Appreciate the significance, but sounds a bit basic to 2025 ears.
Love. Is the family name Touré as common in West Africa as Johnson in Rock Ridge? Watch the 2015 doc They Will Have To Kill Us First
Duke's a legend--greatest American composer. The album is a classic. But this is Intro to Introductory Jazz Pre-101. I've moved on, gimme that hard stuff. Is Money Jungle in this 1,001? That's the Duke for me
I have no conscious memory of hearing this album or band before. I did however come in with strong preconceived notions based entirely on my interpretation of their fans & associated acts. The first 1/3 of the album had me thinking "oh shit I've misjudged, there's def sthg here I'm digging." The next third brought me to "ok already, jesus christ get on with it." As the final third drew to a close I had arrived at "thank fuck that's over. At least it's off the To Do list."
+2 stars because a lot of the music is quite intriguing and even homeboy's vocals at points work really well.
-3 stars because holy shit bro, I understand the knob goes to 11 but what if we try a 5 or 6
What I knew coming in: 1)This guy is great, worthy of a deep dive & I’m vaguely familiar with a song or three. 2) I sometimes confuse him with a similarly named but distinctly sounding artist that’s also been on my deep dive list for years.
Review: Absolutely brilliant. I fkng love this album and as a matter of fact Im bout to celebrate the *whole catalog*. The proverbial tragic artist with a legacy of masterpieces. Just an incredible talent.
4 & 1/2 stars because it’s fkn great & nobody’s perfect. But rounding UP because apparently I’m not trusted with half stars but also because it’s definitely not deserving of a round down! lil’stoned rn
Is that it? Isn't this a classic album from a hugely influential group that's on countless recommended lists? Maybe I missed it.
No, I don't think so... Is there sthg special here? Sounds like a whole bunch of ordinary. Perhaps this is not the album I am looking for...
+2.5 stars for a roundly average album. +.5 stars because I know they have other good stuff.
-2 stars because Zzzzz...
Nine trizzay’s the yizzear for me to fuck up shiiit.
An absolute classic. If it’s not the #1 most listened hip hop album in my history then it’s #2. Timeless? No, not really. But it was massive at exactly the right time.
Shoutout to Mr. Buttworth the substitute teacher encouraging children’s dreams
Oh hey, famous dad. I mean, it's alright. Seems fine enough. Nothing remarkable. A solid 2.5 stars. And we're gonna round DOWN for nepotism
I knew coming in that the god awful 80s synth sounds would be coming fast & furious with this one. And I was not disappointed (in that prediction. I very much WAS disappointed to have to listen to all that horrible garbage.) Apart from that synth pop silliness there's some really good shit in here. Honestly, there's some bangers that could earn their way into my regular rotation. If I had the time and patience to acclimate to the neon plastic sheen of 80's production sounds that is. Buuuuuuut I don't. Maybe it'll happen organically.
So many covers for a non-covers album! How bout that Springsteen, huh? That was fun.
+3 stars for a solidly better-than-average effort. +1/2 star for exceeding my expectations.
-2 stars for the atrocious electric synth sounds that cast a pall over an entire decade -1/2 star for forcing me to admit some of that synth pop does actually have something
I'm to understand this is proto-glam rock?
First thought: *sigh* If only you had been strangled in the crib... Thing is tho, it's proto-. Early stages, still developing, & the bones are not terrible. That's the problem with strangling babies. They're babies! So cute & sweet. And they grab your pinky with their entire little hand and the little fingernails are so impossibly adorable. Even when you know they will grow up and unleash a plague on society, it's difficult to follow thru. I mean, it's not *difficult.* Probably one of the easiest strangulations most people will encounter in a lifetime. But *emotionally* I mean. *Morally* difficult.
ANYway... Obviously it's nowhere near the worst excesses of the glam era. And there are certainly bits and pieces that are, at the very least, enjoyable. But it's iust so goddamned much. *A* song or three is great in a dirty strip club mixed in with some other god-awful lowest common denominator top 40 slop. But an *entire album* STRAIGHT THRU?!?!! Couldn't do it.
It's a 1-star from me, but tack on an honorary star for trailblazing in the intentional misspellings space. (Oh gtfo myface with the beatles--that was one thing. These cats are capitalizing on each &every opportunity to trick things up. Shoutout the OG *Cum on Feel tha Noize* AND a double high five for being significant/influential in their scene. But still. Point-83 stars, rounded up to 1.
