Though I don’t necessarily mind Thrash, it’s hardly my thing; but this was surprisingly catchy and almost punk-ish at times.
The Bruce Springsteen 9/11 album. Goes pretty much how you’d expect. It was a commercial revitalization for The Boss, but to me it sounds pompous, a checklist of every bad 00s (rock) production technique, and without a hook in sight.
It was good, I especially liked “Stay With Me” and “All You Need.” I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it often, though. However as someone who grew up in Rod’s standards era, this was nice.
I feel like this year I finally get 90s music. This is awesome (though, I do agree it makes a bit more sense in the context of a 1997 release). 3.75
Lou Reed made better records before and after, but ‘Transformer’ has a hold of my heart. From the stellar glam rock production contributions of David Bowie and Mick Ronson to Lou’s subversive tales of the early 70s glam/gay scene, this album is a landmark in queer art.
Left me broken inside. Damn, Merle, why’d you have to be so loud. Country music really is the music of pain.
Truly bangin’ album. Band in top form, kickstarting the 80s and art rock of the decade.
Though I don’t necessarily mind Thrash, it’s hardly my thing; but this was surprisingly catchy and almost punk-ish at times.
It was good, I especially liked “Stay With Me” and “All You Need.” I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it often, though. However as someone who grew up in Rod’s standards era, this was nice.
Took a few listens to get into, but I’ve come to think it’s great. I really love Robert’s vocal phrasing here; actually, I think his vocal performances in general on this album are quite good. The blending of the folk and rock elements on this LP provides wonderful texture.
Pretty good. Acoustic side best side. First two and final track were favourites.
Mindblowingly good, despite hideous cover. Really excited that it’s by a nearly all black rock band.
Lou Reed made better records before and after, but ‘Transformer’ has a hold of my heart. From the stellar glam rock production contributions of David Bowie and Mick Ronson to Lou’s subversive tales of the early 70s glam/gay scene, this album is a landmark in queer art.
Nice swampy rock. A slightly better album cover. RE Tom Waits - Idk what the hell he’s saying but I am living. The things he does with his voice are fascinating and the production is very bare and caustic.
A perfect album that I have written just... so much about. Top 10
Euphoric french house/downtempo electronic. Deep grooves that never overstay their welcome and a siren of a singer. Transcendent.
Pretty good psych-folk. Some interesting performances and almost a punk-ish energy to some of them. A shame they had such a shit manager and that it’s unavailable to stream.
It was simply okay. She is/was a talented vocalist and some of the arrangements were nice, but I don’t need to hear again.
Phenomenal. Wu-Tang comes swinging right out the gate with gritty lyrics and a dirty, almost lofi, sound. A classic.
It was fine. A regular degular rock album. It sounded good tho, and combine that with it mixing in some lite dance elements, I could see how it might have been like “wooaahh” in 1990.
not another fucking Happy Mondays album. oh wait it’s good actually. pretty tripped out. some of the songs kinda blend, but the vibe’s good. a more interesting, less sterile version of the following album.
Fuck amazing. Smooth when it needs to be smooth, grooves when it needs to groove, and a couple bangers along the way. And it only gets better the longer you listen. “Urban Theme,” “Dancewitme,” “Whenever Wherever Whatever,” “Suitelady,” and “The Suite Theme” are gems.
Perfectly pleasant. Interesting to me that it was also a 1967 Verve release.
Pretty fucking good. Weird. Some psychedelic touches (particularly in the key parts) that give it an almost new wave/post punk flavour.
I don’t have a fully formed opinion on it yet after my fourth listen. But I like it and am gonna keep trying. I appreciate the Roxy-isms and that final track is a thing of beauty.
The Bruce Springsteen 9/11 album. Goes pretty much how you’d expect. It was a commercial revitalization for The Boss, but to me it sounds pompous, a checklist of every bad 00s (rock) production technique, and without a hook in sight.
If you liked 36 Chambers (you did), you’ll like this. Raekwon & Ghostface pretty much co-headline w/ RZA handling the production makes it a kinda Wu Tang album by proxy. A little overlong, though, but no idea what I’d cut (well, besides the copious “faggot”s - I’d probably start there).
