Great to go back and revisit, lots I didn't remember about it. Solid song writing and instrumentation. I had forgotten it was a concept album?! It's not really my taste these days but it really holds up, a classic for a reason. Billy Joe's voice is actually really great.
A bit all over the place, some standout moments (The Weight, obviously) and some misses (In A Station does not do it for me). I think I’m mostly into this album for the lore of the Band, the idea of Big Pink, and for the influence it had on music of the time. Its creativity was at the crest of a wave of febrile activity in 70s folk, rock and popular music and you can feel the reverberations of Music From Big Pink across a wide range of artists from this time forward. I enjoyed it, but probably won’t seek out the whole album to listen to frequently.
Absolute cracker of an album. You can feel immediately why it’s a classic. It has that staying power, that weight of being highly influenced but more than the sum of its parts. Loved it, loved listening to it in snowy sunny Reykjavík, will continue to return to it wholesale from now on.
I own Back to Black on vinyl and used to play it a lot as background music. I can't say I have ever put Amy Winehouse on to listen with headphones before, or payed much attention to her lyrics. I also really didn't know this album at all before this listening.
I think Amy was amazing, but I did not enjoy the experience of listening to this album. Her talent and potential is clear, but overall compared to Back to Black, Frank is nothing to write home about. It's got breakthrough album written all over it - but that doesn't implicitly qualify it as a classic in my opinion.
The songwriting does seem to mature as the album goes on. The lyrics in general are super of their time and made me feel very uncomfortable to listen to at points. While it's definitely cool the way that Amy took this genre of music right into the mainstream, pairing it with the sort of themes that rappers and popstars sing about, the blatant homo and transphobia, misogyny and the like is galling.
Overall: not for me, I won't be returning to this album.
Absolutely incredible album, high quality throughout. Each song demonstrates enormous creativity, boldness and passion. Production was great, musicianship astounding, instrumentation spot on. How does he do it?!
While I know the basic Stevie Wonder hits, it’s the first time I’ve listened to a whole album start to finish from this master of music. Tracks like Have A Talk With God knocked me off my feet. Side note - it’s crazy that Isn’t She Lovely WASN’T a single!
If I could venture just two small criticisms it would be this: with each song often being so different from the last, it loses some of the flow that albums have the potential for, one of the main incentives to listen to whole albums. Likewise, maintaining concentration to listen to a double album is always hard, towards the end I was definitely not giving the songs the same attention I was at the beginning. That said, there are some bangers right towards the end that being back the focus - All Day Sucker I’m looking at you.
All in all great album, great listen experience and one I plan to come back to.
A really fun listen, although I always feel a bit sad listening to Buddy Holly. With this as his opening album, only just in his early twenties, I think his creative output could have rivalled the Beatles had he lived.
Both songs and albums were certainly short and sweet back in the day, with the whole thing clocking in at 25 minutes.
The lyricism is sweet and simple, a bit saccharine, but… that’s how 20 year olds write love songs. Interesting to see Roy Orbison credited as a songwriter on some tracks.
I think I will always love Buddy Holly because my dad loves Buddy Holly. We didn’t own his records at home but whenever he came on the radio my dad would get excited and tell me his story. And he plays Everyday on guitar so actually in my head that’s my dad’s song. Sorry Buddy.
So, a fun little nostalgic listen overall. That being said, the very worst thing about Buddy Holly is undoubtedly the fact that he inspired the song American Pie. Another reason that it’s a tragedy that he died.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It gave me a real sense of the place, time and cultural context in which it was made. I’m much more drawn to his political stuff but found the lyricism of the romantic songs charmingly honest and self deprecating.
Ideology made me want to march on parliament. Love it so much. Power In A Union also obviously great.
In general the second disc from the 2006 reissue doesn’t add much, with the notable exceptions of Deportees (heartbreaking) and Hold The Fort (SLAPS)
This is obviously a high quality album, just not one for me.
