The Yes Album
YesYou know that scene in Beetlejuice, where they're in the waiting room for hell? This is the music playing there.
You know that scene in Beetlejuice, where they're in the waiting room for hell? This is the music playing there.
You'd think that mashing up Flaming Lips with Polyphonic Spree, the dude from Ween as the singer, + some rock opera aspirations would be fun to listen to. You would be wrong.
Punk classic. No skips.
Was excited to see a hip hop album I didn't recognize, and encouraged by the Public Enemy sound. But the lyrics are simplistic to the point of stupidity. Socio Genetic Experiment was particularly bad - I had deeper thoughts about being mixed when I was 14.
Shades of Tribe, De La - and shockingly contemporary sounding for being so early in hip hop's era.
Thom Yorke could sing 'It's a Small World After All' and I'd probably like it.
Shockingly dated with a couple of gems - 'Rock the House' in particular is still good.
This was fun, from the first dick punch of 'Welcome to the Jungle' opening the album, to the songs I didn't know but really liked (It's so Easy, Mr Brownstone), to the familiar songs I still know the words to (you know the ones.) A few clunkers but mostly a fun listen.
You know that scene in Beetlejuice, where they're in the waiting room for hell? This is the music playing there.
Hipster sleaze classic.
I want to call him a Prince or Sam Cooke successor but his music is so thoroughly modern & his own, it's too hard to categorize.
The album feels of its time but still super listenable with only a few tracks that dragged. Her voice is simply amazing. Tragic to have lost someone so talented so young - how might her music have evolved if she'd lived?
Great for running. Feels like it inspired so many other things (Timo Maas? Tricky? Kid A? Morcheeba?) including Russ' movie script treatment.
First few track are great blues rock. Black Keys definitely owe a debt to...somebody. But the instrumental tracks and extended jams are just not my thing.
You're dead inside if this music doesn't make you feel things. And he was twenty-six when this was released. Twenty-fucking-six. What am I even doing with my life.
Imagine house plants hanging from macrame hangers. Silk sheets on a waterbed. Now, if only record players had a way to play that one song over and over again without having to get up and shift the needle back...
The energy from the crowd is palpable. You can almost feel like you're there, singing along to the songs you know, waving your handkerchief in the air, and dancing in your seat. I kept trying to think what keeps this album, which I'd never heard before, from being a 5...and I couldn't think of anything.
Though I'm only familiar with the same song everyone else is familiar with, I knew more of these songs than I thought...because they were sung better by others ('Long Tall Sally' and Little Richard, 'Money' and just about everyone else.) Even if I could get past what I knew of Lewis as a human, this still mostly sounded like someone who couldn't sing very well going to town on a piano.
While it sounds very of its time, still largely enjoyable.
Unfinished. Super self indulgent. If I wanted to listen to John in therapy, I'd prefer to be getting paid vs the other way around.
I don't blame Jack White for wanting to do things besides Raconteurs & White Stripes. I do blame how long this list is for the fact that this super mediocre album is included.
Didn't know any of Ray Charles' back catalog had this kind of music in it. A pleasant surprise.
There are artists that change up what they do seemingly with every album, and I can follow where they go and enjoy what they're doing (PJ Harvey, Radiohead). & then there are some artists that get really esoteric as their career progresses, and they lose me along the way. I give Bjork so much credit for her vision and trying different things, while also acknowledging strings and pretty singing and ambient noise don't really do it for me.
If this is a seminal album blending two genres for the first time, I think you had to be there to appreciate it.
I like socially conscious hip hop. Even the Kanye-produced stuff. There are some whiffs on this album (Faithful especially) but the great tracks more than balance out the meh ones (The Corner, Testify, They Say, Be, It's Your World).
Fogerty's voice is like nails on chalkboard in a few songs. "Up Around the Bend" is alright. But "I hoird it through the grapevine" + seven minutes of jamming is not.
I didn't hate this as much as Yes.
