highlights are help yourself, water with the wine, love and affection, join the boys, people, tall in the saddle.
guitar solo in like fire very good.
like most folk albums, it begs a few re-listens for max appreciation. i'm looking forward to getting to know this one better.
white guy who "revolutionized hip hop" thru his use of samples... um i know a trio of white guys who did that a decade earlier! MAN just listen to paul's boutique instead-- unless you're looking for something to fall asleep to, then go for this.
I was SO EXCITED to have been assigned this album. it basically defined my senior year of college, so there's a layer of nostalgia that just makes me love it even more. track notes:
-title track gives me goosebumps EVERY. TIME.
-EL CONDOR PASA fucking bangs
-i know this is controversial but CECELIA is the only skip on this album for me. i can only describe it as "cacophonous"-- so fcking loud and discordant. i'm not a fan.
-KEEP THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED super super good
-s&g proving their range by following two high-energy pop hits with FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT. so impressive.
-THE BOXER. i cannot emphasize enough my love for this song. probably my #1 s&g track period. no notes.
-BABY DRIVER, another 10/10.
-THE ONLY LIVING BOY so fire. lol my notes are just "SO GOOD OMG SO GOOD SO GOOD BLA BLA BLA"
-WHY DONT YOU WRITE ME: so goofy, surreal. simon is so manic as he plays soldier. the "wa la laaa"s are some of my fave s&g adlibs.
-BYE BYE LOVE, being a cover, feels a bit like a throwaway among the gold that is this tracklist. that said, their aptitude for live performance is insane, and the audience does add a richness to this cover.
-if theres one thing paul simon loves to do, it's brush up against the concept of a higher power. it might not necessarily be the intended interpretation of this song, but SONG FOR THE ASKING has always read to me like a plead for god to show himself-- he's ready for devotion, he just needs a sign! it's somewhat of a bleak note to end an album of pop hits and declarations of love on, but hey, aren't emotional rollercoasters sort of a hallmark of simon and garfunkel's collaboration?
this is a 4/5, easily. CECELIA and BYE BYE LOVE knock a point off for me, but i'm also deeply appreciative of the dreamlike and whirlwind quality they give this record.
-LIKE A ROLLING STONE-- what a way to start a record. an immediate sonic blast of energy. even in his anger, dylan sounds exuberant and enthralling.
-TOMBSTONE BLUES is a flex of classic country chops with an electric flair, and an exciting display of high-energy, elaborate storytelling.
-i know this is a silly gripe to have with a dylan album, but the harmonica on IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH is soooo grating. that said, his usual lyrical tact is on display and his voice is surprisingly melodic here.
-FROM A BUICK 6 is the first mostly-forgettable track here, imo. really cool imagery but that's about all that struck me.
-BALLAD OF A THIN MAN is fucking fire. love the bluesy piano. probably my fave here.
-QUEEN JANE APPROX.-- i don't care too much for it. another silly complaint, but he can get so fucking high-and-mighty, it irks me. also, in 1965 he apparently told nora ephron that the subject of this song, queen jane, "is a man". if this is the case, why not sing about 'king john'? it's like the beatles' SEXY SADIE; a man disappointed lennon so deeply that he became a woman in lennon's creative world.
-TITLE TRACK, hahaha oh my god that goofy slide whistle opening. who said he couldn't get silly with it. so aggressively americana, lyrically. makes me hype, like i wanna go on a long roadtrip.
-TOM THUMB, kind of unremarkable. i can see it growing on me.
-DESOLATION ROW is probably the most tasteful track here, i appreciate dylan's lyrical sensitivity and the relatively stripped back instrumentation.
