A classic. People seem to look down on it because it's not OK Computer, Kid A or In Rainbows. Almost any other band though, this would be their magnum opus and the fact that it isn't as good as those other albums doesn't mean it's not still 5 stars. Brilliant
This was OK but if I'm in the mood I'd just go back to Superfly
I can respect what they're doing, it's just not my bag. It's good "sitting on the deck with friends" social background groove but after two goes it didn't hook me to actually play it ever again
I was always more of a west coast guy. This is the best album I've gotten so far
Soundgarden have always been a "I enjoy the odd song if it comes on but never felt the need to listen to a whole album" band for me. They remain that.
It was like a paint by numbers inspirational movie soundtrack
Expected to enjoy this, based on my recollection of Supergrass way back when. Enjoyed it even more than I expected
An elevator in a hotel lobby crashed into an interpretive dance group and said "let's collaborate and sell it to some corporates who want to get some artistic cred".
Someone else said "if it ain't Slick give it the Flick". So true. I always felt I was a tripper born into the life of a computer nerd, so Somebody to Love and White Rabbit have always spoken to me at a DNA level. So I was looking forward to this. In reality, there are two absolutely brilliant songs and the rest are drab pop-folk beige.
Couldn't finish it. The two singles are decent enough - not my taste but they had a uniqueness to them at the time which means I don't hate them - and the first song was OK, but the rest? I got as far as the terrible one with Fred Durst and bailed. I'm a completionist but not THAT much of a completionist.
10 seconds into the first song I was prepared to give this 1 star. Synthy over bright over produced 80's pop - none of those descriptors have ever appealed to me, even back in the 80's. Well, I guess for a week in primary school I thought Transvision Vamp were good, but that passed. Scritti Politti were never on my radar then or since. So I started looking them up. "Leftist punk" was a word used to describe them, but alas, long before this album. They shifted to synth pop a long time ago. "Intellectual and political lyrics" which when I read this I was listening to the line "drowning in my teardrops (teardrops)"... OK then...
(Jumping ahead here but having said all that, the lyrics to Lover To Fall were standing out a bit so I looked them up, and yes, despite the MGTOW vibes, there are some clever things going on there.)
But by the time Perfect Way started, my head started to hurt. I shouldn't blame them - I'm lacking sleep, over stressed and I had a headache yesterday too - but still, I'm choosing to blame Scritti Politti for this one. But I promised my son I'd finish it. So finish it I did. And it remains 1 star.
Oh, one last thing... The vocals are just terrible. It's like he's singing and mewing at the same time
I didn't like this as such, but given the terrible run we've been given (Ute Lemper, Korn, Scritti Politti) I gotta at least say that I didn't hate this. It had a vibe, it had a flow. The beats were cool. It's not my thing but I can at least recognise that it's good at what it aims to be and I can see how it would have been influential. So while I'm not going to listen to this again out of choice, it's not something I'd be itching to turn off if it was playing elsewhere.
Not bad other than waking the witch, but not something i’ll come back to. It was nice that the viral song (running up that hill) wasn’t a standout, but again, i never got that bandwagon so 2 stars for me
Sounds like the soundtrack to a cool 80's movie. Of various genres. But not something I'd listen to for just the music
After listening to and liking songs here and there of Björk since the early/mid 90's, this is the first time I've ever listened to a whole album.
On my review of Superunknown by Soundgarden I said something along the lines of "I've always enjoyed when one of their songs came on but never felt the need to listen to a whole album. Now having done so, I feel validated in that belief". Soundgarden are a band I like in small doses but in larger doses they aren't as engaging.
I always thought Björk was the same. Ah well, I can't be right all the time and sometimes being wrong is nice. Very solid album, much enjoyed, will listen again, and looking forward to more from her.
I think (well, I know) I am late to this. I suspect if I discovered Elliot Smith back in the 90's I'd be a big fan to this day. So other than him sounding remarkably like songs I've heard in various movies/tv shows (and I'm sure it was him) I had never actually heard of him until now.
