Reviews by nofaithmed11

It runs a bit long for me, and a few of the skits are extremely unnecessary, but the good stuff is damn good. And some of the lyrics hit especially hard today, considering where we're at in our society right now. "Zealots", in particular.

3.5/5

I definitely liked it a lot more as a kid, and I'm not sure it's something I'd throw on a whole lot at this point in my life, but I had a great time driving to it in the sunny weather on my first day back home. A solid rock and roll record, if not much else.

4/5

Incredible, raw energy.

4/5

For me, this album excels when it veers into the slinkier, bluesier numbers. I love the harmonica and guitar work on "I Don't Get It", and the soundscape of "Working on a Building" is also fantastic. "Postcard Blues" and the unique interpretation of "Walking After Midnight" make for an excellent 1-2 closing set and act as a nice bookend to the opening punch of "Mining for Gold" and "Misguided Angel". Unfortunately, I do agree that I sense a bit of sonic and atmospheric stagnancy. "To Love Is to Bury" feels particularly plodding, and the two numbers that follow it - "200 More Miles" and "Dreaming My Dreams with You" - don't do much to rope me back into the album. I like the overall feel of it, I dig Margo Timmins' voice, and overall, I think it was an admirable approach to making a record, but I don't think the end product is *completely* successful. It's still a relatively easy 3.5 stars in my book, though, and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to revisiting it again down the road.

3.5/5

What's not to like? A perfect voice.

4/5

This has been as high as my fourth favorite Bruce album before. It’s fallen ever so slightly because I think there’s a slight dip in the middle of it. Nothing I dislike, but I think the beginning and end of this record are much stronger. This record is often called Bruce’s answer to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and you certainly hear that in some songs, including two of my favorites that start the album, “Lonesome Day” and “Into the Fire”. Just really, really emotional songs. Also very emotional is the closer - by the way, Bruce almost always opens and closes his records really well, and almost always has incredible title tracks, just something I’ve noticed recently - but the closer here, “My City of Ruins”, loosely based around “People Get Ready”, is also extremely emotional and beautiful. There’s a nice big sound on this record; I think this is the first album that features Stevie Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, so a lot of nice, big soundscapes, “Mary’s Place” is another one that the band really kicks ass on. But he also brings it down for the unbelievably stark and harrowing “Paradise”, which might be a top 5 song on the record for me. I think “The Fuse” is a really great experimental number, “You’re Missing” is beautiful…there are just so many great performances on this album, Bruce’s passion on this album is very palpable. After the early 90’s albums and Ghost of Tom Joad, I think this is a pretty fantastic comeback. Really strong 4 star record in my book, a little overlong, but very excellent for the most part.

4/5

Kind of ridiculous that this one is here - Please Please Me would have been a much better choice for so many different reasons. Still, it's The Beatles, so it's near perfect.

4.5/5

I should like this more than I do, but I still dig it a good bit.

4/5

It's strange; some 90's hip-hop really does it for me, and some really doesn't. This one doesn't do it for me. There are elements of the acid-tinged production that I appreciate, but it stagnates extremely quickly to the point where it starts to actively annoy me after a while. The lyrics also get to me pretty quickly; I'm not prudish or humorless at all, but I was not feeling the crassness of this one tonight. Perhaps I'd be a little kinder if it were half as long, but an hour-plus of the one-note soundscapes was too much for my tastes.

2/5

I absolutely think this holds a candle to Live Through This. It's different, sure, and its production doesn't match the raw goodness of its predecessor's, but it still packs a solid punch. The band sounds great, and Courtney is in fine voice. Her songwriting is both lyrically and melodically rich, and this batch of songs is more than diverse enough to make for an engaging listening experience.

