Some highlights here and there, but mostly not my thing.
An astonishing album. The fact that it was even made amazes me. I'd be surprised if anything like this is ever done again. Added that it's one of the all-time heroes of music, this is a 5-star album.
This was a pivotal album for Bowie's career and was driven mostly by cocaine.
I had never listened to it except by proxy through the excellent "serious moonlight" live album which was a mainstay of my teens.
It's a great listen end to end.
I remember a time when it seemed like every video used "Intro" as its soundtrack, which really put me off listening to the whole album. And then when I did listen to it, the intimate production choices made me feel like I'd walked in on a pair of lovers. I've since got over all that. For me this album very much evokes a particular time. I very much like that the album ends fairly shortly after I get bored of it. "Infinity" should have been a single.
I'm quite familiar with the Cure's more popular material, so this album came as an interesting surprise. This album's release was an important step in the development of the Goth movement, as well as a turning point in the style of the band's music.
If you want to wallow in navel-gazing misery, this album is a great way to do it. In some phases of my life this has been an important activity. I'm not there right now, but will give this another listen next time I need it.
So good I listened to it twice. It's "vintage Bowie" but it's got some super familiar classic tracks interspersed with some decent less known material that holds it all together rather well.
I was expecting a bunch of good songs that I already know. What I got was a bonus punk intro followed by a bunch of good songs that I already know. Will listen again.
I am by no means a Madonna fan but this was a surprisingly pleasant listen. The well-known songs are better than I remember and the others fit well.
There was this time in the 1990s when there were too many bands that all sounded too similar. Oasis seems to have been the one that survived, but let's not forget The Charlatans (and Blur, The Verve, Suede, The Stone Roses, etc...)
There was no OG in this mix, they all bounced stuff off each other, I don't give any of the bands particular credit or blame or whatever. But 90s Britpop definitely had a particular sound.
On to this album. I had never heard any of these songs before (but I remember some of their singles). None of these songs were particularly memorable for me, it evoked the feeling of the time but I was not wowed.
Some might say it's got all their best songs on it.
Some might say it's unmemorable.
I listen to it every few years and agree on both, because to me Oasis is just meh.
The only Beatles album I ever paid for. I'm not a great fan of concept albums generally, but this one is 92% excellent (you get to guess which track I usually skip)
If you're into blues, it's good stuff. I'm not so into blues as I was before we cancelled Eric Clapton, so while I recognize the tremendous raw talent on this album it's not for me.
This is a solid album. The track ordering is wonky, since "Flutes" is my fave song on it and appears just after the middle. Thus in practice I usually don't bother listening to the last 4 tracks. They aren't bad, they're just a disappointment after what went before. 6 out of the first 7 tracks are bangers, you get to figure out which one I like least.
Music nerd fact: "Flutes" is an excellent example of polyrhythm.
I find soundtracks generally aren't good to listen to, so I had low expectations for a soundtrack for a movie that doesn't exist. I was not disappointed. I am vaguely glad I listened, because it was some kind of an experience, and it had some minor highlights here and there.
I can't tell if this album is a cry for help that we collectively ignored, or Amy declaring her stubbornness and refusing any help. Maybe it's both. It should never have been her final album. It's a masterpiece. RIP.
Also, props to Mark Ronson for making this blend of a 1960s and modern feel.
4 stars for "Without You", which is one of the best songs ever and none of the covers can do it justice.
1 stars for the general vibe of the album since it brought joy to my day.
-2 stars for "Coconut" for which I have long had an irrational dislike.
A little D&B never hurt anyone, but a whole album of it may cause adverse reactions in some.
This was OK.
A little bit techno, a little bit D&B. Not my go-to but I enjoyed it enough
Not my genre but I have heard "Freak on a Leash" a few times. Lots of shouty metal and some sweary rap. Good angry people. I am not angry people generally.
Two famous songs plus a lot of elevator music. Boomers love this sh*t.
When this was released, there was no vaccine for measles. 70 years later, measles is fashionable again.
Anyway let's talk about Frank. Amazing voice. Great performance by the band. All around good stuff and I can imagine my parents generation prancing around to it as they unwittingly filled the world with lead and asbestos, nuked Pacific islands in the name of science, etc.
Nice but I probably won't listen again.
Much shouty. Many loud. I run away.
Seriously though. This was too angry for me to listen through in one sitting. I took breaks and it still stressed me out.
Dad rock. Decent but I got bored not long before it ended. I can probably play all the sax parts and that's not a compliment to anyone involved.
Brings back happy memories of my friends at an expensive private Christian school whose idea of rebelling was to play this album pretty much continuously.
That aside, there's some very talented guitar and drum work and of course the massive hit "Run to the Hills" which got a lot of radio airplay back then and still does now, despite the spicy content.
When I get hold of a time machine, I am going to go back to 1968 to watch these performances live. I will also bring Narcan and mess up the timeline.
