1001 Albums Summary

I got distracted reading the negative reviews of Nick Drake’s albums but I liked the piano on the title track. It could do with some more chromatism I think. The first half of Time gives me chills. Lady Grinning Soul has nice vocals. The prettiest star is nice but I think would be better as a more intricate (relatively) piano piece. Parts of this are very good. The more boogie-woogie pieces are merely entertaining at best. More generally piano and bass can really complement each other. It’s strange how everyone loves panic in Detroit. It’s definitely of its time. This is a good album. I will relisten. 3/5.

Some of these early songs are mixed strangely. I think it’s a mix of hard panning and just general volume levels. My general impression of The Beatles is that the worst songs are merely mediocre. This album is aligning with this. Or maybe they are just pleasantly meaningless. This is only their second album though. Don’t bother me is a funny idea. The backing instrumentals are also less loud. Devil in her heart is fun. It has pretty harmonies. Money (That’s what I want) reminds me of minion rush. On a second listen it’s actually very difficult to hate any of this. It’s actually just very competent and fun pop music. The mr postman opening melody throws me. I guess the Beatles are alright. 4/5

Look this was fun. There weren’t really standout tracks, I only listened to it once and found that the bass and guitar were awesome and if I tuned out what the guy was saying it all came together pretty well. There were definitely some low points. Mostly the ones that focus on his vocals. I feel extremely white listening to this.

Look I fell asleep while first listening to this but my impressions were it was pretty piss weak in terms of blues music, I mean you’re going up against Elvis, Nina Simone and I guess the start of the Beatles and the best you can do is a little screaming, the same filler ostinatos heard when they first put pianos in the logging camps and a brass section blaring over everything? Mostly I just feel like the lyrics are both repetitive and derivative. Also his mic keeps cutting out. That being said he is a compelling singer. These are just not very interesting songs. They just kinda read like a disconnected collection of things to say to ones love. This album has merit but it’s not concentrated enough to listen to. 2/5

First things first this is recorded really well and the vocals sound great compared to the James Brown live album. I feel like a black man singing “I’ve got my brand on you” is so strange, like does he get the irony? But it’s better than a white guy. Some of these songs are dragging a little but they’re very thematically consistent. I’m intrigued by these extremely low bass noises that occasionally occur.

I really love the few harmonies on this album.