A solid album with some likeable soulful and/or funky beats at times. Mostly decent lyrics, but there were some questionable ones that made me cringe. I liked the Macy Grey feature on Geto Heaven, partly because I recognised who it was before looking it up, I rarely do that with features. The story telling on Payback Is A Grandmother was interesting, and The Questions made me smile a couple of times. But apart from that there was nothing really special to me that I would want to come back to, or any real highlights to add to playlists. I rank this at about the same level as the only other Common album I've heard, Resurrection, but a bit more consistent overall without the highs and lows of that album. 7/10, and 42/53 for 2000.
A few interesting looking ones here. Let's try Afflicted Man- The Afflicted Man's Musical Bag
Top 45 Music Albums of 2000 by Luigii (last pick)
1. Vocalcity by Luomo
4. SMPTe by Transatlantic
9. Faith And Courage by Sinéad O'Connor
10. Lovers Rock by Sade
11. Aijuswanaseing by Musiq Soulchild
12. Programmed To Love by Bent
14. Suzuki by Tosca
18. Nixon by Lambchop
19. Geometry by Jega
20. The For Carnation by The For Carnation
Supper's Ready is one of my all time fave songs, glad that you've liked it. Possibly cheesy to some, but I've always found it to be one of the best constructed and most imaginative prog epics I've heard. Also Peter Gabriel's Genesis era lyrics and image are hit or miss, depends on who you ask, but it's a 99% hit for me.
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Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Mystification by Manilla Road
Well the third (possibly fourth, along with a dozen other songs) Manilla Road album I've had the pleasure of hearing and their sixth studio album overall is another strong US power metal statement. Their musical chops are as good as of any 80s classic metal band, also the albums are pretty different from each other yet mostly stay within the same genre. That's why I'm always excited to hear something new from Mark "The Shark" Shelton and the gang. This particular album's full of good tunes for fun times, which is exactly what I expect and want from Manilla Road. That doesn't mean it's flower metal, there's plenty of mysticism and darker songs, but it's so energetic and well written that I find it to be a very positive and fun experience. It's probably the best of the 3 I've heard, Crystal Logic has its roots in the 70s heavy metal and NWOBHM while The Deluge and Mystification are both slightly thrash leaning (which I prefer in case of Manilla Road). Also, Shelton's vocals are much better suited to faster and rawer songs, I found his vocals on Crystal Logic borderline irritating, while I had no gripe with him as a singer on any other song that's not from Crystal Logic. It seems that Mysticism-era was the band's best songwriting wise, the tunes are some of their most refined but also some of the heaviest they've written. The only thing that's preventing me from saying this is clearly their best is the lack of the classic proggy tunes. They have 1 or 2 of those great 7+ minute epics per album, this one has only Children of the Night which is around 7 minutes but it doesn't rival The Deluge suite and others in terms of quality. Maybe it'll grow on me. My friend is a big fan of them, curious to hear what he thinks is their best era. Good pick Chief, always glad to listen to a KS native band! 8/10
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What's AM doing that high? Wrong list. Go with Luomo.
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Leftovers list + some 2021
Meridian Brothers - Desesperanza
Still Corners - The Last Exit
Lawrence - The Absence of Blight
John Talabot - Fin
The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Flamengo - Kuře v hodinkách
Sadaf - History of Heat
th1rt3en - A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism
Chico Buarque - Construção _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
So, this was awesome. Glad I commented how I was curious of other reggae albums from this year impress me way more. I think if there was a complaint for this particular record, it would probably be how on a personal level wanted the reverb haze to be a bit more psychedelic. But even then this just works. The summery dream like quality feels good while having intricate drum patterns that feel more out of this world in a reggae context. That was most likely due to Lee Scratch Perry having his touches over the production. I think the big thing that impresses me is how it took that particular reggae trope and changed it up during the second half of the album. Maybe this 100 could shrink in a bit, maybe with other reggae albums down the list hit me. But this is an interesting album that I want to keep under my sleeve. Wished I had more to say but I did love this.
