Reviews by giddy

This was alright. I'm not a southern rock kind of person, but there are things here that transcend that and are much more enjoyable like Simple Man, and I could see myself liking Free Bird if it was some unknown song I'd never heard of. Oh well, at least it's fun to play in Guitar Hero.

This album has an absolutely amazing and gorgeous A-Side that is nothing but excellent music and the peak of folk music. This steam continues on to the B-side with The Boxer, but as the album winds down it starts to lose a lot of its muster, and the inclusion of a live piece, while it makes sense, is really jarring with how loud the crowd is, and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth, being pretty much the finale. I could see me coming arouns to a five with this album over time, but as it stands, this is an extremely high four. I'm glad one of the Simon & Garfunkel outings on the list didn't leave me feeling disappointed, even if they are also good.

How else can I describe this album other than overwhelming? Not in the same way that shoegaze can be, but more so due to this albums lack of focus or any sense of normal song structure? Lots of random things thrown into the songs to make it feel less like a natural progression and instead something where you're jumping up, down, and all around. This can be a negative on the album, with it being pretty poor listening music at points, but it can also make the album stick out, especially compared to other pop of the late 00s. It, at points, reminds me of a Vampire Weekend jam session, and that is both a blessing and a curse. I think that when I give this album a four, it doesn't necessarily mean I think it is on equal standing with some of my other ratings, but rather does enough to stand out and have bright moments that the oddities of the album don't bring it down too much. I do, however, totally understand the relatively low average score. I struggle to put into words how I feel about this, but despite my middling review, I did enjoy this, and that's what matters here, I suppose.

I'm going to use my ignorance here as a crutch as to why I dislike this. I'd like to think I'm at least somewhat musically adept, as I've played both bass and piano for years now, but this sort of stuff can really come off as a wall of noise and not much more to me, where I know I'm hearing something musically impressive, but gaining nothing from it. It certainly isn't as hard for me to like as Bitches Brew in this case, but this album still suffers (for me) with this stuff. There was things I liked (like, shocker, the bass and piano), but there were also plenty of moments I was growing quickly sick of what I was listening to. This manages to claw itself out of the one star depths, but mostly because I feel it is more my fault than anything that I think, at best, nothing of this.

Very close to being a five star here, I think there's just too many times on the album where songs go too long and it dampens the intial impact the song has. Otherwise, very amazing, I love the shift from ballad to funk bsck to ballad throughout the album, and Wonder's voice is as soothing as ever.

This album sucks!!!!! Van morrrisin more like van BORRISON,,!!!!! bitch

I am living for these early Queen albums. I thought Queen II was good, but holy shit was this even better. I may have liked the theming of Queen II more, but all the songs here are at least good, if not all excellent, and I'm still a big fan of the non-hit maker Queen that we see here that isn't present on the later records. I'm starting to see why Dimery picked the Queen albums he did, for sure. Loved this one, just one left, the big one!

This sort of, to me any way, just sounds like an alternative version of Duran Duran, albeit before Duran Duran. It isn't bad at all, but I didn't hear anything here that was too crazy for the era, other than perhaps being pretty early on in the style of pop? Unsure. Pretty middle of the road with a good song here and there.

I actually went into this not interested at all, had my folk-rock fill with the Travis album I got yesterday, but I actually really enjoyed this. The music is very pretty, and the lyrics are never too seriously. It actually reminds me of Ben Folds (which makes me wonder where he is on this list) but gay. Really good, goes on a bit long, but most of these songs are very nice and a good mix of earnest and silly. Those last four songs are spectacular.

Yeah, this was pretty nothing. Jangly 90s pop that's part folk influence, part Radiohead-lite. I wouldn't judge anyone for liking this or anything, but it's hard to get into something so lethargic and simple. I could get why people would like this, but I wonder what it did to get here. Best track is the hidden track at the end that of course is tied to another song and you have to sit three minutes in silence to hear it. Love that, totally.

What's with French electronic duos making everything else in the genre look like child's play? This was great, I loved how mellow it was, and some of the production felt years ahead of other electronic acts. Really chill, but never boring, and the mix of vocal and instrumental tracks kept the album fresh throughout.

Just kind of nothing. Like, it was pretty repetitive and he is certainly full of himself. I just don't have much thoughts. It wasn't terrible, and not really bad. So, congrats.

This was alright, certainly an albums you would bob up and down to, but it doesn't feel it has too much substance. Once you ignore that, fun enough.

Either I didn't notice how pretty and bombastic Yoshimi was, or this was way more up my alley. I love the orchestration and punch a lot of songs have. The lead singer sometimes isn't really up to snuff with the rest of the music, but it does add charm to it. Just a solid album.

Despite me giving this a four (because it is good) I'm disappointed in this album. Black Hole Sun is just such a good song that I figured the rest of the album would be up to snuff, but there is definitely filler here bloating the run time, and it makes the album much less enjoyable to go through than I would've hoped. However, stepping back and actually listening to the album for what it is, this is tight, and can get you into it, no matter the situation, and the songs that are good are REALLY good. I think all of that earns it a light four, despite it's hiccups. I mean, Black Hole Sun gets it up to a three star all on its own, so why not add a star for everything else?

This is eerily similar to the other Janis Joplin album on here when it comes to my opinions, that being that there's one especially notable song with the rest of it being not all too notable for me. I did like this album more, as some of the rock reminded me of other groups I enjoy and the such, but the fake "live" sound did start to annoy me near the end, and songs generally felt relatively similar. None of this makes this a bad album, because I can see the importance here, it just isn't my cup of tea musically.

These songs are definitely super personal, and I can recognize and respect that, but a lot of this album is just generally boring, especially due to the style at the time musically. Also, once again, overly long, which seems to be a theme for albums for me this week. Still, not as bad as I expected, there were even genuinely good parts.

Screw you Fleetwood Mac, made me listen to this ten hour nap of an album instead of getting to listen to the new Sparks album.

A light four with this now. It definitely is repetitive, but I think it has this light-hearted nature to it that is enjoyable, and I like the singer's voice more than most other punk acts. I sometimes think I don't like punk, but I think my partner's disdain and pop-punk are the reason behind that thought.

What an awesome album! Sure, the vocals are a little rough, but so is everyone else's from the era, so it hardly had an effect. It just is really satisfying synth-pop that understands to use the synth to it's benefit rather than as a crutch. It can jump from pumping you up to being dark and electronic, and I really enjoy how it knows not to overstay its welcome. Always wasn't sure what to think of New Order, only really loving a couple of the hits, but not thinking much of other, but this definitely leans me towards liking this group a whole lot more.