Greatest Albums of All Time (Rock & Jazz) - Music Diaries

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

geologist wrote:

Once you get tired of all that Taylor Swift, you should check out the new Squid album "Bright Green Field". Really been enjoying it, it's a British post-punk album. Definitely draws comparison to Talking Heads, but also has clear inspiration from post-rock and krautrock.
I'm also curious if you've ever listened to the Math Rock band "The Brave Little Abacus", as I think their music is some of the most creative and cathartic of the 21st century.

Thanks I'll check those out when I'm done bludgeoning myself with 2.5s, 3s and 4s and then finding relief in the 5s and 6s that seem like masterpieces in comparison Wink

Maybe I will jump the gun and give Revolver a 9/10 just following a revisit of Justified or something.
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Facetious

Gender: Male
Age: 24
Location: Somewhere you've never been

AfterHours wrote:

Re: Speak Now ... Yep, you're right, the rating will rise quite a bit. I revisited it today and it's probably a 5 or higher (minimum 4.5s) though I'll give it another go before deciding because a 6 seems within reach too. Just needed a little more familiarity and I was looking for strengths from Red and/or 1989/Reputation whereas Speak Now is more "perfectly honed" pop/country pop as opposed to the less predictable more "spontaneous/volatile" rhythmic-melodic strengths those exhibit ... thus not really seeing the strengths it was displaying in front of me.

Re: Bangerz ... It's all about the very honest, sickened decadence, the music constantly in a rather grotesque and wasted, sad aftermath of drugs and promiscuity, a slurring and tired and lonely and follied, angry demise in front of the world, performing almost past the point of caring, in a malaise, depression, and defiance that also has a lost sense of desperation to it. Multiple "defiant" tracks have a trance-like stupor, and other tracks that practically cry out for help (like the opener, like Wrecking Ball, like Drive...) and microcosms of those extremes inside most/all of the songs. It's basically music playing past the point where it was fun any more, in the sickness and debauchery and lows of her transgressions, inebriated and wasted and out of touch with what's going on to the point where she/they are just running on fumes and the will to keep standing despite all the debauchery and drugs (a desperate need to prove the world wrong, and carrying forth with that mantra anyway while also knowing she isn't and depressively loathing herself and her demons). It's kind of analogous to There's a Riot Goin' On in her discography (sort of). It's only my 2nd listen of it so I might end up being wrong with its rating once I get more and more familiar with it, but it was a massive leap from my first listen. The next one or two listens will probably be the most telling as the rating is still in a very volatile stage right now: I'm just moving it according to how I view it right now but it could just as easily move again. But anyway, I was pretty shocked, even considered 6.8+.

Re: Swift debut ... Upon last revisit, Id add Cold as You as maybe its best or at least among them. Its probably the most ideally performed and honed including her voice.

Re: Speak Now... Yes that's a very good description. The shift sonically from Red onwards opened up quite a few possibilities for her. Think of Speak Now as her Hard Day's Night and Red as her Revolver (not because of the relative quality between them, as Revolver is much better than Hard Day's Night for me, but because of the artistic "maturity" they represent in a sense).

Re: Bangerz... I am intrigued. I would recommend The Weeknd's Trilogy (or alternatively, you can tackle and rate the mixtapes included separately) as a much more compelling expression of decadence, especially House of Balloons. I'd guess a 7-7.5 rating at least for Trilogy as a whole.

Re: Revolver... I'm still convinced it will click Wink

Re: Swift debut... Yup, that and Should've Said No are highlights, but the album still loses a lot of steam between Teardrops and Our Song for me.

Facetious

Gender: Male
Age: 24
Location: Somewhere you've never been

AfterHours wrote:

Thanks I'll check those out when I'm done bludgeoning myself with 2.5s, 3s and 4s and then finding relief in the 5s and 6s that seem like masterpieces in comparison Wink

Maybe I will jump the gun and give Revolver a 9/10 just following a revisit of Justified or something.

I actually find the production on Justified interesting, lots of quirky details here and there.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

Facetious wrote:

AfterHours wrote:

Re: Speak Now ... Yep, you're right, the rating will rise quite a bit. I revisited it today and it's probably a 5 or higher (minimum 4.5s) though I'll give it another go before deciding because a 6 seems within reach too. Just needed a little more familiarity and I was looking for strengths from Red and/or 1989/Reputation whereas Speak Now is more "perfectly honed" pop/country pop as opposed to the less predictable more "spontaneous/volatile" rhythmic-melodic strengths those exhibit ... thus not really seeing the strengths it was displaying in front of me.