This is just the kick in the pants that I needed to FINALLY check out this artist. Here's the thing: the *most* contemporary hip hop I listen to is roundabout 20 years old by now. And so that's a lot of years of evolution of sound & production & style & what-have-yous. So I was a tad bit trepidatious about losing deniability that I am now Old-Man-whining-about-the-whippersnappers-of-today. Also, popular appeal is generally an indicator that I'm not gonna like it. But the reputation cannot be ignored. And the accolades, in numbers & prestige, demand attention.
Review: This is fukkn brilliant. MAXIMUM STARS!! And this *ain't* the Pulitzer album?? My concern re: the new-fangled sound & style of a generation that ain't mine was not completely unfounded. But that's my issue to overcome & it is quickly dissipating with every spin. Plus *everything else* is so fukkn incredible that it's easily overcome. I've had this muhffker on repeat thru the weekend & i plan to take a break only so I can rate the next album in my journey. But you can bet I'm coming straight back to this one & it's going straight into the regular rotation. Cannot WAIT to continue this man's discography.
FIVE STARS PLUS!! And gonna add an asterisk to differentiate it from other "regular" 5-star albums because this is a level above
Few albums bigger than this one in middle/high school. Was not into it then, but I'm onboard now. Legend for a reason; here's reason #1.
Brilliant. Love. This is his first. Don’t know if it’s better/worse than the next one, which was first to reach my ear holes. It will take another 2 dozen spins of each before I can begin to get so granular. But here’s the thing: every single one of those listens will be an absolute pleasure.
4 Stars. Thank you for your attention to this matter
YESSIR!! I guess I was unfamiliar with this portion of the right honorable gentleman’s game. I AM aware, & indeed quite fond, of what this man will be throwing down a few years in the future. But this was a lovely surprise & no longer will I overlook the straight ahead jazz propers of his arsenal.
Fuck Phil Spector’s murdering ass. And I ain’t interested in Xmas music either. Love & respect to the great Ronnie Spector & the other artists that had to work with that sack of shit. 1 star for Lovely Ronnie, negative 10 for Phil.
It was around the time of this release, give or take, that I fell out with this artist when I heard he was a Scientologist. I was soo disheartened & couldn't even listen to any of his work without the sad, icky feeling of disappointment overshadowing my whole listening experience. This cat is uniquely talented & borders upon greatness. And it's MY irrational hang-up that robbed me of a decade plus of fandom. I DID eventually outgrow my foolishness (on this particular issue anyway) and came back to unashamedly appreciating this man's distinctive output over the last handful of years or so. THIS album, while not my favorite, is not bad & I imagine I would come to enjoy it even more with repeated listens.
3 stars seems about right. Honorable mention to the Futurama cameo back in the Midnite Vultures days
I wanna say this is overrated. That could just be bc it was so insanely huge & played a zillion times tho. There’s no denying the popularity, significance, or impact in its time. Listening now brings a similar sense of mild cringing embarrassment as thinking about my own early adulthood. And I don’t think that’s *only* bc they overlap. It was cool AF at the time, but now probably best left to memories—be they fond or cringe.
I cannot stress enough just how 5stars this album was in the early aughts. In damn-near-2026 I’mma dial that back to about 3. Plus a 1/2 star bc 3 seems low for an album of such significance. But then we’re gonna round back down bc I think I may prefer the SSLP
I don’t get why this cat became the standard bearer for electric blues guitarists. He doesn’t strike me as particularly unique or interesting. I mean, he’s fine. He sounds like generic default blues for background music or production value. Or maybe he sounds generic bc he IS the standard bearer & his sound set the bar. Either way I think there’s plenty that do it better & this album is… fine. We’ll call it exactly average.
2 & 1/2 stars. Because the tyrannical powers that be don’t allow half stars we shall round down bc nothing stands out to me as noteworthy or memorable. It’s fine tho.
I don't particularly enjoy it, at least not a full album's worth all at once. But there's no denying this is a fukkn classic. Honestly I wanted to speed thru and give it a bad review, but there's so goddamned much here that I can't. Not in good faith anyway. Was this their peak? I don't know, I'm honestly asking. If it wasn't it has to be damn close. It is what it is. And for what it is, there ain't much better. I hope the listen won't fuck my algorithm, but I gotta admit it was fun.
