hellll yeaaahhhhhh helllll yeaaaahhhh im jorking it
respectful 3.5 though
fantastic start and considerably less fantastic mid-end :(
the unclean and acoustic approach to recording the album makes it unidentifiable as a late 90s record in some regard, giving it super fun authenticity and some silliness that is often lost in works via overproduction
3/5
insanely strong DEBUT album???
there was a ridiculous amount of repetition and a lot of it blends together and sounds very similar, but overall a very cohesive and clean album that was moderately fun to listen to/it had great vibes/my dad would love this i think
there were no BAD songs on the album but i fear it had a few tracks that were mid and boring (@ perfect circle) which were contrasted with a few really great and solid tracks (radio free europe, 9-9)
3/5 mayyybe a 2.5/5 if i'm feeling mean
Oh Andre my glorious king... to have your brain and your wit and your creative vision....
I will admit I will ride for this album (albums??) HARRRDDD because its just sooooooooo fun and silly
I also think its insane that this album is not just AWFUL, considering Outkast was just falling apart by this time, I mean this is literally two solo albums with each of their distinctive styles glued together and promoted as one. The fact that their respective sides are consistent at ALL is astounding, but the chaos is definitely there and it damages the value of the album as a whole. If you treat this project as two separate albums you can totally see the value in both, but I felt myself growing bored of Speakerboxxx as I got further into it, though it started off VERY strong. I feel that the only way this works as one full project, is that once Speakerboxxx starts to fall flat and bore you, you're hit with the refreshing and eclectic side of The Love Below which I feel, is better as a whole and it's hard not to give it that when it has Hey Ya!, Prototype AND Roses on it.
There are a considerable number of skips but for a double solo album with a 2 hour runtime, I didn't expect less. ALL of the singles off this album are spectacular, but its brought down overall with all the bullshit sandwiched between it and that the two sides do nottttt fit together well. Definitely not the best Outkast project, still super fun though. I guessed I would end up giving this album a 4/5 or even a 4.5/5 but listening to it all the way through at once definitely makes that an unrealistic rating.
3/5
Oh finally!, an answer to the question: "What if Pink Floyd was cringe?"
I listened to this start to finish twice and I genuinely hated it on the first listen except for If Everyone Was Listening. It was better the second time through but I doubt it will grow on me beyond that. I see the potential though, which is diminished in just how LONG the tracks are. I feel like you really shoot yourself in the foot when the production is great and the music is great, but never consistently enough to have a 5/5 track on the whole album (every track had at least 2 truly excellent moments, placed between 3 extra minutes of nonsense). The least streamed song on this album is Asylum, followed by If Everyone Was Listening which is hilarious because they were my favourites and probably the only ones I would listen to outside of this context.
Legitimately a 2/5 on first listen but I will give it a 3/5 because it genuinely did grow on me a bit, but it probably realistically is a 2.5/5 or generally falls somewhere between a 2 and a 3 for me. I am so surprised this album is not more divisive and is loved so much, but maybe I just don't get it
WHITE PEOPLE!!! YOUR TASTE HAS IMPRESSED ME!!! The first three songs gave me such high hopes and then...track 4 happened.
I fear that there is not a lot to say about this album, it was kind of bland, generic, EXTREMELY repetitive (i guess this can be excused as a stylistic feature), but...I liked it?
I have instrument bias and the tone of this guitar is absolutely bonkers. The guitar and bass carried this entire album for me. I will admit there were some truly awful tracks that are messy and unenjoyable (@ WROTE A SONG FOR EVERYONE!!!! AND THE NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME!!!!) but the highlights for me were Commotion, Lodi and maaayyybe Sinister Purpose (Bad Moon Rising is NOT included, more like MID Moon Rising)
The voices are telling me 4/5 but that feels way too high for this so it's either a 3/5 or a 3.5/5 if i'm feeling exceptionally kind
i am so happy there has been a female fronted band this early on, unfortunately she is really the only part of this album i enjoyed thoroughly!
the music was mediocre, lots of loops, and the solo sections and variations were not particularly captivating at all
i feel like it starts off reeeally strong and then loses direction in the middle-end which is sad because i had really high hopes for this album
i thought the first three tracks were excellent though!
