Ultraviolence (album) by Lana Del Rey

A great record. The best that I heard from 2014 so far and one of my favourites from the 2010's. Lana really outstands with her vocals and the instrumentation on this record is the best in her career.

Never thought Lana could be so emotional this way. "Cruel World", "Shades of Cool" and "West Coast" are really powerful tracks. Best album of her for sure.

Solid album, though it fades towards the end. She still has that Billie Holiday sound in a lot of her songs.

Best tracks: Shades of Cool, Brooklyn Baby, Cruel World

From Boltzmann 12/30/2019 19:52

I get a bit sad listening to her music, because - well, in the first place because of her music of course, but also because I notice I will never feel the full extent of her music, because her music is mostly made for and from the perspective of women. I'll never experience putting up her music in my teens and just vibe hard to it. And at the same time I'm glad something like this can exist in our time: music that is women's own.

From Boltzmann 12/30/2019 12:42

The hip hop production is lost or unrecognizable, but she doesn't need it. What's left is very good and one-of-a-kind baroque pop.

From rogue 06/14/2019 18:07

This is still one of my favorite records to listen to in the summertime. Slow, sexy, beautiful.

Lana's strongest record. Although Born to Die and Lust For Life are solid albums, her distinct 'noir-Americana' persona that others have mentioned gets muddled by the heavyhanded poppy electronic rhythm sections on those two. This one (despite the heavy use of reverb) sounds far more organic than the others.

Here, I think we get the pure melancholic extract of her sound. It's an album with an old soul, but also veers on the edge of being straight-up dream pop. While the tracklisting loses a bit of steam in the second half, it pulls itself together at the end with a strong finish. The end result is a strong album that almost sounds timeless.

Perhaps it is simply my addiction to this sound, but I love this record. Something about the way her voice effortlessly shifts timbres from line-to-line and shimmers alongside those guitars...Like the chorus to 'Shades of Cool'...Damn. Perhaps it is not the most -adventurous-, but man do I find this album irresistible.

Highlights: Shades of Cool, Brooklyn Baby, Black Beauty, Cruel World

Least Favorite: Money Power Glory

From buzzdainer 11/17/2018 19:28

I tend to like all things Lana Del Rey, which may not seem entirely rational on my part, given that her brooding, duck-face persona isn't exactly congruent with most of my other musical tastes. In fact, I'd go so far as to predict that Ultraviolence gradually loses status on my 2014 chart as I discover, and re-discover, other albums that feel like they have more staying power. But for now it still holds a prominent spot, as I do think this album represents an interest in pop music that I hadn't experienced since the late 1980s, when the alternative rock, college rock, alternative country, and grunge scenes took over my musical imagination and refused to let go for decades.

This was quite different from "Born to Die" but it was still very easy to notice her style. I remember how I thought that the songs of this album are long but the longest track "Cruel world" is not even 7 minutes - and it is my favorite song of this album. I found this album amazing a couple of years after its release year. She is amazing artists - her lyrics are very smart.

From CryingGameDahlin 07/28/2017 11:46

A mildly surprising sophmore effort from Lana that brought a more slow-burning heat to her romanticized, hoary melancholia than the one-trick pony of "Born to Die", which always felt quickly cobbled together to cash in on the out-of-nowhere supernova that was "Video Games".

The overall mood and connecting sound are quite engaging on "Ultraviolence" and continue her kitschy, classic-noir-ish post-war Americana fetish with some added beat-you-over-the-head modern scene-skewering ("Brooklyn Baby" the good, "Fuck My Way to the Top" the ugly), but the devil's ultimately in the details here: the songs themselves are all careful, labored build-up with no release, ultimately making the album feel a bit limp despite all it's colorful, husky atmosphere. "Ultraviolence" ultimately loses it's musical energy and grip on it's artistic direction far too soon.

While a tantalizing dissapointment overall, she still proved she wasn't doomed to be a one-moment-in-time wonder with "Video Games" but still had a long way to go as a more meaningful, substantive songwriter and performer.