Appreciate the effort in developing the album and finding a vast array of samples to pull it together. It’s too disconnect for me to find a natural progression and flow to the album to enjoy. I feel a 4 is a fair vote given the skill in around the production but that would also suggest I’d listen to it again.
A-typical of its time and a testament to the death of modern music. These lads are obvisouly top of their game musically, but lost in a sea of talent for them to stand out to me. Dozens of bands like this have been a by product of the era so for me, my lack of knowledge and experience creates an ambiguous blur of 8 minute tracks and gratuitous organ solos.
A fun album however nothing overly original from the wider genre of psyche rock. A fun listen, nice grooves and solos. Fun social nods especially in “Super Bird”.
A tour de force of nostalgia. Perfectly alligned with the rock movement of early to mid 90’s. Rembrandts, Hootie and the Blowfish, Goo Goo Dolls...all of which would fit perfectly for a couple of bars between the scene segues in Friends; seasons 1 and 2.
Any album with “Fall at Your Feet” should be getting a strong vote however the album delves into a mushy slop of generic easy listening with the lyrics trumping the overall unoriginality of the record.
Some of the Bass lines always stumped me as a less experienced bass player and a close listen will prove why on the timings and fills.
Fun fact: bass player Nick Seymour compiled backing tracks for adult movies before making it big with Crowded House. He moved to Dublin in the late 90’s and was involved with the early production of Bell X1
Having never heard of this group, I cautiously hoped it would be a hidden gem of early 90’s rap/rock cross over à la RATM because i) a non black member suggested a move away from solely rap/hip hop ii) based on the name I assumed it would be a political/social commentary driven record.
What I did find, but wasn’t overly surprised, was a pile of contrived political and social bolloxology that isn’t really relevant anymore. The “rap” or “hip hop” that could have saved this album is more in line with an amateur midweek poetry slam night.
Lyrics such as “Before the world went
Completely blind
When people grew bald naturally
No mutations
Unlike Skinheads
And chemo-therapy patients” are truly inspirational.
“Music and Politics” caught me by surprise with some jazzy upbeat grooves.
This album is totally un-listenable for me. The highlight of the album was when I chuckled to myself thinking the main guy reminded me of Fur-Q from Brasseye.
“You gotta kill people to respect people...but eh...you can’t kill everybody eh...because you wouldn’t have anybody left to respect if you did”
Was hoping for an aural detox after yesterday’s fiasco. Dare not say the name. And BANG! Hit with a hard rock banger that brings back the excitement of playing GTA San Andreas. Opening track, Cult of Personality.
I would have struggled to stay alert for another 1 star album and I’m conscious not to let that skew my review of this album.
Style is in line bands of the time. Faith no More, Janes Addiction, RHCP and even Mr. Big. However as the album progresses, there are harder rock and cheesier riffs that drag us back to the 80’s and give off Van Halen feels. Have to remember this album is ‘88.
Some very catchy, punchy bass riffs that are keeping me interested and even reminding of Big Country in part.
Nice to hear songs I’ve definitely heard before but maybe wasn’t sure who the song was by.
“Funny Vibe” could be straight out of RHCP’s Mother’s Milk. It’s interesting to see this band is a group of black New Yorkers and have produced very similar sounds of mostly white LA 80’s funk rockers. Verses of “Which Way to America” is borrowed straight from Talking Heads which is good to see. Very Tina Weymouth with heavier tone.
Decimalised ratings would have helped me rate this more effectively. It’s better than a 3 but not quite a 4. I’m not counting any of the bonus tracks included on the Spotify bonus version.
Listened to this on a road trip. Glad it wasn’t an album of more complexity because not the best environment to listen to an album properly.
I’ve an idea what this group is about already but no amount of listens will make this appeal to me.
I get the appeal to hip hop listeners and get why people enjoy it.
