Born In The U.S.A.
Bruce SpringsteenI'm just not a fan of Bruce Springsteen.
It does an incredible job of making you feel like your actually at the club. Usually, when I hear live albums, its more contemporary rock bands playing in stadiums. While the experience is different, it never really makes you feel like you're there like this album does.
Something certainly more my speed. It's more melodic than most of the early punk I've listened too. This is also my first time listening to The Stooges that I'm aware of. You can hear a bunch of influences within Iggy's voice, but this album feels very unique. The first side feels like a descent into depression. The B side is a wild, self-medicating drug trip to pull yourself out of said depression. LA Blues is just insane.
I'm just not a fan of Bruce Springsteen.
Classic Dre. Whole album slaps, but if you're looking for hits: Nothin' But A Thang, Bitches Ain't Shit, and Let Me Ride. I really dig Rat-tat-tat-tat and Stranded On Death Row as well.
I don't have a ton of experience listening to Elvis, but his voice is damn near angelic. His ability to inflect the emotion of the song is second to none. Its probably for these reasons that this version of "Long Black Limousine" became so famous. "Only The Strong Survive" and "I'm Movin' On" are my personal favorites after listening to this.
Synth heavy 80's English Pop, but I found the album hit or miss. While The Look of Love is iconic, Poison Arrow was a large miss for me. (the disco-ish mix was certainly... a choice.) 4 Ever 2 Gether was a pleasant surprise however. Pretty rad song.
A true trip that instantly fills your head with ideas of "Yeah, these guys where high when they recorded this one." Psychedelic music is hit or miss for me. I dug Moving In With, Fat Lady Wrestlers, Wrote For Luck (which almost feels out of place on this album), but some of the songs like Mad Cyril just didn't click with me. Certainly worth a listen.
MAYBE the best The Who album in their catalogue. Baba O Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, and Won't Get Fooled Again are the headliners, but don't sleep on Love Ain't For Keeping, Getting In Tune, and Going Mobile are all terrific as well.
I don't have a lot of experience with this sort of music, but this was a breeze to listen to. It had some really wonderful beats, and you can really feel that early 2000's vibe of punk rock suffused with the electronica. North American Scum & New York I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down are the standouts. Would recommend if you have a thing for early 2000's music in the same vein as The Gorillaz or The Killers, but with more dancing potential.
What more could be said about this landmark album? It's just great, and a pillar of the development of Rock and Roll during the 1970's. Highway Star and Smoke on the Water are the ones everybody should/will know, but the rest of the album is just stellar too.
Bob Dylan is the prototype Singer-Songwriter that so many here in the US have tried to emulate in their own ways across multiple genres since he burst on to the scene in the 1960's. While I'm largely unfamiliar songs that aren't apart of his "Greatest Hits", this album opens with Tangled Up In Blue, a very well known song that is absolutely terrific, and I think sums up everything Bob is about (musically at least) in a nice little package. Whether or not this album is actually about the disintegration of Bob's marriage at the time, you feel a lot of hurt in all of the songs. It's a certainly a heartfelt goodbye to something, and for that, this album absolutely deserves to be on the list.
Classic 80's English Punk mixed with haunting strings and echos. It feels comfortable and all together wholly different. I enjoyed the listen, and the artistry involved, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to listen to it again.
I've not heard any of James Taylor music before, but this specific album is very easy to listen too. It's a bluesy-country-folk fusion, and while the country heavy stuff like Sweet Baby James & Anywhere Like Heaven didn't really click with me, the more blusey offerings of Lo & Behold, Steamroller Blues, and Oh Baby, Don You Loose Your Lip on Me were wonderful discoveries. The big hit, Fire & Rain, was just fine for me. It doesn't really have the same highs as the songs I enjoyed more from this album. Overall, this album was more miss than hit for me, but it was a breeze to listen too, and pretty chill despite the "hopelessness looking for hope" vibe of the lyrics.
It's interesting, I've not listened to The Smiths before, and my first real experience with their music happens to be their last album. It's like skipping to the end of the book since I'm aware of how The Smiths came to an end as a band. It's easy to see why so many people adore this band though. Morrissey's voice is incredible, near hypnotizing. Girlfriend in a Coma was meant to be the star, but I found myself enjoying I Started Something I Couldn't Finish & Death of Disco Dancer more my speed on the A-Side. The B-Side opens with Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Love Me, and holy shit, does this song hit. It has a dream like quality to it, it feels operatic in scope and grandeur. Looking into it, both Morrissey & Marr feel its the best thing The Smiths did, and my limited experience agrees. I enjoyed Death at One's Elbow too, a sort of outta nowhere bluesy experience. Overall, I enjoyed the album, and look forward to hearing more.
Country music is far from my preferred genre, but there are rare ones that come around that make me think it isn't nearly as bad as I think it is. I wish I could say this was one of those times. Ray Price's voice is very pleasant, and looms large at times in very impressive ways. Night Life stands out as something different among the other honky tonk tunes on this album, and that really helps it to stand out. Otherwise, this album just isn't meant for me, and that's okay.
Many will say this is U2's best album, and that's all well and good for them. U2 very rarely hits for me, and a vast majority of this album didn't hit. It felt like it dragged, and it was a chore to get through. However, Mysterious Ways is on this album, which was a mega hit for them, and is an okay song in my book. I liked The Fly as well, which edged closer to my tastes. Otherwise, this was meh to me.
The first side is incredible. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone is a Funk masterpiece, Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On is a bop, and Run Charlie Run is quite amusing. The back side is much more subdued. I Ain't Got Nothing & Do Your Thing were my personal favorites on much more chill and somber set of songs. Overall, I really dug the album.
I tend to enjoy the less California style works of The Beach Boys. I'd much prefer In My Room to Surfin' USA. Fortunately for me, this was more off-beat than the usual offerings I've heard from this famous group. Long Promised Road, Student Demonstration Time, and 'Til I Die were my favorites on this album. The layered harmonies and their beautiful voices are still so, so good. While I don't think I'd go out of my way to listen to the whole album again, I enjoyed my time with it. Also, RIP Brian Wilson.
Sledgehammer & In Your Eyes are the monster hits off this album that got played everywhere, and I'm more familiar with Big Time because the WWE played the shit out of this song for Wrestlemania 22. This isn't overly my kind of music, but I respect the artistry at play here.
You'd have to been living under a rock to not know Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and/or Time After Time. Cyndi's voice isn't really my cup of tea, but this is such a fun album. The synthpop really hits, and I found myself enjoying the listen from beginning to end. Unreal that 5 songs on this album hit the Top 5. What a massive achievement.
This is fine, but not really my cup of tea. It's like a blend of Franz Ferdinand & The B-52's distilled into a concept album about sci-fi stuff. Album has a few banger tracks, "Gravity's Rainbow" & "Atlantis to Interzone" were my personal favorites. "Forgotten Works" has a super funky baseline that itches my brain quite nicely. I very much disliked "As Above So Below". I almost stopped listening to the album.
Extremely not for me, but Lauren Mayberry's vocals are very, very good.