I think this is relaxing in a way. It reminds me of what it feels like to follow your own path. That it gets lonely but thats is not the reason not to take it. It gets better… The entire -ballad? Should I say?- is a preparation for that. It is an auditory example of the say “good things take time to fester”. You have to be patient. One more thing, it feels somewhat foreign, this feeling, unknown or better yet, unexplored. Yet this is not the first time I have been at this place. It has been quite some time though. That might be my queue, my signal to go on. To start this other new part of my journey and tread lightly, every corner has a new mystery.
Time has shown its mark on this one. This is not my cup of tea. The rythm is easy to follow and that catches your attention but it is hard for me to continue paying attention to the lyrics even though this is one of the supposed novelties. When it comes to the backround music, I am not amused. The simplicity and at the same time the feeling that whoever made this is lost and clearly does not know what he has created. I do not judge, you have to take a few steps into the dark to reveal what is behind it but it seems like we are taking every random step to eventually reveal something of value here. I have to say, I am not a big hip hop fan, nor have I ever been, meaning that I do not actually understand how influencial this actually was. One thing I can spot though is that they are not afraid to turn up the bass. I can tell that there is a hint of rock mixed with a lot of beat type sounds. FINAL VERDICT: I am not amused…
Jigsaw falling into place…Actually not gonna start with this one. Gonna give the album a shot. I think Radiohead in general are a little too much for me. Too much darkness into one place. This album is no exception. Their music is melancholic but there is no hope on their songs, no upside. Nothing to turn back to or rather to move on to. It is, plainly, sad. That is how they make it dark. I am not educated on their story, the history, it seems to me that if you are writing from the heart, you should not exist, Radiohead should not exist. There is no hope in their heart, no hope in their heads, in their music…
Maybe this is the cliche in me speaking but the album screams imbalance. What I will say is that I do not cherish their path, I do not want to be them, even though their music is influencial… Exactly because their music has influenced me. If this was the plan. To educate others not to follow their path. A lot of people write music to share what they are feeling. The song Bodysnatchers comes to mind. It might be the most energetic song of the album, yet no positive energy comes of it. Just that of partying, being not young anymore and yet still not realising what that means. Not changing your ways. This is just my narrow point of view though.
You get through another dark song and here comes Weird Fishes and your entire view changes. The melody, what a plain melody, yet powerful enough to give you the hope that you did not get from any other song, just the melody. But as you again go through the song, it slightly gets sucked out of you. They possess the power to do that, it is their superpower. You move onto new lows.
The next to songs try to show you new kinds of low. The different flavours of rock bottom. I think that is it. Yet the album is not called that, it is called “In Rainbows”. I cannot put my mind onto that. Why would a rainbow have any association with the rock bottom that you hit listening to this album. Maybe this is the expectation put on to them by the outside world. The luxurious and envious life of a rockstar. It is full of colorful rainbows. It must be beautiful.
Maybe I am just entirely wrong. After all it has happened before. Maybe their happiness relies on getting out all the darkness. Maybe this is how rainbows are produced. By letting go of all the dark there is nothing but light left inside you.
And somehow we get back to Jigsaw. The jigsaw has fallen. It has created a mess. It has broken everything. Not even hope is the same after its work is done. Nothing is the same. What remains cannot be. Cannot exist. It is contemplaiting the remnants, are they worth saving…Better yet, why were they saved. Why were they the only things that survived.
That is it for me. I cannot listen to another minute of this album. I am just intrigued by the mosters in the closet. What is their story…
Feels like a background music type of album. That could be my poor and underdeveloped ear talking. I do not have enough time to go through every change and evaluate it. But I think this might be a, not too plain, plain music that you put to describe sth visual, or not to get distracted by the other thing that you are doing. Nothing wrong with that. This is the music that we hear in a jazz bar, late in the afternoon, early evening, that you are out with a loved one and you are planning the future lighthearted but with a clear vision in mind. The color red pops into my mind, roses and satin sheets. How marketing has influenced me huh!
One thing, not that unexpected, yet impressive nonetheless, is that this entire thing is made on the spot, it is improvised. This is, I guess, the beauty behind this “album” if we can call it that. Props to Thelonious, he raised the bar on what improv can be! Plus one star just for that…
I got into the album, already informed about its uniqueness. An album tailored to the people of the Folsom prison. A performance that is clearly deemed brilliant from the people of Folsom. A once in a lifetime opportunity, created by a person that just overcame his battles with use. A scene created just for him to be at his best. These are not opinions of mine, rather the long list of brilliances from the educated public. I now share these few ideas and I am willing to add something of mine to the pool.
With his strong background of struggles I am willing to bet money that this was no random choice of repertoire. This man is at ease around criminals, possibly thieves, murderers, people with danger written all over their face. Yet he feels at ease. He can perform. He can laugh. He can exchange jokes, conversation. He is willing to do that, not only with ease, but with class. I would give a 5 out of 5 just for the performance part.
Nevertheless, I have to make justice to the tracks. I will take a leap and say that some of those laughs and claps were pure. A pure laugh even from a single corrupted soul is a premonition about the strategic selection of those smile-inducing tracks. The music intelligence of creating tracks that do not go over the line, that resemble the emotional staleness of having adapted to a place that is your never-wanted house. The type of controlled emotional expression required to get these men, that are probably emotionally detached or rather have sometime in their life learned to be, to let go and enjoy the show, I am not sure if I am overstating this but I feel that it is exactly what gives justice to the music. This is by no means a perfect musical voice, a perfect melody, a perfect album but it is one of the best crafted one’s that do not just relay on the music to be special, because it is more that music, it is a way to understand what music represents!
