AWAKEN MY LOVE

This is an album for music fans. People who like Marvin Gaye. People who like the Beatles. People who like Kanye West. The album is going to gain most of the negative votes due to its genre. The music is much more of fusion of funk, rock, electronic, and R&B than anything else (to the disgust of the rap fans who were hoping for a Gambino mix tape kind of vibe). I'm a fan of his hip hop, but I also am a big fan of a lot of various genres, including those this album encompasses, so I suppose I may be an exceptional case in regards to appreciating what he's created here. That said, he deserves any accolades he garners for this effort. This is his best album bar none. His mix tapes are mixed bags. This contains a very finished product with some songs going through several progressions, all sonically linked and yet distinct and interesting. There are definite Pink Floyd vibes I get in this, a la Dark Side of the Moon. There's also some Beatles vibes, a la She's So Heavy. Hwoever, it's not ripping anything off. It's not repackaged nostalgia. It's a definitely unique, original, and novel album. The sound itself encompasses a lot of the pop music sounds of the last 50 years in a way that is supremely impressing. This is, in my opinion, the best pop album of the year. For rap fans, Life of Pablo and Blonde are probably better albums in the sense of being hip hop albums. There are definitely aspects of the album that speak to a soul and funk influence, but I would be hard pressed to call the album a soul album or an R&B album. That said, to any real music fans, you really should get this album. I can't express enough how impressed I was to find that Gambino put out an album that musically is more impressive than any other I've heard this year (perhaps barring Blonde, but maybe not). 5/5

Great album from a great artist, great sound quality and album design. The sleeve was excellent, as was the actual cover

A huge shift from Donald Glover's previous work, but not unexpected (given the singles he has released for the album), and by no means a bad addition to his discography. It's understandable for many to be left wanting the slick verses and tongue in cheek humorous tone of previous albums, but I would encourage Glover fans to give it a chance and take this in as a unique chapter of a very diversely talented auteur-esque talent. Thus far in his career, we've seen Glover excel as both a writer, actor (in various genres), comedian, and musician (again in various genres). What this albums lacks in the initial hookiness of songs like "3005" or "Fire Fly", it makes up for in mood and cohesiveness as a finely crafted piece of art. While more funkadelic, this album seems much more closely related to his "Kauai" EP than any of his full length albums, and that's not a bad thing. Favorite track so far is "California" by a long shot, but have not found a song on here that I dislike yet. Excited to continue to explore these tracks, and eager to see where he evolves from here.

10/10 album but cd case arrived broken

The sound, the aesthetic of the vynil… I LOVED IT! I couldn’t be happier with this purchase. It came in 2 days, super fast, and well-protected.

I should note right off the bat that I became a Childish Gambino fan with Because The Internet and only recently picked up Camp so I don't have any experience with his demos or other non-mainstream material. I'm also not a big hip hop fan but Gambino's musical diversity, the highs and lows his songs flow between, are the kinds of musical experiences I love. I came into this album with high expectations and completely blind to what the style would be. Me and Your Mama opens with a mixture of classic soul, a 70s rock ballad, and prog. Gambino has always been liberal with his influences and often pulls from outside the usual hip hop bag of tricks but I was still surprised at how different this was from anything I've heard from him before. I'm not overly familiar with soul as a genre outside of my occasional spins of The Stylistics so right off the bat Awaken, My Love! is a harder sell than his first two were for me. The album continues on with a similar sound until Zombies jumps in with a bit more of a campy horror direction but not enough that the song breaks up the flow of the album any. There is a general synth influence throughout the entire album the music switches from funky classic rock sounds to modern synth-pop quite frequently. Notes generally have a spacey, ethereal vibe that sound BIG and act as a background sonicscape that leads you through the experience. Redbone is the first song that will sound a bit more familiar to styles Gambino has done in the past but his vocal delivery is in such a high falsetto that I had no idea it was him singing until I looked into a few blurbs about the song itself. I can understand why it was released as a preview track since it is one of the most radio friendly tracks on a generally abstract mainstream unfriendly album. However I have no doubt that Gambino's artistry beyond the music will still find a way to get people who otherwise would never check out a style like this to eat it up. The high points of the album (Me and Your Mama, Redbone, Terrified, and Stand Tall among others) will certainly justify numerous replays but there are a few low points. California is thankfully short but is a song that borders on tedious to listen to. There are also moments where I found myself zoning out a bit which is very abnormal for me during a Gambino release. Even with these few minor gripes I can't deny there are a ton of cool moments that make nearly every track worth checking out and fans of artists like Prince will probably find a lot to love about Awaken, My Love!. Unfortunately I can already tell this is the album I'm least likely to listen to of his three LP releases so far. Don't get me wrong, I'll be spinning this album a lot to pick out all the little nuances and I'm sure I'll check out any sort of videos he puts out to support the album to get even more context about the storyline but this is definitely an album that won't be for everyone. I suppose that could have been said about Because The Internet and, for me, that is one of my favorite albums of all time. It is very possible that if Awaken, My Love! is in a style you already enjoy then it may well be your favorite release of his and I'm going to stay open minded to see if it grows on me with time. I definitely commend Gambino for taking such a huge risk and I have no doubt it will pay off.

Good quality, great price, as shown in picture, quick delivery

Arrived in perfect condition. Would definitely recommend!

I love this album and I am so happy that it was delivered in perfect condition and earlier than estimated which was a pleasant surprise, the price of this CD was great and also came with a poster which is super cool.

This is a great album that is defies classification. Strong Jazz, R&B, Funk, Soul and Hip Hop influences are fused to create a wonderful musical gumbo. The sound quality is terrific too, all credit to the engineer.

Vale la pena comprar esta edición mas que la normal, el color baby blue queda muy bien

Estou muito satisfeito com o produto. Há muito tempo eu sonhava com esse disco de vinil. Ótima qualidade, altamente recomendado

Tolle Platte!