Arguably the album that invented Britpop. A near perfect record, shame about Ian Brown
A much better record than I gave it credit on first glance. Other than the obvious killer hits, I loved "The Song is Over" and "Getting In Tune", but then again I'm a sucker for meta-commentary. Does still lack a bit of bite, a problem I find in a lot of pre-punk 70s.
Has about 3 moments where you understand why people view it as a transcendent genre defining album, but then has several more where it sounds like The Stones, which is where I lose interest
The Borat song is funny
Usually quite sceptical of the oldies but very much enjoyed this. His voice is so warm
This record started slow as fuck for me, at which point I was worried I'd have to write a pissy little "sorry for not getting it" style review. Thankfully, at the three track run of 'Crack Rock', 'Pyramids', and 'Lost', everything fell into place, and the album stayed strong from there.
Getting John Mayer on to do a 30 second interlude is funny
Good but not great. All the songs sound the same and are broadly about the same subject matter, but, to Bruce's credit, it is a formula that works, not least because he is maybe THE authoritative voice on working class American life in that era. Dancing in the Dark is a perfect song
A weird record, but one that I ended up quite enjoying. Very eerie, kind of like a super minimalist Nick Cave. Goes on a bit
Not half as bad as I expected. Obviously overly saccharine at points, but generally a pleasant listen and wittier than I'd ever given Billy Joel credit for
A wonderfully odd little record, the result of what happens when you shove every trope of 80s alternative and see what comes out. Sounds most like The B52s on hallucinogenics or The Cocteau Twins on a comedown. I kind of love it
Idk man, it's okay. A clearly good execution of what it's trying to achieve, but the whole wall of noise thing that's prevalent in most grunge has never massively been my thing, and the (memed to death) Eddie Vedder vocals do take away from the storytelling potential within the lyrics because he is genuinely very difficult to understand. Porch is a good song
Slightly oscillated between the sublime and the ridiculous, but overall I liked it more than I didn't. Obligatory not a jazzhead, but there were bits where you'd get lost in it, and others where they sounded like they were noodling completely tunelessly. Thankfully more of the former than the latter
I never need to hear a badly mic-ed bass solo ever again though
Big dumb fun, except the dumb vastly outweighs the fun
I've never much cared for Livin' On A Prayer, but hearing it's worse bootlegs as the album goes on sure makes you appreciate it
I'm honestly the worst person to ask about jazz, this might be the first jazz record I've ever listened to all the way through. That being said, this was a very pleasant listen. Quite loungey without ever getting too pedestrian, and a very easy thing to let wash over you. There were rare moments where it felt like the bassist and pianist weren't in complete lockstep about the type of jazz they were wanting to play, but then again, what the fuck do I know about this sort of thing?
Q: What do you get if you strip The Wedding Present of all their charm and wit
A: Husker Du
A good, if disjointed record. It didn't seem like they could decide between doing a Smithsy janglepop thing or sticking to classic New Order synths. Luckily I tend towards both sounds, and the tunes were good anyway, but it didn't come off as the most cohesive record ever as a result
Synthpop is so silly. Whilst our boy Neil Tennant pours his heart out about internalised homophobia and whatnot, Chris Lowe finds the silliest fart-sounding keyboard setting possible and inserts it wherever he can. It's amazing it works, and yet it undoubtedly does
Surprised how much I didn't like this. This is the 3rd of 3 synth-pop records I've had back to back (Pet Shop Boys and New Order being the other 2), and whilst this record uses it's synths the most tastefully of the three, "tasteful" on a synth-pop album tends to equate to boring
A very listenable, if unremarkable, example of 80s post-punk. This is a record I imagine I'd love if I was getting into the genre for the first time, but as it is, it's only decent rather than special. Sometimes let down by the production
Pretty good. Some interesting themes and songwriting, occasionally let down by fairly cookie cutter wall of noise 90s instrumentation. Her voice is really amazing but the odd enunciation sometimes takes away from the weight of the storytelling
A useful reminder of why punk needed to happen. Competently written songs but it's so dated and self-satisfied that any enjoyment that could be taken from that is killed. Petty yelps tunelessly over boring yachty 12 bar blues about how great (his own) rock 'n' roll is and all the girls he's fucking as if he's taking some sort of self-determined victory lap. Gets an extra star for not overstaying it's welcome too long and American Girl.
This album is absolutely fantastic, which is annoying because it vindicates the most annoying group of people in the world, Oasis fans
Commits the cardinal sin of not being the album that got ME through being 18 and heartbroken. Still, mostly good, but rarely mind-blowing, with the obvious exception of Someone Like You, which has deservedly gained modern classic status.
Love this. Love jangly guitars and coy lyrics definitely not about fucking. Love Scotland.
A little bit underwhelmed by this one. It's a solid enough record with some interesting, almost classical influences, but it sure isn't one of the all time great indie rock records I was promised
Absolutely fab in all ways. I'd heard the first record but never this, and I've gotta say that I reckon this one's better. They just sound like they're having so much fun playing and doing a damn good job doing so. Groovy and joyous all round
Almost impossible to judge through a modern lens. I didn't find this particularly enjoyable, but I suspect that's mostly because of how barebones and rudimentary it sounds to someone who's looked into the Pandora's box that artists such as Buddy Holly opened
Hate to do it to the melon man, especially when it comes to vindicating Kanye, but Fantano took an L here. Fantastic, but docked a point because it could and probably should've ended after Runaway, which is an unbelievable song
These guys like The Beatles too much. Starts well but tails off a bit
Really loved this actually, one of the best new discoveries of the list. Her voice is so warm and rich, enhancing the fantastic storytelling. Suffers slightly from every-song-sounds-the-same syndrome, but that doesn't really take away from it - it's like being told the same story books when you're a kid, as long as they're told with heart and warmth, it doesn't really matter
My first of apparently many Elvis Costello records for this project. I liked Elvis Costello going into this, and I still do coming out, which is good news. He is one of the few people who can remain cool whilst being a proper showman
