Probably the more "rock" and older stuff, like Carpenters, Elton John, the Faith deluxe, Melissa Etheridge...
It's Me Against The Music: Revisiting/Sorting Out My Music Collection - Round 2!
- Thread starter Mvnl
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Mvnl
Staff member
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I'm surprised they wanted Gnarls Barkley and Angie Stone, but maybe they fit with what they know sells there.
Mvnl
Staff member
Out of these I'm mostly surprised by Gnarls Barkley cause I remember that CD being in '3 for 25' deals for ages and with the tiring success of Crazy I'd assume there's just 1000s of copies lying around people's houses gathering dust.
And well, with the first bunch Alicia Keys, Mary J Blige and 3!OH3(?) were accepted so I guess they have some diversity, but within limits. Basically anything they'd buy out of my current collection is probably a release I'm likely to get rid of, so that's good news at least.
Tom Jones, John Legend, Robbie Williams and possibly Texas.
Mvnl
Staff member
Not Robbie or Tom. To be fair I think they regularly pop up in thrift stores because they're the kind of albums that sold a lot (and noone's probably still searching for these days)
Oh yes! I really enjoy that website.
I actually started working on my own list and it was about 75% finished when some major personal setbacks threw a spanner in the works and it all came to a halt, but I’m still planning to finish my write-ups (even if things are coming together at the same pace as a Portishead album!). Looking at my old list, the write-ups are ridiculously long and therefore maybe a bit too self-indulgent? But on the other hand, reducing some of my favourites to, like, 5 sentences wouldn’t do them justice at all?
That being said, considering that these are supposed to be 8 of the defining albums of my life it’s bound to be a bit personal, so I’ll probably be a bit more comfortable with just posting them on here under the guise of a fairly anonymous forum account than throwing everything out there with my real name and picture underneath it.
Very excited for this thread and I see that there’s a lot of catching up to do already!
I think those are optional...you could call yourself Marie and not have a photo (or have a photo of something/someone else).
Oh, if that’s not an issue I might actually reconsider!
I kept my nom de plume but I think I used a photo even though it wasn't needed. It's already on my blog anyway so I thought I might as well.
Mvnl
Staff member
So... I had this idea to eventually not only revisit my old albums, but also review ones I considered buying, because I can be a bit of an impulse buyer and playing an album front to back to check if I even like it all that much seems very reasonable (+ if I can't be arsed to even do that I should probably not buy it).
I'd intended to do that later on because for now my main focus should be sorting the collection I already own/I shouldn't even be thinking of buying anything new when I still have so many albums to dive into, but then this morning a blast from the past came up on Spotify....
(allowing this kind of spontaneity instead of sticking to a strict regime may actually make this whole excercise a lot more enjoyable too?)
The reason I'm making an exception for this album is there've been several instances where I was kinda convinced I already owned it? But then I was pretty sure it was not on my shelves so I also had this vague memory of it being one of those releases I once found underwhelming but maybe could give another shot. So when lead single Barenaked came up on shuffle I thought 'this could be a good first album to revisit!' only to find out minutes later that I didn't actually own it at all.
Next thing I knew I already found myself browsing Discogs for secondhand copies and then I remembered what I'd promised myself...
Being released in spring/early summer 2003 Barenaked & Can I Go Now were songs I heard a lot on the radio at my utterly depressing job of vacuuming dustfree factory halls. This was every bit as joyless as it sounds and it's kinda odd how many songs from those days still give me gleeful nostalgia cause the work I was doing felt pointless, the days were endless, I had one colleague who was flat-out bullying me and as for the others.. let's just say the breaks felt more exhausting than the actual work.
I guess in a way music was the one of the main things getting me through those days, and with my discman being too big to drag around all day radio was all I had, which means that period's A-list left an everlasting imprint on my memory.
2003 was a time I still mostly enjoyed the pure pop goodness of Liberty X, Girls Aloud and the Sugababes so despite liking Jennifer's songs they were just a little too subtle to convince me to check out her album (the fact that Delta Goodrem's Innocent Eyes became one of my most played albums of that summer is something we'll just ignore for now).
