This is a very solid album from a group that I thought was good but maybe not a whole album good. A lot of catchy uptempo tunes that get a lot of radio airplay in Canada, which I don't mind at all - Help I'm Alive, Sick Muse, Satellite Mind, Gold Guns Girls, Stadium Love. Gimme Sympathy is a more mixed tempo song that rightly so still gets a lot of airplay. I didn't really know Front Row (uptempo) or Collect Call (a little slower) before, but they're sneaky good. Not a song I dislike on this album. Doesn't feel like a masterpiece but very solid.

Adam Green has such a prominent voice - it sticks out, a lot. Almost sucks up all the remaining air or sound in the room. There's some fun guitar plucking and piano playing on this album, but I just can't help feeling like his voice doesn't match the instruments. Reminded me of Presidents of the United States of America gone a little more folk - similar vocal registry and lots of attempts at humor (a little too much at times?). I didn't dislike the album, but I think I could've liked it more.

This is really right up there with other quintessential 80's rock acts - Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, The Cult. It can really rock, but it also feels so synthetic and formulated. Don't know what I mean? Listen to the start of Guns in the Sky with the synth beat, drum track, and Michael Hutchence's half-hearted attempt at energizing grunts. I can just imagine several producers playing around with the track or asking for one more take. Is it a bad song? No. But it feels like it doesn't have a soul. Still, does it rock? Somewhat, but other possibly soulless songs absolutely rock. This album didn't sell more than 10 million copies without having some bangers - New Sensation, Devil Inside, Need You Tonight all have an incredibly catchy guitar hook. The kind of hook that if you played it just once to an unsuspecting crowd, the cheers would blow the roof off and the underwear might come off too (including mine). Then of course there's the power ballad - Never Tear us Apart. Also a crowd pleaser and I don't know why-y-y-y-y-y. No wait, yes I do. The other 8 songs aren't nearly as good as these 4, but it was still a lot of fun. It's better than Slippery When Wet and not as good as Hysteria or Electric. 3.5 but I'll round up.

I still can't believe Weezer's Blue Album didn't make the 1,001 list - it started its own genre geek rock and it was an incredible album in its own right. Like many others, I didn't think Pinkerton was as good when I first heard it. But a friend encouraged me to really listen as he thought it was the superior album. I don't know if I'll go that far, but it is a dang good follow-up to their debut and worth more accolades than criticism. Rivers Cuomo basically poured his heart out, no matter how despairing it was, and people wanted it to be a nerd dramedy like the Blue album (so they didn't have to feel so bad about the losers) not pure young adult angst. Even though the songs repeat themes and chords a bit (Tired of Sex, Getchoo, and No Other One as an example), I give him a lot of respect for going this direction. The key thing that makes Pinkerton different than the Blue album is I can get sick of Pinkerton from time to time - I can wear it out with too many listens. But, I'd say I probably don't ever get sick of the middle of the album - Why Bother?, Across the Sea, The Good Life, and El Scorcho.

The first track It's Okay to Cry, which was very good, made me think of 80's synth but with a new millennium twist. Not quite Pet Shop Boys but something like that with a more grandiose, almost baroque synth style. But after that it was like Transformers meets music and I didn't love it. Too spastic, too experimental, too many loops or spliced cuts. Not Okay was a prime example. Ponyboy and Immaterial were other examples that were decent at times but then used too many odd scratches and sounds or too much unnecessary autotune. I could've done with more songs like Is it Cold in the Water? Still a bit manic, but more rhythmic.

I feel like I have listened to this album before but I honestly don't recall any of the tracks other than Afternoons & Coffeespoons and Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm. The latter is their most well known, and it's solid, but the former is the best song on this album. Here I Stand Before Me sounds a bit like it, and I can't decide whether that's a plus or a minus. Overall, this album is fine and all, but not one I'll keep coming back to.

Love this album, though their follow-up Take Off Your Pants and Jacket might be even better. I know some people don't like Blink or think they watered down punk, but it's just as cleverly irreverent as classic punk and way more melodic. So why hate on pop punk? A weakness of classic punk is limited musicianship and flawed vocals, and that's not here. It is FUN as hell. Everybody knows the two big singles What's My Age Again and All the Small Things (stone cold classics), which are models of juvenile delinquency and/or pop punk simplicity, but Adam's Song shows their deeper lyrical and musical ability. Other great lighthearted songs are Dumpweed, Don't Leave Me, Dysentery Gary, The Party Song, Wendy Clear, while another great deeper song is Aliens Exist (still has goofy moments). This album was a watershed moment for pop punk - a genre that lasted just as long as other genres recognized on the 1,001 list - k and really should've been on the list.

I really like this album. A friend recommended it about a year ago; one I missed from the grunge/post-grunge years. I know it's looked upon as a pioneering work of emo but it is quite unique in my opinion. The guitars, bass, and drums are a lot heavier than typical emo even if it has some despairing vocals; really a beautiful medley of grunge alternative and post-grunge angst. It has hints of Fugazi and Deftones moreso than Jimmy Eat World. Easy album for me to play on repeat, in part because it starts and ends so strongly with Seven, In Circles, (the first two) and 8 and 9 (the closing bonus tracks). Also a big fan of most tracks in between - Song About an Angel and the Blankets Were the Stairs (ok, these are emo), Round (rocking like the openers), 47 (Pearl Jam feel), Shadows (cycles between sweet and energetic), 48 (pulsing), and Sometimes (downtuned softie). Only two songs I didn't mention and I didn't mind them either. Another hidden gem from 1994, the greatest year of rock since the 80s.

I am a big Powderfinger fan, for a non-fan, but the best album from any of them is Bernard Fanning's solo debut Tea & Sympathy. This album is good but has holes - even Fanning thinks a couple songs are so-so. The last 3 songs in particular drag and the opener Waiting for the Sun is sort of up and down. They nail melodic melancholy perfectly with the second song My Happiness (perhaps their most well-known), which feeds perfectly into The Metre and later My Kind of Scene and These Days. All beautiful tracks. Like a Dog is the one song that doesn't quite fit this album, being more rocking, but it's solid. I mean, the best songs are 5s but overall this album is closer to a 3.5. I'm rounding up to 4 because I do really like these guys.