Journey Complete!
Finisher #265 to complete the list
1089
Albums Rated
2.74
Average Rating
100%
Complete
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2020s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Perfectionist
Rater Style ?
17
5-Star Albums
52
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Very
Pet Shop Boys
|
5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
|
Achtung Baby
U2
|
5 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
|
Play
Moby
|
5 | 3.47 | +1.53 |
|
Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
|
5 | 3.47 | +1.53 |
|
So
Peter Gabriel
|
5 | 3.55 | +1.45 |
|
Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys
|
5 | 3.56 | +1.44 |
|
The Joshua Tree
U2
|
5 | 3.67 | +1.33 |
|
Graceland
Paul Simon
|
5 | 3.74 | +1.26 |
|
American Idiot
Green Day
|
5 | 3.77 | +1.23 |
|
Bad
Michael Jackson
|
5 | 3.8 | +1.2 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
|
1 | 3.46 | -2.46 |
|
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
Various Artists
|
1 | 3.28 | -2.28 |
|
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Dead Kennedys
|
1 | 3.27 | -2.27 |
|
#1 Record
Big Star
|
1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
|
The Idiot
Iggy Pop
|
1 | 3.21 | -2.21 |
|
Vespertine
Björk
|
1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
|
Kind Of Blue
Miles Davis
|
2 | 4.06 | -2.06 |
|
No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (Live)
Motörhead
|
1 | 3.06 | -2.06 |
|
Real Life
Magazine
|
1 | 3.05 | -2.05 |
|
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Stereolab
|
1 | 3.02 | -2.02 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Jackson | 3 | 4.67 |
| Beastie Boys | 3 | 4.67 |
| Green Day | 2 | 5 |
| U2 | 4 | 4.25 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Björk | 4 | 1.25 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 1.6 |
| Big Star | 2 | 1 |
| Pere Ubu | 2 | 1 |
| The Fall | 3 | 1.67 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 1.67 |
| Leonard Cohen | 5 | 2 |
| The Mothers Of Invention | 2 | 1.5 |
| Scott Walker | 2 | 1.5 |
| Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band | 2 | 1.5 |
| Motörhead | 2 | 1.5 |
| Ali Farka Touré | 2 | 1.5 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 2 |
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 2.2 |
| Elvis Presley | 3 | 2 |
| Tim Buckley | 3 | 2 |
| Roxy Music | 3 | 2 |
| PJ Harvey | 4 | 2.25 |
5-Star Albums (17)
View Album Wall
1-Star Albums (52)
All Ratings
Cornershop
4/5
Pantera
2/5
Tom Waits
3/5
OutKast
4/5
Sonic Youth
2/5
Saint Etienne
4/5
mellow electronic
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
pretty good alternative.....why this is a must listen though, I don't know
Muddy Waters
4/5
not a big Blues fan, but this is good
Boston
4/5
More Than a Feelin', Peace of Mind, and Foreplay/Long Time are three of my favorite Classic Rock songs.....and all from this album? Not sure why I am not giving this 5 stars....
The Black Keys
3/5
Minor Threat
1/5
Definitely not my genre
T. Rex
4/5
surprised how much I liked this
Morrissey
3/5
Why do I feel the sudden desire to wear black?
Merle Haggard
2/5
definitely not a country fan, but I didn't hate it
Quicksilver Messenger Service
3/5
A 60s rock hippie jam
Cream
3/5
Dirty Projectors
3/5
Moby
5/5
Definitely my favorite genre and loved this when it came out!
Eminem
4/5
2/5
The Beach Boys
3/5
very different from classic Beach Boys, but a few songs I really liked
Kanye West
4/5
Oh Kanye......
The Who
4/5
Nico
2/5
I learned that two of the songs from this album were featured in The Royal Tenenbaums......yep, sounds about right. Definitely not my bag. Interesting that Jackson Browne and Lou Reed both play guitar for the album.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Nas
4/5
Slipknot
3/5
Definitely not my genre, but I can see the appeal. Drummer is fantastic!
The Who
3/5
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Metallica
4/5
Metallica with the San Fran Symphony would have been very cool to see live.
Johnny Cash
3/5
Some of these are quite good....the video for Hurt is great....others (e.g. Bridge over troubled water) should not be remade by anyone (in my humble opinion). This is not in the book.
Iron Maiden
2/5
The Coral
3/5
The Byrds
3/5
Cypress Hill
3/5
Oh yeah, a 21 year old Feldheim thought he was a gangster!
Minutemen
2/5
Not a fan of punk.....
Brian Eno
3/5
Reminded me of Talking Heads
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Tom Waits
1/5
Did not like this
Megadeth
3/5
for as much as I disliked heavy metal in high school, this wasn't too bad.
Finley Quaye
3/5
Grizzly Bear
3/5
Dire Straits
3/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
one long live jam session
Iron Butterfly
2/5
Germs
1/5
not my bag
Crowded House
3/5
This was surprisingly good. It is considered #3 of Australia's top 100 albums (behind #2 Back in Black and #1 Diesel and Dust by Midnight Oil).
The Verve
3/5
Kraftwerk
3/5
ABBA
4/5
Very surprised how much I liked this 4.5/5
Miles Davis
2/5
I guess if I can't get into a Miles Davis album, I don't like jazz.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Near perfection. 7 of 9 songs from the album were popular.....amazing!
The Beach Boys
4/5
So good! One of the albums I grew up with, so I am definitely biased.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
I WAS NOT EXPECTING TO LIKE THIS....GENERALLY DON'T LIKE DYLAN, BUT THIS WAS A NICE SURPRISE 3.5/5
The Young Gods
2/5
The Modern Lovers
2/5
Paul Simon
3/5
3.5/5
Fiona Apple
4/5
First time I ever really listened to Fiona Apple--some really good songs on this album!
Michael Jackson
5/5
Another Michael Jackson album with 7 HITS....I don't think I appreciated this dude enough when he was popular. Thriller might have been a better album, but this one is pretty damn close.
Buzzcocks
2/5
I can see the appeal, but not really my thing. A couple songs I liked. 2.5/5
The Kinks
3/5
Likes this a lot more than I though I would.
AC/DC
3/5
Elvis Presley
2/5
It's Elvis.....so, you know. I get it, very influential....but it's Elvis.....
Massive Attack
3/5
2/5
Death In Vegas
2/5
Very different. 2.5/5
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
Johnny Cash
4/5
Such a unique album.
Dire Straits
4/5
Forgot how good this album is!
Milton Nascimento
2/5
2.5/5
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
3.5/5
Genesis
3/5
Peter Gabriel still in Genesis on this album. Very different than 1980s Genesis. 3.5/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Highly biased as I owned this album....LOVE it. 4.5/5
Kraftwerk
2/5
2.5/5
Black Sabbath
3/5
Ozzy!
John Martyn
3/5
3.5/5
David Bowie
3/5
generally dont like bowie, but this was pretty good 3/5
Funkadelic
3/5
Funky--good background music.
Tom Waits
2/5
very very different 2.5/5.
3/5
Never was into Bowie, but I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. 3.5/5
Violent Femmes
3/5
3.5/5
Various Artists
1/5
A Christmas album.........really?
Green Day
5/5
Perfection. One of my favorite albums!
The Strokes
3/5
Marty Robbins
2/5
2.5/5
Suede
3/5
Queen
3/5
Amazing harmonies.
Pink Floyd
3/5
3.5/5
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
3.5/5.
Donovan
2/5
2.5/5
The Doors
3/5
David Bowie
3/5
3.5/5
Peter Tosh
3/5
3.5/5
Venom
2/5
Definitely not my genre, but I can see the draw for an angsty teenager. I can also see why conservatives would fear this kind of music with all the satanic themes. 2/5.
The Fall
2/5
2.5/5
Heaven 17
2/5
2.5/5
Common
4/5
Never really listened to Common--really liked this.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Rod Stewart
3/5
was never a big fan, but I liked this! 3.5/5
John Lennon
3/5
Brian Eno
4/5
Very different--I liked this a lot. Good calming, background music.
Jamiroquai
3/5
3.5/5. Very Stevie Wonder-esque
Santana
3/5
3.5/5
Portishead
2/5
The whole album sounded like it was in a minor key making it less than pleasant. I can see why it is on this list though as it is very different.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
3.5/5
Beatles
3/5
Never a huge fan, but this was pretty good. 3.5/5
Kanye West
4/5
4.5/5
Carole King
4/5
Jurassic 5
3/5
this was good! 3.5/5
Tina Turner
3/5
Was never a big fan in the 80s, but this is good. 3.5/5.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
Liked this a lot more than I thought I would. 3.5/5
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
2.5/5
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
Listened to this ad nauseum when it came out----still love it! 5/5
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Some of the acoustic stuff is really good!
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
2/5
2.5/5
Deep Purple
3/5
Some pretty good 70s rock.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
from Wikipedia: In 2020, Blue was rated the third greatest album of all time in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." I liked it, although it is a little too folksy for what I normally like.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
4.5/5 I forgot how many good songs are on this album!
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Never a big fan, but I really liked this.
Arrested Development
3/5
3.5/5
Black Sabbath
3/5
I liked this a lot more than I thought I would! 3.5/5
Steely Dan
3/5
3.5/5
Lou Reed
2/5
Love Walk on the Wild Side, but otherwise, meh.
Rod Stewart
2/5
2.5/5
Weather Report
2/5
It's fine....just not my genre. 2/5
David Bowie
3/5
2.5/5
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
Funky
Big Star
1/5
not sure why this is on the list, according to Wikipedia:
"Third documents the band's deterioration as well as the declining mental state of singer Alex Chilton. It has since gone on to become a cult album" 1.5/5
Elastica
2/5
2.5/5
Sabu
2/5
2.5/5
Beatles
4/5
Van Halen
3/5
Debut album. Some good old fashioned American Rock n Roll! 3.5/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
Such great harmony!
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
3.5/5
Stephen Stills
4/5
Never heard of this album before today--really liked it!
Bob Dylan
3/5
Maybe because I expect to really dislike Dylan, I am pleasantly surprised that I don't hate it.....
Nick Drake
3/5
Basement Jaxx
3/5
Radiohead
3/5
3.5/5
Primal Scream
4/5
I liked this a lot. Good background album for work.
B.B. King
2/5
2.5/5
Stereolab
1/5
not my thing 1.5/2
Johnny Cash
3/5
3.5/5
David Bowie
2/5
Beastie Boys
5/5
Remains one of my favorites! 5/5
Elliott Smith
3/5
Reminded me of the Shins (or maybe the Shins are supposed to remind me of Elliot Smith).
Neil Young
3/5
Otis Redding
2/5
2.5/5
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
3.5/5
The Smiths
2/5
2.5/5
Alice Cooper
2/5
2/5
2.5/5
Underworld
4/5
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
It's like I am in a John Hughes movie
Kate Bush
3/5
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would--good back ground album. 3.5/5
Def Leppard
4/5
4.5/5 I forgot how good this is.
Eric Clapton
3/5
Pixies
2/5
The Who
3/5
Beck
3/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
A lot better than I thought it would be...3.5/5.
Goldfrapp
1/5
1.5/5
George Michael
4/5
4.5/5
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
2/5
2.5/5
Korn
3/5
3.5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Aerosmith
3/5
It's just damn good rock n roll. 3.5/5.
R.E.M.
3/5
3.5/5
Paul Simon
5/5
Drive-By Truckers
2/5
It is a country album, so I thought I would dislike it. Wasn't bad....just not my thing. 2.5/5
Charles Mingus
2/5
Just not into Jazz, but I enjoyed it 2.5/5
Dusty Springfield
2/5
2.5/5
Public Enemy
4/5
Emmylou Harris
2/5
2.5/5
Radiohead
4/5
Not sure why I never listened to Radiohead when they were popular!
KISS
4/5
Hard to remove my bias of growing up with KISS. Still love it!
M.I.A.
3/5
Not what I was expecting at all. 3.5/5
Gene Clark
2/5
2.5/5
Don McLean
3/5
Much better than I expected. 3.5/5
Elliott Smith
2/5
2.5/5
JAY Z
3/5
3/5
3/5
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
Arctic Monkeys
2/5
2.5/5
Sepultura
2/5
The Stooges
2/5
2.5/5
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Björk
1/5
I never really liked her music.....still don't 1.5/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Interesting concept. According to Wikipedia:
"As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details (and often consequences) of crimes of passion."
Overall, somewhat odd, but a couple songs I actually liked 3/5.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
2.5/5
The Saints
2/5
Alice In Chains
4/5
Loved it when it came out....love it now. Some high quality grunge!
Leftfield
4/5
Some early EDM--never hear of them. Probably in the book as according to Wikipedia:
Critics have praised the album as one of the major album-length works of dance music, with Q referring to it as "the first truly complete album experience to be created by house musicians and the first quintessentially British one".
Loved this--great lab background music! 4/5
Van Morrison
2/5
2.5/5
The Smiths
3/5
It's fine....Morrissey always sounds whiny to me, but it's fine.
Pearl Jam
5/5
One of my favorite albums!
Peter Frampton
3/5
Ice T
3/5
The Doors
3/5
Randy Newman
3/5
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
Very different....I can see why it is on the list.
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
Ash
3/5
Paul Simon
3/5
Prince
3/5
3.5
Sugar
3/5
3.5/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
2.5/5
Leonard Cohen
2/5
pretty somber, 2.5/5
The Cure
4/5
Everything But The Girl
3/5
3.5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Never really liked Elvis Costello, but this is pretty good
Rush
3/5
Some good rock and roll! 3.5/5
Elvis Costello
2/5
2.5/5
The White Stripes
2/5
I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I have never been a fan.
Sam Cooke
3/5
What a voice! 3.5/5
Rocket From The Crypt
1/5
1.5/5
The Cure
4/5
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
3.5/5
Eels
3/5
3.5/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
The Specials
2/5
Slint
2/5
2.5/5
David Bowie
3/5
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Baaba Maal
3/5
Very different than my usual. I liked it!
Incubus
3/5
3.5/5
The Pogues
2/5
2.5/5
Barry Adamson
2/5
from Wikipedia:
The album is a concept album, a soundtrack album to a non-existent crime film. The music is almost completely instrumental except for occasional screams, vocal samples and a choir.
It was interesting to listen to, but not my cup of tea (2/5)
Mudhoney
2/5
According to Wikipedia, this is an early grunge album. Doesn't really sound like it, but it was fine..... 2.5/5
Mudhoney
3/5
Coincidentally, one of their other albums was yesterday. From Wikipedia:
During initial release, the EP sold incredibly poorly (even by Sub Pop standards), however, it has since been acknowledged as one of the seminal records of the Seattle scene.
Little Richard
3/5
This is a fun album to listen to. 3.5/5
Nick Drake
3/5
nice, chill mellow album. Definitely not a 70s sound. 3.5/5
PJ Harvey
2/5
2.5/5
Ice Cube
3/5
good early 90s rap. Includes "It was a good day" and apparently the origin of "it's on like Donkey Kong." 3.5/5
The Avalanches
3/5
This was different
Stan Getz
2/5
from Wikipedia:
"Jazz Samba signaled the beginning of the bossa nova craze in America."
It was fine. 2.5/5.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
From Wikipedia:
"The album features experimental performance sensibilities and controversial lyrical topics, including drug abuse, prostitution, sadomasochism and sexual deviancy. It sold poorly and was mostly ignored by contemporary critics, but later became regarded as one of the most influential albums in the history of rock and pop music."
Randy Newman
2/5
Would like to know why this is on the list.....it was fine. 2/5
Mj Cole
3/5
This was an interesting album--a combo of R&B, funk, and electronica.
The Replacements
3/5
From Wikipedia:
A post-punk album with coming-of-age themes, Let It Be was recorded by the band after they had grown tired of playing loud and fast exclusively as on their 1983 Hootenanny album; the group decided to write songs that were, according to vocalist Paul Westerberg, "a little more sincere."[1]
Let It Be was well received by music critics and later ranked among the greatest albums of the 1980s by AllMusic and Rolling Stone magazine.[2][3] Now considered a classic, Let It Be is frequently included on professional lists of the all-time best rock albums,[4] being ranked number 241 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
It was fine--3/5
Marvin Gaye
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album has been regarded by many music writers and critics as a landmark recording in soul. It further popularized funk during the 1970s, while Gaye's smooth soul sound marked a change for his record label's previous success with the "Motown Sound" formula. Let's Get It On has been ranked on many critics and publications' lists of the best albums of all time.
3.5/5
Metallica
4/5
Lots of really good heavy metal songs on this album. "One" is especially good!
Femi Kuti
2/5
never been into World Music....it was fine.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
There is a reason she is the Queen of Soul--what a voice!
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Garfunkel has such an amazing voice!
Public Enemy
4/5
Love PE
2Pac
3/5
I can see why he was so popular! 3.5/5
Neu!
3/5
From Wikipedia:
By this time, Rother and bandmate Klaus Dinger had somewhat diverged in their musical intentions for the band, Dinger preferring a more aggressive, rock-influenced style than Rother's ambient predilections. As a result, they agreed to a compromise: Side 1 of the record was recorded in the old Neu! style, as a duo, with Dinger playing drums. For the pieces on side 2, Dinger switched to guitar and lead vocals, recruiting his brother Thomas and Hans Lampe to play drums (simultaneously).
I liked Side 1 and preferred it to Side 2, as Side 2 becomes more punk. I would give side 1 a 3.5/5 and side 2 a 2/5
Bee Gees
3/5
Some good old Brothers Gibb--such great voices!
The United States Of America
2/5
this was......interesting
Aerosmith
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Rocks is the fourth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released in May 1976. AllMusic described Rocks as having "captured Aerosmith at their most raw and rocking." Rocks was ranked number 366 on the updated Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020.[5] It has greatly influenced many hard rock and heavy metal artists, including Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and Nirvana.
Massive Attack
4/5
From Wikipedia:
Blue Lines is generally considered the first trip hop album, although the term was not widely used before 1994. A fusion of electronic music, hip hop, dub, 1970s soul and reggae, it established Massive Attack as one of the most innovative British bands of the 1990s and the founder of trip hop's Bristol Sound.
Good background music.
Janis Joplin
3/5
Never really listened to Janis, but this was better than I thought it would be.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
This was better than I expected. It helps I like show tunes! 3.5/5
Solomon Burke
3/5
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Love PSB. Rent, It's a Sin, and What I Have I Done to Deserve This? C'mon. 4.5/5
The Clash
3/5
Not a lot on this album I wouldn't listen to again. 3.5/5
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Amazing--so many good songs! 4.5/5
Mariah Carey
3/5
Not a big fan, but this was quite good. 3.5/5
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Some good 80s dance music! 3.5/5
DJ Shadow
4/5
From Wikipedia:
It is an instrumental hip hop work composed almost entirely of samples from vinyl records. He edited and layered samples to create new tracks of varying moods and tempos.
Good background music. Very different--I liked it a lot. 4/5
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
2/5
2.5/5 50s lyrics are interesting....
Beth Orton
3/5
Kraftwerk
2/5
2.5/5
The Flaming Lips
3/5
3.5/5
Dr. Dre
3/5
3.5/5
Depeche Mode
4/5
Roni Size
2/5
2.5/5
Iggy Pop
1/5
1.5/5
2/5
2.5/5
10cc
2/5
NOt sure why this is on the list. From Wikipedia:
Dave Thompson, in a summary of the album for Allmusic, felt that it had staying power and that it was "perhaps the most widely adventurous album of what would become a wildly adventurous year"
2.5/5
TV On The Radio
4/5
Never heard of the group--really enjoyed it!
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Loved this when it came out....holds up very well
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
solid rock n roll album
Beck
3/5
better than I thought it would be
3.5/5
The Charlatans
3/5
5/5
so good
Machito
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Machito (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music.
2.5/5
John Lee Hooker
3/5
Don't really like Blues, but this was good!
Muddy Waters
3/5
I guess I kind of like Blues music
The Streets
2/5
2.5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Very blues-y. Not what I expected, but I liked it. 3.5/5
Spiritualized
2/5
2.5/5
Flamin' Groovies
2/5
2.5/5
The Pretty Things
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Based on a short story by singer Phil May, the album is structured as a song cycle, telling the story of the main character, Sebastian F. Sorrow, from birth through love, war, tragedy, madness, and the disillusionment of old age.
2.5/5
Boards of Canada
3/5
Very different--good background music
Ray Charles
2/5
Daft Punk
4/5
Bangin'
4.5/5
Prefab Sprout
3/5
Talking Heads
3/5
this was pretty good. Good background music.
3.5/5
The Cardigans
3/5
Radiohead
4/5
I guess I like Radiohead a lot more than I thought I did.
Supertramp
4/5
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album is considered to be one of the quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock and 1960s counterculture eras.
Shivkumar Sharma
4/5
From Wikipedia:
The instrumental album follows a day in the life of an Indian shepherd from Kashmir. It is one of the most successful Indian albums and one that became popular with an international audience. It was very important in introducing Indian music to Western ears and internationally the best selling Indian music record. George Harrison, David Crosby, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn are fans of the album
Not expecting to like this, but I thought it was very chill. Good background music.
Dusty Springfield
2/5
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
Good background music
3.5/5
Elbow
3/5
Another one of those groups I had not heard of before this....really liked this. 3.5/5
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
From Wikipedia:
It is considerably significant in hip hop, as it contributed to the revival of the East Coast hip hop scene
Super Furry Animals
2/5
2.5
The Sonics
2/5
From Wikipedia:
The album was very influential on later punk rock music due to its raw energy.
2.5/5
The White Stripes
4/5
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
3/5
Patti Smith
3/5
From Wikipedia
The music on Horses was informed by the minimalist aesthetic of the punk rock genre, then in its formative years. Smith and her band composed the album's songs using simple chord progressions, while also breaking from punk tradition in their propensity for improvisation and embrace of ideas from avant-garde and other musical styles.
3.5/5
Christine and the Queens
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Chris is the second studio album by French singer Christine and the Queens, released on 21 September 2018 in both English and French versions
In a track-by-track interview with Letissier, Pitchfork said the album "bounces from horny consumerism to melancholic machismo to stark vulnerability"
3.5/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
3.5/5
Lauryn Hill
4/5
From Wikipedia:
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill earned 10 nominations, winning five awards, making Hill the first woman to receive that many nominations and awards in one night.
Sade
3/5
Cocteau Twins
3/5
From wikipedia:
Treasure is the third studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins, released on 1 November 1984 by 4AD. With this album, the band settled on what would, from then on, be their primary lineup: vocalist Elizabeth Fraser, guitarist Robin Guthrie and bass guitarist Simon Raymonde. The album also reflected the group's embrace of the distinctive ethereal sound they became associated with
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
Never really liked Janis, but enjoyed the blues aspect of this album.
Tom Waits
1/5
From Wikipedia:
Swordfishtrombones is the eighth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released in 1983 on Island Records. It was the first album that Waits produced himself. Stylistically different from his previous albums, Swordfishtrombones moves away from conventional piano-based songwriting towards unusual instrumentation and a somewhat more abstract and experimental rock approach.
1.5/5
Al Green
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album's appeal was widespread among critics. At the time, Rolling Stone noted "Green's voice is something to marvel at. He can croon, shout, scat, rise to the smoothest falsetto, and throw in the funkiest growls ... Let's Stay Together is, like its predecessor, an indispensable treat"
I liked this--3.5/5
Good background music
Faith No More
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The Real Thing was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance category in 1989 and "Epic" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1991.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
From Wikipedia:
At the 2008 Grammy Awards, Back to Black won Best Pop Vocal Album and was also nominated for Album of the Year. At the same ceremony, Winehouse won four additional awards, tying her with five other artists as the second-most awarded female in a single ceremony.
3.5/5
David Gray
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album earned Gray a nomination in the United States at the 44th Grammy Awards for Best New Artist.
Gray believes that the success of White Ladder paved the way for "soul-baring" artists such as James Blunt, Ed Sheeran, George Ezra, James Bay and Tom Walker. In an interview with the Daily Star, he said: "Its success came from nowhere, and it changed how the business thought about what music should be. Since then, there have been lots of artists who've taken it on and done their own thing."
3.5/5
The Young Rascals
3/5
Janet Jackson
4/5
From Wikipedia:
Jackson insisted on creating a concept album addressing social issues. Collaborating with songwriters and record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she drew inspiration from various tragedies reported through news media, exploring racism, poverty, and substance abuse, in addition to themes of romance. Although its primary concept of a sociopolitical utopia was met with mixed reactions, its composition received critical acclaim. Jackson came to be considered a role model for youth because of her socially conscious lyrics.
It is the only album in the history of the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart to have seven commercial singles peak within the top five positions.
I forgot how good this album is
4.5/5
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
From Wikipedia:
Bookends is a concept album that explores a life journey from childhood to old age. Side one of the album marks successive stages in life, the theme serving as bookends to the life cycle. Side two largely consists of previously-released singles and of unused material for The Graduate soundtrack. Simon's lyrics concern youth, disillusionment, relationships, old age, and mortality.
4/5
Gang Starr
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Step in the Arena is the second studio album by hip hop duo Gang Starr, printed as a 1990 release, and commercially released on January 15, 1991. In 2007, it was named the greatest hip hop album of all time by IGN.com. HipHopDX called it "the album that cemented Gang Starr as a timeless tag team."
The Yardbirds
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 349 in 2003 and at number 350 in 2012 on its list of the \"500 greatest albums of all time\".
2.5/5
Deep Purple
2/5
2.5/5
Pavement
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album received critical acclaim and is seen as a landmark for indie rock, with Rolling Stone ranking it 199th on its 2020 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. As of 2007, the album had sold 150,000 copies.
it was fine.....
Robert Wyatt
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Pitchfork listed it as the 98th best album of the 1970s.[20] In 2015, NME ranked the album at 358 on its list of the 500 \"greatest albums of all time.\"[21]
Megadeth
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 33rd Grammy Awards. At the 1991 Foundations Forum, the album received a Concrete Foundations Award for "Top Radio Album" and the single "Hangar 18" won "Top Radio Cut" award.
Antony and the Johnsons
3/5
From Wikipedia:
I Am a Bird Now is the second album by New York City band Antony and the Johnsons. It won the Mercury Prize on September 6, 2005. After winning the prize, the album shot up the UK albums chart from #135 to #16 in one week, the biggest jump in the history of the Mercury Music Prize.
The lead singer has a haunting voice. This was very different. Kind of liked it.
MGMT
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Oracular Spectacular is the debut studio album by the American band MGMT, released on October 2, 2007, by RED Ink and physically on January 22, 2008, by Columbia.
The Smiths
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by English rock band The Smiths. Released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records, and on 23 June 1986 in the US by Sire Records. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked The Queen Is Dead 113th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In its 2013 list, the NME named The Queen Is Dead the greatest album of all time.
3.5/5
Fishbone
2/5
Truth and Soul is the second album by American funk-rock and ska band Fishbone. It was released on September 13, 1988. As is typical of the band's history of music the album features a wide array of genres including punk, ska, reggae, soul, funk, and blues. Additionally, Truth and Soul includes the band's earliest foray into hard rock and heavy metal music.
2.5/5
Black Sabbath
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Vol. 4 saw Black Sabbath beginning to experiment with the heavy sound they had become known for. In June 2013 Mojo declared, "If booze and dope had helped fuel Sabbath's earlier albums, Vol. 4 is their cocaine ... Despite their spiraling addictions, musically Vol. 4 is another ambitious outing
Beyoncé
4/5
From Wikipedia:
Beyoncé's songs are predominantly alternative R&B. Hence, musically, the album may be located in the post-dubstep era, fusing electronic music with R&B and soul. The album's dark, moody production is more textured than previous releases and songs are characterized by heavy bass and loud hi-hats, as well as prominent synthesizers. A quality of restraint features among most songs \"with subdued pulses, ambient effects and throbbing grooves that sneak up on you, threatening to explode but only occasionally transforming.\"
Animal Collective
3/5
3.5/5
Erykah Badu
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album contains the single \"Bag Lady\", Badu's first top 10 Billboard hit, which was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and for Best R&B Song. The song \"Didn't Cha Know?\" was also nominated for Best R&B Song.
The Incredible String Band
1/5
From Wikipedia:
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter is the third album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, The Incredible String Band (ISB), and was released in March 1968 on Elektra Records (see 1968 in music). It saw the band continuing its development of the elements of psychedelic folk and enlarging on past themes.
Not my bag 1.5/5
Neil Young
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album is the second of the so-called "Ditch Trilogy" of albums that Young recorded following the major success of 1972's Harvest, whereupon the scope of his success and acclaim became apparent; Young subsequently experienced alienation, and On the Beach was inspired by his feelings of retreat and melancholy stemming from it.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Quite the voice!
Isaac Hayes
2/5
From Wikipedia:
In 2014, the album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
The album mostly consists of instrumentals composed by Hayes as score for the film.
At the 1972 Grammy Awards, "Theme from Shaft" won the awards for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical and Best Instrumental Arrangement.
At the Academy Awards that year, Hayes became the first African-American to win an Oscar for a non-acting category when "Theme from Shaft" won the award for Best Original Song
2.5/5
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
From Wikipedia:
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears is the debut album by the Mamas and the Papas (written as The Mama's and the Papa's [sic]), released in 1966.
3.5/5
T. Rex
2/5
2.5/5
The Kinks
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Musically, Something Else features multiple different genres and stylistic influences, from the chamber pop of "Death of a Clown"[4] to the bossa nova of "No Return".[5] Departing from the hard-edged rock and roll of the group's earlier material, the album features mellower, acoustic baroque pop ballads,[6] English music hall, and "tempered" R&B.[7]
2.5/5
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Many tracks were covers of popular songs of the day characterized by the prominence of bongo drums, conga drums, rock drums and brass.
This was different.....2.5/5
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Nirvana
4/5
From Wikipedia:
It was the first Nirvana release after the suicide of singer Kurt Cobain seven months prior. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and was certified eight-times multiplatinum by the RIAA in 2020.[1] It won the Best Alternative Music Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards, Nirvana's only Grammy Award win, and has since been ranked one of the greatest live albums of all time.
4.5/5
Thin Lizzy
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Ultimately selling over half a million copies in the UK. It has continued to attract critical acclaim and it has appeared in several lists of the greatest live albums of all time
2.5/5
Louis Prima
2/5
From Wikipedia:
It is considered an innovative mixture of early rock and roll, jump blues and jazz as well as eccentric humor.
2.5/5
Queen
4/5
From Wikipedia:
it was reportedly the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release. Contemporary reviews for A Night at the Opera were mixed, with praise for its production and the diverse musical themes, and recognition as the album that established Queen as worldwide superstars. At the 19th Grammy Awards, it received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices. It has been hailed as Queen's best album, and one of the greatest albums in music history. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 128 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[2] In 2018, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Love Queen. Harmonies are simply amazing.
Depeche Mode
4/5
From Wikipedia:
Band members Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore both explained the album's title was conceived as a joke. Fletcher said, "The title's ... a bit tongue-in-cheek, really. Everyone is telling us we should make more commercial music, so that's the reason we chose that title."[4] According to Gore, the title "was a joke on the uncommerciality of [the album]. It was anything but music for the masses
LOVE Depeche Mode.... 4/5
The 13th Floor Elevators
2/5
Fro Wikipedia:
The Psychedelic Sounds of: The 13th Floor Elevators", which is purported to be the first use of the word "psychedelic" in reference to the music within.
2.5/5
The National
3/5
3.5/5
Janelle Monáe
3/5
From Wikipedia:
She explained her incorporation of the android as a metaphor for the minority, in addition to being the role of the story's protagonist. In an interview for Blues & Soul, Monáe said the character "represents the mediator between the haves and the have-nots, the minority and the majority. So in that way she's very similar to Neo, the Archangel from 'The Matrix'. And basically her return will mean freedom for the android community".
3.5/5
Tito Puente
2/5
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album is considered a classic of indie and alternative rock. In 2005, it was ranked number 31 in Spin's list of the 100 greatest albums from 1985 through to 2005.
Marilyn Manson
3/5
From Wikipedia:
A rock opera and a concept album, Antichrist Superstar was the first installment in a trilogy which included succeeding releases Mechanical Animals (1998) and Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000). The central storyline on the album revolved around a supernatural being who seizes all power from humanity in order to initiate an apocalyptic end event; a populist demagogue who is driven solely by resentment, misanthropy, and despair, he uses his newfound position to destroy the world. The record can be seen as a social critique, utilizing this premise as a metaphor for the perceived fascist elements of the conservative political movement and the Christian right in North America.
It's very angry music, but I see the appeal.
Doves
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The Last Broadcast was met with critical praise. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 85, based on 20 reviews. NME awarded the album 9 out of 10 stars, calling the album "the most uplifting miserable album you'll hear all year."
3.5/5
2/5
2.5/5
Nirvana
4/5
From Wikipedia:
According to frontman Kurt Cobain, the sound of Nevermind was influenced by bands such as the Pixies, R.E.M., the Smithereens, and the Melvins. While Nevermind is considered a cornerstone of the grunge genre, the album is noted for its musical diversity, which includes acoustic ballads ("Polly"; "Something in the Way") and punk-inspired hard rock ("Territorial Pissings"; "Stay Away").
Nevermind is often credited with initiating a resurgence of interest in punk culture among teenagers and young adults of Generation X.[6] The album is also widely credited with bringing grunge and alternative rock to a mainstream audience while ending the dominance of hair metal.[7] It has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
4.5/5
UB40
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Signing Off featured a mix of reggae and dub material which was lyrically politically charged and socially conscious, while musically it was reverb-heavy, doom-laden yet mellifluous, best exemplified in the hits "King" and "Food For Thought" as well as the searing "Burden of Shame".
"Tyler" was written about the young black American Gary Tyler, who at the age of 17 was convicted by an all-white judge and jury of murdering a 13-year-old white boy, despite serious irregularities in the prosecution case and the lack of a murder weapon ever being found. UB40 intended "Tyler" to be their first single in the United States. The band revisited the subject on the song "Rainbow Nation" on their 2008 album TwentyFourSeven.
"King" was about the late Martin Luther King Jr., questioning the lost direction of the slain leader's followers and the state of mourning of a nation after his death.
"Burden of Shame" recounted the misdeeds performed in the name of British Imperialism.
"Food for Thought" was an attempt to publicise and condemn the famine in north Africa, comparing it with the Western over-indulgent celebration of Christmas, nearly five years before Band Aid brought the subject to widespread attention. Subsequently, it was also a prominent feature of UB40's 2005 Live 8 appearance in Hyde Park, London, 25 years after the song had been first released. Bob Lamb later revealed that the song's original working title had been "The Christmas Song" until one of the band's roadies suggested "Food for Thought" would be a better title.[10]
"Little by Little" highlighted the growing inequality between the rich and the poor.
"Madam Medusa" was a vivid description of Margaret Thatcher's rise to power depicted in a grotesque style, featuring some of the band's most impassioned and bitter lyrics.
2.5/5
The Auteurs
3/5
Lead singer reminds me of Death Cab for Cutie
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
Never heard them before---pretty good!
The Temptations
3/5
From Wikipedia:
The album is a watershed for several reasons. It is the first regular Temptations studio LP to feature Dennis Edwards as the replacement for David Ruffin, who was fired in June 1968. In addition, it marks the beginning of the Temptations' four-year delve into psychedelia recording, at the behest of producer Norman Whitfield, in a fusion genre referred to as "psychedelic soul." The album went to number four on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart and the group received their first Grammy Award in 1969.
3/5
Miles Davis
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Marking the beginning of his "electric" period, In a Silent Way has been regarded by music writers as Davis's first fusion recording, following a stylistic shift toward the genre in his previous records and live performances.
Upon its release, the album was met by controversy among music critics, particularly those of jazz and rock music, who were divided in their reaction to its experimental musical structure and Davis's electric approach. Since its initial reception, it has been regarded by fans and critics as one of Davis's greatest and most influential works. In 2001, Columbia Legacy and Sony Music released the three-disc box set The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions, which includes additional tracks.[4]
It's fine. I don't really like Jazz. 2/5
Butthole Surfers
2/5
This was........different. Maybe my favorite album title so far though.
The Monks
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Black Monk Time is the only studio album by German-based American rock band The Monks. It was released in March 1966 through Polydor Records and was the only album released during the band's original incarnation. The album's subversive style and lyrical content was radical for its time and today is considered an important landmark in the development of punk rock.
2.5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Aftermath is considered by music scholars to be an artistic breakthrough for the Rolling Stones. It is their first album to consist entirely of original compositions, all of which were credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Influenced by intense love affairs and a demanding touring itinerary, Jagger and Richards wrote the album around psychodramatic themes of love, sex, desire, power and dominance, hate, obsession, modern society and rock stardom. Women feature as prominent characters in their often dark, sarcastic, casually offensive lyrics.
3.5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Exile on Main St. has been ranked on various lists as one of the greatest albums of all time.[41] According to Acclaimed Music, it is the tenth-best-ranked record on critics' all-time lists.[42] In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Exile on Main St the 42nd-greatest album of all time,[43] while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 3 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.[44] In 1987 it was ranked third on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the best 100 albums of the period 1967–1987.[45] In 1993, Entertainment Weekly named it number 1 on their list of "100 Greatest CDs".[46] In 2003, Pitchfork ranked it number 11 on their Top 100 Albums of the 1970s.[47] In 2001, the TV network VH1 placed it at number 12 on their greatest albums list.
Very blues-y 3.5/5
Talking Heads
3/5
From Wikipedia
Talking Heads: 77 is the debut studio album by American rock band Talking Heads.
3.5/5
Lana Del Rey
3/5
3.5/5
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Her voice really reminds me of some of the old Schoolhouse Rock.
3/5
Tim Buckley
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Greetings from L.A. is the seventh album by singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, released in August 1972. It was recorded at Far Out Studios in Hollywood, California. Like most of his other albums, Greetings from L.A. did not sell well, although this is probably his best seller (there at least 2 different US pressings: the first with removable postcard and dark green WB label, the second had no perforations for the postcard and had the Burbank WB label), getting substantial airplay in the Twin Cities on the Minneapolis FM station KQRS and selling very well at the independent record shops in Minneapolis-St. Paul and elsewhere (Detroit, New York, etc.) until it was deleted by Warner Brothers (whereupon Greetings continued to sell as a UK/European import into the '80's).
2.5/5
Frank Zappa
2/5
From Wikipedia:
This was the first Frank Zappa album recorded on 16-track equipment and one of the first albums to use this technology. Machines with 16 individual tracks allow for much more flexibility in multi-tracking and overdubbing than the professional 4 and 8-track reel-to-reel tape recorders that were standard in 1969.
Zappa composed, arranged and produced the album himself. His primary instrument on the album is lead guitar. \"Willie the Pimp\", \"Son of Mr. Green Genes\", and \"The Gumbo Variations\" are showcases for his powerful and unconventional solo guitar performances. Four of the tracks have intricately arranged charts featuring multiple overdubs by Ian Underwood. Underwood plays the parts of approximately eight to ten musicians, often simultaneously. His work includes complicated sections of piano and organ, as well as multiple flutes, clarinets and saxophones.
2.5/5
Thundercat
3/5
3/5
Though Martin Fry has declined to label it a concept album,[2] the album features repeated themes in which the singer experiences heartache as he tries and fails to have a meaningful relationship. A longform music video/film, Mantrap, featuring songs from the album was released in 1983.
3.5/5
Van Halen
3/5
Deee-Lite
3/5
3.5/5
Blondie
3/5
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
From Wikipedia:
Raising Hell is the third album by hip hop group Run-D.M.C. released on May 27, 1986 by Profile Records. The album was produced by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. Raising Hell became the first Platinum and multi-Platinum hip hop record.
Raising Hell has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 1987, it was nominated for a Grammy Award, making Run DMC the first hip hop act to receive a nomination.[7][8] In the same year for this album Run-D.M.C. was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Rap Album at the 1987 Soul Train Music Awards. In 2018, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant".[9] The album was reissued by Arista Records in 1999 and 2003. An expanded and remastered edition was released in 2005 and contained 5 previously unreleased songs.
Selling more than three million copies, Raising Hell is credited with heralding the golden age of hip hop as well as hip hop's album era, helping the genre achieve an unprecedented level of recognition among critics.
Hard to rate this without the nostalgia of high school. Still love it! 4.5/5
Jacques Brel
2/5
2/5
Jane's Addiction
4/5
This was a lot better than I thought it would be. Really liked most of the album!
Brian Wilson
3/5
From Wikipedia:
It features all-new recordings of music that he had originally created for Smile, an unfinished album by the Beach Boys that he abandoned in 1967. Revisiting Smile was an intense emotional undertaking for Wilson, as he had been deeply traumatized by the circumstances that had originally surrounded the project.
3.5/5
The Undertones
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Numerous polls conducted since 1979 have placed The Undertones as one of the greatest albums to be released in the 1970s and one of the Top 40 punk/new wave albums of all time,[22] with the single "Teenage Kicks" being listed by BBC Radio 2 as the 51st best song ever released.
Arcade Fire
3/5
It won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards, Best International Album at the 2011 BRIT Awards, Album of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards, and the 2011 Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album.
3.5/5
2/5
The Magnetic Fields
2/5
From Wikipedia
69 Love Songs is the sixth studio album by American indie pop band the Magnetic Fields, released on September 7, 1999 by Merge Records. As its title indicates, 69 Love Songs is a three-volume concept album composed of 69 love songs, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt.
This was......interesting. 2.5/5
Buck Owens
2/5
The album was an example of Bakersfield sound, country music developed in the mid to late 1950s around Bakersfield, California, and influenced both by rock and what was called hillbilly music.
I definitely like older country more than contemporary country....but still not my favorite.
Eagles
4/5
From Wikipedia:
Eagles is the debut studio album by American rock band the Eagles. The album was recorded at London's Olympic Studios with producer Glyn Johns and released in 1972. The album was an immediate success for the young band, reaching No. 22 on the charts and going platinum. Three singles were released from the album, each reaching the Top 40: "Take It Easy" (number 12), "Witchy Woman" (number 9), and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" (number 22). The band, starting with this album, played a major role in popularizing the country rock sound.
One of my favorite groups.
Sonic Youth
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Although it lacked significant radio airplay, its lead single "Kool Thing", a collaborative effort with Public Enemy's Chuck D, reached number seven on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Since then, Goo has been viewed as one of alternative rock's most important albums, and is considered musically and artistically significant.
2.5/5
Joy Division
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Unknown Pleasures is the debut studio album by English rock band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979 by Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, and was produced by Martin Hannett, who incorporated a number of unconventional production techniques into the group's sound. The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville, using a data plot of signals from a radio pulsar. It is the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.
Members of Joy Division went on to form New Order.
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
Turn to Stone and Sweet Talkin' woman are two of my favorites but there are some other very good songs!
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Jarre recorded the album in a makeshift home recording studio using a variety of analogue synthesizers and one digital synthesizer, as well as other electronic instruments and effects. It became a bestseller and was Jarre's first album to achieve mainstream success. It was highly influential in the development of electronic music from that point onward and has been described as the album that "led the synthesizer revolution of the Seventies" and "an infectious combination of bouncy, bubbling analog sequences and memorable hook lines"
Sarah Vaughan
2/5
From Wikipedia:
At Mister Kelly's is a 1957 live album by American jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, recorded at Mister Kelly's jazz club in Chicago.
Great voice, just not that into jazz. 2.5/5
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
From Wikipedia:
The album became the duo's first to peak at number one in the UK, achieving this peak in April 1997. Five singles were released from the album, two of which reached number one in the UK: "Setting Sun", "Where Do I Begin", "Block Rockin' Beats", "Elektrobank", and "The Private Psychedelic Reel". The album has been included in several British magazines' lists of the best albums ever. The success of the album led The Chemical Brothers to be much sought-after remixers, and the duo released a mix album in 1998 titled Brothers Gonna Work It Out.
Bangin' 4/5
Elvis Costello
3/5
From Wikipedia:
At the time performing as D.P. Costello, Riviera changed his name to Elvis after Elvis Presley, and adjusted his image to match the then-rising punk rock movement. The music itself on My Aim Is True is influenced by a wide variety of genres, from punk, new wave and British pub rock to elements of 1950s rock and roll, R&B and rockabilly. The more downbeat lyrics are motivated by revenge and guilt, reflecting topics from relationship struggles to politically charged and misogynistic ideals. The original monochrome cover art, showing Costello in a pigeon-toed stance, was later colourised for reissues.
The Fall
2/5
In 2002, This Nation's Saving Grace was listed by Pitchfork as the 13th best album of the 1980s.[15] It was ranked at number 46 on Spin's list of the 100 greatest albums from 1985 to 2005.[16] Slant Magazine placed the record at number 93 on its 2012 list of the best albums of the 1980s.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
From Wikipedia:
Contemporary reviews praised the album, which was a turning point for the band. Nevertheless, The Velvet Underground failed to chart, again suffering from a lack of promotion by the band's record label.
2.5/5
Steely Dan
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Pretzel Logic was praised by contemporary critics.[11] Bud Scoppa from Rolling Stone magazine found the album's "wonderfully fluid ensemble sound" unprecedented in popular music and said that the ambiguous lyrics "create an emotionally charged atmosphere, and the best are quite affecting."[5] Down Beat asserted that "there are no better rock recording groups in America, and damn few worldwide."[6] Christgau found the record innovative, writing in Creem: "The music can be called jazzy without implying an insult, and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are the real world's answer to Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia."[25] In a mixed review, Noel Coppage of Stereo Review was impressed by the music, but said that "the lyrics baffle me; maybe they know what they're talking about, but I can't get a clue."[26]
Good background music.
3.5/5
Garbage
3/5
From Wikipedia:
Garbage is the debut studio album by American rock band Garbage. It was released on August 15, 1995, by Almo Sounds. The album was met with critical acclaim upon its release, being viewed by some as an innovative recording for its time.
"Stupid Girl", which received Grammy Award nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group in 1997.
3.5/5
Fred Neil
2/5
Fred Neil is the second album from Fred Neil, a pioneer folk rock musician, recorded and released in 1966. The album has a more laid-back sound than his debut, and contains his best-known songs; \"Everybody's Talkin' \" and \"The Dolphins\". It was re-released in 1969 under the title Everybody's Talkin' in response to the international success of the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy, which made a hit of the new title track for Harry Nilsson.[2] Music journalist Richie Unterberger characterizes the album as Neil's \"best\",[3] and it was listed in the first (2005) edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, edited by Robert Dimery.
Silver Jews
2/5
The Guardian wrote: "Fusing gorgeous, tear-sodden country melodies with lyrics that inspire love and anxiety in equal measure, Bright Flight poetically captures a drunken night spent contemplating suicide while staring at the Nashville skyline.
Keith Jarrett
3/5
The Köln Concert is a live recording of solo piano improvisations performed by Keith Jarrett at the Opera House in Cologne (German: Köln) on January 24, 1975.[8] The double-vinyl album was released in 1975 by ECM.[9] It became the best-selling solo album in jazz history and the best-selling piano album[10] with sales of around 4 million.[11] According to music critic Tom Hull, the album "cemented his reputation as the top pianist of his generation"
Interesting piece on Wikipedia about how the piano he used was a substandard one, and that he almost didn't play as a result.
Normally not my thing, but I kind of liked it!
Adele
4/5
From Wikipedia:
25 is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 20 November 2015 by XL Recordings and Columbia Records. The album is titled as a reflection of her life and frame of mind at 25 years old and is termed a "make-up record". Its lyrical content features themes of Adele "yearning for her old self, her nostalgia", and "melancholia about the passage of time" according to an interview with the singer by Rolling Stone, as well as themes of motherhood and regret.
25 won the 2016 Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and the 2017 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
4.5/5
Tricky
3/5
Maxinquaye is the debut album by English rapper and producer Tricky, released on 20 February 1995 by 4th & B'way Records. In the years leading up to the album, Tricky had grown frustrated with his limited role in the musical group Massive Attack and wanted to pursue an independent project.
Maxinquaye was cited by many journalists as the year's best record and the key release of the burgeoning trip hop genre.
Pentangle
2/5
Basket of Light is a 1969 album by the folk rock group Pentangle. It reached no. 5 on the UK Albums Chart. A single from the album, \"Light Flight\", the theme from BBC1's first colour drama series Take Three Girls, reached no. 43 on the UK Singles Chart.
Kate Bush
3/5
In 1990, Bush received two nominations at the 10th Brit Awards in the categories Best British Producer and Best British Female.[16] At the 33rd Grammy Awards held the following year, The Sensual World was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance.[17]
Slant Magazine ranked The Sensual World at No. 55 on its 2012 list of the best albums of the 1980s, writing, "Blessed with one of music's most wildly expressive voices, Bush takes each song further than she has to, resulting in an album that forms its own unique world.
3.5/5
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
In 1999, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and was ranked number 38 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2020.
3.5/5
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
Sunday at the Village Vanguard was drawn from material recorded on June 25, 1961, at the Village Vanguard in New York City. The trio played five sets -two in the afternoon and three in the evening- each one comprising four or five numbers and lasting about half an hour.[4] This was the last performance by the Bill Evans Trio with bassist Scott LaFaro, who was killed in a car accident eleven days after the recording.
Liked this more than I thought (it being Jazz and all).
The Stranglers
2/5
Rattus Norvegicus was ranked at No. 10 among the top albums of the year for 1977 by NME, with "Peaches" ranked at No. 18 among the year's top tracks.[24] NME later ranked it at No. 196 on its 2014 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[25] In 2000, Rattus Norvegicus was voted number 766 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[26] It was also included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[27]
During promotion of The Head on the Door in 1985, Robert Smith of the Cure cited Rattus Norvegicus as one of his five favourite albums.
2.5/5
Dead Kennedys
1/5
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Dead Kennedys.
This reinforced my dislike of punk music, but I see the appeal. 1.5/5
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
Freak Out! is the debut studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on June 27, 1966, by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture and the nascent freak scene of Los Angeles. It was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music, as well as the first two-record debut album.
Jane Weaver
3/5
From an online review (no Wiki page):
The prosaic reason for her success might simply be that she’s by some distance the best songwriter of the latter-day psych revivalists. Her writing is richly melodic, taut and fat-free. Ten songs whizz by in under 45 minutes, their topics ranging from the distinctly far out – occult goings-on in haunted mansions, spacey invitations to “change your world” – to the noticeably more earthbound: The Lightning Back sounds suspiciously like it’s about the necessity for parents to occasionally indulge in child-free “us time”. Not even the track that comes complete with Can’s original vocalist Malcolm Mooney delivering a pretty fruity-sounding spoken-word voiceover about the transitory nature of human existence feels self-indulgent, which takes some doing.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
The album performed well commercially and became the band's first number-one album in the United States, Canada, and Portugal. At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and \"Tonite\" won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.
3.5/5
Mylo
3/5
Destroy Rock & Roll is the first album by Scottish record producer and DJ Mylo (real name Myles MacInnes), released in 2004.
The album samples many 1970s and 1980s soft rock songs that Mylo heard on the radio as a child. The single \"In My Arms\" combines hits by Kim Carnes and Boy Meets Girl. The title track samples a fundamentalist Christian sermon, while \"Drop the Pressure\" is based around a vocal recording made by Mylo himself and edited with a vocoder.
Biased, since this is EDM, but I liked this a lot. Good background music.
3.5/5
Missy Elliott
4/5
Under Construction is the fourth studio album by American rapper Missy Elliott, released by The Goldmind Inc. and Elektra Records on November 12, 2002 in the United States. The album was primarily produced by Timbaland, with additional production from Craig Brockman, Nisan Stewart, Errol "Poppi" McCalla and Elliott herself.
The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 359,000 copies in its first week.[4] The album was also certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[5] The album received Grammy Award nominations for Best Rap Album and Album of the Year.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Since its release, Loveless has been widely cited by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time, a landmark work of the shoegaze subgenre, and as a significant influence on various subsequent artists.
A Nod's As Good As a Wink... to a Blind Horse is the third album by British rock group Faces, and their second album of 1971. Bolstered somewhat by lead singer Rod Stewart's recent solo success with "Maggie May", it was their most successful album worldwide, peaking at No. 6 in the US,[2] and reaching No. 2 in the UK. It also contains their biggest US hit, the swaggering "Stay with Me" (No. 6 in the UK, No. 17 in the US), and the album itself would be certified gold by the RIAA in 1972.
The album is generally regarded by critics and fans[citation needed] as the Faces' definitive statement; the most consistent, balanced album of the group's career in terms of songwriting and of mood.
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
Nick of Time is the tenth studio album by the American singer Bonnie Raitt, released on March 21, 1989. It was Raitt's first album to be released by Capitol Records. A commercial breakthrough after years of personal and professional struggles, Nick of Time topped the Billboard 200 chart, selling five million copies, and won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, which was presented to Raitt and producer Don Was. In 2003, the album was ranked number 229 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,[1] then was re-ranked at number 230 on the 2012 list. As of September 2020, it is ranked at number 492. [2] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2022, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
For a country album, it wasn't terrible. 2.5/5
Michael Jackson
4/5
Off the Wall is widely considered by critics and publications as one of the greatest albums of all time. Although it was not as commercially successful as Bad, Dangerous and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, the album is often debated by critics between itself and Thriller as Jackson's best.[52][53] According to some music journalists, it epitomized the peak of the disco era, being part of a group of landmark disco albums including Donna Summer's Bad Girls (1979) and Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever (1977)
This was the first album I owned.....4/5
Steve Winwood
3/5
Arc of a Diver is the second solo studio album by singer/multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood. Released in 1980, Winwood played all of the instruments on the album.
Featuring his first solo hit, "While You See a Chance" (which peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States), this was Winwood's breakthrough album as a solo artist. It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart, establishing him as a commercially viable act.
The cover artwork for the album is by Tony Wright. He took inspiration from Jazz by Henri Matisse, notably VIII: Icarus.
3.5/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Having until then recorded mostly acoustic music, Dylan used rock musicians as his backing band on every track of the album, except for the closing track, the 11-minute ballad "Desolation Row". Critics have focused on the innovative way Dylan combined driving, blues-based music with the subtlety of poetry to create songs that captured the political and cultural chaos of contemporary America. Author Michael Gray has argued that, in an important sense, the 1960s "started" with this album.[2]
Leading with the hit song "Like a Rolling Stone", the album features songs that Dylan has continued to perform live over his long career, including "Ballad of a Thin Man" and the title track. He named the album after the major American highway which connected his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, to southern cities famed for their musical heritage, including St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, and the Delta blues area of Mississippi.
Highway 61 Revisited peaked at No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 and No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart. Positively received on release, the album has since been described as one of Dylan's best works and among the greatest albums of all time, ranking No. 4 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It was voted No. 26 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000) and was featured in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2010). "Like a Rolling Stone" was a top-10 hit in several countries, and was listed at No. 1 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Two other songs, "Desolation Row" and "Highway 61 Revisited", were listed at No. 187 and No. 373 respectively.
Like I said with other Dylan albums--I guess I like Dylan. 3.5/5
Elton John
4/5
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, first released on 5 October 1973 as a double LP. The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide[2] and is widely regarded as John's magnum opus. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", US number-one single "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" plus live favourites "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Harmony".
It was recorded at the Studio d'enregistrement Michel Magne at the Château d'Hérouville in France after problems recording at the intended location in Jamaica. The move provided John and his band with a great deal of creative inspiration and an abundance of quality material was produced, leading to the decision to release the work as a double album (LP).[3]
In 2020, the album was ranked number 112 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[4] It was also ranked number 59 in Channel 4's 2009 list of 100 Greatest Albums.[5]
The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003[6] when it was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[7]
4/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Bayou Country contains what is arguably John Fogerty's most heralded composition, "Proud Mary", which peaked at No. 2 on the singles chart. In a 1969 interview, Fogerty said that he wrote it in the two days after he was discharged from the National Guard.[4] In the liner notes for the 2008 expanded reissue of Bayou Country, Joel Selvin explained that the riffs for "Proud Mary", "Born on the Bayou", and "Keep on Chooglin'" were conceived by Fogerty at a concert in the Avalon Ballroom, and "Proud Mary" was arranged from parts of different songs, one of which was about a "washerwoman named Mary".[5] The line "Left a good job in the city" was written following Fogerty's discharge from the National Guard, and the line "rollin' on the river" was from a movie by Will Rogers.[6]
The War On Drugs
4/5
Lost in the Dream is the third studio album by American indie rock band The War on Drugs, released on March 18, 2014 through Secretly Canadian. The recording session, which took place over a two-year period, was characterized by numerous rewrites. The album's lyrical themes were influenced by the loneliness and depression Granduciel faced after he finished touring. Musically, the record was inspired by 1980s rock, as well as Americana, with influences coming from Bruce Springsteen, Spacemen 3 and Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
The album debuted at number 26 on the Billboard 200 and received universal acclaim from critics upon its release, appearing on and topping numerous end-of-year lists of the best albums.
I liked this a lot. Good background music
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
2/5
Will the Circle be Unbroken is the seventh album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, with collaboration from many famous bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, "Mother" Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Merle Travis, Pete "Oswald" Kirby, Norman Blake, Jimmy Martin, and others. It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements to a wider audience.
This was more bluegrass than country, so not terrible. 2.5/5
Rush
3/5
2112 was released to favourable reviews from music critics and quickly outsold the band's previous albums. It peaked at No. 5 on the Canadian Albums Chart and No. 61 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape and was the band's commercial breakthrough in the country. Rush supported the album with a tour of the United States, Canada, and for the first time, Europe, from February 1976 to June 1977.
3.5/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Darklands is the second studio album by Scottish alternative rock band the Jesus and Mary Chain, released on 31 August 1987 by Blanco y Negro Records. The album is the band's first to use drum machines, replacing live drummer Bobby Gillespie, who had left to pursue a career as the frontman with Primal Scream. Lead vocals are performed by Jim Reid, with the exception of "Darklands", "Nine Million Rainy Days" and "On the Wall", which are sung by William Reid.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is the debut studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on April 10, 1990[1] on Jive Records. The album's laid back production encompassed a diverse range of samples which functioned as a template for the group's unorthodox lyrics.
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was met with acclaim from professional music critics and the hip hop community on release, and was eventually certified gold in the United States. Its recognition has extended over the years as it is widely regarded as a central album in alternative hip hop with its unconventional production and lyricism. It is also credited for influencing many artists in both hip hop and R&B. In a commemorative article for XXL, Michael Blair wrote that "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was immensely groundbreaking, and will eternally maintain its relevance within the culture and construction of hip-hop".
I may have rated this higher if I didn't love The Low End of Theory so much (so had high expectations for this)--still liked it a lot--3.5/5-4/5
Elvis Presley
2/5
Elvis Is Back! is the fourth studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor on April 8, 1960. It was Presley's first album issued in stereophonic sound. Recorded over two sessions in March and April, the album marked Presley's return to recording after his discharge from the U.S. Army. It was Presley's first album of new material since Elvis' Christmas Album was issued in 1957.
It's Elvis, so.......
Adele
4/5
21 is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele. It was released on 24 January 2011[1] in Europe by XL Recordings and on 22 February 2011 in North America by Columbia Records. The album was named after the age of the singer during its production. 21 shares the Motown/soul influences of her 2008 debut album 19, but also draws influence from the American country and Southern blues music that Adele started listening to during the North American leg of her tour An Evening with Adele. Composed in the aftermath of the singer's separation from her then partner, the album explores themes of heartbreak, healing, introspection, and forgiveness.
Nirvana
3/5
In Utero is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana, released on September 13, 1993, by DGC Records. After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, Nevermind (1991), Nirvana hired Steve Albini to record In Utero, seeking a more complex, abrasive sound.
In Utero was a major commercial and critical success. Critics praised the change in sound and Cobain's lyrics. It reached number one on the US Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart; "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" reached number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. The album is certified five-times platinum and has sold 15 million copies.
3.5/5
Norah Jones
3/5
Come Away with Me is the debut studio album by American recording artist Norah Jones, released on February 26, 2002, by Blue Note Records. Recording sessions took place at Sorcerer Sound Studio in New York City and Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York.[1]
Come Away with Me peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200, and received Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.[2] It was later certified Diamond by the RIAA on February 15, 2005, for shipments of over ten million copies in the United States,[3][4] and has sold over 27 million copies worldwide as of 2016, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
What a voice!
3.5/5
Anthrax
2/5
Among the Living is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Anthrax. It was released on March 22, 1987, by Megaforce Records in the US and by Island Records in the rest of the world. The album is dedicated to Cliff Burton of Metallica, who died in a bus accident six months before its release while on tour with Anthrax as the opening act.
Veteran engineer Eddie Kramer, at his first venture with a thrash metal act, co-produced the album. Recording proceeded smoothly and the band was enthusiastic, but different visions for the sound of the final release created contrasts between Anthrax and the producer during the mixing at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas. Ultimately, Anthrax succeeded in maintaining the aggressive dry sound and fast rhythms of the original recordings, enriched by often-humorous lyrics dealing with disparate subjects.
Anthrax members often described the album as their major breakthrough, as it catapulted the band from being a small club attraction to arena and stadium stars. Critics acclaimed the album and promoted the band among the Big Four of Thrash Metal elite. The band's second Gold record, Among the Living was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 31, 1990.
2/5
Beach House
3/5
Teen Dream is the third studio album by American dream pop duo Beach House. It was released on January 27, 2010 as the band's debut album on the record label Sub Pop. Internationally, the album was released by Bella Union in Europe, Mistletone Records in Australia, and Arts & Crafts in Mexico. The album was produced by the band and Chris Coady.
The album received universal acclaim from music critics, who hailed it as one of the best albums of 2010. NME included it in their 2013 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[1] The album was also included in the 2014 edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[2] In October 2019, Pitchfork ranked it in the 21st position among the best albums of the 2010s.
Guided By Voices
2/5
Alien Lanes is the eighth full-length album by American lo-fi band Guided by Voices, released on April 4, 1995.[4]
The album was GBV's first release with Matador Records. According to James Greer's book Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll the advance for the record was close to a hundred thousand dollars, one of the more expensive deals in Matador's history. In contrast to the lucrative deal, Greer mentions that "The cost for recording Alien Lanes, if you leave out the beer, was about ten dollars."
Arcade Fire
3/5
Funeral is the debut studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on September 14, 2004 by Merge Records. Preliminary recordings for Funeral were made during the course of a week in August 2003 at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec, and the recording was completed later that year all in an analogue recording format.
The album produced five singles, with "Rebellion (Lies)" being the most successful, having peaked at #19 on the UK Singles Chart. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Alternative Music Album. It received widespread critical acclaim and topped many year-end and decade-end lists. According to the website Metacritic, the album had the second most appearances on end-of-decade Top 10 lists, only behind Radiohead's Kid A.[5] In the 2020 updated version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, it was ranked at number 500.
3.5/5
good background music
Cheap Trick
3/5
Cheap Trick at Budokan is a live album released by Cheap Trick in 1978 and their best-selling recording. After several years of constant touring but only middling exposure for the band, At Budokan steadily grew off radio play and word-of-mouth to become a high-selling success, kickstarting the band's popularity and becoming acclaimed as one of the greatest live rock albums of all time and a classic of the power pop genre.
It was ranked number 426 in the 2003 edition of Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[4] In 2020, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5]
Shuggie Otis
3/5
Inspiration Information was Otis' debut project as both an adult and a producer, having been a teenager backed on his two previous solo efforts by his father, R&B pioneer Johnny Otis. His relationship with Epic came under heavy scrutiny as he would take three years to finish Inspiration and fulfill his three-album contract; this would be the final release of Otis on the Epic label.
The utilization of analog drum machines gave Inspiration a newer electric sound that at the time was being used by only a handful of Otis' contemporaries, notably by Sly Stone. The Guardian called the album "an intoxicating blend of psychedelic soul and folky introspection, marked by a prescient use of electronics."[5] Pitchfork describes the sound of the album as a combination of "smooth, organ-driven California funk, quasi-new age psychedelia, loungey jazz instrumentals, [and] string interludes—all propelled by the same kind of analog drum machine that had piqued Ralf & Florian's interest at the same time."
The album commercially underperformed Epic's expectations and Otis was dropped from the label following its release. However, it garnered Otis comparisons to Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and reportedly impressed Sly Stone.[7]
3/5
Kelela
3/5
Take Me Apart is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Kelela. It was released on October 6, 2017, through Warp.[1] Combining electronic music and R&B, the album was noted for its futuristic sound and its incorporation of various musical styles.
3.5/5
Good background music
Julian Cope
2/5
On the album’s songs, Cope laid bare many of his personal convictions including his hatred of organized religion and his increasing public interest in women's rights, the occult, alternative spirituality (including paganism and Goddess worship), animal rights, and ecology.[7] He had referred in passing to these beliefs in previous songs, but never so directly. The album was written in the aftermath of the British anti-poll tax riots in 1990. Cope had taken part in the protest, and several songs on the album refer directly to its events.[4] Cope's forthright new political stance was reflected in the song "Leperskin", which refers to the contemporary British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (who resigned between the recording of Peggy Suicide and its release) as an "apostolic hag". For one particular track, the anti-police tirade "Soldier Blue", Cope sampled Lenny Bruce's live album The Berkeley Concert and mixed in samples of the Poll Tax Riot.
When released in 1991, the album featured extensive sleevenotes in which Cope explained the meaning of each song and stated that the entire album was a meditation on humanity's relationship to Mother Earth.[4] Many songs were given very idiosyncratic interpretations, such as Cope's account of "You" which asserts that the Conscious Mind "acts like a cross between Tony Wilson and Bill Drummond but looks a lot like Lew Grade. The Unconscious mind...looks like Iggy Pop playing Syd Barrett."[8]
this was.....different. I liked the second disc much more as it had en electronic feel to it.
The Cars
4/5
The Cars is the debut studio album by American rock band the Cars, released on June 6, 1978, by Elektra Records. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the album spawned the singles "Just What I Needed", "My Best Friend's Girl", and "Good Times Roll". It peaked at number 18 on the US Billboard 200 and has been certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
4.5/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Californication is the seventh studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was released on June 8, 1999, on Warner Bros. Records and was produced by Rick Rubin. Californication marked the return of John Frusciante, who had previously appeared on Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to replace Dave Navarro as the band's guitarist. Frusciante's return was credited with changing the band's sound altogether, producing a notable shift in style from the music recorded with Navarro. The album's subject material incorporated various sexual innuendos commonly associated with the band, but also contained more varied themes than previous outings, including death, contemplations of suicide, California, drugs, globalization, and travel.
Californication is the Chili Peppers' most commercially successful studio release internationally, with over 15 million copies sold worldwide,[3] and more than 6 million in the United States alone.[4] As of 2002, the album had sold over 4 million copies in Europe.[5] The record produced several hits for the band, including "Otherside", "Californication" and the Grammy Award-winning "Scar Tissue". Californication peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200.
The record marked a significant change in style for the band: Rolling Stone's Greg Tate noted that "while all previous Chili Peppers projects have been highly spirited, Californication dares to be spiritual and epiphanic".[6] Another critic, Billboard's Paul Verna, mentioned that the album brought out "the group's softer, melodic side", as opposed to their previous six albums.[7]
4/5
The Who
4/5
Who's Next is the fifth studio album by English rock band the Who. It developed from the aborted Lifehouse project, a multi-media rock opera conceived by the group's guitarist Pete Townshend as a follow-up to the band's 1969 album Tommy. The project was cancelled owing to its complexity and to conflicts with Kit Lambert, the band's manager, but the group salvaged some of the songs, without the connecting story elements, to release as their next album. Eight of the nine songs on Who's Next were from Lifehouse, the lone exception being the John Entwistle-penned \"My Wife\". Ultimately, the remaining Lifehouse tracks would all be released on other albums throughout the next decade.
The Who recorded Who's Next with assistance from recording engineer Glyn Johns. After producing the song \"Won't Get Fooled Again\" in the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, they relocated to Olympic Studios to record and mix most of the album's remaining songs. They made prominent use of synthesizer on the album, particularly on \"Won't Get Fooled Again\" and \"Baba O'Riley\", which were both released as singles. The cover photo was shot by Ethan Russell; it made reference to the monolith in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as it featured group members standing by a concrete piling protruding from a slag heap in Easington Colliery, County Durham, apparently having urinated against it.
The album was an immediate success when it was released on 14 August 1971.[7] It has since been viewed by many critics as the Who's best album and one of the greatest albums of all time. It was reissued on CD several times, often with additional songs originally intended for Lifehouse included as bonus tracks.
Great album! 4.5/5
Sonic Youth
2/5
Dirty is the seventh full-length studio album and second double album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on July 21, 1992 by DGC Records. The band recorded and co-produced the album with Butch Vig in early 1992 at the Magic Shop studios. The sound on Dirty was inspired by the popularity of grunge music at the time, and has been described by Billboard magazine as avant-rock.[1] Some songs on the album mark the first appearance of three guitars in a few Sonic Youth songs.
Dirty reached number 83 on the US Billboard 200 and number six on the UK Albums Chart. The album spawned four singles: the lead single \"100%\" charted well, but was not the crossover hit the label anticipated, followed by \"Youth Against Fascism\", which did not chart as well. The last two were \"Sugar Kane\" and \"Drunken Butterfly\", with the former performing better commercially than the latter. In support of the album, Sonic Youth embarked on the \"Pretty Fucking Dirty\" tour of 1992 and 1993, where they played most of the album during sets. In late 1992, they toured North America, and in early 1993, they toured New Zealand and Australia and released the Whores Moaning EP, which featured most of the \"Sugar Kane\" B-sides.
2.5/5
Orange Juice
2/5
Rip It Up is the second album released by Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice. It was released in 1982. This album contains their hit song of the same name, which reached the Top 10.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
You Want It Darker is the fourteenth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released on October 21, 2016, by Columbia Records, 17 days before Cohen's death.[1][2] The album was created towards the end of his life and focuses on death, God, and humor. It was released to critical acclaim. The title track was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance in January 2018. It was Cohen's last album released during his lifetime and was followed by the posthumous album Thanks for the Dance in November 2019.
After touring extensively between 2008 and 2013, Leonard Cohen began to suffer "multiple fractures of the spine" among other physical problems, according to his son Adam Cohen.[3] Due to Leonard Cohen's mobility issues, You Want It Darker was recorded in the living room of his home in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles and then sent by e-mail to his musical collaborators.[4]
Cohen has said his condition helped him eliminate any distractions during the recording of the album: "In a certain sense, this particular predicament is filled with many fewer distractions than other times in my life and actually enables me to work with a little more concentration and continuity than when I had duties of making a living, being a husband, being a father".[4] Despite his medical condition, Adam Cohen said that "occasionally, in bouts of joy, he would even, through his pain, stand up in front of the speakers, and we'd repeat a song over and over like teenagers".[3]
Not my jam, but I see the appeal.
2/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
It's Blitz! is the third studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on March 6, 2009, by Interscope Records. It was originally set for release on April 13, 2009. However, after being leaked to the Internet on February 22,[3] the release date was pushed forward to March 9 for the digital version and March 31 for the physical version
It's Blitz! received universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 36 reviews.
3.5/5
Common
3/5
Like Water for Chocolate is the fourth studio album by American rapper Common, released on March 28, 2000, through MCA Records. It was Common's first major label album and was both a critical and commercial breakthrough, receiving widespread acclaim from major magazine publications and selling 70,000 copies in its first week.[2] The album was certified Gold on August 11, 2000, by the Recording Industry Association of America.[3] According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 748,000 copies by March 2005.[4] The video for \"The Light\" was frequently shown on MTV, adding to Common's exposure. The album also formally marked the formation of the Soulquarians, a collective composed of Questlove (of The Roots), Jay Dee (formerly of Slum Village), keyboardist James Poyser, soul artist D'Angelo and bassist Pino Palladino, among numerous other collaborators. This group of musicians would also be featured on Common's next album, Electric Circus.
3/5
Roxy Music
2/5
Roxy Music is the debut studio album by the English rock band Roxy Music. It was released on 16 June 1972.
It was generally well received by contemporary critics and made it to number 10 in the UK Albums Chart.[1]
2.5/5
Suzanne Vega
4/5
Suzanne Vega is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, released on May 1, 1985, by A&M Records. It was well-received by music journalists in the U.S.[5] and reached platinum status in the United Kingdom. Produced by Lenny Kaye and Steve Addabbo, the songs feature Vega's acoustic guitar in straightforward arrangements. A video was released for the album's song \"Marlene on the Wall\",[6] which went into MTV and VH1's rotations.
In 1989, Rolling Stone magazine listed Suzanne Vega at number 80 on its \"100 Best Albums of the Eighties\".[7] It is also mentioned in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
I liked this quote a bit. Good background music.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Bridge over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in January 1970 on Columbia Records. Following the duo's soundtrack for The Graduate, Art Garfunkel took an acting role in the film Catch-22, while Paul Simon worked on the songs, writing all tracks except Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's \"Bye Bye Love\" (previously a hit for the Everly Brothers).
Despite numerous accolades, the duo decided to split up, and parted company later in 1970; Garfunkel continued his film career, while Simon worked intensely with music. Both artists released solo albums in the following years. Bridge includes two of the duo's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful songs, \"Bridge over Troubled Water\" and \"The Boxer\", which were listed on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Critically and commercially successful, the album topped the charts in over ten countries and received two Grammy Awards, plus four more for the title song. The album sold around 25 million records; making it at the time of release the best-selling album of all time. It has been ranked on several lists, including at number 172 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[5]
4.5/5
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Buena Vista Social Club is the debut album by the Buena Vista Social Club, an ensemble of Cuban musicians directed by Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder. It was recorded at Havana's EGREM studios in March 1996 and released on September 16, 1997, on World Circuit. It is the only standard studio album exclusively credited to the Buena Vista Social Club.
Buena Vista Social Club was recorded in parallel with A toda Cuba le gusta by the Afro-Cuban All Stars, a similar project also promoted by World Circuit executive Nick Gold and featuring largely the same lineup. In contrast to A toda Cuba le gusta, which was conceived as a revival of the son conjunto, Buena Vista Social Club was meant to bring back the traditional trova and filin, a mellower take on the Cuban son and bolero, as well as the danzón.
A critical and commercial success, the album's release was followed by a short concert tour in Amsterdam and New York's Carnegie Hall in 1998. Footage from these dates, together with the recording sessions in Havana, were shown on the Buena Vista Social Club documentary by Wim Wenders, released in 1999.
