Blur may be a trial for me. I’m going to continue through Parklife for now, but I am not a fan of their sound. Mainly not a fan of the lead vocals, but also not a huge fan of the songs yet.
I’m kind of surprised, though. I went in expecting a better experience.
That “boys who like girls” or “girls who like boys” song drove me nuts back in the 90’s. I now realize who it is by. I may have been soured that this song was the lead song on the album. Dude, that’s annoying.
Oh, that’s sort of a bummer. Boys and Girls can be annoying, but End of a Century and London Loves are two of my favorite songs ever. Parklife itself is pretty fun too. Not for everyone though.
Uh, I apologize for the above post. I was tired/frustrated at work. I am deeper in the album and it is better than I realized. Yes, I am enjoying parts of it quite a bit now. My bad.
I will not post thoughts about albums I have yet to listen to completely.
Along those stylistic lines, it would also be worth your while to check out Pulp, particularly the album Different Class. You may already be familiar with “Common People” and “Disco 2000,” but, along with Blur’s Park Life, it’s one of the essential Brit Pop albums. I would also recommend Suede and Dog Man Star.
Feel is a great song from Kendrick Lamar. I am listening to DAMN again and it is a stand out.
You have good taste. That’s one of my favorites.
With someone like Kendrick Lamar, I will most likely make a playlist of songs I did like since so many were not up my alley.
I bought College Dropout today from Kanye. I have to hear what could possibly make him claim to be “the greatest artist of a generation”.
I can’t believe you haven’t checked out Boston yet!
You’ve had five years!
Only a few albums, should I just start in the beginning with them?
This album doesn’t give him that claim alone. But body of work? Yeah. Not a question in my mind. At least for
Start, and finish.
Do you mean just listen to the one album?
The first album is really the only album you need to know. After that, it’s the same album being remade multiple times. (I’ve only heard the first three albums, though. I had no idea they had three more after that, the most recent one in 2013?!? So if suddenly they decided to try something different, I’m happy to give them another go.) Now, don’t get me wrong. That first album is a beautiful sounding album and a landmark album in rock music. Even if it’s not your bag, it’s worth knowing and listening to. It’s not really my bag, either, but if I had been there in the mid-70s when it first came out, it really seems to have sounded so much different sonically than any other contemporaneous album. And solid through-and-through pop songs.
This is largely correct. Listen to the first one. It will blow you away.
I promised not to post a thought without listening all the way through an album…but I will. I am listening to College Dropout.
**Jesus Walks **is an incredible song. I…could almost feel my opinion of Kanye West changing while I listened to it. Almost.
The album so far sounds a lot more like the evolution of rap/hip-hop I expected to hear on DAMN, which sounded like how I figured rap sounded 20 years ago. Kanye has, so far, added some great elements to a genre I am not inclined to listen to.
I have no thoughts on the album yet, but I did like Jesus Walks. A lot.
He wrote that entire song in his head, never wrote any of it down. Blows my mind when I think about it. He makes his own beats too. Musically he changed everything about hip hop. And that album is almost 20 years old…
(also, your expectations for DAMN were incorrect. It was intentionally not boundary pushing in its sound. Again, a bad place for you to start.)
After you finish the college dropout pull up the YouTube video for Ultralight Beam on SNL… Take a look at where he ends up in 15 years. It’s also fairly astonishing. (added bonus, it will introduce you to Chance the Rapper.)
Well, there’s very little love for synth-pop on this thread, so I’m gonna give one of the finest examples of it, Depeche Mode: Violator. Easily their most accessible album, and (imo) their best.
Oh, I thought you were going to go Speak & Spell there with the “synth pop” label. (Great album there as well.)
Kanye’s debut album is a lot funnier than I expected. I swear he could have made this album a straight comedy. Not what I expected at all.
Whew! That was a long read through time and space.