I had only heard "Only happy when it rains" and "Stupid Girl" but couldn't have told you who the artist was, until now!
What an incredible album. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this band. I was pleasantly surprised with all the songs. Only two of them being possible skips “Milk” and “Dog New Tricks.” Even those are still super listenable and in a certain mood I’d probably listen to the full album. Trying to decide what is a 5/5 for me and I think if I would happily get the album on vinyl then it deserves it and I would definitely get this album on vinyl.
Their openings are so good. I wanted to hear more from the jump, from the opening notes I was pulled in and wanted to see where it went. Overall “Stroke of Luck” was my favorite, felt it belonged in a secret agent spy movie like Atomic Blonde. I rank the songs as I listen and it was really hard to kick “Queer” down to the number two slot, just a really fun and interesting beat in that one.
This one sounded way more contemporary then 1995 to me and it has a sort of timeless feel in my eyes. Some moments it reminds me of Eurythmics and others something from a modern rock alternative album. Very Pleasantly surprised by this album.
I would call myself a Bowie fan but many on this album I hadn’t heard. Changes was the only one I had heard. I don’t think I’m gonna make myself many fans with this review. There are some really good songs on this album but many of them feel very much “not Bowie.”
Now let me explain. Some of the simpler songs remind me of Elton John or the Beatles songs like Quicksand which I think might be my least favorite song on the album sounds so much like an Elton John song. Whereas songs like Andy Warhol, which despite the subject of the song being a shitbag is my favorite song on the album. It is so because it starts so strange and continues to be so unabashedly.
As someone who knows David Bowie mostly from after this album, to me David Bowie has always sat in an area where his music both instrumentally and lyrically is dense. There is a lot to dissect and enjoy. In my head his voice shines the most with a full sound behind him. He celebrates oddities and weirdos (or at least he always has in my head) and I love him for that.
This album by contrast feels like a man that is sitting on a dock before a voyage into the unknown. We gets some glimpses to the future adventures (Andy Warhol, Life on Mars, Changes) but a lot of the songs are quieter or at least simpler reflections on his past and the people that shaped him. (Quicksand, Song for Bob Dylan).
At the time I can’t imagine what might have been going through his head but now here in 2025 I want to shout and tell the man that “Keep going! Unmoor yourself from the present and the past.” I would be surprised if this is the last we see of David Bowie on this listen through and I do appreciate the importance of this album for him to become what he became. I just felt myself longing for later Bowie. That’s not this album’s fault but it’s a feeling I can’t shake.
When I first saw the song count, I groaned. I typically don’t like long albums so this had a high bar to reach. After getting into it a lot of the songs are shorter so while still a longer album not as much as the song list might imply.
Before going into this, I knew the song Pinball Wizard. I also vaguely knew that they had made a play about the kid in Pinball Wizard. I didn’t know that the entire album basically is the self contained story of Tommy. Which is all really cool.
However, this album is the first time so far in these listens that I have wanted to stop listening to the album. I dislike this album immensely. The lyrics do nothing for me and no much of it seems like a teenager wrote it and talented musicians performed it.
I really liked the song Pinball Wizard before this and it did give me a brief respite in the middle of the album but ignorance was bliss because I like that song less after a full listen. This album has very few redeeming qualities to me, I do appreciate the concept album style of this but the story feels shallow at best. I fully understand why it is on the list but I never want to listen to these songs again.
I had heard Basket Case and When I Come Around before this listen through. I found it really hard to enjoy the first 3 songs on the album. Green Day has their sound and those three tracks sit in the same place for me. When we got to Longview I appreciated the difference in vibe at the very least in the beginning of the song. From then on the album begins to shine a bit brighter, though there are some forgettable tracks that come up after. I had to go relisten to Sassafras Roots because I had forgotten if I had listened to it.
I had come to Green Day during American Idiot and though they were never a mainstay in my musical tastes they were always on the periphery. This album in my mind exemplifies why. They are clearly competent in their music but they are some songs that are just kinda in here to be in here. The songs that feel like they are just here to be here are well produced noise. Even if it’s well produced noise I enjoy, its hard for this album to be a full 5/5 based on the fact that for me this album is destined to be dissected for a playlist, taking the bangers and leaving the mash.
After the last few albums though I will say I really appreciate the brevity of these songs. They know what they are and they know when that magic wears off. They never overstay their welcome and I really appreciate that in a post Tommy listen through. Basket Case, Welcome to Paradise, and Longview are my top favorites while All By Myself makes it way to the very bottom.