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Led listen to Sleater Kinney. Also thank you for picking Luomo. Feel like Pash might give it a 6/10. Though sometimes records that aren't in his usual wheelhouse could get higher grades. Highest it might be a 7.5. Though VocalCity is a Luigii album through and through.
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BEA's Top 100 of 1977
(6) Steely Dan-Aja (R)
(9) Billy Joel-The Stranger (R)
(10) Kraftwerk-Trans-Europa Express
(14) Talking Heads-77
(15) Electric Light Orchestra-Out Of The Blue
(16) Iggy Pop-Lust For Life
18 Ramones-Rocket To Russia
(19) Meatloaf-Bat Out Of Hell (R)
(20) Iggy Pop-The Idiot
(22) Brian Eno-Before and After Science
The Woods by Sleater-Kinney
Hey this was excellent! Dunno why I thought Sleater-Kinney were an indie pop band. That was my biggest fear, that this was gonna turn out to be 00s downer indie pop which 15 years removed from the scene sounds boring. The "you had to be there" and "you have to be in the mood" kind. Instead it was noisy, punk and garage rock inspired indie. Nothing against indie pop in general, it's just that there's a lot of well regarded 00s bands that whose music sounds kinda boring in 2021. From the first note I knew I was in for a good ride. You know, like when you're at the last day of a typical indie festival and a band you've heard of but never listened to starts warming up. You don't really expect them to be distinctly good and you've already seen a dozen of samey bands in the days before. Honestly you're fed up, want to see the big headliners who close the festival and possibly catch a few of those great bands on the smallest stage. And this isn't either, it's a mid tier band on a big stage with half as many people in the crowd as the average headliners. And then the first song is a hard guitar driven banger which gets the whole crowd going and you're immediately an 80% happier human being. Except that crowd is just me, there isn't a gear up and there aren't any festivals or concerts right now. Sad. Back to the album. Like I said, the opener slightly blew me away, but the whole thing was very enjoyable and I'd be hard pressed to mention just 1 or 2 songs which were the best. Have to listen to it a bit more, and I'd gladly listen to more Sleater-Kinney in general now. 8/10
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I listened to one Eno album for this game (Here Come the Warm Jets I think) some time ago and went through his 70s discography again. Before and After Science is probably the best thing he's released, and it might be right up your alley with its electronic and pop leanings.
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Leftovers list + some 2021
Meridian Brothers - Desesperanza
Still Corners - The Last Exit
Lawrence - The Absence of Blight
John Talabot - Fin
The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau
Flamengo - Kuře v hodinkách
Sadaf - History of Heat
th1rt3en - A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism
Chico Buarque - Construção
Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
The Woods by Sleater-Kinney
Hey this was excellent! Dunno why I thought Sleater-Kinney were an indie pop band. That was my biggest fear, that this was gonna turn out to be 00s downer indie pop which 15 years removed from the scene sounds boring. The "you had to be there" and "you have to be in the mood" kind. Instead it was noisy, punk and garage rock inspired indie. Nothing against indie pop in general, it's just that there's a lot of well regarded 00s bands that whose music sounds kinda boring in 2021. From the first note I knew I was in for a good ride. You know, like when you're at the last day of a typical indie festival and a band you've heard of but never listened to starts warming up. You don't really expect them to be distinctly good and you've already seen a dozen of samey bands in the days before. Honestly you're fed up, want to see the big headliners who close the festival and possibly catch a few of those great bands on the smallest stage. And this isn't either, it's a mid tier band on a big stage with half as many people in the crowd as the average headliners. And then the first song is a hard guitar driven banger which gets the whole crowd going and you're immediately an 80% happier human being. Except that crowd is just me, there isn't a gear up and there aren't any festivals or concerts right now. Sad. Back to the album. Like I said, the opener slightly blew me away, but the whole thing was very enjoyable and I'd be hard pressed to mention just 1 or 2 songs which were the best. Have to listen to it a bit more, and I'd gladly listen to more Sleater-Kinney in general now. 8/10
Love Sleater-Kinney! One of the o.g. riot grrrl bands along with Bikini Kill, Team Dresch, etc. After their first few albums they diverged from that sound, but retained a lot of the energy. _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
There were actually a lot of people at my high school who were deadheads at the time or went on to become deadheads. Before I listened to full albums religiously, I had this in my library and never heard it all the way through. The cap on library size in the cloud was much lower then, so I deleted it because there weren't enough standout tracks. My only other experience with Grateful Dead is Live/Dead, which I think is a very cool album. It's also quite different; you won't find any psychedelia or jamming on American Beauty.
