Reviews by thelofistorm

Very pretty album. “Roundabout” is obviously incredible, so lush and funky, but more grounded than anything off of Close To The Edge. In fact, that’s my favorite thing about this album: it’s so beautiful and lush and huge, and yet it’s not super long, and it doesn’t even feel super pretentious most of the time.

The album’s structured really interestingly, with a bunch of different shorter interludes, such as the romantic period song right after roundabout, or the 35-second long B-side opener, sandwiched between some of the greatest full songs ever: other than the previously mentioned “Roundabout,” A-side closer “South Side of the Sky” is mind-blowing, and breathtakingly beautiful. My favorite song on the album is the environmentally-inclined “Long Distance Runaround,” a shorter but devastatingly melancholy song that takes awe at how beautiful the natural world is, while also taking the sadness of its continued destruction in as well.

The album’s final stretch consists of a couple of lower-lying songs, such as “The Fish,” a super pretty and very fun little psychedelic proggy folk-rock song that I love a lot. But where it’s really at is the closer, “Heart of the Sunrise.” Ten minutes of overwhelming and downright gorgeous music. I can’t believe it. It’s so good.

This album is great. Definitely listen to it.
9.2/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: QUALITY, PLACE IN DISCOGRAPHY

There are like genuinely 5 better Tom Waits albums than this to put on the list. Actually, lemme list them. Tom’s Wild Years, which just makes sense to have if you’re gonna have Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs on here, Closing Time, which isn’t worth much but at least has “Martha,” which is probably his best song, on it. From there, I don’t know. Blood Money? I’ve heard good things about Mule Variations too. I don’t know. Not this.

It’s fine enough if you’re a Waits fan, frankly. You see the beginning of his transformation into a freakish beefheartesque singer, from the crooner he previously was. Sometimes he sounds a bit like Darkness-era Bruce Springsteen, which I hate also, so yeah.

Overall this album is like really boring and uninteresting and not super fun. Maybe I’m just not catching the vibes. Maybe it’s worse than I’m giving it credit for. Whatever.
5.6/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: NO
REASON: there’s 4 other tom waits albums on this dawg we don’t need this one and also like def not THIS one
WHAT WOULD I REPLACE IT WITH: Closing Time by Tom Waits

An irrelevant mediocre dance music album. Been a second since I got one of these. It also doubles as an obscure award winner from the late 90s-early 2000s, back when awards had both weight and good-enough taste. This one was awarded the Mercury prize over Radiohead’s OK Computer in 1998, which caused a bit of friction. My opinion on the matter should be obvious twofold: this is not better than OKC, and it also doesn’t really matter.

The album itself isn’t UNdeserving of an award. I’m 90% sure it’s the only jazzstep album on here, which is kind of like saying that it’s the only Wyoming ambassador on a global mission to meet sentient aliens; that alone doesn’t make it relevant.

Also, the album is way too long. Pretty much every song over 5 minutes is too long, in fact, or at least doesn’t do enough to justify the extra 2, 3, 4 minutes it goes on for. I can’t say that I’ll ever be interested in revisiting this album in full ever, just because of its length.

There is SOMETHING to this, though, something that makes it more than just passively listenable. There are moments of real beauty, true beauty, beauty in the electronic sounds that the drums speed over. Beauty in the obscure backpack rappers who guest on the album. In the weird detours it takes, the disfocus of the songs. It’s not a great album, but it’s not a bad one, I guess.
6.2/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: NO
REASON: there are more relevant albums than this to keep on the list.
WHAT WOULD I REPLACE IT WITH: Brat, probably

Now this is where the movement that can be traced as far back as The Velvet Underground’s second self-titled album in the late ‘60s, or as late as The Pixies’ breakthrough in the late ‘80s, yes, the coveted genre of Indie Rock, makes what I believe is its first tangible appearance. College radio rock by broke young musicians, who make jangly hooky post-punk-influenced songs? Indie rock. Definitely.

The problem, is that it’s not super awesome after the first side. Stipe is a great vocalist, especially on songs like “Talk About The Passion,” one of my favorite songs on the album, with its steady beat, and its lyrics that invoke homelessness and biblicality in the same breath, it’s incredible. Sadly I really don’t love the riff in “Moral Kiosk,” and after the super awesome “Catapault,” the rest of the album kind of just blends into one long messy second side that I find really boring.

