I liked this album a surprising amount. There are a few tracks I'd never heard before that I really enjoyed. It's cohesive as an album. Could use more contrast/range of skills.
This is definitely of an era... A relentless onslaught of Christmas.
Perfection. It's a cohesive, while displaying a stunning range of skills and style. Bowie, you are glorious. This was so much fun to listen to.
I didn't really enjoy listening to this, but I did enjoy reading about the band after listening to this. Nothing captured me. Not exactly bad, just not one I would choose to revisit.
I really enjoyed listening to this album. Will probably revisit, but wasn't pulled in.
I am so *unbelievably* annoyed by how much I disliked this. Every time a new track started, I thought to myself, "hey, ok, here we go, I'm going to like this one" and every time, EVERY TIME it let me down!! Vibraphone solo? I'm in! Moody piano? Heck yes. Toy piano?! I'm sold. Unexpected chord progression? I live for this. Every step of the way, I hoped. And yet, and yet, and yet... it just never transforms from "here's a collection of some neat ideas that we strung together" into music. It could have been good, it could even have been great, there's good stuff buried in there. It's infuriating and exhausting and I am completely shocked by how strongly I felt about it. Points for provoking strong feelings (boy howdy), but man I do not want to go through the experience of listening to this again.
I loved every second of this album so much that I listened to it twice in a row. Beautifully crafted. I don't know how they knew where to start or when it was done, but the album works perfectly as a cohesive whole, and every track can be enjoyed on its own. Brilliant.
I enjoyed listening to this! Definitely reminded me of a very particular era of my own listening. Good set, well executed. I don't feel compelled to revisit too regularly, but it was a good listen.
This was really fun! The album was a nice cohesive listen. Enough contrast to stay interesting, and everything was well executed.
I can appreciate the skills that went into this album, although I didn't exactly enjoy listening to it. It's a very thick, busy texture.
Can't listen to this without thinking of my Mom!! It's a good time.
This was a perfect fun listen while sitting outside in the sunshine!
I can appreciate it, but I don't need to listen to it frequently. The parts that I enjoyed were elements of style that I enjoy more in other artists.
Y'all, this is pure and unapologetic and I love the way it makes me think and feel about music. I might not be compelled to listen to it on regular rotation but I am so glad that I got to experience this album.
A little bit of fun here, but overall, not a thing I need in my life often.
This was fun to listen to!! A little relentless, but I enjoyed it!
It's funny, I don't think I've ever intentionally listened to The Police. I'm glad I did and I kind of enjoyed it, but probably won't revisit very often.
Really enjoyed this concept and execution. V-like Vibes.
I'm glad I listened to this - I'd never listened to the whole thing! I can hear so maybe elements of music that I love that came after this. It was cool to experience, but there's not a ton that I'm likely to come back to again and again.
It's funny, when I listen to it, I think I really like it. It's right up my alley. But then after I'm done listening to it, I don't remember liking it and couldn't tell you what I like. Somehow, even though this should be a thing I really love, it just doesn't make an impression that stays with me after I'm done listening. I've listened to it twice and had the same experience both times. I'll have to try again and see if it keeps happening and if I can figure out why!
I tried. I really did. It seemed like it might be fun. It started out well! But it just... kept... going... The tempos weren't right, and after the initial "huh, bongos, ok" it just didn't do anything to keep me interested.
This was so refreshing. Exactly the right length, great contrast but nice cohesive set, those gorgeous close vocal harmonies... Feels like the wind on a beautiful day. I really loved this!
This album sounds like an identity crisis, and not one that's fun to listen to. Some good ideas, neat elements, moments that I thought to myself "gee, maybe I should like this," but ultimately, it never gels into anything. It's deeply frustrating to listen to and yet completely forgettable once it's over.
Immerse your soul in love.
