Previously biased against Prince, but I would love to be proven wrong so we'll give it another shot.
1999 - Fine. Heard it countless times. Reminds me of an inside joke, so that's nice I guess.
Little Red Corvette - More of a jam than expected. Could be enjoying myself a lot less.
Delirious - That's Prince for sure. Standard minimal production - to be expected. Vaguely irritated by the extended instrumental outro that doesn't really change or do anything interesting, but not overly offended.
Let's Pretend We're Married - Reminded of early Depeche Mode. The silly synth stabs at the end of phrases during the pre-chorus made me chuckle. Unhinged vibes won me over in the middle, though he's hitting me with another extended instrumental outro that just repeats the same riff we've been listening to the whole time. Four for four at this point with that.
D.M.S.R. - John Lennon vocals? With Grace Jones instrumental. I can dig overall. Not blown away, but sure. Ending kind of scary.
Automatic - Fun weird vocal effects in the middle, but I did check to see if we were near the end and we sure are not. Vibing considerably less to this one, but we'll see if he can't stick the landing.... in another two and a half minutes. Good lord, things are happening in this extended instrumental outro. Consider my expectations subverted. Oh just kidding that was the end. Well alright.
Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) - Quite like the energy of this track so far. Great frenetic drum loop and strange sounding synth hit. Kind of giving Meredith Monk x Michael Jackson. Really dug that one. My favorite so far by far.
Free - Not sure I'm in the mood for a doo-wop ballad after that last one, but we'll see what happens. Yeah, not about that one so much. Kind of fizzles out at the end too, which is definitely the point, but I feel sort of let down by it.
Lady Cab Drive - Funky. Some ear-pleasing keyboard solos going on. Quite liking this half rap second verse with the lady moaning/distressed in the background. Don't feel like the entire song lives up to its own potential, but I don't half mind while it's on.
All the Critics Love U in New York - Full on Grace Jones going on here. Really fucking with this instrumental on this. And the swirly hypnotic texture that happens in this second chorus line, that's awesome. Quite like this one. Wonder if Prince ever listened to Ms. Jones? ...
International Lover - Got more of the falsetto Prince vocals going on with this one, which I'm enjoying more now than I usually do. Nice contrast. Jazzy business. An enjoyable closer. Still not blown away but nice.
Can't fault this thing for being what it is. It sure is funky, but I'm just not wowed by the musicality or the composition of these songs. The band kills it, but it sort of feels like any decent band could have killed this material. All that said, I could definitely see myself reading back on all this and disappointedly shaking my head. It's definitely the kind of album that I bet I would grow to enjoy after continued listens. But will I continue to listen?
Led Zeppelin has always been one of those bands that I thought it was best I just didn't have an opinion on. But now I suppose I'm about to have one. Not typically my style of music, but now I'm emotionally prepared to give it a shot.
Whole Lotta Love - Was expecting the blues rock. Was not expecting the psych elements and various wooshing. Happy to be surprised. Stellar opener. I'm excited to continue to be surprised.
What Is and What Should Never Be - Pretty cool vocal effects on the opening of this one. Realizing at this point that I've been conflating Def Leppard with this band to absolutely the latter's detriment. This is pretty great. Giving rock and roll Beach Boys.
The Lemon Song - The riff on this one fuckin rips. And then the tempo shifts and I couldn't be more all in. Hell yeah to this song.
Thank You - Enjoying the variety on this album so far. Organ and vocal harmonies nice change of pace. Rough lyrics though on "happiness, sad, glad" business. They make it up with this incredible high timbred organ solo outro though, no hard feelings. Dips out and comes back in. So cool.
Heartbreaker - Side two opening coming in suitably rocking. Not entirely moved by this track, but definitely not not enjoying myself. Ending is great.
Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman) - Was expecting this one to go somewhere more than it did. Straight forward rocker without any of the cool compositional diversity that has colored the rest of the record.
Ramble On - Folky going on here, I'm ready. Whoa to this weird sustained double guitar texture. Delicious vocal panning going on at the end of this one. Maybe my favorite so far. Everything I didn't know I wanted.
Moby Dick - Fuck yeah dude
Bring It On Home - Nice little cover to close out the record. Could have liked it to keep the subdued echoey sort of energy of the beginning through the whole thing, but bringing the whole band in for a grand finale works too. Okay they heard me for that ending. Splendid.
Alright, alright, what a fool I was and continue to be. I'm fully taken aback by this record's creativity and artistic merit. Wayyyyy more interesting and forward thinking than I had previously assumed. Shame on me. Excited to dive deeper into their oeuvre.
We're Stevie respecters around here. I've only ever listened to Songs in the Key of Life before, so I'm excited to get another record under my belt here. Expecting more of what I know he can do.
Smile Please - The growls and the diddy-bongs are quite charming. Lovely little tune.
Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away - Jesus. Perfectly decent gospel number.
Too Shy To Say - Beautiful tune on this one. Quite like the arrangment of just the piano and slide guitar. Gorgeous.
Boogie On Reggae Woman - Not sure I fully vibe with this one. Funky for sure, but not a lot of movement and it ended when something actually ear-catching was finally going on.
Creepin' - Really interesting mood with this one. Major key and relatively happy sounding, but this slithery organ line and the slightly uncomfortable chord progressions really stay true to the title.
You Haven't Done Nothin' - Yes to this one. Just a full on Stevie rocker.
It Ain't No Use - Another one that I feel stays in its own pocket for a bit too long. Groovy baseline, but I want more things to happen with this material.
They Won't Go When I Go - Heard this one before, and of course the George Michael version. Absolutely stunning.
Bird of Beauty - Definitely still riding the high of the last song. Love the elevator samba going on around here. Totally about it.
Please Don't Go - Decent enough track to close it out. Not much to say on this one, but it's pleasant enough while it's on.
Certainly a pretty good album. High highs and the worst it gets is middling. Feel like I would say that I like Songs in the Key of Life more, but I'll for sure turn to this if I want a more bite-size Stevie. Because holy shit, They Won't Go When I Go. Will definitely be seeing this on my shelf soon.
Ah hell yeah, Bruce. Such a great album. Happy to get something I'm quite familiar with after three days of doing this, because I was started to feel inadequate as a self-styled well rounded music lover smh
Thunder Road - Love this song. Just such a wonderful and evocative sound. The saxophone-led outro is just everything I love in a rock song.
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out - Hell yeah, getting some piano blues up in here. Love this song.
Night - Coming out swinging with the saxophones immediately on this one. And then Bruce doubling down on the Bruce vocals. Perfection.
Backstreets - The composition of this song is top notch. Verse melody is so tense and delicious until the chorus erupts in the resolution. And if that wasn't good enough, you have the last two minutes.
Born to Run - Absolutely classic and highly influential. This sound is the sound of some of my favorite songs. Love love love this one.
She's the One - His songwriting ability is so strong. I'm in bafflement of these little pop motifs that he builds rock songs around seemingly effortlessly. This one always reminds me of something Billy Joel would write but better.
Meeting Across the River - Splendid little ballad. Perfect way to calm us down from the last couple of bangers and prime us for Jungleland.
Jungleland - Feels like there's not much I can say on this song in a text format like this. This is the one. The kind of song that you have to turn on again as soon as it ends and I for sure did this time. Future me, I know you know what I mean, but if you've somehow forgotten, just listen to this one again.
Feels like I haven't said much of substance on this record in comparison to others, but what really can I say? There's not really anything experimental going on here, unless you count a complete genius mastery of genre and form as experimental. So so so so good. One of the greats for sure.
