Elephant Mountain
The YoungbloodsThe Youngbloods album was just like most of the other 60s psychedelic rock stuff we've had. Started okay then got lost up its own arse.
The Youngbloods album was just like most of the other 60s psychedelic rock stuff we've had. Started okay then got lost up its own arse.
Not as fun as the coke-addled stories of his career might've hinted at.
I See A Darkness is quite beautiful at times really, even if it's not something that really grabs me musically because of how stripped back and vulnerable it is. It's a delicate sound that contrasts with the themes of the songs being so full of sadness and solemn. It's also very well-balanced to deliver that experience, like the guitar work in Another Day Full Of Dread is restrained and pulled back to fully tie in with the themes on the record. I'm not gonna listen to it back any time soon but I definitely respect it and appreciate that there are times where this'll resonate more with some people than others and it's very much mood-based in its composition, delivery and listening. Gets a 3 from me.
The first 25 minutes or so is a very long and experimental version of Bo Diddly's 'Who Do You Love'? that meanders around pretty aimlessly and doesn't ever come close to being as good as Bo's version. So there's that. It's not a 1/5 but it's unspectacular. Heard better stuff from bands who were wildly off their tits in the same era.
Mad album. First three tracks are good, next four are less so, When I Touch You is a strong return to form and it runs quite well to the finish. Not what I was expecting but I enjoyed this muchly.
Not the best of Muse, though Knights of Cydonia is an outstanding track.
Objectively fine but not quite my sort of thing.
I think a lot of people will know Lazy Sunday, it's one of those songs my Dad would half sing around the house when I was growing up at least. I'm not really a fan of psychedelic rock (and really dislike most prog rock), though I can leave it on in the background like the radio and find it inoffensive. B side of the album is crap. Not sure I'll stretch to 2 on it even though there are a couple of good tracks.
Outstanding.
Absolutely fucking dreadful.
Really not my thing but very much more listenable than Kate Bush. Fine background but no more than a 2/5 for me.
No.
Not as fun as the coke-addled stories of his career might've hinted at.
Inoffensive Taylor Swift tribute act but nothing new. Happy & Sad the best of the lot.
They're just not my bag, baby.
It's a seminal and influential album that misses the 5 stars for me because it meanders off halfway through but War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man and Fairies Wear Boots are as good as it gets.
A legendary performance.
Quality stuff, influential and lasting.
A good Sunday listen.
Cash is absolutely fine by me but I've never really been properly grabbed by his work. I suspect I'll enjoy it more in certain times/places/moods but at others less so. Not sure I'll stretch to 5 on it.
Just not my thing, even though it should be from a lot of my listening habits. Some decent moments (like Joe) but nothing that's really grabbed me and made me pay attention.
Really enjoyable this; went in completely blind but a very nice listen.
I quite liked it overall although the body of work didn't match the highs and it was too long. Not sure whether 3 or 4 stars, if I could I'd give it 3.5 on the site. Still, that first song is a gem and I will listen to it regularly.
I want to like Bowie but I just don't. This did nothing for me.
Some familiarity and a sound of its era but it's nothing outstanding, just fine background stuff.
Chappers is fine, nice in places, maybe some historical resonance has been lost on me but absolutely acceptable listening that I probably won't ever revisit.
Terrific technical ability and craftmanship but a ridiculous amount of self-indulgent, incomprehensible nonsense. Classic prog.
Pretty sound stuff, just didn't fit the mood of the day when listening to it. Hard to dislike though.
The Stones are weird because they've been around for about 300 years but I don't feel I know them at all. I don't think this particular album best represents what I think is their general appeal but it is very good, full of soul and feel.
Alright. See what I did there. None of it comes close to that track though. Decent stuff but not entirely in my preferred style.
Absolutely outstanding, John Fogerty knew what the hell he was doing.
No. They shouldn't have done this.
A bit disappointing overall, I liked Buick Mackane and Telegram Sam, but the rest is a bit flat and repetitive.
Absolute fucking shite. Why can't I give this zero stars?
Reminds me a bit of one of my favourite bands, Dead Sara. Nice.
Not his best work, obviously.
The quality on an 8-song album is incredibly high, everything is done so well and so efficiently, almost nothing wasted, a no-skips contender, has everything you want.
Shite.
Fuck Depeche Mode. Incredibly monotonous, dull and boring.
Yeah, this is timeless and very good.
And a good time was had by all. Will stick it as a 3 because I didn't think enough tracks had the quality of All Your Love but I'd happily stick this album in my collection and have stuff come on shuffle without objection, even if I didn't actively return to listen to it on its own.
No.
Machine Gun Etiquette is generally good stuff, some great punk elements, some stuff I don't really care for, but Plan 9 Channel 7 is outstanding, Looking At You is pretty damn good too.
I get the influence Alice in Chains had and all that but grunge/sludge from their era has never been my favourite. I don't hate it, I knew Them Bones and Rooster and Would? already, but I prefer what the genre eventually became and diversified into more than the band themselves.
Easy 4 for me. Probably not a 5 but somewhere in between. So much groundbreaking stuff that holds up today.
Feels a bit dated but good fun and represents its era very well.
Harmless easy listening. Not outstanding for me but I appreciate the 90s vibe this early morning.
Decent, but a bit dated. Very clearly an early 90s west coast sound, good beats but the social commentary aspect of it probably more impressive than the actual lyrical quality. Influential on what was to follow but I feel I've been spoiled by improvements in the genre in general, particularly in production quality. 2.5 maybe.
It's alright, I don't think it's representative of mainstream Aerosmith, but it's fine listening. Just not very memorable.
This has aged better than the Ice Cube album from last week, even if it feels very dated 33! years later. It's not outstanding but it is very decent in places. Could lose a few tracks and tighten the whole thing up. Ladies First a highlight.
Thought I might like The Cure album more than I am, it's far too morose and repetitive for me, though I did like Pictures of You.
I feel like the Stone Roses are a band I'm never going to properly get. The bookends of this album are well known but not must-listens to me at any given time, and the middle of it leaves me bored.
I've heard a bunch of these live but never on record, and a bunch covered by the Dropkick Murphys, so it's very much up my street. Easy 3, possibly 4, not enough to get me to a 5 but plenty of stuff to listen to often.
I listened to Sepultura at the gym, which was a good place to listen to it. I didn't mind it, good in places (Straighthate, Spit, Born Stubborn especially) but again, when I'm listening to metal of this style I want a little more nuance and skill to it. Maybe I've been spoiled by Avatar. Anyway, 3/5.
No.
It's a nice album, not that memorable, as much funk and soul as disco tbh. That's The Way Of The World and Reasons stood out.
This is not the small area of prog I can tolerate. Hide In Your Shell was alright but otherwise I don't get on with the meandering storytelling.
Really enjoyed that album, listened to it on a lovely sunny drive down to football and it hit the spot in lots of ways. And will relisten too.
It's kind of hard to evaluate this album because it has two of the most well-known songs of all time on it and everything else might seem like filler almost by default but she seems like she had a riot of a time recording it and it shines through.
Just got around to this one, sort of thing I can happily have in my shuffle and be perfectly content with, and would probably grow on me each listen. Not spectacular but it'll do nicely for me.
Excellent.
Fucking atrocious.
Good, obviously. Tangerine and That's The Way are beautiful songs, Jimmy Page is just incredible, though there's not enough on this album to lift it above a 4 overall for me.
Interesting enough.
It's so good, and gets you in different ways each listen.
A truly authentic sound guided by one of the best all-time front men. Niiiice.
It's pleasant enough background music but doesn't lift itself beyond that, and darts between different styles so much that it lacks cohesion.
Sharp, smart, energetic, poppy. Nearer a 4 than a 3 for me. Would listen again.
The Band. Sound is pleasant, easy country listening, could do without the confederacy love though. Also one of those that clearly made the list for its impact at the time rather than doing anything special and long-lasting.
Generic and very plodding in places, everyone else did it better than this. The Wait is the only redeeming feature.
Seems like a band short on ideas, yet they managed to find Song 2 in among it all and that's obviously a classic.
I feel almost guilty that I don't actively like the Stones but they just don't provoke a reaction in me. This is a decent enough album, solid work and clearly skilled but I'm left feeling very meh by them. Longevity is their biggest selling point imo, and I kind of think everyone who's covered their stuff has done it better? :D Wild Horses was good but not something I'd mark out as must-listen.
Nice easy listening but nothing special. Probably sums up his career.
Nah.
A stone cold 5/5 that's long since been in my regular rotation.
The Hole album isn't anything special, obviously full of angst, decent gym listening but not memorable.
Jack Elliott. I don't know how this is among the 1001 best albums, I doubt it was even particularly significant in 1958. It's very plain country music at best.
His voice is lovely, the first track is wonderful. Songs will really depend on the mood but he's good.
So boring I nearly fell asleep.
Think the person who put this list together has just done something like 'oh The Kinks, put their entire back catalogue on the list', because Face to Face is obviously the work of a skilled band and enjoyable in places, but not outstanding anywhere.
Much like the last NIN album, I don't get them. Never have, never will.
ANATO isn't my favourite Queen album, far from it, thought it's good and does what it set out to do. Just lacks in outstanding tracks that I love from them, except for Bohemian Rhapsody, and even that despite being something of a masterpiece isn't in my top 5 Queen songs. Probably gonna sit in the middle with a 3 rating for me.
Not memorable.
Grateful Dead was another of those that I didn't have a strong opinion either way on. Not terrible, not great, unlikely to listen to it again.
Chicago (Transit Authority). Charming, big band sound fused with classic rock that's actually quite a nice easy listen but far too overblown, eight tracks over 5 minutes long and a 15 minute self-indulgent closer. Probably better than I expected though.
Street Life is basically gonna depend whether you like jazz with a disco flavour or not. I do, depending on mood, it's a very easy morning listen (especially on a nice sunny day like today), but I don't think I'd stretch to a 3 for it.
So I quite liked it even though I've not really found a lot of the post-punk stuff from that era to my tastes, I can certainly hear influences from acts I like that have come along since, probably gonna sit at a nice 3.
Not my thing, but Ball and Biscuit is incredible.
Good album, holds up now, strong from start to finish though I preferred the first half.
I get why people adore the Beastie Boys. I get the cultural significance. It's not always for me but it's good.
I appreciate the time Ravi Shankar took to explain Indian classical music in the first track :D not sure I hugely appreciate the rest of the album but it's not the worst I've ever heard. Give me Project Mishram instead though. This album is 65 years old, doesn't have a combined 1m plays on Spotify, and seems to be included on the list as a cultural curiosity. We've had Manu Chao, Miriam Makeba and Ravi Shankar in the last week and I'm not sure any of them have a place in a greatest albums list, however comprehensive it might want to be.
A very good album for today's gym work, lots of good stuff, though lacked a bit more that would take it above a 3.5 I think. When it hits, it really hits, but I think they dragged some tracks out longer than needed without doing enough to justify it. Still, can't go wrong with much of it.
Yeah this was quite good.
Not great.
The first 25 minutes or so is a very long and experimental version of Bo Diddly's 'Who Do You Love'? that meanders around pretty aimlessly and doesn't ever come close to being as good as Bo's version. So there's that. It's not a 1/5 but it's unspectacular. Heard better stuff from bands who were wildly off their tits in the same era.
Loved this, right in my wheelhouse.
Stupid silly fun with songs that last the test of time.
This album makes me feel like I'm on hold but the company have given a bit more thought to their muzak. Or I'm on hold with Ann Summers or something.
Sinfully boring.
So good I listened a lot.
Inoffensive but indifferent Saturday morning listening really. Like having Smooth Radio on or something.
Great fun, great influence.
This is another one of those folksy American albums that's just fine but not memorable in any way. I think it's better than some of the others we've had in the same genre though, Beginning To See The Light and I'm Set Free are very good and flow together superbly.
Easy, good quality classic rock.
A lot of their lyrical style has always been quite jarring to me, changing rapper mid-line, all of that, though I get their importance in ushering in a new style at the time it was released, and the beats are decent. Rock Box is brilliant too.
Today's one is good, as it should be, covers of some top Dylan songs and some damn good songwriting in their own right. I've always been a fan of the 12-string guitar sound too.
It's objectively decent but none of it resonates with me or have any personal historical connection really. Same for all Simon and Garfunkel stuff.
I love their stuff, this one is a nice and tight album with some staying power and brilliant swampy blues.
Bono is a cock.
My relationship with The Beatles is weird. I nothing them. I don't mind a lot of songs, and feel nothing about most others. Just very middling stuff that doesn't provoke much emotion from me.
Not special, not terrible.
Some nice influences but not the strongest.
Solid but influential stuff.
I don't mind this, though I need to listen to it at the right time when something mellow works better, and then I think I'll appreciate it more. Right now it's decent background music for me to work with.
The album has some nice moments but doesn't land with me. To be honest, if I'm listening to electronic music I'd much rather stick some trance on, that's where it's really at.
Guilty pleasure? Oh yeah.
I don't know how this made it onto the list :D I don't mind it, I like some of it, but it's not historic or particularly influential now is it?
The Youngbloods album was just like most of the other 60s psychedelic rock stuff we've had. Started okay then got lost up its own arse.
Easy 5/5. Iconic.
A load of covers that aren't as good as the original? Fun but not great.
Very, very good.
I steadfast had no interest in this album/Arcade Fire since they came on the scene. Listening now, I can appreciate some of the musicianship and a few of the songs sound nice, but they don't move me, and the vocals annoy me. Just not my thing.
Good when it's good but so much average in here and kinda prosaic musically, although that might've been revolutionary at the time.
Wasn't too bad, to my surprise, I liked more of it than not, and the not wasn't offensive, it was just there in the background. Not gonna relisten to anything any time soon but was better than a lot of stuff we've had.
Sgt Pepper gets 4/5 from me because while it's great when it's great, there's stuff in there that passed me by entirely, and none of it truly grabs me like a 5/5 should.
Chic gets a 3, really nice in places but not enough.
I find live albums to be either outstanding or terrible, no middle ground, and this is outstanding.
Same as the other one.
It's absolutely outstanding and has aged beautifully.
Maybe a few too many tracks and could be cut down by boy they knew what they were doing.
Interesting one today, solid 3 for me, because it's not entirely for me but it's loads better than some generic background stuff. Also can't believe it's more than 20 years old, has a much fresher sound than that.
A good example of what I said last week or whenever it was that a lot of live albums are crap. This does nothing to elevate their work, and The Who were terribly overrated anyway. And they have shit on-stage banter too.
Today's Led Zep is predictably top stuff. Maybe not a 5 because it's short of something that elevates it into superior air though Your Time Is Gonna Come gets damn close.
Dull.
It's a catchy one that's easily a 3 and maybe a 4 for me, it's polished, skilled, not too long, creative and Bryan Ferry's voice is always great.
Nice. Nice.