Not sure what changed between now and 23 years ago. Not being surrounded by megafans going on about what a genius Ryan Adams is? Not being subjected to some iteration of his music whenever I was in Bellingham? Whatever the reason, the first half of this album was surpisingly enjoyable. Started to feel a little ballad heavy with the 2nd half, but might benefit from *not* being listened to as an album. Also, justice for Mandy Moore.
Suffers from overexposure. Super hard to listen to with fresh ears, and doesn't feel significant in what it's doing to qualify for this list. Totally fine for the spa playlist, tho.
Sleater Kinney's lyric should have been, "I wanna be your Kim Gordon." But maybe it doesn't rhyme as well.
I thought maybe I didn't mind jamming if it's funk music. Then the 3rd, 13 minute song came on and I realized - nope.
Maybe this is my NEW FORMS?
This was bad. Lindsay Buckingham sounding like a yuppie pretending to be a hillbilly alternates with depressed Stevie and & Christine McVie tracks - which aren't bad, but don't sound like they're even in the same room as Lindsay's hoedowns. I get they were trying to distance themselves from Rumors, but this got so distant it ended up on Uranus.
Working class tragedies that could kick start the labor movement. Poetry.
Fascinating how many gospel singers struggled with going secular - and what a gift they gave soul and R&B music by bringing those gospel inflections over. Of its time but also highly nostalgic courtesy of 'Cry to Me' showing up on 'Dirty Dancing.' Also, this guy might be the Ghengis Khan of soul. Are you related to him? You might want to check.
I could hear the seeds of bands like G&R in here - but it mostly sounds really dated. Like, if this came out today, I'd think it was a parody band.
Other people were doing this better at the time - Joy Division, Bauhaus. And God, John Lydon can't sing.
I can acknowledge Dylan is an amazing writer but I don't think I'll ever get on board with him as a singer. His duet with Johnny Cash on 'Girl From the North Country' is made better for not being sung entirely by him. I hated this less than I thought I would, but don't think I'll make an effort to listen to this again.
Forgive me, Tyler.
Still feels groundbreaking. Even the songs where I want to tell Paul to give it a break ('When I'm 64') are annoyingly catchy. And 'A Day in the Life' is still so good.
SCHMALTZ. Overwrought, histrionic singing, swelling music that really wants to be a wall of sound but ends up just sounding like a movie soundtrack building to a crescendo...over and over again. I went into this with near zero expectations. Elvis is the guy who's not dead from the cover of the Enquirers of my childhood. The singer of classic hits like 'Hound Dog,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' and 'Blue Suede Shoes.' I knew late-stage Elvis was a bit of a parody, but I didn't realize the parody kicked in so soon.
I didn't hate it. Reminiscent of so many things at the time - Beach Boy harmonies, Beatles storytelling, a little organ to remind me of the Doors.
I mean, I guess.
Pop punk songs where everyone's yelling 'hey!' as part of the chorus or the lead singer shouts '1, 2, 3, 4' are always fun. Pop punk ballads not so much. How does one mosh to 'Wake Me Up When September Comes'?
The Grammy's are bullshit for lots of reasons, but giving Outkast's weakest double LP an award over their outstanding run of back to back albums is definitely up there. ATLiens, Aquemini and then Stankonia - it's an insane, seriously genius run. This could have been 'Bombs Over Baghdad' on repeat for 57 minutes and I'd still probably have given it 4 stars. You throw in 'Gasoline Dreams,' 'Humble Mumble' 'So Fresh & So Clean' and there's just no argument.
I like Chrissie Hyndes voice. I like the one or two songs I know by the Pretenders. But this just wasn't doing it for me. A little too monotonous of a sound, without the sound being super compelling.
The weird thing is, I could listen to 'God Only Knows' on repeat. But the sentiment of that song feels wise and poignant compared to the super simple lyrics & storytelling of this album, which mostly seem intent on mimicking a teenage mentality. It very much has a feel of adults trying to use modern slang and just making everyone uncomfortable when they do. Pretty harmonies can't really make up for that, especially when that feels like the only tool in your toolbox.
