1063
Albums Rated
3.24
Average Rating
98%
Complete
26 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
How you rate albums
Rating Timeline
Average rating over time
Ratings by Decade
Which era do you prefer?
Activity by Day
When do you listen?
Taste Profile
1970s
Favorite Decade
Punk
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
154
5-Star Albums
93
1-Star Albums
Taste Analysis
Genre Preferences
Ratings by genre
Origin Preferences
Ratings by country
Rating Style
You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| GI | 5 | 2.54 | +2.46 |
| Yank Crime | 5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
| Cut | 5 | 2.71 | +2.29 |
| Group Sex | 5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
| Songs The Lord Taught Us | 5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
| Go Girl Crazy | 5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
| Warehouse: Songs And Stories | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Damaged | 5 | 2.87 | +2.13 |
| Bug | 5 | 2.92 | +2.08 |
| Out of Step | 5 | 2.92 | +2.08 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Score | 1 | 3.69 | -2.69 |
| The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | 1 | 3.63 | -2.63 |
| good kid, m.A.A.d city | 1 | 3.61 | -2.61 |
| Speakerboxxx/The Love Below | 1 | 3.45 | -2.45 |
| Ready To Die | 1 | 3.37 | -2.37 |
| Debut | 1 | 3.36 | -2.36 |
| Be | 1 | 3.35 | -2.35 |
| The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady | 1 | 3.32 | -2.32 |
| The Slim Shady LP | 1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
| S&M | 1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 6 | 5 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4.8 |
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 4.6 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4.75 |
| The Stooges | 3 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 |
| Blur | 3 | 5 |
| Pixies | 3 | 5 |
| Steely Dan | 4 | 4.5 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.5 |
| Elvis Costello & The Attractions | 4 | 4.5 |
| The White Stripes | 3 | 4.67 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Doors | 3 | 4.67 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 3 | 4.67 |
| John Lennon | 2 | 5 |
| The Clash | 2 | 5 |
| Muddy Waters | 2 | 5 |
| Joy Division | 2 | 5 |
| Pavement | 2 | 5 |
| Elliott Smith | 2 | 5 |
| Motörhead | 2 | 5 |
| Wilco | 2 | 5 |
| Green Day | 2 | 5 |
| Dinosaur Jr. | 2 | 5 |
| Elton John | 2 | 5 |
| Siouxsie And The Banshees | 2 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 9 | 4 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 4.33 |
| Michael Jackson | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 4.33 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 4.33 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 4.33 |
| Beck | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Björk | 4 | 1 |
| Kate Bush | 3 | 1.33 |
| Common | 2 | 1 |
| Slipknot | 2 | 1 |
| Rufus Wainwright | 2 | 1 |
| Scott Walker | 2 | 1 |
| Missy Elliott | 2 | 1 |
| Robert Wyatt | 2 | 1 |
| M.I.A. | 2 | 1 |
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer | 2 | 1.5 |
| Eminem | 2 | 1.5 |
| Goldfrapp | 2 | 1.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 1.5 |
| Can | 2 | 1.5 |
| Baaba Maal | 2 | 1.5 |
| Sepultura | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Divine Comedy | 2 | 1.5 |
| Christina Aguilera | 2 | 1.5 |
| Kanye West | 3 | 2 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 2.25 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| The Beach Boys | 5, 5, 2 |
| Metallica | 4, 1, 2, 4 |
5-Star Albums (154)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
John Coltrane
2/5
The more I listen to jazz from being exposed via this site, the more I'm realizing that I just don't really like jazz. I can appreciate the musicianship, but it's just not something I'd choose to listen to.
35 likes
Eminem
1/5
I didn't think I disliked Eminem as much as I apparently do (or at least dislike this album.) I've heard some of his singles, I saw 8 Mile and liked it, and remember when he and Elton John played the Grammys, which I thought was fairly powerful. So I was expecting a hip-hop/rap album that, while I admit isn't my favorite genre, would be a fun listen and at least tolerable.
But wow, I couldn't have been more wrong. The album starts off strong, with My Name Is, a crossover hit that you couldn't escape and still can't. But then, from there, it devolves into an album that's
A. Way to long
B. Way to repetitive
C. Way to violent for no reason
I'm not sure who finds listening to this enjoyable. At least in, say, a horror movie, you aren't rooting for the killer. Maybe it was a product of the late 90s, but the violence, hatred, and misogyny is just too much to get over for me. It was honeslty hard to listen to the whole thing. Not a fan.
15 likes
Britney Spears
1/5
I was trying to find a way to rate this higher than a 1. It has two singles that topped the charts, so it can't be THAT bad, can it. Yes, yes it can. It's terribly dated, way overproduced, bland, AND infuriating at the same time. It's really not good, and I'm glad it was removed from future versions of the book.
9 likes
A Tribe Called Quest
2/5
I liked a few songs. the stripped down drum, bass, vocals thing really does work, BUT it only works for a few songs for me. After 3 or 4 I find myself getting bored. I know that's blasphemy to some, but I just find that I don't really click with hip-hop.
9 likes
The Cure
4/5
I don't think I've ever listented to a The Cure album straight through before today. And the first time I did, I was like, that was sort of okay, I liked it a little. And then an hour later I had to put it on again because I couldn't get the sounds out of my head. It's not that they're lyrically poppy and ear-worms or anything like that, but I think I found my next rainy day album. You know the one you want to put on when it's cold and rainy outside and you don't have to do anythingand you don't WANT to be motivated to do anything. That's what this album is.
7 likes
1-Star Albums (93)
All Ratings
The xx
4/5
My first album with this site. New to me, but a real good one to start with. Mellow dream-pop and real easy to listen to.
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
Is it a novelty album? Maybe. It's done well, but I just don't see myself going back and listening to this one.
I get that it's included because it's so heavily sampled, but it's not really for me. A couple of songs you say, hey, I know that one, or I know that beat, etc. But it's not really an album if you ask me.
Jimmy Smith
2/5
It’s good, very good even. But I’m just not that into jazz. I could see putting it on in the background of a fancy cocktail party!
Second album in a row with not lyrics, so that’s not great for me!
The B-52's
4/5
Hey, I've heard this band before. Took 4 days to get to a band I know!
First time listening to a whole album straight through, though.
Toe-tapping fun! I think I like late 70s/early 80s New Wave. I don't know if I knew that Rock Lobster was that long of a song.
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
It's fine. Monday Monday and California Dreaming are known songs and are good. The rest was just okay, to me.
Van Halen
4/5
A fun album. Pure 80s in album form. Some huge singles that everyone knows, and the other songs aren't bad either.
I wish this rating system was on a 10 star scale. This would be an easy 4.5. Can't give it a 5, becuase I'm saving them for the truly transformative albums, but it's more than the 4 it's getting.
Simple Minds
3/5
I knew, sorta, that Simple Minds was more than just the one mega hit which isn't on this album. But I had to do some reading to see just how big they were outside of the US.
That said, this album is fine. It's textured and the mix of guitars and synths are good. The lyrics are probably deeper than I give it credit for on one listen, but I just don't know how much I'll want to relisten to it.
Iggy Pop
5/5
My first 5 star. Classic and the first one since doing this that I put on again right after it was finished. Music by Bowie, lyrics by Iggy, what's not to like?
Stan Getz
2/5
Another Jazz album from the early 60s. It's probably great, and I wasn't bored with it on, but it's absolutly not my scene. I didn't hate it though, saving 1 stars for albums I hate.
Little Simz
1/5
I don't think there was anything in this that I liked
4/5
The Kinks are just fun, and this album is no exception.
The Stooges
5/5
Two Iggy albums in my first 15! And both 5 stars for me.
Raw Power grabs you by the ears from the first song and never lets go.
Hole
3/5
I like but don’t love this album. A little more pop than Hole was in their earlier albums, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Couple of GREAT songs, but some filler, too.
Finley Quaye
2/5
I wanted to like this album. I like reggae, but I feel like this was very light on the reggae. Just not a fan, overall.
Kanye West
2/5
Too self-indulget, too slow, and WAY TOO LONG. I've tried, because people say he's a genius, to "get" Kanye. But I just don't get him, I don't understand the appeal of the music.
I liked the songs POWER and Monster.
So there were a couple of bright spots on the album. Wasn't a fan, and/or activly hated the rest.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Unlike the last "reggae" album that we got on here, this one is actually reggae. And it's good. Very good. And I will listen to it again.
Carole King
5/5
One of my mom's favorite albums so I've listened to it countless times. But that's okay, but it's great. Seriously, first track to last, it's a killer album. I can't think of a thing on it that I would change.
Elbow
3/5
It was fine. Couple things I liked. Mostly forgettable.
Megadeth
3/5
I really don't listen to much metal. Not really my thing. The guitar solos in this are pretty great, and it's fast and hard and all that is good. But the vocals annoy me.
I liked it more than I expected to
The Kinks
4/5
Another fun album by The Kinks. I think I like this one more than Arthur.
Brian Eno
4/5
I wasn't sure what to expect, but I found myself really liking this album. Great guitar solo on "Baby's On Fire" and while there is some experimental stuff on here, I think most of it works pretty well.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
I've always liked Tom Petty and this is a good album. It's not my favorite of his, though, but it's very good.
The Cure
4/5
I don't think I've ever listented to a The Cure album straight through before today. And the first time I did, I was like, that was sort of okay, I liked it a little. And then an hour later I had to put it on again because I couldn't get the sounds out of my head. It's not that they're lyrically poppy and ear-worms or anything like that, but I think I found my next rainy day album. You know the one you want to put on when it's cold and rainy outside and you don't have to do anythingand you don't WANT to be motivated to do anything. That's what this album is.
A Tribe Called Quest
2/5
I liked a few songs. the stripped down drum, bass, vocals thing really does work, BUT it only works for a few songs for me. After 3 or 4 I find myself getting bored. I know that's blasphemy to some, but I just find that I don't really click with hip-hop.
Tom Waits
3/5
It's a little long, but the more I listen to Tom Waits, the more I like him. Not going to get heavy rotation, but always glad to see him pop up.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Finally got to listen to an album I own on vinyl. Really like this album and it's psychadelic soundscapes. Good stuff!
The Kinks
3/5
This is my least favorite of the three Kinks albums I've heard so far (Arthur and Village Green being the other two) but still plenty of fun.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
No. Just No.
The Fall
4/5
Really enjoyed this one, especially from a band I hadn't heard before. Will get more play time from me, for sure!
John Lennon
5/5
Great album. John was always my favorite Beatle, especially lyrically. Some absolutely great songs on this one, especially the title track.
Air
3/5
It's very pretty. And I could see putting it on if i was in the right mood, but it's not going to get a lot of playtime.
Björk
1/5
Was listening to this one in my car with my daughter. I think my review will just quote her: "Dad, you could've died without listening to this album."
Hard agree, it was terrible. I just don't get Björk
Steely Dan
5/5
This is my favorite Steely Dan album and one I’ve listened to many times in my life. My Dad used to play it a lot, and it holds up. It’s not my typical type of music, but I really love it.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I really enjoyed this album. Seems like Nick Cave sang his heart and soul out. Very sad songs, and might be a great rainy day record.
Various Artists
3/5
It's a Christmas Album. And it's good christmas music, and good example of Spector's production. But I can't give a huge rating to an album I'll only listen to once a year at best.
Elvis Costello
5/5
I love Elvis Costello and "My Aim is True" is one of my favorites.
But most importantly, it got the thumbs up from my daughter when we were listening to it in the car. She said the songs were stuck in her head and she "kinda liked it"
Leftfield
3/5
It’s fine. I don’t listen to a lot of electronic music but when I do this is the type I like, stuff I can bob my head to. May get played again when in the right mood.
John Cale
3/5
Pretty good but nothing that knocked my socks off. Could see myself listening to it again.
The Clash
5/5
One of the easiest 5 stars I’ll give. A great punk album, every song is amazing.
Jeff Buckley
3/5
It was fine. Couple of songs I liked a lot, but a couple that his voice really irritated me on.
ABBA
2/5
No. Too poppy, to much the same every song. Just not for me.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Another album that's just fine. A couple of good songs, and Come On Eileen is a banger, but overall it's fairly forgetable.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Not really my thing, but I didn't dislike it, either. Torn between rating it a 2 or a 3 but there are a lot of 2 star albums in my list that I would listen to this again over, so I'll bump it up to a 3.
The War On Drugs
4/5
First time hearing this album and I really enjoyed it. Some of the songs may be a bit long, but overall it's very enjoyable. Sort of a throwback rock album, which is rare to hear from newer music!
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
It's an album you just want to play LOUD. As loud as you can stand. Pure 90s industrial rock, in all the good ways. Yet for as loud as you want to play it the music is dark and depressing, but sometimes that's just what you need.
Earth, Wind & Fire
2/5
Just not really for me. Some of the funky bass lines are cool, but not a genre that's really my jam.
Common
1/5
Very boring, nothing here that I enjoyed at all. And to top it off, it's too long.
Carpenters
2/5
This is damn close to a 1 for me. I just don't like the voices, the songs that are good are mostly covers (and I prefer the original/alternate version) and I just cannot fathom how this won Album of the Year.
Mj Cole
1/5
Take a music style I'm not that interested in in the first place (electronic) and cross it with 90s era sounds R&B which I also don't like. And then make it worse, for most songs only record 30 seconds and then just loop it for 5 minutes. It's bullshit.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Powerful political album with very strong hooks and amazing guitar work. Strong from start to finish.
Oasis
4/5
I always enjoyed Oasis, but I don't think this is their best album. It's very good though, and glad that I listened to it again.
The Stooges
5/5
This is a strange one to review. Do you review it knowing everything you know in 2022 (when this review was written) or do you try to think of what 1969 was like?
I choose to go with the later. It rules, and it would've blown my mind in 1969.
Circle Jerks
5/5
Cram 14 songs into 15-16 minutes of pure energy. This is a great punk album and doesn't need to be longer!
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
I really enjoyed listening to this. Way more than I thought I would initally.
Tracy Chapman
4/5
I knew the song Fast Car, but the rest of the album was unknown to me. It's good, easy to listen to. Won't get massive rotation for me, but I could see the right time and place to play it again.
Kate Bush
2/5
This is one of those albums that I thought I would maybe like (having not heard it before) because I've been told for years how amazing she is. I just didn't get it. I didn't want to turn it off, but I don't want to play it again, either.
The Specials
5/5
Easy 5 star. One of the best two-tone bands and albums released.
Jacques Brel
2/5
So this is not my usual style of music to start with. Then it's in a language that I don't understand. Parts of it are really pretty, and I found myself engaged at times. But other times I was sort of checking to see how many more songs there were before it was over.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
It's okay. Pretty straightforward. I liked it but not sure why it's on this list.
Michael Jackson
4/5
I have to separate the man from the music. Michael was the first artist I ever got "into" when I heard Bad when I was around 7. He is the King of Pop and for good reason. This is a good album but not my favorite.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Bob Dylan can just flat out tell a story in his music. I get the people who just "don't like his voice" but I find it interesting and even if it was the worst ever, the stories are still just flat out stellar.
Metallica
4/5
There's a reason that 80% of the people I know born around the same time as me (late 70s early 80s) own a copy of this album. It's probably the most poppy of Metallica's work and appeals to the widest audience.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Jim Hendrix is a god on guitar, there's no doubt there. It's nuts that this is his debut album, that his sound was so perfect right out of the gate. I like a lot of Hendrix's albums, but this one is my favorite.
Happy Mondays
3/5
I think I like the idea of the Happy Mondays more than I actually like the Happy Mondays if that makes sense. It's fine, some songs are decent, others are completely forgettable.
Elvis Presley
2/5
I'm not an Elvis fan, and this is worse than I expected. It's really slow, and doesn't really "rock" the way I thought Elvis did. He can sing, I'll give him that, but he just doesn't do anything for me.
Screaming Trees
4/5
This is an album that I should've been more familiar with than I am. It must have come out right when I was getting out of listening to new grunge, and just completely missed my radar. I liked it, though, and will isten to it again!
Fugazi
5/5
Somehow this album has missed large play by me. I had a copy in college, but lost it at some point and this is the first time I've heard it in years. Which is a shame, it's an amazing album that I should listen to a lot more. 13 Songs is the album I know the most, but this one might be a better album overall.
OutKast
3/5
Not a huge hip-hop fan to start with. I can admit that some of these songs are total bangers. Some are huge misses for me. And I can't stand the interludes. Without them it would no doubt be my highest rated hip-hop album so far. With them, I think it's still my highest rating hip-hop album. But it could've been better (to me.)
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Good album, I like the songs a lot. A little surprised that my parents didn't play Joni for me much before now!
Cream
4/5
I like this album a lot but always felt it was sort of two separate albums in one. One is a really good blue album, the other is a really good psychedelic album. Somehow it works together, but it's not perfect.
The Stone Roses
4/5
First time hearing this album. And it's very good! This is one of those albums that I'm glad I'm doing the generator for, making me listen to music that I somehow missed.
ZZ Top
4/5
Pretty straight forward 80s type rock, but good stuff at that. The hits are mega hits, the other tracks are good overall.
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
I just had a hard time really getting into this one. I like some goth-rock and some of the tracks on this were good, and I never wanted to turn it off, but I can't see myself choosing to listen to it again anytime soon.
John Coltrane
2/5
The more I listen to jazz from being exposed via this site, the more I'm realizing that I just don't really like jazz. I can appreciate the musicianship, but it's just not something I'd choose to listen to.
Parliament
4/5
I'm not the biggest Funk fan, but there's something about the way Parliament does it that just works for me!
The Who
3/5
I like some of The Who's stuff, but this album didn't really do it for me. Some okay songs, but a lot of it is just weird.
Mike Ladd
2/5
Meh. I didn't activly hate it, but it didn't have anything I really liked, either.
Michael Jackson
4/5
I remember liking this a lot more than I ended up. I thought before listening that this was an instant 5, but there are 3 or 4 songs in the middle that I just didn't remember that they're just meh. But the singles are such bangers, and the fact that this was one of the first albums I considered "mine" when I was a kid, still has a soft space in my heart!
Dire Straits
4/5
Good classic rock/blues. Some really nice guitar work. Sultans of Swing is a great song, too!
Massive Attack
3/5
I guess this is one of the first trip-hop albums. And I liked some of it, but overall was pretty meh about it. It's fine, but I won't be playing it often.
Portishead
3/5
Two trip-hop albums in a row. I liked this one a little bit more than Massive Attack, but still not going to go in heavy rotation.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
3/5
Best jazz album I've heard from this list so far. But not saying much, still finding out I don't really like jazz.
Slipknot
1/5
This is not a good album.
The drums are good. Actually, the drums are really good, so good that it stands out as pretty much the only thing on the album I like. Snuff is okay, I guess. The rest can be relegated to a dumpster fire. It's one of those albums that you have to try to figure out what posessed the writer to include on this list.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
I really like The Jesus and Mary Chain. This is not my favorite album from them, but it's still a very good one.
Taylor Swift
4/5
Very simple folk music. Very easy to listen to which can be great at times. It's also very pretty. But it also doesn't knock my socks off at any point, either. It's just solid.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
This has been my favorite hip-hop album so far, and it's not even close to the second. Some classic tracks, and no tracks that made me want to turn it off like most of the other hip-hop or rap albums that I've gotten so far.
R.E.M.
5/5
I really like this album, and very much enjoyed listening to it again. I also seem to like REM more the older I get.
Mekons
3/5
I knew the Mekons a little bit from hearing them on compilations from their more punk days. This one is a lot more experimental, some of which works, some of which really doesn't, and is much different sounding than what I expected based on the little I knew going in.
Queen Latifah
2/5
Didn't do anything for me and completely faded into the background after two or three songs.
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
Another album from my biggest blind spot, didn't know of them, never heard it before. Really liked it! Will listen again.
The Jam
4/5
Enjoyed my time with this one!
Queen
3/5
I like Queen's greatest hits a lot. But their other stuff just doesn't do it for me. Killer Queen is good enough to bump up the album for me.
John Prine
5/5
This is a stellar album. Prine can tell a visual story with just his words and is one of the strongest songwriters of the era. Really excellent album, and glad I got to listen to it again.
Björk
1/5
More boring bullshit by Bjork
Seriously, WTF is this and why is it on any list, let alone a list of albums you must hear. If it was on a list of albums that should be taken out back and shot, I could get behind that.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Really good album with some mega hits and an overall great reggae vibe. Will listen again and again.
Frank Zappa
3/5
Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it. Some great guitar work, but too jazzy for me. I want lyrics.
The Roots
4/5
As my other reviews have shown, I’m not a big hip hop fan. But the Roots are able to make music that is good and dare I say, I enjoy?
Maybe it’s the live band, maybe it’s that they’re from Philly, I don’t know. But they’re damn good.
Neil Young
3/5
I like some of the blues licks, but overall it's a forgettable album. Didn't dislike any part of it, though!
Morrissey
4/5
I must have missed this album rating it. I know I listened to it, but I went ahead and listened again. It's still good.
Foo Fighters
5/5
This is probably a 4 star album, but I have so much nostalgic love for it, and the countless times I played it i my car in high school and college that I have to give it a 5.
Yes
3/5
It's fine. I like the singles. But like most prog rock, I find many of the songs go on too long, and it's too confusiong for me.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
This is not my favorite Zeppelin album, but it's still very good. A couple of perfect tracks!
Joan Baez
2/5
I tend to like folk music, but this one was hard to get into. Her voice can be a little grating, but the lyrics are very pretty. Interesting version of House of the Rising Sun, but I will not be going back to this one anytime real soon.
The Lemonheads
4/5
Typical early 90s alt/college rock. If I was a couple of years older, I probably would've been really into them. As it is, it's a good album, one I'm glad I listened to, and one I'll go back and listen to again.
I'm sure they were on a bunch that I can't think of at the moment, but I can just see in my head the number of indie/Miramax movies from the 90s that would've used some of these songs on the soundtracks.
5/5
It's like a Best Of Compilation, but it's all on one album. Britpop at it's finiest, and some absolutly great songs.
The Prodigy
3/5
I've never heard this album befroe, but there's a bunch of songs on it I know. Because I've listened to the Hackers movie soundtrack a lot, and there's at least two songs on here that are on that soundtrack.
I don't listen to a lot of dance/electronic music, but when I do, this is the style I gravitate to. You can have it on while working and since there aren't any lyrics, it's not distracting and can sometimes help get you into a flow state.
But it's also not something I'm going to put on extreemly often. At times it's what I'm looking for, but not something that would work all of the time.
Solange
1/5
Another album that has nothing in it for me. I'm obviously not the target demo for this album, but it was so boring that I'm not sure how there's anyone who is in the target demo.
The Byrds
3/5
It's fine. Pretty standard late 60s pop. Wouldn't turn it off if it was on, but not going to look to play it again, either.
The Byrds
2/5
I'm just not a fan of the twangly guitars, twinkly pianos, and the sounds that feels like it could come out of a western. This album just is way too much country for me, and I'm not a fan.
I did like the one song, 100 Years From Now
Television
5/5
This is a great album. Not much more needs to be said, it's simply great.
The Band
4/5
I liked this album. I knew a few songs already, and the others were good too.
I had a degenerate gambler uncle who used to play at Cripple Creek in CO. He was always humming or singing that song. Brings back some good memories, RIP Uncle Dan.
Japan
3/5
80s synth. Not great, not terrible.
For some reason the entire time listening to this one the lead singer kept reminding me of the Prom singer in the movie American Pie. No idea why that thought kept coming in my head, but it did. I went back and watched the prom in that movie and they're not even that similar, but my brain just can't shake the comparison.
