Dig the mysterious sounding opening riff of the album. Doomy ass riff. For me that's the highlight of the track. The vocals following along with the melody of the riff is cool, but the lyrics don't hit me. I vibe with the guitars, bass, piano, and drums on this track. I like the vocal style with the acoustic guitar and piano, except I don't when it gets faster paced. Oh baby, we've gone so far away from it that I forgot about that sweet sweet intro riff. That was a good transition from that light guitar to that riff. Should have done the ole "bring the riff back but slower." I would have rather had that riff without the vocals to be honest. Kinda a sloppy Outro in my opinion.
Another great intro with "Cross-Eyed Mary" for totally different reasons that made the album-titled first track's intro so dope, very ethereal and soft, I love the flute. It's building towards something... boom they hit you with that nasty funk out of nowhere. I love the music, I'm not with the vocals yet. Tight guitar solo and flute solos in there.
Going to start cleaning my oven and continue to listen and if I hear something that really calls my attention I'll come back and write about it. But so far production wise things seem, especially vocally, a little too jarring or something.
Okay I came back to note that Cheap Day had my favorite vocals so far, haha. Cheap Day is solid. Mother Goose again didn't hate the sound of the vocals. I still haven't really connected with the lyrical content much by this point.
Wond'ring Aloud, track 6, I finally can get behind the lyrics here. This will probably be the simplest song on the album. The vocals just feel more natural too me on this one. Simplest instrumentation thus far.
That blistering out of nowhere guitar soloin' in Up to me is sick as fuck, just kinda comes in whenever it wants. This song, to me, has best encapsulated the varying styles of this band and put them cohesively into one song the best. I even like the vocal performance on this one, whereas I really have only liked his more mellow singing over acoustic guitar up to this point like "Wond'ring Aloud."
"My God" track 7, sick riffs again, no one is surprised. Then the distorted guitar comes sheeeeeeeesh. Still I love to hate the vocalist, hahaha. Cool breakdown with the chanting and instrument layering.
I'm back from cleaning the oven, "Wind-Up", straight up jam here, I like the vocal style here, especially the softer back half of the song.
Looking back Locomotive Breath was pretty catchy, probably catchiest song on the album.
"Lick Your Fingers Clean" has solid vocals again, I think this is my favorite vocal performance, although I really hated the gang vocals at the beginning of the song. They are good in the rest of the song though.
Wind-Up solid jam all around. Top 3 track for me from this album.
2/5 for me.
I don't see myself throwing this on to listen from start to finish. The only context where this music would fit in or make sense to me is a psychedelic renaissance fair. The composition of the songs creates some really interesting moments, I wouldn't say any of the songs were written to have a sing-a-long type of chorus.
Sickest Riffs: Aqualung Intro, My God, Hymn 43
Dopest Moment: "Cross-Eyed Mary" - The building whimsical flute intro to that funky riff and beat.
Most Interesting Song: "Up to Me" - the random punched in fuzzy guitar solos throughout is just something I can't think of another example of a song doing that. Really enjoyed it.
I would put on a playlist: Up To Me, Wind-Up, Lick Your Gingers Clean, Cheap Day Return, My God (maybe not cause of the chanting, not a huge fan)
Arctic Monkeys are in my top 200 bands and I own their music already so they as an artist are no surprise to me. As a whole this album does an amazing job being both raw and polished at once. Some of these riffs feel inspired by James Bond and Old Monster TV Shows. I will definitely listen to this album front to back again. Worth noting it's not my favorite album by the Arctic Monkeys.
I love the vocal sound, style and lyrics. Bass tone throughout the whole album is groovy and dope, but especially on "From the Ritz to the Rubble." The drumming, guitars, bass and vocals are just super solid from start to finish on this album. Equal parts hard-rocking, grooving, and soft. Masters of dynamics. The Intro of the first track, "The View from the Afternoon," could almost be confused for the intro to a hardcore knuckle-dragging banger.
