Journey Complete!
Finisher #168 to complete the list
1089
Albums Rated
2.94
Average Rating
100%
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The Soft Bulletin
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2010s
Favorite Decade
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Top Origin
Wordsmith
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69
5-Star Albums
80
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rock Bottom | 5 | 2.39 | +2.61 |
| Peggy Suicide | 5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
| Ys | 5 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
| I Am a Bird Now | 5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
| Kala | 5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
| Very | 5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
| I See A Darkness | 5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
| Ghosteen | 5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
| Deserter's Songs | 5 | 3.02 | +1.98 |
| Behaviour | 5 | 3.04 | +1.96 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Low End Theory | 1 | 3.7 | -2.7 |
| Ill Communication | 1 | 3.65 | -2.65 |
| The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | 1 | 3.63 | -2.63 |
| Ramones | 1 | 3.58 | -2.58 |
| The Marshall Mathers LP | 1 | 3.49 | -2.49 |
| Hybrid Theory | 1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
| Nevermind | 2 | 4.37 | -2.37 |
| The Chronic | 1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
| Channel Orange | 1 | 3.31 | -2.31 |
| There's A Riot Goin' On | 1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Pet Shop Boys | 3 | 4.67 |
| Beatles | 7 | 4.14 |
| Aretha Franklin | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| Manic Street Preachers | 2 | 5 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 5 | 4.2 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Kings of Leon | 3 | 1.33 |
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer | 2 | 1 |
| Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band | 2 | 1 |
| The Mothers Of Invention | 2 | 1 |
| Public Image Ltd. | 2 | 1 |
| My Bloody Valentine | 3 | 1.67 |
| Can | 2 | 1.5 |
| Pere Ubu | 2 | 1.5 |
| Pavement | 2 | 1.5 |
| Eminem | 2 | 1.5 |
| Sly & The Family Stone | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Byrds | 5 | 2.2 |
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 2.2 |
| Roxy Music | 3 | 2 |
| Yes | 3 | 2 |
| Beastie Boys | 3 | 2 |
| Tim Buckley | 3 | 2 |
| Madonna | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| The Clash | 2, 5 |
| Dolly Parton | 4, 1 |
| Elvis Costello | 2, 5 |
| Love | 2, 5 |
| The Verve | 5, 2 |
5-Star Albums (69)
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Popular Reviews
Kid Rock
1/5
My heart sinks to see I have to spend 71 minutes of my life listening to Kid Rock. I'll try to listen with an open mind though, it could be good.
UPDATE: Nope. It's dog poop. 1/5.
97 likes
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
Just random noise.
It's heartwarming to know that a complete lack of musical talent or ability is no barrier to creating an influential album.
With that in mind, I hereby announce that my innovative pop duo 'Bumblecheek and the Reverb' is working on its debut album, to be titled 'Sexual Overcoat'. I fully expect inclusion in the next edition of the '1001 albums...' book.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: AB/7A
Date listened: 07/06/22
55 likes
Pulp
5/5
This is brilliant. Chock full of great pop songs and insightful social commentary. Of its time, but stands the test of time. Does exactly what it set out to do. A genuinely perfect album.
41 likes
The xx
2/5
Third album by The xx (formerly The twittertwitter).
Modern production fails to disguise a lack of quality songwriting.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: A Violent Noise
Date listened: 20/11/23
40 likes
Booker T. & The MG's
5/5
This sounds like something that Feathers McGraw from Wallace and Gromit would enjoy. And that Chicken/Penguin has great taste.
A really catchy and enjoyable instrumental R&B/soul record, with a distinctive Hammond organ sound front and centre. It would perfectly soundtrack various daily tasks like doing the washing up, spreading toast or walking through a town or city.
I'm glad they didn't try to put vocals on it, as any words matching the unashamedly joyous, and cool vibe would probably be really cheesy and ruin it. It's a perfect example of what it is and still sounds fresh almost 60 years after it was recorded. 5/5.
40 likes
1-Star Albums (80)
All Ratings
The Velvet Underground
2/5
Quite liked about half of this, although largely fairly forgettable. A few songs bored me a bit. Might benefit from a deeper understanding of the band/context. Not really what I expected from TVU. Much more folky (almost country?) than I imagined. Quite like the sad/relaxed vibe to some of the songs. REALLY like After Hours - probably the only song I'd return to.
Faves:
After Hours
Pale Blue Eyes
Least faves:
Jesus
I'm Set Free
Track-by-track:
1) Candy Says - Striking lyrical start. Chilled. Sad. Like it.
2) What Goes On - more upbeat. Jangley! Like it a lot. Good organ.
3) Some Kinda Love - yee ha - country. Less keen.
4) Pale bule eyes - pleasant. Relaxing. Not sure its supposed to be. Sad vibe. Like it.
5) Jesus - bit dull
6) Beginning to See the Light - like the harmonies bits. Bit Bob Dylan otherwise. Meh.
7) I'm Set Free - nah, not keen on this. Dull and also a bit irritating. Folky at the end.
8) That's the Story of My Life - Jaunty. Fun. Nice little interlude after a bit of a drudge.
9) The Murder Mystery - System of a Down! Organ! Weird vocals. Some spooky and some talking. A bit odd. Don't mind it, but doubt I'll listen again. Liking it less the longer it goes on (which is long).
10) After Hours - Nice. What does this remind me of? Mr Rodgers? Really like the happy tune and sad lyrics. Soudns like Mouldy Peaches. Which is a good thing. Maybe my fave on the album (sorry Lou).
Muddy Waters
3/5
Enjoyed listening to this. Captures the live energy. Cool to think this is a pioneer of a sound that is now so familiar. +Faves:-Baby Please Don't Go-I've Got My Mojo Working. +Least fave:-Goodbye Newport Blues.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
Pure velvet vocals make me go mmmmmmmmmmm. Instrumentation not all that interesting - seems like every track just fades out, often much too early and quite suddenly, which can lead to a feeling unfulfillment. Overall a very pleasant listen, and could have been great, but with the songs cut off in their prime it almost feels like a sampler for the real album. A shame. +Faves:-Son of a Preacher Man-Don't Forgret About Me
Sade
2/5
Saxy! Basically fine, but I lost interest fairly quickly.
Lauryn Hill
1/5
A real struggle to get through. Headache-inducing and painful to listen to (not in a good way). Faves-Forgive Them Father slightly less grating than some of the others. Actually, second half of the album may be a little less irritating. Still absolutely hated it, overall.
MGMT
3/5
Looking forward to this having read it's produced by Dave Fridmann. A couple of absolute bangers and I like the Lennon/Flaming Lips/Tame Impalaesque style of a lot of the rest, although song writing maybe not up to the level of those others. Generally I enjoyed it. Favourite album of this Odyssey so far.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Pleasant, functional, American rock'n'roll album. Not massively interesting, but enjoyable.
Tears For Fears
3/5
Excellent album. Shout - great opening track. Also, straight into the chorus. Statement of intent. Maintains quality throughout. Shows it is better to have fewer good tracks than to include filler.
Laura Nyro
4/5
Never heard of Laura Nyro, but 2.5 tracks in I think this is GREAT! What a voice! Excellent record. Catchy, toe tapping, range of styles. Really nice songs that her voice elevates.
The Band
2/5
Basically fine, but not very interesting. Is it honky tonk? It sounds honky tonk. What is honky tonk? Not massively keen. Terrible band name.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Confrontational and catchy.
Steve Winwood
3/5
A really enjoyable listen. Could be accused of being cheesy, but I like the 80s TV theme vibe.
Slipknot
3/5
The highs are high, surprisingly melodic, accessible and catchy but after an hours worth descends to being quite dirge at points. Just wanted it to end after track 9, although 'snuff' was a nice surprise and a welcome break. Chop out tracks 8-10 and you have an excellent album. Generally this is better in small doses. Singy bits > shouty bits.
Mekons
2/5
A little bit country. A lot punk. Didn't grab me.
A Tribe Called Quest
1/5
Very 90's rap. Boring and irritating.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I think I would like this a lot, but I just can't get passed Dylan's voice sounding like he's straining to squeeze out a difficult poo. I am sure it would reward repeated listens, reading lyrics etc. but I don't have the motivation to get stuck into it.
Frank Ocean
1/5
He's got a good voice, but not my style of music. Quite liked 'Pyramids' and am pleased to see a song about Forrest Gump, but overall I didn't really enjoy this album.
Os Mutantes
2/5
Brazilian Beatles. A very enjoyable energy. Glad I've heard it, but doubt I will revisit.
Ash
3/5
Fun album. Enjoyed listening to it. Youthful energy. Some really great songs. A bit of filler. May benefit from previous familiarity.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Not unpleasant to listen to. Quite intricate. Didn't really speak to me.
The Temptations
2/5
Not very interesting. Not very motowny. Kind if boring.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
What the heck was that? Somewhat self-indulgent. I think I'd have been quite bored sitting through it. Don't get it at all.
Pulp
5/5
This is brilliant. Chock full of great pop songs and insightful social commentary. Of its time, but stands the test of time. Does exactly what it set out to do. A genuinely perfect album.
Funkadelic
2/5
This album is bonkers. Starts and finishes with 10 minute jams, which make up two thirds of the album time. I didn't really care for these. The 15 mins of the the middle 5 tracks is much better, particularly 'You and your folks, me and my folks' which is very Black Sabbath-esque. Just when you think it can't get weirder, the last track has cuckoo clocks, mooing cows, monkey noises & hissing cats. Overall, maybe too weird to return to, but definitely not boring!
Coldplay
3/5
Very pleasant, professional and well made. Good opening 6 tracks, Yellow and Trouble are classics, but tails off a bit in second half. Enjoyable overall, but the generic/unspecific lyrics and song titles makes it all feel a bit superficial.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Sounds like a not awful Red Hot Chili Peppers. Quite liked it.
Can
1/5
I was ambivalent towards this until track 5, which is 17.5 minutes of clattering. It gave me a headache. Track 6 sounds like a 7 year old child randomly hitting a toy drum, bashing a piano and trying to explain the rules of Mallet's Mallet. For those reasons, I mostly hate this.
3/5
Better than on the studio album.
Steve Earle
3/5
Generally enjoyable in an easy-to-listen-to-country way. Had high hopes after the opening track, 'Guitar Town', and enjoyed 'Someday', but generally pretty standard other than those, especially the end of the album. Overall, would be a 'bang average' 3/6 tents in the (superior) Roskilde scoring system.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Exactly what I expected, but I also enjoyed it more than I expected. Maybe I'm more receptive to The Boss since seeing Blinded by the Light. Good film.
Stereolab
3/5
Quite nice and pleasant. Enjoy the french language singing. A bit like Saint Etienne. Doesn't sound particularly exciting or innovative today. Enjoyable overall.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Really enjoyed this. I like the contrast between the two discs. Much more accessible than I would have thought. I like the story telling in the songs. A previously un-listened to album and artist that I am sure I will be returning to.
Thundercat
1/5
Did I just listen to something? Perhaps I'm getting old, but I couldn't engage with this at all. It was just background incidental muzak to me. The musical equivalent of a stock photo.
The White Stripes
3/5
Good songs, but front loaded and maybe a little samey.
The Jam
3/5
Nirvana
2/5
Overall found this a bit down, whingey and wallowing for my tastes. Even the loud parts seem a bit miserable. I quite like a sad song, but the vibe of this album just isn't my thing. Really surprised how much I struggled with it given the classics on there.
Roxy Music
2/5
Not particularly interesting, except for the German bit.
The Saints
4/5
A really good and melodic 1970s punk album. Further elevated by horns and harmonica making this pretty great.
Garbage
2/5
Kind of ok, but a bit samey and not much that is memorable. Style over songwriting substance? Stupid Girl is a banger though.
Supergrass
3/5
High energy, bouncy and catchy. Can hear why Steven Spielberg wanted to make them into the new Monkees. Is it a 3 or a 4? Probably a 3. A bit one time.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
A much more melodic and enjoyable listen than I'd expected. Point off for track 8, general misogyny and for trying to rhyme 'air' with 'player'.
System Of A Down
4/5
I didn't expect to like this but really enjoyed it. Such a fun album! The strong musical theatre vibes were a surprise. It reminds me of a marginally heavier Jesus Christ Superstar (which is very much a good thing).
Can
2/5
1,000,000% better than their previous album on the list, Tago Mago, so have inflated the score proportionally to a very generous 2/5. Tago Mago was grating and annoying, this is just dull. 'Moonshake' is at least an actual song.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
This is fine. I like Neil Young, and consequently enjoyed his songs most (maybe as I knew them before hand). Generally, found this pleasant, but maybe a bit too polished and perfect. Lacks a little bit of edge/emotion.
Frank Sinatra
2/5
He's got a nice voice and stuff, but I found this pretty boring.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Pretty dull really. Should be a 2.5. Plumping for a very generous 3 mainly on thee grounds of the singles on the album. The rest not so good.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
Really enjoyed this. Catchy songs with lovely harmonies. Has a really nice energy.
William Orbit
2/5
Quite pleasant background music. Reminds me of Tim Snell.
The Avalanches
4/5
Breezy, fun and quite innovative. What's not to like?!
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
This is fine. Quite old school. Brass. Yeah, fine really.
Earth, Wind & Fire
2/5
Alright-ish. Pleasant enough, but I always feel that this style of music needs to be REALLY catchy to be in any way memorable to me. This album is lacking the 'Boogie Wonderland' or 'September' banger that is needed to make it stand out.
George Michael
3/5
A good pop album. Maybe a little too self indulgent. Could have done with a few lighter moments.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
A classy album. More varied than I'd imagined. Not massively my style of music, but held my attention and really enjoyed listening to it.
Pink Floyd
2/5
This started reasonably well, was ok in the middle and awful by the end. The four tracks from 'The Gnome' onwards have to be a joke, surely?!
Fred Neil
4/5
Nick Cave meets Neil Young, with hints of David Gray, Johnny Cash, Eels, and St Paul & the Broken Bones, which (let's face it) is a pretty spectacular review. I didn't expect much from this seemingly little known 1960s folk album, but it turns out to be brilliant. A deep, soulful voice singing mournful querying lyrics with engaging, natural melody over evocative music is great. Does what it does perfectly. 4/5.
Television
3/5
An album of two halves. The first half is like the Clash, but missing whatever it is that makes the Clash so vital. Side 2 is something different. Gentler, more melodic, not trying to have 'attitude' and much, much better. Side 1 = 2/5, Side 2 = 4/5.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
For an 18th album to be a 1 hr 45 min, 21 track, double + album, and be regarded as Wonder's masterpiece and an all time classic illustrates his genius. Personally preferred disc 1 to the more experimental disc 2 and b-side-esque 7", so can't give it 5*s. Love the ambition and first half of the record, but in my view less would have been more.
Black Flag
1/5
Childish lyrics, tuneless shouted vocals, unsubtle instrumentation. If a comedy sketch show was to make a parody of a punk album, it would sound like this. One novelty song on an album can be fun, 15 is just tiresome.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Quite nice. Much mellower and less noodling than I would have expected. Fine, but not massively memorable.
Nick Drake
2/5
Objectively, nice. Subjectively, a total snooze-fest. Was literally yawning at points.
Fela Kuti
4/5
Enjoyable background listening. Could have lived without the 16 minute drum solo.
Jeru The Damaja
2/5
More 90s rap. Seems fine. Not exciting.
Tori Amos
3/5
Good album. Really liked it at the start, but got a bit samey by the end. Ubiquitous 'reminds me of Kate Bush' comment.
The Blue Nile
2/5
80s pop. Seemed fine. Didn't grab me. A bit low tempo and one-paced.
Richard Hawley
4/5
Really, really enjoyed this album. I was slightly familiar with Richard Hawley from Rewind the Film, but his own work is new to me. Will definitely be checking out more of it. A high 4.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
2/5
Great for what it is, but of its time. Would still be brilliant in a jazz club, but on Spotify in a home office situation it doesn't really connect.
The Cure
3/5
I've always liked the jangly pop version of the Cure, but this is the first time I've engaged with their darker side on record. It's obviously a harder work than PopCure, but it appears that it would reward the effort. I quite liked it.
Chicago
1/5
Extremely self indulgent. Comes across to me as being calculated to the point of boredom. It is also excessively long (are debut double albums ever a good idea?). The longer it went on the more I just wanted it to be over, which isn't a good sign. A special mention also for "free from guitar" which made me grit my teeth and grimace 'finger nails on chalkboard' style. It would be a 2, but that knocks it down to a 1.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
Rhythmic and aggressive (that's how I like my post-punk pioneers). Not keen on the singing, but the music is fine. The Helter Skelter cover is a bit of an abomination.
Cat Stevens
5/5
A perfect little package of 3-minute acoustic guitar pop gems. Great song writing, beautifully recorded, sequenced and presented. Has Father and Son on it - objectively an all-time great song.
Liz Phair
2/5
Generally acceptable 90s indie rock. Very of its era. Very potty mouthed. Too long.
Finley Quaye
2/5
A pleasant enough listen, but didn't really grab me.
Genesis
3/5
I'm not sure why, but I expected to hate this. I actually quite enjoyed it, but wouldn't listen again.
Cheap Trick
4/5
Never heard of Cheap Trick before and have no idea what they sound like on a studio record, but this live album has great energy and seems to really capture the performance. A very engaging and enjoyable listen despite not knowing any of the songs. I do like the catchy rock songs, but am not really motivated to seek out the studio versions.
I usually find live albums fall a bit flat, but I couldn't fault this recording or performance at all.
Justice
3/5
Although largely 48 mins of gr ner na na barp barp, there is enough melody and other stuff going on to sustain attention and make this more enjoyable and interesting than I usually find dance music. Nice variety in the album whilst still sounding a cohesive piece. Liked the classical-played-on-organs-to-8-bit style. Also enjoyed the elevating break offered by the two vocal led tracks sequenced together at tracks 8 & 9. Would stick it on in the unlikely event of hosting an all night rave.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Sets it's stall out in the first 20 seconds:
"Downtown
My darling dime store thief
In the War of Independence
Rock 'n' roll rang sweet as victory"
Lyrically very striking, musiclly interesting. Liked it a lot. Feels like it would have more to give on repeat listens. 4/5
Sebadoh
2/5
After the first track I thought I would enjoy this, however, the off-key vocals and discordant music did not make for a pleasant listen.
The Undertones
3/5
Catchy punk pop. Bouncy and fun. What's not to like?
The Only Ones
2/5
Not keen on this. It did not sound very nice going into my ears. It did not sound very nice at all.
The Undertones
2/5
Second Undertones album generated in 3 days. Not as fun or bouncy as the last one. Only 38 minutes long, but still managed to bore me a bit.
The Cure
3/5
I like the Cure. I like this. Rides the middle ground between the two sides of the Band. Prefer it to the 'Pornography' album, also on this list. First half a 4, second half a 3.
Anita Baker
1/5
You bring me sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Miriam Makeba
3/5
My only familiarity with this style of African music is from the Lion King. Overall a very evocative and quite beautiful - she has a great voice. The three English language songs feel very out of place and detract from it, but otherwise a very enjoyable listen.
Röyksopp
3/5
Very early nouties. Basically fine but not particularly interesting.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Wow! This is amazing. Not a style of music I'd usually seek out, but I really enjoyed it and may well revisit. Incredibly, powerful, melodic, rhythmic and soulful. Not a weak track on the album. It's difficult to imagine how R&B music (or any music for that matter) could be better than this. Objectively and subjectively this can't be anything other than a 5.
Nina Simone
2/5
Apparently this is an album made up of left over bits from other recording sessions, and it sounds like it. Generally it's quite nice, but a bit lacking in cohesion and some of the tracks sound a bit unfinished. I'm also not overly keen on her voice. Sure its objectively great, just not to my taste.
Soul II Soul
2/5
Reasonable background music. Strong last two songs, otherwise, not particularly great.
Soft Cell
3/5
Tainted Love is a banger, the rest not up to that standard, although Sex Dwarf stands out lyrically and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is a good album closer. It's all quite urgent sounding and jarring in places. Bit of a punk vibe. Definitely not a relaxing listen. I'm glad to have heard it, but doubt I'd listen again.
Depeche Mode
4/5
The vibe is strong in this album, and I like that vibe. Dark and brooding. Add some hits into the mix and you have a very good record.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
2/5
I enjoyed side 1 as, despite it being a 26 minute song in 5 movements, it was accessible and a pleasant listen. Perhaps helped that it was a well known cover ('Who do yo love?'). It was also well performed - I didn't realise it was a live version until the applause at the end.
Side 2 is somehow even more self indulgent. 4 songs this time. 2 are ok covers (although Henry from Neighbours still has the definitive version of 'Mona') and the other 2 just sound like dull jams with nothing going on to keep my interest.
My snap judgement: QMS maybe good at noodling on a guitar, but are not blessed with much in the way of creativity or songwriting talent.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Pretty tradish folk music. Quite nice overall. Relaxing if not exciting. A couple of more interesting tracks ('Cajun Woman' & 'Si tu dois partir') and a nicely done traditional track ('A Sailors Life') just about elevate this to a generous 3.
Queen
2/5
I think with Queen you need to focus on the hits. Not overly keen on this.
The Byrds
2/5
Started well, but the wetness was a bit overwhelming by the end. Very low energy, in a way that sounds more like they couldn't be bothered rather than being nice and chilled. Think it might be the whiney vocals.
Bobby Womack
3/5
Instant, confident, happy, funky in places. Not pushing any boundaries, but an enjoyable listen.
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Basically 40 mins of the Hartbeat gallery music, which isn't an entirely bad thing. Oxygene Pt. 4 is the 'magician on TV doing something mystical or a spy being spooky' music. Exactly what I imagined a JMJ album would be.
Aerosmith
3/5
Aerosmith. Seemed fine in the first whiz through.
Janis Joplin
4/5
Blues rock songs sung increadibly soulfully with a great and unique voice. 'Me and Bobby McGee' seemed a bit out of place, having all the usual country music tropes. Seems a shame that this was her biggest hit when everything else was on here is very different and much better. Overall a really good album.
The Crusaders
2/5
A lot of saxophone. Nice enough, but descended slightly into elevator music. A bit one paced.
Marilyn Manson
2/5
Was quite enjoying this at the start. The synth elements make it stylistically more interesting than it would otherwise be. However, it's far too long. By track 9 I just wanted it to finish. If it was more concise and compact it might even be a 4, but as it stands too great a proportion is dirge to get above a 2.
Cocteau Twins
2/5
A pleasant enough listen. Couldn't make out much in the way of lyrics, but understand that may be deliberate. Acceptable background music, but not much more than that. Got a bit of a Lightning Seeds vibe in places.
Metallica
4/5
This is my Metallica. Accessible without compromising heaviness. Great album. Can't believe it was made in 1988; only 2 years after Master of Puppets, which sounds very dated by comparison.
The Go-Go's
4/5
Really liked this. It grabbed me in the first 15 seconds and didn't let go. Every track is catchy, melodic and fun. Apparently it is 'new-wave'. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I would describe this as danceable, exuberant pop music played on guitars, with a bit of a punk edge. If this is what new-wave is, then I like new-wave. 4.5/5.
Moby
3/5
I must have been one of the few people that didn't buy this album in 1999/2000. At the time I didn't think I'd be keen on it. As it transpires, I was right, although I didn't mind it. Some of the singles are almost classics and most of the other tracks were better than I expected. However, it just doesn't interest me or click with me for some reason. A competent, pleasant, commercially very successful album with some stand out moments, but overall pretty forgettable. 3/5.
Nirvana
3/5
I'm not a fan of Nirvana and really wanted to not like this. However, I enjoyed it a lot more than any of their studio recorded music that I've listened to. I was somehow less gloomy and less dirgy. 3/5.
The White Stripes
4/5
Really liked this. Heavier and more consistently good than White Blood Cells, which is also on this list. Seven Nation Army an absolute classic - must be song of the decade for the 2000s given the presence of the riff in popular culture and the public consciousness.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
Another 80s band I'd never heard of, but enjoyed. Nice 80s indie pop. A very pleasant and enjoyable listen. 3.5/5.
The Lemonheads
3/5
I remember Evan Dando being a running joke during the last days of the weekly printed music press. I've no idea why and know nothing more about the Lemonheads. This album was ok. Not pushing any boundaries and not a great deal of variety, but enbenjoyable enough guitar pop rock album.
Nirvana
2/5
I hoped I might like like this as I didn't mind the Nirvana Unplugged album and 'In Utero' is often compared to 'The Holy Bible'. However, it is nothing like either of those and is back to Nirvana's usual humourless, tuneless dirge.
Sex Pistols
4/5
A classic and socially significant album with some huge bangers. Its context makes it greater than the music objectively is. The bangers are spread across the album, which works well as a pick-me-up just as things are starting to get a bit samey. This would be a 3 if it wasn't so culturally significant.
Dirty Projectors
4/5
Experimental music can be very very good or can miss the mark completely. This is the former. Reminiscent in places of a Zaireeka-era Flaming Lips and a more polished Deerhoof, which is very much my jam. I'd never heard of Dirty Projectors before, but enjoyed this enough to want to check out more of their back catalogue. If it is as good as this, I will be in for a treat, but suspect 'hit and miss' may go with the genre... 4/5.
Elastica
4/5
Before this, the only Elastica song I knew was that one from Trigger Happy TV (which turns out to be 'Connection', track 3 of this album). I expected this to be generic 90s Britpop fodder, but it is much better than that. Heavier than expected and nice riffs, rhythm and melodies. The album whips through 15 tracks in 38 minutes, which (apart from a lull at track 8, 'Indian Song', which could have been dropped) keeps the interest and the energy up and doesn't allow time to get bored. 'Connection' and 'S.O.F.T' my highlights, but there is plenty of good stuff on here. I like this a lot and slightly regret missing it at the time, but doubt I'll be motivated to revisit now. 4/5.
The Pogues
4/5
Irish folk with an urgent and chaotic punk energy but also some tender moments. Really like the social commentary through story telling and evocative imagery in the songs. Dirty Old Town in particular is whistfully wonderful.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
Traditional Indian music. Not like any album I've listened to before. Difficult to analyse given how alien it is to me culturally, but a pleasant and relaxed listen.
The version on Spotify has different (translated?) song titles and number & length of tracks to the version released in 1967 (as listed on Wikipedia), so not certain I've listened as it was originally meant to be heard.
The final track on the Spoitfy version, 'Glacial Waters', has an something of 'Ring of Fire' about it. Is that a thing (Water vs Fire)? Probably not, but I've written it now. 2.5/5.
2/5
I occasionally quite enjoy Country music, but think I need to be in the mood for it. I was very much not in the mood when I listened to this. It annoyed me. The subject matter seems very insular and mundane.
Having said that, for what it is, this seems fine. Loretta Lynn has a nice enough voice and the album has a good variety of pace. Also on the plus side, I really enjoyed its brevity. The longest song is 2:53, and it gets through all 12 tracks in 28 mins. Many other albums would benefit from this conciseness. 2/5
Black Sabbath
3/5
I really like Black Sabbath, but have generally stuck to 'greatest hits' stuff to this point. This album was softer and more varied than imagined. Some departures from the classic Black Sabbath sound are more successful than others.
Overall, about half of the stuff on here is great (Wheels of Confusion, Tomorrows Dream, Changes, Supertnaught, Snowblind), but some of is a bit pointless (FX, Laguna Sunrise), and the rest is forgettable (Cornucopia, St. Vitus' Day, Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes).
I really want to give it a 4, but on that balance of the above, it has to be s a 3/5.
D'Angelo
1/5
Nothing. This is literally nothing. 90s godawful chill out R&B. The worst kind of music every imagined?
Mike Oldfield
2/5
I'm not really sure what to make of this. I'm assuming it was an artistic endeavour. To create his vision and for it to be an unlikely and huge commercial success is quite something, especially at the age of 19. I quite enjoyed side one, and didn't even mind the cheesy introducing of instruments at the end. Side two was much harder work though. The Blue Peter theme at the end is just bizarre. Just going with my gut on score: 2/5.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
A pleasant album that jangles and chugs along nicely. Pop rock with blues, funk and jazz elements and a soulful voice. Doesn't seem particularly cutting edge, but a very pleasant and an enjoyable listen. No weak tracks but nothing that stands out. 3/5.
Tom Waits
4/5
Like nothing I've heard before (only Electro-Shock Blues by Eels comes close, which I'd guess this influenced). A dark and demonic quality created by it being rhythm and percussion led, which is evocative of ungulate creatures. The latter parts of the album has more instrumentation with actual notes, which seems to imply a journey - I'm imagining someone arriving in hell and growing to accept their lot over time.
I like this a lot. Dark but not depressing. Unique, evocative, interesting. 4.5/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Fuzzy jangly indie rock. The Stone Roses doused in feedback. Released in 1985 but sounds like it was straight out of the 90s.
If I'd have listened in 1985 it may have grabbed me more, but given similar things came after, it doesn't seem as interesting or original as I'm sure it would have done at the time. Having said that, I quite liked it.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
I always thought of Isaac Hayes as an actor and singer, so was surprised to learn he composed, recorded and produced this. Impressive.
Everyone knows the theme tune, which is a movie classic, and the 19 minute 'Do Your Thing' is ace. Otherwise, this is a good and distinctive movie soundtrack but there is too much of the score element for it to stand up as an album in its own right.
It's obviously no Chocolate Salty Balls, but judging as an OST it gets a 4/5. Without the movie context it would be a 2, so overall I'll give it a 3.
Lou Reed
3/5
This album has Perfect Day and Walk on the Wild Side on it, both of which are stone cold classics. The former is a particular favourite (thanks BBC). Otherwise, this album is fine, but nowhere near that standard. I like Lou Reed's voice and can hear the Bowie influence in the production. 3/5
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
It's inevitable that I will compare this with Janice Joplin's solo work. It is less bluesy and more soft rocky than that, and consequently seems not to bring out such outstanding vocals. The most most Blues track on here, Piece of My Heart, stands above everything else, which is basically fine. 3/5.
Def Leppard
3/5
80s hair metal. An expansive sound with massive choruses combined with synth elements. An easy and enjoyable listen, and very 80s. A bit samey though and difficult to remember any particular song, possibly a result of the slick production, within which the actual songs get a bit lost. 3.5/5
Merle Haggard
3/5
A more country Johnny Cash. Rather than being an imitation, Merle Haggard sang from experience, having been serving a 15 year sentence in San Quentin when Cash played there. Haggard may be the more authentic jailbird, but somehow his songs sound less so and lack some of the Cash grit, poetry, emotion, and magic. Maybe it's unfair to consider this through the prism of Johnny Cash, but it's impossible not to. 3/5.
Turbonegro
3/5
I'd only heard 'Ass Cobra' before. I prefer this. It's a bit less comedic, shouty and screamy and a bit more tunefull. First half is fun rock and more melodic than the punkier second half. Opener, 'the Age of Pamparious' even has an acoustic guitar and is my fave on here. Pretty good, but not worthy of an erection. 3/5
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Lovely relaxed vocals but the lyrics are too sickly sweet for my tastes and a bit repetitive. Superstition is amazing. Stevie Wonder's real name is Stevland Morris. 3/5
Dizzee Rascal
3/5
This is a fun album and it seems Dizzee doesn't take himself too seriously.
David Bowie
4/5
The highs on this are very high. Life on Mars, Changes, Oh! You Pretty Things, Queen Bitch. The rest is decent but not that memorable. 4/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Sounds like a cross between Primal Scream (even though Bobby Gillespie had left by this point), Dinosaur Junior, New Order and the Stone Roses. It has an overall gloomy vibe but on occasions builds to more euphoric moments. I would prefer more of these. Quite a few of the songs seem to be about, or are evocative of, bad weather. An acceptable album but not one I will revisit. 3/5.
The Beach Boys
5/5
An all-time classic I'd never listened to before. It lived up to it's billing - a beautiful, tender and melancholic record, and quite far removed from the Beach Boy's west coast pop (which is also great). Both sides start and finish with classics and the songs in between help this album to read very much of a consistent piece. A pretty much perfect record. 5/5.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
I've never been a fan of RHCP. They are also the worst 'big' live act I've ever seen (Roskilde 2007 - boring and awful). I therefore expected to hate this, and increasingly did. At first I thought it was a bit more listenable than other efforts of theirs and the first few tracks at least had me tapping my toe. It quickly wore thin though. The longer I listened, the lower the score got. And it's a long album. Noone needs 17 tracks of this. 1.5/5.
A special shout out to 'Give it Away', which may be the worst song ever recorded?
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
This sounds like someone has mashed together the Flaming Lips, Neil Young, Super Furry Animals, the Polyphonic Spree and the chorus of a musical. What comes out is unlike anything ever, and quite brilliant. Big, orchestral, great melodies, with unusual and interesting lyrics. All complimented and contested with Sufjan Stevens' quiet, breathy vocals. A triumph of song writing and recording. 5/5.
10cc
2/5
Got the sense that 10cc we're trying to do lots of different things here, but none of them are interesting. The lyrics are also bad. I took against this album from the opening line: "Do the Wall Street Shuffle, Hear the money rustle". Jesus. 1.5/5.
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
I wouldn't have thought a song titled 'Mandela' would be so jaunty, given the situation in South Africa in 1985, when this was released. That aside, I enjoyed this album. Really accessible and listenable jazz. Nice to listen to in a bar or over dinner.
Sugar
2/5
Like a less woeful Nirvana. Nothing particularly exciting, but pretty catchy and bouncy in places. Quite liked the poppy bits, disliked the dirgey grungy bits. 2.5/5.
Milton Nascimento
4/5
A mix of styles, tempos and vibes, but still a cohesive piece. No idea about the lyrical content, but each song still manages to communicate a feeling, making it an engaging and enjoyable listen. 3.5/5.
Beatles
3/5
A Beatles album without any of their notable singles on it. Going into this, I know it is highly regarded, but am otherwise unsure of what to expect.
Side 1 of the album flew by. Very consistent. Very nice harmonies. Good songs. No weak tracks, but nothing massively stands out either, except Drive My Car which is catchy but a bit of a novelty track.
Side 2 is a bit more mellow, gentle and downbeat. Still quite good, but doesn't sound massively interesting or innovative in 2021.
I liked it, but I didn't love it. I suspect it is regarded more for its influence rather than as a stand alone piece. Judging it without that context, based solely on how much I enjoyed it, I'm maybe a little underwhelmed. 3/5.
Hawkwind
2/5
This is my first dalliance in space rock. I didn't expect it to be quite so literal. Their interpretation of space is quite sci-fi, robotic, and distopian except for on "Electronic No 1" where they even seem to have gone to the moon and recorded Clangers. I guess a lot of the tracks get into nice chugging grooves, but there is little to distinguish them from one-another. Overall it's all just a bit weird and impenetrable.
Cream
2/5
I was relived that this didn't include racist or anti-vax conspiracy theory themes, despite Eric Clapton's involvement. I don't know if we should separate the art from the artist, but for the purpose of this exercise I will try.
Bluesy and psychedelic garage rock. It seems the Beatles weren't the only band doing interesting things in 1967. However, the interesting bits are relatively sparse here and there are several weak tracks, some of which are really quite annoying. The performance and musicianship maybe also disguises fairly nothingy song writing. Overall, about half of the album was enjoyable and it is easy to hear how this would have been influential. Sunshine of your Love the stand out track. 2/5.
Rush
2/5
Great opening 5 seconds - a big synth swoosh with huge drumming. The next 5 seconds are an 80s sci-fi We Will Rock You. Really sets the album up, and it keeps the energy up throughout. However, by the end it had become a little bit samey and lost me somewhat. Generally an enjoyable listen overall, with some of cool moments. 2.5/5.
Ryan Adams
3/5
My flat mate in the first year of uni LOVED Ryan Adams. Like Tom, Ryan Adams sounds old before his time on this album, which is very mature, pleasant and extremely inoffensive. These are great qualities in a random flat mate, but, although enjoyable enough, does not create a particularly engaging listening experience.
4/5
I loved Oasis when I was in my teens and early 20s. This was never my favourite album of theirs though, and my general perception is that their music hasn't aged well, so I was interested to revisit this, with fairly low expectations.
Listening afresh this album holds up a lot better than I was expecting. Noel certainly knows how to find (or borrow) a catchy melody and Liam's voice was amazing in this era. It could do without Hey Now or the two short unnamed (Swamp Song) tracks, but overall I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would in 2021. If anything it has gone up in my estimation since I last listened to it a decade+ ago. I suspect that may not be the case with some other Oasis albums, but this does stand the test of time and remains a genuine classic.
The The
2/5
I don't mind 80s synth-pop, but this is a bit too downbeat for my tastes. 2/5.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
I'm not musical enough to recognise experimental time signatures. To me, this sounds like a cool, fun, chilled jazz album, which is the kind of jazz I enjoy. Recorded in 1959, but sounds timeless. It seems like the group achieved exactly what they set out to do. I can't fault it. 4/5.
The Kinks
4/5
Nice collection of 2-3 minute 1960s guitar pop songs. Social commentary and story telling of everyday life. Some odd sound effects and bit of a medieval vibe in some places. I've never dug beyond The Kinks' famous singles, but it seems their back catalogue has depth. 4/5
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
Pleasant and tradish country music. It sounds like it could have been recorded at any time between 1950 and yesterday. I suppose that makes it timeless. For what it is, I can't criticise it. 3.5/5.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
It seems Dexeys are more than one hit wonders. This album has depth to it. Catchy songs throughout, in their signature style. Well sequenced with a run of quieter songs at the end before the release Come on Eileen hoedown. The only thing that lets it down is that the singer's voice gets a bit grating after a while. Overall, really, really good though. 4/5.
The Pretty Things
2/5
Apparently this is the first rock opera and tells the story of a person (S.F. Sorrow) from birth to death. This sounds an interesting concept, but not one I would have noticed had I not read it on wikipedia. I'm sure it would emerge on repeated listens with and/or with closer attention, but I didn't enjoy the music enough to be motivated to do that. Basically this is an just-about-ok 1960s/70s psychedelic rock album. It starts in a fairly accessible way (I like the opening track, 'S.F. Sorrow is born') but becomes harder work later on. I didn't hate it, but didn't really like it much either. 2/5.
Tricky
2/5
This album raises the age old question: is trip hop chilled, or is it just boring?
Based on this, the answer is 'mostly boring'. The majority of this album passed me by. It's not entirely without its moments though. 'Hell is Round the Corner' and 'Brand New the Retro' caught my attention and were enjoyable. The rest was pretty zzzzzzz and too irritating to be relaxing.
2/5
I like Blur, but this was just 'ok'. It reinforces my impression that they are a great 'singles' band, but not so great in terms of albums. Lets wait and see if 'Parklife' changes my mind... 2.5/5
John Prine
3/5
Country music. Not unique in any way, but quite pleasant and I like his voice. Vocally this reminds me of Bob Dylan, which is odd, as I find Dylan's voice really puts me off his music.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
Brooding, moody, pop music. Liked it. 80 pop without the cheesy synth sound. 3/5 (Might have been 4 if I'd paid more attention).
The Pharcyde
3/5
A breezy hip hop album. The instrumentation has a strong jazz influence which is pleasant, relaxed and elevates it above the norm for a genre I'm not usually keen on. Light and humerous lyrics. This still has that 90s rap vocal rhythm which gives it a dated feel. 3/5
Deep Purple
2/5
It's hard to work out exactly why I don't like this. There are so many possibilities. It could be that the clinical production sucks any life out of it. It could be the focus on musical wankery (yes, we get it, you can play your instruments well - no need to labour the point). It could be that it seems too controlled and contrived for the vocal screams to be spontaneous and 'for real'.
Having written all that down I've worked out what my big issue with this is - it's completely devoid of emotion. Maybe a musical person would appreciate this on a technical level, but from my point of view, the main purpose of music is to inspire some sort of emotional response, and this just leaves me cold.
2/5
Aerosmith
2/5
An up tempo rock album that sounds distinctively Aerosmith. Thought I'd hate it after the first track, but it improved after that and, despite predictable vocal melodies, it's fine, if a little samey and uninteresting.
For some reason it evokes a feeling of being chased through a city in a film, including sneaking a bit and looking back around a corner at the pursuer before running again. Basically it's TV chase music. 2.5/5
Paul Weller
2/5
Sounds like Paul Weller. Functional and competant. Very 90s. Not exciting or interesting in any way. 2/5.