In 2022, The album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being \"culturally historically or aesthetically significant\".
3.5/5
Sigur Rós
3/5
Ágætis byrjun (Icelandic: [ˈaːucaitɪs ˈpɪrjʏn], A good beginning)[1] is the second studio album by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, released on 12 June 1999. The album was recorded between the summer of 1998 and the spring of 1999 with producer Ken Thomas. Ágætis byrjun represented a substantial departure from the band's previous album Von, with that album's extended ambient soundscapes replaced by Jónsi Birgisson's cello-bowed guitarwork and orchestration, using a double string octet amongst other chamber elements.
Ágætis byrjun became Sigur Rós's breakthrough album, both commercially and critically. It received a 2000 release in the United Kingdom and a 2001 release in the United States. According to their label Smekkleysa, the album sold 10,000 copies on its first year of release in Iceland, earning the band platinum status.[2] It won numerous awards, and has appeared on multiple critics' lists of the best albums of the 2000s.
Very chill--good background music
3.5/5
The Stooges
2/5
Fun House is the second studio album by American rock band the Stooges. It was released on July 7, 1970 by Elektra Records.[2] Though initially commercially unsuccessful, Fun House developed a strong cult following. Like its predecessor (1969's The Stooges) and its successor (1973's Raw Power), it is generally considered integral in the development of punk rock.
2.5/5
Anita Baker
3/5
Rapture is the second album by American vocalist Anita Baker, released in 1986. This became Baker's breakout album and earning her two Grammy Awards. The album's first track, \"Sweet Love\", was a top 10 Billboard hit in addition to winning a Grammy Award. The music video for the track \"Same Ole Love\" was filmed at Baker's Keyboard Lounge.
3/5
Willie Nelson
3/5
Red Headed Stranger is the 18th studio album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson, released in 1975. Following the success of his recordings with Atlantic Records, coupled with the negotiating skills of his manager, Neil Reshen, Nelson signed a contract with Columbia Records, the label that gave him total creative control over his works. The concept for the album was inspired by the "Tale of the Red Headed Stranger", a song that Nelson used to play as a disc jockey on his program in Fort Worth, Texas. After signing with Columbia, he decided to record the song, and arranged the details during his return to Austin, Texas, from a trip to Colorado. It was recorded at low cost at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas. The songs featured sparse arrangements, largely limited to Nelson's guitar, piano, and drums. Nelson presented the finished material to Columbia executives, who were dubious about releasing an album that they at first thought was a demo. However, Nelson had creative control, so no further production was added.
A concept album, Red Headed Stranger is about a fugitive on the run from the law after killing his wife and her lover. The content consists of songs with brief poetic lyrics and arrangements of older material such as Fred Rose's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", Wolfe Gilbert's "Down Yonder", and Juventino Rosas' "O'er the Waves". Despite Columbia's doubts and the limited instrumentation, Red Headed Stranger was a blockbuster among country music and mainstream audiences. It was certified multiple-platinum, and made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. The cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", released as a single before the album, became Nelson's first number-one hit. The title of the album became a lasting nickname for Nelson. It was ranked number 183 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[1] and number one on CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music. In 2010, it was inducted to the National Recording Registry.
In 1986, Nelson starred as the Red Headed Stranger in a movie of the same name, based on the story of the album. The album has had a strong cultural impact; the song "Time of the Preacher" was used often in the British television miniseries Edge of Darkness, and its lyrics were used in the first issue of the comic Preacher.
For as much as I dislike modern country--I actually liked this!
Franz Ferdinand
2/5
Franz Ferdinand is the debut studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand, first released on 9 February 2004 through the Domino Recording Company. It was recorded during 2003 at Gula Studios in Malmö, Sweden, with Tore Johansson, who produced the majority of the album, with two tracks produced by the band themselves. It entered the United Kingdom album charts at number three in February 2004 and contains the UK top ten singles "Take Me Out" and "The Dark of the Matinée" as well as UK top 20 hit "Michael".
Franz Ferdinand won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. The album has since sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide,[7] with over 1.27 million copies in the United Kingdom[8] and at least 1 million copies in the US (corresponding to Platinum).[9]
2.5/5
Tim Buckley
2/5
Happy Sad is the third album by American singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, released in April 1969. It was recorded at Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, California and was produced by former Lovin' Spoonful members Zal Yanovsky and, coincidentally, his subsequent replacement Jerry Yester. It marked the beginning of Buckley's experimental period, as it incorporated elements of jazz that he had never used before. Many of the songs here represent a departure from the binary form that dominated much of his previous work. The sound of the album is characterized by David Friedman's vibraphone, an instrument which gives the album a more relaxed tone than Buckley's earlier work. The songs are much longer than on previous releases and this style continued through to later works. The vocals on the album are more drawn out than earlier performances and this represents the beginning of Buckley using his voice like an instrument. The lyrics on Happy Sad represent a change as Buckley stopped working with Larry Beckett, his lyricist on the two previous albums Tim Buckley and Goodbye and Hello, and began writing the lyrics himself. Buckley's self-penned efforts stand in contrast to Beckett's occasionally political and literary-style work.[3] Buckley would also go on to author all his own material on the following two albums.
Neil Young
3/5
Tonight's the Night is the sixth studio album by Canadian / American songwriter Neil Young. It was recorded in August–September 1973, mostly on August 26,[1] but its release was delayed until June 1975. It peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard 200.[2] In 2003, the album was ranked number 331[3] on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, moving up to number 330 in the list's 2012 edition and climbing further to number 302 in the 2020 update.[4][5] The album is the third and final of the so-called "Ditch Trilogy" of albums that Young released following the major success of 1972's Harvest, whereupon the scope of his success and acclaim became so difficult for Young that he subsequently experienced alienation from his music and career.
New Order
3/5
Low-Life is the third studio album by English rock band New Order, released on 13 May 1985 by Factory Records. It is considered to be among the band's strongest work, displaying the moment they completed their transformation from post-punk hold-overs to dance-rockers. The album shows New Order's increased incorporation of synthesisers and samplers, while still preserving the rock elements of their earlier work. The original Factory CD issues of the album were mastered with pre-emphasis.
3.5/5
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
Tusk is the twelfth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released as a double album on 12 October 1979.[4] It is considered more experimental than their previous albums: partly a consequence of Lindsey Buckingham's sparser songwriting arrangements and the influence of post-punk.[5] The production costs were estimated to be over $1 million (equivalent to $3.73 million in 2021), making it the most expensive rock album recorded to that date.
3.5/5
Sister Sledge
3/5
We Are Family is the third studio album by the American R&B vocal group Sister Sledge, released on January 22, 1979, in the United States and on April 30, 1979, in the United Kingdom by Cotillion Records. The album was written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the band Chic, and includes four hit singles: the title track, "He's the Greatest Dancer", "Lost in Music", and "Thinking of You", all of which have been sampled, remixed, and reissued in the decades after the album's release. The album reached number one on the Top R&B Albums chart and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's most commercially successful album.
The Human League
3/5
Dare (released as Dare! in the United States) is the third studio album by English synth-pop band the Human League, first released in the United Kingdom in October 1981 then subsequently in the US in mid-1982. The album was recorded between March and September 1981 following the departure of founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, and saw the band shift direction from their previous avant-garde electronic style toward a more pop-friendly, commercial sound led by frontman Philip Oakey.
Dare became critically acclaimed and has proved to be a genre-defining album, whose influence can be felt in many areas of pop music.[4] The album and its four singles were large successes, particularly "Don't You Want Me". The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
3.5/5
The Temptations
3/5
All Directions is a 1972 album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, produced by Norman Whitfield. It reached number two on the Billboard 200, making it the band's most successful non-collaborative album on the chart, and became their twelfth album to reach number one on the Top R&B Albums chart.
LL Cool J
3/5
In The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that Mama Said Knock You Out reestablished LL Cool J as "the most articulate of the homeboys", sounding "tougher and funnier" rapping about "crass materialism" and "simple pleasures".[19] In Mark Cooper's review for Q, he wrote, "This 22-year-old veteran has lost neither his eye for everyday detail nor his sheer relish for words."[20] Select magazine's Richard Cook said, "LL's stack of samples add the icing to a cake that is all dark, remorseless rhythm, a lo-fi drum beat shadowed by a crude bass rumble. It could be Jamaican dub they're making here, if it weren't for LL's slipper lip."[11] Mama Said Knock You Out was voted the ninth best record of 1990 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by The Village Voice.[21] Poll creator Robert Christgau later named it among his 10 best albums from the 1990s
3.5/5
Beatles
4/5
Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single \"Day Tripper\" / \"We Can Work It Out\". The original North American release, issued by Capitol Records, contains ten of the fourteen songs and two tracks withheld from the band's Help! album. Rubber Soul was met with a highly favourable critical response and topped sales charts in Britain and the United States for several weeks.
The recording sessions took place in London over a four-week period beginning in October 1965. For the first time in their career, the Beatles were able to record an album free of concert, radio or film commitments. Often referred to as a folk rock album, particularly in its Capitol configuration, Rubber Soul incorporates a mix of pop, soul and folk musical styles. The title derives from the colloquialism \"plastic soul\" and was the Beatles' way of acknowledging their lack of authenticity compared to the African-American soul artists they admired. After A Hard Day's Night in 1964, it was the second Beatles LP to contain only original material.
The songs demonstrate the Beatles' increasing maturity as lyricists, and in their incorporation of brighter guitar tones and new instrumentation such as sitar, harmonium and fuzz bass, the group striving for more expressive sounds and arrangements for their music. The project marked a progression in the band's treatment of the album format as an artistic platform, an approach they continued to develop with Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The four songs omitted by Capitol, including the February 1966 single \"Nowhere Man\", later appeared on the North American release Yesterday and Today.
Rubber Soul was highly influential on the Beatles' peers, leading to a widespread focus away from singles and onto creating albums of consistently high-quality songs. It has been recognised by music critics as an album that opened up the possibilities of pop music in terms of lyrical and musical scope, and as a key work in the creation of styles such as psychedelia and progressive rock. Among its many appearances on critics' best-album lists, Rolling Stone ranked it fifth on the magazine's 2012 list \"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time\". In 2000, it was voted at number 34 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums. The album was certified 6× platinum by the RIAA in 1997, indicating shipments of at least six million copies in the US. In 2013, Rubber Soul was certified platinum by the BPI for UK sales since 1994.
4/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Cosmo's Factory is the fifth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records in July 1970. Six of the album's eleven tracks were released as singles in 1970, with five of them charting in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album spent nine consecutive weeks in the number one position on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified 4x platinum by the RIAA in 1990.
3.5/5
Deerhunter
2/5
Halcyon Digest is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Deerhunter. It was released September 27, 2010[5] to universal critical acclaim.
2.5/5
Eurythmics
3/5
After a year and a half of initial commercial failure for Eurythmics, this album became a breakthrough for the duo on both sides of the Atlantic. The title track became particularly popular and remains one of Eurythmics' most recognisable songs. Its music video, popular on MTV in the United States, is memorable for Annie Lennox's gender-bending imagery. In the wake of this success, the single "Love Is a Stranger", previously a flop, was re-released and became a hit as well. It too was accompanied by a striking video that featured Lennox dressed both as a man and a woman.
3.5/5
Jeff Beck
2/5
Truth is the debut studio album by English guitarist Jeff Beck, released in 29 July 1968 in the United Kingdom on Columbia Records and in the United States on Epic Records. It introduced the talents of his backing band the Jeff Beck Group, specifically Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, to a larger audience, and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200.[2]
2.5/5
Steely Dan
3/5
Aja (/ˈeɪʒə/, pronounced like Asia) is the sixth studio album by the American jazz rock band Steely Dan. It was released on September 23, 1977, by ABC Records. Recording alongside nearly 40 musicians, band leaders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker pushed Steely Dan further into experimenting with different combinations of session players while pursuing longer, more sophisticated compositions for the album.
The album peaked at number three on the US charts and number five in the UK, ultimately becoming Steely Dan's most commercially successful LP. It spawned a number of hit singles, including "Peg", "Deacon Blues", and "Josie".
In July 1978, Aja won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical and received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It has since appeared frequently on professional rankings of the greatest albums, with critics and audiophiles applauding the album's high production standards. In 2010, the Library of Congress selected the album for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."
3.5/5
Suede
2/5
Suede is the debut album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in March 1993 on Nude Records. It was recorded in London at Master Rock studios late 1992 and early 1993 and was produced by Ed Buller. At the time the fastest-selling debut album in British history in almost a decade, Suede debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart, won the 1993 Mercury Music Prize,[1] and is often cited as one of the first Britpop records. Displaying a sound of Britishness and glam rock, its music and lyrical content has been compared to The Smiths and early David Bowie.[2]
The album was preceded by what Rolling Stone called "its triptych of instantly classic singles."[3] The three singles, "The Drowners", "Metal Mickey" and "Animal Nitrate" helped to create a media buzz leading to significant hype for a year leading up to the album's release. It was met with generally favourable reviews both in the UK and in the US. Although it remains the group's biggest-selling album in the US,[4] it struggled to make headway commercially compared to the success in the UK.[5] In 2013, NME placed the album at number 78 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[6]
2.5/5
Turbonegro
1/5
Apocalypse Dudes is the fourth album by the Norwegian band Turbonegro. It is the first studio album with Euroboy as the lead guitarist and the last before the band disbanded in December 1998. Released in early 1998 in Norway and Germany, the album was a huge success for the then underground band.
1.5/5
Q-Tip
3/5
The Renaissance is the second studio album by American hip hop artist Q-Tip, released November 4, 2008, on Universal Motown Records. The follow-up to his solo debut album, Amplified (1999), it was recorded after Q-Tip's Kamaal the Abstract (2009) was initially shelved in 2002 by his former label Arista Records and his proposed effort Open was shelved by Universal Motown, both deemed commercially inadequate by the labels. The Renaissance was produced primarily by Q-Tip and features guest contributions by D'Angelo, Norah Jones, Amanda Diva, and Raphael Saadiq.
The album debuted at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 34,219 copies in its first week. It produced three singles and has sold 131,200 copies in the United States. Upon its release, The Renaissance received universal acclaim from music critics, who praised Q-Tip's lyricism and production aesthetic, and earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album.
Koffi Olomide
3/5
Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba (13 July 1956), known professionally as Koffi Olomidé, is a Congolese Soukus singer, dancer, producer, and composer. He has had several gold records in his career. He is the founder of the Quartier Latin International orchestra with many notable artists, including Fally Ipupa and Ferré Gola.
Le Tigre
2/5
Le Tigre is the debut studio album of American music trio Le Tigre. It was released October 25, 1999 on Mr. Lady Records. The album combined pop music with the band's feminist political lyrics. It received positive reviews from music critics.
2.5/5
Beatles
3/5
A Hard Day's Night is the third studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 10 July 1964 by Parlophone, with side one containing songs from the soundtrack to their film of the same name. The American version of the album was released two weeks earlier, on 26 June 1964 by United Artists Records, with a different track listing that included selections from George Martin's film score. In contrast to the Beatles' first two albums, all 13 tracks on A Hard Day's Night were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, showcasing the development of their songwriting partnership.
The album includes the song \"A Hard Day's Night\", with its distinctive opening chord, and \"Can't Buy Me Love\", both transatlantic number-one singles for the band. Several of the songs feature George Harrison playing a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar, a sound that was influential on the Byrds and other groups in the folk rock/jangle pop movement.
Cat Stevens
3/5
Tea for the Tillerman is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released in November 1970.
Stevens, a former art student, created the artwork featured on the record's cover.
With \"Wild World\" as an advance single, this was the album that brought Stevens worldwide fame.[citation needed] The album itself charted into the top 10 in the United States.
I liked this! 3.5/5 Good background album.
Goldie
2/5
Timeless is the debut studio album by British electronic musician Goldie. It was released on 31 July 1995 and is universally regarded as a groundbreaking release in the history of drum and bass music. The album blended the complex, chopped and layered breakbeats and deep basslines of jungle and drum and bass with expansive, symphonic strings and atmospherics, and female vocals.
For as much as I love electronic music.....this was just OK. 2.5/5
All That You Can't Leave Behind is the tenth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and was released on 30 October 2000 through Island Records and Interscope Records. Following the band's experimentation with alternative rock and dance music in the 1990s and the mixed reception to their 1997 album, Pop, U2 returned to a sound more akin to their earlier records for All That You Can't Leave Behind. The group reunited with Eno and Lanois, who had produced three prior U2 albums together. The record was originally named "U2000", which had been a working title for their PopMart Tour.
The album received positive reviews from most critics, reached number one in 32 countries, and sold over 12 million copies. The songs "Beautiful Day", "Walk On", "Elevation", and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" were all successful singles. The record and its songs won seven Grammy Awards; it is the only album in history to have multiple tracks win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year: "Beautiful Day" in 2001 and "Walk On" in 2002. In 2003, the album was ranked 139th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", but it was re-ranked at number 280 in 2012. The supporting Elevation Tour, on which the band returned to playing arenas with a more intimate stage design, was also a critical and commercial success. All That You Can't Leave Behind was reissued in 2020 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its original release.
Air
3/5
Moon Safari is the debut studio album by French electronic music duo Air, released on 16 January 1998 by Source and Virgin Records. Moon Safari was re-released on 14 April 2008 to mark the album's 10th anniversary, including a bound book, a DVD documentary about the duo, and a bonus CD with live performances and remixes.
Moon Safari was acclaimed by critics. It is credited with setting the stage for the budding downtempo music style. By February 2012, it had sold 386,000 copies in the United States.
Ray Charles
2/5
The Genius of Ray Charles is a 1959 Ray Charles album, released in October by Atlantic Records, the seventh album since the debut Ray Charles in 1957. The album consists of swinging pop with big band arrangements. It comprises a first half of big band songs and a second half of string-backed ballads. The Genius of Ray Charles sold fewer than 500,000 copies and charted at number 17 on the Billboard 200. \"Let the Good Times Roll\" and \"Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'\" were released as singles in 1959.
2.5/5
Queen Latifah
3/5
All Hail the Queen is the debut album by hip-hop artist Queen Latifah. The album was released on November 28, 1989, through Tommy Boy Records. The feminist anthem, \"Ladies First\" featuring Monie Love remains one of Latifah's signature songs.
All Hail the Queen peaked at no. 6 on the Billboard Top Hip Hop/R&B Albums chart and at no. 124 on the Billboard 200 chart. \"Wrath of My Madness\" was the first single from All Hail the Queen, and was later sampled in Yo-Yo's \"You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo\". \"Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children\" peaked at no. 14 in the UK.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Too-Rye-Ay is the second studio album by English pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, released in July 1982 by Mercury Records. The album is best known for the hit single "Come On Eileen", which included the refrain that inspired the album's title. It was the band's most successful album, debuting at number two on the UK Albums Chart.
Les Rythmes Digitales
3/5
Darkdancer is the second studio album by Les Rythmes Digitales, released in 1999. It peaked at number 53 on the UK Albums Chart.[5] In 2005, it was re-released with an additional disc that included remixes, unreleased tracks, and music videos.
In a 2005 review of the album's re-release, Paul Sullivan of BBC called it \"ahead of its time\" and credited it for launching much of the electro-pop vogue of the 2000s.[6]
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (stylized as good kid, m.A.A.d city) is the second studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Jay Rock, Anna Wise, and MC Eiht. It is Lamar's major label debut, after his independently released first album Section.80 in 2011 and his signing to Aftermath and Interscope the following year.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was recorded mostly at several studios in California, with producers such as Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, Pharrell Williams, Hit-Boy, Scoop DeVille, Jack Splash, and T-Minus, among others, contributing to the album. Billed as a "short film by Kendrick Lamar" on the album cover, the concept album follows the story of Lamar's teenage experiences in the drug-infested streets and gang lifestyle of his native Compton. The album earned Lamar four Grammy Award nominations at the 2014 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
The album was supported by five singles – "The Recipe", "Swimming Pools (Drank)", "Backseat Freestyle", "Poetic Justice", and "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe". All five singles achieved chart success of varying degrees. Lamar also went on a world tour between May and August 2013, featuring the other members of the hip hop collective, Black Hippy.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its thematic scope and Lamar's lyrics. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 242,000 copies in its first week – earning the highest first-week hip hop album sales of 2012 from a male artist. It became Lamar's first album to enter the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 16, and entering the UK R&B Albums Chart at number two. The album was also named to many end-of-the-year lists, often topping them. It was later certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2020, the album was ranked 115th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
3.5/5
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Songs of Love and Hate is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album was released on March 19, 1971, through Columbia Records.
The album reached no. 145 on the US Billboard 200, but was his most commercially successful album in many other parts of the world, reaching no. 4 in the UK and no. 8 in Australia.[9] Writing in 2011, Cohen biographer Anthony Reynolds noted, "In some quarters it was the album that seemed to seal Cohen's reputation as being something of a downer, to say the least." In his review of the 2007 reissue release, Tim Nelson of BBC Music stated that Cohen's third LP "is perhaps less varied than the first two albums, but the focus is more intense and the sequencing superb. Be warned though: this is one of the scariest albums of the last forty years...". Mark Deming of AllMusic calls Songs of Love and Hate "one of Leonard Cohen's most emotionally intense albums - which, given the nature of Cohen's body of work, is no small statement." In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album no. 295 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list,[10] being the only Cohen album to make the list until Songs of Leonard Cohen reached No. 195 on the 2020 reissue, an edition the album failed to make.[11] It was ranked no. 74 on Pitchfork Media's 2004 list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s.[12] "Famous Blue Raincoat" was voted No. 3 in a Rolling Stone readers poll of the top ten greatest Leonard Cohen songs. It was voted number 500 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[13]
James Brown
2/5
Live at the Apollo is the first live album by James Brown and the Famous Flames, recorded at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and released in 1963 by King Records.
The album is included in Robert Christgau's \"Basic Record Library\" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981). In 2000 it was voted number 248 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 25 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and re-ranking at number 65 in a 2020 reboot of the list. In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
In 1998, this album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
2/5
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
Shaka Zulu is a 1987 album by South African a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Following the collaboration on Paul Simon's 1986 album Graceland which brought the group to international prominence, Shaka Zulu (produced by Simon) marked the band's first genuine international hit, securing them an American audience which would be built upon by the successes of Journey of Dreams (1988) and Two Worlds, One Heart (1990). Shaka Zulu was a collection of newly recorded versions of older Mambazo hits, such as \"Unomathemba\", \"Hello My Baby\" and \"Lomhlaba Kawunoni\".
Shaka Zulu won a Grammy in 1988 for Best Traditional Folk Recording.
As Graceland is one of my favorite albums, I liked this probably more than I would have otherwise.
3/5
Harry Nilsson
3/5
Nilsson Schmilsson is the seventh studio album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released by RCA Records in November 1971. It was Nilsson's most commercially successful work, producing three of his best-known songs. Among these was the number 1 hit "Without You", written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the group Badfinger. The album was the first of two Nilsson albums recorded in London and produced by Richard Perry.
"Jump into the Fire" and "Coconut", both written by Nilsson, also became hits. The album performed well at the 1973 Grammy Awards, earning a nomination for Album of the Year, while "Without You" won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In 2006, Nilsson Schmilsson was ranked number 84 on Pitchfork's "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s".[11] The album was ranked #281 in the 2020 revision of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[12]
Supergrass
3/5
I Should Coco is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Supergrass, released on 15 May 1995 by Parlophone. The title of the album is cockney rhyming slang for "I should think so".[1]
Supergrass were formed in 1993 by Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey, and they released their debut single, "Caught by the Fuzz", in October 1994 on the small independent local label Backbeat Records. Success of the single brought a major label record deal. I Should Coco was recorded in Cornwall and produced by Sam Williams, who had been impressed by the band while scouting in Oxford. At the height of the Britpop era, the album became the band's most successful release when it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart,[2] and subsequently gained platinum status, selling over a million copies worldwide and 500,000 in the UK.[3] The most successful single released from I Should Coco is "Alright", which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart,[2] and gained platinum status.
Throwing Muses
3/5
Throwing Muses is the 1986 debut album of the band Throwing Muses, released on British independent label 4AD. This was the first album by an American band to be released on 4AD, which had concentrated primarily on British-based acts up to this point. The release marked a shift in the label's direction; a year later 4AD would sign Pixies based in part on the band's connection to Throwing Muses, and by the mid-1990s much of the label's roster was made up of American bands.
AllMusic calls the album a "powerful debut" whose "startling collision of punk energy, folky melodicism, and Kristin Hersh's mercurial voice and lyrics...puts the work of most self-consciously 'tortured' artists to shame." The review praises the record's "fluid, effortless emotional shifts"—also described as "violent, vibrant mood swings".
Fever Ray
3/5
Fever Ray is the debut solo studio album by Fever Ray, an alias of Karin Dreijer of Swedish electronic music duo The Knife. It was released on 12 January 2009 by Rabid Records. The album spawned four singles: \"If I Had a Heart\", \"When I Grow Up\", \"Triangle Walks\" and \"Seven\".
Pitchfork's argued that, in contrast to The Knife's \"plasticky percussions and goofy synth sounds\", Fever Ray \"brims with fragile, more finely articulated sounds\" and \"moves at roughly the same pace and with the same general tone, rendering some of the songs indistinguishable at first, but committed listens will reveal this to be as nuanced and as rich of a production as anything either Dreijer has done.\"[11] The A.V. Club's Chris Martins viewed it as being \"countless times more claustrophobic and creepy than Silent Shout\" and stated that \"[t]he vocal transformer is such a huge part of what Andersson does—androgynizing her words to accompany the cold music, mimicking the synth warbles and sustained tones that abound.\"[5] The Independent critic Rupert Howe expressed, \"Even beyond the gothic imagery and glacial electronics, this mesmeric solo project shares much with The Knife's last album Silent Shout\", including \"surreal lyrics\" and \"weird vocal treatments which pitch Andersson's voice down to a baleful masculine groan\".[7] Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine found that the album is \"built upon contrasts. Most notably, Andersson's Fever Ray persona draws attention to her work as half of the Knife [...] Whereas the Knife is ostensibly a dance act, Fever Ray emphasizes tone over rhythm.\"[15] In a review rated 7.5 out of 10, xlr8r wrote that it \"retains real emotional heft\" and compared it to the likes of Madonna, Siouxsie and the Banshees and PJ Harvey
This was quite good (definitely due to EDM bias)--good background music.
3.5/5
Sonic Youth
3/5
Daydream Nation is the fifth full-length studio album and first double album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on October 18, 1988. The band recorded the album between July and August 1988 at Greene St. Recording in New York City, and it was released by Enigma Records as a double album.
After Daydream Nation was released, it received widespread acclaim from critics and earned Sonic Youth a major label deal. The album was ranked high in critics' year-end lists of 1988's best records, being voted second in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll. Daydream Nation has since been widely considered to be Sonic Youth's greatest work, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time, specifically having a profound influence on the alternative and indie rock genres. It was chosen by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Recording Registry in 2005.
Solange
3/5
A Seat at the Table is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Solange. It was released on September 30, 2016, by Saint Records and Columbia Records. While recording the album, Solange released an EP, titled True (2012) and launched her own record label named Saint Records. Writing for the album began as early as 2008, while the recording sessions took place from 2013 to June 2016. Solange enlisted a variety of collaborators including rappers Lil Wayne and Q-Tip; singer-songwriters The-Dream, BJ the Chicago Kid, Kelly Rowland and Tweet; and musicians Sampha, Kelela and David Longstreth.[1][2]
A Seat at the Table was widely acclaimed by music critics and became Solange's first number-one album on the Billboard 200 in the United States, debuting with 46,000 copies sold (72,000 with additional album-equivalent units).[3] The album's lead single, \"Cranes in the Sky\", won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance, becoming Solange's first Grammy nomination and win. In 2020, the album was ranked at 312 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[4]
Elton John
3/5
Madman Across the Water is the fourth studio album by English musician Elton John, released in 1971 through DJM and Uni Records. The album was his third album to be released in 1971, at which point John had been rising to prominence as a popular music artist. The album contains nine tracks, each composed and performed by John and with lyrics written by songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Yes band keyboardist Rick Wakeman plays Hammond organ on 3 songs.
There were two singles released from Madman Across the Water, "Levon" and "Tiny Dancer". The album was certified gold in February 1972, followed by platinum in March 1993, and 2× platinum in August 1998 by the RIAA. The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. On 10 June 2022, the album was reissued as a deluxe edition for its 50th anniversary, featuring 18 unreleased tracks including demos, outtakes and alternate takes, as well as a 40-page book detailing the album's creation with notes from John and Taupin.
3.5/5
Jethro Tull
3/5
Aqualung is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 19 March 1971, by Chrysalis Records. It is widely regarded as a concept album featuring a central theme of "the distinction between religion and God", though the band have said there was no intention to make a concept album, and that only a few songs have a unifying theme.[4] According to one reviewer, the album has "dour musings on faith and religion" which for him have marked it as "one of the most cerebral albums ever to reach millions of rock listeners".[5] Aqualung's success signalled a turning point in the career of the band, which went on to become a major radio and touring act.
3.5/5
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
The Message was released in October 1982 by Sugar Hill Records.[8] It was the only album released while the group's original line-up was together.[5] The album charted at number 53 in the United States and at number 77 in the United Kingdom.[8]
Reviewing in December 1982 for The New York Times, Robert Palmer hailed The Message as the year's best album and explained that while the emerging rap genre had often been criticized for confining itself to "bragging and boasting ... The Message is different. It's a gritty, plain-spoken, vividly cinematic portrait of black street life...social realism has rarely worked well in a pop-music context, but The Message is an utterly convincing cry of frustration and despair that cannot be ignored."[9] Robert Christgau ranked it as the 21st best album of 1982 his list for The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[10] In Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he wrote that, although "She's Fresh" is the "only instant killer", each song's attempt to experiment and "touch a lot of bases with a broad demographic ... justifies itself".[3]
80s rap? 4/5
The Velvet Underground
1/5
1.5/5
Fairport Convention
2/5
Liege & Lief is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist (Denny did not appear on the group's 1968 debut album), as well as the first to feature future long-serving personnel Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattacks on violin/mandolin and drums, respectively, as full band members (Swarbrick had previously guested on Unhalfbricking). It is also the first Fairport album on which all songs are either adapted (freely) from traditional British and Celtic folk material (for example "Matty Groves", "Tam Lin"), or else are original compositions (such as "Come All Ye", "Crazy Man Michael") written and performed in a similar style. Although Denny and founding bass player Ashley Hutchings quit the band before the album's release, Fairport Convention has continued to the present day to make music strongly based within the British folk rock idiom, and are still the band most prominently associated with it.
The album was moderately successful, peaking at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart during a 15-week run.[3] It is often credited, though the claim is sometimes disputed, as the first major "British folk rock" album (this term is not to be confused with American-style folk rock, which had first achieved mainstream popularity on both sides of the Atlantic with the Byrds' early work several years prior). The popularity of Liege & Lief did a great deal to establish the new style commercially and artistically as a distinct genre. In an audience vote at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2006, the album was voted "Most Influential Folk Album of All Time".[4][5] It was voted number 254 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[6]
ZZ Top
3/5
Eliminator is the eighth studio album by American rock band ZZ Top. It was released on March 23, 1983, by Warner Bros. Records, and rose high on the charts in many countries. Four hit singles were released—"Gimme All Your Lovin'" which reached the American Top 40, "Sharp Dressed Man", "TV Dinners" and their most successful single, "Legs". A Diamond certified album in the United States, Eliminator is ZZ Top's most commercially successful release, with sales of 20 million worldwide.[4]
Recorded in 1982, the album represents a further step of modernization by bandleader Billy Gibbons. Since El Loco in 1981, Gibbons had been edging the band's boogie and blues rock sound toward the popular new-wave/synth-rock aesthetic while retaining ZZ Top's signature electric guitar emphasis. For Eliminator, he increased the tempo and used more synthesizers and drum machines, producing a "tighter" album with a steady, driving beat.[1] Pre-production engineer Linden Hudson collaborated with Gibbons in Texas on the album tempo and songs, then producer Bill Ham and engineer Terry Manning joined Gibbons in Memphis, Tennessee, to carefully craft the sound of each song after the full band was done recording, controversially replacing much of the contributions of bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard. Ham claimed the album was solely the work of ZZ Top, denying the involvement of others, but in 1986 Hudson won a lawsuit establishing himself as composer of the song "Thug".
A series of music videos served as successful promotional tools—the similarly themed videos for "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" received regular rotation on MTV and helped the band gain popularity with a younger base. A customized 1933 Ford coupe, depicted on the album cover, could be seen in three of the four videos. Following Eliminator's release, ZZ Top embarked on a worldwide concert tour.
The video for "Legs" earned the band the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group. Rolling Stone named Eliminator number 398 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[5] It was listed at number 39 in The 100 Greatest Albums of the 80s. A remastered version was released in 2008.
3.5/5
Fats Domino
3/5
Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist and singer-songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orleans to a French Creole family, Domino signed to Imperial Records in 1949. His first single \"The Fat Man\" is cited by some historians as the first rock and roll single and the first to sell more than 1 million copies. Domino continued to work with the song's co-writer Dave Bartholomew, contributing his distinctive rolling piano style to Lloyd Price's \"Lawdy Miss Clawdy\" (1952) and scoring a string of mainstream hits beginning with \"Ain't That a Shame\" (1955). Between 1955 and 1960, he had eleven Top 10 US pop hits. By 1955, five of his records had sold more than a million copies, being certified gold.Domino was shy and modest by nature but made a significant contribution to the rock and roll genre. Elvis Presley declared Domino a \"huge influence on me when I started out\" and described him as \"the real king of rock 'n' roll\". The Beatles were also heavily influenced by Domino. The artist himself did not define his work as rock and roll, saying of the genre \"It wasn't anything but the same rhythm and blues I'd been playing down in New Orleans\". Four of Domino's records were named to the Grammy Hall of Fame for their significance: \"Blueberry Hill\", \"Ain't That a Shame\", \"Walking to New Orleans\" and \"The Fat Man\". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. The Associated Press estimates that during his career, Domino \"sold more than 110 million records\".
The Undertones
2/5
Hypnotised is a 1980 album released by The Undertones. The album, the second of four released by the band, was recorded at Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands in December 1979, and at Eden Studios in London in January 1980, with the majority of the songs to appear on the album being written between March and December 1979. In addition, although the primary lyrical concern of the songs upon this album focused upon teenage angst, boisterousness, and heartbreak (as had been the case with their debut album), several of the songs upon Hypnotised are notably both lyrically and musically more sophisticated than material released upon The Undertones.Produced by Roger Bechirian between December 1979 and January 1980, Hypnotised was released on 21 April 1980, reaching number 6 in the UK Albums Charts and making Hypnotised the highest-charting album of their career.
The original release of Hypnotised included two singles: \"My Perfect Cousin\", which was released on 28 March 1980 and reached number 9 in the charts; and \"Wednesday Week\", released on 5 July 1980 and which charted at number 11 three weeks later.
2.5/5
Morrissey
3/5
Morrissey had been rehearsing with a new band prior to the release of Your Arsenal, which was the first official album of this new line-up.
Commencing with \"You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side\", the album represents a clear change in direction for Morrissey from indie pop to a more muscular rock sound;[4] with some elements of rockabilly. It also contains a glam rock influence, due to the involvement of ex-David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson. Songs such as \"Certain People I Know\", \"Glamorous Glue\" and \"I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday\", which are respectively influenced by T. Rex,[2] and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust period songs (e.g. \"The Jean Genie\" and the last by \"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide\").[5] David Bowie later covered the track \"I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday\" on his 1993 album Black Tie White Noise.
Billy Bragg
3/5
Talking with the Taxman About Poetry is the third album by Billy Bragg, released in September 1986. With production by John Porter and Kenny Jones, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry featured more musicians than Bragg's previous works, which were generally little more than Bragg himself and a guitar.
There were two singles released from the album. While "Levi Stubbs' Tears" peaked at No. 29 in the UK, the follow-up "Greetings to the New Brunette" fell short, only managing No. 58 a few months later.
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
Kollaps is the first official LP by Einstürzende Neubauten,[1] released in 1981 on German label ZickZack as #ZZ 65. The songs are a mixture of rough punk tunes as well as industrial noises obtained from self-made music machines, electronics, and found objects such as metal plates. The album was reissued in 2002 with Stahldubversions, originally released in 1982. Blixa Bargeld, N.U. Unruh and F.M. Einheit appear on the album. "Jet'M" is a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg song "Je t'aime... moi non plus". Track 15 of many CD versions of the album is a live recording of "Negativ Nein" from 26 June 1987 at the Tempodrom in Berlin.
This was.......different
Nina Simone
2/5
Wild Is the Wind is the sixth studio album by American singer and pianist Nina Simone released by Philips Records in 1966. The album was compiled from several recordings that were left over from sessions (in 1964 and 1965) for previous Philips albums.[3]
In 2020, the album was ranked 212 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[4]
2.5/5
Simple Minds
3/5
New Gold Dream originated in Simple Minds' unexpected popular and commercial success during an Australian tour with Icehouse following the release of Sons and Fascination. The band was prompted by this experience to write "Promised You a Miracle" upon their return to Europe.[7]
In a 2012 interview, singer Jim Kerr recalled the production of the album as a wonderful time during the late spring and early summer of 1982 in which "everything we tried worked," adding: "There were no arguments. We were in love with what we were doing, playing it, listening to it. You don't get many periods in your life when it all goes your way."[7]
The album was recorded over a five-month period at Rockfield Studio, The Townhouse and Oxford Manor, with preproduction at The Old Mill in Fife. During a short tour rehearsal in January 1982, the band wrote what would become the songs "King Is White and in the Crowd", "Hunter and the Hunted" and "Promised You a Miracle," a song that proved pivotal to the musical direction of the album. It was unveiled in a Kid Jensen session for Radio 1 and released as a single in April 1982.[8]
3.5/5
Pulp
3/5
Different Class (released in Japan as Common People) is the fifth studio album by English rock band Pulp, released on 30 October 1995 by Island Records.
The album was a critical and commercial success, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one and winning the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. It has been certified four times platinum, and had sold 1.33 million copies in the United Kingdom as of 2020.[3] In 2013, NME ranked the album at number six in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[4]
3.5/5
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
She's So Unusual is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, released on October 14, 1983, by Portrait Records. The album was re-released in 2014 to commemorate its 30th anniversary, and was called She's So Unusual: A 30th Anniversary Celebration. The re-release contains demos and remixes of previously released material, as well as new artwork.[3]
In 1978, Lauper formed the band Blue Angel.[4] The band soon signed a recording contract with Polydor Records; however, their debut album, Blue Angel, was a commercial failure. The band parted ways after firing their manager, who sued Lauper for $80,000 and forced her into bankruptcy.[5] Lauper went on to sing in many New York night clubs, and caught the eye of David Wolf, who became her manager and subsequently got her signed to Portrait Records.
Six singles were released from the album, with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" becoming a worldwide hit and her first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. "Time After Time" became her first number-one hit on the chart and experienced similar success worldwide. Lauper found success with the next two singles as well, with both "She Bop" and "All Through the Night" peaking in the top five. This makes Lauper the first female singer to have four top five singles on the Hot 100 from one album.[6] She's So Unusual was promoted by the Fun Tour throughout 1983 and 1984.
The album is primarily new wave-based, with many of the songs being influenced by synthpop and pop rock. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from music critics, who noted Lauper's unique vocals. Lauper earned several awards and accolades for the album, including two Grammy Awards at the 27th Grammy Awards, one of which was for Best New Artist. She's So Unusual peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and stayed in the chart's top forty for 65 weeks. It has sold over 6 million copies in the United States and 16 million copies worldwide. This makes it Lauper's best-selling album to date and one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s.[7][8] In 2003, She's So Unusual was ranked at number 494 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,[9] and it subsequently placed at number 184 in a 2020 reboot of the list.[10] In 2019, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[11]
3.5/5
Lorde
4/5
Melodrama is the second studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. It was released on 16 June 2017 by Lava and Republic Records and distributed through Universal. Following the breakthrough success of her debut album Pure Heroine (2013), Lorde retreated from the spotlight, and travelled between New Zealand and the United States. Initially inspired by her disillusionment with fame, she wrote Melodrama to capture heartbreak and solitude after her first breakup.
Lorde chose Jack Antonoff as the main collaborator because she felt the need to expand her artistry from the Joel Little-produced Pure Heroine. The final product is an electropop record incorporating piano-based melodies, pulsing synthesisers and dense electronic beats. Critics viewed the album as a maximalist departure from the minimalist hip hop-influenced production of its predecessor, and considered it a loose concept album chronicling the emotions ensued from a house party. The songs "Green Light", "Perfect Places", and "Homemade Dynamite" were released as singles. Lorde promoted the album through several music festivals she headlined, and the Melodrama World Tour in 2017 and 2018.
The album was Lorde's first number one in the United States and Canada, and also peaked atop the charts in Australia and New Zealand. It received gold or platinum certifications in the said countries and the United Kingdom. Melodrama received widespread acclaim from contemporary critics and featured on various year-end and decade-end lists. It won a New Zealand Music Award for Album of the Year, and received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in 2018. In 2020, Melodrama ranked at number 460 on Rolling Stone's revision of their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
Joy Division
2/5
Closer is the second and final studio album by English rock band Joy Division, released on 18 July 1980 by Factory Records.[2] Produced by Martin Hannett, it was released two months after the suicide of the band's lead singer and lyricist Ian Curtis. The album reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart[3] and peaked at No. 3 in New Zealand in September 1981.[4] Closer was also named NME Album of the Year.[5][6] It was remastered and re-released in 2007.[2]
Today, Closer is widely recognised as a seminal release of the post-punk era.[7] Following the release of the non-album single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in June 1980, the remaining members re-formed as New Order.
Despite the New Order link, I did not really enjoy this album.
Pavement
3/5
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is the second studio album by American indie rock band Pavement, released on February 14, 1994 by Matador Records. The album saw the band move on towards a more accessible rock sound than that of their more lo-fi debut Slanted and Enchanted and achieve moderate success with the single \"Cut Your Hair\". The album also saw original drummer Gary Young replaced by Steve West. It was a UK Top 20 hit upon release, although it was not so successful in the US charts.
Gorillaz
3/5
Gorillaz is the debut studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz, released on 26 March 2001 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Virgin Records. The album reached number three in the UK and number fourteen in the US, and the top ten in several countries. Gorillaz has sold over seven million copies worldwide. The album's success earned the group an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Successful Virtual Band",[1] and spawned the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House", and "Tomorrow Comes Today".
3.5/5
Steely Dan
3/5
Countdown to Ecstasy is the second studio album by the American rock band Steely Dan, released in July 1973 by ABC Records. It was recorded at Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado, and at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California.[6] After the departure of vocalist David Palmer, the group recorded the album with Donald Fagen singing lead on every song.[7]
Although it was a critical success, the album failed to generate a hit single, and consequently charted at only number 35 on the Billboard 200. It was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1978, having shipped 500,000 copies in the United States. Well-received upon its release, Countdown to Ecstasy received perfect scores from music critics in retrospective reviews.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Led Zeppelin II is the second studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 22 October 1969 in the United States and on 31 October 1969 in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at several locations in both the United Kingdom and North America from January to August 1969. The album's production was credited to the band's lead guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page, and it was also Led Zeppelin's first album on which Eddie Kramer served as engineer.
The album exhibited the band's evolving musical style of blues-derived material and their guitar riff-based sound. It has been described as the band's heaviest album.[1] Six of the nine songs were written by the band, while the other three were reinterpretations of Chicago blues songs by Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf. One single, "Whole Lotta Love", was released outside of the UK (the band would release no UK singles during their career),[2] and peaked as a top-ten single in over a dozen markets around the world.
Led Zeppelin II was a commercial success, and was the band's first album to reach number one on charts in the UK and the US. The album's cover designer David Juniper was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package in 1970. On 15 November 1999, the album was certified 12× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales passing 12 million copies. Since its release, various writers and music critics have regularly cited Led Zeppelin II as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time.[3]
The Jam
2/5
All Mod Cons is the third studio album by the British band The Jam, released in 1978 by Polydor Records. The title, a British idiom one might find in housing advertisements, is short for "all modern conveniences" and is a pun on the band's association with the mod revival. The album reached No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart.The album was reissued in the United States in 1979, with the song "The Butterfly Collector" replacing "Billy Hunt".
2.5/5
OutKast
4/5
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo Outkast. It was released on September 23, 2003, by Arista Records. Issued as a double album, its length of over two hours is spread across solo albums from both of the group's members. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx is a Southern hip hop album with a P-Funk influence, while André 3000's The Love Below features psychedelic, pop, funk, electro, and jazz styles.Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was supported with the hit singles \"Hey Ya!\" and \"The Way You Move\", which both reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the top-ten hit \"Roses\". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 510,000 copies in its first week. It eventually amassed a total of seven non-consecutive weeks at the top of the chart and 24 weeks in the Top 10. It has been certified diamond and 11 times platinum by the RIAA (each disc in the double album counted as a separate unit for certification). As of March 2012, it has sold 5.7 million units in the United States.Speakerboxxx/The Love Below received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised the consistency of Big Boi's Speakerboxxx and the eclectic musical style of André 3000's The Love Below. It topped The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll, and won Album of the Year and Best Rap Album at the 46th Grammy Awards, while \"Hey Ya!\" won Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
Good background music
4/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
Psychocandy is the debut studio album by Scottish rock[5][6] band the Jesus and Mary Chain. It was released in November 1985 on Blanco y Negro Records. The album is considered a landmark recording: its combination of guitar feedback and noise with traditional pop melody and structure proved influential on the forthcoming shoegazing genre and alternative rock in general. The band moved from its abrasive sound with the release of their second album, 1987's Darklands.
2.5/5
The Prodigy
3/5
The Fat of the Land is the third studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy, released on 30 June 1997 through XL Recordings. The album received critical acclaim and topped the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. It has sold over 10 million copies worldwide as of 2019.
Released in the first week of July, the album hit number one on the Billboard chart on 19 July 1997. Certified double platinum on 2 December that year,[10] it sold 2,600,000 copies in the United States.[11]
In 1999, The Fat of the Land entered the Guinness World Records as the fastest-selling UK album. The album was also nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, but lost to Radiohead's OK Computer.
3.5/5
Guns N' Roses
3/5
Appetite for Destruction is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on July 21, 1987, by Geffen Records.
The album was released to little mainstream attention in 1987. It was not until the following year that Appetite for Destruction became a commercial success, after the band had toured and received significant airplay with the singles "Welcome to the Jungle", "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child o' Mine". The album peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 and became the seventh best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling debut album. With over 30 million copies sold worldwide, it is also one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Although critics were originally ambivalent toward the album, Appetite for Destruction has received retrospective acclaim and has been viewed as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2018, it was re-released as a remastered box set to similar acclaim.
3.5/5
ABBA
4/5
Arrival is the fourth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally released in Sweden on 11 October 1976 by Polar Records. It became one of ABBA's most successful albums to date, producing three of their biggest hits: "Dancing Queen", "Money, Money, Money" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You". The track "Fernando", which had been recently released as a single in March 1976, was included on the Australian and New Zealand versions of the album. Arrival was the best-selling album of 1977 in the United Kingdom and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.[2]
The album was first released on compact disc (CD) in 1984 and then re-issued in digitally remastered form a total of four times; first in 1997, then in 2001, 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set, and again in 2006 (as a special Deluxe Edition).
On 7 October 2016, the album was released as a double vinyl mastered at Abbey Road Studios using Half Speed Mastering.
4/5
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim is a 1967 album by Frank Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim. The tracks were arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman, accompanied by a studio orchestra. Along with Jobim's original compositions, the album features three standards from the Great American Songbook, ("Change Partners", "I Concentrate on You", and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads") arranged in the bossa nova style.
Sinatra and Jobim followed up this album with sessions for a second collaboration, titled Sinatra-Jobim. That album was briefly released on 8-track tape (Reprise 8FH 1028) in 1969 before being taken out of print at Sinatra's behest, due to concerns over its sales potential. Several of the Sinatra-Jobim tracks were subsequently incorporated in the Sinatra & Company album (1971) and the Sinatra–Jobim Sessions compilation (1979). In 2010 the Concord Records label issued a new, comprehensive compilation titled Sinatra/Jobim: The Complete Reprise Recordings.
At the 10th Annual Grammy Awards in 1968, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, but lost to the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sinatra had won the previous two Grammy awards for album of the year, in 1967 and 1966.
Jobim had to wait for Sinatra to return from a holiday in Barbados where he was taking a mutually agreed 'break' from his marriage to Mia Farrow.[2]
Guitarist Al Viola played on "Change Partners" due to Jobim's difficulty with the track, but is not credited on the album.[3] Lyricists Aloysio de Oliveria and Ray Gilbert were also present at the sessions.[2]
The album was recorded on January 30 and February 1, 1967, at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Later in the evening of February 1, Sinatra and his daughter, Nancy, recorded their single "Somethin' Stupid".[4]
Frank has a silky smooth voice
3/5
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
Déjà Vu is the second studio album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, and their first as a quartet with Neil Young. It was released in March 1970 by Atlantic Records. It topped the pop album chart for one week and generated three Top 40 singles: "Woodstock", "Teach Your Children", and "Our House". It was re-released in 1977 and an expanded edition was released in 2021 to mark its fiftieth anniversary. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 148 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and later was ranked No. 220 on the 2020 edition of the list.[2] Certified 7× platinum by RIAA, the album's sales currently sit at over 8 million copies. It remains the highest-selling album of each member's career to date.[3]
Such amazing voices and harmonies
4/5
Aimee Mann
2/5
Whatever is the first solo album by the American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, released in 1993.
\"I've Had It\" is one of the songs featured in Nick Hornby's book 31 Songs. The album, with special note for the song \"4th of July\", was included by Elvis Costello in his \"Costello's 500\" list for Vanity Fair. It has also been included in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list.
2.5/5
The Waterboys
3/5
Fisherman's Blues is a 1988 album by The Waterboys. The album marked a change in the band's sound, with them abandoning their earlier grandiose rock sound for a mixture of traditional Irish music, traditional Scottish music, country music, and rock and roll. Critics were divided on its release with some disappointed at the change of direction and others ranking it among The Waterboys' best work.[1] The album was the Waterboys' best selling album, reaching a number 13 placing on the U.K. charts on release, and 76 on the Billboard 200.
R.E.M.
3/5
Murmur is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on April 12, 1983, by I.R.S. Records. Murmur drew critical acclaim upon its release for its unusual sound, defined by lead singer Michael Stipe's cryptic lyrics, guitarist Peter Buck's jangly guitar style, and bass guitarist Mike Mills' melodic basslines.
3.5/5
Pixies
2/5
Bossanova is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Pixies. It was released on August 13, 1990 by English independent record label 4AD in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Because of 4AD's independent status, major label Elektra handled distribution in the US.
Bossanova reached number 70 on the Billboard 200. The album peaked at number three in the UK Albums Chart. Two singles were released from Bossanova: "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire". Both charted on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US, at No. 4 and No. 11, respectively.
2.5/5
CHIC
3/5
C'est Chic includes the band's signature hit "Le Freak", which topped the US Hot 100 chart, US R&B, and US Club Play in October 1978,[8] selling six million copies in the US. The album also contains the hit single "I Want Your Love" (number 5 R&B,[8] number 7 Pop,[8] number 4 UK[9]).
C'est Chic was the band's most commercially successful album, reaching number 4 on Billboard's album chart and topping the US R&B chart for eleven weeks.[10] C'est Chic was Billboard's 1979 R&B Album of the Year, claiming the number one spot on Billboard's Year End Review. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA,[11] selling over a million copies. In the UK it peaked at number 2[9] and has been certified Gold by the BPI.[12]
Emmylou Harris
2/5
Red Dirt Girl is the nineteenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris, released on September 12, 2000 by Nonesuch Records. The album was a significant departure for Harris, as eleven of the twelve tracks were written or co-written by her. At the time, she was best known for covering other songwriters' work. Prior to this album, only two of Harris' LPs had more than two of her own compositions (Gliding Bird in 1969, and The Ballad of Sally Rose in 1985). Her next album, Stumble into Grace, was also written by Harris. The album contains "Bang the Drum Slowly", a song Guy Clark helped Harris write as an elegy for her father.[2] The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard country album charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2001.
2.5/5
Tracy Chapman
3/5
Tracy Chapman is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, released on April 5, 1988, by Elektra Records. The album was recorded at the Powertrax studio in Hollywood, California. In 1987, Chapman was discovered by fellow Tufts University student Brian Koppelman. He offered to show her work to his father, who owned a successful publishing company; however, she did not consider the offer to be serious. After multiple performances, however, Koppelman found a demo tape of her singing her single "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", which he promoted to radio stations, and she was eventually signed to Elektra Records.
In early attempts to produce the first album, many producers turned down Chapman as they did not favor her musical direction. David Kershenbaum, however, decided to produce it as he wanted to record an acoustic music album. It was recorded in Hollywood, California, in eight weeks. Most of the writing is based on political and social causes.
Tracy Chapman gained critical acclaim from a wide majority of music critics, praising the simplicity, Chapman's vocal ability and her political and social lyrical content. The album received commercial success in most of the countries it was released, making it to the top of the charts in many countries, including Austria, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. It peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with sales exceeding over six million copies in the United States alone.
Three singles were released from the album, with the most commercially successful single being "Fast Car". The song was performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute. It rose to the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also did well in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and other European countries. Tracy Chapman is one of the best-selling albums of all time.
3.5/5
Belle & Sebastian
2/5
Tigermilk is the 1996 debut album from Scottish pop group Belle and Sebastian. Originally given a limited release (1,000 copies) by Electric Honey, the album was subsequently re-released in 1999 by Jeepster Records.
The album is named after an instrumental that did not end up on the album – it was later performed on Belle and Sebastian's early tours. All of the songs on the album were written by Stuart Murdoch between 1993 and 1996, and originally performed solo on the Glasgow open mic circuit. Though he performs on the album, trumpet player Mick Cooke was not then an official member of the band.
2.5/5
Scott Walker
1/5
Scott 2 is the second solo album by Scott Walker, released in 1968 by Philips Records in the UK and Smash Records in the US. Featuring the minor hit "Jackie", it arrived at the height of Walker's commercial success as a solo artist, topping the UK Albums Chart.
This album, alongside Scott, features Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" recording technique. Like its predecessor, Scott 2 comprises an assortment of pop cover versions, selections from Walker favorite Jacques Brel, and a handful of original songs. His following three albums would feature mostly or entirely original material.
I don't know why this is on the list.....it was.....not good
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
2/5
Siembra (Planting) is the second studio album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón, released by Fania Records in september 7, 1978. It is considered the best selling salsa album in the history of salsa music and Latin music.
2.5/5
The Mars Volta
2/5
De-Loused in the Comatorium (commonly referred to as De-Loused) is the debut studio album by American progressive rock band the Mars Volta, released on June 24, 2003, on Gold Standard Laboratories and Universal Records. Based on a short story written by lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and sound manipulation artist Jeremy Ward, the concept album is an hour-long tale of Cerpin Taxt, a man who enters a week-long coma after overdosing on a mixture of morphine and rat poison. The story of Cerpin Taxt alludes to the death of El Paso, Texas artist—and Bixler-Zavala's friend—Julio Venegas (1972–1996).
Co-produced by Rick Rubin and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López, it is the only studio album to feature founding member Jeremy Ward, who was found dead in an apparent heroin overdose one month before the album was released. Following the departure of Eva Gardner who had appeared on the band's early demos and EP, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea performed on De-Loused.
The music contained in De-Loused is distinguished by its enigmatic lyrics, Latin and jazz rhythms, and Rodríguez-López's frenetic guitar riffs, which are often strongly dissonant. The title of the album is taken from the lyrics of the song "Eunuch Provocateur" on the band's previous release, Tremulant (meanwhile, "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" contains the title of Tremulant). The cover artwork is by Storm Thorgerson.
2/5
Aerosmith
3/5
Toys in the Attic is the third studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released in April 8, 1975 by Columbia Records. Its first single, "Sweet Emotion", was released on May 19 and the original version of "Walk This Way" followed on August 28 in the same year. The album is the band's most commercially successful studio LP in the United States, with nine million copies sold, according to the RIAA. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 228 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album's title track and their collaboration with Run-DMC on a cover version of "Walk This Way" are included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".
3.5/5
Roxy Music
2/5
Country Life is the fourth album by English rock band Roxy Music, released in 1974 by Island Records. It was released by Atco Records in the United States. The album is considered by many critics to be among the band's most sophisticated and consistent.
Country Life peaked at number three on the UK albums chart. It also charted at number 37 in the US, becoming their first record to crack the top 40 in the country. The album includes Roxy Music's fourth hit single, "All I Want Is You", which, backed with the B-side "Your Application's Failed", reached number 12 on the UK singles chart. An edited version of "The Thrill of It All", with the same B-side, was released in the US.
2.5/5
Dion
2/5
Born to Be with You is the fourteenth solo studio album by Dion, released in October 1975. Six of the eight tracks were produced by Phil Spector, who had expressed admiration of Dion's earlier work with his doo-wop group, Dion and the Belmonts.
Upon completion in 1974, Spector himself shelved the release for twelve months, only to find the album was largely met with indifference by the music establishment at the time. However, in the 1990s, the album began to receive widespread critical acclaim. Artists such as Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream cited it as a key influence.
The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The recording sessions were lengthy and chaotic, often hampered by Spector's drinking and unpredictable temperament.[4] Bruce Springsteen and Miami Steve visited the studio during the recording sessions.[5] On its completion in 1974, Dion effectively disowned the record, stating that the production made it sound like "funeral music".[4]
2/5
Richard Hawley
2/5
Coles Corner is the fourth studio album from English pop/rock musician Richard Hawley, released on 5 September 2005 in the UK and on 6 September 2005 in the US. The title immortalises the legendary Sheffield landmark Coles Corner, a popular meeting place of old and new lovers. The album was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize for best album.
2.5/5
Lucinda Williams
3/5
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on June 30, 1998, by Mercury Records. The album was recorded and co-produced by Williams in Nashville, Tennessee and Canoga Park, California, and features guest appearances by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris.
Universally acclaimed by critics, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was voted as the best album of 1998 in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, and ranked No. 98 on the 2020 revision of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1999, and earned Williams an additional nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Can't Let Go". The album peaked at No. 68 on the Billboard 200, and remained on the chart for over five months, eventually becoming Williams' first album to be certified Gold by the RIAA. It remains Williams' best-selling album to date, with 872,000 copies sold in the US alone, as of October 2014. Additionally, it was certified Silver in the UK on July 22, 2013.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
In 2000, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and ranked number 306 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003,[4] and 308 in 2012 revised list.[5] Sinatra aficionados often rank it his best or second best album (to In the Wee Small Hours) and many music critics consider it one of the greatest albums of its era.[6]
In 2000 it was voted number 100 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[7]
The LP was the first number one album in the UK. It was knocked off the top after two weeks by Carousel (the 1956 movie's soundtrack).[8]
The album's title predated the term "swinging" in the sense of partner-swapping sex by 8 years, inadvertently creating a pun on top of the original pun (whereby swinging could refer to either the genre of swing as well as the original innocent meaning of swinging; i.e., to have a good time).
Not my genre....but man, what a voice!
The Lemonheads
3/5
It's a Shame About Ray is the fifth album by American alternative rock band the Lemonheads, released on June 2, 1992. The album was produced by the Robb Brothers. At the time of principal recording, the band consisted of Evan Dando (lead vocals, guitar), Juliana Hatfield (bass, backing vocals) and David Ryan (drums). Though not originally on the album, the band's cover of Simon & Garfunkel's \"Mrs. Robinson\" was added to the album in later pressings after it had become a major worldwide radio hit, and it features a later lineup of the band with Nic Dalton on bass.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
Trout Mask Replica is the third studio album by the American band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records. The music was composed by Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) and arranged by drummer John \"Drumbo\" French. Combining elements of R&B, garage rock, and blues with free jazz, avant-garde approaches, and other genres of American music,[7] the album is regarded as an important work of experimental music and art rock.
The album was produced by Frank Zappa and recorded in March 1969 at Whitney Studios in Glendale, California, following eight months of intense rehearsals at a small rented communal house in Los Angeles. The lineup of the Magic Band at this time consisted of Bill \"Zoot Horn Rollo\" Harkleroad and Jeff \"Antennae Jimmy Semens\" Cotton on guitar, Mark \"Rockette Morton\" Boston on bass guitar, Victor \"The Mascara Snake\" Hayden on bass clarinet, and John \"Drumbo\" French on drums and percussion. Beefheart played several brass and woodwind instruments, including saxophone, musette, and natural horn, and contributed most of the vocal parts, while Zappa and members of the band provided occasional vocals and narration. The well-rehearsed Magic Band recorded all instrumental tracks[a 1] for the album in a single six-hour recording session; Beefheart's vocal and horn tracks were laid down over the next few days.
Trout Mask Replica sold poorly upon its initial release in the United States, where it failed to appear in any charts. It was more successful in the United Kingdom, where it spent a week at number 21 on the UK Albums Chart.
In recent years, however, Trout Mask Replica has been widely regarded as the masterpiece of Beefheart's musical career, as well as an important influence on many subsequent artists.
Its highly unconventional musical style, which includes polyrhythm, multi-octave vocals, and polytonality, continues to polarize audiences and has given the album a reputation as one of the most challenging recordings in the 20th century musical canon. It was ranked number 60 on Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and has appeared on the \"best of\" lists of many other publications.
This was odd to say the least 0.5/5
4/5
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967,[nb 1] Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art, and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture.
At the end of August 1966, the Beatles had permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests for the next three months. During a return flight to London in November, Paul McCartney had an idea for a song involving an Edwardian military band that formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. For this project, they continued the technological experimentation marked by their previous album, Revolver, this time without an absolute deadline for completion. Sessions began on 24 November at EMI Studios with compositions inspired by the Beatles' youth, but after pressure from EMI, the songs "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were released as a double A-side single in February 1967 and left off the LP. The album was then loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording the title track.
A key work of British psychedelia, Sgt. Pepper is considered one of the first art rock LPs and a progenitor to progressive rock. It incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including vaudeville, circus, music hall, avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music. With assistance from producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, much of the recordings were coloured with sound effects and tape manipulation, as exemplified on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and "A Day in the Life". Recording was completed on 21 April. The cover, which depicts the Beatles posing in front of a tableau of celebrities and historical figures, was designed by the pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth.
Sgt. Pepper's release was a defining moment in pop culture, heralding the album era and the 1967 Summer of Love, while its reception achieved full cultural legitimisation for pop music and recognition for the medium as a genuine art form. The album spent 27 weeks at number one on the Record Retailer chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the United States. In 1968, it won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honour; in 2003, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. It has topped several critics' and listeners' polls for the best album of all time, including those published by Rolling Stone magazine and in the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and the UK's "Music of the Millennium" poll. More than 32 million copies had been sold worldwide as of 2011. It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time and was still, in 2018, the UK's best-selling studio album. A remixed and expanded edition of the album was released in 2017.
good background
4.5/5
Fugazi
2/5
Repeater is the full-length debut studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released on April 19, 1990, as Repeater on LP, and in May 1990 on CD bundled with the 3 Songs EP as Repeater + 3 Songs. It was recorded at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, and produced and engineered by Don Zientara and Ted Niceley.
Repeater is often regarded as a definitive album for the band and a landmark of rock music. It has been described as an "angrier American update of Gang of Four's Solid Gold." It has also been noted for its complex interplay of guitar and rhythm section.[3] It is included in the book 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.[4]
2.5/5
Taylor Swift
4/5
1989 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 27, 2014, by Big Machine Records. After music critics questioned her status as a country musician following her pop and electronic-influenced fourth studio album Red (2012), Swift was inspired by 1980s synth-pop to recalibrate her artistry from country to pop music. On 1989, titled after her birth year to signify her symbolic artistic rebirth, Swift enlisted Max Martin as co-executive producer.
The album's synth-pop sound is characterized by heavy synthesizers, programmed drums, and processed backing vocals. The songs, expanding on Swift's songwriting practice taking inspiration from her personal life, express lighthearted perspectives towards failed relationships, departing from her previous hostile attitude. Swift and Big Machine promoted the album extensively through product endorsements, television, radio appearances and social media. They pulled 1989 from free streaming services such as Spotify, prompting an industry discourse on the impact of streaming on music sales.[note 3]
After the album's release, Swift embarked on the 1989 World Tour, which was the highest-grossing tour of 2015. The album was supported by seven singles, including three US Billboard Hot 100 number ones: "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". Critics praised 1989 for its emotion and melodies but a few were concerned over the synth-pop production, as they felt it eroded Swift's authenticity as a songwriter due to pop music's capitalist nature. Various publications listed 1989 as one of the best albums of the 2010s decade, with Rolling Stone and Consequence ranking it amongst the best of all time.
At the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016, 1989 won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, making Swift the first female solo artist to win Album of the Year twice. In the US, 1989 spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and was certified ninefold platinum the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also earned multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, and the UK, and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Retrospective commentaries regard 1989 as a key success in transforming Swift's image to that of a pop icon, but also highlighted how her artistic integrity and public image suffered from increasing media scrutiny.
Tay-tay! I really DO love cheesy pop music. 4.5/5
Good background music.
Björk
2/5
Debut is the international debut studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk,[nb 1] released in July 1993 by One Little Indian and Elektra Entertainment. It was produced by Björk and Nellee Hooper. It was Björk's first recording following the dissolution of her previous band, the Sugarcubes. The album departed from the rock style of her previous work and drew from an eclectic variety of styles, including electronic pop, house music, jazz and trip hop.
Debut received critical acclaim from British music critics, though United States reviews were mixed. It exceeded sales expectations, charting at number two in Iceland, three in the United Kingdom, and 61 in the US. It was certified gold in Canada and platinum in the US, where it remains Björk's best-selling album.[7]
Five singles were released from Debut: "Human Behaviour", "Venus as a Boy", "Play Dead", "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy". All charted in the UK, with only "Human Behaviour", "Violently Happy" and "Big Time Sensuality" charting on dance and modern rock charts in the US.
Meh....never really liked Bjork.....
Dr. Octagon
3/5
Dr. Octagonecologyst is the debut solo studio album by American rapper and Ultramagnetic MCs member Kool Keith, released under the alias Dr. Octagon. Originally titled Dr. Octagon, it was released on May 7, 1996, on Bulk Recordings in the United States and Mo' Wax in the United Kingdom. The album was later reissued with a different track listing by DreamWorks Records in 1997 under the title Dr. Octagonecologyst. The album was produced by Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and featured the work of turntablist DJ Qbert. KutMasta Kurt provided additional production work. The artwork for Dr. Octagonecologyst was drawn by Brian "Pushead" Schroeder.
Dr. Octagonecologyst introduces the character of Dr. Octagon, a homicidal, extraterrestrial, time-traveling gynecologist and surgeon. The album's distinctive sound fuses genres such as psychedelic music, trip hop and electronic music. Thornton's lyrics are often abstract, absurd, and avant-garde, using surrealism, non-sequiturs, hallucinatory psychedelia, and horror and science-fiction imagery, as well as sexual humor, absurdist/surrealistic humor, and juvenile humor. The unique sound and lyrics of Dr. Octagonecologyst inspired a wave of alternative music by underground hip hop artists such as Company Flow, Black Star and Jurassic 5.Kool Keith's lyrics and Nakamura's production were highly praised, as was DJ Qbert's innovative scratching. Dr. Octagonecologyst has since been ranked as one of the best hip hop albums of the 1990s. The character of Dr. Octagon has also appeared in Kool Keith projects like First Come, First Served (1999) and Dr. Dooom 2 (2008), both of which contain tracks in which Octagon is murdered by Dr. Dooom, The Return of Dr. Octagon, Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation and Space Goretex. Kool Keith later stated that the album sold around 200,000 copies without any major promotion or marketing budget.
The Band
3/5
Music from Big Pink is the debut studio album by the Band. Released in 1968, it employs a distinctive blend of country, rock, folk, classical, R&B, blues, and soul. The music was composed partly in \"Big Pink\", a house shared by bassist/singer Rick Danko, pianist/singer Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson in West Saugerties, New York. The album itself was recorded in studios in New York and Los Angeles in 1968, and followed the band's backing of Bob Dylan on his 1966 tour (as the Hawks) and time spent together in upstate New York recording material that was officially released in 1975 as The Basement Tapes, also with Dylan. The cover artwork is a painting by Dylan.
In 2000 the album was rereleased with additional outtakes from the recording sessions, and in 2018 a \"50th Anniversary Super Deluxe\" edition was released with a new stereo mix by Bob Clearmountain.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Ragged Glory is the 18th studio album by Canadian / American singer-songwriter Neil Young, and his sixth album with the band Crazy Horse. It was released by Reprise Records on September 9, 1990.
The Stone Roses
3/5
The Stone Roses is the debut studio album by English rock band the Stone Roses. It was recorded mostly at Battery Studios in London with producer John Leckie from June 1988 to February 1989 and released in May of that year by Silvertone Records.
Despite not being an immediate success, the album grew popular alongside the band's high-profile concert performances, which also helped establish them as fixtures of the Madchester and baggy cultural scenes. The record's critical standing also improved significantly in later years, with The Stone Roses now considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. It was voted number 11 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). It has sold over four million copies worldwide.
3.5/5
a-ha
3/5
Hunting High and Low is the debut studio album by Norwegian new wave band A-ha, released on 1 June 1985 in the United States of America and 28 October 1985 in the United Kingdom[1] by Warner Bros. Records. The album was a huge commercial success, reaching high positions on charts worldwide and peaking at number 15 on the US Billboard 200. The album was recorded at Eel Pie Studios in Twickenham, London, and produced by Tony Mansfield, John Ratcliff and Alan Tarney.
In all, five singles from the album were released, though not all were released internationally: "Take On Me", "Love Is Reason", "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.", "Train of Thought" and "Hunting High and Low". The group was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards in 1986, making A-ha the first Norwegian band to be nominated for a Grammy.
Brian Eno
2/5
Here Come the Warm Jets is the debut solo album by British musician Brian Eno, released on Island Records in January 1974. It was recorded and produced by Eno following his departure from Roxy Music, and blends glam and pop stylings with avant-garde approaches. The album features numerous guests, including several of Eno's former Roxy Music bandmates along with members of Hawkwind, Matching Mole, Pink Fairies, Sharks, Sweetfeed, and King Crimson. Eno devised unusual methods and instructions to coax unexpected results from the various musicians.Here Come the Warm Jets peaked at number 26 on the United Kingdom album charts and number 151 on the US Billboard charts, receiving mostly positive reviews. It was re-issued on compact disc in 1990 on Island Records and remastered in 2004 on Virgin Records, and continued to elicit praise.
2.5/5
PJ Harvey
2/5
Rid of Me is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in May 1993, approximately one year after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album Dry. It marked a departure from Harvey's previous songwriting, being more raw and aggressive than its predecessor.
The songs on Rid of Me were performed by Harvey's eponymous trio, consisting of Harvey on guitar and vocals, Rob Ellis on drums and background vocals, and Steve Vaughan on bass. Most of the songs on the album were recorded by Steve Albini, and it was the last album they recorded as a trio before disbanding in late 1993. Rid of Me was met with critical acclaim, and is cited as one of the greatest albums of all time, ranking at number 153 on the 2020 version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (up from 406 on the list's previous edition).
2.5/5
Suicide
2/5
Suicide is the debut studio album from the American rock band Suicide. It was released in 1977 on Red Star Records and produced by Craig Leon and Marty Thau. The album was recorded in four days at Ultima Sound Studios in New York and featured Martin Rev's minimalist electronics and harsh, repetitive rhythms paired with Alan Vega's rock and roll-inspired vocals and depictions of urban life.
Upon its initial release, Suicide was greeted with positive reception from the UK press, but received mixed reviews in the United States, where it failed to chart. However, the album would soon be regarded as a milestone in electronic and rock music. In 2013, Pitchfork named Suicide one of the greatest albums of the 1970s, while in 2012 and 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album also influenced artists in various genres, including Bruce Springsteen, the Fleshtones, Spacemen 3, and Peaches.
The Offspring
3/5
Smash is the third studio album by American rock band the Offspring, released on April 5, 1994, by Epitaph Records. After touring in support of their previous album Ignition (1992), the band recorded their next album over two months at Track Record in North Hollywood, California. Smash was the band's final studio album to be produced by Thom Wilson, who had worked with them since their 1989 eponymous debut. This also marks the first album where Dexter Holland is credited with playing the guitar as opposed to vocals only.
Smash was the Offspring's introduction into worldwide popularity, and produced a number of hit singles, including "Come Out and Play", "Self Esteem", and "Gotta Get Away". Along with Green Day's Dookie, Smash was responsible for bringing punk rock into the mainstream, and helped pave the way for the emerging pop punk scene of the 1990s. As a fan favorite, the album received generally positive reviews from critics and garnered attention from major labels, including Columbia Records, with whom the band would sign in 1996.
Peaking at number four on the US Billboard 200, Smash has sold over eleven million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album released by an independent record label; it was also the first Epitaph release to obtain gold and platinum status. In the United States, Smash has sold over six million copies and has been certified six times platinum by the RIAA.
The Hives
2/5
Your New Favourite Band is a collection by The Hives released in 2001, featuring tracks from their first two albums and the A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T EP. It was released by Alan McGee's Poptones record label, which was licensed the band's songs by Burning Heart Records. The decision to release such a compilation was made with the intention of achieving mainstream success in the UK and other territories. The album was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5]
2.5/5
Dennis Wilson
3/5
Pacific Ocean Blue is the only studio album by American musician Dennis Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys.[3] When released in August 1977, it was warmly received critically,[4] and noted for outselling the Beach Boys' contemporary efforts.[5] Two singles were issued from the album, "River Song" and "You and I", which did not chart.