But recently I've found my taste has mellowed a bit, with me enjoying songs by Taylor Swift, Niall Horan but also Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff, that I'd previously would have found way too understated.
Jennifer's singles, not being huge in-your-face pop moments but still undeniably catchy while having this breezy semi-acoustic sound that wouldn't be out of place on an episode of Dawson's Creek, fit in perfectly with the more laidback brand of pop I've been reappreciating recently. So I finally decided to give the full album a spin..
Barenaked starts of strong with both singles, and back in the day in a record store that might have actually already been enough to convince me to buy it. There's definitely a feel of 'please be good' for the rest of the album which unfortunately already starts fading before track 3 is done.
You feels like a ballad you'd find on Jennifer Paige's 1998 debut album which, despite me buying it, is not a compliment. Jennifer's (Love Hewitt's, not Paige's) vocals also are a lot more enjoyable when she's giving ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ Hilary Duff than when she attempts to go for Mariah-esque runs. Stop shouting at me, woman!
Where You Gonna Run To (shamelessly so) gets back to the sound of the singles, but (and this unfortunately turns out to be a recurring theme) the melody's just not as strong. In fact for a lot of the album I'd say: the songs just aren't there.
The production and overall sound of this body of work, though repetitive, is enjoyable and kinda tailor-made for a sunny day like today, its sound falling somewhere in between Sheryl Crow and early Hilary Duff, but the songs are all very much... album tracks. And not in a 'here she gets to let loose and do more interesting things that wouldn't work as a single' way but just 'more of the same except less strong'. The whole thing plods along being (offensively) inoffensive
First Time, with its Meredith Brooks' Bitch-instrumental, is one of the more enjoyable album cuts, but I'd have loved to have heard an album where this had been one of the serviceable-but-forgettable fillers instead of an unfortunate standout.
Stronger apparently is selfpenned but melodically gets so close to the title track I feel someone else probably should have been paid for it too. There's this quite nice moment at 1:48 where the beat drops out and Dear Jessie-esque strings kick in which is probably the most interesting moment on the album? That's not exactly a high bar, but still.. it's pretty good.
Avenue Of The Stars, with its 'wait, is this still part of the album?' intro is giving me What Took You So Long minus melody.
For Just Try the instrumental from the album's title track gets another chance to shine (but dimly).
Overal this isn't a terrible album. Jen's vocals are fine as long as she doesn't do too much.
You could pick worse (but also much better) soundtracks for a roadtrip on a sunny day.
Back in the day I bought my fair share of (initally) underwhelming albums that I still gave a shot because.. I paid for them and they were my newest asset, and it's kind of interesting to wonder 'what if this had been one of those?'.
But realising anything could be a grower is also why I now have an exorbitant iTunes library ('what if I do like it after I hear it a few more times?' is an excellent reason to never let go of any song) and overall I think it's fair to say I won't, and shouldn't, be buying this album any time soon. If only the album the singles alluded to actually existed..
Verdict: won't buy. (But if I saw it in a thriftstore I might still be tempted. Send help.)
I'd intended to do that later on because for now my main focus should be sorting the collection I already own/I shouldn't even be thinking of buying anything new when I still have so many albums to dive into, but then this morning a blast from the past came up on Spotify....
(allowing this kind of spontaneity instead of sticking to a strict regime may actually make this whole excercise a lot more enjoyable too?)
Wishlistening: Jennifer Love Hewitt - Barenaked
The reason I'm making an exception for this album is there've been several instances where I was kinda convinced I already owned it? But then I was pretty sure it was not on my shelves so I also had this vague memory of it being one of those releases I once found underwhelming but maybe could give another shot. So when lead single Barenaked came up on shuffle I thought 'this could be a good first album to revisit!' only to find out minutes later that I didn't actually own it at all.
Next thing I knew I already found myself browsing Discogs for secondhand copies and then I remembered what I'd promised myself...
Being released in spring/early summer 2003 Barenaked & Can I Go Now were songs I heard a lot on the radio at my utterly depressing job of vacuuming dustfree factory halls. This was every bit as joyless as it sounds and it's kinda odd how many songs from those days still give me gleeful nostalgia cause the work I was doing felt pointless, the days were endless, I had one colleague who was flat-out bullying me and as for the others.. let's just say the breaks felt more exhausting than the actual work.
