A songwriting masterclass. On the surface, it feels bright and smiley but there's darkness and shadows everywhere. This is what I want from a 70s LA record.
Dre’s beats are elite and there are some genuine bangers on here, but the sexism and dicknballs humour are hard to escape.
A great portrait of the artist as a young woman. Though her best is yet to come.
If you want to live in their dark and hazy world for a bit, it’s a damn cool place to visit, but maybe a bit unmemorable. Oh, also, why is the bass guitar buried on this thing?
Often imitated, never duplicated. This sounds as wiry, fresh and singular today as it must have when it was released.
This album will always be special to me personally, but there is a great arc here; the frenetic opener with Precious, the interplanetary journey with Space Invader, the ageless hit with Brass In Pocket, the wide open spaces of Lovers of Today, the underrated album closer in Mystery Achievement. Anyway, this is a cornerstone of the new wave movement and a debut album any band would aspire toward.
Hell of a debut. Richly melodic and harmonic while sounding like an exploding planet.
A shining example that set the template for a lot of good albums to follow. But it's also not a template that I like as much as the one set by some of their electro and synth-pop contemporaries.
A really bright and bouncy moment as the band tried to hurdle the gap between college rock radio and mainstream success. At times, that makes the work a bit shallow. Stand is an exercise in the simplicity of songwriting that wanders in and out of annoying. However, the power pop really shine and the balance of the acoustic instruments Peter Buck introduced (like the mandolin) really works for me. Green is ripe, to my ears.
I think the purpose of this journey, for me, is to listen to exactly albums like this - ones that eschew the traditional rock / western canon. There is some captivating musicianship and melodies wrapped in here. Though, at times, the playing was a bit wander-y and busy to my novice jazz tastes. I'll be interested to hear how this one grows on me over time.
A songwriting masterclass. On the surface, it feels bright and smiley but there's darkness and shadows everywhere. This is what I want from a 70s LA record.
If not his best solo album, it's certainly his most recognizable. It set the pace for his post-VU trajectory. Sometimes challenging, sometimes breathtaking but always an artist.
The hits really hit; no doubt. Some are even all-timers. But, like so many bands of this era, the overwrought white guy blues jams are sour milk.
The jangly guitars shimmer in an otherwise dark landscape. Really, the songwriting is pretty undercooked and average, but it takes me away to a dreamlike place, and this sound will almost always work for me.
Fun and refreshing. Great to have a chance hear the depth to this group, beyond the one hit wonder.
Timeless. Pure class. There's as much soul and rock & roll as countrypolitan. This sounds vibrant in any era, and I expect will continue to do so.
The album is buoyed by the fun and excitement of youth, but also veers into too frenetic. Overall, the songwriting falls short of their contemporaries.
With just a percentage less conviction, the whole thing would fall apart. But, as it stands, they got all-timer performances out of their vocalist and lead guitarist, with a producer who managed to wrestle it all out of them.
A cool enough one to hear, but nothing in there to make me want to go back to it
I've heard a lot over the years about how this is a late-period hidden gem in his discography, but to me his storytelling and songwriting here doesn't stand up against the rest of his catalogue.
This feels like that classic third album moment where a band either fades away, or purifies their sound into something great than the sum of their influences (ie Damn The Torpedoes, OK Computer, arguably what happened more recently with Blue Rev). EVOL is up there with Sonic Youth's very best work. It's where the signal emerged through the noise.
The queen for a reason
This was stronger than I remembered. I knew the bit was looking back on field recordings and folk music while looking forward into the emerging potential of electronic music. But that could have sounded like a project, and instead it sounds like a cohesive album that still feels fresh. Anyway, now I want to go and play FIFA.
Dark and moody but immersive
A very pleasant discovery, but there were stretches where it faded into the background for me.
Great to hear as a foundational hip hop record, but this one feels a bit like a "you had to be there." Its influences far outpace this album.
Songs that are intimate enough for the coffee shop with ideas big enough to propel a revolution.
Super fun at first, but as it went along it felt like they ran out of tricks
Their best selling but least soulful. It's the death rattle of the garage rock revival, unfortunately.
Everything punk should be, really. Direct, confrontational, authentic.
The hits work, the rest feels like filler
The poet laureate of popular music
A really cool range here. It clearly shines in its funkiest, dance-floor ready moments but it takes you to some wild, trippy, psychedelic places.
A portrait by a true artist, even if it's a little mired in chaos. There are a lot of musically rich details here, and I love that she is using the bleeding edge technology of the day to take pop structures to new places. That don't make it any less challenging of a listen. Plus, you could argue that without this artist exploration, you don't get the landmark Hounds of Love that follows. Then, this style of art pop has had such a clear influence in so many to follow, like Bjork and St. Vincent. Still, this is the exploration, not the finished product.