4/5

Weird album for me. Not a huge fan of a few songs, and overall find it to be stylistically messy. I enjoy/value musical diversity within records, but this one doesn’t feel particularly coherent to me. Still, some tracks are far too good for me to ignore: “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is pure 90’s goodness, “Black Boys on Mopeds” is an absolute triumph of political folk, and although I can’t say I’ve ever considered my opinion on it despite hearing it a thousand times through my life, “Nothing Compares 2 U” is clearly fucking great and sounds excellent in context of the record. I was wavering back and forth between 3 and 3.5, but I’ll stick with a feathery 3.5 for now.

3.5/5

On a subjective level, there’s very little I enjoy about this. I find this brand of indietronica dream pop to be completely listless. There are elements of lyrical competence, but few of them are thought-provoking and none of them are remarkable. The soundscapes and production are technically proficient, but rarely surprising or imaginative. I find both Jamie and Romy to be extremely boring singers, and they don’t do themselves any favors by a) teaching a masterclass of tedious melodies or b) highlighting their mundanity when they link up on classic mid-2010’s unison octave vocals, presumably because harmonies would be too interesting for them.

This is just my opinion, of course, and there are plenty of albums I don’t enjoy that are worthy of inclusion on a list like this. Unfortunately, this album doesn’t fit that bill either. There are so many records that have been released since 2017 that have been of greater musical and/or cultural significance; has anyone honest to God even talked about this record since it was released? I’m not at all a fan of Born to Die, or even Brat from last year, but those are albums that have made, and will continue to make, an impact. This album has not and will not. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to do a sound bath with a friend. I anticipate the singing bowls being a lot more appealing than The xx.

1.5/5

De la Rocha has always been the weak link of the band for me (as in, I don't love his vocals; lyrically, I'm all on board), and there are times when he gets to be a bit much on this record, but there are enough standout tracks ("Killing in the Name", "Know Your Enemy", "Wake Up") and killer musical moments to get it over the 3.5-star hump. I imagine I'd probably be a little higher on *Evil Empire* and *The Battle of Los Angeles*.

3.5/5

Really wanted to like this more after digging Shleep. Hopefully it will rise in my estimations with repeated listenings.

3/5

I need to be in the right mood for Leonard, but damn, when I am? I find that few songwriters match his prowess.

4/5

Perhaps not as good as the best Pixies material, but pretty damn good nonetheless.

4/5

Pretty interesting from a lyrical perspective; additionally, the songs that Tom Fleming sings are palatable, and even though Hayden Thorpe largely annoys me, I admire his diversity as a vocalist. Musically, there's just not a lot for me here. I find this particular brand of indie rock pretty listless, and there's absolutely no good reason why this album should be included here.

2.5/5

Lukewarm, potentially cold take: I think Kendrick may legitimately be the GOAT. I am not a rap/hip-hop expert and will never claim to be, and I have heard considerably fewer albums in the genre than many people here. But across his catalog/career, I think he’s proven to be nothing short of otherworldly. His shifting vocal timbres and deliveries; his flow and technical prowess; his lyrics and everything they encompass (intelligence, emotional resonance, humor, cleverness, social awareness); his ability to craft both subtle master classes and undeniable bangers; his cultural impact; I struggle to think of too many artists who have excelled at/matched him on all of these levels. No one impresses me quite like he does.

Hot take: although I think GKMC is clearly an absolute triumph from a thematic and storytelling angle, I don’t think it’s as strong on a song-by-song basis as some of his later works, and certainly not To Pimp a Butterfly. Honestly (and this may be an even hotter take), even though I like some of the earlier tracks, it doesn’t really get going for me until “m.A.A.d city”, which is the first track I truly love. Then, the three-song run of that, “Swimming Pools (Drank)”, and “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” is one of the most impressive 5-star run of songs I’ve heard on any hip-hop album. Again, all of this should be taken with a grain of salt given my general stance on hip-hop (I enjoy it much more as a songs genre than an album genre, and acknowledging that “genre” is being used loosely here due to all of the eras/sub-genres that could be discussed), but for me personally, although I applaud the overall accomplishment of GKMC, I think he goes on to make better records. One of them, at least.

3.5/5

About as good as this genre gets for me.

4/5

They get better, but a solid debut otherwise.

3.5/5