lester_thenextfantano

1001 Albums Vol. 0037: A Seat At The Table
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Introduction: Ack! Oh, well it seems that time is...relatively normal again? I mean, car models look relatively...modern even though I don't see any Cyber Trucks. Um...oh wait. I know exactly what year it is now...Markiplier has red hair and I know the lore of Markimoo better than anyone so that means we must be in 2016...specifically after March of 2016. So um...yeah, here we ar-.....Wait...Oh...um...hello? I think I heard something clanking around in this box of text? Um...maybe not. We'll just keep going for now. Anyway, the year is 2016. The Zika Virus is running rampant, South Park airs its weakest season up until that point, Gen Alpha has just begun to grow out of being toddlers so they can wipe their grubbly evolved hands all over their phone screens, and Donald Trump...wait...actually he hadn't won yet because we're in September of that year. But most historically important of all, Solange would release A Seat At The Table that year! And trust me, this changed the trajectory of the entire fucking worl-! What the hell?! I....It-It's the clanking again. This time it was louder and sounded...a lot more echoey? Is there like...something in the walls of the text box or something? Okay...we're going to need to try and get through this intro fast. So um...yeah Solange released A Seat At The Table in 2016. And it apparently even won a Grammy Award too...huh? A rare instance where we're giving musical awards which are actually deserving I see. You know, musical Grammy Awards really should be reinvented or at least a few categories should be added. Like of course Sabrina fucking Carpenter is going to get nominated while artists that are objectively better like...I don't know...Geese are not. And awards like that keep encouraging artists like Sabrina to keep pumping out the same bad music and the cycle just continues and goes on and on and on and on and...yeah...I'll digress for now...just one of the many flawed things about the music industry. So um...anyway...yeah, the album. Like I was saying, it changed the trajectory of the entire world! And while that may be an over exaggeration, it at least attempted to have a huge impact on its listeners and the world around it which is more than I can say about a lot of albums that were made around this era. How? Well, very similarly to To Pimp A Butterfly released the year before, the album covers themes of Black empowerment, history, and experience in the questionaly great U.S.A. And...well...um...I won't even lie, something like this would probably be enough to make me like an album already, especially if its lyrics are well-written. I mean, albums like this are very typically some of the most personable and genuine stuff you can find in the industry which is something that I generally love and respect. There...are some pretty...obvious exceptions to this rule...Nostalgia Critic...oop...I didn't mean to say that. But um...yeah, there's just something about albums like these that hit in a very different sort of way. And, combine this with an actually interesting setup we have going here, and you hav-oh wait? What's the setup? Well, silly reader, clearly you haven't been keeping up with our amazing series of album reviews we have going on here. Why, I'm talking about hearing the evolution of Soul music across the span of 50 years of course. But really, the one Ray Charles album on this site was the last album I generated and now we timeskip 50 years in the future to see how far Soul has come since that album. That's...kinda the setup and the hook that I'm going to create here because I really don't have all that much else otherwise. I think I've used the "apparently this album is pretty good but let's see" hook way too much already and we're only like 30 albums in! So um...yeah, I really don't have much else to say, so let's jus- just...there...there's something in the text box. It just happened again.The clanking. There-.....................There's something in here with me....I'm gonna....go ahead and switch over to my phone now and start the album on Spotify, rate tracks along the way like always and just...just see if anything's happened when I come back for the conclusion. Yeah, let's just....let's just go ahead and...yeah.
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Track 1: Rise: 8/10
Track 2: Weary: 8/10
Track 3: Interlude: The Glory Is In You: 6/10
Track 4: Cranes In The Sky: 10/10
Track 5: Interlude: Dad Was Mad: 7/10
Track 6: Mad: 9/10
Track 7: Don't You Wait: 9/10
Track 8: Interlude: Tina Taught Me: 8/10
Track 9: Don't Touch My Hair: 9/10
Track 10: Interlude: This Moment: 7/10
Track 11: Where Do We Go: 8/10
Track 12: Interlude: For Us By Us: 6/10
Track 13: F.U.B.U.: 8/10
Track 14: Borderline (An Ode To Self Care): 8/10
Track 15: Interlude: I Got So Much Magic, You Can Have It: 6/10
Track 16: Junie: 8/10
Track 17: Interlude: No Limits: 6/10
Track 18: Don't Wish Me Well: 9/10
Track 19: Interlude: Pedestals: 8/10
Track 20: Scales: 7/10
Track 21: Closing: The Chosen Ones: 7/10
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Conclusion: Okay...I...I just re-read the intro after listening to the album and everything seems relatively...normal. I think my wording is about right and nothing...seems to be changed. Alright. I think we're good for now. I'll...try to keep this review more brief than my previous have been because I just want to get out of here. So um...yeah, here we go with the album. And...well...I won't lie, after listening to it, I really don't feel like I'm the most qualified person to really even be reviewing it. And, of course, I don't mean that in a bad way at all. I'll be honest, I'm a cisgender White male, so there's just...plenty of stuff on this album that won't quite resonate as deeply with me as I imagine it would for someone who is part of the Black community. And that's completely okay. There were still plenty of moments across this album that did have a genuine effect on me either simply because I agreed with the message or I could relate it back to my own life in some way. Basically, point is, there are some aspects of this album that I might just...ignore without meaning to or not understand the true meaning of. But regardless, I'm still going to explain to the best of my ability what this album did well for me without overreaching into topics that I can only pretend as if I understand and never likely truly will. Okay? Got it? Alright. Cool. So...um I'm going to go ahead and delve into simpler topics first like the music and production before I get into the more complex subjects so as to kind of warm myself and my voice up. And, well, first things first, I think I quite literally just the voice of an angel for the past forty minutes. And I'm not even really exaggerating. I normally discuss the music first but I just have to praise Solange's voice before anything else because OH MY GOD. This girl...this girl can FUCKING sing. Okay, seriously though, she is undoubtedly THE best singer we have come across on this site so far and may genuinely be the best singer I have heard of all time period. I mean like, I don't really think I have to say anything more than Cranes In The Sky's outro to prove my point but I guess I will because the review calls for it. So, yeah, on top of Cranes In The Sky having the most angelic vocal performance I can recall hearing in recent memory, Solange is also able to perfectly mix her voice in a similarly transient yet fitting way in pretty much every other song heard on this album. I haven't quite touched on it yet and I will soon, but there's a pretty wide variety of Neo-Soul, Pop, R&B you can find on this album. Some melodies are more intimate and quiet while some try to sound more energetic and