Reviews by guggmo

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4.

It’s a good album. It’s extremely technically sound, and the lift in most of the instrumentals here is super appealing to listen to. Brett Anderson’s vocals evoke David Bowie even more here than on their self-titled album, & while his falsettos feel a bit overused, they don’t ever feel too cheesy. Bernard Butler’s guitar / piano work does a hell of a job of setting the mood on these tracks. Their songwriting is a little more cryptically written here, but while it did bother me a little bit, I can’t say it ever really sinks any of the tracks here. I don’t think there’s necessarily a bad one either. I enjoyed each track as they all played out, and I think the album hits an especially nice stride from “New Generation” to “The Asphalt World”. If I don’t really find anything super flawed about the album, why am I bumping it down to a 4?

It’s a little too dense, honestly. It’s not dense in the “this is overstuffed with too many tracks” way, but instead, it’s just dense in terms of an unnatural flow from track to track that’s somehow doing too much & not enough at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed by the album’s scope and I think it deserves some of its acclaim, but this album is trying to pack so much bombast into concepts that are ultimately somewhat mundane. These don’t play out in a way that has me as engaged as the quality of the tracks themselves would suggest, and it just doesn’t leave me fulfilled as I think it wanted me to be. I felt the best ones were the ones that pulled back a bit more & played themselves more straightforward, and the ones that tried really hard with the instrumentation left me at more of an impressed applause for the compositions & less for what the track was intending to do emotionally.

I’m not sure it’s a bad thing at all, but the album seems to live & die by the ethos of self-importance. Rolling Stone called it “pretentious”, but that feels like a flawed misnomer to me. It’s the type of importance that made this album polarizing in the ‘90s, and it’s what had me conflicted for a while. I think I’ve landed on enjoying that self-importance when the tracks have a fruitful story to tell, but feeling more so obligated to simply like them when it doesn’t. That’s a slight overexaggeration, as these tracks are too technically sound to not feel something, but if it’s harder for me to truly maintain the same level of investment from track to track on the album, it probably speaks to something lacking in the album itself that’s worth connecting to.

Hence, a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4, though one I still respect the hell out of & would certainly recommend. I know, I know – another big multiple paragraph fuss about half a percentage point, but it really is the type of thing that could sink this album much lower for other people. It’s probably why this only has an average of 3 on the site. I hesitate to say it’s all in the intangibles, but sometimes it just is. It’s a good album, and it hits all of the right marks. It just doesn’t make me consistently believe in the potency of those marks & a further conviction towards what’s being made. Despite that, it does deserve to be on the list.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll barely bump up to a 4.

This took a pretty long time to click for me; I thought the first track was fun in a chaotic way, & obviously, “Tainted Love” is one of the defining synthpop tracks of the decade. However, I just did not click at all with the stretch of “Seedy Films”, “Youth” & “Sex Dwarf” – obviously, from the title of the album I should’ve known this would get a bit horny, but that’s only part of why they didn’t quite work for me. I think “Seedy Films” just goes a bit too long in a way that drains any of the satisfaction from the track. “Youth” has solid lyricism, & the atmosphere from the instrumental seems to fit with it, but the vocal performance just feels so cheesy that it took me out of the track. “Sex Dwarf” is… I mean, look, if you like the kinkiness & the sound effects here, more power to you. It’s not a bad track if you can get into it, but it’s just entirely not my thing. With 3 of the first 5 tracks not being down my alley, I was a bit fearful this would be a one-hit wonder sort of album.

Thankfully, everything from “Entertain Me” onward lifted this back up for me. The loose & unprepared vibe from the lyrics on that track worked in tandem with the unstructured vocals, and it felt like the first time in a while where both worked hand-in-hand in a compelling way. That harmony sticks together nicely the rest of the way, with “Chips on My Shoulder” being a good mockery of the high & mighty standing up against first world problems of the era, “Bedsitter” doing a good job of portraying a club-centric rut, “Secret Life” being a good bit of affair-based storytelling, & “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” being a somewhat sad track about a breakup with an elevated one night stand, albeit a little long.

I’m being a little generous in bumping this up to a 4; I fully recognize that the tracks I didn’t vibe with could be better for other people (though the 2.86 on the site seems to suggest otherwise), and I didn’t think they were that bad. They just weren’t my thing. If I were being less generous, this would be a 3, but the quality of the 7 tracks I happened to like just feels a little above average for 1981 – not as good as say, “Dare!” by the Human League, but more engaging than “Penthouse & Pavement” by Heaven 17. It’s that level of engagement & enjoyment that has me going up to a 4, though it could go down over time. Regardless, I think it deserves to be on the list for “Tainted Love” alone. It’s a 3.5 that I’ll just barely bump up to a 4.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5, albeit barely.

I mean, look, this is the 5th time we’ve gotten a Morrissey-led project on the list; you know he’s a dickhead, I know he’s a dickhead, and we don’t really need to elaborate on that much further. His work with The Smiths’ is probably more deserving of the acclaim it gets, and in this case, I think this is worth bumping up to a 5. The lyricism here isn’t bitching about the world as much as one would expect, and I’d generally call it pretty good. The overly sardonic tone on most of these tracks does feel a bit tiring over the 36 minute runtime here, but Morrissey’s vocal work does carry a bit of gravitas to it, especially at the end of “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me”, which might be my favorite one here.

