This album was perfect for my 2nd covid vaccine fever stupor. I listened to it in the shower while getting my ass kicked by the shot, and boy did it put me in such a peaceful place. I love Jimmy's warm organ sound so much. But you know when rappers say "He got killed on his own track," when a featured artist outshines them on a song? Jimmy's saxophonist killed him big on this album. I felt like that sax dominated this album while his organ playing was kind of relegated to second chair. Not to say he isn't a fantastic organist or bandleader, but I did find myself grooving to this sax in a big way. I really love this sound, and it inspired my to seek out more music like this, so I have to give it points for inspiration.

As someone who listens to a lot of hip-hop, this for me is very much a hip-hop history artifact. I don't want to put it up against today's brand of hip-hop because its gone through such an evolution that its not the same genre as it was back then. That being said compared to contemporary albums of that year like Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" and Beastie Boys' "Check Your Head" the lyrics and delivery do come off a bit corny to me. I respect they were trying to be an antithesis to the popular gangster rap of the late 80s/early 90s and bring some positivity to rap, but I felt like I was being preached to with their straight to the point lyrics. Some of the songs were really repetitive as well. There is definitely a way to make conscious, positivity infused rap work. The rapper Common is a great example of making conscious rap interesting by using intricate rhyme schemes laden with metaphor and wordplay. While I found Speech's delivery a little simplistic, I did love the instrumentation! They used a lot of live instruments, which I always appreciate in a hip-hop group. And I don't want to totally yuck anyones yums because I did enjoy the "Everyday People" cover on "People Everyday," and the song "U" was another standout bop for me as well. While these tracks were pretty cool they were not enough to save the album for me.

Confession, "Gotta Get Up" was my morning alarm song for awhile. I'd heard this album a few times when my dad played it in the car. I always enjoyed it but it never made a huge impression on me other than that song, so I was ready to give it a 3. But then "Without You" came on and I couldn't stop myself from belting the hell out of that chorus, and I was like no yeah this is a 4! And lest we forget the man gave us the gift of "Coconut" on this record. Bless you for that absurdity Harry Nilsson. This album may not have had a ton of cultural impact or influence, but man is it a fun listen.

However flawed he may be, I am a Lou Reed fan. This is the first VU album after John Cale left the band so the experimental weirdness that came from him and Reed together is lacking here. This makes for a more widely palatable VU sound, which is not a bad thing. I love this album! There are lots of standouts for me, the biggest being "Pale Blue Eyes," which is one of my favorite love songs/songs in general. I think this record is also a testament to albums as a cohesive piece of art as opposed to a handful of singles and supporting tracks. The pacing is fantastic. It goes from serene to rollicking and back again throughout, which creates this wonderful feeling of tension and release. This is especially apparent as the wacky, intense "The Murder Mystery" plays into the cute little ditty "After Hours." I also love that track as a closer because it feels like I'm being tucked in and sung to sleep as a night of partying, and the album, concludes. A classic.

Yo, Meatloaf is the Bruce Springsteen for theatre kids! So as a theatre expat I loved this album so much. I could not help but picturing every song being performed on stage. It was just dripping with melodrama so you could feel the light-hearted cheesiness of it, but Meatloaf's impressive pipes just drove it all home with gravitas. Expanding on my Springsteen claim, I felt the driving bright piano all over this album is so common on "Born to Run," and the musicality in general was very reminiscent of the E-Street Band. Learning that these songs were written by a composer came as no shock to me.

First off the opener at around 1:20 is definitely a "lo-fi hip-hop chill beats to study and relax to" break down so that got me pretty hype. Second off, I'm not really a big prog rock fan so it was kind of downhill from there. I would not say this album was a total wash though because some of those synth sounds are so sick and I very much love big retro synth sound. I think my problem with this album's particular style of prog rock is that the songs get so epic and huge so quickly and then we've still got like 10 minutes to go of these sweeping guitar licks and I just get listener fatigue real quick, which made me start losing interest in the fantasy whimsy of the lyrics. Not for me, but Phil Collins rules.

I absolutely loved the first track. I'm a sucker for a horns section. The rest of the album was some very pleasant psych/pop 60s rock stuff, which is the type of music I grew up with so I definitely dug it but wasn't blown away. Cool arrangements but non to exciting lyrics. Wanna go 3.5 but I enjoyed it more than I disliked it so going with a 4.

Big Cream fan right here. I had already heard a lot of the big tracks on here but never the full album. Had a lot of fun jamming to this one. I enjoy a little more heavy, bluesy psych rock as opposed to the more pop/folksy stylings of Love. Wouldn't say Cream is an underrated band because they are very well respected, but I feel like the heavy psych rock discussion of that era is pretty dominated by Led Zeppelin. It was just cool to hear another laudable take on the genre.

TRUE 4.5 - Was much more into this album than I expected to be with only knowing "Blister in the Sun." Very cool to learn this was released in 1983. I also figured this was a early/mid 90s alternative record that was drawing on those contemporary influences but it clearly seemed more influenced by the first wave of punk and I very much fuck with that. The songwriting had a bite and wittiness that stayed sharp throughout the record, and actually made me laugh a few times. Overall really enjoyed this one and definitely will come back for another listen.

This was an easy 5 for me. Been a Bowie stan for awhile now, and "Queen Bitch" is one of my all time favorite Bowie songs. Plus we got "Changes" and "Life on Mars," so come on we gotta give it up for this record. A lot of interesting subject matter on this one too. The tributes to Andy Warhol and Bobby D were cool to see. Also love hearing Bowie espousing occult teachings and getting freaky on "Quicksand." An all over good time album for me.