Never been a big Coldplay fan beyond liking the odd single over the years but this album is an exception, I loved this album. Objectively I'm not giving it a 5 but it'll definitely get a 4 from me. Politik, the title track, The Scientist, Amsterdam are all brilliant.
The Who are dull.
Also dull.
It's entertaining enough but I keep feeling I'm missing what made these early 90s rap albums transcendent.
I really liked this. Probably a 4, also shows how much better that genre got very quickly from some of the early 90s stuff we've had.
Outstanding and memorable.
I like their style of storytelling, and it's a very good example of glam rock done well but also with passion and heart in reflection. Ballad of Mott The Hoople is wonderful.
An all-timer with three of the best songs ever. Wonderful stuff.
It's boring as fuck. How people are listening to this in their millions I'll never know.
CrazySexyCool is a decent album, though 9am on a working weekday probably isn't the intended listening hour :D I remember bits of it from the 90s and it's really good in places, but quite once-paced and I'm fairly sure every album that has ever added skits and interludes could bin them all off and nobody would notice.
I like metal, I like some Metallica, but I've always felt that they're really overrated and a load of people that came after them did it better and made them look poor by comparison. I like some parts of MoP but, yeah, never really gotten on with them like lots of metalheads have.
Not as good as their second album, better than everything that followed that though. Yellow, Trouble, Don't Panic, Spies are all good.
It's alright, just doesn't stand out to me in any way and grab me. Fine background music, not something I'll ever listen to again. Preferred the remix tracks at the end tbh.
Sound Affects is good but everything from Set The House Ablaze to Man In The Corner Shop is really good and probably pushes this to a 4 for me.
GI is alright if a bit paint-by-numbers punk from that era. Nothing really standing out and grabbing my attention though.
I don't mind James Taylor in small doses, and some of this is good, Steamroller Blues is catchy for sure, but if you want a singer-songwriter who tells stories of America that are meant to be meaningful and resonant lasting beyond their respective eras, give me Springsteen ten times out of ten.
Top, top stuff.
A bit disappointing, coupla songs that stand out (I really like Ceiling Fan In My Spoon) but too much of it is one-paced and forgettable.
I don't get it.
Really good.
It has a bunch of songs I like and a bunch that are pretty meh but better than most other albums we've had.
Not the very best of Springsteen but it's certainly very good.
It's quite nice in places, but doesn't do enough to elevate itself beyond just pleasant middling listening overall. Easy 3.
Enjoyed that, they're a band I've never taken the time to check out even though I should, some good stuff on it. Loved Mayonaise.
I was never a fan of the sort of lo-fi sound The Strokes and bands of that ilk produced, catchy in places but nothing properly resonated with me or left a lasting impression.
Outstanding.
Gets a four from me, first half of the album is entirely excellent but falls away a bit after that.
Quite a nice listen today, incredible vocals obviously, lovely big band sound in there, versatility. Enjoyable.
It's alright, fairly formulaic 70s rock and roll, but nice in places. Whiskey Woman maybe my standout track.
Hard to believe it's nearly 30 years old because the production, flow and storytelling is better than 99% of anything that followed it.
It's...something. I don't know how or why it's in the top 1000 list, it's weird, not terrible, not good, not memorable. Not groundbreaking. Kind of a waste of an hour.
Not my thing, objectively fine, but dull.
Full on 5/5.
Quite a pleasant country album with a bit more to it. From a Silver Phial is delightful.
Terribly boring.
One of my favourite albums of all time.
Good but lacked the skill and nuance of their follow up efforts, Toxicity especially. 3, maybe 4 depending on mood.
Crap.
Christmas!
Not great, not terrible, not memorable.
Strong work, iconic tunes.
This is alright but almost every track is better as a sample source than a work in its own right and they each go on loads longer than necessary.
Strong 4. Some quality tunes.
Doesn't move me. It's fine really but I don't feel anything listening to it.
Enjoyable musically (can be a bit samey but accomplished drum abs guitar work nonetheless), not such a fan of the vocals, but I can get on with the whole thing as a solid 3.
This is alright again but one of those that I don't think is particularly memorable and I dunno why it's on the list. Good sound, deft flow at times, but I'm not gonna listen again.
Nice and tight album, impressive for a debut effort, decent variety of rock sounds too, good vocals, and an all-timer to finish it off.
Not an especially memorable one but a lovely easy Sunday morning listen.
Very generic 80s pop, couple of decent tracks, some not so, Love Song is awful, lyrics filled with cliches except were they even cliches in 1989? Probably.
Yeah I really like this, it has so many sounds that came along years later in the late 90s trance anthems era, dunno how influential it would've been but hard to deny it must've had an impact. Stuff I can just stick on and chill to but also I've always found it really helps me focus.
This has a MUCH more modern sound than 1978, not wholly my thing but it's impressive.
Busy old album that, lots of different styles and influences packaged up together. Some I like a lot, some less so. Good overall.
Found that super generic tbh. Might listen to it again with more focus as I should like it but didn't really feel anything.
Good but disappointing at the same time.
Only ever listened to Sleater Kinney in passing or on compilation albums but they're clearly very much my thing. Like this a lot.
Too 80s for me to really like much. Decent middle of the album though with the title track then Rescue.
Dylan might be the most overrated musician of all time fwiw. This album is fine but utterly unremarkable and not at all memorable.
Masterful.
This was not good.
Just really strange, not downright terrible but not good either. It is unique at least I suppose.
This is good, really good in places. Freedom Rider and Stranger to Himself are quality.
Not as good as Fearless but pretty damn good.
Fuck prog.
The rest of the album isn't as good as the title track. Kinda middle of the road, but the album gets at least a 3 from me off just one song.
A pretty, pretty nice album. Some classic singles.
This is painfully average and has a diabolically bad opening track.
Not good, Nick.
Lyrically terrible but some of this goes really hard and evokes some great memories. Objectivity is hard.
Good but their best was still to come.
It's good but not especially memorable.
Maybe Winona Ryder was bad in bed? Or at least dull, because that's what this album is, with any of the better moments stuff that everyone has done before and done it better.
Enjoyable album, especially early on, but it does go on a lot longer than it should and becomes quite samey in the back half. The goods are very good though, maybe lifting it to a 4.
Dusty is a bonafide legend and my Dad loves her music so it's always been around me, this is a fantastic reminder of a beautiful sound. It all seems so effortless.
I did not like that album. Absolutely nothing going on except self indulgent pontificating masquerading as music.
This is good but it doesn't lift me often enough to get a really top score. I like I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man, Hot Thing, U Got the Look especially, and there's some great evocative language, but more a 4 than a 5 for me.
I think it's absolutely shit, I'm into a fair bit of metal but this nonsense is atrocious.
A good album, not great. For all the famous songs, the other stuff in between is a waste of time and nothing but filler, so probably a 3, because even the best tracks aren't Jackson's best.
I suspect if I listened to it a lot I'd like it quite a bit more but, as it is, I just found it good. Get On It was superb though.
Nice, although not memorable.
A colossal waste of time.
Not for me, this, I don't understand the acclaim. It's not impressive in terms of overall sound, he's not a great lyricist not is there anything special going on there with structure or rhyme, the beats aren't memorable, he can't sing (plus there's some autotune guff and I hate all of that, it comes across like a stream of consciousness he's put on record rather than doing something coherent, and it's no better than lots of R&B from 10 and 20 years earlier.
Obviously an incredibly seminal album for all sorts of influential and cultural reasons and it's very good in places but I think I preferred Fear of a Black Planet a few weeks ago by comparison.
This was more interesting than I expected but that style of music has already grated on me and the vocals are terrible. There's just enough interesting hooks and composition to make it worth persevering through but I wouldn't say I liked it. Even Not Over Yet isn't as good as the original or several cover versions, though it's a fair attempt at doing something a bit different with it. Probably gets a 2 as most of my 3s are more listenable.
I really liked that, really great sound that doesn't seem dated, loads of different influences, a bit samey in places but easy 3.
I thought Jefferson Airplane was fine but a bit too twee for me in places, but such an iconic sound and Somebody To Love is an all-timer. Embryonic Journey is beautiful too.
Once again, the Stones leave me feeling absolutely nothing. It's only really saved by the first and last tracks.
Nice enough but sounded too much like fairground music by the end.
Really accomplished and has a great sound now, 4th Chamber and Swordsman stand out. Also makes me realise again that I think I prefer the East Coast sound over the West.
This wasn't for me. Apparently hugely influential but I didn't feel it in the slightest.
Just a straight up pleasant listen from a really accomplished performer but not something I'll listen to again or remember. And that's fine sometimes, just maybe not in a book reviewing the best of all time.
This is really good, absolutely blasting opening 4-5 tracks, the next chunk are decent, loses its way a little but then fires right back from the title track on apart from that weird hidden track bollocks loads of people did in the 90s. Think the dip in the middle stops it getting a 5 but even though I listened to this a bit around 2000, I didn't remember it well, and it's a lot better than I remembered.
It's alright in places, like Soya and Machengoidi are nice to listen to, and listening to anything blues-influenced is usually decent, but this mostly misses the spot for me.
Cars is an overplayed song now and this album is shite.
Skilled but nothing to get excited about although everyone knows Take Five and will probably have things that resonate with them from TV and film that mean more than the music itself.
Underwhelming.
Clearly good, just not my scene.
Clapton's personal views aside, the guy knew how to play guitar, and the album is good with a couple of obviously great moments. Some of it a bit procedural with simple progressions but given it's 50 years old I try to remember that it not being groundbreaking now doesn't matter all that much.
Run DMC are what they are. Socially iconic with some great hits but I think they miss a lot outside of that. Not a fan of the shared vocals on the same line and a lot of the non-famous tracks sound the same. Think it's telling that when Aerosmith come in they go to another level that Run DMC can't get to themselves, with maybe the exception of the title track, which has some rock influence anyway.
Some absolute worldies on here.
Absolutely mental, too long though.
Today's effort is particularly bland glam rock.
Elegant, timeliness, heartfelt. Not special musically but the emotion and quality of his voice shines through and it's way ahead of its time.
This isn't half bad you know. Great energy, authentic, really good production, doesn't lean into the annoying aspects of the genre, doesn't outstay its welcome. A pleasant surprise.
Slade are good fun 70s rock and roll, this album has a couple of blinders but the rest of it is middle of the road stuff. Still enjoyable though.
I know this sound had started to emerge a bit more by 1993 but it's still remarkable how recent it feels. Bit too indie for me to really enjoy but great voice and very well put together.
A quality album, just always enjoy listening to Knopfler, even some of the more average stuff.
Knopfler is just so very listenable.
Terribly average.
This is alright, though it suffers from some of the same problems that other West Coast rap albums on this list so far have encountered. It's very one-speed, same rhythm and stylings over different beats, same delivery patterns, and doesn't elevate itself at any point except for It Was a Good Day. It has the usual mix of social commentary, misogyny and silliness, guess that was most of the 90s though.
This isn't very interesting. She has a voice of good range but nothing that hadn't been done before or since, the opening track is the highlight, but she doesn't seem to care about any of it. This was four years before that George Michael album we had recently, similar eras and a similar style of music, but the emotion and quality of his voice made that several tiers better than this by comparison.
I knew a bunch of songs by ear but not by name, it's good in places but lots of it remind me of a Jimmy Eat World record but without the up tempo rockier bits, so I found it lacking there.
This is really good, obviously Cheap Trick are great but live albums can be a problem for the best bands. This has enough punch and energy and just the right amount of over-indulgence to be memorable.
This PE album isn't as good as the one we had a few weeks ago. There's just too much going on in every song and it loses coherence because of it. Lots of droning repetitive accents over the beats that range from distracting to annoying and draw too much focus away from the lyrics, which are generally strong from PE, though a couple of tracks are just nonsense.
Three great vocalists doing regulation country music. Undeniably nice, just not very exciting. In the right context and environment, a very pleasant listen I'm sure, but rush hour traffic in West London probably wasn't that. :D
Shite.
This was good, not as strong as the last ZZ Top album we had, but any ZZ Top is still better than most stuff. La Grange obv an all-timer, Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers is excellent, and almost everything else hits the groove.
A good example of a well produced stripped back album but it's not all for me, too monotonous overall and doesn't have enough elevating moments in songs. Strong from from no body, no crime through to ivy though.
Pretty generic uninspiring country, first three tracks of Side 2 are decent, that's about it.
Not as good as Oops I Did It Again but a good'un.
Quality little album, hits a groove early and holds it throughout. Tight, listenable, great stuff.
Couple of all-timers but not the best.
There is a LOT going on in this album, lots of it good, some of it absolutely not.
Decent.
Quality.
Hole aren't good.
Absolute shite.
Good, not spectacular but it holds up brilliantly for being nearly 60 and has a nice fuse of bluesy groove and some good old psychedelic sounds.
A nice enough sound by a very accomplished musician but too many covers for me to really care much.
Had some decent moments but some awful ones too, not a lot for me to hold on to.
Decent.
A true masterpiece.
Good, silly fun.
Deep Purple are always great.
A bit disappointing tbh.
This is quite a nice chilled out listen but doesn't hit the heights I want from this style of music and that came along afterwards. I lean more towards the trance side of chillout music really.
Decent if unremarkable.
Feels like the big singles from Hot Fuss are quite a lot different from the rest of the (underwhelming) album, but they do some heavy lifting on their own tbf.
nothing on this album is as good as Movin' On Up, one of those things where you'd get an album based off one track and the rest of it was nowhere near as good.
The legendary.
Unbelievable quality, The Prisoner/22 Acacia Avenue/Number of the Beast/Run to the Hills is as good a four-song run as any album has ever had.
I read the notes before I listened to it and I wish I hadn't because it would have made it even funnier. Absolute piss take with 100% knowledge of what they're doing, amazing.
Outstanding live album. A lot of Motorhead songs can sound the same but the energy and rawness of their music is incredible. Bomber :bowdown::bowdown:
Just outstanding musical craftsmanship.
Sabbath did some great stuff and this album is good but not great, it has just too much 60-style influence in it for me to really enjoy, especially considering they released Paranoid less than a year later and that is a genuine all-timer. Still, good Sabbath is better than most other music.
Coupla good singles but fuck Bono.
Cracking listen, finds a great groove early and doesn't let up.
Fuck off Kate Bush.
Some legendary stuff but a couple of songs not so good that see it fall short of a 5.
Elvis is pretty boring most of the time.
The highs here are great but it falls short in places.
I cannot abide Radiohead.
Can't do Amy Winehouse. Crap.
Beck's Bolero is an all-timer. Masterful guitarist, even if this isn't his peak work, it's still a top listen.
Not their best but fun enough.
One of the best ever.
Quality.
Some of the best music ever written.
A few top songs elevate this.
Big fan of the Dropkick Murphys so this is really up my street because it's the influence that laid the foundations for them. It's not outstanding, it doesn't reach the highest highs, but it's great storytelling and a generally good listen.
