While I understand the cultural significance, the album itself hasn’t aged that well. Beats are OK, delivery meh, and so much swearing. Like… I get why it’s so important as a piece of art, paving the way for generations to come, but, it doesn’t do much to me.
Got this the day after Enter the Wu Tang.
This, I love. Creative, young group of guys creating art.
Melancholy as an artform
Awesome vibe, great guitar work, but I cannot get around the whiny voice of Siouxsie. Individual songs that appear in my shuffle playlists: amazing! A whole album though… not for me.
Not my favourite album of his, but his music always makes me feel melancholic and longing to a feeling of lonely freedom
Oh man! What a discovery. I've spent all 34 something years of my life thinking soul/funk was not for me. Until this day, that is. It was my 6th album of the project. Originally skipped, listened approximately a month later. What a piece of craftsmanship! Such creativity, unexpected twists, turns, pieces of melody, sound effects, instruments. Best parts of the songs are always around 75% for me. I am utterly impressed. Love it!
Folky, raw, imperfect, with great instrumental support. “These days” is timeless.
Moody, expertly crafted, I love it.
When I was a child, my parents got me an electronic keyboard. One of the soundboard for the keys was "DJ mode". I created more interesting music as an 8-year-old just ramming the keys.
Groundbreaking record? Maybe. Interesting? Definitely not.
We listened to this music in the car. After 20 minutes I asked my girlfriend: how do you like this album?
Her response: ah, this is not still the first song?
That pretty much sums it up. Yes, significant music, and I don’t dislike it, it is just very similar to me. No strong emotions. Three stars.
Talking heads, such an iconic sound. I really appreciate some Byrne from time to time, but this album as a whole is a little too much for me.
All is well when Miles Davis blows through your speakers.
Cool but insignificant. Don't understand why it's in this list.
Song two is brilliant in its simplicity. When Blur tries for more complex songwriting, it doesn’t resonate with me. Full respect to Damon Albarn and his amazing influence on music. He created a lot of fantastic stuff! This album though… not brilliant. To me.
Music doesn't do too much with me, it sounds like generic 70's rock to me. 2.5, rounded up towards 3 because Slade made one of the only bearable Christmas songs!
It's not a bad album as a whole, and there are some interesting bits. It just feels too forced and garage-y. Red Snapper has some great stuff in their musical portfolio, especially in more recent years. This album specifically doesn't stand out.
10 minutes in and I already knew it's going to be an album that I love. An expert behind his instrument, pleasant voice, strong lyrics, it has all the ingredients to be loved. It strongly reminds me of Nick Drake, who, artistically, I also admire a lot. Love it!
I mean.. What is there to say? In 10.000 years, future civilizations will analyse the human cultural eras and find out that ABBA was a thing. They will listen to it and then.. they will groove to it! Not my kind of music, but basically timeless and the fun factor is impossible to ignore.
(Cowboy) Hats off to miss Parton for being such a musical force! Musically speaking, well, it's a country album. I really dislike country music.
I feel that this album tries to be too quirky, just for the sake of it. Yes, that's Art Pop 101, I know, but it feels forced. Also, I have my questions about some of the mastering choices. Some pleasant songs though, when all comes together. 3 stars
It sounds very beige. I don't fully understand why this album should make it to the "1001 albums that you have to listen to before you die" list, other than miss Swift being one of the most popular artists of this time.
This album would have been popular if released at any point in time in the last 60 years. What an exceptional performance! 4 stars because I think his second album Love & Hate is even better crafted.
This is the album that got me into my Metallica phase!
It doesn't click as a concept, seems to me a random collection of songs. Not too impressed.
Flowy, groovy, lots of subtle style changes and above all: effortlessly cool.
The ethnic music part is actually interesting, keeps my attention. Then, the badly made EDM elements join in. Not great. Ultimately a disappointing listen.
Doesn't stir up much emotion, positive nor negative. If anything, I really dislike the harmonic singing.
There are some good songs, but I cannot really listen to the excessive scratching, man.
Masterfully made, flowy, emotional. A virtuoso at work. I cannot do anything else than take my hat off. Chapeau. Great work.
The epitome of late 50’s rock and roll. Very easy listen, great flow.
Fun songs, but the appeal of the song buildup shtick fades halfway through the album. I feel that I am listening to the same song, over and over again. For sure, in its time, it was renewing and progressive, listening to it almost 70 years later, I find it fun but fleeting.
Even though Eric Clapton turned out to be an ass, this album is effortlessly cool, though a bit slow.
Great flow, but too much gangsta
The opening song does the heavy lifting of this album. Even there, I don't know if I like it, because it actually appeals to me, or if it's just hammered into my brain because it's on the top of all the year-end summary lists (I live in NL)?
In any case, the rest of the album is boring, sleep-inducing country music. I discovered that I really hate country music. Sure, I guess life in USA in the 70's was great, much freedom, such yee-haw, but it's 2026 now. USA lost all of its shine in the eyes of the world. And the ultra-USA music did as well.
I'm basing my rating on the quality of the music, if it would be purely my personal rating it would be a 1. It's well crafted and mr. Gaye's voice unmistakably pulls you through and gets you in the right mood. However, personally, I absolutely hate this kind of music.
Halfway through the album I started to notice that mr. Dylan sings in a way that makes it sound like he is really pushing out the words of his mouth by putting pressure on his belly. It sounds forced. OK album though, just a little repetitive.
I don't what it is, but there is something in the music of The Smiths that just.... resonates with me. It's melancholy that is being elevated almost to an art form.
Ah, yes, mandatory clarification: fuck Morrissey
I remember listening to this for the first time and thinking: what the FUCK happened to one of my favourite bands?
...And that's the day I stopped caring for Muse.
Listening the album again, 20 years on, I can recognize more the artistic value, but I am still upset that they changed course musically like this.
This morning, on my way to work, I got into the car with an exceptionally bad mood. Listening to this album did not improve the mood in the slightest. It sounds like an alternative version of the Cure if they all took their happy pills. Not for me this album.
