This really is a jam packed album. "Dead Leaves" is a fantastic opener, and "Hotel Yorba" is an equally good chaser that sets up the breadth of song styling that will be featured.
"Fell in Love With a Girl" is one of those songs where it's easy to forget how good it is. Great short little rocker.
The only thing that might keep me from giving this a full 5 is some dead spots. "The Union Forever" and "I Think I smell a Rat" really drag with their tempo changes and wandering lyrics. I do not get the sudden shift into "A Certain Man" from Citizen Kane.
But then you have "Same Boy You've Always Known" and "We're Going to Be Friends" which are 2 of my favorite White Stripes songs.
I think the tie breaker is that I really can just sit down and devour this album without thinking. I only do that with albums that deserve 5 stars, so here it is: First Five Star Album. It has most of my favorite White Stripes songs, it's a fairly seminal album for its time, and it has almost as many standout tracks as "Revolver." It has great variety and it moves through even the frustrating patches.
Well, I guess I still like classic era U2. The usual tracks that have been overplayed to death are still pretty great even if I never need to hear them ever again.
But once you get past the usual radio stalwarts, you have some really great songs. "Running to a Standstill" in particular feels like a song that might need to go on my best of list. Same for "Red Hill Mining Town."
I even caught myself humming along to "Trip Through Your Wire."
This is a solid 4 star that might actually be a 5. Damnit, I thought I was too good for this band.
This is the first instrumental album I've been assigned and it is a joy. Lush electric organs, tight drums, and of course the horns are fresh and buoyant.
I love that the album closes with the only vocals and that it's on a track secondary titled "A Children's Song." Sort of an encouragement to approach music and life with a child's heart and joy.
This one is going to take a few listens since I'm not as used to writing about Jazz, but it's an easy 4 stars for skill and musicianship alone. "Maseru," "Nomali," and the opener "Part of a Whole" were standout tracks.
I think I like Radiohead. I've kind of resisted them, and there were plenty of dull moments on this album where I was tempted to check out, but giving it a second listen yielded a very enjoyable listening experience.
I have a feeling that I will come back to this album and it'll grow on me, but for now, I'm giving it 3 stars until I can really feel it out.
The opening one-two punch of "Tom Sawyer" and "Red Barchetta" is as strong as anything in classic rock. Those are Rush at their tightest, most focused, and accessible. Both have their eye rolling moments (a better, mannish time?) Of Geddy Lee excess, but both weave such enchanting atmospheres that all sins are easily forgivable. "Red Barchetta" in particular paints such a rich, water colored picture of youthful passion that even I'm drooling over muscle cars.
"Tom Sawyer" is another song that resists going stale despite endless replays and mainstream exposure. It's still a sublime piece of Prog.
"Limelight" is really the only other song that hits its mark. It's another didactic call to arms for artists, demanding purity, dignity and Valor. It's still a great song, and a better example of Geddy's writing.
"YYZ" has not aged well and is a pretty wane instrumental piece.
"Witch Hunt" is boiler plate Big Brother stuff, and "Vital Signs" is pleasant but forgettable.
Perhaps "The Camera Eye" deserves closer inspection of its lyrics, but I don't feel like wading through its 10 minute runtime. Something about the cameras role in history or something. I dunno.
Good album with 2 or 3 of Rush's best songs makes this an easy 3.
I can't give this less than 5.
I want to. I want to find a reason that I'm not blown away by this album. I want to say that their ill advised detour into Eastern Mysticism is a disqualifying one; but damnit, this is a true masterpiece.
Even "Good Morning" works in the context of the album, providing a day-in-the-life within the confines of the Lonely Hearts Club concert. This is followed by the real day in the life which is much less rewarding than the one imagined in the concert.
And that ending. It's such an ambitious gamble and it pays off. So much has been written about it, but it bares repeating: this is one of the finest moments in pop music.