pretty. Regardless, Solange is perfectly able to retain her more than angelic tone while flawlessly adapting her voice to fit the changes in music as well. I mean, I can't really describe it all that well here and would more than recommend you just hear for yourself, but she's just able to keep that same beautiful tone and quick pitch shifting across the entire album...a-and...and you have s-such clean delivery as well and- I'm not blushing, what? I'm not. Really....um...so-...okay fine, maybe, just maybe I kinda find good singers to be attractive. I mean, I can say without a doubt that singers like Robert Smith move a whole point up for me simply because of how unbelievably good his voice is. But um...yeah...okay...calm down...yeah, regardless, Solange's voice is just great. I would genuinely recommend you listen to this album just for her voice if for nothing else and would at least suggest you to give Cranes In The Sky a chance at bare minimum. There's just something about her voice that I can't quite describe here that elevates it above all other singers I've heard. So, yeah, that's that. And now the glaze ends and we can finally shift focus to the music before we touch on the general themes of this album. So, is the music anywhere near as perfect as our lady of the day's vocals?.......Well, no. I'll just keep it straight. But I mean the bar was as high as the...the cranes in the sky anyway so like that's not an insult at all. In fact, literally just take a glimpse at my ratings and you can tell that I actually find the music here to be quite appealing. As stated above, there's a fair mix of Pop, R&B, and Soul across the album, and all of it works insanely well. You have laid-back and quiet songs such as Weary or Rise, more energetic melodies such as FUBU, and just a good mix of stuff in between as well. Despite this, every track just has this very distinct intimate feel to its music that works really well in unison with the album's themes...of which we will get to in a bit....It just feels like every track was made with the intention of the listener being able to fully catch every detail of the song without too much effort and I just...I really like it. It gives the already artsy melodies across the album an even more experimental and almost Folk-like feel to it in the way that the lyrics are meant to take the foreground and not the melody....Of course, that's not...the exact case here. I mean, I would say the music and lyrics are about equal in terms of the musical intensity but I digress. And...OH MY GOD. Don't even get me started on the production. Okay. I'm going to have to hold myself back here because I have talked and talked and talked about how much I love the style of production this album uses in the pas-...You know what, screw it. I'm going to label this style of production the "Melody A.M." production seeing as that was my first album with this style. What does the Melody A.M. stamp of approval, you ask? Well, basically, think of a cocoon. You are trapped inside, the space is enclosed, and you can probably die from a solid object the size of a golf ball being thrown at you...okay, that last part may be unneeded but still you get the point. Basically, you have a speaker inside of that cocoon with you and...well...this album's playing. Do you get it?...No...maybe...oh...alright. Layman I get it. Alright, so basically what I'm trying to say is that this album just has a very entangling kind of production to it. A kind of style to its sound that can very easily pull you away from anything you are doing and thoroughly engross you in its sound...which kinda sucks in this case because I usually have the album on as background when I write these but in this case it's literally just too distracting. It almost feels as if the sound of the album is like its own fleshed out world that you kinda just want to...find a portal too and delve into...Okay look, I am actually trying my hardest to explain this style of production here but I literally can't think of the words or metaphors to describe it properly or in a layman way. If you really care that much, just listen to Eple off of Melody A.M. and you should hopefully get what I'm saying. Basically, to truly put it into layman's the point I'm trying to make is that the album sounds great. Very good producing and mixing that I find to be genuinely praiseworthy...Um...okay, so that's music and production checked off, double whammy there...oh...okay...now it's time for me to get serious for a bit as we turn our attention to this album's themes and lyrics. Okay...just...switching hats....alright. I have a tophat on now, my serious hat. Alright, so just as a reminder, there are probably going to be things that I glaze over or don't understand fully here but I do hope to give my best analysis possible. And also, I should have said this earlier, but I am in complete support of pretty much all things Civil Rights and equality. "We should be judged on our character and not our physical appearance" is a statement that I firmly agree with and stand by. So, it should come as no surprise that I can resonate with a lot of stuff on this album even if I am not its target audience. Something that I haven't mentioned yet but are a crucial part of the album as a whole are the interludes. As pretty much all interludes do, they serve as a transition between tracks. Yet here, they serve as Spoken Word segments meant to describe themes of racism and Black empowerment with a bit of backing instrumentation. While these interludes are definitely the weakest part of the album in terms of music, they completely make up for it with their very powerful, moving, and fearless messages. Take Tina Taught Me as an example. It boldly pushes back against the entire claim for a "need" for White History Month in a way that you really couldn't argue with even if you wanted to. And the same thing goes for all of the interludes. They all have these very deep and empowering messages that just work perfectly in unison with the album. And, pretty much every musically-focused track has similar messages albeit with a more poetic tone to their lyrics and music. And like I said, I really don't understand some of these songs or their lyrics fully. Hell, I had to look up Junie simply because I didn't get it at all. Ironically, that specific track is meant to be about people who claim to be in the Black empowerment movement but don't truly understand it...which...who knows...maybe that's me but I digress. But regardless, something that I really like about Solange's lyrics is that, while they are aimed towards Black empowerment, they can have a very personal meaning for pretty much anyone no matter who you are. I can relate songs like Cranes In The Sky or Don't Wish Me Well back to my life and my struggles pretty easily. And that's why I think this album is as effective as it is in a lot of ways. It has a target audience in mind, yet it is able to deeply speak beyond that target audience at the same time with minimal effort. And...well...yeah...the lyrics and especially the themes are just amazing as well. Alright...cool...now let me just walk back over to the coat rack...top hat...comes off...and...maybe I should switch it up with a Fred Durst ballcap for my final few sentences...alright...yeah.........there we go. Okay. Yo! What's up everybody! Are we ready to get this party start-.....Oh....god....I forgot about that...the clanking. I.......okay um...I....seriously need to......okay it's non-stop now......why is this......why is-..............Oh......oh my god...um....h-h-hello oh w-w-w-w-wise one...I-Listen, let thy heart be-ho-Don't be afraid, let th-How?-Cease. Lester, cease the ink of your mind. Let thy heart be still for a moment without shame. Be not ashamed of thy dread, but f-I need to go to the next album. Get rid of this now.