Yes
2/5
A gentler kind of prog rock. Not too much about space-aliens, which is a relief. Although the genre isn't really for me, I preferred this to previous prog rock offerings. A strong and mostly enjoyable start and finish, but it gets a bit lost in the middle and I'm not keen on the sudden and seemingly random changes within songs. Why not just make them separate tracks as they don't seem particularly connected. The live acoustic noodle as track 2 is also bit out of place and interrupts the flow. 2.5/5
Ananda Shankar
3/5
An enjoyable listen. The original compositions were better than the Rolling Stones and Doors covers, which had a bit of an Indian restaurant vibe. Interesting that this was the first fusion of Indian and western rock music, which makes the former more accessible, but has been repeated many times since, so doesn't seem as ground-breaking as it perhaps once was.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Following my recent Deep Purple boredom, I wasn't looking forward to another 1970s riff-heavy rock album. I enjoyed this though.
It's long, but more varied than I expected, particularly on sides 2 & 3. The quieter, gentler tracks were the stand out moments to me. Down by the Seaside I particularly enjoyed and was a nice change of pace, and a more pleasant vocal style to listen to than the full-on rasping elsewhere.
The heavier tracks are good too, and retain energy and emotion as well as incredible musicianship. Maybe the ability to insert energy and emotion into a performance is the difference between an artist and a musician?
3.5/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
My last review of CCR (Green River) was: "Pleasant, functional, American rock'n'roll album. Not massively interesting, but enjoyable." Exactly the same applies here. This is a bit more varied and I enjoyed it more, but no more than a competent 3/5, as for Green River.
My Bloody Valentine
1/5
Dirge is the only word for this. I could just about detect a tune in some of the early tracks, but from track 5 onwards it was just noise. I somehow managed to resist the almost overwhelming urge to turn it off before the end, but found myself getting more and more angry and irritated as a result. My face was an increasingly tightly screwed scowl for at least the last 25 minutes. Awful. 1/5.
Aimee Mann
3/5
I enjoyed this. It's MOR soft rock, but lyrically engaging and has a nice feeling about it. It sounds like someone singing from the heart. A bit of a country vibe in places. 3.5/5
Paul Simon
3/5
Very smooth and easy to listen to. I almost wrote that this is easy listening music, but to me that has connotations of being somewhat devoid of artistic interest and merit, which is very much not the case here. Nice melodies and pleasant instrumentation. Enjoyable. 3/5.
The Clash
2/5
I quite like The Clash, but hadn't previously listened to this, their debut album, in full. A punk album from start to finish, rather than their more genre bending later albums, such as London's Calling. I think I prefer it when they are mixing things up more. The US version, released two years later in 1979 sounds like a more accessible and interesting track listing, but that isn't subject to this review. In smaller doses this is good, but a full album is a bit much for me, even if only 35 mins long. 2.5/5.
U2
4/5
The best U2 album by some distance. It contains elements of all the band's eras from their guitar effects-driven sound of the 80s, through to arty electronic and industrial influence of 90s, and 00s anthemic stadium rock. The main focus, however, is their emerging 90s style (Actung Baby to Pop), which is my favourite U2 era. A fair few stone cold classics on here: One, Even Better, End of the World, Wild Horses, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Ultra Violet. 4/5.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I was excited to see this generated for me, as I know it's considered to be Joni Mitchell's masterpiece, and I really liked the Hissing of Summer Lawns. However, it failed to grab me, and even after a second listen has left me a little underwhelmed.
Compared to 'Hissing' it is less interesting, varied or striking both musically and lyrically. It is a nice and pleasant album, and the vocal is great, but it all seemed a bit samey and not overly interesting, so didn't live up to my high expectations.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Not a big country fan, but there is something about this which is somehow joyous. It just sounds like someone who is happy, which makes it difficult not to like. 3.5/5.
Elvis Costello
2/5
An album of two halves. About half fairly standard MOR, whilst the other half is more experimental and varied. It makes it more interesting, but interrupts the flow. Might have been better as two separate albums? Overall, its pretty average. I didn't massively enjoy it. 2.5/5
Muddy Waters
3/5
A classic blues album from a pioneer of the sound, with a great blues voice. An excellent example of what it is, and an enjoyable listen. 3.5/5
Marvin Gaye
4/5
The sexiest album so far. The iconic opening guitar lick sets the tone and it remains smooth and sensual throughout.
Side 1 is consistent and top quality. Track 4, 'Keep Gettin' It On' being a reprise of track 1 'Let's Get It On' works well and holds side 1 together as even more of a consistent and single piece. A perfect 5/5 for Side 1.
Side 2 is good, but the tracks are a bit more varied from each other and don't flow quite as well as in the first half. I usually like variety, but when the quality is as high and the style is as smooth and consistent as it is on Side 1, you just want more. Side 2 is 3.5/5.
Overall, a brilliant album, which just misses full marks due to a slight dip in the quality and flow of side 2. 4.5/5
Fela Kuti
4/5
Apparently this album is a "scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military" and its release resulted in the military attacking Fela Kuti's home and studio, beating Kuti and killing his mother in the process.
.
The album is comprises only two tracks. Both are powerful and funky with politically charged lyrics. The metaphor is clear once the context is known, and both tracks appear to be questioning soldiers following orders like the titular zombies and Mr Follow Follows.
Away from the heavy context, considered just as a piece of music, this is an enjoyable and fun listen. With the context this is powerful and engaging.
4/5.
Blur
3/5
Blur are a great singles band, and this album has some absolute bangers: Girls and Boys, Parklife, End of a Century.
Beyond that, the singles To the End, This Is a Low and the album track Badhead are lovely chilled songs. However, the majority of the rest was a quite irritating. A fair bit includes what I can only describe as circus music. This is pretty weird and a bit off-putting. I'd never noticed it on To the End before, but that song gets away with it where others don't.
Overall, about 1/3 of this 16 track album is pretty great, but the rest is generally annoying. As such, I can't justify more than a 3/5, and it's only that high as the singles are so good.
With Blur, I think I'll continue to stick to the greatest hits (the 2000 Best Of would be a bona fide 5/5).
Queens of the Stone Age
4/5
I used to own this album, but sold it as I rarely listened beyond track 3 and Mexicola. It's interesting to revisit it 20 years later, and now that QOTSA are a big festival headlining band.
As it turns out, I still really enjoy the first three tracks (Regular John, Avon and If Only), and although I'm still not keen on Walkin' on the Sidewalks (track 4), the rest of the album is a really enjoyable listen. It gets into a groove and chugs along nicely.
I guess this is at a point somewhere between Desert Sessions and the later, more mainstream, QOTSA albums. This is more subtle than the next two QOTSA albums, Rater R and Songs for the Deaf, but stands up with them in terms of quality and is very much a single and consistent piece. 3.5/5.
Jeff Beck
2/5
Apparently this is an important album in that it fuses blues with harder rock, and therefore laid the groundwork for heavy metal. For that I am grateful.
However, as a listening experience for the musical layman such as myself, I couldn't find much of interest. Just seemed like fairly boring rock n roll and overly ernest blues sung with an irritating raspy vocal.
2/5
Iggy Pop
2/5
I guess this was fine, but didn't grab me as being very interesting. Mr Pop's voice isn't really to my taste either. 2.5/5
Grizzly Bear
4/5
I like this. It's a bit weird, but not too weird, which is just the right amount of weird. There lots of interesting instrumentation and sounds going on here, which pique the interest individually and also combine well to become integral components of each track. A really nice vibe to this album, and some really nice harmonies. Elements remind me of the Flaming Lips, Mull Historical Society, the Byrds and Coldplay. 3.5/5.
The United States Of America
3/5
This is pretty weird. Impressively weird for 1968. Like the previous album by Grizzly Bear, it stays just the right side of weird to be more fun an interesting than it is annoying. 2.5/5.
Bee Gees
4/5
Well this is surprising and rather lovely. The Bee Gees as serious artists, delivering mature and emotive pop music with a melancholic vibe. Like their more well known work, this is characterised by really nice melodies and harmonies, but with just a little less chart-friendly pure pop polish and more mature sounding instrumentation in the form of horns and strings. Really like this. 4/5
Air
3/5
Nice soundtrack. 3.5/5.
Soundgarden
4/5
I went into this expecting to dislike it, but as it turned out, I rather enjoyed it. It's heavy, but it's tuneful. 3.5/5.
Motörhead
4/5
I've seen Motorhead a couple of times, and they've been good, but only on big stages at festivals in the middle of the afternoon. This makes me wish I'd seen them indoors at one of their own shows. Great live performances. High energy, tight playing, and a great crowd reaction, all brilliantly captured on this recording. Couldn't really want more from a live album.
The performance is so good that I can't tell if the opening track, Ace of Spades, is the recording that everybody knows, or if this performance is note perfect to the studio version. 4/5
The Young Rascals
3/5
The album cover is godawful and the title is total cringe (that apostrophe - urgh!), but the music is rather nice, cheerful and jangly. This album isn't going to win any awards for originality, but it's catchy and pleasant to listen to. 3/5.
Tortoise
2/5
Apparently this is 'post-rock'. It's is one for the musos I think. The intricacies of what it is doing musically goes over my head somewhat. A pleasant enough instrumental album though. 2.5/5.
Blur
2/5
Another overall disappointing album from Blur. But it does have Song 2 (and to a lesser extent, Beetlebum and On Your Own) on it. Like the other Blur records on this list, beyond the singles it is pretty forgettable. 2.5/5 (a bonus 0.5 for Song 2).
Deerhunter
2/5
I wouldn't say this is bad, but I also wouldn't say it's good, interesting, engaging, or that there is any chance I will ever listen to it again. It's just a bit slow, gloomy, whiney, and dull. 2/5.
Pere Ubu
2/5
Musically this is quite interesting and fun. The vocal just ruins it though. Screechy and awful and renders some songs unlistenable. I'd like to understand why the band didn't just go out and find someone who could sing, but, frankly, I can't be bothered to look it up. 1.5/5.
Minutemen
2/5
An interesting concept: 43 tracks (on the version on Spotify), mostly between 1 and 2 minutes long. In some places, it seemed like these sort of combined to form longer songs (sort of), or song families linked by a theme.
Whilst the format may be interesting insofar as it's unusual, it is not very enjoyable to listen to. Perhaps there is a reason this format hasn't been repeated by others (to my knowledge)? Or maybe the format is fine, but the music and vocals aren't great?
I think it is a bit of both. The songs aren’t very good, but you might be able to get away with some of them individually as the 'novelty short song' on a normal album. However, 43 is far too many and really prevents it gaining any flow as each track is over before it gets the chance to establish itself in your consciousness. This album was therefore really hard to get into and ended up being quite a slog to get through. At the point I got really fed up of it, there were still 35 or so tracks left. I still made it to the end though - think I deserve a medal. 1.5/5.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Simply amazing. Possibly not quite as powerful as Soul Lady, but still brilliant. I'm blown away once again. 5/5.
Pink Floyd
4/5
By far the most enjoyable Pink Floyd album that this list has generated for me so far. So much better without "that psychedelic noodling stuff" (as Dave Gilmour described it).
I had to read about the concept of the album in order to understand it. Each side reflects a journey through a human life, covering themes including greed, death and insanity. It also followed Syd Barret's breakdown and exit from the band. That context makes a big contribution to my understanding and enjoyment of the music.
Overall, it is a pleasant listen and interesting idea which is well executed. However, musically it is a bit too polished for my tastes, which to me somehow detracts from its emotiveness. 3.5/5.
Air
4/5
I'm not sure how it's taken me almost a quarter of a century to listen to this, but I certainly won't be leaving it 23 years before its next spin. A brilliant album from start to finish. A really nice, vibe that hits the perfect spot between fun and relaxing. Some bangers that I was already familiar with, interspersed with chilled out tracks, giving this album a great flow and feel. Effortlessly cool and catchy without being cheesy. Instantly love it.
Ministry
4/5
Heavy, industrial, catchy, fun. A surprisingly accessible album (up to the last few tracks), given the genre. BIG and EPIC. I liked it a lot. 4/5.
The Who
3/5
This album starts and ends brilliantly. Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes and Won't Get Fooled Again are classics and still sound fresh in 2021, particularly the former. In the middle it is less memorable though, and seemed like fairly average rock. 3.5/5.
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
There's a lot going on here, much of which is a little strange. The regency music of Little Sister is perhaps the most unusual amongst a lot of different styles. Musical theatre vocals, asian instrumentation, orchestral and choral elements run throughout and hold the album together. Overall, an interesting album, which is tender, epic and funny in places. The more I listened, the more I liked it. 4/5.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
I think Isaac Hayes might be a genius. The meat of this was great, but the build up to get there was quite slow (4 tracks, 45 mins). With familiarity from repeated listens, I expect the appreciation and enjoyment of this would grow, but based on one listen it's a 3/5.
Sarah Vaughan
3/5
This is the sort of jazz I would enjoy in a club or restaurant. 3.5/5
Missy Elliott
3/5
This was released at the peak of Missy Elliott's popularity. Half the tracks feature big-name collaborators (Jay-Z, Beyonce, Method Man, TLC) and it's produced by Timberland. It's commercial, accessible and an easy listen for the genre.
I'm not sure Pussycat has the feminist credentials that Missy thinks, and I could have done without being reminded that "this is another Missy Elliott exclusive" at the start of EVERY track. Missy sounds good though and neither her voice nor the instrumentation grate on me like many other hip hop albums have. I therefore do not feel the need to "kill it with a skillet". 3/5.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
Jangly indie pop with often amusing lyrics telling tales of everyday life from the perspective of various characters. Reminiscent of the Smiths, but with less bite both lyrically and musically. A pleasant and interesting listen. 3.5/5.
Pantera
2/5
Some heavy and cool riffs, but the overly clean production robs this album of any emotion for me. The vocals also seem weirdly disconnected from the music, like someone doing an impression of a metal singer over a karaoke backing track. 2/5.
Pavement
2/5
Pretty boring and a bit whingey, but not terrible. 2/5.
2/5
There's an awful lot of prog rock on this list. It would take a lot of effort and concentration to have a chance of enjoying it, and even then it might turn out to be rubbish, so I don't think I can really be bothered.
This album seemed better than most in the genre and was enjoyable in places, particularly the last of the 3(!) tracks which had some nice harmonies, guitar and turned into a cool jam at the end (it also a Tudor thing going on about 1/3 of the way through). However, it still didn't grab me or inspire any interest to dig into the album, band or genre further. 2/5.
The Band
3/5
In football terms: the musical equivalent of James Milner. Competent, dependable and workmanlike, but not very creative, innovative or all that interesting.
The album is fine and generally enjoyable, but the fact that out of all of language they chose to call their group 'The Band' probably says all you need to know about the levels of imagination that are apparent here. 2.5/5.
4/5
Really enjoyed this. Catchy songs, interesting lyrics and a connecting theme. Apparently this was recorded as a companion to a TV play that never got made, about a carpet fitter based on Ray Davies brother-in-law. Glad the album didn't get buried along with the TV show. 4/5.
Don McLean
5/5
A lovely, lovely, quiet, gentle, evocative, sad album.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
A pioneering artist, and nice early rock-'n'-roll record, but only the well known songs (That'll be the Day, and Oh Boy!) and a couple of others stood out. 3/5.
Steely Dan
2/5
MOR soft rock. Meh. 2/5.
Steely Dan
2/5
This is more enjoyable and interesting than the Steely Dan album the list generated for me yesterday (Can't Buy a Thrill). Nice melodies, harmonies, a more varied pace. I liked the Duke Ellington cover (East St-Louis Toodle-Oo). Still basically MOR soft rock though. 2.5/5.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
I've never taken recreational drugs, but based on this album it sounds like it would be fun. It's the sound of a man having a lovely time making weird music, seemingly doing whatever he felt like from one moment to the next. The result is enjoyable chaos. 3.5/5.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
This exceeded my expectations. Bluesy and melodic. Apparently The Stones' 'Rubber Soul'. Preferred it to that. Maybe I'll settle the age-old debate through this process. So far: Stones 1-0 Beatles. 3.5/5.
The Who
4/5
This is an epic - in the sense that it is really long. Plenty of bangers are included, but can get a bit lost in the length of the album. It does take the listener of an engaging and enjoyable journey, though.
That this is a rock opera is very apparent. The ebb and flow, big choruses, and narrative of musical theatre are clear, so the length gets a pass in this case and it is judged as something different (more?) than just an album of songs. 3.5/5 (for the bangers, narrative journey and a bonus half point for ambition).
Booker T. & The MG's
5/5
This sounds like something that Feathers McGraw from Wallace and Gromit would enjoy. And that Chicken/Penguin has great taste.
A really catchy and enjoyable instrumental R&B/soul record, with a distinctive Hammond organ sound front and centre. It would perfectly soundtrack various daily tasks like doing the washing up, spreading toast or walking through a town or city.
I'm glad they didn't try to put vocals on it, as any words matching the unashamedly joyous, and cool vibe would probably be really cheesy and ruin it. It's a perfect example of what it is and still sounds fresh almost 60 years after it was recorded. 5/5.
Van Halen
3/5
Jump is a banger. The rest is 80s hair metal (although apparently it's not technically hair metal). A fun listen, but the quality tails off in the second half. 3/5.
Bauhaus
3/5
Brilliant drumming. Surprisingly accessible. 3/5.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
The Velvet Underground's eponymous album (without Nico) was the first record that generated for me on this odyssey. I found that one to be a bit boring, but that could not be further from the case with this.
Everything about this is cool, including the iconic album cover. The music is varied with interesting and unusual elements throughout. However, it remains very much of a piece, with a consistent lo-fi and arty vibe which ties together the range of styles. I personally prefer the more mellow moments, but each track from 1-9 contributes to its brilliance.
However, the final two tracks are basically just noise, which is a shame.
The first nine tracks of this are a 5 star record. Half a point has to come off for the final two, but in practice I'll just pretend they don't exist. 4.5/5.
LCD Soundsystem
2/5
This is like a not very good amalgamation of much of the 'alternative' music that was popular in the mid-late 2000s. Bloc Party + The Strokes + The Killers + Hot Chip - any original and interesting elements = this. When dance-rock is done well it can be epic (e.g. EXRMNTR), but this is, like a lot of the similar 2006-2009ish output, just sounds dated and generic now. 1.5/5.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
He may be a grumpy old codger these days, but I love Neil Young's voice. For that reason, I prefer the solo acoustic Side A (where Young's voice really stands out) to the full band Crazy Horse electric Side B. The symmetry of My My, Hey, Hey and Hey, Hey, My, My bookending the album is cool. Whilst I do really like this, I wonder whether it would have been even better as two separate albums.
4/5 for Side A, 3/5 for Side B = 3.5/5 overall.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Very nice, smooth, lovely melodies and beautiful singing, but doesn't really get me in the feels.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
Having found ATCQ's next album, Low End Theory, to be extremely dull and dated, I was surprised to actually quite like this. Fun, catchy and laid back hip hop with a good balance of instrumentation and samples from a range of genres. Can/do I kick/like it? Yes you/I can/do. 3/5.
R.E.M.
5/5
I was always aware of this being considered a classic and remember it as an ever-present in the 'buy one get one half-price' section of Our Price in the late 90s. For some reason I never took the plunge and forked out, which may have been an error, as it lives up to its billing.
Rich, textured, and lush. Intriguing lyrics which make you want to delve deeper, sung with Michael Stipe's distinctive voice which suits the music perfectly. A quality album with an exceptionally strong first half and brilliant final three tracks. Just a slight dip at tracks 7, 8 and 9 mean this just misses out on full marks.
P.S. I am one of the 99% of people who always thought it was "Calling Jamaica". I still can't hear it as "Call me when you try to wake her up". Surely all those syllables aren't actually sung?
4.5/5
Bob Dylan
2/5
I have a few issues with this. Firstly, you have to get past the voice, which must be an acquired taste. Secondly, the lack of melody makes this album hard work to listen to. If there is genius in there somewhere, it's buried so deeply as to be inaccessible.
The album sounds quite raw. It presents as if it was recorded quickly and before the songs had been fully worked-up. I assume that is the style Dylan was going for, but to me it just sounds like a collection of demos which need finishing and finessing.
Overall, a boring and displeasing listen. 1.5/5.
Taylor Swift
2/5
Swedish super-producer pop. It's fine, but I couldn't find anything distinctive about it.
I'd never listened to Taylor Swift before, but was expecting better based on reputation. I'm not sure if the generic production style hides some good song writing, or serves to disguise a lack of quality songs.
2/5
Depeche Mode
4/5
This lives up to its title. Typical dark, broody synths, but also melodic and poppy. More catchy and less heavy on the vibe compared to Violater, which this album preceded and is also on this list. I'm coming to the conclusion that Depeche Mode are pretty great. 4/5.
Tom Waits
2/5
There is some really good, and quite varied, stuff on here, although the vocal doesn't always fit. On Bone Machine, Waits' gravelly, discordant voice perfectly matched the hellish, doomey tone of the album. On here, it only works on a handful of songs, leaving the rest quite hard work. The album is certainly not without merit, and a range of styles is often to be admired, but in Waits' case, he might be best keeping it dark. 2/5.
Red Snapper
1/5
This is probably the most year 2000 album I've ever heard. Even the cover screams 'millenium'. I found a lot of this very annoying. When it wasn't very annoying it was very generic. In paces it managed to be both very annoying and very generic (what is with that clipped sounding female dance vocal that was everywhere in the 2000s). 1/5.
Beastie Boys
2/5
A marginally less annoying rip-off of the Anfield Rap. Needs more Grobbelaar. 1.5/5
Little Richard
3/5
Timeless fast tempo, screaming rock'n'roll. Never gets old.
3.5/5
Happy Mondays
2/5
Let's be honest, the Happy Mondays were fun as a novelty circus, but not particularly good.
Maybe this would sound amazing if I were to chug down a load of ecstasy, but that's not something I'm ever going to find out. 2.5/5
Belle & Sebastian
5/5
I was expecting boring standard 90s indie. I got interesting and excellent 90s indie with a lot of cool things going on. A really nice vibe and just the right balance of consistency and variety to hold it together whilst also keeping it interesting. I instantly really like it. A very unexpected 5/5.
The Doors
3/5
This exceeded my expectations. I had always heard that the Doors are one of the most overrated bands of all time. However, I quite enjoyed this. Maybe still overrated, but perfectly decent. 3.5/5.
Solomon Burke
2/5
Ronseal. Soulful rock'n' roll. Enjoyable enough, not super interesting. 2.5/5.
Green Day
3/5
This is a much more interesting album than I would have given credit for. A punk rock opera at the dawning of the culture war, which really captures the mood of the time. Long songs split into more than one movement. It's still Green Day, so mostly pretty basic, but it's Green Day being arty, which I never knew was a thing they did. 3.5/5.
The Beau Brummels
1/5
What on earth is this? Medieval, folk, gallic, psychedelia. Very sparse sounding. No oomph. Too weird for me. 1/5.
T. Rex
2/5
Exactly how I would expect a T Rex album to sound. Distinctively them, basically fine, but pretty samey. 2.5/5.
The Pogues
4/5
A poppy, accessible and musically upbeat take on traditional Irish folk. The album incorporates a lot of other styles, but all somehow within an Celtic folk rock framework, which holds it together. A couple of ubiquitous classics - Fairytail of New York and Fiesta. A fun album, but with depth. A triumph. 4.5/5
Jethro Tull
2/5
A bit like Black Sabbath with added woodwind. Impressive musicianship, but the songs don't grab me. Some questionable themes, but it was the 1970s. 2/5.
Fugees
2/5
This has a high production value and King Me Softly with His Song is a classic. The rest is alright for what it is, but Hip Hop just isn't my thing. The between-song skits about ordering take-away food etc. are annoying. 2/5.
Boston
3/5
The most classic of classic rock. Unlikely to win awards for innovation, but enjoyable for what it is - a fun, melodic, bombastic slab of cranked-up guitar bigness. 3.5/5.
Massive Attack
2/5
There's not a lot on this album to grab the attention. It sounds quite dated and wears thin quite quickly, so doesn't even function well as background music. 1.5/5.
The Monkees
2/5
Ok 60s pop, but lacking any catchy songs or big hits. They should have stuck with the external song writers and session musicians. 2/5.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
Socially and politically charged lyrics over varied and interesting music. A serious and often heavy album, in terms of content. Easy to see why this is critically acclaimed. 'The Blacker The Berry' and 'i' the standout tracks. 2.5/5.
Elton John
4/5
Tiny Dancer plus seven other songs that follow a similar pattern: delicate piano builds to big orchestral sections, then drops back down, and repeat. It may lack variety but it's a winning formula; and when the melodies are this good it's very difficult not to like. 4/5.
Waylon Jennings
2/5
Instantly forgettable country music. 2/5.
Syd Barrett
3/5
Less polished, and much easier to connect with than any Pink Floyd music I've heard to date. 3/5.
Kid Rock
1/5
My heart sinks to see I have to spend 71 minutes of my life listening to Kid Rock. I'll try to listen with an open mind though, it could be good.
UPDATE: Nope. It's dog poop. 1/5.
Various Artists
4/5
The best way to spread Christmas cheer is with a wall of sound for all to hear.
A collection of popular Christmas songs, all performed and recorded in a consistent fun, joyful, upbeat, style. A lot of these have become the go-to versions, and the one original composition on the album, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)) by Darlene Love, is an underrated Christmas classic.
Thanks for generating this on Christmas Eve (surely not a coincidence at odds of approx. 1 in 260?). This will become essential Christmas listening and couldn't fail to put even the bah-humbuggiest of Scrooges in the festive mood.
4/5
Johnny Cash
3/5
You can feel the energy in the room in this recording, particularly during 'San Quentin'. Glad they included Cash addressing the audience between songs, but the heavy editing down of the setlist (to fit vinyl) and bleeping of profanities detracts somewhat. 3.5/5
The Kinks
3/5
Pleasant pop rock. The quintessential Englishness is a bit twee and wears a bit thin by the second half. 3/5
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
This is very Fun-D.M.C. Massive beats, catchy, and the first rock/rap crossovers. Easy to see why this is considered the first classic hip-hop album and how it brought the genre to a new audience. 4/5.
Method Man
2/5
It seems like hip-hop moved on a long way between 1990 & 1994. This sounds a lot more modern then the early 90s albums on this list. I don't know enough about it too understand if Method Man/Wu Tang pioneered this change. This still didn't really can me though.
Bob Dylan
4/5
A much more accessible Bob Dylan album. The things that put me off previous albums aren't present here: the vocal is clearer and less strained, the production seems finished, and melodies are present. All this enables the lyrical craft to be revealed and makes for a very interesting and enjoyable liseten. Plugging in was a good idea. 4/5
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I wasn't expecting innovation, but didn't think it would be this uninteresting. Fortunately, doing the hoovering provided a welcome distraction from the repetitive task of listening to this album. 2/5.
Queen Latifah
2/5
I was surprised to see Queen Latifah released her first album in the 80s. Not my favourite genre, but I didn't mind this. Liked the prominent brass in the backing tracks. 2/5.
Bad Brains
2/5
Hardcore punk pioneers. Musically very accomplished (for the genre), and interesting that the vocals for 'Sacred Love' were recorded down the phone from prison. However, it didn't really grab me. I generally like my hardcore punk to be a bit more light hearted and fun. 2/5.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
A pleasant collection of songs. Didn't realise this was the band that Neil Young started in. Not up to the standard of his later work, but hints at what's to come. 3/5.
The B-52's
4/5
It seems there is more to the B-52's than 'Loveshack', a questionable apostrophe, talk-singing, and the Flintstones.
This is a high-energy, hook-laden, post-punk/new wave album which picks you up and demands attention and movement. Like the cover art, the album has a quirky cartoony vibe, but avoids slipping into novelty territory by virtue of its ferocity.
Imagine this would have sounded ground-breaking in 1979 and remains fresh, fun and catchy today. 4/5.
Derek & The Dominos
2/5
The title sums this album up perfectly. Competent music, but for a collection of love songs it feels cold and perfunctory. Perhaps Clapton would have been better suited to a collection of assorted hate songs? 2/5
Tom Waits
3/5
This is the third Tom Waits album that has been generated for me. The first one felt striking, different, and interesting, but is having 5 on this list really necessary? This may be the best of the three so far, but the law of diminishing returns means it struggles to hold the interest as well as the first one did. 3/5.
Kate Bush
2/5
Distinctively Kate Bush. Unique, restful and spacey, but not really my cup of tea, except for the album closer, 'This Woman's Work', which is ace. 2/5
Ice Cube
2/5
Not my favourite genre, and I'll never listen to this album again, but I didn't mind this. Musically quite gentle and melodic in places. 2.5/5.
Eminem
2/5
It's catcy and amusing in places, but extremely juvenile and cringey. In 2021 some of the lyrics are very questionable. Guilty Conscience - ooshk. 2/5.
Special shout out for Eminem at Reading Festival 2001 being the most cringe worthy set I've ever seen. No, I'm not 'amped' (whatever that means), and I don't really care if you pop that pill or not.
Beastie Boys
3/5
It's easier to enjoy the Beastie Boys when all they're fighting for is the simple right to party, rather than for Tibetan freedom. Whilst the latter may be a worthy objective, the former is much more achievable.
In fact, they nailed it here, on their debut LP. It may not be very sophisticated, but this is a big, fun, bombastic party in album form. 3.5/5.
Christine and the Queens
3/5
This album comes in both French and English versions. Although I didn't really engage with the lyrical content, the English version was still more enjoyable. It doesn't sound like a translation that has been shoehorned in. I'd be interested to know if the meanings of the songs are the same in both languages. Both versions are listenable and pleasant electropop. 3/5.
Aphex Twin
3/5
Ronseal. Ambient techno. Pleasant background music. Not something that demands attention, but a good album to review documents to and certainly a success under its own terms. Green Calx is a bit Pigeon Street. 3.5/5.
Supergrass
3/5
I have this album on CD, but have never given it much of a listen beyond Richard III and Sun Hits the Sky. It seems I've been missing out all these years as it's a rather good collection of varied songs and much more complex and mature than their debut. It may have benefited from the brass and other non-guitar instrumentation being brought out more in production. 3.5/5.
The Hives
2/5
A compilation of tracks from previous albums and EPs released with the intention of catapulting the Hives to commercial success. It worked (for a time), thanks to the Hives being stylish, having a sound that fitted the 2001 garage rock zeitgeist, and Howlin' Pelle Almqvist being a charismatic front-man.
The album is fun, high energy and hurtles along at a pace of knots. 'Hate To Say I Told You So' is a banger, but beyond that there is little in the song writing to suggest that the Hives could be sustained as anything more than an entertaining late afternoon festival act. 2.5/5.
Joy Division
4/5
Dark, brooding, unrelenting, excellent. A very engaging, if not enjoyable, listen. I'm much less familiar with Joy Division than I am with New Order, but the ingredients of the latter are clear here, despite the very different tone. An album I expect to revisit. 4.5/5
Morrissey
2/5
I didn't realise the descent of Morrissey into Dad-rock and questionable (to put it mildly) views started as far back as 1992. I liked it more when I thought of Mozza as a hilariously self-absorbed but ultimately harmless character. 2.5/5
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
A very professional live performance by a tight band. Easy background music, but 19 and 23 minute long songs may get a bit boring if I'm not distracted by other things. 2.5/5.
Killing Joke
4/5
A heavy throbbing slab of post punk with elements of metal. The opening track, Requiem, is the stand-out. 3.5/5
The Specials
4/5
Bouncy but angry. A polaroid of disaffected you in 1970s/80s urban Britain? It tails off a bit on side 2, but is still a ska classic. 3.5/5.
Living Colour
4/5
From the title and cover art I did not expect this to be a heavy rock album. From the era I did not expect this late 80's heavy rock album to have aged well.
My expectations have been proved resoundingly wrong. This is a hugely enjoyable album with well constructed songs, catchy choruses, faultless musicianship, a variety of styles (arena rock, metal, funk, soul, rap) and interesting themes. 4/5
Portishead
2/5
This mostly didn't offend my ears, but is so, so, unrelentingly boring. Even the fog horn sound at the end of the album goes on, and on, and on. Please just finish so I can get on with my life. It annoyed me. 1.5/5.
Pixies
3/5
This is the first time I've listened to a Pixies album. Overall I enjoyed it. I preferred the poppier moments, so not sure I necessarily expect to love the rest of the back catalogue. When this is good, it's really good, but a little inconsistent. 3.5/5
Buzzcocks
2/5
Fairly standard late 80s punk, at the poppier and more melodic end of the spectrum. 2.5/5.
Manu Chao
3/5
A multilingual treat. Also found the French language earworm I'd been struggling to identify. 3/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
Another quite enjoyable Bob Dylan album. It appears that he and I may have got off to a shaky start. This includes some well known classics and is fairly strong throughout, although I preferred the more plugged in Side A to the more folky Side B. 3.5/5.
Suede
3/5
This album has a strong sense of melodrama. I'm not sure what Brett Anderson is so exercised about, but I get the impression he could benefit from taking a step back and gaining some perspective. I like it, although don't love it. A more reined in, less emotionally OTT album could be brilliant. 3/5.
The Police
2/5
That was weirdly eclectic. I like variety, but this goes a bit far for my tastes, to the extent that it seems to lack flow and is difficult to understand what it is. Every breath you take is on here. 2/5.
Peter Frampton
2/5
A professional live performance and competent noodling but didn't really excite me and got really quite boring by the end. 2/5.
Elbow
5/5
This is a beautiful record. Epic but fragile, romantic but truthful, outward looking but visceral.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is found to have healing qualities. An hour listening and I feel soothed. And moved. Catharsis in sound.
5/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
This is the polar opposite of the cheesy crooner I'd (very wrongly) imagined Leonard Cohen to be. Dark, brooding, enigmatic music which is often synth-led. Dark, interesting, menacing and sad lyrics, all sung in a distinctive baritone voice. An interesting and emotive album. 4/5
The Who
3/5
The Who in embryonic form. Their sound not yet fully formed (I had to check Roger Daltrey was the singer on this album), but plenty of their characteristic oomph. 3/5
John Lennon
4/5
Exactly what I would expect from a John Lennon album - raw, direct, angry and, for the most part, great. (Oh Yoko! is lame, though). 4/5
Fishbone
2/5
This is a mix of punk, ska, reggae and rock. It has some ok tracks, but overall it lacks cohesion and is a bit of a messy annoyance. 2/5.
John Grant
5/5
I had no idea what to expect from this, but I love it. The confessional, surreal, often darkly humourous lyrics are beautifully complimented by the gentle folk rock with just the right amount of experimental elements and Grant's easy, evocative vocal. 5/5
Dusty Springfield
3/5
A really nice 60s pop soul album. A great voice and beautifully written and produced pop songs, including some Bacharachian gems.
The early fade out of most tracks still bugs me (the songs are easily good enough to each be a minute longer), but probably not worthy of the harsh penalty I gave 'Dusty in Memphis' - sorry, Dusty! 3.5/5
Japan
3/5
Atmospheric synthwave from 1979. A good mix of poppy and more experimental elements. I liked it. 3.5/5.
Sly & The Family Stone
1/5
The most obvious of cocaine albums. It's bold and confident, but busy like a big mess. It does not sound good. 1.5/5
Deee-Lite
2/5
This is exactly the style of 90s pop dance music I remember from listening to GWR FM in my Dad's car and watching the Chart Show on a Saturday morning in the early 90s. It's a nostalgic and not entirely unpleasant sound, but also quite dated and not very interesting. 2/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
It may have first come to my attention in a silly rom-com film about time travel, but Into My Arms always hits me in the feels. The same applies to much of this album thanks to its poetic lyrics over sparse, piano-led instrumentation.
Other favourite tracks are Lime Tree Arbour, People Ain't no Good, and Far From Me. These have a thematic link of Cave considering unpleasant truths about humanity (suffering is inevitable and people have an inherent badness), and being able to accept these thanks to feeling love and goodness in another person. The vulnerability that results from relying on personal happiness and love to block out the drakenss in the wider world is an interesting theme to explore.
I get less from the rest of the album, which comprises more insular songs of heartbreak. However, these remain heartfelt, poetic and bleakly beautiful.
4.5/5
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
I've always thought of Fleetwood Mac as being very talented musicians and songwriters, but lacking their own distinctive sound and their music being a bit clinical and 'MOR'.
Listening to this album hasn't changed that view, however, the quality of the songwriting, performance, production and the sheer number of ubiquitous classics is such that this can't be anything other than a 5/5 record.
The The
3/5
I much preferred this to 'Soul Mining'. It has a lot more 'oomph' and is a lot more varied in style. The political and angry lyrics are interesting and engaging. Good album. 3.5/5.
George Michael
5/5
As a debut solo album entirely written and produced by Michael, this is quite the post-Wham! statement.
Characterised by catchy melodies, lyrics with something to say, and funky bass, this is a brilliant soulful pop album. The opening three tracks of Faith/Father Figure/I Want Your Sex set the tone and the standard never substantially dips.
The two ballads (One More Try/Kissing a Fool) come a good times providing breaks from the funkiness and allow Michael's beautiful vocal to wash over you.
4.5/5
Orbital
1/5
In places this sounds like it was made on 'Music 2000' on the PlayStation 1.
it is also unrelentingly dull and uninteresting. Just so, so boring. 75 minutes long too. Such a slog to get through. Urgh.
To give some credit though, Orbital do have cool glasses.
1/5
The Smiths
3/5
The Smiths were only an album releasing entity for 3.5 years. It's doubly impressive, therefore, that 3 out of their 4 albums are on this list.
This may not have the consistency or level of humour and brilliance of The Queen Is Dead but is still a solid Smiths album with a handful of classics. And a solid Smiths album is still a very good record.
3.5/5
Johnny Cash
5/5
This may just be the greatest live album of all time. From "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" to the closing bars of Greystone Chapel and the announcements that follow, this is essential and engaging listening. The recording somehow transports you into the room in Folsom Prison. The energy from the inmates is palpable and it's clear that they are hanging on every Cash's every word.
5/5
Beth Orton
3/5
Meandering, dreamy, sad and hopeful. A slow burner.
3/5
David Bowie
3/5
David Bowie does saxy soul. He really commits to it, but it still feels like a bit of a pastiche.
3/5
Tom Waits
4/5
Ungulates! The ungulates are coming! Clomping their way to the firey fairground of hellllllll!
Five Tom Waits albums on this list is ridiculous, but this is probably my favourite of the four I've heard so far. It hits the sweet-spot between the relentless demonic rhythm of Bone Machine, and the mish-mash of styles on Rain Dogs. It is varied, but still sounds like a piece and suits Waits' voice throughout.
4/5.
Like Rod Stewart's massive train set, this album is well put together with good attention to detail, but there is nothing original going on. It's enjoyable enough to play with for half an hour, but pretty dated and not worth a second trip around the tracks.
2.5/5
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
3/5
Apparently this is the GOAT of salsa albums and features rousing social commentary and an unconventional sound. I've never listened to salsa music before and I don't speak Spanish, so that goes over my head. However it has a fun energy and is an enjoyable listen. Also, the weird cover art deserves a mention.
3/5
Richard Thompson
2/5
I can enjoy very folky English folk for the odd song, but a whole album is a bit much for me, particularly if it is on the gloomy side, like this is. If you're going down the route of this sound, I'd much prefer songs with earthy lyrics about trees, seasons and North Yorkshire coastal herb fayres.
2/5
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
A concept album about nuclear weapons in India. This fuses Indian music and instrumentation with a range of other styles. It makes effective use of spoken word sections - news reports etc. Nitin Sawney has created something unique and interesting. It's not something I'm likely to return to though. 3/5
Napalm Death
4/5
28 tracks, 33 minutes, beastial roar vocals, and the heaviest music I've ever heard. The lyrics are undecipherable and there is no way the words claimed are coming out of the singers' mouths. I really shouldn't like this, but somehow it all comes together and creates an engaging and enjoyable listen that you can't help but bob your head to. The opening 12 tracks with the original vocalist are particularly enjoyable.
It may be noisy, but it's a lot more than a noise. The songs have melody, tunes, emotion and meaning. There's no doubt this record delivers the band's artistic intent.
3.5/5
Little Simz
3/5
I know self confidence is something to be encouraged, but Little Simz really does think she's the bee's knees. This is a decent hip hop album with cool instrumentation and some contemporary themes, but I'm not sure the stratospheric levels of self-adulation are fully justified.