That said, Johnny Marr’s arrangements really elevate & bring these tracks to life in a way that keeps everything engaging. Nearly the entirety of the first 6 tracks here feel good to listen to, with oddly enough, the opening track feeling just a bit lacking. The album does fall down a little after that, but I can’t help but feel like this would’ve ended on a way stronger note had it stopped on “Paint a Vulgar Picture” – something about the multiple perspectives on that track & a bit of a rebuke towards the idolatry of artists at the same time that they’re being worn down & diminished by the expectations of ‘the suits’ was really working for me, and it felt like a strong statement to make towards an industry that’s still happily exploiting the dead for profit. “Death at One’s Elbow” feels a little lusty for my tastes, & I think “I Won’t Share You” is just a bit too short to truly capture the emotional weight it’s looking for, especially with the ambiguity about exactly who or what Morrissey doesn’t want to share.

Overall though, I think this album’s strong highs (there’s lots of tracks I’d call ‘really good’) & a lack of truly low lows has me impressed enough to bump this up to a 5, though just barely. It could easily fall down with enough time or if one of the tracks I thought more highly of doesn’t hit the same on another listen, but between the extended solo in “Death of a Disco Dancer”, the dichotomy of “Girlfriend in a Coma”, the great guitar work on “Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before”, & the clingy sense of despair on “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me”, I just can’t help but appreciate the totality of the work here. Hence, a 4.5 that I’ll just barely bump up to a 5. I’m really excited to see if “The Queen is Dead” is really THAT good.

I’m at a 5.

Does this ever truly escape the shadow of the bands it’s clearly influenced by, namely Oasis & Nirvana? No, not really. Does it really matter as long as it’s good? No, not really, because it is, in fact, just that good. This is another album caught up in the garage rock revival of the early 2000s, & while some people will use that as an excuse to say it’s not worth listening to since it apparently brings nothing new or exciting to the table that those bands already don’t, it just feels like that’s a deeply flawed argument. It’s like saying I should avoid the Silk Sonic album if it’s just taking its influences from Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson & James Brown; it diminishes the quality of what IS present, and that’s unfair to the unique compositions being done here.

Granted, this album did take a little bit to answer the question of “When will they do something that doesn’t feel quite so familiar?” – that answer, at least for me, was “Homesick”. That piano felt like the first step to opening their own musical doors, and from that point on, practically everything about the album felt fresh to me. I really like this album’s abstract lyrical approach to self-prophesized cynicism; it feels like each track is trying to balance one’s true disdain about a status quo while trying to maintain it & live within it, with the balance always ending up as a crashout towards that status quo. It’s continually underlined by a lot of venom in the vocals (if you pay attention, even most of the harmony tracks are a bit scream-y) & a building intensity in the instrumentals that usually lifts to a pretty nice climax. Of course, some tracks are right out of the gate with it (obviously, “Get Free”), but the tracks that slowly build up are my favorites here, especially near the back half of the album where they have more time to breathe & paint a bigger picture. Overall, I’d say it’s a pretty fulfilling 43 minutes, especially from starting with a track titled “Highly Evolved” & ending on one where he realizes he has to be the seed that sows the environment he truly wants to live in.

Hence, a 5. Like I said, this album doesn’t really escape the shadow of the bands it’s influenced by, but it pulls far away enough that I don’t think it can be used as any kind of legitimate knock on the quality of the album. Sure, you could say this is sort of a flash in the pan hit of its era & its presence on the list is reflective of an impact that never truly reverberated past the garage rock revival, but… I don’t really care about THAT part of it. I care about the music, and I think this is really well-crafted music. I’m certainly glad I heard it before I died. It’s worth being here.

It’s definitely a 5.

I always like to point out the sense of progression that always feels necessary in electronic music like this; if you’re too stagnant for too long, you risk losing the trance you’re trying to put the listener in, and once they’re out of that trance, a track may not hit quite the same even if they get back into it. This is an album that challenges that for me, at least in terms of how often I’d prefer tracks to progress. These tracks move slowly, perhaps meant to be comprehended & explored with the same deliberate over-explanation that some children need. I was definitely a curious enough kid that I’d ask too many questions about things. That probably annoyed adults who were desperate to move on. Music has the right to children, at least as much as it does to adults.

This album, to me, feels like an exploration of trying to rediscover that same imaginative spark in your adulthood, weaving through a melted wave of childhood memories (hence, all of the samples of classic TV) & digging through them with the same slow deliberation befitting a child’s desire to learn. I’m often an advocate for tracks progressing more quickly, and while I found myself initially bothered by some of these soundscapes lasting for 2 or 3 minutes at a time without doing much, I later came to appreciate it, especially as the progressions themselves grew more complex & more engaging throughout the album. By the end, via the bonus track “Happy Cycling”, that repetition just felt like an essential part of what’s trying to be evoked here. It feels like a lesson in patience; if you continue to cultivate someone’s desires while making them earn it as opposed to just giving it to them, they’ll end up with a greater appreciation for what they’ve gained. That feels like this album’s ethos to me.

Of course, mileage will vary on other people’s interpretations of these soundscapes, or their appreciation for electronic music in general. I find it disheartening that this has a 2.92 on the site, because it just tells me people aren’t engaging with this at the deeper level that’s intended, and that’s a shame. For my tastes, it’s one of the most complete electronica albums we’ve gotten on the list, and while that repetition I’ve come to appreciate is stopping me from going any higher than a 5 on a first pass, it’s very possible that with enough time, this could go as high as a 10. It seems like it can be that sonically fulfilling, and I truly hope it eventually will be for me. For now, it’s a very easy 5, and it feels like it should be mandatory for it to be on the list, even if you somehow get nothing out of it. It’s challenging, yes, but if you can accept that challenge, it might open up a greater appreciation for this style of music & what it’s trying to do.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll just barely bump up to a 5.