Surprisingly very good. Only listened once, so the ones that were more obviously melodic grabbed me more.
Pretty solid folk album. Nice atmosphere and I love that there are some purely instrumental tracks. His playing was as good as his writing.
Is Sparks the least of the Big 3 “artier” glam rock acts? Sure, they rock hard and there are some truly catchy tunes bolstered by their deliriously high pitched singing, but not much that truly wows me like “In Every Dreamhome a Heartache” or “Aladdin Sane.”
It’s good heavy fun. I prefer the proggy fairytale second side despite “Seas” being slight and “Black Queen” being a clear BoRhap dry run.
Pretty fun. Great guitar tone. Really noisy, but without totally obscuring the power pop.
Boring. So boring. “Why Does It Always Rain On Me” and “Slide Show” were pretty great though.
Probably could have been cut down to a single disc, but I think there’s enough good material to warrant the second.
Not really my thing, but still quite enjoyable psych garage.
One of my favourite albums of the decade, a truly satisfying double LP. Also possibly the only actual rock band of the era I care about.
A tremendous dance record. Gold standard for french house. So inspiring to learn it was all recorded in garageband.
On first listen a brilliant but exhausting single LP (emphasized because of a 55+ minute runtime).
Some good tracks (“Hyacinth House,” “L’America,” title track), but rarely captures what was great and cool about them in the first place (“Riders On the Storm”).
The kinda tacky cover made me nervous, but it was pretty good, actually! I think I liked it better than her second album. Some weaker numbers (mostly the ballads that kinda drag), but for the most part straight bops. My favourites were “Leaving Las Vegas,” the Wendy & Lisa-ish “Solidify,” and “All I Wanna Do.”
Really diverse set of offerings here. Astounding that it was recorded in five days as a school project. It’s like proto-Sufjan.
First two third sounds like a commercial, final is just bland. At least he made that money tho (a fact that will never sit well with me when the artists he sampled surely did not).
Definitely angling to be 90s Beastie Boys, but still pretty enjoyable overall.
Awesome record, great atmosphere. I love Wayne’s voice. Favourites are “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton” and “The Spiderbite Song.”
Honestly had no strong feelings about this. Three track run from “Drive” to “Battlestar” rocks tho.
I’ve tried so many times to get into it, but I just can’t. I love funk, I love things inspired by this record; I just do not love this record.
Opening track is a masterpiece! 3.5/5
This is on-paper not up my alley, but I cannot help but be charmed every time I hear it.
I’ll give them this: I like the opening of “Hell’s Bells,” and “You Shook Me All Night Long” is an all-time banger.
What else is there to say about Raw Power except that it’s fucking awesome?
It’s a great album, arguably the start of The Stones’ classic era, yet it feels like more than the sum of its parts.
It’s fine. “Sixteen” is a jam tho.
Just a perfectly written and beautiful sounding expression of a melancholy universal.
Way too long, or how I came to tell my aunt I like Korn now.
Was gonna give this a 2 on first listen; on listen 4, i am sufficiently Buffalo Springfieldpilled.
I haven’t revisited this in about a year. I really forgot how quaint it sounds next to the following Heads albums. Curiously, Side 2 is perhaps the better side?
Last three songs - “White Rabbit,” especially - go hard.
Not being able to give this a 3.5 hurts.
“Angels” is actually one of the weaker songs on here; the least of the ballads, anyway.
I have loved American Idiot since I was but a preteen; some of it has aged for the worse (“Homecoming” and the title track), but most of it (including “Whatsername,” “Give Me Novacaine” - thank you, Angus - and fan favorite “Jesus of Suburbia”) for the better.
“Up On Cripple Creek” unlocked old memories with my dad.
Wow, maybe Britpop is good.
Stacked back-half, but still not really for me. I’m glad Living Colour exists, though; they were vertainly better than the Chili Peppers.
Every single song went hard, but “!Que Vida!,” “Seven and Seven Is,” “She Comes in Colors,” and “Revelation,” especially.
I have loved David Bowie since I was a child (he’s my most scrobbled artist at over 8k) and the Young Americans album has only gotten better with time. It is a frequent go-to for me. Also, “Fame” on great headphones is an experience.
