Idk man, if you played this at my birthday party I would probably not invite you next year

A lot of this sounded like a parody of a country album. Not for me I'm afraid

I feel like if the title track wasn't 17 minutes long this album would not be anywhere near as revered, it's not really that interesting at all

This really does feel like a transitional album. Some of the wonderful folk stylings from Simon's work with Garfunkel but with some hints towards the more diverse output that he would explore further over a decade later on Graceland. It didn't quite reach the heights of that album, but there's some great stuff on here. Run That Body Down was a standout track to me

Some nice background music but all kind of blended into one

This was exactly what I expected from a ZZ Top album. The opening song was great and Sharp Dressed Man is a classic I was already a fan of, but it got samey quite quickly. Not a bad album at all, just not for me

A classic of the genre. This is such a fun and groundbreaking record and I love it

This is a difficult one for me. It's so often regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and it's impossible to deny the influence and impact this record has. However no matter how many times I listen, something just doesn't click with me and I just feel underwhelmed. There are some good songs on here, and the closing track especially is so remarkable with its honesty and vulnerability, but the record as a whole just fails to resonate on the same level

This really does feel like a transitional album. Some of the wonderful folk stylings from Simon's work with Garfunkel but with some hints towards the more diverse output that he would explore further over a decade later on Graceland. It didn't quite reach the heights of that album, but there's some great stuff on here. Run That Body Down was a standout track to me

Doesn't quite reach the heights of their next two albums, but as a glimpse of prog to come this is a pretty fantastic record

This is probably my favourite album of all time, not much more I can say here. Just a beautiful, haunting, immaculate work of art

I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. There's some lovely stuff here and there but nothing too memorable

A welcome return to form after a patchy period. It doesn't quite live up to his first four albums in my opinion, but it's great to hear Cohen being this adventurous at this point in his career, and his longevity and relative consistency such a testament to his skill as a songwriter

Garage just isn't for me really. I get the appeal and it was a relatively enjoyable listen, though a bit on the long side, but just not my jam

Never really got the hype about this one. It's a pretty fun album but nothing really clicks for me

Probably my least favourite Fiona Apple record, but still a hell of a lot better than most artists' best albums

This seems to be a lot of people's favourite Radiohead record which I understand - it's certainly their most direct alt-rock/almost britpop album and fits nicely with some other acclaimed British albums of the mid 90s. However it's only maybe my 4th favourite Radiohead album, which says more about the consistency of their catalogue than the quality of this record While I would ordinarily give this a 5, considering every album here is regarded as one of the best of all time I'm being a bit harsher with my ratings, as there shouldn't be too many absolute stinkers. Therefore 5s are going to be relatively sparse, and The Bends can make do with a comfortable 4

Yikes. I've always been a bit too judgmental of U2, and was pleasantly surprised when I took the time to dig into their earlier work last year. So my expectations were relatively high when going into this Beautiful Day is a great opener, if a bit cheesy, but it went downhill from there. The three-track run of Kite / In a Little While / Wild Honey were all almost unlistenable - Bono's voice was genuinely dreadful! This is my first did not finish of this project

This was an interesting one. I like The Jam and I like Paul Weller... and I somehow had no idea this entire project existed. It was a fun record (though A Gospel was realllly bad). I don't think I'd revisit the whole thing but there were some good songs and it was a nice one to discover

Joplin was obviously such a massive and unique talent, and there's some really good stuff on here (Piece of My Heart being the obvious classic, but Oh Sweet Mary was also great, as was I Need a Man to Love despite Joplin's voice being a bit Marge Simpson in places). The framing of the studio cuts as faux-live performances was also interesting and added a lot of energy to the record However there were a couple of quite boring blues cuts on here, and the cover of Summertime was... not good. A mixed bag for sure, and not one I expect to go back to

What an incredible album. Cohen at his darkest and with some of his greatest songwriting (which is saying a lot). One of the best singer-songwriter albums of all time

This is a prime example of a top heavy album. The opening track is incredible, and New Kid in Town is great too, but things just slowly decline from there and the entire B side is just forgettable dad rock

A nice surprise. I didn't know any of this other than the title track but it was just a really pleasant listen. Good vibes all round

Nothing much stuck with me here, but there were immaculate blues vibes peppered across the entire tracklist. Some of the guitar playing was absolutely filthy and the range of collaborations was great, with the featured artists bringing a slightly different flavour to each of their tracks before a much more subdued and emotional closing run

I haven't listened to this in maybe 7 or 8 years and wasn't sure how it would hold up... ooh boy it holds up. Dirt is certainly the right word, everything about this is pure grit and filth The swaggering riffs! The dense, enveloping vocals! The sheer power of the lyrics and songwriting! Is it grunge? Is it metal? Who cares - it absolutely slaps

A very weird choice. All feelings about this hideous man aside, he's released some great albums with and without The Smiths. Viva Hate; Vauxhall and I; You Are The Quarry - all really good and would be understandable inclusions on this list Your Arsenal isn't one of them

Such a great vibe. It's dark and mysterious while still being catchy and just a whole lot of fun Spellbound is one of the best openers of all time, Halloween is an absolute gem, and Mobile was a groovy little highlight

This was another record with an absolutely classic title track that I adore but I had never checked out the whole album. I was expecting it to be like Hotel California, where a lot of the album was filler and didn't live up to the majestic opening... and was very pleasantly surprised This was just a lovely listen really. Absolutely gorgeous ballads like Vincent and Sister Fatima, slinky grooves like Winterwood, and energetic bangers like Everybody Loves Me. A solid record all round

I just found out that Ms Lauryn Hill was only 20 years old when this album came out... absolutely fuck that I've enjoyed this album even more every time I've listened to it, and it feels vital and significant to this day. I'm not a fan of a few of the skits, but there's not a bad song on here and it's a great listen

'I don't understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck' All jokes aside, this is a solid album - probably their best as it's more confident than Gish and more consistent than the fantastic-but-sprawling Melon Collie. Cherub Rock kicks things off with volcanic energy, Today is remarkably beautiful, and Disarm disarms me with a smile

I just don't think I'm ever going to love a house album. It just gets too repetitive for me and, despite the clear technogical breakthroughs and interesting textures going on throughout, it just leaves me a bit cold

Proper lovely, diverse and interesting album. A bit jazzy, a bit folky, a whole lot nice

A lot of this sounded like a parody of a country album. Not for me I'm afraid

Wow, remember when Eminem was good! This isn't his most consistent album by any means, and he went on to perfect his approach on the Marshall Mathers LP, but it works well to define his sound and make a huge impact early on

I love this one more every time I hear it. A modern classic for sure, and one of the best debuts of all time. So impressive and beautiful and still the best thing Arcade Fire have done imo

This was pretty great! One that I had not heard of at all so had no expectations coming in, and it was a really interesting listen. I will definitely be checking out some more of his work

A solid debut from one of the best songwriters of the last 30 years. Hoping there's a lot more from her as we go through the list

When I said I hoped we get some more PJ albums throughout the list, I didn't expect to get another literally the next day... This is great though, she really builds on her sound from the first record and just experiments a bit more (Man-Size Sextet is a particular highlight) and it sounds amazing

Fantastic album, one of the best opening tracks ever. Not much more to say On a side note, why do the toms on side B sound so weird? What's up with that?

This is just a really solid record. Every track is great, the songwriting is catchy and direct and the whole album flies by in such a joyous way. It took a few listens for this to click with me, and growing up I always preferred Room on Fire and First Impressions..., but ever since it clicked I've been revisiting these songs more and more. There's a beauty in its simplicity and it's clear how this became such an influential album; one of the first real classics of this century

This was fun! Classic pop punk and far less annoying than the Ramones, this has aged very well. All the songs did blend into one a little bit, and the obvious highlight Teenage Kicks seems to have not actually been on the original tracklist

God, The Specials are great! I only heard their debut in full for the first time last year but was blown away. I don't think this quite lives up to its heights, but the opening song kicks things off with so much energy, and the wider range of instrumentation with some more ambitious songwriting (Stereotype, namely) is a really nice contrast to the more direct debut. Also the song where they just list off a load of James Bond titles was bizarre but a lot of fun

This was pretty good! I've heard 4 Tim Buckley albums before (really enjoyed 3 of them) but hadn't got to this one, and it was verrrry different to what I was used to Wikipedia described this as the first move to Buckley's 'sex funk era' and... yeah that sums it up really A lot of it is really fun and there are some great grooves, but some of the songs outstay their welcome. It was also quite unlucky for this to come up in the project so shortly after Let's Get It On, which basically does the same thing in a more effective way

This has some bangers on it and is clearly a very important album, but 80 minutes of breakbeat is just a bit too much for me

Blown away by this one tbh. I like a lot of Madonna's big hits but found the couple of albums of hers that I'd listened to a bit samey and inconsistent This was a massive departure from anything I expected, the opening track set the scene so perfectly- sounded like Enya singing over a Trent Reznor instrumental. Then there's some exploration with trip-hop and big club bangers, with some fantastic sounding synths and a really wide range of instrumentation and grooves. It tailed off slightly for me towards the end, and did start to feel its length, but the mysterious and slinky closing track was another highlight. All in all a great album, very different to what I was expecting, and definitely something I'll revisit

This had it's up and downs but was mainly pretty good! Ramble Tamble was a really impactful opener, Up Around the Bend was great, and there were some really fun grooves and a lot of amazing guitar playing across the record The cover of Grapevine dragged on a bit, but not as much as I expected I saw it was eleven entire minutes, so that's something On the other hand, it was peppered with a lot of quite generic blues/rockabilly stuff that just lacked any character, and Ooby Dooby was woefully shite

This is a really confident debut and it's influence on that iconic floaty shoegaze sound is massive. It's a bit rough around the edges, with the vocals being a bit underwhelming, and doesn't reach the heights of Going Blank Again However, when you let the sound of it immerse you it's really impressive. And while the reverb-heavy swells are used to great effect throughout, the most impactful song for me was Dreams Burn Down with sudden bursts of volume punctuating the structure and contrasting with the more dreamlike softer textures

This was really good! The main thing that stood out to me was just how tight the rhythm section is, all of the grooves just locked together perfectly (even the quirky, disjointed rhythms of I'm In Touch With Your World) Most of the songs were more simple but the texture always built and varied throughout to keep things interesting, and there were some great flourishes and interweaving melody lines to spice things up to perfect effect. Just a really enjoyable record from front to back

I nearly gave this a 4 as it's not quite my favourite Pink Floyd album, but all of the criticisms I had seemed so minor and nitpicky when I started typing them out It's just really damn good, not perfect in my opinion but close enough

Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood, but I didn't enjoy this at all. It was just repetitive and not pleasant to listen to, and a lot of the synths and drum machines sounded pretty bad (I get that it was relatively early for EDM and the sound developed a lot throughout the 90s, but one song sounded like a Rick Astley instrumental)

I have a lot of love for Parliament/Funkadelic but have always preferred the funkier side of things There is some great stuff here (the title track in particular) but You and Your Folks... is a bit annoying with its warbling reverb, and the closing track was a bit much

This was really good! I never really got into Cocteau Twins but had a great time with this one, the production is just immaculate and the melodies are so folkish and dreamy Will definitely be going back and checking out more of their albums

Enjoyed this one! Marty's voice is excellent and there are so many amazing harmonies throughout with the backing singers, and some excellent little guitar licks that add so much to the songs I felt the songs did start to get a bit samey after a while, and the ones that were just Marty on his own didn't click with me as much, but on the whole it was a great vibe.

This has a bit more filler in the middle than I remembered but when it slaps it slaps and oh boy does it slap

I've always loved Queen as a singles band but don't think they have a perfect album- this one might be their closest, along with A Night at the Opera, and the vast majority is great The diversity of styles on this album is great, but it does feel a bit scattered especially in the second half as the songs just don't flow as nicely as they should. The two songs without Freddie on lead vocals are really lacking as well and are just quite boring, which is a shame because otherwise there's some truly wonderful stuff here (both versions of In the Lap of the Gods are incredible, and Lily of the Valley and Dear Friends are two gorgeous shorter cuts)

The rest of the album is a bit hit or miss for me, but my god that title track is still as amazing as ever. RIP to a real one

I'd only heard Mayfield's first three solo albums before and, while I didn't enjoy this one as much as those, it was a good listen. There weren't any stand out tracks for me but there were some great grooves and melodies, and this is one that I think will grow on me with revisits/deeper dives into the lyrics

It was more diverse than I expected - I thought it would be the same kind of cheesy rock sound as the (admittedly very fun) title track and was pleasantly surprised by the variety on here - but nothing really stuck with me and I can't imagine going back to this record

Not as great as some of Kraftwerk's pivotal work from later in the 70s, but this is them really on the cusp of nailing it. A v fun album

God damn, Eno was just on fire around this time, his genius fingers were in so many lusciously-textural music pies; and Byrne was the undisputed king of the groove in this era as well. Much more freaky sounding than the Talking Heads work Eno produced but still with those toe-tapping head-pounding cross-rhythmic synth-warbling beaaats

This was a perfectly fine and fun record but I definitely wouldn't consider it as one of the greatest of all time. Some of the songs would be alright on a lesser Tony Hawk game (one of the ones after Pro Skater)

Led Zep's first two albums are great, but have quite rightly been regarded as rip-offs of classic blues artists, and they don't bring much of their own sound to the records. This is the first album where they really bring something different to the table, with a wide variety of styles blending together in a pretty perfect way

Damn good stuff

There were a couple of good songs, but it was mostly very bland soft rock with generally godawful 80s production with every single worst cliché of that decaee

I would say this is the first classic Stones record, and there's a lot of good stuff on here (especially on the US version with the iconic Paint It Black) Unfortunately things are a bit samey and uninspired in places and the band still feel like they're finding their voice, but it's so nearly there at this stage

Oh what could have been Coldplay have released some utter tripe in the last few years, but this is a pretty promising debut (and the second album isn't bad either!) The one-two opener of Don't Panic and Shiver is great, and there's some really lovely if not super original stuff on here. I don't know if I'd revisit the whole thing but it was decent

This was really good! I'd only vaguely heard of Death in Vegas and never listened to them so had no idea what to expect going into this The instrumentals and production were fantastic, and while the vocal performances were a bit hit and miss (Bobby Gillespie was quite disappointing on Soul Auctioneer, though Iggy Pop was incredible on Aisha) this was overall a really enjoyable album

Like School's Out, it's got this campy dark vibe that I want to like but the music is just really uninteresting

No one does it like Björk. This album is just a brief taste of what's to come but it's just so distinctive and gorgeous

God her voice is amazing and these songs are just lovely. Solid album

It's just very very good isn't it

It's good, it's just also very long and doesn't feel like it needs to be as long as it is. Kashmir is amazing, and there are a couple of other highlights but most of it just passes by - solid background listening but not much more, which is a bit of a shame

This is my first repeat review, as I did a few ratings before creating a group. Here's what I said last time: 'Probably my least favourite Fiona Apple record, but still a hell of a lot better than most artists' best albums' It's really good though and grows on me with every listen

Lovely stuff, Neil is a quality dude

The singles are great but I find the rest a bit hit and miss. Very few albums have this intense urgency though, and even though not all of it clicks with me I completely understand why it's as important and influential as it is

A timeless album really. It's just so urgent and chaotic and really does feel exciting and dangerous even over 30 years later Also the guy talking about men in cages on Incident at 66.6FM sounds like Ben Shapiro

Another essential hip-hop album, the production and storytelling on this are just very very good

Cacophonous, atmospheric and seductive in a way only Sonic Youth can really achieve. It's not as streamlined or as sonically rich as some of their later albums (Teenage Daydream, notably) but there is a raging energy to this that the grimier production complements

This was pretty solid. Some of it was pretty trademark indie that was indistinguishable from a lot of post-Britpop bands, but there were some lovely hooks every now and then, as well as some more distinctive darkness on songs like Friday's Dust

I saw a lot of reviews calling this one of the first heavy metal records and like... I guess. Props to it for being influential but a lot of it is just quite sloppy blues. This really puts into perspective how much of a genre-defining sonic change something like Black Sabbath was just the year after

Proper anthemic metal. The first half of this album slaps and I was going to give it a higher rating but I think it tailed off a bit after Living After Midnight

It does feel a little samey after a while, but it's just wall-to-wall bangers to be honest An incredibly important and influential album

The motifs are super catchy on this album, and the songs are quite hypnotic. It's of course very repetitive but feels more carefully structured musically and conceptually than Autobahn for example, which veered off after the title track for me. There's also much more of an emotional range than you get with most Kraftwerk, even though it's still veiled by this robotic coldness

I'm not a huge fan of Buffalo Stance so, considering it was the lead single and the opening track, I was worried I wouldn't enjoy this but I actually liked the rest of the album a lot more! Buffalo Stance is pretty cluttered and has some really dated 80s drum machine and synth sounds that just don't work for me at all, but the other songs are far less hectic and feature some pretty great instrumental parts (most notably the jazzy solo on Inna City Mamma and the SNL-style sax riff on The Next Generation) and a good mix of solid rap verses and catchy sung hooks

AnCo are one of the most innovative and exciting bands of the 21st century, and this is a really solid record. That being said, I just don't love it as much as Sung Tongs or Feels (or even Panda Bear's solo release Person Pitch) so can't really justify giving it higher than a 3, no matter what Pitchfork may do to me Edit: After a relisten I am going to go with a 4, especially as I think it's their only album on the list. My Girls, Summertime Clothes, and Lion in a Coma all are highlights and there is just so much lovely and strange but groovy stuff

A riotous punk album and such a confident debut, what a class record

All synthpop should sound like a horror movie

Another that came up for me before starting a group, here's what I said earlier: This is a difficult one for me. It's so often regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and it's impossible to deny the influence and impact this record has. However no matter how many times I listen, something just doesn't click with me and I just feel underwhelmed. There are some good songs on here, and the closing track especially is so remarkable with its honesty and vulnerability, but the record as a whole just fails to resonate on the same level

Not bad but just didn't stand out to me at all

This was great! I think this is the fourth album I've heard by The Byrds and I've enjoyed each one more and more A fascinating mix of folk and some more experimental electronic music, with off-kilter melodies floating around reversed guitars and modulated vocals

Another album by an artist I hadn't heard of before that blew me away. Lots of amazing stuff on this record

A prog masterpiece. The opening track especially just has such a drive to it and is constantly evolving that it's 18 minutes fly by. Various genres and styles are executed pretty perfectly and blended together seamlessly across the entire album. It's a real highlight of the prog golden age, and the best record of Yes' discography imho

It's a great album with some lovely harmonies and guitar playing, and a solid mix of folk and blues - Helplessly Hoping is a particularly gorgeous highlight. However it does feel like it's lacking a little something, especially after only recently hearing the more experimental approach by Crosby's other band on The Byrds' 'Younger Than Yesterday' which gave some really fascinating soundscapes

