Liked the dark gothy vocals and there was some cool songs design and ambience, but I just really don't like the boxy 90s snare clap sound and rigid midi rhythms. Enjoyed it more than I expected, definitely sounds like a product of its time
Really cool, better than I was expecting. Such good grooves, even with the drums pretty low in the mix which was surprising. Two filler tracks I didn't really rate, sister morphine and you've gotta move, but can't you hear me knocking is a stone cold bop. Awesome guitar work and you can really hear big influences on Wilco and beck in tunes like midnight mile, will definitely give it more listens in the future
Probably not the best person to judge this, but it seems like a very good version of what it is trying to achieve and I have to some there is an element of historical significance but I don't really have any contact to make that call. It's a bit samey but definitely created a vibe and I could definitely imagine listening to it driving through the desert in a cranky old car breaking bad style. The main thing that stood out was the quality of the vocals, a really big, rich, warm sound that is at odds with modern production and fantastic harmonies on the leads or backing vocals. Liked that there was over doing with some horns and wish they had included them on more tracks too break things up a bit. Nothing really bad to say about it but not my cup of tea and probably won't go back to listen again
Very cool, I already knew life during wartime and heaven and have tried to get into the talking heads a lot before as they should be right up my street but never listened to this album. I really like the blend of disco beats, additional percussion and very angular quirky guitar playing. David Byrnes vocal delivery is great too, not necessarily a great singer but a fully committed performer who is delivering exactly what they're intending too. You can definitely hear the influence it has had across multiple genres since and I can only assume it sounded pretty ground breaking when it came out.
Way cooler than I was expecting. I would love to know more about her writing and production process. A bit 90s house heavy for me in a few places, like Depeche mode I just don't like some of the drum machine and synth sounds, but on the whole some really really cool stuff going on, interesting arrangements, pretty melodies and odd instrumentation and she has an amazing voice. I get it now
Awesome! Loved it front to back, nothing fancy just great songs all the way through. Like a nerdy Springsteen. A bit samey but the songs are short enough and up tempo enough that I didn't get bored, can't really fault it, should have listened to him a loooong time ago
Killer album, captures that quintessential Britishness that maybe never actually existed. Great production quality (for the era) and strong songs all the way through, not really anything to complain about, you can hear the influence to and from peers like the Beatles and Hendrix whilst still being very much it's own thing incorporating bits of folk and psychedelia without sounding like a pastiche
Pretty good. Not normally a hip hop person and generally prefer the more old school side of it where the funk and soul samples and influences are more apparent, but there were some solid grooves here and lyrics were very good. Very much a product of its time though and not sure I'll come back to it
Sick album! Expansive yet cohesive, covers a lot of ground musically but still makes sense. Really good flows to the rapping and a surprising psychedelic freak out jam in the middle. Loved it
Impeccable recording and production quality and stunning vocals as you would expect. Enough variety to keep it interesting throughout, despite being predominantly sad woman with a piano. I thought the run time was the right length, most of the songs are over 4 minutes but it didn't drag. Just not my kind of thing really and I didn't connect with it emotionally, but I don't think that would ever happen for me with this style of music.
Awesome, felt like I was 14 years old again, should be mandatory listening for all teenage boys. I want to give it 5 stars, but I think dookie is a better early 90s pop punk album so it has to be a 4, would be 9 out of 10 though
Have you ever found yourself wondering why most songs feature someone singing words instead of just having the melody played on a Hammond organ? Well three tracks into this album and you'll have the answer. The tracks are all very well performed and recorded, and as standalone tracks they're fine, but if you've heard one you've heard them all and this album is far from essential listening.
I didn't know music could sound vegetarian before I listened to this. How on earth is this essential listening? It's like someone took the minor chords and cool guitar works out of the smiths and left you with the soundtrack to eating hummus and carrot sticks in the park at sunset. It's so polite and I can't tell where one song ends and the other begins. I'm no fan of autotune but f++k me this album needs some.
Hell yeah this is rad! I've never taken acid before but listening to this makes me want to. The first song is aggressive and wild, then it's all trippy kind of like doors
Wow! Incredible album, when it finished I played it again straight away which I think says everything. Phenomenal production, can't believe it's from 1977. Not sure what I was expecting but I was blown away, so cool
What an anti climax! Sunday bloody Sunday is such a banger, and new years is day is great too. And the rest of it is just forgettable trash, honestly couldn't wait for it to be over. I'm no U2 hater, I think Bono has a phenomenal voice and the edge is sick guitarist but this was just 2 food songs and a load of filler, hard pass.
I get why it's important and would have been groundbreaking at the time, but it's too long and there aren't actually that many good songs on there, if you take away pinball wizard there isn't realy anything worth listening to. Also the songs about him being bullied by his cousing and then sexually assaulted are a pretty tough listen
really interesting, lots of cool idea in there but for my tastes it really needed a producer to disect it, trim the fat and leave the good bits, it's just too long and unwieldy for me. I do kind of like how it meanders along doing it's own weird thing and then every now and then a more structured section with a stronger melody and groove appears, also kudos to the bass and drums for holding everything down and remaining consistent while everyone is doing their own thing. I did enjoy it, and it definitely creates a mood, but I think if it was like 15% less weird and had a bit more structure I'd be way more into it, very glad I listened to it though and I could see how you would get a lot out of repeated listens and studying it.