I guess in a way music was the one of the main things getting me through those days, and with my discman being too big to drag around all day radio was all I had, which means that period's A-list left an everlasting imprint on my memory.
2003 was a time I still mostly enjoyed the pure pop goodness of Liberty X, Girls Aloud and the Sugababes so despite liking Jennifer's songs they were just a little too subtle to convince me to check out her album (the fact that Delta Goodrem's Innocent Eyes became one of my most played albums of that summer is something we'll just ignore for now).
But recently I've found my taste has mellowed a bit, with me enjoying songs by Taylor Swift, Niall Horan but also Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff, that I'd previously would have found way too understated.
Jennifer's singles, not being huge in-your-face pop moments but still undeniably catchy while having this breezy semi-acoustic sound that wouldn't be out of place on an episode of Dawson's Creek, fit in perfectly with the more laidback brand of pop I've been reappreciating recently. So I finally decided to give the full album a spin..
Barenaked starts of strong with both singles, and back in the day in a record store that might have actually already been enough to convince me to buy it. There's definitely a feel of 'please be good' for the rest of the album which unfortunately already starts fading before track 3 is done.
You feels like a ballad you'd find on Jennifer Paige's 1998 debut album which, despite me buying it, is not a compliment. Jennifer's (Love Hewitt's, not Paige's) vocals also are a lot more enjoyable when she's giving ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ Hilary Duff than when she attempts to go for Mariah-esque runs. Stop shouting at me, woman!
Where You Gonna Run To (shamelessly so) gets back to the sound of the singles, but (and this unfortunately turns out to be a recurring theme) the melody's just not as strong. In fact for a lot of the album I'd say: the songs just aren't there.
The production and overall sound of this body of work, though repetitive, is enjoyable and kinda tailor-made for a sunny day like today, its sound falling somewhere in between Sheryl Crow and early Hilary Duff, but the songs are all very much... album tracks. And not in a 'here she gets to let loose and do more interesting things that wouldn't work as a single' way but just 'more of the same except less strong'. The whole thing plods along being (offensively) inoffensive
First Time, with its Meredith Brooks' Bitch-instrumental, is one of the more enjoyable album cuts, but I'd have loved to have heard an album where this had been one of the serviceable-but-forgettable fillers instead of an unfortunate standout.
Stronger apparently is selfpenned but melodically gets so close to the title track I feel someone else probably should have been paid for it too. There's this quite nice moment at 1:48 where the beat drops out and Dear Jessie-esque strings kick in which is probably the most interesting moment on the album? That's not exactly a high bar, but still.. it's pretty good.
Avenue Of The Stars, with its 'wait, is this still part of the album?' intro is giving me What Took You So Long minus melody.
For Just Try the instrumental from the album's title track gets another chance to shine (but dimly).
Overal this isn't a terrible album. Jen's vocals are fine as long as she doesn't do too much.
You could pick worse (but also much better) soundtracks for a roadtrip on a sunny day.
Back in the day I bought my fair share of (initally) underwhelming albums that I still gave a shot because.. I paid for them and they were my newest asset, and it's kind of interesting to wonder 'what if this had been one of those?'.
But realising anything could be a grower is also why I now have an exorbitant iTunes library ('what if I do like it after I hear it a few more times?' is an excellent reason to never let go of any song) and overall I think it's fair to say I won't, and shouldn't, be buying this album any time soon. If only the album the singles alluded to actually existed..
Verdict: won't buy. (But if I saw it in a thriftstore I might still be tempted. Send help.)
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Mvnl
Staff member
I think it's hard to find any way to write/talk about yourself (when noone asked) that doesn't feel a little self-indulgent.
Personally I have my moments of being overly aware of that and not even wanting to press 'post' on a tweet or picture for social media because 'you're only doing this for the attention!!' and at other moments (like with this thread) I try to not be so hard on myself, possibly go a bit overboard, then feel awkward about 'letting myself go' afterwards ('what was I thinking??'). But then you're not forcing anyone to read it..