The album remains a focal point of Wilson's legacy,[6] being referred to as a "classic".[3] It was voted number 838 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[7] Wilson intended to record a follow-up, entitled Bambu, but the album was left unfinished at the time of his death in December 1983.[6][8]
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Tuesday Night Music Club is the debut album from American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, released on August 3, 1993. The lead single "Run Baby Run" was not particularly successful. However, the album gained attention after the success of the third single, "All I Wanna Do", based on the Wyn Cooper poem "Fun"[10] and co-written by David Baerwald, Bill Bottrell, Sheryl Crow, and Kevin Gilbert. The single eventually reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, propelling the album to number three on the US Billboard 200 albums chart. It has sold more than 4.5 million copies in the US as of January 2008.[11][12] On the UK Album Chart, Tuesday Night Music Club reached number 8[13] and is certified 2× platinum.[14]
It is listed as one of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and also ranked at number 94 on the list for the 150 greatest female albums of all time by National Public Radio.[15][16]
3.5/5
The Icarus Line
2/5
Penance Soiree is the second full-length album released by Los Angeles band The Icarus Line. It was one of 2004's most critically acclaimed releases, and its reputation has subsequently earned praise in various publications, including the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[1]
Due to infighting with the band's U.S. division of their record label at the time, V2 Records, the album, which was recorded in early 2003, was not released until May 2, 2004. Disagreements and aggravations on the band's end stemmed from the label's general lack of interest and support, a nearly non-existent promotional campaign for the album, and the group's control over its artwork. The U.S. division of the record label did not invest in even one advertisement for the release, and also made the band pay for the production of their music videos out of their own pocket.
The album was produced by Michael Musmanno, and then mixed by Alan Moulder. Moulder also contributed some last minute recording and engineering to the album, while mixing it in London with Aaron North and Joe Cardamone at Eden Studios in west London. The song "On the Lash" was also re-mixed for the album's inclusion by Ken Andrews, due to the band being unhappy with the original mix after returning home. The album was mastered by Howie Weinberg in New York City.
Lou Reed
2/5
Berlin is the third solo studio album by American musician Lou Reed, released in October 1973 by RCA Records. A concept album, Berlin tells the story of a couple's struggle with drug addiction and abuse. Initially, critical reception was mixed but appraisals of the album have warmed over the years: in 1973 Rolling Stone declared the album "a disaster", but by 2012 the album was ranked No. 344 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The album is a tragic rock opera about a doomed couple, Jim and Caroline, and addresses themes of drug use, prostitution, depression, domestic violence and suicide.[3]
The concept was created when producer Bob Ezrin mentioned to Lou Reed that although the stories told by Reed's songs had great beginnings, they never really had an ending. Specifically, Ezrin wanted to know what happened to the couple from "Berlin" – a song from Reed's first solo album.[4]
"The Kids" tells of Caroline having her children taken from her by the authorities and features the sounds of children crying for their mother.
1.5/5
The Pogues
3/5
Rum Sodomy & the Lash is the second studio album by the London-based folk punk band The Pogues, released on 5 August 1985.[2] The album reached number 13 on the UK charts. The track "A Pair of Brown Eyes", based on an older Irish tune, reached number 72 on the UK singles chart. "The Old Main Drag" later appeared on the soundtrack to the film My Own Private Idaho.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
This Year's Model is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, released on 17 March 1978 through Radar Records. After being backed by Clover for his debut album My Aim Is True (1977), Costello formed the Attractions – keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation) – as his permanent backing band. Recording sessions took place at London's Eden Studios in eleven days between late 1977 and early 1978. Nick Lowe returned as producer, and Roger Béchirian acted as engineer. Most of the songs were written prior to the sessions, and debuted live during the latter half of 1977.
Embracing new wave, power pop and punk rock, the songs draw from bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The lyrics explore subjects such as technologies of mass control and failing relationships, but in a manner that some reviewers found misogynistic. Echoing the lyrics of some of the tracks, the cover artwork, designed by the English graphic artist Barney Bubbles, shows Costello behind a camera placed on a tripod, emphasing his role as an observer.
The accompanying singles "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Pump It Up" were commercially successful and the album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart. The American LP was released in May 1978 through Columbia Records. Substituting "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Night Rally" for "Radio Radio", it reached number 30 on Billboard's Top LPs & Tape chart. This Year's Model also received critical acclaim; reviewers highlighted strong songwriting and performances, while also admiring Costello and the band as artists. The album appeared on year-end lists in both the UK and the US.
In later decades, This Year's Model has been acclaimed as one of Costello's best works, some critics commenting on its influence on punk and new wave. It has appeared on several lists of the greatest albums of all time and has been reissued multiple times with bonus tracks. In 2021, Costello spearheaded a new version of the album titled Spanish Model, which featured songs from This Year's Model sung in Spanish by Latin artists over the Attractions' original backing tracks. It received favourable reviews and charted on several Billboard charts.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Bug is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr., released in October 1988 through SST Records. Blast First and Au Go Go Records released the album in the United Kingdom and Australia, respectively. It was the last Dinosaur Jr. album with original bassist Lou Barlow until Beyond in 2007.
Despite it being a favorite of many Dinosaur Jr. fans, J Mascis has said it is his least favorite Dinosaur Jr. album. The version of 'Keep The Glove' included on the 2005 reissue is not the same as the version on the b-side of the 'Freakscene' single or the 'Fossils' compilation.
The Monkees
3/5
Headquarters is the third album by the Monkees, released in May 1967 after the first season of their television series had concluded. It was the first album on which the group members made substantial songwriting and instrumental contributions, rather than relying on session musicians and professional songwriters. After a struggle for creative autonomy with their record label, the group had been allowed, to a degree, to record by themselves. Headquarters became the group's third consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified double platinum in the United States with sales of more than two million copies within the first two months of release. It also peaked at No. 2 on the UK charts. It is included in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Wilco
3/5
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the fourth studio album by American rock band Wilco, first released on September 18, 2001. Recording sessions for the album began in late 2000. These sessions, which were documented for the film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, were marred by conflicts including a switch in drummers and disagreements among the band members and engineers about songs. Despite this, the album would be completed in early 2001. The album showcased a more atmospheric and experimental sound than the band's previous work, and has been described as art rock[1][2] and indie rock[3] by music critics. It was the band's first album with drummer Glenn Kotche, and last with multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jay Bennett.
Reprise Records, Wilco's record label at the time, refused to release the album as they felt unhappy about the end result; this would lead to Wilco's departure from Reprise. The band subsequently acquired the rights to the album and later streamed the entire album for free on their website on September 18, 2001. In November of that year, Wilco signed with Nonesuch Records, who gave the album its first official retail release on April 23, 2002. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot received widespread acclaim from music critics at release, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s.[4] It is also Wilco's best-selling work, having reached number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart.[5]
I liked this more than I thought I would. 3.25/5
Lynyrd Skynyrd
3/5
(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) is the debut album by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released in 1973. Several of the album's songs remain among the band's most well-known: "Gimme Three Steps", "Simple Man", "Tuesday's Gone", and "Free Bird", the last of which launched the band to national stardom.
The album was certified gold on December 18, 1974, and double platinum on July 21, 1987, by the RIAA. It peaked at 27 on the Billboard 200 in 1975.
Great album! 3.75/5
Elis Regina
1/5
Elis Regina Carvalho Costa (March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982), known professionally as Elis Regina (Brazilian Portuguese: [eˈlis ʁeˈʒinɐ]), was a Brazilian singer of popular and jazz music. She is also the mother of the singers Maria Rita and Pedro Mariano.She became nationally renowned in 1965 after singing "Arrastão" (composed by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes) in the first edition of TV Excelsior festival song contest and soon joined O Fino da Bossa, a television program on TV Record. She was noted for her vocalization as well as for her interpretation and performances in shows. Her recordings include "Como Nossos Pais" (Belchior), "Upa Neguinho" (E. Lobo and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri), "Madalena" (Ivan Lins), "Casa no Campo" (Zé Rodrix and Tavito), "Águas de Março" (Tom Jobim), "Atrás da Porta" (Chico Buarque and Francis Hime), "O Bêbado e a Equilibrista" (Aldir Blanc and João Bosco), "Conversando no Bar" (Milton Nascimento).
Her untimely death, at the age of 36, shocked Brazil.
1.5/5
Gary Numan
3/5
The Pleasure Principle is the debut solo studio album by English new wave musician Gary Numan, released on 7 September 1979 by Beggars Banquet Records. The album came about six months after Replicas (1979), his second and final studio album with the band Tubeway Army. The Pleasure Principle peaked at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart.
A prelude to electronica 3/5
Kate Bush
2/5
The Dreaming is the fourth studio album by English art rock singer Kate Bush, released on 13 September 1982 by EMI Records. Recorded over two years, the album was produced entirely by Bush and is often characterised as her most uncommercial and experimental release. The Dreaming peaked at No. 3 on the UK album chart and has been certified Silver by the BPI, but initially sold less than its predecessors and was met with mixed critical reception. Five singles from the album were released, including the UK No. 11 \"Sat in Your Lap\" and the title track.
The critical standing of the album has improved significantly in recent decades. A public poll conducted by NPR ranked The Dreaming as the 24th greatest album ever made by a female artist. Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 71 on its list of \"Best Albums of the 1980s\". It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, the Mojo \"Top 50 Eccentric Albums of All Time\" list and The Word magazine's \"Great Underrated Albums of Our Time\" list. Musicians such as Björk and Big Boi have cited The Dreaming as one of their favourite albums.
2.5/5
The The
3/5
Soul Mining is the debut album by British post-punk/synth-pop band the The (the 1981 album Burning Blue Soul was originally released by the band's frontman Matt Johnson as a solo album, but later reissues credited it to the The). After a bidding war between major record labels which resulted in the group signing with CBS Records, Johnson began recording the album in New York City, but the initial recording sessions were aborted after the album's first two singles and Johnson returned to London where he wrote and recorded the rest of the record. Musically, Soul Mining is a post-punk and synth-pop album with influences of the early 1980s New York club scene, while Johnson's lyrics focus on relationship insecurities and social alienation, with imagery derived from dreams.
Soul Mining was released in the United Kingdom on 21 October 1983 on Some Bizzare Records/Epic Records and included versions of the singles "Uncertain Smile", "Perfect", and "This Is the Day". Although the album received positive reviews, its initial sales were modest, reaching number 27 in the UK and charting in a number of other countries, but in 2019 the album was certified gold in the UK. Soul Mining was reissued in June 2014 as a two-disc 30th anniversary deluxe version on vinyl, attracting retrospective reviews which universally praised the record, with critics describing it as both Johnson's best work and one of the best albums of the 1980s.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
The untitled fourth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV,[a] was released on 8 November 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was produced by guitarist Jimmy Page and recorded between December 1970 and February 1971, mostly in the country house Headley Grange. The album is notable for featuring "Stairway to Heaven", which has been described as the band's signature song.[4]
The informal setting at Headley Grange inspired the band, allowing them to try different arrangements of material and create songs in various styles. After the band's previous album Led Zeppelin III received lukewarm reviews from critics, they decided their fourth album would officially be untitled and would be represented instead by four symbols chosen by each band member, without featuring the name or any other details on the cover. Unlike the prior two albums, the band was joined by some guest musicians, such as vocalist Sandy Denny on "The Battle of Evermore", and pianist Ian Stewart on "Rock and Roll". As with prior albums, most of the material was written by the band, though there was one cover song, a hard rock re-interpretation of the Memphis Minnie blues song "When the Levee Breaks".
The album was a commercial and critical success and is Led Zeppelin's best-selling album, shipping over 37 million copies worldwide. It is one of the best-selling albums in the US, while critics have regularly placed it highly on lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 2010, Led Zeppelin IV was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail.[5][6]
4.75/5
Baaba Maal
2/5
Baaba Maal (born 13 June 1953) is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July 2003, he was made a UNDP Youth Emissary.[1]
Maal sings primarily in Pulaar[2] and promotes the traditions of the Pulaar-speaking people, who live on either side of the Senegal River in the ancient Senegalese kingdom of Futa Tooro.
Talvin Singh
3/5
OK is the debut studio album by English / Indian tabla player and record producer Talvin Singh, released on Island Records in 1998. It won him the Mercury Prize for 1999.[9] The record was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[10] It took nine months of travelling around and recording to complete the album. Singh recorded in London and on Okinawa Island to capture folk singers, as well as in India to collaborate with the Madras Philharmonic Orchestra.[11]
Singh hired various collaborators, including guitarist Jon Klein,[12] with whom he had previously recorded on Siouxsie and the Banshees's single "Kiss Them for Me" and toured during the inaugural Lollapalooza festival.[13] Ryuichi Sakamoto played flute on the album and sent his parts via a computer with an email which was a first in the late 1990s.[11] Rakesh Chaurasia also performed flute.[12] Singh recruited an eight female singer choir for the song "Soni".[12] Guy Sigsworth played keyboards on the opening track "Traveller", and also on "Sutrix" and the title track of the album.[12] Vocalist Suchitra Pillai joined in for the song "Sutrix".[12]
In the NME, reviewer Christian Ward noted that Singh was "trying to cover the globe with his music", as a voice intones "The world is sound", at the start of the album.[6] The record is rooted in India with odes to Asian underground scene, dub rhythms and jazz. There is also a contrast between "geisha choirs and cut-up beats", along with plaintive orchestral arrangements.[6] Reviewer noted that "convulsive rhythms compete with sensuous strings to create a deep, dark atmosphere", concluding with this positive sentence, "There are still more sonic territories to explore, but on this evidence, it seems that Talvin Singh will get there first."[6]
Hugh Masekela
2/5
Home Is Where the Music Is is a 1972 jazz and Afrobeat double LP by Hugh Masekela issued by the joint American label Chisa/Blue Thumb Records.[6][7][8] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[9]
Still don't like Jazz....it's fine
3/5
Black Holes and Revelations is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Muse. It was released on 3 July 2006 through Muse's Helium-3 imprint and Warner Bros. Records.
Muse recorded Black Holes and Revelations over four months in New York and southern France with producer Rich Costey. It saw a change in style for Muse, with influences including Depeche Mode, Millionaire, Lightning Bolt, Sly and the Family Stone, and music from southern Italy. Like their previous albums, it features political and dystopian undertones, with lyrics covering topics such as political corruption, alien invasion, revolution and New World Order conspiracies, as well as more conventional love songs.
Black Holes and Revelations received positive reviews and appeared on many year-end lists. It received a Mercury Prize nomination and later appeared in the 2007 version of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The album entered the charts at number one in five countries, including the United Kingdom, and in the top 10 in several other countries. It was later certified triple platinum in the UK and platinum in the US. Singles "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Knights of Cydonia" were both UK top-10 hits, while "Starlight", "Map of the Problematique", and "Invincible" all charted within the top 25. As of 2018, Black Holes and Revelations has sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide, making it the band's second most successful album behind The Resistance.
3.5/5
Television
2/5
Marquee Moon is the debut album by American rock band Television. It was released on February 8, 1977, by Elektra Records. In the years leading up to the album, Television had become a prominent act on the New York music scene and generated interest from a number of record labels, eventually signing a record deal with Elektra. The group rehearsed extensively in preparation for Marquee Moon before recording it at A & R Recording in September 1976. It was produced by the band's frontman Tom Verlaine and sound engineer Andy Johns.
For Marquee Moon, Verlaine and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd abandoned contemporary punk rock's power chords in favor of rock and jazz-inspired interplay, melodic lines, and counter-melodies. The resulting music is largely hook-driven with complex instrumental parts (particularly on longer tracks such as "Marquee Moon"), while evoking themes of adolescence and transcendence through imagery in urban, pastoral, and nocturnal modes, including references to the geography of Lower Manhattan. Influenced by Bohemian and French poetry, Verlaine's lyrics also feature puns and double entendres intended to give the songs an impressionistic quality in describing his perception of an experience.
Marquee Moon was met with widespread acclaim and was hailed by critics as an original musical development in rock music. The critical recognition helped the album achieve unexpected commercial success in the United Kingdom, despite poor sales in the United States. Among the most acclaimed music releases in history, it has consistently featured in professionally curated lists of top albums, including Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2003), on which it ranked 128th. Marquee Moon also proved to be a foundational record of alternative rock, as Television's innovative post-punk instrumentation for the album strongly influenced the new wave and indie rock movements of the 1980s and rock guitar playing in general.
2.5/5
XTC
3/5
Skylarking is the ninth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released 27 October 1986 on Virgin Records. Produced by American musician Todd Rundgren, it is a loose concept album about a nonspecific cycle, such as a day, a year, the seasons, or a life.[2] The title refers to a type of bird (skylark), as well as the Royal Navy term "skylarking", which means "fooling around". It became one of XTC's best-known albums and is generally regarded as their finest work.[3][4]
Like XTC's previous Dukes of Stratosphear side project, Skylarking was heavily influenced by the music of the 1960s. Most of its recording was at Rundgren's Utopia Sound Studio in Woodstock, New York. Rundgren played a large role in the album's sound design and drum programming, providing the band with orchestral arrangements and an assortment of gear. However, the sessions were fraught with tension, especially between Rundgren and bandleader Andy Partridge, and numerous disagreements arose over drum patterns, song selections, and other details. In 2010, it was discovered that a wiring error made during the mastering process caused the album to have a "thin" sound. The problem was corrected on subsequent remasters.
Upon release, Skylarking was met with indifference in the UK, rising in the album charts to number 90, while both of its lead singles "Grass" (backed with "Dear God") and "The Meeting Place" peaked at number 100. Early sales of the album were hampered by the omission of "Dear God" from the album's original pressings. In the US, the song became a college radio hit, causing US distributor Geffen Records to recall and repress Skylarking with the track included, and propelling the album to number 70. Following the song's growth in popularity, it was the subject of controversy in the US, inspiring many angry phone calls to radio stations and at least one bomb threat. Skylarking was later listed on "100 greatest albums of the 1980s" lists by Rolling Stone in 1989[2] and Pitchfork in 2002.[5]
The Killers
4/5
Hot Fuss is the debut studio album by American rock band the Killers, released on June 7, 2004, in the United Kingdom and on June 15, 2004, in the United States by Island Records. The album is mostly influenced by new wave music and post-punk. Hot Fuss spawned four commercially and critically successful singles: "Mr. Brightside", "Somebody Told Me", "All These Things That I've Done" and "Smile Like You Mean It".
The album reached number seven on the Billboard 200 and number one on the UK Albums Chart. As of December 2012, Hot Fuss had sold more than seven million copies worldwide, including more than three million in the United States and more than two million in the United Kingdom. It has also been certified platinum or multi-platinum in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. The album and its first three singles went on to garner five Grammy Award nominations.
4/5
The Flaming Lips
4/5
The Soft Bulletin is the ninth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released by Warner Bros. Records on May 17, 1999, in the United Kingdom, and on June 22, 1999, in the United States. The album was released to widespread acclaim, and was hailed by critics as a departure from their previous guitar-heavy alternative rock sound into a more layered, intricately arranged work.
I liked this quite a bit!
Soft Cell
2/5
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is the debut studio album by English synth-pop duo Soft Cell. It was released in the United Kingdom on 27 November 1981 by Some Bizzare Records. The album's critical and commercial success was bolstered by the success of its lead single, a cover version of Gloria Jones's song "Tainted Love", which topped the charts worldwide and became the best-selling British single of 1981. In the United States—as a result of the single's success, the album had reported advance orders of more than 200,000 copies. The album spawned two additional top-five singles in the UK: "Bedsitter" and "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye".
Tainted Love is great, but otherwise.....meh
2.5/5
John Prine
2/5
John Prine is the debut album by American country/folk singer-songwriter John Prine, issued by Atlantic Records in 1971. In 2012, the album was ranked number 452 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was later ranked number 149 in a revised version of the list published in 2020.
For as much as I don't like country music, this wasn't terrible
2.5/5
George Jones
1/5
The Grand Tour is an album by the American country music artist George Jones, released in 1974 as his fifth album for Epic Records. It peaked at #11 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and contained the hit title track, which reached a peak of #1 in August 1974.
not a fan 1.5/5
Elvis Presley
2/5
From Elvis in Memphis is the tenth studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Records on June 17, 1969. It was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis in January and February 1969 under the direction of producer Chips Moman and backed by its house band, informally known as "The Memphis Boys". Following the success of Presley's TV special Elvis and its soundtrack, the album marked Presley's return to non-soundtrack albums after the completion of his film contract with Paramount Pictures.
Presley's entourage convinced him to leave the RCA studios and record this album at American Sound, a Memphis studio at the peak of a hit-producing streak. The reason for going to Moman's studio was for the soul sound of the house band, 'the Memphis Boys'. The predominance of country songs among those recorded in these sessions gave them the feel of the "country soul" style. This impression was emphasized by the frequent use of the dobro in the arrangements. The Memphis Boys had a solidly southern soul sound.
From Elvis in Memphis was released in June 1969 to favorable reviews. The album peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200, number two on the country charts and number one in the United Kingdom, and its single "In the Ghetto" reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1970. In later years, it garnered further favorable reviews, while it was ranked number 190 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Contains the only Elvis song I actually like.....2.75/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus is the thirteenth studio album by the Australian alternative rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 20 September 2004 on Mute Records. It is a double album of seventeen songs.
3/5
Dizzee Rascal
3/5
Boy in da Corner is the debut studio album by English rapper and producer Dizzee Rascal. It was first released on 21 July 2003 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom before being released the following year in the United States.
A widespread critical success, Boy in da Corner became one of the most acclaimed records of 2003 and went on to win the Mercury Prize for best album from the UK and Ireland. It also peaked at number 23 on the British albums chart and sold over 250,000 copies worldwide by 2004. With the album's success, Dizzee Rascal gave mainstream exposure to grime music while becoming the UK's first internationally recognised rap star.
3.25/5
Nanci Griffith
2/5
The Last of the True Believers is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith, released in 1986 by Philo Records. The acclaim accorded her from her previous album, Once in a Very Blue Moon, and this album earned her a contract with a major recording company. Here, Griffith continued her turn toward a more country-oriented work than her first two albums, which were primarily folk-sounding. It also includes two songs which were later hits for Kathy Mattea, \"Love at the Five and Dime\" from Walk the Way the Wind Blows (1986) and \"Goin' Gone\", her first number one, from Untasted Honey (1987).
2.5/5
John Martyn
3/5
Contemporary reviews were favourable, with music weekly Sounds declaring that "Solid Air flows beautifully and shows the entire spectrum of music that John Martyn has at his fingertips."[8] In a retrospective review, American Songwriter described the album as "timeless" and stated that "audacious, hypnotic and groundbreaking only begins to describe Martyn’s still unique combination of folk, jazz, blues and space rock, wrapped around riveting, unforgettable melodies."[5] AllMusic called Solid Air "one of the defining moments of British folk" and noted its genre-blending.[10] BBC Music stated that "it's a classic with not a note out of place.. And ably assisted by John Wood's late night production it's now firmly esconced in the hearts of chillers, smokers and music lovers the world over."[6]
Solid Air was rated as the 67th Greatest British Album Ever by the British music magazine Q, and was also included in their list of Best Chill-Out Albums Of All Time. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery.[13] It was voted number 826 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).[14]
3.25/5
Billy Bragg
3/5
Mermaid Avenue is a 1998 album of previously unheard lyrics written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie, put to music written and performed by British singer Billy Bragg and the American band Wilco. The project was the first of several such projects organized by Guthrie's daughter, Nora Guthrie, original director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and archives. Mermaid Avenue was released on the Elektra Records label on June 23, 1998. A second volume of recordings, Mermaid Avenue Vol. II, followed in 2000 and both were collected in a box set alongside volume three in 2012 as Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions. The projects are named after the song "Mermaid's Avenue", written by Guthrie. This was also the name of the street in Coney Island, New York, on which Guthrie lived. According to American Songwriter Magazine, "The Mermaid Avenue project is essential for showing that Woody Guthrie could illuminate what was going on inside of him as well as he could detail the plight of his fellow man".[11] It was voted number 939 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).
3.25/5
Dolly Parton
2/5
Coat of Many Colors is the eighth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. It was released on October 4, 1971, by RCA Victor.[1] The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 1972 CMA Awards. It also appeared on Time magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time and at No. 257 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Parton has cited the title track on numerous occasions as her personal favorite of all the songs she has written.
The album was reissued on cassette in Canada in 1985.[2] It was reissued on CD for the first time in 1999.[3] It was reissued on CD in Europe in 2001 with 1971's Joshua.[4] The album was reissued on CD again in 2007 featuring four previously unreleased tracks.[5] In 2010, Sony Music reissued the 2007 CD in a triple-feature set with 1973's My Tennessee Mountain Home and 1974's Jolene.[6]
It is country, but it is also Dolly, so 2.5/5
Grateful Dead
2/5
American Beauty is the fifth studio album by rock band the Grateful Dead. Released November 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records, the album continued the folk rock and country music style of their previous album Workingman's Dead, issued earlier in the year.
Upon release, American Beauty entered the Billboard 200 chart, ultimately peaking at number 30 during a nineteen-week stay in January 1971.[10] On July 11, 1974, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and it later reached Platinum and Double Platinum certification in 1986 and 2001, respectively. In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, 261 in a 2012 revised list, and 215 in a 2020 revised list.
2/5
Radiohead
3/5
Amnesiac is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 30 May 2001 by EMI subsidiaries Parlophone and Capitol Records. It was recorded with the producer Nigel Godrich in the same sessions as Radiohead's previous album Kid A (2000); Radiohead split the work in two as they felt it was too dense for a double album. As with Kid A, Amnesiac incorporates influences from electronic music, 20th-century classical music, jazz and krautrock. The final track, "Life in a Glasshouse", is a collaboration with the jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band.
After having released no singles for Kid A, Radiohead promoted Amnesiac with the singles "Pyramid Song" and "Knives Out", accompanied by music videos. Videos were also made for "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" and "Like Spinning Plates", and "I Might Be Wrong", which was released as a promotional single. In June 2001, Radiohead began the Amnesiac tour, incorporating their first North American tour in three years.
Amnesiac debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number two on the US Billboard 200. By October 2008, it had sold over 900,000 copies worldwide. It is certified platinum in the UK, the US and Canada, and gold in Japan. Though some critics felt it was too experimental or less cohesive than Kid A, or saw it as a collection of outtakes, it received positive reviews; it was named one of the year's best albums by numerous publications.
Amnesiac was nominated for the Mercury Prize and several Grammy Awards, winning for Best Recording Package for the special edition. "Pyramid Song" was named one of the best tracks of the decade by Rolling Stone, NME and Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone ranked Amnesiac number 320 in their 2012 "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. Kid A Mnesia, an anniversary reissue compiling Kid A, Amnesiac and previously unreleased material, was released in 2021.
3.25/5
D'Angelo
2/5
Brown Sugar is the debut studio album by American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist D'Angelo, released on July 3, 1995, through EMI. The album was recorded during 1994 and 1995 in sessions at Battery Studios and RPM Studios in New York City and at the Pookie Lab in Sacramento. Its production, instrumentation, arrangements, and songwriting were primarily handled by D'Angelo, who employed both vintage recording equipment and modern electronic devices. The songs feature earnest lyrics about love and romance, set against a fusion of contemporary R&B and traditional soul music with elements of funk, quiet storm, and hip hop music.
Brown Sugar debuted at number six on the US Billboard Top R&B Albums chart, selling 300,000 copies in its first two months. With the help of its four singles, it spent 65 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and received platinum certification within a year of its release. Brown Sugar was also met with widespread acclaim and earned D'Angelo several accolades, including four Grammy Award nominations. Regarded by music journalists as a pivotal release in neo soul, the album brought commercial exposure to the burgeoning musical movement amid the prominence of producer-driven, digitally approached R&B.
2.75/5
The Prodigy
4/5
Music for the Jilted Generation is the second studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy. It was first released in July 1994 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom and by Mute Records in the United States. Just as on the group's debut album Experience (1992), Maxim Reality was the only member of the band's lineup—besides Liam Howlett—to contribute to the album.
Bon Jovi
3/5
Slippery When Wet is the third studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on August 18, 1986, by Mercury Records in North America and Vertigo Records internationally. It was produced by Bruce Fairbairn, with recording sessions between January and July 1986 at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver. The album features many of Bon Jovi's best-known songs, including "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' on a Prayer", and "Wanted Dead or Alive".
The album has been called the album that "[turned] heavy metal into a radio-friendly pop format",[5] and is also commonly seen as "a breakthrough for hair metal".[6][7]
Slippery When Wet was an instant commercial success, spending eight weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and was named by Billboard as the top-selling album of 1987.[8] Slippery When Wet is Bon Jovi's best-selling album to date, with an RIAA certification of 12× Platinum, making it one of the top 100 best-selling albums in the United States.[9]
As much as I really don't like Bon Jpvi, this is a pretty damn good album. 3.75/5
The Cure
4/5
Disintegration is the eighth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 2 May 1989 by Fiction Records. The record marks a return to the introspective gothic rock style the band had established in the early 1980s. As he neared the age of 30, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith had felt an increased pressure to follow up on the band's pop successes with a more enduring work. This, coupled with a distaste for the group's newfound popularity, caused Smith to lapse back into the use of hallucinogenic drugs, the effects of which had a strong influence on the production of the album. The band recorded the album at Hookend Recording Studios in Checkendon, Oxfordshire, with co-producer David M. Allen from late 1988 to early 1989. Following the completion of the mixing, founding member Lol Tolhurst was fired from the band.
The album became the band's first commercial peak, charting at number three in the United Kingdom and at number 12 in the United States, and producing several hit singles including "Lovesong", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It remains the band's highest selling record to date, with more than four million copies sold worldwide. It was greeted with a warm critical reception before later being acclaimed, eventually being placed at number 116 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it the "culmination of all the musical directions the Cure were pursuing over the course of the '80s".
One of my favorite Cure albums 4.5/5
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is the only studio album by the English–American rock band Derek and the Dominos, released in November 1970 as a double album. It is best known for its title track, "Layla", which is often regarded as Eric Clapton's greatest musical achievement.
The other band members were Bobby Whitlock (vocals, keyboard), Jim Gordon (drums, percussion), and Carl Radle (bass). Duane Allman played lead and slide guitar on 11 of the 14 songs.
Initially regarded as a critical and commercial disappointment, it failed to chart in Britain and peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the United States. It returned to the US albums chart again in 1972, 1974 and 1977, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA. The album finally debuted on the UK Albums Chart in 2011, peaking at number 68.
In 2000, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2003, television network VH1 named Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs the 89th-greatest album of all time. In the same year, Rolling Stone ranked it number 117 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[2] It was ranked at number 226 on the 2020 reboot of the list.[3] It was voted number 287 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[4] In 2012, the Super Deluxe Edition of Layla won a Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album.
3.25/5
David Bowie
2/5
The Next Day is the 25th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released in March 2013. It was his first studio release in ten years, having retreated from public view after his 2004 heart attack. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, the album was recorded in New York City at the Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios between May 2011 and October 2012. It featured contributions from collaborators old and new, including Gerry Leonard, Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey, Steve Elson, Sterling Campbell and Zachary Alford. The sessions were recorded in secret; all personnel involved signed non-disclosure agreements.
Primarily an art rock album, The Next Day contains musical references to Bowie's earlier works. The lyrics are generally bleak, and draw on his reading of English and Russian history in their coverage of tyranny and violence. The characters range from soldiers and assassins to school shooters and street gangs. The album was released through ISO Records in association with Columbia Records. The designer Jonathan Barnbrook adapted the cover art from Bowie's 1977 album "Heroes", and places a white square with the album's title obscures his face and the "Heroes" title is crossed out.
The debut single "Where Are We Now?" and announcement of the album were posted online on 8 January 2013, Bowie's 66th birthday, surprising fans and media who had assumed he had retired from music. Preceded by a viral marketing campaign, The Next Day topped charts worldwide and debuted at number one and two on the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200, respectively. It was Bowie's first UK number-one album since 1993 and his highest charting US album since 1976. Several singles with accompanying music videos were released throughout 2013. Outtakes and remixes appeared on The Next Day Extra, which was released in November.
The Next Day received critical acclaim and was regarded as Bowie's best work in decades; it placed on several year-end lists. Many reviewers highlighted the vocal and musical performances, and made positive comparisons to his earlier works, though some felt the album lacked innovation and was overlong. Among the first surprise albums of the 2010s, The Next Day was included in the 2014 revised edition of Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
2.5/5
Sepultura
2/5
Arise is the fourth studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, released in 1991 by Roadrunner Records. Upon its release, the album received top reviews from heavy metal magazines such as Rock Hard, Kerrang! and Metal Forces.[2] Arise is considered Sepultura's finest hour among longtime fans.[3] While the music on Arise was mostly in the same death/thrash style as their previous album, Beneath the Remains, it was clear that the Sepultura sound was acquiring an experimental edge.[4]
The album presented their first incursions with industrial music, hardcore punk and Latin percussion.[5][6] The tour (1991–1992) that supported the album was the group's longest at that time, totalling 220 shows in 39 countries.[6] During this trek, the album went gold in Indonesia—the band's first music industry certification.[7] By the tour's end, Arise had achieved platinum sales worldwide.
Not my bag
Booker T. & The MG's
2/5
Green Onions is the debut album by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in October 1962. It reached number 33 on the pop album chart in the month of its release. The title single was a worldwide hit and has been covered by dozens of artists, including the Blues Brothers and Roy Buchanan (both with Steve Cropper on guitar), as well as The Ventures, Al Kooper, The Shadows, Mongo Santamaría, Deep Purple (Live and studio versions) and Count Basie.
Three previous Stax LPs – two by the Mar-Keys, one by Carla Thomas – had been issued on Atlantic Records. Green Onions was the first album released on the Stax label. It was also Stax's first charting album, peaking at number 33 on the Billboard 200. The album features only instrumental songs and features Steve Cropper playing a Fender Telecaster.The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
2.5/5
Pink Floyd
4/5
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imposed isolation from society forms a figurative wall. The album was a commercial success, topping the US charts for 15 weeks and reaching number three in the UK. It initially received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom found it overblown and pretentious, but later received accolades as one of the greatest albums of all time and one of the band's finest works.
Bassist Roger Waters conceived The Wall during Pink Floyd's 1977 In The Flesh tour, modelling the character of Pink after himself and former bandmate Syd Barrett. Recording spanned from December 1978 to November 1979. Producer Bob Ezrin helped to refine the concept and bridge tensions during recording, as the band members were struggling with personal and financial issues at the time. The Wall was the last album to feature Pink Floyd as a quartet; keyboardist Richard Wright was fired by Waters during production but stayed on as a salaried musician.
Three singles were issued from the album: "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" (Pink Floyd's only UK and US number-one single), "Run Like Hell", and "Comfortably Numb". From 1980 to 1981, Pink Floyd performed the full album on a tour that featured elaborate theatrical effects. In 1982, The Wall was adapted into a feature film for which Waters wrote the screenplay.
The Wall is one of the best-known concept albums. With over 30 million copies sold, it is the second best-selling album in the band's catalogue (behind The Dark Side of the Moon) and one of the best-selling albums of all time. Some of the outtakes from the recording sessions were used on the group's next album, The Final Cut (1983). In 2000, it was voted number 30 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2003, 2012, and 2020, it was included in Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest albums of all time. From 2010 to 2013, Waters staged a new Wall live tour that became the highest-grossing tour by a solo musician.
4.5/5
The Police
4/5
Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by English rock band the Police, released on 17 June 1983 by A&M Records. The band's most successful release, the album includes the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II". The album's title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler's The Roots of Coincidence. At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards, including Album of the Year, and won three. At the time of its release and following its tour, the Police's popularity was at such a high that they were arguably, according to BBC and The Guardian, the "biggest band in the world".[1][2]
Synchronicity reached number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over eight million copies in the US. The album was widely acclaimed by critics. Praise centred on its cohesive merging of disparate genres and sonic experimentation. Rolling Stone described "each cut on Synchronicity [as] not simply a song but a miniature, discrete soundtrack".[3] It has since been included in the magazine's lists of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties"[4] and the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[5] In 2009, Synchronicity was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
The Hour of Bewilderbeast is the debut studio album by British musician Badly Drawn Boy, released on 26 June 2000. Damon Gough, who performs as Badly Drawn Boy, wrote, produced, and played several instruments on the album's eighteen tracks, several of which also feature accompaniment by members of the British indie rock bands Alfie and Doves. The Hour of Bewilderbeast was released to great critical acclaim and went on to win the 2000 Mercury Prize,[1] and has sold 455,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of September 2011
Judas Priest
2/5
British Steel is the sixth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 11 April 1980 by Columbia Records. It was the band's first album to feature Dave Holland on drums.
British Steel saw the band reprise the commercial sound they had established on Killing Machine. This time, they abandoned some of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their previous releases, but some of it still remains. In a June 2017 appearance on Sirius radio podcast "Rolling Stone Music Now,"[4] Rob Halford said the band may have been inspired by AC/DC on some tracks after supporting them on a European tour in 1979.[5] British Steel was recorded in December 1979 at Tittenhurst Park, home of former Beatle Ringo Starr, after a false start at Startling Studios, also located on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park, due to the band preferring Starr's house to the recording studio itself. Digital sampling was not yet widely available at the time of recording, so the band used analog recording of smashing milk bottles to be included in "Breaking the Law", as well as various sounds in "Metal Gods" produced by billiard cues and trays of cutlery.[2] It is the first Judas Priest album to feature drummer Dave Holland, and it was released in the UK at a discount price of £3.99, with the advertisements in the music press bearing the legend "British Steal". The songs "Breaking the Law", "United", and "Living After Midnight" were released as singles.[2]
2.25/5
Blur
2/5
Blur is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 10 February 1997 by Food Records. Blur had previously been broadly critical of American popular culture and their previous albums had become associated with the Britpop movement, particularly Parklife, which had helped them become one of Britain's leading pop acts. After their previous album, The Great Escape, the band faced media backlash and relationships between the members became strained.
Under the suggestion of the band's guitarist, Graham Coxon, the band underwent a stylistic change, becoming influenced by American indie rock bands such as Pavement. Recording took place in London as well as in Reykjavík, Iceland. Drummer Dave Rowntree described the music on the album as being more aggressive and emotional than their previous work. Producer Stephen Street claimed that lead singer-songwriter Damon Albarn had started writing about more personal experiences while Coxon revealed that listening to his lyrics it was clear to him that "he'd obviously gone off his head a bit more".
Despite worries from Blur's label, EMI, and the music press that the change in style would alienate the band's predominantly teenage fanbase and that the album would flop as a result, Blur, as well as lead single, "Beetlebum", reached the top of the UK charts and the album was certified platinum. The album also reached the top 20 in six other countries. The success of "Song 2" led to Blur becoming the band's most successful album in the US where the Britpop scene had been largely unsuccessful. The album received positive reviews from most music critics, many praising the stylistic change as well as Albarn's songwriting. This is the last album to feature longtime producer Stephen Street, until his return for The Magic Whip (2015).
2.75/5
Miles Davis
2/5
Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, and released on August 17 of that year by Columbia Records. For the recording, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly appearing on one track – "Freddie Freeloader" – in place of Evans.
Influenced in part by Evans, who had joined the ensemble in 1958, Davis departed further from his early hard bop style in favor of greater experimentation with musical modes, as on his previous album Milestones (1958). Basing Kind of Blue entirely on modality, he gave each performer a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style, and consequently more creative freedom with melodies; Coltrane later expanded on this modal approach in his own solo career.
Kind of Blue is regarded by many critics as Davis's masterpiece, the greatest jazz record ever recorded, and one of the best albums of all time. Its impact on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever made. The LP was one of fifty recordings chosen in 2002 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, and in 2003 it was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2019, Kind of Blue was certified 5× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of at least five million copies in the United States.
2.5/5
George Michael
3/5
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 is the second solo studio album by the English singer-songwriter George Michael, released on 3 September 1990 by Columbia Records (Epic Records in the UK). The album was Michael's final album of all-new material on Columbia until 2004's Patience. Listen Without Prejudice was a stark departure from Michael's previous album, 1987's Faith, with largely acoustic instrumentation and a sombre intensity in many of the lyrics and melodies. While the album topped the UK Albums Chart, disappointing sales in the United States led to Michael's legal battles against Sony Music, in which he accused the corporation of not fully supporting him as an artist.Listen Without Prejudice was reissued across a number of formats on 20 October 2017 and again topped the UK Albums Chart, 27 years after it first reached number one on the chart.
3.75/5
Bad Brains
2/5
I Against I is the third studio album by the American rock band Bad Brains. It was released on November 21, 1986 through SST Records with the catalog number SST 065. The best-selling album in the band's catalog, I Against I finds the band branching out from their early hardcore punk style to touch on funk, soul, reggae and heavy metal. It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The title track was a Paul Rachman-directed video (Rachman would go on to direct the documentary film American Hardcore).
The title I Against I presumably refers to the common Rastafarian phrase I and I, which is used in place of the first-person plural (i.e. we) to signify the union of the speaker, audience, and Jah (God) in love and peace.
At the producer's suggestion, the vocals to "Sacred Love" were recorded over the phone from the prison where H.R. was serving time on a marijuana distribution.
2.25/5
Motörhead
1/5
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith is the first live album by English rock band Motörhead, released on 22 June 1981 via Bronze Records. It peaked at number 1 on the UK album charts. It was followed by the release of the single "Motorhead" (backed with the non-album track "Over the Top") on 11 July, which peaked in the UK singles chart at number 6.
1.5/5
Faust
2/5
Faust IV is the fourth studio album by the German krautrock group Faust, released in 1973. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, where it is referred to as a "krautrock classic".[4] This was the last album by the first incarnation of the band, they returned in 1994 with the release of Rien featuring a different line-up.
This was different
Pixies
3/5
Doolittle is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD. Doolittle was the Pixies' first international release, with Elektra Records as the album's distributor in the United States and PolyGram in Canada.
Pixies released two singles from Doolittle: "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven", both of which were chart successes on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US, while tracks such as "Debaser" and "Hey" have also received praise. The album itself reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart, an unexpected success for the band.
Although it is considered the most accessible Pixies album, Doolittle is often regarded as the band's strongest and greatest work,[5] and has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, being certified Gold in 1995 and Platinum in 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been cited as inspirational by many alternative artists, while numerous music publications have ranked it as one of the most influential albums ever. A 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second-greatest album of all time,[6] Rolling Stone placed the album at 141 on its 2020 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"[7] and Pitchfork ranked it as the fourth best album of the 1980s.[8]
The album's offbeat and dark subject matter features references to surrealism, Biblical violence, torture and death.
3.25/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album was primarily developed during live performances, and the band premiered an early version of the suite several months before recording began. The record was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and partly deal with the apparent mental health problems of former band member Syd Barrett, who departed the group in 1968. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London.
The record builds on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the extended instrumentals that characterised the band's earlier work. The group employed multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers, including experimentation with the EMS VCS 3 and a Synthi A. Engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many of the sonic aspects and the recruitment of singer Clare Torry, who appears on "The Great Gig in the Sky".
The Dark Side of the Moon explores themes such as conflict, greed, time, death and mental illness. Snippets from interviews with the band's road crew are featured alongside philosophical quotations. The sleeve, which depicts a prism spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson in response to keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design which would represent the band's lighting and the album's themes. The album was promoted with two singles: "Money" and "Us and Them".
The Dark Side of the Moon is among the most critically acclaimed records in history, and is often featured in professional listings of the greatest albums of all time. The record helped to propel Pink Floyd to international fame, bringing wealth and plaudits to all four band members. A blockbuster release of the album era, it also propelled record sales throughout the music industry during the 1970s. The Dark Side of the Moon has been certified 14× platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 969 weeks in total. With estimated sales of over 45 million copies, it is Pink Floyd's most commercially successful album, and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Thelonious Monk
2/5
Brilliant Corners is a studio album by American jazz musician Thelonious Monk. It was his third album for Riverside Records,[1] and the first, for this label, to include his own compositions. The complex title track required over a dozen takes in the studio.
2.5/5
The album was recorded in three sessions in late 1956 with two different quintets. "Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-Are" and "Pannonica", on which Monk played the celeste, were recorded on October 9 with saxophonists Ernie Henry and Sonny Rollins, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and drummer Max Roach. The former composition was titled as a phonetic rendering of Monk's exaggerated pronunciation of "Blue Bolivar Blues", which referred to the Bolivar Hotel where Pannonica de Koenigswarter resided; Monk had met her during his first trip to Europe in 1954.[1]
On October 15, Monk attempted to record the title track with the same band during a four-hour session. The complexity of the title track became a challenge for Monk's sidemen, who attempted twenty-five takes, and led to tension between him and Henry, who nearly broke down mentally, and Pettiford, who exchanged harsh words with Monk during the session. Monk tried to make it easier on Henry by not playing during his alto solo.[1] During one of the takes, producer Orrin Keepnews and others in the control room could not hear Pettiford's playing and checked his bass microphone for a malfunction, but ultimately realized that he was pantomiming his playing.[2] Without a completed single take, Keepnews ultimately pieced together the album version from multiple takes.[1]
On December 7, "Bemsha Swing" was recorded with Paul Chambers on bass and trumpeter Clark Terry, who replaced Henry, and Monk recorded a solo piano version of "I Surrender, Dear"
Napalm Death
1/5
Scum is the debut studio album by English grindcore band Napalm Death, released on 1 July 1987 by Earache Records. The two sides of the record were recorded by two different lineups in sessions separated by about a year; the only musician in both incarnations was drummer Mick Harris. The two sides are very different, and the two taken together serve to bridge stylistic elements of heavy metal and punk rock. While the songs on the A-side are influenced heavily by hardcore punk and anarcho-punk, the vocals and lower-tuned electric guitars on the B-side anticipate subsequent developments in extreme metal. Loudwire put it in the list of the best 10 metal albums of 1987.
Scum sold over 10,000 copies in its first year of release, reaching number eight on the UK Indie chart. Since then, it has become known as a formative release in the grindcore genre. In 2005, Scum was voted the 50th best British album of all time by Kerrang! readers, and in 2009, it was ranked number five in Terrorizer's list of essential European grindcore albums;[2] it is also listed in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[3]
DEFINITELY not my genre 0.25/5. I really did not like this, but I can see an angsty teen liking it.....
R.E.M.
5/5
Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released by Warner Bros. Records on October 5, 1992 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and on the following day in the United States. R.E.M. began production on the album while their previous album, Out of Time (1991), was still ascending top albums charts and achieving global success. Aided by string arrangements from John Paul Jones, Automatic for the People features ruminations on mortality, loss, mourning, and nostalgia.
Upon release, it received widespread acclaim from critics, reached number two on the US Billboard 200, and yielded six singles. Rolling Stone reviewer Paul Evans concluded of the album, "This is the members of R.E.M. delving deeper than ever; grown sadder and wiser, the Athens subversives reveal a darker vision that shimmers with new, complex beauty."[10] Automatic for the People has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide.
One of my favorite albums!
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Songs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album by Canadian folk singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released on December 27, 1967, on Columbia Records. Less successful in the US than in Europe, Songs of Leonard Cohen foreshadowed the kind of chart success Cohen would go on to achieve. It reached number 83 on the Billboard 200. It peaked at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart, spending nearly a year and a half on it.
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
Ready to Die is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on September 13, 1994, by Bad Boy Records and Arista Records. The album features productions by Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse, among others. It was recorded from 1993 to 1994 at The Hit Factory and D&D Studios in New York City. The partly autobiographical album tells the story of the rapper's experiences as a young criminal, and was the only studio album released during his lifetime, as he was murdered sixteen days before the release of his second album Life After Death in 1997.
Ready to Die peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and was subject to widespread critical acclaim and soon a commercial success. Three singles were released from the album: "Juicy", "Big Poppa", "One More Chance" and a promotional track of Biggie: "Warning". "Juicy", the lead single, peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 14 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and reached number 3 on the Hot Rap Singles.[1] "Big Poppa" was a hit on multiple charts, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and also being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards. The Notorious B.I.G.'s lyrics on the album were generally praised by critics, with many praising his story-telling ability.
In April 2018, Ready to Die was certified 6× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album was significant for revitalizing the East Coast hip hop scene, amid West Coast hip hop's commercial dominance.[2] It has been ranked by many critics as one of the greatest hip hop albums, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2020, the album was ranked 22nd on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and was ranked 1st on their list of the 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time.
For as much as I love Hypnotize, this was disappointing.
Funkadelic
3/5
One Nation Under a Groove is the tenth studio album by American funk rock band Funkadelic, released on September 22, 1978 on Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions took place at United Sound Studio in Detroit, Michigan, with one song recorded live on April 15, 1978 at the Monroe Civic Center in Monroe, Louisiana. The album was the first album to include keyboardist and frequent songwriter Walter "Junie" Morrison.
One Nation Under a Groove was Funkadelic's most commercially successful album, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Magazine Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, number 16 on the Billboard 200, and being certified platinum in the US. It reached number 58 in Canada. It was one of the band's most critically lauded albums, and ranks at or near the top of many "best album" lists in disparate genres. The album was later featured on Vibe magazine's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century list. The album is ranked number 177 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in both 2003 and 2012 editions, before moving to number 360 in the 2020 edition. The album is listed as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Miles Davis
2/5
Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis, released in February 1957 by Capitol Records.[nb 1] It compiles eleven tracks recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950.[5]
Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements influenced by classical music techniques such as polyphony, and marked a major development in post-bebop jazz. As the title suggests, these recordings are considered seminal in the history of cool jazz. Most of them were originally released in the 10-inch 78-rpm format and are all approximately three minutes long.
2.5/5
Meat Puppets
2/5
Meat Puppets II is the second album by the Phoenix, Arizona band the Meat Puppets, released in 1984. It is a departure from their self-titled debut album, which consisted largely of noisy hardcore with unintelligible vocals. It covers many genres from country-style rock (\"Magic Toy Missing\", \"Climbing\" and Lost\") to slow acoustic songs (\"Plateau\" and \"Oh, Me\") to psychedelic guitar effects (\"Aurora Borealis\" and \"We’re Here\").
The cover art is by Curt Kirkwood and Neal Holliday.
Rykodisc reissued the album in 1999 with extra tracks and B-sides, including a cover of the Rolling Stones' Aftermath-era track \"What To Do.\"
The Meat Puppets' SST labelmates Minutemen covered \"Lost\" on the live EP Tour-Spiel and their last studio album, 3-Way Tie (For Last). Three of the album's songs were covered by Nirvana (as the Kirkwood brothers joined them onstage) during their \"Unplugged\" show for MTV (\"Plateau\", \"Oh, Me\", and \"Lake of Fire\").
2.75/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Fever to Tell is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on April 29, 2003, by Interscope Records. It was produced by David Andrew Sitek and mixed by Alan Moulder. Four singles were issued, the first being "Date with the Night" followed by "Pin", "Maps" and "Y Control".
Fever to Tell was both a critical and commercial success; it has sold one million copies worldwide.
3/5
Billie Holiday
2/5
Lady in Satin is an album by the jazz singer Billie Holiday released in 1958 on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1157 in mono and CS 8048 in stereo. It is the penultimate album completed by the singer and last released in her lifetime (her final album, Last Recording, being recorded in March 1959 and released just after her death). The original album was produced by Irving Townsend and engineered by Fred Plaut.
2.5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
Blood & Chocolate is the eleventh studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in the United Kingdom as Demon Records XFIEND 80, and in the United States as Columbia 40518. It is his ninth album with his long-standing backing band known as 'The Attractions'. After his previous album King of America with producer T-Bone Burnett and different musicians, this album reunited him with producer Nick Lowe and his usual backing group the Attractions. It peaked at No. 16 on the UK Albums Chart, and No. 84 on the Billboard 200. In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for the year's best albums, Blood & Chocolate finished at number 9. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
In 2000 it was voted number 475 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.The recording of Blood & Chocolate was troubled, as the relationship between Costello and the Attractions had deteriorated during sessions for King of America. The album was recorded at concert-level volume in a way Costello felt suited the material.
2.5/5
3/5
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the second studio album by English rock band Oasis. Released on 2 October 1995 by Creation Records, it was produced by Owen Morris and the group's guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher. The structure and arrangement style of the album were a significant departure from the group's previous album Definitely Maybe (1994). Gallagher's compositions were more focused in balladry and placed more emphasis on "huge" choruses, with the string arrangements and more varied instrumentation contrasting with the rawness of the group's debut album. Morning Glory was the group's first album with drummer Alan White, who replaced Tony McCarroll (though McCarroll still appeared on the album, drumming on the track "Some Might Say").
The record propelled Oasis from being a crossover indie act to a worldwide rock phenomenon, and is seen by critics as a significant record in the timeline of British indie music. Morning Glory sold a record-breaking 345,000 copies in its first week in the UK, spent 10 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was also the band's breakthrough in America, reaching number four on the US Billboard 200 and being certified 4× platinum there. The album yielded four major hit singles in the band's native Britain: "Some Might Say" and "Don't Look Back in Anger" reached number one, and "Roll with It" and "Wonderwall" peaked at number two; the latter spent a then lengthy 30 consecutive weeks on the chart during its initial run and emerged as the band's biggest selling UK hit. "Champagne Supernova" and "Wonderwall" reached number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. At the 1996 Brit Awards, the album won Best British Album. Over several months in 1995 and 1996, the band supported the album with an extensive world tour, which saw them play to among the largest audiences ever at the time.
Although a commercial success, the record initially received lukewarm reviews from mainstream critics; many reviewers deemed it inferior to Definitely Maybe, with the songwriting and production particular points of criticism. However, allegedly because of perceived greater marketability potential over their Britpop rival Blur's simultaneous release, The Great Escape, the critical tone set for the album quickly changed in the eyes of the media. Critical opinion towards the album completely reversed in the ensuing months and years, with critics recognising its strengths and its "populist appeal". Despite the acclaim surrounding it being lesser today due to its intensive media hype at the time, Morning Glory is still considered a seminal record of both the Britpop era and the 1990s in general. The album has also appeared on several lists of the greatest albums in rock music, and at the 2010 Brit Awards, it was named the greatest British album since 1980. It has sold over 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. As of October 2018, it is the UK's fifth best-selling album and third best-selling studio album of all time, having been certified 16× platinum and selling 4.94 million copies. It was also the UK's best-selling album of the 1990s, and is currently the second-longest charting studio album in the UK, having spent over 500 weeks on the UK Album Chart.
3.5/5
The Zombies
3/5
Odessey and Oracle is the second studio album by English rock band the Zombies. It was originally released in the UK in April 1968 by CBS Records.
The album was recorded primarily between June and August 1967. The sessions took place at EMI (now Abbey Road Studios) and Olympic Studios in London. The Zombies, having been dropped from Decca Records, financed these sessions independently. After signing with CBS, two singles and later the album itself were released to critical and commercial indifference, and the band quietly dissolved. A third single from the album, "Time of the Season", became a surprise hit in the United States in early 1969 after CBS staff producer Al Kooper recommended it be released on Date Records.
The album gradually achieved critical praise and a cult following, and has since become one of the most acclaimed albums of the 1960s. It was ranked 100th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[7] When Rolling Stone revised their list in 2020, the album ranked 243rd.[8]
3.25/5
Love
2/5
Forever Changes is the third studio album by the American rock band Love, released by Elektra Records in November 1967. It was the final album recorded by the original band lineup; after its completion, Bryan Maclean left the group acrimoniously and the other members were dismissed by leader Arthur Lee. The album saw the group embrace a subtler folk-oriented sound and orchestration, while primary songwriter Lee explored darker themes alluding to mortality and his creeping disillusionment with the 1960s counterculture.
Forever Changes had only moderate success in the album charts when it was first released in 1967; it peaked at No. 154 in the US, with a stronger showing in Great Britain, where it reached No. 24 on the UK album chart. In subsequent years, it became recognized as an influential document of 1960s psychedelia and was named among the greatest albums of all time by a variety of publications.
2.75/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 2, 1978, by Columbia Records. The album marked the end of a three-year gap between albums brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel.Reviews for Darkness on the Edge of Town were overwhelmingly positive. Critics praised the maturity of the album's themes and lyrics. It remains one of Springsteen's most highly regarded records by both fans and critics and several of its songs have become staples of Springsteen's live performances. In 2020, it ranked at No. 91 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
3/5
The Go-Betweens
2/5
16 Lovers Lane is the sixth album by Australian indie rock group The Go-Betweens, released in 1988 by Beggars Banquet Records. Prior to the recording of the album, longtime bassist Robert Vickers left the band when the other group members decided to return to Australia after having spent several years in London, England; he was replaced by John Willsteed. The album was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney, between Christmas 1987 and Autumn 1988.
16 Lovers Lane was the final release from the original version of the band. The Go-Betweens broke up in 1989 and would produce no other material until Grant McLennan and Robert Forster reformed the band, with a completely different line-up of personnel, in 2000.
2.75/5
Bebel Gilberto
2/5
Tanto Tempo (lit. "So Much Time") is an album by Brazilian bossa nova singer Bebel Gilberto. Tanto Tempo was produced by Serbian producer Suba and co-produced by Béco Dranoff for the Ziriguiboom imprint of Crammed Discs. Suba died from smoke inhalation while saving the newly recorded album from a studio fire. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.Brazilian electronic artist Amon Tobin's "Nova", from the album Permutation, is the backing track of "Samba da Benção".
2.25/5
Gil Scott-Heron
2/5
Winter in America is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded in September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and released in May 1974 by Strata-East Records. Scott-Heron and Jackson produced the album in a stripped-down fashion, relying on traditional African and R&B sounds, while Jackson's piano-based arrangements were rooted in jazz and the blues. The subject matter on Winter in America deals with the African-American community and inner city in the 1970s.
The album serves as Scott-Heron and Jackson's debut release for Strata-East, following a dispute with their former label and departure. It proved to be their sole release for the independent jazz label. Upon its release, Winter in America featured limited distribution in the United States and quickly became rare in print. However, with promotional help from its only single "The Bottle", it obtained considerably larger commercial success than Scott-Heron's and Jackson's previous work. The album debuted at number six on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart and ultimately sold over 300,000 copies in the United States.
While it was critically overlooked upon its release, Winter in America earned retrospective acclaim from several writers and music critics as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's greatest work together. Along with its critical recognition, it has been noted by several critics for its influence on derivative music forms such as neo soul and hip hop music, as many artists of the genres have been influenced by Scott-Heron's and Jackson's lyrical and musical approach on the album. On March 10, 1998, Winter in America was reissued on compact disc for the first time in the United States through Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia Records.
2.75/5
Air
3/5
The Virgin Suicides is a score composed by French electronic music duo Air for the 1999 film of the same name by Sofia Coppola. It was released on 23 February 2000 by Virgin Records. The album was nominated for Best Soundtrack at the 2001 Brit Awards. The French edition of Rolling Stone magazine placed The Virgin Suicides at number 49 on their list of the 100 essential French rock albums. In 2014, NME placed the album at number 11 on their \"61 of the Greatest Film Soundtracks Ever\" list. In 2019, Pitchfork placed the album at number four on their \"Top 50 Best Movie Scores of All Time\" list.On 3 June 2010, Air performed the full score with the band Hot Rats (with members of Supergrass) at the Cité de la Musique in Paris.To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the film The Virgin Suicides, a deluxe edition of the album was released in June 2015 as a two-disc set and a super deluxe box set. The former contains two studio outtakes on disc one and a bonus disc of previously unreleased live recordings, while the latter includes the album on 180-gram red vinyl, an exclusive picture disc featuring previously unreleased live recordings, the \"Playground Love\" EP on 180-gram red vinyl, the two-disc deluxe edition of The Virgin Suicides on CD, a 16-page booklet featuring an unpublished Air interview, a film poster, a replica VIP laminate pass and a download card.
The Stooges
3/5
Raw Power is the third studio album by American rock band the Stooges (credited as Iggy and the Stooges), released on February 7, 1973 by Columbia Records. The album departed from the "groove-ridden, feel-based songs" of the band's first two records in favor of a more anthemic hard rock approach inspired by new guitarist James Williamson, who co-wrote the album's eight songs with singer Iggy Pop.[2] Though not initially commercially successful, Raw Power gained a cult following in the years following its release and, like its predecessors The Stooges (1969)[3][4] and Fun House (1970), is considered a forerunner of punk rock.[5]
The Guardian wrote that "it has since been acknowledged as one of the most influential records in rock history".[6] The raw guitar sound of Williamson deeply influenced acts of different music genres such as the Sex Pistols, Johnny Marr of the Smiths and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
Madonna
3/5
Ray of Light is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released in early 1998 by Maverick Records. A stylistic and aesthetical departure from her previous work, Ray of Light is an electronica and techno-pop record which incorporates multiple genres, including ambient, trip hop, psychedelic music and Middle Eastern music, while also seeing Madonna singing with greater breadth and a fuller tone. Mystical themes are also strongly present in both the music and lyrics, as a result of Madonna embracing Kabbalah, her study of Hinduism and Buddhism, and her daily practice of Ashtanga yoga.
After giving birth to her first child, Madonna started working on the album with producers Babyface and Patrick Leonard. Following failed sessions with them, Madonna pursued a new musical direction with English producer William Orbit, which resulted in a much more experimental sound being produced for the album. The recording process was the longest of Madonna's career, and she experienced problems with Orbit's hardware arrangement which would break down and cause delays until it could be repaired.
Upon release, the album received widespread critical acclaim, with reviews praising the singer's new musical direction, Orbit's complex, innovative and experimental production, and Madonna's writing skills. Referred to as her "most adventurous" record, Ray of Light has been noted for its introspective, spiritual, and religious nature with Madonna's vocals also being commended. Retrospectively, the album has continued receiving critical acclaim from contemporary critics and is often considered to be her best album. On top of this, the album is frequently cited by critics as one of the greatest mainstream pop albums of all time. Ray of Light won four Grammy Awards from a total of six nominations. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with the biggest first-week sales by a female artist at the time. It also peaked at number one in 17 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and charted within the top-five in most musical markets. Worldwide, Ray of Light has sold over 16 million copies and is one of the best-selling albums by women.
Five singles were released from the album, including the international top five hits "Frozen" and "Ray of Light". The album's promotion was later supported by the Drowned World Tour in 2001. Music critics have noted the album's influence on popular music, and how it introduced electronica into mainstream pop culture in America. They also noted Madonna's musical re-invention which helped the 39-year-old remain contemporary among the teen-marketed artists of the period.
3.75/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Ghosteen is the seventeenth studio album by the Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was released on 4 October 2019 on Ghosteen Ltd and on 8 November 2019 on Bad Seed Ltd, both the band's own imprints. Ghosteen is a double album—the band's first since Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus (2004)—and the final part of a trilogy of albums that includes Push the Sky Away (2013) and Skeleton Tree (2016).
Produced by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Ghosteen was written in the aftermath of the death of Cave's son Arthur in 2015. It was recorded primarily in Malibu and West Hollywood, California in the United States, with further sessions in Germany and England. Cave's lyrics, which continue his deviation from his usual narrative-based writing, explore themes of loss, death and existentialism, as well as empathy, faith and optimism. Like Skeleton Tree, the album features extensive use of synthesizers, loops and ambient elements, particularly the minimal use of drums and percussion.
Upon its release Ghosteen was met with widespread critical acclaim. It received several perfect scores and is the highest-rated album of 2019—as well as the second-highest-rated album of the 2010s—on Metacritic. The album placed in the top 10 album charts in several countries and was included in several publications' year-end and decade-end lists of best albums. Both European and North American tours in support for Ghosteen were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with all shows rescheduled to later dates in 2021.
If I ever am looking to be depressed, this is a good album to put on!
2.75/5
The Roots
3/5
Phrenology is the fifth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released on November 26, 2002, by MCA Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during June 2000 to September 2002[1] at Electric Lady Studios in New York.[2] It was primarily produced by members of the band and features contributions from hip hop and neo soul artists such as Cody ChesnuTT, Musiq Soulchild, Talib Kweli, and Jill Scott.
Although it did not parallel the commercial success of the band's previous album, Things Fall Apart, the album reached number 28 on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold steadily, remaining on the chart for 38 weeks.[3] On June 3, 2003, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States.[4] Upon its release, Phrenology received universal acclaim from music critics, who praised its musical direction and lyrical themes, and it was included in numerous publications' year-end lists of the year's best albums.[5]
3.25/5
Yes
3/5
The Yes Album is the third studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 19 February 1971 by Atlantic Records.[3] It was the band's first album to feature guitarist Steve Howe, who replaced Peter Banks in 1970, as well as their last to feature keyboardist Tony Kaye until 1983's 90125.
The band spent mid-1970 writing and rehearsing new material at a farmhouse at Romansleigh, Devon, and the new songs were recorded at Advision Studios in London in the autumn. The album was the first by the band to feature all-original material. While the album retained close harmony singing, Kaye's Hammond organ, and Chris Squire's melodic bass, as heard on earlier releases, the new material also covered further styles including jazz piano, funk, and acoustic music. All of the band members contributed ideas, and tracks were extended in length to allow music to develop. Howe contributed a variety of guitar styles, including a Portuguese guitar, and recorded the solo acoustic guitar piece "Clap", live at the Lyceum Theatre, London.
The album was a critical success and a major commercial breakthrough for Yes, who had been at risk of being dropped by Atlantic due to the commercial failures of their first two albums. It reached number 4 in the United Kingdom and number 40 in the United States, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for surpassing one million copies. The album has been reissued on CD several times, and was given a Blu-ray release in 2014 remixed by Steven Wilson.
Fugees
3/5
The Score is the second and final studio album by the hip hop trio Fugees. The Score was released worldwide on February 13, 1996, on Columbia Records. The album features a wide range of samples and instrumentation, with many aspects of alternative hip hop that would come to dominate the hip-hop music scene in the mid- to late 1990s. Primarily, The Score's production was handled by the Fugees themselves, Jerry Duplessis and Warren Riker, with additional production from Salaam Remi, John Forté, Diamond D, and Shawn King. The album's guest verses are from Outsidaz members Rah Digga, Young Zee, and Pacewon, as well as Omega, John Forté, and Diamond D. Most versions of the album feature four bonus tracks, including three remixes of "Fu-Gee-La", and a short acoustic Wyclef Jean solo track entitled "Mista Mista".
Upon its release, The Score was a commercial success, peaking atop the U.S. Billboard 200, and became the third best selling album of 1996.[3] It also topped the Top R&B/Hip-hop Albums chart for eight weeks, becoming the longest running number one for a hip hop group,[4] and topped the 1996 year-end chart. The singles "Killing Me Softly", "Fu-Gee-La", and "Ready or Not" also achieved notable chart success, helping the group achieve worldwide recognition.
The album received mostly favorable reviews. It received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 39th Grammy Awards, becoming the second rap album to receive a nomination and the first for a hip hop group;[5] and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, along with Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Killing Me Softly". In retrospect, The Score has garnered a considerable amount of acclaim over the years, with many music critics and publications noting it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. The Score was included in The Source's 100 best rap albums list (1998), and was ranked number 134 on Rolling Stone's revised list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2020).[6]
As of February 2021, The Score has been certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is the best-selling album by an American hip hop act in France,[7] where the album has been certified Diamond. With an estimated 22 million copies sold worldwide,[8] the album has become one of the best-selling albums of all time, at the time of its release it briefly became the best-selling hip hop album of all time,[9][10] and remains the best-selling album by a hip hop group.[11] As of June 2021, the album is the fifth-most streamed 1990s hip-hop album on Spotify.[12]
3.75/5
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
Kilimanjaro is the debut album by the neo-psychedelic Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes, released on 10 October 1980.[10] It contains versions of the band's early singles – "Sleeping Gas", "Bouncing Babies", "Treason" and "When I Dream" – as well as their biggest hit, "Reward". The album also includes the song "Books" – originally a song by Julian Cope's previous band, The Crucial Three, it was also recorded by Echo & the Bunnymen (as "Read it in Books", released on the B-side of their debut single, and featured on some versions of Crocodiles). In 2000, Q magazine placed Kilimanjaro at number 95 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
The original working title for Kilimanjaro was Everyone Wants to Shag the Teardrop Explodes (this was later used for the CD release of demos for the band's never-finished third album). When originally released, the album featured a shadowy photograph of the band on the sleeve, but this was later changed to a cover showing Mount Kilimanjaro, the mountain after which the record was named. When the album was subsequently released on CD the cover artwork reverted to the original.
In 2000, Cope gave his blessings to re-release Kilimanjaro with a selection of bonus tracks (mainly single B-sides), original artwork, a remastered sound, and full lyrics and essays. A deluxe 3-disc edition followed in 2010, including original singles, B-sides and radio session recordings.
Definitely see the influence on 80s electro-pop (Echo and the Bunnymen, the Cure, etc.)--I liked this a lot, but of course love that genre. One of the founding members went on to form Echo and the Bunnymen 3.75/5
Tom Waits
1/5
Nighthawks at the Diner is the third studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on October 21, 1975 on Asylum Records. It was recorded over four sessions in July in the Los Angeles Record Plant studio in front of a small invited audience set up to recreate the atmosphere of a jazz club. The album peaked at 164 on the Billboard 200, the highest place Waits had held at the time, and is currently certified silver by the BPI. It has received critical acclaim for its successful mood-setting, capturing of the jazz-club atmosphere and characterization.
.5/5
Metallica
3/5
Master of Puppets is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records. Recorded in Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmussen, it was the band's last album to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in Sweden during the album's promotional tour.
The album's artwork, designed by Metallica and Peter Mensch and painted by Don Brautigam, depicts a cemetery field of white crosses tethered to strings, manipulated by a pair of hands in a clouded, blood-red sky, with a fiery orange glow on the horizon. Instead of releasing a single or video in advance of the album's release, Metallica embarked on a five-month American tour in support of Ozzy Osbourne. The European leg was canceled after Burton's death in September 1986, and the band returned home to audition a new bassist.
Master of Puppets peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its music and political lyrics. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential thrash metal albums of all time, and is credited with consolidating the American thrash metal scene. It was certified six times platinum by the RIAA in 2003 for shipping six million copies in the United States, and was later certified six times platinum by Music Canada and platinum by the BPI. In 2015, Master of Puppets became the first metal recording to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being \"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.\"
3.25/5
Van Morrison
3/5
Moondance is the third studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 27 January 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. After the commercial failure of his first Warner Bros. album Astral Weeks (1968), Morrison moved to upstate New York with his wife and began writing songs for Moondance. There, he met the musicians that would record the album with him at New York City's A & R Studios in August and September 1969.
The album found Morrison abandoning the abstract folk jazz compositions of Astral Weeks in favour of more formally composed songs, which he wrote and produced entirely himself. Its lively rhythm and blues/rock music was the style he would become most known for in his career. The music incorporated soul, jazz, pop, and Irish folk sounds into songs about finding spiritual renewal and redemption in worldly matters such as nature, music, romantic love, and self-affirmation.
Moondance was an immediate critical and commercial success. It helped establish Morrison as a major artist in popular music, while several of its songs became staples on FM radio in the early 1970s. Among the most acclaimed records in history, Moondance frequently ranks in professional listings of the greatest albums. In 2013, the album's remastered deluxe edition was released to similar acclaim.
3.25/5
David Bowie
3/5
Hunky Dory is the fourth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 17 December 1971 through RCA Records. Following the release of his 1970 album, The Man Who Sold the World, Bowie took time off from recording and touring. He settled down to write new songs, composing on piano rather than guitar as on earlier tracks. Following a tour of the United States, Bowie assembled a new backing band consisting of guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey, and began to record a new album in mid-1971 at Trident Studios in London. Future Yes member Rick Wakeman contributed on piano. Bowie co-produced the album with Ken Scott, who had engineered Bowie's previous two records.
Compared to the guitar-driven hard rock sound of The Man Who Sold the World, Bowie opted for a warmer, more melodic piano-based pop rock and art pop style on Hunky Dory. His lyrical concerns on the record range from the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention on "Changes", to occultism and Nietzschean philosophy on "Oh! You Pretty Things" and "Quicksand"; several songs make cultural and literary references. He was also inspired by his stateside tour to write songs dedicated to three American icons: Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed. The song "Kooks" was dedicated to Bowie's newborn son Duncan. The album's cover artwork, photographed in monochrome and subsequently recoloured, features Bowie in a pose inspired by actresses of the Hollywood Golden Age.
Upon release, Hunky Dory and its lead single "Changes" received little promotion from RCA who were wary that Bowie would transform his image shortly. Thus, despite very positive reviews from the British and American music press, the album initially sold poorly and failed to chart. It was only after the commercial breakthrough of Bowie's 1972 follow-up album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars that Hunky Dory itself became a commercial success, peaking at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Retrospectively, Hunky Dory has been critically acclaimed as one of Bowie's best works, and features on several lists of the greatest albums of all time. Within the context of his career, it is considered to be the album where "Bowie starts to become Bowie", definitively discovering his voice and style.
Eminem
3/5
The Slim Shady LP is the second studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on February 23, 1999, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Recorded in Ferndale, Michigan following Eminem's recruitment by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, the album features production from Dr. Dre, Bass Brothers, and Eminem himself.
Featuring West Coast hip hop, G-funk and horrorcore musical styles, the majority of The Slim Shady LP's lyrical content is written from the perspective of Eminem's alter ego, named Slim Shady, whom he created on the Slim Shady EP (1997). The Slim Shady LP contains cartoonish depictions of violence and heavy use of profanity, which Eminem described as horror film-esque, in that it is solely for entertainment value. Although many of the lyrics on the album are considered to be satirical, Eminem also depicts his frustrations of living in poverty.
The Slim Shady LP debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, just below TLC's FanMail, and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It received commercial and critical success, with critics praising Eminem for his unique lyrical style, dark humor lyrics, and eccentric personality. The first single, "My Name Is", became Eminem's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won Best Rap Album at the 2000 Grammy Awards, while "My Name Is" won Best Rap Solo Performance. In 2000, The Slim Shady LP was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
While The Slim Shady LP's success turned Eminem from an underground rapper into a high-profile celebrity, he became a highly controversial figure due to his lyrical content, which some perceived to be misogynistic and a negative influence on U.S. youth. Despite this, the album has since been included in several publications' lists of the greatest albums of all time.
3.5/5
Björk
1/5
Medúlla is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk.[nb 1] It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Indian Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After the release of her electronic-influenced previous album Vespertine (2001), Björk intended to make an album almost entirely a cappella constructed with human vocals, in opposition to the previous album's intense process of composition and multiple layers of instrumentation. The album's title derives from the Latin word for "marrow".
Medúlla received critical acclaim from music critics, with many calling it "unique", although others deemed it "confusing". The album was also commercially successful, reaching number one in Belgium's Wallonia, France and Iceland, whilst also peaking within the top ten in the United Kingdom. Medúlla is estimated to have sold more than a million copies worldwide, and received two nominations at the 47th Grammy Awards.