While I do like dance rock, synthpunk and electronic music in general, I've never gotten into house or trance music. I certainly enjoyed the vibe on a few songs but a lot of times it got a little too club for me. It wasn't unlistenable techno thumping though so I can appreciate their "club, without going too hard" sensibilities. I do enjoy a band finding success going against the grain though. Especially because I'm not a huge fan of the 90s Britpop scene. So way to stick it to them Saint Etienne.

Always been pretty indifferent about Springsteen. Never hated his music nor really got into his stuff either. I'd heard the hits from this album, but the stand out tracks for me were "Meeting Across the River" and "Jungleland." I feel like The Boss and the E-Street band aren't really exploring any new musical ideas composition wise, other than some bomb-ass sax. Its Springsteen's writing and storytelling that has made him such an American staple, and I felt those two tracks really let his writing shine. Being aligned so strongly with 'MURICA is kind of what kept me from getting into him, but his songs are very much proletariat anthems. I guess that's what you get for saying USA a bunch of times in a song. Overall a pretty enjoyable listen, but there's nothing calling me back.

I definitely enjoy hip-hop instrumental albums but this one was a bit too one note for me. It never really felt exciting at any moment. I did enjoy a few of the tracks that really leaned into the hip-hop influence with more bass heavy beats, but all together the album was a little too sleepy. That being said, creating beats is so accessible today that we are drowning in Soundcloud producers, so maybe this has just made me jaded towards older production styles.

Not really a metal fan at all so I was biased from the get go. This was not the album to convert me to a metal fan but I can see why it would be loved by fans of heavy metal. These mother fuckers can play! I did have fun headbanging to a few tracks but over all I was kind of just waiting for it to be over. Going with a 2 because damn are these dudes crazy skilled musicians. MORE DOUBLE BASS DRUM!

Big fuzzy all-encompassing synth is right up my alley so this album felt like something I could really sink into and let swallow me up. Suicide seems more like an artistic experiment in music than a straight up and down band you throw on to groove too. I feel like its definitely an act you had to see live to truly appreciate. Yes Frankie Teardrop is pretty unlistenable but I would say pretty damn successful at conveying the feeling and putting you in the headspace of a family killer who’s in hell. “Cheree” is dark and sweet and I loved it. Gonna plug my favorite podcast here too, No Dogs in Space. Great punk history show that does deep dive series on a bunch of early punk bands including Suicide. Check it out for these dudes wild story.

This was some pretty solid 90s alternative. Dug some of the experimentation they attempted, but they seemed to fall back into that 90s sound before too long. Some pretty cool songs on there though.

However flawed he may be, I am a Lou Reed fan. This is the first VU album after John Cale left the band so the experimental weirdness that came from him and Reed together is lacking here. This makes for a more widely palatable VU sound, which is not a bad thing. I love this album! There are lots of standouts for me, the biggest being "Pale Blue Eyes," which is one of my favorite love songs/songs in general. I think this record is also a testament to albums as a cohesive piece of art as opposed to a handful of singles and supporting tracks. The pacing is fantastic. It goes from serene to rollicking and back again throughout, which creates this wonderful feeling of tension and release. This is especially apparent as the wacky, intense "The Murder Mystery" plays into the cute little ditty "After Hours." I also love that track as a closer because it feels like I'm being tucked in and sung to sleep as a night of partying, and the album, concludes. A classic.

TRUE SCORE - 2.5 The band/album name and artwork really got me hype for some hard punk tracks, but when the album kicked off I definitely was getting poser vibes. About halfway through I softened that stance because they had fantastic horns throughout and you know I'm a horn ho! Aside from the brass and a great rhythm section, by the end of the album I still felt like this singer wasn't genuine. He sounded like someone trying too hard to sound tough. I understand that a huge part of musical performance is to escape into a persona or play up an aspect of your personality that might not be prevalent in your everyday life, but much like a great actor even though I know you're playing a character I have to believe you. While the music wasn't bad this really put me off the entire album and I just could never really connect with its message or sound.

Confession, "Gotta Get Up" was my morning alarm song for awhile. I'd heard this album a few times when my dad played it in the car. I always enjoyed it but it never made a huge impression on me other than that song, so I was ready to give it a 3. But then "Without You" came on and I couldn't stop myself from belting the hell out of that chorus, and I was like no yeah this is a 4! And lest we forget the man gave us the gift of "Coconut" on this record. Bless you for that absurdity Harry Nilsson. This album may not have had a ton of cultural impact or influence, but man is it a fun listen.

I mean she made Van Morrison punk and made it sound good. Patti rules. She was not only one of the first female punk voices but also just one of the first punks in general. She was known for speaking her mind, being loud, not taking shit, and of course her incredible writing. While researching the album I saw that she was a poet, which makes perfect sense. On the past few albums we listened to when you saw an 8+ minute song coming up you knew it was time for that one weird, experimental track on the album. With Patti, all of her long songs (Birdland, Horses) felt like beautiful vignettes where you wanted to catch every single word. The "Gloria" and "My Generation" covers are fantastic and really show off the raw energy, abandon and commitment she gives to her songs. My other standout was "Break It Up." Punk started as an inclusive genre for those going against the grain but I feel like it bred a lot of big, douchey male personalities talking about what is and isn't punk. Its great to see it's origins in a poetic woman making songs for herself.

To me this sounded like if Bob Dylan’s electric stuff was good. All though I’d always heard about how Elvis Costello is a prolific and influential musician, the only song I’d ever heard of his was “The Comedians” due to the Watchmen comics. I never really disliked anything that was on here but like others said before me, nothing about this struck me as a must listen album. Pretty straightforward up and down rock with a few funky lyrics. “Tokyo Storm Warning” was the only track that stood out to me due to its fun Barenaked Ladies “One Week”ish nonsensical lyric rambling. Other than that, not really a notable album at all. I understand that Elvis never stayed inside the lines of one genre for too long so maybe I’d enjoy some of his music from another phase in his career more, but this album was at best so-so.

