"Awaken, My Love!" by Childish Gambino
This is okay, but not really my thing. The general consensus seems to be that there are two masterpieces on the album (Me and Your Mama, and Redbone) and one turd (California). Frankly, I don't hear the huge disparity in quality that others seem to hear. Yes, I agree the former two are superior to the latter, but not by that much. In fact, I don't see the big deal about Me and Your Mama at all. Is it because it's a multi-part song? People do seem to love those... But when the parts are not so great, it's hard for the whole to add up to much more. And Redbone isn't that amazing either, although I'd agree it's possibly the best on the album. (Though I think Riot might be my favorite song here. Maybe because it's the only track that doesn't to some degree overstay its welcome?) And California is probably the worst, but...I mean...it's fine. It's not terrible.
I do think Glover's vocal theatrics (not just on California, but anytime he does something weird with his voice) are perhaps somewhat annoying sometimes. They're a total tryhard move. They mostly come across as hollow affectation, rather than really adding anything of value. In general, the album strikes me as fairly soulless, which is not great considering it's a soul album. But all in all, it's not bad. All these criticisms are just my way of justifying my lack of praise. Because it's never really bad or anything. The production and performances etc. are acceptably competent; the problem is just that the artistic vision doesn't align with what I find interesting or musically valuable, according to my subjective personal taste. The album overall is okay and I don't dislike listening to it, but I don't find it exciting at all.
49/100
(Fun fact: In the first post of this thread, baystateoftheart links to a thread I started in 2018 about the highest ranked albums folks have never heard, and this album was top for me. Now I've finally listened to it! Took me long enough. At the time I assumed it was a rap album.)
(2)
BUCK-TICK!
(i don't know any of these albums)
(3)
My ten are now split between two lists:
Here's one album from each of the first nine pages (20 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on BEA. I've tried to choose the albums I'm least familiar with.
1: 307. Melodrama by Lorde (2017)
2: 560. Up The Bracket by The Libertines (2002)
3: 655. Pure Comedy by Father John Misty (2017)
4: 727. All Mod Cons by The Jam (1978)
5: 810. Malibu by Anderson .Paak (2016)
6: 855. Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra (2021)
7: 876. The Royal Scam by Steely Dan (1976)
8: 910. Weezer (White Album) by Weezer (2016)
9: 954. A Seat At The Table by Solange (2016)
And one album from the first page (40 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on RYM. I've tried to choose the album I'm least familiar with.
1: 180. El jardín de los presentes by Invisible (1976)
"Awaken, My Love!" by Childish Gambino
This is okay, but not really my thing. The general consensus seems to be that there are two masterpieces on the album (Me and Your Mama, and Redbone) and one turd (California). Frankly, I don't hear the huge disparity in quality that others seem to hear. Yes, I agree the former two are superior to the latter, but not by that much. In fact, I don't see the big deal about Me and Your Mama at all. Is it because it's a multi-part song? People do seem to love those... But when the parts are not so great, it's hard for the whole to add up to much more. And Redbone isn't that amazing either, although I'd agree it's possibly the best on the album. (Though I think Riot might be my favorite song here. Maybe because it's the only track that doesn't to some degree overstay its welcome?) And California is probably the worst, but...I mean...it's fine. It's not terrible.
I do think Glover's vocal theatrics (not just on California, but anytime he does something weird with his voice) are perhaps somewhat annoying sometimes. They're a total tryhard move. They mostly come across as hollow affectation, rather than really adding anything of value. In general, the album strikes me as fairly soulless, which is not great considering it's a soul album. But all in all, it's not bad. All these criticisms are just my way of justifying my lack of praise. Because it's never really bad or anything. The production and performances etc. are acceptably competent; the problem is just that the artistic vision doesn't align with what I find interesting or musically valuable, according to my subjective personal taste. The album overall is okay and I don't dislike listening to it, but I don't find it exciting at all.
49/100
(Fun fact: In the first post of this thread, baystateoftheart links to a thread I started in 2018 about the highest ranked albums folks have never heard, and this album was top for me. Now I've finally listened to it! Took me long enough. At the time I assumed it was a rap album.)
(2)
BUCK-TICK!
(i don't know any of these albums)
(3)
My ten are now split between two lists:
Here's one album from each of the first nine pages (20 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on BEA. I've tried to choose the albums I'm least familiar with.