Playlist Worthy: "From the Ritz to the Rubble", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "Dancing Shoes", "Riot Van", "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured", "Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..."
Grooviest Track: "Fake Tales of San Francisco", "Still Take You Home", "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured"
Weakest Track: "You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me" but it's still good.
This was sonically delightful. Surprised to say, having never really listened to Elvis Costello before, that I can see myself putting this on to listen to front to back again. Honestly a huge part of why I like this album is Bruce Thomas, bass lines for days and awesome bass tone, loved the bass on "(I don't Want To Go To) Chelsea."
I dig Costello's voice a lot, some songs more than others, and the harmonizing parts in songs like "Lip Service" we're great! I like the dangerous and fierce lyrics,
The instrumentation on the album sounds great, the tones, the melodies, the compositions, the production, performances, bravo to everyone involved. "Lipstick Vogue" stands out as one of the best instrumental performances and compositions on the album. Definitely a poppy rock album, I think the catchiest songs are "Lip Service" and "Hand in Hand."
Side Note - got a hint of The Monkees on the song "You Belong To Me, specifically the keys and tambourine.
Playlist worthy: "The Beat", " Lip Service", & "Lipstick Vogue"
Favorite Song Vocally: Pump It Up
Favorite Lyric: Hand in Hand - "Don't you know I got the bully boys out
Changing someone's facial design"
Very Solid 3 / 5 more like a 3.5 / 5
This album rips start to finish. Starting with "Bombtrack" a palm-muted guitar kicks off the album opener, a more technical and faster feeling riff than the part to follow, it builds and builds and then "boom," the whole band comes in for the first verse with a nassssty jump riff, a hair slower feeling than the intro guitar riff but it goes a whole lot harder, epic intro to the album.
In the first track we can hear some effects used on the vocals that can be heard here and there throughout the album, doubled up vocal tracks, delay, even some calls and responses with singer doing both parts. My favorite vocal performance on the album is actually during the outro of the final track "Freedom", where Zack de la Rocha goes full on metal fry-screaming/yelling.
The whole album has dope riffs, dope tone, and the solo sounds, sheeeeeeeesh. Never really clicked before but some of the solo sounds and tones remind me of a theremin. One of my favorite instrumental sections of the album is after the bridge of "Know Your Enemy" where the bass, with some sludgy grit, takes on the the verse riff alone while the guitar emulates police sirens "woops." Least favorite section of instruments on the album is the guitar solo on "Township Rebellion" felt experimental but out of place. The songs that felt like they had the heaviest rap or hip-hop influences on the instruments were "Fistful of Steel" which is majorly lead by bass on the verses, and the verses of "Township Rebellion" also have a hip-hop vibe featuring a cow-bell heavy beat. Funkiest vibed songs were "Know Your Enemy" and "Bullet In the Head". Doomiest track was "Settle for Nothing," loved the vocal performance on this track, also Phishiest guitar solo.
Playlist Worthy: "Bombtrack", "Settle for Nothing", & "Freedom"
Doomiest Track: "Settle for Nothing"
Least Favorite Track: "Township Rebellion"
Dopest Moment on the Record: Sludgy bass on the verse riff with guitar "woop, woops" on "Know Your Enemy" or the vocals during the outro of "Freedom" at 4:40.
Sonically this is a smoooooth rock album, the saxaphone, piano, syth strings, trumpets, the bass tone and bass performances all help bring that sonic smoothness. Had Dark Side of the Moon, not dropped the year before this, it would maybe get a higher rating from me as this fits in hand and hand with Queen, Pink Floyd and The Beatles sonically. Leans more symphonic and poppy than experimental. I don't tent to lean towards symphonic rock so I don't know what type of mood I would have to be in to put this on again, but if it were on the radio I don't think I would feel inclinded change the station.
