The Platonic ideal of a 70s country album

Love the new wave/post punk production, it's in the vein of Dylan's "Infidels" or "Empire Burlesque." I wasn't super familiar with much by Faithfull before listening to this, at least outside of her version of "As Tears Go By," which is gorgeous. This is a whole different animal, her alto has lost the honey sweet smoothness of the British Invasion days but it's beautiful in a more complex, adult way. The more I think about this, the more I'm in love with it and I want more.

RaNdY NeWmAn DoEs DiSnEy SoNgS. What a weak, embarrassing take.

I had just relistened to this for the umpteenth time a couple of days ago, it's one of my favorite albums, the best album of the 90s if you ask me. I was originally hooked by Boys and Girls but every time I listen to it a different song jumps out as a new favorite, the title track, "End of a Centurty," "This Is a Low," even "Jubilee." Currently it's "To the End."

One of the things I'm discovering I love about this album generator thingy, is that it's helping to fill in some holes in my music listening history. I've listened to some fIREHOSE, mainly If'n (the album) which I love but other than that covers EP and a other songs here and there, I don't know much else so I'm glad this one popped up.

I had just relistened to this for the umpteenth time a couple of days ago, it's one of my favorite albums, the best album of the 90s if you ask me. I was originally hooked by Boys and Girls but every time I listen to it a different song jumps out as a new favorite, the title track, "End of a Centurty," "This Is a Low," even "Jubilee." Currently it's "To the End."

A little Shaun Ryder goes a long way for me. There's some good stuff here, Wrote For Luck and Lazy Itis are great but I think I like Pills 'n' Thrills better.

One of the things I'm discovering I love about this album generator thingy, is that it's helping to fill in some holes in my music listening history. I've listened to some fIREHOSE, mainly If'n (the album) which I love but other than that covers EP and a other songs here and there, I don't know much else so I'm glad this one popped up.

I've definitely never listened to this whole album. I know Babylon and remember when it was a big hit and maybe I've heard another song or two from this album in passing at some point. It's not bad, I probably wouldn't go too far out of my way to put it on again or explore more of Gray's music but it wouldn't make me change the station on the radio or anything if it came on. It's fine.

pure fun!

A decade ahead of it's time

Pretty much every time I listen to any one of Al Green's classic albums I think it's the best one but this one might actually be his all time best.

It's weird to me that this album was considered such a failure. It doesn't sound that far removed from the kind of country inflected rock Neil Young or Stephen Stills we're doing around the same time. This didn't blow my mind or anything but it's good. It seems like its commercial and critical failure really did a number on Clark and that's sad.

I don't mind The Black Keys, their music is well produced but I can only take so many mid-tempo bluesy garage rockers.

First VU I ever bought after they were covered and name dropped by R.E.M. on Dead Letter Office (which was actually the first R.E.M. album I ever purchased). 16 year old me didn't completely get it but it sure grew on me. An all time classic by a band whose entire studio catalog is comprised of nothing but classics (I can pretend Squeeze doesn't exist, try and stop me)

This album might be an acquired taste that I have yet to acquire. I've liked other stuff I've heard by Tim Buckley so I'm curious to dig a little deeper and honestly I can recognize the musical and songwriting skill here it just isn't my thing.

I wanted to like this, I really did.

Bolan takes the pop and rock and roll that came before him and makes something that somehow stills sounds and feels futuristic. It’s fun, sexy, sleazy, dirty, funky and gorgeous. An actual peer of Bowie and an antecedent to Prince.

The Dan would reach greater heights on successive albums but this is a great debut. Only A Fool Would Say That, Dirty Work and Do It Again (with its electric sitar solo!) are among the highlights and Reelin' In The Years is an all-timer with one of the greatest guitar solos ever.

I was never super into thrash metal, I think I need more pop hooks so this isn't really my thing. That being said, I think this does what it sets out to very well so I'm giving it three stars instead of two.

Had this one on cassette back when it was new. Freak Scene is one of the best songs of the 80s. The rest of this is good too. I've always had a soft spot for Don't.

I like to listen to all different kinds of music but if someone made it so I could only listen to Mambo from now on I wouldn't be upset.

This will always be one of my favorite albums ever. It's certainly their high point as a band. Song For My Sugar Spun Sister, Fool's Gold and especially I Am The Resurrection are the highlights.