Air
3/5
I need to find another word than “fine” for albums that are just “fine.” Obvious Beatles influences (and a few more rip-offs, than homages) and overall is not completely unenjoyable. But there’s nothing that’s going to bring me back to it, either, and I’m not sure why it’s on the list.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Good, funky, and some real messags. Pusherman is really great.
ABBA
2/5
I wasn't a fan. I didn't hate it, and I didn't turn it off, but I really didn't like it at all, either. And it sort of sounded a little bit like musical in the way the songs were arranged which I found weird.
The White Stripes
5/5
Blusey, crunchy, dirty, and fantastic. One of my favorite albums from the early 2000s.
Eminem
1/5
I didn't think I disliked Eminem as much as I apparently do (or at least dislike this album.) I've heard some of his singles, I saw 8 Mile and liked it, and remember when he and Elton John played the Grammys, which I thought was fairly powerful. So I was expecting a hip-hop/rap album that, while I admit isn't my favorite genre, would be a fun listen and at least tolerable.
But wow, I couldn't have been more wrong. The album starts off strong, with My Name Is, a crossover hit that you couldn't escape and still can't. But then, from there, it devolves into an album that's
A. Way to long
B. Way to repetitive
C. Way to violent for no reason
I'm not sure who finds listening to this enjoyable. At least in, say, a horror movie, you aren't rooting for the killer. Maybe it was a product of the late 90s, but the violence, hatred, and misogyny is just too much to get over for me. It was honeslty hard to listen to the whole thing. Not a fan.
U2
3/5
I guess I'm just not a fan of U2, either. It's alright, nothing to write home about, though. Some of the guitar sounds are pretty interesting, but overall this is just not something I'm going to go back and listen to.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
You can see how this album influenced so many bands that I like now.
I really like the album. Here She Comes Now is a great song, and the Nirvana cover(s) that it sparked are amazing.
It may have gotten a 5 from me if it wasn't for The Gift. I just can't stand that one.
Primal Scream
3/5
This was an interesting one. I hadn't heard it before, and, honestly, wasn't familiar with any of the songs. So for a smash hit in the UK, it didn't have much crossover awareness, at least not to me.
It seems totally acceptable. I didn't love any part of it, nor did I want to turn it off at any time either. Nice blend of rock and dance at times.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
You can just see the 60s era movies (or more likely, modern movies SET in the 60s) with these songs playing in the background. But that's all I like it for, background music. Won't be going back to listen to again anytime soon.
Nick Drake
4/5
I have never listened to Nick Drake before. That will 100% have to change.
The music is beautiful and sad, and engagnig. A lot of the same qualities I like from someone like Elliot Smith (has to be an influence, right?)
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
Meh. Nothing that grabbed me. But it wasn't offensive, either.
Syd Barrett
3/5
This is going to be a strange review. Prefacing everything with that.
This was the first time I heard this album. Knew Syd from Pink Floyd, of course, but never heard his solo stuff.
I was in a strange situation where I started the album and could t easily turn it off. So I listened to it three times on repeat.
The first time through I was like, this is just weird. Didn’t really like it. Second time, I was like, oh, this is okay. Third time I started thinking it might be genius.
I’m giving it a 3 only because I don’t know what it should get. Maybe if I listen a few more times it would go up. I could even see it being a favorite album in the future.
But not yet.
David Bowie
3/5
This is not my favorite Bowie album, not by a long shot. The singles are great, the rest is forgettable or maybe even bad.
Beatles
5/5
One of many Beatles albums that will get a 5. It's just great, not much more to say.
Astrud Gilberto
2/5
I didn't hate it, and didn't want to turn it off. But I didn't like anything in here, either, and will not return.
Aimee Mann
3/5
Completely forgettable. But fine. Not sure why it's on the list. Wouldn't turn it off if it came on again, but not seeking it out, either.
Frank Sinatra
2/5
I've never been a fan of Sinatra and this album didn't change my mind. Not so bad I wanted to turn it off, though
Willie Nelson
4/5
Its good. Not as good as Shotgun Willie.
Burning Spear
4/5
Unknown to me before listening, and I really enjyoed it. I like the way Reggae mixes chill beats that make you think of relaxing on a beach with a beer, and lyrical themes that are many times anything but relaxing, talking savlery, poverty, politics and other social issues.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Taken as a whole, it's pretty amazing. It has some parts that sort of drag for me, but I think they may be necessary in the concept album as a whole.
It has some of their best singles, with Hey You, Comfortably Numb, and of course, Another Brick in the Wall being stand outs.
Not my favorite Pink Floyd album, but it's still great.
Big Black
4/5
Had not listened to this one before. But it's very good. Sort of a punk rock/industrial thing. Reznor of NiN was probably a fan of this album. I liked it.
Tom Waits
3/5
I didn't dislike it, and some parts of it I really liked. I like his voice. And Waits is quite funny!
Will possibly listen to it again in the future. But not anytime soon.
New Order
4/5
Another album that was new to me. I knew of New Order but not familiar with this album at all.
It's very good, the synths work, the moody atmosphere is good. Not an absolute favorite though.
Manu Chao
3/5
It seems good. I would be very happy if this was the background music in a restaurant with servers who barley spoke English.
I have no frame of reference to if it's any good or not, because it's not my normal thing. But I didn't dislike listening to it.
Buck Owens
2/5
This is exactly the type of country music I don't like.
Kraftwerk
3/5
An album I wanted to like more than I did. It was fine, but it was so of it's time that it's a little hard to listen to now. My kids thought it was funny, but I don't think it's supposed to be a comedy album.
Goldfrapp
1/5
I didn’t connect with this at all. It was so boring. I cannot fathom why I had to hear this one.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
It's simply not for me. I just don't like this kind of music, no matter how much I listen to it. I can recognize that there is some real musical talent here, but it's just an absolute slog to get through.
Sonic Youth
5/5
It's noisy, driving rock, but I can listen to over and over again. This is just a great album and probably Sonic Youth's best.
Although everytime I listen to Sonic Youth I can hear Ellen Page telling Jason Bateman that "Sonic Youth is just noise!"
David Bowie
3/5
Good to great first half, meh second half. I really liek Bowie but the more of his albums I listen to, the more I think I really like Greatest Hits Bowie.
Can
2/5
Nothing here I hated. But absolutly nothing here I liked, either.
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
Of the electronic albums I've listened to (which is, admittedly, not a lot) this is my favorite. The album is structured more like a rock album, and it sounds as much like the mid 90s as a SoCal ska album would.
I'm still not a huge fan of this particular genre, but this album I like.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I really wanted to like this more than I did. It’s bookended by absolute stellar songs, but the middle is forgettable blues rock. Not bad, by any means, but not great either. Just ho-hum for me.
Arcade Fire
4/5
Pretty good 2000s era indie rock. I don’t love it but I’ll gladly listen to it again
Frank Ocean
2/5
Just no. It’s boring, his voice is super annoying, and it’s just so bland and forgettable. It’s not offensive, but it is not good, either.
Eagles
4/5
I know that the Eagles are a very divisive band. There is a massive amount of hate, some that I understand, a lot that I just think is "cool" to have (read the reviews on this site, most of them reference "The Dude." Try to have your own opinion on something. And at the same time, while it's cool to hate them, they have one of the best selling albums of all times with their Greatest Hits album,
The three singles on this album are all amazing. The rest of it is just okay. A little torn as to what to rate this album because I would listen to Take it Easy, Witchy Woman, and Peaceful Easy Feeling at any time. The rest of the songs are nothing to write home about, but I also wouldn't turn them off if they were on, they're just sort of forgettable. While if I was going to listen to The Eagles again, I would probably just put on their Greatest Hits album, this one still was a better overall album than I expected,
Alanis Morissette
4/5
I have listened to this album 10,000 times because my sister played it that many times when we were in high school, but I probably haven't heard it all the way through in 20 years. The first song is brash and abrassive and almost makes me turn it off. But after that it settles into an album of hit after hit, and I enjoyed listening to it again after all these years.
Beastie Boys
3/5
I have heard for years how amazing, groundbreaking, influential, and brilliant this album is. And .... I just don't get it. Maybe it's because I'm not really a fan of music made up of samples, and that's what this is. It's fine, and I get why it's on the list, but I have no desire to listen to it again.
The Sonics
4/5
Good fun dirty rock n roll. A lot of covers, some new songs. Strychnine is a banger. Really enjoyed listening to this album I wasn’t familiar with!
Bob Dylan
4/5
Still say that Bob Dylan can flat out tell a story with his lyrics. This is a very good album, and the more I listen to Dylan, the more I like him.
Aerosmith
3/5
Maybe it was because I was 9 or 10 when this album was getting MASSIVE airplay and especially on MTV, but this one, and their follow-up Get A Grip were in heavy rotation in my house when they came out. Neither album is terrific, not by any means, but sometimes it's nice to sit down and just enjoy an album that's not trying to be the next big thing, just trying to rock the way the band knew how to. Though, to be honest, I would put Get a Grip on before this one if I was going to listen to just one.
Baaba Maal
1/5
Call me an ugly American, but I have a strong, strong preference to music that's in English. So something that isn't in English has to REALLY grab my attention if I'm going to enjoy it at all.
Well, this grabbed my attention, but in all the wrong ways. The vocals are super annoying, and the entire album is repetitive. Maybe it's amazing and I just don't have the musical vocabulary to enjoy it. But to say I did not enjoy it would be an understatement.
Hole
4/5
This is the Hole album that I really like. Less poppy, more crunchy, grungy sounding.
Very Nirvana-ish with it's start/stop songwritting and quiet/loud parts. And I love Nirvana, so it's not a stretch to like this one a lot, too.
Dusty Springfield
2/5
This album has one good song and the rest is completely forgettable and sometimes not even good. but Son of a Preacher Man is really good.
The Prodigy
3/5
I had this album in high school, just like everyone my age had this album in high school. It's pretty good late 90s techno, and one that I would put on again if I was in the right mood. But that mood won't come around very often.
Pulp
4/5
I missed this band when they were big. I like Blur and Oasis, the only two britpop groups I really know. This one was pretty good, too!
The Flaming Lips
4/5
I like this. It's atmospheric and dreamy at times, and just a good album.
Miles Davis
2/5
No matter how much the generator and the book try to get me to like Jazz, I just don't. I didn't turn it off, but I can't see a time I'll put it on again.
The Cardigans
3/5
Lovefool is super catchy, of course. Pure late 90s pop, and I could see the scenes in movies and TV it was used in my head while it was playing. The rest is fine.
Billie Holiday
2/5
This was a tough one to get through. I understand how some people find her voice amazing, but I found the overall album fairly boring.
Yes
4/5
I was much more into this album than I thought I would be. Some of the songs still go too long, but overall I really enjoyed it.
Janelle Monáe
3/5
It's an interesting record. Very pop, but with a ton of styles crammed into it. This is not one I would've ever listened to before, and one I can't see putting on again, but I didn't dislike it while it was on, either.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
It's a very good album. But it would be a stellar 45 minute album. Why is this thing two hours long? No one needs that much, especially since there are a few duds in that extra time.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Some killer songs on this album, standards, wedding songs, feel good songs. This is one that I rate higher than a scale of if I'd put it on again, because I probably won't, but it's really good.
Brian Eno
3/5
I liked the other Brian Eno one we listened to more than this one. It's fine, but I don't see putting it on again.
The Fall
3/5
Didn't love it, didn't want to turn it off. It's fine.
Incubus
3/5
Enjoyed this much more than I thought I would, but i wasn't expecting much at all having not been a fan before. I could see playing it again, if I was in the right mood.
Aphex Twin
2/5
Pure background music, at best. It's not offensive or anything, but it's not something I would ever plan on putting on again.
Deep Purple
4/5
Pure 70s rock in the most fun way possible. Some absolutle bangers on this one. I don't think it's in my favorites of all time, but I really enjoyed it.
Bert Jansch
2/5
Could not get into this one. Some of the guitar work was really good, but overall was very forgettable.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
1/5
No, just no. This is terrible, and I have no idea why I had to hear it at all. Anytime it started to get almost (and almost is a loose term here) listenable, it went in some weird ass, left-field direction and totally pulled me out of it.
k.d. lang
2/5
This is pretty darn boring, and not something I will put on again. Didn't HATE, but did not enjoy it, either.
Adele
2/5
Meh. Some of the songs are okay, I guess. It's a pretty boring album overall.
Michael Jackson
5/5
There is a reason this is the best selling album worldwide, it’s awesome. This is truly the “King of Pop” with hit after hit.
I am sympathetic to those who say it doesn’t really work as an album. But if decided I just don’t care. The high points are so high that the few low points or missteps are barely noticeable
Hookworms
4/5
Surprisingly good. I didn't know anything about it going in, but I really enjoyed the album and will look forward to listening to it again.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I enjoyed it, this is sort of the album I think of when I think of folk. And to think he was so young when he made this is crazy.
Boston
5/5
Pure classic rock. No misses on the album at all, some great guitar work, and catchy tunes that get stuck in your head. Great stuff.
Chicago
4/5
I really enjoyed this album. A couple of well known songs, but even the ones I don't know that well were really good.
David Bowie
4/5
On first listen I didn’t really like it. Seemed like more post Ziggie Bowie that I never really got into.
But listed a couple of more times and it grew on me each time. I think the intro on Station to Station is too long but overall I really enjoy the album now.
Astor Piazzolla
1/5
Another one that I just don’t have the musical language to appreciate, maybe. But really really not for me.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
3/5
It started off fairly strong, as noise albums go. I like the guitar, and while it's mostly noise from the singer, I kinda liked it at first. But then it just kept going. And going. And going. Cut the runtime in half and you have something here, otherwise it just seems a little self-indulgent. There's no way that there isn't something that could've been lost in a 80 minute album.
Femi Kuti
2/5
I didn't hate it, surprisingly. It's way too long, which I don't love, but some of the beats and some of the instrumentals are really fun. But I also have no desire to put it on again, either. This is a 2.5 album that I'm bumping down to a two simple because of the unecessary length.
Bill Evans Trio
2/5
Three albums in a row over 75 minutes. And ALL were too long.
This sounds like something that would be on in the background of a hipster movie theater. One that doesn’t play Marvel Movies, only independent films (well they existed when I was a teenager at least)
It’s not offensive, but it’s super not interesting, either.
Shuggie Otis
3/5
Funky, smooth, a little slow. Don’t love it, don’t hate it.
TV On The Radio
4/5
I enjoyed listening to this album. It's not perfect, and nothing grabbed me in that "you have to listen again right now" way, but overall I quite liked it.
5/5
Love this album. The synths sound strange in all the perfect ways, it's catchy and weird, but it's not so out there that it's not enjoyable. It's just excellent.
Fever Ray
2/5
Not for me. Didn’t HATE it but will never play it again, either.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
First time listening to a full Yeah Yeah Yeahs album. And it's good. Would listen again for sure. But there is a bit in the middle or towards the end that it just sort of drags and I can't figure out why. This is in between a 3 and a 4 for me, but I'll bump it up because I really liked quite a bit of the album.
The Jam
4/5
Really liked this album and look forward to listening to it again.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Great album from top to bottom and it all works. Some hard rock, some folk, some acoustic. I think the first 4 of Zeppelin's albums are probably going to get 5s from me.
The Temptations
3/5
It’s pretty good but not something I’m going to put on a bunch of times. Of course Papa is a Rolling Stone is great.
Goldie
2/5
Not for me. Didn’t hate but didn’t really like it. And it’s way too long.
Fleet Foxes
4/5
Enjoyed this album quite a bit. Had not heard it before, this was in my "dark times" of not listening to any new music.
Nirvana
5/5
This one was an instant 5 for me. Sure we can talk about how it's strange that one of their best known albums is a live album that is probably the antithesis of what Nirvana was live, but it doesn't matter.
The album is beautiful and haunting. It includes some of my favorite versions of their original songs (Pennyroyal Tea for sure) and the covers are all great.
This might be my favorite live album of all time.
The Sugarcubes
1/5
This album has one song (Motorcross) that I sort of liked. But the entire rest of the album is fairly standard alt rock that is turned to complete shit by Bjork’s wailing. Absolutely unlistenable.
Ananda Shankar
1/5
Not a fan. The covers I recognized were maybe a little neat, but the Sitar is an insturment that I can only take in small doses and an entire album of them is painful.
Prince
2/5
I really like Prince’s guitar work. But I’m just not a fan of his music overall. I’ve tried, but can’t get there. Still has one of my all time favorite guitar solos.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
This album surprised me. I thought I was going to hate it. I didn’t. Not bad
Fela Kuti
4/5
This one surprised me. I liked it a whole lot more than I expected to. Pretty good stuff!
Waylon Jennings
3/5
I found this to be fine. I'm not a huge country music fan, and this didnt't change my mind, but I wouldn't mind listening to it again, either.
The Who
4/5
I would like concept albums more if the songs could all stand on their own. And these just don't. But a couple of really good one on here, and the overall album is pretty great.
MC Solaar
2/5
I didn't loathe it, and never really felt like I had to turn it off. But I have no idea what's going on in the lyrics since I don't speak french, so it is, at best, background music.
Guns N' Roses
4/5
I have heard this album so many times. I had a roommate in college that would literally only play GnR and Smashing Pumpkins. I got real tired of both of them after a full year of it.
But it's been a few years since I heard this all the way though. And it's really good. Some mega hits of course, amazing that so many big hits were on a debut album.
It may be a while before I listen to it again, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Aerosmith
4/5
Pretty standard 70s rock, but done well. Couple of songs I could've left off, but some great ones, too. Good album.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I just don’t think I like prog-rock. Way to self-indulgent by the bands for me. Couple of songs on the critically “weaker” side B were okay, and I didn’t hate this as much as the last ELP, but I didn’t like any of it, either.
Kelela
2/5
This is not for me. I don't like slow R&B, just not something I'll ever choose to listen to, and this one didn't change my mind about it. I didn't feel the need to turn it off, just bored, mostly.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
I must have missed rating this (I thought I did first time through.) I really enjoyed it, I hadn't listened to this in quite a while, but it holds up really well. Good times, will be adding it to my listening rotation.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I like Nick Cave, at times. And other times I don't. It is 100% dependant on mood for me, and I don't think I was really in the mood for this one, at least not this time around.
Steely Dan
4/5
What can I say except I just love Steely Dan. Maybe because I grew up listening to them, and my Dad is a big fan, but it's comfort music to me.
This album is no where near as good as Aja, but it's still a solid record, with some good tunes.
Hugh Masekela
2/5
I had high hopes for this one after the first song, which I really enjoyed. Then it turned into typical background jazz music. Fine to be on while cooking diner, but nothing I will seek out.
Sonic Youth
5/5
I really enjoy Sonic Youth and this one takes up where Daydream Nation left off. I think this one is a little more accessible, for both good and bad. But I really liked it.
Everything But The Girl
1/5
I have no idea why something like this is on this list. It's just flat out boring, there's nothing in the insturmentals or lyrics that make you say *Hey* You have to listen to this before you die.
Lou Reed
5/5
I really really liked this album and the visuals it evoked. Lou Reed makes heroin sound like a really good time.
Herbie Hancock
4/5
Gasp - jazz I actually "like?" Well, I did like this one, a lot more than I expected to. I think the funk beats helped me get into the "grove" and stay with it.
Britney Spears
1/5
I was trying to find a way to rate this higher than a 1. It has two singles that topped the charts, so it can't be THAT bad, can it. Yes, yes it can. It's terribly dated, way overproduced, bland, AND infuriating at the same time. It's really not good, and I'm glad it was removed from future versions of the book.
Gene Clark
3/5
Good singer/songwriter album. One that would probably get a much higher rating if my parents played it more and I was more familiar with it. But overall I liked it, and will probably revisit again in the future.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
It's fine electronic/dance music. It gets repetitive, but I think that just goes with the genre. Didn't hate it.
The Smiths
4/5
This is the album is where it all comes together and works for both Morrissey as a singer/songwriter and the Smiths as a whole. It's mostly sad, a little bit funny, and the title track really starts out the album with a bang. I hadn't listened to it in a few years, and I liked it even more than I remembered.
Muddy Waters
5/5
If you like Blues (and I do) this album is amazing. Not much more needs to be said.
4/5
It's a good album. Much better than I expected, and I liked it more than Achtung Baby. But as good as it is, I just don't see putting it on very often.
10cc
3/5
It was strange, and I didn't dislike it. Not sure I liked it a lot either. I'm guessing if I heard it a bunch more times I would end up liking or not liking it a lot more than I did on the first listen.
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
A band I was not familiar with at all. Really good stuff, will be listening to it again. Lots of comparisons to The Rolling Stones, but I think the Groovies did it better.
Peter Frampton
4/5
A very good live album, with crowd energy helping it out. Lots of fun listening to this one.
Norah Jones
4/5
It's a little poppy, sure, but that's what I like about it. Super easy listening, very pretty, and engaging. Not for every day, but in the right situations, its the album you want to put on.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
I found this to be super dated, especially compared to "Raising Hell"
There's nothing bad about it, but it's not great either. Some albums you listen to and you can't believe what time period they were made in. This one, there is no way it was made anytime other than when it was.
Black Flag
5/5
It's at the top or near the top of the list of best hardcore albums of all time. And rightfully so! I completely get people who don't like this type of music (my wife being one of them, she was NOT happy with me when we listened to this one in the car) but for those of us who do, it's a classic album.
Although as I'm now in my 40s and sitting down and watching TV with a beer in hand is my idea of a good time, TV Party isn't the anthem it was when I was in my teens.
Joy Division
5/5
I agree that both Joy Division albums are amazing. Unknown Pleasures is better, but this one is also excellent. Curtis voice and lyrics are dark, and sound almost like his suicide note. It’s a challenging record, for sure, but it doesn’t make it any less brilliant.
Beatles
5/5
This is another easy 5 star. Picking a favorite Beatles album is like picking a favorite child. You just can’t do it. But this might be my favorite.
For this review I listened to both the 2009 Mono and Stereo remaster. Like most early to mid Beatles albums, I much prefer the Mono, but this is the first one where it’s close. They don’t always pan the vocals all the way to one side, and actually play with the stereo mix sometimes in interesting ways. The mono is still my preference though. I’m really looking forward to listening to Giles Martin’s new stereo mix when it’s released.
Would be more than 5 stars if I could. This album is on my list of top 10 personally influential albums of all time.
Public Enemy
4/5
I actually enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would. Could do without Flavor Flav, but I like the messages, Chuck D is very engaging, and I really enjoyed some of the experiments they did with the stereo mix. Not something I’ll listen to a lot, but much better than most hiphop I’ve been exposed to.
Little Richard
4/5
Was listening to this in the car with my kids. And at first they both didn't like it. By about the 3rd or 4th song they were both talking about how it started making their toes tap. And a half hour in, they were all in.
The album is just flat out fun!
Jeff Beck
4/5
I liked this quite a bit. Really great guitar work, of course, and Stewart's vocals just work with it. Strong album.
Bad Company
5/5
Sometimes you get an album to listen to that you haven't heard the whole album before (that's me with this one) but by the time you're done you realize you know 3/4 of the album because it got so much airplay.
This album is full of great songs from beginning to end. Staight up rock, done extreemly well. Good stuff here, will listen to again and again.
Billy Bragg
4/5
Wilco is always good, some of the collaborations work well, some not as much. Not my favorite Wilco endeavor but still very good.
Johnny Cash
5/5
I don't like it as much as Folsom Prison, but I think the stage banter might be better. Seems a little more like a raw concert. Still excellent. I listened to the later release of the Full Concert (which still isn't the *full* concert) which has more songs than the original and I think it works better.
Anita Baker
1/5
Not for me. Not even a little bit. Type of music that puts me to sleep or actively annoys me.
Steely Dan
5/5
Great album. Major hits, and I was singing along with most of the album even though this was my first time listening to it all the way through. Still not quite as good as Aja in my mind, but that doesn't take away from it being an excellent album.
