My 1001 Albums Journey

Album	You	Global	Diff
...Baby One More Time Britney Spears	5	2.69	+2.31
Yeezus Kanye West	5	2.76	+2.24
Vulgar Display Of Power Pantera	5	2.97	+2.03
Reign In Blood Slayer	5	2.97	+2.03
Devil Without A Cause Kid Rock	4	2.01	+1.99
Tuesday Night Music Club Sheryl Crow	5	3.06	+1.94
Golden Hour Kacey Musgraves	5	3.08	+1.92
Make Yourself Incubus	5	3.08	+1.92
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned Liars	4	2.12	+1.88
american dream LCD Soundsystem	5	3.17	+1.83

Album	You	Global	Diff
Bongo Rock Incredible Bongo Band	1	3.25	-2.25
Fifth Dimension The Byrds	1	3.07	-2.07
Copper Blue Sugar	1	2.98	-1.98
Red Dirt Girl Emmylou Harris	1	2.87	-1.87
A Little Deeper Ms. Dynamite	1	2.81	-1.81
Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water Limp Bizkit	1	2.51	-1.51
Power In Numbers Jurassic 5	2	3.47	-1.47
We're Only In It For The Money The Mothers Of Invention	1	2.46	-1.46
Cupid & Psyche 85 Scritti Politti	1	2.39	-1.39
Parklife Blur	2	3.39	-1.39

Artist	Albums	Average
Beatles	7	5
Metallica	4	5
Led Zeppelin	5	4.8
Radiohead	6	4.5
Johnny Cash	3	5
Michael Jackson	3	5
Nirvana	3	5
Creedence Clearwater Revival	3	5
Kanye West	3	5
The Rolling Stones	6	4.33
Bruce Springsteen	5	4.4
Steely Dan	4	4.5
Miles Davis	4	4.5
Black Sabbath	3	4.67
Simon & Garfunkel	3	4.67
Beastie Boys	3	4.67
Arcade Fire	3	4.67
Fiona Apple	2	5
Red Hot Chili Peppers	2	5
Van Halen	2	5
Pink Floyd	4	4.25
U2	4	4.25
Bob Dylan	7	4
Jimi Hendrix	3	4.33
The Doors	3	4.33
Paul Simon	3	4.33
Queen	3	4.33
Elvis Presley	3	4.33

Artist	Albums	Average
The Mothers Of Invention	2	1.5

Artist	Ratings
Björk	4, 2, 5, 3

The Who

5/5

Pros: -Has some absolute bangers, like "Baba O'Riley", "Bargain", and "Behind Blue Eyes" "Won't Get Fooled Again". -Serious trailblazers with their electronic synth work. -The more Roger Daltry lead vocal tracks are good, like "Getting in Tune" is a solid track. Not as great as the bangers above. Cons: -Some tracks are lackluster. "My Wife" flat out isn't good. It's like a funny song about running from your wife and buying a tank and protection? -"Going Mobile" is a nice tune but the drums sound off at times. Not off rhythmically, but there's whole sections where Keith Moon stops playing cymbals and continues a kick-snare and it sounds like the cymbals are missing there rather than a cool stylistic choice.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Smashing Pumpkins

4/5

Pros: - some real bangers on here. "Tonight, Tonight", "Zero", "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" "1979" - Very ambitious - 1979 is one of my favorite songs from the 90s and I think even with all of it's hype it's still one of the most underrated 90s tracks. - production is clean when it needs to be clean, and dirty when it needs to be dirty - orchestral elements are so good and don't overtake the foundational strengths of the songwriting - "Cupid De Locke" has some spoken word in it which is cool as heck Cons: - flow of the album is a little weird right? "tonight tonight" into "jellybelly" is a stark contrast, and "to forgive" is a sad boy track right in the middle of two slammers. Misc: - The only spotify version is the deluxe version which is 92 songs long and 6 hours. I don't really have an interest in "Tonight Tonight's strings parts but pitched down 1 semitone and 3bpm lower v6 FINAL.wav", but I get it- that's for the mega fans. - To me they are the Kings of 90s Cringe. "Love is suicide" is a lyric that is repeated over and over in the track "Bodies". It's cringey; like "wow this is so profound"

Bongo Rock

Incredible Bongo Band

1/5

Pros: - nice music to do some chores to or have on. it gives you a groove to moove to. - "Apache" is the original version of Sugarhill Gang's song "Apache" and I had no idea. Amazing! Cons: Misc: I really wasn't expecting an album like this on here. It's very surprising! Overall, while I'm sure influential, I don't know if this album to me is a "must" listen to or a top album of all time, so I am going to rank it low.

Smash

The Offspring

3/5

Pros: - Really brings me back to being a kid in the 90s. I was 4 when this album came out so I probably heard it on the radio. - YOU GOTTA KEEP EM SEPARATED Cons: Misc:

Come Away With Me

Norah Jones

3/5

Pros: She's got such a genuine, romantic sound that is so alluring. Cons: Maybe I'm jaded by the prevalence of amazing current soft-female-vocal led indie bands these days but the energy of this album isn't really dynamic and doesn't show much besides the one sound that she has. I know that that's like her sound right? it's soft, piano driven pop-jazz, but even the softest cats in jazz get some fast meows in sometime. The most energetic song IMO is "I've got to see you again" which is a wonderful moderate dance-like track that is perfectly ambiguous with it's lyrics that i have no choice but to steal a few lines for my own songs. Misc: production is very clean and well done. I did hear a blip of clipping on her voice on one track, "one flight down" at 2:42 which is hard to find on any professional mix of the last like 25 or so years.

Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris

1/5

I know she's highly respected but the album is a little boring for my tastes. It has some nice songs on it but I don't know if it's on my personal 1001 albums.

A Girl Called Dusty

Dusty Springfield

4/5

Pros: - really, fantastically amazing and timeless songs. Cons: Misc: - I thought Dusty Springfield was a 70's male singer. Fuck!

Exodus

Bob Marley & The Wailers

3/5

Pros: -It's one of the best albums by probably the best artist in this genre (reggae). -He wrote this after a failed assassination attempt, that's pretty wild. - It has two 100/100 tracks: "Jamming", and "One Love" Cons: - Outside of a few A+ tracks, many of the others are easy to forget. Misc: - hard for me to stay objective because I really don't love reggae. To me, it's like the most background type of music/art ever; more background than a computer's background image of a sprawling mountain vista. More background than the soft jazz that plays 24/7 on the TV guide channel. That's OK though, that's totally ok! It's just not my thing. I think ultimately what hurts the genre for me is that the smaller musical ideas that define the genre are the same things that limit the genre. Like there's a limited pool of rhythms / tones to pull from for reggae songwriters and that keeps the genre in a smaller space. - I'm giving it a 3 but I feel it's more a 2.5. I'm giving it the benefit of the 0.5 to make it a 3 due to the greatness of "One Love" and "Jamming"

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

3/5

Pros: - track one, at like 00:30 there's a wild shuffle- did yall hear that? it sounds like a CD glitch but it's not. It's in the snare and how it "reacts" to the rest of the band. That's really cool!! - Production is really good and the instruments are really distinct for late 80's. In my mind this time period for music was a lot of like maximalist production techniques and a ton of synths, ton of compression, and unnecessary layers because recording tech was getting better and better, but they kept it simple while still interesting and full. GREAT use of panning instruments to left and right ears without overdoing it. - So track 1 is like irish pop punk and track 2 is some middle east folk rock? This shit slaps Cons: Misc: - not naturally what I would be into but it's a cool overall sound right? - impressed overall!

Blue

Joni Mitchell

4/5

Pros: - very creative melodies. I can see why the taylor swifts / olivia rodrigos of the world exist when someone like her paved the way - very creative random parts too, like second track "my old man" at 1:33 the piano starts playing a scale that is in a different key; almost like something you would hear out of classical music's subgenre "new music". - instrumentation is superb. I'm a sucker for folk instrumentation in pop / singer songwriter contexts - title track is fantastic. - Really enjoying the album Cons: Misc: - I've never actively listened to her which sounds shameful but is also the purpose of this album project.

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Pros: A+ songwriting / storytelling A+ instrumentation. Took rock and made it even cooler with Spector-esque wall of sound production and made saxophone a rock and roll instrument Cons: Misc: - Somehow I did not grow up with Bruce and didn't get into him until college and probably because of Jake Ehrlich. My metal friends all made fun of his voice and thought he was too storyteller-y; that he couldn't write a song unless it met a criteria of mentioning A. the road he lived on when he was a kid, B. every car on that road, and C. workin' hard. I've of course since come to the realization that those same friends who would make fun of that would listen to bands that couldn't write music unless it mentioned something like "trampling people with tanks" and had lyrics like "why should the fire be shared by so few, let bombs explode- cause that's what they do. Nuke Mecca, New York, the Vatican too- give me a bomb, I'll drop it on you!" So to that I really say to each their own. Bruce is a true king and no one captures that very specific idea of growing up, leaving your hometown and doing your own thing better than him. And Born to Run probably does it best. Part of the magic of him for me is that his sound is inherently tied to a time period. I'll speculate that it's a reason why people our parents age like him so much; because 5 of his best albums (this, darkness, the river, nebraska, born in the usa) all came out when my mom was between her early teens and late 20s. Of course those are really formative years and he's there singing about New Jersey and growing up and getting out of the town. Hard to not resonate with that. Many of his lyrics are specific to those lived years and that helps that idea of gluing the listener to the songs. Unfortunately I think that it would be hard for future generations to appreciate the artistry in the storytelling due to this deep set tie-in to the time periods, but I am hopeful and optimistic that the music itself would stand the test of time. Part of what made it work for people our age is that a lot of us grew up listening to Bruce on the radio on car rides. For me it looked like this scenario: school ends for the year and it's in late June, it's 90 something degrees out, you're on your way to the Jersey shore, you just spotted the first girl in a bikini of the summer, and Bruce is on the radio. Magic.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

David Bowie

4/5

Pros: - WOW what an opener. Love the performances, love the production. - Most of the songs are quite good with elements to like from each track. Cons: Misc: - Another artist i have not fully listened to. Haven't heard a full album through, and ashamed to say I've probably only heard around 10 songs of his.

Toys In The Attic

Aerosmith

4/5

Pros: - Yet another album I have not heard from start to end. I will probably stop mentioning that since it's becoming common. - It's more like in-your-face rock than i remember. I like the energy shift from the first track into the second track. I'm really big on the idea that a good album should have an upbeat song for it's first or second track - Amazingly crisp production. Guess I've never heard "walk this way" on nice speakers/headphones but WOW is it crisp. Cons: Misc:

1999

Prince

3/5

Pros: - Songwriting is great and unique and fearless, like Prince. No one was like him and I don't think there will be many like him. - I bet if I was 18 in 1982 and I heard this come out I would be like "this is amazing". It's a great amalgamation of ideas and sounds in this unique Prince musical vernacular. - I do think that Prince leans a little toward maximalism in the production; there's so many instrumental layers of little guitar licks, synth licks, vocal "mm yea"'s and super processed vocal layers that all sound cool but at times can be a little annoying. Maybe it's just that this album is now 40 years old and it's age is showing. Overall I'm happy with the mix though. - It's fun music! Cons: - some mix choices are annoying Misc: - I wish I could hear the original mixes on a lot of these albums on spotify. It seems like the service mostly just has official remixes of these 30+ year old albums and they don't offer the original ones. Small gripe but that's for spotify / the record label and not with Prince. - I need to do a deep dive and see what songs Prince played guitar on. He's a legit shredder and I was always curious to see how much of the album songs he actually recorded the guitars for. - 1982 was an interesting time period for music production. New and immediate prevalence of synths meant that there were lots of questionable mix decisions being made and you can hear that across this album. "1999" hard panned to right ear warble synth is a little grating at times. "Let's Pretend we're married" - listen to the delay on the snare. interesting. can't tell if i love it or hate it. At 2:46 I swear you can hear a sneeze. - this album for me is a great reason why there should be more than 5 options/stars to vote for. This is around a 3.5 for me without context. It's a very solid album, and on a list of 1001 albums you have to hear, I would think of it as being a 3, so I'm going to give it a 3. I'm leaning more for a 3 instead of a 4 because the second half has tracks that tend to run on the same ideas.

The Who Sell Out

The Who

2/5

Pros: - Really funny stuff. I love that "Heinz Baked Beans" is trumpets and very deep timpani. - I Can See For Miles -- a solid track Cons: - while it's a nice album, I don't think it's as good as WHO's NEXT. I'm interested to see how many other artists have multiple albums on this list. - A couple songs tend to run on a little - I'm giving it a 2. It's a nice album, but for me it probably sits in the top 80% of best 1001 albums. Misc: - If I had more time I would have read more about the album. I'm assuming it's kind of a response to them being called sellouts? - so funny to hear a full album in mono. I don't think i'd ever do it but I think it's a good songwriting trick to write / record a song in mono to limit yourself and then pan instruments afterwards. - "Tattoo" is not mono

Joan Baez

2/5

Pros: - Really beautiful melodies and voice - "Henry Martin" has some great chromatic / out-of-key notes around 00:23 in the melody and it's refreshing to hear. Would have liked more of that. It's haunting! - A song in Spanish was nice! - Covers are really really great. "house of the rising sun" and her variation on "girl of constant sorrow" (i might have missed another) Cons: - I don't connect particularly well with this album for some reason or other. It's a nice album; it's nice to have on and to simply enjoy. She is definitely someone who has inspired many many other artists and is unquestionably important to modern music. Misc: - Kind of limited instrumentation and arrangements, but it's 1960.

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

John Zorn

3/5

Pros: - Exciting free jazz! - While listening, I didn't realize that I had another chrome tab open that had a chess streamer talking in the background at a very low volume. She was talking about pawn promotion and when the songs finished I would hear that faintly and it enhanced the experience! - If you forget to grab a coffee in the morning, just put this on. It'll wake yo ass up! - In the big scheme of abstract music / modern music / new music, this is totally palatable. Cons: - While incredibly dynamic, I would love some dynamicity (had to google that to check) in the tempi! Let's get some slow jams in there. Misc: - John Zorn is a cool wild dude. One of my regrets from when I was in music school was not going to his music venue The Stone ever- which had an arrangement with my school program where we would get reduced/free tickets and then we would get school credit for attending a modern music performance. Friends went a few times and ended up meeting him, gah! the regret! - He's definitely a modern pioneer of free jazz, and the genre is so important to popularizing the idea that any type of music can be free and untamed. I'm speculating, but a large amount of people probably find it novel and/or interesting but maybe without seeing the value beyond a single listen through. But outside of that large amount there's probably a few people that find the concept of this kind of music really intriguing and love it. For that reason alone I think it deserves a place on the list. I genuinely feel that every musician who writes music has a little bit of a duty to do something new with their music that expands music as a whole, even if they are a 99% clone of their favorite artist, if they just do 1% of something new that allows a new younger musician to make something with that 1%, then that is fulfilling a duty to the worldwide community of music. John Zorn is probably more like 75% new ideas and 25% built on the backs of people like Ornette Coleman, so John Zorn is a real one.

Tidal

Fiona Apple

5/5

Pros: - It's so good. - Her sound checks so many boxes of what I would like for an artist. It's approachable, it has great hooks that are not only catchy but unique, it is confident, it's exploratory, it's memorable. - Her lyrics are so incredible and unique and have a quality that makes them sit in your head long after the song is over. - Amazing for a debut album. It sounds like someone who has been working on their sound for years and years! Cons: Misc:

Imagine

John Lennon

4/5

Pros: - Imagine is probably a top 100 song of all time (right?) so any album that has a top 100 all time song on it should be rated high for atleast bringing that song to the world. - There's a lot of Beatles hangover ideas in here, and it's a cool amalgam of those ideas (the rock-ness early Beatles that comes in "Crippled Inside", a random "and when I hold you in my arms" lyric, the yelling fast psychedelia Beatles sound reiterated on "Gimme Some Truth", etc) and the later John Lennon sound. Cons: Misc: - I feel like there are 4-star albums that are better than this one, so it's a 3.9 for me which I'm rounding to 4.