So I know I've listened to this before but not recently, maybe the other times I wasn't paying real close attention because I never noticed that the "title track" was just four seconds of silence. I was prepared to go on here and warn other Spotify listeners in the U.S. about the track being missing. I'm glad I did a little research because that would have been embarrassing. Anyway, great druggy funk album, one of the best I've heard, five stars.

My memory of this album is that it was good but a little front loaded and to be fair, the first half is incredible, the first five songs might be as good as any five song sequence to start any 80s album. But you know what? The rest of this album is amazing! Fast Car (an all time classic single) and many of the other songs, Behind the Wall and Across the Lines especially, are as prescient as they were in 1988.

Second great album in a row from 1988 (got Tracy Chapman's ST yesterday) and man Vernon Reid is a monster! I still dig a lot of this, obviously Cult of Personality is great song with a classic riff. I had forgotten about Chuck D and Flava Flav popping up in Funny Vibe. Open Letter To A Landlord and (Talking Heads cover) Memories Can't Wait are also highlights.

The prototypical messy, overindulgent, late career double album. I almost always appreciate them but sometimes it's more about the ambition and cohones then it is the final result but I mean, it's the Beatles, it's perfect. I'm pretty sure this was the first Beatles album I ever owned and I've listened to it hundreds of times probably. It holds up of course, it's fun, it's weird and there's nothing else I can say that hasn't already been said by smarter people and better writers.

Bruuuuce!

I get what they are doing. Never dug super deep into QOTSA but I'm familiar enough and I think I like them in smaller doses, in fact if this album had been, I don't know, fifteen minutes shorter I think I would've liked it a lttle more, it just gets a little too samey after a while.

The second album of Neil Young's "comeback" period is a garage rock classic, how could it not be when he's playing with Crazy Horse? I hadn't listened to this in a few years and my takeaway this time is that it's fun!

This is another one of my all time favorite albums so I'm pretty sure I won't be able to review it objectively. Or maybe it's just one of the greatest albums ever. Noisy, jangly, perfect power pop from Scotland. Fun fact: Spin magazine picked this as album of the year in 1991 over Nirvana's Nevermind. Usually when this fact gets brought up it's to show how short-sighted Spin magazine was but maybe they were just brilliant. Don't get me wrong, I love Nevermind too but I listen to Bandwagonesque way more often.

"This ain't Areosmith" It's probably not this simple but it felt at the time like this album changed hip hop overnight. Groundbreaking sonically and commercially.

One of those groups I've heard mentioned but I don't think actually listened to before now. Definitely motivated to check out more. Can I assume Black Francis was a fan?

One of the greatest live albums ever

All but three songs on this album have been FM radio staples as long as I've been paying attention and this is a debut, it's difficult to imagine an album have that kind of pop cultural impact today, I think it would be impossible.

Ugh. Shut up, Brian. I'd rather listen to Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd.

Was not expecting the Queen cover

The Platonic ideal of a 70s country album

Just so great. I think in most cases a live recording in which the listener can hear the screaming fans during the actual songs might get old really fast, but I would argue that in the case of "At Budokan," the fans are what make this such a fun, energy-filled live album. They make "I Want You to Want Me" better, that's for sure. This version of "Surrender" is so much better than the studio version that they might as well be different songs. This is the high water mark for Cheap Trick.

One of the best debut albums of the 90s.

I agree with Kyle Brofloski

At some point in the 90s they (MTV, the music industry) stopped calling techno "techno" and started calling it "electronica." I don't know if anybody calls it that anymore but when I hear that word this is the album that pops into my head. I don't think is because this is some kind of pinnacle of the genre but I do remember it being a pretty big deal and it's a pretty fun example of late 90s techno music.

The best of the pre weed smokin' Beatles albums.

Solid late 90s Britpop/rock, good but not super memorable or anything. I have to confess though that I inadvertently listened to the whole album on shuffle, didn't realize till the second to last song. In hindsight I remember hearing at least one song that kind of faded out in a weird way, probably was supposed to fade into whatever the actual next song was. I just thought it was a weird production choice.

Don't love a lot of the lyrics, not the lyrical themes, the actual words. Got a real Father John Misty vibe here which is not a positive as far as I'm concerned. I think musically though this was pretty great.

