Habbox Weekly Album Reviews
Hey guys!
In an attempt to promote more thoughtful, engaging and interesting discussions in this section of the forum, I have decided to have a go at something that I have seen done well on a few other forums.
It's a pretty simple concept. Basically each week I will choose an album for us all to review and discuss. It may not be an album that you have heard, or an album from an artist that you're familiar with. But the potential result is that you might learn more about a particular style of music that you might not usually give a chance to. You might even grow to really enjoy it! And we could have some fun conversations and debates, which is what I really want to see.
So each week, I will choose a new album. It could have been released recently, it could have been released 60 years ago. It might be a popular album, or it might be more obscure. It could be pop, rap, heavy metal, rock, jazz... You get the general idea. But I am always happy to take suggestions if you have an album that you think would be cool to discuss.
Please get involved! All contributions to the discussion are welcomed and appreciated.
Rules:
These are not 'rules' as such, your posts won't be moderated by me or whatever. These are more like general guidelines to ensure that this all flows well!
- I am not suggesting that we all post full blown articles - although you can if you like! Just please do not make really short statements like 'I love this album!' or 'this album sucks'. Have some real opinions, we are all critics!
- You can give a general outline to the entire album. You can do a track-by-track review. You can just discuss selected tracks if you like. It's up to you! But whatever you do, try and include include thought provoking comments and opinions.
- Try not to be too subjective with your reviews. It is natural that some of the albums might not be to your personal taste, but still try and have an objective stance on the music.
- I might post a list of things to think about with each album to help you with your review but I'm definitely not saying you have to talk about them if you don't want to
- I encourage you to challenge other people's reviews as this creates debate. But always respect their opinions. Try to be articulate in your response and always back up what you think. This is not a thread for sassy and sarcastic answers.
- I guess it would be cool if we single out highlights and low points of the album at the end of our reviews? If you want to then feel free :)
- The important one: Give your rating out of 10 of the album with your review, then once the week is over I will calculate an average score!
Anyway, enough of the babble...
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The album up for review this week is Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ed_Fantasy.jpg
Kanye's fifth studio effort was seen as a return to form by many fans from his last album, 808s and Heartbreak. Critics agreed, as this is his best reviewed album by far. It has a total score of 94/100 on Metacritic, signalling 'universal acclaim' based on the reviews of 45 top critics. Overall the album was awarded with 5 Grammy nominations, winning 3 of those - including Best Rap Album. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine placed it 353rd on their list of the 500 greatest albums of time. A lot of publications called it the best album of 2010, including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard and Time. According to Metacritic, it was the best reviewed album of the year, and one of the best reviewed rap albums in recent memory.
Despite the overwhelming critical reception, the album marked a low point in terms of commercial success for Kanye. It managed to reach #1 in the US, but missed top ten in important markets such as the UK, France, Germany and Japan. It was his lowest selling studio album up until the release of last year's Yeezus, and it failed to yield a top ten single in any of the major music markets. This was the first time any of his albums failed to produce any top tens, even though the single All Of The Lights was a considerable hits in some markets.
LISTEN:
Things to think about:
- How does the stylistic change from 808s and Heartbreak fare in your opinion? Better or worse?
- Why wasn't this album as successful as his previous efforts?
- What do you think about the wide range of samples used on the album?
- Is there too many guests featured throughout?
- Did Kanye make a groundbreaking rap album?
So - do you agree with the rave reviews? Or are you one of the people that lost interest and stopped buying his music with this?
I will post my review soon!
