Journey Complete!
Finisher # to complete the list
396
Albums Rated
3.42
Average Rating
36%
Complete
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Funk
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
76
5-Star Albums
23
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shalimar | 5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
| Raw Like Sushi | 5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
| Lam Toro | 5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
| Ananda Shankar | 5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
| I Am a Bird Now | 5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
| Infected | 5 | 2.92 | +2.08 |
| Swordfishtrombones | 5 | 2.95 | +2.05 |
| Joan Baez | 5 | 2.96 | +2.04 |
| More Specials | 5 | 2.96 | +2.04 |
| Emperor Tomato Ketchup | 5 | 3.02 | +1.98 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad | 1 | 3.8 | -2.8 |
| The Fat Of The Land | 1 | 3.41 | -2.41 |
| The Downward Spiral | 1 | 3.35 | -2.35 |
| This Year's Model | 1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
| Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim | 1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
| System Of A Down | 1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
| No Other | 1 | 3.19 | -2.19 |
| Wild Wood | 1 | 3.09 | -2.09 |
| Led Zeppelin III | 2 | 3.96 | -1.96 |
| Reign In Blood | 1 | 2.96 | -1.96 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 5 | 4.8 |
| David Bowie | 5 | 4.6 |
| Radiohead | 3 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 4.67 |
| Leonard Cohen | 3 | 4.67 |
| Nick Drake | 2 | 5 |
| Kate Bush | 2 | 5 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 4.33 |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The Fall | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Frank Sinatra | 1, 5 |
| PJ Harvey | 5, 2 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5, 2 |
| Elvis Presley | 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (76)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Stereolab
5/5
I have a big love for a lot of alt rock music and this actually is a great new discovery for me!! Never listened before and will now listen to more of their albums. I love the sound of this album it's going into my rotation! Love the mix of French and English. Can't believe I never heard of them before, I really can see how they would have been hugely influential and experimental in the 90s. Great stuff!
18 likes
Blur
5/5
Excellent album!! So good I listened twice. What a treat, it's got the bangerz yet also somehow they made oompah music sound cool and threw it in there?? I really love the storytelling and the feeling in these tracks. So nice listening to the entire album all together.
11 likes
Kraftwerk
5/5
OH YESSSS it's a wall to wall banger situation :)
I love this album. It is so interesting, unusual, influential, beautiful, relaxing yet exciting, experimental, German, sexy, somehow still futuristic even though it's already very old! The model is a TUNE and it's one I often whip out on an open mic night with guitar cajon and vocals haha! I recently used The Robots in a school assembly (I'm a teacher) and can confirm the kids of today LOVE it, not a soul was sitting still. I love that it's not loads of songs! I just wonder what the price was when they released it in 1978 when people couldn't stream online, did they account for the short length by making it cheaper? I'm actually in love with Neon Lights. It's put me in a great mood despite a stressful day at work, that's a marker for 5 star perfection in my book.
7 likes
The The
5/5
Never heard of the The! This guy seems to have had a really interesting life though. I did a bit of research because the lyrics really interested me and I think the messages in the songs in this album are very meaningful. I love the poetry and activism of this album. Aside from the words these tunes are lovely! This is a type of new wave and post-punk I can really get behind. The sounds are gorg and the tracks make me feel good. They're interesting, layered and inventive. I really like the fact that he just works with loads of different musicians, all the vocals are great but I just realised Neneh Cherry is on here and now I know why I love it haha. A great discovery for me!
5 likes
PJ Harvey
5/5
Completely new to me!! Really inventive and exciting. Not only have I never experienced PJ Harvey before, I've never heard other music I could compare this to. I think that makes this extremely clever and enticing. Love the mixture of sounds and the album kept my interest throughout.
5 likes
1-Star Albums (23)
All Ratings
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Ah Dusty, what a little legend! Packed to the brim with bangers this album! My faves include Wishin and Hopin, and You Don't Own Me, what a tuuuuune. Loved listening - will listen more what a great reminder to listen to more Dustyyyy.
PJ Harvey
5/5
Completely new to me!! Really inventive and exciting. Not only have I never experienced PJ Harvey before, I've never heard other music I could compare this to. I think that makes this extremely clever and enticing. Love the mixture of sounds and the album kept my interest throughout.
Bob Dylan
5/5
A beautiful sound. A wonderful album. Can't knock it, love it all.
Sister Sledge
4/5
I love Sister Sledge! I don't ever listen to their work in albums though for some reason. Packed with bangers, very nostalgic for me makes me think of good times and makes me feel goooood! Only down side is Somebody Loves Me - not feeling them doing a slow song to be honest. Other than that it's all top for me, funky beats and just gold.
Elvis Costello
1/5
This album is pretty trash in my opinion! I quite like the odd song from Elvis Costello but listening to this entire album was very boring and didn't particularly inspire any feelings in me lol. Even musically I didn't really enjoy most of it or find it that impressive. I guess he's popular with lots of dads? But personally, I can't see why this would be on the list.
The Fall
1/5
Cannot get into this at all, I find the voice annoying and listening to it gets me really down. Painful experience to be honest. Not a fan at all. I got really upset by the depressing version of Lost in Music in particular, really obsessed with the original which is ICONIC and found this be completely not in the spirit of it. Can see why some people would think it's cool though.
Beyoncé
2/5
Who decided THIS should be the Beyonce album they put on this list?? I think Beyonce is extremely talented, her voice is unmatched in many ways and it's heavenly. She is a a true artist, and good for her she made an album mostly about sexy times more power to queen Bey! HOWEVER, there are just too many people (writers, producers, contributors, artists) who worked on this album in my humble opinion. I only want to hear Bey's voice and what she has to say, not all these other jokers with their mismatch of styles and inputs. SOZ.
The Pharcyde
3/5
Hard to decide a rating for this album. I enjoy the jazzy beats and rap style, so nostalgic and 90s cool. Didn't enjoy the misogynistic lyrics or all of the skits but on the whole I did like this album.
Beastie Boys
3/5
Very mixed!! Love some songs with their funky beats and sexy drum solos, was that throat singing?? Some songs were very stressful with chaotic noises and some lyrics made me uncomfortable coming from a bunch of white guys
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
Green onions is an absolute classic! Cycling along to this gave me serious main character energy on my morning commute! Dangerously bouncy and fun! This is right up my street, the only reason it doesn't get top marks is because I prefer music with vocals and felt some of the tracks are better with vocals than only instrumental, but this is perfect for so many situations. Musically it's so interesting and impressive, I LOVE that the title track was written during a spontaneous jam which they then had to recapture. Musical genius.
Boston
2/5
More than a feeling is certainly a banging tune!! I find the back-story so interesting on this album and I do love the glittery guitar solos, this guy is clearly a bit of a genius but he's too much of a perfectionist, the songs are so tight but I reckon it holds it back creatively. Parts of the album are boring towards the end.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
So fucking coooool. Makes me want to be out dancing which is not ideal during a mini lockdown in the Netherlands with clubs closed... Such a fun album Murphy is a genius, 80s synth sounds are amazing. This made me want to listen to the other albums now. Not my perfect album for all situations and there's some lengthy filler ish songs towards the end, but it's up there with the best above the average 3 rating. I should be catching up on other albums for my group but I only want to keep listening to LCD now, oops
Beatles
4/5
This is not the best Beatles album by a stretch and Little Child has not aged well... BUT it is the Beatles and all music can be traced back to their influence, you can't convince me otherwise! Not a second time and Please mister postman BANGERS, loved listening!
Nina Simone
5/5
A no brainer!! Musical genius, the most uniquely perfect voice, a journey of an album. I really experienced the album, listened to it a bunch of times. Absolute perfection!!!
MGMT
4/5
LOVE this album!! Spacey tunes, beginning of the album is banger after banger and the less popular second half of the album is still really enjoyable in a different way. Brings back great memories of seeing them live and really enjoying myself. Listening makes me so happy and puts me in a great mood!
OutKast
5/5
YESSSSS! Oh how I miss these hip hop albums which are pure story telling with the crazy interludes. This was teenage Grace's absolute JAM, thank God for friends from Cov in school always bringing the edge and the grit into my middle class privileged life! This is a prime example of a classic hip hop album of the early noughties and I love it so much! Exciting innovative sounds, catchy hooks, lightning raps, bouncy beats, hard-hitting lyrics, important topics, it's got everything for me. When you listen, you can tell exactly what era it's from (although I was listening to this well after it came out as I was 8 at that point haha, the album is timeless!) I wouldn't change the album and it definitely belongs on this list!
Magazine
2/5
I don't really love or hate Magazine. It's not the worst example of this kind of music which I don't generally get on with. I don't enjoy this style of talk/singing and it kind of makes me feel sad a lot of times. This album did not make me feel sad but it was kind of meh. Not offensive but it doesn't really excite me. I can see why it's on this list as the first ever post-punk band. However, I just found out the main guy who set up the band had left in the eighties so hopefully one of their earlier albums is on the list too otherwise this seems wrong to me. Although I can appreciate what they were doing with this, it's not my bag.
Faith No More
3/5
I’m unsure about this album! Not my fave but I did enjoy listening and enjoyed the mixture of styles which made it spicy and exciting.
The Smiths
4/5
It's the Smith innit, they're great! Loved listening to this album again, a true classic which belongs on this list.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
This was super fun! Love salsa music and this didn't disappoint! Great music for working to as it didn't distract me and helped me to be productive and focus. It put me in a great mood and some of the sounds are really cool/unusual.
Prince
4/5
Straight out of the golden era of Prince! I didn't know all of the tunes on this album and I loved pretty much all of them! Juicy 80s beats, some naughty lyrics and mix in the wacky unique Prince personality. Really enjoyed it! It's not a 5 though, every single song wasn't perfection a couple of them missed for me but enjoyed the journey of listening. 4.5!
Mj Cole
3/5
This isn't completely classic in terms of British garage I feel... it's not exactly banger after banger but more sinks into the background. I guess there isn't really such a thing as great garage albums as people aren't creating garage for album purpose but more single bangers for the club. I actually still really enjoyed the whole album to work to as it does inspire focus and productivity haha, but it's not classic enough for a 4. I didn't find any tracks particularly exciting or special really.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
I was excited to listen to this as I have not heard of Cocteau Twins, and I love alt rock/dream pop music. I wasn't let down, I really enjoy the dreamy very 80s/90s vocals and the vintage sound to it. It has given me great vibes and it's very relaxing and happy. The only problem is that the songs are all a bit too similar and one-noteish and I love hearing the lyrics and feeling all the feels. I am feeling feels for sure but not to the max because I can't tell what she's saying which I both love and dislike. So I'm a bit confused. Therefore, a 3 seems only appropriate.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
An incredible debut, can't believe I've never listened to this as an album or really got into Led Zeppelin - classic rock didn't know what I was missing! Lacking in parent influence and didn't find them for myself somehow? Loved this, so much variety in sound, so much feeling, so much unique musical ingenuity!
Brian Eno
5/5
Yummmmm Brian Eno just what I needed today, also a really old album which I haven't listened to either ever in full or in a long time. So interesting to think of this being released in the 70s and how it would have been received. Right now I'm receiving it extremely well, exciting unique sounds and innovative creation methods for its day. Well done Brian, 5 stars!
The White Stripes
4/5
I don't have much experience with the White Stripes apart from learning to play Seven Nation Army on a shitty key board in Year 8 music lessons and pissing about. So this will be interesting. "Hotel Yorba" is obviously very fun and a bit of a tune and I love "We're going to be friends". Turns out there's more big bangerz they have which I didn't tie with the band or something. I don't love all of the tracks and after an entire album, this does get a bit much with the tone of the vocals and the punchy guitars. Not something I'd really want to listen to all the time but it does include some bangerz which are cool to listen to now and then.
The Roots
4/5
Never heard the Roots before - love it! Very exciting to listen to, you never know when a bit of metal might be snuck into one of the tracks somewhere. So many inventive and creative ways of making sounds throughout. Not exactly easy listening but it's eye-opening and raw. Pure poetry. Sometimes it was tiring trying to pick up all the lyrics, I wanted to hear them though!
Blur
5/5
Excellent album!! So good I listened twice. What a treat, it's got the bangerz yet also somehow they made oompah music sound cool and threw it in there?? I really love the storytelling and the feeling in these tracks. So nice listening to the entire album all together.
Frank Sinatra
1/5
Not Frankie's finest hour... creepy songs about obession over women who clearly aren't interested (not charming lol), the weird attempt at bossa nova stay in your lane mate. This isn't the usual soothing charming Frank, it's just boring. Glad this isn't his only album on this list because I love him, just not on this album.
Massive Attack
5/5
Yay some trip hop!! And not only that, but maybe the ultimate trip hop! I love the hip-hop, reggae, soul and electronic influences but they're all beautifully curated into something very pleasing and calming to my mind. The bouncy beat on Hymn of the Big Wheel makes me feel delicious things. It's perfect to me, no flaws. Unfinished Sympathy, another tuuuune.
Love
4/5
Ah man I started writing a review and then lost it! I really enjoy Love and I haven't spent enough time diving into their work. It's very exciting and kind of picks you up and drops you all over the map, is it psychadelic? Rock? Electronic? Punk? Jazz? I like how it gives you so much.
Germs
2/5
Well I found this hard to listen to, this has never been my thing at all. It really stresses my brain and makes me feel bad. Positives: I could hear the lyrics clearly, every instrument sounds distinct not all melted into one sound like some hardcore punk. The songs all sound very similar though to me.
Iggy Pop
5/5
A great album I've never discovered before! It's got a nice gritty underground vibe and a cheeky mashup of all the best parts about this era/style of music in my opinion. Super varied and interesting. I love his description of a cross between James Brown and Kraftwerk. I never knew this backstory about Pop and Bowie moving to France together but it's brilliant.
Led Zeppelin
2/5
I really love their debut album but I did not enjoy listening to this album… there were a few redeeming moments but mostly I hated listening lol
The Hives
3/5
This started off strong for me with Hate to say I told you so and Main offender but it was all downhill from there. I think maybe I can only enjoy this type of music for a couple of songs worth and then it all sounds stressful and shitty to me. It kind of blurred into one after the first few songs and I struggled to pay attention or get anything out of it.
Abdullah Ibrahim
2/5
I accidentally started off by listening to the wrong album by Ibrahim by mistake and I enjoyed that other album way more haha so that put us off to a bad start. The feeling I got from this was that I was in a 00s chick flick at a posh wedding or garden party being offered a tray of canapes. Each song didn't contain any surprises they were very one-note and I don't find that very exciting. Meh - was waiting for the African and Indian influences I was promised and I didn't catch them (my fault but that was disappointing)
Baaba Maal
4/5
Love it!
Various Artists
4/5
As a Christmas FIEND and someone who enjoys this era of music a lot, I really loved listening to this and I actually listened to it this week before it even came up on this list! However, I only ever listened to this in the capacity of a Christmas album and was unaware of the fact of Phil being a convicted murderer... Also it's not my top fave ever Christmas album (Ella and Louis Christmas) so 4 stars it is.
Röyksopp
4/5
I'd forgotten how much I love this album and artist in general. A nice reminder and nudge to listen again!
Frank Sinatra
5/5
Listened to this twice in a row and again in the following days when I should have been listening to other albums, oops. I love this style of music and Frank is in charge of it so this is a big winner for me. It's just so classic love love love
Beck
2/5
I never listened to much Beck purposefully before but he has a big reputation for sad tunes. On listening to a whole album, I'm not overly impressed. Whilst listening I was thinking "I bet I'd love this if I had some kind of nostalgic ties to it". It is a mixture of sounds which I really like and was really into as a teenager. Alas, I have no such ties and found it a bit dull. Add on to that the fact that Lost Cause made me mad, (listening to the words I couldn't help but think what an arrogant little twerp, get in the bin), and you have yourself 2 stars.
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
EPIC! I never realised the message in these tracks although I always really enjoyed them for the entertainment value with the retro beats and rap style. I have a new-found appreciation for It's Like That and Wake Up - what a TUNE.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
I was so up and down with this! Obviously come on Eileen is an anthem. However, I can see why they might have been a one hit wonder. I didn’t like their sad songs. I think they should stay in their lane of fun punchy tuuuuuunes! The horns are brill all over this album and everyone knows I can get down with the trumpets LOL! And tracks like Dubious and T.S.O.P. Absolutely beaut such a bop love it. Almost reminds me of Scruff! I can’t go above three though when I didn’t like maybe half the album, shame shame.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
I did go through a bit of a phase of loving this kind of more poppy country (kick started by a One Tree Hill obsession) and throughout that phase I heavily favoured women's voices. I find a lot of men singing country too bro-ish. So although I've never listened to Kacey Musgraves before, I was brought straight back to that phase and it was a nice feeling. I didn't find her story-telling anywhere near as good as T Swift (I think it's fair to compare those two) and I was disappointed by the Space Cowboy song because it wasn't about space, boo! So I'll go in the middle with a 3.
Steely Dan
2/5
I actually love how cheesy this album is. I just wish each song wasn't so long. I keep zoning out before I can get to grips with the vibe and the story then I zone back in and Steely Dan is singing about China and I really want to know why but I do not want to listen again from the beginning. So that's not ideal to me. Just make each song shorter Steely!! I do like the vocals and the music is very tight. I'm low level pissed off at three songs taking about half an hour though haha, finding it hard to get past that. Maybe I would get on better with another of his albums.
Ghostface Killah
4/5
I love the song Kilo, I might use that in some Maths lessons in the future. Back like that is a bangerrr. There's a lot of variation and interest in this album. I like it! Enjoying the samples on some of these tracks and great rhymes, every track is distinct. We all know by now, I love skits! I wish I had discovered this album earlier in life and I prefer a few more melodical moments than this album provides so it isn't my perfect hip hop album but it's certainly a 4.
Nick Drake
5/5
I could never even hope to be able to play guitar like this and also sing, even if I spent the rest of my life practising. That makes this so impressive to me. Nick Drake creates the most beautifully sad music (this album in particular is stunning) and my life would be different without said music in it, so I think that's enough said and it's a five from meeeee.
David Bowie
5/5
An absolute banger of an entire album. It's pure art and it changed everything. I bow down to Bowie yet again this is a solid 5 stars.
David Bowie
5/5
It's a Bowie album isn't it! Was well excited for this and it was excellent - especially the little Beatles nod. The only problem was I wanted to dance and fully enjoy the tunes and not sit at a desk working...
Arcade Fire
4/5
REALLY enjoyed listening to this. I love Arcade Fire and this album makes a real statement IMO. They make some crazy sounds, keep it interesting and exciting throughout Sprawl II towards the end is a great vibe for example. I felt a big mixture of things from this album and I liked it. Perfect length too.
Mike Ladd
4/5
This is cool! I've never heard of Mike Ladd but really enjoyed listening to this album. It's like a hip hop spin on Zero 7 which can only be good news for me. It's got top qual rap and lyrics with some really cool sounds over the top and it put me in a good mood. A good new discovery! Lots of really interesting global influences throughout the album so it held my interest well throughout. Only thing bringing it down to a 4 star job is some songs had stressful noises like Red Eye to Jupiter.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
I love Neil Young he has created some beautiful anthems and his music is brill. However, this album I did not get for some reason... the hymn to Mother Earth was strange and I'm not sure whether to laugh or how to feel. I was a bit bored and not particularly into this album. I'm reading the background info about this supposedly being garage-rock or something and I just don't get it. It just feels like dad rock to me. I'm confused and giving this a 2.
Paul Weller
1/5
The only redeeming feature was some good guitar bits which still weren't that impressive to me... Needless to say I hated this album. Dull as fuck dad rock.
Fats Domino
3/5
I loved this but my day/brain was too busy to really listen probably it's not fair to say it didn't grab me because not many albums would have my workday was so insane. I did love and appreciate the vibes and like this style of music so I'll go with 3. If I wasn't a few hundred albums behind I would listen again but alas...
Taylor Swift
5/5
Love this so much - never got into a full T Swift album properly before!!! The story telling, the music, the voice, love it all. Fabulous. LOVE no body, no crime with HAIM. Although happiness is not my fave tune, the layers of music on that song are delicious. Also some of the lyrics in there are... evermore with Bon Iver makes me want to cry it's so emotional. There's a lot packed into this deluxe album and it's an exciting rollercoaster.