It took a little bit for this to get rolling after a trio of good, yet repetitive or sparse tracks to open up the album, but after “Darkness” came in with a really nice Castlevania-esque vibe, this album glided pretty easily to the finish line. The soundscapes grew a lot more complex, the vocals found a natural bouncy stride, and the lyricism really found more of a purpose. Even if some of the later tracks had a bit of repetition to them, they just blended in more naturally as moments to vibe out to as opposed to earlier on the album.

Obviously, mileage will vary about how much you enjoy the more Kraftwerk-ian approach to synth arrangements here, as opposed to what the Human League would later do in their careers (once again, I must vouch for “Human” as one of the best ‘80s songs ever), but I happened to enjoy it once it got a little more vibrant. That opening track has a super sparse bridge that’s nothing more than a drum machine kick, and it gave me a bit of dread, even knowing that “Don’t You Want Me” was at the end of this album. Thankfully, it lifted up nicely, especially with the long instrumental break on “Do or Die” brightening up the album. “Don’t You Want Me” also lived up to the vibe I remembered it having (though I certainly didn’t remember how predatory the lyrics were by modern standards), and I think it’s a good thing to have an album like this end on its best track.

Overall, it’s a little bit of a tight bump for me, as I can see myself maybe skipping some of the longer outros in the future, but regardless, once you find the groove, it’s hard not to move around with them. That innate sense of groove is why I’m bumping this up to a 5 – it’s just a fun 40 minutes for me, and I’m a total sucker for it. I’m glad it’s on the list.

I’m at a 3.

This is so close to being a much stronger record than it actually is. I think it’s instrumentally sound and well performed. However, it’s just really drab for most of its runtime, leaving a sort of dry feeling from the band that never really lifts up into more positive territory. The lyricism on some of these tracks is great, but some of them lack a consistent logical throughline from verse to verse, making some of them feel really disconnected & a bit meandering. My big issue with this album (and its most apparent one) is in our vocalist, Grant-Lee Phillips. I just do not hear an ounce of believable conviction in his voice, and his lack of a stronger lift or a stronger bite is what sinks the overall… not necessarily ‘credibility’ of the album, but it sinks that natural infection that music is meant to give off.

The biggest thing you can make your listener do is feel, whether it’s anger, sadness, rage, joy, happiness, or any emotion at all. Music, when it enters your ears, is meant to infect your mood & make you channel the same energy as what you’re listening to, and if it can do that in the most potent of ways, it’s a very successful endeavor. For me, this album did not carry that infectious mood, save for a handful of tracks. This is a technically sound album that checks all the right boxes & does all of the right things, and for some people, they will find that infectious mood, especially on some of its more politically driven tracks, a lot of which have aged like fine wine relating to our current nightmare. I would be lying if I said this was a total dud, because it’s really not – from solely a technical standpoint, this is a competently strong album that feels nice to listen to. It just doesn’t have the same bite as its peers, not for a lack of trying or a lack of a more interesting lyrical bend, but just some intangible feeling that didn’t click with me as an entire project.

I mean, look, I hear the potential in this one, plus I liked a number of tracks here (especially “Jupiter and Teardrop”, “Wish You Well”, “Dixie Drug Store” & “America Snoring”). It’s not bad, & I do think it could possibly go up over time, but as it currently stands, I just find myself looking back on this album with a more resounding shrug. I lean towards the tracks trying to provide a deconstruction of the patriotic mythos, but even then, it’s just hard to grasp on these as anything more than exercises in songwriting & attempts to make statements without the cultural cache that would provide an impact. I appreciate that these guys were getting high marks from their fellow musicians at the time (especially Michael Stipe), but for my ears, it just doesn’t carry the weight they found in it. Hence, a 3, though more of a 3.5 bumped down to a 3.

I’m at a 5. Just a touch higher, really.

I mean, look, if you want to call it incredibly safe & mildly cheesy power pop, you absolutely can. Mileage will vary on this album’s approach to taking the McCartney/Lennon philosophy of songwriting & applying it to the soundscape of a more relaxed & pulled back Physical Graffiti-era Led Zeppelin, but for my tastes, it comes across really nicely. Each of these tracks vary in energy, whether it’s heavy on the rock side, the sitcom-used side, or a bit of a fluffier & lighter side (especially on the back half), but the one consistent link is that they’re all just fun to listen to. Even when this album isn’t drenched in its self-reflecting sorrow (a positive, mind you), it just carries a good gravitas to it that makes the mundane feel important. “Thirteen” is a super simple track about desperately wanting to fall in love, but there’s a youthful elegance to the delivery that helps the track reach an apex bigger than itself. Chris Bell’s vocals do that to a lot of these tracks, and I think it’s fair to say he comes across like a big star here (pun obviously intended).