I am just fascinated by how much I loved this album. I wasn't expecting to have any feelings about it, at all. I was expecting to enjoy a standard early 2000s pop album, like a few things, hate a few things, complain about how long it was (seriously, how is it that long?!), roll my eyes, scream-sing "Fighter" like one of my first breakups, and move on. I have never in my life listened to a Christina Aguilera album straight through, and it took me three days to convince myself to sit down and do it, but man, I just loved it. It's in that familiar early 2000s pop idiom, but it sounds like searching for your own expression (while still holding on to what you know). It sounds like a young artist finding her way toward creating her own art and not someone else's, just those first steps toward making something your own. Maybe it's just the memory of the time and the sound and what that sound brings up in my memory of my life when that sound was around me at the time, but I felt like I could hear that journey in the album. (Also I miss the era of interludes. They're just awesome, can we bring them back.) I just loved it. I loved it on a superficial "woo pop" level and I loved the story of how the album happened and I loved what I could hear of that story in the album. Completely unexpected. I would never have thought to listen on my own, but I'm so glad I did!
This thing is brilliant. Overwhelming and brilliant.
You know that feeling you get when you listen to a really great artist, where you just feel safe and secure and like everything is going to go EXACTLY the way they decide it will because they are in absolute, calm, relaxed command of the stage? That's the feeling I get listening to this album. Absolute joy, what a great sound!!
Listening to this makes me feel happy and like sunshine.
I was really expecting to love this but found it surprisingly underwhelming! When they get it right, it's GREAT, but you album doesn't hold together, it doesn't flow from the track to the next, and most of it just didn't keep my attention. It's too bad, because when they're on, it's fantastic, but alas, inconsistent.
Points for "Beth." Just not my jam.
This album is a wonderful mess. It's well paced, good contrast, ends right where it feels like it should, and sounds like loads of self-indulgent fun. I had completely forgotten about Blur - so glad to revisit!
Some neat things here, but I just didn't enjoy it.
This album was wild emotional swings for me. I would really like it, then be really skeptical, then be really disappointed, then be really confused about whether I liked it. I've listened to it three times and I still can't tell if I like it.
I was having a bad day, and then I listened to this and I was having a good day.
Listened to it twice, and I still just did not like it (and I got fed up with it at exactly the same point in the album both times: the harmonica entrance). Every second I just wanted to be listening to other bands this sounded like (and got really annoyed that I wasn't). Did not get a sense that this band knows who they are.
There's some great stuff in here, but it sounds somehow forced at times. Still, a few tracks I'll enjoy revisiting.
Loved the last track but cannot even begin to describe how much "Metal Baby" annoyed me.
Uneven, but I did kind of enjoy the vibe at points.
Scalp tingles. This was a fascinating listen - I loved the arc, I loved the instrumentation, I loved that it was so simple and how that added to the power.
A few bangers, a lot of filler.
I bask in this.
The moments this album really shines for me are when the tempo drops back slightly to a point at which they can lock in so precisely that the sound is just this relentless, inevitable, collective forward motion. When it clicks, it's really compelling. When it's just too fast to be precise, I miss that feeling (just two clicks slower and it could lock back in and sound faster). But, I get the point of the extreme speed, and it's effective. Some totally brilliant drumming and solos.
Points for the nostalgia factor (for me), and a few great tracks. Overall, a bit uneven.
Nope.
Holy piano, Batman. What a great ride. Last track is sheer brilliance.
It seems that I should like this but I did not! I will listen to it if you make me though because you all loved it?
Glorious album, complete with viola solo.
I know that I enjoyed listening to it and appreciated it - but it didn't stick with me after it was over. Will revisit and see if the feeling stays.
A couple tracks I really enjoyed, but overall I was left feeling like I wasn't sure what I had just listened to? I'll have to give this another try and see what happens!
I accidentally went to a Tori Amos concert once and left rather quickly after it started. This album has reinforced for me that I made a good call there. I know people love this, but it is definitely not my jam.
This album is perfection. I adore it. I'm thrilled when each track starts because I think it's my favorite when in reality the whole darn thing is my favorite.
Arrangements are gorgeously done, but Lord give me a key change.
I was really surprised by how much I liked this! Great range and contrast. A lot of fun to listen to this album.
Do I love this because I live in Texas now
There were moments I liked, but it left very little impression on me after I was done listening (even the second time!).
What an interesting ride.
I'll have to try this one again and sort out my feelings. Every time I go to listen to PJ Harvey I think I'm going to like PJ Harvey and then I don't and then I think I'm missing something and then I forget about it and the cycle repeats.