I liked this better than I thought I would

Like a cross between Woody Guthrie and Suicide.

I saw Jonathan Richman play live a few years ago and I can't really explain it but I just felt so happy during and after the show, I really did have the proverbial warm, fuzzy feeling. I guess what I'm saying is I love this album.

In the early 90s I was a DJ at this local, publicly-funded, alternative radio station. Certain songs were in rotation and we had to play those at certain times so that they got played a specific number of times per day. If there was time left before the next required song we could pick out a song of our choice that wasn't in rotation as long as it fit in with the format. Because of this I hated having to play long songs, I wanted the world (or at least the part of Western New York State that was in our small listening area) to hear what amazing taste I had. "Water From a Vine Leaf" the seven minute leadoff track from this album was my bete noire. Now when I listen to it and the rest of "Strange Cargo III," especially on some good headphones I really appreciate it.

I'm not sure what it was that got me interested in this album enough for me to purchase the cassette but I did. It just was not the type of music I remember being into at the time, I was an avid reader of Circus and Hit Parader, magazines that largely focused on hard rock and heavy metal. Ratt, Dokken, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden were more my speed. We didn't have MTV but there was Friday Night Videos on network tv so that mustbe were I came across these guys. There's some great stuff here of course, the three singles, "Shout," "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and especially "Head Over Heels" are mid 80s all-timers. I probably liked "Shout" cause it seemed kind of pissed off and badass and then the rest kind of sorted it out I suppose. Looking back on the year this came out and the other music that came out around the same time, I was definitely into Rush's "Power Windows," (sort of a hard rock band really leaning into synths) "Brothers In Arms" by Dire Straits and Weird Al's "Born To Be Stupid" so I guess it was a transitional time for me. I was growing up and it probably had something to do with girls.

This is not for me, a 50-year-old man, and it wasn't for me in 1999 either (you can do the math) but maybe if I was a disaffected, bummed-out teenager who needed an outlet that sometimes only agressive music can satisfy, well then I think I might be into this. This is definitely better than Korn or Limp Bizkit or whatever other nu metal I may be lumping it in with either fairly or unfairly but I mean if I was at a party or bar or on a roadtrip and someone put this music on I'd probably leave or consider jumping out of the car. Maybe I'd just see if there was anything by the Deftones to put on. With all that being said Slipknot are good at what they do and next time I see some kid in one of their t-shirts I won't automatically assume they have shit taste.

Just when I thought I had never heard anything by this group BAM! Geico caveman commercial song.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate all double albums, there are a few I've given five stars to, but just because you can make a 75 minute album doesn't mean you should. There's some great stuff here, "Jacksonville," "Chicago" and. "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" stand out. I'm gonna have to give "John Wayne Gacy, Jr" another listen or two; Stevens says we're all capable of what Gacy did, speak for yourself dude. I know this album is beloved by a lot of people, I just like some other of his stuff better, "Carrie & Lowell" is his real masterpiece, here he could've used an editor or even made "Illinois Part 2."

Love the new wave/post punk production, it's in the vein of Dylan's "Infidels" or "Empire Burlesque." I wasn't super familiar with much by Faithfull before listening to this, at least outside of her version of "As Tears Go By," which is gorgeous. This is a whole different animal, her alto has lost the honey sweet smoothness of the British Invasion days but it's beautiful in a more complex, adult way. The more I think about this, the more I'm in love with it and I want more.

Hadn't revisited this in quite a while and really all I remembered were the three big songs ("Fight Test," "Do You Realize" and the title track) so I expected a lot of filler. While I still prefer "The Soft Bulletin," "Transmissions From The Satellite Heart" and "Clouds Taste Metallic," this ended up being a pleasant surprise.

The third of four spectacularly great Rolling Stones studio albums in a row. I don't know what else there is to say here. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," "Bitch," "Wild Horses," "Moonlight Mile" and "Dead Flowers" (and even the recently disavowed "Brown Sugar" could be one side of a Stones best of collection. I can't imagine giving this fewer than five stars.

How can anyone not love this? Even if it didn't have one the best Christmas songs (that makes me cry) ever on it, I still would.

Had to cobble this together since it's not available on Spotify in the States. All the songs are though, it was pretty easy. I like this era of American pop songs from the Brill Building, Motown etc. and Dusty (the proto Adele?) is a great interpreter. Her truly great days are still ahead of her here but this is a nice collection.

