+: Love Galore, The Weekend, Drew Barrymore, Broken Clocks, Anything, Wavy - should have been longer
-: Supermodel, Go Gina, Normal Girl
Well produced, a few moments of too much noise. Thematically aligned, major focus on womanhood, although difficult at times to understand SZA. Kendrick would kill a performative male competition with that verse. I don’t know shit about reviewing so we’ll see if I’m “on track”. I’ve always gone back to Love Galore and Broken Clocks, but I’m not sure I’d want to go back cover to cover again.
He really was ahead of his time. 2:30 run times on songs, immediately into the hook. Elvis would have loved TikTok. Kind of a slog to listen to though. His voice on some of those runs really takes you out of the music. I’m at like a 2.5.
Overall, the instrumental performances are varied and ear-catching. Gen X prog rock. Given the albums reputation for having a strong theme, I would expect to have a more understandable vocal performance. But then again some of my negative songs were ones I could understand. I guess my issue is that I know they can manage a large soundscape with intelligible lyrics because of other albums and it would have really sent this one over the top.
Another album that I felt really engaged with instrumentally but have to take points because of the vocals. This time, the difficulty comes from the direct diary reading of lyrics. The best songs on this album come when the listener gets to digest. Nowhere Fast, How Soon is Now?, What She Said, Well I Wonder, all give that room to let everything sink in. Whereas other albums I have issues with vocals, I feel this one it’s not a distraction - I just wish there was a little less of it. But this is always the shot taken at Morrissey - that he takes the spotlight far too often. I’m certainly not the first to discover this.
Also why did they play with the volume like that in That Joke? Strange choice - but funny, considering it gave space for the band to breathe after it came back in. Did they also know?
3.5
Really surprised this was one of the highest selling albums of all time as the format is not the most accessible. Also looks like they almost didn’t even get to make it in the first place. Lots of large set pieces. Occasional wolf throats? Tracks felt a little disjointed from each other. I was expecting a little more cohesion from a rock opera. Was an enjoyable listen but probably won’t revisit anytime soon
I’m clearly not intelligent enough for this one. Give me the Court though, that one is dumb enough for me.
Was a pleasant listen. Wish it would have done more. Felt very repetitive.
At first I felt the album was thrashing just to thrash. But that thrashing allowed me to really get enveloped by the parts where they let the melody ride. The juxtaposition really works here. Guitar was used to keep time in a way I found interesting. In the end, the ride couldn’t out weigh the thrash and it became kind of a slog by the end. Only so much of that cycle that I wanted to go through.
Not sure this is the best work from this lineup. I’m a much bigger fan of New Order and the sound they developed in the 80s.
I think I really like that early 2000s guitar sound
There’s some good moments but this suffers from the early electronic repetitiveness. I think a better example from this year would be Dreamland from Black Box
Incredibly influential album but I know Missy and Timbaland hit their stride a few years later. Thinking 30 years ago this was probably a breath of fresh air but it’s just missing that spark for me to rate it higher, especially knowing what they do later.
Pretty boring. Not sure how this was influential?
Harmonies ever present. Was enjoyable and certainly influential. Some moments were a little grating. Wooden Ships might be the model for all yacht rock.
Long Island Radio / 5
I wonder if all of the bands on this list are also annoyed that their songs go from excellent to okay once their singers start.
Like an audiobook set to music. An entertaining listen, not sure I’d come back to it, but defintely worth the time.
Fun
Sometimes I wonder how they achieved popularity in the radio era. On bad speakers there’s some guitar tinnitus - the rhythm guitar plays a drone note with only subtle changes and restrums leading to a a constant minimum sound all other parts have to beat. When you are able to catch those subtleties, songs get much more bounce and an almost “shoegaze” layering of sound that allows for everything to have room. It really cannot be appreciated to its fullest with small speakers or at low volume.
Sounds like a parody of this era. No wonder the Beatles were so successful if this is what they were up against.
Trash. So many great albums lost their spot to this.
I wish it had more of a distinctive quality to it. It’s fine, just could use something to make it memorable.
Never heard of this group and cannot understand why we burned a spot on this album. Not horrible but nothing I want to return to. If I want to listen to this, The Flaming Lips did it all much better and much more memorably.
The woman singing reminds me of the Yoko Ono clip with Chuck Berry and the man singing is like Morrissey singing but in lowercase. Absolute cacophony of sounds that just do not make anything pleasing or worth revisiting. Album #3 that I refuse to believe provided any real influence.
The middle of the album is full of insightful lyrics and enough dynamics to keep it interesting. The bookends fall a little flat for me.
Accomplishes what it sets out to do. Not really daily listening material though.
There were moments I was really with it and moments I wasn’t. The skits are ridiculous and really pull you out. Huge influence for the UK rap scene. Enough good to give it a 4.
Says a lot but really says nothing? Probably the issue our boy Dane has with them.
I’m impressed the recording quality is so high. He really proved his range on this one.
Almost unlistenable. Best part of the whole album was the Black Sabbath sample - always a great sign when your high is someone else’s.
This was a great listen!
Usually these shoegaze groups are a flash in the pan but they had some sustained success leaning more into that punk rock revival early 2000s scene with the Vines/Hives ect.
This album was enjoyable. Nothing incredibly memorable though. Seems like the list should have included their 2000 release instead? The late 90s early 00s albums right before this list was originally released don’t have that same staying power, which makes sense since they didn’t get to marinade as long.
This list does not understand electronic music
Aight it’s actually good
Caught a groove a few times
Sorry to be the guy that drops this from #1 in the group. This album is strong lyrically. The production style contains innovative samples and highlights those strong lyrics and vocals. It gets repetitive on those tracks that are just basslines and beats though. It’s clearly an intentional choice - I just like beats to have more substance.
It was the beginning of the end. This album was so good she and Jack decided they were untouchable.
Krautrock is a top tier genre name though
Had high expectations with the opening disco line but it didn’t come back to that or move anywhere past what it decided to do instead
On Roller Coaster, you’re telling me a pigeon cooed this beat? They didn’t even credit the bird.
I think there are better examples from this era. It wasn’t unlistenable though.
I was down with the first track but the vocal stuff on Leb threw me off. It picked back up though
Trashhhh
I expected this to be a 5 but there was some early parts of this one that missed the mark for me. First time I’ve had one in this list miss expectations for me. Still a good cover to cover listen.
Clearly influential and deserving of this list. I’m at like a 3.5 leaning more to 3.
I’m out of order in my classic rap album listening so I wasn’t aware of the deep connection with the Beastie Boys. This and License to Ill released months apart and the latter took heavy inspiration. Big fan of LTI so this one worked for me too
