This album was pretty solid. Sabotage, Sure Shot and Get it Together were my favorite songs. I was surprised to see how versatile they were with all the trippy instrumentals in between complete banger tracks. I think this album’s one hindrance is its length. I think the album would have felt a lot less tedious if it was shorter. Though they were versatile, they were not versatile enough to make this album an hour!
This album is just beautiful. That’s all I have to say.
This is not my first listen to this album and I feel like if it was it would be a very different review, but the album really grows on you over time. This album is often called as Kid A b-sides and I am not denying that that is true, but these songs still hold their own and have a whole different sound than Kid A and I just love this band so much. They’re on a whole different level.
I came into this album expecting the hits to be good and the deep tracks to be mediocre and uninteresting, but man was I wrong. I loved how different each song was and how different the lead singer sounded in each song. Blondie shows off her true talent in this album that I didn’t know she had. Also the guitar work and production on this album are solid. This album stays interesting throughout making it the perfect length.
There is no doubt that Dolly is an iconic and talented artist, but I still found myself finding this album to be a little too repetitive. I like how personal the album is, but if I don’t love the music then I don’t care about the lyrics. Most songs are beautiful, but if you asked which song was which I wouldn’t be able to answer.
It’s pretty inconsistent with some good songs and bad songs. The good songs were Just What I Needed, You’re All I’ve Got Tonight and the closing track All Mixed Up. The songs that were bad or fair on this album had boring melodies and/or dated ambient synths. I pretty got exactly what I expected out of this album. It was a pretty easy listen, but I wouldn’t call it an essential listen.
This album is pretty experimental for the time and it started off quite strong with I Had Too Much to Dream, but after Onie I thought the album took a massive drop in quality in song writing and production. I know production in the 60s often put drums in the background, but I think so many of the songs would have sounded better with some better produced drums and what were they thinking with The Toonerville Trolley. That song was just stupid and a terrible way to end the album.
This album opens up with an absolute classic Hotel California and it absolutely deserves all the hype. I’ve heard the song plenty of times, but it just never gets old. Anyway, the album does have a few weak tracks including the overrated Life in the Fast Lane and the cheesy Wasted Time. I was worried at this point that the album would go into downward spiral of cheesiness, but Pretty Maids All in a Row, though cheesy, was pretty solid and the last two tracks were pretty great and closed out the album on a high note.
Going into this album, I was expecting a great vocal performance from Monae and I absolutely got one. This album sounds so diverse throughout and it didn’t become dull at all despite the hour run time. I didn’t love the vocal effect on Mushrooms and Roses, but the song itself was good and I appreciate the experimentation. There were no other issues I had with this album. I am amazed.
I only liked four tracks on this project. How did this album win over To Pimp A Butterfly.