Can’t give this more than a 2. Not for me, doesn’t hurt my ears
When I saw Steely Dan I got a little excited. Admittedly, my knowledge of their back catalogue is vicarious via Shorty and Vulfpeck but I know enough of their bangers to have anticipated a decent album here.
Unfortunately, the bangers I know are spread across their discography and there is no great concentration of them on this record. Out of 7 tracks here, if I had 3 of the bangers this would have got 4 stars and possibly a 5 if the balance of tracks impressed me. “Peg” is the only one so I’ll have to give this album a 3.
Credit where credit is due, Walter Becker and Donald Fagan have a hugely distinctive sound and are ground breaking artists in many many ways. There are some savage harmonies and musical rhythms here but nothing is luring me in like some of their bigger hits. “Reelin in the years” “hey nineteen” “do it again” “Rikki don’t lose that number” and “dirty work”. Definitely can see their influence on Vulfpeck and particularly on the Katzman heavy tracks.
I anticipate another Steely Dan album on this 1001 so hoping I can start dropping some 4’s and 5’s.
I enjoy some of Iggy’s stuff but this album doesn’t do a lot for me. Massively progressive for the year. Passaneger is over rated but Lust for Life is a good craic.
Neighbourhood Threat is super modern sounding. I’d never have guessed this song was from ‘77.
Not overly into Iggy to give this a fair crack of the whip. I love his latest album done with Josh Homme. Post Pop Depression. Worth a look.
Tom Waits never did a lot for me and I struggle to see the broader appeal being totally honest. I’m struggling to warm to anything in this album and his style is bizarre. Feels like I’m in a fever dream at times.
Some nice melodies and piano parts but that’s about it.
This is a fun album. 33 tracks is an utter marathon though and I wasn’t ready for this after a weekend of heavy drinking. I’m listening to catch up as I also had to do Tom Waits today.
Following a bit of research, it’s only a 12 song record so thankfully I didn’t have to push thru the full 33 extended edition.
Interesting development and departure from the Beach Boys sound so you can see why he took on a solo album to explore different directions.
Dreamer is a slick groove and there are some other tracks that are nice for background noise.
Some absolute bangers here and 80’s synth pop is my guilty pleasure. In some of the tracks the bassist either has titanium fingers or has been left with two arms like Aron Ralston after recording this record.
This album started off brilliantly but dropped off in the second half. You can see where the B side kicks in on what would have been the vinyl release.
I was genuinely excited to give this a 4 but it didn’t hold out to completion and I kind of got bored.
Had this artist on my list for a while because of associated acts. Assumed I’d get a bit of enjoyment from this but it’s contrived, wailing, “rock chick” garbage.
Might have been ground breaking at the time but the rock chick thing was bet to the punch by The Breeders so that alone can’t grant this album special status yet I can’t give this album a 1. Seeing serious holes in the 1-5 star rating system.
Ironically as the album ended and the Spotify shuffle continued, The Breeders came on as the first song.
Still not over the Bert Jansch fiasco to get into more folk so this album needed to throw a few upbeat tracks my way.
Recognised the name and obviously as he’s a founding member of Pink Flloyd. Reading he was kicked out for “perceived mental illness” and “excessive use of psychodelic drugs”.
I’m getting massive Beatles vibes off this record in part. Particularly Ringo-ish. The lyrics are simple and juvenile. And the upstroke guitar style playing in infuriating. I am also sensing a disconnect between the audio quality and style between tracks and further reading shows it was recorded over a number of years and the album has various production credits.
I’m feeling quite laboured getting thru these albums as of late so I’m needing something I already know and I’d already rate as a 5 star album. 17 albums in and only one song added to my various Spotify playlists is not a good sign.
I can’t do anymore hip hop. Sorry.
Have a soft spot for Paul Simon. Some nice tracks on this and some cool grooves. Will listen to it again. Was hanging from a roof when listening so was more worried my AirPods falling out than focusing on the album.
Cars are Cars is a weird song.
