I've listened to the Idles before, not this album though and it was probably at the behest of
@threespires if I remember right on this or one of the other music threads. I didn't persevere and first listen of this album suggested this was going to be a slog. Still we are by now contractually obliged to give it three listens.
Surprisingly this was already becoming more palatable on the second go round and by the time I'd listened to it on headphones at the gym and a couple more times besides, mainly in small doses to be fair on short car trips, it was becoming generally comfortable.
It's definitely at the harder edge of what I would;d listen to nowadays, don't think I've played Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables in an age and when a recent nostalgia trip had me listening to the Wall, the band that is not the album I quickly returned to the current age.
This album opens well, MTT 420 RR is pretty untypical I think but a good intro, The Wheel so so and When the Light Comes On good and suggesting the album was ready to get into it's stride. Sadly it was a backward step from there, Car Crash is an unpleasant noise and The New Sensation a good idea poorly executed. I'll throw in Wizz while I'm giving out the brickbats, a pointless and mercifully brief racket.
The middle section though contains three consecutive bangers (I believe that is the word that is in vogue to describe a rollicking good tune). I can tolerate the vocals, no more than that on these three songs it's a perfect fit.
Meds hit me in a similar way to the New Sensation, not as good or clever as it might think it is, Kelechi and Progress OK without pulling up any trees.
King Snake is a joyous thing, it reminded me of shambolic rockabilly style of the Fall. That's a good thing by the way. The End could have gone either way but is a really strong closer, love the sentiments and the rough ess of the vocals made it all the more affecting. For all it's positivity and optimism though I wouldn't want him reading my children (well when they were children) a bedtime story...
While writing this I've got the Spotify top tracks on, while a bit surprised by the variety of sounds I don't think I'm going to become a convert. But I've got a drive to their home city of Bristol coming up and plenty of time to give them a bit more of a listen.
I'd have to say this album is better than I feared. Not sure I'll listen to it in its entirety again but for sure some of the tracks are going to stay on the random playlists. The good bits are better at being good than the bits that fail to hit the mark and for me it's worth a 7