Hell yes!! This is a fantabulous funky Brazilian dance party is what this is. And you can bet your ass that I’m boogie-ing mine to exhaustion. New favorite Hermes Trismegistus song, that’s for sure. (Don’t ask which it replaced.) That fkn cuica too. I love that thing. This is exactly what I hoped for in beginning this project: discover great new-to-me artists that I might otherwise have never encountered. Cannot wait to continue this man’s discography
I def had 5stars of fun with this one, but I’m hesitant to pull the trigger on the full 5 overall. I love it, but is it truly great among its peers? I’m afraid I won’t know that without a lot more listening. I’mma have fkn fun doing it tho. Official rating is 4.5 stars. You know what? Let’s nudge that over to 4.51, which rounds nicely up to 5
I was on this one from the beginning—Love it. Don’t know if it’s my fave of theirs, but there’s plenty here. Plus turned me onto Holly Golightly. Good for JDub & his kids & grandkids & probably generations after that on the success of that one song. But as a fan it’s a bummer when a cool tune blows up so huge that it’s played ad infinitum & “ruined” for we hep cats that were onboard from the beginning. Much love & well wishes to the great MDub as well. Hope she’s living her best
Of course I already knew the one song. That one that’s universally mandated to be the first song every guitar student learns. Based almost entirely on that song alone I decided long ago that a deeper dive into this group’s catalog was not necessary. Having now listened to *this* album (which does not include *that* song) I stand by my decision.
It’s fine. In fact if I had taken that deeper dive way back when, I likely would have quite enjoyed it. They absolutely fit the mold of what I was into back then & in no way are they any worse than any of the others I was into. There were absolutely parts where I thought “ok, this is not bad.” Those vocals tho—I’m out.
2stars plus a tip of the cap for being significant & influential in their scene.
I trust that this is great because so many people that I think are great say this is great. There’s a handful of tracks I dig. But “modern” R&B is just not my bag. It all sounds like it’s slumped into an overstuffed couch on muscle relaxers and Valium. Lyrically excellent. Thematically excellent. Musically… it can’t be anything but excellent! Pino P, Questlove, Roy Hargrove, Roy Ayers, Jack DeJohnette. I cannot & do not deny its greatness. It just doesn’t move me. Keep your Neo-Soul, I’ll take the original.
**EDIT: After a couple days reflection, I want to note: MARK THOSE WORDS. It occurs to me that I have had near identical reviews of artists that are now on my Rushmore &or dearly beloved. That is, smart, sophisticated, deep, made by brilliant musicians & uniquely talented writers/producers. “It just doesn’t click with me…” *insert Homer Simpson meme* “…doesn’t click with you SO FAR.”
Punk rock saxophone? FUHHK YES. This is fun as hell. Interesting group/story too. Burn bright for a short time & then off to other projects. Each of the principals went their own way & I def plan to give each a spin or three.
We’re gonna say 3 & 1/4 stars, round that thing back down to 3, & pour one out for Poly
I came upon this album organically maybe a couple years ago. Love. Not sthg I listen to often, but it’s absolutely sthg to throw into the library, available for the random mix. To my limited understanding this came up towards the tail end (& relative fringe) of the krautrock scene/era that I immersed myself in over the last couple-three years.
Rating this one’s a curious predicament. I don’t think it’s “fair” to try & position it on the same overall rating scale that I use to judge sthg vastly sonically different (re: traditional, melodic, “pretty.”) So I want to consider it more in its own context. At the same time I don’t feel knowledgeable enough to make any type of authoritative judgements. Part of me thinks that in their corner of the music universe this album must be about a 7 or 8 out of 5. But also my experience with this particular corner is so limited that I want to allow space for those unknown unknowns.
Final judgement: 4stars plus an asterisk noting it’s qualified transcendence
I have been out on this album from the very beginning. This had to be the beginning of pop-punk, right? All the "Word-dash-Number" bands of the early aughts? This album came out when I was 14 & it was very popular among my peers (& non-peers!). I was chasing a much heavier dragon in those days & this faux punk rock was for dweebs, or so I believed at the time. I wouldn't familiarize myself with proper punk rock until several years later at which time I confirmed my hypothesis that pop-punk was garbage & I need not waste my time.
Thing is, these boys have undeniable staying power & critical accolades to suggest I am missing sthg. And so I do solemnly swear & publicly pronounce that I will give an honest & sincere effort to provide a fair & unbiased review. Whatever it is that I'm missing tho, it ain't on this album
One of the best, from one of the greatest.
