The Daily Spin, December 18
The Knocks | 55
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite songs from each album right here.
Album: 55 (2016)
Artist: The Knocks
Link:
This album is an odd relic of its time in many ways to me. I’m not even sure I could defend or argue that statement too deeply, but this album screams pre-election 2016 to me in a way few albums do - something about the Capital Cities-sounding electronica paired with the very ‘FIFA’ rock drums (and I do apologize for constantly using FIFA as a descriptor, but I don’t know what else fits it better).
It could just be the Fetty Wap feature, too.
There’s something really lovable about this whole record. From the slow-jam nature of affirming tracks like ‘Dancing with Myself’ to the energetic bounce of ‘Classic’ and ‘Tied to You’, this is one of the more fun albums I listen to, and it shows in the play count: nearly 700, putting it inside the top 25 on my all-time listing.
I don’t think it always hits - the back end of the album feels like a bit of a miss, as the Knocks return to their more house-based roots, but god, there’s a stretch there of genuinely fantastic electropop that’s everything I want from the genre and more.
Rating: 8.5/10
Best Tracks: I Wish (My Taylor Swift); Tied to You; Dancing with Myself
Worst Tracks: The Key