Went into this not expecting much, but was very pleasantly surprised. The quite bare arrangements go brilliantly with Johnny’s husky voice and give the whole album a great sense of warmth. Some genuinely beautiful arrangements but sadly some rather strange choices and some songs I found rather corny held it back a bit.
A thoroughly enjoyable if rather unmemorable instrumental album. The title track starts us off with a fantastic funky groove and is a classic for a reason. Sadly the rest of the album is somewhat unable to live up to the promise of the first track. It’s all good stuff though, and there a couple other highlights, namely the more soulful “Behave Yourself”; and the energetic “One Who Really Loves You” and “You Can’t Sit Down”.
All in all, an album I think would be impossible to listen to without ending up in a better mood, but sadly not one I see myself revisiting much.
And as much as I bloody love a jazz organ I can’t quite give this album a 4, so a strong 3 it is.
My first time listening to The Verve, other than having heard Bittersweet Symphony a gajillion times. I think I disagree with the popular sentiment that the first track is the best, in general I much preferred what came after, though that could be due to hearing Bittersweet Symphony too many times.
I have to say I was really swept away by the meandering, almost lazy, flow of the album. The thick texture of the instrumentals made for a quite immersive experience that I think is maybe better than the sum of its parts.
Stand out tracks for me were “The Drugs Don’t Work”, “Weeping Willow”, and the explosive finale, “Come on”.
A difficult album to review as liked quite a lot about it. The gloomy brooding atmosphere, harsh angular sounds and driving rhythms. Sadly though I failed to connect with it the way others seem to, though I did very much enjoy “New Dawn Fades” and “Shadowplay”
Could definitely be one that grows on me in the future though.
I remember listening to this album for the first time and being shocked that it actually was as good as they say.
The thing that strikes me most about this album is the incredible variety in moods and emotions, it’s a real eclectic mix of songs. From the cool groove of “Come Together” (what a drum part), to the sombre “Something”, the darkly moody “I Want You” and the joyous “Octopus’ Garden”.
And they’re all amazing, even the much maligned “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” I think is charming in its own cute kitsch way. Same with “Octopus’ Garden” which has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. The only misstep in this regard for me is the very jarring transition from “I Want You” to “Here Comes the Sun”.
There’s just too much to really even talk about so I’ll just mention some highlights:
The rhythm section in “Come Together”; the guitar solo in “Something”; all of “She’s So Heavy”; the haunting harmonies of “Because”; the bass part in the middle of “She Comes in Through the Bathroom Window” and McCartneys incredible vocals on “Golden Slumbers”.
All in all, bloody brilliant.
I think a weak 3 for this, nothing about it particularly bad just a bit generic, and quite long for how samey it is. I think I’d be happy enough to listen to any of the tracks on their own if they came up in a playlist but all in a row is a bit much.
I did quite like “Too Afraid to Love You” and “The Only One”
Really enjoyed this album, the whole thing has a sort of joie de vivre, that makes it impossible not to be happy by the end of it.
Some incredibly hooky melodies, a tight driving rhythm section, shimmering synths and an unbelievably grooves bass throughout.
Maybe not an album that’s gonna change your life but thoroughly enjoyable, enough for a light 5.
Wouldn’t say it’s one of my top favourite albums but it is kind of perfect. I don’t think you could change anything about any of the tracks without making them worse.
Started off strong with the iconic Enter Sandman, some great heavy riffs and a catchy chorus. From then on it was kinda more of the same but not quite as good, did start to get a bit bored of it, especially with how long the album is. I found as well the vocals could be a bit cheesy at times.
I Really enjoyed the Unforgiven, kind of an Ennio Morricone vibe throughout.
Great bass at intro of The God That Failed, sadly gets a bit lost in the mix for the rest of it.
Great guitar tones for ripping solo at end of My Friend of Misery, the last two minutes of that were probably the highlight of the album for me.
Borderline 3/4 for me but despite having some strong tracks, as an album listen it’s just a bit boring.
A rollicking adventure of an album, with a great mix of fun toe-tapping grooves and more contemplative folksy ballads. The raw vocals combined with the rustic instrumentals give the album a real intimate feel that really adds to the experience.
The album starts pretty decent and then loses me a bit in the middle before finishing with an incredible 3 track run in the catchy “Jawbone” followed by a beautifully bittersweet “The Unfaithful Servant” before finishing on the funky “King Harvest” which has the stankiest rhythm section; reminded me a lot of “Can You Picture That” from the og Muppets Movie.
