Ok I'm stupid and deleted the whole thing I had written, so I'll try my best to explain what I thought without typing too much because I don't want to write all that again:
I'm not a reggae fan so seeing bob marley as my first album was kind of a letdown. The first 3 tracks were a pleasant surprise, I still wouldn't consider myself a reggae fan but I see the genre differently, the keys, guitar and bass kind of compensate the horrible monotonous rythm. The title track blew me away and it's the only song I can say I really liked and I'd even call it a banger.
I knew 2 songs before (Three Little Birds and Jamming), I didn't really like them and I don't really like them after listening the whole album either. Overall I believe the record is pretty good for its genre (It's definitely better than any other reggae I've ever listened to, not that it's much but it's a few songs) and a nice listen (I really liked how the songs blended into the next one in the first half of the record), which made me leave with a new appreciation of the smoothness of Reggae's instrumentals.
SCORE: 2 (Because of Exodus)
BEST SONG: EXODUS
WORST SONG: JAMMING
YAYYY BOWIE TIME. And Bowie on the Berlin Trilogy, which is probably one of my favourite moments of his career. I'm going to be super biased because I ADORE Bowie (I'd need bigger caps for that word, as I believe this guy is the GOAT of solo artists, and even counting bands he's top 3 at the very least).
Speed of Life: God I really really really love the instrumentals of this era, both the ones in here and Heroes (I don't think I've listened to Lodger entirely in a few years so I won't mention it) are amazing. I usually don't enjoy instrumental music that much but this track is great.
Breaking Glass: I don't know what I like more, the bass or the guitar, all I know is that my only issue with this track is how short it is.
What in The World: Maybe a bit overloaded, but good nevertheless.
Sound and Vision: The steam noise is kind of tiring, but I can't say I don't like the song. Bowie's low note singing is always great and the reason for my forgiveness of the steam.
Always Crashing in the Same Car: The guitar is insane, other than that a pretty normal song.
Be my Wife: The guitar tone in the solo always reminds me of the tone of why my guitar gently weeps, and the whole piano as well. Great song.
A New Career in a New Town: Another instrumental song that breaks my usual opinion on instrumental songs, the harmonica is good, the drum beat, albeit a tad repetitive has a cool sound and the piano is simple but effective.
Warszawa: I like ambient (Even if I never really had an ambient phase where I actively searched for the genre like with other genres, I always like hearing a good song and this fits my criteria for such) and I think it's a great song, I don't like it being in the middle of the album and not the end or the beginning. I do get it works as an interlude and it connects with the final songs pretty well but still, it's way too epic to be in the middle. EDIT: Just googled and realized this was the b side on the vinyl, things make way more sense now and I love this album even more now.
Art Decade: I think after this the album isn't as good as the first part, don't get me wrong I like this, but the first part is definitely better.
Weeping Wall: I love every synth on this song and I believe it's one of the highlights of the whole album, would probably be my favourite if it wasn't instrumental but I also don't know how could this song work if it wasn't so.
Subterraneans: I'd watch a movie if this was the soundtrack just to hear this song.
RATING: 5 STARS
BEST SONG: BREAKING GLASS
WORST SONG: ART DECADE (Still a great song, and a testimony of how good this album is)
Time for a fun fact: I've been conciously avoiding this album (Prince as a whole tbh) for 3 years and I'm not even sure why, so this will be my first listen of Purple Rain.
Let's Go Crazy: Ok it's barely started and I already got hit with pure 80s with the slightly detuned synth, those drums and the vocals with those effects. The first guitar solo is drowned on the synth and drums but sounds cool, THE SECOND SOLO THO WAS EXCELLENT.
Take Me with U: Nice pop song, I didn't listen to anything worth mentioning but it's a cool song.
The Beautiful Ones: The synth as I've said on previous songs mesmerizes me, but I prefer faster rockier sounding Prince than slower soulier (If that's a word) sounding Prince from what I've listened in this record.
Computer Blue: Weird intro to an absolute banger, every instrument is great.
Darling Nikki: Another banger, the guitar tone is great. I don't usually pay attention to the lyrics that much in the first listen but damn these are way too silly not to notice.