Glad to be reminded this exists.
Neil Young was supposedly 34 when this album was recorded but I'd bet two nickels he was actually 85. I can't otherwise understand how he somehow sounds like an old man shaking his fist at clouds in the sky. Seriously - picture Ab Simpson when you listen to his whiney, shakey voice with no range at all. Maybe Neil Young was the voice actor for that character all along.
Slightly better than Plastic Ono Band but not by much. 'Jealous Guy' might be the song that holds up most. The others make me think of that one guy from college, who never left your small college town, who still has Marley posters on his wall, and won't stop telling you about how you just have to read Marx. Like, his intentions are good but he's not actually doing anything.
Still so much fun. A punk wave classic.
I get why this is groundbreaking. Some of it sounds like it could have come out yesterday. I even get how this could have influenced everyone from Bjork to Beck to the Butthole Surfers. But you know how when a kid gets a keyboard that makes rooster and fart and truck horn noises? And they go ham playing those noises over and over again? That's what this was - if sliiiightly better.
Sleater Kinney, Epoxies, Kudu - this wasn't the prototype on which those bands built, it was the O.G. Some of this sounded like it could have come out yesterday, which I was not expecting.
I think you have to be from Manchester to like this.
Might have been able to get into the rollicking metal fun of this, and the crazy story-telling element of the songs (viking invaders? sad prostitutes?) but his voice seems like such a genre parody - shrieking, dramatic, probably suitable for the histrionic nature of the music - but not my thing at all.
How is this album both so short & so long? The good songs are good. The rest sound like unfinished demos.
So many good memories of college house parties, Timo Maas at the Showbox, mix CDs of Heller & Farley, Paul Oakenfold in my discman headphones, and being young & feeling cooler than I was.
Does this accompany a movie soundtrack? I have no other explanation for the theatrical instrumental songs (Street Fight, Grand Finale.) Didn't mind Blue Turk but was otherwise not really my thing.
You know how, in electronic music, it's building and building and building until the drop? I had no idea jazz could do that. Or sound like, when you turn down the next street, it'll be filled with opium dens. Fun, evocative music - tho not necessarily anything I'd seek out for future listens.
I think it's possible for music to be groundbreaking AND fun (see 'Blue Monday' by New Order). This was just self-indulgent space noise better suited to a Kubrick soundtrack.
There weren't better early grunge albums to pick from? Even the knock offs of knock offs did this better.
It's fine.
Might be a situation where, if I was a musician, I might appreciate this more. I could totally envision listening again (great, chill music for driving, sewing, whatever) but might not explicitly go out of my way to pull this up.
Beautiful voice that at times obfuscates the darkness of the folk songs. Can hear the seeds of Joanna Newsom, Marie Sioux, and so many other contemporary artists I enjoy.
Punk glam fun. Shades of Rocky Horror before Rocky Horror was a thing.
Being familiar with Wu, ODB and Method Man's bigger hits, this felt like hanging out with old friends. Yet, I was too into DMB and Lilith Fair artists to be into this when it came out. My mistake for sure.
So many other, better Bowie albums. I had to listen to them to be sure I wasn't mis-remembering his insane, genre-breaking talent. This just felt like so much mid-2000s rock.
While I enjoyed many of the songs I'd never heard before (You Haven't Done Nothin, and even the downer They Won't Go When I Go), it's really hard to know Songs in the Key of Life is out there and rate this higher.
Band name = could be mistaken for life insurance company Album cover = looks like a slide from your grandparents' vacation Music = surprisingly good, and way more timeless than I expected
Wild how Christine McVie's track's were some of the strongest on Tusk, and some of the weakest here. & Tusk might have also made me really hate when Lindsay Buckingham goes into hoedown mode, because 'Second Hand News' is super annoying to me now. The great songs are still really great, tho. Off to listen to some solo Stevie Nicks.
