He’s acting aa much as he is singing, it sounds like. And he’s selling out for the performance. A whole lot of bravado and gusto behind the voice. I don’t know a word he’s saying but it seems dramatic and often tense based on his delivery and the music.
Can’t offer much critical analysis, my favorite parts are when he changes his delivery from loud to quiet or quiet to loud very quickly. A fun inclusion, 3/5
Rated 6/10
I’m left feeling like you could take it or leave it for this album. On one hand, I got a bit tired of how samey the energy of all the songs were. On the other hand, a few good stories to go along with a few good hooks. “Small Blue Thing” & “The Queen And The Soldier” were my favorite, especially the latter song. It’s got a very direct, uncomplicated delivery that helps me picture its story very clearly in my mind.
Soft 3/5 while we are on the topic, Kaskade’s version, “The Diner”, is a very good cover of “Toms Diner”.
Rated 8/10
The best Paul Simon song that I’ve discovered on this list is “Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes”, featuring an inordinately fun vocal intro Ladysmith Black Mambazo. That sense of fun isn’t lost on this album either. The voice is an instrument and they use it in all sorts of ways. Prideful harmonies, unique vocal runs, even tricks like volume fader emulation.
I did feel like I’d kinda heard it all about halfway through the album, but I wasn’t complaining. Need more records like this, less Elvis Costello or Neil Young. 4/5
Rated 4/10
Man this thing is so close to being good. There's so many little gems hidden in all sorts of shit.
The chorus of "Malibu Beach Nightmare" is written well, but performed to poorly.
The desert-mirage guitar section 2 minutes 20 seconds into "Mental Beat" is genuinely an innovative bit of production sandwiched in an otherwise lackluster anthem.
"Tooting Bec Wreck" is a whole bag of beans to unpack. A manic anthem aimed at the dancefloor, which I genuinely enjoyed, but damn is the vocal execution so ham-fisted. He's trying too hard to sell this one to the listener. Or trying too hard to sound like The Clash in the beginning. This is a Finnish band so I can't be too critical of the vocal delivery. But wow was this a confusing one. At the end of this songs runtime, I genuinely loved it. I can't even get my thoughts straight in writing. That's how confusing this whole record was.
"Until I Got You" - that prechorus section at 1:30? Aamazing! Tactful, a nice female vocal to give a bit of depth to the song's story. The rest of the song? Completely forgettable glam! What the hell is going on!? I'm experiencing musical whiplash!!
Random E Street Band sax sections like in the song "Ice Cream Summer" have me just about tapped out. In some ways, the total shitshow messy nature of this album, with it's soaring highs and deathly lows, is all a microcosm for what glam rock in the 80's really was. I heard parts of songs on here I loved more than most material this list has to offer. But on the whole? This record doesnt belong here.
The most enthralling, mesmerizing 2/5 of all time, hitting just above the 1/5 line. Guns N Roses surely took what these guys were doing and ran with it
An opening song that is so painfully of it's time that it was hard to listen to. It also blows my mind how different rock sounds from this early 60's sound to how it sounded by the end of that decade. Psychadelics really upended the art form.
All I got outta this listening experience was a preference to go listen to Dion & The Belmonts. This album is so lacking in anything distinctive that I'm getting suspicious about it's inclusion on this list being "Love Hurts", a song that was famously covered many years later by Nazareth. "Cathy's Clown" is fine, but again, just go listen to Dion or some other doo-woppers, teeny-boppers, or surf-rockers that immediately come to mind - they did it better than these two.
2/5, did not make me feel like I was in The Sandlot enough
Rated 6/10
While this is often nonsensical and gristly, it's a million times better than the fifth Elvis Costello record being forced on you.
I did not know this is where "Plateau" came from, but it made so much sense right away. Can't unhear Kurt Cobains voice, but the guitar passage at the end of the original here made up for it.
"Climging" was also a super pleasant road-tripper. Contemplative, sweet, and direct.
"Teenagers" was a perfectly timed instrumental, helping to round out this albums dusty atmosphere.
Overall jus ta really simple record I enjoyed at face value. 3/5 the right amount of not over-produced
Rated 2/10
Here are the top 5 Elvis Costello albums you need to hear before you die. Smh. Is there more Costello on here than Presley? This was tough.
This whole thing, really most all of Elvis Costello’s work, is just so bleh. So milquetoast. So middle of the road. His slightly nasaly delivery has tested my patience after so many records. I think by the time I hit “Alison” in the track listing, I knew I was at the point of no return.
There’s just nothing this record does that makes it stand out from a field of its contemporaries, and ESPECIALLY not in a field of those who came after.
“Mystery Dance” had another retro-futuristic fusion of 50’s rock and 70’s rock that had my mind going to other, better artists. Want some rockabilly with actual teeth? Go listen to Reverend Horton Heat. Want a nostalgic kick of doo-wop brought into the context of classic rock? Go listen to Bowie.
