KIDS SEE GHOSTS- KIDS SEE GHOSTS
[Cue ole-timey banjo music]
Back in my day, we didn’t have this here “Spotify.” We had to rely on ole fashioned print journalism for music recommendations, yes indeed. Oh there were so many to choose from in those days…The Source, Spin, and the Grandaddy of them all, Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, now, it’d been around for about as long as the Ten Commandments, and had just about as much authority in my eyes. I read all the reviews, and I listened to their album guide like it held the key to good musical taste.
I remember one day, I was flipping through the most recent issue and counting the number of stars on a particular review. It was an odd number. Instead of five and a half, the most I’d ever seen, stars there were six. They were calling this album a certified classic the week it came out. That album was Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dart Twisted Fantasy. Of course I listened to it. Well, most of it. Just the four or five songs I liked. I didn’t like the rest of the album much to my shame. Since then I haven’t listened to those songs at all. I wonder if they were ever that classic to begin with. Nothing Kanye put out after ever lived up to those few songs
[End banjo music, cue something a bit more modern]
Nowadays there’s no end to online sources for good musical taste. I wish I wasn’t one of them, I’d rather just talk about music I like and introduce it to others, but I’ll lump myself in with them. One of those guys is Antony Fantano, “The Internet’s Busiest Music Nerd” who has more subscribers than I’ve had hot dinners, and a richer music vocabulary than I could ever hope for. I respect the man, even admire him. So when he gave this album a coveted “10” and used similar words to those I’d heard long ago in that Twisted Fantasy review, I knew I had to check it out.
And he might have been right. This is the sequel to Twisted Fantasy I never got. Then why wasn’t I happy? Why wasn’t I eager to share it? Because I don’t take Rolling Stone’s or anybody’s ratings as gospel anymore. They’re just data points to see if I’ll like the album. It’s less a matter of “trusting someone’s opinion” and more one of building up the courage to try something new. Maybe you need to hear a lot of recommendations before you take the leap, sometimes just the right word at the right time. Either way, It’s dangerous to have one person be that source.
4/5 Fantano loved this album, I think it’s okay, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the majority of people that will listen to it will like it. So go check it out if you haven’t, it’s a short project. I’ll admit it was very very well done, but just didn’t hit me very hard. I think I might have become disillusioned with Kanye over the past couple of years. His bragadocious lyrics and brutal honesty feel less charming and more annoying. Kid Cudi is good though.