Reviews by amanda

I have this album! This is the first one I have listened to in its entirety before. Yay. Now, the age-old puzzle: Is it good because I know it, or do I know it because it's good?

Well, I'm not sure. It's not my usual style (the lyrics are kinda ?? and there's certainly electric guitar), but I enjoyed listening again. As a youth there were certain bands that had serious mythos (aka they were on VH1 24/7), and Nirvana was one of those. Do kids of today learn about LFO and Amy Winehouse? They better >:(

Highlights: 'Lithium', 'Polly', the line "I don't care what you think unless it is about me"

Lowlights: 'Come as you Are' (always bored me), 'Stay Away' (same), 'Endless, Nameless' (I always hated hidden tracks, plus this one has a lot of yelling)

Who knew I'd be so happy to get a 1980 Talking Heads album? But I really liked when that guy was on SNL recently. He's definitely got a unique voice, and there's some funny little noises here too. A little bit of a modern poetry vibe.

Highlights: 'Once in a Lifetime' (obvi), 'Seen and not Seen' (like, is this a Ted Chiang short story set to music?)

Lowlights: The last 4 songs are "unfinished outtakes" and mostly instrumental. They're less compelling. 'Right Start' is my favorite of the four, probably because it's extremely repetitive.

Fun fact: when I first pushed play I thought "this sounds surprisingly similar to Sheryl Crow", but that was because I was accidentally still playing yesterday's Sheryl Crow album. The actual start to this album is much more my speed on first listen (quirky, unique voiced-singer, jingle-jangly, references to the UK). But it never reached "I love this" status, sadly. No bops!

Mild highlights: 'The Last Living Rose', 'In the Dark Places'

Noooo my lengthy review got erased! I feel like a rube. Here were the main points:

-I like lady singers and the 90s, but Sheryl Crow is too country for my liking.
-A lot of these songs are about escape and running away, but I don't know if that's in reference to a particular life event in Crow canon (also when trying to find out via wiki, I learned that SC dated a co-musician (of the titular Tuesday Night Music Club) who died soon after this, in his 20s, and then later, Owen Wilson)
-One of the songs sounded like "Pinch Me" from the Barenaked Ladies, but I forget which one, but I liked it
-One of the songs had what I assumed was a deontic modal, but I forget which one, but I liked it
-One of the songs had an interesting syntactic construction, perhaps the 3rd to last song, but I didn't particularly like it

However, we shall not mourn what we have lost, we shall move ahead into the thrilling and will-aspirationally-remember-to-copypaste-my-reviews-into-my-notesapp-before-refreshing future!

Ahh, this one is relaxing. Smooth jazz for a rough day. I barely even noticed it's live, which is a compliment. Unfortunately, it mainly all just reads as "Linus and Lucy" to me. I am not a discerning jazz listener.

Highlights: 'Solar', 'Gloria's Step Take 3' (Where is take 1? Also, these songs with the same name I would never match up in a million years, which either says something about jazz or something about me)

I know Jimi Hendrix is, like, a big deal, but even though this is from the 60s, it sounds like the 70s to me (full offense). Nothing particularly unpleasant, surely better than yesterday's weird electro instrumental, but for me this was just OK.

highlights: 'Wait Until Tomorrow', 'You Got Me Floatin'', 'She's so Fine' (idk why a British man is randomly singing this one, but I was like a baby doing one of those phonology experiments where they put in a distractor sound. my head was turnt!)

I have literally never heard of this group before. After a few songs I think I got why the album's called Haunted Dancehall. Not really my genre, but it's fine for what it is (straight-up electronica, I guess).

I liked "Bubble and Slide II" better than "Bubble and Slide (I)".

Even though there are a lot of noises here, they weren't noises that hurt my head -- just peaceful little clinklies and wooblies.

this day 5 album cover is a 5/5. the "chirping" crickets? the guitars looking photoshopped? these guys squinting into the sun just like me? plus, every song under 3 minutes? amazing.

is 'oh boy' a secret gay anthem? i know that's an idiomatic non-vocative 'boy', but what a fun ambiguity for our modern age!

'not fade away' must be a single because i know it. it's just OK.