I have had a look at the average length of the Eight Albums submissions and have this rough idea of what possibly works for the average attention span (I definitely know I have less trouble staying focussed when I can already see the start of the next paragraph/album description) but at the same time there is a lot to tell, even more comes up once you start writing it down, plus 'people who don't know a thing about me need some context!' and once you (or I) start looking at it as 'trying to define who I am in 8 pieces of text'.. well it's definitely hard to stick to a few lines an album.
A few lines is just enough to tell a bit about why an album matters to you and I realised often that I'd written 2 paragraphs without even saying a thing about the actual music yet. But then, maybe it doesn't even have to be about that, because I definitely realised with a lot of my picks it's probably more about the memories and timing of a release than the actual music. Could it have been any other release at that time? Maybe not. But when it comes to albums that are dear to me circumstances definitely do some of the heavy lifting.
I wasn't quite sure on (using) my name yet either. On social media I've been kinda going by 'Marty' for a while now (don't even know how it started but I like Back To The Future, it's more convenient for non dutch people, and it grew on me) but.. do I now just make up a surname to go with it??
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How you describe the JLH album sums up my feelings about far too much music from that time. Even my favourites seemed to lose their inspiration. Overly derivative, nothing really unique to say, and just filling up space.
Mvnl
Staff member
I fear that describes a whole lot of albums I DO like (but then at least those were catchy).
Also makes me realise I didn't even pay much attention to what she was saying. Like I hear the lyrics and I very much notice it when they're in a language I don't understand, but do not ask me now what any of the songs were about...
(Maybe I need repeated listens to properly have lyrics stick with me. Or it was just the mix of listening/typing at the same time. But then when it comes down to judging if I find an album worth holding onto I don't think I need an in-depth lyrical analysis, even if I feel superficial in saying so)
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Mvnl
Staff member
Keep Or Sweep: Mutya Buena - Real Girl
Right, seeing as it has its 16th birthday tomorrow this might be as good a time as any to give a certain album of my 'keep or sweep?' pile its first spin in many years. And if we're talking about the album as a whole, I'm not reaching:
Those, ladies and gentlemen, are my full playing stats for Real Girl since 2011. Not exactly heavy rotation by any means!
For anyone who's curious: you can see my full playback history for it here though it's not entirely representative since 2007 and 8 are missing from those stats.
Now if I were to split my doubt pile into piles of 'likely to stay' and 'likely to go' this one feels pretty likely to stay, even if I'm just going by gut. First of all: it's a solo album by a (no longer quite ex-)girl group member, so it feels very on brand to be a part of my collection. And, although they may have aged a bit, I know I liked (especially the first 2 of) its singles.
But apart from those I only have this vague memroy of the rest of the album being a bit bland and boring?
As I write this I think 'does that sound like something that would describe anything Mutya Buena's involved in?' and.. I wouldn't think so?
Clearly I have not spend a lot of time with this album, but whether that's because I didn't enjoy it, or if I only feel that way because I hardly listened to it.. that's what we're about to find out right now!
With Just A Little Bit the album starts of with a nice little 'ooh, I liked this one too!' surprise.
The fact that made me feel happy instead of thinking 'crap, yet another album I gotta keep?' probably tells a lot about how deep down this is an album I actually want to keep, or at least: want to like.
Real Girl and Song About Mutya keep that sentiment going, both still bopping, the title track even more so than I imagined it would.
Song About, which does feel very of its time (it slots right in with the Booty Luv/Freemasons/Infernal tracks I had on heavy rotation back then), doesn't hit quite as hard as it did back then, and if I'm honest feels a little misplaced on this album.
Some of my absolute favourite albums are all over the place, but Real Girl is more like a very cohesive affair with one big outlier.
It's after these 3 tracks that things get interesting. And with things unfortunately I don't necessarily mean the album itself.
Breakdown Motel plods along just fine, but in a way that has me slightly worried for the next 10 tracks. I'd happily switch that one for another Groove Armada collab.