Finally got around to listening to this one - absolutely great stuff. The mix of proto-rap with the ethereal flute-heavy free jazz creates a great soundscape

Good stuff

Gimme Shelter is a perfect opening track, and You Can't Always Get What You Want is a perfect closing track. Everything else in the middle is really solid but just kind of falls by the wayside in comparison Can I give an album a 5/5 based off just two songs? I'm incredibly tempted but I think a 4 is more accurate for the entire album experience. They're two very very good songs though

This is the second album I've discovered from this project of the post-Jam pre-Britpop Paul Weller years (an era that I had previously heard nothing from) Just as the synth-pop Style Council was a far cry from the punk that brought Weller into the public consciousness, Wild Wood was another stylistic left-turn with a Pearl Jam-esque alternative rock album - it's not quite grunge but it's verrry early 90s. There's some really good stuff on here, and I have a lot of respect for Weller for delivering on such a wide range of genres so confidently throughout his career, but there wasn't too much in the album that really grabbed me

It doesn't feel quite as groundbreaking as her astonishing debut or the futuristic classic Miss E... So Addictive, but it's still a really solid album. The production is killer as always, and Missy continues to be a phenomenonal rapper with a uniquely assertive delivery

There was some nice stuff in here but there was also a lotttt that I didn't really care for. Appreciate the ambition though

This was super groovy and I enjoyed it a lot

Absolutely mega album. A stunning mix of prog rock, jazz, and symphonic music that's just a groundbreaking delight

Not really my thing but I enjoyed it more than expected, especially the second half

A great mix of hip-hop with R&B, soul and reggae. This is such a confident and skillful debut and has a great legacy for a very good reason

One of the all time greats

I've listened to this a couple of times before a few years and it never really hit me properly but I really enjoyed it this time round It's just incredibly frenetic and unapologetic punk, with some really bizarre lead guitar lines and inspired vocal delivieries that make it stick out from the more by-the-numbers punk bands

Wall to wall bangers

Runnin With the Devil is a great song and Eruption is very impressive, but the rest of the album is just very anticlimactic. Lots of flash but no substance

Some nice background music but all kind of blended into one

Some of it was really catchy - The Look of Love is a banger, it's instrumental reprise at the end sounded great, and 2 Geva 4 Eva was quite fun and theatrical - but my goddddd the production was dreadful for the most part The vocals in All of my Heart sounded so bad, and there was a transition between two songs on side one that was really really bad, and the bass tones throughout were just a mess

Some great riffs but Mustaine's vocals kind of ruin this

It's certainly ambitious and there is some great stuff here. The drumming in particular is obviously fantastic but all the performances are great, there are some lovely harmonies, and it introduces and develops certain motifs in a really satisfying way It's a bit all over the place though - the concept is so scattered, and musically it doesn't exactly gel together (Good Morning Campers or whatever it's called is fun but incredibly out of place) and it really feels like the entire thing hangs around Pinball Wizard. Which is an incredible song but... the 70+ minutes bookending seems excessive

Listening to Steely Dan is really difficult because every 30 seconds I have to repress a primal urge to scream 'this groove is so fucking tight' Anyway this has some massive bangers but also not quite their best. Good vibes though

It's pretty good, I'm just not super into it

It's way too long and all over the place and doesn't live up to its predecessors, but also there is so much great stuff within it that it's still an enjoyable project (though it's crazy that Aquemini didn't make it onto the list)

I'd only ever really listened to Sheer Heart Attack and onwards before - the only song I knew going in was Seven Seas of Rhye - so this was very unexpected. Much more of a prog and kind of heavy approach than I expected, almost like early Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin rather than the more iconic Queen sound. Really enjoyed this one!

Not quite as good as the self-titled but still a pretty solid punk album

Lovely stuff. Overwhelming and ethereal, just a really great and huge sound

Probably the best Britpop album? It's just a perfect mix of the fun anthemic bops and the darker, introspective stuff that Pulp excelled at (and explored even more for their next album, This Is Hardcore)

Pretty nice to listen to with some catchy hooks, fun grooves, and enough instrumental variation to keep things interesting (the orchestra at the end of Jealousy sounds amazing!)

It was a nice background listen but nothing really stuck out to me at all

The three big singles are absolute bangers and the rest is just... fine I guess

Big fan of this. I heard Return to Cookie Mountain only a month or so ago and really liked it, and this was great as well. This is definitely a band I need to listen to more of

Well this was certainly something different and I enjoyed it quite a lot

An absolute beast of a live album. It's a really effective if unlikely marriage of sounds, and provides a new epic dimension to some already classic songs. It's just a shame that this came out in the middle of the otherwise least inspiring era of Metallica's career, as the tracklist isn't always too consistent. Cut maybe half an hour of the Load/Reload material and this couldn't be much better

Really lovely but it just lacks the excitement of Treasure

There's a bit of filler here and there, but the ones that hit are some of the most vital, iconic and just damn impressive hip-hop songs of all time

Over 100 albums in and we've got our first Bowie, fancy seeing you here The opening and closing tracks are both great, and I like the overall stylistic shift of the album, but everything in the middle is kind of... well, mid.

A really bold change of style with some incredibly catchy hooks and a strong message. The first 2/3 or so is amazing but it does fizzle out slightly towards the end

I remember not being super into this when I first listened a few months ago but errrrr it's pretty damn great actually

I had to give this one a second listen to really gather my thoughts on it. Some of the fully musique concrete stuff that bookended the album was a bit too all over the place for my liking, but otherwise this was a really exciting album that went all in on a lot of genres and pulled it off. Definitely one I'll be coming back to

Absolutely mega album, an all time classic and quite solidly the best of Elton's career (Lion King soundtrack not included)

I remembered enjoying this one a little more than I actually did. Somebody to Love and White Rabbit are both incredible songs and Grace Slick's vocals are so powerful but, other than the beautiful guitar interlude Embryonic Journey, the rest of the album has a lot less character and just doesn't hold my interest in the same way

Just not my vibe on the whole, sorry guys. Red Alert and Bingo Bango were absolute bangers though (and I enjoyed the Jazzalude)! The last song was also nice, but I didn't care for the rest at all

It's fun and there's some good songs (especially the run of Ants Invasion/Killer in the Home/KotWF) but there's a lot of filler especially towards the end The US version with Physical would probably get a 3, but it's not on the UK version so a 2 it is

Sounds like Angelo Badalamenti got into Massive Attack. Sweet

Idk man, if you played this at my birthday party I would probably not invite you next year

This was really cool, great vocals and interesting beats and hooks, but it was quite top heavy imo and I began to lose interest as the album progressed

A fantastic set of songs. The half-electric half-acoustic ordering gives this the vibe of a double album (without the runtime) and pretty much every track is a classic or a heartwrenching lyrical goldmine

A masterpiece and easily one of the best albums of the last few years

Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, and Sweet Child Of Mine are all fantastic era-defining anthems, but the rest of the album is kind of mid. Same kind of thing as Slippery When Wet

Some fun lyrics here and there, and the Tainted Love cover is great, but otherwise this kind of sucked. Just really annoying synths and pretty awful vocals on the whole

Iconic prog with some absolutely incredible instrumental work, with Geddy's vocals sounding as powerful as ever. The first side is exceptional but I did feel the album tailed off slightly in the second half

*slaps roof of the album Bad by Michael Jackson* This bad boy can fit so many bangers in it

I wanted to enjoy this more than I did but yeah, all the songs are just a bit samey, and there's just a lot of vocal layers that are kind of buried in the mix and add nothing. When Mariah actually has a strong vocal line to sing, she sounds incredible, it's just a shame that a lot of the album is so washy

Great stuff, a really diverse and emotional record with top notch songwriting

It's a nice listen but mostly nothing too interesting. I was going to give this a 2, but the last three songs were all great so have bumped this up

Not much to say, just a legendary record

A wonderful, incredibly dark and morbid album. Cave's late '80s to early 2000s run was pretty exceptional and, while this isn't my favourite in there, it's got some standout songs and a very defined style

This album bustles with energy and is a lot of fun, though I do prefer Brown's slightly later stuff (his mid-60s to 70s repertoire is incredible) It truly is a landmark recording, capturing such an iconic singer blowing up with a raucous audience all around, I just wish I liked the songs more tbh

An incredible album - such a beautiful voice and songwriting with a heartbreaking legacy behind it

An incredibly important album from the Jazz rap pioneers. I don't enjoy this one quite as much as their two following records, but there are some fantastic songs on here and it's a remarkably solid and confident debut

I listened to this at work and was on edge all fucking day

It's a bit longer than it needs to be but there's a lot more to this than many other britpop albums. The interludes are fun, the ballads are really effective, and the singles do indeed slap

An eccentric masterpiece

The fact that this album exists in a form that Wilson was happy to release it is just amazing Now that the Smile Sessions are out, it's hard not to compare the two and I don't think this recording holds up as well as the sessions from back in the day, but it's still just a delight to listen to

Another absolute banger of an album. One of the greatest and most influential hip-hop records of all time, enough ssid

Detroit Rock City is a great opener, and probably Kiss' best song Shout It Out Loud is fun if pretty cheesy The rest of the album kind of sucks

Yes to this It's not as ambitious as Close to the Edge, and doesn't have a standout single like Fragile, but it's still just another solid prog album from one of the best bands to do it

One of his best, what an enigmatic and delightful album

God we've had some bangers recently. This is just the epitome of cool, every song is so chill and beautiful, and Al's voice is amazing. Title track and the BeeGees cover steal the show, the rest is solid if not as great

People on indie groups on Facebook will try to tell you this is the best album ever It's maybe a top 5 Bob Mould album - pretty good but overhyped imo

Stevie is just so good

Pretty great album that seems very ahead of its time. Kind of wish the ambient stuff and the heavier stuff blended together a bit more rather than having a halfway split, but I enjoyed this quite a lot

Another classic, so many great tunes on here I distinctly remember hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time in about 2007 - I immediately googled 'Nirvana UK tour dates' and was very upset with what I discovered

The first song was fantastic but the rest didn't really grab me. Hints of greatness here and there, and it marks a big transitional period to their next two (far superior, yet somehow not on this list???) albums

The title track slaps and then the rest just kind of happens, bit of a shame really Some great guitar solos though

Steely Dan just don't miss

Some of the songs were quite fun but it was all a bit samey and nothing too exciting

There are some really nice arrangements here but it is a bit derivative, and I don't think the vocals are powerful enough to carry through as much as they should

Ngl I was expecting this to be one of those 80s albums with one big single and a load of filler but this was pretty darn good It definitely sounds of its time but is really fun and uses the big 80s synths to great effect. Songs like Wrap It Up and This is the House are so upbeat and boppy, and the more laid back Jennifer is a lovely, sensitive moment after the big single. Lots to like here

A very lovely record

I listened to this not too long ago but wanted to relisten anyway just to decide whether to give it a 4 or a 5 I swear it just hits harder every time. The textures are just so beautiful throughout and every vocal line is either catchy as hell, a tearjerking lullaby, or both

Exciting! This is just such an assured debut that covers just about everything stylistically. I'm keeping it at a 4 as I don't think it's as consistently strong as their next two albums but it's a true classic

God we've had some good ones recently. Not much more to say other than this is possibly the best funk album ever made

It opens with three of the biggest stadium rock anthems you could ask for, and the rest of the album just kind of happens

Another classic. This is the album that marks a big shift towards a more commercial sound for Metallica and, while that was questionable in the long run, this record is great. There are a couple of songs towards the end that I'm not as big on, but at least half of this album is just timeless tune after timeless tune

I remember being blown away when I first heard this, but the last couple of times I've listened it's left me a bit cold. There's some beautiful stuff going on instrumentally but Van's voice is quite abrasive in places (especially on the first couple of tracks) and nothing is particularly memorable

Very different to what I expected- much more thrashy and not as heavy as I thought it would be, and just not very exciting tbh

I completely forgot just how unhinged a lot of this album was. There are influences from all over, blended in a fascinating way over some filthy beats, and it's just a very fun listen

Some banging fusion, Birdland is a certified tune and the rest is also v good

Really solid post-punk

Nice ambient stuff, it makes for good listening and clearly impressive for its time but nothing too exciting going on

I first heard Soul Mining a few months ago and was a big fan so I was quite excited to see this come up. Yikes... This was a very different experience and just didn't mesh together very well at all, I was close to giving this one star to be honest but the last song was quite fun

This is really solid and maybe would have been a 4 or 5 with anyone else but I feel that, with the hindsight of what Davis would go on to do, it's a little underwhelming. It's a good listen and clearly very influential but just doesn't have the same emotional impact as his modal jazz period or the intrigue of his more experimental later work

Pretty good, kind of Alice in Chains-y, nothing too exciting

Really enjoyed the first part of this, the first two songs somehow fly by and don't feel like 9+ minute songs at all The spoken word intro of the last song drags on a lot though and the payoff isn't worth it imo

Quite enjoyable blues rock record -the first song is especially good

This is such a great album with probably the broadest range of influences displayed by a The Roots record. As conscious as ever and with some classic hip-hop beats but also the hard-core punk of '!!!!!!!', the chill soul of Complexity, the almost indie-rock sound of 'The Seed 2.0', and the beat-switching funk of 'Break You Off' Some of it doesn't quite work for me (the soundscape that makes up the second half of Water is quite indulgent for example), and I'm very surprised this is the Roots album that was chosen over Things Fall Apart or Game Theory, but it's a really impressive dive into a lot of different sounds

Grooves for days

Absolutely mad that Without You and Coconut are consecutive songs on any album

Good vibes all round

A fantastic album, combining the wit and poetry of someone like Leonard Cohen with the punk sensibilities of Iggy Pop. World-weary, weird, and wise

Another 80s album that really hinges on one big song Take On Me is obviously fantastic (as is The Sun Always Shines on TV) and the title track was really nice and an effective change of pace. The rest of the album was really underwhelming though

I've really tried to be open-minded with every county album so far, and I swear there are country albums that I like, but this was just so tedious

This suffers in the same way that a lot of double albums do, and is a bit inconsistent (both in quality and in tone) but there's enough great stuff across here to make it enjoyable on the whole, especially the second half (though the live song drags on waaaaay to much, low point of the album for sure)

Incredible vibes, and it works so well as a standalone that I sometimes forget it's a soundtrack

Good stuff

A really fun, catchy, and diverse punk record

I've listened to this once before and didn't really get the hype then and don't get the hype now either. It's solid but completely unremarkable and there are so many better releases by similar '90s bands

A really lovely debut with some truly beautiful songs. Electronic Renaissance was an... interesting diversion that I don't think quite worked, but everything else was great

A messy, bloated masterpiece from a truly unique artist at the top of his game. This really is Kanye at his most open, self-aware, and remorseful before he entered full dickhead era

Movin' On Up is a great way to start a record, and some of the darker songs towards the end (Damaged and I'm Coming Down) are really interesting, but on the whole this just doesn't really do anything for me

It's a solid debut but not too exciting. He has much better stuff later in his career

Not as exciting as a lot of The Beatles' later releases, but there are a lot of just really lovely songs on here

The title track and Little Red Corvette are both fantastic but nothing else really jumped out at me. This was quite anticlimactic to listen to after Sign o' the Times, which felt a lot more consistent despite being 10ish minutes longer This album really suffers from having quite a few songs that last far longer than they should, and just doesn't have strong enough songs to stick out after the iconic one-two openers

This is another that came up earlier, my thoughts on it havent really changed since the last time though I think I'll change the score to a 3 This really does feel like a transitional album. Some of the wonderful folk stylings from Simon's work with Garfunkel but with some hints towards the more diverse output that he would explore further over a decade later on Graceland. It didn't quite reach the heights of that album, but there's some great stuff on here. Run That Body Down was a standout track to me

Some of the guitar playing was really nice but the songs didn't really stick out to me

This started pretty strongly, and As You Are in particular was great. However it was a bit derivative and after a while it just lost momentum

A lot of 3s recently - just a solid album with nothing too special going on

Didn't mind this one at all and there were some fun bits here and there (Beatbox especially) but it did not need to be so long

I really like a lot of Sonic Youth's over albums but for some reason this one just doesn't work for me

An angular dance punk classic

Quite strange to include what is essentially a covers album on here, but it was an interesting listen, a lot of the arrangements are lovely

Highway Star and Smoke on the Water are both incredible and, while the rest of the album didn't quite match up, it was still really solid with some fantastic playing throughout

Nice chill vibes, and Ascension in particular was a big ol slice of groove, but it did get quite samey towards the end

I only really got into Bowie just before Blackstar came out, so missed the hype around The Next Day when it was first released. I'd always dismissed it, thinking it probably only got the acclaim it did because it was such an unexpected return But nope, it's also pretty damn good

A great series of tunes with exciting instrumentation

Not bad by any means but nowhere near as exciting as some of their other albums

Wall to wall bangers

Very mixed feelings on this one. It starts really strongly and has good moments throughout (the production is generally solid even if it's starting to feel a little dated with the rise of G-funk, and Ice Cube sounds ferocious on the whole album) but the lyrics often seem really generic compared to the insightful and political Cube from previous releases. It's just a quite bland and excessive gangster rap record for the most part, which is a shame considering his legacy before this point

A very ambitious and fascinating album that many artists wouldn't be able to pull off, let alone make the end result sound so unsettling in some places and beautiful in others

The whole thing, I think, is sick The first half of this still hits incredibly hard, Jordison's drumming is unmatched, and I have now had a flashback of singing Spit It Out at karaoke when I was about 15 so thanks for that Some of the soundscapes from the second half are eerie as hell and still leave a huge impression. The only real downside is that some of the rap-heavy stuff from the tail end seems quite derivative compared to the earlier songs, and some of the lyrics are quuuuite bad, but on the whole it is just a ferocious and unsettling sonic attack

Influential instrumentals and one of the smoothest MCs to do it, Q-Tip and Co. just dance over these beats

Didn't really click with this at all, none of the songs were especially distinct or memorable

I've never really got this one. Jane Says and Mountain Song are both pretty great but the rest of the album is quite lackluster. The vocals are grating and the mixing is really not good at all

Slightly overhyped but still a damn good album

I really like a lot of this but it just tails off a lost towards the end, that last side just doesn't hold up to the rest of the album which is a damn shame

What's this? A country album that I enjoyed? In this economy? This is a great album, and way more diverse than a lot of the other country albums on this list so far. Fantastic lyrics throughout as well and some cracking guitar playing

A masterpiece of shock rap, some of which has stood the test of time incredibly well, some of which has aged very poorly

I have very mixed feelings about this album. The lyrics are generally pretty great (it's Cohen, of course they are), and he really makes the best use of this unique voice here - whereas some earlier albums have him straining for high notes he can't reach, he gives a commanding gravelly performance throughout this album that really works. The instrumentation has aged very poorly though, and probably was behind the trend at the time as it's quite late in the decade to go all in on that '80s production. Still better sounding than Death of a Ladies' Man, but some of the instrumentals sound like rejected pitches for the Seinfeld theme. Overall, a decent album from a legendary talent

