"Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" is a wonderful opener, with a nice Prog feel to it. "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" is, of course, a classic. Great guitar and percussion. "Oye Cómo Va" is a catchy sing-a-long that also deserves to be a classic. "Incident at Neshabur" is the highlight of the album. Interesting time signature changes and a beautiful, slower second half. The second side of the album is an unfortunate downgrade from the first. "Se a Cabó" is fine enough, though feels like a lesser "Oye Cómo Va." "Mother's Daughter" isn't the greatest, with the lyrics and vocals being the worst part. "Samba Pa Ti" was excellent. Beautiful, and the best part of side 2. "Hope You're Feeling Better" is a definite improvement over "Mother's Daughter" (both sharing Gregg Rolie as the writer), but I'm not sure if the raspy, rocker voice is right for Rolie. "El Nicoya" is a disappointing closer, almost feeling like an afterthought. The percussion in the left speaker was frankly annoying. Overall, a great listen.
I went into this album blind and immediately found myself loving it. Harvey has a great voice with a good mix of falsetto thrown in at certain points. "Big Exit" was very catchy. "Good Fortune" was fine. "A Place Called Home" was great. Loved the intertwined vocals. The change in intensity in "One Line" was expected, but still effective. Decent song. "Beautiful Feeling" was great. Nice minimalist arrangement and lovely backup vocals. Thom Yorke's vocals are a nice touch. I like how the song faked me out into thinking it would grow more intense twice. "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore" is a great title. Great song, as well. The (what I think is) distorted bass is nice. "The Mess We're In" was great. Yorke's vocals were good, and the intertwined vocals worked well. Drum beat was nice. The keyboards in "You Said Something" are great. The little solo section was beautiful. Good song. "Kamikaze" has an ear-catching opening. Great drums, nice distortion, ok ending. "This Is Love" was good. "Horses In My Dreams" was beautiful as soon as it started. Piano is great. Good song. "We Float's" more electronic sounding drumming caught me off guard, but it works. Nice piano and harmonies. Transition into the chorus was great. I was hoping for at least one fade-out and I think this was a great song to do that with. Good song. Good closer to the album. Great listen.
"Celebrity Skin" was an amazing song and a great opener to the album. "Awful" was a great, catchy track. "Hit So Hard" and "Malibu" were both decent. "Reasons to Be Beautiful" was good. I liked the brief dips in intensity that occurred a couple times. "Dying" was fine. "Use Once & Destroy" has some nice drumming from Dean Castronovo. Good song. "Northern Star" was a lovely acoustic piece with great bouts of increased intensity, great drumming that compliments the song, and a great use of strings. Excellent song. "Boys on the Radio" was a nice mix of acoustic and electric guitars with a catchy, sing-a-long chorus. Great song. "Heaven Tonight" and "Playing Your Song" were a pair of great songs, with the latter having a really nice guitar tone. "Petals" was an excellent choice as closer. It was catchy, had a bridge that kind of reminded me of "Celebrity Skin," and closed with a great use of strings. Overall, the albums starts strong with "Celebrity Skin" and "Awful," meanders for the rest of the first half with decent songs that I don't feel justify their runtimes, and fortunately picks back up for an excellent second half. I think the use of acoustic guitars really helped with the pick up.
"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" is just simply amazing. I love the use of their voices building on top of each other. A great opener. "Marrakesh Express" is a nice, catchy tune, though I've never liked the whispered vocals at the beginning. "Guinnevere" is beautiful. Great song. "You Don't Have to Cry" is good. The use of backwards guitar in "Pre-Road Downs" is wonderful. Great drumming from Dallas Taylor. A great rocker. "Wooden Ships" is an excellent start to side 2. I really liked the use of Crosby and Stills' separate voices for the "purple berries" section. "Lady of the Island" is fine, but felt weaker than "Guinnevere." "Helplessly Hoping" is great, with another lovely appearance of their voices building on top of each other. "Long Time Gone" is another great rocker. "49 Bye-Byes" is a great closer, both title-wise and song-wise. Overall, a great record. I felt Nash's compositions were the weakest, with Pre-Road Downs being his best.
"Where Do the Children Play?" was a good opener. Great build up in intensity. "Hard Headed Woman" had a nice section with some dramatic drums. Good song. "Wild World" had some great music. Another good song. "Sad Lisa" was fine. Nice piano. "Miles from Nowhere" had some great contrast between the sections. Great ending to the first side. "But I Might Die Tonight" was a fine shorter song. "Longer Boats" had a good, unexpected intro that I think was better than the rest of the song. There was a great drum fill into the final chorus. "Into White" was decent. "On the Road to Find Out" has some nice backing vocals. Good song. "Father and Son" was a great song. I loved the two different perspectives represented by the two different vocal registers. The title track was a good closer, calling back to the first track and ending with a nice chorus of vocals. Decent album.
"The View from the Afternoon" started strongly and had some great music. I especially loved the stumbling guitar after the bout of silence. Amazing start. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" had some nice drumming. Good song. I really liked the chorus of "Fake Tales of San Francisco." Great song. More good drumming in "Dancing Shoes." Great song. A classic 2000's song title with "You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me." Good song. "Still Take You Home" was great. "Riot Van" was a pleasant change of pace. I really liked the tremolo on the guitar during the instrumental break. Good song. "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured" was fine. "Marty Bum" was great. I liked the guitar solo. Another classic 2000's song title with "Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..." Nice effects on the vocals, an excellent instrumental break during the second half, and another great use of stop and start. Amazing song. "When the Sun Goes Down" had an effective increase in intensity and tempo, and a nice bookend. Great song. "From the Ritz to the Rubble" was good. I liked the outro. "A Certain Romance" opened with some awesome drumming. A great closer to the album. Overall, the album had some really nice use of syncopation and beat changes. Great music, especially the drums, and great, emotive vocals.
