Reviews by giddy

Giving me this and Funeral just a couple days apart is pretty messed up. Maybe not Kanye back-to-back messed up, but close. As for the album itself, I'm conflicted, because I find some of the songs here to be the best of the band's whole discography (of what I heard) but other songs here are just as boring and soul sucking as Neon Bible, which I gave a one. Generally my system has it so it at least gets a three if I enjoy a few songs to add to my musical rotation (rounds up from a 2.5) but my disdain for not only this band as a whole, but the rest of this album still makes me feel like this is a two. You're probably thinking "then give this a two," but I hate to break tradition, it would bother me. So, if you're reading this, this three is the lighest three I've ever given, and I think as an album, Funeral is far and away the best of their albums here, I just seem to like parts of this one the most, and that helps it in my system. It's flawed, but I'm in too deep. One thing I can say no matter what is Arcade Fire is not a good band by any means.

The inclusion of (I think) a saxophone is a nice touch to stand out, but it doesn't help the Zutons from sounding like every other band of this era any way. Certainly not a bad sound, but I feel had I heard this in passerby nothing would've stood out to me. The more country-like influenced tracks here are weird too, just feel off. Light three.

This is far better than Neon Bible, because at the very least it isn't boring, at least not most of the time. There are some songs I would even dare say I enjoyed here. Nothing I'd add to my personal library, but it works as an album. What irks me the most here is the singer's voice, as its not only very whiney, despite none of the songs expelling specifically sadness, but also that it just sounds like Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse but less interesting and singing songs that lend themselves far less to the voice. It makes some songs that feel like great indie rock tunes conceptually turn into songs that sound like stomp and holler shit you'd hear out of the Lumineers or some other early 2010s indie folk band no one likes. Another issue I find is a lot of songs tend to pick up and start to do something interesting like a minute too late, and the song ends up ending before the payoff really does its job. I just feel like this is almost there, and who knows, maybe if I gave this a couple more tries I'd start to like it quite a bit, but for now, I can only claim that this is ten times better than the slog that is Neon Bible.

Okay, this actually got REALLY boring with the last few tracks, so it's still a two, but it slipped down a bit from that. No matter what I do not get the praise here. While we're comparing them to Modest Mouse, how does this band have three on here and Modest Mouse has zero? So weird.

It certainly is funky, and a good amount of the time that is a good thing on this record, as I felt myself slowly getting into it with each song, but if I take a step back and truly look at this album as a whole, it's very repetitive and lacks a whole lot of substance, to the point where a good amount of the tracks lack lyrics for a portion of the song. I understand I'm supposed to be getting down with it and not caring, but it's a little hard to when you're just sitting at a desk, doing work. Perhaps that's unfair to the album, but I mean, if I'm still getting into it while doing menial tasks, then it must be pretty good funk.

I'm unsure how I dislike this album more then Pretzel Logic, when this one has a bit of a higher average score, but I thinj my issue here was it felt like every track went on too long for its own good. None of the songs are bad, but I cannot deny I wasn't getting annoyed at points when songs felt like they were just repeating stylistic beats. However, none of this is to say that I disliked this album completely, as I think it does well what it is aiming to do, which is soft rock that you put on for background music. This album does feel a step elevated above that, almost being yacht-prog more than anything, and so increased attention is recommended, but definitely not required. A decent first outing, but this band still has yet to truly prove to me why it is something more than other soft rock bands from the era.

I think this album is alright, and not too much more than that. Just has that general quick fix rock that makes it so no one song is bad, but no song especially sticks out too hard either. I do get why this is here, though. It starts really strong with the first song and has parts here and there that grabs you again for moments at a time, but overall it's just decent.

This is a weird case where as a pop album, it has the issue a lot of punk albums have of being too repetitive, and a lot of songs blend together. It's like punk-lite, though, as it still feels like you could hear each of these songs on the radio and think "yeah, this belongs here" and not think anything of it for a moment. I could see myself liking this a lot more in a different mood, as each song is catchy and had me tapping my foot, but I'd forget the song as soon as it ended nearly every time, and that makes the whole album feel forgettable. Like, I completely get why this is here, and I think if I were to dig into this album deeper I'd really like it, but as far as impressions go, this just doesn't grab me enough to earn repeats in my own free time.

