1001 Albums Summary

I never liked the Thin White Duke persona but I don't think I was supposed to. Now that I read the inspiration of fascist mythology and the occult in his work I understand my visceral dislike of the album in spite of my also being able to recognize it's musical merits. Mysticism and a pile of coke big enough to kill an elephant just might not be a great combination after all. Who knew? I just thought it was the krautrock influence that put me off. Sometimes I understand things that I don't actually understand.

The singer has a delivery that mixes Morrissey's incessant whining with the type of self importance that never allowed me to fully embrace Bono. But Bono had a great tone and excellent songs. This vocalist is just a non-starter for me. It wouldn't matter if the band was amazing (but they aren't). The keyboard work in particular is even more pretentious sounding than the vocals. I'm sad to read that they are a Canadian band. I usually like Canadian bands. At least the record jacket is cool. I just read that Pitchfork gave it a 9.7. That doesn't surprise me. Just like Rolling Stone in the late 60s, they like to occasionally assert their influence by taking a terrible album and pumping it up (RS review of the unlistenable VU and Nico album being a good example). What is worse is when they pan a great album just to stroke their own egos. It's like people who say they hate The Beatles. This one gets a 2 out of 5.