Electrophonic Tonic

Just for you, the people, I'm gonna go song-by-song for The Spirit of Apollo. I think the album plays more like a collection of songs with a loose concept of teamwork tying them all together due to the numerous and bat**** combinations of features on the songs. I will give the album a score as a whole, but I'm also going to do an individual track rating because I think everyone will pull out a handful of tracks that stood out to them (for better or worse).

Intro - I'm only mentioning it because I really like the moody, mysterious instrumental that backs the samples. It also introduces the teamwork concept with the samples from NASA and other musicians about working together.

The People Tree - This is the first of many bright, bouncy and colorful beats on this album. David Byrne's relaxed vocals on the hook work as a nice contrast to the production. The other features work as voices of man and God having conversations about the meaning of life. I do like the verse that is a conversation between man and God, and it's example of the ways NASA plays around with their song, while still staying in that traditional verse/chorus structure. Just about every single track is in pretty traditional verse, chorus/hook, verse, chorus/hook, etc... in song structure. The variety on the album comes from mixing genres on the same track. The People Tree is a very good start. 7.5/10

Money - This is the first track where the latin/Brazilian influence comes through in the beat. Again, you have a mix of David Byrne's vocals with rap verses including one from Chuck D. While I don't think the People Tree is especially deep with it's meaning of life theme, Money is just a bit too on the nose. DAE MONEY IS BAAAADDDD and in case you didn't figure that out from the verses, the hook is there to remind you. Also, the lyrics **** up by mixing up Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Jackson on the $10 and $20, so that's fun. Chuck D has a fine verse, nothing really good or bad. 7/10

N.A.S.A. Music - This is the first of a handful of straight hip-hop tracks. E-40 and Method Man trade some verses about life in the inner city. Still, E-40 and Method Man elevate the material just a bit with their flow and word play. Not by much, but they bump what is a kinda boring track into a passable track. 5.5/10

Way Down - This is probably not what you want to hear on a 14-track album that's an hour and 15 minutes long... but the 5th track that's less than 15 minutes into the album is easily the best track. I'm gonna go as far to call it perfection of what NASA was trying to do on this album. You have a hip-hop beat being played on a live drum kit and backed by some flourishes of rock guitar by John Frusciante. Then there is the first two verses that are sung by Barbie Hatch from the POV of a girl who is romanically seduced by Satan, and then RZA raps the last verse from the POV of a sympatheic and lonely Satan. Again, I don't think the idea is deep or complex, but the execution from everyone involved is flawless. I love every single lyric of this track and RZA's verse is probably the single best on the album. Also, Way Down tells a full story in 3 minutes and doesn't beat its theme over your head like on Money. For what it's worth, this is not only my favorite song on the album, but easily one of my favorite songs of all time. 10/10

Hip-Hop - On an album like this that doesn't really have flow or transitions between tracks, I feel your track listing is almost more important because you can easily have your perception of a track colored by the one you just heard. In this case, after the magnum opus that is Way Down, we get Hip-Hop. And Hip-Hop's stale beat, mediocre rapping, atrocious hook and overall boring presentation is only magnified by the weight and scale of Way Down. I do like the theme talking about a need for conscious rap music, but the verses come off like "You damn hip hop kids get off my lawn!". There are so many other, infinitely better examples of rappers rapping about the laziness of commercial hip-hop, and they do so without coming off a cringy like all three MCs on this track. In contrast with Way Down, Hip-Hop is a boring, lifeless mess from start to finish. 3/10

Strange Enough - We get another pure hip-hop track, but the hook is sung by Karen O. Apparently, this is one of the last ever verses recorded by ODB before he died. Anyway, Fatlip (who was on the previous track) redeems himself with two pretty good verses. The beat is both punchy and bouncy and the synth loop is fairly intricate. The problem for me is the hook. Karen O as a voice is fine, but the cadence of the words she is saying just sounds awkward. The song starts grinding the clutch every time the hook comes in. But overall, this is one of the better pure rap tracks here. 7.5/10