3/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Pleasant soft rock. Not on Spotify.
3/5
Erykah Badu
2/5
Smooth, jazzy, soulful, but not to my tastes. I found this quite dull.
2/5
OutKast
2/5
As the title and album art implies, this is really two separate albums. Speakerboxxx is by Big Boi and The Love Below is by Andre 3000.
The two albums are very different, almost contrasting, and it is difficult to see how they work together. You may put one or the other on depending on your mood, but it is difficult to think of circumstances where you would listen to both back-to-back (unless you are on a voyage to listen to the '1001 albums you must hear before you die' before you die, of course). Based on the write-ups, I had expected to prefer The Love Below, however, my experience was the opposite.
Speakerboxx is a catchy, melodic, high energy, and fun hip hop album. I enjoyed this a lot and struggle to think of a hip hop album that I have enjoyed more than this. 3
3.5/5
The Love Below is high energy and a mish-mash of styles which is fun with some cool high points (including Heat Ya!), but the overall effect is quite jarring. 2.5/5.
Together this gives an average of 3/5, however, I'm knocking a point off for the two halves not really working together. I'd like to know how this came to be one Outcast album rather than two solo albums or two separate Outcast releases.
2/5
Ice Cube
3/5
Ice Cube's expression on this album cover mirrors my feelings on finding out that (after a couple of weeks of mostly dross) I now have to listen to an Ice Cube album.
It turns out that my incredulous miffment was ill founded. I quite enjoyed this record. It seemed bouncy and energetic. I got the sense that the lyrical content may have been rude/offensive, but wasn't really taking it in.
3/5
James Brown
2/5
Lots of characteristic howling, and a big band sound. The audience were clearly loving it, but it didn't really float my boat. It was fine, but didn't grab me and seemed a bit samey. 2/5.
The Who
3/5
A quite bizarre concept album with mock radio jingles and advertisements spliced amongst west coast harmonic pop rock songs. It's funny and breezy, but I struggle to see this as the universally critically acclaimed masterpiece that it seems to be. 2.5/5
Peter Tosh
3/5
The first thing that strikes you about this album is that Peter Tosh must really like cannabis.
A very accessible and poppy reggae album, it generally has a fuller sound than Wailers songs I've heard to date. With Tosh's excellent vocal and catchy choruses, this is very listenable and enjoyable album. It is likely to appeal to a broad audience (including this 39 year old white man from England). 3.5/5
The Doors
4/5
A pure blues album. I didn't know the Doors sounded like this, despite recognising a good chunk of these songs. Jim Morrison's voice is gravelly and in keeping with the music. Liked this a lot more than I expected. 4/5
Koffi Olomide
3/5
A bit like a Congolese Lionel Richie (in music vibe only - I can't imagine Lionel karate kicking a backing dancer). 2.5/5
The Smiths
4/5
I've never listened to this Smiths album before. Sonically, it is very similar to the Queen is Dead, which I know well and love. On first listen, it seems to lack some of the humour and immediacy that contributes to that album's greatness.
I guess it's difficult to find vegetarianism that funny or interesting. Having said that, the title track is unintentionally hilarious in its earnestness. 3.5/5
Björk
4/5
Varied in style but driven by beats throughout with contemplative lyrics. Björk's distinctive vocal style takes some getting used to, but works and adds to the overall feeling and uniqueness of the piece. An interesting and alluring album. 3.5/5
5/5
There are some all-time Beatles classics on this album (With a Little Help from My Friends; Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds; A Day in the Life), but this album is also much more than the sum of its individual songs. It has a distinctive feeling, interesting experimental elements and flows beautifully. It's reputation as an all-time classic is deserved. 4.5/5.
4/5
If this journey has taught me anything, it is that I like postpunk as a genre of music. Especially when it is as committed, catchy and luscious as this. 'The Look of Love' is increadibly catchy. 4/5.
Thelonious Monk
3/5
A great jazz record. I would LOVE this if I was listening to it in a gloomy jazz bar in Chicago, or Harry Bosch's glass shoebox apartment overlooking LA. Since I listened in my very nice UK suburban kitchen, I merely very much enjoyed it. 65 years old and timeless. 3.5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Pump It Up
Date listened: 08/04/22
Surprisingly energetic and rocky. I enjoyed this a lot. A couple of songs I knew, but had no idea they were Elvis Costello. Love a bit of mellotron.
Harry Nilsson
2/5
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Without You
Date listened: 11/04/22
Harry Nilsson seems to have forged a career out of novelty songs and popularising covers of recent minor hits by other artists. 'Nilsson Schmilsson' indeed.
Violent Femmes
2/5
This was mostly fine, but didn't really grab my attention. A bit mid-paced and dull. I didn't love the discordant vocals either.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Blister In The Sun
Date listened: 12/04/22
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
I quite enjoyed this. The music is urgent and jarring in places and the lyrics dark and introspective. 'The Bunneymen's influence on MSP is apparent across this album. In particular, 'Of Walking Abortion' seems to have borrowed heavily from 'Pride'.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Monkeys
Date listened: 13/04/22
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Blondie meets the Killers. Has the mid/late 2000s dance/rock sound, but a good example of this often nothingy style. The vocals further help elevate this above other records of the time, particularly on the more mellow tracks.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Skeletons
Date listened: 14/04/22
Motörhead
3/5
A fast, loud, straight forward, slab of rock. This hurtles past in no time without pausing for breath. The lyrical content would be enough to get Lemmy cancelled multiple times in 2022.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Ace of Spades
Date listened: 15/04/22
Screaming Trees
4/5
An excellent and varied heavy rock record without a single weak track. A wall of noise that stays just the right side of the line to avoid becoming a dirge. The record is further elevated by Mark Lanegan's unique and soulful vocals. Really enjoyed this and will likely return.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: All I Know
Date listened: 18/04/22
Brian Eno
3/5
The most ronseal of albums, this sounds like ambient music for airports. Not something to be actively listened to, but nice and relaxing. I wouldn't be unhappy if this was playing in an airport or a spa. 5/5 for achievement of artistic intent. 3/5 for my enjoyment of the output.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: 2/1
Date listened: 19/04/22
Q-Tip
2/5
A chilled and funky hip hop album. Not really my thing and doesn't seem all that innovative, but it's inoffensive and listenable. I got a little bored by the end.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Won't Trade
Date listened: 20/04/22
Carole King
5/5
This is lovely, lovely, lovely. It's been on repeat all afternoon whilst Carol King's beautiful songs and voice slowly sink into my soul and envelop me in a sense of calm enjoyment. Every track is top quality. Incredible.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: It's Too Late
Date listened: 21/04/22
Gil Scott-Heron
2/5
Gil Scott-Heron's politically and socially charged lyrics over Brian Jackson's sparse jazz keyboards. The concept is taken furthest 'H2O GATE', a live spoken-word track about the Watergate scandal. I would have preferred the album if more of it was like this track, which has the greatest emphasis on the words over the music.
As it is, the album is academically interesting and influential but not something I'd return to.
(Not on Spotify).
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Bottle
Date listened: 22/04/22
The National
2/5
Downbeat, gloomy and not all that interesting on first listen, despite being fairly intricate. I suspect my rating and enjoyment would increase with repeated listens, but I can't see myself returning to this.
I generally like miserable lyrics, but typically when they are accompanied by uplifting music. Miserable lyrics with miserable music is a bit too misery inducing for me, and I don't want to be miserable.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Bloodbuzz Ohio
Date listened: 25/04/22
Mercury Rev
5/5
The half-sister of the Flaming Lips' 'The Soft Bulletin', I've had a soft spot for this album for many years.
Delicate and emotive music that rises and falls, with Jonathan Donahue's feeble and vulnerable voice sitting beautifully amongst the quiet moments and riding the crescendos of the weirdly instrumented music.
Listening with an objective and critical ear, it could be said that about half of the tracks are quite forgettable. However, as a piece it is much greater than the sum of its parts and is really quite sublime.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Goddess on a Hiway
Date listened: 26/04/22
Tim Buckley
2/5
A range of influences are apparent on what seems to be a well made album. This, however, only seems to make it a bit irritating rather than interesting. Overall, it is a bit annoying and instantly forgettable.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Get on Top
Date listened: 27/04/22
The Auteurs
2/5
Prototype britpop. Pleaseant enough, but this album must be included on the list due to its influence on what was to follow rather than for being interesting or excellent in its own right.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Show Girl
Date listened: 28/04/22
The Isley Brothers
2/5
I mostly nothing this. It's not bad (although the lyrics are lame) but it's very samey and I really struggled to engage with it or distinguish one track from another. The exception is the cover of Summer Breeze which doesn't really fit the album but is the best thing on it.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Summer Breeze
Date listened: 29/04/22
Jane Weaver
4/5
Reminiscent of Embryonic and The Terror era Flaming Lips.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Architect
Date listened: 02/05/22
1/5
Brexit in audio form.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: [None - not on Spotify (thank goodness)]
Date listened: 03/05/22
The Cardigans
3/5
If this album was a Friends quote, it would definitely be "I'm breezy". Nina Pearson's voice has an unconvinced cheeriness to it, which suits a lot of the lyrics. Overall, nice enough indie pop but (Lovefool aside) not all that memorable.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Lovefool
Date listened: 04/05/22
Miles Davis
3/5
Nice trumpet. But... y'know... it's just... trumpet.
Whilst trumpet can convey the three main emotions (happy, sad, and meepy), it struggles to get more complex ideas, philosophies or stories across.
This is no doubt a great example of what it is, but what it is only has limited appeal for me.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Moon Dreams
Date listened: 05/05/22
Funkadelic
2/5
Much less insane than Maggot Brain. The long jams remain, but aren't as excessive or weird. Strangely, I sort of miss the cuckoo clocks and assorted animal noises. What is left is rocky funk, which is basically fine, but not that memorable.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: One Nation Under a Groove
Date listened: 06/05/22
John Coltrane
3/5
Another great jazz classic that I enjoyed, but largely went over my head.
Whilst it's beyond doubt that John Coltrane plays his saxophone REALLY well, I'm not musically literate enough to discern the "deep spirituality with religious subtext" from the saxophone tootings and drum clatterings. Having said that I really like Pt.1 - Acknowledgement. The big gong crash at the start and the chanting at the end are really cool.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: A Love Supreme, Pt.1 - Acknowledgement
Date listened: 09/05/22
Death In Vegas
4/5
Dirty guitars and synths. Guest vocalists before everyone was doing it. The first half is great and builds to a peak with Aisha.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Aisha
Date listened: 10/05/22
Louis Prima
2/5
Not awful, probably influential, but about as out-of-date as it's possible for a piece of recorded music to sound. Really old and pretty lame.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Buona Sera
Date listened: 11/05/22
Sonic Youth
2/5
I didn't expect Sonic Youth to sound like this. Can't say I'm massively keen, although the alternation between songs with male and female vocals was... something... maybe.
Otherwise, the only notable things are the 'having a difficult poo' vocals on Shoot and the presence of a song called 'Creme Brulee' which makes me wonder if Les McQueen from League of Gentlemen took inspiration from Sonic Youth?
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Sugar Cane
Date listened: 12/05/22
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
Garage rock. The singer's voice is a bit grating. It's a no no no from me.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Maps
Date listened: 13/05/22
The Stooges
3/5
I listened to this a few times, but it failed to sink in. It was probably a very striking and innovative heavy rock album at the time, but similar & better examples of the style have been recorded since, making this less interesting to the ear of 2022.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: I Wanna Be Your Dog
Date listened: 16/05/22
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
This album contains two of my favourite Pet Shop Boys singles, 'So Hard' and 'Being Boring', so it seems a good place to start for a deeper dive into their discography.
Pleasingly, the rest of the album lives up to the standard of those singles and continues the wistful and introspective themes. Chock full of glorious melodies, sad lyrics and catchy hooks, this is total Bill-bait.
Two thirds of the tracks on the album could have been a singles, with only a small dip in quality in the middle third of the record. The album mixes of 'Being Boring' and 'Jealousy' are also superior to the single edits and add to the overall feel of the piece.
Looking forward to the other two PSB albums on the list.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: So Hard
Date listened: 17/05/22
Goldie
1/5
There are barely words to express how awful this is. It is also unendingly long. Almost 2 hours of noise without any hint of emotion, melody, musicality or artistic merit. Listening to it genuinely felt like a punishment. A godawful album cover too.
I understand that people have different tastes and opinions, and that is all part of the rich tapestry of humanity that keeps life interesting. However, I would seriously question the intellect and character of anyone who likes this.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Inner City Life - Baby Boy's Edit
Date listened: 18/05/22
Led Zeppelin
2/5
I'm not all that keen on Led Zeppelin. I think it's mainly Robert Plant's vocals that put me off. They don't seem to fit the music and they exude self indulgence. Also, the way the music stops and starts annoys me. It all seems rather serious and tedious. Perhaps a band to be respected rather than enjoyed?
Overall, not a whole lotta fun.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Whole Lotta Love
Date listened: 19/05/22
Gorillaz
2/5
A mediocre collection of songs that forms the debut album by 'the world's first virtual band'. There's not a lot of substance behind the novelty on show here.
Based on the singles I would have expected this to be much more varied in style, but most of it is fairly uninteresting guitar music. Another Damon Albarn project with a couple of catchy singles but little depth in quality.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Clint Eastwood
Date listened: 20/05/22
Alice Cooper
3/5
Very on brand for the ghoulish caricature of Alice Cooper. Theatrical, sounds like a musical, including lots of talk singing. Musically, the guitar parts are the star of the show and I liked the brass low down in the mix.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track:
Date listened: 23/05/22
Kate Bush
3/5
This is wonderfully weird, which is what I want from Kate Bush.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Suspended in Gaffa
Date listened: 24/05/22
Silver Jews
3/5
Nice, country-infused indie. I like the sons, but can't really get on with the vocals. The singer's inability to hold a note appears to compromise delivery of the natural melody. This could have been a great album with an in-tune breathy female vocal.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Slow Education
Date listened: 25/05/22
Pixies
4/5
A jagged lo-fi rock album with a great energy. Less polished and lacking the radio singes of Dolittle, but more of a consistent and authentic piece. I really liked this.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Cecilia Ann
Date listened: 26/05/22
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
This album cost £250,000, took 3 years and 18 engineers to record, almost sending the record label bankrupt.
Rarely has so much time, money and man power been spent to create something so boring.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Only Shallow
Date listened: 27/05/22
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Objectively supremely talented with a distinctive style for the time and a unique voice. A great album title. But it's not for me. Doesn't resonate at all.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Intro / Stronger Than Me
Date listened: 30/05/22
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Cross Town Traffic, All Along the Watchtower, and Voodoo Child (Slight Return) are rightly classics, and there is a lot of other stuff I really liked on here. However, it is very sprawling and the moments of genius get lost amongst the rest of the atmospheric and varied album.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Date listened: 31/05/22
Ice T
4/5
An accessible and engaging hip hop album, this stands the test of time and does not sound at all dated, 30+ years after it's release.
Apparently considered an early "gangsta rap" record, the themes of street life are viscerally conveyed with pathos and regret rather than glorification. It seems Ice T was decades ahead of his time.
Not my genre, but one of my favourites of the genre.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme)
Date listened: 01/06/22
LL Cool J
2/5
Not as dated as most of the early 90's hip-hop album I've heard on this list, but still a little grating after a while.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Mama Said Knock You Out
Date listened: 02/06/22
Beatles
3/5
The Beatles' second album. 14 consistent, catchy and jangly rock'n'roll songs from the Mop top / 'Beatlemania' era, without any singles to take the focus. Nothing to push any musical boundaries, but a pleasant and enjoyable listen.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: All My Loving
Date listened: 03/06/22
Elliott Smith
4/5
I gave this a few listens, as its seems the sort of thing I might really like. This confirmed my initial impression of liking the gentle singer songwriter vibe with textured breathy vocals, and that the lyrics are interesting, sad and emotionally charged. However, I couldn't find that unknown something that would have made it click or resonate with me personally.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Ballad Of Big Nothing
Date listened: 06/06/22
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
Just random noise.
It's heartwarming to know that a complete lack of musical talent or ability is no barrier to creating an influential album.
With that in mind, I hereby announce that my innovative pop duo 'Bumblecheek and the Reverb' is working on its debut album, to be titled 'Sexual Overcoat'. I fully expect inclusion in the next edition of the '1001 albums...' book.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: AB/7A
Date listened: 07/06/22
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
On the surface this is a catchy reggae album with other genres thrown into the mix, which gives it crossover appeal and makes it very accessible. There is not a single weak track on the record and several ubiquitous classics. On this basis alone it is faultless and worthy of five stars.
Add in the depth provided by the political lyrics of side 1, and the thematic contrast of the romantic/optimistic side 2 and you have a work of genius.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Three Little Birds
Date listened: 08/06/22
Common
2/5
Socially conscious hip hop album with jazz and soul influenced instrumentation. Quite long (each track and collectively) and samey, which hindered my enjoyment and willingness to examine the album themes in more detail.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Light
Date listened: 09/06/22
The Strokes
3/5
Are The Stokes cool because their music is cool, or is their music cool because The Strokes are cool? Answer: it's both. The image. The sound. Either without the other would not have been half as successful.
Does that make The Strokes style over substance? No. The rhythmic guitars, chugging bass, and distorted vocals create a sound that is their own, owned by them, and perfectly fits their aesthetic. The sound is the image and the image is the sound.
Depending on how much you like it, this album is either a consistent stylistic piece, or the same song repeated 11 times. Again, it's probably both. I personally moderately like the sound, but don't feel like I need to hear the same thing for 36 minutes. However, to add variety (even with just a single track) would undermine the aesthetic and ruin the album.
In terms of meeting the artistic intent this is a 5/5. In terms of my enjoyment of the album it's a 3/5.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Last Nite
Date listened: 10/06/22
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Love and hate are very close to the surface here, and Cohen sounds like he's defeated by them both. A dark and emotional album. The juxtaposition of a children's choir on the very dark subject matter of "Dress Rehersal Rag" is very striking. One of the few situations in which a children's choir is ever acceptable.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Dress Rehersal Rag
Date listened: 13/06/22
Deep Purple
2/5
When playing songs this is a tight and powerful live performance, which I enjoyed more than I expected to. However, there is too much pointless noodling between (and during) songs. This adds nothing bud boredom and would have led me to want to shout "get on with it". Could also do without the drum solo.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Smoke On The Water
Date listened: 14/06/22
The Sonics
3/5
A collection of garage rock songs comprising covers of rock and roll and R&B classics and four original songs. This album was released in 1965, and it must be very influential on the genre.
It is a shame that there is not more of their own material here as the original songs are great, and wouldn't sound out of place on an early 2000s garage rock revival record. Whilst the covers are enjoyable enough, and probably groundbreaking at the time, the tracks selected have been covered so many times in such a variety of styles that they, don't seem interesting.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Do You Love Me
Date listened: 15/06/22
Radiohead
3/5
As luck would have it, I've just listened to 4 hours of the 'What is Music...' podcast about The Bends. This has provided an interesting and amusing track-by-track review from three different musical perspectives and a deep dive into the themes and context of the album. That podcast scored The Bends as 27/30, making it their highest ranked record so far.
Despite therefore being familiar with the album's acclaim and the reasons it is regarded by many as a masterpiece, it still leaves me cold. Whilst I can appreciate this as a technically excellent collection of very good songs, I just can't get into it or make it resonate with me at all. I guess I'm just not predisposed to feel like Thom York felt in 1994. That's probably a good thing.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Date listened: 16/06/22
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
I never liked RATM much in my university years, mainly due to disliking a few people who really liked them and not being a fan of other rock/rap bands that followed in their wake a decade later.
How wrong I was. This is powerful stuff. Aggressive and p'ed off, but the anger is directed constructively.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Killing In the Name
Date listened: 17/06/22
Linkin Park
1/5
I thought I might like this as accessible pop-metal, but it's so boring and generic that I actually hated it.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: In the End
Date listened: 20/06/22
Randy Newman
4/5
A collection of short, simple, beautiful songs by 'the Toy Story guy'. A number of these songs (all written by Newman) are well known for versions having been recorded by others. Here they mainly comprise piano with strings. The simpler versions highlight the quality of the songwriting and soulfulness of Newman's voice.
Simply lovely.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Sail Away
Date listened: 21/06/22
David Bowie
2/5
There is very little to say about this, which is disappointing for a David Bowie record. It's basically fine as a rock record, but it's not pushing any boundaries.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Where Are We Now?
Date listened: 22/06/22
The Killers
4/5
A massive, instantly catchy and enjoyable album. Side 1 is banger after banger. The drop off on side 2 isn't as extreme as I remember.
The nonsense lyrics sound as if they should mean something so long as you just go with it and don't think about them ("I've got soul but I'm not a soldier").
Nothing more than entertainment, but very entertaining.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Mr Brightside
Date listened: 23/06/22
Massive Attack
2/5
Massive Attack may be the least appropriately named band on the planet. 'Medium Sized Pacificst' would be more apt.
This album was not as coma-enducing as Blue Lines, but is dull, dull, dull.
I once saw Massive Attack live. They were pretty boring.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Protection
Date listened: 24/06/22
R.E.M.
3/5
REM's debut album, from 1983. Decent, with a slightly harder edge than a lot of what came later. Contains all of the ingredients of REM, but lacks any of their all-time great tracks.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Radio Free Europe
Date listened: 27/06/22
The Flaming Lips
5/5
One of my favourite albums, by one of my favourite artists, of all time. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is brilliant and life affirming on many different levels.
Individually, each track is excellent, but collectively they add up to a single piece that is even greater than its individual parts.
It's accessible and catchy, yet a bit weird and experimental.
It manages to combine being a sci-fi semi-concept album about pink robots and a vitamin-popping girl, with universal truths and philosophies that go straight to the heart of the uncertainty and unknowingness of life and our insignificance in the universe: "I don't know how a man decides what is right for his own life, it's all a mystery" (Fight Test), "The universe will have its way, too powerful to master" (In the Morning of the Magicians).
At the end it helpfully provides the the answer of what to do about these overwhelming questions: "Instead of saying all of your goodbyes,
let them know you realize that life goes fast, it's hard to make the good things last" (Do You Realize??). I.e. Sadness is inevitable, don't worry about the big things that we can't control. Be grateful for your life, enjoy it, and share it with others.
That message, along with the journey to get there, is the main reason I love this very special album.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Do You Realize??
Date listened: 28/06/22
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
I like the album cover, but that's the only positive thing I could say about this record.
Reminiscent of Ross Gellar's music. Self indulgent and not very good. I still don't get this at all.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Jeremy Bender
Date listened: 29/06/22
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
I liked this soundtrack to the film of the same name.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Freddie's Dead
Date listened: 30/06/22
Taylor Swift
4/5
I found my enjoyment of this album increasing the longer it went on. The second half in particular is very chilled and lovely.
It's not pushing any boundaries, but nice simple songs and melodies with polished but back-to-basics production. I prefer this a lot this to Swift's more showy '1989' album, which is also on this list. It's not aimed at me, but I would happily put this on on a relaxed Sunday afternoon.
I wonder if the kids these days know how lucky they are to have Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish when we had to make do with B*witched and Billie Piper?
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: no body, no crime
Date listened: 01/07/22
Gary Numan
4/5
Dark, brooding, heavy synth rock driven by electronic riffs and a chugging rhythm section. Lyrically and musically evocative of machines, heavy industry and isolation.
In 1979 Newman must have pioneered this sound. He also instantly mastered it. It still sounds fresh where many who followed in Newman's wake now sound dated.
Distinctive, timeless, catchy, dark. Not a weak track on the album. I'd never heard this before, but it has to be a classic.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: M.E.
Date listened: 04/07/22
Parliament
3/5
Parliament and Funkadelic place a lot of store in being funky. It is just as well, then, that on a scale from 'not at all funky' to 'really very funky indeed' this is off the chart.
It's a concept album about the band travelling around the universe (in a funk powered spaceship), spreading funkiness to any unfunky civilisations they meet.
It's really quite out there, but has a serious point as well, and is also very, very, very funky.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
Date listened: 05/07/22
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
A rerecording of a selection of the South African traditional folk acapella super group's past hits for an international audience.
The harmonies and voices are beautiful and relaxing, and the captured beautifully by this recording.
I'm less keen on the English language songs.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Unomathemba
Date listened: 06/07/22
Kanye West
3/5
I quite liked this, in the main. It's accessible and listenable, even if the 'chipmunk soul' thing does go full Alvin at times.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: All Falls Down
Date listened: 07/07/22
Charles Mingus
2/5
Apparently this is an all time great jazz album, with elements of classical, African and Spanish music, and genius orchestration.
Unfortunately, my jazz ear is not fine tuned enough to recognise any of this. It sounded ok-ish, but a bit of a cacophony in places.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Track A – Solo Dancer (Stop! Look! And Listen, Sinner Jim Whitney!)
Date listened: 08/07/22
Johnny Cash
4/5
Incredible reworkings of classic songs which Cash makes his own with his inimitable voice, now aged and fragile, which adds an emotive sense of wisdom and gravitas.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Hurt
Date listened: 11/07/22
a-ha
3/5
Take on Me followed by nine other tracks.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Take on Me
Date listened: 12/07/22
Kacey Musgraves
2/5
A weird combination of very safe country music with a nice dreamy (almost psychedelic) quality. Overall it's nice, but too pleasant to be interesting.
Also some of the lyrics are laughably lame: "Texas is hot, I can be cold, Grandma cried when I pierced my nose".
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Oh, What a World
Date listened: 13/07/22
Baaba Maal
2/5
Baaba Maal whoah,
Baaba Maal whoah,
He comes from Senegal,
He makes pleasant background music with Mansour Seck's chilled guitar licks for us all.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Lam Tooro
Date listened: 14/07/22
The Youngbloods
3/5
Folksy and chilled with psychedelic and bluesy elements. The first time I listened this blended nicely into the background, but on a second more active listen revealed a lot more going on. Nice, Neil Young-esque, vocals. A nice album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Darkness, Darkness
Date listened: 15/07/22
The Modern Lovers
2/5
Released in 1976 but recorded in 1972, I guess this was modern for the time. You can hear the roots of punk. Not very memorable though and the vocals are grating.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Roadrunner
Date listened: 18/07/22
Wilco
4/5
Like someone has taken a really cool psychedelic rock album and shuffled it together with a country album.
Remove the country songs and you'd be left with an album that's reminiscent of Clouds Taste Metallic era Flaming Lips and Alladin Sane era David Bowie. I would have loved that record.
Although this could have been separated into two excellent and distinct albums, it still flows in its original form and doesn't get boring, despite its length. There's not a weak track on the record and I found myself appreciating it more the longer it went on. A weird thing to try, but Wilco pulls it off.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Misunderstood
Date listened: 19/07/22
Elliott Smith
4/5
Much more balanced, instant and accessible than 'Either Or' (and much less like being punched in the gut). Musically (comparatively) bold with a mix of sad, optimistic, introspective and dreamy lyrics. I like it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Son Of Sam
Date listened: 20/07/22
Destiny's Child
2/5
The opening trio of songs are nothing short of iconic. "Question" in the style of Independent Women has entered our everyday parlance.
The first half is bold, confident, and uncompromising. This is great for a time, but grates quite quickly. Too loud, too verbose, too aggressive and too much wailing to be enjoyable.
The mellower second half is much more listenable and provides a welcome break from the aural assault of the first half, but by that stage you're already defeated. A more varied track listing may have vastly improved this record.
As individual tracks the main singles are classics and a lot of the other songs are reasonably good, but as an album it's all just a bit much.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Independent Women Pt. 1
Date listened: 21/07/22
The Offspring
2/5
'Come Out and Play' and 'Self Esteem' stand out musically and lyrically. The majority of the rest of the album is fairly uninteresting thrashy skate punk. Great energy and commitment, but a bit samey.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Come Out and Play
Date listened: 22/07/22
Arcade Fire
3/5
Exactly what I imagined an Arcade Fire album to sound like. Layered, textured, complex and consistent. I quite liked it, but doubt I'll revisit.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Wake Up
Date listened: 25/07/22
David Crosby
2/5
Like a collection of rejected Neil Young B-sides.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Orleans
Date listened: 26/07/22
The Doors
2/5
The weakest of the three Doors albums on this list. Not awful, but not all that interesting. Just standard, really. Perhaps a symptom of being overly prolific? (they released 8 albums between 1967 and 1972). This record preceded their strongest album (LA Woman) by only 14 months.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Roadhouse Blues
Date listened: 27/07/22
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
CCR could be the only artist to have two albums released in the same year included in the '1001 Albums...' book? Bayou Country (158) and Green River (163) are separated by only four pages.
This fact is as baffling as it is impressive. It's a real struggle to see what it is about CCR's music that is particularly interesting, influential, or noteworthy. To me it just seems to be competent but unchallenging soft rock music.
Added to that, I found this album to also be quite irritating and annoying, which I guess is at least something to mark it out as different to the other two CCR albums that have passed through my ear canals.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Proud Mary
Date listened: 27/07/22
Prince
4/5
The first half of this album is incredible. Funky but understated guitar over 80s synths and a drum machine the drive the songs on. The songwriting on sides 1 & 2 is also brilliant. Six, seven & eight minute long tracks fly by without coming close to getting boring. The quality of the tunes drops off a bit on sides 3 & 4, but the style remains consistent.
I never realised 1999 was a protest song against nuclear weapons, which adds an extra level of interest and appreciation. Some of the other lyrics pure filth.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: 1999
Date listened: 28/07/22
Joy Division
3/5
This album is a difficult listen, knowing what came after. It has a dark, despairing, defeated quality, which is ramped up from 'Unknown Pleasures', which was itself dark and brooding. 'The Eternal' in particular feels like a funeral march.
Artistically this is tragically on point, but too unremittingly bleak for my tastes.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Twenty Four Hours
Date listened: 01/08/22
The Prodigy
3/5
Instantly recognisable and still sounds massive. A little bit dated and verging on caricatureish in 2022, although that could be because this album and the Prodigy sound are so well known and iconic.
Some of the song titles are puntastic (Serial Thrilla, Mindfields, Climbatize). Given the wordplay and fact that 25 years have passed, is this now music for the Countdown generation?
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Firestarter
Date listened: 02/08/22
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
My least favourite of the three Bob Marley albums on this list. Maybe the least varied and purest reggae, which perhaps says more about my tastes than it does about the quality of the album.
I liked it, but it didn't grab me.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Them Belly Full
Date listened: 03/08/22
ZZ Top
2/5
Straight forward, unpretentious, beardy blues rock. Enjoyable for what it is, but not pushing any boundaries.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: La Grange
Date listened: 04/08/22
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Another atmospheric story telling album from Nick Cave. The disturbing lyrics are matched by the jarring music and the grizzly subject matter makes it a difficult listen in places.
There are about 4 or 5 songs on here that I really liked, and that have the hallmarks of classic Nick Cave tracks. The three with guest vocalists (Kylie Minogue, PJ Harvey and Shane MacGowan) are the stand out moments. The rest of the album didn't do much for me though and seemed almost unimaginative by Cave's standards.
Also, stories of bloody murder don't offer much room for interpretation which limits the potential for getting more out of the album on repeat listens. As a result, I'm unlikely to return to this record.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Where the Wild Roses Grow
Date listened: 05/08/22
Jamiroquai
2/5
Derivative and irritating jazz funk.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: When You Gonna Learn
Date listened: 08/08/22
Willie Nelson
3/5
Soft, gentle country music with sparse instrumentation and Willie Nelson's calming voice. I didn't listen actively enough to pick up the story of this concept album, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Red Headed Stranger
Date listened: 09/08/22
Gillian Welch
2/5
Slow, sad country music solely comprising Welch's voice and acoustic guitar. Although a bit too snail paced for my tastes, it could have been a personal and delicately beautiful album. However, the excruciatingly lame "Elvis Presley Blues" and country trope laden "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll" totally ruin it.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Revelator
Date listened: 10/08/22
Cornershop
3/5
A 90s indie album with an eclectic mix of influences, from folk, to electronic, to Indian instrumentation. Brimful of Asha is a 90s classic and is the stand out track, but the rest of the album stands up and flows nicely, which is impressive given how varied it is.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Brimful of Asha
Date listened: 11/08/22
New Order
3/5
If I didn't know otherwise I would have bet a lot of money on the opening track being by the Happy Mondays. The rest of the album is a mix of classic New Order bass groove driven dance rock and tracks with a stronger house influence. I like the former but not so much the latter.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: All the Way
Date listened: 12/08/22
Roxy Music
3/5
Not having heard their music, and basing my opinion on Bryan Ferry turning up on various family TV shows over the years, I had assumed Roxy Music would be a MOR croonfest. I was wrong.
This is a weird album with a lot going on. It's a bit of a cacophony overall, but definitely not a boring croonfest.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Re-Make/Re-Model
Date listened: 15/08/22
Radiohead
3/5
OK Computer received universal critical acclaim, sold 8 million copies, and is one of the most influential albums of all time. It's creative and innovative with eerily accurate future-predicting themes of isolation through technology and globalisation. Objectively it's a great album.
Subjectively, I find the album to be fine but not very engaging or relatable. Beyond Karma Police and No Surprises it just doesn't make me feel anything. That may be the perfect artistic outcome, but it's not what I want from an album.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Karma Police
Date listened: 16/08/22
The Specials
4/5
I really liked this. The cover of 'Enjoy Yourself' is a great version of a classic happysad song (the same sentiment as 'Do You Realize??'). It sets the tone of the album, which is eclectic in style and theme, but always fun and bouncy regardless of the seriousness of the lyric.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)
Date listened: 17/08/22
Pavement
1/5
Nope. Not for me. This is neither one thing or the other (and not in a good way). It tries to ROCK but fails on account of being too wet and winey. It's too distorted and fuzzy to be a pleasant indie listen. It doesn't seem innovative or creative. I also hate the vocal.
I genuinely can't see the point of this or any circumstance where someone would want to listen to this over a much better alternative. It annoyed me.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Here
Date listened: 18/08/22
Femi Kuti
4/5
This record apparently introduced Femi Kuti and afrobeat to an international audience. It's easy to see why. It's accessible and melodic with a great energy and socially conscious lyrics. A very enjoyable listen.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Wonder Wonder
Date listened: 19/08/22
Beach House
4/5
A lovely album. Dreamy music complimented beautifully by the vocals. Very consistent in style and pace throughout, but with enough variety in the musical details to keep the interest. If it had more interesting and imaginative melodies this could be a 5/5 album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: 10 Mile Stereo
Date listened: 22/08/22
Meat Loaf
4/5
Super cheesy and super theatrical, it was no surprise to learn that this started life as a musical. It is a bonafide classic, though - completely uncool and completely timeless.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Bat Out of Hell
Date listened: 23/08/22
The Go-Betweens
3/5
A pleasant and catchy indie pop record with a wistful but summery vibe. Reminiscent in different places of The Lightning Seeds, U2, Crowded House and The Smiths.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Love Goes On!
Date listened: 24/08/22
The Monks
2/5
The album that apparently invented punk rock AND krautrock. This sounds a bit like Booker T and the MCs trying to play the Sex Pistols.
Undoubtedly musically and lyrically innovative and influential; it's incredible that this was released in 1966. However, to my modern ear it's pretty much unlistenable.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: We Do We Do
Date listened: 25/08/22
PJ Harvey
5/5
An angry and impassioned commentary on the realities and futility of war, juxtaposing those who start wars with those who have to fight them.
Musically and lyrically innovative and unique. The singing of critical lyrics of war over music that is reminiscent of traditional English folk is striking and clever.
Form and function perfectly in sync to devastating effect. An artistic triumph and essential listening.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: The Glorious Land
Date listened: 26/08/22
David Bowie
3/5
An album of two halves. Side 1 comprises some 'proper' songs (including 'Sound and Vision' - possibly my favourite Bowie song), whilst Side 2 comprises experimental soundscapes with sparse vocals and electronic elements.
Whilst some of the other Bowie albums have disappointed beyond the famous singles, this avoids a similar fate by placing the emphasis on the experimental elements - it is the handful of 'normal' songs that appear more out of place.
The only problem is that what was innovative in 1977 can now sound a bit dated in 2022.
Overall, I quite liked this, but it didn't blow me away. It's appearing more and more as if Bowie may be primarily a great singles artist.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Sound and Vision
Date listened: 29/08/22
808 State
3/5
Electric house music from 1989. Reminiscent of 1990s video game music to the extent that I wonder if 'Donkey Doctor' is a deliberate nod to Donkey Kong.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Donkey Doctor
Date listened: 30/08/22
Hanoi Rocks
4/5
Big hair, big riffs, big fun.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Malibu Beach Nightmare
Date listened: 31/08/22
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Similar in style to "The Hissing of Summer Lawns". Folk, pop and jazz brilliantly intertwined with thoughtful, melancholy lyrics sung in Joni Mitchell's distinctively smooth and relaxed voice. This is great.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Down to You
Date listened: 01/09/22
The Prodigy
1/5
Bang bang bang boop bip boop bip bang bang bang. Yawn.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: No Good (Start the Dance)
Date listened: 02/09/22
Dead Kennedys
3/5
A better and less superficial version of The Sex Pistols. Ferocious music and politically charged lyrics (although they're mostly undecipherable without the lyric sheet).
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Kill The Poor
Date listened: 05/09/22
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Grunge isn't usually my thing, but I really liked this. No particular tracks stood out, but it chugs along for an hour with an engaging energy and vibe.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Cherub Rock
Date listened: 06/09/22
Caetano Veloso
3/5
A Brazilian album that created 'Tropicália', an artistic movement in response to military dictatorship and The Beatles. This apparently led to Cartano Veloso being exiled from Brazil.
My Portuguese is sub-par, so I wouldn't have picked any of this up from the record, but did find it an enjoyable and eclectic mix of genres, and distinctly Brazilian.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Tropicália
Date listened: 07/09/22
Emmylou Harris
2/5
After 429 albums my main observation of this list is that there is too much Elvis Costello, too much Time Waits, and far, far too much country music.
I quite liked this initially, but as it wore on I found myself increasingly bored and having nothing really to say about it. Basically fine but not for me.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: One Big Love
Date listened: 08/09/22
The Smiths
5/5
This makes me want to put gladioli in my back pocket and go for a bike ride in the rain.
A collection of 10 exceptional tracks which fit together perfectly. Lyrically each song is insightful and sad, yet darkly and intelligently humorous (to the point of hilarity in some cases). Musically it is catchy and full of melody and emotion.
Morrisey and Marr nail every aspect of this record. A stone cold, sad, funny, beautiful, classic.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: There is a Light that Never Goes Out
Date listened: 09/09/22
Megadeth
4/5
A fun 40 minutes of catchy and accessible thrash metal with interesting themes and lyrics. Not too dense, a good handful of bangers, and doesn't outstay it's welcome.
My only real criticism is that the depiction of John Major on the cover looks more like the Demon Headmaster.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Hangar 18
Date listened: 12/09/22
Devendra Banhart
2/5
A bit modern, a bit tradish, rather folky, quite nice, a bit boring.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: This Is the Way
Date listened: 13/09/22
Beatles
4/5
It's hardly a hot take to say this is a sprawling masterpiece and that disc 1 is a lot more accessible than the more experimental disc 2.
My personal preference tends to be for more concise albums, and there is a single album of pure bangers amongst the 30 tracks here. However, the weirder songs and 'grout tracks' really work here and are an essential part of the piece.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Back In The U.S.S.R
Date listened: 13/09/22
Culture Club
4/5
More than just Karma Chameleon, this is a really nice soulful pop record. No weak tracks and Boy George's voice is lush.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Karma Chameleon
Date listened: 15/09/22
Wilco
5/5
This album is all about atmosphere. The introspective and thoughtful songs are elevated by the little details and ambient interludes which really fit and enhance the tone.
A subtle album, but if you listen carefully it's a gem.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Jesus Etc.
Date listened: 16/09/22
Elvis Costello
5/5
I've previously questioned whether the number of Elvis Costello albums on this list might be overkill. However, the inclusion of this, Costello's debut, is clearly very well justified.
