Smokers Delight

Very good 90s downtempo/chill. I'd love to give this thing a 3.5. I think there are probably better albums from this era that showcase the sound and vibe a bit better, but overall this is a very good listen.

Some cool beats, but far, far, far too long. If this album was half as long it would be four stars, but as it stands this is quite disappointing.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

not what i expected based on the artist name, album name and cover art. some cool beats most of which dont really progress over the runtime of the tracks which make for a very unenjoyable experience. i really thought i was going to have to take a break from listening halfway through so i wouldnt fall asleep.

I'd never heard this album before, but it sounds like something I would have liked in the 1990s, when I was going through a bit of a chill-out/trip-hop phase, and then not listened to in 20 years. Then it would have come up on the generator and I'd be like "Blimey, Nightmares on Wax is on this list? I can see why I was into it at the time, I'm just surprised someone considered it one of the best albums ever made."

pa okej je ovo za pozadinu, al nije me baš ničime zaintrigiralo :/

OG lo-fi

Chill lounge vibe. I liked it.

Smokers Delight by Nightmares On Wax was a completely new listen for me, as I’d never heard of the artist or the album before.

Unfortunately, it didn’t win me over. The opener, Nights Introlude, genuinely sounds like the template for phone hold music — I honestly felt like I was on the line to HSBC. Things do improve slightly after that, but not by much. The record settles firmly into background music territory: nothing really grabs your attention, and nothing feels particularly memorable. At 16 tracks, it drags on far too long, and overall it felt rather pointless. I won’t be coming back to this one.

Favourite track: If I had to pick, Bless My Soul stood out a little, but only just.
Least favourite track: Nights Introlude — an awful start.
Album artwork: A chaotic, messy cover with far too much going on. Not for me.

Chilled out but never filled out, Smokers Delight hardly approaches its shroomy album art, which has the fecund aspect of psychedelia gone right. Instead, this is the blunt hit that propels you from a steady high to a looped nightmare, the groove that stops grooving and's got you panicking b/c you want some color and fullness back in your life. It's not that I can't get down w/ music that's better in the background, it's that this is more like tasteless food for thought: I prefer my highs to unstick my brain rather than imprison it in savorless inertia. Some of the tracks succeed on their own, like 'Wait a Minute / Praying For A Jeepbeat,' 'Groove St.,' and 'Bless My Soul,' but this is a failure of a complete record, a thin clutter of boomeranging lethargy.

Absolutely brilliant set of funky and hypnotic beats, full of texture, and consistently engaging, even in the longer tracks. The basslines are phenomenal. This could be a 5 on production alone! What holds it back slightly is that it doesn’t reach for much beyond being a great collection of beats, though it's absolutely entering my regular rotation. Just great music to vibe out to, and does great justice to the title.

Standouts: Nights Introlude • Pipes Honour • Rise • Rise (Reprise)

Never has a band name less matched the style of music. Lo-fi study beats to be put on in the background and ignored.

I have a bit of history with Nightmares on Wax. I saw him perform in 2016 and was blown away. I’d go as far as to say it was one of the best gigs I’d ever been to, certainly the best DJ set. A couple of years later I listened to his 2018 album and was surprised that it lacked any of the drive or pulse that I’d experienced that night - it’s just not what he’s going for. I thought his 1995 effort, his most popular work, might be the thing that makes my overall experience of his music make sense.

At its best, this is vibey, chilled out stoner music with a patchwork of different textures and fragments of melody. Its the excellent music that I remember from that gig. It is music that is about the journey, rather than the destination.

While there are definite highs across this release its mammoth 74 minutes sees diminishing returns, getting increasingly aimless and tedious. Some of the closing tracks simply should not have been featured.

Incredibly boring and unnecessarily long

This album is inoffensively pleasant, but that's actually the problem; as a result it's soulless and boring.

Not what I expected. I felt like I was going to be suffering through a bass test track album but it turned out to be a really nice little ambient stoner piece. Relaxing and enjoyable enough.

Absolutely disposable, background music for pret-a-porter store :-(

The Good: We’re in for a treat, a delightful treat…
The Bad: But I quit smoking… so I get snubbed, right?
The Ugly: Wondering what Nightmares On Stone would feel like…

This is repetitive music, repetitive music, that repeats, and repeats…
First thought I had was “geez, this is like those cool music producers who try to get people to buy Chord Packs so that they too can make lovely jamzz…”
Except that this album is from the middle ‘90s and back then there were no such simple cheats…. but that doesn’t take a away the fact that it is all repetitive.

If you find that sweet spot on the volume knob, you can have this play inoffensively on the background all day, and then, when you awaken from the hypnotic state you were in during which you probably strangled something, you will know what caused it…

2*

Felt somewhat familiar and completely passed me by (but in a pleasant way)

Day 31 - not what I expected- nice sound but a little boring #musicsky #albumsky 3/5

Tako opušteno da je praktično bljutavo i beskorisno. Rijetko šta odskače od ostatka. Nije da je loše nego je jednostavno isto ništa. Zvuči kao da nikad neće završiti.