1: 307. Melodrama by Lorde (2017)
2: 560. Up The Bracket by The Libertines (2002)
3: 655. Pure Comedy by Father John Misty (2017)
4: 727. All Mod Cons by The Jam (1978)
5: 810. Malibu by Anderson .Paak (2016)
6: 855. Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra (2021)
7: 876. The Royal Scam by Steely Dan (1976)
8: 910. Weezer (White Album) by Weezer (2016)
9: 954. A Seat At The Table by Solange (2016)
And one album from the first page (40 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on RYM. I've tried to choose the album I'm least familiar with.
1: 180. El jardín de los presentes by Invisible (1976)
It's obvious that this is a really well-made record. It has strong songwriting, great vocals, and emotional potency and subtlety at their respective right times. For some reason this first listen didn't make a big impression on me though, and none of the songs fully wowed me or got lodged in my head. Perhaps that's because When The Pawn is more straightforward instrumentally than her most recent two albums, which are the only ones I had previously heard. That said, this obviously has a large helping of great songs, so I'm starting it at a low 4/5 or 75/100.
30s: 2. Bessie Smith Album - Bessie Smith
40s: 3. The Midnight Special (And Other Southern Prison Songs) - Lead Belly
50s: 10. Berry Is On Top - Chuck Berry
60s: 62. The Who Sell Out - The Who
70s: 63. Hotel California - Eagles
80s: 72. Avalon - Roxy Music
90s: 87. The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
00s: 77. White Pony - Deftones
10s: 78. Hand. Cannot. Erase. - Steven Wilson
20s: 12. Hellfire - Black Midi _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Rhynersoft silly music is meaningful magicalProfile Utah
Melodrama by Lorde
I was dreading this album being picked, because I've listened to it twice previously and I hated it both times.
Having now given it five more listens, I can't say I hate it, but it sure didn't grow on me enough for me to be able to say I like it. I'd still rather not ever have to listen to it again. But I think I can maybe almost kinda see its appeal a bit. I just can't get over the aspects that come across to me as cringeworthy. Lorde's voice is the prime example. She frequently does that artsy-edgy sad-girl thing where one gets all breathy and tries to imbue every word with unimaginable emotional depth. Unfortunately, the fact that it's merely an act, and it's not an authentic natural expression of true feelings (which is not to say that it doesn't originate in true feelings, just that its expression is consciously processed into an affectation she's putting on to do her best to imitate what she thinks a true expression of those feelings should sound like, rather than flowing naturally from feelings directly to expression) comes across plain as day to me (emphasis: to me--let's be honest, this might be her genuinely emoting; I doubt it, but I must acknowledge that this is all just my subjective interpretation), and it has all the genuine impact that bad movie acting does. It feels contrived and inauthentic--in a word, fake--and it's very off-putting.
The lyrics also don't do anything for me. And the music is largely bland and uninspired. Most of the songs sound just like each other, and within any given song, there's usually too much repetition of a single hook/chorus/whatever to the point that I resent something that maybe would have been a decent part of the song had it only been sung once or twice.
Enough of the bad. Here's what I do like about this album:
Some of the melodies are decent.
The part of Loveless when she sings "Bet you wanna rip my heart out, Bet you wanna skip my calls now" I actually quite like. More like that, please. Let's have some fun pop music, rather than this dour ostentatious charade.
In Liability, when she sings "The truth is I am a toy that people enjoy 'Til all of the tricks don't work anymore And then they are bored of me", she (in my opinion) gets the closest to actually executing what she's going for, and it's genuinely emotionally affecting, a bit, for that one brief moment. I can see how if unlike me a listener wasn't completely unable to emotionally connect with what I interpret as mere affectation, this album could be quite good. Sadly I'm broken in a way that won't let me experience that.
35/100
(2)
I recently concluded the multi-year process of listening to pretty much every album that can even remotely be considered a consensus metal essential, and Deftones were a band that stood out for me as being worth further familiarization. Listen to White Pony.
(3)
My ten are now split between two lists:
Here's one album from each of the first nine pages (20 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on BEA. I've tried to choose the albums I'm least familiar with.
1: 475. The Yes Album by Yes (1971)
2: 562. Up The Bracket by The Libertines (2002)
3: 655. Pure Comedy by Father John Misty (2017)
4: 729. All Mod Cons by The Jam (1978)
5: 787. Clics Modernos by Charly García (1983)
6: 815. Malibu by Anderson .Paak (2016)
7: 877. The Royal Scam by Steely Dan (1976)
8: 913. Weezer (White Album) by Weezer (2016)
9: 950. A Seat At The Table by Solange (2016)
And one album from the first page (40 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on RYM. I've tried to choose the album I'm least familiar with.
