1001 Albums Summary

I had a (clearly unearned) hesitation about this album because the 70's British/American Piano Ballad stuff is a little out of my wheelhouse, but that hesitation vanished after the first song. I think it was really smart of Billy to open with 'Moving Out', as he seems to have done so for people like me that held preconceptions about his music. When he shouts he sounds surprisingly similar to Paul McCartney doing his shouting voice, I would have guessed he was a scouser by the way he pronounces some words. I'd be curious if anyone can think of any contemporary artists who perform in this style, as it was very popular in the 70's but seems to have fallen off after the 80s, perhaps wavering in a similar way, or due to, the general transition from acoustic to electronic production. He originally sought Beatles producer George Martin but couldn't secure the bag. It is Billy's best selling non-compilation album. Even though I didn't really recognise any songs by name, many sounded familiar once I heard them and are probably classic and/or sampled. I only checked for a a couple of songs and there are many samples, including Snoop Dogg, Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu Tan Clan, Xhibit, and Daft Punk (who sampled seperate songs from this album for one song, 'High Fidelity'. Three stars for now for me personally, though I'm sure this is the type of album where time spent and and enjoyability are highly correlational

Can tell there's some deep personal lore around this album that I am ignorant towards, would need much more time with it