You see someone wearing "The T-shirt." You ask them to name 3 songs. They can't. Neither can you. The average listener doesn't know much about JD other than, "Hey that's a neat shirt!" I was in the same boat until a just a couple months ago when my aforementioned fave punk history podcast did a series on them. I checked out the T-shirt album, "Unknown Pleasures," and really dug it, but I think I like Closer even more. It feels moodier to me, more intimate. You do feel as if someone suffering is pulling you closer and pulling you into their sadness with them. You already know I love full synth tones so they had me hooked pretty early on with this one. Their legacy lived on through New Order and all of the New Wave and Post Punk scenes, so its easy to see that the must listen factor of this album is pretty high. Like Emily I am not always big on Post Punk bands, but Joy Division make it work. Instead of getting too artsy with it, they made it cool for punk to be depressed and emotional as opposed to consistently antagonistic and aggressive.

As someone who listens to a lot of hip-hop, this for me is very much a hip-hop history artifact. I don't want to put it up against today's brand of hip-hop because its gone through such an evolution that its not the same genre as it was back then. That being said compared to contemporary albums of that year like Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" and Beastie Boys' "Check Your Head" the lyrics and delivery do come off a bit corny to me. I respect they were trying to be an antithesis to the popular gangster rap of the late 80s/early 90s and bring some positivity to rap, but I felt like I was being preached to with their straight to the point lyrics. Some of the songs were really repetitive as well. There is definitely a way to make conscious, positivity infused rap work. The rapper Common is a great example of making conscious rap interesting by using intricate rhyme schemes laden with metaphor and wordplay. While I found Speech's delivery a little simplistic, I did love the instrumentation! They used a lot of live instruments, which I always appreciate in a hip-hop group. And I don't want to totally yuck anyones yums because I did enjoy the "Everyday People" cover on "People Everyday," and the song "U" was another standout bop for me as well. While these tracks were pretty cool they were not enough to save the album for me.

Always been into Neil. This was no "Harvest" or "After the Gold Rush," which I imagine we'll see on this list, but it still has some great Neil Young tracks on here. I only knew "Cinnamon Girl" coming into it, but that was a great demonstration of what Crazy Horse contributes to a Neil Young album. I love his folksy singer-songwriter vibe, but having Crazy Horse swoop in and add some crunch and texture to his songs really gives him some more depth and range. "Running Dry" and "Cowgirl in the Sand," were my other two standouts. Really loved the old-timey fiddle/violin on "Running Dry." I was feeling very, on the old dusty trail, with that one. Excited to see some more Neil, or a little CSNY later on this list.

Went through a lot of trouble to find all the songs on this album on youtube and Spotify, and really wish I hadn't. Great voice and pretty bland everything else. It felt like it was a pop album written by a guy for the sole purpose of making him famous. I'm still not sure how I want to use my 1 rating. Like I hated this album but since it was some manufactured pop it musically wasn't completely unlistenable, so I feel like I've got to save it for when those albums come along. But yeah not a Robbie fan.

Always been a big Gorillaz guy, but never got into Blur other "Song 2" of course. I didn't dislike anything here but I also never really fully got into it. Really solid catchy alternative songs, and I liked the fact they made this as a stick it to Americanization album. I could see the heart of that Gorillaz "lets play a bunch of styles and see what sticks," ethos. They had some songs that were a little punk, some straight forward rock, and the circus/vaudeville interstitial tracks. Pretty solid album through and through, but if I want Damon Albarn I'll be sticking to Gorillaz.

This album was really fun to come back to for me. When I first got into YYYs back in the day I was an indie rock or die kid to the bone, so I loved their first album because it just straight up rocked so hard. I then listened to It's Blitz! and was like "aw man this is lame they're all dancey and selling out," and that sort of pretentious youngster attitude shit. Several years ago though, I really started to explore electronic, dance-rock, and synth-punk stuff a lot more and found myself getting waaaaay into it. So now this album sounds fantastic to me! Karen O has always had such an incredibly emotive voice. It can be raw and wild while still sounding beautiful, which turns out is a great fit for this dancey album. "Heads Will Roll" is a bop of course, but my other standouts were "Soft Shock," and the sweet "Little Shadow." It was also cool to see long time YYYs producer Dave Sitek (member and producer of TV On The Radio) let loose a bit with the dance drums and stuff. The following year he released a fantastic solo album "Maximum Balloon" that features Karen O and a bunch of other artists on some real fun dance tracks. Would highly recommend. Got to love 1001 albums for making me go back and listen to this gem that my dumb younger self thought was too pop. SMH

Never been crazy about the Police but this was honestly some pretty solid pop. Also a lot of experimentation on this album (not all of it great, but I commend the effort). Synchronicity 2 did have me grooving a little bit. I did think the song "Walking in Your Footsteps was Hilarious," because Sting literally wrote a song about how Brontosaurus walked so humans can run. For that song alone we're going with a 3 here.

If anyone is familiar with Jeff Tweedy's (Wilco frontman) first band Uncle Tupelo, this album has a few songs that sound just like it and I love them. Never explored the Pixies much further than the hits, and always thought they were just eh. But I was really digging this guys style. Alternative with a slight country influence at times. Made for some earnest songwriting.