It comprises 12 immaculately written and performed tracks. Each one is an instant ear worm, but with emotion and depth. Top notch.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Alison
Date listened: 17/09/22
The Fall
3/5
Much more accessible than I thought it would be. Includes actual singing and melody.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Lost in Music
Date listened: 20/09/22
Fever Ray
4/5
At first I thought this was just 'ambient beats to study and chill to'. It is that, but also a lot more. It's atmospheric and detailed and rewards an active listen. Somehow it manages to be both ambient and catchy at the same time. The more I listen the more I like it.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: When I Grow Up
Date listened: 21/09/22
TLC
2/5
Just sounded like standard 90s pop r'n'b to me. Probably a good example of what it is, but not really my thing.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Waterfalls
Date listened: 22/09/22
Daft Punk
2/5
Ooh, look at me, I'm a french robot with a shiny metal helmet and I make repetitive tippy tappy plinky plonky noises that go round and round for 74 minutes without any progression, theme or meaning.
Je ne impressed pas.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Da Funk
Date listened: 23/09/22
Le Tigre
3/5
Turn of the millennium feminist futurepunk.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: My My Metrocard
Date listened: 26/09/22
David Bowie
5/5
A delirious review of a life and a moving meditation on death. Bowie's passing just two days after its release turns this jazzy and atmospheric album into a haunting masterpiece. Endlessly creative and an artist until the end.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Blackstar
Date listened: 27/09/22
Brian Wilson
3/5
The Beach Boys' legendary lost album rerecorded in its entirety by Brian Wilson in 2004. He did a pretty good job. Despite no other Beach Boys being involved, this delivers the classic sound and characteristic harmonies. It will be interesting to compare this to 'The Smile Sessions' from 1967.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Heroes and Villains
Date listened: 28/09/22
Boards of Canada
4/5
The sound of robots learning how to emote.
Atmospheric ambient and quite affecting for electronic music. Instantly enjoyable and feels like with repeated listens this could be brilliant.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Roygbiv
Date listened: 29/09/22
AC/DC
5/5
This album is about as nuanced as Hulk Hogan driving a monster truck to a Republican Party rally. But who needs nuance when you have riffs?
It's big, it's basic, and it's timeless. 42 years old and could have been recorded yesterday. I'm not sure anything betters this in terms of loud, balls out, unpretentious rock.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Back in Black
Date listened: 30/09/22
Metallica
4/5
Metallica doing accessible without compromising heavy and generally killing it.
Enter Sandman, Sad But True, The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters are top quality. The rest not of the same stratospheric level. Although mostly decent enough album tracks, the second half of the tecord is a bit of a slog to get through. If 2 to 4 of the weaker tracks had been left off it would be 5/5.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Enter Sandman
Date listened: 03/10/22
3/5
Every track on Side 1 is single-worthy, but together they lack cohesion and flow. 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', in particular, doesn't seem to fit the aesthetic of the album.
Side 2 is less commercial but a lot more consistent and evocative of big sky America.
Despite the front loading the hits, there is just about enough in common to tie the two sides together. 'Running To Stand Still' also aids the transition from Side 1 to Side 2.
A strong album, but could have been more enjoyable with different sequencing.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: With Or Without You
Date listened: 04/10/22
Deep Purple
3/5
Apparently this album was recorded with the intention of capturing a 'live performance' feeling. It worked. It's much less clinical and is more engaging than the other Deep Purple albums on this list. They'll never be a band I return to, but I didn't mind this.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Smoke On The Water
Date listened: 04/10/22
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
Unwittingly and entirely against my will I have now listened to the ENTIRE My Bloody Valentine back catalogue. I wish I could say it had been in any way an enjoyable, interesting, or fulfilling 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Whilst there is more identifiable tune going on here than their previous two efforts, it is still basically dirge, but with modern production.
This album took from 1997 until 2011 to come to fruition. I would rather they hadn't bothered.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: only tomorrow
Date listened: 06/10/22
John Lee Hooker
4/5
I could listen to this all day, and I almost did. A great and accessible blues record with some big name guest appearances.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: I'm In The Mood
Date listened: 07/10/22
4/5
It's easy to see why this was a critical and commercial success. Engaging and energetic, yet thoughtful and nuanced. With further listens I suspect this would be even more rewarding.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: This Mess We're In
Date listened: 10/10/22
Public Enemy
3/5
High energy and combative. The live excerpts add to the energy and Chuck D and Flava Flav's voices combine pleasingly. Altogether this is an engaging listen and easy to see how it was ground braking and highly influential with broad appeal.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track:
Date listened: 11/10/22
Shuggie Otis
2/5
1970s soul R&B album. The first side features tracks with vocals, whilst the side 2 is almost purely instrumental. It's chilled and pleasant enough, but not one I'll remember this time next week.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Inspiration Information
Date listened: 12/10/22
Slipknot
4/5
The scary masks and boiler suits are a clever gimmick and large part of Slipknot's huge success, but so is their music. Behind the cartoonish image and superfast drumming, the songs on their debut album pretty catchy and commercial. I quite happily tapped my toe along to this for 40 mins. Throw in a couple of hit singles and you have yourself a good album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Wait and Bleed
Date listened: 13/10/22
Def Leppard
3/5
Slick 80s hard rock with the melody always at the forefront. Very much of its time, but still enjoyable today.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Photograph
Date listened: 14/10/22
The War On Drugs
5/5
Dreamy, sad, emotional, lovely, this is a very evocative album and a totally unexpected delight. Reminiscent of Public Service Broadcasting with live vocals, and a bit Bob Dillony in places, it is beautifully crafted, subtle, textured, and chock-full of melody.
I couldn't make out many of the lyrics, but for some reason it transported me to a sunset, perhaps over the main stage of a festival or overlooking a harbour full of fishing boats. Atmospheric.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Under the Pressure
Date listened: 17/10/22
Green Day
3/5
A catchy pop punk album. Kids will love it, but it's not really for grown ups.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Basket Case
Date listened: 18/10/22
FKA twigs
2/5
Twigs has bent and mashed up genres to the extent that she has made something creative and original. Well done for that. The only problem is it does not sound very nice in my ears.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Two Weeks
Date listened: 19/10/22
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
Catchy, high energy 80s pop rock. What's not to like?
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Date listened: 20/10/22
Kraftwerk
5/5
Even without the context as electronic music trailblazers, this is a great album. Mechanical computer blips and bloops come together to create a very melodic, atmospheric and strangely beautiful and emotive record.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: The Model
Date listened: 21/10/22
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
Pretty and chilled bossa nova album. Really nice vocals. The producer of this record died rescuing the master tapes from a studio fire. That is commitment to a project.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Samba de Bencao
Date listened: 22/10/22
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Nice, pleasant, gentle acoustic folk album with some lovely songwriting.
Apparently the tone of this record contrasted with the sense of impending doom in 1966, but my understanding of 1960s history is not strong enough to take anything from this context.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Homeward Bound
Date listened: 24/10/22
R.E.M.
3/5
The crunchier, grittier side of R.E.M. Maybe not quite their stellar best, but an important and interesting part of their cannon.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Date listened: 25/10/22
Incredible Bongo Band
3/5
'Bongo Rock' by the 'Incredible Bongo Band' does not scream 'my kind of music'. However, it's a joyful 35 minutes of fun instrumental music. The cover of Apache is very familiar from various TV shows, trailers and adverts.
My only criticism is that it contradicts the Trade Descriptions Act as bongos aren't the 'hero' instrument or that prominent on most of the tracks, but I'll let it off - I can't think of too many occasions when I've though 'what this song needs is more bongos'.
Rating: 4
3.5/5
Playlist track: Apache
Date listened: 26/10/22
XTC
3/5
A breezy 1960s-esque quasi-psychedelic soft rock record. Pleasant and enjoyable with nice harmonies and interesting instrumentation. Tailed off a bit towards the end.
I thought the band name sounded like a mobile phone until I said it out loud. Now I get it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Grass
Date listened: 27/10/22
Pixies
2/5
Pixies' debut album. Lo fi garage rock. Apparently influenced Nirvana. I can tell. Did not love this.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Where Is My Mind
Date listened: 28/10/22
The Clash
5/5
The Clash's mammoth masterpiece. 19 tracks covering an eclectic mix of genres including punk, reggae, ska, rockabilly, pop, and rock. Whatever the style, each song has a great and memorable hook which keeps you... well... hooked.
Despite the variety there is something in the sequencing and production that holds the album together and enables it to make sense. In particular, the 10 song run from 'Rudi Can't Fail' to 'The Card Cheat' is ludicrously strong and would be a 5/5 album on its own, even without the iconic 'London Calling' and 'Train in Vain' which brilliantly bookend the album.
An all time classic.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Death or Glory
Date listened: 29/10/22
The Divine Comedy
4/5
There should be more short albums about things. As the title suggests, this is a sweet, shot and idiosyncratically romantic chamber pop record. It's not subtle, but it's really good.
The lyrics are direct, full of imagery and amusingly truthful all at once. In all literature, music or art I'm not sure anyone has ever described the devotion of being in love better than 'If': "if you were a horse, I'd clean the crap out of your stable, and never once complain, if you were a horse, I could ride you through the fields at dawn, through the day until the day was gone"?
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Everybody Knows (except you)
Date listened: 30/10/22
Peter Gabriel
2/5
All of my Peter Gabriel knowledge comes from Peep Show. According to Toni, "he single-handedly created WOMAD."
This album sounds like it was made by someone who single-handedly created WOMAD. Quite a lot going on, and some of it quite complex, but all of it very safe.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Solsbury Hill
Date listened: 31/10/22
Barry Adamson
2/5
The soundtrack to a murder mystery thriller film that doesn't exist. This mainly begs the question, 'why'?
Leaving that aside, the first half of this is a convincing and atmospheric soundtrack. It tails off towards the end, but Act 1 in particular conveys a clear sense of what would be happening in the fictitious film and evoces visualisations of dark, murky streets.
Perhaps things will come full circle and someone will make a film to accompany the soundtrack one day.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Under Wraps
Date listened: 01/11/22
Rod Stewart
2/5
I'm not sure what it is about young Rod Stewart that repels me so. These days it's the creepy old man thinking he's sexy thing. For 1970s Rod Stewart I think it's a feeling that his soulful and rocker stylings are not for real. I may be doing him a big disservice, but I just get the impression that Rod's career has been very calculated.
This is a perfectly adequate rock, folk, blues record, but to me it just seems faux.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Maggie May
Date listened: 02/11/22
Orange Juice
2/5
Quirky 80s post punk with lots of energy. Bounces along nicely enough with funky baselines and discoesque guitar in places.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track:
Date listened: 03/11/22
The Who
3/5
An incredibly tight and powerful live performance, brilliantly captured on record. Listened to the 1970 track list.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Substitute
Date listened: 04/11/22
Talvin Singh
1/5
If (as track 1 says) "the world is music", this album is an overcrowded, polluted and impoverished city. Tradition and culture meet industry, but the latter erodes the former to create an unpleasant and monotonous experience for inhabitants and listeners.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Traveller
Date listened: 05/11/22
Nas
3/5
Apparently this is rated by many as the greatest hip hop album of all time. I've not listened to them all, but from what I know, this does seem to be a good one. Quite listenable.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: N.Y. State of Mind
Date listened: 06/11/22
Talking Heads
2/5
Minimal dancy art rock from 1978. Probably quite far ahead of its time.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
Date listened: 07/11/22
Elvis Presley
4/5
Latter era Elvis. A more mature, smoother voice, which is perfect for the more mature, Memphis soul songs.
This may be my favourite incarnation of Elvis. What 1969 Elvis lacks in raw energy compared to his early rock-n-roll, he makes up for in depth and emotion. He also looks and sounds at his most iconic.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: In the Ghetto
Date listened: 08/11/22
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
I have no idea why anyone would want to listen to this. It is bad and annoying.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: I'm Glad
Date listened: 09/11/22
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
Maybe it was funny at the time, but humour has moved on since the late '60s.
To be any good, comedy albums need to be both really funny and musically excellent. This is neither.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?
Date listened: 10/11/22
John Martyn
2/5
Experimental, textured and folky with weird elements of jazz. The songs aren't great to start with, but any potential for enjoying them is ruined by the slurred mumbled and drawled vocals. This isn't 'awful' awful but is very hard to like for a casual listener.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Over The Hill
Date listened: 11/11/22
Kanye West
4/5
Like Morrissey, I long for the good old days when Kanye was just a ridiculous egomaniac, before he held or started expressing abhorrent views.
This album dates from the harmless egomaniac era and it's easy to see how it drew critical acclaim and had mass appeal. A mad mix of genres and tempos, but catchy and engaging throughout, this is an exhilarating listen.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Black Skinhead
Date listened: 12/11/22
Super Furry Animals
3/5
I really like Super Furry Animals, but this isn't the album I would have chosen for this list. It's a decent pop rock album with plenty of good songs, and hints of the genius to come, but more direct and less creatively interesting than their later output.
SFA OK!, but not SFA brilliant just yet.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: If You'l Don't Want Me to Destroy You
Date listened: 13/11/22
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
A stripped back Springsteen, playing all of the instruments, recorded on a 4 track. Familiar themes and stories of blue collar struggle, but more downbeat and lacking the overblown musical cheesiness of some of his most popular compositions. It really works and is by far my favourite version of The Boss that I've heard so far.
As an aside, after listening to 'Atlantic City' I couldn't get 'I Want It That Way' by Backstreet Boys out of my head.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Atlantic City
Date listened: 14/11/22
Beatles
4/5
The Beatles third album. A 30 minute romp of uncomplicated, joyful, catchy guitar pop. All original compositions for the first time and a handful of stone cold classics. For simple good fun this is hard to beat.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: A Hard Day's Night
Date listened: 15/11/22
Radiohead
3/5
I just don't 'get' Radiohead. No doubt they are very creative and hugely talented musicians who make varied and intricate music, but their songs and albums just do nothing for me. This isn't one of their 'rated' albums but, although a bit overlong, I thought it was fine. With repeated listens the political themes and musical subtleties may become more apparent, but why would I put in the work when there are other artists I enjoy infinitely more straight away?
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: 2 + 2 = 5
Date listened: 16/11/22
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
The third of Elvis Costello's debut trilogy of albums. Like 'My Aim Is True' (1977) and 'This Year's Model' (1978), this is a collection of instantly likeable and catchy guitar pop songs. A slight law of diminishing returns from the previous two records and tails off after a strong start, but very good overall.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Accidents Will Happen
Date listened: 17/11/22
Elvis Presley
2/5
Slick, professional, well produced, and the boy can sing, but this is a little disappointing overall. It presents very much as a product rather than an artistic endeavor and lacks the electricity of 1950s Elvis or the soulfulness of later Elvis. The only message that comes across (other than a desire for $$$) is that Elvis was feeling rather randy following two years away with the army.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Dirty, Dirty Feeling
Date listened: 18/11/22
Bob Dylan
3/5
The follow up to Highway 61 Revisited. Plugged in but traditionally folky for the most part.
Vocally, this is in the sweet spot on the 'mumbling -> straining for a poo' continuum. Dylan can't hold a note, but appears to know it and accepts his limitations here, so and at least it's easy to hear the words. However, for a double album so frequently praised for its poetic lyrics, the words and themes of the album didn't strike me as particularly interesting.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Visions of Johanna
Date listened: 19/11/22
The Beach Boys
2/5
Not classic Beach Boys.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Don't Go Near The Water
Date listened: 20/11/22
B.B. King
4/5
It's B.B. King live in 1964. King of the blues, an all time great performer with bags of charisma. This was never going to be anything less than brilliant. It does not disappoint.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Every Day I Have The Blues
Date listened: 21/11/22
Santana
2/5
Latin jazz rock by a legendary guitarist. Undoubtedly a great example of what it is, but not something I'd come back to.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Oye Como Va
Date listened: 22/11/22
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
My first exposure to this album was seeing Dinosaur Jr. perform it live at the Ally Pally in 2011. That night they rocked quite hard in a grumpy kind of way. It turns out is an accurate representation of this record.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Freak Scene
Date listened: 23/11/22
Robbie Williams
3/5
I played the heck out of this album when I was at school. Angels, Let Me Entertain You, and Old Before I Die are classic 90s singles and the rest is as you would expect for former boy band cheeky chappie britpop. It's dated now but still an unchallenging and enjoyable listen.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Angels
Date listened: 24/11/22
Miles Davis
2/5
Maybe I'm not musically literate enough to really appreciate the intricacies (or even the basics) of what Miles Davis is doing here, or why it's considered to be good.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: John McLaughlin
Date listened: 25/11/22
Adele
2/5
Urgh. I'd been dreading this day. On a Saturday too. I predict this isn't going to do good things for my Parkrun time.
Having said that, hello, Hello! What a powerful and moving song. It genuinely affected me.
The rest, not so much. It's largely generic pap.
The strategy of releasing one big single and somehow getting the 6 o'clock news to promote her album has worked a treat for Adel.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Hello
Date listened: 26/11/22
P.S. I was right. Almost 30 minutes this morning.
5/5
Bold, confident, brilliant. Killer classics and not a weak track on the album. Add a cool concept and an iconic character, and you have an all-time great album.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Starman
Date listened: 27/11/22
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
Turner. Alex Turner. Licensed to be in a dramatic and enjoyable Arctic Monkeys side project with an orchestral, Bond theme vibe.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Meeting Place
Date listened: 28/11/22
Ravi Shankar
3/5
This starts with a literal music appreciation lesson which, although quite technical, was helpful even for a non-muso like me.
Listening with an open and relaxed mind, as per Ravi Shankar's suggestion, this was quite atmospheric and interesting.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Dádrá
Date listened: 29/11/22
Mariah Carey
1/5
Late 90s pop RNB diva sound. One of the worst musics ever to have gained popularity.
All I want for Christmas is this godawful warbling to stop.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Honey
Date listened: 30/11/22
The Stone Roses
5/5
It was good to listen to this again, two decades after it once had heavy rotation on my CD player. Whilst my preferences have moved on to an extent, it remains an undisputed quality album.
The Stone Roses were never able to get close to their debut album's genius again, and arguably this was also both the start and the peak of 'Madchester' and Britpop.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: I Am the Resurrection
Date listened: 01/12/22
Sonic Youth
3/5
Dirty and groovy alternative rock from 1990. Very enjoyable for the main, but slightly outstayed it's welcome by the end. It's easy to see this record's influence in what came after.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track:
Date listened: 02/12/22
OutKast
2/5
An eclectic behemoth of hip hop. When this is good, it's great, but there is just so much (too much) of it. I would have suggested picking the best 10 or 11 tracks. That would have been an ace album.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Ms. Jackson
Date listened: 03/12/22
The Beach Boys
3/5
The classic Beach Boys harmonies are present throughout but no songs of surf, sun or California are to be found here. Nonetheless, Side 1 is full of up tempo bangers and is great. Side 2 comprises ballads and isn't the Beach Boys' best work.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Help Me, Rhonda
Date listened: 04/12/22
Led Zeppelin
3/5
A great big slab of rock.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Stairway to Heaven
Date listened: 05/12/22
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Songs of life, death and what it is to be alive. A life affirming record that is one of my favourites (if not my favourite) of all time.
Musically creative and unique, and emotionally affecting, this does the happy/sad, defeated/determined, mundane/extraordinary thing to perfection. It is totally my jam.
Individually every track is brilliant and many are a microcosm of the album overall, taking the listener on a voyage from a sad or troubling feeling through to happiness, wonder or even euphoria as a result of reaching acceptance. Sometimes this emotional journey is inspired by something mundane like folding up washing or feeling a little old.
My favourite moment is when Wayne's meek little voice comes in in the middle of the orchestrally huge 'The Gash' with "will the fight for sanity be the fight of our lives, now that we've lost all the reasons that we thought that we had". A devastatingly sad sentiment. But then the huge group vocals kick back in and rouse the spirit to want to keep battling and keep trying even if everything seems hopeless.
I'm not sure why, but this somehow connects with me, as does the whole record. I love it because it makes me feel.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Race for the Prize
Date listened: 06/12/22
P.S. I've grown up with the UK/Australian track listing, which I consider the definitive and best flowing version (especially if you stop after Sleeping on the Roof and ignore the three remixes at the end).
Franz Ferdinand
2/5
Take Me Out is great, but the rest seems to just be 10 more songs in the Style of Take Me Out but nowhere near as good.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Take Me Out
Date listened: 07/12/22
The Waterboys
4/5
I really liked this. Irish folk-rock.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Fisherman's Blues
Date listened: 08/12/22
The Stooges
4/5
A very apt title. Simple, direct and powerful. The birth of hardcore punk. Stick some shouty Californian vocals on it and you have a The Bronx record.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Search and Destroy
Date listened: 09/12/22
Fatboy Slim
4/5
This album was everywhere in the late 90s. It sounds quite dated now, but very nostalgic and still a lot of fun.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Praise You
Date listened: 10/12/22
The Fall
2/5
The Fall's debut album. Recorded in one day and mixed the next. This is more tuneful than I had expected. There is a cheap sounding / toy keyboard tone throughout the album, which ties it together and adds a more cheerful air that nicely offsets Mark E Smith's angry drunk man in a pub vocals.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Frightened
Date listened: 11/12/22
The Cure
3/5
The Cure famously have two distinct sounds. A poppy, upbeat side that has produced numerous jangly radio hits, and a dark, atmospheric side that takes is harder work. I didn't think the two crossed over, but this album sits halfway between each, and is very good.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: A Forest
Date listened: 12/12/22
Beatles
5/5
This is the Beatles album I've been waiting for. It's the perfect mix of the Beatles experimental and songwriting genius sides. The opening track, Come Together, is the perfect example of this.
They may have been struggling to work together at this stage, but individually each Beatle was on top form for this album. Here Comes the Sun and Something are arguably George's two best songs, I Want You (She's So Heavy) is classic Lennon, and Paul did a great job with the medley that forms most of Side 2. Even Octopuses Garden is Ringo doing Ringo to perfection.
The Fab Four living up to the hype.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Come Together
Date listened: 13/12/22
Hüsker Dü
2/5
This is fine. Fairly lively. Sounds a bit like REM. Quite long and very samey.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Ice Cold Ice
Date listened: 14/12/22
Metallica
3/5
A thrash metal classic, but it's not really to my taste. To my mind heavy metal music is, by definition, funny. I therefore prefer my metal bands and albums to acknowledge the overblown ridiculousness of the genre and inject a bit of humour and fun into the music. This is just a bit too earnest and samey for me to really enjoy.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Master Of Puppets
Date listened: 15/12/22
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I've never really got the Rolling Stones, but listening to this it's finally clicked. An undeniably great blues rock record that is both dirty and raucous, and tender and pretty.
My personal highlights are the more tender moments. Wild Horses and Moonlight Mile stand out but there's hardly a weak track on the album and the balance of hard and soft on this record is perfect.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Wild Horses
Date listened: 16/12/22
Janelle Monáe
5/5
A debut double concept album telling the story of a world seen through the eyes of an android. This is suites II & III of Monáe's seven-part Metropolis concept series. It's packed full of ideas, styles and contemporary themes.
Ambition doesn't begin to cover it, but Monáe pulls it off. This is an increadible and outstanding piece of work. It definitely makes me want to dive deeper into this artist's discography.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Cold War
Date listened: 17/12/22
Carpenters
4/5
A sweet and innocent sounding record. Packed with lovely songs sung beautifully.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: We've Only Just Begun
Date listened: 18/12/22
Frank Sinatra
4/5
A striking contrast to the rather dull and dreary 'In The Wee Small Hours' which was released just the previous year. This album is a chirpy and joyful listen, oozing with smooth charm. A timeless classic from Old Blue Eyes.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: You Make Me Feel So Young
Date listened: 19/12/22
Fugazi
2/5
I think this music may be technically interesting in the sense that it is unusual or difficult to play. It also seems to have elements that are similar to The Bronx and The Clash, which are bands I like, and also The Offspring. It's certainly got energy.
However, I just don't like it. Other than the singer being awful I can't really explain what it is that repels me. For whatever reason I'm just not feeling this today.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Repeater
Date listened: 20/12/22
Otis Redding
4/5
I always thought Otis Redding was a man. And after a bit of research, it appears he is. This album cover is quite misleading.
Whatever gender, this is a great soul record. It comprises excellent covers of classic songs, which makes it easy to enjoy.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Respect
Date listened: 21/12/22
John Martyn
2/5
Ok-ish background music, but not attention grabbing, other than to think 'this guy's voice is a bit annoying'. I could have guessed Steve Winwood's involvement from both the album cover and the music.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Dancing
Date listened: 22/12/22
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
My second favourite Springsteen album so far. A consistent hard rock sound without too many cheesy elements. Somehow this seems to have more genuine emotion in it was than Born to Run or Nebraska. It seems Bruce is best when he's not going for radio hits.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Badlands
Date listened: 23/12/22
Madonna
3/5
An interesting range of styles and influences, including ambient, trip hop and Middle Eastern, packaged up into an easy and accessible pop dance album by William Orbit. It tails off in the final quarter, but overall a really good record by the American Kylie Minogue.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Ray of Light
Date listened: 24/12/22
Leonard Cohen
4/5
A third album by Leonard Cohen and third distinct style. Classical guitar and bass are the only instruments on most songs. With Cohen's talk singing vocals this creates a very sparse and intimate record.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Partisan
Date listened: 25/12/22
ZZ Top
3/5
80s beardy rock that chugs along. Synth and drum machine elements combine with the guitars and drive the songs forward. Front loaded with the bangers, but pretty catchy throughout. What this lacks in variety it makes up for in riffs and beards.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Sharp Dressed Man
Date listened: 26/12/22
Blondie
4/5
The crossover appeal of this album is off the charts. An enticing mix off punk, pop, disco, and rock. Each song and genre is written and performed with great craft and fits seamlessly together on this album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Heart of Glass
Date listened: 27/12/22
Fiona Apple
4/5
It's incredible that this was released when Fiona Apple was only 18. Weighty and mature arrangements, vocals and lyrics.
A serious album by a serious artist.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Sleep To Dream
Date listened: 28/12/22
Butthole Surfers
1/5
I can see similarities between this and very early Flaming Lips. Both are very experimental and represent "An Enthusiasm for Recording... by Amateurs".
The implication of the Flaming Lips album title being that their early experimentation was largely down to not knowing how to write or make music in a conventional way. I don't know if this is also true of BHS, but even if it is, it does not invalidate the content. It is just the lack of actual songs or anything enjoyable to the human ear that makes this album difficult to like.
Although being enjoyable isn't a prerequisite for being good (many great albums are difficult listens), I did not find the hard work required to get through this album to be in any way in an interesting or rewarding.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Human Cannonball
Date listened: 29/12/22
Beck
3/5
52 minutes of melancholic acoustic ballads with natural melodies and subtle orchestral arrangements. It's a very nice record, but a little lacking in humour and lyrics depth beyond 'I am sad and fed up'.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Guess I'm Doing Fine
Date listened: 30/12/22
Alice In Chains
2/5
I've got very little interest in taking heroin or in hearing about heroin. This album therefore doesn't really appeal to me thematically. Musically, it's a bit of a one-paced dirge and I robustly dislike the vocals.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Them Bones
Date listened: 31/12/22
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
It's really hard to define what this is. Is it pop? Is it soul? Is it rock? Is it all of the genres, or is it none? A real quandary.
A well produced record that was probably ahead of its time in 1987, but not really my thing.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: If You Let Me Stay
Date listened: 01/01/23
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
This album is 3 hours and 14 minutes long. However, the full version doesn't appear to available without buying physical media, and that is a bit too much of a commitment in this day and age.
I therefore had to content myself with 45 minute "The Very Best of the Gershwin Songbook" on Spotify.
I'd never heard of George and Ira Gershwin before this, but their songwriting talents are a match for Ela Fitzgerald's jazz vocal talents. A really enjoyable, chilled, classic listen which transports you back to the golden age of the silver screen. Easy glamour. I liked it a lot.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: A Foggy Day
Date listened: 02/01/23
Stevie Wonder
4/5
This is the Stevie Wonder album I've been waiting for.
I thought 'Songs in the Key of Life' was a work of genius but outstayed it's welcome, and 'Talking Book' was great but brought down by overly sentimental and sickly sweet lyrics.
This doesn't have those flaws. It's concise, catchy, extremely groovy and funky with interesting lyrics providing insightful social commentary. It just lacks that one big banger to be a 5 star album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Too High
Date listened: 03/01/23
GZA
2/5
An interesting and complex hip hop album.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Shaddowboxin
Date listened: 04/01/23
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
This is what I expected Bruce Sprinsteen to sound like. Super cheesy and a bit lame. I'm not a fan of this.
Fortunately, I found other Springsteen records on this list to be much more interesting and enjoyable.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Born in the U.S.A.
Date listened: 05/01/23
Sonic Youth
2/5
Heavy, sprawling and distorted. Sonic Youth may a band that are easier to respect than to enjoy.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Teen Age Riot
Date listened: 06/01/23
Spiritualized
4/5
I'd always meant to listen to Spiritualised but had never got around to it, so thanks to 'the project' for finally getting me there.
Having listened, I'm slightly regretful it's taken me so long, as I like this a lot. Layered, textured and atmospheric, this album sweeps over you and carries you along in its wake. Apparently the genre is space rock. The four coloured movements all have quite distinct auras.
With a technically stronger singer this could have been perfect. I'm looking forward to 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' coming up.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: If I Were With Her Now
Date listened: 07/01/23
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
Time and the ability of human beings to hear have not been kind to The Mothers Of Invention. This sounds like your elderly uncle trying to be deliberately zany.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Anyway The Wind Blows
Date listened: 08/01/23
Metallica
4/5
As a concert, idea, performance and recording this is an easy 5/5. A great set list stuffed full of classics, a loud and enthusiastic crowd, and brilliant performances by both Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra adds musicality, notes and embiggens some already huge music. This may be how I listen to Metallica from now on.
That said, as an album it would benefit from some editing down.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Sad But True
Date listened: 09/01/23
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
Raw, rocky, lively, I liked it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Little Babies
Date listened: 10/01/23
Ramones
1/5
I wonder if 90% of people who wear Ramones t-shirts have ever listened to this (or any other) Ramones album? If they had, they would discover that it is a pretty generic, uninspired and uninteresting example of 70s punk.
Its only 29 minutes long, but I was bored of this by the half way mark. Its genuinely difficult to tell one track from the next.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Blitzkrieg Bop
Date listened: 11/01/23
The Zombies
2/5
It's easy to see how this was ignored until Time of the Season became a hit. The rest of the album is instantly forgettable folk rock.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Time of the Season
Date listened: 12/01/23
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
I bought this album back in 2000, but rarely listened to it. However, my 40-year old self is much more receptive than my 18-year old self was.
A lovely, gently, atmospheric, album. It's very of its time and place but remains enjoyable today.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Once Around the Block
Date listened: 13/01/23
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-haw! It's a never ending bluegrass hoedown!
I quite enjoyed the pre and post song chat and love how everyone playing on this record is having a blast. It felt like a bunch of old mates getting together for a sing song. Great fun and it made me happy.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Keep On The Sunny Side
Date listened: 14/01/23
Alanis Morissette
3/5
A 90s mega-smash hit. A bit grungy, a bit poppy and very melodic and catchy. The confessional 'therapy rock' doesn't sound as edgy in the 2020s as it did in the 1990s, or perhaps it is just that the words of a 21 year old Morissette resonated more when we were in our teens. It remains a very listenable record, with a handful of bangers.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Ironic
Date listened: 15/01/23
Dire Straits
2/5
The sleeve has a lovely pastel colour scheme.
It matches the very safe, pastel, tone of the album.
Its all perfectly nice, but it's difficult to imagine anything with less edge.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Walk Of Life
Date listened: 16/01/23
Brian Eno
2/5
It's hard to say what this album is. Apparently it marks a transition from rock to ambient music in Eno' canon of work. Well, I don't know anything about that. It exists. It's fine. Quite nice in many ways. That's all I have to say about it.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: The Big Ship
Date listened: 17/01/23
Lorde
3/5
I rather enjoyed this modern music. There's definitely a Greatest Showman vibe to the song construction and production. A very 2017 sound - lots of snare, crowd vocals and woooaaaas. Time will tell how it will age, but in the here and now, I liked it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Green Light
Date listened: 18/01/23
Dolly Parton
1/5
A trio of country music vocal stars combine to create an insipid trope-laden country album that is less than the sum of its parts.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Telling Me Lies
Date listened: 19/01/23
Eric Clapton
2/5
Old boring music made by an old bore.
Technically competent but safe, dull and soulless.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: I Shot The Sherriff
Date listened: 20/01/23
Sonic Youth
2/5
The fourth Sonic Youth album on this list. It's the same as the others and I've run out of things to say about them. Surely the author could have picked just one and freed up room for some of the more notable, interesting and enjoyable omissions?
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Schizophrenia
Date listened: 21/01/23
Neu!
3/5
Is the term 'krautrock' acceptable in 2023? Either way, this is a fine example of it (or whatever term we should be using). Driving futurescapes of tracks with a few mellower, ambient moments. Great to run to and think of concrete skyscrapers and monorails.
Apparently the two band leaders each had different philosophies for this album, so split it down the middle, with one taking side A and the other side B. Frankly, I didn't notice any great difference. Maybe the second half was a little more crunchy and rocky, but I liked both.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Isi
Date listened: 22/01/23
Led Zeppelin
2/5
My Mum used to have this record. I remember because I used to like playing with the moving sleeve when I was a kid, not because it ever got played. Apparently it was a not particularly welcome birthday present from my Uncle back in the 1971. It ended up at the tip along with the rest of my parents' vinyl.
Had it been played, I probably would have had the same opinion as my Mum and much preferred rocking on my rocking horse to the Monkees, the Beach Boys and Leo Sayer.
It's more down my alley now than when I was 5, but I still think Led Zep are vastly overrated. This album in particular did not click with me.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Immigrant Song
Date listened: 23/01/23
Britney Spears
1/5
In the early 2000s one of my best friends at school had a 'shoe box of shame' within which lurked albums that he was too embarrassed to store on his CD shelf, lest anyone see them. Owning this record as a schoolboy was bad enough, but as an adult it would be even more questionable (particularly if you happened to buy a version with the North American album cover).
The big hit singles could, at a stretch, almost be considered ok(ish) late 90s manufactured pop music, but in retrospect even these aren't great. Go beyond the singles and this is really awful.
Overall this album has aged about as gracefully as it's creator. Unlike Britney, however, the record doesn't deserve any sympathy.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: ...Baby One More Time
Date listened: 24/01/23
Sonic Youth
2/5
The fifth Sonic Youth album so far and the second in five days. The good news is, I'm now done with them.
This is the darkest of the five. Otherwise it's more of the same and I don't have loads to say about it. They may be an 'important' band, but apart from 'Goo' I haven't remotely enjoyed any of Sonic Youth's albums and I doubt I'll ever listen to them again.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Secret Girl
Date listened: 25/01/23
Khaled
4/5
Mizmar meets accordion. An upbeat mix of Arabic, French and all sorts of other influences. It has enough 'western' elements to be instantly catchy and accessible, but still sounds unfamiliar and interesting. Above all it sounds joyful. It brightened up my drive to work.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Aâlach Tloumouni
Date listened: 26/01/23
Sister Sledge
4/5
An all time great disco album. Hook those baselines into my veins. Four of the eight tracks are icons of the genre (He's the Greatest Dancer, Lost in Music, Thinking of You, and We Are Family) and the rest is more than decent. Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards and the Sledge sisters are on top form here and have created something timeless and brilliant.
Disco does not suck.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Lost in Music
Date listened: 27/01/23
Brian Eno
4/5
A dreamy mix of electronic and analogue soundscapes. I wasn't expecting to like this, but it grew on me the longer it went on and the deeper it delved from songs to moods. A relaxing and enchanting listen.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: By This River
Date listened: 28/01/23
Tina Turner
3/5
Simply the best, better than all the rest, better than any other Tina Turner album, any Tina Turner album I've ever heard (which is none).
A very 80s album - all synths and drum machines, plus Tina Turner's trademark power vocals, which are the star of the show and elevate the fairly standard music.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: What's Love Got to Do with It
Date listened: 29/01/23
Miles Davis
5/5
Wow! This is great! I'm not sure what it is that elevates it above the previous Miles Davis albums on the list, but I really like it. Perhaps it's because it's a more balanced album, with the focus not solely on Davis' trumpet. Every instrument is performed with incredible skill and character. The record is also beautifully paced, starting with a sense of urgency, but relaxing into a very chilled and contemplative atmosphere by the end. A jazz masterpiece. I could listen to this all day. In fact, I almost did.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Blue in Green
Date listened: 30/01/23
Travis
4/5
This stands up a lot better than I expected it would. As per my memory of it, this album is full of melody, huge choruses, an emotive vocal performance and four massive singles. However, it is more intricate and interesting than I remember it being. You can definitely hear the Radiohead influence and it isn't surprising to read that both bands use the same producer, Nigel Godrich.
Radiohead-lite with sing-along choruses = an excellent album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Writing to Reach You
Date listened: 31/01/23
Simple Minds
3/5
Atmospheric, rhythmic synth rock pop. Not keen on this style of vocals.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
Date listened: 01/02/23
Baaba Maal
2/5
I didn't mind listening to this, but it failed to grab my interest. Having said that, this album is my second favourite Senegalese album that I've ever listened to, after Maal's other album on this list.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Hamady Boiro
Date listened: 02/02/23
Neil Young
3/5
Apparently this is a little-known Neil Young album and one that is not rated by its creator. That is a shame because it is really rather good. I enjoyed the juxtaposition between the relaxed music and angry lyrics.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Vampire Blues
Date listened: 03/02/23
Jacques Brel
2/5
The most french thing since Jean Valjean, Emanuele Macron and René Artois sat atop La tour Eiffel eating an amuse bouche of escargots avec garlic et oignons.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Les jardins du casino
Date listened: 04/02/23
Gotan Project
2/5
The most French thing since yesterday (https://1001albumsgenerator.com/reviews/63df2d468d721c1ef8f8e7b7), although the accordion merely accents the latin American tango rythms. A bit of jazz thrown into the mix too.
Quite liked the simultaneous eclectic mix of genres within at first, but the novelty wore off by half way. Fine as background music.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Queremos Paz
Date listened: 05/02/23
Madonna
2/5
The title track is a pop great, and most of the album comprises quite varied and moderately interesting songs. I don't think I'll play it again though.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Like a Prayer
Date listened: 06/02/23
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
From the album cover I was expecting godawdul country. What I got was a prototype Shania Twain with 80s hair.
It is country, but it's fuller, catchier, more varied and better.
It does impress me much.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Nick Of Time
Date listened: 07/02/23
JAY Z
3/5
This NYC rap album was released on 11/09/2001. That's something, right? I hope so, because I have very little else to say about it.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Takeover
Date listened: 08/02/23
The Slits
1/5
Yes to the feminist sisterhood. I love how uncompromising this is and that it defined a genre and inspired others. The only problem is that it's unlistenable. Just really, really, really, really bad.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Typical Girls
Date listened: 09/02/23
Leonard Cohen
3/5
I've liked Leonard Cohen's albums so far. This, his debut, however, did not grab me. It's decent enough, but lacks a consistent style and seems a little Cohen-by-numbers.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Suzanne
Date listened: 10/02/23
4/5
A big dumb bombastic space western of an album. And it's great. Peak Muse with the perfect amount of silliness.
Also, the drums on Starlight spell out 'TITS' in morse code.
It's a lot of fun.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Starlight
Date listened: 11/02/23
Basement Jaxx
2/5
Red Alert and Bingo Bango are fun party tracks, but generally this feels a bit generic and unexciting.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Red Alert
Date listened: 12/02/23
ABBA
4/5
A mature late career ABBA who, at this stage, comprised four divorcees rather than two young couples. Unsurprisingly, the music is not as unashamedly joyful as their early work. However, the album is still jam packed with irresistible melodies and hooks.
Their last album before a 40 year hiatus, the lyrics and music work in unison to create a reflective mood that feels like the final chapter or epilogue of a story (until the 2021 reboot).
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: One Of Us
Date listened: 13/02/23
Grant Lee Buffalo
2/5
Apparently Grant Lee Buffalo is a band, rather than a man or indeed a buffalo (as per Peter Rabbit, Rupert Bear or Phileas D. Hedgehog).