Seriously question: Has anyone seen these guys and Daft Punk in the same room before. I haven't looked but I wonder how many people have made this same joke before me.

The second of three Radiohead albums in a row that shattered expectations based on the previous one. Who else has done that?

Even though not every song here was written in the aftermath of 9/11, this is Springsteen's 9/11 album. It was also his first great album in about 15 years (since 1987's "Tunnel of Love") and as of now his last truly great album of original material. I've liked his stuff since then (and I liked the a lot of the stuff between "Tunnel" and this album) but "The Rising" is a whole other level.

My favorite kind of hip hop is weird, off-center hip hop that sounds great which is the perfect way to describe this. Kool Keith, Dan the Automator and DJ Qbert really hit my sweet spot. I'm giving it 5 stars notwithstanding the very creepy "A Visit To The Gynecologist"

Let's say you get dumped by the love of your life. You can deal with it in the healthy, boring way, nobody's gonna judge you for that. By all means take care of yourself, you do you. My way is a little different though. Get yourself a bottle of Jack Daniel's and a couple of packs of Camel Straights and put on this album ("Sings for Only The Lonely" will work too) and get good and drunk while chain smoking, you'll eventually feel better the next day.

"Block Rockin' Beats" is probably what most people remember from this and that's not without reason, it's the epitome of big beat electronic music. If "Dig Your Own Hole" was just more of that it would still be one of the best of its genre but it is definitely not just more of that. Instead we get a solid dose of Beatlesque psychedelia featuring Noel Gallagher at the height of Oasis-mania on "Setting Sun" and the gorgeous journey that turns into a really bad trip (and one of the best songs of the 90s) "Where Do I Begin" with a stunning vocal by Beth Orton (where has she gone?)

There are times when I'm pretty sure that "Jesus Built My Hot Rod" is the greatest song of all time, those times are usually whenever I hear it.

This makes me want to put on an Armani suit and get down. For the sake of clarity, my favored wardrobe consists of jeans and band t-shirts and I most certainly can't dance but this makes me feel like I have sartorial taste and an actual sense of rhythm. In an alternate universe this is the soundtrack to a colorful, early 80s movie musical that while very much of it's time and critically savaged upon its release is now considered a groundbreaking cult classic.

Jarvis H. Tapdancing Cocker

Man I had to scroll down quite a bit further than I expected to find a negative review of this. I wouldn't say I hate The Doors but do kind of think they're for high school boys who think they're more sophisticated than they really are. Man, that's a super pretentious thing to say isn't it? Even if it is, it for sure was a pretty good description of high school me. I definitely owned the double album greatest hits collection, it was one of my earliest Columbia House purchases and I definitely bought into the myth that Jim Morrison was like a real poet, dude. Listening to this now I think I'm liking it more than I would have believed. Maybe it's the fact that I don't really listen to classic rock radio anymore, so it's not as omnipresent in my life as it was back in the day. I'm not gonna say this is dated because that's a stupid criticism, what does it even mean? Morrison is a pretty good songwriter and maybe there's a cult of personality surrounding him (maybe? Lol) but he actually is an amazing front man and really no one else sounds like The Doors musically, certainly not in 1967 anyway. They'll never be my favorites again, that Crystal Ship has sailed (sorry. Also that song will always make me think of The Dead Milkmen, iykyk) but this might be their best album. 4 stars.

What am I gonna do, give this less than five stars or something? C'mon!

Is it enough that the title track is possibly the greatest album opener in the history of music? It might be but it doesn't have to be because this album also contains "Fascination" perhaps the grooviest song of all time (or at least the grooviest Bowie tune.) Also, "Fame" features an actual Beatle, so there's that. I know this isn't as beloved as the Berlin trilogy or as iconic as the Ziggy Stardust stuff or as popular as the "Let's Dance" album (I absolutely love all that stuff too by the way) but if I had to pick one favorite Bowie album, it would be this one and maybe that's weird but I don't care, "Young Americans" is my favorite David Bowie album.

"1999" and "Purple Rain" notwithstanding, this is the greatest Prince album. Not only that but this is definitely in my top 5 albums by anyone of all time, I'd give it 10 stars if I could.

