Album #1 Although I've rinsed this album from start to finish many times when it came up as the first one to listen to I was more than happy to dive in again. There is nothing I can say about how great this album is that hasn't already been said by droves of people far more qualified than me. If anyone who doesn't listen to much hip-hop asks me where they should start, this is the first album I point them to. Few albums receive the privilege of acting as a benchmark for their genre, and that is exactly what Illmatic does for hip-hop. This benchmark applied even more so in '94 when the genre was still young and proving itself. On Illmatic, everything comes together perfectly. From the soulful yet raw beats to the poignant yet infectiously addictive flows. They work in tandem to weave a story of a city frozen at a point in time and one young man's place within it. Favourite Track: Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park) Least Favourite Track: N/A

Album #1 Although I've rinsed this album from start to finish many times when it came up as the first one to listen to I was more than happy to dive in again. There is nothing I can say about how great this album is that hasn't already been said by droves of people far more qualified than me. If anyone who doesn't listen to much hip-hop asks me where they should start, this is the first album I point them to. Few albums receive the privilege of acting as a benchmark for their genre, and that is exactly what Illmatic does for hip-hop. This benchmark applied even more so in '94 when the genre was still young and proving itself. On Illmatic, everything comes together perfectly. From the soulful yet raw beats to the poignant yet infectiously addictive flows. They work in tandem to weave a story of a city frozen at a point in time and one young man's place within it. Favourite Track: Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park) Least Favourite Track: N/A

Album #2 I'm not terribly familiar with The Jam or The Style Council (but my dad sure is). I do know that they massively influenced the 90s Britpop movement which is a period of musical history near and dear to my heart. With that said I was definitely curious to get stuck in given that this album was released right at the onset of that movement. What jumped out to me first was how this album sidesteps the trends of the era it was released in, and how confidently it wears the style and sound from a couple of decades prior. It's clearly not for the kids and I can respect that conviction. I'm also quite blown away by the quality of the production, which manages to even put a lot of modern rock albums to shame. You can hear the hard work and care that was put into crafting every inch of the soundscape. This shines through particularly well through the instrumental interludes which are a highlight of the album for me. As far songwriting goes, the first few tracks were leading me to believe I was just hearing another breakup album. Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, it also doesn't strike me as particularly inspired. Fortunately, the record took a surprising turn into a darker and more primal tone, which I have a lot more appreciation for. "5th Season" strikes me as a good example of this tonal shift. The only negatives are that the album is a little long and I feel like a few of the acoustic cuts drained my interest a little such as "Country" and "Foot of the Mountain". A less is more approach could have served well here. To summarise, "Wild Wood" is a very solid rock singer-songwriter album. It doesn't do anything to push forward its genre, but it is an extremely solid representation of it. Favourite Track: 5th Season (and the instrumentals) Least Favourite Track: Country

Album #3 Going in, the only song of theirs I'm familiar with is There She Goes and I haven't listened to it in a good while. Holy hell, only 3 songs in and I wish I could listen to literally anything else. The instrumentals are entirely generic, boring and uncreative, even for the time. The singing is nothing short of an assault on the ears. The songwriting is riddled with nothing but the most cringeworthy and eye-roll inspiring empty platitudes I've heard in a good long time. I even looked at some reviews from the time and was shocked to see how positive they were. Not sure what kind of crack the critics were smoking back then, but I'd sure like some. I really don't want to spend any more time listening to or thinking about this album. I just want to it be over, so I'm keeping this one short. If I have something nice to say it's probably that "There She Goes" is still a somewhat catchy song, and that is the only reason this album doesn't get 1 star. Thank god they didn't release any more albums after this travesty.