Say what you will about their later work, it’s too pop, it’s too sensitive, FUCK YOU. The greatest thing Mike Stipe ever did was inject emotion into his vocals. “Everybody Hurts,” “Losing My Religion,” and “Man on the Moon” are all subpar without the emotion that permeates the performance. There’s little of that here, and that really lessens the album experience for me.

That being said, the highs are too undeniable, and the album’s sheer momentousness is enough to keep it at a shaky, but deserved,
8.0/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: I mean it’s basically the first indie rock album. You don’t get a lot more important than that, especially in our modern age.

Juvenile, cute, fun, pretty, lush, and SOOOOO FUCKING INFLUENTIAL. Perhaps Tribe’s most influential album. Obviously by a lot of modern standards maybe not the best, with juvenile flows, some underwhelming song topics, and perhaps even some unimpressive samples, but it all shakes out to be really very pleasant.

“Can I Kick It” is the obvious first highlight that comes to mind, easily and instantly iconic with the Lou reed sample, the momentous chorus, all of it. “Left My Wallet In El Segundo” is another easy highlight, super fun and light-hearted.

Overall this is definitely an album to listen to as far as early hip-hop goes; albums like this, 3 Feet High, and plenty of others helped shape and influence what would become the wide world of alternative/indie/art rap, movements that all persist strongly to this day.
8.9/10
DOES IT BELONT ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: quality, relevance, HEAVY influence

Good album. Been meaning to listen to more Pixies, obviously “Where Is My Mind” is awesome and I’d heard “Bone Machine” previously, that’s probably my favorite song here.

The first half is way better than the second, all noisy and frantic. Black Francis’s vocals are AWESOME, the melodies are so crazy and unhinged (Bone Machine chorus, the repetition of “ride, ride, ride, ride” on “River Euphrates”), and just a lot of super off-kilter and interesting tunes.

“Where Is My Mind?” Is the song that everyone talks about, and it deserves it. I don’t know for sure if it deserves ALL of it, but it’s certainly a great song. Driving vocals, frantic, desperate, surreal, great stuff. Sadly the rest of the album from there sucks, which is sad. “Tony’s Theme” is annoying, “Oh My Golly” is REALLY annoying… yeah. Just okay.

This album is awesome, noisy, creative indie music that is worth checking out. Influential, momentous, awesome.
8.4/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: INFLUENCE, QUALITY, RELEVANCE

I finally get to listen to this one. I’ve been meaning to, and the fall weather is perfect for it. I mean, a two-hour-long album about the sadness and melancholy (hah) of adolescence? Quite appropriate.

Anyway, as a mythologized double album, this does it about as well as you can. It’s not that every song is some insane masterpiece, but they all contribute to the album. Obviously certain sequencing choices make this album much, much better (“Tonight, Tonight” as the album’s de facto opener, “Love” into “Cupid De Locke”), and certain songs stand out against others as clear moments of importance, high points if you will.

The album’s two anchors, aka the two best songs on the album according to everyone ever, are “Tonight, Tonight” and “1979.” Now lemme tell you about these two songs. The former? Yeah it’s symphonic, but that’s not what’s special about it. The lyrics are incredible, resonant, moving. The singing is, though an acquired taste, passionate and emotional. Where the song really shines though is the band playing. The drum work on this song is out of this world, that guitar riff is instantly iconic, and the chord progression on the chorus is about the same. The latter, is mesmerizing, subtly heartbreaking in its wistfulness and its longing, and it’s a cross between an anthem and a deeply personal song, and it’s understandably become both.

As for the rest of the album, it’s really just incredible; every single song feels like the cold, autumnal depression of adolescence, and the sequencing is absolutely excellent. It is by far one of the best double albums I’ve ever heard, and one of the best albums I’ve ever heard, period.
10/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: ABSOLUTELY
REASON: quality, meaningfulness, influence, relevance

Adele’s music was the soundtrack to my first few years of consciousness; like the grey walls of a studio that I’ve not been to since I was 4 years old, or my old neighborhood, which has changed irreparably in the time since I departed, 21 by Adele is a deeply nostalgic artifact to me. And like these things that in another life were pouring with the beauty and intrigue of a world entirely unfamiliar to a 3, 4, or 5 year old, this album has lost a lot of its greatness that it had once acquired in my eyes.

