Eagles
EaglesThe Eagles are so easy to listen to, and I hate it. Their harmonies are like honey, even when there is a country twang to the rock. Every song I didn’t know was worth the listen.
The Eagles are so easy to listen to, and I hate it. Their harmonies are like honey, even when there is a country twang to the rock. Every song I didn’t know was worth the listen.
What’s special about covers, especially when they aren’t re-arranged? The Byrds play fine, but there is nothing special about this particular album, and I hope no one things these are their songs.
I understand why they did it, but this album would have been better with just the really good songs, instead of being a double album. 4+
Different band, same problem: they would improve simply by dropping a few mediocre songs. Better still, drop the pretentious silly noises on most songs. There was potential to be a solid album.
MUCH better than their previous album. Their darkly humorous lyrics were secondary to upbeat and unique music that kept my attention.
Good, but not great. Really a 3.5, but I’ll give half a point because Elvis’s vocals are more mature or because of the saxophones. Probably the saxophones.
Three great songs spaced out, with good and okay songs in between, led to three full listens yesterday. 4 stars for the music and 1 for the balance.
As with many orchestral songs, there are parts I like and parts I don’t. But at the end of the day, there was almost nothing memorable about this album, except for the concept.
Getting drunk and high and playing music might be a way to grieve the deaths of friends; recording the music and selling it does not make it great. The grief is palpable on these tracks.
The humor and the tribute to pirate radio aside, the music is uneven, making “I can see for miles” stand out. It’s worth a listen to hear the birth of Tommy in “Sunrise” and “Rael” but people would have to wait two more years for that brilliant album.
Lamar likes to play with a theme throughout an album, as an extended story. This was clear from m.a.a.d., which was a better album with songs that might linger. This one had none.
Unnecessary redundancy, but better than SW 4.
Worth listening to, if only to try to figure out if it is good music. For me, it had really good moments (like the second half of “Stereotypes”) and a lot of juvenile tracks (especially on the second side). Other bands did the sound better.
Disco pop is not my thing, but this is what you get when people have talent and they know how to produce quality sound: a solid album. “Rio” is the standout hit.
Worth listening to again. Strong, interesting vocals; impassioned lyrics; balanced instrumentation. Not sure why I avoided her music in the past.
Wilson knows how to jam. Even better on the second listen.
I would wear out the A-side of this album, if I had it, but the second half is lacking the energy that makes this group so good.
Drake has nothing on Jim Croce or Donovan. Fine for background music at a pub, but the lyrics are laughable and the vocal creative range is minimal. I cannot believe there’s more than one album on this list.
Since Butthole Surfers is to hard rock as Miles Davis is to jazz, I shouldn’t like this album - but I do. The group’s ability to create catchy phrases of lyrics and riffs, along with keeping each song and the album short, made me want more. The jerks!
Often mundane music, but the lyrics were good.
While amusing at first, by the end of the album and the beginning of a second listen, I felt all that was missing was electric shock therapy and some official insisting that this is what good music sounds like.
Tender, poignant, and humorous. Scott Walker could have learned a lot from this guy.
The Eagles are so easy to listen to, and I hate it. Their harmonies are like honey, even when there is a country twang to the rock. Every song I didn’t know was worth the listen.
Bold move putting the two best songs last on the album. Mostly arcade noises and simple lyrics. This album is an oversimplification of what the early 80s were. A 3 is generous.
Quite late in the game for punk, but enjoyable.
I expected more from Radiohead than Sleepy Pop.
This is the folk music I grew up on: superb poetry and harmony.
Better than In Rainbows, this is still nothing to write home about. The first really interesting song was the ninth.
Probably a 3+,but much better to my ears than Radiohead. The early tracks are the best.
Really good music, for country. I was hoping for one more upbeat song, but the slow-dancing songs have a beauty to them. Some fun lyrics!
Good for both MTV and grunge.
Worth a listen for its strangeness, but I expected more from psychedelic swamp rock.
Fun for background dance music, but none of the songs stood out to me. 3.5
Taking ok music and making parts dissonant does not make any of the music better. Poor philosophy that others glommed onto.
Love the beats and the way they finish each other’s lines. Kickin’ it old school.
Plenty of good music here. I just wish Morrison would let the band jam more; a few of the songs would have been better without the vocals.
Damn, that is some red hot jazz! I love that the crowd recognized how good it was, even for a festival.
Not only are the songs’ lyrics powerful, but the arrangements bring out an energy from every instrument and voice that beg to be listened to over and over again.
Guided By Voices answers the question of whether one can get to know a band through samples.
Great vocals, but not my cup of tea. Music to make one sad.
Immature concept in every respect. Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare succeeds where this one fails.
Normally this would be a 4 for me, but context matters. Appropriating these songs in 1962, re-arranging them (often for the better), and choosing songs with lines about chains and being a slave and having it harder than others suddenly becomes much more poignant. Don’t tell me he was blind to what he was doing.
Made it through three listens and would have gone for a fourth if there had been time. Great energy and a lot of subtleties worth unpacking.
Uneven; it started well enough, but by the fourth song I was dreading finishing the album. Even as the songs got better, those few tainted the collection.
They’ve perfected the second half crescendo, with a driving beat (and organ) that beg for this album to be used in celebration/as a pick-me-up. Just right for the last day of the year with students.
Looking for the line between noise and music, they must have gotten spun around and lost the horizon. Awful.
Pleasant voice and interesting compositions, but the songs ran too long to keep my attention - R&B rambling.
This would be a four if there were no vocals; the singing does not hold up against the deft guitar licks. I think they knew this, as the singer often sounds like he is behind the instruments. A tip of the hat to “The Prisoner” clip. Three plus.
