Jun 17 2021
The Man Machine
Kraftwerk
4
Jun 18 2021
Born In The U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
This album has not aged well. It made me cringe in a couple of places while listening with my 12 year old son.
Has a couple of great songs.
3
Jun 21 2021
Dear Science
TV On The Radio
3
Jun 22 2021
You're Living All Over Me
Dinosaur Jr.
Interesting. Little Fury Things is an excellent opening track.
4
Jun 23 2021
Southern Rock Opera
Drive-By Truckers
While this isnโt something Iโll likely listen to again anytime soon, I do appreciate how evocative and thought provoking some of their lyrics are. โThree Great Alabama Iconsโ definitely lead me on a rabbit hole of researching the band and their perspective on things. I donโt agree with the notion that we should praise George Wallace for eventually coming around to a perspective that I think should be the bare minimum for a decent human being, but they did present their perspective fairly and honestly & it definitely made me think - which is what good political/protest music does.
4
Jun 24 2021
Haut de gamme / Koweรฏt, rive gauche
Koffi Olomide
I donโt know enough about genre to know how influential or important this genre is. Itโs not really my type of vibe personally - but itโs kinda funky I guess. :)
3
Jun 25 2021
Stankonia
OutKast
I had forgotten how much I love Stankonia. Itโs amazing how frantic and up beat it is, but at the same time functions as chill background music.
5
Jun 28 2021
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs
Marty Robbins
The quality is a lot higher than I imagined it would be. My only tiny negative is that it largely sounds the same all the way through, but thatโs just music from that era.
4
Jun 29 2021
Hard Again
Muddy Waters
Such good stuff. There is such passion and honesty in the blues and this just drives from the opening note. Unapologetic and timeless greatness.
5
Jun 30 2021
Follow The Leader
Korn
This album is every bit as enjoyable as I thought it was when it was originally released. Which is to say - not very.
The longer the album goes on the more it becomes something akin to an aural military endurance test. About half way through Iโm tapping out with the same ferocity as I would if I found myself in a Ronda Rousey arm bar inside the octagon.
I love the concluding statement on the write up from the bookโฆ โSo did this angry, twisted music do anything positive? It certainly made a truckload of money.โ If that is your take - why the hell put it in the book?
If I am being completely fair - Freak on a Leash is definitely a unique sound that lended itself to a lot of other music and I shouldnโt discount that simply because that particular sound is almost certainly the soundtrack in my own personal version of Hell. Still - the โbeat box/scattingโ is atrocious and Iโll die on that hill.
1
Jul 01 2021
3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...
Arrested Development
3 Years doesnโt get the credit it deserves when talking about all time great albums - even when I make my own lists, it doesnโt always pop right up despite being a forefather of southern hip hop and my personal gateway to music meaning something, sharing history, & meaningful stories.
Prior to this my idea of hip hop was Beastie Boys, M.C. Hammer, Vanilla Ice, & DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. License to Ill remains my favorite hip hop album ever, but itโs mostly about being rebellious and partying and the others were more โpopโ radio hits that are fun, but didnโt contain a lot of substance. 3 Yearsโฆcame along and addressed issues like slavery & homelessness in the black community and opened up my eyes as a white kid in a rural area to issues I hadnโt given much attention to - and they did so using music that still felt upbeat and optimistic.
I donโt want to use too much hyperbole to overstate the importance of this album to my personal growth, but it is the perfect middle ground between the clean mainstream rap like โU Canโt Touch Thisโ and โParents Just Donโt Understandโ and the โThe Chronicโ that came later that same year. It was clean, but it was real and raw and made a difference.
5
Jul 02 2021
Dance Mania
Tito Puente
Not something Iโm likely to listen to often, but I can appreciate itโs importance within itโs genre.
3
Jul 05 2021
Ace of Spades
Motรถrhead
Itโs fineโฆnot particularly my thing.