True, I always knew this would be the case. The songs here that test the time are great, but clearly make way for serious flaws across the album. The writing is patchy and filled with clichés, the melody resolves with little effort or purpose, and it leaves Adele’s fantastic voice and the album’s pretty great production to do the lifting most of the time. The guitars, drums, voice, and piano all sound awesome here, though everything else, take it or leave it.

Other than the album’s greatest moments, each song feels indistinguishable from the next, in a way that would give me second hand embarrassment if there weren’t some truly phenomenal songs on this album: “Rolling in the Deep” is one of the greatest pop-soul songs of the previous decade, intense and despairing, passionate and anthemic. It’s one of the greatest songs to reach its level of popularity in the modern age, and is accompanied in popularity and quality by the album’s other two moments of musical greatness, the former being a driving ballad with some of the best vocal chops of Adele’s career, and the latter being one of the most emotionally potent songs to ever reach the popularity it has. The rest of the album, as it stands, is less mind-blowing. The ballads are on average pretty tepid and uninspired, and most songs sound the same. “He Won’t Go” is an exception, I like that song a lot frankly, but other than that there is little intrigue.

I don’t think I will return to this album often, and very few songs on here are truly wonderful, but it is an album that admittedly does need to be known in order to understand where the zeitgeist is right now.
6.8/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: quality, of the highs specifically, and significance

Right from the start, Iggy's voice is disturbing, and deeply crazed in a way I love. "Sister Midnight" is one of the greatest post-punk openers I've ever heard. I'm in love immediately. And the cover! Iggy is standing strangely out in the snow, with a demand gaze. It's hard to tell what he's doing, but he seems to be dancing, but strangely; oddly. It is from this strangeness, this oddness, that the album steps out from. The cold drums, the noisy guitars, Iggy's monotone yet crazed voice, it all works together to build such a wonderful vibe. Then the album settles into it a bit, with songs like "Funtime" and "Baby" perhaps signifying some sort of autopilot for the album's sound, one that I don't particularly love, but that I still like, because I love this album. And then...

"China Girl" comes on and changes everything. Passionate! Beautiful! Romantic! Phenomenal! The sequencing is perfect, it brings so much color into the album. The closer to the A-side, a driving, beautiful, and while the lyrical content doesn't always completely back it up, it feels hopeful in a way no other song does.

"Dum Dum Boys" brings you right back, and what an inspired song. Krauty, noisy, screamy, loud! I love it so much. It impresses me to no end. "Tiny Girls," placed right in between the album's two really long awesome tracks, is also insane; David Bowie plays a MEAN fucking saxophone on the song that, when combined with the noisy guitars mixed faintly in the background, makes the song so much better and so interesting, and I fucking love it. Finally you get to "Mass Production," which is just a Goliath of a song, and I adore it. Ominous vocals, deep, distorted guitars, the climax... It's so good. I truly believe that, outside of the little slog at the beginning, this album is near-perfect, and incredible in so many ways. Well done, Iggy.
9.3/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: QUALITY AND INFLUENCE

Very good, though Mr. Gabriel’s voice is not for me. It’s not because of the occasional breaks in his voice, though that is hard to listen to; it’s because of his sincere lack of skill in conveying emotion through singing.

I believe all the synths; I believe the guitars; Gabriel, not so much. It’s almost a relief when others are featured on songs, such as the chorus on “Don’t Give Up,” or the backing vocals on the outro of “In Your Eyes” (which incidentally is easily the best song on the album), because the mellow white voice of the artist simply does not cut it. His voice is dramatic to the point of near-insincerity, and his incorporation of genre influence outside of the pop sphere strikes me as good, but almost never great.

That being said, this is a great album! Consistent in sound and quality, with clear highlights and a distinction between songs, with heavy touches of political consciousness and maturity. It also brings a beautiful little bit of progressiveness to the pop mainstream, in songs like “Sledgehammer,” which in fact made it to the top of the charts.

Personal highlights are the aforementioned “Don’t Give Up,” saved completely by the female vocals on the chorus, and “In Your Eyes,” a beautiful, phenomenal work of pop music and one of the best uses of African influence in a pop context I can say I’ve heard.

Highly recommend this album, both for its significance in pop culture and the fact that it’s good.
7.8/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: quality and cultural significance.

Well, two things are true. One, A Girl Called Dusty is not a very good album. Two, I knew this was going to be different the second I got it. "Son of a Preacher Man" is known as one of the better soul songs sung by a white girl, and the rest of the album… glory, does it follow suit.

