Pretty enjoyable, not necessarily knocking my socks off. Money For Nothing stands out but broski was gasping to say the F slur as many times as possible, wasn't he?
I just feel like the exaggerated violence stuff is a bit played out and I get he was the first guy taking the gangster rap violence to this level but that doesn't mean it's *good*. The whole album reeks of sensationalising, trying to be so shockingly violent that people buy the record to see what the fuss is.
Stan is so melodramatic it's comical. Do you reckon Slim still sent the last letter, even though he wrote "come to think of it, it was you".
'I'm Back' is probably the best combination of beats and raps, because most of the other tracks just have these phenomenal beats and really unenjoyable verses.
'Marshall Mathers' really cringes me out. The echo voice is so so lame.
Christ imagine him doing the different voices in 'Kim.' He really is the rap equivalent of a TikTok sketch content maker
I enjoyed seeing a 60 year old instance of something calling itself "Modern". There's such a specific type of strings sound in so many of these tracks that absolutely reeks of the era, which is nice to be able to point out.
I wasn't a huge fan of any of the track in particular, but I didn't dislike a single one. I've never given Ray Charles the time of day, so this is a fun album to jump in with. I don't think he had the best opportunity to play around vocally in these tracks, but that might be a cost of retooling country songs into a new genre.
Preferred the horns over the strings and some songs had a real Count Basie combo of the double bass and trumpet which put a smile on my face.
A pleasant record!
There really is something to be said about bands where everyone gets to have a little go at singing. Even though the sound is quite stressful at times, this is a fun album with some silly moments in it.
The guitar riffs between lines are so fun. There's a good number of tracks that make me nervous, like Takes of Ulysses and We're Going Wrong, which make me worried for the stoners listen to this in the 60s. Instant bad trip activator.
Mother's Lament is the perfect example of this awful vibe. Fascinating creative choice but I can also imagine it felt hilarious to do at the time.
You know what, I've never enjoyed pop punk, but this album is actually doing something, isn't it?
Granted, it's got the typical pop punk curse of never having enough enough distinction to differentiate one song from another, but it makes some great choices, like pairing a few songs into these great medleys.
Obviously there's no denying that the singles from this are solid, solid tracks, in spite of them being played to death in my childhood. Maybe my only issue with Green Day and this era of pop punk is that over exposure I had to endure before I really had a taste in music.
Anyway, any album that's willing to do a fast "1-2-3-4!" In a tiny break of the drums is worthy of a three stars in my book. Take it or leave it, Billy Joe
Doesn't this album sound so much newer than it is? Isn't this just some beautifully sloppy crap that cheese grates your ear into this bizarre blissful submission?
I wonder how they knew that this abraisive, almost atonal sound would play off as enjoyable. I'd never paid attention to the studio dialogues before but they're fun too, really bring you into the album
I probably don't give techno albums enough time of day. Despite falling into the unavoidable trap of every track feeling three times too long, it's impressive to hear the variation between songs on this one.
I've always known Chemical Brothers were very talented, but I've never observed how much genre bending they do. The psychedelic elements of this album come as a genuine surprise.
Not all of it is enjoyable - there was a fair share of really grating noises that just didn't get the blood pumping, but for the most part, this was a surprising testament to electronic albums.
Juvenile. Ridiculous. Rusty. Stupid.
This album is a work of art and its significance is profound. I love this album, I love what it stands for it rap and I love how it contrasts the rest of the Beastie Boys catalogue.
Hilarious lyricism, really creative beats, just so much fun.
Sort of pointless trying to say anything about this album that hasn't been said a million times before. I haven't listened to it in full for years and I don't think I ever appreciated how weird it is.
Thinking in the context of psychedelic rock, imagine how trippy it was hearing these disembodied voices in what sounds like interviews. I don't want to look up what they're from, but it makes such a huge, operatic album feel so intimate and personal.
I'm realising now that the subjects for the album are so bafflingly simple. Life, getting older, money, death. It's like making an album about oxygen. But still, it's resonant and it's meaningful and it has such an emotional weight.
Great Gig in the Sky and Eclipse stood out on this listen. What a beautiful album.