2/5 maybe 2.5/5 definitely not suited to my taste i think 😔 but i would think it could develop on a second listen
why is this causing me actual stress to listen to and not in the fun way
this feels pretentious without having the authority to be?? like its not musically complex or interesting enough to be weird which just makes it kinda.. annoying..? it feels crazy to say that but mannnn this was so disappointing
so shocked that i didn't like this that much because i love folk of this style but i think if it was more guitar centric (like also if the guitar parts were actually interesting too!) i would enjoy it more 😔 as with most singer-songwriters, i appreciate the point of the album, and how inspired it is, but i feel often when lyrics are at the forefront of the project, it is so lost on me because i do not fixate on them as much as the music
i want to be able to grasp the general idea of what the singer is trying to convey through the music and have the lyrics support that and build the song further in every listen, like new little slices of information that make the track more enjoyable and exciting every time its heard, but i do not get this off a single track on this album, the music itself feels so generic and doesn't give me a single indication of the mood of the song
though i LOVE the tone of Joni Mitchell's voice, i am a bit sour on the rambly, formless delivery on this album, i understand WHY, i just don't particularly enjoy it
Hejira was a highlight track that I actually enjoyed quite a bit, but it definitely doesn't save the rest of the album :(
also, "Song for Sharon"????????? More like LONG for Sharon! EIGHT AND A HALF MINUTES??????? ITS FINE WHEN PINK FLOYD DOES IT BUT OHHHHHH MY GODDDDDD PLEASEEE STOP MAKING RIDICULOUSLY LONG SONGS WHEN YOU DON'T NEED IT TO EXECUTE THE CREATIVE VISION, YOU'VE JUST GIVEN ME 5 MORE MINUTES OF THE SAME IDEA????
between 2/5 and 2.5/5
40 minute album! love to see it!
This is the first album I will say I think is not 'headphones music' in any capacity, so I definitely didn't get the full experience. It's specifically designed to be played out loud, and I think environment is a huge part of the feel.
Despite this, it's pretty solid, very fun, funky, groovy, silly and crazy!!!
Shining Star, Yearnin' Learnin' and See The Light were great
3/5
Kinda crazy going into this as somewhat of a very casual Beastie Boys fan already, but literally having never heard of this album
This album ASKS the question "how many samples is too many samples?"
The Sounds of Science is a truly INSANE track that contains MULTIPLE Beatles samples. Also I believe this is my third time mentioning Pink Floyd only 10 albums in, but Pink Floyd samples occur on two tracks on this album I THINK. There's also some Hendrix and also apparently some self-referential stuff which is very silly and I love it.
I know very few tracks on Licensed to Ill, To The 5 Boroughs, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty, but know at least 3 tracks off of each that I genuinely enjoy and I think this contributes to my opinion of Beastie Boys as not an "album group". It's very overwhelming to sit down and listen to an album in full with this kind of energy behind it especially if you do not enjoy the whiny, shouting delivery approach that is a feature of basically every track on this album or any Beastie Boys song at all.
There's something vaguely..cringe about the Beastie Boys in a modern sense, but I feel that that's exactly what I enjoy about them. Besides Hello Nasty, all of their projects feel so far removed from serious and clean-cut, rooted in sample choices, delivery choices and some of the just AWFUL lyrics (besides the misogyny, just genuinely confusing lines) "I was making records while you were sucking your mother's dick"????? or just ALL of '3-Minute Rule'.
It's not a terrible album in any capacity, but it becomes a bit tired and the gimmick (same flow, yelling etc) dies off about halfway through. While I like them, I fear the 'frat hip hop' title given to them is entirely true and this album doesn't do a lot to disprove that.
