332
Albums Rated
3.52
Average Rating
30%
Complete
757 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Post-punk
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
57
5-Star Albums
4
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Palo Congo
Sabu
|
5 | 2.69 | +2.31 |
|
Phaedra
Tangerine Dream
|
5 | 2.73 | +2.27 |
|
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Brian Eno
|
5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
|
Red Dirt Girl
Emmylou Harris
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
Out of Step
Minor Threat
|
5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
|
I Against I
Bad Brains
|
5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
|
Psychocandy
The Jesus And Mary Chain
|
5 | 2.94 | +2.06 |
|
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Small Faces
|
5 | 2.95 | +2.05 |
|
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
|
5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
|
Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts
The Adverts
|
5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
|
1 | 3.7 | -2.7 |
|
Aja
Steely Dan
|
1 | 3.46 | -2.46 |
|
Gold
Ryan Adams
|
1 | 2.84 | -1.84 |
|
Gold
Ryan Adams
|
1 | 2.84 | -1.84 |
|
Appetite For Destruction
Guns N' Roses
|
2 | 3.74 | -1.74 |
|
Dummy
Portishead
|
2 | 3.71 | -1.71 |
|
Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers
|
2 | 3.7 | -1.7 |
|
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
The Smashing Pumpkins
|
2 | 3.68 | -1.68 |
|
Out Of The Blue
Electric Light Orchestra
|
2 | 3.64 | -1.64 |
|
Machine Head
Deep Purple
|
2 | 3.59 | -1.59 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| David Bowie | 7 | 4.29 |
| The Smiths | 2 | 5 |
| The Pogues | 2 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 2 | 5 |
| Brian Eno | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Ryan Adams | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Ryan Adams | 1, 4, 1 |
5-Star Albums (57)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Fugazi
5/5
i made a mistake. i went and looked at some of the other reviews before i started writing my own. my original review probably wouldn't have said much, because it's impossible for me to be objective about this album.
but you know what, i was there for this - i saw it happen first-hand, and having read a bunch of people complaining that they sound like bands that came along after they did...kinda feels like i owe it to some random someone to put this out there.
this was one of many projects ian was involved with, and is a direct descendent of minor threat. ian invented straightedge. he refused to platy shows that cost more than $5 to get into, because he wanted everyone to be able to go to shows. (i have a theory about how this ended up working out as a win for venues. knowing they were gonna get slaughtered at the door, they loaded the bill as much as they could, with the idea of making back their losses on future shows with opening acts, whose names were now much better-known.) anyway, ian was a big deal, is what i'm saying - though he was not (and probably still isn't) super comfortable with the idea of being a big deal.
fugazi broke a bunch of rules musically, but they followed a bunch of others. they went into all kinds of improv live (as noted, i was there - at the channel in boston with 1200 other people sweating in leather and stomping in boots and reveling in the heat), and hell, the drummer (brendan canty) had a bell - like, kind of a big one - that he'd use in place of a cymbal sometimes.
but at the same time, they were a reflection of their time, so a lot of the lyrics are angry screaming. sorry, that's just how it was. i like it, but i'm a product of that time, too. songs can feel a little repetitive - but that really really works when you're on your skateboard across town for 45 minutes to get to your girlfriend's house. and it works when you're in the pit and just swimming in the sea of humanity that was one of their shows.
in short, this isn't an album that was meant to be on in the background while you write code - it's for going out and doing something in the world with. hit the ramp, hit the parking lot behind the grocery store and work on your power slides, climb a rock...whatever - just do a physical thing, and this album will feel more at home in your ears. if i'm wrong, i'll buy you a coke.
58 likes
The Jesus And Mary Chain
5/5
this must've been hard to understand in 1985. i love it. the howling proto-guitar-wash running underneath everything, the kinda holdover-from-punk-rock tone they have, all mixed with the super calm, almost dead vocals, make for a fantastic soup of noise and love. it's like if daniel ash went to sing with lou reed, and i love it.
21 likes
Metallica
5/5
i've been eyeing this one, too. fantastic album, and it takes me straight back to the days of bmx bikes and climbing cliffs and hanging out in sketchy attics with sketchy people. damage inc is an awesome way to cap off any album there is, too.
20 likes
Jacques Brel
4/5
boy, he really MEANT IT when he sang, huh? i love how crazy this sounds now - i wonder if it did then, too.
16 likes
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
oh man, have i been waiting for this one. this was my first introduction to them, in the fall of 1995. i was super-leet, working in a computer lab, shuttling around my newton and an internal hard drive in the pocket of my mechanic's jacket. i'd remove the drive from a computer in the lab & install mine, write my papers or whatever, then put it all back together and go back home. and read the collected sherlock holmes on the bus back & forth on my newton. this is another 7-star album for me.
14 likes
4-Star Albums (119)
1-Star Albums (4)
All Ratings
The Zombies
4/5
Pulp
4/5
thought i wouldn't care for it...turns out i do
Carole King
3/5
did not care for it, but that's a turning point of a record
The Smiths
5/5
David Bowie
3/5
Van Morrison
2/5
i just don't like van morrison, no matter how hard i try. he just sounds like his tongue is five sizes too big half the time.
Orange Juice
4/5
SO MUCH 80s
Steely Dan
1/5
i just really don't like steely dan. the drummer on this album (apparently bernard purdie) was excellent, but i just hate everything else about them.
The Clash
5/5
hells yeah
R.E.M.
3/5
Maxwell
3/5
i'm confused as to how the mid-90s produced such a mid-80s album. i am not a fan, but there's huge talent here.
Tangerine Dream
5/5
that was fantastic - and well ahead of its time. dreamy and ethereal - i loved it
Electric Light Orchestra
2/5
disco progrock is the best progrock?
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Stan Getz
5/5
HELL yeah, man. holy shit, this was so good.
Ryan Adams
1/5
dear lord, i hated that.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
nice to see a not-super-huge-hit record from them on here.
The xx
3/5
Cat Stevens
4/5
i don't love cat stevens, but that was pretty good.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
yeah, it was fine.
Mercury Rev
2/5
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
Fatboy Slim
3/5
The Youngbloods
3/5
pretty cool. OEM 1969 trippiness meets folksy jangly fun
Led Zeppelin
4/5
i could - and would - hate on robert plant's voice until the cows freeze over...but damn, man...bonham.
MGMT
3/5
interesting. not entirely my style, but interesting.
David Bowie
4/5
loved his cover of across the universe.
David Bowie
4/5
will always love life on mars
Paul Simon
4/5
that was great - i didn't realize so many good songs were all on one album
Saint Etienne
3/5
nice, but kind of forgettable in the end.
Small Faces
5/5
man, that was amazing. super cool, especially for 1968
CHIC
4/5
smoooooove bass on this album, man
Funkadelic
5/5
hoooooly shit. mind blowing all around.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
classic. silent night in particular was amazing
Spiritualized
4/5
surprisingly awesome
Dire Straits
5/5
unbelievably strong start, but it kinda lost me in the second half. i still loved this album, though.
Muddy Waters
4/5
damn, he's good. i still have only so much time for the blues, but that was a good album.
N.W.A.
4/5
damn, son.
Jurassic 5
4/5
some surprisingly smooove stuff on there
Minor Threat
5/5
i have been waiting so long for this album to come up in the rotation. fuck yes.
Guns N' Roses
2/5
it's just as bad as i remember it being. fuck, i hate axl rose.
Bob Dylan
4/5
that must've been amazing to hear in 1963. pretty awesome now.
Simply Red
2/5
ugh. i wanted to like that, i really did. but i didn't.
D'Angelo
2/5
dear lord am i glad that's over.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
super smooth, and what a picture of its time. i don't love it, but it's a great view into what things must've been like for the squares in 1967.
Tito Puente
5/5
hell yeah, man - that was just fantastic, and another super encapsulation of what that scene feels like it would've felt like...if you know what i mean.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Finley Quaye
3/5
ehhhhh...i mean...i dunno, i like the bass. not my style, but it's, you know, fine.
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
oh yeah...THAT song. (on a rope) i didn't like it then, and i don't like it now.
Soundgarden
3/5
yeah, i mean...i was there for the 90s. this is about how grunge sounded back then. nothing special about it, though, is the thing. just...there.
Ice Cube
4/5
always liked cube, plus chuck d and flav are an awesome surprise - wasn't expecting to see them here
Pretenders
3/5
definitely an example of the time - and one of those albums i feel like i should've liked more than i did. it was...you know, fine. but apart from Lovers of Today, nothing really jumped out at me
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
i love their refusal to jump on the bandwagon of the times, and instead just rip up some awesome bluesy rock & roll. fantastic album
Patti Smith
5/5
holy crap, can i give this 7 stars? so, so good, and what a great storyteller she is on top of the music
Sigur Rós
5/5
i absolutely love the ethereal dreaminess of the whole thing.
Metallica
5/5
i've been eyeing this one, too. fantastic album, and it takes me straight back to the days of bmx bikes and climbing cliffs and hanging out in sketchy attics with sketchy people. damage inc is an awesome way to cap off any album there is, too.
David Bowie
5/5
can i just say how happy i am that there are SO many bowie albums on this list? i will always love the title track - and don't tell anyone, but i may love the cover by oasis even more. i know, i'm not real proud of that, either.
Sugar
4/5
bob's cool and all, but i liked him much better with grant and greg. this album shows his melodic self, but i miss the raw passion and grit from the husker du days.
The Pogues
5/5
i will always love the pogues, especially in their earlier days. there's hardly a poet out there who measures up to shane, and i hope the music always hits me right in the heart. i still love rum, sodomy & the lash more than this one, but they're both 7-star albums in my book.
Eric Clapton
4/5
well, he's the man with the guitar. that was a great album, and what control and WHAT A SOUND on that thing. it's not an ultra favorite, but he's great.
3/5
she's got a fantastic voice, but her music in general just kinda leaves me a little cold.
Supergrass
4/5
i was surprised at how much i enjoyed this one. it was a nice blend of things i like: dreamy guitars, fuzzy guitars, punk-rock guitars...all kindsa good stuff. noe more album i likely wouldn't have given a second look without this list.
Manu Chao
4/5
this was great - like hearing nicola cruz for the first time, only with more languages!
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
it's not as lush or layered as exit planet dust, and i still don't like block rockin', but there were more tracks i did end up liking than i'd expected to find.
Eagles
3/5
the title track's legendary status is deserved. the rest of the album just feels like exposed chest hair, wide collars, gold chains, and feathered hair. like a bunch of other albums in this list, it just screams of its time. for me, in this case, it's not something i love.
The Cardigans
4/5
oh, THAT's the cardigans. yeah, got it. i do love her voice, and the giant hit of theirs was actually ok to hear again - i guess it's been long enough. they're better than i'd expected
The Rolling Stones
3/5
under my thumb is fantastic, and always will be...but i just don't love the stones. i think it's mick. he's just always felt kinda sleazy to me, ever since i was a kid. i'd probably like them better if i'd been older when i first heard them.
Os Mutantes
3/5
this started out strong, but then just kinda...dragged on a little. which is weird, because it's only 36 minutes. it was very go-go, and super cool over all, but not my favorite thing.
Pulp
3/5
i'm going to have to look up the meaning of the titl, because by my current understanding, there is no definition of hardcore that this actually is. that said, it was fun enough to hang out with, for sure.
Talk Talk
3/5
sometimes reminds me of roxy music, but it doesn't really come close to that level of musical genius. it's fine, just a little repetitive, i guess, for my tastes.
Coldplay
3/5
i'm slightly surprised at not actively wanting to die having listened to this whole thing. i still don't like them much, but this is was more or less ok.
