[Tusethede]

Just gave this a listen and I really love it. Bad Religion is the highlight for me but I wish it had a better ending.

[Infiseeenvelp]

I listened to the album streaming on his tumblr when it went up, but mostly because I think the guy is fucking hot and has a nice voice. But it didn't really pull me in, but I was doing other things (like laundry) while only really half listening.

[Obenuearema]

I really enjoy this album, but I think a lot of people (ie critics/reviewers) are getting caught up in everything but the music. Even in Pitchfork's review they mention Ocean's sexuality and open letter...and spend a paragraph dissecting its meaning, importance, for all purposes reviewing his letter instead of his music. Obviously these are nice lenses through which to view an artist and their work, but I feel like people should be praising the work and analyzing that before contexualizing everything in light of recent events. 9.5 honestly seems to be pushing it, though. Perhaps by my own tastes I could give this one a near perfect, but compared to how harsh Pitchfork is in their ratings with very little explanation...it's hard not see this as simply feeding the hype.

Which isn't a bad thing, because it is a really good album. I just wish people would talk a little more about that and not so much the letter. It just rubs me the wrong way and sounds condescending or something..."Hey! This is that album by that one black rnb guy - the one who said he's had relationships with men too? How shocking because you know that culture of rnb/rap/black music is rampantly homophobic and anti-woman and incites violence and is really quite awful. But thankfully he's a pioneer and admits open sexuality blah blah blah and the music is nice, too. For rnb."

[Txaizdxx]

Saw his SF show, and well.. he really can sing. He's amazing. Nice small venue, but the sound was unforGIVABLY bad, you couldn't hear lyrics or ANY of his between-songs banter (crushed)... and the crowd was pretty bad, singing over everything making the sound situation even worse.

He also only played for a little over an hour. Tyler the Creator was in the audience, which was weird I thought. Oh, and he opened the show with a cover of cindy lauper's "when you were mine."

The album is so impressive, I still think.

[9uWzBx4l]

^^ Isn't "When You Were Mine" a Prince song?

I don't know how most of us feel about this album, but I really have problems to get into the first half of the record. It's not so impressive, imo. The 2nd half on the other hand is really strong. There isn't one song that I dislike there.

[wllsqyuipknczx]

^^ Isn't "When You Were Mine" a Prince song?

Yes. Cyndi covered it. Both versions are great though, it's one of the best songs ever.

[Txaizdxx]

Oh whoops! I had no idea that was a Prince song. I thought it was about Cindy's gay ex-boyfriend.

[Ecurrexchangess]

I am downloading this tonight! I am so behind on musics. I've heard this is excellent though, and his eloquent coming out makes me really interested in what he might have to say.

[9uWzBx4l]

Channel Orange enters the US charts at #2 with 131,000 units sold and 97 % of them were digital downloads.
Quite impressive start.

[movlabc]

Woohoo! Very cool. Too bad he couldn't eek out a first place finish. That would've been pretty historic for a new gay/bisexual artist.

[9uWzBx4l]

Frank will perform at the Video Music Awards!

I am really excited to see this and which song he is going to perform!

[9uWzBx4l]

Frank had two great performances on SNL yesterday. I really love Channel Orange more and more.

[9uWzBx4l]

...and the video for Pyramids...

[!!Aaroncheg]

I haven't listened to the album yet, but I love "Swim Good" from his 2011 mixtape "Nostalgia, Ultra". Fantastic song.

[wllsqyuipknczx]

It's honestly (?) somewhere between 8 and 9 for me.

Also, is Song Cycle really a good point of reference for Channel Orange? For reference - some recent albums with at least some elements of R'n'B and a similar level of exposure - they gave My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a 10, The ArchAndroid an 8.5, House of Balloons an 8.5 (and the other Weeknd mix tapes a 7.9 and an 8.1), and Take Care an 8.6. I think Channel Orange is better than a lot of those (especially the Kanye!). And who cares about a Pitchfork number, really?

It's true that Frank's story has whipped everyone up into a frenzy and set the scene wonderfully for the album, but it's also a great shame that the "gay hype" will cloud any press this album receives and that we'll suspect any praise of being charity or posturing.

[Tnzxovoz]

i haven't gotten a chance to listen to the album but i will. His statement about his sexuality was one of the most beautiful stories about first love and loss that i've read. if his lyrics are anything like that, he's got another fan.

[maxfieldj1]

I've just begun listening to the album at home, and really couldn't get over the Crack Rock song. It just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. But then Pyramids came on and I was finally taken back in a good way with the album.

[maxfieldj1]

I will have to check Channel Orange out!

[Veronnisa]

I didn't dig Nostalgia Ultra and to be honest every single Odd Future release has either underwhelmed or irked me. I will give this a spin, although seeing as you all like it I'm sure it's terrible.

[Txaizdxx]

Oh, also the album is a lot better than I'd anticipated. It's actually dead good and I'd pay money for a vinyl copy.

Woo!!