Man, why is this here? Like, I get this is an important part of nu-metal or whatever, but isn't that why Kid Rock is here? Or Korn? Like, I see no reason this is here if not for the author trolling everyone. The instruments suck, the lyrics are AWFUL, and the same song is on here twice, just to really say "fuck you" to your audience. Is that the point? Why would you want to listen to this if the artist hates you as the listener actively on the album? Jesus, just terrible.

I'll start by saying that this album, musically, is not very good, and at over an hour-and-a-half long, that is not a good thing. Sometimes you'll get a guitar lick or a hook that is pleasing to the ears, but otherwise you're either getting stereotypical country rock, or Lemmy doing stereotypical country rock. It gets old fast, and whenever the lyrics are just like "I got drunk to Lynyrd Skynyrd hyuck-hyuck" the worst of the album shows. I understand that it may be relatable to some guy in Alabama who grew up in the 70s and 80s, but for most of the world, it verges on parody.

However, I must admit, despite not wanting to, that I don't hate this album. Especially not enough for a one star. There are lyrical nuisances here that show more deptch and humanizing of the American South than their "culture" has ever shown, and the looking inside the album tries to display at times is endearing at worst, but genuinely interesting at times. Not every song does this, mind you, but after years of Alabama being the butt of every joke you've ever heard, to see someone actually from the state talk about their thoughts and opinions on various topics can be genuinely thought provoking, and they can definitely tell jokes that are more clever than just "Alabama lol". Needing all twenty fingers and toes to "hold the closet door closed" is one that is especially clever as a comment of the stereotypes of the state.

Most of this is not good, and I'd rather not hear this again, but I have to give credit somewhere. This is too long, though, were half of these songs necessary? Still, expected worse.

Looking into this album a bit more, I'd say just listen to disc one, as disc two is the part of the storyline where the fictional band of the story "Let there be rock" and while most of the decent parts musically come from this section, nothing on this back half will stick with me.

Is this really the same band as Screamadelica? I mean, I wasn't crazy about that album or anything, but I actually liked a decent chunk of that one, where this one other than one more actual rock heavy tune in the middle I could not get into this, and at some point was actively disliking this, like whenever the songer decided to put on that cringey voice changer. THAT got hard to listen to. I could see a band like Radiohead being influenced by the electronics on this album, but I find it much more likely that they found that on their own merits as a good sound, and not on this record. Not bad enough for a one, but it's close.

I've now heard three different albums in full by this group, which I imagine is more than most people who consider themselves CCR "fans". This one is better than Bayou Country, or least feels like it. There's a tad more variation, and you fan kind of see the direction the band continues to go in, but I still don't see what makes this so special. It's just swamp rock, right? I'm not missing something special, right? Because I really feel like I'm missing something with these. I hope Cosmo's Factory opens my eyes in some way.

It kind of reminds me of a Celtic Electric Light Orchestra, but that is not a bad thing. Actually, it reminds me of all sort of influences, as you can hear artists like Talking Heads, David Bowie, and the entirety of punk having huge marks on the music at play here. Yet, it is all entirely its own thing here, with each song having this unique charm that feels just new wave enough to be catchy enough without coming off as just jumping in on the times. The change of music from ballads to bopping pop tunes is great and balanced well, and that fiddle is a fantastic addition to make it all its own musically. Not every slow ballad grabs me, and the hit here, Come On Eileen, I've heard far too much to give it a proper time of day, but otherwise this album is great, and I hope the somehow other two inclusions by the band on the list live up to being as good as this one.

Eh, just feels like generic proto-punk. I enjoyed some of the rock focused stuff, as it felt a tad bit on the glam rock side of things, but it still didn't grab me. Also, some of the song topics are questionable, to say the least, but considering it's punk I imagine it's at least somewhat ironically. Hopefully, any way.