I'd never heard this before but it's going into my regular rotation for a while. Amazing.
This is, to me, arguably Muse's best work. It came as they were getting much of the mainstream spotlight, but comes before their descent into formulaic rehashes of their earlier sounds.
It's an over-the-top treat for the ears. "Take a Bow" isn't my fave, but everything else is fantastic.
I hadn't heard the album before but know a couple of the songs very well since they were popular on various compilations in the mid '00s. Depending on your mood and needs, this might help you focus or sleep. The chill vibe is not for everyone but I like it.
There is music that I feel I am supposed to like because it influenced bands I like. This is such music.
This seems to have been a cultural phenomenon that I missed because I was doing other things. If I'd heard it and liked it in the 1990s I would probably like rap a whole lot more. I hear echoes of this album in much of the music that's come in the 30+ years since. I enjoyed listening, but it's not my go-to genre.
I don't know why I find Jack White annoying (actually I know some pointless reasons but won't put them here). This was better than I expected, apart from a few places where some of the Jack White tropes came through too strong.
If you can bear Axl Rose's voice for the entire duration, this album rocks. The rest of you should move on.
This is just an old country boy singing folksy songs about his troubled life in Arkansas. No wait - this is Rod Stewart, of "Hot Legs" and "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" fame.
This is not one of his famous works, and I don't think I'd heard any of these songs before. As a snapshot of where he was in his career at the time, it's surprisingly intimate.
The title song is, while almost overplayed, still a favorite of mine. I never heard the rest of the album before. I had no idea that Jealous Guy was originally a Lennon song, having only heard the Roxy Music version.
The rest of the album is mostly decent stuff with some occasional echoes of the Beatles, unsurprisingly.
I use music as the soundtrack to whatever I am doing, rather than sitting down and listening to it deeply (I don't have much time for that)
As a result, I don't listen to Leonard Cohen very much. Doing so feels too much like work.
I made an exception with this album and listened all the way through (while walking the dog, rather than staring at the album artwork). His talent is legendary, the production is lush and I am glad I heard it. Will it more generally become part of the soundtrack to my life? No, I rather hope not.
A whole lot of Bob being his amazing self. Love it.
A few years ago on a plane to Tokyo I got chatting to a lovely Japanese fellow who was keen to practice his English. I learned of his favorite music genre, "City Pop" and promised to listen to some. Since I was on a Japanese airline, it was easy enough to find it on the in flight entertainment system. What I heard for the next few hours was clearly steeped in this album. Aja was made by super talented musicians who influenced decades of music that followed.
Here's the problem: I have an irrational dislike for this stuff. To me it's just elevator music. Sorry, Walter & Donald. It's not you, it's me.
I knew a few of these songs already, but what I didn't know was that the whole album is 100% samples. The haters may say there's no skill or creativity, and those haters are flat out wrong. Looping and cut-up work is a creative act, the haters just don't like the instrument.
This album is a textbook example of how sampling can and should be done.
Good start, meh middle, ok end
From the heyday of Christmas song recording comes this gem. The songs are on point and it's all topped off with a personal message from the manipulator and convicted murderer himself.
Love the art, hate the artist.
Tired of your visiting boomer in-laws? Put this on at high volume to make them leave.
Good skills from all involved but not really my thing
TL;DR: A few songs I recognize, a few hidden gems, a few forgettable ones.
My somewhat irrational dislike of Jack White is well justified here, apart from 2 good songs (the overplayed "Seven Nation Army" and "Hardest Button").
"It's True That We Love One Another" pretty much sums up the fakery that I dislike about the whole thing. But hey, I was entertained and didn't totally hate it.
I am very familiar with this one from my Angry Grunge Fan days.
My opinion really hasn't changed in 30 years. Half the songs are awesome. Half the songs are unlistenable.
Never heard it before. It spans many genres, which will probably annoy some people but I find appealing. Will listen again (but not on constant repeat).
"Original" and "Open Up" are well known to me. I may have listened to the rest of the album a couple of times but not paying much attention. This listen, I had the house to myself and got the opportunity to use the fancy speakers and rattle the windows. Good stuff.
Never heard it before. I tolerated it well up at first, a bit trippy but fine ("Dogfight Giggle" was maybe a bit over the top). Part way through "Zen Archer" I realized I was no longer having a good time, and "Just Another Onionhead" cemented the negativity a little more firmly. At this point I realized I needed to stop taking the album so seriously, and so I powered through the rest of the album without caring.
I do not plan on doing this again any time soon.
Two very famous classic songs and a few that I won't remember.
When this was released I ignored the hype despite "Hello" being constantly blasted from every speaker for what felt like an eternity. So today was my first time listening to the album in full.
If there's this much navel-gazing and wallowing on 25, I hope I'm not around to hear 50. Seriously: Adele, you aren't even a third of the way through your life expectancy. You have so much to live for. Let go. Especially please detach yourself from the enablers that are making you sell this formulaic BS.
