It’s all been said before, but my main praise is the scope: it’s thought-provoking, tender, brutal, hilarious, heartbreaking and more, all before you even flip to side two. I’ve been listening to this for 30 years now and it keeps on giving. A very early high watermark.
Lol, quality album for the very first generated by this website. Bought CD on release. My vinyl is the MBV Records 2018 pressing. I know there’s a lot of debate about best versions etc. All I know is mine sounds great and the packaging is gorgeous. I don’t know how the rating happens but the score for this will be high. My opinion on this has improved over the years. My expectations were sky high on release and it took a long time to accept that they had delivered on their promise in spades. Maybe I was lamenting the loss of their earlier ability to harness and successfully exploit their more unhinged tendencies (think Thorn, Feed Me With Your Kiss, Drive It All Over Me) What took a while was for me to step out of context and hear it as the huge step forward it was. Once I got there I heard it as the masterpiece of specialisation it was. The scope in terms of variety is reduced from before but the dividends in melody and a feeling of “inhabiting sound” is more than an acceptable payoff.
I’m sure, like Fleetwood Mac, it’s not cool to prefer 80s ZZ over 70s but while this is quality straight up, honest, no—frills, blues-based rock goodness, I often find myself wishing for some of the polish they would add later on. If it’s gonna be this stripped back, I want it as raw as possible, so I’ll go back further I think. I’ve deffo got Rio Grande Mud but maybe I need to score the 1st album for the real grit. Still it’s impressive for as far back as ‘73. They even leave some breadcrumbs for AC/DC here and there. Glad the Dr Hook harmonies were restricted to that one track at the end of side one. 3.5 stars really. It’s a big ask not to like the Top.
The joys of my eclectic tastes have me listening to this right after some brutal death metal. Practiced over many years though, my ears can handle these sorts of tectonic shifts. International success of Bossa Nova may have been temporary but, out of context, this album, a major factor in that success, just sounds timeless. I may not understand Portuguese, but to my ears, the language is actually melancholia. The beautiful vocals of both João and Astrud are ably matched by Stan’s sax as the melodic salve that belies the apparent sadness at the heart of the songs. Not even the crackles of my ancient beat up copy can stop the beauty of these recordings from enduring, 60 years on.
I was introduced to ambient music in the 90s when the new wave of electronic wizards would cite this album, and others like it, as influences on their work. That was a catalyst for me to investigate Eno’s catalogue. I am in awe of Eno’s approach and innovations. Reading his notes describing the experiments which lead to some of his 70s albums reveal some inspirational critical thinking. It also reveals how many of his complex approaches could now be achieved with just a few basic settings being selected in any music making software. Something tells me the results would be rather sterile compared to what Eno achieved with his more arcane and primitive technology. He achieved better than this, but this is still a solid touchstone of the genre. Probably more of a 3.5 stars but I’m happy pick 4 tater than 3.
It’s all been said before, but my main praise is the scope: it’s thought-provoking, tender, brutal, hilarious, heartbreaking and more, all before you even flip to side two. I’ve been listening to this for 30 years now and it keeps on giving. A very early high watermark.
35 years on, It’s saying something that this is even listenable at all, never mind standing tall as a landmark of hip-hop and of music in general. 3FH&R is essentially an episode of Sesame Street to a funky beat but it’s the top notch flows, esoteric sample choices, and CHOONS which are the solid foundations to its longevity.
The startling ambition on this debut full length is almost totally realised. I suspect CD listeners might find it a touch intimidating, but in more palatable chunks over 4 sides of vinyl, the album feels strong throughout. What might be seen as a drop off towards the end, to me sounds like a natural, calming conclusion to a whirlwind story that I will one day understand. Impressive variety from one of this generation’s genuinely important artists.
While everyone knows it as their breakthrough success due to the title track, that the album as a whole is far more of a transitional work, is often overlooked. Once the side-long full-length version of the international hit single is done, there’s little other evidence of the driving proto-electronica on show. Side two remains largely in the wheelhouse of their previous albums; more acoustic-based melodic experimentalism. This duality actually works quite successfully. It is a rather beautiful album through-and-through, but may surprise/disappoint a listener simply expecting more motorway based vibes. Personally I return more often to this for side 2, opting for their later albums when I’m in need of the beats.