Ninety

This was pretty nice background music.

This is a pretty cool album, but I think it's a bit uneven. Songs like Kinky National are awesome and I think they hold up quite well. On the other hand, songs like Pacific 202 are not quite hitting. I can't tell if that's because they're just kind of out of date, or if they're just bad songs. But I'll tell you what - when this album gets it right, the songs are BANGING.

This is such a tough rating, because the good songs are *really* good, but the meh songs just drag down the overall vibe. 3.5 is the right call here, but do I bump it half a star or dock it half a star? Considering how early this album is in the electronic era, I'm leaning towards a bump. Because this isn't early, German, experimental noise electronica, it's catchy, bouncy and revolutionary.

Sometimes music just isn't good. This is one of those times.

I saw "british electronic" and I audibly sighed.
Then I realized it's from the 80s and I'm even less enthused. I can do 90s euro techno, but from the 80s? IDK
I like electronic, generally, but not this, 1*

Too repetitive (and yes, I know that’s the point).

although highly unlikely, it is possible for someone to get - in one week - the albums 21, 25, 90, 1984, 1989, 1999 and 2112. and i think that would be a really funny thing to happen to someone.

anyways shoutout to the fish on the album cover

Inoffensive, but ultimately unsatisfying. Like plain white bread.

I thought this could've been fine, but there were a couple songs towards the second half that REALLY annoyed me. So that drops it a bit in my rating.

I’m at a very happy 5.

My brain is obviously already predisposed to video game music, so the second I saw this was “acid house”, I got a little bit of hope for something around that general soundscape. The year though, 1989, gave me pause – acid house, this early, even for December 1989, still feels a few years behind when house as an entire genre really found and hit its commercial stride. The optimism was there, but much shakier. This could’ve been really, really bad.

Thank goodness that this is really, really good. This is CRAZY for 1989 – what’s here is so deeply entrenched in the Roland MIDI soundscapes that would define some of the prime Redbook CD audio quality of early 90s gaming, and most of it could easily pass as video game music. Pacific 202 is just a Sonic CD cut, and you can’t convince me otherwise. These are full compositions, mixed really well in the ear to give a lot of the instruments their shine & room to breathe (save, oddly, for the first track). There’s not a dull moment anywhere on this album, at least for my ears (save, oddly, for the last track, but that barely counts). The fact that it's a full setlist with transitions helps a lot to keep the flow of the album going too.

If you’re not into video game music (or house as a genre), this probably won’t click at all, and I find that a little disappointing. Obviously, taste is subjective, but to deny this from being in one’s musical diet is like refusing to watch game shows because they’re too happy-go-lucky. This is a fantastic example of acid house, house music in general, and a great showcase of the Roland soundscape (and presumably MIDI by extension) for 1989. This feels far ahead of its time, and I have to imagine this really did act as a point of inspiration for other artists in the genre moving forward. It’s perfectly attuned to my tastes, and genuinely one of the best discoveries I’ve had throughout this album experience. Super easy 5.

I made this shit on a school keyboard in year 8…

I did enjoy this, it is great background 80 electronic music. Lots of Synths and some fantastic baselines.

Favourite song: Pacific 202
Least favourite: nothing to hate, there are some great sounds and tracks on this album
Album artwork: Cool cover

Conditional 5: be in a french laundromat on a rainy day. This album hit the spot in a really cool and weird way

It’s a soundtrack to a Super Nintendo game. 1.75

This aged really badly; it sounds so dated now. It's saved from a one star review by Pacific 202, which is a fair bit better than the rest (though maybe that's just because I remember it as a single back when this was released).

Generic 80s background music that cannot possibly be enjoyed. If I knew someone that actually liked this, I would have to punch them in the face.

"A pioneer of the acid house sound." I'm sure this is great to hear in a club, and I'll give them credit for not having any sounds I dislike (which I can't say for a lot of these types of albums), but it's nothing more than a background bop to me. Cobra Bora caught my attention, so I'll call that a favorite track. Moving on.

Favourite songs: Donkey Doctor

Least favourite songs: The Fat Shadow.... Plus the rest of this album was horribly boring.... Nothing happened....

2/5

Fairly interesting and enjoyable electronic music.

Esta parte de "Madchester" tan electrónica es la que menos me interesó, aún así la escuché bastante en su época y llamarse 808 les honra por homenajear a la máquina. Recordaba "Magical dream" y "Cobra Bora" por el título y al escucharlo también "Ancodia", "Pacific 202" que debe tener parte de la culpa de todos los saxofones que se metieron después todos los DJ en los años 90 o "808080808". Mucho mejor de lo que recordaba y esperaba.

This album manages to seamlessly be both evocative of the 80s without being outdated, nearly pioneering a sound that can be heard not only in acid house scenes of the 90s, but also genres such as hip hop or IDM. It knows how to tread lightly when it comes to sampling, although that doesn't mean you don't get a few cheeky ones in there that are fun to spot, and overall the whole project is just a lot of fun. More energetic than its contemporaries, 808 State manages to present a mostly instrumental release while still keeping it engaging to the common folk, especially boosted by its oh-so-familiar PlayStation-like sound design, although obviously years before that console's appearance. It just comes off as a love letter to the lighter electronic tunes that came before, whilst ushering in a new scene that takes the genre more seriously, giving way to a nice blend. Helping things tremendously is its relatively short runtime, in which later electronic albums seemed to ignore concise and tight instrumentation, while this one nails it. It does have some hiccups in the way of still being relatively repetitive, as many tracks can be cut down a minute or two with little loss, and I can't imagine legitimately getting up and dancing to this, instead it feels more like playing a racing game, and I'm never sure if that's a compliment or not. But this album still has enough bright moments for me to appreciate and enjoy what it presents. Hoping an earlier or later release from this group may click with me even more, but this album may have hit that groove just right.