Reviews by sterry2289

Prob 3.5. Lot of funs tracks. The only JB track i knew was Doing Our Own Dang, and just learned Q-Tip, Queen Latifah and De La Soul are all on it.

Very cool stuff. My high level take on this is they aren't great song writers, but everything else is top notch. As many epic moments as there are confounding moments. I don't understand the purpose of the diddling on Moonchild that lasts 10 minutes. It does make the intro to "The Court of the Crimson King" pop, but 10 minutes of random sounds feels excessive. At moments I’m definitely engaged and enjoying parts, but there are also moments where it sounds like Spinal Tap with a music degree.

Experimenting and pushing boundaries is good, but shouldn’t always be packaged and sold as music. Some of this is legit good, but I think they front loaded the album. Highlight was the bass line in Regiment.

Because I don’t have a lot to say other than this is one of the best albums here are some random thoughts.

Quincy Jones version of BOTW from Gula Matari is so good. Not sure if this is true but heard Hendrix was going to play on it but was too intimidated, which makes sense if you hear some of the guitar on there.

Apparently Art didn’t like BOTW which is sick.

BOTW is a very fun progression to play on guitar and often the first thing I play when I pickup a guitar.

I’m very interested in Art and Simon’s relationship. Apparently both So Long Frank Lloyd Wright and Only Living Boy in NY are basically love songs Simon wrote for Art.

I've gone through this album three times now, and I'm still having a hard time deciding where I land on it. With each listen I enjoy it more, which I think is a trait of the best albums. Reading up on Illinois I came across this quote from Sufjan: "I think now I listen more as a technician and a researcher. I'm always hearing music in terms of what I can take out of it, and I think I've always listened like that. I have a hard time just listening for pleasure." This sums up much of the album. Incredibly orchestrated and dense and feels like someone spent a lot of time writing, arranging, and recording it. Like a work of art in a museum, not to be touched, but beautiful to look at and think about.

It's hard to criticize this album, but if I had to... I'm mildly annoyed by his singing style - just cut loose once! Also, I think music is generally meant to be instinctual and enjoyed without thinking TOO much, and I wish there were more moments like that on this record. Overall, I'm very impressed with Sufjan and will be spending a lot more time digesting this one.

Sledgehammer might be the perfect song. Every component of the song fits together perfectly. The funk guitar holding the rhythm, the horns, the background vocals, the ascending volume on the horns during the chorus. Lead vocals rip, etc. Plus, it gets me fucking amped. The entire album feels like a fine suit, sometimes flashy and sometimes understated. The composition of the songs is super clean, high-quality production without adding superfluous instruments/solos. That said, some of the songs may be filler (This is the Picture/Mercy Street). The highlight (aside from Sledgehammer) was Big Time. IM ON MY WAY, IM MAKING IT!!! I need to revisit why I love Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins but don't like Genesis.

What a horrible weird roller coaster ride that was. After three songs I was queueing up texts to friends “Korn is good!” I was RIGHT to like them in 5th grade. But that jubilation was short lived. The remainder of this album is an abomination. I have many questions about this album and nu metal in general. My primary question is why would my parents let me listen to this when I was 10?

“All In The Family”, the homophobic battle rap between Jonathan Davis and Fred Durst, may be the worst song ever made. There is a small chance this is some kind of comment on homophobia? The song starts with back and forth insults about each being a "faggot", but the song ultimately devolves into Fred and Jon exchanging "threats" of fucking one another. Truly bizzare. I'm officially OUT on Korn.

I'm not wearing any panties, but if I was they'd be on the floor.

Definitely a challenging album. I don't seek out this style of music out but I'm glad I listened to it.

Favorite rap/hip-hop group and this is a hell of a debut album. So many interesting samples, and great moments in the album. The songs sampled span a wide range of genre's and are also great songs in their own right. Listening to this makes we wonder why more rap artists didn't explore more outside of the box song structures and samples. Held up incredibly well after 34 years, adding a point for innovation and all around love for TCQ.

May need another couple listens to develop a strong opinion. At first pass I can say it was very pleasant.

Snoop sounds like George Clinton’s really badly behaved baby. The hits hit. A couple I’d skip.

In an interview with Mac Demarco he mentioned that a friend had compared Thin Lizzy to The Beatles, which was shocking to him and me. After that I started exploring a bit more and I wouldn’t say they’re in the same stratosphere as The Beatles, they are very underrated. This live album, albeit dubbed, rocks. The live performance of Rosalie is on YouTube and it’s fucking sick.

I love Fela. Unique music with roots in american genres I love (funk and soul). High energy, charasmatic and interesting. All that said, I don't think this is his best work, but its still good. I would say 3/5 but bumping a point because of the political implications of this album. "The album criticised the Nigerian government; and it is thought to have resulted in the murder of Kuti's mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and the destruction of his commune by the military."

One of my favorite albums ever is "Live!" performed with Ginger Baker.

I like the upbeat power pop with the treble bass. Reminds me of Joe Jackson or early Police. You can hear a lot of of the sounds from this era. That said, the lyrics are super whiny and a lot of these songs are forgettable.

I had not heard this and loved it. Never been a huge Bruce guy but over the years have grown to really enjoy some of his stuff. This one really landed for me. Seems insane that at the height of his power he released a folk album with tracks about serial killers. No percussion? Somehow works.

There were very brief moments where I thought I was getting it, but mostly I didn't get it.

Love rock and roll but this sound is grating to me, mostly the guitar, and it doesn’t let up. Some songs I enjoy but wont play this front to back.

Couldn’t get through it. Ecstasy of Gold got me amped and it was all downhill from there. Don’t think the symphony was additive.

What’s really unique about The Score is the production quality. On top of the super clean production you have Lauryn Hill, who is a master of both rap and singing/melodies and adds to the overall super high quality album. I’m not sure the other aspects of the album are as revolutionary as they appear 30 years later (content of the songs, female rapper/singer). Overall it holds up, and I’m sure at the time pushed the genre forward. The template of creating a 10 second loop and rapping/singing over it for 3 minutes feels tired now, but at the time may not have been played out. I wish they would have explored other structures and arrangements. Skits are also something I could do without, but obviously were/are popular on Rap albums. Would go somewhere between 3.5 and 4.