Pretty cheeks album.
I didn’t hate the first few tracks. Very avalanches vibes.
It became hard to listen to. Maybe I just don’t love “world music” that much.
I can appreciate the notion that this album introduced hip hop to the UK, but that doesn’t outweigh not crediting artists in the album.
This is buttery as. Could put it on to anything really. it gets a 7.2 from me and manages to round up to 4/5
Wish you were here is one of the all time tracks. Shine on you crazy diamond are also stellar.
The album loses me a little through the middle with welcome to the machine, and have a cigar. I think it’s probably part of a broader concept. I don’t dislike those tracks, they just pale in significance.
It may be a reflection of my attention span, or perhaps my generation more broadly, but there is a lot of ambient noodling on instruments that I find a little tedious. All in all, it’s a stark contrast to my day one Duck Rock.
4/5
Did Rod Stewart credit Jorge Ben Joe? Hope so. Actually a banger album. Can’t fight it. Nothing stood out as a real high or low point. Just really catchy tracks that I’d happily spin while road tripping, working, cleaning, or just kicking back.
Tuesday’s gone is an absolute track. Obviously free bird is pretty difficult to fight. No low points. Probably just not my sound for the most part. 3.5/5 if I could do half stars
Class album. Frustrating how relevant the themes remain decades on. Wake up is a stand out with the led zeppelin Kashmir-esque chords.
Album gives me more than enough energy to run through a wall. Probably would cop a 4.5 if I could do halves, 6 albums in. I can’t give out a 5 yet… can I?
Not for me.
Nothing against it. I’m sure it slapped back in 1957. But it doesn’t suit me.
I can still appreciate it musically. 3/5
I don’t mean to be rude. But this was quite shite.
Similar to some other albums I’ve reviewed thus far. Musically it was probably okay. But lyrically it was pox.
To reiterate the sentiment of one of the top reviews for this album “I guess you had to be there”.
2/5 for mine.
Love arcade fire. We used to wait and the suburbs are obvious stand outs. I really appreciate the music but something doesn’t work for me? It might be me? I was I no my most formative high school years throughout this release and maybe the angst i felt then surfaces once again while listening to this music?
No low points. Not a perfect 5 because there’s just something I’m not feeling and I can’t put my finger on it.
I mean I don’t hate it. There’s good parts. There’s average parts. There’s also 11 minute alternating solos. The Simpsons referencing it gives them an extra half rounding them up to a 3/5.
This was pretty hot. More to life than this pumps. And the vibes when it sounds like they’re in the back room of a nightclub. Just attention to detail.
Big time sensuality pops.
this sure was something. I would put it on to work to, but i wouldnt say I really enjoyed it. I think its very contextual. it is by no means bad, in fact its good. Its just not for me, unless im working, or sleeping. 3/5
6.8. Clean. Fun. Nothing. Crazy. Would put it on.
Fine. Not for me. Some fun tracks. But it’s whatever. 6.5
MALIBU!
I F wit this. 7.4/10, banger banger banger album. not the best album thus far. but I think the one i was most surprised by?
I think I heard celebrity skin and thought "oh yeah these guys" without realising just how strong their back catalogue was. anyways. deffs one for future me to come back to.
I was conflicted on this album.
I didn’t feel a whole lot of much. But I also didn’t need to. I just enjoyed it. I tapped and bopped. I know there was an indie sleaze wave in this era, and I know the vines cashed in on it a little, the interview I heard was that there was too much demand in the UK for the industry to supply all the bands, so they imported them, along with the vines, there was the hives, and the strokes obviously to name a few.
I was about 8 when this his the radio waves, and I think the next 10 years had elements of this sound through most local bands in aus. You could say it was other bigger international bands that were the influence, but growing up in aus, there’s something distinct in the voices that we then heard from following acts like Eskimo Joe, kisschasy, gyroscope, and faker and I feel like these guys might have been the first. At very least, they found themselves on the cover of rolling stone magazine, surely that counts for something.
Maybe its the nostalgia driving me to be more generous to them. 4/5
Banger album.
Great album. Love the band.
A touch long and I don’t have the enthusiasm for some of their deeper cuts to really get into it but it’s still pretty ace.
Damage Inc and master of puppets standout for me.
I think under appreciated for their lyricism. Having had to study some of their work in english classes. They arent just thrashing and yelling and playing fast solos, they are telling stories of addiction, control, and freedom.
I just feel like they get credited as being music to listen to before going to gym, but their work goes much deeper than that.
Anyhow. banger album. Hard to listen to at the desk at work however.
This was the second Brian eno album I’ve reviewed. very different from the first one being airport ambience. This was cool. I don’t think I’d be begging to listen to it again. But I also still enjoyed it.
Thi is actually really good. I kinda had a suspicion these guys were one hit wonders cashing in on a broader sound. But turns out they WERE that sound. Everybody wants to rule the world is an obvious standout, but head over heels has me going back over and over. Shout is a powerful opener. Broken has shadows of the melody from head over heels which is a cool foreshadow. Listen is a strong finisher. It’s actually a really really good album. Like really good.
I liked some parts. It wasn’t what I expected. Don’t wanna live inside myself holds up.
It was fine. Much of the same I guess. I find myself repeating this line on a lot of the older albums- “maybe you just had to be there”.
This was chill. I’m surprised I’d never heard of them before. I enjoyed it. I’d reach for it again. Nothing really jumped out at me during the listen. I think I was just more taken that I’d never come across it despite the similarities to the likes of blur and other artists I listen to from similar genre/era/region.