Some of the second half gets a bit tiring but it's a really unique album and a great mix of incredibly tight grooves and absolute chaos

Its certainly an interesting idea for an album and I'm glad I was able to give it a listen, but it's a far cry from either of their best work

I feel like if the title track wasn't 17 minutes long this album would not be anywhere near as revered, it's not really that interesting at all

A gorgeous album that sees one of the greatest American bands of all time expand their musical pallete, with some of their absolute best songs

Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Probably my favourite Pink Floyd, and an all round fantastic record

I listened to this yesterday and can't really remember it at all

It's got some great moments but does get a bit repetitive and is about 20 minutes too long

Of all the recent albums to be on the list, this is a really interesting choice. It wasn't one of my favourites of the last couple of years but, going back to it, it's inclusion fully makes sense A diverse blend of genres, with thought-provoking spoken word on important abd always-relevant topics throughout, it has a lot of depth and I'm sure there's still a lot more to get out of this record on future listens. On a surface level I'm torn between a 3 and a 4, but think a 4 is more appropriate with this in mind

A solid collection of pop rock bangers

It was alright, though I think my favourite song on it (Extended Souvenir) was actually a bonus track, and some of the others just gave me Aldi own-brand The Cure vibes

A really chill neo-soul album with great vocals and even better production. It seems this is the only D'Angelo album on the list though, which is a bit odd as the other two seem so much more focused and vital

This is an interesting addition in John's stellar 70s run. There are some amazing songs on here but the flow doesn't quite work for me. The instrumentation throughout is very diverse and a lot of the songs have their own unique style which is great, but the songwriting is incredibly samey throughout as pretty much the entire album is 5 minute-ish mid-tempo rock opera ballads. After a little while it's really begging for some variety and, while songs like Levon are fantastic, having it straight after Tiny Dancer makes it pale in comparison. If there were a couple of shorter songs of a different style mixed between here it would be a much more balanced listen

A solid punk record that really peaks in the middle with Start! and That's Entertainment. The production is really good on this album with everything sound clear and impactful, especially the bass which just drives everything with so much energy

A pretty fun album that's years ahead of its time, not really my thing but I hugely appreciate the ingenuity here as well as the unhinged performances by Patton

This is the first Skunk Anansie album I've heard (I listened to a couple of songs when I was about 14 and it wasn't really my vibe at the time) and I enjoyed this a lot. The music was a lot more varied than I expected and Skin is a powerhouse of a vocalist

It's quite fun and I like the mix of styles on here, with some '60s and '70s throwback stuff mixed in with a more contemporary '90s britpop sound, but the mix is incredibly muddy throughout and kind of ruins the listening experience

Oasis have an annoying trait of making a solid 3 minute song last for about 5 minutes despite clearly running out of ideas That being said, this album has some of their strongest songs - opener Rock n Roll Star is the major exception to the above rule, Live Forever is a great time, Supersonic is silly but fun, and Married With Children is a lovely little closer. It really drags in places though, and Shakermaker is downright awful

A really lovely album, the instrumentation is gorgeous throughout and there are some incredible vocal harmonies on basically every track. Every song has its own unique sound and character yet complement each other really well, and it's just a tremendously rewarding listen

One of his best solo albums. There's a rare fragility to his voice that really carries this project forward Anyway the Queen died while I was listening to this so that's a bit mad

Bit soon lads, she only died yesterday Anyway this is a great album

We've had a pretty fantastic run of classic British albums recently and this no exception. Bandwagonesque blends the angular indie of Husker Du, Pavement and similar American bands with a proto-Britpop catchiness that results in a hugely enjoyable record

A big vibe. The three singles are great in particular but it's just generally very good

There are couple of songs in the middle that drag a bit and stop this from being a perfect album for me, but the rest of it is just fantastic so it's getting a 5 anyway

One of the most sonically diverse gangster rap albums ever. A great mix of thoughtful and political spoken word, heavy beats, and even a hard rock song. It's just way too long man - there is some great stuff here but also a lot of filler, and a more refined tracklist could have given this album so much more of an impact

I've never really clicked with this album but I appreciate the heck out of it - the technical wizardry on display is astounding, and DJ Shadow conjures up some quite eerie vibes in impressive fashion

A gorgeous and timeless album, not much more to say its just wonderful

Some of this was alright but it was also just quite boring and the solos were far too noodly a lot of the time

It's got a couple of great songs (specially Waterfalls which is an all-time classic) but the album as a whole gets a bit repetitive and has far too many skits/interludes to be a really cohesive listen

Pretty good and obviously really influential. I feel I may have enjoyed this more if this was my first Siouxsie album but, having heard some of their later work, this one doesn't quite reach those heights

This was great!

Some of the music on this was actually very interesting but I just couldn't get over the cringey music hall lyrics and really struggled to get into the album

The first couple of songs were really interesting and there was some other good stuff mixed in, but there were also some really tedious piano ballads that I could have really done without

Really fun frenetic jazz, yes please

An incredible album, a true classic, every song is amazing really

I enjoyed parts of this but other bits got a bit boring

A very hit and miss album. A couple of songs in the middle, particularly Sunrise and Elegia, were great. The opening song had such an awful mix though, each part was so weirdly independent it just sounded like it was recorded over Skype, and the vocals were awful on the last two songs

I've just never clicked with this album. Not sure why as I feel like I should like it, and I enjoy Closer a lot more, I just find a good chunk of the middle of the record to be quite tedious

Simone's voice is incredible as always, and this is one of her strongest collections of songs. An absolute pleasure to listen to

This was a bit boring sadly, didn't get too much out of it at all

I'm surprised this one is rated so low. Absolutely gorgeous instrumentation throughout with the heavy use of vibraphone, and Buckley's vocals are just so impressive

There's some amazing stuff here, and the first couple of songs in particular are great, but the album does get a little repetitive as it goes on

I had never heard of this before and I had a great time. Like a proto-Pixies noisefest

A lot less weird than Trout Mask Replica which I still kind of struggle with, but still an absolute freakshow of a record. Delightful stuff

For one of the most influential and inventive bands of the '70s, this is a pretty boring album. Should have included one of their live albums instead

Nice chill jazzy vibes with some lovely acoustic bass work in particular

Not quite as focused as the albums either side of it in MA's discography, but still a great collection of genre-pushing soundscapes and hypnotic grooves. Sure, some of it sounds like video game music... but it all works

This was pretty solid but there was nothing too exciting at all

The singles are all pretty great, and there are a couple of other good songs on here such as Train Leaves Here This Morning, but any album with Chug All Night can't get any higher than a 2

I really wanted to like this but I just found so many of the keys voices really annoying lol

Yeah this is just stellar really, one of the best metal albums of all time

This album has its issues but a lot of it is great. Wild Horses and Dead Flowers are two highlights, and Moonlight Mile is a perfect closer

I love love love the instrumentation on this, and songs like the title track and Season of the Witch are just fantastic

Nearly 300 albums in and I think this has been the first one I didn't finish? It's not a great look when it feels like the record is running ideas and there's still *checks time* ten minutes left of the opening song I bailed after track two

Quite possibly Beyoncé's best record. There's a great mix of styles here and she really shines as a songwriter and vocalist in pretty much any genre she wants. Also the production is killer There are a couple of songs I'm less keen on (particularly Blow and Mine) and it it a bit over-long in that sense. However otherwise it just has banger after banger - the four singles and No Angel are all top-tier Bey tracks- so it's hard to let that affect the overall enjoyment of the album

This album had such a chokehold on the UK indie music scene in 2009 and the early 2010s, and I get it - the production is fantastic and it just seems effortlessly cool. But the vocals are so lifeless and it really gives off such a vibe of style over substance that it's still difficult for me to find anything other than surface level enjoyment here

This was very lovely but not too memorable

A very interesting album by The Police that's incredibly hit or miss. Both Synchronicity tracks are fantastic, as is King of Pain and of course Every Breath You Take. There's a lot of pretty naff stuff here as well though, from the disturbing Mother to the cringey lounge jazz of Murder by Numbers

This started off really well and, particularly with Master of the Sparks, I was enjoying the album quite a lot (certainly more than Eliminator). The second half didn't quite hold up for me though, and other than La Grange I found it difficult to latch onto anything. I'll still give it a 3 but it's much more on the 2-3 borderline rather than the 3-4 I was considering halfway through, which is a shame

This was a lot more fun that some of the other recent electronic albums (looking at you Goldie) In terms of my personal enjoyment I'd only really give it a 2 but I'm feeling generous today

Yeah this is a pretty much perfect album. So many fantastic songs among the tracklist with a more diverse range of stuff than I initially remembered

On the whole this has aged pretty badly but there are some distinct positives, most notably Hungry Like the Wolf and the title track which are both just catchy as hell. New Religion and The Chauffeur were also really good, with the last one closing out the album in style, but there was just too much general production nonsense throughout the record to really ignore

Some of the songs suffered from being needlessly long despite clearly running out of material (That's All Right clocking in at 6 minutes??) That fortunately wasn't the case on the whole though, and there were some great tracks (especially the opener and of course Maggie May)

Yeah this is probably the worst Beatles record. It's about 50% covers, all of which have been done better by other artists. Somehow the best song on this has Ringo on vocals. Maybe I'm being overly harsh because I'm comparing it to their later work, but this isn't it chief

Another Madonna record that was incredibly consistent. Once again, I feel bad for having previously dismissed her as a singles artist, this and Ray of Light were both top notch pop albums

Middle of the road forgettable dad rock

There's some catchy stuff on here and I enjoyed it on the whole, but it pales in comparison to Electric Warrior

A lovely collection of songs, with Father and Son being the obvious highlight. This was especially nice to listen to back to back with the 50th anniversary re-recording

There are some really impressive solos on this but unfortunately none of the heads are especially memorable

The jazz elements are a great addition to Joni's already-fantastic writing style of this period, and her vocals are astounding as always

The first two tracks are absolutely incredible but I do feel the album peaks quite early. The rest is pretty good but nothing sticks out as much as those openers. Still a banger though

What's this? A British electronic album that didn't last two hours? It's pretty catchy and kept my interest the whole way, very chill and nice stuff. I particularly enjoyed Sunworshipper

Very catchy and ridiculously influential. It's a bit samey after a while, but short enough to not outstay its welcome, and there's a charm to the songwriting and performances that makes it never seem boring

A really enjoyable album with some great tunes

I absolutely loved this. There was a bit of filler in the second half otherwise I probably would have given this a 5, but on the whole this was great! Will definitely be checking out more of their stuff

It's a no from me

Possibly the best punk record of all time. Every song is so direct, powerful and ridiculously catchy, with really interesting and sometimes eerie background instrumentation giving some additional spice

Everything I hate about 80s rock wrapped up in one easily demonstrable package

This was pretty good, some surprisingly heavy tracks (Stills has an almost grungy tone to his voice which was very unexpected considering the release date of this) and a nice blend of southern rock and folk subgenres. Pretty damn long but it changed things up just enough

Title track is amazing and the rest is nice enough, but I have been relistening to some of the later Beatles albums recently after the Revolver re-release and this is just lacking that Beatles magic

There are a lot of great songs on this and it works well on the whole, but it really marks the beginning of the end for Smashing Pumpkins in my opinion where everything just gets far too long and overblown. Nowhere near as direct and consistent as Gish or Siamese Dream, to the extent that I was toying with giving this a 3, but when it hits it really hits

Super catchy, energetic punk greatness

This was unnerving and I kind of loved it. It took me a while to adjust to the vocals and I think the opening track is the most abrasive they are on the whole album, but there's a lot of versatility across the record. Post-punk as I've never heard it before, and it was a delight

Not bad at all, just very uninteresting

Some of the music was fun, especially a couple of songs towards the end, but I didn't get on with the vocals at all

Another repeat from the dozen or so I listened to before starting a group - I quite enjoyed it at the time and it was a notable contrast to the music by Weller I was familiar with, but I also really didn't feel any desire to relisten to this even though it was nearly a year now since the first go through, which I guess says something about the album... idk, not enough for me to drop it to a 2, let's keep the rating as it was

Far from Young's best albums (and my god has he had some great ones) Looking forward to seeing some of his other records come up, but this one's only getting a 3

I thought the first track was really interesting, and I was quite excited to see how this record blended different genres, but my god it meandered after a little while. The overall sound worked and some moments had fantastic group vocals that added so much depth, but it mainly just all felt exactly the same throughout, with the lead vocal lines often being very weak and honestly just annoying to listen to

This somehow goes from possibly their most accessible song to their most unlistenable with a lot of chaos in the middle. There's a lot to love here, but also a lot of pretty horrible unnecessary feedback, and some dire mixing (Reed's vocals in Lady Godiva's Operation in particular are so jarring)

This still hits incredibly hard, I can barely imagine the impact it must have had at the time. It's not as refined as Toxicity but probably their most distinctive and unhinged record, just am absolute slap in the face by a big red hand

Some of The Smiths' best grooves, but also some of their most meandering and forgettable songwriting

Perfect background music for basically any activity, with enough hooks to keep things interesting while still being just a lovely and spacious ambient backdrop

I really enjoyed the first few songs but it quickly got a bit too yodelly for my liking

The title track just kicks everything off with so much energy, it's an irresistible start to the record really. This may be Iggy's most vocally diverse album, he's just all over the place and sounding fantastic on pretty much everything. A couple of songs don't quite hit for me, but on the whole it's just a very fun time

I enjoyed the first couple of songs, the music was pretty fun, but I really tuned out after that

I heard this for the first time a couple of years ago and it just blew me away. I prefer the first half to the second, but it's just a fantastic and incredibly odd little record

This absolutely slapped

Punk with a dark and brooding edge, with We Will Fall really setting this apart stylistically from other albums of this scene. The first side is much stronger than the second but it's still an enjoyable listen throughout

Nowhere near as dark and edgy as it tries to be, it's just got tinny production and laughably try hard lyrics. The Beautiful People and The Reflecting God still slap and Tourniquet is more impactful than I remember, but the rest is just unpleasant and boring

Adele is incredibly talented but also has a habit of writing some tedious piano ballads that don't really go anywhere. This album is far less fun and impactful than the previous two and less raw and emotional than her latest one and is just a very middling point in her discography. There are some incredible songs here - Send My Love is really fun, and All I Ask is absolute gorgeous. Just a shame that a lot of the stuff in the middle is so lifeless

I had no idea what to expect going in but this was quite fun

Decent on the whole but just needlessly long and repetitive

Just a really lovely album

There were some fun songs here and there but also some very questionable ones

I don't have as much love for this one as some people but it's still a fantastic album and one of their best. Norwegian Wood, Michelle and In My Life are all tippity top

I enjoyed this more on my second listen, still not quite enough to reach 4 stars but hey, maybe next time

For some reason I thought this was a britpop record but it's absolutely not, much more of a Flaming Lips and Sparklehorse kind of thing that I enjoyed the heck out of

A solid album with a great opening run of songs, they didn't all hit for me but the general vibe is great throughout

There are some really good tunes here, particularly Rent and It's a Sin, but it was a bit inconsistent and didn't have a huge impression on me

An alt-rock classic and one of my all time faves

Very tranquil and beautiful, I enjoyed this a lot

The fact that Spotify's first listening recommendation after this album is a playlist for 'Calm Labor and Delivery' says more about this record than I ever could

Enjoyed this one a lot, very Carole King esque

A mission statement and a half, this bursts with so much energy and personality. The skits actually add so much to the album, each member of the group shines and brings something different to the record, and there's just a lot of bangers with immaculate production throughout. Not my favourite Wu-Tang project (Liquid Swords and Fishscale do it more for me) but one of the most vital records of all time tbh

Probably the definitive Afrobeat album - politically charged and incredibly groovy, it's such an important record and also just so darn good to listen to

A great record whose acoustic leanings prove that punk doesn't have to be loud and fast; the aggression still comes through in the twisted lyrics and vocal delivery and the perfectly mixed rhythm section

Another interesting one by The Byrds, each of their albums so far has had a very distinct sound and personality which I really appreciate. This one felt a bit samey after a while but I had a great twenty minutes or so with it

Genesis' magnum opus, with all the pros and cons that sentence conjures to the imagination

A dark and raw side to The Boss, with some great songs like Badlands and Racing in the Street, but a bit of filler and some very hit and miss vocals

I nearly bailed out of this halfway through but am glad I didn't as the instrumental tunes at the start of side two were the highlights of the whole album. The title track near the end was also great On the whole though, it's over two hours of very repetitive country/bluegrass and felt even longer

Yes!! This is basically the record that got me into hip-hop so I have a lot of love for it. Sure, there a couple of misses and the skits aren't always great, but there are so many incredible high points on this album to make up for it. Kicking off with so much energy with Gasoline Dreams and then the cooler-than-a-polar-bear's-toenails So Fresh So Clean; Ms. Jackson and B.O.B are two of the best hip-hop singles of all time; Humble Mumble has one of the best beat switches of all time; ?, Red Velvet and the closer are all incredible yet overlooked tracks. Just an absolutely fire record

A fun psychedelic twist on some standard 60s blues fare. Lost Woman, Over Under Sideways Down and of course Hot House of Omagararshid are all highlights

Some absolute bangers with perfect pop production throughout, this is a brooding masterpiece

Pretty solid but nothing massively noteworthy imo. This was my first time hearing the deluxe edition which was good, it definitely feels like a continuation of the album rather than a set of b-sides. Looking forward to the super deluxe edition Heaux Tales Mo' Tales Heauxliday Inn

Great stuff, quite possibly XTC's best. This record plows it's way through so many genres and feels at home in all of them

Beetlebum and Song 2 are both incredible songs and a huge statement to start the album. While there are some strong ideas throughout, with a great variety of styles and sounds with clear influences from all over the pop and rock spheres, none of them result in a complete song that is quite innovative or interesting enough to stand out

A fun punk record, nothing too exciting but a good time

This really is the quintessential Christmas album. Minus one star for the spoken word outro which I always kind of hated even before I knew about the hideousness of Phil Spector

A relatively solid 90 minutes of exactly what you'd expect from a Thin Lizzy live(ish) album. I was going to give it a respectable 3, but there's a drum solo towards the end that is phased to shit and made me genuinely upset

So boring, a massive let down from the earlier Stewart album

I've never checked out more than the title track before but damn this was great

I'm a sucker for the first-half acoustic second-half electric live album formula. It really brings a sense of cohesion to something that can otherwise seem a bit aimless, and especially with Dylan's discography it feels like a turning point in his career unfolding in real time

Bad Moon Rising is a great song but the rest is just really generic and not that fun to listen to

There's a lot to take in here - a very raw album with some great grooves but not as refined or memorable as some more iconic Gaye records. Also, A Funky Space Reincarnation is a great song but feels woefully out of place with the rest of the album

Probably my favourite Sparks album, and a whole lot of fun. Highlights are This Town... (obviously), Amateur Hour, and Talent is an Asset. Some of the songs can go on a bit long (looking at you, Equator) but on the whole it's a great record

Bursting with ideas to the extent that a lot of them overflow and just kind of fall on the floor. Astronomy Domine is a great opener, and The Gnome is a lovely little ditty. The rest is just a bit hit and miss really, but full of promise

Not as ambitious or memorable as the masterful Love & Hate, but a great record nonetheless

A solid soul album that didn't leave too much of an impact

Strikingly different to Ingenue and her later work, but still a really good record

It lacks the intensity and energy that make The Holy Bible such a powerful album, but there are some great songs here. A Design For Life is the obvious highlight and one of their greatest songs, but it's a pretty stacked tracklist and one of their catchiest offerings

There are some good songs here and there (Moribund the Burgermeister and Down the Dolce Vita are a lot of fun) but it's a very disjointed album, and sometimes doesn't quite stick the landing (Excuse Me feels like it's trying to be weird but just comes across as strangely nervous)

This was a pleasant surprise. I figured this was going to be a pretty forgettable C-tier britpop album but there was actually a lot of interesting stuff going on and a much more Ride-esque shoegaze feel. Still a bit too long but not bad at all

It's a bloated mess but there's so much great stuff on here, and even the songs I don't like add so much character to the album that I honestly wouldn't change a thing. I can't give it a 5 in good conscience as it can be such a slog to listen to all the way through, but on the whole it's a stunning collection of songs

Who the fuck let Eric Clapton play reggae?

