Reviews (page 7 of 7)
Lettre ouverte aux spectres du jury des Grammy Awards 1970. Messieurs les jurés (paix à vos âmes, si tant est que vous en ayez une), Je vous écris depuis une époque que vous n'auriez sans doute pas comprise. Une époque où la musique peut tenir dans une petite boîte sans fil, où l'on peut accéder à presque tout ce qui a été enregistré en quelques secondes. Et c'est dans le cadre d'un projet un peu fou, une sorte de pèlerinage sonore à travers 1001 albums jugés "essentiels", que je suis tombé sur votre... œuvre. Votre décision ou plus exactement votre crime de lèse-majesté musical. Je veux bien sûr parler de cette funeste soirée de 1970 où, dans un accès de folie collective ou de surdité avancée, vous avez décerné le prix de l'Album de l'Année à "Blood, Sweat & Tears". Je dois vous avouer que la première écoute fut un choc. Pas un choc esthétique, non. Plutôt le genre de choc que l'on ressent quand on met les doigts dans une prise électrique défectueuse. Un spasme, une convulsion de mauvais goût qui a secoué mes enceintes et mon âme de pauvre rocker élevé au son de The Cure et des Pixies. Comment avez-vous pu ? Je vous pose la question sans détour. Qu'est-ce qui a bien pu traverser vos esprits ? Étiez-vous à ce point terrorisés par la jeunesse, par la contre-culture, que vous ayez ressenti le besoin de récompenser son exact opposé ? Car cet album, c'est l'anti-rock par excellence. C'est le rock tel que l'imaginerait un directeur de banque qui voudrait "faire jeune". C'est un monstre de Frankenstein musical, une créature boursouflée, où des cuivres assourdissants, dignes d'une comédie musicale de seconde zone à Broadway, viennent piétiner sans vergogne les restes d'un pauvre groupe de rock qui n'avait rien demandé. C'est une musique terriblement sérieuse, qui se prend pour ce qu'elle n'est pas. Elle se drape dans des atours de "complexité" et de "virtuosité", mais elle est aussi profonde qu'une flaque d'eau. C'est une musique de frimeurs, pour les frimeurs. Le genre de disque qu'on devait mettre à l'époque pour impressionner ses invités lors d'un cocktail dînatoire, entre deux conversations sur le golf et les placements en bourse. C'est de la musique d'ameublement, du bruit de fond de luxe. Et ce chanteur... Avez-vous seulement écouté ce chanteur ? David Clayton-Thomas. Il a la puissance vocale d'un animateur de supermarché annonçant une promo sur le papier toilette, et la subtilité d'un marteau-piqueur. Chaque note est forcée, chaque intention est surjouée. Il ne chante pas, il pavoise. Pendant ce temps, dans la même catégorie, il y avait un petit disque sans prétention. Un truc enregistré par quatre jeunes de Liverpool. Ça s'appelait "Abbey Road". Ça vous dit quelque chose ? Un album qui, plus d'un demi-siècle plus tard, continue de faire pleurer, rêver, et vibrer des millions de gens. Un disque dont chaque note, chaque silence, est un miracle. Vous aviez l'or entre les mains, et vous avez choisi le plaqué. Vous aviez l'éternité, et vous avez choisi la naphtaline. Sachez que l'Histoire, elle, n'a pas été dupe. Votre décision est devenue une blague récurrente, un cas d'école de l'égarement critique. "Blood, Sweat & Tears" a rejoint le cimetière des gloires éphémères, tandis qu'"Abbey Road" trône au Panthéon. Je ne vous en veux pas, personnellement. Votre erreur de jugement m'a au moins offert une bonne tranche de rigolade et le sujet de cette lettre. Mais par pitié, si vous vous réincarnez un jour, faites-le en vendeurs de moquettes. Laissez la musique à ceux qui l'aiment vraiment. Avec mes salutations les moins respectueuses, Un passeur de disques du futur. Note finale : 1/5
No me ha gustado
I’ll be honest - I listened to this weeks ago and forgot to rate it. I have zero memory of it beyond that it sucked.
Awful
Didn't care for this one.
Bad
Fuck rating albums. Just let me listen.
I hated all the tempo changes in every song. What is this record even trying to achieve? It was incredibly obnoxious - constant tempo shifts, pseudo-religious lyrics, and what sounded like some weird Western music influence. Every song tried so hard to be everything at once and just ended up feeling messy and all over the place. I didn’t enjoy the singer’s performance either, and the organ (an instrument I particularly despise) on Blues, Pt. 2 almost killed me - the song felt like it would never end. I did appreciate the long break from the singer, but unfortunately he eventually started croaking again. The voice cracks were painful.
not for me at all
For the time, this might have been fine. Although looking at the history on this site, I'm seeing albums from 1967 from Jimi Hendrix and The Byrds and The Doors, so maybe this isn't old enough to get a pass. I don't quite think it's objectively bad, but I had to start skipping around after a few tracks as this was hard to get through. I feel like a 1 is probably too harsh for this album but that's what I'm going with since I couldn't force myself to finish it. 1.4
I did not enjoy
It was interesting to pick out a couple bits that I've heard sampled, but there's not much of actually want to listen to here.