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A Seat At The Table: 8/10
Song Average: 7.7/10

1001 Albums Vol. 0036: The Genius Of Ray Charles
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Introduction: ...Woah...it felt like I kinda wasn't in my own body for a second there. I don't know...it was like I could see through my eyes, hear through my ears, but not talk through my mouth. It was kinda like some...unknown wise being took control of me for a second there when I first saw Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden on that album cover....Yeah, I felt a lot wiser too. Almost as if I had knowledge of the whole universe on the brink of my mind that was just a flick away from truly focusing into my brain....yeah...all of that sounds about right...maybe it's a sign of some kind. It was just so extraterrestrial yet human at the same time a-and...I feel as if I'm getting a message from...the beyond that's telling me that...I was high...Yeah, most likely explanation for that. AND NO, DEA! I already said I don't have any illegal substances and never have. It was probably second-hand from my neighbors since they think that doing it is "the coolest shit in the world man." Yeah, so like I said before DEA, don't even try it!...Yeah...that's probably what happened. No God would want to possess my body...but maybe...no! Alright, enough, focus! Where are we now? Well...holy shit...is Elvis skinny again...and is that woman wearing a pillbox hat? And do I hear the Louvin Brothers infamously annoying voices??? Are we...seriously back here again??? Aren't there only supposed to be like twenty albums from this decade or something??? Why is the generator bringing us back here so often?...Oh well...I mean, I generally expect most of these from the 50s era to be pretty weak anyway so let's just see what we got here this time I guess...hopefully something other than Folk or Country-based Folk...Oh well...this is interesting. Ray Charles huh? Can't say I've heard of him before. Let's just get a few facts about him and his album here.......OH...well this is certainly going to be an interesting one. I'm pretty sure this is the first artist that we have come across on this list that I can confidently say...or at least confidently restate from what I see online...actually invented a whole new genre of music. Not "helped make it mainstream" or "shifted the entire scene of it." No. Like, Ray Charles is the FATHER of an entire genre of music. And it's one of the bigger genres of music too....I'll give your brain like...however long it takes to process these words and dots to guess............................................Or you processed the words and then took like a whole minute to decide because you're a cheater who's no fun. But I mean like...fair though. What the hell am I going to do to stop you through indirect text on a screen that I don't even know anyone is ever going to read? Though oddly enough quite a few people have read my At Fillmore East of all that I've written and 17 different people have decided to give it a like. I mean like...out of all the albums I've written about so far...that's the one that I'm most known for on this site???? Some of my others have gotten like one or two likes but...At Fillmore East, Seriously?...Okay, seriously though, I do genuinely appreciate all the random people who actually read even a little bit of what I write on this site. I do genuinely love the discovery of music and writing these in a way that I am both proud of and a way that I would consider to be...well...myself and my personality through text can get genuinely kinda exhausting at times. Like, seriously, thank you, thank literally anyone who stops by to read just a second of these. It does mean something to me..............Alright. Anyway, now, with that said...Soul music was invented by Ray Charles!!! Yay! Did you get it right??? Well...I'll never know because there's no way for you to tell me! Yay to that too! Alright, but anyway, yeah. Ray Charles invented Soul music, a genre of music that really kinda is one of the bigger and more recognized genres today. I'm not going to get into the specifics of what Soul music is here as I'm sure we all have at least a basic idea of how it sounds. Just know that Ray Charles is the father of Soul, alright? Good. Now, before THIS specific album, The Genius Of Ray Charles, Mr. Charles was...well...a pretty big name...but his name wasn't anywhere near as big as it was after he released this album. Yeah, so basically, Ray Charles pioneered the most basic form of Soul music in the mid-50s and then this album essentially served as the breakthrough of both his name and of Soul music into the mainstream. Why? Well, this was Charles's first album to mix the genre he had already established with many of the huge mainstream genres of the time. Basically, this album is considered important because it is what essentially brought Soul to the mainstream via combining the genre with already mainstream genres. Yeah...so...we're not going to be listening to the first Soul album ever made...but rather the one that brought the genre to mainstream. Which...really is kinda weird because I would consider an album that invented an entirely new genre of music to be more important than one that gave it mainstream attention but...I digress I guess. But...now comes the question. As stated above, Ray Charles made a distinct shift in his sound with this album from the more obscure and "pure" form of Soul into one that intentionally was made to sound much more appealing to a wider audience. Was this change any good? Or is this album going to seem like more of a desperate attempt to introduce a genre of music an artist established to a wider audience? Was this change really deserved at all, or should Ray Charles either have stuck with his original sound or evolved it in a different direction? Well...as I almost always say, let's just go ahead and see.
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Track 1: Let The Good Times Roll: 8/10
Track 2: It Had To Be You: 7/10
Track 3: Alexander's Ragtime Band: 7/10
Track 4: Two Years Of Torture: 6/10
Track 5: When Your Lover Has Gone: 6/10
Track 6: Deed I Do: 7/10
Track 7: Just For A Thrill: 7/10
Track 8: You Won't Let Me Go: 5/10
Track 9: Tell Me You'll Wait For Me: 6/10
Track 10: Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin': 7/10
Track 11: Am I Blue: 7/10
Track 12: Come Rain Or Come Shine: 8/10
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Conclusion: Yes, no, maybe to put it bluntly....What? What am I talking about? Oh. I was answering the three questions I proposed above in a very direct and blunt way. You're welcome. I probably cut down a very long and unnecessary tangent for you to read there by being blunt. I saved you some time and expect you to repay the price by getting this review to the number 1 spot for this particular album! Let's go guys, we got this! All you have to do is smash that like...no, thumbs up button! It helps out a ton and is completely free!...This album wasn't free back when it was released though. (Stupid way to transition, I know. Let me do what I want!) It apparently cost $3.98 for the mono version according to Rather Rare Records. Which...you know...is literally less than the price of some Thank You cards nowadays but....Anyway, yeah, the album. Um, well, I guess I'll go ahead and start with the first side of the album and only the first side for now seeing as the two sides of this album use completely different musical styles. I'll get into Side B later but I thought I might as well describe both sides separately seeing as they're very distinct from one another. Alright, so, Side A of the album. First we'll dive into its music....And...well...Mr. Charles decided to go Big Band here. You know, the kinda music that utilizes a lot of blaring Jazz instruments. The genre that I know more as a distorted mess since I love The Caretaker than what the genre actually is...yeah...that genre. It's a genre that I didn't have nearly any experience with before this album, yet I found it decently pleasant throughout. You have all of what I would imagine to be the essentials in terms of Big Band music here: huge horn crescendos, some sly and jazzy buildup, backdropped percusion that can take the foreground in crescendos, and purely ecstatic energy radiating from the various instrumentation. Yeah, I think that's a pretty accurate description of Big Band for ya. You also And...well...that honestly is kinda all there is to say about the music here. I mean, Ray Charles is playing a piano on some tracks too, but we'll get to that in a minute because I want to pair that with something else I have to say. Anyway, the album, while sounding musically pretty decent throughout, really doesn't do all too much to change up what I just described above across the entirety of the A Side. You can listen to Let The Good Time Roll and you'd have already listened to about what 80% of the other tracks on the A Side have to offer. I mean...uh...there's like...a different percussion instrument used in Alexander's Ragtime Band. It sounds kinda like wood is being hit. And uh...When Your Lover Has Gone sounds kinda soft compared to the other tracks? But yeah, that's about all the variety you're going to get in terms of music. And I know that this was Ray Charles's first time writing Big Ba-...or wait...no....Okay, I did not see this coming in a million years. Quincy Jones, a producer we've seen before on Michael Jackson's Off The Wall, wrote and conducted the Big Band segments across the A Side of this album...? Really? Look, I know the 50s were a completely different time for music and all, but I mean...you would really think that a legend like Quincy Jones of all people would be able to write something better than...this....Like I said, the Big Band is not bad at all across individual songs, but the exact same sound, exact same energetic tempos, and exact same sounding crescendos can pretty tiring pretty quickly. And Quincy Jones of all people? Wow. I would have expected better from him. I may have to move him down from