Fav tracks: My My Hey Hey, Powderfinger. Neil Youngs voice is generally not my cup of tea but like the flow from acoustic to the grungy electric songs at the end of the album.
Used to be a massive foo fighters fan, have seen them live twice yet was in a way surprised to see this album make the list as I believe The Colour and The Shape is much superior, with this album pretty much being put together by a one-man band in Dave Grohl. First half of the album is strong and the closer Exhausted is a very underrated song in the FFs catalogue. Having said that there is a fair bit of material in the second half of the album that I find inferior to what the Foos would put out 2 years later. I’ll Stick Around and This is A Call remain great tracks but this album is lacking a truly massive single that the band would consistently churn out at least one of with every album following this for 20 years. Overall a decent listen and an album pretty reflective of the mid-90s alt rock era that was coming out of grunge’s peak, nothing game changing.
The title track remains absolutely godly. Some really cool stuff in here instrumentally, proper jangly goodness but I don’t know if I love the vocal style for an entire 45 min album
It’s pretty top heavy. The big singles are classics but I can’t get with the rest of the album. It’s a fun album tho
Might use this album to help me sleep, and I mean that in the best way possible. Just nice, relaxing and pretty unassuming for 35 mins; could totally imagine hearing Georgia On My Mind or September Song in some dimly lit chill bar late at night. Probably better for background listening cause there isn’t a great deal of variety here but I guess there doesn’t need to be
Really don’t know what to make of this album. It sounds in part rather late 00s dated yet other parts still very fresh. I don’t think the absolute bombardment of “Heads Will Roll” on TV and social media has endeared me to that song on another listen. My favourite track was the opener Zero. Plus marks for the lead vocals.
I’ve come close to getting this album cover tattooed on me it’s that fucking good. The debate rages between what’s better between this and Nevermind and to me it’s apples and orange - the bands sound is much more raw and unpolished and a lot of the tracks feel more personal and retrospectively haunting than what came 2 years prior. I could see why some would give this album a 3 or even lower because it’s hardly as accessible as some of the other huge albums from this period in alt rock history but my god if it hits you straight away you’ll always have this album on rotation. Personally, I was close to giving this a 4, there is a track or two that are just okay to me, but considering the context of the albums release and the bold left turn of the bands sound from their massively successful album I feel like this is deserving of a 5. Also has to be said that some tracks on here like Pennyroyal Tea and All Apologies take on another life in the MTV Unplugged performance that I look forward to reviewing on here at some point.
Favourite song: Anything off the first side and All Apologies
Physically hurt me at first to see such pioneers in Orbital get hit with an average score of 2.70, although I haven’t ever given this particular album a run through. I get techno isn’t for everyone but you can’t put these guys simply in that box. In between a 3 and a 4 for me
An enjoyable listen but too long in my opinion, a bit of filler here and there
I know prog isn’t for everyone but this is one of the very best albums the genre has to offer back to front, all over the place stylistically and it all works.
Nice stuff. Will be used in the background while I’m at work.
