Lovely music, loads of standards with fantastic production and Interesting performance decisions by Fitzgerald. But 59 tracks across 200+minutes of music is too long
I used to love this album, and I used to love the production. The vocal style still works for me, raw, barely compressed, very dry. Like you're in the room with de la Rocha and he's personally screaming at you about injustice. The drumming style works for me too. But the clean, barely distorted bass feels like it lacks presence in the upper mids and the rhythm guitar sound reminds me of the midless-mush of ...And Justice For All. From a song writing perspective the first few tracks are iconic. Nothing beats Killing in the Name for passion and feeling. But after this the album tapers down to half time grooves and grunting with sporadic, amellodic and arrhythmic guitar solos from Tom Morello. It's hard to be too harsh on an album that includes Killin in the Name, but I spent most of my listen feeling like I wanted to listen to more interesting bands that these guys were inspired by or have inspired. Everything from Pearl Jam to Evergreen Terrace and Lamb of God.
Ambling but a great vibe
Clearly a massively inspirational album for artists like Watsky and Logic. I really enjoyed this
The first half of the album didn't work for me, but as the soundscape expanded into the second half i enjoyed the music substantially more. The distorted, band passed vocal, (possibly a broken speaker cone?) was quite grating early on. But as the music became more harmonic and the rhythms more interesting I think it was able to fit the balance a little more nicely.
Not... My vibe. Breathy, curious 90s mixing and production decisions. Sometimes it felt like someone took the keyboard bass from Seinfeld and ran it through a ring modulator.
More string synths and less sawtooth waves please
Building on the shoulders of the great British metal bands that proceeded them. This absolute classic bridges the gap in time between Sabbath and deep purple years and the Judas priest era to come. Despite it being an early work there are key pieces of the Maiden sound that stick out and type you in, I had to follow this up with a tour of my favourite tracks.
Fun album. Tbh I didn't always love JJs vocalising
Peak cruising down the main street with the window open on a sunny day music
Prog wizardry. I hear so much of bands I would come to enjoy in this. Mainly dream theatre. Clearly a foundational artist for progressive music.
Wild and bombastic. late 70s sound with mega plate reverb on all the vocals and some inexplicably vibrato-ey synths.
Pinnacle punk.
Phenomenal album. Grunge isn't dead.
There is a very obvious gulf in the quality of the singles vs the rest of the tracks. However the performances and the studio production are both consistently excellent.
Dated lyrics and themes but a lovely listen
How fucking good are the Beatles
Not for me but with a couple of classic hits
Fun and upbeat, the surfy-rockabilly combo style didn't really click for me. Some questionable backing vocals decisions also. Who sings 'nyang' instead of 'la'
David always delivers. Great chilling out and drinking a beverage music