For me, the very worst excesses of rock and live albums combined into one - pointless noodling, extended drum solos, and aimless virtuosity. This was a slog.
I was looking forward to this as I had never heard of it before. I very quickly realised it was not for me. It sounded like the birth of musical theatre - wordy, too thick a texture, and melodies that wandered all over the place. I was glad when it got to the last track, less glad when I found that track to be 10 minutes long.
Kind of drifted by… Good musicianship but lacked either riffs or melodies strong enough to make it stand out.
A bizarre mixture of styles, not particularly coherent but with enough strong singles (well spaced out through the album) to keep up its momentum. As a side note, Shout was being played on French radio when we went into the local shop for the first time this summer - it was followed by Just Like Heaven. A good start to the holiday.
The production elevates some of the weaker songs, but a couple of songs would benefit from some editing - great three minute songs that are dragged out to 5 minutes or more and lose impact as a result. I do find his voice quite grating at times, there are particular inflections that sound like Eric Cartman singing.
A bit of an odd one as a lot of it just sounded like the soundtrack to a standard 70s Hollywood film. I was expected a more distinctive (possibly stereotypically Indian) sound.
Not sure it is something that has to be listened to and doesn’t really do anything new beyond what they did before, which was hardly revolutionary. However, No Cars Go is my favourite track of theirs so I am giving a bonus mark for that.
Melodies and arrangements are strong and I can see the appeal but the sound is a little bit safe for me.
Found the nine track version after the link had sent me in the direction of the 3-disc, 3.5 hour version. I don’t think their sound has aged quite as well as some of their peers, but there were some pleasant surprises here.
I only really knew of his later stuff from programs like OGWT. This was a nice surprise - chaotic and percussive. Definitely an influence on later Tom Waits.
I disliked this immensely. Poor in concept and execution - long, pretentious and lacking any memorable songs to hang the concept around.
Some lovely guitar work. Fortunately the sun was out when I listened to it as I don’t think it would have had the same impact in the rain…
I am not averse to a bit of country music but this was a bit too confederate for my liking.
I like him as a performer (his sweat drenched performances on OGWT are amazing) and I like some of these songs in isolation but as an album it is a bit much.
It is an album clearly built around the title track. It passed by pleasantly enough in the background but the sound is generic, radio-friendly rock, which doesn’t do much for me.
I just don’t think I like this genre very much. This might be an excellent example of it but, while technically proficient, I find it very shallow both lyrically and musically.
Nice guitar work and a smooth voice with the blues numbers providing a bit of a break from the gentle ballads. Overall, a nice album but I am not sure I will remember any of it by tomorrow.
A really good album with strong melodies and evocative lyrics. It has standout tracks but these are framed by the songs around them to give them more impact. The maturity and confidence of the album is remarkable given their age at the time.
Enjoyed this more than expected. Functions really well as an album; no real standout tracks but coheres nicely, with enough variety within the sound to keep it interesting.
Thought I didn’t know the band but realised I knew ‘another girl, another planet’ as one of John Peel’s favourite tracks. I was pleasantly surprised by the other tracks and could see why they were considered influential.
I love his voice and arrangements but some of the songwriting does not match the quality of the tools available, which is what stops this being a great album. A song such as River Man shows the potential for making a great album but sadly he did not have the opportunity to realise this.
I had not listened to this before and found it did lack the immediacy of some of his later work, but still has the strong lyrical imagery and ‘preacher screaming at the end of the world’ vibe that I enjoy. I think this is an album that will improve with repeated listening (as with a lot of his work) - my mark is more how I think I will view it rather than its immediate impact.
Enjoyed it a lot more than expected as I was worried it would be a psychedelic mess… Some nice melodies and gets extra credit for Golden Hair which Slowdive turned into one of the best live tracks I have seen…
I liked the segue from the prog into money for nothing but the rest of it was pretty boring. You can hear the influence of a band like The War on Drugs but their songs have a bit more to them than what I heard here.
Pretty standard jangly guitar stuff until the end where you can see why they made impact. However, I feel their subsequent albums do the jangly stuff and the experimental stuff better.
