Reviews by gromit

The production is so impressive here but some of the songs were missing a bit of something that was needed - maybe with time these will click but for now I'm going 3*

Such a cool record, mixing glam and britpop and new wave styles. Jarvis Cocker is an exceptional songwriter and really charismatic as a frontman. Every track here is great and it's really close to a 5* for me, there are 2 big 10/10 tracks - I think one more might tip it over the edge so I'll give it some time

I thought this was pretty cool but I can't deny being confused by this being here and going on the list to look into this. Am definitely a bit distressed that none of the below albums appear to have made the cut:

- Flower Boy
- DAMN.
- Saturation I, II or III
- Antisocialites
- The Ooz
- After Laughter

Very thankful that CTRL made it but a little distressed by the fact that the rest of the list appears to be have a loose logic where it's like :
20% undeniable classics
30% critically acclaimed but nobody bought it
20% popular records that are worth a listen 20% records that are slightly more tailored to the authors taste
10% world music and other areas that fill in the gaps (John Zorn being on the list is awesome but definitely a gap filler to cover more avant-garde tastes)

But then following c. 2005 it seems completely random to me which makes me think the author just stuck in whatever they listened to and enjoyed. Nothing inherently wrong with that (or this record for that matter), but it doesn't feel like any effort was made to make this list feel comprehensive past a certain point which makes me feel a bit sad given how much good music came out in that time.

This is very odd, not phased by the talking parts necessarily but they don't really do anything for me and the whole thing just feels like a bit of a fever dream. It sounds a bit like a record put together to get out of a label contract on purpose, which I don't think was the intention. Kind of impressed by how it comes together but I don't like it - 2*

It's all in the opener

5* for me, love the Kinks' songwriting - every song here is 4* + and around 10 of them are 5* songs. The record also has great theming/cohesion and gets bonus points for being a quirky British record overtly criticising Britishness (lightly although very clear thematically, Arthur is the more obviously critical record of the two)

Really solid soul/trip hop stuff here

Just fantastic hardcore

For a record that was basically promoted as a pop album with big music videos, lush production, focus on Fiona as a big star etc this is really out there. It's a record focused on the lyricism which is mostly dark and disturbing, all of the tracks are 4-5 minutes long at least and Fiona Apple is definitely not a conventional pop star by any means.

Altogether this is an outstanding debut record - close to a 5 for me

Hits after hits and paced/sequenced really well - does feel like a proper album and just a joy to listen to, has to be a 5

Really tempted to go higher considering how much this shaped 2010s pop to come - Lana del Rey, Lorde, The Neighbourhood etc - I do think it's a damn solid 3* considering some of the stuff on here, I listened to this a bunch at uni

I do think there's better ambient and I would reject a lot of the historical significance (there was plenty of ambient before this including stuff made by the man himself) but this does still have a lot of merit as a standalone project

Extremely solid pop album, has a bunch of huge 10/10 tracks - not quite a 5 for me just because I think it is sequenced a bit funny, I need to relisten!

Such a cool record, perfect for a foggy wednesday morning in Norfolk :)

Pretty solid live record, if anything to me a bit underwhelming considering its reputation

It's one thing to not enjoy a 26 track double album but I also just couldn't connect with any of the story and found it extremely obnoxious, I think it is a legitimate 1* for me (maybe a high one because it didn't make my ears bleed but it's just too long and too rubbish)

Starts with one hell of a run including maybe a top 20 song of all time. It can't quite keep up the pace (mostly due to moving towards some experiments that don't always work for me personally) but this is a great debut nonetheless

Just completely devoid of anything listenable or even interesting?

Reviewers saying this is music made by committee or not sure why this is on the list need to listen to other pop/r&b from this time, whatever you think of the quality (I'm so-so) it is a fairly unique, highly acclaimed and commercial record that was doing something different to the consensus style at the time. What other quality do you need to be on the list?

This clearly isn't for me and way too long. Leaving it to those who partake, if it was less long I might have felt generous and gone for a 2 but it's too much