Which makes it tricky. I listened twice. There are definitely some tunes that are stuck in my head. At the same time, this is a little over produced for my tastes - he's channelling The Beatles hard and sometimes that feels a bit forced. And, despite being a Beatles fan, this turns me off a little. There is a conflict between "vulnerable and raw" intent and "bright and polished" production.
My rating system is "3 stars means it was good, but not something i'm likely to listen to again". This get's 3 but I will give it more of a go.
I can hear the influence on PJ Harvey and Hole. I can also hear the influence on 4 Non Blondes and Counting Crows. So you win some, you lose some.
It's all a bit bright and manic for me. I think I'm more of a shoegazer. I wanna feel it in my gut not buzzing around my head.
It makes me thankful I'm not American and surrounded by religion. I kept wondering "are these guys critiquing their upbringing or lamenting what they lost when they broke out of it?". Maybe it answers that with extended listening but the revivalist tone never connected for me. So stars for this are hard - is it good? Well, I think so. On an initial listening at least I think I got what they were aiming at which is a positive. Did I enjoy it musically? No. Did I hate it? No. Would I listen again? No.
Frank channelling Dick Van Dyke referring to the "chim-en-knee red" - a capering pronunciation - as he watches his house, murdered wife and hated chihuahua burn is just one of many signs of brilliance here, a subtle layer to the joy felt by the loathsome Frank.
With the cacophonic sound and Waits' gutteral voice it can be easy to miss things like this on Swordfishtrombones, but there are plenty of them to find.
As an Australian, Town With No Cheer captures the vibe of the region very well. Yes, he uses Fahrenheit to refer to the heat, but I can forgive that as him talking to an audience that won't understand that 40 degrees is actually hot. As an side, I read about Serviceton and the border dispute a couple of years ago. It's a story well worth digging into.
I particularly like that the music is not just a beat, vibe or feeling. It's part of the story. The beat in 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six isn't just a weirdly timed stomp-march beat but it is also a mimic of the ritualistic cocking and firing of rifles in a military memorial. Some might find the beat jarring, but I felt it was the actual story being told and the lyrics were the history behind that story.
Previously I'd heard and enjoyed Bone Machine and Franks Wild Years (the album, not the story as told on Swordfishtrombones) and enjoyed them. This is perhaps a better introduction to Waits than those albums. Franks Wild Years can be a bit melancholy, and Bone Machine can be almost too harsh in its presentation. This has melancholy, it has harshness, and it has a whole bunch of other stuff too. I think next time I'm in the mood for Waits I won't be reaching for Bone Machine again I'll reach for this instead.
Fun i guess but all a bit samey for myvtastes
Getting real "late 90's-early 00's ensemble rom-com" vibes from this. Dianna is runing back to confess her love to Craig, finally realising that Chet was actually just a jerk in a fancy suit, and Louise was just about to start the journey back to Kansas when Anthony steps out the bus door holding roses, and Somewhere is playing over it all. In the pre-release version of the movie Steve never kicked his needle habit, but that was removed from the final edit, but remained in the soundtrack.
That is not to say this is bad - soundtracks to bad rom-coms are often good. I don't see myself ever listening again, but if someone ever does make my screenplay "Love Stories From New York" and uses this in the soundtrack then cue the Leo pointing meme. I just hope they leave Steve in, he was the heart of the tale.
I saw Steve Wonder about 20 years ago at Rod Laver Arena. 10's of 1000's of people dancing like they were in rapture. I have never felt like such an outsider. I just didn't get it. It's like Abba - it clearly speaks to people, makes them feel joy and wanna get up and dance. I get no such feeling. I can appreciate the technical elements but it just doesn't connect with me at all. I'm not hating here, not being contrarian, it's just what it is.
