FUZZY by Grant Lee Buffalo
The type of jangly guitar rockpop that I find bland and don't typically respond to very well. I thought it was... pleasant enough.
This brings up an interesting question I've had...when you're listening to music, what exactly are you listening for? It's seemed to me for a while now that a number of people only hear the guitar portions of the music and it's all that really matters to them, and perhaps for some others they listen to just beats or just vocals...
Because frankly I don't understand a review like this for Fuzzy...some of the songs are a tad bland but not because they're "jangly guitar rockpop". It's because there aren't many shifts in the music and they tend to drone a bit. But frankly the best song on the album is hands-down Dixie Drug Store and not one of you has been impressed by it at all. It's not exactly a masterpiece of guitar rock, but it's an excellently sung story song with a catchy piano-based rhythym. Indeed, it can't really be called "jangly guitar rockpop" because there's very little guitar in it.
I guess this is why there's no real agreement on a top 10 on this site, let alone a top 100 - everyone hears something different when they listen to music _________________ <(: @ >
So today I was able to finish a few more albums. Shout out to gussteivi for the Grooveshark recommendation; definitely helped to fill the gaps that youtube left.
Postcards from a Young Man was okay. Best two songs for me were (It's Not War) Just the End of Love and Red Rubber (bonus track). Everything else was okay. My only real knowledge of MSP prior was Motorcycle Emptiness from one of their first albums, a song which I simply adore, but which is quite different from this album. Overall, not bad, but not particularly stellar. 75, perhaps the best album of this week's bunch for me.
Fuzzy was... fuzzy. Some of the songs seemed to just ramble on endlessly, and I just couldn't connect to them. The best out of the bunch would be Dixie Drug Store or Wish You Well, but I won't be rushing to listen to them again any time soon. The album as a whole bounces around a lot for me; sometimes pseudo-hard rock, sometimes folksy americana. It's been said that Mighty Joe Moon is the better GLP album, so maybe I'll give that one a try. 70
I'm halfway through Quality Control, and I will finish now (thanks again to Grooveshark, though the tracklisting here seems a bit off), but I don't think it will be that stellar. I'm not sure what I thought of Jurassic 5 before, but I don't think I realized they were quite so hip-hoppy. I like The Influence and Swing Set, and I could listen to them again, but the others are varying shades of meh. It will probably end up around a 70.
I'm beginning to think that if a 70 is just meh, I'm being to generous with my ratings.
I haven't gotten around to Nightwish, but I've got a couple of songs loaded and waiting. Given my lack of love for metal, however, I predice this will be the bottom of this week's bunch for me. But, I do like Within Temptation, so maybe they'll surprise me.
1. The Shining Hour: 90 Great song. Tension, good voice.
2. Jupiter and Teardrop: 70 A little bit on the bland side.
3. Fuzzy: 95. Best song on the album. Great falsetto.
4. Wish You Well: 85. Classic material. Maybe a bit ordinary on the chorus.
5. The Hook: 75. Enjoyable, not special.
6. Soft Wolf Tread: 55 Weakest track on the album, not very appealing melodically.
7. Stars N'Stripes: 85 Once again, the falsetto makes this a winner.
8. Dixie Drug Store: 85 Afghan Whig-ish stuff, I'm a good customer of these.
9. America Snoring: 60 Too heavy for me.
10. Grace: 60 A bit bland really, and too long.
11. You Just Have To Be Crazy: 55 Disappointing closing track.
Overall: 75. Good album, at times very good, at times on the just OK side of good. As I had rated the whole 70 beforehand, I suppose I'm consistent
Tell you what: I'm watching a movie right now (Truffaut's Vivement Dimanche!), and after that I'll try THE WHOLE MANIC STREET PREACHERS album. Yes, you heard me right. I'll stop at nothing.
Tell you what: I'm watching a movie right now (Truffaut's Vivement Dimanche!), and after that I'll try THE WHOLE MANIC STREET PREACHERS album. Yes, you heard me right. I'll stop at nothing.
WARNING : Prior to this listening, everything I have ever heard from this band, I have hated. Just saying.
1. (It's Not War) Just The End of Love: Awful voice. I generally don't like guitar solos. Overall it could be OK without those two details, but it's pompous. 40.
2. Postcards From A Young Man: Better. Somehow the voice is bearable here. there's a Queen touch towards the end that's funny. 55.
3. Some Kind of Nothingness: It's all starting to sound samey. The voice is mixed way too much upfront. Some sort of gospel addition to this one. The whole really lacks subtlety. 40.
4. The Descent (Pages 1 & 2): Sounds like Robbie Williams, which is good news. Deceptive though, this is not his last descent actually. 60 all the same, honorable. Best so far.
5. Hazelton Avenue: If I find nothing to say here. I did not suffer while listening to it, but I don't remember it at all. 50.
6. Auto-Intoxication : A welcome change after 5 very similar tracks. Here is MSP doing some American rock. It's on par with Foo Fighters or something. 60.
7. Golden Platitudes: I really don't like this, and I'm getting a bit exhausted by the whole record. Too much of everything. The 60s pop tinge can't really save this. 40
8. I Think I Found It: As much as I enjoy my occasional mandoline, this song is really too much. God this singer annoys me. 20. Still 4 to go, I'm getting nervous.
9. A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun: Almost unbearable. I'm tempted to skip, but no! I must be brave and hold on. EDIT: Argh! There goes the solo. -5 for this. 10.
10. All We Make Is Entertainment: Generic FM hard-rock, nothing to be ashamed of but it's not my cup of tea. Not at all. 30
11. The Future Has Been Here 4 Ever: I don't have anything to say about this, er... it's better than the previous one. 50.
12. Don't Be Evil: The chorus is bearable, the rest isn't, I think it's because the voice is doubled on the chorus. Another haunting solo. 40.
All in all, a totally unenjoyable listen. Talk about elephant in China shop. I really don't like the singing, I think it really brings down what could be okay in this. Overall 39, I'll bring it down to 35-30 for the sheer fatigue the whole left me into.
And Fergenaprido, don't forget to rate the tracks on the site. I think your idea turned out well this round!
I will. I'll likely do it all at once later this week after I sort out my internet issues.
So I finally rated the songs on the four albums I listened to last week. I also managed to get my internet working in my new place.
I finished Quality Control, and my opinion stayed the same. I did reload my computer, however, and in reopening the browser and the tabs I had opened to load the Nightwish youtube videos, the first 5 seconds or so that I heard didn't sound so bad, so maybe it will turn out to be more enjoyable than I had thought... as long as they don't going into their growling.
When voting, I noticed that a number of other people had been voting as well, not just for the albums, but for the songs too. I'm going to wait until the end of the month to collect and compile the new statistics for each album, to give people time to catch up if they started late, and they we can see just how much of an impact, if any, this month's project will have had.
I agree, outlaw, it seems that in spite of a few hiccoughs, things went fairly well for Week 1. Now let's get rolling on Week 2!
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