As a dubious but still only intermediate listener of progressive rock/metal, this came as a pleasen surprise. A "never listened to before" although heard mentions.
For my taste, prog should have some certain elements of rawness, to not get too pretentious. This album certainly has that rawness. On top of thelat the splendid mix of different genres. Some jazz, punk, core, heavy riffs, complicated bridges.
This album will go into my Discogs wishlist.
Never really got into Van Morrison before. I’ve listened to some Stones now and then, and I can kind of see the comparison. But the differences stand out, this record clearly leans toward soul and jazz, while the Stones are grounded in blues grit.
“Moondance” was a standout, along with a few other swinging tracks that caught my ear. The rest, though, drifted into pleasant background noise — I listened to it twice, but it didn’t demand my attention.
It’s the kind of album I’d want playing if I were a chef on a cruise ship, weeks in the same galley, steady rhythm of work, something smooth to groove to while no one complains. Now I'm not a chef in on a fleet, so likely not gonna listened much to Van Morrison again.
Comforting, timeless, and just detached enough to keep you sane.
Refreshing with some New Wave. Not my cup of team, but i suspect them to be some sort of pioneer for the whole movement.
I truly enjoyed the listen. The Rolling Stoned cover was lit!
“Off the Wall” was MJ’s first collab with Quincy Jones, you can really hear that magic, diverging from Jackson Five sound. This has more artistic freedom, much more grownup. Tight grooves, lush arrangements, and that mix of funk, soul, and disco that just flows. Every track feels alive. Easily one of the smoothest, most danceable albums ever.
Can't help thinking of who MJ ended eventually up to be. Too bad.
Well writen songs, a band that plays really well together, catchy tunes.. good rock n'roll, track after track.
I dig Bruce, I dig the E Street. I think i started to dig the big stadium filling movement... but shhhh, dont tell anyone, they might think I'm a boomer.
Cool album cover.
High energy, my daughter of 10 months certainly liked it.
Perhaps abit repetitive.
I can only imagine this pioneering electronic record must have received mixed reactions when it first came out. Both newcomers and longtime OMD fans probably didn’t know quite what to make of it. First-time listeners might’ve wondered, “What is this new electronic sound—and what are they even playing?”* while seasoned fans could’ve been startled by that opening guitar riff, thinking, “Get that guitar out of my face!”
I’ll admit I’ve only listened to OMD a few times before. I'm more familiar with Talk Talk and Depeche Mode,but OMD were clearly there first, right? When I listen to electronic music, I like it dark and immersive, and *Architecture & Morality* absolutely delivers. It’s steeped in religious searching, dystopian atmospheres, and beautifully melancholy choruses.
I really enjoyed the experience and will definitely explore more of their catalog. Some tracks did feel like filler, which makes the album’s one-hour runtime a bit stretche, but overall, it’s an evocative and forward-thinking piece of early electronic art.
I couldn’t help drawing parallels while listening to Truth and Soul. Fishbone’s intensity and unpredictability stirred the same feeling I get from Frank Zappa’s best work, that sense of organized chaos where every note has purpose even when it sounds like it shouldn’t. The difference lies in the roots. Fishbone builds from ska and funk, where rhythm is rebellion and joy is the weapon. Zappa’s world grows out of jazz and blues, translating rebellion into composition and satire into precision.
As a record, Truth and Soul carries moments of brilliance, with complex horn layers, grooves that twist without breaking, and lyrics that turn political and playful at once. Yet, when placed next to Zappa, the scale of vision shifts. Fishbone took rebellion and made it danceable. Zappa took rebellion and made it symphonic. And while Fishbone’s approach hits the body, Zappa’s reaches deeper into the structure of the music itself. Still, the comparison isn’t about hierarchy but curiosity, tracing how two different languages can express the same restless and creative defiance.
One of my absolute jazz favourites. A few of the album tracks somewhere in my Spotify Wrapped 100. Mostly because they are available on my offline playlist. Perfect flight music, calms me down, and never get tired of the songs.
Also, often an album I recommend for those who like to listen more to jazz. Approachable.
Not Bowies best album, although I appreciate the soul approach.
