u/External-Arm616

The Susie dress-up minigame was one of my favorite parts of chapter 5. It sucks there is so little fanart of it.

Revisiting Tally Hall after not listening to them for a year: Part 4 (Joe Hawley Joe Hawley)

This is probably the last album I am going to cover as I have little to no interest in revisiting Not a Trampoline and Sketches. I don't like Andrew's style and Rob's music is just plain bad and has aged horribly. (I might do Cojum Dip but separately as that project has barely anything to do with Tally Hall.)

Here we have Joe Hawley's second (and most recent) solo effort, once again with some help from his former bandmates. Though, the contributions are a lot more scarce in comparison to HPII.

Thankfully, the pretentious attitude from his last project is absent, instead replaced with a sarcastic tone that is as subtle as a nuclear bomb.

The best way I can describe this album is slop. This is AI music before AI.

Critiquing this album is pretty hard as it's not meant to be taken seriously. So I will critique based on how humorous it is as a comedic album.

This album is not very funny. It's so laced with irony that it's obnoxious to listen to. Every song is lathered with annoying vocal effects and rampant sampling. (Seriously, this guy had some balls sampling things like Queen, Kanye West and Nintendo games. Did he have a death wish or something? It's a miracle this album has not been nuked off the face of the planet.)

The few good songs on this album are carried by their features.

4/10

Revisiting Tally Hall after not listening to them for a year: Part 3 (Hawaii: Part II)

We have officially reached the post-breakup era of Tally Hall and I am probably going to hit a nerve for a lot of people with my opinion on this album.

This album is overrated.

A lot of people are under the false impression that this album has a rigid story (this seems to be a complete fabrication made up by the fandom as I have never seen anyone involved in this project ever mention this album actually having a strict plot.) It's meaning is a lot more loose.... so loose that it is frustratingly difficult to follow.

A lot of people seem to praise this album for just.... being a concept album? The people who make the insane claim that this is the "best album ever made" should really listen to literally any other concept album. I am sure you will find something way more competent than this.

This album somehow manages to do so much and yet so little. It's experimental but the experimentation feels more like Joe Hawley is throwing random crap at the wall and praying something sticks.

"It insists upon itself."

4.5/10

Revisiting Tally Hall after not listening to them for a year: Part 2 (Good & Evil)

This album actually still holds up

It is a significant improvement from Marvin's. It's far more consistent, is produced way better (the only exception being Turn the Lights Off. If that song wasn't so well put together, it would be on the bottom of this list solely for how badly it's butchered by the production) and I enjoyed it a lot more.

It's definitely not perfect but I would prefer listening to it over Marvin's.

Unfortunately, this is probably the last we will ever hear from this band (I am sorry but this band's fanbase really needs to learn that some things just don't work out in life. Let it go, man. These people have families now.)

I am not sure if I will do any of the post-breakup solo projects. I will probably just listen to Joe Hawley's solo work as I have no interest in Rob or Andrew's solo work.

7.5/10

This album was not nearly as good as i remember it being

While a majority of the songs are very unique and masterfully crafted, i felt that they struggle to stand on their own and felt more like novelties you would listen to once, laugh and then forget about (no offense to novelty music/musical comedy i love you, Weird Al Yankovic)

This album has some very bad production too, a lot of elements either get drowned out or are barely audible which is a shame as there is a lot going on in these songs (I have heard the original 2005 mix is a lot better so perhaps I will listen to that whenever I wanna go through this album again)

Overall, i found this album to still be fun but underdelivering in some areas

6.5/10

image 2 - alt black and white version