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
oh man, have i been waiting for this one. this was my first introduction to them, in the fall of 1995. i was super-leet, working in a computer lab, shuttling around my newton and an internal hard drive in the pocket of my mechanic's jacket. i'd remove the drive from a computer in the lab & install mine, write my papers or whatever, then put it all back together and go back home. and read the collected sherlock holmes on the bus back & forth on my newton. this is another 7-star album for me.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
good ol' j. mascis. i hadn't realized lou barlow and he started out together - neet!
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
an absolute classic.
Doves
3/5
i started out pretty interested in this, thinking hey, here's something i've completely missed! i ended up pretty uninterested, thinking hmm, this feels more & more like coldplay...
Al Green
4/5
hell yeah, man. another great snapshot of its time - plus It Ain't No Fun to Me is a fantastic track, and a perfect way to close out this album.
Stephen Stills
3/5
loved The Treasure - that was a nice surprise, for sure. another great snapshot of its time
Green Day
3/5
i definitely had a phase where i liked their early stuff - fun, melodic punky stuff. at some point, i realized they'd really only written one song (i'm in love, and she doesn't know i exist), and that kinda did me in. this album was sort of a watered-down version of all of that. melodic enough, but ultimately pretty boring. plus i've come to think billie joe's a bit of a tool
Portishead
2/5
i wanted to like this. i wanted enough time to have passed since 1995 when i was hearing that damn song all the time. i wanted to find something here beyond what there was. i was disappointed on all fronts.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
i mean, sure. why not.
Oasis
2/5
oh god, why
The Velvet Underground
4/5
love me some lou reed
Jimmy Smith
5/5
i'd never heard of mr jimmy or this album before - i'm super glad it's on this list, though. what a fantastic album. smooth & hoppin', all at once!
Lambchop
2/5
me at the beginning: oh, this is interesting
me 3 tracks in: this fuckin' guy
i did like the final track, though - butcher boy. that was alright
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
i can't hear them now without seeing peaky blinders in my mind. this is not a bad thing. i also never really realized how much his voice sounds like richard thompson's.
James Brown
5/5
that was one intense performance - he just never stopped that whole way through. amazing, and an awesome album as well.
Grateful Dead
5/5
i've never loooooved the dead. i appreciate them as well as i can, and i definitely have fond memories with people who did loooooooove the dead, but it's never been for me. that said, this was a great album, and i will always always love ripple.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
5/5
holy cow...this was another snapshot of its time, and it's honestly from an era i didn't love...but i do love this album. the music was great, of course, but also just hearing the friendship among these folks in between takes - that was fantastic.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
track one is strongly reminiscent of The Big Pink, who i love. track 2 is much more talking heads...who i also love. at one point, i swear heard devo in there somewhere. first track was definitely a winner, as was the last (which was amazing!), but overall i really appreciated the diversity of sound on this one.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
yeah, that's a great album. i remember sitting in my friend dan's living room in like 7th grade with a tape recorder, repeatedly recording and speeding up the slowed-down bit at the beginning of Third Stone until we could understand it. i was surprised at how much i liked both Love Or Confusion and May This Be Love
Emmylou Harris
5/5
i've been waiting for this one to come around...had it on fairly heavy rotation back around '03 or so, then hadn't given it much thought. it's just as good now as it was then - like emmylou herself, this album doesn't seem to age. it's not that it ages well, it's that it just doesn't get any older with time. love it.
Janet Jackson
3/5
another snapshot of its time. i'm not sure i really liked it, or that i ever really cared for janet - but boy, did her producers work hard on this one! overall, not for me, but her talent is easy to spot.
Bert Jansch
4/5
super cool, and kind of interestingly timeless. it certainly doesn't feel like anything i'd think of from an album from 1964. i really like that - and this is gonna sound maybe kinda pretentious, but here goes - it sounds like he's playing on old strings. like, on a lot of albums you can just about smell the new nickel, but these just sound like whatever he had on - no super tinny highs, not ultra-clean or anything, just a great warm sound.
Dizzee Rascal
4/5
so, it turns out i like grime a lot more than i thought i would. pretty nice.
Otis Redding
4/5
that was just awesome. what a voice, and what a view into its time.
Green Day
3/5
man, i just don't know...i still think he's a bit of a tool. and while this album is closer to what i used to like about them, it's just...not.
Michael Jackson
3/5
i'm still not sure i really care for michael. this was ok, but it ultimately just leaves me cold.
The Crusaders
3/5
i don't think i'd ever heard of them before this, but i thought this album was pretty ok. spotify, as it does, kept playing when i was over, and the first track was Look Beyond The Hill, from The 2nd Crusade - and that was AWESOME.
Bad Brains
5/5
this is a classic album that i'm betting gets low scores globally. but i fucking love it - they were unlike anything else happening at the time, and holy shit, were they something. i got to see them at the channel in boston, back in the early 90s!
Dolly Parton
4/5
nice to hear dolly in what i take to be her prime - she's still going strong, but 'merican culture in 1970 was primed and ready for her music. it's not really my thing, but she does sing like a bird
Todd Rundgren
2/5
i already knew this, but i really just don't care for todd rundgren.
Sisters Of Mercy
5/5
i knew this album at the time, though not that well. i remembered loving some tracks, but didn't know others at all. on the whole, i loved this one, especially This Corrosion, which just burns
T. Rex
4/5
well, that was some t. rex for sure. i have the opposite of a soft spot in my heard for Get It On, because i hated the Power Station cover, and it was all over V66 back in the day, and i could not escape it. but man, they were something, huh?
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
i'm loving hearing how these early stereo albums discovered how to work with 2 channels. i'm not a huge fan overall, but the jack casady's bass work on this album is terriffic.
Ryan Adams
4/5
well, i didn't like the other album on the list, but this one struck me quite differently.
Elliott Smith
3/5
i remember when he died, and a lot of people were really broken up about it, but i didn't know anything about him, so i felt bad for not feeling bad. i get that he had some massive talent, but this one just kinda left me cold.
Pixies
4/5
this came after i'd stopped listening to them, though i was aware of it at the time. i still liked it, especially the last track (havalina) - that was a nice surprise
Kate Bush
3/5
this was a nice change. once again, not a huuuge fan of her work, but the title track in particular was really surprising. i liked it, but i was also ready for it to be over when it ended.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
this one gets a big 'meh' from me.
ABBA
2/5
kinda feel like the less said about this one, the better.
PJ Harvey
3/5
i like PJ, but this one kinda missed me. the first track that made me turn and look to see what it was...was the first one that played after the album was finished.
The Modern Lovers
4/5
well, this isn't fair, because jonathan richman is a bit of a hometown hero, and the state's favorite song appears on this album twice...but yeah, i liked it. strongly reminiscent, unsurprisingly, of the velvet underground, but still its own thing.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
i'm just a sucker for dreamy, ethereal guitars and vocals to match. this was great.
Beastie Boys
4/5
yeah, that's about what i remember - takes me back, for sure. less baggage about the hangers-on now than i had back then, which is nice.
The Coral
2/5
fun at first, but this one really dropped off. it just got kinda boring.
Eagles
2/5
well, it's over, and that's a plus. three hits everyone of a certain age has heard a million times over, plus a bunch of filler that just kinda sits there. not for me, but someone must love this album.
Paul Simon
5/5
hard to be objective about this one, since i've always loved it. i loved his up-yours by working with a black group from south africa during apartheit; i loved the music in general, and i honestly loved the swahili in particular. i spent the better part of a week reading along with the lyrics until i knew the intro Diamonds by heart.
Van Morrison
4/5
i oscillate between thinking he's annoying and really respecting his music. this one is pretty solidly respectable.
Steve Earle
4/5
well, it certainly doesn't sound like anything i remember from 1985. i really like how out-of-time it is, in fact.
Prince
3/5
i thought for a long time that i didn't like prince. i'm pretty sure this album was the reason.
The Smashing Pumpkins
2/5
well, that was a bit of a slog. nothing on this entire album really grabbed my attention, which is a bit of a surprise, considering i generally liked their earlier work.
Eminem
3/5
glad i finally sat through this, and it's funny to think of the uproar when it came out.
Laura Nyro
2/5
i'm glad i survived that. i do not believe i would have enjoyed that particular part of 1968. i doubt i would've felt the need to be shouted at in that way.
Method Man
2/5
cool. i like the idea more than the reality. i do remember liking wu-tang, but this didn't do it for me nearly as much as i'd hoped.
Prefab Sprout
3/5
omg, SOOO 1985. that was not a particularly good year for music, as i recall. not a favorite.
Television
3/5
was never really into them back in the day, though i knew they were around. one track stood out, the rest were interesting enough, but didn't really grab me.
Supertramp
3/5
oh, right (bloody well right!)...THAT album. nice to hear the rest of it beyond just that one single.
Q-Tip
3/5
i like his style in general, but didn't love this album.
Orbital
4/5
i liked this a lot more now than i did back in like '96 when i first heard it. it's held up very well.
The Cure
4/5
this was not on my radar, despite my admiration for the cure. it was great to hear, and honestly, it was great to have an excuse to listen to something besides disintegration by them, that kinda being my go-to
Metallica
3/5
sure. why not. was this groundbreaking in 1999? i'm not sure. the juxtaposition wasn't actually all that interesting, which is too bad, because this should have been a mind-blowing album.
Shack
3/5
this one was kinda sadly forgettable. i was psyched because i'd never heard of them, and they were from liverpool, which just seems like a good thing...Streets of Kenny was great, but nothing else really stood out here to me.
Nick Drake
4/5
nick is amazing. it's weird that we kind of almost forgot about him, and then he reappeared and now people know his work again.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
peace love and understanding! oliver's army! and...honestly, not much else really leapt out at me, which is weird.
The Blue Nile
4/5
it wasn't mediocre, but it wasn't my favorite. i'd never heard of them, and was apprehensive - but ultimately, i enjoyed this one.
Nirvana
4/5
it's impossible for me to be objective about this album. it was the one that changed everything, yes - but also, everything was going to change no matter what, and this was kinda just the one that happened to be there at the right time. i did learn to play this entire album back in the day, but i also got intolerably tired of hearing it.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
this one missed me. a couple of tracks were definitely worth another listen, but i kinda always felt like this particular slice of ny hip hop was just not for me. a whole lot of showboating, but the flow just wasn't there. maybe it was just how it was at the time, but in the end, i didn't love this one.
Gang Starr
4/5
and, for whatever reason, i liked this one way more than Ready To Die, which was yesterday's pick. just felt right
Kate Bush
2/5
i'm sure she's a perfectly lovely human being, but dear lord do i hate kate bush's music. i've just never ever liked it, and this album in particular was just hard to get through.
Jacques Brel
4/5
boy, he really MEANT IT when he sang, huh? i love how crazy this sounds now - i wonder if it did then, too.
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
i keep hoping he'll cover dead skunk. that would be hilarious. i've always loved the art teacher - it's so raw, which is such a contrast to the rest of this album.
Billy Joel
3/5
boy, that guy sure can whistle. i really don't care for his music, though i'm sure he is also a very nice person. this MAY help me to learn the difference between him and elton john. the fact that i have never really been able to tell is something i am neither proud nor ashamed of.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
it's unfortunate that the music he made solo came at a time in music history where music overall was so unpleasant. i wanted to like this, but i just don't. never liked the title track, never REALLY cared for jet...and everything else wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me.