I still enjoyed it, specifically The Sounds of Science, Hey Ladies and Shadrach, because I like the Beastie Boys, but they definitely have better
I also enjoyed most of B-Boy Bouillabaisse suite, but I think it did not make sense both in the order of the tracks and also within each of the tracks. It was weirdly disjointed, and I feel like a lot of it could've been left off the album.
2.5/5
it's fine but boring
i don't have a lot to say, much like this album
spinning wheel is by far the best track but even that didn't really grab me
2/5 perhaps a 1.5/5
33 minutes of what the fuck
the saddest part is this wasn't too bad when there was no vocals, there's some great guitar work (SOMETIMES....), that sounds great put together with the drums (e.g. the tracks, Scum and Human Garbage would've been great without the vocals)
i understand that grindcore is supposed to be very loud and layered and abrasive, but that also makes it hard to listen to! metal already is a largely inaccessible genre, in part due to new age metalheads who love to hate! but also because of the oversaturation and intense branching into subgenres, and it seems kind of counterproductive to put an album like this on a MUST LISTEN list
the potential is there, kill the guy who's yelling over everything!
i will say that i appreciate not being bored for a second of this album, i guess? i don't have a point of reference, as i'm not a grindcore fanatic, but i assume Napalm Death achieved whatever the hell they set out to do here, so good for them, but it is NOT for me
1/5
The cultural impact of this album is a 5/5, and overall it holds up very well, but this is not a PERFECT album to me (i can't help but imagine if Bohemian Rhapsody was not on this album.... it would be hard to die on that hill)
4/5
i love this kind of sound but holy fuck this shit was so boring i felt myself losing it from track one
i am going to set myself on fire and pray it doesn't rain (YES THAT TRACK WAS CHEEKS TOO) if i have to listen to this for one second longer i am on track three as i am typing this i am so sick of this i hate his voice oh my fod what is he evn saying oh my god please shut uuuuupppppppppp
i was enjoying this song i was like okkkaaayyyy finally something musically interesting but eventually i reached: steamroller blues is absolutely vile holy fuck what is he SAYING
I A, GPOGN TVNONNOJAEVNVJNABGENJOAEFVLJKNEAFVLJNEFVANJAVEFJNNOVEJONTEVAUNOTNOUGNOUOINTVEONTBGOHJBETAEAJBTHJBEGOHBGEAJOBEGJAOJGABEJAEGJAGBEJGOBIAEBGJOIEAJIOBEGAJIOBETGIJOTEJIOGBEAJBGIEOABIJOEGAIJOEGBAIJOBGAE
1001. albums to hear before you die ???????????. this album asks the question: what about 1 album that will make you want to die when you hear it?
is there anything worse than a singer-songwriter who can't sing or songwrite???? what the fuck are you good for james? exactly!
i want to give this a 1 so bad like literally so bad but i feel like its not horrifying enough to be a 1 so imagine the 2 is a 1.5 or like a 1.1
i listened to the whole thing and all i will say is i doubt i will return to this album again and give it a second chance because it was so boring
'Anywhere Like Heaven' was actually alright though.
1-1.5/5
it's weird without trying too hard, which is awesome
the only song i didn't really enjoy was Thorn Of Crowns but i liked the part where he said ccccccucumber cccccabbage cccccauliflower
i thought it was pretty solid throughout but once you get to The Killing Moon, it's like wwwwoooaaah they are capable of so much more than what i've heard so far! but regardless of that, it’s very consistent and solid throughout
the theatrical silly weirdness vibes are a 5/5 but the album itself may be a 3.5/5 orrrrrr PERHAPS a 4/5, i think it has greater potential for when i will revisit it
booooorrrrrinnnnggg
2/5
it's a perfectly okay album that is deeply annoying at times
2.5/5 - 3/5
it is loud and fast and slightly awful, therefore it's awesome
even though its a collection, somehow the quality manages to fall off as it progresses, mad man is just a terrible song though
hate to say i told you so and main offender are spectacular and wrapping up the collection with the hives are law, you are crime is an epic move
personality shines through in this collection which i think is a product of it having borderline shitty production and being kind of messy ITS SICK!!!!