Talking Heads
5/5
An excellent album with some great songs. And Psycho Killer is phenomenal, I may have given this album 5 just for that one songX luckily, the rest of the album is super strong. David Byrne is the type of artist that people like Bjork wished they were.
Beatles
5/5
It's another 5 star Beatles albums. It's almost boring rating Beatles albums, they're pretty much all going to be 5 stars. Two of the best songwriters of all time in the same band, groundbreaking recording techniques, and a discography that is top-notch all the way through almost makes it unfair. Some of their best songs are on this one.
Judas Priest
3/5
Solid album. Nothing amazing, nothing bad. Sounds like the soundtrack to a movie set in the early 80s for a specific type of character.
Common
1/5
Didn't liket he first time I listened to Common, didn't like this one, either. Super boring, except when it's annoying.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
It's a fine album. But it's not great, it's just fine. Some good things, some not great things. It is NOT The Beatles, that's for sure.
Kanye West
1/5
This was terrible. As someone who really dislikes Kanye, I was surprised by how much more I hated this album than I thought I would. Just terrible.
Meat Loaf
3/5
Meatloaf is cheesy. But it works, somehow. It's not great, it's not bad, I don't hate it, I don't love it. The songs may be a little long for me.
T. Rex
4/5
I really enjoyed it, but it was nothing that I would call spectacular. Very good is where I'm at with it, and would gladly listen again.
Caetano Veloso
2/5
I liked some of the guitar work, but overally this wasn't anything I could get into. Didn't want to turn it off, so it had that going for it, I guess.
Lou Reed
3/5
I like Lou Reed, but this was my least favorite of his solo stuff that I listened to. Some of it was interesting, but a lot of it was, unfortunately, forgettable.
Cornershop
3/5
It's fine, but I'm not sure why it's on the list. Nothing you HAVE to hear here. Even albums (not all, but some) that I've rated lower, I can get why they're on the list. This one, not really. The single is fine.
The Replacements
5/5
This is a great album all the way through. Love it.
Marvin Gaye
2/5
This wasn't for me. It's well made, but I just didn't care.
Beach House
3/5
It's very pretty, but it's not something I loved. It's fine.
The Louvin Brothers
1/5
I don't know if this was just not for me, or if was actually really bad. But it doesn't matter, I really hated it. All the songs were the same, and boring. Some of the harmonies were good, to give it something nice to say about it. But I really, really, really wanted to turn this thing off after about 3 songs.
Le Tigre
4/5
This is an album that was missed by me that shouldn't have been, it's right in my wheelhouse. I enjoyed it very much!
AC/DC
4/5
There's no denying that AC/DC can play big rock songs that are easy to like. And this one contains a bunch of them.
Black Sabbath
4/5
This album, while almost 30 years old when I was in high school, takes me back there. We listened to it a lot during some of my sports practices, so it's nostalgic there.
It's not quite perfect, but it's pretty darn close.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
These types of albums are the hardest for me to rate. There's no denying that it's good, she can sing, the songs are tight, etc. But I just don't like it. After a couple of songs I get bored.
Tom Waits
3/5
I liked the bluesy bits, but they meandered sometimes and got boring at other times. Guitar work is good, and I liked that. Tom Waits is someone I won't listen to often, but if in the right mood, I can see putting this one on again.
1/5
Nothing good in here at all for me
Radiohead
2/5
I was surprised by how much I disliked this one. There is some Radiohead I like, OK Computer is fine, Creep is great. But I don't get this album at all.
The Byrds
4/5
This has been my favorite of the Byrds albums so far that we've gotten going through the list. Good stuff, very similar to early Beatles. I liked it,
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
Not for me. Just pretty boring overall.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
I liked this fine. I could hear some of The Cure in it and it was fine. Would maybe listen to it again, but not anytime soon.
The Pogues
4/5
I really enjoyed this album. Mostly loud and fast (but with a few slower songs that also are great.) No surprise that someone who likes Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys would like this one, too.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
There's something about blues that just makes me thing of sitting outside, swatting the mosquitos away, and drinking a beer while the smoker is rolling and a big old pork butt is becoming pull apart tender. I don't know why blues music makes me feel this way, but it does, every time.
This album is just fine, though. Started off fairly strong, but there was a bit towards the end where I got a little bit more bored than I thought I should have.
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
This is nowhere near as good as Superfly for me. It's alright, and I do like the funky basslines. But mostly non-offputting, but forgettable.
Dr. John
2/5
This one surprised me. Half of the time I was wondering why I was listening to it. But then occasionally it would have a song that I really enjoyed. It's a strange album.
James Brown
3/5
Uneven is the perfect word. Some great things, some really not great things. It's fine.
The United States Of America
4/5
Lots of interesting things on this album. I actually really enjoyed it, and seeing the different directions it would go. I have a feeling this is one of those that you like more and more the more you listen.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
The lyrics are pure poetry. The voice takes a bit to get used to. It's striped down production. I thinik the second half is stronger than the first, which is strange. I like this album, but it's not something I want to listent o all the time.
Marty Robbins
2/5
It's fine for a song or three. Not the worst country music I've heard. But damn, it gets super repetitive for a whole album.
I didn't realize this was a real album people listened to. It gets posted like a meme to vinyl collector boards like Herb Albert's Whipped Cream and Other Delights all the time.
Orbital
2/5
It's fine but I have no idea why I had to hear this before I died. It's good background music, but nothing more than that.
Dion
2/5
I have no idea why this album is on the list. It’s not offensive or anything but it’s so boring. Not for me.
The Damned
4/5
It's a good album, but it gets a bit weird in parts. High energy, which is great. A solid punk album, but not a perfect one.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
Listening to this one reminded me of driving around in the car with my grandfather when I was a kid visiting him for the summer. He was a huge Big Band guy, and this one took me back to then.
It's easy to tap your toe to it, and I was surprised by how much I liked it, mostly due to those great memories.
Miles Davis
2/5
I know I'm supposed to like this album. People lose their shit over it all the time. I just didn't care, and I found it completely boring. It's just not for me, and I'll take the hit for not being able to appreciate it.
fIREHOSE
4/5
Not a band or album I was familiar with, at all. But this was really interesting and I think I liked it a lot!
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
3/5
This one is pretty weird. But not always in a terrible way, though at times it's pretty rough. But some things on it did resonate fairly decently and it wasn't a complete waste.
Van Morrison
4/5
Really surprised by how much I liked this album. I don't know much about Van Morrison outside of his few hits. But this whole album works. Good stuff here.
Cypress Hill
2/5
Cypress Hill was one of the worst live acts I've ever seen (and it might not have been their fault, being the inbetweener set between MxPx and The Offspring makes no sense.)
I didn't really find much in this album for me. It's fairly repetitive and mostly uninteresting.
Rush
3/5
Whoops, missed rating this one. It's Rush, so it's going to be really good musicianship. The first half is better than the second, by a lot.
Rufus Wainwright
1/5
Wainright might have the most annoying voice I've heard since the last Bjork album I listened to. It starts off with an absolutly terrible crappy "song" (I'm not sure I even want to call it that) and doesn't get much better the rest of the way. An entrie album of completely boring tracks sung by a whiny bitch.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
It started off pretty strong. I'm thinking that Zappa didn't like Hippies very much. But the back half of the album sort devolved into something that was too experimental for me. But the good outweight the bad, I think. Tough one to rate.
Queen
3/5
It was just okay. Queen doesn't seem to have great albums, just great songs, and I don't know if there were any great songs on this one for me.
Talking Heads
4/5
I really like listening to the Talking Heads. This album is one I need to listen to more. The Take Me to the River cover is great.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
Lots of great harmonies. A nice and pleasant album to listen to.
Slipknot
1/5
I really hate Slipknot. The drums, like the other Slipknot album, are amazing. But everything else is a dumpster fire and I cannot believe that there are two of these albums on this list when one was way, way to many.
David Bowie
4/5
While I'm still waiting for some Ziggy Stardust Bowie to show up on the list, this might be my favorite of the Bowie we've gotten so far. Even the weird stuff in the second half worked for me. It's not an album I would put on often, but it's good.
Beck
4/5
This is the Beck album I've listened to the most after Odeley. It's full on singer/songwriter Beck and I really enjoy it.
Side note - I think this is the only album I ever had on SACD. I couldn't tell the difference.
Nina Simone
2/5
Fairly forgettable. Great voice, but none of the songs grabbed me at all.
MGMT
4/5
Was surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. Didn't know much about them, of course I've heard one or two of these songs before. But I liked it quite a bit.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
It was fine. Nothing I really liked or disliked in this one. Forgettable
The 13th Floor Elevators
4/5
Had never heard this album before. I knew the opening track because it was on the High Fidelity soudtrack, but found I really liked the whole album.
Wire
5/5
I love this album. You can see why it's considered an influence for like half of the bands that I consider now to be my favorites.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Really good pop album, some standout songs. Cinnamon Girl is great
Amy Winehouse
4/5
I never really gave Winehouse a chance when she was alive. Which was my bad, she's got a great voice, and I enjoyed this album a lot.
Gary Numan
4/5
It's a good album. It's actually close to great. Except it's a few songs too long, and since all the songs are so similar to each other, that really shows that you could've cut down a couple of them and not missed much. But all of the songs, even if they're similar to each other, are really good with that synth driving the beat.
KISS
3/5
After listening to this album, all I can say is, wow, I don't care about KISS at all. At least not this album. I was actually surprised by how little I knew this album, always assuming that I knew more KISS than I do. Completely forgettable album. That said, I wouldn't turn it off, either. Perfectly fine to listen to in the car and not pay attention to it.
Mike Oldfield
2/5
Not for me. Some of the bits were fine. But it sounded like listening to a movie soundtrack at best. Was glad when it was done and I can't see I'll put it on again.
Beck
5/5
This is a great record all around. Some crazy sounds that all work together and some amazingly catchy songs.
Fugees
1/5
Another album I thought that maybe I would enjoy. And yet, I really, really, didn’t. Seems like the beats were all similar except the covers and Killing Me Softly. The later ALMOST makes me raise this to a 2, but the number of times I wanted to switch to anything else was just too much for me.
Minutemen
4/5
I was trying to give this one a 5, because there are 5* worth of great songs on this. But it's too long. Just a *little* bit of editing would've made this a much stronger album. It's still great, though!
Miles Davis
2/5
There was movie theater near me that used to play some first run movies, but mostly indie and art house type stuff. We would go to it so often when I was in high school and college that we would have seen everything that was offered that we had heard of and have the clerk at the counter just suggest something to watch. Saw a few really good movies that way (the best being Saving Grace, that's a great movie, I recommend seeing it at some point.)
This is the music they would play in the lobby and theaters before the movie started. Perfectly fine to ignore but not something I enjoy.
Isaac Hayes
2/5
It started out okay. But man did this thing drag by the end. Why did he feel the need for a 18 minute "song" to end the album? I didn't get the second half of this thing at all.
Metallica
1/5
I don't understand this album at all. The symphony does nothing, and even if it could, it's pushed so far back in the mix you can't hear it most of the time. Essentially you're left with a bad Metallica live album with some annoying symphony things you hear occasionally.
This is not good.
The Modern Lovers
4/5
Really enjoyable album with some great songs. Roadrunner is amazing, of course, but other good stuff on this album too.
Def Leppard
2/5
I don't get it. Of course, I'll sing along to Pour Some Sugar when I'm drunk, who wouldn't? But past that, I really don't understand the appeal of this type of Hair Metal at all. Never really wanted to turn it off, though.
David Bowie
3/5
All Bowie past his Ziggie days seems to be sort of the same. It's fine, but nothing I would consider groundbreaking or must listen I do need to relisten to Blackstar, though, as I think that one was a little more poignant.
Haircut 100
3/5
This was fine. I actually enjoyed some of it quite a bit, but other parts dragged a little. Not sure I had to hear it, but wasn't terrible.
The Cure
3/5
I did not like this one as much as Seventeen Seconds. This was was a little too moody, too dark, and too depressing. Some good soundscapes in here, though.
Radiohead
2/5
I really didn't know I disliked Radiohead so much. Some of the guitar work is pretty good, but the voice is driving me crazy.
Dwight Yoakam
1/5
Literally name checks a truck in the first verse. Absolutely not. This is trash, complete and total trash.
Simply Red
2/5
I guess I know that one song. But not sure what I head to hear the rest of the album.
Justice
3/5
It's a dance album, so it's not something I'm usually going to look to put on. But there were a few songs on here that I found myself tapping my toes to, so it's successful in that at least.
The Cars
5/5
Listening to this album and I couldn't believe that all these songs were from the same one. From first track to last, this is just a great album.
Alice Cooper
3/5
I really like some of the blues and Detroit Rock sounds, and then out of left field is this West Side Story thing that was weird. Album starts off with the strongest song, and unfortunatly doesn't match that energy from there.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
It was perfectly okay. Nothing I'm going to turn off, nothing I'm going to look out to listen to again.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
I know this album is weird. It's strange, noisy, and really doesn't have any pop sensibilities. But for some reason, I have always liked it a lot.
Adele
3/5
I knew the singles because I've been alive and have ears. And I think the record guys did a good job picking the strongest songs as singles. The rest of the album never veers into "I want to turn it off" territory, but never gets into the "I'd choose to listen to this again" either.
Blur
5/5
I like Blur. I like this Blur album. This is one of my most played albums my senior year of high school and freshman year of college. Always happy when Blur comes on.
Funkadelic
3/5
I really liked some of the songs, and really didn't like a few of them. Excellent bass and guitar work which kept it interesting. It was a fine listen.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Blues, rock, great songs. One of the best debut albums of all time? Great album
Keith Jarrett
3/5
He sure can play that piano! But I still don't think I would ever choose to play this one again. Just doesn't hold my interest for over an hour.
Spiritualized
3/5
Super dreamy, atmospheric, spacey music. Very interesting. But not something I want to listen to often.
The Cure
4/5
I liked this one about as much as I liked Seventeen Seconds. Good moody, gothy music. Stuff to listen to on a rainy day, by yourself.
Neil Young
4/5
This is the Neil Young that I tend to like more. Folksy, mostly, but with some rock in there. A really good listen with some great songs.
Jethro Tull
4/5
Really good album. I like the flutes, they add a dimension that's different. The album tells a story, and it's funny at times. Sounds like the 70s.
Tricky
1/5
This was terrible. Not only did the music not grab me even a little bit, but the mix was terrible. Call me wierd, but I think you should be able hear the vocals and not push them so far back in the mix that they're unlistenable.
Dirty Projectors
4/5
I really like some of what is being done on here. But some of it doesn't quite click with me either. It's a good album though and I do think you should listen to it.
Paul Simon
4/5
I really like a lot of Paul Simon songs and some of the best are on this album. And the ones that tell a story are my favorite. Only knock this album gets is that a few of the songs are just a bit too similar to one another. So a really good album, just short of great.
Otis Redding
4/5
Was really enjoyable. Some very well known songs, some done differently than I've heard before. Not familiar with this recording before listening, but will probably listen again.
Röyksopp
1/5
This was terrible. No reason to listen to this at all. So boring, I had a really hard time finishing it.
Butthole Surfers
3/5
I really don't "get" the Butthole Surfers. Sometimes they have tracks or sections of tracks that are super interesting. Then it's just noise for noise sake at times, too. Maybe I need to listen to more, but this doesn't rise to the level of "really good" for me.
PJ Harvey
3/5
I'm not really all that familiar with PJ Harvey. Should deep dive in a bit more. I liked a lot on this album. But there was also quite a bit I didn't enjoy as much. Solid but not great.
Talking Heads
5/5
Another great album by the Talking Heads. And another one that I immensely enjoyed. Some of the African beats are a bit weird on first listen but they really work.
Metallica
2/5
This was not my thing at all. Other than One, all the songs sound the same and are, frankly, boring. I just don't think I like metal (or more specificially, don't like Thrash metal) Oh, and the mix is terrible. Drums sound like shit and there is no bass at all.
Roxy Music
3/5
I had never heard this album before. And it was fine. No need to put it on again anytime soon, and nothing offensive here, either. Just all around fine.
The Byrds
3/5
I actually enjoyed this Byrds album for the most part. Not 100% of it. It sure was better than that awful country one they had. Probably won't go back to it anytime soon, but wasn't the worst thing I've heard.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
I have never listened to an entire Jane's Addiction album, only know them from the radio play they got. So the first half of this album was enjoyable, a few songs I knew and some similar songs. But the album had a second half which isn't great and is, in fact, quite boring. So it's fine in the aggregate.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I really enjoyed this album. Some great songs on here. Not sure why, but it doesn't quite raise up to a 5 star for me. 4.5 if it was a thing?
Beatles
5/5
This was the one Beatles album on the list I wasn't positive would get 5 stars at first. Then I listened to it again. And it's an EASY 5 star. Sure they song structure and lyrics are simplistic, especially compared to their other, later, works, but it's early 60s rock distilled into an album. And I need to listen to older Beatles more.
Bad Brains
4/5
I was not familiar with this album at all. And it also wasn't what I expected. But I found that I was really enjoying it, and will listen to it again!
Neneh Cherry
1/5
This is just terrible. Everything in this album has been done, and done better, by other people. Not for me at all.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
First half to 2/3s of the album really caught my attention. Which is hard when I can't understand the lyrics. However the last bit started to drag a little bit. It's a 3.5, but I'll round up to 4 just because I was so surprised by how much I liked the start of it.
2/5
An 80s album that should've stayed there. No reason to listen to this, everything on here has been done better by other bands.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
This album is squarely in my musical dead zone, from 2005-2015 I listened to almost no new music including this one. It's really good but a few of the songs were a little long and a little boring. Many of the songs could be on a soundtrack to any movie set in NY in the late 2000s
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
I lived through the 90s and I don't remember this band at all. And I'm perfectly happy to forget about them now.
Garbage
4/5
Was really happy to listen to this one again. Some great 90s alternative pop songs on here.
Paul Simon
4/5
Another really good album from Paul Simon. Different than other's hes'd done, the South African vibe is something a little off the wall. But it works, really well.
Nirvana
5/5
If you want to say that this is Nirvana's best album, I won't argue with you. If you want to say it's their 3rd or 4th best, I probably wouldn't argue with you there either.
The album is amazing, a middle finger to the industry that made them a household name. Yet, despite Cobains best efforts, still managed to be an extremely successful album.
For many years, Nirvana was my favorite band, and when I get to listen to one of their albums again, I am reminded why.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Exactly what I would expect from Bob Marley. And that's a good thing.
The Triffids
1/5
This is terrible. Just absolutely terrible. Wanted to turn it off almost as soon as I turned it on. I cannot fathom why this album is on this list, at all.
Deep Purple
4/5
A couple of the songs get a little proggy for my liking, but I overall really enjoyed it.
Pearl Jam
5/5
This is another, no doubt about it, 5 star album.
Yet I’d still choose to listen to Nirvana almost anytime.
The Doors
5/5
Excellent album, great sounds (organ is amazing.) Another amazing debut album on this list.
Stan Getz
2/5
I got through it fine. Soundtrack to some 60s romantic comedy. Nothing I would ever pick to listen to again though.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Very good noise pop album. Ethereal and engagning.
Love
3/5
Started off strong but sort of trailed towards the end. It's fine. Not sure what I was supposed to get out of this that wasn't done by a lot of other albums on the list.
Queen
3/5
It's a Queen album. Which means there are 2-4 great songs that fit on a Greatest Hits album and the rest of the album is tough to get through.
Some sonically interesting things on this album that made listening on headphone interesting. But interesting doesn't always equal fun or good.
The Police
3/5
I like some of the songs a lot. But I don't love the album as a whole. It's fine, some of the songs I'll add to a playlist but I don't see listening to the whole thing again anytime soon.
Radiohead
3/5
This has been my favorite Radiohead album so far. But I still only sort of liked some of it. Some of it I really didn't like, too.
Afrika Bambaataa
2/5
Started off and I hated it. Then for a song or two I thought, oh this isn't too bad. Then I started to dislike it again. It's just too dated. Not for me.
Harry Nilsson
4/5
For probably the second time in this challenge, I had to listen to an album almost immediately after finishing it. I had no idea that some of these songs were the same person let alone on the same album. I think, with more listening, that this one could seriously become a 5 for me, but it's not quite there yet.
It's an eclectic collection of songs, but it somehow all works.
Pavement
5/5
Such a great album. This is one that I revist often and will continue to do so. Noisy, lo-fi, punk-ish, and great.
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
I got this in a VMP subscription on vinyl and I remember liking it a lot more than I expected to. On second listen, I started to really like it. It's obvious that it's not standard pop music of US/UK and I can't understand any of it, but it's interesting and that's good enough for me.
Coldplay
2/5
It's just so boring. One or two songs got enough radio airplay that you can sort of remember them, but the rest of the album isn't exciting musically, lyrically, or vocally.
Donald Fagen
3/5
I didn't like this nearly as much as I like the Steely Dan albums I've heard and have rated here. It was fine, but I don't see a time I would choose to listen to this over one of the better options.
The Smiths
3/5
I don't like this one as much as The Queen is Dead. And since I gave that one a 4, I only have one place to go with this one.
Blondie
4/5
I enjoyed this album a lot. Some great songs on here that you'll know. A couple of songs that weren't my favorite but overall it was a really good album.
N.W.A.
4/5
I'm not a fan of this type of music, usually. But there is no denying the talent on this album, the wordplay of the artists, and the interplay of each of them. I shockingly, to me, really found myself enjoying it all the way through.
Eagles
4/5
This is probably my favorite standalone Eagles album. It's the first one where they sort of shed their country sound and go pure mainstream rock. Maybe a bit too safe or pop for some, but overall, I'm happy when most of the songs on this album come on. And sure, Hotel California has been overplayed, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it's overplayed because it's excellent.
Santana
4/5
There's something about a guitar player that plays with the amount of feeling that Santana does that makes it a joy to listen to. Even if I don't understand the words to the some of the songs (and some don't have lyrics at all!), I enjoy it.
Scott Walker
1/5
This was a chore to get through
Madonna
2/5
While I'm not really a Modonna fan, I can find stuff in her early work that I can enjoy and appreciate. This one could've been made by so many different people in the late 90s/early 2000s, it was just uninspired.
Arcade Fire
4/5
Arcade Fire is another band that I think I should know more than I do. I have heard this album before, and I listened to it again and still enjoyed it. I don't quite love it, but I like it a lot.
4/5
I enjoyed this one more than I expected too. Maybe a little long in parts, but overall, I quite enjoyed it. The lead singer's voice is a little whiny but he at least puts some emotion into it.
Miles Davis
3/5
This is one of the higher jazz ratings I think I'll give. I liked some of it, I enjoyed the in and out of the song length, and I liked the nostalgia that it brought of listening to this with my grandfather.
All that said, I can't ever see putting it on again for no reason.
Throwing Muses
3/5
Seems like this should've shown up on my radar at some time in the past, but it never did. I really liked it to start, but by the end the vocals started to grate on me a bit.
John Martyn
3/5
First few songs were very strong. I could see them on a playlist of other easy listening songs and fitting in quite nicely. Then it got a little weird in the middle and end.
Not terrible, but I thought it started out stronger than it finished.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
I liked this one a bit more than Ritual De Lo Habitual. Seemed a little more even throughout and I didn't dislike half of it. Would listen to this one again.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
I liked it. Blue is better, this is more of a 3.5 but I'll round up.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
I thought this was just okay. Fine, nothing really exciting here for me.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Have yet to be proven wrong. The first 4 Zep albums are all 5 stars.
Dr. Dre
3/5
It's impossible to deny how good the production is, and anytime Snoop comes on it's usually a pretty good time. But I found myself bored at times with it, and the sameness of the lyrics and messages. And the skits are terrible.