For a noted Beatles sceptic like me, this is good, excellent in places and masterfully crafted. It's just not my sort of thing, it doesn't inspire me, it doesn't lift me. I want to like them but I just meh them.
I didn't expect this to impress me as much as it did. I love it, not sure how they remained a complete blind spot for me for so long given some of my listening habits but it'll teach me about presumptions, I'd just thought they were a bit too sludge and scuzz to appeal to me but it's just in the right spot to end up in my regular rotation. Not outstanding enough to get a 5 but a high 4.
Far, far too much 80s. Not my sound at all. Will give it a 2 because EWTRTW is okay.
This is absolute crap.
Disappointing. There She Goes is a classic but the rest doesn't come close. The songs that follow it are better than the songs that precede it but I wanted more.
Sort of how I feel about The Beatles. I respect the artist and artistry but it doesn't do anything for me. It's also just not as good as anything The Beatles did.
In the right mood and the right setting this is excellent, but it's very specific and I can't say it deserves higher than a 3 because of that.
This did nothing for me. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just there and I didn't care. Pretty much how I've always felt about The Fall.
This one is probably where I'll go higher than everyone else because I do like Queen quite a lot, they're stupidly bombastic in lots of ways but part of that is their charm and what made them what they are, though I can never attribute that adjective to Freddie because he was anything other than empty in his showmanship and character. This'll never be a widely-loved album because it lacks their most famous work but it's a great sound and does some really interesting stuff.
Another classic band with a lo-fi sound that isn't entirely my thing, though I can see why it's popular and I enjoyed Merchanise and Blueprint quite a lot. Just doesn't go far enough down that route to hold my attention.
Guff.
Some decent guitar work saves it from being otherwise unremarkable and unmemorable.
Dusty Springfield is incredible, and an album of her singing incredible songs, covers or not, goes down very nicely.
This is actually quite good, a lot better than I reckoned going into it. Reading about it and some of the perceived production issues have me wondering how good it could've been in that regard but in terms of composition and storytelling, I enjoyed it.
Pretty weak for Van Morrison, not a patch on his more famous work, his voice remains outstanding but the whole thing doesn't get very far as an album.
I'm not exactly a Dylan evangelist but this is excellent. The two bookend tracks probably just get it a 5 from me.
It's good, obviously, and the well-know stuff is timeless. I think I just wanted that standard to be maintained throughout and it doesn't, but a very easy listen.
Faith is brilliant as a single, but I preferred Listen Without Prejudice v1 when we had it a while ago, think that did his voice more justice and was a more refined than this 80s-heavy sound. A proper legend though.
Nah, not for me. I like my dance music to be more towards the euphoric trance genre, not this approach. Not giving it a 1 because it's not objectively bad, just I don't like it.
Quite a pretty sound for such sad content, and accomplished work even if not so much my thing.
Goes on really far too long for someone with a really annoying voice. Also ruins a couple of classics, fuck off.
What the actual fuck is this?
I kinda like Alice Cooper but this was a letdown because wtf were they going on about at times? His solo work is much much better than this, and it only gets a 3 because No More Mr Nice Guy is an all-time great tune and his vocals are strong enough to make it generally listenable.
Yeah I'm not having this as music, fuck off.
Same as all the other Beatles stuff, where I'd usually just stick it as an inoffensive 3, but it gets a 4 from me because of the strength of Come Together, Here Comes The Sun and Octopus's Garden.
Like someone else said, I don't know how you can throw so much at an album and have it do pretty much nothing special? Beyonce at her big and bold best is magnificent but this doesn't get anywhere near to that.
It's alright, he has an interesting voice and guitar chops, he just doesn't use them to make music I find appealing to listen to.
A decent listen but Desperate People is the only track that gets close to the quality of Cult of Personality, and CM Punk is a cunt so I can't like it as much as I want to.
She is so, so good. Infinitely listenable.
Mad album. First three tracks are good, next four are less so, When I Touch You is a strong return to form and it runs quite well to the finish. Not what I was expecting but I enjoyed this muchly.
Yeah this isn't good, the title track and Locomotive Breath probably deserve the wider acclaim they get, but the rest of it is rubbish meandering prog that can't decide what it is or where it's going. Prog is rubbish.
Another one that shows I seemingly prefer the East Coast sound to the West Coast. Some gems in here alongside some standard filler, Murdergram sounds great, and yeah some of this doesn't age well 30 years later but not quite as bad as some others from the same era.
A friend of mine is a big jazz aficionado and thinks Bill Evans is brilliant. I can recognise this as good jazz but otherwise I don't enjoy it a lot; I previously gave a Coltrane album 5/5 but that's because I want my jazz to have some saxophone.
There are a couple of good songs on here but more that are really underwhelming, and reminds me that I was pretty selective about BritPop stuff for a reason. When it's good it's great, but there was loads of guff as well.
The best parts of this album are someone else's work; the production isn't hers, the cameos from Busta, Lil Kim and Aaliyah outshine her, and it's not really that listenable overall.
Third hip-hop/RnB album in 5 days, and the weakest of the lot. Low-fi sound only works if you've got a strong flow and compelling storytelling and this doesn't. Has too many skits, basically an album trying to hide that it isn't very good.
This is a pleasant listen right up to the point her voice becomes grating. It's just too high for too long and that's enough for me. Gets a 3 because the songs are fun and nicely crafted.
Just a bit of a waste of time, at least they're trying to do something, and it doesn't outstay its welcome. Not as bad as some of the other insane shit we've had.
Fuck this, I'm overlooking the 2-3 songs that sound good and giving this the lowest possible score because the man is a grotesque cunt who doesn't deserve attention. We've had a lot of much older albums in the genre where we excuse some of the content for being in less enlightened times. No way does he get the pass here, especially for the fact it's in every fucking song. Also probably the tipping point for him becoming a galactic self-obsessed arsehole.
Yeah this is a bit of me, great groove, great vocals, top guitar.
Yes please, all the silly OTT 80s hair rock in one place, timeless classic rock songs, full of energy and big crunching sound.
Too dull, too esoteric, not my thing at all.
See I preferred a lot of this to the Beatles, though it's very up and down. Title track, Mrs Vandebilt, Let Me Roll It are good. Jet, Bluebird are not.
Sounds nice enough but not worthy of a place on this list.
The music here is alright, the vocals suck.
This is strong stuff, the major hits are all classic and great listens, the stuff that was in Mamma Mia like Kissed The Teacher and Why Did It Have To Be Me? are just as worthy of acclaim, just let down by the rest of the album, they're very much filler material.
This is really interesting but with some caveats; she has a nice voice but it's a bit grating over a long piece of work. The music behind it is delightful but in the context of the whole thing being quite reminiscent of musical theatre or a production of some kind. And that would be a pretty good vehicle for it, but I have no connection with it or a story to associate it with, so its impact is limited. Can only give it a 2 because I wouldn't listen again without something to give it meaning to.
This is alright, not good, not bad, just happily existing in a bit of a time capsule, as it's very clearly turn-of-the-century female-fronted RnB with empowerment and societal issues pushed forward. Some of the beats are done well, Put Him Out is the standout track, it just could be better, and probably doesn't need to be on this list.
So I think Nirvana are one of the most overrated bands of all time BUT I can still say that this is a very good album, just not on the same seminal level a lot of people hold it in the highest of esteem for (and I get why that is). STTS is a good opener but I've heard it too often, though it does kick off a strong start. Come As You Are is a better song, then the rest of the album doesn't hit those standards. Lithium is okay, Something In The Way was done a lot better by Avatar, and oddly Territorial Pissings is quite good but doesn't get brought up as one of the better songs on here. I'll give it a 4 because it's better than a lot of stuff we've had but it's a low 4, not close to a 5.
An absolute nonsense really, there are some elements within the instrumental songs that sound cool but, given that's what you're aiming for from start to end, it doesn't deliver quality, it's just crap
I don't understand why this is here, it's not even close to their best work and there aren't a great deal of standout tracks. Even those that have become FF staples aren't memorable, this strikes me as the author being a bit 'did you listen to them way back when tho?' I'll give it a 3 because it's not bad and it's the Foos, but come on now.
The last time we had a jazz album I said I wanted some sax, so here we are. Bossa Nova isn't really what I had in mind but it's enjoyable. I gave the last one a 3, this gets a 3 too, but if there's any more granularity this goes above it.
One of the better albums in the genre we've had so far, great beats, atmospheric, passionate delivery and flow. A few lulls and unnecessary skits stop it getting a 4 but it's a high 3.
This is just delightful really, it's simple but has remarkable depth, compelling stories, memorable songs, and Father And Son is just one of the best songs of all time.
I seem to say this a lot, but I don't quite 'get' Metallica. I think I missed what made them most resonant, although I like quite a bit of their stuff. This doesn't strike me as a must-listen though, there's their usual repetitive chugging which hasn't aged so well, and I've never really liked Hetfield's voice. That said, the good bits are pretty good, and metal is metal, so a 3 by default.
I'm not gonna say this is crap, because it's at least listenable, but it's neither good nor approaching anything I want to spend my time on.
Every song sounds basically the same form of dull monotonous crap from a complete wanker of a human. Never liked The Smiths or his style, this isn't for me at all.
I like a bit of country/bluegrass. I don't like 2+ hours of it. Any quality is negated by the fact it goes on too long, sorry.
Lovely stuff, loads of fun, oozes class, influences a load of stuff that came after it, a wonderful listen. How this is 65+ years old is genuinely astounding.
I'm sorry, this is just noise. The very few moments where something grabs your attention are massively outweighed by the rubbish. Like I've said before, if I want instrumental stuff, give me euphoric trance, or something that makes me feel something. This is neither of those things.
Prog dressed up as instrumental experimentalism. Not as bad as most prog, saves it from a 1 because it has some curious moments, but enough of this fucking instrumental stuff please.
A heavy, haunting listen. Incredible weight to the album, cathartic, intense, beautiful, and the minimal production punctuates it perfectly. I won't give it a 5 because I won't listen to it again but it's pretty close.
I've heard a lot of this over the years but never all together. When it's good it's really good; the first 4-5 songs are very nice, but it loses its way with songs like The Only One and Too Afraid to Love You where the bluesy groove slips and they go into warbly pop mode. Means it only gets a 3, too hit and miss.
This is another good listen, not as good as the Fats Domino one we just had, but strong throughout and has a few different styles to mix it up.
It's almost impossible to try to appraise in the way we've been doing so because of the length and diversity of the content, and it really does come across at times as if the inspiration for putting this work together was to receive acclaim for exactly that, rather than because of the music. Some of the songs are really nice, some of them are pretty, some quirky, there's cross-genre stuff, there's stripped back stuff, there's a lot going on. The femle vocals are infinitely more tolerable than Merritt's (my favourite songs are those ones, No One Will Ever Love You, Come Back From San Francisco, Acoustic Guitar), which I find annoying most of the time, although it works on the most stripped back songs like The Book of Love and Meaningless and Nothing Matters When We're Dancing. If I was going to give this a 3 because of everything going on and settling in the middle, I'm dropping it to a 2 because it is far, far, far too long and doesn't hit enough highs to remotely justify it.
Only reason I'm not giving this a 1 is because it would sound alright if you slapped a 140bpm beat over the top of it and called it euphoric trance. Without that, it's just Ross Geller playing the keyboard to everyone in Central Perk.
This is quite different to some of the breakout Wu-Tang stuff we've had, it's a more chilled and stripped-back beat for the most part, accomplished but not spectacular lyrical work, a bit too cinematic and listenable but not memorable.
A true no-skips album with some of the most memorable songs of its era on it. I'm one of those who prefer it to Definitely Maybe by some distance and even the so-called filler songs are tunes I enjoy. Big big sound, epic highs, it's quality.
Another foreign-language song where the connection is really hard to establish; it has some nice sounding stuff and an undeniably great rhythm running through it, it's atmospheric and skilled but I can't really get on board with it because of that distance between me and understanding the content.
Pretty much right up my street. It's a curious and rather long journey through a lot of subjects but all framed around Lynyrd Skynyrd, and that's fine by me. It's the sort of southern rock sound I could happily listen to all day long as background radio music but it doesn't really stick with me enough to be truly memorable. That said, Zip City, Let There Be Rock, Shut Up And Get On The Plane and Greenville to Baton Rouge are all excellent, but the last song really misses, it's got the potential to be a terrific closer but the vocals just don't do it, and it goes on too long. I think it's probably a high 3 rather than a 4 but there are songs I'll definitely add to my rotation.
So while I prefer Coming Up, Dog Man Star is good, with lots of obvious parallels to Bowie (their voices are remarkably similar at times) and strong songs in all three singles released from the album. The 2 of Us is also good, but the rest don't land so well and, knowing what came next, I'm only gonna give this a 3, but a strong 3.
Feels like everyone knows most of these songs because half of them were on car adverts or TV shows over the years. Also a lot of the work isn't exactly his, or original, but it resulted in massive popularity, so I guess he's happy. I wouldn't willingly go back to listen to it now like I did when it was out and I was younger, but I'll give it a decent 3 because it's loads more listenable than some of the other electronica bollocks we've had.
Everything Must Go is an enjoyable listen, I'm one of those people who knows the Manics' big songs but not their albums or bigger body of work, so this was an enlightening listen, and they tick the boxes I want from most music in that it's loud and sung with feeling and passion and some fucking oomph. Might sound like a low bar to clear but many fail to; not JDB, that's for sure. I already knew ADFL, the title track, and Australia, and pretty much everything else on there was good except for Small Black Flowers, so this gets a good 4 from me.
No thanks. I really don't like his voice, I don't really like the Pixies anyway, and this doesn't do much to change my mind. It's too long and has far too many songs that are so unremarkable as to immediately be forgotten, and it only gets a 2 instead of a 1 because it's not definitely bad, I just don't want to listen to it.
Genesis were fucking shit, and So is INCREDIBLY 80s, although more accessible than anything Genesis did anyway. First two tracks are good, think everyone in the world knows Sledgehammer, but it falls off a cliff after that and struggles to get back anywhere close. Big Time tries with some party vibes and big backing singers and stuff to jazz it up but nah, not quite there, and everything after that is crap. A generous 2 because of the first two songs.
Yeah, Neil Young is Neil Young, and Harvest isn't a relevation in that regard. It sounds like pretty much everything else he's done and particularly similar to earlier efforts. This is lazy, I don't like his voice, and it's telling that he has to have a star-studded list of collaborators to try to elevate it. Even the supposedly seminal Heart Of Gold isn't great by any standard. He's a wannabe Bob Dylan who never ever ever got close to that quality of output. 2, and that's generous.
