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
Not really a fan of concept albums, rock opera etc. They inevitably have songs that aren't that good but are needed to advance the story. Big Lou Reed fan, but this wouldn't be my choice for his second album in the list
Not bad. I can see how it was influential, but to be honest the sound was developed and refined into something more interesting than this
Ugh, a few days ago I got Berlin and wrote that I think rock operas seldom work. And here's another classic example - a good album buried in a bunch of mediocre songs needed to advance the story. And a story that's just not sufficiently interesting to stand alone.
Great album. Knew Dolly and some of the hits but never listened to an album. Will definitely look for some more
Amazing album. While the production sounds very 80s,lots of recent albums now sound similar so in many ways it sounds modern. Really easy to hear how this has had a big influence on kids of indie artists. Will definitely seek this one out, although perhaps a best of given the second half can't hold a candle to the first
Fairytale of New York is a gem, but otherwise this is a real slog. Too many songs that sound the same, too many odd diversions, and far too long
Interesting one. I own a few Sigur Ros records and enjoy them. But they all sound very similar and I don't think they're a particularly influential band. So a good listen, but no better than most of the albums that came after it, and easy to argue this doesn't belong in the list
Never been a fan of this but listening again it actually sounds a bit dull. Maybe is been influential, but if so it's been done better and there's really no need for this
Pretty good but not one I feel the need to listen to again. Fun but nothing really grabbed me from it
I heard about REM in the 90's and mainly focused on that era for a long time. I still prefer that stuff. There's some great songs here, and some interesting stuff, but if I'm going to put in an REM album it's unlikely to be this one
Something to do to kill time us look at the list and try to find the most egregious mistakes. One option will always be having THREE Dexys albums. I could be convinced that one is acceptable, but I'm also open to the idea that zero is the right number. Apparently this is a band as important and influential as U2 or Van Morrison.
The worst bit is this is actually a pretty good album. No standouts, but no duds either. Not a bad listen, but one of the most important or influential albums ever made. No sane person could argue yes
Oasis were pretty big for a while in the 90s. So I get why this album is on the list. Not convinced it's particularly influential, particularly beyond the UK. And while there are some really good songs here, there also stuff that sounds pretty dated. A good album, but in another 10 or 20 years I suspect they'll wind up being a band most people haven't heard of and who hasn't really left lasting mark on the bands that came after them
It's fine. Doesn't sound much different from many other guitar bands of the era. Personally I find they all start to sound the same
Nice album, but something just doesn't work for me. I think it might be her vocal style and that the songwriting doesn't seem consistently strong, even though that's pretty essential for this type of music.
Wow. Had heard of this but never listened to it. Easy to hear the influence this had, not just on hip hop, but also trip hop bands like Portishead. Really enjoyed it and will definitely hunt a copy down
This album succeeded in convincing me I hate not only this band, but the entire prog genre. The Old Castle is the only redeeming feature, but also makes you wonder what would have happened if Emerson was content to tone down all the keyboard noodling. The fact one day I will have to listen to Tarkus will haunt me
Not really one for me. I don't hate it, but nothing here really interests me. I guess I learnt I don't really like salsa music
I don't normally find dated production too distracting but this sounds like an 80s pastiche. Badly mixed, budget sounding instruments, and singing that sounds like even he finds it boring. At least most of the other bad albums on this list are people trying to do something interesting, this even fails on that front
Loved this, although it started to run out of steam by the end. No real hits but the first two thirds are incredibly solid. Not convinced this is the third album that belongs on the list, but very happy to have listened to it
Interesting but not one for me even though I generally like funk and soul
I find S&G a bit hit and miss, and while there are still a couple of tracks that aren't very memorable, most of these are top tier career classics. The fact that any decent best of all more than half of this says something. The instrumentation is also worth mentioning. They're really trying some things here
Big Neil Young fan but his bar band phase isn't my favourite. Some good songs here but I prefer Sleeps with Angels from this era.
Having said that, I get that part of the point of the list is to identify albums that were influential and this certainly ticks that box. Many of the biggest rock bands of the 90's owe a deep debt of gratitude to this album, and that probably justifies its inclusion