1: 180. El jardín de los presentes by Invisible (1976)
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
After one listen, I think Deftones may also be a good metal band for me to explore further. A heavy and noisy guitar attack with mostly "clean" vocals is a satisfying combo, and the influences from genres that I like more than metal (post-hardcore, and especially, shoegaze) are tantalizing. White Pony flows well and is an easy album to get lost in. On first listen, the song that sticks out to me most is RX Queen, but I'm sure other standouts will become clear with further listening. Overall, a very good record that I'll start at a high 3.5/5 (70/100).
For what it's worth, I've only listened to 48 metal albums in my life, and the only five I love are the first five from Black Sabbath, but at some point, I expect I'll find an album from another band that really clicks for me. This one has potential.
~~~~~
2. I've only heard this once, but it was a fun listen:
30s: 2. Bessie Smith Album - Bessie Smith
40s: 3. The Midnight Special (And Other Southern Prison Songs) - Lead Belly
50s: 10. Berry Is On Top - Chuck Berry
60s: 62. The Who Sell Out - The Who
70s: 63. Hotel California - Eagles
80s: 72. Avalon - Roxy Music
90s: 87. The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
00s: 78. Relationship Of Command - At The Drive-In
10s: 79. Hand. Cannot. Erase. - Steven Wilson
20s: 13. Hellfire - Black Midi _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Rhynersoft silly music is meaningful magicalProfile Utah
All Mod Cons by The Jam
This is not bad. But I'm finding it pretty forgettable. Five listens in (plus maybe one or two or three many years ago) and it's just not getting its hooks into me. The vocals and lyrics don't stand out to me as particularly great. Admittedly there are some decent melodies/riffs. But I feel like I've heard so much other music like what's on offer here, and nothing here really stands out from the pack. Still, it's decent. I contentedly bob my head along with it when it's on. But when it's over, it vanishes from my memory, and there's no itch to return to it.
55/100
(2)
Nothing there is really jumping out at me... Go with The Holy Bible. I have some Manic Street Preachers on my list too. As good a reason as any.
(3)
My ten are now split between two lists:
Here's one album from each of the first nine pages (20 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on BEA. I've tried to choose the albums I'm least familiar with.
1: 477. The Yes Album by Yes (1971)
2: 565. Up The Bracket by The Libertines (2002)
3: 660. Pure Comedy by Father John Misty (2017)
4: 695. Everything Must Go by Manic Street Preachers (1996)
5: 790. Clics Modernos by Charly García (1983)
6: 818. Malibu by Anderson .Paak (2016)
7: 891. The Shape Of Punk To Come (A Chimerical Bombination In 12 Bursts) by Refused (1998)
8: 920. Weezer (White Album) by Weezer (2016)
9: 956. A Seat At The Table by Solange (2016)
And one album from the first page (40 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on RYM. I've tried to choose the album I'm least familiar with.
1: 174. El jardín de los presentes by Invisible (1976)
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
I knew this was a lyrically edgy and misanthropic record, which is largely why I didn't check it out sooner. It certainly is, and it's also a lot more political than I expected: full of provocative references to fascism, communism, and more, with the tone ranging from unsettlingly ambiguous to preachy. The lyrics are unrelenting in their misery, which I imagine is an asset to many fans of the album. But while I can appreciate the intensity and some of the points made, I'm not a fan of the singer's philosophy on the world and his approach to communicating it. It's a shame, because musically, I really like the rough, noisy alt rock sound and punk elements. The punishing sound fits the themes perfectly and works very well. Overall, The Holy Bible is a fully actualized statement album that I totally get the acclaim for, even though it's not for me. A high 3/5, or 60/100.
~~~~~
2. I doubt you'll be a big fan, but this is my current favorite from the list:
3. I'm going to try out a similar concept. For every 10 albums I haven't heard from the RYM top chart, I've picked the one that looks the most interesting.