I wasn’t really aware of Sade before and didn’t know any of the songs, bar Smooth Operator which I mostly know of because of the meme of the formula one driver singing it.
It’s an excellently produced album, which is all the more impressive when learning that the recording and production was a pretty DIY affair. Sade’s voice is great, too. It’s just really not my genre of music; I found it hard to focus on it properly without letting it drift into background music.
Beyond Smooth Operator, I could imagine having a silly wee boogie with pals to Cherry Pie at a party. Sally was my least favourite song, appropriately dirge-like for a composition about the Salvation Army.
It gets a 3/5 for the production and quality but it’s a 2/5 for my personal enjoyment.
I really wanted to like this album. Korn weren't really on my listening radar even when I was angry youth, other than Freak On A Leash. I was excited to fill in a gap in my listening history and indulge in some serious adolescent level rage and angst. But maaaaan, so much of this is so naff. And quite boring? I stopped paying attention quite quickly. The. Rap. Battle. Fred Durst. Need I say more? The first few songs are decent but it tails off so fast. Not for me.
This was a really interesting listen. As an album its sound is pretty chaotic, which is clearly part of the appeal. You can hear all of these different elements coming in that are foreshadowing the explosion of musical genres that is about to come. The drums and guitar are often madly experimental which is so fun to listen to but also a hint to the technical and stylistic developments that Townsend and Moon were pioneering. It’s wild to compare this to the music the Beatles were making at the time - sometimes you can see the similarities but other moments sound completely alien, like music from a parallel planet.
That all being said, the quality is ropey in many ways. The lyricism is comically crap for a number of songs. My Generation stands out as this innovative gem in a sea of experimental chaos.
Liked it, had fun, learned a lot. Will maybe return occasionally for the whole album but not going into regular rotation.
Ok I actually really enjoyed this. I have never known The Who’s back catalogue bar the hits and recognising them on the radio. This is our group’s second The Who album in a row (lol) but being able to compare this directly with My Generation is pretty interesting. What they have lost by 1971 in raw energy and chaotic charm they have made up for with polish, focus and mature songwriting. It’s a stadium rock sound that still keeps innovation paramount. Again I find it all interesting to compare to the Beatles, whose work I know much better. You can hear layers of influence everywhere. I’m going to buy this album.
Holy smokes what an album. Spitting with rage and irony and sarcasm. It’s so influential that it’s hard to take it in as a standalone piece of art. Is it all good? I can’t even tell you that. You could listen forever and still not get to the bottom of it.
It’s objectively untrue to call Lou Reid’s voice “good,” but I love it. That being said, I don’t love this album. I’m always wary of concept albums - while they can be brilliant, more often than not the conspicuous theme means that they are predictable and obvious, losing a lot of the subtly of good song writing. Berlin is that for me. There is no curiosity about the subject for the next song, because it’s already completely laid out. The “rock opera” idea in general is not my favourite. However, its interesting to listen to Berlin and think how much American Idiot owes to its existence.
Maybe because I was listening in the dark in Reykjavík in the depths of winter but I couldn’t get this album to stick at all. It’s unquestionably an incredible piece of musicianship, and the lore behind it only adds to the allure. But while I love Pet Sounds, Smile feels like it just went too hard into the musical, theatrical vibes for me. Still though, very impressive. I’ll try re-listen in summer and see if it does anything different for me.
Despite being later associated with English Folk (with Pentangle), Bert Jansch’s first album leans far more on Blues and other American folk styles. There are some gems but in general the album was, in my opinion, pleasant but dull. Glad to have filled in this gap in my listening knowledge and would put this on as more background music in the future, but it’s not headphone music for me.
This was an enjoyable romp of an album! The playing and vocals are super tight and it’s just high quality rock. Smoke On The Water was the only song I knew before and is probably my least favourite off the album tbh. Happy to spend more time with this album in the future.
Absolutely astounding, rip-roaring Blues. This one goes straight into heavy rotation. Incredible!