When doves cry: Vocals remind me of Bowie and they're really strong, catchy and present, something even the best produced pop albums oftentimes fail at. The instrumentals are beyond top notch and I'm regretting postponing this album for so long just because of this song alone.
I Would Die 4 U: Not precisely memorable but good nevertheless. I love the drums.
Baby I'm a Star: Pure 80s energy, it feels like something that'd sound on one of those awful colorful gyms where everybody had funny hairstyles.
Purple Rain: The best song to be called "[Something] Rain".
Overall, I think the record is a great embodiment of its decade. I wasn't sure wether it deserved 4 or 5 stars up until the very end because it had GREAT songs yet some of them weren't memorable, but purple rain made me decide on 4.
SCORE: 4
BEST SONG: WHEN DOVES CRY or LET'S GO CRAZY
WORST SONG: BABY I'M A STAR
Surprisingly not as boomer rock as I expected which is good, also their beards are cool and Sharp Dressed Man and I got the six are bangers.
BUT, having said that, most songs weren't my type. Songs like legs, dirty dog or got me under pressure for example lean way too much into the side of boomer rock that's excessive for my zoomer palate, I get they're good songs (Dirty Dog not so much imo) and I enjoyed listening to them, but it's not what I personally like. The biggest offender of this was If I Could Only Flag Her Down, which deserves to be mentioned separately.
That's why, despite liking some of the songs a lot, I decided I'm giving it 3 stars.
The best song was Sharp Dressed Man.
The worst song was If I Could Only Flag Her Down.
I only know Bruce Springsteen by name, at least with other artists that I didn't know about their music I had an idea of their genre or sound, but with him I don't have a clue, so this will be interesting.
Holy shit, this sounds too well produced to be from 1978, yet it sounds like what you'd expect from that time period (In a good way). It's a chill record and I really dig its sound and catchy songwriting. The guitars are great and in the right quantity.
I really liked it and if it wasn't for a few songs (Candy's Room and Racing in The Street), which I didn't enjoy that much this would've easily been a 5 stars record, but I was between a 4 and a 5. In the end I decided that this was a 4.5 and since I had a good day I chose to round it up to 5 stars. I'm definitely listening to this again some time in the future.
I got quite a good impression of Mr. Springsteen and I hope to come across him soon in this challenge.
Best Song was Adam Raised a Cain
Worst song was Candy's Room
Pre listening: Oh no, fucking Linkin Park. I'm already biased as I don't really like 2000s rock (And by that I mean Pop Punk and most Nu Metal, because there are a few 2000s rock albums that I know are on this list and basically are guaranteed 5 and some of my favourites), but I'm going to get into this with an open mind and do my best to enjoy it.
Post listening: I absolutely tried to enjoy it, but I couldn't. It feels like I'm watching an early 2000s video for 30+ minutes without watching the video. Way too overproduced for a genre like this, in my opinion it would highly benefit from sounding dirtier. The lyrics feed the edgy minds of 14 year olds and I mean it in the worst of ways. Most songs sound the same with a few variations, and I wouldn't mind it if that same sound was of my liking. In the End is iconic I'll give them that.
Something I absolutely hated was that a lot of the songs baited me into believing the song could be something interesting, but it'd end up being something lame or sounding like the rest of the record by the minute and a half mark.
DISCLAIMER: I get the appeal it might have to some people, but I hated most of the 38 minutes this lasted, I assume it has to do with this being a product of its time, aging poorly and etc etc.
Best song (As in would play ironically from time to time) was In The End.
If I had to pick one song to be the worst it'd have to be Crawling.
Thank god the saviours of rock arrived the year after this abomination.
DISCLAIMER: BIG RANT ABOUT THE CHOICE, BIASED ANNOTATIONS THAT DON'T EVEN COUNT AS A REVIEW.
It sucks he probably will be the only latin american representation in this whole thing, because he's definitely not the best. I knew that before listening this record and I'm certain of it after listening to it.
