Jan 06 2022
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Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin
Great guitar work and absolutely love the rhythm section throughout. Some absolute classic riffs. Heavy folk/blues sound and gospel influences on some tracks are great. Wasn't captured by vocals but think that's often the case for me with Led Zep stuff.
5
Jan 07 2022
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Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
PJ Harvey
I liked the layers of the rhythm guitar, bass and drums with the jangly lead lines on top. Catchy vocals and very nice to hear some vibes on a couple tracks, enjoyed it.
4
Jan 08 2022
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The Pleasure Principle
Gary Numan
The live percussion backing electronic and synth sounds make for a couple of decent tracks. However most of the more electronic tracks sound like the daft kids pissing about with the preset sounds on the keyboards in a music lesson. A little too repetitive at times and forgettable.
2
Jan 09 2022
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Tres Hombres
ZZ Top
Decent dadrock! First time really listening to ZZ Top. When the opening track started I was pleasantly surprised, it felt groovy and had a cool riff. Then some decent tracks and then dipped in the middle and felt a bit generic. La Grange was good, then went back to average for the final couple of songs. Still, some cool stuff on this one.
3
Jan 10 2022
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Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
Fan of the Beastie Boys but not heard this one all the way through - pleasantly surprised, what a mix of jazz, funk/soul, punk and hiphop. Sampling is great and groovy instrumentation with distorted vocals over the top works kinda well. Something held me back from 5 stars whether it's the length, some experimental parts, or the eccentricity, but it was a tough decision!
4
Jan 11 2022
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Five Leaves Left
Nick Drake
Out of his 3 this is the one I haven't heard before, and given some time it could be my favourite of them - I really like his vocals and guitar work as usual, but I love the orchestration throughout this record and quite a few tracks are just beautiful.
5
Jan 12 2022
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Butterfly
Mariah Carey
Bit of a gear change from Nick Drake to this one. Gotta say a couple of the poppier tracks are pretty groovy. But her vocalisation is not for me and the rest of the album is just a compilation of RnB ballads which gets boring. Slick production but often feels overproduced. 1 star felt too harsh but it's definitely not for me!
2
Jan 13 2022
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Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin
Lots of different styles and influences done well. Some great tracks but seems a lot of them drag on a bit... Songs feel long for the sake of it. Can't help but think this could have made 2 really solid albums as opposed to one very long one. Great musicianship, and a good listen, but maybe a bit self indulgent?
3
Jan 14 2022
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Rings Around The World
Super Furry Animals
Not 1 stand-out track. Some bits were almost ok but they'd get ruined by something or other. Just didn't think much of it.
1
Jan 15 2022
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Shake Your Money Maker
The Black Crowes
Pretty fun album, tunes all sound familiar and just easy to listen to. Just does southern bluesy gospely rock and does it well. One to throw on in the background but not sure there's much substance there, any longer and it would be a drag.
3
Jan 16 2022
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Buffalo Springfield Again
Buffalo Springfield
Didn't gel too well with me.. couple of decent tracks (bluebird and broken arrow are pretty great) but the bits in-between are quite typical late 60s early 70s rock.
2
Jan 17 2022
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Machine Gun Etiquette
The Damned
Not a big punk guy, but enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Actually catchy and sounds decent.
3
Jan 18 2022
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Countdown To Ecstasy
Steely Dan
las wages las wages las wages las wages la- oh snap did Donald say the f word??
5
Jan 19 2022
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John Prine
John Prine
This was a fun listen, kind of country-folk poetry, the lyrics and songwriting are great. Musically a lot of the tracks sound kinda the same. Not bad though.
3
Jan 20 2022
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Woodface
Crowded House
This started off super strong with Chocolate Cake which I thought was a big tune. Front loaded with pop rock which I mostly enjoyed but kind of tuned out as it turned into the psychy/new wavey stuff in the 2nd half.
3
Jan 21 2022
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Young Americans
David Bowie
Ever since I was a kid I never got the whole Bowie thing. Growing up I started to appreciate his talent as a musican and songwriter, and I can jam with a lot of the instrumentation on this album; the soul and r&b influences are cool, the tracks are good. But I still don't like his vocals. It leads to this juxtaposition, with this strained white guy voice crooning over these groovy tracks, making them less groovy, and makes the whole thing sound like a poor imitation. Only Fame kind of gets it. Probably because his vocals are sparse.
3
Jan 22 2022
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Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
Felt the Beatles impact, like a cross of Rubber Soul and Revolver... plus Beach Boys. Can't decide whether it's great and it'll get better with more listens - or whether it's an imitation and I'd rather listen to the albums it was influenced by given the choice, so middle of the road for now. Some stuff is great, some didn't quite hit the mark for me.
3
Jan 23 2022
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Be
Common
New to Common, I think this is solid. Beats are cool, most tracks are smooth and pretty inoffensive, kind of easy-listening.
4
Jan 24 2022
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Maggot Brain
Funkadelic
Had Super Stupid on a couple of my playlists but not heard the full album before now. Sounds great for 1971 and holds up today. Definitely a rock album with funk influences rather than a full on blend.