Giving this 3 stars for what Massive Attack would become, and how cutting edge they were for 1991. It's an achievement to sound dated before your time.
Nope.
New wave classic. Could listen to the hits on repeat, and even the deep cuts are synth funk ear worms.
You put a little funk in jazz, and I can appreciate a purely instrumental album a lot more. Doesn't hurt that it feels like I know every song because he's been so heavily sampled. An original for real.
Slightly better than the musical the gang from 'Always Sunny' put on. But similarly bombastic with lyrics that make me think of a tween who really loves sci fi.
Rises above so many other DJ albums with each song feeling like a complete piece vs a mash-up of disparate parts. Very few came close to how good this is.
Feels like someone tried to wedge Amy's style into a Norah Jones shape and it doesn't work - but you can see hints of how amazing she would be on 'Back to Black.'
Revolver feels like it's caught between when the Beatles were purely putting out poppy, chart-topping singles and when they moved into cohesive, experimental masterpieces (Sgt Pepper's, Abbey Road.) They're trying different things (sitar, music playing backwards), but it doesn't hang together the way you know their music eventually will. I'm also not sure how much each song is less of a collective effort and the album suffers for it. Paul is schmaltzy as ever ('Here, There & Everywhere' is monumentally bad), and it feels like no one dials back John's angst & cynicism (does anyone like 'Doctor Robert'?). I had thought I liked this album more so it also might suffer from generally listening to Beatles in greatest hits form, where the mediocrity isn't as obvious.
Took really intentional listening to appreciate a few tracks (April 14th Part 1, Elvis Presley Blues). A little too much sameness to each track overall, but appreciate getting exposed to this.
This was great music for sipping tea & working, and equally perfect for a post-work walk in the rain. Did not expect to enjoy the majority of this as much as I did.
Classic. Between Cash's always great story telling of his songs, the fun between-song patter and the couldn't-do-that-today ballsiness of playing to a crowd of prisoners, this is hard to beat.
There are undeniably a few 4 star songs on this album, catchy, fun ear worms like 'Blank Space' that send up Swift's own reputation with fun, anthemic charm. But midway thru the album, the anthemic, sing-along poppiness starts to wear thin. It's obvious she's more than capable of writing great songs, but it's also obvious she's not willing to really bear her heart, get personal, or SAY anything at all really...so it all just kind of blurs into a lyrically simple mish mash of ghosts and wine-stained dresses and tears and glitter. Her music is safe, ensuring she offends no one. But it's also boring.
Subterranean Homesick Blues gets this up to maybe 1.5 stars. Everything else was pretty unlistenable. Reminded again I can only rarely stomach Dylan's music when it's sung by others.
80s mediocrity. & the brownface on the album cover, yeesh.
That one song that plays during the hockey scene in Letterkenny is great.
Watered down Spin Doctors. Might be simply mediocre, but doubly offensive for even being on this list.
Instead of modeling themselves on Tina Turner, it sounds like the other black woman Rolling Stones owe a debt to is Aretha Franklin given her gospel concerts influenced this one. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy this (standout tracks for me were Sweet Virginia, Loving Cup, and the Ruby Tuesday feel of Let it Loose) - it's loose and rollicking in places, swaggering and fun in others. But it also makes me want to listen to Muddy Waters, Ma Rainey, Bo Didley, Trixie Smith, Jimmy Reed, and on and on.
You'd think that mashing up Flaming Lips with Polyphonic Spree, the dude from Ween as the singer, + some rock opera aspirations would be fun to listen to. You would be wrong.
Knowing 'Nevermind' is out there makes it hard to rate In Utero objectively. But this album is full on amazing on its own with very few misses (especially when you compare it to other 90s knock off dreck on this list like HMS Fable and Copper Blue). Frances Farmer is a stand out, but added many other tracks I knew less well to my rotation.