From this, they seem to have a penchant for 90s soft rock music that washes over you. It is a not unpleasant experience, but also not one that you are likely to recall 10 mins later.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Jupiter And Teardrop
Date listened: 14/02/23
Portishead
2/5
90s UK trip hop has never really been my thing and generally sounds quite dated now. This is a good example of that dated and underwhelming genre, and is about as good as it gets. Glory Box is the highlight by a long distance.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Glory Box
Date listened: 15/02/23
N.W.A.
4/5
Hands down the most I've ever enjoyed a hip hop album, and possibly the only hip hop album I've ever been inclined to listen to more than once.
I didn't pay massive attention to the lyrics, but the instrumentation, cadence and tone of the vocals, and general atmosphere was somehow appealing.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Straight Outta Compton
Date listened: 16/02/23
Wire
1/5
I listened to this twice to make sure and can confirm it is absolute tuneless garbage.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Mannequin
Date listened: 17/02/23
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I really liked this. The Rolling Stones at their bluesy best and bookended by two of their greatest and most epic songs.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: You Can't Always Get What You Want
Date listened: 18/02/23
Suede
2/5
I read that this album was described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most pretentious albums ever released by a major label". After the first 5 tracks I couldn't understand why, as they are a pretty accessible, if slightly arty, version of 90s Britpop. An enjoyable start to the album.
After that, the album does more pretentious. Whilst it's admirable for Suede to do something different to the genre that followed in their wake, it does make this record much harder work to enjoy. I expect it probably would reward repeat listens and a deeper dive, but my initial reaction is that it's a bit tedious.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: The Wild Ones
Date listened: 19/02/23
Pearl Jam
2/5
Winstop used to love Pearl Jam, so I tried a bit to get into them when I was at school but could never quite manage it. As per 25 years ago, I don't mind this, but it doesn't grab or excite me. Eddie Vedder seems a nice guy and has a distinctive voice, but I think grunge just isn't for me. It's perhaps a little too gloomy and lacking in joy or complexity of emotion.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Alive
Date listened: 20/02/23
David Bowie
4/5
The follow up to Ziggy Stardust. Evolution to a more polished, glam rock sound with a couple of show tunes in the middle. A strong album throughout and an example of the well known singles not being the strongest tracks, which is unusual for a Bowie album in my experience.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Aladdin Sane
Date listened: 21/02/23
Digital Underground
2/5
I quite liked this to begin with. A concept album about a sexy sex pill is an original, amusing and pretty weird idea. However, the novelty wore off fairly quickly, as it most likely would with the fictional medication.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Humpty Dance
Date listened: 22/02/23
The Yardbirds
2/5
Nice 60s rock. Very tight and well performed. Perhaps it was groundbreaking at the time, but doesn't sound particularly exciting in 2023.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Over, Under, Sideways, Down
Date listened: 23/02/23
Billie Holiday
3/5
I'd heard the name Billie Holiday, but had no idea that her career was so long ago (1930s - 1950s), or that she had such a tragic life.
Her struggles are apparent in her raspy voice as she soulfully sings this set of jazz standards with great emotion.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: I'm a Fool to Want You
Date listened: 24/02/23
Lou Reed
4/5
Sparse, atmospheric, very, very heavy and very, very sad.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Caroline Says II
Date listened: 25/02/23
Sepultura
4/5
Wow, this is extremely heavy but very listenable. Sepultura seem to take themselves very seriously, which often doesn't mix well with the silliness of heavy metal music. Somehow that make this work as a piece of art.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Roots Bloody Roots
Date listened: 07/03/23 (generated 26/02/23)
Hole
2/5
Tracks 2-11 are the definition of MOR 'alternative' radio rock, complete with teenage angst lyrics written by a 34 year old. Track 1 is Nirvana-esque, complete with 'heeeeeeys' and 'yeaaaaahs' in place of actual lyrics.
Overall, there is very little of interest on this somewhat dull album. It comes across as little more than a shallow and commercially calculated endeavour to shift units.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Celebrity Skin
Date listened: 06/03/23 (generated 27/02/23)
Venom
2/5
Apparently this is a hugely influential album on thrash metal and speed metal, and spawned the black metal genre. Does this mean there is a direct chain of events you can follow from this album being released to the burning down of Norwegian churches? If so, I wonder how the band feel about that?
Musically it doesn't sound cutting edge there days, which maybe is an indication of its success. Lyrically, like many metal albums, it is very, very silly.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Black Metal
Date listened: 11/03/23 (generated 28/02/23)
Nick Drake
4/5
The first album review since the arrival of our beautiful baby daughter. I didn't think she'd appreciate Sepultura, Hole or Venom, but after a wet nappy change and a big wind, she enjoyed listening to this with me.
I think she liked the mellow, soothing and wistful English folk and the little piano jazz flourishes along with the instrumental tracks that are interspersed throughout.
She thought the lines "I never held emotion in the palm of my hand,... ...But now you're here, Brighten my northern sky" were particularly apt.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Northern Sky
Date listened: 01/03/23
Herbie Hancock
3/5
Starts very funky, finishes very jazzy, but is consistently accessible, despite opening with a 15 minute epic. Bold choice the put 'Arthur' the cartoon aardvark as the cover art.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Chameleon
Date listened: 02/03/23
Iggy Pop
4/5
Maybe the only picture of Iggy Pop with a clothed torso. He looks like a smiley, happy man on the album cover and the record gives the impression he's having a lovely time making a fun and melodic songs. Given that the Lust For Life/Town Called Malice (The Jam)/Be My Girl (Jet) tune is used on here twice, the album feels surprisingly varied, and flows nicely. Would listen again.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Passenger
Date listened: 03/03/23
Van Halen
3/5
80s hair metal from 1978. A fun listen and exactly what you'd expect - slick production, big choruses and super fast guitar solos. A few familiar tracks up top. Surprising to read that 'Eruption' isn't the space alien bit from Back to the Future (that's an Eddie Van Halen solo effort).
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Runnin' with the Devil
Date listened: 04/03/23
The Young Gods
4/5
Ongulés ! Les ongulés arrivent ! This is like a French 'Swordfishtrombones' era Tom Waits, but even more demonic and genuinely terrifying. Not something to listen to with a baby, but very striking and perfectly achieves it's artistic vision. An industrial masterpiece.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Rue des Tempêtes
Date listened: 05/03/23
Songhoy Blues
4/5
The best thing to come out of Mali since Jimmy Kebe.
A very listenable blend of blues music and African male vocal harmonies from a group of musicians exiled from Timbuktu. Apparently the genre is 'desert blues'. I like it and would listen to more.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Nick
Date listened: 06/03/23
Kelela
4/5
Ambient electronic RnB isn't usually my cup of tea, but loved this. Perhaps because that my cortisol levels are off the chart at the moment. Whatever the reason, this record is chilled, melodic and innovative. It's super relaxing yet also engaging. The perfect delivery of it's artistic vision.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: LMK
Date listened: 07/03/23
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
A bit grungy, a bit indie, a bit rocky. This is fine.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: What Jail is Like
Date listened: 08/03/23
Gang Of Four
1/5
To borrow from Gang of Four's own lyrics, this album gives me migraine.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Damaged Goods
Date listened: 09/03/23
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Upbeat, fun and funky mix of Brazilian trpoicalia with western song structures. It works a treat and is instantly likeable.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)
Date listened: 10/03/23
1/5
I thought I may quite like this after the first track, but the rest is catastrophic. Also, some very questionable song titles.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Uncontrollable Urge
Date listened: 11/03/23
Bee Gees
2/5
The Bee Gees back catalogue is a lot more varied than most people would imagine. This double semi-concept album is half Beatles, half Beach Boys, and half Bob Dylan in style. It's like a folky, harmony-heavy, Sargent Pepper, but nowhere near as good.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Lamplight
Date listened: 12/03/23
Christina Aguilera
4/5
An hour and a quarter of empowering soul and pop ballads with the occasional latin and rock flavour, belted out by Christina Aguilera's increadible voice.
There are five monster singles on here, but it's the album tracks which are more interesting and give the album it's character. The lead single, Dirrty, sounds massively out of place both musically and thematically, and should have been left off the album.
Despite that, this is still a surpringly mature and enjoyable record.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Beautiful
Date listened: 13/03/23
The Charlatans
3/5
A decent enough Britpop album. Quite groovy. Tim Burton seems to be doing a massive Liam Gallagher impression.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: North Country Boy
Date listened: 14/03/23
Suzanne Vega
2/5
Simple acoustic folk songs. Unfortunately, the song writing and melodies aren't particularly memorable.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Undertow
Date listened: 15/03/23
Stan Getz
3/5
This would be lovely aural accompaniment to sipping a cocktail and watching the sun go down in a beach bar.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Desafinado
Date listened: 16/03/23
Jane's Addiction
2/5
Hard rock. Fine but not memorable. The vocals are a bit annoying.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Jane Says
Date listened: 17/03/23
Calexico
4/5
A mariachi infused American indie record. When it's good, it's great, but a few too many grout tracks and it tails off at the end. If it ended at track 11, Across the Wire, it would have been a 5/5.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Across the Wire
Date listened: 18/03/23
Miles Davis
3/5
Another effortlessly cool Miles Davis album, this time with more unusual, electronic sounding backing. Apparently recorded in one day and comprising two tracks (with several movements). I liked side 1 best.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Shhh / Peaceful
Date listened: 19/03/23
Kate Bush
4/5
The only album with proven anti-Vecna properties.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)
Date listened: 20/03/23
The Streets
2/5
This album is really difficult to rate. On one hand it's one of the worst things I've ever heard. The vocal melodies and lyrics sound like they were written and delivered by an absolute dimwit and the music is overall terrible. However, there is something somehow charming about this massive simpleton character trying to communicate his very basic thoughts and feelings by recording noises and sounds.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Dry Your Eyes
Date listened: 21/03/23
Ian Dury
3/5
Feels a lot less of a novelty record than some of Ian Dury's big hits. It tails off towards the end, but overall enjoyable. Much more melodic and grown up than I was expecting.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Wake Up And Make Love With Me
Date listened: 22/03/23
Primal Scream
5/5
I've never taken drugs, but this album perfectly accompanies and mirrors the experience of eating a sticky toffee pudding.
It starts with anticipation and excitement at the sight of the sticky deliciousness and the sugar rush of the first spoonful ('Movin' on Up' to 'Don't Fight It, Feel It').
Next up is the loved up joy and euphoria of eating the STP. At this stage you love the STP and everyone in the vicinity of the STP ('Higher Than the Sun' to 'Loaded').
Finally, you reach the post-consumption come-down stage of pure, sleepy, soporific contentment ('Damaged' to 'Shine Like Stars').
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Movin' on Up
Date listened: 23/03/23
Black Sabbath
5/5
Pioneers of heavy metal and still arguably the GOAT of the genre. This album contains four of Black Sabbath's most iconic tracks (War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man, and Faries Wear Boots), which make up half of the album. The other half of the record accompanies those classics perfectly.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Paranoid
Date listened: 24/03/23
Manic Street Preachers
5/5
Manic Street Preachers' dark and jagged masterpiece. Every track is a banger yet incredibly dense and could have an essay written about it.
At this time the Manics had an interesting approach to songwriting. Richey and Nicky would write the full lyrics to each song then present them to James and Sean to put to music.
Just what JDB must have made of the diatribe handed to him is difficult to fathom. However, he did an incredible job in matching the spiky energy of the music to the bleak world view of the lyrics, whilst somehow finding accessible melodies with which to spit out the bilious words. It is this that elevates the album from a poetic rant to a genius work of art.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Faster
Date listened: 25/03/23
Willie Nelson
3/5
Chilled out country covers of well known standards. Easy like a Sunday morning.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: September Song
Date listened: 26/03/23
Dr. Dre
1/5
Most of this is pretty gross. Difficult to believe this guy spent seven years at medical school.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Nuthin' But A "G" Thang
Date listened: 27/03/23
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
I've never heard of Malcolm McLaren before. His name evokes a no nonsense League 2 football manager that favours a 4-4-2 with a big man/small man combo up top. However, it turns out that names (and appearances) can be deceptive.
Malcolm McLaren is an innovative music, art and fashion impresario and has created a massively eclectic and influential album. It mixes hip hop, South American, African and Caribbean styles and is a lot of fun.
Quite a bit was familiar. I think it may have been sampled by the likes of Eminem and Fatboy Slim.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Punk It Up
Date listened: 28/03/23
Arcade Fire
4/5
Atmospheric and accessible.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Black Mirror
Date listened: 29/03/23
The Libertines
2/5
The NME rates this bog standard indie rock album as the 99th greatest album of all time. No wonder the weekly music press died out.
There is little here to distinguish this from any local band you'd see down the Dog & Partridge on a Wednesday night. Also, the vocals are bad and annoying.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Can't Stand Me Now
Date listened: 30/03/23
Kanye West
4/5
A lush, epic, melodramatic, hip hop saga of an album. I wanted to dislike this, but much of it is pretty great.
For someone that spouts such abhorrent views, Ye is surprising touchy about a South Park episode poking fun at him.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Runaway
Date listened: 31/03/23
Ghostface Killah
2/5
I learned something recently. Rap stands for 'rhythm and poetry'. It differs from hip hop in that rap is a vocal style and hip hop is a musical and cultural movement. Hip hop apparently has four elements. Based on this album I would have guessed those four elements are: misogyny, violence, homophobia and drugs, but it turns out they're actually: DJing, MCing, graffiti and dance.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Champ
Date listened: 01/04/23
2Pac
2/5
To my knowledge I'd never heard a 2Pac track before. From reputation, I thought it would be edgier than this fairly mellow, introspective album.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Dear Mama
Date listened: 02/04/23
David Gray
4/5
This was rather lovely. Soothing folk with a feeling of motion. I am surprised to see that this was released in the 90s and was knocking around for a couple of years before becoming popular. I also never knew it was quite SO huge. It remains the biggest selling album of all time in Ireland. Impressive, and perhaps not entirely undeserved.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Babylon
Date listened: 03/04/23
Emmylou Harris
3/5
I liked this. It seemed more personal and less of a cheesy stereotype than a lot of country music. It was also elevated by Emmylou Harris' beautiful and emotive voice.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Boulder to Birmingham
Date listened: 04/04/23
Laibach
3/5
Is this the only Slovenian album on the list? A strong representation for the country, if so.
Big. Dramatic. Orchestral. Atmospheric. Includes a German language apocalyptic cover of Queen's One Vision.
In interesting album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Geburt einer Nation
Date listened: 05/04/23
50 Cent
1/5
Ooh, you're hard. 53 minutes of self adulation.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: In Da Club
Date listened: 06/04/23
Hole
3/5
Unlike 'Celebrity Skin', this Hole album has BITE. It's quite Nirvana adjacent, which isn't really my thing, but the energy and commitment won me over to an extent.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Doll Parts
Date listened: 07/04/23
Dr. Octagon
3/5
I've had a lot of hip hop albums recently. This is by far the weirdest and most interesting.
Like an odd collage this reminds me of the Avalanches. The lyrics are bizarre and the mish mash of samples and scratching is a lot of fun.
It's a shame the time travelling extraterrestrial had to be a homicidal gynecologist, but I guess it had to stay true to the violence and misogyny than so often characterises the genre.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Earth People
Date listened: 08/04/23
Queen
4/5
Another Queen album without any big hits. The overall style is also not massively like any of the hits. It is proggy and fantastical, with the iconic Brian May guitar sound turned up to the max. I enjoyed this.
Minor technical point: You are Queen. Your lead singer is Freddie Mercury. The decision to let Roger Taylor sing a song is, therefore, mental.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Seven Seas of Rhye
Date listened: 09/04/23
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
I saw Arctic Monkeys at Roskilde 2007 and remember thinking they looked like children. Although it turns out that Alex Turner had just turned 20 on the album's release in January 2006, the record is a hugely impressive achievement for anyone, let alone a group of teenagers.
The combination of high energy garage rock with on-point observational lyrics of northern English teenage nightlife makes a compelling combination.
A great debut album and the embodiment of 'write what you know'.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Date listened: 10/04/23
Janet Jackson
1/5
This album delivered 7 top 5 hit singles in the US. It is a good indication that chart success is not a good indicator of high quality music.
The record sounds like a cross between Michael Jackson's unsuccessful late-career 'Invincible' album and Stomp (the musical where they hit bins).
Generic and instantly forgettable, although increasingly irritating the longer it went on.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: State of the World
Date listened: 11/04/23
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
Well, that was rather niche. Hands down the best live bandoneon tango jazz album I've ever heard. Much of it sounded as if the band were accompanying a silent movie.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Nuevo Tango
Date listened: 12/04/23
Minor Threat
1/5
Apparently this is a hugely influential hardcore punk album. It's not an enjoyable listen but is mercifully short.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Betray
Date listened: 13/04/23
Faith No More
2/5
An eclectic rock album with elements of metal, funk, hip hop, prog and synth. However, it is the straight up rock songs that appeal most to me.
Apparently this album led to beef with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with Anthony Kiedis accusing Faith No More's new singer, Mike Patton, of stealing his style. Quite why he'd have wanted to do that is a mystery. The RHCP funk style songs are the weakest on the album. FNM > RHCP.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Epic
Date listened: 14/04/23
Germs
1/5
I thought I liked hardcore punk, but it turns out I just like the Bronx.
In common with other hardcore punk bands (excluding the Bronx), the music is basic and tuneless and the vocals painfully bad. The only good thing about this album is the cover art.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Lexicon Devil
Date listened: 15/04/23
The Gun Club
3/5
*Another* punk album. This one, though, stands above other recent listenings. It fuses blues with punk creating a powerful, interesting and melodic record.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Sex Beat
Date listened: 16/04/23
Al Green
3/5
Chilled and smooth soul music. Nice and relaxing, if ever so slightly on the bland side.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Let's Stay Together
Date listened: 17/04/23
Michael Kiwanuka
5/5
Blues, jazz, soul, rock and ambient elements all combine to create an effortlessly cool, melodic, heartfelt and interesting album that flows beautifully and sounds simultaneously modern and retro.
t's easy to see why this album won the Mercury Prize.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: You Ain't The Problem
Date listened: 18/04/23
Eurythmics
2/5
That was a disappointment. Based on the banger that is 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)', I expected to really like this album. As it turns out, whilst SD(AMoT) is great, the other tracks are not at all catchy or tuneful. Never mind.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Date listened: 19/04/23
Brian Eno
4/5
I had to listen to this a couple of times for the avant-gard weirdness to come out. On the second listen the layered and textured sound and odd and interesting elements came more to the fore. However, my main impression remains that it is a beefy, accessible, enjoyable and modern sounding album. It's quite a trick to pull off an instantly enjoyable album which is also a bit weird and rewards sunsequent listens. I really like this.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Needles in the Camel's Eye
Date listened: 20/04/23
Iron Maiden
4/5
Iron Maiden's debut album. They sound very different without Bruce. I really like (perhaps prefer) Paul Di'Anno's slightly softer vocals, but wouldn't trust him to pilot a jumbo jet.
This is a little more subtle and less cheesy than the iconic Iron Maiden sound that I'm familiar with. I like it.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Running Free
Date listened: 21/04/23
Nico
3/5
Very English style folk, sung with a heavy German accent.
The most striking and unique feature of the album are the string and flute parts, which are extremely promiment. This would be a very different album without them, but apparently they were added in production and hated by Nico.
Whilst I like the strings and flute a lot, such a big change to an artist's vision against their will is sad to see. It raises questions about ownership of art and what makes an album primarily an artistic or commercial endeavour.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: These Days
Date listened: 22/04/23
Coldplay
4/5
BYO meaning. Calculated with precision to appeal to as many people as possible. Can aiming for universal appeal be an artistic endevour? Does it matter?
Leaving artistic merit aside, this is an enjoyable listen. The first half is full of huge, well crafted, singles and the second half sweet soft rock.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: In My Place
Date listened: 23/04/23
Fairport Convention
3/5
English folk by Oaky's favourite band. Perhaps it's surprising that such an innovative blue sky thinker would favour something so traditional, but if there's one thing we know about Oaky, it's that he's passionate about maintaining the very highest of standards, and this is extremely competently and professionally arranged and recorded. Lovely vocals too.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Matty Groves
Date listened: 24/04/23
Shack
2/5
Shack sound like the average you'd get from adding Oasis to Manics to Stone Roses to Lightning Seeds and dividing by four. It's a good job I never heard them in the 90s, because I would probably have really liked it, which would have been a wrong opinion.
An enjoyable enough listen in a nostalgic way, but but there's absolutely nothing original going on here.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Natalie's Party
Date listened: 25/04/23
Prince
4/5
A double album's worth of varied funky pop songs with the central recurring theme being that Prince likes sex. At all stages of life, in all weather, at any time of day, and in lots of different ways. If Jay from the Inbetweeners was a musical genius, his album may not be completely dissimilar.
That is not to diminish this piece of work. As an 80 minute double album it settles in nicely and the twists and turns on each of the four sides keep you interested and make its length an asset. I liked some sides (especially Side 3) and some songs more than others, but there is nothing on here that I would cut.
I can see why many consider this a great album, Prince's magnum opus and perhaps the last great double album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Date listened: 26/04/23
The Kinks
2/5
Twelve pretty forgettable tracks followed by Waterloo Sunset.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Waterloo Sunset
Date listened: 27/04/23
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
Lo-fi beats to study, chill and research the UK Power sector to.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Bless My Soul
Date listened: 28/04/23
Tracy Chapman
4/5
Exceptional song writing, simple acoustic arrangements, a blend of personal, universal and socially conscious lyrics, and an outstanding voice. A classy, elegant, and beautiful album.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Fast Car
Date listened: 29/04/23
Madness
3/5
A stylistically varied semi-concept album about childhood memory (and one random song about New Delhi). A good chunk of this is great, but a little inconsistent overall.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Our House
Date listened: 30/04/23
Gang Starr
2/5
90s rap. Apparently influential. A little 'Hi, my name's Louis...' in style, but the lyrics seemed interesting.
I enjoyed the name-check of Dick Dastardly in 'Form of Intellect'. Disappointingly, neither Mutely, Penelope Pitstop, Peter Perfect nor the Ant Hill Mob got a similar shout-out.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Step In The Arena
Date listened: 01/05/23
Lynyrd Skynyrd
2/5
The classicest of classic rock from the Southern States. I didn't hate it, but any Southern Man would love it.
I was surprised to find that I didn't recognise Free Bird. I always thought it was on Forrest Gump (but perhaps that's just the solo?). Either way, the track didn't really strike me in the way I expected given its reputation as a classic.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Free Bird
Date listened: 02/05/23
Van Morrison
3/5
Judging by this album cover, Van Morrison is the most Northern Irish looking man ever. Like a slim Jim McDonald.
I didn't expect to hear touches of soul and dollops of easy listening, but that's what the album delivered. Pleasingly varied singer songwriter fare, overall.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Moondance
Date listened: 03/05/23
The Cars
3/5
A solid and enjoyable pop rock record with some moments of weirdness. It's the more straightforward pop songs that appeal most, though. Sounds a lot more modern than 1978.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Just What I Needed
Date listened: 04/05/2
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Jimi Hendrix debut album must have sent a shockwave through the music industry in 1967. It retains its power to this day. Instantly recognisable and effortlessly cool.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Purple Haze
Date listened: 05/05/2
Lucinda Williams
3/5
90s pop country. Listenable enough. Quite MOR, but interesting personal lyrics.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Right In Time
Date listened: 06/05/23
Klaxons
2/5
Guessing that an edition of the '1001 albums...' book was published around 2008, as this 'new rave' dance indie rock was all the rage for about 5 minutes at around that time.
15 years later, it's not difficult to see why it was a passing fad. Whilst this album has its moments, and the form fits the dystopian concept, it quite quickly all becomes a bit samey.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Golden Skans
Date listened: 07/05/23
Crowded House
4/5
It seems Flight of the Concords were pretty on the nose in describing Neil Finn as 'New Zealand's answer to Paul McCartney'.
This album shows Finn to be an outstanding songwriter and a lot of the songs on here have a Beatlesesque quality.
Whilst McCartney can stray towards novelty, Finn can at times verge on easy listening. However, the quality of the melodies and the attention to detail of the music elevate the songs and make some of them genuinely timeless. 'Weather With You', 'Four Seasons In One Day', and 'Fall At Your Feet', in particular, are classics.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Weather With You
Date listened: 08/05/23
Jack White
4/5
A slicker, beefier, and better White Stripes.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Sixteen Saltines
Date listened: 09/05/23
The Jam
3/5
MODerately good.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: That's Entertainment
Date listened: 10/05/23
Todd Rundgren
4/5
A monster of a double album, comprising 4 distinct sides, all written and recorded by one man.
The accurately titled Side One, 'A Bouquet of Ear-catching Melodies', is a 5/5 collection of lovely pop songs. From there each side gets progressively more experimental, culminating in Side Four, called 'Baby Needs a New Pair of Snakeskin Boots (A Pop Operetta)'.
Whilst the whole album is enjoyable and the increasing experimentation makes it a more ambitious and interesting record, I'm basically a sucker for lovely, well crafted singer songwriter pop, so more of Side One would have been more to my tastes.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: I Saw the Light
Date listened: 11/05/23
David Holmes
2/5
Fairly generic 90s electronic music. This mostly melds into the background, but has a few cheeseily noticeable elements. Is a James Bond theme remix the most 90s thing ever?
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Rodney Yates
Date listened: 12/05/23
R.E.M.
4/5
Really good alternative rock from the band that invented alternative rock. Crunchy and melodic. A lot of this really great, but there are a couple of points where the quality dips.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Orange Crush
Date listened: 13/05/23
4/5
Slow, soulful funk with hints of jazz, rock and the slightest reggae flavour. This feels luxurious.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Cisco Kid
Date listened: 14/05/23
The Black Keys
4/5
This album is all about texture and tone. It is also an album of contradictions, with brash distorted vocals and guitars but also subtle details. I would imagine it is a grower with repeated listens.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: These Days
Date listened: 15/05/23
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
My appreciation and respect for Elvis Costello has only increased through this process. He does have a lot of albums on the list, but each is at least decent and an enjoyable singer songwriter record. They also all have their own distinct character.
This is more raw and crunchy than the earlier ones, which is clear from the opening riff of 'Uncomplicated'.
An underrated artist.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Uncomplicated
Date listened: 16/05/23
Love
2/5
Jazz and medieval infused rock from 1966. Side 1 is a mostly listenable set of songs, side 2 comprises a single 18 minute track that decends into the band taking turns to play approximations of animal noises.
Experimental, especially for 1966, but the creativity is perhaps at the expense of enjoyment.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: ¡Qué Vida!
Date listened: 17/05/23
Drive Like Jehu
3/5
Pioneers of post hardcore and emocore, this album apparently gained retrospective appreciation long after the band had split up.
Heavy and earnest, but enjoyable.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Golden Brown
Date listened: 18/05/23
Rod Stewart
2/5
Six standard rock covers and three whiney and lame original compositions. I assume the purpose of the former is to trick people into listening to the latter.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Cut Across Shorty
Date listened: 19/05/23
SZA
1/5
I'd heard that this album was intensely personal, innovative and had great reviews, so I was looking forward to hearing it.
I was disappointed. The backing tracks are intricate and jazz infused, which is vaguely interesting in an academic sense, but as an older millennial I just couldn't connect with the themes at all.
Gen Z may love it, but I'm happy to be well outside of the target audience.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: 20 Something
Date listened: 20/05/23
The Damned
4/5
Late 70s punk hasn't fared well in my ratings so far, but I enjoyed this. It's melodic, musically varied and catchy, with great energy and thoughtful, humourous lyrics.
Best punk record so far, by some distance.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Smash It Up, Pt. 1 & 2
Date listened: 21/05/23
Goldfrapp
4/5
Atmospheric electronica with incredible vocals delivered in the lounge style. This album is all about the vibe. Dreamy, haunting, and evocative.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Utopia
Date listened: 22/05/23
The Replacements
2/5
This sounds like a lot of other things, so I guess it must be influential. A nice mix of tempos and styles. The quieter, more introspective songs were my favourite. The vocal was much improved when the singer took his foot off the gas. Unfortunately the record is let down by a handful of weaker tracks, including the juvenile 'Gary's Got a Boner'.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Unsatisfied
Date listened: 23/05/23
Stevie Wonder
5/5
As of today, I have a favourite Stevie Wonder album.
This is the fourth and final one on this list and number 4 of 5 during Wonder's 1972-76 classic period. Talking Book is good, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life are great, but this is perfection.
A mix of tempos, themes and styles, but every track is a beautifully crafted work of genius and the record is perfectly sequenced with the changes of pace coming at just the right times.
An underrated masterpiece.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Boogie On Reggae Woman
Date listened: 24/05/23
The Verve
5/5
This is the first album I ever bought that isn't by the Lightning Seeds. It got extremely heavy rotation in my school days and influenced which other music I would choose to listen to in my formative years. It will be interesting to see how it stands up a quarter of a century later.
UPDATE: The main thing I've learned from listening again is that it's impossible to be objective about an album that has significant personal context. If I listened for the first time now, I may feel the album is bloated, lacking in variety, too cleanly produced and the songs are over-long. However, memory and familiarity are powerful attractive forces, and I can still sing along to every word, decades after I last listened to the album in full.
Listening to the album conjures up the same feelings as it did 20 years ago. Its layered strings, guitars and vocals give it an ethereal quality, which combined with Richard Ashcroft's aching and longing lyrics make it quite affecting and beautiful. As before, whilst Bitter Sweet Symphony is the banger that brought the record to my attention, the rest of the first half does comparatively little for me. It is tracks 7 ('Space and Time') to 12 ('Velvet Morning') that I loved and still retain a lot of affection for today ('Weeping Willow' may be my overall favourite). Whilst they offer little in variety, they have a lovely, despairing but somehow uplifting atmosphere that I can happily sit in for half an hour. Each is also carefully written with distinct and memorable melodic hooks built in to their verse, bridge and choruses. These songs, words and melodies are seemingly etched onto my brain.
I really enjoyed revisiting this and won't wait another couple of decades before my next listen.
I make no apologies for the entirely subjective, context heavy, rating.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Bitter Sweet Symphony
Date listened: 25/05/23
Public Enemy
3/5
More than 35 years since their debut album, the hip hop world is yet to better Public Enemy. Innovative and combative, but really accessible. The two vocal tones work perfectly together. This album sags a bit in the middle, but there is plenty here to enjoy.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Fight the Power
Date listened: 26/05/23
Paul McCartney
3/5
This feels like a collection of demos. It seems very simple, direct and, in places, unfinished. No doubt this was an artistic choice by McCartney. I liked it. It's interesting to have an insight interesting the workings of one of the all time great song writers.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Maybe I'm Amazed
Date listened: 27/05/23
Roni Size
2/5
I'm not sure whether the album format is a notable art form in drum 'n' bass circles. Either way, a 2 hour 20 minute long record with 8 minute long tracks isn't really compatible with how I listen to an album.
That said, a wise man once enthusiastically exclaimed "I can't understand how anyone doesn't f****n' love drum 'n' bass". And he's right, in a sense. When you're standing below a massive industrial fire breathing spider, with music blasting out at 120 dB, D'n'B is pretty irresistible.
Even outside of that context, there is something about the boldness and simplicity of a beat that is easy to pick up and get involved in. Who needs melody when you have rhythm? It is a strange decision, therefore, to add the awful vocals.
As an example of drum 'n' bass, this is probably very good. It's not designed for the album format, though.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Brown Paper Bag
Date listened: 28/05/23
Cee Lo Green
1/5
Wait. Cee-Lo Green is a man, and Gnarls Barkley is a duo comprising Cee-Lo Green and another human man called Danger Mouse. I had no idea. I thought Cee-Lo and Gnarls were two similar, but separate, singers. There you go. You learn something new every day.
As for this album, it contains neither of Cee-Lo/Gnarls' hit songs and is horribly generic. Just really, really bad hip hop and soul. Whilst Cee-Lo's voice is interesting for the odd song, it's crazy how annoying it gets after a whole album, rendering it almost unlistenable.
'Forget' you, Cee-Lo.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: The Art of Noise
Date listened: 29/05/23
King Crimson
2/5
The very proggiest of proggy prog. Not something you can tap along to, but somehow relatively accessible for the genre. Maybe fewer random incongruous segues than other prog albums.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part II)
Date listened: 30/05/23
Amy Winehouse
4/5
A super popular album, from a super talented and extremely tragic singer. Very strong emphasis on style, but the songs are good enough quality to back it up and the record is short enough to not get boring.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Back To Black
Date listened: 31/05/23
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
Bright, bold, ballsy, high energy, tuneful, catchy, punk-pop-rock.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Spellbound
Date listened: 01/06/23
Mike Ladd
4/5
Evokes images of a gang of future-cyber-punks huddled around a flaming trash can blasting this out of a boombox during the post-apocalypse.
A really interesting hip hop album comprising a decaying industrial soundscape. The reflective final track 'Feb. 4 '99' is completely different, but somehow fits perfectly.
Form matches function perfectly in this very cool and deliberately artistic endevour.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Feb. 4 '99
Date listened: 02/06/23
Dwight Yoakam
1/5
There's not a lot of room for originality in country music, but this record offers absolutely nothing. I hated it from the opening bar to the closing note.
And what's going on with the cover art? I had to look at it for ages to work out that's a hat and guitar with a random pair of disembodied leather clad legs on the right hand side.
Catastrophically bad with no redeeming features whatsoever.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Streets of Bakersfield
Date listened: 03/06/23
David Bowie
3/5
Up to half way I thought this was a big stomp and the more accessible younger twin brother to Low. However, the ambient suite that comprises Side 2 blew that out of the water. It of course sounds very Berlin, as Bowie defined that sound with this and the preceding two albums.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Heroes
Date listened: 04/06/23
Skunk Anansie
3/5
Nice to see a 90s band doing something a bit different to standard Britpop. It must have been successful, too, seeing as Skunk Anansie headlined Glastonbury in 1999, the year of this album's release.
I generally quite liked this. It is heavy and tuneful and melodic, and perfectly accompanies Skin's vocal.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Secretly
Date listened: 05/06/23
Dennis Wilson
4/5
Supposedly the least musically gifted Wilson brother, Dennis nevertheless recorded an excellent collection of ballads and interesting pop songs. Every track is drenched in sound, which combined with his tormented sounding vocal, lends the record an emotionally vulnerable and sad air. In places it is extremely raw and touching.
It's tragic that 'Farewell My Friend' was played at Dennis' funeral before he had the chance to record a follow up.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: River Song
Date listened: 06/06/23
Throwing Muses
1/5
Pretty tuneless. Not really my thing.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Soul Soldier
Date listened: 07/06/23
Paul Simon
5/5
An instant classic and masterpiece. Great song writing and rich and enchanting arrangements.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: You Can Call Me Al
Date listened: 08/06/23
Maxwell
2/5
An album with less than zero 'oomph'. I didn't mind the chilled and laid back vide initially, but it quicky wore thin.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)
Date listened: 09/06/23
Traffic
3/5
Listenable late '60s folky bluesy pop rock.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Feelin' Alright
Date listened: 10/06/23
Dr. John
4/5
Simultaneously spooky and breezy, a concept album based around a voodoo doctor, recorded by a collective of New Orleans musicians living in L.A. Clearly an influence on Tom Waits, but otherwise not like anything I've heard before.
Psychedelic R&B with elements of jazz, medieval, and other weird sounds. A really cool record.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Mama Roux
Date listened: 11/06/23
Skepta
3/5
This is only the second grime record I've listened to, after Dizzee Rascal's 'Boy in Da Corner'. I liked both. Having emerged from East London in the early 2000s, perhaps grime generally holds my interest better than hip-hop because the themes are closer to home and the sounds and accents more familiar. Having said that, I can't seem to find a way in to Stormzy's music.
This record starts with a bang and maintains a high energy throughout. There are some striking and humorous lyrics amongst the rest.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Man
Date listened: 12/06/23
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
I always thought of 'Smashing Pumpkins' as a verb. i.e. describing the act of taking some pumpkins and bashing them to bits. However, noting the 'The' in the band name, it seems that 'smashing' is actually an adjective, referring to the pumpkins being really rather good, i.e. "have you seen the smashing pumpkins over there, Giles, they look like they'd make a hearty and nourishing soup as well as a ghoulish Halloween lantern".
It's a shame, as the first, more aggressive, interpretation matches the energy of this record better than a gentle trip to a village fete does.
It's a two hour long, 28 track, double CD, triple vinyl album, and although it ebbs and flows, it is always bold and confident and never boring. Except for the first track, it is also never relaxing, and won't let you settle into it.
Although I can't fully get on board with Billy Corgan's voice when at it's most forceful, I enjoyed every song and like how the record is eclectic but still reads as a piece. It is brilliantly sequenced to bring the energy up or down at exactly the right time.
This is my first time hearing this album through and it's instantly clear that people are right to consider it a classic. I wish I'd taken notice of Just Joe and listened when I was younger.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Date listened: 13/06/23
Bert Jansch
3/5
Strong 'Detectorists' vibes from this one. Lovely, gentle and dreamy British folk songs. It makes me want to pick up a detector and head to Denby to while away a day in a field with Lance and Andy.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Dreams of Love
Date listened: 14/06/23
Bon Jovi
3/5
This album has some of Bon Jovi's biggest tracks, which are notable for being some of Bon Jovi's biggest tracks.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Livin' On A Prayer
Date listened: 15/06/23
N.E.R.D
3/5
A rock/hip hop crossover, but a lot more emphasis on the rock than I had expected. Reminiscent of a more chilled out Death in Vegas in places. Power to the nerds.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: The Way She Dances
Date listened: 16/06/23
The Shamen
1/5
One of the worst things I've ever heard. Everything that was wrong with the 90s. Example lyric:
"Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Y-y-y-yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Ooh oh, ooh oh, ooh oh
Yeah yeah hyperreal
Ooh oh, yeah yeah hyperreal"
Hypersh*t.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Pro-Gen
Date listened: 17/06/23
Lana Del Rey
3/5
This album is all vibe. It is an easy, pleasant and relaxing listen. Although there is maybe not much to the songs, it is instantly appealing. I feel like it is unlikely to have much longevity, though.
It is also quite heavily front loaded. Enjoyable overall, but its charm is of a fading variety.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: White Dress
Date listened: 18/06/23
AC/DC
3/5
There can't be many bands that have had 50 year careers, lost their singer, and still sound exactly the same on album 17 as they did on album 1.
AC/DC's commitment to not evolving their sound even one iota and making the same album time and again is incredible.
Again, this is big, basic, fun, balls out rock. It does exactly what it set out to do, but no-one needs to hear more than one AC/DC record, and I heard 'Back in Black' first.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Highway to Hell
Date listened: 19/06/23
Moby Grape
2/5
60s San Francisco soft rock. Sounds exactly like you would expect, and also a bit like the Byrds in places.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Hey Grandma
Date listened: 20/06/23
Elton John
4/5
I'm listening to this album just four days before Elton John plays his last ever UK show, at Glastonbury festival. Would it not miss out other major highlights of his career, it would be a fitting end to John's career if he was to perform this epic double album album in full.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Date listened: 21/06/23
Magazine
4/5
Post punk hasn't fared well in my ratings so far. There seem to be a lot of not very good albums in this genre. Fortunately, this isn't one of them.
The songwriting and melodies are appealing. Much of the record is a bit softer and less fraught than other post punk albums. I particularly like the synths.
As usual, the vocals are the weak point and this would have benefited from the band recruiting someone who could sing. Pop on a fun, female vocal and it would be almost as good as the Go-Gos.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Definitive Gaze
Date listened: 22/06/23
Tito Puente
4/5
An unashamedly joyous 1950s mambo classic. Still fresh and vibrant today.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: El Cayuco
Date listened: 23/06/23
Scott Walker
4/5
This is a really cool and interesting record. It contains: dark, brooding 'Murder Ballads' with male vocal choirs adding atmosphere (The Seventh Seal); longing songs of heartbreak and self deprication (World's Strongest Man); country and folk infused songs of sadness (Duchess); lush singer songwriter pop (Get Behind Me); and a few examples of croonfest (On Your Own Again).
