The perfect example of why I hate most electronic music. What separates this from the worst electronic album? I played 30 seconds before my wife, who can listen to anything, said, Wow, that’s annoying. Yep, well said.
One of those albums where you recognize every track you hear. This plays like The Who’s greatest hits. Loved it, and I’m not a big Who fan.
Predictably cooky and zany. “Lava” is the only song I hadn’t heard before; otherwise it’s a nice walk down memory lane and that’s all.
I always worried that I could have been a great Goth in the 1980s because I loved the Cure. After listening to Floodland I realized I dodged a bullet. This is so predictably Goth - every song in a minor key, every chorus sung in octaves, choirs, vocals sung in a creepy commanding tone. I feel like I just listened to an alternate Lost Boys soundtrack.
I didn’t hate it. But I’m not sure what makes this album great. It’s great music to work by, but in saying that I have no recollection of anything on this album after several listens. It doesn’t even go in one ear and out the other. It just permeates the air and doesn't dare challenge you or please you in any way.
Queen after 10 years of meth abuse.
I’m torn. Punk isn’t supposed to be this good, this polished. “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” has innovative chord progressions and hit the UK top 20! It could be a little raunchier and amateurish, but I’ll take it.
I’m starting to think that Taylor Swift is actually AI generated. Her melodies seem manufactured with no phrasing, no aim and no purpose, and they’re instantly forgettable. Listening to her songs is like staring at the soulless eyes of the animated kids in The Polar Express. Just creepy.
If you’re expecting 180 bpm thrashing for 60 minutes, you’ll be disappointed (although there are a couple of songs to get you sweating). Wire has some surprises, and you can hear seeds of grunge pop up some 15 years before it officially hatched. These guys are definitely influential and were actually looking to help punk evolve.
In the midst of synthesizers, drum machines and avant garde fashion, here came Dexys wearing overalls and playing banjos. “Come on Eileen” gets better the deeper you examine it, and “Jackie Wilson Said” blends the Celtic folk sound with 1969s R&B. There aren’t enough musical ideas to last a whole album, but this still sounds like a breath of fresh air.
I’m not a fan of jazz, and in trying to understand why Kind of Blue is good I got lost in modal music and bebop. All I know is this music evokes pleasure - a conversation between players that’s relaxing and free. I didn’t know jazz could be this satisfying.
Better than expected, especially after the first two tracks which were just noisy. But then it gets interesting - syncopated rhythms, the almost prog Three Days, and the classicBeen Caught Stealing redeems it. I doubt I’ll go back to it, but it gives me a newfound respect of the godfathers of grunge.
TIL that Quiet Riot was a Slade cover band. I heard this album back in the 80s when quiet Riot copied them - screeching, rabid guitars, etc. There are some good musical ideas but they get lost in Noddy Holder’s nails-on-chalkboard voice. Hard pass.
Not displeasing.
What a joy - accessible jazz with predicable rhythms and a soothing vibe that left me wanting more.
Why?
The Flaming Lips are like Joy Division. I love every note and beat of the instruments and am mesmerized until the lead singer opens his mouth. Wayne Coyne sounds like someone at a karaoke bar - not even trying to hit the right notes and almost makes the music sound like a joke.
This made the list before 1993’s This Time? This album contains no new ideas and contains every musical cliche that makes country music such a caricature of itself - the same chord structure, same bass line, same fiddles. I was predicting the chord changes and melodies before Yoakam even sang them.
What a joy to listen to in the midst of this wasteland of 1000 albums. If you ever encounter someone who doesn’t understand how music can have feelings, play this for them and let them get lost in the ethereal vocals and echoing guitars.
My hatred for Oasis centered on the attitude of the Gallagher brothers. It took one listen of Definitely Maybe for me to realize I hate their music too. Phil Spector had his wall of sound; Oasis has a wall of noise punctuated by the brothers’ incessant whine. Any interesting musical moments come courtesy of the Beatles. I always thought the failure of Britpop in the U.S. was due to the “Britishness” of the music and lyrics, but no, it’s just annoying noise.
Half-assed, uninteresting blues with a huge amount of cultural appropriation injected into it. No redeeming qualities whatsoever.
