Rate Albums

Reviews by nofaithmed11

DisintegrationThe Cure

6/10

My quest to fall in love with The Cure remains ongoing. Perhaps it’s just a stylistic thing, but I’ve yet to feel this deep emotional connection to Robert Smith’s voice or guitar playing. His songwriting is a different story; “Last Dance” and “Untitled” are phenomenal pieces of writing in particular, though his lyrics are strong across the board. And there are still certainly a handful of highlights in my book; “Lullaby” is far and away my favorite track here, and kicks off an excellent three-song run with “Fascination Street” and “Prayers for Rain”. I also see why “Pictures of You” is celebrated - the relationship between its lyrics and melody is pretty fantastic - but I can never get all the way there with it due to Smith’s weak-sounding single-string guitar approach. It honestly bugs me quite a bit, as it does on “Plainsong”, which is further tanked for me by the bothersome echo and lackluster synth sounds. Which I’m sure is an infuriating sentence to read, assuming you’re part of the vast majority that thinks this album is a sonic triumph, but after multiple listens, I simply don’t hear it that way. “Closedown”, “The Same Deep Water as You”, and “Last Dance”, despite their strong compositional core, don’t amount to songs I care to listen to very much. The highlights are enough to get it to 3.5 in my book, and I’m still hoping I’ll have an a-ha moment with it eventually, but I’m not there yet.

3.5/5

Here Come the Warm JetsBrian Eno

8/10

"Needles in the Camel's Eye" is seriously such a perfect song, and although I liked the rest of the album fine enough on previous listens, the weirdness of it all began to really jive with me on this relisten.

4/5

Sign “☮︎” the TimesPrince

6/10

I'm fully aware that not loving/worshipping Prince is one of my most fatal flaws as a human. Many of the struggles I've historically had with his music - production elements, stylistic preferences, singing - come into play on this record as well. However, there's a decent amount of stuff I really do like here as well, and I think it can continue to grow on me. "The Cross" is my favorite of his by leaps and bounds, but I also quite dig the title track, "Starfish and Coffee", "Hot Thing", "Forever in My Life", and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man". There are numerous cool, experimental moments that I don't get out of other lauded releases of his. I'll keep trying to right this wrong, y'all, but believe me when I say this is progress.

3/5

GreenR.E.M.

8/10

Starts off as strong as any R.E.M. album. Tapers off a bit eventually, but still damn good.

4/5

A Christmas Gift for You From Phil SpectorVarious Artists

6/10

I personally don’t have the nostalgia factor that so many do for this record (my mom strangely can’t stand most girl groups, so this was not a household staple growing up). Additionally, I think the cuts that have survived on holiday radio stations over here for the past 50 years are clearly the highlights, and the others don’t do a whole lot for me. But I totally respect its place in the pantheon of music history and enjoy it well enough when it’s on. Mostly, it just means so much to feel like I have a personalized gift from ultimate good guy Phil Spector, a man who arguably embodied the Christmas spirit more than anyone in history.

3.5/5

Automatic for the PeopleR.E.M.

8/10

Document will forever reign supreme for me, but Automatic is always in contention for my second favorite R.E.M. album. A high 4 stars, as it has been for me for quite some time.

4/5

For Your PleasureRoxy Music

6/10

Some great music, but I don't love any of the individual songs and Ferry isn't making me swoon like he seems to do for so many others.

3/5