Highlights (Tenement Funster, Misfire, Killer Queen, Stone Cold Crazy)
Lowlights (Brighton Rock, In the Lap of the Gods 1&2, She Makes Me)
I would Call myself a Queen fan but like a basic white boy fan. I know their stuff that played on the radio, their hits. So when I looked at this album and only saw Killer Queen that I recognized I didn’t know whether to be worried or excited.
And let me tell you the first song on this album made me worried. Brighton Rock was by far my least favorite song on the album. It starts with a weird carnie soundboard and when the vocals kick in I can tell it’s Queen. A lot of the sounds of Queen hits are in this track…just mashed together in a discordant soup.
I immediately became defensive. Is this Queen’s Hunky Dory? Meaning is this an album from performers I like that misses the mark for me. Is it the humble beginnings of their greatness?
We then go right into Killer Queen. Banger end of story. I’m still defensive because Killer Queen could be the Changes song from Hunky Dory. The only song to make it off a otherwise unimpressive album.
Then my worries were sated at least for now. Tenement Funster plays and I immediately love it. Great guitar twang and doing some research after the fact says that Roger Taylor (the drummer) sang the song. I loved his voice.
For the next two songs I’m pleased Flick of the Wrist is a song I enjoyed enough. Wouldn’t seek it out but would dance if its on and Lily of the Valley is a weird song but didn’t overstay its welcome and Freddie’s voice made me like it more than I normally would.
Now I’m Here starts strong but overstays its welcome. Probably wouldn’t seek this song out but wouldn’t skip it necessarily.
Now at this point, I’m wondering is this gonna be my first 4. So far only 1 skip, Brighton Rock, can Queen bring it home for me?
Then In the Lap of the Gods begins to play and Queen decides to put a vocal effect on Freddy’s voice and then the song never gets better. Second skip.
That’s okay because we are right back into a banger with Stone Cold Crazy some great guitar riffs, albeit a bit simple, and fun drum fills. It makes its way to amongst the cream of the crop with Funster and Killer Queen.
Then Dear Friends plays. This song does nothing for me and doesn’t go for very long but is a skip overall.
But again that’s okay because we find ourselves at my 2nd favorite song on the album Misfire. Fun, short, sweet. Loved it.
Leroy Brown is an odd one but again not a skip. Has an odd showtoon-esque vibe but it…works. Wouldn’t seek it out but would listen to it if it came on.
Now is where tragedy strikes. At this point I was still ready to give this album a 4. Only a handful of skips and some certified bangers. However, She Makes Me plays and this song sucks. It firmly unseats Brighton Rock at the bottom and then some. This song I suppose marches along based on the alternate title (Stormtroopers in Stilettos) but goes no where that I want to be.
And then they get a second shot at In the Lap of the Gods and….its fine. Still a skip but certainly a better song than its predecessor.
So where does that Leave Hunky Dory… I mean Shear Heart Attack. This was tough because I have my scale know where it lands but I really really like the 4 songs (Tenement Funster, Misfire, Killer Queen, and Stone Cold Crazy) and many others that are supremely competent songs that just don’t vibe with me today. Songs I would certainly listen to if the mood arises but wouldn’t seek out. I thought about breaking the rules for Queen but I am certain this is not the last we have heard of Queen and I’m sure they will come back and earn their 4 or even 5 later.
Starting this album I didn’t know that they sang Shout but I was aware they sang Everybody Wants to Rule the World. I also didn’t know what Head Over Heels was but when I listened to it I had definitely heard before. My Highlights are Shout and Everybody Wants to Rule the World (of course) and then Broken and Head over Heels. My lowlight is I Believe.
To give some insight that I think is important for this review. I grew up in a household where my parents were always playing 80s music and so this sound is very nostalgic to me. It truly does feel like coming home and I felt myself dancing in my chair multiple times and singing along more times than I could count.
To start, Shout. Its an all time great, a song that inspired thousands of covers (probably exaggerating) and I’ve listened to covers of this song in at least half a dozen different genres. It’s great and…long. Now in these reviews I have ragged on long songs but spoiler for the rest of the review only one song started to overstay its welcome but I would listen to them all. I want to add a new award for myself to give out. The Golden Track. My favorite song so far and Shout takes it. It’s so good and his voice melts into the music. It’s so good, I want to use words like euphoric but I feel like it will be overselling it.
The Working Hour is next and its…good. I would even say I like it but it’s not Shout and I was just recently reminded how good that song is. BUT it has a saxophone and I’m a sucker for saxophone. The soundscape of this song is like a 10/10 for me but the vocals don’t land for me despite sounding good. Overall, I really liked it and would listen again if the mood called for it.
