Adele - 30

08 All Night Parking - at 2:42 this is more of a song than an interlude and it's far more interesting than some of the other standard Adele tracks. I'll take it.
 
Oh My God is not a single :D I'm really enjoying it though. I think I'll obsess over this album. it's vibey as fuck.
 
6.5 Woman Like Me - this sounds more like an interlude than the interlude did. It sounds a bit like 19 era Adele. It's alright in jazzy trippy sense, I'll take this over her poppier moments. But it's a bit flat. "I really hope this will go somewhere"... Me too love, me too.
 
OK Can I Get It feels like an instant Adele MOMENT.

and finally, some hooks...

I fucking love this one. every section is so catchy. and the production is kinda SHINY but GRIMY. Max did that.

GENUINELY SEXY BOP. 9.
 
08 Hold On - this is lovely, classic, epic, but I DID kinda want it to go somewhere. It just keeps building and then dying back down again, teasing with the organs and echoey vocals and piano and...

OK there it is! It kicked in. Upgraded instantly. This is exactly what I was expecting from a new Adele album with the reported Marvin/Elton influences and Inflo production. This is very similar in style, production and delivery to the Cleo Sol album, which is possibly the best album of the year.

After Jessie's "Remember Where You Are", the Cleo Sol/Little Simz albums and now Adele, can this sound make a proper comeback please, I fucking love it.
 
Given how the album is ending, it's clear we're not getting a Rolling In The Deep / Set Fire To The Rain / Water Under The Bridge epic power pop song on this album. Oh My God comes the closet but she's playing it subtle and singer-songwriter style on this album. I would have liked ONE big fuck off anthem though.
 
Hold On takes its sweet time but it does get there. Those final two minutes are so cinematic and gorge.

9
 
05 To Be Loved - There's nothing wrong with it, but 6 minutes of her singing into a piano is not what I wanted, because it's starting to become a bit repetitive for her now.
 
OK Love Is A Game, it's up to you now. I've seen the hype and buzz, time you deliver and go out with a bang!
 
the enunciation on every syllable of every word at the opening of Love is a Game is such an Adelism and one I could do without :D

innnn-ca-pa-boooleeeee

lovely song otherwise! she's clearly itching to do a full soul record.
 
love that Legendele has tricked the locals into consuming en masse a downtempo, hook-free hour of freestyle melodies, extended outros and throwback soul-ruining voicenotes :disco:

best tracks: Strangers by Nature, Easy On Me, Can I Get It, Hold On, Love Is a Game
 
07 Love Is A Game - I mean it's nice. But it's giving me nothing new after "Hold On", so I probably need to give it some distance and get to know it separately. It's more classic 70s soul, this is definitely the Marvin Gaye comparison, I can hear Delfonics, O Jays, Minnie Riperton... so yeah I approve. But the album I have to say is a little bit TOO consistent for my liking.


07 Strangers By Nature
08 Easy On Me
07 My Little Love
6.5 Cry Your Heart Out
09 Oh My God
06 Can I Get It
06 I Drink Wine
08 All Night Parking
6.5 Woman Like Me
08 Hold On
05 To Be Loved
07 Love Is A Game


The fans will love this. And I daresay the critics will too given the lush and swooping 70s influences, without referencing the fact that many great underground R&B artists have been putting out great 70s pastiche songs/albums for a good couple of years now and Adele is going to take all the credit! I suppose what's good for Madonna is good for Adele. It's a good record. But it's not earth shattering. Should I have expected it to be? Probably not.

First listen: 07/10

(broken record: everyone go listen to Cleo Sol's album. It's this but a million times better).
 
Slightly interesting: Oh My God is the Spotify Song of the Week and the first track in New Music Fridays. That would usually indicate next single? Probably not but interesting that that was their choice. It's definitely the standout for me.
 
God this album is… bleugh… on first listen.

But Oh My God is the only one that stands out as a potential second single to me to be honest.
 
Agree with Funky - it’s massively lacking one or two massive ANTHEMS! That’s my favourite type of Adele.

Will still sell a billion records though.
 
Ok in fairness I’d not got to the end yet and I’m really liking Hold On.
 
I mean… it is LITERALLY the ONLY single possible in my opinion.
well, you're in luck since it is the second single.

Can I Get It would be a much more obvious choice though.
 
oh this is a MUCH more interesting listen than I anticipated

disclaimer: am on track 3
 
I think this is brilliant! Not what I was expecting at all. It's not bland, and she's showing the development people were screaming out for a few pages back. The lead single just doesn't show it (and prob quite wise too as all the GBP would be like WTH is she doing?)

I don't know which song is which yet so can't single any out, but overall it excites me. Has she reinvented the wheel? No. Has her sound changed up over the last 6 years? Definitely!
 
The vocal on To Be Loved is far too raw/demonic for me
 
her vocals at the end of To Be Loved are something. I mean, it's the only interesting part of the song.

I could definitely live without this one and the very dreary Woman Like Me, but everything else is shades of great.

08 Strangers by Nature
09 Easy On Me
09 My Little Love
07.5 Cry Your Heart Out
09 Oh My God
09 Can I Get It
08.5 I Drink Wine
08.5 All Night Parking
05.5 Woman Like Me
09 Hold On
07 To Be Loved
08.5 Love is a Game

8.4. her best and most experimental work. the soulful/cinematic/orchestral sounds are a real revelation here. well done Adele.
 
It all started to blend together towards the end for me, but what I heard certainly was interesting (and different!) enough to make me come back for a second listen later.
 
If I was to listen to one (1) track (and I haven't even heard Easy On Me in full yet) which should it be?

I will judge the entire album on it.
 

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