2
Jul 06 2021
Mothership Connection
Parliament
4
Jul 07 2021
Songs Of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
2
Jul 08 2021
Trans Europe Express
Kraftwerk
4
Jul 09 2021
Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
4
Jul 13 2021
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
3
Jul 15 2021
Imagine
John Lennon
5
Jul 16 2021
Let It Be
The Replacements
4
Jul 19 2021
Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd
3
Jul 21 2021
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1
George Michael
4
Jul 23 2021
Very
Pet Shop Boys
4
Jul 26 2021
Graceland
Paul Simon
4
Jul 27 2021
That's The Way Of The World
Earth, Wind & Fire
3
Jul 29 2021
The Colour Of Spring
Talk Talk
3
Jul 30 2021
Live Through This
Hole
3
Aug 02 2021
Phrenology
The Roots
4
Aug 03 2021
Sea Change
Beck
4
Aug 10 2021
Play
Moby
4
Aug 11 2021
Fear Of A Black Planet
Public Enemy
4
Aug 13 2021
You Are The Quarry
Morrissey
2
Aug 17 2021
London Calling
The Clash
4
Aug 18 2021
Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand
4
Aug 19 2021
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
4
Aug 20 2021
You Want It Darker
Leonard Cohen
2
Aug 23 2021
Beggars Banquet
The Rolling Stones
3
Aug 25 2021
Songs From A Room
Leonard Cohen
I tried playing "Songs From a Room" in the background while doing my morning routine and quickly learned that Leonard Cohen isn't really suited for that. I dig that his songs tells stories, I wish more modern artists would do that. The problem for me is that his vocal tone doesn't exactly make me want to sit down and really take them in. If an album is going to require me to focus on nothing else - it has to have something that draws me in and engages me. Cohen's monotone drawl doesn't do that for me.
Like Bob Dylan, his song writing genius is undeniable but the listening experience is so polarizing that you're either into the extremely stylized sound or you're not.
3
Aug 26 2021
Disintegration
The Cure
4
Aug 27 2021
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles
3
Aug 30 2021
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Not something that I'm likely to listen to a lot, but it definitely rocks.
3
Aug 31 2021
Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
If โLicense to Illโ is โMeet the Beatlesโ, then โPaulโs Boutiqueโ is โSgt Pepperโs.โ
โจLicense to Ill is more easily digestible, fun, and in the best way possible, safe listening experience. It takes me back to a very particular place and I remember playing it over and over as a kid. Now 30+ years later as an adult, I can still do that without tiring of it.
Paulโs Boutique is the more artistic and edgy album and takes risks. Those risks didnโt pay off at the time as the album was a commercial and critical failure, but listening to it now the experimental and ballsy quality of the writing shows the Beastie Boys growl as a band. They were moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and the changes in perspective after the success of License to Ill definitely shines out and seems daring even when it doesnโt always make for the most enjoyable listening experience. It serves as a love letter to their hometown. Like most letters written after the fact, it romanticizes things in different way than we did when we were there.
License to Ill will always be my go to Beastie Boys album, primarily because of itโs simplicity, familiarity and fun. (Girls not withstanding, but the band has addressed that problematic like product of its era). That doesnโt take anything away from Paulโs Boutique though which is a brilliant album with influences you can easily hear in the works of Lin Manuel Miranda, Eminem, & even Jay-Z. There is plenty of room for both, and like the Beatles albums - the differences hidden within the similarities is part of what makes these albums great.
4
Sep 01 2021
Something Else By The Kinks
The Kinks
3
Sep 02 2021
Ocean Rain
Echo And The Bunnymen
5
Sep 03 2021
Homework
Daft Punk
3
Sep 06 2021
Modern Kosmology
Jane Weaver
4
Sep 07 2021
Sunshine Superman
Donovan
This is a good summer evening chilling in the backyard, roasting marshmallows on fire pit and swatting away mosquitos as they treat you like a human buffet album.
3
Sep 08 2021
16 Lovers Lane
The Go-Betweens
1
Sep 09 2021
Two Dancers
Wild Beasts
3
Sep 10 2021
The Real Thing
Faith No More
Really, really didn't age well. Oh well, 10 year old me will always love it.
2
Sep 13 2021
Tigermilk
Belle & Sebastian
4
Sep 14 2021
Pink Flag
Wire
2
Sep 15 2021
Home Is Where The Music Is
Hugh Masekela
4
Sep 16 2021
Viva Hate
Morrissey
2
Sep 20 2021
A Seat at the Table
Solange
5
Sep 21 2021
Selling England By The Pound
Genesis
3
Sep 22 2021
Bongo Rock
Incredible Bongo Band
4
Sep 24 2021
With The Beatles
Beatles
4
Sep 27 2021
Songs From The Big Chair
Tears For Fears
5
Sep 28 2021
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
4
Sep 29 2021
Brutal Youth
Elvis Costello
Every song on this album sounds like it should be the soundtrack underneath a montage of a complicated character in an indie film walking through the streets of their city at night as dawn breaks while figuring out their purpose/finding peace.
4
Sep 30 2021
Hunting High And Low
a-ha
4
Oct 01 2021
Warehouse: Songs And Stories
Hรผsker Dรผ
1
Oct 04 2021
Tidal
Fiona Apple
5
Oct 05 2021
Station To Station
David Bowie
4
Oct 06 2021
Vespertine
Bjรถrk
As I am listing now I am remembering why this album doesn't rank higher for me. Musically - it's a brilliant & extremely complex album - that is apparent. It definitely isn't as easy to just put on and enjoy as Debut or Post.
