Like so many artists’ early work, I’ve come to this Prince album backwards. And I suspect that a lot of my issues with it come from all the later Prince I’ve heard. Because, on first listen, this record just sounded like Prince in utero or, um, proto Prince.
Tag: Dance Pop
Music (2000) by Madonna
For one of the few times in my life, I can actually say I’ve heard the previous Madonna record before listening to this one, so it gives me context that I normally wouldn’t have. (Normally my context would be “I remember the hit singles.” And I do! But I’ve actually listened to Ray of Light.)
The Gold Experience (1995) by O(+>
I can’t claim to know Prince’s catalogue that well, especially since the ’80s. So you can’t take what I say as gospel. But, listening to this, I’m inclined to agree with the critical consensus that says it’s his best record of the ’90s (or one of them). There may well be better ones, of course, …
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990) by George Michael
More than his debut album, this record strikes me as the work of a singer-songwriter, one who also happens to be an incredibly dynamic performer, and a multi-instrumentalist. I’ve only listened to Faith a couple of times, but this feels more personal. And I must say I like it more. As an aside: the fact …
Sing When You’re Winning (2000) by Robbie Williams
It is one of the strangest musical careers of our time, that Robbie Williams was perhaps the biggest star in the UK, for like nearly a decade, and was just a guy with some minor hits in North America. It’s something that has happened over and over and over again – with British stars failing …
World Clique (1990) by Deee-Lite
Like you, I have heard “Groove Is In the Heart” a thousand times. Whether I want to or not, I know basically every note. But, unlike some (most?) of the people who bought this album I have never been a fan of dance music. And to the extent that I am welcoming of dance music, …
Who Let the Dogs Out (2000) by Baha Men
I was dreading this. The chorus of the title track is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard and if I never heard it again that would be too soon. Â And then there’s the rating on Rate Your Music, which is insanely low, so I was really dreading it.
Mariah Carey (1990)
“Whitney Houston but hotter.”
Ooops!…I Did It Again (2000) by Britney Spears
A lot of people think pop music is supposed to be ephemeral, disposable. I guess that’s one reason I don’t like so much of it. One of my criteria for deciding whether or not something is “great” is transcendence. And, if pop music is supposed to be disposable, it should be very hard for it …
Low-Life (1985) by New Order
I generally don’t like and don’t get the gradual drift tin dance music of so many of the trailblazers and followers of the initial wave of post punk. It doesn’t make much sense to me to be excited by the possibilities of punk, and want to expand it, and then to decide that what you …
No Strings Attached (2000) by *NSYNC
I absolutely hated *NSYNC when they first become popular, much like I absolutely hated the Backstreet Boys. And, though time has softened my feelings, it was still a struggle listening to “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” as immediately my got up a bit, as I remembered being inundated with these songs and …
Whitney Houston (1985)
I read somewhere that this album was the best selling album by a woman in history. (At the time, obviously.) I don’t know whether or not that’s true but it is the best selling debut album of all time and has sold 22 million copies. Why?
Like a Virgin (1984) by Madonna
I think I agree with the general consensus that this record isn’t quite up to the standards of her debut, even if the two most famous songs here are two of her most famous songs of the ’80s.
Make It Big (1984) by Wham!
I have paid virtually no attention to Wham! throughout my life. Yes, I was vaguely aware of their biggest hits because how could I not be? But I knew they were not for me and so I ignored them.
Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
I’ll be honest. I have no idea what the state of R&B was in 1989, outside of Michael Jackson and Prince. (And, I guess, Whitney Houston’s early hits.) It’s a genre I never spent much time with once you get past the early ’70s. Well, until very recently, anyway. So I really don’t have the …
Off the Wall (1979) by Michael Jackson
I was listening to this record and I was struck once again by the fact that I just don’t like Michael Jackson. I was so struck by this that I posted a crude joke about him on my podcast’s social media which I will refrain from including in this review because it’s both not the …
Millennium (1999) by Backstreet Boys
I hated the Backstreet Boys as a teenager – they representative everything I thought was wrong with modern music because they didn’t write their own music, they didn’t play any instruments, they produced music that seemed like pablum, they were successful in part because of their looks, and they seemed to have no agency because …
Club Classics Vol. One (1989) by Soul II Soul
This is a review of a the original British album and British tradition dictates that the big single from the album is not released on that album, so that consumers have to buy both. So the song you know, “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)” is only present here in an a cappella …
Like a Prayer (1989) by Madonna
Many years ago I was drinking at a bar in grad school, when the title track came on. A colleague of mine said it was a good song, I scoffed and we got in an argument, with everyone else siding with him and getting annoyed at me for being stupid. For my entire life I …
…Baby One More Time (1999) by Britney Spears
I’m not sure I can convey the loathing I felt towards Britney Spears when she first debuted. I hated both her music, the singles of which were catchy enough they were hard to ignore, and what she represented: manufactured pop. I told myself she was a puppet. In 1998 and 1999 it felt like we …
Technique (1989) by New Order
The fusion of alternative and dance was such a big thing in the late 1980s in the UK. But it’s not something I really get because, well, I don’t like dance music. But I wish I could appreciate it more, because there are all these bands, with all these acclaimed albums, and I listen to …
Footloose Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1984)
I don’t review soundtracks normally for at least two reasons: normally they are not entirely composed of original music and they are not culturally significant enough – i.e. some kids probably bought it but the rest of us likely ignored it. But this one, well it is composed of original music, to the best of …
Touch (1983) by Eurythmics
The distinguishing characteristic about the Eurythmics that makes them more accessible to me is that, unlike most synthpop bands from their era, they believe in instruments other than sythesizers and sequencers and the like.
Hangin’ Tough (1988) by New Kids on the Block
I had turned 7 just a few days earlier when this came out so, though I am aware of NKOTB, and I’ve heard two of these songs way too many times as a child, this isn’t really the boy band that annoyed me. Sure, my step-sister had the tape, and I guess that was annoying …
Madonna (1983)
Though I am speaking with the benefit of hindsight, it feels to me as if it would have been easy to imagine in 1983 that Madonna was going to be around for a while. Even at this early stage, she’s a compelling performer and it feels like she’s surrounded herself with the right people.
janet. (1993) by Janet Jackson
As I say all the damn time, coming at an artist backwards is a bad idea. And yet here I am doing it again. This is only the second Janet Jackson album I’ve ever heard, but the first one I heard was the sequel to this one. The problem for me is that the sequel …
Quick Step and Side Kick (1983) by Thompson Twins
Now this is more like it.
What Up, Dog? (1988) by Was (Not Was)
Imagine if you can a musically less sophisticated but infinitely slicker, but lyrically more earnest Steely Dan, recording with the very latest in ’80s musical technology, and featuring mostly guest vocalists, and you maybe get some idea of what Was (Not Was) sounds like. You also have to up the R&B quotient while dropping the …
Spiceworld (1997) by The Spice Girls
No, I have not seen the movie. (Actually, I may have seen parts of it…)
The Bodyguard Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992) by Various Artists
No, I have not seen the movie.