Now that I've heard this album, I can die in peace. First half of the album was the most generic music I could imagine. Worth a 2, I guess. The second half is rough. What's with this list and too-long albums? Definitely some mistaking of quantity for quality. Since I wanted this to be over 45 minutes ago, it gets a 1.
First song reminds me of Django Django but... created by aliens that haven't quite learned what music is. This album is so strange. It's like the singer, instrumentalists, and producer are all making different songs. Song structures are weird, the instrumentation gets verses and choruses and bridges mixed up, chord progressions are completely random, the lyrics don't match the rhythm, and the lead vocalist gives an oddly subdued performance. It's a collage of unrelated songs put together to make a new song if you squint, but the details are all wrong. Making something that's so perfectly the uncanny valley of music might deserve an award, but as an album, this is a 1.
I feel bad for the audio engineer. His poor mics never stood a chance. Particularly the front end of the album is unpleasantly shouty. Aretha Franklin obviously has a great voice, but it's the only thing going on here. Everything else is as placid as could be. None of the instrumentation or melodies or lyrics impress except in Respect. One hit song, bad engineering but probably the best they could do at the time, and the album doesn't overstay its welcome. That's a high 2, low 3.
Both the songs and the album are only bearable because of their short runtime. Nothing stands out in a good way. Every song is the same. You could listen to 30 seconds of the album and know the whole thing. Oh, the mix on and after Let's Dance is way better than the earlier portion of the album. I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You has Cut Copy in the background? xD Okay, the last three songs convince me this might actually be a pleasant enough listen if the mix for the whole album were better. Alas, we have what we have (and this is a 2017 remaster, I guess it was even worse before that), and what we have gets a... 1.5*.
Not sure how objective I can be about an album I already love. Quintessential synth pop. If I have to pick things to nitpick, they would be the overreliance on fade outs and the album's short runtime. It's not the most cohesive album out there. And You Tell Me is the weakest link on the album. Still, an album I'm happy to listen to all the way through. 5*
This album suffers from being live. Crowd noise, self indulgent "thank yous", generally not great mixing, unintelligible lyrics. Really hard to pull anything symphonic out of the mix other than the violins and a few horn blats. Probably a lot more interesting for someone who already knows the music in its original context. Is Metallica always this cringe? 30 minutes in and already fatigued. This is just relentlessly unpleasant on the ears. Gets more listenable starting at Hero Of The Day. Okay, yeah, that was painful. I'm sure there will be worse stuff to come, but this gets a 1 just for putting me through 133 minutes of that.
Interesting how long it takes this album to get going. Contusion is where it really starts going. Wonder if the gospel start was a strategic choice. Most of the songs here would benefit from radio edits. I appreciate the funky jams, but they get a lot of airtime. Ordinary Pain and on definitely started to feel repetitive within the songs and as a whole. Good music, might add a few songs to my playlist to listen to on shuffle, but not an album I'll listen through again. 4*