Patti Smith
4/5
I really liked the raw vocals of Smith and enjoyed listening to this album.
Gil Scott-Heron
1/5
Not sure why this is on the list or why I had to listen to it. Every song sounds the same, and they're not anything I would ever choose to listen to again. Except the spoken word H2Ogate which at least sounded different (but still wasn't good.)
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
It's very 90s but seems fairly generic 90s. It's fine, I'd listen to it again, maybe, but I won't search it out to put on.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
I thought this was fine. Nothing stood out but I didn't dislike it, either. Would maybe listen to it again.
Elliott Smith
5/5
This album is just excellent. The poetry of the lyrics paired with the stripped down guitar gives the album intimacy, like you're in the room with Smith as he's singing about the sad things in life. I really love this one.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
I didn't know that Heard it through the Grapevine was 11 minutes long. Or that I wanted to hear an 11 minute version. I think it might be the first CCR album I've listened to all the way through and I thought it was a greatest hits album. Just really really good.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
I really like this album. British version of that mid 2000s rock. Biggest knock I have against the Arctic Monkeys is that everything they've done (that I've heard) sounds pretty much the same, BUT, this is the first time they did it that way and I like it.
Talk Talk
1/5
I kept waiting for it to get ANY better. And it never does. When the children’s choir is one of the better points, you have a dud of an album.
Laibach
1/5
It's what happens when you cross 80s pop with Wagner chants. And it's just as strange as you would think it would be. But just because it's strange does not make it good. And I really didn't enjoy it at all.
Fairport Convention
3/5
I really liked some of the harmonies and the guitar work. But I have to be honest, I got a little bored with it at times. It's not bad, not at all. But there's other folk I would put on before this one.
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
I was really surprised by this album, thinking I was going to hate it based on the type of music I read it was. But I found it to be fairly enjoyable, although at little disjointed and, at times, a little long. I may have to revist this one.
Erykah Badu
3/5
The album is too long. It's the biggest knock I have on it, it's too long for how unvarried the vocals are on it. Many of the songs, while the messages can be different, just "sound" the same. It's fine for a little while but, IMO, overstays it's welcome. I really like some of the funky bits. It's a perfectly fine album to have on, but not one I'm going to seek out to listen to again any time soon.
3/5
This is the usual type of music I say I don't like, but there's something about Lynn that's so complelling that you can't help but notice. I prefer Coal Miner's Daughter to this one, but this one was perfectly fine to listen to. Although I have to say that the quality of the recording itself took me out of the music a little bit, it's pretty bad.
Fiona Apple
2/5
It's werid and disjointed, and I cannot figure out why I had to hear this one. Apple isn't my favorite to start with and this might be my least favorite of her albums I've listened to. At least she can sing, so she has that going for her, I just didn't understand the percussion, the strong structure, the recording quality, etc. The only plus it got is that, while I never enjoyed it, I never got to the point where I really thought about turning it off, either.
Black Sabbath
5/5
I think the first 4 songs are pretty much perfect, they sound like what I think of when I think Heavy Metal. Depending on version (I listened to the Uk version with the 10 min cover of Warning) the second half I think shows some cracks in the “perfectness”. It gets a little too bluesy (and I like blues) but Sabbath isn’t the best at that sound.
This is a 4.5 album but I’ll bump it to 5 because of the significance of the start of a sound.
Snoop Dogg
3/5
It's weird. I prefered Snoop on Dr's Chronic album over his own album. A couple of songs that i liked a lot, but overall it was more of the same. Really good production, no surprise there, but just not for me.
Thundercat
2/5
Ehh, not for me. Some of it was sort of interesting, but it's all too similar to itself. And it's just too weird.
The Associates
1/5
When the two best songs are the opener and closer and they're the best, not because they're good, but because the singer doesn't sing on them, you have a bad album. It's very very bad. The singer is what you think of when you think of a parody of bad 80s singers, like I kept waiting for them to be in on the joke.
Morrissey
4/5
Like most Morrissey, if I'm in the right mood, it's a good album. I enjoyed it and will listen to it again.
Sepultura
1/5
Based on my rating scale of 1 == “I wanted to turn this off multiple times” I have no choice but to rate this a 1. I must have double checked the playlist every single song hoping I was closer to the end of the album. Drums and guitar were good at times and I didn’t even mind a few of the weird songs in the middle that had no lyrics, but every time the singer “sang” I wanted to skip to the next track.
Silver Jews
3/5
I listeneted to this one twice because I wasn't sure what to do about it. I think I landed on "it's fine." I like some of the songs, some of the lo-fi stuff works. Sometimes the singers vocals work well, sometimes I really dislike them. I will probably listen to this again, but not anytime soon.
Motörhead
5/5
I loved this album. 40+ minutes of hard, fast, rock. Lemmy's vocals are unique but work. Amazingly full sound produced by just three guys.
Public Enemy
4/5
It's pretty good. I still could do with a little less Flavor Flav, but Chuck D makes up for it.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
Band sounds like a Talking Heads cover band but not done as well. It's fine, but nothing that I'm looking forward to listening to again.
U2 starts out as a meh band for me. On top of that, this is a very meh album. Some popular songs that you can't escape but nothing here that is worthy of going back to.
50 Cent
2/5
It's just boring. No message that I care about. Fades into the background as if it's not even there. The singles I can get how they got popular but the rest just exists and no better than that.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
Do I really like this as a 5 star album? I guess I do. Sure, it's dated, it's 65+ years old at this point. But without music like this, we wouldn't have any of the music that we get today, either. So it's pretty great.
Marilyn Manson
3/5
Yeah, we all get it. You're super edgy. You're the industrial equivalent to the drive time DJs saying things just to shock people. And your shock value is about as nuanced as the book report from your typical high school listener.
That all said, I just don't hate it.
Roxy Music
3/5
This one is a little more out there and a little more avante garde than Country Life. But I don't like or dislike it any more because of it. It's fine.
Nico
2/5
Didn't connect with this one. Voice isn't for me. She needs Cale/Reed to help her out.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Considering how much I didn't care for the other Marvin Gaye album we got, I was shocked by how much I liked this one. Great songs and messages and extreemly well made. It's pretty good.
Muddy Waters
5/5
This is pretty much perfect/peak blues. I can't think of a blues album I like more than this one.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
It's pretty and haunting. And I can't see ever listening to this again.
Sigur Rós
3/5
This is a very good album, but not one I can listen to often. If I'm in the perfect mood, it's good to put on, but I just can't rate something very high if it's not something that I'm happy whenever it comes on.
Frank Black
5/5
I love Frank Black/Black Francis/Pixies/etc. While his solo stuff is a little more hit and miss compared to some of the Pixies pre-breakup albums, this is probably my favorite of his solo albums and I really love it.
Pavement
5/5
This is a great album. Have listened to it many times and will continue to do so. I always go back and forth between if I like this one or Slanted and Enchanted better.
The Yardbirds
4/5
I didn't know what to expect since I had never listened to this album before. But I quite enjoyed it. I liked different types of guitar Jeff Beck brought to this album, psychadelic, blues, surf, and straight up 60s rock. Good stuff, I'll keep this one in rotation.
Paul Simon
3/5
This isn't as strong as his other albums on this list, but even while not being as strong, it still has a few songs on it that are really good. I won't have any problem putting this album in on an easy listening playlist.
Tears For Fears
5/5
I have no idea why I'm drawn so much to this album, but I just am. It's 80s synth-pop at it's best, with some banger singles. I've listened to this album countless times and will continue to do so.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
People think that Costello has too many albums on this list, and that might be true. But his first three albums are all deserving and should be on the list. This is an easy 5 star.
CHIC
3/5
Fine? It was fine. Disco isn't really my thing, but the good songs on this album are super catchy and I understand why I hear them at every wedding I go to.
Dead Kennedys
5/5
I wish I could give this one 6 stars.
There are few albums in my life more important to me or why I like and listen to the music I do. Ever since I heard this album in high school (20+ years ago), where it blew my mind, I have been chasing that same feeling. I'm don't think I even try to listen to all 1001 albums if it wasn't for hearing this one.
The DKs mix punk and hardcore with lyrics that are funny with a powerful message. It's everything I like in music.
Sugar
5/5
It's very good. There are certain singers/artists that are just special and Mould is one of them. Sure, it's early 90s alt distilled into a single album, but there's nothing wrong with that, that sound the crunchy then jangly guitars, the severe overdubs, etc, are all part of the charm.
Also I hear a lot of influences for more popular music (espcially early Foo Fighters) on this album. Sort of how you can tell how much The Pixies influenced Nirvana, I feel Grohl must have had this album on repeat when he was creating writing.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
2/5
This wasn't for me. A little too much Ramblin I guess. I can see how he would go on to influnce artists that I do like, so that's good. But I can never see putting this one on again.
Steely Dan
4/5
Maybe not quite as good as Aja (my favorite Steely Dan album) but still a very good album with great insturmentation, jazz and pop hooks, and a few songs that are quite catchy!
Donovan
3/5
It has two great songs. And the rest is very very meh. I want to rate this a 2.5 but I guess I'll bump to 3 just because I like Season of the Witch so much.
The Human League
4/5
I quite enjoyed this one. Of course you can't escape Don't You Want Me, but the rest of it I liked a lot as well. Heavy synth-pop that I found myself bobbing my head and tapping my toe to. Would listen to this one again.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
It's fine. Beats are fine. I could see a time where I would listen to this again, in the right circumstance and right frame of mind. But not going to be added to heavy rotation.
Neil Young
5/5
This might be my favorite Neil Young album I've heard. I like the raw and emotional sound and the blues licks. Really great stuff.
Wilco
5/5
This is my favorite Wilco album and it's great. I listened to this album a ton when it came out and it's stayed in heavy rotation since then.
It's got a great blend of diferrent musical styles. Simple yet compelling, and great studio work. This is just a great album.
Primal Scream
2/5
I didn't love the first Primal Scream album I listened to, and I liked this one less. I don't understand why this is on the list, outside of a small pocket of people in the UK, who is listening to this?
Raekwon
1/5
I didn’t enjoy this one at all.
First off, the lyrics. Half of them are essentially unintelligible. With hip-hop, I think being able to actually understand the words is semi important and for half the songs that wasn’t possible. And when you could understand the lyrics, they seemed very inane and superficial.
But the worst part was the production. I couldn’t stand it. Way too compressed, which didn’t help the earlier lyrics issues, and very distracting.
While there has been a few hip-hop albums on this list that I have enjoyed, this one was not one of them.
4/5
I had no idea what to expect going into this one. And I found that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to. I could see listening to this one again. Maybe not soon, but sometime in the future.
Björk
1/5
God, please, no more Bjork.
Her voice is the musical equivalent of a vocal fry. It's so unlistenable that I seriously, at times, question my sanity as to why ANYONE likes her. Like, can you not hear how god awful her singing is. Doesn't it pierce your skull to the point that you want to gouge your ears out because the blood dripping from your ears would be a more pleasant experience than having to listen to her alternate between warbling and shrieking?
Please tell me this is the last Bjork album on the list.
The Undertones
5/5
Does it deserve the 5 stars I’m going to give it? Maybe not quite. It’s a solid 4.5 but I’m a sucker for punk and pop-punk so it gets bumped up.
Prince
3/5
I just don't think I'm a fan of Prince. He has moments of brilliance and some of that shows on this album. But as a whole the album is fairly boring.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Really good indie-pop album. Sounds like the late 90s, and could be the soundtrack to a bunch of movies set at that time, but in the best way.
Blue Cheer
3/5
Hard album to rate. Influential, sure. Good? Not really. Vocal recording sucks, lyrics aren't good. Can see how this is sort of going to be what heavy rock/metal will be, but not something that's as good as others that were doing it just slightly later.
George Jones
2/5
This album didn't do it for me. Jones can really sing, but I wasn't interested in the stories he was telling, and found the overall album to just be *too* country/western/whatever. Not a genre I really like and this album did nothing to change my mind about that.
Shack
3/5
It was fine. Couple of the genre changes were jarring, not necessarily bad but not expected. But overall fairly generic. Not sure why I had to listen to it.
Thelonious Monk
2/5
I didn't enjoy this at all. The first song sounds like you're stepping on thousands of ducks in a field. After that it gets a little better, but not anything I would choose to put on.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Surprising how much I enjoyed this album. It's not great, but it's good and I will listen to it again.
Green Day
5/5
There are a handful of albums from the 90s that I have listened to countless times. This is one of them. One of the best pop-punk/skate punk albums ever made and Basket Case might be the perfect pop-punk song. The whole album is amazing. And it hit at just the right time for me, 14 years old, Nirvana is done, and I'm looking for something new. It's close to the top of all albums that are responsible for my musical tastes for the rest of my life.
Also F.O.D is just a great song. Feel like I need to quote parts of it daily.
Missy Elliott
1/5
This album did nothing for me and I wanted to turn it off many times. Uninspired 90s era R&B that's just flat out boring at best. The only semi-interesting things were the Busta bookends, but they weren't even songs. Hard pass, will never put on again.
The Dictators
5/5
Straight forward rock, proto-punk, punk, whatever you want to call it. Some decent shredding, too. Songs are simple and funny and you can see how this album would go on to influence so much other music that I listen to all the time.
One of the few albums that I wanted to put back on again right after listening to it. Great stuff.
David Bowie
4/5
Still waiting for Ziggy Stardust, but this one wasn't bad. Actually it was good, probably my favorite Bowie we've listened to so far. Good stuff.
Sonic Youth
4/5
It's good. But it's sort of like you ran Sonic Youth through a generic 90s Grunge filter and this is what you get. No where near as good as Daydream Nation or Goo. But still not bad, I enjoyed it and will listen again.
3/5
I can thank the MC5 for doing what would eventually become punk. But I just don't really jive with this album much. The recording quality isn't there, which is tough since it's live and everything. The songs are just okay. It's fine, and I will listen to it again, but more because I feel I have to than because I actually really enjoy it.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
I liked it. It's not as good as Loveless but I will listen to it again.
The Shamen
1/5
Very meh. Starts off not strong, then the guy raps at one point? I didn't like this one at all. More UK stuff from the book that doesn't translate to the rest of the world.
Grateful Dead
4/5
Ah, the Grateful Dead.
Dead Heads will say you have to see them live. Maybe, but I can't stand 20 min songs that you forget what you were playing by the end. Just not my thing, there's no reason for a song to be that long.
But that said, I actually really like some of their music. Because the songs start and stop, like, you know, SONGS should. And I like this album. I've listened to it before and I will again.
The Icarus Line
4/5
Noisy rock, but fun to listen to. I had not heard this one before, but I will make sure it gets on my rotation.
Drive-By Truckers
4/5
A throwback to 70s Southern Rock and done very well. There's a few tracks that I could do without, I find most double albums could use some editing, but overall I was pleasently surprised. This is not a band that I would've thought that I would like before giving them a chance. Surprises are good.
Fatboy Slim
4/5
I thought it was okay. Like most electronica, there are a few songs that might be brilliant, and I really enjoy. Then the rest seem to be filler and get to the point of repetitivness very quickly. But the couple of really good songs probably bump it up a point, between a 3 and a 4 for me, I'll go up to a 4.
Holger Czukay
3/5
This was very strange. Like really really out there weird. But there is something compelling in it, I didn't hate the thing. I'm not planning on listening to it anytime soon, but there is just something about it.
Beatles
5/5
I think I would rate every Beatles album 5 stars, but there are a few, including this one, that would get more than 5 if it was an option.
David Holmes
3/5
For some reason I thought the generator said that this was 1973. And I was blown away thinking how could this be made in the early 70s.
Then I double checked. Oh, 1997. Generic electronica from the 90s, that makes more sense.
It's fine. I need to learn to read better.
Ray Charles
3/5
There's a couple of good songs on here, but it's not great. It's not bad, either.
Antony and the Johnsons
1/5
No. Just no. That warbling voice is so annoying that I couldn’t get past it to try to listen to the lyrics and see if they’re interesting or not.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
It’s fine. Too many covers for me to feel it really should be included on this list. But nothing wrong with it.
Machito
2/5
I didn’t hate it. Didn’t really like it much, either. Don’t see myself putting this one on again.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
I liked it fine. Didn't love it, though. Seems like something I should like more than I did?
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
2/5
Couple of songs I liked okay, and I a bit sad that so much of the social commentary hasn’t changed in 30 years.
But what is it with these hour+ albums? They’re too long unless they’re brilliant and this one isn’t. Probably would been a 3 star if they edited it a bit.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
One of the easiest 5 stars I'll give this entire challenge.
Led Zeppelin produced an unbeliveable amount of great music in the three year span between I and IV, but this one is my favorite. Maybe that makes a little basic, but I don't care. Stairway doesn't even bug me when you hear it in the context of the album (and the only time it ever bugs me is just because it's so overplayed.) Just a great album start to finish.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
5/5
What a great album. So many killer songs and staples of classic rock radio.
There are a few easy to define genres of rock and roll with Southern Rock being one of them. And no one does Southern Rock better than Lynryd Skynyrd (but god do I hate typing their name out, I have to double check the spelling everytime!)
The Young Gods
1/5
This is a weird album. Couple of songs in the beginning sound like they could be at place at a circus, then it turns industrial. But I don't think I liked any of it.
Miriam Makeba
2/5
I didn't really like this much. Couple of the songs were interesting and listenable. And I never wanted to turn it off, so that's good (and I liked the runtime.) But I can't say I liked any of it.
The Stranglers
4/5
I was aware of a few of these songs before, and the ones I know are the ones I liked the best. It's a good album, but not great. I will listen to it again, though.
Ride
4/5
I liked this album a lot. Didn't quite love it. Will play it again, though, no doubt about that.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
It's good but I like some of VU's other stuff better, and some of Reed's solo stuff better. Not a bad album at all, but not my favorite.
The Zombies
4/5
I liked this quite a bit. Really good pop/psychadelic stuff here. I'll listen to it again, sometime, but probably not anytime real soon.
The The
3/5
Meh? It started off fine, but it devolved into something that I'm not sure it knows what it is. A little too much dance for me.
Jefferson Airplane
5/5
If you ask me to name a Psychadelic record from the 60s, there's a VERY good chance that this will be the one I mention. It's excellent, one of the best examples of that type of sound that I know.
Beastie Boys
3/5
I like the singles. The rest is fine, too, I guess. Beastie Boys are like that band that you don't mind when they come on the radio, but an entire album is a little much (and this one is too long).
David Ackles
1/5
This is really bad. I'm not sure I liked any of it. And some if it I downright hated.
FKA twigs
2/5
I didn't need to hear this one. Some of the beats/production were at least interesting. But I will never put this one on again.
Coldplay
3/5
I liked this one a bit more than A Rush of Blood. But it’s still pretty meh. I mean it’s fine but it’s nothing I’m going to choose to put on and listen to again.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
I liked this a lot. Sounds a lot like other bands I like but it's own thing at the same time. I'll add this one to the rotation, which is great for an album I was unfamilar with!
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Didn't grab me, but never wanted to turn it off. It's fine.
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
I've listened to this album a couple of times and I just don't get Wu-Tang. Someone needs to explain to me why they're so groundbreaking/influential/etc. I'm sure that's on me. The second half of the album is better than the first half, or at least I enjoyed it more. But I doubt I listen to this one again anytime soon.
a-ha
3/5
Take On Me is a banger, that's for sure. But the rest of the album has nothing that grabbed me as something I had to hear. It's fine, nothing I wanted to turn off either, but nothing I'm going to put on again (except for Take On Me)
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Was really luck that this one came up on a very rainy Monday morning. It really set the mood for the album before even listening to it. It's dark, moody, and beautiful.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
I liked some of this. But I really didn't like some of it, too. Some of the insturmentation is really good and interesting. Some of the vocals are fine, but some are utterly uncomprehensible. I don't think I'll be putting this on again anytime soon.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
3/5
I was surprised I liked this one as much as I did. That's not to say I loved it or anything, I just found that the bluegrass and banjo thing worked well and some of the studio interludes were interesting.
But can we admit it's too damn long? Seriously, this didn't need to be two hours. Like most double (triple?) albums, this would've been a lot better if cut down to 45 mins.
3.5 record, round down because of the length.
Kanye West
3/5
Kanye is a terrible human being and I wish he wasn't talented so I wouldn't have to hear about him. But he is, and it's evident on this album. By far my favorite of the Kanye we listened to. That's not to say I enjoyed it, I didn't really. But I can see how much talent is here. Give me this 100 times over that terrible Yeezus album
Khaled
2/5
Never got to the point where I wanted to turn it off, but never really clicked either. Not the worst thing we've listened to but I'll never put it on again.
Drive Like Jehu
5/5
Can I really be giving an album I've never heard of before a 5? I think I am. Maybe it's just because I've been in a rut of fairly "meh" albums for the past couple of weeks, but this one sort of blew my socks off.
Driving, crunchy, loud guitars that change mid song, vocals just short of a hardcore scream but still very interesting.
I really liked it. Maybe my favorite "new to me" album since starting this project.
Rufus Wainwright
1/5
I still think Wainwright has one of the most annoying voices in pop music. I just can't stand it. I can't get past the voice to even pretend to determine if there's anything "there" in the rest of the songs. I hope this is the last Wainwright on the list.
Is it better than Want Two? Maybe, at least it didn't start with something I wanted to turn off 10 seconds in. This one took about half way though the album before I kept reminding myself that I don't skip songs during this challenge. But man, did I want to.
Deep Purple
4/5
I think I liked this just about as much as the studio album. Some of the live stuff is better. Some is not (the drum solos, specifically) but it's not a bad album at all. One I'll probably listen to again.
Suicide
3/5
This was fine. Some of the songs were interesting. Some are WAY to long. I may listen again, but not anytime soon.
Travis
2/5
Boring "sad bastard music." I'm not sure who this is for? I guess there are people out there who don't really like music who like to have this on in the background?
Boring and uninspired. But I never felt the need to turn it off, I just sort of forgot I was listening to it at times.
TV On The Radio
3/5
It was fine. I hadn’t listened to this one in a while and I didn’t like it as much as I remembered.
D'Angelo
2/5
This is 100% not for me. I never got to the I want to turn it off stage but pretty close.
Pixies
5/5
This is an easy 5. One of the best "college radio" albums of all time. The loud-quiet-loud dynamic is super present, with awesome hooks. And I love how they can be super punk and super pop (well as pop as a band like The Pixies can be) on the same album.
Amazing album.
The Doors
4/5
I don't like this one as much as the debut S/T album. It's still very good, and the popular songs are popular for a reason, they're great. This album is a lot more blues forward which isn't a bad thing. It's good, but it's not great.
Roxy Music
3/5
It's fine. I'm not a big fan of Roxy Music as I'm finding out now that this is the third one we had. They're all just fine.
John Grant
4/5
Surprising album. It’s very funny, not in a joke album way but I still laughed a few times. I also like his voice. A few of the songs in the middle got a little same-same but overall I really enjoyed it.
The Undertones
4/5
I didn't like this as much as their S/T, but I still liked it quite a bit. Will listen again.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
I didn't like this one as much as Back to Black. It's fine, but not something I'll put on again.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
1/5
I did not like this. At all. Wanted to turn it off a lot.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Some classic songs on this album. And it's really good. But I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Cosmo's Factory even though it's a really good album.
Queens of the Stone Age
4/5
I like this album, and it was the first time I heard it all the way through in a while. It's good and I'm glad I listened to it again. But I like some of the later QofSA stuff a little bit more.
Genesis
3/5
It's fine. A little too self-indulgent for me. My biggest problem with most prog rock is the same problem I have with jam bands, I forget what song I'm listening to by the time they finally get to the end of it. But it's technically very good, and some of the songs were interesting, if a little long.