This one really has me confused as to what exactly makes R.E.M. such an important band to so many, as while I usually get the appeal of most of their hits as I hear them, the biggest song here, "Everybody Hurts," is a slog of a song that comes off more dreary and dull than something worth spending time on, and most of the other songs presented on this album are very similar tonally. The singer seems to think his voice is something much more dramatic sounding that it really is, as his voice does not lend itself well to these ballad-type songs, and while musically it is very solid, it needed far more times where the music picked up, such as on "Ignoreland," to not be a repetitive drag.

So, you may be confused, why am I giving this a three? Well, it's more of a 2.5, and I'm just rounding up, because that's math for ya. There are moments I like, even whole songs I'd say I enjoyed, it just struggles to be anything I'll remember in a days time. I think I said something similar for Murmur, but in retrospect, that album is a very solid three, while this one is hanging on by a mere thread. Hope other R.E.M. albums on here pick up, because this was meh.

I've not listened to all of Rolling Stones' blues rock-style albums from this same era, but I think I prefer this over those, as this is far more consistent throughout the album, rather than just having one or two great tracks and the rest being forgettable. A lot of this album does feel generic, yes, but I never found myself especially disliking any track, and in fact, I'd say there's enough here I actually like quite a bit, varying from the strict blues sound to actually feel like it's from the early 70s, rather than just relying on nostalgic stylings. Just decent music you'd here on your local classic rock radio.

Hey, I've listened to this album before! I was so inspired to listen to it one week that despite my knowledge that it was on the generator, I knew I had to sit down and listen to it. I was blown away then (but somehow God Only Knows didn't grab me) but it's even better now. The harmonies on here are gorgeous, and the small orchestra Brian Wilson was controlling on this album is some of the most gorgeous displays of instrumentals on any modern pop record. No wonder there's two different instrumental tracks on this. Brian Wilson really did make a masterpiece here, and it's a shame the other band members saw that and still shut him down with "Smile" eventually. I've seen the average score the realization of that album has on here, and I'm hoping it's just a case of people totally misunderstanding the story behind that album after years of mental issues from Brian, because the man at least displays his genius here. 1966 to 1969 really was a magical era for music, huh?

This was way better than expecting. I was figuring it would be a Alanis Morissette situation, but this is a bit more personal feeling than that! It's got an alt-rock vibe from the 90s that feels right on the edge of being mainstream and more lo-fi, and it makes it so while not every song song here is notable, a lot of it is at least interesting, and usually pretty good at that. It's at the very least way better than the Rolling Stones album this is riffing on.

The first couple tracks didn't do much for me, but the more the album went on the more I really liked the somber and string-filled tracks. He's got a great voice, and the choir enhances the songs rather than feeling unnecessary, something that happens too often in this era of music. Piano is great too, jazzy without being overwhelmingly nonsensical. Sure, it's mostly dinner party music, but it's pretty, I could see myself liking this a lot more as time passes, but I already like this quite a bit.

The other reviews were not kidding, this guy really wants to be Stevie Wonder, but I think he wanted to do so out of inspiration, not to make money off his style. I was hopeful for this album because of this common comparison as well as "acid jazz" being listed within the subgenres, but I sadly found a lot of this album just okay. None of it really had that punch I find Wonder's music to contain, and no real slow tracks had the album start to feel monotonous more than something to get up and dance to. Everything here is solid enough, but I can live with one or two tracks from this guy and don't need a whole album. Also, say it with me everyone! TOO. LONG. Normalize thirty-five minute albums again.

This album is boring, and the main singer sucks at his job. His voice isn't bad in an interesting way, it's just straight up bad, and it doesn't help that his voice is so bad it distracts from pretty decent guitar playing, with a few good riffs, and when the album featured an actually good singer for one song, I could see an alternate reality where I liked this a lot more. The last song having no words was a godsend that saved my my mental state and this album from getting the lowest of low scores. Still not good.