Didn't enjoy this quite as much as I would have expected. I just did a run through all of Ween's albums, and there were some weird parallels to draw that I didn't expect (pitch shifted vocals, genre bending, and an overly playful feeling).
Pretty dang enjoyable. I'm actually really surprised how short this feels despite the long run time. One of the better Brit albums from the 90's that I've heard.
First time listening to a full James Brown album. Leaning a little more on the doo-wop era than I would have hoped. Not a bad thing, just not my choice of genre in the grand scheme of things. Still so much talent on display here.
What can I even say? A hugely important album for the development of my musical taste.
Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. A lot of these tracks sound like they would be a blast to learn on guitar. I also love that Petty looks like the softest member of Sodom on this album cover.
Solid, but just not hitting me as much more than that on first listen. The only other album of hers that I've heard is Let England Shake, and that was more of an immediate impact. It's still clear that she's one helluva musician and songwriter.
Fun listen. Queen never quite hits home perfectly with me, but you can't deny that this is a solid album with some really fun tracks.
Not what I expected. I was familiar with Thundercat the virtuoso, but I didn't know about Thundercat the goofball. Fun stuff that I should have checked out earlier.
Just very boilerplate hard rock. There are a couple tracks and moments that I enjoy, but the package as a whole is a big snooze.
Really taken aback by how much I enjoyed this. It's been a long time since I've been impressed solely by someone's vocally quality, but dang, Michael has such a nice timbre despite its cheesiness. Immediately went to Discogs to pick this one up.
I feel like I understand better now what The Strokes are pulling from.
It's been a long time since I've listened to rap in this vein. I really enjoyed this. So much going on and a lot of subtle, clever details. A fun listen.
Critical listening for my late high school years. Still a great album to boot.
Extremely relaxing. So funny that this was recorded in a church in an area of DC I used to frequent all the time. I see this is allegedly responsible for the bossa nova boom... a pretty cool nugget of trivia. Highly enjoyable stuff.
I will always like it more than I want to. Good riffs, obnoxious people.
The one U2 album that I really love. Brian Eno works his magic here to make them into the band they should be.
I love this. It's incredibly uneven, and feels as though there wasn't much consensus internally regarding direction. But that's the kind of album I love; a bit scattered, but intensely artistic throughout, with a real sense of building a new movement for pop music.
First time I've actually dove into some Steely... fuck it's good. It's painfully good because I always assumed this was some old man yacht rock that was soulless, sun bleached, and moronic. It's pretty much the opposite. The sunshine in this album is making fun of you in the dark hours.
Yeah, I don't know what to say. It's damn near perfect. One of those records that any perceived deficiency is probably due to my lack of context/knowledge.
One of the best metal albums ever made, and certainly twice as good as anything Metallica recorded.
My brother gave me this CD to listen to during a family road trip. Blew my fucking mind, and tasted like the sweetest of forbidden fruits. A classic.
-1 star just because the sexism is a bit grating in this day and age for my personal taste.
So many classics. So streamlined and focused. They deserve the accolades that are heaped on them. Top tier legends.
A lot better than I anticipated. The space rock touches really did a lot to increase my enjoyment.
One note throughout, but if there were ever an album to forgive for it, it would be this one.
Something about this just doesn't click with me. It's probably a "me problem", honestly, but I can't pretend to have really enjoyed this much.
Feels so vapid and flat. Sure the production and performances are fine, but these songs are about nothing.
It's just a little too "cool" for me. I like jazz to be a bit more frenetic and energetic.
There's a cool, hopping jazz quality to this that I didn't expect. Joni's voice is immediately recognizable, but still pulls unexpected pivots and trills. Really enjoyed this, and it'll probably grow with time as well.
The dry, clear sound of the bass tone on this is awesome. It just strikes me as too repetitive and shallow to really enjoy with all of my attention. At the end of the day, I suppose it's for bangin', and it succeeds at getting out the way.