Bauhaus
4/5
I enjoyed listening to this one. Sort of like a Joy Division but not quite as bleak. Or as good.
Nirvana
5/5
Was there a more impactful album on the landscape of music, especially in the 90s? Changed the entire conversation.
It also helps that it's an amazing album. Every song is great, the pure energy and angst, the raw emotion dripping from every line.
I have listened to this album more times than I can possibly count and I don't see that trend changing anytime in my life.
The Offspring
5/5
This album is on of the defining albums of my youth. Without this album, I don't listen to half of what I consider my favorite music now.
I will gladly listen to this one anytime, anywhere. Also contains one of the best song for blasting out loud while driving around idiots of all time.
Super Furry Animals
4/5
I enjoyed this one. Lots of different genres and styles but it all worked. Will listen again.
Neil Young
4/5
I enjoyed this. A couple of classic songs but the whole album works.
I didn't know I liked Neil Young as much as I do before doing this whole thing!
The Smiths
3/5
I really didn't need a third Smiths album on this list. I got everything I needed from Meat is Murder and The Queen is Dead.
This isn't as good as Queen is Dead and I doubt I would choose to listen to this one if I was listening to The Smiths.
Stereo MC's
3/5
It's fine. It sort of sounds like what I expect everything in a city in England would sound like in the mid 90s. Couple of good songs but the whole album is a bit much.
Shivkumar Sharma
2/5
I never really wanted to turn it off, so that's good. But I didn't enjoy it, and I'll never put it on again. Maybe it's super important to what was going on in the 60s, but it's not for me.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
This is so hard to rate. I don't even know if it's music. But I think it should be on the list.
I can't tell if the band is brilliant or if they're terrible or even if they're playing the same song as the other players. And the Captain sings on top of the sometimes nonsensical music a completely different song. Yet it sometimes really works.
Based on a rating scale that I've done, I think I have to go with "it's fine." I may listen to it again someday, and I think it's important. But I don't think I enjoyed it much.
Metallica
4/5
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I've been all over the place with Metallica on this list but this one I liked. Or maybe I was just in the right mood for it.
Jane Weaver
3/5
It's totally fine. And nothing more than that. It's music, and sometimes pretty, but turned into background noise really fast for me.
Sometime I wonder if the book editors feel they have to find new music to put on the list.
Milton Nascimento
2/5
I've said it before, but an album has to be exceptionally catchy for me to enjoy it if it's not in English. That's probably on me, but it's still a thing. I didn't really enjoy anything on this one, but never really wanted to skip anything or turn it off, either.
New Order
3/5
I thought this was fine. I didn't really feel much one way or the other about it. Perfectly fine album.
Soft Machine
2/5
Bored out of my mind. Thought maybe it needs some vocals. Then they came in on the third song and didn’t help.
Iron Butterfly
3/5
It’s fine. The 17 minute title track is good, the rest fairly forgettable.
Roni Size
2/5
Super repetitive and very long. Not really my thing.
The Beach Boys
5/5
What a great pop record. Excellent recording, songs that are fun to sing along to, and just an overall good time. This is the first time I listened to this all the way though, but it won't be the last.
Don McLean
4/5
I like Don McLean, probably more than I should. Has American Pie been overplayed? Yes. Will I still sing along at the top of my lungs every time it's on? Also yes.
The rest of the album is good. Vincent is a standout, but the rest of the songs are nice, easy to listen to singer/songwriter songs. This was perfect to listen to while making dinner.
Pentangle
3/5
A little torn. I don't usually like to rate things high that I can't really see putting on again anytime soon, but it was so well done that I think I have to rate it a little higher. Probably between a 3 and a 4 for me, if 3.5 was an option, it's what I'd go with. But because I can't see putting it on again anytime soon, I'll round down this time. Not bad at all, though!
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I think this has been my favorite of The Rolling Stones I've listened to so far. Some really good songs, lots of great slide guitar work. I'll listen to this one again over the other's I've heard.
Youssou N'Dour
2/5
Not for me. Didn't connect with it. Didn't really need to turn it off, either.
Kings of Leon
3/5
It was fine. Some of the songs I liked, a bunch I didn't. Probably won't play again anytime soon.
Sabu
3/5
I enjoyed the beats a bit, but the vocals got a bit much. Better than not liking it at all.
The National
4/5
I hadn't heard this The National before, but I liked it. I'll be adding it to my rotation.
New York Dolls
5/5
It's a good to great album. But it's even more important than it is great, the NY punk scene in the late 70s and early 80s would not exist the way it did without the Dolls.
And Trash is such a banger.
The Temptations
4/5
Not a huge fan of Motown, but I liked what I heard here. And the funk stuff is pretty good too. I might have to round this one up a half-star, maybe I'm just in a really good moon.
Fishbone
4/5
I really enjoyed this. I think with a little more focus it actually could've been a 5* for me, it was close as it was. I'll listen again.
LL Cool J
3/5
This album is long, a little too long. But it's fine. The popular tracks are good, some of it is fairly forgettable.
SZA
1/5
I really didn’t like this. It’s the same beats over the same themes every song. It’s not interesting, and at times it’s just downright bad. Nothing here is for me
Slint
5/5
Maybe this caught me on the perfect day. Or maybe it really is that good. But at 500+ albums in, this is only one of a handful that I listened to, never heard before, and had to play it immediately again. It was that good and/or powerful.
Those loud/quiet dynamics are things I just love in music from this time period. Add in some of those super moody basslines and at times haunting guitars, and you have somethings really special here.
Some band I really like are either huge influencers or influenced by this band, there's no doubt about that.
Call it post-rock or whatever you want, I just call it really good. The few albums like this that I've found are one of the reasons I'm glad I'm doing this whole thing.
Sonic Youth
4/5
I don't like this as much as their best records, but it's a solid one. I like Sonic Youth.
Girls Against Boys
4/5
I liked this. Very 90s, but in a good way. Will listen again.
2Pac
3/5
Didn't hate it, I guess. But didn't like it much, either. A little haunting that so much of the album is about dying young because of his lifestyle and then he died young, because of his lifestyle.
I can't imagine listening to it again anytime soon, but it wasn't bad.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
This is one strange album. I didn't hate it, though. Actually I kinda liked it. I maybe liked it a bunch.
Lots of covers, which was surprising. Relax is great. Sorta sounds like a soundtrack to an 80s movie, and this album is VERY 80s.
The Libertines
4/5
Pretty decent mid 2000s indie rock. I had a good time listening to it, will listen again.
Moby
4/5
This is a very good album that I find my attention drifting just slightly towards the end. Maybe just a touch too long. But I still like it.
Black Sabbath
4/5
While not my favorite Sabbath album it’s still good. And this is the type of metal I like, blues based with sludgy guitars. It’s good, but it’s not quite great.
Kings of Leon
3/5
It's fine. The dude's voice is a little annoying. I probably wouldn't turn it off if it came on, but I'm not going to choose to listen again, either.
David Bowie
5/5
This is probably my favorite Bowie album outside of the Ziggy era.
It's such a haunting album, especially knowing now what he was going through while writing and recording.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
This is probably my favorite Stones album. I'm not a huge fan of the Stones, but this one is good.
Maxwell
2/5
Not for me. It's boring.
I guess if I had the desire to have sex with the lead singer, it might've been different. But I don't, so I was just bored.
Kraftwerk
4/5
I liked this. Sounds like the soundtrack to anything slightly futuristic from the late 70s or early 80s. Early electronica.
The Pharcyde
2/5
Didn’t really enjoy this one. Seemed very generic.
Depeche Mode
3/5
I wanted to like this more than I did. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. I thought it was fine.
Paul Weller
3/5
If you told me this album was released in the 70s, it would probably make sense. And I would probably know more of the songs as my parents would've listened to this in the car any that sort of thing.
But as an album released in the 90s? I don't quite get it.
That said, I could easily put this on at a party and no one would be offended. But I don't think anyone would be listening, either.
I did like some of the guitar work. So it has that going for it.
Kate Bush
1/5
I didn't like the first Kate Bush album we had to listen to, and I like this one less. Like a lot less. This annoyed the crap out of me. Her voice is just so annoying.
Jamiroquai
3/5
I liked this way more than I thought I would having only really known their one big hit.
But I doubt I’ll put it on again anytime soon.
Kid Rock
1/5
This is really bad. It's a terrible genre to start with and it's a bad example of this terrible genre.
There is no need to throw fuck around as many times as he does. I curse a lot, and even I thought it was excessive.
I guess I can sort of see why it was included in this list from a historical perspective, but it's not good, I don't want to listen to it, and I can't imagine I'll ever listen to it again.
Destiny's Child
2/5
This is really not my genre. I just don't like it, at all. I thought, maybe, this one would be the album that changed my mind a little bit. It starts off strong, the first 3 or 4 songs are all really good.
Then it goes on for another hour of just repeating the same things over and over. And several songs talking about how much they love each other, which gets real annoying, real fast.
I can't see ever playing this one again, even if the first few songs were okay.
Hawkwind
4/5
This is the first jam band style album that I've really liked. Something about the sci-fi elements really worked for me. It's weird, but weird in a way that I really enjoyed. And for it to be as long as it is, and keep my attention the whole time, that's saying quite a lot!
Neu!
3/5
I have no opinion on this album. I listened to it and I don't remember much of anything. I guess it's ... fine? It's fine.
Sleater-Kinney
5/5
I’m a fan of Sleater-Kinny and this is probably their best album. The interplay between Tucker and Brownstein and the guitar work is just about perfect.
Glad to listen to this one again!
The Beta Band
3/5
I sort of feel the editors needed to include a Beta Band album since they were so influential to other British acts at the time. But they could have put the 3 EPs on the list and I would've been a lot happier (but maybe that didn't rank as an "album" since it's a compilation?)
This one is fine, but I'll listen to the 3 EPs if I want to listen to The Beta Band.
Tom Waits
3/5
Like most Tom Waits albums, I like some of the stuff, and I don't like some of the stuff. The stuff I like is really good. But I only like about half of the stuff on here.
Björk
1/5
I don't get it. At all. Read any other of my reviews for Bjork. She's terrible, shouldn't have a single album on the list, let alone 4+?!?!?
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
4/5
I might have liked this more just because of how much I hated Bjork yesterday, but I found this to be very fun and engaging. I'll put this one on again.
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
This is my favorite electronica album, and I listened to this a lot in HS and college. I don't listen to much of this type of music, but when I do, this is the one album I tend to put on.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
This has been my least favorite Stones album so far. I just didn't connect with it at all. Probably should be a 3 but I want to rate it lower than other Stones albums I liked more and already gave a 3.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
2/5
Didn't really enjoy this one. Not sure what the point of it was. Lots of different styles, but I don't think they went together.
Wouldn't have guessed this was the bassist in PiL, but it doesn't make it good, either.
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
I really like Dinosaur Jr. and this is one of their best albums. Really good stuff and I was glad to listen to it again!
Wild Beasts
1/5
I did not enjoy this. Some of the instruments were sort of nice dream-pop-y but the vocals are so bad that they pulled me out the entire time. Terrible.
Not sure why I had to hear this one.
Depeche Mode
4/5
Really good album. Dark and moody but a lot of fun to listen to.
Jungle Brothers
2/5
I got fairly bored listening to this. Very dated hip-hop that really didn't do anything for me.
Scritti Politti
2/5
Completely forgettable. Not sure why I had to listen. Forgot to rate, and had to listen to the first song again just to remind myself what the album was.
A Tribe Called Quest
2/5
I wasn't a huge fan of Low End Theory and this was more of the same.
I like Can I Kick It? but that's about it.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
Meh. You couldn't live around the Philly area in the 90s and not hear them all the time. And it's fine to put on in the background, it's nice and chill and doesn't take much to listen to it, but it's not something I'm going to actively put on again.
The Style Council
2/5
You know it's not going to be great when, after a few songs, I start thinking that the ones without lyrics are much better than the ones with lyrics. And what the hell was that "A Gospel"
That said, it wasn't so annoying I wanted to turn it off. But it's not good.
The Strokes
4/5
First time I heard this album all the way through. I really like some of the stuff that sounds like Lou Reed, so that's good. Overall very enjoyable and I'll listen to it again.
Nanci Griffith
4/5
I was surprised how much I liked this album. Probably a 3.5 for me, I'll round up because I want to listen to it again.
I though the vocals were really good and I enjoyed them. Sort of a cross between folk and country, leaning a little more towards the folk side and I liked it.
4/5
I enjoyed this. More mellow than I was expecting and a quite a bit more pop, but I don't have a problem with that. A few songs almost sounded like The Pretenders?
I'll listen to this one again.
U2
3/5
Some good songs, a lot I didn't care about much at all. Like most of U2, it's entirely Meh for me.
The Young Rascals
3/5
I didn't hate this. Very 60s, but not in a bad way.
I started to listen to this in stereo. Don't do that, it's terrible. The mono version is much, much better.
I might listen again, but not anytime soon.
Germs
5/5
Loud and in your face.
Darby Crash's lyrics are some of the best in punk. And Pat Smear's guitar work is really good here, too.
This is a great example of late 70s punk/hardcore.
Randy Newman
4/5
Didn't know anything about this other than Randy Newman was the guy who did the songs for Toy Story.
That said, I was surprised by how much I liked this. It was funny, biting, and a little mean. But I really enjoyed it.
The Bees
3/5
Strange album. It's not bad, but not sure why it's on the list either. Other than it may have been popular in the UK for 3 months and the author(s) of the book seem to love that.
I would've preferred to listen to this outside in the late spring or summer with a breeze. In the cold of winter at my work desk wasn't the best environment. It's sort of all over the place, and grabs different styles from different places.
I think I'll listen to this one again. But not soon.
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
I don't know what to rate this thing. It's not offensive, but I don't really want to listen to it again anytime soon. But I probably wouldn't turn it off if it was one, either.
Everything on here has been done better by The Beatles, Prince, and Bowie. So what's the point?
It's totally fine. I just didn't care about it at all. Probably a 2.5 that I'll bump to a 3 just because it's fine.
Barry Adamson
2/5
I didn't really like this much. It was too jarring the different styles of music and the lack of any sort of flow. And I didn't find any of the parts that were decent that compelling, either. Not for me.
Iron Maiden
4/5
I enjoyed this much more than I expected to. I'm not a big Metal guy, but this was more raw and I found that more interesting than I find most of the technically proficient metal.
Prefab Sprout
3/5
I thought this was okay to start. But I really started losing interest at the end. Fine, won't turn it off, might try it again sometime, but not super interesting, either.
CHIC
3/5
I got annoyed by this album. Not because it's disco (that didn't help, I just don't like the genre) but because it's just so repetitive. Every song is 5-8 minutes long and they could've been 1:30 and not changed anything except knocking off the last 4 minutes that just repeats what happens in the first two. Good Times is the prime example. It's a good song, but it would've been a great song with some editing. The rest of the album suffers from the same, except the songs aren't as good.
Probably a 2, but Good Times is just too good of a song for that, so I'll bump it up to a begrudging 3.
David Bowie
5/5
I think this is my second favorite Bowie album. The songwriting is excellent here. And Changes is a flat out great song.
Will gladly put this one on, pretty much anytime.
Dr. Octagon
1/5
I really hated this. Not too many albums that I've wanted to turn off, but add this one to the list. Alternated between bored and annoyed the entire album.
Ravi Shankar
1/5
No and nope. Boring and repetitive. And 1000% not for me.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
I didn’t really like this one much. Some of the horn sections were okay but the lead singer is super annoying. And I didn’t need to have two Dexter albums on the list, that’s for sure.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
I didn’t like this as much as other Costello Albums. But it was still good, and I’d listen to it again.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
This might be the definition of a "fine" album. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with it. But there's nothing really *right* with it, either. Complete background noise. Won't turn it off, was never annoyed, and will probably never choose to play it again.
I didn't start off as a big Bruce guy, and this album didn't do anything to change my mind. But it's not terrible, either.
Dennis Wilson
4/5
I was surprised by how much I liked this album. Well, at least the first half of what I started listening to. I didn't realize I had the 2008 Deluxe edition, which is WAY WAY too long, BUT, the original 12 songs on 1977 edition are pretty good.
You can hear The Beach Boys on this, of course, but there's other influences and directions it takes. It's good, I'll listen to this one again.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
My Bloody Valentine is a band that could probably be a favorite of mine if I listened more, but I just haven't really. I've liked everything I've heard, but just have never quite fallen in love.
I liked this album. Didn't love it, but liked it a lot.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Not really a fan of this album. It’s just a little too … something. I can really put my finger on why I didn’t like it, but I didn’t. I never got to the point where I wanted to skip tracks but it was close.
Only song I liked was Songs of Love, and I prefer the Ben Folds version of that one anyway.
Johnny Cash
5/5
This might be the best live album of all time. Most live albums the crowd is there, but they're unnecessary. The crowd on this album is another instrument, and a very important one.
Plus it's Johnny Cash, the songs are all excellent, sung with passion and humor. It's just great.
Buzzcocks
5/5
I'm an unabashed fan of pop-punk. And I don't think you can be a pop-punk fan without at least appreciating that the Buzzcocks might have done it first. Good collection of fun and fast songs. And a lot more fun than the angry punk of the time (which I'm also a fan of!)
Bobby Womack
2/5
Didn't like it. Won't listen to it again. Not a fan of R&B, and this didn't change my mind.
James Taylor
5/5
This album is rated entirely too low on this site. Is it sappy? Sure. But James Taylor can sing, his songs are fun to listen to, and easy to sing along with.
I probably should knock it down a star because I really hated the Oh Susannah on here (doesn't fit the album for me and sort of puts the brakes right in the middle of the thing) but I won't do it. When you want something very easy to listen to, with good acoustic guitar work, and some blues sensibilities, it's really hard to go wrong with this one.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
Hard one to rate. Because some of it I didn't like at all, way to much country for my personal tastes (Sin City, for example.) But a couple of songs were so good (Hot Burrito #2) that you have to take notice. I think the good averages out with the bad, and lends it as a average album.
Venom
2/5
I was fairly bored listening to this. The lyrics are completely asinine. Devil Devil whooo Satan. Maybe it was super edgy in 1982, but today it sounds like something SNL would parody.
The Kinks
4/5
I enjoyed listening to this. It's more fun 60s pop from The Kinks which isn't a bad thing. I'll listen to this again.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Hendrix is great, and he is great on this album. This is another example of an album that would've been a perfect with a little editing. A couple of great songs here, but a few that aren't so good. Overall it's very very solid, but doesn't quite hit the overall greatness of Are You Experienced
The Black Crowes
4/5
Had never listened to this whole album and I liked it enough. It's good music you'd hear playing at a bar, and that's not a bad thing in my book.
Rahul Dev Burman
1/5
Wanted to skip almost every song on this album. Maybe if you had the context for the music along with the film itself, it'd be better. But it's a style of music I'm not inclined to like to start and trying to listen to it with no context just was a miserable experience.
Calexico
4/5
I didn't know what to expect going into this one. Was pleasantly surprised. It was good, and I'll listen to it again.
Dagmar Krause
1/5
This was terrible. I couldn't figure out the point the entire time I was listening. I didn't like the music, I didn't particularly care for her voice, and I thought the translations seemed to be clunky. I even tried a few of the songs in German to see if they were better, and I didn't think they were. Just not for me at any level.
Love
3/5
Totally fine album. I can't tell if I love or hated the last song, because it's too long, but it is good. But there's not much here that wasn't done by other bands better ( which is what I thought about Forever Changes by Love that I listened to earlier.)
Elvis Presley
2/5
Still just not an Elvis fan. I would never choose to put this on.
The Band
4/5
I enjoyed listening to most of this, though there were one or two songs that the vocals made me cringe a little. But I can ignore that since the rest of the album is so strong. The Weight is one that's just fun to listen to and sing along with.
Ryan Adams
3/5
It's ... fine? Yeah, it's fine. Nothing here groundbreaking, nothing here that annoyed me, either. Sort of sounds like that dude from Train, and maybe a bit like Bob Dylan's son.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
2/5
I never wanted to turn it off, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it. It's not something I'll ever go back to.
Taylor Swift
4/5
It's a good to great pop record with some smash hits. And with two daughters who are both Taylor Swift fans, there could be a whole lot worse to be subjected to.
Meat Puppets
5/5
I really enjoyed this album. It's sort of crazy and off the wall, with tons of different sounds and styles. And the one singer's voice can take a while to get used to. But I really loved listening to it and listened to it twice back to back.
Mylo
3/5
Perfectly fine ambient music. Something I could probably program to. But not something I'd choose to listen to, at least not most days.
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
Such a hard album to rate. Because it could've been a really good to great album. Seriously, there's at least one 5 star album on here. Catchy songs in tons of different styles, all about one topic, and with a good use of guests vocalists. Lots of good stuff here.
But for the love of god, learn to edit. A single album, less than an hour, would've been perfect. There are that many good songs. But there is also way too many songs that aren't good and the entire experience becomes tedious. It's pure self-indulgence to think that you have enough to say to fill out a triple album (and each one of those 3 discs are long.)
3 stars. Average out the good and the bad.
Tim Buckley
3/5
I didn't ... hate this? It's very strange. But I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
So I'm apparently a really big Creedence fan. I've always liked what I've heard on the radio but the rest of the songs are great, too.
I think Cosmo's Factory might be a little bit better, but I'm still going to give this one the highest of ratings.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
I didn't like the start of this album. Not sure why this was considered a good enough live album to be included. There was a stretch of songs from Cowboy Song to Don't Believe a Word that were very strong, but I don't think it was enough for me to really want to put this album on again.
I may check out other Thin Lizzy album releases out of curiosity, so that's not a bad thing.
Cat Stevens
5/5
I've been listening to Cat Stevens since I was a kid. And while he's always been pleasant, and maybe the very embodiment of soft rock, he didn't speak to me as a kid or even a teenager.
But as I got older, and started revisiting him in my early 20s and into my 30s, I found that there was depth to the seemingly simple melodies. And now that I'm in my 40s with two kids, I'm starting to realize my parents might have had pretty good taste in music.
Elliott Smith
5/5
This is probably the Elliott Smith album I'm least familiar with, but it doesn't make it any less amazing. Like his other efforts that I am more familiar with, it's filled with pretty yet sad lyrics accompanied mostly by an acoustic guitar (though there are quite a few more instruments on this album than my more favorite of his offerings.)
Going to make sure I listen to this one more often.
Sly & The Family Stone
2/5
Tough one to rate. I can appreciate how good the funk parts of this are, and some of the bass lines were really great. But I really didn't like it. Had a hard time finishing it.
Doves
4/5
I was surprised by how much I liked this one. Sort of gave me Coldplay vibes without Martin's annoying voice, but with interesting songs. I'll probably listen to this one again, seemed like a solid album on first litsen.
Lupe Fiasco
2/5
Started off not liking the album much. Then there were a couple or three songs in the middle that I sort of liked and though, maybe this isn't that bad. Then it kept going. And going. It's not the worse album I've heard, but I will never put it on again, either.
Janet Jackson
3/5
Not a bad album. Some really good songs. A few songs are a little bit of a drag, too. But the interludes are terrible, and take me out of the listening experience. May have been a 4 star album without them (and maybe without one or two of the slower full on 80s/90s R&B songs in the back half of the album.)
I probably haven't listened to this one in 30 years, and it might be that long before I listen to it again.
Cee Lo Green
1/5
As far as I’m concerned Cee-Lo Grren has one listenable song. And it’s not on this album.
So in the words of Mr Green himself
“Fuck You”
Morrissey
4/5
Read any other review of Morrissey. It's good. I have to be in the right mood, but if I am, it's good.