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. The great vocals were a given but the arrangements were constantly changing and kept things interesting, and production was on point. Good stuff.

Not one of my favourite Kinks records, this is solid throughout but there's nothing too memorable outside of the delightfully catchy Dandy and the incredible Sunny Afternoon

Doesn't quite resonate with me in the same way Psychocandy does, but it's a good moody album

Good vibes

A really interesting addition to Dylan's catalogue. Is it as vital as Freewheelin/BIABH/Highway 61/Blonde on Blonde/Blood on the Tracks? No, absolutely not. But it shows a very different and more morose side to a continually evolving artist, with percussion and angular melodies that could have jumped straight out of a Tom Waits record

It's a bit bloated, sure, but it's a masterful display of progressive music, theatrical storytelling, and weird very-british quirkiness

This is the third album in a row that hits the 70-80 minute mark - really hoping for a 20 min punk banger tomorrow to counterbalance it. Of the three this is the least deserving of the runtime, but it wasn't as painful as it could have been. There are some hypnotic grooves to get lost in here and there with some nice developments and interpolations. Things started dragging a bit by Bless My Soul but picked up again for the more left-field closing tracks

Some of the synths have aged really badly but that's the only real negative. Every song is either poetic and emotional, an outright banger, or both

A very hit and miss album, with some great wordplay, delivery, and politically-charged rhymes, and also some fire production- a lot of the other reviews say it's dated, which I get when compared to some more revolutionary early 90s releases like Low End Theory and The Chronic, but as a bookend to the 80s style production The Bomb Squad were renowned for it's still really impressively put together. Some tracks are very forgettable though, and others like It's a Man's World make me wish I could forget them

A fantastic debut from a band with a ridiculous amount of great albums. Not my favourite of theirs but an incredibly strong and assured start to the discography

A quirky little album with some catchy tunes and dreamy production, but nothing too impressive or memorable

Quite possibly the most influential hip-hop production of all time, and the combination of Dre and Snoop Dogg is dreamlike

Album number 365 of this big old journey and it's an exciting one. One of the first truly great albums of this millennium, this is immaculately produced and just a very impressive and groovy experience. I'm taking off one star just because, other than the title track, I've never really got a lot emotionally out of the record

I don't revisit this anywhere near as often as the two Metallica albums either side of it, but I really should, its a damn good record. Some songs are slightly longer than they need to be, but it never really gets boring and the high points are very high

Who is screaming this loudly for Cheap Trick? The songs are boring and the album sounds so messy

Probably Sonic Youth's most fun album even if it's not their most consistent. Kool Thing is the obvious standout, but Tunic and Disappearer are also great

This is a very fun album. The rock, folk and hip-hop influences are blended together in an idiosyncratic and frankly chaotic way that is charming enough to somehow just work

Quite possibly the best-produced album of all time. The beats are crisp as all heck but with a ghostly murkiness and the vocals are enchanting

Beautiful and atmospheric with some of the best orchestration on record. There are some bits that don't quite work for me and sometimes the downtime between those swells of strings can feel excessive, but that's really just nitpicking

A diverse, subversive, and most importantly fun punk album. It didn't blow me away, but it's definitely one I'll go back to

The first half of this was really interesting - a lot of great ideas and sounds that seem quite ahead of their time. Even though not all of it worked, there was enough ambition there to give a 3 or maybe a 4 too. Unfortunately the album just seemed to tail off towards the end, and the last few tracks were nowhere near as exciting

Not the most consistent R.E.M album but each side is bookended with fantastic songs and Exhuming McCarthy also shines. Lots of stuff here to enjoy even if they've done some of it better elsewhere

Good god this album is sad. It's very well written and performed but does feel a bit repetitive after a while

I'm surprised this one made the cut over folklore, but both of these albums marked a fantastic turning point for Taylor and really solidified her versatility as a songwriter. There are a couple of weaker songs in the middle which hold this down slightly, but it's still a great record

It was OK but nowhere near Simon's best

Smooooooth

A real album of two halves for me. The first side is excellent, taking the energy of The Stooges excellent work and channeling it into some ridiculously groovy post-punk and new wave bangers. The second half really tails off in comparison though

All I Really Need Is You was the only real highlight here, everything else was very generic and underwhelming. I also hate the 60s trend of speaking to the audience over the final track, on this song especially it's just aggressively cringe

There are some fantastic songs here (I've Got You Under My Skin, Pennies Fron Heaven, You Make Me Feel So Young etc.) but also just quite a few forgettable or outright cringe ones (Making Whoopee succckks)

There are a couple of bangers in here (the opener kicks things off with a whole load of energy) and Lost In You is a genuinely sweet song, but otherwise it's quite middle of the road, forgettable indie rock

Kraftwerk's best album imo. Every song bleeps all the right bloops for me

I've never completely enjoyed a Doors album other than their excellent debut, but this is probably the second best. The title track and Riders on the Storm are both fantastic, and Morrison's voice is so rich and powerful across the record, but it just doesn't all hit for me

Absolutely ferocious, one of the noisiest projects I've ever heard. The drums in particular sound fucking mega. I love that it's so relentlessly aggressive for the first 22 minutes and then just suddenly pivots to the swaggering groove of Feet Music, then just back to 100 again

Sure it's a bit long, but it's all really good. Far less of a drag than some much shorter albums have been. It could do without the Outta Mind (Outta Sight) reprise - I get that it's in a different style but it doesn't really add anything conceptually and feels kind of unnecessary to have them both at random points on the same album. But otherwise there's nothing I'd cut, it's a really consistent and versatile album that rewards the longer listen

This was fun! The production is pretty stuck in the 80s for the most part, though some jazz and funk influences sneak in here and there, but the mic presence and flow is unlike anything else I've heard from this era. Bouge de là part.1 and Ragga Jam are two particular highlights

Far too many uses of the word 'bulbous'. This is an unhinged and fascinating record that sounds like a car crash through Tom Waits' nightmares, and veers from funny to harrowing in a split second. It's also way way too long - I was feeling a solid 4/5 for the first hour or so but it did drag towards the end unfortunately

Beck mellows gracefully with some lovely little songs. Sometimes a little samey, especially when you compare it to his eclectic previous catalogue, but it's just very pretty

Ooh it's very good isn't it

Obviously the title track is fantastic, and the rest is an easy listen but doesn't get anywhere close to the unmatched coolness of the opener

An essential album on the border of rock, pop, and new wave. I’m not a huge fan of Pretty Baby but every other song is great. An incredibly tight, consistent and energetic album

You can hear quite a few people on the recording just awkwardly grunting or going ‘yeah’ when the jazz is just too good and honestly same

Great grooves but it does feel a bit samey after a while, nothing really stood out to me after the title track

Such a game changer for alternative rock. Angular and dissonant yet catchy as hell. It’s a formula that in my opinion they didn’t perfect until Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, but the raucous energy of this debut is pretty special. There are also some incredibly tender moments, with Here being an obvious highlight and contrasting with the chaos of Conduit for Sale! and Fame Throwa

Karma Chameleon is a fantastic song, and there were a couple of other fun songs on here (It’s a Miracle and Church of the Poison Mind were two other highlights) but otherwise it’s a pretty forgettable and unimpressive album

The only exposure I had to Goldfrapp before today was hearing A&E right near the end of Now That’s What I Call Music 69, so I had no idea what to expect going into this album. The opening track was absolutely beautiful, and Little Bird and Happiness were both incredible as well. The album dragged a little in the middle for me with a couple of less interesting songs, but on the whole this was hugely enjoyable and I’ll definitely be diving into their catalogue

Blitzkrieg Bop is an incredible way to start, but things never exactly pick up from there. It’s a fun album that peaks immediately and then levels out to a solid bit unimpressive record

There is some fantastic production on this, the beats and sampling are so good. The first half has some great songs but the approach to hip-hop and hardcore both sound quite dated and like a hangover from the late 80s compared to the 1994 landscape for both genres. However the album’s ability to traverse these genres, and the instrumental eclecticism of the second half are massive highlights.

Very dark and atmospheric, this really feels like an anti-Britpop album. I like what it’s going for, and the opening track is fantastic, but there are quite a few low moments throughout the record and the drone at the end of the closer is way too self indulgent

This was alright but I cannot remember a single thing about it

It’s Abbey freaking Road, what more needs to be said?

The opener is fantastic and obviously Mr Blue Sky is a gem. Other than that, there are great moments throughout the album and some lovely recurring melodies and themes, but nothing strong enough to justify the mega runtime

Absolutely fantastic album, with such a massive variety of different genres somehow blended seamlessly (Seaside Rendezvous, The Prophets Song and Love of my Life as consecutive songs is just ridiculous but works so well, and Bohemian Rhapsody has pretty much every aspect of those within one impeccable song). I’m In Love With My Car and Good Company are the only two songs really holding the track list down from being a 5.

Not my favourite Neil album but still pretty solid. The first couple of songs are great but I do find For the Turnstiles a bit whiney and the second half meanders a bit

Average

Not quite as strong as her next album, but there are so many great songs on here and it’s an incredibly assured debut from a ridiculously talented writer and performer

The main theme is great and there are some other nice motifs here and there but a lot of the album is quite bland

A very strange inclusion, this is objectively the worst of their first four albums. There are some great songs on here, but there are some proper duds as well

I’ve never enjoyed this album as much as I feel like I should. The Beautiful Ones, Darling Nikki, When Doves Cry, and especially the title track are all fantastic but the rest doesn’t really do a lot for me. However it is such a monumental record from one of the most iconic artists of the 80s, with such an important legacy in the history of popular music that I feel like to give it any less than a 4 would be an injustice

Absolutely solid and a pivotal punk album, not a bad song on here

I remember really enjoying this when I first heard it a few years ago, but on a relisten it does feel excessively long. The production is fantastic throughout and Ghostface’s energy is really impressive (the most consistent solo Wu Tang member by quite some way imo) but it gets a bit tiring after a while

My thoughts on this seem to be shared by a lot of reviewers on the site. It’s got some great conscious lyrics, even if they’re quite on the nose at times, but the production and flow are very dated and need a lot more variety to keep this interesting throughout the whole runtime - even by about track four it seems that he’s run out of ideas

The music is pretty lovely and the lyrics are oh so incredibly bleak. All feels very samey though, and never been enough to keep me engaged throughout the album

There’s some good stuff on this, but it just feels so one-note compared to the latter two thirds of the Beatles catalogue, it’s impossible not to compare really and it just falls short

Beach House is real main character music. This album is really good but I prefer their next two

I’m really happy this is on here, one of the best hip-hop records of the last few years

This was amazing, loved it

It’s a lot of fun but I can’t really give it any more than two stars

Pretty rad that this came out in the 70s, it’s so different to Sex Pistols/Clash/Ramones and all the other punk from that era, and a real gateway into the hardcore of Black Flag and so on. That being said, I didn’t love it

Lots of great tunes on this, a very nice little listen

DOWNATTHEMENINMUSICBUSINESS CONFERENCE The first two tracks are fantastic and the rest is kind of fine. Blue Bannisters is better

The opening track tests your patience slightly but after that there’s some great stuff on here. The Sad Skinhead and Picnic on a Frozen River… are both very catchy, and it’s abundant with the tight grooves that krautrock is renowned for even if the music over the top is a bit more chaotic

Probably the best live album ever? Johnny is on fantastic form throughout and the atmosphere is inimitably electric

An incredibly diverse and enjoyable album, I need to revisit this more often

Absolutely lovely, this was great to just have on while reading and sounds fantastic

I like this album but there’s nothing particularly exciting or interesting going on

This was great! I only knew Brass in Pocket from this album going in, and the opening track blew me away. I wasn’t a huge fan of the second song so thought it might be a bit spotty but that was really the only subpar moment for me, the rest was fantastic

I’ve just never really cared for live rock albums like this. Yes, they’re great musicians, but other than Highway Star and Smoke on the Water (which are both not quite as good as their studio versions) the songs don’t really offer a lot, and just serve as an incredibly bare backing for some fretboard wanking and piercing screams. There’s a six minute drum solo to pad out a shitty blues track that I cannot remember at all. The solos and the vocals are very impressive without a doubt but there is no emotion here and it’s just a very uninteresting 76 minutes

A decent album ruined by its production. This is pitched as a psychedelic rock album but it’s actually just a rock album (with some pretty fun and inventive songwriting here and there!) drowned out every few minutes by the tinniest phasing you’ve ever heard

I wanted to give this a higher score as I genuinely believe Let Me Entertain You and Angels are two of the best pop songs of all time, and there are some other great deeper cuts on here, but unfortunately there are also songs like South of the Border which is absolute dog shit

The three singles are excellent, Funky Shit is pretty fun, and Narayan is a low key banger (I’m also a big fan of how it transitions into Firestarter). Unfortunately I just don’t really care for the rest of the album - it’s fine while it’s on but doesn’t draw me in, and some of the songs (including ones I enjoy) are just wayyy too long without enough development to justify it imo

Pretty much what I expected, some of the production choices were cool but a few songs sounded like Arctic Monkeys b-sides

Absolutely fantastic album, love it love it love it

My boy!!! This isn’t my favourite album of his but the title track is amazing and Jersey Girl and Ruby’s Arms are two of his most gorgeous ballads. Hoping to see more of Tom soon!

An incredibly influential album that I enjoy but has never entirely clicked with me

All I’ve previously heard from Bauhaus was their breakout single Bela Lugosi’s Dead and their acclaimed debut album which I found a bit one-note and dreary after a while. Imagine my surprise then when the follow-up release just keeps evolving in so many unexpected ways. I keep making a note of songs that are highlights and have practically listed the whole tracklist for a whole host of different reasons. Very inventive, quirky, goth vibes Update: I wrote the above while listening to Hollow Hills, and found the second half pretty underwhelming in comparison. Muscle in Plastic and the title track were both good, but the other songs didn’t live up to the potential that was clearly on show elsewhere

Such a unique and adventurous album from one of the biggest pop acts of all time, with a massive musical theatre influence (it’s no surprise that Chess came just a few years after this). With the exception of One of Us, which has always been one of my least favourite ABBA singles (and it is such a shame that it’s the only song to represent this album on ABBA Gold) every track is fantastic, and the deluxe version with the addition of The Day Before You Came is just as strong

Pretty mad that this album invented rock and roll In all seriousness though, this… kind of sucks. I was expecting a lot more as I do enjoy quite a few Elvis songs from this era, but they all seem to have been either standalone singles or from EPs. Blue Suede Shoes is a great opener but the rest of the songs are either pretty subpar covers that have been done miles better by other artists (I’ve Got a Woman, Blue Moon, the somehow energy-less Tutti Frutti) or are just very bland, and often with incredibly annoying vocal inflections

I’m glad I stayed until the end, as The O-Men and Kuntz were both quite fun. Did they make up for the half hour of dogshit beforehand? No, absolutely not

Pretty nice britpop with a slightly fuzzy, almost psychedelic approach. A few of the longer instrumental sections felt a bit aimless, but the songs were generally solid

Title track is great, the rest is fine and exactly as expected. Was going to give this a 3 but have to take off a star for Jailbait, yikes

This sounds dated in the same way that pretty much all 80s hip-hop sounds dated now, but Latifah is on fire throughout the whole album, constantly changing her flow and just floating over the beats in a really engaging way. The opener and Ladies First are the highlights but it’s a really solid record

An incredible double album that doesn’t even come close to overstaying it’s welcome, every song is just fantastic. A perfect record

Some nice stuff on here but also a lot of meandering instrumentals

I didn’t vibe with this at all the first time I heard it but enjoyed it a lot more today (the perks of listening on decent headphones I guess). His voice can be a bit grating at times but the synth sounds are pretty great, and it varies from some really fun tunes to some darker, atmospheric stuff (the last track in particular is a big tonal shift and really effective). I still didn’t love it, but who knows what I’ll think next time

This record is just so fun! Just two pals (are they siblings? are they married? do they hate each other? who knows back in 2001?) playing loud and loose and making a joyous little racket, with some lovely softer moments as well

The first song and Take Five are both fantastic and, while there is interesting stuff going on elsewhere, it doesn’t quite reach those heights again. It’s also a relatively emotionless project - there isn’t any passion or intensity in a lot of the playing, which makes it difficult to feel too strongly about it. Now the negatives are out of the way: it’s a very fun album. The concept is simple but executed perfectly, and the complex time signatures sound natural in the context of the songs rather than just feeling like they’re irregular for the sake of it

I’ve tried to get into Roxy Music a couple of times but never really cared for them, so my god was this a pleasant surprise. It’s baffling this came out in 1974, some of the production and Ferry’s vocal affectations sound so distinctly 80s. The range of genres this covers is ridiculous and it’s just a lot of fun

The opening song is great and got me very excited for this, but unfortunately the rest is pretty mid. There’s some nice instrumental sections here and there (Dreamer was another highlight) but most of it is very generic with naff lyrics

It was fine - I much prefer Solid Air. The porny guitar effects were a bit distracting

I preferred this to the self titled and there was at least some variety and personality on here, but it’s still pretty boring. The cover of Fever was so uninspired. Also low-key hilarious that there’s a song on this called Soulja Boy