I don’t really have any complaints about any of these tracks. The only lingering thing that I could vaguely criticize is that the back half does sort of blend together if you’re not paying attention & that it’s a bit ballad heavy, but I really enjoyed those tracks regardless. If I have any nitpick, I would’ve moved “ST 100/6” to come before “Give Me Another Chance” to let it thematically flow together better & subsequently end the album on “Watch the Sunrise”, which would’ve been a lovely closer to the whole package. Either way, I found myself pulled into the full 37 minutes here, and while I acknowledge that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, there’s nothing wrong with my ears to some perfectly polished power pop. Some people need a bit of that dirty grit to sell authenticity, and that’s fine. I’m just a sucker for this style, and it really clicked for me. Hence, something just a little higher than a 5. I’m glad it’s on the list, and I may need to check out “Radio City” for myself.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll very easily bump up to a 5.

Look, you just gotta let loose for this one. As someone who loves weird & eccentric stuff, this is right down my alley. Yeah, it’s repetitive at points. Yeah, it’s not consistently as lively as one might hope. Yeah, a lot of this is babbling & meandering if you try to treat it like it’s Shakespearean text. It just doesn’t matter. Lighten up & have some fun! This is 1979, new wave is in motion, and the B-52’s are here to lift your mood up. Go dance that mess around & vibe out. I normally take notes on tracks, & this time, all my notes are just pointing out how fun this album feels. “Rock Lobster” might sound ridiculous if it were any other band with a manufactured reputation to uphold, but when it’s done by some guys & girls in silly wigs & ‘50s style mono-color edited clothing on the cover, it just feels like the local band at the bar you’ve stumbled into who are lightening up your mood.

The only nitpicks I have here are that “52 Girls” & “There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)” feel like they need a little more to match the energy of the rest of the tracks. My one singular complaint is that “Downtown” feels like a rather flat closer, but given that it’s so short, I don’t mind it too much. Those nitpicks along with a little bit of frustration from some of the repetitive parts sucking a bit of air from the room are why I’m at a 4.5, but make no mistake – this is a supremely easy bump up to a 5. It’s just a good time, and if you can’t have a good time with this, go back to listening to “The Wall” or something. It’s a great album with incredible highs & lows, but did Roger Waters have the guts to make “Rock Lobster”? I think not. Hence, a 5.

You know what? I think I’m at a 10.

Mileage will vary on this, and for me, it’s one of the more personalized 10s I’m going to give. I just really connected with the sort of hopeful despair this album portrays in its lyrics. This is one about smiling through the pain you’re acutely aware of, creating a dissonance between your outer presentation & your inner self, yet being unable to reconcile with both, in a way where people can take advantage of you & mine your soul for their own gain, until you’ve lost all sense of self. Every single one of these tracks clicked lyrically in a way that captures a mood I’ve felt before & have thankfully escaped from, but this album just gave me a really potent sense of closure on that period of my life. It'd be very easy to boil this album down to its one 'big song' & then neglect the rest, but that's doing such a disservice to the effort put into composing all of these tracks & putting them together as a cohesive experience.

It also helps that this is great synthpop for 1983; a lot of these feel at least 5 years ahead of schedule at the minimum, if not longer on a few tracks. Seriously, both “The Twilight Hour” & “Soul Mining” feel like they’re from 1993 at the earliest. It’s mostly in the guitar / bass work being real instrumentation, but anytime a non-programmed instrument blends into the soundscape, it sounds great because they work in harmony with the synths as opposed to being fodder for the synths. The shining example of this is in the 3-minute piano solo that ends “Uncertain Smile”, which is one of the best piano solos I’ve heard in my life. I have no idea how that much energy came from a track that’s centered around the nerves of an uncertain relationship, but it just gets more stunning as it goes.

I want to point out the countdown that opens the album, just as a note of how detail-oriented this album seems to be. He goes 10, 9, 8, and then he skips 7. Obviously, 7 is the lucky number – this album just has no luck behind it from the beginning, at least for this protagonist that we seemingly follow throughout. It’s such a small moment, but it’s pretty easy to hear, and that level of detail & attention applies lyrically, instrumentally & beyond. As I said, mileage will vary on how successfully this album portrays that emotion it's trying to capture, one’s ability to feel it, and ultimately, one’s ability to appreciate how it’s being done here. I appreciate it a lot. I’m glad it’s on the list, and I think it’s a 10, at least for me. I really, really enjoyed this.

I’m at a 5. Just a bit higher, really.

I just love how this album feels. A more experienced songwriter would overthink their teenage experience; they’d try to use metaphors for thoughts they never truly had & they’d try to ideate a past with more pain than they’re willing to admit. A more experienced composer would try to evoke those feelings with a bit more panache; one that elevates their younger hormones as something beautiful to be honored despite the flaws, and probably do a little too much in trying to capture that false mythos. This album’s got none of that experience & polish behind it, and its ability to capture the raw attitudes of a teenager (in part from writing these as teenagers) is so remarkably unique for this era. I’m amazed this is 1983, because it feels like a natural precursor to the angstier tones of the ‘90s, especially with how much they just kinda attack the guitar on a lot of these tracks.

Obviously, there’s a lot of cynicism here, and that might shatter the album for some people. I think it’s a fair criticism, but you can’t deny that it makes for decently compelling storytelling, even if it’s a bit edgy / defeatist by modern standards. It’s also a horny album; most of these tracks are practically puberty-centered depression about not being able to keep his girl or not getting sex. Once again: a fair criticism, but this album is self-deprecating enough that it’s clear it’s a bit exaggerated, as most teenage complaints truly are. High school feels big until it doesn’t & life seen solely through that scope feels like it’s a universe wide until you expand it out further. These tracks carry a gravitas that simultaneously know how ridiculous it all seems in hindsight & yet feels as important as it did back then, and that’s something that very few albums can capture with the same sincerity as this one.

