Reviews by therealab

I'm having a hard time putting into words my reaction to this album. It feels very much of its time. Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, m.A.A.d City came out the year before and you can hear the impact it had. This is a super horny album. This is the first album after he started dating Kim Kardashian. I don't know if there's a connection but he can't stop talking about or making sex references. A lot of "noise music" on this album...not appealing. I like his earlier work much better. Kanye has gotten really weird.

This is like the band Wes Anderson would create if he was a musician. Both of the opening songs could be the music playing during the opening scene of any of his movies. And the album cover could easily be something that Bill Murray and Owen Wilson are talking to each other about Renaissance painting. I like them less than The Head and The Heart who they remind me of. There is definitely a Beach Boys feeling to this album. The vocals on these songs sound almost identical. Listening to one song from this album, ok. Listening to an entire album, too much. I don't hate the sound, it's just too much the same.

Graceland is such a great story. It's fun and charming and wistful at the same time. This is accessible world music which sounds terrible but I wonder if some of the issues in South Africa or the quality of some of its musicians wouldn't have gotten as much attention without it. A lot of great stories in these songs and just a hopeful feeling throughout. This album has a distinctive sound, even if I didn't know if a specific song was from this album it feels like it would be pretty evident. Ladysmith Black Mombazo have beautiful voices. This is such a departure from Simon and Garfunkel. Zydeco is a universally bad genre and Paul Simon's voice (accent and tone) does not pair well with it. The back half of the album is a significant disappointment after the first half.

I forgot to take notes on this album while I was listening but other than David Bowie, T. Rex is my favorite glam rock act. Cosmic Dancer and Get It On are great and everything else fits the album sound.

No way. Less than 2 minutes in to the first song and I know this is not one of the 1,001 albums you need to hear before you die. Unless this is like punishment for those who have lived a wicked life, no one should ever have to hear this "music" again. Found sound albums are definitely something music critics like more than real people. I thought modern art music was supposed to be excluded but this seems to be treading a fine line. It's hard to know when one crappy "song" ends and the next crappy "song" begins. The only thing that could prevent this album from being a 1 star would be if it was one track long. Every song is worse than the last. Some of the songs at the end of the album are at least short and contain long sections of silence which is an improvement over the random assortment of noises that make up the rest of the album. This album is the Jackson Pollack painting in regards to people claiming that any idiot could do this. That is one of the worst things I've ever subjected myself to.

This album feels both like a throwback to a hip hop era before Staight Outta Compton and a look forward to groups like Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets. Guru is an amazing lyricist. They invented Jazz Rap, whatever that genre means now. All due respect to A Tribe Called Quest, this might be the genre at it's peak. DJ Premier has worked with a lot of rappers but the partnership between him and Guru is a perfect match of a DJ and an MC. Different sounds but Gang Starr is the spiritual descendant of Eric B. & Rakim. A Tribe Called Quest's success is even more amazing considering that after this album it feels like everything was gangsta rap all of the sudden. Very jazzy. Guru sounds hard without telling stories about killing people and dealing drugs. Great album.

Psychedelic rock is not my thing, I think not understanding the words might be helping though. This is like a cross between psychedelic rock and pop...this is like something that would be on at a hipster taqueria where the bartender has a unique and well maintained mustache. I could do without the "found sound" in every song. It must have been tiresome for these bands to try and outweird each other for a decade. The slide whistle across these songs feels like they had to find an instrument for one of the singers to play so they were involved in all the songs. The switching between genres in the same song is unpleasant. All the distortion is too much. This is like a collection of sounds being played over Brazilian covers of '60s American pop. This music is exhausting to listen to. Hail Ghengis Khan is the final song....I get this probably has something to do with the social criticism of the Brazilian government at the time but what a stupid title. Astrud Gilberto + The Mamas and the Papas + Dick Dale + Random Sounds + Jefferson Airplane = Os Mutantes...what a terrible mish mash of noise.

Starts a little slow with Too High (I get it you're hallucinating) but gets better fast with Visions, Living for the City, Golden Lady and Higher Ground. I like the Red Hot Chili Peppers version of Higher Ground but Stevie Wonder kills it. I'm not loving the back half of the album, the big hits from this album are awesome but the rest is mostly average. It all kind of plays like a softer What's Going On, speaking of which, I like the hits less generally speaking, but the rest of the songs on the album are much, much better. In a Verzuz, I think What's Going On wins based on the hits, but I'd be much more likely to put Innervisions on to listen through. No joke as soon as the album finished, what song came on Spotify? What's Going On.

If you told me this was a Kinks album I would believe you. Pop/R&B Who is not as good as Rock Who. I thought I liked the Who more than this but this is middling. This feels like the album someone told The Who they had to make and once it was a success they were able to explore their own sound.