All of it is held together by Walker's emotive baritone vocal, soaring strings and sad atmosphere. I really like this.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: The Seventh Seal
Date listened: 24/06/23
Gene Clark
2/5
Exactly how I'd expect the solo album of one of the Byrds to sound. Pleasant enough, but not the most exciting and the Bob Dylan impression vocals are a bit cringe.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Virgin
Date listened: 25/06/23
k.d. lang
2/5
I can only say the words 'k.d. lang' in the voice of a Jools Holland introduction. Unfortunately, Jools' inevitable nasal excitement isn't warranted by the record, which evolves from easy listening country into pure lounge music as the record progresses. k.d. has a nice, relaxing voice, but I can't imagine hearing this anywhere other than in an elevator.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Honkey Tonk Angels Medley
Date listened: 26/06/23
Donald Fagen
2/5
With apologies to David O'Doherty, I'm not at all keen on Steely Dan, nor the solo careers of their former members.
This album was released on 1 October 1982 and has not aged well. It's overproduced and soulless, and the cheap synth sound is almost comically cheesy in places.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: I.G.Y
Date listened: 27/06/23
Radiohead
3/5
I like that Radiohead always have a clear concept of what they want each album to be, and that they constantly change their sound. The only issue is that regardless of the style they're going for a lot of their output is quite boring.
In this case, despite the bleeps and bloops and even with an active listen, I found this to be good, but rather dull.
Love the album art though.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Everything in Its Right Place
Date listened: 28/06/23
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
This reminds me of a cross between 'Chicago', with the jazz rhythms and interludes, and the rock opera stylings of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. Also, the singer sounds a lot like Judas from the 1970 motion picture.
Those are both great musicals and although Judas gets a lot of bad press, he does have a cracking set of pipes. So in my book this is a good review.
Not a record to be taken seriously, but weirdly enjoyable overall.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Spinning Wheel
Date listened: 29/06/23
X-Ray Spex
3/5
Energetic, poppy, catchy 1978 punk record. Standard off key wailing vocals, but enjoyable overall.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Art-I-Ficial
Date listened: 30/06/23
Scritti Politti
4/5
I only know Scritti Politti from Rhodri Marsden on twitter, and he wasn't in the band when this album was written and recorded. If he was, I'm sure the lyrics would have included many witty observations of Christmas sleeping arrangements and tips on fatherhood.
I only knew Green Gartside from 'Between the Clock and the Bed', and I like his voice here as much as I do on that record.
It is GG's voice and the high quality production that is most striking about this art pop album. It really elevates the fairly average song writing, creating a instantly recognisable, unique and luxurious sound.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Perfect Way
Date listened: 01/07/23
Korn
3/5
It's Korn, so of course it's heavy, but it is much more groove driven, accessible and fun to listen to than I had imagined.
The lyrics are apparently brutal, but it is mostly difficult to make out the words even though the vocal is closer to singing than it is to screaming.
I liked this overall. Korn stand apart and above the early 2000s nu-metal scene. They give the impression that they make the music they do as it's their art, which may not be true of the vibe chasing acts that followed in their wake.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Freak On a Leash
Date listened: 02/07/23
Public Enemy
3/5
Public Enemy are still the GOAT hip hop artist. I've enjoyed all three of their albums on this list. This, the most recent (released 01/10/91), is my favourite. Still sharp, engaging, exciting and combative, but a *little* bit more subtle and less combative than it's predecessors.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Can't Truss It
Date listened: 03/07/23
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
Simple pop songs, reminiscent of early Beatles, drenched in gorgeous harmonies and orchestration.
This record juxtaposes sad lyrics with joyous melodies and arrangements, which is one my favourite music things. So good that I can overlook the gratuitous toilet and appalling grammar on the album cover.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: California Dreaming
Date listened: 04/07/23
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
Neil Tennant explained that they chose title of this album because it's *very* Pet Shop Boys: "it's very up, it's very hi-energy, it's very romantic, it's very sad, it's very pop".
That is the perfect summary of the record. It's everything that is great about the Pet Shop Boys, but bolder and more confident than on previous records. It is *very* excellent indeed.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Go West
Date listened: 05/07/23
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
1/5
The human version of Uncle Pecos, Jerry's country music singing uncle from the Tom and Jerry cartoon 'Pecos Pest'.
It genuinely wouldn't surprise me if Ramblin' Jack Elliott was the inspiration behind Uncle Pecos. Several tracks on the album are reminiscent of 'Froggy went a-courtin' and one song even has a yodel part that's a little to high for him.
Whilst it's tempting to give this a pass as a museum piece, songs about the types of insects that annoy Elliott most don't really resonate in 2023, and the pre-song chat that precedes many of the tracks just seems like a parody today.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Salty Dog
Date listened: 06/07/23
Traffic
2/5
Meandering jazzy soft rock. Apparently almost a Steve Windwood solo album.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Empty Pages
Date listened: 07/07/23
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
I had never heard of this before, but my hopes were not high for this eponymously titled 90s white boy hip hop album by G. Love and Special Sauce.
However, I should not judge an album by it's cover, nor its awful artist name, nor its generally questionable genre. This is reminiscent of music by Dirty Projectors with vocals by the Hiphopopotamus vs. the Rhymenoceros, and is really quite good (at least for the first 40 minutes or so).
Cool, jazz infused, music with a great double bass sounding baselines, and easy enough vocals.
At an hour long it could have done with losing the final third, which started to be a bit of a slog, but overall, I'm pleasantly surprised.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Blues Music
Date listened: 08/07/23
Machito
4/5
Without this project I would never have listened to this, so thank you albumsgenerator, I'm pleased to have heard it and broadened my horizons a little on a Sunday morning.
Big band jazz with latin rhythms. Frenetic and cool. Instantly likable.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Wild Jungle
Date listened: 09/07/23
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
I don't know if Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal have a Blur vs Oasis type rivalry, but if they do, put me down as a Youssou fanboy.
I have a new favourite Senegalese album, because this is great. Everything about it is quality. The percussion rhythms, the vocal, the melodies, the horns are all fun, evocative, and sound joyous. I would definitely put this on again.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Immigrés/Bitim Rew
Date listened: 10/07/23
De La Soul
4/5
This is such a fun album. Great music, samples and lyrics. The gameshow snippets are also a jovial element - I wonder what the specially selected grand prize was?
The most enjoyable hip hop album yet.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Magic Number
Date listened: 11/07/23
Sparks
5/5
Sparks. The only band that can claim to have been a defining influence on both Queen and the Pet Shop Boys and it not be a ludicrous statement.
Since watching Edgar Wright's excellent documentary 'The Sparks Brothers' I've fallen a little bit in love with Russ and Ron Mael. Sparks were my most listened artist on Spotify in 2022.
Their innovative, idiosyncratic songs are always unique and often genre creating. I don't love all of their output, but that's the cost of constantly pushing the envelope. When Sparks are good, they are genius and their new music remains fresh, interesting and fun even today, more than half a century after their debut record.
This, their 1974 third album, sees Sparks in early career glam rock mode, achieving their objective of being a 'British band'.
It opens with their biggest hit, 'This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us', a rousing powerhouse of a song that tells the tale of a series of ridiculous imagined worst case scenarios. The rest of the album is similarly fun, grandiose and quirky. It includes songs about:
-falling in love with your doppelganger;
-annoyance at having to spend time with your partner over Christmas because all the bars are shut;
-Romeo speaking to Juliette from heaven after she broke their pact;
-lusting over a tour guide but not being able to converse due to a language barrier;
-Albert Einstein and his overly proud parents; and
-going to the equator to meet a date but not being able to find her.
The mind of Ron Mael is an extraordinary thing, as is the voice of Russ, who's powerful falsetto characterises the album.
Overall, this album is weird, over the top and very, very charming.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us
Date listened: 12/07/23
Billy Bragg
4/5
I really liked the two Wilco albums on the list, and this project of putting lyrics by anti-fascist folk singer, Woody Guthrie, to music sounds really interesting. Although I only know Billy Bragg as a socialist folk guy and the Glastonbury 1999 'toiletgate' agitator, I have high hopes that I will enjoy this album.
Having listened, I wasn't disappointed. This is a great album, and feels like a real three-way team effort. Woody Guthrie's striking and on-point lyrics are to the fore, and the songs are cleverly split between Wilco and Bragg lead vocals, with Billy taking the more overtly political songs.
Sad, folky, interesting, excellent.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: California Stars
Date listened: 13/07/23
Orbital
3/5
I hated the other Orbital album on the list but quite liked this one. It still sounds a bit amater, dated and very cringe in places, but the chilled techno vibe brings back happy memories of nights at the Custard Factory in Birmingham in the mid 2000s. Good times.
These days it provides good accompaniment to packing up the car roof box ahead of a family holiday to the Isle of Wight. Even better times.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Planet of the Shapes
Date listened: 14/07/23
The Adverts
3/5
Crikey, a good 70s punk album. Catchy and melodic. There is some substance to the style in this case.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: No Time to Be 21
Date listened: 15/07/23
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
The second Malian desert blues record on the list. This is the final album by Ali Farka Toure's, released a few months following his death.
Toure has an incredible life story. The only one of ten brothers to survive past infancy, he was too 'noble' a caste to be allowed to play musical instruments, but did anyway, becoming recognised as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
There is a lot going on throughout this record. It is a complex din of rythms and instrumentation which mostly sounds nothing like the blues, but somehow creates a similar emotional response. Although an unfamiliar genre and a sound that shouldn't be accessible, but is somehow instantly appealing.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Savane
Date listened: 16/07/23
Simply Red
2/5
The first couple of tracks are surprisingly jazz infused and led me to think I may quite like this. I was sadly wrong. The majority of it is not-very- good 80s soft rock and cheesy blue-eyed soul. Also, Mick Hucknall dressed up as the Artful Dodger on the album cover looks amusingly ridiculous.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Holding Back the Years
Date listened: 17/07/23
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Leonard Cohen's final album, released 17 days before his death. Unsurprisingly, themes of god and death are at the fore of this atmospheric album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: You Want It Darker
Date listened: 18/07/23
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
This really does sound like a blues explosion. With emphasis on the explosion. Extremely high energy and lo fi. I didn't mind this at first but, although there are some fun elements throughout, it wore thin pretty quickly. Not sure what's going on with the recurring Elvis impersonator vocal style.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: R.L. Got Soul
Date listened: 19/07/23
Haircut 100
2/5
Cheerful and bouncy with trumpet. Fantastic Day is a banger, but not a lot of quality songwriting elsewhere.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Fantastic Day
Date listened: 20/07/23
Tim Buckley
1/5
The Slowpoke Rodriguez of singer songwriter albums. Every word is so laboured and slowly sung with no discernible melody that it is difficult to comprehend and very boring to listen to.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Buzzin' Fly
Date listened: 21/07/23
Eels
5/5
I'm a huge fan of Eels, but for some reason I'm not as familiar with this, their debut album, as I am the rest of their discography.
Every one of Eels' next five albums after this is a 5/5 album. What's more, each has a distinct and different style and sound to the record that came before it. If I had paid Beautiful Freak more attention I would have realised that it is like a microcosm of the next five Eels albums all squeezed into one record:
-The dark, bass-driven, 'Susans House' and 'Your Lucky Day in Hell' would fit well on 'Electro-Shock Blues';
-'My Beloved Monster' has a similar innocent sentiment to 'I Like Birds' and wouldn't be out of place on 'Daisies of the Galaxy';
-The musically diverse 'Novocaine For The Soul', 'Flower' and 'Mental' could be from the more experimental 'Souljacker';
-The lyrically and musically straightforward, but endlessly catchy, 'Rags to Rags' and 'Guest List' are reminiscent of 'Shootenanny'; and
-The sadly personal and dreamlike 'Beautiful Freak' and 'Spunky' share some DNA with tracks from 'Blinking Lights and Other Revelations'.
Despite the diversity in this record it flows beautifully and comes across as a single piece. It is excellent and a great introduction to a brilliant artist with an outstanding discography.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Novocaine For The Soul
Date listened: 22/07/23
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
I always thoughts Dexys were one hit wonders, but it seems they are a lot more to them than Come On Eileen. They are clearly not the pop noveltiests I once assumed. Even the band name refers to recreational drug use.
This album has a soulful, brass heavy, sound and a punk spirit. It certainly sounds like a call to arms for the disaffected. The album cover depicts a Catholic boy being forced from his home in Belfast. Political.
In addition to the unexpected depth, it is also catchy, energetic and fun. The vocals are also less grating than on Too Rye Ay. I like it.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Geno
Date listened: 23/07/23
Megadeth
2/5
The (semi) title track is a banger, but overall I enjoyed this less than Rust in Peace. It's not as melodic or as much fun.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Peace Sells
Date listened: 24/07/23
Ryan Adams
2/5
Fairly bland singer songwriter fare. The louder bits are better than the quieter bits. Trying to be Bob Dylan a bit too much in places.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)
Date listened: 25/07/23
Brian Eno
2/5
Groundbreaking and influential in its use of samples, which makes it interesting from an academic point of view. It is, though, quite boring from a 'having to listen to it all the way through' point of view.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Jezebel Spirit
Date listened: 26/07/23
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
Half the tracks on this album are exceptional. 'Feels So Different' is a great, confessional, cello-led opener; 'Three Babies' intensely personal and sad; 'Black Boys On Mopeds' hard hitting and political; and 'I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got' closes the album beautifully with an acapella, almost monastic, chant.
Whilst not her own words, 'Nothing Compares 2 U' is an achingly beautiful song about loss, which O'Connor has made her own. It could relate equally to a break up or to the loss of a loved one. A timeless classic.
As evidenced on this album, Sinéad O'Connor had an incredible voice for conveying hurt, damage and loss, which it seems she experienced all too much of in her life. This album is raw and difficult, but simultaneously beautiful and soothing. Her death yesterday is the sad loss of a great artist.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Nothing Compares 2 U
Date listened: 27/07/23
Marvin Gaye
3/5
A slick and smooth double album from one of the all time great soul musicians. I really liked the first disc. If Gaye had left it there, I would have come away thinking this is excellent. Unfortunately disc 2 is not as good and drags the album out, making it a lot less enjoyable.
Also, on side 4, the album's lead single, 'A Funky Space Reincarnation', tells the sci-fi story of a future love. It's really weird, but not in a good way.
Disc 1: 4/5. Disc 2: 2/5. 'A Funky Space Reincarnation': 0/5. Overall:
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You
Date listened: 28/07/23
The Rolling Stones
4/5
An hour and a bit of classic blues rock 'n' roll. No stand-out hits, but good quality throughout and well sequenced. Side two is a nice change to a gentler pace after a rip-roaring side one. Plenty of brass which helps to hold interest and keep the record from fading into the background.
Not even remotely like the Beatles.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Shine A Light
Date listened: 29/07/23
Spacemen 3
2/5
Shoegaze hasn't been my favourite genre on this 1001 albums odyssey so far. However, since recently seeing The Brian Jonestown Massacre, I'm warming to it.
This is quite reminiscent of BJM. Textural songs which get into a vibe and sit there for the duration without doing very much. For the most part, I could happily sit in the vibe that's created.
Pleasingly, there is little distortion here, which means that the tunes are discernable, unlike other shoegaze artists such as My Bloody Valentine.
Finally, I can't let the album cover go without comment. Possibly the worst so far? It looks like something I could have made in junior school on their Windows 3.1 computers. Also, the word 'accuracy' looks oddly out of place amongst 'revolution', 'purity', and 'love'.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Lord Can You Hear Me
Date listened: 30/07/23
Madonna
1/5
The early 2000s is the all time worst era for popular music, discuss?
This album would support the case for the above proposition. 1998's dancy 'Ray of Light' was varied, interesting and decent overall.
This takes the dance direction and strips out anything interesting or innovative and replaces it with generic, by-numbers turn-of-the-millenium dance-pop. Mid-paced, repetitive, overproduced, vocoder-heavy, and bland.
It sounds incredibly dated and is the sort of thing you would have heard at a rubbish nightclub whilst drinking a blue WKD or Smirnoff Ice.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Don't Tell Me
Date listened: 31/07/23
Jungle Brothers
2/5
About as inoffensive as 'The Chronic' by 'Dr' Dre (not a real doctor) is offensive. It is nice to hear some more of the 80s wholesome hip hop, in a similar vein to De La Soul.
Musically, it lacks variety and it is very ' hi, my name's Louis', but is overall an enjoyable, sleepy listen.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Beyond This World
Date listened: 01/08/23
Roxy Music
1/5
There have been plenty of album I've disliked on this odyssey. For most albums that haven't been to my taste it has at least been possible to appreciate why they may be critically acclaimed, or why they may be popular, or why they may be influential.
This, on the other hand, is a mystery. It is (surely) just objectively bad music? Busy, messy, everything-everywhere-all-at-once, headache-inducing music, crooned over by one of the most painful vocals I've ever heard. It made me feel nauseous.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Do The Strand
Date listened: 02/08/23
ABBA
4/5
You show me someone that won't allow themselves to enjoy ABBA and I'll show you a joyless, pretentious ass-hat.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Dancing Queen
Date listened: 03/08/23
White Denim
4/5
Intricate and complex rock music. This simultaneously feels deliberate and well crafted but also like a jam in places. It is instantly enjoyable, but I'm sure there is a lot of depth, particularly to the musically literate ear (which isn't me).
My preference was for the slower, more meandering tracks, such as Street Joy, which I could listen to all day.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Street Joy
Date listened: 04/08/23
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Exactly what I would have imagined the Chemical Brothers' debut album to sound like. Big, energetic dance music. None of the hits are on here, but it's commercial, accessible and fun throughout. Turn this up to 11, add a big lightshow and you can't fail to have a good time.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Leave Home
Date listened: 05/08/23
Ray Charles
2/5
Nice versions of standards from the American songbook. Easy to listen to and enjoyable enough, but not particularly exciting or interesting. Ray Charles has a great voice but I would have expected more piano.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Bye Bye Love
Date listened: 06/08/23
PJ Harvey
4/5
I really like that each PJ Harvey album I listen to has a distinct style and theme. This finds Polly Jean at her heaviest and most frenetic. It has a frantic and furious energy to it, which is thunderously full on and a little frightening. I'd have to listen again to find out what she is so enraged about, but whatever it is, she's turned her anger into a captivating record.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Rid Of Me
Date listened: 07/08/23
Neil Young
3/5
Deliberately a bit more rugged and imperfect than the classic Neil Young sound. There are no hit singles on the record, which is also probably a deliberate decision by Young, given his propensity to be a little contrary and react against previous success. Not sure about the ropey vocals given the usual quality of Young's voice, but still a strong album throughout.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Tonight's The Night
Date listened: 08/08/23
T. Rex
3/5
T. Rex's first album since their change from a folk to an electric sound. Whilst basically a revolution, this album is still more of an evolution and much more subtle than I would have imagined.
Overall a nice surprise to hear something a little bit different to the fully formed T. Rex sound.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Get It On
Date listened: 09/08/23
Doves
4/5
I owned this album in my youth. I liked it at the time, mainly for the singles and stand out songs (Here It Comes, The Man Who Sold Everything, The Cedar Room and, particularly, Catch The Sun). From revisiting it with a more mature ear, the singles still stack up and my appreciation of the album overall has grown. It's layered, textured, atmospheric, varied and well sequenced. Really good.
Incidentally (if you discount Party in the Abby Grounds featuring Katrina and the Waves without Katrina and 2 minutes of Mike D'Abo) Doves were the first live band I ever saw, opening for Oasis at Wembley in 2000.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Catch The Sun
Date listened: 10/08/23
Antony and the Johnsons
5/5
I'd never heard the music of Anohni and the Johnsons before, but it took approximately 30 seconds to be completely spellbound by this album. Anohni's voice is perhaps the most emotionally affecting I've ever heard. Every second is beautiful and somehow makes you feel feelings.
The opening and closing tracks, 'Hope There's Someone' and 'Bird Guhl' (and the opening and closing lines within them) bookend the album perfectly, acting as the start and conclusion of an intensely personal story. In between, 'For Today I Am A Boy' spells out the theme of the album and 'You Are My Sister' had me welling up.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Fistful Of Love
Date listened: 11/08/23
Stereo MC's
1/5
Generic, nothing to say, ladish, dated. Boring music seemingly made just for the sake of it. The worst of the 90s.
The best you can say about this album is that it helped flog a few mobile phones.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Connected
Date listened: 12/08/23
David Bowie
4/5
A really strong Bowie album. Not at all what I would associate with a cocaine album. At 38 minutes and just 6 tracks, the quality control was turned on for this record which gets the balance between experimentation and accessibility spot on.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Station to Station
Date listened: 13/08/23
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Neil Young rocking out. On the face of it, it's typically a bit self indulgent, featuring several jams and two 10 minute+ long tracks. The album was recorded as live in 1990 which makes it imperfect but also helps it retain the raw power and energy of the performance. It's sufficiently captivating that it flies by, despite the length, and you actually wish there was more.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Country Home
Date listened: 14/08/23
Hot Chip
4/5
Breezy, relaxed, fun, cool indie disco music. The sound of a chilled summer's evening on Primrose Hill / the sort of music that they like in that London.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Motion Sickness
Date listened: 15/08/23
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
A cool hour of Cuban music. Enjoyable, but doubt I'll revisit. I do wonder whether this is exceptional compared to other Cuban records of the time or whether its international smash hit status is mostly a result of marketing? Unfortunately there is no way of knowing.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Chan Chan
Date listened: 15/08/23
Bad Company
3/5
Possibly the most competent soft rock album I've heard. And what, more than anything, do we want from our rock supergroups? Competence.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Don't Let Me Down
Date listened: 16/08/23
Weather Report
4/5
I'm not a jazz boy, but I would put this on at a garden party. It's pretty great. I particularly like the electric elements, which I think includes the bass. I've never heard synth on a jazz record before, but it gives this a new dimension, making it feel modern and vibrant.
The last two albums provide proof, if needed, that the jazz world does supergroups a lot more successfully than the rock world.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Birdland
Date listened: 16/08/23
TV On The Radio
4/5
This album is difficult to describe. There's a lot going on. It's very eclectic, but with a consistent vibe. Sometimes reminiscent of an updated Joy Division. A really cool album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Family Tree
Date listened: 18/08/23
Julian Cope
5/5
I'd never heard of Julian Cope before. His description on Spotify piqued my interest but didn't leave me optimistic that I would enjoy the album: "musician, writer, historian, and cosmic shaman... ... enigmatic storyteller, contrarian, mystic, and hallucinogen enthusiast". The unusual cover art, 75 minute length, and terrible pun for a title also didn't increase my expectations.
I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. This is a work of genius. A meandering and eclectic tapestry of sounds and genres that frequently change between, and within, tracks. Styles range from beautiful ballads of longing where understated strings pop up at just the right time, to sample-based political sound collages, post-punk, garage rock, calypso, and noodly pseudo-prog.
Despite the variety and length it does feel like a piece and no track strikes as being out of place - perhaps all being tied together by the incredible attention to detail and intricacy.
Whilst I prefer the more accessible first half to the more experimental second, I can't help but admire the ambition of this extraordinary piece of work.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: If You Loved Me At All
Date listened: 19/08/23
David Ackles
2/5
And now for something completely different.
Musically theatrical with very on the nose lyrics, which make this feel like the soundtrack to a Broadway musical.
A really weird album. Difficult to categorise or rate. If this *was* the soundtrack to a musical I think I would quite like it, but as a stand alone album, I don't really get it.
David Ackles was originally employed as a songwriter for others. Perhaps this album shows that writing for a defined commission requires a very different skill set to creating something through your own artistic vision.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Love's Enough
Date listened: 21/08/23
fIREHOSE
2/5
With the instant access to a huge range of artists and albums, I've no idea why anyone would ever choose to put on this 32 minutes of fairly tuneless half baked ideas.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Time With You
Date listened: 22/08/23
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
This chugs and grooves along on a layered ocean of textures, with a smattering of catchy hooks throughout. I listened to this whilst mowing the lawn, and it was a good accompaniment.
I probably would have cut the final two tracks, which are nothing but 16 minutes of instrumental texture, but overall this did (just about) make feel wu-hoo wooooo.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth
Date listened: 23/08/23
Public Image Ltd.
1/5
This is up there (down there?) with the worst things I've ever heard.
The only redeeming features are the bass, and the useful tin that the original release was packaged in. It would make a useful place to store any flat and circular objects that might be lying around (i.e. discs for an angle grinder or a set of lace table mats).
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Suit
Date listened: 24/08/23
Prefab Sprout
4/5
An unexpected treat. Lovely song writing with lush, crisp, 80s styled production and gorgeous breathy backing vocals.
It's a bit front loaded, but from an incredibly high base - the first 5 tracks are perfection.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: When Love Breaks Down
Date listened: 25/08/23
The Human League
3/5
Apparently Philip Oakley thought 'Don't You Want Me' was the weakest song on the album, so relegated it to the final track on Side B and was unhappy with the record company's decision to release it as a single.
Perhaps an example of an artists' inability to be objective about their own work, as although this is a generally strong album, DYWM is a legit banger and the best thing on the record by a long way.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Don't You Want Me
Date listened: 26/08/23
Aerosmith
3/5
The most interesting and enjoyable Aerosmith album on this list by a long way. Whilst the other two go all in on the Aerosmith classic rock, this is much for varied in style. It includes 1950s Rock 'n' Roll (Big 10 Inch Record), a touch of psychedelia (Sweet Emotion), and is it me, or does Shenia Twain's 'Man I Feel Like A Woman' owe a lot to 'Uncle Salty'?
It still has big riffs, but the variety gives them breathing space and allows them to stand out, rather than getting lost in unrelenting bigness like on 'Pump' and 'Rocks'.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Walk This Way
Date listened: 27/08/23
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
At the top end of how one would expect a 1966 album called The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators by The 13th Floor Elevators to sound.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Fire Engine
Date listened: 28/08/23
Frank Sinatra
2/5
I don't really 'get' Frank Sinatra. He has a nice and smooth voice, but it does seem that his popularity is perhaps based more on an image/persona than anything particularly interesting or unique about his music.
Here he sings bossa nova. I've not got a lot to say about it, so instead, the following is my top 5 ranking of Sinatra's nicknames:
5) Swoonatra
4) Mr. Baldy
3) Ol' Blue Eyes
2) Bony Baritone
1) Chairman of the Board
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Baubles, Bangles, and Beads
Date listened: 29/08/23
Fiona Apple
2/5
An unusual album that is very percussion based. Lots of repeated lines and unusual instrumentation, rhythms and song structures.
The weird instrumentation in combination with unstructured songs unfortunately make this album feel a little random, unplanned and wacky for wacky's sake. It is impossible to tell whether or not there are good songs buried under the layers of pretentiousness.
Whilst it could be said to be creative, there is probably a reason that people generally use actual instruments rather than found items and the bones of beloved family pets to make music.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Ladies
Date listened: 30/08/23
The Cult
2/5
Apparently the engineers on this record sought to precisely replicate the guitar sounds from Back in Black, the drum sound from Highway to Hell and the voice sound from Led Zeppelin. To be fair, they nailed it and created a big slab of easy access classic rock.
However, the songs are fine, but nothing more and the cover of Born To Be Wild is spectacularly horrendous.
I saw The Cult at Reading 2001. I don't remember much about it, but I do hope I've not subconsciously plagiarised Aphrodisiac Jacket for the next Bumblecheek album.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Love Removal Machine
Date listened: 31/08/23
The Icarus Line
1/5
Noise. Occasionally a tune breaks through, but not often.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Spike Island
Date listened: 01/09/23
Cowboy Junkies
4/5
A very lovely 53 minutes of quiet country blues recorded in a church around a single microphone. The record somehow captures that slow, calm, reverent atmosphere.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Sweet Jane
Date listened: 02/09/23
Wild Beasts
3/5
I absolutely love the music of this. It's so good!
The album is completely let down by the bizarre vocal delivery, though. It seems to be a register too high for the singer and at times is reminiscent of the noise Greg Davies makes when introducing Little Alex Horne. Such an odd choice.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: We Still Got the Taste Dancin' on Our Tongues
Date listened: 03/09/23
Genesis
3/5
I expected to hate this, but I ended up *quite* liking it. It's intricate and detailed and an ambitious idea, if nothing else.
Of course it disappears up its own behind at various points, but overall it's an enjoyable listen the first time through.
I would imagine more of it unlocks and it improves with repeat listens, but that's not something I'll be doing the work to confirm.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Hairless Heart
Date listened: 04/09/23
Alice Cooper
3/5
Theatrical and jazzy classic rock. This album stays just the right side of the novelty caricature line due to the surprising musical variety, maturity and complexity. This combination creates a fun and enjoyable album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: School's Out
Date listened: 05/09/23
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Interestingly to learn that Echo from Echo and the Bunnymen is a drum machine. Also interesting to learn that this album was produced by 'Kingbrid' who is Ian Broudie. This does not sound like Lightning Seeds.
As per Crocodile, this album is urgent and jarring post punk. I quite like it and can see the influence, but I don't think I'll revisit it.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: The Cutter
Date listened: 06/09/23
Arrested Development
3/5
Is this a Christian hip hop album? Either way, it is wholesome and full of energy, optimism and excellent tunes (in extreme contrast to the chronically bad gangster rap that was also popular at the time).
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Mr Wendal
Date listened: 07/09/23
Joni Mitchell
5/5
The third album from Joni Mitchell's 1974-1976 period. Like Court and Spark', and 'The Hissing of Summer Lawns' it is jazz, blues and folk infused, lyrically dense, and excellent.
This record may be the best of the three. It is characterised by long, meandering, chilled, songs. They tell stories of the road, on which they were written. Despite being long and verbose, Mitchell's voice makes them constantly lovely and never boring. Every so often a lyric will jump out and plant an image in your brain. Here are two examples:
From Refuge of the Road:
"In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here, least of all"
From Blue Motel Room:
"You and me, we're like America and Russia
We're always keeping score
We're always balancing the power
And that can get to be a cold cold war
We're going to have to hold ourselves a peace talk
In some neutral cafe
You lay down your sneaking round the town, honey
And I'll lay down the highway"
A quality album.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Coyote
Date listened: 08/09/23
Iron Maiden
3/5
Classic Iron Maiden and their first album with Bruce Dickinson. All the hallmarks you'd expect from 80s Iron Maiden.
I didn't detect any occult themes. Instead there seemed to be a few recurring references to invasion and colonisation, which is one of the plants evils and (unlike Satan) is real. Perhaps that's why the record was on the brunt of a conservative backlash?
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Run to the Hills
Date listened: 09/09/23
MC Solaar
3/5
My rating of French music so far:
Edith Piaf > Jean-Michel Jarre > Justice > This > Tu as un Animal from the Arc-en-ciel text books > Daft Punk.
My french isn't good enough to understand many of the lyrics, but if "MC Solaar, Tu manges du chat" means what I think it does, then the content is more Dr Dre than it is De La Soul. The music, however, is more like the latter, which is a good thing. I particularly enjoyed the orchestral flouishes.
Half a point off for Ragga Jam, which is offensively bad.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Caroline
Date listened: 10/09/23
The Fall
3/5
Another The Fall album which is pretty similar to the other ones on this list. It's raw and basic yet quite listenable. I didn't mind it but I don't get the fuss.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Barmy
Date listened: 11/09/23
DJ Shadow
2/5
Lots of samples stuck together, but what is the end result? It's not music you can dance to, it's not music you can chill or relax to. It won't make you think, it won't make you feel happy, it won't make you feel excited, it won't make you feel sad. It won't make you feel anything except bored. It's not interesting and it's not clever. What it is, is a load of old bollox.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Midnight in a Perfect World
Date listened: 12/09/23
The White Stripes
4/5
I'm not sure the addition of piano is the fundamental change to The White Stripes' sound that has been suggested. However, this is a moot point as whichever way you cut it, this album is ace. It's way more consistent and, in my opinion, head and shoulders above the other White Stripes albums on this list.
The first half largely comprises 2 to 3 minute garage rock bangers, whilst the second half has a bit more space. It's all great, though.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: My Doorbell
Date listened: 13/09/23
Rush
2/5
Once again this Rush album peaks in the first 5 seconds with the big sci-fi swoosh noise.
It's a ballsy move to open with a 20 minute prog rock track when the record company is demanding a hit to keep you on their roster. Fair play for following their artistic instincts, and good that doing so brought them success, but the record isn't for me.
Forgettable and standard.
Sorry, Daddy Neil!
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Twilight Zone
Date listened: 14/09/23
The Beta Band
3/5
I've never listened to a Beta Band album before, but I liked The Aliens' 'Astronomy for Dogs' record back in 2007. You can tell this is by the same people given the vocals and overall sound. It's less poppy and more groove and rhythm based than The Aliens and is overall pretty enjoyable.
Squares is yet *another* track to sample/interpolate that 'daydream, I fell asleep amid the flowers...' song.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Squares
Date listened: 15/09/23
CHVRCHES
4/5
Synthwave for the 2010s. The tracks in the first half build to euphoric choruses. The second half is more mellow and downbeat which drags it out a little. I also wouldn't have bothered with the songs that the man sings. However this is still excellent overall.
Another hilarious thing is to deliberately mispronounce the artist as shev-er-shay ((c) ASG).
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Mother We Share
Date listened: 16/09/23
The Vines
2/5
I remember this being pushed by the NME at the time and 'Get Free' being all over Kerrang TV. I suspect the British music press were looking to create a new music movement as a last-ditch to maintain some form of relevance in a rapidly changing media world. Unfortunately, in garage rock, they picked a fairly boring genre without a lot of variety and with little to say.
The big singles from this album push the nirvana-esque sound. A style of music I find particularly dull. Going yeaaaah, ooooooh, heeeeey, over a loud minor chord says nothing other than you have nothing to actually say.
Fortunately there are a handful of quieter, more subtle tracks on this record, which break up and balance the standard neo-grunge fairly well and make it a much more enjoyable listen.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Homesick
Date listened: 17/09/23
M.I.A.
5/5
A jam-packed collage of sounds, textures, rhythms and influences. By rights it should irritate me greatly, but the album brings the disparate electronic noises together brilliantly and delivers banger after banger after banger.
Although I didn't pick up on many of the lyrics (I look forward to a more active listen later), the energy of the album alone draws you in.
Yes. I think this probably is a masterpiece.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Paper Planes
Date listened: 18/09/23
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Very sweet, very gentle folk. I like that Side A is a concept half-album that captures snapshots in time along the journey from childhood to old age. 'America' and 'Old Friends' are particularly lovely, quiet, and sweet songs.
The literally titled 'Voices of Old People' is a sound collage of retirement home residents talking about photographs. It raises the question: is it Simon and Garfunkel? Is it even a song? Either way it is an interesting artistic choice.
Side B is characterised by louder, more commercial songs, without an easily discernable theme. It's dominated by the ubiquitous 'Mrs Robinson' but every Side B song is catchy and 'At the Zoo' is a fun album closer.
Putting the commercial half of the album as Side B and the weirder concept album element as Side A is a cool choice and perhaps indicates prioritisation of art over commercially.
Overall, this is an interesting album. Scratch the surface and it is also much weirder than I'd imagined a Simon and Garfunkel record would be. Although some of the weirdness doesn't always benefit listenability or enjoyment, it gets a bonus half-point because some of the songs are Abbyfavourites.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Mrs Robinson
Date listened: 19/09/23
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3/5
Funky and soulful early 80s rap album. Very listenable and light years ahead of its time.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: The Message
Date listened: 20/09/23
Stephen Stills
4/5
The most enjoyable album by one of Crosby, Stills or Nash (and arguably Young) that I've heard so far. Those records have generally been good but a little on the boring side. Not this. Stills goes straight for soulful bluesy folk rock with a big commercial sound. He throws everything at it, drenching the album with gospel choirs, strings, Springsteenesque raspy vocals, guitar licks, saxophone, and even a touch of jazz flute.
It's not subtle and it's not particularly clever, but its instantly enjoyable.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Love The One You're With
Date listened: 21/09/23
Cypress Hill
2/5
90s pioneers of gangsa rap. I like this a lot more than most of the genre that followed.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Real Estate
Date listened: 22/09/23
Big Star
3/5
Apparently this is one of the darkest albums of all time and the sound of a band falling apart. All that went entirely over my head. To me it sounded like a chunk of good power pop/rock (power pock if you will).
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Kizza Me
Date listened: 23/09/23
4/5
As an appreciator of a good portmanteau, I'm on board with the band's description of this as an 'orchoustic' record. The combination appeals, and this album delivers the promised sound, along with lush harmonies and themes of paganism and the seasons.
Whimsical and beautifully recorded, I like this a lot.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Greenman
Date listened: 24/09/23
Dagmar Krause
1/5
A sort of German folk opera about war, sung mostly in English.
The tension between the English words and the Germanic music and vocal accent somehow grates and sounds unpleasant. This may have been a deliberate artistic decision to create an uncomfortable listening experience to reflect the horrors of the subject matter. However, it makes the record so unpleasant that it is difficult to imagine anyone ever listening to it.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: The Song Of The Whitewash
Date listened: 25/09/23
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Five days ago I said that Stephen Stills' eponymous album was arguably the most enjoyable record so far by any of Crosby, Stills, Nash or Young. This album usurps that statement.
Excellent song writing and great performances, with a lot of the tracks entering a prolonged groove or jam but never getting boring. Great vocals, too.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Down by the River
Date listened: 26/09/23
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
This is dark, industrial, bleak and super-heavy. It's a concept album about a man's downward spiral to his eventual suicide.
I'm not averse to bleak albums. 'The Holy Bible' by Manic Street Preachers and 'The Terror' by Flaming Lips being two of my favourites. However, I didn't really like this. I think this is because the reason for this person's downward spiral isn't obviously explained. Therefore it just seems he's a bit of a dodgy scumbag type character, which makes it difficult to empathise. In the other examples, the bleakness is much more relatable, being a world-view based on man's inhumanity (The Holy Bible) and the bleakness that results from the absence of love (The Terror).
In terms of form meeting function and delivering an artistic intent, it is hard to criticise this. However, it seems to be coming from a place that I can't relate to (thank goodness). It's all a bit much.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Hurt
Date listened: 27/09/23
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
Appalling band name and album cover, but very competent blues-rock music. Apparently Mick Jagger is a fan, which I can believe.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: High Flyin' Baby
Date listened: 28/09/23
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5/5
This album is a vibe. That vibe is largely death based, and I like it.
The sparse music, introspective lyrics, and slightly off-beat backing vocals make for a generally gloomy feeling, but somehow offer just enough hope of light, or love, at the end of the tunnel for the listener to empathise rather than to wish Prince Billy would just stop moaning. It also helps that the gloomy themes are largely universal human experiences (death, loss, heartbreak, broken friendship) rather than annoyance with a record company or a crappy upbringing, as has been is case on some other records.
The first half of this album is perfect, a genuine masterpiece, with 'I Can See A Darkness' and 'A Minor Place' standing out in particular. The second half drops off a little, is a bit too gloomy, but still strong.
I gather Johnny Cash and covered the title track. Unsurprisingly, that is also great.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: I See A Darkness
Date listened: 29/09/23
Guided By Voices
2/5
28 tracks in 41 minutes. The most lo-fi professionally released record I think I've ever heard.
This sounds like the band took it's advance and did the absolute minimum necessary to record a bunch of partially formed early demos and left it at that.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: A Good Flying Bird
Date listened: 30/09/23
Steely Dan
3/5
Oh yay. What a treat. *Another* 41 minutes of competent but boring MOR soft rock. Probably. Let's see...
UPDATE: I was pretty much right, although there is a little more of interest going on here than on previous Steely Dan albums on this list. This has more of a jazzy feel and even samba, funk and electronic elements in places.
Plus, I did not expect to hear that Super Furry Animals appear to have interpolated a short section of 'Show Biz Kids' (around the 3:55 mark) in their 'The Man Don't Give a ****' single. Interesting.
The record ends strongly, with the final pair of tracks being my favourites on the album. Overall, it's still not the type of music that I respond to strongly (perhaps it is more music for musicians?), but it won me over as it went on and is my favourite of the three Steely Dan albums so far by some distance.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: King of the World
Date listened: 01/10/23
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
Whilst the rap vocal rhythms sound very dated now, in the mid 80s this must have been mind blowing. Relatively sparse, but varied, backing music and confrontational and socially conscious lyrics with a message promoting self improvement. Innovation runs through this record. 1980s Hip hop didn't sound like this.
