Is this a flawless album? Well how about this. I listened to the album without Common People, Sorted for Es and Whizz, Disco 2000 and Mis-Shapes. And you know what? It is - Feeling Called Love, Bar Italia and Underwear would be the singles in any other album. Every track has its own story and sound while also sounding part of a coherent whole.
You know what, on the first side I wasn't completely revolted and though strictly background music was prepared to give it two stars. The second side is dreary though and culminates in the -5 stars for Say hello Wave Goodbye which is unlistenable to, by me at least. Was it the buskers fave which got him a deal. What goes on on Grafton Street should stay there.
A trio of unmatchable singles, some decent album tracks but there is filler and tracks are stretched out. While the heights are greater than previous album Jilted Generation it's not as consistent.
Perhaps the Stones most consistent album across 18 tracks, so a very solid four stars. But there's no track here that would get in a Stones top tent. So four stars.
Just passed by without really touching the sides, there are occasional flashes of something more interesting but it's Fleet Foxes style stuff all the way really.
First album I've never heard before. After the initial Frank resistance (AKA oh gawd the 'My Way' guy), this is very listenable. All about phrasing and being on, ahead or behind the beat. Subtle and seductive.
Not a band I would listen to, and their reputation is not inviting. Surprisingly sprightly and concise, mostly, with some excellent tunes. Solid 3, but the amount of flute will prevent more.
a real curates egg - some seem like proper songs (Minor Key) others like a mess of lyrics and jams (Ingrid Bergman). Overall the feel of a high class album where the albums gets everyone to cover an artists tracks, rather than a proper album.
Hard to imagine the shock this would have had on release. Still utterly bonkers in places, the best ever Satisfaction cover, and in Mongoloid a song that could never have been written today (I remember the lyrics being printed in Smash Hits). Only not a 5 as one too many song follows the same template.
Great sound and lyrics slightly lacking at times in the tunes dept hence 4 stars. Dipped a bit on re-listening from when I remember it last.
Riff rehabilitation. As important an album as Nevermind in showing the way ahead for rock in the 90s. Cunning to include a couple of lighters-in-the-air ballads along with all the crunching. Very consistent and though not an album I could ever love, it stands up to repeated listening.
The ultra-80s production, the - at best - dated lyrics. This album was either singles I already knew - difficult to escape if you were around in 1987 - and hated, or album tracks not as good as the singles. Not everything that sells tens of millions of copies then needs to be listened to now - wonder if Englebert Humperdink, famously outselling the Beatles, will be on the list. As he can't be worse than Def Leppard.
This album gets better every time, unlike other vaunted Stones albums where the highs remain high and the not-so-highs flatten out (BB, LIB). This is just a miracle of songwriting and tight playing from start to finish.
Three cracking singles, one of which is just amazing. The soundtrack itself, revolutionary at the time, is a series of funky and slow jams, great to work to and great in a movie, but not a compelling listen.
A shining light in the indie landfill era. I will never get over the fact that what sounds like the greatest song Josef K never wrote ends after a minute of Take Me Out, and becomes another fine but not quite so brilliant song. But sharp suits, tight guitar lines. Good work.
Hey guys feel like doing a live album with a symphony orchestra? It'll be real classy. Sure. My mum said all her friends who only listen to Mozart will buy the album if there's a symphony orchestra on it. Double bubble! Really though. Not an album anyone could describe as essential. Some good songs, but they gain nothing much by this.
Not on Spotify so listening cobbled together from youtube and live albums. The good tracks are really good, with predictably the bass and percussion the standout elements. I can leave the 90s/early 00s staple of 'oh third verse time for a rap' element.
One of the best-sounding records ever made. Even if lush 70s jazz-rock is not your thing you can marvel at the playing and production. Wayne Shorter's solo, the chorus to Deacon Blues...it's pleasures are endless.
I love this band, and there's no better working music. Enough going on to get you through a large spreadsheet, slowly changing enough to not distract.
No-one bears - needs- repeated listening like Joni Mitchell. Even if it's on Youtube as she's pulled this from Spotify over the Joe Rogan spat. On first listen the tunes, even the song structure, are difficult to make out. Each listen, as the songs become familiar, gets better and better.