Things pick up again with Strung Out, which tricked me for a second with its slow intro, but even if it had stayed that way it already sounded more exciting than its preceder. Mutya sounds oddly like Siobhan on some of the chorus, but maybe I just never learned to properly differentiate their voices?
It's Not Easy surprises me by being yet another uptempo, but then: apparently I haven't played it in over 10(!!) years, so it should surprise me!! (This is precisely why I could do with a few less albums on my shelves, and why all the ones I do hang onto deserve a playthrough like this, badly)
Considering I expected this entire album to be a low energy affair when Not Your Baby kicked in my first thought was:
And don't get me wrong. It's not like I only listen to songs with a BPM of 120 or higher.
Some of my favourite Sugababes songs are ballads (why does this read like 'some of my best friends are...'?), and in Suffer For Love and Wonderful this albums offers some slowies that I find perfectly serviceable.
It's really only the last few tracks of the album that genuinely test me.
B Boy Baby feels a little too gimmicky/like a song Mutya would disown had it been a Sugababes single, This Is Not (Real Love) (what even is that use of brackets??) is slightly less boring than I remembered, but only just slightly, and halfway through My Song I was good and ready for the album to be done.
These 3 tracks end the album on a note that has me second guessing the sentiment I felt for the majority of its playback.
Conclusion:
Frankly put: Real Girl definitely won't be making any of my 'best albums ever' (or even of its year) lists.
Mutya is this album's saving grace, both vocally (adding a unique tone to fauxtown songs that otherwise might as well have been on a Pixie Lott album) as well as by.. just being Mutya?
Like: if this had been an album by Whoever Noname I'd probably just take the first 2 singles and run.
Trivial as it might be, the fact that this is the solo album of a Sugababe is probably the main reason I'll be holding to this one. For now.
At the same time I'm now strangely tempted to get the UK edition because Paper Bag at least adds a little change of pace to the album's ending?
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Yeah, the actual length is a bit of a problem. I haven’t settled on a definitive list yet (one or two picks could still change), but I’d say four of the write-up drafts are just about manageable for the average attention span and the rest needs to be trimmed (painful as it is). Things got completely out of control when I got to the two no-brainers and they deserve every single word. There are just so many layers to what I want to say about the album I’m planning to close with in particular and there are at least five different sub-plots for that one already. Argh!
You could also use a name generator! I’m actually considering that.
As for Real Girl, I would say “sweep”, even though I do like Mutya. The only songs I go back to nowadays are Song 4 Mutya and the George Michael duet. Of course she has the kind of voice that lifts weaker songs, but if you take that out of the equation and only judge the actual songs unfortunately it really could have been any coffee table soul singer from the noughties.
Mvnl
Staff member
I was about to say ‘start with the shorter bits, then people might have all the patience for a longer write-up at the end’ but that might actually just result in people stopping before they got to the album you care about the most!
If you could use an outsider to read it and give feedback feel free to send it to me, though in the end I guess it’s all very much a personal choice.
As for Mutya, I notice I’m not quite sold yet either. Like I kinda said myself it might be more of a case of me wanting to like it, being almost relieved I didn’t hate it, than there being actual excitement like ‘god I love this album!’.
And not every album has to be one of those but this one might be a bit too much on the ‘indifferent’ side.
I feel like it should be part of my collection but that definitely isn’t the same as properly appreciating it.
So it all boils down to ‘where do I put the bar?’.
Maybe I should put it next to some albums I DO love for some context
Well, I think I’ll check the website again to see if I can work out whether there’s some sort of pecking order on other people’s lists. I see that Hats is the final album on @Eric Generic ’s list, though!
Song 4 Mutya is a corker, but that's mostly down to Groove Armada knowing how the bring out the best in her and provide a fantastic hook and big sound. It's one of my top 5 singles of the 21st century.
Really for me, solo Mutya is a bit too much...I like it when her style is part of a Sugababes record, but I remember finding the album surprisingly generic at the time.
Really for me, solo Mutya is a bit too much...I like it when her style is part of a Sugababes record, but I remember finding the album surprisingly generic at the time.
You have to provide a Spotify playlist of a song from each choice, and my selections worked best as a listening experience by having The Blue Nile last. But yes, some people might not have kept reading that far!