legend to just...medium rare status after hearing his contribution to this album. So, yeah, basically to sum it up, the musical aspects of the A Side of this album are pretty alright across individual songs, but can get somewhat tiring to listen to on an album level. It's a problem that we've seen plenty of times on here before, and one I'm sure we'll see many, many times again. So, with the musical aspect of the A Side mostly established, let's move onto the lyrics pretty quickly....The lyrics are pretty decent at best. They're pretty typical lyrics you would see from the 50's in which you can kinda grasp the entire premise of the song from like the first or second line and then the song just keeps building and expanding around that premise for the rest of its runtime. They're nothing really all that special either in terms of the topics they cover, something that I would probably dislike immensely nowadays but works perfectly fine with the 50s. Let The Good Times Roll is about...well...letting the good times roll, Alexander's Ragtime Band is about coming out to see...well...Alexander's Ragtime Band...same joke but I don't care, and Two Years Of Torture is about not getting over a breakup in two years time. They're simple, extremely dated, yet only get a pass since they were written in the 50s. Now, with that said, despite being written in the 50s, there is something that I still can't really give a pass to here. That being the fact that there are some tracks on the album, especially in the first half, where the lyrics and music actively clash with each other over what they want to accomplish. I've actually already described an instance of this above. Two Years Of Torture tells the tale of someone who has been heartbroken about a breakup for two whole years, yet the Big Band never stops to sympathize with this imaginary person and just keeps on rolling with the crescendos anyway...or more specifically Quincy Jones never stopped to sympathize since he wrote those segments for the album. Alright. Medium rare down to just well-done. You'll only earn your legend badge back after Thriller. Got it Quincy? Good. Now sit, you don't get to stand with the legends like David Byrne or Robert Smith as of right now. Good boy....alright, so Quincy Jones aside, yeah, there are some moments where the lyrics and music are at war with each other. This is more apparent on the first side of the album than on the second, but it is a recurring issue across the record nonetheless. Regardless, the lyrics still remain pretty consistently decent across the entire record. But holy shit, the same thing can absolutely not be said about the production. Quincy!!! Oh wait, nevermind, you didn't produce this album. Alright, side back down, you're not out of the doghouse yet and probably won't be for a very long time. So anyway, yeah, the production on this album is a complete mixed bag. It's pretty well-done and soulful on the B Side but the A Side is a completely different story. You remember all of those crescendos I described earlier? Yeah well, while they are pretty energetic and all, they also sound...well...abysmal at times. And this doesn't necessarily just apply to just the crescendos either, there are plenty of calmer moments too where the Big Band sound just terribly produced. You remember how I mentioned Ray Charles's piano playing earlier? Yeah, that's finally coming back into play here after like 1,000 words later. Well, while he doesn't play piano on every song on the A Side, it's actually kinda hard to tell Ray Charles is even playing piano on a few of the A Side tracks at all because of how loud the Big Band is. Like, it drowns pretty much everything else out at times and sounds very unbalanced compared to just about everything else in the studio. And yes, this was the 50s but like...that's not an excuse either. I know for a fact that Miles Davis was able to perfectly balance the sound of his trumpet with all the rest of his instrumentation in his 50s albums, so why couldn't Ray Charles do the same? Look, this record is going to get a ton of leniency from me just because of the time at which it was released, but this is something that absolutely does not get a pass in any universe. Hell, I'd say even the Louvin Brothers did a better job at producing Tragic Songs Of Life than Ray Charles did here. And that's really saying something because if you didn't know...well...Tragic Songs Of Life is...certainly something. It's just...the production could have been a lot better, okay? Alright, now with all of that out of the way, let's finally move onto the B Side and discuss a few things there. So first things first, music. What did Mr. Charles do differently here from the A Side? Well, this side of the album leans much more into the soulful melodies that Ray Charles was already known for while having a bit of a 50s pop edge to them. You have much more slow and melodic ballads, an entire backing chorus, and a greater focus on Ray Charles's piano which is great cause I know the piano was mad it wasn't getting any attention on the A Side. And honestly, this style works a lot better for the album than the Big Band style of the A Side did. The songs about tragedy and heartbreak continue here, so the more laid back and emotional style of music works really well here in unison with the lyrics. The production is also just way, way better as well. You can clearly tell that whoever produced this album was clearly more experienced with producing relaxed and slow melodies than huge ones. Also, I haven't mentioned it yet, but Ray Charles's style of singing works really well here as well. And I'm talking about on both the A and B Sides. He manages to make his voice have a more energetic and raspy tone to it throughout the A Side to match the tone of the music all while retaining the distinctive soulful style of his voice he was already known for. And, of course, since the B Side is much more soulful, he sounds great on that side too. He tones his voice down a bit to a more relaxed and emotional state which works really well with the material on this side of the album. His voice is honestly one of the only consistently good things across the entire album, which while sounding like an insult, is an actual genuine compliment from me seeing as we've come across some pretty terrible singers on this list before....Microshift...what? Who said that? Ah, it was probably the wind. The wind really has been hating on that album a lot lately. I think it said something about it when I was listening to Bayou County too but I can't quite remember...Eh...it must be in the same boat as everyone else that Microshift really does not deserve to be on this website. Now that I'm thinking about it though, I really do need to go back sometime and edit some of my track ratings for the albums I've already reviewed. Because looking back, Negative Space absolutely does not deserve a 10/10 at all. Like holy shit I seriously do not know what I was thinking then or where I was at mentally to praise that song that much...But uh...where were we? Oh right, Ray Charles is still in the room with us. Uh, he's giving me what kinda looks like an angry glare now....Oh...okay, I'm sorry Mr. Charles. This review is about you and not about an album 50 years in the future...I'm sorry. So um...right, the B Side. Well, the B Side does kinda suffer from the same problem that the A Side does in terms of consistency. You remember what that problem is? I know this has been a pretty long review so you may not. Well, if you don't, the B Side, while featuring enjoyable tracks, suffers from its music feeling a bit TOO consistent across its entire runtime. Like with the A Side, pretty much everything I described above regarding the music is really all that the B Side has to offer. So like with the A Side, I found myself feeling kinda ready for the album to be over when I was getting close to being done with the B Side. Again, no song is really bad here by any means, but it does get to a point where the simplicity of it: lyrics, melodies, predictability, really starts to test your endurance rather than be an enjoyable experience to listen to. Really, one of the best moments in the entire album is when you reach the shift from the Big Band sound to the more soulful sound. I mean, it really shouldn't be, but the shift in style really just feels like a breath of fresh air...though the walls start closing in and the air becomes filled with fumes again by the end of the B Side anyway. Eh, maybe I'm just being a bit too critical here since this album is pushing the 75 year mark...Jesus fucking Christ...but I don't know. I'm not and never have been huge into the 1950s, so I really have no idea how anyone would "properly" rate an album from an age when the album was so much simpler. Are all of my criticisms here actually considered good things by everyone on the face of the Earth? Maybe. I don't know, but I'm probably going to get to know quicker than I want to since the generator seems to love to keep hauling me back to this era. But...um...yeah, that's about all I have to say about this album. It's certainly an album, that's for sure. Oh...Ray Charles is glaring at me from the corner of the room again. Um...well...let me rephrase. It's a "good" album. You did more right than you did wrong on here, Ray Charles. You brought your soulful voice and Soul as a whole to a wider audience as well, so who couldn't love you for that?...Okay...he seems to have calmed down. Well...you're dismissed now, Ray Charles. You have permission to hang out with uh...well...you can hang out with uh...I don't know. You can hang out backstage with Anthony Kiedis or maybe...Jack White if you wanted to. You certainly aren't going in the doghouse like Quincy Jones is, b

1001 Albums Vol. 0035: Oracular Spectacular