This is great fun. The precise point at which you can hear metal pivoting from the Sabbath era to the eighties. Of course down the line it would beget the horrific hair metal bands, but this is sharp, tight and both heavy and pop at the same time. Terrific. Can't forgive them for Jump though.
Is this a flawless album? Well how about this. I listened to the album without Common People, Sorted for Es and Whizz, Disco 2000 and Mis-Shapes. And you know what? It is - Feeling Called Love, Bar Italia and Underwear would be the singles in any other album. Every track has its own story and sound while also sounding part of a coherent whole.
Ambient - it's a doddle eh? Some relaxed beats, a bass line and a few chords on the synth. Aphex Twin shows how difficult it is to make great 'ambient', if such a thing exists, by showing its all about the details. Without lyrics or vocals or anything like a verse/chorus stucture to grab the listener, these tracks are a masterclass in detail: detail in how each track unfolds in time, and the textures employed to keep simple elements always evolving.
I now know how people who go 'Bob Dylan - great songs but unlistenable' feel. I've tried with Tom, I really have. There are some good songs here, hence the 2. But that voice. Like someone gargling gravel. And - my bad for thinking this - there's a bit of me that feels that offstage he speaks like Niles Crane.
Not their best album, not even their best double album (Quadrophenia is more consistent), but completely with the zeitgeist in the late sixties, hence it's the one Who album everyone has head of.
One of the first and best post-punk punk-funk punk-dub albums. Dennis Bovell's production is great, the lyrics are witty and subversive and in Typical Girls there's an irresistible single. Absolutely of its time, very listenable.
Alex Turner side project, not by any means unenjoyable and AM fans will get lots of enjoyment out of his usual droll delivery and lyrics, with a sixties flavoured backing. Without quite the crunch and thrill of the Monkeys though.
Nobody must hear Coldplay. They're just there. Like magnolia walls. As an experiment if I have heard an album before I'll listen to it without the singles. Different Class by Pulp would be great album without the singles. This, well without the singles it's one star.
I like the idea of Stereolab, I like the sound of Stereolab. But 60 mins of Stereolab is just a bit too much. Better in shorter sharper doses.
Fantastic. Only not 5 because I'm not a great fan of goofy Bob, evident on a couple of tracks, and he's made several other albums that are 5.
Hurt is a 6 out of 5 and another 4/5 tracks (Personal Jesus, I Hung My Head) are fives, but there's some stuff that doesn't work, like Bridge Over Troubled Water and In My Life, and even Cash can't make Danny Boy seem essential again. So a four.
From the era where dance-due producer bands ruled supreme (Underworld, Chemicals, Leftfield etc) slightly less exalted Death In Vegas stake a very credible claim to be at the top table. There's some quality vocals (not singing) from Bobby Gillespie, Dot Allison and Iggy Pop and an overall vibe of the Velvet Underground meets big beat. A slight reliance on the riff over melody stops this being a 4, but a solid solid 3.
There's only so many times you can listen to Tapestry, no matter how perfect it is. So when you want a bit of that but also something different there's this. Like King Nyro wrote lots of stuff that were initially made famous by other people. Unlike King her voice is a lot more distinctive, bordering on Joni Mitchell at times. I liked this on listening, and wouldn't have come across it otherwise.
Some nice ideas, the Mekons are really an idea band - as in I like the idea of the Mekons more than I like their music. Was it really the first alt-country album? Anyway, not much distinguished music.
This (apart from the title track) seemed a lesser effort. But with each play the subtlety of the writing and production stand out more. And on the last track she's trailing a future as the Gen Z Joni Mitchell.
Bulletproof. A couple of sentimental slowies hence not the full five.
Enjoyable, hugely varied. Standout tracks featuring Jarvis and Nick Cave. Need to listen to a couple more times really.
The first wholly great dance album of the rave era - 91 is pretty early to make a complete masterpiece. Halcyon is a thing of wonder.
You know what, on the first side I wasn't completely revolted and though strictly background music was prepared to give it two stars. The second side is dreary though and culminates in the -5 stars for Say hello Wave Goodbye which is unlistenable to, by me at least. Was it the buskers fave which got him a deal. What goes on on Grafton Street should stay there.
