Going back to day 1 quickly, just to give a rundown of the 4 prior albums:
Enter the Wu-Tang: A very good album in a genre I wholly enjoy, it just didn’t have any standout tracks for me to elevate it to a 5
Born in the USA: Some of the clearly less ‘American Hero’ songs were really fun but as a whole, it was a little too much of that at times.
Ready to Die: As good as this album is, and I truly loved each song, I would revoke the 5th star if possible. No album in the world should be 19 songs long and it takes away from the final portion. If each segment before and after the interlude was a separate album I would 5-star each. Having that many songs with a similar sound does make it harder to appreciate the final 2/3 songs.
Deep Purple in Stone and Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables: Both under explored genres for me so I’d hope to come back to both with more appreciation. That being said, Deep Purple was a mixed bag, some really enjoyable and others a bit too much. Then the Dead Kennedys, I could appreciate the talent throughout but it all merged into a singular song for me almost, making it to harder to
Identify particular points.
Yeah, that was a tough listen.
Never listened to this album through and it definitely matched my expectations. Its impact on the wider hip-hop scene is clear and anything Lauryn Hill touches is golden. A really enjoyable listen and “Ready or Not” is the centrepiece, just needed a couple less skippable songs and that’s a 5
As much as I wanted to enjoy it more, it was still a good listen with some obvious favourites.
‘Kinder Minder’ and ‘London’s Brilliant Parade’ we’re decent but the rest were a combination of annoying vocals or melodies I’d associate with mid-2000s cartoon themes.
I’ve always considered my 70s and 80s music knowledge pretty decent thanks to my parents but Tom Petty was an apparent blindspot. After looking at the review I was expecting a decent album and was presently surprised when almost every song stood out. The instrumentals throughout were brilliant and the range in songs was great. ‘Breakdown’ and ‘Hometown Blues’ were 2 favs.
A friend really liked it so there’s a temptation to listen again to see if my opinion changed but personally really didn’t enjoy it. Firstly 23 songs is criminal and when the majority are just a collection of sounds from the DJ buttons on a school keyboard, it’s hard to stay focused on the album. Secondly, someone commented that Thundercat uses Reddit and it perfectly describes the random, misplaced modern references. Finally, 23 SONGS! The Kenny Loggins collab was good though, maybe annoyingly considering the whole album could’ve been like that.
There was some good stuff, there was some skippable stuff but none of it was a bad listen at all.
“There was some good stuff, there was some skippable stuff but none of it was a bad listen at all.” - Me, yesterday, can be repeated today. Although I was more pleasantly surprised this time, enjoyed it more than I expected
It’s a good 2 but still a 2, someone said you could listen to the first 30s of every song and still get the same musical experience and that sums it up best. As background listening it is decent but even the Thatcher hating could not boost it up a star sadly.
Some song were a bit too punk for me but those that weren’t were brilliant and really showed what Cobain can do.
Another really enjoyable ZZ Top album, there was some songs I felt were a bit filler-ish but the rest, really really enjoyable, it’s definitely a high end 3.
Feel like I could find stuff similar to this just searching for a 1 hour study playlist on YouTube. It wasn’t bad, just not unique really.
Love this AM-adjacent style stuff, the first 4 songs were brilliant and there was a few filler songs but apart from that, it was definitely a bit of a pleasant surprise how good they were.
They’re just good aren’t they.
Didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, it was definitely a mix in terms of the songs but those I enjoyed, were really great.
Very similar to Ready to Die in terms of, it’s a long album with a similar sound so it makes it harder for the latter songs to stand out. That being said, each song in isolation is great, it strips hip hop back to its roots and clearly has inspired a lot of modern stuff. Just prefer shorter albums personally.
It is a 5, it is one of the best albums ever from a more objective perspective, it’s just out of my comfort zone. I think I was born 20 years too late for it, I loved the guitar, the riffs were legendary but it just didn’t have enough lyricism for me. That being said, I did enjoy it and if I listened to it enough it’ll grow into the 5 it should be.
‘Uh-Oh Love Comes to Town’ maybe set the bar too high as a first song, I was ready to announce a 5 straight away. That being said it’s a high 3, the whole album was enjoyable and whilst some songs were less memorable or the vocals got a bit grating it was still one I’d listen to again.
Wasn’t one straight listen through so was harder to get a gauge of the album as a whole but I enjoyed it, there was some more enjoyable songs than others but still a good listen.
Wasn’t for me and wasn’t in the mood to persevere and listen through.
Every song is a banger. The whole album pushes Hard Rock to the perfect level. The riffs, easy to sing along to, it’s just a brilliant album.
Listened at the gym and waiting for the Euro Hurdles so it kind of became background music at points. That being said, the beats were really fun, they had lot of similarities so that probably didn’t help with the background music effect. I think the actual lyricism and rapping is definitely dated as well, some of the off beat stuff didn’t help with the freestyle-vibe that the songs gave off at points. Got to give the Queen her props for the impact she had on the scene especially as a female during that time period. Even if the album is dated it’s on the list for a good reason.
Yeah it sounds nice and the instrumentals are enjoyable but there’s minimal lyricism and that’s just not what I enjoy listening to.
Really enjoyed ‘Quiet Life’ and that might have set my expectations a little bit high for the rest of the album but the rest was really just quite forgettable.
This is like the highest possible 3 you could possibly get, every song was fun and I’d say groovy is just the best way to describe it. It just felt like I didn’t add enough songs to my playlist to merit a higher rating.
Honestly didn’t have time to listen through and I’m not running back to catch up and I think this rating shows that. It’s a good album, really clean but just not my genre of choice so I’m happy to have enjoyed what I did listen to but not needing more.
Smooth and buttery, not what I’d normally listen to but there’s definitely a time and a place for it.
I like lyrics and when songs sound different to each other
Set the scene well and I liked a couple of songs but it’s always going to get marked down for being stupidly long.
2 hours is crazy. Second star was for the Orchestra themselves.
It’s more a 2.5 because I enjoyed some of it but some wasn’t to my taste and again, an insanely long album.
Extremely instrumental heavy but it didn’t matter as much, the lyrical sections were so strong it made each song a great listen. Just a shame these weren’t a larger proportion of the album.
I mean it was an album.
Definitely enjoyed it a bit more than expected and I added a couple of songs to the playlist. Just think it didn’t try to do too much the majority of the time which was why it was an easier listen.
Just a really fun album.
