Fantastic and foundational disco. You could probably learn everything you need to know about rhythm guitar by only listening to this album. Some of the canned audience sounds cheapen things a bit, but otherwise timeless.
You have no heart if you don't like this album - it's a cornerstone of soul music. Every moment feels good, which isn't surprising with it all glued together by the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. Absolute peak Aretha.
It's difficult to categorize Björk's unique artistry. The variety alone should be enough to hold almost anyone's attention: dancy off kilter pop, introspective electronic slow burners, even a moody jazz standard. No one has a voice like Björk, and the arrangements perfectly support her across the whole record. In addition to an abundance of unique textures she conjures, the music itself is often melodically and harmonically adventurous. There's very little not to like.
Sheesh... that was hard to get through. I remember being into AC/DC's hits back in middle school, but I'm not sure I've ever listened to an album all the way through - definitely not in adulthood. The songs here are pretty monotonous, particularly through the first half - there's very little in the way of dynamic or tonal variety to maintain interest. Sure, it may be one of the best selling albums of all time, but can anyone really argue bands like Led Zeppelin weren't playing better heavy, blues inflected hard rock nearly a decade before this album, while also being able to incorporate some other sounds, too? The only bright spot for me are Angus Young's leads, which place him as one of the more lyrical and tasteful soloists of the era, which is striking when very little of the rest of the music exhibits any sort of nuance.
It's shocking that this was made in 1973 - the enormous influence it had on so much music that came afterwards is clear. Every garage band should aspire to this sort of raw energy; it shows how working with a limited sonic pallette dosn't mean sacrificing interest. Despite its rawness, I find a surprising amount of balance on the record.
It's fine. A lot of the beats feel pretty sterile, and I'm not a huge fan of the flatulent synth bass sounds. Skepta's flow is pretty cool. I'm sure this had some profound influence on some hip-hop sub-genre, but it doesn't come across as vital as many other contemporary records.
Sweet Love is the only track I was familiar with going into this album, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was indicative of the quality of the rest of the record. Anita Baker's voice is of course powerful and one of a kind, driving pretty much every song. Beyond that, there are lots of really clever and enjoyable moments in the arrangements - I particularly liked the sparse but extremely effective backup harmonies on 'You Bring Me Joy' - and there are cool bass/keyboard/guitar parts sprinkled throughout. There's a lot of harmonic depth to the music, as well; we're far out of three-chord pop music territory. However, the 80's synth sounds just haven't aged well to my ears, nor has the overly produced mix - the reverb drenched vocals seem very lonely, almost like the album was performed in an empty stadium. I'd really love to hear Baker in a more stripped down setting, or even with some sort of jazz ensemble (the scatting near the end of 'Been so Long' indicates she has the chops), not this sterile, corporate sounding environment.
Come on, there's very little better than 70's Stevie Wonder. FFF was released in the middle of a slew of near perfect records. Every song is interesting in its own way, theres a huge amount of diversity, but Wonder maintains some thread throughout them all that ties them all together. The harmony is constistently sophisticated without sacrificing soulful feeling, and, of course, everything grooves very hard. This is the sort of album you can enjoy listening to over and over again, catching something new each time.