Dummy

Portishead

4/5

Pros: - 1994 this came out. Grunge was the shit and they release this wickedly noir, vibey, cool, sickly blend of post rock that's been hanging out with minimalist electronics and somehow make it all work so good that it still makes me wonder ~28 years later how they didn't get asked to do a James Bond theme song. - Sometimes when I have random daydreams about running off to the desert and making an album, the final output in my head ends up sounding like this album and this band. - This is a great mixture of foreground and background music for me. I could have it on while my brain is 99% doing something else, like reading a book. I could have it on while my brain is doing 1% something else, like doing the dishes. - Listen to "Strangers" at the 1:12 mark. The pulse of the song from here on is what sounds like a phone ringing off the hook. How cool is that? Cons: Misc: - It just oozes "cool".

Frank

Amy Winehouse

4/5

Pros: - One of the most evocative and romantic voices in popular music - This album is less in-your-face than Back to Black, and while I like in-your-face music, I appreciate the contrast in the two albums. This one is more romance from a positive light. - Lots of different \"feels\" on this album which I really appreciate. Cons: Misc: - The only con for me when listening to Amy is that I can't think of her without thinking of the word \"tragic\". I'm cursed. I think/hope in the future that will go away because I completely adore her and her music. To me it's like being a kid on Christmas day and getting the most fun video game console and a few games, but then after a week or so there aren't any new games released for that console. It's still new! It's still amazing and powerful and brings you so much joy! But you have this sadness that there won't be any new games. I don't recall any other artists that I feel this way about who have passed.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

5/5

Pros: - Has some ABSOLUTE bangers on this album. - "Everybody wants to rule the world" is one of my favorite songs of all time - "Shout" is so moody and such a strong opener. - "Head Over Heels / Broken" - another damn slapping BANGER. - I just love their sound. This was 1985, right smack in the middle of the 80's. They had that weird 80's "we're embracing this new synth world" sound that was weirdly serious and I will forever love that. - The first track is super synth heavy (with all of the limitations of early synths), and then the second track comes in with an evocative and VERY human-y saxophone. Then bongos. Such a cool contrast to start an album. I really can't say how much I love the ground covered instrumentation wise in the first two songs. I don't know if I've ever heard another pop album cover so much ground so quickly while also being effective and now adding timbres for the sake of adding timbres. - LISTEN TO THE INTRO GROOVE ON EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD. UGHHHH - "Mothers Talk" bass part at 3:48 is literally videogame battle music. - "Listen", the outtro is really so amazing. Lots of moods. Cons: Misc: - It's hard for me to give a quantified star rating for this album. It's a high 4 for me. JUST a 4 is too low IMO but 5 is too high for me. It's an amazing album, with 3 songs that are probably in the conversation of being 3 of the top 25 songs of a decade, which is amazing- specially so because the 80s were such a wild time for pop music. This is really my hardest vote yet. Ok I'm giving it a 5, it's just too good.

Joan Armatrading

2/5

Pros: - First time hearing this album (i think) and possibly artist too. Overall the sound is really nice and cohesive; by the time her voice comes in on the first track it was pretty much exactly what I was expecting and my ears wanted to hear to match the instrumentation. - The instrumentation and recording are all really well done. I love that first piano run up in the first song only seconds after the acoustic guitars set the tone. The second track also has some nice behind-the-scenes piano/keyboard lines. - Love the tempo / meter change in the second song about halfway in. Songs that change tempo/feel in pop music are kind of rare these days so it's nice to hear one here that is drastic but still within the overall vibe of the song - really nice flow to the album, the placement of the tracks are really great. that's usually a gripe of mine with any style of music but specifically with singer songwriter-y styles it can be pretty bad at times. Cons: - not a lot of memorability for me Misc: - While it's a nice album, it doesn't have a lot of standouts for me, and in context of 1001 albums you need to hear, I think it's probably in the lower 40% so I'm giving it a 2/5.

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

4/5

Pros: - origin of "let your freak flag fly" - it's a dope classic rock album - it's the best selling album of all members' careers. - Super-group bands I think often have weird dynamics. It's weird but also probably inherently hard to avoid right? These guys don't really have that issue in this act I think. It all gels well. A good example is going from "Teach your children" which is a beautiful, heartfelt song, into "Almost cut my hair" (David Crosby singing) which is very funny and silly, and then finally into "Helpless" (Neil Young singing), which centers around Neil's very soft and distinctly different voice and ambiguous lyrics. You would think that these sounds and sentiments in 3 consecutive songs wouldn't work that well but they really do! - The title track, Deja Vu, is very cool and experimental for them. Starts with an almost-scat part, has some weird chords in there (Gab and i found a GSus4 chord into Emsus2 chord (I think that's how its' written?) and they SING these! That's very experimental! Hard to sing! Lots of tension! It's at 2:37) - "Our House" is way ahead of it's time to me. It's like a modern indie pop song in instrumentation arrangement, even the hook is very modern yet also somehow Beatles-esque. Cons: Misc: - It's tight all around. I've heard this album many times throughout my life but by isolated radio plays of the tracks, and never full through in one sitting. I really like how the album doesn't just start hot, play some hits, and then fades off; it keeps energy throughout the album and keeps the diversity throughout.

Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C.

4/5

I had a writeup that accidentally got deleted so i'm summarizing: It's a really dope album that is definitely deserving of a spot on this list. Production is incredibly tight and the added layers of instrumentation are impressive, quirky, and really elevates the overall album.

B-52's

The B-52's

3/5

Pros: - It's a very unique sound. It's got this 50's ish thing, but the guitars and vocals are more experimental then what they were doing in the 50s. Cons: - One reason why I don't have this up higher is that I think there's something with the songwriting that keeps it from being a 4 or 5 but I can't exactly figure it out. "Dance This Mess Around" for example is a really cool song- it's energetic yet also laid back. The vocals yell in your face while the guitars play a minimalism riff that repeats throughout. It's a great sound, but I can't help but feel like the recording engineer hit the "record" button and they just jammed this track out. What makes it even harder to pinpoint is that the album has tracks like Rock Lobster, which show multi faceted strengths in songwriting; the structure is super well thought out, the instrumentation really great, the lyrics are funny and a little simple but have such a unique theme. It makes me think this song had a lot of thought put into it. Misc: - Overall I enjoy the album and it's a fun listen. I think maybe if it was a little more dynamic and strayed a little further at times from the variables that seem to appear in most tracks: mid tempo / drumset / clean, spanky guitar / fun vocals , then I would rate it a 4. It's always hard to say (write) something like that though because I do understand that this is their sound. Rock Lobster is one of the quirkiest songs of all time.

Da Capo

Love

3/5

Pros: - Very cool sound! It's my first time actively hearing this band. They are very dynamic and the overall sound does a lot of things right. - Even though it's 1966, the production is really crisp. - It's a dynamic album while also existing inside of a defined sound. Track 1 is a "tough" psychedelic rock song with a harpsichord shred part. Track 2 is a gushy ballad, Track 3 is another sweetheart track, and then Track 4 is a "The Who" type rabble-rousing shout-off. That's a lot of moving around. Cons: - Some tracks' lyrics are not exactly bad but a little uninspired. - I'm assuming it's a victim of the time period, but man I can't comfortably listen to hard-panned instruments and layers for very long. Track 3, "Que Vida", has the FULL drumset 100% in the left ear, and guitars in the right ear. I'm personally a big believer in symmetry in production and while panning is a great condiment to add to your flavors, you can't have things sound balanced with 70% mustard in your right ear and 30% ketchup in the left ear. Don't put condiments in your ears. Misc: - Interesting that the total length of the album is 36 minutes 9 seconds, and the final track is over half of that, coming in at 18 minutes and 58 seconds. This track is mostly a jam though, as the vocals leave around the 3 minute mark and only come back briefly before leaving again.

The Man Who

Travis

2/5

Pros: - Opener is a great track. Love the chord progression in the chorus. I can't put a finger on it but the line "I might never reach you" has some great Beatles-y chords under the vocals. - Second track, "The Fear" is like a more modern Neil Young track. Very cool sound. It even has some Radiohead type sounds underneath the vocals too. - SO many chordal mood shifts. I'm hearing a lot of major chords getting moved to minor over the course of a chorus or phrase. - "As You Are" is even more radiohead-y! Cons: - Some songs come across as being pretty like.. medium? I find it hard to describe but there's a very "agreeable" sound to this record. "Inoffensive". I tend to gravitate towards some kind of offending going on in music. Not so much of a knock against them because they do have a great sound and this is very listenable. Misc: - This is pretty new to me, maybe I heard it on the radio as a ~9 year old but I don't recall this album or band name at all. - Great sound! I'm impressed with this a lot. - While it's a nice album, in the context of 1001 albums you need to hear, it is a questionable decision. IMO it lacks memorability.

Electric Ladyland

Jimi Hendrix

4/5

Pros: - One of the best guitarists of all time. With that should come the notion that any of his albums on his unfortunately short discography could be listed on this. - This album has some absolute slappers. "Crosstown traffic" is super underrated and is the only badass song I know to include kazoo's predominantly. Cons: Misc: It's just great. Some album-flow things are weird, like a "filler"ish 1 minute track after a 13 minute track. Some tracks linger on a bit long. I'm not personally big on albums that are mixes of structured songs and also longer jam sections and this one does that a little, but it's still a classic album.

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

3/5

Pros: - Wow very Bruce Springsteen-y! - Funny how production wise this is a throwback. It was released in 1977 but songs like "No Dancing" sounds totally like a 1950's boogie woogie. The album cover is a throwback too. - On the topic of the album cover, how interesting is the choice of the text on top of that checkered background? Weird isn't it? Cons: Misc: - pretty nice album all around!

La Revancha Del Tango

Gotan Project

3/5

Pros: - I really just love moody noir music... and this album feels like it was created out of red wine, cigarettes, a one night stand after a chance meeting in a jazz bar, and the sound of footsteps down a Parisian alley. - Chunga's Revenge - what a name. Love the snare ghost notes that pull the rhythm off-beat. Cons: - It's place on this list is IMO debatable. It's a very cool overall sound but I wonder what albums aren't on this list that this album has taken the place of. Misc:

No Other

Gene Clark

2/5

I lost my notes on this one for some reason. My computer restarted overnight but I always hit "save" but not really sure what happened. Overall, I liked this album, it's very stereotypical classic rock that leans a little more John Denver than Led Zeppelin. My big gripe was that after listening it didn't have much memorability for me. A common strength of classic rock in its unconscious quest for churning out timeless tunes is the memorability factor. So many songs from that era are memorable, catchy, and have remained on radio stations because of that. This album didn't really deliver on that for me.

Music For The Jilted Generation

The Prodigy

3/5

Pros: - Prodigy has such a cool sound. They are serious groundbreakers. - Yea, let's take glass smashing and make it a rhythmic element. Yea! - Oddly enough, it's great background music. - Drum n Bass is just a great discovery in music. Cons: Misc: - Their follow up album to this, "The Fat of the Land" is also very good, and contains probably their biggest hit, "Smack My Bitch Up".

Trans Europe Express

Kraftwerk

2/5

I lost my writeup (second time this week!) due to a computer overnight restart and the website not saving my text so this will be short. I liked it, I think the big thing with them is that they were THE pioneers of electronic music. What is cool about this album is that it's actually listenable and easy to enjoy though. I think sometimes pioneers of genres are good at making something new but are not always the best at refining the sound, but to me this album sounds breaks that stereotype and gives us music that is not ONLY experimental or new. The only downside is that it's pretty minimalistic and can get repetitive.

White Light / White Heat

The Velvet Underground

2/5

Pros: - First track - I love that experimental ending, with all of the instruments just gradually pulling apart rhythmically. Very cool sound! - Then the second track starts with some spoken word! I have to admit though as this track went on that I became a little bored by it. I've mentioned it before but I'm a big believer in albums starting with a song or having their second song be some kind of moderately uptempo / interesting sound regardless of the genre, and this one was really interesting to have the second song be a repetitive 8 minute long spoken word song. - The experimental-ness of the album and overall sound is really intriguing. Specifically experimenting with vocal deliveries is really cool. Cons: - Not every act needs things like choruses and hooks, but I think they could benefit from having some of them? Or more of them? I found myself bored at times with some of the songs. Ultimately I didn't love the album..

Station To Station

David Bowie

3/5

Pros: - It slaps! Great grooves on the intro song. - I put this on while doing some chores and it made the chores really really enjoyable. This is a great experience. - The repeatability of the choruses is very fun. - The grooves continue throughout. Very pleased with the grooves. Cons: Misc: - Lack of free time and general unfamiliarity with some albums on this list has stopped me from doing deep dives into the lyrics side. While I love writing about things like production and song structure, I really love getting into lyrics and concepts and I think Bowie is probably a really great lyricist that is hurting me a little to not have the time to dig through. Wah. - Looking at this album solved a mystery for me. One of my favorite bands, Okkervil River, has a song where they mention "TVC16" and I never knew what it meant. The lyricist has some great web-like lyrical themes and sometimes I will listen to one of their songs a few dozen times before actually looking at the lyrical connections because frankly it can be exhausting. In this song, called "Plus Ones", they mention some really specific themes from other bands songs that have numbers in them, and they add a "+1" to each. So they have lyrics like "100 luftballoons" instead of 99, "8 Chinese Brothers" instead of 7, like in the REM song, "51 ways to leave your lover" instead of 50 like Paul Simon wrote about. I feel silly looking at it now, but seeing a track titled TVC15 on this album made me finally turn my brain on and look at the Okkervil River lyric. Mystery Solved! It's pretty obvious now that I think of it.

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground

4/5

Overall a tight album, and probably my first time listening to all of the tracks together. Sometimes I think some of these albums from this era are often looked at with rose tinted glasses but this was a great listen for me.

Goo

Sonic Youth

4/5

Great originators of emotional rock and roll that is as unpretentious as it gets. They might be the founders of the genre of post-rock too. Which is funny to write. I listened to the heck out of this. It's a high 4 for me.

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

4/5

It's Sabbath! This isn't the best Sabbath album, but it's still jam packed with great tunes. High 4 for me!

Disintegration

The Cure

4/5

Great album, surprisingly sparse? Really didn't expect so much instrumental outtros and intros but I thought it was nice. It's a tight album! I love this super emo kind of sound when taken real seriously and they take it seriously I think.

Cut

The Slits

2/5

Pros: - It's an interesting sound. Reggae music with sort of melodic sort of spoken word vocals --<>-- is how I would try to understand it? Cons: - Surprisingly boring for the amount of experimenting and looseness going on? Maybe it's the reggae sort of backdrop behind the vocals?

Fifth Dimension

The Byrds

1/5

Pros: After the third track, the lead guitar playing gets kind of weird and experimental in both tone and melody. I like that. Cons: - It feels a little... kitsch-y to me? Listening to the third track, Mr. Spaceman, sounds like some faux classic rock music? Like something Tim and Eric would make in order to make fun of classic rock?... - I kind of felt bored by it and I don't really have a great reason for it being on this list.

Remain In Light

Talking Heads

3/5

I like that right from the start you *get* the sound. It's fun, energetic, electronic, and unique. David Byrne has had several genius moments in this career. Solid album!

Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy

4/5

It's one of my favorite hip hop albums. I have a black and white t-shirt of this album cover. The songs are weirdly jamm-y and have big instrumental gaps, and yet also have a smattering of lyrics about slavery and race issues on top of music that is fun and energetic. It's a crazy sound.

GI

Germs

2/5

I tend to innately enjoy raw music but this didn't do much for me. The lead singer's voice sounded kind of boy-ish, like a neighborhood bully trying to act tough. He was 21 when this was released though so maybe that's why. This is Pat Smear's first band which I didn't know! He was the second guitarist for Nirvana's amazing unplugged performance and also is a member of the Foo Fighters. Reading about this band and the singer Darby Crash (great stage names in this band- the bassist was "Lorna Doom") has been enjoyable. Maybe more enjoyable than listening to the album. Darby naturally had a fucked up youth and went to a very weird school that blended elements of scientology and allowed students to make their own classes; so Darby and Pat made a Fruit Eating class where they would go to a market and eat fruit and then return to school. Like most albums, I ended up enjoying this more after reading some background about the band and also hearing it more. Sometimes I write these in a more formulaic way but I find this stream of consciousness way to be fun at the moment so I'm not going to remove my initial thoughts which were more negative than my final thoughts on the album. Overall I think while maybe it was influential at the time, this one didn't do too much for me.

Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth

3/5

Pros: - Really dig the lead singers voice. I'm going to bastardize it by saying it sounds like bands/singers that are way younger / newer but it's the only way I can describe it. It's like punky while also having an approachable sort of Rivers Cuomo type of sound to it. - I don't know what this lyric means but it's funny to hear "Marshall stacks" in a song. This means really big and loud amplifiers in their biggest form/configuration- something that bands like this really loved. "Everybody's coming from the winter vacation Taking in the sun in a exaltation to you You come running in on platform shoes With Marshall stacks to at least just give us a clue" - I really love the spoken word parts (similar to what they do 2 years later on GOO)- like the track "providence". - I love how the second track "Silver Rocket", just stops around the 2 minute mark. It just falls apart. Experimental structure! Cons: Misc:

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

3/5

The yardbirds are dope because they launched the careers of Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page (I think), and Eric Clapton (fuck clapton). I always thought the band was good but not nearly as great as those guitarists follow-up bands. Regardless, they deserve a spot on this list.

Violator

Depeche Mode

3/5

Personal Jesus is a banger. Legitimate slaps. For me personally it brings back memories of being ~14 year old, playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, driving around the desert in a convertible, and blaring this song through the car speakers. Enjoy the Silence is also a genuine certified slapper. The ending is very weird. The rest of the album isn't as strong for me and doesn't offer anything in the same level of quality as Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence. Either way, the few tracks that stand out on this album warrant a 3/5 at the least as they are staples in this electronic genre.

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

5/5

I was starting to think after around ~50 albums rated that the genre of metal was being forgotten about as I think we’ve only gotten a single other one so far (Black Sabbath). Thankful to be proven wrong here with MOP >:O >:O This album has so many definable characteristics. It is DYNAMIC in its instrumentation. The first thing you hear is Battery, with acoustic guitars that start to increase in harmonic complexity, adding harmony on top of harmony... until you get hit at 39 seconds in, and are given an EPIC soundstage on your ears. then at 1 minute in you get the ENERGY OF THE RIFFFFFFFFFFF >:O >:O And then you are set on a crash course where it’s hard to take a breath without hitting the pause button. I genuinely love this album and I think it's a masterpiece in not only the genre but in music as a whole. Metallica gets an interesting response these days from metal people as they are seen as generic compared to the breadth that the genre has expanded into, but their music is classic songwriting genius- track after track after track. Master of Puppets might be their magnum opus and is in the running for the magnum opus of the genre of metal. It is so dynamic, energetic, surprisingly approachable, monumental, and even catchy. After one listen through you will have parts that you remember. You will remember guitar parts that sound like a cat scratch or tires screeching on a road. You will remember vocal parts! That is so incredibly hard to do in metal, as most metal vocal parts are rhythmic and devoid of melodic qualities or obvious pitches. Somehow my biggest takeaway from this album has always been trying to figure out how a metal band from 1986 has the tracks Orion and Master of Puppets on one album. Both have so many emotions and standout variables for me- with distorted guitar chugfest sections, with soaring guitar solos that are still tasteful, fun offset rhythmic groovy parts (Orion at 2:12 specifically), and yet they are somehow introspective, contemplative, and still unrelenting and epic. This album was released March 1986 and only 6 months later the bus accident occurred where bassist Cliff Burton died at the age of 24. The section in Orion that starts at around the 4 minute mark is one that I’ve always shown to naysayers of the metal genre as an unquestionably brilliant testament that the genre can produce genius level music composition. That section starts with an emotional Burton bass line, that evolves into Bach-like lines at around the 5:40 mark (seriously listen to the bass at 6:00 - with headphones it is breathtaking) and then further evolves into more emotional playing – 6:33 the bass re-enters with distortion with Burton’s infamous no-plectrum technique and then syncs up with the lead guitars. Unquestionable. I’m always a little sad when I hear Orion because of this (and there’s the slightest hint of some chopped onions here as I write this on a Monday morning at 9:39am) but it usually doesn’t take long for me to remember how that song and this album are timeless and will be listened to forever. Easy 5/5 for me and possibly a 6/5.

Central Reservation

Beth Orton

3/5

I feel like there's more to this album than what you first get on a first listen / initial listens of the more prominent tracks. It has standout performances, like the guitar solo on "Stolen Car", and it has songs that are really sonically different and dynamic that show a good strength of songwriting with different tones and timbres. One down side for me is the track list has one little quirk: I'm estimating here but the BPMs are like this per track: 1: 120~ish bpm 2: 90~ish 3: 100~ish 4: 80~ish 5: 85~ish 6: 85~ish 7: back up to 90-100~ish last track (which is a remix): 120~ish bpm To me, this is kind of weird because it starts with a track that moves and then gets a good bit slower for the rest of the album until the last track. Most music acts have "their" sound and don't deviate too much from it, but I find it weird to sandwhich the album with two upbeat tempo tracks and then have a lot of slower tracks in the middle. It's not a terribly bad thing, but for someone like me who likes the idea of logically placing tracks to create a well-paced listen, I think that it's a weaker variable for the album. Overall I liked the album. As I mentioned above it is more than just a singer songwriter thing, and there's some real nice moments on it.

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

4/5

Always loved his playing and never really did deep dives into his albums. He's known as being a (the?) king of alternate guitar tuning / singer songwriter music and this album is really a masterpiece of that style of playing, singing, and overall composition. I love his voice. It's very evocative and yet approachable and not overly dramatic. Biggest gripe is that his music to me can get boring. #shotsfired I know this time period is an interesting mix of 60's and 70's folk music, but I would love for more dynamics or energy in a track here or there. The closest we get to more energetic tracks are in "Poor Boy", which is a bossa nova type track, or "Bryter Layter" which has the faintest hi-hat rhythm that moves the song forward. We hear it a little on "One of These Things First" (which is a lovely song), but his voice is just ~too~ soothing and slow to really push it at all even though the guitar and piano are trying.

Astral Weeks

Van Morrison

3/5

He's got one of the best voices in classic rock / rock / folk rock. It's so notable, distinct, and full of emotion. This album starts off with some tracks that have the music underneath his voice sort of meander around and he just kind of "does his own thing" on top. Lots of rubato and free flowing rhythms in his vocal melodies that just sit on top of the chord changes. I'm not sure if the majority of his music/songwriting is like this, but I like it. Sometimes vocalists have such good voices that they really just have the agency to do what they want on top of music without the need for things like structured repeats to enhance the catchy-ness quality of a melody, and this seems like the case with him. He can seemingly just grab a mic and go "lllluuuuuhhhhhh yeeeaaaah" and it sounds great. The one downside of this that I've seen happen is that it makes this sort of disconnect between the vocalist and the band members. I like a certain amount of homogeneity in the vocals and the music; it is just another instrument after all. I don't find it as much of a downside for Van Morrison though because I know that he is a songwriter too and not just someone who gets put on stage in front of a band and told to "do his thing". I think Steve put it well in his review of the last album on the list - (where he ironically mentioned Van Morrison- not knowing that next up on the list WAS Van Morrison lol) this is a great Sunday morning / afternoon album. Put it on while you are drinking coffee and tidying up your place, or put it on while you wait for your grill to get hot and for your friends to arrive. There won't be any objections to the music choice.

Melody A.M.

Röyksopp

3/5

Some cool lofi type hip hop type of music. I dig it. This came out in 2001- was this some early inspiration to the lofi hip hop beat youtube genre? I dig it. There should probably be a lofi hip hop sort of album on this list and this one is pretty dynamic. It has some upbeat tracks (Poor Leno), some vocals (Remind Me), some that sound like videogame music (In Space), and overall it was a nice listen!

Shake Your Money Maker

The Black Crowes

4/5

It's fuggin rock and roll. When I was listening to this band as a boy I would get them confused with "Counting Crows" (because I was probably like 8). I think this band does deserve a place on this list. This album is a solid rock and roll album. I will admit that I listened to it in full background-mode and I think that is where this band shines. The singer has such a great rock and roll voice and some of these songs are bangers but I'm personally biased because I've heard them so much that they are ingrained as backing track music. "Hard to Handle" is one of the best post-1980s rock and roll songs ever. "She Talks to Angels" is as pure as a rock and roll ballad can ever get. I bet these dudes wear a ton of fringe.

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

4/5

I like how this album starts with some energy and keeps it up. Even the third track, "I know it's Over" which is a little slower and somewhat ballad-y, has a drum and bass groove that keeps it moving. Morrissey just has such a great evocative voice. It's sensitive and yet still has a touch of tough-ness to it. Hearing this full through has given me some new tracks to put in my current rotation. I never really gave The Smiths the time of day but I really enjoyed this!

Teen Dream

Beach House

3/5

Never heard this band before- I like the sound! - As it was proposed, this makes me think a little about a beach house. Some nervous excitement, some calm warmth, some beauty, some chill. - The first track, "Zebra" is such a lovely buildup. I was really let down by the drum tones/performance when it finally hits though at 2:20. The kick and (more specifically) the snare sound so weak. Regardless, the rest of the track is really nice! Great chord progression and textures. I sort of back-burnered the rest of the album and didn't really focus too hard on elements beyond this first track though. Nice album!

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean

5/5

I didn't get into Frank Ocean until this past December (2021) because he got a ton of universal hype across indie review websites and I would always be almost insulted when I would see him atop "Best Indie Albums" lists. I would think- "Is this hip hop guy's album really more monumental for indie music than the Strokes "Is This It"?" or I would question "Frank Ocean is more indie than Neutral Milk Hotel?". But then in December I heard one of his tracks covered live and I was like "oh man is THIS Frank Ocean? The time has come." Frank Ocean is the Fucking Shit with a capital F and S, and Channel Orange is a masterpiece. To me he has that one magical thing about his voice that he could sing literally anything and it would sound beautiful, hip, emotional, contemplative, and cool. His persona only adds to it- he rarely gives interviews and keeps a bit behind the curtain, he's so cool that he performs on SNL and his guitarist in the back - in the dark - is John Mayer, he even announced his sexuality via his personal Tumblr by just saying "4 Summer ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too." (It's a beautiful short thank you note that you should check out if you haven't and are a fan. I love how frank he is about it in an environment where being gay or bisexual isn't so widely accepted)... he's just a cool guy. "Thinkin Bout You", "Super Rich Kids", and "Lost" are modern classics! This is an album where I would love to have had a rating system out of 100 instead of out of 5. To me it's hard to say that this album is only a 4/5 because that's an 80/100. It's also not a 5/5 or 100/100 like a few others on this list are, but I think that it's closer to being a 5/5 than it is a 4/5 so I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Odelay

Beck

4/5

This album is a great one to show when showing people Beck. It's a solid representation of him: strong songwriting mixed with outstanding production techniques. Beck is such a stalwart, and I always appreciated his music and the way that he was a gateway musician to a lot of other genres. I think it's easy for a young kid to listen to this album and then get into slightly more abstract sounding indie rock for example, and I love that.

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

4/5

On Steve's bachelor party trip, on the van ride back to NJ there was a discussion about favorite Bob Dylan albums. I listened to him but never played through one of his albums from start to finish (blasphemous for a singer-songwriter). When I was asked, I think I responded with \"Highway 61\" because it was the one that had tracks on it that I actually knew and knew the names of. Someone had said \"Blonde On Blonde\" (Steve? Or was it Steve Fingerhut?) and so the next day or a few days later when I was at work I threw it on and loved it. It's a great album and a strong follow-up to Highway 61 Revisited. It feels fun and energetic compared to the common idea of what Bob Dylan sounds like. The only downside of this album is that it relies so heavy on the blues chord progression, and there's really only so much you can do with that in similar keys and instrumentation before the songs start to blur together and get a little predictable. It's still an amazing album but for someone who has drilled the blues progression a few hundred times, my mind can't help but drift when listening to it in an album format.

The Colour Of Spring

Talk Talk

3/5

This really surprised me, I didn't know what to expect as it's my first time hearing this band and this album. I do have a penchant for 80s acts that write somewhat "cheesy" music but take it really seriously and they appear to fit that bill. Pros: - Great mood shifts in the music. The first song really is blowing my mind with the incredibly interesting layers. The piano starts to shift a pretty "grey" sounding track into happy and sad areas by just changing a few chords- then meandering- then going back to the "grey" and neutral mood. When the children come in in the chorus and sing the callback I was really impressed! Really unique all around. The name of the album is The Colour of Spring, and it's got me thinking about how true they have stuck to that idea and theme. Spring is of course the idea of awakening / rebirth / beauty / change. Across the album I can hear ideas that to me sound like "a fresh start", but I can also hear the rainy days that you get randomly scattered throughout Spring. If I have any critique it's that the vocals are a little low in volume in the tracks across the album. This might be purposeful as there is definitely a focus on the wide instruments. My standout tracks were: "Happiness is Easy", "April 5th" and "Living in Another World". Ultimately I really enjoyed this album. There wasn't a single track that I was bored with, and having a first song that starts out with some really cool mood changes along with instrumentation/voice changes made me have this feeling of "anything can happen" which continued throughout the album listen. Even their more jam-y songs, like "Life's What You Make It" was still interesting throughout. I LOVE the piano that comes in around 2:20.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

Genesis

4/5

Solid progressive rock. Production values are very high level, and I think ahead of their time for 1974. This could have come out in 1984 and I would have had the same sentiment. Cons: Even though I mentioned it being great production, I think that synths in the 70s were still a newish tech for bands and acts around this era tended to overdo it. For me, the synth solo throughout the track "In The Cage" really is quite annoying. Synths most often are devoid of any dynamic qualities. They are 100% volume 100% of the time (unless the volume of the instrument is changing at the mixing stage), unlike a piano or a guitar. These solos are blistering runs that lack any kind of interesting layer in them beyond "speed". Not really my thing. Could be my age speaking since I don't really like any kind of solo that's only interesting quality is "fast" "Back in NYC" is really cool. I love the lead instrument. It's repetitive yet really cool and interesting intervals, and tied to the drums to make a really fun groove. "Hairless Heart" sounds like a Final Fantasy video game track. So cool. "Counting Out Time" is very obviously about erogenous zones. Gotta love that. "Colony of Slippermen" is so weird- it's like goblins talking into your ears.t The in between / instrumental tracks are really well placed. This album is an adventure. It really goes places. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only thing keeping it a 5 is that it doesn't really have any huge memorable / catchy tracks that the band is capable of. Or maybe it's just that it's my first time hearing these. I'm giving it a 4 but it's a very high 4.

