Quite the contrary, if Variety was more focused, it would be
more enjoyable and thus more entertaining.
Lets think of Variety like a story. Variety feels like a story that starts off a a comedy with one-liners and pies in the face. Then from one scene to the next - a bloody and gruesome assault and political blackmail. The story concludes with a helicopter chase, jumping from building to building, window through window, and Bruce Willis is there suddenly. You'd probably leave the theatre thinking, what the fuck was that? Stories can certainly manage tonal shifts. There are plenty of comedies imbued with great drama, and vice versa, but it takes a steady hand and these tonal shifts have to be earned upfront. You can't go from a Three Stooges, Snooki, joke to There Will be Blood, "I've abandoned my boy!" within a scene. This is what Variety feels like to me. Its tonal shifts feel wholly unearned and too disparaging.
Adult tackled different sounds well. There was variety, and yet the album stood because it had a strong, solid spine throughout. A spine made out of production choices, emotion, and performance. Shouso Strip is a bit of an odd choice, especially since "Yokushitsu", "Identity" and Honnou" seem extremely comparable to me. "Honnou", along with "Sakana", does have bop music influences in them, but it works (in part because it is one choice, but predominately) because it is an influence blended into the over-arching style of the album. Owned and repurposed. Variety makes no attempt at this which makes the album frustratingly heterogeneous. Unearned changes in tone, music not particularly well incorporated with the rest of the songs on the album, coupled with some very undeveloped songs yields an album that is kind of a mess. I find little to be masterful on the album, save maybe some performances. Production choices were flat out bad, and ironically I find the arrangements to be wholly pretentious.
It is your opinion, and I do like that you shared your opinion. Since you had, I found it implicit that you shared it because you wanted to discuss it. I didn't repeat anything negative overtly in my first reply, or imply that your opinion was not valid. I just posted what I felt was my immediate reaction (clicking on the thread, seeing what was there and immediately knew to leave.) I figured this was an understandable reply and said everything you already knew without anyone saying anything. However, you responded with namecalling as though you were a child with a skinned knee to which I responded in kind (which yeah, wasn't my most thoughtful post ever, but old habits die hard. I gave you what you really wanted anyway.) In truth, I do like talking about Variety. It is a tantalizing blunder. I have subscribed to the opinion that it is good to take in good art and bad art to fully understand things. There is worse, but Variety is fascinating because it comes just four short years after a truly magnum opus. Each time I discuss it, I get to think of it in a new way and quantify these ways in which other albums succeeded. So in that respect,. maybe my first reply was selling the thought short, though there wasn't much to go on than "No...LORD no."
Asking me what I think the best/my favorite x album is is a dangerous question. I take these things
waay too seriously (but in a fun and self-educational way.) Rather than take a month or two to research, I will name some that I do enjoy. For a pop/rock album that is truly all over the map, you can't go wrong with The Beatles White Album. The Beatles first two records (Please Please Me and With The Beatles) are poppier while still culling from various influences. Perhaps this is not the kind of answer you are looking for. Great pure pop albums from the last decade: Tatu's 200 po Vstrechnoy, The Orion Experience's Cosmicandy and, lover her, hate her, love-to-hate her, Lady Gaga's Tha Fame is as fine a pop album as you can find. More recent pop albums I think are great: Paralytic Stalks by Of Montreal. Talk about blending, this album is a seamless crock pot of music including funk, rnb, pop, rock, drone. Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose by Beth Jeans Houghton is pretty great. What I hear is pretty reminiscent of KZK Shiina (though not necesarily just alike.) Pepe Deluxe's Queen of the Wave is pretty expansive. For a japanese slant, Puffy's Nice! is the finest, unabashed jpop album that I have heard.
EDIT: oh, and to respond to deadgrandma's quality post, I enjoy the community. I like the people I've met. I have friends here, and even those that in years past I haven't gotten along with too well I like and hope I could call friends. I enjoy adding to the community. Shiina Ringo was also one of the best artists of the early last decade. I try, I try to stay out of recent Shiina discussion, because the music is just insipid. But I guess its a sad trainwreck I can't help but look away from. This isn't rocket science or a practical joke.