Reviews by littlestlassloves

It was an unfortunate way to discover my earphones were on basically full volume given the first track starts with a massive scream... However I really liked a lot of this album.

It's completely all-over the place, but when it hits for me, I really love it (Wail, 2 Kindsa Love, Chicken Dog, Rocketship, Can't Stop). Unfortunately there are also parts that are actively unpleasant to listen to (Sticky being the best example). Oh, and Fuck Shit Up sounds like a much swearier Beck.

I can entirely understand why most people would hate this... but for the most part, I didn't. It makes it hard to mark because 3 seems too low for me, but a 4 quite a lot. On balance:

3/5

Of all the artists I thought I'd probably like before listening to a full album, and it turning out I actually think they're disappointingly boring, The Cure are pretty high up the list.

Disappointingly boring. But not totally shit.

2/5

There's some absolute classics on this record and I love ska, so you'd expect this to be a guaranteed 5⭐ from me... But I enjoyed this less than I expected. Its all relative obviously - I liked it far better than 90% of what I've been subjected to by this generator.

I couldn't tell you why either. Maybe I need another listen, when I'm in a better mood.

But for the moment, its a 3.5 rounded down:

3/5

It's another album to add to the list of records where the most famous track is up first. It always seems like a brave strategy: would it pay off this time?

Take On Me is great, and inextricably liked to the Reel Big Fish ska cover version in my head, which takes a cheesy song and makes it cheesier in ways which I enjoy. The original is just a perfect 80s pop song, though I do have a sneaking suspicion that it's music video really cemented its fame.

Train of Thought was instantly a downgrade because it added the 80's synth pan pipes which, even for this cheese lover, is TOO MUCH. The bones of the song were ok but Morten Harket sounded like Morrissey at points (so I didn't like it).

Hunting High and Low I quite liked. The Blue Sky was a bit Depeche Mode in backing music if not vocal. Living a Boy's Tale was back to sounding a bit Morrissey if he were synth-pop. The Sun Always Shines on TV I recognised and can see why in got to number 1 in the UK in the mid-80s. Its very much the type of thing that was popular. Take On Me is still superior though.

And You Tell Me was dull. Love Is Reason was very Stock, Aitken and Waterman due to the synths and being extremely repetitive despite being so short. I Dream Myself Alive: ditto. I had sort of run out of enthusiasm by the time Here I Stand And Face The Rain came around, but I do like how the backing vocals swell towards the end.

Yep, it was all downhill after Take On Me. It's going to scrape a 2 from me, because I think there's the bones of a much better album hidden under the production and 80s synths.

2/5

P.S. There's a super deluxe version of this album that's 3 hours 54 minutes long and its existence is baffling to me.

My biggest issue with the Sex Pistols has always been Johnny Rotten's voice, and my only PiL knowledge is based on the single Rise (which I like.... but which isn't on this album), so this was a record I approached with caution.

There seemed to be an awfully large amount of him repeating the same words again and again and again in most songs. He did put a twist on the theme during Fodderstompf, by repeating "We only wanted to be loved" again and again and again, but this time in a silly voice that recalled the Monty Python pepperpot characters of middle aged ladies with screechy voices.

This was not enjoyable for me.

1/5

Why the fuck is it so long?!

As I have very little to say about this disaster, I'm going to recommend the Todd In The Shadows Trainwreckords video about "Results May Vary", Limp Bizkit's next album. It's a genuinely enjoyable look at a band in it's death throws (at least in terms of commercial success). Todd's genuine appreciation of Wes Borland's guitar playing combined with his enjoyment at exactly how much Wes Borland hated his own band, makes it a good watch. Well that, and all the footage of a 2 hour MTV documentary on the making of the album where none of them look like they want to be there and Fred Durst is trying to learn how to play guitar. Excellent stuff.

Back to the album, the lyrics are dreadful and Fred Durst can't sing. And it's far far far too long.

1/5

I have previously enjoyed 15 seasons of the TV Show Supernatural, so I can't hear things like this and not picture a Winchester driving an Impala down a random US highway. This despite Bad Company being British.

This mostly passed me by, with very little that made it stand out to me in any way. The only real thought I had while listening was that I don't think I previously realised how few lyrics the song Can Get Enough has.