Deerhunter
4/5
this was wholly unexpected - i'd never heard the name before, and while i immediately liked the album name, that was all i knew. i really love this album - i love the prodigious reverb, i love the weird repetitions, i love the vocal style...i'm genuinely surprised and delighted
Slint
2/5
i remember playing this on my radio show back in about 1993 or so. it was a request. i didn't care for it then, and i don't care for it now. like, go take some vitamin c or something, guys. fuck's sake.
Jethro Tull
3/5
i thought this would take me right back - it didn't, but i was kind of ok with that, too. ian anderson is an interesting songwriter, for sure.
Radiohead
3/5
this was my first time hearing this entire album - in fact, it may've been my first time hearing any of the tracks from it at all. i do enjoy just how different they are from everything else going on around them.
Queen
3/5
man, i was really hoping God Save the Queen was going to be a Sex Pistols cover. i do realize that would've required a time machine, but honestly, i think it would've been worth the effort.
Johnny Cash
5/5
i don't believe there's much to be said here. it's johnny fucking cash at folsom fucking prison, with june fucking carter. to whom, if my chronology isn't way off, he was not yet married - so we witnessed it all, very raw, and very real. i also particularly loved that they didn't cut out the warden's(?) announcements, and what i believe was them slapping johnny in cuffs at the end.
Metallica
4/5
i knew this one, but not as well as others. i like it less than master of puppets, for whatever that's worth.
Talking Heads
4/5
what an awesome look at their early days. i've always loved covers, and take me to the river is no exception. (al green!)
Thin Lizzy
5/5
yeah, that was kinda fucking awesome. i have kinda mixed feelings about them overall, but that must've been one hell of a live show. also, huey freakin' lewis on harmonica! that's a fun surprise
Black Sabbath
5/5
so, of course i knew OF sabbath - but i really never listened to them. i'd somehow heard Changes before, but that was it - except for supernaut, which is a) easily my favorite on this album, and b) humorously, the least-played track, according to spotify.
anyway, this one was so good, i went back and listened to it again, just to be sure. and yeah, it held up. amazing.
Minutemen
4/5
that was a lot of fun. this is another band i knew of, but whose music i never really crossed paths with, somehow. it was a great look at early-mid eighties punkity-rock
The Only Ones
3/5
that was interesting, for sure. i'd never heard of them, and my immediate reaction was to think the violent femmes had released a VERY early album. i liked it overall, although it kind of wore on as it went.
B.B. King
5/5
too short by half! i mean, it's bb king, live, in 1965. i could've listened to a LOT more of that. i mean...damn
Brian Eno
5/5
i particularly loved The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch, which is almost the least-played track on this album, according to spotify. i thought it was one of the best, along with Here Come The Warm Jets, and Baby's On Fire. TL;DR: enough is cool.
Supergrass
3/5
yeah, that was alright. missed them at the time, and like with I Should Coco, i don't think i would've given this one much of a shot - but i enjoyed it overall, for sure.
Hugh Masekela
5/5
another i'd never heard of, and would totally have missed - but holy cow, does this album RIP. there's a lot to love here, but i especially liked the panning of the drums at the very end of the last track. it was the best kind of unnecessary.
OutKast
4/5
wait, hang on. i like an outkast album? which way is up?? but srsly...yeah, this is was really good. he's got a far better flow than i'd expected from his one massive hit. super tight, and not being utterly misogynistic is a plus, too.
Bad Company
2/5
honestly, that was just boring. i'm sure in its time, it was fine, but...it just conjures visions of budweiser in pull-tab cans, and a bunch of stupid people standing around thinking they're deep.
it's possible i'm projecting a little here.
Liz Phair
3/5
yeah, this was fine. i didn't much care for her music back then, and i really don't now, although i absolutely love her unwillingness (at least on this album, i've never met her or anything) to take absolutely no shit whatsoever.
Suede
4/5
genuinely enjoyed this - such a nice change for 1994. glad to have encountered it
Blur
3/5
fuck, do i hate that song. though, weirdly, the rest of the album is actually pretty good. never thought i'd say that about blur, but here we are.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
dear god, do i not like them. well, i think it's anthony i don't like - flea is, of course, incredible, as is chad. but jesus, this was hard to get through.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
i have such mixed feelings about this one. she was such a mess that it really put me off at the time...but that voice, and that sound, and her uncompromising writing...it's hard to be objective, is what i'm saying. but yeah, i like this quite a lot in the end, even though i don't think i care for the picture i have of her in my mind.
Mike Ladd
4/5
this was surprisingly good. i especially liked the last track (Feb 4 '99), which was an interesting and powerful departure from the rest of the album, but still totally fit.
George Michael
2/5
i groaned inwardly when i saw this come up. i can deal with freedom, but christ, that's about all. incredible voice, though.
The Cars
4/5
this feels like it would've been a revelation in 1978 - i didn't realize it'd been out for that long. even the less well-known tracks here were strong. plus, you know, hometown heroes!
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
had never heard this album - and i may well have heard of these guys, but gotten them mixed up with saigon kick, which would most certainly have tainted my view of them. good to have that cleared up. this was fun - and super cool that these guys are finns, to boot.
Dennis Wilson
3/5
well, that was all over the place. double album, styles galore...weird. i'm not sure what else to feel about this one, other than that it seemed like it could've been maybe 4 different albums, but homeboy only had a deal for one or something.
Fairport Convention
5/5
i was surprised the first time i heard them and realized i really really liked them. i hadn't thought i would, but here we are. this album is no exception - i really enjoyed it, especially the droning, washing guitar. huge soft spot for richard thomson after vincent black lightning.
Sabu
5/5
holy crap, fucking amazing. super swinging' and stuff. i love the sweet syncopated rhythms, and the panning of, say, a guitar all the way to the right - which usually annoys me - is more fun than anything here.
Pink Floyd
5/5
this is another album that's very difficult to be even remotely objective about. it came into my life at a time that should be impossible to be nostalgic about, but somehow this album makes it not only possible, but inevitable. also, knowing the bookend tracks are all about syd really gives the whole thing weight. plus, the title track - every guitarist learns that opening at some point, i'm sure. this album is of its time, but timeless.
Primal Scream
3/5
sometimes it's lush and dreamy, sometimes it's blippy...sometimes it's melodic, sometimes it's grindy. i should like this more than i do, based on that alone. but i just didn't, not all that much. Star and Long Life are cool tracks, though.
Happy Mondays
2/5
didn't like them then, don't like them now. Dennis and Lois was a cool track. the rest can go jump in a lake.
Basement Jaxx
2/5
i think 1999 was just a pretty tough year for music in general. someone uploaded something by them to my (super totally rad, btw) free mp3 server back then, and i almost deleted it as soon as i heard it. this album, and the passing of 20+ years, has not changed that assessment.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
some things i love: the bass - great tone, and man, can that guy rip. the liverpool/merseyside stuff - totally a personal thing, but liverpool is definitely special in my world, so hearing that accent was awesome. the rest of the album was a great snapshot of pop music in 1984, for sure. also, the contemporaneous cover of Born To Run! never heard it before, but it totally rocks.
Roni Size
3/5
i feel like this one suffers from the general musical malaise of the late 90s...but it's still interesting, in its way. it holds on hard to the old jungle beats - from back when that term wasn't as problematic as it is now - which i enjoy, since it's such an insect-in-amber thing. but overall, it's just not for me. didn't like it then, don't really care about it now.
The Shamen
3/5
i've tried so hard to like these guys. they have one track that's an absolute standout for me (destination eschaton - all-time favorite, no question), but no matter where i look, i only find that track is just unlike most of their work. this album was fine, don't get me wrong - and a huge statement for 1990, for sure - but it really wasn't what i love about them.
Marilyn Manson
2/5
...it was better when trent reznor did it back in the late 80s. except the stuff that sounded like kyuss, which was better when kyuss did it. still, it did kind of grow on me by the end, but i was also not sorry to see the end of this one. hard to say whether this was genuinely boring, or if i'm just bitter because it was the next generation's fun instead of my own.
Ice T
4/5
this was great, even if i got a little tired of it by the end. the amount of cultural change t represented, and helped bring about, is hard to comprehend - but it was real, and that legacy is important. i got to see him w/bodycount in 1992 or so, and although i didn't care much one way or the other back then, i'm glad i got to be there for it.
Baaba Maal
4/5
this was a lot of fun. i definitely have a weird soft spot for african rhythms, which this of course lit right up. overall, quite enjoyable.
Pearl Jam
4/5
i'm sure i would've liked this more at the time if it hadn't been for the fan club. not wanting to be associated with assholes kept me from giving this much of a chance back then - i'd never listened to the whole thing, for example - although i knew about half the tracks. which is kind of amazing, really: that's a lot of tracks getting a lot of airplay for one album. eddie's voice is as awesome as i remember, and i still love the floating guitar and fuzzy bass. but christ, for all that, just the memory of a thousand shitheads wearing pearl jam shirts and backwards baseball caps, man...dickheads, (almost) all of 'em.
Jamiroquai
2/5
seems like if i liked them, i'd REALLY like this. as it happens, though, i would appear not to like them very much at all. i managed to dodge them in the 90s, and i come away from this album feeling like i didn't miss out on much. that said, the bassist is awesome; their recapturing of the late-70s daytime tv vibe is impressive, though it makes my skin crawl a bit; parts of this album remind me very much of stevie wonder, which is impressive...but overall, it just misses me. it's SO produced, so sterile in the end.
The Everly Brothers
3/5
well, once again, i was not there then, but this feels to me like the squeaky-clean idea i have of the early 60s. it was fun, and definitely cool to see where nazareth got their one big hit from. always fun to find a new cover, especially when, like here, i didn't know it was a cover in the first place.
Radiohead
4/5
this was fun. i've never really been into them, but not for any particular reason. i first heard high and dry as a cover by jamie cullum (which is amazing, btw), so it was cool to hear the original in context. also, hearing my iron lung made me desperately wish that they'd cover the killing moon by echo & the bunnymen. the intro is sooo similar, and it just screams to me that their cover would be incredible.
Richard Hawley
3/5
this one's easier to be objective about, since i'd never heard of him at all, despite pretty clearly remembering being alive when it was released. it was an interesting mix of tracks i did not care for one bit, and a couple i found really nice. great voice, and of course the one standout track for me was the one that got the least play on that album (according to spotify) - which tells me i probably don't really like his overall style that much. but I Sleep Alone was a great one, just sayin'.
4/5
well, this is another one that was over too soon. i knew about X, of course, being a punkity-rock kid back in the day - but they were a little before my time, and i didn't really come to them until later. i love the aggressive attack on the guitar, the almost brutal uncaring in exene's voice...just great punk rock.
John Coltrane
5/5
this is another one i've been looking forward to coming up in the rotation. i know My Favorite Things very well, but this one hardly at all - until now! because, helpfully, the entire thing is here twice, and some of it 3x. so that's cool - i appreciate the efficiency story there.
the complexity of this whole album is just mind-blowing. simple beats building to ridiculous rhythms, and coltrane's sax just climbing the walls...except when he hauls back hard on that line and manages to restrain it - but you know that thing just wants to wail for all it's worth, and when it does, there's nothing like it.
The Adverts
5/5
i dunno what to say about this one. i love the adverts, and have since i got my copy of burning ambitions, and heard gary gilmore's eyes for the first time. sooo...having it appear twice on this album was awesome, and the whole thing made me happy.
MC Solaar
5/5
well, shit - that was fantastic. i had a friend in college who was french, and for his final recording project, he produced a track of him rapping in french - and it was amazing! the tape was stuck in my friend's car, so every time we'd go anywhere, all we'd hear was georges screaming away.
so this album of course reminds me of that, which is fantastic - but obviously it also stands on its own. the flow is so tight, you'd think he couldn't get any faster and harder after about the third track...but then raga jam comes up, and you fall over. super happy i got to hear this.