Strong 4
The album starts strong with a killer beat featuring an awesome bass ostinato in “Safe From Harm”. We get some lovely dreamy soulful vocals on this track but sadly the vocals on this album are the element I find the most uneven. On the next track “One Love” the vocalist is doing some really weird vibrato that I find a bit annoying. Also not a fan of the reggae style vocals in “Five Man Army” or the whole of “Hymn of The Big Wheel”. In fact Big Wheel is probably the weakest track for me which is an unfortunate way to end the album.
The instrumentals however are excellent throughout the album, slick cool trip-hop beats with enough variety to keep it interesting.
Particular standouts for me were “Blue Lines”, “Be Thankful For What You’ve Got” and “Unfinished Sympathy”
Well, what a voice. A powerful raw vocal performance from Janis is the main feature of the album but the band is really great as well. A tight rhythm section, some funky guitar solos and a delightful use of keys and rock organ make for a brilliant blues rock sound.
Sadly all these great parts culminate in a rather underwhelming experience for me. Definitely some decent songs but for whatever reason none of them really stuck with me. So I’m giving this a rather reluctant 3 but it probably deserves higher.
At the risk of sounding like a square, I did not get this album. Frequently a bit boring though I will admit some parts did get me kinda hyped. I enjoyed “Genesis” and the first half of “Let There Be Light” quite a bit. Then “D.A.N.C.E.” I found the vocals to be pretty grating although the instrumentals still pretty good. The next few tracks kinda blurred together a bit for me. Then “The Party” and especially “DVNO” again had some really annoying vocals, though the bass line near the end of “DVNO” absolutely slapped. “Stress” was aptly named though I don’t really understand why anyone would want to listen to it. I think there’s some Mussorgsky reference. Then the last two tracks are pretty good.
On a second listen I liked some bits of liked the first time a bit less; but I did kinda get “Stress” a bit more.
An album which demonstrated the importance of doing a couple of listens. I was ready to give this a 2 after the first listen but after two more listens it really grew on me and I think I’m settled on a 4.
Erratic and noisy, it’s the instrumentals where this album really shines. Groovy bass lines, sick guitar solos, tight drums and some random saxophone noises, it manages to stay interesting and exciting throughout.
Sadly the vocals rather let the experience down for me, especially on the first two tracks. Whatever strange affect the singer is going for, I find it quite grating; only in the slightly goofier “Editions of You” does it kind of work in its favour.
I do also quite like “Strictly Confidential”, it’s an almost elegiac ballad with some warbling soprano(?) sax in the background.
The next two tracks are probably the highlights for me; the vocalist goes for a more creepy/unsettling sound which works really well. “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” finishes with an absolutely phenomenal instrumental section, with the guitar wailing over a kind of noisy, raucous band. “The Bogus Man” also finishes with an instrumental section, this time almost five minutes long. It’s an enjoyable meandering funky groove.
“Gray Lagoons” has some killer solos from guitar, sax and harmonica, over a great baseline and some boogie-woogie sounding keys. Sadly it too is let down by annoying vocals though.
The closing track, much like the rest, is about two minutes of annoying vocals followed by a wonderful moody atmospheric instrumental section which finishes out the album.
Very pretty voice with very pretty arrangements. The instrumentals are stripped back and sparse. Sadly the whole thing is incredibly boring, if you’d just looped any of the songs on the album 12 times I’m not sure the listening experience would have been much different. Still at least the songs are all well put together.
Only “I’ve Got to See You Again” was different enough from the others to maintain some interest.
A wonderful collection of folk rock songs. Great storytelling and very good instrumentation. Not really my thing however and whilst vaguely enjoyable I don’t really see myself coming back to it.
Highlight was probably “Sad Lisa”, loved the strings in that.
An eclectic mix of an album, 10cc are certainly not too concerned with taking themselves too seriously. The album moves at such a frenetic pace between wildly different sounds it’s impossible to be bored.
And their silliness does not get in the way of displaying their excellent musician groups, the album is chock full of catchy melodies, funky grooves and interesting harmonies.
At times it can be a bit too silly, and it’s a somewhat disorienting listen.
Highlights were: “The Wall Street Shuffle”, “Old Wild Men” and “Baron Samedi”
An energetic and joyous experience, B.B. King has such an incredibly captivating voice and presence. I love how psyched the crowd is, I think the cheers and noise really add to the immersion.
The album flows really well, with the band continuing to jam while B.B. King talks to the audience between songs.
Can maybe feel a bit samey or even aimless in some places but I guess that’s kind of the point in a way.