Everybody wants to Rule the World is nearly as good as shout. It brings back memories of watching Breakfast Club and I can’t untangle it from that nostalgia and I don't want to. It does what I now realize all good Tears to Fears songs do, marry a beautiful and interesting soundscape with fantastic vocals.
Mother’s Talk is an interesting song that starts in a very interesting place. It has a beat that I couldn’t help dancing to with the driving percussions and synth beats.
I Believe is the low point of the album for me but it isn’t that low. It does overstay its welcome but I really liked the sound of the instrumentals in this song. Subdued but it feels like this song has a purpose and I wouldn’t skip this song immediately but I wouldn’t seek it out.
Broken is a triumph. The shortest song on the album comes in and smashes you wish a great drum section to start and then the guitars come in and I’m vibing already. They keep adding more instruments and I don’t care that there aren’t vocals until the end because I’m somewhere else when this song is playing. It’s so good and I wish I had more words to describe how much I loved this song.
Then comes Head Over Heels, which after the vocals came in I realized I had heard this song before. This is really really close behind Broken and honestly I think they work wonderfully as a back to back duo. That piano at the beginning just builds and builds until the guitar comes to sing along beside it. Then the drums bring us to the full sound. I sang along and then when we got to the Broken Reprisal at the end I fist bumped to myself. What a wonderful back to back set of bangers.
Listen is an odd song but that starts with odd almost unsettling music and operatic moments. Again its weird but I don’t mind because I’m along the ride for this song. I want to see what they do next. Odd percussion sounds like stomps or even muffled gunshots. I have no idea what the lyrics are about. I think if I had to guess its about moving on from struggles and traumas but that is really pushing it. I wouldn’t skip this song but I do think this song is most interesting when listening quietly with your headphones on.
Overall this album surprised me. I assumed Tears for Fears were a two hit wonder. But I absolutely loved this album. It makes me want to learn more about music overall so I can explain why it tickles my brain so much. I put the album on again as I wrote this and I enjoyed it more the second time. I don’t know what they did before or after this but I am floored by this selection of songs. All said and done I give it 5 out of 5 Tears.
What an odd album. At first I didn’t know what to make of the songs. It seems to be music that’s begging to not be the center of your attention, it doesn’t want to be the main course but rather the garnish. It doesn’t demand my attention and so my attention begins to wander. As I continued to listen to it, I fought that inclination because it’s so against what I’ve been doing for these listen throughs. I want to give it a fair shake. Because of that I felt myself really struggling to connect with the music, but at Turquoise Hexagon Sun I let my mind wander and instead of taking my notes about what I liked and didn’t like I started thinking about where the music was showing me. Then it clicked, this music is not the destination but the doorway. It wants my imagination to be pulled through to somewhere new and then my enjoyment of it skyrocketed. This would be a great ambience soundtrack to a neo noir detective game. As a matter of fact, listening to these tracks really reminded me of the Citizen Sleeper games which are criminally underrated and tell some of the best stories I have experienced in gaming in a long time.
The music is dark and edgy like the world it pulls you into, but there are beautiful moments in their. Happy conversations take place over slight clanking noises in Hexagon Sun (I took it as a ramen place, maybe I’m just hungry). We get weird snippets in Aquarius that nearly feel like I’m slipping into delusions, finding odd moments important in otherwise normalcy. Again that feeling of paranoia pervades this albums sound, it makes me uneasy but never enough where I run away just enough to pique my interests.
This album, to me, was a powerful reminder that music is not always meant to be blaring from speakers in an arena. These odd weird tracks that sit on the edges of your imagination are just as important but they often go unnoticed and that’s by design. These aren’t meant to be the whole experience, hell not even the majority of your experience, your imagination is the main course to these experiential tracks, the music is merely the garnish. I ended very much enjoying my time after my perspective shift and might even put this on if I’m ever running a sci-fi TTRPG.
It’s music that is only a shadow and it demands you make the shape it casts. If you bring nothing to the album you will find nothing inside but if you dare to let your mind wander to scary and wonderful places you’ll find something here and I did. 4 out of 5 bored Canadians.
This one is the hardest album for me to articulate my feelings on. Apple Music lists this as Jazz ( think because Sabu Martinez went on to make several Latin Jazz albums) but research says its cuban rumba. Its a type of music I have heard only by name. It certainly tickles a part of the brain, fervent conga percussion beats create a frantic energy with the vocals being in a language I, sadly, don’t understand bring me into a whole new world.
