Rated 8/10
4.5/5. This album just hits. Sees the beastie boys go in a much more live-band sounding direction musically where you get beats that vary between rock, jazz, punk and even some throat singing ear the end of the record. I may still prefer the insane burst of sampling creativity on Paul’s Boutique, but this is a fantastic album.
Rated 4/10
2/5. My take on this one is pretty simple. An amazing vocalist kneecapped by awful and cheesy 80’s pop production. Also none of the covers really stood out to me as particularly interesting or transformative.
Rated 8/10
4.5/5. Worth it for the title track alone which is one of the greatest songs of all time. When he starts screaming in the second half of the song, it just hits every time. The rest of the album is mostly great too. You get the rocking first half and the more ambient spacey back half similar to Low. The only thing really keeping this album from a 5/5 is that its just not my favorite Bowie record, I'm more partial to Low and Station to Station.
Rated 8/10
4/5. One of those albums where I’m just impressed that it released when it did. you can hear the blue-prints of a ton of punk and hard rock music that would rise with the late 70’s and 80’s here. perhaps it is a bit primitive, and with two separate mixes of the album on streaming it can be a bit confusing to get into, but definitely a good listen. (I listened to the Iggy Mix.)
Rated 4/10
Overall: 2.5/5. Some catchy songs here but nothing really stuck out to me as particularly impressive or great, especially when comparing it to other indie-rock records from the same period. But it is very listenable, there was no point where I was actively irritated by it.
