I don't have really much to say about the individual songs, because, honestly, it just got too much. I had forgotten just REALLY how much the Beatles were "57 utterly different bands in a trench coat", and yeah, Paul is definitely part of that and brings it forward here. Is there even a single song on this entire album that is only one song?
The best way to encapsulate this whole album may be Mamunia - I started out really disliking it, then got into the groove of it and was very on board, and by the end I just got exhausted with everything that was going on. It made me feel literally worn out from listening.
Overall review: I Need A Nap/10
Would I listen again: No.
What songs go in the playlist: Band on the Run, Bluebird.
Previous Familiarity: Zero - Not heard this album, or much of this artist.
I have a complicated relationship with religion, and religious music, but the STYLE of this overcomes almost all of it. The biggest negative is that his falsetto really strains in the middle part - There's a couple tracks where it sounds like he's pushing his range a bit too hard, or his range has slipped over his career (this is his 7th album), but some songs like Billy Jack, or Love to the People where he's not pushing as hard, or is singing in a chorus and everything lines up to just shine like the sun.
'Jesus' is the parts of religious music that I love. It's soulful and great without being too preachy. The whole album has such a wonderful funk soul groove that it's so easy to get into, if only his falsetto didn't hurt after a while.
Love to the People is the highlight of the album. What a capper. I could almost listen to that on repeat forever.
His falsetto very much feels more "easy" in this album than in *There's No Place Like America Today*. *America* came up first in my list and I said at the time that I thought he was stretching his range, or his range had shortened slightly by that late and hearing this makes me think I was probably correct. He doesn't sound like he's straining at all. There is nothing at all about this album that is a strain to listen to like the last. There is no better way to summarize my thoughts on this album other than:
Overall score: 10/10
Would I listen to again: Absolutely.
Songs into the playlist: The entire album except *Eddie You Should Know Better*.
I wish more of the album was higher tempo. As amazing as their voices are, I do also wish there were more instrumentals? The few times when they veer too hard into "freestyle jazz" were purely unenjoyable. Trying to step back from my current energy levels and rate it objectively is difficult.
Would I listen to Again: Maybe when I'm more awake. Would I take recommendations of other BVSC albums to listen to that better match my interests? Absolutely.
What goes on the playlist: Chan Chan, De Camino A La Vereda, Dos Gardenias, El Carretero, Candela, Amor De Loca Juventud, Orgullecida
Overall Score: 9/10 (I originally rated it 8.5, but I fear I was docking it too much based on my current energy levels, and bumped it up to 9.) 5 stars
I've seen the movie multiple times, but never listened to the album alone. Hearing the music and lyrics detached form the visuals revealed whole new layers of meaning that I never picked up on.
As a whole, it is so incredibly well assembled. Setup in the second track gets paid off in Side C. The overture is a true Overture. The leitmotifs that carry through different songs, calling back to earlier moments.
Yes, it' a terribly sad story. But, musically? It is so well done.
Would I listen again: Almost certainly:
Favorite song: The album is an inseparable whole. There is no one "best" song, because it's so hard to take any one out of the context of the album as a who- Ok, ok, yeah it's Pinball Wizard, obviously.
Overall: 8/10 (4 stars)
Pre-listening: I listened to so much late 80s/early 90s hiphop in high school. I don't recognize this one, but I'm excited
Listening notes: This album is such a huge hit of nostalgia for that time. It transported me back to friend's bedrooms where would listen to C+C Music, Factory, House of Pain, and others on cassette.
I love the positive message on everything, Their rhyming is spectacular, their FLOW is just *insane*. If you like that era of hip-hop, this is 1000% for you.
Would I listen again: Possibly, Likely, even.
The Magic Number, Ghetto Thang, Transmitting Live From Mars, Eye Know, Tread Water, Potholes in my Lawn, Say No Go, Plug Tunin' (Last Chance to Comprend), Buddy (feat. Jungle Brothers & Q-Tip), Description, Me Myself And I, This is a Recoding 4 Living in a Fulltime Era (L.I.F.E.), Plug Tunin' (Original 12" Version)
Overall score 8/10 (4 stars)
I just zoned out for a huge part of the album in the trance that is Really Cool Drum And Bass. I didn't even notie that the home internet had gone out until *Adrift* kicked me out of it, by being just so... Not Right. Sadly the album also ends on a couple stinkers - Adrift is just not DnB, and the vocals in You & Me made my skin crawl, but beyond that, its a supremely solid album to trance out to.
Would I listen to Again: I'm not really sure.. The first 75% of it, perhaps.
What goes on the playlist: I have no idea. I blanked out for most of it and just zones. I just finished listening to it and I couldn't tell you what any specific track was.
Overall Score: 7/10 (4 stars) If it weren't for the couple tracks at the end, this would be fantastic.
General Thoughts:
* The range of VOLUMES they use is *extreme* - This REALLY needs headphones or a good soundsystem to really appreciate. The flip between rock and violins in *Part One*. The opening of *The Talking Drum* was so quiet we didn't notice it was playing and then got so loud we had to turn it down.