Two singles were released from Medúlla: "Who Is It" and "Triumph of a Heart", with both charting inside the top 40 in the United Kingdom and the top 10 in Spain. Björk further promoted the album by performing the song "Oceania" at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and other television and radio shows. Other than these few performances, no concerts or tours were arranged to promote Medúlla, as Björk thought it would be too difficult to play the songs live. In 2015, the album was adapted into an opera at the Brussels opera house La Monnaie by Sjaron Minailo and Anat Spiegel.[3]
1.75/5
James Taylor
3/5
Sweet Baby James is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, released on February 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records.
The album includes two of Taylor's earliest successful singles: "Fire and Rain", and "Country Road", which reached number three and number thirty seven on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. The album itself reached number three on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart.
Sweet Baby James made Taylor one of the main forces of the ascendant singer-songwriter movement in the early 1970's and onward. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1971, and was listed at number 104 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[2] In 2000 it was voted number 228 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[3]
3.25/5
CHIC
3/5
Risqué is the third studio album by American disco band Chic, released on Atlantic Records on July 30, 1979. One of the records that defined the disco era, the album became highly influential not only within the movement, but also in other styles such as hip hop, art rock and new wave. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 414 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Meat Loaf
3/5
Bat Out of Hell is the 1977 debut album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman. It is one of the best-selling albums in history.[3] The album was developed from a musical, Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan, which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974. It was recorded during 1975–1976 at various studios, including Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, produced by Todd Rundgren, and released in October 1977 by Cleveland International/Epic Records.[4] Bat Out of Hell spawned two Meat Loaf sequel albums: Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006).
Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide.[3] It is certified 14× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[5] It is also the best-selling album in Australia with being certified 26× Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[6] As of June 2019, it has spent 522 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, the second longest chart run by a studio album.[7] Rolling Stone ranked it at number 343 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[8][9]
A musical based on Bat Out of Hell, staged by Jay Scheib, opened at the Manchester Opera House on February 17, 2017, before transferring to the London Coliseum and Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre in late 2017.[10] From April 2, 2018, till January 5, 2019 the show was performed at the Dominion Theatre in London[11] before a short run the same year in the United States.[12]
3.75/5
The Libertines
3/5
The Libertines is the second studio album by English indie rock band The Libertines. Released on 30 August 2004, it is particularly biographical of the relationship between frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 72,189 copies in its first week of release.
The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[12] In 2006, NME placed the album 47 in a list of the greatest British albums ever.[13] In 2013, NME ranked the album at number 99 in its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[14] On the other hand, The Libertines was voted the third-most overrated album ever made in a 2005 BBC public poll.[15]
The Libertines, like its 2002 predecessor, Up the Bracket, was re-released with a bonus DVD on 22 November 2004. The DVD, entitled Boys in the Band, is a collection of live shows, band interviews, and the "Can't Stand Me Now" promotional video.
The song "Arbeit Macht Frei" featured in the 2006 film Children of Men.
Earth, Wind & Fire
2/5
That's the Way of the World is the sixth studio album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released on March 15, 1975 by Columbia Records. It was also the soundtrack for a 1975 motion picture of the same name.[2][3] The album rose to No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Soul Albums charts.[4][5] That's the Way of the World has also been certified Triple Platinum in the U.S by the RIAA.[6] In 2002, the band released live version of the album, recorded in 1975 – That's the Way of the World: Alive in '75.
2.75/5
Motörhead
2/5
Ace of Spades is the fourth studio album by British rock band Motörhead, released in October 1980 via Bronze Records. It is the band's most commercially successful album, peaking at number four on the UK Albums Chart and reaching gold status in the UK by March 1981. It was preceded by the release of the title track as a single on 27 October, which peaked in the UK Singles Chart at No. 15 in early November.[3]
It was the band's debut release in the United States, with Mercury Records handling distribution in North America. In 2020, the album was ranked at 408 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[4]
2.5/5
Portishead
2/5
Dummy is the debut studio album by English electronic music band Portishead, released on 22 August 1994 by Go! Beat Records.[3]
The album received critical acclaim and won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize. It is often credited with popularising the trip hop genre, and is frequently cited in lists of the best albums of the 1990s. Dummy was certified triple platinum in the UK in February 2019,[4] and had sold 920,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of September 2020.[5] Worldwide, the album had sold 3.6 million copies by 2008.[6]
2.75/5
The Electric Prunes
2/5
The Electric Prunes, sometimes referred to as I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night), is the 1967 debut album by the American garage rock band, the Electric Prunes, released on Reprise Records. The first track, "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", was a hit and became the band's signature tune. The album also contains another notable psychedelic rock composition, "Get Me to the World on Time". The album was listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
2.5/5
Soul II Soul
3/5
Club Classics Vol. One (USA title: Keep On Movin') is the debut album by the British group Soul II Soul. Released in 1989, the album featured the group's hit singles "Keep on Movin'" and "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)", the latter of which was a UK number-one hit and the fifth best-selling single in the UK that year. The album also reached number one and was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 900,000 copies.In the United States, the album reached the Top 20. The single "Back to Life" was also a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Platinum. It found stronger success with R&B music listeners in the US, as the album went to No. 1 on the Top R&B Albums chart, and the title track and "Back to Life" were number-one R&B hit singles.
3.5/5
Bauhaus
2/5
Mask is the second studio album by English gothic rock band Bauhaus. It was released on 16 October 1981 by record label Beggars Banquet.
Bauhaus expanded their style a bit on Mask, particularly by incorporating keyboards and acoustic guitar on songs such as "The Passion of Lovers", and funk rhythms and saxophone on tracks like "Kick in the Eye", "Dancing" and "In Fear of Fear".[citation needed]
The album cover is a drawing by guitarist Daniel Ash.[2] The original artwork for the album was a gatefold sleeve with blue text on the inside and a stark black-and-white image of the band.[citation needed] On later editions this inside was replaced with white text and a montage from the promotional video for the song "Mask".
2.25/5
Mike Oldfield
2/5
Tubular Bells is the debut studio album by English musician Mike Oldfield, released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments on the mostly instrumental album.
The album initially sold slowly, but gained worldwide attention in December 1973 when its opening theme was used for the soundtrack to the horror film The Exorcist. This led to a surge in sales which increased Oldfield's profile and played an important part in the growth of the Virgin Group. It stayed in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart for one year from March 1974, during which it reached number one for one week. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200, and reached the top position in Canada and Australia. The album has sold over 2.7 million copies in the UK and an estimated 15 million worldwide.
An orchestral version produced by David Bedford was released in 1975 as The Orchestral Tubular Bells. Oldfield has recorded three sequels: Tubular Bells II (1992), Tubular Bells III (1998), and The Millennium Bell (1999). For the album's 30th anniversary Oldfield re-recorded the album as Tubular Bells 2003. A remastered edition was released in 2009. Its contribution to British music was recognised when Oldfield played extracts during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London.
2.5/5
The Who
3/5
Live at Leeds is the first live album by English rock band The Who. It was recorded at the University of Leeds Refectory on 14 February 1970, and is their only live album that was released while the group were still actively recording and performing with their best-known line-up of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.
The Who were looking for a way to follow up their 1969 album Tommy, and had recorded several shows on tours supporting that album, but didn't like the sound. Consequently, they booked the show at Leeds University, along with one at Hull City Hall the following day, specifically to record a live album. Six songs were taken from the Leeds show, and the cover was pressed to look like a bootleg recording. The sound was significantly different from Tommy and featured hard rock arrangements that were typical of the band's live shows.
The album was released in 23 May 1970 by Decca and MCA in the United States, and by Track and Polydor in the United Kingdom. It has been reissued on several occasions and in several different formats. Since its release, Live at Leeds has been cited by several music critics as the best live rock recording of all time.
Black Flag
1/5
Damaged is the debut studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. SST Records released it on December 5, 1981.
The album was largely ignored by critics and the public at the time of its release, but has since been recognized as a classic and one of the most influential punk rock records ever made, appearing on a number of "best of" lists by fans and critics alike. The album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stone's 2012 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Pitchfork also ranked it number 25 on its list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.
1.5/5
The Isley Brothers
3/5
Their first album for the label after several years on Buddah Records, it was also the first time the family group, which had consisted of founding members O'Kelly Isley, Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley, officially included six members instead of the standard three. Following the recording and release of Brother, Brother, Brother (1972) the previous year, this was the first album to officially include younger brothers Ernie and Marvin and in-law Chris Jasper, even though all three had played on the previous several albums.
The success of the album is attributed to their first Top 10 pop record since "It's Your Thing" (1969), with their own cover of the self-penned "Who's That Lady", now re-titled "That Lady, Pt. 1 & 2". Other hit singles included the top five R&B single "What It Comes Down To", and their cover of Seals & Crofts' folk hit "Summer Breeze" (1972), which was also a top ten R&B single. The album became their first platinum album.
The Isley Brothers recorded 3 + 3 in the Record Plant at the same time as Stevie Wonder was recording Innervisions (1973). In fact, they walked in on him recording "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing". Both Chris Jasper of the Isley Brothers and Stevie Wonder were users of the ARP synthesizer and both worked with visionary engineers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil.
In addition to a stereo record release, this album was mixed in quadraphonic and released in 1974 on SQ record: T-NECK PZQ – 32453. It was also released on Super Audio CD on December 4, 2001.
The album was remastered and expanded for inclusion in the 2015 23-CD box set The RCA Victor & T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983).[6]
3.5/5
Holger Czukay
2/5
Movies is the second album by Holger Czukay, released in 1979 through Electrola.
This was fine....mellow instrumental
2.25/5
Pink Floyd
3/5
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 5 August 1967 by EMI Columbia. It is the only Pink Floyd album made under the leadership of founding member Syd Barrett (lead vocals, guitar); he wrote all but three tracks, with additional composition by members Roger Waters (bass, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). The album followed the band's early chart success with the 1967 non-album singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", as well as their influential performances at London's UFO Club.
The album was recorded at EMI Studios in London's Abbey Road from February to May 1967 and produced by Norman Smith. It blended Pink Floyd's reputation for long-form improvisational pieces with Barrett's short pop songs and whimsical take on psychedelia. The album made unconventional use of recording effects such as reverb and echo through tools like EMT plate reverberation, automatic double tracking (ADT), and Abbey Road's echo chamber. Part-way through the recording sessions, Barrett's growing use of the psychedelic drug LSD saw his mental state become increasingly debilitated, leading to his eventual departure from the group the following year. The album title was derived from chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's novel The Wind in the Willows, a favorite of Barrett's.
In the United States, the album was released as Pink Floyd in October on Tower Records with an altered track listing that omitted three songs and included "See Emily Play". In the UK, no singles were released from the album, but in the US, "Flaming" was offered as a single. Two of its songs, "Astronomy Dominé" and "Interstellar Overdrive", became long-term mainstays of the band's live setlist, while other songs were performed live only a handful of times. In 1973, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was packaged with the band's second album A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) and released as A Nice Pair, to introduce the band's early work to new fans gained with the success of The Dark Side of the Moon (1973).
The album has been hailed as a pivotal psychedelic music recording. Special limited editions of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn were issued to mark its thirtieth, fortieth, and fiftieth anniversaries, with the former two releases containing bonus tracks. In 2012, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was placed at number 347 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and number 253 in the 2020 edition.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Are You Experienced is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, the LP was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. The album features Jimi Hendrix's innovative approach to songwriting and electric guitar playing which soon established a new direction in psychedelic and hard rock music.
After struggling to earn a living on the R&B circuit as a backing guitarist, Hendrix signed a management and production contract in 1966 with former Animals member Chas Chandler and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. Chandler brought Hendrix to London and recruited members for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, a band designed to showcase the guitarist's talents. In late October, after having been rejected by Decca Records, the Experience signed with Track, a new label formed by the Who's managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Are You Experienced and its preceding singles were recorded over a five-month period from late October 1966 through early April 1967. The album was completed in 16 recording sessions at three London locations, including De Lane Lea Studios, CBS Studios, and Olympic Studios.
Released in the UK on May 12, 1967, Are You Experienced spent 33 weeks on the charts, peaking at number two. The album was issued in the US on August 23 by Reprise Records, where it reached number five on the US Billboard Top LPs, remaining on the chart for 106 weeks, 27 of those in the Top 40. The album also spent 70 weeks on the US Billboard Hot R&B LPs chart, where it peaked at number 10. The US version contained some of Hendrix's best known songs, including the Experience's first three singles, which, though omitted from the British edition of the LP, were top ten hits in the UK: "Purple Haze", "Hey Joe", and "The Wind Cries Mary". Hendrix was unhappy with the cover artwork for the UK edition, and solicited photographer Karl Ferris to create a more "psychedelic" cover for the US release.
In 2000, it was voted number 63 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. Rolling Stone ranked Are You Experienced 30th on its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2010, the magazine placed four songs from the US version of the album on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: "Purple Haze" (17), "Foxy Lady" (153), "Hey Joe" (201), and "The Wind Cries Mary" (379). In 2005, the record was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress in recognition of its cultural significance to be added to the National Recording Registry. Writer and archivist Reuben Jackson of the Smithsonian Institution wrote: "it's still a landmark recording because it is of the rock, R&B, blues ... musical tradition. It altered the syntax of the music ... in a way I compare to James Joyce's Ulysses."
3.75/5
Scott Walker
2/5
Scott 4 is Scott Walker's fifth solo album. It was released in late 1969 under his birth name, Scott Engel, and failed to chart. Reissues have been released under his stage name. It has since received praise as one of Walker's best works.
Very much a 70s vibe
2.75/5
Moby Grape
2/5
Moby Grape is the 1967 debut album by rock band Moby Grape. Coming from the San Francisco scene, their reputation quickly grew to immense proportions, leading to a bidding war and a contract with Columbia Records. The album peaked at #24 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in September 1967.
2.75/5
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Want Two is the fourth album by American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. The album was released on November 16, 2004. Four of the tracks on this album were released in the summer of 2004 as the EP Waiting for a Want on the iTunes music store.
Want Two is, according to Wainwright, the darker sibling of 2003's Want One – its subject matter concerned with "the world we live in" (RW Geffen Bio) after Want One's focus on the intensely personal. The artist's song selections here show his range to be broad, veering from romantic ballad ("Peach Trees") to tragic ballad ("This Love Affair"), sophisticated pop ("The One You Love") to third person/first person narrative lament ("The Art Teacher"), personal tongue in cheek manifesto ("Gay Messiah"), to a classical pop hybrid written about Jeff Buckley ("Memphis Skyline") and songs beyond category. "Agnus Dei" is used in the trailer for the 2007 film Trade.
Mother Kate McGarrigle and aunt Anna (McGarrigle) both perform and sing on "Hometown Waltz". Anohni of 2005 Mercury Prize winners Antony and the Johnsons sings lead vocal alongside Wainwright on "Old Whore's Diet". The initial UK version of the record contains bonus live tracks, "Coeur de Parisienne – Reprise d'Arletty" and "Quand vous mourrez de nos amours" (written by French Canadian songwriter Gilles Vigneault).
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
Super Fly is the third studio album by American soul musician Curtis Mayfield, released in July 1972 on Curtom Records. It was released as the soundtrack for the Blaxploitation film of the same name. Widely considered a classic of 1970s soul and funk music, Super Fly was a nearly immediate hit. Its sales were bolstered by two million-selling singles, "Freddie's Dead" (number 2 R&B charts, number 4 Pop charts) and the title track (number 5 R&B, number 8 Pop). Super Fly is one of the few soundtracks to out-gross the film it accompanied.[14]
Super Fly, along with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971), was one of the pioneering soul concept albums, with its then-unique socially aware lyrics about poverty and drug abuse making the album stand out.[15][16] The film and the soundtrack may be perceived as dissonant, since the film holds rather ambiguous views on drug dealers, whereas Curtis Mayfield's position is far more critical. Like What's Going On, the album was a surprise hit that record executives felt had little chance at significant sales. Due to its success, Mayfield was tapped for several film soundtracks over the course of the decade.
3.25/5
Paul McCartney
3/5
McCartney is the debut solo album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 17 April 1970 by Apple Records. McCartney recorded it in secrecy, mostly using basic home-recording equipment at his house in St John's Wood. Mixing and some recording took place at professional London studios. In its loosely arranged performances, McCartney eschewed the polish of the Beatles' past records in favour of a lo-fi style. Apart from occasional contributions by his wife, Linda, McCartney performed the entire album alone by overdubbing on four-track tape.
McCartney recorded the album during a period of depression and confusion, following John Lennon's private departure from the Beatles in September 1969. Conflicts over the release of McCartney's album further estranged him from his bandmates, as he refused to delay the album's release to allow for Apple's previously scheduled titles, notably the Beatles' album Let It Be. A press release in the form of a self-interview supplied with UK promotional copies of McCartney led to the Beatles' break-up.
McCartney received mostly negative reviews, while McCartney was vilified for seemingly ending the Beatles. The record was widely criticised for being under-produced and for its unfinished songs, although the ballad "Maybe I'm Amazed" was consistently singled out for praise. Commercially, McCartney benefited from the publicity surrounding the break-up; it held the number 1 position for three weeks on the US Billboard Top LPs before yielding that position to Let It Be. It peaked at number 2 in Britain.
In later years, the album was credited for having had an impact on DIY musicians and lo-fi music styles.[1][2] McCartney also recorded two successor albums: McCartney II (1980) and McCartney III (2020). In 2011, the first McCartney record was reissued with bonus tracks as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.
3.25/5
Yes
3/5
Fragile is the fourth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released on 12 November 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was the band's first album to feature keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who replaced Tony Kaye after the group had finished touring their breakthrough record, The Yes Album (1971).
The band entered rehearsals in London in August 1971, but Kaye's reluctance to play electronic keyboards led to his departure from the group. He was quickly replaced by Wakeman, whose virtuosity, compositional skills, and experience with the electric piano, organ, Mellotron, and Moog synthesizer expanded the band's sound. Due to budget and time constraints, four tracks on the album are group compositions; the remaining five are short solo pieces by each band member. The opening track, "Roundabout", became a popular and iconic song. The artwork for the album was the band's first to be designed by Roger Dean, who would design many of their future covers.
Fragile received a mostly positive reception, with some criticism directed at the solo tracks. It became a greater commercial success than its predecessor, reaching No. 4 on the US Billboard Top LPs chart and No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart. The Fragile Tour saw Yes perform over 100 dates across the UK and the US, during which they became a headlining act. An edited version of "Roundabout" was released as a single in the US in January 1972, which reached No. 13. Fragile was certified Platinum in the UK and double Platinum in the US, where it has sold over two million copies. It has been remastered several times, with some containing previously unreleased tracks.
Jimmy Smith
2/5
Back at the Chicken Shack is an album by Jimmy Smith. It was recorded in 1960 and released in 1963 on the Blue Note label. Smith recorded the album in the same session as his previous album Midnight Special. Fittingly, he wears the same red shirt on both album covers. It was cited in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
2.25/5
The La's
3/5
The La's is the only studio album by English rock band the La's, released on 1 October 1990 by Go! Discs. It included "There She Goes", the group's biggest hit, and "Timeless Melody". A deluxe edition of The La's was released on 7 April 2008. In 2013, NME ranked The La's at number 153 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
3.25/5
Mike Ladd
2/5
Welcome to the Afterfuture is a studio album by American hip hop musician Mike Ladd. It was released on Ozone Music in 2000.
2.5/5
U2
5/5
Achtung Baby () is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 on Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their direction to incorporate influences from alternative rock, industrial music, and electronic dance music into their sound. Thematically, Achtung Baby is darker, more introspective, and at times more flippant than their previous work. The album and the subsequent multimedia-intensive Zoo TV Tour were central to the group's 1990s reinvention, by which they abandoned their earnest public image for a more lighthearted and self-deprecating one.
Seeking inspiration from German reunification, U2 began recording Achtung Baby at Berlin's Hansa Studios in October 1990. The sessions were fraught with conflict, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. After tension and slow progress nearly prompted the group to disband, they made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song "One". Morale and productivity improved during subsequent recording sessions in Dublin, where the album was completed in 1991. To confound the public's expectations of the band and their music, U2 chose the record's facetious title and colourful multi-image sleeve.
Achtung Baby is one of U2's most successful records; it received favourable reviews and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 Top Albums, while topping the charts in many other countries. Five songs were released as commercial singles, all of which were chart successes, including "One", "Mysterious Ways", and "The Fly". The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Achtung Baby has since been acclaimed by writers and music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time. The record was reissued in October 2011 for its 20th anniversary, and again in November 2021 for its 30th anniversary.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
Music from The Penguin Cafe is the first studio album by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It was recorded between 1974 and 1976, and released in 1976.
The artist credited for the work varies with different issues. Upon original issue, the label credited the artist as Simon Jeffes, while the cover gave the artist as "members of the Penguin Café Orchestra". The line-up for tracks 1, 9, 10 and 11 consisted of the original "Penguin Café Quartet" (as they are referred to in the liner notes): Simon Jeffes (electric guitar), Helen Liebmann (Cello), Steve Nye (electric piano), and Gavyn Wright (violin). Tracks 2–8, meanwhile, were performed by the ensemble "Zopf", which includes all four members of the quartet as well as Neil Rennie (ukulele) and Emily Young (vocals).
Reissues from 1987 forward generally credit the artist as the Penguin Café Orchestra. These later reissues have mistakenly listed pieces 2-8 as though they were movements of a suite entitled "Zopf", instead of 7 separate pieces performed by "Zopf".
The executive producer for the album was Brian Eno, who released this album on his experimental Obscure label, with catalogue number "Obscure 7". The original cover was by John Bonis. The reissue cover painting was by Emily Young. The album was later released on CD by E.G. Records in 1991 and later in remastered form in 2006 - both using the reissue cover instead of the original.
The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The xx
3/5
xx is the debut album by the English indie pop band the xx. It was released on 14 August 2009 by Young Turks, an imprint label of XL Recordings, and recorded from December 2008 to February 2009 at the label's in-house studio in London. Producing the album, Jamie Smith of the xx created electronic beats for the songs on his laptop and mixed them in a detailed process with the audio engineer Rodaidh McDonald, who attempted to reproduce the intimate, unembellished quality of the band's original demos.
Along with the xx's early R&B influences, the album has drawn comparisons from journalists to alternative rock, electronica and post-punk sounds. Its largely melancholic songs feature minimalist arrangements built around Smith's beats and instrumental parts recorded by the other members of the band, including Oliver Sim's basslines and sparse guitar figures by Baria Qureshi and Romy Madley Croft, who employs reverb in her lead guitar playing. Most of the songs are sung as low-key duets by Croft and Sim, both of whom had written emotional lyrics about love, intimacy, loss and desire.
Released to widespread acclaim, xx was named one of 2009's best records and received praise for the band's atmospheric style of indie rock and pop as well as the interpersonal dimension of the performances. Commercially, it performed steadily over its first few years of release, becoming a sleeper hit in the United Kingdom and the United States, and eventually sold one million copies. Although major media outlets had largely ignored the band at first, and none of its singles became hits, xx received greater exposure from the licensing of its songs to television programmes and the band's Mercury Prize win for the album in 2010.
Shortly after the album's release, and with differences between Qureshi and the rest of the group leading to her dismissal, the xx continued to play as a trio on a protracted concert tour that helped increase their fanbase, reputation in the press and confidence as performers. xx proved highly influential in subsequent years, as its distinctive stylistic elements were incorporated by many indie bands and top-selling pop acts. One of the most acclaimed records of its era, it has appeared on top album lists published by NME, Rolling Stone and The Guardian.
3.5/5
Ali Farka Touré
1/5
Savane is the final solo album by Malian musician Ali Farka Touré. It is the third and final part of the Hôtel Mandé Sessions, featuring Touré and Toumani Diabaté, recorded by World Circuit head Nick Gold. The album was released posthumously by World Circuit on 17 July 2006,[1] more than four months after Touré's death.
The recording sessions at Hôtel Mandé in Bamako took place from June to July 2004.[13] Touré, suffering from cancer, had wanted to remain in Mali, so a temporary studio was set up on the top floor of the hotel.[13] Touré approved the final master of Savane just weeks before his death in March 2006.[14] He said of the album: "I know this is my best album ever. It has the most power and is the most different."[15]
Savane features a number of non-African blues musicians, such as Little George Sueref, Pee Wee Ellis, and also Touré's protégé since the age of 13, Afel Bocoum.
It was released to high critical acclaim, earning a 94 on Metacritic.[16] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[17]
In 2009. It was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 100,000 copies throughout Europe.[18]
1.75/5
Sufjan Stevens
3/5
Illinois (styled Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come on Feel the Illinoise on the cover; sometimes spelled as Illinoise) is a 2005 concept album by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. His fifth studio album, it features songs referencing places, events, and persons related to the U.S. state of Illinois. Illinois is Stevens' second based on a U.S. state—part of a planned series of fifty that began with the 2003 album Michigan and that Stevens has since acknowledged was a joke.
Stevens recorded and produced the album at multiple venues in New York City using low-fidelity studio equipment and a variety of instruments between late 2004 and early 2005. The artwork and lyrics explore the history, culture, art, and geography of the state—Stevens developed them after analyzing criminal, literary, and historical documents. Following its release, Stevens promoted Illinois with a world tour.
Critics praised the album for its well-written lyrics and complex orchestrations. In particular, reviewers noted Stevens' progress as a songwriter since the release of Michigan. Illinois was named the best-reviewed album of 2005 by review aggregator Metacritic, and was included on several reviewers' "best of the decade" lists—including those of Paste, NPR, and Rolling Stone. According to aggregate website Acclaimed Music, Illinois is the most acclaimed album of 2005, 7th most acclaimed album of 2000s and 95th most acclaimed album in history.[1] The album amounted to Stevens' greatest public success to date; it was his first to place on the Billboard 200, and it topped the Billboard list of "Heatseekers Albums". The varied instrumentation and experimental songwriting on the album invoked comparisons to work by Steve Reich, Neil Young, and the Cure. Besides numerous references to Illinois, Stevens continued a theme of his songwriting career by including multiple references to his Christian faith.
3.5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
The Rolling Stones is the debut studio album by the English rock band of the same name, released by Decca Records in the UK on 16 April 1964. The American edition of the LP, with a slightly different track list, came out on London Records on 30 May 1964, subtitled England's Newest Hit Makers, which later became its official title.
Pere Ubu
1/5
Dub Housing is the second album by American rock band Pere Ubu. Released in 1978 by Chrysalis Records, the album is now regarded as one of their best, described by Trouser Press as "simply one of the most important post-punk recordings."[1]
The title is an allusion to the visual echoes of blocks of identical row houses in Baltimore,[2] presumably reminiscent of the echo and reverberation that characterize dub. "Dub" is also a reference to Jehovah's Witnesses, who refer to themselves as "Dubs". Lead singer David Thomas was a Jehovah's Witness. On a 1979 concert bootleg recording,[3] during the song "Sentimental Journey," David Thomas ad-libs the line "I live in a dub house!" The photograph on the cover shows the apartment building at 3206 Prospect Avenue near downtown Cleveland in which members of the band lived when this album was recorded.
1.5/5
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
We're Only in It for the Money is the third studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on March 4, 1968 by Verve Records. As with the band's first two efforts, it is a concept album, and satirizes left- and right-wing politics, particularly the hippie subculture, as well as the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, and Uncle Meat.
We're Only in It for the Money encompasses rock, experimental music, and psychedelic rock, with orchestral segments deriving from the recording sessions for Lumpy Gravy, which was previously issued as a solo instrumental album by Capitol Records and was subsequently reedited by frontman Frank Zappa and released by Verve; the reedited Lumpy Gravy was produced simultaneously with We're Only in It for the Money and is the first part of a conceptual continuity, continued with the reedited Lumpy Gravy and concluded with Zappa's final album Civilization Phaze III (1994).
1/5
The Black Crowes
4/5
Shake Your Money Maker (also stylized as The Black Crowes Present: $hake Your Money Maker) is the debut studio album by American rock band the Black Crowes, released on February 13, 1990 on Def American Recordings. It is the only album by the band to feature guitarist Jeff Cease. The album is named after a classic blues song written by Elmore James. The Black Crowes have played the song live many times over the years, but it is not included on this album.
Shake Your Money Maker peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and two of its singles, "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels", reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Jealous Again", "Twice As Hard" and "Seeing Things" were also charting singles in the United States. Shake Your Money Maker is the Black Crowes' best selling album, having sold more than 5 million copies.On January 8, 2021, the Black Crowes announced that a 30th anniversary edition of the album would be released on February 26, 2021. The new version contains the original tracks remastered in addition to three previously unreleased songs, outtakes, two demos from the Mr. Crowe's Garden era, and a live performance set recorded in 1990 at Center Stage in Atlanta. Previously unreleased track "Charming Mess" was released on the same day as the announcement.
Didn't like Black Crowes that much at their peak, but this is a damn good album!
808 State
2/5
90 is the second studio album by British electronic music group 808 State, released on 4 December 1989 as their first album on ZTT Records.[7] The album features the single "Pacific State", which reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1989.[8] 90 was released in the United States as Utd. State 90, without "The Fat Shadow (Pointy Head Mix)", but with other bonus tracks.[9]
Slant Magazine listed the album at number 54 on its list of the "Best Albums of the 1980s", calling it a "thrilling expansion of the possibilities for acid house and arguably the best LP ever produced in the style".[10] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[11]
2.5/5
Hole
3/5
Live Through This is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on April 12, 1994, by DGC Records. Recorded in late 1993, it departed from the band's unpolished hardcore aesthetics to more refined melodies and song structure. Frontwoman Courtney Love said that she wanted the record to be "shocking to the people who think that we don't have a soft edge", but maintain a harsh sensibility. The album was produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie and mixed by Scott Litt and J Mascis. The lyrics and packaging reflect Love's thematic preoccupations with beauty, and motifs of milk, motherhood, anti-elitism, and violence against women, while Love derived the album title from a quote in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Live Through This was met with critical acclaim, and charted in nine countries before going multi-platinum in the US in December 1994. Despite this, it was also the subject of some public discussion regarding unsubstantiated rumors that Love's husband, Kurt Cobain—who died by suicide one week before the album's release—helped ghostwrite the album. This claim has been disputed by the band members, producers, as well as music biographers, though the band confirmed that Cobain sang additional backing vocals on two tracks during a visit to the studio. This is also the band's only album to feature bassist Kristen Pfaff, and the final album to be released during her lifetime, as she died two months after the album's release.
In critical circles, Live Through This is considered a contemporary classic, and was included in Rolling Stone's 2020 updated list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time at number 106. It has also been featured on the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and on NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, where it ranked at the 84. As of 2010, it has sold over 1.6 million copies in the US.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Blood on the Tracks is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975, by Columbia Records. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia Records after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dylan began recording the album in New York City in September 1974. In December, shortly before Columbia was due to release the album, Dylan abruptly re-recorded much of the material in a studio in Minneapolis. The final album contains five tracks recorded in New York and five from Minneapolis.
Blood on the Tracks initially received mixed reviews, but has subsequently been acclaimed as one of Dylan's greatest albums by both critics and fans. The songs have been linked to tensions in Dylan's personal life, including his estrangement from his then-wife Sara. One of their children, Jakob Dylan, has described the songs as "my parents talking". In interviews, Dylan has denied that the songs on the album are autobiographical.The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts and No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart, with the single "Tangled Up in Blue" peaking at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The album remains one of Dylan's best-selling studio releases, with a double-platinum U.S. certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2015, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It was voted number 7 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000), in 2003, the album was ranked No. 16 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, rising to the No. 9 spot in the 2020 revision of that same list. In 2004, it was placed at No. 5 on Pitchfork's list of the top 100 albums of the 1970s.A high-definition 5.1 surround sound edition of the album was released on SACD by Columbia in 2003.
The Byrds
2/5
The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album by the American rock band the Byrds, and was released in January 1968, on Columbia Records.[1][2] The album represents the pinnacle of the Byrds' late-‘60s musical experimentation, with the band blending together elements of psychedelia, folk rock, country, electronic music, baroque pop, and jazz.[3][4][5] With producer Gary Usher, they made extensive use of a number of studio effects and production techniques, including phasing, flanging, and spatial panning.[6][7][8] The Byrds also introduced the sound of the pedal steel guitar and the Moog modular synthesizer into their music, making it one of the first LP releases on which the Moog appears.[7][9]
Recording sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers took place throughout the latter half of 1967 and were fraught with tension, resulting in the loss of two members of the band;[9] rhythm guitarist David Crosby was fired in October 1967 and drummer Michael Clarke left the sessions midway through recording, returning briefly before finally being dismissed after completion of the album.[10][11] Additionally, original band member Gene Clark, who had left the group in early 1966, rejoined for three weeks during the making of the album, before leaving again.[12] Author Ric Menck has commented that in spite of these changes in personnel and the conflict surrounding its creation, The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the band's most cohesive and ethereal-sounding album statement.[13]
The Notorious Byrd Brothers reached number 47 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and number 12 on the UK Album Chart.[14][15] A cover of the Gerry Goffin and Carole King song "Goin' Back" was released in October 1967 as the lead single from the album to mild chart success.[7] Although The Notorious Byrd Brothers was critically praised at the time of its release, it was only moderately successful commercially, particularly in the United States.[16] The album later came to be widely regarded as one of the Byrds' best album releases, as well as their most experimental and progressive.[5][6][13] Byrds expert Tim Connors has described the album's title as evoking a gang of outlaws from the American Old West.[4]
2.75/5
Coldplay
4/5
A Rush of Blood to the Head is the second studio album by British rock band Coldplay. It was released on 26 August 2002 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom, and a day later by Capitol Records in the United States. Recording started after the band became popular worldwide with the release of their debut album Parachutes (2000), and one of its singles in particular, "Yellow". The album was produced by the band and Ken Nelson, and makes greater use of the electric guitar and piano than its predecessor.
The album topped the UK Albums Chart upon its first week of release in the United Kingdom, and became the eighth biggest-selling album of the 21st century in the UK. The British Phonographic Industry has since certified the album 10× Platinum for its accumulated sales of over 3 million units in the UK and the album has sold 15 million copies worldwide. The album spawned the hit singles "In My Place", "The Scientist", and "Clocks". "God Put a Smile upon Your Face" was also released, but was significantly less successful.
A Rush of Blood to the Head has been critically acclaimed, and the band received three Grammy Awards for the album; the 2003 Grammy for Best Alternative Album, which was the band's second win in a row, the 2003 Grammy for Best Rock Performance with the song "In My Place", and the 2004 Grammy for Record of the Year with the song "Clocks". In 2020, it was ranked number 324 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It was also among ten albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, ultimately losing to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis.
4/5
Prince
5/5
Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Prince, released on June 25, 1984, by Warner Bros. Records and the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name. Purple Rain was musically denser than Prince's previous albums, emphasizing full band performances, and multiple layers of guitars, keyboards, electronic synthesizer effects, drum machines, and other instruments.
Much of the album had a grandiose, synthesized, and psychedelic sheen to the production and performances. The music on Purple Rain is generally regarded as the most pop-oriented of Prince's career, though a number of elements point towards the more experimental records Prince would release after Purple Rain. The music video for the album's lead single "When Doves Cry" sparked controversy among network executives, who thought its sexual nature was too explicit for television. The risqué lyrics of "Darling Nikki" raised complaints from Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center and contributed to the implementation of Parental Advisory stickers and imprints on album covers.
Purple Rain became Prince's first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200. The album spent 24 consecutive weeks atop on the Billboard 200 and was present on the chart for a total of 122 weeks. "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Purple Rain" peaked at number two and "I Would Die 4 U" peaked at number eight. In May 1996, the album was certified 13× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its total sales stand at 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Prince and the Revolution won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, while Prince also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Purple Rain.
Music critics noted the innovative and experimental aspects of the soundtrack's music, most famously on the spare, bass-less "When Doves Cry". Other aspects of the music, especially its synthesis of electronic elements with organic instrumentation and full-band performances along with its consolidation of rock and R&B, were identified by critics as distinguishing, even experimental factors. Purple Rain is regularly ranked among the greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone ranked the album number eight on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry list of sound recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
Next is the second album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, released in 1973.
The album was featured in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[2]
It has been reissued separately on CD numerous times since 1985, and is also widely available on a 2-in-1 album, the other album being the group's debut Framed.[3]
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Axis: Bold as Love is the second studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Track Records first released it in the United Kingdom on December 1, 1967, only seven months after the release of the group's highly successful debut, Are You Experienced. In the United States, Reprise Records delayed the release until the following month. The album reached the top ten in the album charts in both countries.
For the album, the group displayed several musical styles and critics saw it as demonstrating Jimi Hendrix's growth as a songwriter. The album introduced "Spanish Castle Magic" and "Little Wing", two Hendrix compositions which draw on his roots performing with rhythm and blues bands, that would remain in his live repertoire throughout his career.
The album cover, which draws on Hindu religious iconography, has generated controversy. It was designed without Hendrix's approval, and he publicly expressed his dissatisfaction. However, the album went on to become quite successful and was certified platinum in the US and silver in the UK. In 2000, Axis: Bold as Love was voted number 147 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). Rolling Stone ranked Axis: Bold as Love number 92 on its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Ozomatli
3/5
Street Signs is the third studio album by American rock band Ozomatli. It was released on June 22, 2004, through Real World Records and Concord Records. Recording sessions took place at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, Beatdown Studios, G Digital Recording, Mountain Mouth Studios, and Dog Dropping Studios in Los Angeles, with additional recording at The Plant in Sausalito, California and Music Lane Recordings in Austin, Texas. Production was handled by the band themselves, together with T-Ray, Chali 2na, Daniel Lewis, Don Corleon, Jason Roberts, J. B. Eckl and KC Porter.
The album peaked at number 125 on the Billboard 200, number two on the Top Latin Albums, Latin Pop Albums and Heatseekers Albums, and number seven on the Independent Albums chart in the United States.
It won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards,[6] as well as the Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album at the 6th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.[7] Street Signs was included in Robert Dimery's 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[8]
The song "Saturday Night" was featured in the video games Madden NFL 2005,[9] MX vs. ATV Unleashed,[10] and Sleeping Dogs, in the soundtrack to the 2013 film Turbo, and the trailer for the 2010 comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine.
3.5/5
AC/DC
3/5
Back in Black is the seventh studio album by Australian rock band AC/DC, released by Albert Productions and Atlantic Records on 25 July 1980. It was the band's first album to feature Brian Johnson as lead singer, following the death of Bon Scott, their previous vocalist.
After the commercial breakthrough of their 1979 album Highway to Hell, AC/DC was planning to record a follow-up, but in February 1980, Scott died from alcohol poisoning after a drinking binge. Instead of disbanding, the remaining members of the group decided to continue on and recruited Johnson, who had previously been vocalist for Geordie.
The album was composed by Johnson and brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, and recorded over seven weeks in the Bahamas from April to May 1980 with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who had also produced Highway to Hell. Following its completion, the group mixed Back in Black at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. The album's all-black cover was designed as a "sign of mourning" for Scott.
Back in Black was an unprecedented commercial and critical success. It has sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide,[2][3][4][5] making it one of the best-selling albums in music history. AC/DC supported the album with a yearlong world tour that cemented them among the most popular music acts of the early 1980s. The album received positive critical reception at the time of its initial release, and has since been included on numerous lists of "greatest" albums. On 9 December 2019, the album was certified 25× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making it the fourth best-selling album in the United States, and the best-selling album that never reached the top spot on the American charts.[6]
3.75/5
Lambchop
3/5
Nixon is the fifth studio album by American rock band Lambchop. It was released on February 7, 2000 and was issued by Merge Records and City Slang.
Nixon became a breakthrough release for Lambchop in the United Kingdom, where it received critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2000 by numerous publications.
Composition
Nixon has been described as a merging of chamber pop, countrypolitan, and R&B sounds alongside "sweet" soul music.[1][2]
Artwork and title
The title Nixon alludes to Richard Nixon and was derived from the album's cover artwork, which is a painting by Wayne White, a friend of Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner.[3] "He always plays around with slogans or words. He considered the material on the Nixon album to be tragicomic, and an image of Nixon came to mind," Wagner explained.[3]
This was very different.....interesting. I actually kind of liked it.
The Only Ones
2/5
The Only Ones is the debut studio album by English power pop band The Only Ones, released in 1978 by Columbia Records. It was produced by the Only Ones themselves, with the assistance of Robert Ash and was mixed at Basing St., Escape and CBS.
The album was re-released in Europe in 2009 on Sony Music Entertainment, featuring rare bonus content. The reissue was a CD which comprises 13-tracks. It includes the original album digitally remastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes; alongside three bonus tracks.
2.25/5
The Style Council
3/5
Café Bleu is the official debut album released by the English band The Style Council. It was released on 16 March 1984,[2] on Polydor Records, produced by Paul Weller with Peter Wilson. It followed the compilation Introducing The Style Council, which was released only in the Netherlands, Canada and Japan. The album was mainly recorded at Solid Bond Studios (owned by Weller) except for the strings which were recorded at CBS.[3]
Café Bleu was renamed My Ever Changing Moods in the United States to capitalise on the success of the single of the same name. Café Bleu included a large number of extra musicians, known as Honorary Councillors, including Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt from Everything but the Girl. The album represented a huge shift away from Weller's previous group The Jam and towards incorporating his favoured elements of classic soul, jazz and rap.
3.25/5
The Birthday Party
1/5
Junkyard is the third studio album by Australian post-punk group The Birthday Party. It was released on 10 May 1982 by Missing Link Records in Australia and by 4AD in the UK. It was the group's last full-length studio recording. It has received critical acclaim.
Background
Junkyard was inspired by American Southern Gothic imagery, dealing with extreme subjects like an evangelist's murdered daughter.[10] Anita Lane, then girlfriend of lead singer Nick Cave, co-wrote two songs for the album: "Dead Joe" and "Kiss Me Black".
The album was a transitional record for a variety of reasons. On 16 February 1982 in Melbourne, Tracy Pew (the band's bass player) was arrested for drunk driving. For this and several other outstanding offences he served 2.5 months in Pentridge Prison in Australia, and so Barry Adamson played bass on at least one track. In addition to his usual guitar, Mick Harvey played drums on a few songs, anticipating the upcoming termination of founding member Phill Calvert and the band's subsequent switch from quintet to quartet.
.25/5
Circle Jerks
1/5
Group Sex is the debut studio album by American hardcore punk band Circle Jerks. It was released on October 1, 1980, by Frontier Records. The album consists of 14 songs in 15 minutes and is considered to be a landmark album in hardcore punk. It was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
m b v is the third studio album by Anglo-Irish rock band My Bloody Valentine, self-released on 2 February 2013. Produced by the band's vocalist and guitarist Kevin Shields, m b v was the band's first full-length release of original material since Loveless (1991), over two decades earlier.
Recording for m b v began prior to My Bloody Valentine's breakup in 1997. Shields resumed recording in 2006 at the time when the band was reunited, with further recording occurring after 2011. The album received critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2013 by numerous publications, including Pitchfork, Uncut, and The Wire.
3/5
The The
3/5
Infected is the second studio album by English post-punk band the The, released on 17 November 1986 by Some Bizzare and Epic Records. The album produced four UK singles, including the band's best-selling single "Heartland," which reached #29 and spent 10 weeks on the chart, "Infected" (UK #48), "Slow Train to Dawn" (UK #64) and "Sweet Bird of Truth" (UK #55). Although Infected only peaked at #14 on the UK Albums Chart, it remained on the chart for 30 weeks, making it the The's most commercially successful album.
Os Mutantes
1/5
Os Mutantes (Brazilian Portuguese: [uz muˈtɐ̃tʃis], "the mutants") is the debut album by the Brazilian tropicalia band Os Mutantes. It was originally released in 1968 by Polydor and blends traditional Brazilian music styles with American and British psychedelia. The album includes a cover of The Mamas & The Papas' "Once Was a Time I Thought", translated into "Tempo no Tempo",[5] and a cover of "Le premier bonheur du jour", previously recorded by Françoise Hardy. It was reissued in 1999 on Omplatten Records and again in 2006 by Omplatten's (and Polydor's) parent company, Universal Records.
The album has received critical acclaim around the world, and was put at #12 on Mojo magazine list of "50 Most Out-There Albums of All Time".[6] It appears at number 9 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest Brazilian albums of all time. It is also listed at 39 on Rolling Stone's "Top 40 Stoner albums".[7] It also appears at number 9 on the Rolling Stones's 10 Greatest Latin Rock Albums of All Time.[8]
The Slits
1/5
The album was originally released on 7 September 1979 on the Island Records label in the UK and on Antilles in the US. It reached number 30 on the UK album charts at the time.[12] In 2004, it was voted 58th in The Observer's 100 Greatest British Albums list.[13] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[14] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 260 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[15]
Andy Kellman for AllMusic called it "entirely fun and catchy" despite its "less-than-polished nature and street-tough ruggedness".[3] Robert Christgau applauded it, writing that "for once" there was "a white reggae style that rival[ed] its models for weirdness and formal imagination."[5]
Cut's mark has been noted on several musical movements. "A post-punk masterpiece", it paved the genre's direction alongside fellow 1979 releases the Pop Group's Y and PiL's Metal Box.[16] The Guardian's Lindesay Irvine saw the album explore "adventurous" sonics while maintaining a "defiant" attitude. This included a full embrace of Jamaican music influences, with which he credited the Slits as one of the first bands to do so.[17] Indeed, PopMatters felt that Cut spoke to post-punk's appropriation of dub and reggae clearer than any other of the genre's records.[18] Irvine argued that it inspired later post-punk acts like Culture Club to "[get] their nerve up".[17] PopMatters said that Cut's most influential aspect was singer Ari Up's "wailing vibrato and gnashing power" that would be revamped during the movement.[18]
Cut is credited with shaping the 1990s musical movement riot grrrl.[1][19] Rolling Stone wrote that the scene's bands Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney came to be because of it.[1]
Bands to whom Cut has been appreciated by and/or influential to include Sleater-Kinney and trip hop group Massive Attack.[20] In his posthumously released journals, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain listed Cut (as "Typical Girls") as one of his 50 favorite records of all time.[21]
1.75/5
Pulp
3/5
This Is Hardcore is the sixth album by English band Pulp. Released in March 1998, it came three years after their breakthrough album, Different Class, and was eagerly anticipated.
Background and release
Friction grew in the band in the years following the massive success of Different Class, "culminating in the notable departure of guitarist and violinist Russell Senior; Cocker left for New York alone to decompress and write in isolation from the rest of the band."[5]
3.5/5
As with the band's previous album,This is Hardcore reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, but with far fewer sales,[6] and was well received critically, earning Pulp a third successive nomination for the 1998 Mercury Prize.[7]
The cover photo was art directed by Peter Saville and the American painter John Currin who is known for his figurative paintings of exaggerated female forms. The model photographed is Ksenia Sobchak[8] and the images were further digitally manipulated by Howard Wakefield, who also designed the album.[9] Currin was also the art director for the "Help the Aged" video, based on his painting "The Never Ending Story". Advertising posters showing the album's cover that appeared on the London Underground system were defaced by graffiti artists with slogans like "This Offends Women"[10] and "This is Sexist" or "This is Demeaning".[11]
The music video for the title track was directed by Doug Nichol and was listed as the No. 47 best video of all time by NME.[12] A bonus live CD entitled "This Is Glastonbury" was added to the album later in 1998. A deluxe edition of This Is Hardcore was released on 11 September 2006. It contained a second disc of B-sides, demos and rarities.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
A Wizard, a True Star is the fourth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released March 2, 1973, on Bearsville Records. It marked a departure from his previous, Something/Anything? (1972), with its lesser reliance on straightforward pop songs, a development he attributed to his experimentation with psychedelic drugs and his realization of "what music and sound were like in my internal environment, and how different that was from the music I had been making."[1][2]
The album was produced, engineered, and, with the exception of some tracks, entirely performed by Rundgren. He envisioned the record as a hallucinogenic-inspired "flight plan" with all the tracks seguing seamlessly into each other, starting with a "chaotic" mood and ending with a medley of his favorite soul songs. At the time of release, he stated that Wizard intended to advance utopian ideals; later, he said that the album had no definite meaning. No singles were issued from the album, as he wanted the tracks to be heard in the context of the LP. With 19 tracks, its nearly 56-minute runtime made it one of the longest single-disc LPs to date.
Upon release, A Wizard, a True Star received widespread critical acclaim, but sold poorly, reaching number 86 on U.S. charts. According to Rundgren, "the result was a complete loss of about half of my audience at that point." To support the album, Rundgren formed a new group, Utopia, his first official band since the Nazz. Their technologically ambitious stage show was cancelled after about two weeks on the road. A Wizard, a True Star has since been recognized for its influence on later generations of bedroom musicians.[2]
2.5/5
Calexico
3/5
Feast of Wire is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Calexico. The album was released on June 18, 2003, through Quarterstick Records.
Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 86/100[1]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [2]
Alternative Press 5/5[3]
The Boston Phoenix [4]
Entertainment Weekly B+[5]
The Guardian [6]
Mojo [7]
Pitchfork 8.9/10[8]
Q [9]
Rolling Stone [10]
Uncut [11]
Joe Tangari of Pitchfork called Feast of Wire Calexico's "first genuinely masterful full-length, crammed with immediate songcraft, shifting moods and open-ended exploration," and "the album we always knew they had in them but feared they would never make."[8]
3.25/5
The Kinks
3/5
Face to Face is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks, released in October 1966. The album marked a shift from the hard-driving style of beat music that had catapulted the group to international acclaim in 1964, instead drawing heavily from baroque pop and music hall. It is their first album consisting entirely of Ray Davies compositions, and has also been regarded by critics as one of rock's first concept albums. Davies' blossoming songwriting style became increasingly observational and satirical, commenting on English culture, social class and the music industry.
Despite containing the hit single, "Sunny Afternoon", the album's initial reception was lukewarm in both the UK and United States compared to the Kinks' previous LPs, charting at No. 12 and No. 135, respectively. Face to Face eventually earned retrospective critical acclaim, recognized as a pivotal record of the psychedelic era and an important milestone in the Kinks' evolution. The album was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[9] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[10]
3/5
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
The Trinity Session is the second studio album by Canadian alternative country band Cowboy Junkies, released in early 1988 by Latent Recordings in Canada,[11] and re-released worldwide later in the year on RCA Records. "Working on a Building" and "Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)" did not appear on the Latent Records release. "Blue Moon Revisited" was originally released on It Came from Canada, Vol. 4 (1988), a compilation of Canadian independent bands.
The music was recorded inside Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity on November 27, 1987, with the band circled around a single microphone. The album includes a mixture of original material by the band and covers of classic folk, rock and country songs. Notable among the songs is the band's most famous single, a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane", based on the version found on 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (1974) rather than the later studio version from Loaded (1970).[12] Also included is "Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)", which is both a cover and an original, combining a new song by the band with the pop standard "Blue Moon".
In 2007, the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties' Don't Look Back series. Also that year, the band returned to the Church of the Holy Trinity to record a new version of the Trinity Session with guest musicians Natalie Merchant, Vic Chesnutt and Ryan Adams. This new set of recordings was released as Trinity Revisited to commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Trinity Session.
3.5/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Let It Bleed is the eighth British and tenth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released 28 November 1969 on London Records in the United States and shortly thereafter by Decca Records in the United Kingdom.[2] Released shortly after the band's 1969 American Tour, it is the follow-up to 1968's Beggars Banquet, and like that album is a return to the group's more blues-sound approach that was prominent in the pre-Aftermath period of their career. Additional sounds on the album draw influence from gospel, country blues and country rock.
The album was recorded during a period of turmoil in the band; Brian Jones, the band's founder and original leader, had become increasingly unreliable in the studio due to heavy drug use, and during most recording sessions was either absent, or so incapacitated that he was unable to contribute meaningfully. He was fired in the midst of recording sessions for this album, and replaced by Mick Taylor. Jones appeared on this album on only two songs, playing backing instruments. Jones died within a month of being fired.
Taylor had been hired after principal recording was complete on many of the tracks, and appears on two songs, having recorded some guitar overdubs. Keith Richards was the band's sole guitarist during most of the recording sessions, being responsible for nearly all of the rhythm and lead parts. The other Stones members (Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts) appear on nearly every track, with contributions by percussionist Jimmy Miller (who also produced the album), keyboardists Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart, and guest musicians including Ry Cooder.
The album charted top ten in several markets, including reaching number one in the UK and number three in the US. While no high-charting singles were released from the album, many of the album's songs became staples of Rolling Stones live shows and on rock radio stations for decades to come, including "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want", both of them listed on "best-ever" songs lists. The album was voted number 40 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd edition (2000).[3] In 2005, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and is on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
4/5
The Triffids
3/5
Calenture is the fourth studio album by Australian rock group The Triffids, it was released in November 1987 and saw them explore themes of insanity, deception and rootlessness—the title refers to a fever suffered by sailors during long hot voyages.[1] It reached No. 32 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In November 1987, it reached No. 24 on the Swedish Albums Chart, in May 1988 it peaked at No. 25 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. The album spawned three singles, "Bury Me Deep in Love" (1987), "Trick of the Light" and "Holy Water" (both in 1988). The latter track was recorded with American producer Craig Leon.
In 2007 Calenture was re-released as a 2× CD with five bonus tracks on the first disc and twelve tracks on the second disc, mostly rehearsal or studio demos of the original album tracks. In February it appeared on the Belgium Albums Chart Top 60.
Sparks
2/5
Kimono My House is the third studio album by American rock band Sparks, released on May 1, 1974, by Island Records.[7] The album is considered to be their commercial breakthrough, and was met with widespread acclaim.
Preceded by the single "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", Kimono My House peaked at No. 4 in the UK and No. 101 in the US. Retrospectively, Kimono My House is considered one of Sparks's best works and one of the best glam rock albums.
2.25/5
Marvin Gaye
3/5
Here, My Dear is the fifteenth studio album by music artist Marvin Gaye, released as a double album on December 15, 1978, on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records.[2] Recording sessions for the album took place between 1977 and 1978 at Gaye's personal studios, Marvin Gaye Studios, in Los Angeles, California. The album was notable for its subject matter focusing largely on Gaye's acrimonious divorce from his first wife, Anna Gordy Gaye.
A commercial and critical failure upon its release, it was later hailed by music critics, in the years following Gaye's death, as one of Gaye's best albums. "It's taken me a while," Anna admitted in later years, "but I've come to appreciate every form of Marvin's music."[3]
3.5/5
Missy Elliott
3/5
Supa Dupa Fly is the debut studio album by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, released July 15, 1997, on The Goldmind and Elektra Records. The album was recorded and produced solely by Timbaland in October 1996, and features the singles, "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Sock It 2 Me", "Hit Em wit da Hee" and "Beep Me 911". Guest appearances on the album include Busta Rhymes, Ginuwine, 702, Magoo, Da Brat, Lil' Kim, and Aaliyah. The album was recorded in just two weeks.The album received acclaim from critics, who praised Timbaland's futuristic production style and Elliott's performances and persona. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 and topped the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold 1.2 million copies in the United States.
In 2020, the album was ranked 93 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and, in 2022, 53 on their 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time.
3.5/5
Joni Mitchell
2/5
Hejira is the eighth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. The songs on the album were written during a series of road trips in 1975 and 1976, and reflect events that occurred during those trips, including several romantic relationships she had at the time. Characterized by lyrically dense, sprawling songs, as well as the overdubbed fretless bass playing of Jaco Pastorius (whom Mitchell had just met), Hejira continued the musician's journey beyond her pop records towards the freer, jazz-inspired music she would implement on later recordings. Some of the songs were written while Mitchell traveled as a member of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour, and she performed the album tracks "Coyote" and "Furry Sings the Blues" with The Band at their final concert (later released as Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz).
The album did not sell as well as its predecessors, peaking at No. 22 in her native Canada. It reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart in the United States, where it was certified gold by the RIAA, and No. 11 in the UK, where it attained a silver certification. Critically, the album was generally well received, and in the years since its release, Hejira has been considered one of the high marks of her career.
2.5/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
3/5
Time Out is a studio album by the American jazz group the Dave Brubeck Quartet, released in 1959 on Columbia Records. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, it is based upon the use of time signatures that were unusual for jazz such as 9
8, 6
4 and 5
4.[6] The album is a subtle blend of cool and West Coast jazz.[7][8]
The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and was the first jazz album to sell a million copies.[9] The single "Take Five" off the album was also the first jazz single to sell one million copies.[9] By 1963, the record had sold 500,000 units, and in 2011 it was certified double platinum by the RIAA, signifying over two million records sold.[10][11] The album was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.
The album was selected, in 2005, for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The Beau Brummels
2/5
Released in July 1967, Triangle spent two weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart, peaking at number 197.[14] Though not a commercial success,[15][16] the album gained an underground following and received critical acclaim.[6][16] Sal Valentino's "expressive" vocals were compared to those of Bob Dylan by Crawdaddy!'s Paul Williams in 1968 and by Perfect Sound Forever's Steve Cooper in 2004.[16][17] A 2007 review in Electric Roulette stated that Valentino's voice resembles Gene Clark of the Byrds, "but superior in tone and emotion".[18] Williams, Cooper, and AllMusic's Stansted Montfichet praised Ron Elliott as a songwriter,[13][16][17] with Montfichet adding that Elliott's "lyrical imagery ... is particularly striking" in the songs "Only Dreaming Now", "Painter of Women", and "The Wolf of Velvet Fortune".[13] Australian journalist and author Lillian Roxon wrote in her 1969 Rock Encyclopedia that Triangle "was the album that astonished everyone and blew a million minds".[19] Music journalist Jon Savage named the song "Magic Hollow" in his list of the "100 Greatest Psychedelic Classics" in the June 1997 issue of Mojo magazine.[20] In 2006, Joel Selvin of the San Francisco Chronicle called the album a "cult classic",[21] while SF Weekly's Justin F. Farrar remarked that it "has aged far more gracefully than that almighty concept record from '67, Sgt. Pepper's."[22] Brendan McGrath of The Rising Storm wrote in a 2007 review that "Triangle has everything: it's a tightly produced country record that is rooted in rock; it's straight and folky and underlined by psychedelic imagery".[23] Author Tom Moon selected the album for his 2008 book, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, in which he wrote that Triangle "captured the crisscrossing events of 1967" and was "the rare bridge between the sunny straightforwardness of mid-60s pop and the fuzzy opaqueness of psychedelia".[15] During a 2005 broadcast of Fresh Air, National Public Radio's Ken Tucker said that Triangle comes "perilously close to stuffy art rock."[24] The album was re-released in 2002 by Collectors' Choice Music.[13] Kim Cooper of Scram magazine said the reissue was "long overdue" and noted that "the remaster really brings out the arrangements' complexity".[25]
2.75/5
The Verve
3/5
A Northern Soul is the second studio album by English alternative rock band The Verve. The album was released in the United Kingdom on 20 June 1995 on the Hut label and in the United States on 3 July 1995 on Vernon Yard Records. The title is a reference to Northern Soul, a popular soul movement in Britain during the 1970s.
A Northern Soul was a moderate success upon release, charting at number 13 in the UK, and has since received critical acclaim, as well as being ranked high in readers polls in popular music publications. This is the final album to feature the band's original line-up until 2008's Forth. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 390 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[3]
3.5/5
Foo Fighters
3/5
Foo Fighters is the debut studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on July 4, 1995, through Roswell and Capitol Records. Dave Grohl wrote and recorded the entire album himself, with the assistance of producer Barrett Jones at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington, in 1994. He said that he recorded the album just for fun, describing it as a cathartic experience to recover from the suicide of Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain.
After Grohl completed the recordings, he chose the name "Foo Fighters" for the project to hide his identity, and passed cassette copies of the sessions to personal friends. When the tapes attracted record label interest, Grohl signed with Capitol and recruited a full band to perform the songs live. The album was promoted through extensive tours and six singles, two of which were accompanied by music videos.
Upon its release, Foo Fighters earned positive reviews, praising its songwriting and performances, and was also a commercial success, becoming the band's second-best-selling album in the United States. It also peaked within the top five of charts of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
3.5/5
Happy Mondays
2/5
Bummed is the second studio album by English rock band Happy Mondays, released on 21 November 1988 on Factory Records. During 1987 and early 1988, the band discovered house music and the rave drug ecstasy. Factory producer Martin Hannett was subsequently enlisted to produce the band's next album. Sessions were held at The Slaughterhouse recording studio in Driffield over three weeks. The period was noted for heavy drug use by the band and Hannett, with their manager later calling it the first "ecstasy-fuelled" album. Hannett moved recording to Strawberry Studios, where extra instrumentation was added. Bummed is a Madchester release described as "stiff psychedelic funk" by AllMusic. Much of the lyrical content on the album was influenced by the 1970 film Performance, with dialog from the film sampled throughout.
Happy Mondays toured the United Kingdom supporting James in late 1987, which coincided with the release of the lead single from Bummed, "Wrote for Luck", on 31 October 1988. Happy Mondays played a series of headlining shows to close out the year; stints of mainland Europe and the UK followed in the first half of 1989. "Lazyitis – One Armed Boxer", an alternative version of closing track "Lazy Itis", was released as the second single from the album on 6 May 1989. Following this, the band embarked on a North American tour supporting labelmates Pixies. At the suggestion of their manager, remixes of "Wrote for Luck" – retitled "W.F.L." – were made by Paul Oakenfold and Vince Clarke of Erasure. These versions were released together as part of a reissued "W.F.L." single in September 1989.
Bummed received generally positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised Hannett's production work. It peaked at number 59 on the UK Albums Chart, though was initially seen as a disappointing seller by Factory Records. The original version of "Wrote for Luck" reached number seven on the UK Independent Singles Chart. "Lazyitis – One Armed Boxer" charted at number 46 on the UK Singles Chart, followed by the remixed "W.F.L." at number 68. Bummed appeared on album of the year and best of decade lists by NME and Sounds and Q. "Wrote for Luck" and Bummed have been viewed as defining releases of the acid house era and the Second Summer of Love.
2.75/5
Can
2/5
Tago Mago is the second studio album by the German krautrock band Can, originally released as a double LP in August 1971 on the United Artists label. It was the band's first album to feature Damo Suzuki after the 1970 departure of previous vocalist Malcolm Mooney. Recorded in a rented castle near Cologne, the album features long-form experimental tracks blending rock improvisation, funk rhythms, and musique concrète techniques.Tago Mago has been described as Can's best and most extreme record in sound and structure. The album has received widespread critical acclaim and is cited as an influence by various artists. Drowned in Sound called it "arguably the most influential rock album ever recorded."
2/5
Madonna
4/5
Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and Prince on the album, with her co-writing and co-producing all the songs. Her most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer is a confessional record. Madonna described the album as a collection of songs about her mother, father, and bonds with her family. It was dedicated to Madonna's mother, who died when she was young.
Like a Prayer is a pop album and incorporates elements of rock, R&B, gospel, and funk. Madonna drew from her Catholic upbringing, as seen on the album's title track, which was also released as its lead single. The lyrics deal with themes from Madonna's childhood and adolescence, such as the death of her mother in \"Promise to Try\", the importance of family in \"Keep It Together\", and her relationship with her father in \"Oh Father\", as well as encouraging female empowerment in \"Express Yourself\".
Like a Prayer received universal acclaim from music critics, who praised the songwriting and recognized Madonna's increased artistic merit. The album was featured in several musical reference books and best-of lists including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Spin Alternative Record Guide. Commercially, the album was an international success, reaching the top of the charts in 20 countries, and was certified quadruple platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Worldwide, it has sold over 15 million copies and is one of the best-selling albums by women. Six accompanying singles were released: the title track, \"Express Yourself\", \"Cherish\", \"Oh Father\", \"Dear Jessie\", and \"Keep It Together\". \"Like a Prayer\" became Madonna's seventh number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, while \"Express Yourself\" and \"Cherish\" both peaked at number two, and \"Keep It Together\" became a top-10 hit.
With the singles' music videos, Madonna furthered her creativity and became known as a leading figure in the format. The music video for \"Like a Prayer\" was met with controversy worldwide over its use of religious imagery, including the appropriation of Catholic iconography such as stigmata and the burning crosses of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as a dream about making love to a Black saint, and a scene depicting an interracial murder by white supremacist groups. Family and Christian groups including the Vatican protested its broadcast and threatened to boycott Pepsi for having ties with Madonna. Eventually, Pepsi caved in to the protest and canceled the sponsorship, allowing Madonna to keep her $5 million paycheck in advance. Like a Prayer preceded Madonna's Blond Ambition World Tour, which she used to promote it. At the end of the 1980s, following the release of the album, Madonna was named artist of the decade by several publications.
Laura Nyro
2/5
Nyro premiered some of the songs that were to appear on the album at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. The song "Luckie" was derived from an earlier composition Nyro had played at her audition for Verve Records in 1966. Before she signed to Columbia Records, Verve had already planned to release the album, under the title Soul Picnic. The album saw its actual release in 1968 on the Columbia label and became one of the year's underground successes. The album was written entirely by Nyro, arranged by Charlie Calello and produced by both.
The front cover was taken by Bob Cato. Writer Michele Kort said that Nyro resembled a "dark Madonna with luxuriant red lips."[4] The back cover is a black-and-white silhouetted photo of Nyro kissing the head of what appears to be her younger self. According to Nyro, she was "kissing seventeen years of her life—her childhood—goodbye."[5] On Nyro's insistence, the album's lyric sheet was printed with perfumed ink, and Kort wrote in 2002 that it still maintained a pleasant scent.[6]
The album's themes are of passion, love, romance, death, and drugs, and the songs are delivered in Nyro's distinctive brash, belting vocals. Musically, it is a multi-layered and opulent work, including multi-tracked vocals and strings. The album's loose genre is pop, but it also incorporates elements of soul, gospel, jazz, and rock.[citation needed]
It is generally considered to be Nyro's most accessible and most famous work, although it is arguably not the most commercially successful or critically favored (both honors go to the follow-up, New York Tendaberry). The album was her first chart entry, reaching No. 181 on the Billboard 200, when it was known as "Pop Albums." In the February 2016 issue of UNCUT magazine it was rated in the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time. Many musicians, including Elton John and Todd Rundgren were directly influenced by the album and bandleader Paul Shaffer told CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos that he considers this album to be his one "desert island record".[citation needed]
The album is second only to its predecessor, 1967's More Than a New Discovery, in producing hit songs for other artists. Three Dog Night took "Eli's Comin'" to US No. 10, while The 5th Dimension went to US No. 3 with "Stoned Soul Picnic" and US No. 13 with "Sweet Blindness".[citation needed]
very 70s, hippy, Joni Mitchell-like. 2.5/5
Syd Barrett
2/5
The Madcap Laughs is the debut solo album by the English singer-songwriter Syd Barrett. It was recorded after Barrett had left Pink Floyd in April 1968. The album had a lengthy recording history, with work beginning in May 1968, but the bulk of the sessions taking place between April and July 1969, for which five different producers were credited − including Barrett, Peter Jenner (1968 sessions), Malcolm Jones (early-to-mid-1969 sessions), and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Roger Waters (mid-1969 sessions). Among the guest musicians are Willie Wilson from Gilmour's old band Jokers Wild and several members of Soft Machine.
The Madcap Laughs, released in January 1970 on Harvest in the UK but not released in the US until 1974, enjoyed minimal commercial success on release, reaching number 40 on the UK's official albums chart. It was re-released in 1974 as part of Syd Barrett (which contained The Madcap Laughs and Barrett), which saw the first US issue of the two LPs. The album was remastered and reissued in 1993, along with Barrett's other albums, Barrett (1970) and Opel (1988), independently and as part of the Crazy Diamond box set. A newly remastered version was released in 2010.
2.5/5
The Boo Radleys
3/5
Giant Steps is the third studio album by the Boo Radleys, released in 1993. The title is inspired by John Coltrane's album of the same name, and the record features an assortment of influences — their previous shoegazing sound backed by pop, reggae, noise pop and orchestral sounds.
Background
Guitarist Martin Carr had wanted to make an album that was more musically ambitious than the shoegaze sound they were known for. He said the rest of the band felt that no other act on the Creation Records roster were as competent as them. Journalist David Cavanagh said the band used the studio as an instrument, "push[ing] back the boundaries" of music as Screamadelica (1991) by Primal Scream had previously done, "crashing from genre to genre" as if the Boo Radleys were making their own iteration of the White album (1968) by the Beatles.[2]
3.75/4
Burning Spear
3/5
Marcus Garvey is the third album by reggae artist Burning Spear, released in 1975 on Fox Records in Jamaica and then internationally on Island Records later in the year. The album is named after the Jamaican National Hero and Rastafari movement prophet Marcus Garvey. A dub version of it was released four months later as Garvey's Ghost.
This was the first album by Burning Spear recorded for producer Lawrence Lindo, better known by his handle taken from the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby. Apparently, Lindo and Burning Spear realized the opening track to this album, "Marcus Garvey", on their first meeting.[1] Island Records, whose founder Chris Blackwell had been instrumental in breaking Jamaican reggae artists Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, and Bob Marley to an international audience, then made a deal to release it internationally, but believed the original Jamaican mix of the album to be too threatening, or at least too commercially unviable, for white audiences and therefore remixed it into what they considered a more palatable form,[2] outraging him.[3] The Jamaican release also does not include the final track, "Resting Place",[4] which had only been issued as a single there.[5] The backing musicians, whom Lindo named the Black Disciples, had been assembled from the Soul Syndicate and the Wailers.[6]
On July 27, 2010, this album was remastered and released by Universal's Hip-O Records reissue imprint in tandem with the dub version on one compact disc.
The album was listed in the 1999 book The Rough Guide: Reggae: 100 Essential CDs.[7]
Willie Nelson
2/5
Stardust is the 22nd studio album by Willie Nelson, released in April 1978. Its ten songs consist entirely of pop standards that Nelson picked from among his favorites. Nelson asked Booker T. Jones, who was his neighbor in Malibu at the time, to arrange a version of "Moonlight in Vermont". Impressed with Jones's work, Nelson asked him to produce the entire album. Nelson's decision to record such well-known tracks was controversial among Columbia executives because he had distinguished himself in the outlaw country genre. Recording of the album took only ten days.
Stardust was met with high sales and near-universal positive reviews. It peaked at number 1 in Billboard's Top Country Albums and number 30 in the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, it charted at number 1 in Canadian RPM's Country Albums and number 28 in RPM's Top Albums. The singles "Blue Skies" and "All of Me" peaked respectively at numbers 1 and 3 in Billboard's Hot Country Singles.
In 1979, Nelson won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the song "Georgia on My Mind". Stardust was on the Billboard's Country Album charts for ten years—from its release until 1988. The album also reached number 1 in New Zealand and number 5 in Australia in 1980. In 2012, the album was ranked number 260 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was originally certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in December 1978. In 1984, when it was certified triple platinum, Nelson was the highest-grossing concert act in the United States. By 2002, the album was certified quintuple platinum, and it was later inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame class of 2015.
2.5/5
Hot Chip
3/5
In Our Heads is the fifth studio album by English electronic music band Hot Chip, released on 6 June 2012. It is the band's first album to be released by Domino. It was recorded in a span of five months at English producer Mark Ralph's Club Ralph studio in London.[1] The promotional single "Flutes", for which a video debuted on 15 March 2012, was made available as a free download when pre-ordering the album through Domino.[2][3] A limited-edition 12-inch vinyl of the song was eventually released on 2 April 2012.[4]
"Night & Day" was released as the album's lead single on 4 June 2012.[5] Prior to that, the Daphni mix of the song was released as a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl on Record Store Day on 21 April 2012.[6][7] "How Do You Do?" and "Don't Deny Your Heart" were released as the album's second and third singles on 10 September and 26 November 2012, respectively.[8][9]
Maxwell
3/5
Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is the debut album by American R&B singer-songwriter Maxwell. It was recorded in 1994 and 1995, then released on April 2, 1996, by Columbia Records.
Maxwell largely wrote and produced the album himself, recording in sessions at Electric Lady Studios, RPM, Sorcerer, and Chung King Studios in New York City, and CRC recording studios in Chicago. The resulting music features a mellow, groove-based sound with elements of funk, jazz, smooth soul, and quiet storm. A concept album, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was composed as a song cycle that focuses on an adult romance, based in part on Maxwell's personal experiences.
Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was not an immediate commercial success, but it was helped by the release of its second single "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)" in July 1996, and the album eventually became a million-seller. It was also a success with critics, who praised it as a departure from the mainstream, hip hop-oriented R&B of the time, while earning Maxwell several accolades and comparisons to soul singers of the past, particularly Marvin Gaye and Prince.
The success of Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite elevated Maxwell's reputation to that of a sex symbol and a notable performer in the music industry. He was credited with shaping the "neo soul" movement of musicians that rose to prominence during the late 1990s. Along with D'Angelo's Brown Sugar (1995) and Erykah Badu's Baduizm (1997), the album provided commercial exposure to neo soul and has since been cited by several critics as Maxwell's greatest work.
Little Simz
3/5
Grey Area (stylised as GREY Area) is the third studio album by English rapper Little Simz, released on 1 March 2019 through Age 101 Music and AWAL.
Release
"Offence" was released as a single on 17 September 2018.[1] "Boss" was released as a single on 23 September 2018.[2] "101 FM" was released as a single on 4 December 2018.[3] "Selfish" was released on 16 January 2019 along with the announcement of Grey Area.[4]
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
AnyDecentMusic? 8.5/10[5]
Metacritic 91/100[6]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [7]
Financial Times [8]
The Guardian [9]
The Independent [10]
NME [11]
The Observer [12]
Pitchfork 8.1/10[13]
Q [14]
The Times [15]
Vice (Expert Witness) A−[16]
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 91, based on 15 reviews.[6]
In the review for AllMusic, Liam Martin praised the album by claiming that "On her third full-length album, Grey Area, Simz has reached a new peak, with an honest record that isn't afraid to take shots at the world at large. It's also incredibly concise -- an aspect that many of her peers often miss the mark on -- with no filler despite the broad variation the record boasts."[7] Kyann-Sian Williams of NME praised the album, giving it a perfect score and saying, "Across these 10 tracks, Simz utilises her most valuable commodity: honesty. Having stripped away the narrative cloak that shrouded the highlights of 'Stillness In Wonderland', she's crafted a knockout record – and finally come true on her early promise. This is the best rap record of the year so far."[11] William Rosebury of The Line of Best Fit said, "It's brave but vulnerable, energetic but reflective and youthful but wise. If you listen to any Little Simz track, you'll know instantly she's a great MC, but with this project she has stepped beyond that to become a uniquely gifted artist. An incredible album."[17]
Green Day
5/5
Dookie (stylized as dookie) is the third studio album and the major label debut by American rock band Green Day, released on February 1, 1994 by Reprise Records. The band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo, it was recorded in late 1993 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Written mostly by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, the album is heavily based around his personal experiences, with themes such as boredom, anxiety, relationships, and sexuality. The album was promoted with five singles: "Longview", "Basket Case", a re-recorded version of "Welcome to Paradise" (originally on their Kerplunk album), "When I Come Around", and the radio-only "She". "All by Myself" is a hidden track performed by drummer Tré Cool.
