Reviews by smith__2112

All live albums should include whooping and hollering from the crowd

I already like Sam Cooke’s studio stuff, but live is just that with the energy turned up to 11. Amazing

For as much 90s indie that I’ve listened to, I really should have listened to Exile in Guyville much sooner. Very solid indie rock album. It has the potential to be bumped up to 5 stars on repeat listens

I’ve listened to Fever Ray’s later stuff, the ones after she shaved her head and started looking like a demon. I enjoy those later albums but this one might actually be my favorite. A much darker mood and more sleepy (in a good way)

For when you want to have a bad time, but also a funky time

This album cover could be a gay couple’s wedding announcement. Do you think Simon and Garfunkel ever explored each other’s bodies?

This was a solid 2 star album until the pedophile song

Whoever decided to let Leonard Cohen have access to a synth deserves a raise

Maybe little squirmy wormies in my head wouldn’t be that bad

One of my favorite albums of all time. Obviously there’s a lot to take in here and repeat listens reveal more and more each time. I’ve known about 69 Love Songs for years and there are still songs that jump out and become new obsessions that I never gave much thought to previously (Grand Canyon was that song on this listen).

When I first listened to this album, I didn’t actually sit down and listen to all 3 hours. I found a used cd of only the first part. Months later I found a copy of the second part, and then even later I finally found the third one. I’m glad I discovered 69 Love Songs this way. It allowed me to spend more time with each part and not get overwhelmed by its size. As expansive as it is, the true beauty of this album is all the small details that make up each song. Certain tonal changes inflections, the rough and raw production, how specific the lyrics are. Each song feels like it’s telling a small part of larger story that exists somewhere out in the world.

I also feel like 69 Love Songs doesn’t get the recognition it deserves for being such an openly queer album. Every song was written by a gay man. They’re sung by both men and women with all combinations of pronouns. It’s accepting of all sexualities. Some songs are clearly straight, some gay, some bi, and some left unclear. But they’re all treated as equally valid ways to love

I too prefer my sadness to be drenched in over the top gothic dramatics

I might’ve just been in the perfect mood, but I really enjoyed this. Techno is very much not my genre but I was bopping to every song on Orbital 2

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard is like a Top 10 song of all time. The rest of the album is solid too

I’m not super familiar with Madonna’s discography, but I know she has plenty of albums better than Music. Most of it is just bland generic pop. The couple songs I did enjoy were funnily enough the ones that were more country inspired. The version of this album on apple music did not include her cover of American Pie, but based on some of the reviews here I had to check it out anyway. It’s a good thing that it’s left off the album, because it alone would drag this down to a one star

I have the sneaking suspicion that this guy isn’t actually Japanese

Crime of the Century is more rough around the edges than Breakfast in America. It also doesn’t really have any standout hits or anything. But it was pleasant enough for one listen. I’ll probably forget it entirely in a week though

One of the few albums I’ve gotten where I didn’t know the album or even the band. It was quite good and a worthwhile discovery. A good reminder of why I’m doing this whole project

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is my favorite jazz album and one of my favorite albums of all time. Charles Mingus was the first jazz artist that fully clicked for me. I had listened to some jazz before him and enjoyed it, but his music was the first that I felt like I connected to and really fell in love with. This album is so unique and perfect. It returns to the same motifs and themes and sucks you down deeper into it. It feels almost hypnotic. It’s a full experience in a way that the best albums are

There’s something almost genius to how stupidly fun this is

I just like little weird boy music