It's not the biggest-selling Bruce album, or the best. But it made him a superstar, and it contains three all-time classics in BTR, Jungleland and Thunder Road. A relisten reveals how much it's about Roy Bittan's piano and Clarence Clemons' sax. Possibly the most 'E Street' record of them all. Favourite bit ' the 1-2-3-4 count in during the middle 8 of BTR.
Ah. What a talent was there. Near the top of the list of 'what would a second album have sounded like'. Hard to take that we got Cast instead.
No hip-hop, samples, funk, falsettos, just a ruminative downbeat selection of gorgeous acoustic ballads. If ever you doubted he was hiding a lack of songwriting behind over-complex arrangements, this should set you straight.
I was considering two stars, 80s awful production notwithstanding, as her performance is great, until Help and 1984. Help indeed. Imagine a loop of Tina's 1984 in your ears forever. Far scarier than anything Orwell could come up with.
Phil Oakey's voice is perhaps the bit that's aged least well.but the songs are bulletproof.
As a single album four stars. As the first two tracks 5 stars. There are longeurs and his first 5-star piece would arrive next.
A bit all over the shop, that type of metal/industrial that really does very little for me.
Some eternal singles, but the slow numbers are 'dreamboats and petticoats' mush and he's not really that good a vocalist to make them speak now. Still, only 25 minutes. Shortest album so far.
Just about their best and a high-water mark for the first heavy metal era.
Unmatched in its descriptions of seedy Soho, bedsitter life, sex clubs - all set to what was at the time amazingly new music. Still holds up very well, and surprisingly the original songs have dated far less than the covers.
Holy mary mother of God. Pyschedelic folk. Flutes, hurdy gurdies and lyrics about wizards and green crowns. Not incredible and surely indigestible without smoking a load of weed.
Solid debut, though the production I always feel with B and S is a little thin and twee, the songs are well-written.
Was OK, Who knows? is a banger but there's a bit too much folky stuff for me. Like the track that sounds like Pink Floyd.
Pleasant, can appreciate the songwriting. Not quite as amazing as all that and a lot of the sixties stylings grate. But half a dozen really good songs.
A bit dull, nice background for working but some of his other albums are better.
Dull as dishwater meat and potatoes early 70s songwriter-rock.
Stellar. Improves if such a thing were possible by listening to the second side first, which contains more of the ambient tracks. The more uptempo krautrock tracks are just unbelievably good.
Hard to see why this wouldn't be 5 stars as it's pretty perfect from start to finish. Only the horns sound occasionally dated.
Very pleasant listen with some high points, but not going to change my overall view of the Kinks as the fourth-best British band of the sixties. Which is not a bad position to be in.
AP is a tune, Vincent is very annoying and the rest is pretty anonymous singer-songwriter 70s stuff. So a 2 for the greatness of AP chiefly.
Always a good sign when every track sounds like a single. A quantum leap from the caffeine rush of the first album.
Just played the 'weaker' second half of the album and it's fantastic, every track a potential hit. Nirvana have the cool, the zeitgeist, the amazing live events, and the aura of tragic glamour - and the songs that defined a generation. But they never made an album as strong as this.
Pretty essential, they're nearly there re-inventing themselves from synthpoppers to epic synthpopper gloom gothers. Three stellar singles and a strong set of album tracks.
Glad to hear this, the title track is great and the rest a solid slice of early 80s powerpop/psychedelia.
Solid southern rock with a cleaner 80s production, nothing groundbreaking here.
Not a prog fan at all but this is just a fantastic combination of great tunes - something most prog appears to leave out - and twiddly widdly arrangements that have just enough sixties still about them. Great.
The first side of this is just astonishing - six, even seven stars. A fully formed sound from nowhere. If the second half can't quite sustain the extra-ordinary first five tracks (of which Geno is perhaps the weakest. Think about that.) then its just by comparison. An album so in love with a form of music it seems entirely natural to have a cover from that genre that fits perfectly. ps fun fact Burn It Down was called Dance Stance on original release, as I have the 45.