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
jesus, for its time, this must have been huge. my closest approach to this music so far has been through early beatles' records, so hearing it direct has been awesome.
his commentary on whole lotta shakin' becomes a little uncomfortable considering he was married to his cousin when this was recorded - although i suppose she was legal by then. sigh.
anyway, i still honestly don't think i like him much, but as i say, it feels like, in the late 50s and early 60s, the way he played that piano must have been a revelation.
Madonna
3/5
well, this happened. i wasn't particularly looking forward to it, honestly, and i guess i'm glad it's done with. her music occupies a complicated place for me - on the one hand, i was born to kinda hate it. on the other hand, in the late 90s, that became a lot harder to do all of a sudden. i assumed at the time that i'd been hit on the head and just didn't remember it.
anyway, in the late 80s, the music was a lot less my speed - though Oh Father is an interesting preview of what was to come later on. that interesting chord progression in the chorus is fun, and the sheer power of her voice really comes through there in a way it doesn't on, say, the title track.
(by the way, i strongly recommend looking up the cover by Bigod 20 of Like a Prayer - it's just do deliciously unexpected.)
Blur
4/5
this was more fun than their self-titled album...which was also surprisingly not-bad - you know, apart from That One Song. there were a few times i was surprisingly reminded of some of the early punk rockers & new wavers (title track kinda reminds me of madness; Bank Holiday basically screams oi oi oi; and Jubilee sounds a lot like Bingo Master's Breakout, by The Fall). i also genuinely liked the closing track's mishmash of goofy british seaside kitsch with a beatles nod pasted in there for good measure.
Sly & The Family Stone
2/5
i have an old friend who's really into these guys. we are more different than i'd thought.
i mean, overall, this was, you know, fine. Everyday People will always be catchy, so there's that. and i didn't realize until just now that body count was covering these guys - i remember seeing them do Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey at the first lotsalosers back in '91, and although i only ever heard it that one time (until i got to the body count album in this list), it stayed with me all this time. thing is, that was ice-t, not these guys.
this album feels ahead of its time, based on what i know of music from 1969 - the thing is, i don't really love that funky disco thing that happened in the 70s, sooo...yeah. this one really isn't for me.
Wild Beasts
2/5
i really wanted to like this. i'd never heard of them, and was psyched for something new and interesting coming from the comparatively-recent past. that feeling lasted approximately halfway into the first track. by the last third, i found myself wondering when the last time was that i'd been actively angry at an album. i thought i'd found some relief at one point, but when i looked up, i saw that, in fact, this album had ended, and spotify had moved on to its suggested plays.
in short, i did not like this. which is a shame, because i generally love spacey, reverb-ridden guitars, and i genuinely loved the beginning of the first track...but then homeboy's singing started, and that was kind of the end of it for me.
Buck Owens
4/5
well, i was predisposed to liking this purely because buck shows up in that creedence song. pretty sure i'd heard SOMEthing by him before, but i couldn't tell you what. it was largely what i would've expected...EXCEPT i had absolutely no idea that my favorite johnny rivers song was his (memphis), or that the beatles covered act naturally - i thought that was theirs from the start. so that was a super cool discovery.
Beck
2/5
never really cared for him then, don't REALLY care for him now. ramshackle was cool enough, but overall...kinda just meh for me.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
well, this was a surprise, for sure. when i was a kid, i was definitely a beatles guy, rather than a stones guy. i - at the ripe old age of like 7 - had decided mick was just kinda sleazy - and that stayed with me for a loooong time. anyway, that impression helped me to never really love their music.
but there are definitely songs of theirs i do love, and i've found some new ones for that list on this album. moonlight mile, bitch, and you gotta move - all tracks i'd never heard, even though brown sugar had been played into oblivion (and did little to change my picture of mick). once again, the tracks that i love get the least play on the album, which makes me think i'm probably not a huge fan of their overall sound.
but speaking of sound, holy shit keith richards, man. it's not just that he can play that thing, the sound he gets out of it is amazing. i'm re-committing myself to leaving a better world behind when i go, for him and willie nelson to inherit.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
that was one hell of a way to bust onto the scene. i knew of these guys back in the day, and had heard (and liked) some, but not a ton, of their stuff. it was great to be able to just flow through this one.
i really liked this one, despite having basically zero legit connection to hip hop and the surrounding culture.
The Verve
4/5
well, i am definitely a sucker for dreamy guitars, as i believe i've mentioned in other reviews. this album delivers those in heaps, which i super appreciate. closing track is easily my favorite, though i found i liked a surprising number of others on this album.
i of course only knew of them through their massive late-90s hit, which i did actually love, but please don't tell anyone that. i ended up feeling like this album gave me permission to love that track, and probably a lot more by them.
i think the real takeaway here is that i'm a fan of northern england in general. that seems to be a running theme.
Kanye West
2/5
well, i'm glad this one's over. full disclosure: i've never cared for kanye. i'm sure this was super influential in its time, but christ is this guy a jackass. i suspect he's always been a jackass, and we're just seeing more of it now.
i did love, just about a year after this album came out, when he went off-book during the fundraiser for katrina. his callout was spot-on, even if his delivery was kinda...dumb. but then just a few years later he hops up on stage to talk about how amazing beyonce is, and says god told him to do it..and then whatever happened after that.
i did like school spirit. that was fun. but of course, it was a bit of a departure from the rest of the album. sigh.
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
this one took a really long time to get through...in part because i was busy, in part because it was long (as suggested by the name), and in part because i wasn't sooooper motivated to keep coming back to it.
overall, this wasn't bad. his vocal range is impressive, and what he does with it is fun. and i definitely appreciate the idea of doing this as an art piece...but, man, was it a lot to get through for something i didn't absolutely love.
Little Richard
3/5
hell of a voice, and a ton of energy. must've been a hell of a thing to witness back in his time. hard to get past the caricature we i have of him in my mind.
ABBA
3/5
this one's another meh-it's-fine album for me. i did rather like when the A*Teens covered the shit out of abba in the late 90s; that felt like a bit of an improvement, to be honest.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
they're always good fun. plus, you know, soft spot for liverpool. humorously enough, of the maybe four humans i know in liverpool, one's cousin dated les pattinson back in the day. also, down by the liverpool docks, there's an echo & the bunnymen superlambanana, which is awesome in every way.
anyway, i like this album plenty. great sound for 1980, and definitely a taste of what was coming from them.
The Gun Club
3/5
this was cool, but sadly forgettable. i listened maybe an hour ago, and haven't heard anything else since...and i couldn't tell you one thing or use about this album. that's too bad, because i have a vague recollection of liking something about it, but i have no idea now what it might've been.
Elliott Smith
3/5
i never really cared for his music one way or another - i'd never heard anything by him before he died, and while i'm definitely sorry he's gone, his music just doesn't do much for me. maybe one day that'll change, but for now, this just wasn't that interesting to me.
Shuggie Otis
3/5
maybe i've just been having an off day. week. whatever. it just seems like i haven't come across anything that's really grabbed me lately. this album, apart from the closing track, is really no exception - i remember the time (roughly) when it came out, and i don't miss it.
that last track, though...that was actually really awesome.
k.d. lang
4/5
i'd forgotten how sweet and how powerful her voice is. this was a joy to hear, even thought i don't really love the music - it was a definite throwback to a time that's pretty much lost, when country music could be lonely and soulful, and not just cheap beer and cheap flags.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
zep was kinda overplayed by the time i came to hear them on my own. by the time i was working in kitchens, i was getting tired of them...and by the time i was done working in kitchens, i was pretty much done with them. (and aerosmith, for that matter, but that's another review.)
that said...man, as a debut - as your first time hearing of these new kids from engerland, the opening seconds of the opening track of their first album (which was also their first single) really set the stage. there's that hard attack of page's guitar, jones' intertwining bassline, plant's vocals, whose style really never wavered, and of course bonham's stumbling over the kick drum's pedals that make you think you must've heard wrong...only you haven't, and that's really how he can play those things, and who IS this guy?
i'm sure i've mentioned elsewhere i don't love them - overplayed, as i say, and the fan club by the late 80s was made up of...well, let's just say we were mutually exclusive. but this album, while i still don't love it, really says a lot about where they were going later on. plus, you know, bonham. jeezus, that guy.
The Allman Brothers Band
3/5
they're great guitarists, and they get incredible sound from them. i've liked a lot of their stuff, and whipping post is on that list, for sure. and seriously, that gentle fuzz on the guitars is just soothing to hear.
but this album just missed me. i quite liked stormy monday, and sure, it's fun to hear them rock out on the last 2 tracks, but overall, this just didn't grab me - which is a shame, because i always kinda thought if i just sat down and gave them a serious listen, i'd really love these guys. maybe it'll happen on another album.
Tom Waits
4/5
this was a great one. i knew his music a bit from back in the day (i used to close every edition of my radio show with I Don't Want To Grow Up - fun!), but this was an album i'd completely missed until today.
jersey girl was an obvious standout, but i also really liked a few of the other less-played tracks. it's nice having an album that has a cohesive sound, but that doesn't all sound like the same song 14 times in a row.
plus, you know, that raw, desperate sound he's got - and which, as near as i can make out, has never changed. he's somehow never found his salvation over all these years, but he's also never slipped from the edge.
Jungle Brothers
3/5
this started off strong, but got a little...boring as we went along. i did quite like needs on a string, and the closing track was fun - but the rest of it kinda just blurred into a mass of (ahead-of-its-time) 90s hip hop.
but that closing track...it sent me off looking for the sample they used (the coasters' shoppin' for clothes), because i'd heard it before, in the incredible track by barry adamson called hip no therapy. you should go check it out. totally worth hearing.
The Human League
4/5
as with so many other albums on this list, this one was a distinct moment in time. it happens that this was a moment i was there for, and remember pretty well. i didn't know what any of it meant at the time, but i was very happy to hear disco's influence fading, and to see whatever new wave was going to bring. it felt, in the best possible way, like living in the future - and a future that was full of possibility and all that stuff, even if it knew it was a weird future.
that said, love action was a nice surprise. i'm sure i've heard it any number of times, but this was the first time i really paid attention. seconds was a good surprise, too. and naturally, the big hit is always cool to hear.
Solomon Burke
4/5
album name checks out. it promises both rock and soul, and that is exactly what it delivers - there's some great old-school rock & roll, and there are some tracks just dripping with the man's naked soul.
given what was about to happen in american music at the time it was released, with the british invasion just starting to get properly underway, this album must've felt like a holdover from a time whose time was passing. i'm glad it managed to hang on, though, because it's a great view into the maturing of bluesy rock, and the beginnings of proper soul, all in one.
New Order
4/5
this was fun. interesting to hear them holding on to the 80s sound as the 90s so rapidly approached.
1989 was, as i recall, a tough year for pop music. things were about to change, but hadn't yet...and in that time of waiting, almost everything just sounded kinda tired and bored. this album doesn't suffer from that nearly so much as others of the same age, but you can just hear the need for something - anything - to break loose.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
5/5
this must've been hard to understand in 1985. i love it. the howling proto-guitar-wash running underneath everything, the kinda holdover-from-punk-rock tone they have, all mixed with the super calm, almost dead vocals, make for a fantastic soup of noise and love. it's like if daniel ash went to sing with lou reed, and i love it.
Metallica
3/5
i remember when this album came out - it was this huge thing, The Black Album. i just kinda didn't care much, and i'm not sure i care much more now. in fairness, i have always loved enter sandman, but honestly, that's because of the bosstones' cover of it.
i do continue to appreciate lars' precision when playing slow, and james' voice and guitar sound are great, etc. but really, as metallica albums go, i could take this one or leave it, which makes me a little sad.