Fascination and Fame are absolut great tracks, otherwise the rest does not really awake any groove in me.
Tried to look for the "underrated" and "forgotten" good, couldn't really find it.
The bland of RnR, blues, folk, and even country to some extent. The mix of styled makes this record a joy to listened from the start to end.
I will easily give all Zeppelin number albums a five. No question about it. Each album finds it way to my ears now and then, always picking the one Im in the mood for.
What I'm in particular listen to in this album is Jones blossom from the bassist in the back to a multi instrumentalist of delicacy. The star of this album, if you ask me.
This album feel lived-in and true. Makes my body move, and my mind to listen consciously. The conscience took me on a expand Wikipedia journey to read more of Marcus Garvey, which I felt enlightening.
My earlier reggae listening have consisted of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Peps Persson. Burning Spear will certainly be added that limited, but my preferred reggae.
Amazing voice! And i really enjoyed listening to Ella, for a while.
Unfortunately not really the type of jazz that I endure to listening for an extensive time. Certainly not for +3h.
A plus for the album cover art work.
What a positive surprise. The Jam has never really been on my radar, yet this record pulled me in right away.
There’s something fascinating in how the songs are built. Each track carries a small tension, like there’s always something simmering under the surface.
The bass lines feel almost like the main character. Everything else , vocals, sharp drum fills, the guitar’s nervous jangle, plays in support, and the result is a sound that feels surprisingly full and complete.
A tight, restless album in all its right.
This album hits with a surprising consistency for something that runs well over two hours. It moves with a confidence that makes it hard to find a real low point, almost as if the duo couldn’t help but deliver quality no matter how wide they stretched the concept.
The split structure gives the whole thing its character. Two different visions, two different moods, but somehow still a unified statement. One side sharp and grounded, the other drifting into its own world, yet both pushing the boundaries of what hip-hop could be at the time.
The production can feel a bit overbuilt in places, almost like it’s overflowing with ideas, but that’s also part of the charm. It’s ambitious in a way very few mainstream records dared to be. And the big tracks land exactly the way they should. Those huge, era-defining moments pop up almost casually in the middle of the tracklist.
It might not be the OutKast album I’d personally place at the very top, but it’s undeniably impressive. Long, bold, inventive, and almost stubbornly free of weak spots. A record that still earns its reputation.
Influences of Stevie Wonder, make it little more country pop, overproduce, and you have a result of something utterly boring.
All I Wann Do Is have some fun, and this was not it.
Interesting, exciting, and well composed.
Not my favourite King Crimson album, but I can see why this works the best for many.
Throughout my listening of this recording I was often surprised by how good it was. The cover, with Stephen Stills sitting outside next to a garden gnome, is honestly terrible, but his songs landed well. I have always liked the CSNY catalogue, and that same blend of well placed acoustics and layered vocals builds a rich soundscape here too. It is not as multidimensional as CSNY, yet you can clearly hear how Stills is the mind behind much of that creative direction.
The first track, though, is rough. Has anyone ever managed to write a genuinely good song that uses eagles as a metaphor. It is such a pretentious shortcut for the idea of freedom. Eagles, America, heroic symbolism, all that. Instead of lifting the music, it disconnects me as a listener.
I could give five stars for Layne Staley’s vocals alone. His voice and his writing sit on their own level. The deepness, darkness and suffering he can carry in a single line is what makes the whole Alice in Chains sound feel complete.
Other grunge acts like Nirvana and Soundgarden have never reached me in the same way, but Alice in Chains has always stood higher. It is probably the musical complexity, the heavier tone and once again Staley’s voice and how naturally it locks in with Cantrell’s guitar. There is a blues quality in that blend that feels both raw and deliberate.
My previous review was on Stephen Stills and that led me back to CSNY. I cannot help comparing their vocal tonation to Alice in Chains. Both rely on layered harmonies that melt into the instrumental backdrop. CSNY let their harmonies drift upward, open and bright, while Alice in Chains turned the same idea into something tense and shadowed. That is exactly what I enjoy: the claustrophobic, darker version of it.
