Infectious.

A perfect album. Timeless. Epic. Just perfect.

Reviews here seem to be a binary choice: sycophantic love or vitriolic hate. Full disclosure I'm an ardent fan, and find the dynamic remarkable with both sides of the argument equally annoying. Oh but the album? I can’t be objective, and it was released when I was at the impressionable age of 15, so it was voluntarily played to death. That said, the songs endure for me, and Exit is still the underrated rager on this, but it’s not their best nor my favorite.

Their second best to me, the Bends is my fave. And while their next few albums were quite good this one marks the last time writing a song was primary over the knob twiddling madness they flamed out in eventually.

Gorgeous.

Like being stuck in a dressing room at a tragically hip clothing store at the mall in the early 2000s. Pass.

So many delightful sonic New York references, as much as James’ voice has never appealed to me all that much the sonic scapes that he creates are undeniably catchy and cool. This is a solid album that’s held up well.

Lead off song hits like a 70s cop show sound track, but drags long a bit long. “Reelin” is quite the downer heard through my 50-something ears. But those 2 singles from this are burned in my brain from radio overplay in my youth, and honestly didn’t remember that those songs were Steely Dan. Not memorable then, not memorable now. Pretty boring boring hippy dippy stuff to my ear.

College radio . Pub rock. More Celtic than country really. A poor man’s Pogues? Not much here to come back to.

The Smiths are not for everyone, but they were/are for me. For added bittersweetness, this was a very fine swan song that holds up well over the decades.

NO BIG HAIR!

Long time fan first time listener to a whole Hendrix album (how embarrassing for me to admit). Soaring and amazing brilliance interspersed with … flute solos. Oy. Points off for that. Hendrix is still god. Props to that rhythm section too.

This is pretty goofball.

Heavy rotation when this came out, such a beautiful soundtrack. Timeless music performed by timeless souls. Sweet nostalgia for our newlywed days of 1997.

Oh god do I have to? There is a precipitous drop off in energy and interest after the 3rd track. Those 3, all the singles, are not representative of the remaining 6 (actually 5 since one is a “Reprise” of another track ). Really expected more from a best selling album of its time. Wasted time indeed.

I’ve time traveled to a party I missed out on. Because I never would have listened to this based on the album cover(s). But this was a surprisingly fun party. I thought it would be like Motley Crue but it is thankfully not that. Oh it’s rock-a-billy!

Cinematic. I don’t listen to the genre much, this was intensely dramatic, almost stressful. Then porny. Then sadly prescient. “Sometimes I hear death knockin at my front door”. While I get how massive this album was for the genre, it’s not for me.

Ironically square cover photo always makes me smile. Superb opener, all time classic. Hoped there were more sleeper gems on this but while the singles are the high points, the rest of it holds up … ok.

It’s difficult for me to separate this band and this album from all the boneheaded punters at their shows back in that day, along with the sheer ubiquity of this music for a good 3-4 years solid. Enough already! Setting all that aside, the album is brilliant, hardly any filler and sing-song catchy as hell. Play it loud.

No notes. Rush being Rush.

Nope.

This is adorable. Never heard any of these songs before. They are so twee compared to the later hits.

The is a beautiful collection and rendition of classics. Willie’s the best.

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Stellar vibes. Ginger was nuts, but so, so great and Fela is no slouch either!

This got a little overplayed in our house years ago and we just had to step away for a while. I think I still like it! Great chill vibe, sonic ear candy, and the tunes are solid from start to finish.

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I missed a lot from the mid aughts to the mid teens, being distracted by parenting. This appears to have been a casualty. Strong opening groove, super fun vibe all the way through. Too bad the kids would have liked this back then for dancey-dance time!

This album is entirely awesome and entirely too long. Still funky enough for a 4 tho.

While the title track is overplayed on so many platforms and is seemingly inescapable in my algorithms, this album is packed with gems from start to finish. Great listening to the whole thing for the first time in ages.

Couldn’t get past 3 or 4 songs. Garbage.

Huh?

At first listen I thought “how did I miss this movie? The soundtrack is great!” Checks notes, ah ok that explains it. Seriously though I would see this movie just for the soundtrack, really fun and inventive calling card for this composer.

Another release I should have been all over when it came out, but was checked out musically. This is badass.

What plaintive drudgery.

I’m still counting.

Among their best. So many standout tracks.

Parts of this are great, but it’s weighed down by the other wandering noodly parts that are sleep inducing.

Sure it’s Frank, but it’s not all that memorable.

Mellow, nice if you’re one the mood for quiet core.

Brilliant and fun

This started out inventively interesting but got really hard to listen to. Not too catchy but that seems like the point.

Just as depressing as I thought I remembered. It’s great songwriting but unfortunately tainted with memories of a time when too many were taken by fucking heroin and too many more flirted with disaster. Great, but hard to hear again after so long.

All the bar band noise in the comfort of my own home. Nah thanks. Jaysus this was a tough out.

Stands the test of time in spirit and message.

Quick kicks, all hits. A classic.

This one is not their best. A dramatic drop off after Good Times, but points for including tap dancing.

Damn funky and bonus points for the mallets! This band is always so much fun. Love it.

Pretty wild, maybe not THE wildest. Solid tho.

The ubiquity of the singles way back when put me off of the rest of this so I’ve never heard the deep cuts and it turns out they’re actually pretty good. Surprised.

This was pleasant but somewhat unmemorable.

Ear candy for the headphones. Nostalgic.

Don’t know what I expected but it was much better than expected. Some deep cut gems in here that caught me on a day and got their hooks 🪝 n me.

Kinda sleepy

This album was so much fun when it came out and it still is. Rock n roll ear candy.

Nice night at the pub.

This thing is still so weird and singular.

Supergrass is always solid.

Couple good tracks but kinda boring.

A long time ago I used to vibe off this band but I think I’m getting too old.

A little too much Ren Faire for a Tuesday night.

Solid.

Fine but no I did not listen to all 69 ffs.

I must be getting old, never had the patience for this in my younger days. But today it made me feel all right.

I forgot how good this is. So, so good.

As my mom would say “this music has no redeeming values ” Or my friend Ray, “this some butt rock” Or my friend Chrisbee “Yecccchhhh 🤢” Straight trash.

garbage then, garbage now

I remember waiting and waiting for this album to come out, hoping that the trajectory from their first two brilliant albums would continue. Alas it took them 3-4 years to over produce this disappointment, from which they never recovered.