Great first half, sputters a bit after Once in a Lifetime, but overall, a great album
Very good debut album, I like the focus on straight New Wave before the experimentation seen on later albums
Infused with sexual energy, I love how side one ends with a reprise of the title track.
Let's Get It On/Keep Getting It On, Please Don't Stay (Once You Go Away), You Sure Love to Ball, Just to Keep You Satisfied - best tracks in no particular order
Incredible song cycle that switches between various genres, not just jazz, but Andalusian guitar, in a way that allows each individual work to shine and not just be buried in the longer pieces
Another classic from the Boys from Birmingham. Proto-Sludge riffs along with the classics Changes and Snowblind. Not a huge fan of Laguna Sunrise, but every other song is incredible
I think some people on here are going to be turned off over the fact that Dexy's Midnight Riders are on the list of the 1001 Albums You Should Hear Before You Die, "The "Come On Eileen" guys?" But taking it as its own thing, this album is actually pretty good. It gets bogged down a bit in the second half due to Kevin Rowland's love of Philadelphia Soul on the songs "Liars A to E" and "Until I Believe in My Soul," but the first half of this album is great with "The Celtic Soul Brothers" and a really good cover of Van Morrisson's "Jackie Wilson Said." You do have to be in a good mood to listen to "Come On Eileen," but if you are, it's a really incredible listen
Just a fun album to listen to. Perfectly encapsulates the ebbs and flows of a live show. Allows the band to show off their skills during the instrumental numbers, while the upbeat songs have this wonderful, manic energy about them
A lot of the instrumental pieces didn't hit for me, outside of Becalmed, which may be one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. The songs with vocals did a bit better, but not enough to warrant more than a 3-star rating personally
I can tell why this album is so highly regarded, but it really didn't click with me. Maybe it's one of those albums that'll take me another listen or two to understand, certainly not a bad album, though
There's a lot to like in this album, Sunshine of Your Love is the obvious standout track , but there's also a good bit that I can admit I hated. Blue Condition is my least favorite of the original compositions, and Mother's Lament is just terrible. I know it's one of those songs that's just supposed to be a bit of fun for the band themselves, but I just never want to hear it again. Even Strange Brew is a bit of a miss.
Shame though, since World of Pain, Dance the Night Away, Tales of Brave Ulysses and Outside Woman Blues are all really good songs
Not much I can really say, Radio Free Europe is one of the best openers on a band's debut album, but other than that, a lot of the songs just seemed to blend together
Another one of those albums where I can understand why it has the reputation it does, but just doesn't resonate with me as much as I want it to
Just a fun album, the Boys are maturing their sound compared to the snot-nosed punks that released License to Ill, incorporating samples from just about everywhere, from The Beatles to Led Zeppelin to the Isley Brothers and even 20 seconds from the Deliverance soundtrack. Copyright law sure was played fast and loose in the early days of hip-hop wasn't it?
Speakerboxxx is a 5/5
The Love Below I have to give a 3.7. It sort of sputters out after Roses, love the interpolation of John Coltrane's version of My Favorite Things, but it really just added a beat to Coltrane's performance. You've already listened to an album and a half of really, really good music, that the second half of The Love Below is a little disappointing
This one was rough to get through. The music is fine, I guess, but man, G. Love's mumbling gets old really quick. The album itself does get a little bit better as it goes along, although that shouldn't be hard, G. Love's cover of Guitar Slim's The Things That I Used to Do really started this album off on the wrong foot for me. There's no reason this needs to be an hour long. I'll admit, Baby's Got Sauce is fun, and I have good memories of Cold Beverage from American Dad!
I had literally no expectations going into this album. The Wikipedia article told me nothing except it was almost an hour long. No mention of it being a reggae album, and the 2.74 rating made me dread this a little. The first two songs were nothing special, but Sunday Shining is where this album starts to pick up. I'd say this is about a 3.5, so round up to 4
78 minutes of music over 4 sides. It's a very "1 take and you're done" type of recording, there's a lot of dead air, studio banter, and short fragments of songs, but the actual music is incredible. You can tell where Tom Waits got some of his inspiration from. This is one of those albums where adding a few coats of polish would probably ruin the free-flowing controlled chaos.