Dookie received critical acclaim upon its release, and won the band a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album in 1995. It was also a worldwide success, reaching number two in the United States and the top five in several other countries; it is credited with bringing punk rock to mainstream popularity, and propelling Green Day to worldwide fame. It was later certified diamond by the RIAA, and has sold close to 20 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. In 2003, Rolling Stone placed Dookie at number 193 on their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. In 2020, Rolling Stone re-ranked the album at number 375 on another revised list. Regarding its legacy, Dookie has been labeled by critics as one of the greatest punk rock albums of all time.
Barry Adamson
2/5
Oedipus Schmoedipus is an album by the English musician Barry Adamson, released in 1996.[2][3] Like Adamson's previous albums, Oedipus Schmoedipus was conceived as a soundtrack to an imaginary film.[4] The album peaked at No. 51 on the UK Albums Chart.[5]
"Something Wicked This Way Comes" appears in the David Lynch film Lost Highway.[6]
Production
The album was produced by Adamson.[7] Nick Cave cowrote and contributed vocals to "The Sweetest Embrace", while Jarvis Cocker cowrote and sang on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis".[8][9] Billy Mackenzie sang on "Achieved in the Valley of Dolls".[10]
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music [1]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide [7]
Muzik [12]
NME 7/10[13]
Pitchfork 8.1/10[14]
NME called the album "too cool to be cringingly kitsch, too deep to be flaky."[13] Pitchfork stated that "with 13 tracks that sound like they could take form and commit acts of homicide on their own, the former Bad Seed's creation is undeniably ... alive."[14]
The Guardian determined that "Adamson's psychogeographical soundtracks snag your head and won't let go: he's made a (bad) dream of a music that simulates mainstream accessibility but is drenched with the maker's own terrors, memories, fixations."[15] Rolling Stone thought that "Adamson can brilliantly—and without words—suggest entire movie scenes with dizzying combinations of dance beats, jazz phrases, finger-snapping big-band arrangements, luscious strings and even references to '60s French pop."[16]
AllMusic wrote that "Adamson's skill in layering and devising unusual sound textures still qualifies him as one of experimental rock's more imaginative composers and producers."[11] Dave Thompson referred to the album as a "supreme slab of disturbance-with-a-(bit of a)-beat."[17]
this was....different.....2/5
New Order
4/5
Technique is the fifth studio album by English electronic rock band New Order. Released on 30 January 1989 by Factory Records, the album was partly recorded on the island of Ibiza, and incorporates Balearic beat and acid house influences into the group's dance-rock sound. The album was influenced by the then growing acid scene, and Sumner's experiences at Shoom in London. It was also New Order's final studio album to be released under Factory Records (though not their final Factory release, that being the following year's "World in Motion"); the label would declare bankruptcy in 1992 following a severe financial downturn caused primarily by the significant commercial failure of Happy Mondays' Yes Please!.
Technique was the first New Order album to reach number one on the UK charts, and "Fine Time", the first single from the album, reached number 11. Remixed versions of "Round & Round" and "Run" were also released as singles.
4.25/5
Primal Scream
3/5
Vanishing Point is the fifth studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was released on 7 July 1997 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and in the United States by Reprise Records. It peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.[1] The album shows inspiration from genres such as dub, ambient, dance music, and krautrock, as well as bands such as Motörhead, Can, and the Stooges. It was the band's first album to feature Gary 'Mani' Mounfield on bass, formerly of the Stone Roses, although Marco Nelson played bass on "Burning Wheel", "Star", "If They Move, Kill 'Em'", and "Stuka". Other guest appearances on Vanishing Point include Augustus Pablo, Glen Matlock, and the Memphis Horns.
Background
Gillespie has described the album as an anarcho-syndicalist speedfreak road-movie record.[2] It is named after and inspired by the 1971 film Vanishing Point, especially the song "Kowalski", which is meant to be an alternative soundtrack of the movie. Lead singer Bobby Gillespie said, "The music in the film is hippy music, so we thought, 'Why not record some music that really reflects the mood of the film?' It's always been a favourite of the band, we love the air of paranoia and speed- freak righteousness. It's impossible to get hold of now, which is great! It's a pure underground film, rammed with claustrophobia."[2]
3.5/5
Arcade Fire
3/5
Neon Bible is the second studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It was first released on March 5, 2007, in Europe and a day later in North America by Merge Records. Originally announced on December 16, 2006, through the band's website, the majority of the album was recorded at a church the band bought and renovated in Farnham, Quebec. The album is the first to feature drummer Jeremy Gara, and the first to include violinist Sarah Neufeld among the band's core line-up.
Neon Bible became Arcade Fire's highest-charting album at the time, debuting on the Billboard 200 at number two, selling 92,000 copies in its first week and more than 400,000 to date. Being released within a month of similarly successful releases by The Shins (Wincing the Night Away) and Modest Mouse (We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank), Neon Bible was cited as an example of the popularization of indie rock. Critics met the self-produced Neon Bible with acclaim. Publications like NME and IGN praised the album for its grandiose nature, while Rolling Stone and Uncut opined that it resulted in a distant and overblown sound.
3.25/5
Jungle Brothers
3/5
Done by the Forces of Nature is the second studio album by American hip hop group Jungle Brothers, released on November 7, 1989, by Warner Bros. Records.[1] Recording sessions for the album took place in 1989 at Calliope Studios in New York City, and production was handled by the Jungle Brothers.[2] It was mixed at Apollo Studios by Kool DJ Red Alert and the Jungle Brothers.[2] The album's title may refer to a line from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, wherein Krishna says, "Those who are deluded by the illusive power (Maya) of Nature become attached to the work done by the forces of nature," 3:28.[citation needed]
Done by the Forces of Nature peaked at number 46 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It also received rave reviews from music critics who praised its Afrocentric themes, clever lyrics, house-influenced production, and eclectic sampling of music genres such as jazz, R&B, funk, and African music. Done by the Forces of Nature has been considered a golden age hip hop classic, as well as one of the greatest and influential hip hop albums of all time. In 1998, it was included in The Source magazine's "100 Best Albums" list.
3.25/5
Astrud Gilberto
2/5
Beach Samba is a 1967 studio album by Astrud Gilberto, arranged by Eumir Deodato and Don Sebesky.
Beach Samba was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[2]
The AllMusic review by Richie Unterberger awarded the album three stars and said that the album was "One of Gilberto's less impressive '60s Verve outings, primarily due to the more pop-oriented song selection...some of the pop choices work well, particularly Tim Hardin's gorgeous 'Misty Roses,'" and praised "Nao Bate O Corocao" saying that it had Gilberto "cutting loose with confident, sassy scats, as she rarely did before or since."[1]
Gang Of Four
2/5
Entertainment! is the debut album by English post-punk band Gang of Four. It was released in September 1979 through EMI Records internationally and Warner Bros. Records in North America. Stylistically, it draws heavily on punk rock but also incorporates the influence of funk, dance music, reggae and dub. Its lyrics and artwork reflected the band's left-wing political concerns. It would be an influential release in the burgeoning post-punk movement.
In 2020, Entertainment! was ranked at number 273 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Composition
Entertainment! has been recognized as a seminal post-punk album.[1][2] It has also been described musically as dance-punk[3] and art punk.[4] The album was co-produced by King and Gill along with Rob Warr, their band manager at the time. King's lyrics were heavily influenced by Situationism, feminism, and the effect of alienation on personal life; a unifying notion is that "the personal is political". Topics include commodification ("Natural's Not in It", "Return the Gift"), proletarian life ("At Home He's a Tourist"), Great Man theory ("Not Great Men"), Special Category Status prisoners in Northern Ireland ("Ether"), and the impact of media reporting of acts of terrorism and Maoist guerrilla warfare in Latin America ("5.45"). A number of songs apply these themes to challenge traditional concepts of love and love songs ("Anthrax", "Contract") and sex ("Damaged Goods", "I Found That Essence Rare"). In his 2014 monograph on the album, Kevin J. H. Dettmar likens the album to James Joyce's Ulysses, saying; "both are concerned with the importance of narrative, of storytelling, as a mode of experiencing the world... that the stories we tell ourselves about "the way things are"—a body of stories that in another context we might call ideology—profoundly shape our experiences of the world.[5]
2.75/5
Todd Rundgren
3/5
Something/Anything? is the third album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972. It was his first double album, and was recorded in late 1971 in Los Angeles, New York City and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock. Three quarters of the album was recorded in the studio with Rundgren playing all instruments and singing all vocals, as well as being the producer. The final quarter contained a number of tracks recorded live in the studio without any overdubs, save for a short snippet of archive recordings from the 1960s.
Rundgren had become confident enough at other instruments beyond his standard guitar and keyboards that he had tackled in earlier releases, and this, coupled with a general dissatisfaction with other studio musicians, led him to temporarily relocate to Los Angeles in an attempt to record an entire album single-handedly. After he had created significantly more material than would fit on a standard LP, an earthquake struck LA. He decided to head back to New York for some live sessions, with the help of Moogy Klingman, to lighten the mood. The final sessions were in Bearsville, where the remainder of the recording and mixing took place, and this created enough material for a double album.
The album peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold three years after its release. A single taken from the album, "Hello It's Me", was a top-five hit in the US in late 1973, and it contained a further hit, "I Saw the Light". Something/Anything? later attracted critical acclaim as one of the most significant records of the 1970s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 173 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and later ranked at number 396 in the 2020 edition.
It was voted number 797 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). After Something/Anything, Rundgren moved away from the straightforward pop ballads present on this album to more experimental territory and progressive rock in later releases, beginning with A Wizard, A True Star.
3.25/5
David Crosby
2/5
If I Could Only Remember My Name is the debut solo album by American singer-songwriter David Crosby, released in February 1971 on Atlantic Records. It was one of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping 1970 album Déjà Vu. Guests on the album include Jerry Garcia, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and other prominent West Coast musicians of the era.
The album peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and earned a RIAA gold record certification in the United States. It initially received negative reviews from critics, but has gone on to achieve cult fandom and praise from modern critics.
2.75/5
Grateful Dead
2/5
Live/Dead is the first official live album (and fourth overall) released by the rock band Grateful Dead. Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording.
In 2005 the tracks "Dark Star", "St. Stephen", "Death Don't Have No Mercy", "Feedback" and "We Bid You Goodnight" were released, in their original sequence and with a new mix, on the respective February 27, 1969 and March 2, 1969 discs of the Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings box set (the first 1:34 of "Dark Star" can be found on the previous track, "Mountains of the Moon"). "Feedback" and "We Bid You Goodnight" were also released on the triple disc, highlights release Fillmore West 1969.
1.75/5
The Band
3/5
The Band is the second studio album by the Canadian-American rock band the Band, released on September 22, 1969. It is also known as The Brown Album. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes for the 2000 reissue, The Band has been viewed as a concept album, with the songs focusing on people, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana.[2] Thus, the songs on this album draw on historic themes for "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" and "Jawbone" (which was composed in the unusual 6/4 time signature).
k.d. lang
2/5
Shadowland is the debut solo album by k.d. lang, released in 1988 (see 1988 in music). The album included her collaboration with Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn and Brenda Lee on \"Honky Tonk Angels' Medley\" and was produced by Owen Bradley, who produced Patsy Cline's best-known work.
2/5
The Fall
1/5
Live at the Witch Trials is the debut studio album by the Fall. It was released on 16 March 1979 through record label Step-Forward. It is not, despite its title, a live album and was recorded in a studio in a single day and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant.
Production and content
The album was recorded at Camden Sound Suite on 15 December 1978 and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant on the 16th.[1][2][3] The group had been booked into the studio for five days but Mark E. Smith had fallen ill and cancelled the first three days.[4]
Some of the songs date from earlier incarnations of the group and feature writing credits from former members Tony Friel and Una Baines. Lyrical subject matter includes a tirade against the music industry ("Music Scene"), low-quality jobs ("Industrial Estate") and drugs ("No Xmas for John Quays", "Like to Blow", "Frightened", "Underground Medecin").[4] "Frightened" was described by Dave McCullough in Sounds as "a breathtaking, ominously culminating monster of a song".[5] "Rebellious Jukebox" was described by Pitchfork as "one of the first self-aware Fall anthems", with the title viewed as "[summing] up The Fall's stance against prevailing trends".[2][6]
1.5/5
George Harrison
3/5
All Things Must Pass is the third studio album by English rock musician George Harrison. Released as a triple album in November 1970, it was Harrison's first solo work after the break-up of the Beatles in April that year. It includes the hit singles "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life", as well as songs such as "Isn't It a Pity" and the title track that had been overlooked for inclusion on releases by the Beatles. The album reflects the influence of Harrison's musical activities with artists such as Bob Dylan, the Band, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends and Billy Preston during 1968–70, and his growth as an artist beyond his supporting role to former bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
All Things Must Pass introduced Harrison's signature slide guitar sound and the spiritual themes present throughout his subsequent solo work. The original vinyl release consisted of two LPs of songs and a third disc of informal jams titled Apple Jam. Several commentators interpret Barry Feinstein's album cover photo, showing Harrison surrounded by four garden gnomes, as a statement on his independence from the Beatles. Production began at London's EMI Studios in May 1970, with extensive overdubbing and mixing continuing through October. Among the large cast of backing musicians were Eric Clapton and members of Delaney & Bonnie's Friends band – three of whom formed Derek and the Dominos with Clapton during the recording – as well as Ringo Starr, Gary Wright, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, John Barham, Badfinger and Pete Drake.
The sessions produced a double album's worth of extra material, most of which remains unissued. All Things Must Pass was critically and commercially successful on release, with long stays at number one on charts worldwide. Co-producer Phil Spector employed his Wall of Sound production technique to notable effect; Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone described the sound as "Wagnerian, Brucknerian, the music of mountain tops and vast horizons".
Reflecting the widespread surprise at the assuredness of Harrison's post-Beatles debut, Melody Maker's Richard Williams likened the album to Greta Garbo's first role in a talking picture and declared: "Garbo talks! – Harrison is free!"
According to Colin Larkin, writing in the 2011 edition of his Encyclopedia of Popular Music, All Things Must Pass is "generally rated" as the best of all the former Beatles' solo albums.
During the final year of his life, Harrison oversaw a successful reissue campaign to mark the 30th anniversary of the album's release. After this reissue, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album six-times platinum. It has since been certified seven-times platinum. Among its appearances on critics' best-album lists, All Things Must Pass was ranked 79th on The Times' "The 100 Best Albums of All Time" in 1993, while Rolling Stone placed it 368th on the magazine's 2020 update of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
In 2014, All Things Must Pass was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
3/5
Scissor Sisters
3/5
Scissor Sisters is the debut studio album by American glam rock band Scissor Sisters, first released on February 2, 2004. It was released by Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Universal Motown Records in the United States.
Scissor Sisters reached number 1 on the UK and Irish albums charts and was the best-selling album of 2004 in the UK. Since its release, it been certified 9× Platinum in the UK, selling over 2,700,000 copies in the country alone. In Ireland, it has been certified 5× Platinum. The album was not as successful in their native US, peaking at number 102 on the Billboard 200. Scissor Sisters has sold 3,300,000 copies worldwide, and is listed as one of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die in the book of the same name, edited by Robert Dimery.
The album won Best International Album at the 2005 BRIT Awards. In July 2006 it was named by Attitude as the top "gay album" of all time.
3.25/5
Talk Talk
3/5
The Colour of Spring is the third studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in February 1986.
Musically, The Colour of Spring was a major step away from the synthesised pop of early Talk Talk, with a greater focus on guitars, pianos, and organs on such songs as "Life's What You Make It", "Living in Another World" and "Give It Up". It had a sound described by the band as much more organic than their earlier records, with the improvisation that was to dominate on their later works already apparent in the recording process.
3/5
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
Safe as Milk is the debut studio album by American music group Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released in June 1967 by Buddah Records. A heavily blues-influenced work, the album features a 20-year-old Ry Cooder, who played guitar and wrote some of the arrangements.
Before recording Safe as Milk, the band had released a couple of singles through A&M Records, and it was to this company that the group first proposed their début album in 1966.
They presented the label with a set of R&B-influenced demos, which the label felt were too unconventional and decided to drop the band. Beefheart later said the label dropped them after hearing the song \"Electricity\" and declaring it \"too negative\". A&M's Jerry Moss thought the content too risqué for his daughter's ears. This, plus Leonard Grant's severance as manager, added to the discontent. The band instead turned to Bob Krasnow, who was then working for Kama Sutra Records; he recruited them to record for the company's new subsidiary label, Buddah.
Meanwhile, Beefheart had been secretly planning changes to the Magic Band's line-up—a practice common throughout the group's existence. The group that recorded the two A&M singles had consisted of Doug Moon and Richard Hepner on guitars, Jerry Handley on bass, and Alex St. Clair on drums. Hepner had already left, and Beefheart was keen to replace Moon with Ry Cooder, who was then playing with Gary Marker and Taj Mahal in the Rising Sons. These and other changes resulted in a Magic Band with Handley on bass, St. Clair on guitar, and John French on drums, with Cooder providing additional guitar parts. Cooder's arrival had been swayed by Marker, who had spent time with Beefheart and had been given to believe he would produce the album; in fact, Marker was only engaged in demo recording.
Don Van Vliet has said that the title \"Safe as Milk\" is a sarcastic reference either to the contamination in women's breast milk, either with the pesticide DDT or radioactive strontium-90 in different published interviews.
2.75/5
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1/5
Now I Got Worry is the fifth studio album by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. It was released via Matador Records on October 15, 1996.[1] "Fuck Shit Up" is a cover of a Dub Narcotic song.[1] "Weird Al" Yankovic directed the music video for "Wail".[2]
1.25/5
Mark Deming of AllMusic gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "Now I Got Worry may not be JSBX's best album, but it does capture their taut, blazing, live sound and their eccentric studio approach with a better balance than anything else in their catalog; if you want to get slapped upside the head while you boogie all night long, this is the album for you."[3]
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]
Blur
3/5
Parklife is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on Food Records. After moderate sales for their previous album Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife returned Blur to prominence in the UK, helped by its four hit singles: "Girls & Boys", "End of a Century", "Parklife" and "To the End".
Certified four times platinum in the United Kingdom,[5] in the year following its release the album came to define the emerging Britpop scene, along with the album Definitely Maybe by future rivals Oasis. Britpop in turn would form the backbone of the broader Cool Britannia movement. Parklife therefore has attained a cultural significance above and beyond its considerable sales and critical acclaim, cementing its status as a landmark in British rock music.[6]
In 2010, Parklife was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail.[7][8] In 2015, Spin included the album in their list of "The 300 Best Albums of 1985–2014".[9] In 2020, Rolling Stone included it in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[10]
Joanna Newsom
2/5
Ys (/ˈiːs/ EESS) is the second studio album by American musician Joanna Newsom. It was released by Drag City on November 14, 2006. The album was produced by Newsom and Van Dyke Parks, recorded by Steve Albini, mixed by Jim O'Rourke, with accompanying orchestral arrangements by Van Dyke Parks. It features guest vocals from Bill Callahan and Emily Newsom. The vocals and harp were recorded at The Village Recording Studio in Los Angeles in December 2005, with the orchestration being recorded between May and June 2006 at the Entourage Studios in Los Angeles.[6]
The album consists of five tracks with song durations ranging from 7 to 17 minutes that deal with events and people who had been important in Newsom's life in the year previous to recording. These events include the sudden death of Newsom's best friend, a continuing illness and a tumultuous relationship.[7] The album was named after the city of Ys, which according to myth was built on the coast of Brittany and later swallowed by the ocean. The album's title was the last element to be confirmed and was a result of a dream that Joanna had which featured the letters Y and S and a book recommended by a friend that contained reference to the myth.[7] Newsom grew up near Yuba and Sutter counties in California, an area which is commonly abbreviated as "YS" for "Yuba-Sutter", which may have additionally inspired the title.
Ys received acclaim. It was Newsom's first album to chart in the Billboard 200, where it peaked at number 134, and charted in the United Kingdom, France, Norway and Ireland. It has featured on several music publications' lists of the greatest albums.
2.25/5
The KLF
3/5
The White Room is the fourth and final studio album by British electronic music group The KLF, released on 3 March 1991. The album features versions of the band's hit singles, including "What Time Is Love?", "3 a.m. Eternal", and "Last Train to Trancentral".
Originally scheduled for 1989 as the soundtrack to a film of the same name, the album's direction was changed after both the film and the original soundtrack LP were cancelled. Most tracks on the original album version are present in the final 1991 release, though in significantly remixed form. The White Room was supposed to be followed by a darker, harder complementary album The Black Room, but that plan was abandoned when the KLF retired in 1992.
On 23 April 2021, a re-edited version of the album was officially released on streaming platforms, in a series of digital reissues, as The White Room (Director's Cut), featuring new edits of original tracks from 1989–1990 sessions.[1]
3.25/5
ZZ Top
3/5
Tres Hombres is the third studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top. It was released by London Records in July 1973 and was the band's first collaboration with engineer Terry Manning. It was the band's commercial breakthrough; in the US, the album entered the top ten, and the single "La Grange" reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Tres Hombres" means "three men".
3.25/5
The Pharcyde
3/5
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is the debut album by American hip hop collective The Pharcyde, released on November 24, 1992, through the Delicious Vinyl and EastWest labels. The album was produced by former group member J-Swift, and features only one guest appearance, provided by little-known Los Angeles rapper Bucwheed (known then as "Buckwheat" from The Wascals). In the years after its release, Bizarre Ride has been hailed by music critics and alternative hip hop fans, as a classic hip hop album along with Souls of Mischief's 93 'til Infinity,[2] and has appeared in numerous publications' "best albums" lists.[3]
Released during the dominant Gangsta rap era of West Coast hip hop, Bizarre Ride was described as "refreshing"[4] due to its playful, light-hearted humor and lush, jazzy production. Along with albums such as To Whom It May Concern... by Freestyle Fellowship, and I Wish My Brother George Was Here by Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Bizarre Ride helped establish a new alternative scene on the West Coast, followed by artists such as Hieroglyphics, The Coup and Jurassic 5. Despite its wide critical acclaim, the album produced only moderate sales, peaking at No. 75 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1993. However, on the strength of the second single, "Passin' Me By", the album was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 28, 1996.[5]
3.5/5
Slipknot
2/5
Slipknot is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot. It was released on June 29, 1999, by Roadrunner Records, following a demo containing a few of the songs which had previously been released in 1998.[4] Later, it was reissued in December 1999 with a slightly-altered track listing and mastering as the result of a lawsuit. It was the first release by the band to be produced by Ross Robinson, who sought to refine Slipknot's sound rather than alter the group's musical direction. This is the only album to feature original guitarist Josh Brainard who left at the end of recording in late 1998 while the band was taking a brief break. Jim Root, who recorded two tracks at this point, would appear full time on subsequent albums starting with their self-titled album.
The album spans several genres, but is generally noted for its extensive percussion and overall heavy sound. It was well received by fans and critics alike and was responsible for bringing Slipknot a large increase in popularity. The album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200, and has gone on to become certified double platinum in the United States, making it the band's best-selling album. In 2011, it was voted the best debut album of the last 25 years by readers of Metal Hammer magazine.[5]
2.5/5
Scritti Politti
2/5
Cupid & Psyche 85 is the second studio album by British pop band Scritti Politti, released in the UK on 10 June 1985 by Virgin Records. The release continued frontman Green Gartside's embrace of commercial pop music stylings and state-of-the-art studio production, while its lyrics reflect his preoccupation with issues of language and politics.
It remains the band's most successful studio album, peaking at number five on the UK Albums Chart, and was certified gold by the BPI for 100,000 copies sold. The album contained five singles, three of which were top 20 hits in the UK. The single \"Perfect Way\" became a surprise hit in the US, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in a 25-week run on the chart.
This is 80s through and through--2.75/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
The Boatman's Call is the tenth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1997. The album is entirely piano-based, alternately somber and romantic in mood, making it a marked departure from the bulk of the band's post-punk catalogue up to that point. The Boatman's Call remains one of the most critically acclaimed releases of Nick Cave's career.
3.25/5
Kings of Leon
3/5
Aha Shake Heartbreak is the second studio album by American rock band Kings of Leon. It was first released in Europe on November 1, 2004, then in the United States on February 22, 2005, with alternate cover artwork. It is the only album by Kings of Leon to have a Parental Advisory label, because of profanity in "Taper Jean Girl", "Rememo", "Soft", and "Four Kicks". The U.S. album cover is reminiscent of Queen's A Night at the Opera.
"The Bucket", "Four Kicks" and "King of the Rodeo" were released as singles in the UK.
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 74, based on 31 reviews, which indicates it received "generally favorable reviews".
Rolling Stone listed it as the 39th best album of its decade, and it was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
3.25/5
Tim Buckley
2/5
Goodbye and Hello is the second album by Tim Buckley, released in August 1967, recorded in Los Angeles, California, in June of the same year.
The album was later re-released on January 22, 2001, in a compilation with debut album Tim Buckley by WEA/Elektra. In 2005 a 180-gram version of the LP was released on the label Four Men With Beards and is being distributed by City Hall Records.
Hippies
2.5/5
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
Blood, Sweat & Tears is the second album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released on December 11, 1968. It was commercially successful, rising to the top of the U.S. charts for a collective seven weeks and yielding three successive Top 5 singles. It received a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1970 and has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA with sales of more than four million units in the U.S. In Canada; it enjoyed four runs and altogether eight weeks at No. 1 on the RPM national album chart.
Fiona Apple
3/5
Fetch the Bolt Cutters is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple. It was released on April 17, 2020, Apple's first release since The Idler Wheel... in 2012. The album was recorded from 2015 to 2020, largely at Apple's home in Venice Beach. It was produced and performed by Apple alongside Amy Aileen Wood, Sebastian Steinberg and Davíd Garza; the recording consisted of long, often improvised takes with unconventional percussive sounds. GarageBand was used for much of this recording, and Fiona Apple credited the album's unedited vocals and long takes to her lack of expertise with the program.
Rooted in experimentation, the album largely features unconventional percussion. While conventional instruments, such as pianos and drum sets, do appear, the album also features prominent use of non-musical found objects as percussion. Apple described the result as "percussion orchestras". These industrial-like rhythms are contrasted against traditional melodies, and the upbeat songs often subvert traditional pop structures.
The album explores freedom from oppression; Apple identified its core message as: "Fetch the fucking bolt cutters and get yourself out of the situation you're in". The title, a quote from TV series The Fall, reflects this idea. The album also discusses Apple's complex relationships with other women and other personal experiences, including bullying and sexual assault. It has nevertheless been referred to as Apple's most humorous album.
Fetch the Bolt Cutters was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many critics found its exploration of confinement timely. It received widespread acclaim from music critics, who described it as an instant classic, revolutionary, and Apple's best work to-date. The album was awarded Best Alternative Music Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, with "Shameika" winning Best Rock Performance.[2] The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the US Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums, with 44,000 equivalent album units. It also charted in the top 15 in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
John Cale
3/5
Paris 1919 is the third solo studio album by Welsh musician John Cale. It was released on 25 February 1973 by Reprise Records. Musicians such as Lowell George and Wilton Felder performed on the release. It was produced by Chris Thomas, who had previously worked producing Procol Harum.In contrast to the experimental nature of much of John Cale's work before and after Paris 1919, the album is noted for its orchestral-influenced style, reminiscent of contemporary pop rock music. Its title is a reference to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and song contents explore various aspects of early 20th century Western Europe culture and history.
The album has received critical praise from several publications over the years, including AllMusic and Rolling Stone. It was reissued on 19 June 2006 by Rhino Records.
3.25/5
Fela Kuti
3/5
Zombie is a studio album by Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti. It was released in Nigeria by Coconut Records in 1976, and in the United Kingdom by Creole Records in 1977.The album criticised the Nigerian government; and it is thought to have resulted in the murder of Kuti's mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and the destruction of his commune by the military.
Deep Purple
2/5
Made in Japan is a double live album by English rock band Deep Purple, recorded during their first tour of Japan in August 1972. It was originally released in December 1972, with a US release in April 1973, and became a commercial and critical success.
The band were well known for their strong stage act, and had privately recorded several shows, or broadcast them on radio, but were unenthusiastic about recording a live album until their Japanese record company decided it would be good for publicity. They insisted on supervising the live production, including using Martin Birch, who had previously collaborated with the band, as engineer, and were not particularly interested in the album's release, even after recording. The tour was successful, with strong media interest and a positive response from fans.
The album was an immediate commercial success, particularly in the US, where it was accompanied by the top five hit "Smoke on the Water", and became a steady seller throughout the 1970s. A three-CD set of most of the tour's performances was released in 1993, while a remastered edition of the album with a CD of extra tracks was released in 1998. In 2014, a deluxe edition was announced with further bonus material. The album had a strong critical reception and continues to attract praise. A Rolling Stone readers' poll in 2012 ranked Made in Japan the sixth best live album of all time.
I guess I don't like live albums. 2.5/5
The Cult
2/5
Electric is the third album by British rock band the Cult, released in 1987.[3][4] It was the follow-up to their commercial breakthrough Love. The album equalled its predecessor's chart placing by peaking at number four in the UK but exceeded its chart residency, spending a total of 27 weeks on the chart (the most successful run for an album by The Cult).[5]
The album marked a deliberate stylistic change in the band's sound from gothic rock to more traditional hard rock. Rick Rubin, the producer on Electric, had been specifically hired to remake the band's sound in an effort to capitalize on the popularity of hard rock, glam metal and heavy metal in the 1980s. The album was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
In 2013 the album was re-released as a double CD set under the title Electric Peace, with one disc featuring the originally released album and the second containing the entire Peace album recorded during the Manor Sessions.
2.5/5
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
Public Image: First Issue is the debut studio album by English rock band Public Image Ltd, released in 1978 by record label Virgin.
It is considered one of the pioneering records in the development of post-punk.[1]
Bobby Womack
3/5
The Poet is the thirteenth studio album by American musician Bobby Womack. The album was released in November 1981, by Beverly Glen Music. The album reached the top of the Billboard Top Black Albums chart due to the success of the single "If You Think You're Lonely Now", which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart.
Laibach
1/5
Opus Dei is the third studio album by Slovenian band Laibach, released in 1987. It features "Geburt einer Nation" ("birth of a nation"), a German cover of Queen's "One Vision", and two reworkings of the Austrian band Opus' sole international hit single "Live Is Life". The Opus song became the German language "Leben heißt Leben" and the English language "Opus Dei". "The Great Seal" is the national anthem of the NSK State, the lyrics taken from Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches" speech. A new arrangement of the song appears on Laibach's album Volk, with the title "NSK". On Volk, the song is credited to Laibach and Slavko Avsenik, Jr.
There are two further connections with Queen's A Kind of Magic album. Although the drum loop in "Trans-National" is near identical to that in Queen's "Don't Lose Your Head", it is composed in fact from samples from the introduction musical theme from the movie Battle of Neretva, composed by Bernard Herrmann. The elements of "How the West Was Won" (specifically the rhythm and harmonised guitars) are inspired by Queen's "Gimme The Prize".
The attention this album received from MTV and others led to Laibach's first worldwide tour. [State of Art, 2004] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
this was if there was a soundtrack to a mockumentary about Nazi propaganda.....I don't know WTF this was
.25/5
Pretenders
3/5
Pretenders is the debut studio album by British-American band the Pretenders, released on 27 December 1979 on Sire Records in the US and on 7 January 1980 under Real Records in the UK. A combination of rock, punk and pop music, this album made the band famous. The album features the singles \"Stop Your Sobbing\", \"Kid\" and \"Brass in Pocket\".
Nick Lowe produced the Pretenders' first single, \"Stop Your Sobbing\", but decided not to work with them again as he thought the band was \"not going anywhere\". Chris Thomas took over on the subsequent recording sessions.
MC Solaar
3/5
Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo is the debut studio album by French rapper MC Solaar. The album title is a pun on the French version of the Biblical proverb \"qui sème le vent récolte la tempête\" (he who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind, Hosea 8:7). It was released in 1991 and gained considerable success.
\"Bouge de là\" was the album's first single, which was hugely successful in France and went on to kickstart Solaar's career there. The song is based on a sample of \"The Message\" by 1970s English band Cymande.
The title song \"Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo\" samples Lou Donaldson's \"One Cylinder\".
Other popular singles from the album are \"Caroline\" and \"Victime de la mode\".
Stan Getz
2/5
Getz/Gilberto is an album by American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, featuring pianist and composer Antônio Carlos Jobim (Tom Jobim), who also composed many of the tracks. It was released in March 1964 by Verve Records. The album features the vocals of Astrud Gilberto on two tracks, "Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema") and "Corcovado". The artwork was done by artist Olga Albizu. Getz/Gilberto is a jazz and bossa nova album and includes tracks such as "Desafinado", "Corcovado", and "Garota de Ipanema". The last received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and started Astrud Gilberto's career. "Doralice" and "Para Machucar Meu Coração" strengthened Gilberto's and Jobim's respect for the tradition of pre-bossa nova samba.
Getz/Gilberto is considered the record that popularized bossa nova worldwide and is one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, selling over one million copies.[1] It was included in Rolling Stone's and Vibe's lists of best albums of all time. Getz/Gilberto was widely acclaimed by music critics, who praised Gilberto's vocals and the album's bossa nova groove and minimalism. Getz/Gilberto received Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group and Best Engineered Recording - Non-Classical; it also became the first non-American album to win Album of the Year, in 1965.
2.75/5
PJ Harvey
2/5
Dry is the debut studio album by the band PJ Harvey, fronted by English singer-songwriter and musician PJ Harvey, released on Too Pure Records on 30 March 1992.[4] The album was recorded at The Icehouse, a local studio in Yeovil, United Kingdom. The first 5000 LPs and first 1000 CDs included demo versions of the album's tracks and Dry was subsequently released in the United States on Indigo Records in the US. Both versions were released in 1992. Dry was reissued on vinyl and CD in July 2020: an 11-track companion album collecting all of the demos titled Dry - Demos was also released on vinyl as a stand-alone record.
2.75/5
Prince
3/5
1999 is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Prince, released on October 27, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records. It became his first album to be recorded with his band the Revolution. 1999's critical and commercial success propelled Prince to a place in the public psyche and marked the beginning of two years of heightened fame via his following releases.[9]
1999 was Prince's first top 10 album on the Billboard 200, charting at number nine upon release, and was fifth in the Billboard Year-End Albums of 1983. "1999", a protest against nuclear proliferation, was a Billboard Hot 100 top 20 hit, peaking at number 12. It has since become one of Prince's most recognizable compositions. "Delirious" reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Little Red Corvette" peaked at number six, becoming Prince's highest charting US single at the time. "International Lover" was also nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 26th Grammy Awards, which was Prince's first Grammy Award nomination.
1999 received widespread acclaim from critics, and was seen as Prince's breakthrough album. On March 24, 1999, 1999 was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Following Prince's death in 2016, the album re-entered the Billboard 200 and peaked at number seven, besting its original performance on the chart thirty-three years earlier. A re-release and remaster of the album, including 35 previously unreleased recordings, was released in November 2019.[10]
1999 has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time by several publications and organizations.[11] The music videos for both "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" received heavy rotation on MTV, making Prince one of the first black artists to be prominently featured on the television channel.[12] According to the Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), "1999 may be Prince's most influential album: Its synth-and-drum machine-heavy arrangements codified the Minneapolis sound that loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno."[9] It is also included on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2008, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[13]
3.75/4
Skunk Anansie
3/5
Post Orgasmic Chill is the third studio album by British rock band Skunk Anansie, first released in 1999. Two album covers exist: the European version with the band lounging in an oceanside apartment, and the American version with the band standing on the Atlantic City boardwalk. It was a complete departure from their previous two albums, which had elements of punk rock and alternative rock by moving to a new harder sound with elements of hard rock and alternative metal.
It took eleven years for the group to release their next album, Wonderlustre.
3.5/5
The Beta Band
3/5
Hot Shots II is the second studio album by the Scottish musical group The Beta Band, released on 16 July 2001. Colin \"C-Swing\" Emmanuel and the band co-produced the album. The band's previous work had used dense experimentation but Hot Shots II had a minimal style influenced by R&B, hip hop and electronica.
Pitchfork placed Hot Shots II at number 118 on its list of top 200 albums of the 2000s. The album is also included in the 2010 edition of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Kludge ranked it at number 1 on its list of top 10 albums of 2001.
3/5
FKA twigs
3/5
Turks. Production for the album is handled by FKA Twigs herself, alongside Emile Haynie, Arca, Cy An, Devonté Hynes, Clams Casino, Paul Epworth, Sampha and Tic.
Upon release, LP1 received widespread critical acclaim, and placed high on several year-end critics' lists. The album spawned three singles: "Two Weeks", "Pendulum" and "Video Girl". The album was nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize and the award for Best Recording Package at the 2015 Grammy Awards.
3.5/5
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
Histoire de Melody Nelson ([is.twaʁ də me.lɔ.di nɛl.sɔn] "Story of Melody Nelson") is a 1971 concept album by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Produced by Jean-Claude Desmarty, the album was released on March 24, 1971 through Philips Records. Its narrative follows an illicit romance which develops between the middle-aged narrator and 15-year-old girl Melody Nelson.
Histoire de Melody Nelson is considered by many critics and fans to be Gainsbourg's most influential and accomplished work, as well as one of the greatest French-language albums in popular music.[2]2/5
Steve Earle
2/5
Guitar Town is the debut studio album from American singer-songwriter Steve Earle, released on March 5, 1986. It topped the Billboard country album charts, and the title song reached #7 on the country singles charts. Earle was also nominated for two 1987 Grammy Awards, Best Male Country Vocalist and Best Country Song, for the title track.
Production
The album was recorded in late 1985 and early 1986 in Nashville, Tennessee, at Sound Stage Studio. Overdubs were later recorded at Nashville's Emerald Studios. It was one of the first country music albums to be recorded digitally, utilizing the Mitsubishi X-800. Each of the album's ten tracks was either written or co-written by Earle.
For a country album, I didn't hate it. 2.5/5
Gene Clark
2/5
White Light, aka Gene Clark, is the second solo album by Gene Clark, former member of The Byrds. It only achieved commercial success in the Netherlands, where rock critics also voted it album of the year. Like all of his post-Byrds records, it did very poorly on the US charts.
In June 2018, independent reissue label Intervention Records released White Light on vinyl and as a hybrid CD/SACD.
2.75/5
William Orbit
3/5
Strange Cargo III is the fourth album by electronic instrumentalist William Orbit. It is the third in a series of similarly titled albums: Strange Cargo, Strange Cargo II and Strange Cargo Hinterland.
The album was performed, produced and mixed by William Orbit at Guerilla Studios, London. Mark Rutherford and Sugar J co-performed "Deus Ex Machina" with William Orbit, with Rutherford also co-writing the song. Rico Conning contributed flexible bleeps and roadhouse piano on "Time to get Wize", spiky piano and strings on "The Story of Light" and additional programming on "A Touch of the Night".[citation needed]
3.75/5
White Denim
3/5
D is the fourth full-length studio album by the Texan band White Denim, released by Downtown Records on May 24, 2011 to wide critical acclaim. Upon its release, D received critical acclaim from music critics. Aggregating website AnyDecentMusic? reports a score of 7.7 based on 22 professional reviews.
AllMusic calls this "laboriously constructed" album "a masterpiece". The new production value (and occasional flute solo or dreamy string arrangement) did "nothing to water down the band's muscular interplay," according to Jason Lymangrover. A reviewer calls bassist Steve Terebecki and drummer Josh Block "one of the most badass rhythm sections this side of Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding", and praises guitarists Jenkins and James Petralli for playing off one another perfectly, "intertwining jazzy guitar noodling, prog scales, and rock riffs." "Everything is tightly structured, and melodies are of the highest importance, especially in the album's explosive single 'Drug,' which blends a raw groove and Southern Americana slack along with Summer of Love lyrics," the critic writes.
According to Rolling Stone, White Denim are "...like a jam band that refuses to be boring", mixing sublimely "psychedelia, hardblues, boogie, prog rock and fusion riffs like inspired kids weaned on 64GB iPods and 64-ounce Slurpees" in a way that "often recalls late-Sixties Grateful Dead, when their songs still had garage-rock drive but were exploding every which way." "The freakouts are mathematically calibrated, come with joyous hooks, and can coalesce into something conventionally heroic," notes Uncut magazine. The album has been described as "White Denim's most thrillingly off-kilter record to date" and "another joyous rampage through rock's dusty attic" by Mojo and Q critics, respectively.
Uncut placed the album at number 4 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011", while Mojo, NME, and Rolling Stone ranked it 6, 37, and 46, respectively.
3.25/5
SAULT
3/5
Untitled (Black Is) is the third studio album by the British R&B musical group Sault, released on 19 June 2020 through the independent record label Forever Living Legends. The album has been met with positive critical reception.
3/5
Lightning Bolt
1/5
Wonderful Rainbow is the third studio album by noise rock band Lightning Bolt. It is considered to be their most accessible album, featuring heavy but catchy bass guitar riffs and frenetic drums.
This album is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, which describes the band as creating "a mix of sheer abuse and welcome diversity, for a truly challenging listening experience".[1]
"challenging listening experience" is putting it mildly--I felt stressed out listening to this
.25/5
Morrissey
3/5
You Are the Quarry is the seventh studio album by English alternative rock singer Morrissey. It was released on 17 May 2004 by record label Attack, and was his first album in seven years following 1997's Maladjusted. The album was a huge comeback for Morrissey; all four of its singles reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, and the album itself reached number 2. The album also reached number 11 on the Billboard 200, making it Morrissey's highest-charting album in the United States.
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
A Little Deeper is the debut studio album by English singer and rapper Ms. Dynamite. It was released on 10 June 2002 by Polydor Records.[2] The album won the Mercury Prize in 2002.[3] As of September 2011, it had sold 495,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[4]
3.25/5
The Everly Brothers
2/5
A Date with the Everly Brothers is the fourth studio album by American singing duo the Everly Brothers, released in 1960. It peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Pop albums charts and reached No. 3 in the UK.
The song "Love Hurts" appears here for the first time. It would subsequently be covered by numerous other artists. Other than the "Cathy's Clown"/"Always It's You" single, all of the tracks on A Date with the Everly Brothers were recorded in just four sessions during July 1960.[1]
2.75/5
Peter Gabriel
5/5
So is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 19 May 1986 by Charisma Records and Virgin Records. After working on the soundtrack to the film Birdy (1984), producer Daniel Lanois was invited to remain at Gabriel's Somerset home during 1985 to work on his next solo project. Initial sessions for So consisted of Gabriel, Lanois and guitarist David Rhodes, although these grew to include a number of percussionists.
Although Gabriel continued to use the pioneering Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer, songs from these sessions were less experimental than his previous material. Nevertheless, Gabriel drew on various musical influences, fusing pop, soul, and art rock with elements of traditional world music, particularly African and Brazilian styles. It is Gabriel's first non-eponymous album, So representing an "anti-title" that resulted from label pressure to "properly" market his music. Gabriel toured So on the This Way Up tour (1986–1987), with some songs performed at human rights and charity concerts during this period.
Often considered his best and most accessible album, So was an immediate commercial success and transformed Gabriel from a cult artist into a mainstream star, becoming his best-selling solo release. It has been certified fivefold platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The album's lead single, "Sledgehammer", was promoted with an innovative animated music video and achieved particular success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and subsequently winning a record of nine MTV Video Music Awards. It was followed by four further singles, "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Kate Bush), "Big Time", "In Your Eyes", and "Red Rain".
The album received positive reviews from most critics, who praised its songwriting, melodies and fusion of genres, although some retrospective reviews have criticised its overt commercialism and 1980s production sounds. So was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 but lost to Paul Simon's Graceland. It has appeared in lists of the best albums of the 1980s, and Rolling Stone included the album in their 2003 and 2020 editions of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000 it was voted number 82 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. So was remastered in 2002, partially re-recorded for Gabriel's 2011 orchestral project New Blood and issued as a box set in 2012.
Public Enemy
4/5
Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy. It was released on April 10, 1990, by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records, and produced by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the sample-layered sound of Public Enemy's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Having fulfilled their initial creative ambitions with that album, the group aspired to create what lead rapper Chuck D called "a deep, complex album". Their songwriting was partly inspired by the controversy surrounding member Professor Griff and his dismissal from the group in 1989.
Fear of a Black Planet features elaborate sound collages that incorporate varying rhythms, numerous samples, media sound bites, and eccentric loops, reflecting the songs' confrontational tone. Recorded during the golden age of hip hop, its assemblage of reconfigured and recontextualized aural sources preceded the sample clearance system that later emerged in the music industry. Fear of a Black Planet explores themes of organization and empowerment within the black community, social issues affecting African Americans, and race relations at the time. The record's criticism of institutional racism, white supremacy, and the power elite was partly inspired by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing's views on color.
A commercial and critical hit, Fear of a Black Planet sold two million copies in the United States and received rave reviews from critics, many of whom named it one of the year's best albums. Its success contributed significantly to the popularity of Afrocentric and political subject matter in hip hop and the genre's mainstream resurgence at the time. Since then, it has been viewed as one of hip hop's greatest and most important records, as well as being musically and culturally significant. In 2005, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry. In 2020, Fear of a Black Planet was ranked number 176 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
4.25/5
Magazine
1/5
Real Life is the debut studio album by English rock band Magazine. It was released in June 1978 by record label Virgin. The album includes the band's debut single "Shot by Both Sides", and was also preceded by the non-album single "Touch and Go", a song from the album's recording sessions.
Real Life has received critical acclaim and is considered a pioneering post-punk record. It has also been described as new wave and art rock.
1/5
Queen
3/5
Queen II is the second studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 8 March 1974 by EMI Records in the UK and
Elektra Records in the US. It was recorded at Trident Studios and Langham 1 Studios, London, in August 1973 with co-producers Roy Thomas Baker and Robin Geoffrey Cable, and engineered by Mike Stone. It is significant for being the first album to contain elements of the band's signature sound of multi-layered overdubs, vocal harmonies, and varied musical styles.Described as "arguably the heaviest Queen album", Queen II marked the end of the first phase of the band's career. The album combines a heavy rock sound with art rock and progressive rock elements, and has been called "a pillar of grandiose, assaultive hard rock" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Queen II is not a concept album but a collection of songs with a loose theme running throughout. The two sides of the original LP were labelled "Side White" and "Side Black" (instead of the conventional sides "A" and "B"), with corresponding photos of the band dressed in white or in black on either side of the record's label face. The white side has songs with a more emotional theme and the black side is almost entirely about fantasy, often with quite dark themes. Mick Rock's cover photograph was frequently re-used by the band throughout its career, including the music videos for the songs "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975), and "One Vision" (1985).
Released to an initially mixed critical reception, Queen II remains one of the band's lesser-known albums. Nonetheless, the album has retained a cult following since its release, garnered praise from critics, fans, and fellow musicians alike.
3.5/5
American Music Club
3/5
California is the third studio album by American indie rock band American Music Club. It was released on November 10, 1988 on Frontier Records.
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In the album's article in the book, reviewer Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen, from Iceland's daily newspaper Morgunblaðið, describes the album as the band's "definitive statement."
The Flying Burrito Brothers
2/5
The Gilded Palace of Sin is the first album by the country rock group the Flying Burrito Brothers, released on February 6, 1969.[1] It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul, and psychedelic rock.
Although it was not a commercial success, peaking at #164 on the Billboard 200, The Gilded Palace of Sin has been widely regarded as an important album in 1970s rock. It was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[2] It is also listed at number 192 in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in the 2012 edition and number 462 in the 2020 edition.[3][4]
2.5/5
Miriam Makeba
2/5
Miriam Makeba is the debut[3] album by Miriam Makeba. It was released in 1960 by RCA Victor.
2.75/5
Aphex Twin
3/5
3.25/5
X-Ray Spex
2/5
Germfree Adolescents is the debut album of English punk rock band X-Ray Spex. It contained the UK hit singles \"The Day the World Turned Dayglo\" (No. 23 in April 1978), \"Identity\" (No. 24 in July 1978) and \"Germ Free Adolescents\" which reached No. 18 in November 1978. Upon release, the critics noted it wasn't all new material: five songs on the twelve tracks had already been released on A Sides and B sides of singles.
2.75/5
Skepta
3/5
Konnichiwa is the fourth studio album by British rapper Skepta. The title is the greeting "hello" in the Japanese language. After numerous delays, it was released on 6 May 2016 by Boy Better Know. Konnichiwa features guest appearances from Jme, Boy Better Know, D Double E, Novelist, Wiley, Chip, Pharrell Williams, ASAP Nast and Young Lord. Konnichiwa was executively produced by Skepta himself, who produced all but three songs on the album. Pharrell also worked on production with Skepta on the album.
Konnichiwa was originally announced in early 2013, yet suffered from numerous delays and reworking. In November 2014, Skepta stated that Konnichiwa was to be released in March 2015, however this release date was delayed once again. In April 2016, Skepta restarted the album campaign by announcing the finalised release date. The album was launched with a party in Tokyo on 5 May 2016 arranged and broadcast globally by live streaming platform Boiler Room.
Konnichiwa peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart. The album also charted in Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. It was supported by four singles, including the top 40 entries "That's Not Me", "Shutdown" and "Man". Konnichiwa is certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The album received acclaim from critics as well, who praised its role and success in the resurgence of grime music and its cultural identity.
It was included in numerous end-of-year lists for best albums of 2016 by many publications, including NME, The Guardian and Apple Music, who named the album as the best of 2016. Konnichiwa also received numerous accolades, including the 2016 Mercury Prize, which beat the likes of David Bowie and Radiohead.
I liked this! 3.75/5
Genesis
3/5
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is the sixth studio album by the English progressive rock band Genesis. It was released as a double album on 18 November 1974 by Charisma Records and is their last to feature original frontman Peter Gabriel. It peaked at No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 41 on the Billboard 200 in the US.
While the band worked on new material at Headley Grange for three months, they decided to produce a concept album with a story devised by Gabriel about Rael, a Puerto Rican youth from New York City who is suddenly taken on a journey of self-discovery and encounters bizarre incidents and characters along the way. The album was marked by increased tensions within the band as Gabriel, who insisted on writing all of the lyrics, temporarily left to work with filmmaker William Friedkin and needed time to be with his family. Most of the songs were developed by the rest of the band through jam sessions and were put down at Glaspant Manor in Wales using a mobile studio.
The album received a mixed critical reaction at first, but it gained acclaim in subsequent years and has a cult following. The songs "Counting Out Time" and "The Carpet Crawlers" were released as singles in the UK in 1974 and 1975, respectively; both failed to chart. A single of "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" was released in the US. Genesis promoted the album with their 1974–75 tour across North America and Europe, playing the album in its entirety. The album reached Gold certification in the UK and the US. The album was remastered in 1994 and 2007, the latter as part of the Genesis 1970–1975 box set which contains a 5.1 surround sound mix and bonus material.
3.5/5
Donald Fagen
3/5
The Nightfly is the debut solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Donald Fagen. Produced by Gary Katz, it was released October 1, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records. Fagen is best known for his work in the group Steely Dan, with whom he enjoyed a successful career since the 1970s. The band separated in 1981, leading Fagen to pursue a solo career. Although The Nightfly includes a number of production staff and musicians who had played on Steely Dan records, it was Fagen's first release without longtime collaborator Walter Becker.
Unlike most of Fagen's previous work, The Nightfly is almost blatantly autobiographical. Many of the songs relate to the cautiously optimistic mood of his suburban childhood in the late 1950s and early 1960s and incorporate such topics as late-night jazz disc jockeys, fallout shelters, and tropical vacations. Recorded over eight months at various studios between New York City and Los Angeles, the album is an early example of a fully digital recording in popular music. The nascent technology, as well as the perfectionist nature of its engineers and musicians, made the album difficult to record.
The Nightfly was well-received, both critically and commercially. It was certified platinum in both the US and UK and generated two popular singles with the top 40 hit "I.G.Y." and the MTV favorite "New Frontier". Among critics, The Nightfly gained widespread acclaim and received seven nominations at the 1983 Grammy Awards. The relatively low-key but long-lived popularity of The Nightfly led Robert J. Toth of The Wall Street Journal in 2008 to dub the album "one of pop music's sneakiest masterpieces."[2]
3.25/5
Supergrass
3/5
In It for the Money is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Supergrass, released in 1997. NME called it "more fun than watching a wombat in a washing machine"[1] and named it the 10th best album of the year. In 1998, Q readers voted it the 68th greatest album of all time,[2] while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 57 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.[3]
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
Live at the Star Club is a 1964 live album by rock and roll pianist and singer Jerry Lee Lewis, accompanied by the Nashville Teens. The album was recorded at the Star-Club in Hamburg, West Germany on April 5, 1964. It is regarded by many music journalists as one of the greatest rock and roll albums ever, noted for its hard-hitting energy and Lewis' wild stage presence.
4/5
Joni Mitchell
2/5
The Hissing of Summer Lawns is the seventh studio album by Joni Mitchell. It was released in November 1975 on Asylum Records. The album continues the jazz-influenced sound of Mitchell's previous album Court and Spark while featuring more unconventional and experimental material than its predecessor. Additionally, the album saw Mitchell experiment with sampling and synthesizers such as the Moog and ARP. Contributors to the album include jazz-rock groups the L.A. Express and the Jazz Crusaders alongside backing appearances by James Taylor, David Crosby, and Graham Nash.
Lyrically, many songs on the album focus on narratives revolving around women's experiences such as standing up to patriarchal norms ("Don't Interrupt the Sorrow") or frustrations with suburban life (the title track, "Harry's House"). As with many of Mitchell's albums, she created the cover art herself, in this case a painting depicting a group of men carrying a large snake superimposed over the Beverly Hills suburbs; Mitchell's own house can be seen shaded in light blue.
While it did not spawn a major hit single like its predecessor, The Hissing of Summer Lawns was commercially successful, reaching number 4 in the US and becoming her final top 10 album to date. "In France They Kiss on Main Street" was released as the only single and peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100, her final song to make the chart for the next four years. The album initially received harsh criticism, with reviewers finding the jazz stylings of the music to be a disservice to Mitchell's lyrics and comparing it negatively to Court and Spark.
The album has seen a retrospective appraisal and has gone on to become one of her most acclaimed works. The album appeared at number 258 in Rolling Stone's 2020 edition of its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and at number 217 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000.
2.75/5
Ghostface Killah
3/5
Fishscale is the fifth studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah, released March 28, 2006, on Def Jam in the United States. The album features guest appearances from every member of the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as Ghostface Killah's Theodore Unit. It also features production from several acclaimed producers, such as MF DOOM, Pete Rock, J Dilla, and Just Blaze, among others. The album follows an organized crime theme, and is named after a term for uncut cocaine.
Fishscale sold nearly 110,000 units in its first week of release, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making it the highest charting Ghostface Killah album since his 1996 debut, Ironman. The singles "Back Like That," and "Be Easy" entered the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, with the former peaking at the 14th position. Upon its release, Fishscale received universal acclaim, with critics praising the album's cohesiveness, lyricism, and production. As of November 2009, the album had sold 332,000 copies.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
To Pimp a Butterfly is the third studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on March 15, 2015, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was recorded in studios throughout the United States, with production from Sounwave, Terrace Martin, Taz \"Tisa\" Arnold, Thundercat, Rahki, LoveDragon, Flying Lotus, Pharrell Williams, Boi-1da, Knxwledge, and several other high-profile hip hop producers, as well as executive production from Dr. Dre and Anthony \"Top Dawg\" Tiffith. Guest appearances include Thundercat, George Clinton, Bilal, Anna Wise, Snoop Dogg, James Fauntleroy, Ronald Isley, and Rapsody.
Primarily a hip hop album, To Pimp a Butterfly incorporates numerous other musical styles spanning the history of African-American music, most prominently jazz, funk, and soul. Lyrically, it features political commentary and personal themes concerning African-American culture, racial inequality, depression, and institutional discrimination. This thematic direction was inspired by Lamar's tour of historic sites during his visit to South Africa, such as Nelson Mandela's jail cell on Robben Island.
To Pimp a Butterfly sold 324,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, earning a chart debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, while also becoming Lamar's first number-one album in the UK. It was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and sold one million copies in the United States by 2017. Five singles were released in promotion of the album, including the top 40 hit \"I\". Lamar also supported the album with the Kunta's Groove Sessions Tour from late 2015 to early 2016.
The album has received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its musical scope and the social relevance of Lamar's lyrics. It earned Lamar seven nominations at the 2016 Grammy Awards, including a win for Best Rap Album and an Album of the Year nomination. He received four additional nominations for other collaborations from that year, receiving a total of 11 Grammy nominations, which was the most nominations for any rapper in a single night. The most critically acclaimed album of 2015 as well as one of the most critically acclaimed of its entire decade, it topped The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll of American critics nationwide, and was also ranked as the best album of 2015 by many other publications. In the years following its release, several publications named To Pimp a Butterfly one of the best albums of the 2010s; in 2020, the album was ranked 19th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Duran Duran
3/5
Rio is the second studio album by the English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 10 May 1982 through EMI. Produced by Colin Thurston, the band wrote and demoed most of the material before recording the album at AIR Studios in London from January to March 1982. The band utilised more experimentation compared to their debut album, from vibraphone and marimba to the sound of a cigarette being lit and cracking ice cubes. Andy Hamilton played a saxophone solo on "Rio".
A new wave album with musical elements such as dance and synth-pop, Rio is mostly composed of fast, upbeat numbers, with a couple slower synthesiser-based ballads. Lead vocalist Simon Le Bon's obtuse lyrics cover topics from chasing one's dreams to pursuing a love interest. Bassist John Taylor conceived the title, which the band felt represented the optimistic and exotic tone of the album. The cover artwork, painted by Patrick Nagel and designed by Malcolm Garrett to resemble 1950s cigar packaging, is considered one of the greatest of all time.
Duran Duran shot music videos for many of the album's tracks, all of which helped spearhead the 1980s MTV revolution. Accompanied by three worldwide hit singles, Rio peaked at number two in the United Kingdom and remained in the chart for 110 weeks. Initially unsuccessful in the United States, the album was remixed by Capitol Records to better match American radio at the time; the remixed album spent 129 weeks on the Billboard chart, reaching number six. The band toured the US and Europe throughout the latter half of 1982.
Rio initially received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who commended the melodies but disparaged the lyrics. Retrospective reviewers consider Rio timeless and the band's best work, praising its instrumentation and band performances. With the album, Duran Duran were forerunners in the Second British Invasion of the 1980s, helping ensure the success of other English artists throughout the decade. It has since made appearances on best-of lists and has been reissued several times.
3.25/5
Duke Ellington
2/5
Ellington at Newport is a 1956 live jazz album by Duke Ellington and his band of their 1956 concert at the Newport Jazz Festival, a concert which revitalized Ellington's flagging career. Jazz promoter George Wein describes the 1956 concert as "the greatest performance of [Ellington's] career... It stood for everything that jazz had been and could be."[5] It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, which ranks it "one of the most famous... in jazz history".[6] The original release was partly recreated in the studio after the Ellington Orchestra's festival appearance.
Ellington released a follow-up album also recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport 1958, two years later.
In 2022, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[7]
2.5/5
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
Brian Eno
2/5
Another Green World is the third solo studio album by Brian Eno (mononymously credited as "Eno"), released by Island Records on 14 November 1975. The album marked a transition from the rock-based music of Eno's previous releases toward the minimalist instrumentals of his late 1970s ambient work. Only five of its fourteen tracks feature vocals, a great contrast to his past pop music material, which predominantly featured vocals in their recordings.
Produced by Eno and Rhett Davies, it features contributions from a small core of musicians, including Robert Fripp (guitar), Phil Collins (drums), Percy Jones (fretless bass), and Rod Melvin (piano). John Cale (of The Velvet Underground) plays viola on two tracks. Employing tactics derived from his Oblique Strategies cards for guidance, Eno and the subsequent backing lineup utilised a variety of unconventional recording techniques and instrumental approaches, reflected in unusual instrumental credits such as "snake guitar" and "uncertain piano". The cover is a detail from After Raphael by the British artist Tom Phillips.
The album’s only chart success was in New Zealand, where it reached #24, even though praise of the album was international. Contemporary reception has been likewise positive; several publications, including Rolling Stone, NME and Pitchfork, have named the album among the greatest of the 1970s and of all time.
2.5/5
3/5
Wild Gift is the second studio album by American rock band X, released on May 4, 1981, by Slash Records. It was very well received critically, and was voted the year's second best album in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll. Wild Gift was later ranked at number 334 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Wild Gift showcases the band's unique punk rock style, which infuses roots rock, country, blues, R&B, and rockabilly.
In 1988, Slash issued Los Angeles and Wild Gift jointly on a single compact disc. Wild Gift was remastered and reissued in 2001 by Rhino Records, with seven bonus tracks.
The track "White Girl" was sampled by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their 1989 album Mother's Milk, in the song "Good Time Boys".[1] The Chili Peppers song's lyrics mentioned X's John Doe specifically, "whose voice is made of gold".
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
If You're Feeling Sinister is the second album by the Scottish indie pop band Belle and Sebastian. It was released in 1996 on Jeepster Records in the United Kingdom and in 1997 by Matador Records in the United States. It is often ranked among the best albums of the 1990s, including being ranked #14 in Pitchfork's list of Top 100 Albums of the 1990s.[7]
Band leader Stuart Murdoch said If You're Feeling Sinister is probably his best collection of songs. In 2005, Belle and Sebastian released a live version, If You're Feeling Sinister: Live at the Barbican.
John Grant
3/5
Queen of Denmark is the debut solo album by American musician and former The Czars frontman John Grant, released via Bella Union on April 19, 2010. It is a collaboration between Grant and members of the American folk rock band Midlake, who had persuaded him to end his four-year hiatus from music following the break-up of The Czars.
Production
The album was produced by Grant in collaboration with Midlake members Paul Alexander and Eric Pulido. It was recorded in Midlake's recording studio in Denton, Texas, over two four-month periods: first from July to October 2008 and then from May to July 2009.[1][2]
During his performance at the 2016 edition of the T in the Park festival in Scotland, Grant revealed that he had written the album's title track while driving from Glasgow to Aberdeen.[3]
Really liked this--3.75/5
Ramones
3/5
Ramones is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records. After Hit Parader editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote about them in an article and contacted Danny Fields, insisting that he be their manager. Fields agreed and convinced Craig Leon to produce Ramones, and the band recorded a demo for prospective record labels. Leon persuaded Sire president Seymour Stein to listen to the band perform, and he later offered the band a recording contract. The Ramones began recording in January 1976, needing only seven days and $6,400 to record the album.
The album cover, photographed by Punk magazine's Roberta Bayley, features the four members leaning against a brick wall in New York City. The record company paid only $125 for the front photo, which has since become one of the most imitated album covers of all time. The back cover depicts an eagle belt buckle along with the album's liner notes. After its release, Ramones was promoted with two singles, which failed to chart. The Ramones also began touring to help sell records; these tour dates were mostly based in the United States, although two were booked in Britain.
Violence, drug use, relationship issues, humor, and Nazism were prominent in the album's lyrics. The album opens with "Blitzkrieg Bop", which is among the band's most recognized songs. Most of the album's tracks are uptempo, with many songs measuring at well over 160 beats per minute. The songs are also rather short; at two-and-a-half minutes, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is the album's longest track. Ramones contains a cover of the Chris Montez song "Let's Dance".
Ramones was unsuccessful commercially, peaking at number 111 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, although it received glowing reviews from critics. Many later deemed it a highly influential record, and it has since received many accolades, such as the top spot on Spin magazine's list of the "50 Most Essential Punk Records". Ramones is considered an influential punk album in the United States and United Kingdom, and had a significant impact on other genres of rock music, such as grunge and heavy metal. The album was ranked at number 33 in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revision and dropping to number 47 in the 2020 reboot of the list.[1][2][3] It was placed first in the Rolling Stone 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time list in 2022.[4] It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2014.[5]
Beck
3/5
Guero is the ninth studio album by American musician Beck, released on March 29, 2005, by Interscope Records. It was produced with John King and Mike Simpson of the Dust Brothers, who had worked with Beck on his 1996 album Odelay,[1] as well as Tony Hoffer.[2]
The album was promoted with the singles "E-Pro", "Girl", and "Hell Yes", and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200. To date, it is Beck's highest-charting album and had sold over 868,000 copies in the United States as of July 2008.[3] It received positive reviews from critics.
3.25/5
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
2.25/5
Khaled
2/5
Kenza (Arabic: كنزة) is a fourth studio album by Algerian singer-songwriter Khaled.
Released in 1999, the album was named after Khaled's second daughter Kenza. Kenza is Arabic for "treasure".
Kenza has attained gold certification by Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique.[2]
The album was re-released by Ark 21 and Wrasse Records. It is featured in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[3]
2.25/5
Billy Joel
4/5
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released in September 1977 by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel's albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would work for five subsequent albums.The Stranger was released a year following Joel's previous studio effort, Turnstiles, which had sold modestly and peaked low on the US charts, prompting Columbia to consider dropping Joel if his next release did not sell well. Joel wanted the album to feature his newly formed touring band that had formed during the production of Turnstiles, which consisted of drummer Liberty DeVitto, bassist Doug Stegmeyer, and multi-instrumentalist saxophonist/organist Richie Cannata. Seeking out a new producer, he first turned to veteran Beatles producer George Martin before coming across and settling on Ramone, whose name he had seen on albums by other artists such as Paul Simon. Recording took place across the span of three weeks, with DeVitto, Stegmeyer and Cannata being featured in addition to other studio musicians filling in as guitarists on various songs.
Spending six weeks at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200, The Stranger is considered Joel's critical and commercial breakthrough. Four singles were released in the US, all of which became top-40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts: "Just the Way You Are" (No. 3), "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)", "She's Always a Woman" (both No. 17), and "Only the Good Die Young" (No. 24). Other songs, such as "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Vienna", have become staples of his career and are frequently performed in his live shows. The album won two awards at the 1978 Grammy Awards, winning Record of the Year as well as Song of the Year for "Just the Way You Are". It remains his best-selling non-compilation album to date, and surpassed Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water to become Columbia's best-selling album release, with more than 10 million units sold worldwide. Rolling Stone later named it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
4.25/5
Spiritualized
3/5
Lazer Guided Melodies is the debut studio album by English space rock band Spiritualized. The album was recorded by the inaugural line up of the band, consisting of Jason Pierce (vocals, guitars), Mark Refoy (guitars), Will Carruthers (bass), Jonny Mattock (drums) and Kate Radley (keyboards) from 1990 to 1991, and mixed by Pierce in London in January 1992. The album was first released on Dedicated Records in March 1992, on cassette, Compact Disc and Vinyl (2 x LP, with initial copies containing an additional free 7\").
Initially released on two 45rpm vinyl LPs, the album's twelve songs are segued together into four colour-coded (red, green, blue, black), cross-faded suites. As such, the album was included in Pitchfork's 2010 list of \"ten unusual CD-era gimmicks\".By 1995, the album had sold 10,000 copies in the United States.
Metallica
3/5
Metallica is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. Released on August 12, 1991, by Elektra Records, it is commonly referred to as The Black Album because of its packaging design. Its recording took place at One on One Studios in Los Angeles over an eight-month span that frequently found Metallica at odds with their new producer Bob Rock. The album marked a change in the band's music from the thrash metal style of their previous four albums to a slower, heavier, and more refined sound.
Metallica promoted Metallica with a series of tours. They also released five singles to promote the album: "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters", "Wherever I May Roam", and "Sad but True", all of which have been considered to be among the band's best-known songs. The song "Don't Tread on Me" was also issued to rock radio shortly after the album's release but did not receive a commercial single release.
Metallica received widespread critical acclaim and became the band's best-selling album. It debuted at number one in ten countries and spent four consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, making it Metallica's first album to top the album charts. Metallica is one of the best-selling albums worldwide, and also one of the best-selling albums in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began. The album was certified 16× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2012, and has sold over sixteen million copies in the United States, being the first album in the SoundScan era to do so.
Metallica played Metallica in its entirety during the 2012 European Black Album Tour. In 2020, the album was ranked number 235 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. In December 2019, Metallica became the fourth release in American history to enter the 550-week milestone on the Billboard 200. It also became the second longest-charting traditional title in history, and the second to spend 550 weeks on the album charts.
3.75/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Exodus is a 1977 album by Jamaican reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers, first released in June 1977 through Island Records, following Rastaman Vibration (1976). The album's production has been characterized as laid-back with pulsating bass beats and an emphasis on piano, trumpet and guitar. Unlike previous albums from the band, Exodus thematically moves away from cryptic story-telling; instead it revolves around themes of change, religious politics, and sexuality. The album is split into two halves: the first half revolves around religious politics, while the second half is focused on themes of making love and keeping faith.
On 3 December 1976, an assassination attempt was made on Bob Marley's life in which his chest was grazed and his arm was struck with a bullet, but he survived. Following the assassination attempt, Marley left Jamaica and was exiled to London, where Exodus was recorded.The album was a success both critically and commercially; it received gold certifications in the US, UK and Canada, and was the album that propelled Marley to international stardom. In 2017, Exodus was remastered and re-released for its 40th anniversary. Exodus has more tracks on Marley’s greatest hits compilation Legend than any of his other records. Exodus was his tenth album since the debut album The Wailing Wailers in 1965, including the live album Live! (1975).
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Back to Basics is the fifth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on August 9, 2006, in the United States by RCA Records as a double album. Serving as executive producer, she enlisted a wide range of producers, including DJ Premier, Rich Harrison, Rob Lewis, Mark Ronson, and Linda Perry. Recording sessions took place between February 2005 and April 2006 at several studios in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Inspired by Aguilera's 1920s–1950s idols, including Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Etta James, and Ella Fitzgerald, Back to Basics was described by Aguilera herself as a fusion of old-school jazz and soul inspirations with a modernized style. Primarily a pop and R&B record, its first disc juxtaposes rhythm and blues with hip hop and urban elements with most songs employing samples, while the second contains all original tracks with the exception of "Candyman", which samples "Tarzan & Jane Swingin' on a Vine". Lyrically, the album is inspired by Aguilera's previous life events including her marriage with Jordan Bratman in 2005.
To portray a new persona, Aguilera adopted her new alter ego Baby Jane and made several changes to her public appearance, inspired by classic Hollywood actresses. She promoted the album by performing at events like the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. It was further promoted with Back to Basics Tour, which visited countries in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and Middle East from late 2006 until late 2008. Back to Basics spawned three international singles: "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman"; "Slow Down Baby" was only released as a single in Australia,[2] while "Oh Mother" was only released as a single in several European countries.[3][4]
Back to Basics received favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its musical diversity from Aguilera's previous albums while there were others who criticized its length. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album, and its lead single "Ain't No Other Man" won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards (2007). It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 346,000 copies. Back to Basics achieved similar success internationally, reaching the top of the charts in over fifteen countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and United Kingdom. The album has sold 1.7 million copies in the United States, and over 5 million worldwide, as of November 2013.[5]
3.25/5
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
2/5
Devotional Songs is a studio album by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party released in 1992. The music is Sufi devotional music known as Qawwali.[1] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[2]
2.75/5
Chicago
3/5
The Chicago Transit Authority is the debut album by the Chicago-based rock band Chicago (then known as Chicago Transit Authority). It was recorded and released in 1969 and became a sleeper hit, reaching number 17 on the Billboard 200 by 1971 and spawning several successful singles, including "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", "Questions 67 and 68" and "Beginnings". The album stayed on the Billboard chart for 171 weeks, beating the previous record for a rock album's longevity of 155 weeks and has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). For this inaugural recording effort the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for 1969 Best New Artist of the Year. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.
3.25/5
Jeff Buckley
3/5
Grace is the only studio album by American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, released on August 23, 1994, by Columbia Records. The album had poor sales and received mixed reviews at the time of its release. However, in recent years it has dramatically risen in critical reputation. An extended version of the album (subtitled "Legacy Edition"), celebrating its tenth anniversary, was released on August 23, 2004, and peaked at number 44 in the UK.
Grace re-entered the albums chart in Australia at number 44 for the week of January 29 to February 5, 2007, 13 years after its original release date. It is currently certified 8× platinum in Australia. The album has been cited by critics and listeners as one of the greatest albums of all time.
3/5
Traffic
2/5
John Barleycorn Must Die is the fourth studio album by English rock band Traffic, released in 1970 as Island ILPS 9116 in the United Kingdom, United Artists UAS 5504 in the United States, and as Polydor 2334 013 in Canada. It marked the band's comeback after a brief disbandment, and peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200, making it their highest-charting album in the US, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA. In addition, the single "Empty Pages" spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 74. The album was marginally less successful in the UK, reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart.
2.75/5
The Gun Club
2/5
Fire of Love is the debut album of the American rock band the Gun Club, released in 1981 on Ruby Records.[3]
Production
The Flesh Eaters' singer Chris D. produced five tracks on the album ("Sex Beat", "Preaching the Blues", "Fire Spirit", "Ghost on the Highway" and "Jack on Fire") at Quad Teck with Pat Burnette engineering. Tito Larriva produced the album's other six tracks at Studio America with Noah Shark engineering. Chris D. was also credited with the cover design for the original release. Judith Bell was responsible for the bottle label illustrations on the rear of the cover.
Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music [4]
Pitchfork 9.1/10[5]
PopMatters 8/10[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [7]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 8/10[8]
Uncut [9]
The Village Voice B[10]
The album is considered groundbreaking in being the first of its kind to combine the hard, stripped-down sound of punk rock with American roots music.[11] In turn, this innovation helped to create the punk blues style as well as inspiring countless garage rock musicians. Several musicians have cited Fire of Love as an influence.
In a 1982 Trouser Press review, Jim green argues that the band "have wrought nothing less than a mutation of the blues." He says the band "extracts from the blues those elements (anger, frustration, vivid imagery) most resonant with the disaffections of a modern young white [man]. Songwriter Pierce adds his own cynicism and wildness for a heady and often compelling combination." Robbins concludes, "[t]he Gun Club relies on no strict formulas yet it is undeniably the blues that is being transmuted into a medium for Pierce's dark visions and neuroses."[12]
The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]
2.5/5
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
Haunted Dancehall is the second studio album by English electronic music group The Sabres of Paradise. It was released through Warp on 28 November 1994.[1] It peaked at number 57 on the UK Albums Chart.[2]
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [3]
The Guardian [4]
NME named Haunted Dancehall the 47th best album of 1994.[5] In 2007, Haunted Dancehall was included in The Guardian's list of "1000 albums to hear before you die", with an accompanying write-up citing it as "techno's first concept album".[6] It was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[7]
2.5/5
Giant Sand
2/5
Chore of Enchantment is a studio album by the alternative rock band Giant Sand.[1] It was released in March 2000 by Thrill Jockey.[2]
2.75/5
The British music journalism publication NME praised the album's "raw but tender empathy in songs full of unexpected departures".[5]
Legacy
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[10]
2.75/5
Tom Tom Club
2/5
Tom Tom Club is the debut studio album by Tom Tom Club, released in 1981, containing the UK hit singles "Wordy Rappinghood", which reached No. 7 in June 1981 and "Genius of Love", which reached No. 65 in October of the same year. It was re-released in the UK in 1982 to include "Under the Boardwalk", which reached No. 22 in August 1982. When released in the United States, "Genius of Love" peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Both "Wordy Rappinghood" and "Genius of Love" topped the US dance chart.
The album was re-released on May 19, 2009, as a part of a two-CD deluxe package with the band's second album, Close to the Bone. The album was further reissued on Limited Edition white vinyl by Real Gone Music on March 1, 2019.
Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 87 on its Best Albums of the 1980s list.
2.25/5
The Byrds
3/5
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released on June 21, 1965, by Columbia Records.[1] The album is characterized by the Byrds' signature sound of Jim McGuinn's[nb 2] 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and the band's complex harmony singing.[2] The material on the album mostly consists of cover versions of folk songs, primarily composed by Bob Dylan, and originals written or co-written by singer Gene Clark.[3] Along with the Dylan-penned single of the same name, Mr. Tambourine Man established the band as an internationally successful act[4] and is widely regarded by critics as representing the first effective American challenge to the chart dominance of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands during the mid-1960s.[3][5]
The album was also influential in popularizing the musical subgenre known as folk rock, by melding intelligent lyrical content with electric guitars and a rock backbeat.[4][2] The term "folk rock" was first coined by the American music press to describe the Byrds' sound in mid-1965, around the same time that the Mr. Tambourine Man album was released.[6] The band's hybrid of a British Invasion beat, jangly guitar playing, and poetic or socially conscious lyrics influenced a number of acts in the mid-1960s and has also been influential on successive generations of musicians.[3][7][8]
The album peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reached number 7 in the United Kingdom. It is the band's most successful album on either chart.[9][10] The "Mr. Tambourine Man" single was released ahead of the album in April 1965 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.[10][11] A second single, "All I Really Want to Do", also a Dylan cover, was moderately successful in the U.S., but fared better in the UK, where it reached the top ten.[10][11]
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
...The Dandy Warhols Come Down is the second studio album by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released on July 15, 1997, by Capitol.
Three singles were released from the album: \"Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth\", \"Every Day Should Be a Holiday\" and \"Boys Better\".
This is the final studio album to feature drummer Eric Hedford, who quit the band during the tour, and was replaced with Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer.
The album featured a shift in style from the garage rock influenced sound of their previous album, 1995's Dandys Rule OK, to a more and pop-influenced sound.
Taylor compared the track \"Good Morning\" to the style of musician Lloyd Cole.
3.5/5
Caetano Veloso
2/5
aetano Veloso is the debut solo album by the artist of the same name, released in Brazil in 1968. He had released Domingo the year before in collaboration with Gal Costa. It was one of the first Tropicália efforts, and features arrangements by Júlio Medaglia, Damiano Cozzella, and Sandino Hohagen, as well as an eclectic assortment of influences, demonstrating the "antropofagia" (artistic cannibalism) of the Tropicália movement. Sounds from psychedelia, rock, pop, Indian music, bossa nova, Bahian music and other genres appear on the album. It includes the hit songs "Alegria, Alegria", "Tropicália", and "Soy loco por ti, América".
TV On The Radio
2/5
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is the 2004 debut album by the American art rock band TV on the Radio. The album was recorded at Headgear Studio in Brooklyn. It was awarded the Shortlist Music Prize for 2004. It was released on CD, 12" vinyl and MP3 download formats. The CD is enhanced with two different quality QuickTime video files of the "Dreams" music video. The 12" features two records with the extra song "You Could Be Love" and a different track order from the CD. The MP3 version includes two extra songs not available on the CD. "Staring at the Sun" has the intro edited from the original version on Young Liars, and is the same version used on the single and video.
As of 2009, sales in the United States have exceeded 116,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[12]
2.75/5
Eagles
4/5
Hotel California is the fifth studio album by American rock band Eagles. Released on December 8, 1976, by Asylum Records, Hotel California was recorded by Bill Szymczyk at the Criteria and Record Plant studios between March and October 1976. It was the band's first album with guitarist Joe Walsh, who had replaced founding member Bernie Leadon, and is the last album to feature founding bassist Randy Meisner. The front cover is a photograph of the Beverly Hills Hotel by David Alexander.
Hotel California topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. At the 20th Grammy Awards, the Eagles won a Grammy Award for \"Hotel California\", which won Record of the Year, and for \"New Kid in Town\". The album was nominated for Album of the Year but lost to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. Three singles were released from the album, with two topping the Billboard Hot 100, \"New Kid in Town\" and \"Hotel California\", whilst \"Life in the Fast Lane\" reached No. 11.
Hotel California is one of the best-selling albums of all time. It has been certified 26× Platinum in the US, and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling album after Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975). It has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003 and 2012, it was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of \"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time\". A 40th anniversary special edition of Hotel California was released in November 2017.
Rahul Dev Burman
1/5
1.5/5
New York Dolls
2/5
New York Dolls is the debut album by the American hard rock band New York Dolls. It was released on July 27, 1973, by Mercury Records. In the years leading up to the album, the Dolls had developed a local fanbase by playing regularly in lower Manhattan after forming in 1971. However, most music producers and record companies were reluctant to work with them because of their vulgarity and onstage fashion as well as homophobia in New York; the group later appeared in exaggerated drag on the album cover for shock value.
After signing a contract with Mercury, the Dolls recorded their first album at The Record Plant in New York City with producer Todd Rundgren, who was known for his sophisticated pop tastes and held a lukewarm opinion of the band. Despite stories of conflicts during the recording sessions, lead singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain later said Rundgren successfully captured how the band sounded live. The resulting music on the album – a mix of carefree rock and roll, influences from Brill Building pop, and campy sensibilities – explores themes of urban youth, teen alienation, adolescent romance, and authenticity, as rendered in Johansen's colloquial and ambiguous lyrics.
New York Dolls was met with widespread critical acclaim but sold poorly and polarized listeners. The band proved difficult to market outside their native New York and developed a reputation for rock-star excesses while touring the United States in support of the album. Despite its commercial failure, New York Dolls was an influential precursor to the 1970s punk rock movement as the group's crude musicianship and youthful attitude on the album challenged the prevailing trend of musical sophistication in popular music, particularly progressive rock. Among the most acclaimed albums in history, it has since been named in various publications as one of the best debut records in rock music and one of the greatest albums of all time.
2.5/5
3/5
Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert is a two-disc live album by Bob Dylan, released in 1998. It is the second installment in the ongoing Bob Dylan Bootleg Series on Legacy Recordings, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA. It was recorded at the Manchester Free Trade Hall during Dylan's world tour in 1966, though early bootlegs attributed the recording to the Royal Albert Hall so it became known as the Royal Albert Hall Concert. Extensively bootlegged for decades, it is an important document in the development of popular music during the 1960s.The set list consisted of two parts, with the first half of the concert being Dylan alone on stage performing an entirely acoustic set of songs, while the second half of the concert has Dylan playing an "electric" set of songs alongside his band the Hawks. The first half of the concert was greeted warmly by the audience, while the second half was highly criticized, with heckling going on before and after each song.
Radiohead
4/5
OK Computer is the third studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in the UK on 16 June 1997 by EMI. With their producer, Nigel Godrich, Radiohead recorded most of OK Computer in their rehearsal space in Oxfordshire and the historic mansion of St Catherine's Court in Bath in 1996 and early 1997. They distanced themselves from the guitar-centred, lyrically introspective style of their previous album, The Bends. OK Computer's abstract lyrics, densely layered sound and eclectic influences laid the groundwork for Radiohead's later, more experimental work.
The album's lyrics depict a dystopian, futuristic world fraught with rampant consumerism, capitalism, social and modern alienation, emotional isolation and political malaise; in this capacity, OK Computer is said to have prescient insight into the mood of 21st-century life. The band used unconventional production techniques, including natural reverberation, and no audio separation. Strings were recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Most of the album was recorded live.
Despite lowered sales estimates by EMI, who deemed the record uncommercial and difficult to market, OK Computer reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200, Radiohead's highest album entry on the US charts at the time, and was soon certified five times platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police", "Lucky" and "No Surprises" were released as singles. The album expanded Radiohead's international popularity and has sold at least 7.8 million units worldwide.
OK Computer received acclaim and has been cited as one of the greatest albums of all time. It was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Alternative Music Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards. It was also nominated for Best British Album at the 1998 Brit Awards. The album initiated a stylistic shift in British rock away from Britpop toward melancholic, atmospheric alternative rock that became more prevalent in the next decade. In 2014, it was included by the United States Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A remastered version with additional tracks, OKNOTOK 1997 2017, was released in 2017, marking the album's twentieth anniversary. In 2019, in response to an internet leak, Radiohead released MiniDiscs [Hacked], comprising hours of additional material.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Fulfillingness' First Finale is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, released on July 22, 1974 by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. It is the fourth of five albums from what is considered Wonder's "classic period".The album was Wonder's second to top the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart, where it remained for two weeks, and also reached number one on the Billboard Soul LPs chart, where it spent nine non-consecutive weeks. At the 17th Annual Grammy Awards, it won in three categories, including Wonder's second consecutive win for Album of the Year. Retrospectively, the album was voted number 413 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000) and included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
3/5
Kings of Leon
3/5
Only by the Night is the fourth studio album by American rock band Kings of Leon, released in September 2008 through RCA Records. Writing for the band's fourth album commenced just days after the release of their third, Because of the Times. The album was recorded by producers Jacquire King and Angelo Petraglia in April 2008 at Nashville's Blackbird Studio.
Only by the Night experienced commercial success, peaking inside the top 10 of over 10 countries. The album was certified the best-selling album in Australia, certified nine times platinum. It also went on to be the highest selling album of 2008 in Australia, the third best selling album of 2008 in the UK, winning two Brit Awards, and the 18th best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK.
The album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards, with the song "Sex on Fire" receiving two nominations itself.
Worldwide sales of the album exceed 6.2 million copies, according to a press release by the band.
3.25/5
Girls Against Boys
2/5
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby is the second studio album by the indie rock band Girls Against Boys. It was released in 1993 on Touch and Go Records.[2]
Production
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby was produced by Ted Niceley.
Release
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby was released on August 20, 1993, by record label Touch and Go.
Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [3]
Robert Christgau (1-star Honorable Mention)[4]
NME [5]
Punknews.org [1]
Rolling Stone [6]
In his retrospective review, Ned Raggett of AllMusic wrote, "when Girls Against Boys released Venus Luxure, it was clear that the quartet had really turned into something spectacular. Avoiding the clichés of early-'90s indie rock for its own surly, charismatic edge, Girls Against Boys here kicked out the jams like nobody's business."[3] Trouser Press wrote that "Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby is where all the flailing around starts to gel."[2]
2.75/5
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Frank is the debut studio album by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse. It was released on 20 October 2003 by Island Records. Production for the album took place during 2002 to 2003 and was handled by Winehouse, Salaam Remi, Commissioner Gordon, Jimmy Hogarth and Matt Rowe. Its title alludes to the nature and tone of Winehouse's lyrics on the album,[3] as well as one of her influences, Frank Sinatra.[4]
Upon its release, Frank received generally positive reviews from most music critics and earned Winehouse several accolades, including an Ivor Novello Award. The album has sold over one million copies in the United Kingdom and has been certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
3.75/5
Sleater-Kinney
2/5
Dig Me Out is the third studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on April 8, 1997, by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. Dig Me Out marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who would become the band's longest-serving drummer. The music on the record was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands, while the lyrics deal with issues of heartbreak and survival. The album cover is an homage to the Kinks' 1965 album The Kink Kontroversy.
Two singles were released in support of the album: "One More Hour" and "Little Babies". The title track "Dig Me Out" peaked at number six on the KEXP Top 90.3 Album Chart in 1997 without being released as a single. The album was acclaimed by music critics, who praised the album's energy and feminist lyrics. Retrospectively, Dig Me Out is considered the band's breakthrough record and is frequently included on several publications' best album lists. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 189 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
2.75/5
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
Rage Against the Machine is the debut studio album by American rock band Rage Against the Machine.[5] It was released on November 3, 1992, by Epic Records. The band released their first commercial demo tape of the same name 11 months prior to the album's release. The tape contained earlier recordings of 7 of the 10 songs featured on the album.
With politically themed, revolutionary lyrical content, the album artwork was notable for featuring a graphic photograph of Thích Quảng Đức performing self-immolation. Coincidentally, the release date for Rage Against the Machine was on November 3, 1992, the same day as the 1992 United States presidential election.
Rage Against the Machine was a critical success upon release with several critics noting the album's politically motivated agenda and praising Zack de la Rocha's strong vocal delivery. Rated number 24 on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time", the album peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Heatseekers chart and number 45 on the US Billboard 200 and has gone on to achieve a triple platinum sales certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the US. Multiple publications have ranked it as one of the best albums of the 1990s
Screaming Trees
3/5
Dust is the seventh studio album by Screaming Trees, released on June 25, 1996.
Background
After an aborted attempt at recording a followup to Sweet Oblivion with producer Don Fleming, the band hired producer George Drakoulias to man the controls for what eventually turned out to be their last album released during the group's lifetime. In contrast to the group's previous recordings that were more influenced by psychedelic rock and punk rock, Dust contains music that is equally influenced by folk and blues, while still retaining a harder-edged sound. "All I Know" was released as a single from the album and became a success on rock radio. "Dying Days" features Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready.
Reception
Kerrang! Magazine selected Dust as the best album of 1996 in their year-end awards.[13] The band toured behind Dust for nearly two years (with former Kyuss and future Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme serving as a touring guitarist), and afterwards went on an extended hiatus, eventually disbanding officially in 2000.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Fuzzy Logic is the debut album by the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. Recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and released on the Creation label in May 1996, it was positively received by critics, who felt it was an eclectic if inconsistent mix of psychedelic music and glam rock, and was included in Q Magazine's list of recordings of the year. It has retained a modest respect among some critics; it was listed in Q's "Best British Albums Ever" in July 2004, and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5] It contains two top 20 hits in "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" and "Something 4 the Weekend"; it also contains the singles "God! Show Me Magic" and "Hometown Unicorn". It reached number 23 in the UK Albums Chart on release. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 245 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[6]
Robert Wyatt
2/5
Shleep is the seventh album by Canterbury scene and progressive rock veteran and musician Robert Wyatt, released in 1997.
The album brought together a diverse range of musicians from a range of genres. After Wyatt's largely one-man recordings of the 1980s, Shleep marked a return to featuring other artistes as on his 1970s albums. The balance of his discography would follow suit. The Wire named Shleep its record of the year in its annual critics' poll.[4]
The Police
3/5
Reggatta de Blanc is the second studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 2 October 1979 by A&M Records. It was the band's first release to top the UK Albums Chart and features their first two UK number-one singles: "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon". In early 1980, the album was reissued in the United States on two 10" discs, one album side per disc, and as a collector's edition with a poster of the band.
The music features the Police's distinctive appropriation of reggae and frontman Sting's Caribbean vocal inflections. The album's title loosely translates in French to "White Reggae".
It was the band's second album to bear a Franglais title, after their 1978 debut album Outlandos d'Amour. Reggatta de Blanc proved more popular and successful than its predecessor. The title track earned the band their first Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In 2003, Reggatta de Blanc was ranked at number 369 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
3.75/5
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Hot Buttered Soul is the second studio album by American soul musician Isaac Hayes. Released in 1969, it is recognized as a landmark in soul music. Recorded with The Bar-Kays, the album features four lengthy tracks, including a 12-minute version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David cover \"Walk On By\" and an almost 19-minute long version of Jimmy Webb's \"By the Time I Get to Phoenix\"; both songs were edited significantly and released as a double A-side single in July 1969.
Mott The Hoople
2/5
Mott is the sixth studio album by British rock band Mott the Hoople. It peaked at No. 7 in the UK Albums Chart."All the Way from Memphis", an edited version of which was released as a single, received considerable airplay on U.S. radio and captured the band overseas fans, as well as reaching the UK Singles Chart.
2.25/5
Shack
3/5
H.M.S. Fable is the third album by Liverpudlian band Shack, released in June 1999 via London Records. It was the band's first album following their reformation after the interest generated by their previous much-delayed album Waterpistol and the album by offshoot band The Strands. H.M.S. Fable was well received by the critics: among the UK music publications, the album was placed at number 2 on both the NME and Uncut critics' poll of the albums of the year for 1999, and number 5 in Select magazine.
3.5/5
Pere Ubu
1/5
The Modern Dance is the debut album by American rock band Pere Ubu. It was released in January 1978 by record label Blank.
The Modern Dance has been critically acclaimed. Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1978, Robert Christgau wrote that "even though there's too much Radio Ethiopia and not enough 'Redondo Beach,'" he would be "listening through the failed stuff—the highs are worth it."
In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), he reaffirmed that "the highs are worth it, and the failed stuff ain't bad" in his revised review. Ken Tucker, writing in Rolling Stone, called it vivid and exhilarating, even if "harsh and willfully ugly".
NME named The Modern Dance the 11th best album of 1978. Fact placed the record at number 31 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s.
1.75/5
Love
3/5
Da Capo is the second studio album by American rock band Love, released in November 1966 by Elektra Records. The album was recorded during September and October 1966 at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California, with the exception of lead single "7 and 7 Is" recorded previously in June. "7 and 7 Is" became the band's biggest commercial single.
In contrast to the band's previous album, Love, which had an almost consistent garage rock sound, Da Capo features a wide range of musical styles, being also regarded as one of the first examples of "jazz rock". Although it was not a commercial success, critical response to the album is generally positive; however its reputation over the years has been largely overshadowed by Love's third studio album, Forever Changes (1967).
3/5
Hüsker Dü
3/5
Warehouse: Songs and Stories is the sixth and final studio album by alternative rock band Hüsker Dü, originally released by Warner Bros. Records as a double album on two vinyl LPs. The band dissolved following the tour in support of its release, in part due to disagreements between songwriters Bob Mould and Grant Hart over the latter's drug use. This album, along with Candy Apple Grey, showcases the increasing maturity of Mould and Hart's writing—a change which alienated some long-time fans. This album is also known for its battle between the two songwriters, with Mould famously telling Hart that he would never have more than half of the songs on a Hüsker Dü album.Mould later said that this time period was a "rough stretch", but that Warehouse was still a "good record." "Had it been pared back to a single record it might have had more impact, but we were already loggerheads at that point."The album's title comes from the fact that the group had rented some warehouse space in which to write and rehearse; a change from their former practice of writing new material and testing it out on live audiences.During the recording sessions, Hart and Mould replaced a few of Greg Norton's bass tracks for their respective songs when Norton's own contributions were not to their liking. In his autobiography, Mould identified Hart's "Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope" as one of the songs whose bass lines were rerecorded, uncredited, by their composers.
"Could You Be the One?", was released as a single and video. Other singles released from the album were "She's a Woman (And Now He Is a Man)" and "Ice Cold Ice", with "Tell You Why Tomorrow" also seeing a release as a promotional single. Warehouse: Songs and Stories peaked at #117 on the Billboard Top 200 and also charted for a week on the UK Albums Chart at #72. Hüsker Dü was interviewed and performed "Could You Be the One?" and "She's a Woman (And Now He is a Man)" live on the Late Show with Joan Rivers on April 27, 1987.
A cover version of "Up in the Air" was included on Heidi Berry's album Love.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Crocodiles is the debut album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 18 July 1980 in the United Kingdom and on 17 December 1980 in the United States. The album reached number 17 on the UK Albums Chart. "Pictures on My Wall" and "Rescue" had previously been released as singles.
Recorded at Eden Studios in London and at Rockfield Studios near Monmouth, Crocodiles was produced by Bill Drummond and David Balfe, while Ian Broudie had already produced the single "Rescue". The music and the cover of the album both reflect imagery of darkness and sorrowfulness. The album received favourable reviews from the music press, receiving four out of five stars by both Rolling Stone and Blender magazines.
3.25/5
Simply Red
2/5
Picture Book is the debut album by British pop and soul group Simply Red, released in October 1985. It contains the U.S. #1 single "Holding Back the Years", the band's most successful single, and a cover of The Valentine Brothers' "Money's Too Tight (to Mention)". Three other singles were released from the album: "Come to My Aid", "Jericho", and "Open Up the Red Box".
The album helped Simply Red earn a 1987 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. "Holding Back the Years" was also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals.
A special version of the album was released on the then new Compact Disc + Graphics, or CD+G format which when played on a suitable CD player, 4 bit raster graphic images, text and animations would also be displayed on a connected TV screen.
2.75/5
Haircut 100
2/5
Pelican West is the debut studio album by the British new wave band Haircut One Hundred, released on 26 February 1982 by Arista Records. It peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart[8] and No. 31 on the Billboard 200,[9] and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[10]
The album featured three hit singles: "Love Plus One", "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" and "Fantastic Day". It was reissued on CD in 1992, retitled as Pelican West Plus and including five bonus tracks.
Pelican West was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2006).[11]
Heyward later said, "It was a team effort. Everyone had their roles. My job was like the Paul McCartney one in The Beatles: Get Back film. The rest of the guys looked to me for direction, and I had to push them to turn these glorified jam sessions into three-minute pop songs."[12]
2.75/5
Carpenters
3/5
Close to You is the second studio album by American duo The Carpenters, released on August 19, 1970. In 2003, the album was ranked number 175 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. The album contains the hit singles "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun". The former was the duo's song that gained the Carpenters an international reputation for a decade. The album topped the Canadian Albums Chart and peaked at number 2 on the US Billboard albums chart. It was also successful in the United Kingdom, entering the top 50 of the official chart for 76 weeks during the first half of the 1970s.
The album and its singles earned Carpenters eight Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year. It won the Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus for the single "(They Long to Be) Close to You".
She has an amazing voice, but man this is some cheesy 70s!
Klaxons
2/5
Myths of the Near Future is the debut album by English rock band Klaxons. It was released on 29 January 2007 through Polydor Records. Following their debut single, the band coined the term "new rave" to refer to their sound; not long after their second single, they signed to Polydor Records. They recorded their debut album with James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco at The Premises and Parkgate Studios. Myths of the Near Future, which takes its title from a poem, is a science-fiction concept album about the future; its sound recalled the dance-punk works of Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. Some of the song's titles and lyrics are literary references to the works of J. G. Ballard, William S. Burroughs and Thomas Pynchon.
"Magick" was released as the lead single from Myths of the Near Future in October 2006, followed by "Golden Skans" in January 2007. The album's released was promoted with two headlining tours of the United Kingdom bookending a North American trek in April 2007. That same month, "Gravity's Rainbow" was released as the album's third single; "It's Not Over Yet" followed in June 2007. Various festival appearances were made, leading to a West Coast tour of the United States. Bassist Jamie Reynolds broke his ankle, which saw the cancellation of some shows, and Joe Daniel of the Violets covering for him while he sang from a wheelchair. "As Above, So Below" was released as the album's fifth and final single in November 2007.
Myths of the Near Future received generally favourable reviews from critics, some of whom praised the musicianship, though others were dismissive of the rave tag. The album reached number two in the UK Albums Chart; it also charted in France, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands. "Magick", "Golden Skans", "Gravity's Rainbow" and "It's Not Over" all charted on the UK Singles Chart, with "Golden Skans" peaking the highest at number seven. Myths of the Near Future was certified platinum in the UK and silver in Ireland, both in 2007, and won the Mercury Prize that same year. "Golden Skans" was certified platinum in the UK in 2021.
2.75/5
The Vines
3/5
Highly Evolved is the debut studio album by Australian alternative rock band The Vines. It was released on 14 July 2002 on Capitol Records. Produced by Rob Schnapf, known for his collaboration with Tom Rothrock on Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO, and Figure 8, Highly Evolved was an immensely popular debut, part of a trend towards garage rock revival bands known as much for the relentless hype from the UK music press as for their music; The Vines were frequently compared to Nirvana. The debut single, "Highly Evolved", was chosen as Single of the Week by influential British music magazine NME. The magazine also voted it the 2nd best album of the year in 2002. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[12] In October 2010, it was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.
3.5/5
Sex Pistols
1/5
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is the only studio album by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols, released on 28 October 1977 through Virgin Records in the UK and on 11 November 1977 through Warner Bros. Records in the US. As a result of the Sex Pistols' volatile internal relationships, the band's lineup saw changes during the recording of the album. Original bass guitarist Glen Matlock left the band early in the recording process, and while he is credited as a co-writer on all but two of the tracks, he only performed bass and backing vocals on one track, "Anarchy in the U.K." Recording sessions continued with a new bass player, Sid Vicious, who is credited on two of the songs written by the band after he joined. While Vicious's bass playing appeared on two tracks, his lack of skill on the instrument meant that many of the tracks were recorded with guitarist Steve Jones playing bass instead. Drummer Paul Cook, Jones and singer Johnny Rotten appear on every track. The various recording sessions were led alternately by Chris Thomas or Bill Price, and sometimes both together, but as the songs on the final albums often combined mixes from different sessions, or were poorly documented who was present in the recording booth at the time, each song is jointly credited to both producers.
By the time of its release, the Sex Pistols were already controversial, having spoken profanity on live TV, been fired from two record labels, and been banned from playing live in some parts of Britain. The album title added to that controversy, with some people finding the word "bollocks" offensive. Many record stores refused to carry it and some record charts refused to list its title, showing just a blank space instead. Due in part to its notoriety, and in spite of many sales bans at major retailers, the album debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts. It achieved advance orders of 125,000 copies after a week of its release and went gold only a few weeks later, on 17 November. It remained a best-seller for nearly a year, spending 48 weeks in the top 75.[1] The album has also been certified platinum by the RIAA. It has seen several reissues, the latest in 2017.
The album has influenced many bands and musicians, and the industry in general. In particular, the album's raw energy, and Johnny Rotten's sneering delivery and "half-singing", are often considered game changing. It is frequently listed as the most influential punk album, and one of the greatest and most important albums of all time. In 1987, Rolling Stone magazine named the album the second best of the previous 20 years, behind only the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The same magazine ranked it 73rd on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2020. In 2006, it was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest albums ever.
1.5/5
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
Fuzzy is the debut studio album by American rock band Grant Lee Buffalo, released in 1993 by Slash Records. According to the band's website, "Fuzzy would galvanize the sound of Grant Lee Buffalo, i.e., the acoustic feedback howl of overdriven 12-string guitars, melodic distorto-bass, tribal drum bombast, the old world churn of pump organs and parlor pianos."[8]
R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe praised Fuzzy as "the best album of the year hands down".[8] Noel Gallagher of English rock band Oasis revealed in 2022 that the title track was an influence on the band's 1995 hit "Some Might Say".[9]
Dwight Yoakam
1/5
Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room is the third studio album by American country music singer Dwight Yoakam, released on August 2, 1988. The album contains Yoakam's first two No. 1 Hot Country Singles singles. The first was "Streets of Bakersfield," a duet with country music veteran Buck Owens, who had originally released a version of the song in 1973. The second was an original composition of Yoakam's titled "I Sang Dixie." A third song on the album, "I Got You," also an original composition, peaked at No. 5. The title song, "Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room (She Wore Red Dresses)," also charted, but only to the No. 46 position.[1]
1.75/5 I mean.....it IS country music
Drive Like Jehu
2/5
Yank Crime is the second and final album by the San Diego, California post-hardcore band Drive Like Jehu, released on April 26, 1994 by Interscope Records. It was the band's major-label debut and its artwork was created by singer/guitarist Rick Froberg. The band toured in support of the album but then quietly disbanded the following year as the members moved off to pursue other interests.
In later years, as guitarist John Reis found international recognition with his band Rocket from the Crypt, a gradually growing audience began to pinpoint Drive Like Jehu's music as a catalyst for the eclectic San Diego music scene and the emerging national emo scene of the 1990s. In 2003 Reis re-released Yank Crime on his Swami Records label, including on it the songs from the band's "Hand Over Fist" / "Bullet Train to Vegas" single and the original version of "Sinews" that had appeared on the compilation Head Start to Purgatory.
Kings of Leon
3/5
Youth & Young Manhood is the debut album from American rock band Kings of Leon, released on July 7, 2003, in the United Kingdom and on August 19, 2003, in the United States.
Recording and release
The album was recorded at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, and Ocean Way Studios in Nashville.[3]
"Molly's Chambers", "Wasted Time", and "California Waiting" were released as singles. "Red Morning Light" was featured in a Ford Focus commercial and used as the opening song in the video game FIFA 2004 by EA Sports. "Spiral Staircase" was featured in the PS3 game MotorStorm. "Holy Roller Novocaine" was featured in the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and included on the soundtrack.
Hole
3/5
Celebrity Skin is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 8, 1998, in the United States on DGC Records and internationally on Geffen Records. It was the last album released by the band before their dissolution in 2002. Hole intended for the record to diverge significantly from their previous noise and grunge-influenced sound as featured on Pretty on the Inside (1991) and Live Through This (1994). The band hired producer Michael Beinhorn to record Celebrity Skin over a nine-month period that included sessions in Los Angeles, New York City, and London. It was the band's only studio release to feature bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. Drummer Patty Schemel played the demos for the album, but was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo at the suggestion of producer Beinhorn. This issue created a rift between Schemel and the band, resulting in her dropping out of the tour and parting ways with the group, though she received the drumming credit on the album.
The band sought to use Los Angeles and the state of California as a unifying theme, and began writing what they conceived as a "California album" in 1997. Unlike Hole's previous releases, the final songs on Celebrity Skin featured instrumental contributions from several musicians outside the band, primarily Billy Corgan, who co-wrote the musical arrangements on five songs. Auf der Maur's former bandmate Jordon Zadorozny, as well as Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey, also contributed to the composition of one track. Frontwoman Courtney Love, who wrote all of the lyrics, named the album and its title track after a poem she had written that was influenced by T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land". Motifs of water and drowning are also prominent throughout the album.
Celebrity Skin is Hole's most commercially successful album. It peaked at number nine on the US Billboard 200, number four on the Australian Albums Chart, and number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. To date, it has sold over 1.4 million copies in the United States alone, has been certified as double-platinum in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and platinum in Canada by Music Canada (MC) and the United States by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It garnered Hole a number-one hit single on the Modern Rock Tracks chart with the title track, "Celebrity Skin". Critical reaction to the album was very positive and it was listed on a number of publications' year-end lists in 1998, including those by Time and The Village Voice. The album was named the 265th greatest album of all time by a 2013 poll by NME magazine and was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
3.75/5
The Go-Go's
3/5
Beauty and the Beat is the debut album from Californian new wave band the Go-Go's. Released in 1981 on the I.R.S. Records label, the album reached number one on Billboard's Top LPs & Tape chart in March 1982, bolstered by its two big Hot 100 hit singles: \"Our Lips Are Sealed\" (no. 20) and \"We Got the Beat\" (no. 2), initially released in 1980, but in a different version. After a long and steady climb, Beauty and the Beat reached number one in the album chart dated March 6, 1982, the week before \"We Got the Beat\" entered the Top Ten of the Hot 100. The album stayed at the top for six consecutive weeks, and ranked second in Billboard's year-end Top 100 of 1982 (behind the self-titled debut album of Asia). The LP sold in excess of two million copies, and was RIAA-certified double platinum, qualifying it as one of the most successful debut albums of all time. Critically acclaimed, it has been described as one of the \"cornerstone albums of American new wave\".The title is a play on the European fairy tale \"Beauty and the Beast\".
3.25/5
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
Rising Above Bedlam is an album by Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart, released by Oval Records in 1991.[3][4]
The album was a shortlisted nominee for the 1992 Mercury Prize.[5]
Critical reception
Trouser Press called the album "ambitious" and "a refreshing departure from some of the flat, occasionally tedious and self-conscious material [Wobble] lobbed out in the '80s."[3] The Rough Guide To Rock praised "Visions of You" and "Bomba," writing that they made the album "worthwhile."[6]
3/5
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
Let Love Rule is the debut studio album of American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released on September 6, 1989, by Virgin Records. Then-wife Lisa Bonet wrote the lyrics to "Fear" and co-wrote the lyrics on the song "Rosemary"; other than that the album is virtually a one-man Kravitz show, as he wrote and produced all the songs and played nearly all the instruments.Let Love Rule reached number 61 on the Billboard 200, while it peaked at number 56 on the UK Albums Chart. The album is also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The video for the lead single "Let Love Rule" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.
3.5/5
Doves
3/5
Lost Souls is the debut studio album by British indie rock band Doves, released by Heavenly Recordings on 3 April 2000. The album was recorded over a period of several years, following the dissolution of Doves' original musical incarnation as house music act Sub Sub. Lost Souls was a moderate chart success in the UK; the album peaked at number 16, while the three singles taken from the album charted in the Top 40.
Lost Souls is considered by many to be the best debut album since Oasis' Definitely Maybe. It was met with positive critical acclaim and was a shortlist nominee for the Mercury Prize in 2000. The album was roundly praised on its release for its blending of claustrophobic intensity and euphoria, the sonic influences from electronic music present in its textures and for being "the perfect after-hours soundtrack."
NME awarded the album 9 out of 10, and called the album "a serious and intense record ... the first great album to come from Manchester since Definitely Maybe... they make being sad after drugs sound great." In a mixed review, Pitchfork reviewer Sam Eccleston took a "straightforward" and "cynical" approach with the album and rated it 6.8 out of 10, saying, "Tonally, Lost Souls reflects the after-after-midnight hours, as if the boys felt the need to document the hung-over and blissed-out aftermath of the dancing-hours frenzy their Sub Sub days offered listeners years ago." The review goes on to say that, "The heart of the problem on Lost Souls is its overreaching ambition ... [but] ... despite its reach and ambition, works best in its most conventionally melodic moments."
3.5/5
Destiny's Child
3/5
Survivor is the third studio album by American girl group Destiny's Child. It was released on May 1st, 2001, by Columbia Records. The album features production by lead singer Beyoncé Knowles and J.R. Rotem, with additional production from Poke & Tone, Cory Rooney and Mark J. Feist. Four singles were released from the album: "Survivor", "Bootylicious", a cover of Samantha Sang's "Emotion", and "Nasty Girl".
The album was a massive commercial success, debuting at number one in over fifteen countries across Europe, North America and other continents. In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 663,000 copies, the highest first-week sales figures of any female group in the SoundScan era, and stayed at number one for two consecutive weeks. It earned Destiny's Child two Grammy Award nominations for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Best R&B Album. Survivor was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 7, 2002. Billboard ranked Survivor at number 70 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade.
The album has sold over 4.7 million copies in the United States[*] and over 10 million copies worldwide.
3.5/5
50 Cent
3/5
Get Rich or Die Tryin' is the debut studio album by American rapper 50 Cent. It was released on February 6, 2003, by Interscope Records, Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, Eminem's Shady Records, and 50 Cent's G-Unit Records. After signing with Eminem, 50 Cent (who also executive produced the album) also worked heavily with Dr. Dre, with the duo acting as the album's executive producers, who worked to combine the gangsta rap and R&B combo prevalent in New York hip hop. Additional production is provided by Mike Elizondo, Sha Money XL (who also executive produced the album), Mr. Porter, Rockwilder, Dirty Swift, Megahertz, and more.
The album also contains guest appearances from Eminem, Young Buck, and Nate Dogg, as well as features from G-Unit co-members Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. Prior to the album, 50 Cent released several mixtapes alongside the Trackmasters on an unreleased album widely believed to be his debut in 2000. However, after suffering legal troubles and being blackballed from the music industry, 50 Cent found difficulty in securing another major-label recording contract, until he signed with Eminem's Shady Records in 2002.
Released a week in advance to combat bootlegging and internet leakage, Get Rich or Die Tryin' debuted and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, selling over 872,000 copies in its first week of sales. The album's singles also saw worldwide success, with both \"In da Club\" and \"21 Questions\" reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, while \"P.I.M.P.\" became a number one hit in several countries. The album was ranked number one on the Billboard Year-End 2003 and received generally positive reviews from music critics.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' was ranked by several publications as one of the best albums of the 2000s. In 2020, it was certified 9× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was the best-selling album of 2003 in the US, and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 46th Grammy Awards. It won Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album at 2003 American Music Awards and Top Billboard 200 Album at the 2003 Billboard Music Awards. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 280 on their updated 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
3.25/5
Tears For Fears
3/5
Songs from the Big Chair is the second studio album by English pop rock band Tears for Fears, released on 25 February 1985 by Phonogram Records. The album peaked at number two in the UK and at number one in the US, becoming a multi-platinum seller and the band's most successful album to date. Songs from the Big Chair spawned the commercially successful singles "Mothers Talk", "Shout", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Head over Heels", and "I Believe".
3.5/5
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
G. Love and Special Sauce is the debut album by G. Love & Special Sauce released on May 10, 1994, via Epic Records. The album was certified Gold after selling 500,000 copies. It contains the song \"Cold Beverage\", which became a college-radio staple.
G. Love & Special Sauce is an American rock band from Philadelphia. They are known for their unique, \"sloppy\", and \"laid back\" sound that encompasses blues, hip hop, rock and soul. The band features Garrett Dutton, better known as G. Love, Jeffrey Clemens on drums, and Jim Prescott on bass.
3.25/5
N.E.R.D
3/5
Fly or Die is the second studio album by American rap rock band N.E.R.D, released on March 23, 2004.
It was ranked #18 in Uncut's \"Best Albums of 2004\" - \"An object lesson in eclectic art-rock....This prog-pop classic reveal further depths of detail with every repeated play.\".
Mojo Magazine gave it 4 stars out of 5 - \"This is an enthusiastic hymn to the terminally uncool, an un-ironic celebration of nerd-culture....They make a party you want to be invited to.\"
It was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
3.25/5
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Better Living Through Chemistry is the debut studio album by English electronic music producer Fatboy Slim. It was released on 23 September 1996 in the United Kingdom by Skint Records and in the United States by Astralwerks. It was Fatboy Slim's first work to chart outside of the UK, with the single "Going Out of My Head" notably charting in the US,[1] and was certified gold by the BPI.[2]
4/5
The White Stripes
3/5
Get Behind Me Satan is the fifth studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes, released on June 7, 2005, on V2 Records. Though still basic in production style, the album marked a distinct change from its guitar-heavy 2003 predecessor, Elephant. With its reliance on piano-driven melodies and experimentation with marimba on \"The Nurse\" and \"Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)\", Get Behind Me Satan plays down the punk, garage rock and blues influences that dominated earlier White Stripes albums. Frontman Jack White plays with different technique than in the past, replacing electric guitar with piano, mandolin, and acoustic guitar on all but a handful of tracks, as his usual riff-conscious lead guitar style is overtaken by a predominantly rhythmic approach.
Get Behind Me Satan was positively received by critics. Rolling Stone ranked it the third best album of the year[4] and it received the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 2006. As of February 2007, Get Behind Me Satan had sold 850,000 units in the United States.[5]
3.5/5
Liz Phair
3/5
Exile in Guyville is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair, released on June 22, 1993, by Matador Records. It was recorded at Idful Music Corporation in Chicago between 1991 and 1993 and produced by Phair and Brad Wood. The album received critical acclaim for its ability to combine indie rock and lo-fi music and the concept behind it; in 2020, it was ranked No. 56 by Rolling Stone in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. It was certified gold in 1998 and as of July 2010 it had sold 491,000 copies.
Blue Cheer
2/5
Vincebus Eruptum (/vɪŋˈkeɪbəs ɪˈrʌptəm/; pseudo-Latin) is the debut album of American rock band Blue Cheer. Released on January 16, 1968,[1][2][3] the album features a heavy-thunderous blues sound, which would later be known as heavy metal.
A commercial and critical success, Vincebus Eruptum peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and spawned the number 14 hit cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues". Being an example of hard rock,[4] it is also lauded as one of the first heavy metal albums. Spin magazine placed it at number 22 on their list of the 40 greatest metal albums.[5][6]
2.25/5
Ute Lemper
2/5
Punishing Kiss is a studio album by German singer Ute Lemper, released in 2000 by Decca Records. It is the product of a collaboration between Lemper and the Divine Comedy and includes songs by the latter artist, as well as Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Philip Glass, Tom Waits, Scott Walker and Ute Lemper's signature artist, Kurt Weill.
Most of the songs feature the Divine Comedy as Lemper's backing band. Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot also contributed two original songs and an arrangement of Brecht and Weill's \"Tango Ballad\", while Hannon sang two songs (\"Tango Ballad\", \"Split\") as duets with Lemper.
The French version of the album includes a bonus CD with three songs in French. Arthur H sings with Lemper on \"Maison Close\", the translation of \"Tango Ballad\". The Japanese version of the album includes an additional track: \"Lullaby\", written by Scott Walker.
Kanye West
3/5
Yeezus is the sixth studio album by the American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on June 18, 2013, through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. West gathered a number of artists and close collaborators for the production, including Mike Dean, Daft Punk, Noah Goldstein, Arca, Hudson Mohawke, and Travis Scott. The album also features guest vocals from Justin Vernon, Chief Keef, Kid Cudi, Assassin, King L, Charlie Wilson, and Frank Ocean.
Fifteen days before its release date, West enlisted the help of producer Rick Rubin to strip down the sound of Yeezus in favor of a more minimalist approach. The album has been characterized as West's most experimental and sonically abrasive work. It draws from an array of genres, including industrial, acid house, electro, punk, and Chicago drill. West's unconventional use of samples is also present, as on "Blood on the Leaves", which contains a sample from Nina Simone's 1965 rendition of "Strange Fruit".
The physical CD edition was released in a clear jewel box with only a strip of red tape and sample credits. Initial promotion included worldwide video projections of the music and live television performances. West released two singles from the album; "Black Skinhead" in July 2013 and "Bound 2" the following month. The release of Yeezus coincided with that of rapper J. Cole's album Born Sinner, which was moved back a week to coincide with Yeezus' release, leading to speculation about which release would sell more copies.
Yeezus received widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom named it among West's best work and commended its brash direction, though public response was divided. The album was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 327,000 copies in the first week of release, while also topping the charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Russia and the United Kingdom. It has since been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and was named by several publications as one of the best albums of the 2010s, including Rolling Stone, who later included it at 269 on its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
3.75/5
The Sugarcubes
3/5
Life's Too Good is the debut studio album by Icelandic alternative rock group The Sugarcubes. It was released in April 1988 by One Little Indian in the UK and Europe and in May 1988 by Elektra Records in the US. The album was an unexpected success and brought international attention for the band, especially to lead singer Björk, who would launch a successful solo career in 1993.
Consisting of veterans of Reykjavík's early 1980s rock culture, the band took elements of the post-punk sound that characterized the scene, intending to create a humorous take on pop music's optimism, which is reflected in the album's title. Despite never having intended to be taken seriously, and because of the success of their debut and their contractual obligations, the Sugarcubes went on to release two further studio albums.
The Jam
3/5
Sound Affects is the fifth studio album by English rock band the Jam. The album was released on 28 November 1980 by Polydor Records. It is the only Jam album to be co-produced by the band themselves, and contains the only album track co-written by the entire band, "Music for the Last Couple".The cover art is a pastiche of the artwork used on various Sound Effects records produced by the BBC during the 1970s.
Jam frontman Paul Weller has opined Sound Affects to be the Jam's best album.
Wire
2/5
Pink Flag is the debut studio album by English rock band Wire. It was released in November 1977 by Harvest Records. The album gained Wire a cult following within independent and post-punk music upon its initial release, later growing to be highly influential on many other musicians.
The Beach Boys
3/5
The Beach Boys Today! is the eighth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released March 8, 1965, by Capitol Records. It signaled a departure from their previous records with its orchestral sound, intimate subject matter, and abandonment of car or surf songs. Side one features an uptempo sound, while side two consists mostly of introspective ballads. Supported by this thematic approach, the record became an early example of a rock concept album and established the group as album artists rather than just a singles band. It has since become regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time.
The album was produced, arranged, and largely written by Brian Wilson with additional lyrics by Mike Love. Most of it was recorded in January 1965 with the aid of over 25 studio musicians shortly after Wilson had suffered a nervous breakdown and stopped touring with his bandmates. Building on the advancements of All Summer Long (1964), Today! showcased more refined performances, denser and richer arrangements, slower tempos, longer structures, and influences drawn from Phil Spector and Burt Bacharach.
Unlike their prior albums, none of the songs employ just traditional rock instrumentation as accompaniment. Instead, a more eclectic selection of instruments, including timpani, harpsichord, vibraphone, and French horn, feature throughout the album. Lyrically, Wilson developed a more personalized, semi-autobiographical approach, with his songs written from the perspective of vulnerable, neurotic, and insecure narrators. The LP includes "She Knows Me Too Well", about a man who acknowledges his cruel treatment of his girlfriend, "Don't Hurt My Little Sister", about a sibling who appears to conflate fraternal and romantic feelings for his younger sister, and "In the Back of My Mind", a ballad that ends with a breakdown of instruments playing out of sync from each other.
Today! reached number four in the U.S. during a 50-week chart stay and yielded three top 20 singles: "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" (number 9), "Dance, Dance, Dance" (number 8), and "Do You Wanna Dance?" (number 12). A rerecorded version of "Help Me, Rhonda", issued in April, became the band's second number-one hit in the US. In the UK, the album was released in April 1966 and peaked at number 6. Today! continues to attract critical acclaim, with commentators usually focusing on the second side of the record, often describing it as a precursor to Pet Sounds (1966).
3.25/5
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
Oar is the only solo studio album by American rock musician Skip Spence, released on May 19, 1969 by Columbia Records. It was recorded over seven days in December 1968 in Nashville, and features Spence on all of the instruments.
Described as "one of the most harrowing documents of pain and confusion ever made", the album was recorded after Spence had spent six months in Bellevue Hospital. Spence had been committed to Bellevue following a delusion-driven attempt to attack Moby Grape bandmates Don Stevenson and Jerry Miller with a fire axe.
At the time of Spence's release from hospital, he had written a number of songs that he wanted to record. Producer David Rubinson suggested that Spence record at the Columbia studios in Nashville, where there was a particularly patient recording engineer, Mike Figlio. Rubinson instructed Figlio to keep the tapes running at all times, to record everything that Spence did. The majority of the tracks were recorded using a three-track recorder. Rubinson chose to stay away from the studio, concerned that Spence's recording activities would be distracted by the presence of a producer.
According to Spence, the Nashville sessions were intended by him to only be a demo, which he gave to Rubinson with the intent that the songs would be fleshed out with full production for the actual album. Instead, Rubinson had the demo recordings released by Columbia.
When first released, Oar was not promoted by Columbia Records, despite pleadings from Rubinson. It was at the time the lowest-selling album in Columbia Records history and was deleted from the Columbia catalogue within a year of its release.
2.75/5
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
Run-D.M.C. is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Run-D.M.C., released on March 27, 1984, by Profile Records. The album was produced by Russell Simmons and Larry Smith. It was considered groundbreaking for its time, presenting a tougher, more hardcore form of hip-hop. The album's sparse beats and aggressive rhymes were in sharp contrast with the light sound that was popular in hip hop at the time.
Run-D.M.C. peaked at number 53 on the Billboard 200, and number 14 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The album became the first rap album which was certified as Gold by the RIAA (December 17, 1984). The album features five the Billboard singles: \"It's Like That\", \"Hard Times\", \"Rock Box\", \"30 Days\" and \"Hollis Crew\". The first single from this album, \"It's Like That\", released on August 10, 1983, opened a new page in the history of hip-hop with a tone of social protest (unemployment, inflation). \"It's Like That\" is judged by many to be the first hardcore rap song, and the first new school hip-hop recording. \"Sucker M.C.'s\" is one of the first diss tracks, and \"Rock Box\" is the first song in the rap rock genre.With Run-D.M.C., Run-D.M.C. came to be regarded by music critics as pioneering the movement of new school hip hop of the mid-1980s. In 1989, the album was ranked number 51 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 240 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, with the ranking changing to numbers 242 and 378 in the 2012 and 2020 updates of the list, respectively. The album was reissued by Arista Records in 1999 and 2003. An expanded and remastered edition was released in 2005 and contained 4 previously unreleased songs.
I mean.....Run DMC.....4/5
The Blue Nile
2/5
A Walk Across the Rooftops is the debut album by Scottish band The Blue Nile, released on 30 April 1984 on Linn Records in the UK and on A&M Records in the US. Although the album was released to little fanfare and was not a big hit on its initial release, it slowly accumulated fans and sales through word of mouth as the years passed, and by the time the follow-up Hats was released in 1989, A Walk Across the Rooftops had sold 80,000 copies. It continued to gather praise when reissued in 2012.
The Irish singer Andrea Corr recorded \"Tinseltown in the Rain\" for her 2011 album of cover versions Lifelines and released it as the first single from that album. Duo Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin included a cover of \"Heatwave\" on their 1990 album The Big Idea.
2.75/5
Dr. John
2/5
Gris-Gris (stylized as GRIS-gris) is the debut album by American musician Dr. John (aka Mac Rebennack). Produced by Harold Battiste, it was released on Atco Records in 1968. The album introduced Rebennack's Dr. John character, inspired by a reputed 19th century voodoo doctor. The style of Gris-Gris is a hybrid of New Orleans R&B and psychedelia. It was recorded in California, albeit with several native New Orleans musicians.
Gris-Gris failed to chart in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was re-issued on compact disc decades later and received much greater praise from modern critics, including being listed at number 143 on the 2003 and 2012 editions and at number 356 on the 2020 edition of Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
2/5
David Holmes
3/5
Let's Get Killed is the second studio album by Belfast electronica DJ and producer David Holmes. It was released in the UK on 8 September 1997 through Go! Beat Records and contained two UK Top 40 singles: "Don't Die Just Yet" and "My Mate Paul";[1][2] "Gritty Shaker" was also released as a single. In addition, the album includes a re-working of the James Bond theme, retitled as "Radio 7", and a remake of Serge Gainsbourg's songs "Melody" and "Cargo Culte", retitled "Don't Die Just Yet".[3]
Let's Get Killed was Holmes's first album release in the United States, following the domestic acclaim of his debut long-player This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats.
3.25/5
Nick Drake
3/5
Pink Moon is the third and final studio album by the English musician Nick Drake, released in the UK by Island Records on 25 February 1972. It was the only one of Drake's studio albums to be released in North America during his lifetime. Pink Moon differs from Drake's previous albums in that it was recorded without a backing band, featuring just Drake on vocals, acoustic guitar and a brief piano riff overdubbed onto the title track.
Released two years before Drake's death in November 1974, at the age of twenty-six, the lyrical content of Pink Moon has often been attributed to Drake's ongoing battle with depression. The songs are shorter than on his previous albums, with a total album running time of just over twenty-eight minutes.
Pink Moon, like Drake's previous studio albums, did not sell well during his lifetime, and its stripped-back, intimate sound received a mixed response from critics. However, the album has since garnered significant critical acclaim.
3.5/5
The Crusaders
2/5
Street Life is a studio album by the American jazz band the Crusaders. It was a top 20 album on three Billboard charts and represents the peak of the band's commercial popularity. The title track, featuring singer Randy Crawford, was a Top 40 pop single (No. 36) and became the group's most successful entry on the soul chart (No. 17).[1] It was No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. "Street Life" also hit the disco chart, peaking at No. 75,[2] and was re-recorded by Doc Severinsen with Crawford reprising her vocal for the opening sequence of the noir crime drama Sharky's Machine, directed by Burt Reynolds in 1981. This faster paced version was also featured in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, released in 1997.
The cover photograph was taken at 409 N Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, California.[3]
2.75/5
Django Django
3/5
Django Django is the debut album by British art rock band Django Django. The album was released on 30 January 2012 in the United Kingdom via Because Music, and charted on the UK Albums Chart at #33. In 2014 it was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association,[2] which indicated sales of at least 75,000 copies throughout Europe.[3]
The album was nominated for the 2012 Mercury Music Prize. It was certified gold by the UPFI in 2012,[4] and then platinum in 2013.[5]
I liked this! 3.75/5
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
The Holy Bible is the third studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 30 August 1994 by record label Epic. While the album was being written and recorded, lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards was struggling with severe depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm and anorexia nervosa, and its contents are considered by many sources to reflect his mental state. The songs focus on themes relating to politics and human suffering. The Holy Bible was the band's last album released before Edwards' disappearance on 1 February 1995.
Although it reached number 6 in the UK Albums Chart, initially, global sales were disappointing compared to previous albums and the record did not chart in mainland Europe or North America. It was promoted with tours and festival appearances in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands and Thailand – in part without Edwards. The Holy Bible received widespread acclaim from critics and has sold over half a million copies worldwide as of 2014. It has frequently been featured and listed highly on lists of the best albums of all time by British music publications such as Melody Maker, NME and Q.[1][2][3][4][5]
I liked a lot of this--3.25/5
Method Man
3/5
Tical is the debut studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man. It was released November 15, 1994, by Def Jam Recordings. It was the first Wu-Tang solo album released after the group's debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Similar to all first generation solo Wu-Tang projects, Tical was mainly produced by group member RZA, who provided a dark, murky and rugged sound. The album features guest appearances from RZA, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, as well as several affiliates, who would later appear on future group projects. On October 5, 2017, Method Man revealed on the Viceland talk show Desus & Mero that the album's title is an acronym for "taking into consideration all lives."[2]
Tical was a critical and commercial success, reaching number four on the US Billboard 200, and number one on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums. On January 18, 1995, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and on July 13, 1995, the record was certified platinum for the shipment of one million copies in the United States.[3] The success for the album was driven by two singles: "Bring the Pain" and "I'll Be There for You / You're All I Need to Get By".
3.5/5
Hawkwind
2/5
Space Ritual (officially known as The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London) is a 1973 live double album recorded in 1972 by UK rock band Hawkwind. It is their fourth album since their debut, Hawkwind, in 1970.[1][2] It reached number 9 in the UK Albums Chart and briefly dented the Billboard Hot 200, peaking at number 179.
Background
The album was recorded during the tour to promote their Doremi Fasol Latido album, which comprises the bulk of this set. In addition there are new tracks ("Born To Go", "Upside Down" and "Orgone Accumulator") and the songs are interspersed by electronic and spoken pieces, making this one continuous performance. Their recent hit single "Silver Machine" was excluded from the set, and only "Master of the Universe" remains from their first two albums.
The Space Ritual show attempted to create a full audio-visual experience, representing themes developed by Barney Bubbles and Robert Calvert entwining the fantasy of starfarers in suspended animation traveling through time and space with the concept of the music of the spheres.[3] The performance featured dancers Stacia, Miss Renee and Tony Carrera, stage set by Bubbles,[4] lightshow by Liquid Len and poetry recitations by Calvert. On entering the venue, audience members were given a programme[5] (reproduced on the 1996 remaster CD) featuring a short sci-fi story by Bubbles setting the band in a Starfarers scenario returning to Earth.[nb 1]
The original release featured edits and overdubs, the sleeve notes explaining that "We had to cut a piece out of Brainstorm and Time We Left because they were too long", but the 1985 Space Ritual Volume 2 album contains the full unedited versions. A previously unheard edited version of "You Shouldn't Do That" (segued with an unlisted "Seeing It As You Really Are") from this concert was included on the 1976 Roadhawks compilation album, then subsequently included as a bonus track on the 1996 remaster CD. The full unedited version of the track can be found on the Hawkwind Anthology album. June 2007 saw another EMI 2CD remaster issue with different bonus tracks and DVD-audio - this remaster would be reissued in 2013, minus the DVD-audio.
"Sonic Attack" had been written by science fiction author Michael Moorcock, who often performed with the band when convenient and Calvert was unavailable. Here it is recited by Calvert and it was scheduled for single release, promotional copies being distributed in a cloth sleeve, but it never did receive a full release.
2.25/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Sticky Fingers is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released on 23 April 1971 on the Rolling Stones' new label, Rolling Stones Records. The Rolling Stones had been contracted by Decca Records and London Records in the UK and the US since 1963. On this album, Mick Taylor made his second full-length appearance on a Rolling Stones album (after the live album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!). It was the first studio album without Brian Jones, who died two years earlier. The original cover artwork, conceived by Andy Warhol and photographed and designed by members of his art collective, the Factory, showed a picture of a man in tight jeans, and had a working zip that opened to reveal underwear fabric. The cover was expensive to produce and damaged the vinyl record, so the size of the zipper adjustment was made by John Kosh at ABKCO records. Later re-issues featured just the outer photograph of the jeans.
The album featured a return to basics for the Rolling Stones. The unusual instrumentation introduced several albums prior was absent, with most songs featuring drums, guitar, bass, and percussion as provided by the key members: Mick Jagger (lead vocals, various percussion and rhythm guitar), Keith Richards (guitar and backing vocals), Mick Taylor (guitar), Bill Wyman (bass guitar), and Charlie Watts (drums). Additional contributions were made by long-time Stones collaborators including saxophonist Bobby Keys and keyboardists Billy Preston, Jack Nitzsche, Ian Stewart, and Nicky Hopkins. As with the other albums of the Rolling Stones late 1960s/early 1970s period, it was produced by Jimmy Miller.
Sticky Fingers is widely considered one of the Rolling Stones' best albums. It was the band's first album to reach number one on both the UK albums and US albums charts, and has since achieved triple platinum certification in the US. "Brown Sugar” topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. Sticky Fingers was voted the second best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1971, based on American critics' votes. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and included in Rolling Stone magazine's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.
3.5/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Henry's Dream is the seventh album released by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, in April 1992.
It was the first album to feature long-standing members Martyn P. Casey (bass) and Conway Savage (piano, organ, backing vocals), both Australian. Savage also performs a duet with Cave in the chorus of 'When I First Came to Town'. The album title is a reference to The Dream Songs, a long poem by John Berryman.[2]
Production
Nick Cave himself was unhappy with the production by David Briggs. Briggs preferred a "live-in-the-studio" method he had used with Neil Young. This led to Cave and Mick Harvey re-mixing the album, and ultimately to the Live Seeds recordings, as Cave wanted the songs "done justice". Cave later said, "He was a fucking nightmare, that guy. I know he’s dead now and all, but, fuck, man. I put a lot of energy into the writing of that record, and then for each day to see it drift away… it was a horrible, horrible experience."[3] Tony Cohen, who was engineer for the remix, said, "Briggs pushed them to play better, take after take. The performance was everything. But when it came to the mix, Briggs left all the faders in one spot."
2.75/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Porcupine is the third studio album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. First released on 4 February 1983, it became the band's highest-charting release when it reached number two on the UK Albums Chart despite initially receiving poor reviews. It also reached number 137 on the American Billboard 200, number 85 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums and number 24 on the Swedish chart. In 1984, the album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. The album includes the singles "The Back of Love" and "The Cutter."
Porcupine was recorded at Trident Studios in London, Rockfield Studios in South Wales and Amazon Studios in Liverpool. It was produced by Ian Broudie (credited as "Kingbird"), who had co-produced the band's first album, 1980's Crocodiles, and their second single, "Rescue." After being rejected by the band's label, the album was rerecorded with Shankar providing strings. It was originally released as an LP in 1983 before being reissued on CD in 1988. The album was reissued as a remastered and expanded CD in 2003, along with the other four of the band's first five studio albums. A VHS video called Porcupine – An Atlas Adventure was also released, containing six promotional videos of tracks from the album.
3/5
Travis
4/5
The Man Who is the second studio album by the Scottish rock band Travis. The album was released on 24 May 1999 through Independiente. It saw a change in musical direction for the band, moving away from the rockier tone of their debut Good Feeling (1997). Four singles were released: "Writing to Reach You", "Driftwood", and the top 10 hits "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" and "Turn".
The Man Who initially received mixed reviews and sold slowly. Boosted by the success of "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" and the band's appearance at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival, it eventually spent a total of 9 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart and brought the band international recognition, with retrospective reviews being more positive. As of 2018, according to Concord Music, The Man Who has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide. It was among ten albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, losing to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis.
this was very good
Dagmar Krause
1/5
Tank Battles: The Songs of Hanns Eisler is a solo album by German singer Dagmar Krause released by Island Records in 1988. It is a collection of 26 songs by German composer Hanns Eisler sung by Krause in English. She also sang the songs in the original German which were released by Island at the same time on a companion album, Panzerschlacht: Die Lieder von Hanns Eisler.
Tank Battles was reissued by Voiceprint Records in 1994 with all its original tracks, plus ten bonus tracks taken from the German edition, Panzerschlacht.
Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
In a review of Tank Battles at AllMusic, John Dougan called it "[a] worthy follow up" to Krause's previous album, Supply and Demand. He said her vocals here are "stunning" and the instrumental backing is "impeccable".[1]
Writing in The Wire, Philip Clark called Tank Battles a "laudable attempt" by Krause to present a modern interpretation of songs by Eisler-Brecht.[2] He said producer Greg Cohen's "sensitive arrangements" of the album's material "winningly evokes 1920s Berlin".[2] Clark stated that Krause's "vocal production, the shaping of her melodic contours and the brittle, staccato phrasing" all owes itself to Eisler's work.[2]
Big Star
1/5
#1 Record is the debut album by the American rock band Big Star. It was released on April 24, 1972, by Memphis-based Ardent Records.
Many critics praised the album's vocal harmonies and songcraft but #1 Record suffered from poor distribution and sold fewer than 10,000 copies upon its initial release. However, #1 Record gained wider attention in the late 1970s in the UK when EMI reissued it with Radio City as a double LP package due to increasing demand.[4] The same combination was used when the album was released on CD in 1992.[5] It is now widely-regarded as a seminal work in pop rock and power pop. In 2020 it was ranked number 474 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[6] Rolling Stone also ranked the song "Thirteen" as number 406 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[7] It was voted number 188 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).
Hookworms
3/5
Microshift is the third studio album, fourth long play record and final album by British rock band Hookworms. It was released on 2 February 2018 by Domino Recording Company. The album's namesake is an audio plug-in. The record is dedicated to \"Archie\", the band's former live sound engineer.
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
3.5/5
Gram Parsons
2/5
Grievous Angel is the second and final solo studio album by Gram Parsons, compiled from summer 1973 sessions and released four months after his death from a morphine and alcohol overdose in September 1973. Prominently featuring a young Emmylou Harris, Grievous Angel received great critical acclaim upon release but failed to find commercial success, a fate shared with Parsons’ previous efforts solo and with The Flying Burrito Brothers. Grievous Angel peaked at number 195 on the Billboard charts. Despite its modest sales, it is viewed as a successful example of the hybrid between country and rock and roll Parsons called \"Cosmic American Music\".
It was voted number 324 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2012, the album was ranked number 425 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
2/5
Björk
1/5
Vulnicura is the eighth studio album by Icelandic musician and singer Björk. It was produced by Björk, Arca and The Haxan Cloak, and released on 20 January 2015 by One Little Indian Records. Björk said the album expresses her feelings before and after her breakup with American contemporary artist Matthew Barney and the healing process.
Vulnicura was originally scheduled for release in March 2015, in conjunction with the Björk: Archives book and an exhibition about Björk's career at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; following an internet leak, it was released digitally two months early. No singles were released to promote the album but a series of innovative music videos were created, culminating in the 360-degree virtual reality exhibit Björk Digital. Vulnicura received widespread acclaim from critics, with many considering it one of her most honest and personal albums as well as her best output in a decade.
The companion album Vulnicura Strings was released on 6 November 2015. It features strings-only interpretations of the Vulnicura tracks and utilises an instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci called the viola organista. By October 2015, the album had sold 250,000 copies worldwide./nVulnicura was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 87, based on 40 reviews. Many critics have referred to it as her best work in the last decade and the boldest move after 2011's Biophilia. It has also been compared stylistically to her critically acclaimed albums Homogenic and Vespertine.
Praise has centered around the \"emotional honesty and musical daring\" used to portray the album's deeply personal themes. The lyrics have been described as some of her \"strongest and most moving\" and Björk's voice \"miraculously expressive\". On the less positive side, longtime music critic Robert Christgau claimed, \"I always thought she was too lifelike for him anyway.\" He cited \"Stonemilker\" and \"Atom Dance\" as standout tracks.
1.5/5
The Damned
2/5
Machine Gun Etiquette is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned. It was released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records.
The album was the group's first since reforming with a new lineup of previous members Dave Vanian on vocals, Captain Sensible on lead guitar, Rat Scabies on drums, plus newcomer Algy Ward of heavy metal band Tank on bass guitar on his only album with the band. On Machine Gun Etiquette, the band brought more variety to their usual punk rock to add wide-ranging influences from hard rock and heavy metal to psychedelic rock, a tinge of progressive rock and even classic rhythm and blues. The album also features more fast-paced punk tracks, and has been cited as a 'proto-hardcore' record crucial for the later rise of hardcore punk into the 1980s.
2/5
Joe Ely
2/5
The Los Angeles Times wrote that "Ely's pure, unadorned vocals and wry, gently philosophical songs revive the Hank Williams-Lefty Frizzell honky-tonk tradition in country music without showing any traces of nostalgia or self-consciousness."[7]
Honky Tonk Masquerade has been highly regarded by critics around the world. It was included in the 2005 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[8] Writer Steve Pond places the album at number 40 on Rolling Stone's list of "50 Essential Albums of the 70s", calling it "the decade's most sure-footed country-rock collaboration".[1] Pond places the album in the same class as such 1970s "country landmarks" as Guy Clark's Old No. 1, Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, and Terry Allen's Lubbock (On Everything). In addition, New Zealand critic Fred Muller places the album on his list of the top ten "best albums of the rock era".[9]
2/5
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is the fourth album by the American rock band Spirit. It was produced by David Briggs, who is best known for his work with Neil Young. The original LP was released in November 1970 by Epic. The band's lowest charting album to that point, it peaked at #63 on the Billboard 200 in February 1971, spending only fourteen weeks on the chart. However, it sold well as a catalog item and became the band's only album to ultimately attain a RIAA gold certification in the U.S., achieving that status in 1976.[5] On the Canadian RPM Magazine Top 100 charts, the album reached #49 and was in the top 100 for 10 weeks.[6]
"Nature's Way" became one of Spirit's signature songs, but was not a big hit at the time, peaking at #111 on the Billboard pop charts in 1971. To capitalize on the album's enduring appeal, "Mr. Skin" (the B-side of "Nature's Way") was released as an A-side in 1973 and also charted, peaking at #92. It was voted number 332 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). [7]
Despite these commercial limitations, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus enjoyed significant airing on college FM radio. The album was re-issued on CD in 1988 by MFSL, without bonus tracks, and in 1996 by Sony in remastered form, with bonus tracks. A 2022 two-CD release by Cherry Red Records also included several bonus tracks and a 1970 performance at the Fillmore West.
2.5/5
The Clash
2/5
The Clash is the debut studio album by English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 8 April 1977 through CBS Records. Written and recorded over three weeks in February 1977 for £4,000, it would go on to reach No. 12 on the UK charts, and has been included on many retrospective rankings as one of the greatest punk albums of all time.
Songs on the album were composed by guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, with the notable exception of the reggae cover "Police and Thieves". Several songs from these sessions, including "Janie Jones", "White Riot", and "London's Burning" became classics of the punk genre and were among the first punk songs to see significant presence on singles charts. The album featured Jones and Strummer sharing guitar and vocal duties, with Paul Simonon on bass and Terry Chimes on drums.
The album was not released in the US until 1979, making it their second US release. The US version also included a significantly different track listing, changing the track order and swapping out several songs for non-album tracks recorded in the interim.
2.75/5
Slayer
2/5
Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 7, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track \"Angel of Death\", which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts such as human experimentation that he committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band's members stated that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in the subject.Reign in Blood was well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Today, it is often mentioned among the greatest heavy metal records ever. In their 2017 listing of the 100 Greatest Metal albums of all time, Rolling Stone magazine ranked \"Reign in Blood\" at #6. Alongside Anthrax's Among the Living, Megadeth's Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, and Metallica's Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood helped define the sound of the emerging US thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s, and has remained influential since. The album was Slayer's first to enter the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold on November 20, 1992. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 287 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The Residents
1/5
Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen, later renamed as just Duck Stab, is the fifth studio album by American art rock group The Residents, released in November 1978. It is named after the first side of the album, Duck Stab!, a seven-song EP released earlier in 1978 featuring shorter songs similar to the first side of Fingerprince. Buster and Glen, the B-side of the album, was intended to follow Duck Stab! presumably in early 1979.
After the first pressing of Duck Stab! quickly sold out—which was an oddity for the band—they decided to re-release it as an album, merged with the unreleased Buster and Glen. This was also in part due to the audio quality of the original EP, which The Residents stated was poor.
The shorter length of the songs made the album more accessible for fans who had recently heard \"Satisfaction\", and songs like \"Constantinople\" and \"Hello Skinny\" helped cement the band's cult following. Some noted that the Residents were approaching commercial elements with this EP, but they were purposefully avoiding others, such as a traditional chorus/verse structure. This album features guitar by Philip \"Snakefinger\" Lithman.
The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
this was odd. 1/5
Tori Amos
3/5
Little Earthquakes is the debut solo album by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, featuring the singles \"Silent All These Years\", \"China\", \"Winter\" and \"Crucify\". After Atlantic Records rejected the first version of the album, Amos began working on a second version with her then-boyfriend Eric Rosse. The album was first released in the UK on January 6, 1992, where it peaked at number 14 in the charts.
It was well received by critics and listeners. In the US, the album reached the top 60 of the Billboard 200. It is frequently regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time; it was voted number 73 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000) and ranked number 233 on Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums of all time.
I liked this a lot more than I thought I would--3.75/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
The Scream is the debut studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 13 November 1978 by Polydor Records. The album is considered a landmark recording: its innovative combination of angular and serrated guitar with a bass-led rhythm and machine-like drums played mostly on toms, made it a pioneering work of the post-punk genre.
The Scream was met with widespread acclaim and was hailed by critics as an original musical development in rock music. It has been cited as a key influence on a number of succeeding post-punk, noise rock and alternative rock acts, including Joy Division, Killing Joke, the Cure, Big Black, Sonic Youth, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Faith No More and Massive Attack.
2.5/5
Small Faces
2/5
Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake is the third studio album, and only concept album by the English rock band Small Faces. Released on 24 May 1968, the LP peaked at number one on the UK Album Charts on 29 June, where it remained for a total of six weeks. It ultimately became the group's final studio album during their original incarnation (and the last album to contain solely new material until the release of reunion album Playmates in 1977). The album title and distinctive packaging design was a parody of Ogden's Nut-brown Flake, a brand of tinned loose tobacco that was produced in Liverpool from 1899 onwards by Thomas Ogden.
2.75/5
3/5
The first part of the title is a slang term for the human anus. Hot Dog Flavored Water is an in-joke started by Wes Borland at a truck stop while the band was on tour, where Borland saw bottles of Crystal Geyser flavored water, and made a joke about having meat or hot dog flavors.[8]
Durst himself refers to the album name in three songs. First, "Livin' It Up", where he declares that, "The chocolate starfish is my man Fred Durst." (Wes Borland has stated in an interview when questioned on the naming of the album that, "Fred calls himself Chocolate Starfish, because people call him an asshole all the time."[8]) Second, "Hot Dog", where he tells his detractors to, "Kiss my starfish, my chocolate starfish," and "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" where he mentions "Chocolate Starfish" in the introduction.
The longtime working title for the album had been "Limpdependence Day", but this was abandoned after the band failed to meet the deadline for their original intended release date of July 4.[9] Numerous critics and fans speculated that the name was a humorous parody of Smashing Pumpkins' 1995 album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.[10][11]
3.75/5
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Innervisions is the sixteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on August 3, 1973, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. A landmark recording of Wonder's "classic period",[3] the album has been regarded as completing his transition from the "Little Stevie Wonder" known for romantic ballads into a more musically mature, conscious, and grown-up artist. On the album, Wonder continued to experiment with the revolutionary T.O.N.T.O. (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) synthesizer system developed by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, and Innervisions became hugely influential on the future sound of commercial soul and black music.
The album peaked at number four on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and number one on the Billboard Soul LPs chart, eventually finishing at number four on the magazine's Top Pop Albums chart for 1974. At the 16th Grammy Awards, it won Album of the Year and Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, while "Living for the City" won Best R&B Song. Innervisions is widely considered by fans, critics, and colleagues to be one of Wonder's finest works and one of the greatest albums of all time. It was ranked number 34 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.[4]
Herbie Hancock
2/5
Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California.
The album was a commercial and artistic breakthrough for Hancock, crossing over to funk and rock audiences and bringing jazz-funk fusion to mainstream attention, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard 200. Hancock is featured with woodwind player Bennie Maupin from his previous sextet and new collaborators – bassist Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Harvey Mason. The latter group of collaborators, which would go on to be known as The Headhunters, also played on Hancock's subsequent studio album Thrust (1974). All of the musicians (with the exception of Mason) play multiple instruments on the album.
