Incredibly groovy, wildly catchy and memorable. Found myself re-listening to most of the songs after I had given the record an initial once-over just because I wanted to hear it again! Springsteen's voice has such a great quality to it, and the instrumentals are just larger than life constantly.
"Backstreets" -> "Born to Run" -> "She's the One" is such a FANTASTIC sequence of songs, I was wowed by it. "Thunder Road" is also a highlight, along with "Jungleland."
Love this one!
I think I'm gonna need to re-listen to this one a few more times before I can give definitive thoughts. It's on the longer side, and I overall enjoyed the experience and there were several highlights for me. One of the things I really liked is how striking the first track is, it's so eerie right from the get-go and intrigued me immediately. I also really enjoyed "Seductive Barry," "Help the Aged" and several other tracks. Overall a good listen, though I'd like to dig more into the lyrics and such at another time.
I think this is one of the greatest albums ever made. Yeah that's about it.
Okay, this album is so ridiculously catchy, groovy, and beautiful that I can't really fully put it into words. There were moments while working that I had to fully stop what I was doing and just sit and appreciate the music for a second... it's THAT good. Aretha was truly on another level.
Amazing, amazing, amazing. What a goddamn treat to listen to, I could put this on repeat for an entire day and not get sick of it. Full of such emotion and energy... it's SO good. Going to have so many of these melodies and motifs stuck in my head now.
What a stunning record. It's crazy to me that this was their debut, it sounds so incredibly refined and impressively put together. I ended up listening to this about 3 times through, and I think that my overall thoughts are that this is a fantastic listen, with highlight after highlight present, and only a couple tunes that I wasn't so keen on.
My favorite part about this record is hands down the basslines, holy god they are so groovy on literally every track. I mean like... good lord just listen to "New Feeling," "Tentative Decisions," "The Book I Read," "Psycho Killer"... I could go on. Absolute masterful display of songwriting and instrumentation here.
More Britpop! I can't even be mad, I love it. Got this one for today's album and I became compelled to do a bit of looking into what Britpop actually is, and I find it helps a lot to know that it was made as a response to grunge, a genre which I hold very dear to my heart. Listening to this record with that context in mind made me appreciate it more overall, and contrast it with bands of that scene.
I think I liked this record more than This is Hardcore overall. A real treat to listen to! I dig the pacing, the vocals, the instrumentals... yeah it's just quite good. Some sick, larger-than-life moments perfectly mixed in with lower and slower moments. Honestly I was reminded of The Smashing Pumpkins several times throughout this... made me want to listen to Siamese Dream. Will definitely be revisiting this one!
"Get the point? Good. Let's dance."
Cannot fathom why there's so many negative reviews for this record. Janet Jackson is a queen and this record goes unreasonably hard. Great lyrics paired with incredibly groovy instrumentals and thoughtful sequencing. This has gotta be considered a classic, man.
"Black Cat" is 100% the standout track on here for me. What the hell is a hard rock song doing here and why is it so damn good?? It doesn't even feel out of place on the record which I think is the most impressive part.
I will say that I generally prefer the harder-hitting tracks in comparison to the softer cuts, but I can't say that I particularly *dislike* them. Amazing overall.
I always have a soft spot for this kind of rock. I love the vibe it brings, the vocals, the jazziness… very mellow and folky and puts me in a good mood. It’s a great record all around, and one I’ll have to revisit again for a deeper listen.
A pleasant listen. Feels like a bunch of singles put together. Don't really have much else to say. I liked it!
Alright. I'm just gonna admit that I'm not the target audience for this sort of music and leave it more or less at that... I listened up to halfway through "Nasty Girl," and after being very meh on the first three tracks and very not pleased with the lyrics on this one, I decided it would be better if I left the rest unlistened to. Not for me.
An honestly ethereal experience. I could listen to this record on loop and not get tired of it. Intensely catchy in a very specific way... like I can tell these melodies are going to be popping into my head off and on for months now. Felt... well... dreamy! The Springsteen influence is definitely felt at times, too.
I love folk-y music, and this 100% scratches that itch for me. Not sure if I should call it folk-pop? Or something else? At any rate, this record sounds impressively not dated, and is incredibly beautiful and simultaneously catchy, too. I know Blue is another Joni Mitchell record that is highly regarded, so I'm looking forward to checking that one out next.