I gave Back in Black an easy 5/5 a while back in this list but I feel like I know Highway to Hell a little bit better than that, and I'm very tempted to go 5/5 again because it's just full of absolute quality no-skip tracks. Back in Black has four all-timers in Hells Bells, Shoot to Thrill, Back in Black and You Shook Me All Night Long, with a good supporting cast, while Highway To Hell might only have the title track as an all-timer but the rest of the album is probably higher in terms of overall consistency. Stuff like Shot Down In Flames and Get It Hot aren't among their best-known songs but have been some of my favourites for years. If I took it in isolation I'd give it 5/5 so I probably will, I've listened to it for ages, but Back In Black has the lasting headline prominence so I'm second guessing myself :D what a band anyway :bowdown: they put out those two albums in consecutive years :bowdown: and I enjoyed Brian Johnson as much as Bon Scott.
I can't really get on with it. I'll echo what I've said about a load of previous albums we've had that fall in the electronica/experimental/weird genre, I find it hard to engage with unless there's a consistent drive and a power and a loudness to it, and this never gets to that point for me, although Machine Gun kind of teases it and is clearly my favourite track on the album for that reason. I can over look some of the weird shit on Silence, Plastic and We Carry on because it never becomes central to the music, just a curious experimentalism underpinning it all. I don't like Beth Gibbons' voice but I also don't hate it like some obnoxious vocals we've had, and there are a few times throughout this where if I metaphorically squint, I'm taken back to Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution and get vibes of songs like Endlessly or Ruled By Secrecy or Space Dementia, I think it's a mix of the haunting falsetto and the style of music reaching a crescendo that gets to that point, though I might just be chatting shit and have Muse on the brain right now. Anyway, I'll give it a 2 because it interested me enough to write this much but didn't make me like it enough to give it a 3.
Never been a Simon and/or Garfunkel fan, and this is quite 80s as well so doesn't massively appeal, but I can recognise that it's quality musicianship, songs put together in a stylish and compelling way, everything just balanced right between emotions, production is great, nice and concise 41 minutes. I'll give it a 3 on balance because it's not appealing to me but I respect it.
Not my thing, and yes prog, but at least a more modern take on prog that has elements of stuff I want; it's loud, it's impassioned, it's creative, the drumming is excellent and deserves calling out for that, but I've really no idea what's going on most of the time and it doesn't make me care enough to want to find out. I see in a lot of the reviews that people say it takes a lot of listens to really get it, and that's cool if that's for you, but I'm not interested in that. It didn't make me want to turn it off at any point but that's quite a low bar, I'm giving it a 2 but it's a more tolerable 2 than a lot of things we've had.
Yeah I don't get her. Vulnicura sounds perfectly fine if a bit weird, there's just absolutely nothing there that appeals to me, she sounds like she's having a whale of a time but whatever creativity is on display is lost on me.
This is called The Madcap Laughs but there are no laughs. It's a self-indulgent stream of dirge that doesn't elicit any emotion from the listener and it's only on the list because of its place in the history of Pink Floyd. It's rubbish.
In the Garden Of Eden by I.Ron Butterfly is basically only famous for the title track, which is almost half of the album and, despite it being a 36 minute album, a single 17 minute track makes it feel like it lasts longer :D I didn't really enjoy the psychedelic sound of the first 4 songs, I expect you had to...be there to get the most out of those. Are You Happy is more my think, and then the first 6 of 17 minutes are good before it loses its way with a pair of poor drum solos, some generic church organ, and a repetition of what we had at the start. Keep it at 6 minutes and it works, but you don't get the gimmicky factor that made it what it is. Plus we got a GOAT Simpsons moment out of it, so I'll give it a solid 2.
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is one of the first jazz albums we've had that I can visualise a story in, that I can feel as being the soundtrack to a 50/60s black and white classic, that makes you feel. The big band contribution definitely works in its favour in that regard, the solo piano parts break it up really nicely, it's full of energy, it doesn't have much by way of unnecessary improvisational meandering, it's a nice 40 minutes, yeah this is really good and a 4 for me.
Water From An Ancient Well is a weird one. The first two tracks are really nice. The next few aren't. The Wedding is beautiful, Sameeda is decent. Lots of it doesn't feel like a jazz album either, but it's a decent listen. If I gave yesterday a 4 then this is probably a low 3.
So Heaux Tales isn't particularly remarkable, it's not bad but I think it has an inflated view of itself, albeit successfully as it's ended up on this list and been successful. It's like a wannabe Miseducation of Lauryn Hill but without any of the depth of lyric or content or worldly understanding (which is funny because Jazmine was 33 when she put this out, Lauryn was 23), the beats are passable but unrefined, there's the always unforgivable use of autotune at times, but there are a couple of really nice moments in there. Pick Up Your Feelings is excellent, also unsurprisingly the track with the most writers and production, and Girl Like Me finishes off in a similar vein. Probably a low 3 on a generous day.
I have never knowingly listened to Chvrches, just a general thing about a lot of modern well-known music that doesn't overlap with my tastes, but from The Bones Of What You Believe I feel like I've been missing out. This is great fun, it's pulsating, it's cute and whimsical, it's soaring, it's infectious, and it constantly makes me think of bits of other songs I've heard from all over the place over the years (the singer's voice is great and is also often uncannily similar to one or two female-fronted pop-punk bands I've enjoyed). Lots of times I wasn't immediately taken by a song early on but the way it's built to a bigger finish works well and clearly by design. Only real knocks I have on it that stop it getting more than a 4 are that a few tracks are generally not very memorable (especially the last three tracks), and they all sound somewhat similar, but very glad this was on the list for me to find.
I've enjoyed the two other Prince albums we've had but 1999 is not one of his better efforts. It incorporates a lot of bad 80s themes and sounds and doesn't lead anywhere near the sort of stuff I prefer from him. Couple of good tracks at the start, although I didn't like 1999 in 1999 and that was its third release, at least two too many. More misses than hits on this for me so probably a 2 since I didn't even particularly enjoy the hits, I'll just listen to Purple Rain and Sign O The Times for my Prince stuff thank you.
I'm sort of conflicted on The Slim Shady LP because it's absolutely iconic, culturally huge, and has some outstanding work on it including maybe my favourite Eminem song in Rock Bottom, but trying to be objective, I definitely know I preferred the MMLP, and this also misses in some places. I'll get the bad out of the way first; the skits are all crap and always crap, Cum on Everybody might be the worst track on any Eminem album, I'm Shady and Bat Meets Evil are forgettable, My Fault is goofy and a waste of time. The rest is great though, you have that goofy Eminem (My Name Is, As The World Turns, Guilty Conscience, JDGAF), introspective Eminem (my favourite face of his, Rock Bottom is said favourite track, but If I Had and SDGAF are all top top pieces of work, full of heart and soul and pathos and as genuine as they come), and edgy/scary Eminem (97B&C), all of which mesh together on all of his best works in just the right harmony, but it does sometimes feel like he's at his best when he cuts out the goofy/scary stuff and just delivers from the heart. Hard to really criticise that though because he's made a legendary career out of the mix, some of the goofiest tracks are his most famous, and this is the album that started it all. Don't feel I could give it less than a 4 but I can't go 5 because MMLP is an automatic 5/5, and this falls short by comparison.
Simply Red's Picture Book is not good. At best, I'll begrudgingly admit that Heaven is a nice song but would be better with a vocalist who could fucking sing, which is where this album and pretty much all Simply Red stuff falls down. Hucknall's voice sucks, plus he's a prick, but I'm trying to be somewhat objective about this. I've never liked the two famous tracks off this, Money's Too Tight and Holding Back The Years; the latter is like something Spandau Ballet would've said no thanks to. It's also mixed really badly in places and has a lot of really bad 80s tropes in it just to make it worse. I'm not sure I can find a way not to give it 1/5 because it's just bad.
Red Headed Stranger is a very easy listen in terms of sound, but a sad tale of love and betrayal and murder. He has a voice you could listen to forever, the stripped back production is perfect, it's controlled, it's cool without trying to be, and it's beautiful storytelling. The title track is my favourite, though a few others come close, it's just not especially memorable or remarkable above the fact it's skilled and a very nice listen. Maybe 4, definitely 3, happy I listened to it.
Logical Progression is alright, I don't like drum and bass as a general thing, and that's why I won't give this a high mark, because while all of the stuff outside of the dnb beats is nice and very much more my thing, they all lead back to a sound and beat that turns me off. In lots of places you can stick a set of headphones on me in a quiet room and let me chill to this and it'll be great, but as I've said before I want more of a trance sound than dnb, so it has diminishing returns. It's just fine as it is, though it goes on way too long, I'll give it a 2.
Not a lot to say about Live at the Star Club, Hamburg that hasn't been said. It's full of explosive energy and timeless rock and roll songs performed with passion and everyone there is having a riot of a time. It's less than 23 minutes too! Shame JLL was one of the worst humans around, it taints the entire experience, but the music in isolation gets 4/5. Not a 5/5 because there are too many covers.
Talking Heads 77 is too new wave for me. Some of the music hits a nice groove, there are decent elements of funk in there, but the vocals aren't my thing, never have been across the genre, and bring it down wholly. Just a style that's somewhere between nonchalant and whimsically ironic, no thanks. No Compassion probably the high point of an album I didn't mind listening to (First Week/Last Week also decent) just didn't enjoy. 2?
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned is atrocious. It has no redeeming features, it's apparently classified as noise rock but it's just noise, and not good noise, not interesting noise, not coherent noise, rambling nonsense lyrics from a vocalist who can't sing, I'm not really sure it should be classified as music. If you wanna piss around in the studio and produce stuff like this, knock yourselves out, but how it even got released let alone find a place on this list I don't know. Fuck off.
Talking with the Taxman About Poetry is a nice little listen. Billy Bragg is a remarkable lyricist, wordsmith and storyteller. He can't sing, but never gives you the illusion that he thinks he can, or that it detracts from what he's trying to do (whereas Liars yesterday clearly think they're doing something revolutionary while producing horseshit). The music is stripped back but delivers just enough to pair with the words while not overshadowing them, it all works quite well without being spectacular or superb or anything, just a good thought-provoking listen. The Warmest Room probably my favourite track.
In Rainbows. I've never been much of a Radiohead fan, their stuff just doesn't do it for me, although I think this gets a bit closer than their widely-agreed best works. That's not to say I really liked it; Bodysnatchers and Weird Fishes/Arpeggi are my favourite tracks, the rest are generally okay, interesting enough without moving me, House of Cards isn't any good though, nor is Videotape, and that makes for a disappointing end to the whole album. I dunno, their stuff never goes where I want it to go, and while I know the whole comparison between them and Muse was always ill-founded in the first place, Muse give me what I want from a falsetto-type vocal and some of the experimental touches on top of an alt rock foundation. Probably gets a 3 because it made me engage and there were all of those hints of stuff I want to like but nothing that really gets me to do so; it wasn't bad, objectionable or completely out of my tastes, so gets a middle of the road score.
I'm conflicted about White Blood Cells because I both like it and I don't like it. First off to get it out of the way, The White Stripes have never been a particular favourite of mine, and Jack White's voice sort of grates, but they've turned out songs over the years I've enjoyed. This album is a proper hit and miss affair because it tries to be really bluesy and a bit of a 70s throwback in style and doesn't stick the landing there much beyond Offend In Every Way and Now Mary. It does a better job when it ventures into a heavier sound like Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and I Can't Wait (and Aluminium except for the ridicuous drone laugh sound over the top of it that ruins it), and it has some utterly crap/forgettable stuff like Little Room and The Union Forever. I don't think it's a very well produced album either but I kinda get the sense that was the point, but not for me. It is at the very least a pretty interesting album, maybe one that can't quite make up its mind what it really wants to be, and probably therefore why I like some bits and dislike others.
Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness holds up incredibly well nearly 30(!) years later. It has a massive sound when it wants to be massive, it has a softer and more considered ballad side, it has a momentum about it in the first half, the drumming is excellent, it's very listenable and memorable overall. Negatives are that it's far far too long and that momentum from the first half is clearly lacking in the back half, and I've never really liked Corgan's vocals much, they grate quite considerably as we go along given the length of the album. I'll probably forgive that a bit, it's a high 3 or a low 4. Tonight, Tonight is such a fucking good track though I might just let it sit at a 4 because of that.
Sunshine Hit Me but didn't make me feel warm. It's an easy background music style listen, could be playing in any bar or lounge or poolside in nice weather and you'd not be offended but also not nearly interested enough to Shazam it and find out who's made it. Most famous track is a cover that got some traction because it was in an advert, and it's not an especially good cover either, just fine. Fuck all people have listened to it on Spotify and it's more than 20 years old, I don't get why it's on the list. A solid old 2, not terrible, not great, not remotely memorable or interesting.
The Coral has one incredible, timeless song, and then another half an hour of stuff that's just okay. I don't mind it, Skeleton Key is a riot and the next best track, everything else just fine. A low 3 because Dreaming of You is brilliant brilliant stuff and also the soundtrack to an iconic Scrubs moment.
Chore of Enchantment is just a chore tbh. It tries to front itself as folk rock but it's miserable, uninviting, lacks creativity or poise, utterly boring. Nothing else to add.
Another Music in A Different Kitchen is class old school punk, less anarchic and more having a good time, full on energy, consistent groove throughout, very listenable. Sixteen, Fiction Romance, Oh Shit probably my favorite tracks, if there's a major criticism it's that a lot of songs sound very similar, and his voice isn't my favourite after that much similarity, but it's an easy 3 and maybe a low 4 on a given day.
The Wildest! is a beautiful throwback sound, a joyous listen and there's wonderful camaraderie between everyone on the record. It's great occasion party music, big bang, swing sound, brass instruments and the lot, could also pass as a film soundtrack and indeed Prima was in the Jungle Book, quite the infectious character throughout this too. Made me smile, gets a 4.
New Boots and Panties! is a strange old album. I didn't like Ian Dury and The Blockheads, new wave etc isn't for me, and this album certainly isn't that so it's immediately more accessible, but it's just wildly different from track to track and indulgent rather than esoteric. Some of it is good (Sweet Gene Vincent, Blockheads), some of it is really bad (seriously, Billericay Dickie ffs :D ends up being a shit Chas and Dave wannabe with some of the worst lyrics I've heard) and lots of it is just passable but to call it pub rock is a bit of a misnomer too, it's mostly undefinable. If you contrast it with Billy Bragg from a coupla weeks ago, it shows the different in quality, subtlety and nuance, Bragg streets ahead by comparison. Not sure I can give this more than a 2.
Yay, more noise rock, which is absolutely a disguise for 'we're gonna do whatever the fuck we want, call it music, and release it with absolutely no shame'. This is at least better than that horseshit we had from Liars recently, but not by much. Mercifully they keep it short, and devote a good 20% of the record to the opening track Sweat Loaf, which is at least heavy and has a great riff (which they unfortunately overuse). Human Cannonball is also fine, maybe because it doesn't have many vocals, just a lot of screaming, and some inoffensive punk styling. The less said about the rest the better (although I'll highlight Kuntz as maybe the worst track we've had on more than 700 records); why this is one of the 1001 albums we must listen to I don't know, but I'm not sure anyone should've expected much at all from a band called Butthole Surfers.