"You're Gonna Miss Me" is a great leadoff track and it absolutely belongs on "Nuggets." It might even be the best song on that whole compilation. If you like that kind of psych garage music (I do too) then you'll dig this. The rest is more of the same but not as amazing I guess. Put this on at a party and you're good to go. 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4.

RaNdY NeWmAn DoEs DiSnEy SoNgS. What a weak, embarrassing take.

I like the idea of this album more than I like the results. Despite the presence of one of best songs by The Who, "I Can See For Miles," the seeds of more elaborate concept albums (and "Sparks!") in the near future ("Rael") and a couple of other standouts ("Mary Anne With the Shakey Hand" and "Armenia City in the Sky") a lot of this just fizzles out. Also, "Silas Stingy" is annoying.

A couple of pretty great songs ("While You See A Chance" and "Night Train") the rest ranges from ok to not that great.

I was definitely a fan of the title track when this came out. I may have listened to a couple of other songs back then as well because they kind of seemed familiar but I definitely thought of Stereo MC's as one hot wonders. You know what though? I really liked this, it was better than expected.

I didn't have to relisten to this to know I was giving it five stars but I did anyway. I love genius songwriter Willie and outlaw country Willie but I think Great American Songbook crooning Willie is my favorite Willie.

I've never listened to this band before and now I don't really know why, this is pretty great. I've never been a huge fan of hardcore outside of Fugazi but they kind of always felt like their own thing and I've never dug much deeper, I've barely listened to Minor Threat. In my head I'm always kind of looking for pop hooks so I prefer the punkier end of loud, fast non metal stuff. I'll probably still prefer that but I'm tempted to explore more now. Also I love Sonic Youth (a band that are not strangers to a pop hooks) and I can hear some of the same kind of dissonance that feels like one of their signatures here.

I'm pretty sure that before today the only Robbie Williams songs I'd heard were "Millennium" which I remember playing on MTV and that "Something Stupid" cover because he's not well known in The States. I have a half-baked theory that it has something to do with MTV cutting back on music videos which I believe limited the network's influence on popular music in America. This album is excellent by the way, I'm a sucker for a lot of Brit pop and this did it for me.

I can't imagine giving this album fewer than five stars.

A complaint I've seen pretty regularly in these reviews is that the songs on a given album are "samey" and I've made that complaint before myself. Sometimes though that's not such a bad thing and in this case I wouldn't even think about changing anything. Maybe the best thing Cave's ever done.

By cutting out a little over half of these songs the Smashing Pumpkins might have had a great album, there are just so many misses here. Just build it around "Thirty-Three," "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" and "By Starlight" and it's their second (or third) great album of new material in a row. As it is a lot of it is a slog to get through. I'm pretty sure I've only ever listened to this front to back one other time and I probably won't ever again, I'd rather listen to "Siamese Dream" or "Gish" or even "Pisces Iscariot."

I always forget how much I love this album but once I put it on it all comes back to me.

I didn't expect to give this five stars but then I listened to it and here we are.

One of the things I love (or at least very much appreciate) about the current media landscape is the ability to just listen to an album or watch a movie pretty much on demand. One of the things I hate is seeking out a piece of media only to find that not enough people care enough about it to make it available. That seems to be the case with this first, self-titled Throwing Muses album. I don't have an Apple Music or Tidal account so maybe it's on there but it definitely isn't on Spotify, not in the U.S. anyway. I was able to find it in bits in pieces on YouTube minus one song, "Stand Up," which was available in a live version (that I could have sworn was from a those crappy cellphone video but was actually from 1987 so VHS I guess?) with not great sound so I didn't count it as part of my rating. After all that, I didn't really care for this album, some of it was just ok but a lot of it just wasn't my thing I guess. I haven't listened to a ton of Throwing Muses but I have liked or even loved some of their songs over the years, "Dizzy," "Counting Backwards" and "Big Yellow Gun" of the top of my head. Those all seam to have fuller production or something, I don't know if that is the correct terminology or if it even means anything but I think that's what the difference is to me. It's actually made me interested in digging deeper into their discography.

Easily one of the greatest debut albums of all time.

Sometimes I give an album five stars just because I love it. Sometimes it's because it's such a high quality piece of musical art. Sometimes it's because of its historical importance or because it's the best, most representative work by a bonafide musical genius. "Songs In The Key Of Life" is all of these things. It might be the best album I've gotten so far, it might even best album of all time.