Beatles
5/5
This is a beautiful album of artwork and I always enjoy listening to it. It's not even my all-time top fave Beatles album but it's still deserving of 5 stars. I love where these songs take my imagination and I had a great time listening to some classic genius song-writing which did in fact change the direction of pop music inspiring millions globally. Well done Beatles love you long time.
Neil Young
3/5
A couple of tunes!! The needle and the damage done, of course Heart of Gold. Words is also a cool tune. Neil himself condemned Alabama as being a bit immature and bitchy and I can agree with him there and nothing needs to be said about A Man Needs a Maid (VOM). It's a mixed bag for sure. I can't help but love a steel guitar lol. I'm going for a 3.
Deep Purple
2/5
This is not really my kind of music I wouldn’t normally choose to listen to this. However, I like that it is live that does add something, I really enjoy the song Lazy, and I am seriously impressed by the guitar skillz and the drums in Mule, wow! Again it’s not my fave but musically it’s very good. I think it’s a 2 though in the scale of things for me.
Iron Maiden
4/5
This is the best metal album I've ever listened to!! That's not saying loads haha I'm not a huge metal fan but I really enjoyed this album. It certainly woke me up this morning... Guitar solos and bass are all over the shop twists and turns so exciting. Love that I can hear the lyrics. I have a lot of love for Jack Black's metal stuff and I can clearly see that this is his inspiration so I still got that nostalgia feeling even though I've never listened before. It's a 4 from me.
Jeff Buckley
5/5
I have always been hypnotised by this album!! (I don't only love it because we share a name). I cannot believe his voice, my brain actually cannot compute that that is his voice, especially on this version of Lilac Wine. I admire Leonard Cohen in a different way, and his poem, Hallelujah, is obviously legendary, also love the way he performs it. However, I love Jeff Buckley's version and you can't make me decide which I prefer. I'm not one of these purists who needs it to be Cohen only though, I grew up with Jeff's version and I find it mesmerising. This whole album is orgasmic and stunning. To me, it is pure perfection.
The Cure
3/5
Listening to this feels like falling into a lovely yet dark 80s marshmallow. New wave doesn't seem to be lining up as one of my favourite genres but I really like this album, particularly Closedown! It's a little bit too long for me and obviously the album is aiming for a gloomy vibe but in some parts it's not like I'm enjoying listening to this sad music but more like am I enjoying this or is this a bad mood I now need to shake off?
Talking Heads
3/5
I hadn't heard of talking heads (!!) until I was recently introduced to them in the last couple of years. Now I am a fan and I really appreciate their unique style, their live performances, the influence of Eno, the videos, all of it. This album just isn't quite hitting it for me and I can't put my finger upon whyyy. It's not exactly singing/crying out to me and making say YESS. It just falls slightly flat for some reason, maybe at this point they were honing something magical but not quite there yet for me. UPDATE Take me to the River is a banger what a genius idea to do a version. My faith is restored and I'm reminded of how clever they are.
Elbow
5/5
Ooooooh I have always loved this album!! Before I really had a music collection or a music taste, before I formed opinions and learned about how music is made. I owned a couple of tracks on iTunes and a few burned CD mixtapes but I had this album! A very dear friend introduced this album to me and it's extremely emotional, the memories tied to it. It's a five stars all the way to me and I can hardly even look at it objectively because of how strongly I immediately feel when I listen to these songs. The timing of this album coming up has been quite spookily meaningful for me. Listening to this with the sun shining after days of rain is magical.
The Cure
4/5
Oh wow in huge contrast to the last Cure album we got given (Disintegration) I really love this album! This was about ten years earlier and it's a completely different experience to me. I find this album so relaxing and I get on so well with the vibes of this one. I don't really know what I'm talking about here but I love the style of electronic sounds they have all over this album, it reminds me of Beak> in some places which I'm obsessed with and thinking must be kind of inspired by the Cure now. It's v impressive to me because of the fact that I have no idea how they make these sounds other than the electric guitar sounds. I even prefer Robert Smith's voice on this earlier stuff.
Little Simz
4/5
I've really enjoyed listening to this today!! Is it horns or pan pipes on the opening track? I particularly like the song Offence and the message but also the sounds and excellent rap skills exhibited. Great artist, love this album I'd like to listen again to the entire thing. I hear some references to other rappers I love and this makes sense that their inspirations are people I also enjoy. Would like to get more into Little Simz and listen to more of their albums!
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
Absolutely love this album!! I was always obsessed with Mr Blue Sky, but never listened to the entire album and happy to be introduced to some absolute TUNES what a happy and exciting vibe. Loved the influences from the Beatles and I can see what they mean by trying to carry on from where I am the walrus left off. Love it! Some songs were a bit filler-y for me so it's lost one star.
Pentangle
4/5
I really enjoyed this!! I reckon if I would have discovered Pentangle between the ages of 16 and 20 I would have definitely been obsessed!
I didn't particularly love the more religious tracks but that does come with intense folk so we will allow it, I prefer the woodland fairy happy tracks and I agree with Cressey, this conjures images of naked pagan dancing, it's brill.
The Pogues
3/5
This is not particularly for me overall, love fairytale of New York but that's enough Pogues for me I reckon. I do like the mixture of different vibes on this album but I do not love a lengthy album very often unless it's really quite perfect. For example, I fucking LOVE the song the Parting Glass, I find it enchanting and hypnotising but I love to hear it sung by Cara Dillon or one of those other sickeningly perfect Irish women's voices not by Shane MacGowan's raspy pub chanty type voice. Oh! Shocked to see this was produced by Elvis Costello too wowwww maybe that explains why I don't love it. I also really liked the change of pace and interest with "I'm a Man you Don't meet every day" love her voice it's beautiful.
Ramones
5/5
Love this album! Many have copied it but I think it was something really new and fresh about this debut. Such a simple sound. I love his voice, I love the length of the album. I love how the album starts with the classic "Ay oh let's go!" You can't beat that, absolute classic deserves to be on this list!
Stereolab
5/5
I have a big love for a lot of alt rock music and this actually is a great new discovery for me!! Never listened before and will now listen to more of their albums. I love the sound of this album it's going into my rotation! Love the mix of French and English. Can't believe I never heard of them before, I really can see how they would have been hugely influential and experimental in the 90s. Great stuff!
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
It's banger after banger, the peak of Arctic Monkeys, what an iconic sound and how quickly it whips you back to a certain time. Incredible story-telling, I can remember finding the songs fascinating as they gave me a window into a different kind of life when I was like 14/15. Now however, there is a tinge of misogyny which I hadn't picked up on at the time songs like "Still take you home" can be hard to listen to now when you're properly listening to the words and everything. Still love you though Monkeys.
Eminem
3/5
This is so hard to rate!! I'm trying not to overthink this because there's so many factors. Big main positive factors include; artistic/creative genius, unique voice and rap style, unashamed discussion of hard-hitting topics, an intense journey mapped out through listening to one album. Big main negative factors include; what could be perceived as misogyny, homophobia, profiting off of the world's deepest misery, promoting/potentially inspiring domestic violence. I have to appreciate how incredibly deep and influential this album is/was but also I can't say I simply love it, it's too complex so I think the best route to take for me is a 3. I am so torn between the very top and the very bottom and I think that is actually part of the beauty (is beauty the right word? It's fascinating) of this album and a lot of Eminem's work.
Coldplay
4/5
Whilst being aware that it's a cool and popular opinion to think Coldplay are dog shite and very boring, I have to say that some of their early tunes/albums are pretty great. Parachutes is one of these for me. It is just the kind of sad music that I find extremely relaxing and so so simply beautiful. Tracks like Don't Panic, Spies, Yellow, Trouble, they are legendary to me to be honest. It is disappointing to realise after not really listening to this as an album (I never tend to listen to whole albums until now apparently haha) it does tail off at the end to a disappointing/boring finish so it's not wall to wall bangerz IMO.
Kraftwerk
5/5
OH YESSSS it's a wall to wall banger situation :)
I love this album. It is so interesting, unusual, influential, beautiful, relaxing yet exciting, experimental, German, sexy, somehow still futuristic even though it's already very old! The model is a TUNE and it's one I often whip out on an open mic night with guitar cajon and vocals haha! I recently used The Robots in a school assembly (I'm a teacher) and can confirm the kids of today LOVE it, not a soul was sitting still. I love that it's not loads of songs! I just wonder what the price was when they released it in 1978 when people couldn't stream online, did they account for the short length by making it cheaper? I'm actually in love with Neon Lights. It's put me in a great mood despite a stressful day at work, that's a marker for 5 star perfection in my book.
David Holmes
3/5
Ah this is cool! I love that these recordings he got in NYC when he was 17 on a tape recorder. Some songs I'm finding pretty annoying/boring in parts. But I am also really enjoying other parts so it's very mixed feelings. Not sure if I'll listen again.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Ok I love chemical brothers just as much as the next person. I would give all of these tracks 5 stars on a big night out of course. In any other context though I can't find myself enjoying a large amount of these songs. Block Rockin Beats is epic of course. It's a bit too long and for sure by the end I'm a bit anxious and feel as though I might actually be in a K hole. 4/10
Todd Rundgren
2/5
I LOVE this album artwork!! I have never heard of this guy Todd... Let's see if his tunes live up to his beaut 70s artwork. Ok wow I just found out he did this entire album by himself, that's very cool and kind of arrogant haha (he didn't think other musicians measured up) maybe if he'd included some other minds and inspiration into the mix it would have made this album less DULL. It's quite cheesy in a not very fun way... Wolfman Jack is a cool tune. I do think it's all missing that group feeling though, like Wolfman Jack is a fun song I like the beat and the melody, but it's weird to imagine him doing that all alone for some reason. I want to think of people all vibing off each other having a great time playing it. OMG this has so grown on me throughout, what an unusual experience. I love the game he introduces in that weird skit that breaks the flow, and now I feel like I understand what he's trying to do here a bit more.
Beck
3/5
It's a really strong beginning to the album for me! I love the first half, then I'm not so into Where it's at or Minus to be honest. Not a good vibe for me, I find parts a bit boring and other parts pretty stressful. I find other tunes really quite feel-good and they remind me of some of my favourite Beak> tunes but maybe I'd get more out of seeing it live because I'm not getting much feeling from it...
Al Green
5/5
What a corker of an album! Al Green is a legend and this is a legendary album. An absolute joy to listen to. What a hero, so influential and really to my personal taste too. A full five stars from me, no negatives to be found here.
The Yardbirds
4/5
I actually loved this album so much. Classic rock and roll! I didn't have much to do with the yardbirds in the past to be honest. I guess this is another one of those where it might be a band your parents would introduce you to and my parents don't listen to anything other than Jesus music. Obviously there was a lot of cool cats in the band and you can tell the talent levels are peak! Love it. Particularly I Can't Make Your Way and Rack My Mind.
Janelle Monáe
5/5
Wow this is new to me and sooo cool! Really enjoying it so far! OMG the themes and story-telling, the interesting sounds, the classical music sections, this is just so incredible exciting and fantastic. Her voice is sensational, it reminds me of Lianne La Havas wow!
Parliament
5/5
Always been a huge fan of Give Up the Funk, what an epic TUNE! So nice to hear the whole album, it's wall to wall bangers. Really enjoyed listening today! I'm sure this album had a huge influence on a few different areas of music, I could hear this in a lot of dance music. It's such good vibes. I love that they were trying to shock people by "putting Black people in outer space" it's a great statement but sad that this was considered shocking at the time.
Rocket From The Crypt
1/5
I find this so boring. I'm not in the mood for it this week, I'm sure if I had more time and was in a better mood I'd find something I really like about it but I don't have the patience haha. Boring and shouty.
The The
5/5
Never heard of the The! This guy seems to have had a really interesting life though. I did a bit of research because the lyrics really interested me and I think the messages in the songs in this album are very meaningful. I love the poetry and activism of this album. Aside from the words these tunes are lovely! This is a type of new wave and post-punk I can really get behind. The sounds are gorg and the tracks make me feel good. They're interesting, layered and inventive. I really like the fact that he just works with loads of different musicians, all the vocals are great but I just realised Neneh Cherry is on here and now I know why I love it haha. A great discovery for me!
2Pac
4/5
2Pac is obviously one of the most influential rappers of all time. I think because of this, I've always though 2Pac is too good for me. Now saying that it sounds completely ridiculous, I just always felt he was too serious and above me haha. As a result, this may be my first time listening to an entire album purposefully. I'm actually surprised by the huge bluesy-jazz influence in there but it really makes sense when I read what this album was all about. He artfully expresses how he was feeling after everything he had been through at this point in life and I think it's a bit of a journey to correct the thinking that he was wealthy and doing extremely well. I have no idea if the allegations were true or not, but I can appreciate this album as a separate story. Mostly, listening to this album makes me grieve for all of the reams of people that society has completely let down... That's pretty powerful.
The Verve
3/5
I love how nostalgic this album makes me feel, just with the sound of it! Love a bit of Brit pop! There are some undeniable bangers on here. However, there is an awful lot of filler which I did enjoy and, again, loving the nostalgic sound, but it doesn't really go beyond that for me unless we are on a banger track. It doesn't excite me enough beyond a 3 unfortunately.
Judas Priest
2/5
Hm there are obviously a lot of reasons to love this and I can see why lots of people do. I'd probably give this more attention and do a proper review if I wasn't so jaded from all the insane amounts of heavy metal on this list. I'm just a bit fed up of heavy metal and I have absolutely run out of patience for it but I can see that it seems like quite a fun album!
Miles Davis
4/5
I absolutely looooove this. I can't believe it's only two tracks. And they're both 40 mins or so and it flew by and felt like 2 mins to me listening. I never listened to Miles Davis with purpose before and I do find some of the other tracks more stressful but this album is just beautiful to me.
Tracy Chapman
4/5
What a woman?!? The voice is obviously so unique and incredible, but then there's the poetry and activism, the folky style and story-telling. There's something so special about a debut album I think, especially when an artist captures their thoughts and feelings and something artistic in the music and then they manage to package it into an album without the "big bosses" getting in the way and ruining it all. This is one of those debuts for me, there's a little bit of magic in there and it makes me really smile in my soul. There's some clear bangers in there but I've never listened to this album and Mountains O' Things is a great discovery, what an interesting cool song with layers of culture. It's not bangers wall-to-wall for me because although I love the story-telling and activism in a song like Behind the Wall, I don't get on with songs like that so well in terms of sound and just in a musical sense. I love the more melodical tunes but struggle with the more talky ones.
Suede
2/5
I didn't give this very much of my time or attention to be honest, but there's not loads of good I can find in here for me. Nothing grabbed me or interested me, kind of bland not really my thing
Grizzly Bear
4/5
I love Grizzly Bear! Exciting for this to pop up. There are some bangers (Two Weeks, Ready, Able) and the overall sound is very nostalgic also it's definitely a sound I'm into. I LOVE the combination of contemporary classical and indie rock music, it is so original and beautiful and has heavily influenced a lot of the bands I got super into in the 2010s. I just can't quite put my finger on why some of their songs seem more mushy to me, less stand-out and exciting and more nice and pretty. I want to go 7/10 but I do want this high up in my stats so I'm going 4 instead of 3 haha!
Slayer
1/5
Opening track, Angel of Death, is obviously about Josef Mengele and his torture experiments in the Auschwitz concentration camp. I read that this was purely about their interest in the matter and they don't condone what happened. It feels a little too close to celebrating and glorifying an absolute tragedy representing one of the worst ever outcomes of humanity's existence. How can you feel alright with it knowing it will probably get into the hands of some neo nazis and become their anthem?? Totally grim. I actually can enjoy some thrash metal although it's not exactly my chosen genre, this makes me not want to listen to the rest of the album though. And it makes me angry. Update: I tried to listen to more of the album (4 more tracks) but I'm too mad, lol bye Slayer!
Stevie Wonder
5/5
I have so much love for this album!!! Even down to the cover art which is a stunning 70s DELIGHT. Pure talent, innovation, passion, and artistry is conveyed in this masterpiece. It's devastating and exploding with joy all at once. Packed with soul and important messages. Ugh I just love it so much!! Epic 5 star perfection, thank you so much Stevie for bringing us this album. What a legend.
The Stone Roses
3/5
This album is a mixture of very blah mushy boring guitar music, the guitar solos really irritate me, not good enough or exciting enough to be so self indulgent. Thennn I really like the song Waterfall and there were a few other decent moments... I do like the overall sound, it's both nostalgic and also cheery/relaxing. A nice 3.
Sam Cooke
4/5
I think some 60s soul is exactly what I need on a dragging Friday with a sore head. Cupid is fulfilling this. Sam's voice is delicious and I love the fact that it's a live recording - would LOVE to have been there dancing. It sounds like they're really having so much fun. Ah the medley with For Sentimental Reasons popping up, I love that song! Great performance it really made me smile.
System Of A Down
1/5
I was so not up for this yesterday and I still am not haha. I only listened to the first couple of tracks and I could not get into it sorryyyyy.
Big Star
3/5
I've never heard of Big Star at all! I don't particularly enjoy this type of singing voice. I know people like that kind of imperfect rough raw voice where it almost sounds a bit strangled sometimes trying to hit some notes. It actually puts me on edge a bit. I really like this track Nature Boy, aside from my previous comment, the piano is lovely and the lyrics are interesting and unusual. I like the minor key melody too and vintage bluesy/jazz feel. I also really enjoy Till the end of the Day. This has a strong Beatles vibe, I love the bassline and the fun guitars in general. Apart from those two tracks I found the rest of the album pretty dull and that meant the voice grated on me. I did listen to the next album which popped up after and it sounded wayyyyy better. This album just isn't really for me so much.
The Icarus Line
1/5
This is grim.
The White Stripes
4/5
Another fab fab White Stripes album. Love their cover of I just don't know what to do with myself, love In the Cold, cold night, Love little acorns. Some really cool unusual stuff going on on this album which is interesting and fun. I hadn't heard all these tracks before. Seven Nation Army is a banger and a classic which reminds me of everyone in school Music lessons trying to learn to play the keyboard hehe.
Rod Stewart
2/5
I am finding this pretty boring and slightly irritating. I love a bit of classic rock and roll, a lot of songs on this album have a country twang like That's Alright, and I'm not so into male country singers. I just find myself getting bored and wondering when each song will be over. I do enjoy the mandolin and the band is tight as heckkkk so that's nice and impressive. Mostly I'm excited to stop listening to this and figure out what to listen to next...
The Stranglers
3/5
I've never listened to or even massively heard of the Stranglers. I guess that's a bit shocking since it sounds like they're a big deal. This has quite a cool sound. Can't say I love punk normally. But the sound of this album is pretty interesting and different I even actually find the guitar soothing as opposed to chaotic or stressful. I really like the drum rolls in their tracks and the drumming in general is pretty nice. The first time I listened I didn't pay much attention but I did feel good about having it in the background.
The Young Gods
1/5
Oh my goodness what on Earth?!? What is the point really?? This is like a guy shouting in French over the Flight of the Bumblebee but more like light of the wasps!! For fucks saaaaake!
LL Cool J
3/5
This is tricky to rate... I love Around the Way Girl love the beats love the energy in general and the samples. Howeverrrr I don't like the aggressive masculinity or the fact that that was so acceptable in the 90s. Hm I'll have to go in the middle I think but it's a shame because I feel super strongly on both negative and positive sides!
Mike Oldfield
4/5
This is wonder and magical and such an experience. LOVE ITTT
Gang Of Four
3/5
I really like this band despite not really being super into punk and generally finding it quite stressful. I hadn't heard of them before and I did find some of the tracks on this album fun! I didn't come out of listening super stressed and I could appreciate some of the elements. The singing voice actually isn't making me anxious and it's quite nice and nostalgic somehow. I'm pleasantly surprised but I wouldn't pick it out to listen to in future.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
LOVE Neil Young but this isn't an album I have loads of nostalgia for or have ever really got into loads, that meant although I listened to it twice it faded into the background a lot. It became a kind of slightly cheesy mushy mush with a lot of guitar solos. I'd love to actually see Neil Young live! I think I'd appreciate the musician-ship more and be really impressed. This album because nice background noise for me which is ok but nothing to write home about.