THIS ALBUM. ASKS THE QUESTION: WHAT IF THE STROKES SUCKED AND WERE MORE ANNOYING???
I LOVE IT
3/5 or maybe a 2.5/5 after the recency bias wears off hahahahahhaghhhhasdgadsfikughrewfiuhrefjkuherfiukehrvjkugkj
i can't believe bob dylan paid homage to radiohead, this is absolutely bonkers
i can only imagine how awesome this would be without the harmonica lmfao about to lose my mind if i hear this awful harmonica tone again lmfao lmfao lmfao lmfao save me oh ym fod oh my god lmfao lmfao hahahahaha lmfao lmfoa i cant do this anymore i am deeply annoyed by this album lots of great tracks but hooooly fart
this may be a zoomer take but old bobby is outdone by almost every artist that covers his work and even though his cultural impact is undeniable, i just wish i cared more about his music beyond the big hits
3/5 because its still a great album but i think i would like it LESS on second listen and wouldn't have too much of a problem giving it a 2/5
As someone who used to be a certified Beatles HATER, I have so much love for this album because it contains some of their music that made me GET IT
( in the beginning....i misunderstood... hahahahah)
I love this album so much it is so cohesive and brilliant and amazing and the vibes are so good, I don't know how to explain but it makes me feel so alive and present and awake and real
That being said...the exceptionally popular tracks on this record (Drive My Car, Michelle, Norwegian Wood and In My Life) REALLY shine, which makes the rest of it a bit dull in comparison
I think it is incredibly solid, but not perfect
4/5
lowkey fantastic, but so incredibly difficult to get through this very short album and i'm not sure why! perhaps it is the similarity between tracks that gets a bit boring after a while...
3/5
absolutely brutal listen
1/5
anyone rating this album below a 3 missed the entire point (@ SOME OF THE DUMBASS GLOBAL REVIEWS ON THIS) and are thinly veiling their racism through pretending to gaf about "misogyny"...! but it's okay when your old white man idols do it??? lol!
this album is genuinely excellent, its super clean and polished and is the first album generated that i have already heard completely from start to finish
the only place where i think this album CONSIDERABLY falls flat is that it's kendrick's SECOND best album, and having outdone himself on tpab (more musically and lyrically dense, sonically SO smooth and so much more ambitious), this pales in comparison looking back but i will gladly admit that rating this a 4/5 is a product of my own personal bias
i don't think this album is PERFECT, but 9/12 INCREDIBLE tracks (NOT COUNTING BONUS TRACKS ON DELUXE EDITION!!!!) brings it close!!!
4/5
super fun!!!
i think it would be much more enjoyable outside of a vacuum because atmosphere seems very important for this album, and it seems like my environment is not the intended way to consume this
it somehow feels ahead of its time while simultaneously being so PAINFULLY a product of its time
it is also pretty inconsistent, the singles are all really great, specifically: Red Alert and Bingo Bango, but tracks of this quality aren't found throughout this ONE. HOUR. ALBUM. except maybe for U Can't Stop Me which was also so fun.
