This is the album you would get if you picked up a 1980s casio electric piano and wrote an entire album around its preset grooves and patches. Not a huge fan of the excessive hall verb, nor the synth patches that, by today's standards, sound cliche and predictable.
With songwriting reminiscent of Michael Jackson, but lacking the expressive and polished performance that MJ perfected, you're left with the shadow of a very familiar and popular sound that I think most music lovers know to some degree, but feels lackluster in some way. I stop short of calling this 'temu MJ'.
Ironic that probably the best song on the album is a cover song of Smokey Robinson's 'Who's loving you'.
That being said, it seems in its cultural context this album did very well. Sounds to me like a bridge between the earlier sound of the 70s to the 90s. I imagine at the time its sound would be more unique and remarkable compared to today's standards.
Highlights 'Dance little sister' 'Lets go forward'. Low lights 'If you all go to heaven' 'Rain'.
Not my kind of style. But a good cultural artifact- my dad would probably love it.
First off, 'Overture' is fucking rad- what a journey- what an open. Sounds like the sgt peppers of rock and roll. Man, the recording and sound of those horns are so satisfying- analogue, mellow and colorful, so pleasing.
Variation of sonic elements and creativity of these songs is excellent. The pacing and variety of this album laughs in the face of cookie cutter, replicable song formulae. This is a Rock and Roll symphony. From one movement to another, taking to you to different sonic planes, a 3 minute radio song to a ten minute psychedelic cruise on an analogue ocean. This shit got me writing like a pitchfork critic vying for his daily bread.
The songwriting on this record is pleasantly varied, flows organically and ebbs/flows in a way that stirs emotion. The expression feels organic and authentic. Many of the elements used are exceptionally creative, I'm listening to the fantastically strange staccato backing vocs on 'Christmas' as I write this.
Bring back this sound man! I need more eight track tape records in 2025. The soft colour of everything is perfection. Old school meet new school. Fuck digital bro. Really enjoying how warm and dark certain elements of the mix are. The god damn analogue saturation. OOF.
The overall analogue tape colour of the production is extremely enjoyable. The hard panning of elements is intriguing, reminiscent of George Martins mixing with the Beatles. Mf is hard panning the entire drum set to the left channel. Wild. Cant get phase issues if the entire kick is only on one side - right?
Conceptually, love the idea of a rock opera. Been listening to the music mostly this pass through- but would love to follow the narrative on a second listen. Sucker for a concept album. Particularly narrative surrounding more esoteric spiritual type shit, Gurus, Woodstock, Hippies, Rock and Roll, exemplifies the 60s-70s.
I will be listening to this many more times.
I enjoyed this one. I liked the upbeat sound, fairly high energy whilst talking about serious themes at times. Nice contrast.
The horn elements within the punk sound is a nice touch, something that continued to develop in the modern post punk world. I'm not super in love with Ska music but can appreciate its fun and goofy feel- so the songs that dabbled in Ska I could enjoy but probably wouldn't revisit.
The messiness of the vocal performance was enjoyable, the staccato shouts, strained, raw, sometimes shouted lyrics added an element of freedom and authenticity to the sound. Despite this messiness, the overall band is cohesive and tight, with elements of the composition being allowed to let loose and become messy at times, like the keys in 'The right profile'.
I'm sure these songs were a riot live.
The mix on 'the card cheat' is super interesting. Huge amount of resonance and washy verbs- don't think I've heard anything like it before. Brings a grandiose, cathedral feel to an otherwise fairly stock standard song by this albums standards. Both grungy and pretty.
The production is well done. I'm used to hearing this kind of sound with subpar and cheap production/mixes (adding to the charm, I'm not snobbish) but its nice to hear it with a nice, full, well balanced and polished mix. The mix feels dark, warm, giving off a laid back and carefree feel to the sound- but with enough high end to still drive energy and groove.