Gangster rap is so much more interesting when it presents as having come from genuine experience. It's nice to hear something from the genre that isn't all bravado.
No particular enormous stand out for me but this album produces some great beats and hard hitting raps while still managing to have some fun. I liked it!
Wonder how many artists I love quote this as an inspiration. I see it could be a seed of something I enjoy but for the most part, I think this isn't a stand out for me.
These vox pops are on another level. What would be a very good break beat electronic album ends up being this bizarre journey into the freaks and weirdos of New York and I love it.
Takes a lot of bravery to have some stranger's attempt at a fortune reading play on your album for over a minute and it's even more impressive to make it work well.
Very cool. Very funky. Imagine making an album like this and finding out it had this absurd influence on a totally separate genre. Very glad I heard the source of all the samples
Rock music isn't supposed to be this creepy. Why is buddy boy's voice so haunting and piercing. I like a few songs on this but the eeriness of the majority of the album made it quite an unenjoyable experience!
I think this album has been ruined for me by that period of excessive folk commercialisation in the early 2010s. When I listen to this, I have to force my way past the advertishness of so many of the tracks.
Realistically, this is an incredibly musically proficient album with a lot of great elements, but all I hear is adverts. It doesn't go into my brain, the music.
There were aspects I was really surprised by, like the Beach Boysness of some of the psychedelic riffing. Big 'Vegetables' vibes from Smiley Smile.
Ultimately it was an inoffensive album but it didn't resonate with me on a profound level
You honestly wouldn't believe this this is from the 70s, would you? It's a testamane to the perseverence of this sound to think just how modern it seems.
The rapid poetry of these tracks and the absurd semi-nonsense of some of the lyrics are so fasconating.
Just wonderful country music with these little soul and gospel influences that manages to see so innocent at times while firmly planting its tongue in its cheek at others. Lovely.
I reckon I could have gone through life without listening to this one. Something about this album is incredibly unengaging to me.
Da Mystery of Chessboxin' was an absolute tune. This album goes hard as flip and it's obviously incredibly cool, but I struggled to see the standouts, which I wouldn't say is necessarily a bad thing.
This is a boring album that reeks of divorced middle aged ladies
Incredibly unenjoyable sounds. I don't know if I'm just not cool enough to get this album but it felt like audible punishment to me
Really quite an unexciting album by Fleetwood Mac standards
A lot can be said about short, simple, fun and engaging music. I've always loved this album but hearing it now makes me realise how little in the ways of production value songs used to have and just how much they did with so little. Amazing.
A testament to the fact that you can make absolute spoddish dork music and find commercial success. This album is just absolute bunkem and twaddle, isn't it? Yet somehow, it's incredibly enjoyable.
You need to have a bit of silly little frivolity in life, don't you. You need to muck in and do some daft little tunes about whatever.
There's just this wildly catchy aspect to each of the tunes that cannot be denied.
Never delved into Lou Reed before but my god he's cool. Yet again, it's so fun to see what clearly inspired so many acts and set the way for the alternative genre to grow
Fucking so cool, man. Amazing to realise how many hip hop samples are lifted straight from this album. Remarkable sound with just liquid cool drizzled all over the whole thing. I love it
This cover of Across The Universe had made me very poorly. I think this album gives off a feeling of trying really, really hard. There is something effortful about it in an uncool way.
Fascination, Fame and Young Americans work in isolation, but as a collective, this album has the same energy as girls at school who wanted to become singers, so they would croon by adding unnecessary trill and warble onto every note.
I get that this soul inspiration is like a nice nod to an alternative genre and it's probably the result of a lot of passion, but I just find something about it so smarmy.
Perfectly fun hip hop, like listening to the in jokes of three close friends. While the skit isn't hilarious, it doesn't take up too much air space and it's well made up for by the clever stupid lyricism, wicked varied beats and really exciting collaborations. De La Soul are THE guys and this album is a work of art.
While there certainly isn't much variation between the tracks, there's certainly a consistency in quality. It's difficult to imagine an album that oozes more sex and suaveness.