British Steel

Judas Priest

5/5

Rob Halford has one of the greatest metal voices of all time and this album showcases it perfectly. He does such a good job at everything a rock vocalist could want. Powerful chest voice, legendary shrieking high register yell, incredible finesse with when to release his voice and also when to keep it tame and build the tension. He's also a pioneer for gay men in rock and I think he probably single handedly made the biggest difference in heavy metal fans' outlook on accepting gay people into the culture. He's flamboyant in his own way- he doesn't make it his whole personality or make it a point that sees him stand out from others / take the attention away from the music. And yet at the same time he wears a ton of stereotypical biker leather with spikes (the whole band does as well- and the rest of the band are straight men) and has a "I'm gay, you don't give a fuck, let's jam" attitude. I love it. I once went to an Ozzfest when I was like 14 and Ozzy was set to sing with Black Sabbath, with Priest being the act right before Sabbath. Ozzy was sick and couldn't perform. Rob Halford sang the Sabbath set. One of the most amazing moments for a fan of metal to witness. I simply love this album, this act, and the musicians. When I hear Priest I think nothing can stop me- nothing can fuck with what I'm doing.

Chicago Transit Authority

Chicago

4/5

Great album, great band that was always being played throughout my life but put on by someone else- like a radio DJ or a family member at a BBQ. The band is really tight and the songs even at their foundations sound really great. There's also this sort of "epic" quality to this album (and probably the rest of the bands music as well) that I really appreciate. It's like the guitarist would go into the studio and say "can i do this huge guitar solo?" and the rest of the band says "hell yes". Good example of this is the track "Poem 58".

Tubular Bells

Mike Oldfield

2/5

This was used in the exorcist! I thought it sounded familiar. Nice album, probably ahead of it's time with modern world music / new age-y sort of feel to it as it came out in 1973. Many of the transitions are kind of blunt in my opinion and don't have much finesse which weakens the overall experience. A good example is halfway into the first track, about at the 13 minute mark it goes from a computer-y dual clean guitar part - to a groovy distorted guitar chunker section for a total of 20 seconds- then immediately into a humming piano part. and it kind of lacks panache. To me it comes across as a million ideas all stitched together without a lot of development.

Inspiration Information

Shuggie Otis

2/5

It's a nice album but it's a little too -backgroundy- for me. It was hard for me to be grabbed by the music without sitting intently and paying attention to everything going on. The vocals being so soft probably played a part in this. The track "XL-30" was cool- I think it's like mimic-ing what a robot would sound like with some early electronic sounds? That was unexpected and while I do like things like that, I think that it's just kind of added to this album for the sake of adding something different? I'd rather they got experimental in the other tracks and throughout the album rather than all at once to try to spice things up. Got nothing wrong with chill music but this didn't do much for me.

Ragged Glory

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

3/5

I love hearing Neil Young with some electric guitars behind him. This album has a few songs that come across as kind of podunky dad rock though, which isn't always the case with Neil Young. "F!#*in Up" isn't one of them and I appreciate how Neil comes across as a bit cooler and less caring in that track. Production wise this was pretty great for 1990. It's got a ton of grunge tones in the fuzzy, scratchy guitars, and I think it was probably a breath of fresh air for rock and roll fans trying to get away from the 80s. I also like how loose some of the tracks feel. There's a lot of room to breathe and the foundational elements - the bass and drums - tend to be pretty tight throughout. I do think the drums can be a little boring at times, but I think that for this period of rock music there isn't much exploration going on for drummers/ drumset players, so I'm looking at it coming from a place of modernity in rock music where percussion elements tend to be a little more exploratory and a little more engaging. These drumbeats sound like the first ones you hear when you open up a programmed drumset application as a music producer- "Rock Beat 1" "Rock Beat Ballad 3" "Mid Tempo Rock 6" etc. Overall I like the album! Neil Young is great and I love hearing him in a rock setting with Crazy Horse.

Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine

3/5

It's a tight album. Surprisingly short at 38 minutes for 12 songs. One downside for me is that in the production the vocals are too low in volume. I know that that is sort of their sound (along with a lot of other bands with similar sounds), but I wish the vocals were just a little louder. "Loveless" is often seen as their magnum opus, and it's fun to hear their sound evolve from this record to that one. This album to me feels a little less polished and a little less developed. There's moments where I wonder about their thought process for writing a specific song or even the inclusion of a certain song on the album. The track "All I Need" comes to mind- it's sort of this trance-like interlude that lulls you before one of the more energetic tracks "Feed Me With Your Kiss". It's a typical musical/album-flow idea to have some give and take, but it does make me ponder their thought process when writing that. Did they consider the "sound" that they want to have as a band and include that trance-like track? Or did they just write songs and put them one after another and say "whatever"? There's a lot to consider! Overall, I liked it! I think it has a great raw sound.

The Clash

4/5

Some early punk rockin by one of the best to ever do it. I've actually never been a huge listener of the band but it would be hard to not respect them as pioneers of the genre and at the core even just good songwriters with a dirty sound. Highlights on the album for me: "Janie Jones" "I'm so Bored with the U.S.A." "What's My Name" If London Calling is a 5, then this one is a high 4.

Seventeen Seconds

The Cure

2/5

I like this version of The Cure- the more melodramatic side from their earlier records (this is their second) before they started to get more poppy (I like the poppy version of them too). The third and fourth tracks "Secrets", and "In Your House" are good examples of this neutral / grey / mid tempo / lower vocal sound that I find attractive. The downside of this is that the tracks tend to meander a bit and don't often have any climaxes or dynamic changes. The song "Three" is painfully repetitive, and it's not the only one. It kind of typecasts the music for listening while you are a little bit down or on a rainy day. Unfortunately for The Cure, I listened to this on a beautiful late Spring / early Summer type of day and it didn't necessarily parallel my mood! I'll have to save it for the Fall. Ultimately I liked it but I question it's place on this list as there's too many tracks on it that I would consider "filler".

Go Girl Crazy

The Dictators

3/5

Interesting pock and rock album! Never heard of it or the band prior. Pros: - I like the funny spoken lines. Feels really raw! - Guitar work is really well done for a punk sound. - Lyrics are funny! - Oh dang this came out in 1975! After reading more about it, it's been called a precursor to punk. I'm not surprised! Very ahead of its time. Misc: - I've been following the play counts for every album on this list as they are on Spotify - and I think this one has the lowest counts. Not a single song is at 1 million streams, with the highest being 576k streams, and meanwhile most other albums easily go over 1 million for most tracks.

Fun House

The Stooges

3/5

Interesting early punk / raw sound. I find the production to be very interesting - if you listen to track 4, "Dirt", and then track 5 "1970", there is a huge volume discrepancy between the two tracks. I suspect a different fidelity level too- "Dirt" sounds wider, with instruments panned out further into the L and R ears, and 1970 to be generally less stereo. "LA Blues" is very cool and wild with saxophones - it almost feels like a John Zorn piece in some areas.

Gris Gris

Dr. John

3/5

Pros: - The production is really interesting. The panning on the first track is super wide and only gets more intriguing as the song goes on. The first minute and a half or so is mostly in the left ear, and then the next minute and a half is mostly in the right. That's something you don't really see too often. - I like the vibey moody sort of world of sounds that this guy is weaving on this album. Misc: Overall I liked it! Cool album from a band/act that I haven't heard of before.

Aqualung

Jethro Tull

3/5

I think this is Jethro Tull's most well known album. I love aqualung (the song), and locomotive breath, but the rest of the tracks don't ever really come too close to those two for me. Still a solid release. It's a great classic rock sound with some impressive genre blending and I think probably the best implementation ever of flutes in rock music.

Sticky Fingers

The Rolling Stones

5/5

Really great, timeless album. The hits are there, and I found myself enjoying the non-hits just as much, like "I Got the Blues" (with a great organ solo!), and the finishers "Dead Flowers" and "Moonlight Mile".

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby

3/5

Interesting sound, it's like 80's electronic soul funk. Some of the mix / post production decisions are interesting and I find some songs have moments that sound pretty dynamically weak or a little thin. I do like the overall flow of the album; I think the artist did a good job at placing the tracks and there is a great mix of longer songs that explore / develop more, and shorter tracks that hang around a single hook and repeat it often and this was a standout idea of the album for me. Some of these tracks repeat the hook SO much that you can't really help but get them stuck in your head. "Wishing Well", "Seven More Days", "Let's Go Forward"... they are so short, repetitive, and romantic that it kind of feels like a.. love-making album? lol.

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

3/5

Beautiful album that was over before I even knew it. That was a good thing and a bad thing - I was having a great conversation with someone when I started this album and it kept me vibing and energized while in the discussion, but it also didn't have one track that really stood out.

Chris

Christine and the Queens

3/5

For some reason I usually tend to not like pop music that comes from countries besides the US. I don't know why and I really try hard to not put truth into things like that but I think it might be that it's hard for me to enjoy pop music without understanding the lyrics. Oddly enough I think lyrics in pop music are rarely a standout feature however. But this album I thought sounded great! It had some Ariana Grande moments, and it had some Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion type moments as well. Overall I enjoyed the album, and I think it's pretty ambitious to do the whole album in both English and French. Well done all around!

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding

5/5

One of the best soul records of all time. He was a gift to the world and this record is overflowing with timeless tracks.

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

4/5

Nice dynamic album. I like the arrangements and I think it's overall a nice record to put on and listen through in one sitting. There's some fun production elements here too- like "Death of a Disco Dancer" has some fun little guitar SFX type of plucks happening. I can't say enough about how much I enjoy the pacing. There's such a good mix of songs on the album and it all flows really nicely.

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

4/5

Yikes this album is crisp. The snare and drums in general are super tight. I love this 80s pop sound. I find it interesting to start an album with the track they did - "So Far Away" is kind of like a repetitive chorus followed by a guitar riff that repeats for 5 minutes. I don't love that. "Money for Nothing" "Walk of Life" "Brothers in Arms" Are all solid! But the whole album is very very good.

You've Come a Long Way Baby

Fatboy Slim

4/5

This album was such a guilty pleasure for me when I was a kid. All of my friends were into heavy metal as was I, but I would listen to these tracks and love them in secret. (side note - guilty pleasures - what a silly thing). It's a great album. Only listening now do I find that this album has some tracks that are very videogame soundtrack-y.

You Want It Darker

Leonard Cohen

4/5

I was waiting for Leonard Cohen to appear on this list. So we all know he has HIS sound, but man does he come across as tired and exhausted on this album. This is my first time hearing it and reading about it and apparently he recorded this in his living room after touring a ton and having medical issues for years. Then the release of this album came out only like 2-3 weeks before his death. It's fitting that the first track's main hook is "I'm ready, my lord." "Leaving the Table" is really amazing. It's such a Leonard Cohen song. Lyrics are really A+ for me. You can tell that he knew this was his last one, and it of course brings a sadness to that fact, but I love his tongue and cheek humorous acceptance. "Traveling light It's au revoir My once so bright My fallen star I'm running late They'll close the bar I used to play One mean guitar"

Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin

5/5

"Chain of Fools"... is there a better song in the realm of soul music? Oh yea, maybe it's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", which is only four songs later on this same record. JEEEZ. I also really liked track 4, "Niki Hoeky", which surprisingly had the lowest amount of plays on the album on Spotify. The bass line pushes the track forward so well. After starting with a bop it really just continues. This album slaps you so hard all you can say is "thank you may I have another." Everything is so well done.

At San Quentin

Johnny Cash

5/5

IMO this is one of the best live albums of modern music. The dynamic with him bantering with the inmates is so uniquely strange, energetic, tense, and yet somehow he is comfortable (naive?) enough to invite his wife, June Carter on stage to sing with him for a song. I think the setlist is fantastic, the performance is fantastic, and I think this album is fantastic. It's not only fitting for this list but also is an easy 5/5 for me.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

5/5

It's a wildly good pop / pop-rock album. Despite it's current place in the world as a meme song, Wonderwall is one of the best pop acoustic guitar songs of all time, and both "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Champagne Supernova" could be single one-hit wonders that could make another artist's complete career- and Oasis have all three of them on one album. That factor alone makes this album a 5/5 for me, and yet there's still more tracks on the album that are fantastic, like "She's Electric" and "Some Might Say". (side note- if i'm recalling correctly, this is the first time i'm hitting consecutive 5 out of 5's!)

The Stooges

3/5

Admittedly I went into this album knowing the name of the band (and that Iggy Pop was in it) but not recalling any of their songs or anything about them so it was mostly a "blind" listen. - Iggy Pop has a great voice on the record. Love the performance and production of it on this album and how it is allowed to shine. - Some of the tracks get pretty repetitive and not really in a good way. I'm a big fan of when rock bands use the 2nd or 3rd tracks of an album as an upbeat one (or at least something that keeps a listener engaged) and while I think it's fine to not follow that tenet, I was pretty dulled out by the third track on this album being a 10 minute repetitive / meditative drone piece. The violin on it is really incredible, but unfortunately it comes in at around 8 minutes and 45 seconds into the piece- too late in my opinion. I do think this track would have been great as the album finisher. - Production-wise, the hard panning (some voices were panned 100% left / 100% right instead of more common 33%, 66%, 75% etc) was a little grating for some tracks and unfortunately its pretty prevalent. I hate for this to take away points because this was a time period where it was being experimented with, and while the execution might not always be there on these early records, I do recognize that we wouldn't have things like panning technology today without the experimentation. - I do think its a great blend of punk and psychedelic rock which has to be two really difficult genres to smash together. I wish there were more songs that had both of those elements together in a more homogeneous way. While the album has plenty of both types of genres, I find it unfortunate that they are almost completely split up. "Here's a punky song." "Here's a psychedelic song.". I would have loved a "Here's a punky song with psychedelic vocals and guitars." or "Here's a psychedelic song with punk vocals."

Wild Gift

X

2/5

This album didn't really do too much for me. It had some moments where I found the music and lyrics to be fun, but I felt like so many of the songs being on the shorter end didn't allow me to sit into their melodies and chord progressions enough.

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

3/5

It's a fun album. I wish I was the gunslinger on the album cover. What a man. It was more diverse than I predicted it to be. It's got some nice vocal harmonies and some fun chromatic guitar playing! There's something about American folk music that attracts me at a deep level; it's the depictions of the west, the stories about outlaws, the way that they sing about love in a vastly different era but it surprisingly isn't really that different from modern day love songs. I love it. Overall I liked the album, and I think a record like this deserves a place on this list.

Bad

Michael Jackson

5/5

I love MJ and I love this album. I think that "Thriller" is his best but this is probably #2 or #3. The hits on this are just too good: "Bad" "The Way You Make Me Feel" (maybe secretly my favorite MJ song) "Man in the Mirror" "Smooth Criminal"

Red Headed Stranger

Willie Nelson

4/5

I like this early Willie Nelson as it is more like Hank Williams sounding country western folk. Willie has never been one of my favorite singers in this style but his influence is unquestionable. This album specifically is probably one of the more enjoyable ones of his for me to go through. Weird that there's the track "Time of the Preacher Theme" which is 1:13 long, and then a few tracks later there is a short little reprise that's the same exact title and is a 0:26 second intro sort of piece to the following track, "Just as I am". "Can I Sleep In Your Arms" is really an incredibly underrated track. Per Spotify it is the 7th most played track out of 15 on the record and I found myself really enjoying it.

