4.5 stars. Often my favorite Smiths, certainly their best. Not a huge fan of the title track, but it works well as the opening track. If I had to pick a Smiths Top 10 songs, this record would be well represented.
3.5 Stars. Considered peak Stones by most. This is the first time in a long time that I've listened to this album in its entirety, and I honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I used to when I was younger. Still a great album, but the whole juke-joint piano boogie sound doesn't resonate with me as much as it used to, and given this is a double album, it was difficult for me to listen to it all at once. I'm more inclined to listen to select tracks from this record. Anyway, I'm sure my lukewarm review will be an anomaly.
Not sure I've ever listened to a Dylan record start to finish before. Of course I knew many more songs on here than I realized I would (never been good with song titles). And given today's sensibilities, I can't see what all the hubbub was about over the 'electric' side - maybe if I'd been a diehard folkie back in the day... But honestly people, this was his fifth album. Let the man breathe!
I've always associated Joan with singer-songwriter, which is not my favorite, but this is rockier than I expected. I am glad to have heard this album, if for no other reason than that I know people who will enjoy it.
I've been a CCR fan since I was a kid, though mostly through their Chronicle comps (Vol 1 = 5 stars, Vol 2 = 4 stars) and not their albums proper. There were only two tracks on Green River I couldn't sing along to (I say this sort of tongue-in-cheek, since depending on which version of GR you listen to, you could have as many as four non-Chronicle tracks, but two of them are instrumentals). CCR was a soundtrack to many excursions with family and friends, so their music always conjures a good time feeling for me. Anyway, seems to me you either like the CCR sound or you don't, and I do.
Guess I'm missing the Joni gene, 'cause try as I might, she just doesn't take.
A younger me would've loathed this, but honestly that's more an indictment of a young man looking for cool music than the musicianship contained herein. The thing is those biases still linger in me a little, and I was tempted to skip this record. Glad I didn't though - there are definitely elements that I can appreciate and even enjoy, but overall this just isn't a record I'd come back to repeatedly.
I'd be curious to read the write-up in "1001" on what makes this a must hear.
I dig a good blues rock sound, and they've got that, but I don't find the songs all that interesting. Not a bad record per se, but not particularly a standout either.
