Reviews by giddy

Wow, I was not expecting this! How is this from the 90s? Let alone considered pop? Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but this never what I would picture if you said that. The voice is absolutely magnificent, and the orchestral backing is gorgeous. Are some of the lyrics a little cheesy? Sure, but I don't care, it sounds amazing, and while this isn't technically an "album", so maybe it shouldn't be on this list, but I'm so glad it is. Fantastic. Reminds me a lot of Nick Cave.

This was pretty alright. I mean, the lyrics haven't aged well, and some of the back beats are a little grating. But for everything I didn't like was something I did like. The amount of featured artists was astonishing and kept it fresh, and how apmost every song flowed right into the next was a feat I don't know if I have heard to this extent outside of something like a prog rock album. I probably won't come back to this anytime soon, and the lack of it being on any proper streaming service is a pain, but I did enjoy my time. It did go on a tad long, and with other things I'm gonna put it right down the middle at a 3.

This was alright, and it was interesting to hear R.E.M.'s origins, but it wasn't super notable to me. His voice hasn't really developed into what it's recognizable for, and it makes it stand out less. There's some good songs on here, but also some that don't stand out. Basically one step forward one step back the whole time. Still good, just hoping for more from later R.E.M. albums.

If I had one genre that I actually can't find much to like about it, it would be pop country, and this album is just that. It isn't as egregious as what you may hear on half of the radio stations available while you're driving in the middle of nowhere, but it still really isn't good for me. Country is built a lot on the stories the lyrics tell, but none of these songs feel any more interesting than what you could hear on something in any other song, and the instruments, while I suppose "soothing" are repetitive. That country twang can only be added to so many songs before I start to become numb to it, and then it goes from being annoying to boring, both things you don't want your music to be. Could I see why people may like this? Perhaps, and it's year of release was around the time when country music was starting to transition from more of a blues and folk focus to something more like what it is today, so this is probably for that "revolution" in music, but I just don't enjoy it. If you don't like country music, this does nothing to win you over, but it's certainly not the worst album I've gotten, and the last two songs on the album show some hint of something that could be good. Too little too late, however.

While I've never really dived into the solo career of either Simon or Garfunkel, I do have some songs from both of their times apart from each other, mostly Simon, so I was cautiously optimistic of this album, and while this does indeed sound like Paul Simon, I don't fully understand what makes this more notable than any of his other work. Perhaps because it sounds more folky than most stuff releasing in '83? I just didn't see too much from this to be more than a three star.

This is an interesting situation for me, as my streaming service of choice does not have this album in full, so I had to go out of my way to watch a YouTube video with the full thing. Sadly, this is a little disappointing. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's good, but I had pretty high expectations, as I quite enjoy what I've heard from Supertramp (and that's more than just The Logical Song, I swear), but this was just an alright album. Perhaps it was my inability to listen at a higher streaming quality, but it felt often like something that was almost there, but often went in the wrong direction for my tastes. Again, still above average, but I was hoping to walk away with an eye opening prog experience, especially after the suprise that was Selling England By the Pound, but it just felt like decent music, and nothing more.

This was okay. It kind of reminded me of Jack Johnson's music. You know, the guy who did that one song for Curious George. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the best part of this album was the instrumental songs, as their sound was far more up my alley. Weird that this guy was in The Jam, from what I've heard this is nothing really like that.

As far as Bruce Springsteen's discography is concerned, this is my favorite of his I've heard so far, but that still isn't saying it's anything special to me. His voice is still harder to enjoy than praise, and while some of the inclusions of things like saxophone do heighten the experience, a lot of it just feels like that classic rock 'n' roll your great uncle would play at the family BBQ, rather than something to actually rock out to.

Oh Prog Rock, the only genre where I see 10 minute songs and think "Cool!". Also, I didn't expect a band I know for much poppier sounds and members who make, again, much poppier sounds, to make such a banger of a prog album. Each song is super enjoyable and always keeps you invested, long or short. I wasn't expecting to love this album so much but each song brought something to the table I thoroughly enjoyed, and brings you back in pretty quickly if it starts to slip.
Shame I got this album today when I just saw a vinyl for it yesterday; would definitely of bought it had I known.

Best part about these older albums is how short the songs are. Makes them far more digestible.
This album seems to definitely have some iconic riffs in it, as often a song would start then I would recognize it moments later. Issue is that you never expect these riffs to be a small part of another two to three minutes. I mean, nothing overstays it's welcome, but nothing is extremely notable either, past the before mentioned riffs.

Just to be safe I listened to both all of the main songs and the songs marked "(Religious Overtones)" included with the version of the album on YouTube Music. I promise you, however, that these songs do not sway my opinion of the album.

This album just is not good in my opinion. Was it good in the mid-50s? Perhaps, but it isn't enjoyable now. A lot of my issue with modern country is it falls into stereotypes rather than pushing boundaries, and that's something I always liked about the country greats like Johnny Cash. Sadly, it seems this album leans more into the "falling into stereotypes" side of things. Lots of songs are tragic, so the title of the album fits, but that doesn't stop them from being repetitive and almost whiney at points. As another review pointed out, a lot of the harmonies you would expect from a duo, are near non-existent, with both brothers just singing in the same tune for a majority of the album. The guitar playing is also very ho-hum. I did enjoy the (I believe) mandolin that snuck its way in there at points, but it hardly seemed to do more than lead into said ho-hum guitar playing. At best the album was boring and inoffensive, but at worst it was hard to listen to and somehow made three minute songs feel longer than five. If these two are number four on Rolling Stones' twenty best musical duos, I hate to see what's 5-20.