Joan Baez
5/5
Alllllll the scrumptious folky singing, jangly guitar and all executed perfectly by the effortlessly cool Joan Baez. Voice of an angel combined with epic guitar skills. Absolutely beautiful and flawless renditions of some traditional folk songs. Finally, an album to get really excited about again! I love the feeling an album like this gives me, the story telling is done in such a relaxing yet haunting way. I'm so drawn into a different time in history, even if the subject of the story is super mundane. Ugh the Spanish tooooo, incredible. In awe!
Tim Buckley
4/5
Wow what a skilled guitarist and musician, the playing on Hong Kong Bar is absolutely mesmerising!! I really loved this album. There were a few outdated elements like the fetishisation of black women in Move with Me which is otherwise a great track. This was totally acceptable at the time in the 70s though (may even have been seen as a good thing) but it does just stick out and feel a little uncomfortable listening now...
Deerhunter
4/5
I love the 2010s magical fairy forest vibes in this album! Love Memory Boy and Basement Scene especially! Some parts of this remind me of the Mystery Jets and Arcade Fire I don't know who came first... I don't love towards the end it gets a little bit too mushy for me!
Green Day
5/5
AMAZING album!!! I am obsessed I find it such a rollercoaster of emotions, it's very nostalgic but particularly Boulevard of Broken Dreams makes me feel alive haha! Love it so so much and easy 5.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Aaaand she’s a genius! Not exactly one of Joni’s more famous albums and exactly stuffed with hits and bangers but it’s just the genius of it that gets me. The woman invented her own chords for Christs sake!! She spoke openly about never being classically musically trained and she just got her guitar and had a fucking ball! It’s just so fucking beautiful and incredible. Joni forever.
Sparks
4/5
I've recently been "introduced" I guess to Sparks and started to become really interested in them. I've some of their tracks in the past and thought they were really fun and exciting. I am loving listening to this album. I can totally see why a lot of famous musicians say this is their favourite album of all time. There's something really different and interesting about the performance and I'd love to watch more videos of their performances. I'm not totally sure how I feel about two white guys passing in sound as a couple of Asian women and I'm not totally sure whether that's what they were doing... I also appreciate that wasn't really known to be an issue in the 70s. I love the voice and the range!! I love the energetic keys and variety of musical elements in each track. I'm dedicated to getting more into listening to this album properly and watching some of the live performances because they are hyped up to be wonderful.
Turbonegro
2/5
Hm I can see why a lot of people would be into this but it's v niche isn't it with the juvenile vocals and lyrics, Nordic metal/rock vibes etc. It is a little bit Eurovision... but not in a good way for me. I don't love it but can see how it could be entertaining. Not for me.
Louis Prima
4/5
Absolutely loved this album really enjoyed listening!! I have since gone back and re-listened to some of the songs and added them to playlists as well. I love this era/genre of music and I especially love the Jungle book soundtrack so it was fun to hear elements of that in these songs as well. I actually really love the 50s thing of combining two songs into one it's great!
David Gray
3/5
I really like David Gray, I know his voice is a bit Marmite but I actually would say I lean on the love side rather than the hate. I have some nostalgia with Babylon as I had a NOW album with that song on it haha! I also love This Year's Love too I think that's a bit of an epic and maybe slightly underrated love song and that's the climax of the album for me then it should have stopped there. Sail Away really falls flat after that high. But the rest of the album I've never listened to. I am fond of it but I don't have much attachment. I love the minor keys and the general sound of the album. I just wish I had more connection to it but I can't be arsed to push for that. Soz David.
Elton John
5/5
This is an obvious 5 stars!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Elton John. What an incredible song writer and performer. So interested about his life as well and everything he went through, I find him such an inspiration when I see a lot of what he's been through and yet he's found happiness and contentment. So an album full of his best tunes and telling the story of his life effectively is right up my street. What a winner.
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
Really nice opportunity to give this album a good amount of my attention! I obviously have listened more to Rumours but I love the folky sounds, the harmonies, obviously Nicks' incredible incredible beautiful voice. I think Fleetwood Mac are an insane band and I personally haven't ever given them enough time beyond listening to the big hits. A great album!
Can
3/5
Really enjoyed the title track. Things got a bit shaky for me in Spray... This is not a kind of sound experiment I can easily cope with, I find it super stressful. Really enjoy the International influences and find it really exciting to listen out for certain snippets of interesting bits. Found Future Days really lovely pretty interesting and cool but also really relaxing. It's mad the contrast between how these different songs affected me. I also found Moonshake quite charming! I have mixed feelings.
T. Rex
3/5
I muchhhh prefer electric warrior to the slider. This is not quite as fun somehow. Still love Bolan's voice a lot and still love how it has some kind of unique pazazz which no other bands possess in the same way. The mixture of beats and sounds is lovely. Really enjoying this album but it is certainly fading into the background a bit for me.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
Ok so I started listening to the full 3 hour shebang rather than the best of that this site suggests. That's not a great start when you have a lot of catching up to do... I LOVE Ella and I listen to her music often. I mean what a babe what a voice, so much fun word play in these tunes. I love Nice work if you can get it lol it's such a funny song. Then on the other hand I hate Oh, Lady be Good. It's just too pathetic and out-dated and it pisses me off. Basically Ella Fitzgerald is a babe and a legend but this ain't my fave album.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
This is my kind of jazz!! Yay! Super lovely to work to. It's really fun and interesting and puts me in a good mood without being chaotic or stressful and it's certainly not dull. When I Grow too old to Dream did something to me!! So relaxing.
Ray Charles
3/5
Wow Ray Charles such a legend! I love the upbeat bops on this album!! Super fun big band tracks, there's no matching the cool of Charles' voice. I mostly didn't love the slower songs but You Don't Know Me is such a great tune which I love from the film My Best Friend's Wedding hahaha so I enjoyed that one!
Fela Kuti
5/5
OH YESSS love a bit of afrobeats, this is the real stuff. Holy shit though I can't believe the levels of controversy in the history of this album and I'm so sad to hear about Kuti's mother, heart breaking. That kind of sums up exactly the message he was trying to send out with this album... I can't believe the juxtaposition of how happy this makes me feel but also how sad it truly is. That's art!
Chicago
2/5
Some nice fun riffs and horns but got verrrrry samey and it's long. Too long for my attention span. bleh
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Super fun album!! I have always listened to Born to Run and had some of the bangers on playlists but I've never listened to this album at all. This is less packed with famous bangers but it's also really fun, I feel like it's got real 80s vibes for a late 70s album so maybe it was really ahead of its time. Some of the tracks felt like boring dad rock to me a little bit. Love the song Factory and Badlands both for interesting stories they tell and also for sound.
T. Rex
5/5
Absolutely loooove this album! The sound of Marc Bolan's voice is so happy to me! Cosmic Dancer is an old favourite and an absolutely beautiful song, I would be absolutely made up if I'd written something that incredible. Get it on is an absolute BOP and this entire album is wonderfully feel-good.
Can
2/5
No no no - way too busy and chaotic for me!! So stressful puts me in a bad mood. I can see that other people with "normal" brains could love this. It is cool but it just stresses me out so much I can't even figure out which elements I like etc.
Dwight Yoakam
1/5
Oh dear LOOOOORD God might not want me holding onto him after I've sat and dragged myself through this painful album. In what fresh HELL is this a top 1001 album to listen to before you die?? This is the album for after you die when you arrive in hell...
Bill Evans Trio
2/5
Yeah kind of okay. Like nice relaxing jazz rather than chaotic stressful jazz which I def prefer. However, it's definitely missing a bit of spice for my liking as well on the other hand. It's maybe a bit to close to the dull end of the scale for my liking as well. Haha I'm quite specific with which jazz I like!
Kraftwerk
3/5
Love this especially Morgenspaziergang not keen on Kometenmelodie which does make up a lot of the album but Autobahn is SO FUN love that tune and I love Kraftwerk so I'm going middle for this album.
SAULT
5/5
An artful mixture of an outpouring of urgent grief and emotion, interspersed with snippets of the intimate daily lives of Black people and people from Black origins. I haven't ever taken a deep dive into SAULT's music before but I love the variety of styles and sounds and samples. I love that they hardly interact with the media and fascinated that they never do live shows. I'd love to meet them and talk to them about their processes and choices, so interesting. I particularly love more vintage R&B with the woman vocals/hook like Hard Life but also love their original take on that. It's like a battle march/war cry mixed with a house track! All of the voices are mesmerising I especially love the appearance of Michael Kiwanuka (I'm a big fan) on this album. It's a real snapshot of an intense and shocking point in time in June 2020.
Baaba Maal
5/5
Absolutely LOVE this album! From the year I was born too! Loved that last Baaba Maal album that came up and this follows, I maybe even prefer this one! Toro has such a moreish sound and the opening Yela is another major highlight. Delicious album! Can't fault it. Love that he's promoting and championing traditions of the Pulaar-speaking people.
Santana
4/5
Love Santana! This isn't my fave of their albums but Oye Como Va is SUCH an undeniable fucking banger!!! WHAT a tune.
Tears For Fears
3/5
Ah it's quite cheesey isn't it?? Good job I love the cheese, grate it on pleeeezey!! Everybody wants to rule the world is a classic. I have a lot of time for this kind of 80s pop rock it puts me in such a great mood and it's just great. I think I much prefer their debut album though so I hope that's on this list too, also the album get's more boring and tails off at the end... Mothers Talk is a cool track I like the bouncy base solo hahaha, cracks me up. I really like Listen though too as a closer it's kind of relaxing
Fleet Foxes
5/5
Ah this is such a special album to me. I had it on CD and it was a gift when I was about 16. It's absolutely stunning and has done me a solid many times over the years when I've been anxious and this album has instantly relaxed me. Your Protector is a huge highlight and also Meadowlark. I don't know if I've ever heard anything like Fleet Foxes anywhere else, the harmonies and the voices are so unique and absolutely stunning and this is their best album ever. The artwork is iconic too. It looks so dry at first but the more you look closely there's all kinds of unusual and exciting things going on!
Tito Puente
4/5
I recognise El Cayuco and I really like this music in general! This really brings me back to Bolivia and it's super fun I wish I was dancing and I guess that is the point of the album. So it's a winner - love it! Not so keen on all the songs but I really like the overall vibe and it made me and my students teachers v happy while we marked a bunch of exams so winner!
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I don't know... this is controversial but I did not love this album. Nothing stood out to me and it's just very long. This is nice background music for me but it completely fades into the background even when listening cycling (I've given it three tries now) and cycling is my best music listening time so... Can't say I love it but it's okay.
Gene Clark
1/5
Boring Boring deadly boring country not fun or interesting at all ugh bye
Miriam Makeba
4/5
Absolutely wonderful!!! Particularly love the click song. Obviously nothing touches Pata Pata, Miriam's biggest hit but this album is also great and it's all new listening for me.
Elvis Presley
2/5
There's some classics on there and I can see how Elvis was a so radical and moving for so many people in the 60s but I just find most of his stuff so cringey and boring. Especially this album maybe the rock and roll I find more interesting and fun but this is such a bore.
Madonna
4/5
Classic Madge!! Absolutely lovely, great beats, perfect for dancing, interesting sounds, great melodies and lyrics. Sky fits Heaven is absolutely banging and of course Ray of Light what a banger.
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
I didn't know this band before already, I quite like this album! It's not just a 90s sound but also really pulls you back to a 90s feel. I do notttt like all the tracks particularly Satan is stressful for me haha straight outta hell.
Van Morrison
3/5
I like this but I do not feel strongly about it haha. Moondance is great but I have heard better versions of it... Maybe that's unfair. I just feel completely indifferent about this album.
Frank Zappa
4/5
Wow I'd never heard of Frank Zappa but this is super cool. I understand this is different to some of his other work. I love how there's so many video-game sounding sections in Peaches en Regalia. It's really nice focus music for while working. Super inventive and unusual. So many different themes in here and I want to do some more research about this guy and his music.
Le Tigre
5/5
Oh yeah, the feminist/political lyrics, unusual beats and sounds, vivacious care-free women in the 90s kind of vibe, and the excellent guitar and drums all mix together to make this an album which is firmly rooted right up Denny street haha! Love it! Another new discovery for me and it's reminding me of Wet Leg which is a band I'm currently super excited about, maybe they're an inspiration? Deceptacon feels like Deja vu to me, I've definitely heard this tune somewhere but I don't think I've watched any of the stuff in the feature list so I have no idea where I've heard it.
OutKast
3/5
Wow there's some exemplary hooks, interludes, beats, melodies, rap, and sounds all what we expect from OutKast on this record. There's bangers like The Way You Move on there. HOWEVER, this is just way too long. I don't really think any album needs to be this long and no album has ever really made me change my mind on that before. For this reason, I much prefer Stankonia as an album and I can't even put this in my 4 star box. Such a shame.
Radiohead
5/5
I think this is absolutely stunning. It's laden with beauty and emotion and meaning. It's even so melodic in certain parts and extremely catchy. A dreamscape kaleidoscope of sounds. However, I wouldn't be able to listen to this full album on a hangover or a sad day because that would be a bit much and I would be spiralling down v quickly. Not exactly cheery is it now.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
I don't think I really understand this at all. I've never heard of this guy before and listening to this album, I am confused. It's got a lot of show tunes Broadway kind of influence in it with having an orchestra, but without the grandeur and drama of full show tunes. It's making me cringe and I am not enjoying it. Who are the Divine Comedy fans?? Is it like middle aged mothers? I do not understand. Ok now I see he wrote theme songs for IT crowd and Father Ted which is pretty cool and also makes a lot of sense. Maybe this music does only make sense as a soundtrack to me.
Nine Inch Nails
1/5
Oh no no no
Harry Nilsson
5/5
Wow I assumed the song Coconut was a cover and had no idea Nilsson was the origin of that legendary song haha! Also I could heavily hear that he had strong ties with the Beatles and when I read that he was mates with them and they were influenced by HIM I was not surprised. I love the witty word play in the lyrics and catchy melodies. It's light-hearted and fun. Entertaining and inventive. Can't believe this is yet another artist I didn't know about... It seems like Harry was an inventor and an ideas man. I think his music influenced a lot of people. I really like the sound of his voice because it reminds me of the Beatles. Would have loved to see him perform live.
The Blue Nile
3/5
I'm finding it so hard to know what I think about this! I love the opening track I think it's super unusual and interesting and I like the passionate almost wailing in his voice. I have quite the aversion to his voice in the slower songs for some reason maybe it's too whingy? Very mixed feelings.
Elliott Smith
3/5
I really like some of these songs! This particular brand of American accent is a little irritating to me though. I am listening while bashing out a bunch of reports though so maybe that's the issue. I'm into some songs but know I would have appreciated them more when I was about 17 and then would have loved it because the sound is super nostalgic to me.
Happy Mondays
3/5
This is not exactly my scene, I'm not into this sound or kind of shout/singing. I do enjoy the Bowie vibes of synth sounds and the drums are cool. Not bad music to have on while working and it hasn't put me in a terrible mood.
Q-Tip
4/5
Lovely nostalgic noughties rap!! Never heard of Q Tip but I love this vibe and this album it's yummy! Especially Life is Better with Norah Jones. Catchy, relaxed, good vibes!
Crowded House
4/5
Ooh there's something so warm and familiar about these guys' vocals to me. So cosy and reassuring. I love the classics and I love the tracks in between like Tall Trees.
Drive-By Truckers
1/5
Seeing this band name and album name was a big reason for me not reviewing any albums for a while... I have finally listened to it in it's 90 minute entirety and needless to say I am now mad about it haha!
I have been trying to figure out and understand why this album got such great critical reception, no success there. I saw there's some apparently raw and honest commentary on politics and racism in Southern America which I was worried wouldn't be done elegantly given the year of release was 2001. It was not done with elegance.
If it wasn't bad enough that this music is made up of two lines of cliché and ultimate cringe broken up by what felt like hours of endless shitty guitar noodling, and repeat, the length of this double disc "opera" adds salt into the festering open wound tbh.
Maybe if you are from Alabama this music could really speak to something in you?? Maybe if you like this type of music this album would be amazing?? I do not understand. When the lyrics aren't insufferable cliché after cliché, they're self indulgent inconsequential nonsense bull shit.
Ok rant over, so excited to post this review so I can get back to daily album reviews. This deserves zero points.
The Beach Boys
5/5
A masterpiece! This is one of their best albums. Love this direction in subject matter away from surfing and cars and more inward-looking lyrics. I always loved the band I have big nostalgia and memories from a childhood California road trip where we had their greatest hits on repeat for three weeks!! I also love the harmonies and find their music in general incredibly impressive mainly because it's SO difficult to sing, play, recreate! Also it might be partly nostalgia but all the songs give me such a happy upbeat mood, love love love.
Laibach
2/5
Ok this has been a wild ride. I read into Laibach in quite fine detail haha, I even went into Reddit and it seems even a super fan cannot say with confidence whether they were trying to make people think about the Holocaust or whether they are Nazi sympathisers. I don't believe they actually are sympathisers and I think they are trying to give a very strong and clever message with their music, their name and actually the entire concept of their group it seems like it's one big art concept. BUT I cannot be certain and that means I can't give them the review to reflect my enjoyment of the music because to me you don't mess around with that, you make it bloody clear that you are not a Nazi sympathiser. I did really enjoy most of the album and aside from this bull shit I would have given it a 4, the Wagener influences are really interesting. I didn't like all the tracks but I enjoyed how camp some of them were! The danger is though, some bunch of neo-nazis may use this to glorify genocide and I that makes me mad so it's going to be a 2.
The Byrds
3/5
I hadn't heard of the Byrds before this, on first listen, these tracks sound heavily influenced by the Beatles, in particular Rubber Soul (interesting that this was released one year after that), and also Simon and Garfunkel. It's a bit shit that they did sooo many covers but I guess that was more normal and common in the 60s so that's ok. So overall this album does not feel very ground breaking or original, and also I get what critics mean by saying this feels scattered. However, I think we can put a positive spin on that to say it's got cool variety. Also the main artists they have been influenced by and even consistently covered are all top faves of mine so ok I do really like their music and I really enjoy this album. Particular faves are Wild Mountain Thyme and Hey Joe. The interview at the end was very interesting and also confirmed that they were indeed obsessed with the Beatles. I also read that their main songwriter in the band left right before they recorded this so that obviously adds to the scattered/varied feel, I think it's a good thing!
Lorde
2/5
I forgot about Lorde and I was never that into her music tbh! I find her music a bit generic poppy crowd pleaser I guess but I only know the big hits. That means it was very interesting to listen to a whole album and I have to say I did find it boring. But I like her song-writing style if she did in fact write these songs and I'd be extremely impressed with myself if I'd written these songs. I don't like the way they're produced at all I think that's it and I don't find her voice particularly v interesting it's a bit generic to me. A song I really like is Supercut, something that stood out among the rest of this album!
Sinead O'Connor
3/5
I haven't listened to much of Sinead O'Connor's music and I don't really know much about her. I of course know the big hits but I'm quite surprised and intrigued by how hypnotic some parts of this album are! It's v rhythmic and almost makes me think of some kind of religious worship or something strangely. I love that you can hear her accent in a lot of the vocals. She seems really cool and I'm glad she's come to my attention through this after I've neglected her so long haha. On the downside, I wouldn't say I found all of this album v exciting. It was great to write job applications to very beautiful sounding and relaxing but some songs got a bit samey.
Nick Drake
5/5
Ohhhh it's an absolute beauty. So formative for me. My neighbour in Kentish Town whilst I was at university (who was almost definitely an arms dealer???) introduced me to Nick Drake and this is mayyyybe my fave Nicky D album. It's so insanely beautiful. It's sad and haunting but also magical and fairytale. No other album has ever made me feel the same feels as this one and probably never will, that's mostly down to Nick's voice and musical style but also this specific album too. LOVE it.
Television
2/5
Not something I would have chosen to listen to, I find this post-punk isn't a good release of anger or sadness or any emotion it just winds you up. I really appreciate some of the guitar parts and the vocals but all together I do not like the songs. I wish the guitar parts, which are really cool and impressive, could be combined with some more melodic parts as well then I would love it. Guitar parts in Marquee Moon for example absolutely gorgeous and so impressive, but could it be put with more melodic instrumentation and then it would be a masterpiece to me, also we do not need 10 minutes of this fuck saaaake. I get why a lot of people think they're amazing though and they seem to have been extremely influential from research (I hadn't heard of Television before). This is apparently one of Tom's favourite albums of all time though...