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
man...i just don't know about this one. i never actually cared for clapton all that much, is the thing. i do still love the ending of layla, but that's in part because it's NOTHING LIKE the rest of clapton's work.
which, to me, has always kind of sounded like a white man ripping off the black bluesmen of the south - and that's unfortunate, because his talent is undeniable. i just...don't like him. and honestly, as of pandemic times, it's a lot harder to like him as a human than it ever has been.
i guess maybe he actually did sell his soul to rock & roll.
Deep Purple
2/5
i'm just gonna say it. i almost hated this. not quite, but it was close. and it's not JUST because i've heard smoke on the water as much as anyone else has - i just don't give a fuck about this kinda proto-wank-metal. sorry?
Muddy Waters
5/5
i couldn't tell you why, but i enjoyed this one more than the other muddy waters album on this list.
in case this escapes anyone's notice...damn, he's good.
Talking Heads
4/5
well, like all good art, this makes me think. and by the end of this album, i'm thinking about music's long tradition of borrowing rhythms and flavors from other traditions, and it makes me wonder...in our current heightened state of cultural sensitivity, what would happen if a skinny white dude tried to bring traditional african beats and tone into his music. what if he worked with the spiritual heirs of fela kuti, would that be better? and if it was ok today...how far ahead do we have to look to see that tradition of borrowing as some kind of uncool appropriation?
because this album - and in fairness, like, all of rock, benefits greatly from the legacy of africa and africa's often-unwilling footprint on The West...where we count europe - or at least england - as being somehow meaningfully west of africa.
anyway, i like to think this album could be made today - especially by someone with david byrne's cultural gravitas. but what if it was some unknown nyc art-rocker? if it's not problematic now, does that borrowing become a problem in the future? i really hope not, because art in general needs that cross-pollination, or it withers. i hope we can get this figured out.
Billie Holiday
4/5
i never know what to say about billie. her voice is incredible, and it annoys me. her vocal melodies are intriguing, and i get bored with them after a while.
one thing i'm definitely sure about: i do not like that orchestral thing happening on this album. i'm sure there was a time when it was just the thing, but to me, those flutes just sound like they're supposed to be bluebirds in an overly-sweetened cartoon. the strings are supposed to be a velvety backdrop, but they just end up feeling, to my ear, like they're filling time until the brass comes back from break. it all just feels too over the top.
that said, this is billie freakin' holiday. we don't say bad things about billy freakin' holiday. there's never been a voice like hers since. even if it bothers me after a while.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
i'll always love his voice, but this album kinda just left me feeling like i'd heard it a hundred times, when i'm pretty sure i'd never heard it before. it wasn't boring, it was just...there.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
this was fun, and a really welcome change. also, those guys can PLAY. i appreciate the legacy, but i definitely feel like i'm missing something not having seen the movie.
The The
4/5
well, that was...i dunno, fine? i remember back in the late 80s, i had a boss who really liked them, in particular that johnny marr was on whatever album he was listening to. but that wasn't to happen for years yet.
anyway, i liked this. it ended up just being kinda a background soundtrack while i worked, but for that it was just fine.
Can
4/5
huge surprise here. i'd never heard of them, and yet they were reborn in the late 90s in the form of Air.
i've found myself saying this a lot, but i really enjoyed that final track - i guess that was a thing, to throw out some truly ridiculous stuff right at the close of the album. never really thought about it, but now that i am, of course it was a thing. anyway, it's a fun one, and i'm still having trouble believing this album came from 1973. we really did just recycle a lot of the stuff from our collective youth, i suppose, in the 90s...we brought back disco in the form of techno, the vw beetle in the form of the vw beetle...and the influence of the light, airy feel of this album persists across the feathered hair of the 80s, all the way into the 'retro' instagram filters of the moment.
it's like they found a wormhole, and somehow lived on both sides of it at once.
Screaming Trees
4/5
i enjoyed this a lot more than i'd expected to. i'm pretty sure that if i'd had any interest in straight-up rock & roll back in '96, i would've loved this album then. as it happens, i did not, and as a result, i heard it for the first time only today.
i feel like i should have something deep to say about this, but i just don't. it was fun, in a way i was unable to appreciate at the time, but i quite enjoyed hearing it now. Look At You was a fun surprise in a fun overall landscape. good times!
Sly & The Family Stone
2/5
well, this wasn't a riot at all. it wasn't funny OR violent...it was just super 70s funky.
only...i still didn't like it. i don't know what else to say, besides that i don't seem to like them very much in general.
Simple Minds
2/5
i must be having a bad day or something, because i thought i was gonna like this, and i just didn't care. it was another album that faded into the background, and i only really noticed when it was over and the style changed as whatever next track came up.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
1/5
christ, do i hate neil young. it's probably nothing personal - i mean, i don't know the guy, but if i did, maybe it would be personal - but gah...that voice has grated on me since i was a kid.
guitar sounds great, wish he wouldn't sing.
the 87-part harmony thing is also cool and all, but damn does it get old.
i'm definitely having a bad day. ordinarily, i'm sure i'd hate this less. i'm sure it's important in the history of music and all, but i just can't get past how little i like hearing the sounds it makes in my ears.
i also do not like joni mitchell, and i do not like the song she wrote about wishing she was at woodstock.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
pure, smooth, and beautiful. real soul. i'd heard some, but not all, of this album before this, and i'm glad i got to sit through the whole thing.
Beatles
5/5
i'm not sure the beatles would ever get less than 5 stars from me. anything i could say about them would doubtless be redundant, so i'll just remain thankful they found each other, and grateful for the music they've left us.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
jesus, how fuckin' gone was this guy? (i looked him up after i wrote that...pretty fuckin' gone, i guess.)
this was a rhythmically interesting album, which at times bordered on rhythmically challenging. and melodically challenging. but it ultimately won me over simply because it seemed so genuine, and not just the stoned ramblings of some egotist.
Lana Del Rey
4/5
this was more fun than i'd expected. i wasn't familiar at all, and i was honestly expecting some kinda lame pop-bubblegum whatever, but that's not what this album is.
Thelonious Monk
5/5
damn, man...why do the awesome ones have to be so short? i'm not sure i've ever heard a monk album i didn't come to love. this one didn't take long - the guy was gone, but holy crap could he play.
Prince
4/5
i never really cared for prince while he was alive. there's still something about his music that puts me off, but christ, his talent is undeniable, innit?
Lou Reed
4/5
i've always liked you reed, but i've never really been super familiar with his work, apart from the big stuff. i think i may've liked VU better than his solo stuff, but...well, this was still pretty cool
Aretha Franklin
4/5
the name is as apt as i've ever seen.
there's a lot to love on this album, and i love all of it. i only hope aretha's legacy is as big as her passion.
AC/DC
3/5
honestly, i was never a huge fan of AC/DC, but i get the appeal. by my recollection of 1979, this would've fit right in. feels like a solid representation of the time, like a lot of other albums on this list.
5/5
fuck yeah, man. i don't think i've ever sat down and listened to this whole album all the way through. obviously i'd heard the big tracks, but definitely not some of the others.
it's hard to overstate the admiration i have for the man's talent. he truly never got old, even when he was making music i didn't much care for.
Fugazi
5/5
i made a mistake. i went and looked at some of the other reviews before i started writing my own. my original review probably wouldn't have said much, because it's impossible for me to be objective about this album.
but you know what, i was there for this - i saw it happen first-hand, and having read a bunch of people complaining that they sound like bands that came along after they did...kinda feels like i owe it to some random someone to put this out there.
this was one of many projects ian was involved with, and is a direct descendent of minor threat. ian invented straightedge. he refused to platy shows that cost more than $5 to get into, because he wanted everyone to be able to go to shows. (i have a theory about how this ended up working out as a win for venues. knowing they were gonna get slaughtered at the door, they loaded the bill as much as they could, with the idea of making back their losses on future shows with opening acts, whose names were now much better-known.) anyway, ian was a big deal, is what i'm saying - though he was not (and probably still isn't) super comfortable with the idea of being a big deal.
fugazi broke a bunch of rules musically, but they followed a bunch of others. they went into all kinds of improv live (as noted, i was there - at the channel in boston with 1200 other people sweating in leather and stomping in boots and reveling in the heat), and hell, the drummer (brendan canty) had a bell - like, kind of a big one - that he'd use in place of a cymbal sometimes.
but at the same time, they were a reflection of their time, so a lot of the lyrics are angry screaming. sorry, that's just how it was. i like it, but i'm a product of that time, too. songs can feel a little repetitive - but that really really works when you're on your skateboard across town for 45 minutes to get to your girlfriend's house. and it works when you're in the pit and just swimming in the sea of humanity that was one of their shows.
in short, this isn't an album that was meant to be on in the background while you write code - it's for going out and doing something in the world with. hit the ramp, hit the parking lot behind the grocery store and work on your power slides, climb a rock...whatever - just do a physical thing, and this album will feel more at home in your ears. if i'm wrong, i'll buy you a coke.
Gotan Project
3/5
i'm sure this is interesting to someone. i did not find it to be terribly compelling, but i think that's just a matter of personal taste.
Frank Black
2/5
this was, y'know, fine. i liked him better as a pixie, but honestly, i didn't even like him that much then either. interesting for its time, in that there wasn't much that sounded like this - but it still, more or less fails to inspire overall
Daft Punk
3/5
plenty of fun. i was never really into them - i don't dislike them, just never really managed to care much either way.
in terms of beep-beep-zip-zip albums from 1997...if you made me choose, i'd go with vegas, by the crystal method, over this one any day. for comparison: https://open.spotify.com/album/1PJxfEx1v3rdvmd4mBwPDt
R.E.M.
3/5
i remember this being a huge deal when it was current. and yet again, at the time, i just couldn't bring myself to care about it. michael's voice - while rich in character - has always just kind of grated on me after a while. back then, it was a less nuanced discussion: rem was not punk rock, and therefore of no interest.
anyway, listening now, i still feel like i'm supposed to like this - supposed to find some genius buried in the lyrics, some hidden swing in peter's guitar, or in bill & mike's rhythm - but it just feels flat to me. it's just kinda late-80's rock & roll, which is fine, but it doesn't move the earth under me. everything being Right. On. The. Beat, track after track, just makes it feel so...white.
that said, i've always liked worksong, and king of birds has a vibe i really enjoy - so that's been a nice surprise.
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
the standout track for me was bless my soul - as for the rest of this album, i honestly found it pretty unremarkable. like, it ended and i didn't notice for maybe 4 tracks that we'd moved on to other artists.
i also went back just now and re-listened to bless my soul, and feel like standout may be too strong a word.
probably, i am not high enough to enjoy this properly. that said, if i were looking for an album to properly enjoy while thoroughly baked, i would have to get through a *lot* of others before i came to this one.
Neil Young
2/5
so, here's the thing. i just can't really stand neil young. his voice has annoyed me since the first time i heard it, and while he can play the guitar, and he definitely gets a great sound out of it, that's just not enough to get me past how f'ing annoying his voice is, and how frankly boring i find this album.
i wish i could like him - or maybe i feel like i should - but i just...don't, and i probably never will.
Madonna
3/5
i have always secretly loved the title track. don't tell anyone. i remember thinking when this album came out that it was cool seeing her move with the times - she'd been an 80s pop icon, then shifted in the early 90s, and then here she was again in the late 90s working in all that new-fangled techno stuff.
it's also always funny to me how The Olds remember her from the early days & see how she pushed boundaries & conversations about women and their collective place/role in culture...but The Youngs tend to see her as kind of a washed-up tart.
i really don't love her music, but it's very much worth understanding the degree to which she changed the conversation back in the day.