Pretty much every single song is a direct improvement on everything Springfield displayed on her debut. I mean, from the covers alone you can tell that they’re very different albums: the debut is this innocent, cheery picture of Springfield, in down-to-earth clothing, and this solid blue color. It’s bright and it’s positive. I’ve seen two versions of the cover for this album, one is displayed on the 1001 website, and it sees Springfield’s headshot, with a knowing, almost sultry smile, framed by this olive-green color. The other cover, the one that’s known more widely, is Springfield with her hands to her face, in this yellowish lighting. Both covers push a more obstructed, mysterious aesthetic, one that’s backed up by the musical choices on the album: heavy strings, softer songs, more mature singing and topics, it all communicates a grown-up-ness.

The album’s obvious peak is “Son Of A Preacher Man,” which is also the album’s most innocent song, and the peak of energy for the album. Instantly iconic, phenomenal, beautiful, energetic, lovey-dovey, love it. The other big highlights, “I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore,” a sad ballad that really fits well in the album, “Breakfast in Bed,” an easygoing, surprisingly dear song that I adore, and the haunting “Windmills Of Your Mind.”

This album is phenomenal! Absolutely listen!
10/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: ABSOLUTELY
REASON: quality, significance, place in catelogue

Johnny Cash is the crown jewel of old country, of country music in general frankly, and this, this is the crown jewel of his catelogue.

It has everything from high-energy songs like “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Cocaine Blues,” to more melancholy songs like “Dark as the Dungeon” or “Give My Love To Rose.” It even has songs on the funnier side, such as “Flushed From the Bathroom of your Heart” and “Dirty Ol’ Egg-Suckin’ Dog.”

I especially enjoy the songs performed with wife June Carter Cash; they add an even deeper level of universality to the recording. My favorite song on the album is “25 Minutes To Go,” which is a surprisingly harrowing song. This album is in every way a must-listen if you want to have a good sense of the influence and importance of Johnny Cash as an artist.
9.5/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: impact, significance, quality

MMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! YES. Otis Redding’s 1965 album “Otis Blue,” often referred to as his best album, containing such hits as the original rendition of “Respect,” later brought to a higher plane of fame by Aretha Franklin on her 1967 album I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You, and renditions of such hits as The Temptation’s “My Girl,” Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” “Shake,” and “Wonderful World,” as well as the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”

Otis Redding has a simply beautiful voice; let that be made completely clear. Deep, warm, and SOOOO soulful. I’ve seldom heard a voice more soulful than this, and Redding uses it well on songs like the aforementioned “Respect,” wielding it and weaving it through the song’s horns and drums.

Speaking of which, this album is wonderfully arranged. Love the drumming, love love love the horns, especially on the version of “Change Gonna Come.” I love how much more lush “Wonderful World” is, compared to the relatively sparse version recorded by Sam Cooke.

I also love the original songs on this. “You Don’t Miss Your Water” is great, “Down In The Valley” is incredible, and the crown jewel of originals is “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” an outstanding, rousing, wonderful song with an excellent performance. All around this is a great album, which any fan of soul should listen to ASAP.
8.7/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: Quality and significance

Pretty good concert. Hard Rain is significantly better, and this is furiously overrated, but it's still pretty good. See, people love this recording, and I simply can’t imagine why. Truly, it’s some of the best songs ever written, but… his voice.

And see, I’m not one of those people who hates on Bob Dylan’s voice. I think he’s one of the greatest singers ever. But… he was stoned here. You can tell. He’s completely uninterested, listless, a non-presence. This makes the first side of the album complete dead weight, where even great songs are reduced to moments of annoyance.

The second side is good. Probably the only reason this album has any stake as a good performance. That being said, Bob STILL sucks! His voice is STILL so whiny and annoying! The lyrics are still good but there are better versions elsewhere! This is boring! Go listen to Hard Rain! Rolling Thunder Revue! Something! Fuck you!
5.6/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: NO
REASON: Bro’s stoned wtf he sounds so bad
WHAT WOULD I REPLACE IT WITH: Hard Rain by Bob Dylan

I’m sorry. But this is bad. This is a bad album. David Bowie's flirtation with genres like pop and soul will never not be interesting, take the fact that he was the first white musician to be featured on Soul Train, for example. And there are some great songs on here! Which I'll get to. But I'll also, unfortunately, get to the songs on here that suck and are awful. And are why this album is bad.