If you, dear reader, are caught up in the unreachable past as much as Adele is on this album, you have my sympathies and please MOVE ON AND GET ON WITH LIFE.
I could write at length about what a broken human Fred Durst is. But no, I am here to tell you what I think of this album.
Puerile name. Shallow content. The first half is ragey with cliche lyrics. The second half is less ragey.
The target demographic for this work appears to be 12-year-old boys. I am not that, so I was unimpressed. I'm not sure why a 30-year-old adult would feel the need to make such content, but hey, I am not here to tell you what a broken human Fred Durst is.
For me this album brings back strong nostalgia, a remembering of a specific time long forgotten. So please forgive me.
Let me take you back briefly. The Thatcher government. Late teenage awkwardness, still haven't found love yet. Privilege with mild despair and a broken family; goodness knows we can't possibly talk about that because it's the 1980s and we must tough it out.
Here I am 38 years later with all this flooding back; this album was on continuous repeat for me, for an extended time that may have been as much as a whole year. Since then I am 3x older and have learned a few things about life and about music.
"Shopping" and "Rent" and a few other references are obvious references to the dystopian economic situation we were living through at the time.
Much of the album, especially "Hit Music", reminds me strongly of the work the Art of Noise was doing not long before.
"I Want to Wake Up" could be about the government nightmare (very prescient) until they add "with you" so it could work for your teen crush too.
The fake ending on "Heart" got me. Still.
"King's Cross" - I would like to remind you of the fatal fire at the station that happened just 2 months after the album release. The ominous second verse had teenage-me hatching all sorts of conspiracy thoughts about it of course. In reality the song is about the grim life in that part of London at the time, and the lyrics are a coincidence. Or that's what they want you to think.
All in all, teenage me would of course have rated this 5 stars. It's aged reasonably well. If you weren't there, you probably hate it.
I never heard it before.
A good start, but within 3-4 tracks I got bored. This is the shoegaze way, I suppose.
Then I kept listening and thought it was just OK.
When I got to the end, I was relieved.
Given that this was billed as the hardest rock available at the time, I was surprised how tame it was. Oh how far we have come. Aside from the well known parts this was unmemorable.
I never was all that much into Country, nor Dolly. I know her to be a wholesome person but her music has never been my thing. Having listened through this, it's still true - also her voice kinda annoys me.
Still this was an OK listen.
This was new to me. It's rockabilly with a heavy dose of horror-kitsch. It's an odd blend but it works. But this is from 1980? While everyone else had moved on, they were stuck in 1960 (but with better technology).
Overall I am not into novelty albums, which this seems to be, so I don't think I'll be revisiting it.
I've loved this album for 20 years, which is simultaneously long enough and not long enough.
"Sour Times" brought trip-hop to the masses, and this album cemented it more firmly. It's by no means perfect since it's a little one-dimensional at times, but still a good end-to-end listen.
I enjoyed this more than I expected. The whole thing is quite listenable, it's not my genre but it still feels relatively fresh for an album that's 57 years old.
Hello again, my old friend.
The title song has always been mediocre for me. But then the album just keeps on with more of the same. No thanks.
I know three of these songs and the band name. You know why. The album is oddly captivating in parts, with a loud rock vibe and occasional diversions into country, shouty, and sometimes inability to sing in key. There's definitely grunge in there trying to get out.
While I was happy to hear the album and understand how it influenced what came after, I don't think it's quite my vibe.
This never really was my kind of thing. I appreciate the artistic nature of it. I'd only ever heard the punchline ending of "The Gift", so I was happy to hear the whole thing.
Before hearing this, all I knew of the Allman Brothers was "Rambling Man". Yet here we are with an amazing predominantly-blues performance that blew my socks off.
I dimly remember a friend long ago suggesting I listen to the Allman Brothers, and then I forgot to do it. I have some more listening to do.
Albums like this are exactly why I am signed up on this website.
I knew the two famous songs of course. The rest of the album is decent enough but I probably won't listen to this again.
Interesting crossover of Indian and Western instruments, good for taking us westerners to the edge of our comfort zone. An intriguing listen and I may revisit even though it's not really my thing.
Fantastic first song, much in the vein of Muse's Knights of Cydonia; the rest of the album is decent too. I have revisited this one occasionally over the years.
"Alone Again Or" is one of those amazing defining songs of the era (but well before my time), much in the same vein for me as the Moody Blues "Nights in White Satin" which I just learned was from the same year. The rest of the album with its nonsense and psychedelia, while fun, is a bit of a step down after that.
This is a fine example of a well performed and recorded album. The 2015 remaster results in fabulous audio quality.
As is typical for the era the stereo mix is hard-panned, which is a shock in headphones. All the drums hard-left, most guitars hard-right. Use your good speakers and sit back and enjoy.
