Reviews by vict14

It's not bad, and has its moments, but it is not particularly surprising. It is well produced, we can hear them very clearly which is a plus, but yeah it's simply very solid but not amazing. I'd like to be inspired by a hip hop album and this isn't it for some reason for me, but I recognize that it is well made. I just think by the end of it (which is quite long) I didn't feel much. Good sample of "les Fleurs" though.

Pretty solid album, some great tracks, and the concept of a "score" is an interesting one. I enjoyed the James Taylor, Cindy Lauper, Robert Flack, Bob Marley references. It's clever, it is foundational and I respect it a lot. However, I do find it a bit repetitive sonically when I do play the whole thing.

A fun ride, that at times feels a bit disjointed. I don't know if it's the two voices, but I feel like they are two different album, some classic rock that is well made but not that inventive and some experimental that is rougher and a bit noise adjacent. I found it interesting mostly, it gives scope, but they are not that many band like that one. I also think it is a tad long, but man they had a lot to say about the world.

This is cool, with a sound palette that is expertly crafted. The hooks are at times great and overall it does sound impressive, and the vibes are great. Soukora in particular is very gorgeous. Overall though, the songs are often too long, and it does at a point get a bit repetitive as an album to be truly spectacular.

This album is not revolutionary by any means. I understand the Brian Eno, the use of synthesizers (that were a thing before you know) but I don't really care, I was bored. While it does slap at some points, it is also music I have heard lots, that could be made by any one else. The writing is moronic often ("she said sloppy", the use of yeah yeah yeahs). It also borders on offensive, Mongoloid and Gut feeling/slap your mammy, but that album is so minor that I don't know that it need to be said that much. It's not a one, cause I appreciate the edit to remove the laudation of violence against women in the Gut Feeling edit, and the fun moments, Uncontrollable Urge and Praying Hands are there. But I'll probably never listen to it again and be absolutely fine.

I came in thinking this album would be here because Bowie died two days later. In a sense, I was right, but what an album. Thematically it is incredible, talking about death and the place of the author in history. Musically it is Bowie meets Radiohead in a way, and it sounds tired in an interesting way. You have earned your rest Bowie, thank you.

So very cool, as an album. The songs are a bit long, but the panel of sounds, the base lines, and his voice are all great great assets. There aren't that many record like this out there, hence why it is important that this one is here.

I expectedthat one, and I expected it to be the Psycho Killer show, a dreadful one track album, but to my delight, I was dead wrong. This is a great album full of melodies, of course, killer base lines, and a diversity of sounds I didn't expect and it was quite refreshing. Most songs on there still hold up, they have things to say and places to go, and they sound quite distinct from each other still creating a somewhat cohesive sound. That is hard to do on an album and in particular in your debut album. Of course Psycho Killer is that bitch, fun and with a base that is mandatory listen for any bass player. Pulled up for example is fun, (and the guitar lick sounds like a strokes one in a crazy way ? at 1:49). The Book I read, is very cool too. Overall the hooks are very strong, and I hear a lot of the music of today here, which can only speak of it's level of influence.
However, they are minuses there, some lyrics are very icky. It is not a writer's album which is fine, but please don't be problematic. Tentative Decisions is a bit old fashioned in the stereotypes it carries, girls are having a hard time following "logic", and undecisive. (They should meet a libra man) It's an otherwise fine song but the sexism gets somewhat of a pass because of the printed lyric booklet that says "Repeat with reversal of gender" indicating it is somewhat satirical. It should have been said out loud though, and the satire make more clear. That is too me, a default of writing, cause just listening doesn't carry the message too clearly. That being said, the fact that there is even a bit of satire, for 77, it's better than most. I also have other issues, (like No compassion, screams privilege also) but those are minor and I choose to not focus too much on the messages. Overall it is fun and quite interesting as a debut album!

Ambivalent about this. Too heavy on the drums and repetitive for my own personal taste, but the hooks are often undeniable. I love some of the song writing (Michael for example feels fresh and is fun) but it is also often the dumbest (Cheating on you is a crime). It does sound like a lot of different things, nevertheless, it ushered a wave of groups trying to replicate this sound. What I find most interesting is the fact that for a band that does sounds like a rip off of others, they have been ripped off too. Their music while very referential, still sounds sorta fresh 20 years later and that is interesting. That being said, a swing and some hits spells out middle of the road album to me. Nowhere near terrible, nowhere near great, and that is not the reaction I want : I want more.

A tough listen, incredibly sad. Beautiful sure, and Cohen's voice is deep and gorgeous but man is it a depressing specific mood. Famous Blue Raincoat is an incredible song, and the stand out there. I couldn't do it justice, it is powerful and s statement of a song. Overall, as an album I think it's mostly good, albeit a little simple musically, but I get what it's going for : devastating poetry. It is effective in that.
The length of most songs are a bit long, and overall it is weirdly structured : too coherent sonically, too different thematically. That being said, I don't really mind it here, it creates tension, and the album is only 8 tracks and most songs feel there are here for a reason. I don't like all of them, Diamonds in the mine is the "breath" I get it, it's almost a parody of pathos and strange, but it is also a song you hear once and never want to again. "Sing another song, boys" is also the slowest song I ever heard, every word is streeeeeeched and it makes it barely listenable. That being said, I get them in their context, but they keep the album at a solid three for me.