It's deft, clean, and polished, but that just runs counter to the whole mood it's trying to conjure. I want Danny Brown's style of musical polish and lyrical grime instead of this sanitized gangsta stuff.
It haunts me to this day. Any of these tracks make me think of 2000s racing games, late night MTV, and intrigue of druggy sub cultures.
Wow. So darkly satirical. I don't have anything original to say, only that the glowing positive reviews out there mirror how I feel about this.
Not much to object to. A lot of individual tracks are strong. All the performances are clean as well. It's just a little poppy with too much open air in a lot of the tracks.
One of my favorite albums of all time.
I wanted to like this a bit more than I did. I mean... it's ST so I'm bound to like it, but I think I'm a hard customer for this type of music since I've had such extended exposure to it growing up in Washington.
The definition of chill. It's not mind blowing by any means, but great music for when your hands are busy.
This sounds like the start of a lot of country western pop that I can't stand. Well played, just not interesting to me.
This was the first parental advisory album I ever owned. My mom was slightly worried about it, but I was so innocent at the time I thought the intro to Left Hand Suzuki method was a soda being opened.
So strange yet so catchy and easy to listen to. It has an almost Ween like ability to blend and hop between genres. A super fun listen.
Exploding with exploration. It's almost better when it's barely making sense. RIP Syd.
This has a huge nostalgia factor because it was drilled into me as a kid.
Really fun listen. The ways in which it's aged poorly are more endearing than distracting.
There's something effortlessly cool and graceful to this that is hard to find elsewhere. The bass just stumbles and trips all over the place without ever losing grace.
Enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. She's got a lot of interesting textures in her voice, and the storytelling is both nostalgic and vivid.
Such a massive album in terms of influence and wake for my generation. That being said, I just can't honestly say I enjoy it much. Things would get way more interesting later with tracks like "Toxic" which totally kick ass. This just feels a bit dated and even creepy in a certain light.
My heart jumped a bit when this came up for the day. It's a pure classic that I go back to again and again. One of the best in any sort of electronic genre.
It's a polyphonic masterpiece. It kind of swims back and forth between Panda Bear's poppy, saccharine vibes and the dark psych tastes of other members. Truly an album that is more than the sum of its parts, and a modern classic in my mind. This had a huge impact on my taste when I listened to it during high school.
Well, fuck me. I thought I would hate this album. Instead I came away "getting it" for the first. Yeah, deserves all the praise I would previously shake my head at. I don't think I ever listened to this with headphones before, which is probably a factor. The biggest factor is being born in '92 and having the radio and commercials absolutely abuse certain tracks on this album until they felt like inartistic bullshit. I hear all the New Wave now, and I like it quite a bit.
Lots of seeds being planted here, and I have huge historical respect for this album. That being said, there's a lot of fat to trim off the true meat of this album.
It's hard to say anything novel about this album. I'll just say that it always hits harder than I expect, given all the hype. But ya know... it really is that unique, especially when you situated it within its historical context. It's a true classic. Even the art is some of the most important, influential in pop music history. I don't even know how to approach evaluating this "objectively". It changed the world dramatically before I was even born.
Very cool. I don't know WTF is up with the RYM score on this album.
A pleasant listen, but just feels a bit vapid despite being lushly produced.
As perfect of an album as I have ever heard. So consistent in tone and theme, but it still feels like a journey. And despite being so morose, it's a great sunny day album. A rare achievement.
This kind of smooth synth soul is something I didn't know I wanted. The funk playing at the edges helps out heaps as well. It's really thoughtful album lyrically. I'm not super familiar with Marvin Gaye, but that seems to be a through-line for his work. I'll have to catch up on his other work based on how quickly this one landed with me.
Fun in some sense, but just not for me. The cabaret/opera atmosphere is deftly produced, but it enters a campy territory that I'm not entirely a fan of. I respect it, but I won't be going back to it.
