Notes On A Conditional Form
by The 1975

I had very high hopes for this album given how good the previous album is (and a little worried given how soon this 22 track album was released afterwards). Individually, I would say the songs are fine with some phenomenal singles. As a whole, this album doesn't flow...similar to most of their other albums (with the exception of the 2018 release). All in all, way WAY too long - The 1975 needs to work on their editing process.

Favorite Songs (these are phenomenal): If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know), Me & You Together Song (Edited)

From pjohnsongolf 12/29/2020 08:06 | #263392

Not quite sure how I feel about this album. I’ve loved the 2 previous albums they’ve released and honestly love the band.

A few things I want to bring up:

For one this is a very long album and in my opinion too long. It’s on the verge of being a chore to listen to it in it’s entirely.

I personally feel like the interludes are too numerous, too long, and for the most part lack musically. I feel like interludes are usually to connect the album together and honestly besides Shiny Collarbone and maybe (emphasis on maybe) a few others, they fail to do anything besides waste my time.

I really wish they would’ve built more on the theme of the rebellion talked about in the intro. I felt like after People and Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America it kind of dissolves. At the start I was thinking this was going to be one of my favorite albums by them and slowly that faded away along with the theme of rebelling against society.

Putting the odd choices and the interludes to the side, there were some phenomenal songs on this record. I freaking loved People, Frail State of Mind, Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America, Me & You Together Song, Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied, If You’re Too Shy, and Guys

It just felt like I had to work through mediocrity to get to these songs. Which isn’t always a bad thing but for me it was a little exhausting this time around. Also putting interludes aside there were only a few tracks that I can say I disliked. These being Now I Know and Bagsy Not In a Net.

Yes this album is a hot mess and yes at times it is hard to push through parts of it but I think that is what makes it unique. YES this album is worth it and YES I still enjoy listening to it.

IDEK/10 (Edited)

From Brad1770 09/07/2020 01:20 | #257840 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

The previous release was a momentous high point for contemporary albums both musically and stylistically so ‘Notes’ was always going to be a hiding to nothing release

The gestation of this album was protracted and delayed then delayed and delayed again and it shows ultimately coming out too long and too incoherent. It’s far from terrible and has some stunning moments namely the Greta opening and Phoebe Bridges duet, however at some point some one simply had to say enough is enough and bring a pair of scissors to the entire project

As a 45-50 minute album this would have been great but as an exhausting double album bordering on Triple Album everything gets lost in the mire (Edited)

The latest The 1975 album is another product of its time. The opening track is an environmental monologue, which is the best opening track of a The 1975 album so far, but not a song I would listen to constantly. What follows the opening track is a mix of typical songs for the band as well as surprisingly loud and brash tracks (such as 'People') or instrumentals ('The End (Music For Cars)' and 'Streaming'). The mix is a bit too all-over-the-place and fuzzy around the edges, despite the album being postponed from its original spring release date.

It's not as catchy and stylistically coherent as the previous release, but at least the band outs out a couple of standouts, namely 'The Birthday Party', a sweet little song; and 'Me & You Together Song', a pretty straightforward song for the band, closest to their previous material. 'If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)' is also a wonderfully happy song, bound to make everyone sing along.

The second half of the album starts to feel repetitive and doesn't lift quite as well as the first half. The album is a few tracks too long. That being said, The 1975 once again proves they can play around with lyrics and sounds alike, offering intense, sad and happy tracks on the same album.

Score: 59/100 (Edited)

From Vatsal 06/19/2020 08:16 | #253873

In true millennial fashion, it's like they were trying to subvert expectations so hard, they forgot where they even wanted to go. I have no clue what to make of this album or what it stands for. Or what the band even stands for anymore. (Edited)