You Know I’m No Good is really fun to play on guitar!
Very complex for a modern album.
A lot of the melodies sound old, like they should’ve been written years ago—they sound like something everyone knows and starts randomly humming.
Sad she died :(
Favorite songs are Rehab, You Know I’m No Good, and Back to Black.
I liked it even more than I did the last time I listened.
Just Friends is a pretty good song but it does feel a tad bit like filler, even if it is still amazing.
Tears Dry On Their Own definitely inspired Olivia Rodrigo.
Feels timeless.
The songs are relatively short but still give themself time to develop as if they’re eight minute songs.
Is the album cover supposed to be like a school chalkboard? It looks cool but I’m confused.
Great album sequencing. Both the beginning and ending were perfect.
Beautiful vocals.
Sax is cool.
This is the first I’ve gotten that I haven’t listened to before, so interesting to go in without any preconceived notions.
Listened at 1 am after taking a melatonin and now I understand why people would trip to The Beatles and such bc boy was it an experience.
It starts off really strong with one of the most perfect opening 30 seconds I’ve heard. I’m big on a good opener (Dark Fantasy by Kanye West, Violet by Hole, Rehab by Amy Winehouse, Burnout by Green Day, Bombtrack by RATM, and Kill The Poor by Dead Kennedys are some of my favorites) so this was great. His voice did shock me a bit bc of how rough it sounded, but that is quite understandable given that he was frickin dying. Man, I’m sad he died. We lost him, Bowie, and Prince all in one year, along with a bunch of other people.
His voice did grow on me. It fits the somber feeling of the album, like something ancient telling a story. It’s really a deeply spiritual work about death and life. The line “I’m ready my lord” almost had me crying.
I’m a sucker for religious people using religious imagery in a dark way, as I love religion but dislike the typical “it’s so great and carefree yay God :)” that’s all too prevalent. That sort of lyricism sung over the worship chord progression just has no meaning to me, as somebody who does care deeply about their religion.
(“Save” by Tyler Joseph is a great song that is deeply religious but actually means something, btw, so 100% recommend that.)
It definitely makes me want to listen to more of him because I find his relationship with religion very interesting. I’m Christian but ethically and culturally Jewish, and my interest in learning about the history of both has led me to blend some Jewish interpretations of scripture into my religion. He was Jewish but blended some ideals of Christianity and Buddhism into his religion and he wrote beautifully about those beliefs.
My favorite song was definitely Treaty—I knew that just about the second I heard it—and the reprise at the end only cemented my liking for it. The lyricism is beautiful and connects to the theme in such an emotional way. The songwriting is excellent. The piano with the build up of violins gives a sense of almost breaking free and just being stopped short, which fits beautifully.
The lyric that stuck out to me the most was:
“I heard the snake was baffled by his sin/He shed his scales to find the snake within/But born again is born without a skin”
Just from a purely technical standpoint—ignoring the obvious religious imagery and sense of connecting to the root of sin—making all the repetition of words flow naturally is impressive. A lesser lyricist would have had this come off as clunky.
This album is certainly an acquired taste, and isn’t something I’m adding to any daily rotation playlists. But that’s just because it’s so utterly haunting and rough. I can’t do this review without comparing it to Black Star, so here’s the obligatory mention of that, but it also reminds me of After the Gold Rush by Neil Young—it isn’t trying too hard, it sounds stripped back (despite the string section), and it just showcases pure emotion and songwriting talent. It’s eerily human and as quiet as death itself.
I went into this project with the following rating system:
1-Awful
2-Okay
3-Good
4-Great
5-One of the greatest albums ever that defined the course of music/its genre.
Which is why I gave Exodus five stars, as it’s the best of its genre, but Back to Black only four stars, as—while amazing as it is—it didn’t define soul or jazz in the same way. But I think I’m going to throw away my historical sensibilities here and give it five stars. I can’t not.
To recap:
Favorite songs: Treaty, You Want it Darker
Least favorite songs: N/A
Rating: 5/5
Similar albums: Blackstar, After the Gold Rush