Very consistent without hitting the high points of the 'brown' album.
The idea of Amy Whitehouse - a noughties update on the torch singer mixing jazz and soul is great, and her voice is amazing here too, but the songs don't quite nail it. Next one would.
This was the first record I can recall buying. When I was still too young to go to second hand shops. Many of the other early purchases - Parallel Lines, Setting Sons - I listen to this day. This not so much. Not at all. Re-listening it is not really the songs. No-one can deny Lynne's songwriting. But there's a general sense of mid-70s ennui that the Eagles turned into gold, but here is just a sense of everything being just a little too laid back. Then there's Jeff Lynne's voice. Just don't like it - because he sounds completely without conviction. Not every vocalist is Iggy Pop, but there's a feeling for me he's doing the guide vocals for someone else. Finally, there's the odd novelty hit/pastiche vibe (Jungle could be a bad 10cc b-side) that a band at the very height of their commercial powers really shouldn't be doing. Want to hear the Quo with a string section? Birmingham Blues. Positives: Mr Blue Sky is still a pocket pop symphony, and the Whale is the bastard son of The Love Unlimited Orchestra and The Orb - bizarre and by far the most interesting track here. But for me the pop energy that fizzed through A New World Record has been traded away for something much lesser.
Aged like a fine wine. No more like rotting fish found at the bottom of the bin.
Hard to find any faults, a pretty perfect debut. Perhaps only a 9 out of 10 for their somewhat clodhoppy reggae cover.
Madonna - even Imperial Period - is the master of the '4 bangers so banging the fact the rest of the album is just okay-ish doesn't matter' - viz True Blue, like a Virgin etc. This is the exception that proves the rule, a Madonna album you can listen to like, an album as the bangers still bang, but the variety and quality of the album tracks are a cut above.
Solid effort from one the best rap groups of the early 90s.
The perfect pop album is a mythical beast and this album goes as close to nailing it as many. The first half is pretty flawless, and her simple but slyly hooky melodies are outstanding. A few more obvious tracks on the B - side let the quality down slightly, (Happy and Sad, Velvet Elvis) and I for one can leave the piano ballad.
Really strong songs, and I like industrial junk Tom so much better than crooner tom.
A real discovery, a brilliant album and none of his big hits.
If you had to come up with a reference album for 70s rock it would be this - a bit heavy, a bit hard, a bit FM. All tunes, but without a shred of originality. Guess that's what you get when you mix Free, King Crimson and Mott The Hoople. 1 and 1 and 1 make 3 here.
Occasionally you can admire the musicianship, craft and artistry while finding the entire thing unlistenable to.
Yeah the beats and flow are pretty good, almost like another Wu album as so many end up on here. Solid rap album.
Almost too much going on for too long here. A great vibe, but feel that In A Silent Way and Jack Johnson benefit from a touch more focus while still being loose.
Amazing to think they were making this as punk was also about The Damned and The Pistols.
Pleasant, funky, surprisingly gentle at times, would listen to again without consciously opting for it over other stuff.
I want to like this: Brummie ikon and all that, but really it's fairly dull seventies singer-songwriter stuff. Sorry Joan.
I like the idea of Randy Newman, but ultimately his a bit ragtime a bit singer songwriter approach, and his dolorous voice, are a bit much over a whole album, however clever and insightful the lyrics.
Provocation: this has aged much better than Dare. Just saying.
In which the JAMC showed that under the pyros they had a sturdy songwriting chassis and (squabbling aside) were in it for the long haul. Flawless collection different from the amazing debut.
Jimmy Smith is probably the most laid-back person on the planet. This sounds pretty good on a summer day, today. Not five because the Hammond all the way through is a little one-dimensional.
This is very enjoyable, in a TTQ way, the beats are great the samples interesting and the whole air is pretty agreabl(y)thick with weed.
I thought about giving this four stars and then thought 'I'm only not giving it five BECAUSE of Bury Me Deep In Love' which is really punishing them for Neighbours. So, for the songs, the playing, the vocals. 5 stars. A high-water mark of eighties Australian music.
