Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter

I honestly prefer this tracklist to the streaming one. Feels more cohesive. Sounds great as well.

Never imagined getting a Beyoncé record even though, born in the early 90s, I grew up with her music. I stumbled on this new record of her's by coincidence - and wow, I am so grateful I did.

A wild combination of different genres blended together to create something that mostly, to my ears, sounds very unique or, at least, very, very good. Beyoncé appears both playful, weird, full of creative joy in both her singing and lyrics. Yet she touches on personal struggles or even political messages as well. Then making it so weird and fun again in the next line. It seems like she must have had such a joyful time creating this album.

The production value on this album is off the charts. I don't know who exactly joined her in the studio to play the instruments, who produced which songs, but they did an absolutely brilliant job.

I ordered this particularly version of the vinyl because most comments said that it would sound great, and they were right. Flat, no defects (surface noise), very dynamic, and so fun to crank up the volume with this one.

I read some people feeling disappointed about the packaging. It's solid and beautiful; just no liner notes, a booklet or any other goodie. I am totally fine with it because I solely bought it for the music. A booklet and additional artwork would be sweet, though.

I also read about songs missing from the physical release compared to the digitial one. I wasn't aware of it, and I do not care about it so much. Album flows so well on all four sides, so much to explore here. Not necessary to add more songs in my humble opinion. Would have been great, however, if "YA YA" made it on the vinyl - what a banger! :) "Bodyguard" is my current favorite single track of the album, but mostly it's true bliss listening to this record from beginning to end.

Never thought I would write such a long review on a Beyoncé album but she surely got me hooked on her music now.

Fantastic pressing of a magnificent album. Highly, highly recommended! ;)

Aside from act ii: BEYINCÉ artwork and title, the vinyl and CD versions are missing the following tracks:

* SPAGHETTII
* THE LINDA MARTELL SHOW
* YA YA
* OH LOUISIANA

Vinyl also omits:

* FLAMENCO

The following differences have been observed between digital release and initial physical versions:

* PROTECTOR - Rumi/Sir outro is missing
* MY ROSE - titled MR. SIR in CD metadata
* JOLENE - features Willie Jones
* LEVII’S JEANS - transition cut early
* FLAMENCO - CD bonus track is one second longer at the end
* DESERT EAGLE - missing eagle sound intro
* RIIVERDANCE - some refrain and chorus are longer
* II HANDS II HEAVEN - longer outro
* TYRANT - extended outro
* SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN' - HONEY intro is missing

An exquisite production. A sheer joy to listen to. Wonderful.

Anyone else having issues with quiet guitars on Blackbird and 16 carriages? I could barely make out the guitar track on Blackbird and 16 Carriages didn't sound as full as it does on the digital release we've all heard.

Excellent pressing and quality packaging. However, the presentation can’t hold a candle to that wonderful Renaissance “box set” and two standout tracks are missing. Especially Ya Ya not being on here is disappointing.

Honestly, while the songs that are missing are standouts (spaghetti being my favourite). Honestly I think the album actually flows a lot better without them. It seems like they were last minute inclusions and honestly would have been better to be added as a stand alone EP or something.

The album itself is amazing. The saddest thing about this is that it sounds pretty darn good on this vinyl presentation! But, the missing songs make me angry…if they had been transparent about what it was (or wasn’t), then it would be fine. At some point, the whole team knew this was an issue, and they could have let people know. Now they have a PR nightmare on their hands, and I know that I won’t be purchasing from her store anymore after this.

Loved the color of the vinyl. I know many are upset. I’m assuming beyonce shifted aesthetics pretty late and didn’t want to waste vinyls and there might be a collectors edition coming so…

Excellent album from an exceptional artist! The fact that people don’t understand what Beyoncé has done or is doing in this era of her music is clearly due to pure idiocy and the Bey hate campaign. Black artists have been country. Black musicians created country music. This album is a testament to that. Kudos to Beyoncé and her camp for shining a light on that. She executed perfectly and put her spin on it! Well done!