Reviews by mkaddour2001

Yeah, this one didn't do anything for me, but I didn't really expect it to. It's your standard honky-tonky record - short, steel-pedal-backed ballads and lovesick crooning about how much your "girl" is going to regret doing you wrong. There's an aesthetic to dig into here, but every song sounds the same at the end of the day, which was my main problem. But, admittedly, an album like this, I don't think, is meant to be experienced while sitting down on a Saturday morning with a cup of coffee. Maybe if I was getting drunk in my creased white-collar button-up after I had just caught my girl cheating on me, I'd be able to buy into this vibe, at least a little bit more.

I'll give the album this: I did feel bad for Ray Price (or the protagonist he's playing as) by the time this thing was over, so I guess that speaks to the guy's lyrical ability at least; they warrant surface-level compassion. He really does hammer home the idea of how much he wants this girl back, this album cover does too.

I don't get Beck. Or, I take that back; I do get Beck, but I don't understand his appeal. His whole thing, with my two-album sample size, seems to be laid-back, flat, "cool-guy" vocals over passable blues-tinted '90s alt-rock production. Now that cool-guy, "I don't want to be here" vocal style is what makes these 50 minutes practically unbearable for me. Like god, these melodies are so lifeless, and even when the vocals "ramp up" in intensity, like on, say 'Minus', they still sound so washed-out when propped up against the production here. I think more than anything, I don't see any situation where I can enjoy these vocals or this aesthetic. I guess it sort of feels like a summer day, but one where I'm like sweating profusely and waiting at a bus station at noon type thing - basically annoyed out of my mind. I guess maybe if you're stoned, I can see this type of thing hitting, but I'm not stoned. Maybe my least favorite song was also the most popular, 'Where It's At' - I guess the verses are smooth enough, but those interludes and the refrain are unbearable and take me out of the groove established during those okay verses.

I'm not going to be too harsh on this record, I sorta liked the song 'Novacaine' because Beck tends to show infinitely more character when he's doing his cheesy white boy rap thing, which is at least charming with a few genuinely solid bars. This song, 'Novacaine' has a cool hip-hop, Rick Rubin production feel to it. 'Jack-Ass' went in another more enjoyable instrumental direction and probably has my favorite Beck singing on here.

Hey, I geuss Beck is unique...I'll give him that, I haven't heard someone be so bold in just how fucking laid-back their style is. Like this man overdoes it, and he knows it. So I guess he comes out the winner for making me sit through 50+ minutes of this.

I was already familiar with Orbital, being a big fan of their album "Orbital 2", despite not having delved too deep into the world of '90s techno. While I didn't enjoy this album as much as that one, the experience as a whole was more or less similar. What you'll get here are hypnotic arrangements, danceable grooves, ethereal and cacophonous lead melodies, and the occasional spliced-driving or tone-setting sample. And the entire experience is really driven by an atmospheric undertone that's just otherworldly - especially on a song like 'Are We Here?' and the shifting synths of 'Attached' that reminded me of a Steve Roach movement. The song 'Science Friction' might be the most gorgeous piece here. I just love that subtle melody in the background and the wayward keys in the foreground - I can listen to it for hours. The drumless intro of 'Kein Trink Wasser' takes a while to catch its groove, but when it does, it manages to induce that same hypnotic effect that so many other moments here do - no drums needed!

While not as forward-thinking as a group like Autechre, nor as memorable and well-executed as "Orbital 2", and the vocal loops do *occasionally* age this record, I was still entranced the whole way through. Just some really solid techno music - given my very limited frame of reference, that is.

Like many reggae albums, this one resonated with me on a deeper level - I was still engaged but mostly found myself lost and dazed in these grooves. In typical Marley fashion, the grooves are tight, slow, and repetitive - and laced with tons of early '70s psychadelic licks. The best song by far for me was 'No Woman No Cry', which is such a gorgeous little psychedelic reggae cut. I love that cutesy organ backing it. From a "roots reggae" and lyrical perspective, I really liked 'Revolution', a powerful cut that follows the equally galvanizing 'Talkin' Blues'.

Maybe a bit too slow for me, but it's sort of what I expected from this, so I can't be too mad, I guess. It does what it does pretty well at the end of the day.

