ORAM_Reviews

★ 9.8

album

The Smile Sessions

The Beach Boys

“My Favorite Albums of All Time #47: I personally find Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys album that is often cited as one of the best albums of all time, a bit flat. Undoubtedly the band is very talented, but I just don't find the project as a whole plays to their strengths super well, despite the larger songs being quite excellent. The Smile Sessions, though, does exactly that. Had the album been released the way Brian Wilson intended it, it undoubtedly would be the band's unanimous magnum opus. In its current form, a compilation album with the best pieces of various studio sessions blended together, it's still a masterpiece, and, in my eyes, a much better pick for the definitive Beach Boys album experience. The harmonies are on-point the entire time, and the world building present here is incredible. It's not a perfect execution of Brian's vision, mostly because there isn't an album-length version of Heroes and Villains and all four of The Elements, but it's as close as you can get, and is the best preserved representation of Brian Wilson's genius. Rest in Peace. Must-Hear Tracks- Our Prayer: A short introduction to the album that has some of the most impressive vocal harmonizing I have ever heard. Heroes and Villains: Originally intended to take up a good majority of the runtime or even the entire album, the song as it exists on this version of the album is still a masterfully written and built track that continues to move but feels cohesive and purposeful the entire time. It bleeds into pretty much the entirety of this tracklist, too, so it's not unreasonable to say that this is the entire point of this album's existence in the first place. The Elements: Fire (Mrs. O'Leary's Cow): The only surviving song of the Elements series, it's a really weird and haunting track that feels almost ambient in parts and noise in others. The album's most experimental song and a really cool one at that.”

★ 9.8

album

Be

Common

“My Favorite Albums of All Time #48: How do you make an album about, well, being? That's an impossibly broad undertaking, yet Chicago's Common knocked it out of the park with his magnum opus, his 2005 album Be. Paired with a hungry prime Kanye West as executive producer, this album deals with life in a raw and unfiltered way. Common's pen game is severely underrated in general, but it's turned up to eleven on this record, digging deep into extended metaphors, vibrant storytelling, and musings on what the correct way to live your life is. It's a really uplifting listen that plasters the human condition all over the walls of Chicago and feels like some of the truest hip-hop you'll ever listen to. Must-Hear Tracks: Be (Intro)- This is up there for the best beat of all time in rap to me, and Common's verse is so layered and smooth that I will never ever skip this when it comes on, no matter what mood or vibe I am in. A song that always commands your attention and sets the stage for the rest of the record perfectly. Faithful- A reflection on religion, love, and misogyny, Common asks himself whether his relationship with God would change if she were a woman, and then why that would be the case. He's willing to confront his own shortcomings with sexism and acknowledges his own room for growth, something that's incredibly important in hip-hop and especially on a record so deeply involved with togetherness and humanity. The Food (Live)- This song feels like a 70s hip-hop block party. Kanye and Common pass the mic back and forth in front of a live studio audience for the Chapelle Show and effortlessly flow across the beat, showcasing not only their incredible chemistry as rapper and producer, but as two Emcees at their peaks.”