The Teardrop Explodes
4/5
Didn't know anything about this band, or any of these songs. But I liked what I heard. I'll listen to this one again and was glad to be introduced to something new.
B.B. King
4/5
I really like some B.B. King and this album is very good. I found that the mix was a little weird, the crowd noise was too high at times. I want to hear the music, not the audience. The music is really good, though, and I will listen to this one again.
Bob Dylan
5/5
I don't think I've given a single Bob Dylan album a 5. Almost all 4s. And that's just not right, I think they've all been about 4.5 for me. Which this one is to.
So I'm going to round this one up to a 5. It's really good. And for a double album, there's no filler on here that drags a lot of double albums down.
Death In Vegas
3/5
I knew nothing of this album before listening. And I started off thinking that it could be really good. I dug the first few songs, maybe even the first half.
But it got very tedious in the second half and I just didn't enjoy it that much after that.
I might listen to this one again, but not soon.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
If the album was full of songs like Superstitious, it would be a 5* album.
But it's not. There are probably 3 or 4 songs on here that I really like a lot. But the rest I really don't like, and some of them I don't like a lot, too. So I guess that all averages out to an average album.
Louis Prima
4/5
Maybe I was in the perfect mood for this album, but I had a damn good time listening to it. It's just fun, through and through.
I want to have a party where we serve Jello Molds, some sort of champagne cocktail out of a punch bowl, and have this album playing in the background.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
4/5
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Guitar is excellent.
Tina Turner
2/5
I really wasn't a fan of this album. Maybe one or two listenable songs, but overall not for me at all.
The Killers
3/5
I really enjoyed the first half of this album. Lots of singles that I've heard (sometimes a lot) but sounded real good listening with a purpose the first time. But the second half of the album is pretty bad, and drags a lot.
Might be a fun album to get on vinyl and only listen to side A.
Doves
3/5
I didn't like this one anywhere near as much as The Last Broadcast. Nothing wrong with it, but no desire to revisit anytime soon, either.
5/5
I'm much less familiar with this as I was Los Angeles. And I still think L.A. is better, but this is still excellent and I will listen to it a lot.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
2/5
Not a fan. It was just weird, and not in a way that I appreciated at all.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
I'm not a huge Bruce fan, normally. But I REALLY liked this album. A whole lot. The stories, and stripped down production, everything. It all just worked.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
This isn't as good as a lot of Elvis Costello, but it's still good, catchy, and in my list of albums to listen to again.
Eurythmics
2/5
Outside of the title song, I had a hard time liking much about this album at all. I'll listen to the single again, but nothing else.
GZA
2/5
Wasn't a fan. A couple of times I found myself in a trance like thing listening, which might have been the point. But I can't ever see trying to listen to this one again. And I hated the movie clips.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
It’s hard to beat this album in the singer/songwriter category, especially since you have 4 singer/songwriters working (kinda) together.
Great songs with great harmonies. And don’t sleep on the guitars in this album, they’re really good, too.
Great pick
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
There's nothing really wrong with this, except I don't understand the importance of it or why it's on the list. Everything here has been done better by other artists. It's totally fine, and I wouldn't turn it off. But it's not going to be put into heavy rotation, either.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
I started off not liking this one much. But by the end I found myself nodding along with the beats a little. I probably wouldn't choose to listen to this one again. But I never wanted to turn it off so it must be okay.
Robert Wyatt
1/5
Didn't like this one at all. Not sure what I'm supposed to get from it, or how it was supposed to do anything but annoy me.
Richard Hawley
2/5
I never got the need to hit the skip button or anything like that. But it's not good, it's strange to come from the time period it did, and I'll never listen to it again. Good voice, I guess?
Joni Mitchell
4/5
It's really good. I enjoyed listening to this, but would probably put Blue on if I wanted to listen to her.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Ahh, Springsteen. I've said it before, but I've never been a big fan. And there's a few songs on here that are really good, but there's a bunch that I'm not a huge fan of either. Nebraska was great, this one wasn't. It evens out to be an okay album, but that's just it for me, okay.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
Totally fine and totally forgettable album. A couple of the arrangements were interesting, I guess, but overall I wasn't totally engaged.
Teenage Fanclub
5/5
I had to listen to this one twice. The first time I was in the car and my kids were talking over it most of the time. Wasn't a fair listen but I still heard some things that I thought were good and I wanted to try again.
Glad I did, listened a second time and really really liked it. Loved the guitar work. Great stuff here!
Justin Timberlake
2/5
This is not music meant for me. Maybe it's really good at what it is, but I don't like any of it.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
I enjoyed the first Manic Street Preachers album I got doing this, and I liked this one, too. It's good, it'll go in my album rotation, and I'm glad to have found it.
Tito Puente
2/5
It seems happy, so that's good. But I never connected with anything here and will never play it again.
Megadeth
4/5
Hmm, I'm not a metal fan, but I liked this one. I liked it better that Rust in Pieces, and I think I'll be playing this one again.
Elton John
5/5
One of, if not my, favorite Elton John albums. The collaboration between John and Taupin is just wonderful, the lyrics are fun and interesting, and the piano is great. Terrific album and one of the few double albums so far that I haven't thought was too long.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
Fairly forgettable. It's fine. No idea why it's on the list.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Not really for me. Didn't like this as much as Talking Book. Wonder can sing, but I just don't care about it.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Rough to get two albums in a row from an artist that you don't really enjoy. Higher Ground is good, that's nice.
William Orbit
2/5
Weird choice. Generic electronic music. Never reached for a skip button, but will never put it on again.
R.E.M.
5/5
I like R.E.M. I even like their sojourn into a little more pop. It's a really good album, I've listened to before and will listen to again.
Sinead O'Connor
3/5
Her voice is good and some of the songs are really good, but some seem to drag a little to me. It's fine.
The Residents
3/5
It's strange and weird and slightly off putting. But it's engaging at times and the strangeness works. Hard to rate, but very interesting.
Ryan Adams
4/5
I like this one more than Gold, by quite a bit.
Robbie Williams
3/5
It's a pop album, but it's a decent pop album. Nothing I found really wrong here and I wouldn't turn it off if it was on again.
Sarah Vaughan
2/5
She can sing, and that was nice. And it was recorded really well, especially for a live album of this time. But I was so bored listening to it and it's so long.
Napalm Death
1/5
I hated this album. Hated, hated, hated it. At least it was short. I guess the drums were okay. But good god, when the best songs are 45 seconds long and the singer doesn't sing, it's just not good.
Culture Club
3/5
Perfectly fine 80s pop. I liked it enough. My daughter was singing Karma Chameleon for two days after.
The Cramps
5/5
I like late 70s and early 80s punk rock. And I like this album. Nice mix of some rockabilly with the punk on this one.
Aerosmith
4/5
I like Aerosmith, what can I say? It's just straight up 70s rock. And I think I might like this one a little bit more (but not a lot) than Toys in the Attic.
Christina Aguilera
2/5
Completely forgettable standard mid 2000s pop album. There's nothing here that's really good, the beats are boring (especially the first disc) and Aguilera's obviously good voice can't redeem anything there. The songs on the second disc are a little better, a little more interesting, and better use of her talents. Still not good or at least enjoyable to me, but a little better. I never got to the point of reaching for the skip button, but this is not good, and I didn't need to listen to it before I die.
Big Star
5/5
This was an unknown to me album going into this and is the entire reason that I like doing this whole challenge. What a great record. So much heard here is present on other artists that I like, I'm a little surprised I hadn't listened to this before. It's great, and I can't wait to listen to it again.
Van Morrison
4/5
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Some really good songs and some excellent sound production on it as well. Good stuff.
Mudhoney
4/5
Really enjoyed this album. Nice and sludgy, just like I like my early 90s music. There are better grunge acts, but this one isn't bad. I'll listen to it again.
Wilco
5/5
Man, Wilco is pretty awesome, right? This one might be a tad on the long side, find that to be true for most double albums. I still think YHF is my favorite, but this one is way up there, too.
Steve Winwood
3/5
This was fine. A couple of good songs, lots of forgettable stuff. Nothing I'm going to rave about, but wouldn't turn it off, either.
Klaxons
3/5
Another perfectly fine album. Wasn't familiar with it before I started it. Sort of forgot I was listening to it at one point.
Motörhead
5/5
It may be one dimensional, but what a dimension. Loud and fast in the perfect way. I'm no metal-head, but this is my favorite kind of metal.
Nick Drake
4/5
Another Nick Drake album to remind me I need to listen to Nick Drake more. It's good, I liked it a lot. This is one of those albums that, if I listened to it more, might get bumped to a 5, but I'm not quite there yet.
I know I've heard some of these songs (One of these Things First, most likely) on a soundtrack of a movie I've watched a 100 times, but I can't place which one, which is driving me a little crazy!
The Everly Brothers
4/5
I think I liked this more, and maybe a lot more, than I expected based on the album cover. Early rock-n-roll/pop. You can hear where The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and countless other bands were influenced by these guys. Sure some of the lyrics and musical styings are very dated, but it's almost 65 years old at this point. I'd listen to this one again.
American Music Club
3/5
Totally fine music. Nothing stood out, nothing made me want to turn it off.
Soft Cell
2/5
I'll give it a 2 because I like Tainted Love so much. But the rest of the album I didn't like at all, and wanted to turn it off several times.
Sade
2/5
Wasn't really a fan of this one. It's not a music style I like to start with, and outside of Smooth Operator, I didn't really have anything here that I found enjoyable.
Not for me, but maybe good for someone else.
Fairport Convention
4/5
I liked this one better than Unhalfbricking. I won't be in the mood for it often, but I could see putting this on again in the right mood.
Liz Phair
3/5
I don't think I'm the target audience for this album and I felt like I wasn't the target audience the entire time listening to it. Her voice is unique, not good, but not terrible. It's different. And the lo-fi and stripped down production is good. But I was pretty bored listening to a lot of it.
I'll have to give it another try sometime in the future, but for now, it was just okay.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
When I first decided to do this challenge, there were a few albums that I knew, without a doubt, that they would be on the list no matter who wrote the book. This on is pretty close to the top of those choices. This is an amazing album that is not just good, but is also very influential. Very happy to listen to it yet again.
Dire Straits
4/5
This album starts off so strong, the first 3-4 songs make you think you're going to get a 5 star easy, no thought about it album. But it drags quite a bit in the second half. So it's a good album, but not perfect by any means.
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
I had this CD from back when I was in college. And I probably haven't listened to it in close to 20 years. After re-listening, I remember why. There's nothing wrong here, but it's just not something I'd choose to put on as there are better examples of this style and type of music.
It's perfectly pleasant, and fairly forgettable. Nothing wrong here at all, but doesn't knock anyone's socks off, either.
CHVRCHES
4/5
CHVRCHES is a band that I should listen to more than I do. A lot of people who's music opinions I tend to share are big fans. And it's not that I don't like them, I just never really listened to them much. And I'm going to make a point to change that because this album was really really good. It's not perfect, but I would gladly listen to it again.
Big Star
4/5
Hmm, well, yeah. This isn't as good as #1, which was a surprise for me. But there is something here that I really enjoyed. It's weird, but in a good way.
Brian Wilson
3/5
I didn't hate listening to this and parts of it I really liked. But it's missing something, and something big. Might be the harmonies, might just be youth, I'm not sure.
I'm glad that this exists and I heard it, but I don't know if I'll listen to it again.
The Police
4/5
This album was pretty good. Some really good songs, and nothing really dragged. A good listen and I'll listen again. Liked it better than Synchronicity
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
I liked this one a lot. The powerful drums, interesting guitar work, and really good vocals work with the gothic/punk esthetic quite well. Really great stuff here.
The The
3/5
I liked this a little better than "Infected" but it still didn't do much for me. It's totally fine, but I have no desire to listen to it again anytime soon.
Ramones
5/5
Another easy 5 star album. Very good debut album from the band. One of the core albums of New York punk. Plus it's another get in and get out album, without the filler that so many albums have. It's great.
The Thrills
3/5
I didn't hate this one, but didn't really like it a ton either. Perfectly fine pop for background music, but not sure that I would be putting it on any best of lists or anything like that.
Grateful Dead
3/5
There were times listening to this that I could sort of see how some people get into jam bands. But then the first song drags out for 20+ minutes and reminds me why I don't like jam bands.
Some of the blues licks were pretty good. And a lot of people don't like Feedback at all, but I thought that one was at least interesting (but that may be some of my Grunge upbringing peeking out.)
Overall fine. Probably a 2.5 but I'll round up to a 3.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
I think this might be more accessible than Trout Mask Replica, but I’m not sure it’s quite as engaging. TMR is just weird, this one is a lot more straight forward. But I don’t think it’s any better for it. It’s fine.
Jack White
4/5
It's not as good as The White Stripes, it's missing Meg driving the song forward with her "interesting" approach to drumming.
But it's bluesy and dirty, and my toe is still tapping. Jack White can play a guitar and I'll gladly listen to this one again.
JAY Z
2/5
I was bored listening to this and it seemed, to me, like Jay Z was bored making it. There's a few songs he seems to have fun on, Girls, Girls Girls, and Takeover stand out as songs with some fun at least, but overall, this is not my style of music, and not something I'll ever listen to again.
Saint Etienne
2/5
Another album I was fairly bored listening to. It's sort of pretty, at times, but overall not my cup of tea.
The Beach Boys
5/5
I really really enjoyed listening to this. Some songs I knew, a bunch I didn't, but all with that signature Beach Boys sound and what harmonies. I'll be gladly listening to this one many times.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Not a bad album at all. Some of the songs get a bit repetitive. Perfectly fine for a car ride.
Suede
3/5
Not familiar with this at all and it was fine. Never wanted to turn it off. But I don't remember much about it.
The Boo Radleys
4/5
There's a couple of songs towards the end that knock this down a bit but the start of the album is really strong and I liked it a lot.
Tim Buckley
2/5
I didn't find much here I liked. Too dated, too folksy in that renn-faire way. Not really for me.
Korn
2/5
It's ... a lot. The industrial sound, especially the guitars aren't bad. But Davis's vocals aren't great. And the songs themselves aren't great. It probably deserves to be on the list just because it's an example of a very popular genre, but it's not for me.
Dizzee Rascal
1/5
Not a fan. A genre I'm not inclined to write, with annoying production, and a voice I can't understand, partially because of accent, partially because of sayings, and partially because I just don't think it's that good.
Might deserve a spot on the list as an example of a rap subgenre, but I didn't need to hear it.
Supertramp
3/5
It was completely fine. But I listened to it yesterday and already can't remember much from it.
Soundgarden
4/5
I liked this one. I'm a fan of grunge and this is a good album for that. Cornell's voice is great here. But there is some filler songs keeping it from being a great album.
Prince
3/5
This started off as the best Prince album we've listened to. The first 3 or 4 songs are really good. But the second half is not really good, or at least, not what I like in music.
Eric Clapton
4/5
I like Eric Clapton the musician (the person can GTFO.) And I like this album. Some straight up blues tracks, a few crossover ones, and the reggae cover, I like most of it quite a bit.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
I thought this was fine. Another album that probably needs to be on the list due to what it spawned later, but not anything I'll be revisiting anytime soon. But it's okay, pleasant enough to listen to.
The Doors
5/5
Hmm, The Doors but with Blues? Sign me up. I really really liked this album. Probably a 4.5 for me, but, hell, I'll round up.
Suede
2/5
I much preferred the other Suede album, the S/T one. This one was weird and the second half sucked.
Ute Lemper
1/5
WTF is this? It's not good, it doesn't bring anything to the table that I HAD to hear, and did I mention it's bad? Few albums have left me as confused as to why they're on the list as this one.
Ozomatli
2/5
While I didn't particularly like this, I did appreciate how many different styles of music were blended together fairly well. But it's not for me.
Richard Thompson
3/5
I liked the title track a lot but the rest of the album was just okay. It's not a bad album, it might even be a good one, but it's not something I'll listen to again anytime soon.
Magazine
4/5
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. A nice mix of different instruments in this post-punk format. I'll listen to this one again.
The Stooges
5/5
It's not as good as Raw Power but it's still amazing. That driving beat and growling lyrics are just great. I think I like all the original Stooges albums a lot.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I never think I'm a big Pink Floyd fan, but anytime I listen to a few of their albums, this one included, I start wondering why I don't consider myself a big Pink Floyd fan. Maybe I am.
This album is great, includes probably my favorite Pink Floyd Song (the title song.) The bookends do get very close to becoming tedious, but they ultimately work and work well with this album.
Cheap Trick
3/5
It was fine. I like Cheap Trick enough, and the I Want You To Want Me is great on here, but other than that, nothing here was better than studio albums. There's nothing wrong here, but just not something I'd put on again.
Pulp
3/5
I was surprised by how different this was than Different Class. And I don't think the changes are in a positive direction. It's a fine album, but if I was going to listen to one Pulp album, it wouldn't be this one.
Fiona Apple
3/5
There's a couple of good songs here. Any my wife loves this album. But there's too much that's exactly the same for me.
Scott Walker
1/5
Cool, another Scott Walker album. And like my last review, it's a chore to get through. I don't understand this pick at all.
Goldfrapp
2/5
I liked it better than Felt Mountain, but I didn't like it. The first song is terrible. A couple okay ones in the middle, but I was glad when it was over.
Madonna
2/5
The title song is okay, I get why it was a hit. But I don't really like this album, I'm not a fan of her vocals over this era of electronic music. It's just not for me.
Funkadelic
3/5
I think I tend towards the Parliament version of this band over the Funkadelic version. Though there is some great guitar work on this album, overall, I liked it just okay.
M.I.A.
1/5
My two least favorite genres are world and hip hop. And this is hip-hop that samples more world music than anything else. Paper Planes has some parts of it that are sort of listenable (I can see why it's a popular single at least) but this is not for me and I hated most of it.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
It's hard to have three better albums to start off a discography than Elvis Costello did. Armed Forces has a more textured production than his first two albums, but it works really well. Costello may have too many albums on this list, but this one is one of the essential ones.
2/5
There are times listening to Bizkit that, had my late teens or early 20s gone a slightly different way, I might've found something to latch onto here. Thankfully, that didn't happen. I've never heard a song that makes fuck boring by the end of it. When it's used as a comma, it loses all meaning, which is maybe the point, but then it's hard to say it's powerful or has anything to say at all so I don't know what the point is.
That said, as bad as it is, and it is bad, at no point did I really reach for a skip button like I have other albums on this list. So it gets a 2 star, it's not good, and I'll probably never listen to it again. But it's not the worst thing on here.
I will say, though, that the inclusion of the remix of Rollin' with talented rappers really did shine just how bad at this Durst is.
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
I didn't really enjoy this. Tough, for me, to rate something when I don't know what it's about.
Pixies
5/5
Another insta-5 for me. Such a good album, I've listened to so many times and will continue to listen again in the future.
Django Django
4/5
New to me band and I liked it a lot. Will listen to this one again.
Method Man
2/5
Got fairly bored listening to this. Like a lot of music in this genre, it just doesn't seem like Method Man is having any fun here.
Lucinda Williams
3/5
I found this to be perfectly forgettable background music. I thought I was listening to Sheryl Crow at one point, until. And then when this album was over, Sheryl Crow was the first artist that came on afterwards based on sonic sounds.
There's nothing wrong here, her voice is pleasant enough, the music is fine. But nothing is compelling me to run back and listen again, either.
Blur
5/5
I love Blur and I love this album. The blend of so many different styles of music on one album and they all seem to work together in a way few bands have been able to do. I'll gladly listen to this one (and, honestly, pretty much any Blur) again. Actually, I might go listen to it again now.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
I didn't really like this. But at no point did I hate it or feel the need to turn it off or skip a song. It's way to long, it's not in a language I understand (so who knows what the message is here) and apparently the guy is not a nice guy.
Probably music a movie would use as a background. And I'm not sure why it's on the list. But there are worse albums on here.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
Fleetwood Mac has several albums that I enjoy a lot, 4 and 5 star albums. Tusk isn't one of them. It seems like it's a double album of unfinished songs, and it's just off putting. There's obviously good things here, but it's not an album I'll listen to in full anytime soon.
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
Nothing here for me. Didn't like or connect with the music, and didn't find much here that hasn't been done by others, better.
Charles Mingus
1/5
Cool, an entire album that sounds like the orchestra warming up before they actually play songs. You know songs, those things with some structure, melodies, and other things that make you actually WANT to listen to it.
I just don't get jazz, especially this type, at all.
Crowded House
4/5
Never heard this one before. And I sort of liked it? Like kinda liked a lot of it. Grabbed me from the first song, Chocolate Cake
1/5
I think there was one song, maybe 2/3rds of the way through, that was sort of listenable. And that's being kind. The rest is complete garbage. Nothing about this is interesting, compelling, or good.
I was listening in the car with one of my kids (I like to torture them at times) and she, at one point, didn't realize that we were on the 7th song of the album because it "all sounded exactly the same."
Joe Ely
3/5
Hmm, this one is tough. I didn't like a lot of it, but some of it I liked quite a bit. I'll settle on middle of the road, but I won't be mad at anyone who thinks it should be higher or lower.
Dolly Parton
3/5
There's about half of a very good album here. But some of it just doesn't click with me at all. It's fine, I doubt I'll listen to the whole thing again, but could see listening to a few songs, especially Dolly's leads, again.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Autobahn (song) is so good that I always forget how long it is. First time I heard it was in Germany when a tour guide played the whole thing for us while we were driving on the Autobahn. I liked it more than everyone else on the bus.
The rest of the album isn't as good as the first song.
Gillian Welch
4/5
I think I was surprised by how much I liked this. Very pretty voice, stripped down production. I will listen to this one again.
SAULT
2/5
Long and sort of same-y the whole way through. I got it in the first 10 songs, didn't need the rest. Not really for me, probably won't play again.
Tom Waits
3/5
Like all Waits, it's not something I'll usually choose to listen to, but usally am glad I did. It's not all good, and can get annoying, but I still like it some.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
I like Leonard Cohen, but always find an entire album to be a bit challenging. His voice is .... unique. The music is sparse and not very interesting, but the lyrics are killer.
PJ Harvey
4/5
When I think of PJ Harvey, this is what I think of. A few things keep it from being a perfect album, but the production is great, and I like it a lot.
Small Faces
2/5
With some editing this could've been a good album. There's good stuff here. But there's a lot of bad, too. Probably wouldn't bother to listen to it again.
Pere Ubu
2/5
There's something here that I like, but it's a little bit too out there for me. But I think I might listen to parts of it again.
It's WAY too out there for the family, that's for sure. It was interesting listening to this driving home from a softball tournament.
Moby Grape
4/5
I liked this quite a bit. I listened to this twice, the first time I sort of liked it, but listened again and liked it more the second time. Jam-band adjacent, but no 15 minute songs that you forget what you're listening to.
Kate Bush
1/5
I haven't liked any of the Kate Bush albums, and I think this one might be my least favorite. It's to weird, her voice annoys me to no end, and I just don't like any of the music or production.
This is the epitome of "not for me"
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I've mentioned before that I'm not the biggest Springsteen fan. But I'm finding that, at least the albums chosen for this list, are pretty darn good. This isn't as good to me as Nebraska, but it's not bad at all and I'd listen to it again.
Mott The Hoople
4/5
Really good listen, and I'll be adding it to my 70s rotation. I know Mott a little bit, but didn't realize until this challenge how much I liked them.
John Lennon
5/5
I have listened to this album countless times. I've listened to a lot of the outtakes, different mixes, jam sessions from this recording session, too. I'm a huge John Lennon fan and find this raw, introspective, and vulnerable version of him to be some of his best work.
5/5
This is probably my second favorite Blur album. It's very strong, start to finish. Has been on my playlist since the 90s and will continue to be. Great album.
