it opens on a whimsy mood with the girls' boop-sy delivery on "How Do You Do It", but the mood flattens onwards with tame renditions -- until "Because", that is, when the girls begin ad-libbing and the American femme of their faint singing leaves an impression- as soon as the Supremes take their turn on the staple Beatle howls do you start reconsidering!

especially with that Motown band production in the background does "A Bit of Liverpool" feel like fun!

it's "hotter than July" for him, but you're not wrong to consider most of the album under-cooked. it's not to discount the polished production, but the energy doesn't take you far; too relentlessly happy for your own good, thus too eager to fly that it never takes off. though, this album works if building a simple good mood's what you're after.

"Lately" is the album's true stand-out - the only song capable of stirring thought.

am i wrong for thinking Blur's first two albums are so, so dry and boring? all of the songs sound mawkish; Albarn's vocals prolongedly bored to instrumentalism that blares noisily without reprieve and drones on and on -- in that manner, it's relentless tunnelling. "chant-chant-chant" to whichever tangent is flying around their heads.

la-la-la...! mutter, mutter, mutter... oh, some cliché political commentary. i'm sorry that Thatcher was so hard on you.

well-meaning, sun-kissed breathiness is, certainly, an intention to aspire towards in this tech-age of Gen Z detachment (thus, multitudes smarter than her previous albums).

yet, "Solar Power" loses as much in Lorde's hallmark silly writing (hidden by her previous albums' gloom-and-doom) and the faux-down-to-earth production -- her made-for-market, Antonoff-propped tunes would never know true warmth.

homework for you all: Joni Mitchell's "Hejira".

it's truly one-of-a-kind: an alarming cacophony of post-punk, Descloux crosses two important scenes of the Carter-Reagan era -- releasing under the mutant disco-no wave eclecticism that was ZE Records in NYC (Was (Not Was), Kid Creole, Material) and recording at Jamaica's Compass Point Studios of art-rock slickness (Sly & Robbie, Grace Jones, Talking Heads).

Caribbean-tinged worldbeat to Western no wave? "Mambo Nassau" has the hallmarks of a progressive dance record.

art-rock eclecticism with night-and-day dainty-ness, to 43 minutes of indulgement - certainly better than previous albums when they concede to the camp concept - but "A Night At The Opera" remains inessential; lesser-yet-delightful, neo-music hall ditties and staple ruff-n'-tuff rock songs that edge the glorious "You're My Best Friend" and "Bohemian Rhapsody".

in one word - "schmaltzy", to its detriment or your enjoyment.

when artists are serious about being melodramatic over teenage things, especially if they've lived through no hard life, it's pretty unacceptable to be complaining.

to compare, Sinead O'Connor debuted with "The Lion and the Cobra" at 20 and lived a turbulent life towards then, and it was hard-hitting(!) - but this New Zealand brat, who waits four years after an inane debut, sings the same mediocre topics over generic 2010s dance-pop and everyone's acclaiming it?

"Tennis Court" and "Royals" remain fine, but they are simply "fine" as Gen Z curios; "Pure Heroine" as a whole emanates self-importance over angst that's not trouble enough to constitute supposedly heavy-handed songs.

please tell me what a sixteen-year-old Kiwi suburbanite knows about life, age-old victory, and revelation when she wants to lament over fame in tennis courts.

she reads her lust and NYC for filth on the first four songs - they're pretty effing filthy, the Jones persona exacerbated in a kookier progression of the nutty verbiage and twang present on "Nightclubbing", but the momentum somewhat drops after "Everybody Hold Still".

it's curious listening nonetheless afterwards, but side two's drier tunes is a disservice to side one's snazzy quirk.

they venture into that à-la-mode new wave seriousness, like Lennon and Ono's "Double Fantasy", with dashes of minimalist funk energy, like Dazz Band, Grace Jones circa "Living My Life", or Marvin Gaye circa "Midnight Love".

by far the most progressive and intriguingly rewarding Queen album - you don't know your music if you think "Hot Space" is remotely bad.

there's only so much jazz you can listen to before they sound common, but there's an off-kilter energy present on "The Peaceful Side" that prevents it from becoming a repetitive work.