While I'm familiar with the term "Mod", I'd be hard-pressed to name an artist that specialized in the genre (though The Who and The Kinks both fall into that category). Because of that, I'm not entirely sure what this genre is supposed to sound like. Based on this album, though, it feels like a fusion between Britpop and new wave, with a bit of '70s styled punk sprinkled in, especially in the basslines throughout. Regardless, this was an absolute joy to get through. I mean, everything about it was so tight and poignant, from the melodies to the cross-genre sensibilities to the lyrics. You'll get a gorgeous airy-guitar love ballad with 'English Rose', then the incredible basslines of a song like 'Billy Hunt', and then a very hooky song like 'In The Crowd' - it's just non-stop energy and focus on this album. And I'd say that's thanks, in large part, to the very well-done vocals and harmonies. They're convincing but never in your face, and honestly quite ahead of their time in many ways. The vocal melodic progression of a song like 'The Place I Love' sort of gave me pop-punk vibes.

Instrumentally, the bass was the star of the show for me, It's so perfect on like every song, my favorites being the aforementioned 'Billy Hunt', 'A Bomb In Wardour Street', and the closer 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight'. The bass here is what makes everything song sound so damn fun, and it's the melodic powerhouse of the album.

Playful is the word here, all while still taking itself relatively seriously in its lyrical themes and subject matter, especially with the final two songs. But I'd say that occasional stark contrast only strengthens this album's appeal in that lane, so there's that. A genuinely great fuckin record that I just don't hear talked about ever - such a shame.

I know that I say this about a lot of albums, but this album was, seriously, mind-blowing to me when I first heard it. It was my first dive into this type of music - the artsier, more colourful side of alternative rock. Wacky experimentation fused with genuinely solid alternative and predictive grunge and '90s alternative rock (insert Nirvana forefather statement here) is the name of the game here. And let me just say, I've listened to a lot of music since I first heard this years back, and still, nothing quite balances those two things as well as Doolittle.

I mean, to start, there are so many cool little moments here, and almost every song has some defining little mark. The straining screams of 'Tame', the campy '60s pop-chorus and bouncy bassline of 'Here Comes Your Man', the dramatic strings on 'Monkey Gone to Heaven', the cheesy yet charming interjections of 'La La Love You', the blood-pumping guitar in that second half of 'Mr. Grieves' that comes out of nowhere, or the western throwback of the Kim Deal led 'Silver' - all these moments, I'd say, define their respective tracks, and the album as a whole.

But that aside, it's still all so well done. Black Francis is a perfect vocalist, not too awkward and clunky like a lot of his contemporaries, yet dynamic enough to make each song sound unique. The guy's range is insane, and he's capable of being quite emotive, like on 'Hey', and especially on my favorite song here, 'Gouge Away' - an absolute monster of a closer that really nails the quiet and loud dynamics that are so heavily associated with this style of music. Joe Santiago shines too on many of the surf tracks here; his guitar lead on 'Wave Of Mutilation' just gives the entire thing such a jovial, day-on-the-beach feel, despite the song's pretty morbid lyrics. And Kim Deal was one of my defining bassists, and one of the reasons I picked up a bass in the first place - I mean just listen to that bassline on 'Debaser'. Her basslines tend to be simple, yet so effective and memorable, she's one of the greatest in the genre.

With all that said, there were always a couple of songs here that I'd want to skip, like 'I Bleed', 'Dead', and 'No 13 Baby' (a blusier track that I now see clearly influenced the likes of Jack White/White Stripes). I enjoyed them a bit more this time around, but they're just not as incredible as many of the other songs here. They don't bog down the experience, though - this album still remains tight, vicious, and ambitious - and still has its bite so many years later. An absolute classic!

Some early 2000s quirky indie-rock that, while not bad at all, gets tired and repetitive real quick. A sort of one-trick pony. It reminded me a lot of another album on here by a group called "The Zutons", though that record was more colorful and generally more enjoyable. More than anything, this is an album that values melody, which I appreciated, especially with those harmonies on 'Dreaming of You', easily the best song here. While it's steeped in its vintage garage-rock influences, some elements of the album reminded me of '80s post-hardcore, mainly a band like NoMeansNo on a song like 'Skeleton Key, the most chaotic and one of the most enjoyable tracks here.

Again, not bad, but I'd struggle to be able to pick it out of a group of other albums in this lane. Still solid.

