Love Songhoy Blues! Definitely carrying on the Malian desert blues tradition. I prefer their more recent Optimisme to this first one, but streaming Music in Exile now in my engineering class as my students build marble roller coasters, and it's a catchy with a good groove and, as other's have said, a lot of joy.
2/7/23
Fiona Apple - Tidal
Allmusic Review:
Tidal - Fiona Apple | Album | AllMusic
Tidal by Fiona Apple released in 1996. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.www.allmusic.com
2/7/23
Fiona Apple - Tidal
Allmusic Review:
Tidal - Fiona Apple | Album | AllMusic
Tidal by Fiona Apple released in 1996. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.www.allmusic.com
That moment when her voice quivers as she sings “…You don’t know who I am.” At the end of in “Never Is A Promise” gets me every time.Man to be that talented at 18 and to be able to convey such emotion. I'm not sure of a score, never really thought about it before. Always enjoy listening to it though.
Tidal was what got me to sign up for VMP. (Wait, is it almost six years ago? Time flies huh?) And therefore probably also the reason I'm on these boards, so there's that. It's a great album, but I haven't listened to it in quite a while, so looking forward to it!
2/6/2023
Songhoy Blues = Music in Exhile
The Guardian Review:
Songhoy Blues: Music in Exile review – a Malian band to watch
Mali’s Songhoy Blues fled from their homes in northern Mali, joined the Africa Express and now release an impressive debut albumwww.theguardian.com
2/7/23
Fiona Apple - Tidal
Allmusic Review:
Tidal - Fiona Apple | Album | AllMusic
Tidal by Fiona Apple released in 1996. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.www.allmusic.com
Yeah, that's one of the things I'm contemplating here... Pawn and Boltcutters are 5s. This album is not quite as impressive as those are.Listened on my commute to work, and it holds up fine. As someone said above, one of the most impressive debuts ever.
One interesting thing struck me while listening though. When it came out, a lot of the reviews and press focused on her young age, and here in Sweden some reviewers actually compared her to Robyn, who had debuted the year before at the age of 16, which may seem weird today. But what is interesting about this comparison is that Robyn was sucked into the whole corporate machinery and shaped by her label to be a pop star, which in the end led to exhaustion and depression and almost finished her as an artist. It was only when she formed her own label almost a decade later that Robyn found her own voice and sound, as well as an outlet for her remarkable talents. With Fiona there was a similar hype about her being the next big thing, but she seemed to refuse the whole pop star thing from the get go and just went where her inspiration took her, although she had a similar breakdown and pause in her career after her second album. It's also interesting to compare this to young artists like Phoebe Bridges and Billie Eilish today, that seem to carve out a unique niche in the mainstream similar to what Fiona Apple did in the 90s, although perhaps on a different level of popularity at least in the case of Eilish. Time will tell how their careers turns out, I guess.
Anyhow, Tidal holds up fine and is great in so many ways, but I still think I rate "When the pawn" and "Boltcutters" as superior albums all in all. Score: 4,5/5 (great!)
2/7/23
Fiona Apple - Tidal
Allmusic Review:
Tidal - Fiona Apple | Album | AllMusic
Tidal by Fiona Apple released in 1996. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.www.allmusic.com
Listened on my commute to work, and it holds up fine. As someone said above, one of the most impressive debuts ever.
One interesting thing struck me while listening though. When it came out, a lot of the reviews and press focused on her young age, and here in Sweden some reviewers actually compared her to Robyn, who had debuted the year before at the age of 16, which may seem weird today. But what is interesting about this comparison is that Robyn was sucked into the whole corporate machinery and shaped by her label to be a pop star, which in the end led to exhaustion and depression and almost finished her as an artist. It was only when she formed her own label almost a decade later that Robyn found her own voice and sound, as well as an outlet for her remarkable talents. With Fiona there was a similar hype about her being the next big thing, but she seemed to refuse the whole pop star thing from the get go and just went where her inspiration took her, although she had a similar breakdown and pause in her career after her second album. It's also interesting to compare this to young artists like Phoebe Bridges and Billie Eilish today, that seem to carve out a unique niche in the mainstream similar to what Fiona Apple did in the 90s, although perhaps on a different level of popularity at least in the case of Eilish. Time will tell how their careers turns out, I guess.
Anyhow, Tidal holds up fine and is great in so many ways, but I still think I rate "When the pawn" and "Boltcutters" as superior albums all in all. Score: 4,5/5 (great!)