Think too much (a) is musically very vulfpeck. Vocally no, but the instrumental arrangement and mix is quite similar.
Absolutely brilliant album. Iconic. Seriously good listen and nostalgic from the get go. Rescued this 1001 album process for me as I was one hip hop or folk album away from swallowing my phone so I couldn’t access this page any more.
4 stars because 5 is for a true masterpiece. It would be 4.5 if possible.
Generic blues. Good album. Nothing stand out. Heard and played this style a million times before and it’s nothing new.
Not their best album but excellent nonetheless. Headmaster Ritual, nowhere fast, that joke isn’t funny anymore....We’re talkin all the hits, all the big ones, all the good ones. The he smells crime again, he's out busting heads. Then he's back to the lab for some more full penetration. Smells crime. Back to the lab, full penetration. Crime. Penetration. Crime. Full penetration. Crime. Penetration. And this goes on and on and back and forth for 45 or so minutes until the album just sort of ends...
Sozzy is going to hate me for this but 3 stars. It’s not their best work hence only one of the songs appearing on the “Stop Making Sense” set.
Their sound hasn’t matured into their iconic “banger factory” just yet in this album. Psycho Killer aside of course.
First song gave me hope for a gem but it just delved into punk garbage. Not feeling this at all.
Straight up 5 stars especially coming from Mother’s Milk and their earlier stuff which was just pure chaos.
This album was the true foundation for their super stardom and their future sound. Chad Smith is EXCELLENT in this album as is John Frusciante who is 20/21 recording this which is insane.
Have a lot of these tracks on my main Spotify playlist.
I also read that Flea didn’t use any slap bass in this album as he said too many people were copying his style at the time which is utter bollox because Naked in the Rain is all slap as is the outro of Power of Equality.
Highly recommend watching Funky Monks which covers the making of this and the behind the scenes of them hanging out in an LA mansion and recording the whole album there with Rick Rubin.
Not for me, but you have to respect and admire the innocence and romance of music of this era. Super simple but probably hugely popular at the time however, very repetitive and quite frustrating by the end of the album.
Amazing to think this was the era my parents were born into albeit into a different culture. Stuff like this always makes me contextualise life so I can’t judge this album on a music basis alone.
Listened walking thru town on a lovely day and matched the vibes perfectly. Very out there and very complex but a solid listen. Will try again and get more in depth with it. Been on my list for a while.
This exercise is galvanising my hatred of Punk and Folk. More unlistenable, shouty, trashy garbage, over rated nonsense.
Hard to hate a big band sound. Haven’t given this artist much time in the past, but he isn’t a million miles away from the standard of Sinatra.
Listening on Spotify dilutes some of the purity here and I feel it would be better on vinyl.
Some excellent songs here and I “see” many reasons to listen to his other albums if it’s as good as this one.
Double album was probably a bit much but can really see that Jamie Foxxxxxx nailed him in the movie.
Never heard of these guys surprisingly enough. Opening track was like a mash up of Everything Everything and Interpol with a sprinkle of LCD Soundsystem. Interesting vibes.
Enjoyed the album and gave a few listens. Took a few and added to my Spotify playlist. Will deffo be listening to their other albums. Most intriguing yet.
More unlistenable hip hop garbage. This genre does nothing for me and I’m struggling to find any differences or stand outs among the different artists to date. Still listening to each track and trying to be objective while staying loyal to this process but it will take a serious hip hop album to raise more than 2 stars for me.
I’m listening to these albums in the morning and I’m not irritable then. Maybe I’m being harsh or maybe I expected more of these albums to talk to me earlier in the list
Generic punk rock. Nothing special standing out to me here. Six Pack and Tv Party are heavy influencers to The Chats with novelty themes of getting drunk and being a lad. Other than that, it’s just a 35 minute racket. Toward the end of this album I was questioning my existence and my sanity.
