I was quite excited when this popped up, as I remember really liking it, but good grief was it dull. Lukewarm, overly sentimental middle of the road indie pop, albeit with a place in my heart. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much more time with other albums of theirs since last listening to this… nearly dropped another star because Tidal rolled onto Counting Crows straight after and I nearly vomited, but that’s hardly their fault.
Wow, that ultra high sheen orchestral soul hip-hop production really places this squarely in 2006 eh? Was a fan of Kick Push from back then but hadn’t listened to the rest. I think his bars are wicked, and are done dirty by the cheese of the production, would be keen to hear other stuff of his with a different sound
This would be 3.5 but the draconian system of ranking has tied my hands. It’s real nice, and I’m sure much more interesting in 2001 before the wave of minimalist, melancholic alt country.
The most impressive thing about this is how I’ve spent my entire life thinking that that cover art was a 90s Best Of. Graphic design decades ahead of its time! I love the title track but a whole album of swaggering this earnestly is TOO MUCH! Give me Asbury Park instead please!
I find the Stones very boring and their swagger quite off putting, but this album has always been a preferred one of theirs, and it has some nostalgia for me so I will look past all that.
See, to me this should be in the 1001 Albums To Avoid At All Costs Before You Die. I like Hüsker Dü a lot, and this has really tainted Bob Mould’s legacy for me. It’s just annoying! Whiney vocals, horrible production on the guitars, silly pop punk melodies but played in a dreary middle-of-the-road indie way. Christ, Bob, you really lost your edge huh?
My most unfairly neglected Radiohead album by far (Pablo Honey is much more neglected but that’s entirely fair).
Every time I come back to it I realise it’s actually brilliant, but somehow it’s never really stuck?
In a way it’s the most Radiohead Radiohead album, it’s almost as though they knew they only had one more album in them with this sound and would be take a fairly dramatic left turn with their next so they went hell for leather making every melody and harmony absolutely textbook “RADIOHEAD”
I’ve barely listened to them for years thanks to the sour taste left by all the mealy mouthed inability to condemn the genocide in Gaza, but in the name of statistical fairness I gave this another spin and I fucking loved it.
Against the rest of their catalogue: 3.5/4 Stars
Against music in general 5 stars without a shadow of a doubt
Jam bands have a certain you-had-to-be-there element to their appeal, eh?
I do broadly like blues rock, and certain jam bands I like a lot, but I find the bluesier jam bands tend to fall back on just soloing on a very well trodden riff for far too long.
By the time this gets to Elizabeth Reed there are some super great vibes going, but the fact that it opens straight into extremely middle of the road blues stompers that feel like middle of the set filler type tracks is absolutely heinous to me. Where’s the sense of vision, atmosphere and journey? If you’re going to play long form psychedelic music I need to be taken on a full arc, not just dropped in to a lukewarm riff and have that extended into a bunch of show-off solos.
Obviously this absolutely slaps. I had always thought I liked this best of all their albums but last night I listened to this and then Toxicity and the latter was actually a fair bit better.
Still, petty squabbles, absolute banger, 4.5 stars (but I guess it’ll need to be 5)