It was fine, nothing awful and nothing special

It’s fun and I like the vibe of it, but it’s just too lo-fi for me - I know that’s basically the point and the main appeal for a lot of people but it’s just not a hugely enjoyable listen for me

A THIRD Pet Shop Boys album? Considering I gave the other two a 3/5, it’s safe to say I went into this not expecting a lot. Where the others had some standout tracks and strong ideas but suffered from a bit of inconsistency, this was just not very good from start to finish

Some nice harmonies but generally a pretty lacklustre record

I had no idea what to expect going into this and every time I thought I’d figured out where the album was going it swerved to something left field. Electronic music with hip-hop influences, some Indian classical music, and one song that sounds like musical theatre? Yeah sure. There were a couple of mid songs but the highs far outweighed the lows, and I especially enjoyed Pilgrim and Serpents

A landmark album with three incredible, genre-affirming singles and a lot of other songs that are there I guess (Parental Discretion Iz Advised also slaps) Also - I think the Eazy E hate is kind of out of nowhere, he has some good verses, but considering the track he is most prominent on is 8 Ball I am not at all surprised, that song is ass. Dopeman is also not good, and Something 2 Dance 2 has always been incredibly out of place

A blistering display of industrial oddness. The one-two punch of the frenetic Jesus Bought My Hot Rod and the doomy atmospheric heaviness of Scare Crow is a massive highlight at the centre of an assured and exciting but somewhat uneven album

A really promising debut that is a lot more chill than the commanding presence Missy has on later albums. Not quite as immediate as something like Miss E, but there are some really strong cuts on here beside the better known singles (the run from Friendly Skies to Izzy Izzy Ahh is maybe even stronger than that opening run, though The Rain is still probably my favourite song on the whole thing). Unfortunately it does tail off a bit towards the end, and I’m Talkin’ is ridiculously cheesy, and the choice to have two spoken outros is baffling

Not really my thing but there was a lot to appreciate here. Heavier and more varied than I expected, and there were elements that I could see inspiring anything from Nick Cave to Rocky Horror

A solid release from a band with at least two far superior albums - American Water especially not being in this list is a travesty

I thoroughly enjoyed this! I didn’t know that there was a post-Minutemen project and this took all the bits I really like about their sound and condensed it to a much more palatable project than the 80+ Double Nickels on the Dime (which is still a great record, it just loses my attention a bit towards the end). This on the other hand was a really exciting and enjoyable blend of punk stylings with those trademark killer grooves throughout

A great rock record that’s ultimately not bogged down by an over-complex concept like some other The Who releases. Three of their best and most iconic singles are on here, and a lot of the other tracks are great too, though the double-hit of Getting In Tune and Going Mobile are a bit of a low point

Never really been my thing but it’s hard to deny the quality on this. The upbeat songs are really fun and the ballads actually come across as sincere and are well played rather than just being cringy, unlike a LOT of rock ballads from this era. The guitar playing and vocal performances are fantastic, and the songs don’t seem to go on longer than they need to despite some pretty hefty runtimes. Not sure if/when I would revisit this but I enjoyed it a lot more than expected

Kentucky was a great opener and the rest was just a significantly worse version of that song. Quality banjo playing but boring and repetitive songs with some godawful harmonies here and there

Tina sounds great on this but the production is pretty bad in places. The big singles slap and it was interesting getting this relatively soon after Supa Dupa Fly (I hadn’t heard where that sample for The Rain came from before) but it didn’t all work for me, and the covers of Help and 1984 towards the end really ended it on a weak note

It was alright - decent but repetitive songs. Lots of respect for Dolly but nothing here was her best

I enjoyed this a lot more than expected. There are a lot of elements of that kind of 80s pop production that usually annoy me but everything worked together perfectly here, and the songs were really well written and developed

A solid and eclectic mix of Radiohead songs. Not their best, not their worst - tracks like 2+2=5, There There, Myxamatosis and Sail to the Moon are just very very good, and I think We Suck Young Blood is overhated

Solid vocals with pretty great soul production but ultimately let down by some very mediocre lyrics

The first half is genuinely great but it really runs out of steam after Daylight; A Whisper is the only track past that point that really stands out and everything else is just so bland. Also what is that weird Oasis impression he tries in the chorus of the title track?

This absolutely slapped. Succinct and powerful hardcore that shaped the way for an incredibly impactful subgenre

An unexpected delight. I really thought this would be quite hit and miss but almost every song is fantastic with some beautiful arrangements, and Karen’s voice is stellar. Two songs towards the end (Mr Guder and I Kept On Loving You) didn’t quite hit for me, but it picked back up for the more experimental closer

A beautiful album that I appreciate more and more with each listen. I’d maybe put Scott 3 above it but they’re both 5-star albums at the end of the day

Solid album, and it must have had a pretty huge impact in 1970. Child in Time is a masterpiece and Into the Fire and Living Wreck both have fantastic riffs. The musicianship and vocals are great throughout but the songwriting is a bit weak in places and it does take a while to get going, and not as strong as Machine Head a couple of years later

Yeah, this feels quite dated and none of the heads really stuck with me. It had a nice atmosphere though, and Tuang Guru especially was a lot of fun

An energetic live album with some great tunes that I’ve always enjoyed but has never quite fully resonated with me for whatever reason

Relistened to this a few weeks ago and it’s just very lovely. All of Bill’s stuff just completely envelops you in this delicate world with his emotion-heavy voice just floating at the low end of this lush instrumentation rather than breaking above it - wonderful mixing and songwriting that always results in a soothing experience

Another gorgeous album, with one of the smoothest sax tones known to man and lovely vocals throughout

Never really got into Elliott Smith (though I’m not too sure why as everything about his music usually appeals to me) Anyway this was a bit of an eye opener, much more diverse than expected and solid all the way through

Very 90s, very angsty, and very good

I enjoyed this more than expected at the start but it got pretty repetitive over time and I kind of zoned out by the last few tracks

My favourite The Cure album, this is just incredibly atmospheric and dark from the off with some of the most sinister sounding synths I’ve ever encountered

A lovely little album with a very relaxed vibe, albeit with nothing too special going on compared to studio releases

I’ve never been hugely into this Cohen album, and much prefer the records either side (as well as a few others later in his illustrious career). Bird on the Wire is a great opener though and its pretty strong throughout, just pales a bit in comparison

In Memory of Elizabeth Reed is a vibe but otherwise this is a massive slog. The shorter songs are bang average and the other two longer ones go well beyond their natural ending point

Never really got into The Fall despite giving them quite a bit of time. This and Hex Enduction Hour are probably their best and there are a few highlights here and there but there’s also a lot that’s just very badly put together and difficult to listen to

Two The Fall albums in two days, lucky me! This one is rougher than the previous and, despite a great opening track, there’s really not too much else here that I can get into

The opening track was pretty tedious and, especially towards the end, seemed really disjointed. There were some stronger tracks later on but the album had already worn my patience quite a bit by then

Haven’t listened to this for quite a while, and it’s a pretty overwhelming project. It’s a slow burn and requires some patience for me to really appreciate (definitely not something I can stick on at any time) but has a lot of great moments and is just very impressive, a landmark record for sure

The title track is one of the most iconic hip-hop songs of all time, and the rest of the record is… fine. The opener is pretty fun but yeah, there’s really not too much to write home about here other than the obvious

It took me a few listens to get into this but, revisiting today, it was just a lot of fun. Grungy bangers to haunting piano-led pieces to canon-esque risqueness

Never heard of Calexico before and was very impressed by this. Lots of fun, a great blend of genres that kept things interesting without seeming too scattered, and a well-paced mix of songs and instrumentals. Will definitely be revisiting this and checking out some of their other records. I feel like after a couple of listens this would probably drop to a 4 but just from a first impression I’m going high

I remember enjoying their debut but man did this suck. The production sounds so dated and the vocals are awful for almost every track - the two big singles are the only ones that actually sound decent

This was a really tough one to rate. When I first heard it a few years ago as I was still getting into hip-hop I was completely blown away, the production was like nothing I’d ever heard and the cinematic vibe of it really appealed to me. For years it was my favourite Wu Tang adjacent album by a long way but after a few listens I think it loses a bit of steam towards the end and some of the verses get a bit repetitive, while my appreciation of some other albums like 36 Chambers, Supreme Clientele and Cuban Linx has grown. Still an incredible album though - would have been an easy 5 a few years ago, I’m still going to give it a 5 but it’s not as clear cut. As a side note, I also just love how nerdy a lot of Wu Tang stuff is at base level. This entire record is just a love letter to samurai films, comic books, and chess and it somehow sounds cool as fuck

Maybe her most accessible album? Got some great tunes on this but also a couple of sleepers mixed into the tracklist just preventing it from being truly great

Not quite as lovely as Unhalfbricking but still an amazing collection of songs, Matty Groves in particular is incredible

Pretty good and clearly very influential. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first couple of songs but from Dixie onwards it was relatively strong. There’s just no it factor for the songs really, and their work with Dylan is much more exciting

A solid PE album but nothing much compared to the legendary previous two, and only one standout track right at the end

Joni does it again - her folky albums are lovely and Blue is still my favourite, but her more experimental and jazz inspired ones are just so interesting, and her voice and the melodies she writes fits this style so well. The first two songs were particular highlights along with Harry’s House/Centrepiece but the whole thing was delightful really

What a great time! This was just really fun to listen to. Nothing that grabbed my attention quite enough to get a 5 but a lovely little background record with some of the cleanest ensemble brass tones I’ve heard

Easily my favourite album fronted by a neo-nazi, solid 3 stars

Really good stuff as you’d expect from any Funkadelic project but not one of their most memorable outputs

Springfield sounds great on this whole record, what a fantastic voice and a fun selection of songs. Nothing too special but a good time especially for a debut

I wasn’t a fan of Nothing’s Shocking on the whole so this was a nice surprise. The production was a lot sharper and the music was just far more interesting stylistically, with some grunge and prog elements on different songs? I’m giving this a quite conservative 3 now but will definitely be revisiting (and hey, I might even give the debut another go based off this)

Q-Tip is just so damn good. Really interesting to hear him over some more digital beats than the more natural jazz instrumentation or sampling-based approach of Tribe, but he just has such a calm and enjoyable flow over anything. Some great features as well

Just very very fun. Planet Claire is a great opener, Rock Lobster is of course amazing, and the whole album is just really enjoyable

God damn, I guess I’m giving the yellow submarine album a 5

A solid blues-rock record with fantastic vocals, but nothing too standout from a songwriting point of view

Not my favourite Kuti record. It’s good and there are some top notch grooves but he has some much more interesting material

The opening song was a lot of fun but that level of energy didn’t quite last unfortunately. It was mainly just covers of rock n roll songs that have been performed and mixed a hell of a lot better elsewhere

Not a bad album by any means, but it just shows how much hip-hop has developed since the 80s (and how diverse it has become nowadays). The beats are all very dated and samey and the flows and delivery are just the same all the way through. Nothing too exciting lyrically or emotively on here either, and at a full hour it’s just way too long for what it is

Not really my cup of tea but a very well put together album, with three fantastic singles and pretty good stuff elsewhere

Absolutely gorgeous record with so much variety and emotion, possibly my favourite Stevie release (though SITKOL is obviously incredible as well)

DiD yOu KnOw He WaS sHoT nInE tImEs? I don’t know if Spotify just ripped a poor quality version of this or something but it sounds like the kick drums are peaking throughout a lot of the album? Very strange In Da Club and P.I.M.P are both great and there are some other pretty decent songs on here as well - I actually really enjoyed the bonus tracks and they were better than quite a lot of the rest of the album. This record really had the industry in a chokehold 20 years ago and I get the hype around it - it’s a great story, the singles are massive, and 50’s flow is super confident and easy to listen to. That being said, it’s a very inconsistent album, some of the beats are mid, and where he does try to switch up his flow (Like My Style for example) it sounds very awkward

Alright is a tune and Lenny is also very good. The rest is perfectly fine - there’s some nice and interesting stuff towards the end but it’s pretty inconsequential on the whole

Tim’s always nice to listen to and the second half of this was particularly good as things got a bit more experimental, whereas the first half wasn’t quite as engaging

Nope nope nope

Sounds like this man just rolled out of a swamp and started hitting some pans. I love it

Not the most consistent Radiohead record as the second half tails off slightly (until the incredible Life in a Glasshouse) but the first half is incredibly strong and contains some of their most fragile and beautiful songs

Yeah this was dull and he is an ass

Such great energy, joyfully catchy punk/new wave songwriting, and an incredible, unique and iconic voice from Poly Styrene. The use of sax just makes this so much fun

Very different to Urban Hymns - it was like if Robbie Williams fronted a shoegaze band. Some really great stuff but lost its way meandering towards the end

Not as strong as her debut, despite the incredible Son of a Preacher Man and Windmills of my Mind. I feel like the mixing on her voice made it not quite as strong which was a bit of a shame

I’ve never really got into a Doors album other than their debut. This one had some great stuff on it (Waiting for the Sun and Peace Frog both fantastic) but a lot of quite boring ineffectual blues as well

The musicianship was great and Waters sounded fantastic for the whole thing, it just got a little bit samey for me to fully enjoy though

Not much to say about this one, it’s just very very very good

The vocals grew on me a bit as it went on and I appreciate the sparseness and delicacy of everything but yeah, it seemed pretty underdeveloped and just not too engaging. I gave up part way through and relistened to E.MO.TION instead and that fucking slaps

A really solid collection of bluesy rock gems, I definitely need to spend some more time with Black Keys

This Corrosion was a fantastic centre point of an otherwise quite dreary album with an unfortunately muddy mix

I’ve never been hugely into Aerosmith but this was a great time. The standard cock rock you’d expect but nothing too too cringe, and there was a lot more variety than I expected- Janey Got a Gun could almost be a Pearl Jam song

I’ve had enough of these muddy 80s mixes man

Idk, it’s got some good stuff on it but I just prefer their songs about hobbits

Nice chill background music but nothing too exciting

A timeless and truly incredible record from start to finish

A fantastic psychedelic folk record that blends both parts of the genre perfectly rather than just hopping between them track to track. One of the pinnacles of the genre for sure and maybe the best The Byrds album? (I’ll have to relisten to Younger than Yesterday but it’s definitely up there)

A mixed bag, with some interesting stuff going on but nothing too exciting. Everyone on this record has been involved in much stronger projects

How do you follow one of the biggest albums of all time? With a raw as fuck angst-fuelled punk record I guess - and it works. There are a couple of tracks on here that don’t do it quite so much for me, but the aggressive production works so well as songs like Scentless Apprentice and Tourettes burst into life with so much energy, while gentler cuts like Dumb, Pennyroyal Tea and the incredible closer All Apologies add even more depth to Nirvana’s upsettingly short yet illustrious catalogue

Some great songs on here but it does tail off a bit towards the end

Nobby’s voice is so grating most of the time, though there are some decent songs later on where he uses a lower register and they reign things back a bit (Gudbuy Gudbuy and I Don’t Mind primarily, as well as the very Zeppelin-esque bonus track My Life is Natural) For the most part though this is just the most tepid form of cock rock, with hideous mixing and lyrics that range from being intolerably cringe (slayed r just soooo crazee n luv rok n rol) to pretty creepy in Gudbuy T’Jane

A pretty decent early punk album but nothing too memorable

Really enjoyed this one - the opening track was particularly fun but the rest was still a great mix of folk, prog, and blues

The aesthetic and the vocals are fun but the music is just so derivative. The mixing fucking sucks as well, it’s so soaked in reverb that it loses any sense of immediacy that might make it sound like a punk album. There are a couple of standout tracks but it’s mainly just a wash of bland rock n roll

The title track is great, one of the best covers I’ve ever heard tbh, and the rest of the album is… pretty good. A solid debut for a band who are still crafting their sound and massively improve on it in later years

I first heard this a year or so ago when listening to previous Mercury Prize winners and thought it was absolutely gorgeous. Relistening has made me appreciate it even more - it’s just such a tender and affecting record

The homicidal, suicidal, genocidal… oh wait, not that Sabu? This was pretty cool, some amazing polyrhythms going on, but it certainly did get a bit repetitive after a while

The beats were very repetitive after a while but there were some interesting moments here and there - the flute lead of African Dance and the skittering kick drum of Feel Free were both highlights. Never got into Keep On Movin, and the only truly great song is a bonus track (the a capella version of Back To Life is not that good guys)

Not bad by any means, it just does nothing for me

The sound of this album is so intricate and perfectly executed, and there are a lot of really strong messages that are well communicated through the lyrics and the interludes. Something has just never fully clicked with me though, and I seem to be one of the few who prefers her follow-up to this

Fantastic album, the opener Concrete Jungle was the standout but it was still pretty consistent throughout

A pretty solid bluesy psychedelic rock album with a great rhythm section and really strong vocals from Jack Bruce. Clapton’s vocals are less appealing and kind of ruin Strange Brew for me which is a shame because it’s an otherwise brilliant song. It does get very samey after a while and the songwriting is kind of mid for a lot of the tracks, though the weird music-hall-esque Mother’s Lament is an unexpected and fun (if somewhat disconcerting) way to close things out

I really liked the first four songs, and if they were their own separate EP it could have been a quintessential britpop release. Unfortunately the album continued and, while there were some nice ideas here and there, it was mainly very dull and uninspired for the next half hour

Never got into this one. The production is gorgeous, the songs are great for like 4/5 minutes but so many of them drag on for far too long and make it a pretty tedious listen in places

Hey, at least they embraced the concept by making some of the most unlistenable shit possible. I don’t even mind the adverts, I think they’re quite fun in places, but the opener is such a reverb-soaked mess and Silas Stingy is painfully bad. Not even I Can See For Miles can redeem this one

Wow, yeah I’m a sucker for weird folky shite like this. There is a fine line between vocals being eccentric and downright annoying and it certainly crosses that line on a few occasions (See Saw in particular) but on the whole it’s inventive and often very pretty with some fantastic guitar playing and inspired songwriting

Anything that uses the phrase ‘honky tonk’ is never going to be for me, but the first half of this album was actually pretty darn good - the straight/swing switch-ups of the opener were fun, the production was solid and it was overall a good listen. Unfortunately everything after the title track was garbage

This is another I was given before restarting this list as part of a group, and my original review still stands: Garage just isn't for me really. I get the appeal and it was a relatively enjoyable listen, though a bit on the long side, but just not my jam

Eerie and hypnotic but not too memorable

The first half of this is incredible but everything after Jeremy has just never stood out to me. The closer works very well but just doesn’t quite hold up to those first six songs

I’ve never clicked with this as much as most other Bush albums but it’s still a terrific piece of work. The violin/fiddle line of the opener is otherworldly and infectious, and the closing two tracks are so different but both incredible. A truly great record that I wish I got a bit more out of than I do