5
Jan 25 2022
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The Chronic
Dr. Dre
Classic! Definitely dated in parts but still has some great tracks.
5
Jan 26 2022
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461 Ocean Boulevard
Eric Clapton
Wasn't much of a fan. Quite drab and derivative and I hate his hushed voice and the weird noises he makes. Like the Bowie album I had the other day, almost funky and groovy in some tracks but misses the mark.
2
Jan 27 2022
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Selling England By The Pound
Genesis
It's a strange one. I enjoy listening to this record, as a piece of music - stellar musicianship and some great stuff going on. As for my personal enjoyment - I can't see myself saying "Cor I really fancy listening to Selling England by the Pound", there's a lot going on, it's very erratic, it's not easily digestible. There are a couple of songs I don't really care for as well.
3
Jan 28 2022
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Heaven Or Las Vegas
Cocteau Twins
Really enjoyed it, love the sound, but all the tracks almost blur into one for me. Different tunes didn't seem to have much identity, it takes one thing and does it well but gets a bit samey. Maybe a 4 with time but a high 3 for now.
3
Jan 29 2022
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Moondance
Van Morrison
While I was listening to this album I was cooking cauliflower cheese, my dog jumped up next to me and knocked the whisk out of my hand and got cheese sauce all over the kitchen which I had to clean up. Not my thing.
2
Jan 30 2022
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The Gilded Palace Of Sin
The Flying Burrito Brothers
'Country-rock' - 85% country 15% rock. I don't think that it's bad country though. Nothing groundbreaking.. expected some crazy shit from the title and band name!
3
Jan 31 2022
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Music for the Masses
Depeche Mode
Not much of an 80s electronic new wave kinda guy. But this was alright. I thought if the album was like the first and third track I was going to love it. Then there was some wack shit in the second half... So it balances out.
3
Feb 01 2022
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Shaft
Isaac Hayes
Jammin soundtrack, makes great background music. Funky.
4
Feb 02 2022
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The Joshua Tree
U2
U2 are just a bit boring. Very safe. Very standard. They write a decent pop track. Also not a Bono fan!
2
Feb 03 2022
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Sail Away
Randy Newman
I thought it was pretty naff throughout, and that the lyrics were just bad, until the last song. But by then I was kind of turned off the whole thing. I did have a chuckle at the tune about bombing anywhere except the US, that one was funny.
1
Feb 04 2022
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Third
Portishead
Genuinely thought this was shit.
1
Feb 05 2022
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Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)
Bob Dylan
Not sure live albums should really be on here, even if they're historically significant.. it's like having a compilation, which feels cheap. Anyway that said I couldn't fucking stand the first half of this record, I got 3 songs in and skipped the rest (not usually a skip kind of guy with this challenge but it was just Bob sounding like he'd suffered a stroke before going on stage, harping on over guitar with grating harmonica thrown in which really was not for me).
I read the second half features his band as well so I gave that a go. I was willing to overlook Bob Dylan sounding like he was doing a bad Bob Dylan impression because I didn't mind the songs and the sound otherwise, but then he starts wailing on the fucking harmonica and I don't know much about Dylan but I'd guess he can't fucking play it from the tones he was putting out. Altogether an hour and a half of this shit is torture and I am glad I saved about 30 minutes of my life skipping over what I did.
1
Feb 06 2022
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Live And Dangerous
Thin Lizzy
Huh. 2 live albums back to back. This is ok. Not listened to Thin Lizzy outside of the big hit but the first few tracks were kinda cool. Some were a bit more generic but yeah. I'd go to this concert.
3
Feb 07 2022
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Since I Left You
The Avalanches
Really cleverly made with all those samples. Poppy and easy to listen to but the tracks have a lot of layers on re-listens. The album is sort of a complete experience, very well crafted. Been one of my favorites for a while!
5
Feb 08 2022
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Axis: Bold As Love
Jimi Hendrix
Classic rock sound, not listened to much Hendrix before and liked the songwriting and guitar work but also surprised by the drums. Good stuff.
4
Feb 09 2022
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Deserter's Songs
Mercury Rev
Enjoyed this one. Bit hit and miss but the hit was pretty cool.
4
Feb 10 2022
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Gasoline Alley
Rod Stewart
No real stand out tracks, kind of like background rock music, nothing special, but not awful.
3
Feb 11 2022
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Let Love Rule
Lenny Kravitz
Not so good. Some of it is downright bad. It had the hallmarks of genres I like. But I felt like I was being screamed at for half the album!!
1
Feb 12 2022
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Chris
Christine and the Queens
It felt good, but I wasn't sure if it wasn't for me or if I didn't get it. I enjoyed listening, but something didn't quite click. It's the kind of stuff I like though, so maybe after a few listens I'd love it.
3
Feb 14 2022
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Music in Exile
Songhoy Blues
Enjoyed it. Cool bluesy music, well made
4