The only reason I’m not at a 10 is because I think the back half gets just a little repetitive – specifically, “To the Kill” & “Gone Daddy Gone”. They’re still both good tracks, but they do feel different enough that it shakes the flow of the album in a way that doesn’t feel quite as airtight as the first 7 tracks did. “Good Feeling” is a great closer though. Hence, I’m a bit higher than a 5. I feel like a moron for having heard of Violent Femmes before now but never actually choosing to listen to them (and discovering that they are in fact, not femmes). It’s a great album, it more than deserves to be on the list, and I think I need to run back those first 7 tracks a few more times. You should definitely hear this before you die.

I’m at a 2.5 that I’ll bump down to a 2. I’m being mean today.

It’s definitely prototype synthpop. A lot of the experimentation here is cool for 1981, but after the initial tones of it wear off, most of these tracks get stuck in an instrumental rut. The rut wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the lack of an additional pulse in the back of most of these melodies, leading to an incredibly sparse soundscape that just doesn’t get the blood pumping. So, so many of these tracks would’ve kept my attention more with just any kind of countermelody to flow with the simplistic beep-boopy style of synthpop here, but they just don’t do it. Lyrically, these are fine to a point, but once you hit the moment where you’re repeating lines, verses & choruses several times in a row without fail, you’ve kind of just given up as songwriters. I did like 5 of the tracks here ((We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang, Play to Win, Soul Warfare (which is at least a minute too long), Let's All Make a Bomb, & Song With No Name), but they all have their own flaws along the way.

These tracks also just don’t have big vocal lifts or anything super memorable past their first 2 minutes, and the longer they go, the less appealing they feel. The last track in particular (“We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time”) is the prime example. It just feels obnoxiously pretentious, so much so that it’s probably the main reason I’m going to bump this album down to a 2 for the ending alone – I understand the subtext that this guy’s overconfidence about getting into heaven will likely be met with a much harsher reality, but not hearing it happen leaves a doubt that I don’t like. Additionally, if you had the vinyl back then, that ending loop of “for a very long time” would’ve literally gone on forever until you lifted the arm up. Clever on paper, yes, but given the lyrical tone & the lack of comeuppance, it’s just… ugh. I don’t like how it ends normally & I really don’t like how it would’ve ended back then.

Ultimately, I just wish it were more compelling. This album has a decent base to work from, but it just needs so much more. If this had come out even a year or two later, it would’ve felt deeply outdated compared to its contemporaries; once Eurythmics dropped “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”, it practically created the blueprint for compelling synthpop. This is not very compelling synthpop. I’m gonna be mean when I bump this down to a 2, because it probably is much closer to a 3, but if I come out of 40 minutes of music where the only tracks I liked without bigger lingering issues are within just 8 of the first 15 minutes & the other 25 feel littered with them, then I just can’t really justify going up to a 3 in my head. It’s not a *bad* album. It’s just deeply underdeveloped. Perhaps the rest of The Human League were right to kick these guys out (for the record, they were: “Human” is an incredible track), but I guess that’ll be fully answered whenever we get “Dare!”, which came out the same year as this. As far as this goes, I'm just stuck at a 2. Sorry.

I’m at a 5.

Mileage, of course, will vary on how much you like ambient music & 1970s analog synthesizers. I happen to enjoy both a lot, so this is 40 minutes that feel pretty tailored towards me. It’s not quite as isolated & transcendentally centered as an ambient Eno project may feel, but the sense of scale & perseverance that comes through with these soundscapes, assuming you can imagine such things, feels just as vibrant as I was hoping for going in. The rhythm in each of these tracks drives everything nicely; this feels just a bit closer to a Jean-Luc Ponty at times, though with a minimalism to the actual amount of instruments used that evokes Kraftwerk. These are somewhat simple in nature, but the broad sweeping notes & the way they’re mixed together with microscopic percussion & bass creates a super cool dichotomy that allows you to focus on one or the other at any given time, yet still retain the entirety of the track as it’s happening.

All of that is to say, this album is hypnotic as fuck, easy to vibe out to, and yet it subconsciously demands your attention. Very few ambient-ish albums on this list tend to balance those aspects engagingly & evenly, and this feels like one that nails it almost perfectly, at least for my tastes. The purpose & determination that comes to mind is what makes this album stand out from some of its peers, and I think Jean-Michel Jarre did a hell of a job here. I need to listen to more of this guy. It’s a very nice 5 for me, and I’m very glad it’s on the list.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll barely bump up to a 5.

It’s a pretty damn good Leonard Cohen album. Lyrically, he’s still as sharp as ever (albeit a bit more horny than usual) & the cynical attitude that underlines most of these tracks meshes well with his darkly-shaded voice. His delivery is still not quite that of a singer’s, but he often comes a bit closer here than he does on most of the prior albums we’ve gotten. There’s genuinely a few times where he hits a good rhythmic state & kinda naturally elevates with it. Obviously, the thing that makes or breaks this album is the choice to fully adopt the ‘80s soundscape, and I would say it’s made about 70% of the time. Yes, it’s a bit dated to the era & half of these tracks sound like SEGA Genesis chiptunes, but somehow, Leonard’s voice contrasts well with the higher tones of this album to help paint some of his lower-leaning lyrics. Throughout most of the first 5 tracks, it surprisingly comes together pretty nicely.

