Trollheart

Title: Heaven or Las Vegas
Artiste: Cocteau Twins
Genre: Dream Pop
Familiarity: Zero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven...#Track_listing

Track 1(Love) Nice start. I like these kind of “wall of sound” melodies. Vocal seems very low in the mix.
Track 2(Love) Very kind of new-wave thing going on here. Again, the vocals are nearly buried. I had to move my balance just to check it wasn't a problem with my amp. A little off-putting; in some ways this may as well be instrumental. Music is good though. Elements of prog rock too.
Track 3(Love) Much better; I can hear the vocals now. Mind you, I'm having a hard time making out what she's singing. Something about burning a lighthouse down, maybe? Great music again.
Track 4(Love) Again I have no idea what she's singing but the music is good enough to compensate for that.
Track 5(Love) More of the same. Particularly like the piano on this one.
Track 6(Love) This one is nice too. It's hard to completely enjoy this album though due to the almost esoteric nature of the vocals
Track 7(Love) I certainly can't fault the music. This one has a sort of progressive edge again; sounds like bagpipes at the end. Yeah, I know, probably isn't, but with them being Scottish, y'know?
Track 8(Love) Another really nice song with a sweet melody.
Track 9(Love) Sort of a wistful feel to this.
Track 10(Love)Really nice, emotional closer.

End result: Yeah, a good album certainly; quite atmospheric at times. Maybe this is just Dream Pop in general, but the vocals really put me off. I found it virtually impossible to follow them on any song, so they might as well have been just suggestions. The music was really good though.

So, Love or Hate? Given all the above, still a Love I reckon.

Chances of a full review: 2/10

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

YorkeDaddy

Yeah Elizabeth Fraser's vocals are often very hard to make out, and in fact on almost every other Cocteau Twins album they're even more unintelligible. Sometimes she's saying things that aren't even words, but on Heaven or Las Vegas there are actually lyrics for each song that I always have to look up to understand. And even then most of the lyrics just seem like gibberish anyway.

But that's kind of what I love about the album, it's like her voice is just a (spectacularly gorgeous) instrument that accompanies the rest of the music. Such a style usually wouldn't work for me either but her voice is almost unparalleled in its beauty to the point that I really don't care what she's singing if anything.

__________________
http://cloudcover1.bandcamp.com/
http://daydreamsociety.bandcamp.com/

9-Time Winner of MusicBanter's "Most Qualified to be a Moderator" Award

Chula Vista

So much this.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

DwnWthVwls

Loving all these recent recs.. Good choices.

__________________
I don't got a god complex, you got a simple god...

Trollheart

Yeah, that's kind of how I felt too, like her voice was just abstract, like an instrument played sort of in the background. Certainly puts the "dream" in Dream Pop!

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Title: Robbie Robertson
Artiste: Robbie Robertson
Genre: Rock/Blues
Familiarity: I've heard “Somewhere down the crazy river”, that's it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie...#Track_listing

Track 1(Love) Nice slow build up for the opener, like the keys, vocal is good. Nice somehow Peter Gabriel feel to some of the music, not surprising as he's on backing vocals here. Good start.
Track 2(Love) Yeah, really like this. Lot of soul in this one.
Track 3(Love) Hey! I know this song! Great one.
Track 4(Love) Sort of ruined by Bono, but still a great song. They make it too U2 though.
Track 5(Love) Yeah, love this one too. Rocks along really well, lyric is great.
Track 6(Love) I know and love this song. Real showcase for his deep gravelly voice.
Track 7(Love) Another good rocker.
Track 8(Love) Yep, another great track. Love the organ.
Track 9(Love) I have to say I'm not crazy about the closer, bit funky, but I'll be damned if I'm going to ruin a perfect score, so yeah, I'll go for this one too.

End result: Hadn't heard this all the way through. A few tracks, in passing and not taking too much notice when some mate played it about thirty years ago and tried to make me see how great it was. Glad I got to listen to it for real. Excellent album.

So, Love or Hate? A definite Love.

Chances of a full review: 8/10

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Moss

Yay! Thought you would like it.

Chula Vista

I love this more and more with each listen.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Trollheart

Title: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Artiste: Florence and the Machine
Genre: Indie Rock
Familiarity: Zero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Bi...#Track_listing

Track 1(Love) Good boppy opener, lots of energy, getting right into it. She reminds me of Chrissie Hynde, also later Fleetwood Mac with touches of Country
Track 2(Love) Total change in pace; slow, broody oh then it kicks in with a big powerful chorus and a snarly guitar.
Track 3(Love) Again starts slow then comes together really well. Must say I'm really enjoying this at the moment. Horns eh? Nice. And violin too. Fantastic ending. I mean, really fantastic. Love this.
Track 4(Love) And the opening of this just continues the awesomeness. Then it turns into a great uptempo stomper.
Track 5(Love) Beautiful fragile ballad. Are there ANY bad tracks on this thing??
Track 6(Love) Ah crap! This isn't fair! This is even better! That piano!
Track 7(Love) In answer to my question on track 5, no. Not yet. This is another superb soulful ballad.
Track 8(Love) A really nice mid-pacer, yet another great song.
Track 9(Love) A whole lot of passion in this one. This lady knows how to write a really catchy melody without it descending into banal pop territory. Colour me impressed.
Track 10(Love) Stark, sparse, fragile, beautiful. Organ is stupendous.
Track 11(Love) If track 10 was like experiencing a particularly passionate mass, this is like exiting the church afterwards; a feeling of joy and relief mixed with perhaps a little sadness and loss. If you're into mass. Which I'm not. But I can imagine the feeling. Powerful closer without going over the top.

End result: Holy hell this was some ride! I didn't expect anything this good. I literally have nothing bad to say about this album, and the good things could max out some serious character counts in my journal. Just superb.

So, Love or Hate? Think I have to go the whole hog on this one. True Love.

Chances of a full review: 10/10

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

I'll be perfectly honest: it came that close to getting True Love. It was only the last track that sort of let it down very slightly, otherwise it was a shoe-in. Wonderful album.
It just gets better each time, doesn't it? And to think this guy recorded some of the tracks on an iPhone!!!

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018