So, to start! "Young Americans" is fabulous. Sensational, even. Backing vocals: great. Performance: great. That outro especially, where the background singers reference "A Day In The Life," it's so absurd and crazy, I love it. "Win" is great, except for Bowie's awful singing performance, which kinda sucks. Bowie has some great vocal performances (see: "Let's Dance," "Station to Station," "Soul Love," etc.), but this is assuredly not one of them. It's a fine song, but vaguely tragic for how good it could have been, had David Bowie given an adequate performance. "Fascination" is funky, likeable, and well-made. I don't see any real reason to dislike it, just because of how good it generally is. Not great, don't get me wrong, but good. "Right" sounds good, but then David starts making these weird sounds and it kinda falls apart for me. That being said, it's kinda okay. The impression going into the second side is that it's a fine, if underwhelming soul album by a king of music.

Side B starts with a song that's in character for the album: "Somebody Up There Likes Me," too long, unfocused, annoying. Not awful, I enjoy parts of it, it's just sooooooooooo long, and it sounds like the outro starts 3 and a half minutes into it. The song is 6 and a half minutes long. It's so long. Too long. But, groovy. Fun. And a stone-cold masterpiece compared to the song that comes next.

David Bowie's rendition of "Across The Universe" is still one of the worst things I've ever heard (John Lennon apparently liked it, but John Lennon also made "Woman Is The N***** Of The World," so his opinion is void). The vocal performance is ugly, disgustingly bad, melodramatic for no good reason, the beat is tepid and annoying, the Hindu chant is replaced with a comparatively annoying guitar line, the contentedness of the original is replaced with this dazed passion, which I hate to my core, UGH. Everything about this song is unforgivable. It brings the entire score down by a point. I hate this song

And whaddya know, the next song sucks too! I don't like the strings very much, I don't love the performance, I don't love a lot of things about it. I'm kinda inconsolable after that last song though, so. Ask someone else about it. Thankfully "Fame" is fucking awesome. It's my cousin's favorite Bowie song, and one of the two contenders for a great song on this entire album. It's funky, it's energetic, it's manic, it's crazy, I love it.

So, Bowie's soul album. Bad. Two great songs, one terrible song, and a bunch of boring songs in between. Does it belong here? I don't think so. Listen to the two big songs, both of which are huge and are on any self-respecting Bowie compilation, and you'll get the gist. Do this many Bowie albums even belong on the list? Probably not. The Next Day certainly doesn't. And despite this one's significance, its quality does not live up to the hype, sadly.
4.4/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: NO
REASON: No one deserves to have to listen to that rendition of "Across The Universe."
WHAT WOULD I REPLACE IT WITH: Let's Dance by David Bowie (An actually GOOD pop Bowie album!)

“3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the life of Arrested Development.” How inviting. You’re given a look into the thoughts and lives of people, people who seem pretty awesome honestly! I mean, “Mr. Wendal” is one of the most full-of-heart songs I’ve ever heard. It's all so likeable: "Natural" is just "Eye Know" but worse lyrics and a less iconic sample. At once, the album brings visions of comfort, of hardships, of beauty and strife. A lot of the styles are incredibly nostalgic to me, and I appreciate that a lot.

It's much too long, and the styles are quite outdated, but it has its place in hip hop history. It influenced a lot of modern styles, and its combinations of poppier hooks with conscious styles is really nice to hear. The Christian element must be hard for some to stomach, but it's really a lovey kind of Christianity, very clearly compassionate and likeable, advocating for freedom for all and stuff like that. If you grew up deep in the city, have a conscious/political edge, and can handle the religious elements, then you'll find much of this very comforting.
7.3/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: Influence and quality

My relationship to the discography of one Steven Paul Smith, also known as Elliott Smith, has been long. I was introduced to him at age 11, with his song “Waltz #1,” and I’ve come to know his music as synonymous with the sensitive, depressed indie boy style of many a man I know. Like these men, some of Smith’s albums are pathetic, and some of them are awesome. An example of his more pathetic side is his celebrated self-titled, which has maybe one good song and a bunch more that are known as good but in fact are not. An example of his awesome side is what is oft-touted as his magnum opus, 1997’s Either/Or, which is full of urban, melancholy songs, with some of the most iconic moments in his catelogue. This album… is pretty good.