The album falls apart just a bit for its final 3 tracks, though it’s not quite enough to pull this down to a 4 for me. It was close, though. “Jazz Police” felt a bit too hokey, and while it might be a bit of a critique on the entire decade for shunning jazz artists at the time from having the same critical & cultural impact as say, a Miles Davis or a John Coltrane, it still just comes across as hokey regardless. Still some biting lines in there (especially “Wild as any freedom loving racist”), but as a whole track, it just felt too outside of his box. “I Can’t Forget” is really nice, but I do think “Tower of Song” feels a little stagnant instrumentally as a closing track. The rest of the album has a bit of a bombast behind it, one that’s meant to contrast well with Leonard’s aged voice playing the sounds attributed to a younger man’s game at this point. The proverbial “Tower of Song” is pretty vividly imagined, especially with his own self-deprecation in his comparative impact on music & his slight ego in saying he’s high enough for his lady to listen. It just doesn’t carry the same bombast in a way that kinda dilutes the message, though I do still like the track.

I’ll say this: it’s certainly the most ‘fun’ sounding Leonard Cohen album we’ve gotten, and it’s nice to hear this curmudgeonly man allow a bit of a happier tone into his soundscape & some of his lyrics. His love songs here feel wrapped in some amount of affection, albeit with a bit more touchiness than just the mind. He was 54 when he made this album, so it is awkward, but I didn’t mind it too much. Ironically, I think a lot of the songs here would make for great cover versions, if only because I’d much prefer to hear a Bobby Brown or D’Angelo or some other male R&B singer nail some of those lines with a less awkward passion.

Overall, this is on a shaky slope; it’s an album that could certainly fall to a 4 over time if certain tracks don’t hit as well in the future (most likely “I’m Your Man”, if only because I can’t quite take the track too seriously with the SEGA Genesis-sounding synths), and I can easily see the overall soundscapes here lightly souring on me over time. However, on a first pass, I just found myself pulled into a lot of these tracks, & Leonard’s slightly hypnotic delivery of some villainous lines along with a great backing vocalist keeps it glued enough to bump it up to a 5. I’m glad it’s on the list.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4 solely as a vote of confidence for what this album’s trying to do.

Going in, my fear was that 28 tracks in 41 minutes would lead to each track being unable to develop properly, thus making the ebb & flow of the album feel loose, unconnected & ultimately unsatisfying. This album occasionally is a bit too loose & a bit unconnected, but what I’m surprised by, after listening, is that it feels satisfying regardless. These tracks have a point to make (or no point at all) and jump straight into it, albeit without the same urgency as a post-punk album with any kind of similar lean. The writing here is generally good, if broad conceptually. The vocals are usually pretty damn nice, even with the low fidelity of the recordings. Instrumentally, I can’t find anything major to complain about. Each of the 28 tracks here vary in quality, and as individual tracks, the pendulum swings up & down between “that was good”, “that was fine”, & “that kinda happened”, with maybe an instance or two of “that was great”. I can’t say there was ever a bad track (granted, the one with the F-slur is probably the most suspect one here).

This album’s biggest sin comes in its inability to trim some of the fat (a few of the much shorter tracks could’ve been cut) & in the lack of proper transitions for most of the tracks to keep the album’s energy going. There’s also just a couple of mild duds in there. In all of those senses, I’m at a 3.5. However, because of some of the higher & enjoyable peaks here & a vote of confidence for the poise & execution in this stream of consciousness approach to crafting an album, I’m gonna bump it up to a 4. I think the 2.75 here is a bit unwarranted, and the songs themselves do have an appeal, even if you’re just going by audio alone. It’s certainly bloated, but given that the runtime is still relatively short compared to what it could’ve been, I think it’s totally fine. I’ve definitely heard worse from the list, and I’m glad it’s here. A thumbs up from me.

You know what? I’m at a 10.

For our fifth & final Springsteen album on the list, it’s a great way to go out. I was above a 5 for a while & then both “My Father’s House” & “Reason to Believe” just brought the album home in a way that really, really got to me at a personal level. I don’t wanna expand on that much more, but Bruce Springsteen has crafted something darkly intimate here in a way that paints some of the most vivid pictures he’s ever put to tape. Quite literally, put to tape; he did this album mostly by himself in his bedroom with a 4-track recorder. You get his voice, his guitar, his harmonica, and a few other instruments, but this is all Bruce. I’m not entirely sure what sparked such a shift in his songwriting (though it seems it’s most likely the success of his prior album giving him a bit of dissociation), but this might be the best on any Springsteen album we’ve gotten. In a way, it reminds me a lot of Tom Waits, though with a stronger vocal proficiency behind it that elevates every track here.

It also helps that all of these are really easy to digest because they’re so easy to imagine – the cold monotonous voice of an unshaken serial killer, an honest man caught up in a life of crime, a status-symbol mansion on a hill, a man whose his failed robbery leaves him wanting a death sentence, a patrolman letting his brother escape a crime, a calculated villain threatening an officer, the pity for parents having to treat something old as something new, a race against time to see your wife before your next shift, the lack of closure for unatoned sins of a father, & people desperately clinging to hope that should’ve slipped away eons ago. They’re all songs you can live in, and Bruce feels like the perfect narrator for all of them. I didn’t realize he could even play the villain role that well on “State Trooper”.

