The first third of this album is a pretty good prog-adjacent experimental album with a lot of interesting sonic textures, and then you get to the dialogue. The radio drama parts are soooooooo dumb! With the exception of one female character with a horrible attempt at a French accent, everyone is voiced by the same guy, Peter Cook, who’s a sub-par voice actor at best. Every character is either annoying or paper thin. Not one line of dialogue was funny and the story is so uninteresting. ... read more
Really loved the first half, but the second half really reveals aspects of the album’s production that I don’t really like too much. The first half is extremely strong and unique for the band, so it makes up for it in the long run, but as a whole this is the most mixed I’ve been on their records.
A surprisingly smooth and stylish album from a nasally high-pitched harmonica wielding white boy. An album that is a great match of eccentricity, counter culture, and experimentation, with melodic and relatively straightforward songwriting. Would recommend!
A paranoid and murky audio diary from a person living in the apocalypse. This album doesn’t feel like 1981, more like 2081.
Thanks so much to @Porkus for the recommendation! Diceit has been an album I’ve been aware of for a while, but have never made the plunge with. I think that mostly goes down to the oddly negative reputation this album has sadly acquired online in the last couple years. There are two big takes surrounding this album that I find to be a bit undeserved. One being ... read more
Me when I hear they’ll be 1971 progressive folk at the function. 🤑🤑🤑
Sorry for taking so long to get to this recommendation from Porkus, but as I’ve finally listened to it I can say that’s it’s pretty good. I’m in a unique position where I have to critique a work that was brought to me by the person who created it. I’d have loved to have this be an album that I was 100% on board with, but I am just slightly mixed on some elements, just keep in mind that every criticism I have of this release is just my opinion, one that is hopefully ... read more
An incredibly one of a kind album, that despite its flaws, is an extremely powerful listen. Surprisingly the album feels more like a double album than a 3LP, which is pretty impressive for a Radio Drama Rock Opera. I think the acting here, (outside of one scene I’ll get to later) is really convincing, like you’re a fly on the wall of these horrifying moments. It is such a vivid transportation that it makes you realize how the past wasn’t just “The Past” but as real ... read more
I think this album really highlights how big of an umbrella that music labeled with the adjectives “experimental” and “alternative” can fall under. Hearing side 1 after listening to nothing but The Residents for the last week or so really brings attention to how the simple act of having regular instruments be played in a regular way feels light years away from them. The transition to The Residents did feel really sudden, even though their songs are arguably their most ... read more
EDIT: I get it now. Will update review to reflect my opinion soon.
With how much people seem to be in love with this album, I expect my thoughts on this album to widely develop the more time I give to it and The Residents as a whole. Right now it's more of a cool artifact novelty than an art piece that I am truly hypnotized with. I think I've simply heard stuff in this vein of experimental music that is more batshit than this (Trout Mask or Ground-Zero) or more emotionally resonant ... read more
This album demonstrates everything I love in Zolo. It’s ridiculously catchy, giving you choruses so anthemic that you swear you’ve heard them before, but everything’s so weird and creative that they reassure you that this is beyond anything you’ve known. So much fun, so paranoid, and so brillia-wait who the fuck gave this a 30?!?!
Scraps the long-winded almost annoying parts of the last record, improved the songs that worked, and serves some more diverse and catchy songs in return. I don’t know why this album is so hated, it’s not even that off-putting compared to most stuff I’ve heard in their genre.
A lofi mix of Camel, Genesis’ Trespass, and peak Wishbone Ash with some synths mixed in. It’s not the most revolutionary or interesting prog album of the 80’s, especially considering where it came from, but it doesn’t really have to be. Incredibly consistent high energy prog bangers, with an unintended but still effective etherial lostwave sound to it due to the lower production quality.
I’d say from a more objective standpoint this album isn’t as succinct and consistent as other releases I’ve given this score to, but, just, DAMN. It sound EXACTLY like the album cover. This album has such a wild and hyper-specific sound to it that at its best completely consumes me in a way few albums can nowadays. The vocals aren’t even at 11, they’re at 12. He can go from sounding like a goblin to a barbaric tyrant, to a shrieking mad man in one song. His vocals ... read more
I misread the release date as 1968 and was losing my shit listening to this.
2 Minutes In: Hmm, ok, I get what they’re going for, this relatively normal bit will be interrupted by a lot of chaos and noise.
15 Minutes In: …Ok? Well, it hasn’t changed much at all? This is really disappointing, this album kind of sucks.
30 Minutes In: holy fuck.
50 Minutes In: This album is a masterpiece.
A fun and interesting melding of the whimsical child-like aesthetics of Syd Barrett with the vocal style of Nick Drake. For the most part a really nice experimental pop record but the experiments don’t really work for me on the last 2 songs which are kinda meh and don’t really make sense to be the last act of a record like this.
IF THIS WAS JAPANESE AND HAD A BEACH COVER YOU FUCKERS WOULD RECOGNIZE THIS IS HEAT
My impression of a guy with a fart fetish listening to Bish Bosch for the first time:
"Yeah man I don't think it's quite as cohesive as The Drift so far but it's definitely interesting, lemme hear the second song real quick,"
"Hmm, okay, this is pretty goo-ooOoOoOoOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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Recent Review Comments
On This Heat - Deceit
"That’s really interesting, I’ll make sure to keep that in mind on my next listen. Thanks for the perspective! I’ve mostly thought of this album as a series of separated scenes that follow the same setting and theme, as opposed to a more sequential story. I took the track primarily on its own, so I I’ll try to see what I’ll think once I attach the last two tracks together in my mind when I listen to it!"
On Porkus's review of Split Enz - Time and Tide
"I’d say that I definitely had a similar reaction to you on first listen. I was expecting more Zolo elements, and was a bit underwhelmed by the album and thought it was kinda alright. I think that when I started to look at the album more as a general 80’s pop rock album, and I started to really appreciate the unique and catchy melodies along with the vibrant production. It’s a very different listen, but their earlier album Second Thoughts is more frenetic and might be more your style. I’ll definitely be checking out your rec for This Heat, which it’s absolutely insane that I haven’t heard it before, I feel like it’s right down my alley!"
On Johndoealpha's review of Kenny G - Kenny G
"I get your last point, but think about Chuck Mangione, a guy who isn’t Japanese and doesn’t have beach covers, has pretty decent reviews on this site even though he’s in the same genres that this album is in."
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