This one will take me a few listens! It was not what I expected! Rating for now but may adjust later!
Absolute banger of an album. I love every minute of it! Flows beautifully from one track to the next and each track can stand on its own. Just brilliantly done.
Points for rhyming "sunlight" and "Fullbright" and Ladysmith Black Mambazo is 🔥. The first half of this album I wasn't totally convinced by, but once it hits its stride, it's really quite good.
The first time I tried to listen to this, I thought I just wasn't in the mood. Having now listened all the way through, can confirm, will never be in the mood for this, because I do not like it.
This remains one of my all time favorites. I remember clearly how I felt listening to it for the first time, and I still get that same feeling every time!
The Relentless Electric Jug Is Not For Me.
The first time through, I wasn't sure for the first few tracks. Then Trans-National happened, and I love it and everything that came after it. So I started back over from the beginning, and it all seemed to work better. I think the first few tracks are a smidge uneven, but man I just loved this.
Is it weird that I really liked this?
Some fab chord progressions but overall not my favorite.
Bittersweet Symphony is my jam. The rest... has nice moments, but is pretty underwhelming. I was really looking forward to hearing the rest of the album, but it's an immediate, noticeable drop in quality.
I actually enjoyed listening to a good bit of this album, but also hard pass on Cee-Lo being on a list of artists to hear before I die.
I kind of liked this in a few spots. I was definitely dancing along on the bus. But today went I went to listen to today's album, I looked at the page, saw that I hadn't rated this one yet, and thought "Oh, I missed one!" So I started listening, kind of grooved along... I didn't realize until the third track (which I did not care for) that I had already listened to this... So, a little fun sometimes, but overall, apparently very forgettable for me...
I was almost prepared to give this album two stars... Then the hidden track happened.
I'm conflicted about this album, because I definitely need to be in a specific mood/space for it. There's so much high end and it's so shiny that if I'm not ready for it and in that mood, I just feel kind of overwhelmed. But when it's what I'm looking for, it's super cool. Glad to have listened to/gotten to know this!
I think I like Aimee Mann a lot, but when I actually listen to Aimee Mann, I never like it as much as I think I do. She's really good, and when she gets a song right, it's fantastic. I remember when I was first getting to know her music and downloaded her (then) complete discography, it was just *so much* music, so could be a matter of just not paring it down enough to the really good stuff (so that the good stuff gets watered down by ok stuff). This album brings back such a clear feeling of a particular era in my life, though, and I do like it. A little conflicted but I keep finding myself grooving along, so I'll go with a 4.
I don't mind it, but I don't think I'd seek it out.
I guess it's fine? I wouldn't choose to listen to it on my own but I don't hate it? Sometimes it's a little fun? I don't know what to say about this album.
Hell yes.
And the walls came tumbling down.
I love you, Bonnie Raitt.
I have always adored this album!
I'm conflicted. I love the vibe, but the intonation of the singing is just far enough off that it drives me up the wall, and somehow it stays out of tune in *exactly the same way* and to exactly the same degree for the entire album?? I'll have to try listening again and see if it keeps bothering me, but mostly I'm just confused. Bad intonation I understand but this? This is like the singing was in tune with what the guy was hearing, but not what was actually happening. Nobody else seems to be noticing this, so maybe this is a me thing? I'll give it another try.
I don't know what to do with this. Adding a star because Kurt Weill, Phillip Glass, Joby Talbot, and an omnipresent bandoneon, all of which makes me feel like I should like this but also I spent the entire album thinking "what the actual f is happening right now," and not in the super-cool-but-out-there-art-that-makes-you-think kind of way, just in "what the actual f" kind of way. I don't regret listening to it, it was an experience, but it also is not an experience I need to have again.
Slap that bass.
I could listen to this forever.
Points for her vibe (which I do love), but the album itself isn't very memorable. Didn't really hold my attention.
I just couldn't quite get into this. I liked the other album, but this one just kind of meandered. I did kind of like the bonus tracks.
I... like... Guns N' Roses? Huh.
Oh hell yes.
Some cool ideas, neat ambiance at the beginning of a lot of these tracks, but the execution is uneven.
Really enjoyed this one! Surprised that I liked it better than the last one, but I did!
