their MTV/radio singles… This band has no swing, no groove. Fine. But listening to an hourlong freak out only goes so far. They just do the dynamics, then write semi-literate lyrics, but the outburst & operatic vocals that make no sense (“Don’t you ever want to know whfhwirjrirjejrhehejrjyyy!!!?”). To me they just compressed what a lot of other bands did better before: Queen, The Pixies, Nirvana, Slayer(they even crafted their name to be closer to their heroes in record shops), Butthole Surfers, Faith No More, Mr Bungle… the slapped a “Nü Metal” sticker on it. However we’ll-intentioned they may have been, they always seemed like they were largely a creation of the post-Nirvana 90s corporate ATM, so they crafted themselves into what they thought would be “next”. Boring, seen it before. Nobody really tries to sound like these guys bc they sound like others. Sure Serj Tankian has good takes on stuff & good charity work… but his band mostly appeals to chaotic, real life, grown up, Beavis & Buttheads who drive raised trucks, wear “no pain no gain” tshirts to the gym (“Bro do you even lift?), & become cops who rack up brutality complaints before the city settles & transfers them to some other unwitting city to wreak havoc… all in all not terrible, but I won’t be running back to listen anytime soon.
“Don’t You Want Me” is definitely a founding 1980s New Wave single, and it’s hard to remember a time in my life when I didn’t know the song. The rest of this album is interesting and sometimes good, but other than the single/last song, most of the songs feel incomplete. New Wave developed quickly after albums like this, and you can hear how it influenced later electronic music… but I wanted a little more…
A good classic rock album, great opening song. The biggest issue I’ve had with Aerosmith records is they only have a couple great tracks on each album at most. (Though usually no bad ones) I won’t turn this album off, but I’d rather listen to their greatest hits. And there’s no denying their long lasting influence, not just in rock, but when Run-DMC covered “Walk This Way” & Aerosmith worked with them, it changed the way most people listen to music…
And even though some of the rapping on this album is actually pretty good, I think this album plays better as back on music when you want something for hip-hop background music. A lot of hip-hop today just doesn’t compare to how good it was in the 90s also a little aside, “killing me softly with his song“ is a cover, but the Fugees and others like Roberta Flack always saying it as if the song was metaphorical just like the “killing”. But the original was actually about the songwriter seen the singer Don McLean and she didn’t really know who he was at the club and one of the songs just killed her and she wrote the song on a napkin so it’s literally about the song, she thought he was singing only for her and she didn’t expect it, though it gets re-interpreted as a metaphorical way a Man loves a woman. It’s just shows how good art can be reinterpreted.
The song is also a great example of how professionals in any corporate industry will steal from artists. The original songwriter, Lori Lieberman, was never given writing credit, the actual person who was “killed softly” by McLean’s song, and she didn’t get songwriting credit/pay for Flack’s nor the Fugees’s versions, both which went to #1 on various charts & won Grammies.
Though I have known “Take On Me” since it first came out all those years ago, I don’t know if I have ever heard this album before! It’s actually quite good. I would probably be more into it if I hand been listening to it these past 38 years. I will definitely be listening again.
I have a weird relationship with this album. Simon w/ & w/o Garfunkel were in heavy rotation in my mom’s record collection. And There are plenty of good things about this record, but many that have also bugged me, both at the time, & now even more so. The melodies & harmonies are good, but the production is weird and sounds very dated even when compared to other albums from the same year or the 1980s in general. Simon has always been a good songwriter, and he enlists other musicians who one wouldn’t think he’d use, like the Apartheid embargoed South African musicians, or Los Lobos. And the production & arrangements are filled with weird choices. On “Diamonds…” Simon sings a weird call-and-response w/ the SA singers, but he sings BOTH parts & his voice is louder than the responders, stepping on their harmonies. Theres obviously tons of compression on everything. Then there’s the soooo 80s gated drum production that was already going passé by 1986, especially the once ever present gated reverb. The 80s gated reverb was accidentally discovered by Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, & Gabriel’s production team while recording PG’s 3rd album. And while the Gabriel tracks that have these techniques, use of South Africans, or other arrangement decisions on tracks like “Intruder” (where gated reverb began), “Games Without Frontiers”, “Shock The Monkey” (THAT’S HOW YOU USE GR!), or “Biko” still sound innovative, Simon’s album just often sounds dated & unintentionally disjointed. And the latter PG track was actually banned in SA for taking on Apartheid by letting us in the global North & West about Steve Biko’s murder, whereas the wealthy Simon just broke the international sanctions meant to stop Apartheid because… I just feel like it? “Graceland” didn’t speed up its fall. And Gabriel & Talking Heads were using more traditional African musicians & influences w/o running the embargo. And they were six years ahead of Simon. You know who else went contrary to the embargo? Ronald Reagan. Not good company for a 60s counterculture guy like Simon.
