Reviews by giddy

I listened to the first song on this album, "Night Life", whilst actually driving in the middle of the night, and it absolutely fits the mood of the night, as does the rest of the album I'd say. However, issues arise when you sit down and actually focus on the music, as it becomes very same-y, and the longer-than-average country album (for the time) makes the repetitiveness all the more present. I enjoy the fact that his voice isn't that exaggerated warble that many country artists do, it makes it not excruciating to listen to, but otherwise a very safe album just a couple years before popular music as a genre really started expanding as an artform.

Dolly Parton is an excellent individual, surely being one of the most likeable still-living celebrities, but at the end of the day her music is still my least favorite major genre of country. There are some things here that are interesting to listen to, from her mom stealing her boyfriend from under her nose to a good ol' cucking (who the fuck makes a song about cucking?), but the music is so repetitive and boring that I hardly want to listen to it. It isn't offensive musically as a lot of country tunes are nowadays, but it still isn't that great or anything.

This album has everything going for it that should make it something I quite like; it's groovy, funky, the riffs are satisfying, and all the music is technically well crafted. Yet, I cannot seem to care or get into this much at all. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but it is hard time to see this as more than something you know would've played at the roller rink, and I think even Chic knows that. There is definitely a place in music for that, but perhaps that "place" was torn down twenty or thirty years ago for a reason.

When the album started, I wasn't quite expecting the guitar to be such a major focus, but nearly every riff here is super catchy, and the samba style really lends itself to this blend of music that is familiar yet all its own. That final song being so aggressive comparatively puts a nice bow on this extremely well made package. Perhaps the language barrier makes this a tad repetitive, but it is a repeat of only banger after banger, so that is hardly a knock against it. Rod Stewart can eat his heart out when it comes to Taj Mahal, quite frankly. Sick of artists "sampling" (or in this case straight up stealing) amazing music and making it obviously worse. I believe George Harrison when he says he unconsciously lifts a melody from a song, not the "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" guy.

Listening to this is smooth, it really is super groovy and funky in the perfect way for a hip-hop album. Once again the issues come down to the length of it all, where it starts to become very long winded and hard to focus on what you're listening too, and the relatively relaxing samples and beats don't help to not keep you from getting too comfy with it and letting it all slip past you. Otherwise, very good, I'm glad I finally came around to actually giving ATCQ a proper listen.

While I think I may enjoy Mike Patton's other project(s), such as Mr. Bungle for their more showbiz-esque nature, this is still very enjoyable, albeit kind of long winded. I have to give credit to Patton, though, not only for his voice and range, but also for being one of the musicians out there that respects and has even worked with Sparks, always bonus points for that, as I am a Mael brothers shill, just the way I like it. Anyway, good album.

I don't know, man. I feel bad giving this such a low score, but everything sounds the exact same, and when it doesn't it's because it was a boring instrumental. I usually like this sort of stuff, but the best song here was outdone by a far superior cover years later, and the rest of the album is rest than that, so... meh.

Starts extremely strong with a pop song that definitely deserved its place on the charts at the time, but the album peters out pretty quickly and only has moments here and there reaching close to the same heights. The singles are singles for a reason for sure with this record, and I think the only new info I'm taking away from this album is that there is an Adele cover of Lovesong by the Cure. Of course her voice is fantastic, but you knew that, and I didn't have to hear either of the albums on this list to know that. Good album, just feel like Adele is always so close to being more than the "middle-aged mom pop artist".

I swear I'm not just rating these more controversial albums high scores to be different, I just really like some of these albums, and I suppose that differs from others. It just has this groove to it at points that I get really into, and I like the singer (singers?) voice. It does start to fall apart a bit with some of the last couple songs, but otherwise an album I enjoyed my time with quite a bit.

This album has its pretty high-highs and its pretty low-lows (looking at you Same Old Show) but is overall a pretty alright project with some really good songs on there. You just kind of have to sift through something nothingness at times to get there.

The guitar playing is immaculate and Sultans of Swing lives up to the hype (and then some) but the rest of the album leaves a bit to be desired, often being too country-rock-like for my liking, and nothing even matching the height of the album, which I already mentioned, even if there are good parts. It is more of a disappointment than anything, but it is still decent overall.

