Probably a 3 really, but fuck him

I actually discovered this in the early days of the pandemic when I found myself hardly able to listen to music. This has been a constant in the period since. Technically, it’s wonderful of course, but it’s also been that bit of a lifeline for me.

Individually I like a lot of this. As an album it drags and meanders too much for me.

This was the first album I ever bought. So part of this is nostalgia, but it still holds up incredibly well. Much less “of its time” than the big Britpop albums of the era, this has genuinely interesting, clever songwriting coupled with absolutely banging singalong choruses. What’s not to like!

Brilliantly sleazy and dangerous sounding.

Hadn’t heard previously. Two great songs, and the rest decent, but unremarkable? Maybe more to it on repeat listens.

Not heard before. Only knew the big singles, but this is great from start to finish.

Hadn’t heard this before. Enjoyed, though not my usual thing, will give some repeat listens.

Not heard before. Admired rather than hugely enjoyed.

Not heard before. Didn’t do anything for me at all, just dated and a bit silly.

Not heard before. I do like LC, but this is absolutely drowned in awful plastic 80s production.

Already knew it well. Classic. Bit depressing to be reminded it came out 25 years ago though!

Heard before but not for ages. Trails off in second half when the nastiness stops being offset by the wit and intelligence that characterise the first half, and is just… grim. The guest spots and skits add very little too.

Heard before. I like EC, but even though this is one of the “biggies”, it doesn’t land as well as some of the others, either the slightly punkier early ones or the more expansive later ones. Still enjoyed it.

Not heard before. Really enjoyed it, will listen again for sure.

Completely new to me. Might be more to it on repeat listens, and I enjoyed it enough that I will give that a go, but seemed more “blandly pleasant” than “essential”?

Not heard for ages. Great fun. Some filler, but the big singalong numbers never get old.

Not heard previously. Have struggled to get into Joni Mitchell albums previously but this engaged me more. Suspect this might grow on me further/reveal more with more listens, so will add it to the rotation.

Know this one well. Two Pixies albums in a row! Unlike Bossa Nova yesterday which I didn’t know well but thought had the same “vibe” but none of the tunes, this is an unequivocal start-to-finish classic that has been in permanent rotation since I first heard it 15 years ago.

Have loved this album for a long time. Not my absolute favourite of his (the self titled for me) but still gorgeous.

I don’t really know how to rate this. I recognise that this is important in music history but I didn’t engage with it at all.

Not heard before. I don’t really have the tools to “analyse” jazz. I also need to listen multiple times. I enjoyed it enough that I will do so, but can’t really rate it fairly until I have.

Not heard before. Absolutely brilliant. Going into regular rotation for sure.

I have owned this album for nearly 20 years but don’t listen too often. The bits I like, I really like. But those are the least folky bits. The stuff on the really folky end of the spectrum doesn’t do much for me at all.

It’s… nice. Playing fast and loose with the definition of “essential” here, I think.

Not heard before. Even though I know everyone loves them, I gave up on Radiohead after OK Computer and, honestly, listening to this I feel vindicated! I don’t get the hype at all.

It’s been a while since my “Dylan phase” but this is start-to-finish brilliant and I should listen more often.

Already knew this well. Not my very favourite of SE, but perhaps pips others to the list because of its greater significance. Nevertheless a really strong album.

I don’t really have the tools to rate this one in any objective way. I enjoyed it as a fun listen though.

Already knew this well. Not much more to say than this is an unequivocal classic. Obvious five stars.

Already knew it well. How could it not be a 5?!

Brilliantly sleazy and dangerous sounding.

This is something you probably need to work at to get truly into. But I don’t want to. Maybe it’s my loss.

For some reason I listened when this came out and not since. Not sure why as I played this twice through today and it’s brilliant. Will be playing regularly from here.

This is one of those where I struggle as to whether ratings should just be on a pure, instinctive emotional reaction or if I should be trying to inject some sort of qualification of its importance/worthiness of being on a list of truly essential albums … Significant, influential, all of that: yes. Did I massively enjoy it? Not really. Perhaps if I’d caught it on a different day.

A fun listen, albeit I found it starting to drag a bit in the second half.

Expected cheese - was pleasantly surprised, but not blown away.