Didn’t set the world on fire. 6.3/10
Its fine. first track didnt reel me in but it warmed up a bit. probably a 2.5
this is a very nice album. I haven't done a lot of listening to these guys before, or kurt vile. but I get it now. spinning on repeat. probably my favourite album so far.
Love this ! kinda like if the beatles were cooler and less boyband-y.
Rough guitars, pounding drums, short songs, punchy vocals with the howls is chefs kiss.
Have love will travel riff seems to have echoed through modern music.
29 minutes isn't long but maybe thats all you need. big fan.
This is difficult to review. Its beautiful and its entertaining and like ive said in other reviews, musically i can appreciate it. But without understanding the lyrics, the impact of the music is somewhat limited. 6.4
This was cool. Fun bits with big boy in it. Obviously insane talent. Not my sound. 6.8/10
Pretty good. Hes so unusual spooked me a bit, but other than that. it was actually solid as. right frokm start to finish, 7.3 rounding to a 4/5
put a bunch of notes down for this while listening but i lost it.
I thought it was cool - one of the interesting things ive found since starting this project - hearing definitive inspiration for modern musicians that I have on heavy rotation. tracks like catholic block gave off bloc party, beaty lies in the eye gave me rolling blackouts coastal fever, and i got plenty of the vaccines in there throughout the album. obviously a super influential band and album.
Despite this, I enjoyed it, but not heaps. 6.7/10
These guys reminded me of wolf alice - where there were the pop songs that i know them from, but their best tracks and their deeper cuts are actually quite similar. I find the male vocals jarring and I dont love it. but the album was fun, not the best ive listened to but by no means is it bad. 5.8
U2 are one of those bands that have really transcended. Bono himself is one of those people who have transcended.
Chart topping protest songs, live aid charity performances, south park episodes, 4 decades of relevance, the unforgivable apple iphone album, which actually featured a track I dug titled "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone), a 360 degree stage tour, the infamous sunglasses (we all felt bad making fun of them once we realized Bono actually wore them due to a medical condition), and everything (whatever is left) in between.
One of the first albums I owned (that i'm not embarrassed to admit - sorry NSYNC and Backstreet Boys), was "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. I guess I was 9. Vertigo (again an Apple advert) was the lead track, but the album had some depth with their deeper cuts, pretty remarkable after 24 years of music actually.
This brings me to Joshua Tree. I guess its on the list because its U2s most popular album. From 87, they were barely 30.
Lyrically, the album is incredibly strong. I don't know what it is about the Irish, but they have an uncanny vulnerability and honesty in their music. This isn't just rock for rocks sake or meaningless rhymes, they're purposeful.
In high school English class, my teacher taught us about purpose and conviction, the reason we study context and themes in novels is because the best novels arent just written for high level entertainment sake, they're written for a purpose, the artist is conveying a message, there is a difference. And while in music more broadly, there is a place for bullet proof pop music that just sounds good, we hold much more space for music that has purpose and conviction.
And to be perfectly honest, I don't even think Bono is a good singer, but he sings with raw passion that is completely unavoidable, and it cuts through much more powerfully to me than the likes of your pop artists who have the look and the sound to survive a summer on top of the billboard charts before plummeting into the back of our ever shortened memories.
These lyrics and vocals paired, create some emotional feeling within me, and judging by their success, within lots of people, that is extremely unique, and as ive said before, that carries far more power than far more talented singers.
And i guess that gets us to the rest of the music. The Edge has the distinct echo effect through his guitar that matches the sound perfectly, it is instantly recognizable, and doesn't need to show off, its a lesson in "less is more" and a lesson in understanding what sounds good is better than producing something much more complex for complexity sake, when it doesnt sound half as good.
And then we get to the album itself, perhaps the strongest 3 track opening i've experienced on this list so far, perhaps a strongest 3 track run i can remember listening to at all (maybe Katy Perry's Teenage Dream with Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night, California Girls, and Firework trumps it, but I think she had a bit more support than four 27 year old boys from Ireland with some guitars in a studio).
I guess finally we get to the cultural significance of the album. Apparently this album cemented them as the worlds biggest band, the album is viewed as an anthem of doubt rather than faith. After visiting the US on tour, Bono attempted to explore the gritty reality within America through this album. Similarly, his trip to Ethiopia between releases seeps into the album through the spiritual journey themes. Ultimately, this album comes through as a man trying to come to terms with a lot of different feelings all at once.
There is a first world experience, and pre internet it probably was reserved for people like Bono who had just reached international fame and success, but today it is available to most of us with a phone and internet access. We can see all the most heartbreaking realities of the world, and all of the beauty, juxtaposed, one after the other, and this album, is possibly before its time, in the sense that the band tries to explore this idea.
In todays context, much of the album holds up as strong as ever, the themes the band discuss lyrically are still alive and strong. Perhaps its a double edged sword, if we solved these world issues, would the songs carry as much weight today?
I don't know the answer but as i sit here at my desk at work, procrastinating by writing this review, Red Hill Mining Town plays through my headphones and the ache in Bono's voice almost brings me to tears.
The band holds a place in my heart, and this album is a defining triumphant moment in their illustrious career.
9.2/10
Accidentally spun the remastered deluxe which ran for over 3 hours. I suppose it dragged on a touch. the actual album was nice. Apparently these guys were the first of the britpop era. Cool to hear where it all stems from. It was fine. 6.5/10 for me.
