Reviews by guggmo

Nah. Just nah.

It’s not egregiously terrible, but these songs drone endlessly on without any clear direction; especially Track 3, my god.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the most baffling instrumental choices I think any of these albums have made so far. For a pretty early attempt to blend jazzy instruments with electronica and synth, I have to give it credit for occasionally succeeding. The problem is, those moments are so short and so fleeting under these incredibly fucking long songs that it’s like finding a $1 bill while you’re walking through a sea of pennies. Those moments are enough to put this album at a 2 for me, but… this just wasn’t it, man.

It’s a 5. It’s the fastest 5 I could possibly give.

Like, I could easily go on about the guitar work, the vocal work, the drum work, and how it all comes together to make one of the greatest rock soundscapes ever, but the strength of this album is simply making its listener feel. This album just enthralled me from start to finish, and that’s a compliment I can give to very few albums.

Really, I’m just… kinda speechless. It’s a perfect rock album in the same way that The Low End Theory is a perfect rap album. Pinnacles and bar-setters of a genre for their eras, with a timeless sound to both.

This is an entirely forgettable album for me; it’s not really that good, but it’s not so egregiously bad that it sticks in the brain on account of that. Sure, the soundscape is great, and Maxwell’s vocals are really smooth, but I can’t really tell you the difference between Track 1, Track 3, Track 8, or Track 11 off the top of my head, and that’s just not a good album experience for me.

To me, it suffers from the same problems I had with Apocalypse Dudes & Trans-Europe Express: each track is either too similar or too long. They all sound nice, and I’m willing to give Maxwell credit if this album did indeed innovate and refine a genre like Wikipedia is claiming it did. But by the standards of 2024, I just don’t think it works for me. It’s still better than Apocalypse Dudes, but I actually don’t think I enjoyed it as much as Trans-Europe Express. I’m gonna stay consistent with my rankings of those and give this a 2.

Well, it’s not what I was expecting, obviously, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I think for 1975, it’s a very interesting call to go for an album like this, and in a lot of ways, I think there's a semblance of some modern production here. I don’t think there’s a whole lot to say other than “it sounded really nice,” and I think for my tastes, it did a really good job of filling its soundscape up to keep me captivated.

It’s like a 3 – I don’t think it’s super great, but it’s a really chill listen and it’s something I’d recommend. Just not like, mind-blowing or anything.

I mean… wow. Sonically, this album feels so full to the ear, from the heavy basslines, the sampled drums & other beats, and perfectly placed vocal flows that I find it impossible to not enjoy this album from that standpoint alone, but...

Look, if Run-DMC made commercially viable mainstream hip-hop possible, and N.W.A. gave rap the blueprint to have the amount of edge you’d find in albums to come, this album is the perfect melding of both – the commercially acceptable sounds of jazz and great sampling that others would continue to try and refine throughout the decade, mixed with the type of vocal flow to appease the holdovers from the Sugarhill Gang-era who couldn’t quite get behind Dr. Dre & company, with a lot of bones thrown in for the N.W.A.-adjacent crowd. Don't even get me started on the ripple effects this album must have had on R&B for the decade and beyond too.

For my money’s worth, this is the best album I've listened to so far. It is easily the most deserved 5 I've given, and if we were going by 10, I’d genuinely give it at least a 9.75/10, if not an outright 10. I think, for my sensibilities, it's basically a perfect album, and I am a complete moron for not listening to it beforehand.

I think it’s hard to quantify this album into numbers.

It’s not an album you can replay; there’s no big hit single here, there’s no catchy one-liners, there’s not even really melodies like that. There’s just Bjork, her voice, her emotions, and her soundscape. It’s hard to enter that soundscape at first, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it turns off some people early on (it nearly turned me off tbh). If you stick to it, what you end up with is a very cathartic album – a baring of the soul of someone who’s so clearly been through so much shit that they had to get it off their chest.

