Awesome
Totally unremarkable in the boring-est of ways. Vocals are drowning in reverb and buried behind a cacophony of bland instrumentals. This album is just an inferior Urban Hymns.
Very ahead of its time. Similar to the trailblazing the Beatles were doing around the same time. I will be coming back to this album in the future. I could do without the multiple 13+ minute tracks, but overall the sound of the project paved the way for the psych rock sub-genre.
Great brit rock album. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but can respect the musical vision. Lots of great guitar riffs. Main themes were religious doubt and breaking from the church. Again, not my cup of tea but it’s an original story to tell.
Hands down the most appalling album I’ve ever heard. This album has aged worse than milk. Front to back, the album never steers away from cringey lyrics and soundbites that could only appeal to a 13 year old boy. I thought I was missing something when I explored the project’s wiki page and critics thought it was a hilarious masterpiece. I’d love for one of them to please explain what is funny about raping a 15 year old. Or what is funny about treating women like garbage. If you’re looking to drop this list down to “1,000 Albums You Must Listen To Before You Die”, this is the one worth eliminating.
Took several listens to appreciate. Very mid album
Sampling was crazy on this. Wildly influential on modern rap. Highly politically charged.
Rocks. It’s like a cross between Nirvana, Tame Impala, and Green Day. Some of these songs sound like they belong on Lonerism. Love love love the middle of 1969 where the beat accelerates over the course of 30 seconds.
Easy listening. Classic punk. Vocals are too soft relative to the instrumentals imo. Hard to hear lyrics at times.
Abattoir Blues is the stronger album, and leans into “4” territory; The Lyre of Orpheus is solidly “3”. The only album that I could think of being somewhat similar that I’m familiar with is David Bowie’s Blackstar. There were also hints of Elvis on the track Breathless. The only track that had heard prior to listening to this album was O Children, which is popular on my wife’s Tiktok. Overall it stays interesting throughout and has original and fun lyrics.
Peak chill music. This is an album that you can throw on in the background and forget about it. If you listen closer, you’re gifted with clever wordplay and fantastic beats.
I don’t believe I can give this one a rating. It is a live album, so I should be comparing the live performance against studio performances. However, I do not know Metallica’s music, so I cannot make that judgement. Furthermore, the songs comprising this project tend to be the band’s more popular / well-known songs, so the songs are not played in the context of their original albums. For those reasons, it does not make sense to give this album a rating.
That being said, I did enjoy the dichotomy between the serene orchestral sounds and the heavy metal instrumentals. I did think this project was too long for its own good though (a whopping 2 hours 13 minutes). I get it’s a live album, but I could definitely trim this down to at least 90 minutes.
The album’s Wikipedia article reads, “The band actually learned the instruments needed to play the tunes, so they could perform live.” Yeah, I can tell. There is not much noteworthy material on this project. The instruments and beats sound amateur. The production is spotty. The cherry on top is I don’t care much for Pharrell’s vocals. I question why this album was included on the 1001 Albums list. There aren’t any memorable tracks. I don’t see any influences on later music stemming from this album. The positives that save this from a 1 star rating are the occasional (but seldom) clever beats from Pharrell and Lenny Kravitz’s guitar on Maybe. I was confused by the album cover, but it perfectly fits this confusing work from N.E.R.D. Overall, I think that people are heavily biased into thinking this album is much better than it is due to Pharrell’s name being slapped on it.
I debated whether to give this a 4 or a 5. But if this isn’t worthy of a 5, I don’t know what album is deserving of a 5. The production feels fresh despite it being over 50 years old. Each song encapsulates a unique sound and theme. Other than the boastful opening to Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing, I have no criticisms of this project. This album is worthy of its “classic” designation. Well done, Stevie. I will be coming back to this one in the future.
Funky funky funky. The album starts off with a banger, but struggles to maintain that strength throughout the rest of the project. The songs start to blend together. Beyond the opener “Shining Star”, only “Yearnin’ Learnin’” and a saxophone solo on “Africano” reached that same high point. Not bad, just a lot of “meh” between the highs.
There are good songs. There are okay songs. The biggest issue plaguing this project is vocals drowning in instrumentals. The instrumentals are great, but they completely cover up the vocals on some songs. The final two tracks on this project are bangers worthy of praise. Unfortunately, there’s a long stretch in the middle that just all blends together.
Very accessible synth pop album. There aren’t any areas of this album that feel weaker than other parts. It is just solid track after track. Fun rhythms and great melodies made this whole thing enjoyable. I can’t help but feel a massive influence on The Weeknd’s After Hours from this project, specifically “In Your Eyes”.
It’s crazy how this one artist is the face of an entire genre. I can’t say I’ve listened to any other reggae music in my life, so I don’t really have anything to compare this against. It’s easy listening. I don’t have much else to say other than I feel like I need to be at a beach to listen to this.
Exemplifies the classic rock n’ roll spirit. Lewis delivers a fiery live performance, hammering his piano keys while belting out vocals. However, many of the performed songs are not his own. It just feels like he performed 50s rock n’ roll greatest hits, which I suppose makes sense to play if you’re performing live. Unrelated to my review: Spotify only has like 2/3 of the songs from this project. I had to scope out the rest of the songs on Youtube. Fortunately I wasn’t missing much with what was missing.
The best way I can describe the sound of this project is “backrooms elevator / hold music”. It maintains a constant eerie factor throughout the whole album where something just feels slightly off. I don’t understand it. It’s like an itch you can’t scratch. I considered one-starring this one, but because of the band’s ability to make me question what I’m listening to the entire time, it earns a coveted second star. It’s not bad. Just unnerving for the most part.
Very conflicted on this one. Some songs are painfully simple, but others are timeless club jams. All things considered, it’s a very catchy disco record. Sidebar somewhat related to the review: the standout single “Good Times” sounds awfully similar to “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge, down to the rhythm. Turns out, the two core members of Chic were part of Sister Sledge and released “We Are Family” less than a year before “Good Times”. They basically just rebranded a hit track.
Not bad. The themes didn’t all click with me, but that’s okay. I enjoyed the twangy indie-rock guitar riffs sprinkled throughout the record. However, many of these songs felt more like standalone singles rather than part of a cohesive album.
