1001 Albums Summary

Maybe this was cutting edge when it came out (or maybe I don't have enough familiarity with the genre), but this sounds nearly indistinguishable from most other mediocre electronic music I've heard.

It a well-worn cliche to say that heartbreak and grief produce the most incredible art, but 21 is the perfect representation of how a statement can be both cliched and invariably true. If you aren't moved by at least one song on this album it just means you haven't had your heart sufficiently broken, yet.

The beats and backing tracks here are peak 90's hip hop, but that's where my appreciation of this album ends. Most of the lyrics fall on a spectrum from juvenile to problematic, the word play is not half as clever as it thinks it is, and the interludes sampling what I assume is old pornography feel disingenuously edgy.

The songs bleed together in a way that makes it hard to pick any single song out, but that's not necessarily a complaint. It's totally unintrusive soft electronica/rock from start to finish, highlighted by a use of instruments that feels (almost) stereotypically French.

George Harrison's magnus opus is full of really good music. Obviously different from his work with the Beatles, though the comparison is hard to avoid at points. "My Sweet Lord" could be at home on the B-side of a later Beatles record, for instance. It's also clear to see how this album served to inspire the other artists of the time period and vice versa, "Beware of Darkness" is musically similar to Pink Floyd's work in the mid to late 70's. The 2020 remaster is nearly 2 hours long and fatigue set in by the time I made it to "Out of the Blue."

As mercurial as the artist herself. This album is challenging and sometimes discordant, but never unintentionally so.

Broadly speaking, I don't think "supergroups" make good music (boygenius excluded). This album did not change my opinion. Meh at best; entirely unmemorable.

Can you separate art from the artist? If the artist is Kanye West, no.