Kick Out The Jams (Live)

MC5

2/5

Pretty fun album. I love the live philosophical announcement at the start of the record to start dancing. I like how much energy is in the songs, but it does come across as all being one speed and not too dynamic. I don't love how it can be pretty cacophonous at times- like the end of "Rocket Reducer No. 62 - Talk" is just some really discordant and grating guitar riffs. The next one, "Borderline" is more of the same, and maybe even worse because the guitars are incredibly scratchy, panned to each ear, and consistently "off" from the drums which makes it sound like one big vehicle that is crawling towards a destination but the machine is breaking down and parts are flying off as it gets there. I tend to like raw music but this one I think I would really have to be in the right mood to listen to. I'm sure the live show is better than hearing it recorded too.

Surfer Rosa

Pixies

4/5

Great indie alternative rock album. "Where Is My Mind" is such an anthem!

Diamond Life

Sade

3/5

Production is really crisp "Smooth Operator" "Your Love Is King" are two nice album starters. I feel like there are a lot of nice songs on the album and only a few that stand out. I think that's kind of her thing though? Smooth and sultry R&B doesn't usually have big banger tracks. I do wish some of the tracks had more direction to them. Maybe a second half key change, a shift in major/minor tonality, or even instrument changes just to add some excitement.

Elephant

The White Stripes

4/5

"Seven Nation Army" is one of the best / coolest / anthemic songs ever written by a rock band. It sounds oxymoronic, but I love how the sound is straightforward and approachable yet also unconventional and unique. It's one of my favorite qualities of this record / the band. It's a high 4 for me.

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

5/5

After reading Steve's review of Cash's "At San Quentin" I realized that there were several of these live-in-prison albums so I was gushing over a different one when I meant to be gushing over this one. They are both fantastic though and I think deserving of their spots in this 1001 list. This album is excellent and has everything that I would want in a country folk singer songwriting record. I love the energy, the banter, the recording quality, and the performance overall is stellar.

The United States Of America

3/5

What a weird opener track. It sounds like alien rock. I both love and hate the drums being panned so harshly in the right ear. God damnit the drumset is panned again in the second track. It's a pretty dynamic album. The 5th song, "I wouldn't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar" is totally Beatles-y and shows how experimental the band is trying to be while also sticking to common songwriting structures and forms. The following song shows more of the dynamics, as it is a weird chordal drone piece which totally contrasts the one before it. I liked it more as it went on and I'm definitely intrigued by the band.

MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana

5/5

This is the fastest yet that I've said "yea that's a 5" after seeing the album title/cover pop up on this list. When I was young I loved Nirvana but I had this rebellious thing where I just couldn't fully embrace something that everyone else did; like famous bands (I would gravitate towards the other 90s grunge acts like STP, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam), and even the best sports teams (Mets > Yankees cmon now). I think a lot of if not most people have that when they are younger and I'll admit it took me way too long to get over that and love Nirvana but I did, and I do now. Nirvana is just so timeless, and this album is my favorite by them. Who knew that stripped down they would be so good? Usually raw and gritty vocals are enhanced by a shield of distortion behind them. It's scary for a singer to take their perfected vocal timbre and completely change the setting around it and hope it still works. Sometimes I even feel uncomfortable singing using someone else's acoustic guitar; there's certain chords and dynamics that I know I can hide behind on my own guitars when I need it! I read that Kurt was really nervous and also suffering from drug withdrawal and while the drug withdrawal seems obvious now, I have always found it interesting and sad that he was also nervous. A titan of music who is one of the most famous musicians of all time... and he was nervous. The feedback on "The Man Who Sold The World" at 01:55 is one of my favorite moments of music ever. Ugh it's like it was placed there on purpose. The first note of the solo at 02:46 that is the wrong note? Ugh I love it. It's so easy to listen to this album. "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam" "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" "The Man Who Sold The World" "All Apologies" are all top ~100 songs for me, and "where did you sleep last night" is probably a top 15 or 20. A side effect that this album has had along with some of the other legendary unplugged records is that I think about the people who were present for these shows and the whole event behind the recorded album. They were filmed in New York. If I was ~10 or 12 years older I would have tried to go. The side effect though is that they make me think "what other shows are happening right now that are going to be seen as legendary performances?" Glastonbury always tends to have a lineup that is jam-packed. I've seen some smaller gigs that were amazing for me, but I figure were just the right mixtures of performance + buzzed + a little high + my back feeling OK... all of which are personal variables and not universal. I'm not sure if I've gone to a legendary performance yet. I have so many great memories with this album and I hope that it is as timeless as I think it is.

Green Onions

Booker T. & The MG's

4/5

It's a classic album, very easy to listen to, albeit a bit repetitive. They riff on some similar ideas pretty often. What I find particularly interesting is that there's a lot of melodies in this album that other people took and ran with. There's a lot, like I could spend an afternoon piecing together melodies in this album that have then ended up on other people's records. That's weird right? I feel like that says that this record is pretty influential then.

american dream

LCD Soundsystem

5/5

This is the first time I myself was the one to put on an album by this band, and yet to me they were THE sound of parties in college. Such a good mix of indie rock energy with beats that make you move your feet in a way like you have lost control of them. They are so cool, have such a hip idgaf vibe that makes them stand out out so so well for me. I love on this album that they aren't afraid to squeeze in more layers and textures and synths on top of one another with reckless abandon. All the meanwhile Murphy's soft, high baritone sits behind them and peeks out at just the right times. Everyone has albums that teleport them to periods of time and I think that somehow, and unfortunately, the more you listen to an album that once was cemented as a "teleport" album, the more the concrete bond breaks away- maybe that's why I've avoided playing this album to death because for me it is so strongly tied to college parties at TCNJ and I want to preserve that. Regardless, it's such a killer album.

21

Adele

5/5

One of the most attractive voices of all time. I love how the album starts with "Rolling In The Deep". Her voice and guitar are perfect and the kick drum breaking in at full intensity is so badass. She deserves all the accolades. 21 deserves all the praise!

Parachutes

Coldplay

4/5

"Yellow" is one of my favorite pop songs. Chris Martin has such a wonderful and wide ranging timbre in his voice and he is a master of matching inflections with emotions in lyrics. The same can be said for many songs on this album, like the opener, "Don't Panic", the down tempo, modal mix piano ballad "Trouble", and even "Shiver" which comes across to me like a poppy Radiohead song. I really like this album and I think people who hate on Coldplay forget that they had some really incredible records.

The Notorious Byrd Brothers

The Byrds

3/5

Pretty interesting album, lots of experimental production techniques that might not stand the test of time / they might conflict a bit with common modern production ideals, but without bands doing this during this period of time we wouldn't have those modern ideals. I read that this was one of the first records to utilize the infamous Moog synth, so that's pretty great! I love the SFX in "Draft Morning" too. I incorporate them into my own music and I rarely hear other musicians use them. As experimental as the album is, I kind of felt like I wanted more excitement in the compositions themselves. A lot of them had similar feels and when they would have an exciting change or shift in the track it was all dependent on the production and sounds rather than the performance- almost like they were leaning on the production oddities to carry the load.

Rattus Norvegicus

The Stranglers

3/5

Great album! I never listened to it before despite this band having another song that is a ~top 200 song of all time for me (Golden Brown). I like the arrangements, the performances (very cool synth leads on the first track!), the attitude, and the production. I'm also enjoying how diverse some of the tracks sound compared to the rest of the album - it's very diverse and they don't come across as a formulaic type of band one bit. One standout on a lot of tracks it the bass. The parts are written well, performed well, and mixed very well. I'll be adding a good amount of these tracks to some rotations.

Doolittle

Pixies

3/5

Really enjoyed this! This list has made me into a Pixies fan as I never really listened to them much. The vocals are so straightforward (that sounds like a dig but I swear it's not!) and approachable. I love "Here Comes Your Man" and I thought it was like a 50s cover song but it's not!

New Boots And Panties

Ian Dury

3/5

"Wake Up and Make Love With Me" as an opener is 1. an amazing title, and 2. amazingly cool. Lyrics are funny as shit and I can't recall the last time I heard something like this as an opener that made me laugh so hard. It's a really interesting album and sound. I love how the second song starts as a slower ballad-type track and then about a minute and a half in it gets a big feel change with the drumset and rock and roll piano. It kind of sets the idea that you-never-know-what's-next for the rest of the album. It's sleazy and sexy in the best possible way.

Liege And Lief

Fairport Convention

3/5

I enjoyed it- nice folk album with good songwriting and performances. Not a lot of it stood out to me but nothing was too bad. 3.1/5.

Let England Shake

PJ Harvey

2/5

It's an OK album, it didn't really blow me away and I didn't really find anything that I didn't like on it. For me it's a 2.5/3 but rounding down to a 2 because it just didn't really grab me.

The Last Broadcast

Doves

3/5

I love the sample (from a movie or something?) on the first track that comes in around 4:00 minutes into the track. Very cool and surprising. The chords are also pretty unique- they remind me of "everybody wants to rule the world" and totally change the feel of the song at that point. Overall I liked it. Not a lot of standout stuff but I liked a lot of the production they had some tracks that differed enough to stay within one cohesive sound but still be dynamic. It's a 3/3 for me.

Coles Corner

Richard Hawley

3/5

The album is beautiful. Everything is really pretty and romantic and also meticulous without sounding too perfect. I really like how polished everything is. I think it has a lovely timeless sound and I think it will get even better with age. Thoroughly enjoyed all around. Just remembering that I randomly heard one of his tracks "Tonight The Streets Are Ours" from a different album and I've been listening to it all year. Pretty cool!

Me Against The World

2Pac

5/5

Love that we are finally getting a Tupac album. This is one of his records that I didn't listen to too extensively but he's so prolific that I know I can go into it with high expectations. It's got everything you want from a rap hip hop album and everything you would expect from one of the greatest if not the greatest to ever do it. Lyrics are on point and touch upon many varied and interesting themes as Tupac introspects his life, music, relationships. This album is so good to just put on and enjoy track to track. It's so EASY to listen to. Love Tupac. Love Tupac as not only a rapper and artist but also an actor.

Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches

Happy Mondays

4/5

Pretty eclectic, pretty weird, very interesting, very listenable. I enjoyed it a lot! I really liked that they didn't seem to worry about adding unconventional things into the productions, and it seemed to bounce around different emotions and vibes and feels without ever making me as the listener feel like something was off. It is all tastefully done. Will have to listen to this album more than once to pick up on more things though.

Violent Femmes

4/5

Blister in the sun! One of the best guitar riffs / acoustic guitar riffs of all time. So simple and memorable. I didn't realize this album (this band?) was so acoustic-driven. I love the bass sound and performance that pulls your attention throughout the entire album. It is easily the defining voice on this record. Acoustic bass guitars aren't so commonly used and man does it sound great on these tracks. Overall I thought it was great. Blister in the Sun is obviously the standout track and I think the only thing that hurts the record is that there are a few songs that sound kind of similar to that one and it doesn't stray too far in any direction from that one sound.

Ten

Pearl Jam

5/5

Instant 5/5. One of my favorite records of all time, easily in my top 10. What a DEBUT! Just absolutely absurd how many hits are on this: - Even Flow - Alive - Black - Jeremy Even the non-huge radio hits are incredible, like: - Once - Why Go - Oceans - Porch - Garden (for real if you haven't listened to these you need to. "Porch" might be my favorite- the unplugged version is A+) It's arguably the best album by one of the best bands ever and easily one of the best rock albums of all time- all in my opinion.

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

3/5

"Everybody Hurts" is a bonafide smash hit. R.E.M. have such a sad sound to me- even their more upbeat and fun songs have a weird tinge of sorrow to them that is always hard for me to fully understand. This album is no different; in songs like "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" there's this obvious melody callback to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" but I still get this sad/minor tonality throughout it. Listen to the bridge at 2:45- there's about 7 or 8 chord changes and all of them are minor chords except for one. Overall I liked it. I think they are a solid band and this is a solid album.

LP1

FKA twigs

2/5

I'm writing as I'm listening and overall I think it's OK. I don't love it, and I have had this notion in my head that she is a little overrated but with full transparency I have not heard all of her stuff. Is this one of the 1001 best albums of all time? I'm trying to find which parts make this record a standout and deserving of a place on this list. I'm hearing electronic (indie?) pop. Her voice is nice, but I'm not really blown away by it or anything. The production is cool and interesting- it's not formulaic, and has moments of minimalism (1 minute mark of "Hours"), and nice panned elements pretty often. I'm listening on speakers and not headphones, but the speakers are appropriately placed to experience panned sounds, and I get the impression of the sounds being panned for the sake of being panned / doing something different. It's hard for me to be wowed by excessive panning as something extraordinary however. I do really like how in "Video Girl" the chorus slows down tempo. That is very unique. This song and "Numbers" were the tracks I liked most. I did find it unfortunate that the choruses of these tracks were really repetitive vocally and lyrically though. Numbers has some intriguing production on it but it almost feels random to me- like there's no connection thematically to the lyrics or anything like that. It's almost like a video-game battle song. Is there some Gestalt "the sum is greater than the parts" happening? That has definitely been the case with some records on this list, but I'm not sure with this one. The album cover is cool and makes me think. It's like some photos of her real face and then some 3d modeled parts (her right eye, her right cheek, and her right ear). Pretty funky. Maybe there's some kind of connection here to the idea of "sum of the parts" here? I'm giving it a 2/5 because I think it has some interesting things in a few tracks but I wasn't really blown away by it.

Hms Fable

Shack

2/5

I thought it was OK. Not really groundbreaking or doing anything incredibly that really warrants it to have a spot on this list in my opinion. I found parts of it boring and felt myself wanting more.

Exile On Main Street

The Rolling Stones

5/5

The Stones are great and this album is no exception. It's a fantastic record to put on while going for a drive, or prepping for a party, or having a BBQ, or doing anything that is fun. I love the energy in it and while I've heard many of these songs many times I don't feel sick of them at all- it's just a timeless sound.

C'est Chic

CHIC

2/5

"Le Freak" is really a banger but the rest of the album was a little forgettable for me. I'm thinking a 2/5. "Le Freak" is such a well known song that I feel it probably warrants a spot on this list, but it kind of feels like they just kept throwing darts at a board with trying the same type of song and then hit a bullseye with that one.

Physical Graffiti

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Another true great Zeppelin album. There's times where this one rambles and jams a bit, like "In My Time Of Dying" is a great song but it's 11 minutes and it almost feels like something you just kind of have to get through because after it is three incredible tracks in a row- "Houses of the Holy", "Trampled Under Foot", and "Kashmir". "Kashmir" is probably the highlight of the album. That riff is so perfectly Led Zeppelin. It's catchy, groovy, a little bit rough around the edges, and impressively cool at all times. I really love all the interstitial musical elements in this song, like that one random meter or feel change at around the 2:15 mark, those strings that come in between Robert Plant vocal phrases, the chamber brass parts.. it's just awesome. Gotta be a 5/5. It's not my favorite Zeppelin album, but it's really really good and these songs are too good.

Mask

Bauhaus

3/5

Pretty good, groovy album. I know that bauhaus was like an art movement that was very ~cool~ and avant garde, so I was expecting some art rock type of sound here and it's a little more straightforward than what I expected. I guess I thought it would sound more like bauhaus art looks? I so however think the tracks "Ear Wax" and "1. David Jay 2. Peter Murphy 3. Kevin Haskins..." do bit of this abstract sound that I was looking for. I do like the wacky synths on "In Fear of Fear". I do love the piano slams at the end of "Muscle in Plastic". I do like the weird panned plucked instruments (filtered guitars?) at the midway point in "Mask". This whole track is cool and sounds like the band Interpol to me (even though Interpol came out after this band). I do like the mostly~ bass solo track "In Fear of Dub". Oddly enough most of the songs that I like the most on this album are the ones with the lowest play counts on Spotify. I ended up liking the album more the further I got into it.

