I listened to this in highschool, enjoyed it quite a bit, but don't really remember much beyond Common People (and what a song that is). As it stands, Pulp might by default be my least favourite of the Britpop Big 4, but that could very well change
And what do you know... This is even better than I remember! The dark and acerbic lyrics are one part of the album's winning equation, but it's really the eclecticism that makes it so engaging. From synthpop to disco, this album covers a lot of ground and does so swimmingly. Common People remains the standout, but it might actually be the greatest Britpop track of all time
The House influences dates it a lot more than the best of her works, but the core sound is rock solid.
Another album I'd already listened to... Oh well, at least this one is great.
Pink Floyd can be pretty hit and miss for me, but this record and Meddle are pretty undeniable. A beautiful sendoff to one of 60s rock's most mercurial figures. Sometimes I feel like this album sacrifices immediacy for atmosphere, but then I bowled over by the gorgeous melodies both acoustic and synthesized. Great record
An amazing album but man does the rest of its tracklist live in the shadows of its singles, barring Something in The Way which is epoch defining.
Ponderous plodding boomer rock garbage. Terribly dated both sonically and lyrically, and not in a fun way. The only reason this isn't a 1 is Money for Nothing kinda slaps and Knopfler is a competent guitarist (the less we say about his vocals, the better.) Maybe I'm a hipster, but the fact this got in over masterpieces like Silver Jews' The Natural Bridge and Fishmans' Long Season proves how old and out of touch the critics behind this book are.
Perfect Day, Walk On The Wild Side and to a lesser extent Satellite of Love are all truly excellent, but the rest of the tracklist feels anemic by comparison, even not using his highly unorthodox past endeavours for comparison. I'm also not really getting what's that transgressive about the songwriting beyond Wild Side.
Overall, I still enjoyed revisiting this album for this list, but I was disappointed with it.
This type of straight ahead Bluesy rock usually wouldn't sustain my attention for over an hour and a half, but the strength of the lyrics combined with the central concept makes this project go from pretty good to great. Also helps that the second half is significantly better than the first.
Reggae is 100% not a genre of expertise for me but I really really enjoyed this one. Bob is just such an expressive vocalist, and his ability to convey such pressing social concerns with so little is always remarkable. This record made me tear up a bit with No Woman No Cry, even.
Pretty fun Synth pop with a couple genre essentials. A bit dated sonically, but that's not really a bad thing, and the homerotic undercurrent running throughout is pretty refreshing. Unfortunately the B-sides aren't as memorable.
Absolutely delightful. I really need to listen to more latin jazz. Loses a bit of steam near the end but it's not enough to detract from the sheer amount of fun to be had with this record.
Not my favourite thing over all but I definitely liked it. Sharp Dressed Man is as fun as ever, but I think my favourite track might be TV Dinners, as goofy as it is lyrically. The glossy production weighs it down a little, but there are certainly more dated sounding 80s rock records out there.
Loved this waaaaaaaay more than I thought I would. I've seriously underestimated the range country music can have, this is the perfect blend of uptempo rollickers and downtempo dirges. Last couple of tracks are weaker than the first though
This undeniably had its moments of brilliance but without proper context I feel it's not something I'll return to often. Even then, AIR's band of Spacey Ambient Pop is nice, but not my favourite thing in the world. Still, a good album.
The slow ballads are far too schmaltzy for my taste but the more frenetic tracks like the opener make up for it. I don't see myself returning often, but I enjoyef my time with this one
Went in fully expecting to love this and was sorely disappointed. As I suspected, this is one of the most ridiculously frontloaded albums I've ever heard, and the first five tracks aren't even that great barring Somebody Told Me (which deserves all the praise), and Mr. Brightside (although that has grown off of me through overplay). The rest? Totally forgettable new wave influenced pop rock with all the edges sanded off. Not terrible, but I don't really see myself listening to this again in the near future.
If the book wanted to highlight the explosion of popularity that Post Punk Revival bands experienced, I feel like Interpol's Turn on The Bright Lights (even if I prefer its immediate followup Antics) would've been a far stronger entry. It might not have had quite the commercial exposure that Hot Fuss has had, but TOTBL has made up for it with sheer critical and fan legacy,
Probably the best new listen I've had from this generator yet. The way Harvey's gorgeous vocals contrast with the ugly distortion of the guitars and blistering rhythm of the drums is just perfect. I'm so glad I took the plunge with this one.
This was quite a lot of fun. I feel like first wave punk has grown a bit off of me considering how much more interesting post punk and post hardcore sonically but this album is eclectic enough to keep me engaged through its short runtime
This was a bit disappointing. It's still nowhere near bad, and I swear I'm not one to gatekeep genres but this felt more like slick hard rock than something that possessed the requisite heaviness of, well, Heavy Metal. Maybe I listen to too much Extreme Metal, but I still get a lot of enjoyment out of Black Sabbath and even JP's magnum opus, Painkiller, which really should've been on here instead. Biggest highlight was definitely the vocals.
As a bit of a Noise Rock aficianado, I was a little let down by this one. It's still good and deserves to be on this list, but it's not nearly as noisy or chaotic as I typically like my releases in the genre, except in the sonic experiments and tape elements which while cool didn't cohere all the time. It undoubtedly has its moments though, like the incredible closer. Overall, solid.
I was sorely disappointed with this one. None of it was bad but overall it felt like bland alt rock most of the time, and I can't believe I'm saying this as someone who used to hate country, but I just didn't get enough of that country charm from this record
I revisited this album recently and while it's held up slightly worse than I remember it, this is still a great, eclectic art rock record drawing from jazz, blues and even ambient. My only major complaint is that Ferry's vocals can be a bit "much" even for the genre, but that's not enough to detract a significant amount from the excellent songs.
This grew off of me a bit from high school. It's still great, and all the cover songs arguably outstrip their original counterparts (that's saying a lot as a huge Bowie fan... And not much as a Meat Puppets hater), but it lacks the euphoric loudQUIETloud dynamic of Nirvana's albums that gave them such a strong emotional core. I still love this, but I find myself reaching for their studio work more
I originally had this as a 5 star album in high school, and while it's still great it doesn't quite do as much for me anymore. It's incredible how many styles of classic american and modern british music this thing is able to synthesize, but the slower tracks do drag quite a bit.
This was pretty fun but didn't leave too much of an impression on me beyond "good". I think my issue with grunge is barring the big four, there isn't much I reach out for purely withing the genre save maybe Failure and Hole. This did enough to differentiate itself from those bands but still, I think I'll take those.
Just a pure Hard Rock gem through and through. I do think In Rock is a tighter package and that these songs would be perfected on Made In Japan, but as a Hard Rock album this is canon