Only knew Mercedes Benz and Bobby McGee before. Didn’t expect to enjoy this so much - straight into regular rotation.

Second Alice Cooper album… I still don’t really get it. Maybe with the live theatrics, I might, but on record I don’t get much from it.

I’ve tried to get into this several times over the years but it just doesn’t do it for me. Pioneering, maybe, but I prefer the stuff it opened the door for.

Been listening to this for years, but good to have a reminder. Really like it.

I understand that this isn’t designed to be listened to while sitting on my sofa struggling with the crossword, but… It’s got the distinctive sound of Daft Punk, but hardly any of the catchy tunes they’d come up with later.

Not really for me.

Really enjoyable listen throughout.

Been playing the Iggy mix for years, never heard the Bowie mix until now. The Iggy mix pips it for me, just gels with the sleazy, dangerous vibe of the songs a bit more for me.

Not for me, Clive

This is the 46th album I’ve listened to on this project. Of which, two have been Pixies (and I expect may be at least one more) and now this. This was ok - definitely too long - but it doesn’t feel essential, especially given the amount of representation FB already has on this list.

The Sounds of Silence will forever be my favourite, but this is also stunning; wonderful songwriting and gorgeous harmonies throughout.

I very likely wouldn’t have listened to this if not for this project, but it was wonderful.

Despite enjoying The Jam through various best of compilations, I’m not as up on the actual studio albums. Good to learn the album tracks don’t dip in quality from the well known hits. Will be rectifying this in future.

Thought I would enjoy this. But all the tunes seem to be on their other albums.

Still marginally prefer the self-titled, but nonetheless brilliant.

New to me. Some of the production now sounds dated, and it is definitely too long. But the first half still sounds pretty great.

Heard snippets before. I had to give up on this - musically and lyrically not half as clever as it thinks it is.

Only heard greatest hits before. Very much enjoyed, though struggling to put my finger on it!

New to me. I would never have heard this outside of this project I’m sure, but glad I did. Lovely, peaceful album. Will continue to listen.

Teenage me would have given this 6 stars. Adult me wasn’t quite as captivated, and possibly conflicted by Morrissey becoming so horrendous.

New to me, though I recognised El Paso from the Old 97s version. Enjoyed this more than I expected, though over time it felt a bit samey and not sure I’d listen too often.

I like Dinosaur Jr, though I hadn’t this album previously, but their albums all feel much of a muchness to me, but some albums have more tunes than others. I felt this was one of the others.

Not for everyone, perhaps. But overwrought songs about depression and foreign films are pretty much my jam.

Revisiting a staple of my mid teens. Bits really hold up. Other bits… do not.

Not his very best. But it’s still Prince!

Some good tunes, but not a patch on Blonde

Hard to know how to rate this, as by design it’s not something to devote yourself to listening to. But by its own intentions, it’s a success.

This was the first album I ever bought. So part of this is nostalgia, but it still holds up incredibly well. Much less “of its time” than the big Britpop albums of the era, this has genuinely interesting, clever songwriting coupled with absolutely banging singalong choruses. What’s not to like!

Oh Skunk Anansie? Yeah this might be alright, they had a few decent tunes. None of them on this album though.

Not their best overall, but with some of the best individual tunes

I actually discovered this in the early days of the pandemic when I found myself hardly able to listen to music. This has been a constant in the period since. Technically, it’s wonderful of course, but it’s also been that bit of a lifeline for me.

Enjoyed it but prefer some of his others.

It’s… fine?

I really liked this. Might be worth a higher rating on further listening.

Made no impression on me at all

I already had Superfly in this list, and this doesn’t quite hit the same heights, but still excellent. Adding to the rotation.

Probably a 3 really, but fuck him

My years in retail mostly beat any affection for Christmas music out of me. But as these albums go, this is one of the best.

Not an album of theirs I knew particularly but enjoyed. Will listen more. Might even have been a 4.

Second MJ album so far, after Bad. This was my original favourite when I was younger and Bad less so, and now it seems to have switched. The brilliant moments here far outweigh the occasional dodgy/dated bits.