And Simon was later accused credibly by musicians of plagiarism, ie Los Lobos. But notice, Simon didn’t sue for defamation, and LL’s Steve Berlin said Simon gave him a rich guy’s fuck you à la Donald Trump “So sue me.” And though I think Chevy Chase, (who is in the “You Can Call Me Al” video) is funny he’s well known to be a prick and Bill Murray’s insult to Chase in a fist fight “Medium Talent!” Seems to fit Simon at this point in his career. So the good parts get this to a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ but the downsides make me not want to give it anything more. I don’t listen to this and I’d go back further in Simon’s catalogue to listen to him. In the end this is an talented aging boomer hippy sellout’s protest album attempting to remain relevant by screwing over some musicians while pretending to care about social issues while actively resisting measures to fix those said issues. And this was a very popular album. But in the mid-80s popularity was a sure sign you’re probably sucking the corporate cock — see Kurt Cobain’s response to popularity five years later. And did Simon actually do anything memorable after this? No.
I remember reading reviews of this album when it came out. They mentioned Morissette was on “You Can’t Do That On Television” and I was certain she was a corporate “alternative” plant. But the songs were catch and “You Outta Know” was a bit dirty. Her songs were everywhere that year. So I avoided listening on my own. But later I heard her explain that the lead single was written about her ex, “Full House”’s Dave Coulier, and the song and album became more interesting. Now these years later I appreciate how this was Morissette’s album to attempt to break away from her corporate handlers. Sometimes you need to rid the songs of (perceived) baggage and add time and listen again… it’s a good record.
Eminem has always been a problem for me. Sometimes his songs, lyrics, attitude are refreshing, insightful, and fun: eg “Stan” & even “Kill You”. Others are just confusing and/or plain terrible, especially every single one of the skits. “Kill You” is obvious satire but the misogynistic “Kim”, even after all these years & apologetics sounds like MM is just seconds away from domestic violence. And the homophobia across the board, most especially in the Insane Clown Posse dis skit “Ken Kaniff”, which he even mentions elsewhere on the album that he knows it’s there but seems to indicate he places the interpretation all on us the listeners… well if that’s true, then I think he’s just a poseur… but see, I don’t. I think MM is complicated and angry. And supremely talented. Yet I also think he shirks responsibility for his words & art. He knows people are affected by him & his work, like in the partially introspective & socially conscious “Stan”, but he shows the supreme asocial to antisocial tendency that our crass post-Reagan world seems to require “I’m only responsible for me & mine”. It’s adolescent, immature. Eminem loves that he is noticed and people love him and usually has a great sense of humor, but he only knows how to handle criticism by lashing out. So even with all the good parts, Eminem’s records always leave his infectious bitter taste in my mouth afterward.
Somehow, 29 years later, this album still sounds disruptive, innovative, urgent, & transgressive. I have a hard time imagining any relatively mainstream artist who could do something like this today. If they could I’d love to hear it. And yes, in 1994, NIN was mainstream, after the first Lollapalooza tour, and heavy airplay of the “Broken” EP & its videos on mainstream radio & MTV over the previous 2 years. This album also has transcended multiple generations as Johnny Cash’s final hit is a cover of this album’s closing song—which is great in its own right. Nothing released in 1965 still sounded so groundbreaking in 1994 as listening to this in 2023 sounds compared to what’s being released today.