Re: Bangerz ... It's all about the very honest, sickened decadence, the music constantly in a rather grotesque and wasted, sad aftermath of drugs and promiscuity, a slurring and tired and lonely and follied, angry demise in front of the world, performing almost past the point of caring, in a malaise, depression, and defiance that also has a lost sense of desperation to it. Multiple "defiant" tracks have a trance-like stupor, and other tracks that practically cry out for help (like the opener, like Wrecking Ball, like Drive...) and microcosms of those extremes inside most/all of the songs. It's basically music playing past the point where it was fun any more, in the sickness and debauchery and lows of her transgressions, inebriated and wasted and out of touch with what's going on to the point where she/they are just running on fumes and the will to keep standing despite all the debauchery and drugs (a desperate need to prove the world wrong, and carrying forth with that mantra anyway while also knowing she isn't and depressively loathing herself and her demons). It's kind of analogous to There's a Riot Goin' On in her discography (sort of). It's only my 2nd listen of it so I might end up being wrong with its rating once I get more and more familiar with it, but it was a massive leap from my first listen. The next one or two listens will probably be the most telling as the rating is still in a very volatile stage right now: I'm just moving it according to how I view it right now but it could just as easily move again. But anyway, I was pretty shocked, even considered 6.8+.

Re: Swift debut ... Upon last revisit, Id add Cold as You as maybe its best or at least among them. Its probably the most ideally performed and honed including her voice.

Re: Speak Now... Yes that's a very good description. The shift sonically from Red onwards opened up quite a few possibilities for her. Think of Speak Now as her Hard Day's Night and Red as her Revolver (not because of the relative quality between them, as Revolver is much better than Hard Day's Night for me, but because of the artistic "maturity" they represent in a sense).

Re: Bangerz... I am intrigued. I would recommend The Weeknd's Trilogy (or alternatively, you can tackle and rate the mixtapes included separately) as a much more compelling expression of decadence, especially House of Balloons. I'd guess a 7-7.5 rating at least for Trilogy as a whole.

Re: Revolver... I'm still convinced it will click Wink

Re: Swift debut... Yup, that and Should've Said No are highlights, but the album still loses a lot of steam between Teardrops and Our Song for me.

Weeknd's House of Balloons is pretty damn good but I would disagree (so far at least -- only 1 listen, so perhaps unfair and may change). It's a more pronounced expression of loneliness but less emotionally dynamic, powerful and compelling maybe every other way.
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TiggaTrigga

Just noticed you moved It Takes a Nation of Millions pretty high up.

What made you rate it higher up? Anything noteworthy you found from these recent listens?

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

TiggaTrigga wrote:

Just noticed you moved It Takes a Nation of Millions pretty high up.

What made you rate it higher up? Anything noteworthy you found from these recent listens?

Nothing particularly new. It's actually been 8.1 and 8.2 before. It just struck me again on that level after revisiting several 7.8s, 7.9s, 8.0s, and so on. I just realized I was probably underrating it somewhat.

The key elements to it remain the same: the lead vocalist's "sermon" style rapping, which are basically speeches in a register/orator not far removed from Malcolm X (or others) during the Civil Rights movement, with the clownish Flavor Flav turning the proceedings into an alternation of volatile tones and messages, ambiguities between violence, rage/anger, intensity of purpose, comedy, black comedy. And the continual parade of effects, scratching, sound gags, that run amok in a frantic collage of emotional/conceptual ambiguity and fluctuation between spoofs and violence. And the conflation of hip hop to a multitude of sub-genres along the way to represent a sort of monumental revolution, culling from rock/funk/etc history (and calling forth its anarchy, rebellion, punk spirit in the name of hip hop/Farrakahn/Civil Rights and their argument and message to the black community).
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homelessking

What is your rating for Butthole Surfers's S/T EP ?

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

homelessking wrote:

What is your rating for Butthole Surfers's S/T EP ?

Not sure as its been too long. In general I dont think as highly of them as Scaruffi though (not sure what Im missing, if anything).
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homelessking

I wonder why you don't like The Good Son as much as Scruff. I think you used to rate it 9 back on listology?

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

homelessking wrote:

I wonder why you don't like The Good Son as much as Scruff. I think you used to rate it 9 back on listology?

I might have but I actually don't think any more or less of it than I did then. I simply fine tuned my ratings and rankings over more time and experience. I used to give 9 ratings a little more easily (though still quite strict). Back then a fair number of 8s (and a few 7.5s, 7s) made it to 8.5 or 9 before falling back down (in Classical, Cinema, Jazz, Paintings too). 8s are masterpieces by most reasonable definitions but the 9s that now remain eventually proved to have very special qualities that proved more profound and permanent over more revisits.

That all said, Good Son always has a chance because of how often I agree with Scruff. There may very well be some element I haven't quite grasped.
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