'it's too late' is a highlight. very chill. and "please don't make me weep" is an eternal lyric.

overall pleasant background music, i do like their sound but nothing especially grabbed me.

my god... for the first time, I've actually listened to this album before! but it's yet another classic double album, which is quite a time commitment. fortunately though, i'm in my second lifetime beatles phase (the first was when my college bff was obsessed with them + the movie musical 'across the universe' came out (which was mid, but the soundtrack was fun)), and am presently in the middle of watching Get Back because several friends are deep into beatles fandom as a way of escaping from the world (whereas i personally chose to do this album project instead). anyway, the beatles lore goes insanely deep, and i like that. also, the songs are poppy and short and distinct from each other, and i like that too. i do think disc 1 is much stronger than disc 2.

highlights: dear prudence, ob-la-di, ob-la-da (i never know this one had rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-esque parentheticals), blackbird (#basic), piggies (legitimately one of my favorite songs; i like piggies-the-animal, harpsichords, and chamber-pop vibes), i will (on many a mushy mixtape), good night (wholesome)

ironic highlight: bungalow(!) bill

lowlights: glass onion (although I like that paul's name's in there), wild honey pie (i guess i've always hated songs with weird jangly noises), happiness is a warm gun (i teach at a quaker school after all), rocky raccoon (my college bff's most hated beatle song because of the accent, but it is kind of stinker in its own right. although it apparently inspired the MCU's rocket raccoon, which i like), why don't we do it in the road? (we already have the musically superior 'the bad touch' and anyway i don't want to contemplate paul as a sexual being), julia (zzz), everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey (hate monkeys-the-animal!),

midlights/misc: 'honey pie' feels like it should be on a disney sing along songs compilation. 'revolution 9' makes me lol because i first experienced it via my parents saying 'number 9' a lot when i was a wee kiddo. not much of a "song", though, is it?

really even the duds are listenable, just a bit boring. a solid 4 for day 4!

bonus shameful confession: i have always struggled with if it's spelled 'beatle' or 'beetle' when i'm writing (for both the bug/car and the band) and i only just realised that they're... the beat-les. yes i am a linguist

A double album?! Really testing my motivation here. At least I know and (mostly) like Pink Floyd already. I think I saw some show on vh1 when I was a kiddo about their tragic dissolution and I thought "wow, that 'Money' song is fun". so there's your backstory.

'Breathe (in the air)' is a radio hit, or at least it's in a lot of sad movies. I like it OK. It ends very abruptly but I think that's Spotify's fault for leaving a small gap between tracks.

The next song sure is a lot of noises, which maybe I would think was more fun if I wasn't in the throes of a constant migraine. For now, not my bag.

Then 'Time' starts with even more noises. They sure made a lot of noises in the 70s, I tell you what. Alarms, triangles, creepy clocks, it's all here. Once the singing starts you're so grateful the noises are over! Maybe I should take a nap. But anyway, this song is a bit of a downer. It's fine.

'The Great Gig in the Sky' seemed promisingly mellow until the screaming started.

'Money' is still a straight banger. A classic bop that slaps.

'Us and Them's intro evokes Jimmy Eat World's 'Table for Glasses'. I am ready to weep, Pink Floyd, bring it on. But first, there is a saxophone. Apparently this was a single, but I've never heard it before. Or have I? I don't think I have, but let's be honest, it kinda sounds like Comfortably Numb with a saxophone in it. Which I like OK.

'Brain Damage' is fine. (lol). They say the album title!! They said the thing!!
I'm impressed by how similar the two singers sound since wiki tells me this is a different guy than the other songs's guy. Maybe they're just British.

'Eclipse' is a strong ender. And omg, they reference the title again!! We love to see it.

The 2nd disk of this album is just live versions, which is not my favorite due to the clapping and general muddling inherent in the medium. And they're probably not part of the original release (?) so I don't need to say any more about them here. But when did that ever stop me?!
I did like 'Time' more the second time around (perhaps because I knew the oppressive noises were only at the beginning), and even though live 'Money' had some sax in, it also felt much longer, so that was worse. and hey I know I've given everything a 3 so far, but this is really more of a 3.45, if that helps.

I wonder if there's a word limit on these notes...

This isn't on spotify, so I had to go to YOUTUBE. That's a demerit.

I like the name Funkadelic. Alas, I am prejudiced against all 70s music.

Song #1 gets pretty hype like 4 minutes in though. I like that they say the title in the song. And the f word!? was this on the radio? no, wait a second... it's the word "funk". genius!

I googled george clinton and discovered he is NOT who I thought. I wonder who I was mixing him up with. Sorry, george.

In general, this was OK, some fun moments but ultimately I just don't love electric guitars.

Better than I thought it'd be. Two radio hits -- feel good inc and 19-2000. Generally chill and jangly.

I like "Rock the House", it's got horns in. "Starshine" is kinda cool electro.

"Slow country" is like 311's Amber except with simon & carfunkel-esque toots and honks, which is hilarious.

on the other hand M1 A1 is freakin' annoying and triggers my misophonia bigtime. D: (and makes me wish I were listening to M1 instead, a much better song!)