I enjoy the twee/ indie pop leanings more than I do the dub touches, but overall, it's a smooth hybrid and the vocals are always fetching.
Since I was a high school junior when this album (and, of course, the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit") rattled youth culture like an earthquake, it's hard for me to offer an objective appraisal of the music 30 years later. Songs like the aforementioned anarchy cheerleader tune-- plus "Lithium", "Come as You Are", etc.-- have become as overplayed in our collective mind as "Sweet Caroline", but you can't penalize a band for ubiquity, and deep tracks like "Lounge Act" and "On a Plain" sound as fresh as ever. Great raging punk-grunge-pop, and (I guess) as good a 90's album as you can ask for to merit a bunch of Gen Alphas to (inexplicably!) buy the t-shirts at Hot Topic and turn Kurt into a Gen X icon.
Maybe the epitome of the "separate the artist from the art" phenomenon.
What more needs to be say about this thing? It really is a Maximalist Pop/ Id Rap masterpiece.
I defy anyone to find a project with as eclectic (and brilliant) a "feat." list as this: Rhianna, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver, Sir Elton, etc., etc...
Not one man should have all that power.
Some great individual tunes (“Christmas”, “Pinball Wizard”, etc), but the whole rock opera/ “narrative” (those quotes are for ironic effect, btw ;) ) set up just doesn’t come together for me.
I prefer the Dan’s earlier sound: jazz-inflected rock, blues, and soul (as opposed to this rock-inflected jazz and schmaltz). “Peg” is a great tune, though.
I might like “Doolittle” more than this one by a hair, but they’re both fabuloso. Best buzzsaw-guitar-pop out there.
No one needs to write anything else about this album.
Sure, “groundbreaking” and all that, but hard to listen to. (I’ll take the more melodic/ tempered Pink Floyd stuff when I want my psychedelic fix.)
Trip Hop is not my jam, but I can see why this (and earlier Massive Attack) is considered essential listening in this genre
Maybe the best folk rock album ever? It’d be between this, peak Byrds, and Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue” era.
Prob tied for first (alongside their first LP) for my favorite Doors record. This one is more… playful? I was always a bit confused by the dramatic shifts in style and mood between Doors songs (revved-up blues, psychedelic, brooding, pretty pop songs, etc…) but the jauntier songs on this one all work as nice compliments to Jim’s more “poetic” offerings.
Alas, more disco than soul or funk. I did like those ‘79 Pirates, though!