I dig this era of British Punk, it had a decent amount of influence in the NZ music scene. The songs can end up sounding fairly samey to me over time, but this record had enough variation to keep things interesting.
Clearly one of the foundational texts of hip hop.
The rap style, flow, beat construction and sample selection set the tone for the hip hop of today. It was the genesis of many individual careers and turned out arguably some the best producers, MCs and mix engineers in the business- went onto inspire an entire west coast movement and had a hand in influencing the hip hop landscape we see currently. Without this album we would be seeing a very different world both socio-politically and musically.
That withstanding, I don't love this album. For me the strongest thing about the record is the MCs conviction and ingenuity. It set a musical standard and foundation for hip hop, which in its context was a phenom. And that template has been built on again and again- to the point of cliche.
Props to this record for its impact and influence, but I find the rhyme schemes, flow and sample selection predictable. Subject matter is dated and out of pocket (Bravado was the point, but the misogyny I can live without), similarly with the production. The songwriting feels formulaic and repetitive. Hearing the same TR-808 on every track eventually gets boring. And the simple formula of funk/jazz guitar sample, with intermittent horn stabs and record scratches gets old after a while.
That being said, these were hits at the time- and still are. 2-3 songs that still deserve to be in my rotation. Culturally this record gave a lot, and still continues to influence hip hop to this day. It deserves its flowers- but its not something I'd go back and listen to for enjoyment. MCs today stand on the shoulders of these giants and that shouldn't be understated. We give thanks to the old and grow into the new.
3.5
I really dig this album.
Imagine if the 80s had a sound that wasn't cheesy.
Some of the sounds and songwriting could be viewed as old but I don't care I love it.
The mix is like a warm wash, but sparkly. The vocals are beautiful.
Like imagine if you took the sounds from the 80s and early 90s that were actually good sounding and forged them into an album. This would be it.
I'm embarrassed I thought these guys were french- they're scottish lmao.
I actually really love this album. Such a great dreamscape feeling. Nostalgic. Really intriguing and mystical album. I really dig it.
solid 4.5
Gonna be relistening to this whole album
Doesn't surprise me this charted well in the states. Feels to me like they're mimicking almost directly the US genres of the time- despite being british.
I wouldn't have guessed this was a British band, usually you can tell. Mostly by the grabby little fingers, for thieving of cultural treasures. I kid. Sorta. But yeah, guitar riffs and vocal stylings straight out of the states in most of the tunes. They finally reveal their britishness on the second to last song of the record, they tried to hide it from us. The sneaky poms. But we found out in the end.
The record is all good. Fun, with a good amount of soul and rhythm. But it feels to me pretty unremarkable. The woodwind instruments are a nice touch.
There are many black artists of this era in the states you could listen to instead, who bring unique offerings to the table.
Interestingly it was mixed and mastered by the same guy who mixed London Calling, Guy Stevens. Man he blew out and clipped the bass hard on Empty Pages, my lord.
Odd tone shift on the last song, I wonder if its some sort of running motif or story? Honestly I'm not interested or curious enough about this album to try find out
Would've been a 2.5, but I liked the last song.
3
Strong 4.5
I’ve loved Jarvis Cocker since I heard him on Chilly Gonzales’ album Room 29. His voice took a while to get used to, its character is pretty unique. I actually had no idea he had a band called pulp, this is the first time I’m hearing them. What I really admire is his writing. It’s humorous, tongue in cheek but also has an emotional depth that I connect with. The personality and wit shines through and conveys a playful non-seriousness that I find very enjoyable. The specificity of his writing is also striking, always keeping it emotionally close and intimate, speaking to a specific person often.
