Reviews by giddy

I really wanted to like this album more, as When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You is perhaps one of the best R&B/Soul songs to grace music, but the rest of the album really opens my eyes to how uncomfortable this whole situation makes me feel. At best it's an odd peak into dirty laundry that shouldn't be aired out like this, but there are many times on this album where Marvin Gaye feels ultimately bitter and hateful, despite how much he swears he isn't. I know nothing of their relationship, but it is difficult to cheer for Gaye when listening in, and while the raw aspects are relatively inspiring, it just feels off here, and I couldn't shake that feeling for the nearly eighty minutes I was stuck listening in. Gaye's voice is magnificent, and often times the production is stellar, too, but nearly every track drags, and you can tell how much filler is here to really pad things out. Perhaps some re-listens would do my mind good, it took a few listens of When Did You Stop Loving Me for it to click, but after sitting through this thing I really don't want to go through this again. I suppose I can respect an album this brutally honest, especially for 1978, but I'll be honoring it from afar.

Honestly, not as dumb as was expected, but the ridiculously drawn out length tied with the goofy, almost parody level delivery takes this album from being just a boring time waster, to something offensive to the ears. This isn't because of the lyrics, although Fred Durst and co. does spew some garbage, but rather because with each additional track your brain dissolves bit by bit. Seemingly the same forgettable guitar, the same vocal delivery, and you're lucky to make it a track without Jonathan Davis putting on a ridiculous voice that is difficult to take seriously. When we got the bagpipes, I knew no one should take it seriously, no matter how badly Korn wants you to. It's just tiring, a product of its era, and the else said about it perhaps the better. Oddly enough, still see plenty of Korn shirts in 2024... huh.

I absolutely love this sound, and I wish there was more exposure for the likes of Jobim or even Gilberto, as while they are certainly famous it is a crying shame that bossa nova has basically been shrunken down to "elevator music" in the societal concious, despite great albums like this one being out there. I do think Sinatra's voice is a little too powerful for the melencholia often presented here, and tonally many of the tracks can come off as similar, but everything is just so pretty I can't be bothered to be upset by it. Sinatra is an obvious choice for great vocalist, but album's like this one really show his range, and deserve to be more recognized.

At first it was cheesy, then it was boring, but I think most offensively it was obviously made purely to jump upon the success of black artists' musical stylings and genres. This may seem like a brash accusation, but if we can critique Jamiroquai for his Stevie Wonder "impressions" then it seems ignorant to turn a blind eye here. At first you just get stocky sounding Olive Garden jazz that is generic, but the B-side opens with perhaps the most "we can make money off this "rap" thing" song I've ever heard, trying its best to copy the flow and delivery of the best of the disco-rap acts of the early 80s, obviously in the best way a couple European white guys can, and it doesn't stop there, with various (terrible) takes on genres and influences the pair just quite frankly has no business attempting, not only because they really shouldn't, but also because they cannot. It sounds awful, going past cheesy into the realm of disturbing quickly, and even if songs after that and Strength of Your Nature do try to gather their composure, the damage has already been dealt, and it's impossible to not see every song as disingenuous and only in it for some sort of financial gain or at the very least brownie points for trying something so different to their prior work. Songs tend to start with good hooks, but get old quick, and in that time I'm left waiting for the song to end, only thinking of the middle of the album offense that is hard to ever forget, and frankly has soured my little views on Paul Weller to an extreme degree. This is, frankly, not good, and should be forgotten into a bygone era, for everyone's sake.

So destructively boring that it made me genuinely upset at multiple points as some of the worst vocalists ever yell in my ear while insipid drumming completely fails to deliver a funky or groovy experience. The only saving grace is the guitar playing, but it is still generic and, often times, lacking. Is it jazzy? Fun? I don't know, I seemingly clocked out early about halfway through, and I couldn't be bothered to once again interact with anything here.

Has a lot of promise and good ideas, but it feels wasted on the album's needless drive to be "odd." Not so much in a way like The Residents (although comparisons could be made) but rather just taking perfectly good post-punk melodies and adding random noises to drown out the flavor. The more dance punk elements cause me to crave LCD Soundsystem, while the dissonance projected only evokes a Swans-lite palette. Sure, there are elements I like, especially in the first track, but the whole thing constantly feels like it is building up to something great, but it just falls flat and seemingly gives up, and I'm just left feeling confused.

I love the dichotomy of this album, it feels like two different people are performing when it's just Dylan scaring off some close-minded folk freaks with some good ol' rock 'n' roll. And it's some DAMN good rock 'n' roll at that. I love the loud, chaotic instrumentals mixed with the barely audible heckling to make for perhaps one of the rawest musical experiences up to that point in history. I do think the quiet tracks on the first part are good too, I just feel like Dylan likes to drag a tad more there when it comes to length vs. content, but damn if there isn't some good tracks to drive on a lonely road to. A great live album, I was fearing this one due to its length and infamy, but this is one of my favorites from him.