I really enjoy country/folk rock overall, but in comparison to the great records of the style, American Beauty feels phoned-in and downright somnolent at times. The songwriting is mediocre, the instrumentals are uninteresting, and the vocals are fairly pedestrian. Box Of Rain is a very good song, and the only thing here I'd call a true highlight. Country and folk rock don't demand a ton of originality, instead typically leaning heavily on the performers' ability to craft gorgeous and/or poignant music, an art perfected by the likes of Neil Young and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Unfortunately, American Beauty doesn't have enough, well, American beauty to join the pantheon of classic country/folk rock albums. (My apologies for that sentence.) What it does have is competent craftsmanship and a mellow vibe that are hard to dislike, even if the songs don't quite measure up. And I'm sure it all sounds better with copious quantities of mind-altering substances. So in spite of all my criticisms, I can't be mad at this record. It's pretty good background music for 40+ minutes on a lazy afternoon. 3/5.
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2. Love this album lots. Currently just misses my overall at #101.
195. AM - Arctic Monkeys
237. Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs - Derek & The Dominos
262. Hotel California - Eagles
268. Machine Head - Deep Purple
271. Room On Fire - The Strokes
274. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull
280. Crime Of The Century - Supertramp
307. Boston - Boston
327. The King Of Limbs - Radiohead
328. Aqualung - Jethro Tull _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
This was a pleasant surprise. I'm typically not a country fan (not like hate it, but it's probably closer to 6th or 7th on my list of genre leanings), but this alt-country bit was good (another genre that's actually hard to pin down imo... lots of variety there). Her voice sounded more like Margo Timmins than it did your typical country twang, and the music was ethereal similar to U2 to be honest. So of course I fell in love if two artists I love had some similar sounds. Even had a similar drum sound to 90s U2. Anyway, very solid. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Started doubting my U2 references because I'm a fanatic, and it indeed was produced by long time U2 producer, Daniel Lanois. Makes a lot of sense now.
2. Oh man, some of that is a 70s rock trudge. Sounds painful... hehe. So I'll save you from that (maybe? hehe), and give you the Radiohead album that had my head scratching at first (it was just different). If you can, see if you can slip in the single (not on the album) of Supercollider / The Butcher. Really wish those made it to the album, especially since it's just an 8 track album and at first, I liked that single more than the album (it grew on me and dig it a lot now).
3. Gowi's Top 100 (8 picks left)
3. In And Out Of Control by The Raveonettes
7. Diana by Diana Ross
22. Nightfall In Middle-Earth by Blind Guardian
24. Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements by Stereolab
28. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood by Neko Case
30. Rainy Day Music by The Jayhawks
32. The Sunset Tree by The Mountain Goats
33. The Photo Album by Death Cab For Cutie
34. For You by 山下達郎 [Tatsuro Yamashita]
36. By The Way, I Forgive You by Brandi Carlile
Yeah this was up my alley LedZep. I still need to listen to the other early Eno before he went into his ambient direction from the late 70's and onwards. I like how the first half was quite odd. Had a sense of groove. Felt new wave esque with its song structure. And I completely understand why Eno collaborated with The Talking Heads since songs like the opener had that delivery David Byrne would have. Especially since there debut would come out this year. It's on the list. While the second half is more ambient and really welcoming. It has that idyllic hope for the future. In many cases, it could have been the third Bowie album in the "Berlin Trilogy". But his third album would come out in 1979. Though it makes sense since Eno, Bowie, Iggy Pop and Tony Visconti would collaborate together within 1977. So in that sense I prefer this way more than Low but feel like Heroes just overtakes that high enjoyment for me. Grade:95
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Bend listen to For You.
