All songs sound the same and follow the same pattern, until the last song, but by then it’s a case of too little too late. Overrated band and album.
An epiphany. Spent years purposely avoiding the band because I had the wrong idea about them. Wrongly lumped them in with Oasis. Loved it.
Tres Hombres by ZZ Top solidified the fact that I don’t really like ZZ Top. I appreciate the musicianship but I’m really not their demographic on so many levels.
Admittedly not a huge Dylan fan, I kept an open mind going into listening. While I already knew about half of the songs, in the context of this double album they took on a new life and I was pleasantly surprised. Won’t be the last time I listen to this album beginning to end for sure. I feel I’ll come to appreciate it even more with repeated listenings.
I gave this album three stars for its creativity and relevance, but honestly, just not my thing. I went into it with an open mind and listened to every track. I thoroughly enjoyed two cuts: “Thin Line” featuring Nelly Furtado because it actually had singing between the rapping and the last cut, “Acetate Prophets” because it’s fun(ky) and I could actually see myself dancing to something like this in the 80s/early 90s.
Good stuff. I’ll never love early metal, but I certainly like it. Pictures of Home is great. Love the story behind the album. I was a bit too young to appreciate Machine Head on its initial release, but have grown to appreciate it over the years.
Definitely had to FF through this one. I would venture to guess based on most of the 5-star reviews that if you were not a teenager in high school (especially if you dabbled in substances) when this came out, you “missed the boat.” Not one thing I could grab onto, though I tried.
I’m proud to say I listened to the entire Supertramp album with no skipping and actually paying attention. I’m surprised to report that I definitely do not dislike them nearly as much as I thought. In fact, I enjoyed about 70% of the album. I prefer one vocalist, Davies, over the other. I think Hodson’s voice is a bit too twee at times. I’ll wind up rating it a three on the site, but it’s really more like 3 1/2. My biggest problem with them is that they are too prog lite for me to listen to them extensively. I like my prog a bit more complex.
Supertramp is yacht prog. 😁
Smooth Brazilian bossa nova beats and Frank’s voice (from that era). A can’t miss. Brought back memories of my dad, cocktail parties spent in my room but overhearing this kind of music and a time embedded in my musical conciseness. Perfect orchestrations and arrangements. Sinatra’s voice at its finest. Five stars.
By the time The White Stripes appeared on the scene (late 90s), I felt that groups like this were just a retread of the punk, post punk and new wave that I had been experiencing and immersing myself in since about 1975. I never gave them much credence, though some songs stood out and caught my attention over the years. Today, listening to White Blood Cells, I can officially say that I have finally listened to a whole White Stripes album and I like it! Not a retread at all but a unique approach to a certain sound. Love that the songs are short but packed with sonic quality.
“Bored… umm… Born in the USA. This was a struggle. I have a sometimes like/a lot of the times dislike for his music. The first few albums are fine and his later folky/roots rock stuff is decent. This album though? Ugh. If I never hear the title track or “Dancing in the Dark” ever again… Well you know. Since it wasn’t as bad as I thought, I’ll give it 2 stars because most of it really is just mediocre. I have to admit though, Downbound Train is quite good. It’s a seriously good song which just doesn’t fit with the rest of the meh stuff on the album.
I FF’d/listened to about 8 of the 15 tracks. A couple of the songs were better than I expected… especially the one with… Billy Squier!… but still, not very listenable to me. Most of the tracks are just repetitive rap. Don’t think I’ll listen to this one through. I will never fully get nor appreciate this genre. But that’s on me. 🤷🏻♂️
Well, that was a trip. Os Mutantes is definitely the “retro kitsch” kind of music that would have played at east village clubs and bars back when that was my scene in the 80s. Unless you are experiencing it with the aid of some kind of mind altering substance, it’s really not the kind of music to just sit and listen to. Some good vocals, instrumentation and a serious nod to Brazilian tropicalia. I give it a solid 3 stars for its creativity and effort.
I was excited when this popped up as it was a huge album with my group of friends back in 1982 with many hours spent dancing to some of the songs in clubs. I was disappointed to find that as a whole, the album doesn’t quite stand the test of time, though the singles from the album like Poison Arrow and Look of Love do in fact hold up. Still, Martin Fry’s crooner vocals are fun and the sophisti-pop stylings and music make it impossible not to want to get up and groove to it.
Other than a peripheral knowledge of the name of the band, I knew nothing else about them or their music until now. Described on Wikipedia as indie rock, pop and electronic, dream pop and electro rock, I thought going in that this was up my alley. The album started out promising, soon became repetitive and then towards the end became interesting again. I took the advice of a few reviews to listen to it again and wound up really liking it by the end of the second listen. In fact, I’ll probably give it a third “spin” just to verify that. In some ways it harkens back to some of the dream pop from the 80s that I liked, but definitely has a 2000s sensibility to it.
A masterpiece of an album if you are into this kind of music. This album has been a presence in my life since its creation back in 1970. Having grown up hearing these songs first coming from my brother’s stereo, progressive FM radio and eventually my own stereo, I “get” this music. British folk-influenced songs, flutes, esoteric lyrics, hard chugging guitars and distinctive vocals all come together somehow and it works. However, if art/prog rock is not your thing or if you did not grow up when this kind of music was popular, then I can see why some low-rated reviews and head scratching exists.
That said, I love it!
I really like this kind of music and appreciate what Ray Charles tried to do here, but I just couldn’t get behind this album. I’ve heard some of these versions over the years and they just never clicked with me. Still, three stars for the musicianship.