Insane this is what she sounded like on her debut. & while some of her later output might be 'easier,' I'm not mad at the righteous, fired up feelings her early work engenders.
Appreciate getting exposed to someone I had zero familiarty with prior to now. Still not sure I'd seek out his music otherwise.
A pleasant but very much of its time listen. Preferred when the orchestration and vocals were more upbeat ('Don't Forget About Me,' the song everyone knows) as the slower songs definitely feel a bit cheesy from the viewpoint of 2024.
The image that came to mind listening to this was Jeff's dad, noodling on his guitar, staring out over a body of water, singing about life, his lady and his navel. Not the worst but not my thing.
Surprised by how dated this sounds. & not only in the sense that, this could compete with 'Licensed to Ill' for how juvenile a lot of it sounds (it's like there was a challenge for how many skits & songs could be centered around dicks & balls) - but also in the Parliament-heavy sampling. Not bad, just certainly not timeless. & probably appreciated it more when I was 15 instead of middle-aged.
REM was always one of those bands that I generally enjoyed when they made it to the radio & later MTV (Stand, Losing My Religion....tho Shiny Happy People is best forgotten) but somehow never made an effort to, in the era of tapes then CDs, actually own & listen to. Glad to be exposed to this, baby alternative before alternative was really a thing. Stipe's voice is great, and the songs are that genre blend that came to define most of the 90s & beyond - twangy rocking folky melodic. Very few misses & the gems (Pop Song 89, Orange Crush) really shine.
Some amazing songs (Never Let Me Down Again, Strangelove, Behind the Wheel), mixed with some middling efforts (Sacred, I Want You Now) and very few misses (The Things You Said). Feel like they were really the trailblazers for nailing dark, synthy *and* poppy (maybe the Cure were the first two, but not often the last one, and *many* others were poppy & synthy but not often dark.) Makes me want to listen to Violator next.
Solid hits that get your aunties moving when they come on the radio, or get put on the turn tables at a party (Shining Star, That's the Way of the World.) That said, my mom will have to forgive me for not rating this higher since the non-radio singles don't really hit as hard.
Ugh. Really wasn't enjoying this and then got to their version of 'Hey Joe,' wondering if they could at least equal Hendrix or the Lee Moses version. But no. Seriously no.
The definition of meh. Like, it's fine - could see it playing in a coffee shop & failing to offend anybody. But it's utterly unmemorable - a Frank Sinatra / Elvis/ shades of Leonard Cohen amalgam that doesn't do anything significant on its own.
People talking about this is 'just covers' need to give singing and delivery some serious credit. There's a reason "I Will Always Love You" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" are famous that have nothing to do with their original writers (no shade to Dolly or Prince.)
Dated in some places (That Voice Again is really bad), but surprisingly holds up overall (Sledgehammer, In Your Eyes, Red Rain.)
If you've ever wondered how it would sound if literally every song on an album was screamed instead of sung, you now have the answer. Is it good? Not really.
I like The Astrud Gilberto album released a year prior to this one, as well as the big hits most folks know done in collaboration with Joao Gilberto) - but this had some real clankers (Parade, You Didn't Have to be so Nice.)
Definitely prefer when Adele leans into her upbeat, R&B grooves (Send My Love, I Miss You, River Lea) over her straight up ballads, which dip into borderline cloying, schmaltzy territory for me. No denying her talent, tho.
Anyone who scrapes the pan owes a debt to Little Richard. Was surprised by the variety to the sound - some songs more soulful & bluesy (Baby), others raucous and rocking - and all filled with an insane amount of energy for a studio album.
Appreciated the lo fi funkiness of this - reminded me of Pavement in parts - with each song taking different directions (often) than the last. Got a little too noisy, borderline-jam band (for me) in parts, but a shockingly enjoyable listen.
The boy band sound is strong with this early Beatles album, but the tendency to edge into cloying melodies is nicely relieved by some of the more rocking songs (Hard Days Night, Tell Me Why, Can't Buy Me Love) - which are also often the catchiest. Despite some clunkers (If I Fell), an undeniable classic.