The Byrds
2/5
I am listening to this right after Fifth Dimension because I'm slacking behind and I get to be choosy about what I pick to listen to haha. With that context, all the dislikes about that album which came out the year after this are allll magnified on this album. It's even more unoriginal, covers, copied sounds, and the songs on this album are standing out even less. The album as a whole seems much less exciting and is actually making me want to listen to Dylan instead of these covers of his music.
The Human League
4/5
I do love this 80s full on cheese! I think the synths are amazing and it's such a feel good vibe. Don't you want me baby is such a classic but also reminds me of lockdown days when I created a cover and music video fueled by about 10 gallons of rosé... I really enjoyed bits of Do or Die with no vocals and it's an all around great album for me apart from the track called Seconds I didn't enjoy the shouty vocals and I'm not sure why other than that I just don't like that one lol. I already have quite a good appreciation for the Human League but didn't know any other tracks on this album before so that's fun too. Good start to the week as I'm listening on a Monday!
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
Despite how famous and popular this dude apparently was I have never heard if him before this! I am always partial to a bit of early rock and roll tbh. From reading more into his life it sounds like he was an over-hyped annoyingly arrogant momma's boy though haha! This gig sounds like an extremely good time!! I loved the songs and think I would have loved being there, listening in my headphones while vacuuming was quite a visceral experience where I could really imagine the dancing and the sweat and the drinks, fun!
CHIC
4/5
WOW love this album so much, we have the record so banged it on the record player which is always fun! I appreciate the epic party bangers such as I want your love and Le Freak but also have top memories of seeing them live AND really appreciate them musically there are so many layers with different instruments and the production value is excellent. Disco perfection.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
I really enjoyed this album, I was excited to listen to a whole album from Yeah Yeah Yeahs and this didn't disappoint. I'm now really excited to go listen to their new album from this year. I love the punky guitar riffs without the stressful sounds of punk that I hate so much. I really like the vocals and I think overall it has a cool sound. It's got so much variety with the acoustic versions and particularly loved the last track Faces.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Love Sick and Dirt Road Blues are pure bangers!! I love the vibes and the way this album makes me feel the track where this feeling is most prominent is Cold Irons Bound. It's hard to describe but it's like nostalgia, cosy, feeling your feelings but not in a too depressed kind of way haha. This attempt at describing is frankly embarrassing but I love this album. Even the 16 minute end track I don't mind because I love the story it tells, the way it made me feel, and the very relaxed blues sound. There's a few moments where I switch off with this album and get slightly bored with it around the middle so it's not perfection, but it was a bloody good comeback album.
Portishead
2/5
Ah man I love Portishead so much and there were some brilliant moments throughout this album but my overall experience was not gooood. I guess I prefer their less heavy songs and more chill vibes kind of tracks that they have. Majority of this album was a bit too depressing for a bit of an already low day so I can't rate this very high for this album. Doesn't contain any of my favourite Portishead tracks either. Boo.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Ooooh this is a special album. I think Cohen is a musical genius and a poet. I mean what a stunning debut as well. I have a lot of love for the folky sounds of guitar picking, mandolin and other instruments. The mixture of pure story telling and abstract poetry in the lyrics is very exciting. Suzanne is a perfect opener, it's painfully beautiful, even celestial with the backing vocals and harp. I really love reading about how he wrote some of these songs and his unusual process. So Long Marianne is already a favourite of mine, there's so much variety and innovation between the oompa sounds on that track and the very stripped back songs with guitar picking and his vocals. Cohen's voice is an absolute winner for me, it's so rich and deep it sounds like how mahogany looks to me. This album is perfection!
The Killers
4/5
Ah it's a corker of an album! I have unending nostalgia and emotional ties with it. From parties with school friends and fun memories, to listening to the album on CD with my brother in those younger years of the sibling golden age. It's such a snapshot of the indie sound of the time and I think the album also involves a lot of skill. Just seeing the album cover makes me feel all the feels. Not a perfect album but hard to judge objectively.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4/5
This kind of synth pop is the branch of new wave that I really enjoy the most :-) it's clever and cool and I really like this kind of sound. I know this band have been a huge inspiration for many and the music still sounds really fresh and modern to me. Some of the sounds leave me in awe thinking "how did anyone come up with that??" so the creativity and joy of experimentation shines throughout. Weirdly enough I fell down an Anohni hole and saw OMD listed as an early influence of hers, started listening to their music and realising I recognised and really liked their stuff and then got this album popping up to rate right after!!
Antony and the Johnsons
5/5
I think I only knew Hope There's Someone before which is a real stunner!! But 100% untapped love for me in the rest of the album. My GOD the feeling and raw almost diary entry poetry on this album. It made me cry. I'm so so glad this album was written and put together by Anohni because it's a true gift to the world. The vocals and the ochestral sounding expansive instrumentation on tracks like Spiralling... wow. Every piece/part/instrument/vocal adds so much to every track too. A genius piece of work. PS I love the marmite vocals, they portray so much authentic feeling and they're certainly not overdone in my opinion. There are some parts where the vocal is completely pure and straight forward and that contrast is delish. Wonderful stuff! What a journey.
Beatles
5/5
I don't know which is my favourite Beatles album but this is extremely special! I love all of it through and through. Pretty much every one of these amazing tracks has some special meaning or connection for me. Beyond that there is so much variety and innovation in this album I can't even explain in a review. I also love the whole concept behind having a blank album cover with no title "The White Album" was given by the fans I think. I saw a very cool exhibit about the album in a museum in Rotterdam where they collected loads of the numbered originals from around the world and you could see where loads of people had drawn their own drawings or written lyrics out or doodled on the covers it was amazing. The fact that this album is still inspiring more art today beyond just other music is extremely cool and impressive. I can't even list highlights as there's about 20 haha.
The Who
3/5
I've not really purposefully listened to or dived into The Who's music before. It's nice to have a reason to listen!
This is their debut album and you can feel that it was kind of rushed and thrown together and not a great representation of their live shows at the time.
I really like that they did some covers of James Brown tracks and never knew that before, although not exactly on the level of writing your own stuff, I do appreciate a complete style-change cover.
It's very classic rock and roll and reminds me of some of the early Beatles stuff which I love, especially It's Not True. I think I prefer their later work though which has more punch to it.
Beatles
5/5
Ok this is potentially my favourite Beatles album!!
This is honestly the best album to put on towards the end of a house party when you're all extremely drunk and fancy dancing around like a crazy person. It's just the most fun ever. And then it includes all the usual genius and awe-inspiring song-writing skills. Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, and Drive my Car are some of my all time favourite Beatles songs and I'm Looking Through You is an all time belter of a track!! What could be better to sing/absorb when you're pissed off with someone haha. Girl is extremely creepy and not right and cannot be forgiven, even looking at the time it was written in, still just don't contribute to that please lol. I can't bring down my rating though because of the belters on this album so I'll just add it in this comment.
They used some epic unusual instruments and experimentation with sound in recording this album which I love. I absolutely love the title and the artwork. Ugh it's just so great.
Depeche Mode
4/5
I love this album! I want to listen to it a few more times as I was a bit distracted and couldn't fully focus. Super relaxing and great vibes, also includes some absolute all time bangerz.
Justice
3/5
Oh my dayyyys this was so mixed. I absolutely love bangers like D.A.N.C.E. so fun to dance to and then half of the tracks I also really enjoyed like One Minute to Midnight, great song to also work to and be productive not only dance to. BUT there is a song literally titled Stress... needless to say it gave me serious anxiety. I don't understand what people see in music like that or why they appreciate it. Loved half of the album.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Oh my good God I dream of being able to write lyrics and music as good as LC. Avalanche, what an opener, the guitar is freaking incredible I dream of being able to even play like that let alone write that. Beautiful poetry and beautiful music, beautiful album. I think I prefer Songs of LC to this album maybe because I've spent more time going into the inspiration of the songs on that album in the past, but it is still incredible.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Wow I had only heard the title track of this album which is obviously everywhere all over popular culture, TV and film. But I had no idea about Gaye's life story, SA at the hands of his fundamentalist preacher father. I find it fascinating and puzzling how he found healing and even drew ties between faith spirituality and sex after all of that traumatic past. But it brings so much context to the title track and now this whole album learning that. With all of that aside, it is just absolute ultimate smooth soul and I freaking love it. It's incredible, the saxophone and the vocals, the jazzy bluesy soulful instrumentation, just wow. Goes without saying it's extremely sexy, what a sexy beautiful man. I personally love that he wrote a song called You Sure Love to Ball... hahaha excellent.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
This is a phenomenal album from a phenomenal artist. I adore the mix of the pain in the lyrics with the big upbeat rich music. Her voice is unmatched and she really found her perfect key with this album. The only small criticism I have is that all of the tracks are then pretty much in that key haha. There's not loads of variety but then it is only a small criticism because why give variety when what you've brought is absolutely incredible?? Also I met her in a pub when I lived in Kentish Town and used to see her in there regularly and she was a brilliant person.
Dolly Parton
5/5
I don't know where to start. There's a good reason why Dolly has the best voice of all time in my opinion. On some of the tracks she can even sound like a bird then she has the biggest range of all time in terms of notes she can sing but also style and tone. Dolly is probably my biggest inspiration in most areas of life to be honest. Then we can move to the song writing, story-telling, from the obvious to the abstract, even the track listing starting with a song about her mother's love then on to a story of a mother's sexuality and a heart breaking story of manipulation and betrayal from the travelling man. Oh my GOD it is heart achingly beautiful. Here I am is an absolute anthem, what a message, what a delivery. This album is no disappointment, I guess it doesn't include any of her big party bangers, that isn't a disappointment to me though I LOVE and appreciate Dolly for all her facets. I know she says Coat of Colours is perhaps her favourite of all the million or so incredible songs she's written and you can feel this is a super special album when you listen. Only sliiiiight down side for me is the songs written by Porter Wagoner but it won't bring my score down because they're still performed to perfection by the Queen herself.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Nice to listen to this warm sexy soul music in October because this album sounds like Autumn embodied in music! I have some kind of phobia of dead skin, skin follicles and zoomed in skin images and particularly skin on the head (I can't type the name for that haha!) so I HATE the album art SO much, it's making me feel very nauseous. I am really torn because I have a lot of love for jazzy soul music and for Hayes' delicious voice. BUT I don't have much time for long songs, I get why some people appreciate them but I have a shorter attention span. The musical talent in this album is obscene and some of the bits and pieces are super exciting so I can see why they are a delight to sample and have been sampled loads. I think this evens out to a score of 3 for me. I really like One woman it kind of feels like a 90s chick flick, very nostalgic.
The Kinks
4/5
The way that this album has been composed and recorded is fascinating!! I knew the title track but didn't know much beyond that. I am so interested about how this album was inspired and written. I gather that Ray wanted to write an album that portrays his feelings of wanting to keep tangible evidence of traditional British characters, objects and rituals rather than just having photographs and nostalgia. I think he really managed that but I would question how great Britain ever was and the pride in it haha. I still love it though because the idea of these things being "great" and not just hilarious is really funny. Like a village green preservation society and worshiping cricket (the most dull sport to watch ever) and just those up-tight British nosy judgemental neighbours, all harmless and hilarious. Anyway, I really like a concept album and I like short songs so hooray! I'm also so into this folk-pop-rock sounds from the 60s I love the creative musicality and the vintage recording sound. Fun album!
Prefab Sprout
2/5
If I want synthy 80s pop, I want it to be loud and proud! This gives me a feeling like garlic skin sticking to you all floaty and annoying. It's kind of half arsed never quite lets you climax or never gives 100% which is insanely irritating haha. I hate albums that are this long almost exclusively unless I really love all the songs. An irritating experience. Also just to counter a lot of reviews I've seen on here, I am British and I do not get this!
Incredible Bongo Band
3/5
This is quite fun isn't it! I'm not sure about listening to a whole album intently though. You can certainly have too much of a good thing in this instance haha. Cool sound though, very unique.
Prince
3/5
This album does not have my favourite bits of Prince essence on it. I say that because I am not someone who knows all the Prince catalogue inside out by any means and I've never listened to full albums so I'm no authority on Prince. I absolutely love some tracks: Computer Blue, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain, Baby I'm a Star. BUT I don't love every part of those songs haha. Some of the more chaotic sounds are super painful to my soul and confusing to my brain, however the vocals, the less busy 80s synthy sounds, the INSANE guitar solos sing to my soul. So I'm conflicted. Love the juicy 80s-ness but find some sounds stressful. I want to give a 3.5 but I can't!
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Well this is a very lovely album! I haven't had the pleasure of listening to much MBV in the past and certainly not an entire album. It's probably a good thing because I would not have enjoyed this album a decade ago or appreciated it in the same way. There is a wonderful richness to the sound. I particularly actually enjoyed the guitar-free track, is this and yes, that was so pretty and warming and relaxing. I really dislike the song nothing is though by contrast haha way too repetitive and stressful for my brain it kind of hurts even. Appreciate what other people see in it though. Very nice inventive shoe-gazey music I was happy to be introduced to.
Elis Regina
3/5
Lovely relaxing chilled tropical beach holiday vibes. Great background music for a fucking freezing day when you're trying to work. It doesn't go any further than that for me though.
Roxy Music
3/5
This has a really cool sound and I'm sure I'd like some of the tracks a lot if I had more time to delve into them but as an album I have to say this didn't especially grab me. I also found some of the sounds stressful on parts of this album but I am super irritable today so maybe it's my fault, hehe.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Oh dear... it's a no from me, I just don't get it!!
I find it way too chaotic and noisy to get the point of the lyrics which do seem really cool when I read into it a bit. It's just stressful to me.
Having said that, I can see how influential they are and specifically listening to this album. They just influenced a lot of music I also don't enjoy...
I can also appreciate the musicianship, with creative tuning, insane guitar playing and distortion, and also the creative genius behind the noise.
Unfortunately, although I appreciate the "fuck you" passion and the artistry, it's too noisy for me.
The National
4/5
I like the National and hadn't listened to this album before. It has a very subtle beauty and I can't say I managed to connect with many of the lyrics on first listen but my listened was very disjointed so I'm excited to keep listening again and I am confident this album will be a grower for me. Nice vibes hard to describe but it feels very cool and definitely un-fussy, makes me want to know more about the songs.
Willie Nelson
5/5
Oh my GOD I am so taken with this album!! I already love Willie Nelson but due to my old way of listening to music excluding entire albums, I never listened to this album.
I LOVE a concept album, and I love some good country story-telling. I don't always love it coming from a man but in this case it's golden.
I am really excited by this story and I will definitely watch the film soon.
I even love the instrumental tracks like Down Yonder coming right after Denver where he sings of a chance meeting in a tavern and then the dancing and with this music I can picture a saloon and a pair dancing to this music it's magic!
I love thinking about the old un-finished songs which inspired Willie to write this whole concept album and tell this whole story, it's super inspiring.
Also loving the simplicity of guitar piano and drums and his beaut voice.
Jeru The Damaja
2/5
I prefer a lot more catchy hooks and melodical sections in my hip hop and I find this kind of very sparse beats and rap harder on my ears. I am also lacking the humorous/emotional interludes that I LOVE about a good 90s hip hop album. I guess this album was a large part of a huge hip hop revival and the music I love wouldn't be around if it weren't for albums like this but I wouldn't choose to listen to it again. The overall sound it stressful to my ears. The one track that sounds nicer to my ears, Da Bichez is horrible for a woman to listen to and hugely problematic in my opinion. "But I'm not a misogynist" LOL... Love the catchy horns on that track though.
Patti Smith
5/5
What an album! This review comes from an oftentimes punk hater and a major lyric enthusiast. Patti is clearly the godmother of punk and a genius at combining poetry and punk. That opening track and even opening line is absolutely glorious!! I don't know how but she makes me love punk and as a result love her. What an exciting, spicy, punchy album of twists and turns and well under an hour in length, what's not to love?!
Aerosmith
2/5
Ugh what a sloggggg. Love in an elevator is the only track I recognised and that was kind of fun. If you have no connection to these kind of songs they're just a big embarrassing cringe heap really. Such a one-track sound with no variety.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
A great album! It gets me quite hyped, there is such great variety with twists and turns in the sound. Gimme Shelter is such a cracking opener and a really nostalgic sound to me, it makes me think something epic is about to happen. I feel like it has been often used at those moments in films when something is about to kick off haha. Country Honk/Honky Tonk Women is such a tune. Peak 60s rock combined with country/gospel vibes, right up my street. Not a boring moment in the album.
The Byrds
3/5
Ok so this is the third album I'm getting from the Byrds. I didn't know them before this but I'm obsessed with the bands they were heavily inspired by and also covered extensively. So this was the beginning of them writing more of their own stuff and it does sound cool so far but just not ground breaking/very similar to Beatles work of the time. This is their best album I've listened to so far. There are more original moments like alien voices at the end of C.T.A. haha. Everybody's been burned sounds like a mash up between Nick Drake and Beatles which is really nice. In the end I got a bit bored by this album so it's still staying at a 3 maybe a Byrds album will come up and inspire me a bit more...
Heaven 17
4/5
Never heard of this before. I see new wave and think ew no I will not enjoy, then I see synth pop and my interest is back... the first song seems like it could be stressful but then I am actually really enjoying it. It's juicy 80s synth goodness and I like the message. I see radio 1 banned this debut single/opening track for fears it libelled Reagan haha I love that. Also really like the title track, really funky. Ok I officially love this album it's super fun. Groove Thang is great, also Soul Warfare and Geisha Boys and Temple Girls were highlights too. Glad I've been introduced to Heaven 17 now.
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
This album is clearly quite polarising, looking at the global reviews and critical reception. There's so much I find to love in this album but there are certainly more fillerish tracks I like less in there. The overall feeling I get from it is calm beauty with an undercurrent of darkness. I really like the feeling and it reminds me of Nick Drake in places. I love the opening track, The Shining with its strings and horns, and instrumental tracks like Bewilderbeast which is a cool title! I can really see that if I'd listened to this album in the 2000s I'd have a lot of nostalgia around it. Since I don't have that, the album doesn't quite make a 4 for me but nearly!
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Love this! Bad moon rising is a banger. Never listened to any of their other stuff and wishing I had. Didn't get the chance to give this my full attention and will listen again. I like the album art a lot, I'd like to go there wherever that is! I love this combination of country rock blues folk etc which isn't too much of any one thing. I will listen more!
Milton Nascimento
3/5
I really enjoy the vocals on this album, the interesting mix of incredible guitar and more electronic sound. There is some element of layers and complexity. I get a lot of emotion from the tracks. For me I wanted more variety, maybe more different vocalists like a female vocal (if there isn't already maybe I just missed it) but I switched off completely so it became nice background music. Probably largely due to the fact that I used to speak Spanish well but mostly forgot all of it by now, perhaps I might have picked up a lot more of the Portuguese lyrics if I remembered more Spanish??
The Black Keys
3/5
I really like this album. It's a case of I wish I'd known it a bit earlier in life and had more connection with it because if I did I would absolutely love it. It's one of those that takes longer to connect with for me. I love the almost country/folky parts to some tracks. I love the album art concept and the fact that the label on the disc changes colour as it plays and heats up, I want to own that! It's reminding me of bits of the white stripes that I love but maybe it's less catchy... I like the clarity of the lyrics and I wish I had more time to dive into the meaning of the songs. Anyway it was nice to listen because I've heard a lot of people talking about the Black Keys and never listened myself. I want to give a 3.5 and I think it's a grower.
Tom Waits
5/5
Very cool album artwork! I get to listen to this on vinyl!! Exciting! Absolutely love the variety, experimentation with sound, unusual but warm yet gritty vocals. Gorgeous sounds and one of the greats in the singer song writer category.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Loved listening to this today! It's an epic classic! Super influential and meaningful in the world of hiphop. It's a spicy punchy album full of twists and turns. I LOVE albums which have been inspired by films/books/stories I just find that so lovely and super inspiring.
Otis Redding
5/5
I love the description of a "dictionary of soul" YES it's amazing! It's partly covers and recorded in 24 hours wow, the covers are incredible though too because Redding brings his unique voice and style and the horns come from the epic Booker T. & the M.G.'s. I must own this on vinyl ASAP. I never knew he wrote Respect originally and his cover of Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come is absolutely beautiful and incredibly emotional and meaningful when you learn that Cooke was shot months before the recording. This album is historical and I love it. What a great Friday album.