At just 22/23, Dylan already sounds like a master of his craft, with songs like Blowin in the Wind, A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall and Don’t Think twice standing the test of time incredibly. There are some other fun songs here and the musicianship is generally impressive, but on the whole it does maybe suffer slightly from a couple of weaker tracks and an overuse of harmonica. Probably the strongest 3 I’m going to give

I didn’t care for this on my first listen a few months ago - I was expecting something closer to Forever Changes, which is one of the best albums of the 60s However listening now with a fresh perspective, it’s incredibly well done in its own right, and a more raucous and adventurous listen - very ahead of it’s time for 1966, and closer to Zappa territory than the Sgt Pepper/Smile Sessions vibe given off by its follow-up

A pretty diverse indie offering that was nice to listen to while it was on but was ultimately quite forgettable

A great album towards the start of a fantastic run from Tender Prey to No More Shall We Part, and maybe Cave’s strongest release up to this point. The opening song is so impactful and the energy continues throughout the whole record, though it is well balanced with some beautiful moments like Straight to You. A fantastic album from a legendary artist at the top of his game

Inoffensive and unmemorable country pop. It was decent enough but not my thing at all, the only highlight for me was Goin Gone

I praised this just a few days ago in my Da Capo review and yeah, it just gets better and better on every relisten. The orchestration is gorgeous and every song is just so catchy and mesmerising

I’m tempted to rate this higher due to the three huge singles but unfortunately the rest of the album is kind of average and my god the Pink Floyd cover is dreadful. Balances out at a three

A pretty fun introduction to one of the most distinctive voices in popular music. I think I’d maybe appreciate this more if I’d heard it at the time but, knowing the incredible highs that Björk’s sound develops to over her career, it’s difficult to get too excited by what is otherwise a relatively forgettable jangle-pop record

One of the most ambitious and immaculate albums of the last decade, and Monáe’s magnum opus. High-concept genre-bending brilliance

A bold and hypnotic debut that unfortunately doesn’t quite stick the landing

I’ve been blessed with three incredible debut albums in a row (ArchAndroid, Blue Lines and now Repeater) A post-hardcore classic with so much groove behind the aggression, this hits so hard but feels so lush at the same time, a truly amazing balance resulting in a distinctive and magnetic sound

Big beat is generally not my thing but this album goes hard. It’s even better than their debut which is pretty strong in itself, and just keeps up the energy the whole time while still having enough variation to not feel like it’s dragging on for too long (which a lot of 60+ minute electronic albums suffer from imo)

A pretty fun classic hip-hop record that unfortunately doesn’t really push itself or come across too memorably

Another classic debut - there is some great stuff on here (singles like So Young and The Drowners but also the more somber Breakdown and The Next Life) but there’s also a bit of filler, and some of the mixing is pretty poor (there’s one bit of phasing that stuck out as being particularly bad)

Not really sure what I think of this album. The instrumentation is absolutely gorgeous and the sprawling folk tales are impressive, but Newson’s voice hasn’t grown on me just yet (though I feel like it will after a couple more listens). I’m giving this an optimistic 4

Well this was incredibly fun! Never heard of Spirit before but was pretty blown away by this, it’s super varied and catchy and has quickly become a favourite dad rock album

Exactly what you’d expect from a live Motörhead album - energetic, fast and loose, and incredibly repetitive

Spacey and atmospheric for the most part until it reaches a climactic point of relentlessness and intensity that verges on unlistenable. Was about to give it a 2, but the subtle and gorgeous closing track Lord You Can Hear Me saves it

Some great stuff here, especially Good Times Bad Times, but there’s also a lot of wanky blues that just goes nowhere. Track 3 in particular just drags so much

A pretty much perfect album - Joni’s voice is incredible and this is her best collection of songs imo

A really cosy and intimate live album - Waits’ banter between songs flows so naturally and the prominence of audience reactions really makes you feel involved even when some of the locale-specific jokes fly over your head. The only downside is the quality of the songwriting: there’s good stuff in here, especially Eggs and Sausage, but it just doesn’t hold up to hits like Martha, Diamonds on My Windshield and Tom Traubert’s Blues from his studio albums around this era

A really fun if very samey record. It also features one of the best song titles of all time in ‘I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You’

Not really my thing other than the catchy-as-all-heck Groove is in the Heart, but there is a very fun quality to this. It might be cheesy and dated in places but it has a genuine sense of joy about it as well that’s difficult to dislike

An odd choice to represent Gang Starr in this list - there is some good stuff on here but they still feel like they’re finding their sound on this one, and albums like Moment of Truth are much stronger

Not the hottest take but Teen Age Riot is an incredible opener - in fact the whole of Side 1 is pretty spectacular. The rest of the record doesn’t quite reach those heights, though songs like Kissability and the closing trilogy certainly have their moments, but the ebb and flow of energy over the 70 minutes really benefits the pacing, and the overall atmosphere is enveloping and enchanting, not really feeling it’s length at all. Is it perfect? Probably not - but it is incendiary and a joy to listen to

For the most part, this is one of Cave’s strongest albums. A far more tender offering than this work preceding this, with some of his most beautiful and impactful songs (Into My Arms in particular). This would have easily been a 4 or a 5, but unfortunately it’s mired by two absolute stinkers. The cringy Black Hair derails the album though it nearly holds its own afterwards, but the closer Green Eyes (with possibly Cave’s worst lyrics and vocal performance combined in one agonising song) ends an otherwise strong record on a real sour note

DETROIT TIL I DIE Yeah this was dogshit, I gave up after four far-too-long songs. Absolute worst kind of rap-rock from a pretty gross dude

Just couldn’t get into this one

A nice and quaint album with some fun moments and instrumentation but generally quite aimless and under-developed melodies

As a lot of others have mentioned, the Neptunes/Timbaland production throughout is easily the best thing about the album. The opening two songs and the two big singles all absolutely slap, but unfortunately it’s a very front-heavy album and nothing after Rock Your Body makes an impact. A lot of the songs go on for a good minute or so longer than they should, and a couple of tracks (especially Nothin Else) are just outright bad

This was an absolute treat. Such a strange but perfect combo with eerie, distant-sounding instrumentals behind very intimately-mic’d lullaby-esque vocals, producing some very off-kilter indie rock and pop until bam, Lovefool kicks in out of nowhere and the vibe completely changes. But it still works. Even when they throw in a lounge-jazz-ish cover of Black Sabbath, it still somehow works. Great stuff

This is pretty fun, and certainly proves they’re not a one hit wonder. The horns are used exceptionally throughout, and the opening couple of tracks and Geno are incredibly catchy. It did lose my interest a bit in the second half though

Pretty funny that this was assigned just a few days after CM Punk was fired again Cult of Personality is the clear highlight of the album, and there’s some good stuff elsewhere with a fun mix of funk and hard rock, but something about the production makes a lot of this sound like sitcom theme tunes (Glamour Boys especially)

There’s some really good stuff on here - the singles are all fun and I Remember California is a great deeper cut, but on the whole it is a dip in quality from the fantastic five album run that precedes it

Supertramp are just great at making very impressive and very fun albums. Maybe not quite as iconic as Breakfast in America, but there is some amazing stuff on here

I guess that this would have been influential but really it’s just a bit diluted - a sound that has been taken to much more impressive extremes

I’ve heard worse nu-metal albums - the musicianship and the production are generally pretty good on here. The songwriting is so boring though, and the choruses are just so strangely written, their momentum just feels so flat every time

This was pretty good! More in line with his first two albums than the underwhelming Imperial Bedroom and just fantastic songwriting all round

I’m a big jazz fan but for some reason big band swing rarely does it for me. This is great and one of the best examples of the subgenre but just doesn’t really hit with me

A fantastic mix of glam and Eno’s more experimental work. The whole thing is a great listen, and On Some Faraway Beach is particularly beautiful

As with all Megadeth albums, the guitar work is great but it’s just not really my vibe. Dave’s voice isn’t actually too annoying on this one either

I’ve tried to get into Hawkwind a couple of times now but just can’t. I know they’re hallowed in some circles and are like the Grateful Dead of the prog world but it just does not click for me at all

Another fantastic Eno record, this one leaning more into the ambient side he’d continue to pioneer

One of the all time greats, just a beautiful record front to back

A ridiculously good debut that is just a lot of fun to listen to

This is such a fall off after their previous two albums. The unique and fun qualities of those has gone and instead is just a really homogenous 80s sound with songs that are far too long for the ideas they contain - I’ve never felt a 45 minute album drag as much as this. The second track is 12 minutes and doesn’t flow together at all, it’s just a 3 minute song that’s stretched out far far far too long. I gave up after the awful Warren Zevon rip off One of Those Things

A fantastic debut with some incredible songs, but track for track I don’t think it quite holds up with Songs of Love and Hate or New Skin for the Old Ceremony

Bar the incredible songs at the start of each side, this one is a pretty average Stones record

A pretty great album but quite handily the weakest of Talking Heads’ impeccable first-five-records run

Some solid blues - just not my favourite genre so didn’t do too much for me, but King is clearly a master of his craft

Can only rate based on what I was able to find online - Demon’s Theme was pretty darn good but a lot of the other tracks just blended into each other and got quite samey, nowhere near as exciting as the opener

There are far too many live albums in this list. Some of them are revolutionary and undeniable like Live at Harlem Square or Kick Out the Jams, but this one is nothing special - half of it is covers, and the Morrison songs aren’t any more impressive here than the studio versions (at least the ones from Moondance and Astral Weeks I’m more familiar with). Would have preferred to see Veedon Fleece here instead

This album is fascinating and has some incredible moments and some very annoying almost unlistenable ones. Very distinctive and unlike anything else I’ve heard really, and ultimately a rewarding listen despite The Duchess

A lot of great stuff on here but quite a bit of it is more mid than I remembered as well. Uh Uh, Them Changes and Friend Zone are incredible but there’s not actually too much more of note here

The opening song was fun but the rest of the album just didn’t change and got very old very quickly

I’m surprised this one is ranked so low. A seminal reggae-infused punk/new wave album that is catchy and dissonant and just a whole lot of fun

It’s never a great sign when there are multiple conflicting tracklists for an album… Anyway. I tried out what seemed to be the two main singles from the Solid State Logik 1 live recording (What Time is Love? and 3am Eternal) - didn’t care for the first one so much but the latter was pretty fun I then listened through to the directors cut of The White Room and, while it’s not really my thing, I cannot deny the production was incredible throughout. I also enjoyed the spoken-word passages in a lovely Scottish accent, though I also feel I have to call out the shameless appropriation of the Twin Peaks theme on the otherwise quite nice Build a Fire

A quintessential dad rock album. Not my thing but pretty solid, and Pour Some Sugar On Me obviously slaps. Also mad respect for the drummer

There’s some fun rhythms and tunes on here but in the end it really wasn’t worth the effort taken to find and listen to it (I still haven’t managed to hear the whole album, just a handful of studio songs interspersed with live versions)

There’s some great stuff on here - Velouria in particular is one of Pixies’ best - but it doesn’t pack the same punch as the first two albums

It’s ok, not my thing really but nothing especially bad

I remembered this was great but had forgotten just how great it was. A quintessential folk album that’s incredibly diverse - the groove in Autopsy comes out of nowhere and is such a delight - with some truly beautiful moments

I mean it’s fine but there are so many other albums with exactly the same sound and more compelling songs

Hadn’t listened to this all the way through for quite some time but it’s just very good. While the three big singles are the main ones I remember, it’s really consistent front to back, all eight tracks hit perfectly

It’s difficult to review this as just an album because it is so wrapped up in its context. I listened in the day between its release and Bowie’s death and thought it was stunning then even though I didn’t quite get on with the whole thing. It has grown on me more with every listen and, while not my favourite Bowie record, it is everything one could possibly want from a Bowie record in 2016

It’s a fun spin on the indie scene of the time, but too many songs are just underdeveloped and it makes it a quite unfulfilling listen

Maybe Davis’ most intimate record, a really beautiful and contemplative album that somehow came out only a year before the far more out-there Bitches Brew. It lags slightly towards the end, as I feel the middle section of track 2 maybe doesn’t quite develop enough, but the closing few minutes is so serene and adds a really rewarding sense of finality to the project

It’s a solid debut and pretty important in the history of that scene but not their strongest material

Hypnotic like all good Can is - doesn’t quite reach those Tago Mago heights but it’s a great listen

One of the better country albums on here, especially the first two songs and Brass Buttons. I Can’t Dance was a notable weak point, but on the whole it was a pretty well written record with some lovely harmonies

It was always going to be tough to follow up Rumours Tusk does a pretty great job, with some absolutely gorgeous intimate tracks like Storms as well as some noisier and more experimental cuts. The lowest points are songs like Think About Me where it just sounds like Rumours Lite as well as the overall inconsistency that always comes with double albums like this, while the clear high point is the pounding title track (that I wish was a couple of minutes longer tbh)

This was catchy for a bit but just got very repetitive, not for me

A really interesting mix of electronica and Indian classical that works a lot better than it could, and is stronger than a lot of the dnb/garage scene of the 90s for me. Still feels a bit long towards the end, I could do without the last two songs

A solid and fun hip-hop record, but not the strongest Wu Tang solo outing by any means

There’s some solid atmospheric and emotional stuff on here, but it suffers from the classic britpop trope of every track being a minute or two too long and just meandering towards the end, making what could have been a tight project a bit of a slog at times (especially that 9 minute track towards the end, Jesus wept)

Absolute classic. An unmatchably bleak anti-Britpop album

The four singles are clearly the highlights but honestly - an album with four such fantastic and genre-defining songs on it deserves a place on this list regardless of the rest of the material. Fortunately the remaining tracks are still pretty solid and results in a total package that’s a whole lot of fun

Not a bad album by any means and it’s a fun listen, but it feels incredibly dated (not just lyrically as some critical reviews seem to have focused on, but musically as well). It’s easy to compare to another 1992 album The Chronic, but even with earlier work like The Low End Theory and De La Soul is Dead, it just doesn’t seem as forward thinking sonically, and seems very stuck in that late 80s hip-hop sound

A decent and chill record that is just a bit forgettable. Onanon is a bop but too late in the tracklist to make much of an impact. Was very surprised to see Arca credited on a few tracks as the production is pretty restrained and safe throughout compared to her far more out-there and interesting work

As a big Talking Heads fan, I mean this with the greatest respect - this project is dogshit The grooves are pretty good in a few tracks but the vocals vary from obnoxious (the awful rapping on Wordy Rappinghood is actually embarrassing) to unlistenable (Booming and Zooming is particularly bad). Ends with a cover of Under the Boardwalk that is somehow worse than the Bruce Willis version The only positives I can really note are Genius of Love, which is incredibly catchy for the first few minutes until some backing vocals ruin it (hopefully there’s a shorter single version as it’s otherwise a really good song) and the kind of eerie Lorelei

Maybe their best album? Sunday Bloody Sunday is an incredible opener, they have never sounded more urgent, and there’s some other pretty good stuff on here as well (though Two Hearts Beat As One was a notable dud)

A fantastic and incredibly catchy, laid-back project that’s suitable for any mood really

The writing is mainly solid but it’s nowhere near as interesting as some of Costello’s earlier albums, and his voice is more annoying on this one as well. It also seems very dated for a 1994 record, especially considering the wealth of albums from that year that are far more influential and of their time but did not make the list: Let Love In, Bee Thousand, Blowout Comb, Chocolate and Cheese, Resurrection, WEEZER

Wish this had a bit more variety as it’s an otherwise really strong album, just gets a bit samey as it goes on. The opening track is incredible and Heavy Metal Drummer is fun, everything else kind of blends into one for me but it’s an enjoyable blend

Somehow the only Arcade Fire album I hadn’t heard? An effective expansion of their sound from a more acoustic debut that doesn’t quite reach the heights of the records either side of it

The opening track was great and Everybody’s Talkin’ is a heck of a song even if Nilsson’s version is better (add that to the playlist of songs I never realised were covers) Otherwise it’s a bit average, though I do at least admire his ambition and willingness to experiment - even when it doesn’t quite work, it’s far more interesting than a lot of the country-tinged records on the list from this era

An album that I’d unfairly overlooked before as being pretty dull other than one fantastic single (There She Goes, if that wasn’t obvious) However there’s actually quite a lot to this - musically it’s pretty simple and I’m not a huge fan of the vocals, but it is catchy and surprisingly diverse. I don’t really care for the other singles (especially Way Out) but the Stone Roses-esque groove of Liberty Ship and the quirky Freedom Song are two other highlights, with the other tracks ranging from jangly pop to distorted almost punky bangers

Opening song slapped, hated everything else. I’m glad I could only find a few songs from this as even half an hour was too much, the full 65 minutes would have been a nightmare

Not my favourite Sly album but the opener, Everyday People and You Can Make It If You Try are all fantastic

Angsty, muddy and kind of dull

Not enjoying Loveless might be my biggest failing as a music fan. I’ve given it plenty of tries now and it’s just never clicked with me. only shallow is an incredible opener and the highlight of the album, and the one-two punch of when you sleep and I only said in the middle is another high point, along with a great closer. The rest just doesn’t really do too much for me though. While I understand the noise is kind of the point, and it is really impactful in places, on some songs like to here knows when it really overshadows the otherwise strong hooks and just results in a bit of a mess.