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BEA's Top 100 of 1977
(6) Steely Dan-Aja (R)
(9) Billy Joel-The Stranger (R)
(10) Kraftwerk-Trans-Europa Express
(14) Talking Heads-77
(15) Electric Light Orchestra-Out Of The Blue
(16) Iggy Pop-Lust For Life
18 Ramones-Rocket To Russia
(19) Meatloaf-Bat Out Of Hell (R)
(20) Iggy Pop-The Idiot
(22) A Farewell To Kings-Rush
Yeah, Before And After Science became #23 so that number you won't see. I don't make the rules.
I have close to the same relationship with prog MPB/Latin pop in general that I have with metal soul: it's not my favorite musical realm, but I can appreciate it often and even love it sometimes.
I have mad respect for both, but a lot of it sounds like what dad rock sounds to some people I guess. For now, I hope that changes as I'm making a conscious effort to listen to more soul and MPB classics in hope of understanding/liking the genres better. Helps that a lot of the top Brazilian albums are both, so I can kill two birds with one stone and get familiar with both genres. Most of the top albums on RYM that I haven't rated yet are either MPB or soul, and I know that because I'm preparing a RYM overall list for this game. Anyways I'm rambling. Glad to hear one of Bay's favourite albums and I'm even more glad that it didn't disappoint. Wonderful songwriting and a sound that's nothing like Jorge Ben albums I've heard (he's my reference point when it comes to MPB). Lush, upbeat with a lot of samba influences and a great, GREAT orchestrations. A big portion of the arrangements here have left me in awe. Didn't understand the word he said and that's sometimes a problem for me even though I'm not the biggest lyrics guy, but this was thoroughly enjoyable from a pure stylistic and songwriting standpoint. Plus I was glad to hear the title track, which is considered by some (Rolling Stone Brazil for example) the best Brazilian song of all time. 8.5/10
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Not sure what your thoughts on prog or more specifically Rush are, but I guess we gonna find out. Farewell is a very good introduction to them (if you're unfamiliar with their 70s work that is, I know you've heard Counterparts earlier). It's probably not in my top 5 Rush any more, but there's at least 2-3 absolute classic songs here.
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Leftovers list + some 2021
Meridian Brothers - Desesperanza
Still Corners - The Last Exit
Lawrence - The Absence of Blight
John Talabot - Fin
The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau
Flamengo - Kuře v hodinkách
Sadaf - History of Heat
th1rt3en - A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism
Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul
Ataraxie - Slow Transcending Agony _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
I appreciate your gallantry RtB 🤣 , but 70s rock historically has a higher batting average for me than Radiohead. I understand why this is regarded as the band's second worst LP, as it doesn't feel terribly consequential. But I don't agree, because most of it is quite beautiful. In particular, the songs with more electronic production are standouts with great textures. The rest of it is fine and mellow too, but can sometimes veer into paint-by-numbers Radiohead territory. Thom's vocals are as usual not particularly to my taste, but for the most part they don't derail the proceedings. My rating for this at first listen is actually higher than my most recent rating for OK Computer (3/5), clocking in at a low 3.5/5.
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2. Glad you enjoyed Construção! This one's not an absolute favorite of mine, but it's a great album with some classic singles on it:
195. AM - Arctic Monkeys
238. Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs - Derek & The Dominos
262. Hotel California - Eagles
268. Machine Head - Deep Purple
271. Room On Fire - The Strokes
274. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull
280. Crime Of The Century - Supertramp
307. Boston - Boston
330. Aqualung - Jethro Tull
335. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
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Purplepash
LedZep
baystateoftheart
RoundTheBend