I like boozy crooner TW more than weird jazzy TW, but this is just in the right spot before it gets TOO weird

Dirge and Aisha are great, but much of the rest is a bit samey

Some lovely Macca/Beatles-y stuff. But also that bloody coconut song.

I think this rating has the potential to creep up over repeated listens…

Bits of this are good, but it’s also an excellent reminder of the extent to which Marr’s guitar makes The Smiths.

This is more impressive in its scope and ambition than it is actually very enjoyable to listen to…

I just couldn’t engage with this at all.

I had to listen several times before I could decide what to make of it. It’s not immediately engaging but after a while it becomes quite mesmerising/almost hypnotic.

Some really gorgeous stuff here, but quite patchy. He’s done better work since.

On paper The Byrds could have been designed specifically to tick all my favourite jangly, folky, Americana musical boxes. In reality, every time I listen to them I just… don’t get it?

Like The Byrds yesterday, this is a real blind spot for me even though in theory it’s exactly my thing.

I hadn’t heard this before and it didn’t have an immediate great number like Hounds of Love or Wuthering Heights, but on second and third listens it reveals itself as a wonderful, coherent piece. Four stars, and can see it gathering the fifth after more listens.

The Smiths have some brilliant tunes. Not many of them are on this album.

Partly nostalgia, but also this is still full of big tunes and singalong choruses.

There are some brilliant bits on this album but it definitely flags in the second half. It also feels quite long, given it’s not even 40 minutes, which isn’t a great sign.

I find Queen basically unlistenable. Any of it really.

I think the highs on this are both good and frequent enough to warrant a 5 and offset the odd filler track and the godawful skits

I like Franti’s solo stuff so I hoped I would enjoy this. But I just found it dated and heavy handed, with none of the power that, say, Public Enemy’s early stuff still carries.

Tails off pretty badly after the title track.

Starts brilliantly, but the weirdness of the last couple of tracks got in the way for me.

The looooong last track really kills the momentum

This is obviously a landmark album. It’s not necessarily Dylan’s most enjoyable but the significance is undeniable.

I know this is a blind spot but I just don’t get much out of listening to Hendrix at all.

A genuine discovery through this project, really liked it.

95% inoffensive but bland, plus certified banger Weather With You. Fine.

It’s fine. It’s probably a real terms 3⭐️, but as an essential album…

A big sprawling album, it could maybe be slightly tighter/more focused… but none of it seems like filler and it shows the breadth of the group’s talents and scale of their ambition. Perhaps shaving bits off here and there would defeat the purpose.

I really like DBTs and this may be sacrilege but this is really not their best. Individually, some of their best songs are here - Ronnie and Neil, Zip City, Women Without Whiskey - but it’s too long and too self consciously focused on explaining “the duality of the southern thing”. At their best (The Dirty South, for me) they do this through their excellent songwriting without needing to interrupt albums for extended monologues about George Wallace or whatever, which you’ll inevitably skip on repeat listens.

Nothing unusual or interesting about this

Like A Prayer is one of the all time great pop songs. And then… the rest is pretty nothingy.

I liked this but couldn’t find it on streaming so listened on YouTube with ad breaks and not the best sound! Enjoyed it enough that I might look to get hold of my own copy.

One paced sub-Oasis self importance

Admirably talented, virtuosic album that I had absolutely no emotional engagement with at all.

Two albums on this list feels like it’s pushing it a bit. Maps is still the stand out.

Mirroring my comments on Drive By Truckers from recently… Love this band but this is not the prime example of their work album I would have picked. While it has some great individual songs, it’s overly long and can’t maintain the momentum all the way.

This has aged much better than a lot of the psychedelic music from this era, much of which has dated poorly. Still sounds very fresh and engaging.

Depending on what mood you catch me, this is either Neil Young’s very best or one of his best. Bleakly beautiful? Beautifully bleak? Either way, it’s absolutely brilliant.

Bit of an odd choice of albums this one. Very much a first album with some finding his way to do. Couple of great tracks, but much more was to follow.

This isn’t great - bit overlong and incoherent in tone - but it does feature some absolutely brilliant singles and it’s unquestionable that Beyoncé is a dominant figure in the music of recent years. Not sure why* the “but she doesn’t even play her own instruments” brigade are so up in arms about this one. (*I do know why)

Slightly heart over head rating this, but I really enjoyed it.