This was a bit of a mess. It seems to be more about showing off than trying to nail a consistent sound or style. Some bits work, some don't, but I found it so all over the place that my attention drifted pretty fast.
This record sucks. Even this version of smiling phases sucks. This record really sucks.
#370. This one definitely doesn't do it for me. It could be fine otherwise if not for the trumpet. That trumpet, or whatever it is, is terrible. It's more annoying than Bob Dylan's harmonicas. I really hate that bit. I would be willing to listen to a remastered version without the trumpet to see if I change my mind, but for now I hate it. 1/5: painful.
This album is too many things all at once. I can't say I could ever get into it because it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Full disclosure, I detest Spinning Wheel. Always have my whole life. So that took me out of any cohesion as well. All in all, I don't really like any of these songs and I'm not convinced it's not just a collection of leftovers from various albums or sessions.
Faaark, opening with Variations on a Theme gave the wrong impression. Then Tom Jones Vegas set kicked off. We are all over the place. Album of the year, eh? Was there strong competition in 1970? Gather round kids, when I was a child there was no internet, we drank out of the garden hose, and Blood, Sweat & Tears was album of the Year. P.s. if the next band is from the 60s and features major flute action, I'm gonna pop a vein. Anyway, you might know the hits from AM radio or retirement villages, but I'd be so very happy if I didn't hear them again. One spinning star.
Take a bunch of songs that are good and then making them shit
Wtf is this shit
uhhh what did I just listen to?
This is awful.
Its very much of its time. Was B-List back then and now also very dated
Nicht gefunden
Did not enjoy
Never heard of them but knew a couple songs. Wouldn't listen again. 1/5
No, gracias
Good performances by talented musicians of songs I do not want to listen to again
This trout fishing for bland Americana sound is what people who like Kerouac ramblings listen to. Stand out songs Spinning Wheel and You Made Me So Very Happy can be enjoyed by older woman who will claim Pierre Trudeau once gave them a rose. And tell their teenage sons cooler friend they had a crush on Jim Morrison. Despite not having heard about The Doors until after Jim Morrison was dead. ⭐️
I really can't be doing with jazz fusion.
na
Not a huge fan. Im just not a big jazz guy. But does sample some interesting music. Blues pt2 samples cream’s sunshine of your love Also samples throughout: First Gymnopédie
its sounds like parody music, it just makes me think of Vic Reeves singing in a club style. i would expect to see Brian Potter getting Jerry to sing some of these.
RIP Michael Parkinson. Bet he loved this.
Oh lordy that was painful. Shortly after (quite bad experimental track) "Blues Pt 2 " I had to stop..classical attempts are notable for the hellish amateurism. This albums reassures me of my recent conclusions about this list. It's definitely not about the 1001 ***best*** albums. Some parts of the album are so bad they taint the okay parts. Definitely doesn't work for me. I'm starting to think think this list was put together by someone with very wide ranging and obscure tastes which seems to excessively and detrimentally favour uniqueness, curiosity factor or obscurity of the material (perhaps with an exhaustively éducative goal?) over enjoyability or objective quality. The quality/ enjoyment of the last 20 albums has been very inconsistent.
Well death freaks here's an interesting question: who spawned whom, BST or Chicago? Who came up with this model, with the horns and all the pseudo jazz shit? So if you are going to listen to this album before you get the intravenous drip ready, just be prepared for a very strange experience. The covers are odd. From Traffic to Brenda Holloway and everything in between. Was Laura Nyro a four old playmate of Jackson Browne? How was it that he was writing These Days as a toddler while Laura penned And When I Die? With both Laura's tune and Brenda's You Made Me so Very Happy, go and listen to the originals and you won't need this. The best track is the one of two originals, Spinning, David Clayton Thomas's finest moment, and the template for The Commitments. That's it really, it has aged badly...and I mean badly. Not worth wasting that illicit horse your family went and scored for you before you drop off the perch. Put A Hard Day's Night on instead...
Not my taste in music was just kinda there reminds me of a wedding I went too
I thought it was going to break into Jesus Christ Superstar at every moment. Musical
This type of jazz rock is really not my thing. Not a fan of this album, it just feels very dated and cheesy. I was real surprised to see that the album won the Grammy for Album of the Year and went quadruple platinum. It's telling to me that this album was so successful at the time but was never recommended by anyone when I was growing up as a big music fan, especially compared to lots of other classic rock that maybe didn't have this same mainstream success. I've definitely heard some of these songs in pop culture but would never come back to listen to this album. Constant decisions that just don't work for me. Standout Tracks: N/A
A few decent moments, but mostly just silly, badly-done genre mashing
No good
Não funcionou para mim a fusão da psicodelia baseada no progressivo com o jazz. Sou como forçado especialmente o uso dos metais e algo que parecia improvisação forçada.