A lovely album. Of its time and like Ray Charles, would be better appreciated on vinyl. Very nostalgic feels to this but doesn’t feature any of his obvious classics. Still a good album with nice ambient tones. Love his voice and the big band feels.
60’s California free love shite. Can’t warm to it. Nothing is standing out as original or unique within the genre so on that basis, I can’t give this anything more than a 2. Some stuff just doesn’t age well and this is it.
Exceptionally pedestrian with nothing standing out at all. Bland, boring, unoriginal
Like a more depressing Stone Roses. Nothing to get excited about and nothing stood out. I’m being made feel like the guitar playing is progressive and ground breaking. Am I so out of touch? No. It is the children who are wrong.
I found myself quite agitated by the end of this album. It was a laboured slog trying to get thru it and the ambiguity around where one song ended and the other began really added to frustration. One of the worst yet.
Not overly impressive. Very bleh.
Recognise many of the songs. It’s very bleh. Not so bad for a 2 so will give it a middle of the road 3.
Vocals are very annoying in part. I think they have a few vocalists which is throwing me.
Jamie XX has some good electronic music on his solo stuff. AIB advert has “Loud Noises” which many people will recognise.
Just ok. Not as lively as some of his better stuff but pretty good.
Catchy enough. Like a merge of Florence and the Machine and Alanis Morrissette. Would rate it way better than PJ Harvey.
Not bad, some good slick grooves in it and very soulful. Nothing to get me overly excited about. Very Shadynasty
Enraging, directionless, nonsensical garbage. Any allusion to familiarity with certain radio play songs, doesn’t do enough to save this appalling piece of garbage. I’m finding more terrible albums with this process than good. My average rating is closer to 2.
This is a nice, fun and innocent album very in keeping with the time.
Would love to have been around to go see these in their hay day. Go to a diner. Have a Coca Cola. Even though I can still do literally all of those things.
Not this b*tch again! Don’t get the hype. Never did. Significant improvement from the other album I listened to but just enough to get an extra star. 2.
Some nice jams but nothing more than easy listening to me. Their live video gig is class. Worth a watch
This was a hard slog. I respect the talent and the cultural significance of an Indian album influencing western mainstream but not for me. Can’t give this a one star because the other one stars I gave so I’ll give it 2.
Never ‘Erd of em mate. Despite what my Strokes wife beater says.
I tried to be unbiased with my thoughts here. Not my favourite album of theirs but for a first album, of the time, it’s a pure banger factory. Listening to this yesteday reignited my love for this album and the nostalgia of learning the songs on bass 16 years ago, really brings it home for how fun this is.
I was genuinely open to giving this a 3 or 4 but the re-listen brought it back for me. Especially after the 40 minute sitar love in earlier today.
A bit too much like background music for me to get excited about. Nothing negative about it as such. Just nothing standing out to blow my mind.
Hero is a nice catchy 70’s rock tune. Good to see lyrics and vocals introduced to the record late on.
This album has not aged well at all. Some cool songs that bring back the mid 90’s nostalgia but all being said, doesn’t stand up.
Watch the movie “the other guys” and this album becomes a lot more entertaining care of Michael Keaton.
Im gonna use sexy interlude as a song and prank P-Diddy.
Not into metal. I find metal bass playing hilarious as well because it contributes nothing to the situation.
This is beyond cheesy! It’s like cliche devil horns and eyeliner. Maybe it’s ground breaking for current metal bands but I don’t know enough about the genre to comment.
The front man looks like Jayo Dunphy’s ma.
I was expecting more bangers in this so slighty disappointing in that regard. Still a great album with solid 80’s vibes.
This album needs to be looked at in isolation to their more recent albums. When this came out it was pure genius and that can’t be taken away from U2 despite their later stuff being pure barbage.
Some seriously good songs on this and great for U2. This is them at their prime.
Bullet the blue sky is my favourite U2 song but the album trails off toward the end.