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Introduction: One day in 2007, two shirtless White men...even though one of them really doesn't look White...stand on...probably a beach...when in actuality...it is N-New York City...? How? Okay, doesn't matter. They pose for the camera. The moon rises behind them. One of them looks completely dumbfounded and completely stone-face serious. They look off into the distance, staring at what they themselves probably don't even remember considering we're going on 20 years. Then, there, they would take the photo for the cover of the legendary album...Oracular Spectacular. And yeah uh...these men were apparently shirtless and wearing decorated scarfs, and turbans, and other wear for a music video too...and I would try to make a joke here saying something along the lines of the fact that nobody cares about the music video, but as of currently it's sitting at over 100 million views on Youtube, holy shit.....BUT REGARDLESS, we're still here to solely tell the tale of the great Oracular Spectacular and not the various pieces of visual media it would produce with the sole exception of the cover photo we just discussed. The tale begins with a duo by the name of MGMT and them releasing their first full length commercial studio album in the year 2007. The dazzling duo had already released two extended plays, both of which achieved a fair level of success, but they were about to release something that would achieve something beyond their wildest dreams: mainstream success. The dismayed duo didn't even expect it themselves, but as we just stated a bit ago...100 million views...that's a lot whether you want to realize it or not. And this tale doesn't involve your typical mainstream success act of the time such as Emo Rock, Ms. Spears, or all the other huge acts of the time. No, this tale involves an intentionally bold and unintentionally beloved exploration of a fusion between various genres such as Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock, and Synthpop. All of which was apparently mashed together by our diplomatic duo into something more akin to...let's say a Castro-era Cuban cigar than something like...you know what...mashed potatoes....Look, this is my review, just keep scrolling if you don't like my opinions. I mean, the entire point of this site is kinda meant to be opinions anyway, but you do you. Maybe mashed potatoes is your trigger, I don't know. THAT SAID, uhh...oh yeah right...the distinctive duo went mainstream with this new and exciting blend of genres. In fact, this album, while definitely not the first to mix these various genres together, is generally considered to be the VERY first that managed to bring its attention to a wider audience while still managing to apparently be both loved by a critical audience at the same time. Now, toning down the seer persona a bit to a more personable one....I won't lie, whether this is true or not is something that I...unfortunately...cannot attest to at all. This album was just ever so slightly before my time and memory and solidified themselves into existence. So basically what I remember as radio hits from my childhood are definitive, groundbreaking, and absolutely loved by everyone in existence songs like...Hey Soul Sister, California Gurls (which honestly isn't all THAT bad), and Just The Way You Are....which now that I think about it I still listen to radio quite often and haven't actually heard in a very long time...huh. Anyway, yeah, point is, this album is essentially going to serve more like historical exploration for me than rediscovering some lost part of my childhood. This isn't something I'm necessarily proud to admit as sometimes I do genuinely wish I was a bit older than I was because the decades before my time seem like the absolute peak of existence, but I digress. Does the folklore surrounding the magnetohydrodynamic MGMT hold any merit? Or is this album just another product of the time, something that people loved then but doesn't hold a candle to any other beloved album now? As always, let's dive in and see.
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Track 1: Time To Pretend: 11/10
Track 2: Weekend Wars: 8/10
Track 3: The Youth: 7/10
Track 4: Electric Feel: 10/10
Track 5: Kids: 11/10
Track 6: 4th Dimensional Transition: 7/10
Track 7: Pieces Of What: 6/10
Track 8: Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters: 8/10
Track 9: The Handshake: 7/10
Track 10: Future Reflections: 6/10
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Conclusion: Well, after actually experiencing the great Oracular Spectacular for myself, I can say without a doubt that it is one of...well...it's one of the most mixed-bag albums I've ever listened to in my entire life. You know, there was one part of the tale of the great Oracular that I intentionally left out in the beginning because of the fact that I wanted the album to sound more like an untouchable God, but I'll go ahead and tell that part here....um...so yeah if you couldn't tell....the three big singles were generally seen as the only TRULY noteworthy things this album had to present while the rest of the material was just seen as pretty good but much more flawed in comparison. And yeah, if you couldn't already tell by my rankings, I couldn't agree more. So does this mean that the tale of the great Oracular doesn't have any true place in history? No, not by any means, but I'd maybe drop the title from Great to Good. Oracular the Good. That really does kinda remind of the whole James and James The Lesser thing in biblical lore which still makes me smirk and laugh to this day. You really can't help but feel bad for James The Lesser to a degree because...I mean...what the actual hell?...But anyway, James is lore from like 2000 years or something before this album and is for a completely other discussion. Anyway, yeah, like I said, there is some absolute gold and diamonds on this album. And...well...like any other diamond rank song, these three specific tracks do literally everything right in the given genre they were made for and push beyond that perfection as well. I mean like, the three greats here are just absolute late 2000s and early 2010s pop perfection. They're catchy of course, actually meaningful and invoke a genuine emotional reaction out of me at times, and just connect with me in a way that so many other huge songs of the era simply did not. Musically, the three huge hits, and the album as a whole really but we'll get to the other songs in a bit, have this very distinctive experimental and magical feel to them very akin to the general vibe that Funeral by Arcade Fire gives off. I mean, really the best way that I can describe these three songs in terms of their music is if Arcade Fire was still...you know...actually good at all when they made Everything Now. I mean, you basically have all of the same aspects in both: synths...of which Oracular is superior in terms of their use and performance, umm...they both have singers....but only Andrew on Oracular was actually great...and well...they both have lyrics too...but only Oracular was actually good. Yeah...basically Oracular is like 10x better than Everything Now. I don't think anyone will disagree with me on that one. There are some important distinctions from the two, however. Where Everything Now's instrumentation sounds WAY too clean and an overproduced mess, this album sounds...again with the three singles at least...we're still mostly talking about those for now...more raw and aggressive, PROgressive, Psychedelic and funky in certain parts, and have an actual general sense of direction that feels unpredictable yet sounds great and very memorable once you hear and understand it at the same time. And, very importantly as well, these three tracks, despite ending up as huge hits, all feel very bold and experimental at the same time. It's almost as if they were written without the intention of them being huge hits...which they weren't....The band literally still considered themselves more as a joke than anything serious at the time but that would make the tale of Oracular the Good seem less mystical so forget I said that....Anyway, It doesn't feel as if these songs were made for the charts or to sell and were made just for the hell of it. And while that might not be important to many listeners, it is important to take into context here because it makes the music itself feel much more genuine. It gives the music and lyrics presented here feel as if they were a genuine look into the artist's minds instead of some piece of slop made to be a huge radio hit or sell well. This single fact just creates a certain depth to the music that all good music should have. So, yes...while many consider the three singles from this album to be overplayed radio hits, the context surrounding said radio hits is very important to take into account when looking at an album critically....And yes...there are a good few people who consider the three huge songs on here to be bad and overplayed...but to be honest I think literally anyone in the world would take this over some of the slop we hear nowadays. I mean, there REALLY isn't anything all that good playing on radio stations that play popular music nowadays. The specific station in my area that does play currently popular music does this throwback thing on Halloween where they play older spooky songs like Thriller and stuff and that's really the only day worth tuning in....But with that said, yeah...let's just get into these three song's lyrics now....They're, to nobody's surprise, really good. These three specific songs all have these very nostalgic, depressing, and carefree lyrics that tie both deeply into your youth and into natural human nature that you really can't help but just...feel them. Electric Feel does this to a lesser extent than the other two but you get the point. They invoke that same sense of magic and carefreeness that the melodies present in these songs create and sound very similar to something that...you guessed it...Arcade Fire would have made back in their heyday. Now, these lyrics aren't any Neighborhood #1 by Arcade Fire, but they're still incredibly strong while invoking a stronger sense of nostalgia and emotional vulnerability than some of the weaker songs on Funeral regardless. They're just....really good...and really relatable whether you want to admit it or not....AND NOW...with all that said...um...this is quickly becoming