MC Solaar
4/5
Oooh this is a very nice discovery... Seems very niche with the French rap, jazzy bluesy instrumentation and v early 90s too. Really enjoying listening and want to listen to more from MC Solaar other than this debut album. I really like the rap style.
The Band
3/5
I've always wanted to listen to the Band but never remembered to so this is a nice opportunity. I love the artwork and the fact that it was created by Dylan and also all the back story about the tour with Dylan. Nice to start with the debut album. It was a nice album and I'm sure I would get really into the lyrics if I either had more time to deep dive or had nostalgic ties with it if I'd discovered it years ago. I don't though and I didn't find any of the songs stand-out or particularly exciting. Maybe another of their albums would be more exciting...?
Happy Mondays
3/5
I haven’t listened to much from Happy Mondays before and this album was very exciting! Such a true mix of a lot of things. Can tell the lyrics were fuelled by opium! My top track was Bob's yer Uncle but found some of the others a tad stressful at certain points but recognise that is mostly my own weirdness haha.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
I was so excited to finally get a Velvet Underground album on this list as I missed the last one and didn't get around to making it up yet! This one is a corker. I really love the first few tracks. The opening track especially is so warm and inviting. Really cool sound classic VU so exciting with lots of twists and turns too. I get a bit irritated by the second half ish of the album but that's only because I'm listening while working from home and not live at a gig which would be awesome.
Talking Heads
5/5
Yay Talking Heads! A lot of love for this band but have listened to big hits and watched random live performances rather than listening to full albums like this. It's a really strong and classically unusual/exciting/unique opening track, It's really nice to have that African-disco inspired opener. Love that the album is quite punchy at 40 mins and the variety with it chopping and changing between tracks a lot. It holds my interest well. I love the description I will pinch from Wikipedia of "gritty weirdness". As always I really love the influence/appearance of Brian Eno in the production of the album. I LOVE where they found inspiration and the fact that their songs are written about unusual objects or based on non-sensical poetry rather than the usual themes of love drugs etc etc and it makes it very interesting to read up on the inspiration behind the songs and lyrics. Really enjoying the disco vibes throughout, super fun and dancey. Some really clever moments like the breathy vocals which sound like the word "air" at the beginning of Air.
Spiritualized
3/5
Woah I am intrigued by the story of the frontman and keys player breaking up before recording this after she secretly married the guy from the Verve!!!! What a dick haha! I can't imagine how that must have affected the recording of this album. I'm intrigued also from the opening track already. Love that with the little appearance of Can't Help Falling in Love With You which is a great tune. It has a great and unusual sound with many layers to the album. Not exactly what I expected and I'm interested to now listen to their very new album from this year. Some of the tracks I find a little stressful and some of them I almost lose interest but there's normally quickly something that pulls me back in with the strange electronic sounds.
The Cars
3/5
I'm not sure about this. It's kind of a combo of a few very popular famous bands, kind of more 80s and very classic like there's nothing very unique or different about this album. Maybe it was quite ahead of its time with how 80s it feels. I never heard anything else from the band and it just feels like a less exciting version of many other bands. So it's got the cheese without any of the nostalgia or memories attached. Feels like it should be an 80s film soundtrack. I think it's a bit too polished for me, I want something a little more raw but I do like the experimentation with electronic sounds. I've just found the album ok but a bit boring but my favourite track is probably Moving in Stereo. I want to give it 2.5.
Ananda Shankar
5/5
Oh yeah this is a great album!! Ananda Shankar is a genius and this album has my favourite tracks from him too. Light my Fire is on a couple of my favourite playlists I have and it's just pure brilliance. The instrumentation is so impressive to me, I could never!! Anyone who can play the sitar is pretty much a God and I could listen to it forever. Such a magical sound. The entire album is super creative and exciting. Major love. Including the beautiful album artwork and the sweet message he's included on there. Love how Metamorphosis grows and builds.
Primal Scream
3/5
I am new to Primal Scream, I understand from research that they formed a signature of making every album extremely different. I like the idea that this album was their recreation of the soundtrack for some cult following underground film which they felt the soundtrack was all wrong for! It really does feel like a soundtrack listening to it and quite a cool one at that. I had no idea a Primal Scream album would be so chilled as this and I really like the sound of it. It's a mix of things I really like. I'm not quite following lyrics or meaning but that's probably because I do not know this random film at all. It's nice music to work to.
Queen
4/5
Always going to love a Queen album!! This one is very epic I actually haven't listened to all of these tracks before as it's only their second album and not exactly packed with their top hits. But it's real classic early Queen glam rock which I wouldn't really want to listen to from any other band particularly. You can't beat the genius and creativity of Freddie but all of them really together. Also bonus that I watched Bohemian Rhapsody film very recently which is amazing so nice timing to then listen to this album. It's brilliant.
Belle & Sebastian
2/5
I'm so very lost on how to rate this... I can appreciate the nice sounds and relaxing vocals and I'm sure if I dug a bit deeper there must be artistry to be discovered in this album, I really do believe the people who write that. I just haven't found it myself and I've just found this album quite flat. It's a debut album and there's not enough punch or interest to grab me. Very nice to listen to though while painting. Apart from the track You're a Baby which I either missed the point completely and just didn't get the joke or it's just quite rude.
Beatles
5/5
The first Beatles album with all songs written by Lennon and McCartney, the album and film combo kick started the rock and roll/folk music explosion in the 60s and opened up the door for British musicians to get big in the US. MEGA influential in other words.
There's something so charming and appealing about this album. It makes me feel safe and cosy and nostalgic because all these tracks remind me of endless hours of drinking wine and working through the Beatles chord book with friends. The fact of how freaking difficult to play/complicated their tunes mostly are is confirmation of the song-writing genius, even if they sound like simple catchy songs.
It sounds great, the 12-string electric guitar gives it something very unique for the time and the signature layered but very close harmonies add to those feelings and make it very distinctive. They had such a knack for writing extremely relevant and catchy tunes, this album was kind of the first time they show cased those skills after two albums of mostly rock and roll covers. A Hard Day's Night is iconic, I love the fact that Ringo always said really weird things like this and they just built it into their songs, it makes me want to be part of the group because it just sounds so nice and funny. And I Love Her is also a top banger.
The artwork is excellent. This vintage photography style makes them all look like statues/busts which is cool.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
I've never really purposefully listened to Everything But the Girl and don't really know anything about them... I am sure I recognise some of these tracks from 90s film soundtracks and it's very massive attack, zero 7 vibes which I love. Super chilled and nostalgic. A great example of a type of music I'm already into so happy to discover this album. However, I would prefer to have some more catchy parts or unusual sounds/beats in there somewhere otherwise it's really nice but maybe a bit inconsequential then on the other hand I'm sure it was a very informative sound for other bands of that era.
Ice Cube
4/5
Classic 90s rap solo album. Absolutely love it. I never listened to a full album from Ice Cube before but this is tasty. I can really tell how influential the album was and you can feel the genius of him breaking away from his old group and going solo for the first time. The track Endangered Species is excellent/harrowing. I love that 90s style of rap where you can understand all of the lyrics and I love the beats. It's super impressive. I also really enjoy the layers and how each track builds throughout.
Genesis
4/5
I wasn't sure what to make of this album at first, but I did actually quite enjoy it. I appreciated the vast variety of sounds and styles. I particularly liked The Cinema Show.
Fiona Apple
3/5
I really like Fiona Apple but this album didn't really inspire me... I was introduced to her music by a friend and I first watched her play live on a TV show which was super cool and I loved it. This is her first album so it can be forgiven and she even stated herself that it isn't exactly her it was more aiming to impress and make friends lol. I hope we get one of her better albums on this list soon. It is nice and relaxing to listen to but I'm kind of tuning out.
The Streets
4/5
I love this album, love a concept album, think the story highlights some really interesting points about gambling and I love that the story has two endings. It has some really nostalgic bangers like Blinded by the Lights, and Dry Your Eyes. I like the artwork, which does conjure up images from the album and stories. I never listened to the whole album as a story before this, it's cool! The only thing is I think Mike Skinner seems a bit arrogant and into himself but I don't know him so...
Derek & The Dominos
2/5
Ah no this has way too much of the Claptons about it... I could hear him all over the songs from the start. This album is not all about Clapton by any means, and it's cool reading the story of how it came about... But I just don't like Clapton. I guess I feel like to me his music is mostly about trying to do something which was already done by Black people but making it extremely boring and removing all the spice. So as a result I can't get on board with this album because to me it's just more of that. Apart from Little Wing and It's too late, together these two tracks bring my rating up a bit. Particularly It's Too Late which has more of a spicy bluesy feel to it which I much prefer to all the self-indulgent boring noodly guitar solos.
Steve Winwood
1/5
Ahh it's just really weak isn't it. Nothing seems to be expressed with conviction or passion on this album. It's dull and cheesy. It kind of reminds me of a very shit version of a Phil Collins album (I love Phil and find him cheesy in the best way possible) but this is without that extra spark. There's not really any dynamics in the songs either for me, a song doesn't build at all or drop. Also are we for real with a song called Second-Hand Woman??? GROSS
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Oh yeah it's Joni!! I do prefer her more melodical less jazzy music for sure, but I also enjoy this more jazzy album. Amelia is stunning and it's such a beautiful relaxing sound across this whole album. It really does reflect the feeling of travel for me and she wrote it while travelling. Really cool album.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
Ah man I love this! I don't know why I haven't spent more time getting into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs because I love all their music when I do listen to it. This is one band who I have delved into their stuff as a result of doing this so cheers 1001 for that! Can't believe this is a debut album it's such a corker. As in my review of It's Blitz! I love that they have the indie punk sound without all the bits of punk that I hate like stressful screetchy noises. Particularly loved Tick and Pin.
Def Leppard
2/5
I have to admit I didn't listen to all of this... I have catching up to do and I was feeling motion sickness on a bus and stressed about other things and had no patience for this album haha. I think if I had more time for it I'd appreciate how cheesy it is and get into it I guess... not my vibe though.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
1/5
Oh man, I find this whole album really irritating. It's all about the self-indulgent guitar solos and it just sounds like boring and annoying dad rock to me. I don't know this band already so sorry if they're really important and popular haha.
Adele
4/5
I know that it's not very cool to like Adele, but I would say that almost all of the Adele hate is thanks to the patriarchy and people who think she's lame are being manipulated by the media and the patriarchy...oop.
The reason I think this is because people can never give legit reasons for why they think she's "shit" "boring" or "dreary", understandable that it won't be to everyone's taste but neither is Harry Styles and you don't see him getting much hate do you now?
She is seriously creative and musically talented. I absolutely love Hello. I don't think people who say all Adele is good for is dreary piano ballads have their ears open tbh... There are heartfelt piano ballads which are her fall-back because they suit her voice so well, and then there's 80s sounding pop songs full of original intrigue. I also think Adele is a good lyricist although I know that's another thing people criticise about her, *eye roll* I Miss You is epic and catchy and makes me feel all the feels.
The Black Crowes
2/5
I hadn't heard this album before and didn't really know the Black Crowes apart from this one track Hard to Handle. I'm not a big fan... Cheesy rock not done super well. Not very appealing to me apart from it being remotely funny I guess.
Herbie Hancock
3/5
I love this form of jazz which incorporates funk and experimental electronic sounds too! I type of jazz I can really get into!
It's innovative and experimental which makes it very exciting to me. I love Chameleon and Watermelon Man they're both really fun and playful tracks, very cool and soulful at the same time. After that the album goes downhill a bit for me, I find Sly has too many stressful sounds for me, it's too chaotic and I ended up clenching my jaw by the end without noticing...
I want to rate it higher just for the first two tracks but the second half does bring this down for me.
Hole
3/5
Niiiiice nostalgic 90s sound and really like the title track Celebrity Skin. Then apart from that this album is nice but a bit inconsequential as it kind of has the same sound throughout which is nice but blurs into one with nothing standing out on its own.
Solange
4/5
Absolutely loved this!!! It made lovely running music today. Chilled beats and vocals, amazing lyrics/poetry, beautiful words and more. I love the old-school hip hop style chatty interlude skits. Great variety. I even helped me find a newer Solange song which was used in my barre classes and I'm obsessed with it but could never find which song it was. Will listen to more Solange music after this for sure.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
I'm stealing the imagery from the producer and saying that to me, this album is a painting. The simplicity and starkness is done beautifully without a hint of arrogance. I love the unusual voice and poetry and composition of LC's music always. This second album is no exception. I love all of his music equally so every LC review will be extremely positive but one great thing that comes from still reviewing them for this is all of the Wikipedia research... Cohen's albums always have the best background stories about where the inspo came from and his comments etc. Honestly always better than any other artists Wikipedia pages. I'm learning lots of fun and interesting facts but also getting inspo for how to go about song writing for myself.
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
Ooh I love a concept album and this one which represents Biggie's life from birth to death while he is still alive is very appealing. This is obviously a huge influential giant in hip hop showcasing Biggie's unique rap style which is memorable clear and catchy. I love him as an artist and a rapper and this is a pinnacle of his short snapshot in time of fame as he was murdered shortly after his second album was released.
Biggie's music is a window into a world I will probably never fully understand, a grim life of crime and hardship but also the contrast of debauchery and celebration. So I find it very fascinating, I also love the grim topics being slotted into this up-beat catchy music.
It's a very honest and raw account of an extreme life.
Fascinating, impressive, exciting and interesting.
I also love this work with insane amounts of samples, it's very cool! Almost like a musical version of a collage which you draw/paint your own work over and between.
I don't mind for once about how long this album is because it's the amazing story-telling skills which keep even me hooked somehow for over an hour.
Elvis Presley
5/5
I've recently watched the biopic Elvis from 2022 and really really enjoyed learning about his life and music. I already had a lot of love for this album but it's so fun to listen again fully since watching the film.
I find Elvis' start in show business so amazing and inspiring and think this is very impressive for a debut album. When I think of where he came from and where his inspiration came from and how he fought the pressure from conservative Americans to water down his music and personality, I feel all fired up and inspired and emotional haha! And oh ma Gadddd Elvis' voice in unmatched in its field if that makes sense hahaha.
Love an album that can make me feel this much. Also there is great variety and originality in this album. Love the diversity of dynamics throughout.
I really appreciate the album artwork which is very cool too.
Highlights for me are Trying to Get to You and I Got a Woman and Money Honey also Blue Moon ugh, incredible tracks!!!
Screaming Trees
4/5
I wasn't sure what I would make of this album having never heard of Screaming Trees and expecting it to be a bit too chaotic/punk for my taste. I am enjoying the opening track surprising amounts with the Indian sound I love so much from tabla and sitar. I also really like his voice and the general sound and feel so far.
This whole album has a vaguely familiar sound and feel to it somehow... It makes me think of Eddie Vedder music even though it doesn't sound exactly like it, similar voice maybe.
But also it reminds me of a 90s soundtrack, very familiar and comforting.
I've not intently listened to all of the words on this album but Look at You is extremely poetic and it's stunning, a real highlight!
There's good variety here too, I prefer the more unusual tracks to the more basic rock ones like Dying Days for example is not my fave.
Bert Jansch
4/5
This is a good discovery! I loved the Pentangle album we listened to and now I see that Jansch was part of Pentangle.
Really enjoyed this album. I can clearly see how he might have inspired people like Johnny Flynn and been an integral part of the 60s British folk revival.
Scottish folk too, what's not to love. It has that real Scottish fairytale mystical sound to it. I think Running From Home is maybe the only track I already knew before this and it's such a beautiful song. The lyrics are gorgeous and the guitar is mesmerising. Another highlight is Alice's Wonderland. This has made me definitely want to listen to more Bert Jansch and Pentangle!
Alanis Morissette
4/5
I've had some really good moments with this album haha! Right now there's currently a lot of hype about Alanis Morisette in popular culture. I enjoy Hand in My Pocket and a couple of the tracks but in between these I find her almost waily singing style can get a bit irritating after listening in a big chunk like a whole album. However, listening to this while working from home is very different to drunkenly belting the lyrics using a bluetooth karaoke microphone which is very fun and satisfying. There is definitely something very cathartic and satisfying about this album in the right contexts and I definitely don't hang my hat with the groups who find her too angry which is reductive and annoying, I love that she openly explored themes of female sexuality with this album. Overall some fun catchier songs which are great in a certain context but not the most chilled listening, and I think the album has importance for the world of music.
Aerosmith
2/5
Hm, this is making me decide I don't really like Aerosmith. I like Walk This Way because it's a cool fun song but the rest is so bleh, boring, inconsequential and I don't like the lyrics they're annoying even if they're tongue in cheek.
Van Morrison
2/5
Ahh I found this album annoying but I feel like I shouldn't have haha. It's kind of jazzy influenced free form folk music with a heck of a lot of feeling which sounds right up my street on paper but it's really not in reality. I found it so annoying and boring at the same time if that's possible. Maybe it's because I haven't heard this before knowing that Van Morrison became a bit of an anti-vaxxer douche... maybe it's purely the music I don't like for some reason I can't pin point.
Fever Ray
4/5
I've never heard of the Knife or Fever Ray and I absolutely love their non-cheesy, unique, and exciting electro pop music. This album, which is an introduction to their music for me, is very interesting and exciting! I love their type of voice which I would compare to Robyn, Christine and the Queens, Bjork, M.I.A. and many other musical giants. Not sure how I've missed this artist completely but I really like the magical fairytale feel of this album. It feels like an adventure. I'm interested to listen to more of their albums now.
Laura Nyro
4/5
Very nice sound from a 60s folky singer-song writer kind of woman but with an injection of plenty of funk soul and jazz, what a combo!
Great voice, great style, some unusual Joni Mitchell style musical gymnastics almost.
I really like the lyrics from the bits I've heard too.
I'm on my second listen because I'm listening while working and it feels like a great discovery for me having never heard her before. Love it! Exciting and varied, loaded with plenty of feeling and emotion with the soulful jazzy vibes too. I want to give a 4.5!
Talk Talk
2/5
Oh man I find this album so boring and droney. It's really irritating me. I listened already last week and zoned out so having to listen again before I can rate it now. There are some cool elements I guess like a sax and some jazzier parts but mostly this is cringe and boring and conjures up the image of an almost empty dance floor in an unpopular club at 1am haha. I think I prefer their other albums from what I remember where they have synths and go full 80s!
David Bowie
5/5
Oh wow this is definitely one of my favourite Bowie albums!! It's really an album of two halves, with the first half being punchy avant-pop bangers with artful lyrics which portray Bowie's state of mind, and the second half of electronic longer instrumental tracks.
I can see the influence of this album in so much of my favourite music. It's exciting, punchy, fresh even in 2023, innovative, and above all fun.
Bobby Womack
4/5
Reading about Womack's years of supporting other artists before finally getting some success in his own right is hear wrenching. He worked with a lot of the greats and I can hear and believe how they influenced him but also the other way around.
There's a lot of variety in this album which is like a library of funk/soul/R&B, wonderful. I think I like Stand Up the most, but the whole album makes me want to dance.
I'm not sure about the title The Poet, the lyrics don't seem particularly poetic to me nor does the instrumentation but maybe I'm missing something. Otherwise that's a bit off/arrogant maybe haha.
Stan Getz
3/5
I found this lovely! Smooth relaxing jazz which reminds me of a very cool cocktail bar in the 60s... Not the most exciting but very sophisticated and relaxing...
KISS
3/5
I was kind of dreading listening to this for some reason... It was actually a really fun listen. It's quite a sexy album isn't it? I also find it walks that fine line well between the humour of heavy metal and still being remotely cool. Unless that's just my interpretation I don't know. I can't exactly figure out what I think about it but I kind of enjoyed it in a light hearted way. Pretty inoffensive and classic, not too cringe but a good dose of cringe for good measure. Then Beth is a cute heart-felt song which was unexpected. Good 70s vibes. Overall I get kindof rock opera theatrical vibes too which is fun!
I basically had no preconceptions or ideas about Kiss before listening to this so it's a pure reaction.
OH and it really reminded me of playing endless hours of guitar hero with my brother as a tween which is fun! That style of guitar and drums together is quite fun.