2.25/5
The Zutons
3/5
The Zutons formed in early 2002; their line-up initially consisted of Dave McCabe on vocals and guitar, Boyan Chowdhury on guitar, Russell Pritchard on bass and Sean Payne on drums, with Abi Harding joining them sometime later on saxophone. They signed to Deltasonic, who were known for releasing the work of the Coral. "Devil's Deal", the Zuton's debut single, appeared in September 2002, and was followed up by "Creepin' an' a Crawlin'" in May 2003. For their debut album, they worked with producer Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds, who had previously worked with the Coral.[1] Jon Gray served as engineer; the bulk of the tracks were recorded at RAK Studios in London, while "You Will You Won't" and "Long Time Coming" were done at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool.[2] The NME reported that the band were finishing up the album in December 2003.[3] Most of the songs were mixed at Elevator Studios in Liverpool, except for "Confusion", "Railroad" and "Remember Me", which were done at RAK. Ted Jensen then mastered the album at Sterling Sound at New York City.[2] In August 2004, "Don't Ever Think (Too Much)" was recorded at Toe Rag Studios in London.[4] Made with producer and engineer Liam Watson, The track was mastered by Noel Summerville at Transfermation, also in London.[2]
3.25/5
Manu Chao
2/5
Clandestino is the first full-length solo album by Manu Chao, released in 1998. The album contains many soundbites throughout, two of which are bits of a speech by Subcomandante Marcos and, like Chao's subsequent albums, was mostly recorded by the musician himself in various locations around the world, using a small laptop—which is referred to in the liner notes as Estudio Clandestino. The French edition of Rolling Stone magazine named this album the 67th greatest French rock album (out of 100).[5] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[6] The album was ranked number 469 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020.[1]
2.5/5
Adam & The Ants
2/5
Kings of the Wild Frontier is the second album by English new wave band Adam and the Ants. It was released on 7 November 1980 by CBS Records in the UK and Epic records internationally. The album was the UK number 1 selling album in 1981 (and the 48th best seller in 1980) and won Best British Album at the 1982 Brit Awards.
Background and recording
After having his previous backing band wooed away by producer Malcolm McLaren to form Bow Wow Wow,[8] Adam Ant recorded Kings of the Wild Frontier with guitarist Marco Pirroni as his new writing partner.
2.75/5
Gillian Welch
3/5
Time (The Revelator) is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Gillian Welch. All songs were written by Welch together with David Rawlings and were recorded at RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee,[1] with the exception of "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll", which was recorded live at the Ryman Auditorium as part of the sessions for the concert film Down from the Mountain.
Recording
Welch said of recording "Revelator," "It was a mic test – the version on the record. Dave just said, 'play 'Revelator' and it was okay, let's try it and we used the mic test." Rawlings added, "We played it once and it was great because we hadn't played it in months. We got that first take feeling."[2]
According to Rawlings, "I Dream a Highway" had never been played before it was recorded. "So, we played it twice and I edited both versions together. But, I wanted that because I knew it was a minor song that had ... There was a lot that could happen with the harmonies and the guitar playing than if we'd done it a lot of times, so we could just travel through a lot more of it than if we knew where we were supposed to start and where we were supposed to end."[2]
David Bowie
3/5
"Heroes" is the 12th studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 October 1977 through RCA Records. Recorded in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti, it was the second release of his Berlin Trilogy, following Low, released in January the same year, and the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Sessions took place in mid-1977 after Bowie completed work on Iggy Pop's second solo album Lust for Life. Much of the same personnel from Low returned for "Heroes", augmented by the King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
The majority of the tracks were composed on the spot in the studio, the lyrics not being written until Bowie stood in front of the microphone. The music builds upon its predecessor's electronic and ambient approaches, albeit with more positive tones, atmospheres and passionate performances. The album also follows the same structure as its predecessor, side one featuring more conventional rock tracks and side two featuring mostly instrumental tracks.
The cover photo, like Iggy Pop's The Idiot, is a nod to the painting Roquairol by the German artist Erich Heckel. Upon release, "Heroes" was a commercial success, peaking at number 3 in the UK and number 35 in the US. It was the best-received work of the Berlin Trilogy on release; NME and Melody Maker each named it their respective album of the year. Bowie promoted the album extensively with television appearances and interviews. He supported Low and "Heroes" on the Isolar II world tour throughout 1978, live performances from which appear on multiple live albums.
"Heroes" has received enduring praise, particularly recognised for Fripp's contributions and the album's place within Bowie's longterm artistic development. Though critical opinion has viewed Low as the more groundbreaking record, "Heroes" is regarded as one of Bowie's best, most influential works. The title track, initially unsuccessful as a single, has remained one of his best-known and most-acclaimed songs. An altered and obscured version of the cover artwork was later used for the cover of The Next Day (2013). "Heroes" has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2017 as part of the box set A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982).
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Don't Stand Me Down is the third studio album by English pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, released in September 1985 by Mercury Records.
The album was released three years after their second album, the internationally successful Too-Rye-Ay. At the time, Dexys' lineup had been pared down from ten members to just four: vocalist/guitarist Kevin Rowland, guitarist Billy Adams, violinist Helen O'Hara, and saxophonist Nick Gatfield, the last of whom left the band after the recording sessions were completed. These four members are pictured on the original album cover in suits (and, for the men, ties), in what Rowland referred to as an "Ivy League" or "Brooks Brothers" look.
The album was a commercial failure upon release, and its rejection by both critics and the public resulted in the group's disbandment in 1987. The album was later described as a "neglected masterpiece" by Uncut, and was selected as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
2.25/5
Oasis
3/5
Definitely Maybe is the debut studio album by English rock band Oasis, released by Creation Records on 29 August 1994. Oasis booked Monnow Valley Studio near Rockfield in late 1993 to record the album and worked with producer Dave Batchelor, whom band member Noel Gallagher knew from his days working as a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets, though sessions were unsatisfactory and Batchelor was subsequently fired. It is the last and only studio album to feature all five original members, as founding member drummer Tony McCarroll was fired from the band in 1995.
In January 1994, the group set about re-recording the album at Sawmills Studio in Cornwall, where sessions were produced by Noel alongside Mark Coyle. The results were still deemed unsatisfactory; in desperation, Creation's Marcus Russell contacted engineer and producer Owen Morris, who eventually worked on mastering the album at Johnny Marr's studio in Manchester.
Definitely Maybe was an immediate commercial and critical success in the United Kingdom, having followed on the heels of the singles "Supersonic", "Shakermaker", and the UK top-ten hit "Live Forever", which was also a success on US Rock Airplay. The album went on to sell over 8 million copies worldwide and brought widespread critical acclaim. It went straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart and became the fastest-selling debut album in the UK at the time; it went on to be certified 8× platinum by the BPI for sales of over 2.4 million units. It also was successful in the United States, being certified platinum.
The album helped to spur a revitalisation in British pop music in the 1990s, and was embraced by critics for its optimistic themes and rejection of the negative outlook of the grunge music of the time. The album is regarded as a seminal entry of the Britpop scene, and has appeared in many publications' lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 2006, the NME conducted a readers' poll in which Definitely Maybe was voted the greatest album of all time. In 2015, Spin included the album in their list of "The 300 Best Albums of 1985–2014". Rolling Stone ranked the album at No. 217 on its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Tangerine Dream
2/5
Phaedra is the fifth studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was recorded during November 1973 at The Manor in Shipton-on-Cherwell, England and released on 20 February 1974 through Virgin Records. This is the first Tangerine Dream album to feature their now classic sequencer-driven sound, which is considered to have greatly influenced the Berlin School genre.[3]
The album marked the beginning of the group's international success and was their first album released on the Virgin label. It achieved six-figure sales in the UK, reaching number 15 in the UK Albums Chart in a 15-week run,[6] with virtually no airplay, only by strong word of mouth. It also earned the group a gold disc in seven countries,[7] though in their native Germany it sold barely 6,000 units.[8] The album title refers to Phaedra of Greek mythology.
2.25/5
Sebadoh
2/5
Bubble & Scrape is the fourth album by American indie rock band Sebadoh. It was released by Sub Pop in April 1993.
Bubble & Scrape was the final Sebadoh album to feature songs composed by founding member Eric Gaffney.
Music
Like its predecessor, Sebadoh III, Bubble & Scrape features songwriting contributions from all three members: co-founders Gaffney and Lou Barlow, and Jason Loewenstein. Unlike the first three official Sebadoh albums, however, Barlow's contributions are mostly electric, with one exception being the acoustic duet with Swirlies vocalist Seana Carmody, "Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)."
Bubble & Scrape was the first Sebadoh album to be recorded entirely in a professional studio,[1] marking a departure from the lo-fi, home-recorded sound of their previous albums. In addition to the greater use of electric guitars and the higher production value, the album features longer songs and more sophisticated song arrangements,[2] paving the way for their more polished future albums, starting with Bakesale in 1994.
2.25/5
Nitin Sawhney
2/5
Beyond Skin is an album by English musician Nitin Sawhney. It was released on the Outcaste label in 1999. The album focuses largely on the theme of nuclear weapons; Sawhney states in the booklet that the album "has a timespan that runs backwards", beginning at "Broken Skin" with the India-Pakistan nuclear situation and ending at "Beyond Skin" with Robert Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita – "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".
Sawhney also aims to question what constitutes one's identity – he writes in the liner notes for the album: "I believe in Hindu philosophy. I am not religious. I am a pacifist. I am a British Asian. My identity and my history are defined only by myself – beyond politics, beyond nationality, beyond religion, and Beyond Skin."
2.5/5
CHVRCHES
4/5
The Bones of What You Believe is the debut studio album by Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches, released on 20 September 2013 by Virgin Records and Goodbye Records. Recorded between 2011 and 2013 in Glasgow,[5] the album was written, composed, and produced by the band as a collaborative effort. It was made available as both a 12-track standard edition and an 18-track special version, the latter including two extra songs, two remixes and two live videos.[6] The album was debuted with a launch party broadcast live on music streaming platform Boiler Room.[7][8]
The album's title derives from a lyric in the song "Strong Hand"; according to frontwoman Lauren Mayberry, it refers to the raw "creativity and effort" that served as the figurative and literal skeleton for the album.[9] Musically, The Bones of What You Believe is primarily a synth-pop and indie pop album that incorporates 1980s influences.[1][2][10]
The Bones of What You Believe received critical acclaim, with many complimenting Mayberry's songwriting and vocal performance, and Iain Cook and Martin Doherty's use of synthesisers and vocal loops. The album debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, selling 12,415 copies in its first week.[11] It also reached the top 15 in Australia, Ireland and the United States, and the top 20 in Austria and Canada. The album has sold 152,514 copies in the UK and 184,000 copies in the US.[12][13] Pitchfork ranked The Bones of What You Believe at number 180 on its list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s".[14]
The album spawned seven singles: "The Mother We Share", "Recover", "Gun", "Lies", "We Sink", "Under the Tide" and "Tether", with the lead single becoming a moderate commercial success, charting in the top 10 in Belgium and Japan, as well as the top 40 in the United Kingdom. It also peaked at number 12 on the Alternative Songs chart in the United States.
4.25/5
Mekons
2/5
Fear and Whiskey is the fourth studio album by English rock band the Mekons. It was released in 1985 and marked a dramatic shift in their sound following a short hiatus. It has been credited as being one of the first alternative country albums,[4] as it blends the band's previously-established punk rock style with a country music sound. Due to the limited production and distribution capabilities of parent label Sin Records, the initial album release was met with only modest commercial success but with broad critical praise. It remained largely unavailable until it was re-released in 2002 by Quarterstick Records, a subsidiary of Touch and Go Records.
The musical style represents a sharp break with the group's previous work, as fiddle, steel guitar, and harmonica are included, but the instrumentation of punk music is also present, particularly on the energetic "Hard to be Human Again". Tom Greenhalgh, one of the primary creative forces in the Mekons, commented that as he listened to a great deal of country music in the early 1980s "pretty soon the difference between the three chords of country and the three chords of punk became blurred."[9] The album closes with a cover of Leon Payne's "Lost Highway".
2.75/5
The Cramps
2/5
Songs the Lord Taught Us is the debut album by the American rock band the Cramps. It was released in 1980 on I.R.S. Records in America and Illegal Records in England. In 2020, Rolling Stone included Songs the Lord Taught Us in their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list, praising the band for its "psychobilly sound that went way beyond the kitschiest moments of the Ramones or Blondie and into a whole new realm of garage-trash novelty".[3]
2.5/5
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was recorded from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and released later that year on November 1 by Epic Records.[7] The recording was dominated by band frontman/songwriter Sly Stone during a period of escalated drug use and intra-group tension.
With the album, Sly and the Family Stone departed from the optimistic sound of their previous music and explored a darker, more challenging sound featuring edgy funk rhythms, a primitive drum machine, extensive overdubbing, and a dense mix. Conceptually and lyrically, There's a Riot Goin' On embraced apathy, pessimism, and disillusionment with both Stone's fame and 1960s counterculture amid a turbulent political climate in the United States at the turn of the 1970s, influenced by the decline of the civil rights movement and the rise of the Black Power movement. The album's title was originally planned to be Africa Talks to You, but it changed in response to Marvin Gaye's album What's Going On (1971), released six months before Riot.[8]
A commercial success, There's a Riot Goin' On topped the Billboard Pop Album and Soul Album charts, while its lead single "Family Affair" reached number one on the Pop Singles chart.[9][10] The album was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of at least one million copies in the US.[11] Originally released to mixed reviews, the album has since been praised as one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time, having impacted the funk, jazz-funk, and hip hop genres in particular. It has appeared in publications' best-album lists, including Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", on which it placed 99th in 2003[12] and 82nd in 2020.[13]
In 1999, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[14]
Lupe Fiasco
3/5
Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (commonly referred to as Food & Liquor) is the debut studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released on September 19, 2006, on 1st & 15th Entertainment and Atlantic Records. The album features production from The Neptunes, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, Craig Kallman, Prolyfic, Needlz, Soundtrakk, and Brandon Howard. Jay-Z, Chill, and Fiasco himself are credited as the executive producers for the album. Songs on the record discuss poverty, Islam, terrorism, racism, and individuality.
Originally, the album was reported to have debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200; however, due to incomplete Nielsen SoundScan reports, the album actually debuted at number eight.
The album received four Grammy Award nominations, including Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 49th Grammy Awards. \"Daydreamin'\", featuring Jill Scott, won Best Urban/Alternative Song at the 50th Grammy Awards. The album was digitally re-released on September 13, 2011, to mark its 5th anniversary; this version features four new tracks. On April 30, 2015, Lupe Fiasco released a music video for \"Just Might Be O.K.\", nine years after the album's original release.
The album cover of Food & Liquor was designed by Chuck Anderson and Righteous Kung Fu. It was inspired by a skateboard deck Fiasco owned.
The cover shows Fiasco floating in air, surrounded by several items, including a Banksy postcard, a Nintendo DS, a sketchbook, the Qur'an, and a robot. He explained that the items were picked out carefully, as they were things he \"carr[ied] around every day\"
In the liner notes, Fiasco parodies drug dealing by replacing liquor with milk and cookies, and drive-by shootings by replacing guns with books.
3.5/5
Tortoise
2/5
Millions Now Living Will Never Die is the second studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise. The album was released on January 30, 1996 by Thrill Jockey.
The album's title is a reference to a phrase used in the Jehovah's Witness faith in the 1920s. It is, for instance, the title of an essay by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who was the second president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. It was also the slogan of the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.By March 1998, the album had sold over 50,000 copies, with 80% as CDs and the remainder as LPs.
2.25/5
Orbital
3/5
Snivilisation is the third studio album by the British electronic music duo Orbital. It was released on 8 August 1994 through FFRR Records.[1]
The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart, and had sold over 80,000 copies in the United Kingdom by April 1996.[2]
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music [4]
Q [5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [6]
Select 4/5[7]
Background
The band released the album at the time of the launch of the Criminal Justice Act, the legislation that gave British Police greater legal powers to break up unlicensed raves that gave Orbital its name. The Are We Here? single featured the track "Are We Here? (Criminal Justice Bill?)", which consists of four minutes of complete silence.
"Philosophy by Numbers" samples Sidney Stratton's chemistry experiment, "Guggle Glub Gurgle", from the film The Man in the White Suit.
"Are We Here?" samples a part of "Man at C&A" by The Specials; the track's vocals are by Alison Goldfrapp, as on "Sad But True". "Are We Here?" is also on Work 1989-2002.
The album was included in Q magazine's "The 25 Best Dance Albums Ever" in October 1997.[8] It also made Q's end-of-year top 10 best albums list in 1994.[9]
3.75/5
The Associates
3/5
Sulk is the second studio album by the Scottish post-punk and pop band the Associates. It was released on 14 May 1982 on their own Associates imprint of Beggars Banquet Records for the UK and throughout the rest of Europe on WEA Records[2][3] and in the US on 4 October by Sire Records.
It stayed in the UK Albums Chart for 20 weeks, peaking at No. 10,[4] and it was crowned the album of the year by British music magazine Melody Maker.[5] Although it was the group's breakthrough record both critically and commercially, it was to be the last studio album recorded by the original pairing of Alan Rankine and Billy Mackenzie, as Rankine departed four months after its release.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
2/5
I See a Darkness is the sixth album by American musician Will Oldham, released on Palace Records on January 19, 1999, as the first album under the name Bonnie \"Prince\" Billy. The album features appearances from Bob Arellano, Colin Gagon, Paul Oldham, David Pajo, and Peter Townsend.
2.75/5
Fairport Convention
2/5
Unhalfbricking is the third album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and their second album released in 1969. It is seen as a transitional album in their history and marked a further musical move away from American influences towards more traditional English folk songs that had begun on their previous album, What We Did on Our Holidays and reached its peak on the follow-up, Liege & Lief, released later the same year.The album features several Bob Dylan songs, which he had not yet released. It also features what is arguably Sandy Denny's most notable achievement as a songwriter with the song "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", which has been covered by many other performers and is now regarded as a classic. The only traditional song on the album, "A Sailor's Life", is seen as pivotal in the development of English folk rock music.
Changes in the line-up of the band, due not only to its musical direction but also to external events, mark this album as a turning point in the band's history. 1969 was a prolific year for Fairport Convention; from What We Did on Our Holidays to Liege & Lief within twelve months represented a major development.
The album also gave the band their first UK chart success, reaching number 12 in the UK album chart (the second highest position in the band's entire career), while the single release, "Si Tu Dois Partir", achieved number 21 in the UK singles chart.
2.25/5
R.E.M.
4/5
Green is the sixth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released on November 7, 1988, by Warner Bros. Records. The second album to be produced by the band and Scott Litt, it continued to explore political issues both in its lyrics and packaging. The band experimented on the album, writing major-key rock songs and incorporating new instruments into their sound including the mandolin, as well as switching their original instruments on other songs.
Upon its release, Green was a critical and commercial success. To promote Green, the band embarked on an 11-month world tour and released four singles from the album: "Orange Crush", "Stand", "Pop Song 89", and "Get Up".
Nirvana singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain listed it in his top 50 albums of all time. In 1989, Sounds ranked the album at number 62 in its list of "The Top 80 Albums from the '80s." In 1993, The Times ranked the album at number 70 in their list of "The 100 Best Albums of All Time". In 2013, NME ranked it at number 274 in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Abdullah Ibrahim
2/5
Water from an Ancient Well is a jazz album by South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim that was first released in 1986.
The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Van Morrison
2/5
It's Too Late to Stop Now is a 1974 live double album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It features performances that were recorded in concerts at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and the Rainbow in London, during Morrison's three-month tour with his eleven-piece band, the Caledonia Soul Orchestra, from May to July 1973. Frequently named as one of the best live albums ever, It's Too Late to Stop Now was recorded during what has often been said to be the singer's greatest phase as a live performer.
Volumes II, III and IV of the album were released as a box-set in 2016, also including a DVD.
According to Elmore Magazine's Mike Jurkovic, when It's Too Late to Stop Now was first released in 1974, "everyone—and I do mean everyone—tripped over themselves to hail the two-LP set as one of the greatest live renderings of the rock era." Reviewing the album in Creem, Robert Christgau hailed it as Morrison's best since Moondance (1970) while writing, "Songs that wore poorly or were just lame in the first place have more force and tightness here than in their studio versions".
2.5/5
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
Floodland is the second studio album by English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy. It was released on 13 November 1987, through Merciful Release internationally and distributed by WEA, with Elektra Records handling the United States release. After the release of the band's debut studio album, First and Last and Always (1985), members Craig Adams and Wayne Hussey left to form the Mission, causing the dissolution of the Sisters of Mercy. As a result, band frontman Andrew Eldritch formed a side project known as the Sisterhood. After the first Sisterhood album was received negatively overall, Eldritch restarted the Sisters of Mercy and hired the Sisterhood member Patricia Morrison for the recording of a new album.
Eldritch wrote the songs of Floodland in Hamburg; the city's large amount of water influenced its title as well as the recurring lyrical theme of water. He then called upon Larry Alexander to produce the album with him and Jim Steinman to produce the songs "Dominion" / "Mother Russia" and "This Corrosion". Recording sessions began at Power Station Studios in New York City during January 1987 and carried on throughout the first half of the year at Strawberry Studios in Stockport and The Wool Hall in Bath. Eldritch served as the vocalist, performed all instruments, and programmed the band's drum machine, "Doktor Avalanche".
The drum machine acted as the drum player; Morrison did not contribute to the album despite being a member of the Sisters of Mercy. In contrast to the conventional group-based recording sessions for First and Last and Always, Floodland was pieced together on computers using sequencers. The music incorporates the genres of gothic rock and dark wave, while the lyrical content sees Eldritch cast as the observer of a slowly deteriorating world. Some of the events that inspired certain songs include the Chernobyl disaster, the Cold War, and the band's previous break-up.
The singles "This Corrosion", "Dominion", and "Lucretia My Reflection" were released in promotion. "This Corrosion" peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, while "Dominion" and "Lucretia My Reflection" peaked at number 13 and 20, respectively. Floodland debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 9, later being certified gold in UK by the BPI for selling 100,000 copies. It also reached the top 40 in other European countries, including Switzerland. Despite initially receiving mixed reviews from music critics, Floodland has retrospectively received praise and been considered a seminal gothic rock album by several critics.
Not sure why I never listened to this--I liked it a lot. 3.75/5
Culture Club
3/5
Colour by Numbers is the second album by the British new wave group Culture Club, released in October 1983. Preceded by the hit single \"Karma Chameleon\", which reached number one in several countries, the album reached number one in the UK and has sold 10 million copies worldwide. It has been certified triple platinum in the UK and quadruple platinum in the US. It was ranked #96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s.
3.25/5
U2
3/5
War is the third studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Steve Lillywhite, and was released on 28 February 1983 on Island Records. The album is regarded as U2's first overtly political album, in part because of songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day", as well as the title, which stems from the band's perception of the world at the time; lead vocalist Bono stated that "war seemed to be the motif for 1982."[3]
U2 recorded the album from September–November 1982 at Windmill Lane Studios with Lillywhite producing, the group's third consecutive album made at the studio with the producer. While the central themes of U2's previous albums Boy and October were adolescence and spirituality, respectively,[4] War focused on both the physical aspects of warfare, and the emotional after-effects.[3] Musically, it is also harsher than the band's previous releases. The album has been described as the record where the band "turned pacifism itself into a crusade".[5]
War was a commercial success, knocking Michael Jackson's Thriller from the top of the UK charts to become U2's first number-one album there. In the United States, it reached number 12 and became the band's first album certified gold. War received generally favourable reviews, although some British journalists criticised it. The band supported the album with the War Tour through the end of 1983. In 2008, a remastered edition of War was released. In 2012, the album was ranked 223rd on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[6]
3.5/5
M.I.A.
3/5
Arular is the debut studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 22 March 2005 in the United States, and one month later in the United Kingdom, with a slightly different track listing. In 2004, the album's release was preceded by two singles and a mixtape. M.I.A. wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album, while collaborators included Justine Frischmann, Switch, Diplo, Richard X, Ant Whiting and Greg "Wizard" Fleming.
The album's title is the political code name used by her father, Arul Pragasam, during his involvement with Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups, and themes of conflict and revolution feature heavily in the lyrics and artwork. Musically, the album incorporates styles that range from hip hop and electroclash to dancehall, baile funk, and punk. M.I.A. created the basic backing tracks using a Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine given to her by long-time friend Frischmann.
Arular was lauded by critics for its blending of styles and integration of political lyrics into dance tunes. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005 and was included in the 2005 edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Although it only reached number 98 on the UK Albums Chart and number 190 on the US Billboard 200, several publications named it as one of the best albums of the year. By mid-2007, the album had sold 129,000 copies in the US, Arular spawned the singles "Sunshowers", "Bucky Done Gun" and "Galang", which was released twice.
The Darkness
2/5
Permission to Land is the debut studio album by the British glam rock band The Darkness, released on 7 July 2003 in the UK and 16 September 2003 in the US. The album topped the UK Albums Chart[1] and reached number thirty-six on the American Billboard 200 chart.[2] Five singles were released from Permission to Land: "Get Your Hands off My Woman", "Growing on Me", "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" (which only appears on the German Christmas edition), and "Love Is Only a Feeling". "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was the most successful, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart.[1]
2.75/5
N.W.A.
3/5
Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by American gangsta rap group N.W.A, which, led by Eazy-E, formed in Los Angeles County's City of Compton in early 1987.[3][4] Released by his label, Ruthless Records, on August 8, 1988,[1] the album was produced by N.W.A members Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince, with lyrics written by N.W.A members Ice Cube and MC Ren[5] along with Ruthless rapper The D.O.C.[3] Not merely depicting Compton's street violence, the lyrics repeatedly threaten to lead it by attacking peers and even police. The track "Fuck tha Police" drew an FBI agent's warning letter, which aided N.W.A's notoriety, with N.W.A calling itself "the world's most dangerous group."[3][6][7]
In July 1989, despite its scarce radio play beyond the Los Angeles area,[4] Straight Outta Compton received gangsta rap's first platinum certification, one million copies sold by then.[3] That year, the album peaked at number 9 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and at number 37 on the Billboard 200.[8] Receiving media spotlight, N.W.A's example triggered the rap genre's movement toward hardcore, gangsta rap.[9]
Remastered, the album's September 2000 reissue gained four bonus tracks. Nearing the album's 20th anniversary, another extended version of it arrived in December 2007.[10] In 2015, after an album reissue on red cassettes,[11] theater release of the biographical film Straight Outta Compton reinvigorated sales of the album, which by year's end was certified 3x Multi-Platinum.[3] In 2016, it became the first rap album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[12] The next year, the Library of Congress enshrined Straight Outta Compton in the National Recording Registry, who have deemed it to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[13]
3.5/5
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
The Good, the Bad & the Queen is the debut studio album by the English supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen, comprising Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen, and produced by Danger Mouse. The album was released in January 2007.[12][13] The album debuted at number two in the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold in the UK within days of its release despite little media recognition and airplay.[14] In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 49.
It is stated that the record is, in a sense, a concept album, as its songs are all themed around modern life in London.[15] It was described by Albarn as "a song cycle that's also a mystery play about London" in an interview with Mojo.
3.25/5
David Ackles
2/5
American Gothic was released on July 4, 1972. The album peaked at number 167 on the Billboard charts.
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
Billboard favorable[2]
Christgau's Record Guide C−[3]
Stylus A−[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music [5]
Upon its release, Ramparts called the album "Vivid, lyrical – but at times maudlin and self-indulgent, American Gothic is [Ackles'] best to date".[6] Robert Christgau's review was critical, writing "'I won't get maudlin,' Ackles promises midway into the second side, locking himself in the barn as the dappled stallion gallops to join his brothers and sisters on the open range with his mane flying free in the breeze."[3]
In its retrospective review, AllMusic wrote "American Gothic remains one of those great albums that never found its audience. It waits to be rediscovered."[1]
American Gothic was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[7] Mojo called it "one of the most beautiful but rarely heard albums of his era".[8]
2.5/5
The Dictators
2/5
The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! is the debut album by American punk rock band The Dictators. It was released in March 1975 and is considered one of the first examples of punk rock.[1][2][3]
Response
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [4]
Christgau's Record Guide B+[5]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 9/10[6]
Entertainment Weekly A[7]
Record Collector [8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [9]
The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! has been well-received critically and is considered a precursor to punk rock. In its retrospective review, AllMusic notes that while the album was confusing to audiences at the time of its release, it became inspirational for dozens of groups to follow.[4] Trouser Press enthused that the band deserves "scads of credit" for "blazing a long trail, melding the essentials of junk culture... with loud/hard/fast rock'n'roll and thus creating an archetype".[10] According to a 2001 article in The Village Voice, the album's "blueprint for bad taste, humor, and defiance" has been replicated in the work of such bands as the Ramones and Beastie Boys.[11]
Trouser Press lauded the album as a "wickedly funny, brilliantly played and hopelessly naïve masterpiece of self-indulgent smartass rock'n'roll".[10] Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Go Girl Crazy's junk-generation culture and smart-aleck sensibility did provide an essential blueprint for '70s punk. With its TV references and homely vocals, this ground-breaking and long-unavailable album continues to inspire underground groups everywhere."[7] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff enjoyed the album and considered the Dictators "more obviously comedians than musicians", "with a sense of self-deprecating humor poking sticks at the seriousness of heavy metal".[6]
Dave Marsh was less enthusiastic though, describing the record as a "banal collection of recycled 'Pipeline' instrumentals coupled with a vocalist who sounds, yes, precisely like a yowling wrestler on Saturday afternoon TV" in Rolling Stone,[12] and giving the album zero stars in The Rolling Stone Record Guide.
Dolly Parton
2/5
Trio is a collaborative album by American singers Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. It was released on March 2, 1987, by Warner Bros. Records. The album has platinum certification in the US for sales of one million copies, and has total worldwide sales of approximately four million.
Longtime friends and admirers of one another, Parton, Harris, and Ronstadt first attempted to record an album together in the mid-1970s, but scheduling conflicts and other difficulties (including the fact that the three women all recorded for different record labels) prevented its release.
Some of the fruits of those aborted 1970s recording sessions did make it onto the women's respective solo albums.
Finally, a collaboration effort came to fruition, being produced by George Massenburg. When Trio was released in March 1987, it spawned four hit singles–including a remake of Phil Spector's 1958 hit by the Teddy Bears, \"To Know Him Is to Love Him\".
2.75/5
Talking Heads
3/5
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Talking Heads, released on October 8, 1980, by Sire Records. Produced by Brian Eno, his third album with the band, the album was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and Sigma Sound Studios in New York during July and August 1980.
After the release of Fear of Music in 1979, Talking Heads and Eno sought to dispel notions of the band as a mere vehicle for frontman and songwriter David Byrne. Drawing influence from Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, they blended African polyrhythms and funk with electronics, recording instrumental tracks as a series of looping grooves. The sessions incorporated a variety of side musicians, including guitarist Adrian Belew, singer Nona Hendryx, and trumpeter Jon Hassell.
Byrne struggled with writer's block, but adopted a scattered, stream-of-consciousness lyrical style inspired by early rap and academic literature on Africa. The artwork was conceived by bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, and crafted with the help of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's computers and design company, M&Co. The band hired additional members for a promotional tour, and following its completion, they went on a year-long hiatus to pursue side projects.
Remain in Light was acclaimed by critics, who praised its sonic experimentation, rhythmic innovations, and cohesive merging of disparate genres. The album peaked at number 19 on the US Billboard 200 and number 21 on the UK Albums Chart, and spawned the singles "Once in a Lifetime" and "Houses in Motion". It has been featured in several publications' lists of the best albums of the 1980s and of all time, and is often considered Talking Heads' magnum opus. In 2017, the Library of Congress deemed the album "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant",[2] and selected it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.[3]
John Coltrane
2/5
A Love Supreme is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones.
A Love Supreme was released by Impulse! Records in January 1965. One of Coltrane's bestselling albums, it is widely considered his masterpiece.
2.25/5
The Adverts
2/5
Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts is the debut studio album by English punk rock band the Adverts. It was released on 17 February 1978 by record label Bright.
Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The album title was coined by Jane Suck.
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Dave Thompson called the album \"a devastating debut\" and \"one of the finest albums not only of the punk era but of the 1970s as a whole\". Trouser Press said that \"in its own way\", the album \"is the equal of the first Sex Pistols or The Clash; a hasty statement that captures an exciting time\".
In March 2003, Mojo magazine ranked Crossing the Red Sea No. 17 in its list of the 50 greatest punk albums. The album featured in The Guardian's list \"1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die\".
2.75/5
Bad Company
3/5
Bad Company is the debut studio album by Bad Company, a 1970s hard rock English supergroup. The album was recorded at Headley Grange with Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio in November 1973,[2] and it was the first album released on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records label.[11]
Among the songs recorded during the album sessions were two covers of tracks originally by members' previous bands — specifically, Mott the Hoople's "Ready for Love" (recorded while Mick Ralphs was with the band and released on their 1972 album All the Young Dudes) and "Easy on My Soul" (recorded by Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke with Free and released on Heartbreaker in 1973). The latter did not make the final album, but was released as the B-side to second single "Movin' On".
3.25/5
Coldplay
4/5
Parachutes is the debut studio album by the British rock band Coldplay. It was released on 10 July 2000 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom. The album was produced by the band and British record producer Ken Nelson, except for one track, \"High Speed\", which was produced by Chris Allison. Parachutes has spawned the singles \"Shiver\", \"Yellow\", \"Trouble\", and \"Don't Panic\".
The album was a commercial success and was met with positive reviews. Upon release, it quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom and has since been certified 9× Platinum. In the United States, the album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200 and eventually was certified Double Platinum. It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2002, the British Album of the Year award at the 2001 Brit Awards and many other accolades. Parachutes is also the 22nd best-selling album of the 21st century in the United Kingdom. As of 2020, it has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Want One is the third studio album by the Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released through DreamWorks Records on September 23, 2003. The album was produced by Marius de Vries and mixed by Andy Bradfield, with Lenny Waronker as the executive in charge of production. Want One spawned two singles: \"I Don't Know What It Is\", which peaked at number 74 on the UK Singles Chart, and \"Oh What a World\". The album charted in three countries, reaching number 60 on the Billboard 200, number 130 in France, and number 77 in the Netherlands.
Want One features guest vocals from Martha Wainwright, Joan Wasser, Teddy Thompson and Linda Thompson, as well as a banjo solo on \"14th Street\" by Wainwright's mother Kate McGarrigle. For the album, Wainwright won the award for Outstanding Music Artist at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards, won Best New Recording and received a nomination for Best Songwriter at the OutMusic Awards, and was nominated for the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize.
It was the first part of what was intended to be a double album called Want. The second part, Want Two, was released the following year. Want One was later repackaged along with Want Two as a two-disc set titled Want and was released on November 28, 2005 in the UK to coincide with Wainwright's tour.
3.25/5
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Behaviour (released as Behavior in the United States) is the fourth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 22 October 1990 by Parlophone. A Japanese special edition included a bonus mini CD, exclusive artwork and printed lyrics in a white velvet-like box.
3.75/5
Def Leppard
3/5
Pyromania is the third studio album by English rock band Def Leppard, released on 20 January 1983 through Vertigo Records in UK and Europe and through Mercury Records in the US. The first album to feature guitarist Phil Collen who replaced founding member Pete Willis, Pyromania was produced by Robert John \"Mutt\" Lange. The album was a shift away from the band's traditional heavy metal roots toward a more radio-friendly sound, finding massive mainstream success. Pyromania charted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, No. 4 on the Canadian RPM Album chart and No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart. Selling over ten million copies in the US, it has been certified diamond by the RIAA.
3.5/5
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby is the debut studio album by Terence Trent D'Arby. It was released in July 1987 on Columbia Records, and debuted at number one in the UK, spending a total of nine weeks (non-consecutively) at the top of the UK Albums Chart. It hit number 1 in Australia and Switzerland. It was eventually certified 5× Platinum (for sales of 1.5 million copies). Worldwide, the album sold a million copies within the first three days of going on sale. The album was also a hit in the US, although its success was slower. It was released there in October 1987, eventually peaking at number four on May 7, 1988, – the same week that the single \"Wishing Well\" hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. It did peak higher on the Billboard R&B Albums chart at number one around the same time.Other singles from the album included \"If You Let Me Stay\", which was a top-ten hit in the UK, and \"Sign Your Name\", which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two in the UK. A fourth single, \"Dance, Little Sister\", reached the UK top 20 as well. As was common for big-selling artists at that time, the singles were released in a plethora of limited editions in multiple formats. These were bolstered by a multitude of non-album studio and live tracks.
3.25/5
Ray Price
1/5
Night Life is the sixth album by country western singer and guitarist Ray Price, backed by his regular touring band, the Cherokee Cowboys. The album was released in 1963 on the Columbia Records label. The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
1.75/5
Happy Mondays
3/5
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches is the third studio album by English rock band Happy Mondays, released on 5 November 1990 by Factory Records. DJ Paul Oakenfold and collaborator Steve Osbourne were previously enlisted by the band to create remixes of some of their songs. The success of these led to the pair producing \"Step On\", a cover of the John Kongos song, for Happy Mondays. The band went on a tour of the United States, and by the end of which, had started recording their next album with Oakenfold and Osbourne at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, California. They returned to the United Kingdom, where further recording took place at Eden Studios in London until September 1990. Described as a Madchester album, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches saw a lot of input from Oakenfold and Osbourne, with the former making loops, while the latter handled song arrangements.
The release of Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches was aided by a distribution and licensing deal between Factory Records and major label London Recordings. \"Kinky Afro\" was released as the second single from the album on 8 October 1990; the album was promoted with an arena tour in the UK, with support from Donovan, to close out the year. Preceded by festival appearances in the UK and Brazil, \"Loose Fit\" was released as the album's third single in February 1991. Treks of mainland Europe and the US followed over the course of the next three months. After this, touring continued into August 1991 across a variety of festival performances and headlining shows.
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches received generally positive reviews from music critics, several of whom considered it the band's creative peak. It peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart, as well as charting in Austria, New Zealand and Sweden. The album went on to sell 400,000 copies in the UK, where it was certified platinum. \"Step On\" reached the top five in the UK (where it would be certified gold), and appeared on several Billboard charts in the US. \"Loose Fit\" charted in the UK top 20; \"Bob's Yer Uncle\" peaked within the top 30 on two US charts. Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches appeared on album of the year and best of decade lists by Melody Maker, NME and Select.
3.5/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
Juju is the fourth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was recorded at Surrey Sound studio with Nigel Gray as co-producer, and was released on 19 June 1981 by record label Polydor. Two singles were released from Juju: \"Spellbound\" and \"Arabian Knights\".
The album was commercially successful in the UK. It was acclaimed by critics upon its release, with praise given particularly to John McGeoch's unconventional guitar playing and Siouxsie's vocal performances. It remains a critical favourite and is seen as a landmark album of post-punk
King Crimson
2/5
In the Court of the Crimson King (subtitled An Observation by King Crimson) is the debut studio album by English rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969 by Island Records. The album is one of the earliest and most influential of the progressive rock genre, where the band combined the musical influences that rock music was founded upon with elements of jazz, classical, and symphonic music.
The album reached number five on the UK Albums Chart and number 28 on the US Billboard 200, where it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
2.5/5
Paul Weller
3/5
Wild Wood is the second solo studio album by Paul Weller, released in September 1993. It made it to number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, and contained three UK hits: \"Wild Wood\", which reached number 14 on the UK charts, \"Sunflower\", which reached number 16, and \"Hung Up\", which reached number 11.
In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 77 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever, and it was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The original 1993 UK and European CD included 15 tracks. When issued in the US, and reissued in the UK in 1994, a 16th track was added. A two-disc deluxe edition was released on 22 October 2007.
The title track, \"Wild Wood\", was released as a single in 1993, with \"Ends of the Earth\" as the B-side. It reached no. 14 on the UK charts in September 1993.Uncut magazine rated \"Wild Wood\" as Weller's ninth best ever song and the best of his solo career, with the Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke praising it as a \"very easy, kicking-back sort of song\".
3.25/5
The Specials
2/5
More Specials is the second album by English ska band the Specials, released by 2 Tone Records in October 1980. After the success of the band's self-titled debut, band member Jerry Dammers assumed the role as the band's leader and stirred them into expanding their 2 Tone sound into other genres of music, most prominently a lounge music and easy listening style inspired by Muzak. Several band members disagreed with Dammers' vision and brought their own influences to the album, including from northern soul and rockabilly, contributing to an eclectic sound palette. The relations between band members continued to sour into the album's accompanying tour and most of the band departed in 1981.
The album features collaborations with the Go-Go's members Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, and Jane Wiedlin; Rhoda Dakar from the Bodysnatchers; and Lee Thompson from Madness. The lyrics on the album, as with the band's debut album, are often intensely political. Upon its release, the album alienated some fans, but reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, while its singles reached the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. The album also reached number 98 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Critics greeted the album with praise, where journalists felt the album marked a bold step for the band. It has been since cited as an influence on the trip hop genre in the 1990s, and has been re-released several times.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Heartbreaker is the debut solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, released September 5, 2000, by Bloodshot Records. The album was recorded over fourteen days at Woodland Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It was nominated for the 2001 Shortlist Music Prize. The album is said to be inspired by Adams' break-up with music industry publicist Amy Lombardi.[2]
According to Adams, the album's title originates from a poster of Mariah Carey: "My manager called and said, 'You have 15 seconds to name this record,' "My eyes focused on this poster of Mariah wearing a T-shirt that said HEARTBREAKER. I just shouted, 'Heartbreaker!'"[3]
A Deluxe Edition, featuring bonus recording session takes and pre-album demos, was released on May 6, 2016 on PAX-AM records.
3.25/5
The Byrds
3/5
Fifth Dimension is the third album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in July 1966 on Columbia Records.[1][2] Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark.[3][4] In an attempt to compensate for Clark's absence, guitarists Jim McGuinn and David Crosby increased their songwriting output.[5] In spite of this, the loss of Clark resulted in an album with four cover versions and an instrumental, which critics have described as "wildly uneven" and "awkward and scattered".[2][3] However, it was the first Byrds album not to include any songs written by Bob Dylan, whose material had previously been a mainstay of the band's repertoire.[3]
The album peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reached number 27 on the UK Albums Chart.[6][7] Two preceding singles, "Eight Miles High" and "5D (Fifth Dimension)", were included on the album, with the former just missing the Top 10 of the Billboard singles chart.[3][8] Additionally, a third single taken from the album, "Mr. Spaceman", managed to reach the U.S. Top 40.[8] Upon release, Fifth Dimension was widely regarded as the band's most experimental album to date and is today considered by critics to be influential in originating the musical genre of psychedelic rock.[3][5]
Spacemen 3
2/5
Playing with Fire is the third studio album by Spacemen 3, released in February 1989. The original CD version included two live bonus tracks recorded in the Netherlands, and an ensuing release on Taang! Records included two more b-sides from the "Revolution" single. A reissued version from 2001 has an entire extra disc of demos and rarities.
In a similar musical borrowing to those on the band's prior albums, the song "Revolution" bears more than a passing resemblance to "Black to Comm" by the MC5.
2.75/5
The Doors
3/5
The Doors is the debut studio album by American rock band the Doors. Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California, it was produced by Paul A. Rothchild and released on January 4, 1967. Since its release, the record has been often regarded as one of the greatest debut albums of all time, by both music critics and publishers. It features the long version of the breakthrough single \"Light My Fire\" and the lengthy song \"The End\" with its Oedipal spoken word section.The Doors started recording their debut album under the maintenance of Elektra Records in August 1966. The recording of The Doors established the band's large extensive number of musical influences, such as jazz, classical, blues, pop, R&B and rock music. Its overall presentation has been viewed as an essential part of the psychedelic rock evolution, while it have also been acknowledged as a source of inspiration to other works. Paul McCartney of the Beatles has claimed that following the album's release, he wanted his band to capitalize on the Doors musical style as one of the \"alter egos\" of the group, for their upcoming album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.The Doors and \"Light My Fire\" have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2015 the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. The Doors remains the band's best-selling studio album, with sales of over 13 million copies, as of 2015.
3.75/4
Röyksopp
3/5
Melody A.M. is the debut studio album by Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp, released on 13 September 2001 by Wall of Sound. The album reached number one in the Norwegian Albums chart. In the UK, it reached number nine in the country's Album chart, and topped both the Dance Albums and the Independent Albums charts. As of 2005, the album had sold 750,000 copies worldwide,[1] with 454,271 sold in the United Kingdom alone.[2]
3.5/5
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
Metal Box is the second studio album by Public Image Ltd, released by Virgin Records on 23 November 1979. The album takes its name from the round metal canister which contained the initial pressings of the record. It was later reissued in standard vinyl packaging as Second Edition in February 1980 by Virgin Records in the United Kingdom, and by Warner Bros. Records and Island Records in the United States.
The album was a departure from PiL's 1978 debut First Issue, with the band moving into a more avant-garde sound characterised by John Lydon's cryptic lyrics, propulsive dub-inspired rhythms led by bassist Jah Wobble, and an abrasive, \"metallic\" guitar sound developed by guitarist Keith Levene.
Metal Box is widely regarded as a landmark of post-punk.
In 2012, the album was ranked number 461 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
2.5/5
Alice Cooper
2/5
Billion Dollar Babies is the sixth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released on February 25, 1973 by Warner Bros. Records. The album became the best selling Alice Cooper record at the time of its release, hit number one on the album charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and went on to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been retrospectively praised by such critics as Robert Christgau, Greg Prato of AllMusic, and Jason Thompson of PopMatters, but The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) gave the album only two and a half stars.
Songs were recorded in both the state of Connecticut and London, England. Lyrics cover topics and themes such as necrophilia, dental fear, horror, and sexual harassment. At 40 minutes and 51 seconds, it is the longest studio album the band has ever released; this does not count any of Cooper’s solo albums.
2.5/5
Neil Young
3/5
After the Gold Rush is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile solo albums released by the members of folk rock group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping 1970 album Déjà Vu. Young's album consists mainly of country folk music along with several rock tracks, including "Southern Man". The material was inspired by the unproduced Dean Stockwell-Herb Bermann screenplay After the Gold Rush.
After the Gold Rush peaked at number eight on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; the two singles taken from the album, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and "When You Dance I Can Really Love", made it to number 33 and number 93 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.
Critics were not immediately impressed; the 1970 review in Rolling Stone magazine by Langdon Winner was negative, with Winner feeling that, "none of the songs here rise above the uniformly dull surface." Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was more enthusiastic, saying: "While David Crosby yowls about assassinations, Young divulges darker agonies without even bothering to make them explicit. Here the gaunt pain of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere fills out a little—the voice softer, the jangling guitar muted behind a piano. Young's melodies—every one of them—are impossible to dismiss. He can write 'poetic' lyrics without falling flat on his metaphor even when the subject is ecology or crumbling empire. And despite his acoustic tenor, he rocks plenty. A real rarity: pleasant and hard at the same time."
Critical reaction has improved with time; by 1975, Rolling Stone was referring to the album as a "masterpiece", and Gold Rush is now considered a classic album in Young's recording career.
In 2014, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
3.5/5
Bill Callahan
2/5
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle is the second solo album by American musician Bill Callahan under his own name, released on April 14, 2009 via Drag City.[1]
Recording
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle was recorded by John Congleton and arranged by Brian Beattie.[2] In an interview with Uncut, Callahan described the recording of the album:
I recorded the basic tracks with a band, in August I think. Then gave the tracks to the arranger Brian Beattie to write some string and horn parts while I was on tour in South America and North America. When I got back we put the overdubs on, in an old fashioned way – four or five string players gathered around one microphone. The basic band is a couple fellers who I'd been touring with a bit lately, Jaime Zuverza on fine and pretty guitar – Brian described his playing style as "unmacho" which I thought was great. And Luis Martinez on special drums. The bassist was Bobby Weaver who was a friend of the engineer John Congleton.[3]
2.5/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Born to Run is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on August 25, 1975, by Columbia Records. As his effort to break into the mainstream, the album was a commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually selling six million copies in the United States. Two singles were released from the album: \"Born to Run\" and \"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out\"; the first helped Springsteen to reach mainstream popularity. The tracks \"Thunder Road\", \"She's the One\", and \"Jungleland\" became staples of album-oriented rock radio and Springsteen concert high points.
Born to Run garnered widespread acclaim on release. It has since been considered by critics to be one of the greatest albums of all time. On November 14, 2005, a 30th Anniversary remaster of the album was released as a box set including two DVDs: a production diary film and a concert movie.
The album was remastered again in 2014 by veteran mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, who has worked on much of Springsteen's audio output since 1982, for release as part of The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973–1984, a boxed set composed of remastered editions of his first seven albums. It was later released in remastered form as a single disc as well.
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Planet Rock: The Album is an old school hip hop album by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, released in 1986 as a collection of previous singles. The song \"Planet Rock\" was one of the earliest hits of the hip hop music genre and remains one of its pioneering recordings. The single's liner notes include members of Kraftwerk with the songwriting credits. In creating the track, portions of Kraftwerk's \"Numbers\" and \"Trans-Europe Express\" were interpolated (re-recorded in the studio, rather than through the use of a digital sampler), along with portions of songs by Captain Sky and Ennio Morricone.
3.25/5
System Of A Down
3/5
The album is generally considered nu metal and alternative metal, both of which would become staples for the band. Lyrical themes throughout the album vary, with many songs following a theme of being anti-war, but also has topics of genocide, religion, and brainwashing. "Suite-Pee" is a criticism of pedophilia within the Church and religious extremism.[5] "Soil" is, according to guitarist Daron Malakian at a Lowlands show, "about death, and friends that die, and life that dies". "Mind" talks about government mind control, specifically mentioning CIA brainwashing in the album's liner notes. "P.L.U.C.K." is a song dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide, and is meant to be a criticism and denouncing of the Turkish Government.
Joan Baez
2/5
Joan Baez, also known as Joan Baez, Vol. 1, is the debut solo album by folk singer Joan Baez. The album was recorded in the summer of 1960 and released the same year. The original release featured 13 traditional folk songs. Later reissues included three additional songs.[1][2]
In 2015, the album was selected for induction into National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress for special recognition and preservation as one of the sound recordings in over 130 years of recording history that has "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation's audio legacy".[3][4]
2.25/5
Ice Cube
3/5
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted is the debut studio album by American rapper Ice Cube, released on May 18, 1990, by Priority Records.[6][7] It was his first solo album, after an acrimonious split from his former group N.W.A. Primarily produced by Public Enemy's production team The Bomb Squad, the album was a critical and commercial success, being certified platinum in the United States for selling over one million copies.[8]
Background
Conception
After departing from Ruthless Records and the West Coast–based group N.W.A, Ice Cube immediately moved to record his own album. Cube maintains that originally, he and N.W.A producer Dr. Dre still wanted to collaborate for Cube's debut solo, but the move was nixed by label powers:
When I went solo, I wanted Dr. Dre to do AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, but Jerry Heller vetoed that...and I'm pretty sure Eazy didn't want Dre to do it. But Dre did want to do it; we gotta put that on record. Dre wanted to do my record, but it was just too crazy with the break-up [of N.W.A].
— Ice Cube, "Ice Cube, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted Retrospective [20 Years Later]", XXL[9]
Linking up with Sir Jinx, Dr. Dre's cousin, Cube made use of pre-written notebooks of songs meant for N.W.A member/Ruthless co-founder Eazy-E.[10] After relocating to New York,[11] they worked on the songs, which included "Once Upon a Time in the Projects", "Get Off My Dick & Tell Yo' Bitch to Come Here" and "Gangsta's Fairytale", among others. Under fire from his former group with the song "100 Miles and Runnin'", from the EP of the same name, he also recorded the song "Jackin' for Beats", using beats allegedly planned for use on the next N.W.A album,[12] though he would use this several months later on the Kill at Will EP.
After contacting Public Enemy's production team The Bomb Squad, they completed the album. The album received a fair share of production credited to various Bomb Squad members, with an appearance by Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, despite Jinx's claims that the only Bomb Squad member fully present was Eric Sadler.[11] Hank Shocklee spoke on meeting and working with Ice Cube in a Cool'eh Magazine interview:
Cube contacted me wanting to know if we could do a few tracks for his solo album after the whole NWA thing came to what it was and I was like, I'll do it if I can do the whole album. And he said, that's what I was hoping you would say…y'know…and when we were in the studio he showed up with notebooks and notebooks full of new rhymes, a bag full of rhymebooks.
— Hank Shocklee, Cool'eh Magazine[13]
Beastie Boys
4/5
Ill Communication is the fourth studio album by the American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on May 31, 1994, by Grand Royal and Capitol Records. Co-produced by Beastie Boys and Mario Caldato, Jr., it is among the band's most varied releases, drawing from hip hop, punk rock, jazz, and funk, and continues their trend away from sampling and towards live instruments, which began with their previous release, Check Your Head (1992). The album features musical contributions from Money Mark, Eric Bobo and Amery "AWOL" Smith, and vocal contributions from Q-Tip and Biz Markie. Beastie Boys were influenced by Miles Davis's jazz rock albums On the Corner (1972) and Agharta (1975) while recording Ill Communication.[1]
The album became the band's second number-one album on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and their second album to be certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was supported by the single "Sabotage", which was accompanied by a music video directed by Spike Jonze that parodied 1970s cop shows.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Tarkus is the second studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released on 14 June 1971 on Island Records. Following their debut tour across Europe during the second half of 1970, the group paused touring commitments in January 1971 to record a new album at Advision Studios in London. Greg Lake produced the album with Eddy Offord as engineer.
Side one features the 20-minute conceptual title track written by keyboardist Keith Emerson, the opening of which created friction between Lake and Emerson that almost split the group, but Lake agreed to pursue it and contributed musical ideas for it and wrote the lyrics. Side two features a collection of unrelated tracks of different styles. The artwork was designed by William Neal.
Tarkus went to number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the only album by the band to do so. It was a top 10 album worldwide, including the US, where it peaked at number 9. The album reached gold certification in the UK and US, the latter for 500,000 copies sold. It has been reissued and remastered several times, including a new stereo and 5.1 surround sound edition by Steven Wilson, with bonus and previously unreleased tracks from the original sessions, released in 2012.
2.25/5
SZA
3/5
Ctrl (pronounced "Control") is the debut studio album by American singer SZA. It was released through Top Dawg Entertainment and RCA Records on June 9, 2017.[1] The album features guest appearances from Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, James Fauntleroy, and Isaiah Rashad. Production was handled by Craig Balmoris, Frank Dukes, Carter Lang, Scum, and ThankGod4Cody, among others. The album was supported by five singles: "Drew Barrymore", "Love Galore", "The Weekend", "Broken Clocks", and "Garden (Say It like Dat)", all of which are certified Platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Upon release, Ctrl was a massive critical and commercial success, and catapulted SZA into stardom. The album received acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised its cohesiveness and production, as well as SZA's vocal delivery. The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, moving 60,000 equivalent-album units in its first week. The album and its songs were nominated for four Grammy Awards, while SZA was nominated for Best New Artist. It was also included in several year-end best music lists by publications. The album was ranked at 472 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[2]
3.75/5
k.d. lang
3/5
Ingénue is the second solo album by Canadian singer k.d. lang, released in 1992. It is Lang's most successful album on the pop charts, both in her native Canada and internationally, and has more of a cabaret flavor than her earlier more country-influenced work.[2]
Ride
3/5
Nowhere is the debut album by British shoegaze band Ride, released 15 October 1990. Rolling Stone called the album "a masterpiece",[1] and online magazine Pitchfork called it "one of shoegazing's enduring moments".[2]
Background and production
Ride released three EPs, Ride, Play, and Fall, prior to the release of Nowhere.[2] Nowhere was recorded live-in-the-studio with producer Marc Waterman.[3] Waterman had a mental breakdown, which resulted in Alan Moulder mixing the recordings.[3]
The band members were between 18 and 20 during the recording of Nowhere. Mark Gardener described it as a "nighttime sort of record", and recalled the band working on the album in the studio during late-night hours and long sessions. He said feelings of isolation resulted from this work pattern.[4][5] Gardener said “It all added to that dark, alienated feeling that I think permeated through Nowhere.”[5]
Both Bell and Gardener used the Roland GP-16 multi effects unit to create various tones on the record, including tremolo on Polar Bear and modulation on Vapour trail. According to Guitar.com the unit help to create the record's 'jangly cloud'.[5]
3/5
The World Is a Ghetto is the fifth album by American band War, released in late 1972 on United Artists Records. The album attained the number one spot on Billboard, and was Billboard magazine's Album of the Year as the best-selling album of 1973.[2] In addition to being Billboard's #1 album of 1973, the album was ranked number 444 on Rolling Stone magazine's original list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[3] The title track became a gold record.[citation needed]
The Byrds
2/5
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in August 1968 on Columbia Records.[9] Recorded with the addition of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, it became the first album widely recognized as country rock[5] as well as a seminal progressive country album,[6] and represented a stylistic move away from the psychedelic rock of the band's previous LP, The Notorious Byrd Brothers.[10] The Byrds had occasionally experimented with country music on their four previous albums, but Sweetheart of the Rodeo represented their fullest immersion into the genre up to that point in time.[11][12][13] The album was responsible for bringing Parsons, who had joined the Byrds in February 1968 prior to the start of recording, to the attention of a mainstream rock audience for the first time.[13][14] Thus, the album is an important chapter in Parsons' crusade to make country music fashionable for a young audience.[15]
The album was conceived as a history of 20th century American popular music, encompassing examples of country music, jazz and rhythm and blues, among other genres.[11] However, steered by the passion of the little-known Parsons, this concept was abandoned early on and the album instead became purely a country record.[11][16] The recording of the album was divided between sessions in Nashville and Los Angeles, with contributions from session musicians including Lloyd Green, John Hartford, JayDee Maness, and Clarence White.[17] Tension developed between Parsons and the rest of the band, guitarist Roger McGuinn especially, and some of Parsons' vocals were re-recorded, partly due to legal issues.[18][19] By the time the album was released Parsons had left the band.[20] The Byrds' move away from rock and pop towards country music elicited a great deal of resistance and hostility from the ultra-conservative Nashville country music establishment, who viewed the Byrds as a group of hippies attempting to subvert country music.[16]
Upon its release, the album reached number 77 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, but failed to reach the charts in the United Kingdom.[21][22] Two attendant singles were released during 1968, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", which achieved modest success, and "I Am a Pilgrim", which failed to chart.[22][23] The album received mostly positive reviews in the music press, but the band's shift away from psychedelic music alienated much of its pop audience.[24] Despite being the least commercially successful Byrds' album to date upon release, Sweetheart of the Rodeo is today considered to be a seminal and highly influential country rock album.[11]
2.5/5
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Rumours is the eleventh studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977 in the United States and on 11 February 1977 in the United Kingdom[3] by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. The recording sessions took place as the band members dealt with breakups and struggled with heavy drug usage, both of which shaped the album's direction and lyrics.
Recorded with the intention of making "a pop album" that would expand on the commercial success of the 1975 album Fleetwood Mac, the music of Rumours contains a mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation, accented rhythms, guitars, and keyboards; its lyrics concern personal and often troubled relationships. Its release was postponed by delays in the mixing process. The band promoted the album with a worldwide concert tour. Rumours became the band's first number-one album on the UK Albums Chart and also topped the US Billboard 200. The songs "Go Your Own Way", "Dreams", "Don't Stop", and "You Make Loving Fun" were released as singles, all of which reached the US Top 10, with "Dreams" reaching number one.
Rumours was an enormous commercial success, selling 13 million copies worldwide by 1980.[4] It garnered widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its production quality and the vocal harmonies of the band's three singers, which since have inspired musical acts in various genres. It won Album of the Year at the 1978 Grammy Awards and received Diamond certifications in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, and in the US, where it is certified 21× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of February 2023, Rumours had sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
Often considered Fleetwood Mac's magnum opus, Rumours has frequently been cited as one of the greatest albums of all time. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003,[5] and in the following year was remastered and reissued with the addition of "Silver Springs", which had been excluded from the original release, and a bonus CD of outtakes from the recording sessions. It was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2017, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress.[6] In 2020, Rumours was ranked 7th in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[7]
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
Talking Timbuktu is the 1994 collaboration album between Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and American guitarist/producer Ry Cooder. The guitar riff from the song "Diaraby" was selected for the Geo-quiz segment of The World PRI-BBC radio program and was retained by popular demand when put to a vote by the listeners. In 2009, the album was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 100,000 copies throughout Europe.
The album features in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and received the Grammy Award for Best World Music album of 1994.
2.75/5
Digital Underground
3/5
Sex Packets is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Digital Underground, released on March 20, 1990.
Album background
The album is a concept album about \"G.S.R.A.\" (Genetic Suppression Relief Antidotes), a pharmaceutical substance that is produced in the form of a large glowing pill about the size of a quarter, which comes in a condom-sized package and is allegedly developed by the government to provide its intended users such as astronauts with a satisfying sexual experience in situations where the normal attainment of such experiences would be counter-productive to the mission at hand.
3.5/5
The Shamen
3/5
En-Tact is the fourth studio album by Scottish band the Shamen, released in 1990. It was the first Shamen album to feature Mr C, and the last to feature Will Sinnott (who died on 23 May 1991). It fused the band's past psychedelic rock sounds with the rave act it became, developing a style that represented multicultural dance music.
3.25/5
Madness
3/5
The Rise & Fall is the fourth studio album by English ska band Madness. It was originally released on 8 October 1982, on the label Stiff. This album saw Madness at their most experimental, exhibiting a range of musical styles including jazz, English music hall, and Eastern influences. NME described it at the time of its release as \"the best Madness record\". It has often been retrospectively described as a concept album.
Though the album was never released in the US, several tracks were later placed on the compilation Madness, including \"Our House\", the band's only top 10 hit in America.
Can
2/5
Future Days is the fourth studio album by the German experimental rock group Can, released in 1973. It was the last Can album to feature Japanese vocalist Damo Suzuki, and sees the band exploring a more atmospheric sound than their previous releases.
On Future Days, Can foregrounds the ambient elements they had explored on previous albums, dispensing largely with traditional rock song structures and instead \"creating hazy, expansive soundscapes dominated by percolating rhythms and evocative layers of keys\". PopMatters wrote that \"It feels as if Future Days is driven by a coastal breeze, exuding a more pleasant, relaxed mood than anything the band had previously recorded.\"
The album cover shows a Psi sign in the middle (drawn in the same style as the font used for the cover) and the I Ching symbol ding/the cauldron below the title. The surrounding graphics are based on the Jugendstil artstyle.
Some versions of the vinyl album have a slightly different cover in which the graphics don't have a light emboss or in which the lightly reflective gold tint is replaced by a flat yellow instead. These differences are also present on the CD releases. Even though not all versions of the covers are fully identical, the tracks do not differ on any release version.
2.5/5
Raekwon
3/5
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (commonly referred to as The Purple Tape) is the debut studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon, released on August 1, 1995, by Loud Records and RCA Records. The album was loosely composed to play like a film with Raekwon as the \"star,\" fellow Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah as the \"guest-star,\" and producer RZA as the \"director.\" It features appearances from every member of the Wu-Tang Clan. The album also features debut appearances for affiliates Cappadonna and Blue Raspberry. It also features an acclaimed guest appearance from rapper Nas, which marked the first collaboration with a non-affiliated artist on a Wu-Tang related album.
Upon its release, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, while selling 130,000 copies in its opening week. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 2, 1995, and later platinum on February 24, 2020. According to Nielsen Soundscan, it has sold 1.1 million copies in the United States alone as of 2009. Although it failed to acquire the same initial sales success as previous Wu-Tang solo albums, Cuban Linx achieved greater critical praise, with many complimenting its cinematic lyricism and production.
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... has received acclaim from music critics and writers over the years, with many lauding it as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. With its emphasis on American Mafia insinuations and organized crime, the album is widely regarded as a pioneer of the mafioso rap subgenre. It is considered to have been highly influential on hip hop music over the next decade, being heavily referenced and influential on acclaimed albums such as Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt (1996) and The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death (1997). Along with GZA's Liquid Swords, Cuban Linx is the most acclaimed solo Wu-Tang work. Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 480 on their The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2012, and at number 219 in the 2020 reboot of the list.
3.25/5
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
1/5
Jack Takes the Floor is an album by American folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, released in Great Britain in 1958. The original release was a 10-inch LP.The album was reissued with two additional songs: \"Old Blue\" and \"East Texas Talking Blues\" as Muleskinner. A later reissue further added \"Brother Won't You Join the Line?\" and \"There Are Better Things to Do\".
1.75/5
Neneh Cherry
2/5
Raw Like Sushi is the debut studio album by Swedish musician Neneh Cherry, released 5 June 1989 by Virgin Records. The album includes the commercially successful single "Buffalo Stance".
Raw Like Sushi is distinctive for its eclectic mix of genres, incorporating influences from across the trends of 1980s pop music. Cherry sings and raps accompanied by a diverse set of sounds, including pianos, synthesizers, brass instruments, guitars, and go-go percussion. The album's lyrical themes are influenced by Cherry's experiences of motherhood, and her education and upbringing.
When it was released, the album was favorably compared to Madonna and Prince, though it did not reach similar popularity.
2.75/5
Robbie Williams
3/5
Life thru a Lens is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams. It was Williams' first solo album following his departure from Take That. Released on 29 September 1997 through Chrysalis Records, it is influenced by Britpop, a departure from the poppier tone of music Take That employed. The album's working name was The Show-Off Must Go On.The album's first three singles, \"Old Before I Die\", \"Lazy Days\" and \"South of the Border\" (the only single to miss the top 10), were all moderate successes, but it was the fourth single \"Angels\" which catapulted Williams to international fame as a solo artist. Peaking at number 4, it has sold over 1 million copies in the UK and is his biggest-selling single to date. Fifth and final single \"Let Me Entertain You\" reached number three, becoming the album's third top-5 hit. \"Freedom,\" Robbie's first solo success, a cover of George Michael's 1990 hit, is not featured on the album.
Life thru a Lens debuted at number 11 on the UK Albums Chart and initially remained in the lower regions, but, upon the chart success of \"Angels\", it began steadily climbing and finally reached number one in April 1998, five months after its release. Though never selling more than 60,000 copies in a single week, the album has sold over 2,094,000 copies as of November 2013, making it Williams' fourth-best-selling studio album and fifth-best-seller overall.
3/5
Marianne Faithfull
2/5
Broken English is the seventh studio album by English singer Marianne Faithfull. It was released on 2 November 1979 by Island Records. The album marked a major comeback for Faithfull after years of drug abuse, homelessness, and suffering from anorexia. It is often regarded as her \"definitive recording\" and Faithfull herself described it as her \"masterpiece\".
Broken English was Faithfull's first major release since her album Love in a Mist (1967). After ending her relationship with Mick Jagger in 1970 and losing custody of her son, Faithfull's career went into a tailspin as she suffered from heroin addiction and lived on the streets of London. Severe laryngitis and drug abuse during this period permanently altered Faithfull's voice, leaving it cracked and lower in pitch. She attempted a comeback in 1976 with Dreamin' My Dreams, which achieved only minor success. Shortly afterwards, Faithfull began working with musician Barry Reynolds, who produced the songs \"Broken English\" and \"Why D'Ya Do It?\". The demos attracted the attention of Chris Blackwell who signed Faithfull to his record label Island Records.
The album was recorded at Matrix Studios in London. Faithfull collaborated with producer Mark Miller Mundy on the remaining songs for the album. After the whole album was recorded, he suggested making the music \"more modern and electronic\" and brought in Steve Winwood on keyboards. Musically, Broken English is a new wave rock album with elements of other genres, such as punk, blues and reggae.
Broken English received critical acclaim. It peaked at number 82 on the Billboard 200, becoming her first album to chart in the United States since Go Away from My World (1965) and giving Faithfull a first nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. It reached number 57 in the United Kingdom and entered the top five in Germany, France and New Zealand. Broken English was certified platinum in Germany and France and sold over one million copies worldwide. Two singles were released from the album, with \"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan\" peaking at number 48 on the UK Singles Chart. The album was included on NME magazine's list of \"500 Greatest Albums of All Time\" and in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
2.75/5
The Divine Comedy
2/5
A Short Album About Love is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 1997 by Setanta Records. It was recorded on 20 October 1996 at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London.
\"Everybody Knows (Except You)\" was released as a single on three separate CDs, each one featuring an extra three live tracks. It became one of the band's biggest hits, reaching No. 14 in the UK charts.[7] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[8]
2/5
Parliament
3/5
Mothership Connection is the fourth album by American funk band Parliament, released on December 15, 1975 on Casablanca Records. This concept album is often rated among the best Parliament-Funkadelic releases, and was the first to feature horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, who had previously backed James Brown in the J.B.'s.
Mothership Connection became Parliament's first album to be certified gold and later platinum. The Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry in 2011, declaring "The album has had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music."
3.25/5
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
The Atomic Mr. Basie (originally called Basie, also known as E=MC2 and reissued in 1994 as The Complete Atomic Basie) is a 1958 album by Count Basie and his orchestra. Allmusic gave it 5 stars, reviewer Bruce Eder saying: \"it took Basie's core audience and a lot of other people by surprise, as a bold, forward-looking statement within the context of a big-band recording.\" It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Will Fulford-Jones calling it \"Basie's last great record.\" It was voted number 411 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 6th most critically acclaimed album of 1958, the 25th most acclaimed of the 1950s, and the 837th most acclaimed of all time, based on an aggregation of hundreds of critics' lists from around the world.
1/5
Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman is a 1989 album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn, featuring the compositions of Ornette Coleman performed in the brief, intense style of Zorn's hardcore miniatures.
The liner notes thank Ornette and Denardo Coleman, Mick Harris of Napalm Death, Ted Epstein of Blind Idiot God, Pil of Lip Cream (a Japanese thrashcore group), The Accused, Craig Flanagan, DRI, CBGB, and \"the New York-London-Tokyo Hardcore Triangle\". The cover artwork was created by indie comics personality Mark Beyer (of Amy and Jordan fame). The album itself approaches free jazz from the perspective of hardcore punk, particularly taking note of the contemporary innovations of thrashcore and grindcore. Zorn would later pursue these preoccupations in the thrash jazz group Naked City.
Like some classic free jazz albums (Free Jazz, Ascension, Archie Shepp's Mama Too Tight), different saxophonists improvise simultaneously in stereo. Tim Berne appears on the left channel, while John Zorn is recorded on the right channel.
The Bees
3/5
Sunshine Hit Me is the debut album from the British band The Bees. At the time when the album was recorded the band only comprised Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher, who wrote, performed and recorded the album alone using a home studio in Butler's parents' garden. Both Butler and Fletcher had been active in the Isle of Wight music scene for a while, performing in local indie/electronic outfits Pnu Riff and, more recently, the Exploding Thumbs. Butler had also guested on several other albums produced on the island, including some by Max Brennan.
The album is eclectic and summery, with a range of influences that include psychedelia, Jamaican dub, reggae, indie, 1960s rock and others. It earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination and also featured in the 2005 and 2008 editions of the book 1001 Albums: You Must Hear Before You Die by Michael Lydon.
The main single \"A Minha Menina\" was used in a Citroën car advertisement, which also helped the band to get noticed. The track was also used in an advert for Magners Irish Cider in December 2008, as well as a Mars advertisement in Australia in 2002.
The Beta Band
2/5
Heroes to Zeros is the third and final studio album by The Beta Band, released in 2004. It was produced by The Beta Band and mixed by Nigel Godrich.
The cover illustration was created by comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews. The Beta Band logo for the album was created by comic book artist Dave McCaig, later to be reused on The Best of the Beta Band.
The song "Liquid Bird" features a sample of "Painted Bird" by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Mason later said, "We shouldn't have produced it ourselves, and if you think we did a bad job of producing it, we made an even worse job mixing it. We presented it to the label, and they immediately handed the whole thing over to Nigel Godrich to mix."[1]
2.75/5
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
The Age of the Understatement is the debut album by The Last Shadow Puppets, featuring Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, Miles Kane of The Rascals and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco. It was released on 21 April 2008 in the UK, following the release of the title track as a single in the previous week. It entered the UK Album Chart at No. 1 on 27 April 2008. The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize.
3/5
Apple Venus Volume 1 is the thirteenth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on March 2, 1999. It was the first on the band's own Idea Records label, distributed through Cooking Vinyl in the United Kingdom and TVT Records in the United States. The album relies heavily on strings, acoustic guitars and keyboards, expanding upon the more orchestral approach developed on the group's previous LP Nonsuch (1992), whilst its lyrics reflect themes of paganism, middle age, romance and rebirth. Apple Venus Volume 1 was met with critical acclaim and moderate commercial success, peaking at number 42 on the UK Albums Chart and number 106 on the Billboard 200 in the US.
Bandleader Andy Partridge, who wrote most of Apple Venus, characterised it as "orchustic" (a portmanteau of "orchestral" and "acoustic"). He meant for the album title to refer to "a beautiful woman". The album effectively marked a comeback for XTC, who spent half the decade on strike against their former label Virgin Records. Apple Venus was originally planned as a double album, but because the group did not have enough money to record all the material they had stockpiled, they elected to split the more rock-oriented songs as "volume two" (released one year later as Wasp Star).
The making of Volume 1 was fraught with personal conflicts, budgetary concerns and numerous false starts. Most of the orchestral portions were rush-recorded in one day with a 40-piece symphony at Abbey Road Studios, and had to be edited over a months-spanning period. It was the group's last album with guitarist and keyboardist Dave Gregory, who departed during the sessions due to frustrations with Partridge. By the time of its release, Partridge no longer viewed XTC as a band, and preferred it to be known as a "brand" covering his and Colin Moulding's music.
In late 1999, XTC released Homespun, a version of Apple Venus consisting of its demos. This was followed in 2002 with Instruvenus, containing the album's backing tracks. In 2003, Mojo ranked Apple Venus at number 47 in its list of the "Top 50 Eccentric Albums".[5] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[6]
Iggy Pop
3/5
Lust for Life is the second solo studio album by the American musician Iggy Pop, released on September 9, 1977, through RCA Records. It was his second collaboration with David Bowie after The Idiot, released in March the same year. Shortly after Bowie released his own album Low in January, Pop went on a tour to support The Idiot with Bowie as his keyboardist. At the tour's conclusion, Pop and Bowie regrouped in Berlin to record the former's next solo album.