185. Uchu Nippon Setagaya [宇宙 日本 世田谷] - Fishmans
214. Bocanda - Gustavo Cerati
252. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull
308. Mirage - Camel
372. Love In Us All - Pharoah Sanders
408. Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' - Antonín Dvořák / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Georg Solti
431. Lo Mato - Willie Colón / Héctor Lavoe
436. Volcanic Bird Enemy And The Voiced Concern - Lil Ugly Mane
478. Shibuboshi [渋星] - Shibusashirazu [渋さ知らズ]
493. Rising - Rainbow _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Not Available by The Residents
As always, it's a fun time listening to The Resident deconstructing popular music. I'm not some huge fan of the collective, nor am I an expert on their multimedia works, but I sure as hell respect them and enjoy their music. Not Available is their fourth studio album, and its history is predictably charming and chaotic.
Quote:
The album was allegedly meant to only be released once its creators completely forgot about its existence (adhering to their "Theory of Obscurity," in which an artist's purest work is created without an audience) - however, due to ongoing delays in the release of Eskimo, Not Available was released to supply the demand for new Residents material, given their unexpected critical and commercial success following the release of the Duck Stab EP.
...
It is said that the lyrics and themes of Not Available arose from personal tensions within the group, and that the project began as a private psychodrama before being adapted into a possible operetta. While the project never took off theatrically, it was still molded into a sort of concept album, taking use of assorted musical ideas, some of them recorded for the group's unfinished film project, Vileness Fats. It is unknown if further overdubs were added onto the album predating its release in 1978, though the preserved single “Not Available (Work In Progress)” would indicate that additional overdubs and edits were made.
It is possible that the album was shelved not to fulfill the "Theory of Obscurity," but because it was simply too personally revealing.
Overall a great listen, every track has multiple incredible sections and the world they create is unlike anything you've heard. Highlight is The Making of a Soul
8.5/10
(2)
Bocanda is fantastic, even though I've never bothered to google the lyrics translations. Sorry didn't even see Love in us All. Definitely go with that one, it's probably a top 5 jazz album for me.
(3)
R marks relistens
Leviathan - The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide (R)
The Black Dog - Bytes (R)
Shackleton - Three EPs
Ethel Cain - Perverts
Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
Opeth - The Last Will And Testament
Lana Del Rey - Did you know there was a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Ultravox - Ha! Ha! Ha!
Idrissa Soumaoro et l'Eclipse de L'I.J.A. - Ampsa: Le tioko-tioko
Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Malibu by Anderson .Paak
I have mixed feelings about this. When it leans more into its hip hop side (ad-libs, rapping, interludes, terrible lyrics like "All that ass you carryin', you gotta be shittin' me", etc.), I'd rather not be listening to it. But on the other hand, when it leans more into the soul, I dig it. When Anderson .Paak wants, he can sound smooth, breezy, and effortlessly likable. The songs Parking Lot and Celebrate stand out to me as particularly strong. As well as the first and last tracks, which means the album starts and ends on a relatively high note. I just wish as a whole it were much more Stevie Wonder and a lot less Kendrick Lamar. There's a lot I'd be very happy to cut. The album is surely too long. So...all in all, much better than I expected before listening. But...not great. Decent, I guess.
52/100
(2)
I can't say I'm familiar with any of those. Joy of a Toy intrigues me the most.
(3)
My ten are now split between two lists:
Here's one album from each of the first nine pages (20 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on BEA. I've tried to choose the albums I'm least familiar with.
1: 481. The Yes Album by Yes (1971)
2: 568. Up The Bracket by The Libertines (2002)
3: 671. Pure Comedy by Father John Misty (2017)
4: 712. Artaud by Pescado Rabioso (1973)
5: 811. Clics Modernos by Charly García (1983)
6: 819. Argus by Wishbone Ash (1972)
7: 895. Duke by Genesis (1980)
8: 911. Weezer (White Album) by Weezer (2016)
9: 948. A Seat At The Table by Solange (2016)
And one album from the first page (40 per page) of albums I've not yet rated on RYM. I've tried to choose the album I'm least familiar with.
1: 211. Juan Gabriel en el Palacio de Bellas Artes by Juan Gabriel (1990)
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Great album! The mellower a-side with vocals is sublime spiritual jazz, and the noisier instrumental b-side really rips. Classic Pharoah Sanders, and I will be revisiting for sure. Also, perfect timing for Valentine's Day! Starting at a high 4/5, or 80/100 on BEA.
262. Hotel California - Eagles
304. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull
322. Aqualung - Jethro Tull
405. 2112 - Rush
421. Highway To Hell - AC/DC
430. At Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers Band
442. (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd) - Lynyrd Skynyrd
476. Deep Purple In Rock - Deep Purple
484. Relationship Of Command - At The Drive-In
486. The Who Sell Out - The Who _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
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