One of the few live albums I've heard where the audience is just as much a part of the performance. The songs are great, Johnny's performance is charmingly flawed, but it's all about the atmosphere created by the little details: the inmate's reactions, Johnny's asides, and the warden's announcements.
More expansive and cinematic than I was expecting, and I'm pretty familiar with the singles off this album. The saxophone is arguably the lead instrument here, and there are some jazzy moments where it and the keyboardist can really shine. Bruce's lyrics are excellent and invoke a "working class" urgency: inspirational-via-the-gallows, a bleak sort of joy.
Angular, raucous, righteous, feminist, and fully-formed straight out of the gate. A great first listen, and one of many to come I think.
Springsteen would be a legend just for this album, I swear. Can't-miss songwriting with its soul in the blues.
Unbelievably skill underscored by the tragic end of the artist that's hard to ignore when listening to it. I wish he lived longer because he really could have had his own niche--soulful but raw, virtuosic but not academic, pretty but not vapid.
Alternates between: Funky, violent, groovy, mournful, cinematic, and bluesy. Like late-era Coltrane + Funk with 70’s instrumentation.
Busy, ornate, and well-produced. Ear-candy indie stuff. Personally, somewhat bloodless and empty in my opinion...it just doesn't stick with me.
Pure energy and vitriol unchanged by time.
Wide-ranging and really interesting listen throughout. Reminiscent of Nick Drake, but more ambitious and harder hitting.
Ambitious for any year, and it's frankly embarrassing I've never heard of it until now.
Peak Sinatra and as smooth as silk from start to finish. It's easy to see how this music and Frank himself became something of a lifestyle brand for a few decades--idealized romance and class.
Fun music with great melodies and groove to spare.
Epic and indulgent, ya know--Elton.
I'll admit it--I snoozed on this album the day this system presented it to me. Listening now, a day later, and I have to say it's great. Classic singer-songwriter music, but with surprisingly wide-ranging influences and overall a really fun listen.
Angular, raucous, righteous, feminist, and fully-formed straight out of the gate. A great first listen, and one of many to come I think.
Weird and wonderful. Very Beatles-esce .
Bluesy psych that mostly reminds me of “Rubber Soul”.
I've tried getting into this album a couple of times, and I've come to the conclusion that, for me, this is a more interesting album anthropologically than musically--or at least it is (as an America) out of the context of where and when it was made, and by whom.
Deep and wide and scary and charming.
Not a great album in terms of structure or when taken as a single work, but a really good collection of songs.
Greatest of all time, if music was a contest. Prescient and sharp almost 30 years later.
Obviously influential, but feels cheap and plastic compared to some of its progenitors.
Like living in a kick drum. Pure energy.
Pure skill: Otis, the backing band, the Stax production--all of it.
Buffalo Springfield rips--I don't know why I've slept on them for so long. Maybe because everything the members went on to do--besides Young--tends to be pretty "sleepy"? CSN/CSNY is technically excellent, to be sure, but I'm not often in the mood for that "Saturday morning with a cup of coffee" sort of music. This album is great though! The closing track "Broken Arrow" doesn't quite hit for me, but it's ambitious in a Beatles-esqe way I find charming. Like an America "A Day In The Life". Less Albert Hall, more Nashville Skyline.
What can you say about this album? Obviously influential, but not in its actual form except for a few exceptions in the mainstream. The most selling psych-rock album probably ever, but something of a dead-end in American music despite decades of enthusiasm about it.
One of the few live albums I've heard where the audience is just as much a part of the performance. The songs are great, Johnny's performance is charmingly flawed, but it's all about the atmosphere created by the little details: the inmate's reactions, Johnny's asides, and the warden's announcements.
Funky fresh, ya'll.
Instant atmosphere.
Maybe the most "album" Tom Waits album I've listened to so far, and there's some really great tunes on here too.
Great songs, great production.
Hippy disillusion in a folky stew.
I need to listen a couple more times to review the lyrics, etc... but it definitely sounds like something I would have been into in 2002. Still nice now, though!
Wow. I was really blown away by this one. A diverse album from an artist with seemingly endless talents. The apocalyptic "beyond skin" themes add a lot of gravity.
Bubbly, funky, joyous--instantly mood-altering stuff.
Gangster rap gone mainstream, and much of it still lands despite being something of a bridge between heritage acts of the late 70’s and Biggie, Tupac, etc... of the 90’s. I could do without the misogyny.
Bright and energetic britpop with a lot of songwriting chops on display.