Genuinely horrific. I was concerned when it showed that some of the tracks appeared on the playlist ‘yacht rock essentials’ but what followed exceeded this concern. It was like the Pina Colada song stretched out for an album. When it said 1001 albums to listen to before you die, I don’t think the intention was for the list to push you towards your demise but the inclusion of this album is making me question that. At least it was mercifully short.
I did enjoy parts of this but found it went on a bit long. I admire the production and execution but didn’t find too many of songs grabbed me.
It is less an album more an audio documentary. The songs being punctuated by messages for the inmates, their responses to certain guards names - all these things give a sense of the setting and give added power to the performance. Granted, there is a lack of variety in the songs but the performance is incredible.
For me, the very worst excesses of rock and live albums combined into one - pointless noodling, extended drum solos, and aimless virtuosity. This was a slog.
A perfectly pleasant album but it seems like a regression given the Beatles’ exploration of experimental approaches.
A tricky one as it is of a style that I find is not very immediate and therefore it didn’t make much of an impression on me after one listen. I think it is one from the list that I will try and listen to again as I think I might enjoy it more.
I expect this will be divisive amongst a lot of listeners. I have already listened to this before on a few occasions, which helps given the length of the album. Z xx I personally really like it and John Wayne Gacy Jr is one of my favourite songs about serial killers. I think it suffers from having too many ideas at times and would have been a great album with a bit of careful pruning and focus.
Actually enjoyed this more than I expected as I had a particular dislike of their music when growing up… It is still not something that I would listen to out of choice but I didn’t hate it. The last track was the standout, mainly due to the participation of Andre 3000, which provided a nice contrast to the rest of the album.
Both progressive and regressive in equal measure… Highly influential on the blues rock boom of the early 2000s while borrowing heavily from the 70s. I did enjoy the odd moments of experimentation (use of electronic beats, etc.) and found it has aged well.
This is hugely influential on modern hip-hop and has some real highlights. Some elements do not age so well (the scratching, wearing a massive clock) but I did enjoy revisiting it.
Some good pop songs that have been somewhat ruined by overplaying and ubiquity.
Lots of character and some good tunes. I suspect that my favourite SFA album (Mwng) will not make the list so I have to mark this highly!
Not my first time listening to this but it was a good one to revisit. There is a nice variety of texture and instrumentation with some strong melodies.
There are some really nice songs, good changes of pace, and I have always loved his guitar playing. The album lacks the vitality of their live performances of these songs - I found that songs that were thrilling live were just a bit too clinical when committed to record.
My general dislike of this genre of music means it has to be exceptional to make an impact on me. This was not. There is clearly one standout track but the others were either forgettable or shallow.
I knew the name but had never listened to this but I was amazed at how influential this was on so many wildly different artists. I really enjoyed this and can see why it was such an influence.
Probably don’t love this as much as I used to. However, I still really like it and can see its influence. Rhythmically interesting with interesting structures and strong melodies.
Fast Car is one of my least favourite songs of all time. Genuinely hate it. The rest of the album was boring (if Boyzone is covering it, it is pretty bland) but I could appreciate some of the lyrical intentions.
Agree about the need for active listening as I listened to it in the background at work and could see that was not the right setting for something such as this. I could appreciate all the aspects of it but will need to listen in a dark room with no distractions to fully appreciate this.
Fantasy by Earth, Wind and Fire is one of my guilty pleasures. There was nothing here which reaches that level. They are a great singles band but the singles from this are not up to the standard of their later work.
I love Harrison’s guitar playing and there is some excellent songwriting. There was a nice amount of variety but it also went on too long and my attention was starting to drift by the end.
There a couple of obvious singles and I can see why it might have made an impression at the time, but her voice is like nails scraping down a blackboard and the lyrics are truly awful.
It is a really confident album that has excellent songwriting and a sound that has aged really well.
I enjoyed this but it lacked any real standout tracks from a first listen and I’m not sure I enjoyed it enough to warrant a second listen.
The first album I have encountered on the list where I have questioned its existence on the list. Neither influential nor very good at what it does, I am cannot believe there isn’t something else that could have taken its place. Not much to grab your attention apart from the big single, which has a decent energy.
Either there are an extraordinary number of Bob Marley albums on this list or the RNG has failed us… It was clearly a stronger album than catch a fire but suffers from a lack of variety due to the conventions of the genre.
