Reviews by nofaithmed11

“By the Time I Get to Arizona” was something of a revelation. What a fucking track! Great writing overall, but the rest of it musically doesn’t do much for me.

3/5

Fourth Bowie album in two weeks. But this one truly is perfect. I don't hold him on the pedestal that many others do - he's probably a top 100 artist for me, but not top 20 - but even despite that, and despite wishing I liked glam-rock more than I do, there's just no way I can deny the incredible songwriting and performances on this record. As cliche as it may be, it's my favorite of his.

5/5

Sorry, I know I'm supposed to worship the tortured genius of Syd, but Floyd's debut does nothing for me. I have little patience for the precious British whimsy of it all, especially combined with severely undercooked psychedelia that's not nearly on the same level of other artists coming out around this time. I will continue to give out other high scores for Floyd, but this won't be one of them.

2/5

What an album. "But the Attractions aren't with him yet!" Yes, I know, and I do love them too. But not only is the pub rock energy of this album so damn good, but the *songs* just can't be argued with. I love it. Probably should be a proper 5-star. At the very least, it gets the bump for this website.

4.5/5

As crazy as it sounds, given this laughably low score for one of the most beloved albums of all-time, I’ve actually come a long way with Purple Rain. When I made my inaugural “Prince I Like” playlist a few years ago, I didn’t include anything from this record. I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the songs I’d heard a thousand times, and none of the album cuts stood out to me. If I were to make said playlist now, I’d include a few tracks, “Darling Nikki” most certain of all. I dig the dirtier sounding drums and the delightful weirdness/borderline lo-fi-ness of it all. It has climbed pretty high up my list of favorite Prince songs in recent years.

Even though I really don’t enjoy the drum sounds or synth stabs, I’d probably still include “Let’s Go Crazy” for the guitar work alone (I’d also consider throwing “Computer Blue” on there for the same reasons, though the second half of the song doesn’t do nearly as much for me as the gnarly first half does). The song I’ve come the farthest with, though, is “When Doves Cry”. Although I still don’t particularly dig the synth tone, I’ve grown to appreciate the sparser arrangement of it and the killer guitar tone.

Otherwise…I don’t know, y’all. I know I’m the weird one. I know I’m the “wrong” one. I truly, honest to God recognize, respect, and occasionally enjoy his talent, but I just don’t fully “get” this classic era of Prince. I don’t enjoy his singing voice most of the time. I have a difficult time with the sound of these records, especially the drums and synthesizers. Stylistically, I struggle with the particular brand of R&B he tends to draw from. For instance, everyone loses their mind over "I Would Die 4 U", and that makes me feel the biggest sense of disconnect, because I think it sounds terrible. Same with "The Beautiful Ones". Hell, even the title track - a song which most rational people would argue is one of the best ever - has never moved me whatsoever. I don't hate it, and was as genuinely taken with his Super Bowl performance as anyone else, but I don't care/need to hear it ever again. Especially not the laughably echoing drums on it.

When I listen to this album, I feel like I'm acknowledging and appreciating its greatness from a distance, rather than feeling immersed in and taken by it. I'm glad it reaches so many people on a deeper level, but it still doesn't have that high a ceiling for me. I definitely enjoy it much more than 1999, but I still think Sign o' the Times is the classic album that stands the best chance of rising higher in my estimations.

3/5

I like this about as much as I'm ever bound to like a hybrid of smooth soul and sophisto-pop. Which is still not very much.

2.5/5

A cool little surprise. I could stand to come back to this.

3.5/5

I totally understand it/him not being everyone’s thing. I don’t think it’s a spectacular record by any means; the first two tracks are easily the best in my opinion, and the last half of the album drags a bit. I also fully understand why anyone would be turned off by Em’s lyrics/delivery, and truth be told, I don’t think he nails it on every song. But when he’s at the top of his game, I think his depravity is extremely effective, be it humorous or unnerving. And I’ll be damned if “My Name Is” (and it’s beyond tasty Labi Siffre sample) doesn’t hit hard for me every single time.

3.5/5

A lot of good music and a few great tracks - "Safe from Harm" and "Hymn of the Big Wheel" are my favorites - but consistently bad vocals and lyrics. Not something I'm likely to return to too much.

3/5

Doesn't hit me as hard as the first album, but still very good.

3.5/5

There's nothing inherently bad about this, but dear God is it fucking boring. This may have more historical significance than a lo-fi hip-hop Spotify playlist, but it sure as hell doesn't have any more or less quality than one. In fact, it may have less diversity. Again, I ask: why did I *have* to hear this before I died?

1.5/5

3 Bowie records in six days, huh? Between this and back-to-back k.d. lang's/near-back-to-back Rufus Wainwright's, y'all need to get this randomizer in check. Anyway, another solid Bowie record, what can I say? "Panic in Detroit" is particularly a favorite for me here.

4/5

I tend to get less out of "primitive" hip-hop than I do out of the origins of other genres, but these guys were clearly still so far ahead of the game. Even if some of their flows and rhymes sound elementary to our modern ears, their subject matter and lyrical intelligence are certainly next level compared to many of their contemporaries. Both Run and D.M.C.'s timbres work so well with Jay's beats, and their interplay is pretty clever as well. I currently have Raising Hell at a low 3.5 stars; this one could potentially get there, too.