Execution, vision, and funk--what's not to love?
In hindsight, probably Kanye's peak despite how good Yeezus and Life of Pablo were in parts.
Rhythm and jazz and hip-hop with such distinct world-view and atmosphere--really, really, really good.
Brutally honest lyrics and packaging that leaves little confusion about *exactly* what this album is about. I have no doubt repeated listens would draw out more details, but a double-album worth of mid-tempo R&B started to overstay its welcome for me.
Springsteen would be a legend just for this album, I swear. Can't-miss songwriting with its soul in the blues.
80's synth pop with an undercurrent of darkness and academic post-punk--ya know, New Order's whole thing.
In 1979?!? Nonstop action like a grindhouse film of music.
Big Star, but not. Excellent musicianship, good tunes, and immediately catchy at first listen. Power pop at its best.
I love electronic music in general, and Aphex Twin, Squarpusher, and Autechre in particular. That said, I found this album to be boring.
Pleasant, pleasant, pleasant.
Excellent tunes as always, and some of his best as well. "Adam Raised a Cain" still kicks.
More expansive and cinematic than I was expecting, and I'm pretty familiar with the singles off this album. The saxophone is arguably the lead instrument here, and there are some jazzy moments where it and the keyboardist can really shine. Bruce's lyrics are excellent and invoke a "working class" urgency: inspirational-via-the-gallows, a bleak sort of joy.
Definitely emblematic of where rock music was in '99, but maybe not what I'd pick from that era in such a tight list. More specifically, why "Make Yourself" and not "Hybrid Theory"? Similar nu-metal and hip-hop influences, but the latter is probably more indicative of music to come and overall more influential.
Like MBV and The Stone Roses had a baby. Really great, though.
The most I've ever liked the Pet Shop Boys, truthfully.
Cool as a cucumber, but maybe a bit bloodless for soul.
Great stuff for any year, let alone '99. The last three tracks in particular look forward to some of the more aggressive EDM to come.
Unbelievably skill underscored by the tragic end of the artist that's hard to ignore when listening to it. I wish he lived longer because he really could have had his own niche--soulful but raw, virtuosic but not academic, pretty but not vapid.
Ok sure. Not my cup of tea, but the guitar work is great (of course). The eponymous "Layla" is really the only thing that jumped out at me.
Raw power.
Wow, I totally underestimated this band. It's exactly what it is, and it's not like much else. Like a sophiti-pop album made by a folker with an unorthodox croon.
Really interesting, as ever for John. Worth the price of admission for the final track "Small Hours" alone.
Swagger and confidence.
"I Wanna Be Your Dog" and most of side B are great, but it's an uneven listen with some misses.
Beautiful music we all get to hear, seemingly made whether anyone was listening or not--and that's an uncommon thing. A late-career masterpiece with the intuitive confidence of a stellar debut. It's just a pity he didn't stick around to see how much everybody loved it.
Sharp and funky and emotional and cool all at the same time.
Pastoral and academic, but not inaccessible.
The interviews sprinkled into the mix add a sense of time and place. The music itself can be a bit forgettable at times, though.
Noise and madness with beauty mixed in.
Art punk made with professionalism but balanced with campy subject matters and surrealist lyrics. Too dumb to take it seriously, but that's how you get to make weird/great stuff.
About what you'd expect when these two get together, but that's not a bad thing. Firmly avant-garde.
Goth rock "back in the day". That organ, though.
Throw-back, but still fresh.
One of those live albums where not only is the "room" present, but a huge part of the captured experience. Great performance, and infectious to listen to.
Jingle jangle city, but it all goes down smooth.
Excellent, and it's amazing just how fresh it still sounds 52 years later. Then again, I'm a big fan of Squid and Shame who've raised the banner for this kind of music in the past year. Love it. Highly recommended.
Very interesting listen and one of my new favorites from this list so far. The sound of an accomplished songwriter...losing his mind.
Genre-agnostic music that can pull off soft-rock and progressive funk, often at the same time.
Virtuosic performances and good songs that stuck with me after just one listen--what's not to like? Maybe Brian's voice, but I like it.
Melodramatic and very ambitious.
A hypnotic album that sits at the end of one era and the beginning of the next, while remaining its own thing.
Lovely, lively listen.
Nice polyrythms, and a good listening experience overall. Aged well! Highlight: Pacific 202.
Highly atmospheric. Reminds me of a combination of MBV and The Cranberries, in a very good way.