Well, my streaming service decided to shuffle the whole album around on me for no reason, but I didn't even realize until Anarchy in the U.K, so I suppose that goes to show my interest. I can like punk pretty easy, and I even like John Lydon's other project, Public Image Ltd, quite a bit. But this album is just boring. It's what you think of first when you hear the word "punk," and it knew that even when it came out. This may be the voice of a generation, but it is infamously not always true to its words, and while I don't know this album for it as much as some, it is hard to forget when realizing how many other great punk albums and even post-punk albums were doing this album's schtick but... better. It's okay, Anarchy in the U.K. is great, but you really only need one or two tracks from this album before you get the whole picture, and I think it's public opinion shift over time makes some amount of sense.

I quite like a couple tracks from M.I.A.'s second album, Kala, so I was hopeful for this album, but this feels like it is very shallow despite the fact that I know it isn't. It's weird that it's generally considered a hip hop album, because the rapping on this album is kept to a minimum. The album more feels like an electronic dance album with a focus on unique beats and musical styles from all across the world, but at the end of the day pop-y dance music is still just pop-y dance music. The beats are ahead of their time in some fashion, and it seems extremely unique compared to most 2000s works, but I thought very little of most of the music here, and only wish there was more going on, because most of the songs don't change, even from track to track. I completely understand someone liking this, but I'm pretty disappointed. Still cautiously hopeful for the follow up.

An excellent blend of Joni Mitchell's odd yet satisfying vocal delivery with the genre that matches it, Court and Spark's combination of this soft but complex pop with the always moving nature of jazz leads to tracks with many all-time climaxes. Everything in nearly every track builds up to something greater, and it almost always pays off, with a good touch of 70s mainstream folk to keep the album grounded and lyrically thought provoking. Nearly every track was destiny for Mitchell to perform, and she knocks it out of the park, exceeding anything up to this point, and still standing above anything after it, at least from what I've heard. It's that slight variation between tracks that really flexes Mitchell's musical muscle, and the bluegrass-y Raised on Robbery surprisingly sealed the deal for me; this is a amazing record.

I first heard this album a couple years back and it really caught me off guard. I'd never heard of this band despite Beach House being around for nearly two decades at that point, but this album was really the jumping off point for them, and really carries on the dream pop legacy dominated by acts like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and a multitude of other great acts. What's important, though, is it modernizes the sound not to be derivative of these acts, but rather, take little bits and pieces and give them a 2010s pop coat of paint. Great, strong vocal patterns, big, sweeping movements, and a sense of melancholia that cannot be beat. While I think the duo still had room to grow after this album, as some tracks can read similar to the last, this is still a great album where you could tell they were really becoming their own thing, artistically, and it is a treat to know they are still making music today, just as strong as ever.

Starts off noisy, but nice enough. It has that same vibe I get from many shoegaze-y albums where it starts out and my brain is too overwhelmed to truly take it all in, but unlike your My Bloody Valentines or Candy Claws, I never adjusted to this overwhelming sound, and I'd say it even started to give me a headache. The melodies are okay and the instrumentation is a solid enough 90s fare, but it doesn't feel like there's any texture to the madness. It's just loud and echo for the sake of it, and it was starting to drive me a bit mad by the end, despite enjoyment at the start. Leads to a vexing album where I understand the hype to some extent, but I can't imagine returning, lest I want even more of a migraine.

FirstMate Oct 07 20242.50 stars
A fairly simple album, with a first track that towers over the rest of the album via its length and stature, but admittedly flies by, especially compared to the remaining four tracks. I, personally, find the highlight to be Kometenmelodie 2, as it is filled with so much unexpected energy and drive that it instantly caught my attention as the music of the future. I can hear all of electronic music in that one song, and I can say that more than any other one piece I've heard by Kraftwerk, it's truly magnificent. The rest of the album suffers from this, in all honesty, as the album feels lesser from then on, and I've little in the way of positive words for the final two tracks, It's certainly revolutionary, Kraftwerk deserves that title, but it just doesn't scratch itches as a whole album that other electronic acts don't achieve later on in the pantheon of music.

Man, I really thought I was liking this. I thought I was being hypocritical that I enjoyed this over so many other electronic 90s albums, but I couldn't deny how great Rockafeller Skank or Praise You were. However, looking bsck on it made me realize how much of this opinion was built upon comfort. Sure, the other, lesser, tracks are okay, but do I really care? Especially enough to sit there and act like the album is better for them, running over an hour long? It's an okay album with some great tracks, but if you stick to the greatest hits records for Fatboy Slim, you will be missing very little. Luckily, this album has a good chunk of those hits, so there is something here to enjoy.