Joan Baez
2/5
good lord, do i hate joan baez.
that said, i've always loved wildwood flower, though i generally prefer mike ness' version - or maybe anyone's - over joan's. see: https://open.spotify.com/track/7gMx2U4OEJsgvYbsSRVjvh
and donna donna has a kind of a weird place in my heart because of a long-ago relationship with a woman who sang it kind of a lot. i'd never heard it before or since, so it was nice to finally know what the hell it was.
apart from that, and i know it's not her fault...i just hate this album, i hate everything i've ever heard by her, and i more or less can't stand her in general. i mean, i assume she's a very nice person, so i guess i should really say i can't stand her voice, her music, or her annoyingly soulful guitar.
in the interest of gender-fairness, if you were to look over my other reviews, you'd see me hating just about anyone whose music sounds like hers. just wanted to say that part out loud.
Donald Fagen
2/5
well, i made it. 38:52 of the whitest music i ever thought i'd hear. so white it mocks you. it never deviates from the beat, it never swings, it's somehow always on the 1 and 3, even when it's on the 2 and 4 - i don't know how this music manages that, honestly.
i get that it's technically fantastic, but where is its soul? i don't necessarily mean soul like soul music, just...like there's no THERE there, it's just diminished ninths and super clean cymbal hits. i imagine this album is a studio engineer's dream, but lordy, i wasn't sure i was gonna make it through this one.
#neveragain #whitestkidsuknow #survivor
The Damned
5/5
just a fantastic album. early punk rockers, here in the thick of it. love song will always be a classic, of course, but liar is a nice surprise tucked in there.
if you like this and want more like it, i recommend Burning Ambitions, an awesome compilation from the early days of punkity-rock.
part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFN4ygMH0rw
part 2: xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytvAZYbz1QM
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
today was a huge deal when it came out, and it's a pretty good song, as is disarm; mayonnaise is the winner off this one for me, though.
as a personal disclaimer, i am now and have always been a huge sucker for dreamy vocals and crunchy-washy guitars...which is, of course, their whole sound.
that said...i've always kinda thought billy was just a bit of a tool, which makes it harder to really love their music.
...but this is still pretty durn good.
The Auteurs
4/5
yet another album i feel i should've enjoyed more than i actually did. i wish i had something to say about it. at one point, a song came on that got my attention; it was by some other artist, because this album had finished and spotify just grabbed whatever and played it, and that's how i knew it was over.
on the other hand, the harmonies can be unexpectedly delicate, the guitar work is surprisingly compelling, and i honestly love homeboy's voice. it's just...somehow, despite all that, this one just kinda missed me. i'm giving it 4 because i feel like the problem this time around was me.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
i will preface this by stating that, from a young age, i never really cared for the stones. i was a beatles kid all the way - they were just _nice_, y'know? whereas mick & co just kinda seemed kinda more seedy, which i didn't so much care for back then. couple decades later, i feel like i've heard everything they have to say on various job sites, and i don't ever need to hear them again.
but then somewhere in between, i heard a couple of covers of their work, and i thought i should try harder to appreciate them. i had...some success, but not a ton. i don't think i'll ever be their biggest fan, is what i'm saying.
all that on board, here's the thing: shelter is a classic for a reason; can't always get? same. let it bleed - amazing. and to have done it all in '69? huge. the love i don't have for them isn't their fault, is what i'm saying - i just happened to have been born in a place & time where they were just kinda...there.
The Incredible String Band
3/5
two tracks in: this is hilarious! were they *trying* to be funny, or did it just happen?
four tracks in: nnooo....i don't think they were joking...
eight tracks in: christ, how was there enough acid in the world back then to let them write this??
end of the album: jeebus, glad that's over.
i assume, for the right audience, this was some kind of mind-blowing experience - for me, it just felt like listening to a caricature. i suspect this is one of those times when, not having been there for it, i just can't understand it in the context of its time.
Khaled
3/5
this is a pleasant surprise. i saw the name and for a minute thought i was going to have to subject myself to dj khaled - so immediately relieved when that wasn't true. AND i also like a lot of what i'm hearing, so...bonus for me.
i have a thing for covers - always have - so i was psyched to see imagine here. then it started, and i was no longer psyched. i very much like the arabic spin on the song. i do not like the schmaltzy strings - they can go die in a fire. so that was a let-down, but whatevs. the rest of the album is a lot more fun.
overall, as i say, a nice surprise.
David Bowie
4/5
his music has always kinda either grabbed me or missed me entirely; no in-between. but even the stuff i don't care for is amazing, even if it's not to my taste. this album is great, though, from start to finish.
The Young Gods
4/5
well, THAT was fun...late-80s french industrial? yes please! easy comparisons: nitzer ebb & front 242.
overall just a lot of fun.
The Doors
2/5
i just hate the doors. always have, probably always will. i feel like i should like them, but i don't. i'm sure this album is just fine if you like jim morrison's whining.
my one and only fun fact relating to this album: one day back in the early 00's, out of nowhere rod stewart followed me on twitter. i have no idea why, but when i checked a good while later, he was still following.
apart from that, the only experience i have with rod stewart is distinctly not liking his music. so this has been fun.
on the other hand, i have a thing for covers - and i have always loved the song memphis, which i knew via johnny rivers (see: https://open.spotify.com/track/5QqdnAVnNCfWp9CZ3pi5a0). the original is, of course, also fantastic: https://open.spotify.com/track/3UYtylPa55RqHS1YDGZoLs
and...ok, fine, the guitar tone on that's all you need is pretty damn nice. i am a sucker that growly slide thing, and homey rips it up on that track
but i still don't like rod stewart, dammit.
Willie Nelson
3/5
i like covers in general. i do not like that saccharine sweet smarmy thing that happened in the 70s. i have no real opinion on willie's music.
but...i also have a super soft spot for jimmy druante - and even though september song isn't his, he's how i came to know it. and willie's version is pretty alright, gotta say.
but...i also kinda hate what he did with moonlight in vermont. so there's that.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
frank is one of those guys whose whole vibe, while perfectly encapsulating the era - somehow both a product of the time and a driver of it - just...isn't so much for me.
his voice is just about perfect, and i can absolutely see myself, had i been born a 60s suburbanite housewife, swooning over it. but...i wasn't born to that life, and in my own world, that whole thing, of lounge singers, and the pack, and vegas and whatever else...it just edges riiight up against that 70s smarm that just rubs me the wrong way.
that said, this album is an easy way to pass the time, and it's hard to find real fault, beyond it just being for someone who isn't me.
XTC
4/5
there are a couple of tracks off this album i've always liked - predictably enough, dear god and earn enough for us - while the rest of it, though plenty good enough, kinda just melds into the audio wash that was 1986 for me.
still, i like it
The Smiths
5/5
this will always be a favorite. it doesn't have some of my all-time top smiths tracks, but that doesn't matter - it's as much of a time capsule of 1986, complete and whole in itself, as skylarking, by xtc, is at times forgettable in its 1986-ness
Antony and the Johnsons
2/5
liveblogging this one...
track 1 - oh god, THAT's why i know this name. i can't stand this guy's voice...and i've got another 32 minutes left. at least it's a short album
track 2 - oh god
track 3 - oh god
track 4 - oh god
track 5 - is it over yet?
track 6 - is that rufus wainwright? (as it happens, yes)
track 7 - lou fucking reed??
track 8 - oh god, there are two of them now? (in fairness, i do kinda like devendra banhart, but...i mean, come on...)
track 9 - oh god
track 10 - this is different, at least
aaaanndd...that's a wrap. the best thing about this album was its length. for me, the worst thing was probably everything else. i know he'll have his fans, but i am clearly not one of them, and as much as i try to keep an open mind about this kinda thing...i just can't get past the fact that i hate his voice with a passion that lives and breathes, and will undoubtedly outlive me. sorry, anthony.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
it's a little weird to hear the pet shop boys happening in the 90s. not bad weird, just...weird.
the cover of go west is kinda hilarious
Goldie
2/5
i don't love d&b to begin with, and i double don't love mid-90s d&b. it just more or less completely fails to please the ear (extra points if you recognize those words!).
as mid-90s drum & bass goes, this was...y'know, fine. but i'll likely never love it, barring some large-scale alteration of brain chemistry
2Pac
4/5
i'm white as hell, and while i never really cared much one way or the other about cali gangsta rap, i've always kinda loved pac. go figure.
this is another fun time capsule, in that it feels like it could only have happened then and there - there's just no other time or place that would've produced this.
but also, death around the corner goes HARD
Travis
3/5
i should like this. there's no reason i should not like it. it's perfectly inoffensive, and generally nice enough to hear...and i kind of don't like it at all - maybe for that reason. i had it on while i was working, and when i came back here to review it, realized i had just about no memory of anything on it.
it just...didn't make an impression. on the one hand, that's definitely the mark of an album that's not awful (see: anthony & the johnsons' i am a bird now), but it's very much also not the mark of a great (or even noticeably good) album
Aerosmith
3/5
i'm from boston, so am therefore biased, but i have to confess to having a soft spot for these guys. this isn't what i'd call outstanding, and it can feel a bit dated - and for sure it's gonna feel cheesy at times - but it's not bad, either
Radiohead
3/5
i know some people think every album by these guys is another work of pure genius. i've never understood why - not that i don't like them, i just don't get what the big deal is about. so, if you're one of those people, well...a) prepare to be disappointed by this review, but also b) i'd love to hear from you about why i'm wrong.
this album was, you know, fine. that's...kinda all i've got to say about it.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
dear god, do i hate joni mitchell.
the synth on shadows and light was cool, i guess.
The Who
3/5
i'm sure this was an important album, but...most days i just don't care all that much for that way-out early-60s sound (think pet sounds - another seminal album that i just more or less completely fail to appreciate).
i give this one a solid meh.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
jesus, what i'd give to have been able to see these guys back in the day. atomic is the right word for this one - it just swings, right out of the gate, and never stops. even on slower songs, there's just so much soul in this recording. holy crap, is this good
Air
3/5
i've always kinda loved air. by which i mean, a few of their tracks absolutely floor me, and the rest i tend to find kinda meh. sooo...on i guess average, i _kinda_ love them.
this album does nothing to change that. it falls, for me, solidly in the "y'know, fine" category. easy to have on but, to my ears, not in any way really outstanding.
Various Artists
3/5
honestly, i had no idea phil spector sounded so much like david sedaris.
like...uncanny.
anyway, buncha old-school christmas music. not bad at all - and certainly it's cool to hear a little more directly, as it were, from a person who had such an impact on literally decades' worth of music
Sufjan Stevens
3/5
i've spent time, on and off, in this state, and in the big city in particular. most of it i liked well enough at the time.
the song chicago is easy to like, of course - and oh boy was i surprised, seeing the name of the very next track on the album, that THIS guy, of all people, was covering big black (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erquHwc8f0c). i must confess to feeling slightly disappointed to learn it was a different song entirely.
anyway, this one gets another...y'know, fine.
Nina Simone
4/5
she's very impressive, both as an artist, and as an activist. my problem is that i've just never liked her style of music, which makes it hard to love this album. still, i'm trying to.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
i suspect i will always love elvis in a particular 80's kinda way. i don't have a lot to say about this one, unfortunately, except to point out the purity of his voice, especially at a time when pitch correction just wasn't a thing. last track is a standout in my book.
Buzzcocks
5/5
love these guys - and i double love that fast cars sets out to fool you into thinking it's actually boredom. but it's not - it's a LIE! it's a big, punk-rock LIE - HA!
