Rated 8/10
Strong guitar driven album with incomparable feel good feeling. Especially liked "Ramble Tamble" with its instrumental interlude.
Some more ordinary rock'n'roll and blues numbers keep the album from being truly excellent.
3.5/5 - strong
Rated 8/10
I love how guitar, bass, drums and voice all sound awesome in their own rights, and then together they meld to an even better sounding big picture.
The A-side is impeccable - proto Stoner/Doom perfection. Unfortunately, the B-side is just a similar but much weaker version of that.
All in all, it's excellent, but not among my very favorites.
4/5
Rated 4/10
Not for me. In my ears, the ingredients don't fit together, and the voice is annoying. "The Bogus Man" wasn't bad, but too long.
1.5/5 - weak
Rated 8/10
Wow, first real surprise of this project! My first time listening to Talking Heads. Will surely come back.
Unique mix of danceable funk/rock, elements of world music and weird electronic noises. Also, how the songs were arranged, I had the feeling to be taken on a real journey.
4/5 - excellent
Rated 6/10
They sure found "their" sound, and this sound is quite cool. Problem is, they exploit it over 15 tracks with only little variation from more rocking to more soulful. So, while I really dig some standouts like "Everlasting Light", "Tighten Up", "Unknown Brother" or the one where they reverse-rickrolled us, the album as a whole drags and doesn't make me want to check out their other stuff.
3/5 - good
Rated 6/10
My thoughts exactly when I listened to this:
*Roots Bloody Roots starts*
Man, this is awesome! The riffs, the aggression! Why don't I listen to metal more often!
*10 minutes later*
Huh, well, this sounds all the same. Starting to get on my nerves already.
*10 minutes later*
Give... me... melodies and harmonies...
*puts on Beatles*
To be fair, I returned later, and the mixing of metal riffs and growls with Brazilian tribal percussion was awesome. But the point stands.
2.5/5 - okay-ish
Rated 4/10
I guess it takes balls to start the debut album of your new punk band with a 9min noise jam, followed by a spoken word piece.
I actually liked the jammy opener (really has a Heavy Psych vibe going, and also, give the bass technician a cookie, the bass sound is delicious) and the riff in "Annalisa". Problem is, the voice ruins these good moments for me. And the other problem is, the other pieces are worse, or in the case of "Fodderstompf" much much worse (what the hell?).
2/5 - below average
Rated 6/10
Liked the rocking tracks "Alabama" and "Words". If the album built more on that style, it would be great.
The other stuff is okay, but a little boring in my ears with the exception of "Heart of Gold", which is a beautiful song.
All in all, 3/5 - solid
Rated 6/10
It's good. Far on the "pop" side of pop rock. "The Chain" is a really great song.
Most of the other songs however just pass by without leaving a mark with me. Perhaps it's too polished, too clean for me.
3/5 - good
Rated 8/10
Most important question here: love or hate the coconut song? For me, love! Looking forward to countless hours of earworm.
Apart from that, strong album which covers lots of styles. Incredible voice also.
Side note: For many years I thought pop music is mostly shitty and not for me. But recently I realized that there was a time when pop music was pretty good. This album serves to prove the case.
3.5/5 - strong
Rated 6/10
So. Relaxing.
Soothing music that can be consumated as background listening but contains enough details and twists in the arrangements that active listening doesn't bore either. Also, lovely voice in a language I barely hear.
Not all of the tracks work the charm in the same way though.
All in all: 3/5 - good
Rated 4/10
Hard to rate this.
On the one, all of the songs were really "okay" as they passed by.
On the other hand, not one was good enough to make me wish to revisit.
I felt the song parts often didn't fit together, so a good instrumental interlude or nice chorus in there was quickly followed by something that brought the song down again.
In my ears, (they may have been one of the first to create this kind of melodic alternative rock sound, but) many others did it much better.
2/5 below average
Rated 4/10
Can't say much about this. This is okay, as far as Electronic Dance music goes. Unfortunately, this kind of music doesn't go very far for me...
It started okay with the first two tracks in more Downtempo like style but switched quickly to a boring House party which felt quite uninspired most of the time.
Give me some Rock'n'Roll instead...
2/5 - below average
Rated 4/10
I miss real instruments :'( The synths sound so shitty and outdated.
Some of the orchestral touches are quite nice, as are some chord progressions. "Enjoy the Silence" is great.
But in the end it all feels too artificial, cold, dead. This isn't for me.
2/5 - weak
Rated 6/10
Listenable, well crafted folk music and piano ballads.
For my taste there's happening too little in most of the tracks, which makes it a pleasant background listen, but lacking immersion.
"Southern Man" was an exception to this and pretty cool.
3/5 - solid
Rated 6/10
I have to give this album credit for going to some weird places and creating unique atmospheres, especially using Björk's special vocal abilities.
But unfortunately, for me it's not all hit, but some miss too.
Surely a grower album, as on the first listening, I liked much less of it.
"Human Behavior" is really cool.
All in all, 3/5 - solid
Love the album cover.
This may be influential for a lot of genres and whatnot, but if I am to rate the actual music presented here (and that's what I want to do), then... 😮💨
In my ears it ranges from okay (like the opener "Sunday Morning" or "There She Goes Again") to boring (hello, "All Tomorrow's Parties") to annoying as hell (looking at you, "Black Angel's Death Song" and "European Son"). Both vocalists do a bad job and the guitar solos are embarrassing.
All in all, I'm afraid there's barely anything that makes me want to revisit this influential classic.
2/5 below average
Masterpiece.
I just recently got into the Kinks and have to say this (together with "Village Preservation Society") is pure pop rock gold.
The songwriting is focused but varied enough to keep it intersting at all times. Nearly every song stuck in my head pretty soon. I love the chord progressions and tempo changes. And that jammy stretch in "Australia"!
It's not perfect, because the last three songs don't resonate with me as much as the rest, but it's damn near perfect!
A band that deserves more credit.
4.5/5
Rated 2/10
This album was a masterclass in how tastes differ... the critical acclaim for this is off the charts, on RYM this is rated higher than all of the unbelievable legendary masterpieces by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, ...
So I really really tried to get into it, although it felt wrong from the beginning.
At the end I can say, I do acknowledge the great production, but that's where my appreciation ends.
Nope, it's not for me.
1/5 very weak
Rated 4/10
Well, it didn't offend, but it was boring, kind of a snore fest. Some of the choruses are pleasant enough, but nearly every song drags way too long. Why repeat verse-chorus three times when it's so bland and forgettable?
2/5 below average