Links 90s hardcore punk to the heartland punk of the aughts (Gaslight Anthem, The Hold Steady, etc.) Maybe it's the horns?

I'm not sure I'd call this a jazz album, it has some jazz players and some of the arrangements are a little jazzy but this is really just a tastefully pleasant pop album. It's a good soundtrack for a casual dinner or maybe the start of some day drinking.

The last great Pixies album.

It's got a good beat and you can dance to it I guess. Mostly generic club music (this coming from someone who hasn't set foot in a dance club since, I don't know, the mid 90s?) and that's fine but not always my thing. I like the songs with the fundamentalist Christian fascist guy rattling off the 80s musical artists and the woman naming cars, respectfully. Other than the occasional sample I recognize, nothing really stands out here.

I could see putting Nuggets on this list (maybe compilations aren't included in the list?) or Too Much To Dream if you were doing a similar list of songs but a whole album by The Electric Prunes? C'mon. This is just cookie cutter generic late 60s psychedlia. It's not even as if I'm not a fan of this genre, Piper at The Gates of Dawn absolutely belongs so does Forever Changes. I won't even argue with the 13th Floor Elevators album but to me this is like putting a Strawberry Alarm Clock or Chocolate Watchband album on here.

I really enjoy The Cure when they are new wavy and poppy but I especially love them when they are dark, psychedelic and a little scary.

I actually own a copy of this but I haven't listened to it (until now) since it was a new release. I bought it because I had quite liked a couple of Cope's earlier albums, "Saint Julian" and "My Nation Underground" but for whatever reason I didn't remember much of this. I have a vague memory of thinking maybe he had had some kind of breakdown. Who knows what I was thinking because man, I really dig this. I definitely did not remember so much of it having that funky, swirly Madchester sound which I still really enjoy. Anyway I think this is gonna get five stars from me.

Bjork and this album are both magical.

I could've done with less of the narration or whatever but mostly I really dug this.

I'm wondering if the people who gave this a positive review or even the people involved in making this album could pick any of these songs out of a lineup. I'll admit that electronic music isn't always a favorite genre of mine but I like some standout artists and albums. I'm definitely not a person who thinks you can't make good music using computers or that dance music can't be interesting but this is the kind of music that people hear and (wrongly) believe those things. Blah, blah, good beat, blah, blah you can dance to it, etc.but boring without the use of club drugs.

So apparently I gave four stars to "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space," would it be blasphemous to give this five?

A great and fascinating turning point in Dylan's career. "It's Alright Ma" is a masterpiece.

The last truly great Public Enemy album. I love that Bomb Squad production, it still sounds like it's from some dystopian future.

TIL that "Roundabout" is some Vine/TikTok/Anime meme. Anyway, I used to not really love Yes, I think it's Jon Anderson's voice, it's too close to Dana Carvey doing "Choppin' Broccoli," but over the years I've grown to appreciate the musicianship here, some of Phish's more composed stuff is really informed by this (just listen to the "Rift" album) and I love Phish. The only thing that bugs me a little is the Brahms thing and it honestly doesn't bother me too much but there's something that feels condescending or self-serious about a rock band, even a prog rock band breaking out some classical 🎵 or playing some variations on a classical piece or whatever they're doing here. I get it, "The classical composers were the rock stars of their day" or something. I'm not saying it should never be done or it can't be done well (and it's not terrible here or anything) it just feels suspect.

Is this my first solo Morrissey? I think it is, I know which albums of his are on the list and three of them might very well be his top three albums. I think I slightly prefer "Kill Uncle" over "You Are The Quarry" but it's not my list, is it? Besides this is "Vauxhall And I"

I've only listened to this one other time and it was probably because of "Feel Flows." What an incredibly beautiful song that I was completely unaware of until I had seen "Almost Famous." Apparently it was the first song that Carl wrote, just gorgeous. Other than that the only other song I knew from here was the title track which I knew from "Smile." I thought that this album would suffer from the diminished presence of Brian and his couple of contributions are great, I mean he's Brian Wilson an undisputed musical genius, but the contributions by the other guys here are good too "Student Demonstration Time" and "Don't Go Near The Water" stand out for me.