2.5/5 a perfectly mid album
i have so much to say, and not nearly enough words in the english language to actually do so
it gets a lot fucking better as it progresses, but i feel like that may just be me getting used to the vibes of this album
2/5, i feel like i'm missing something though i may eat my words later on in life
life changing
5/5
its great but they could've maiden effort trying to iron out some of the rough spots on this album
3/5
this album asks the question: how much can the white man pass off as his own?
besides that, the quality of his vocal performance and overall musical backdrop to that too, is so unbelievably mid and i can't begin to understand why a live album of this quality takes place on this list
fuck this guy
1/5
epic, fav. queen. album, not PERFECT
4/5 perhaps a CHEEKY 4.5/5
what da dogg doin
3/5
it is fine i guess
sledgehammer is phenomenal but everything else is like ok
2.5/5
definitely a fresh and new sound, but it feels very unfocused and a bit unmemorable
i.e. there are great individual tracks and moments within each of the tracks that really shine and stand out, but it doesn't work well as one body of work at all
3/5 though, its a perfectly okay album, i am glad i listened to it and there is a lot of potential!!! i think i could enjoy it a lot more on second listen
incredible!, incredible bongo band!!!!!!!
this album is unexpectedly fire
finding out that MASSIVE ATTACK??? SAMPLED LAST BONGO IN BELGIUM ON ANGEL????? HOLY MOLY! my brain exploded and started pouring out of my eyes, ears and nose
i also don't care if this is basically a bongo cover band because they kinda cooked here, maybe every song should have bongos on it....
3/5 could be lower only due to the fact that its deeply annoying to sit through a full hour of this without a lot of tonal differences between tracks (bongos being the feature definitely contribute to this lol, which makes so much of this forgettable by default) because i originally was going to give this a 4 but as it went on, i got a bit bored....
i understand that this is influential and innovative and important but i do not love it, i appreciate it though!
the best track is neon lights
2/5 maybe a 2.5/5
guys hear me out, what if we do a LOT of coke and then split off into corners of the studio so we don't have to talk to each other and then we'll regroup and BOOM album!
SURELY...that would produce a cohesive and listenable album!
2.5-3/5
kinda fire idk i refuse to elaborate
3/5
This album makes me feel like I am immortal but also like I am about to die
These guitars are unreal, they are so emotive and are in a way, the release or catharsis of this album in contrast to relatively blunt or dull vocals which
are so fitting for this record.
Anyways, when I die (i think its gonna rain hahahahah) send me to guitar pedal heaven and I will find this album there. THAT WAH PEDAL ON RAIN WHEN I DIE !!!!!! OH MY GODDDDD
The worst track on this album is by far Sickman, but every other track had something enjoyable in it for me.
This album is genuinely so good I am going to explode oh my god its so good
My FAVOURITES were: Them Bones, Dam That River, Rain When I Die, Down In A Hole, Junkhead and Dirt
Consider 4.5/5 to 5/5 I don't think it is PERFECT but I think it is not far off only because of my aversion to giving albums that are new to me a perfect score because I haven't spent enough time with them
this is like…very good
3.5/5
this is so so so painfully generic
it’s not BAD, but it’s definitely not an album i am reaching for on my own, and i found it a bit boring and plain and i feel like i’d feel the same even if i was an avid enjoyer of this album
THAT BEING SAID…this could’ve gotten a 3/5 from me if it didn’t get so much worse as it went on, because it wasn’t too bad in the beginning
2-2.5/5
I feel like Sonic Youth is one of those bands where their reputation by far precedes how much knowledge I have on the band and based on that reputation, they seem like a band I should love
I had already heard Teen Age Riot and thought it was great, but the entirety of the rest of the album was new to me. I found it deeply confusing why I was genuinely not enjoying this album at all until I reached Eric’s Trip and it genuinely felt like a switch flipped in my brain and the album felt very genius and slightly more palatable. I can see their influence clearly in a lot of the music I listen to, reminding me a lot of Pavement and early eaaaarly Radiohead.
That being said, the grittiness of this album, I feel, can’t be drawn ONLY to the fact that it is grungy, and it unfortunately has a lot of issues (the highs are too high etc) that come through in more modern speakers, even having been remastered which overall decrease the listening EXPERIENCE but not the work itself!!