I’ve listened to songs in other languages before, primarily some Mongolian Rock and some French Pop. Usually the beat is what brings me into those songs and the vocals become just another instrument. It’s usually after the fact I want to go look up the translated lyrics and this was no different. A lot of call and response makes this feel like a very communal album and the music makes me want to understand that community more.
Simba was one that in particular I wanted to find the meaning in as the crying vocals were something that really stuck out in song. Rhapsodia Del Maravilloso is probably my next favorite on the album as the start just transports me to a beautiful beach and has such a vibe.
I really have a hard time placing this on my rating, none of the songs really stick out to me for a relisten. It doesn’t fall as low as Tommy and certainly doesn’t get as high as Garbage or Tears for Fears. All of these songs are listenable and inoffensive to my ears but something tells me this will be the last time I listen to Sabu, no matter how good it is. All that being said, this listen is about how much I enjoy listening to the music. I can, however, appreciate how important this album is for multiple communities and genres and do understand why it should be on this list. 3 Calls out of 5 Responses.
Highlights: If I Should Fall From Grace with God, Fairytale of New York, Fiesta, Streets of Sorrow/ Birmingham Six
Lowlights: Metropolis, The Battle March Medley, Shanne Bradley
Traditional Celtic folk music meets punk. I had heard If I Should Fall from Grace with God before but didn’t know who sang it (I think maybe Mariya had shown it to me before). The Singers unconventional voice really adds something to this, especially in the opening to Fairytale of New York. In the opening of that song there was moments where his voice grated without the backing instruments but it added something to it. Made it feel like a slice of life, made it feel more real I guess. The tracks without his vocals are musically proficient but they seem to be missing something for me which largely is why Metropolis fails to move the needle for me (is that a 007 theme play in the middle of the song??).
The occasional screams and yells that he does are so visceral and enjoyable to listen to for me. Though those seemed to happen more in the first half of the album.
The slower songs surprised me and quickly rose to the top of my list but honestly most of this album bangs. It's a longer album with a longer track list and I never got bored besides a little in the tracks with no vocals. Which aren’t bad, they just aren’t good enough to keep me interested
The tracks where they mix all the instruments with his quick plucky voice are the heart of this album and are what make the quieter moments shine in my opinion.
All in all this album has too many instrumental songs to hit a perfect score but it was really close and I really enjoyed this album. 4 out of 5 Rock and Rolls to Dublin
Highlights: That Lady, Listen to the Music
Lowlights: Sunshine, Highways of My Life
Really fun and funky music, the music tends to devolve into music jam soup in the tail end of songs (minus the covers) but its soup that I really really enjoy.
The basslines are really interesting which leads to that funk feeling and keeps me invested in the beat even with simpler moments.
The biggest issue I had with the album is that I wish there was less covers.
3 out of 5 Isley Brothers.
A rough early section of this album gives way to some heat. The first two songs are by far the worst on the album. Power of Equality's chorus sounds like I asked my niece to come up with some rudimentary rhyme schemes and well...it was very simple. Though the instrumentation in that song is good. Much the same in If You Have to Ask, which they must have asked the lead singer to perform his parts extremely hungerover and sleep drived. Both of the first two tracks I believe would have been bangers without the vocals but in their current stages they are a skip. However, we get a list of songs I at least tolerated or loved after. Highs are Funky Monks which has a funky vibe to go with its namesake. Under the Bridge is probably the catchiest song on the album barring Give it Away Now and Suck My Kiss which are both great but Under the Bridge is a song I couldn't help but sing along to. You kick the first to songs off this album and you have a perfect album but in this state its still a very high 4 out of 5 chili peppers
I loved this album. My mom growing up would listen to and sing this era of music all the time and my sister loved musicals and music from this era. Dusty is not the original singer on more than a few of these songs but she has the perfect voice to sing them. Particular standouts are You Don't Own Me which is a classic (not originally sung by Dusty) that she nailed the high notes and frustrated tone that the song really requires to be conveyed. Mockingbird (again covered by Dusty) is a nostalgic favorite of mine, on long road trips when this would come on my mom would sing the main part and my sister and I would sing the response part. This type of music really does have a particular vibe to it that I cannot place but adore. Dusty is a singer I had never heard of before but she definitely had tremendous talent. I'm going to dock this some points (just like I did the Isley Brothers) for the covers but at the end of the day it's an album I would listen to again in a heartbeat. 4 out of 5 long trips down memory lane.
Sounds like music I would hear on the old Tony Hawk games. I like the vibe of the music but often the vocals don't work for me. No of this music is offensive, I listened to it all the way through with no skips but it feels kinda flavorless. I don't find myself really remembering the songs and wanting to relisten to any of them.