I am more than happy to report that the soundtrack to Shaft was great! Not an album to sit down and listen to, but great to have on while you are going about your business. Some songs are chill and others are funky. Fun to groove to. Definitely a product of its time but it sure holds up. Never thought I’d like a double album of mostly instrumentals, but I loved it.
I wound up FFing through this one. I just don’t get it. Nothing redeeming or even remotely listenable about it for me. I understand rap is a valid art form but try as I may, I just can’t find a handle or route into this kind of rap.
Ok. I’ve now listened to a Metallica album and never have to listen to one again (except that reading the reviews I noticed there’s a live Metallica album in the generator 😬). This was an album where reading the wiki entry was actually a bad thing because it gave me hope that I might like the album. For all the supposed thought that went into the lyrics and the “this guitar part is supposed to represent this idea” I certainly didn’t hear or get it. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to an album that seems to have so much effort behind its planning and execution that left me so unimpressed and bored. Oh, and how about a melody once in awhile Metallica? At least Judas Priest has a few songs you can hum.
Wow. I am simply floored by this album. This is singer/songwriter Beck after the breakup of a nine-year relationship with his gf and it shows. No samples. Real musicians. It’s one of the most mournful, introspective and elegiac albums I’ve ever heard and I loved every single note of it: his voice, the lyrics and the melodies. Stunningly sad/beautiful.
That all said, it is not for everyone. This kind of music is right up my alley though.
Today’s selection is Roxy Music’s second album, For Your Pleasure. Classic early era Roxy though a bit spotty and excessive. Not my favorite album of theirs but a good one. It has the theatricality/glam of early Bowie paired with being a blueprint many punk and post punk bands looked to for inspiration. Gotta love the maniacal sax solos, like on Editions of You! A solid 31/2 stars.
I didn’t think I was familiar with this artist until I started listening to the album and heard the song “Babylon.”It’s one of those songs I’ve heard for many years in the background of just about everywhere and everything, but disliked so much that I’ve always shut it out and never pursued finding out who it was. Lots of droning singer/songwriter stuff that, I believe, fails. For me, this type of music has to have melodies, lyrics, vocals, instrumentation, SOMETHING that draws me in and plays on or to my emotions. Nothing. Not even his cover of Soft Cell’s “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” could even impress me, though it’s the best song on the album, because… it’s Soft Cell! But without Marc Almond’s deadpan, torch-song delivery, it falls flat. This album spent three years on the British charts. Must have been a fallow three years in music over there.
I’d heard of the band but had never heard anything from them. Until now.
Put the MC5, New York Dolls, Tom Petty and Lynyrd Skynyrd in a blender (maybe throw in the Stones too) and what do you get in the hands of this band? You guessed it: Crap. With maybe an OK song or two. Maybe.
Back to Black. What can I say? We all know Amy’s story and this is just part of it. Sheer creativity and heartfelt singing. She wrote a good part of the album. Production is spot on; harkens back to Phil Spector in sound. Checks all the boxes for me: melodies, lyrics, vocals, instrumentation; it’s all top notch. We can only imagine what a follow up would have been like. Unfortunately, the “demons” that sparked her pure creativity and talent also did her in. A story we’ve heard about before over the centuries and across the arts.
I was a “disco sucks” guy when this album first came out but have grown to appreciate disco over the years. The production and playing by Rogers and Edwards alone is fantastic, but add the classic r&b vocal stylings of the sisters Sledge and this album is all the good things that disco can be. The infectious melodies of classics like We are Family, He’s the Greatest Dancer and Lost in Music are fun and while maybe a bit dated, can still get people moving and grooving.
I’m not the biggest Van Morrison fan, but I can see why this album has become the classic that it is. At first listen I was lost, but once I got to Madame George (a beautiful song) I finally had the key that helped open up the album for me. Definitely need to hear it again.
To borrow from another review on here: “Crap, juvenile lyrics, crap vocals, crap guitar, crap album title and art.”
The fact that the home page for this album starts out by stating this album was taken off of subsequent printings of the “1001 Abums…” book speaks volumes. I listen to some pretty questionable punk/post-punk/goth stuff, but this album is just bad. There’s nothing about it I can even begin to like. 0 stars.
Great vocals, arrangements, song writing and playing. This music is the great American songbook. Some people here are questioning why they should like this music because it’s “old” and they are young. Music transcends time. All art does. Great art is for the ages. To dismiss it because one thinks it’s “old” music is to do oneself a disservice. Do these people dismiss art works from previous eras? Classical music?
In addition, there are some reviewers who say all the songs sound the same. Sounds like something their parents or grandparents would say about rock and roll or rap. 🤔
Simply brilliant. “The Model” and “Neon Lights” are standouts for me. I remember when Kraftwerk first came on the scene all those years ago. So many people didn’t know what to make of them then and from some reviews here, seems like some people still don’t. That’s unfortunate, because this music paved the way for so many bands; and not just 80s “new wave” bands, though that music owes a great debt to Kraftwerk. The pioneering electronic production involved in this music is responsible for so many of the techniques used in music studios today.
Great album from an amazing talent. So glad to see so many positive reviews from people who didn’t think they would like this album, maybe because they had misjudged Janelle Monáe and what her music would be like. Janelle is multitalented, intelligent and a real professional. And it all shows on this and their subsequent albums.
Amazing album. Amazing women. Five stars +