my longest review yet post dropping track-by-track. Seriously, I already have a whole wall of text on my screen and I actually have a lot more to say. Okay, ANYWAY, with ALL of that said about the three singles, let's actually talk about the rest of the album now, shall we? Well...you can basically take everything I had to say about the singles and just downgrade it to get the rest of the album....Again, the rest is not bad at all by any means, but it is noticeably weaker. The three big singles on here all have a very noticeable and good sense of progression throughout, yet most of the non-single tracks in comparison feature a little bit TOO MUCH progression to the point where the songs can feel a bit directionless at times. The Youth is the only lower rated track that manages to feel pretty consistent in terms of progression throughout and that track scored lower simply because it doesn't really carry the same energy or weight as the three big tracks did. The rest of the album definitely has a problem with progression though. And there really isn't anything wrong with progression in music either. I mean, I loved Happiness Is A Warm Gun by the Beatles when I listened to The White Album, so what's wrong here? Well...I guess the musical direction really just doesn't feel as intentionally jarring as it did in that specific song....And these tracks don't carry the influence that track had as well so there's that too. I guess it simply feels as if the lack of direction wasn't an intentional artistic choice and rather something that came as a result of lazy songwriting and editing. This does kinda make the tracks themselves not super memorable either after an initial listen...and yes, I know tracks should have a lot of depth to them and all so that you can listen more than once, but you as a listener really shouldn't be at a point where you struggle to recall a single notable or any moment at all from a track some time after listening to it. That's kinda the feel that most of the non-big tracks have. Of Moons and Weekend Wars had some pretty great moments and Weekend Wars as a whole is really the only song where the sense of progression feels great throughout, but that's about it. The best example I can give is saying that the weaker tracks have more of an Emerson, Lake, And Palmer type of progression than a King Crimson type.....And we've officially hit the point where text covers my entire screen. Like seriously, top to bottom text now. Yeah. This is the longest conclusion I have written by quite a bit and...well...I still have another kinda important and lengthy thing I want to say before I try to close it off quickly. Okay, I have to talk about production real quick. I'm going to try to limit this more since I'm kinda running out of writing steam here but I still want to talk about it regardless....and well...it's quite odd how despite being very early on in the project as a whole, I can still make many references to past albums and songs I've heard, but here I go again....This album reminds me of Melody A.M. in terms of...well a lot of things, but most similarly are the two album's production. Both have this very apparent encapsulating and engrossing feel to them that really...in an odd way...kinda makes me feel very close to the music itself. Kinda like it's pulling me into the world of the music kinda situation. It's really, really good and is one of the aspects of this album that kept me thoroughly engrossed all the way through. And...in a way...I kinda like to think that this is what Melody A.M. could have been with just a bit better songwriting and better lyrics...I mean, they sound similar in so many ways besides just production that the album generator could have convinced me the two albums were made by the same artist had they just swapped MGMT for Röyksopp just for shitties and gigglies...And to me, this album did make me feel in a way from just the production alone because of how much I loved the sound of Melody A.M. It's just...great...you can't change my mind about it...And yes I know I gave Melody A.M. a 7/10 and now here I am getting all boo-hooey and nostalgic about it but I don't give a damn! You know, I don't think I've said this anywhere before, but I was REALLY conflicted on giving that album an 8/10 and a 4/5 when I rated it almost a whole y-year ago at this point...jesus christ. I may very well go back and up the score someday, I don't know...but anyway. OKAY, FOR REAL THIS TIME, one last thing I have to mention before we're done. Let's briefly discuss the lyrics of the non-single songs. Well...they don't carry the same emotional weight or connection as the big songs do, but they still work well with the album as a whole. They're much more vaguely written and interpretable in a way that kinda fits with the Psychedelic melodies that the tracks have to provide. I mean, they're not like amazing or anything and won't make you think or feel too deeply, but they're still pretty solid regardless....OKAY, we're finally done. The screen of text has been scrolling up for a bit now and I'm scared to scroll up because I don't want to see the monstrosity of a review I've created. You know, when this website was made, I really don't think its creator had well...THIS in mind. Yeah, a notes section was provided for a reason, but it's also called a "notes" section for a reason as well....ahem...BUT REGARDLESS...the tale of Oracular the Good still remains an extremely strong tale engraved in late 2000s folklore regardless. The tale really only mentions the highs for a reason and leaves out the lows for the same reason, but a tale is best told whole regardless. Oracular the Good has cemented its place in my mind as a very important part of musical folklore history while seeming genuinely intriguing at the same time. And so...Finally...the seer brings his own wise tale to a close and provides his rating of the album below....But at the same time...the seer is kinda fucked...as I'm dropping this wise storytelling persona forever and leaving it here on the same beach, which I realized while writing this is most likely Coney Island, with a shirtless Andrew VanWyngarden and a similarly naked Ben Goldwasser. Goodbye oh wise one as we leave you in limbo in Oracular forever. Never to be seen again...(Except they were seen again here to lower the score of this album from an 8/10 to 7/10 and 4/5 to 3/5. Okay...they're gone for real this time...)
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Oracular Spectacular: 7/10
Song Average: 8.1/10

1001 Albums Vol. 0034: Bayou County
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Introduction: Well now...it's been quite a while yet again...and yet here we are again, back at the grind of the 1001 Albums Project. There's just a certain aspect to this project and the idea behind it that you really just can't get away from, you know? You're being put through your own personal tour of all of the most...debately influential and...debatably good parts of musical history. You know, it's been months since I've listened to Microshift and still wonder...why the actual hell is this on here? I mean it's so...so...actually nevermind. This is supposed to be about Bayou County...not Microshift. Just stay focused on...Um...oh yeah, I promised to include in how many reviews of mine mention Bob Dylan in my previous review of Tim Buckley's album...and it's ten...one of those was Blonde on Blonde by Dylan himself, but still. He might as well be the main character at this point. Like seriously, I thought it was bad, but I didn't know it was THAT bad...I'll...try to stop mentioning him or mention him a lot less from this point on, alright? Anyway, with all that unnecessary slop aside, the album that has been selected out to give me a warm welcome back to this site is none other than Bayou County by Creedence Clearwater Revival. An entry that I am already hopeful to be pretty solid seeing as I've thoroughly enjoyed the few CCR songs I've heard in the past. Now, with that said, this particular album, and just CCR as a whole, probably have one of the most peculiar and interesting backgrounds of any band on this entire site. A listener could very well call this album a John Fogerty (The band's songwriter and singer) solo album because...well...it pretty much was...in collaboration with the rest of the band's members of course. I don't mean this literally by the way. We love you Tom, Stu, and Doug. Never stop being you!...Anyway, like with most of the rest of CCR's discography, Bayou County was essentially solely written by John Fogerty. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for most groups. I mean, plenty of bands throughout history have worked like this to an exact or similar degree. Yet the main problem here was the fact that the rest of the band DID actively want to participate in the creation process but simply weren't allowed to by John. HE did virtually everything the way that HE wanted to. No arguments, no ifs, buts, or ors, nothing. Basically North Korea the band...Alright, that might be a bit extreme but I imagine you get the point. Basically, John maintained complete control over the band while his bandmates didn't want him to. This would eventually lead to the band's early splitting in the 70's, would lead to various legal disputes over the years, and even today the surviving members still aren't all that fond of each other. Now, with all of that said...while I do completely understand where the bandmates of John were coming from...there comes a point where you have to admit that John...well...John was pretty damn good. Like I said, I haven't even heard all that much of CCR, but everything I have heard and everything I have heard ABOUT them is almost nothing but positive. Bayou County in particular is apparently supposed to be a pretty "middle-of-the-road" album in terms of quality for CCR, but that probably means somewhere between a 7-8/10 judging from everything I've heard about them. But, as always, the only way to truly figure out for ourselves is to just dive into it. Let's see if John's complete control is really as good as people make it out to be.