Ice T
2/5
Not the worst rap album I've heard. It tells a story, even if it's a lot of crap. And as rap goes, it's easy to follow, and hear what he's saying, so that's always a plus. But I still wouldn't choose to listen to it again.
Can
1/5
No
The first few songs were okay, I guess. Sort of got a grove that was tolerable. Then they start getting to 15+ minute songs that are terrible. I can't fathom how people think this is even listenable, let alone good.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
Totally forgettable psychedelic album. Nothing is terrible on here. But nothing is good, either, not really. When it was over, it too Lacey 3 songs to realize she didn't remember any of the songs at all.
The Divine Comedy
1/5
There should not be two albums by this artist on the list. This one doesn't even have Songs of Love on it, so it's completely useless.
Gang Starr
2/5
I didn't get it. Not a genre I particularly like, and with that, maybe there's a historical reason for this being on the list, but I didn't get what that would be.
Missy Elliott
1/5
I've never really liked Missy Elliott and a whole album of it was way, way more than I ever needed. I alternated between bored and annoyed the whole time.
Heaven 17
4/5
Not sure what it was about this, maybe it hit me in the right place at the right time, but I really dug it. Very date in a way that's ALMOST funny. But that's not a knock on it, because it's still good even though it's so dated. I'd listen to this one again.
Grizzly Bear
4/5
I enjoy this album. I got it from a VMP record club a while back. Some of the harmonies remind me of Ben Folds a little bit, I don't know why. It's pretty standard 2000s era indie stuff and nothing super special, but I still like it and will listen to it again.
Tori Amos
3/5
I've never been a huge Amos fan, but this album is listenable. Mostly. Not going to get high rotation, but probably wouldn't turn it off if it was on.
Lorde
3/5
This was fine. Nothing special for me, nothing offensive. I do think this is like a lot of modern single artists, it's better in earbuds than it is on a stereo system, you almost need the close-ness of it, but that's not my preferred style.
Jurassic 5
2/5
I was so bored listening to this. Sure I can see skill there, but I just didn't care at any point. I can't even remember most times a song switched from one to another.
Beyoncé
1/5
I really hated this album. It's everything I don't like in music styles and not for me at all. The best song was the one Jay-Z was one, and that's not saying much.
I'd be happy if this was the last R&B album I had to listen to. Surprising because Beyonce seems to have some songs that are at least catchy, and I found nothing of that on this album.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
4/5
I really enjoyed listening to this one. Nothing groundbreaking, but just good late 60s rock and roll. Will listen again.
Faust
3/5
A couple of the songs were okay. A couple were really not good. Started off stronger than it ended for me. I guess it averages out to a fine album.
N.E.R.D
3/5
I'm not sure it deserves to be on the list, but I didn't hate any part of this album. Pretty standard pop/rock with some hip-hop influences. It was completely fine.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Cave's lyrics can really paint a picture, there's no denying that. But it's just hard to listen to a whole album of it. Great lyrics that become a little much all at once.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
Reading about this album, I'm really glad the producers decided to cut down longer songs into more manageable jam sessions. I think it really helps the entire album overall. This is very good and only gets lost in itself once in a while.
The Pogues
5/5
What a great album. The mix of Celtic and punk really works and I want to listen to this album in a pub with a pint.
Turbonegro
3/5
This was a weird one. I liked it okay, but there are better versions of everything they're doing on here out there. It's cool that they're not US or UK based, but that doesn't make it good just because of that.
Underworld
3/5
It's fine techno, if that's what you're looking for. I may listen to this again if I'm in the right mood.
Ray Charles
3/5
I think I liked this a little better than Modern Sounds, especially the faster songs. But I thought the back-half dragged a bit. Not a bad album, but one that will be a while before I revisit.
Ice Cube
3/5
Liked it more than I expected. Not my favorite genre, but the messages in this album still resonate quite strongly, 30+ years later. Loses maybe a star for being a bit too same-samey the whole way through the album, but it's still not bad.
Fats Domino
3/5
Some classic Rock and Roll, a little mix of some jazz I can listen to. Overall it's an okay album, with songs that I'd listen to again. It may have been groundbreaking in 1957 but it's tough to come in in 2024 and feel the same way about it.
Steve Earle
4/5
I always say that I'm just not a country fan. Then this generator generates "county" music that I like. I liked this, I liked the singer-songwriter stuff. It did get a little twangy, at times, but I just liked it. I would probably classify this more as Americana a-la Tom Petty than I would full on country.
Or maybe I like country more than I thought I did.
Pink Floyd
5/5
You knew, without even looking or thinking, that this album was going to be on the list. In fact, if this album wasn't on the list, the list would be useless.
This is a great album start to finish. If not Floyd's best work, it's for sure their most important.
And like every other hipster out there, this was the first album I listened to when I bought my fist record player. Easy 5 stars.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I liked this okay, but I think this has been my least favorite of the Joni Mitchell albums so far. Which isn't to say it isn't good, it is. But there has to be one least favorite, right? And since it's my least favorite so far, I'll knock it down a star it probably doesn't deserve to be knocked down.
The Zutons
3/5
I enjoyed listening to this quite a bit. It would probably be a 4 star album, except at some point they decided that they had to use every instrument in the studio. I didn't think that worked and it pulled me out of the listening experience at times. So it's an okay record, I'll probably listen to it again. But I don't know if I'll actively seek to put it on.
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
Deserves to be played as loud as you can stand. And enjoy every minute of the noise. Great album
2/5
I did not enjoy this at all. While I never did skip a track, I'm not sure if there's another album on the list that had me looking at the time left in the song as often as this one did.
Talvin Singh
1/5
I hated this so much. It's two genres I don't like to start and combining them together doesn't make it any better. Even my daughter asked "You're giving this a one, right?" when listening to it in the car. Nothing here was enjoyable for any length of time and then it keeps going on forever.
Johnny Cash
4/5
Some of this works so well it's hard to say it's not a great album. The Hurt cover alone is probably enough to get this a great rating. But there are some stinkers on here, you can't ignore them. But the good is so good that I'll still give it a really good rating.
Mudhoney
5/5
One of the prototypes of the Seattle sound. It's really loud, noisy, fuzzy, grungy, sludgy, etc. Pick your adjective.
I liked this even better than Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. The expanded edition gets repetitive, but if you're in enough that you want to listen to an expanded edition, you get what you're after.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
As much as I'm not really a fan of this type of music, and Gaye can be hit or miss for me, there's something about the songs on this album. There's a reason that it's the joke music put on in the movies for when the main characters are going to be ... intimate. Because just hearing the opening of the title track, everyone is the same headspace.
Jack Black doing his cover of it in High Fidelity is a such a highlight of that movie, too.
The Blue Nile
2/5
This was a weird album and I was trying to figure out why it was picked for this list. Then it comes up on demo albums for CD players from the 80s all the time and that sort of made sense, but I still don't think I had to hear this one.
The La's
4/5
Didn't really know this band other than the one song (which I know the Sixpence None The Richer cover better anyway) but I really enjoyed it. Will listen to this one again.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
This is the Bruce I usually think of when I say I'm not really a fan. Sure there are huge hits on here, but nothing really makes me feel anything. Give me Nebraska anytime.
Rod Stewart
3/5
I thought this album was perfectly fine. Nothing really special, nothing I'm going to revisit anytime soon. Perfectly fine music to have on in the background or while driving.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
This was a very weird album. I couldn't tell if it was a joke album, or serious, or what it was.
That said, there was some very interesting things here and I was surprised that I didn't want to turn it off more. But it's not going to get listened to again most likely.
It was recorded very well, too.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
It took me a few songs to get into it, and I didn't realize at first who the lead singer was (just listened to it blind.) Since I'm a fairly big fan of Blur, it wasn't really surprising to me that I ended up liking this album quite a bit by the end and found myself putting it back on again shortly after. There's something here that is very compelling and I will revisit.
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
Hmm, tough listen for sure. But there's something here I don't hate. I know about them a little from the documentary Desolation Center which was really good, and I think they'd be awesome to see live. It's raw, which I like, but it can be grating at a times. I really do think I listen to parts of this again though.
UB40
4/5
I really enjoyed this one. UK style reggae done really well. Good stuff, will listen again.
Tim Buckley
3/5
I thought this was fine. I could’ve been better and didn’t need two songs over 10 minutes long. But the parts that were good were pretty good.
The Avalanches
2/5
This wasn’t for me. I’m not a big fan of music that is all samples and I was bored most of the time listening to this.
Red Snapper
2/5
The first half of this album was okay, the second half dragged for me. I'm just not loving all the electronic music I've been listening to lately. Hopefully today's album has some real lyrics.
Kendrick Lamar
1/5
I don't get it. This is popular enough to be the superbowl halftime show act? Baffling.
I didn't like the first album we had to listen to by him, and I like this one less. It's just so boring. The last song on the album (Compton with Dr. Dre) had a little bit of life to it, but I had already made up my mind that I hated this album by then.
The Go-Go's
4/5
Really fun album! I really enjoyed listening to this. And even Anna said it "wasn't that bad" though she said she had never hear We Got The Beat before which I find crazy.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
There's an album of great stuff here. But like most double albums, it's too long. Editing is key. But the good here is really quite good.
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
I had this CD in high school/college and I played it a lot. And the reason I played it a lot is because it's really good. It's been a few years since I listened to it all the way through, which is a shame. Is it a 5 star? No, not quite, but it's pretty close.
Lana Del Rey
3/5
I've never listened to any Lana Del Ray before, but I thought this was perfectly fine. I'm not sure it's good enough to be on the list, but I had no problem with it at all.
3/5
I thought the main album was just okay. I apparently listened to the deluxe version which had some blues versions of a couple of songs that I liked better. It was fine.
The Psychedelic Furs
4/5
Really enjoyed this. Nice blend of new-wave/post-punk and fun songs. Had never listened to this before and I liked it a lot.
Eels
5/5
While this isn't my favorite Eels album, it's still great and I love listening to it. Glad to listen to it again.
The KLF
2/5
It may have been a lot better when it came out, but I don't think it holds up or is timeless at all. And I'm shocked to see it at the top of so many Top XXX lists of blah blah blah. That I don't get.
The Beach Boys
2/5
This was quite weird and I'm not sure in a way that I particularly like. Feel Flows is a fine song that I knew before listening to this album (but I don't know if I knew it was The Beach Boys) but other than that, not a ton here I really enjoyed.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
This was fine. Nothing really stood out, but it was pleasant enough.
The Who
4/5
I liked this one a lot. Plenty of songs that are popular and for a good reason. It's almost a 5 star, but not quite.
Orange Juice
3/5
This was very strange. His voice sounds like a parody I heard in a movie or something.
But if I can get past the vocals, I do like some of what's here. And I never thought of turning it off, so it has that going for it.
Christina Aguilera
1/5
I liked this one less than the other Aguilera we had to listen to (and I didn't like that one.)
It's just so overproduced and boring. Her voice is strong, but it can't redeem what else is going on here. And it falls into that late 90s, early 2000s trap of *Hey* we have 80 mins that we can fit on a CD, let's fill the thing up. No, it's too long. You could've cut 4 or 5 songs and it still would've gotten the same point across.
Ian Dury
3/5
Ian Dury, are you a real act or a joke? I'm not sure. But I'm here for the fun.
The second half of the album is a little stronger than the first half with some more interesting songs.
It's not high art, but it's funny and fun. It gets knocked a few stars just because it's not something I'll listen to often (Except for Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, that song is great.)
5/5
I think there might be too much Bowie on this list, but this is the album I've been waiting for. By far my favorite album of his, and the one I go back and listen to the most.
808 State
2/5
I thought this could've been fine, but there were a couple songs towards the second half that REALLY annoyed me. So that drops it a bit in my rating.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
This was fine. Voice was good, I didn't care much about the songs themselves though. Overall, it was fine.
The Byrds
4/5
There are a lot of Byrds albums on this list and they're all over the map for me in terms of how much I like them. This one? This one I liked. I'd listen to this again.
Elis Regina
2/5
Not for me. It might be good, but I didn't care at any point during listening to it.
X-Ray Spex
5/5
Lots of stuff I love here a lot. And I listened to the expanded CD that has the absolute banger "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!"
Possibly the best of the female led punk groups from the 70s.
Fred Neil
3/5
This was okay. I like his voice, and some of the songs were pretty good. It got weird at the end, and I didn't like that so much.
Fela Kuti
4/5
Like the other Fela Kuti, this one surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. It's very funky and fun and I'd listen to it again.
Elvis Costello
4/5
This was my least favorite of the Costello albums so far, but there is enough good here that I'd listen to it again.
Alice Cooper
4/5
I think this is better than School's Out as an entire album, but I think it's still shy of great. Probably a 3.5 but I'll round up because I'm in a good mood.
Brian Eno
4/5
I thought this was pretty good. I actually liked it a lot and would listen to it again.
Pantera
3/5
I really liked the drums, the bass, and the guitar The grooves. I could see how it would influence some other metal bands that I know better.
But I just couldn't ever really get into it.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
5/5
I think this might be my favorite The Jesus and Mary Chain album. I love the fuzz in the guitars mixed with dreamy pop. Love this album.
T. Rex
4/5
I liked this. I found some of the songs repetitive, but overall I enjoyed listening to it.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
This was my favorite Gabriel album so far, but that might just because it had the most familiar songs on it. That said, even being my favorite, it's still just fine.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Apparently I forgot to rate this when I listened to it before. It's fine.
Belle & Sebastian
5/5
This is great, and probably my favorite album of theirs. Glad to listen to it again.
Duran Duran
4/5
I really enjoyed listening to this slice of 80s pop. It's exactly what you think it'd be if I told you that was the genre, but that's okay.
Beastie Boys
4/5
I am just not a fan of the Beastie Boys. This is the best of their albums for me, even if it is juvenile. But like the rest of their albums, after I get past the singles, I'm just not a huge fan of what's there.
That said, there's enough singles on here to get a one star bump from my other Beastie album ratings.
Gene Clark
4/5
I liked this one. It's more country than I usually listen to but some of what he did with the studio (and I read later that it was considered a little over the top at the time) I liked. And the songwriting connected with me a little. I'd listen to this one again.
Sparks
2/5
This album reminds me a lot of Queen. There's a song or two here that would be okay to listen to again. But, like Queen, there is no way I want to listen to a whole album of it. And the highs aren't as high as Queen's are, so there's even less to want to listen to it again.
Ray Price
2/5
This is not my favorite genre and it's an outdated version of a genre I'm not loving. It's well done, no complaints there, but I don't see myself listening to it again.
Public Enemy
3/5
Probably my least favorite of the Public Enemy albums we listened to.
Van Halen
5/5
Did Van Halen perfect guitar rock started in the 60s and 70s, and infuse it with amazing pop hooks and catchy song structures? Perhaps that's a bit too over the top, but it could be a fun discussion. What a fun album.
Bill Callahan
3/5
This is a tough one to rate after just one listen. I think I liked it, and upon further listening might get a higher rating. It's weird and out there, but it mostly works. But sometimes it really doesn't work at all, at least not on first listen. It's probably better than the 3 I'm giving it, but I'm not sure yet.
The Monkees
2/5
While it's fine, there is absolutely nothing on this album that wasn't done better (and much better) by other bands.
The Incredible String Band
1/5
I didn't enjoy this at all. I'm not sure how so many bands I like can cite it as an influence.
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
I thought this was fine. I was able to listen to it.
Sam Cooke
4/5
Had a real good time listening to this one. Lots of energy, good stuff.
Brian Eno
2/5
My wife said, while listening to this, that it would be good on in the background of a massage parlor. For some reason this did not end with me getting a backrub, which is the only way to make this album better.
The Gun Club
5/5
I really enjoyed this album. Great mix of punk/post punk/psychobilly and stuff that bands I love had to be inspired by. Great stuff.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Her voice is great and makes listening to this 60s era pop a fine listen.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
There’s a couple of stand out songs on this album. But like most double albums it’s entirely too long. Way way too long. Probably a 3.5 but I’m rounding down because with some editing this could’ve been a high 4 star album.
The Notorious B.I.G.
1/5
I've listened to this album before. And I don't like it anymore now than I did the first time I tried to listen to it. I just don't enjoy any part of it and found myself reaching for the skip button entirely too often.
The xx
3/5
I was excited to listen to this because I liked the first album so much. But this was ... boring? It was fine, I guess, but nothing I'm clamoring to listen to again.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
One of the easiest 5 stars I'll give. Yeah, it's cliche at this point to say how great this album is, but, you know what? It is great, and it deserves all the praise it gets and to be the highest rated album on this site.
System Of A Down
3/5
There's stuff I sort of like here. And stuff I really don't like at all. Averages out to a fine album, I guess.
The Vines
3/5
Nothing here hasn't been done better by other people. But it's fine.
Rocket From The Crypt
4/5
I enjoyed listening to this one. I'll play it again.
Weather Report
2/5
Pretty decent opening track which the rest of the album never quite catches back up to.
Van Morrison
3/5
It's good. Morrison has a unique voice and it's displayed well here. I don't love the length, and, honestly, I preferred all of the studio albums over this live album. It's probably a 3.5 but I'll round down so that I can separate it from the albums I liked more.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
2/5
This isn't for me. I like songs on my albums, not a singular song or two that take entire sides of just jamming. I'm sure it's good, but it's not for me.
Christine and the Queens
1/5
I tortured myself by listening to both the French and English versions of this album, and I honestly couldn't really tell a difference. Every song is exactly the same as the next and all of it is boring as shit.
Q-Tip
1/5
Not a genre I like, not an album in this genre that changes my mind. I was completely bored listening to this.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
Like the first PiL, I’m not exactly sure why I like it so much, but I really do. First time hearing this album, maybe with some more time it might even get to a 5 but it’s a strong 4 right now.
Grant Lee Buffalo
1/5
Wow what a turd of an album. I hated the singers voice, hated the song structures and started wondering how many more songs were on this album somewhere around song #4.
Maybe it made more of an impact when it was first released but I’ll be happy if I never have to listen to it again!
The Slits
5/5
It's a great album. Typical Girls is my favorite track on here, but there's a lot of great stuff. I loved the reggae/dub sounds on this album. I wish the production was a *touch* better than it is, it's pretty bad, but hey, it's punk (or post-punk if you want.)
You can see how other bands I love, like Sleater-Kinney, were directly influenced by them.
Very worthy of being on this list.
DJ Shadow
2/5
So this is just a style of music I don't like. It's probably very well done, but I just don't care about or for it.
Marianne Faithfull
2/5
I liked the second half a little more than the first half, with the addition of more reggae and post-punk style. I found the first half repetitive and annoying. And most of the songs I liked the most were covers.
Slayer
4/5
I enjoyed this way more than I expected to. Just glad the vocals weren't cookie monster style as I can't stand that. And it's not good when you're laughing at the lyrics at times because they're so juvenile and trying to be edgy and dark.
You listen to this for the guitar and drums, and they're excellent here.
Jazmine Sullivan
1/5
No.
I don't like this style of music, I don't like songs interspersed with talking, and I didn't like this even one little bit.
The Specials
4/5
I love the first Specials album. This one has moments of greatness but it's not as good overall. I actually like some of the off-the-wall directions it goes, but it's uneven. Still, I'll gladly listen to it again, but it's not quite the highs of the debut. It's probably a 4.5, but I'll round down just so that the first album gets the full 5.
Orbital
3/5
Halcyon On and On is a great song, and part of one of my most beloved movies, Hackers. The rest of the album is fine.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
I really like Leonard Cohen and this was one of the better of his albums.
Violent Femmes
5/5
This is such a fun album. Been listening to this a lot since high school, and always glad to give it another spin
Stevie Wonder
4/5
This was my favorite of the Stevie Wonder albums we've gotten. I wish it wasn't a double album, it wasn't good enough for almost 2 hours of music, but I enjoyed most of it.
The Streets
1/5
I didn't connect with this at all. I'm not sure if it's because I just didn't like it, or if it's because it's truly terrible
Elastica
4/5
I was unfamiliar with this, but I don't think I should have been. Seems like something I would've listened to before. And it's pretty good, I could see this becoming more of a favorite with more time.
Hüsker Dü
5/5
I'm torn. This is probably a 4.5 album for me, it's really good, I like it a lot. Zen Arcade should be on this list, though, and I'm not sure if it is or not. If it's not, that's an oversight. I'll round this one up just in case.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
Started listening to this and made a comment to my wife that it's not quite as weird as I expected it to be. Then the second half came on and I was put in my place.
It's not a bad record, but it's not one I see myself putting on again anytime soon.
Bee Gees
2/5
It wasn't what I expected. And if it wasn't a double album it might've stayed at a 3. But it's too long for something I didn't really enjoy.
Pere Ubu
3/5
It's still a tough listen, but I liked this better than the other Pere Ubu album on the list.
PJ Harvey
4/5
I really liked this one. I think I found that the older the PJ Harvey album is, the more I liked it. This is a solid album and I could see it maybe even rating higher on further listens.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
2/5
At first I was like, this sounds like the non-instrumental parts from Graceland. Wait a second, it IS the non-instrumental parts from Graceland, or at least it's Paul Simon who produced this album with the group that did those parts.
I didn't really like this. Never got to the point I wanted to turn it off, but I really wanted Paul Simon to come in at some point.
The White Stripes
4/5
This isn't my favorite White Stripes album, but it's still a pretty good effort. It does get repetitive in some spots.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
One of the few albums I've listened to while doing this that I put on a second time immediately after. This was great.
Coldcut
1/5
Generic beat based dance music. Repetitive to the point of nausea. Not for me. Also I'm knocking it down a star less than it probably deserves because it's too damn long.
Spiritualized
4/5
I didn’t like this album this album much the first time I heard it.
I’ve listened to it several times since then and it’s grown on me more and more.
I think it’s a pretty good mix of ambitious and pretentious. But overall, after several listens, I find it to be a very strong album. It’s not perfect, it loses steam some in the second half until the closer, but I’ll be putting this one on again for sure.
Sepultura
2/5
I liked this one a little bit more than the last Sepultura album we had. But I didn't like it.
Billy Joel
5/5
This is close to what a perfect pop album might. Catchy, fun, and enjoyable to sing along to.
Al Green
3/5
This album starts of so strong. The title track is such a great song. But you can see why it was the only hit off the album, the rest of the album is just okay.
M.I.A.
1/5
This was, somehow, worse than the other M.I.A. album we had to listen to. How in the world does this artist get multiple albums on the list?
TLC
1/5
I think maybe 2 decent songs but overall this is an extremely boring album. The singing is out of key, and the production is just bad.
OutKast
1/5
Wow. Over 2 hours long for one good song? Hey Ya is fine and the Andre 3000 half is a bit better than Big Boi but the whole album is not for me at all and this might take the cake for way too long. Neither half is good and they don’t work together.
Soul II Soul
3/5
Not really my type of music, but nothing here that was annoying. It was fine.
The Darkness
4/5
I’ve never been sure if they were a joke or not. But after string of bad albums, I actually enjoyed this one. Probably getting a star more than it deserves but I’m okay with it.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
I think, if I was in the right headspace, that I may have enjoyed this album more than I did. But it was a little too weird for me. It was fine, but I don’t see playing it again.
2/5
I liked the second half more than the first half, when he plugged in and started to rock a little more. Crazy that this wasn't looked upon fondly at the time.
I didn't find the recording to be very good, which was distracting. Some good songs but really hard to listen to this. My least favorite Dylan album we listened to, not because of the content, but just because I didn't like the recording at all.
4/5
Never listened to this band before, but didn't dislike it. Actually, I kind of think I liked a lot of it. I'll need to listen to this one again to be sure.
Giant Sand
3/5
A couple of the songs were bit of a chore, but overall it was fine. I could see listening to this again at the right time, but not anytime soon.