Don't get me wrong the dude is an amazing musician and the record is a nice mixture of genres, but there are a ton of better records made by latin american artists who have done more interesting things. If I had come across other albums before I'd probably have given it one more star because I'd have been less biased (And if there are more latin american albums consider this review a 3 stars and not a 2 stars one).
Before Santana I'd have added Charly García (Either his solo work or his time in Seru Giran, Sui Generis, La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros), Gustavo Cerati (Either in Soda Stereo or solo), Luis Alberto Spinetta (Solo or in Invisible, Pescado Rabioso, Spinetta Jade, Spinetta y Los Socios del Desierto), Pappo (B.B. King said he was one of the best guitarists in the world, either his time in Pappo Blues or in Riff), Astor Piazolla, Gardel, Los Bunkers, Los Abuelos de la Nada, Los Saicos (Peruvian band from the 60s usually considered to be the first punk rock band), Babasónicos, Virus, Patricio Rey y Sus Redonditos de Ricota, Los Rodriguez (They're half spanish half argentinian), Café Tacvba, Silvio Rodriguez, Los Prisioneros, Mercedes Sosa, León Gieco, Andrés Calamaro, Fito Paez, V8, Illia Kuriaky and the Valderramas or even newer artists like Dillom, WOS, Ca7riel, Marilina Bertoldi, Kali Uchis, Miranda!, NAFTA, Peces Raros and many more.
Best song was Hope you're Feeling Better
Worst song was Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
Looking forward to add one album to the user list when this is over.
First album by an artist I don't recognize even by name. Interesting. Funnily enough I think I've seen the album cover somewhere.
This is way too artsy (To call it some way) for me. I feel like watching analogue horror or some early 2010s creepypasta on youtube and I don't like that because it makes me feel uneasy.
Art's main focus supposedly is to make you feel emotions and this album made me feel terrified, so it delivers on that and I'm giving it 2 stars because despite having worked it wasn't an enjoyable listen AT ALL.
This is a pretty unique entrance I'm assuming, and therefore I won't say anything about the best and worst songs in this (Mainly because there are quite a few tracks that I don't know if they count as songs, and I mean it in an unpretentious not snobbish way). I guess either AB/7A or dead on arrival werethe most enjoyable song and the ones I'd say were the best (Probably first and only time I'll call songs that sound like a broken NES game the best). Worst one was wall of sounds and in this case I mean scariest.
I really hope next album is something different (I'm not even asking for specifics, just something that doesn't sound anything like this, for fucks sake my favourite genre is probably pop rock this is like the absolute opposite) and it'll benefit from being the album after this one.
No clue about Tom Petty (Only thing I've ever listened from him was his rendition of why my guitar gently weeps on the George Harrison memorial), but after the last three albums I got (A soulless record, a scary record and a record that I have personal problems with) I have a gut feeling I'm going to like it.
I dig the vocals (Sometimes sounding like Bowie, other times like the Beatles) and it's indeed a more pleasant listen than the last few records. I'm not the biggest fan of the more classic rock n roll and the country music influenced songs are a big miss to me, but I can admit that it's a really well done record. The more rock ish songs like The Wild One, Forever or strangered in the night were probably my favourites.
Overall a fun kind of shorter record from an artist I had never heard a song from. Some good solos and catchy songs here and there but since I can't say I was blown away by anything in here and I got major Dad Rock vibes from listening I'm going to give it 3 stars (AKA good but doesn't get to enter my spotify library).
Best Song was strangered in the night
Worst song was breakdown
The strokes if they were 4 brothers from the countryside instead of 5 wealthy new yorkers. Jokes aside I think it's a pretty good and short description of what I've just heard. Solid instrumentals, the bass is pretty good and the guitar is a big hit or miss (It really works in songs like Soft for example, but is pretty forgettable in a lot of them). The vocals aren't exactly the best (Since I've already compared them to The Strokes I'm going to do it one more time and say that they'd probably have been great vocals if recorded on a saturated mic just like The Strokes did) and they really damage my view on this record, as the instrumentals are pretty good, so I'm going with a 2.
Best song was Razz.
Worst song was Milk (Ofc the weakest song would be the one that relies the most on vocals) and I'm going to give a special mention to day old blues.
