Reviews by bt1001quest

Michael Jackson followed up the greatest pop album of all time with another really really great pop album. It's not perfect, but there are some amazing tracks all over the runtime here. Let's go through some!

"Bad" and "The Way You Make Me Feel" are wonderful little California, summertime jams, excellently produced and crafted. Bet you didn't know the "Bad" music video was directed by Martin Scorsese!!! "Liberian Girl" was a song I had not heard since I was really young, and it still hit just the same. Just the right amount of 80s cheese with absolutely fantastic vocals from MJ. "Another Part of Me" is an underrated little synth-funk jam. "Man in the Mirror" is simply divine. This guy could write emotional ballads like nobody else could around this time. I was stunned to read that horrific bullshit sprawled across this album's page as it's "Top" review and find that someone out there hates this song. THIS ONE?! God that review sucks.
For being the supposed "corny" one, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" unexpectedly might be one of my favorites. The melodies are amazing, the vocal interchanges with Siedah Garrett are beautiful, and it's so deliciously 80s that I can't call it dated, for the simple fact that it still sounds super pleasurable to the ear. "Dirty Diana" was always one I said was overrated, but now I see the light on that one. It's the song the Weeknd created his entire career from (lol) and it's this grimy, dark take on the hair metal craze. Awesome song. And of course there's the classic "Smooth Criminal," one I don't think I like as much as most, but there's no denying how classic that song is. And closer "Leave Me Alone" properly ends things on a powerful (while still funky) note with bravado and seemingly some 4th-wall breaking commentary from Jackson directed at the paparazzi.

"Speed Demon" and "Just Good Friends" are definitely filler and don't hit nearly as hard. Not bad songs, just nowhere near as good as the rest of the tracklist. As far as how this record compares to "Thriller," in all departments its predecessor is better, but that does not mean this is not also an excellent record.

Really nice live jazz record with intentionally-included hiccups for effect. Would I listen again? Probably not.

Not one of the most cohesive albums I’ve ever heard, but it wins me over through its sheer number of great songs. Last three songs especially were all complete slappers: the dance punk of “Watch the Tapes” the Kraftwerkian repetition on the title track and the beautiful and completely unique ballad “New York I Love You”

Well hello there 5-star album #19. Great to see you again.

This like time #20 listening to this album- having grown up with a father whose all-time favorite artist was Bowie. This album is really perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about its eerie, drugged-out blend of funk, pop, and progressive rock. I really like how well its album cover sets the tone for the grimy feel a lot of these songs feature. My favorite has always been the wild "TVC 15"- a bouncy track about an evil human-eating television set, but special mention needs to be made for the epic, multi-parted title track opener, one of Bowie's all-time best, plus the beautiful ballad "Wild is the Wind" (a Johnny Mathis(!) cover), and the insanely catchy "Golden Years." This record really shows that a talented artist can be driven by darkness to create something as magical, if not more so, than other classic works in their catalogue.

The album should have been just a collab between Astrud, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Stan Getz. They all sound wonderful- particularly ACJ's little piano runs on these wonderfully chipper bossa nova tracks- count myself a new huge fan. Joao Gilberto, on the other hand, really ruins the vibe a lot of the time for me. His vocals are so nasally and whispery- I get that it's supposed to be a mellow sound but it bothers me like almost every song. I am really interested in diving in to Stan Getz and ACJ from here on, though!

As I get older I realize that Paul Simon is one of America's greatest musical gifts to the world- and yes, I realize that that statement neglects half the band (who is rightfully due some major props as well, do not get me wrong). I love all of PS' stuff and find this record so well put-together. Sounds fresh, artful but not difficult, and most of all, with messages that still resound today. "Old Friends" is incredibly moving, especially with its extended tape-recorded intro factored in. Everyone knows and [hopefully] loves "Mrs. Robinson," a song that encompasses the guarded, tentative optimism of the late 1960s. Bottom line- the record is timeless and excellent- a classic.

