I really only knew sunshine of your love before this, and mostly knew cream as Eric clapton’s band and knew that he was more of a blues guitarist
I was surprised to see this album take a more psychedelic form which was cool.
The guitar riffs were solid too
Standouts: Strange Brew, Tales of Brave Ulysses, SWLABR
Listening to this album without much prior context other than listening to Jamie xx, I expected a completely different vibe.
I really liked a lot of the minimal instrumentation and put in context of the year the album came out, I can see why this album was such a hit.
Maybe one critic was that there wasn’t much variety in the instrumentation like the guitar and bass tones, which made a few songs sound very similar, although the drums added a lot of variety here
I particularly liked: Islands, Basic Space, Night Time
This album definitely had some good songs, but I think none of them really spoke to me
This is a masterpiece- it combines so much of jazz with African music and seems very ahead of its time.
It’s groovy and beautifully done.
Standout songs: The Big Apple, Minawa, Blues for Huey, Maesha
Was a pretty enjoyable album - loved some of the sounds in it
Standouts: keep the car running, intervention, no cars go
Pretty good bluesy album - enjoyed some world music influences which were big at the time. I’m trying to be more critical of my album reviews
This album hits home for me. I’ve probably listened to it hundreds of times over the course 18 years.
It might be nostalgia but this album never gets old to me, maybe because over time, I’ve changed too - I keep picking up new things with each listen - perhaps it’s a new bass fill on A Place For My Head, or the guitar riff on Forgotten that I hadn’t paid attention to initially.
Man, this album just makes me feel great. It reminds me of singing In The End at the back of the school bus. It reminds me of how Linkin Park was the first band I ever really loved.
Standouts (currently): Papercut, Runaway, Points of Authority, Forgotten
This feels very classic rock, but also kinda funky and groovy
I like the variety in songs, and the extended jams at some of the endings of the songs.
Standouts: Cosmic Dancer, Get it On, m, Hot Love
It was good, but not great - some feel good classic punk rock but nothing else above that
It was okay - some good songs
I hadn’t even heard of T. Rex until I got recommended this album and I can totally see why this was so influential
It’s got a great mix of psychedelic, classic rock, glam and all the good stuff packed into such a catch and fun album
Album of my year for me. I’ve listened to it like 10 times already
Each song is so unique but so good. There’s such a good balance of technical mastery and soul in the music
God her voice so smooth. I’m a sucker for the blues and a good bass line too
Pretty good album! Very late 2010s indie mixed with soul.
Pretty strong start - I forgot how good ‘Got the life’ was. the bass tone and guitar riffs are honestly pretty sick throughout, I can see why it spawned an entire genre.
But holy shit some of the lyrics are cringe and did not age well at all. All in the family makes me wanna kms
Pretty cool and unique album. Loved some of the heavier beats
Pretty cool and unique album! I especially like the use of moog synths and is very reminiscent of a lot of Indian fusion I would listen to in high school
I especially liked the cover of Light My Fire and Mamata
Highway star is such a great opening track
Drum solo intro on “Pictures of Home” goes so hard
Why didn’t I know that Smoke on The Water had a really good bass line???
Also I really like the mix! Each instruments’ role is super clear
Long live heavy metal \m/
The punk stuff and the first few songs were kinda mid - pretty generic
But I kinda like the bluesy stuff- it’s definitely a lot of what influenced Jack white and I could see live shows being super fun - Cool Drink of Water was probably the standout to me
Also wtf they just dropped the n word on Black Train
Pretty good album - and good songwriting. I liked the continuity between the opener and closer
I think it didn’t really speak to me perhaps as much as other Neil Young albums
This was a really fun listen, and definitely one of those dance music classics. Lots of great hits. I really liked the African Dance/Dance combo
It is a culturally significant album and you can really tell while listening to it.