What a pleasant surprise. What at first sounded like sheer anarchy started growing on me; it was as if Gabriel-era Genesis Ike up from a coma in 2000 and was really pissed. While I may not listen to it again, I applaud the workmanship and concepts.
Three solid stars. Three stars in spite of David Lee Roth, who ruins every song he attempts to sing. You can hear the arrogant timbre in his voice and it instantly lowers the credibility of every Van Halen album until 5150.
What a strangely addicting album. It’s odd yet grounded; modern yet retro. I found myself drawn in to the hypnotic, harmonic and repeating motifs in this, where everything sounds new even after the fifth listen. Wonderful.
What starts as a promising change from the wall of noise that usually accompanies Britpop/shoegaze - the desperate “Sonnet” is particularly poignant, as is “The Drugs Don’t Work” - Urban Hymns dies halfway through due to uninspired music and too much formula. Add to that the annoying ubiquity of “Bittersweet Symphony” and you have a pretty forgettable album.
Elvis Costello’s songs always sound like he put five too many musical ideas into each chorus and verse. It’s complex without any real reason and sounds computed instead of expressive. And this album, released in 1994, sounds exactly like his earlier work with the Attractions.
This more than Kraftwerk influenced the synth pop bands of the 1980s. Such beauty and simplicity and repetition. This isn’t cold Europop at all.
This is performance art, not music. I feel I should be snapping my fingers and wearing a beret at someone’s open mike night. It’s like everyone has made this silent pact that she’s really bold and experimental without looking for the music. I couldn’t finish this pretentious garbage.
Reminds me of Trump’s Oval Office - lots of shiny things that look impressive but serve no purpose. What few musical ideas that exist are covered up in layer upon layer of instrumentation. No but Add Donald Fagen’s annoying voice and you get musical braggadocio that I now believe punk was rebelling against Steely Dan, not prog rock.
Obviously a classic. Yes, it goes on for too long and might have been the greatest album ever made had it been one disc. Yes, Phil Spector’s production is distracting and bloviating at times. But this is such a pleasing part of the evolution of George Harrison, proving that he had a lot of good stuff in the can while the Beatles were still recording. This just feels magical, Beatlesque and epic.
I feel like I need to listen to this live in a big field with 500 people smoking pot around me. It’s one long jam session in different movements. It Must Be a Camel is the only song that sounds composed; the rest just sound like they’re being offbeat just because he’s wacky!
Considering I had no expectations fm this album, I was a bit surprised that it didn’t suck as much as I thought. The first four tracks are testosterone-infused yawping that define everything we hate about grunge.
Then things get a little interesting and varied as they slowly start to break that mold. The last two songs sound like a different band. I still blame them for Creed, but I will grudgingly admit there’s something there.
This sounds like a bunch of guys got together at a high school reunion to “get the band back together” after shotgunning 17 beers each. Couldn’t finish it.
I yearn to get back the minutes I spent listening to this shit.
Yes it’s dated. Yes it’s corporate rock. But Peter Frampton puts on a good show here, and the songs are warm, memorable and accessible.
Music to dance to while tripping out on E at 2 am in a club. Honestly, while in this state you could be listening to TV static and not care. I prefer TV static to this any day of the week.
I appreciate the 1980s indie sound, and this is definitely accessible and exceptional at times. But it’s indie in the sense that they don’t seem to have a great deal of songwriting talent or prowess in their instruments. Good for them for making the old punk DIY aesthetic, but there’s nothing new here.
I have never been convinced that Elvis was nothing more than a fossil embedded in the rock revolution of the 1950s who was kept in the spotlight because of his past accomplishments. This album confirms that. He sounds like an Elvis impersonator - the same sexy mumbles, horns, I-IV-V chord structures with the rockabilly bass line, female backup singers on reverb - a caricature of himself singing to tired formulaic templates. And to think the Stooges debuted this same year…
One of the pivotal albums of the 1980s. The Human a league made electronic music accessible to everyone. The complexities of the production created a warmth and personal character to the music and even softened Phil Oakley’s sometimes impersonal vocals. It’s music to dance to, to enjoy and to bask in.
What can I say that hasn’t been said already about this groundbreaking album? While I still prefer the Bends, this album as the start of the metamorphosis of Radiohead from a guitar band to something more post modern and obtuse. I’m still adjusting to the post-modern Radiohead, but I don’t mind this bridge at all.