I do think the album could have ended on track 7 to make for a much more complete and fulfilling experience, but the last 2 tracks didn't take away from the sort of mesmerizing feeling the whole album gave me. I’m gonna give it a strong 4, and in retrospect, that’s the same rating I should’ve given to Berlin. They both do an incredible job of conveying their themes and their emotions, but I think the more personal nature of this album pushes it ahead of Berlin for me in terms of concept albums, though like I said; this is an album that you can’t really quantify with numbers. You either feel it or you don’t.

well that sure was drum and bass

(it's like a 2.5 but i can't give it a 3)

i liked it better when he wasn't singing

I think based on what I knew about R.E.M., I was expecting something more akin to their big hits – in terms of the soundscape, it absolutely delivered, and for a debut album, I think it perfectly sets up the framework for all of their future records. They stick to it perfectly, and I think the vocal performance on each track suits every single track.

Lyrically, I was just desperate for more substance. It isn’t gonna drag the album down for me that much, but after Berlin, I'm just kinda underwhelmed. I think I have to give this a 4, but it doesn’t really feel that way to me, just because I couldn’t get past the lyrics thing, I couldn’t enjoy it as much as say, the Yes album or OK Computer, but I definitely enjoyed it more than Neil Young & Run D.M.C. It’s like a 3.6, I guess.

In terms of being a concept album that gives you its story from start to finish, backs that up with great instrumentation, and keeps you rather compelled once it really kicks in, then… yeah. We’ve got a great album here.

It’s not perfect; even though I think Lou’s voice still ended up being the perfect tone by the end of the album, I don’t think the sort of monotony works at the start, when Jim hasn’t gone completely drug-addicted and insane. It also doesn’t really spell out the idea that there’s a story going on here until about track 6, at least for a presumed “casual” listen like I was doing. If you want to go all in on the concept album, then start with a curtain opening or something; give the listener a very audible clue that this is an overarching story and each song has a part to play in it.

I think just because I got so enthralled by it, I have to give it a 5 out of respect for absolutely nailing what it went for, but it's not a very replayable album: if we were going out of 10, I'd probably give it an 8.5/10. I'd recommend the album to anyone, as long as you tell them there's a story first.

This album could’ve been cut in half, or even into a third, and I would’ve given it a lot of credit for being an early proponent of the style that would come to define a lot of video game music & the synthesizer use that was soon to come in the ‘80s – short little electronica pieces with fun melodies that work as a great background noise, and certainly ahead of its time.

While all of that is still true to me, the issue is that each track is just feels so long to me that they all overstay their welcome. Don’t get me wrong; I understand that this is sort of what it’s like to ride on that titular express, as made obvious by the sound design. The problem is, if you're riding on an express and look outside, a landscape has scenery changes. Even if you’re just stuck looking at trees, each tree has their own thing, and they go by in a blur. These tracks don’t go by in a blur, and they didn't captivate me in like seeing a big mountain in the distance.

In 1977, I'm sure this was great, but in 2024, it feels less like I’m riding a high speed train, and more like I’m stuck on a tourist bus in LA traffic. I'm disappointed to give this a 2 -- not because it's that bad, but because it just doesn't fit my sensibilities for an album experience, and I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the other albums we've done so far.

It was better than Apocalypse Dudes, though.

I think people know this album as the one with Clocks & The Scientist – I certainly did, and I won’t act like I’m not guilty of that. It's more than that; It’s an instant classic.

In terms of sticking to a theme, expanding on that theme, and keeping both a vocal style & an instrumental style that hooked me in, I think the album as a full experience was as enjoyable of a listen as I’ve gotten out of any other album. If I’m being nitpicky about it, then… yeah, the album sticks to its theme really, really hard, but it doesn’t really feel repetitive to me, even though we’re dealing with a similar one throughout.

Much like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, it’s not a full 5, but it’s so close to a 5 for me that I think I have to rate it that.