2 stars because Living In The City is a great song, although the version on this album has 2 minutes of bloat on the end that I expect was meant to make us feel like we were on the streets but just made me want to click "skip"
As background this is great - never felt like it was dragging, never felt anxious to move on. Listening critically, there are some great tones in here, especially in the first song where you can almost hear the delamination of the guitars. It makes me want to check out the documentary. But will I listen to this again? The answer is no. Not because it's bad (it's most definitely not) but the language gap means I have no idea what they are singing about which makes emotional connection hard, and the style has a vibe and feeling but it's not a vibe or feeling I'm ever in the mood for.
I can respect this but it's all a bit polished for my tastes.
I like my blues to sound like it's being played by a virtuoso who is a dozen beers and bottle of rye deep and he's had to tape his guitar back together because a good old boy thought he looked at his woman the wrong way - it's held together now by rage, torment and gorilla tape and damn it sounds good.
This is not that. They don't sound like they made a bargain with the devil. They sound like they practised for thousands of hours, dialling their tone, their rhythm, their cohesiveness. And, as I said, I can respect that, but it's not what I like in the blues.
After the first few tracks it turns very jam-band. Again, I'm not opposed to jam music but I feel there are two styles - this is the "let's vibe on this for a while before resolving back to the original song" style jam. It's wandering, noodly, and it creates a vibe but doesn't tell a story. I prefer the jam that is telling the story - think some of the stuff on the Elder album Dead Roots Stirring, or maybe Hendrix (or even better - Uluru Rock by Earthless). Jams that are telling the tale - they feel free form but they have a structure: an escalation, a variation, a climax, then a resolution. One is saying "we're having fun, let's just hang out for a while longer" while the other is actively moving the story forward. Both have a place, but only one of them do I actually enjoy.
Never been a Zepp guy. Having said that, Since I've Been Loving You is a bloody great.
This album used to get played almost daily on my school bus back in the 90's. I think there is much to be said for listening to this album through a shitty cassette player and rattly bus speakers because listening now with decent headphones it is all a bit polished and hollow.
It sounds manufactured. Maybe I'm just cynical. It's clearly a classic, but it sounds much better in my memory than it does 30 years later.
Maybe it’s just where I’m at but I really liked this. My beach boys experience has been “california girls” (blech) -> pet sounds (incredible) -> kokomo (double blech) so i really didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully, the album title is misleading. It’s a bit all over the place (Disney Girls going into Student Demonstation is certainly a choice) but i will definitely be putting this in rotation and it may well grow into a 5 star
Not my thing
Not my thing. Didn't finish
The highs on this album are very, very high. Four Women is incredible, and Lilac Wine made Jeff Buckleys version feel hollow - Buckley performed it but Simone LIVES it.
His cadence and inflections remind me a bit of Dylan, which is not a bad thing to me. I was into it, at first, but then it kind of just dragged. Because have to give whole stars I can't give it 2.5 so in this case I rounded down.
Loved this as a teen. For a month or so. You can sense the "we're moving from punk to pop-punk" in it, although at least some of it is closer to punk than subsequent stuff. It maybe gets an extra star for the memories.
Couldn't finish it. I think I'm doing real well getting through things but maybe it's the day, maybe it's the weather, maybe it's me, or maybe it's just the album, but I got to song 6 and just couldn't go on.
aaaaaa.... eeeeee... aaaaa-aa-aa. neeeee... ahhhh-ah-aaa.
I have an English mate of a certain age who likes "football" (it's soccer mate, get it right) and he loves the Stone Roses. I have a feeling he may have a reference to them tattooed somewhere but that could be Dropkick Murphys reference too, I dunno. Nothing alike but he loves them both. And he loves that awful Disturbed cover of The Sounds of Silence. Which prompts me to ask: "why am I mates with him"? Beggers can't be choosers, I guess.
This is at least not even half as offensive as that awful Disturbed cover. At least it's a vibe, but I can't understand the cultish love my mate has for it. I can understand saying "this is alright". I can't imagine loving it enough for a mate to think I had a tattoo somewhere.
Offensively bad. The title song is a boring , soul-less piece of saccharine tripe that somehow removes half the lyrics yet still seems to drag on forever. The cover of It Ain’t Me Babe is even worse. Both songs have the potential to invoke feeling but The Byrds transform them into hollow, meaningless shells. And this is why I find it so offensive - they put so much effort into sounding “pleasant” that nothing is left.