This record is exceptionally eclectic, every song feels new to me- however it still carries a cohesiveness in its mixing and sonic motifs such as the orchestral swells and melodies bringing up the back of the arrangements. I love the mix of modern (at the time) electronic synth sounds/patches and electric guitars with more traditional orchestral arrangements. I really enjoy the songwriting, the overall chord progressions are interesting to me, emotionally resonant and great to listen to. A unique sound that stands out from anything else I’ve heard. There’s a super clear British rock pop/indie pop sound that I’m pretty familiar with- it’s a sound that heavily influenced nz music. There are a lot of genre influences sprinkled through the record, with different tracks bringing in elements from rock, alternative rock, indie, electronic music of the time, obvious Bowie influence, orchestral, a real soup of musical influence. Not a huge fan of the long songs 8-10mins. A personal preference thing- short attention span generation I guess.
The mix is lush, big- wide, plenty of shimmer and shine, glossy, splashy and energetic on the high end. Haven’t been listening on my good headphones so can’t get super specific (just listening on AirPods) but the sound placement feels spacious and well arranged- everything has its space. The sound feels round and glued, with a tasteful amount of verb that creates a washy feel to a lot of the tracks- which I enjoy. I enjoy the blending of the orchestral arrangements in the back of the mix with the verbs of other elements gluing together, creating an oily blend of sound that serves the overall lush, wide, big stadium feel. Overall a good balance. Vox can get lost in the mix at times, but honestly I find it fitting for the genre, blending into the mix and become more of an instrument than main focus.
What muse does, they do very well.
The deep, warm, well shaped, saturated and full low end and mids. Big sounds, fairly epic. The bohemian rhapsody featuring Jeff Buckley as lead singer type vocals. The nice blend of synth pop blended with alt rock. Cool retro futuristic lyrics, themes and sound. I enjoy the various kinds of synths they use throughout. Overall a pleasant experience.
I do find the individual tracks on this record to be much of a muchness. Each track you KNOW you're listening to a muse song. The sound is theirs, its clear. It gets repetitive to me. Not something I'd revisit simply for taste reasons. Saying that, they've done a brilliant job with the record. Production, recording, mix and masters are polished, perhaps too much.
I remember someone told me Frank Sinatra was a bad singer with a good orchestra behind him and I agreed.
I was wrong.
4/5 would chainsmoke to this album
Not a huge fan of this.
To me it kinda epitomises everything I don’t enjoy from the 70s-90s. I felt the lyrics were fairly corny, uninspiring, rhyme schemes predictable. Similarly the chord progressions and melodies followed a similar pattern, predictable and corny. The vocal performance had a lot of conviction but felt like it was pushing a little hard and was over the top- which stylistically I wasn’t into.
The beach rock feel wasn’t a winner for me. Taste wise not into it. The synths and electric pianos were interesting at times.
Nice enough analogue mix- no complaints there but also nothing inspiring.
Nice to place those well known songs in a context- heart of glass and such. But also don’t feel strongly about those songs either.
I don’t know why but this reminds me of cruise ship music. Music they’d perform on cruise ships.
I didn't wanna like this album for some reason. I came in very cynical- probably from the amount of times I've heard Aerosmith in sports bars.
But man I did dig it. Didn't realise how sexual the lyrics are though. The guitars are crunchy- riffs are tight, songwriting and creative sound elements keep things interesting.
Felt like it had good variation, the orchestral joint at the end was pretty cool. Had nice energetic high end vs some of the other 70s records we've had thus far. But still a nice tape colouring to it. Speaking of tape- the slow downs and speed ups on a couple tracks took me off guard but I really like them, unsure if it was intentional or a recording error- either way, dope. Overall a nice full bodied well balanced coloured analogue sound which is my wheelhouse.
Sweet emotion had some cool elements to it, the reverse crash- vocoder, or formant mouthpiece thing. Apparently they didn't have maracas so used a sugar bag- hilarious.
Enjoyed it.
Fricken radical dude.
Fricken synths are radical dude.
The Flanger on the vocals is radical dude.
Math rock is super radical.
Nah, really loved this weird ass album. Normally not down for 20 min song, but I'll let it slide for these guys.