For my first Radiohead album, I think I certainly got a more experimental one, but I didn’t get a bad one. Compared to the last album, we’ve got such a variance of styles, and those styles enhance the core sound & the core message of the album. As a listening experience, it’s a really good album, and I think I have to add every track (except Fitter Happier) to my big playlist pretty much solely on the production and the vocals. Lyrically, I’m sure I missed some stuff, but I don’t know if I really care.

Right now, it’s not a perfect album to me; there were some points where the dissonance of everything turned me away, at least on that first listen. I don’t think I can give it a 5 right now, but it’s no less than a 4. I can see where the hype comes from, and I think if I give it another re-listen or two to just let everything truly overwhelm me, it could easily be a 5.

This album is absolutely what I hoped it would not be after the first 2 tracks – a kind of PS2 butt rock soundtrack.

If you were to just listen to a random song off this album, it’s probably a great burst of energy. Like, if you threw this album into a workout playlist and had a song occasionally come up on shuffle, I’m sure it would be a great boost. Yet, as a listening experience for a whole album, due to the lack of variance, it’s absolutely the least enjoyable of what we’ve done so far, at least to my ears, and I’m rating it a 2.

This isn’t an album you judge by modern standards. This is the sort of album that in 1964, you bought, you sat down, and you just listened. The lyrics eventually came to you the more you listened. This is a vocal showcase, but it’s also a musical showcase – not about how many synths you can use, or how fast you can drum or strum, or how fast you can spit out a melody, but a musical showcase of the innate spiritual feeling it gives some people, regardless of genre.

For my own personal enjoyment, I think just sitting here, vibing, and letting that feeling overcome me is a better experience than either of the last two albums we’ve listened to. I think for me, it’s a strong 3.5 that personally rounds up to a 4, but you have to be in the right mindset and mood for it to be a 4. It’s certainly no less than a 3.

If I could rate each part of this album, I think I’d give the front half a strong 3/5 (for my sensibilities) and the back half a 4/5, almost solely on production that feels at least 7 years ahead of its time.

Obviously, that balances out to 3.5, but as an entire album, I don’t think I’d feel right rounding that up to 4 – that would put it at the same level as the Yes album, the Springsteen album, and the Funkadelic album, and I just don’t think I enjoyed this as much as those. I think it’s about even with Parklife for me. Definitely better than Run-D.M.C. though.

I have to rate this album for what it is: probably the endgame of the Sugarhill Gang-era style of rap, while setting the stage for rap to properly enter the mainstream behind such a commercially safe album.

Without the confidence in themselves & the genre as a whole that exists in this album, then I can’t imagine the genre really taking off like it did for the rest of the decade and the ‘90s onward. By every modern standard, I think it’s a mediocre album, and I personally can’t rate it any higher than a 3… but it’s not a BAD album. A little cheesy, sure, but that’s the sacrifice of making such a safe album.

For all intents and purposes, I have to give this a 5, because it’s so much closer to a 5 than it is a 4 – just after one listen, it stands on its own merit as just a classic album. Not only did it live up to the slightly lofty expectations I had set for it, it blew them away because it’s just far, far, more than what I originally thought it was gonna be. It is my favorite album we’ve done so far.

From a pure technical standpoint, this is instrumentally just so ahead of its time for me (either that or I don’t know shit about ‘60s rock) that whatever sort of mesmerizing feeling it gave me throughout, it ultimately just left me impressed, across the board, except for A Venture. I struggle to give it a full 5/5 but it’s absolutely a 4.5, and I think it’s my favorite album so far.

I feel like the critiques of a very British culture that’s too obsessed with sex and too caught up in the material things isn’t as valid in 2024 as they were in 1994. It doesn’t mean this album is bad; from top to bottom, it never strays from what its purpose is, and I respect the hell out of it for that. It’s a good listen, but I’d say it’s only about a 3.5/5 for me.