I expected this to be weirder!

Individually I like a lot of this. As an album it drags and meanders too much for me.

In general a big fan of quiet/loud/quiet channelled through layers of distortion bands. Also really like Shields’ soundtrack work. This didn’t quite catch fire for me though.

I get this was doing something new with the cartoon visuals etc and the whole Gorillaz project gathered pace after this and became massive. But obviously the visuals are not in play if you’re just listening to the album so you need to base your views on the music and, with hindsight, it’s not that great. The big singles were smashed but even they now sound a bit dated. And the rest mostly have a vibe of Blur off cuts with occasional rapping. Better stuff was to come.

Two bits of sacrilege: 1. Pixies are over represented in this list. This is the third album plus one Frank Black solo album I’ve encountered so far. 2. While bits of this album are undeniably great, other bits (lots, even) are very much not. The answer to both is to prioritise Doolitle.

On first listen this was a 3, on a second it’s a 4. I can see this revealing more and more with each listen and picking up the 5th star at some point…

I bought this when it came out on a wave of critical acclaim but don’t listen to it often these days. It’s a really well polished take on a romantic crooners collection, but with hindsight I’m not sure exactly why he did so - it’s well sung and arranged, but ultimately feels like very high end karaoke.

Here for the significance in the growth of the genre rather than it being a brilliant listen today. Dated and one-note.

Smack in the middle of an incredible (unprecedented?) run of eight 5-star albums to start his career, the production may sound occasionally dated but it’s a sequence of absolutely expert songwriting and performance that has kept stadiums filled ever since.

This felt a very odd choice of EC albums for me. It’s… fine, but it’s far from his best but nor does it feel particularly novel or out there that you could mark it as being game changing even if not the “best”.

I don’t even know how to rate this on a standard like/dislike scale.

The sequencing on this album is bizarre. There are some decent tunes on here, but rather than front load them, they’re all buried in the second half after a load of filler that ranges from insipid to actively terrible. It does pick up but a lot of goodwill has been squandered by then. As a coherent album this is a failure.

Odd choice - there’s significance in it being her debut but there was better material to follow, especially Bachelor No 1 and Lost In Space. This album has brilliant tracks, largely concentrated in the first half but it trails off towards the end.

Man wanted to be MJ so bad! This is such a Time Capsule of an album… The Neptunes sound was everywhere when this came out and there are a couple of great singles. But so many of the rest are grafting forgettable songwriting and indifferent vocals onto that production. Songs *feel* long even when they’re not. Not great.

So, Paul Simon is a genius. His best ranks with Dylan, Cohen, whoever in the songwriting pantheon you want to name. This is pretty lightweight stuff. He still hits some gold just because, but this doesn’t come close to his heights.

Taken track by track this is so fun and original, and This Town is of course one of the all time great pop songs. Taken altogether over best part of an hour, it’s A Lot.

No wonder Neil Young fell out with them… he must have put his back out carrying their dead weight if this is anything to go by.

The premier Wu solo album, superior even to the usual consensus picks Liquid Swords and Cuban Linx. Some rap albums get flabby, too many skits and throwaway tracks but this is tight and efficient from start to finish. Highly recommend seeking out the Prodigy remix of Release Yo Delf on the deluxe edition as well. Brilliantly creepy/paranoid sounding.

As huge as this was, and influential on the music of the time, it has dated quite badly with a few exceptions.

I normally do try and give every album a full listen but I felt I had the full gist pretty early on and turned off. Racist got filthy rich off soulless take-offs of Black music.

Blandly fine? Finely bland? The American Pie cover is a shocker.

Bakesale or Harmacy would have been a better choice. Not wildly different but just better executed than this.

This is the third album by KOL I’ve been fed in two weeks and it’s got me channelling my inner Jeff Winger. “Oh, OK, they’re KOL now? We need a shorthand for Kings of Leon. That’s how fundamental they are”. This is fine. Like the others. Decidedly not essential.

Tricky one. Little bits are very very good and lots is not very good at all.

For all the absolute genius sprinkled through it, it has to be said that there are quite large chunks of the Bowie catalogue that aren’t much cop, actually. Exhibit A…