Montreal's very own Arcade Fire was a largely important band to me when I was younger - I thought they were the most profound thing ever. And while I still revisit 'Funeral' from time to time, I still maintain that it's one of the best indie-rock albums of the 2000s, all of their other music has wholly left my rotation, say, for a few songs (like Sprawl 2). And, with this album, I just remember it being much better. Like wow, way to drain out every ounce of life, emotion, and jovial energy that made their debut so fantastic. The production sounds so static and lacks the spontaneous energy of 'Funeral'. There's a fine layer of polish on everything, yet it manages to sound worse. Maybe the worst offender is the final minutes of the closer 'My Body of the Cage', where that organ crescendo and those overblow drums sound just horrid. The production in general doesn't complement Win's generally very clunky singing style, especially on songs like 'Black Mirror'. It's not all bad, though. The run of songs in the middle up to 'The Well and the Lighthouse', while still containing all the production gripes I have with the album, was still really enjoyable. I especially loved the two-parter 'Black Wave/Bad Vibrations', a song that really embraces the album's clearly darker direction.

I think it's starting to sound like I despise this album, and I don't really. I think the monotonous angst in the lyrics of their debut are seen here; they're interesting, to say the least. And the songs, at their core, are decent. It's just such a messy album, with production sounds that are questionable at best and grating at worst.

Easily the best record in King Crimson's "whimsy" era, which is pretty much anything before 1973. It really is a whimsical, fantastical record, not progressive rock in the typical sense. Maybe it's the mellotron and flute all over this thing, or the dream-like imagery ranging from the titular Crimson King himself to the "Moonchild". The closest we get to a traditional hard-rock track here is the opener '21st Century Schizoid Man', and it is quite the opener, though not quite a tone setter, I'd say. I'd argue it's quite deceptive and misleading. It's just a much faster, blood-pumping, electric rock take on King Crimson's core sound of this time - the vocals are drenched in distortion, giving them a sense of urgency which perfectly complements the track's dystopian imagery. You obviously have those jazzy elements and the unconventional 6/4 breakdown in the middle. It's just a proggy masterpiece all in all, though I'd argue it even sticks out in the prog scene of its time. It's just super aggressive, high-octane with an almost punk-esque fury. It's crazy that the band was firing on all cylinders on the very first song in their discography.

While no other song matches the sheer energy of this opener, the album's subsequent patience, I'd argue, rounds out the experience in a way very few albums can pull off. But it never gets boring, well, mostly. Songs like the title track and especially 'Epitaph' are some of the best sounding songs in the band's catalogue. They're so huge sounding, like on the song 'Epitaph' when that mellotron increases in volume so drastically before exploding and opening up right before the instrumental interlude. It's a moment of utter drama in an already really dramatic album. And it's warranted drama, given the global destruction depicted in the song's lyrics and the tragic emotion behind Greg Lake's vocals. The two slower cuts are just as effective, especially during their ballad segments. The flute of 'I Talk To The Wind' just hovers alongside the track like a butterfly guiding a lost soul through these treacherous woods at night. And 'Moonchild' has maybe my favorite vocal melody on the album, that is before it breaks into its, quite visionary, 10-minute Miles Davis-esque jazz-fusion ambient segment. I can take it or leave it, but I'd say overall, the album experience benefits from it. Just wish there was a version of this song without the ambient segment so I could listen to that ballad portion casually.

I'd argue this isn't the best representation of King Crimson. I mean, legendary guitarist Robert Fripp, who's usually the star of these albums, isn't really the draw here. That pleasure, I'd argue, is shared equally between every player on this album. It's easily their most colourful record because of that. I mean, just listen to all the different interludes of the closing title track; it's overwhelming at points, but in a good way. I mean, really, for as influential as this album is to so many other prog bands, very few manage to top it. Such a cinematic experience and one that deserves every bit of acclaim it gets.

I think I've always been on Team "Fusion-Jazz Miles" as opposed to "Cool Jazz Miles", though both have their perks. And I mean, it's Miles Davis, and while this is no 'Kind of Blue', in essence, you're getting a very similar vibe, idea, and aesthetic. You have a song like 'Moon Dreams' which is much slower and more melancholic, and then your more upbeat, airy songs like 'Rocker' with these fluttery solos and a nice refrain.

Not a standout in his discography by any means, but a short and enjoyable experience nevertheless.