I mean this album has, "The Weight," on it, so you know its a classic already. Levon and the boys in The Band always have those comforting harmonies and country flavor that a man of southern Illinois heritage is bound to love. I could also hear a lot modern artist that I like now in their music. I was hearing a lot of Grateful Dead in this record too, so I feel like even their contemporaries were inspired by The Band. My other standout was the ballad "Long Black Veil," a fantastically somber lovers lament. "I Shall Be Released," also struck a chord with me.

Aerosmith invented Screamo, change my mind. Lots of big yelling, lots of testosterone, and lots of rock. I was taken to an Aerosmith concert when I was younger fully expecting to hate it because it was a dad band, but just like this album I was pleasantly surprised. It isn't necessarily my jam but I can see how in the 70s that this was some serious hard rock. Very entertaining but not really inspiring.

This album sounds so 90s to me. At least it did when it started. As it got closer to the end I was like oh shit, this is where Patti Smith's influence had taken us in the early 2000's. As I was thinking how much she sounded like Patti on the song "This is Love," the very next track was called, "HORSES in My Dreams." Coincidence?! Probably, but damn she was serving my Patti on a few of those songs. Vocally at least. I didn't feel the feverish raw energy that Patti brought me and the songs kind of sounded like the epitome of late 90s/early 2000s alternative. I'm sure at the time it was a head turning sound, plus we were visited by everyones favorite alien, Thom Yorke, on "This Mess We're In," so I'm not going to come down on it too hard.

Really liked this one. Not usually a huge fan of live albums because I just want to hear the songs I know, and quite often the variations don't live up to my expectations. But I thought The Who really shone during this performance. You can really feel just how brash and chaotic Keith Moon's drumming sounds live, and that guitar RIPPED! You can tell that, at least at this point in their career, these guys really had some fantastic chemistry. Not only musically, but just listening to their banter you can tell they were happy to be on stage with each other. Never dove too deep into The Who, but always liked what I heard. This album definitely cemented for me their power and influence in the 60s/70s rock world. Could you imagine being a young musician and seeing this show!? You'd be filled with passion for your craft. At least I feel like I would. I second Tom...I just want to go to a damn show again.

I did not know who this band was before I listened to this album and I do not care to find out anything more about them. These were some way overly corny songs right here. I did love the orchestration and the inclusion of horns right off the jump and thought I might enjoy it, but then this dude started singing. He sounds like a lounge singer with no mystery whatsoever. He's got all the croon but I don't want to spoon. I get he's in love and thats nice and all but that doesn't mean you can stop trying man, that's when the hard work starts! Example A, B, & C: "If your name was Jack I'd change mine to Jill for you." "If you were a horse I'd clean the crap out of your stable." "Dont let a frog get you down." Most of those lyrics were from the song "If," which was the point of no return for me. Being open about your feelings and being unsubtly earnest are two wildly different things when it comes to songwriting. This was not for me. Glad it was a SHORT album about love. 1.5

All I really want is a montage of me trying on different outfits with all my best friends shaking their heads while "Shopping" blares in the background! I have been diving into New Order ever since we listened to that Joy Division album, and I must say that brand of 80s new wave type stuff is much more interesting, but Pet Shop Boys is way more fun! I really enjoyed the catchiness of these tracks and the fact that they had something to say as well. I don't mind pop if there's substance. It did get way overly 80s for me though with some of those big bright synths and splashy drums, so I for sure tuned out at some of those 80s cheese moments. Not enough bangers on here to cut through the filler.

For me this is Bowie in his core competency. I love Ziggy, and Bowie even says this is Ziggy goes to America. I love the glitz and glamourous treatment of the gritty subject matter. A lot of very pretty music about drugs, sex and violence. You could really hear the American influence on this album. Lots of blues guitar riffs, old doo-wop melodies, and even some plunky vaudevillian piano as well. "Drive in Saturday," "Panic in Detroit," and "Jean Jeanie" were my faves. Then I heard "Lady Grinning Soul," and DAMN! Flamenco guitar all up in there, with those fluttering keys mmmmmhmm that was a special way to close it out. I really loved this album but I've got to go with a 4 because this really was Ziggy 2 but just not quite as good.

I've also been into Pink Floyd's more popular releases, so it was very interesting to see where those evolved from. I also didn't know this was the only album with Barrett. He was always a name I heard and just associated with the band. Loved the freaky vibes with beautiful harmonies over them throughout this album. "Flaming" and "Pow R. Toc H." are dripping in LSD. Completely nonsensical. Really loved Astronomy Domine. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope..." is a jam! "Interstellar Overdrive," feels like a very accurate bad acid trip representation. Jamming having a good time, then you fall down a deep dark rabbit hole, and then burst back above the surface feeling...decent. I think the press was fair in saying they made music for LSD users. That's only half the album though, and I'd say I enjoyed the goofy romps like "Gnome" and "Bike," even more. They were always a versatile band on the forefront of experimentation.

This wasn't great for me. I think Emily hit it on the head with her generic rock comment. No modifiers just straight up and down rock that was made to be inoffensive to everyone so therefore its lacking in ingenuity. I'm catching up on hella albums so I'll keep it short. I kinda liked Bono's vocal effect on the opener, it sounded like that early Beck style. After that I was pretty disinterested but not put off but the rest of the album.

What a voice. You cannot deny the power and soul that this woman always had. Incredible sound. This had me dancing around my apartment with some tracks, and with others just sitting floored by the way she fills every word with emotion! Also, RESPECT. So yeah its a 5 from me dawg.

Top tier, S+ class album all around. Good one lads. Cheerio and the rest yes. One of The Beatles best, absolute hits from top to bottom. Each song is memorable and warrants a return listen. Idk how many times I've jammed to this record. Confession: my favorite song throughout all of middle school was "Octopus's Garden." A Ringo song!

