Listed below are the overall rankings for the best albums in history as determined by their aggregate positions in over 59,000 different greatest album charts on BestEverAlbums.com! (Chart last updated: 5 hours ago).
"I respectfully have to disagree with BEA contributer Fischman regarding the Wilson sisters descent into mediocrity with this album. While it is true that they began to often rely on Record company shill songwriters like Diane Warren and Billy Steinberg to pen most of their songs, Ann and Nancy co...""I respectfully have to disagree with BEA contributer Fischman regarding the Wilson sisters descent into mediocrity with this album. While it is true that they began to often rely on Record company shill songwriters like Diane Warren and Billy Steinberg to pen most of their songs, Ann and Nancy continued to compose a fair share of their own material as in the "Dog and Butterfly"/"Dreamboat Annie" days - (and performance-wise the women could still belt out estrogen amped Zeppelinesque cuts with abandon.) The last two songs on this album did not get the attention they deserved, over-shadowed by the glammed up public adoration heaped on "Alone" and "Who Will I Run To", yet a closer listen reveals solid Heart melodies and lyricism equally worthy of praise that had been previously awarded to "Barracuda"-like and "Crazy On You"-like hits. Contributing to these two songs was long-time collaborator Sue Ennis who has been writing with the Wilson sisters since the beginning."[+]Reply
"It's loud and relatively mindless. The lyricism is nearly non-existent, defaulting to relationship issues and devious sexual topics, and the music composition is reflective of catering to a broad general audience. Worse still is Chad Kroeger's consistently constipated vocals and lazy enunciation....""It's loud and relatively mindless. The lyricism is nearly non-existent, defaulting to relationship issues and devious sexual topics, and the music composition is reflective of catering to a broad general audience. Worse still is Chad Kroeger's consistently constipated vocals and lazy enunciation.
The closest things to unique lyrics on this album include the nostalgia seeping through "Photograph", the (not so subtle) satire "Rockstar", and the grotesque (and not in a good way) comedy-story "Animals". None of these can be salvaged, though. The imagery used in "Photograph" is juvenile, the gravelly, grating way Kroeger sings "Rockstar" makes me gag, and "Animals" is deplorable.
"Side of a Bullet" and "Someone That You're With" are pointless filler, and most of the rest of the album is underwhelming.
Slightly better executed are "If Everyone Cared", "Saving Me" and "Far Away", which, admittedly, are personal guilty 'pleasures'. Typical idealistic why's-the-world-so-mean-why-can't-we-all-get-along outcry, hopeful I-can-change-my-ways tale of redemption, and mushy we're-parted-but-I-still-love-you-and-want-you-back romance ballad, respectively.
I still can't get over how bad the vocals are and how predictable the instrumentation is... a band can afford terrible lyrics if they can compensate somehow. Nickelback fails to do this.
Highlights: nothing really, but if I had to choose
"If Everyone Cared" - 70/100 [for Kroeger's attempt at lyricism]
"Savin' Me" - 70/100 [for the lyricism and execution]
"Far Away" - 65/100 [for the melody]
"Rockstar" - 60/100 [for its social commentary]"[+]Reply
"Contains the three hits "All Cried Out"(8),"Love Resurrection"(10), and "Invisible"(21). Her debut solo No.1 smash albnum, has no fillers and deserved its No.1 hiatus."Reply
"(One of the best albums of this year. Easily. From one of the greatest and most consistent musicians of this millennium so far. Again, that is easily the case. This woman doesn't miss. If you love heartfelt singer/songwriter albums and songs and if you love albums that are rooted in American folk...""(One of the best albums of this year. Easily. From one of the greatest and most consistent musicians of this millennium so far. Again, that is easily the case. This woman doesn't miss. If you love heartfelt singer/songwriter albums and songs and if you love albums that are rooted in American folk, country, country rock and all that stuff, then I highly recommend this to you.)
This album took a little while to worm its way into my heart. At first I thought it was just another solid album from Carlile - one of the best and most consistent singer/songwriters of the last decade and a half - and that was it. I thought maybe some of the songs were too sacharrine and sentimental and I thought this album had some special something missing. But after several listens it feels like this album is much better than I was giving it credit for. It has a certain depth of feeling and of course some incredible production that now strike me as exceptional.
The opener "Right On Time" is perhaps the source of my feeling of over-sentimentality earlier on. Now that track feels heartfelt and wise. On first listen it felt too much, too direct, too much like a pick-me-up type song. But now I just think its a beautiful song that is, truthfully, pretty damn direct in its advice-like messaging, but also gorgeous with some solid piano melodies and its a solid opener.