Sade
3/5
Smooth Operator, what a banger! Loving her voice so much! It sounds exactly like my Finnish musician friend. I never knowingly listened to Sade other than hearing Smooth Operator of course. Now I'm really enjoying the sax and her voice and passion, amazing. Very relaxing and sophisticated. I'm not so hooked after Smooth Operator though I'm a bit bored zoning out. Overall it's creating a good vibe and feeling but not exactly capturing my imagination.
Roxy Music
3/5
I've given this a listen a good few times now! I really like it on the whole it has a good vibe and gives me a good feeling. I love the nice 70s sound it has and the wide variety it really does have. I do feel though that the music doesn't stand out as much as the unique and artful cover which has a fun back story and is obviously eye catching and cool. The music doesn't live up to the cover for me... I like it but it's lacking something to grab my attention and I don't know exactly what that is.
Radiohead
5/5
I did not know that this was going to be a double album with Kid A and was produced at the same time but then separated because it had too much in it for one double. I absolutely love this, super beautiful and unusual and catchy. Morning Bell/Amnesiac has been in my head for weeks now for some reason so really nice to listen to that. I don't know how he writes these tracks, so mystical.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
Ah wow I love these Bluesy live session type albums. This was really fun. It certainly lifted my mood this morning in the home office. I don't have loads to say other than this was a good time and it made me dance which is always a great sign.
Barry Adamson
4/5
I felt like we already reviewed one of his albums but apparently not! I hadn't heard of him but I see he was one of the bad seeds and has some big dog connections from the collaborators on this album. I really like the idea of writing a soundtrack for a non-existent film. But also good for Barry because Something Wicked This way Comes did end up on Lost Highway, David Lynch of all people!! Excellent work. It's delightfully strange and takes all kinds of spooky experimental twists and turns. It's actually really fun to listen to for me :-) in parts it's like literally sexy jazz haha. The Sweetest Embrace is an absolute tune, love the old school bluesy vocals and saloon vibes lol.
Arcade Fire
4/5
I've listened to this album a lot since first seeing it come up on here. I don't think I've ever listened before purposefully and I absolutely love it. Black Mirror what a strong start. Absolutely love that they bought a church and converted it to record in. I only regret that I haven't had time to dive into the lyrics and include that in my review but I love the sounds and I think the fact that I keep listening says it all.
Randy Newman
3/5
I really like Randy's voice and it is partly because of the nostalgia of toy story and other Disney music. Also when I went on a family trip to California in like 2004 we had some kind of Disney flight and listened to the Disney radio the entire 10+ hours or whatever to San Francisco with hours of him chatting about writing Disney music and then the songs... strange behaviour but we didn't have TVs so this reminds me of that fun memory haha. I think he is super talented and I like the overall vibe. However, I don't like how twee some of the songs are and I don't like the religious themes that creep in.
Ozomatli
4/5
Amazing mix of influences and cultures. Never heard of this group before but I like what I find when I'm researching them a little bit. This vibe of taking you around the world by taking you around LA is really cool because of how international LA is. The biggest influence I hear coming through is the Latin one with Spanish lyrics and Latin beats. I love this mix of R&B Salsa Samba Jazz etc etc. It keeps me so interested throughout the album and makes me want to dance some salsa. Really great! Who Discovered America? Wow what a poem, amazing tune too.
Green Day
4/5
Super fun!!! Nostalgic and great to listen to :) it not only pulls me back to teenage years every time I listen to a GD album, it also amazes me how their music stands the test of time. The skill is evident, the words are often relatable, the passion shines through no matter how many years have passed it doesn't feel dated because the quality of sound and instrumentation is just so good (to me anyway with my limited experience and knowledge). Excellent music to get hyped and motivated to get loads of work done haha. Pulling Teeth and Basket Case obviously highlights I love F.O.D. too.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Really gorgeous voice, love Willie Nelson and his music!! So stunning the guitar work the gravel in his voice it's all very soothing and magical. While this is a great selection of tracks he covered and I'm glad I was introduced to it, mostly I'd rather listen to the originals. The production is great so it makes sense when you realise it was Booker T :-)
Talking Heads
5/5
Oooh always nice to hear a Talking Heads album and this is the debut no less. I just think for me Psycho Killer eclipses the rest of the album it's such a fucking genius song and I have a strong love for it. I also just love their sound in general and this is one of those debuts which I think really put their distinct sound out into the world right away, there was no warm up needed. Very impressive and takes some conviction. The beats, the bass, the voice and the lyrics all so brilliant and so unique.
Guided By Voices
3/5
Wow I really cannot get into this album. Guided by Voices are new to me. At first I thought 1/2 minute songs were right up my street and I think they would be in other cases because I like that choppy changing thing you can't easily zone out or get bored. But they ended up all melting into one brown pooey lump in my head. What is with the snoring on Ex-Supermodel?? I just don't get it at all. I don't like it, nothing has stood out to me as particularly good until the fiddle on Blimps Go 90 which woke me up a bit to hear something different and this track sounds like it might be in an indie film in the 00s or 2010s something I don't know, I kind of like this track.
New Order
3/5
Nice to listen to this on vinyl! Although this album doesn't include really any of their major hits, I do appreciate the 80s vibes and boppy beats, it's a good time and is apparently considered their best work by many. Especially love the full 80s synth on Sub-culture. There is something very trashy about the low-effort vocals haha but I kind of don't mind it and it does give the music something unique and interesting about it. I did get kind of bored and lose interest in this album and had to listen twice to check. Glad I did because on second listen I loved half the tracks and found half of them were boring.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
This is very cool 60s debut from the Rolling Stones. It's packed with covers though aside from one original track, I don't love this but it was standard in the 60s. One thing I cannot understand is why they put Now I've Got a Witness before Can I Get a Witness??? Haha! Is it just to make people think about their album more? I Just Want to Make Love to You is obviously a banger to the max and I love their version of it in fact I now don't know if I even know a different/original version of that song. The instrumental moments are excellent it's so tight and crisp and I want to dance. Good fun!
The Prodigy
1/5
WELL this angry crab moving photo album cover is pretty cool and really captures a crab's personality and the way that they move too haha. I don't know about this album. I can definitely support The National Organisation for Women when they publicly objected to the track Smack My Bitch Up. It's just such a shame that has to ruin the rest of this amazing album and even that tune is incredible the vocals towards the end from Shahin Badar are mesmerisingly gorgeous. It's not even them singing that line it's all a sample. Couldn't they find something else to fit in there?? I find their claim that it was meant to represent "doing anything intensely" absolutely sickening... I wish I could focus on some of the other tracks and the fact of how influential their music was in the electronic music world and for so many musicians to come. I just think of all of the generation of 11-18 year-old boys listening to this album and getting all hyped and fired up and never even thinking about smacking any bitches up but always thinking a band who could get to number 1 for so fucking long with that line as the words ringing in everyone's heads were so great and cool. They purely just did it to get people talking about them that much is obvious and it worked and it's infuriating. SHAME!
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
I listened to this a couple of times whilst working because I didn't have any strong feelings! I really liked the sounds and vibes, so the small feelings I did have were positive. It just didn't stand out very much to me.
The Pretty Things
4/5
OOoh a very nice start with the sitar. Lovely sounds! Very distinctively from the 60s from the start which is a very good thing for me. Never heard of the Pretty Things. So far I am enjoying the vocals. Ooooh one of the first ever rock operas?? Excellent. Strapping in for a wonderful story then. Getting a lot of Beatles and Beach Boys influences but also this is creative and interesting in its own right I think. A nice discovery.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Really enjoyed this! Perfectly weird and wonderful, full of surprises really fun! Love the whispering randomly on one track really enjoyed the instrumental and will listen more. Never thought to listen to DMR beyond Come on Eileen so it's really nice to hear that there's more to their work for me anyway.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Oh I love this album. Not all time fave but it's one of the great S&G albums. It has their warm familiar jangly instrumental sounds. Homeward Bound is a corker also Feelin Groovy has a beautiful sentiment and I think I know it so well it's in my bones. The title track is such a classic and reminds me of the film The Graduate which is one of my all time faves. It's got amazing variation and the unique soft unusual vocals with harmonies and unexpected parts of humming and la-ing. All of the lyrics conjure up such good feelings for me and yet they're not all just happy. Some are beautifully melancholy and mournful like The Dangling Conversation, woah if you really listen to it, where the fuck did they pull those lyrics from? So gorgeous. Not my fave S&G tracks but still incredible and I appreciate this opportunity to find new love for these songs. So relaxing and interesting too, I'm so curious about the creative process behind writing these songs.
Janis Joplin
4/5
Wow what an ultimate last hurrah from Joplin!! I love Me and Bobby McGee and some tracks I haven't heard before on here. Janis Joplin what an idol!! Pure power and character - it takes so much to be able to sing in this style which is extremely impressive to me because I could never haha! Amazing
Pavement
2/5
Hm, Pavement - not really my thing but there are definitely good elements to be found here. Haven't listened to them before. Suuuuper 90s which I do like, highlight for me was Cut Your Hair, love the ooh ooh ooohs but then Hit the Plane Down at the other end of the scale is like the opposite of feel-good music for me haha! The sounds are stressful for my brain and it really puts me in a weird mood. So not a high rating overall from me but definitely a mixed feeling throughout the album.
Beach House
3/5
Ah started writing a review and lost it haha!
I really like dream pop and hadn't heard of Beach House so was quite excited to listen to this.
I really liked the opening guitar and track in general which was a promising start, lovely and relaxing.
Now as the album goes on I find myself hoping for something more unusual or interesting to jump out at me... It's lovely but not super special.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
Ah wow I hadn't heard of Skip Spence or his band, but reading the story behind this album briefly all I can think is "wow". I started listening before I realised just how much pain is in these songs and that it was after a hospital stint which followed an incident involving an axe!?!? Gosh. LOL then the production just wanted to leave him to it in the studio and have no one bother him so they just released a demo and it's so beautifully raw, creative and experimental. Absolutely love the drums all over this album - it connects somewhere with my soul! A cool album I never would have otherwise heard of.
Steely Dan
2/5
I don't have much to say, this was ok ish but didn't stand out or give me any strong feelings!
Shuggie Otis
5/5
What a gorgeous album and what a find?!? So pleased to be introduced to Shuggie Otis too, I will certainly be listening to his other albums now! Really enjoying the jazz r&b blues and other great sounds of this. Also love the ideas behind the lyrics. Highlights included inspiration information with its squelchy bouncy beats and lush guitar parts. Such a top fee good track. And also Strawberry Letter 23, really cool idea for a song.
Moby
5/5
Wowowow I mean I knew I would love this but I didn't know quite how much. I got quite deep into the research of where the samples came from on a few of these tracks and I love that soul/gospel Southern folk music. My GOD there is so much beautiful feeling in those songs and stories passed from generation to generation. It could have gone two ways with some guy sampling them in the 90s but jeez he has done these tracks justice breathing new life into small pieces of them. This is a spectacular example of sampling IMO. I also LOVE Porcelain with Moby's vocals, God it's a stunning 90s nostalgia soup. Very relaxing/exciting/beautiful album absolutely love it. Also really fun to find out he got the nickname Moby from his great-great-uncle being the author of Moby Dick!!
Dead Kennedys
4/5
When I first looked at this album and the Dead Kennedys (I'd not heard of them before), I wasn't feeling too positive about my enjoyment of the album. HOWEVER, I really enjoyed it!
I love the witty hilarious observations about some of the shittier parts of society and the political messages. I think it's great that they were prosecuted for obscenity and seen as dangerous, what could be more hardcore?! Take the track Let's Lynch the Landlord, who couldn't relate and enjoy that other than actual landlords and their offspring??
I love that you can hear the lyrics clearly on a lot of the tracks and there is less of the noise I find stressful with a lot of punk music.
It also reminds me of a friend from my open mic night who can whip up a similar hilarious song minutes after one of us shares a funny remark in the Whatsapp group.
On first glance, the album looks quite long but every track is punchy and short.
There are a few tracks in between which are more fillery to me and have more of that kind of noise I find so stressful so it's not perfect but I am so pleasantly surprised and excited to enjoy a hardcore punk album that I will rate this quite highly.
Adele
4/5
I wouldn't really choose to listen to this album normally, but I so appreciate Adele's talent. That woman can do things with her voice that I could only dream of doing hahaha. Her song-writing skills are pretty insane too. Trying to get my head around the fact that she wrote these incredible emotional mature and intelligent songs which are catchy and interesting and exciting before the age of 21!?!? Also it's a stunning cover of Lovesong too... I have so much respect for Adele and this impressive album.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
I'm not sure what to rate this album. Hendrix's music is not exactly my thing but I can wholly appreciate how fucking cool, slick, talented, unusual, ground-breaking, and inspirational his music is. I did enjoy listening to this album too, it's also really fun music! It's so clever how he bridged the gaps between classic jazz/blues/soul and rock and so seamlessly too! I just don't enjoy long drawn-out guitar solos that much, there's no two ways about that. So even having said all of the above, this does somewhat decrease my enjoyment of the album. There's so much more to it than just guitar solos but it is a huge part of it. It makes it less easy to listen to and catchy I guess. Very very cool though!
3/5
Wow hello there 80s!! I don't get why he wouldn't accept that it's a concept album?? Concept albums are great, were they not very cool in the 80s?? They released a film of the music videos and it has a running story...
Aside from that I do enjoy the synthy sounds and the 80s film soundtrack feel to this album. However, listening a little further, I feel like this is a joke haha. Like is this actually serious it's so insanely cheesy.
This is a cheesy 80s musical in an album! I love and hate it and confused how to rate it! I can only enjoy this really for about 3 tracks and then it's enough, also the majority of the songs aren't catchy enough for me they get a bit rambly - apart from The Look of Love - which is GENIUS, so so fun.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
Devendra Banhart is new to me. His voice is quite affected which I don't love, I favour a more authentic vocal.
Instrumentation is very pretty but not that varied or unusual, kind of basic guitar piano etc.
There is an Asian feel to some of the tracks with the vibrato and guitar style but it doesn't quite get there for me, almost like it's trying to achieve that and failing to do so.
I can't decide whether the lyrics are clever or just a bit bullshit haha. Some parts are really lovely and poetic and I do really understand how hard this is to achieve. In places it kind of reminds me of Alexi Murdoch who I love love love but it feels less exciting and less unique to me. But still beautiful. I don't think I'd come back to this as it's not memorable enough.
I can see why this music has been used in some films and adverts... It's very standard trendy advert kind of music some of it.
Prince
3/5
Really fun sexy 80s funk! Super cool and sophisticated. Love the idea of an apocalypse-anticipating album and all of the freedom and frivolity that brings if you think you're experiencing the last few years of existence. Not 100% catchy enough for me or maybe I just had album reviewing fatigue today from trying to catch up!?
Funkadelic
5/5
AGHHHHH this is serving guitar solos even I can enjoy!!! The pure emotion in that delivery on Maggot Brain, grabs even the short attention span I usually have for guitar solos and I cannot help but listen in awe. The thought of watching/listening to this live in a field makes me almost jizz. This is one of my favourite albums of all time ever.
What some might interpret as lacking cohesion, to me gives diversity and variation throughout the album.
Pure EXCITING influential, mind-bending funk.
Can You Get to That is an all-time favourite feel-good song, absolutely love it's exuberance and different vocal sections. Also great messages in this and all the other tracks too.
LOVE the length of the album it's punchy and fun and doesn't arrogantly try to take up all of your day haaha. In general an album I can 100% get behind!
The Who
3/5
I don't exactly get why this album is on this list. It seems like it was a kind of side project rather than a serious album. Including fake advert jingles and even real ones. I like the idea and the irony of calling themselves sell outs when they did start to write for adverts etc. But I don't think I'd see it as an absolute must to listen to before you die or even one of their best. More like a creative and interesting kind of side project maybe? Doesn't quite fit here in my mind. Good though, not a bad listen.
4/5
Agh I haven't heard of Yes, I guess that might be sacrilege... I have had such mixed feelings with this album hahaha. I'll start with the negative, one track I can't remember which was too posey guitar solo hero dickhead for my taste, HOWEVER, I really like the tracks with vocals on, very Sting-like vocals. Also, as a life-long Long Song Hater, I actually didn't mind this small collection of very long songs, they move quite quickly taking different twists and turns which can be exciting as long as it's not just one long guitar solo. I guess these guys helped make prog rock mainstream and were very important in that which means I do and should appreciate them really! My highlight was "And You and I".
XTC
3/5
I thought I would need to give this another listen after the weekend but I don't want to haha! This was ok and I'd like to listen to something else from XTC maybe but this did not excite me. I can't remember anything standing out about this album and I cba to listen again - says it all.
Slipknot
2/5
I think I will give this album a 2.
There are some redeeming features shockingly haha!
The drums are fucking insane and I do not know how a human can produce that sounds with drum sticks and a kit!! So impressive and hard to ignore.
Some cool melodic sections with harmonies as well as the guttural shouting and chanting.
Very authentic human emotions and passion!
However, it's so self-indulgent and not in a funny way that I can get behind like some cheesy 90s rom com soundtracks for example where they're singing about heart break.
I don't know anything about metal and I don't have a sophisticated opinion but I do quite like the Linkin Park esque vocals (like on Sulfur).
Have to admit I'm not sure I will fully listen to all of every single song on this album, I may get the jist and skip on, oops!
Paul Simon
4/5
Love Paul Simon!! My all time favourite album though is obviously Graceland... This album has a very different feel to it. It's much slower and more raw in terms of the storytelling taking a more melancholy direction.
The storytelling in these tracks is absolutely wonderful as ever and I've not come across the song Duncan before which is lovely. I'm curious where the inspiration for that song came from and who it is about.
Great variety of sounds and instruments and feelings from the different tracks. But I do prefer the more upbeat and exciting Graceland still.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
1/5
Not happy to be seeing another Costello on this list. Not happy that this is our Monday album. At least it's out of the way already... It's all up from here!
The Everly Brothers
2/5
Agh I really like this kind of sound but I just can't get behind the lyrics... I know they were standard at their time and I'm not going to blame the Everly Brothers but it literally starts with "girls girls girls were made to love" and "that's why some of them are 5 foot 2" and "that's why you watch them walk down the street" I mean COME ON jeesus. It's a bit much to swallow so to say ;)
Same feeling throughout the rest of the album. It's a kind of music I really enjoy but I can't get past the dodgy words and misogyny.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
So I saw Dinosaur Jr. on the early influences for Sonic Youth and I saw that Sonic Youth toured with them in their early days and the influence and links come across loud and clear. As such, I also do not enjoy this album just like I do not enjoy Sonic Youth sadly... The guitar is super impressive but either the sound is too heavy for me like on Don't or it's just too depressing and doesn't stand out to me like on most of the other tracks :-( I'm so sorry I can see why they're influential and why people love them, but it's really not for me. Nothing stands out apart from the raw emotion. It's just not in an easy way for me to process or tap into and it leaves me feeling mildly anxious and stressed. It's the opposite of uplifting for me. Maybe if I saw it live...?
Sonic Youth
3/5
Ok I don't love Sonic Youth. I do really get why people do and I can appreciate the skill and passion which does make me appreciate their music on some level. However, most of the songs really stress me out! Same on this album mostly although I actually loved the opener and the closer! 100% is about a roadie and friend who they lost and it's beautiful. Creme Brulee is also so so beautiful and really an interesting song. So this start and finish did intrigue me and bring my rating up to 3 I think.
Frank Ocean
5/5
Absolutely cracking album packed with bangerz!! By 2012 I had kind of moved away from R&B music more into indie and folk music. Otherwise I would have been all over this though from Frank Ocean!! Also explains why I never got super into Frank Ocean back then. Now I am super into this music though I have more space for different music in my life. I was missing out!
There's the obvious hits like Thinkin Bout You and Super Rich Kids, but also other highlights Sierra Leone, and Pyramids.
Agh it just has really great relaxing, fucking cool, sexy vibes throughout. Never gets boring, no filler, super inventive but also reliably great. Also covers some really interesting/important topics. Love the more conversational elements.
Inspired by the meaning behind the name and album cover with his grapheme colour synthesesia - very interesting! Love the interest from pieces of ambient sound and soundbites from films etc. Very creative! It's got to be a 5 from me - LOVED it!
The Undertones
2/5
This is kind of fun for a couple of songs and Teenage Kicks is a bit of a banger but this album got a bit samey for me. I don't know if that's because I switched off and missed something but I did switch off from it. It seems to all hit the same note and then a couple of songs is great, but more is boring and I missed it if any of the songs had any depth to their lyrics or variation in the sounds.