...also, moving away from the pulsebeat is a fantastic jam.
William Orbit
4/5
this was a lot of fun. i missed out on señor orbit in general, and this album in particular, in its time - i was listening to helmet, and the pogues, and embrace, and dag nasty, and and and - but i really liked it, hearing it now. for better or worse, i don't recall a single track really standing out, but i was surprisingly ok with that in the end. it's a nice slice of 1993, and one that i was never gonna experience at the time.
Aphex Twin
5/5
if, hypothetically speaking, one were to have run an mp3 server back in the late-ish 90s, which might later have been found to be using 1% of one's university's ENTIRE bandwidth...and if onto that server, someone were to have uploaded track 1 off this album (xtal) - and if you'd known of mj. james' work, but hadn't really been all that into it, and then heard that track for the first time, and hearing it changed your whole perception of him as an artist and later helped you understand just how ahead of his time he actually was...well then, hearing it again all these years later would certainly bring back some memories.
hypothetically.
also, the rest of the album is also pretty damn amazing, too.
Pink Floyd
5/5
this will probably always get 5 stars from me - we found each other, as is probably the case with a lot of folks, at a time when this album was something i sorely needed. mumble-mumble years later, i guess our relationship has evolved, but i still remember every single word, every fucking beat.
if you've never heard this album before, be on the lookout for another brick in the wall, and comfortably numb - these will most likely be the ones that stick, and may draw you back in for a closer look. and if you've got a couple hours to kill, the movie is definitely worth a watch. it stands on its own, but is also a fantastic way to witness the story the album tells.
by the way, if you ARE just hearing this for the first time, this was a concept album, designed to tell a single story, start to finish - so expect a bit of a wash, the tracks blending one into another, but also watch for the characters, and watch for the thread of the story. it's worth digging for, promise.
Tori Amos
4/5
this was its own little earthquake when it came out - she was so different, so unashamed and unafraid, and it was awesome. i've probably never actually listened to the entire album in its entirety until now, and...yeah, it was fun. a nice look at the slice of time it's from, and a pretty cool preview, if you happen to know ani and alanis are on their way *right* behind her
Elton John
3/5
see, the thing is...i just hate elton john. i mean, not as a person - i'm sure he's quite nice - it's just that i've never, ever been able to stand his music for very long. the big hits remain annoyingly overly familiar, even after not having heard them for decades - and probably never having *willingly* heard them. i will say jamaica jerk-off was pretty funny, though
Beyoncé
3/5
this was really interesting. i don't love it, but that's just my subjective taste. what's not subjective is the overarching story of perseverance and grit, which makes this pretty easy to respect, even if, as i say, i don't love it
Michael Jackson
4/5
i had this on vinyl - got it in like '83 for my birthday or christmas or something - and i had 100% forgotten just how many of the tracks on it were so utterly forgettable.
i did have the entire vincent price monologue committed to memory, and totally loved billy jean and beat it (didn't realize till WAY later that that was eddie on guitar!), but like...the girl is mine? i'm sure i didn't care for it at the time, because it made zero lasting impression.
sir paul will always be sir paul, but i'd put money on there being an entire generation of us who collectively feel wings was a terrible mistake - his collabs of the early 80s (like this one) just ended up feeling at the time like a weird plea for relevance.
anyway, i wanted a red leather jacket with ALL THE ZIPPERS sooo bad - and i have a distinct memory of being blown away by alfonso ribeiro breakin' along with michael...probably around the time michael set his head on fire. weird time, right?
oh, and human nature is still pretty rad
X-Ray Spex
5/5
i first heard x-ray spex on a compilation called burning ambitions - which you should check out, incidentally. identity was their track on that comp, and as anyone who's ever heard them knows, polly's voice is unmistakable - and the way she kicks off that track is guaranteed to get anyone's attention.
polly's daughter celeste is a filmmaker - and when polly died, celeste was sorta taken aback at the sheer number of these old punks who came outta the woodwork to remember her mom. so she decided she was going to make a documentary about her, and she launched a kickstarter to fund it. i knew nothing of any of this until i got a call from an old friend.
my friend called up in like august asking if i could get to london in october. i don't live in the uk, and didn't have a passport at the time, but when he told me why, nothing was going to keep me away. i made all the preparations and met him there.
it turns out that one of the rewards for backing at whatever level was a guided walking tour of the early punk scene, led by celeste, seeing all sorts of places where the spex had played, learning about Dirty Old London, and ultimately just kinda hanging out and making friends with the dozen or so other folks who'd go along for the ride. my friend had two tickets, and for whatever reason, called me.
so far, none of this is a review - it's just me spouting off about walking around london. (it was great, for whatever that's worth.) so here it is: this is an awesome album, but as you can see, i'm a wee bit biased. the spex will always have a special place, and on top of that, they came into my world at a time when i really needed music like theirs. the fairest thing i can say about this album is, it's not like anything you've heard before, and in the best possible way. just...go do it. maybe you hate her voice - maybe you hate their jangly guitars, who knows - but maybe you'll love them. and if you don't know their music yet, and you like things that are outside the everyday...this is a great place to go next, promise.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
never really cared one way or another about these guys. apparently, i still don't. this was, y'know, some music. solid meh.
Deee-Lite
2/5
these guys' label had an office, for some reason, in the tiny town i grew up in. one day in 1990 they came in to do some kinda bidness, and were widely spotted cruising around town in their painted-up vw microbus. that evening, i was cruising on my trusty skateboard, with my trusty punk-rock leather jacket, when they came past, honking their vw microbus horn in some sort of 90s alt-kid celebration or whatever. i gave them the finger - actually, both fingers - and kept skating. i didn't care then whether they touched themselves (i know, i know, but they might as well have been the same group), or where the goddamn groove was: to a late-80s/early-90s punk rocker, their presence on mtv was enough for me to not care about them...their actual music just made it easier to give them the finger.
so now we're...what, 35 years later? i still don't care about them, and having listened, for the first time, to this entire album, i still don't care about it, either.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
when my family doesn't listen to me, the running joke - stolen from the young ones - is that i may as well be a leonard cohen album. in fairness to him, i have liked two of his songs: hallelujah, of course, and the future. sadly, for him at least, literally everything else of his that i've encountered to date i have not cared for one bit.
this entire album falls into that category: i just don't care about it, and really don't need to hear it again.
except...except what was that baseline at the beginning of lady midnight?? hang on, i know that...back up, let's hear that again...ok, got it. now let's go listen to the beginning of the staunton lick by lemon jelly...amazing. so, they didn't actually sample it, or at least, not from this recording...but that is *exactly* the same line, right up until the last couple notes of the phrase. neat!
TL;DR: i don't like this one, and also i am a dork.
The Pogues
5/5
this album will get 5 stars from me every day. i don't exactly remember the first time i heard it, but i remember the time, if that makes sense. i was probably 19, and while i knew of them, i don't think i'd really heard anything by them until then. and for some folks, there's a clear line between when you don't love the pogues and when you do - that summer was the line for me, and i'm glad to be on the other side of it. i mean, just try to imagine a world where shane's poetry never happened, or where spider stacy never played the tin whistle on sally maclennane...we'd all be the lesser for it.
anyway, if it should happen that you've never heard anything - or anything much - by the pogues, congratulations! you get to experience them for the first time, and that's an amazing day. this album is a fantastic starting point - it's got a little of everything. the opening two tracks tell you, in no uncertain terms, exactly what you're in for: sometimes slow, sometimes mournful, sometimes absolutely jumpin' - but always beautiful, always something unexpected, and always with something to tell you, a message just for you.
i've gone on quite a bit now, so let's wrap this up. old main drag will make you sad. dirty old town will make you nod knowingly, even if you've somehow never seen a town like that. brown eyes will somehow make you remember the first world war as if you'd been there, and then make you sad. a man you don't meet every day will make you fall in love with cait. sally will make you wanna dance, and then make you sad. and if you make it all the way to the end, you'll be so numb by the time you make it to matilda you won't even notice how sad it makes you.
and yet, somehow, it is not a sad album. it's just...irish, y'know? sadness kinda comes with the territory
The Rolling Stones
4/5
in the great debate of stones vs beatles, i've always come down beatles. mick always came across as a bit sleazy to me, which really rubbed me the wrong way as a kid. on the other hand, i did always love sympathy...and damn, what a track to lead off any album with. and then a bit later we get jigsaw...then some unexpectedly awesome blues in the stray cat - and salt of the earth veering straight into gospel as a finisher...pretty incredible.
i still don't really care for mick...but this was a great album
Fugees
4/5
i didn't think i'd like this album very much. i was wrong - i did like it, and kind of a lot.
it must say something about me that the tracks i liked best were both covers, but it's honestly strong start to finish. you don't have to love hiphop to appreciate this album, though i'm sure that helps.
Brian Eno
5/5
this came out in 1981??
i think this is the first of his albums i've actually sat down and listened to, and after 4 rounds of it, i'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that release date. this was honestly so far ahead of its time it's almost impossible to believe eno doesn't have a time machine tucked away in his studio somewhere.
america is waiting sounds like it could easily be a talking heads track, which places it solidly in its own timeframe - but mea culpa, the very next cut on the album, sounds at times like it's channeling autechre, or maybe skylab, directly from about 15 years in the future. and throughout the whole adventure, the whole audio collage thing they're doing here just screams negativland, who incidentally achieved incredible underground fame 10 years after this album with their release of the u2 7".
i understood eno's impact on music was pretty significant. i did not understand the degree to which he really was seeing the future.
in short: incredible.
and now, if you'll excuse me, i have really an awful lot of brian eno albums to get caught up on
John Prine
4/5
some rapidfire thoughts:
wonder how willie nelson feels about his voice being borrowed like this
a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes...holy shit, what a line
ha - your flag decal STILL won't get you into heaven
angel from montgomery - holy shit, this could've been released anytime between then and now and still find an adoring audience
for an album that doesn't explicitly mention vietnam, this whole thing sure does speak to those folks who went over there more or less against their will.
Aerosmith
3/5
i suspect, but cannot prove, that the time most people first encounter aerosmith is around 7th or 8th grade. this is kind of perfect, because for the most part their music has about an 8th grade mentality - very fitting.
i knew a couple of these tracks because they showed up on their greatest hits - which i discovered in, of course, about 7th grade. i can see why the others weren't included - they're, y'know, fine, they just don't really stand out all that much.
overall, i'm just glad this was a quick album
Leftfield
4/5
i was totally stoked to see this come up - i had this on cd way back in the day when cds were a thing, and while i've always liked it, i hadn't actually heard it in a buncha years. always nice to visit an old friend
Miriam Makeba
4/5
i'm not sure how to describe this album, really, except to say it was...sweet. it was just a really nice taste of the music of 1960's south africa - not to mention how cool it is to hear the xhosa language
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
this really came out in 1975? i had no idea - i mean, the title track was still getting pretty regular airplay 10 years later.
after the 80s, i'd kinda written off the boss, but sometime in the 90s, i remember seeing a clip about making the video for the song streets of philadelphia, and that really changed my mind about him.
for anyone who didn't live through the 80s and 90s, it's hard to convey the pervading fear that was AIDS - the movie philadelphia was kind of a huge moment in cultural understanding of the disease. at the time, homosexuality, especially male homosexuality, was still largely looked down on (there are always exceptions, of course), and the disease itself was a death sentence. i mean that literally: in that time, if you were diagnosed with HIV, it was only a matter of time until it developed into AIDS, and once that happened, it was only a matter of time until you died. no survivors, only people who hadn't died of it yet. so when the movie came out, it was a huge deal - and when tom hanks got the oscar for his role in it, his wearing a red ribbon to the awards show got a lot of attention, and marked a (perhaps small, but real) cultural turning point. springsteen did the soundtrack album for the movie, which is how we got here.
so, in the video, he's walking down a literal street in philly, only he refused to lip-sync for it - he insisted on recording his vocals live, for real, as he walked. so the production team gave him an earpiece to hear the playback, and they hid a for-the-time tiny mic in the scarf he was wearing, and his vocal track, at least in the video, was actually him singing for real as he walked.
i honestly don't know why that made such an impression, but it really did - it wasn't an artist just being a dink, yelling about being given the wrong brand of water on set or whatever, it was this guy, who's always been the working-class hero, insisting on maintaining the integrity of his work, and resisting all the forces trying to get him to take shortcuts, even - and maybe especially - where they fundamentally don't matter. but it mattered to him, and for whatever reason, i really respected that. still do.
somewhere in the early 2000s, he released an album of pete seeger songs - the wife and i listened to that cd in the car until it was so scratched up it wouldn't play anymore - and the way that album was made (in a small room in his farm out in the middle of wherever jersey, with minimal production and even less editing - you can hear him calling out key changes) was more proof to me that he's the real deal and i was wrong about him being just a cardboard cutout of a musician.
uhh...also, this album was pretty good. nice to hear what turns out to be some much earlier material from him, for sure.
