"Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball" Listened to B4: Yes (30 years ago) Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 4 - Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger, Morning Glory, Wonderwall Standout Tracks : Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger, Morning Glory, Wonderwall I expected to like this record a whole lot more than I did. The 30 year old memories of it vs. the 2025 reality of it, is quite different. A great album is the sum of its parts. There are gems here - most of them being the big hits. The rest of the tracks, are, well...mid. With (some of) the big hits - i.e. Ww, DLBiA, CS, MG - you can forgive Oasis for borrowing from everyone before them because they do it so damn well. Imitation is the best kind of flattery, and the imitation here of the Beatles, solo Lennon, REM, et. al., but infused with their own 90s Mancurian sensibilities, shows these guys were musical geniuses, even if they lacked originality (or perhaps had loads of it in the sense they could imitate but make it fresh and their own). But the other tracks are mostly eyerollers. The opener "Hello" is Gary Glitter on boring pills. "Swamp Song" is "La Grange" fed through some really shitty amplifiers. And when my brain couldn't place who or what they ripped off, my ear knew they were ripping off someone or something. And herein lies the problem. When influenced by and borrowing crosses into ripping off, the line between great and meh grows very thin and much more difficult to straddle. (68/100)

"Is it strange to dance so soon? I danced myself into the tomb" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 1 - Get it On Standout Tracks: Mambo Sun, Cosmic Dancer, Jeepster, Get it On, Planet Queen, LIfe's a Gas Superb. You can hear how T. Rex, Bowie, and Lou Reed were feeding off of each other - the early 70s glam version of the mid-60s psychout Beatles-Beach Boys rivarly. Mambo Sun is such a killer opener. Really sets the tone for the rest of the record. Cosmic Sun then sets the ballad standard for the rest of the record. Catchy af and a massive middle finger to conformity. The rockers here, the ballads, the bluesies, all hit. Love the instrumentaion - flanger guitars with great riffs, the pounding driving rhythm section, the bizzare yet perfect androgynous flo & eddie background vocals, the strings, the horns... Lyrics are fantastic: weird, sexy, existential, dreamy, and who doesn't love some good car metaphors? Even when Marc Bolan approaches the line of lyrical cheese, he never crosses - either because he stops himself or the music stops him. And what a fucking epic album cover. (93/100)

"Fertilizer, I'll take bullshit if that's all you got." Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 2 - Thinkin Bout You, Lost Standout Tracks: Thinkin Bout You, Sweet Life, Lost. I get it's innovative. I get the production is interesting and complex. I love the album concept of channel surfing through his memories beginning with the the Apple, Playstation, and Street Fighter startup sounds of his youth. But I often found myself bored. The themes of the record get stale after he goes back to them for the umpteenth time. The lyrics are hit and miss with way too much corny melodrama cringe. Outside a handful of tracks, this just isn't my kind of thing. (43/100)

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