A blueprint for lo-fi and experimental music, really unfair how maligned Yoko has been. Yes, some of this goes a bit too far into the experimental realm ("Fly" especially), but the more fun tracks more than make up for it.

Does what it says on the cover, but I really enjoyed the chunky stoner-rock riffs.

This should have been the Bjork album included here. Like Radiohead, it's when she was on the cusp between really good and borderline unlistenable. "Bachelorette" is the theme song to the best Bond film that never existed, and "All is Full of Love" still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I think the first user-recommended album that definitely deserves a place in the book. All the weirdness of prog but with a distinctly Canadian-French twist.

I'd never heard of this guy, but it's a good album. Interesting and inventive.

Maybe a little too whimsical in places, but I enjoyed this overall.

Good to start with, but ultimately became a bit numbing and boring.

Funky jazz.

Actually pretty good, the songs sounded a bit samey though.

I'd never heard of this guy, but it's a good album. Interesting and inventive.

Actually already listened to this! And loved it :)

God I hate this warbling, indulgent, "soulful" stuff that is about as meaningful and pleasant as a dribble of dog piss down a lamppost. Sorry.

I think the first user-recommended album that definitely deserves a place in the book. All the weirdness of prog but with a distinctly Canadian-French twist.

My top-rated review on here is a one-star write-up of Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois," which made me wish I was deaf. But this is better! At least there's some variety and the other guy adds some-much needed depth.

Genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed this. It just flows so nicely as an album and does that gapless thing which is so cool.

Really liked this. I'm sure I've heard "Mary Jane" on vinyl at some obscure club night in Bristol, but the rest is great, good-humoured and groovy.

I found this totally grating to start with, but the humour grew on me. Not great music to work to though.

In 1999, I almost crashed my car when the loud bit of "Like Herod" kicked in. Such a major omission from the original list and still so startlingly brilliant.

Surprised at how well this works. Hi-fi folk.

This is silly

I honestly thought I was going to hate this. And I did.

Almost too funky.

Garbage were such a weird little band. Here in the UK they were lumped in with grrl-power Britpop bands like Elastica and Lush, but in the US they were part of the post-grunge rock scene. Version 2.0 suffers from this weird lack of identity, and it feels constrained and more on the pop side of pop-rock. But "Push It" is fucking amazing.

This whole thing sounds like "The Fairytale of New York" if it was produced by Hans Zimmer.

Does what it says on the cover, but I really enjoyed the chunky stoner-rock riffs.

Absolutely perfect timing because I saw 28 Years Later after listening to this album. Not sure why I didn't listen to this sooner, but it's a unique take on post-rock, bringing in jazz and classical influences.

Interminable

I always have time for rapping/singing in languages that I don't understand. I found the arrangements here just a little too pop for my liking, but it was diverting enough anyway.

Annoyed with myself for not listening to this sooner! Reminds me a lot of Kanye, but more soulful and less rueful.

This should have been the Bjork album included here. Like Radiohead, it's when she was on the cusp between really good and borderline unlistenable. "Bachelorette" is the theme song to the best Bond film that never existed, and "All is Full of Love" still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Reminds me a lot of Pulp's "This is Hardcore:" sleazy lounge music delivered with a northern twang. Not sure it quite reaches the lofty heights of Pulp's dirtiest album, but it's still interesting and diverting.

The vocals remind me of TV on the Radio, but there's something just a little bit too lackadaisical about this whole thing, which may be the point, but it's just not for me.

Reminds me of an album from 30 years ago in the most pleasing way possible.

Definitely not what I was expecting given the album artwork. This is definitely on the softer side of hard rock, sort of a malleable clay, but that's not a bad thing at all, and it reminds of The Cult's goth adventures, but it also goes off on some esoteric tangents and even predicates the more harmonious nature of nu-metal. Like the best scary rockers, Peter Steele also seems like he was a genuinely nice bloke and it sucks that he died so young.

90s psych really was quite something. The alternative tunings here feel very Sonic Youthy, but maybe with a harder punk edge. Angular and arachnoid and arch and other pretentious words that start with A. Also nice to remember that there were American 90s bands who weren't bloody Nirvana.

Great music for bumming around on my bike on a sunny day

Lizard, and Mary Chain, Jones, Christ; I always get confused by all these. But I think these are the American ones everyone loves, and I can hear why. Somewhere between grunge and post-rock.

I wanted to like this more, but couldn't find anything to latch onto.

Not a fan to start with, and I thought the highlight was the Kate Bush cover. But it gets a lot better and more interesting as it goes along, getting into fascinating almost shoegazey instrumentals. The soundtrack to the greatest 80s horror-fantasy movie that never existed.

Liked this a lot. Musically intricate and great songwriting. The Alanis Morrisette it's OK to like.

I love the way that as soon as this begins to get a bit stale, Louis starts singing and it's like sunlight pouring into your soul.