Alice in Chains carries a blues core not in the classic twelve bar sense, but in the emotional pull of how Staley and Cantrell shape their lines. The harmonies may be tight and grunge heavy, yet the phrasing is pure blues, with bends that never resolve cleanly and minor thirds stretched into something aching. The voice and guitar move like two troubled storytellers answering each other, turning the blues inward and darker. Where CSNY used harmonies to lift everything open, Alice in Chains pulled the idea downward into something weighty and human, with the blues sitting right at the centre of that heaviness.
I liked it. The duo created a well-crafted and genuinely high-quality record. The sound is balanced all the way through, and there is a calm confidence in how the music unfolds.
At the same time, it felt a bit held back, as if they settled into a safe space instead of reaching for the full potential you can sense underneath. Still a good listen, just not as bold as it could have been.
In terms of musical competition, this is probably the strongest Nick Cave album I have heard. His discography is huge and I have not explored all of it, but this one stands out.
In the early spring of 2020, during that strange pocket of hope in the middle of the pandemic, I visited the Nick Cave Experience in Copenhagen. It was an excellent exhibition and the first time I truly had the chance to dwell on Cave as both an artist and a person. The airplane puke bags filled with lyrics, the reconstruction of his Berlin apartment lined with the books that shaped him, and the sheer scope of his creative output showed how many layers there are to his work. Most of all, the amount of writing was overwhelming in the best way.
Listening to Abattoir Blues and The Lyre of Orpheus with all of that in mind, it suddenly made perfect sense. The lyrical weight, the way the songs are constructed, the tension and release within the band’s dynamics all feel like the work of someone who has lived inside language and sound for decades. The album becomes a place where that dedication comes together.
For anyone who still does not fully grasp Nick Cave, my usual recommendation remains. See him live. With The Bad Seeds or solo, the setting does not matter. The live experience has a way of pulling even the most skeptical listener into his world. This album carries some of that same power, dramatic, literate, and fully alive.
Mjeeh, neither, sheiyyyyöy, this sounds like Ring of Fire, mjööh njääh, holiday is actually quite a decent song with a great riff, bläää, "last song +8 minutes, cool"
I think I finally understand Kendrick Lamar and why so many critics place him at the top of modern hip hop. The flow, the speed, the quirks in his delivery, and the sheer vocal dynamism make his music constantly engaging. My taste within Afro-rooted music leans more toward blues, jazz, funk, and soul, while hip hop has always been harder for me to connect with. I keep trying, but I rarely find acts that stay with me. Kendrick Lamar is one of the exceptions. Much of that comes from the echoes of those other genres I can hear throughout the record.
The themes feel honest and unapologetic. The album moves from political reflection to personal darkness and back into different emotional rooms with a natural confidence. There is a bold unpredictability in how the songs unfold, shifting in tone, structure, and even genre in a way that occasionally feels almost avant-garde. It kept me curious throughout, always wanting to know where the next track would take me.
Sometimes it's just about the timing of a record, that eventually impacts the review.
Perfect Monday morning music, thank you!
Sorry, I have difficulties to endure Morrissey. As untrustworthy he seems to be as a person, as untrustworthy I see his music. Disconnected emotions in his performance although great voice, and lyrics that occasionally can be anarchist it blends in with religious dedication.
Only plus I can find is the backing band which sounds great.
Bossa Nova is a genre that has been negatively impacted by all the background music played in cafes. BGM that often is mainstream hit songs remade into bossa nova covers, probably because it's suitable for the mood and it's royalty free.
Astrud Gilberto is great don't get me wrong. I don't think I know any voice that is as calming as hers, and I enjoy listen to her front time to time. Great backing band too.
But gotdamn all the Coldplay and Taylor Swift songs, I already dislike, remade into bossa nova covers. Thanks Starbucks etc, your coffee sucks too.
Just the type of music I was hoping to come across in this challenge. It was an interesting and enjoyable listen, even if it is not a genre I naturally prefer. One thing I value in this challenge is how it occasionally highlights pioneering artists and sounds I might not have explored on my own. It leaves me a bit more educated, a bit more musically enlightened, and it reassures me that, even as I approach my forties, I am still not turning into a grumpy reviewer.
