Some fun songs, but Michael Stipe's voice is droning, and it doesn't take long to get your fill of R.E.M. songs for the day.
I remember the song Take Me Out but until now, didn't know who performed it. Franz Ferdinand is actually a group of Glasgow men, who named their band after the Archduke and a racehorse who shared the name. The band's strengths are in the guitars and drums, working together to play music you can stomp to. Lyrically, eh, no. Lines repeat endlessly, which I guess is fine for mindless dance music, but I'm unsatisfied.
This is good, accessible jazz. I do feel like I'm missing something because I don't know music theory and can't recognize time signatures, but Dave Brubeck and crew make this easy to listen to. The saxophone is a standout, the piano supports it just so, and the percussion keeps everything moving. Take Five is my favorite jazz tune ever. I liked hearing the other music on this album.
Five stars for the gorgeous vocals of Greg Lake, the sublime flute work of Ian McDonald, particularly on the bonus track duo version of I Talk to the Wind, and the masterful guitar performance by Robert Fripp. Standouts also include The Court of the Crimson King and the perfect Lake song, Epitaph. I have to subtract a star for the free-form jazz influence. I got into prog/art rock in high school, and the classical music and Medieval or Renaissance influence was part of the draw. I get that when this album was first released in 1969, it was hailed as the New Sound, but years have passed and the free-form jazz-rock hybrid has been parodied too successfully. "Tap into the Future," indeed. Opening the album with 21st Century Schizoid Man, and having that devolve into the rock version of an orchestra warming up, was off-putting.
In conclusion: centuries old influence = great music; free-form jazz influence = get this song over with already.
Ugh, what a slog. Frank Zappa was told he was a genius, so he ran with the idea that he could put anything on a record, including kazoo, free form jazz, and random people saying random things, and people would eat that crap up, which they did. But Zappa's work hasn't aged well. It comes across as pretentious garbage, and nobody younger than his generation is picking his albums up. The few high points were the 50s doo wop sounds in a couple tracks, and the track "Trouble Every Day," up to the point where Zappa has to interject white self-loathing. The last track, "Return of the Son of Mother" is a little over twelve minutes long, but sounds like an all night bad acid trip.
I knew I was in for a treat when I heard a mandolin on the second song, "Keep the Car Running." This is one album that actually deserves the recognition it got. Every track is solid, because this band can actually play multiple instruments, the lyrics are good--and you can actually make out what the singer is saying--and the music moves along at a good clip. This is great music for listening to at work or on the dance floor.
This would be a solid 3.5 stars if I could do a half star. Dolly's voice has too much vibrato for my taste, and I hate the "stand by your cheatin' man' type songs, but her musicians are good, and Dolly, thanks to her song writing skills, charity work and sweet personality, gets rounded up to four stars.
Solid 3.5 stars. Competently performed Brit Pop, fine to have as background music while driving or working, but forgettable. The only song I can name is "Miss America," and only because that's the one that I would skip if I ever hear the album again.