What a ride. Coming off of their breakthrough (and my favorite Roots album) "Things Fall Apart," this was incredibly ambitious to make. It veers in a lot of directions, but I feel like the message gets across no matter which way it takes you. I read something once that said "The Roots are not a band you put on for your backyard BBQ." We've got straight forward hip-hop, neosoul, punk, hard rock, and the closer "Thirsty" is some hard house all about the Black experience. So yeah not great sunshine feel good tunes. Black Thought, for me, is one of rap's all time greatest lyricist, so I felt he really captured aspects of the culture that shape the Black mindset in America. A repurposing of the racists study of Phrenology. Gotta love "The Seed 2.0" and the Talib Kweli feature on "Rolling With Heat." I've had the pleasure of seeing them live a few years ago, and I felt like they brought a lot of that energy to this record. It does feel a little jarring and disjointed at times with the abrupt stylistic shifts, so for that I'm going with a 4. This is a fantastic example of what a hip-hop album can be as a work of art.

I was wondering if this list was only going to recognize western/english speaking music, and I'm happy to see it doesn't! Now I'm assuming like the rest of you I did not derive the message from this album's lyrics but I certainly got a feeling. Khaled sounds like he has a lot of heart(C'Est La Nuit.) I wish I knew what this actual genre is called because calling non-english speaking music World Music seems like a cop out. You could definitely hear the western 90s pop vibes on a few of these songs though. "El Bab," which was probably my favorite on here, is so clearly a 90s summertime radio earworm. Definitely cool to explore another culture's music, but this album is not really something that stuck so I don't think I'll be giving it another listen.

Came into this album thinking Sonic Youth was a pretentious band. Came out of listening to this album thinking they are a pretentious band that is also very good. I watched the documentary, 1991: The Year Punk Broke, about Sonic Youth and other bands of that era after listening to this, and boy is Thurston Moore a dickhead. Also, I read they would bring upwards of 50 guitars to a gig because of all the funky tuning and modifications they would do. I mean I'm all for experimentation but give me a break. Roasting aside, I did really like this album. The songwriting seemed strong throughout and I read that some of it was inspired by The Neuromancer, which I'm currently reading, so that got me geeked. The most impressive thing to me though was the guitar on this album! It shred of course, and even the droning noise rock bits on the outros of a lot of tracks felt interesting to me and not too overindulgent. As eye roll as it may be, the modifications to the actual hardware of the guitars and alternative playing styles made for some really interesting sounds. A sound that seems to have been a blueprint for so so many indie bands in the 2000s and 2010s, which made this seem a little less fresh to me than I'm sure it was at the time. I really liked "Teenage Riot," but I think I liked the Kim Gordon songs more because again, too cool, disinterested sounding indie white guy has been beat to death. I do think Sonic Youth contributed a lot to modern rock sensibilities and I can see myself exploring their discography further.

If Arrested Development were a Hip-Hop artifact to be seen as a relic of how the genre used to sound, A Tribe Called Quest is a Hip-Hop database that you still hear referenced to this day. I've heard so many artist bite not only the flows but the literal lyrics from Tribe songs, I don't know how many times. All paying respect to their originators of course. This album is peak 90s Hip-Hop and I couldn't have been more pleased with a return listening. Only thing I will dock for is that the vibe is pretty samey throughout.

Yo, Meatloaf is the Bruce Springsteen for theatre kids! So as a theatre expat I loved this album so much. I could not help but picturing every song being performed on stage. It was just dripping with melodrama so you could feel the light-hearted cheesiness of it, but Meatloaf's impressive pipes just drove it all home with gravitas. Expanding on my Springsteen claim, I felt the driving bright piano all over this album is so common on "Born to Run," and the musicality in general was very reminiscent of the E-Street Band. Learning that these songs were written by a composer came as no shock to me.

I mean what can you say. This album was just hit after hit after hit. Like you have to respect the space this album and its songs take up in not only the American, but the world's music landscape. Michael seems like the only artist just about everyone is willing to separate the art from the artist with little hesitation. People will dance to these songs no matter what club or bar they come on at. You don't even have to be a MJ fan, it's just ingrained in American's music education. That being said, I've never been a huge fan of MJ's and I found the songs I was unfamiliar with to be just ok. I'm rating this one on my personal preference, but I understand that culturally and influentially it probably should be higher.

I've always enjoyed the Beastie Boy's so much for the originality and freshness in the rap genre. A punk band that turned rap and still played live instruments. They have a fantastic instrumental album called "The In Sound From Way Out!" that they released after this record and you can very much tell they were itching to jam again on here. So many instrumental tracks on this album. Hard ones too. They're instrumental album is definitely a lot more funky than the ones on here. They fit the tone of the album a lot better though. "Get It Together," with Q-Tip is a classic. I think I find these guys so impressive every time because its such a collaborative project. Very few rap groups now have that flow where they literally finish each others sentences. Some groups feel like they don't even write in the same room, but I could not imagine the Beastie Boys being apart when they create these songs. A group that could never go solo.

This started off strong for me. My love for big horns was kicking in strong, and then they just kept going with the brass and I started getting a bit of listener fatigue. Then came "Free Form Guitar," and at that point I was like get fucked Chicago, and that became the first song on this entire list that I skipped before finishing. Like get over yourself guys, no one wants to hear that for 6 minutes and its not even interesting experimentation. Any ways, back half was pretty unremarkable. The only standout for me was "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" Overall it just felt a little uninspired to me. It's like taking the 10th best bands from the swing, jazz, hard rock, and blues genres and trying to form a supergroup. Nah.