I think it's clear that she was in a certain headspace after doing *Dancer in the Dark* and Vespertine stays a bit more somber and subdued and doesn't reach the more manic highs of the previous 3 releases - and that's what I always loved most about Bjork.
4
Oct 07 2021
Peace Sells...But Who's Buying
Megadeth
2
Oct 08 2021
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
The Kinks
3
Oct 11 2021
Rust Never Sleeps
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4
Oct 12 2021
Red Headed Stranger
Willie Nelson
4
Oct 13 2021
Architecture And Morality
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4
Oct 14 2021
Talking Heads 77
Talking Heads
3
Oct 15 2021
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
4
Oct 18 2021
My Aim Is True
Elvis Costello
2
Oct 19 2021
There's A Riot Goin' On
Sly & The Family Stone
4
Oct 20 2021
Blackstar
David Bowie
5
Oct 21 2021
Heaux Tales
Jazmine Sullivan
1
Oct 22 2021
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3
Oct 25 2021
Garbage
Garbage
3
Oct 26 2021
Are You Experienced
Jimi Hendrix
4
Oct 27 2021
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Pink Floyd
2
Oct 28 2021
To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
4
Oct 29 2021
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
The Flying Burrito Brothers
1
Nov 01 2021
Endtroducing.....
DJ Shadow
4
Nov 02 2021
Inspiration Information
Shuggie Otis
4
Nov 03 2021
Illmatic
Nas
3
Nov 04 2021
Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
Maxwell
4
Nov 05 2021
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
A Tribe Called Quest
4
Nov 08 2021
Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper
This may very well be the least appealing album yet on this listโฆ and I listened to Korn.
1
Nov 09 2021
GREY Area
Little Simz
4
Nov 10 2021
This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
An oldie but aโฆmeh.
1
Nov 12 2021
Scream, Dracula, Scream
Rocket From The Crypt
If there is Punk Muzak genre, this album would be the Sgt Peppers.
It was fine and harmless - which is not how I want my punk music.
2
Nov 15 2021
Zombie
Fela Kuti
4
Nov 16 2021
Songs For Swingin' Lovers!
Frank Sinatra
4
Nov 17 2021
Figure 8
Elliott Smith
Didnโt really do it for me. More like a 2.5, but I was expecting to love it.
2
Nov 18 2021
Young Americans
David Bowie
4
Nov 19 2021
Ambient 1/Music For Airports
Brian Eno
Can definitely understand how influential and important this album is. It probably wonโt be my go to ambient album in 2021, but the ones I would go to likely wouldnโt be here without this.
3
Nov 22 2021
Live And Dangerous
Thin Lizzy
Nope. Not remotely interested and was also out off by the โhow many girls out there want a little Irish in them?โ line.
I find it difficult to like and respect that sort of tone in 2021.
1
Nov 23 2021
Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
Excellent album.
4
Nov 24 2021
Lam Toro
Baaba Maal
2
Nov 25 2021
The Idiot
Iggy Pop
3
Nov 30 2021
รgรฆtis Byrjun
Sigur Rรณs
Not something Iโm likely to go out of my way to listen to again, but it was interesting.
3
Dec 01 2021
Let's Stay Together
Al Green
4
Dec 02 2021
The La's
The La's
2
Dec 03 2021
Dub Housing
Pere Ubu
1
Dec 06 2021
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin
4
Dec 07 2021
The Gershwin Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald
3
Dec 08 2021
The Band
The Band
2
Dec 09 2021
Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
4
Dec 10 2021
Let Love Rule
Lenny Kravitz
3
Dec 13 2021
Brothers
The Black Keys
3
Dec 14 2021
Emergency On Planet Earth
Jamiroquai
3
Dec 21 2021
At Mister Kelly's
Sarah Vaughan
4
Dec 22 2021
Rock 'N Soul
Solomon Burke
4
Dec 24 2021
Whatever
Aimee Mann
4
Dec 28 2021
First Band On The Moon
The Cardigans
3
Dec 29 2021
Life's Too Good
The Sugarcubes
3
Dec 30 2021
Dirt
Alice In Chains
2
Jan 03 2022
Actually
Pet Shop Boys
4
Jan 04 2022
Blood On The Tracks
Bob Dylan
3
Jan 05 2022
Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Aphex Twin
4
Jan 06 2022
Psychocandy
The Jesus And Mary Chain
I enjoyed the more mellow tracks like Just Like Honey, Cut Dead, Sowing Seeds, My Little Underground, but the harder stuff like The Living End, In A Hole, etc I didnโt like as much.