But even in between the highs, you have some of the Beatles finest song writing. Paul's Granny shit has never sounded so good as the Beatles take a grand tour of British musical history and even venture into the future with Lennon's acid tinged fever dreams. "She's Leaving Home," still is my favorite, although "Lucy in the Sky" has grown in my estimation.
I love this album. It's a success on every front. Song for song, I still prefer "Revolver," but this is as good as they say it is.
Part of me wants to give this album a 4 star review on the strength of "Fire and Rain" alone. If I had to point to the absolute peak of this strain of singer/songwriter, it's "Fire and Rain." Few other songs pinpoint the moment between disbelief and cognition of loss; the moment you realize a part of you and a connection to another being is dissolving and there's no fighting it. The line "I just couldn't figure out who to send it to" kills me every time.
An in between there are deft and layered invocations of vivid images. "Sunny days that [he] thought would never end" always sticks with me. Is a never ending sunny day a good thing or oppressive to people of Taylor's temperament? It's a complicated and compelling.
The title and leadoff track is as fine a ballad as you'll hear. Taylor's voice is sweet and soft without straying into the saccharine. His control of tones and melody is exquisite and belongs aside great singing cowboys.
There are other nice songs that carry the usual James Taylor charm. He shows full command of a variety of rootsy song styles. "Lo and Behold" does a good job of working in the style of spirituals to focus on questions of right and wrong. "Sunny Skies" feels like the musings of a farmhand killing time between back breaking tasks. "Country Road" is a solid, soulful country song.
It's when Taylor turns to the blues that the album stumbles. "Steamroller Blues" is a half baked blues pastiche, and joins some of the worst of the genre. We get another round of it with "Oh Baby Don't You Loose Your Lip on Me." Is he serious? Would that make it better or worse?
This is still a wonderful Singer/Songwriter album. I'm probably dinging it unfairly for fairly minor transgressions, but something about well-my-baby-dun-me-wrong blues pastiche that makes my being revolt. Like, yogurt commercials used to do that shit.
Crunchy, fast, and unrelenting. It's a great album from a genre that doesn't really do it for me.
Starts out like a 4, but kind of dips somewhere. Nothing wrong, but then again, nothing really right. Gets good again with the last few
Easy, breezy listen. Super tight, absolutely heavenly vocals, and some top notch guitar work on "That Lady," and "Summer Breeze."
"The Highways of My Life" is a phenomenal closer. Warm, wise, soulful.
Fun thrash album with some social commentary thrown in. The title track feels like Metal's "Revolution," where in Dave Mustain notes that people who dream of change are frequently disillusioned.
What a weird, wonderful album. Perfect soundtrack for night driving. Wyatt does a great job of probing the dreamy and hypnotic haze of life.
And whaddaya do? You join the Mothers! And you end up working for Zappa! And he makes you be a creep!
You could have played the blues with John Mayall or far out exciting jazz with Blood Sweat and Tears.
Look, no one will ever take you seriously. How CAN they take you seriously? In this business, you've either gotta play the Blues, or sing with a high voice!
A noble trainwreck. The song choice is scattershot, never settling on smooth adult pop or something deeper and more confessional.
There's little in the way of Dion or Phil Spector high spots or moments of flashing their skill. Everything feels....functional?
Definitely worth another listen, but I'll give it time
Fuck yeah! This is the Rush I signed up for! Cheesy, earnest, and singing about Oracles and Elders.
Sure guys, just stick a 20 minute rock opera on there. And it's awesome. It's miraculous. It's everything right with Geddy's Objectivism. Music, art, and joy need no purpose beyond beauty. It's boilerplate stuff, but they strike just the right balance to make it sing.
The rest of the album is super tight, especially for Prog rock. It's a really impressive 39 minute listen. "Something for Nothing" is a great way to close the album and, along with "Limelight" is one of Rush's great mission statement songs.
I'll always have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this band, but this is a stone cold prog classic.
