fiomamyblue

it's his most valid album, he won't reach these levels again, not even the last one, which didn't impress me at all. born to die is obviously not a masterpiece, but it's a well-crafted pop album, as one wouldn't have expected in 2012.

For me (and I emphasize for me so no one gets offended, it’s a matter of taste, etc.) it's so terrible that it bothers me to see Nancy and Marianne mentioned in here. Extremely disgusting. Now, please don’t give me the list of popular people who are worse than her; I’m not interested :)

Lana Del Rey is the Madonna of depression pop, or however you want to call it. She’s not the first to do what she does; she’s the one who manages to do it with a visual impact that surpasses everyone. Her essence, for me, is about appearing naturally contrived, within a context that is so constructed and plasticized that it stuns and attracts many at the same time. Look at the latest video, the one with the house by the sea and the helicopter arriving. Talent? Yes, there's about 10-20% of everything that’s been praised.

Six exceptional tracks + 2 normal ones, not groundbreaking.
I would have organized the tracklist slightly differently to have a somewhat symmetrical sequence for each side of the LP: a brutal rock-blues opening and ear-splitting ("Rock'n'roll" leading the way and "Black Dog" at the start of side B), followed by a rock-funky or "oriental" episode ("Misty Mountain Hop" on one side and "Four Sticks" on the other, the two "normal" episodes, which in reality come consecutively on the second side, slightly slowing down the ecstasy of the listening experience).
Then, the two super ballads, left exactly where they are: the romantic/apocalyptic/English folk one ("Battle of Evermore") on side A and the introspective/American folk one ("Going to California") on side B, and finally the two closing tracks as they already are, with the two unheard masterpieces so differently sublime, the first "Stairway" with its twists from intimate folk to lyrical ballad to epic fanfare to a guitar solo jubilation to desperate hard rock to calmness, the second epitome of apocalyptic blues, stunning, detonating.
What an album! It makes me want to cry at the thought.

how picky we are :D

Go ahead, passionate ones.

Historic album that I prefer, however, is the melancholic Berlin, harder to digest but in my opinion his best.

Look, I’m a real follower of Lou Reed, so I’m fucking biased about any album you might mention to me :D

The Battisti - Mogol era appeals to me entirely, even if in this case the tracklist is among those that engage me the least, simply because I consider the other albums a step above this one. For the rest, this is also an excellent work...

Timeless artist, and this album is taken from the golden period with Mogol. Bow down!

What a great artist Lucio Battisti! Thanks to him, Mogol took far more credit than he actually deserved (Mogol is a good lyricist and nothing more)... Lucio Battisti... so "national-popular" that he is highly underrated.