That being said, I didn’t hit in ways I thought it would
this album didn’t really hit on first listen, and I wasn’t sure what the vibe that they were going for was - it seemed pretty all over the place
On second listen I felt like I got what they were going for - I’m not too big on noise rock but it’s the type of music Helen Kostas and Alex want the band to sound like
There was still a lot of songs that I felt were just filler, despite some really good ones in there - Soul and Fire, Homemade and Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) were the standouts
I like the vibe - very Panda Bear, also cool rhythms and harmonies. I can see how a remix album of this would be cool
The production was pretty incredible
Standouts: Waveforms, Wor, Skies Over Cairo
Again, it was cool and had some great tracks but didn’t really hit consistently for me
Man this was pretty weird dude
It does play like a cool soundtrack / lots of stuff that I could use to get inspired for Echograph
That being said, it’s not really a musical album and while it’s cool that they did this back in the day, it’s still a bunch of weird sounds and not every “everyday listenable”
Another day another 3/5
Lust For Love is a banger though - some really fun catchy songs on the album, I really like the energy on some of these tracks.
And I really like the 80s pop / punk fusion.
Some of the songs sound the same though and the album doesn’t really flow super well imo
The streak of 3/5s continue
Pretty solid album with beats that I’m sure were groundbreaking at the time but are pretty standard nowadays
Some of the songs would sound great on a DJ set
It’s got a little bit of kraftwerk with some super catchy hooks
Standouts: Let’s make a bomb, the height of the fighting
This is a super vibey album - what was in the air in the UK in the 90s???
Obviously very similar to massive attack and a trip hop classic. I really like the use of scratches and samples and oh my god Beth Gibbons’ voice fits so perfectly within. Also the incredible bass lines
Standouts: Mysterons, Roads (shout out Rick and Morty), Wandering star!!!!
Damn that opening half is a pretty legendary run and the second half, although not as famous, was super good too.
The band is so tight and does a lot with only one guitar and bass. It also showcases their versatility with faster funk songs but also some more melodic alt rock songs
Standouts: (aside from the obvious): Around the world, Parallel universe, Easily, Porcelain, Emit Remmus, Road Trippin’
Wait why do I like this so much
It’s also very fifa core
So much versatility; such good riffs (and basslines of course)
Man they got some wild blues stuff but also some sad sad songs (shout out to everyone I’ve led on)
Holy shit I need to call in sick because I got Zuton Fever
A fucking saxophone in an indie band is wild
I don’t think they do anything revolutionary but every song on the album is executed really well
Standouts: Zuton Fever, Pressure Point, Confusion, Not a lot to do, Dirty Dancehall, Moons and Horror Shows
Some of these songs are straight out of Flashback FM in gta vice city. Love the “robo-funk” aesthetic of some of these songs
I’m especially a fan of the more upbeat ones
I think it wasn’t the most cohesive as an album and some of the songs were just kinda okay, without really distinguishing themselves from a lot of the dance music at the time.
But overall it was a really fun listen!
Standouts: Small Talk, Don’t Work that hard, Perfect Way
This was my first AOTD, so copying over my notes:
(Also shoutout to Eric claptons racist rants lmaooo)
I really only knew sunshine of your love before this, and mostly knew cream as Eric clapton’s band and knew that he was more of a blues guitarist I was surprised to see this album take a more psychedelic form which was cool. The guitar riffs were solid too Standouts: Strange Brew, Tales of Brave Ulysses, SWLABR
It was fine I guess. I know they were revolutionary and all that but idk I’m not a fan of the vocals
Band was pretty tight and there were maybe a couple of cool songs (eg Lorettas scars) but I wasn’t particularly impressed by anything / it seems like neither post punk or indie which maybe is the point but it doesn’t do either particularly well
I was on the fence about this one and could have gone either way
Solid album from start to finish - such great guitar playing, some absolute BANGERS on this one and also some songs that were great but not necessarily what I would call bangers
The vibe of the album is truly immaculate and the instrumentation is incredible
Standouts: I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain
Man what a classic
I don’t know how to put this but the album was ok but New Dawn Fades and Day of the Lords are probably the best songs I’ve ever listened to
THE DARKNESS CONSUMES ME
and the other songs are ok
The vibe they were going for was confusing / it was kinda post-rock-esque but also very poppy with its melodies, but the result was just…inoffensive for lack of a better word (thx pratik)
Nothing really stood out - it wasn’t a bad album by any means but just not something I would come back to
I wonder how many mid British indie bands are going to be on this list 😭
