For years, I’ve heard many people, some of whom I respect, continue to praise Prince for his genius and amazing songwriting. Of course, I’ve heard the radio hits and never quite understood all of the reverence. Well, I’ve finally listened to a prince album front to back and I still don’t understand the reverence. I will admit that he writes some decent hooks and some of the synth work is interesting, but I find his singing to be obnoxious and the songs are repetitive. If you want funk listen to parliament, if you want pop listen to MJ
What a great album! Massive beats, massive melodies, massive flows… it’s so interesting to hear an old school British-made hip-hop album, to recognize the innovation, and creativity. Not to mention the heavy reggae influence. Definitely recommend this one.
I appreciate Mitchell’s artistry, her unmistakeable voice and phrasing, the raw production and instrumentation, the personal, everyday, abstract lyrics and yet… I don’t feel like I need to listen to this album again. She is just not my cup of tea and that’s ok. Having said all that, River is a timeless song, and listening to the album has motivated me to find as many high-quality covers as I can find.
Kind of interesting but too meandering and experimental for me. The band is pretty tight, especially the drummer. I would be interested to hear them play more straight ahead jazz, rock or blues. Maybe spend a little more time developing melodies during their improvisations…
I enjoyed this album. I would describe it as having a strong pop sensibility, yet more nuanced. The choruses and melodies have a lot of the hooks you would expect in typical pop, but they are just a little more interesting, sometimes going to dissonance when you might be expecting the same resolution you've heard 1,000 times. I also appreciate the unique quality of Costello's voice, something like an "emo punk lounge singer". The album has beautiful arrangements, especially the piano and keyboard parts. Would recommend.
Yea, this album has some bangers / incredibly familiar songs since the band is so famous. Overall, it's fun, has a great energy and was innovative for its time. Probably familiarity bias, but it's also kind of boring and the lyrics can be pretty childish (no surprise, given the cover art...).
I appreciate the energy, the punk vibe and the references to various pop songs which obviously influenced this band. Some of the tracks were interesting (Country Song, Rave On) but overall, I felt this album was firmly mediocre.
Confidence, swagger, bravado, whatever you want to call it. Beyoncé’s attitude on most of the album can be described that way. Fearless as well. The lyrics feel very personal and raw. There is also a lot of sexual energy, but it seems like it is on her terms, which matters. Probably want to skip this one in the presence of minors though, due to the graphic nature of some of the songs. Standout tracks for me were Haunted, XO and Heaven.
Springfield's voice is very soulful, and perfectly suited to these pop standards from the 60's. Some of the songs are a little flat and don't take full advantage of her vocal talent, but overall, this is a good album of classic Motown inspired pop.
This album certainly has a punk / alternative energy to it that I can respect. I didn't care for the music that much, the singer's nasally voice was just kind of grating. The songs probably would have sounded better if the production was cleaner, but I have a feeling that is not what the band was going for. Overall, I'm a little disappointed because I was not familiar with this band's music, but I do recall a lot of musicians from the 80's showing them massive respect (an interview with Kirk Hammett from some VH1 documentary comes to mind...)
