The 1001 Album Generator Project Thread

Should we do a group project

  • Total voters
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  • Poll closed .
61/1001
Madonna - Like a Prayer
220px-Madonna_-_Like_a_Prayer_album.png

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It's wonderful how this isn't one of my top3 of Madonna's but still a fantastic record. It rockets to a very strong start, with the tender ballad "Promise to Try" sandwiched before the iconic "Cherish." A couple of the slow burners don't go over as well the aforementioned one ("Oh Father," "Pray for Spanish Eyes"), and the second half falters somewhat noticeably as a result.
While True Blue was easily more sophisticated than her first two records, this one pushes it further. Madonna's more pronounced interests in religion, feminism, LGBTQIA+ activism and all that mean that she's way more potentially tiring for people who just want to enjoy the music without her views being overbearing. Truthfully, I don't think that prevents Like a Prayer from being a marvelous pop album. Ultimately, it's still among her best studio achievements.

Personal highlights: "Love Song," "Cherish," "Keep it Together"
Rating: 4/5 [Excellent]
 
Lee Newman said:
Generator hates me tonight:
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So, this was the last interesting album Kanye made. Life of Pablo was the moment his ego took over, possibly because this did so well waiting till the last minute to finish with no real hype machine behind it which, of course, fed the hype machine. It is an interesting mix of what came before and a future sound we have quite gotten to yet. He is artistically brave, but the problems with his head are starting to show. Too bad he's become toxic, because as a producer, he is outstanding. His rapping has always been weak. Here he manipulates his voice enough to give some interesting performances through out. 4 stars.
 
Bug


if i remember right j mascis hates this album. which, ok, but he's wrong about his own music. freak scene kills right out of the gate. let it ride might be my favorite song by the band- it's been so long now i don't remember details anymore, but that song might have been on a soundtrack/compilation or a mix tape or something, and that was my introduction to them beyond feel the pain. i can't say i play the song don't all that often, but there's something to be said about lou screaming WHY DON'T YOU LIKE MEEEE?!?! to close the last dinosaur jr album he'd be on for awhile.
 
avecigrec said:
I think I got it worse than @Lee Newman tonight.
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I don't know man. Best I can figure, we are working on an older edition of the book. I decided when I started that I would listen to every album. Kanye was a test, I almost didn't listen to it. But, here's the thing when it came out, Kanye hadn't turned into a say crazy shit to sell albums and then turned into the weird racist republican shill he became. Even knowing that, there is none of that on display in Yeezus. The cracks are starting to show, there is definitely some misfiring happening in his synapses, but it truly is the last time I thought he was more interesting as a producer than as a spectacle. I think between this and Adams and to a lesser extent Arcade Fire (as I was never that invested in that band), I've decided that these listens need to focus on why the album made the list more than is the musician a scummy piece of shit human. Artists often are, because people often are. I'm going to make a more concerted effort in the auspices of this project, to separate the art from the artist (unless there is a need to really examine the art as an extension of the artist, which I think might have been the case with Adams and to a lesser extent, this Kanye album.)

Does that make sense?

I don't think the .000007 cents or whatever these artists make from my spotify stream are going to enrichen their lives and I'm certainly not going to support them by adding their work to the collection, but I can try to objectively listen to the record and see why it's on the list if nothing else.
 
avecigrec said:
Fully makes sense.

But in addition to being a complete and total fuck knuckle, I also really don't like Morrissey's music! 🙃

More on that later.
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I really like his voice. I like the Smiths, I haven't listened to any of his solo stuff since people would subject me to it (mostly sad artsy girls that I thought were cool) in college.
 
avecigrec said:
Day 70

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FUCK!!
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"The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get" was released as a single a couple of weeks after I turned 14 and was my introduction to Morrissey. I did not like it. It became the only Morrissey song to chart in the US, which by extension meant it got a lot of play in Canada as well so I heard it a lot and liked it less each time. I dislike it even further now.

"Hold on to Your Friends" was released a few months later and it did very little for me. I didn't dislike it as actively as I did the previous single, but I had pretty much zero interest in it. I found it generally boring and Morrissey sounded incredibly self-absorbed. These lousy first impressions led to me not even bothering to give The Smiths much of a chance when my best friend started to get into their music a few years later. I believe my response was something to the effect of, "Oh, is this that sadsack The More You Ignore Me idiot? Not interested!"

A plus side of these negative first impressions has been that as it became increasingly obvious that Morrissey is a racist sanctimonious cock stain with fascist leanings I didn't face the heartbreak or turmoil some of my friends did around his legacy and music - particularly with The Smiths, whom I do look forward to finally giving a fair shake during the course of this project.

As for Vauxhall and I, I'm fine if I never hear it again. It still sounds boring and self-absorbed. 1/5
 
I've seen this album cover before but that's the extent of my knowledge of the band before this listen. 5/5 excellent album that I'm very pleased to have heard. I'll absolutely return to this one regularly. The first track is one many are probably familiar with, but it's my least favorite on the album even though it's not bad.
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Hemotep said:
I've seen this album cover before but that's the extent of my knowledge of the band before this listen. 5/5 excellent album that I'm very pleased to have heard. I'll absolutely return to this one regularly. The first track is one many are probably familiar with, but it's my least favorite on the album even though it's not bad.
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I feel like this song was in like 90% of TV commercials and movie previews in the late 80s, early 90s.
 
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The Atomic Mr Basie


this is a late era basie record from the late 50s. the first track, the kid from red bank, pretty much mimics the album cover here, coming out hot with loud brass and an significantly uptempo beat. only one other track (whirly-bird) matches that though, and the rest of the album doesn't really maintain my attention in the same way, though the album closer lil' darlin' is a fine, lolling and lazy tune that eases you out of the album nicely.

this was album 50 for this project, and i think i will bow out at this point as i won't have as much time to dedicate to frequent listening going forward. i've paused my list and still may revisit it here and there. thanks @Lee Newman for starting this, it's been fun to do. i donated a few bucks to the site organizer and received a nice message from them, so i'd encourage folks to do the same.
 
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