I appreciate and enjoyed this album a lot, but still found a lot of it deeply annoying and headache-inducing at points!
FAVOURITES: Teen Age Riot, Eric’s Trip, Candle, Kissability, Hyperstation
3-3.5/5
generic? yes
unoriginal? yes
still fun? yes!!!!!
twice as hard is bonkers!!!! so good!!!!! holy crap!!!
the most 3.5/5 album to ever 3.5/5
I thought that this was very good, but a bit boring
2.5-3/5
thank god not every song was like the first track
this album is kinda corny but i appreciate its importance to the genre and it’s one that grew on me quite a bit as it went on but never particularly amazed me
it is also a completely personal taste, but i really do not like the lead vocals on this album!!!
2/5 but it could be a 2.5/5 only for some of the very sick guitar work on this
yeah idgaf it’s a whole lot of nothing
2.5/5
i appreciate this album a lot because it started off incredibly strong and then devolved into unlistenable garbage on certain tracks but ultimately won back my interest in the later half
this was a COMPLETELY new album to me (as in, never even heard of Big Star before) so i found it hard to immediately click with it without having an understanding of what the vibe was
anyways! it is a shame that the track O, Dana which is GREAT is surrounded by arguably the two worst tracks on the entire album: Femme Fatale and Holocaust
3.5/5 and i refuse to elaborate on why
this was very very good, obviously the sequencing is very weird because this album is actually not an album!
this is one of the very few compilation works on the list and it is super annoying that one of her solid ALBUM works didn't take the place of this one
i think the music itself is borderline boring and bland at times but her voice really carries through every track
3.5-4/5
they don't answer the question btw
2/5-2.5/5
what
3/5 maybe 3.5/5
entirely overrated but undeniably great
4.5/5! i refuse to conform to the standard, and it's closer to a 4 than a 5
IT'S GOOD BUT I'M SO IRRITATED. ALSO WHAT IS THAT ONE TRACK. WHAT DID THIS DEVOLVE INTO. I AM DEEPLY CONFUSED. FIRST 4 TRACKS BRILLIANT REST NOT SO MUCH.
2.5/5 I AM CONFLICTED.
i am. sorry this was boring…..
2-2.5/5
dooooon't caaaaareeeee
1.5-2/5
triple title is crazy work
3.5
me and my gang making a concept album and the concept is that we are weird
4.5/5
girl i guess
2.5/5
this album is nawwwwt bad at all...
the tracks are arranged in such a creative way, moving from more of a Beastie Boys-esque sound into a super unexpected ambient and chill few tracks like We Have All the Time in the World and Methadonia (EPIC FINAL TRACK!!!)
overall it was not boring, but was not particularly attention grabbing or memorable either.......
3/5!
it is okay and forgettable!
2-2.5/5
personally didn’t LOVE but it is not meant to be loved 🐺 i GET IT and that is enough #inspirational
straight edge punk is calling. will you pick up?
3/5
boring classic that is completely fine but impressive for a debut??? i don’t care too much about this
2.5/5 maybe a 3/5
i still hate the harmonica and hearing more bob dylan has convinced me further that he is the pinnacle of white man mediocrity and i think we should ban people who think they are songwriters from making music because average lyricism doesn’t equate to art
i liked Tangled up in Blue and Simple Twist of Fate though
2/5 maybe
i actually listened to the first half a few weeks ago, and i still remember it being very solid even after listening to the second half now
3.5-4/5
pink sabbath with sparkles
3.5/5
great! sad it got remixed to be more 'palatable' though
3-3.5/5
it was bad and then really good and then really really bad on the last track
2.5-3/5
me and my gang making a concept album and the concept is that we are full of love and sometimes joyous
IT'S ALMOST PERFECT I DON'T CARE THE IMPACT OF THIS ALBUM IS EVIDENT IN MUSIC EVERYWHERE I DON'T CARE DON'T HIT ME UP
4.5/5 TO 5/5