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Track 1: Born On The Bayou: 9/10
Track 2: Bootleg: 8/10
Track 3: Graveyard Train: 7/10
Track 4: Good Golly Miss Molly: 7/10
Track 5: Penthouse Pauper: 7/10
Track 6: Proud Mary: 10/10
Track 7: Keep On Chooglin': 8/10
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Conclusion: Look, John, you made some really great stuff in your time with CCR, and even managed to make some really great stuff on this specific record, but consistency clearly wasn't your A game, at least on Bayou County it wasn't. I know this was only your second record and from everything I've heard you would get even better later on, but there really was no need for you to take on an authoritarian role quite yet in the band. I mean, seriously, I know Mardi Gras, the only album CCR made where John let his bandmates help write, is considered to be terrible and all, but you still have to consider the fact that John's bandmates had not written a single song in CCR's distinctive style their entire time with the band. Had John let his bandmates take the pen much earlier on in their career...maybe they could have been even better and...well...yeah...this hypothetical clearly didn't happen. It maybe did in some billion alternative universes where John is a Mr. Rogers but I digress. Anyway, while that was a bit...extreme...there is some genuine truth behind what I had to say right there. John really didn't have TOO much of a reason to maintain the level of control he did during this phase of the band. While there are two very great songs on here, those being the classic Proud Mary and the still great but lesser known opener track, the rest isn't really anything I would consider to be...too special. Keep On Chooglin' has some great guitar and harmonica solos and Bootleg is pretty catchy as well, but they're not like...amazingly great or anything. And the three middle tracks are just pretty good too, nothing much else to say about them...Little Richard's version of Miss Molly is still and always will be superior though...there's that much to say. I mean like, none of it is bad at all by any means...but it's not worth turning your band into a dictatorship either. That said, there is undoubtedly some genius here. Musically, it would essentially popularize a genre that...I'm not actually all that sure of how to even classify by the name of Swamp Rock. Honestly, the album just kinda sounded like a combination of Hard Rock, Southern Rock, and Blues Rock throughout to me, but what the hell do I know. I'm not an expert and I probably never will claim to be. Swamp Rock is supposed to sound very similar to the genres I just mentioned above, however, which checks out entirely. Apparently there is meant to be a greater focus on reverb...which the harmonica and guitar solos had plenty of...so check...lyrics about bayous...yeah...check...yeah...it all kinda checks out. Swamp Rock. Definitely Swamp Rock. And the album that served as the foundational mainstream blueprint for the genre as well. You'll always get bonus points from both me and a lot of critics if you do that something like that!...Anyway, yeah, like I said, there's a good combination of various genres mixed across this album to form a single and cohesive, contained, yet varied experience at the same time. You have songs that lean more toward Hard Rock such as the opener and closer track, both containing amazingly rough yet technically precise vocals and solos, more intimate and vulnerable tracks such as Graveyard Train and Proud Mary, and a few tracks that are in between the two. That said, no matter the type of track, all feature very technical and precise instrumentation that just sounds really good across the entire runtime. I mean, the best way I can really describe the sound of this album is that it has that distinctive CCR sound that a lot of people know, but The Almond Brothers Band stepped in studio for like five to ten minutes while nobody was looking, changed a few notes on every song, and then stepped back out without anyone noticing....Um...yeah, so I just realized that it's ALLMAN Brothers Band and not ALMOND...but screw it I'm keeping it like that anyway....Anyway...two of the same words back-to-back, that's interesting...the album is definitely distinctive from the Allman Brothers via its various reverbs, um...kinda better singer, and the more Pop-like song structure, yet a lot of parallels can be drawn between the two bands regardless. On top of being musically excellent, the album also contains some pretty influential and sometimes deeply emotional lyrics as well. I mean, literally a defining feature of Swamp Rock is well...talking about bayous...the first song does exactly that by blending a blues-like and nostalgic song about youth with said youth being spent in a bayou. And the album has bayou in its name too and just...you can't really get any more influential than that. With that said, it is quite clear that the genre's lyrical nature was in infancy, however. You have many songs here that either borrow to some degree or directly use the lyrical nature distinctive to Blues songs. This isn't a bad thing at all though. While it would have been cool and all for CCR to drop THE definitive Swamp Rock album as the first Swamp Rock release, expecting something like this is kinda unrealistic and is something that I really can't think of ever happening off the top of my head. Maybe Dark Side Of The Moon would count in terms of Pink Floyd mastering their "Floydian sound" but at the same time they kinda improved on that sound on Wish You Were Here so I'm not entirely sure that really counts or not but....Anyway, yeah, it's still impressive what this album did regardless and exploring new musical territory will almost always be something that is admirable and impressive. Now, with all of that said, this album can still be pretty rough around the edges at times. Graveyard Trains feels as if it drags on for a bit too long and is a bit too repetitive, Keep On Chooglin' kinda suffers from the same problem but to a lesser extent, Good Golly Miss Molly isn't the definitive version of the song and feels ever so slightly lazy, and just so many other small problems with some songs that just add up over the course of the album. That said, these problems summarized actually just point to the songwriting itself. As stated before, the execution is great, but the songwriting can feel a bit bland and drags a bit at times. I won't lie, the songwriting being the main problem here is actually quite ironic given the context of this album's creation but I digress. There are quite a few moments on this album where it felt as if everything interesting and necessary was already said through both a song's lyrics and music yet the track kept on rolling anyway. It's not an egregious or even a bad issue by any means, yet it's one that can make some songs feel ever so slightly slower to get through than they should. That being said, this album is still an overall incredibly enjoyable and solid listening experience all the way through. And again, we have to keep in mind that this is still mean to be a middle-of-the-road album in terms of CCR's discography....Yeah...even though their later albums will probably come A LOT later down the line, they're still just another aspect of this challenge worth looking forward to later down the road. Maybe John will actually prove himself worthy of being a dictator those times around.
