Reviews by ikejiri

Celebrity Skin
They love the title track on 6 Music, it seems to be on multiple times a week. I’m actually a little partial to it, it’s quite a pleasing bit of late 90s alt rock pop. Didn’t realise Billy Corgan co-wrote it. Awful I enjoyed too, I liked the bubblegum surf vibe to it.

After that it descends into a soup of formulaic alt rock I was expecting, with not much musical or melodic variance or interest, making it quite hard to discern the difference between any of the songs. The only one that I noticed on the first listen was Heaven Tonight, it’s synth lines giving it a bit of personality and uniqueness.

Second run through I liked it a little more, noticing some quite nice harmonies and backing vocals, particularly Malibu, but overall I still struggled to find much interest in it, it’s fine for what it is and what it’s trying to do but ultimately it all a bit meh.

Not terrible, just not something that interests me much
⭐⭐

Bummed
Happy Mondays definitely feel like a vibes band, a superb best of/greatest hits band rather than an albums band, so I’ve never really dived into their catalog, apart from listening to Thrills, Pills and Bellyaches a few times. I do love a lot of their songs though.

Mad Cyril, Wrote for Luck and Lazyitis I’m pretty familiar with from the best of. Mad Cyril is very good, but Wrote for Luck I love, great groove, excellent song. Lazyitis is great as well, I guess they had to credit Lennon and McCartneyfor the nick.

I’d never really made the connection before but I hear a lot of Talking Heads in this, which makes sense, both coming at a kind of white funk from a punk/new wave/diy angle. Country Song in particular feels very inspired by TH, I presume by The Big Country from More Songs about Buildings and Food. Just read Country Song was originally titled Some Cunt from Preston, as rhyming slang for Country and Western. Superb.

The sound/production really grew on me with repeated listens. It sounds a bit smudged and spacey on first listen but I realised it really compliments the songs and the overall of vibe of wooziness and blurring of funk, punk, pop and house music.

I do love his lyrics, they are very funny. Non sequiturs and dry observations mixed with a sense of humour is a great combo.

It may be a bit patchy in places and feels like it might fall apart any second, but It’s such a fun listen, it’s got such a winning energy and that precariousness actually works in it’s favour, a bit like Exile era Stones. 4 may be high but its such an enjoyable listen it feels churlish to be parsimonious. Great stuff.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
I’ve always been a fan of this album, but it’s been quite interesting concentrating on listening to it today.

On the one hand you can’t deny the energy and rawness and thrill of it. It must have felt so fresh and exciting in comparison to something like Yes or ELP. Obviously we weren’t around for it the punk idea of just getting up there and doing something simple and immediate and expressive must also have been incredible and so inspiring. They weren’t of course the only punk band but as a focal point they encapsulate it brilliantly, arsehole energy and attitude, distinctive look and a handful of genuinely great songs. Listening nearly 50 years later they may have lost some of the novelty and excitement but their influence on music and culmrture is undeniable, even if Lydon is a bit of a dickhead and they aren’t exactly a likeable bunch.

Songwise though it is a bit patchy. There are some absolutely fantastic and culturally significant songs; God Save the Queen, Anarchy in the UK, Pretty Vacant, as well as other great tracks like Holidays in the Sun, Problems, §, lots of superb little runs and fills as well as great rhythm playing. In the absence of conventional vocal melodies he carries a lot of the melodic weight. The songs are also quite conventionally structured, apart from the slightly swimmy rhythm to Submission they are pretty straighforward rock/pop songs, elevated by the guitar playing and the attitude and delivery. I do also love Lydon’s vocals and singing style, not that far removed from Dylan and Iggy Pop, its a great advert for singing in your own individual way and that idea was very clearly influential on lots of subsequent singers and bands that I like.

Lyrically (despite New York) it’s also a bit smarter than it first appears, and although not every bit of social commentary lands there are some great expressions of frustration and highlights of societal hypocrisy to make it interesting.

They aren’t as interesting as The Clash, either musically or philosophically (or musi-philosophically), and this isn’t as strong as The Clash’s first album, sitting a notch below that. But It’s still a fun listen, despite it’s patchiness, and obviously has a musical significance that is hard to ignore
⭐⭐⭐⭐️

Scum
It's just fast and shouty. I was expecting something so aggressive and abrasive that it would be shocking. But it's just fast drumming and unintelligible shouting, and it just feels silly. If you are sad and/or angry then I can see the appeal in making and listening to this type of thing, and good on them for doing it and hopefully it is cathartic.