There’s just nothing worth your time here, it’s true for most of the Elvis Costello records on this list. Just pick one, maaaaaybe two of them. 1/5
(Update upon researching this list) THERE’S STILL ANOTHER ELVIS COSTELLO RECORD I HAVENT HEARD?
Rated 4/10
It’s like all the bad parts of Tom Waits and Frank Zappa combined into one record.
“Gang Bang” started a pattern of unforgivable song topics, or songs that should’ve been therapy sessions instead.
“Giddy Up A Ding Dong”. What was that chorus? What was that?
Then came “Next”, and it almost had something. A very colorful, crazy instrumental that I actually liked, but another song topic that kinda just made me scratch my head.
Everything else was sub-par rock of one subgenre or another.
2/5, a couple of grandiose instrumental passages save this thing from being a 1/5
Rated 8/10
Quite some time ago, I wrote about how Arcade Fire’s “Funeral” album was a loving ode to the dynamics of growing up in suburbia. It felt like a bike ride at midnight through a placid, idle neighborhood.
Well that means “Freak Out!” is a dilapidated ice cream van on fire, barreling through those suburban streets with its horn blaring loudly. The Mothers Of Invention make it *abundantly* clear how obviously dumb modern American society is. This record is kinda like Jim Carey’s portrayal of the Grinch, a goblin grasping with insecurity by snapping in and out of sanity, change voices and making noises seemingly at random.
“Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder” is an absurdist version of a doo-wop song. It’s post-doo-wop. It’s future-doo-wop. Does that make it rockabilly? Maybe. Zappa is doing some sort of laughable French accent too? This song is tinged with a tongue-in-cheek irony that is so ahead of its time. This could be a 100 gecs song if it got a new coat of paint today, I’m dead serious.
But sometimes this album gets too into character, like a high school theater play. The satire gets to be on the nose. MOI forget that a little tact and subversion are necessary ingredients in satire. The lyrics in “You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here” are a good example of why some listeners wince at this record.
This album isn’t under the influence of anything. It’s precise and cogent, despite its sprawling, hectic, dissonant nature. It probably broke a lot of molds and a lot of listeners minds in 1966. That being said, nothing on here is a perfectly timeless statement. Nothing said on here can be extrapolated for much more than a satire of the times. “Freak Out!” is both genuine and insincere. And no matter how you experience this project, you will NOT be ready for its last two songs.
Let’s give this the lightest 4/5. This is “music” like how the yellow goop that comes out of a machine and gets poured onto your nachos is “cheese”.
Rated 8/10
Completely unsure how to rate this one on the basis of a few separate things.
First, I think there’s been enough Sonic Youth albums to hit this list. Is this like the fourth or fifth? I come away with the same message every time: Kim Gordon’s voice alone can carry this band to greatness.
Second, the variance in how much I enjoyed each track was massive.
“Shadow Of A Doubt” is just excellent. Airy, spacious, mysterious, dramatic, evocative. Not a misplaced note or instrument on it.
“Star Power” keeps the Kim Gordon excellence going. Shoutout to that episode of Gossip Girl where KG is actually there in the end doing an incredible acoustic version of this already amazing song.
Then “In The Kingdom #19” takes the conventional structure of previous songs and puts it all in a blender, with a captivating spoken word passage layered over the chaos.
“Secret Girl” was notable for that haunting piano passage after a minute of dissonant ambiance.
Every other song, particularly the last few songs, we’re very forgettable. But the songs I mentioned above? Masterful.
Fuck it light 4/5 stars the peaks were so high. I type all my reviews by 9am at the absolute latest on work days, but I am going back here to say that “Star Power” has been stuck in my head all day
Rated 4/10
When it’s good, it’s gentle, it’s delicate. But most of the time, it took things a step too far and was too safe. "Mining For Gold" had a part in it that sounded like "God Bless America", so there’s that. Otherwise, I had a hard time digging my teeth into this record, as it was wholly unexciting.
Is there a place for this music? Yeah, maybe. But wherever that place is, you'd have to play this out at max volume. It's a painfully quiet record.
I liked the accordion and wobbly strings pairing with the slide guitar on "To Love Is To Bury" quite a bit. An amalgamation of sound that fluffs up the romantic side of this project.
I'm not sure I hear the mass appeal in "Sweet Jane" according to spotify's numbers.
Can I hear the good in this? Yeah, but this just isnt up my alley. Happens every once in a while. I think ambient music performs the same function for me that this album performs for a lot of other people. Strong 2/5
Rated 8/10
Shoutout the soundtrack of Skate 2, shoutout EA games for only doing one thing right and it’s licensing good music. I definitely had no grasp at the time on hip hop in the 90’s when I first played the game, but I didn’t need to know much to know this albums title track was really memorable.
“Execution Of A Chump” is so full of swagger without coming off as trying too hard at all. Excellent, hypnotic beat. Methodical delivery of clever bar after clever bar.