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Bayou County: 8/10
Song Average: 8/10

1001 Albums Vol. 0033: Greetings From L.A.
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Introduction: Whoa, whoa, you're telling me that Tim Buckley, the author of the famous comic series Control Alt Delete, made music back in the 60's and 70's? Yeah...I know it's not the same person, that'd be...really weird actually now that I stop to think about it. Buckley would be an older man writing a comic series that focuses on gaming culture and making jokes about gaming in said comic series...that would be a weird alternate reality....Anyway, Tim Buckley the music artist is a completely different person, and someone I can't recall ever hearing up until this point either. That being said, it seems as if he made a string of very influential and important albums in the late 60's and into 1970; however, that being said as well, that string of albums apparently came to a halt with this release. Greetings From L.A., released by Tim Buckley in 1972, is widely regarded by many to be a...pretty bad shift in Buckley's career. This album was apparently a complete shift from his earlier, "less accessible" work that didn't resonate with people as well as said earlier works did....That's not a problem with me though seeing as I've literally never heard of this man's name outside of a comic series...but that is definitely something to take into consideration regardless. Commercial sellout or a shift towards commercial appeal is almost never a "good" thing when it comes to music. There are a few exceptions, yet said exceptions are far and few. When regarding this specific album though, that is not the case. With all that said, I have actually heard quite a few good things about this album as well. The production is apparently very on point with what Tim Buckley wanted to go for, and he was apparently very passionate about the album too. Passion, of course, no matter how bad an album may be, is always a good thing when it comes to music. It adds an extra layer of depth and genuinity that helps make the music feel more personal and more genuine to both the listener and the artist. So, you know, the album has that going for it too. Oh yeah, I've also heard this album compared to something that Jerry Lee Lewis would make as well. Now, I think I generated that guy's live album like two or three days ago or something like that, and that album was an absolute masterpiece. Masterclass playing, raw and unmatched energy, and was just a great experience to listen to. Anything that is like that I will likely enjoy. Anyway, overall, I've just seen a pretty decent mix of both good and bad things when regarding this album. Some love it, some hate it, and a lot just think it's alright. As for where I lie? Well, let's just see.
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Track 1: Move With Me: 6/10
Track 2: Get On Top: 7/10
Track 3: Sweet Surrender: 8/10
Track 4: Nighthawkin': 6/10
Track 5: Devil Eyes: 7/10
Track 6: Hong Kong Bar: 6/10
Track 7: Make It Right: 7/10
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Conclusion: Well now...Tim Buckley certainly is a pretty peculiar fellow. I mean, sex is something that most humans on this Earth are drawn to, but Mr. Buckley here seems to be especially drawn to it. I mean, there is seriously some drowning in hormones teenager type stuff on this album. It's like that period of one's life where the idea of sex was the new and most interesting thing to them. Greetings From L.A. is all of that in the form of a Funk album. And...one that's actually not all that bad at that. I mean, this album is, of course, very far from being a perfect or even a masterpiece, but there is more that DOES work in this album's favor than DOESN'T work. Firstly, the musical arrangements on this album are actually quite good and catchy at times. It's nowhere near Talking Heads level of mastery, but it is nowhere near bad either. There are some pretty typical Funk-based rhythms and instrumentation on here at times, but said rhythms still manage to sound pretty good and catchy to the ears regardless. The actual performance sounds incredibly slick and solid as well. I mean, there's really not too much to complain about from a musical standpoint when it comes to this album. The worst thing I can really say about its music is that fact that it really isn't all that experimental or groundbreaking. It's just pretty solid albeit normal early 70's Funk that manages to sound pretty good to the ears. There are some interesting points in the music, such as the beginning of Sweet Surrender...and really just the entirety of that song, that do sound somewhat distinct and separate from the general Funk movement of the time, yet those points are definitely far and in between. Now, with all that said...we do still have to address the elephant in the room when it comes to this album's music...despite being actually pretty solid...it's actually pretty hated as well. As stated before, this album marked a very drastic shift in Buckley's career from a simple and poetic Folk artist to a sexually driven and wild Funk artist. This was his Bob Dylan moment if y-you....will....Yeah...I've used that reference to refer to other artists way too much. I'm going to Control F and see just how many of my reviews mention someone's "Bob Dylan moment" after I'm done writing this review. I'll maybe mention it in my next album's review. ;) (Boring and dumb ass way to keep the one or two people reading this hooked, I know.) Anyway, very off topic there, this album marked a distinctive shift in Buckley's career. One that many fans didn't like both musically and lyrically. Now, I've stated some of my preferences on this shift already in the intro, but I do have a few more things to say after actually listening to the album. Firstly, as I literally just stated, the music is still pretty solid and catchy. It's much less artistic, poetic, and probably much worse than his earlier work, I'm sure, but there's still some genuine value in what was written here. Secondly, while this album was definitely made with the intention for some form of mainstream appeal, it kinda failed miserably due to a choice on Buckley's end: the lyrics. The hypersexual, lustrous, kinky lyrics held this album back from being the mainstream hit that Buckley and his record label thought it would be. Yeah...kinky as well. It really is just Make It Right that dives into kinks while the rest simply cover general sex, but the fact still remains. Also, I just have to say that it was kind of weird listening to Make It Right's chorus. The violins coinciding with Buckley's lyrics about loving being whipped just felt off to me in kind of a goofy way that I'm not 100% sure on how to feel about yet. Anyway, as stated above, this album essentially serves as what some call a "Pornographic Funk" album...That's kinda stupid who am I to say. Anyway, yeah, sex. There's a lot of it here. And not really in a way that provides much substance either. I mean, yeah, most of us like sex and are drawn to it...but that really is kinda the album's whole personality at most points. The Funk-based rhythms work well with this concept, Buckley's wild and sometimes improvised vocals work well with this concept, and just about everything here all works together to form this album's entire personality around sex and almost nothing else. There are some emotional points here and there such as Hong Kong Bar and Sweet Surrender, yet even those songs still use sex as a core idea. I've expressed my dissatisfaction with sex being portrayed through music before through albums such as Blood Sugar Sex Magik and uh...well I can't really think of any others off the top of my head, but this album really takes it to the extreme by forming most of its identity around the idea. But...with that said...it is...actually somewhat admirable in an odd way. I mean, Buckley was already an extremely unknown and underrated artist. He had more of a cult following than a large one, and then he decided to make this...something that would have almost 0% of any significant radioplay or a huge amount of promotion....Yes, the album was made with the intention in mind for it to be a huge commercial release, so the fact that Buckley made this with that intention in mind was really more out of stupidity than intentional artistic choice, yet the fact remains regardless. This album was bold in its own and unintentional way. You create this with the chance of alienating an already established fanbase and practically 0% chance of radioplay. I mean, yes, it was unintentional...the radioplay part at lease...but the boldness is undoubtedly admirable nonetheless. It takes a certain amount of confidence to do this that most artists don't have. So while I'm not necessarily a fan of hypersexualization radiating from this album, I can actually appreciate it in its own way. There actually is some stuff from the hypersexualization of this album to love though such as Buckley's wild and energetic vocals but I digress. Now, the fact that I can and do appreciate an album still doesn't save it from being something that I would consider as "middle-of-the-road." The hypersexualization isn't something I'm a huge fan of, there were some points of this album that made me somewhat uncomfortable, some lyrics are just...stupid, and you have to keep in mind that this album was made with commercial success in mind. As stated before, that is almost never a good thing when it comes to critical listeners. But, overall, I would still consider this album to be pretty decent. It's not something extremely noteworthy for being either bad or good. It' just...good...even though it shouldn't be...and that's all there really is to say about it. I guess getting introduced to this album before Buckley's earlier work on this list is...kind of a good setup to listen to his earlier work down the road, but I'll probably have completely forgotten about this album by the time we've gotten to it...eh...we'll see in time I guess.
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Greetings From L.A.: 6/10
Song Average: 6.7/10