Revolver

Beatles

5/5

It's the Beatles, It's Revolver, It's Eleanor Rigby, It's Yellow Submarine! Easy 5/5 record for those two tracks alone. Eleanor Rigby is one of my favorite Beatles songs and is probably my favorite pop song to ever use a modal scale instead of the stereotypical major/minor tonalities that you hear in 99.9% of popular American music. While my opinion on Beatles records tend to shift every few years, right now the Revolver/Sgt. Pepper's/Magical Mystery Tour era isn't really my favorite and I've been loving the early raw pop sound from their first ~3-4 albums, but this one is such an enjoyable listen and entry into their fun experimental phase. I'm so glad that the Beatles have finally appeared on this list for us. People don't sit down and simply listen to them enough even though their music is ubiquitous and I love having a reason to plop my behind down and put them through some good speakers.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

4/5

It might sound blasphemous but I haven't heard all of her stuff, and this one I found to be great but not like easy 5/5. Her voice is nice, but feels very slur-y, almost in a buzzed/drunken way and a little too loose for me to think that this is some of her best work. It's almost a little too caricature~ish for me to absolutely adore. She's of course a wildly accomplished musician and it's hard for me to criticize her at all because she is often hailed as one of the greatest voices/jazz voices of all time, but I think it's important to be honest in these. I can't help it! It's great songs but not an instant 5/5 for me because I don't love the vocal performance.

The Renaissance

Q-Tip

4/5

Wow I didn't think Q-Tip would have a record on this list! This is such a great immediate lyrical hook that starts the album! "Sometimes I phase out when I look at the screen And I think about my chance for me to intervene And it's up to me to bring back the hope Put feeling in the music that you could quote Not saying that I hate it, cause here I kinda dig it But what good is a ear if a Q-Tip isn't in it?" - Really clean production all around. - There's some stretches across the album where the lyrics get a little dull for me. I suspect that it's because in these moments there's such an emphasis on a rhyming scheme that the cleverness in the message falls a little flat in order to fit the rhyme. Overall I enjoyed the album!

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

5/5

Really amazing. I love the 70's funk cop/thriller sound (secretly always wanted to make an album like this). The songs are great, everything is great. I wish it were longer.

Crosby, Stills & Nash

4/5

Nice album. I haven't actually listened much to this trio even though their reputation precedes them. It's solid folk rock with a focus on fun, witty lyrics, folk chord progressions, and rock layers. It's a great formula for nice music. "Marrakesh Express" stood out for having a catchy chorus and fun rhythm section. "Guinnevere" stood out for having a really lovely guitars. They sounded very modern here- ahead of their time for 1969. Really nice vocal harmonies here too. "Teach Your Children" is a track that I heard a lot when I first started dating Gab- there was a family friend who played guitar and would always strum this track and sing it. It's lovely! I'm going 4/5 because I enjoyed it but I think I'll have to give it another listen. At the moment I'm not entirely in the mood for this kind of music and while I'm not trying to let that influence me, I am at the same time recognizing it.

Vespertine

Björk

4/5

At times beautiful, unique, haunting, and weird. I really enjoyed it. Lots of thought and care were put into these tracks, and I think in it Bjork shows that she is an evocative singer with a provocative persona that unfortunately at times takes attention away from her music. There's so much going on behind her voice (which herself is an attention-grabber) that I think it warrants multiple listens and I'm excited to add some of these tracks to some of my more-listened-to playlists.

Fuzzy

Grant Lee Buffalo

3/5

I like this guys voice more than I thought I would. I went into it expecting it would be like super americana folky-western classic rock, but it's not. Maybe the name through me off. I thought this album was pretty good and I really went into it not being super enthused based off the album cover. I thought the songs were plenty catchy and the singer has some great vocal parts. He kind of sounds at times like Sonic Youth's singer (atleast in the first track). I wish the choruses were a little less repetitive though.

Solid Air

John Martyn

2/5

I was a little bored by this album but I do think it has it's place as a background type of experience rather then something you put on and sit and listen to with full attention. I like how moody it is, and I think his voice has a coolness to it that makes the overall sound attractive. Overall though for me it's a 2/5 and I'm not completely sold that it has a place on this list.

Juju

Siouxsie And The Banshees

2/5

The first track, "Spellbound" is cool. I like how it pretty quickly grabs you and gives you this energetic guitar and percussion driven piece. It's a fun opener track for an album. There isn't much that blows me away though. This album came out in 1981 and the sound is pretty early ~1970's ish. I think the lead singer has a cool, slightly shrieking voice but I don't really think it's anything too amazing. The production really leaves a lot to be desired. In the second song, "Into The Light", there's some great weird synth-like electric guitar parts that come in a little before the 1 minute mark but the production sounds really like flimsy? on these instruments. I listened to the remastered & expanded version of the album and it sounded pretty dull production-wise. Sort of flat and uninspiring. I wonder if the remaster was done only a short time after, maybe a few years? Some remastered albums I hear are done decades after the initial release and end up sounding much more modern than this one did.

Olympia 64

Jacques Brel

2/5

Yea I don't know it doesn't really do much for me. I'm assuming the big draw of the album, the first track, "Amsterdam" is what makes people put on the record. I'm guessing this because it has 11 million plays on Spotify, with the second most played on the album being "Le dernier repas" with only 846k. The track starts as like a national anthem, with a sort of clear borrowing of the most famous folk song of all time, "Greensleeves", and then it ends on this shouting "Amsterdam! Amsterdam!" motif. It kind of comes off to me as one of those sort of songs that describes someone's personal entity so they have no option but to like it? Like if someone wrote a song about a guy named Dan who wrote songs and was a nerd then how could I personally hate that? Maybe it's a rallying call type of song for Amsterdammers? The rest of the album didn't really do much for me either. Maybe there is some history behind the record that makes it important but I didn't find much when I was doing some internet sleuthing. I want to give it a 1/5 because I'm unsure if it should be on this list but I'm going 2 because I think there is some upside in that the singer's performance is very emotional and energetic.

The Wildest!

Louis Prima

5/5

fun album! little bit of raucous shouting and excitement throughout and overall a good time. Awesome piano playing on the second track, "Nothing's Too Good". Really tasteful and also technical. Love the instrumental "Body and Soul". Horn playing was fantastic! Yea this album was really incredible. 5/5 for me.

All Mod Cons

The Jam

3/5

Love the drum sounds and performance. It's a pretty interesting album and I think overall I enjoyed it. The most popular song was also my favorite one of the bunch, "English Rose". I really like how it has these acoustic guitar driven tracks in between the more upbeat ones, like this and also "Fly" (even though "Fly" picks up more in the second half of the track). There's a lot of songs that I liked on this, "English Rose" "In The Crowd", "All Mod Cons" "It's Too Bad" all were nice tracks. I'm going to have to come back to this album I think.

The Gershwin Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald

5/5

Just absolutely beautiful. Probably my favorite or one of my favorite jazz vocalists. My favorite moments: Track 2 - "Oh, Lady Be Good" - the crazy emotional chord at the end of the song right at 3:46, under the lyric "to". All of "Love is Here to Stay" All of "But Not For Me". Not a bad song on the album. Easy 5/5

The Predator

Ice Cube

4/5

"It Was A Good Day" is one of my favorite rap songs ever, and growing up in the 90s this was probably the first rap song from a "gangsta rap" artist that I heard that wasn't a lot of stereotypical lyrical ideas like shootings, drug use, partying, etc. I thought it was cool and different. The rest of the album is good, with really good tracks in "Wicked" and "Check Yo Self". Fun fact - I think Korn covered "Wicked" or referenced it in one of their songs?

Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division

4/5

Never actually fully listened to this album! Overall - I'm surprised by the amount of reverb along with the type of reverbs used; the snare drums often have this big room / cathedral type of reverb patch on them and its really unique when there are other instruments that don't have much reverb on them at all. The vocals are much lower than I thought they would be, and some of the songs are much lower energy than I was expecting. I know this is THE t-shirt you have to have if you are an indie head (I guess I'm not an indie head) and I was expecting a little bit more of an upbeat-moving type of sound that is typical for indie rock music. I don't love love the album but I did enjoy listening to it and I do recognize that it is monumentally influential.

Nevermind

Nirvana

5/5

I've been listening to and reading a lot about Nirvana lately. Probably because of my recent trip to Seattle. Man are they so good though. What a damn shame. They are so tight on this record. Everything is really stellar and well done. Performances are all A+, songwriting is all A+, Butch Vig killed it on the production (specifically the drums, UGH they are good). I love that this is a band where you can listen to over the years and go through phases about what songs you absolutely love and then it rotates to another set of tracks. For me right now, "Drain You" has been one of my Nirvana rotational hits. Ultimately, if this album only had "Smells like Teen Spirit" on it, then it would be an immediate 5 out of 5. What an anthem for angst and for youth.

Scott 2

Scott Walker

3/5

I wrote a lot about this album but I had restarted my computer without saving so I'm bummed about that but I'll re-write a little here: I thought the album was pretty good, and the standout for me personally was "Black Sheep Boy". There's an album by a band called Okkervil River with the same title and I always knew the title track was a cover but I had never heard the original. The Okkervil River album is one of my top 5 or 10 albums of all time and I've heard the song hundreds of times. The original is pretty good as well, but it's a lot lighter feeling. That was the real stand out track for me.

Forever Changes

Love

4/5

Enjoyed it and was surprised at how good of an album it is because I don't ever recall hearing any of these songs along with the band (although I think this is the 2nd "Love" album on this list). Vocals are nice, but are probably the least impressive element on the album for me- specifically though the vocal performances split from the lyrics. I think the lyrics are great, the instrument performances are great, the songwriting is really surprisingly great (SO many layers and interesting turns). I think I'll have to add this album to a rotation because it doesn't let up or have any boring parts. Lmfao the lyrics. The start of "The Red Telephone" is "Sitting on a hillside, watching all the people die". Overall I liked it a lot!

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

5/5

"Do It Again" "Dirty Work" "Reelin' In The Years" --> are all A+ 10/10 rock songs. Jeez. I didn't know they were all on the same album! What a great album cover too. Obviously surreal and even with the title "Can't Buy A Thrill", I find it hard to understand all of the elements and why they are there. Easy 5 out of 5 for me. This album Slaps with a capital S.

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

5/5

"Fell In Love With A Girl" is my favorite White Stripes song, and is one of my favorite rock songs. So much crazy energy and excitement on top of a flat out simple and incredible song with just the melody and harmony. I love "Hotel Yorba" as a second track. Acoustic guitar driven but still full of movement and upbeat kick drum pedaling that doesn't stray too far from their sound while also giving some contrast. "We're Going To Be Friends" (which I've been misremembering as "I Can Tell That We Are Gonna Be Friends") is amazing. Love this album cover too. What are the people in black doing? This was their last record that was independently released- is there something here with the record industry?

Heavy Weather

Weather Report

4/5

Awesome futuristic jazz album that covers prog, fusion, world music, latin percussion, etc. etc. the list goes on. The (mostly fretless) bass is really the standout for me on this album. The playing is virtuosic, lyrical, technial, and just all around amazing, but that's what you should expect from one of the greatest to ever do it- Jaco Pastorius. Solid 4 out of 5. Some tracks later on tend to track a little.

Ritual De Lo Habitual

Jane's Addiction

4/5

Solid rock album from a solid rock band. "Been Caught Stealing" is one of the best songs of the 1990's and I would bet influenced a lot of 90's rock (as it came out in 1990). The dog barking as a rhythm is very clever and fun and it's no surprise that it was a radio favorite. More diverse album than I remember, with "Three Days" being a weird down/midtempo track that very slowly builds and contrasts the format of tracks from the rest of the album.

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Immediate 5/5 for me, as it's in my personal top 10 albums of all time list. There's definitely an added bonus when you listen to this album when you come from New Jersey as there's so many ties to the state (even though it's titled after a different one altogether lol), and so many depictions that so masterfully describe scenes that people in New Jersey have had. Like in "State Trooper", where you are driving down the NJ Turnpike and begging for the cop behind you to leave you the hell alone. I think many a young person from NJ has been in this exact setting and shouted those animalistic shouts of joy that Bruce bellows at the end of the song. Or like in "Atlantic City" where a big fight is breaking out on the boardwalk, and a young man yearns for optimism while crooning over his financial shortcomings. The harmonica blows me away every time. The reverberating mandolin that comes in at the first post-chorus (around 00:53) floors me. The vocal harmonies and shouts in the outtro fadeout floor me. It's hard to pick which track is my favorite. "Nebraska" is raw yet somehow beautiful- even though the lyrics are a true story about a man who befriends/kidnaps a girl and murders 11 people with her. "State Trooper" captures a scene as truthfully as the art form ever has. I think ultimately it's "Atlantic City" because this was one of the most formative acoustic guitar driven / singer songwriter songs that influenced me to write this style of music. The album art is just beautiful too, and you definitely can judge this book (album) by it's cover- as that's what you are going to get (sonically). (I only would have maybe preferred if it was a picture of the New Jersey Turnpike, as NJ tends to be more often referenced than Nebraska on the album. But I don't know the album is called Nebraska? Hmmm. I'm conflicted.)

The Doors

5/5

"Break on Through (To the Other Side)" and "Light My Fire" are bona fide rock hall of fame masterpieces. A lot of the other songs I have heard but didn't know the names. "Soul Kitchen" is fantastic and driven by yet another catchy organ riff, "Back Door Man" has such a cool chugging pushing ahead train track guitar, and "The End" is a stunning and sonically beautiful piece of music. Definite 5 out of 5 for me. The Doors are amazing. Is this their best album? I have to do some more digging on them. I did read that Paul McCartney wanted this sound to be like an "alter ego" for the Beatles and that it inspired Sgt. Peppers. That's amazing!!

Deserter's Songs

Mercury Rev

3/5

"Holes" is the big opener and second biggest track on here going off of play count on Spotify. I think it sounds alright, has a cinematic sort of chord progression/melody/arrangement with a super pleasing dissonant final chord in each repeating progression. "Tonite It Shows", the second track, continues with the cinematic type of sound. Oboe, clarinet, harp, and pizzicato strings are pretty different for a singer-songwriter type of sound. I liked the album the more that I listened to it. I don't love the timbre of the singers voice, which is something I really hate saying. It simply doesn't grab my ears enough for me to want to listen again after a song finishes. It's not terrible or anything, but I think it's just a little bit uninteresting. The overall sound is nice though and I can tell that there was a lot of effort put into all of the little details on the record. If this was a simple singer-songwriter indie rockish sort of record then it would be a 2/5 for me but production and arrangement bumps it to a 3/5.

Metallica

5/5

I LOVED this album when I was introduced to it (around age 12 or 13 maybe?) as it was a change for Metallica going from the thrash raw metal to a more polished catchy heavy metal sound. (For the record, I love thrash Metallica and post-thrash Metallica completely equally, but the change was refreshing) "Enter Sandman" is one of the best metal songs ever. Probably a top 5 track that people think of when they think of "heavy metal". The lead guitar is an evolution for Kirk Hammett, where he introduces a super wah-wah heavy and pentatonic guided shredfest that matches this change in Metallica's sound away from the blistering thrashy solos that came before and into a more melody driven one. "Nothing Else Matters" is another incredible track. While Metallica has a very ~serious~ sort of sound, this one comes across as even more serious, and a bit sullen. It's so dynamic in the guitar playing and composition and really captures this period of Metallica well- with these huge, epic pieces that still somehow retain catchy repeatable melodies. It's a masterpiece in how to write good metal music. The one downside of this album is that it isn't jam packed with bangers, and a few of the tracks are a little forgettable. Still a 5/5 for me though.

