Don't punish me with brutality
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
20.11.26 : In Sides - Orbital (1996)
I love a bit of Orbital - I've seen them live twice and it's a fine experience indeed and their "best of" album is a particularly fine offering. However, I've never heard this album so was interested to do so. And whilst it presents an interesting sonic landscape, I'm not sure it's up there with the best of their stuff for me - the tracks do drag on somewhat (I really didn't need 24 minutes of "Out There Somewhere"). I also have a sneaking suspicion (which may be entirely unfair, because I know I couldn't do it) that they knocked some of this stuff out in 5 minutes flat - some of it just felt a bit lazy to me. I'll be sticking with their best of (or this one, which I preferred).
The channel gave this 6 thumbs up, 5 nices, a couple of positive comments and an amusing "i'm not saying it's bad - just interesting". Wikipedia tells us the album was so named because it was originally released on vinyl as 3 LPs with one track on each side - which sounds like a pointless waste of time and effort if ever I heard one. Talking of which, the vocals on "Dŵr Budr" are Alison Goldfrapp singing gibberish, played backwards. Yes, quite.
"Customers also listened to" Underworld, TFSOL, Leftfield, Chemicals, etc, etc - all the usual names. And Orbital are up there with the best of them for me - but this album didn't quite hit the spot personally.
20.11.27 : Whats Going On? - Marvin Gaye (1971)
One I've already met on my travels - I liked it and thought it was well ahead of its time. However, I'd have to say that, given its lofty position in the Rolling Stone list, I got a lot of comments along the lines of "Well, it's OK I guess - but #1? Seriously?".
The channel gave this nine thumbs up and one positive comment.
20.11.30 : Supervision - La Roux (2020)
I love, love, love their/her eponymous debut album and checked out her/their follow-up album and declared it fine, but not better or different enough to divert me from their/her previous effort. I wasn't aware of this, her (and it's definitely just her now) third album, so was interested to catch up with it. And I'm not entirely sure what I think - it's certainly not as immediate as the eponymous effort but feels like it might be a grower. Or might get dull very quickly - hard to say. I did like "International Woman Of Leisure", but the rest of it pretty much passed me by. I like the album cover though - it's a good modern/futuristic/retro combo.
The channel gave this five thumbs up and one heart and one comment that it was a bit samey. From the album's nominator, so I'm guessing that's samey-good as opposed to samey-bad. Wikipedia suggests the album's path to release was somewhat tortuous - I'm sure Ellie is a lovely lady, but I also have a sneaking suspicion she might be quite hard work. Overall the album was moderately well received both critically and commercially - with some critics saying it was samey-good and others saying samey-bad.
"Customers also listened to" Little Boots (who has a higher quality bar for me) and HAIM - you can do far worse than listen to any of their albums (particularly this one). I'm not sure about this album though - and I suspect it's unlikely I'll revisit it in order to make my mind up about it.
If an Orbital compilation album or La Roux's debut album had been selected, then picking a winner might have been tricky - but as it is, it has to go to Marvin. It is the best album of all time, after all (allegedly).
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