* If I were to sum it up: "Rock with the lead guitar replaced with a Violin".
* I expected fucky time signatures and BOY HOWDY.
Final Thoughts: My original rating for this was going to be 3 or 4, HOWEVER: While trying to decide what goes on the playlist, I kept adding another song... and another.
Maybe I need a prog rock playlist? Do these need their own for when I'm in the mood? How would it feel going from something like Curtis Mayfield, directly into this? You know what, I think I'm enough of a weirdo for music that I think I'd be fine with it, actually.
My "Would You Listen To Again" was originally "It needs its own time and space and headphones", which is still true, but also maybe not?
Would I listen to Again: Likely?
Overall Score: 9/10 (Rounding *UP* to 5 stars)
What goes on the playlist: Everything, for now. The whole album. Every single song.
General Thoughts:
* Her lyrics are *dense* in multiple ways: She sings through them quickly, but they're also laced with meaning deep enough that I can't parse them as fast as she's singing them.
* Her voice eventually grated on me almost as much as Curtis Mayfield's falsetto. Since the lyrtics are so dense and so fast, I could barely parse any meaning from them, so her voice was basically "just another instrument" at that point.
* There are so many songs that I lost track that follow the same pattern - Immensely interesting instrumentals on their own, that *completely disappear* when she starts singing and turn into some of the most generic folk-pop in the world. It's like every song is two songs: The part where she's singing, and the part where she isn't. And I like the parts where she isn't a LOT more.
Final thoughts: If I had the inclination to sit and pause and rewind and analyze each song to really pick them apart I would end up liking them more, but on a very first listen? It really didn't do much to inspire me to listen again. In the end, so much of it blended together that it felt "Samey". And if you like that samey, then this is GREAT. But I didn't.
Would I listen to Again: No
Overall Score: 4/10 - 2 stars
What goes on the playlist: Free Man In Paris, Raised on Robbery, Twisted.
Before Listening: The Gorillaz songs I know are all a bit.. "weird"? They go with the cartoon characters form their videos.. I wonder how much of that is in the songs that didn't get videos?
Final thoughts: It's hard to rate this as an album, and not a collection of songs. There's plenty of good stuff, it lulls in the middle a bit, but picks back up. A couple songs with falsetto so close to each other (6. Man Research & 8. Sound Check are only one song apart) really didn't do it favors. overall, pretty good stuff, but there was enough 'bad' that this is less a good "album" and more a really good source of more songs for the playlist
Would I listen again: Even though over half the album is going on the playlist, probably not!
On the playlist: 5/4, Tomorrow Comes Today, New Genious (Brother), Clint Eastwood, Double Bass, Rock The House, 19-2000, Slow Country, M1 A1, 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)
As an ALBUM it's interesting. Nearly every song is a hit and a half, but when I noticed the six-note-riff in Sinister Purpose, it really took me out of it. Having a throughline for an album is a good thing, but when it's so prominent that it pulls you out of the groove? I think I have to dock the album as the whole a little something because of that singular moment, sadly. This REALLY makes me wish for half stars. There's no way this is a 4, but I don't feel like 5 is right either.
Overall score: 9/10 (my KINGDOM for half stars!)
Yeah, I like this, but it's hard to pick out pieces because it's a lot of just good vibes. I missed track changes several times, so I'll "have to" listen to it again (oh no!) to pick out any more *specific* songs I may like.
If I had a critique, it's that several tracks have huge shifts in like the last 30 seconds which makes it hard to pull them out as individual tracks to put on a playlist. But, technically, the rating is about an *album*! Since I docked Gorillaz points for being "more a collection of songs than an album", I have to give those points to this album instead. As a whole experience, it is a fantastic journey.
This is so much the music I listen to at work. I already see myself just putting this whole album on again some days.
Also: One Very Important Thought - HELL YES WHAT A MESSAGE TO END ON
Overall rating 9.5/10 (5 stars)
I grappled with how to define this style of punk a lot - Side A has all of the Punk Anger but not as much the Energy. It's the bitter commentary without the call to action, yet done in a way where it doesn't sound fatalistic or nihilistic. Maybe it's sarcastic? Sardonic? I'm not sure what word to use.
Side B transitions into something that could be considered fatalistic - three of the songs are about "endings" - but then all of the missing "energy", the drive, the call to action, all hits in *The Mercy Beat* with "heck it I'm going to fight the devil himself and win."
That is an enjoyable arc for an album, and also is something they repeated on a smaller scale: Several of the songs themselves end with a little twist at the very end (Heartland, Angels of Deception, Twilight of a Champion, and The Mercy Beat)
I really enjoyed the sound, the style, the lyricism (mostly), and the arc of the album as a whole. The really direct ties to the UK make some of it hard to connect to in places, which does make me want to dock the score *slightly*, but not a lot.
Overall score 8.5/10 (4 stars)