It's just not very interesting to me. It should get a 1.5, but as I don't find it terrible, just boring, it's getting a:

2/5

As someone who entirely knew Cee-Lo through two massive singles (Crazy and Fuck/Forget You), I have to say I wasn't entirely looking forward to this.

While I do enjoy his flow, I am not a massive fan of the timbre of his voice. In reading stuff about this album, I found a Guardian article that described it as "a shrill, slightly nasal voice that recalls the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb". Yes... very much that.

But I think was ok with basically everything else. Especially the brass and occasional gospel tinged parts. Even the skits were mercifully brief, and for the first one at least, very cute.

However this is also far longer than I tend to have patience for. Were it 45 minutes long it might be getting a higher score but it was a long time to be subjected to that voice.

This is probably a 4 for the music and a 1 for Cee Lo's screeching. After much consideration, and with a lack of half marks:

2

Two consecutive Bowie albums in a row that I actually like! After handing out so many 1s and 2s like candy, I was starting to think that the one 4 I'd given was a fluke. But no, this album was great.

I like the hard rock, the honky-tonk piano, the glam backing vocals, and all the 1950s influence peaking through in places. Parts of this is like listening to the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack (complimentary).

I think some of the issues I've had with Bowie albums in the past (things being more experimental than fun to listen to) have hints on this album (the jazzy sax/piano on Aladdin Sane) but overall the fun levels stay pretty high. It also doesn't outstay it's welcome at all, in individual songs or at a whole, with a 41 minute runtime.

I enjoyed this a lot, and it's well worth a:

4/5

Fresh: brilliantly funky bass, some brass stabs and the word "fresh" said about 80 times.

It's Nasty (Genius of Love): so quickly into a sample that makes me want to sing a completely different thing (Mariah Carey). Kazoos!!

Scorpio: the robots are taking over. I thought this track was essentially pointless.

It's A Shame: more sampling problems for my brain where I don't think of the original, or Grandmaster Flash (this time it's Monie Love). I liked the lyrical content and whoever was doing the response part of the singing. There was too much scratching for my tastes.

Dreamin': weird. Feels like it should be on a completely different album. Enough that it made me do a double take.

You Are: boring.

The Message: clearly the standout, great fun and, once again a great bass line.

Don't. Push. Me. Cos. I'm. Close. To. The. Edddddge!

3/5

I enjoy Blur a lot and I *really* like a lot of the tracks on this album. While I really do get why they are divisive (mostly why people might hate Damon Albarn's singing), as far as I'm concerned they make catchy songs that make me want to bounce up and down. They so often have interesting backing vocals and great little guitar twiddly bits.

I love For Tomorrow - its a great single and remains one of my favourite Blur songs. I love Sunday Sunday - yay, brass section! I (mostly) love Chemical World (there's no need for the full length of random intermission at the end, and that's coming from someone who actually likes the tune).

This is an almost entirety enjoyable album for me, but it can't get 5 stars, because it's too long. That's something that's easily fixed by removing Blue Jeans, chopping down the intermission and a couple of other tracks (Miss America could do well to lose about a minute of meandering).

I feel like I'm sounding too negative, but I do absolutely like this album... I just don't quite love it.

4/5

I gave the last Cure album 3/5 and that one had bonafide hits on it. This one, unsurprisingly, was not as good, particularly the last song which was shit.

I like Robert Smith's voice quite a lot, but I'm just not a fan of the actual music most of the time. Post punk/new wave really hasn't been my thing so far during this 1001 album project... and this hasn't changed that. It's really a 1.5 but it's getting a:

1/5

Firstly, I could have definitely done without the school shooting audio. I was listening on headphones while walking home and had slightly zoned out, so was initially very confused when that snapped me back to attention.

Otherwise, this album was... fine. Nothing too bad, not much too exciting to my ears. I liked Black Cat which was all cheesy rock song, but great fun. I liked Love Will Never Do (Without You). I liked Rhythm Nation although it ran out of ideas way before the song stopped. Which brings me to...

It's too long. An issue easily fixed by cutting out some of the interludes and losing about 90 seconds of Someday Is Tonight where Janet is just making moaning noises faintly in the background of a sax solo. It has surprised me quite how many 'songs where the artist is faking having a shag' feature on the 1001 list, but they have all been pretty shit.

A very middle of the road:

3/5

I hated how track one, Most Anything You Want is mixed. Listening with earphones on means all of the bassy low notes are in your right ear and all the high notes and backing vocals are in the left. It made it feel like my right ear was on the verge of popping throughout the full length of the song.