3/5

I’m extremely high on Bowie’s last three records, including this one obviously. I think he sounds great vocally and musically reinvigorated. Granted, I’m pre-dispositioned to more organic sounds, but I still don’t think these arrangements or production stylings are by the numbers or stale or anything. Just a great batch of songs, one of my favorite albums of 2013.

4/5

I completely understand why this is usually peoples’ #1 or #2 Springsteen record. Totally stacked track list, almost every song here is out of this world good. I’ve never been a massive fan of “Something in the Night” or “Candy’s Room”, but everything else is top-notch. Bruce’s songwriting shifts on this record; he writes in a very particular way on his first two albums, tweaks it slightly on Born to Run, and then sort of settles into I guess what you’d call the modern Springsteen mold on this record. His storytelling isn’t any less complex, but his actual language is. He gets a bit more direct, but still very poetic and fantastic at painting a picture with his words. He’s also a total badass guitar player on this record, you hear it right off the bat in “Badlands”, an awesome upbeat pop-rocker that he adds some really gnarly guitar work on. And he kicks it up several notches in track two, “Adam Raised a Cain”, easily the most blistering, incendiary guitar playing in his catalog, and a killer song to boot. I could go on all day about some of these songs, “The Promised Land”, the title track, “Prove It All Night”...it’s a wonderful collection of songs. It’s only my #3 because I have that much love for Born to Run and The Wild, The Innocent…, but still an easy 4.5 stars and an easy 1,001 5 star bump.

4.5/5

There are some damn good Bowie albums before Hunky Dory, but this is the first *great* one. Not my absolute favorite, but truly fantastic.

4.5/5

Gahhh there’s some stuff I like here, but it’s just not doing it for me on the whole.

2.5/5

Pre-listen: WHAT THE FUCK, I LITERALLY JUST GOT THE OTHER ONE FOUR DAYS AGO, JESUS CHRIST.

After listening: Eh. Some good stuff, but nothing that moves me.

3/5

Although The Basement Tapes was the first Dylan record I heard, Bringing It All Back Home was my real introduction to *Bob Dylan*, that guy with the unique singing voice who writes the mind-blowing lyrics. Perhaps a lot of other younger children would have been turned off, but I was instantly hooked. It was the beginning of a lifelong listening journey that has brought me immeasurable joy and enthrallment.

I considered this record my favorite of Bob’s for a long time, no doubt due to my nostalgic attachment. As the years have passed, two albums have overtaken it in my personal rankings, but that holds no bearing on how highly I think of it. Some days, it’s still my favorite, and how could it not be? We finally get the emergence of rock and roll Bob, who nails it right out of the gate with “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, a relentless beat-poet cultural commentary with a Chuck Berry-esque groove and proto-hip-hop vocal delivery. It’s followed up two songs later with “Maggie’s Farm”, an equally quotable and breakneck critique of societal expectations. The combination of Bob’s pointed vocals and the band’s rickety drive create a sound unlike anything that came before it, a sound that still aids these two major compositions after all these years. Their urgency is also crucial to the spirited “Outlaw Blues” and the persistent boogie of “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream”, two additional rocking highlights.

For all of the attention this album receives as the introduction to electric Dylan, the ballads on Bringing It All Back Home are responsible for so much of its greatness. The studio band is wonderfully tasteful on “She Belongs to Me” and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”, two remarkable celebrations of love that rank among my top 25 Dylan tracks. Then, of course, we’re treated to the acoustic second side of the record, beginning with the psychedelic masterpiece of “Mr. Tambourine Man”:

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

The glorious lyrical imagery combined with Bob’s top-notch vocal is sheer brilliance. Bruce Langhorne’s electric guitar work acts as a nice textural feature as well, ensuring that the recording is as good as the song itself. Dylan also receives accompaniment on the album’s closer, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, joined by William E. Lee on bass as he delivers one of the grandest melodies he’s ever written. The lyrics and soundscape are as mournful as “Mr. Tambourine Man” is joyous, marking an arresting end to the record.

Sandwiched in between these two giants are two completely virtuosic lyrical exercises. “Gates of Eden” and “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” are not only the two most evocative songs he’d written up until this point; they remain two of his most engrossing songs to this day. The latter in particular is still one of the most quotable tracks in his catalog (“He not busy being born is busy dying”; “Even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked”), and its criticism of American consumerism and political hypocrisy, among other things, is as relevant today as it ever was.

Whenever I take time away from Bringing It All Back Home, I’m always shocked when I return to it and remember how loaded it is. I know the track listing front-to-back, but to actually hear this group of songs in sequence is an experience I always treasure. I’d venture to say nine of the 11 tracks are in or close to my top 100 Dylan songs, and six - “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, “She Belongs to Me”, “Love Minus Zero”, “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “It’s Alright, Ma”, and “Baby Blue” - are probably in my top 30 alone. The fact that it works so well as a cohesive whole solidifies it as a top 3 Dylan record in my book, and one that I’ll always be grateful for.

Least favorite track: “On the Road Again”. Super fun musically, and some memorable lyrics (“Your grandpa’s cane, it turns into a sword/Your grandma prays to pictures that are pasted on a board”). It’s just surrounded by so many titanic compositions, and it’s the one I return to least.

Favorite track: “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”. In addition to my aforementioned points, I’m totally in love with Bob’s focused, intense vocals and propulsive guitar work. It’s absolutely phenomenal; my third favorite Dylan track.

5+/5

I want to like this so much more than I do. I like a lot of the music - *really* like some of it in fact - but feel a massive disconnect with Anderson’s voice. Shame.

3/5