Great album despite a couple of filler tracks. Expended version adds more filler but two ifthe greatest ever rock songs
Setting aside the backstory (covered well in the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart), this is still an album that takes a huge leap forward for a band that had been around for five years and longer taking into account the Uncle Tupelo years.
The album captures the angst and tension running through Jeff Tweedy and reflected in the culture of the early 2000s. No weak tracks, but highlights include Kamera, I'm the Man Who Loves You, Jesus etc, and Pot Kettle Black. Anyone who enjoys this should consider the recently released Super Deluxe edition, which is potentially overwhelming, but includes real insights into the creation of the album and a raft of other tracks recorded at the same time that demonstrate just what a productive period it was for the band.
Easy to see how this influenced many bands to come. But a lot of the influence seems to have been attitude and musical style rather than the actual quality of the songs. Many of them are good and a couple great, but other parts are simply pleasant but not memorable
Three Nick Drake albums feels like one too many. Personally this album would be the one I'd drop, but I can also see the argument for keeping it as it's different in style to his earlier albums.
On this, predominantly acoustic, album his songwriting and playing skills are still high, although some of the songs feel more like demos. I found that without the orchestration that's a sameness to the album that risks a bit of boredom despite the short run time. This is exacerbated by his vocal style which never varies much in tone or force.
None of this is to say it's a bad album, indeed it's very very good, but not as enjoyable as his earlier work
I was the exact age when this came out to be snobby towards new stuff, so knew of but missed Muse. Listening to this I can see the attraction. The best songs are good; derivative but no more than most music. But something just doesn't work for me. I like parts if it, but don't love it. His vocal range is higher than most singers I enjoy, and the melodies just don't seem quite catchy enough for what they're aiming for (with a couple of notable exceptions that just highlight how some of the songs just don't seem to quite work). The songwriting only seems to work when the music is so insanely catchy you ignore what he's singing. For the rest it varies between a bit blah and embarrassing.
I could imagine really enjoying a single disc best of, but this just doesn't quite work for me
Another one that I owned, had listened to, and had opinions on - which were that this is a really solid album but not one that grabbed me. But going back and listening to it again, a lot of the songs are better than I remembered. Still not an album I'd go back to regularly, but a solid and interesting listen
This had a real moment when it came out. Personally I've never enjoyed jazz, which this has lots of elements of, and while it's pleasant, it doesn't really grab me. It works well as background music, but I doubt I'll feel the need to listen to this again and I'm not really convinced that this is a must listen, or even one of the best albums ever to come out of central america
A new listen for me. I've listened to People Rain and find the highs low but infrequent. This us a much better album. There's no Purple Rain level song but lots of extremely good material and no clangers.
I suspect it's an album that would reward repeated listens
As a teen boy in the 90's I was obliged to hate this album and anger 3 at people that liked it. Which just does that teenage boys are idiots. So many great songs and a genuinely good singer. Her backstory is interesting and with checking out, although depressing how little has changed in the industry
Was interested to go back and see if this still stands up. It feels like the route is album that could easily have aged prey badly. To be honest I can't imagine anyone releasing this now and having as much success. But the songs still work, good voice is still great and it's still a tragedy we didn't get to find out where he'd go with this
Had a long run of albums and bands that I was already familiar with, so great to get something totally new. Interesting to hear something from a part of the world I don't know much about.
The music is really enjoyable. Rebento sounds a bit like Carole King. Despite being released in 1978 the production sounds very 80's, so both ahead of its time, and now a bit dated. I'd listen again given the chance but wouldn't be likely to hunt this down
My memory of this when I got it was that I found it a bit disappointing. Clearly that was crazy. Even knowing what was to come, it's hard to look back and say this is anything other than a masterpiece. I can understand people struggling to listen to it knowing where he is now, but musically this is still great
Not bad. Not hard to hear how this influenced lots of people that came after, but to be honest I prefer them to this or people like Dave Van Ronk
I've tried to get into Elvis Costello a few times. But every time I listen to him I think, this is a good song that would be immeasurably better if performed by someone else.
Staggeringly good 45 minute album, somewhat undermined by it being 70 minutes long
The general consensus from other reviews seems to be that this is great but no one had heard it before. I'd agree with that, my only slight downside is a few of the songs drag a bit, but that's also just my preference for his faster, more classic soul stuff
I've tried listening to sonic youth a few times and their good albums are all like this - three great tunes followed by something like in the kingdom #19, which sounds like something most bands would reject for a b-side. All momentum and energy lost we start the process again.
This is my reason for doing this. I'd got a prejudice against Yes but hadn't really listened to their stuff. This is really good, maybe not something I'm going to get obsessed by, but can definitely see myself hunting down a best of
I love Pj but this album never really worked for me as well. It's got some good songs but seems like a very different artist to a lot of the later stuff
Interesting listen. Production is pretty dated, although that didn't worry me too much. I liked it, but it felt like it needed 1-2 more great songs to elevate it beyond just very good
Absolutely deserves to be on this list, but I just don't like Joni Mitchell that much. Her best songs are great, but the rest of it gets boring quickly. And while this has been very influential, most of the people influenced by this are pretty boring too
Interesting listen. Liked it quite a lot although no real standouts
