Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayward Vagabond
I really hope you review this because its actually a serious request. So far everyone that has heard it has(understandably) been turned off by it enough to stop listening to it.
|
Is this a deliberately bad request or do you actually like it? I've gotten plenty of deliberately bad requests on Facebook (fuck BOTDF) but this is a unique one.
Day 7: God Bless 'Murica! Multiple Reviews by Multiple Artists
It's Independence Day in the US, and for that reason I decided to do more than one review today.
The Beach Boys are often called "America's Band" so I chose them as my first review for the 4th of July. The only album anybody cares about by them is Pet Sounds, which I have yet to listen to (again, I'm out of it) and is of seriously legendary status (being in almost every top albums list). I don't feel the need to write much about these guys, though an interesting fact is that despite writing 532 songs about surfing only one actually surfed. I've also read several reviews where albums I like (OK Computer, Loveless, The Soft Bulletin) are called the "Pet Sounds of the 90s". Time to catch up.
This is very different from all the surfy
Chuck Berry derivative songs the Beach Boys made early in their career, but that's to be expected. The layered sound adds texture and the different array of instruments shows the painstaking effort that went into making this record. That's what every freaking review says. I'll say that the singles still stand as some of the best baroque pop ever made, with good usage of instruments like harpsichords, glockenspiel, bells, mandolin, and dogs. Many non-single tracks like
Don't Talk and the 2 instrumentals also stand as great psychedelic tracks. If I have any complaints about this album, it would be that VERY RARELY the orchestra sounds a bit dated and the lyrical content drones on and on about Brian Wilson's love/lost love, but that's alleviated with some tracks not about said lost love (or at least very cryptically about lost love) like
Sloop John B and
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times.
This was a fairly pointless review, as every reviewer ever known to man has already reviewed this album and given it a 10. I'm kinda scared that I'll be shot just for having any complaints at all. So my final note is, I can definitely see the comparisons to The Soft Bulletin and
maybe OK Computer, but how the hell does this strike a comparison to
My Bloody Valentine? Layered sound means nothing when it's this different.
Alright, next review.
For Segregationists Only by Johnny Rebel (Album Choice: Abu)
I know of Johnny Rebel mainly through an episode of
The Boondocks. Ah, Uncle Ruckus never ceases to amuse me. Basically, this guy sings racist country songs. And what represents the USA better than racism and slavery?
This seems like your basic country, with a nasal singer, marching band-esque percussion and generic, walking guitar. The lyrical content is slightly amusing at how bigoted it is, but the shtick gets old far too quickly. Unadulterated racism no longer retains any shock value thanks to the media, so this is just generic C/W music with juvenile racist lyrics.
I wasn't able to listen to this whole album. Not because of the subject matter, but because it's so BLAND in terms of music. Dave Chappelle pulled this joke off better in a third of the time, and he's not white. If this music is to be taken seriously... Well, I'm not a white supremacist (or even white for that matter) so that's an impossible task. And if you were to change the lyrical matter to what every other country song sings about (ie; tractors, love, rural life, actual patriotism, cousin love) then this music would have less flavor than tofu extract. This is why I'm not vegan.
MISSION ABORTED. AND DELETED FROM MY PHONE IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE IT'S PROBABLY NOT A GOOD IDEA TO KEEP THIS ON YOUR PHONE.
For the last thing I'll do to velebrate the 4th of July, I went on Wikipedia and looked up to see how many albums there were that contained a song titled "4th of July". Now I shall review them all (with number ratings!) very briefly, based on only a couple of songs each.
1. There's a band named "Fourth of July" but I couldn't find their albums anywhere except YouTube, and I'm not listening to albums on YouTube at the moment. X/10
2. Amy MacDonald - Life In A Beautiful Light: This is a Scottish folk-pop singer. This is too much on the pop side for my liking. For a folk album, there's an odd electronic feel to this album. Meh, it's inoffensive. The Fourth of July track is especially boring. 6/10
3. I skipped the Beach Boys. I just reviewed them, and I'm not rummaging through a whole box set to hear a Fourth of July song. No rating/10
4. Galaxie 500 - This Is Our Music: I read about this band before, they're described as dream pop and slowcore. There are a few bands I like that are described as dream pop, like Yo La Tengo and the aforementioned MBV. This is not nearly as slow as I expected, with a mixture of spoken word and poor singing. This is much softer then every other dream pop/shoegaze band I've listened to, and I'm not fond of the singing. Still, I'm gonna give this one a bit of a recommendation. It's better than Amy Macdonald. 8/10
5. Kelis - Flesh Tone: The cover art scares me. But the music isn't scary, it's bland electro-pop music. Screw this. 3/10
6. Shooter Jennings - Put The "O" Back in Country: Guess what kind of music this is! It's considerably better then Johnny Rebel's crap (probably because there's more rock and less white supremacy), but doesn't feel special in any way at all.
Busted in Baylor County (Sweet Leaf Version) is probably my choice for stand-out, but
Butthole Surfers with
Sweat Loaf beat this in terms of Black Sabbath derivatives. 5.5/10
7. Soundgarden - Superunknown: This is the only album on here I've listened to the entirety of. I love Soundgarden (Not Chris Cornell's solo work) but I'm one of the few who doesn't think this is their best work (Down on the Upside is better). The 4th of July track here is murky and about acid. It's a definite standout track. 9/10
8. U2 - The Unforgettable Fire: Wait, aren't these guys from Ireland? Why should I review this? I don't wanna listen to U2. Yes I realize I've already reviewed a Scottish Folk singer but I don't care. Screw You/10
9. X - See How We Are: This is a classic punk rock band that I've never listened to. At this point I'm too lazy to give this a full review or even a serious rating. If you like punk rock, 7/10. If you don't like Punk Rock, you suck.