Strayhorn, Ellington's famed colleague, relies only on piano and a-cappella backing until the last song, renditions that emerge fresh as they stop between erratic and jaunty - "The Peaceful Side" is a late-night listen that keeps your attention for its quiet climbs and drops.

it seemed really promising starting from the towering "Gonna Give Her-" towards the mellowful "Groovin'", but it lost me on "I Wish It Would Rain" with its opening piano interrupted by that grinding guitar, some allusion to progressive elements that's later present only a couple of songs, and the subsequent title track sounded all right.

it's the usual fare of soul Motown sound, as is expected from Gaye pre-"What's Going On".

there's no clear division from the "hard" or "glam" of their rock - by removing any connecting narrative between their story-telling, glam songs and placing under-three-minute vignettes across sides, there's not much statement other than showing their new, varied approach.

incessant "ahs" and guitar-shredding abound, not much consistency other than the hard rock that rocks for the sake of rocking, which doesn't relent for a half hour.

their second is an intensification of the debut (fittingly titled "Queen II") - i'd ignore their first side of usual-fare manly-rock, to which the album draws with the second side's mish-mash of hard rock and dainty-ness.

whether it's a listening of ironic or serious enjoyment for the theatrics and layers, Queen's personality begins to emerge with this record's dark side, but only two tracks are in full-form to suggest any solid statement in humour and camp.

except, vaguely, "Keep Yourself Alive", the first side is essentially glam that isn't distinctive from much else of 70s hard rock. "Queen" becomes oddly engaging on the second side when "Liar" showcases Queen's future operatic tendencies, which only magnifies with the hard-prog rock flux spiking from "Modern Times-" to "Jesus".

overall, a run-of-the-mill training ground of a debut, background to future intriguing works.

why is this release so unanimously disregarded? it's decent, the big band sound aligning well with gaye's sultry voice, its first side's easy listening and second side's swing a capable production.

it certainly isn't discography-outstanding, but worth a re-visit if you're disposed to this older style of pop. i really enjoyed the second side's upbeat ("Sweet Lorraine", "It's Only A Paper Moon") towards Gaye's calypso track.

"indie rock", with an insulting irony that the Strokes is a band of upper-class, New York kids who met while attending prestigious preparatory schools - these pampered American boys seem more likely to endure starving for a climate change hunger strike than as a struggling, all-or-nothing band touring seedy nightclubs.

the music is dull, there is no irony or grit like 1970s New York acts had; what they talk of is high school antics to boring riffs and dry drumming.
no other words.

performs more as a historical document for insight into Madonna's track developments pre-debut, so if you have a penchant for her glittery 1983 album, you'd have more stamina than the general listener of giving this unofficial CD your attention - as mentioned, this is more document than record-to-be-spun, as three songs play twice or more showing some odd form or other.

though, the "Burning Up" demo and "Don't You Know?" are candidates as unreleased gems.

funny, this is what Japanese city pop tries to emulates, so the surrounding negativity jars me as the songs are quite decent; as much with the argument that no personality shines on her first effort, the production standard and dance-ability of the tracks here are substantial! (the first side especially.)

i would wager the first side's dance as entirely delectable, though the second side does produce slight disappointment - a faceless-but-useful dance record.

there feels to me an awareness that Gaye hasn't assumed since "Let's Get It On"; he catches any artifice with bits of corniness ("Midnight Lady", "Third World Girl") and then unabashed sensuality, moreso delivering a varied record pointing to late-night-club thumping and late-night-drive melancholy (thank the TR-808!).

with a contemporary, moody synth nature and desirous and campy writing - "Midnight Love" is befitting as Gaye's swan song.