Electric Warrior is a brilliantly tight and well-executed album, so much so that I can't really believe it was just their second record and that Marc Bolan was 23 when he was putting it together. Every song has a tight composition that delivers a groove and a vibe and a proper distinct sound; you know very quickly when you're listening to T-Rex and this is the album that defined that. No bad songs, a couple of quality ones (Mambo Sun, Monolith), and an all-timer in Get It On. Give it an easy 4 and enjoy.
Right, Beggars Banquet starts with my favourite Stones song, which isn't saying much as I don't get on with them, but Sympathy For The Devil ticks a lot of boxes. Then nothing else gets close and it's the same middle of the road inoffensive sound that I've never liked or disliked, it's just there. I've said the same for the countless albums we've already had from them; weirdly their new release last year has a few songs I do actually like although that might just be because they got a lot of run from Planet Rock and they seeped into my consciousness and likes that way. Anyway, this one peaks on track one, Street Fighting Man lifts it midway through after some rubbish (Dear Doctor is awful), and it sits in the middle of the road to the end. High 2/Low 3 just because of SFTD.
Doggystyle has a place in music history for helping define the G Funk era, and that's really where this album shines. The sound and feel is incredible in that regard, it's instantly recognisable now but I can only imagine was transcendent when it came out, unlike much that had come before it except for The Chronic. Lyrically it's what you expect of hip-hop and rap lyrics, but the flow and dexterity is pretty high and it makes for a good if slightly samey listen. Who Am I? and Gin and Juice are the most known tracks for a reason; they're a class apart on the record, the rest of it is good enough to earn a 3 but nothing more. Said most of the time we've had this genre I prefer East Coast over West Coast sound and still stand by that, has more of a bite and a rawness to it, though I think Dre probably provides the majority of the exception to that rule.
Black Sabbath Vol 4 isn't my favourite Sabbath, not by a long shot, but any Sabbath is still better than most other music. It's heavy, driving metal with plenty of unique quirks that lift it beyond what a lot of other bands were doing in the same space in the 70s, and Ozzy's voice is unique and among the very best of the genre as always. Letdown is Changes, I've never liked the song, the reprisal he did with Kelly years later was fucking atrocious, the original simply bad and out of place on this album. Also, what the fuck is FX? Just a waste of two minutes. It gets a low 4 because everything else is top outside of those two tracks; Supernaut is outstanding, so is Under the Sun.
The Monkees are a bad Beatles imitation, albeit one who had a song in Daydream Believer that was every bit as good as anything the Beatles wrote. That's not on this album though, and so this is really just prosaic 60s pop that isn't at all memorable. Forget That Girl has a nice riff/hook but that's it, Sunny Girlfriend is jaunty and bouncy in welcome relief from a mid-record delve into psychedelia, and No Time might be the best song as it's straight up rock and roll, just nothing loads of others hadn't already done before them. Not sure it warrants more than a 2.
Holy fuck is this bad. Like the worst album we've had so far. Track 2 starts with 33 seconds of a drill being used in screeching fashion and I almost refused to carry on from there, genuinely angry at that point. It doesn't get better. One of the reviews says "Not bad background music except for it feeling like I was being shouted at by Hitler the entire time", I would've actually preferred that. Fuck off.
This sits right between two genres I enjoy but was part of a genre I didn't do much. Punk was good, late 90s pop punk/ska punk was good, the late 80s/early 90s post-punk sound really didn't grab me in any sort of way and the result is that this album is listenable but feels like a tease of what might've been. It leaves behind good aspects of the punk scene (but revisits it with songs like Actual Condition) before it but also kind of does a good job of hinting at some of the pop-punk sound that would come along later (You're A Soldier sounds like some really early stuff from Less Than Jake without the horns). It's a long album but doesn't really feel like it, maybe because the middle part is strong with a good run from Visionary, She Floated Away and Bed of Nails. I'll give it a solid 3 because there's plenty to at least make me think here, never bored me, but didn't give me quite what I wanted.
Psychocandy is a decent enough listen but not quite for me, particularly the echoey vocals, I just don't like the style and struggle to make out a lot of what they're signing about. A shame really, because the energy and drive of the guitar is great, hugely atmospheric and epic in places, consistent but diverse enough that we don't end up with songs full of the same sound and an album full of identical songs. The whole experience comes together well in the way that they clearly wrote it to deliver, but it's the vocal side that doesn't let me really enjoy it. A solid 3.
Axis: Bold as Love isn't as good as Electric Ladyland, which earned a 5/5 from me, but it's still good. The start of the album is very offputting but you forget about it by track three, Spanish Castle Magic, which sounds quite like Crosstown Traffic to start with but quickly establishes both itself and the tone of the record. Little Wing is a favourite song of mine over generations but weirdly I think I prefer several covers to Hendrix's version, One Rainy Wish has such an authentic sound you can get lost in, and while the whole album is groovy, esoteric, psychedelically heavy, quirky and everything else you know and expect from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, it's short of top-end, eternally memorable songs. A low 4.
The Lexicon of Love is emphatically and unashamedly 80s. It's like Duran Duran, Phil Collins, Rick Astley, Spandau Ballet, Heaven 17 and anyone else, even some later Bowie, all thrown into a blender and you end up with something not quite any of those individually, but somehow they make it work as their own sound. I don't love it because it's SO 80s and new wavey that it'll never properly appeal but it is undeniably fun, has a great bouncy energy to it and songs that make you feel; Tears Are Not Enough and Valentine's Day are a terrific back to back punch and the second half of the track that follows, The Look of Love (Part One) is pretty iconic. I can't hate it, it's an easy 3, and if we've gonna have 80s pop on here I'd rather have this than many other albums.
Emergency on Planet Earth is a great sound, loads of fun, energy, groove, style and swagger, and a reminder that Jay Kay has a top voice and delivery for this stuff. Travelling Without Moving has all the hits and rightly deserves acclaim but this is superbly put together and is basically impossible not to get up and dance to. A high 3 because I don't really think any of it will stick with me in the same way the big singles that followed did, though there are reasons outside of quality for that (and the first three tracks on here are stellar), but this is a stylish album worthy of inclusion.
My parents love Rod Stewart/Faces so A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse was a familiar enough listen even if I'm not really up on specifics, except Stay With Me, a song I love. I got what I expected here, some standard rock and roll with gravelly vocals and a generally good old time. Love Lives Here and Too Bad are top songs outside of the big one, That's All You Need is a mixed bag to close it but the best parts of the song really hit for me, power, arrogance, fun, the lot. I liked this album for what it is, it's not pushing 4 or 5 territory but a good and nostalgic listen for an easy 3.
Good in places, not good enough throughout to really resonate, but I like the heavier stuff in the first half of the album; Lose Control, Goldfinger, I'd Give You Anything (my favourite track) are all right up my street. Girl From Mars is memorable as their big hit off the record, but I don't think the last 3-4 songs are very good and that leaves you ending on a disappointing note. Probably a high 2 or a low 3.
Rings Around The World is pretty interesting, not the sort of thing I lean towards in my listening habits and I probably won't go back to it, but it more than held my attention for the duration. It has a very polished yet very layered production, an epic and cinematic sort of sound, sort of like each song tells a story individually and collectively. I particularly enjoyed the run from Receptacle for the Respectable to Presidential Suite, which obviously has the famous Juxtapozed With U in it, but they all stand up to scrutiny. An easy 3, not a 4 because it's not my favourite stuff, but it's just really well put together.
Nick Of Time is bland, bland soft rock/easy listening radio fayre; somehow Thing Called Love ends up on Planet Rock sometimes :D I knew that song very well but none of the others and I don't feel like my life has been improved by having this bestowed on me today. It is inoffensively, 2/5 bland.
Well, here we go. Pound for pound, genre for genre, this is the best single voice we've had through 750+ albums; it's not a revelation that Nina Simone is an outstanding singer but fucking hell this is deep, emotional, personal, impassioned, rich, textured, layered and probably thousands of other adjectives too. There isn't a bad song on the record but there are some bloody good ones; Four Women is majestic and dominating, Break Down And Let It All Out is jaunty and ever so familiar while being original by itself, Wild Is The Wind is epic. Gonna give this a 5/5 because, while it's not gonna be a regular listen for me, it commanded my full attention, has depth of quality, and was intoxicating at its best moments.
I said a few weeks ago when we had SSLP that I couldn't give it a 5 because the Marshall Mathers LP is 5/5 territory for me, and so it is. I know this album inside out, back to front, cover to cover and all that, listened to it back this morning just to see if it hit different, but this is the very best of Eminem in all of his personas and guises. It's him at his lyrical best - arguably nobody before or after him could match the level of dexterity, ingenuity, aggression and pathos - and it has strong collaborations and massive hits, so much so that I can forgive all the unnecessary skits and Remember Me, the only weak track on the album. The Way I Am and Marshall Mathers are among his very very best works, Amityville and Bitch Please II are incredibly underrated in the overall catalogue (particularly his last verse on Amityville), and as much as The Real Slim Shady is overplayed, it pretty much captures the artist and the era in 5 minutes perfectly. I do often wonder whether I should hold it in such reverence given a) the unpleasantness coursing through it and b) the Kim track, which is genuinely harrowing and chilling but also a somewhat impressive feat of song-making at the same time, but this was the soundtrack to mine and many others' year 2000 and it's every bit as impressive nearly 25 years later.
Queens of the Stone Age is basically paint-by-numbers late 90s/early 00s mass produced rock, isn't it? Heavy on the fuzz, driving rhythm sections, random noodling improvisation, it's all listenable but very unpolished and inelegant, and most of the songs are indistinguishable from each other. I listened to the 2011 re-release and my favourite track wasn't even on the original (The Bronze) so dunno if that says anything. I'll give it a middling 3.
Brian Wilson Presents Smile is an album I don't really know how to evaluate. I get the story behind it and appreciate the incredible sentimental value it holds to fans of one of the most talented and accomplished groups ever, and there are places of real quality throughout as you'd expect of anything Beach Boys related, but it doesn't quite get me the way I think it gets people who were and are far more into them than I am. The entire production is meticulous and impressive, the layering of instruments and tones and textures, the voices themselves being as much an instrument as anything else, it all comes together into a magnificent sound that has atmosphere you can almost reach out and touch. I just think it's unnecessarily long and weird in places; it does whimsical well at times and entirely unnecessarily at others, like I could do without Barnyard, Vega-Tables and Mrs O'Leary's Cow right off my head. Again, I can forgive that as part of the project and the importance of it to Wilson, but if I don't care about the story and only the music then it doesn't fulfil me, and that's a flaw of this entire exercise we've pointed out before, that the true resonance of many reverential albums lies in the moment in time and the narrative/journey it took to get there and what came next. I'll sum this up by saying In Blue Hawaii was incredible, and I'll give the whole thing a 3 overall.
I don't get it, it's a pleasant listen, Good Enough and Thorn in particular, has good energy and everything, but not remotely deserving of a place on this list. 2.
Dance Mania is lively and fun and basically impossible not to want to dance to, you kind of expect that from Mambo anyway, and I'm not clued up enough to know whether this is truly a good example of the gentre except that it's on this list (not a given) and Tito Puente is a household name (probably makes it good). Better than a 2 but not good enough for a 4, but I have previous for Simpsons references giving the score a boost so an easy 3.
Meat Puppets II did nothing for me. It's just boring, not good, not bad, not really anything. Wasn't especially as described either, so at least that was momentarily interesting, but I can't understand why it's a must-listen. 2.
I See A Darkness is quite beautiful at times really, even if it's not something that really grabs me musically because of how stripped back and vulnerable it is. It's a delicate sound that contrasts with the themes of the songs being so full of sadness and solemn. It's also very well-balanced to deliver that experience, like the guitar work in Another Day Full Of Dread is restrained and pulled back to fully tie in with the themes on the record. I'm not gonna listen to it back any time soon but I definitely respect it and appreciate that there are times where this'll resonate more with some people than others and it's very much mood-based in its composition, delivery and listening. Gets a 3 from me.
Marquee Moon is alright, another one of those albums on this list that isn't bad, isn't notably good, it just is. None of the tracks do enough to separate themselves from each other except the title track, which only does so because it's more than 10 minutes in length and entirely unnecessarily so, which means I'm giving it a 2 rather than a 3. Guiding Light the best track on the record.
Wild Gift isn't for me, it's another one where every song sounds mostly the same, several shades of a palette that's too similar, and I've never really liked the lo-fi punk sound anyway. Shouldn't be on the list, 2.
Goodbye and Hello continues a bit of a meh run we've been on with a couple of decent interruptions; again, why is this on the list? It's a very 60s crooner sound by a guy who warbles rather than sings, and doesn't bring anything fresh or new or unique to the table. I'm pretty sure it's only on the list because he's Jeff Buckley's old man and, well, that can fuck off. 1.5 if I'm generous.
Too-Rye-Ay gets a 2 before anything else comes into play because Come On Eileen is one of the biggest bangers of all time but most of it doesn't reach me in the same way. Jackie Wilson Said is top, Show Me is lovely, as fun and wild and happy as those three are, don't do enough to get above a low 3 because the rest of the record is weak. It also has too many meandering, slow, pointless ballad-type songs which expose the poor vocals and I want more of the upbeat and bouncy stuff.
Ramones is a easy 3 all day long. Doesn't fuck around, has very simple but effective rhythms, probably a bit too samey track to track, but mix it up just enough vocally to give them personality and make them memorable. They've become overrated in general because of the brand and because of Blitzkrieg Bop but this was half an hour of good energy.
Paris 1919 isn't up to much. The first few songs are mostly miserable, then we get something really quite good in Macbeth, before by far and away the most recognisable song in the title track. Shame that's quite forgettable too, then we're into the closing few because thankfully the record doesn't outstay its welcome, and those last few songs aren't memorable either, although Half Past France does sound quite sweet at times. Think it scrapes a 2.
It sometimes sounds like what Alanis Morrissette would sound like if she was into piano (and I guess it's to Tori Amos' credit that she preceded her), with plenty of ethereal weirdness and jauntiness thrown in for good measure, and there are times where it doesn't work and some where it really, truly and incredibly does. Winter is a brilliant, breathtaking song, and deserves all the acclaim it's ever had. China is written and performed in a very similar way and holds its own, and it's these two tracks that give the album strength and depth and leaves a lasting impression. Me And A Gun is a truly strange way to head towards the end of the album because it's so raw and so exposed, there's no place to hide, and while I didn't really like it, the voice talent is undeniable. A solid 3, because while there are soaring highs, there aren't enough of them and more middling stuff than anything else. Kate Bush wishes she could've ever delivered something of this level btw.
