My first user submitted album. I was pleasantly surprised. Good songwriting, nice instrumentation. Some of the tunes blend into each other i.e. tracks that are similar to one another. That said, the end of the record pushed it over the line to a four for me. The cover of "Sweet Thing" is nice and weird, and "Endless Supply of Poison" had great energy.
(Oddly those are on the 2 CD version only, which is the one that Spotify streamed to me... so it's possible if I only listened to the original album, it might have gotten a three.)
I had low expectations, having been told by several folks online that the user submitted albums are a really mixed bag. That said, I liked this. It reminds me a bit of Icehouse aka Flowers i.e. a modern pop sound.
Some of the tunes on this album are reminiscent of 60s doo-wop but modernized. I liked some of the instrumentation and her vocals are evocative, but that said, I didn't find this relevatory or particularly inspired or unique.
I'm generally a big fan of the band and have vinyl of "Angst in my Pants" and "Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat" in my garage.
I was a little surprised to see "Kimono My House" on the 1001 as I didn't think that was as strong as some of the other records... particularly this one.
I love Giorgio Moroder and particularly his work with Donna Summer. I think this record has some comparisons with the Brian Eno / Talking Heads or Brian Eno / David Bowie records. It's fantastic when a great producer works with an incredibly talented artist and the two together make something that neither could ever have made without the other.
Really awesome user submitted album!
The first track left me a bit concerned... this is my third user album, and I was like "OK, here comes some of the endless parade of metal that I've been warned about". Well, some of the other tracks were pretty surprising. I don't know if I'd choose to listen to this record again, but it certainly had some interesting melodic passages.
"Lady Marmalade" is a stone cold banger.
That said, one stone cold banger doesn't make a great album.
The instrumentation is interesting and I like a good horn section. The vocals and harmonies are good too.
I just wish this record had one more tune that was anywhere near the caliber of the leadoff track!
It's interesting, each time I listen to TOOL I end up realizing I should listen to more TOOL.
I hadn't listened to this album in quite some time, being tied up with the 1001 LOL, but am glad this is part of the user submitted albums.
TOOL are a great example of how metal can have interesting music, instrumentation, vocals, and lyrics, and still be quite heavy!
I laughed out loud when I heard the first track from this user submitted album. My brother in law had encouraged my wife and I to watch this artist on a major streaming platform. We went into it with no preconceived notions, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had no idea there was a corresponding album.
Very witty lyrics, sometimes insightful, sometimes banal, sometimes ridiculously banal to the point that they seem possibly super insightful, or perhaps not. Total ripoff of every major music style, more or less, but played with panache and vigor.
Super fun. Thanks for putting this in front of me again.
I went back and forth on this a bit. It felt a bit tongue in cheek at times, a bit too earnest and cultural appropriation in places... so somewhat difficult to rate.
That said, my rating scheme is that if something is decently well put together and shows competence, it's a three, and if I'm likely to want to listen to it again, it should get a four. I wavered back and forth as I went through my initial listen, but ultimately, felt there was enough there to warrant further listening... hence a four rating, but barely.
I enjoyed listening to this record but their first album was played constantly by me at the time, and maybe it's just bias, but I didn't think this record rose to the level of the debut album.
That said, it's a concise record and I thought it was all solid, not a mix of killer and filler.
I could have gone either way with a three or a four but generally when I am unsure I tend to be generous with my ratings.
The only track on this album that really made it into the broad consciousness is "Uncle Albert", but overall the album is quite good, better than I expected.
I really like Wings, and this has some of the same elements, just stripped down a bit.
This reminds me a lot of Robyn Hitchcock and the Soft Boys.
That said, I'd rather listen to Robyn than this. The songs have a lot of similarity to each other, in terms of structure, instrumentation and vocal harmonies.
I do appreciate that the album is relatively brief. There's nothing more frustrating than one hour and fifteen minutes with seventeen songs or something and there are only four or five good musical ideas across the entire album!
Certainly worth the initial listen.
As the album started, I was not getting a great vibe from the first few tracks. The vocalist seemed a bit affected in the delivery, and the songs felt a bit same same, not a lot of variety in the style.
I'm glad I stuck with it. It got quite a bit more interesting about a third of the way through, much more range, different instrumentation, some harmonies that were cool.
The five star scale is limiting, but generally I give a four to anything I think I want to listen to again, and so I'll give this four stars.
It's interesting, these guys came along so late for me in my own personal musical journey that I've never been able to take them seriously.
I generally like this style of music and had they come around earlier I might have been a big fan. As it is, my general feeling is that they are a bit of a caricature, play acting at being edgy post punk, when most of it is an act to sell records.
That said, it's not bad, and "Time of Your Life" is a really catchy tune.
This didn't do much for me.
I went into this with no expectations and found it an interesting listen.
Generally I give threes to albums that are competently played, reasonably entertaining, but not something I'd necessarily want to listen to again.
This definitely earns a four.
I enjoyed this quite a bit. Not something I'd normally listen to.
Nice call, definitely odd that Weird Al was completely missed on the original 1001. Personally I prefer the material when he started having a bit higher production values, but that's a function of what was huge when I first discovered Weird Al, namely "Fat" and "Like a Surgeon".
It's nice, but didn't do much for me, nothing special.
Annoying that this wasn't on Spotify. Was able to listen via Bandcamp.
That said, totally worth the effort!
I don't think I had ever listened to a full album from these guys before. Super fun.
I enjoyed this more than I expected.
Oddly I'm familiar with the actual Mechanical Museum but didn't feel a real connection with this record. It isn't quirky enough, and the pop styling not strong enough. Not bad, but not great.
Unfortunately rather derivative.
It's unfortunate that this compilation doesn't have "Johnny B. Goode" or "Roll Over, Beethoven" as IMHO those are stone cold classics... along with "My Ding-A-Ling".
That said, he was one of the pioneers of rock and roll, for sure!