Spacious Thoughts - I have a feeling if you read through the list of features beforehand, this was the collaboration that caught your attention the most. For me, at least, it's something I never would have thought of. But once you see a track with both Kool Keith and Tom Waits, it doesn't seem all that far fetched. Let's be real: you never really know what the **** Kool Keith is actually rapping about and I'm not sure even he does, but he sounds dope as usual while spitting straight up nonsense. Tom Wait's verses are a bit more coherent, but the combination of the two of them spinning a web of near-nonsense creates this surreal vibe, which is only further backed by the production with some creeping synths and faded vocal samples. It seems like we're gonna have another perfect track... and then the hook comes in. Oh man. I'm not sure why Tom Waits sounds even more garggly than usual on the hook, but I can't figure out for the life of me why they had him on the hook. Even if the hook was good, it completely smoothers the backing track to the point where the only thing that sticks out are the horns. I don't know who would have been better, but I do know that Tom Waits isn't the guy I would have picked. Even Kool Keith's adlibs at the end of the track would have made for a simple hook to connect all the psyched out verses. I know the point of the album is to make genre-blended "pop" tracks, but this could have been a really cool song with just Tom Waits and Kool Keith's verse. You can also hear a slight change in the instrumental depending on who is currently on the track, and the transition between them, especially in the third verse where they aren't separated by the hook is really well done. 8/10

Gifted - I really like the futuristic disco-vibe of the instrumental and it's definitely the best part of the track. I also love the twinkling and swirling synths that play behind the hook. Kanye West (how the **** did NASA get him to be on this?) leads off the track by rapping a verse about being Kanye West. In his defense, the theme of the song is all about your artistic talent, so a self-centered verse actually fits in really well. Santigold's verse is a bit weaker than Kanye's, but it's still pretty good. Again, the flaws are in the hook. It's overly wordy just sounds awkward, but Lykke Li somehow finds a way to make it sorta flow, and her higher pitched vocals blend in well with those synths I mentioned earlier. The hooks is also slightly buried in the mix, so it feels a bit more organic and covers up the lyrics. Win-win. 8/10

A Volta - I can't understand Sizzla's voice at all. But, he sounds pretty cool with the beat and has a good flow. The same goes for Amanda Blank. The hook definitely is a a step better than it has been the last few tracks. Even if it's another really wordy hook, Sizzla and Lovefoxx sound good trading off parts of the hook. Overall, this is one of the more consistent efforts from all the features on the same track and I like the beat's old school, digital sound to it, especially with the arpeggio in the hook that reminds me a lot of the one from Grandmaster Flash's The Message. 7/10

There's a Party - This one does sound a lot like a mellowed out version of The People Tree, especially since Chali 2na is on both tracks. I'd say this is another track that has a message, but it isn't obnoxious like Money. It's just about the world, like, being one, man, and just having, like, a big party, man. I had a friend who mentioned to me the first time he heard this that it sounded like everyone was wasted when the recorded the song. I never really thought about that before, but there is a sloppiness to every single part of There's a Party that does make it sound like everyone is just having a really good time at a party. 7/10

Whatchadoin? - This is in the running for my favorite beat on the album. It's loud, bouncy, energetic and those super saturated bass hits are one of my favorite sounds on the album. Even the beginning with the telephone sounds mixed in with the beat sounds awesome and I wish it was used more than just in the beginning. The lyrics about a booty call are whatever, and MIA delivers one of the better hooks on the album. I honestly could care less about what the lyrics are because I just love every single detail of the beat. I might even like the instrumental more than the one on Way Down. But where Way Down is an incredible song, Whatchadoin? is just an extremely awesome beat. 8.5/10