Copper Blue

Sugar

1/5

The singer has a similar tone to Michael Stipe of R.E.M. fame but unfortunately he doesn't have the same level of versatility or emotion involved. I feel like the vocals alone come across as kind of flat and uninteresting. The melodies are pretty straightforward and it's a lot of same-note repeating that usually is a good trick for writing a catchy chorus or something like that, but I think this band uses it too much. The most played song on the album, "If I Can't Change Your Mind" is VERY R.E.M. sounding, with the super upbeat drums and acoustic guitars that push it forward. Overall I don't love it and I question it's place on this list.

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney and Wings

4/5

Great album that I rarely have listened to. Something that I find fucking hilarious is that for as high production as a Paul McCartney record would be, the most popular song "Band On The Run", the bass guitar (Paul's instrument) is out of tune. This happens sometimes and it's usually OK to be just a little bit because surprisingly with vibrato and layers it tends to make things sound thicker anyway, but here it is SO obvious. The song goes through a few different ~vibes~ and the one where it's most obvious is the big catchy part starting around 2:23. (I think the bass is sharp?) It's a nice album!

Buena Vista Social Club

5/5

Excellent album that I'm really happy to see on this list. It really takes you to a place. Good music of any specific culture will tend to do that, but there are some real magical things happening here that transport me to Cuba. I'm pretty sure this is the one album that is played on loop at our local Latin restaurant. Solid all around!

Too Rye Ay

Dexys Midnight Runners

3/5

Nice fun album. I think "Come on Eileen" being one of the most recognizable songs of all time helps out the rating, but I feel like it's a fair 3/5. Singer has a great voice with such an interesting primary timbre and he is obviously confident in using it and experimenting with his voice and all of this is great. "Fun" is the word that keeps coming to my head.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Beatles

5/5

There are many mysteries in the universe; like what is the meaning of life? Why do we live on rocks floating around in space? Why and where did it all start? One of the most interesting to me are all of the mysteries surrounding the Beatles. Is Paul dead? Did all the Beatles die and get replaced? How did they pump out 12 studio albums of A++ material in only 7 years of activity? What's going on with this album cover? Shirley Temple is on it several times. Philosophers and psychologists appear on it. The Beatles even appear several times and not even in some hidden easter-egg sort of way. It does appear to be more than just a collage of people right? The music is fantastic. As per usual for a Beatles record it has some bonafide slappers, like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "With a Little Help From My Friends", "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", and "A Day In The Life" (which happens to be one of my favorite Beatles songs). Even the not-smash slappers on this album have higher play counts than some other albums on this lists' top tracks. That's pretty telling. All in all, this isn't my favorite Beatles album but it's yet another masterpiece. 5/5.

Space Ritual

Hawkwind

3/5

Lemmy and Ginger Baker were both in this band and that's great. Even from track 2 (which is really the first track as track 1 is an intro) you can hear the big time bass driven sound. Solid rock album. I like the weird in between songs too, like "The Awakening" which is very different than the tracks around it. There's definitely some thematic space / cult stuff going on that is very interesting. This is an album I'll have to hear again to pick up all the details.

Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin

5/5

Early on in music school I learned that if you want to sound like your influences, then you should listen to your influences influences. This wasn't tied to classical music or anything actually, as this tidbit came from my friend when I told him I want to sing like Eddie Vedder and he said "you should then try to sing like who Eddie Vedder wanted to sing like". It was really interesting to me. This group and album was one of the biggest influences on one of my biggest influences in music school, a guy named Payton MacDonald (and his music group called Alarm Will Sound). The group even has a full album of Aphex Twin covers and I think at some point they worked with Payton and/or he commissioned them to write music for him to perform. Because of that I feel like a sort of connected lineage to the group in inspiration. I love the album, I love their sound, and I'm just into it. The first track, "Xtal" carries so much emotion. Sometimes I think about how limited synths are and digital sounds altogether. They are innately robotic, innately inhuman. I know I'm wrong when I think that, but it pops up in my head sometimes. I think that the next time it does however I'll throw on "Xtal" and prove myself wrong. For videogame soundtracks I tend to write a lot of atmospheric synth music for in between scenes, and I think they capture the mood of "melancholic" really as good as you can do it. Overall, easy 5/5 for me. It's so much more than just an electronic music album.

Africa Brasil

Jorge Ben Jor

4/5

Very cool sound and not what I was expecting from the album cover. I love it. Very cool and has a tinge of "badass" in that guitar throughout the album. This is a really cool addition to the list and I'd love to hear more of him. "Taj Mahal" and "Ponta De Lanca Africano" are early favorites!

Music Has The Right To Children

Boards of Canada

3/5

I want to really like this but it doesn't do much for me. I'm sure it was influential at the time but I can't help to have large swaths of boredom throughout. My favorite part was at last 15 seconds of "Sixyten", where there is some syncopated synths that throw off an already established rhythmic set of ideas. Everything up until this point is pretty repetitive, a little predictive, and straightforward. Unfortunately the part only lasts for about 15-20 seconds. I think at the time this might have been more of an exploration of classical "new music" with some minimalism as this is what this sounds like, but a more tame version. I've heard people say that they love this band, so I'm sure they are influential and maybe it's just this album that doesn't blow me away.

Nowhere

Ride

4/5

Nice album cover. It's very simple but the band name and album title really fit in there perfectly. This surprised me as it came ~out ~of ~nowhere. Never heard of the band or album or any of these songs. It's a nice sound. Came out in 1990 but still has that hangover from the 1980s soft vocals like The Cure. Overall I really liked it.

Let's Stay Together

Al Green

5/5

Beautiful voice, beautiful writing, beautiful music, beautiful album. Absolutely timeless. Enjoyed throughout, wouldn't give it anything but a 5/5.

Dirt

Alice In Chains

5/5

90's grunge was jam packed with incredible bands. I used to say that "Alice in Chains are the most underrated grunge band" and then I would say "Stone Temple Pilots are the most underrated grunge band" and then I would say "Nirvana are actually the most underrated grunge band" "No wait it's Pearl Jam- yes, the massively famous band Pearl Jam are underrated". All of those statements are true. I have so many great memories with this band and this album. Track 1- "Them Bones" was the first guitar solo I ever learned. Accomplishing it was a true euphoric moment in my life. Track 4- "Down In A Hole" was the teenage depression anthem in my house for both my brother and I in those early teen years. I think it's one of the best songs ever about depression. Track 13- "Would" is so heavy and catchy and MASSIVE sounding. It's also a song that is serious yet the music video has this one funny moment in it - at 3:20 when Layne turns to the camera and says "WOULD" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nco_kh8xJDs) and my friends and I used to mimic it every time we would say the word "would" There's so much weight in the songs, such a heavy production that compliments the arrangements so damn well. The melodies are genuinely catchy like pop songs, but are in minor keys and covered by distorted guitars and raspy voices. The vocal harmonies are SO impressive and different for grunge/rock music. I have yet to hear a rock/metal band do harmonies like Alice in Chains. Dirt is a 5/5 for me and possibly one of my top 10 albums of all time. Layne was a gift, Jerry Cantrell is a gift, Sean Kinney is a gift, Mike Inez is a gift. AIC is a GIFT!

Green River

Creedence Clearwater Revival

5/5

A+ 5/5 album. Amazing classic rock album that is so important to the history of American rock music. Melodies are timeless, instrumentation, arrangements, and performances are timeless. This is an album for a time capsule. I love CCR and this album is absolutely killer.

Brown Sugar

D'Angelo

4/5

Sexy music, very easy to listen to. I think it deserves a place on this list, but the one downside is that it's almost ~too~ easy listening. I find that can be the case with some genres like smooth RnB, and light jazz, and I've heard him before but didn't expect it to be this laid back. It's still a great sound, but the songs all kind of blend together. I think some of it's downfall is the proliferation of choruses where the backup singers sing the main hook and he riffs behind them. It's a great sound but definitely overdone on the album. I think it's a strong 3, like closer to a 3.8, so I'm giving it a 4.

Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys

2/5

Some of these albums are so susprising to me in many ways, and one of those facets that continues to surprise me is in the play counts. On this record, the first track has 37 million plays (per Spotify). All of the remaining ~20 or so tracks combined don't even come close to that. It makes me wonder if people bought this album, put it on, and then didn't get too far past the first track in both a positive and negative way? Like they enjoyed the track SO much that it was the sole reason for them coming back to re-playing the album, and/or the rest of the album doesn't even come close to comparing to track 1? Other then that not a ton stood out to me. I wonder if this is a cultural folk album that people love? Almost like "Come on Eileen"? I thought the singer had a pretty nice voice but at times it was a little cheesy for me. The drummer had some nice moments as well. Overall I think this might be one of the more forgetful ones on the list for me. Might have caught me at the wrong time / listening mood.

The Wall

Pink Floyd

4/5

It's a timeless album by a timeless band. I always revered Pink Floyd but also appreciated them at a distance. Personally I love concept albums, but for some reason I never liked how their albums felt like they took effort to understand when you listen. There's always so much space and introductions and outtroductions, and this album is the same.. I think it's just a different time period though; for them, this was the era of vinyl records when the consumer buys one, puts it on the living room record player, and sits and puts most if not all of their attention to it. Nowadays this looks different, as I often listen to these records on this list while doing at a minimum of one other thing, like the dishes or writing emails. Hard for me to be doing the dishes and conceptualize what the helicopter sounds mean without searching the internet for a dissertation on the helicopter sounds. Regardless, these three songs warrant a very high rating for the album. Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2 Comfortably Numb Hey You I think it's a mid 4, like 4.5. Not high enough of a 4 for a 5. Dark Side of the Moon is probably a 5.

Graceland

Paul Simon

5/5

Really incredible album that I have not listened to enough. This comes up on "top albums of all time" lists very often, but more when it's like "top 10" or "top 100". The songwriting is so spectacularly great and is my favorite facet of the impressive album. The songs are fun, timeless, and thoroughly enjoyable to hear in any situation in life. Easy 5/5!

Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

5/5

Very romantic, and sexy record. Probably the #1 record that most people think of when they think of sexy music. It's in the title. Marvin Gaye has a wonderful, soulful, buttery smooth voice. Easy 5/5

Entertainment

Gang Of Four

3/5

Cool overall sound that can be a little abrasive at times in a good way. Feels like some proto punk type of sound even though this was released in 1979 and probably just towards the end of proto punk. One thing I would have liked more was if they changed their sounds across the board across the album. It sounds like they recorded all of the vocals on the same day, in the same room, with the same energy level, etc etc. This is something I read once about Pearl Jam focusing on- like how they would intentionally change knobs / settings on guitar amps and move microphones even slightly just so that each song would get it's own kind of sonic placement within itself. I love the album cover and the words on it. Very interesting. Middle 3/5 for me.

Phaedra

Tangerine Dream

2/5

The first 2 tracks of this album weren't available on Spotify so I went and found them on YouTube. Interesting that this is most likely the shortest album on the list so far, and if it isn't then it's definitely the shortest track-amount wise. Nice album overall, gives off classical "new music" vibes to me. Early synth work in this space with lots of repetition for an output that is meditative and reflective. Slightly boring.

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips

2/5

Not a bad album. Kind of like an over the top rock musical event. I think the sound overall is good but I've never been a huge fan of the band and this album continues in that. The singer's voice is a little whimpery and I think that they suffer from this thing that happens in software development- called "feature creep" where they lost in the big ideas a bit too much. It's always been my gripe with the band and this album generally has the same issue.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

3/5

I totally respect Tom Petty as an icon of American music, but he's never been a favorite of mine. I think a lot of his hits have really similar ideas (particularly in the choruses), and the production- specifically in songwriting elements and arrangements always left a lot to be desired for me. Plus his voice just didn't do that thing for me that it did for so many other people. Man the first song his voice is super grating. Damn. I think it's like some Beatles-homage (early Beatles)? Not a particularly pleasing sound on the ears though. The second track, "Breakdown", is much much more easy on the ears. Got that kind of Thin Lizzy / Phil Lynott sound to it (fun fact I just learned- this album came out only 7 months after Thin Lizzy's most famous album, "Jailbreak"). I think overall it's a strong 3/5 for me. It's hard to write anything negative though while looking at the album cover, what a damn handsome dude.

American IV: The Man Comes Around

Johnny Cash

5/5

So many good tracks. Easy 5/5 for me. His cover of "Hurt" is one of the most heart-wrenching songs of all time. I also particularly love the cover of "Personal Jesus". I think he did an amazing job at taking other songs that he didn't write and elevating them in his own way. This was an album I listened to a lot with my brother as we grew up big Cash fans and knew that with every release in this time period he was getting older and closer to death. So sad that his wife June passed less than a year after this was released, and then he passed a few months after her. Two absolute American icons!

Rising Above Bedlam

Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart

2/5

Kind of forgettable record for me. There's some Middle-Eastern elements in there that make it pretty unique sounding but overall it doesn't stick much for me. I kind of found it hard to connect with and figure out what they were going for, and this left a gap that made me want more cohesion than I got. I liked "Everyman's an island", which felt like a 90's version of a 70's crime fighting movie music.

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney

3/5

Pretty straightforward grungy rock album. Even though it definitely has an indie feel to it I am really let down by the production. It sounds so weak and flat. I felt that in the intro track and was hoping that it was just the intro track being a bit of an appetizer for the rest of the album, but as soon as I heard the second song I felt kind of "meh". Everything was kind of middling and average? I didn't love it.

One World

John Martyn

3/5

I didn't love the singing voice but I gotta admit by the end of track 1 I was groovin and jammin a bit! "Couldn't Love You More" is such a wonderful song. I used to listen to a singer named Marcus Foster sing that song a lot and I hadn't heard it in years before this album came up on this list. It was really nice to be reconnected with that track. Interesting album cover. I love the composition of the diagonal line going across the artwork. 3/5!

Selling England By The Pound

Genesis

4/5

Really wasn't expecting the first song's medieval folk sound to start and then the switch around the 1:30 mark into a crazy modern neo-soul guitar and drum part and then a minute later into a prog shred fest. Wow this really blew me away! The transitions from there don't really relent, it just keeps pushing forward and kind of doesn't let you get a breath of air. This could be a downside but in my listening experience I really enjoyed it. I don't think it's an album I would listen to frequently but man did I enjoy it. Real surprise for me here as I never heard of this record before seeing it on this list. It's very ambitious and dynamic and exciting. Will gladly go back and put it on randomly.

Modern Life Is Rubbish

Blur

3/5

It's a pretty tight album, I found myself expecting more from it though. It's got that British edge to it at times and also has some beauty in melodies here and there. The singer has a great voice that is so memorable. I really liked "Star Shaped". Like a lot of their songs, the singers voice has this "mocking" sort of tone but it sounds great in this track. The break in this with the acoustic guitar and synth is one of my favorite parts on the record. I kind of felt like I wanted more from the record, which is surprising given that it's 2 hours and 18 minutes long. Maybe it needed to not be spread so far?

Sincere

Mj Cole

3/5

Very cool drum n bass rnb record. I enjoyed it. Production was fresh (for a 22 year old album), performances were cool. Hard to try to break it down and understand what was done "in the box" and what wasn't but maybe that's more fun to not know what was sampled and what wasn't. I think drum n bass deserves some spots on this list but I question whether this is one of the best ever. 3/5 for me!