Good album, very telaxed and chill for Bowie. It has moments of brilliance and some let downs (Accross the Universe obvi) but overall I enjoyed hearing bowie in this vein. I did not know this one beforehand, (aside from Fame) though I love Bowie, which made that listen very enjoyable for me. Though the simplicity kinda shocked me at first, it is only after a couple of listen that I got the vision. It is a good hommage to a different sound, one he seems to claim as a parent to his own sound. Is it as iconic as the rest? No, and it doesn't have a smash like sime of his other record. But mellow Bowie is still great, still a legend and the Lenon influence is interesting.

Interesting album, and a cool concept. The two visions blend super well, I might like the first part a little better, more cohesive, but also, Hey Ya is a smash if I ever heard one and with this double album it has a lot of diversity of sounds and that is picking my interest. It is however not a five, it is too long, and it is really weighed down by all of the interludes that reaaaally feel like filler tracks to keep the structures. Some are fun, but not all of them, and there are definetly one too many. That being said, it is powerful, smart, and a good listen.

Interesting album, important for music history, but often very annoying. I mean there is a song that has kazoo in it. It is all too long, I don't need half of what is there, but it is a swing and I respect the ambition, I embrace the weird sounds, the trying. I don't like it, but it is better than when they are trying to emulate what is popular at the time.

I’ll tell you what I can leave behind U2 : every single one of your albums. I only uncovered 47 albums out of a 1000. 3 of them are U2 albums. I feel cursed, like somebody hates me and wants me to quit this project. I apologize to the music gods, stop waterboarding with the blandest tap water in the world.
Listening to this record in particular, feels like waiting in line. It is only kinda bearable in the beginning, mostly dull and the payoff is never worth it. I would rather do anything else than wait in line ever again.

First up fuck Iggy Pop, fuck the song Sixteen and fuck him. Sable Starr was 13 years old. I understand, "it is another time", but I don’t give a fuck how sexy her leather boots are, fuck no and fuck you. And just in case you didn't grasp the point this creep is making in Sixteen, “Fall in love with me” hammers it home.
Now, the music. Passengers is an all-time great melody. The writing, (riming sky with sky for example) is not all time great. I will add that if in your album, the parts I’m searching for and looking forward to the most are the Bowie parts, then that says a lot about you. There is no hidden gem on there. Sure it is not horrible musically, but does it deserve posterity as an album : no. Fuck this.

This album is clever and feels fresh for 1977. It is also a lot more complex and melodic than you would typically find, which keeps it interesting and therefore relevant to this day. The most surprising part is the writing, most tracks have. double entendre, twists or imagery that are well worth my time. “Venus”, just for example, is such a strong piece of writing, a metaphor that could mean different things to different people, be it a lover that is a letdown, drugs and the low following the high, but you get the imagery even if the actual meaning is polysemous. Falling “right into the arms of the Venus de Milo” (an armless statue of the goddess of love), is such a strong concept without being literal it really scratches my analytical brain and I’ll keep that song forever. It also has less clever sex jokes, but on those, the music full of cool guitar riffs that are interesting to me, the doubling guitars make their sound very unique. The album is however not perfect, I think some swings are misses like Prove it, which is a fine song, not hugely entertaining or special and something I have heard a 100 times before. When you have 8 tracks, you can’t really afford a 5-minute detour like that in my book. I also really have a difficult with Verlaine’s voice, but that is entirely subjective and something I can get passed. In the end, I think the highs are well worth the side points, and this is dad rock I wholeheartedly back, I am glad I heard it.

I must say, I knew this album, front to back, fully expected to see it in this list. This is truly an all time great album, colorful, extremely tight and always interesting. It feels like a band at the height of their powers, owning their sound. It is very much experimental and froward thinking, the writing especially is interesting, it is all about the sounds, all about how words fit and ring in your hear, creating a poem in a very surrealist way. It creates a kaleidoscope of very "them" sounds and everything feels dreamy. I think this album is a lot more influential than people give it credit for, I often hear it in productions of today. It has waves, places to go in a self containing world, ambition and heart, it is quite simply, one of the best album I ever heard.

This record, while mostly good, is also nothing to write home about. There was better music at the time, before and in the future. This is typical unnecessary "legacy pick", but I would argue that very few people have heard of the band, and I totally get why. Why no one can call it terrible music, classic country rock/americana has been done a lot better elsewhere, and it is a bit boring. All I hear is different people's music while I listen to them. The Beatles in When you Awake, Little Richard in Rag Mama Rag, and Creedence Clearwater revival, and Johnny Cash. What I mean is the band is appropriately named : they have no sound of their own. Can they make a nice song ? Absolutely. I hear several songs I like, Look At Cleveland, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Is it music you need to hear ? No. Is it Dad Rock I'm bored by ? Hell yeah.

Jesus, this is a difficult one to rank. I am a big Radiohead guy, I fully expect most, if not all, of their album to be on there. It is brilliant, it is meaningful, if it were the first Radiohead record I heard I would be blown away. It is however, not the best in their discography. In fact, it is my second to last favorite. This one I can live with a four, cause while brilliant it does not move the needle that forward, it is a bit samey, a bit long. But some of them are gorgeous songs, and it absolutely should be on there.

I am pretty sure that if that album was made by a man, or even a less "controversial" figure than the lead singer, Courtney Love, this would be mandatory listen to any music fan. It is wonderfully diverse in sound, full of hooks, and intelligent writing. It can be both angry and energetic, soft and touching, it goes everywhere but still tied together by charisma and the state of California. This is very solid in my opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed most songs, there are only a few misses in my opinion. (Hit so hard, Northern Star even though it has a pay off). People saying it is pop-y are kinda missing the point of the album, whichwas evolving their sounds, and some of it is also quite rock leaning. I see hard work, I see talent, I see charisma, really really good.