I really wanted to hate this album and tell Alanis to get over herself, you’ve been dumped. It happens. Coupled with the incessant, whiny vocal style I was pre disposed to hating it. BUT...
There are some good rock anthems here and she has a good set of pipes on her. Coupled with a good quantity of radio tracks, this album turned out to be really rather excellent.
Can’t deal with the California free love vibe.
Expected it to be like Pixies and it was but maybe subconsciously or not, can’t get away from it not being pixies. Some good tracks here nothing blew me away. The album cover is creepy as fuck.
Not into their earlier stuff as much but still nice to listen to. I’m more of a greatest hits Beatles guy.
Salt peanuts.... salt peanuts....
Absolute marathon for just a small selection of songs. Would love to watch this live but I can’t appreciate jazz they way I probably should. If I could see this live, 10 stars. Maybe even vinyl would be a 5. But Spotify over AirPods is discrediting this and especially as it’s the same medium I listen to all the other albums, I need to listen and rate it under the same t’s and c’s
Can absolutely see how this paved the way for a lot modern day electronics. Despite and impending sense of dread, this album is quite impressed. Ambient, atmospheric and exceptionally modern for its age.
The best of the bad bunch of punk. Not for me, but doesn’t hurt my ears.
Don’t get the hype.
Absolutely ridiculously over hyped garbage. I’m actually angry for having had to listen to this and try find something positive.
There’s a lot of albums here that I feel like I have to like because everybody does and everybody does because everybody does. Like a contagion of stupid music. Can some of these older artists just be considered old and irrelevant and not hold the “classic” tag forever?
I think this algorithm is fucking with me. They gave me this after I went about panning Velvet Underground. This is a slight improvement altho the German accent makes it seem almost satirical.
Getting some nice Beatles vibes off the melodies and chord progressions but generally I found it a painful process trying to just get thru it. Had to listen to it one song at a time with breaks in between.
Not into this era or Rod. He has some absolute bangers but none on this album unfortunately. You’re my girl is probably my favorite track on the album.
Not into metal but this really surprised me. Some class punchy guitar playing and less screamy than some heavier forms of metal. Not as bad as I expected it. Good job for what it is.
A nice album. Of its time. Better for vinyl I reckon but a nice listen.
Not into rap or hip hop. Doesn’t stand out to me as anything special over other hip hop artists.
Good album. Opening 2 tracks are whopper. Few nice songs to round out the album nicely.
This had huge potential for a nice, peppy, feel good album. But the marathon it subjected me to, really soured me. Therefore reducing the enjoyment and therefore the rating.
Too long, nothing stood out. Shite lyrics and all I could hear was Dan Harmon.
Eeeeeeuuuuuuugggggghhhh
Some nice 80’s grooves and bangers here and can see how Gaga has completely ripped off Madonna.
Not going to add anything here to my playlists but you might catch me singing along if some of these come on the radio.
Some recognisable tracks here. Surprised how old the album is. Trying to stay to one a day and had to listen to this in part. Will come back to it again
Nice heavy crunchy riffs and Cornell’s vocals are solid but it’s very repetitive and very not a good Audioslave. There, I said it!
Can’t give this anything less than 4 due to it being a hit factory and the album cover.
Expertly composed, some great tracks. But dare I say.....overated?
Got excited to hear a new indie band especially on the domino label. Turned out to be disappointing with the vocalist sounding like a poor man’s Vitas.
The voice ground me down to a fine, lubricant grade powder
Good fun for what it is. Won’t be top of my play list pile.
Pure cheese bangers
Shrill, loud and unoriginal
Some nice Travis songs here but nothing that gets my dick hard.
I really enjoyed this song.
Really awkward to listen to as most of the songs were blanked out on Spotify. Had to keep jumping between there and YouTube to compete the album in sequence.
Not my usual album and not one I’d go back to on a regular basis but this guy is a modern day talent. Knew only the name but expected something totally different.
Getting vibes of Matt Bellamy and Thom Yorke.
