NTTR - No Time to Review

I think Hazel Eyes is pleasant and very well produced, but I don't think the songs justify the amount of polish around them. The organic direction suits Sam Smith much better than the more synthetic pop of some previous releases. The acoustic guitars, piano, strings and gospel elements give the album warmth, and their voice is obviously excellent throughout. I also like that they don't constantly push every song towards a huge vocal climax. Everlasting Love is probably the track I would return to first, and Moondance works well because Feist brings a different texture to the album. Oh Mother also has some emotional weight without becoming too theatrical. My problem is that too many songs start to blend together. The production is warm and tasteful, but the songwriting is often quite conventional. I remember the atmosphere of the album, the voice and the seventies-influenced arrangements much more clearly than most of the actual melodies. The lyrics also don't help e...

I think Sunset Blush is a good atmospheric metal album, but I don't think the intensity is enough to make it a truly strong one. The atmosphere is clearly the best part. Sadness is very good at combining shoegaze warmth with black-metal weight, and when the guitars become huge there is a real emotional effect. Pink Sounds is probably my favourite because the build feels natural rather than simply loud, while Istoy works well as the final long climax. I also like how direct the album is emotionally. There is no distance or irony here: sunsets, summer, love, absence and nostalgia are pushed almost to the point of excess. Most of the time that sincerity works. My main problem is repetition. The four tracks have different details, but they often move towards the same kind of release: softer textures, increasing layers, distant vocals and then a large wall of sound. Once I understand that pattern, some of the later climaxes lose part of their impact. I also remember the overall p...

I think Say a Prayer to the Gods of Getting Going is a good album, but I don't think it quite becomes a very good one. Ella Williams is clearly the main reason it works. Her voice gives the record a real identity, and I like the way she moves between something very fragile and something much heavier without forcing it. Cleveland is probably the song I would return to first, while Helicopters and Foot Thick Ice are the moments where the album has the most impact. I also like the balance between folk, heartland rock and noisier guitars. The production is detailed without becoming too polished, and the thirty-five-minute runtime helps a lot. There is very little filler and the sequencing is strong. My main issue is still the songwriting. A lot of the songs are well written, but not enough of them leave a strong melodic trace afterwards. I remember the atmosphere, the voice and the feeling of movement through roads and cities more clearly than I remember the actual hooks. So fo...

I think Cheesy Love Songs is pleasant and well made, but I also think I enjoy the idea of the album more than most of the actual songs. The Lazy Eyes clearly know how to write this kind of retro pop. The harmonies are good, the arrangements are detailed without becoming overloaded, and tracks like The One Who Got Away and How Does It Feel To Be In Love? have enough melodic ideas to stand out. I also like the short runtime. Thirty-three minutes is exactly right. But I keep hearing the references before I hear the band. Beatles, Beach Boys, Zombies, a little Queen or Elton John. None of it is badly done, but the more psychedelic and heavier side of The Lazy Eyes gave them much more personality. Here they often sound like very talented students of classic pop. The other problem is that the songs are more charming than memorable. There are nice chord changes, clever arrangements and plenty of pleasant moments, but not many hooks that stay with me once the album finishes. So I don...

I think Still Coming Down is pleasant and well made, but I also think I admire the details more than I actually want to return to the album. There are some very good textures here. The mix of distorted guitars, pedal steel, fiddle and other acoustic instruments gives the record a real identity, and John Ross is still a strong writer. Round of Applause at the End of the World and 500 Is the New 250 are probably the tracks that work best for me. My main problem is the songs themselves. Too many of them feel more interesting while they are playing than memorable afterwards. The arrangements are often excellent, but the hooks are modest and the understated vocals keep the emotional peaks fairly low. The short runtime helps a lot. At around thirty-three minutes, the album never becomes tiring and there is very little obvious filler. But even with that economy, I don't hear enough songs I really want to keep. So for me this is a solid indie-rock album with a strong atmosphere and ...

I think Weezer (The Gold Album) is perfectly enjoyable, but I also think I liked the idea of Weezer sounding like Weezer again more than I actually liked most of the songs. The good moments are easy to find.  We Might as Well Be Strangers  is probably the strongest track. Say Yes works well as an opener but  We Might as Well Be Strangers has more emotional weight than most of the album. I also like the fact that the band sounds more alive again. The guitars have some weight, the drums feel less processed and thirty-three minutes is exactly the right length. But the songwriting is much more uneven than I initially thought. Too many songs have the familiar Weezer ingredients without the melodies being strong enough to justify them. I hear the crunchy guitars, the awkward humour and the big choruses, but only a few of those choruses actually stay with me. I also get tired of how much Rivers is writing about Weezer itself: getting older, dealing with fans, the music bus...