Stan Getz
3/5
Very nice relaxing album!! Lovely mix of talents and instruments really enjoyed it today!
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
I've never really come across Mothers of Invention before... I have quite enjoyed this! Lots of inventive sounds and interesting experimental ideas. It's really fun and varied throughout. Although my brain was extremely busy while listening, I still found the songs and sounds stood out to me and didn't just blur into the background which is a rare quality for an album.
Now with a tiny bit of research I find that the front runner and brains behind this band is Frank Zappa and that explains it all to me. I particularly like the sounds from the 12-string guitar and so cool to see they used hair pins and tweezers to create some of the sounds on this album. Really fun and I loved it!
Amy Winehouse
5/5
Ughhhhh just fucking insanely great and amazing. I used to see Amy Winehouse in her final years in a pub in Kentish Town when I was doing uni drinking and avoiding revision for vet school exams haha. Her story really touched me and I always really appreciated her music even while she was alive but maybe even more so since she passed. I have a lot of time for this kind of jazzy version of intense story-telling. Her lyrics are genius and the tunes she wrote are unbelievably catchy. I always love listening around the hits to some of her lesser known songs. This album certainly helped me deal with some tough things like grief and heartbreak at certain points in my life and I think it's incredible.
Kate Bush
5/5
I have been repeatedly listening to this album since it came up here last week. I keep delaying reviewing because I don't feel I have the headspace to write a review which does this album justice at the moment! But I'm just going for it now so I can move on with my life hahaha.
The whole point is this album is so wonderfully influential and I can really hear that across the landscape of music since! It's also made a big big come-back lately which is also great to see a different generation also discovering and loving this amazing music.
So many mixtures of vocalisations and experimental noises in with more classical instrumentation and one of the most unique and stunning voices I've come across. I can't remember what introduced me to Kate Bush and her brilliance but I think it was my school friends and this album containing a lot of her big hits is certainly reminding me of fun times with school friends and younger years. I think even without these memories just the beauty in the curation of sounds in these songs would be enough to conjure up a lot of different feelings and emotions. Lovely stuff. Watching You Without Me is a super clever song which stands out in this album for me.
The Pogues
4/5
I can really appreciate the Pogues' radical art of stitching the spirit of punk through traditional Irish folk music. I love Irish folk music and really appreciate its beauty and history but one of the parts I love most about it is the story telling and I find it such a shame that I don't hear the lyrics in most of the Pogues tracks because they are extremely poetic and beautiful when I read them. But then I love the idea of punking up the Irish folk music and love the execution. It's so fun to listen to and makes me want to dance. Not loving the Christmas tunes just as the first signed of Spring begin to show outside haha but I'll forgive that for the Pogues. I love how rebellious and outrageous their music was in the mid 80s, it has great energy and spirit which I really click with. Never normally listen to their music in albums like this and would much prefer to go and see them perform live and do some very extravagant and free dancing hahaha!
Morrissey
2/5
Hm, kind of The Smiths but shit and some more up-beat tracks at the start of the album. Also though I can't stop thinking about how he is a bit of a dickhead and a conspiracy spreader, antivaxxer kind of annoying bad person... Detracts from the listening experience which wasn't that great already.
The Youngbloods
3/5
I quite liked this nice late 60s singer/songwriter vibe. The album was a fun listen but it didn't exactly majorly excite me I think I've heard a lot of its kind from other bands I know and love maybe too much so to really get into this.
Dr. John
4/5
I loved this!!! Never heard of Dr John but listening to this album was v fun! Lots of interesting vocals, sounds which seem to come from different cultural backgrounds, the conga drums on the last track - absolutely LOVE, really nice jazzy feel but so so interesting and fun. Mama Roux stood out to me but also it was really punchy as a whole album at 33 mins, love that, it keeps my interest and enjoyment then the whole way through.
David Bowie
5/5
Love love love this album. It took me on a fun journey on my run because it starts with the more classic Bowie bangers and slowly moves into these magic etherial kind of floating through a magical night garden type tracks towards the end. So experimental with sound as always and interesting lyrics and stories. Wonderfully weird and creative and enticing. So much variety and excitement to be found with Heroes.
Carpenters
2/5
Hm, this is really a lot of cover songs on here and mostly I prefer the originals. Even We've Only Just Begun I thought it was their original but they took it from an advert it was originally written for hahaha. Their arrangement and version of that song is pretty epic but the whole album I really don't like, it's so sickly sweet and then there's no nostalgia there for me or related memories so I can't bear the twee ness of it haha.
Tom Waits
4/5
This one definitely depends on the listening setting but I love what Tom Waits did with the story telling, fun to listen to and such an unusual sounds. Definitely not one for every/any occasion though and perhaps a bit of a marmite situation.
Supergrass
2/5
Agh I listened to this across a few sittings and probably didn't give it enough attention at all but really I just found it a bit bleh. Nothing standing out as particularly impressive, exciting or unusual and the words blended into nothing for me. I didn't mind it it was kind of nice but again I cba to go back and listen properly again which tells me all I needed to know I think.
Django Django
4/5
Every track is a banger!! Such unusual meshing cutting and manipulating of sound throughout I absolutely love it. So nostalgic too - brings me back to a really really fun time of life!
Calexico
4/5
I have really enjoyed this album! There's a nice mix between traditional Latin sounds and then Americana country with some jazz and rock in there too. I love the variety in the different tracks, it keeps the entire album so interesting to listen to. This gorgeous instrumental track "Whipping the Horses Eyes" which is so emotional and harrowing blends beautifully into the bouncy jazzy almost black panther-esque bass which opens "Crumble", it's such a fun listening experience like listening to a really cool and edgy story. I wish this album was a film! I know it would be epic. Nice to be introduced to something so different from this list.
Ride
2/5
Ahh noooo not feeling this one at all. Not for me at all. There was one track I thought was pretty cool and I can't remember which one it was but the rest are too stressful with the noises for me and my sensitive brain. Also in between the stressful noises there wasn't much else which I liked either it was a bit bleh to me. Maybe I'd enjoy this live though actually because it's reminding me of Just Mustard which I liked seeing live! Not an album for me to listen to at home at all though.
Beth Orton
2/5
I listened to this last week and I don't really want to listen again because now I'm behind on albumssss. I really like one track by Beth Orton called She Cries Your Name, I had it on a playlist when I was a teenager and it reminds me of some nice memories. God knows how I came across just this one song. I really like the vibes of that track it evokes a lot of different feelings and has a cool sound with a really nice guitar riff. Alas, this track is not on the album Central Reservation and nothing on this album stood out to me at all!!! Maybe I'll spend some time listening to her other work but this album wasn't doing much for me. Nice sounds but nothing jumping out as that interesting.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Aghhh one of the best of all time!! Wonderful story telling, that signature gravelly voice but still with enough melody squeezed in there to show off the incredible song-writing skills and catchy tunes of his songs. An absolute highlight is If You See Her, Say Hello, I have such a major connection with this song and it makes me really emotional without me really knowing why, and that folks, is the power of the Bobbles!
Gene Clark
3/5
Hm, this album has some nice moments. I like the tone of his voice and some of the tracks. But there are a lot of covers and the sound becomes very dreary quite quickly it's far from uplifting and some of these covers seems a bit like why bother? Shame because I'm sure I liked one of his other albums but not exactly sure why this is on this list.
Peter Tosh
4/5
This was perfect listening to accompany my very warm sunny afternoon on the terrace! A great sample of reggae music I'd heard the title track before but it's just great, great message, great vibes and sounds, lovely stuff.
The Waterboys
2/5
Why is this so long?? I don't know I got some Bob Dylan vibes at one point and I liked a few parts but to me this is like the dark side of folk music haha! They include a little version of This Land is Your Land which to me is a coloniser's anthem... I want to hear victory stories of old from women and other oppressed people groups in my folk music not the opposite story.
Also it's kinda boring.
Nightmares On Wax
4/5
Hahaha when I first read the title (it rang a bell but haven't specifically listened to this before or any Nightmares on Wax) I thought of classic tobacco smoking not weed and was like ooh what kind of music would that be and then I thought of when I used to smoke and what different kinds of music I used to like listening to haha! But this makes a lot more sense and it's wonderful. Very nice and relaxing to listen to and nice to actually work to, good jazzy sections. DJing is a skill which seems really abstract to me as I know basically nothing about it so it seems extremely impressive. I kind of group it with the parts of song-writing where some people have this incredible vision for what will sound amazing and how to build the layers of sound to something great. Again a hard skill to master which is really big in DJing unless you literally just throw everything together until it sounds great. Long story short, I like it and I'm impressed.
Wilco
4/5
Listened to this on Friday and again today on Monday, really enjoyed it and didn't have a chance to give it my full attention. I haven't really listened to Wilco properly before and I really like the vibe. Reminds me of 00s TV soundtracks and gives me nice nostalgic feelings. I like his voice. I want to listen again. Great mix of styles throughout the album.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
I loved it!! I haven't listened to Nusrat's work before specifically but I have been getting more and more into this style of classical South Asian music (I know that's an insanely huge/broad category) I love this style of singing and instrumentation I think it's highly skilled and impressive. I enjoy the sounds and I am going to add this into my rotation plus spend more time exploring his wider body of work.
Korn
1/5
Ok, I'm finally listening to this album to get it the fuck off my homepage so that I can move on with this challenge whilst also trying to catch up.
Metal is not my thing at all, I have never knowingly listened to a Korn album before. I read some of the critical reception first to try to understand a bit about it. I seems like this might have been one of the first tries at combining scatting, heavy guitar music, AND hip hop and rap music but I could be wrong with that. My first impressions were, this is not the worst metal I've ever heard and actually I quite like the tempering of this metal with hip hop which I generally love. Then it becomes very clear that this music was written by men in their 30s, it's VERY silly isn't it lol, not in a great way either with shitty scatting and stupid lyrics. And as I head into the 4th track I'm starting feel despair bubbling up when I think about listening to this for over an hour. Let's be honest, I'm not going to listen to every second of every track on this one. I enjoyed the intros on quite a few of the tracks where they had nice riffs and hip hop beats, then mostly as the song built and got heavier throughout I begun to hate it. I'm leaving this experience feeling quite sad that I added to the listener numbers of this album on Spotify.
The Fall
2/5
Hm ok this was a very bad start, decided to persevere, didn't love this but it did somehow grow on me... The Fall is NOT my scene. I don't find it that impressive or fun to listen to it kind of stresses me out but actually the track LA I quite liked the vocalisations and the vibe of the song and a couple of other songs after that I liked a bit more too. Maybe I need to research more of the back story to be a bit more sold on what their music is doing for the world.
New Order
4/5
A gorgeous inventive and fun album from New Order. I love this a lot Vanishing Point is a highlight. It is so deliciously 80s while also somehow being extremely cool to me? Normally those two things don't go together in my head. Listened twice, good opportunity to dust this off. Love the album artwork too!
Deee-Lite
4/5
So fun to listen to an entire Deee-Lite album!! Groove is in the Heart is an all-time banger. Surprising that it was released in 1990, a fun party album and although it's lacking a bit of variety, it's a good unique fun sound and perfect for what it is meant for.
Brian Eno
4/5
Oooh excited to see this on the list of what I've missed in a week away from this. I guess this is an earlier Eno before he got super ambient. I love that it's quite jazzy and also already giving hints of that very relaxing plonky more ambient sound. Really enjoying Kurt's Rejoinder too, that bass is lovely and bouncy. Wish I had more time to delve into the lyrics and back story and context of this album but alas it's a very busy time so I'm just glad to be getting to listen and review this lovely album. Not my all time fave Eno but a fun listen!!
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
This is great, jazzy beats, innovative rap, catchy in places and just another great Tribe called quest album.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Oh yes, 80s genius and also it contains Sledgehammer which is a true banger with a very excellent music video.
Love love love the 80s beats, Peter Gabriel's voice, other vocals, instrumentation, inspiration and lyrics, the list goes on. Generally love it.
I got influenced by an ex and his dad many moons ago and I really enjoy this album since, a classic.
Kings of Leon
3/5
I really enjoyed this!! I didn't enjoy the first KOL album which I am told is when they were best (at the beginning), I thought I'd find this just as boring but it was much more catchy and interesting. I think if I'd found this when it came out I would have more memories attached and nostalgia and really love this now. However, now here we are in 2023 and I know KOL got shit so I'm not about to invest time into getting into it.
Christina Aguilera
4/5
Really enjoyed this! Loved listening to some old classics, Beautiful, Fighter, Can't Hold Us Down, Dirrty, I'm OK, and also some I hadn't heard before, Infatuation was a highlight of these. Some of these songs really spoke to me when I was growing up, she covered some heavy themes in her lyrics and was a real icon speaking up for the struggles and rights of women and girls. One of the first voices I heard highlighting these issues growing up in an extremely conservative family and I'm so pleased she made it mainstream with this message. Also really appreciate the R&B vibes and Spanish influences throughout the album. A really nice throw-back listen.
The Police
4/5
Very fun! Love the Police to be honest, reminds me of silly nostalgic dance routines from when I was a tween and free newspaper CDs. Never listened to a whole album from them I don't think! This is a good'un such a unique sound and feels like quintessential Police on this one. Loved Walking on the Moon and the title track Reggatta De Blanc really interesting sound and composition!
Don McLean
4/5
This was such a great surprise and I don't know why!? I just associate American Pie with the films which are completely gross haha this is a symptom of being born in the early 90s I guess. I hadn't realised how long it was either, I didn't even mind which is huge! I thought Vincent was a Beatles song for some reason haha! I've heard so many people cover it including a good friend of mine who often plays Beatles tracks. Don McLean what a song-writer! Guy knows how to write a beautiful song and a really fun song too. Quite a fun little discovery! Ooh Babylon right at the end, super cool!
Kate Bush
5/5
Absolutely stunning masterpiece. I've never listened to this album properly before and I'm so so happy that I have now. I'm going to keep listening quite a few more times now as well. This album takes me to so many interesting places in my mind and on a much more shallow level is also just really lovely to listen to, it makes me feel good and I love the complexity of different sounds working together. I cannot imagine how a piece of artwork like this could be created by a human or where you would start with it. There is a lot of magic in this album for me.
Fugees
5/5
Yessssss, a classic 90s hip-hop album with the skits between songs, the laid back rap vibes and the warm addictive riffs!! It's a beauty! I love the samples on this album particularly on Ready or Not (a certified BANGER) where they sampled Enya, I think it's absolutely amazing that they didn't realise they needed to credit her and that she nearly sued them but decided to settle out of court when she realised that their music was really good and "not gangsta rap"! That's such a brilliant funny back story and I'm glad they figured it out in the end. Love the Fugees and Lauryn Hill in general, this is basically the only Fugees album as the first one was a flop but that's kind of nice in a way. It's just a really great snapshot in time and then they all moved on to other projects. Zealots is the sound of my early teenage years. Obviously it kind of goes without saying but such a soulful interesting version of Killing me Softly too.
David Bowie
3/5
I didn't listen to this in the right conditions! It was on a laptop while working so not very loud and it mostly faded into the background. It's not my favourite Bowie album but it does have some good moments like Jean Genie and more towards the end of the album.
Paul McCartney
4/5
I rarely listen to McCartney albums but when I do I really love it! This is just one of those annual reminders to listen to his best albums again. This is a corker, classic McCartney song-writing story-telling and also just stringing nonsense together to make some nice art. The unique riffs, melodies, lyrics and sounds somehow all have a signature McCartney vibe which I can't put my finger on which brings it all together and makes it so clearly his. Love Man we was Lonely, Singalong Junk. A great time listening to this.
Kings of Leon
2/5
I hear that this is the best of KoL and that this is before they got all commercial and shit. I also hear that this was great in context after a lot of bland guitar music along came the White Stripes and these guys and loads of others... White Stripes YES I get it it's so so cool and I can get why people were so buzzed when they came along but this just no. I don't see it. I'd suggest it's maybe not as cool as people thought it was even at the start when they were apparently at their best! BLEH
Joe Ely
1/5
Ah man, this is pretty shit to me. I feel like there's a fair reason why I had never heard of Joe Ely before... I prefer Country music from women artists so I didn't have high hopes but there's nothing really interesting, inspiring or captivating from this album. I find the melodies cheesy and not in a good way, the lyrics aren't speaking to me either. This song Fingernails is particularly disturbing and makes me feel a little bit sick hahaha. Overall, not impressed.
Lambchop
2/5
This album is really varied and not in a good way for me, I don't know where I stand with it and it makes me feel uneasy. A lot of the tracks sound like an intro for a gritty TV show but they also sound very dark and foreboding. I don't know what it is but it makes me feel really uneasy in the second half of the album. The first half or maybe even 3/4 was very bleh to me. Quite bland, uninspiring and corny. I think I like his voice but I'm not sure and I can't really compare to other work because this is the first I've heard of Lambchop.
The Young Rascals
2/5
I dunno, maybe I'm not in the best mood for reviewing today but I like the music when I actually register it but mostly it's sinking into the background and I'm not hearing it at all. I thought it got significantly more interesting and good towards the end but it had actually finished and gone onto the next Spotify suggestion... bad signs.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
Wow love this so much, never heard of Bebel Gilberto and haven't actually listened to much Brazilian music in general. I love her voice it's such a sexy album. Particularly loved the more ambient tracks and also Bananeira is really fun. Super relaxing and beautiful.
Malcolm McLaren
1/5
This music is really fun and interesting and clearly had a big impact on music in the UK by introducing many people in the UK to hip hop in the 80s. However, it's a bit mad that it was just ok to blatantly appropriate an entire album of music and not even credit the musicians or make any changes to it to make it your own or bring any creativity. Kind of grim. Cool idea to bring music from the Mahotella Queens around the world but not if you're not going to credit them or even mention their names on the album... Weird. Soweto is a great tune but it doesn't belong to Malcolm.
Tom Waits
4/5
OOOH love a Tom Waites album, and this is one of my preferred TW albums. It's so dark and dramatic in a very cool and interesting way. Love the use of rhythm and percussion. It sounds like a film soundtrack and actually the track Whistle Down the Wind, is it named after the film? I can't find any info about a connection anywhere but that is an absolutely excellent film. Loved the variety of more and less melodic tracks and range of sounds. I love his voice but I understand it's a marmite situation. I LOOOOOVE the story-telling style and will listen again soon.
Meat Puppets
3/5
Wow I put this off for so long based on how heavy the first track was!!! Then I just decided to finally listen today while I finish some work and wow I'm so amazed by the variation on this album. The funkier tracks I really enjoyed like I'm Not Here and also I found Aurora Borealis really interesting and creative. I just listened to it all (not with great focus mind-you) and I can't actually remember whether there were any vocals at all?? Which is mad to me and not a great sign. Such a strange album though and it kind of makes me like it so much more just for the fact of how surprising it was at every turn haha!
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
What a journey with this album haha! I hated the start to the point where I couldn't listen to the full track for tracks 2-4. It was super gothic new wave which I guess is their signature sound?? Not my bag at all. Then I loved 1959, it was more Nick Cave vibes, the piano style was really nice even with the 80s synth effects on it. I also enjoyed This Corrosion, which was more up-beat and reminded me of the Footloose soundtrack which is the side of 80s music which I love too much. Makes me want to dance and have a great time hahaha. Now we are coming towards the end stages in the last 3 tracks and I'm back to meh-ville. Boring, over-dramatic at best and giving me anxiety at worst. Such a mixed album for me.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
4/5
I'm new to Blood, Sweat & Tears and I enjoyed this intro quite a lot! It made for great Monday morning work music. I recognise Spinning Wheel from a few places. I read that they have quite a wild story of shooting to fame and crashing quite hard after about 3 albums. I'd like to listen to those other albums but I can see why this was in the middle of the 3. SUCH a 60s sound, I really enjoy his voice it's lovely. I found this album so inventive and creative, found myself dancing a lot which is great. I also felt like listening went by so quickly which is another great sign, I couldn't find anything but the extended version but didn't even find it too long! Was about to list some highlights but then I'd end up writing the whole thing. Blues Pt. 2 was maybe my fave though. Loved the beginning and ending too. Loved the mix of jazz, blues and rock. The only thing I don't really understand and can't be bothered to figure it out, is the mix of what they've written themselves and what is covered. It seems like there was a lot of changes in the group...