I said in January that I always preferred (What's the Story?) Morning Glory to Definitely Maybe, and I do, but that doesn't diminish a quality and historic album, and to produce a sound this big and this memorable with your debut effort is pretty staggering. Rock 'n' Roll Star, Live Forever, Supersonic, Bring It On Down and Cigarettes & Alcohol are all the epitome of Oasis, but Shakermaker, Columbia and Slide Away all have the hallmarks of stuff they had the versatility to pull out and would go on to be just as memorable for. I think a couple of weaker tracks in Up In The Sky, Digsy's Dinner and Married With Children stop it getting a 5, but it's the highest of 4s.
The Message is a mad melting pot of different sounds, influences, themes and styles that it's hard to really evaluate it as a cohesive piece of work, so for me it's about what I enjoyed and what I didn't enjoy. I have to constantly remind myself that this was 1982 and so songs littered with sound effects I'd find on my Casio keyboard in the 90s and hammer childishly (MORE COWBELL!) were probably revolutionary back then, and you get tracks like Scorpio go mad on it. How you can then change pace to Dreamin' and You Are entirely two tracks later I dunno, but they're both at least interesting listens. Fuck knows really, I'll probably give it a safe 3.
The only rap albums we've had in the last coupla months were by Eminem and Snoop so Common's Like Water For Chocolate probably had an unfortunately high bar to live up to, and it does a decent job without leaving a tremendously lasting impact on me. It's a decent mix of hiphop over some rnb/soul grooves at times, good production, a very smooth flow and feel throughout, just didn't have anything that leapt out at me and truly commanded my attention and made me want to listen to it again and again. 3.
I was never into metal or many of the offshoot variants around the time Slipknot came to prominence, and I didn't appreciate any of their work until a lot more recently, so this was an interesting listen as while I knew a few tracks, my favourite work of theirs came a bit later on Iowa, Vol 3 and All Hope Is Gone (and then latterly quite a bit of Corey Taylor's stuff). This particular album is a good listen and really hits its straps in the run from Liberate (my favourite track) to Only One, and delivers an authentic sound that wasn't really breaking through to the mainstream at the time and did so as much through its shock value presentation as anything else. The drumming is incredible and drives the whole production along, there's enough stuff that's more melodic to break up the grinding persistence of the metal, it's good while not great and set the foundations for better stuff that came after. A high 3 or a low 4.
Can't think there are many people in the world who haven't heard at least one song from 21 at some point since it was released, an insane level of fame and play from a single record and at its best it's brilliant. Set Fire to the Rain is an all-time classic, Someone Like You probably is too though I feel I've heard it far too much to feel that way, but all the singles are monsters in their own right. I really liked Take It All too, of the non-singles, but I feel like if 5 of your 11 tracks are that good and you turn out three historic songs on one record, it deserves a 5/5, allowing for a couple of songs that don't really do much.
We're back to albums that are perfectly fine without being memorable with Stardust. We had another Willie Nelson record recently and I don't remember that either, he's doubtless an illustrious and accomplished artist with a mellow voice and delivery and his productions are well balanced, but the only stuff that stays with me from this one are the songs I already knew from the original tracks or better covers. 2.
I'm a white guy who's nearly 40 so grime is not especially my forte but I'm struggling to understand why Konnichiwa is on this list when, two months earlier, a much MUCH better album in Made in the Manor was released and that is not on this list to my knowledge. I don't think it's even a particularly strong grime album from other artists I've listened it, but it has more crossover appeal and I guess that's reflected in the accolades and awards it got. I hoped for/wanted a more raw, edgy sound, and the only songs that really gave me something like that were the obvious Shutdown (hence the expectation, I knew that before listening to the album) and Man. Think I can only go as high as a high 2 here, and now I'm gonna go listen to Kano because he's just better at this.
Hypnotised isn't good. It's not so bad as to warrant a 1 but it doesn't do anything special, remarkable, talented or memorable. We've had better examples of punk or pop from adjacent bands from the same era, and there are better left off here. It's so inexorably bland, the lowest of 2s.
The Colour of Spring is interesting enough in places to make it stand out a bit but ultimately not enough to save it from falling into the pile of stuff from the 80s marked 'why is this here?'. Living In Another World is the best of the three most listened-to songs, but the track that I liked most was I Don't Believe In You, and even then the guitar work that elevates it near the end really comes across as a poor attempt to ape Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms from a year earlier. 2.
Suicide is crap. Can't use electronica and synth to create driving anticipation in several tracks without ever kicking into another gear, there's no tempo change, no variety in how loud or soft the sound gets, just ends up being marginally better than something any of us could knock up on a kid's play keyboard. Shit 'vocals' too.
Time (The Revelator) is pleasant enough, stripped back production to accentuate the style and the voice, but another 2/5 piece of nothingness that doesn't belong on the list. Sixth album in a row where that's the case, the price to pay for having Adele right before that.
Red Dirt Girl is musically more mature than yesterday's offering from a similar genre, and it's a nicer listen but not by much, still a 2/5 from me, though would be a higher 2. Her voice has more authenticity to it, even if I don't think it's technically better or anything. Get the feeling this album goes in and gets the acclaim as sort of an emeritus work, it's not close to outstanding by itself. The title track is nice though.
The Atomic Mr Basie is an absolute riot, great jazz/big band sound with an INCREDIBLE walking bass driving every song along at every tempo you could want, but it's at its best when it's rollicking at speed and everyone's having fun. It's highly skilled and infinitely listenable, just not especially memorable for someone like me. It's a very easy 4.
Yeah, Meat Is Murder does little to convince me that The Smiths did anything more than produce miserable dirge, fronted by a dickhead, and I'd rather never listen to anything of theirs that isn't Panic, because I think every artist lucks out with at least one okay song over their careers even if they're fucking awful.
I think I'll say the same about Five Leaves Left as I did about Bryter Layter, which is that it's a nice sound for such sad content, and clearly skilled, just not my thing. This is a better album than that one, not really a fan of his singing style, but the composition of the work underneath is just lovely. Easy and high 3.
I think I'm meant to like Autobahn more than I do. First things first, it's genuinely remarkable that this album is 50 (FIFTY) years old, the sound is so much newer than that and could only have been revolutionary in its time. I get that it's also been hugely influential too, and that has some weight, but the actual music doesn't give me what I want from this genre, which as I've mentioned before really needs some power, some acceleration in bpm and a lot more euphoria. We get that a bit here and there, most notably in Kometenmelodie 2, but it's a record that leaves me wanting a lot more than it gives me. Also Mitternacht is fucking awful. Probably a high 2, needed more from the back half of the album to get a 3 or higher.
We've had a few country albums recently, with Willie Nelson mingling in with female vocalists Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch, but Dolly Parton is the GOAT and shows why on Coat Of Many Colours. This is how it's done; it's timeless, warm and inviting, authentic and accessible, mixes love and heartbreak and sweetness and sadness all together, and all delivered in under half an hour. And what a voice; I'm very tempted to give it a 5 but I think it just falls short because a couple of tracks aren't quite as good (Early Morning Breeze especially). The title track and She Never Met A Man (She Didn't Like) are so good though.
Deserter's Songs starts well with Holes, and then nothing else is quite as good or interesting as that. It's all a bit wishy washy, the vocals generally don't do it for me, the...creative instrumental accents don't do it for me, and the rest of sort of just middle of the road alternative rock. 2.
Basket Of Light is crap, has no business being on here, isn't offensive but has no redeeming qualities. 1.
Lots of fans here but I See You isn't for me. Another one of those more indie pop albums that leaves me wanting something more substantial, and isn't really the sort of thing I'd choose to listen to. The girl's voice is good, the music is skilled but maybe not especially creative, and I can see why it appeals in certain situations or environments but it's not me. I much preferred CHVRCHES to this when we had them a while ago.
Porcupine is deeply 80s new wave/post punk in a way I've desperately disliked forever. It's just miserable really, doesn't do anything better than punk did, doesn't lead to anything particularly memorable at the end of that era, and mostly defined a time that was quite forgettable anyway. I'm glad Ian Broudie moved on from producing rubbish like this and did the Lightning Seeds, at least they were fun.
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots is another one that isn't for me. The styling of indie rock mixed with experimental electronica to create this curious sci-fi type sound in places, and the rest being sort of dreamy weirdness, nah, just doesn't tick any boxes for me. Also they completely stole Fight Test off Cat Stevens and didn't improve it either, an inauspicious start in itself, but it didn't lead me to anything else I liked. Wikipedia's entry says "is the tenth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips"; it's not rock at all.
I swear Bone Machine is some practical joke or listening experiment because it's not music, it's fucking awful. I then looked back at my previous reviews of Tom Waits and got "Yeah I'm not having this as music, fuck off." so I'm really not sure how this guy ever had a career.
Said it before, I always liked Oasis a lot more than Blur and so, while Parklife has some good stuff on it, it's also very hit and miss. Bank Holiday is the standout away from the two massive hits, Trouble In The Message Centre is good, but mostly I don't like Albarn's voice a lot, the second half of the album is nowhere near as good as the first, and the storytelling while accessible becomes a bit too deliberate in trying to be just that, like they're very consciously trying to be meaningful where Oasis never gave a fuck and were just stupidly basic and loud, which worked better. Probably a solid 3.
I've said my piece on the Beatles every time we've had them here, and that's lots, so I won't really do it again. As far as Rubber Soul is concerned, I don't have it as good as Sgt Pepper or Abbey Road, but it's better than Revolver, Hard Day's Night and White Album for me. It's very skilled, it's got a creative and authentic sound and it's brilliantly produced. Nowhere Man, The Word, Girl and If I Needed Someone are all top songs I didn't know before this because I've never been a fan, but this is probably a low 4 if the two I had above it are high 4s.
Really not a Pink Floyd fan but I'll say that The Dark Side Of The Moon is the best piece of work of theirs I've heard. It has a really interesting sound throughout, has creativity in abundance, creates a remarkably atmospheric experience, and doesn't actually go on too long at all which is incredible for Pink Floyd. Didn't think much of the first four tracks but it then gets going with The Great Gig In The Sky, Money and Us And Them, which are all really good but the third of those is brilliant tbf. Stuff that has too many sci-fi influenced sounds like Any Colour You Like really don't do it for me though, just a stylistic choice I hate and also I don't think works so well even in the context of this album. I think it gets a 4, which I didn't think I'd be saying coming into this.
Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind) is a pretty sad half an hour of country music about broken relationships and living in misery, which is bleak, but not exactly unique to the genre. Her voice is lovely and has the vulnerability needed for that sort of record but the rest of the music is pretty paint-by-numbers country and pales by comparison to the Dolly Parton album we had a fortnight ago. A high 2, probably, it's not memorable, but there are moments of quality in there.
I listened to Let's Get It On and immediately fell pregnant. It is luxuriously smooth and his voice is incredible, it creates exactly the vibe it sets out to deliver and, while listening at lunchtime during a work day isn't the intended environment for enjoying it, it's an easy 4.
Wild Wood doesn't deserve to be on here. It's bland stuff that thousands of other artists have done over decades, and just because it comes from a leading name in the industry doesn't make it any less bland. A boring low 2.
Born To Run is an absolute masterpiece to be honest. It's incredible that this is 50 years old next year, but when you create a timeless sound from stories that are simultaneously timeless themselves but also very much embedded in and defining an era, that's where the magic is. There's not a bad song on here, but there are some of the best of all time. The title track is an obvious highlight as a rollicking ride that was, I think, the inspiration for Bat Out Of Hell, there are so many similarities and I love both but this is the original and definitive. The first two songs are beautiful tone setters, Backstreets is a terrific underrated track where the piano comes into its own and that pained vocal searing through, then Jungleland is an all-time top five single of mine (I can never really pick a definitive #1), I don't care that it's overproduced as a song or a record, it's stunning, evocative, emotional, restrained, pained, arrogant and everything else in between. Springsteen is music's best storyteller and this is his magnum opus. One of the easiest 5s I've given in this, might be the best of them all.
All Directions really misses for me, for an act that produced quite a lot of quality, it's lacking from this album. Almost a third of it is devoted to a really awkward cover of Papa Was a Rollin' Stone that doesn't work for me, and that's even before you get to the history behind its inclusion on the record. The other cover on there is delicate and stylish but also not better than the original or other takes. Only Mother Nature near the end really piqued my attention in a good way; a disappointing 2.
Some reggae can be a hard listen because it's often heavy, slow and repetitive, but Legalize It does a fair job of delivering something better than that. It's light when it needs to be, deep when required, and it's a nice overall listen. WHY MUST I CRY? and Ketchy Shuby are highlights, and it'd probably be a bit better if I was somewhere warm and sunny instead of cold and wet, and also if I partook. A decent 3.
Out Of Step is a manic 20-minute ride of raw punk that has incredible energy and a decent sound, but I prefer the refinement and variety that came after it. Happy they kept it short, a low 3, I'd listen again casually, but not with a great amount of interest.
Ain't many better than BB King and Live At The Regal delivers some of the best blues sounds ever. The musicianship, the voice (my GOD the voice), the skill is off the charts, and the live environment lifts it because the folk in that room sound raucously excited to be there and to be seeing and hearing such quality, and so they should be. This is so good, I'm giving it a 5, it's 60 years old and as good as anything in the entire time in between, plus it's foundational and inspired a ridiculous number of genres and sub-genres since.
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs is twee as all hell, it's alright at times and forgettable at others, and the most interesting songs sound like inferior versions of stuff that Gene Pitney did a few years later that I far prefer. Give it a 2.
Two Dancers doesn't do much for me, more of that dream pop indie style that is too whimsical and repetitive to generate much interest, especially the vocals, they're not good imo. If I'm holding up CHVRCHES as an example of an act that does this sort of stuff and that did actually impress me, this doesn't come close, although We Still Got The Taste... was alright. 2.
Selling England By The Pound is bad, bad prog. Genesis are fucking terrible anyway and this has all of the genre's worst indulgences by some of the most recognisable people to inflict such dirge on the world. The only thing that I took away from it is that I now know the song Richard Hammond particularly hates in many Top Gear episodes, so I can share his dismay. 1.
Highly Evolved is good in places, average in others, never bad or annoying, but frustratingly inconsistent. You get a meh track followed by a good one and back and forth; Autumn Shade, Sunshinin, Get Free and Factory are good, the tracks between less so. There's strong lead guitar work on most tracks but the vocals miss more than they hit throughout, probably a low 3 overall.
Bob Dylan isn't my favourite, I've said it before, but Bringing It All Back Home is pleasant and interesting enough, has the right balance of playfulness and grit, has a couple of iconic tracks and also a few I didn't know but enjoyed, particularly Love Minus Zero. A high 3 or a low 4, he has a way of compelling you to give your attention to his sound, whether you properly enjoy it or not.
Signing Off is alright, don't think it's as good as the Peter Tosh record we had recently, but it has its moments. Has a decent sound underpinning everything but it goes off in some weird and random directions that are sometimes interesting but far more often just distracting and don't work in the song at all. Like the last third of Burden Of Shame is terrible, like a kid playing with sound effects on their Casio ffs, and while I like saxophone, it's overused throughout. Reefer Madness is a fun closer, wish they'd have done a bit more up-tempo stuff like this earlier on in the album. Give it a 2 and move on.
