Review Summary: Most websites have 'Doolittle' listed as a perfect 5 Stars, or 100 or whatever, but I personally think they're overrating them. The album is imperfect, but is still great and a must in every music lover's collection. In my books, this album is counted as
I'm just going to tell you the truth right away, the only reason I checked this band out is because I read online that Kurt Cobain is a big fan. The first songs I got were Wave Of Mutilation, Here Comes Your Man, Monkey Gone To Heaven, and Where Is My Mind. Soon, after reading about how widely acclaimed and praised this album is, I knew that I just had to get it.
It opens up with the silly guitar driven song,
Debaser. The chorus had me trying to decipher what Black was saying. Then a quick look up of the lyrics, and a happy me was finally able to sing a long. This is what I consider the best song on the album, and everything about it is perfect: Black's primal half-screamed half-spoken vocals, Santiago's lazy leads, Lovering's alternative drumming and Deal's boosted bass guitar.
Here Comes Your Man is another great song, featuring a very 60s sound that reminds me of The Monkees and The Byrds.
Wave Of Mutilation sounds closest to surf and Sonic Youth, but is actually very original. A track you'll probably dislike at first is
Dead, which opens with filtered vocals and a dissonant lead guitar part, but soon moves onto a melodic yet punk chorus. Modern track hit
Monkey Gone To Heaven isn't really that good compared to Debaser or Here Comes Your man, but it's still great, very Sonic Youth-ish. Some other songs from the first half of the disc are: the very 90s sounding
I Bleed, the almost hardcore
Tame, and the Beatle-esque
Mr Grieves.
The fast Stooges-like song
Crackity Jones isn't really a song I'd normally like, but after listening to the whole album a lot of times, it just grew on me, and I grew to like Black's growling. I consider
No.13 Baby, and
There Goes My Gun as the weakest tracks; simply because of the fact I find the first boring, and the last dull.
La La Love You sounds like a Smiths song crossbred with the Pixies sound. It's annoying and boring at first, but the more you listen to it, the more you appreciate the guitars and the atmosphere of the song.
Hey is a nice smooth sunday morning kind of song, that features an amazing solo, and Santiago's expressive guitar skills.
Silver is a more avante-garde, experimental bittersweet song, that sounds like something Yoko Ono would write. But despite that harsh criticism, it still sounds disturbingly beautiful and if you don't like it at first, listen to it more, the song'll grow on you.
Gouge Away ends the album on a moderately-high note. I consider it not a great song, but also not a bad one.
Most websites have 'Doolittle' listed as a perfect 5 Stars, or 100 or whatever, but I personally think they're overrating them. The album is imperfect, but is still great and a must in every music lover's collection. In my books, this album is counted as an influential alternative rock album, touching the hearts of Kurt Cobain, Billy Coorgan, Damon Albarn, and the likes.
Key Tracks
*Debaser
*I Bleed
*Here Comes Your Man
*Mr Grieves
*Crackity Jones
*Dead
