Reviews by ohlessergod

I had no idea Ready or Not was from this album, but that's a banger. Lauryn Hill shitting on the mic literally in this one. HOLY SHIT. Is Fugees short for "Refugees" like Lauryn raps on Zealots? I never would have thought. Wikipedia can confirm. Wow. I never knew! Songs that use sirens piss me off when I'm driving. All the Star Wars references in The Beast make me wonder if George Lucas got the idea for Jar Jar Binks while listening to this album. The background music and beats on this album are nice. Kind of unique. The flow sounds like 90's hip hop. Getting Tribe and Diggable Planets vibes. That smooth flow interlaced with intelligence spewing and nerdy references. So 90's. Rappers these days gave up on that shit. They don't have anything to prove like the Fugee's did. The only thing I dislike about this album is all the skits. When I want to listen to music I want music. I don't want people talking to each other in between songs. If they're split out from the other songs, that's fine because I can skip them but when they're embedded at the end of songs, I don't like it. Aside from that this is a solid album. Killing Me Softly has always been a hit. The No Woman No Cry cover (coincidentally on this album after listening to Bob's version a few albums back) isn't bad but I guess I prefer Bob's version. Solid beats, solid intelligent lyrics, and overall a decent listen minus the skits.

First, Neil, please let me listen to you on Spotify. Have you not made your riches? Anyway, Cinnamon Girl is decent, I guess I haven't listened to a ton of Neil Young. I like how electronic this album is. I usually don't think of electronic instrumentation with Neil Young. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is a cool song. The theme of not having a woman or a home to return to is interesting especially in the way he puts it that everybody knows this doesn't exist. Round and Round is slow and sad. The passing of time in one's life is both long and short and full of crying I guess. Down By The River starts with a good little rhythm. Not sure about all the la la las. This guitar solo is sounds fucking cool. This might be my favorite song on here so far. The Losing End didn't do much for me. "Alright Wilson, pick it!" what the fuck was that? Running Dry is slowwww but I like the dreary sound and the violin. Cowgirl in the Sand has a really cool vibe. Digging this one a lot too. Interestingly my favorite songs on this have long instrumental sections. Normally I'd be like get back to the singing and shit but these instrumental bits are so cool and loose and fun. Too bad I'll probably never hear any of these again because Neil doesn't like Spotify.

Oh fuck yes. Maybe the first album I already know front to back! I made my dad buy this CD and I played it for him and I'm pretty sure he hated it. I guess I am a little embarrassed to say I loved this but fuck it. There is a reason it ended up as one of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It is a classic. It was my punk rock, the album I used to differentiate myself from my parents. It gave me the tools needed to never be offended by anything and to have the darkest sense of humor. I mean the album cover is a woman dead (Oh, mama, she's takin' a little nap...) in the trunk of a car while a man contemplates getting rid of the body with his little baby. Dark shit. Men love to shit on their wives for some reason, but Eminem did that shit darker than them all. I can't wait to listen to this at almost 37 years old and see if it holds up. "Try 'Cid" never realized that was a shortened form of acid. Eminem is apparently the only person who could ever rhyme anything with orange (door-hinge) and that's why this album is on this list. At the same time... Has this aged well? Was it good or do I just have some weird nostalgia for it? As I listened to it today I got very bored with the kill-this-bitch-please theme. Over and over. What was wrong with this man? Or was it all an act? Oddly enough I think this came out when I was within a range of ages that this album was made for. Kids who liked terrible music and made their parents listen to it because they wanted to offend them, that was the age I was. It probably worked a little but looking back it was very immature. Kind of the same as this album. It was made to offend. Made to shock. As a kid I wasn't shocked and a lot of this went over my head, but I found it funny. I do appreciate when rap makes me laugh and I believe good rap has a comedic aspect to it. But this is actually pretty violent. I am not offended and I know it's a joke, but when I listen to this now it seems boring. I thought the whole album was good when I was younger, but now I realize there are a few songs I enjoy and the rest is just the same themes over and over. When I saw this come up today, 12 year old me was ready to give this 5 stars. 36 year old me appreciates some of the music behind the lyrics and Eminem's flow but the jokes haven't aged well and neither has the mysogyny.

