Same as everyone else, two stone cold classics and then a lot of competent honky tonk and blues that deserve points for being in a clear coherent theme, and all very listenable, but not enough to make the album as a whole of 5
ugh I wish I could give it a 3.5, because it's incredibly listenable and sometimes very resonant, but I find it's too indulgent for Young's love of rambling introspective lyrics and looseness of form that ends up being poor man's Dylan
Fuck it, I'm going five. More than half the songs on the album have appeared at some point on my top 1000 list, and it just has a great lack of pretension and a joy for larger than life moments. It is too one note for listening straight through, like having too much straight sugar in one sitting. But if I can't give this five stars then I'm very rarely going to get to that level, and I'd like to be generous.
A few of us talked about this over a beer on Saturday night: it still feels modern and part of the sound of the world in ways that Let It Bleed doesn't necessary. One of the few albums that announces its presence in such a large way and then delivers on that across its entire hour.
Hey it's that song from all the commercials! And also a bunch of stuff that sounds vaguely similar to it, none of which is bad, but none of which really moves me.
First album where I'm like "yeah there's nothing that's really sonically interesting or fun", which means it's my first 2, as I continue to suss out how I'm gonna score things
I admired it more than I liked it but it was interesting!
Doing this right after Emerson, Lake & Palmer is interesting, and reaffirms that part of the reason I like Emerson, Lake & Palmer is that I can feel them having fun, where as with Yes I get the old prog rock feeling of them being *serious*, and therefore harder for me to appreciate the noodling...but the breadth was good, and I very much enjoyed We Have Heaven, so ugh no I can't put this at the same level as Public Enemy or Curtis Mayfield, THREE FOR YOU
Realizing that my criteria for 5 stars is "does it have multiple bangers that I enjoy" AND "does it have a unique and coherent sound that I appreciate" and the answer to both is yes, even if grunge as a genre was sort of a dead end because it fundamentally built on the same sort of principles as rock musically, if not attitudenly
Sheryl Crow is in her 60s now and that is upsetting. Anyhow it is sort of generic jangle guitar in the first half, and then gets more interesting in the second half, and is very pleasant even if I never got really excited.
Very fun! I listened twice, and on the second time it did feel a little more surface level goofy, as Trevor pointed out -- but it has a fresh sound with a lot of different lighter things going on, and Eye Know could crack my next Top 1000
I had this as 3, but then I listened again, and it's a tight 40 minutes, creates an entire genre of music, has a decent range, a cool backstory with the endless tinkering of its maestro Tom Scholz, and it's not More Than A Feeling's fault that its been played 140% more than it should over the last 40 years. American Idiot you can't divorce from its moment, but Boston is timeless, so screw it, 4 it is.
it's like a 4.4 for me? great sound, tremendous opener/second half, lags in songs 2-4...ultimately it's a liiiiiitle too samey for a 5, and all of the songs are very accompished, without being completely *fun*
duh doy
I have albums I like more as a cohesive product, but Thunder Road/Born To Run/Jungleland are perfect, and it paints such a perfect picture of young adult desperation to get out of this place, with such beautiful piano and saxaphone parts, that you can excuse the tonal similarities. or at least I can.
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo is a hilarious encapsulation of Steely Dan is so frustrating. anyways rikki slaps and parker's place is fun but there are so many things that insist on itself that I can't go higher than 3
Such a fascinating and emotional voice, even stripped of so much of its power, but needs more hooks or snap for me to really love
The Beatles did make plenty of good music before Rubber Soul, but lots of it was singles-based. This is the most *historically* important of their early albums because of the movie tie-in and the fact all of the songs are original, but I prefer some of the rawness of With the Beatles/Please Please Me, and there's nothing here in my Top 30 Beatles Songs, so...am I giving this a 3? I think I'm giving it a 3.
Blue Eyes is a Top 1000 song for me, I love Willie's general "pace", if that makes sense, but nothing else snapped enough for me to be like "yes, a 4 it is", so here we are