I'd be hard-pressed to tell you that there was a 'Doors' album out there that I didn't like, but if there was one that I understood the least, it'd be 'L.A Woman'. On the surface, it's the same bluesy, hard-rock experience we've been getting from this band since '67. But it always sounded much cleaner, more tamed, and quite frankly, it just felt like a more streamlined Doors experience more than anything else. After listening to it this most recent time, though, I saw it for what it really was, which was just another Doors album, a great one at that. And it honestly does have some of the band's best songs. The clusterfuck of a title track, for as messy as it is, is absolutely one of the band's most firey songs. I love the opening keyboard groove of 'Love Her Madly', easily my favorite song on the album, especially when that intro comes back with that new layer of guitar. 'Car Hiss by My Window' and 'Crawling King Snake' see the band going bluesier than ever, and 'The WASP' has those esoteric Morrison lyrics we've learned to love over the years. And yeah, the closer 'Riders of the Storm' has no reason to be as popular as it is. I mean, it's such an odd song, very low-key and unsettling - but cunning all the same.

As this is the band's final album (as their full lineup), I've always felt it was their most mainstream-sounding, which turned me off initially. I found that the band's inner turmoils and intra-band conflicts from this time were reflected in the music, making the entire album feel very scattered. And while I do think that's still true to a certain extent, it just proves that even on their worst days, 'The Doors' still sound damn tight, interesting, and amazing.

I was sort of getting sick of all these '60s psychedelic entries on this list, but I honestly really liked this one. At times, it had the ferocity of an early 'The Doors' album, though much poppier in essence. But a good chunk of it was these very solid and mellow (hipster) acoustic cuts, my favourites being 'Comin' Back to Me' and the instrumental 'Embryonic Journey. Though I did enjoy the more aggressive 'Somebody to Love' the most, it's one of two Grace Slick led tracks here, and if you were to ask me, she has the two best songs on the album. The other one being 'The White Rabbit', there's something so ominous and towering in the vibrato of her vocal delivery on the latter part of this short yet progressive song.

While yeah I've heard too many albums that sound like this one at this point, I do still think there's a consistent quality to the music here that made it a joy to get through, moreso than many other psych records from this time.

Honestly, not too hot on this one, at least not upon first listen. To me, it has some Neil Young's most unfocused, scattered, and uninteresting production paired with lyrics that just don't grip me the same way as, say, 'After the Gold Rush'. I wouldn't say Crazy Horse added too much for me either - they sound good jamming, sure, but the extended jams of songs like 'Down by the River' or 'Cowgirl In the Sand' just didn't work with Young's style for me. Not to say those jams didn't belong, they moreso just felt tacked-on, directionless, and pace-breaking. I found that I enjoyed them more in smaller doses.

I still want to make it clear that I didn't hate this; in fact, I enjoyed my time for the most part. And the title track (which has my favorite lyrics here that seem to be tackling the directionless or mundanity of an individual's day-to-day) and 'The Losing End (When You're On)' were two really solid cuts.

I get it, this is how I'd be if I lost PJ Harvey too. Honestly, I don't remember liking this at all when I first heard it. Think I've always just preferred Nick Cave's darker, edgier goth rock side, especially the absurdity of an album like 'Murder Ballads'. But now I'm more mature and...yeah, I still prefer that edgy era, sorry. But I certainly got more out of this album than I previously did. Particularly, the first three tracks here are all incredible - especially the song 'People Ain't No Good'. But ultimately, to me, this is an album that's way too long for its own good. I can only handle so much of this brooding and sombre ballad-type music before it starts to get tiresome. There are these occasional production flares and switch-ups that keep things interesting - like the sharp violin of 'Where Do We Go Now By Nowhere' and the more upbeat country drive of the song 'West Country Girl'. Vocally, I wish Nick Cave was doing a bit more. I swear, melodically speaking, many songs use this same set of chords. But the lyrics are as crushing as I'd expect out of an album like this. Nick Cave's a talented songwriter at the end of the day, and I especially loved 'Are You The One That I've Been Waiting For?'.

While I did enjoy this album when it started, it failed to keep me engaged throughout. I'd say anything past the very stale and repetitive 'Black Hair', I wasn't too hot on. Still a solid and much-needed mature switch-up for Nick Cave - a very important album for him.

