N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo

I listened to this album a while back and remember enjoying it. A look at the features list certainly does no harm to my expectations either, though I am probably gonna pass on naming them all.

The album begins with a Tom Waits style instrumental, flowing right into the first proper track which is pretty great. I didn't like the track Money all that much, pretty boring and repetitive. But the next track is a more traditional Hip-Hop song, with great features. Approve.

The album continues to be quite diverse, even if it's hit and miss. A few standout tracks include Strange Enough, Spacious Thoughts and Gifted which are all in a row on the album. It's certainly a worthwhile listen, but there are probably too many skippable tracks for me to give it a rating higher than: 6.5

N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo

I've never been much of a fan of all-star collaboration songs or albums and this one is no exception. It started out on an interesting note with "The People Tree" but just seemed to get rather pedestrian after that. A couple of other songs stood out to me ("Way Down," & "There's A Party") but overall the album just seemed mediocre at best. Other than the three songs I've mentioned, I don't see myself returning to this one for another listen. It wasn't awful but it just didn't grab my attention and make me want to revisit it.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Of_Apollo.JPG
I think I'd agree the first words that come to you about this album are “busy” and “confused”. Perhaps seeking to be all things to all men? I found it a little hard to get through it more than once; it is a very long album, but that said, I did mostly enjoy it. Don't know most of these guys, but nice to see there's something for even staid old rockers like me, with Waits and Frusciante

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?
Interesting use of the audio effects, wasn't crazy about the first song though.

2. What did you think of the opening track?
Kinda funky but not really my thing

3. What did you think of the next track?
This was better. Fun, I guess.

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?*(see note 1)
There are so many, this question is redundant for this album

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?*(see note 2)
Kind of, yeah.

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it (first time)?
Better I think though it really dipped badly towards the end. Kind of almost recovered with the closer but not quite.

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?
Didn't really pay much attention

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?*(see note 3)
Oh yeah

9. What did you think of the production?
Meh

10. Did you know of this artiste prior to listening to the album, and if so, did that foreknowledge colour your perception of this album?
That's a negatory good buddy. On both.

11. Is this, generally, the kind of music you listen to or not?
Hip-hop? No.

12. Assuming you listened to the album more than once, on repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?
Listening to it on its own I might be more impressed, but as a project as it were, it was too long and I only managed three listens. Each time it more or less stayed the same and my comments don't change.

13. What would you class as your favourite track(s), if you have any?
“Way down”, “Hip hop”, “Strange enough”, “Spacious thoughts”, “Gifted”

14. And the one(s) you liked least?
“A volta”, “O pato”, “Samba soul”, “The Mayor”

15. If the album in question is a debut, did that fact allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?*(see note 4)
It is, but no.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing more from this artiste, if you have not heard any of their other material?
N/a

17. Were you surprised by your reaction - positive or negative - to the album?
Kind of. I don't generally do hip-hop but this was sort of all right.

18. Did the album end well?
Yeah. The theme at the end was good. **** the hidden track though; I ain't listening to, or fast-forwarding through ten plus minutes of silence to get to that. Album's too long as it is.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?
As others have said, lose a few tracks and maybe make it shorter overall

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?
I really have no idea. I suppose I'd have to have been paying attention to the lyrics, and, well, question (7)...

Score: 6/10 maybe. It didn't change my mind about margarine, as such, but I did consider revisiting my brand of butter. (Old Irish joke, you probably won't get it, in which case **** you :))

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N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo

This album has it's ups and downs, but generally it's what I hoped the new Gorillaz album would be like. Therefore, it's gotta get some props. "Gifted" is my favorite track, not by a whole lot though. There are a lot of great artists on here, Kanye, Byrne, and Waits sound great on this album, and most of the other features are great as well. In a couple places the album falters, but generally it's pretty good.

8/10

On my list of favorite albums (of all I've heard since coming up with the concept), it goes here:

The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics!!
N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo
Naked City - Radio

NASA

The David Byrne tracks had everything but a decent melody for him to sing around. A sad waste of talent. The songs start with respectable hooks but suffer from lackluster performances from the stars. Way Down is a standout track. Barbie Hatch's Hypertrophic Heart is worth checking out. Wu Tang without profanity or hypnotic sonic back drops. I dislike Sizzla and he doesn't surprise. To be fair this isn't the type of album that I would usually try to swallow all at once, occasionally fun but never hits a stride. Compares unfavorable to the Bootsy Collins record. 2/5 stars.

N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo

I have listened to this album years ago. Over the course of the week, I ended up giving it three replays. My favorite listening session was while I was cleaning. The length of the album was great for that similar to how I listened to Bootsy's album. I wanted a bit more mixture of South American beats than I got. There is a lovely section in the middle of the album that has great tracks back to back. It started from Strange Enough then onward. My favorite is definitely Gifted. I've heard a great remix of that track before ever listening to the album version. I saw that other albums were released. So I will tackle that catalog of albums soon. I would give it a 3.5/5. A very strong like and has decent replay value.

N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo

I only have time for a brief review - some good stuff but not a coherent overall vision. Too often the hip hop side of things lacked teeth and the funk side of things lacked syncopation, at other times it worked well. Possibly I'd make a playlist out of my favorite tracks on here but won't keep it in the library.
6/10

Can I jump in for the next couple of weeks?

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