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby is decent in places, I dig the heavier sound and could happily listen to it just casually, like if one of the songs came on the radio I'd enjoy it, but it is somewhat prosaic and paint-by-numbers of the genre and isn't good, important or memorable enough to be on the list. Another 2 but a higher 2.
Youth And Young Manhood doesn't do it for me. The music is quite generically bland for its intended style, the tempo and styling is repetitive, and the guy's voice is really really annoying, almost like a pastiche of the genre. It has good energy and isn't particularly bad, I just don't like it enough to give it any more than a 2. That era of The Stokes/The White Stripes/KoL/Arctic Monkeys/The Hives etc never delivered for me.
Peter Gabriel 3 is shit. Peter Gabriel is shit, Genesis are shit, this has no redeeming features.
Despite enjoying some nu metal and generally lots of metal, Korn were never among my favourites, so Follow The Leader doesn't quite hit the right notes for me, but it's good enough in places. Like Freak On A Leash was massive because of the video but the song is pretty meh, but when they go heavier like they do on Dead Bodies Everywhere and BBK and My Gift To You I'm happier. The whole thing is too long and most of the tracks have too much of that weird low screechy hum in them somewhere that is most pronounced in the mix for FoaL and I find it distracting. No higher than a 2.
Femi Kuti is really fun actually, has a huge vibrancy about it, some fair variety in arrangement and sound, goes on a bit too long overall and I'm obviously quite disconnected from the intended audience, but I like it. 3.
New Wave is unremarkable, not notably bad, not memorable, holds a tune but not much variety, singing fits their desired style but doesn't excite me, not worthy of a place on the list. 2.
We've had two all-timers from Springsteen so Darkness On The Edge Of Town feels a slight climbdown from SUCH a high bar, but it's still quality. There is some obvious maturity in themes and styling from Born To Run prior to this but it works, and like I said, he's music's greatest ever storyteller. There's nothing that lifts it into the upper echelons of the most legendary tracks but every song is quality, Racing In The Street is the best of those, it's outstanding in every way, while Adam Raised A Cain, The Promised Land and the title track are all very good as well. It's a high 4 on the basis that Born To Run is the highest of 5s and Born In The USA is a lower 5.
Aretha is great, we know that, so I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You was always going to deliver, and it does so from the first note of the first, most iconic song of hers, then doesn't let you down after. The only artist we've had so far who I'm confident has a better voice is Nina Simone but I'll be damned if she's not a very close second, she's the star of the show and the music is just along for the ride. Baby, Baby, Baby and Do Right Woman, Do Right Man deserve singling out for special praise too but this is another easy 5.
Sam Cooke is great too, and Live at the Harlem Club is a fun listen, great tunes, great energy, timeless and soulful and memorable and all of that. I think we've had better live albums that capture a more iconic moment and with greater showmanship, but an easy 4.
Happy Sad didn't make me feel anything, it's not offensive, it's just not good, it avoids a 1 on the basis that I didn't hate it.
Junkyard is offensively bad, apparently this is Nick Cave, who we've already had far too much of on this list, but this is by far and away his worst effort to be included. It tries to cover a few genres without doing any of them well, and I never want to listen to any of it again. 1.
I quite liked Playing With Fire, it's a mostly mellow and chill sound with enough diversity and changeup to keep it interesting. Sure, some of the tracks go on too long and too monotonously, but I think they do enough throughout to create a cool atmosphere that doesn't get tiresome or annoying. Doubtful as to whether it merits a place on the list but enjoyable in and of itself, high 2.
For Your Pleasure is a mix of good glam rock and bad glam rock, other acts did the genre better and this isn't really them at their best selves either. The first couple of tracks are rubbish, then it gets better for a bit and Editions of You and In Every Dream Home A Heartache are enjoyable, but the back half/side two aren't up to much, like The Bogus Man is very bad. I never really get on with Bryan Ferry's voice either, and the whole thing doesn't deserve much better than a 2.
Yay, more fucking prog. Larks' Tongues In Aspic ain't for me, there are fleeting moments of interest but otherwise it indulges the worst aspects of prog too often, there's basically not enough rock in there to call it progressive rock, it's overblown, it tries to do too much, and it doesn't even tell a cohesive story (like I'm not a big Pink Floyd fan as I've said but I can at least get the story from their albums). Just a 2 again.
Okay so maybe Oar isn't outright bad, it's just boring. Definitely as sad and depressing as advertised but we've had loads worse. Don't really want to give it any sort of a 2 because it's not good but yeah, happy that it didn't make me angry. Weighted Down (The Prison Song) is quite a good song tbf.
So Much For The City is relatively endearing at its best but quite average for the most part; when it's good, like the first four tracks or so, it reminds me a little of a less good Lightning Seeds, but it's nice and warm and a good listen. Doesn't keep that quality or feel throughout so a high 2 or a low 3.
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is one of the better 80s punk albums we've had, better than the Ramones, and it's very easy to see the influence it had on bands for the next thirty years. It's not just your standard repetitive sound for 40 minutes, there's variety, there's subtlety, and there's a fuckton of energy. Chemical Warfare is a great track among those I didn't know, obviously the big tracks are all good, doesn't give me a huge lasting quality to get a 4 but a sound 3 for sure.
I don't like Steely Dan, therefore I don't like The Nightfly. It does nothing for me, it isn't horrible and we've had considerably worse, we've just had many, many, many better. A quick and forgettable 2, although I will say Ruby Baby was decent enough until he started singing.
The Man Who is really hit and miss; the singles are all pleasant and largely memorable, Turn in particular is a bit of a classic, and then As You Are is quite good too. The rest is a bit dreary and Fran Healy's voice grates the higher it goes; he's a more effective and interesting listen when he's in a lower register, otherwise it becomes a little warbly and pitchy and lost. The strength of the highs outweighs the annoyance of the lows, it's a high 3 I think.
Bug certainly has its moments, it's got a good sound, that heavy/dirty style, big on the overdrive with enough in the bridge of most songs to keep it interesting, but the vocals are terrible and effectively make every song sound the same. More refinement and skill gets this a higher 3 or maybe 4 territory, but otherwise it's a low 3 because it could've been so much more.
Lust For Life is really good for a lot of the record, obviously a massive Bowie influence but I kinda prefer it to most of what I've heard of Bowie. The two massive songs are obviously great but there's quality throughout, Neighborhood Threat is intense and heartfelt, Sixteen is swaggering and youthful, Fall In Love With Me sounds like about 100 songs from the 2000s trying to imitate it, and on a record of just 9 songs it really annoys me that Turn Blue is SO fucking bad as it's really noticeable. A good 4 for me.
Dunno how times I've said in here that Arctic Monkeys and bands of their ilk from the 00s never really landed with me, but it's probably a lot, so Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is far less for me than most of you. I know the hits, I didn't really know the rest, and there are some good tracks on there for sure. Fake Tales of San Francisco and Dancing Shoes are a strong pairing early in the album, Still Take You Home has a similar energy and From The Ritz...is decent towards the end. The bass work is stellar throughout, that deserves calling out, but yeah, I can respect the authenticity of it and understand that it really resonates with a demographic of people who felt it captured an era of their youth or early 20s, I was the same age as that audience but not the same sort of person so that combined with not being a great fan of the indie rock sound means I'll probably give this a 3. Plus Alex Turner really annoys me for some reason, dunno why, it's probably misplaced.
D is another one of those albums that does a load of stuff throughout the entire record and within each song. It's never boring but not special and not really appealing to me, it's too proggy, although it is spectacularly well produced. A friend of mine is in an Indian Carnatic fusion band and a lot of it gives me similar vibes, just different geographic influences running through it. A lower 3 than yesterday's Arctic Monkeys offering.
I feel like I've not really listened to Skunk Anansie as much as I should given I'm a big fan of female fronted rock; Halestorm, In This Moment, Dead Sara, Pretty Reckless, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Joan Jett, Heart, Interrupters, the list goes on and on, and I've been aware of Skunk Anansie here and there, but Post Orgasmic Chill was a really good listen and compels me to add them to my rotation a bit more, certainly their hard rock stuff anyway. Skin is an iconic vocalist, I also knew that from general awareness, but her voice is the star of this show. It's effortlessly passionate, raw, angry, determined, and memorable. The music itself is pretty standard late 90s/early 2000s stuff, a little hint of nu-metal sneaking in, and nothing particularly remarkable, but it's heavy and supports the voice properly. Tracy's Flaw is a brilliant song, I really liked Cheap Honesty a lot too, some of it just blends into background listening without leaving a mark but most songs have something that leaps out and grabs you for another listen. A strong and happily surprising 4.
I feel like Welcome To The Afterfuture isn't something I'm meant to get, obviously not a massive hip-hop thread but I've heard more than enough over my time to know what I like and what I don't, but most anything from the last decade just doesn't hit the spot, and this is more experimental by design and doesn't get that right either. The beats aren't as good as others have produced, there are too many electronica-based influences, the flow and lyrics are weak, most of the good bits are just imitations of someone who did it better and it's really just too low key for me to really enjoy. I guess a 2?
Last time we had a Sonic Youth record I said "I'd just thought they were a bit too sludge and scuzz to appeal to me", but I guess that one was the exception to the rule because what we had before that is basically what Sister is, which is nondescript noise rock that doesn't do anything to excite or innovate or deserve to be here. A weary 2.
Frampton Comes Alive! is nice and easy middle of the road 70s easy listening Dad rock, really. The live factor makes it a bit more interesting but we've had some spectacular live albums and this doesn't come close, it does however show him and his band off as accomplished musicians who are just about interesting enough to not outlast their stay. Wind Of Change maybe my favourite of the songs that aren't global hits because it's simple and stripped back and doesn't do anything with silly effects, which are otherwise a bit overused. Easy low 3.
Janis Joplin is so fucking good and Pearl is a brilliant album. She has a voice unlike pretty much anyone else in music history, she can do the lot and it would be enough for her to be the star of the show without even half-decent music behind her, but the music on this record is also stellar, songwriting is masterful, strong arrangements, quality guitar work, you bring in the pianos and organs and backing singers/choirs for emphasis at the back end of some songs to finish strong, it all works really well. But she's one of the greatest ever for a reason and she shows why on Cry Baby, A Woman Left Lonely, My Baby and Me and Bobby McGee in particular, though it feels unfair to leave out the rest of the songs (the a cappella Mercedes Benz obviously), her range, her styling, her full range of emotions from desperate to playful to seductive, it's all there. The only disappointment really was that Half Moon and Buried Alive In The Blues aren't as good as everything else on here, and it might just bring it down from a 5 into the highest of 4s, but damn if she didn't go too soon.
The Modern Dance is bad. Not as bad as some of the worst stuff we've had, but it's definitely not good, incomprehensible mumbled vocals, insufferable high-pitched screeching that sounds either like an animal in distress or some faulty machinery, and really nothing to take away from it other than the fact the bass player is talented and the production highlights their work. It's a 1 from me.
Last time we had Talking Heads I said this: "Talking Heads 77 is too new wave for me. Some of the music hits a nice groove, there are decent elements of funk in there, but the vocals aren't my thing, never have been across the genre, and bring it down wholly. Just a style that's somewhere between nonchalant and whimsically ironic, no thanks." Remain In Light is the same, I don't need to say any more. Still a 2, still not something I want to listen to.
Yeah Guero is a bit dull really, isn't it? Throws in occasionally interesting hooks or beats that momentarily make you pay attention but otherwise it's just a bland piece of nothingness. Not even a very interesting singer either, 2.
I enjoyed Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, it has big and bold production and beats that draw you in, and his flow and the stories he tells are a lot more evolved and accessible than a lot of classic hip hop, it's a lot more inviting while being authentic. There's a lot of good mixing of the stone of those stories too, some of them are vibrant and celebratory, then you have stuff like The Instrumental which goes in the other direction (and it had a very familiar sound to me, so when I found out Mike Shinoda produced it, that made a ton of sense) and Hurt Me Soul. Couple of good samples/covers thrown in for good measure too. From the time it was launched, it's fair to draw some parallels and suggest this is what Kanye West might sound like if he wasn't a massive massive cunt. High 3 or a low 4, it's just too long and the Outro track, for whatever it means to him, is best ignored.
Connected is decent in places, it has a very 90s style and vibrancy to it and some of it is very well known, it just gets a bit samey after a while. Still, it's interesting and a bit of fun so a solid enough 3.
Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room is just average country stuff, we've had some good and bad efforts from the genre, this is an easy 2 that is just okay listening and might be better for Tim driving through AZ today than it was for me on a dreary June morning in Hammersmith :D it's also not exactly the most progressive lyrically either, lots of older country stuff deals with some pretty bad themes but this one isn't one of the better efforts.
Yay, more Nick Drake. Pink Moon is quite similar to the others we've had from him, it's a stripped back but skilled piece of composition filled with all the sadness and quiet desperation of someone who clearly struggled for a long time with a lot of problems. He had three albums and they're all on this list, I think we could've been just fine with one of them, as they're all much of a muchness, and all get a middling 3 from me. Things Behind The Sun is the best track on this record though, it's more rounded and lyrically engaging than the rest.
Are You Experienced is one of the most influential and transcendent albums of all time and one of the best we've had. Outrageous that this is a debut effort, it seamlessly pulls together all sorts of genres into a timeless sound, arrogant and swaggering at every turn, and you can still hear their work in music nearly sixty years after the fact, incredible. The mixing is pretty good too, I sometimes hear criticism about it because stereo mixing was quite new around this time and people struggle with some of the decisions, but it's hella immersive on headphones and does a fair job of reflecting the sort of atmosphere it was recorded in imo, just stuff coming at you from all directions and bringing it all together superbly. Easy, easy 5/5, a masterclass of rock guitar.
The wiki notes for I'm Your Man say "the album marked Cohen's further move to a more modern sound, with many songs having a synthesizer-oriented production" and, while that's true, God it's cheesy. It's awfully 80s for late 80s, it's like a kid discovering all the possibilities and throwing them into all the songs, and it's only really his voice and some other small details that make this slightly listenable, like most of the songs do hold a tune and keep your attention. It's not good though, it's a 2.
Sweet Dreams (are made of this) is another one that's just too 80s for me. Very capable musicians and skilled careers, a couple of very well known songs that stand the test of time, but otherwise a lot of stuff that didn't and that I don't care for, indulging some of the 80s sounds I disliked most. 2.
Dookie isn't my favourite Green Day record, it's a bit early in their journey from my preferred sound but it's still excellent and has loads of great songs. It's pop punk at its real infancy, there's that immature sound that later becomes more nuanced and accessible, but this is punchy youthful energy with more quality than everyone else who was trying the same thing at the same time, and ever since. Longview and She are two of my favourite 'lesser known' GD songs, Basket Case is iconic forever, there are no bad songs on here but it's a 4/5 from me because there was much better to come and this set them on their way.