'Rock Box' must be the first rock/rap crossover and 'Sucker M.C.'s' is apparently one of the earliest diss tracks.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: It's Like That
Date listened: 02/10/23
The Stooges
3/5
The album that sits between 'The Stooges' and 'Raw Power'. It also seems to be the half way point between the two in terms of style and quality.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Down on the Street
Date listened: 04/10/23
Jimmy Smith
5/5
I ♥️ Hammond organ.
Cut from the same joyous cloth as 'Green Onions' by Booker T. & the MG's.
Take me to that Chicken Shack - This is my kind of jazz!
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Back at the Chicken Shack
Date listened: 04/10/23
Adam & The Ants
1/5
Awful. It's difficult to work out how this was ever popular.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Antmusic
Date listened: 05/10/23
Jazmine Sullivan
2/5
On this record Jazmine Sullivan comes across as the successor to Ms Lauren Hill. Lots of spoken word interludes and a similar mix of singing and rapping.
I'm behind the theme of female empowerment, but this style of music grates on me.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Pick Up Your Feelings
Date listened: 06/10/23
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
I like what I've heard of Dinosaur Jr. They only seem to do one thing, but that one thing is distinctively them and quite enjoyable. I'm not sure how they've made a 38 year, 12 album career out of it, though.
Just like Bug, this record is a fuzz of guitar scrawl with pace, purpose, energy and J Mascis' charmingly weedy vocals. Add a technically stronger singer and I don't think I'd like this as much.
Just like Bug, this ends with a long weird freak out track (although the ukulele driven 'Poledo' delivers this in a different way to 'Don't').
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Little Furry Things
Date listened: 07/10/23
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
The title mostly sums this up. A nice, chilled, sunny samba album with relaxed, breathy vocals. Very pleasant listening on a bright Sunday morning.
The only detracting feature is that 'Parade' and 'You Didn't Have To Be So Nice' are quite idiosyncratic and don't really fit in with the rest of the album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Stay
Date listened: 08/10/23
Einstürzende Neubauten
2/5
This currently has the lowest global rating of any album on the list, so I was expecting something spectacularly unlistenable.
I was disappointed. Although it basically comprises banging and clattering sounds from an industrial sheet metal factory, they are quite listenable banging and clattering sounds from a somewhat melodic sheet metal factory.
Yes, it's challenging and, no, it may not be music, but there are far, far worse records on the list than this one (looking at you, Throbbing Gristle, Butthole Surfters, The Shaman, 50 Cent, and The Mothers Of Invention).
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Kollaps
Date listened: 09/10/23
The Cramps
1/5
A not very good novelty rock album. Plenty of not very good cover versions, the worst of which being 'Fever'. A few okish original compositions, the pick of which being 'I Was a Teenage Werewolf'.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: I Was a Teenage Werewolf
Date listened: 10/10/23
Blue Cheer
3/5
I thought Black Sabbath invented heavy metal, but this predates Sabbath's debut by two years. Like that record, this is heavy blues and still sounds good today.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Summertime Blues
Date listened: 11/10/23
Billy Joel
3/5
Yes, some of the lyrics are pretty cheesy and there is absolutely no edge whatsoever, but this is still a lovely collection of songs. Pretty much every track could have been a single.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Just the Way You Are
Date listened: 12/10/23
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
The second Ali Farka Touré album I've listened to and the second I've really enjoyed. If this is representative of Malian music, then I like Malian music. Blues with African rhythms and melodies which lend it a great energy. I could have this on in the background all day.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Bonde
Date listened: 13/10/23
The Everly Brothers
3/5
A record from a simpler time. Or a harder time when pleasures and ambitions were simpler. Early rock 'n' roll that is very sweet with lovely harmonies.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Always it's You
Date listened: 14/10/23
The Soft Boys
4/5
Post punk power pop. Full of melody, intriguing lyrics, obviously influential, and very catchy. An unexpected gem.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Positive Vibrations
Date listened: 15/10/23
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Gentle and pretty storytelling pop. Sparse arrangements with percussion played by a drum machine. No choruses or memorable hooks. Verges on easy listening, but a nice and pleasing album nonetheless.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Love Is Here Where I Live
Date listened: 16/10/23
Ray Price
2/5
Crooning country and western.
Lots of references to honky tonk. I wish I knew what honky tonk sounded like so I could tell whether or not this is honky tonk.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Wild Side of Life
Date listened: 17/10/23
Slayer
3/5
I thought this might be a bit much for me, but I enjoyed it. Heavy and loud and didn't outstay it's welcome.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Angel of Death
Date listened: 18/10/23
Hugh Masekela
4/5
A cool, jazz double album. The music ebbs and flows and takes you on a journey, but gives good vibes throughout.
Definitely a record I'd come back to if I'm in need of a cool, relaxed evening atmosphere.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Part of a whole
Date listened: 19/10/23
Grateful Dead
1/5
I bet the dead are grateful that they never have to listen to this.
Stupidly long 'songs' devoid of any form or hook. Just impenetrable jazz rock noodling.
It started badly and got worse. I saw that the penultimate track was 7 minutes long and called 'Feedback'. I thought 'it can't be, can it, surely not...?'.
Yep. It is.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: St. Stephen
Date listened: 20/10/23
American Music Club
3/5
A lovely indie record. Sounds like lots of other things. A little bit country, a little bit folky, a little bit The Smiths, a little bit The National. Really nice.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Western Sky
Date listened: 21/10/23
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
I saw The Good, The Bad & The Queen perform this album live at JB's in Dudley in 2007. My main memory of the gig is how cool Paul Simonon looked strutting around the stage playing bass.
Overall this is a decent Damon Albarn art indie curio, but it's not all that memorable.
I also never previously got the 'London' concept, but am glad that the band/album name now makes sense (they all live in London).
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Kingdom of Doom
Date listened: 22/10/23
Missy Elliott
3/5
Surprisingly funky and more mellow than I expected. I quite liked it.
Apparently a rapper named Magoo gave Elliot the nickname 'Misdemeanor' "because it's a crime to have that many talents".
A misdemeanor is defined as: "an action that is slightly bad or breaks a rule but is not a crime".
Talk about damning with faint praise.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
Date listened: 23/10/23
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
I thought Frankie Goes To Hollywood was just three monster singles. They're all on this album, and are some of the highlights, but the rest stands up too and reads as a piece. The title track in particular is great.
I thought the handful of popular covers was going to be a cop-out, but they're all given the Frankie treatment and the record makes no pretence of aiming to be anything other than a hit.
A surprisingly excellent double album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Relax
Date listened: 24/10/23
The Bees
3/5
I saw the Bees support Oasis at Pool Lighthouse in 2004. It was a great gig and I remember quite liking the buzzy little blighters in the support slot. I never knew they were rated as anything other than a standard early 2000s indie outfit, though.
As it turns out, this is a really nice, eclectic, arty indie pop record. Lots of interesting and experimental sounds going on and a cover of Os Mutantes.
Also cool to learn that the Bees are from Ventnor on the Isle of Wight - a lovely town with the warmest microclimate in the UK. The Botanical Gardens are well worth a visit and have an exceptional cafe.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Punchbag
Date listened: 25/10/23
Gene Clark
4/5
An interesting dichotomy of an album. The first two tracks are very nice country singer songwriter fare, but the album then becomes much more diverse, experimental and punchy for the middle four tracks, before returning to gentler country for the final two.
The 'bookending' approach to the album really works well, and holds it together as a piece much more than having a 'country' Side A and a 'rock' Side B would have done.
Aside from the sequencing, this is characterised by lush vocals which are reminiscent of Neil Young in places (Strength Of Strings in particular could be Young), psychadelic elements, lovely harmonies and intriguing lyrics.
I really liked this.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Strength Of Strings
Date listened: 26/10/23
M.I.A.
4/5
Another M.I.A. album that's energetic, eclectic, fun and has depth. It grabs you instantly and doesn't let go.
Perhaps not quite as accomplished as Kala, but as a debut album this is quite a statement.
Unique and pioneering art.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Pull Up the People
Date listened: 27/10/23
The Sugarcubes
4/5
Seemingly an unexpected hit, particularly with the British music press, and the record that brought both the Icelandic music scene and Björk to international attention.
None of that is surprising, as it's a fun, artistically interesting and catchy record, and a reminder that beneath all the layers of creativity, Björk is an unbelievably talented singer with an incredible and unique voice.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Deus
Date listened: 28/10/23
Supertramp
3/5
For 1970s prog rock this is a pretty accessible listen. However, it's just not a genre (or at least an era of a genre) that I 'get' or enjoy.
I did enjoy the poppy and orchestral moments, though
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: School
Date listened: 29/10/23
1/5
It's really annoying that this was the popular mainstream music of my later teenage years. I really feel like I was robbed of being able to be enjoy a musical movement with my peers. For that reason I hated this then and I despise it now.
Regardless of that personal context this is an objectively awful album. The band name, album title and artwork about sum up the unfunny, thick, juvenile nature of the music. Add Fred Durst's weird squeaky vocals and you quite possibly have the worst all-round album package released in my lifetime.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: My Way
Date listened: 30/10/23
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
If you cut the 8 tracks written by Lindsey Buckingham you'd be left with a much stronger 12 track album.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Sara
Date listened: 31/10/23
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
Upbeat, breezy and fun, but still socially conscious. I particularly liked the orchestral (synth) instrumentation.
One of the most enjoyable hip hop albums I've listened to.
Yet another sample or interpolation of 'Daydream In Blue".
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Daydreamin'
Date listened: 01/11/23
Common
3/5
Big Kanye West vibes on this one, so his involvement as producer was not a surprise to read. It even has chipmunk soul elements in 'The Corner'.
As you would expect with the involvement of Me West, this is an accessible hip hop record.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: GO!
Date listened: 02/11/23
Hookworms
2/5
Middling 2010s indie electro pop rock. There is nothing unique or interesting about this whatsoever.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Negative Space
Date listened: 03/11/23
2/5
I thought this would be standard MOR American 1970s radio rock. It is that, but it's also so all over the place that it's 'guano' mental.
Its not at all cohesive, but somehow makes sense and you've got to respect the band just doing whatever it was they felt like.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Nature's Way
Date listened: 04/11/23
George Harrison
5/5
The album generally recognised as the best Beatles solo effort, and I can see why. Released in 1970, just seven months after the Beatles broke up, it is characterised by George Harrison's signature slide guitar, Phil Spector wall of sound production, and themes of love and spirituality. It is instantly recognisable as George Harrison, but more Beatlesy than I had expected and is even Lennonesque in places.
It is badged as a triple album, although there is a debate to be had about whether the third disc, ‘Apple Jam’, should be considered part of the album or whether it is merely a bonus disc. I personally consider it the latter as it literally is half an hour of jam sessions. It doesn’t fit the rest of the record and whilst the musicianship if excellent, it feels a bit pointless. I understand that it may have been included to more quickly fulfil a contractual obligation, which is a shame. 2/5 for Disc 3.
Disc 1 is where it’s at. Side A comprises four our really nice songs with spiritualist themes, including Harrison's biggest solo hit, My Sweet Lord. Side B is the love section and the standout part of the album. It comprises five songs about romantic love from a variety of perspectives. My favourite is 'If Not For You' - a beautiful, simple, innocent love song. I really like the lyric and must remember to check out the Bob Dylan original: "If not for you, the winter would hold no spring, couldn't hear a Robin sing, I just wouldn't have a clue, If not for you". I also particularly like that 'Let It Down' is a song about wanting to be in your lover's hair tent. An easy 5/5 for Disc 1.
Disc 2 is more nice Harrison songs with similar themes. A bit of a drop off in quality from Disc 1, but still decent. 3.5/5 for Disc 2.
It’s a shame that Harrison didn’t release Disc 1 and perhaps a couple of the strongest tracks from Disc 2 as a single album. Overall it is still an excellent double record, but the single album version would have been an all-time masterpiece. The third disc further dilutes the portion that is exceptional, but I’m pretending that doesn’t exist.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: My Sweet Lord
Date listened: 05/11/23
Tom Waits
1/5
This album was recorded in front of a small audience set up to recreate the atmosphere of a jazz club. However, to me it comes across as a parody and more akin to a stand-up set in a comedy club.
I'm not sure if this was deliberate or if it's an unintentional facet of the comedic lyrics and extreme huskiness of Waits' vocal giving it a caricature-like quality. Either way, it doesn't sit well and makes for an uneasy listen.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)
Date listened: 06/11/23
Pink Floyd
2/5
Maybe I'm weary with this being the third double or triple album in three days, but I wasn't expecting this to be such a slog to get through. Perhaps it requires an elaborate theatrical stage show to make it engaging?
The concept of the album is a rock singer feeling isolated and abandoned, but it a
requires an active listen to discern. It did all seem a bit self indulgent, too. Boo hoo, poor rock singer.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
Date listened: 07/11/23
The Style Council
3/5
Paul Weller does jazz. Surprisingly well.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: You're The Best Thing
Date listened: 08/11/23
Iron Butterfly
2/5
A fairly mundane side 1 is saved by a 17 minute semi-banger on side 2.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Most Anything You Want
Date listened: 09/11/23
The Byrds
2/5
Just like a 3D cinema compared to today's 5D cinemas, this album may have been cutting edge and influential at the time, but it now seems pretty tame.
Having lost their main songwriter, this album includes four covers and an instrumental amongst it's 11 tracks and 30 minutes. Apparently it was described at the time as "wildly uneven" and "awkward and scattered". I wouldn't say that's an unfair characterisation.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Mr Spaceman
Date listened: 10/11/23
PJ Harvey
3/5
PJ Harvey's debut album and the fourth of her records on this list. This is a raw and unpolished statement of intent, but it doesn't hit the heights of some of her later work.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Sheela-na-gig
Date listened: 11/11/23
Paul Revere & The Raiders
2/5
Pleasant 1960s pop rock.
'Little Girl in the 4th Row' is 'reflective of the attitudes of the time'.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Kicks
Date listened: 12/11/23
Nanci Griffith
2/5
Nice enough Country singer songwriter fare. Didn't grab me.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Love At The Five & Dime
Date listened: 13/11/23
Django Django
4/5
Rhythm and groove based art-rock, with chant-like harmonic vocals low down in the mix. Lots of electronic and unusual noises. Very reminiscent of the Beta Band's later incarnation as The Aliens.
Pleasingly weird. I like it.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Default
Date listened: 14/11/23
Michael Jackson
3/5
Amazing production, but I found the songs themselves a little underwhelming given how rated this album is.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough
Date listened: 15/11/23
The Stranglers
4/5
One of the best selling albums of the punk era, and probably one of the best. Catchy, fun and melodic but still punk. Good musicianship for the genre and some unusual sonic details.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: (Get A) Grip [On Yourself]
Date listened: 16/11/23
Beck
3/5
Eclectic, bold and cool, but I'm not drawn to want to listen to this again.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: E-Pro
Date listened: 17/11/23
Neneh Cherry
4/5
Hey Google, play all the music from the 80s in one album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Buffalo Stance
Date listened: 18/11/23
Stan Getz
3/5
Laid back jazz bossa nova from Brazilian saxophone and guitar greats. The addition of English language female vocals makes it a lot more accessible and must have contributed to its 2 million selling commercial success.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Girl From Ipanema
Date listened: 19/11/23
The xx
2/5
Third album by The xx (formerly The twittertwitter).
Modern production fails to disguise a lack of quality songwriting.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: A Violent Noise
Date listened: 20/11/23
Anthrax
2/5
I once saw all of the 'Big Four' thrash metal bands (Metallica, Megadeath, Slayer and Anthrax) on the same bill (Sonisphere 2011). All four put on good shows, but Anthrax' set was perhaps the least memorable. This album has leaves me with a similar feeling. It's competent and well made, but missing a bit of magic.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Indians
Date listened: 21/11/23
Sly & The Family Stone
2/5
Funky, but missing the fun. Nothing stands out and I don't really get it.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: I Want To Take You Higher
Date listened: 22/11/23
3/5
Cool and chilled out Serbian trip hop that would be suited to a trendy and relaxed late night lounge bar.
Let's order some rakija and drink to the finest Balkan music I've heard since Rambo Amadeus covered the Simpsons theme tune at Exit Festival 2006.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Felicidade
Date listened: 23/11/23
Eagles
3/5
A literal photo of an eagle on the cover. A little more rock and a little less country than I'd imagined.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Take It Easy
Date listened: 24/11/23
The Electric Prunes
3/5
Described as 1960s garage rock, I wasn't optimistic that I'd like this. However, it's much more varied and the production levels are much higher than one would imagine for the genre. Pretty good.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)
Date listened: 25/11/23
Burning Spear
3/5
Righteous anger characterises this highly political roots reggae album.
Apparently this is the somewhat watered down 'international' version, as the original Jamaican mix was considered by the record label to be too threatening for white audiences. I'd like to hear that original.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Marcus Garvey
Date listened: 26/11/23
Patti Smith
5/5
This is acknowledged as a proto-punk classic, so I was expecting it to be raw, lo-fi and angry. However, I don't hear a punk sound in it at all. It's a mature, refined and exceptional record. Everything that punk isn't, and all the better for it.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Gloria: In Excelsis Deo
Date listened: 27/11/23
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
Fun to listen to on a surface level, but very repetitive and completely lacking depth. Is it even art?
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Sometimes
Date listened: 28/11/23
Public Image Ltd.
1/5
The juvenile anti-religion lyrics don't offend me, but the god awful music and vocals do.
John Lydon should stick to flogging margarine and failing to qualify for Eurovision.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Public Image
Date listened: 29/11/23
Joanna Newsom
5/5
This. Is. A. Vibe.
Gentle and touching and weird and whimsical.
A beautiful record.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Cosmia
Date listened: 30/11/23
The Velvet Underground
1/5
What on earth was that? Lo-fi recording can be an artistic choice, but this sounds like it was recorded on a potato.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: White Light/White Heat
Date listened: 01/12/23
The Zutons
3/5
The most retro album I've listened to, and this list includes records from the 1950s.
A mystery as to why it is considered an essential album to hear in one's lifetime, but nonetheless it's: immediate, fun, likeable and sing-along-able. I really enjoyed it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Remember Me
Date listened: 02/12/23
The Coral
2/5
The Zutons followed by The Coral - have I been teleported to early 2000s Liverpool?
I like that the Coral have a unique, sea shanty sound. The highlights of this (their debut) album are very good, but there is also quite a lot of filler.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Dreaming of You
Date listened: 03/12/23
Big Black
4/5
Mid-80s industrial punk, reminiscent of the Holy Bible, which may be partly why it appeals. Steve Albini (vocals and guitar in Big Black) later produced Journal for Plague Lovers, and it's easy to see how he and MSP would be a good fit.
This is too bleak and nasty to return to frequently, but you can't help but respect the raw power and uncompromising achievement of the artistic intent.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Kerosene
Date listened: 04/12/23
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
Rich and lush, this album is the companion of its successor 'Want Two', which I really liked. This is the better of the two. Gorgeous instrumentation throughout, the album really shows off Wainwright's voice, which has a Thom Yorkian quality to it.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Oh What A World
Date listened: 05/12/23
SAULT
4/5
A dignified and thought-provoking outpouring of anger at a moment when, just maybe, the world started to take notice?
Musically subtle which makes the one-the-nose lyrics all the more affecting and powerful. This is a beautiful and sad album, with a message of hope just about keeping the sense of defeatedness at bay.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Wildfires
Date listened: 06/12/23
John Lennon
4/5
John Lennon's deeply personal debut solo album. Raw and direct, this is in various places raspingly noisy, and innocently touching.
The best Lennon solo record that I've heard, Side 1 is perfect but there are just a couple of weaker tracks on Side 2.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Love
Date listened: 07/12/23
Kings of Leon
1/5
Trying to be The Strokes, but missing the vital ingredients - originality and charisma.
A decent song, but the fact I always thought 'The Bucket' was by The Magic Numbers shows just how lacking in edge KoL are.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: The Bucket
Date listened: 08/12/23
Rahul Dev Burman
2/5
It feels a little strange to have just one movie soundtrack on this list 1089 albums. It's even more odd that if you are going to include only one soundtrack, that THIS is the one you choose. I suppose it must be influential somehow, as it's not especially striking. Also a point off for the cheesiness of the final track, 'One Two Cha Cha Cha'.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Naag Devta
Date listened: 09/12/23
Talking Heads
3/5
Pop sounds with punk energy. Once in a Lifetime is a banger. The rest is stylistically similar but not as catchy.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Once in a Lifetime
Date listened: 10/12/23
Tom Tom Club
2/5
The second vaguely experimental early 80s album in a row. This is fine, fun and funky, and probably influential, but not something I'll ever revisit.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Genius Of Love
Date listened: 11/12/23
Mudhoney
2/5
A 22 minute EP is about how much grunge I can tolerate in one go. Overall, this isn't bad and rocks quite hard. Coming out in 1988, this probably influenced the genre rather than following it, so I guess I can blame Mudhoney for inventing 'that' grunge vocal.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Need
Date listened: 12/12/23
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
My least favourite Dexys album on this list, but still serviceable.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: This Is What She's Like
Date listened: 13/12/23
Adele
4/5
I expected to hate this, but actually quite liked it. Obviously somewhat self indulgent but much less so than '25', and lots of well known songs. Difficult to tell if I enjoyed it because it's good, or because it's familiar, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Rolling in the Deep
Date listened: 14/12/23
Thin Lizzy
2/5
There is disagreement about the extent to which this is a 'live' album. Tony Visconti, the producer, has claimed that it is 75% recorded in the studio, but the band have denied this.
To me, it sounds too clean to be a mostly live recording, so I believe Visconti. However, I also don't think it matters. More of an issue is that it's 76 minutes of mediocre 70s rock. Proficient but dull.
The album should therefore have been called '(Probably not) Live and (certainly not) Dangerous'.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Boys Are Back In Town
Date listened: 15/12/23
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
I can hear why Kendrick Lamar is a highly critically acclaimed artist, and this is a fairly chilled and easy listen (at a surface level).
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Money Trees
Date listened: 16/12/23
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
This is so far outside my cultural sphere that it's very difficult to critically appraise. However, I had a nice time listening to it and found it far more enjoyable than CofE hymns or Christian rock. Islam 1-0 Christianity.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Yaad-E-Nabi Gulshan Mehka
Date listened: 17/12/23
Jurassic 5
2/5
I always thought Jurassic 5 were an 80s group, but turns out they released all their albums between 1998 and 2006. It is probably the "hi, my name is Louis, and I'm going to do a rap about this" style that makes me think 80s and is also quite easy to get along with. Safe, accessible, fine, but like a lot of hip hop albums, 20 minutes too long.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: What's Golden
Date listened: 18/12/23
Sigur Rós
5/5
Incredibly atmospheric and moving, achieved exclusively through tone and texture.
Sung in Icelandic and gibberish, I didn't understand a word but was still moved almost to tears.
An otherworldly masterpiece.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Svefn-g-englar
Date listened: 19/12/23
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
A striking, politically charged hip hop album covering a broad range of issues in a combative but accessible early 90s hip hop style. This is what you may get if you crossed Public Enemy with De La Soul, and is perhaps what a hip hop MSP would sound like. I really liked it.
What a shame that most of the issues highlighted in 1992 are just the same more than 30 years later. Given his views on the way Television was damaging the intellectual health of the nation, Michael Franti (vocals and production) must be aghast at the impact of social media.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Satanic Reverses
Date listened: 20/12/23
Kings of Leon
1/5
There is a received wisdom that KoL were good in their early days, but declined when they went mainstream and got popular.
This, their debut album, blows that theory out of the water and proves they were pretty bad from day one.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Red Morning Light
Date listened: 21/12/23
Frank Zappa
2/5
A solo project by a member of the Mothers of Invention, featuring a song with Captain Beefheart on vocals. I'm not optimistic that I'll enjoy this...
UPDATE: In the end it was ok. Certainly not horrific like MoI or CB. 5/6 track are instrumentals. Whilst self indulgent its not awful as background music. I can confidently say I will never listen to this again, though.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Peaches En Regalia
Date listened: 22/12/23
Stephen Stills
3/5
Yes Stephen Stills! Lay that sweet, sweet soft rock upon me!
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Song of Love
Date listened: 23/12/23
Meat Puppets
3/5
A generally fun 28 minutes of varied and quirky rockabilly punk peychadelia.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: The Whistling Song
Date listened: 24/12/23
Joe Ely
4/5
Oh! The Honky Tonky Tonky,
Oh! The Honky Tonky Tonky,
Oh! The Honky Tonky Tonky,
Honkey Tonkey, Hon-ky Tonk.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Honky Tonk Masquerade
Date listened: 25/12/23
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Ah ha! Wings - only the band the Beatles could have been.
The title track and Jet are perhaps McCartney's best know solo songs. The rest of the album is pretty nice and very well produced. It just seems a little safe to really capture the imagination. A double thumbs up or an album.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Band On The Run
Date listened: 26/12/23
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
A sparse, poetic and heartbreaking expression of a father's grief. One can only hope the act of making it helped bring some sort of peace to its creator.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Ghosteen Speaks
Date listened: 27/12/23
Oasis
5/5
It may not be original or pushing any artistic boundaries but, madden my ferret, this album has energy and attitude. Almost 30 years old and aping music from 30 years before that, but still fresh and brilliant.
Rock 'n' Roll Star - what an opener. It encapsulates the feeling of the entire album. Live Forever - a stone cold classic. Supersonic - Yes! Cigarettes and Alcohol - so good it doesn't matter that its a T Rex rip off. Slide Away - what a vocal!
I used to love this record, and listening again for the first time in years, I'm equally surprised and delighted that I still do.
A council estate masterpiece.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Rock 'n' Roll Star
Date listened: 28/12/23
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Proof that context is super important in music criticism. Without the context of the Rolling Stones later achievements, this is just an album of covers performed in a blues rock style, with nothing particular to make it stand out.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Route 66
Date listened: 29/12/23
Super Furry Animals
4/5
Great to see a second Super Furry Animals album on the list, although this and Fuzzy Logic aren't the two I would have chosen when Radiator or Phantom Power are bonafide 5/5 albums.
This is a strong album and a good representation of SFA's genre bending sound. Rings Around the World, It's Not the End of the World, Receptacle for the Respectable, Juxtapozed with U, Presidential Suite, and Run! Christian, Run! stand out, but overall the record is just a touch pedestrian for my tastes, despite the creativity and wide array of genres.
Respect for Receptacle for the Respectable. There are so many distinct parts and ideas to the song that I always assumed it was seven+ minutes long. However, it turns out they've somehow jammed it all into four and a half minutes.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Receptacle for the Respectable
Date listened: 30/12/23
The Birthday Party
1/5
This album is too challenging for me to enjoy. Of course, by 'challenging' I mean 'awful' and by 'me' I mean 'anyone'.
An absolute catastrophe of music.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Blast Off
Date listened: 31/12/23
Scissor Sisters
4/5
A leg-humpingly fun pop-rock/disco record that starts super strong and keeps delivering a good time throughout.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Take Your Mama
Date listened: 01/01/24
The Mars Volta
4/5
I saw The Mars Volta on the tour for this album at Move Festival 2003. I was there for Manic Street Preachers and Super Furry Animals and it was my first exposure to the Flaming Lips - what a line up! I didn't 'get' TMV at the time and thought they just sounded like a big messy noise, so I wasn't expecting to like this album.
What a surprise it is then, that I think this is great. I can see how it wouldn't be enjoyable live to the untrained ear as there is such a lot going on, but on record you can hear all the parts. Whilst modern prog rock shouldn't be my thing, this is a really enjoyable 60 minutes of interesting, complex, loud, and surprisingly accessible music.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Inertiatic Esp
Date listened: 02/01/24
Radiohead
3/5
I'm surprised that this may be my favourite Radiohead album so far (or at least tracks 1-6 may be my favourite half a Radiohead record). Yes, it's whiney and pretentious, but it really leans in to its whineyness and pretentiousness, and creates a consistently gloomy feeling which is surprisingly appealing.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Knives Out
Date listened: 03/01/24
Radiohead
4/5
The final Radiohead album on this list. Whilst I understand the band are all great musicians and make complex and creative music, none of it so far has clicked with me. If I was musical myself and if I had any understanding music theory I may better appreciate what they do, but that's not the way I engage with music, nor is it how I would wish to engage with music. Too clinical and cold.
What a delight it is, then, to find In Rainbows to be warmer and much less detached than the previous Radiohead albums. This one does get me on an emotional level and was therefore a much more engaging, rewarding and enjoyable listen.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Reckoner
Date listened: 04/01/24
Soft Machine
2/5
Long, drawn out jazz rock. A double album with one 18+ minute track on each side. It's not bad per se, but is somewhat dull, self indulgent and tedious.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Slightly All The Time
Date listened: 05/01/24
LTJ Bukem
1/5
Two hours of nothing. An absolute nonentity of a record.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Demons Theme
Date listened: 06/01/24
The Sabres Of Paradise
1/5
One and a quarter hours of almost nothing. A near nonentity of a record.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Wilmot
Date listened: 07/01/24
Justin Timberlake
1/5
The fresh faced JT on the album cover has doubled in age since this album was released. The record has aged with far less style and grace than its creator. The inherent risk of going for a cutting edge sound is that your record ages horribly, as has happened here over the last 21 years.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Rock Your Body
Date listened: 08/01/24
Neil Young
4/5
The title track is one of my favourite songs of all time. I've no idea what it's about, but it seems sad and gives me the feels. The other big singles, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, and Southern Man are also great. I'd never heard the album tracks before. They're all good, but only Don't Let It Bring You Down stood out from the crowd.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: After The Gold Rush
Date listened: 09/01/24
The Associates
2/5
There are a lot of post punk records on this list. The main thing to distinguish this one from the rest is that the singer sounds like Russ Mael from Sparks.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Party Fears Two
Date listened: 10/01/24
Björk
4/5
Experimental, ethereal, meandering, creative and unique, this record is everything I imagined a Bjork album would be.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Hidden Place
Date listened: 11/01/24
The Byrds
3/5
The best Byrds album on the list so far. A bit more ambition in places but generally very MOR. A very overrated group IMHO.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Artificial Energy
Date listened: 12/01/24
Keith Jarrett
5/5
Wow, it's amazing how one man and a piano can deliver such a varying and strong emotional atmosphere and response. It's not the kind of piano jazz I'm used to, it is general higher tempo with more 'oomph', but it's great and reaches areas that La La Land solo jazz piano can't. If I want to put some piano jazz on, this may become a 'go to' album.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Part II C
Date listened: 13/01/24
Kraftwerk
4/5
"It’s just coming up to 5:35am.
Kommen Sie bitte, und listen to Kraftwerk."
Super cool electronic futurescapes of the past. Evocative of a clean, cold, calculated, industrial dystopia dressed up as a utopia. Innovative, atmospheric and excellent.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Trans Europe Express
Date listened: 14/01/24
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
Jerry Lee Lewis hurtles through a set of rock-'n'-roll classics at breakneck speed. Just listening to the recording is exhausting.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Good Golly Miss Molly
Date listened: 15/01/24
Beatles
5/5
My parents had this on vinyl. It ended up at the tip, which is a bit gutting as it's another brilliant Beatles album and perhaps my favourite I've listened to for this project so far.
Stylistically varied, but the perfect balance of pop and experimentation
with no weak tracks and brilliantly sequenced to flow as a single piece. It's like the White Album without weak tracks, Abbey Road if it were sequenced as a single record rather than two competing halves, and a more instant Sargent Pepper.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Eleanor Rigby
Date listened: 16/01/24
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
Commercial hardcore style music. Ahead of the trend, being released in 1995. Individually some of the tracks are quite catchy and have good energy. As a whole album of the same thing, its a bit much.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: On a Rope
Date listened: 17/01/24
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
At the melodic and poppy end of the post punk / new wave spectrum. I liked it.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Pretty in Pink
Date listened: 18/01/24
James Taylor
3/5
Super gentle singer songwriter album. Half and hour of very pretty acoustic guitar songs with just a couple of livelier and more fleshed out numbers to keep things interesting.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Fire and Rain
Date listened: 19/01/24
Marvin Gaye
2/5
Considered a classic and masterpiece, I was left a little disappointed by this album. It's nice enough but didn't strike a chord with me at all.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: What's Going On
Date listened: 20/01/24
CHIC
4/5
Six solid and slickly produced tracks plus the megahypergiant of disco, Good Times. Impossible not to enjoy.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Good Times
Date listened: 21/01/24
Duke Ellington
4/5
A great live recording of an all time jazz great. Subtle and nuanced, smooth and cool, this is (unsurprisingly) top notch.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Diminuendo in Blue
Date listened: 22/01/24
The Darkness
3/5
Music history is full of meteoric rises and steep falls from grace, but the speed at which the entire country became obsessed with The Darkness and then completely and totally lost any interest whatsoever has never come close to being replicated by any other artist. Jobbing club band to festival headlining biggest band in Britain and back again in all of what felt like 10 minutes.
And you know what? Both are probably deserved. Hats off for a fun, funny and popular debut album, that captured the imagination of the public, but this was never going to be anything more than a one hit wonder throw back to novelty retro 70s glam rock.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Date listened: 23/01/24
Talk Talk
4/5
Atmospheric synth influenced new wave pop. This grew on me more and more over time. As I listened again to try and find a playlist track. I realised that every song on the record is excellent. A really lovely album.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Give It Up
Date listened: 24/01/24
Slade
2/5
Instantly recognisable as Slade due to Noddy Holder's inimitable voice. Otherwise, despite looking like typically ridiculous 1970s British Glam Rockers, Slade sound very Britpop here. Could they be considered the first Britpop band, 20 years too early? Probably not, but they must have been a big influence.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Date listened: 25/01/24
Randy Newman
2/5
Hopefully Randy Newman is playing a character in 'Redneck', but the lyrics still make for very uncomfortable listening. The rest of the album has some nice moments in Newman's inimitable Toy Story style, but I was so taken aback by the opening track that it was difficult to just listen and enjoy them.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Louisiana 1927
Date listened: 26/01/24
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
I knew this 172 minute long album would be coming up in the next year, so I took the opportunity to listen whilst I had an afternoon of quietly reviewing documents. I thought I'd write my review in real time, too.
11 tracks in, I really like this. It's pleasant indie music which ebbs and flows and an interesting meditation on various aspects of love. I also really like the low register vocals of Stephin Merritt and the variety of having about a third of the tracks sung by one of four other lead vocalists. Claudia Gonson's vocals are a particularly nice counterpoint to Merritt's.
23 tracks in and at the end of volume 1. The second half of volume 1 got a lot more musically experimental and varied, and is great! - As good as the first 12 tracks of volume 1 were, 172 mins and 3 seconds of the same thing would be a bit too much.
34 tracks in and half way through volume 2. It's similar to volume 1 so far, but somehow still enjoyable and not getting boring.
46 tracks, and 115 minutes and 37 seconds in, at the end of volume 2. It's starting to drag a little. Only one volume and less than an hour to go now.
Volume 3 starts with a bit of a burst of energy, and is decent throughout with a pleasant vibe but plenty of variety and weirdness thrown in.
Overall, this is an odd one. Although I didn't like every track, I liked every volume and can see how each track contributes to the volume. It is obviously too much to be listened to as an album in the normal way. It did drag a bit beyond the halfway point.
However, this was purely because of the length. The music actually mitigated the dragginess. Considering I've thought some 30 minute albums dragged, it is testament to the quality of this that it only dragged a little.
Scoring wise, each individual volume would be 3.5 or 4 out of 5. I'd knock a point off for the monstrous length which makes it impossible as an album, but would add half a point back on for ambition.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: The Book of Love
Date listened: 05/10/23 (generated 27/01/24)
Nick Drake
2/5
Mostly acoustic, mostly folk. Pretty in places, but mostly boring.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Pink Moon
Date listened: 28/01/24
The Rolling Stones
3/5
This album starts with 'Sympathy for the Devil', which remains the Rolling Stones' manum opus (woo woo, woo woo, woo woo, woo woo, etc.). It closes with 'Salt of the Earth' and has 'Street Fighting Man' in the middle, both of which I know from covers by 90s/00s indie bands. These brought some welcome familiarity. I also liked the rest of the album, which comprises gentle blues rock with a wistful country flavour.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Sympathy for the Devil
Date listened: 29/01/24
King Crimson
4/5
Early prog rock. It seems that the halfway point of this record is the precise moment that the genre disappeared up its own bottom.
Side 1 is really accessible but still epic. I love, love, love the strings. All three tracks are really cool.
The start of Side 2 tips into territory of experimentation at the cost of enjoyment and is barely music for the 12 minute long 'Moonchild'. Fortunately the record comes back to epicness for the closing quasi-title track.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Epitaph
Date listened: 30/01/24
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
This contains everything that is great about a Nick Cave record. Dark themes, raw emotion, dense story telling, and instantly striking, engaging and brilliant songs.
This record is the most 'Nick Cave doing the standard Nick Cave thing' album that I've come across. Fortunately, the standard Nick Cave thing is really compelling.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
Date listened: 31/01/24
The xx
3/5
Dreamy, Mercury Prize winning, late 2000s electronic infused indie. Quite nice and atmospheric.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Intro
Date listened: 01/02/24
Drive-By Truckers
1/5
A 90 minute concept album where numerous topics are discussed through the lens of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Its ambitious, in a sense, but every song seems to start with a nod to the opening bars of Sweet Home Alabama before descending into a general sludge. This makes it monotonous and tedious.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Let There Be Rock
Date listened: 02/02/24
Black Sabbath
4/5
Black Sabbath's debut starts with the sound of church bells tolling in the rain. Atmospheric. It includes classic Sabbath riff fests such as N.I.B but also has prominent blues elements, particularly on Warning.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: N.I.B.
Date listened: 03/02/24
Fatboy Slim
3/5
All the ingredients of Fatboy Slim are there, but not yet refined into the slick, radio friendly, mass appeal package that was his next album.
Obviously abides by the Big Beat Manifesto: "Big Beats are the best. Get high all the time". At the time it felt like a much more all encompassing philosophy.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Going Out of My Head
Date listened: 04/02/24
Afrika Bambaataa
2/5
1980s rap. No doubt cutting edge and pioneering at the time and hugely influential since, but it sounds very dated now.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Planet Rock
Date listened: 05/02/24
Grateful Dead
3/5
Actual songs with tunes and melodies, which makes it a million times better than the Grateful Dad's live recording.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Friend of the Devil
Date listened: 06/02/24
Electric Light Orchestra
5/5
70 minutes of excellent, melodic, guitar pop goodness with lovely harmonies and lush orchestration. It's bold, it's confident and it's wonderful.
Side three in particular is brilliant. Titled 'Concerto for a Rainy Day', it's a mini concept album on the theme of weather affecting mood, culminating in the classic 'Mr Blue Sky'. If the lush outro to that track closed the album it would be a perfect ending.
Side 4 tails off slightly, but this album is still so good that if I had seen ELO at the Birmingham NEC in 1977, I would have been shouting with everyone else “Come back on, ELO, come back and carry on playing".
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Mr Blue Sky
Date listened: 07/02/24
Foo Fighters
3/5
On seeing this generated, I wondered what I could possibly have to say about a Foo Fighters album. I assumed it would just be standard brand rock music for normal people.
However, it turns out that this eponymous debut is more interesting than expected. It is effectively a Dave Grohl solo album, having been recorded by Grohl in just six days in 1994 as a cathartic exercise following the death of his Nirvana bandmate, Kurt Cobain.
You can hear the Nirvana adjacency in the songs and the record is considered the first post grunge album. On record industry interest in the album Grohl recruited a band to perform it live and the Foo Fighters were born.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: For All the Cows
Date listened: 08/02/24
The Incredible String Band
1/5
One of the globally lowest rated albums on the list. Pretty weird, experimental psychadelic folk. A lot of drugs must have been consumed. A challenging listen.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Witches Hat
Date listened: 09/02/24
Primal Scream
4/5
I'm a fan of the 'Scream Team' and love that they constantly evolve and change styles. With such a varied discography, it's not surprising that some records, and styles, are better and more successful than others; but amongst their 40 year career they have created a handful of exceptional records. This is one of them.