It’s interesting that this album comes right before Alice In Chains’s “Dirt”. And while AIC isn’t my favorite “grunge” band from the 1990s, it does provide a good counterpoint to the thrash provided by Anthrax here. Whenever any artist pushes too hard to be a specific genre, it becomes almost a caricature. Anthrax is a good thrash band, and can really play the shit out of their instruments. Yet like so many post-Ozzy leaving Sabbath bands, they try to be soooo metal. What you end up with is weird arrangement choices, like operatic singing in a part of your song that doesn’t really fit the lyrics. Or why did you include that slow & somber acoustic solo at the beginning of that very thrash song? To show you could really play? Uh, ok… and it’s not like these guys don’t know how to stretch into other genres. Their work w/ Public Enemy while covering “Bring The Noise” where drummer Scott Ian does a good job rapping a couple verses of the song. And I personally have seen Ian at shows for bands like Fishbone & Fugazi. But they gotta be metal I guess… maybe bc I’ve noticed this sort of thing, it’s what made “Metalocalypse” my favorite cartoon. “That’s not metal!” “Heavier!”
Sometimes I want to listen to thrash, maybe even this album, but I go in remembering it is what rock ‘n’ roll sounds like when you go heavy and fast yet strip almost anything that ties the rock to its blues roots. Grunge does the same thing, but keeps its relationship with the blues. You can hear it listing to AIC’s & Anthrax albums back to back. The thrash just sound fairly devoid of emotional content & context.
Alice In Chains isn’t my favorite grunge era band. But this is their best album, with arguably their 2nd best song “Rooster”, & also their best overall, this album’s closer “Would?”
Like I wrote in the Anthrax review, grunge (especially the way AIC plays it) has many similar qualities as the metal of the era. But grunge keeps its blues roots and the music is more emotionally appealing. Because this album is dark as shit. It sings of death & specifically about heroin which would derail the band in the late 90s & then kill Layne Staley within 8 years. The lyrical themes on the Anthrax album aren’t exactly the same, but they want to play music that is dark, heavy, but it just doesn’t cut it. And sometimes I just can’t listen to AIC, but even if I don’t want to hear them, I still get more imagery and emotional rush from this album than from any Anthrax record.
For me, the Rolling Stones really only have three great albums: “Let It Bleed”, “Exile on Main Street“, and “Sticky Fingers“. Every other album to me seems to have a few Klunkerz on it especially the early albums and stuff made after about 1982, but not this one it’s great.
It’s always interesting to hear how people from other countries have interpreted and created new versions of American style music. Such as the manic minimalist hip-hop of Dizzee Rascal. Remember hearing this when it came out but I feel the same about it now as I did then which is I need to be in the mood for it and I I have to be in the mood to 70 something rather chaotic because there’s not much melodic in this. So there is some fun. This is not something I would listen to on repeat it’s something every couple years.
I remember when this came out and I just started college. It definitely change the way most people listen to hip-hop and think about it and it’s what essentially catapulted Snoop Dogg to be a star it’s not perfect up especially the homophobic and misogynistic stuff that was all over hip-hop in the late 80s and into the 90s. But so many songs are still listenable and fun.
I can’t believe anyone actually likes this crap! The production is just weird so that you can hear every little extra note different every little thing. They or actually one of them did the production. They can’t seem to sign. Are they a classical music outfit a Joseph it flirting with rock ‘n’ roll it just doesn’t make any sense. There are too many notes. There’s no space in the music. I looked it up. I can’t even believe it is sold half a million copies of the United States. These guys are performers that are not good songwriters and they just like showing off I can’t in 1 million years. Imagine that anyone put this album on and it takes them away to another place. It’s just annoying and I didn’t anticipate it being this bad.
Amy Winehouse definitely had an amazing voice and some of the songs on this album are definitely the sort of things you turn off when they come on a playlist or random shuffle or on the radio even… But summer songs seem kind of tired and over stylized while trying to make some sound temporary. Too bad her life of pets short perhaps she have even more gray albums in the future ravenous fairly good one..
This is surprisingly a great album. I always like some of Alice Cooper songs room to go to listen to this album all the way through, though I’m obviously heard several of these songs because they were hit singles all in all a great band… Even though the man Alice Cooper has terrible politics. He knows how to play a rock ‘n’ roll band and put one together.
Big, he was a great rapper great lyricist no I’m not always impressed with the production which seems to favor the music over his rapping… I don’t every case on this album but in some of the cases and surprising in hindsight. But overall great hip-hop album.
I had heard his name before but this is the first time I listen to anything by Jean Clark. It’s a good little album and you can hear Bob Dylan’s obvious influence on him and so many Singer songwriters in the late 60s and into the 1970s just like this album.