At least it was short. The playing, the production, the mastering, all impeccable, but fuck me it's so just so freaking smooth, and I don't think that's a good thing, it's the auditory equivalent of luke warm water. This did absolutely nothing for me, it's the antithesis of what I want music to be.
Very moody and interesting, but the melodies are a bit too long and sprawling in places, needs more hooks and a shorter run time for my tastes
It's just such a sick album isn't it? The mixing and production are flawless. I don't really like settle for nothing, and I think it loses momentum a little bit after know your enemy, but it still just slaps
Conflicted on this one, there are some really really cool moments and it's so clearly influential and ahead of it's time, but it was a struggle to get through and some of the weird circus noises just did nothing for me. It does sond incredibly modern in parts though and you could mistake the good bits for a Beck album, you could probably say the same for the bad parts actually. ultimately it's just too long and lacking consistency, but there is a great album in there waiting to be edited out
Really enjoyed the use of classic soul/jazz samples, some of the rapping was very stilted and stuck to a classic rhyming couplet pattern which I know is very of the time, but feels a bit formulaic and predictable over the course of a whole album. Glad I listened to it though
The highs are really high but then the filler is just filler. It totally makes sense as a movie soundtrack, but is a pretty boring listen as a full album. The string and horn arrangements are sickj though and the production quality is super high. It feels like I'm not learning anything new from it, but I imagine it would have been really fresh when it was released
Nothing I can add that hasn't been said before. It's just 11 great songs performed, recorded and mixed fantastically.
Really cool, if I think of 70's easy listening radio rock this is pretty much it. Great performances by the backing bad and enough variation in the songs to keep it interesting
Not an easy listen is it? Some bits are really cool and I can definitely see how a track like E-Coli was foundational in allowing bands like Mogwai come through and do what they do, but ultimately too much of it sounds like filler tracks you would put between songs on an album, without enough of the actual songs for it to go between
It's great but there too many songs and the songs are all too long. It's just too self indulgent and loses momentum which is why it doesn't get 5, but it's a sick album, just needs to trim the fat a bit
Riffs, Riffs and more F***ing Riffs!
Too many of the songs are too long and the album seems to sit at the same tempo too much for me, but that's nit picking really, would be a 9 out of ten.
The production and mixing are immaculate, as good as heavy guitars can sound really
It's actually really cool, there's a lot of Western influence in the chord changes and the Spanish sounding guitar parts and his very bluesy voal phrasing, but it's all underpinned by the hypnotic and almost droning percussion and instrumentation. I'm not sure it would be a daily listen for me, but the songs are pretty catchy and it definitely created a mood
An hour and ten minutes I won't be getting back. Outside of the singles it's just long meandering nonsense and I can't stand the mix or production. I've always thought 1999 sounded really thin and boxy and cheesy and the rest of the album is the same unfortunately. All there performances are great, it's just not something I connected with on any level.
Better than 1999! Still pretty cheesy though and not something I can see myself wanting to go back to. Well performed produced and mixed though
The production and vocals are superb but most of the songs are pretty meh, definitely not essential listening
Immaculate production and performances, really nice songwriting but maybe a few songs too long and felt a bit generic, but I don't have huge knowledge of the genre so there might be something I'm missing. Probably won't listen to it again, but that's a matter of taste rather than anything being ingerrently wrong or bad with the music.
Really good musicianship and very interesting musically. A pretty accessible route into jazz I would say, but to my taste it's just like background music for a cocktail bar.
Yeah this is killer. Really love the funk and soul samples and the bluesy phrasing when they rap, exactly what I want hiphop to sound like
Couldn't fault it. Not normally my taste but really great energy and performances, I can imagine this being the shit when it came out
Really well done, excellent performance and production. Loses a star because they're covers and some of the originals are far better
Riffs on riffs on riffs on riffs! loses a point because there's too much reverb on the drums and voals and it kind of just sounds like the same song for an hour
Phenomenal! It's complex but accessible, clever without showing off and the production and mix are superb. It's every genre at once and it pulls it off completely, it's just pure music
Everything I thought a Jack White album would be and nothing different. 16 saltines was ok but it just feels derivative and a bit shit
A pretty good version of what it is, falls dangerously close to being in the same song for an hour territory but just about pulls it out of the bag
A great display of musicianship, way more captivating that I thought an hour of solo piano could be. His mastery of dynamics and ability to take the same phrase and then pivot to a different direction is awesome
Kind of sounds like if The Cure were asked to cover Duran Duran at a garden party in The Hamptons. The mix and muscianship are actually really good, but it just ends up being pretty forgettable inoffensive 80s pop that isn't quite sure where it wants to be
The singles are pretty good, and Kids in particular has a massive nostalgic place in my heart, but overall it's pretty meh. I get that at the time it was kind of fresh and exciting and important in the dancey/indie/synth thing, but there just aren't that many good songs on it
So it just does this one thing huh?
Really cool, not what I thought they would sound like based off of the few later singles I know. Very dark lyrically which was surprising
I've listened to this album a handful of times before, and actually have it on CD, but could never really get into it or understand the hype. This time, with a better pair of headphones and an open mind I started to get it a bit more, but I still find the vocals to be too long and meandering and there just aren't enough hooks overall. A very varied album though and I'm not quite sure that it knows where it wants to land
