I think there is plenty of consideration for the listener. And I think a lot of listeners will connect with these tense, compact expressions of cathartic rage. The thrumming low-end synths propel and connect the songs, and Kesha’s lyrics are as lucid and resonant. I don’t know much about her music or the stories that drove this albums narrative, but I was floored by the work. It’s a great example of why albums are still important.
Classic. It seems to get a lot of grief for being popular, or for being “corporate rock”—well, it may have been popular, but it’s also supremely weird, hardly the sort of rock that was climbing the charts. Weird arrangements, weird background mumbling/repetition of the lead vocals, lots of bizarre time shifts, reversals, howls, dynamic shifts. I think the case could be made for this being one of Yes’s strangest albums, which is saying a lot. I came back to listen to this album today for the first time in decades and I realized that I still had most of the album memorized. I loved it back when it came out, and it holds up. Three cheers for weird sellout corporate rock if it’s as lovingly crafted and strange as this album.
This is a beautiful, fun record. The only reason I don’t return to it more often is that it’s got a lot of competition from Drums & Wires, Black Sea, English Settlement, Mummer, and Big Express, which usually make it back into rotation before Oranges & Lemons. This is the sound of a great band making fun, lively, intricate, mature music.
This album will rearrange your electrons. It's a perfect, glittery, visceral, trip through the mirror and beyond. Beautiful and surprising at every turn.
Snarling excellence. High intensity, unhinged performances that still somehow manage to remain grounded. The band has moved beyond such shimmery qualities and found something deeper, perhaps darker, without losing an ounce of joyous fury.
Brilliant album. When it first came out, it didn't leave my CD player for months. And I still return to it often. It's one of the late 20th century's best albums.
I sort of liked this one. Minority opinion, I guess. But I'm a sucker for all things Hiatt. I'll return to Bring the Family, Tiki Bar, or Eclipse Sessions first, but still I enjoy this one too.
Wondrous. Big-hearted. Cosmic, yet grounded. Great hooks. Brilliant all the way through.