Man, this has the set up to be a good album, I like the instrumentation, and this feels like something I'd like, but that voice. I understand the back story and it's "unfortunate" (although it worked out for her so I suppose it isn't all bad) but the voice rivals Springsteen in annoying. It's comparable to if Nina Simone's voice was shakey and awkward rather than powerful and soulful. It just isn't enjoyable to listen to. I mean, it could be worse, none of the songs were bad per se, but they weren't good either. The best song was the final song, as her voice far more complicated the very harsh tone, but even that tacked on one or two minutes that really didn't feel the need to be there.

Okay, I saw electronic and 2000, and braced for at best a two star, but this is nothing like other electronic music! The consistent vocals and more ambient tone really made me feel like I was listening to a calmer song in Radiohead or Muse's discography, rather than repetitive dance music with no clear goal. Songs weren't overly long and I just really enjoyed a lot of this. Songs were similar but not repetitive, and it was just excellent all around. Super shocked by this one.

Wait, the album with Hungry Like the Wolf, the most overrated 80s pop song of all time, is not only good, but really fucking good? The bass is so suprisingly funky, and not at all scared to hide it, unlike a lot of other songs in pop. Everything has such a good energy to it I was tapping my fee the whole way through. Man, and I thought I disliked Duran Duran. Time to give them a chance. Only dropping it to a four because the songs do tend to go on a little long, and as I said earlier, Hungry Like the Wolf is just straight up not very good in my opinion. But it's a high 4.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME TWO KANYE ALBUMS IN A ROW?!! I see much more negative reviews on this one than My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, yet this has the same issues that one seemed to have for me, so I suppose we'll see.

Okay, just listened, and man this is a step down, at least for me. I will say the pros is songs still get you enjoying them in the moment, so he still succeeds there, but nothing here sticks with me, and the production has not increased, in fact I'd say stuff like rather than clever samples and an orchestral sound we have this screech-y electronic sound with way too much autotune. Can I hear modern rap in this album? Absolutely, but not a compliment. It also feels worse as we go. Some of these lyrics are also pretty hilariously bad. This is Eminem's level of pun cheesiness for some of these. Just as self indulgent, but I don't see why this album gets that critique and not his other albums. I just don't know what to say. This is alright at best, aggravating at worst, but at the end of the day this was just unnotable. Perhaps if I was very into rap at the time of this release I would of seen the revolution being played, but all I hear is songs made out of dog barks are the drills in the car repair shop while a sex obsessed narcissist knows he can say whatever and will get a perfect score and millions of sales. Yet, I struggle to give this a 1 star. Truly an anomaly. I think it will indeed fall into that 1 star category though. I think fleeting memories of Kanye's work I do like will suffice for me.

I have no clue how to feel about this album. First off, Ye, or Kanye West, is a certified crazy asshole. He always has been, and looking up to him for his personality, is questionable. That being said, after listening to this, I understand why this is some big event in rap and even in other genres. This album definitely sounds different than anything releasing at the time, and the sampling is easily the best part of the whole album in my opinion, which is actually one of my gripes with songs like Stronger from his earlier album. It has an energy to it where even songs I'm not liking get me enjoying it, it knows how to be a good album, and I cannot deny that. I do think it comes off a little egotistical, however. Both in the lyrics, which is expected, but also in the sound. A nine minute song where the beginning is single piano keys for the first bit? That doesn't come off as musically impressive, it comes off as full of yourself and thinking you can do whatever and people will call it art, and that's ehat people did. It's just so many pros and cons I gotta but it right down the middle. I will say the idea people found King Crimson through this album makes me happy.

It's very obvious this album is meant to be listened to with a sound system where you can hear all of the instruments and sounds blend together. The issue is that as an album, it's usually preferential to build an album out of that, but still make it good without that necessity. This album, without that help, is boring. It is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, and I could understand liking these songs when you know them well, but nothing sticks. I wiuld struggle to tell you one thing about any of these songs once they're over. They usually have a good hook that never goes far enough to be catchy or interesting on a casual listen. Obviously an album can just be intended as a high art form where you listen from start to end with the best equipment, and that's the only way to listen, but that's hard to expect on a casual level. Again though, I did not HATE this album, there were parts I enjoyed, it just feels like something that went in one ear and out the other. I feel as though I'm being more aggressive than I am feeling, so it's gonna go right in the middle at three stars to show it is the perfect "this exists and is alright" album.

I thought this one would be a little more definitively four star than it is, but it dtill earns it. Most of the songs are high quality and enjoyable, I'd just say some of them go on a little longer than needed. I do understand why the big songs from this album like Ex-Factor are the big songs, though. The skits at the end of some of the songs are cute and don't hurt the songs they are attached to like I was led to believe. Just a more solid than average 90s R&B. This should be the album getting the praise for this genre, not crazysexycool.

A lot of songs on this album give off the feeling like they're building up to an absolute breakdown that would be in place in the cutscene of a video game before a boss fight, but that "boss fight" music never comes. If not that than it's just basic bossa nova. None of it is bad, just elevator music with flare, and I generally like "elevator music". I also think it's funny many are saying it gets better as it goes but some of the later songs made me laugh out loud at how ridiculous they sound.

I saw electronic album and figured I'd be in for a bad time, but the year did give me some hope, and hey, this was far better than I expected! It did something a lot of later electronic albums seem to forget as time goes on, which is to actually do something with your time. If you're going to take up ten minutes of my time, at least have it go somewhere, and this one did, at least moreso than expected. Was it a little goofy sounding at parts? Yes, but in a good way, really feeding into itself. My only wish is that some of the parts were split up a little more. Not removed, but split up, as I really enjoyed the first half of Part 5, but the second half wasn't quite my thing, and it also had a pretty big change, like it was supposed to be two parts but they kept it one to have less parts. Overall, surprisingly good, and if people are comparing this to Eno, then I have hopes when I get to his ambient stuff.