Then track two started and I realised we were going to have every song with some instruments tracked very far to the right and others very far to the left; at least that one wasn't uncomfortable.

I don't think I'll ever understand the thought process that leads to an a-side made up of mostly 3 minute ditties and a b-side that consists of a 17 minute single song. Although given my previous complaints about things feeling unbalanced, it seems weirdly consistent in its inconsistency.

I quite like the lead vocals, but actually really like the backing vocals in comparison. There's a lot of needless noodling in guitar, organ and bass form, throughout though, which I complain about all the time. You can't deny the riff in the title track though - that's a great hook. Not good enough for a 17 minute track obviously, but a great hook. Not really sure why that song briefly ended up turning into "God rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" in the last third either.

Another album I can't say I particularly enjoyed:

1/5

This sounds so, so, so "of it's time". It almost feels offensive not to be wearing a flower crown and fringed waistcoat while listening to it.

When he attempted to hit the high notes in Carnival Song it was almost painful to listen to, but by Pleasant Street it almost sounded like a completely different (and much better) vocalist. That continues throughout the album.

"I love her upstairs, I love her downstairs" made me start sniggering. It sounded like a lyric Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer would have written for a skit in the mid-90s.

This wasn't really my thing, but there was the odd glimmer of stuff I enjoyed. More a 1.5 really, but it's getting a

1/5

I didn't really enjoy this. I'm not mad at it - if anything I'm a bit surprised how little I liked it - but ultimately I could not get into it at all.

It didn't hold my attention, I didn't even particularly enjoy the majority of the singles. XO was alright, but I don't really want to listen to it again. I don't dislike Beyonce's voice, but it feels wasted on these tracks.

This would get a 1.5 in a different marking system, but as it is:

1/5

This was much, much better than I expected. The singles from this album were incredibly popular at time of release (in the UK, I assume this is baffling to the non-Brits listening), and I have a massive soft spot for Put Him Out as a result. I had never heard the album though.

I think she has a great voice, the production is fun, everything feels pretty catchy and funky. If anything I'm surprised this hasn't had much longevity. I am guessing Di-Na-Mi-Tee might be to blame.

A massive song that grabbed the public attention, but was also endlessly parodied, feels like a double-edged sword. I imagine it made her a lot of money, but probably made it very hard to not be the di-na-mi-tee-hee woman.

This was probably a 3.5 for me, but I really had fun listening to it, so it's getting a surprising:

4/5

Sledgehammer is a brilliant song with one of the best music videos ever made. It is so stupidly catchy, I love the vocals, the lyrics, the instrumental. Just a great, great song. Don't Give Up is really good too, but despite the addition of Kate Bush, it doesn't quite reach the same high points.

I ended up liking a few of the other tracks (particularly That Voice Again) but there were more low points for me than high - for example Mercy Street, We Do What We're Told, This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds). Its all very of its time.

Ultimately nothing comes close to Sledgehammer in my eyes and it's inclusion, plus me liking Peter Gabriel's voice, means an overall score of:

3/5

I listened to this, slightly distracted, on the walk to work, and only realised it was a concept album afterwards, so ended up having another run through where I could concentrate a bit more.

I really loved a lot of these tracks due to the orchestral backing and musical theatre sound, particularly Lady Day. Men of Good Fortune's stabbing piano is great and I really loved the brass and guitar combo on How Do You Think It Feels and Hey Jim.

On the negative side, I feel I have to object to rhyming vial and vile in Caroline Says I ("Just like poison in a vial, Hey, she was often very vile") - that doesn't feel like he was trying! Also, I know we're telling a tale here, but no song has ever been improved by the addition of a crying child - I hated Kids that.

I am not the biggest fan of Lou Reed's voice, but honestly I really liked a big chunk of this album despite it. I think this is a 3.5 kinda album for me, but as it does tail off towards the end a bit, I'm dropping to:

3/5

There has been too much Morrissey lately...

I don't particularly like the timbre of his voice, but I think I have a much bigger issue with the way he delivers lines: how he holds notes and jumps around all over the place. Plus he's an arsehole.

I think this is another situation where if someone else was singing the songs, I might really enjoy some of them a lot more. There is some good songwriting here, it's all just not to my taste when sung by Morrissey.

2/5