2000’s Figure 8 is held with equal reverence to the aforementioned albums as one of Smith’s greatest works, some sort of titan of indie. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not too much worse or better than any of his stuff, and if you look closely at any of his albums you’ll find plenty of great songs (on here the most obviously good is “Somebody That I Used To Know,” which has some of the best lyrics of any of his songs), but generally his catelogue is fretfully overrated. “Son of Sam” is pleasant, “Junk Bond Trader” is incredibly unimpressive, as is almost every other song here up until “In The Lost And Found,” which is super pleasant and well-written. The best part of Smith’s work is the comforting depression of urban life, living in a big city and doing big city things and feeling awful. It really works less than you’d think, but “Wouldn’t Mama Be Proud” achieves it easily. So do “Color Bars” and “Easy Way Out,” with the whole subtle accusation thing that Smith is so deeply proficient at. I believe it picks up a bit in the second half, with some actually really interesting songs, but it’s really not enough to save how boring parts of this album are. Pleasant though. I guess.
5.8/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: I guess.
REASON: I mean it’s good sometimes. It’s better than XO and self-titled.

Charming and very important. Really a lot of pleasant tunes, such as "Let The Sad Times Roll On," "The Band Keeps Playing On," and "The Streets of Laredo." This album and this artist in general is also as I understand it very foundational in this kind of country music, and the atmosphere of the music really backs it up. A lot of the slower ballads are really pretty, though a lot of the faster ones are less liked by me. That being said though I really like this.

I think a big reason for the low score of this album is, first of all, an obvious and partially fair bias against country music; the genre has deteriorated for decades, to the point where its biggest hits nowadays are treated as tantamount to greater offenses in society by those who claim to have a superior music taste. Another reason is a bit of a disconnect from the genre. A lot of people, no matter what they say, aren't really willing to give something like this a chance, because they believe it's already familiar to them. We've all heard Johnny Cash. We've all heard Tim McGraw. We've all heard Morgan Wallen. I think to many they're all the same. But I'm here to say, this album should garner some sort of respectability. It's very pretty, very warm, well-played, and demonstrates a clear proficiency in the creation of music like this.

While I don't believe you would be doing yourself a disservice to steer clear of this one, it's less than half an hour and very pleasant. Check it out!
7.3/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: Foundational, and high-quality

Incredible joint. Though I suppose that it didn't grab me as much as some of the more impassioned reviews on this website, I loved it. To speak plainly, the funk was IN me, controlling the way I moved, thought, and spoke. In a more analytical note, Parliament is obviously one of the most consequential funk acts in the history of the genre, being led by the man himself, George Clinton, who also headed the Parliament sister project, Funkadelic.

Every single song here brings some sort of incredible, undeniable groove that WILL get stuck in your head for around a week. It's impossible not to adore the group vocals of "IF YOU HEEEAR ANY NOISE, IT'S JUST ME AND THE BOYS," or "SWING DOWN, SWEET CHARIOT STOP, AND LET ME RIDE," "GIVE UP THE FUNK!!," "I WANT MY FUNK UNCUT!," I could go on. After having only heard this album for one day, I could tell you the general grooves and vibes coming out of each song. I truly love this album. I will be listening a lot.
9.7/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YESSSSSSSS
REASON: Everyone needs a bit of the funk, and who better to get it from than the masters of it?

The third and final blur album I am to get on this site. My second favorite on the site too, after the excellent Modern Life Is Rubbish, and before the very annoying self-titled. But is this any good? Well. There’s some good, but not much to my opinion.

This is the moment where Blur begins to branch out from just being a pretty awesome Britpop band to being a pretty annoying experimental Britpop band. Don’t get me wrong, they produce some satisfying tunes in this period, such as the iconic “Girls & Boys,” the concretely catchy “Tracy Jacks,” or the jangly, pretty “Badhead.” Sadly, once these songs have run their course there stands a period of the album where they make some forays into other genres: punk, waltzy theatre, what have you. It stands as something very interesting, all tied together by the Britishness of it all, but it’s just not super appealing to me.

Don’t get me wrong! I like Blur a lot. For the past 20 days straight I’ve had nonstop communication with a huge blur fan, and has become one of my closer friends. Under her influence I’ve come to adore Modern Life is Rubbish, and the band’s masterpiece, 13. That being said, there exists a disconnect between us concerning this album and the self-titled project. This album isn’t bad, it isn’t good. I can stand it.
6.4/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: sure
REASON: significance