I rather enjoyed this - some really good riffs and didn’t descend into the excesses of some 80s metal. I have never been a fan of the double kick drums so that knocks it down a bit but still better than expected.
The harmony, arrangements and songwriting are fantastic and I love the sense of melancholy that runs through a lot of the songs.
A welcome inclusion on the list and a nice one to revisit after a while. There are good melodies, it is well structured, with its standout tracks well spaced out, and its run time is about right given that it doesn’t have a huge amount of variation. I have always enjoyed how the guitar sound is both dirty and clear at the same time.
Not what I was expecting in the first half but went to more expected territory in the second. Clearly hugely influential and ‘the message’ is a classic but the compilation nature of the album means it lacks cohesion.
The pros on this one are the exceptional musicianship, really good riffs and structure. The cons are that the lyrics are sometimes a bit righteous and it influenced Limp Bizkit.
No.
I enjoyed this. It was interesting as a bridge between Public Enemy and a more modern hip-hop sound. I liked the choice of samples and the different styles of the vocalists.
The harmonies are incredibly tight but this music does very little for me and it quickly lost my interest.
I cannot listen to too much Dylan in a short space of time as I find it can get a bit repetitive however this was a great one to revisit as it is easy to forget just how great Dylan is. There are some absolute classics on here and it manages to hold attention despite its lengthy run time. He even makes me appreciate lyrics which I generally am not bothered about.
Speaking to the resident Swift fan in the house, she was baffled by this album’s inclusion given that it was made up of songs that didn’t make the cut for Folklore. I enjoyed Gold Rush and it is clearly a highly polished production, but the songs don’t really connect with me, and it descends into something quite formulaic. The song with Haim was truly terrible so it loses a point for that.
Lacks variety and doesn’t have the imagination of their later work but it is still a strong set of songs, with some obvious standouts. Mercifully short after a couple of long ones too…
I may have listened to this before but I am not sure… I did really enjoy it, though. Good riffs, excellent musicianship and good structures. Almost veered into noodling territory at the end but kept it in check.
It was alright. I quite liked their sound (goth with electronic drums) but I wasn’t really paying attention so I can’t really remember any of it beyond that.
Wow, that was a challenge. I love David’ earlier bebop and hard bop work, and fully understand the need to push boundaries, but there was very little for me to hang onto here. I know it was very influential at the time but I am not sure I like its influence as it moved jazz into an era where it was detached from any of the traditional foundations of rhythm and melody into to something far more nebulous. There were moments where it connected but not enough for me.
A band that passed me by in my formative years so it was an interesting one, given the status of the band. Black was the standout for me but I think others would join it with further listening.
Sabotage is a great single with an equally great video. Nothing else on the album reached that level but there is still a lot to appreciate. There is variety, the flow between them is fantastic, like when old friends catch up after a long time and just slip into the old rhythms, and they have an such iconic sound that it really could be no one else, which, given the amount of music that is produced, is quite an achievement in itself.
Wasn’t really expecting to like this as I had (probably incorrectly) associated her with angsty balladry. However, was a really strong album. The confidence to strip it all back to the voice in one of the later tracks was impressive and highlighted how strong her voice is. I will listen to it again, which is an endorsement in itself.
Whenever I encounter something I haven’t heard before I always mention it to Neil. The response is either that he will reel of a list of their seminal albums or that he has seen them live before. This was no different, he saw Barry Adamson perform with Nick Cave as a member of the Bad Seeds. I love the fact that this was included in this list. I don’t know what it is (seemingly a soundtrack album to a film that never existed) but it was a really interesting listen - full of variety, with a sense of underlying malevolence. Probably like a visit to Moss Side.
This album showcases the virtuosity of the performers but it has a focus; there are various points of resolution and consonance from which the improvisation is anchored. Each performer has their moment to showcase their skills but the sense of coherence is never lost. In spite of its short length, I have found that I get something new out of it with every listen. This time the drumming caught my attention; restrained and fluid, while keeping the dynamics varied. This is a truly great album that actually gets greater with every listen.
This town ain’t big enough is wonderfully chaotic and distinctive. The rest of the album descends into more standard glam fare. Loses a full star for having a song called barbecutie.