I've had Vanishing Point in my CD collection for 20+ years, but failed to give it much of an active listen, seeing it primarily as a stepping stone to XRMNTR (great album). Thanks to this project I've rectified that and discovered that whilst it has fewer instant bangers and is more of a vibe piece than XRMNTR, it's an excellent record in its own right.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Kowalski
Date listened: 10/02/24
The Roots
4/5
A highly ambitious 70 minutes of eclectic, genre bending hip hop. This album has twists and turns by the bucket load. A variety of styles, but always catchy and high energy. This is excellent.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Seed (2.0)
Date listened: 11/02/24
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Orchestral infused post punk with the melody to the fore. Instant, accessible, interesting and cool.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: The Killing Moon
Date listened: 12/02/24
Mylo
2/5
Early 2000s mash up electronica, in the vein of the Avalanches.
Quite enjoyable as background music, but far from essential listening.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Drop the Pressure
Date listened: 13/02/24
Billy Bragg
2/5
I don't mind politically minded records, but I generally enjoy them most when they are either expressing righteous fury or are subtler but musically interesting. This is pretty uninteresting folk and I find Bragg's oi oi cockney singing voice very grating.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Levi Stubbs' Tears
Date listened: 14/02/24
Morrissey
3/5
Morrissey has a lovely voice. Here he uses it to make a totally dadrock but pretty decent album. Wish hee would stick to this approach.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Now My Heart is Full
Date listened: 15/02/24
Beastie Boys
1/5
Annoying squeaky shouting over really dull and instantly forgettable music. Unfathomably popular.
In terms of 'Boys' bands:
Beach > Pet Shop >>>>> Back Street >>>>>>>>>> Ordinary >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Beastie.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Sabotage
Date listened: 16/02/24
Elis Regina
3/5
A random compilation from 1998, so not sure how it's listed as a 1979 studio album. Despite this, the upbeat tunes are infectious and joyful, and Elis Regina's voice is great.
I originally misread the title as My Wind, which would have been a bold choice.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Sai Dessa
Date listened: 17/02/24
Mott The Hoople
3/5
Catchy and sunny glam rock. Instantly enjoyable hooks and melodies. Really good fun.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: All the Way from Memphis
Date listened: 18/02/24
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
2/5
Trying very hard to be be influenced by music from a wide range of cultures. Not succeeding in a very convincing way.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Visions of You
Date listened: 19/02/24
The Residents
1/5
I can only think the band was suffering from delusions having eaten a slightly iffy duck liver. Even worse than Throbbing Gristle?
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: The Booker Tease
Date listened: 20/02/24
Pere Ubu
1/5
More lo fi post punk. This one is not at the melodic or enjoyable end of the scale. It gets worse as it goes on. In fact, by the end it's just noise.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Modern Dance
Date listened: 21/02/24
The Dictators
1/5
Awful awful awful. Just objectively bad music.
This run of three horrendous albums has also coincided with three days of me and my family being struck down with norovirus. Both are experiences I would not wish on my second worst enemy.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: (I Live For) Cars and Girls
Date listened: 23/02/24
John Cale
3/5
A very cool and quirky album for the 1970s. Intriguing and clever lyrics over an idiosyncratic musical backing.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Paris 1919
Date listened: 23/02/24
The Beta Band
2/5
An absolutely Beta Band album. If you like the Beta Band's brand of laid back, psychedelic, folk, indie pop, you'll like this. No sign as to why it's considered essential listening, though.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Assessment
Date listened: 24/02/24
Dire Straits
3/5
Nice and chill, in a clean, sterile, over-produced kind of way.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Sultans of Swing
Date listened: 25/02/24
Fats Domino
2/5
An artist at the cutting edge of rock 'n' roll in the 1950s, but, whilst fine, this doesn't have a huge appeal in 2024.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Blueberry Hill
Date listened: 26/02/24
2/5
Early 80s punk. Fairly soft and melodic(ish), but not very engaging or enjoyable.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Universal Corner
Date listened: 27/02/24
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Another strong Elvis Costello album. Overrepresented? Yes. Overrated? No.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Man Out of Time
Date listened: 28/02/24
Morrissey
3/5
A lot of this album is the musical equivalent of: "These days, mate, if you say you're English, right, these days, you'll get arrested and you'll be thrown in jail."
Whilst I don't agree with the gammony world view it expresses, I do quite like this record. Alt rock with good pace and melody.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: The First Of The Gang To Die
Date listened: 29/02/24
The Chemical Brothers
2/5
I was a bit underwhelmed and disappointed by this. It has a couple of big singles and all the Chemical Brothers' big beat hallmarks, but it dragged on and was just a little on the dull side. Still a good example of what it is.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Block Rockin' Beats
Date listened: 01/03/24
Big Star
3/5
Jangly guitar led power pop with nice harmonies. Nice is the word.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Thirteen
Date listened: 02/03/24
Circle Jerks
1/5
Fourteen songs in fifteen minutes. Someone should tell the Circle Jerks that most things in life tend to be more enjoyable when you take your time and savour them instead of rushing for instant gratification.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Live Fast Doe Young
Date listened:03/03/24
Lightning Bolt
3/5
A noise rock band comprising a drummer/vocalist and a bass player. I'm not sure I've heard much noise rock before, but if this is representative of the genre, it is very aptly named. It is a big noise and it rocks. The vocals are heavily distorted (like everything else) and low down in the mix, which makes this all vibe. I'm really not sure why, but I quite liked it.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: 2 Towers
Date listened: 04/03/24
Guns N' Roses
4/5
I thought this was going to be a nailed on 5/5 album. It's Appetite for Destruction by Guns 'N' Roses. Everyone knows the three huge singles and a handful of other tracks, which all slap. But there is a fair bit of filler as well. Stop at the end of track 9 and it's a masterpiece.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Welcome to the Jungle
Date listened: 05/03/24
Yes
2/5
As a friendly-faced presenter of One Show segments, I don't want to be mean to Rick Wakeman, but this is the type of prog rock that bores the old man y-fronts off me. I'm sure it's technically brilliant and I understand that beardy Rick is a virtuoso on keys, but it just doesn't interest me at all.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Roundabout
Date listened: 06/03/24
Eagles
3/5
Sweet, soft country rock. Easy to see how it's one of the biggest selling albums of all time, in all it's unchallenging, safe, inoffensive and well made glory.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Hotel California
Date listened: 07/03/24
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4/5
Brooding and atmospheric new wave synth pop. Much fuller and more engaging than other examples from the genre around the same time. Not at all orchestral in terms of instrumentation, but the arrangements have an orchestral feel but with synths taking the place of violins etc. It has a nice vibe. I like it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: She's Leaving
Date listened: 08/03/24
Gram Parsons
2/5
Country has to be the most uniteresting genre. It appears to show very little, if any, evolution or development from 1950 to 2020. This, however, is particularly dull.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Love Hurts
Date listened: 09/03/24
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
In 2019 we went with my father-in-law to see an 86 year old John Mayall. I would describe his performance as 'sprightly'. It's cool to hear him here on his 1966 debut bashing out a powerful and energetic 37 minutes of instantly enjoyable British blues. He finally retired in 2022 - hats off to an incredible 56 year, 38 album, career.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: All Your Love
Date listened: 10/03/24
Sepultura
3/5
Heavy and serious, but somehow tuneful (even if not obviously so) and enjoyable.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Arise
Date listened: 11/03/24
The KLF
2/5
The only thing anyone knows about the KLF is that they once burned £1,000,000.
Being generous, you could say the music is energetic and fun, but I think really it's quite bad 90s electronica.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Justified and Ancient
Date listened: 12/03/24
Ozomatli
4/5
Latin rock, funk, jazz, hip hop. Some of the early 2000s record scratching elements are a bit cringe, but overall it's really cool and fun.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Believe
Date listened: 13/03/24
The Verve
2/5
I loved 'Urban Hymns' in my teenage years. So, naturally, I went out and bought The Verve's other two albums... and barely listened to them.
I can't say that hearing this now leads me to regret not giving 'A Northern Soul' more of a chance. It's similar in style to it's successor, but lacks the hooks to engage you and make you want to dig deeper.
Maybe this record has depth and would benefit from persistence, but if I've not bothered in 25 years I can't really see it happening now. It's just a little bit boring.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: History
Date listened: 14/03/24
Buck Owens
2/5
Early Country and Western isn't that different from the contemporary version, but somehow seems even more cheesy. I guess it was a simpler (but also much worse) time.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Wham Bam
Date listened: 15/03/24
Lambchop
3/5
Yesterday we bought a lamb chops from Tesco for the first time in, literally, years. Today this Lambchop album is generated. Just, wow. Mind blown. What is happening in the universe?! There really must be powers we don't understand. (Or it could just be a coincidence).
Regarding the music, this is quaint, gentle orchestral chamber pop. It feels very similar in style to Richard Hawley's Coles Corner album and is stylistically right up my street.
I love arrangements, but I'm not sure the song writing is all that, and it does get dangerously close to easy listening at times. The falsetto and neo soul are also very ill advised.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Up with People
Date listened: 16/03/24
Raekwon
2/5
90s hip hop. I quite liked the orchestral elements in some of the backing tracks, but otherwise little grabbed me.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Ice Cream
Date listened: 17/03/24
Faust
3/5
A krautrock classic, which is apparently criticised for being a sell-out and far too commercial. It still seems slightly too weird and industrial for my tastes, so pure krautrock probably isn't my thing.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Krautrock
Date listened: 18/03/24
Beyoncé
3/5
Part record, part memoir, this includes a lot of autobiographical themes and snippets about Beyonce. Good use, therefore, of the eponymous title.
Music-wise, it's fine. Lots of colabs (as the cool kids call them). Very 21st Century. Cute that she did a song called 'Drunk In Love', featuring her husband.
Not massively my thing, but I didn't mind it.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Drunk In Love
Date listened: 19/03/24
Duran Duran
4/5
Everyone knows exactly what Duran Duran sound like, and it's like this. Bold, urgent synth pop.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Rio
Date listened: 20/03/24
Queen
4/5
Extravagant, exuberant, flamboyant, brilliant.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Bohemia Rhapsody
Date listened: 21/03/24
k.d. lang
2/5
Easy listening country music is really not my thing.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Constant Craving
Date listened: 22/03/24
Giant Sand
3/5
Cool alternative rock, which is at times sparse and chilled. It has a nice vibe. I can't decide whether I like the singer's voice or not.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Satellite
Date listened: 23/03/24
The Black Crowes
4/5
I had the Black Crows greatest hits on CD. It was pretty good and a good chunk of those greatest hits appear on this album, which is also pretty good. Definite American road trip montage vibes.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Hard to Handle
Date listened: 24/03/24
Robert Wyatt
5/5
"Partly fish, Partly porpoise, Partly baby sperm whale, Am I yours?"
Wonderfully weird and dreamlike. Amusingly bizarre but heartfelt lyrics, backwards vocals, cool instrumentation.
I love it and will have to check out more Robert Wyatt.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Sea Song
Date listened: 25/03/24
Spiritualized
4/5
This is considered to be Spiritualized's masterpiece. Whilst excellent, this isn't really what I expected. It's more eclectic and sprawling than I thought it would be. Although both are great, I preferred 'Lazer Guided Melodies'.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Date listened: 26/03/24
Goldfrapp
4/5
Whimsical, dreamy and laid back art pop.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: A&E
Date listened: 27/03/24
Fleet Foxes
5/5
Gentle mid noughties indie folk. Very traditional folk in style and theme, with lots of references to nature and the seasons. A relaxing listen and a really, really lovely album.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: White Winter Hymnal
Date listened: 28/03/24
The La's
2/5
I was going to write a diatribe about apostrophe use. However, the La's is allegedly short for 'the Lads' (which seems unlikely), or so people know how to pronounce it (which is still grammatically incorrect, but fair enough).
As it turns out, the bad grammar is far from the worst thing about this record. I was expecting some excellent indie pop, but it seems 'There She Goes' is a beacon of good amongst a see of poor to meh songs.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: There She Goes
Date listened: 29/03/24
CHIC
3/5
As per usual, top notch disco from Chic. This record is a mix of up-tempo bangers and slower more contemplative numbers. The latter might drag a little if it wasn't for the slappa da bass. Nial Rodgers is undoubtedly a music genius, but Bernard is the MVP on this record.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Le Freak
Date listened: 30/03/24
The Flying Burrito Brothers
2/5
On the surface, not very interesting country music, but listen a bit closer and there are some unusual and more varied sounds and some cool lyrics.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Hippie Boy
Date listened: 31/03/24
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
Really not what I expected. Melodic, Beatlesesque indie alt pop. Really, really nice, and it's influence can be heard in other 90s bands that I like.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: What You Do To Me
Date listened: 01/04/24
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Atmospheric 80s synthy pop rock. It's fine.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Sledgehammer
Date listened: 02/04/24
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
Eletro dance rock, this sounds like a blend of Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys and U2.
I know a lot of people are really passionate about this band. I enjoyed this album in general, but for some reason they don't click with me.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: oh baby
Date listened: 03/04/24
George Jones
2/5
Not very exciting country crooning.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Grand Tour
Date listened: 04/04/24
Solange
4/5
Based on no knowledge whatsoever I always assumed Solange was the less talented younger sister of Beyonce and Nick, making a living off their reflected glory. This record proves I was massively uninformed and that Solange is a cool, interesting and talented artist in her own right.
This is an excellent album. Effortlessly cool, indie infused songs with a clear political message.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Cranes in the Sky
Date listened: 05/04/24
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
Cutting edge psychedelic country, which isn't a genre that has gone on to be a big deal. I can kinda hear why.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Love
Date listened: 06/04/24
Van Morrison
4/5
Van Morrison has a great voice for smooth, romantic blues numbers, as on show on this lovely live double album. It's a shame he now uses that voice to spout conspiracy theory rants as a fully paid up member of the tin foil hat brigade, but it's good to be reminded that he was once a great live performer.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Ain't Nothin' You Can Do
Date listened: 07/04/24
Dion
2/5
Pretty bad (ch)easy listening. '(He's Got) The Whole World in His Hands' sounds like B-Side to David Brent's 'If You Don't Know Me By Now' (no you don't, no).
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Only You Know
Date listened: 08/04/24
KISS
2/5
If it wasn't for the face paint and funny outfits it's difficult to know if KISS would ever have been a successful band? There's certainly not a lot that's interesting or appealing about the rock-by-numbers music.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Shout It Out Loud
Date listened: 09/04/24
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
Decent rock'n'roll record. A bit retro, even in 1976.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: American Girl
Date listened: 10/04/24
Kings of Leon
2/5
KoL's big commercial breakthrough.
Still not very good.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Use Somebody
Date listened: 11/04/24
Neil Young
4/5
A pleasant and chilled Neil Young Album. Orchestral elements used sparingly, which adds to their effect, making you sit up and take notice when they come in. Has Heart of Gold on it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Heart of Gold
Date listened: 12/04/24
Robert Wyatt
4/5
Robert Wyatt could be one of the best discoveries of this process for me. I loved his 1974 second album 'Rock Bottom' and really like this, his sixth LP, from 23 years later.
Eclectic, quirky and charming with a dreamlike quality, I find this really appealing.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Heaps of Sheeps
Date listened: 13/04/24
Pretenders
3/5
Like punk evolving into new wave in a single album.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Brass In Pocket
Date listened: 14/04/24
Doves
5/5
Soaring, sprawling anthems interspersed with gentle, dreamy acoustic led numbers. Reflective and melancholy but optimistic, this is Doves creative and commercial peak and a great way to bring up the 1001.
Particularly shout out to 'Satellites'. I love that song.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: There Goes The Fear
Date listened: 15/04/24
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
The fact that 50% of the ever-present members of Sisters of Mercy are a drum machine called Doktor Avalanche says a lot about just how 80s this album sounds.
As it turns out, dark and atmospheric 80s electro goth rock with communist vibes is actually a really cool listen. I like it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Lucretia My Reflection
Date listened: 16/04/24
Jeff Buckley
4/5
I've known this is considered an all time classic and of the tragic story of Jeff Buckley, but had never previously heard any of the music. I had always also assumed this album was from the 1970s, rather than the 90s.
The record didn't disappoint. Rockier than expected, but emotionally raw and affecting, it is both powerful and beautiful.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Hallelujah
Date listened: 17/04/24
Snoop Dogg
3/5
I was really not looking forward to this, but (notwithstanding the mysogyny and homophobia, which is rife throughout) I found it very listenable. The music is fun, funky, interesting and cool. Ignoring the lyrics I really enjoyed it.
Regarding the lyrics, I guess you can say it was of its time. I've no idea if Snoop's personal attitudes have moved on with society's. I hope they have.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Who Am I (What's My Name)
Date listened: 18/04/24
Björk
4/5
You have to respect Bjork for giving no quarter to the concept of trying to sell records or being concerned about anything other than her artistic vision.
Here she produces an album formed almost entirely from human vocals, but keeping it arty and a million miles away from Glee or Pitch Perfect style acappella.
Choral chanting and weird beatbox sounds feature heavily in support of Bjork's unique lead vocal.
I genuinely don't know if I like it or not, but either way it's a success on its own terms and is hugely impressive.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Who Is It
Date listened: 19/04/24
UB40
2/5
Competent but dull reggae. Lacking any spark to draw the listener in, which is a shame as I think it probably has something to say about 1980s Britain.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Food For Thought
Date listened: 20/04/24
Heaven 17
2/5
New wave synth pop characterised by sparse arrangements. The plinky plonky synth sounds are unusual and intriguing, but overall it is more interesting than it is enjoyable.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Lets All Make a Bomb
Date listened: 21/04/24
Judas Priest
4/5
A great big steel plate of rock. A very appropriately titled album and a lot of fun.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Rapid Fire
Date listened: 22/04/24
Sabu
2/5
There can't be too many congueros (players of the conga (a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba)) with international recording contracts in 2024, so just as well this exists from 1957. Although the thing it does is well done, it is a bit of a museum piece and 20 minutes would have been enough to illustrate the point.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: El Cumbanchero
Date listened: 23/04/24
Ute Lemper
3/5
A collaboration between German musicals singer Ute Lempur and The Divine Comedy, with contributions of songs by other artists including Nick Cave. It has pedigree.
The end result is quite nice, whimsical, easy listening music, which given the two main artists involved, shouldn't be surprising.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Little Water Song
Date listened: 24/04/24
Michael Jackson
4/5
The second of Michael Jackson's 1979-1987 trilogy of albums produced by Quincy Jones. Whilst 'Off the Wall' was a triumph of production but a songwriting disappointment, this is the full package. Crisp and classy perfect pop production coupled with great songs.
Seven of the nine tracks were singles, including the monster classic hits 'Thriller', 'Billie Jean', 'Beat It', and 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin''. The bass lines to the first two of those are something else.
To have a song called 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)' is a bit chilling, knowing what we know now. This review is in art/artist separation mode.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: Thriller
Date listened: 24/04/24
The Byrds
2/5
The Byrds are just a bit dull, aren't they. The exception being the alien voice at the end of C.T.A. - 102 which is incongruous in it's weirdness.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: My Back Pages
Date listened: 26/04/24
Bill Callahan
3/5
Mournful strings and horns over sparce acoustic singer songwriter tracks with distinctive and characterful vocals. Right up my ally.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Jim Cain
Date listened: 27/04/24
Van Morrison
3/5
Surprisingly nice songs for a COVID denying anti-mask conspiracy theorist.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Astral Weeks
Date listened: 28/04/24
Leftfield
1/5
Another album cover I'm familiar with from the wracks in Our Price and Virgin Megastore in the 90s. Until now I had no idea what the music it contains would sound like. I wish I could get 69 minutes of my life back and still not know.
Incredibly dated, extremely 90s, chilled house/trip hop. Way too long and way too dull.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: Original
Date listened: 29/04/24
Morrissey
2/5
I mean, it's a Morrissey album titled 'Viva Hate'. We should have known Mozza's descent into right wing gammonism was inevitable as long ago as 1988.
Knowing what we know now, 'Bengali in Platforms' unambiguously expresses anti-immigration sentiments.
Given that this is a theme that appears on the album, you can't really separate the art from the artist's views, which is a shame as its in many ways a really good album and perhaps his best post-Smiths work that I've heard.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Everyday Is Like Sunday
Date listened: 30/04/24
Mudhoney
2/5
A bit pink, a bit grunge, a bit Black Sabbath, a bit weak.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Let it Slide
Date listened: 01/05/24
Girls Against Boys
2/5
Somewhere between indie, shoegaze, punk and metal, there were moments of this that I really liked, but overall it's a bit much of a dirge for my tastes.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Bulletproof Cupid
Date listened: 02/05/24
Eminem
1/5
I don't want to get all Tipper Gore in this review, but I found this album to be pretty disgusting. The cuss words don't bother me, but the glorification of misogyny and domestic violence is extremely offensive. I wouldn't be happy for a child of mine to listen to this, and would worry about the impact it might have had on some men that grew up listening to it at an influential age.
Where the record isn't promoting violence, misogyny or homophobia, it is generally juvenile and puerile. It picks fights with titans of the stature of NSYNC.
If I had to use one word to sum this record up, it would be 'pathetic'.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Stan
Date listened: 03/05/24
TV On The Radio
2/5
Indie rock, part very arty and creative, part very normy. I struggled to find an 'in' to this, their debut, and much preferred their third album, 'Dear Science'.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Staring at the Sun
Date listened: 04/05/24
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
More than a Dy-Na-Mi-Tee novelty hit, this record is a mix of UK hip hop, soul, and dancehall with socially conscious lyrics.
Like a lot of late 90s/early 00s albums this is 15 to 20 minutes too long, but it exceeded my expectations.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Dy-Na-Mi-Tee
Date listened: 05/05/24
Small Faces
3/5
A strange record. Side 1 is an unusual mix of psychedelia, pop rock, and cockney knees up. Side 2 is a concept album about Happiness Stan on a quest to find the missing half of the moon. It comes complete with a spoken word narrator progressing the story between each tack.
Its a bit odd and quite dated, but somehow endearing.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Lazy Sunday
Date listened: 06/05/24
Arcade Fire
3/5
Absolutely fine, but a struggle to get into. I enjoyed the symmetry of the track listing and the hint at the more poppy direction to come in the penultimate track.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Date listened: 07/05/24
Michael Jackson
3/5
Its not bad (although it is Bad), but a bit of a disappointment overall. Slickly produced and some big singles, but comes across as calculated and artistically lacking.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: The Way You Make Me Feel
Date listened: 08/04/24
Steely Dan
3/5
A bit jazzy, a bit funky, a bit ska, a bit MOR. My favourite Steely Dan so far.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Peg
Date listened: 09/05/24
Kraftwerk
3/5
"Britain has some of the safest roads in Europe. But this isn't Britain... This is der Autobahn!"
Cutting edge electronica. Unlike anything ever in 1974 and it still stands up half a century later. The earliest of the Kraftwerk records on the list. Autobahn (1974), to Trans Europe Express (1977), to The Man Machine (1978) show an evolution from the pure ambient and meandering atmosphere on show here to the more poppy Man Machine, with TEE being the half way point. The 22 minute opening track captures a sense of motion.
Crash, bang, wallop - what an innovative artist.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Autobahn
Date listened: 10/04/24
Bill Evans Trio
4/5
I don't have the jazz vocabulary to describe it properly, but I would call it gentle, meandering dinner jazz. The more early 1960s jazz I hear, the more I like it.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: All Of You
Date listened: 11/04/24
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
An idiosyncratic singer songwriter album. Faithful's cracked and raspy voice lends the record a lived-in atmosphere which creates an interesting tension with the electronic arrangements.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: The Ballad of Lucy Jordan
Date listened: 12/04/24
The Boo Radleys
4/5
I had no idea The Boo Radleys were anything other than a one-hit-wonder indie pop band, but this, their third album, instantly proves that wrong.
A bold and ambitious mix of genres and styles, you can hear the influence on other 90s bands pouring out of the speakers. This is an engaging, interesting and often glorious 64 minutes that makes me want to come back for more.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Lazarus
Date listened: 13/05/24
Incubus
1/5
I HATED Incubus back in the day. Listening to this 22 years later I'm relieved I hadn't missed anything and they are, indeed, absolute cack.
From the opening bar, this annoyed me. The horrible vocal. The lame harmonies. The abysmal lyrics. Grating. A record completely devoid of anything remotely enjoyable or relatable.
I will forever be angry that THIS was the type of music that was popular during my university years.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Drive
Date listened: 14/05/24
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
Chilled and laid back indie with a fun vibe and a subtle Latin flavour. It's quite nice but not particularly engaging.
My favourite FLC moment was Huey on Question Time saying Brexit was far too important a question to be put to the British general public. It went down like a lead balloon, but he's not wrong.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Scooby Snacks
Date listened: 15/05/24
Bob Dylan
4/5
My favourite Dylan album on the list by some distance. Considered to mark a renaissance for the artist, it is gritty, anguished and reflective.
That mood is supported by a gravlier vocal which is more pleasing to the ear than some of his earlier performances. However it seems this could be the result of a bout of histoplasmosis, which nearly killed him. Probably not worth the risk to try and replicate the sound.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Not Dark Yet
Date listened: 16/05/24
New York Dolls
4/5
1973 is too early for punk, but this must have gone a long way to inventing the genre. It's hard rock, but with a punk attitude. The best of both worlds.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Personality Crisis
Date listened: 17/05/24
Suicide
2/5
Lo fi, dark, atmospheric. Reminiscent of Vanishing Point to Evil Heat era Primal Scream. It's ok, but I won't be listening again.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Cheree
Date listened: 18/05/24
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Led Zeppelin's debut album. A little milder than most of their subsequent efforts and consequently a bit of a easier listen.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Good Times Bad Times
Date listened: 19/05/24
Saint Etienne
3/5
I love the opening to this album with a retro French football TV show intro cutting abruptly to the opening bars of 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart'.
Beyond that this is a cool indie pop dance trip hop record from 1990.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Date listened: 20/05/24
Love
5/5
An album cover I'm familiar with from record stores, but had no idea of what it sounded like, until now.
It turns out that this is my jam. Introspective songs concerned with themes of life and mortality with folky acoustic guitar driven arrangements augmented by slightly weird orchestral and horn section elements. Lovely, lovely stuff.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: Alone Again Or
Date listened: 21/05/24
Sam Cooke
4/5
The best crowd reaction and sing along I've ever heard on record. Sam Cooke had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. An incredible performance of 1950s and 60s rock-'n'-roll. The energy in the room is palpable.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Medley: It's Alright / For Sentimental Reasons
Date listened: 22/05/24
Happy Mondays
3/5
This is as good as Happy Mondays get. Jangly and a little unhinged, it does make you want to dance like Bez.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Step On
Date listened: 23/05/24
Christina Aguilera
3/5
I like how Aguilera attempts to separate out two distinct elements of this album onto separate discs. The first half of each disc are very distinct in style, but the second halves are largely interchangable.
The first disc is a good modern soulful pop record, and what a voice!
The second disc was intended as a retro 1920s - 40s style jazz and soul influenced record. It achieves this to a degree, but still keeps a comtemporary pop flavour. Again, the vocal elevates it.
The second disc is the better and more interesting of the two.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Ain't No Other Man
Date listened: 24/05/24
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
4/5
I would LOVE to visit a penguin cafe (even if it would smell very fishy). Penguins are just super cute and mega cool. I think it's the way they move. I can just imagine them sat around in a Shoreditch cafe, sporting hipster moustaches, with this record playing on the vintage grammphone in the corner.
A deliciously weird, avante garde, atmospheric, orchestral, dream-like little number.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track:
Date listened:
The Thrills
4/5
Really nice 1960s-esque pop dreaming of escapism to a variety of locations. When this came up I had no idea who this Irish 5 piece were, but the massive radio singles 'Big Sur' and 'One Horse Town' were very familiar and elevate this bigly.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Big Sur
Date listened: 26/05/24
Scott Walker
3/5
Another lovely Scott Walker album. Really nice orchestral singer songwriter fare, which adds a heavy does of atmosphere to songs which already have interesting and personal lyrics and simple melodies.
The second half of this album trends a bit far towards croonfest and drags a bit, which is unfortunate given that the first half is excellent and interesting.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Jackie
Date listened: 27/05/24
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
Somehow pulls off being smooth and funky at the same time.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: So in Love
Date listened: 28/05/24
Holger Czukay
3/5
I know nothing or Holger Czukay, but he must have gone (*Hugh Grant voice on*) quite mad. This is so, so weird, but kinda charming and cool. Like Ross Gellar's music if Ross Gellar was a talented musician.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Cool in the Pool
Date listened: 29/05/24
Norah Jones
3/5
Breathy vocal acoustic pop. To call this a soundtrack to 14 John Lewis adverts would be a little trite, but not too far wide of the mark. Fortunately it includes blues, folk, country and soul elements which keep it from being overly twee.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Don't Know Why
Date listened: 30/05/24
Joan Baez
4/5
Thirteen traditional folk songs recorded in just four nights as a true solo record, almost entirely comprising only 19-year-old Joan Baez' guitar and voice. And it's enchanting. A breathy yet powerful voice that is perfect for acoustic folk. I am soothed.
Rating: 4.5/5
Playlist track: All My Trials
Date listened: 31/05/24
I really liked this album at the time and got quite into U2 off the back of it. Listening again 24 years on it comes across as extremely competent pop rock music which is VERY safe.
Beautiful Day is an extremely commercial lead single (and a bit of a banger) and the rest of the first half of the album is of a similar vein. The second half is a bit weirder, but also not as good.
Following 'Zooropa' and 'Pop', this is probably the record that U2 had to make to save their career as a stadium band. However, it is sad that to do that they had to move from their most experimental to their most unintersting. Like millions of others, it worked on me at the time, but doesn't hold up so well in retrospect.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Beautiful Day
Date listened: 01/06/24
The Police
2/5
Heavier and dirtier than expected. Perhaps The Police were considered edgy in the 1970s. Whilst not what I expected, it is still a bit naff in places and quite dated.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Message in a Bottle
Date listened: 02/06/24
Ray Charles
2/5
Ray Charles sings and plays a range of classic standards. Side 1 is big band. Side 2 is orchestra backed ballads.
All fine but not very interesting.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Come Rain or Come Shine
Date listened: 03/06/24
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
Total Goldblum. Captain Beefheart must have been so preoccupied with whether or not he could create such difficult and complex arrangements that he didn't stop to think whether he should make something so catastrophically unlistenable.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Hair Pie: Bake 1
Date listened: 04/06/24
2/5
High energy live recording of proto-punk. Amazing that this was in the 1960s.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Kick Out the Jams
Date listened: 05/06/24
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Another Pet Shop Boys album containing a fistful of brilliant singles ('It's a Sin', 'What Have I Done to Deserve This', 'Rent', and 'Heart').
The rest of the album was good, but didn't feel like it had a discernable concept or consistent emotional energy in the same way that 'Behaviour' and 'Very' do. 'Just' a collection of excellent disco pop songs.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: It's a Sin
Date listened: 06/06/24
Elvis Presley
4/5
"Well it's a one for the money..." this record sets out it's stall in the first few seconds, which must have hit like an earthquake in 1956.
For a 68 year old record, this is remarkably fresh, and listenable, probably because it changed musical culture forever and popularised what is now the basis for popular music.
If you strip away all the culturally iconic elements and the tragic story of Elvis' life, you're still left with an outstanding voice singing some all time classics of the American songbook.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Blue Suede Shoes
Date listened: 07/06/24
Everything But The Girl
2/5
90s electronica. Like a less arty Massive Attack.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Walking Wounded
Date listened: 08/06/24
Barry Adamson
3/5
A second soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist. This must be Barry Adamson's USP. It's an interesting gimmick, but I still have no idea what the reason for this approach would be.
Whilst Moss Side Story was evocative of a murder mystery, this would go better with a dark psychological thriller. It is also more enjoyable in its own right, separated from the soundtrack gimmick.
It includes vocals from two iconic and cool frontmen - Jarvis Cocker and Nick Cave.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: The Sweetest Embrace
Date listened: 09/06/24
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Catchy story telling pop rock. Interestingly wide songwriting credits, so perhaps more of a band effort and less autobiographical than it would seem.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: All I Wanna Do
Date listened: 10/06/24
Pulp
4/5
A bold and ambitious follow up to Different Class. More mature and muted than it's predecessor with with themes of aging and desperation. No bouncy singles, but once again 100% achieves it's (very different) artistic intent.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Help The Aged
Date listened: 11/06/24
The Divine Comedy
3/5
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't stage musical music with the theme tune from Father Ted in the middle (Songs of Love).
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Something for the Weekend
Date listened: 12/06/24
Talking Heads
4/5
Fresh new wave album with the melody always at the top.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Tentative Decisions
Date listened: 13/06/24
1/5
A witchcraft themed experimental noise rock album. Not for me.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: We Fenced Other Gardens With the Bones of Our Own
Date listened: 14/06/24
Talking Heads
2/5
Not very listenable, interesting or catchy post punk.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Air
Date listened: 15/06/24
Marty Robbins
3/5
The most Ronseal album title of all time.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Big Iron
Date listened: 16/06/24
Pentangle
2/5
VERY tradish' folk. Lots of songs about weather and seasons. My Mum would enjoy it (she loves weather), but it wares a little thin and by the end I was longing for it to finish.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Light Flight
Date listened: 17/06/24
Mj Cole
1/5
Music is subjective, but UK Garage must be objectively the worst genre ever to gain popularity.
It's not exciting, you can't dance to it, it's not in any way beautiful or interesting, and it has absolutely nothing to say. Like this album, it's lame, vacuous and has no redeeming features whatsoever.
Rating: 1/5
Playlist track: Crazy Love
Date listened: 18/06/24
Slint
2/5
Murky alternative rock which chugs along. Influential but not particularly enjoyable in its own right.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Good Morning, Captain
Date listened: 19/06/24
Paul Simon
4/5
Excellent singer songwriter album, as you'd expect from Paul Simon, with lots of diverse flourishes, as you'd expect from Paul Simon. Also, it's eponymous, which is great as it gives me an excuse to write one of my favourite words. Oooh, eponymous.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Date listened: 20/06/24
Peter Gabriel
3/5
This is more interesting than I would have e expected a Peter Gabriel record to be. Quite experimental and a bit industrial sounding in places, which was a surprise. I quite liked it.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Games Without Frontiers
Date listened: 21/06/24
The Temptations
3/5
Funky, groovy and soulful. What's not to like?
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Cloud 9
Date listened: 22/06/24
Serge Gainsbourg
3/5
Five of the Seven tracks feature the word 'Melody' in their title ('Melody', 'Ballade de Melody Nelson', 'Valse de Melody', and my two favourite titles, 'Ah Melody' and 'Eh Melody').
I guessed Serge was going for a melodic album. To be fair he nails it. The above mentioned tracks are all jam packed with melody. The other two tracks are spoken word, but still a big old vibe with cool instrumentation and chanted backing vocals.
Also, it's in French.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Cargo culte
Date listened: 23/06/24
Underworld
2/5
It's not a great sign when you look for the shorter tracks to decide what to include in your play list.
Whilst not awful to listen to, this is a long album of very long songs which generally go nowhere. They're not ambient, but they don't really build either. I struggle to see the point of this existing.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Pearl's Girl
Date listened: 24/06/24
Björk
3/5
Another Bjork album that is easier to respect than it is to enjoy.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Black Lake
Date listened: 25/06/24
U2
4/5
U2 doing post punk with a militaristic feel. Whilst 2000s + U2 may be the most MOR band imaginable, this is powerful, interesting and even a little edgy (and bonoy, claytony, and larry mullen jr.y, obviously).
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: New Years Day
Date listened: 26/06/24
The Byrds
2/5
The Byrds go all out Country. Generic and boring.
Rating: 1.5/5
Playlist track: You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Date listened: 27/06/24
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
70s glam rock with the cheesiness of Eurovision, but none of it's charm. Not all that sensational, really.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: The Faith Healer
Date listened: 28/06/24
Ride
3/5
On encouragement from Noel Gallagher I once chanted along with 70,000 people "who the flip is Andy Bell?". It seems the answer is a much more talented and interesting musician than warrants being the bass player in Oasis.
This is a surprisingly enjoyable shoegaze album that is a little lighter, breezier and more accessible than the genre average.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Vapour Trail
Date listened: 29/06/24
Coldcut
2/5
This album alternates between innovative ahead-of-its-time electronica and cringy Ross Gellar music.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: People Hold On
Date listened: 30/06/24
Beck
2/5
Eclectic and a bit weird, but unfortunately to the effect of lacking focus and being a bit boring.
Rating: 2/5
Playlist track: Devils Haircut
Date listened: 01/07/24
Donovan
3/5
Nice psychedelic folk album with plenty of interesting elements from a Scottish singer songwriter. Very 1960s. A little slow in places but generally enjoyable in its embellished simplicity.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Season of the Witch
Date listened: 02/07/24
Tangerine Dream
3/5
Early ambulient electronica. Dreamy soundscapes like a space sci fi movie score.
I wouldn't give this the time of day if it was made more recently, but respect has to be given to the context of 'trail blazing' being a massive understatement for this in 1974.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares
Date listened: 03/07/24
Manic Street Preachers
5/5
If a comeback from adversity has ever been as epic and successful as this, I'm unaware of it. The record that catapulted the Manics into a Brit Award winning, platinum selling, mainstream band and established the sound that they are best known for and have returned to intermittently ever since.
Most of this album comprises huge anthems characterised by sweeping strings, soaring choruses and concise, personal, sad lyrics written by Nicky Wire. Notably it includes themes of moving on, getting away from things and apologising for letting go of previous ideals ('Everything Must Go' and 'Australia').
However, there is also a part of the album that shares DNA with the Holy Bible. 'Removables' in particular wouldn't be out of place on the previous record ("Killed God blood soiled unclean again, Killed God blood soiled skin dead again"), 'Kevin Carter' and 'Interiors' are jagged edged numbers and 'Small Black Flowers that Grow in the Sky' could be read as a song about the Holocaust. It's no surprise that these are lyrics written by Richey Edwards.
Both sides of the album deliver the Manics' favourite trick of disguising smart, sad, politically and socially conscious lyrics in an anthemic, accessible package. For example its singles crashed the top 10 with songs about the misperception of working class characteristics, and the dilemma of being a journalist observing a disaster area.
The combination of sad lyrics as soaring anthems and the underrated amount of variety and weirdness are a big part of what makes the MSP my favourite band.
Long live the Manics.
Rating: 5/5
Playlist track: A Design for Life
Date listened: 04/07/24
New Order
3/5
New Order in metamorphosis from post-punk to synthy dance rock. Catchy and atmospheric.
Rating: 3.5/5
Playlist track: Love Vigilantes
Date listened: 05/07/24
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Breathy, floaty, dreamy. Like an otherworldly ambient Kate Bush. Almost Om Nommy Nom Song levels of relaxation.
Rating: 4/5
Playlist track: Lorelei
Date listened: 06/07/24
Animal Collective
3/5
Experimental pop, reminiscent of Snowflakes Midnight by Mercury Rev, which was released just a few months earlier.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: My Girls
Date listened: 07/07/24
Frank Black
2/5
Interesting to see the increased propensity for lengthy albums in the early 90s as CDs became the dominant format.
The above sentence might be telling as to how little I have to say about this album of pretty normal alternative rock. Unlike the random guy at Reading 2001, I don't feel particularly privileged to have heard Frank Black today.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Headache
Date listened: 08/07/24
Tim Buckley
3/5
The best Tim Buckley album on this list by a country mile. It sounds vibrant and empassioned rather than lost, boring and slow like his other efforts. It's still a little annoying, though, particularly the second half.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: No Man Can Find the War
Date listened: 09/07/24
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
3/5
OMG! Little Hands by Flaming Lips is a cover! I had no idea! Why did Wayne hum the melody and not sing the lyrics, particularly when they're so on point for late 90s F'lips? A mystery.
Given familiarity with that cover, I'm predisposed to like the opening track here, and the rest of the album follows in a similar arty singer songwriter vein. It gets a bit slow in places and also a bit weird in places.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Little Hands
Date listened: 10/07/24
Prince
3/5
Apparently the most 'pop' Prince album and contains 3/5 of his top songs on Spotify. However, it seems to be missing a little bit of magic compared to the others on the list. It feels a bit Prince by numbers.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Purple Rain
Date listened: 11/07/24
The Triffids
3/5
Emotive 80s soft rock with sea shanty elements. Conveys feelings of sorrow and longing without ever wallowing. A nice album.
Rating: 3/5
Playlist track: Bury Me Deep in Love
Date listened: 12/07/24