Jeremy bender for president. The tape colour on this track is so pleasant, coupled with the childlike sing song keys composition, slightly off with the tape slowdown and warping. Really really enjoyed it. Fun, playful, tongue in cheek type shit. Really wasn't what I was expecting from the first 20 min track.
This album is tilted as fuck. If the beatles leaned more into jazz and early math rock- this would be it. Integration of synths is radical (as previously stated). The pitch bending is also fun.
Motherfuckers going absolutely nutso on the keys on Bitches Crystal. Riot. Also these synth brass sections and detuned keys- technicolour dreamscape.
The warm mids and upper lows in this mix are excellent.
'6 million jews' line in 'the only way' tho. Really blindsided me with that one. In the context not controversial, just was really NOT expecting that. Breakdowns pretty cool, nice shift.
Genre mix was all over the place, super strange. I dig that.
4.5
I took like 5 days to listen to this because I just kept stopping. The beastie boys just ain’t my thing, reparative rhyme scheme and style, always rhyming on that damn four. Aware it’s a stylistic choice to sit the vocals way in the back with that signature verb- I’m not into it. I don’t like the space it creates in the mix. Speaking of the mix, I find it pretty uninspiring and flat. Songwriting is decent. But I feel like every song sounds the same on this one. Few interesting beats but even with an interesting beat the vocal performance is the same.
I’m not trying to moralistic but I just don’t enjoy listening to the repeated misogynistic lyrics. Yeah yeah yeah it was the time all that, context yada yada. But I just don’t enjoy it.
Perhaps the production was unique at the time, but seems overplayed in 2025- and not that interesting to me.
Three dudes taking turns yelling at you from different corners of the room.
They got hits but I don’t recognise anything on this record.
A gorgeous well polished easy listening album.
Harking back through a few decades of blues, rock, soft rock and pop rock to bring together a cohesive, lush, glittery little project. A little samey at times and a touch too country folk for me taste wise on a couple tracks.
Interesting crossover with pulp, can hear the stylistic cross pollination.
Enjoyed it
Pleasantly surprised by this album. Thought I’d pegged it with the first two songs but they really take you through a plethora of different sounds, genres, musical elements.
Lots of great variation, song writing is strong- satisfying progressions. Really enjoy the blues, soul elements coming through. Feels 90s and slightly dated at times but those times are short lived for me. Throughout the album they’d bring in a new sound and I’d be like ‘okay sweet, that’s where we’re going now’, then next songs another slight tweak or element- bongos or horns section etc. kept me on my toes
Nothing super groundbreaking, but definitely enjoyable. I had fun
What an out the gate album. Abrasive, jarring, fucking creepy record. Teenage me would’ve loved this album.
There’s a strange energy to this record which reminds me of the museum of death in Los Angeles. There’s this culture I’ve experienced, and I’ve felt it mostly during my times in LA- that seems to almost glorify or be morbidly fascinated with the violent, dark, degrading side of humanity and turns it into a cultural aesthetic. This album feels like that to me. This focus on the darkest and scariest side of a human. Philosophically I can get down with that. But overindulging in that space, for me, puts me in a weird frame of mind and isn’t a place I like to visit often. That being said, there’s value in confronting the uncomfortably morbid parts of yourself and life, it’s why people get obsessed with serial killers. This record seems to indulge in, and is inspired by those aspects of humanity/culture. Using it to create edge.
Because of that spiel, I find it hard to rate this album. As a piece of art, or a one off experience I find it confronting, uncomfortable, cathartic, creative in its production and sound, but it’s certainly not pleasant. In terms of relistenability, I likely wouldn’t touch it for enjoyment, more maybe for fascination, craft or technique, kinda like how one can appreciate Francis bacons paintings but wouldn’t hang it in the living room. That’s how I feel about this record.
I can hear this records influence onwards in many later records.