This album seems confused on its own personality, and man if that isn't a turn off for any sort of R&B. Slut shame here, but my ass is too fat for you there. I need to be respected, but that guy is so fucking HOT. I don't carry an issue with any of the songs on there own, but as a whole package it is clear there is no actual message to any of these songs. Just what the songwriters came up with so the three could strut their stuff. Except, that isn't great either, as the album is so front loaded there is nothing to speak on in the last half-an-hour. You may as well skip it. The album is just a time capsule into the musical scene in the late 90s and early 2000s, and I see no reason to listen to it in any other aspect. The hits aren't even catchy compared to other R&B hits from the time, and it just leaves the album feeling soulless. Inoffensive, but soulless, and like a cash grab.

As many have pointed out, Beck was in the right place at the right time, and that really allowed his career to flourish, more so than your average white guy-hip hop-rock-electronic-folk album, in which I'm sure there was more than you'd think by 1996. Beck just did it really well, setting the bar pretty high. It's weird, but not bizarre, it's heavy, but not destructive, it's poppy, but not bubblegum. It just is a well rounded 90s album that perfectly shows the landscape of a new era in a post-Nirvana world, and while some of it feels a little too of its era for me, much of the album is at the very least catchy, and I really enjoy the folkier moments hinting towards future Beck endeavors. Just a solid album that has held up very well, and was certainly an inspiration for many artists of the 2000s.

An album that feels pretty of it's an era, but when comparing it to the status of hip hop at the time, this is pretty good for the time. It falls into a lot of production trappings that date it pretty quickly, and it wears it's influences on its sleeve in such a way I wouldn't blame you if you just went to go listen to those influences instead. However, there is still a lot to enjoy here. I love how varied the styles are here, with some jazz influences sneaking their way in along with straight up pop songs in a way that mesh surprisingly well. Lupe's flows are also incredibly solid, especially when it comes to hooks, and while I never want to hear a Daydream sample again, it did get some creative variation via Jill Scott. I think most of the features did a good job, actually, with Jay-Z actually feeling the most phoned in. It's just a solid hip hop album from a rocky era, and I would say this album was an early stepping stone into the fantastic era we'd jump in to in the 2010s.

More jam band-y than I was expecting, in a way similar to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's more Grateful Dead-esque albums, it had some of that Southern rock charm infused with the sound of hundreds of indie rock bands on the 2010s. However, I find it to be weaker than most of its contemporaries and influences, lacking any real defining personality, and getting bubbly and psychedelic for the sake of it. We're talking about an album with a song just called "Drug." Even Talking Heads knew to throw a plural form in there! It isn't offensive or really all that bad, but it is surface level with its tone, and that can really be a shame when you know this style of music can be pulled off by many others while this album gets left in the dust covered 2010s. Certainly a step up from your other folk-influenced indie groups of the time, I'll take this over the Lumineers or Mumford and Sons any day (not that they're all that comparable) but I would not prefer to sit through this again, as I think the sound would just start to bug me.

An extremely disappointing album, as it seems to be pigeonholed into glam rock just because it has some light motifs of the genre, but this just feels like a stepping stone for us to get Brian Eno one day, as Bryan Ferry just doesn't feel like that notable of a lead for a majority of the album, and anything quirky about this release is quickly subdued by cheesy saxophone solos and rock able to appeal to any dad. It isn't bad, I just expected this group to be something truly out there, with an oddly all-star line-up and a peculiar set of album covers, I knew very little about the group going in except that I was hopeful, and I come away seeing that the genre change to soft rock makes far more sense than it used to. Still hopeful for their other releases but my expectations are far more tempered. (Written prior to listening to For Your Pleasure and Country Life, two FAR BETTER albums)

My dad LOVES Fishbone, he was a teenager during their heyday, after all, but I do find this metallic infused ska to be very hit or miss, personally. When it goes hard it works really well, and even the late 80s-like production can't touch this album's powerful moments. However, I think a lot of it still carries those cheesier moments that plague ska-revival into something perfectly of its time. I'll admit that this is ahead of most of those 90s acts that made up the Pro Skater soundtrack, but its pretty rare that the funkier, more upbeat moments make me feel much of anything. It's the guitar heavy One Day or the odd Ma and Pa that feel a lot more unique, and therefore, quality. The rest of the album is fun enough, it just doesn't have that lasting impact, and even lacks most of the truly great songs Fishbone is known for, such as Sunless Saturday.