Nothing to write home about, it's just Bossa Nova music.
It was way too long. I get what they were doing with the double album concept between the two group members. But an album that is defined by it's catchy radio bangers should play to its strengths. If this album was 40 minutes it would be an all-time classic but as it stands, you have to wait over an hour until you get to Roses and Hey Ya
4 stars.
Shows a departure from their pop sound but hasn't matched the ambition of their later works. Awkward middle child album
Good album. Never heard this before but it's tight, memorable, and groovy. Great find.
This was great.
Please Be With Me is a nice song, and the only one so far I'd revisit.
For somebody who is so famous for playing electric guitar and was so influential in the development of hard rock and psychedelic rock, he seems completely allergic to the idea of making anything remotely interesting in his solo career. For every 'Layla', 'Sunshine of your Love', or 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' his discography has hundreds of forgettable blues tracks that all sound practically identical, many of them are on this album.
If Eric Clapton had stuck to playing in other people's bands, like he did in Cream, he would be in the same league as his contemporaries like Hendrix and Page. But I just don't think he likes making interesting music or doesn't have any interesting ideas of his own.
I don't speak French and I'm not familiar with Serge Gainsbourg so it's difficult for me to comment on the lyrical content of this album. Perhaps it's ironic, maybe it's sincere, or it could be deliberately provocative, it's difficult to tell without the right cultural context.
That being said, this album SOUNDS great. It has funky bass lines and groovy instrumentation. And it is mixed incredibly well. As a concept album, it has long, sprawling instrumental passages, recurring motifs and genre changes. He put a lot more effort into it than most english-language concept albums.
My 4 star rating is based almost entirely on the musicality of the album.
I really enjoyed this listen. Hadn't listened to the Kings of Leon in probably 15 years or so and surprised by how much I remembered practically every song on this album. The first half of this album is banger after banger. Really solid 2000s indie rock
Often imitated, but never equalled.
This album is dark, depressing, and angry but in the best possible way. This album has such an iconic and identifiable sound through the melodic basslines, robotic drumming and Ian Curtis's baritone vocals. Every song is a banger and the album feels cohesive without feeling repetitive. Iconic for a reason, an easy 5 stars.
I wasn't very interested in this album. It had some nice lyrical ideas but was quite forgettable.
George Michael is very talented and has a great voice, but I can't see myself coming back to this.
I did enjoy this, and it was a surprise to see that George Michael could fill a whole album with catchy songs, I'd only known him from a handful of Wham! and solo tracks
This album reminds me of being 10 years old, staying up with my friends, eating takeaway pizza and playing WWE Smackdown all night. Which is fitting because this is the only acceptable way to listen to this album. Put simply this is music for children - over stimulating, no subtlety, and nothing to challenge the listener.
In recent years, Linkin Park has been positioned as the more critically acclaimed Nu-Metal band compared to their peers, Limp Bizkit and Korn. Unfortunately, they're just not that good. The lyrics are like something scribbled furiously in a child's diary after getting grounded by his parents, and every song follows the same formula of quiet guitar riff and rapping vocals followed by downtuned guitar riff and belted/screaming vocals.
The mixing on this album is also terrible, the loudness wars have rendered this album virtually unlistenable. Muddy and crowded, with an awful scooped guitar tone that is identical from track to track.
The one song that sounds different, 'Cure for the Itch' is a bamboozingly out of place turntablist instrumental piece with looped drums, string samples and record scratches. I don't know what purpose this track could possibly serve, other than introducing fans of the Transformers movies to TripHop.
Chester is a legitimately talented vocalist though, which raises this to two stars. He just needs a better band, producer, and songs.
Had never listened to this album before even though I knew of Massive Attack for a long time. This was a great listen, easy four stars.
Enjoyable listen. Very cheesy at times (in a good way), interesting noodly guitar lines, a lot of fun.
Hit after hit to start the album. A lot to love here, great classic rock. Let down by one or two duds (looking at you, "I'm in touch with your world" and your goofy circus music)
Legendary band, this album is a banger. Funky, but also very chill. Effortlessly cool but also technically great.
This was a bit of a let down. I like a lot of other bands in this genre and with similar vibes but this felt a bit bland. There are other bands who have done this style of post punk better IMO
Enjoyable listen.
Noisy guitars and pop hooks are always a great combo
One of those albums that was just a product of its time. Probably great in the 90s, but listening to this album today was not a great experience.
The album has a couple of all time bangers
You only need to listen to one track to realise that Entwistle and Moon were the best rhythm section in rock and roll.
It's cool to hear them live, but you'd just rather listen to a studio album.
Not my favourite Bowie album, but still great
Tom Morello: plays downtuned pentatonic riff
Zach de la Roca: yells "politicians are lying" over and over
That's it, that's the album. I'm sympathetic to their politics, but this album doesn't really give you much to think about.
At least it's better than most of the music that it influenced.
A great opening 3 tracks that are legitimately good songs. The middle of the album is a bit slow and samey.
For a late career album, this is genuinely enjoyable and showed that they still had creative and relevant music 2 decades after their peak.
Nobody fused hip-hop and rock influences better than these guys.
First 60 seconds of this: hell yeah, this album rules
I spent the rest of the album waiting impatiently for it to end. This album was a slog and a chore to sit through.