Black Monk Time sounds like so much average 60s rock really, apparently it was quite different and interesting at the time but I don't really feel that 60 years on, it's got some good stuff, I liked the singer's style and voice which is a good mix of playful and belligerent, and I liked We Do Wie Du quite a bit, but it's mostly quite samey the whole way through and is a high 2, we've had loads better.
Apart from Karma Chameleon it's poor, it's not actually as bad as a lot of 80s stuff but that's because it doesn't try to be anything, it flirts with styles without being any of them, and tries to lean on Boy George's voice as a strength. That's fine, but his voice and style is shown up for being inferior to George Michael some years later, not their fault, but with 40 years of hindsight this isn't list-worthy. 2.
What's That Noise? is one of the better electronica-based albums we've had, it must've sounded fucking amazing at the time because 25 years later this still feels fresh and creative and varied. Has great fluidity, some cool vocal guest stars, it's just let down a bit by the length, makes some spells seem overly repetitive or last longer than they need to, if it was a tighter edit I'd maybe give it a 4 but otherwise it's a solid 3.
Right, two hours or not, All Things Must Pass is really good. I suppose it should be given who it is and the length giving more of a chance for quality to come through but most of it is genuinely excellent, and I preferred it to anything we've had from the Beatles themselves. There's a bigger feeling - that 'wall of sound' production really resonates with me and gives it a direction and an impetus I often felt missing in the Beatles work. Wah-Wah is a brilliant example of that but you can pick half a dozen songs that are just as good in that regard. Let It Down oozes power and control in perfect balance and is the sort of song artists were trying to imitate for the next 50 years, I Live For You has understated quality on the guitar and the sweet vocals match it so well, the title track is a standout, Art Of Dying rocks out, and it's just the last 25 minutes of improvisational indulgence that bring it down (as much as I liked Thanks For The Pepperoni, it's just not needed and the trio of tracks feel out of place with what preceded it). A high 4, surprised me a lot, didn't expect to enjoy it as I did.
Some of Seventh Tree is really nice and memorable, and some of it isn't. The second half of the album is much better than the first and has quality in A&E and Caravan Girl in particular, so you end up feeling positive about it rather than so many records that meander off to weak finishes. She has a beautiful voice, the ethereal dreaminess isn't overdone like some other work of the genre, doesn't reach any excellent heights but I'm happy to give this a 3, it made me feel good.
Rhythm Nation 1814 is big on social commentary but bad on music. So. Much. Snare. Just a load of generic sounds from an artist capable of so much better, just feels like she wanted a vehicle to be able to speak on things and didn't care as much about the music. 2.
California is bang average, listenable without doing anything especially skilled or memorable, the sort of stuff you could hear on generic radio or in random TV shows that accompanies a much more interesting story or journey. 2.
3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... is sort of like Janet Jackson from the other day, they set out wanting to deliver a message and the music becomes an afterthought. By 1992 hip-hop was already sounding quite different, layered and bigger than this, and although it's a fun and energetic sound it's also really stale and not interesting enough. Another meh 2 though it's better than Janet's effort.
I think Exit Planet Dust and a lot of this sort of stuff depends on where you are/were when listening and what memories or feelings it evokes. Last time we had one of the Chemical Brothers' records I listened at the gym and it worked, today I listened shortly after getting some bad news and it didn't. It's creative and upbeat, it's not my favourite of the genre and I think Dig Your Own Hole was better, but this is probably still a 3.
Our Aim Is To Satisfy is more electronic stuff but a more chill vibe, just ultimately quite boring and not as skilled as someone like Massive Attack. I didn't need to hear this before I die. 2.
Weather Report is our third instrumental album in a row, and it's also not very good. Sounds like so much cheesy 80s jazz that would soundtrack a shit movie with non-copyright audio. 2.
Sulk brings a bad end to a bad week. Just really bad art synth new wave bollocks, some of the worst of that genre we've had, 1.
Nah, Seventeen Seconds is crap too, miserable moody 80s shit with no redeeming qualities, awful vocals, the worst of the decade. 1 again.
Good to have some more metal on this list, and Peace Sells...But Who's Buying is baseline enjoyable, it's just maybe not a really good representation of the genre and deserving of a place on the list. Maybe that's just personal preference though, it's not really heavy, it's full of shredding solos to the point that they're overused and lose their sense of purpose, it's basically an indulgence into 'look what I can do!', and while it might've been one of the first albums to really push thrash as a style, loads of albums have come along since and done things a lot more skilfully. It's a solid to low 3, since I gave Slipknot's self-titled effort a higher 3 the last time we had some decent metal. That was 89 albums ago and the closest we've had since then is Korn, yet we're inundated with new wave bollocks.
I really wanted to like The Rise & Fall but it's really just Our House and then none of the other stuff that made Madness good or fun. It's too experimental, too morose in its delivery, camp but not camp enough to enjoy, and yeah, they have better work. 2. Also there's blackface on that album cover and I don't care to hear the explanation for why that happened.
Blood And Chocolate is alright, I've always liked Elvis Costello's voice and general style but none of it lasts, it's just a standard easy listen without giving me something to take away. Given that I use 2 for albums that disappointed me and 3 for ones I liked to varying degrees, it's a low 3, he's done better work than this.
The Poet is short and sweet, maybe just really cheesy and sweet, but it's a decent listen. Problem Womack has is that it all seems like a budget tribute effort to giants of the genre; his voice is good but not great, the grooves are slick but not legendary like his predecessors, his lyrics are passionate but lack depth, and calling himself The Poet doesn't sound tongue-in-cheek but a little arrogant by comparison. Just My Imagination is the best track, it's a solid 3, but when the backing singers and production are better than the artist, you're sort of limited as to how good it can be.
Palo Congo starts well with the opening track but then quickly loses its way. Way too much bongo, way too repetitive, it's nearly 70 years old and it shows. Not really a fan of the genre anyway, it gets a low 2 because it's inoffensive, just not very good.
Throwing Muses continues a really meh run. It's neither good nor remarkable nor memorable, it's too indie and too pitchy, I've maybe been spoiled by much better female-fronted punk and/or rock, this doesn't do it for me. 2.
More meh, Ocean Rain has a good first track and not a lot else, too much 80s, another 2, please save me from this meandering meh.
I'll give The White Room a solid 3, it's got that more epic and trance style to it, which is right up my street in what I want from the genre. Not such a fan of the very 90s rap-style lyrical delivery but I could definitely chuck this onto a good set of headphones and zone out to this, good stuff. Last Train to Trancentral is great.
Django Django is a bit too twee and dreamy for my tastes. It has a nice and comforting momentum underpinning the dreaminess, but ultimately it's music I can't do anything with and doesn't invoke any feelings in me. A high 2.
Nope, Music Has The Right To Children is not for me. Half of it sounds like the sort of interlude nonsense nu-metal bands chucked onto their 2000s albums to pad it out, and the other half sounds like what happens when robots have orgasms. Rescue from this run of disappointing 2s; this one's lucky to get a 2 at all.
Group Sex is like so many of those raw punk albums we've had or we know and, while it's short, it's too short to really be anything except an explosion of whatever it is they want to do, aggression, emotion, dunno, it doesn't really come across. Another 2.
The Next Day has some really good moments but obviously isn't a patch on the best Bowie work, which I've often said I wasn't a huge fan of in terms of style, but I recognise the skill. There's obviously a sentimental value to this after his heart attack and the comeback matters, The Stars (Are Out Tonight) is a magnificent song, there's the unmistakable Bowie passion and yearning coursing through it but it lacks his edge or flair, so it's really only a 3. There's a ton of his work on this list and certainly not all of them are must-listens; including this does the others a disservice.
I dunno why HMS Fable is on here (yeah it's another one of those albums). This was recorded in 1999, well after everyone was doing this sort of thing and being interesting with it, so their particular brand of underwhelming britpop-adjacent alt rock doesn't stick. Vocals are just there without really doing anything, music is unremarkable with efforts to elevate it with poor Oasis imitation riffs and stylings. I'll give it a 2 because it's listenable enough and Comedy is a good song, but really, did we need this?
Penance Soiree is quite annoying because it's really like 80% generic noise without structure or purpose, forgettable in an instant, with a few decent and interesting moments scattered throughout that tease that they were capable of doing something a lot better but not smart enough to realise that. Please save me from this, it's been three weeks since I gave a 4, this is another disappointing 2.
Well Another Green World was crap. Not music. 1.
Back To Basics is an album of almosts and nearlys. It's good but too long, her voice is incredible but all too often brought down by the way she adds in woahs and ohs and ahs along the way (just grates on me), and while she tries to present herself in a different, rehabilitated and mature image showing deference to those that came before her, it feels really forced at times and not really natural or authentic. It's a very listenable 3 with some impressive highs but you feel a bit short changed because it doesn't realise its potential.
Every Picture Tells A Story disappointed me because Rod Stewart is great fun at his best, but this is Maggie May plus a bunch of average stuff where he strays too close to country and that doesn't work for him. I know his stuff well as my parents adore him and this is a poor effort saved by an all timer of a song. A high 2.
A Walk Across The Rooftops is rubbish, absolutely no time for any of this twaddle. 1.
Nixon is a really strange and unusual album, at its best it's properly groovy with great orchestral arrangements bringing a quality vibe, at its worst though it's like a poor Simply Red effort, and that is unacceptable. The good parts certainly aren't memorable enough to warrant a good score, but it was at least an interesting listen, if only from a 'wtf comes next?' perspective. An easy listening 2, which isn't so much of a compliment as it is a disappointment.
I've never really enjoyed REM beyond a couple of obvious singles so Green was probably not going to excite me in the same way it might for some of you. There's no particular dislike, they're just there doing their thing and it doesn't really overlap with things I like, Michael Stipe is a fabulous lyricist who creates a great atmosphere with his voice and style but I guess I find that the music behind him doesn't get close to doing anything of the same quality. Much of this album does nothing to me, but it does finish very well, Hairshirt is cool, I Remember California is hauntingly beautiful, Untitled is a nice uplifting send-off. Those three tracks probably lift it to a low 3 from me and hopefully avoid your collective ire. Like what you like imo.
Jeez, White Light/White Heat is definitely not for me, it actively annoyed me and/or made my head hurt at times, and the rest of it was pretty inaccessible with (deliberately) sparse production and a lack of coherent structure. The Gift as a spoken word song was crap, Here She Comes Now was a load of noise, and Sister Ray is stupidly overblown and genuinely terrible in places. I am not remotely the target audience for this sort of stuff, experimental in every way, but it can get in the bin as far as I'm concerned, a 1 from me, and I'll fight you about it too. Lou Reed was a cunt and I'll fight him as well, dead or alive.
Fly Or Die is good in places, less so in others, the front half of the album is much better than the second half and it feels like they were short of ideas the more they added to the album. It kinda felt like a continuation of what Prince was doing 15-20 years earlier but without the quality of evolution you'd like or want from that sort of thing. It's a 3 but I didn't enjoy it as much as I maybe hoped to.
Loveless is really just a big wall of noise, with awful or useless vocals, and there's not much else to say about it. It gets a two because the wall of noise does create a fairly epic sound on occasion, but it's not remarkable or memorable.
Cream are basically the quintessential 60s psychedelia rock but Disraeli Gears is just good (very good in places) without being great. Obviously it's quite self-indulgent because the entire genre is; at its best you have quality all-timers like Sunshine Of Your Love, Strange Brew and Tales of Brave Ulysees, and it's a pretty tight album overall despite that indulgence, it's all boxed off in quality grooves and guitar work. It's a high 3 or a low 4 because it doesn't last throughout the record, there's too much filler, but one of the better albums we've had recently.
Stand is enjoyable for the most part, some proper slick 60s soul and jazz grooves, peaking with the wonderful Everyday People. It just hit that quality throughout and, like so many albums from this era, loses itself up its own arse. Side One is good but could've been stronger, side two is one quality song then they clearly got bored and decided to stop and fuck to a 14-minute song. Fair play if that's what they wanna do, but it stops it being any more than a 3, but a good 3 that was quite influential in places.
One Nation Under A Groove is the best album we've had in weeks. It's brilliantly fun funk, disco, good times, great guitar, quality bass, iconic and lasting. Only reason I'm not giving it a 5 is because it's a bit too long and suffers somewhat for it, but it's so creative and vibrant that you can't help but smile and groove along. A strong 4.
Hot Buttered Soul keeps up a strong mini-run with some effortlessly cool, silky smooth soul that is properly excellent at times. The main and only real drawback is that he gives up far too much time to talking or making random noises over music that isn't going anywhere, because when it does all come together, it's SO good. One Woman is the second-shortest track but the best by some way, a magical experience and composition, but it's then followed by a nearly 19-minute track :D which is a perfect example of the problem, the back 6-7 minutes are wonderful, but it doesn't need to take me so long to get there, the payoff doesn't justify that wait imo. It's also ridiculous that he had this sort of voice in his fucking 20s too :D just sounds like this world-wise grandpa with a rich velvety tone that a young person shouldn't be able to produce. I'll give it a 4 because the best bits are outstanding, and I'm not rating it off the Deluxe Edition that has an interview with him on it, no need to when it's not part of the original work.
What's Going On is a masterpiece of storytelling, reflection, analysis, heartache, optimism, pessimism, a full spectrum of emotions delivered in a truly elegant and memorable composition. Every part of it delivers, one of the strongest and most important records we've had through this whole thing.
Honky Tonk Masquerade is a disappointing end to a fairly good week, it's prosaic country with a bit more tempo to it, fun at times (Cornbread Moon, I'll Be Your Fool) but really it's not anything special (Fingernails is enjoyable too but it's a standard blues shuffle you've heard from hundreds of acts) and we've had better country or country-adjacent albums. Probably only a high 2, I don't care for it much.
Let Love Rule is not good. The main problem is that Lenny Kravitz can't sing, or couldn't at this point, and it starts on the second line of the first song. The music itself is pretty meh, not especially creative or interesting, but it's dragged down further by the vocals and it's not a enjoyable listen at all. Don't see how I can reach to a 2, it's so poor, not downright bad and offensive like other 1s (although it is lyrically quite empty too), just embarrassing.
Heroes To Zeros is interminable twaddle. It's just boring, not bad, nothing for me, a low 2.
I liked Blunderbuss more than most White Stripes stuff, which does absolutely nothing for me, but I still only found it good in places, not throughout. It has a personality and a little bit of playfulness, the piano is pretty good throughout, Weep Themselves To Sleep is the standout track but Trash Tongue Talker is a quality little throwback rock and roll sound too. It's a middling 3 but one that left me surprised that I liked it more than I was expecting to.
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes did not sound like something I'd enjoy from the write-ups and the genre, and so it proves. This is awful indulgent rubbish from people who have an over-inflated opinion of themselves as musicians. 1.