What do you mean this is all improvised?
Side C kinda drags, but “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” has me crying and throwing up at work; let’s call it even.
The sweet propulsion of the first three songs grinds to a halt for “Fairytale,” but the quality of the music keeps this not just afloat but sailing.
Every song is amazing, even the bonus material on the reissue.
Those harmonies brought me to tears (im high).
I am already a bug fan of this record and it somehow still gets better with each listen.
The hits have aged very well and the album cuts’ consistency were pleasant surprises.
The mono mix is probably better. 3.5
Life-changing album; thanks to Oscar, you blew my mind.
Sounds like dozing in the barn on a late Summer day. 3.5
I have a pretty huge crush on Donovan, but this isn’t my favorite of his. ‘Hurdy Gurdy’ all tha way. 3.5
I very recently relistened to the Ozzy-era Sabbath records, and this surprisingly easily was the runaway favorite. 4.5
3.5
Did not expect to like this so much, but it fucks pretty hard. 4.25
Not my favorite Massive Attack, honestly, but still a solid start for the group and the Trip Hop genre. 3.5
I am a huge ABBA fan, but I even I will concede that the hits here - “Dancing Queen,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Money, Money, Money,” and “Fernando” (on some International editions) - are the biggest hitters. However, it would be foolhardy to overlook Arrival’s album cuts. Opener “When I Kissed the Teacher” is as potent a pop song as the hits. For all their kitsch-iness, “Tiger” and “Why Did It Have to Be Me?” charm. And the title track and closer might be the most beautiful piece of music the group ever did - an ode to Swedish folk music, a wash of keys, strings, and vocal harmonies. 4.0
I am having a bad day and I really needed this. 4.5
A stunning, beautiful, maximalist blast. 4.0
I’ve always been a bit afraid of Alice In Chains. (Rightfully so.) 3.5
I feel like this year I finally get 90s music. This is awesome (though, I do agree it makes a bit more sense in the context of a 1997 release). 3.75
Amazingly trippy psych folk. It just scratches a certain inch on my brain. 3.5
Did these guys ever make a bad song??? Despite all odds of my being a CCR fan… 3.5
Banger after banger. The last minute or so of the title track drives me wild. 4.25
4.5
I always forget that there was a time when Rod Stewart was cool and not the creepy lounge lizard he eventually became. (I hope this means that) I finally understand what my grandma sees in him. 3.25
2.5
3.5
First listen: This is good, I just have no strong feelings about U2 either way. Second listen, high: Is this the best album ever? Y/Y? 3.5
I LOVE HER!!! Liz Phair, your music helped define my 2021! 4.5
Horrific album cover, terrific music. 3.75
Old man rap that rewards multiple listens. yeah 3.25
Some nice tunes. You could argue that there’s nothing wrong with it, but that’s not really a compliment, is it? 3.25
I found this album on my own a year pr two ago. Before then, I had an image of Common in my head as a cornball a la John Legend (who happens to be featured here). Maybe he, like Legend, has earned that title over the years since ‘Be,’ but it could not be further from the truth here. ‘Be’ knocks. 4.0
I think this is actively changing my life; I am also a musical artist, and I think they get what I’m trying to do? Sorry, this is just the first time I’ve heard that. Also, the organ on “Let Me Down Gently” is so beautiful. 3.75
3.5
I feel like this is something y’all won’t like, so naturally it is right up my alley. 3.75
3.25
Succumb. (The Narcotic Suite is nuts.) 4.0
3.5
3.5
I’m starting to feel like this kind of music (late 1970s through the 1980s, British, reverb-y) was engineered in a mad scientist’s lab especially for me. (Also, re: the Beach Boys album I neglected to say anything about yesterday, it is very good early 70s psych-pop. Like the rest of their music, it took me some time to warm up to Surf’s Up, despite being a fan of the genre.) 4.5
Half a good album (+ “Motherless Children”). 2.25
Now, Keith Emerson is a God. 4.25
If you don’t like this, idk what to say, man. 4.0
Perfect, amazing, never been done before, ahead of its time, etc. 4.0
Smooth and funky. 3.75