Like many, the main song from this album I recognized was Shining Star. That being said, the album itself was a gem. This level of feel-good, upbeat, and optimistic funk isn’t as common anymore. Aside from the funky soulful tracks, the use of percussion, bass, drums is felt and appreciated throughout the album. “Africano” delighted me in its beautiful use of instrumentation. “All About Love” made me smile with its genuine, heartfelt lyricism. This album a delightful jam from beginning to end. As my first album of the 1001 albums, it’s a good standard for what’s to come.
I thoroughly enjoyed the saxophone and the call and answer style of this album. A product of its time, it seeks to parse through social, economical, and political problems affecting the musician as well as fellow Nigerians and Africans in the late 90’s. Questions of unity in Africa, the struggle of the youth in making a life for themselves, and the rapid changes in the social climate as the world continues to change from what the singer once experienced. You can tell the album is personal, and on that basis I really enjoyed it. I do think some of the songs felt repetitive and sometimes overstayed their welcome. Some of the lyrics can be considered questionable by today’s standards. As such, it’s not my favorite so far, but it was still a decent listen. 2/1001
It was a pleasant and relaxing listen on a rainy day. Sarah Vaughan has a beautiful voice and I enjoyed listening to this live album, despite usually having a bit of an aversion towards live recorded albums. I had a wonderful time with Vaughan’s improvisation, especially at the end. Overall, excellent singer, though I prefer her on a studio album. 3/1001
I think if my biggest hit on my album was my single slow ballad song in an album when the rest of my album was clearly trying to discuss the current state of the world, I’d take a long walk off a short bridge.
Synchronicity was an interesting listen. Of course, I like anyone on the planet, have heard “Every Breath You Take”. I wouldn’t have anticipated the album to have so many interesting songs on it. A personal favorite was “King of Pain”, while songs like “Walking in Your Footsteps” brought to mind fears of going extinct much like the dinosaurs (sans a comet, add a nuclear bomb). “Murder by Numbers” was another interesting one. Hardest listen was “Mother” but maybe my enjoyment of it was in the tongue-in-cheek way in which I thought about My Chemical Romance’s “Mama” and how “Mother” walked so it could run. Ultimately a solid album. I had an alright time with it. Sometimes it leaned into simplistic in its lyricisms and somewhat surface level, but it wasn’t a bad listen. 4/1001
I like jazz, I do. I can name at least a dozen musicians in the genre that I enjoy and listen to pretty regularly. But this specific brand of jazz was not for me. Much like a sports team, the best jazz (in my opinion) is when the team works with each other’s strengths and weaknesses to create harmony. This album was not that for me. It felt more like each musician was playing a different song or trying to play louder than the other. I think the musicians in the band are all separately talented. I mean, c’mon, it’s John Coltrane. But this album didn’t really do it for me. 5/1001
Pleasant music. I found myself humming some of the songs hours later after listening this morning. It kind of felt like a warm blanket of an album. The harmonizations were pleasant and upbeat, but I can’t really place a particularly strong emotion besides the music being nice to listen to. 6/1001
“I’ve never heard of this group!” I said to myself. Only to be repeatedly proven wrong. I have indeed heard Carpenter’s music before. The unpaid actor this listening was my reaction to hearing “(They Long to Be) Close To You”. How silly to know a song from a viral trend online and finding out the song is over fifty years old. Overall, I enjoyed listening to this album. It’s light, airy, smooth vibes that suit the drive back from work while decompressing. The vocals have a retro harmonization charm. I believe the comparison I made was this music suits an old 80’s animated movie. It’s always odd to feel nostalgic towards a music genre you didn’t grow up on, but that’s the feeling I get listening to this album. 7/1001
Nothing spectacular, just straight up rock and roll. It was a pleasant listen, but I don’t recall any of the songs I heard one day later. On a basis of feeling a little unremarkable compared to other albums I’ve listened to, I’m giving it a little bit of a lower rating. Hoping other rock and roll will be included on this list and I’ll be able to defend my enjoyment of the genre then 8/1001
I have complicated feelings over Lana Del Rey as well as this album. Knowing this album was on the 1001 list of albums feels disingenuous when the list and album came out at the same time. It furthers the claims of Lana Del Rey being an industry plant who continues to be shown preferential treatment as such.
But beside all of this, it’s particularly egregious to see Chemtrails Over the Country Club be placed on this list when Born to Die covers the same disillusioned Americana themes as this album does and (in my opinion) does so in a better fashion. Lana Del Rey is not a bad musician. But I don’t believe this album deserves to be listened to over her other ones. Breathy, repetitive, and weak compared to some of her other songs. 9/1001
Trip hop might not be for me personally. I liked some of the creativity here, and Machine Gun did stand out as a song, it wasn’t a pleasant hearing experience, nor do I think I got much out of the songs themselves even after reading more into the band and purpose. It might work for others, and I don’t regret listening, but it did not leave an impression on me. 10/1001
Graceland is what happens when a man who’s had a critical failure in his previous album, split from the actual lyricist and musician he was working with, and is currently going through a divorce goes to a foreign country to find himself. I was optimistic at first with the titular song, but everything after was lacking with surface level understanding of the music and countries he was basing his music. The lyrics drip with self-aggrandizement and the disconnect between the song subjects and the use of South African musicians for a unique sound during apartheid is a little sketchy for me.