Really hope there’s no more Rod Stewart on here tbh, he’s got some good stuff in places but three albums is more than enough. The opening track is actually really good and there is some nice guitar work throughout the record, but it’s mainly just standard uninteresting Rod stuff, including the ending of the second track going on way way way too long. The closer is funky and fun and something a bit different until the lyrics ruin it. Also the album cover is ugly and Rod only wrote 3 of the songs on here the fucking poser

The most overrated Stones album in my opinion, especially considering it follows from some of their greatest work with Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed and Sticky Fingers There are some great songs on here and I get why it’s so beloved (Rocks Off, Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia especially and Shine a Light) but a lot that are very basic or forgettable and some that are straight up bad (Shake Your Hips, anyone?) This all results in a pretty wildly inconsistent double album that, rather than being incredibly diverse and vibrant like Beatles’ White Album, is just not that exciting

Catchy and fun but sounds like every other indie band from 2012

God damn, these first few Sabbath records are great aren’t they. The most diverse of the first four, and while not everything quite works for me, there’s enough fantastic stuff here to make it hugely enjoyable

Thought I would hate this after the first few seconds but it was actually pretty interesting, there was a lot of fun chaos mixed in with the slightly unlistenable chaos

A super fun and iconic record, easily White Stripes best and one of the highlights of the century so far

Not Rush’s best. The opener is ambitious and mainly keeps interest throughout its 20 minutes but does have a couple of passages that lead nowhere. Passage to Bangkok is not good, but fortunately the rest of the second half is stronger, with The Twilight Zone and Something for Nothing being particular highlights

The opening song was soooo good Rest of the album didn’t quite live up to it but was still fun, and it was a nice surprise to hear Fantastic Day (never knew who that one was by)

A really lovely album, even if Fast Car and Baby Can I Hold You kind of overshadow the other tracks. Talking Bout a Revolution is also great but yeah, don’t expect any deep cuts

Classic Aretha, nothing much to fault here but not necessarily her most engaging all the way through

A metal masterclass. Every song is just peak thrash, and the production is perfect - there’s a clarity you don’t quite get on the preceding Metallica releases (or on And Justice for All) but still keeping an energy that is missing from some of their later records

Redux review: This seems to be a lot of people’s favourite Radiohead record which I understand - it's certainly their most direct alt-rock/almost britpop album and fits nicely with some other acclaimed British albums of the mid 90s. However it's only maybe my 4th favourite Radiohead album, which says more about the consistency of their catalogue than the quality of this record While I would ordinarily give this a 5, considering every album here is regarded as one of the best of all time I'm being a bit harsher with my ratings, as there shouldn't be too many absolute stinkers [side note - this comment hasn’t aged too well, but on the whole I still agree. There is also the run of tracks of Bulletproof - Sulk towards the end which, while still good, isn’t quite as strong as the rest of the album] Therefore 5s are going to be relatively sparse, and The Bends can make do with a comfortable 4

This was fine - wasn’t particularly bad, just very bland, turned it off about halfway through as I just wasn’t vibing with it

I’ve always disregarded Mott the Hoople as a bit of a B-tier glam band, but actually enjoyed this quite a bit. There were a few naff songs (Honaloochie Boogie, namely) but most were pretty good, especially the opening two. Might have to delve into some more of their records

Just incredibly dull. Giving this a 2 as the singing is pretty good, just a shame the lyrics are such dross

Went on a bit long (could have done without the last two tracks entirely for me) but otherwise this was a very fun blast through a lot of different alt-rock styles

I really wanted to like this because the big three singles are so good, but the rest of the album was an absolute shitshow. A directionless 13 minute title track, three covers that added nothing to the record, and a load of really cheesy 80s nonsense. Would be an instant one star if it wasn’t for those three absolute bangers

Not really my thing but can’t deny there’s some lovely stuff here. Telling Me Lies was a particular highlight

This was a great find - very diverse vocally, some tracks sounded Cohen-ish while others were more like Nick Cave, and just a very strong collection of maudlin songs

A very odd but quite fun album, that unfortunately doesn’t have too much in terms of substance that makes it memorable. I really enjoyed the last song actually and was veering towards raising this to a 3, but figured I’d stick with my overall feeling

Easily my favourite project by The Doors. Break on Through is an incredible opener and Whiskey Song, Light My Fire and The End are all great

Wasn’t expecting to be jump scared by the Wrestlemania 22 theme today but there you go The first three tracks are fantastic and the album does lose a bit of steam afterwards, but the more experimental couple of tracks towards the end brings it back

A noisy, energetic, fast and loud as fuck classic

This is a difficult one to rate. As a comprehensive series of Gershwin recordings, it’s exceptional - incredibly detailed with fantastic arrangements, and Fitzgerald sounds so good on every single track. However as an album it doesn’t really work - it’s far too long and has no flow, and does feel tiring by disc three even though each individual song is expertly done. Not a problem with the work, just a problem with the categorisation.

Scarborough Fair is of course incredible, and Homeward Bound is a great track as well. Otherwise it’s a pretty bland offering from a duo who have more consistently strong projects

I’ve enjoyed a couple of Grateful Dead’s live albums before but this one is not good. The first couple of tracks seem really aimless, there are a couple of better ones towards the middle, but then the 7 minute track of just feedback towards the end was the final straw

Not quite as impactful as At Folsom Prison but still a great set

There’s some catchy stuff on here but yeah, just a bit bland and the singing and musicianship really isn’t that great. Never understood why this is heralded by some as an indie classic

In another life I would fucking devour this album - not sure why but it’s just never really clicked with me. I appreciate what it’s doing and feel like I should like it but just don’t. My bad I guess

Get Free is a banger but really it’s a pretty derivative record. Doesn’t offer that much at all and the other songs are pretty forgettable too

Some songs on here I feel have been done better by other artists but they’re all fantastic songs

I hadn’t actually heard a Billie Holiday album all the way through until this, but definitely need to listen to more. The opening song was absolutely incredible, though unfortunately it didn’t quite stay at the same level throughout. A great mix of songs though and such a distinctive voice (used to great effect maybe 95% of the time with some less convincing wavers) and my god the strings sound lovely

Probably Muse’s most bombastic album, and the last one that still hits really well (The Resistance is decent but inconsistent and just doesn’t have the same impact) Very epic and in your face which I get being a turn off for some but the hooks on this are just too good - the swagger of Exo Politics, the fucking mental drumming on Assassin, the soaring guitar solo in Invincible and the hugely underrated City of Delusion. And that’s not even mentioning the biggest hits which are as mega and impactful as ever. A couple of lesser tracks buried in the mix but still an incredible achievement and a healthy blast of nostalgia

Not a noisy as the reviews led me to believe and no way this deserves to be in the bottom 10. It’s surprisingly groovy in places and has a really cool industrial vibe that is somewhat reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails. Would much rather listen to this again than a lot of the boring one hit wonder 50s and 80s trash on this list

The production is so good on this and Snoop’s flow is just unmatched. I remembered it being really fun but there’s also quite a bit of diversity with some more intense tracks like Murder is the Case. The record’s so good that people still like Snoop Dogg despite him not really dropping anything of note for the 30 years since

Not very good

God damn it, first we had Pump and now this. I guess I’m an Aerosmith fan now

Nothing too influential or memorable on here but it’s a pretty solid record

It’s quite fun in places but struggles more in the slower songs as well as the jangly tracks like Remember Me - there’s just nothing that really makes it stick out from the rest of the mid 2000s indie scene Edit: I typed this during Remember Me and was going to rate it a 2, but fortunately the last three songs brought back the charm of a couple of the earlier ones. The album definitely dragged in the middle but it started and finished strongly so fair play

A very cohesive electronic album that manages to be both energetic and atmospheric in different places while still flowing perfectly throughout. There’s not really a stand out single anywhere and it would maybe be a more memorable experience with one or two of those, but at the end of the day it’s a very impressive debut

Speaking of impressive debuts, my god - as incendiary and sadly as politically relevant as ever, this is the prototype and frankly the apex of the whole hip-hop/metal crossover movement

Opens with one of my least favourite ABBA songs, and That’s Me isn’t that great either imo - otherwise an absolutely fantastic album. Either this or the more adventurous The Visitors for their best, this is definitely their most fun though

A pretty average blues album that only really has two stand out qualities - the big, fuzzy guitar solos that I could give or take, and Joplin’s powerhouse of a voice Unfortunately even that is a bit inconsistent here. On tracks like the classic Piece of my Heart and Ball and Chain she sounds absolutely mega, but then on some other tracks like Summertime (which is usually gorgeous but is absolutely butchered here) she sounds like Marge fucking Simpson

A fun and clearly influential album that has just aged pretty poorly. The energy is clearly there from day one, but the immaculate and experimental production that makes their later releases so exciting is incredibly rough here

A remarkably inventive and pretty deranged album that’s very fun at times and at other times is just too much, man. The production is fire, though I do prefer some records it influenced quite a bit more than this one, and the lyrics are just on another level, asking the important questions that other rap albums are afraid to ask like ‘what if your gynaecologist was a homicidal time traveler?’ and ‘what if you were half shark alligator half man?’

Never been that big on the Sex Pistols but at least their songs were catchy and they brought an energy and attitude that I can admire. This side project however was a disaster

Very fun weirdo pop, like a less dreamy Animal Collective

Not my favourite Bowie album following two game changing releases with Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust. I’ve always thought the title track is a bit overrated and never really cared for the Stones cover. It’s still peak Bowie though and there are plenty of excellent tracks here, from the swagger of The Jean Genie and the anthemic Drive In Saturday to some of his most gorgeous songs in The Prettiest Star and Time

Jack White albums are always fun, and this is a great break away into slightly more experimental material following some stellar output with White Stripes (with the weirder Icky Thump serving as a kind of gateway) An eclectic mix of consistently catchy songs, with Sixteen Saltines and the closer being the standouts, it’s a lot of fun but doesn’t quite hold up to the band’s strongest records or even White’s two following records in my opinion

Started pretty strongly but quickly became quite bland, with a very uninspired Velvet Underground cover thrown in for good measure

I always find it funny that Depeche Mode are so popular because their music is very dark and eerie - it’s great but I don’t understand how it broke the mainstream That being said, this record does have a couple of their most obvious hits with the irrefutably catchy Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence, and the overall experience is pretty great

Production is fire, vocals are wild, songwriting is just kind of ok - she has better projects imo

I’ve never really found Mudhoney that interesting. Their Superfuzz Bigmuff EP is pretty admirable for its time as a proto-grunge release but they never really took it to the next level. By 1991 we’ve seen Nevermind, Ten, and Badmotorfinger, and Facelift is just around the corner. While this record has a lot of energy, with that pretty clear Dinosaur Jr influence, it just lacks the catchiness, directness and ambition of those other releases

I’ve never really given the pre-Bruce era of Maiden much of a chance so this was a pretty nice surprise. It’s a strong debut for sure and clearly hugely influential. Songs like Prowler and Phantom of the Opera clearly show the direction the band would end up taking, but in other places it does seem like they’re still looking for their sound - I can’t imagine Remember Tomorrow on a later Maiden album. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s a really good song and it’s interesting to hear some of their other early influences that didn’t stand the test of time It’s not hugely consistent and there were a few songs I didn’t care too much for. Still deserves a place on this list, and the noteworthy absence of stronger Maiden albums (Powerslave / Seventh Son / Somewhere in Time) is more an issue with only including two of their albums on this list rather than this being one of the two that were chosen - no matter what two you went for, it would always feel like an underrepresentation

This was great! I mainly enjoyed Manassas when that came up earlier but it was a bit too long and inconsistent because of that. This was a much more concise and on the whole stronger set of songs and just a good old time

Sounds like every other 80s new wave album on this list. The horns on the opening track were fun; the hook on When I Dream was profoundly irritating; the rest of the album was completely indistinguishable

I’ve heard Bakesale a couple of times and enjoyed it but never really checked out any more Sebadoh, so was interested to give this one a try It was really fun and a lot more varied than expected, with some gorgeous shoegazey moments contrasted with some energetic slacker rock and whatever the heck was going on during Elixir Is Zog

A really solid R&B album that I loved when I first heard it back in 2017 or whenever but hasn’t stuck with me too much. The slower songs like The Weekend and The Garden are the strongest imo, while Doves in the Wind has fun moments (Kendrick’s feature is mainly great as expected and the outro is gorgeous) but the Forrest Gump lines are incredibly cringe

I remember first listening to this album when there was a bit of backlash to it winning the Mercury Prize over Blackstar and A Moon Shaped Pool among others. I’ve never really got into grime, and much prefer the US hip-hop aesthetic, so didn’t really know what to expect but was very pleasantly surprised by this. Revisiting a few years later it’s still got back to back bangers and is just an incredibly fun listen - the beats are all super catchy and Skepta’s energy and mic presence are next level. Blackstar may be more my thing and was a very fitting ending to an illustrious musical career, but Konnichiwa is a better time capsule for the British music scene in 2016 and really captures the spirit of what music awards should be about

In my opinion, the last truly groundbreaking album by one of the worst guys in the industry. There are some great tracks on here and it helped usher in that wave of experimental hip-hop production to more mainstream acts and listeners, but is inconsistent as hell (I’m In It is my least favourite Kanye song by some way) and, where on MBDTF he seemed self-aware in places, on Yeezus he just comes across as an ass

Lo-fi earworms for days, this is some proto-shoegaze Scottish loveliness. Wouldn’t recommend listening to this on the Jubilee line, you can’t hear shit

A riotous avant-garde punk record anchored by a magnificent vocal performance, this is a classic for a reason

Listened to this while cooking and it was v relaxing and nice

I enjoyed Figure 8 when it came up earlier and really thought this could be the time I get into Elliott Smith… alas It’s fine, the song writing is generally pretty strong, and I especially enjoyed Ballad of Big Nothing and the anthemic Pictures of Me. My main issue is the sound - I know it’s lo-fi but that’s not an excuse for the snare to sound as shocking as it does on some of these tracks, and any vocal parts that go into Smith’s higher register sound like he’s trying not to wake somebody up from next door

Really fun and just a nice vibe. Didn’t like Parade but otherwise v good stuff

A very diverse and emotional album that was nice to listen to even if it didn’t entirely grab my attention. My main highlight was One Big Love, so I guess it’s kind of a shame that was the one song Harris didn’t have a songwriting credit on, but there was some other good stuff on here too (Michaelangelo and Tragedy for example)

A pretty great third album that expands on the danceability of their incendiary debut rather than the punk elements but without entirely sacrificing them. It’s fun, especially the first few songs, and could even be their most complete album? I do love Fever to Tell though…

Maybe it’s the nostalgia talking but it’s just very fun. Sure it’s immature and some of the lyrics are genuinely god awful but it’s a good time

The first two tracks absolutely slap and obviously Don’t You Want Me is a stone cold classic. Unfortunately the songs in between are a bit mid The one exception is the surprisingly dark I Am The Law, which sticks out quite a bit but is a very good song in itself. Just a bit of a shame the rest of the album can’t quite keep the highs of its bookends

A quality neo-soul album, and maybe Badu’s best? There are some beautifully groovy tracks on here and the first 40 minutes or so absolutely flies by - unfortunately a couple of songs towards the end do drag a little bit, in particular the quite clunky closer Green Eyes

Cheesy in places for sure, and side A is definitely stronger than side B, but the whole thing is pretty fun. Even the songs I’m not the biggest fan of have some really catchy hooks or guitar solos. Never understood why Foreplay/Long Time wasn’t the opener as it just seems like such a perfect way to kick off an album, but I guess that eternal banger More Than a Feeling works too

The three song run of In The Ghetto - Suspicious Minds - Don’t Cry Daddy is probably the best of Elvis’ career. They’re probably all top 10/15 songs of his, so it’s pretty mad they’re grouped this close together on an otherwise quite mid record Nothing else really sticks out; it’s fine but not great. But those three songs alone up the rating quite significantly

Wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this but there were some absolute bangers - it was groovy and catchy and with some pretty strong vocals as well. It dragged slightly in places but one I’ll come back to

A landmark album for hip hop that unfortunately has Girls Girls Girls on it… fucking twice as well!

A solid Beck album with some fun groovy tunes but nothing that sticks in the memory too much - he has quite a few stronger projects in my opinion

Not heard this one for years and it was really fun to revisit. I love the first half of this album but for whatever reason the second half just doesn’t quite do it for me in the same way. Was going to give this a 4 from quite early on but feeling more like a 3 by the end

Another solid but not too engaging desert blues record

Britney is a fantastic singles artist but yeah, unfortunately this gets pretty mediocre pretty quickly and just goes on too long. The (incredible) title track is the only real stand out

Another off-kilter indie album that sounds like it’s trying to be mid-2000s Animal Collective, except it works really well. There’s a bit more of a prog rock/jam band approach and it leads to some really enjoyable instrumentals with identifiable structures that complement the stranger vocal melodies and add more cohesion than you often get with albums of this ilk

If I was just rating based on the vocal performance then this would be one of the easiest 5s I’ve ever given. Unfortunately the songs themselves are often quite bland and drag on in places. The big standout is the ludicrously beautiful As Yet Untitled

A very lovely album that I never really got into at the time but grows on me even more every time I hear it. I’m tempted to say it’s my favourite album of theirs but they’re actually incredibly consistent

A quality album with some absolutely huge riffs and fun time signature changes/general weird rhythmic shit, and Cornell’s masterful vocals. Goes a bit long so it’s not quite as impactful as a more concise Nevermind or Dirt, but otherwise it’s top tier grunge

Another very strong 4 - we’ve been on a bit of a roll as of late. There are some skits/interludes in here that don’t add anything for me but otherwise it’s a really solid record, with the big singles being clear highlights but the supporting tracks adding a lot to the vibe as well. Side note: why do Frank Ocean and SZA both low-key want to fuck Forrest Gump?

A pretty solid country album with some nice tunes. There are a couple of great songs towards the end, with the beautiful Greenville and the furious swagger of Joy, but otherwise nothing too special. Fun fact - the lead guitarist on this album is called Gurf Morlix

Jorge Ben albums are always a lot of fun, and this one blends his sound with a Herbie Hancock-esque funk that just complements it so well. An utter delight

Another hit and miss U2 album - not as good as War, better than the dreadful All That You Can’t Leave Behind. There are some really good songs on here, most notably One but Acrobat was a great deeper cut as well - there were also some less good songs like the dreary closer and the god awful Tryin To Throw Your Arms Around the World, and then just a lot of stuff in the middle. Apparently this is the last of four U2 albums on this list so I’m mainly just glad I don’t really have to listen to them again

I really enjoyed the dreamy and catchy Seventh Tree when that came up a few months ago, and had been meaning to check out some more Goldfrapp but just hadn’t. This is their debut and is very different to what I expected but still incredibly good - it’s even more experimental, ranging from ethereal yodelling to haunted fairground music in consecutive tracks, but everything works so well to create this delicate and unsettling but also strangely beautiful soundscape. I’ll definitely be delving further into the discography now

I really liked the intimacy of the recording for this, but after a few songs it just got very repetitive and was too dreary to enjoy that much

Pretty cool! Loads of fun grooves and I really liked the prominent talking drum runs in Lem Gi

Not as unlistenably awful as a lot of the records I’ve given a 1/5 - I kind of appreciate some of what this is trying to do. I just think its inclusion in this list is such a waste. Trying to be an eclectic ‘world music’ album that just uses the most base level features of the genres and cultures it borrows from over some awfully dated synths. I’d have more leniency if it was a mid 80s album or something but it’s 1991, it should sound cleaner than this

The easiest 5 I’ve ever given, no surprises there

An incredibly groovy and fun record that builds on the great sound of their first two and pushes it into a more experimental territory, and features some of Byrne’s most eccentric lyrics (I’m looking at you, Animals). The closer Drugs is probably the weakest song on the album and is a bit anticlimactic, and really the only thing holding it back from a perfect rating

A quintessential hardcore album - arguably THE quintessential hardcore album. It’s rough and ready, noisy, and immature but pretty fun. Rise Above is the clear highlight, and TV Party is also pretty amusing. Even though not too much else stands out as an individual track, the overall visceral energy of it is engaging enough throughout to leave a lasting impression

I quite enjoyed Hysteria when that came up earlier. This was more of the same but just seemed even more uninspired and impotent. Just not for me at all

This whole era of The Kinks is great - everything from Something Else up to Lola is a super enjoyable listen. This one doesn’t really have a standout song like the others, but as a whole conceptual record it works incredibly well

I’ve never really got the xx, though I can at least appreciate the impact and influence of their debut. This album just felt like a legacy choice based off of that - it’s so bland and lifeless and there are so many better albums from the last few years that deserve its spot

First listen and wow - this was even more abrasive than expected, even with the precedent set by having heard (years and years ago) what I think is their more iconic follow-up album Songs about Fucking (I guess the maker of this list was a bit nervous about including something with that title). The most surprising thing was the melodies that sometimes appeared behind the noise - there were some new wave influences in there that poked their shiny little heads out of the scuzz and added another layer to appreciate besides the relentless industrial assault

It’s pretty solid but nowhere near as impactful as some of the Blur and Gorillaz albums that have been left off this list. No way is this a more vital listen than 13, Demon Days or Plastic Beach

This is the sixth and, from the looks of things, final Costello album on this list, and these have definitely been a case of diminishing returns. His first couple of albums were great, but I feel like the later we’ve got into his career the less inspired the writing has become, and the more annoying his vocals. This one isn’t as bad as Brutal Youth, and there are a couple of great tracks here and there, but overall it’s just not that enjoyable.