Though Justin's reputation has not held up over the years, it's hard to deny the catchiness of his debut. Appreciate the tracks where the Neptunes and Timberland obviously played a part, vs when he's trying to harken back to Isley Brothers style ballads (Take it from Here, Still on my Brain.)
Not sure if this is suffering from following Fela, or if it's just another purely instrumental album I struggle to connect with.
There's melodic, orchestral 1960s-era music I enjoy. But there's something so self-serious about this album - matched by the intensity of that album cover - that just did not connect with me. It's also super dated ('Feelin' Groovy' for God's sake?) that maybe you had to be there to enjoy.
Starts strong but overstays its welcome. & someone else should have sung some of the choruses.
I was bracing myself given other reviews but my first impression wasn't a bad one. Sure, the droplet sound effect on 'River of Orchids' is a little quirky but the strings are alright and the singer gives a good Paul McCartney impression. Then the Beatles impression turns into borderline copying with 'Easter Theater' giving huge 'She's Leaving Home' vibes, pings huge 'For the Benefit of Mr Kite' with 'Frivolous Tonight', and makes me wish it was an 'Always Sunny' sketch with 'Greenman.' Someone owes Oasis an apology because no one copied the Beatles harder with less success than this supremely subpar album.
I went into this with high expectations after enjoying the live San Quentin album - but the classics here (Cocaine Blues, Jackson, Folsom Prison Blues) don't resonate as much as other versions I've heard. &, oddly enough, the prison theme to the songs starts to wear thin. But Johnny Cash operating at less than 1000% is still pretty great.
Remembered this fondly but besides the big hits, not sure this stood the test of time in terms of being groundbreaking or world rocking in any way.
Felt like someone took the arena rock of AC/DC or better hair metal bands, and blended it with the falsetto cockiness of Axl Rose. It might help I didn't really catch the Libertarian lyrics? While the cheese is strong with this one (the Oriental flourish on 'Passage to Bangkok' is especially bad), I think if I'd been exposed to this as an eight year old, I would have been a fan.
Punk classic. No skips.
I'm not thrilled to have the same taste as the lady who wrote Twilight, but what are you gonna do?
Realized that I remember this album so fondly partly because of 1) how much 'Human Behavior' is still such a great song, and 2) my general love of Bjork. Otherwise, was shocked to find how thoroughly 90s a lot of this sounds, even with Bjork's always amazing vocals - and doesn't necessarily hold up all that well. To my ears, Bjork really let go of trends with Post, Homogenic and Vespertine, while staying within the parameters of typical song structure - (before she got really esoteric & jettisoned things like instruments entirely) and those 3 albums are much stronger for it. This one, while good, didn't really stand the test of time.
Glad to be exposed to this. Wish there was more like it, rather than eleventy Neil Young, Beatles, and Nick Cave albums.
There was a magical day in my early 20s, when I was lucky enough to live abroad, that I spent with 3 other women paddle boating on the Vltava, cooking delicious dishes it never would have occurred to me to try to make at that time (bruschetta with eggplant?!), and listening to music in the fabulous apartment the host owned. She was a little older, a little more worldly, she taught yoga as well as English as a 2nd language & she was *married*. She put on this album while we cooked and laughed and hung out & maybe even danced a little bit like we were in some corny movie - and for an afternoon, I felt less like a broke expat who had no idea what they were doing with their life, and more like a sophisticated young woman living a fabulous life.
Of course I owned this CD for the single and of course I was disappointed at the time that not every track sounded like 'Lovefool.' In retrospect, I was really really wrong. Super fun pop rock, light & effervescent with a little edge, like a spiked La Croix.
Surprised by how much even the hits I had thought were overplayed (Jeremy, Evenflow) held up. Given Russ hates Eddie Vedder's voice, it could also be that never getting to listen to a band for 10+ years could make anything sound fresh.