The argument could be made (I would make it if I wasn't so jacked up on cold medicine right now) that CCR was the greatest band of their era. I know, there were a lot, A LOT, of great bands in this era but I said what I said. They have at least four albums that don't have a bad song on them and "Green River" might be the best of them.

I liked this a little more than I expected, reminds me of early Floyd crossed with The Mothers. Dorothy Moskowitz's vocal style feels like it has a little exotica/lounge DNA.

It used to be whenever I met someone from New Jersey I would ask them what their favorite Springsteen tune was. I think they used to issue you one when you were born along with a social security number and a birth certificate. A few years ago though people started telling me they were more into Bon Jovi. On a superficial level it's all the same I guess. Listening to this for the first time in about 35 years I can hear it in a way I didn't catch onto back then. Hell, just calling a song "Raise Your Hand" or "Wild in the Streets" evokes The Boss and both come off as pretty decent pastiches (it feels like the plural of pastiche should just be pastiche but the internet says pastiches) and I'm guessing if i was hearing the big three from this album (you know which three) I might hear echoes of Springsteen there too but those songs were such big hits that I can't separate them from Bon Jovi, it's impossible. Anyway, Jon Bon Jovi is no Bruce Springsteen and his band is definitely no E Street Band but he and Sambora (with the occasional assist of Desmond Child) can sure write a pop hook and ape Springsteen if you don't pay too much attention. The less said the better about the stupid (not in a good way) "Social Disease" and one of the worst songs of the 80s "Never Say Goodbye." After all that I can't give this less than three stars. Nobody is more surprised by this than I am.

I know a few Screaming Trees songs (not any from this album) that I've thought were really good but I've never dug deeper into their discography. After listening to this I feel like I've made a terrible mistake that I'm going to have to rectify immediately. This is as good as any 90s music from the Pacific Northwest that I've heard. It's grungy (for whatever that is worth) but the little psychedelic touches and pop hooks make it really stand out. It's a shame or at least confusing to me that they weren't bigger.

OG indeed

Who the hell thinks this is a rock album? Robert Dimery? The same person who calls the Specials debut a reggae album? (that's probably more overtly reprehensible) Just stick with pop, or chanson if you want to be really accurate, but this is French pop, definitely not rock. I wish I knew French, I'm sure Google translate would not do the job here. I liked this, I bet it's clever and powerful.

I think this undistilled, straight Captain Beefheart is a little too much for me. I really love a lot of what came from this like Swordfishtrombones or Double Nickels on the Dime. I like the collaborations with Zappa too, Bongo Fury is one of my faves. This is one of those albums that I appreciate more than I actually like it. I'm glad it exists and it has its place but I'll probably never listen to it again voluntarily. I think it's important enough to give it four stars but I can't bring myself to give it five.

The Joni Mitchell hate on this website is embarrassing.

I swear to God I'm going to pistol whip the next guy who says complication

If this isn't the horniest album on this list, it's the horniest I've come across so far and probably the horniest album of the 90s, even it it didn't feature a gender bent cover of an already gender bent Prince song.

Other than a passing reference to the former fascist douchebag President of the U.S. this holds up. Fun, brilliantly produced hip hop.

Quite possibly the greatest album of all time.

As someone who spent a lot of time in my teenage years listening to classic rock radio, there are definitely some songs here I do not need to ever hear again "Ready For Love, " "Rock Steady" and the title track for instance. "Can't Get Enough" might also be a bit overplayed but it's a real banger. A couple of the deep tracks, "The Way I Choose" (horn section!) and "Seagull" were the best Bad Company songs I've never heard. I felt like this was gonna be a straight up 3 star album but I'm giving it four despite being permanently sick of a couple of the more popular songs.

The best and most important American band of the 80s that most people have never heard of. Not only are Bob Mould and Grant Hart (RIP) great instrumentalists but both of them should also be in the conversation for best songwriters of their generation. Is this album a little overstuffed? Maybe but I don't really care, give me more. Highlights: These Important Years, Standing in the Rain, Ice Cold Ice, Could You Be The One, She Floated Away, Tell You Why Tomorrow, She's A Woman and You Can Live At Home. Also is there a different band called Barenaked Ladies because, the fact that at least two people have compared them to the Hüskers is weird.

The poetry of drugs and promiscuous sex. Honey, they're on pot.