Too long for an album that has nothing standing out. I found it actually dragged on and got quite boring.
Expertly assembled and a great show for a debut album. Very gay which isn’t a bad thing.
Over rated racket.
Meh
Melodramatic,contrived bullshit
Some interesting songs and a quirky take on hip hop. Would give this another spin.
Cheesey
Good album. A lot of recognisable tunes.
Another flaw in the 5 star rating system. This is a high 4 point something but can’t go 5!!
Too weird and trippy for me
Insufferable and over rated. Move over and make way for something newer and original.
Ew you like The Monkees? You know they don’t write their own songs. They don’t play their own instruments. That’s not even Michael Nesmith’s real hat
Recognised a few songs from adverts and such. Melodic
Excellent context. Very long and I think an audio only experience let’s this down. I think I need to watch the live performance to get a full experience from this album.
Fine.
I like the opening track and was hoping for a similar theme for the album but this time in history must have been truly miserable if Bob Dylan was considered groundbreaking. Rambling, monotonous lyrics coupled with a droning melodies and an attempt to reduce to the monotony with a one size fits all harmonica solo. God awful, boring and truly miserable.
Interesting album stylistically and that’s me being polite about it being all over the place. If it were a bit tighter, it might have done more for me.
~120 albums in and another 2.5 years to go and nothing has stood out as exciting or new bar a few tracks off of tv on the radio and even at that, I found it weak. The albums I already know seem to be the show stealers of a poor overall presentation of talent. My average rating is closer to 2/5 and I find logging in each morning more and more of a let down. I looked ahead and found no Interpol which is disgrace.
I’m one more Bob Dylan album away from deleting my profile here as the author of this collection is a clueless fuck tard to date.
A bit OTT and trippy for me.
No.
Really bizarre, strange album.
Nice fun album. More than 3 but not quite 4.
Again, another failure on the 5 start review process. Better than 3 but not a 4.
How is this trash different to all the other RNB shite?
Lame. Non sensical monologues. Infuriating.
Don’t dig this psyche stuff. Might have been impressed the first time I heard it but it’s all the same.
Brilliant close out to this guys life. Died 2 days after the release.
Bland, boring and repetitive barbage.
Bit loud and nonsensical in part. Decent grungy rock. Purr is a nice punchy banger.
Great album.
Enough Said
Best hip hop album on this list yet and I assume it will be. Like Andre 3000 more than I should and a few features from Killer Mike make this album even better....can’t bare to give this a 4 with the amount of stupid monologues and non music tracks.
No
Prefer his son but not a bad listen.
Over rated
More garbage
Inoffensive and nothing special. Better than the hip hop bollox to date so need the half stars to distinguish. I can’t give this 3 despite giving some of the hip hop 2
This music is the soundtrack for the beginning of the degeneration of music and society as a whole. This goes hand in hand with instagram slut culture and signifies the move away from the rock and indie movement into the faceless, pointless RnB/hip hop and mumble rap of the current age.
Paving the way for morons like Takeshi 69, Post Malone and Travis Scott, It has also spawned a social acceptance for hyper feminism such as Meghan thee Stallion and Cardi B. Nasty Ass Pussy.
Music is an 808, syncopated, hi-hat/snare arrangement away from utter devastation and failure as a concept.
Irritating, abrasive noise. Offers me nothing.
Showed promise a bit and definitely better than the natural Beyoncé comparison. Nothing special beyond normal RnB and a bit similar to Janelle Monae. Bit self righteous.
3.5
Absolute frantic racket but can see the appeal. Not for me though.
The only saving grace is killing me softly and as the day went on having listened to the album early in the day, the whole thing just made me more and more upset and I downgraded it from a 2 to a 1.
Does nothing for me and the singers voice is highly irritating. I was happy to listen to the instrumental aspect of this until the Funny Bird topped me over the edge in pure frustration.
This is actually a great album.
