unbelievably strong start, but it kinda lost me in the second half. i still loved this album, though.

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.

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.

man, that was amazing. super cool, especially for 1968

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.

thought i wouldn't care for it...turns out i do

did not care for it, but that's a turning point of a record

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.

SO MUCH 80s

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.

hells yeah

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.

that was fantastic - and well ahead of its time. dreamy and ethereal - i loved it

disco progrock is the best progrock?

HELL yeah, man. holy shit, this was so good.

dear lord, i hated that.

nice to see a not-super-huge-hit record from them on here.

i don't love cat stevens, but that was pretty good.

yeah, it was fine.

pretty cool. OEM 1969 trippiness meets folksy jangly fun

i could - and would - hate on robert plant's voice until the cows freeze over...but damn, man...bonham.

interesting. not entirely my style, but interesting.

loved his cover of across the universe.

will always love life on mars

that was great - i didn't realize so many good songs were all on one album

nice, but kind of forgettable in the end.

man, that was amazing. super cool, especially for 1968

smoooooove bass on this album, man

hoooooly shit. mind blowing all around.

classic. silent night in particular was amazing

surprisingly awesome

unbelievably strong start, but it kinda lost me in the second half. i still loved this album, though.

damn, he's good. i still have only so much time for the blues, but that was a good album.

damn, son.

some surprisingly smooove stuff on there

i have been waiting so long for this album to come up in the rotation. fuck yes.

it's just as bad as i remember it being. fuck, i hate axl rose.

that must've been amazing to hear in 1963. pretty awesome now.

ugh. i wanted to like that, i really did. but i didn't.

dear lord am i glad that's over.

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.

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.

ehhhhh...i mean...i dunno, i like the bass. not my style, but it's, you know, fine.

oh yeah...THAT song. (on a rope) i didn't like it then, and i don't like it now.

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.

always liked cube, plus chuck d and flav are an awesome surprise - wasn't expecting to see them here

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

i love their refusal to jump on the bandwagon of the times, and instead just rip up some awesome bluesy rock & roll. fantastic album

holy crap, can i give this 7 stars? so, so good, and what a great storyteller she is on top of the music

i absolutely love the ethereal dreaminess of the whole thing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

she's got a fantastic voice, but her music in general just kinda leaves me a little cold.

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.

this was great - like hearing nicola cruz for the first time, only with more languages!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

good ol' j. mascis. i hadn't realized lou barlow and he started out together - neet!

an absolute classic.

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...

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.

loved The Treasure - that was a nice surprise, for sure. another great snapshot of its time

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

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.

i mean, sure. why not.

oh god, why

love me some lou reed

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!

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

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.

that was one intense performance - he just never stopped that whole way through. amazing, and an awesome album as well.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

so, it turns out i like grime a lot more than i thought i would. pretty nice.

that was just awesome. what a voice, and what a view into its time.

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.

i'm still not sure i really care for michael. this was ok, but it ultimately just leaves me cold.

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.

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!

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

i already knew this, but i really just don't care for todd rundgren.

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

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?

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.

well, i didn't like the other album on the list, but this one struck me quite differently.

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.

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

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.

this one gets a big 'meh' from me.

kinda feel like the less said about this one, the better.

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.

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.

i'm just a sucker for dreamy, ethereal guitars and vocals to match. this was great.

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.

fun at first, but this one really dropped off. it just got kinda boring.

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.

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.

i oscillate between thinking he's annoying and really respecting his music. this one is pretty solidly respectable.

well, it certainly doesn't sound like anything i remember from 1985. i really like how out-of-time it is, in fact.

i thought for a long time that i didn't like prince. i'm pretty sure this album was the reason.

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.

glad i finally sat through this, and it's funny to think of the uproar when it came out.

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.

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.

omg, SOOO 1985. that was not a particularly good year for music, as i recall. not a favorite.

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.

oh, right (bloody well right!)...THAT album. nice to hear the rest of it beyond just that one single.

i like his style in general, but didn't love this album.

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.

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

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.

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 is amazing. it's weird that we kind of almost forgot about him, and then he reappeared and now people know his work again.

peace love and understanding! oliver's army! and...honestly, not much else really leapt out at me, which is weird.

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.

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.

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.

and, for whatever reason, i liked this one way more than Ready To Die, which was yesterday's pick. just felt right

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.

boy, he really MEANT IT when he sang, huh? i love how crazy this sounds now - i wonder if it did then, too.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

i knew this one, but not as well as others. i like it less than master of puppets, for whatever that's worth.

what an awesome look at their early days. i've always loved covers, and take me to the river is no exception. (al green!)

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

genuinely enjoyed this - such a nice change for 1994. glad to have encountered it

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.

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.

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.

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.

i groaned inwardly when i saw this come up. i can deal with freedom, but christ, that's about all. incredible voice, though.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

...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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

never really cared for him then, don't REALLY care for him now. ramshackle was cool enough, but overall...kinda just meh for me.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.