Clearly it's not made for me, and I dislike just dismissing stuff that isn't my thing, but I'm struggling to work out the point of this - at least with other metal we've had I can work out the intent and it doesn't sound as daft as this does. Maybe its that with Iron Maiden or Metallica, even though I'm not into it or them, I can see their contribution to the lineage of metal, building on what came before, but this feels like a logical end point, a musical cul de sac of 30 second songs, super fast with no melody and incomprehensible shouting.
I still loath to give it 1 though, it doesn't annoy me in the way Xtina does
⭐⭐

Yankee Crime
Never heard of Drive Like Jehu. It reminds me of when I tried to like At the Drive In, and pretended for a bit that I did.

Struggling to find much to say. It is what is and is fine for this type of music. Some nice guitar parts, some good moments and grooves. I liked Sinews. Can kind of hear a bit of surf music in there, and some good rhythmic moments, but it is ultimately quite formulaic 90s slightly moany very American sounding alternative/punk.

Only listened once, I couldn’t really see what I’d get out of further listens. It’s not terrible but it’s not particularly interesting or different enough to feel like making more of an effort with it 🤷

⭐️⭐️

Traffic
I’m pretty familiar with John Barleycorn Must Die, but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to any other Traffic albums.

There’s a clear difference between the Dave Mason tracks and the Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi tracks. The Mason tracks are more immediate and straightforward, while Winwood’s are a bit more dense and complicated, and you can hear the roots of the more pastoral JBMD sound on some of these. On balance I think I prefer the Mason’s tracks although Winwood’s tracks get better and more interesting with more listens.

You Can All Join In is a great shuffling country-ish blues rock song. Quite Canned Heat/Allman Brothers, but one of those effortless sounding 60s/70s rock songs, but with a folk accent - I can imagine listening to it driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, or cruising along the Towcester bypass. Don’t be Sad is in a similar vein, although lacks some of the infectiousness of You Can All Join In. Feelin’ Alright is another strong track, I’m sure I’ve heard it before, it’s got a nice groove. Vagabond Virgin I’m not as keen on. Some slightly suspect lyrics and leans a bit too much into a kind of psychedelic prog vibe. Cryin’ to be Heard is better, despite some slightly errant horn parps. Good drumming.

Pearly Queen was a bit of a grower. Definitely reminds me of Yes, but a touch more enjoyable. Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring despite some nice guitar and some nice moments was a bit unmemorable. I really like Roman’ Thru the Gloamin’ with 40,000 Headmen though, a great late 60s rock/folk track with a pleasant jazziness. The stand out of the Winwood tracks and the most akin to JBMD. No Time to Live is a bit too jazzy for my taste, despite a nice vocal. Means to an End is a bit more enjoyable, it has a bit of a spark to it even if it’s pretty standard late 60s rock fare.

A bit of a mixed bag overall, some very enjoyable tracks but some pretty average ones too. The musicianship throughout is very good though, the drumming is particularly excellent. I can see what they were attempting, a kind of English psychedelic jazz folk-rock, and when it works it’s good, but it does fall wide of the mark on occasion.

A 3 feels fair
⭐⭐⭐

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Another easy 5. I don’t listen as much as I should, it’s so good. Aside from the songs I love the atmosphere of the whole thing, it’s so immersive.

No need to go track by track but I fucking love 5 years. One of my all time favourite Bowie songs, pulsing and spiralling upwards, fantastic drum pattern and sound, swirling strings, brilliant vocal, just an amazing song. What an opener, matched by closing with the similarly dramatic and superb Rock ’n’Roll Suicide. Everything inbetween I love too, not only are there no weak tracks, there is not one weak moment or second. Everything is just right for each song.

Ronson’s guitar is incredible, as Paul mentioned, the tone is soo good, I particularly love it on Moonage Daydream. The whole sound of the records is great as well, especially the drum sound.

I meant to only listen through twice, but I’ve just let it go on repeat all day. Probably on listen 7 now.

5 forever
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Logical Progression
I listened on YouTube, which is always annoying, and I listened to both volumes as one long track each, so I have no idea of individual tracks. I also listened sporadically through the day and only once through - 2 hours for one listen on a beautiful day is more than enough.

