More impressive once you realize Gaye produced the album himself, and provided almost all instrument tracks. Hints of classic R&B, disco, funk and soul. Generally, very easy listening. This is sometimes 'disturbed' by erratic saxophone playing, which reflects the emotions and thoughts of the album much more than the lyrics do. Can be a bit monotonous, but no song is the same.
Normally not a fan of falsetto whiny high pitched voices in soul music, but wow do the instrumentals and lyrics compensate. Listened to it twice in a row because I couldn’t get enough, and spent the trainride home reading his biography. Fascinating person who wrote some fascinating music. If some good music with some great societal critique isn’t worth 5 stars, I don’t know what is.
Learned to play bass with this album, honestly great instrumentals but the drums are a constant highlight. Maybe it’s because I knew it note for note already, but there was no wow factor to the songs. That being said, great rock album with a lot of musical variety!
Vocals carry a huge amount of emotion, and the music is wonderfully dynamic. Hits like Cry Baby have definitely earned their legendary status. Trust Me is also a big highlight. Easy listening but great instrumentals as well as vocals. Despite this being a solo album, especially the piano really stood out to me. Great blues rock sound and fits perfectly with the rest of the band. Overall, great, but the sometimes large differences between the consecutive tracks were distracting.
The Model is a banger, but besides that not really my type of music. Honestly fascinating that they did this in the 70s, but overall very repetitive. Gotta love the German accents in the vocals though!
Mixed feeling ‘boot this one. Love the jazz influences, but soft/folk rock guitar and vocal harmonies isn’t my thing. The songs felt identical, both in instrumental style and themes, but the lyrics were well-written. Overall, good if you enjoy the genre in the first place, and I'm sure there are many who can appreciate this more than me. Twisted was freaking funny though hahah.
Honestly what is this even about? What’s the point of promoting your own record label when the people who listen to the music already bought the album? Besides the lack of topics, it was chill but constantly interrupted which made it difficult for me to get in the flow. Love hiphop, but this album wasn’t my thing.
I’m generally not a country fan, maybe because it sounds so underwhelming compared to other music of its time.. It was enjoyable, but after 30 minutes of 1-5 basslines I was ready for something else.
Pretty nice rock album but not super memorable. Enjoyed it though, especially the keys.
Peng LP, would be cool if I understood what he was ramblin’ on about. In all seriousness, cool topics addressed such as slavery, racism in Brazil, and of course football..? Funny combination. Overall, great instruments, and probably socially important.
No comments needed - pretty great album!
Ten seconds in and all I could think was “please make it stop”. That thought remained for the first half of the album. The second half I didn’t listen.
The type of music one writes for oneself, not necessarily to sell records I guess… Not really my thing, pretty bland and predictable.
Less memorable than the first one.
A little bit corny, not sure if i’d listen to this in public.
Masterpiece!
Great individual musicians, but not my style of music. Some tunes felt like it’s just the intro of random pink floyd tunes hahah. I did enjoy some of the more upbeat, less “ethereal”, tracks though! Also, what is the point of doing experimental instrumentals and still playing the four chord song.
Worst of both worlds. Ethereal music is a no-go for me. “Sounds like a frog dying”
Very nice.
Guess they perfected their sound cause all songs sound pretty much the same. Can't complain too much about pop-rock music, but it doesn't sound like anything groundbreaking. Easy listening, might have been revolutionary if it was written 10 years earlier. 3/5.
Sounds exactly like you would expect from the album cover hahah.. Overall easy listening, especially appreciated the soulful ballads!
Finky
The only Swift tune I knew before this album was shake it off. This LP was generic as hell..
Noise
Pretty much in line with expectations… The music was fine but metal lyrics always make me cringe.
Great album!
Actually super enjoyable! Expected something different from the “proto-punk” album but this was a nice surprise.