Don’t have much to say. Didn’t grab me but it was kinda cool. I now have 110th street stuck in my head though which isn’t actually on this album.
Well, this is a tough one...I went down a rabbit hole here. Aqualung (the title track) is a very sad tale, but I was curious what others thought and looked up a couple of reviews on google. People were really, really critical of the titular character. I'm not convinced. He's not a disgusting letch, he's a poor homeless man that we see through the eyes of the people observing him - the young girls, the salvation army, the person wandering the park, people who look at him with disgust/contempt, and/or sympathy. Yet some of the reviews were VERY critical of the songwriting as trying to make us feel sympathetic to a pedo - something I did not get at all. Seems some reviewers can look past the actual disgusting behaviour of bands like Led Zep, Aerosmith, MJ, etc, but a writer asking us to have sympathy for a homeless person is a step too far.
Similar can be said for Cross-eyed Mary - a young girl seeking validation through destructive means, but convincing herself she is above her peers because of it. I think this behaviour is far more common - if mostly not as extreme - in many youth. But instead of feeling sorry for Mary, and being critical of her environment, the reviews seem to think this was intended to be voyeuristic. Am I being too generous of the intent? I did not find it voyeuristic at all, I again found it sad and confronting.
It's an interesting album. Some stuff is great, some is close. A lot is confronting and thought provoking. But is it something I'll come back to? I don't think so. Usually my metric is "3 stars means I won't turn it off if it comes on but I won't choose it" and "4 stars means I'll put this on when the mood strikes me". I might have to deviate a little because while I won't choose to put this on it DID make me think a lot more than most the other stuff I'm being fed here.
I like Bowie, but to paraphrase the great Alan Partridge, when asked what my favourite Bowie album is my response would be "I'd have to say, The Best of David Bowie". Maybe that will change as I get through more of his stuff but for now it holds. I guess to be more specific for this album, I'll say that the Prettiest Star is both undeniably Bowie, and also undeniably bland - and the same can be said for many of the songs on here.
I was a bit surprised to see how polarising reviews for this were. It's certainly not a favourite but it definitely isn't a 1 star either. Gave it a couple of listens, enjoyed it. Favourite song was probably "What Time?" which was very different to the rest.
Hadn't heard of Robert Wyatt before. Looked at some reviews in the leadup and really didn't know what to expect. The reviews implied chaotic art gibberish. It wasn't what I got though. I should have trusted the name/cover and ignored the reviews.
This was hypnotic and beautiful.
Criticisms of his voice, as usual, seemed to miss the point. Yes, he hovers around the tune and never hits it, but that just adds to the floaty, ethereal feel. The flaws add to the music.
I really enjoyed this.
Not just one of Dylans best, one of the best albums ever made full stop.
I’ve had Bowie and Dylan this week, and now I get this. It sounds very Bowie with the odd Dylan mixed into it. I mean, it wasn’t bad but if I never hear it again I won’t feel I lost anything
Not my thing, not something I can say I enjoyed, BUT... I at least respect the variety. This is a huge mix of different things - world fusion, dub, trip hop, and all in a sort of 80's/90's pop dressing. I don't like it - as I said, it's not my thing - but at least this is different. I got into this challenge to get exposed to new things. This was definitely a win in that regard. Song one is a pretty of the times pop tune, then song 2 goes almost into Church's Under The Milky Way territory with a world music fusion spin, then when you get to Everyman's An Island (song 7) and if someone was to say "Massive Attack cite this as an influence" I'd totally believe it (almost certainly not true, but the vibe is there).
So while from a personal enjoyment perspective this is a 2 star, from a list objective perspective it's a 4 star.
Two all-time great albums in a week. Happy days for me.
Didn't grab me, didn't push me away. She sounded familiar (and looking her up, yeah, I know a couple of her songs) but didn't recognise anything on this album.