Perhaps the album I have the least amount of thoughts and opinions so far. The final song nearly dragged it down to a one star, but I like the synths in the first just enough for it to die in the "forgettable" pile.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this, as I think lyrically I understand the album in concept, but a lot of it comes off as artificial more than anything, and it is hard to tell what I'm supposed to be like "oh, good point" and what is a played-too-serious joke. As far as it goes musically, I think the backing tracks are okay, but they all sound like something I heard somewhere else before, and not really their own thing. This just doesn't feel like anything all that notable, and considering I'd never heard of this album before the generator, despite trying to relatively keep up with modern music tells me it'll be probably removed to make room for another album on the next version of the list.

Goddammit Britpop, decide if you're gonna be ass and one of the worst genres I've heard or producing some of the best albums I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, like this album is. Every song on here is a masterpiece in music, I'm not joking. The singer's voice is a perfect blend of the Bowie voice so many Britpop singers try to emulate and someone like Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy, and the understanding of making a good chord progression is unmatched as an album, with nearly every movement here so satisfying and enjoyable. It may be a little long, but I was never waiting for it to end like most albums, and stuff I actually knew before like Common People are suddenly extremely good even though I didn't think too much beforehand. I'm just utterly impressed by this gorgeous, whitty and frankly awe inspiring album.

This feels a bit more like Elvis' own style, rather than the pale imitation of black rock 'n' roll present in his first album, but instead you get an album that you can tell they were just throwing money at in the production phase, as it often feels that rather than having this really intimate collection of songs with just Elvis and his guitar, you get chamber voices and strings that really do too much for the whole album, and make it so songs feel like too much. I mean, it is certainly still alright, there are some pretty enjoyable songs here, but there's also a lot that just feels like music that is, frankly, behind on the times. I mean, 1969 was one of the best years for music period, so comparing this to all of that makes this feel still stuck in the early parts of the decade. Again, not terrible, but hard to praise, and I'd say in some ways worse than that intial outing.

I listened to my own Frankenstein's Monster version of this album, as the album on my streaming service of choice was all mangled and missing songs, so if that affected my experience with the album in one way or another, I apologize.

As for the album, this was perfectly alright, in fact, I liked it more than most electronica albums from the era, so I really REALLY don't understand how this has such a low average rating. Like, it's weird this is where people drew the line, and not with a multitude of other albums that are just as bad if not worse. I liked it overall, it reminded me of the music in Sonic R, and that can be a good thing in the right mood, I think.

I really like the synths on this, and I love how personal this is, even more than The Boatman Calls, but it is definitely too long, and very repetitive. It has me feeling conflicted, because one moment I'll be getting into it, and the next I'll be dying for it to be over. Still, it is not all bad.

I already knew going in that I was going to like this (A Passage to Bangkok slaps) but I didn't realize I was going to like it THIS MUCH. I've listened to 2112 before (albeit in pieces), but I apparently wasn't listening, because I was jamming the whole time, and even once we got past that behemoth of a song, each song afterwards was just as good, and varied, making this album never feel bloated, even with such a long song, and the instruments only add to the majesty of the whole thing. I also really love Geddy Lee's voice here. I mean, I enjoy it on other Rush albums too, but as this is pretty early in their discography, his voice is still at peak performance, and he nails every note with such perfection. Just an amazing album, I'm truly blown away.

Gonna be honest with y'all, the Ayn Rand references completely went over my head until I read others reviews, and while I definitely see issues there, I still think the music is damn good, and Neil Peart, before passing, did rescind those ideas for the most part, so I look at it less as endorsement and more as seeing the beliefs of a songwriter that didn't know better. However, I could totally be making excuses so that my mind enjoys the album more free of guilt. Just thought I should specify that my five star is not in support of Rand's believes, just in support of music I like the sound of.

I much prefer the more somber sounding Presley songs, because his voice benefits a lot more from those than him trying to do a bad impression of black artists from the era. Luckily, there are a few of said somber songs on this album, and it makes it so those songs are really quite enjoyable, even if they still aren't his own works, then again is anything by him really? You can also hear some Lennon-like vocals in I'll Never Let You Go, but I have no clue if John Lennon actually took any inspiration from Presley at all. Overall, some good, and some pretty whatever for a decent album all together.

This was leaps and bounds better than either Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby, and I understand that probably isn't the most common opinion. I mean, this still isn't anything super crazy for me, but I can at least find enjoyment in this, probably due to a good chunk of the songs actually having a beat and tempo that makes me excited to listen to rather than bored to tears, and the normal length run time is much more tolerable than whatever Achtung Baby thought it was getting away with. Maybe the other two do have those "blood-pumping" songs, but I certainly don't remember them, and I think that just helps this album's case more.