Brian Eno
3/5
Wow a really interesting mix on this album!! Love the first half maybe a lot more than the later tracks on it. Eno is just so fucking cool. The experimentation and mix of sounds and the backstory is so inspiring. It just gets a little bit too chaotic for my sensitive ears later on in the album. Nice and jazzy/electronic.
Daft Punk
4/5
What an incredible debut album, sexy bit of French house. Super fresh and experimental, so creative with the name of Homework when they did it at home with their own resources and minds. I love how organic the creation of this album was and it's such a heart warming story of artist evolution. Not exactly perfect listening for working IMO, particularly the more abstract tracks like Burnin' but super fun to listen to the classics, what a load of bangerz!
The Specials
5/5
LOVE the specials love that they're from Coventry, love the album cover (photo from Leamington Spa), love the lyrics and themes, love the reggae sections, love the jazz sections, love the vocals, love the up-beat dance vibes, love the messages, love the power of music overall!
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
4/5
This was so wonderful!! Salty Dog was a fun highlight and also the tracks with what I think was a woman's vocals? Really nice vintage country vibes. Never heard of Jack Elliott before but all of the Spotify suggestions after the album were corkers too so that's always a great sign!
Johnny Cash
4/5
Wow excellent album! Finally got a Johnny Cash album and it's a corker! A great mix of tracks live in a prison??? Excellent! That classic story-telling, unique voice, and killer guitar paired with a cool setting and vibe.
Mariah Carey
3/5
I really enjoyed listening to this but was dealing with some complex personal admin at the time so didn't focus that well. It's a banging album and really takes me back to simpler times... The voice is obviously the star of the show, but also love the nostalgic vibes. Not sure this is my fave MC album though and it kind of blurred into one and nothing stood out too much. A cool sound though overall.
Joy Division
2/5
Oh nooooo I didn't enjoy this album, I did not. I understand it's a very seminal album for post-punk as a genre, but I don't really generally enjoy post-punk that much and so it makes sense that I don't enjoy this if this is the epitome of post-punk... Even if it's not I just found it so droney at best and chaotic at worst... Not for me!
Kanye West
5/5
Ah what an absolute corker. Shame he's an absolute bell-end and beyond that publicly anti-semitic amongst other less-than-shining attributes.
The recent events make reviewing his older work very complicated and confusing. But I've always loved this album a lot it's one of my favourites and hugely nostalgic of a teenage era of life, the skits take me to another time and place in my head. The rhymes, lines, and riffs are absolute pure genius. So so clever and an insight into a very different mind, very big shame he has now ruined it all. I'm rating 5 as an appreciation of this old work but begrudgingly because I'm very pissed at this man.
The xx
2/5
I liked it, the vocal is so distinctive and nostalgic!! Not their best album though, nothing really stands out.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
I wasn't sure about this album, rife with white guy blues riffs and guitar solos which dragged out way too much for me. Although I'm wondering whether it's about context because I think in a sweaty club in the 70s I might have been all for extending those riffs and solos if you're just dancing and riding the high... Maybe sitting working from home and listening in 2023 doesn't quite hit the same...
Gil Scott-Heron
3/5
This was really nice! Not too long, really interesting and clever lyrics, some catchy messages coming through among the jazz. Quite different to anything I've heard before and I think inspired a bit of a deeper dive into Scott-Heron's work.
Radiohead
5/5
Oh wow this album is completely and wholly stunning. The distinctively familiar and utterly heart-breaking glockenspiel melody on No Surprises is so nostalgic, it really has a lot of emotion attached to it. The whole album's sound was apparently influenced by the child-like guitar sound on No Surprises and I feel like that song is really the corner-stone of the album. I haven't often listened to this album as a whole story in this way and it was so nice to listen in full and on vinyl also lovely to pay more attention to some tracks I knew less on here. It was also fun to read more on the background and writing of the songs, I didn't know that they wrote what they thought was an amazing track and then came to play it without knowing who would play what instrument, that's so interesting and exciting to me! There's some extremely catchy riffs and I feel like also other just small magical moments throughout the album that I discover something new every time I listen again. BIG love. Not sure really how to review this album so this is my best attempt.
Brian Eno
4/5
Love this album! Peak Brian Eno, so beautiful, so interesting, so relaxing!! It sparked a thought of how amazing it is how much music can affect our mood and even behaviour - cool!
Giant Sand
1/5
They really knew what they were doing when they named this album Chore didn't they?? Some tracks sounded a bit spooky and some sounded a bit saucy but mostly I would compare this listening to the sensation of garlic skin getting stuck to your finger when you're peeling garlic cloves and it's just limp and light and almost not there but just enough there to IRK the fuck out of you!!! Well annoying and angering hahaha! I join the ranks I think from other reviews in saying that I don't understand why I must listen to this before I die. Well now I have, what a stupid time-waster.
Japan
2/5
I'm not really sure about this album. I don't know Japan already as a band. I thought it seemed really fun listening at the beginning and I love a lot of synth pop so was excited to really enjoy this. But I have to say I really don't like the more droney vocals on tracks including Alien. I think actually synth pop can be really hit or miss for me because it seems like it's really challenging to make it actually "pop" or stand out as something super creative and different and not just a mush of sounds. I can hear the band's more glam rock-ish roots in this album which is less my style. I quite like the title track Quiet Life but apart from that the album really dragged for me.
Neneh Cherry
5/5
This is a belter of an album, packed to the rafters with banger after banger. Love the vocals, the innovative rap style and just what Neneh Cherry did for Hip hop in general. I absolutely love that very vintage hip hop 80s sound but it's also so distinctive to Cherry in my opinion. Super fun and uplifting, yet very bold strong messaging throughout. Buffalo stance is obviously incredible but also Next Generation and So Here I come other highlights. Very varied throughout the album. Wonderful!
Air
4/5
Very nice album cover, love the watercolour ink drawings so much, they're so lively! Ooh yes enjoyed this album very much! 90s/00s electronic ambience very gorgeous. Sexy boy is obviously a bit of a banger but All I Need was my favourite and it's gone on my playlist for top tracks for me this year.
Michael Jackson
1/5
Ow gyashhhh what a confusion. I have really connected with some of these songs in the past like Man in the Mirror still even, but some of them just sound super creepy now I know more about Jacko's disgusting behaviour later in his life. Liberian girl I found really scary for some reason! I can't enjoy most of the songs any more and the ones I can enjoy are the more energetic poppy dancy songs like Bad etc but just ew it's not the same any more. Also thinking of where all of the money is still going for those listens I just gave it, to the complicit people hiding grim information...
Nirvana
2/5
Wow so so angsty and abrasive. Not my favourite sound but I can clearly clearly hear how this music has influenced a lot of music which I do love (maybe it's slightly softer and more melodical sounding and therefore more appealing to me). I was a bit triggered by the track named Rape Me and then when I tried to read into it a bit more before establishing an opinion, I found that KurtCobain said the album was not personal at all... so it was a bit of a dead end. I dno I can see what people love about this but it don't impress me much.
The Thrills
2/5
Never heard of the Thrills before, I don't really see how much space there was in the 00s for a Beach Boys style band and I guess that's why they only put out 3 albums. There are some nice moments throughout the album and it does obviously have its own feel which is slightly unique. I'm also sure they had a great great time making and recording this album, but I wouldn't say it's that special or exciting for me. I'd rather just go and listen to a Beach Boys album which is slightly better. So although I do enjoy this formula of catchy melodies, multiple layered harmonies, experimentation with many instruments and sounds, and American summer surf vibes, that's only one layer of the depth of multiple layers to the Beach Boys.
PJ Harvey
2/5
Oh no I loved Let England Shake so much, it was such an exciting discovery but Rid of Me was just such a different vibe and so not my thing. This was 20 ish years earlier to be fair so I guess I prefer her much later work, still think she's extremely cool and interesting but this album was too heavy for me. Fair play to her though communicating a v different feeling with this or just in a different way I couldn't listen into it too much because I find it so unappealing.
The Jam
4/5
Oh my God amazing, love the title even it's so imaginative and the cover tells such a story! Now I read that it's made up of sound effects records produced by the BBC in the 70s, that is so cool! Some real classics like That's Entertainment. Definitely want to listen again and give it some more attention. Never listened to this album this way and it was great. Feels like listening to greatness.
Neu!
3/5
Woah this was quite fun! Apparently both of these guys were in the Kraftwerk lineup at some point and I can really hear that. I also read someone describe it as deconstructed rock music. I really enjoyed the more ambient sections and the heavier moments less so but it was a really interesting and exciting album which I had never heard any of previously.
New York Dolls
2/5
Although this is really not my thing, I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to the beginning of the album! I found the first 3 tracks quite fun but as time passed by it felt really quite long and a real drag by the time I got to Pills. I think each track is way too long and perhaps I'd enjoy this live if I was dancing and I like the look of the band's outfits and make up so it could have been fun to see them live in the 70s. Maybe it's just not the right thing for a WFH Friday on the sofa...
Ian Dury
1/5
I wasn't really into this album. I don't really enjoy the word play on this it just seems really stupid and annoying to me which is weird because I usually find a bit of word play hilarious! I didn't find it very smart though... that feels very mean. Around the middle with Billericay Dickie and Clevor Trevor though it was doing my nut in LOL. I guess Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll is a good tune though.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
Amazing work by an amazing group!! I love these sounds they create, I'm so impressed by how they work together like one musical instrument and make the sounds blend. It's magic! I only discovered this group after the album Graceland which I LOVE and this is like taking some of the best bits of that album and making it its own thing (I guess it is literally that) so it's great and I enjoy it very much.
The Kinks
4/5
I never really did a deep dive or got super into the Kinks but I do love the song Sunny Afternoon, it reminds me of playing songs with a good friend at the beach so it's got some good mems attached. Nice to listen to the full album, I understand this was quite a shift in direction for the Kinks but that doesn't mean very much to me. It really sounds very of its time, super strong 60s sound which I dig.
3/5
Oh this album is such a LOL it brings up so many memories and although many of these tracks have become songs for shit open mics and self-obsessed men with guitars around campfires. I guess it's become a bit of a joke a lot of these songs. So many people in my generation just know all of the words to these songs and it's such a weird feeling for these songs to now feel very old. Although I have never got into this album I've heard the songs so much. 90s is so trendy right now but it feels like the 90s are being cherry-picked by younger people and if they want the flares and grungy look, they also need the very thin over-plucked eyebrows and the oasis obsession. You've got to take the rough with the smooth!
The main memory coming up for me is actually at a "brunch" in Dubai after just meeting Joe Wicks, at the end of the all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet, everyone was off their trolleys wasted and my friends started singing oasis songs and literally hundreds of people at their tables around the room joined in and all sang Wonderwall. The security team were trying to stop us and get us out but everyone kept belting out "Cause mayyybeee" etc. That was hilarious and feels like a fever dream... Also I bet that wasn't what Oasis had in mind for that song... Iconic.
Goldfrapp
3/5
Ooh this is splitting me down the middle!! I have never listened to anything but the hits from Goldfrapp and I don't know what I think about listening to an album... It's very dreamy and chill sounding, the sounds are really delish including Alison's voice. I really love the song A&E and I loved listening to the rest of the album but apart from A&E none of the other new-listen tracks actually stood out to me at all in particular but as a whole they did and I listened twice. I like it when I can pick out some lyrics or sounds in particular which stood out to me though or if it tells some story so it was lacking in that department even after two listens.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
Ooooh YUM love Basement Jaxx. This is not my fave album of theirs (Rooty) by any stretch but it's a pretty cool debut! There's a real feel of their sound already which I still think is pretty unique now, I think that's hard to do with a debut album. A work commute is not the time to be listening to this band though, you MUST be dancing with friends...
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
This is something I've never heard of at all in the slightest!! Love the international almost New Age vibes. There's a lot of different sounds in there! At first listen knowing nothing about Jah Wobble, I thought this wasn't anything that interesting or impactful and wondered why this might be on this list. When I read up on him a little bit I realised why, his life was insane and if I was someone who cared about celebrities a bit more I'd be really interested in his life and the people he spent time with. I am interested to the extent that it's cool the opportunities he had available but also mad how it messed up his life...
The music is cool though, I like that bass and bits of this really remind me of Graceland which I love. Cool discovery actually. Some parts have some self-indulgent guitar parts which I don't love though, eg the title track Rising Above Bedlam.
Pulp
4/5
I was nervous about this because I had in my head for some reason that I wouldn't like Pulp... I hadn't listened to them purposefully and didn't know much about them at all. I also saw the length of the album and was filled with dread. Now after listening to this album I feel like that's really quite criminal!! This will become one of those great discoveries from doing this for me. I ended up listening to the whole album a few times and really loving it. I loved listening to an old-school double-sider where it has new life almost in the second half, fun to imagine that would be a different record you'd have to change. It was a real two-part story with epic highs and lows. Love his voice and now I realise other music from Jarvis Cocker that I love and it becomes a theme. Love his sound and personality on the tracks, don't know much about him though! I especially liked Sylvia.
Rahul Dev Burman
5/5
Excellent soundtrack, excellent album!!! One two cha cha cha is an absolute banger which I already listen to on the reg! Excellent dinner party music and all round good times! Fun to listen to the soundtrack, I haven't seen the film but I really love a bit of Bollywood. So much talent packed in there, interesting and fun sounds. This kind of music always puts me in a great mood and also the automatic next track from Spotify was another banger so that's great too.
Holger Czukay
4/5
This is bizarre in excellent ways...!
Never heard this name before but read that he was a co-founder of Can which makes sense why I loveeeee it. I also read that he was talking about world music before that was really a term and I love hearing that in this solo album. Persian Love is such a nice appreciation for a different style of music. I'm confused and impressed about how the sitar/banjo sounds were made without the instruments themselves and I guess that's synthesisers and electronic sounds but I find that so baffling and impressive... Unless there's some info missing from Wikipedia haha!
Cool in the Pool is a really fun track and I love that they include the organ.
The last track is super chaotic and I don't like it as much.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
I've listened to this album a lot today and really tried to get it because I think it has a really cool sound. I can understand why this music is really important and significant and I know some people love the anxious atmosphere this creates but I just don't enjoy that! Musically it is really good and the sound is very cool, I really like her bold unusual vocals, but just overall I don't like how it makes me feel and that blocks me from experiencing the lyrics and the message.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Hm, I love the synth-pop vibes and dreamy ballad melodies/vocals but nothing majorly stood out to me from the album and blended into nice background music but nice being the operative word. I think I'd prefer a different pet shop boys album or just a collection of the hits to this.
Jethro Tull
3/5
This was quite fun, I love a concept album. Never really listened to Jethro Tull before and didn't know much about them before, did a little bit of reading because I enjoyed this album... colour me interested!
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
I like what Robert Smith apparently said "like very aggressive Glaswegian street theatre". It is!! A very gritty funny street theatre, there's a lot of story telling and it's got humour throughout, it doesn't sound very musical theatre at all but I can also imagine a stage troop dancing around to Swampsnake... I enjoyed this quite a lot actually which surprised me. I don't normally warm to a lot of punk but this is quite old school and still more melodic which I do enjoy. I don't like all the guitar solos which can be annoying but they're not too long so that's bearable. The title track Next is fun, I like the intro and it's a great story, even more theatre vibes. Good vibes all round with serious themes delivered with humour and fun. An interesting discovery!
Scissor Sisters
4/5
Really fun nostalgic album. Love that this album made it to the mainstream and the impact of the Scissor Sisters, this album deserves a lot of recognition. You can't deny this makes you want to dance!
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Very nice, Sheryl Crow is great, very talented. The hits are hitting! There is some filler in there though in my opinion, if there was more history, nostalgia or connection there for me I'm sure I would have a stronger feeling about this. I could definitely connect more with this album but it's not happening today. I feel quite neutral, I like it.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Ah no no no. I can tell that the guitar work is super impressive. I do like Kim Gordon's vocals and there are elements of all Sonic Youth albums that I do find that I like in there, this one included. However, the last track is an absolute joke, it just sounds like screamo and I can't pick out the skill in it and I don't like it at all. It's just busy and stressful and not artful in my opinion. The few Sonic Youth tracks I do like aren't on this album.
Lupe Fiasco
3/5
Niiiice!! Only ever listened to the big chart hits from Lupe but did expect to enjoy this album. This came out in my perfect/favourite age of hip hop and it has all of those elements I love and miss like story-telling, addictive loops melodies, big horn sections, maybe some interesting samples (didn't have time to look it up), etc etc. Some tracks I would have been obsessed with had I listened to the album when I was about 14 haha. Really enjoyed Real and Pressure. Thought the Outro was hilarious with all the thank you notes, there's a reason why no one else ever does that (that I know of anyway) haha!
Billie Holiday
5/5
Wow Billie Holiday, what an all-time absolute stunner!! In every way! The distinctive unique jazz voice, it's so relaxing and beautiful. I just don't know how she even made those sounds with her voice. I especially enjoyed listening to The End of a Love Affair - Audio Story such a cool insight! The only negative is that she sung covers really. I reckon if she were an artist now someone would have written her her own songs which would have been even more epic. A lot of these tracks I only associate with Billie Holiday so I guess that's a big success and says it all really. I can get a bit samey but I don't mind that at all, it's beautiful.
2/5
Too punky and harsh for my taste, there were moments that interested me but mostly it sounded like noises I didn't like.
Muddy Waters
4/5
The review that took me just over 8 months to finally write and submit haha wow!
I love these bluuuues very fun, only criticism is that the album is a bit one-note in a way. Would be very fun to see live and dance to and then I wouldn't mind at all that it was one beautiful vibe throughout though!
Taylor Swift
4/5
Bangers bangers bangers some great tunes throughout, some absolute classics, some not so much and not so stand-out but still a lot of talent packed into one album.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Niiiiice, CCR album reviews seem to really vary from me album to album. This was a great one. Proud Mary is a banger and I enjoyed reading up on the back-story a lot. I'm super interested in how songs are written by different artists. Good Golly Miss Molly is also a pure belter. These kind of songs make surprisingly good running songs in my opinion. Can imagine these tracks are really really fun to play/perform too. Fun little transportation from South West Germany on a work-from-home Friday to 1969 on the Bayou, great stuff!
Donald Fagen
3/5
This feels quite vintage with strong 80s vibes which I do like. Very bouncy synths and beats which are fun and up-beat. All slightly cringe in quite a fun hilarious way. It almost reminds me of Hall & Oates in places which is a great thing but it's slightly lacking in punch and not quite hitting the mark somehow. I just read that Donald Fagen was the lead singer of Steely Dan (I hadn't heard of him) I can't say I'm a Steely Dan fan... find it wishy washy and perhaps it is actually in large part down to Donald's voice. The vocal feels quite weak to me. It's almost a little bit frustrating but I don't hate it!
Mudhoney
2/5
Cool I guess? Not exactly my thing but can imagine if I'd have heard this when I was younger I would have got into it. Not heard much about Mudhoney ever though.
Simply Red
3/5
Simply Red is not exactly in my lane, this is their debut album and i found it quite relaxing chilled background music to work to. It feels quite old-school to me and makes me think of elevator music etc. Nothing stood out to me throughout the album.
Not my favourite but very inoffensive.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
Stresssssful! I tried twice because I really want to have an open mind and try to understand what people love about PIL, I had tickets to see them live recently and couldn't go in the end so that's a shame as I would have liked to try seeing them perform live. I found this album full of stressful sounds. Sometimes a good barometer is how my cat reacts and this album really sent her wild haha! I think it does the same thing to my brain. One of the last songs sounded like a punk version of the muppets with all the strange voices and sounds. I just don't get it.
Wild Beasts
3/5
I've listened to this quite a few times now and granted I am busy working, but nothing is standing out to me. In general it's a nice sound and some fun vocals. I've never heard anything from Wild Beasts before I've completely missed them. The album does have a good nostalgic vibe which reminds me of some good times but no tracks or sounds stand out. Nice though.
Ray Charles
4/5
Loved this, I only usually listen to this kind of music around Christmas-time so it was giving me nice cosy festive vibes, very relaxing but also moving music. Super skilled as well. Very enjoyable.
George Jones
2/5
Meh, honkey tonk white-guy country isn't so much my vibe. I didn't realise the album had finished. It was kinda dull.