Overall, itโs just not my kind of thing, but I can 100% understand how this album would be very influential for a lot of punk and grunge bands and all that.
2
Jan 11 2022
Queen Of Denmark
John Grant
1
Jan 13 2022
Thriller
Michael Jackson
Thriller is such an iconic album that it is almost difficult to separate it from the heights. That said, it is an incredible album and I think it firmly deserves its place in the top 25 or so of the most influential/significant albums of all time.
5
Jan 18 2022
Eagles
Eagles
3
Jan 20 2022
Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
2
Jan 21 2022
Before And After Science
Brian Eno
2
Jan 24 2022
american dream
LCD Soundsystem
3
Jan 25 2022
The Joshua Tree
U2
5
Jan 26 2022
The Man Who
Travis
2
Jan 28 2022
Can't Buy A Thrill
Steely Dan
2
Feb 02 2022
The Healer
John Lee Hooker
2
Feb 07 2022
Chirping Crickets
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3
Feb 11 2022
B-52's
The B-52's
5
Feb 16 2022
Tuesday Night Music Club
Sheryl Crow
3
Feb 21 2022
1989
Taylor Swift
3
Feb 25 2022
BEYONCร
Beyoncรฉ
3
Mar 03 2022
World Clique
Deee-Lite
4
Mar 04 2022
Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
3
Mar 07 2022
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
4
Mar 08 2022
Never Mind The Bollocks, Hereโs The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
3
Mar 11 2022
Butterfly
Mariah Carey
2
Mar 25 2022
A Walk Across The Rooftops
The Blue Nile
3
Apr 04 2022
Bad
Michael Jackson
4
Apr 05 2022
Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin
2
Apr 06 2022
Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
2
Apr 07 2022
Boy In Da Corner
Dizzee Rascal
2
Apr 12 2022
Nevermind
Nirvana
5
Apr 14 2022
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
3
Apr 18 2022
Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Fiona Apple
3
May 09 2022
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Eurythmics
3
May 10 2022
Murmur
R.E.M.
4
Jul 08 2022
Maverick A Strike
Finley Quaye
2
Jul 15 2022
Rio
Duran Duran
4
Aug 12 2022
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra is almost impossible to critique, but I'll make an attempt.
This is a very enjoyable album with a very calming jazz samba vibe combined with Old Blue Eyes crooning.
Though I will say that no one really needs to bother with "The Girl from Ipanema" as the Getz/Gilberto version is pretty much perfect as is - and we definitely don't need 47 different versions of it. It got a little tedious towards the end.
3
Aug 15 2022
Rust In Peace
Megadeth
Metal is not my genre and this album does nothing to change that. It sounds very cliche to me and is largely in distinguishable from most of the other metal albums from that are. I respect their place in music history and acknowledge that there are intricacies that I might not get, but I don't find it particularly enjoyable.
2
Aug 16 2022
Different Class
Pulp
Despite being a child of the 90s, I had never heard of this band or album. It was fine, but didn't particularly stand out for me. I'm not super well educated in Brit Pop but I can think of a lot of albums from that era that I did enjoy more than this one. Almost certainly a case if I had heard this 25 years ago I'd feel differently.
3
Aug 17 2022
Double Nickels On The Dime
Minutemen
I enjoyed this album well enough. Lyrically, it felt ahead of its time..."Machines disregard my pronouns" as a lyric in 1984 is astonishingly relevant in 2022.
At 75 minutes I could do with a little bit less of it, by the end it was starting to border on boring/tedious. If the album had started around track 22 or so, I think I'd have rated it a little higher.
3
Aug 18 2022
One Nation Under A Groove
Funkadelic
This album is literally what I think of when I hear the word funk. I can't really describe it beyond, "it is just so funky". Great album.
4
Aug 19 2022
Crime Of The Century
Supertramp
I had never heard this and actually enjoyed it quite a bit more than I thought I would. I'm not sure I'm ever going to seek it out, but it was far more enjoyable than some of the other albums I've discovered this week.
3
Aug 22 2022
I'm Your Man
Leonard Cohen
I realize that I'm in the minority on this, but I absolutely despise the quality/tone of Leonard Cohen's voice and this album did nothing to sway me on that fact.
I just put this album and it had that 80s sort of synth vibe and I was like, "Oh this is pretty cool."
And then the frog croak of "They sentenced me to 20 years of boredom..." came jarring in like Fran Drescher in an otherwise quiet room... and I remembered.
