Really interesting, exciting album. Little surprises in every song...tempo changes, creative vocal choices, quiet-loud. Some of the songs (Green for example) sound incredibly modern.
Not fully my thing, but moments of transcendence. Probably a few songs too many; drags a bit in the later half. The closeout of All along the Watchtower into Voodoo Chile is crazy good.
Fun, funny, futuristic (still somehow 50 years on), just fantastic. Unbeatable walking-around-with-headphones music. You're secretly the coolest person in the block. The profound influence on hip hop is obvious, with little Easter eggs of instantly recognizable samples and lyrics in almost every song that helped define later classics. But even outside of hip hop, I think there must have been some impact from this on new wave and indie rock, particularly that, for lack of a better phrase, shimmering cascade of synthesizer effect on songs like Give Up the Funk and Night of the Thumpasorous Peoples. Beautiful stuff.
Not an album with a ton of stand out tracks, but overall such a solid listen. Hypnotic, funky, weird. The closer, the Big Country, is a beautiful track and the rare song with a laugh out loud punchline.
An interesting time capsule if you're familiar at all with hip hop that came before it. It's clearly a bridge point with some songs in the old Run DMC style and others showing what's to come. Dr. Dre's production is the highlight. Songs like I Ain't tha 1 have a playful, contemporary sound.