Excellent dark, baroque-psychedelic, infused '90s pop music. Many parts here reminded me of the little Flaming Lips I've heard, and the sort of awkward vocals really fall into that indie-rock '90s style - they reminded me a lot of Built to Spill. The production is haunting. I love the slow looping and growth of the opener that feels like a larger-than-life flower blossoming on the dawn of a new year - especially when those horns come in. It also introduces the weird Theremin noise that is used very liberally on this album, though I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I'd say the best crop of songs are saved for last, starting from the great 'Goddess on a Hiway', maybe the most direct pop-rock song here, but it's also just a really good take on this sound. The following, 'The Funny Bird' has the most larger-than-life production on the whole thing; the sound here is monstrous - very strong post-rock vibe with this one especially when that unhinged guitar solo kicks in. The bass on this track is also killer.

Very moody, dark but never really angsty or cheesy, which is why I think I enjoyed this as much as I did. I mean, it still sort of borders it at times, especially near the start of the record. But the dense, varied production paired with the honestly very solid instrumental interludes here (Pick Up if You're There was especially crushing with that violin) gave the whole thing a very authentic, gothic feel, one that I really enjoyed.

The sort of the washed-out, soft, melodramatic '90s arena rock I'd expect from a band like U2. I think the degree to which I enjoy an album like this comes down to just how many songs I'm able to enjoy, which in the case of this album, isn't as much as, say, 'The Joshua Tree'. It is, again, very dramatic (which works wonders on a song like 'So Cruel', a genuinely great track) and honestly much darker than I was expecting, which was cool. Some tracks, like the closer 'Love is Blindness' and the incredible precursor 'Acrobat' border an almost goth-rock sound with haunting guitar tones looming in their respective backdrops. 'The Fly' also goes in this direction, though it doesn't sound half as haunting as those other two tracks. I think this one song aged particularly poorly, with one of the worst falsetto choruses here. I also really love the subtle build on the huge hit off this album, 'One', a genuinely gorgeous progression with one of the more winner choruses on here.

So there were some decent songs here, but as a whole album, I don't see myself revisiting this one too often.

While I've grown to appreciate the Byrds with each one of their entries on this list, this may be my least favorite of theirs so far. It's all very straightforward and boilerplate when compared to their other works, which makes sense, given this is a debut and all. The draw here is their cover of Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man' which doesn't hold a candle to the original. Their cover of 'My Back Pages' was infinitely better.

An enjoyable listen, just not one with too many standout moments or anything.

I've never considered myself a "Beatles-head," as in I don't sit there sifting through hours of scrapped studio recordings, and I don't know the difference between all the million album remasters they have out nowadays. But if there's one album by them that I've had an obsessive relationship with, it's Abbey Road. It's one of the most important pop albums of all time. A swansong for the group and for the traditional pop-sounds of the '60s that were being phased out by the many alternative movements spearheading the '70s. For as "forward thinking" as this album is often described as, it sure does sound relentlessly '60s - for the most part. But I think that's fine; the Beatles themselves are, after all, ruthlessly '60s. The decade belongs to them, and they belong to that decade. Abbey Road, to me, has always been about execution. How does one execute a pop album? Like this.

The first crop of songs I want to talk about are 'Something', 'Oh! Darling', 'Here Comes The Sun', and 'Octopus's Garden', songs that are relatively run-of-the-mill '60s pop - yet there's an edge to them, something exotic that elevates them beyond any of their '60s pop contemporaries. I love the string blushes of George Harrison's 'Something', and that vocal melody in the upbeat switch-up is one of those things that just sticks with you - a gorgeous depiction of one's crushing love for another. 'Oh! Darling' is McCartney's attempt at something similar, and while I don't like it as much, I do love how over-the-top he delivers his lines and just how almost '50s throwback it is. This song shines in its simplicity. And 'Octopus' Garden' is one of the greatest pop songs, period. The group vocals on the chorus, the cozy underwater feel and imagery, and the playful and simplistic bassline - this is by far and away Ringo's best solo track on any Beatles album. And if 'Something' wasn't indication enough, 'Here Comes The Sun' further solidifies Harrison as this album's unsung hero. It's such a perfect tune, with such a subtle approach, but yet with so many layers that so timidly reveal themselves, but then just as easily, go back into hiding throughout this song's 3-minute runtime.