Aftyer that opener is when this album opens up and sonically is just a damn feast. Whether Brandi is rocking out with some cosmic american badassery, or is bringing the songs down to the earthy ground with a folk ballad, or if she is doing a somewhat old American standards sounding song, or really whatever avenue she chooses to sue, the songs here are consistently warm and full and the production is just so gorgeously fleshed out! The singing is solid throughout, the only complaint I have for the vocals is that Brandi does that big vibrato trick. I love it sometimes when she does that, but sometimes it feels a bit much. Still, overall, she is a great singer, she knows when to imbue a line with a certain croak or strain to get across a feeling, and she knows when to really belt out these big notes and when to take it down to a quieter and more intimate affair.
The band here and the way the instruments interact are incredible. The guitar playing here is earthy and powerful and gorgeous, the drums and percussion are consistently beautiful and hard hitting, and when the songs are layered with strings or horns or back up singers, they are produced and performed excellently and work to add a certain drama and largeness to the tracks.
Standout tracks include: the heavy as hell and epic "Sinners, Saint and Fools" - the way that song builds and then crescendos at its close is...HOLY SHIT! Amazing stuff. The touching and lullaby-soft closer "Throwing Good After Bad" is a standout - her vocals here are stunning and soulful and brilliant. Also, track 2 "You and Me on the Rock (Feat. Lucius)" is a buoyant and loving and exuberant Americana jam that puts a smile on my face, and its a sweet love song... I think... and I love a good love song. "This Time Tomorrow", oh boy, I love that acoustic melody that comes in and those 2 part harmonies, and those lyrics, and the whole vibe of this track is just what I want injected straight into my folk-loving veins. Fuck me, I love this sound and song. Of course there is MASSIVE country rocking masterpiece that is "Broken Horses" - this song has everything going for it, incredible lyrics and a chorus that is so inspiring it should be illegal and a massive rocking stomp and riff that can make me feel renewed in these demoralizing times, and it has some of the most intense vocals of her career, and the way the song - which is already epic as hell - opens up toward the end with a face melting passionate guitar solo after a slow, sensual build, holy shit when those last 90 seconds of music come in, I am on cloud nine! Oh and the piano chords are so strident and powerful. anyway, you get the idea this track is a badass one and you should check it out. "Letter to the Past" melts my heart and somehow this songs makes me love Brandi more than I already did, this feels like a message from a dear friend. "Mama Werewolf" has a vein of sadness and grief running through it that it is excellent and at times overwhelming, then there is also the drama and power of the singing and the rhythm and the piano and the way this song builds up stronger and stronger - it feels larger than life and I love it. "When You're Wrong" is pained and beautiful and has a very soft sound and Brandi's vocals are excellent and touching. "Stay Gentle" sounds like an old timey American standard, and it works as a track to rock away your worries and woes. And it seems weird to leave one single solitary song out of this massive paragraph of standout tracks, especially when the one song left off is the opener and so, I'll say that now that I have heard it a dozen times, the opening track "Right On Time" is a standout and is a beautiful and reassuring little song. Of course now that I have listed here every song as a standout that means none are stabndouts or it means each of these songs is a standout in comparison to most music I hear in general. I will say that latter option is true. I think this album is just fabulous, its uplifting and its emotional and gritty and real and sad and hopeful... this is a great album in my opinion and I recommend it. "[+]Reply
"Rich has been an incredibly prolific artist, which has been both a blessing and a curse. The former because a fan can count on new product every other year at least. The latter because most of his studio releases contain a dollop or two of filler material. This album holds special standing for me...""Rich has been an incredibly prolific artist, which has been both a blessing and a curse. The former because a fan can count on new product every other year at least. The latter because most of his studio releases contain a dollop or two of filler material. This album holds special standing for me, as it's the most consistent, and the accompanying tour was my first exposure to Rich as a live tour-de-force."[+]Reply
"For all but the final track on this, the dial is on one setting....play fast. There's a couple of great power thrash songs on this but when nearly everything is at the same speed it starts to get hard to define one track from another. Good to listen to one or two tracks at a time when in the mood...""For all but the final track on this, the dial is on one setting....play fast. There's a couple of great power thrash songs on this but when nearly everything is at the same speed it starts to get hard to define one track from another. Good to listen to one or two tracks at a time when in the mood as they're mostly great songs, but can become a blur when listening to it all in one sitting"[+]Reply