Man, those two openers are such a cock rocking start to this album, with the rock + funk combo of 'Good Times Bad Times' bleeding into the relentless blues + rock of 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You'...and then it just peters out into (admittedly skillful) blues covers and never quite gets back that insane momentum. I enjoyed this *way* more than I thought I would given I mostly know them as the band that ripped off everyone else and had to be badgered into appropriately crediting artists waaay after the fact. Me = shocked Pikachu face.
There aren't enough drugs in the world to make me appreciate this.
This might be the first metal album this list has spat out where I didn't mind the music - made me think of At the Drive In, System of a Down, or even Queens of the Stone Age - but the dumb, body horror lyrics were giving serious 12 year old who thinks he's edgy vibes.
The day the music really died is when Neil Young decided he should sing.
While Janis' voice is downright chilling in its intensity at times, the loose, live-sounding vibe just wasn't as compelling as her solo work. Besides the always great Piece of My Heart, enjoyed the bluesy Turtle Blues and Summertime cover.
Was surprised by how few of these were ruined by becoming commercial jingles (and it's really only 'One Love,' which is still so catchy it's no wonder it became the vehicle for promoting Jamaica as a place to visit.) Enjoyed the songs I didn't know as well (Natural Mystic, Exodus), and was surprised to enjoy the familiar ones despite their over exposure in college dorm rooms and on any beach sporting palapas.
Was excited to see a hip hop album I didn't recognize, and encouraged by the Public Enemy sound. But the lyrics are simplistic to the point of stupidity. Socio Genetic Experiment was particularly bad - I had deeper thoughts about being mixed when I was 14.
Dreamy fuzzy wall of noise reminiscent of a softer Sonic Youth, a more rocking Stereolab - or even some of the songs from Dave Grohl's first solo album ('Exhausted' in particular comes to mind.) A little bit of sameness as the album wore on, but largely enjoyed it until they tried to mix it up with the last two industrial garbage songs.
Who doesn't enjoy 'Papa was a Rollin' Stone'? Surprised to enjoy 'Love Woke Me Up This Morning,' and just straight surprised by the lyrics of 'Run Charlie Run.' The rest was schmaltzy or forgettable or both.
When you become the foundation for a whole other genre (seriously, how many of these songs were familiar as samples from hip hop?), you pretty much transcend the genre you came from. Would have thought 'great disco' was an oxymoron, but Chic makes it true.
Great, evocative storytelling ('Brain Damange' especially) that at times brings to mind rappers like the Streets or even his Dr. Dre protege successor, Kendrick Lamar. But most of this is spoiled by how dated and deeply juvenile a lot of the songs and pointless skits are,*or* the dated 90s stylings ('If I Had' might have been a poignant lament about poverty but for that warbly lady singing in the background.) & I couldn't even get through '97 Bonnie & Clyde.'
It's crazy to listen to this album now, remembering how cheeky and surprising it was to hear someone sing about rehab to the tune of Motown-sounding horns -- or kick off a torchy love song with 'What kind of fuckery is this' as if those lyrics are utterly unremarkable. . . before it became clear that was really her - her life, her pain and heartache channeled in this self-effacing way into these amazing songs.
Shades of Tribe, De La - and shockingly contemporary sounding for being so early in hip hop's era.
Gonna blame this one on nostalgia.
Proof you can have a self-serious album cover without it looking like a shitty Ren Faire ad, SIMON & GARFUNKEL.
Sounds like the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. Just imagine Axel Foley getting putting a banana in a tailpipe as you listen.
I kind of liked 'Lookin' for the Time (Workin' Girl)' but this was mostly forgettable country that sounds like someone's mom's favorite album.
Literally about to add a song to a playlist and then some dude starts talking about sideburns. No thank you.
I was bracing myself for bummer town (my favorites of his are Between the Bars & Needle in the Hay) - but was pleasantly surprised by the energy of a lot of many songs - and reminded what a great song writer he was.