Reviews by jf01

The first five songs existed somewhere on the spectrum of meh/fine. The title track has a good riff, no denying that, but at 17 minutes it wears out its welcome. When we faded out to a drum solo (and not, say, to a still-overwrought-but-permissible conclusion) around 6:40 I clenched up in fear of what the next 10 minutes had in store for me. When the guitar came in around 12 minutes I thought about how other grand rock epics like Stairway or Free Bird manage to fit all these ideas into 8-9 minutes. Then I went back and tried to figure out where the song should have ended. I’d say 2:30, but I could also allow 3:20. Everything after that is unnecessary.

No thanks

As luck would have it, just two or three weeks ago I decided I needed to listen to the whole of Supertramp’s classic album “Breakfast in America,” because I never had. If that’s on the list, that’ll be a 4/5 debate when it comes up.

But bad luck for this album, I think, because I was expecting another collection of non-stop bangers and this ain’t it. Just okay.

In my head, “shining star” was kinda cheesy, but I was wrong. Maybe I never paid attention beyond the chorus before. The verses are really fun.

I didn’t know “that’s the way of the world” was called that or that it was by EWF. I thought it was called “hearts afire” and wasn’t written by any single band but had more or less always existed in the collective consciousness.

Loved those first two songs! Then there was the rest and this fell from “potential 5?” to “at least a 4?” to “3.5, rounded down.”

Maybe 3.5? I didn’t have time to listen multiple times today but I’d come back to it

It probably took me a dozen listens to “get” this when I bought it in college, and then it became an obsession. Now it’s probably a top 10 album for me, and in my (hardly unique) opinion the greatest rap album of all time.

When this came out, it got a large amount of hype, and I really tried, but I didn’t get it. I maybe liked it a little more today, but still not fully there. I want Lorde to be a different artist than she wants to be here. That’s fine. She’s allowed to change as an artist and I’m allowed to not follow her. This is like a 3.5, but I’ll round up.

Pretty fun

Pre listen: Oh man. Will this be a 4 or a 5? I love basically the first 12 songs, but then I usually skip to Train in Vain. Been a long time since I’ve listened to tracks 13-18. Also, the most iconic cover in rock: Elvis reference subverted, incredible picture.

In high school, we had a spirit week theme day called “clash day.” Most people wore stripes with polka dots or orange with red. The coolest guy in band class wore a shirt that said “Rudie Can’t Fail.” Perfect. No notes.

Listening: everyone says this, but it’s amazing how many genres are represented on this album. Nearly every song is a different style.

I’ve owned this album for 25 years and I genuinely have no memory of ever listening to “I’m Not Down.”

So, I think I’m going with 5. It remains my opinion that tracks 13-18 are “filler,” but I still like them, if that makes sense. It’s four-star filler. There are a dozen-ish classics on this album and I don’t care to penalize it for being ever so slightly bloated. Train in Vain, Rudie, Clampdown, Supermarket, Death or Glory, and London Calling all on one album can persuade me to forgive all sorts of things.

Also, I listened to a remastered version and I noticed a couple small differences. There’s a little guitar lick around 2:17 of Rudie that I hadn’t heard before, and I swear the vocals on Train in Vain are pushed more forward in the mix than previously, which gives it a more vulnerable sound. I think in other places it’s less muddy too. Fun little details.

Verdict:

Crazy? In 2025, there is something “crazy” about having Diddy intoning “crazy, sexy, cool” on your record, but I can’t blame 1994 TLC for including him. I doubt they knew. “Ready to Die” only came out two months before this album; Diddy hadn’t even gotten big yet. I give this a 1/10 crazy.

Sexy? Yeah, so much so I’m surprised we had this in our house when I was 11.

Cool? In the 90s, you could not get cooler than this album. But its production now feels a little dated. I haven’t even watched the Waterfalls video and its CGI attempts. So, not awarding full “cool” points.

I liked this okay enough. I think I slightly prefer it when he is being jazzier and less poppy.

Fine. I liked “earth people” and “blue flowers,” but the song that actually made me sit up, my clear favorite, was “bear witness,” which barely has any lyrics. Maybe says something about something, that.

My memory of this album was that it was “doll parts” and not much else. Actually I think it’s really solid! Although “doll parts” does remain my favorite.

I find it hard to believe I’ve never listened to this all the way through—I went through (what I then considered) a big Nick Drake phase in college, and there isn’t that much to sustain a “phase”—but this felt like a discovery. Maybe I just haven’t listened in 15-20 years because I didn’t get it then. Maybe I just listened to “pink moon” on repeat? I knew “one of these things first,” “fly,” and “northern sky,” but I really liked some of the others I was un(?) (less?) familiar with. “Hazey Jane I” was a standout. I much prefer full-band Nick Drake to solo Nick Drake, it turns out.

Musically, I really liked this. Personally, *I* might have written fewer lyrics about gang bangs, but to each their own.

One of the top reviews on this site says that if you hate this album, stop after one listen, but if you kiiiinda like it, listen again and see if it grows on you. That latter describes me well. I listened twice today and I think it’s a 3.5, but it has potential to keep going up. There’s something quite charming about the album. I especially liked Alife, with Sea Song and Robin Hood trailing just behind it.

I’m getting, like, insecure AC/DC? Each song should be maybe 20% slower to let it breathe and strut a little more.

Also, and I fully cop to being a huge nerd, the misspelled titles just make it harder to remember the songs. If I liked “mama weer all crazee now,” (and I don’t, to be clear), it takes an extra half-second to translate that into “mama, we’re all crazy now,” which is an unnecessary barrier to replaying it. Real unforced error, Slade.

For the entire first half, I was debating how long I’d have to listen to give this a fair shake. I decided I’d go through “pinball wizard,” the one song I knew I knew. I did that. Then, I had to run a quick errand and while doing that, I got through “go to the mirror,” which I actually liked. That was one of those “I’ve heard this song before but didn’t know it” songs. From there, it felt like I was pretty close to the end, so I decided to finish it. Oof. What a mistake. Each of the final three songs had me itching for the stop button. But I did it. Bravery. A 1.5 rounded up.

My memory of this album, which I owned as a child, was that tracks 1-6 are a surefire 5-star side A, and side B is forgettable. But lemme tell you, once the chorus hit on Garden, I knew this was getting rounded up from the 4.5 it probably is. Oh, and Release is great too! Side B is fine! It may not have Even Flow, Alive, Black, and Jeremy, but who does?

Meh