Who the fuck is Fred Neil?! I'm starting to wonder if some of these albums don't actually exist or maybe I'm in some alternate universe. It's opening my eyes to how much music I don't know.oh this some Tom Jones knockoff... Oh good more harmonica... Not into his voice... Not much special... Hoping when I read the wiki page this guy killed his entire family or something because the music is not doing much for me at all. Oh he was just born in Cleveland, Ohio and instead of touring as a musician he was more interested in dolphin preservation. I kind of like Ba-Di-Da but fuck the harmonica. Oh Faretheewell was sung by Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis! I don't like this version. I'm seeing now that it's also called Dink's Song and was first recorded with a woman singing it in 1909 but then all these folk singing men stole it. At this point I'm just antsy to hear "Sweet Cocaine" cause I'm sure that's gonna liven things up right? Everything Happens is ok... I like the more melancholy sounding folk songs like this. Of fucking course Sweet Cocaine would have harmonica because you probably have to be on cocaine to enjoy that sound. And of course they'd use a harmonica (maybe) in a raga. Don't fucking do that.

I thought "No woman, no cry" meant not to cry if you didn't have a woman but for the first time in my life I realized it's about telling a woman not to cry. I never actually listened to the lyrics until this. The wiki page for the song let's me know other people think the same thing, but I kind of like it better this way. This album as a whole isn't my favorite. Maybe it's too polished sounding? Too electronic or something? Not sure. The instrumentation isn't my cup of tea either. I kind of hate the harmonica. Not sure why. I actually fell asleep to some of this because it is pretty repetitive and not very upbeat but that kind of goes to show this is some chill music. It just didn't wow me across the board. Bob's great and I would love to learn more about his story, but most of this I wouldn't revisit.

Who the fuck is Hugh Masekela?! Holy shit. I honestly didn't expect that there would be artists on here I didn't know but here we are! This is so obscure the wiki page mentions it's inclusion in 1001 Albums in the first paragraph! Soul jazz is not a genre I can say I'm familiar with. Oh shit... This shit is smoooothe. I immediately like "Part of a Whole." I love trying to contemplate how the music itself relates to the titles in jazz. I have no idea how this music equals "Part of A Whole" and maybe song titles in jazz don't always have to sound out their titles in the music. Can you imagine if this music backed Ella Fitzgerald or Amy Winehouse or the Talking Heads? Holy shit. That would be something. But I'm glad it doesn't. I'm glad it stands alone and I love that 1001 has introduced me to it. Wait what the fuck was there a duck whistle around 8:15 in "Part of a Whole?" Gettin loose at the end there. I like it. Oo Minawa is taking it down a notch. What does Minawa mean? Minawa is a beach in Wisconsin. 1 family in the US is named Minawa. It's a rail station in Japan. I'm gonna guess the rail station in Japan fits this mood. Not a bustling city station but a barely populated countryside station that picks up 5 people at 5 am to take them into the city. Minawahhhhh. The Big Apple is obviously about a large piece of fruit or New York. Probably the fruit. But really does exude a city full of life and assholes. Unhome is sad just by the title. I finished the album and loved the entire thing. I also really appreciated the production quality. Even listening in Spotify, this sounds very clean and almost like I'm in the studio. I have to check out more Hugh Masekela!

This is the first album on here that I actually made it all the way through without skipping (cheating I know), but who has time to listen to music that doesn't do it for you! This music does it for me. It started off admittedly a bit off with "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel" but after that I loved every song. The major themes I picked out were love, creativity, and not wanting to be human and man that resonates. I originally wondered how David's voice was received back in the day and I guess it was received well. Another unique voice in this series for sure but at least this has very unique and varied backing music to go with it. And as I said the themes give it an easy 5 out of 5 in my opinion.

Ahhh the modern Ella Fitzgerald lol. Man, you never think too much about the song "Rehab" but what a cry for help if there ever was one. Amy was the female equivalent of Kurt Kobain... Well sort of. Maybe not. She was something. I remember my mom hating her music. I never gave her much listen as she seemed pretty poppy, but listening to her later in life has made her more enjoyable. She's like a fine house wine - she appreciates with time. Her story is intriguing. I need to watch the biopic. Oh man. As I listen it doesn't get better for me. It's starting to sound like Ella Fitzgerald more and more and it even sounds like big band music. Nevermind. Not a fan of this album. It's fine. Just not my type of music.