Purely because lush strings and jazz vocals are not my thing, but I can appreciate how brilliantly it is done here.
I can applaud the craft and there are a couple of great songs, but his voice just doesn't vibe with me, like he's singing while swallowing at the same time.
The best - perhaps the only rap album without a second of filler. No skits, and even Flavor Flav is kept on a tight leash. The samples are brilliant and the beats unforgiving. A high water mark.
Nothing more to be said other than five stars. My favourite Kraftwerk album.
So side one I am there for this, strong vibes of the Stones of the same period which is a good thing and good songs. But the covers that dominate the second half are inessential and Dr Feelgood would come along soon and do this kind of stuff much better.
Yeah ok the first 10 mins and the bit with Viv Stanishall are great, but you're not telling me there's not filler on side 2. And the hornpipe. Grrr.
Nothing much to add. A band who said EVERYTHING they had to say in one pretty perfect album.
Well that slipped down very pleasantly. Feel the first side is stronger than the second, but very listenable.
Not quite singalong, but the first album of theirs where noise and melody is in balance.
I like the melodies and his flow, but again why oh why do rap albums have to be soooooooo long.
the sheer brilliance of the music overcomes the fact no album with Ian Brown singing should be five stars, or even three.
She's got a way with a sly melody as well as bangers (Green Light). State of the art pop. 3.5 if they did half-stars.
Minimal magic, and the prototype for all the synth duos to come, though few would be as confrontational. Every time I play this it gets better and easier to listen to.
Flawless. By far their most consistent album, passing the acid test that listening to the album tracks without the singles shows no drop in quality.
You know this was not so bad, better than I thought. He can sing (after a fashion) and the songs are pretty strong.
The fabulous sound of the Golden Hour from Wonderful Radio One. There was landfill before indie and this was it.
Bands were travelling at the speed of light in the late 70s early 80s. The distance from The Clash is phenomenal. Again, the pivot album of their catalogue with everything in perfect balance. Amazing.
This has not aged well, if there was anything to age in the first place. I remember Scooby Snacks being everywhere that summer, and it's much the best track on here. Apart from that, it's a desperately thin concoction of trying-too-hard samples, trying-too-hard lyrics and the odd funky bassline. Telling they were never big in the States, as this feels like some NY theme-park experience got up strictly for the tourists. Two starts strictly for the Snacks, and a gimmicky cover of What a Wonderful World showed how short of actual musical ideas they really were.
You know what this isn't that bad once you lean into it. Not on Spootify but there's some good youtube playlists with the full album, and making it to the end is definitely an achievement. Kinda like reading Ulysses, but with more squonking.
I can go a little country, but this is just a bit too country. Can appreciate the artistry, and Boulder to Birmingham is a tune, but it's a bit full-on Nashville for me.
Well you know the singles sparkle, but this amiable album of pop-funk is let down by some familiar weaknesses: the plodding ballads which make you realise what an achievement Easy by the Commodores was, and the noodly jazz-funk odyssey (Americano). So a pretty mixed bag, more mixed than my bag, and on this evidence a band best served by a generous greatest hits.
Heard of them before but never listened, pleasant lo-fi American indie with some good songs rather undersold by singing that may be an acquired tastes.
Passed me by a bit. Not as annoying as I thought it would be, but nothing standing out.
A great reggae album, from my favourite era of reggae music. Also - love an album that's 10 songs, 3 minutes each.
Acid test for a five-star album laden with hits. What does it sound like when you don't play any of the singles? A 30 minute album with 'Zoo Station' 'Waiting for the end of the world' 'Love is Blindness' 'trying to throw your arms around the world' and so on would still be in my top three of U2 albums ever. So yes, all the accolades and more.
My tried and trusted 'no singles listen' for albums I'm very familiar with is dead easy as they put the singles on tracks 1-4. The 1001 randomizer threw up Achtung Baby yesterday, and just as this album's singles are not as strong as Achtung Baby.. so the album tracks aren't either. Probably their last really strong all-the-way through effort, with 4 great singles, so four stars.
Proto-garage, almost all covers. Insanely good fun and very listenable to.
Their best, the strength of the tunes overcoming familiar weaknesses.