I think Gang Starr’s greatest quality here is how they so clearly don’t care about anything besides their craft. Nothing comes off as forced. MC Guru is locked in from front to back, DJ Premier manages to toe the line of making a beat thats punchy but never distracting (“Check The Technique” has a low end that blew my mind - no way this came out all the way back in 1991). “Take A Rest” is the only thing that sounds remotely dated and even that was base-level enjoyable. This project even manages to fly under the insanely high standard for misogyny that 90’s rap had.
4/5 it must’ve been frustrating trying to sound as smooth as these guys in the early/mid-90’s. A setting of the gold standard.
Rated 6/10
I’m coining a new subgenre - blue eyed dub. Much like the white American doing soul music in the 60’s, there seems to have been a lot of white British artists taking raggae/dub influence into their music. The Slots do lots of that on here, especially on songs like “Newtown”. This is still a post-punkish, alt rocker more than anything, but there’s plenty of dub influence.
Outside of that, I liked this. Didn’t go crazy over it because towards the back half everything felt like it had already been done earlier in the record. But damn did they smash the hell out of the “Heard It Through The Grapevine” cover. Blew my expectations out of the water.
Strong 3/5 could be a 4/5
Rated 6/10
There’s a strange amount of 90’s / 2000’s east coast hip hop on here no?
This was alright, I feel like I have a similar reaction to most of these records.
You can’t say you’re not sexist and then make “Da Bitchez” though, that was just laughably contradictory.
Some good ones on here were “You Can’t Stop The Prophet” for its proto-MFDOOM concept, and “Ain’t The Devil Happy” for its sinister, cunning instrumental. A very sharp song.
3/5 I’m just so sure Jeru got a knock on his door for the album cover and line about the World Trade Center. What did he know LOL
Rated 4/10
The shrill beast rears its ugly head again. A good ballad or two to start the record gives way to the inevitability that Neil Young’s voice can’t be endured for a full album.
2/5 “Welfare Mothers” was a new low
Rated 6/10
Having not been nearly 21 years old when this album came out, I couldn’t grasp just how impressive Adele’s vocal capabilities were (and still are). Now, having been a dumbass 21 year old, I get the hype. It’s a voice that sounds like it’s lived a whole lifetime.
The instrumentation on here is pretty bland in retrospect, but I’ve gotta remember that at least in the states in 2011 everything was going electronic, so anything resembling an ensemble of “real” instrumentation was defiant by radio standards.
“One and Only” was the only standout for me of the not-mega-famous songs to come out of this project. But “Someone Like You” is still worth its weight in gold. Distills all the greatness out of her voice, a simple and effective arrangement that provides a proper backdrop. We all got it right on this song.
Strong 3/5 not a revolution in sound, but it doesn’t have to be, Adele’s voice does the lifting just fine
Rated 6/10
This whole morning i was like “am i just listening to a Rod Stewart album?” and it turns out that yes! I kinda am just listening to a Rod Stewart album.
Ignoring my state of confusion, this album is just ok on present-day listen. Credit to Jeff Beck that some of this stuff was probably pretty ahead of its time. The way “Morning Dew” speeds up at the end comes to mind.
A lovely “Greensleeves” cover and the very grand, galavanting “Becks Bolero” were also some worthwhile highlights.
Everything else about this record has since been taken in tons of new directions, many of which more interesting. I’ve heard plenty of Rod Stewart talk about getting shook all night long by a lover now - thank you but no more.
3/5
Rated 6/10
I actually didn’t loathe life listening to this thing, which is more than I can say for most rock-adjacent records from the late 60’s on this list.
A clever Bon Dylan cover - but in French! with “Si tu dois parir”, some pleasant rolling guitars on “Autopsy”, a very dramatic, escalating arrangement on “A Sailors Life”. All very thoughtful choices done well.
This album isn’t nearly as upright and twee as it’s visual/context clues suggest! Only on “Who Knows Where The Tome Goes” did I feel bored back into my preconceptions for what this record would be sounding like.
A strong, fun, easy-going closer with “Million Dollar Bash” affirms that There’s a warming charm about this group not so dissimilar to what you get listening to The Carpenters.
This could probably be a 4 with a few more listens, but for the first time in nearly two weeks I’ll give an album a 3/5
Rated 8/10
Such an excellent direction to take the big band sound in. All the bongos and hand drums giving this music so much flavor. Horn arrangements that are much more fluid and adventitious than its American counterparts. Sometimes slow and swanky, sometimes wildly frenetic. Fun from start to finish.
“Frenzy” was my favorite, an aptly named song where an upright bass is the only thing interrupting some insane percussion for a minute there.
4/5 the intro bongos on “Tururato” sound easily similar to those of “Thank You” by Dido
Rated 4/10
Quite remarkable how there’s a traceable, almost linear downgrade in quality with each passing song. “Nobody’s Fault” in particular might’ve been the back-breaker for me. A pretty good bassline and guitar lick on “Last Child” won’t hold my good graces for an entire album.
It’s hard to track the misgivings and reprehensible things done by all the classic rockers, but Steven Tyler in particular has had a platform that’s somehow outlasted the stuff he’s done. I’m not super amped about giving his project multiple albums on this list.
They’re saying 2 starts is the new 3 stars