It's good but not nearly as groundbreaking as I remember Funkadelic's stuff being. Track 1 is the best thing here by a country mile, it never quite reaches the personality showcased all over that track

The songs are all individually pretty good, although variant in importance and enduring sound. A lot of it is pretty interchangeable with other bands of the time, save for a few outlying classics- "Dixie" and "Cripple"

In which the Bee Gees blow their load on Track 1 (a timeless track) and the other 42 minutes of ballads, while well-arranged in terms of its orchestral parts, go absolutely nowhere and feel like lesser versions of the Beatles and Roy Orbison

The band really stretch their wings trying a variety of styles and genres with quite a bit of success- jugband blues on "You Gotta Move," jazz fusion on "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," country pop on "Dead Flowers," and singer-songwriter on "Moonlight Mile." Only problem is the horrid "Brown Sugar" to open- the most racist classic rock song ever written?

The songs are pretty good, but inconsistent in quality where the title track and "And I Love Her" stand far above the rest. Not my favorite Beatles album

Attention-grabbing intro track goes right into one of the coolest songs ever, "Heads Will Roll"; it's hard to find synthpop that sounds as badass as the massive drama those cascading synth lines + claps create. Karen O's vocal chops are consistently excellent across the album as well- she has a unique, punkish drawl combined with beautiful high vibrato.

Completely shitty listening experience. The soundscapes sound unfinished, haphazard, hollow, and murky. So little care seems to have been taken to distribute the repetition effectively which results in each song getting mind-numbingly grating by minute 2.

I know I probably shouldn't like the "lyrical spiritual miracle" flow here but their voices are actually quite unique- especially Chali 2na, who sounds like if Keith David could rap. The hooks here tend to be pretty catchy, too. Solid skateboard-core rap. I was pretty impressed and would re-listen.

Some classics here- "Paint it Black" and "Lady Jane" compete for the "greatest Stones song" designation, while the deep tracks are actually still pretty interesting- the over the top misogyny on "Stupid Girl" that's so brusque that it is actually really funny, the super ahead-of-its-time sounding "Under My Thumb," the 11-minute blues improv of "Goin' Home" or the catchy Motown-inspired "Out of Time." My favorite of the Stones records I've heard on the list so far.

Exceedingly uninteresting and overlong Oasis soundalike record

I liked it when they did more to incorporate their blues influences- the majority of this album is very straightforward AOR with some blues guitar thrown in. When they really dig into that Texas blues sound on tracks like “Waiting for the Bus” and the incredible “La Grange” they really unleash their full potential. Compilation band it seems

Extremely mid "i'm just a boy girls suck" music- just made me want to hear the Buzzcocks instead.

What a find! This is the kind of experience I was looking for when I started this musical journey.

This album is such a distillation of the early 90s. It feels so homey, so comfortable. Like it's April 1993, you and your best buds and maybe your girlfriend are riding your bikes over to the lake after school and this is playing from someone's portable jukebox. I absolutely love the nostalgic feelings that exude from the carefree lyrics, the Smiths-esque guitar, and that organ that pops up every now and again. The song lengths are all so short but it's paced pretty well in terms of upbeat, faster tempos and slowing things down. Ending on their recognizable cover of "Mrs. Robinson" was a nice touch, too. Too bad about their singer being a POS, but it doesn't take away from how good the album was.

"Forrest Gump had a lot going for him" is just one of the lyrical """"""""""""gems"""""""""" on this thing.

Here's a few more just for good measure:
"Someone bring the tacos"
"I'm sorry I don't shave my legs"
"My booty getting bigger even if it ain't"
"You know I'm sensitive about having no booty"
"I wanna take all of my hair down and let you lay in it"

Talking more objectively, her vocals are strong and "Prom" is legitimately a good song. But the lyrics really ruin a lot of the decent aspects here. I guess I should have figured given the hook on her biggest hit is "I might kill my ex"