I bet I'd like What's Going on More now, I've really enjoyed what I've heard from Gaye; but then again everything subsequent hasn't been remotely in that preachy vein. This is great at maintaining its ecstatic energy throughout, a good optomistic follow up to Here My Dear.
Choice cuts: Let's Get It On, If I Should Die Tonight, Distant Lover
Damn, Ghost's best album since Fishscale by far. I like Pitchfork's negative review a lot since it highlights a lot of my issues with the direction of his post-2006 work, but I feel like this time that path finally arrived somewhere that fully jibes with me. Yeah it's not as wild and imaginative as his work in the 90s but it's more visionary and concise. As Pitchfork makes clear this treads quite similar ground narratively to 12 Reasons to Die, which is kind of Kagemusha to 36's Ran. Ghostface talked about 12 Reasons as something he was doing for RZA, and the soul-based production and autumnul nostalgia of 36 Seasons certainly feels more Ghost. The story isn't as simple as Pitchfork makes out, I found the characters to be economically fleshed out (shouts out to all the guests), the twists not novel but sensible, and the pacing perfect. The storytelling could've been zestier, but having a story run smoothly through a whole album demands focus I don't think anyone saw Ghostface of all people mustering back in his wild years and gives me some hope that Supreme Clientele 2 may indeed be his best album.
Choice cuts: The Battlefield, Emergency Procedure, Blood in the Streets
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