Prince
4/5
yes, prince is (ok, was) an incredible musician - and if you haven't seen his performance at the rock & roll hall of fame induction ceremony, seriously - check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWRCooFKk3c
but...see, i've never really cared for the poor guy's actual music - and honestly, 1987 was *such* a bad year for music. i dunno what it was, but that whole year in pop music just felt to me like it was kinda...lost. it tried hard, but it just couldn't get there - that's my recollection, anyway. i mean bruce willis' solo album, y'know?
that said, never take the place of your man - a distinctly non-princely prince song - has always been a favorite (see also: the goo goo dolls' cover, on hold me up), and the cross is a really cool standout. beautiful night has an absolutely killer groove, distinctly prince-worthy, and of course the title track was unavoidable in its day - even back then, i liked that he called it the telly, that alone apparently being enough to make it stick in my mind for all these ages.
all in all, solid. even if you don't love prince, you can find something here to appreciate
Judas Priest
4/5
this is just a fun album, and no two ways about it. the combination of - to the 2025 sensibility - innocence and sincerity is almost quaint, especially when you consider that this would've been aggressive and heavy in its time, where for the most part, now it just sounds like sorta cheesy rock.
i love it
Green Day
3/5
the best part about this album was when NOFX came on after it'd finished.
there was a time when i really liked these guys, but between their change in overall tone and it appearing more and more that billie joe is a dink, it's really hard for me to enjoy them like i used to.
i don't want to be that guy, but i really did enjoy their older stuff more, even if they essentially wrote the same song over & over. see also: https://open.spotify.com/album/5xlutZ0sYfJQjVIBOkkeW8
Eagles
2/5
well, this takes me back. not necessarily in a great way, just in the sense that i remember how i felt when i first heard this album. that's a good reminder of how subjective the experience of music really is, in that it can be so so hard to divorce our feelings about the music from the overarching, under-rumbling tones around us - they all stick to each other and sometimes you just have to come back years - or maybe years and years and years - later to see what was magic and what was just...there.
either way, the bending harmonies in 'train leaves here' are cool. see also: amos lee's 'night train' where he does the same thing, and also right at the end of the song - https://open.spotify.com/track/2XzS4vuHyjZ3jBhn1slvU4
anyway, this one kinda misses me overall. first 2 tracks are, you know, fine. the girl my lord in a flatbed ford line has been randomly popping into my head for decades now, and it's definitely worth the time, but...man, i dunno. the rest of this album just loses my interest and never regains it. glenn frey's voice - very much a product of its time - just lacks the character of vocalists i really enjoy, and while don henley was how i learned sometimes drummers also sing while they play - which is def cool - that's about where my overall interest in any of them ends. in fact, this album was so boring, i didn't even notice joe walsh playing on it.
(...that's a joke.)
Liz Phair
3/5
this is another album i was aware of in its time, but never really gave the time of day to, probably for dumb reasons. there's a lot here that later groups would've benefitted from - her crazy sexy voice, her refusal to back down lyrically - enough that i'm surprised i don't remember this album being a pivotal moment.
in terms of my own tastes, the tracks i found myself liking best were the ones more atypical of her overall sound - but they wouldn't have made the album if they weren't worth it, so maybe there's more like those out there in her catalog. i'll have to give it a better listen.
The Police
3/5
ugh. ok, fine, sting is an amazing musician with incredible talent. fine, stewart copeland too.
i'm still never gonna love the police, heretical as that statement may be. the big hits on this album do stand up fairly well, which is great...but i still don't care for them.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
another member of the 27 club, and still we can't get the kardashians in a helicopter.
she had an amazing voice, and definitely channeled some old-school stuff that really worked for her - etta james & otis redding spring to mind. her style isn't really for me, but i definitely see why people loved her.
Black Sabbath
5/5
apparently, this came up in my rotation previously. here's my review from back then:
so, of course i knew OF sabbath - but i really never listened to them. i'd somehow heard Changes before, but that was it - except for supernaut, which is a) easily my favorite on this album, and b) humorously, the least-played track, according to spotify.
anyway, this one was so good, i went back and listened to it again, just to be sure. and yeah, it held up. amazing.
David Bowie
5/5
i just don't know what to say about bowie. he was incredibly talented, and never ever once stopped being unutterably cool. this is a fantastic album. 'nuff said.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
welp, marvin is awesome. i don't love this album, but that's on me this time. like with the dead and zep, my capacity to appreciate his music vastly overshadows my capacity to actually enjoy listening to it.
Radiohead
4/5
i must need to listen to a *lot* more by these guys, because i don't understand why people say they're such geniuses. i assume they are, i just don't get it.
i particularly like high and dry & iron lung off this album; humorously enough, i first knew high and dry from jamie cullum's cover of it - see: https://open.spotify.com/track/4fOwKPYZUkIlFOzDNlp3RL
anyway, this was, you know, fine.
Pulp
4/5
common people has always been a favorite - it's one of those songs that feels like it must be a cover, in that it feels like it's just always been around. but it hasn't, and it's not even from the 80s, though it definitely has that new wave/post punk sneer feel to it.
i also love the way they channel bowie on live bed show.
The Darkness
3/5
i want to love this purely for how insane it is, because i understand the joke, and i get it - and honestly, in a bunch of places it's pretty damn good musically...but i just can't. i also really can't watch the office, and for the same reason: i get that it's a joke, but it still makes me super uncomfortable, cringing that much.
Björk
3/5
i knew her a little from later work, and a little from her time with the sugarcubes, but this is my first proper introduction.
i was surprised at big time sensuality - that sound definitely existed in 1993, but it wasn't at all what i would've expected, based on the rest of the album. it was a fun change of pace.
her voice is, of course, super interesting, and the fact her accent comes through so strong only adds to that.
Napalm Death
4/5
yeah, that was fun. i never really listened to them properly back then, though i was for sure aware of them. i probably wouldn't have cared for them much then, and i really don't care one way or the other now.
i do appreciate just how far outside the 1987 mold they are here. props to that.
Air
5/5
i distinctly remember when this album came out; someone uploaded a track or two from it to my hotline mp3 server, and it was a revelation. i eventually tracked it down & bought the whole thing, and i'm glad i did. that opening bassline on track 1 just sets the tone for the whole album: downtempo groove, laid back - carefree but not careless. delicious.
Pixies
4/5
i loved this album back in the day - or at least, parts of it - and i still love those parts now. here comes your man, their least-pixies song ever, is an ongoing favorite. i love frank's shouting, much better with the band than on his own; kim's bass, joey's jangly guitar (what up late-80s western ma!), and dave's tight drums...it's a great combo. musically, about 50% of the tracks on this one leave me more or less flat - but the OTHER 50%....man, that's somethin'
The Young Rascals
3/5
i'm sure this was worth hearing, i just found it completely forgettable. i wish i had more to say about it, but i really just don't. i honestly doubt i'll remember 10 minutes from now what any of those tracks sounded like - and that makes me sad, because those guys obviously worked hard to make this album. hopefully i'm in the minority on this one
Neu!
5/5
well, this was far too short - what a fantastic album. hard to believe it was from 1975. in after eight, i hear a bit of the stones, which is funny - but in seeland, i hear jane's addiction, and in hero, i hear pailhead, both of which were many years in the future. meanwhile, e-muzik's 10-minute, single-key jam is simply an incredible, hypnotic journey, and after eight, while an almost jarring change of pace after e-muzik, is a great sendoff for this album.
all in all, an easy favorite
Harry Nilsson
2/5
well, that was a fairly bad time, at least if you're me. coconut has, of course, been a favorite since reservoir dogs resurrected it, and jump into the fire was surprisingly fun. uhhh, also, i was a little surprised to hear the line in gotta get up about how the sailor would come to town, pound her for a couple days and then split. i'm not offended or anything, just surprised that got past whatever decency checks would've still been in place in 1971.
anyway, apart from all that, i just can't stand this kinda sickly-sweet stuff. really not for me, sorry harry
The Residents
4/5
i love this for more than its pure weirdness, but that's the overriding factor - it's just so out there, but it manages to be out there without being exhausting, which is a FEAT. i mean, it's easy to be weird, right? but a lot harder to be weird and not boring - and they definitely manage it with this album.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
this was...y'know, fine. i mean, i feel like it was supposed to be something special, but to my ear, it was kinda just another rock album. i wish i had something more to say about it, because i genuinely respect the bruce as an artist, but...i mean, meh, know what i mean?
Marvin Gaye
4/5
the man is smooooooove. i'm not sure what else i can say about this album - it's just smooth from start to finish. it's not entirely to my taste, but i definitely appreciate the style. i don't mean only the style of music, i mean the inherent *style* present here. it's something you either have or don't; it can't be faked, can't be taught, certainly can't be bought. and man, does he have it.
Ryan Adams
1/5
if i may quote, in its entirety, my previous review of this album:
dear lord, i hated that.
that is all.
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
i became aware of youssou n'dour in the mid-90s, when he worked with peter gabriel on secret world - thought he was incredible, but never managed to go looking for more. i'm glad this album is on the list, because it turns out i really do enjoy his work.
William Orbit
4/5
this was a lot of fun. i missed out on señor orbit in general, and this album in particular, in its time - i was listening to helmet, and the pogues, and embrace, and dag nasty, and and and - but i really liked it, hearing it now.
for better or worse, i don't recall a single track really standing out, but i was surprisingly ok with that in the end. it's a nice slice of 1993, and one that i was never gonna experience at the time.
Snoop Dogg
2/5
i dunno, man, i just don't really care about snoop. like, i get that this was a big deal, i guess, in its day and all, but...i just don't care, know what i mean?
Elton John
2/5
confession time: i have always, always gotten elton john and billy joel crossed up in my head. in my defense: they've both got J names, they both play pianos, they both make music that's kinda just been part of the atmosphere...i know, it's lame, but here we are.
anyway, this album being on this list places me in grave danger of learning to tell them apart, is what i'm saying, and i'm not sure i'm super happy about that.
update: overall, i give this a solid meh
PJ Harvey
2/5
i had a buncha friends in the 90s who looooooved ms polly jean, but i just never cared for her. i'm glad this album was on the list, because it's allowed me to confirm that i still just don't care for her. musically, i mean - i'm sure she's a very nice person.