Lust for Life was recorded at Hansa Studio by the Wall in West Berlin from May to June 1977, with production being handled by Bowie, Pop, and the engineer Colin Thurston. The touring band of Pop, Bowie, the guitarist Ricky Gardiner, and brothers Tony Fox and Hunt Sales on bass and drums, respectively, comprised the primary lineup for the album. After The Idiot was mostly composed by Bowie, Pop was adamant about having more control over Lust for Life, often composing his own arrangements, including for "Sixteen". This resulted in a hard rock and proto-punk sound more akin to his older style with the band the Stooges. Pop would use Bowie's arrangements for some songs, including the well-known title track.
Upon release, Lust for Life received little promotion from RCA but nevertheless peaked at number 28 on the UK Albums Chart and remained Pop's highest-charting album there until 2016's Post Pop Depression. It also peaked at number 8 in the Netherlands and number 120 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. Critically, Lust for Life was well-received, with many praising Pop's energetic performance throughout and his greater role compared to The Idiot; the former would later be regarded as one of his best works and has appeared on several best album lists. It also marked Pop and Bowie's final collaboration until the mid-1980s.
The Thrills
3/5
So Much for the City is the debut album of the Irish indie/pop band The Thrills. It was released on 27 May 2003 and quickly achieved success in Ireland, spending 61 weeks in the top 75 of the Irish Albums Chart.[12] The album also won 'Album of the Year' at the national music awards. It gained significant popularity in the UK, debuting at #3 and remaining in the charts for 25 weeks.[13] The single "Big Sur" reached #17 in the UK,[13] which remains their highest charted position in the country to date.
In an interview, lead singer Conor Deasy explained the band's inspiration for the song material:
Those songs are our ways of picking us up because we were kind of miserable. We were dropped by our label. And the towns are put [in the songs] as a way of escapism, as opposed to documenting little tales about what happened when we went there. When we put in a title like "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)," it would literally pick us up a bit.[14]
The album was nominated for the 2003 Mercury Prize but lost to Dizzee Rascal's Boy in da Corner.[15]
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle is the second studio album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle.[1] It was released in 1978 by their Industrial Records label.[2]
Release
The first 1,000 copies of the album were enclosed with a card calendar with color photos of a little girl on a bed. Another pressing of 1,000 copies was recut with false track markers (the "bands" visible on a vinyl disc) to give the appearance of having fifteen tracks of exactly equal length and a short sixteenth track; the official TG discography called this pressing the "Structuralist Spirals" edition. The band's debut single "United", which had garnered some popularity due to its relatively accessible style, was included on the album on fast forward, reducing its running time from 4:03 to sixteen seconds.[3] Later reissues of the album omit the inset and card calendar due to its resemblance to child pornography.
0.25/5
De La Soul
3/5
3 Feet High and Rising is the debut studio album by the American hip hop group De La Soul, released on February 6, 1989,[2] by Tommy Boy Records. It was the first of three collaborations with the producer Prince Paul, and was the critical and commercial peak of both parties. The album title comes from the Johnny Cash song "Five Feet High and Rising".[3] The album contains the singles "Me Myself and I", "The Magic Number", "Buddy", and "Eye Know".
The album was a critical and commercial success. It is consistently placed on lists of the greatest albums of all time by noted critics and publications, with Robert Christgau calling it "unlike any rap album you or anybody else has ever heard".[4] In 1998, it was selected as one of The Source's "100 Best Rap Albums"[5] and in 2020 was ranked 103 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[6] It was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[7] As of 2023, it is the only De La Soul album to be certified platinum by the RIAA.[8]
Along with the rest of De La Soul's back catalog, 3 Feet High and Rising was not made available for digital purchase or streaming until 2023, due to concerns about the legality of the samples for digital releases.[9]
3.25/5
The Soft Boys
2/5
Underwater Moonlight is the second studio album by English rock band the Soft Boys, released in June 1980 by record label Armageddon. The album received little critical notice and was a commercial failure, and the band split up a few months after its release. However, Underwater Moonlight has retrospectively been viewed as a psychedelic classic, influential on the development of the neo-psychedelia music genre and on a number of bands, especially R.E.M. It is included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[7]
2.75/5
Beatles
3/5
With the Beatles is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the release of the band's debut album, Please Please Me. Produced by George Martin, the album features eight original compositions (seven by Lennon–McCartney and "Don't Bother Me", George Harrison's first recorded solo composition and his first released on a Beatles album) and six covers (mostly of rock and roll and Motown R&B hits). The sessions also yielded the non-album single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" backed by "This Boy". The cover photograph was taken by the fashion photographer Robert Freeman and has since been mimicked by several music groups. A different cover was used for the Australian release of the album, which the Beatles were displeased with.
In the United States, the album's tracks were unevenly split over the group's first two albums released on Capitol Records: Meet the Beatles! and The Beatles' Second Album. It was also released in Canada under the name Beatlemania! With the Beatles. The album was ranked number 420 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, and was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2010). It was also voted number 275 in the third edition of English writer Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Rust Never Sleeps is the tenth album by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and his third with American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records and features both studio and live tracks.[5] Most of the album was recorded live, then overdubbed in the studio, while other songs originated in the studio. Young used the phrase "rust never sleeps" as a concept for his tour with Crazy Horse to avoid artistic complacency and try more progressive, theatrical approaches to performing live.[6]
The album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart and spawned the hit single "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" that peaked at No. 79 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[7] It also included one of Young's most popular and critically acclaimed songs, the enigmatic "Powderfinger".[8][9] The album, along with Young's 1990 release Ragged Glory, has widely been considered a precursor of grunge music with the bands Nirvana and Pearl Jam having cited Young's heavily distorted and abrasive guitar style on the B side to this album as an inspiration.[10]
3.5/5
Songhoy Blues
2/5
Songhoy Blues is a desert blues music group from Timbuktu, Mali. The band was formed in Bamako after being forced to leave their homes during the civil conflict and the imposition of Sharia law.[3] The band released its debut album, Music in Exile, via Transgressive Records on February 23, 2015, while Julian Casablancas' Cult Records partnered with Atlantic Records to release the album in North America in March 2015. The group is one of the principal subjects of the documentary film They Will Have To Kill Us First.[4]
2.5/5
Jack White
3/5
Blunderbuss is the debut solo studio album by American musician Jack White. It was released in digital and physical formats beginning April 23, 2012, through Third Man Records, in association with XL Recordings and Columbia Records. Written almost entirely by White, the album was recorded and produced by him at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Various musical styles appear throughout, including blues rock, folk, and country soul.
The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised White's ambitious songwriting and often compared the record favorably to his work for the White Stripes. It debuted at number one in five countries and reached the top 10 in ten other countries. It was certified platinum in Canada and gold by record industry trade groups internationally. The album was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, while the single "Freedom at 21" was nominated for Best Rock Song. In addition, the single "I'm Shakin'" received a nomination for Best Rock Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.
The lead single from Blunderbuss, "Love Interruption", was released on January 30, 2012 via White's website. The single "Sixteen Saltines" was uploaded to White's YouTube channel on March 13, and seven days later, the song was released as the second single via 7-inch vinyl with a cover of U2's "Love Is Blindness" as its B-side. On April 1, Third Man Records released the album's third single, "Freedom at 21", by attaching flexi disc copies of the song to 1000 helium balloons. A music video for the fourth and final single, a cover of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'", was released on October 10, and twenty days later, the single was released digitally and via 7-inch vinyl with the B-side "Blues on Two Trees".
3.25/5
Ministry
3/5
ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ (commonly known as Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs or simply Psalm 69) is the fifth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on July 14, 1992, by Sire Records. It was produced by frontman Al Jourgensen and bassist Paul Barker, and was recorded from March 1991 to May 1992 in Chicago, Illinois and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The album's title, initially intended to be The Tapes of Wrath, ended up being derived from Aleister Crowley's The Book of Lies.
Psalm 69 features elements of speed metal, rockabilly, and psychobilly, with lyrics exploring social, political, and religious topics. With much anticipation following the success of Ministry's previous album The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989), pressures on the band were said to be high, in addition to the growing substance abuse of several members and worsening relationships between them. It was also the first time Mike Scaccia had been significantly involved in a Ministry album, after appearing on tours in support of The Mind....
Preceded by lead single "Jesus Built My Hotrod", Psalm 69 was a critical and commercial success upon its release, peaking at number 27 on the US Billboard 200 and number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. It was supported by two more singles: "N.W.O." and "Just One Fix", with accompanying music videos directed by Peter Christopherson. Psalm 69 is considered to be Ministry's most successful album, having been certified gold in Canada and Australia, and platinum in the US. Following its release, Ministry joined the second annual Lollapalooza tour before commencing a tour through Europe and the US; "N.W.O.", "Just One Fix", and the title track have become permanent features of the band's live setlist. "N.W.O." was nominated for the Best Metal Performance at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards.
Taylor Swift
4/5
Evermore is the ninth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was a surprise album released on December 11, 2020, via Republic Records, less than five months after her previous studio album Folklore. Evermore was a spontaneous product of Swift's extended collaboration with her Folklore collaborator Aaron Dessner, mainly recorded at his Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley.
Swift described Evermore as an offshoot of "the folklorian woods"—an escapist, cottagecore-inspired direction she first ideated with Folklore during the COVID-19 pandemic; she regards them as sister albums. Evermore blends alternative rock, indie folk and chamber pop styles, carried by fingerpicked guitars, somber pianos, lavish strings, and sparse percussion. Impressionist storytelling and mythopoeia dominate its lyrical technique. The subject matter has been described as an anthology of tales about love, marriage, infidelity, and grief, exploring the complexities of human emotion. American bands Bon Iver, Haim, and the National appear as guest performers on the album.
Earning widespread acclaim from critics, Evermore was praised for its character studies, experimental production, and Swift's nuanced vocals. Reviews regarded the album a sequel or a counterpart to Folklore, and various publications listed it in their 2020 year-end rankings. Evermore was nominated for Album of the Year at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, a second consecutive nomination for Swift in the category after winning it with Folklore the previous year. Dessner and Long Pond have achieved mainstream notability since Evermore's release.
The album reached number one in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Republic Records reported over a million copies of Evermore sold in its first week globally. It was Swift's eighth consecutive Billboard 200 number-one debut, spending four weeks atop the chart, and achieved various chart feats in Australia, the UK and the US; in the latter, the tracks "Willow", "No Body, No Crime", and "Coney Island" impacted pop, country, and alternative radio stations, respectively. "Willow" became Swift's seventh Billboard Hot 100 number-one song and her second in 2020 after "Cardigan", making her the first ever act to simultaneously debut atop both Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts two times. Evermore was 2021's best-selling alternative music album and Americana album in the US and the UK, respectively.
The B-52's
3/5
The B-52's is the debut album by American New wave band the B-52's. The kitschy lyrics and mood, and the hook-laden harmonies helped establish a fanbase for the band, who went on to release several chart-topping singles. The album cover was designed by Tony Wright (credited as Sue Ab Surd).
The B-52's peaked at number 59 on the Billboard 200,[5] and \"Rock Lobster\" reached number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] In 2003, the television network VH1 named The B-52's the 99th greatest album of all time. Shortly before his death, John Lennon said he enjoyed the album.[7] In 2020, The B-52's was ranked number 198 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
3.25/5
Snoop Dogg
3/5
Doggystyle is the debut studio album by American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg. It was released on November 23, 1993, by Death Row Records and Interscope Records. The album was recorded and produced following Snoop's appearances on Dr. Dre's debut solo album The Chronic (1992), to which Snoop contributed significantly. The West Coast style in hip-hop that he developed from Dre's first album continued on Doggystyle.
Critics have praised Snoop Dogg for the lyrical \"realism\" that he delivers on the album and for his distinctive vocal flow. Despite some mixed criticism of the album initially upon its release, Doggystyle earned recognition from many music critics as one of the most significant albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the most important hip-hop albums ever released.
Much like The Chronic, the distinctive sounds of Doggystyle helped introduce the hip-hop subgenre of G-funk to a mainstream audience, bringing forward West Coast hip hop as a dominant force in the early-mid 1990s.
Doggystyle debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 806,858 copies in its first week alone in the United States, which was the record for a debuting artist and the fastest-selling hip-hop album ever at the time. Doggystyle was included on The Source magazine's list of the 100 Best Rap Albums, as well as Rolling Stone magazine's list of Essential Recordings of the '90s. About.com placed the album in No. 17 of the greatest hip hop/rap albums of all time. The album was certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By November 2015, the album had sold 7 million copies in the United States, and over 11 million copies worldwide.
3.5/5
King Crimson
2/5
Larks' Tongues in Aspic is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut of King Crimson's third incarnation, featuring co-founder and guitarist Robert Fripp along with four new members: bass guitarist and vocalist John Wetton, violinist and keyboardist David Cross, percussionist Jamie Muir, and drummer Bill Bruford. It is a key album in the band's evolution, drawing on Eastern European classical music and European free improvisation as central influences.
2/5
Red Snapper
3/5
Our Aim Is to Satisfy is a 2000 studio album by the band Red Snapper.[3][4] It is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5]
Critical reception
The Guardian called Our Aim Is to Satisfy the band's best album to date, writing that they intersperse \"moody, atmospheric instrumentals with funkier, soulful vocal tracks to make a collection that flows smoothly from beginning to end, a soundtrack for urban Britain that suggests a more revved-up Massive Attack.\"[6]
3.25/5
Bert Jansch
2/5
Bert Jansch is the debut album by Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch. The album was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder at engineer Bill Leader's house and sold to Transatlantic Records for £100. Transatlantic released the album, which went on to sell 150,000 copies. The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5] It was voted number 649 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[6]
The record includes Jansch's best-known song, "Needle of Death", which was inspired by the death of his friend, folk singer Buck Polly.[7]
2.75/5
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Casanova is the fourth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy. It was released in 1996 by Setanta Records, and it happened to be the band's commercial breakthrough. It was certified Gold in the UK in July 1997, aided by the release of the album's first single, "Something for the Weekend", which reached No. 13 on the charts. Two other singles released from the album, "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "The Frog Princess", charted at No. 27 and No. 15, respectively.[3]
2.5/5
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Led Zeppelin is the debut studio album by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 12 January 1969 in the United States and on 31 March in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records.
The album was recorded in September and October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London, shortly after the band's formation. It contains a mix of original material worked out in the first rehearsals, and remakes and rearrangements of contemporary blues and folk songs. The sessions took place before the group had secured a recording contract and totalled 36 hours; they were paid for directly by Jimmy Page, the group's founder, leader and guitarist, and Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and cost £1,782 (equivalent to £31,203 in 2021) to complete. They were produced by Page, who as a musician was joined by band members Robert Plant (lead vocals, harmonica), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and John Bonham (drums). Percussionist Viram Jasani appears as a guest on one track. The tracks were mixed by Page's childhood friend Glyn Johns, and the iconic album cover showing the Hindenburg disaster was designed by George Hardie.
Led Zeppelin showed the group's fusion of blues and rock, and their take on the emerging hard rock sound was immediately commercially successful in both the UK and US, reaching the top 10 on album charts in both countries, as well as several others, while it reached number one in Spain's albums chart. Many of the songs were longer and not well suited to be released as singles for radio airplay; Page was reluctant to release "singles", so only "Good Times Bad Times", backed with "Communication Breakdown", was released outside of the UK. However, due to exposure on album-oriented rock radio stations, and growth in popularity of the band, many of the album's songs have become classic rock radio staples.
3.75/5
The Youngbloods
2/5
Elephant Mountain is an album by the American rock band The Youngbloods, released in 1969. It reached number 118 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1969, Robert Christgau wrote, \"In the manner of tight groups, the Youngbloods stretch thinner all the time. Not only have they lost Jerry Corbitt, but their own expertise has become somehow attenuated. Banana used to be the most tasteful electric pianist in rock. Now he has become so tasteful he can sounds like Roy Kral on a lazy night.\" Lester Bangs was more enthusiastic in Rolling Stone, saying \"this is one of the most encouraging albums I have heard in months. ... This album exudes that supremely rare commodity in these dark, bored, destructive times – joy.\"
Years later, Rolling Stone said the album \"bridges the gap between the last days of psychedelia and the outbreak of country-rock that had afflicted artists like the Byrds and Neil Young.\" In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Lindsay Planer praised the album, feeling that it \"contains some of the band's strongest material to date\". The New York Times described the album as their \"1969 folk-rock touchstone\".
2.75/5
Fatboy Slim
4/5
You've Come a Long Way, Baby is the second studio album by Fatboy Slim, a project of English electronic music producer Norman Cook. It was first released on 19 October 1998 in the United Kingdom by Skint Records and a day later in the United States by Astralwerks. Cook recorded and produced the album at his home studio in Brighton, known as the House of Love, using an Atari ST computer, Creator software, and floppy disks. The photo on the album cover was originally taken at the 1983 Fat Peoples Festival in Danville, Virginia; for the North American release, the album cover was changed to an image of shelves stacked with records.
You've Come a Long Way, Baby proved to be Cook's global breakthrough album, peaking at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number 34 on the US Billboard 200. Praised by critics for its sound and style, the album brought international attention to Cook, earning him a Brit Award in 1999, and was later certified four times platinum by the BPI and platinum by the RIAA. Four singles were released from the album: \"The Rockafeller Skank\", \"Gangster Tripping\", \"Praise You\", and \"Right Here, Right Now\", all of which peaked within the top ten on the UK Singles Chart. \"Build It Up – Tear It Down\" was also released as a promotional single.
1/5
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned is the second album by noise rock band Liars, released in 2004.
The album is considered a massive departure from the post-punk-inspired style of their debut They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, exploring a more freeform, tribal sound. The album takes the form of a very loose concept album concerning witchcraft upon The Brocken (a mountain) during Walpurgis Night, and tales of witch trials in the area around the Harz Mountains in Germany. The recording coincided with the band's relocation from Williamsburg, Brooklyn to the woods of rural New Jersey, which also inspired the initial direction of the album.
The focus upon the Brocken legends came when one of the band members mistakenly entered \"Brocken Witch\" into a search engine while researching the first song's title (called \"Broken Witch\" at the time).
A screenshot of the music video for \"We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own\" resulted on the band's eponymous creepypasta.
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
THIS WAS AWFUL. 0.25/5
Living Colour
3/5
Vivid is the debut studio album by American rock band Living Colour, released on May 2, 1988, by Epic Records. It was one of the most popular albums of 1988, peaking at number six on the US Billboard 200 chart and being certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Fela Kuti
3/5
Live! is a live in-studio album[4] recorded on July 25, 1971, by Fela Kuti's band Africa '70, with the addition of former Cream drummer Ginger Baker on two songs. It was released in 1971 by EMI in Africa and Europe and by Capitol/EMI in the United States and Canada. It was reissued on CD by Celluloid in 1987 and was reissued on CD in remastered form by Barclay with a bonus track from 1978.
Baker travelled with Kuti into Africa in a Land Rover to learn about the continent's rhythms, as documented in Tony Palmer's film Ginger Baker in Africa (1971). The bonus track on the Barclay CD reissue features a 16-minute drum duet between Baker and Africa '70's drummer Tony Allen recorded at the 1978 Berlin Jazz Festival. The album is on Rolling Stone's list of the 50 greatest live albums of all time.[5] The album is also included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[6]
Japan
3/5
Quiet Life is the third studio album by English new wave band Japan, first released on 17 November 1979 in Canada by record label Hansa.
The album was a transition from the glam rock-influenced style of previous albums to a synth-pop style. Though sales were initially slow, Quiet Life was the band's first album to chart and was later certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 100,000 copies.
Reminds me of Duran Duran
3.25/5
Mercury Rev
2/5
Deserter's Songs is the fourth studio album by rock band Mercury Rev, released in late September 1998. British music magazine NME named Deserter's Songs album of the year for 1998. Limited edition copies of the album came in a brown cardboard envelope-like package, with a stamp on the cover postmarked with the release date, as well as two art postcards.
The success of this album was a pleasant surprise for the band. After the commercial failure of their previous album See You on the Other Side, which frontman Jonathan Donahue considered to be the band's best album, they decided to make one more record entirely for themselves, ignoring commercial influences, and expecting to split up shortly afterward. Surprisingly, Deserter's Songs was their most successful album, and made them big celebrities in the UK and Europe, also making a smaller mark in the US.
2.75/5
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Electric Ladyland is the third and final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the final studio album released in Hendrix's lifetime before his death in 1970. Released by Reprise Records in North America on October 16, 1968, and by Track Records in the UK nine days later, the double album was the only record from the band produced by Hendrix. By mid-November, it had charted at number one in the US, where it spent two weeks at the top spot. Electric Ladyland was the Experience's most commercially successful release and their only number one album. It peaked at number six in the UK, where it spent 12 weeks on the chart.
Electric Ladyland included a cover of Bob Dylan's \"All Along the Watchtower\", which became the Experience's best-selling single, peaking at number six in the UK and 20 in the US. Although the album confounded critics in 1968, it has since been viewed as Hendrix's best work and one of the greatest rock records of all time. Electric Ladyland has been featured on many greatest-album lists, including Q magazine's 2003 list of the 100 greatest albums and Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, on which it was ranked 53rd.
3.25/5
Richard Thompson
3/5
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is the second album released by Richard Thompson and the first including (and credited) with his then-wife, Linda Thompson, as Richard and Linda Thompson. It was released by Island Records in the UK in 1974. Although never commercially successful and critically ignored upon its release (and not released outside of the UK until Hannibal Records in 1983), it is now considered by several critics to be a masterpiece and one of the finest works of both Richard and Linda singularly or together.
3.5/5
I liked this a lot
Stephen Stills
3/5
Stephen Stills is the debut solo album by American musician Stephen Stills released on Atlantic Records in 1970. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their 1970 chart-topping album Déjà Vu, along with After the Gold Rush (Neil Young, September 1970), If I Could Only Remember My Name (David Crosby, February 1971) and Songs for Beginners (Graham Nash, May 1971). It was primarily recorded between CSNY tours in London and Los Angeles. It was released in the United States on November 16, 1970, and in the United Kingdom on November 27, 1970.
The album features many themes common to 1960s' countercultural beliefs, with many songs directly inspired by Stills' on-going and previous relationships with girlfriends and members of CSNY. The album was an immediate commercial success, in both the UK and the US, going top ten and being certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In 1974, it was ranked number 70 by the NME writers in their best albums of all time. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It was voted number 129 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000.
3.5/5
Ian Dury
2/5
New Boots and Panties!! is the debut studio album by Ian Dury, released in the UK on Stiff Records on 30 September 1977. The record covers a diverse range of musical styles which reflect Dury's influences and background in pub rock, taking in funk, disco, British music hall and early rock and roll, courtesy of Dury's musical hero Gene Vincent. Consisting mostly of love songs and character stories based on the working-class people of the East End and Essex Estuary areas where he grew up, the songs are frequently ribald and profane, but also contain humour and affection for his characters.
Widely considered to be the best album of Dury's career,[1][2] it is also his biggest selling, having been certified platinum status in the UK for 300,000 sales.[3] Sales of the album during the first few months after its release were modest, and the album's only single, "Sweet Gene Vincent", failed to chart. Subsequently, three stand-alone singles, "What a Waste", "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" and "Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3", all reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, and their success kept the album in the spotlight and ensured consistent sales over the next two years.
New Boots and Panties!! was among the UK's top 30 best selling albums of both 1978 and 1979, and eventually peaked at number five in the UK Albums Chart in February 1979, 17 months after its release, after "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick"'s chart-topping success.
The album's title derives from Dury's habit of buying clothes second hand and refers to the only items of clothing he insisted on buying new. According to Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Song By Song, the name was chosen by Dury from a list of twenty potential titles drawn up by compere Kosmo Vinyl.
New Boots and Panties!! has been reissued several times, including a three-disc edition for its 30th anniversary and a five-disc box set for its 40th anniversary.
2.75/5
Youssou N'Dour
2/5
Immigrés is an album by Senegalese singer and percussionist Youssou N'Dour. AllMusic remarks that the album is "a good part of what put [N'Dour] on the international map".[1]
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
Robert Christgau B+[2]
Though the album has been criticized for its use of synthesizers,[1] it has been praised as a showcase for N'Dour's voice.[3] Rolling Stone described the album as "wonderfully moving,"[4] and AllMusic terms it "almost a classic".[1]
NME ranked it number 18 among the "Albums of the Year" for 1984,[5] and it was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[6]
fIREHOSE
2/5
Fromohio (stylized as fROMOHIO) is the third album by the American alternative rock band Firehose, released in 1989.[7][8] The album maintained the acoustic and folky sound of If'n. It's called that because it's from Ohio.[9]
Production
The album was recorded in singer-guitarist Ed Crawford's home state of Ohio.[10]
Critical reception
The Los Angeles Times wrote that the band "balance their familiar dice 'n' slice, genre-leapin' riffin' with more straightforward song structures."[4] The Chicago Tribune thought that "Crawford's guitar-playing is becoming a more integral part of the band's three-pronged attack. [Mike] Watt's bass and [George] Hurley's drums remain at the core of the band's sound, a dynamic synthesis of punk, funk and free jazz that was pioneered by the Minutemen."[11] The Ottawa Citizen wrote: "Imagine a technically imperfect band that has the art of free-form fusion mastered."[12]
Trouser Press called the album Firehose's "best, most accessible work," writing that Crawford "has absorbed a bit of his bandmates’ eccentricities, and his voice has lost some of its shriller edges."[13] The Rough Guide to Rock thought that, "in the best possible way, it was a very American record, rich in tradition and innovation."[8]
2.5/5
Linkin Park
4/5
Hybrid Theory is the debut studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000, by Warner Bros. Records. Recorded at NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, California, and produced by Don Gilmore, the album's lyrical themes deal with problems lead vocalist Chester Bennington experienced during his adolescence, including drug abuse and the constant fighting and eventual divorce of his parents. Hybrid Theory takes its title from the previous name of the band as well as the concepts of music theory and combining different styles. It is also the band's only album on which bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell does not play, however, he is credited as a songwriter on some of its tracks.
Four singles were released from Hybrid Theory: "One Step Closer", "In the End", "Crawling" and "Papercut", all of them being responsible for launching Linkin Park into mainstream popularity. While "In the End" was the most successful of the four, all of the singles in the album remain some of the band's most successful songs to date. Although "Runaway", "Points of Authority", and "My December" from the special edition bonus disc album were not released as singles, they were minor hits on alternative rock radio stations thanks to the success of all of the band's singles and the album.
Generally receiving positive reviews from critics upon its release, Hybrid Theory became a strong commercial success. Peaking at number two on the US Billboard 200, it is certified 12× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also reached the top 10 in 15 other countries and has sold 32 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling debut album since Guns N' Roses's Appetite for Destruction (1987).[6] At the 44th Grammy Awards, it won Best Hard Rock Performance for "Crawling".
On August 13, 2020, Warner Records announced a re-release of Hybrid Theory for its 20th anniversary.[7][8] A previously unreleased demo song, "She Couldn't", was released at the same time.[7]
Big Black
1/5
One song from the album, "Big Money", was released as a B-side to the "Il Duce" single prior to the release of Atomizer. Homestead Records also issued "Big Money" and "Il Duce" the A-side of a 12" record with three live songs on the B-side (including the live version of "Cables" that would appear on Atomizer) with the agreement that the 12" be used for promotional purposes only. The label sent the promo 12" to radio stations, then sold extra copies outside of Big Black's native Chicago, hoping the band would never find out. When they did, Big Black left Homestead and signed to Touch and Go Records.[2]
1.75/5
3/5
São Paulo Confessions is an album by the Serbian-born musician Suba—his musical account of life in that humid, foggy, and manic megalopolis.
Core musicians on the album are then 21-year-old vocalist Cibelle, and veteran percussionist João Parahyba; additional musicians include mangue band Mestre Ambrósio, and guitarists Roberto Frejat (then frontman of Barão Vermelho), Edgard Scandurra of Ira!, and André Geraissatti, and vocalists Katia B., Taciana, Joana Jones and Arnaldo Antunes.
3.25/5
Wild Beasts
3/5
Two Dancers is the second studio album by British indie rock band Wild Beasts. It was released on 3 August 2009 in the UK on Domino Records, with a US release on 8 September. The track "Hooting and Howling" was released as the album's first single on 20 July.
Two Dancers was very well received by critics.
In 2010. It was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 30,000 copies throughout Europe. As of February 2018 it has sold 54,474 copies in United Kingdom and it remains there their top selling album according to OCC.
Justice
3/5
Cross (stylized as †; titled Justice on digital platforms[1]) is the debut studio album by French electronic music duo Justice, first released on 11 June 2007 through Ed Banger Records and Because Music. Recorded during 2005 and 2006 in Paris, Cross was composed as an "opera-disco" album. It features many samples and "microsamples" throughout, with about 400 albums being used as sampled material. These include samples from Prince, Britney Spears and Madonna.[2] The song "D.A.N.C.E." is a tribute to Michael Jackson. French musician Mehdi Pinson appears on "DVNO", and vocalist Uffie appears on "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy". The album was supported by the singles "Waters of Nazareth", "D.A.N.C.E.", "DVNO",[3] "Phantom Pt. II",[4] and "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy". A controversial music video was also released for "Stress".
Cross received critical acclaim and was a commercial success, reaching number 11 on the French albums chart and number one on the UK and US dance album charts. The album was nominated for Best Electronic/Dance Album and "D.A.N.C.E." was nominated for Best Dance Recording and Best Video at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Cross was later certified gold in the UK on 9 December 2011, for passing shipments of 100,000 copies.[5] As of 2011, sales in the United States have exceeded 134,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[6] In 2012 it was awarded a diamond certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 200,000 copies throughout Europe.[7]
3.5/5
Iron Maiden
3/5
The Number of the Beast is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 22 March 1982 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Harvest and Capitol Records. The album was their first to feature vocalist Bruce Dickinson and their last with drummer Clive Burr.
The Number of the Beast was met with critical and commercial success, and became the band's first album to top the UK Albums Chart and reach the top 40 of the US Billboard 200. The album produced the singles \"Run to the Hills\" and \"The Number of the Beast\", the former of which became the band's first top-ten UK single. The album was also controversial, particularly in the United States, due to the religious references in its artwork and the title track's lyrics. Since the release of The Number of the Beast and its subsequent tour The Beast on the Road, \"The Beast\" has become an alternate name for Iron Maiden and was later used in the titles of some of their compilations and live releases, including Best of the Beast and Visions of the Beast.
Gotan Project
3/5
La Revancha del Tango is the debut album by French musical group Gotan Project. It was released on 22 October 2001 on XL Recordings and ¡Ya Basta! Records.
The album contains a cover of the title track from Frank Zappa's 1970 album Chunga's Revenge and a cover of Gato Barbieri's theme for the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris.
3.25/5
TLC
3/5
CrazySexyCool is the second studio album by American girl group TLC. It was released on November 15, 1994, by LaFace and Arista Records. Following the group's record deal, they released their debut album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip in 1992 to positive reviews and commercial success. The following year the group began working on a follow-up with an unproductive recording process due to personal struggles, notably those of member Lisa \"Left Eye\" Lopes who was involved in a volatile romantic relationship and struggling with alcoholism. The album's recording lasted until September 1994, with Lopes' role diminished because she was in rehab.
The album saw the group reunite with producers Dallas Austin, Kenneth \"Babyface\" Edmonds and Jermaine Dupri as well as new collaborators Organized Noize and Chucky Thompson, and also featured contributions from Sean \"Puffy\" Combs who helped with the notable hip hop soul sound. CrazySexyCool featured hip hop beats, funk, deep grooves, propulsive rhythms and smooth production. The album's lyrical content was seen as a departure from the group's debut and was seen as a coming-of-age project which explored themes such as sexuality, romanticism, inexperience, and youthful optimism.
CrazySexyCool was met with critical acclaim and commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200, where it spent over two years. It has been certified 12-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making TLC the first girl group in history to be awarded diamond status. CrazySexyCool has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by an American girl group. The album has since been featured on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and was listed as a \"New Classic\" by Entertainment Weekly in 2008. The album was also ranked as the seventh best diamond-certified album of all time by Billboard.
3.75/5
Frank Ocean
4/5
Channel Orange (stylized as channel ORANGE) is the debut studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean. It was released on July 10, 2012, by Def Jam Recordings. After releasing his mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra the previous year, Ocean began writing new songs with Malay, a producer and songwriter who then assisted him with recording Channel Orange at EastWest Studios in Hollywood. Rather than rely on samples as he had with his mixtape, Ocean wanted to approach sound and song structure differently on the album. Other producers who worked on the album included Om'Mas Keith and Pharrell Williams. Its recording also featured guest appearances from Odd Future rappers Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, the Creator, vocalist/songwriter André 3000, and guitarist John Mayer.
Noted by writers as musically unconventional, Channel Orange draws on electro-funk, pop-soul, jazz-funk, and psychedelic styles, as well as nonmusical sounds such as film dialogue and ambient noise that function as interludes. Vocally, Ocean uses a free-form flow as well as alternating falsetto and tenor registers throughout the album. His songwriting explores themes of unrequited love, decadence, class, and drugs through the use of surrealistic imagery, conversational devices, and descriptive narratives depicting dark characters. He titled the album as a reference to the neurological phenomenon grapheme–color synesthesia, through which he had perceived the color orange during the summer he first fell in love.
To prevent Channel Orange from leaking onto the Internet, Ocean and Def Jam released the album digitally one week earlier than its publicly announced date. It was promoted with five singles, including Ocean's highest charting single \"Thinkin Bout You\" (number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100) and a supporting concert tour in July 2012. Channel Orange debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and sold 131,000 copies in its first week, eventually selling 621,000 copies in the US by September 2014. Critically, it was the best-reviewed album of 2012 and the year's top-ranked album in numerous critics' lists, including the American Pazz & Jop and the British HMV Poll of Polls. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, Channel Orange was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban Contemporary Album. Since then, it has featured in several professional lists ranking the best albums from the 2010s as well as all time.
Beatles
4/5
Revolver is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 5 August 1966, accompanied by the double A-side single \"Eleanor Rigby\" / \"Yellow Submarine\". The album was the Beatles' final recording project before their retirement as live performers and marked the group's most overt use of studio technology to date, building on the advances of their late 1965 release Rubber Soul. It has since become regarded as one of the greatest and most innovative albums in the history of popular music, with recognition centred on its range of musical styles, diverse sounds, and lyrical content.
The Beatles recorded Revolver after taking a three-month break at the start of 1966, and during a period when London was feted as the era's cultural capital. Regarded by some commentators as the start of the group's psychedelic period, the songs reflect their interest in the drug LSD, Eastern philosophy and the avant-garde while addressing themes such as death and transcendence from material concerns. With no plans to reproduce their new material in concert, the band made liberal use of automatic double tracking, varispeed, reversed tapes, close audio miking, and instruments outside of their standard live set-up. Among its tracks are \"Tomorrow Never Knows\", incorporating heavy Indian drone and a collage of tape loops; \"Eleanor Rigby\", a song about loneliness featuring a string octet as its only musical backing; and \"Love You To\", a foray into Hindustani classical music. The sessions also produced a non-album single, \"Paperback Writer\" backed with \"Rain\".
In the United Kingdom, the album's 14 tracks were gradually distributed to radio stations in the weeks before its release. In North America, Revolver was reduced to 11 songs by Capitol Records, with the omitted three appearing on the June 1966 LP Yesterday and Today. The release there coincided with the Beatles' final concert tour and the controversy surrounding John Lennon's remark that the band had become \"more popular than Jesus\". The album topped the Record Retailer chart in the UK for seven weeks and the US Billboard Top LPs list for six weeks. Critical reaction was highly favourable in the UK but less so in the US amid the press's unease at the band's outspokenness on contemporary issues.
Revolver expanded the boundaries of pop music, revolutionised standard practices in studio recording, advanced principles espoused by the 1960s counterculture, and inspired the development of psychedelic rock, electronica, progressive rock and world music. The album cover, designed by Klaus Voormann, combined Aubrey Beardsley-inspired line drawing with photo collage and won the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts. Aided by the 1987 international CD release, which standardised its content to the original Parlophone version, Revolver has surpassed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in many critics' estimation as the Beatles' best album. It was ranked first in the 1998 and 2000 editions of Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums and third in the 2003 and 2012 editions of Rolling Stone magazine's list of the \"500 Greatest Albums of All Time\". It has been certified double platinum by the BPI and 5× platinum by the RIAA.
Traffic
2/5
Traffic is the second studio album by the English rock band of the same name, released in 1968 on Island Records in the United Kingdom as ILPS 9081T (stereo), and United Artists in the United States, as UAS 6676 (stereo). The album peaked at number 9 in the UK Albums Chart[2] and at number 17 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.[3] It was the last album recorded by the group before their initial breakup.
2.75/5
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Fleet Foxes is the debut studio album by American band Fleet Foxes, released on June 3, 2008, by Sub Pop and Bella Union. The album garnered wide praise from critics, many of whom named it one of the best albums of the 2000s and one of the greatest debut albums of all time.[5][6]
Background
Fleet Foxes was formed in Seattle, Washington in 2006 by singer-songwriters Robin Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset.[7] Pecknold grew up in nearby Kirkland, an affluent suburb. His parents gave him an acoustic guitar in middle school. He met Skjelset in high school, bonded over music and similar Norwegian roots.[8] In his tenth grade year, Pecknold dropped out, completing his degree at a community college and immersing himself in music.[9] He moved into the city and secured work at a restaurant, where he joined the local outfit Dolour[10] and befriended other accomplished musicians.[11] Further, Pecknold gained connections through a job at a burrito restaurant, where he discovered more contemporary indie rock.[9]
The pair first settled on the name the Pineapples, but the name was taken by a local punk act. Instead, Pecknold thought of the name Fleet Foxes, which he felt brought to mind fox hunting.[12] The band was rounded out with Christian Wargo (bass, guitar, vocals) and Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, vocals), both members of the electronic outfit Crystal Skulls, and Nicholas Peterson (drums, vocals), formerly of Pedro the Lion.[13] The band booked consistent local gigs and began receiving favorable write-ups in the press.[13]
3.75/5
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Stripped is the fourth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 22, 2002, by RCA Records. Looking to transition from the teen pop styles of her self-titled debut album (1999), Aguilera took creative control over Stripped, both musically and lyrically. She also changed her public image and established her alter ego Xtina. Musically, the record incorporates pop and R&B with influences from many different genres, including soul, rock, hip hop, and Latin music. Lyrically, most of the album's songs discuss the theme of self-respect, while a few other songs talk about sex and feminism. As an executive producer, Aguilera enlisted numerous new collaborators for the album.
Upon its release, Stripped received polarised reviews from music critics; many criticized its lack of musical focus, while some of them called it "almost" an album for grown-ups, with comparisons made to Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. Commercially, Stripped debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 330,000 copies. It was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping over five million copies in the United States. The album also charted within the top five of charts in Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It was Aguilera's best-performing album in the United Kingdom, becoming the 29th and 40th bestselling album of the decade and millennium there, respectively, with two million copies sold. Despite its initial critical reception, Stripped received multiple Grammy Award nominations, including one win, and has since gone on to receive critical praise and is commonly considered one of the most influential pop albums of all time, inspiring a generation of artists. The album has sold over 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century.[1]
Five singles were released from the album. The lead single "Dirrty" was met with criticism and controversy due to its sexual music video but was an international hit on the charts. The follow-up "Beautiful" was praised by critics and garnered chart success worldwide. The last three singles, "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" and "The Voice Within", became top-ten hits in various countries. Aguilera performed several songs from Stripped live during a number of shows, notably during the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards, the American Music Awards of 2003 (January), and the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. Two concert tours were held in 2003 to promote the album, The Justified & Stripped Tour (co-headlined with Justin Timberlake) and The Stripped Tour.
3.75/5
Britney Spears
3/5
...Baby One More Time is the debut studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. It was released on January 12, 1999, through Jive Records. It is Spears' most successful album with sales of over 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, as well as the best-selling debut album by a female artist. ...Baby One More Time has been cited as a hallmark for pop music and is praised for the revival of the teen pop genre. The album received two nominations at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Spears had been a child performer on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club during 1993–1994, and was looking to expand her career as a teen singer. After being turned away by several record companies, Spears signed with Jive for a multi-album deal in 1997. Spears traveled to Sweden to collaborate with producers Max Martin and Rami Yacoub, who had been writing songs with producer Denniz Pop and others. Their collaboration created a pop, dance-pop, and teen pop record, with Spears later saying that she felt excited when she heard it and knew it was going to be a hit record. The album was completed in June 1998.
At the time of its release, ...Baby One More Time garnered mixed reviews from music critics, with many praising its commercial appeal but deeming it silly and premature. Retrospectively, it has been hailed for its major impact on pop culture, citing it as one of the most influential pop records of all time. The album was a massive global success, topping the charts in five countries and reaching the top ten in 17 territories. Spears became the fifth artist under the age of 18 to top the Billboard 200.
It received worldwide certifications, including a 14× platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of over 14 million copies in the US. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 10.7 million copies, with additional 1.6 million sold at BMG Music Clubs.
3.75/5
Cee Lo Green
3/5
Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine is the second studio album by Cee Lo Green, released on March 2, 2004.[12]
Legacy
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]
3.25/5
Orbital
3/5
Orbital (also known as Orbital 2 or the Brown Album) is the second studio album by English electronic music duo Orbital, released on 24 May 1993 by Internal and FFRR Records. Like the duo's debut album, the album was officially untitled.
The album peaked at number 28 on the UK Albums Chart.
The album received widespread acclaim. In the UK, NME praised the record, saying, "The techno album is a doughty brute to master. Only a few have managed it successfully [...] but Phil and Paul Hartnoll have done it twice... The expression 'intelligent ambience' is bandied around to describe spacey dance music with undue regularity, but Untitled actually satisfies the description. Scientific and terrific."[13] Q also recognised that the duo had made a second successful album, saying, "Like their first album, Orbital's current effort is a finely balanced combination of muso trickery and astute dance tracks... Again, like the latter, it benefits from repeated listening."[14] Select stated that "the marvel is that they create such vastness in your ear from micro-minimalist ingredients", and described the record as "infinitely inventive, unique in its conception and electronically sexy".[16]
Melody Maker claimed that "This new album (untitled, like the first) puts them firmly back in the firmament". In a reference to the most talked about band at the time of the album's release, Suede and their sexually ambiguous frontman Brett Anderson, and including a pun on "Anarchy in the U.K.", the debut single by the Sex Pistols, the review concluded, "As warm as plasma and as eerie as ectoplasm, Orbital's (out-of-)body-music is the true sound of Androgyny-in-the-UK."[20] Vox observed that "this collection sees Paul and Phil Hartnoll drifting still further into the heart of the machine, touching upon the sometimes fragile soul of Techno", before declaring that "Orbital are still leading the field".[19]
Accolades
This album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die alongside their 1994 LP Snivilisation.[21] Along with 1996's In Sides, it was also included in Q magazine's "90 Best Albums of the 1990s".[22] In 1996, Mixmag ranked the album at number nine in its list of the "50 Best Dance Albums of All Time".[23] In 1999, Ned Raggett ranked the album at number 21 on his list of "The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties".[24]
3.75/5
Marvin Gaye
3/5
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by the American soul singer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records subsidiary label Tamla. Recorded between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye's first album to credit him as producer and to credit Motown's in-house session musicians, known as the Funk Brothers.
What's Going On is a concept album with most of its songs segueing into the next and has been categorized as a song cycle. The narrative established by the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. Gaye's introspective lyrics explore themes of drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. He has also been credited with promoting awareness of ecological issues before the public outcry over them had become prominent ("Mercy Mercy Me").
What's Going On stayed on the Billboard Top LPs for over a year and became Gaye's second number-one album on Billboard's Soul LPs chart, where it stayed for nine weeks, and on the No. 2 spot for another 12 weeks, respectively. The title track, which had been released in January 1971 as the album's lead single, hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and held the top position on Billboard's Soul Singles chart five weeks running. The follow-up singles "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" also reached the top 10 of the Hot 100, making Gaye the first male solo artist to place three top ten singles on the Hot 100 from one album.
The album was an immediate commercial and critical success, and came to be viewed by music historians as a classic of 1970s soul. Multiple critics, musicians, and many in the general public consider What's Going On to be one of the greatest albums of all time and a landmark recording in popular music. In 1985, writers on British music weekly the NME voted it the best album of all time. In 2020, it was ranked number one on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
3.25/5
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Peter Gabriel is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter and producer Peter Gabriel, released on 25 February 1977 by Charisma Records. After his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis was made public in 1975, Gabriel took a break to concentrate on his family life. In 1976, he began writing material for a solo album and met producer Bob Ezrin, who agreed to produce it. Gabriel hired several additional musicians to play on the album, including guitarist Robert Fripp and bassist Tony Levin. The album was later known as Peter Gabriel I or Car, referring to the album's artwork produced by Hipgnosis. Some music streaming services, including Gabriel's own Bandcamp page,[6] refer to it as Peter Gabriel 1: Car.[7]
Upon the album's release, it peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 38 on the US Billboard 200. It has since reached Gold certification in both countries for selling 100,000 and 500,000 copies, respectively. The song "Solsbury Hill" was the first single from the album, and peaked at No. 13 in the UK. Gabriel supported the album with a tour of Europe and the US through 1977, featuring a seven-piece band including Fripp and Levin. The album was remastered in 2002 and 2011.
Soundgarden
3/5
Superunknown is the fourth studio album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994, through A&M Records. Produced by Michael Beinhorn and the band themselves, Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of their previous album, Badmotorfinger (1991). Superunknown retained the heaviness of the band's earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences.
Superunknown was a critical and commercial success and became the band's breakthrough album. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 310,000 copies in its opening week. The album also topped the Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand charts. Five singles were released from the album: "The Day I Tried to Live", "My Wave", "Fell on Black Days", "Spoonman", and "Black Hole Sun", the latter two of which won Grammy Awards and helped Soundgarden reach mainstream popularity. In 1995, the album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. It has been certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States. Superunknown has been listed by several publications as one of the best albums of the 1990s and a quintessential grunge album. In April 2019, it was ranked No. 9 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" list.[4]
3.5/5
Roxy Music
2/5
For Your Pleasure is the second studio album by the English rock band Roxy Music, released on 23 March 1973 by Island Records. It was their last to feature synthesiser and sound specialist Brian Eno.
2.25.5
Morrissey
3/5
Viva Hate is the debut solo studio album by English singer Morrissey. It was released on 14 March 1988 by HMV, six months after the final studio album by the Smiths, Strangeways, Here We Come (1987).
3.25/5
Waylon Jennings
2/5
Honky Tonk Heroes is a country music album by Waylon Jennings, released in 1973 on RCA Victor. With the exception of \"We Had It All\", all of the songs on the album were written or co-written by Billy Joe Shaver. The album is considered an important piece in the development of the outlaw sub-genre in country music as it revived the honky tonk music of Nashville and added elements of rock and roll to it.
Jennings had invited the then unknown Shaver to Nashville to write the songs for Jenning's next album after hearing him sing \"Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me\" before the 1972 Dripping Springs Reunion. When Shaver arrived in Nashville, he spent six months pursuing Jennings before again convincing him to make an album of his songs. Jennings had recently renegotiated his contract with RCA Records. The label granted him creative control over his work to avoid losing him to Atlantic Records. As his usual producer, Chet Atkins, was reluctant to release a record consisting of songs written by an unknown songwriter, Jennings replaced him with Tompall Glaser. Jennings replaced the Nashville session musicians with his own band, The Waylors.
The executives of RCA Records were reluctant to release the album, and delayed it until July 1973. Honky Tonk Heroes had a good reception by the critics on release. It reached number 14 in Billboard's Top Country albums chart. The singles \"You Asked Me To\" and \"We Had It All\" did well, reaching number 8 and 28, respectively. The album was listed in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
2.75/5
GZA
3/5
Liquid Swords is the second solo studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, released on November 7, 1995, by Geffen Records.
Recording sessions for the album began midway through 1995 at producer RZA's basement studio in the New York City borough of Staten Island. The album heavily samples dialogue from the martial arts film Shogun Assassin and maintains a dark atmosphere throughout, incorporating lyrical references to chess, crime and philosophy. Liquid Swords features numerous guest appearances from the entire nine piece Wu-Tang Clan, and also Wu-Tang affiliate Killah Priest. Upon its release, Liquid Swords peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200 chart, and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album platinum in sales nearly 20 years after its release.
Upon its initial release, Liquid Swords received critical acclaim for its complex lyricism and hypnotic musical style. Over the years, its recognition has grown, with a number of famous publishers proclaiming it to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 2007, the Chicago Tribune cited it as \"one of the most substantial lyrical journeys in hip-hop history\".
3.25/5
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Peter Gabriel is the third solo studio album by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released on 30 May 1980 by Charisma Records. The album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, has been acclaimed as Gabriel's artistic breakthrough as a solo artist. AllMusic wrote that it established him as \"one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians\".
Building on the experimental sound of his previous self-titled studio album, it saw Gabriel embracing post-punk and new wave with an art rock sensibility. Gabriel also explored more overtly political material with the anti-war song \"Games Without Frontiers\" (which became a No. 4 hit and remains his joint highest-charting single in the UK) and the anti-apartheid protest song \"Biko\", which remembered the murdered activist Steve Biko.
In the US, the album was titled Peter Gabriel III. The album is also often referred to as Melt, owing to its cover photograph by Hipgnosis. Some music streaming services currently refer to it as Peter Gabriel 3: Melt.
3.5/5
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
Electric Music for the Mind and Body is Country Joe and the Fish's debut album. Released in May 1967 on the Vanguard label, it was one of the first psychedelic albums to come out of San Francisco.
Tracks from the LP, especially "Section 43", "Grace", and "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" were played on progressive FM rock stations like KSAN and KMPX in San Francisco, often back-to-back. A version of the song "Love" was performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
"Grace" is a tribute to Jefferson Airplane's lead singer, Grace Slick.
2.5/5
Slade
2/5
Slayed? is the third studio album by the British rock group Slade. It was released on 1 November 1972 and reached No. 1 in the UK. It remained on the chart for 34 weeks and was certified Silver in early 1973. The album was also the band's most successful of the 1970s in the US, peaking at No. 69 and remaining in the charts for 26 weeks. In Australia, the album reached No. 1 and went Gold, knocking the band's live album Slade Alive! to No. 2.
Slayed? was produced by Chas Chandler.
In 2010, Classic Rock considered the album an \"essential classic\", adding that it featured \"party-hard tracks, and even something approaching a ballad with \"Look at Last Nite\", ensuring that Slayed? inarguably ticks all the right boxes.\" The Guardian noted the album's singles and other tracks as being \"deservedly party riff monsters\", but added: \"Slayed?'s majesty lies in the melancholy ballads. \"Look at Last Nite's\" haunting refrain fingers both empty celebrity and fame's creeping downside.\"
2.5/5
Hanoi Rocks
2/5
Back to Mystery City is the fourth studio album by the Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks, released in 1983. It was produced by ex-Mott the Hoople members Dale Griffin and Pete \"Overend\" Watts, and was the first with Razzle on drums. Besides Hanoi Rocks, the album also features keyboardist Morgan Fisher, and Miriam Stockley on backing vocals, who had also sung with Pink Floyd.
2/5
Madonna
3/5
Music is the eighth studio album by American singer Madonna, released on September 18, 2000, by Maverick and Warner Bros. Records. Following the success of her previous album Ray of Light (1998), she intended to embark on a tour. However, her record company encouraged her to return to the studio and record new music before going on the road. Her collaboration with French producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï resulted in a more experimental direction for the album, with additional production from William Orbit. Music incorporates many different genres into its overall dance-pop and electronica vibe, with influences from funk, house, rock, country and folk. The album was mostly recorded at Sarm West and East Studios in London, England. Elaborating a country theme for the album, Madonna reinvented her image as a cowgirl.
Music received critical acclaim from most critics, who praised Ahmadzaï's unique production. The album earned five Grammy Award nominations, ultimately winning one for Best Recording Package given to art director Kevin Reagan. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 452 on their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The record was also a commercial success, debuting at number one in over 23 countries across the world and selling four million copies in its first ten days of release. In the United States, Music debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 420,000 copies, making it her first album to top the chart in more than a decade since Like a Prayer (1989). It was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for three million units shipped in the United States and has sold over 11 million copies worldwide.
The album was promoted with her concerts at Brixton Academy and Roseland Ballroom, as well as several television performances such as the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards and the 43rd Grammy Awards. It was also supported by the Drowned World Tour, which grossed over US$75 million, making it the highest-grossing tour by a solo act of 2001 (the fourth overall). Three singles were released from the album. The lead single, \"Music\", topped the record charts in 25 countries worldwide and became Madonna's 12th and most recent number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It was followed with another Hot 100 top-five hit \"Don't Tell Me\" and \"What It Feels Like for a Girl\" which attained the top-ten position in several countries worldwide. \"Impressive Instant\" was released as a promotional single in the United States, peaking at number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. “Amazing” was also briefly released as a promotional single in Germany, Spain, Italy and Colombia before being withdrawn shortly afterwards.
3.5/5
Ananda Shankar
2/5
Ananda Shankar is the debut album by Indian musician Ananda Shankar, the son of dancer and choreographer Uday Shankar and the nephew of Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar. It was released in 1970 on the Reprise record label. The album fuses Indian music with Western rock and electronic music, and was among the first works in the rock genre by an Indian musician. Consisting mainly of instrumental recordings featuring sitar and Moog synthesizer, it includes a cover version of the Rolling Stones' 1968 hit song \"Jumpin' Jack Flash\" and a thirteen-minute Indian-style piece titled \"Sagar (The Ocean)\".
Ananda Shankar followed a series of sitar-based releases by artists hoping to capitalise on the mid-1960s raga rock trend. Initially conceived as a collaboration with guitarist Jimi Hendrix, it was instead recorded in Los Angeles by Shankar with contributors such as synthesizer exponent Paul Lewinson. In the decades since the LP's release, \"Jumpin' Jack Flash\" became a popular club hit, while the album has been recognised for its influence on world music fusion, particularly the East–West styles developed in the UK. It is one of the albums featured in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Talk Talk Talk is the second studio album by the English rock band the Psychedelic Furs. It was released 15 May 1981 by Columbia Records.
AllMusic noted that with Talk Talk Talk, \"the Furs introduced a brighter, poppier side to their underground rock edge\".
3/5
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
Sound of Silver is the second studio album by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. The album was released jointly through DFA and Capitol Records in the United States and EMI elsewhere, first on March 12, 2007, in the United Kingdom. Sound of Silver was produced by the DFA and recorded during 2006 at Long View Farm in North Brookfield, Massachusetts and DFA Studios in New York, New York. Upon release, Sound of Silver received acclaim from music critics, and it was later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. The group's later released EP, entitled A Bunch of Stuff, was composed entirely of songs from this album.
3.25/5
Ryan Adams
3/5
Gold is the second studio album by Ryan Adams, released September 25, 2001 on Lost Highway Records. The album remains Adams' best-selling album, certifying Gold in the UK and going on to sell 364,000 copies in the U.S. and 812,000 worldwide. Adams noted that \"with Gold, I was trying to prove something to myself. I wanted to invent a modern classic.\"Adams intended for the album to be a double album, but his record label, Lost Highway, condensed the album into a single disc. According to Adams, the label \"took the last five songs, made it a bonus disc and put it on the first hundred and fifty thousand copies. Fucking my fans over and making them pay extra for a record I wanted to be a double album. They counted that as one record.\" This bonus disc is known as Side Four; the disc's title reflects the fact that the bonus material makes up the fourth side of the double LP edition of the album.
The album includes \"When the Stars Go Blue\", which has been covered by artists such as The Corrs and Bono, Tyler Hilton, Bethany Joy Galeotti, Tim McGraw and as a duo by Kurt Nilsen featuring Venke Knutson. \"New York, New York\" became a notable MTV and VH1 favorite following the September 11 attacks. \"The Rescue Blues\" was featured in the end credits of the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines.
Adams' friend and former roommate Adam Duritz (lead singer of Counting Crows) lends background vocals to several tracks.
Adams received three Grammy Award nominations in 2002: Best Rock Album, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for \"New York, New York\", and Best Male Country Vocal Performance for \"Lovesick Blues\", a song recorded for the Hank Williams tribute album, \"Timeless\".
Stephen King's 2006 book Lisey's Story includes part of the lyrics to \"When the Stars Go Blue\". Also, the song \"The Rescue Blues\" was featured in an episode of Scrubs. In 2011, \"Answering Bell\" was featured in the film and on the soundtrack to Bridesmaids.
Wilco
3/5
Being There is the second studio album by the American rock band Wilco, released on October 29, 1996, by Reprise Records. Despite its release as a double album, Being There was sold at a single album price as a result of a deal between lead singer Jeff Tweedy and the band's label Reprise Records. Compared to their debut album A.M. (1995), the album was an improvement for the band in both sales and critical reception. Taking its name from the 1979 film of the same name,[4] the self-produced album featured more surrealistic and introspective writing than on A.M. This was due in part to several significant changes in Tweedy's life, including the birth of his first child. Musically, it juxtaposed the alternative country styles songs reminiscent of Uncle Tupelo with psychedelic, surreal songs. It was the only Wilco album with steel guitarist Bob Egan, their first with multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett and their last with multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston.
3.25/5
Ravi Shankar
2/5
The Sounds of India is an album by Ravi Shankar which introduces and explains Hindustani classical music to Western audiences. Released by Columbia Records in 1957, it was influenced by Ali Akbar Khan's The Sounds of India,[1] and recorded and produced by George Avakian in 1957 at Columbia's New York studio.[2]
It is regarded today as being of historical interest for showing both Shankar's musical skills and his interest in teaching the West about classical Indian music.[3]
It was digitally remastered and released in CD format by Columbia Records in 1989.
Goldfrapp
3/5
Seventh Tree is the fourth studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp, released on 22 February 2008 by Mute Records. It was named after a dream Alison Goldfrapp had about a "very large tree".[5] Taking inspiration from paganism and surreal English children's books,[6] Goldfrapp described the album as a "sensual counterpoint to the glitterball glamour of Supernature", their previous studio album from 2005.[7]
Seventh Tree became the duo's most critically acclaimed album since their 2000 debut Felt Mountain, with critics praising their new sound and their bravery for abandoning the dance atmosphere of their previous two albums. The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart with 46,945 copies sold in its first week.
Four singles were released from the album. "A&E" was released as the lead single on 11 February 2008, peaking at number 10 on the UK singles chart.[8] The album's second single, "Happiness", peaked at number 25 on the UK chart, while the third single, "Caravan Girl", reached number 54.[8] "Clowns" was released as the fourth and final single, charting at number 115 in the UK.[9]
Kid Rock
3/5
Devil Without a Cause is the fourth studio album by American musician Kid Rock. Released on August 18, 1998, the album saw Kid Rock continuing to develop his sound, and marked the finalization of his stage persona as a 'redneck pimp'. Additionally, the song "Cowboy" is seen as being instrumental in the development of the fusion genre country rap.
Devil Without a Cause was a major commercial success. Spurred by the popularity of the single "Bawitdaba", the album sold over 14 million copies, and was certified diamond. The album also received critical acclaim for its genre-mixing sound.
3.25/5
Brian Eno
2/5
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is the first collaborative studio album by Brian Eno and David Byrne, released in February 1981.[7] It was Byrne's first album without his band Talking Heads. The album integrates sampled vocals and found sounds, African and Middle Eastern rhythms, and electronic music techniques.[8] It was recorded before Eno and Byrne's work on Talking Heads' 1980 album Remain in Light, but problems clearing samples delayed its release by several months.
The album title is derived from Amos Tutuola's 1954 novel My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. According to Byrne's 2006 liner notes, neither he nor Eno had read the novel, but they felt the title "seemed to encapsulate what this record was about".[9]
The extensive sampling on the album is considered innovative, though its influence on later sample-based music genres is debated.[10][11] Pitchfork named it the 21st best album of the 1980s,[12] while Slant Magazine named it the 83rd.[13]
2.75/5
Stereo MC's
3/5
Connected is the third studio album by Stereo MC's. The tracks "Connected", "Ground Level", "Step It Up" and "Creation" became hit singles.
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
Calgary Herald B+[2]
Chicago Tribune [3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music [4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [5]
Select 5/5[6]
The Village Voice B−[7]
In a contemporary review, James Muretich from Calgary Herald said that "the hour-long program does wear a wee thin but, hey, while the groove-mood lasts, it`s a blast".[2] Music critic Robert Christgau for The Village Voice, wrote that, although its music is amiable and rhythmic, Connected is also "so multifaceted that its functionality is fungible and forgettable."[7] In June 2000, Q placed Connected as #52 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.[citation needed] The album won Best British Album at the 1994 Brit Awards,[8] was shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize,[9] and included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[10]
3.25/5
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Idlewild is the fourth studio album by British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 29 February 1988 by Blanco y Negro Records and Sire Records.
The album was reissued in 2012 as a remastered two-disc deluxe set by Edsel Records.
Recording and release
Songs on Idlewild deal with domestic, daily and family topics, such as motherhood and child raising ("Apron Strings," "These Early Days"), growing up in the suburbs ("Oxford Street") and relationships ("I Always Was Your Girl", "Love Is Here Where I Live") or homesickness ("Lonesome for a Place I Know"). Its sounds flow between acoustic instrumentation, synths and drum machine. It was produced and recorded by the duo with little input from other collaborators. According to singer Tracey Thorn, at the time the album was finished, the record company considered it lacking of hits and doubted its quality, but it later received critical acclaim.
Sinead O'Connor
3/5
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second studio album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released in March 1990 by Ensign/Chrysalis Records. It contains O'Connor's version of the Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 U", which was released as a single and reached number one in multiple countries. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, including Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Music Video, Short Form for "Nothing Compares 2 U", winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. However, O'Connor refused to accept the nominations and award.[6] The album has sold over seven million copies worldwide. [7]
3.25/5
LTJ Bukem
3/5
Logical Progression (also known as LTJ Bukem Presents Logical Progression) is a compilation album spearheaded by the English musician and label head LTJ Bukem, released in 1996.[2][3] It includes tracks by Bukem and artists who recorded for his label, Good Looking Records, as well as his remixes.[4][5]
The compilation was a commercial success.[6] (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide called it "a landmark drum-and-bass album," and, along with Goldie's Timeless, "perhaps one of the two most important drum-and-bass releases of the decade."[7]
Bukem promoted the album in the United States by playing the Enit Festival.[8]
3.5/5
John Lennon
3/5
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is the debut solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. Backed by the Plastic Ono Band, it was released by Apple Records on 11 December 1970 in tandem with the similarly titled album by his wife, Yoko Ono. At the time of its issue, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band received mixed reviews overall, but later came to be widely regarded as Lennon's best solo album.[2]
Co-produced by Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector, it followed Lennon's recording of three experimental releases with Ono and a live album from the 1969 version of the Plastic Ono Band. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band contains a largely raw production sound with songs heavily influenced by Lennon's recent primal scream therapy. Its lyrics reflect Lennon's personal issues and includes themes of child-parent abandonment and psychological suffering. The tracks were recorded in September and October 1970 at Abbey Road Studios in London, simultaneously with Ono's similarly titled solo album.
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the US Billboard 200. In 1987, Rolling Stone ranked it fourth in its list "The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years" and in 2012, ranked it number 23 in their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It was voted number 244 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[3] In 2000, the album was remixed with two bonus tracks, "Power to the People" and "Do the Oz". The album's 2021 Ultimate Mixes reissue, in the eight-disc Ultimate Collection box set, features 159 previously unreleased mixes, demos, outtakes, and isolated track elements.[4]
Soft Machine
2/5
Third is a live and studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine, released as their third overall in June 1970 by CBS Records. It is a double album with a single composition on each of the four sides, and was their first album recorded with a four-piece line-up of keyboardist Mike Ratledge, and drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, saxophonist Elton Dean, and bass guitarist Hugh Hopper. Third marks a shift in the group's sound from their psychedelic origins towards jazz rock and electronic music.
Lyn Dobson appears on saxophone and flute on \"Facelift\", recorded while he was a full member of the band (then a quintet), although he is credited as an additional performer. Jimmy Hastings (brother of Pye Hastings from Caravan) makes substantial contributions on flute and clarinet on \"Slightly All the Time\", free-jazz violinist Rab Spall (then a bandmate of Wyatt's in the part-time ensemble Amazing Band) is heard on the coda to \"Moon in June\", and Nick Evans (a member of the band during its short-lived septet incarnation) makes brief appearances on trombone in \"Slightly All the Time\" and \"Out-Bloody-Rageous\".
According to Paul Stump's The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock, Third was \"unanimously acclaimed as the band's zenith.\" A retrospective review in Allmusic praised the exotic instrumentation and fusion of genres, and concluded, \"Not exactly rock, Third nonetheless pushed the boundaries of rock into areas previously unexplored, and it managed to do so without sounding self-indulgent. A better introduction to the group is either of the first two records, but once introduced, this is the place to go.\"
In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock (2005), the album came #20 in its list of \"40 Cosmic Rock Albums\".
Justin Timberlake
3/5
Justified is the debut solo studio album by American singer Justin Timberlake. It was released on November 5, 2002, by Jive Records. The album was written and recorded in a six-week period as Timberlake's band NSYNC was on hiatus. For his solo album, Timberlake began to adopt a more mature image as an R&B artist opposed to the previous pop music recorded by the group. The majority of the album was produced by the Neptunes (credited as "Williams and Hugo") and Timbaland, and features guest appearances by Janet Jackson, Clipse, and Bubba Sparxxx. Primarily an R&B album, Justified also contains influences of dance-pop, funk, and soul music.
Justified received generally positive reviews from critics, who complimented the mature progression of Timberlake's material, although some criticized its lyrical content. The album earned Timberlake four Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year, and won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Justified debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and sold 439,000 copies in its first week. It was certified three-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having sold over 3.9 million copies in the US. As of 2012, the album has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
3.75/5
Buffalo Springfield
2/5
Buffalo Springfield Again is the second album by Buffalo Springfield, released on Atco Records in October 1967. The album features some of the group's best-known songs, including "Mr. Soul", "Bluebird", "Expecting to Fly" and "Rock & Roll Woman", all of which were released as singles. In contrast to the band's hastily made debut album, recording for Again took place over a protracted nine-month span and was fraught with dysfunction, with each member eventually producing his own material largely independent of one another.
The album was a moderate commercial success, peaking at number 44 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, and came to be regarded by many rock critics as a classic of the psychedelic era. In 2003, the album was ranked number 188 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,[13] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.[14] The album was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings—published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)[15]—and in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[16] It was voted number 165 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000.[17]
2.5/5
Radiohead
3/5
Hail to the Thief is the sixth album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released on 9 June 2003 through Parlophone internationally and a day later through Capitol Records in the United States. It was the last album released under Radiohead's record contract with EMI, the parent company of Parlophone and Capitol.
After transitioning to a more electronic style on their albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), which were recorded through protracted studio experimentation, Radiohead sought to work more spontaneously, combining electronic and rock music. They recorded most of Hail to the Thief in two weeks in Los Angeles with their longtime producer Nigel Godrich, focusing on live takes rather than overdubs.
Songwriter Thom Yorke wrote lyrics influenced by the unfolding war on terror and the surrounding political discourse, incorporating influences from fairy tales and children's literature. The cover artwork, created by artist Stanley Donwood, is a roadmap of Hollywood with words taken from roadside advertising in Los Angeles and from Yorke's lyrics.
Following a high-profile internet leak of unfinished material ten weeks before release, Hail to the Thief debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number three on the US Billboard 200 chart. It is certified platinum in the UK and Canada and gold in several countries. It was promoted with singles and music videos for "There There", "Go to Sleep" and "2 + 2 = 5". Hail to the Thief received positive reviews and was the fifth consecutive Radiohead album nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album; it won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album.
3.25/5
Killing Joke
3/5
Killing Joke is the debut studio album by English post-punk band Killing Joke, released in October 1980 by E.G. via Polydor Records. It debuted at number 41 on the UK Albums Chart on 25 October 1980 and later peaked at number 39.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
Everything Must Go is the fourth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 20 May 1996, through Epic Records, and was the first record released by the band following the disappearance of lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards.
Released at the height of Britpop in the mid-1990s, the album was a commercial and critical success, it reached its peak in the UK on separate occasions, debuting and peaking at number 2 in the UK Albums Chart and earned the band accolades in the 1997 Brit Awards. It represented a shift in the group's sound due to Edwards' departure. The album charted in mainland Europe, Asia and Australia, eventually selling over two million copies. Everything Must Go is frequently featured and voted highly in lists for one of the best albums of all time by many music publications such as NME and Q.
3.5/5
Bee Gees
3/5
Trafalgar is a 1971 album by the Bee Gees. It was their ninth album (seventh internationally), and was released in September 1971 in the US, and November 1971 in the UK. The album was a moderate hit in the United States, and peaked at No. 34. The lead single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" was the first Bee Gees' No. 1 single in the United States but failed to chart in Britain as did the album. It is Geoff Bridgford's only full-length appearance on a Bee Gees album as an official member.
Trafalgar is included in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[1]
3.25/5
Talking Heads
3/5
More Songs About Buildings and Food is the second studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on July 14, 1978, by Sire Records. It was the first of three albums produced by collaborator Brian Eno, and saw the band move toward a danceable style, crossing singer David Byrne's unusual delivery with new emphasis on the rhythm section composed of bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz.
More Songs established Talking Heads as a critical success, reaching number 29 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart and number 21 on the UK Albums Chart. The album featured the band's first top-thirty single, a cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River".
Coldcut
3/5
What's That Noise? is the debut album by Coldcut, released in 1989.
Guests on the album include: Lisa Stansfield on \"People Hold On\" and \"My Telephone\", Mark E. Smith (The Fall) on \"(I'm) In Deep\", Junior Reid on \"Stop This Crazy Thing\", Queen Latifah on \"Smoke 1\" and Yazz on \"Doctorin' the House\".
Trouser Press wrote: \"In between the vocal tracks are various 'Beats & Pieces', as one title has it: samples, melodies and grooves that help flesh out What’s That Noise?, a patchy but generally rewarding debut.\" The Stranger called the album a \"classic LP [that] married cut-and-paste techniques with old-fashioned songwriting smarts.\"
this was very much of its time, but I really liked it!
3.75/5
Jorge Ben Jor
2/5
África Brasil is a 1976 release by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben (recording since the 1980s as Jorge Ben Jor). It was Ben's 14th studio album. África Brasil represented a milestone in Ben's career with his switch to electric guitar and incorporation of both Afro-Brazilian and American funk music styles into his sound. África Brasil is one of Ben's best-known recordings.[4] Rolling Stone Brazil listed it as one of the 100 best Brazilian albums in history,[5] and it was included in both Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die[2] as well as Tom Moon's collection 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.
2.25/5
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
Golden Hour is the fourth studio album by American country music singer and songwriter Kacey Musgraves, released on March 30, 2018, through MCA Nashville.[3] Musgraves co-wrote all 13 tracks and co-produced the album with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. A country pop record, Golden Hour also contains elements of disco, electropop, electronica, and yacht rock.[4][5][6]
Golden Hour debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200.[7] Receiving widespread critical acclaim, the album and its songs won in all four of their nominated categories at the 61st Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album. The album's first two singles also won awards: "Butterflies" for Best Country Solo Performance and "Space Cowboy" for Best Country Song.[8] Golden Hour also won Album of the Year at the 52nd Annual Country Music Association Awards.[9] In 2020, Golden Hour was ranked at 270 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[10]
3.25/5
The Louvin Brothers
1/5
Tragic Songs of Life is the debut album by American country music duo The Louvin Brothers, released in 1956. "Knoxville Girl" was released as a single three years later and reached number 19 on the Billboard Country Singles chart.[1]
1.75
The xx
4/5
I See You is the third studio album by English indie pop band the xx. It was released on 13 January 2017 by the Young Turks record label. It was the band's first album in more than four years, following 2012's Coexist.
The xx began recording I See You in 2014 at Marfa Recording Co. in Marfa, Texas, and were assisted by producer Rodaidh McDonald. According to the band, they had a more progressive, wide-ranging musical concept in mind, compared to their previous two albums. Jamie xx, the band's multi-instrumentalist and producer, said the album's sound and aesthetic were influenced by his 2015 club-influenced solo recording, In Colour.
I See You was released to widespread critical acclaim, with many reviewers finding its music less insular than the xx's previous recordings. It became the band's second number-one album in the United Kingdom and an international top-ten chart success. Four singles were released to promote the album, beginning with "On Hold", while the xx embarked on the European I See You Tour and subsequent concerts in the Americas.
Beastie Boys
5/5
Licensed to Ill is the debut studio album by the American hip hop group Beastie Boys. It was released on November 15, 1986, by Def Jam and Columbia Records. The album became the first rap LP to top the Billboard 200 chart, and was the second rap album to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is one of Columbia Records' fastest-selling debut records to date and was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2015 for shipping over ten million copies in the United States.[1] The album received critical acclaim for its unique musical style, chemistry between the group members, and their stylized rapping. Since its release, Licensed to Ill has been ranked by critics as one of the greatest hip hop and debut albums of all time.
Despite its popularity and success, this would be the group’s only album to be released from Def Jam due to creative differences with producer Rick Rubin, resulting in the group leaving the label to sign with Capitol Records for their next album, Paul's Boutique (1989).
Frank Black
2/5
Teenager of the Year is the second solo studio album by American musician Frank Black. The album was released in 1994 by 4AD in the United Kingdom and Elektra Records in the United States. It was co-produced by Eric Drew Feldman, who also played keyboards and bass guitar on the album.[12] Teenager also features work by several backing musicians, including Lyle Workman, Moris Tepper and Black's Pixies bandmate Joey Santiago.
The album reached No. 2 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and No. 131 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1994.[13][14] The single "Headache" reached No. 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart that year.[15]
Although not originally well-received, the record is now widely praised by both critics and fans.[16][disputed – discuss] The album is often cited as the high-point of Francis' post-Pixies catalogue,[2][12][16] and was ranked No. 94 on Pitchfork's "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s".[16] The album is included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die "[17]"
2.75