Favourite tracks were “Worry, Worry” and “Help the Poor”.
A bit of a surprise this one. Really was not enjoying it, specifically the singer’s intentionally-not-trying-to-sound-good style. “I’m Going to Spain” was particularly insufferable and “It’s a Curse” was not much better.
However from the grinding gritty intro of “Paranoia Man” to the end of the album I really enjoyed it. The vocals take a bit of a backseat, more of another texture as opposed to being the focus. There’s a manic driving rhythm, some funky electronic stuff and danceable punk beats. Really fun. Loved the jungly /breakbeat stuff, reminded me a lot of the PS2 Ratchet and Clank soundtracks which I love.
Highlights for me were basically all the second half but in particular “Paranoia Man”, “Service”, &” Past Gone Mad”
Close to a 5, but the first half holds it back too much for me.
I feel like I am both too young and too old to enjoy this. Too young to have any nostalgic feelings for this era of music and too old (read not a child) to enjoy it at face value.
There are some cool samples and some good beats but it’s all ruined by some kids shouting at me the entire time. I actually don’t get it at all, it’s just annoying. Maybe it’s supposed to be ironic or something but that doesn’t stop it being hard to listen to.
Unsure how to rate this as I was actively annoyed by it my first two listens. Specifically the vocals I thought were reminiscent of a primary school choir, and they would just make random noises with whatever instruments/objects they had to hand sometimes.
However I listened to it again at 4am and maybe I was just sleep deprived but I was really into it, I found it really fun and quirky in an endearing way. And of course i had enjoyed some of the groovy funk instrumentals the first time round as well. Either a 2 or a 4 so I’ll go down the middle with a 3
I’ve somehow never listened to any Springsteen before, but definitely glad to have now. I quite enjoyed this album, it has an aggressive gritty energy with Springsteens quite raw sounding vocals, and often a big wall of sound approach from the band.
There are some more contemplative moments as well, like the sombre “Racing in the Street” which do a lot to bring some variety to the album.
The occasional guitar solos in the album, whilst maybe not the most technically impressive, have a visceral quality I really enjoy and I think they serve the songs very well.
Favourite tracks were “Adam Raised a Cain” and “Prove it All Night”
A mix of Latin, funk, hip-hop and more; it’s all very competently played but somehow doesn’t coalesce into something particularly interesting to listen to, for me anyway.
The saving grace is that it’s played with a sense of fun and an infectious energy. Would maybe make for good background music at a party.
First half of the album is wall to wall bangers. Loses a bit of steam though, I didn’t care much for “Territorial Pissings”.
The next four tracks are decent but maybe a bit uninteresting, it’s kinda just more of the same. Luckily we get some variety with the fantastically melancholic “Something in the Way”.
The closer “Endless, Nameless” is perhaps overlong but I think does a great job of being chaotic and wild and noisy, without going so far as to become unmusical; I enjoyed it a lot.
Well it’s certainly not easy listening. It is however, surprisingly enjoyable. The first track “Swear Loaf” switches between a lovely melodic guitar section which accelerates into a big noisy riff with some dissonant vocals wailing over it. It kinda works!
The next few tracks the guitars grind and screech over throbbing bass lines, sometimes it works, sometimes it goes too far.
Then we get whatever is going on in “Hay” lots of weird effects but I enjoyed it.
“Human Cannonball” has a more standard song structure, it’s alright but not as interesting as the rest of the album.
Back to some more noisy mania for a couple of tracks and then a nice folksy world music one that’s inexplicably sung in Thai (I think).
The album closes with my favourite track “22 going on 23” which has a harrowing interview between a rape victim and a talk show host with crushing, oppressive guitar and bass over the top of it. It’s very atmospheric and moody.
Infuriatingly bland and clichéd. Some bad but mostly just fine. I didn’t enjoy a single second of it.
Listen to a lot of the tracks from this pretty regularly but been a while since I listened through the whole thing. Its really good, it has a pretty distinct grimy heaviness throughout which is very enjoyable. And Chris Cornell obviously has a pretty phenomenal voice.
You've got some pretty amazing tracks on here, "Black Hole Sun" is a certified classic, "Spoonman" is great fun, Cornell's vocals in that are particularly good. And then "Let Me Drown", "Fell on Black Days", "Superunknown", and "4th of July" are all excellent as well.
Tough decision on the star rating, it feels better than a 4 but I think it slightly overstays its welcome so I'm not sure I can give it a 5.