It is not the best Springsteen on the list (that still goes to “Born to Run”), but this is now easily my second favorite Springsteen album here. It’s that damn good, and while I understand that the lesser textures behind it may not be as appealing & the somber mood won’t click for people expecting another “Born in the U.S.A.” or “Tenth Avenue Freezeout”, you just have to meet this album where it is to appreciate it. It’s more than worthy of its spot on the list, and I think it might be one of the better ‘desolate’ albums ever written by someone who usually defines hope. It’s a 10.

I’m at a 3.

I mean, look; it’s clearly a record intended as the loose background soundtrack to a smoke session. That should be apparent from the title. When this album wants to kick into more of a natural groove, it is kind of a delight, and I’d say that, as background noise, I enjoyed 8 out of the core 13 tracks here, which I listened to while reading a book. The problem, of course, is that background noise needs to evolve in order to continually stimulate the senses. This album does not fucking evolve its tracks whatsoever, leaving the senses far more prone to recognize the repetition at hand here. It’s like listening to the base of a plunderphonics track without all of the additional samples & instrumentation that’s meant to be layered on top. Admittedly, it’s not too annoying, especially if you’re already the type of person to use Nintendo music as a studying tool (see: me), but the result is that so many tracks feel infinitely longer than their already decently long runtimes due to that lack of extra energy. 72 minutes is a bit absurd here; even an MF DOOM Special Herbs album isn’t anywhere near that long, at least in terms of individually packaged volumes.

It’s also just not structured very well as an album, which is the main reason I’m bumping it down to a 3 – some awkward shifts in the mood from track to track leave it inconsistent in the tone & imagery it’s trying to give off. More than that, this album had a track solely devoted to blowing up a bomb in my ears, as well as putting a Reprise for a track RIGHT AFTER the track it is reprising. Something had to have gotten lost in translation here, because it just feels like a well-intentioned album that doesn’t hit the mark. I want to be nicer to this, but even my nicest outcome would be a 3.5 bumped down to a 3; this isn’t in the territory of a 4 (although I might’ve been generous if this had ended on “Rise”) & it DAMN sure isn’t a 5. It’s a very solid, albeit marginally plain 3 that only occasionally kicks up the energy. It’s great background / chill out music, but it’s just not as compelling of an album experience as it could've been. I don’t know if it had to be on the list.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

I mean, look, it’s Led Zeppelin. A slightly more experimental Led Zeppelin, leaning into some of the extra bombast that their contemporaries were exploring in the mid-70s once big prog-esque hard rock by itself wasn’t fully in vogue anymore, but it’s still Led Zeppelin regardless. Yes, Robert Plant’s vocals don’t quite carry the same power to them & he’s a little hornier than usual (especially awkward with “Sick Again” as a closer), but when he’s on, he is ON. The same applies to the rest of the band; this is probably the least consistent Led Zeppelin album on the list, but even Led Zeppelin at 70% is still a great fucking band.

This entire album has that vibe to it; a few tracks here aren’t super compelling & a touch stagnant instrumentally, but when those tracks do happen, there’s usually something big to follow it up – I think “Custard Pie” & “The Rover” are both a bit plain, but “In My Time of Dying” is fantastic afterward. I think “Houses of the Holy” is a little plain, but after that track, the album finds an incredibly strong stride from “Trampled Under Foot” all the way to “Ten Years Gone” (which should’ve closed the album) & arguably to “The Wanton Song”. When they’re on their game, it’s classic Led Zeppelin stuff that more than warrants a 4 or higher. Yes, this album is packed to the brim with holdovers from previous albums, and that is a little cheap, but it’s far better to have some of these songs out in the world than to leave them in a vault unheard. Where this album loosely stumbles to the point of a 4.5 is that everything after “Ten Years Gone” just feels a bit lackluster compared to the first 10 tracks.

I don’t want to rip into them, because I did like them, but the cutting room floor aspect to most of them feels undeniable, even if some of them are just jam sessions. “Sick Again” as a closer feels especially weird to me, if only because I think the lyricism has aged terribly & I don’t really want to hear about Robert Plant singing that underaged girls really wanted to have sex with him. Good instrumental, but… eh. If this album had ended on “Ten Years Gone” & let that lingering sense of regret wash over the album as the end to some of the ‘long journey’ tracks were implying (“Kashmir” & “In The Light” are both great, by the way), it’d be an instant 5, if not a bit higher. As it stands, this album hangs on too long past its most impactful exit point, and it weakens the overall album experience by quite a bit.

That said, it’s still a 4.5 that feels worthy of going up to a 5, if only because its very best tracks are some of the best stuff Led Zeppelin put to tape, and a lackluster set of ending tracks shouldn’t bring those down with them. I understand why this has the ‘lowest’ rating of any Led Zeppelin on the site (the horrors of such a low 3.9, I know), but like… it’s pretty damn good. It’s not the masterpieces that are II or IV, but it’s just as good as III & their debut album. I enjoyed it, and it’s an easy bump up to a 5.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

I’ve heard a few Isley Brothers tracks in my life, and I’ve probably heard far more than I know on account of how many times they’ve been sampled (a specific thanks to Kendrick, at the very least). This is the first time I’ve heard a full Isley Brothers album, and… yeah, they’re about as good as I was hoping for. Their musicianship is excellent & the soundscape we’re dealing with here in 1973 feels way ahead of schedule. The only thing that needed a bit of work is their ability to wrap up tracks a little more quickly & just a little less lyrical repetition – those are the main reasons I’m at a 4.5 as opposed to a flat 5. The entire package here, however, is far too good to not earn the bump up. To be transparent, the bump is almost entirely in the excellent guitar playing throughout the cover of “Summer Breeze”. That track was awesome as fuck.