Eeeh, I can't say this was awful but not my cup of tea. It had that weird lounge singer vibe again that was just a total swing and a miss. The only song I really jelled with was "Stoned Soul Picnic." I thought it was great and the soul was really there. Other than that was just waiting for it to be over.

Oh this the vibe. Shuggie has got me chillin out maxin, relaxin all cool. He was always a name I'd been familiar with but someone I'd never listened to. Huge fan of the synth loop, drum machine groove stuff on here. Perfect music to just chill to, possibly to relax and study to, know what I'm saying. Fantastic groove through out. This dude really knows how to find the pocket.

Pretty solid early Stones showing here. Of course "Paint it Black," and "Under My Thumb," are huge hits, but the rest wasn't just filler. I found myself drifting quite a bit during this album though just because a lot of the Stones blues rock does get a bit samey after awhile.

I was so ready to hate this album solely based off of the band's picture on Spotify. The dude with the soul patch looks like the kind of guy who would see a woman in a band t-shirt and ask her to name 5 songs or she's a poser. And then they hit me with a totally different vibe. Honestly they kind of sound like a knock off Flaming Lips, or at least the lead singer sounds like a knock off Wayne Coyne. Then I learned some of the members worked on early Flaming Lips albums, and then that made a little more sense. I more enjoyed the songwriting than I did any of the music, it seemed to just blend in the background for me. To be honest, not going to listen to this again but I wasn't angry I heard it.

This album was perfect for my 2nd covid vaccine fever stupor. I listened to it in the shower while getting my ass kicked by the shot, and boy did it put me in such a peaceful place. I love Jimmy's warm organ sound so much. But you know when rappers say "He got killed on his own track," when a featured artist outshines them on a song? Jimmy's saxophonist killed him big on this album. I felt like that sax dominated this album while his organ playing was kind of relegated to second chair. Not to say he isn't a fantastic organist or bandleader, but I did find myself grooving to this sax in a big way. I really love this sound, and it inspired my to seek out more music like this, so I have to give it points for inspiration.

Not afraid to say that I love Steely Dan. This was no Aja but damn did it still jam. "My Old School," was the standout for me on this one. I'm not gonna lie I'm writing 10 reviews at once for albums I listened to over the past week, so all I'm going to say is Steely Dan rules and fuck the haters.

My expectations for this album started off strong, but much like most Pere Ubu songs, finished in disappointment. This is the type of avant post-punk that makes people, like Emily, write the whole genre off. I really did like some of these songs. While the lead singer's voice was definitely off-putting at best, it leant some interesting accessibility to the off kilter music. Like this music is artsy and really out there, but this dude can't really sing and neither can I, so you relate to his sense of urgency in just trying to relate an idea no matter what you think of him. This did cause the overall enjoyability of many of the songs to suffer though because on the flip side his voice could really get in the way of enjoying a good groove the band had going. I really flip-flopped on this record. I wanted to like it because I can hear its influences on some of the bands I like today, but it also was just so unlistenable at times. Definitely ahead of its time. I mean they had sea shanties in "Caligari's Mirror," and those are only getting cool now. This is a 2.5 that I really want to give a 3, buuuuuut...

This was nice. I literally don't remember much about the album other than it sounded decent in the background. Great voice.

I mean this just rocked. These were a bunch of dudes that wanted to rock super hard, and did exactly that and nothing else. I wasn't shocked by anything out of the ordinary here. Wasn't really blown away by anything, except for some top notch screaming. These guys wrote "Smoke on The Water," the song thats apparently the easiest song to play on guitar, so I can't say they were necessarily rock innovators. But hey I enjoyed head banging to this, and honestly will probably rock to it again.

This is one Clash album that I never listened to, and it was really cool to see what their original sound was like. "Police and Thieves," has always been one of my favorites of theirs, but I think that was the only song I recognized off of this album. Obviously not their best album but still great Clash tunes. They've got a leftist, antiestablishment bent to them that feels like more of an inspiring call to action for change as opposed to the Sex Pistols nihilistic attitude towards everything. That makes them the quintessential first wave British punk band for me. So yeah, anything from The Clash is going to be great. Including this album.

I'M THE KING OF BONGO BONG! Do I really need to say more? Ok a little bit. Yes, some of the english songwriting was a bit goofy, but I did enjoy the vibe of this album throughout. Always a fan of an album where all the tracks play into each other. Makes it feel like a cohesive project. You can tell Manu put a lot of love into this album, and the fact that he did it all on his laptop in the 90s is crazy impressive. For that the Bongo Bong King gets a 3.

Naming this album Let It Be and then doing a Kiss cover (Black Diamond) on it told me a lot about the mentality of this band, and that I just thought they were funny. Westerberg's voice is so ragged that it gives a sort of desperation to all of his songs. I feel its particularly effective on the slower more tender tracks like "Androgynous," and "Unsatisfied." Gives them a lot of sincerity. One of my favorite artists does a great cover of "Androgynous" so I was already a big fan of that song, but other standouts for me were "I will Dare," and "Unsatisfied." Very cool to hear what it sounds like when a bunch of punks are breaking out of their punk chains and writing heartfelt songs.

I've only ever heard good things about Janelle, but hadn't given her a listen until this album. I love sci-fi and the android theme throughout was so cool but this music really just didn't hit for me. Concept albums are supposed to convey one cohesive idea around a central story, theme, etc. but each song on here is so distinct that it really felt jarring instead of gelling for me. The biggest moment that threw me off was the transition form "Sir Greendown," which I loved, into "Cold War." It was so unsettling I kind of forgot I liked the song before it, and I found this repeated stylistic change from song to song throughout made me forgot what I had just listened to. The features definitely stood out to me. Loved Big Boi on the track and Of Montreal's weird ass freakiness is always welcome in my book. Her voice is incredible though and on songs like "Neon Valley Street" I found myself thinking about how pretty this song sounds. For me this was a great concept but the execution left a lot to be desired.