A few times a song started and I was like, "Oh, I might like this one, it sounds pret...nope, there he is again."
I realize he is a legend, and the lyrics are interesting, but this is 100% not for me.
2
Aug 23 2022
A Night At The Opera
Queen
4
Aug 25 2022
Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
50 Cent
2
Aug 26 2022
In Utero
Nirvana
5
Aug 29 2022
Smash
The Offspring
2
Sep 02 2022
Goo
Sonic Youth
It was fine.
2
Sep 05 2022
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
4
Sep 20 2022
21
Adele
4
Oct 21 2022
Head Hunters
Herbie Hancock
4
Oct 27 2022
Hearts And Bones
Paul Simon
3
Nov 07 2022
Document
R.E.M.
5
Nov 15 2022
Entertainment
Gang Of Four
3
Dec 06 2022
All Directions
The Temptations
3
Dec 09 2022
Iโm a Lonesome Fugitive
Merle Haggard
3
Dec 12 2022
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elton John
3
Dec 15 2022
Loveless
My Bloody Valentine
3
Dec 16 2022
Unhalfbricking
Fairport Convention
3
Dec 19 2022
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady
Charles Mingus
3
Dec 20 2022
Pornography
The Cure
3
Dec 30 2022
Le Tigre
Le Tigre
3
Jan 02 2023
Private Dancer
Tina Turner
I wouldn't call myself a huge Tina Turner fan, but this album was a fun listen. The hits are always fun even though I don't particularly have a huge amount of nostalgia for them. Also, points for having a black cat on the cover!
3
Jan 03 2023
Parallel Lines
Blondie
The hits on this album really hold up the rest of it. It started to feel a lot longer than 39 minutes by the end. It did seem appropriate that the last track on the album is titled "Just Go Away" though.
3
Jan 04 2023
Parklife
Blur
This album isn't bad. Love the opening track. It could stand to be about 15 minutes shorter though.
3
Jan 05 2023
Black Metal
Venom
I want pizza.
2
Jan 06 2023
Oedipus Schmoedipus
Barry Adamson
This started out interesting and proceeded to being weirder and weirder as it went on. I don't recall the last time I was so uncertain whether or not I even liked an album. There is no cohesion to this album whatsoever as one track would have a Beck vibe followed by a spoken word in Shakespearean style and then back to a Leonard Cohen sort of vibe. That sounds a lot cooler than it actually ended up being for me. I'd put this somewhere between a 2 and a 3 if I could.
2
Jan 09 2023
Juju
Siouxsie And The Banshees
Enjoyable album. I don't have a ton of nostalgia for this in particularly which I think would have maybe bumped it up to a 4.
3
Jan 10 2023
Hot Fuss
The Killers
I'm definitely familiar with the hits, but I don't think I ever sat down and just listened to this album I've always enjoyed them though.
It does seem like they got popular and then became a meme to shit on a little bit from the "cool kids", I think a lot of people have come back around and realized that they aren't bad.
3
Jan 11 2023
Ray Of Light
Madonna
This is pure nostalgia for me and it turns out may also have been the origin album for my new found love of Trip Hop. Ray of Light, Frozen, etc are among my favorite Madonna songs. Post-Evita Madonna with this album and Music is peak Madonna for me. Also, creeper - this isn't a 3, so SMD!
4
Jan 12 2023
Sex Packets
Digital Underground
3
Jan 17 2023
evermore
Taylor Swift
3
Jan 18 2023
Machine Gun Etiquette
The Damned
;)
3
Jan 19 2023
Qui sรจme le vent rรฉcolte le tempo
MC Solaar
3
Jan 20 2023
Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
3
Jan 24 2023
American Beauty
Grateful Dead
2
Jan 25 2023
Let's Get It On
Marvin Gaye
4
Jan 26 2023
Raw Like Sushi
Neneh Cherry
Buffalo Stance is a nostalgia grenade for me, but the rest of the album didnโt particularly stand out as anything more than fine.
2
Feb 03 2023
Madman Across The Water
Elton John
3
Feb 06 2023
Music for the Masses
Depeche Mode
4
Feb 07 2023
Clube Da Esquina
Milton Nascimento
3
Feb 09 2023
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
OutKast
4
Feb 21 2023
Debut
Bjรถrk
4
Feb 23 2023
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago
2
Feb 24 2023
Colour By Numbers
Culture Club
3
Mar 06 2023
Untitled (Black Is)
SAULT
3
Mar 08 2023
Appetite For Destruction
Guns N' Roses
4
May 12 2023
MTV Unplugged In New York
Nirvana
5