I don’t know enough about DnB to understand the rules and forms, so I don’t know if this is good or not. My presumption is that it is good, but it could have just been the first track on repeat for 2 hours and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

So I didn’t actually mind it, it’s definitely not unpleasant, and despite the higher tempo of the drums it never felt uncomfortably energetic or chaotic, like a lot of house music can.

If this was on Tidal I can see myself putting it on if I needed to focus for a couple of hours and get some work done, the hypnotic and regular tempos and rhythms would really suit that.

I’ll go 3. I think a 2 for me means I won’t listen again, whereas with a 3 I may listen again, and this falls in that camp.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bat out of Hell
I’ve never listened to this, I’ve not even heard the full 9 minute version of the title track, but I find Jim Steinman really interesting and have a real soft spot for his songs, so I was really keen to give this a listen.

Bat out of Hell, I’ve never really noticed the Springsteen-ness of this song before, both musically and thematically - teenage boredom and excitement and urge to go somewhere more exciting and bigger. Great track no matter how many times you hear it.
You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth - have always loved this song. Corker, even with the saliva-ry spoken word intro.
Heaven Can Wait is a bit of a lull, probably the weakest track.
All Revved Up is great, love the steady beat all the way through, and the musical sense of pent up frustration.
Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad ain’t bad at all, it threatens to turn into Bat out of Hell in parts but has a satisfying melody and a good lyric.
Paradise by the Dashboard Light is a belter, over the top of course, but a great story song, banging in the car listening to the baseball, tell me you love me, erm maybe tomorrow? Great title too.
For Crying Out Loud is a suitably cinematic ending, plaintive and melancholy, erupting into a histrionic middle section before, falling back down.

It is very theatrical but it manages keep the right side of the line, it could easily descend into anodyne Rock Musical territory, or end up like Queen, but there’s a charm to it that that pulls it through and separates it from all that. It’s also thematically really good, it’s very evocative of teenage romantic ideas and fantasy, love, lust, boredom, escape etc. I can’t work out whether there’s a knowingness to all the bombast and over the topness, or a genuine earnest innocence to it, or maybe it’s the combination of the earnestness and tenderness of the words with the bombast of the music that makes it a winner. Either way I don’t think it actually matters, it’s such a fun and entertaining listen.

Easy 4 stars, even toying with 5. Will definitely listen again.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Rush of Blood to the Head
I remember liking this when it came out. I liked their first album a lot too, but at the time this felt like a much more confident and ‘big’ sounding record than Parachutes, still with some indieness to it, but adding some expansiveness, a kind of U2 arena type ambition. I didn’t have much interest in X and Y, in fact I only heard the singles, and whether that was because they weren’t cool anymore or I didn’t like the music I’m not sure. Possibly a bit of both. After that I only know a few singles and the general sense of them writing dull and uninspiring vaguely electro arena pop.

So it’s interesting listening to this again, hopefully with an open mind, having not listened to it in at least 20 years, trying to separate it from what followed.

You can see the roots of what they became here though, lyrically and thematically at least - a lot of what we would now recognise as empty instagram inspirational quotes, vague but also not open to personal interpretation, meaningless but not universal, a series of homilies that on the surface sound pleasing but are ultimately hollow.

Musically however it holds up better. In My Place, God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, The Scientist and Clocks are very good bits of arena pop rock, catchy and direct and very well constructed. GPASUYF and Clocks in particular I still like.

Beyond that there are some decent tracks in that same vein, in keeping with the overall aim of the album, Politik, Daylight, A Whisper, Amsterdam. The remaining tracks don’t work as well, where the banality overexposes the thematic and emotional emptiness, Green Eyes, Warning Sign, A Rush of Blood to the Head.

Even if the songs are patchy, there is no doubt about their skill in creating catchy hooks and melodies and building expansive, arena filling songs out of quite simple but effective instrumentation - very similar to U2 in that regard. There is a palpable feeling that they achieved what they set out to do, and in that sense it is a satisfying listen, even if ultimately the quality is inconsistent and the purposeful vapidity at the heart of it is revealed too frequently for comfort.

It’s almost definitely a 2.5, a straight down the middle rating, but I’ll round up to three, on the basis of achieving what they set out to do and for the quality of GPASUYF and Clocks
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gorillaz
I fucking loved this when it came out, I listened to it loads, but I haven’t re-visited it in years, in fact I kind of forgot it exists.