"Bloody Well Right" is the song that catches my attention the most on the album. The vocal performance and instrumentation during the verses is my favorite section of music on the album, as it's the doomiest part of the album. They mix that doomy verse with a poppy Beatles/Queen feeling chorus, and then a soloing saxaphone outro accompanied by hand claps, makes for a head bopper of a song.
"Dreamer" is another stand out, probably the catchiest, poppiest, and certainly dreamiest, and most "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys feeling song on the album. Awesome vocal sounds and performance, this group can harmonize and do gang vocals with the best of them.
Other stand out moments are the outro of "Asylum" starting with the soloing guitar at 5:30 and improvisational feeling vocal sounds leading to the yelp of "not quite right." The funky "Rudy" with the mix of funk and synth strings was a recipe for a bopper.
Beautiful sounding album all around. Equal mix of poppy to epic, grooving to emotinally moving rock songs. The final song "Crime Of The Centruy pulled this album into a solid 3 star rating for me.
Doomiest Track: "Bloody Well Right"
Playlist Worthy: "Bloody Well Right", "Dreamer", "Asylum", "Crime Of The Century"
Beautiful sounds on this album, the vocals, the bass sounds and bass tones almost pushed this album to be my first 5 Star. This album yet sorrowful still grooves. Songs bleed into eachother artfully with consistently beatufiul instrumentations and compositions to make this album so cohesive and epic.
For me this is a super strong 4, almost my first 5 Star Rating.
This has great energy, I can bop to it, but ultimately this type of music isn't for me. My favorite tracks are "What is Love?" and "Groove Is in the Heart. I like the grooviness and wobbliness, long delays on vocal samples
Nice use of Slide whistle on "Groove Is in the Heart". I hadn't previously heard a single song off this album besides "Groove in the Heart". Q-Tip's rap in "Groove Is in the Hear" alone almost brings this from a 2 to a 3 Star Rating for me.
A soundtrack album that could easily just be a Curtis Mayfield concept album. I love Curtis Mayfield's pretty soft tenor vocals and beautiful upper Falsetto throughout the whole album. Vocally "Little Child Runnin' Wild" is one of my favorite vocal performances on the album. I love the juxtaposition of beautiful vocals and instrumentation with darker lyrics, darker stories, and darker grooves.
Pusherman is at the top of my favorite songs on the album. Catchy lyrics, catchy melodies, epic falsetto. The bongos add some serious funk and wobble to this track that makes it extra special. Sweet bass and guitar riffs, and awesome wah-wah guitar scratching for an extra layer of rhythm.
I think the second catchiest song after "Pusherman" is "Superfly." I'm not sure if the pitchshifting of the bongos is natural or an effect created in post, but it's an awesome psychadelic effect. Super grooving bass, epic horns, wah-wah, bongos, Mayfields falsetto = Dope.
"Freddie's Dead" has some of the sickest bass/guitar riffs, honestly this song reminds me of some early King Gizzard tracks minus the strings, wonder if they took some inspiration from this song. The mix of funk and strings makes this song feel epic. The horns add an extra funk to the track. Probably the best bass tone on the album. The lyrics on this track might be my favorite on the album.
"Think" is the song that most feels like it was made for a scene in the film, but it still draws from consistent tools of the album like the use of bongos. It's slow pace and focus on clean picking guitar makes this track stick out to me, but it ultimitley still fits the vibe. The vocal-less-fast-paced "Junkie Chase" is a better example of a track pretty clearly made for the film, while still really sounding like the bulk of the album. "Junkie Vibe" is one of the funkiest tracks on the album, with wah-wah guitar scratching throughout, and epic horn punches, and a nice grooving bass.
Easily a 4 Star Rating just taking into account Mayfield's vocals.
When the bass dropped in "Slip Inside This House," I felt that. I think I've actually heard "Loaded" before, it reminds me of "Sympathy for the Devil." I like the dialogue samples on "loaded," haha. Besides the gospel signing, this album reminds me quite a bit of Beck's production styles. A pleasure to listen to this albumn, but nothing overly memorable for me.