The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project (aka Preachin’ about the Preachers if today’s selection sucks)

dbarila said:
I'm going to admit, Bowie is a big blind spot for me. What's the deal with this album? Why is the cover a pasted over cover of Heroes? Are the 2 albums related?
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I think it was more a statement of a sort of wistful nostalgia as such. There isn’t much of musical or thematic link. It was his first album in 10 years that was released as a surprise and he came out a self imposed retirement to make it. The lead single and other parts of the album have almost a sort of backwards looking slant to them.

Edit: It’s one of his better latter day albums as @jamieanderson1968 says but I’m not sure that I’d be going to it as a Bowie introduction to someone. For that it’s be more his crazy 70s run of brilliant albums. You could pick any but I’d probably personally start with Hunky Dory and work my way through them chronologically. It’s fun to almost discover him in real time and see the stylistic and thematic jumps as they happen.
 
This is a pretty cool album, while there were songs before this that recalled older songs, I can't think of an album that really embraced a former period. Here we have the same band that he had ten years earlier making things that recall the Berlin Trilogy and Lodger and all that Thin White Duke stuff. It's a nostalgic Bowie which I probably bristled at when it came out... I never looked at him to look back. Sure, there were eras - and really honestly only a couple of albums that aren't up to snuff (Pin Ups, Tonight, and Hours are only for the die hard fans in my opinion and Tonight is the only one that I will say I downright dislike) - but he always pushed forward. It's funny to see the stuff right before this considered mid career because he never really left except right before this and it wasn't a come back in a he hadn't been successful way in so much as he went on hiatus. Also, because you know there were only two left, but I guess everyone was like me and thought we would have him forever. As this album and the next one showed, I think he was painfully aware of his mortality. These last two albums show him as human.
 
So I gave it a listen today. Went with the 14 track version. Probably the first time I have listened the "full" album in a couple of years. I have listened to 1 record or the other a few times in the last couple of years but not the whole thing.

Still give it a 4/5 (maybe slightly rounding up). Newman summed up my thoughts quite well. Feels like an artist looking back on his life and career (recorded when he was 65).

But there are several songs on here that I really love (Love Is Lost, Where Are We Now, I'd Rather Be High). One of my problems with the record is there are so many versions.
  • 14 track lp (with 17 track cd)
  • general 14 track cd
  • deluxe 17 track cd
  • Next Day Extra box set version with the 14 track cd plus another 10 track cd
And yes I have all 4 versions plus the Japanese version with an extra track
 
8/17/23
ab67616d0000b27322d8fc51ab5a8d5fcb2391db

Sly and the Family Stone - There's a Riot Going On



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There's a Riot Goin' On - Sly & the Family Sto... | AllMusic

There's a Riot Goin' On by Sly & the Family Stone released in 1971. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
 
Rip_City said:
I'm sorry.
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No reason to be sorry. I just didn’t understand. I noticed that with the exception of the doors you’ve said it about their AOTM. I think VMP is a shit show but they make a decent product and have decent curation. I rag on them a bunch even though I am once again giving them my money.

I kind of understand Jorge being seen as something VMP unleashed on us but I have been a Sly fan since I was a kid and I have a CD with the other cover to this that I’ve had since high school so it doesn’t ring as a VMP thing for me.

It’s a complicated messy album made by a complicated messy man. It so influential… I mean D’Angelo took a lot from this album. It’s one of the earliest uses of drum machines.
 
Lee Newman said:
8/17/23
Sly and the Family Stone - There's a Riot Going On
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One of the grittiest sounding albums I've ever heard from an established mainstream act, and while that's why it's taken a bit for me to come around to this album (and I don't think I'm still fully there yet), that's what I love most about it too! Strong 4/5.
favs: Family Affair, Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa, Time
least fav: There's a Riot Goin' On
 
Wicked Dreamer said:
One of the grittiest sounding albums I've ever heard from an established mainstream act, and while that's why it's taken a bit for me to come around to this album (and I don't think I'm still fully there yet), that's what I love most about it too! Strong 4/5.
favs: Family Affair, Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa, Time
least fav: There's a Riot Goin' On
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Man I’ve been fascinated with this record for 32 years and I don’t think I’m close to understanding it. It’s absolutely fantastic though.
 
Lee Newman said:
8/18/23
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A Tribe Called Quest - People’s Instictive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm



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People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of ... | AllMusic

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest released in 1990. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and...
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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Excellent Debut. Q-Tip was fire out the gate with both beats and bars. Phife Dawg was figuring it out a bit but still had his moments. Those first three ATCQ albums are excellent.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
It might be because I spent so much time with Thank You 4 Your Service when it came out a few years ago, but I really think it's their best album.
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That a fair opinion. I disagree but I will say, after not releasing any music as a group for 18 years; the album is way better than I was expecting. It was one of my faves of 2016 for sure.
 
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