One of the best groups for Blues Rock. Only a few radio-play songs here, but that does not diminish its appeal. Great balance of ebb and flow energy, and what a Stomp! I’ll round up.
I wanted to like this more, but after two listens I didn’t feel there was anything memorable about this album. Good, and easy to listen to, but not memorable.
Their energy is infectious despite (or maybe because of) their juvenile behavior, much like watching children playing at recess. Guessing samples from songs of my youth is a game in itself.
Amazing how quickly this double album flew by. Brilliant!
The sound of many bands in the 90’s that strayed from or rebelled against synthesized sounds of the 80’s. Difficult to tell this group from the rest. Songs don’t really move past the hook.
I feel I stumbled upon a backwoods after hours lounge. It’s a bit naughty, but the musicians are giving it their all, and I am totally captivated. I gave it three listens and I’ll be back for more soon!
I can see this album’s influence on Grunge bands and, therefore, it was worth a listen. Beyond that, it was not as good as those that come after it, especially the vocals, which do not blend well with the rough music. Three plus.
Abba is a guilty pleasure for me. The harmonies make me blush like a kissed teacher. This album was fun throughout, even though I only knew two songs.
This was not the jazz I was expecting from one of the greats, and that really affected my first listen. However, the second go round I heard how the orchestration fills in the space around Holiday’s vocals beautifully, and, while this is not Holiday in her prime, her vulnerability connects so well with the songs she’s chosen. Depressingly emotional from an aging, worn out singer at the end of her career.
Running scales are tiresome, but her voice is beautiful.
I have always wanted to like Elvis’ work, but the songs I have heard have not caught my interest (except for the hit “Veronica”). Clearly I have never heard this album. It’s good and catchy; I liked it even better the second time. Probably a 3.5, but I’ll round up to a 4 because it was startlingly not strange.
It’s amazing none of these songs became generational hits. Each is compelling, and Armatrading’s vocals are understated beautifully.
Lesson: Good things happen when you dwell on your problems and you put them out there for the world to hear.
Something to be said for hearing the first of a genre. Thankfully there were others that liked the sound but believed they could do better. The two covers aren’t as good as the originals. Quite a silly album - and there’s a place for that.
Elements of the Troggs and Mungo Jerry, it’s a fine sounding album, with “Bang a Gong” at the next level.
It started out interesting - good bass lines- but grew tiresome, until the last song.
Supposedly this album changed rap. I can’t say it was for the better.
It starts a little slow, but it is a nearly perfect side two. This version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is a lasting masterpiece. Rounding up.
Solid noise for those who like to jam.
Can almost give this a 5 for “Rednecks” alone. Ballsy, patriotic, and heart-crushingly tender, this album is a true salute to the Deep South. I would have loved to hear it performed in Georgia, with Newman conducting the Atlanta Orchestra.
Too much experimental electronica, not enough hard rock.
Just enough (or little enough) industrial and electronic sound to make things interesting.
From the first notes of “Chameleon” I was enthralled, and it didn’t even matter that it became chaotic during “Sly” or sounded like music that would be used on Buck Roger’s.
Despite being enjoyable and interesting, with a sound that seems to have influenced bands of the 90s, most songs feel incomplete. A great sampling of their talent that I would listen to again; frustrating that I cannot give them more than a 3 because of what’s missing.
Probably would have been more popular in its time if not for the subject matter. More than three singles here.
Clapton could take a 40 year old standard and make it sound as new as his own compositions. This studio album sounds like a live album, jamming for an incredibly short hour and seventeen minutes. Encore!
Was it really 28 songs or 28 variations of the same song? Like a child’s tantrum, thankfully it was over quickly.
Three albums in one year!? No wonder they were writing about forgetting songs and breaking bones to get a vacation.
I was thinking this one wasn’t going to be as good as the other two we’ve had, but then “Save the Life of My Child” began and I remembered how good this album is. “Fakin It” and “A Hazy Shade of Winter” are two of my favorites. While “Overs” through “Bookends Theme” are subdued, there is power in their message that gets more poignant to older I get. All the emotions are on display on this one.
It did make me grin to hear what is the quintessential sound of the 80s. However, that doesn’t make it automatically good. The only song here I know/remember is “The Look of Love” and that is easy to pass over.
So he’s been spouting nonsense for a long time. The last song really shows his ego.
Who are these pretentious punks? Their good songs are rip-offs of great artists, like Buddy Holly and Dave Brubeck; and they openly dis Smashing Pumpkins for no reason. Pavement was meant to be walked all over with no second thought or listen.
Musically, the first songs are the most interesting, and this is a three star album; however, the socio-political nature of the lyrics take this up a notch. Unfortunately, still relevant today. “Talkin’ about a Revolution” is worth a listen.
This seems to be old hat, but as the “first” live blues album, it’s showing just what the blues were all about. As I listened, I couldn’t help but think of a generation of rock artists who were influenced by Muddy Waters, from the Beatles to the Stones to the Yardbird - and everyone they influenced as a result.
Dank groovin’ throughout this album. “Graveyard Train” is especially good.
It’s too bad this album sat on a shelf for 22 years. Cooke shows that he knows how to party, changing up each song just enough to make it a unique experience and keeping the crowd involved. Slightly higher rating for the spirit captured in the album.
It has the good singles, but the rest is quite forgettable. I don’t think the next generation will look kindly on the album.
If I am going to listen to hip hop, this is the type of album I’d choose: lots of energy, positive, and a bit silly.
I’m totally biased, but so is he.