Yep...also the 1st solo LP and RZA lost all the original beats in a flood or something os that could be partly responsible for the sound (I bought it on cassette). Anticipation was massive for the LP and as you said the strong tracks are great. Return is messy and raw but in a great way, Tical seems unfinished / rushed
i played tribe more than wu then and still i play tribe more than wu today. that said i have grown to like wu much more than i did at the time the lp dropped.
beats like ice cream, rhymes are like sprinkles...
The Wu-Tang for me.
WU TANG CLAN
I voted Wu-Tang. Midnight Marauders is a nice album full of dope tracks, but too monotonous and not varied enough for me to call it a classic in the same way as Enter The Wu. 20 years later and I still couldn't tell you which beat was which on MM. Easy pick for me.
A real tough decision for me would have been Enter The Wu Vs. The Low End Theory, which was the Tribe masterpiece IMHO.
I'm such a huge Tribe fan and loyalist that at the time, Midnight Marauders was more of what I wanted to hear. It got more burn from me than Wu-Tang did. But ultimately, Enter the 36th Chambers is so much more of an important album. The Wu-Tang came in and innovated in a way that few have been able to since. These both dropped 1 day before my 13th Birthday..