But going back to this idea of how to execute a pop album, for the Beatles, it wasn't just about making these conventional tunes (at least not in their later years), but about being able to fuse pop (i.e catchiness and accessibility), with sounds that will challenge your average Beatles listener. Which, at the time of this album's release, was damn near every human-being on the planet. It's far from their most obviously experimental record, that probably goes to the White Album, but there are so many off-kilter moments here that serve to round out the album experience. And these songs are why this thing still stands the test of time. For one, I've never understood what made 'Come Together' so popular. I mean, yeah, the bassline is iconic, but the lyrics are almost non-sensical, and the instrumentation is so barebones and minimal for a good chunk of it, and when that sing-along chorus comes in, it lasts for only two bars. But the song is still by all means incredible, so groovy and slick. And the fact that it's one of the band's most popular hits just proves everything I'm talking about with The Beatles' music's ability to seep poppiness and accessibility into any ambitious idea they choose to muster up, at least on this album. 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer', while not as popular, I feel the same about. The unsettling story of the psychotic Maxwell juxtaposed against the golly singing was certainly strange, but again, it's insanely catchy. I love the way the backing vocals get more exaggerated at each iteration of the chorus, and those blaring Moog synths in the first interlude (and the piano in the second) give the entire thing a very theatric feel, it feels like a run crew scurrying to set the scene for the next act during these transitions. 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' starts off sounding like your standard blues-rock track before evolving into this monstrous, almost prog-rock song, with the organ and that distorted, hypnotic guitar lead. By the end of it, you're getting a full-blown King Crimson 'Red' era kind of cut. Getting a bit ahead of myself, but 'The End' of the medley also gives, oh-so subtle, proto-punk vibes with that noisy, distorted guitar.

Maybe the most distinguishing feature of this album is the medley that encompasses a good chunk of its second side. And how each part of it sounds so different, employing unique ideas - and yet all the pieces come together so seamlessly by the end of it. 'Golden Slumbers' is my favorite. I love McCartney doing that over-the-top guttural thing again with his voice. I also dig the elegant baroque instrumentation and the way this song leads into the group-vocal chorus of 'Carry That Weight' that's then followed by that triumphant horn section. It's one of the most incredible music moments there is.

On top of all that, the remasters of this album are just incredible sounding. It really is an engineering marvel that each sound here comes through so crystal clear. You just know that when you're listening to this album, you're hearing the entire album, every morsel of it. And you should savor it because Abbey Road is one of those perfect pop albums. A masterpiece in being able to pull every sound in popular music from the time into one tight package. An iconic, monstrous piece of art that landmarks music history like very few albums do.

I'm not very familiar with the pre-Dickinson Iron Maiden era - but I think this debut further proves that I can genuinely listen to this band all day and no matter what. I mean, to be fair, despite not having those iconic lead vocals, you do still have Dave Murray playing his sharp lead guitar on many of these songs. Admittedly, this album isn't as high-octane, dramatic, nor as epic as the high watermarks in the Iron Maiden discography like 'Powerslave' or 'The Number of the Beast'. You get some long, drawn-out, slow-ballad moments like with 'Strange World', and songs like the closing title track give heavy punk-rock vibes more than anything. Honestly, the bass all over this thing is very punk rocky. Still some incredible highlights here. 'Phantom of the Opera' for one might be one of the band's best songs - it has everything that makes an Iron Maiden song incredible from the length to the back-to-back guitar solos, to the catchy verse melody, to the winding song structure. I also really liked the riff of the opener 'Prowler' and 'Transylvania' was an incredibly solid instrumental cut.

More than anything, I think this album proves that this band was coming in, guns blazing, out the gate. And while I'll always prefer Dickinson, Paul Di'Anno does the band more than justice on this debut.

Of the two 'The Who' rock operas I've heard so far, I think I enjoyed this one a bit more. But for as much as I disliked the music on 'Tommy', I do think it wins on the conceptual front. This one's a bit less linear with its messaging, for better or worse. I avoided this album like the plague for the longest time (in part due to this horrendous album art), but it does have some great 'The Who' songs, with them channeling their inner psychedelic pop Beatles. The themes tackled here relate to money, self-image, unconditional love, and of course commercialism. It's a bit inconsistent, constantly tossing in these samples that only serve to break up the pace of the whole thing, but some solid songs here nevertheless with my favorites being 'I Can See For Miles', 'Sunrise', 'Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand', 'Tattoo', and my personal favorite 'I Can't Reach You'.