Ash
4/5
I really enjoyed this one. Grungy, britpop, good guitars (though they do tend to get a bit long in their solos) but overall, very good. Will listen to this one again.
King Crimson
2/5
Yeah, this really wasn't for me. A couple of the songs were fine, but I hated The Talking Drums and both the opening and closing songs. So when you hate 3 of the 5 songs on it, it's tough to rate it high. Only thing I'll give it, at least it wasn't boring.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
I think I might be a Neil Young fan?? This was really excellent. And an interesting recording concept, where it's mostly live but done in a way to limit the "live-ness" of it. Really enjoyable, I'll put this one on again for sure.
Peter Tosh
5/5
Review Note: I listened to this on a beautiful, sunny, 75 degree day with the windows down in my car. It's probably still a 5, but the conditions couldn't have been better.
I'm generally a fan of reggae, and this is one is great. No skips at all on this album, and listened to it twice back to back.
Julian Cope
3/5
I thought this was fine. I liked some of it, some of it was too arty for me. May listen again in the future, but not soon.
Ghostface Killah
1/5
Another hour+ rap album full of skits that aren't funny or interesting along with songs that are just mind numbingly boring.
Duke Ellington
3/5
This one is hurt by the recording itself. The band is great, the solo is amazing. I’m not normally a jazz guy, but I can get behind this one, but I think that’s because I do enjoy Big Band type jazz.
But the recording is so subpar. The crowd noise is too high (but man is the crowd enjoying themselves!) and overall the mix is just bad. Would’ve loved to hear this with modern recording tech.
George Michael
2/5
It’s not good. But it just faded into the background for me to the point I sort of forgot it was on at all.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
This was good, I liked it a lot. If I had listened to it more around the time it came out, I might've even rated it higher.
Massive Attack
3/5
I thought this was fine. I liked the first song (no surprise, it was on the Hackers soundtrack.) Overall it's a fine example of this genre, I just don't love it.
Deerhunter
4/5
Hard one to rate. It's not bad at all, and parts of it are pretty good. Should really be a 3.5, but that's not an option. I've been hard on albums lately, I'll bump it up.
Lightning Bolt
4/5
I actually really enjoyed this one. Sure it's mostly noise, but it's actually really good to program to. Sort of like an electronica/dance album with no electronic and all real music.
I would've never thought before listening to this, but I'll listen to this one again.
The Adverts
4/5
Pretty good 70s British punk. I knew a few of the songs from before but liked listening to the whole album.
R.E.M.
5/5
I just really like R.E.M. and find most of their albums to be pretty great. This one is no exception.
Willie Nelson
2/5
This is a tough one to rate. I like Willie Nelson's voice a lot, but he's a songwriter and he wrote none of these songs. That's a shame. Even though I'm not going to rate it high, I actually could see putting it on again in the exact right mindset.
The Auteurs
3/5
I really hated the first song. I kept thinking my headphones were going out on me. After that the album never really rose above fine.
Boards of Canada
2/5
There wasn't much here for me. I forgot I was listening to it at one point.
Beck
4/5
I like this a lot, but it's not as good as Odelay.
David Crosby
4/5
Quite a bit here I liked a lot, the guitar work is minimal but equally interesting. However, it does tend to get a bit too far into the jam band territory for me. I think I'm going to rate it higher than I expected because some of the work is just so good. It's probably a high 3, but I'll round up.
Hot Chip
3/5
Perfectly fine. Nothing super exciting, never wanted to turn it off.
Nick Drake
5/5
My other reviews of Nick Drake are that I need to listen to more Nick Drake. And this record, more than the others, is just proof of that. It's excellent, and I need to listen to it more. This one was my favorite.
It's a short album, but I'm not sure it would be better if it was longer.
R.E.M.
5/5
I'll be honest, I haven't listened to a lot of the early R.E.M. as much as I probably should. And man, should I listen to it more, this is a great album start to finish.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
A classic early 90s album that spawned at least 5 singles that still get play today. And it's great, because past the singles you get to the other songs which are still really good and ooze with that funk sound.
It's a little too long. And if you are of the opinion that Anthony Kiedis doesn't have the best delivery, I probably wouldn't argue with you. But I'm glad to have listened to the whole thing again.
Sex Pistols
5/5
It's hard to imagine a list of albums you must listen to that doesn't include this one. One of the most influential albums in the punk scene.
I could listen to Johnny Rotten snarl through the phone book and be happy.
5/5
It's hard to write just how great they were. And this is one of their best.
Lauryn Hill
1/5
I don't like this type of music. I don't like Lauryn Hill at all. I and really really didn't like this album.
Spacemen 3
3/5
Not necessarily an every day or every situation album, but it's pretty, spacey, and I found myself zoning out listening to it, in a good way. I'll listen to this one again, but probably not soon.
Baaba Maal
2/5
I liked some of the guitar work, but I didn't connect with it at all. I didn't look for the skip button so that has to count for something, I guess.
Merle Haggard
2/5
I didn't like this as much as some of the other albums of the same type (which isn't my favorite to begin with.) It's just not really for me.
Bebel Gilberto
2/5
Parts of it were pretty enough, but I just didn't connect at all. Not really for me.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
2/5
I thought this just shy of fine. The Message is really good. Some of the other stuff is good, some of it is not great. I like some of the funk stuff in here, too, a little, but I won't be playing this one again anytime soon. But it's one of those albums that, while not for me, probably should be on the list.
Gang Of Four
5/5
Wow, I think this is the first time I've listened to this and I'm not sure how.
The punk vocals with that funky, driving, and even melodic (and loud in the mix) bass works so good. This is excellent, I'm really not sure how it wasn't on my radar before. A great piece of post punk.
Green Day
5/5
I will get hate from some people that like to gate-keep, but I don't care. I love this album. I have played it countless times, will play it countless more. The whole albums works as a concept and story, and it's a great blend of some of the punk aesthetic that Green Day started out with, blended with an absolute banger of pop sensibilities.
Green Day have several great albums, but this one has to be near the top.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
I liked this one. Sort of got that New Wave from England vibe. Pretty decent album I'll listen to again.
The Youngbloods
3/5
I thought this was perfectly fine. I liked some of it, didn't like some of it, found some of it to be compelling and a little bit of it to be annoying. Maybe give it another listen in the future.
The Verve
2/5
Started off thinking, this is fine but not sure why I had to listen to it. By the time I got to the end, I started to dislike it.
The Pretty Things
4/5
Completely unknown to me but I liked it. There's no doubt about when it was made, but it works and I look forward to listening to it again.
Talking Heads
4/5
Is this my favorite Talking Heads album? No, no it's not. But that doesn't mean it isn't really good. Because it is.
Def Leppard
3/5
I mean, I get it. It's hair metal. And this is a fine version of hair metal, but I wouldn't say it was "good".
It's a fine album.
The White Stripes
5/5
I really like The White Stripes and this album came out in a time period where guitar rock was basically dead. Jack said, no, this is how it's done. It's probably only a 4 star album, but I've listened to it too many times and it never gets old, so I'm going the full 5.
The Soft Boys
4/5
This was a new one for me. And I really liked it. If I do this challenge a second time, this is one that I could see even being bumped up a start, but for the first listen, it was really good.
There's a longer version of this album that's also a decent listen, but I don't think the flow is as good.
3/5
Another perfectly fine album. Not bad, not great.
Joy Division
5/5
Shocker, but I'll probably describe it the same way most people do. It's dark, it's gloomy, it can be a lot to take in.
But it's also fantastic.
Janis Joplin
5/5
It's got that blues, that rock-n-roll, and that so distinctive voice of Janis.
This album is so powerful and emotional. It's one of the best of it's time period.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Like the other Harris album we had, I thought this was just fine. The voice is nice, but I don't care about the songs themselves.
Elton John
5/5
This is probably only a 4 star album. It's really really good.
But Tiny Dancer might be the best sing along song of all time. And to follow that with Levon? Hard to not round up.
Beth Orton
3/5
Hmm, this was perfectly fine for background music. I didn't really care though. It was totally fine.
Jean-Michel Jarre
2/5
I was fairly bored. Not much here for me
De La Soul
3/5
I didn't really care for this the first time I heard it. I still don't really care ABOUT it now. Some of the rhymes were clever, but overall it's a forgettable album. It's also too long, some editing may have made something better.
The Hives
4/5
I dislike that it's not a real album, but it's a good collection of songs and I liked listening to it.
The Verve
3/5
I liked this one more than the other The Verve album, and it has Bittersweet Symphony which I've always liked. But past that it's a fine album with some annoying parts.
Laura Nyro
1/5
I really didn't enjoy this at all. I don't know if it was the genre, the recording, or her, but I didn't like it.
Supergrass
4/5
Enjoyable britpop unknown to me before now. But I liked it.
The Monks
4/5
Very weird, and yet oddly enjoyable.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
I never really gave the Pumpkins much of a chance, but this is another fine record. The front half is better than the second but overall it’s really good.
The Mars Volta
4/5
On paper, this is something I shouldn't really like, but I do. It's not a great album, but I enjoy it a lot, and have listened to it before and will again.
Anthrax
4/5
Liked this WAY more than I expected to. I'm not a huge metal guy, but if it was all like this, I'd probably listen to more.
Deee-Lite
2/5
Meh? It's not for me at all. My daughter thought I was super weird when I knew one of the songs (Groove, obviously.)
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
Another album that I see something here, but I just don't like it.
Gorillaz
3/5
I like a lot about this band (big Damon Albarn fan) but I don't love this album. I think there's a lot here that points to where it's going to be good, but it's uneven, and a little messy.
I prefer Demon Days and Plastic Beach to this one.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
Was surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. The vocals started a little rough, but by the end I was really getting into it.
I could see this becoming a favorite with more listens.
Ms. Dynamite
1/5
I don't like this type of music, and I didn't like anything about this album.
Radiohead
2/5
I don't get Radiohead. His voice is not good. And I think this might be my least favorite album so far of theirs.
The Beta Band
4/5
I quite enjoyed this one, but I like The Beta Band. I liked this one more than Heros to Zeros.
Stephen Stills
4/5
Yet another enjoyable album. It's a tad too long, like most double albums, it'd be better with some editing.
Minor Threat
5/5
One of the best to ever do the whole hardcore thing. I don't know if I ever listened to just this album, I think I just always listen to the complete discography. But 22 minutes of angry, passionate, and in your face music.
Lambchop
1/5
I hated everything about this.
Stephen Stills
4/5
Very good album that I enjoyed listening to. I think with more listens, this might even get a 5.
Elvis Presley
4/5
I'm not the biggest Elvis fan, but I think this album shows all the different sides of his music in a way that is the essential Elvis. It's very good.
Eminem
2/5
I think I liked this one a little bit more than The Slim Shady LP, but I still didn't like it at all. At least it was funny this time, making fun of the reasons I hated the first album (though it got real bad with Kim.)
There's so much talent here, but I just don't like anything about it.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
JFC, this is a long ass record. There's some stuff on here I didn't mind, but the sheer amount of it made it fairly insufferable by the end.
Bon Jovi
4/5
Is it high art? Not really. It doesn't really push any boundaries or really do anything new.
But it's really fun and I had a much better time listening to this than I did a lot of the albums on the list.
Sebadoh
4/5
I liked this one quite a bit. I was the only one in the car that did.
Killing Joke
4/5
Liked this way more than I expected to. Vocals get a little tiresome after a while, but overall I'd be happy to listen to this one again.
Slade
3/5
When first listening I assumed standard 80s hair metal, with the voice and everything. Then I saw it was '72!
A couple of the songs surprised me, some of the harmonies almost reminded me of the Beatles.
A decent listen, I'll probably revisit in the future. But nothing I'm going to search out soon.
Sonic Youth
5/5
I like Sonic Youth but admit that this album hasn't gotten the spins it deserves from me. I really loved it this time around, maybe I was just in the perfect headspace for it or something. It's going to get a lot more listens from me.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Such a great album. Hurt me a little when my youngest didn't particularly care for it when we were listening. I think I can turn her around, eventually.
Barry Adamson
2/5
I didn't hate it, but I had no fun listening to it, and I can't see anytime I'd put this on again.
Sister Sledge
3/5
I'm not a fan of disco, but this is some of the better out there? Still. can't see myself listening to this again anytime soon.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
There's a few good songs on here, but a lot of it is forgettable. I listened to the UK version.
ZZ Top
4/5
Bluesy and dirty. I enjoyed it.
Paul McCartney
4/5
Stripped down and interesting, but felt a little unfinished. It's good, but not great.
Genesis
3/5
I think there's a good album in here, somewhere. But it's so damn long that it gets lost in itself. And it's not good enough to be this long.
There's some very interesting things here. But, given the length, and style of music, it's just okay for me.
Nas
2/5
This isn't the worst hip-hop I've had to listen to, but I don't see ever putting it on again.
Traffic
4/5
I really didn't think I was going to like this album after the first song. I get it, it's a great jazz/rock thing, but I'm just not that into the jazz part.
But then the songs with vocals came on, and I liked the album better. A LOT better. By the end, I went back and listened to Glad again, just to see if I was being too harsh (I wasn't, I still don't like it) but the rest of the album is very good.
Dolly Parton
4/5
I really enjoyed this. Her voice is so great, and I like country more than I thought I did.
Gram Parsons
4/5
Maybe I'm just in a great mood this week, but I really dug this. It's more country than I thought I liked, but the songwriting earnestness of his singing really caught me.
The Birthday Party
3/5
There is something here, and I think you can start to see where Nick Cave is going to end up. But the recording is pretty rough and the songs are like you took Joy Division and told them to forget how to play.
That said, I might revisit in the future, as it's not terrible. It's okay.
The Waterboys
4/5
I quite enjoyed this on. It's probably a 3.5 for me, but I'll round up, feeling good today.
Joanna Newsom
1/5
I hated this. I hated her voice. I hated how long and meandering the songs are. I hated the arrangements, the recording, and just about everything else.
Somehow she took everything I hate about Bjork and made it possibly worse. Wait, I don't think it's possible to get worse than Bjork, but it's bad.
Arcade Fire
4/5
Arcade Fire is just easy to listen to. It doesn't challenge anything, and sometimes that's exactly what I'm looking for. When in the right mood, it's a good listen.
Sufjan Stevens
3/5
Sort of a weird idea for a concept album, but it was decent. Not great.
Alice In Chains
5/5
Sludgy, grungy, and more metal than I understood before *really* listening to it.
It's an exceptional album.
Gotan Project
2/5
I forgot this was on
Robert Wyatt
1/5
I wasn't a fan of this one at all. After the first song, I thought it might not be all that bad, it was decent, but then it descended into this arty for arty sake bullshit, and it really wasn't good. I couldn't wait for it to be over.
Ice Cube
3/5
I enjoyed this way more than I expected to. I think I just really like Ice Cube as a lyricist, even if I don't like what the lyrics are about. The protest songs and angry songs are good, the misogynistic ones do not age well at all.
But color me surprised, I was really into the whole album. Probably loses a star because of how badly some of the content has aged, but still, I was surprised.
LTJ Bukem
2/5
This is just a fine (at best) album that's hurt by it's length. With editing, might get to be a 3, but I never really need to hear this again.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Wasn't a fan of this, and I think this was the worst of the Dexys albums we had to listen to.
Happy Mondays
4/5
I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than the other Happy Mondays album on the list. I would listen to this one again, happily.
I like Rod Stewart when he's doing rock. And this is a pretty good version of that Rod Stewart.
The Isley Brothers
3/5
I thought this was fine. The covers were interesting, not sure they're better than the originals, but at least interesting to listen to. Decent funk stuff going on, but nothing that knocked me over.
Kings of Leon
4/5
This was my favorite of the Kings of Leon albums and I would listen to this one again over the others. Bonus that my daughter liked it.
Billy Bragg
3/5
I kinds of dug this a little. Not my favorite, but it's not bad.
Linkin Park
3/5
Is this the pinnacle of nu metal? Probably. It's fine, I didn't dislike listening to it. But it's the first time I listened to the whole album, and I don't see myself doing it again anytime soon.
Radiohead
3/5
The most fine of the Radiohead albums. And by fine, I mean it's just fine. That's it. Yorke's vocals aren't for me at all.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
I hated Idlewild so much, I was shocked that this one was fine. It's not good, but I didn't feel the need to turn it off.
Adam & The Ants
3/5
Tough one for me to rate because I don't know if I enjoyed it, but I did find myself putting some of the tracks on again later.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
It was fine. Sort of like the other Pet Shop Boys that were generated, nothing here annoyed me to the point of turning off or makes me want to listen again anytime.
The Fall
4/5
I accidentially listened to the wrong The Fall album first and really liked it, and realized I already listened to it and I really liked it then, too.
So then I listened to this one, and enjoyed it too. Maybe not quite as much as Live at the Witch Trials but enjoyed it a lot.
Animal Collective
3/5
It's a little to much for me to really enjoy, but it wasn't bad.
Pretenders
5/5
A great album through. Some punk stuff, some pop stuff, a bit of new wave. All good.
Ministry
3/5
I didn't hate this, but honestly didn't like it much either. It was fine.
The Saints
4/5
Pretty standard late 70s style punk (though Australian instead of English!)
But I like that style of music and I enjoyed this album.
Radiohead
3/5
I think if I took the one or two good songs on each Radiohead album, they might have made one really good album. But they made so many "meh" albums, and this one is no different.
Mercury Rev
4/5
I really didn't like this album at first, until I realized I was listening to the instrumental version.
Oops, the one with lyrics is much better.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
I'm not the biggest Sinatra fan but this album was okay. Is it the oldest album on the list? I think it might be.
Portishead
3/5
It was meh. I liked it about as much as the last Portishead album.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
I thought to myself a few times listening to this album that I really dug the guitar sound.
This is much more pop oriented. I thought Kedis' delivery was improved on this one as well. Even though a few of the songs do sound almost like a parody of what you think a RHCP song would sound like, I found myself enjoying this album very much.
Madonna
3/5
I liked this more than the Ray of LIght or Music, so I guess I'll bump it from my original thought of 2 stars.
Brian Eno
2/5
Sounded like the soundtrack to 3 or 4 different movies that I don't really care if I ever see. There was some interesting stuff in here, but I was bored.
The Coral
4/5
Never heard this before but enjoyed it a lot. Will listen to this one again. Not sure if this is the "return of rock" the critics thought it was, but it was good.
Nitin Sawhney
1/5
I really disliked this album. Way to many songs I wanted to just skip.
AC/DC
4/5
Good and fun Rock and Roll. Not quite perfect, but very good and glad to have listened to it.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
I didn't like this much and found some of it quite boring, but never quite reached the "reach for the skip button" to me.
Daft Punk
3/5
It's too repetitive for me, but I don't hate it at all.
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
Really great 80s pop. Liked this more than I expected.
Supergrass
4/5
This was really good. A few songs at the end kept it from being a 5 for me but it was real close.
Arrested Development
2/5
I completely forgot to rate this. And I think that's because I forgot I listened to it.
The Who
4/5
This was pretty good I actually enjoyed it a lot. One of The Who albums I liked more.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
Let’s be serious. This isn’t an album, it’s a box set.
That said, her voice is great. It kept me entertained for the entire drive to a softball tournament.
But it’s too long. Way way too long.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
This is a pretty good album of Frank Sinatra classics and standards. It's good, just shy of great. I enjoyed it, would probably be a 3.5 if I could do that, but since I can't and I probably wouldn't choose to put this on, I'll round down.
Rod Stewart
4/5
There are some really great songs on this album and I enjoyed listening to it a lot. I will listen to this one, not just specific songs, again.
Guided By Voices
4/5
I really enjoyed this album. I haven't listened to enough GBV.
Pixies
5/5
By definition, a group of albums has to have a least favorite. And this might be my least favorite of the pre breakup Pixies.
But that doesn't mean it's not great, because it is. I'll gladly listen to this (or any of those) albums again.
White Denim
4/5
Never heard of this band before. It was a good listen, I'd do it again.
Cocteau Twins
2/5
Cocteau Twins are a group that I feel I should like a lot more than I do. But this album annoyed the crap out of me.
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
I just like listening to Clapton play guitar. I know he's problematic, but the music is good.
The Only Ones
3/5
Like others, I really like Another Girl, Another Planet, but the rest of the album is just okay.
Stereolab
2/5
This did not grab me, and I don't think I like Stereolab much.
Skepta
1/5
Boring, and repetitive. Probably a 2 star except for the god awful skits.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
While I wish that some of the stranger songs were left off this album and replaced by, you know, songs, I just don't know how you can give one that includes songs like America and Mrs Robinson less than a 4.
I mean, I get it, but I don't agree with it.
Living Colour
3/5
Completely fine.
Rush
2/5
I'm just not a fan of Rush, and I thought that having the first side of the album one song was annoying.
Rush is like Jazz. I can appreciate the musicianship, and just not enjoy listening to it.
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
A couple of the blues stuff was interesting, but overall I did not enjoy listening to this album.
David Gray
3/5
It's, as the kids say, very mid. But I didn't hate it, and could see listening to it again.
Mariah Carey
1/5
I read someone else's review that said she doesn't sing as much as moan through scales. I can't agree with that more.
This is terrible.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
It's long and I just prefer lyrics in my music. But there's some real talent here, that's undeniable. I just don't see picking this to put on again anytime soon.
Pink Floyd
4/5
This is a strange album, but that doesn't mean it isn't good. It's out there, spacey, and sort of all over the place, but I enjoyed listening to it.
Morrissey
2/5
I just didn't really like this album much. It's like Morrissey was making a band impersonation of one of his own albums. He's always been pretentious, but this album has even more of that and on repeat.
Tortoise
3/5
Man, add some lyrics in here and maybe you'll have something. As it, it's fine.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
I forgot I was listening to it at one point. But it never annoyed me, it was fine.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I didn't dislike this as much as the terrible live recording, but I didn't like a ton about this one, either. Older Dylan is better.
The Who
4/5
It's a really good recording of The Who play pure rock.
It's better in the original in-and-out 6 song track list than the longer versions, IMO.
Madness
4/5
I really enjoy listening to Madness and had a good time listening to this one, too, even if they did get a little weird at times.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Another really good album by Cohen with songs that are beautiful and haunting.
My kids, however, did not appreciate it. Anna said it was awful. I said it was pretty, she said, yeah, pretty awful.
XTC
3/5
It was fine. On par with the other XTC album
The Clash
5/5
This is an amazing album and the mix of styles, especially reggae into the punk aesthetic really work. No wonder a 3rd wave ska guy like me likes this one so much, too.
Iggy Pop
4/5
The album that Iggy an Bowie collaborate on that eventually leads them to the greatness of Lust for Life. This one is still good, but it has moments of *huh?*
It's probably a 3.5 but I'll round up.
The Black Keys
4/5
Not sure the hate on this site is warranted. Maybe derivative, but it's well done and fun to listen to.
Throbbing Gristle
2/5
This is not a good album. I don't even think it's music. But I was honestly interested enough to not want to turn it off.
Digital Underground
2/5
Not really my cup of tea, but never got to the point of absolute loathing.
Tangerine Dream
3/5
Soundtrack to a 70s sci fi movie. I like 70s sci fi movies.
George Harrison
5/5
I usually rail against double albums as being bloated and that they would be better with some editing. And it's always true. Until you come across that exception that proves the rule. This isn't even a double album, it's a triple album! Of which I listened to the entire 50th anniversary version, which is over 4 hours long. And I would listen to more if given the opportunity.
Honestly, the review should be focused just on the actual double album, the Apple Jam, and the other items on the 50th anniversary are only for those who love it and already know what they're getting going forward.
But as someone who loves it and will gladly listen to all of it, including the different takes and experimentation, give me all.