This one falls in that Blood and Chocolate solid 3 category for me. I was shocked to put on a bee gees album and not feel like I was in a cocaine fueled dance off with John Travolta in the 70s! Took a second to get used to the Bee Gees copping the popular sound of other successful 60s bands but they made it work for them. Completely tolerable 60s pop/rock ripped straight from the Beatles. I also found myself totally into the orchestral interlude bits...might have been more interesting than the Gibbs proper songwriting. "Marley Purt Drive," was the standout track for me but it was a copy paste of "The Weight" by The Band. When the opening of the track began I started singing the lyrics to "The Weight" and it fit a little too perfectly. For a concept album about an old timey ship lost at sea this turned out just ok.

That "Marquee Moon," guitar riff is so damn infectious it has kept me coming back to this album over and over. Come for that riff and stay for a group of punks that can actually play guitar. I feel like their guitar work was well beyond what most of their fast and loud contemporaries were doing. It was also just really catchy to me. I think Verlaine is a fantastic songwriter as well. Interesting imagery and delivery. That being said I feel like a few of the songs on the back half of this album were just not as fleshed out lyrically and more of a showcase of how well these guys could play guitar. For that I've got to give this one a 4.

This certainly isn't Beck's strongest album but I think it does it's job well. He was inspired to write this after him and his long time girlfriend split, and boy is this ever a breakup album. Every song is dripping with melancholy. Needed scuba gear as I was swimming through all these Beck tears. I really liked Maddie's comparison of this and Morning Phase as companion albums. To me, Morning Phase always felt like a hopeful ray of sun on your face to wake you up in the morning, and in contrast this album certainly feels more like the sun setting on a lovely day thats come to an abrupt end. I found that the orchestration on this album added some much needed power to his overly earnest songwriting. "Lost Cause," really stood out to me in this regard. It wasn't Beck's most inventive songwriting by any means, and seemed to rely on cliched lines and motifs. This song kind of summed up the rest of the album for me. He sounds hurt but uninspired. I feel that this album was strictly made for Beck to process his feelings and move on with his life. It feels inconsequential in Beck's discography to me but I'm sure to him it was a very important record to make.

Wow this album unlocked childhood memories I forgot existed. Was a little nervous that it wouldn't be as good as I remembered, but oh my god am I so glad I was wrong. That rocked hard as hell, its got a political message that still rings true today, was a total risk by a band way outside of their comfort zone thematically, and still was an incredible success. We've had a lot of concept albums lately and I haven't been the biggest fan, but yo this is how its done right. Also, who else was a 5th grader who didn't really know anything about politics but didn't like George Bush just because of Green Day? Any ways, this group just earned its pop-punk merit badge because its 5s across the board for Green Day!

Excuse me 1001 Albums this is a Wings album not just Paul. Put some respect on the actual BAND on the run. "Band on the Run" is an absolute jam no matter how many times I hear. It's got such an interesting structure for a pop song that it makes repeat listens not feel so repetitive. "Jet" is another classic McCartney pop banger so that gives this album lots of points. It does start losing points after that though. More and more of Paul's silly love songs with little spurts of interesting instrumentation popping up to keep me interested enough to finish the album. Mainly, (we all saw it coming) that sexy sax! But by the time "Picasso's Last Word," entered its 3rd boring minute I was pretty ready for it to be over. I find it really interesting that critics of the time toted this as Paul's return to creative genius, when in 1971 he released RAM which has way more interesting songs and is overall just a ton of fun. That album better be on this list because it kicks this one's ass. On a few songs there were these really fun synth lines that stood out to me but only lasted a couple of seconds and never returned. This got me wondering what a McCartney electronica album would sound like. Spotify sort of granted my wish by playing the song "Cuff Link" from a later Wings album once this album finished. It was a totally synth layered instrumental track that sounded like a slowed down Justice or Daft Punk song if you took all of the fuzz out. So props to this album for showing me that I guess.

This album made me feel like I was playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1. If you know you know the sound. I was really digging the sound on this album. Being a drummer in my past life has led me to really appreciate a great rhythm section, and I loved the thicc bass lines Watt lays down on this album. Its also refreshing to see a band give the bass lots of space to breathe and take up a ton of real estate in your ear. Funky lines through and through that felt like the focus of many songs. Was into the anti-war, anti-capitalist leanings, "Vietnam," "Shit From an Old Notebook." But mostly the lyrics really seemed like these guys just wrote exactly what they were thinking as they were thinking it. The slightly country bent to some of their songs and the singers voice gave me a very strong Uncle Tupelo vibe. Standouts for me were, "This ain't no Picnic," and of course the Jackass theme song, "Corona." Also loved "Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth," because that is an incredible song title and sounded like a Velvet Underground tune. I loved these guys' energy and applaud the ambition to record 43 songs, but yeah, as described by the band, that 4th side was mostly filler. I'm so tired of over bloated records (looking at you modern rappers) but since this wasn't just fluff to surround a single and instead more of the same great sound just phoned in a bit, I'm not knocking off a lot of points.

