Reviews by nevele

For me this is an album with two sides, both figuratively and literally.

Side A is 'Walk On By' and 'Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic.' This is the absolute top of soulful and grooving music ever made. Isaac's baritone voice is the extra layer on top of it. 'Walk On By' is the best version of this Burt Bacharach song I've ever heard and even though 12 minutes, it doesn't bore for a second.
'Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic' brings the funk to the album, and together with the pressing piano is a musical masterpiece that can't continue long enough for me. That bass combined with the the impelling drums that bring the song to orgasmic heights.

Side B, even though really good on its own, really can't stand in the shadow of Side A. 'One Woman' is Isaac Hayes on the romantic tour. It's a good song, but not outstanding.
'By the Time I get to Phoenix' suffers from a much too long uninteresting intro of Hayes talking over the music. But he's no Gil Scott-Heron and it takes a full 8 minutes for the song to finally go. When it does it's marvellous though. Those heavenly horns and strings.

So, a full 5* for Side A and a 3,5* for Side B will make this a 4*

This is an album and band that's MEANT to make you feel uncomfortable.
Not sure why this is marked as metal/hardrock though.

Have you ever wondered how much Queen's "One Vision" seemingly shares a lot of similarities to certain 1930 speeches when translated into German? (Ein Mensch, Ein Ziel, Eine Erde und ein Volk!) Have you ever thought what would happen if you REALLY listen to the lyrics of Opus' 'Life is Life' and put it into a Nietzschean / Wagner type style, complete with a campy totalitarian aesthetic?

Laibach is disturbing, thought-provoking and unsettling. And it's supposed to be. And a band that's worth listening more of. Albums like Spectre, Kapital or Wir Sind Das Volk are fully worth it.

Listening to this album made me realise how good this is. And strangely how much it sometimes sounds like Alice In Chains. But you'll always recognise a Pantera song. Vinnie's drums are unique, Dimebags riffs are masterful and Anselmo's vocals give it just that needed edge.
Was about to give it a 4* but re-listening to it again made me aware about how good this album was in its time. And that deserved that extra star, even if it drops off a bit near the end.

I'm glad I heard this album, I really appreciate the art of this. Music is meant to make you feel things and that's exactly what songs like Frankie Teardrop do. I can fully understand how this is influential and years ahead of its time.

I just didn't like it much.

I hate to say it, but it's actually just nothing special. It's layered, yes, but that doesn't mean that all the layers are good. It certainly wasn't the benchmark in Techno or 'the first time people made techno into art' as some people used to claim. That was much earlier, this was the first time it became a bit more known to a wider audience.

1 Tablet. 70 Minutes. And not one of them was boring.

What an incredible listen. I normally don't really have a soft spot for this kind of neo-psychedelica sound, but this album was different.

4,5*

All songs I already knew and liked, but I had no idea this was all from one album. All on one album! All this quality.
Wow.

Glad to be introduced to an album I didn't hate of a style I normally do.

'A band imitating other bands' makes this is one of the most eclectic albums I know. It meanders through styles like jazz, funk, hiphop, new wave and pop but the whole album, even though of high quality, lacks a kind of soul, lacks some tension to keep it interesting.
What turns me off this album is that every song is being done better by other artists instead of this replicated version.
I don't think I'll ever listen to this album again and won't miss it.

Ray Charles is obviously incredibly talented, in songwriting as well as by voice.
And it's in a style, soul combined with big band and jazz, that I really normally enjoy.
Then why can't I get in this album? It's been baffling me a bit. I find the horn section in the first part of the album annoyingly loud for some reason and I find the second part of the album a bit dreary, even though this normally is also within my style.
Maybe Ray Charles himself just doesn't do it for me, but I can't put my finger on it.

It's been a long time since I've listened to a contemporary R&B album that I didn't dislike, to be honest.
This album feels a lot more intimate and it is helped by the remarkably languid beats and floaty synths throughout the album.
With electronica influences from the decades beforehand and here and there a little Prince throwback this is a listen best done while lazying on the couch with your headphones.

This album might be a grower. Might be that this, after repeated listens gives away its depths and amazingness.
But after 4 listens, one during work, one in the car, one while walking and one with good headphones, I kinda doubt it and am left with the feeling I'm either missing something, or this is just a real unremarkable album.

Sometimes a bit outdated but most of the time just incredibly fun.

I thought I would like this more than I did. With the exception of a few songs (Androgynous , Unsatisfied) , I never really got into the entire album, it passed me by more than it captured me.

That was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.,

A huge improvement on his first album where the emotion on his songs mostly struck me as affectation. I simply didn't believe him.
It's much better on this album, especially when he ups the tempo a bit.
Undoubtedly a great songwriter.

My opinion on this album is really two-fold.

On the one hand this is one of the best live albums ever recorded. You can really hear this is an amazing band that really need a live venue to bring the magic that their regular albums kind of lack. They're bringing their own compositions and covers to impressive song lengths with passion and intensity. Duane Allman is the best slide guitarist I've ever heard. The intermezzo on "You Don't Love Me" is the prime example of this.

On the other hand, if you really don't like listening to glorified jam sessions on record while not in the crowd this is a bitter pill to swallow. And you lose interest after the 2nd 8 minute solo.

It feels like an album of three parts. The first part feel a bit like the continuation of their classic from the 90's. After that the sounds changes a bit and moves from shoegaze into the ambient postrock territory. The album stays interesting but not as much as before. I picks up again at the end when they focus a bit more on the drumworks. The drum n' bass rhythms in 'wonder 2' are amazing. And even though I really like a bunch of noise, 'nothing is' just don't do it for me. This kind of experiment has been done before and better.

If this album was released two years after Loveless instead of twenty-one, it might have had a bigger impact but it still is an interesting piece.

3,5*

Amazing voice with very decent songs

I'm listening to the album and reading a lot of the reviews that this album among others heavily influenced the sound of 90s (and beyond) soul/R 'n B, dance and hip hop, especially in the UK. That this album still stands like a house. That it's very dance-able and excellently produced. That this was very innovative music for its time. That this brought a very useful broadening to dance music.

But all I'm genuinely hearing a simplistic electro beat, and music that has neither soul nor funk and falls flat in every song. I'm probably really missing something.