Man, do i just have severe undiagnosed ADHD or something? i usually find "boring" to be a really lazy/thoughtless word to critique art, but i am at a loss for any other word.
i was intrigued when this popped up because i enjoy aphex twin, brian eno, and other mainstream contemporaries. but even with those artists, i am unable to retain interest in long, droning tracks, and this record is not an exception to that preference.
if i were a computer science dude working on a really intense coding project, i might like to have this on; i can see it being inspiring/stimulating in that context. but unfortunately my job is incredibly boring and requires very little brainpower from me, so repetitive music only serves to exhaust me. further, as somebody who consumes new movies as eagerly as i consume new music, there is another interesting lens through which i can appreciate this record: La Planète Sauvage, a french animated sci-fi film about a race of blue aliens enslaving human beings, was released only three years before Oxygène. much to be dredged up there about late 20th century french society, reckoning with colonialism, burgeoning forms of technology...
i like pt. 3(the shortest track, go figure) but not enough to keep me coming back to it.
on a more petty note: the fact that all the tracks have the same name pisses me off.
rolled my eyes when i got this assignment. but i've literally skipped the past ~5 (i keep getting SHIT) so i decided to lock in.
BLITZKRIEG BOP- yeah yeah yeah ok whatever. aye-oh lets go. i honestly quite like joey's voice and the overall production of this song despite how corny and ubiquitous it is
BEAT ON THE BRAT- completely devoid of any sort of feeling and already establishing the repetitiveness of this record
JUDY IS A PUNK- i could literally scream omg why is every song IDENTICAL with stupidass lyrics to boot!
I WANNA BE YOUR BOYFRIEND- slop
CHAIN SAW- so far the most inventive track here, the first i can see myself listening to again. why does he pronounce 'massacre' like that though?
SNIFF SOME GLUE- fun. probably has the clearest resemblance to contemporary punk and is a clear blueprint to later work.
BASEMENT- i am trying to stay charitable but my patience is wearing thin... how is this SO tedious. i also thought this album was released much earlier; the fact that it's from 1976 only aggravates my disinterest. like, the kinks released s/t a decade prior.
LOUDMOUTH- ok.
HAVANA AFFAIR- literally didn't realize the previous song had ended and a new one began lol. i do honestly like the lyrics of this one though.
LISTEN TO MY HEART- kind of a gem for me. uninspiring and same, but i appreciate it.
53rd and 3rd- ok im literally at wits end. can we wrap this up.
LETS DANCE- i don't like joey's voice anymore!!! SHUT UP!!!!
i will spare the final two tracks from any kind of comment lest my review becomes just as tedious as this album was. maybe someone pissed in my cheerios or something but this is just sooo. insufferable. i'ma give it 2 stars though because there WERE a couple tracks i enjoyed, and i would be remiss to not take into consideration their (unexplainable) influence on future music. i wish this site had half-stars though, cause it's more like a 1.75...
okay, i honestly gave this a good try. made it like 3 tracks in. but being the gen z'er that i am, it's quite difficult to listen to "dad rock" with an unbiased ear. i can't divorce it from the corniness i associate it with. boston was no exception -- nauseating late 70s bullshit. i would have committed to listening to the whole thing if i felt any confidence that my opinion would change even a little. sorry
FINALLY SOME GOOD FUCKING FOOD. i love talking heads.
not their best album by any stretch, but it's so impressive to me how realized their vision was as a band as early as their second record.
Tedious fun
somewhere between the quiet conclusion of the hair metal era and the boisterous beginnings of grunge and indie rock, TRACY CHAPMAN was released, and i can only imagine how jarring and fascinating this was to hear in its heyday. FAST CAR aside, there are some really tearjerking hits on here, notably BEHIND THE WALL, MOUNTAINS O' THINGS, ACROSS THE LINES, and WHY?. BEHIND THE WALL was especially affecting to me, since last year i lived in an apartment which shared a wall with a man who would regularly and loudly abuse his girlfriend-- but that's neither here nor there. anyways, it goes without saying, this record feels endlessly re-listenable; chapman's tender and urgent writing about social turmoil and political unrest are (unfortunately) evergreen. one feels the need to apologize to her, that nearly 40 years later her words still resonate (and that people think Luke Combs wrote FAST CAR...god).
I need to say something inflammatory: if you don't like this album, you might be stupid!!!! Calling it "unlistenable" is so lazy and smooth-brained-- Björk doesn't make radio pop, nerd! this is a deeply personal and experimental project, not a top 40 contender. Wish more people would internalize that that before rating her work. "Unlistenable" is also just blatantly untrue!!!! her utilization of the Icelandic choir is so insane, i found myself forgetting this record is acapella.
it's obviously nobody's FAVORITE björk album, but the quality and arctic beauty are undeniable.