With all that being said, I cannot give it a 5 out of 5 because this is not solely about the performance and uniqueness, this album for me lacks just one thing… This musical wow factor, a thing that I will find down the road and a thing that personally I value just a little bit more than everything previously stated.
P.S. I wish I could see a video recording of this “concert”
It took me a while to understand that the narrative of a hollywood superstar first started with this generation of artists. The ones that did everything, from singing to creating art to staring in major hollywood blockbusters, this was the “peak” of hollywood. I do not have a fully formed opinion about the level of hollywood’s output at that time -I trully hope it was better than what it is now- but to my mind it looks and feels like the same level of stupidity is bound to apply there as well. Having said that, I can see a vision when I invest a little bit of time listening to this album and tie it with the movie that it was released with. Having scrolled, skimmed rather, through the commends I can see that a lot of people share this thought so I can go on a limb and say that this is not a far fetched idea. The post apocalyptic vibe of the songs, the do not care about anything attitude because it does not matter, the I am living in the moment because there is nothing more to about, these are my first and quite frankly only thoughts about the songs. Maybe I was not invested enough to see this all the way through. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad album, musicly it sounds flawless, it does not take a lot of risks. It is an album that keeps a good level, rather uninteresting, and focuses on the story behind it. I would say, fits whatever they were going for in Hollywood at the time, the superfans that were going to see everything cause Bowie was a superstar, so they were trying to compartmentalise the concept to create a bigger profit. I would not say this album has a start, a middle and a finish like some of the better albums I have listened. It just has a story that does not try to hard to tell you because then it was easier to sell because of Bowie’s name.
Average but not to average…
Again, like with Run DMC, this is not my type of music. These are some rather basic words that form an introductory opinion about hip hop and Beasty Boys. I have read that this album, these tracks lack direction, not as a negative, meaning that they failed to obtain it, but rather that they didn’t try to, instead opting for the flow and lyric wit. I can accept its importance in the early hip hop days and the umf behind the change of style between their first and second album, but I cannot recognise it. I have to state that my type of music is more of a storyline. I find it easier to spot the purpose that way, call me lazy. Having said that, this is again not my cup of tea twice as much cause they do not try to have a purpose full storybuilding, this is actually senseless rhyming and I hate that. This is my general problem with hip hop. It always feels like flow over everything. This takes it one step further with the whole album laking a general direction, it is a negative for me even though, again, I can accept that this is what they were going for. It feels like an album meant to be sampled, to be a basis for something that will come later. This is fitting for its era. I cannot call its lyrics witful and articulate. I refuse to believe that the standart should be that low. Everything sounds like the type of music that you make from home, by a bunch of new-in-the-scene artists that have not yet earned the right to be called artists.
LACKLUSTER
One thing that I have to admit, though, is that the little that they try to do in rhyming, it is flowless. The album, production wise, is not too bad and I can hear the hours put behind the sampling and piecing together part. I just do not think the end product is that great.
The production is truly spotless and the sound crispy clear. I can tell a lot of the budget was spent here. I, also, get the part of it making “blunt” music sound better, although I wouldn’t call the album blunt or boring. This is music I would put to spice up my routine. To uplift my moud just enough so I can get through the day. I have, definately, played Facebook games in the past that had this in the background. This is November music. Far from the summer heat but not too far to reach December warmth. Something in between. I have to say that I am a huge fan of the sound of jazz so I am the furthest I can be from objectivity. My eyes have recently been opened for the importance of simplicity in music. The album does not try to do too much. Again, not “blunt” level of not too much but rather paints a picture of daily life, of getting by just fine, of having everything in order and moving on. Putting music behind the necessary evil of growing up.
Spicing things up just enough! It is not a 3 but not a 4 either…
Cannot rate this. It is really not for me. I simply cannot hear it and pay attention to it.
Not much to say and do it justice. Amazing album that does not get stale. It is, I think, too different of modern day, I want to say punk rock, but I do not feel confident in the characterisation. Too different as in, nothing compares. No album realised in 2025 can be like this one. It, too, has a nostalgia factor in it, even though I only knew of parts of each musical piece. I have to say that it is an instant save and a respectable choice for the "Hall of Fame"
I am beginning to hate the fact that every 70s album seems to be connected to love in some why, or rather love disappointments. Talking about breakups and living the life. Then again more breakups and again getting to know yourself. Seems overly played out, but this was one of the pioneers, if you assume that music started in the 50s. Back then the albums had structure, they were not a collection of singles, no coherence whatsoever. I respect that. It feels that, lyrically, you are making circles, not progressing as you go through the album. But if you focus on the background music, every single musical piece has sth to add. At some point they stop pushing for the beautiful narrative and they switch to what I can assume is their version of true love, one that does not care of jewels, of gold and diamonds. I have to say that with this type of start I did not expect the album to continue this way. The melody of Rockin' Around seems like the perfect start of an album that has ups and downs, yet those are not noticeable afterwards. The entire album, though, is different enough that its sound becomes memorable.
It is hard to rate a pop album. It is hard because pop is usually very pop-ular and everything popular can be a bit bland in a way. I have to say, Coldplay in general, have this DNA, this recipe for success that involves a lot of emotional background melody that is pushing the song to become a superstar-maker. This, I feel, is also the case with this album. Although, apparently, being the album before true fame and glory, the same DNA can be spotted here. The lyrics pass as acceptable, but they are borderline blunt. The music helps you push through. It is the relatability that sets it apart. That lets it become the commercial success that it is. Do not get me wrong, the songs are more than just ok, but they do not seem to be that special. They seem to be the sort of songs you put on in a Friday afternoon, with a lot of rain and not that much warmth, when you have the time to reminisce about the past, BUT you are doing it in not as thorough of a manner. In a way that you just romanticise the past and you do just that. This is common, good but common.