I really enjoyed listening to it today though, and there was a lot of residual muscle memory to it. At the time it seemed a bit of a left turn, but 23 years later its eclecticism and slightly wonky nature now seems quite normal, both for Damon/Blur’s timeline and music in general.

Clint Eastwood and 19-2000 still stand up as great bits of electronic pop/hip hop, but quite alot of the other tracks stood out to me; Re-Hash as a very Blur-esque bit of catchy pop, Tommorow Comes Today’s spaciness, New Genius’ keening circularity, Sound Check’s dubby vibes sound great, Double Bass could have been on Think Tank, a really great groove. Rock the House is great, love the horn sample. Really like the guitar line on Starshine. Always loved Slow Country, great bass sound and a nice melody.

It’s definitely has a sense of a collections of atmospheric bits of music, rather than a coherent album, but I do love the different moods and sounds. It’s also much more dub influenced than I remember, which I think I appreciate more now than I did 20+ years ago.

A nice fat solid 4, a great album and I need to remember to listen to it more often
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Palo Congo
Banging on those bongos like a chimpanzee

El Cumbanchero is the closest thing to having a recognisable melody and structure and I quite like it. Billumba-Palo Congo and Rhapsodia del Maravilloso are probably my favourite of the other tracks, the former one of a few tracks that seem to eschew latin sounds for something more African in it’s percussion and chanting, and I liked the guitar on the latter.

If you are into this type of thing I presume this is a great album. Cuban Rumba isn’t exactly my thing though, but I think I can appreciate the skill in the polyrhythmic percussion and the general rhythmic focus. Once you tune into that aspect it does become more of an interesting listen. I found myself liking it more and more on the 2nd and 3rd listens. I wouldn’t say I loved it but I found it a lot more interesting and enjoyable than I thought I would. Between a 2 and a 3, I’ll just tip it over to 3.
⭐⭐⭐

Getz/Gilberto
Short review today.

The Girl from Ipanema, it’s such a great song that most versions are good, and I do like the arrangement of this one, a pleasant listen.

After that though it veers from pleasant but forgettable to plain forgettable. Nothing truly bad, but nothing truly good. I actually drifted off to sleep the 2nd time around.

I’ll go 2
⭐️⭐️

Tea for the Tillerman
‘The Red legged chicken stands ready to strike’

One of those ‘Oh yeah he’s great’ artists that I don’t listen to as much as I should. And I really should because this is an excellent album.

I love the little piano answering melody thing on Where Do the Children Play. A little bit of that bit and anger with the ‘tell us when to die’ line. Hard Headed Woman is a cousin of Peace Train, but is a great song, love the melody and the strings as it’s builds a slight sense of desperation.

Wide World, absolute classic, and rightly so. Miles From Nowhere is easy to overlook, but is a great track, the piano and acoustic guitars and the gospel touches are lovely.

But I Might Die Tonight. Love the feel of this one, as I do with Longer Boats, with its great harmonies. Into White may be not as good as the other songs, but is still great. On the Road to Find Out I love, a lot of conviction to the vocals and lyrics.

Father and Son, it really is a very lovely song, its slight saccharine undertones have been exaggerated to death by subsequent cover versions but the original is such a beautiful and melancholic delight, shifting between viewpoints and oscillating between tenderness, regret, love and frustration. One thing I’ve always wondered, when he sings ‘You’re still young, that’s your fault’, does he mean he’s to blame for being young, or that it’s it’s just a feature of being young.

It really is a great album. Musically and melodically superb, he really has a gift for melodies and hooks. And despite his hippy vibes and reputation there is a lot more to it thematically and emotionally than that, touching on happiness, sadness, despair, fatherhood, wonder and regret. Add it all together and it’s a fantastically satisfying 35 minutes.
Another easy 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Band
I love Music From Big Pink, but this is their best album. All the good things about MFBP are distilled, refined and matured into the 12 songs on here.

The two central pillars of the album The Night thy Drove Old Dixie Down and King Harvest (Has Surely Come) are superb, monumental and expansive, but also intimate and empathetic.

