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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A beautiful sound. A wonderful album. Can't knock it, love it all.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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!
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!!!
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!
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!
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.
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.
It's the Smith innit, they're great! Loved listening to this album again, a true classic which belongs on this list.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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)
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.
I'd forgotten how much I love this album and artist in general. A nice reminder and nudge to listen again!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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...
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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!
This is wonder and magical and such an experience. LOVE ITTT
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.
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.
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!
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...
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
Some nice fun riffs and horns but got verrrrry samey and it's long. Too long for my attention span. bleh
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.
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.
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.
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...
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!
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.
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.
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.
Love Santana! This isn't my fave of their albums but Oye Como Va is SUCH an undeniable fucking banger!!! WHAT a tune.
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
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!
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!
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.
Boring Boring deadly boring country not fun or interesting at all ugh bye
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?!
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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!
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??
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.