I needed a break after struggling through the first five songs. I ejected Panorama from the car stereo, and The Pretenders were playing on WTMD. It was a breath of fresh air. Chrissie Hynde's voice was rich, the production was clear, and the song was a pleasure to my ears. In other words, it was everything that Panorama is not.
Music:
If The Cars were trying to capture what was wrong with new wave, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Don't bother with this unless you're a fan of boring music, insipid lyrics, bad production, and a complete absence of hooks.
Packaging:
The cover art is okay, but they completely chintzed out on everything else.
Listen if you like: The unfocused stumblings of decent bands.
If it were food, it'd be: Something I'd never, ever eat again, like boiled steak or microwaved oranges.
5: should be heard by all music fans; a "perfect" album
4: best of genre; sets a standard within its genre
3: just better than average; good for fans of the genre, and okay for everyone else
2: below average; listenable for fans of a genre, but only if there's nothing else to hear
1: poor, and whatever good qualities it has can't save it
0.5: no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
2 comments:
Holy smokes, that was scathing. It's interesting Panorama was so bad that something that is merely good (the Pretenders) could have that effect.
I have Panorama somewhere, but probably have not heard it in almost twenty years.
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