A fantastic album with a very complicated legacy

Opening and closing with a weird Gymnopedies arrangement is a… bold choice. I like a lot of what this is trying to do, fusing jazz and some classical with a Creedence-esque bluesy rock sound, but it quickly ran out of ideas and some of the instrumentals were just quite weak, particularly the awful 10-minute track towards the end

I’ve never really understood all the hype about this - it sounds like so many other bands from the time and all the songs are a bit samey, so I really don’t know why this is one of the albums that stuck and lasted the test of time. That being said, it is pretty fun while it’s on

Pere Ubu’s previous album Dub Housing was one of my favourite finds of this project - an urgent and noisy post punk project that sounded like Talking Heads’ aggressive older brother. This follow up was less enjoyable, and in places just felt like it was being noisy for the sake of being noisy (especially the tinnitus-inducing introduction) rather than adding anything to the songs. There’s still a great attitude throughout it and some solid grooves, but not as exciting as the earlier record

This is a quite difficult one to rate. It’s certainly not an essential album. It doesn’t have a notable legacy or influence, it’s quite derivative of a few other alt-rock/indie bands of the 90s and early 00s, and the singer’s faux-American drawl is quite off-putting in places. That being said… I enjoyed it quite a lot. The opening track was so repetitive and felt like it would never end, but after that there were a lot of fantastic songs with some lovely chord progressions and textures and just a real sense of warmth. Do you need to listen to it before you die? Absolutely not. Is it a pretty great record despite that? Yeah, sure

Another fire Sepultura album. The production was a bit rough at times (the snare in particular sounded pretty bad on a few tracks) but the riffs and the overall energy were great

An incredibly influential album that has aged terribly for both musical and non-musical reasons. The title track slaps and has been sampled everywhere (Public Enemy, Kendrick, LCD Soundsystem, Lana Del Rey) and the rest of the album is just a lesser version of that title track

A really fun 80s throwback album that’s bristling with bangers, but a bit inconsistent upon relistening. I don’t think it has quite the same impact Chaleur humaine did, and in hindsight it lacks the emotional depth Redcar has now given us with La vita nuova and Paranoïa

An effortlessly cool alt-rock record to really kick off the post-grunge era. Some of the production is a bit clean for my liking and took away some of the impact, but I’m aware this may be limited to the 20th anniversary remaster I listened to so I don’t want to be too harsh on the record because of that - the songwriting and Manson’s vocal performances are great, and that opening run of three tracks in particular is such a strong way to burst onto the scene

There are lot of incredible things about this album. Some of the songs are truly truly great - My Sweet Lord being the obvious choice but also I’d Have You Any Time, Awaiting On You All, Art of Dying. There are also a lot of songs that are just… fine. And if there were just one or two it would be easier to overlook, but there are a LOT of songs on this thing. Apple Jam, the third LP that’s basically just blues instrumentals, goes pretty hard but does it need to go on for 30 minutes? This is always heralded as a triple album but it’s really a solid-if-a-little-inconsistent double album with some needless vamping slapped on at the end. The very last track doesn’t even sound like it’s been mixed! Isn’t It a Pity is a beautiful song and a highlight of the album… but do we need it in full twice? Do we need a single second of the song Apple Scruffs? It really is a pity because if this was more reined in and only focused on the highlights it would be on par with the best Beatles records but, as it is, it’s a fucking chore

I gave this a first listen while I was out running and I was absolutely not the vibe. I was leaning towards a 3 at the time but figured I’d give it the benefit of a more contextually appropriate relisten, and I appreciated it a lot more this evening. The first two songs are both incredible and a perfect way to open up a record, and the instrumentals are quite sparse thereon out, relying mainly on acoustic guitars, the occasional thin synth pad, and layers of majestic and vocals. The songs are generally quite long but don’t outstay their welcome - the hypnotic swung waltz Cowboys and Angels for example does not feel 7 minutes. The album loses steam a bit towards the end, and Soul Free in particular sounds quite dated (it also reminds me a bit of Peter Andre which is frankly upsetting) so it doesn’t quite stick the landing for me but is a great experience on the whole

Another pretty dated hip-hop record - there’s some catchy stuff in there but the production and flows just sound pretty cheesy now (big ‘My name is Andy and I’m here to say…’ vibes). I hope Raising Hell is on here, because despite being only two years later it’s aged so much better and still packs a huge impact, definitely Run’s best work

Does this list really need two Barry Adamson albums? There's some interesting stuff here and there and it does sound vaguely Twin Peaks-y despite predating the show by a year (Adamson later contributed some music to Lynch’s film Lost Highway so that makes sense) but it’s very messy, sometimes difficult to listen to, and just feels like a less fully realised version of his 1996 album Oedipus Schmoedipus

This is the lowest rated album on this site and frankly I’m not too surprised. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s the worst thing I’ve come across in this project, but it is nearly unlistenable at times. There were a couple of tracks that were ok, but also just a lot of drilling - also what is up with that Serge Gainsbourg cover?

Dear god, it’s been a rough few days. This is so overproduced in the worst possible way, the amount of reverb on the snare creates so many moments where everything just feels out of time, and it’s all a complete mess. At least Einstürzende Neubauten from yesterday were TRYING to be unlistenable with their uncompromising industrial hammering - The Associates tried to record a pop album and somehow shat this out

This is more like it! Rounding off a frankly dismal week with an absolute classic this is probably the Beach Boys’ most eclectic record both musically and lyrically, shedding their surf rock foundations entirely and delving into topics such as environmentalism, mortality, and… feet? There are a couple of tracks around the middle that don’t quite hold up to the rest of the album, but there is some absolutely beautiful stuff on here, and the title track may be my favourite song they’ve ever released (I slightly prefer the arrangement on the Smile Sessions but it still sounds magnificent here, and closes things out perfectly)

A fantastic collection of songs that’s slightly dampened by a pretty weak concept. The first half is a kind of concept album but not really, and then the second half is just outtakes from The Graduate soundtrack - I think it would work better for me if it was either a full on concept album or just dropped the concept entirely. Voices of Old People adds nothing for me, and At the Zoo is a slightly weak closer after everything else. Pretty much every other song is great though, very strong 4

I’ve only heard Hejira a couple of times, as I find myself revisiting albums like Blue a lot more than Mitchell’s later more abstract work, but it is really beautiful. Her songwriting and vocals are next level, and my god the bass playing on this is incredible. The songs do begin to blend into one for me a bit, but that’s really down to my lack of familiarity with their more complex structures and the absence of any real hooks - it’s a 4 for now but one that could easily grow to a 5 after a few more listens

A pretty darn perfect electronic album. The grooves are immaculate and it’s got a great balance of fun bangers and just really lovely more ambient cuts. I find that quite a lot of electronic albums can get a bit samey or overstay their welcome whereas this is diverse, always exciting, and leaves me wanting more

A surprisingly varied album with some darker songs than expected, as well as a great opener and of course the classic House of Fun to kick off the second half. Unfortunately the second half was a bit weaker (the less said about New Delhi the better) and it didn’t quite stick the landing. 3/5 for the album, yikes/5 for the album cover

A lovely and very ambitious debut but not as strong as some of her later work in my opinion

A fun love letter to glam with more virtuosic vocals than some of the bands it so clearly reveres, but on the whole the songs just aren’t too memorable (bar the obvious mega single)

A pretty homogeneous new wave album with some frankly ridiculous lyrics. It is quite fun though, not too bad at all, just if you’ve heard We’ve Got the Beat you’ve basically heard the whole thing

Dexys best, and there is so much more to this than just Come on Eileen (though that is of course excellent). A really fun album all round with a great blend of folk, new wave and soft punk

An abstract hip-hop record with some interesting ideas presented in a quite messy way, without any especially memorable hooks or beats. The overall vibe is quite similar to Deltron 3030 with Aesop Rock-style vocals, and some reviews on this site have compared it to Madvillainy (a comparison I don’t see as much personally), and the fact that neither of those three artists are anywhere in the 1001 albums list really begs the question as to why this made it here instead

One of those rare albums that gets better with every listen. See No Evil is a catchy burst of post-punk energy, while the title track and Torn Curtain are these patient and sprawling epics that are still packed full of hooks

A fun and iconic pop punk record that’s actually not quite as strong overall as I remembered, other than that delightful double whammy of ‘Come out and Play’ and ‘Self Esteem’ right in the middle

I thought this was better than his previous album despite being initially put off by its length, but I’m still never going to enjoy hearing this prick

This was really fun. A punk/ska/metal/other? blend of catchy and interesting tunes. The opener was a bold and pretty effective cover of Freddy’s Dead from Curtis Mayfield’s classic soundtrack to Superfly, and the quality dipped a bit after that. However it jumped up massively with the vaguely Mario Kart-esque brass hooks of… er… Bonin’ in the Boneyard. Then followed the political punk riot of Subliminal Fascism, the oddball lilt of Slow Bus Movin’, and the supremely funky Ghetto Soundwave. Definitely glad I checked this one out, though I just wish it was all as strong as that second half - I could see this going up to a 4 in the future, but for now it’s a hearty 3

Very very very good- not quite perfect (I’ve never really got into Real) but close enough for a big enthusiastic 5

A pretty standard blues/hard rock album that didn’t leave much of an impression

A solid folk rock record with great lyrics and energy but kind of samey songwriting, and some arrangement and mixing choices that don’t quite work for me

The last couple of songs were genuinely very good, but I’d kind of lost interest by that point - a psychedelic rock album with some country influence that didn’t stand out too much

Walker’s vocals and the orchestration are so powerful and rich as usual, but the songwriting lacks the magic and unique character of his following two albums. Speaking of: Scott 4 has come up already, and was a 5. Scott 3 is somehow not on the list, and would also be a 5. Walker’s later and more abstract/experimental albums, most notably the trilogy of Tilt/The Drift/Bish Bosch are all somehow not on the list, and would all be 4s or 5s

Not too bad but a pretty forgettable crooning country album

Not really sure how to describe this one but it was worth checking out. It’s been labelled as a post-hardcore album but doesn’t really sound like what I would class as post-hardcore for the most part - it’s more like a darker, scuzzier Alice in Chains with a gruffer vocal. Good stuff

Nick Cave’s previous album, Skeleton Tree, was bleak. His teenage son Arthur tragically died during the recording sessions, and the sound of the album as well as some of the lyrics were imbibed with grief, and this is clear from listening to the record. Ghosteen was the first album that was directly inspired by Cave’s son’s death, and is even more emotionally charged as a result - yet where Skeleton Tree often sounds cold and discomforting, Ghosteen sounds celestial. It can be a difficult listen due to the subject matter, and the lyrics do not shy away from this, but the timbres throughout the album are bright and rich, like Cave is communicating with the heavens. This is a long album, and mostly deserving of it though some of the songs do meander slightly. The songwriting isn’t quite as tight as some of Cave’s other albums, but the emotion is impossible to deny I saw Nick Cave live at Primavera Festival in 2022, his second live show since the release of Ghosteen and since the pandemic. It was also the second show since the passing of another of Cave’s sons, Jethro, the previous month. It was an incredible and uniquely personal performance, especially the songs from Ghosteen that were so directly about losing a child, and I never want to experience a performance like it again

Swordfishtrombones is a massive stylistic shift for Waits from his bluesy, piano bar jazz origins. It opens with the off-kilter guitar and gritty snarl of Underground, which I first heard in 2005 animated film Robots - the image sticks with me every time I start the album as the industrial pounding throughout the song perfectly complements the demonic robot factory that is portrayed, lava and all. There is so much to love here as the tracklist lurches through an incredible and inspired mix of sinewy, slinking marimba-accented cabaret like the title track and Shore Leave (with its desperate mews towards the end); heartfelt ballads like the gorgeous Johnsburg, Illinois; multiple madcap accordion solos; and absolute freaking ragers like 16 Shells and Down Down Down, as well as the rousing anthem In the Neighbourhood closing out the first side. Genre wise, it’s frankly all over the place, feeling even less connected than the equally diverse but somehow more conceptually together sequel to this album, Rain Dogs (which is my personal favourite Waits project). But there is magic in this chaos, and while it’s never too clear where Waits is going to go next, it’s one hell of a fun ride

Putting personal feelings about Kanye, especially in recent years, aside: this is a fantastic debut album. The production is stellar, the features and skits perfectly complement the songs, and Kanye has some of his strongest and funniest bars throughout the record. Is it my favourite Kanye album? No - there’s a fair bit of filler towards the middle (I’ve never cared for The New Workout Plan for example). But songs like All Falls Down, Never Let Me Down, Jesus Walks, and Through the Wire show the hunger and passion that early Kanye had in spades and, while it goes a bit long, Last Call demonstrates a humility behind the bravado - all aspects of his personality that made him such an undeniable force in hip-hop that have sadly been missing for the last few years

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from Nixon, as the only Lambchop album I’d previously heard was the more abstract and electronic This from nearly two decades later (which I had quite enjoyed, but not revisited since that first listen in 2019). Nixon on the other hand was more conventional - I guess. It’s a country/art-pop album that somehow also dabbles in Philly soul; its influences are all over the place and its songs regularly exceed five minutes but fill the time really nicely so they don’t seem gratuitous. Some grating falsetto aside, it’s a really nice listen and I’ll definitely be listening to what else Lambchop has to offer

Ok yeah… I get Roxy Music now. This was just a lot of fun, opening with a really silly fake dance song which is probably one of the worst on the album but full of charm. It gets a lot better from there as it carves out a characteristic and energetic new wave niche, with Ferry’s yelps punctuating through the synths and saxes. The closing track was a bit of an anticlimax, but otherwise it was a great time

Nico often gets some slack for not really being able to sing, which I think is unfair as Lou Reed couldn’t really sing either. Anyway, this is a pretty strong if repetitive collection of songs with amazing orchestration, with the solemnly longing These Days being a clear standout

Just not really my thing - every song got repetitive quite quickly and while it did mix things up a bit between tracks not a lot it really worked for me. Você Gosta was fantastic but otherwise I just got nothing out of this

There are some great songs on here - namely Sally Maclennane, Dirty Old Town and The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - but it lacks the spark and energy of their following album

A great reggae project with some mega basslines and very catchy hooks

Just not for me. Relistening to Loveless a few months ago didn’t make me enjoy it any more and this predecessor is even less impactful

Probably my least favourite Hendrix album but it’s still fire

Godrich clearly had fun with the spacey production and it’s by far the best thing about this otherwise quite bland record

This album has just never really worked for me. Don’t know why. The opener is fantastic and always hypes me up and I think finally, this is going to be the time when everything clicks into place, and… nope. The rest of the album is just kind of alright

A rough and rowdy album that really established what punk was going to be going forward. It’s incredibly high energy and I admire the heck out of it, even though I don’t really enjoy listening to it that much at all

It’s ok but it’s far from New Order’s best. Their fifth and final album of the 80s and somehow the one that sounds the most dated - it’s a quite jarring mix of decent but uninspired melancholic jangle pop tracks and fun but hit and miss dance rock cuts with some of the worst synth and drum machine sounds of the era

This was quite fun despite some very odd production in places. The songwriting wasn’t quite as strong as the previous Madonna albums on this list (Like a Prayer and Ray of Light), and I’m surprised this made it on over something like True Blue. It was a good time though, even if a bit inconsistent

M.I.A is great at making very fun and playful music - her lyrics and flow often have a playground chant kind of quality in their simplicity and catchiness without sounding annoying or condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. I don’t think this record is quite as strong as her follow up to it, but it’s full of character and the production still feels really fresh and exciting even nearly 20 years later

Nirvana really understood the assignment here. It’s a ridiculously strong performance and nothing gets buried in the mix like with so many other live albums. The song choices, whether it’s rearrangements of their original songs or well-selected covers (The Man Who Sold the World and the haunting Where Did You Sleep Last Night are obvious highlights, but the Vaselines and Meat Puppets covers also pay homage to their influences in the 80s alt-rock and punk scene), are perfect to showcase the more intimate side of one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Is it the best live album ever? No. But is it the best live album not performed by Johnny Cash in a prison? Yeah, maybe

Back to back hits for the vast majority of its runtime - Thriller/Beat It/Billie Jean is almost definitely the best three-track run in music history, and you’ve still got the incredible opener Wanna Be Startin’ Something, Baby Be Mine, and P.Y.T. The Girl is Mine is very cheesy and stands out as the weakest track on the album by far (I’m not too big on Human Nature either, though it’s inoffensive enough), but the high points really outweigh the lows here

There are some nice grooves in places but the songs meander so much. Multiple instrumental tracks are almost unidentifiable from each other, crying out for something to hold the track together - but then the vocals across the album are generally weak and uninteresting so they don’t exactly help

Frampton’s brand of soft rock isn’t really my thing, but this is a pretty fantastic live album. The performances are great, and the mixing is so clear and precise throughout - there is enough audience noise to inject every song with some more energy but nothing important gets drowned out

Another quite nice but uninteresting country album

A pretty solid and fun prog album - the opening 20-minute title track is stronger than most of the shorter songs on the second side, especially the rock-n-roll closer that just feels ludicrously out of place

Just quite dull really

This was great! It starts with a really chill, simple introduction to ragas and instruments like the sitar and tabla, like a primary school music lesson, and then Ravi just fucking shreds for the better part of an hour

A really strong album that solidified Swift as one of the biggest pop stars in the world. A couple of songs are kind of cringe (Bad Blood and about half of Shake It Off) but Blank Space, Welcome to New York, Style, Out of the Woods and Wildest Dreams are all killer

Robert Wyatt’s magnum opus is a psychedelic progressive folk masterpiece; a delicate oddity; chilling and beautiful. Simply put, Rock Bottom is a stone cold stunner