Elton sounds great. I'm not really a fan, but the guy's got this great, raw voice capable of some pretty impressive raving. But there are also songs which miss the mark considerably with a head scratching disconnect between vocals and lyrics, such as the very weak Levon, which is home to some of the worst and least compelling storytelling I’ve ever heard. But even vocals can't save that stupid song when he is a Native Ameri an sang as a white, British guy.
The main problem I have with Buckley jr is that he thought perfection meant drawn out high pitched squeals every single time and for me it comes up short and becomes extremely repetitive.
Grace is a vey ordinary album. it's not good and never threatens to be good (not on an overall, consistent basis). Noticeably the three poorest numbers are written solely by Buckley and I think that is the most damning indictment.
Its syrupy and mellowdramatic and prtentious, over-the-top and very unadventurous for me. The meandering elastic voice of Buckley after two listens works on my nerves and the music sounds like just about any band could've produced it. Predictable and outdated stuff.
Elevator music from hell played for a fancy trust fund kid riding to a VIP rooftop club in New York City
I hear a certain annoying hipster smugness and irony (post-/pre-.) Murphy vocals sounds like low budget David Bowie impersonation on some tracks and sort of squawks on others
Perhaps flat is the best way to describe this. Flat may be a perfectly respectable aesthetic position, except that here it just repeats as lethargy, occasionally enlivened by the sound of seagulls screeching at one another over the remains of a fast food carton - I mean vocals
"What do you call five fingers grasping a small boy's penis? The Jackson Five." - Neil Hambuger
The Beasties are just awesome. An incredibly cool sound with the real instruments coming into such chaotic hut super solid and tons of fun album, but after Eguene Lament's it begins to drag more and more - and I love their instrumntals. But who cares, Beasties were "effortlessly" cool even when they rhymed 'bout religious awakening.
For every Elvis song there's a black artist that's done it better, and seeing as how most of his best songs are actually covers it pretty much cements him not as a great songwriter or musician, far from it actually. He's a great performer.
But not here. this was way, way worse than I expected. I love bits and pieces of Elvis, he is The King, after all, but this is cloying, limp and underwhelming and, frankly, behind on the times. It feels dated by 10-20 years, beign relased in 1969. I regularly see the world's #1 Bangladeshi Elvis impersonator, Sal, and he is way better than this album.
There's a plasticity and an insincerity to Elvis here that prevents a lot of the material from landing. He goes for a plastic soul sound that has neither the ferocity of early sexy Elvis or the bombast and the silliness of fat weird vegas Elvis. I would rather listen to black soul and r&b singers that have done it first and done it better.
It's no wonder the music industry left him behind for Beatlemania, but it's weird that this acted as a catalyst for him to make a comeback.
Despite my huge respect for Mr. Byrne & Mr. Eno, I have never managed to warm to this album. It touches all the ethnomusicology bases that usually gets me on, but it is far too derivative of Can & the solo work of Holger Czukay and just feels like an impersonal curio for Westerners.
I feel bad for not liking this cause I appretiate the ambition and the record is very... sincere in its pretentiousness? But I am not exactly a fan of the vocals that seem to be trying too hard to please my ear. A little too indie for me, I guess. And unless you're in love with the vocals, you probably won't enjoy this album too much as the background instruments are absolutely nothing special on their own.
This is an addictive and extremely groovy jazz-rap record. But for me, the grooves and flows are the biggest selling point here with not much else for me to fall in love with. Don't get me wrong this is great music, but way too monotonous for me to form a deeper connection with.
With that being said, I still enjoy this music, respect it for what it is and also recognize it's influence. I just wish that I enjoyed old school rap more, this album deserves praise but I just find it hard to find things here that really blow my mind. Obviously the rapping is really impressive but as an album listening experience, I'm not that on board
Besides, lyrics didn't click with me at all, they felt a bit cringy and nonsensical to me, personally, to me.