Newsflash: music that came out a long time ago that was popular at that time is always going to sound dated, it's a dumb criticism. The hits from this album belong on any list of the best singles of the 1980s. The Church of the Poison Mind rocks and I defy you to find a catchier earworm than Karma Chameleon. There's some filler but a couple of the deep tracks, Victims and That's The Way - I'm Only Trying To Help really showcase Boy George's incredible voice.

No, Bob Mould didn't rip off The Pixies or Nirvana. In fact both of those bands have copped to being influenced by Mould's previous band Hüsker Dü. Sugar was Mould's return to the power trio format after a couple of pretty great solo albums. Perfect loud power pop, If I Can't Change Your Mind is an all timer, Changes, Helpless and Hoover Dam are also highlights.

Neil Young took his records off of Spotify (for a perfectly good reason) and even though I think I have a copy of this squirrelled away somewhere (Yay, physical media!) I needed to check this out while at the gym and since I don't have a Disc Man these days I had to listen on YouTube with a Progressive Insurance commercial every couple of songs, just like God or Old Neil intended. Despite the commercials, this album is amazing. It doesn't contain any of Young's big radio hits, instead it's an album full of deep tracks that are all the real heads' faves. Neil Young at the top of his game, his best along with it's sister album Tonight's The Night.

More of this please

This is okay but if you're gonna do something loungy then do something loungy don't be tongue in cheek. Funky instrumentals are cool let your funk flag fly. I get that it was the nineties and we were all about being ironic about literally everything back then but in hindsight it's annoying. This is good enough background music but it's also pretty forgettable.

A milestone for me as it's my 500th album, a milestone for The Stones because it's the exclamation point on a run of four unbeatable albums and a milestone for rock music in general because it's the Citizen Kane of sleazy, bloozy, dirty white boy rock and roll.

Loud, fast, fun. More 15 minute albums please.

When Kate Bush sings like Kate Bush it's cool and original, when this dude does it, it's super annoying. When he isn't doing that this isn't bad, it's kind of spacey and interesting but he kind of does it a lot.

Deserves five stars just for Neil Peart's drumming

I'm not against bonus tracks but here's a little hint for those of you who get this album assigned and balk at the length, check Wikipedia and just review the original album, in this case it's just the first 13 tracks, that's the Fisherman's Blues I know and it's amazing. This is one of those albums that I've listened to enough in my life that I would feel comfortable giving it a (five star) rating without first relistening, but I love this album so much that I'm putting it on as I cook dinner. My favorites are the opening/title track (which has been used in 63% of movie trailers that either take place in Ireland or feature Irish people,) a great cover of Sweet Thing (which I actually heard long before Van Morrison's original,) Strange Boat, World Party and one of my favorite songs ever: And A Bang On The Ear.

What is it with these Baby Boomers thinking it was okay to just take music from black people and give themselves writing credits? Zeppelin essentially covering Willie Dixon, changing a lyric here and there and coming up with a new title and claiming it's their new song is pretty bad but McClaren and Horn using actual recordings of African recording artists and not even mentioning them is especially gross. If it wasn't for the chutzpah or hubris or straight up racism if this I'd probably give this four stars because it is a pretty important document. I've always felt that Zeppelin were just naive kids who thought they were paying tribute to their heroes, however misguided, short slighted and wrong that was. McClaren on the other hand was a business man, he knew what he was doing was exploitative.

Tasty

I tried. Honestly, I didn't really enjoy this from the beginning but for a little while I was gonna give it some credit for the production and for his interesting flow. But somewhere around Jus' a Rascal I really began to hate this. Sorry Dizzee.

I think I'm more of an ABBA's Greatest Hits ABBA fan and this album has a few of their biggest. Dancing Queen will always bring a smile to my face, how can it not? People who hate ABBA, have you ever experienced joy? Is this high art? Of course not, I doubt it ever aspired to be. Is it candy-coated, bubblegum pop (with some all time hits sprinkled in) that you'd have to be the world's biggest sad sack grump to be annoyed by? That's exactly what it is. Lighten up Francis.

Not a bad first album with a couple of Petty's most well known hits. An auspicious debut by a future superstar.

If you'd told me when I started doing this project that I would eventually give four stars to two different Dexy's Midnight Runners albums I would have been mildly surprised and now here we are mildly (but also pleasantly) surprised.