Increasingly convinced that "Music Has The Right to Children" was a one-off, a lightning-in-the-bottle moment that could never be repeated*. "Geogaddi" is OK, but it can't quite match the unconscious weirdness of "Music," and occasionally and unfortunately resembles a Moby record or that kind of hideous "chill" that BoC inspired. It's far too long as well. *I've actually realised this is a lie because their Peel Session is stupendous.

Why isn't this on the original list? It seems like such a major omission, and it just feels like because The Breeders weren't angry like Hole or Garbage they got a bit buried beneath an increasingly tedious pile of grunge and alt-rock. Which totally fucking sucks. Kim Deal's voice is heartbreaking, at once girlish and innocent but able to crank it up when required. She takes the Pixies' oblique but entertaining lyrics and earworm riffs into more mysterious, feminine territory. Also, caught them live last summer (my son's first ever proper gig!) and they were so ridiculously happy and entertaining.

Irritating as hell, but such a time capsule of that 8-bit electroclash sound, which it feels has been diluted into everything from dubstep to K-pop.

Occasional sparks of brilliance are let down by a rich vein of horrific 90s humour throughout, totally exemplified by the oh-so-edgy cover. Irritating and cloying.

Really good live, just a happy guy enjoying the moment. Not sure if it quite translates to an album though: it does get stuck in a rut.

I'm not a huge Blade Runner fan - it's a bad film with a good ending - but there's no denying that the soundtrack and visuals combine to create a coherent sense of where and when this film is set. This expanded version of the OST includes tracks that I don't remember from the film. It's occasionally a bit too cheesy and atonal, but I love those soaring, squelchy synths.

It's like they took Limp Bizkit's "Mission Impossible 2" theme song and made it into a whole album.

Good, but not exceptional.

If Noam Chomsky became a pirate and joined a metal band this is what it would sound like.

Like being kicked in the balls (complimentary).

I did not know I needed to start my Friday with a five-and-half-hour, loud psych freak-out, but it turns out I did. I also listened to this record.

They should change their name to "Can't Listen To This No More."

Such a sweet soundtrack for a sunny Sunday morning. Love the way that all the tracks have relatively normal titles apart from "Love Potion No. 9," which is clearly cursed.

Lovely.

Scandinavian music of this time was never less than interesting. This is quite post-Radiohead, pre-Coldplay, with complex melodies making up for the occasionally weak lyrics.

Is this a joke

Super enjoyable. Lo-fi, playful and funny, but also mature and hard-hitting when it needs to be.

Great title and cover, but, like Tom Waits, I can't understand why this grating, wonky racket is so popular.

This should have replaced one of the numerous Elvis Costello albums on the original list.

If there was a prize for most American-sounding British band these guys would win it hands-down.

Equally funny and grating.

Nik Kershaw is still way cooler than you or I will ever be.

Not hugely keen on this genre of indie pop, but I liked how this flowed as an album, building to a descent crescendo.

This would have been five stars when it came out, and it definitely should have been in the book. It's a great album that pushed things forwards, but its blemishes are more obvious now, those slower, less excitable tracks that sound like "Moon Safari" outtakes. Etienne de Crecy's "Super Discount 2" is the better album here; it's the same genre but it never lets up.

I've been listening to a bunch of Led Zep lately, but I'm wondering if Pink Floyd are actually the better band. I really enjoyed this.

Feels like such a voyage.

Just the epitome of the 90s: the CD-player production, the smooth jazz compositions, the cover, the utter vapidity of the whole damn thing, like every track is the theme song to some horrible unfunny sitcom, delivered without any cynicism or wit, just get your words out of my ears, Bruce.

Halfway between Slipknot and At The Drive-In. The screaming man got a bit tiring after a while, it's like having a toddler on your record.

This was so much fun! James Brown for the 21st century.

Actually already listened to this as part of The Quietus' top 100 albums of 2024. But I listened again and I liked it again.

I can see why this didn't take off outside of Scandinavia.

Missed out on this, but it really feels like it was so important. Reminds me of the Avalanches in its use of samples, or Todd Rundgren in its ADHD-like refusal to sit still and settle on anything for too long, or maybe more experimental EDM like Boards of Canada or Oneohtrixpointnever. But the lyricism here is what really holds it together and elevates it; sort of like Kanye’s evil twin (debatable). "AllCaps" is so good.

Newest album I've heard on here! And fucking great. Becomes a little numbing in places, but this combo of angelic vocals and extreme metal is like nothing else on earth.

I'm not sure if these guys have been featured on "The Bear" soundtrack, but this is the most "The Bear" music ever. Like that series, it's all very raw and emotional but also totally by-the-numbers and superficial and ultimately doesn't say or do anything that hasn't been said or done a million times before.

A blueprint for lo-fi and experimental music, really unfair how maligned Yoko has been. Yes, some of this goes a bit too far into the experimental realm ("Fly" especially), but the more fun tracks more than make up for it.

Blissful

Pretty good!

This sounded A LOT like REM, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It hasn't dated as badly as other music of this era. RIP Gord.

Ahead of the curve, just not always that listenable.