Around those two songs there is not a weak track, whether more uptempo, like the country stomping of Rag Mama Rag, the soulful and rhythm section driven Up on Cripple Creek, the more rocking Jemima Surrender and Look Out Cleveland or the more tender and melancholic When You Awake, Whispering Pines or Rockin’ Chair, or the more plaintive Jawbone or The Unfaithful Servant.

The playing and arranging is also a step above MFBP, Levon and Rick Danko’s drumming and bass playing are absolutely superb, by turns propulsive, melodic, ‘funky’ or delicate. Garth Hudson also really shines, his musical virtuosity deployed beautifully, adding texture and tone, elevating everything. Richard Manuel’s piano, harmony vocals and occasional lead vocals are also superb. Robbie’s guitar playing is relatively subdued but very Harrison-esque in the sense of serving each song rather than each song being a vehicle for his technical proficiency, which started to happen later in their career. His songwriting though is his main contribution, never reaching this consistency again.

Easy peasy 5 for me.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

At Folsom Prison
It’s hard to not compare to At San Quentin, so I’ll just go ahead and do that.

Like ASQ I thoroughly enjoyed this, the voice, both raucous and tender, the playing, the charisma. But this feels sadder and more melancholic, while ASQ has more of an edge. I suppose that’s probably a product of the song choices, more ballad and slower tempo songs and most of them dealing with being in prison or committing crimes. There is some humour to lighten things though, I suppose that’s why they did Dirty Old Egg Suckin’ Dog and Flushed from the Bathroom of your Heart, although the crowd cheers a bit too enthusiastically when he sings he wants to kill the dog!

I loved the version of Long Black Veil, and I love June’s slightly manic vocals on Jackson, but I found pleasure in every song.

I gave ASQ 4, so as this is a companion piece, albeit through a sadder lens, I’ll do the same again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Crime of the Century
This doesn’t have The Logical Song on it. That’s the only Supertramp song I know. It’s a good song.

Wasn’t sure what to expect with this. I was slightly concerned as it was tagged as prog - I thought we might have some more Yes type music on our hands. I suppose it’s Yes adjacent, but to me it is more listenable with a more obvious pop edge.

School has some nice textures to it, including the piano in the 2nd half but it doesn’t grab me much overall. I liked Bloody Well Right though, the keyboards in particular and the overall rocky poppiness of it. Hide in Your Shell is also not a bad track, but I’m not keen on the sax. Once Asylum kicks in and gets going it’s much better than its start suggests it might be, there’s a slight bluesy edge to the vocal which I like and a little bit of a grower of a melody.

Dreamer I have actually heard before - I didn’t know that was Supertramp. A very nice catchy bit of early 70s pop. Rudy is similar to Asylum in how it starts off unpromisingly, but develops into a decent song. I like the squelchy synths and then the wah wah and strings at the back end. Really sounds a lot like Sting singing in that bit. If Everyone Was Listening starts off a lot like a Queen song, which for me is not a good thing, and then the oboe/clarinet I’m not keen on. Not my fav song. A bit poor in fact.

Crime of the Century feels quite Pink Floyd, without quit reaching the required levels of studied grandiosity, but I liked its shifting musicality, around the repeating piano.

Overall there is a fair bit of progyness, and sometimes it just edges too far that way, but in the main it’s paired with relatively straight ahead, enjoyable enough 70s rock/pop, with some additional blues and soul elements. It’s not blown me away, but there are some interesting little corners to it. In the right mood I’d listen again, and I think I will check out the Breakfast in America album. Middle of the road 3
⭐️⭐️⭐️

The World is a Ghetto
I only know the well known War Songs; Low Rider and Why Can’t We Be Friends. And the only thing I know about the band themselves was that Eric Burdon was in them for a bit.

The Cisco Kid is a great, great soul/funk/latin groove with just enough jazziness to be interesting without being distracting or taking it too close to easy listening lounge jazz.
Where Was You At carries on the strong start, dialling up the funk and soul a bit more, very nice track.
City, Country, City, as well as being silly long, does slide way too far into that MOR lounge sound, with the added bonus of 70s sitcom theme tune sounding influences. The last minute or so is ok, but this isn’t a great song, the blandness is a bit all encompassing.