This is an album that is an *album* rather than a collection of songs. Obviously there's no concept album in sight, but there is an undeniable cohesion between the tracks that establishes such a fun tone across the album itself.
The run of the first four tracks is so excellent, only slightly marred by This Song Has No Title which isn't quite grandiose enough to keep up the streak.
We would be looking at an easy five star if it wasn't for some of the half dud tracks like 'Jamaica Jerk-Off' which is fun but doesn't quite break out of novelty song. Still, the album needed some levity.
Boring, didn't touch the sides.
'I Do Not Want This' is such a relatable track. I don't know if I'm incompatible to this album on a person level or if I woke up in a mental state that required something far less abraisive than this.
Sure, the lyrics are at least engaging in their aggression, and the composition has some intricacies that are impressive, but as an album made for *listening* why is it just so, so unenjoyable?
All of the intrigue in this album is buried beneath 10 layers of distortion and blown out drums. It's punishing.
Then you get a brief glimmer of substance, like 'A Warm Place' and you're reminded that there's obviously artistry in this, which actually makes it *more annoying* that the rest of the record is just a wash of scrud and grime.
'Downward Spiral' is another of these tracks. Well constructed, original, engaging and making good use of the distortion or degredation of the sound. Would you put it in a playlist? God no. But when you listen to it, you feel what's being put out.
Obviously, 'Hurt' is undeniably a good song, if not for the lyrics, but also that well placed discordance.
It's like the beginning of the album was a trial run to see how all that minging, messy grot could be put to good use in the end of the album. These last few tracks, with their actual listenability claw this record from the pits of One-Stardom.
These sure are some fun silly tracks. Are they a cohesive *album* like all of the reception on Wikipedia seems to act as though they are? I'm not 100% sure.
Maybe this is the problem with review an album retroactively, but it really doesn't seem like there's this ocean of depth that I'm reading about. Obviously, I can see that this was a departure for The Beach Boys, but it seems like it was a gradual transition rather than a leap into a new direction.
It's not like I don't like the album, I just struggle to hear this bold new sound that is apparently pervasive within it.
Surprisingly religious???
I'm honestly floored by the capacity to which this album does absolutely nothing. This is the audio equivalent of rice pudding if rice pudding had no texture or temperature. It is anti-matter.
You can listen to this album from start to finish and your average heartrate wouldn't increase or decrease by more than one beat per minute.
I'm confident that this album is so unstimulating that it must lead to relapses of substance abuse when people reach it in this project. Even the artwork manages to motivate a complete non-reaction to the senses. Awful. Dreadful. Cack.
God damn it, Bob, you've done it again
In the past when I've tried to get my teeth into this album, there's always been something in the way of it fully resonating for me.
This time round, I'm all in. The singles, Lust for Life, Passenger, Neighbourhood Threat, they're all hitting the spot. Love the sleaziness.
But there in the background, I can detect the influence of a completely unpunk twerp. The living spirit of Bowie, in my opinion, over-polishing this album and unmingingises Iggy's steez. It could have been the perfect run. Thanks a lot, David. Thanks a LOT
Damn it Bowie, this one's a good one.
Didn't hate it as much as I thought I would!
Rod Stewart surprise appearance. Never knew that guy was in Faces!
In all fairness to Rodney and Faces, this is a really solid album. I had very low expectations going into it, but there's some fun noodling going on and the lyrics are daft enough to make it engaging.
Some of the vocals on the more meandering tracks certainly had a cringiness to them, but other than that, a solid album.
Just repeat the song title one trillion times for me please, Nusrat. Loooovely stuff.
Potentially the most torn you can be on an album. Is Speakerboxxx anything special? No - it's a three at a push. A massive push.
However, The Love Below may be one of the most fun, stupid but well put together hip hop albums I've heard in a very long time and It could easily push its way into a four.
So where does that leave the double album? It leaves it at a high four, say I. Why? Because the fact that this thing can exist either as a fuck you to the label for not letting Outkast go solo, or even if it's done happily at the request of the label, I think it's a genius way to go solo. It's a bizarre album, fuck it, four stars. Why not.
I almost went five stars in a sort of enamoured haze, but we know it ain't that.
It ain't for me!
Classic