O Pato - Finally, an instrumental track! NASA's mixture of genres and influences could make a really fun instrumental album, and with the way some of the vocal performances have gone over, it might have been a good idea to do a few more instrumental tracks, especially if they're this good. O Pato very fun latin beat with lots of congas and horns with a Carnival feel to it. It's probably the single best song to ever sample 'Donald Ducks gets a Blowjob'. Even without the greatest sample since Funky Drummer, O Pato is standout instrumental track. 8.5/10

Samba Soul - I have a feeling you think the album is running long, and I can't argue against that. But at least the back end of the album has some stand out tracks, including Samba Soul. Of all the strictly rap tracks on the album, I think this is the best one. Del the Funkee Homosapien has one of the best sounding voices in hip-hop. He's easy to understand, has a relaxed flow and sounds good over just about any production, and that's the case here. It's weird to think DJ Qbert and Del have never worked together considering they run in many of the same underground, alternative hip-hop circles from the mid-90's, so the combination makes a lot of sense. At the same time, this track really doesn't force the featured artists to mesh their styles with other alien genres, so Samba Soul doesn't entirely feel like it fits the MO of The Spirit of Apollo. But, it still sounds too good to not include it here. 9/10

The Mayor - There isn't much to say here than it's the alternative version of N.A.S.A. Music from earlier, with better rapping and lesser production. It's a very traditional rap track with some solid verses about the respective city each rapper is from. Nothing amazing here, but the theme of different rappers coming from different cities coming together fits in well with the collaborative spirit of the album, especially with the closing sample. 6.5/10

N.A.S.A. Anthem - Fret not, ye weary MusicBanterers. This track is about 4 minutes long, with a **** tonne of silence aferwards and not the 17 minute monster it looked like in the track list. N.A.S.A. Anthem actually reminds me of the last track from Frown's Bat-Bike album, with the group vocal/sing-a-long while the music slowly fades out. You mix in a few more samples from the Apollo space program about coming together to do great things and lyrics expressing gratitude to all of N.A.S.A's friends from joining them together on the album. It's a very nice sendoff and a nice bow to tie this messy, yet interesting experiment of an album... 7.5/10

HIDDEN TRACK ALERT!!!! Electric Flowers (skip to about 10:20 of N.A.S.A. Anthem to hear it) So, N.A.S.A. decided to tack on a hidden track. Electric Flowers is the name of the track, and the truth is, I think it's the second best track on the album after Way Down. I mentioned right at the beginning of the review that I liked the moody and mysterious beat we get a glimpse of on the Intro track. And throughout this review, I've credited N.A.S.A. for making loud, vibrant beats. But part of me wonders if these guys could do if they committed to making some of these darker beats like the one on the Intro and the one here on Electric Flowers. It's trip-hop by way of the Middle East and it sounds absolutely beautiful and haunting. Nina Persson's smokey vocals and RZA's mantra-like rap only adds to the mysterious vibe of Electric Flowers and it all comes together so organically. After listening to this album as much as I have since I decided this would be my album club pick, I think I've learned to accept the fact that while the track is one of my favorites, it doesn't really seem like it has a place on the album amongst all the other bright and colorful pop songs that make up the album. It makes sense to have it separated away from the main album, but it's too good to be an unlisted hidden track. 9.75/10

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Overall: I think The Spirit of Apollo is an interesting, messy, imperfect and colorful collection of tracks that wasn't given much of a chance when it came out almost 10 years ago. Maybe Stockholm Syndrome is finally setting in for me since I've listened to this a tonne getting ready for this album. Maybe there are actually some nuggets of good music and interesting ideas that you guys are first time listeners will pick up right away. I did the maths from my song ratings and the maths say I would rate this a 7.5/10, and honestly, that doesn't seem that far off from what I would have given it. This album is too long and has too many tracks. If you cut out about 15 minutes of this album and tweaked a couple of the remaining songs, you could have something worthy of being called a great album. But hey, this thing was an experiment from it's inception and it would be kinda scary if it worked out perfectly the first time.

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