Four Cornered Room brings it back though, a kind of bluesy soul groove. I love the ominous feeling of the intro building to that psychedelic rock guitar ahead of the vocals. The big cymbal crash comes a bit out of nowhere though. Unlike City, Country, City this doesn’t feel long, despite being 8 and a 1/2 minutes long. Great track, probably the stand out.
The World is a Ghetto is very good, although it occasionally leans a little bit close to that lounge jazz sound, but the bass and guitar keep things on track for the most part. It also does feel its length, but still a good song.
Beetles in the Bog is a fun funk/soul/jazz tune with some added steel drums, I like the phasing and panning in the intro and the keyboards. I guess the title is a reference to the Beatles with the British vernacular of bog?

Overall I liked this, reminded me of Donny Hathaway, and not just the use of the word ghetto. This type of album can fall into that bland easy listening lounge sound, but apart from City, Country, City and some bits of the title track it manages to keep on the more interesting soul/funk/rock/psychedelic/blues side of things and is a rewarding listen. It also sounds very good, a really rich and full sound without being cloying.

Tricky to rate. At the moment it sits right between 3 and 4, but I think it will benefit from more listens and will go on my rotation. I’d be happy giving it 3 or 4 but as it’s a grey rainy day I’ll stick with 3.
⭐⭐⭐

Spy vs Spy
Firstly, I love that this exists. Although I may not want to listen to experimental deconstructed thrash jazz it’s important to me that people make this kind of stuff.
Secondly, I love that I don’t have to listen to it.

In actuality, despite being a difficult it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It just sounds like a lot of free form and to be honest most normal jazz: lots of parping and daft drumming. As I listened on Youtube I have no idea of the individual tracks, and honestly it doesn’t matter as I don’t think discerning each track is the point. And one listen through is surely enough too.

I’ve only given one star once and that was to Christina Aguilera. Despite that album being on the surface more listenable I still think it’s worse than this. At least this has intent, a sense of artistic purpose and doesn’t care if anyone likes it. That Christina album is so cynically conceived, produced and executed and so entirely limited in its worldview that it’s objectively awful. This may be significantly more on the unlistenable side of things but I believe it has artistic merit, and although it’s not for for me and I’ll never listen to it again I have a respect for it. Music can be many things for many people but context, intentions and ambitions matter beyond the response to the music itself, so I can’t just dismiss this as a one. Peversely tempted to go 3, but on my personal scale that would indicate that I might listen again, so it’s a 2.
⭐️⭐️
I also really like the album artwork.

Fulfillingness' First Finale
I’m not that au fait with this album compared to Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. I’m not sure why, I guess along with Music of My Mind this gets a bit overlooked in his classic run.

Smile Please is a lovely opener, it feels a bit more downbeat and melancholy than Innervisions or SITKOL but I like the pulsing keyboards and unhurried vibe. Heaven is 10 Zillion Years Lights Years Away also has a similar melancholy feel, despite its gospel style upbeat chorus. You’ll both know way better than me but it feels like a lot of descending into minor chords in the verses? Anyway, great track.

Too Shy to Say steps perilously close to those later career vaguely dull Stevie ballads. It just about manages to stay the right side of that, but it’s not one of my highlights. Sneaky Pete Kleinow from the Flying Burrito Bros the other day is on it though.

Boogie on Reggae Woman is a great bit of R’n’B/Funk/Pop, love the keyboards, piano and the appearance of the harmonica in the outro. Creepin’ is a superior version of Too Shy to Say, the female voices work really well.

Despite being more than a little Superstition-adjacent You Haven’t Done Nothin’ is a bit of a banger. Didn’t realise the Jackson 5 were on it. It Ain’t No Use has its moments, but it never quite seems to go anywhere for me.

They Won’t Go When I Go is an interesting one. The piano feels both slightly Debussy and slightly Rachmaninov-esque and I like the clarinet a lot. Real grower as I only really noticed it on the third listen. Bird of Beauty I like a lot, echoes of Sunshine of My Life and I love the burbling keyboards and backing vocals on the chorus

Please Don’t Go is one of those seemingly effortless Stevie soul/r’n’b/pop songs, laid back but always moving forward, melodic and musically interesting. Great track.



Overall I can see how it gets a bit overlooked as it clearly isn’t quite at the same focused level as the ‘big’ albums before and after. It’s still a great listen though, the slight downbeat feeling working well with the warmth of the sound - it sounds closer to Talking Book than the others in that sense. And it has some superb songs on it. It would be a highlight of anyone else’s career, but judged against those other classics I think it probably has to be a 4, albeit a high one.
⭐⭐⭐⭐️