Love the bassline for Back In the Saddle. This is a completely unmemorable album. Every song sounds like the 70s. I didn't really think of Aerosmith as Zeppelin rip offs but this album definitely has that vibe. Like more generic Greta Van Fleet...and I just read an article where the GVF guys said they were influenced by Aerosmith not Zeppelin. Some of this sounds like Van Halen, some sounds like ZZ Top. Lick and A Promise showcases how bad Steven Tyler can sound sometimes. His voice is grating. One song at a time is fine, song after song is not good. Joe Perry plays "GENERIC ROCK GUITAR", he sounds like he did the playing for Bill and Ted when they play air guitar.

The album cover is a red flag that this is not good. Half a song in and that snap judgement is proving absolutely spot on. New Wave or ska or whatever this is, it is awful. The early 80s were truly the nadir of modern popular music. This is like if the Clash were the worst band ever or like a cross between early Beatles and UB40. These guys make the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sound like Megadeth. Come on with the horns. This album is an early contender for the worst album in this project. Every song is like a new exercise in how annoying a throwback sound can be, in Mr. Speaker (Gets the Word)'s case, it's the barroom piano. This is the first album that's been so bad I'm questioning whether or not I'll be able to finish it. Our House...I didn't know they did this song and I'm sure it's their biggest hit, New Wave Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. It gets worse (Are You Coming (With Me) is one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Thank God it's over.

This is a weird album. It's interesting weird though. LCD Soundsystem is the spiritual descendant of Talking Heads. I'm not sure I can pinpoint why I like this but I do. If someone told me Talking Heads were a novelty band or at least this was a novelty album, I'd believe it. I guess the difference between a novelty and an experiment is a thin line sometimes. This is a kind of uneven. Life During Wartime is amazing but then two songs later I'm actively disliking Air. There are some clunkers in the second half.

This is what emo kids were listening to before emo and it is terrible. Go all the way and listen to The Smiths. This is not alternative, this is New Wave. I can't believe this dominated college radio in the 80s. I understand why a generation of kids turned to hip hop from rock n' roll.

Skydog and Slowhand sounds like an Old West pair of gunslingers. It's ridiculous to have that much talent on one album. Pattie Boyd must have been something else. I guess I get the complaints about Clapton's voice...but if that's the worst thing you can say about this album, it's pretty minor. Great version of Little Wing. Layla...Duane and Eric playing together and it's almost perfect.

Aretha's version of People Get Ready is my new favorite version. It's great as a Curtis Mayfield song, but she brings so much to it. I never realized how much I liked her ability to elevate everything she does. This album is funky, even something with corny lyrics like Niki Hoeky is funky as hell. This album is a great example of the Muscle Shoals sound. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman is the biggest hit off the album but it might be my least favorite song on it. Good to Me as I Am to You is a great song I'd never heard. I can't imagine anyone doing these songs better than her. Ain't No Way is the perfect song to end the album on.

One minute into Take It Easy and I'm wondering if this album qualifies as yacht rock. I'm trying not to let The Dude's opinion of the Eagles impact my evaluation, but all I can think is that I hate the fucking Eagles, man! This is like a weird middle ground between lite rock and pop-rock. I think you either love the Eagles or hate the Eagles...there doesn't seem like a lot of middle ground. I think of Don Henley's solo career being the definition of "adult rock" but his music isn't any different than this. Witchy Woman is like they listened to Santana's Black Magic Woman and he wouldn't let them cover it so they wrote their own terrible song. The Eagles begat Bon Jovi with their fake cowboy nonsense, Thin Lizzy are more realistic cowboys than these guys. Come on with the banjo! The sad thing is the faux-country songs are far better than the easy listening garbage that were the hits on this album (Take It Easy, Witchy Woman and Peaceful Easy Feeling). If the song Peaceful Easy Feeling does give you a peaceful easy feeling, you have bad taste in music. There is almost nothing redeeming about this album and it baffles me that with a debut like this they became one of the most successful bands ever.

It's weird writing this, but I like my folk a little harder than this. This is like poems with music behind it. I understand Suzanne and So Long, Marianne are the big songs from this album but those are two of my least favorite tracks.

Every song sounds exactly the same except for whether it's a man or woman singing. There's having a cohesive sound on an album and there's being repetitive. If you like once Arcade Fire song, you probably like them all.

Solid album, bookended with two big hits and some uneven material in between. The two big singles from this album, Young Americans and Fame, are also the best songs, but I have a soft spot for the cover of Across the Universe which is one of my favorite Beatles songs and Bowie's take is interesting, even if I like Fiona Apple's cover more.

Say what you will about the man himself, but Michael Jackson could write some songs! The album as whole doesn't really feel like a cohesive piece though, more like a collection of singles, even if they are awesome singles. Bad, Man in the Mirror and Smooth Criminal are amazing but there is too much filler and not really a theme or feeling like the songs weren't just put on an album in the order in which they were written.