I do have a few other smaller nitpicks. I wish “Listen to the Music” were played a little more straight like the original Doobie Brothers version with just a funkier lean, as opposed to the attempt to make it a little more soulful & groovier. The urgency in the original track is part of what makes it work, because it’s an open plea to do so. When you take away that urgency, you take away some of the potency of the track. I think some of the other covers do lose some of the intent of the original in there; “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight” feels a bit more desperate to my ears than what James Taylor probably intended, for example. “Sunshine (Go Away Today)” is probably the closest to the original here, though I think the focus does get shifted away from the desire for self-agency in the original track & is pointedly a bit too defiant towards ‘the man’ (the government). It attacks him more than it lifts up the desire to be free, and I think that feels a bit off.

However, if we focused just on the intent of each track as opposed to combining it with the sense of musicianship at hand here, that wouldn’t be super fair, I think. I totally get why this has far more 4 votes on the site than 5’s, and perhaps on a slightly more anal day for me, I’d be down there too. However, given that I really found myself drawn to most of the funk in the instrumentals & I was easily sold by his vocal passions (even on those covers), I’d be kind of a fool to not go up. It’s a super fun album, and it’s an easy bump up to a 5 for me.

I’m right at a 5. Perhaps even just a touch higher.

The only track I knew going into this was “Wishing Well”, & that’s just because I’d heard it a number of times. It’s the type of track that’s a bit plain in execution, but the fun bouncy vibe of it just kinda grows on you the more you hear it. Either that, or the chorus is simple enough that you can’t help but learn it & Stockholm Syndrome your way into enjoying it. Either way, it’s an inoffensively fun song, and I went into this expecting 11 tracks of a similar caliber. Thankfully, I was wrong; yes, some of these are still inoffensively fun, but I found myself rather impressed with some of the additional depth on a lot of these tracks. Sananda Maitreya obviously wears all of his inspirations on his sleeve; this is practically a Prince / MJ / James Brown hybrid album, and his vocals occasionally channel all 3 in a way that’s more reminiscent to my brain of Bruno Mars. A lot of this album feels like a Bruno Mars album if it were actually produced in the 1980s. Bruno’s slick as hell, sure, but he’s not using synths & gated reverb drums like that. One thing this album does that Bruno hasn’t done, at least in a bit, is explore some topics past just making love.

Since the first track is about searching for religion & what that journey will entail in a way that he doubts he’ll even make it to heaven, I’d say he sets a bit of a ‘tortured artist’ tone early. That tone does give this album a bit of self-importance that it sort of sheds by “If You Let Me Stay” and the bouncy doo-wop feel behind it, but it’s still about pleading to a lady to keep him around. I still can’t really tell you what the fuck “Wishing Well” is about other than being a loose love track. “I’ll Never Turn My Back On You” thankfully brings the depth back into play, and I think it’s a pretty good reggae-tinged tribute to his father & his devotion. “Dance Little Sister” is by far the grooviest track here with a James Brown lean, “Seven More Days” is a great ballad about enduring the work week for some family time & “Let’s Go Forward” is a masterclass in how to keep a track vocally stimulating in a way that lets the repetition within go by without a complaint (though mileage will HIGHLY vary here). “Rain” is obviously silly, & the weakest track here, but it’s just kinda fun. I’m more disappointed he didn’t commit to all 23 verses. Cowardice, perhaps.

This album really sends it home for its final 3 tracks, all of which really worked for me. “Sign Your Name” is love-making music with an intimacy to it that REALLY sells the track; it’s a bit long on the outro & a little stagnant instrumentally, but given what might be happening as a result of listening, I don’t think it matters too much. “As Yet Untitled” is a fully acapella track, reminiscent of Tracy Chapman’s acapella track on her self-titled debut; Sananda’s voice shines here, and the storytelling about wanting to reclaim his homeland in a way that washes away the sins of his previous generations is wonderfully written. The cover of “Who’s Loving You” that ends the album will no doubt invite MJ comparisons that I’m sure he was expecting, but it’s probably the most potent cover of the track I’ve heard aside from the Jackson 5’s own cover (it’s a Smokey Robinson original). I already love that track to begin with, so hearing someone tackle it with passion that feels close to Michael’s vocals really did it for me, and it’s tastefully updated to ‘80s instrumentation without overdoing it like Tina Turner did on “Private Dancer”.

Given that Sananda was hyping this album in the press by saying he made “the most brilliant debut album from any artist this decade” & something better than Sgt. Pepper’s, it would be very easy for this album to crumble under its own expectations. Perhaps miraculously, it does not. It’s not the best debut album of the decade (that’s probably “Appetite for Destruction”, at least for my tastes), and it’s not better than Sgt. Pepper’s, but he was right in hyping himself up. This is a surprisingly strong 47 minutes that only really falters on some slightly longer outros, but those barely matter, since the core of each track preceding those outros is usually engaging as hell. I think it’s an easy 5 for me, and perhaps even just a touch higher. I really liked it, I’m glad it’s on the list, and I may need to check out a bit more of this dude’s albums.