Glad I read everyones' reviews before writing mine because I also had the line "Morrissey is an insufferable prick" written in my notes. So I'll just say he's an asshole, but I do love his music. The Smiths developed such a cool sound that so many other bands tried to bite but could never really pull off because Morrissey has such a distinct crooning vocal sound. Baritone I think? Been awhile since my choir days. Anyway, those guitars really drive these songs! Morrissey always sounds so morose but then those guitars come in and sound all upbeat and rollicking and boom theres another great Smiths song. I know its a joke that the Smiths are sadboys to the extreme (I counted and there's only 1 song's lyrics that doesn't explicitly use the word die, dying, or talk about death) but Morrissey's forlorn pining for love and purpose strikes a chord with most everyone, which makes for relatable jams. I know there's vegetarians in this group and I'm knocking vegetarianism but man was he being way melodramatic with that "Meat is Murder" track. "..the unholy stench of murder....you savor the flavor of murder," with cows mooing in the back! C'mon Morrissey. Still though a pretty great album and I will begrudgingly give Morrissey props.

American Pie is and has always been an American classic. I feel like no matter how long its been since you've heard it, when it comes on everyone knows like half of those lyrics. I was surprised with the tone of the rest of the album. Aside from "Everybody Loves Me Baby," which was a bop, and a great tongue in cheek send up to imperialism. The rest of the songs felt very somber though. I loved his tribute to Van Gogh on, "Vincent," and closing with "The Grave," playing into "Babylon," made me feel like I died and was floating down the river Styx. Overall this album was just a collection of some decent, very pretty folk songs carried on the back of an American staple.

This was Cream lite, and I much prefer heavy Cream. Wasn't surprised to learn later that Steve Winwood joined up with Clapton to form Blind Faith. He definitely was already biting his style. Solid 60's style jam rock but nothing outstanding.

Yeeeah Johnny Rotten is an asshole and he got us good by making us listen to this album. Really grating throughout, and you never really can warm up to Rotten's nihilistic sentiments. So hard to get through the "Religions," not because I'm religious but just because its so high school and pretentious to think we want to listen to that same terrible poem twice. The biggest disappointment for me was "Fodderstompf." It started out with such a cool groove that I thought they might actually have a banger on their hands. Then they absolutely phoned in those lyrics. "I just wanted to be loved" over and over again. Even singing "We only wanted to finish the album with the minimum amount of effort. Which we are now doing very successfully." If they actually tried on that song I feel like it could've been cool. The only decent track was, "Public Image," which was a solid punk song.

I had really high expectations for this album because a lot of music critics I like regard it highly and it's one of Brian Eno's first projects so I was hype to hear his influence. Then "If There Is Something," came on and I'm like is this the Grateful Dead, what is going on? And that "huh, what is this?" vibe continued for me throughout the album. Mind you I don't hate the Grateful Dead but it was just unexpected, which I think was kind of the vibe they were going for on this album. A lot of cool experimentation for pop songs that I can tell influenced future artists, but it definitely could of used some refining.

This was absolutely club bangers top to bottom. I loved it. Paper Planes will forever be the greatest anti capitalist party track. I'm gonna go listen to that song again.

I've always enjoyed Frank Sinatra's voice. Its smooth, it croons, and it can really set a mood. But if I'm going to rate a musician I'd like them to actually create some of the music. Don't get me wrong he is a fantastic singer, but he didn't write these songs or play on them, so no matter how deep I fall into those ol' blue eyes I still got to say this one was a middling effort.

This dude was like what if I made Steely Dan but cornier. Wasn't a huge fan of this, which disappointed me because like Tom I was super geeked about that opening synth line. If I was pressed to describe this album in one word I think "Fine," would be most apt. Decent soft rock.

Ok ok, now I see why people like Elvis Costello. This was miles ahead of "Blood and Chocolate." I know he's known for changing his style a lot, but kind of wish he stuck with this one. Loved the guitar throughout this record and lyrically this was some really interesting songwriting. One thing I was wondering while listening to this was if I really liked this album or just enjoyed because I knew it was better than "Blood and Chocolate." Overall a pretty fun listen regardless.

"Kool Thing" is obviously a killer track that really steps up when the rest of this album does not. Their album "Daydream Nation" seemed a lot more earnest of an effort to me. Like it was just naturally an interesting and cool take on indie guitar rock, while this one felt like Sonic Youth knew they were seen as a "cool" band and really tried to sound like it. I mean why name your album after a goofy ass, childish track like "Goo," if you didn't want everyone to think "Oh whoa they just really don't give a fuck, sick. Yeah the song sucks but they're sticking it to pop music." Idk, I just have a hangup with Sonic Youth's pretension because I don't think they are making the artistic statements to back it up.

Exhibit A of old country music is so good, what the hell happened? I've always accepted Dolly as country royalty because of her chart toppers but this album really shows why she earned that crown. "Coat of Many Color," is a heartbreaking song that plays heads to the romping "Traveling Man's" tails. It's impressive that Dolly can write about such a broad range of topics and apparently back then it was impressive that she was writing her own songs at all. It's truly a songwriting showcase. For all the heartbreak and forlorn feelings on this album Dolly leaves you with a sense of joy when then whole thing wraps up. You really get that sunshine feeling from Dolly even on her most hard up songs. Her ability to make the darkness bright, and that deep FUNKY bass on "Early Morning Breeze," is what makes this one a classic.

Well "Rednecks" is one way to start an album. That was insanely jarring coming form the voice of "You got a Friend In Me." Obviously satire and a damning view of racist American thinking but its still a curious choice. I did think it was interesting to see Newman's love/hate relationship play out with his childhood homeland of Louisiana in songs like "Rednecks" vs. "Louisiana 1927" and "Kingfish." It seems his composition style hasn't changed much over the years, and I don't blame him. His style is signature and recognizable and it works especially well for his country drawl voice. I felt that this album had a really cohesive vision and executed it perfectly, and even though a lot of these songs sounded the same I think that let the vision of the work come through crystal clear.