Didn’t really incite strong feelings for me either way on the whole. There were some things I liked however. I thought the instrumentals were pretty good throughout, the drums are played quite energetically and generally keep quite busy. The bass is pretty good throughout, especially in “Less than Zero”, “Alison”, and “Sneaky Feelings”.
The vocals are serviceable to good, although Elvis occasionally has a strange twang, particularly in the first half of the album.
Highlights for me were the very catchy “Blame it on Cain”, and then the last 3 tracks. Starting with “I’m Not Angry”, we go into a cool harder, heavier groove. This had Elvis’s best vocals for me, complemented by some cool, weird harmonica thing. And the guitar in this song is absolutely sick.
“Waiting for the End of the World” keeps a bit of the harder sound, with the guitar wailing between the lines of the chorus.
The last track, “Watching the Detectives”, has a sort of moody noir detective sound, over a reggae beat, which works surprisingly well.
An incredibly captivating album from start to finish. Not always immediately enjoyable to listen to but it all adds to the experience. One never knows what’s going to come next, the album flies between devastating beauty, mechanical clanking and grinding, and funky whimsy. And so much more. Tom Waits’ vocals vary from spoken word to bluesy singing to growly yells. The instrumentals are fantastic throughout, the marimba is a welcome surprise, the percussion is always interesting and the upright bass is absolutely phenomenal throughout.
We start off with the rhythmic banging of “Underground”. Marimba, brass and a delightfully eccentric sounding guitar accompany Tom as he growls about some underground civilisation or something. It’s completely bizarre but somehow mesmerising, maybe like how you can’t look away from a car crash, but like, in a good way.
“Shore Leave” sort of continues the pseudo-mechanical soundscape, but it’s more traditionally musical this time; a sort of bluesy shuffle. Tom does a sort of spoken word story in a raspy whisper which is just perfect.
“Dave The Butcher” is an instrumental track with a hammering organ and occasional percussion. It could be from the soundtrack of an old thriller/horror movie. It’s ok for what it is but even at just 2 minutes long it lasts longer than I’d like.
“Johnsburg, Illinois” is a short, sweet wistful song. Tom gives a wonderfully raw emotive performance that sounds like someone crying over an old Polaroid of one that got away.
The album continues in similar fashion, switching between different styles and stories. The only track that doesn’t do it for me is the national anthem-esque “In the Neighbourhood”, but I just really detest that sort of music.
The highlights for me are probably the 3 spoken word ones, particularly the darkly comic “Frank’s Wild Years”, which has a delightfully-inappropriate cheery rock organ. I don’t even know how to describe the title track but I absolutely love it, the vocals, the bass, the percussion are all so good. Finally the piano and bass of “Rainbirds” and “Soldier’s Things” are genuinely beautiful, the latter had me on the verge of tears.
Easy 5, look forward to hearing more Waits.
A great energetic and varied album. Patti is really emotive with the raw vocals, and the instrumentals are really solid throughout.
“Gloria” is a great opener, I love the way it builds and explodes into the chorus. I’m not so much of a fan of the next track, “Redondo Beach”, the reggae style doesn’t do much for me and I think Patti can stray into sounding a bit grating here.
“Birdland” is absolutely phenomenal, a 9 minute epic that starts with some soft smooth instrumentals with Patti almost whispering over the top. It builds slightly as Patti breaks into song. It’s over quickly though and we’re back to spoken word with the guitar dancing around in the background. From here it gradually builds, Patti and the piano picking up energy towards the climax and then fading again. Excellent.
“Free Money” is probably my favourite track. The instrumentals just sound great on here, and Patti as well.
I love Patti’s spoken word on “Land” with the furious guitar underneath. The sort of repurposing of Wilson Pickett’s “Land of 1000 dances” works surprisingly well.
“Elegie” works really well as a haunting closer, the dark bass with the intermittent distorted guitar chords give it a lot of atmosphere.
A warm soulful album which is easy-listening but not at the expense of songwriting depth. The instrumentation is thick but not heavy, a warm bass, acoustic guitar and light drums are occasionally accompanied by various woodwind; flutes, saxes and some traditional Irish instruments(?). There’s even a surprise harpsichord in “Everyone”.
In general the album is good but it can kind of blend together at times.
The standout track is without doubt the title track. What an incredible song. Great bass, great melody sung beautifully by Van Morrison, saxes thicken up the texture and flutes dance around in the background. There’s a bloody brilliant piano and then sax solo. The song finishes wonderfully with a sort of improvisational sounding vocal section and then a great triplet figure. Worth an extra star all by itself.
