I went through a bit of an Elvis-adjacent hyperfixation last summer, probably because I really like the actress Riley Keough, who is his granddaughter. I watched the movie “Priscilla” and read the book “Elvis and Me”. Both were about his first/ex-wife Priscilla Presley, who he essentially groomed from a teenager and kinda held captive at Graceland while they were in a relationship. This album came out at the same time around the same time when Priscilla and Elvis’ daughter was a baby. Anyway, you can see why Elvis was a lauded entertainer of that era, but knowing his social history makes you think about his music with a certain lens, and the impacts his musical career and choices as an adult had on his music and the people in his life. I also knew the song “In the Ghetto” from New Girl, in the episode where they hire an Elvis impersonator for Nick’s dad’s funeral and then the impersonator gets drunk and can’t perform. Jess ends up dressing up as Elvis and performing a couple of Elvis songs, including “In the Ghetto”. Anyway, it’s a great episode IMO.

Legit never heard of this band or (so I thought) never heard a single song by them, but it turns out they have one song that went viral on TikTok/IG (Blue Monday) so I’ve heard that one. This album feels very quintessential 80s dance but IMO pales in comparison to other similar artists of the era. Regardless, it’s always interesting to listen to something brand new to you that isn’t remotely brand new but once was good for me!

This made me feel like I was at a daytime folk fest stage. What a good time! I liked that some of the album was in French and some in Lingala. Enjoyed the beats and at time, random sounds. Very fun. Would listen again.

Bitter Sweet Symphony is iconic but otherwise this one didn’t really resonate with me too much. I enjoyed that the last song “Come On” has a hidden track at the very end…. if you keep it playing, goes from silent to kind of an ethereal melody with a baby crying sound at around 13:45 for a little over a minute.

This was an interesting album. Lots of different sounds. It wouldn’t ever be high up on my list of favourites but I’d probably re-listen just to spend more time with the lyrics, like on Lazarus “Look up here, I’m in heaven.”

So clearly a protest album and I really enjoyed listening to it! Musically the guitar is very strong but it’s a bit repetitive in that sense. I feel like it gave a good picture of a certain subculture of that era and clearly influenced a lot of the rock I listened to in the 2000s

Good beats. Definitely not what I expected. Give the album’s Wikipedia page a read if you haven’t!