But yeah a viscerally uncomfortable, unsettling and morbid album- that has creative innovation and depth, but who’s lense focuses in on the dark. There’s a feeling of morbid mystique to this record. A cult like, cult album. But not something I’d chuck on whilst I’m at the beach.
Hurt is probably one of my favourite songs of all time. Gorgeous song. So gets some extra points for that.
Solid rock album. Has quite a few hits tucked in it.
Genre defining sound. Tasty riffs and crunchy chord progressions and the like. Wasn’t a huge fan of the use of verb in a lot of the mixes- taste wise. And in terms of taste not something I’d go back to- not a style I’m particularly interested in.
But decent none the less musically. Had fun.
A real neat, pretty creatively dynamic and texturally raw album.
This is the first led zep album I’ve listened through fully. Definitely not my wheelhouse. Was preparing for some dive bar dad rock, but was pleasantly surprised at the musical range and creativity from songwriting down to mix.
Enjoyed the second half of the album the most. ‘Tangerine’ is a bop. And the way the second half dips in energy and ends with an exceptionally creative mix and energetic song was neato.
Good stuff.
Decent enough album. Fun tunes here and there. Only listened on mono with one earbud at work but mix seems decent and interesting.
Not a huge fan stylistically of the vocals and writing- lots of unintelligible words at first pass. More of a focus on flow and rhythm which is fine but would’ve liked it mixef further into the back if that’s the case- more of an instrumental placement than compressed focus. Just a taste thing.
Decent genre variation on this joint. Not too samey. But not a genre I’m particularly captivated by. Probably won’t revisit this one.
3.75
As far as country like this goes, it’s good. Production is good quality, lots of interesting elements, orchestra, floating guitar riffs, piano parts etc. pretty mellow and easy breezy. George Jones’s voice and timbre is nice. The only thing that would make this better is some fat 808s and trap drums.
But fr you can miss me with this sad cowboy stuff. Just not my thing. If these guys had Melodine back then George would’ve loved it.
There are some cool choruses and musical moments that I can appreciate but you won’t catch me bumping this unless I’m in some sort of nostalgic cowboy phase. Or if I go through a painful divorce (that’s actually my fault but I refuse to accept it) and start drinking whiskey again.
I give this a yeehaw/5
Jk
2.75
Hit me with that funk.
I love the analogue colour on this shit, the slightly detuned and tape saturated bass, gat, horns.
The lyrics are smooth, songwriting lighthearted and fun. High energy, horn lines are golden. The wide high end hats, cymbals and shakers makes ya wanna get your fuckin maracas out.
Exactly my wheelhouse in terms of sampling. If this shit wasn’t so popular I’d flip it in a heartbeat. The play of tension and release in the writing is a journey, done super well.
Smack bang in the pocket for some of my favourite genres. Giving Curtis mayfield, funkadelic, parliament.
Super refreshing to hear some music not just out of Britain or the US. Keep it coming.
Excited to go through this cats catalogue.
A super eclectic album that barrows styles from all over the place.
It’s almost a rock hip hop album, the way it’s structured and the types of heavy bass line riffs many song rely on. Heavy sampling throughout.
The production style is slick and mix is transparent and well balanced. Good amount of strange distortion and interesting textures too.
I don’t know if it’s for me, a little too unfocused and odd (which I don’t mind if it feels emotionally focused- which this record doesn’t to me) the production feels kinda sparse too, lots of different elements but spread pretty thin sonically. I just don’t think I vibe with becks lyrical performance and stylings on this record much.
There’s some bangers for sure, Sissyneck and Where it’s at, are jams. But idk ineffable about the vibe I don’t dig
3.85
Not a fan, composition is fine and mix is all good, clean and balanced.
But man this didn’t age well to my ear, sounds like corporate music. Lyricism feels pretty uninspired to me, vocalist performance leans amateurish sounding to me- not particularly interesting or inspiring.
Sax sounds good at times, a few melodic lines that are nice and satisfying but overall sounds like elevator music to me. Not for me.