Being There

Wilco

5/5

This was really good. I like this band and have only gone through like 20% of their discography but man did I enjoy this one. I've heard some of their records full through and many of their singles on solo plays but actually none of these songs before today/yesterday. There is so much thought put into every detail. Jeff Tweedy is an indie legend and writes so thoughtfully. I feel like for me this is a high 4/5 but I'm realizing that I'm only giving 5/5 to like super legendary albums for me but I think it's time that I round up at times, because the only thing keeping high 4/5 albums from being legendary 5/5's is the passing of time for an album to solidify that status. 5/5 then!

Snivilisation

Orbital

2/5

Cool sound, very ~videogame-OST~ sounding. A little dated in it's "coolness" I would say though. This came out in 1994 and these sounds are definitely ones that I would use for a retro videogame type of sound. The songs do flow into each other nicely. Overall it's sort of repetitive. I know that's typical of this genre but I didn't love it. I kind of hate the album cover. The cars surrounding the walkman-person are interesting but the character is just so goofy looking.

Surrealistic Pillow

Jefferson Airplane

3/5

"Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" are both American classics. I think the rest of the album is good and bordering on great. Because of those two tracks I feel that this album definitely deserves a spot on this list, and is a solid 3/5 for me.

Live And Dangerous

Thin Lizzy

4/5

Awesome album. So many Thin Lizzy hits on this record and I was first thinking that it was surprising that if there's only one Thin Lizzy album on this list that it would be a live one, but it makes sense because this set list was jam packed. "Jailbreak" "Rosalie / Cowgirls Song" "Still in Love with You" "The Boys are Back in Town" are all great. I don't think I've heard this record before but I think it's going to become my primary listen when I am like "ooh I need to listen to Thin Lizzy!". Phil Lynott was a king.

Ray Of Light

Madonna

3/5

I'm specifically giving this a really good deep listen because I've never listened to a Madonna album start to finish. Track 1 starts a little slow but I like the build up around the 4 minute mark. Definitely has some vibe in it and isn't just straightforward vanilla pop which is nice and unexpected. Production is really tight as I figured, and does some cool stuff that again I wasn't considering a Madonna record would have- like how some songs are very "grey" sounding and not so black or white. The second track, "Swim" is a good example of this as it's just vibey and lacks typical pop tension/release elements. "Candy Perfume Girl" had some interesting beeps and boops that I liked, along with some cool static sounds layered with the drumset that really made some sounds stand out. I didn't love the song itself though. Switching to "Candy Perfume Boy" at around the 3/4 mark just seemed weird to me. "Ray of Light" i've heard about a million times on the radio in the late 90's when it came out. Surprisingly I knew all of the lyrics without having heard the song in 15+ years. "Skin" was a low point in the album for me. Corny and awkward lyrics, and a cheesy instrumental behind her voice. Lots of songs sort of glide into eachother without big distinctions in them, which I'm conflicted on if I like or not. 3/5 right down the middle for me. Madonna is an American icon and deserves a spot on this list- I will be interested to see if she has another album pop up.

Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Wu-Tang Clan

3/5

So many fun & hard hitting songs on this album and it's no surprise that they have such a cult following. Album is solid, not too much that I don't like on it. I feel like they have a few songs that I know that are pretty memorable and when I listened to this album it surprisingly felt like they blended together and it wasn't jam packed with standout moments. That could be just the circumstances of where I was when I was listening to the album though, which is a pretty common concept when album listening on this list. For me it's between a 3 and a 4 but leaning more 3 so 3 it shall be.

Blur

4/5

Excellent experience. "Song 2" is a modern classic. It's catchy and raucously fun and so memorable. If you were alive in the 1990's or ever watched atleast 5 movies from the 90's (because I wager that 1 in every 5 had this song in it) then you heard this song and thought it was sick. Unfortunately I don't think any other song on the record comes even close to it. "Beetlebum", the opener, is funny and definitely interesting and is the second-most played song on the album, but doesn't capture that magic that "Song 2" does. "Theme from Retro" is trippy in both writing and production. It sounds cool and is a nice contrast from the first 4 tracks as it sounds nothing like them while also remaining consistent inside their overall sound. "Death of a Party" is also similar- as it stands out with some sounds that are foreign to the rest of the record but not so far that it is an unwelcome contrast. Overall I enjoyed it. 4/5 I think? Maybe like a 3.9. It sounds great and is dynamic, but man am I just constantly reminded that nothing on the record comes close to one single song. Is that a bad thing? That a solid band happened to write an incredible song? That sounds like a good thing right?

Nilsson Schmilsson

Harry Nilsson

4/5

I've heard this name before but never really listened to the music. To me at times it's like Beatles-y in writing, structure, and production. Which is a good thing! I like the seemingly random production elements - like the sound of machinery?!? in the start of "Driving Along". The songs felt short to me but they were all around the standard ~3:00 minutes in duration. Maybe that's a sign that I was enjoying it! Highlights: "Gotta Get Up" - overall nice song and i love the wacky ending. "Let the Good Times Roll" - big fan of letting good times roll here. "Early in the Morning" feels like a fever dream to me. Just comes across as a short weird repetitive vignette (in a good way!) Funny album title!

The Velvet Underground

4/5

Somehow I missed this band and never really listened to them. Highlights: "What Goes On" - specifically the cacophonous guitars around the 1:05 mark. These were cool and the song structure underneath was very typical rock type stuff- with a V-IV-I progression and it was cool to hear some experimental guitars on top of that to contrast. "Pale Blue Eyes" - I think this is the big one and I'm not surprised. Pretty song that continues the drone~y repeats of the previous song, "Some Kinda Love". I really enjoyed the minimalism and simplicity. The album was more low key than I thought it would be. I thought this band was like a raucous, wild, indie-rock before indie-rock-was-a-thing type of band, but maybe that's more in other albums or maybe i was just misled. Either way I liked the sound! I listened to a majority of it loud.

At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band

4/5

Some of the best rock and roll guitar playing ever! I love the idea of two leads. Their guitarring to me always congealed into a wonderfully solid musical engine, with tasteful playing, strong dynamics, and super lyrical phrasing and bends. I always remember this album as being their first live one, with so much energy and excitement, but also sadly that this was the last release that Duane Allman was on (maybe he was on some later ones for a previously recorded track here or there) because he died shortly after this was released. I restarted my computer and lost some of what I wrote which is a bummer, but long story short I think it's a really solid classic rock album.

Peter Gabriel

4/5

The name of this song is "Solsbury Hill?" wow ok! I checked Spotify to make sure it wasn't glitching out and playing a different track hahah. Yea this song is a 5/5. Unfortunately Spotify started this album in shuffle mode so after the wild first track with weird guttural vocals it went to the rockin track 6, "Slowburn". The contrast wasn't bad or anything, and I think it would have been just as much of a leap as track 1 to track 2, "Solsbury Hill". I really hate accidental shuffle. I love the instrumentation on "Excuse Me". Love a good tuba oompah sound. Really enjoyed the album full through!

The Man Machine

Kraftwerk

3/5

Though short, I thought it was great! I know Kraftwerk are like THE original influential synth music maker people and I've heard some of their tracks but not this album. It was enjoyable! More listenable than I thought. I figured it would be experimental and minimal but it actually had some great moments- like the fantastic pop song "The Model". high 3/5 for me. Not quite 4 but if I'm sure people who love electronic music LOVE them.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

Stunner of an album. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" "Cecilia" "The Boxer" -> are all absolute beautiful and timeless pieces of music. I love how songs from this act / these performers never feel formulaic to me. Sometimes I'll hear one of their hits and be like "man this is so unique inside of their sound". I love it. Strong 4/5 for me

Untitled (Black Is)

SAULT

3/5

Interesting album, definitely trying to convey one overarching message across the release. I kind of feel like this genre should be called something like "music-to-be-sampled". Each track gives me a vibe like it's meant to have something else on top, like a lead vocal line or even some rapping. The tracks that do have some lead vocals in them come across as pretty repetitive. "Wildfires" was a cool track, with more typical structure of a pop song. I liked the album more as it went on. I think the earlier songs having a more background-music type of sound led me to get off on the wrong foot. It felt long but it wasn't, it just had a ton of very short tracks which kind of validated my idea of music-for-sampling. I think a high 2/5 and close enough to a 3 to warrant it.

The Yes Album

Yes

4/5

Yes is cool. I love the band name of "Yes". I think sometimes they fall into the trap of being progressive for the sake of being progressive and it doesn't always help their songwriting. This is a touchy topic because there's really many arguments for both sides of the argument; like "well prog-rock is their genre, so why shouldn't they be proggy?". I think I agree on both sides but lean towards the former argument rather than the latter. To be fair, I think it's incredibly difficult to be a proggy band and tastefully make progressive music. This album starts with some of the issues that I frequently see in prog music. It's exciting! But it's also manic. Music has so many differences in listening experiences and sometimes I want to groove on a track while focusing on something else, and sometimes I want to sit and listen to a band like Yes and put all of my attention into the music. It's hard to objectively rate an album like this when I'm not in the exact mood that the music ~sort of~ needs. I'm currently sick with a cold that I suspect is more than a cold and I have no energy and it's physically hard to stare at my computer screen and write this while listening to the music because if I put too much thought into the words I'm writing then I'm missing out on a key change or a meter change or a groove change that turns into a keyboard solo. I'm currently writing this at the last 30 seconds of track 1 and it's an Allman Brothers esque guitar shred part that is now turning into an ascending circus synth to end the song and now - it's track 2 and we are immediately onto a folk blues acoustic guitar solo? I can't catch my breath enough to hear any of the melodies and harmonies because my attention is forced onto the tonal qualities and instrumentation. It probably comes across as hating on the band but it's not really my intent. I think this music is really high class performing and wildly impressive for 1971. Ultimately, I enjoyed the album. Personally it's not my super duper favorite, so I'm giving it a 4/5 but it's like a 4.1.

Arise

Sepultura

3/5

Wow I am thoroughly surprised and elated that Sepultura have an album on this list. I bet if you polled death metal bands/players today, 99% of them would mention Sepultura as being an influence to them. I personally have several old band members that have Sepultura tattoos! They are great. Really amazing. Brazilian trailblazers that brought tribal rhythms to thrashy guitars and guttural, animalistic vocals. This album is the start of a 3-record span of albums that really blew open death/thrash metal- "Arise" "Chaos AD" and "Roots". While I'm REALLY glad there is a Sepultura album on here, I think that "Chaos AD" or "Roots" would have been better choices. Both of those are more refined (in a good way- you can make an argument that says "why would I want "refined" when I'm looking for animalistic thrash music?", but I promise it's better) and I think would have been better picks. SDA- if you never heard of Sepultura, listen to the track "Territory" on Chaos AD- specifically the drum solo intro. To me that captures everything about Sepultura in about 60 seconds of music. Actually listen to the whole track, it's got great lyrics (about tyranny and oppression ofc), guitar solos, everything. Speaking of guitar solos and performances, it's so funny to say but in the realm of heavy metal, this band is so tasteful. None of the members step on eachother's toes, none of them overdo anything and none of them under do (if overdo is a word then why isn't underdo) anything. They understand when there should be breaths in music- something that is the bane of many metal bands. With all of that being said, I think this album is a 3/5, and the two following albums are 4/5's. I would love if "Chaos AD" was on this list in place of "Arise".

The Beach Boys Today!

The Beach Boys

4/5

Solid Album! "Do You Wanna Dance" is probably a top 100 song of all time for me. I love the timpani- such an unexpected instrument to add in rock music, and it itself adds so much power to the song. "Help Me, Rhonda" slays. It's overall very good. Not the best Beach Boys record ever, but really solid.

Cheap Thrills

Big Brother & The Holding Company

4/5

Very enjoyable album. Janis Joplin has one of the coolest and most badass voices of all time and she could sing a dictionary to my ear's content. "Piece of My Heart" is one of the best classic rock / rock songs of all time.

Ill Communication

Beastie Boys

5/5

I swear, Beastie Boys have been popping up in my life SO much recently. Like four or five times I've heard someone mention them within the past month. Glad we got them on here! This album is killer. "Sabotage" could be a solo song on an album and it would have a spot on this list because of how great it is. Wow, listening to this album I am continually blown away. Genre-bending, exciting, funky, authentic, raw, and fun. It's not even that the music switches genres and it's amazing for doing that; each genre is done so impressively well, and somehow they manage to keep it all in one consistent sound in the context of the rest of the record. This is such an easy 5/5 for me. One of my favorites so far.

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno

3/5

Both of these acts are super respected but I never really listened to them too much. I think David Byrne is great and loved what I've heard in Talking Heads. Brian Eno I know less about but I know that he is revered as an experimental guitarist and that is definitely on display on this album. In Track 1, "America Is Waiting", I really liked the minor tonality sad synth that is played behind the wild rhythmic elements in the foreground for the second half of the song. It added a layer of intrigue. I think it comes in around 1:38. Track 2, "Mea Culpa", also has a darker synth layer behind the focal point elements in the foreground. The synth behind these is dark, tense, and full of staccato stabs that push this tension further along- that I think the foreground layers wouldn't totally convey alone. Track 3, "Regiment", was a nice change to the tension. Here we have a very sweet funky bass groove that sits really nicely in the pocket of some reverbed out minimal drums. Vocal riffs were a fun and unexpected change too. After some middle eastern (or Indian? I think that was a Tabla?) timbres in Track 4, by Track 5 I didn't know what was coming next. This concept continued throughout the record and resulted in a really pleasing listening experience! It's a bit cacophonous in a good way, but like most experimental music it is kind of tied to it's time period and as exploration happens, the idea of "experimental" becomes more normal, and after time it turns old experimental art into dated art. I kind of feel that way with this record (and others on this list have had this issue as well). Looking at it from a different vantage point- a "Dan shut up and enjoy it" perspective, I found it to be enjoyable once I shut up and let myself enjoy it. It's silly, goofy, fun, energetic, and still has a surprising amount of depth. This was a great album to put on and go along for the ride. Not quite a 4/5, but a high 3/5.

Whatever

Aimee Mann

3/5

I've heard of her before but never listened on my own. I felt like the album was just OK. Maybe she is very influential and thus warrants a spot on this list, and this is one of the better of her albums? I really didn't love her voice. There's this concept in singing that I think about sometimes, where the anatomical sum of someone's voice can lead to them just not having an attractive singing voice- regardless of training and practice. It's just that they don't have a voice that attracts people on a more objective level than "well it's just not your preference", and I kind of feel like she has that. I think that a lot of indie rock acts have singers that "put on" a voice in order to make their voice interesting. Which is fine! But with her I just find her voice to be kind of dull, and the music doesn't do enough to pick up the slack. I think this is really prominent in track 4, "Could've Been Anyone", where it has a fun 90's sampled drum n bass groove to start, then a big room drumset rock sound smashes through and the energy quickly builds and then..... oh.. her voice comes in and the air is kind of taken out of the room. It's almost like the band is jamming together in one room and she is in another building. It sounds like it's produced like that and thus, it feels like that. Looking at the album in context, this came out in 1993. Also in 1993 was In Utero, Siamese Dream, Enter the Wu-Tang, Bjork's Debut. Doggystle - Snoop Dogg. Some singles from 1993: "I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Huston, "Can't Help Falling In Love" - UB40, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" - The Proclaimers. Looking at this is context, the sound on this album just feels kind of pedestrian to me. Those other records that came out that year are probably on this list and in my opinion blow this record out of the water. Grasping at some positives here, I thought "4th of July" was a nice track. The downtempo ballad was nice and I liked it here early in the album (but not too early!). Bass playing was really tastefully done, and I enjoyed the other instruments like the synths and vibraphone. Her voice comes across nice here as well. I think it fits these ballad type of tracks better than the rock band arrangements, and I found these tracks to be the better ones on the album, like "Mr. Harris", "I know there's a word", "I've Had It" - which btw how can I not love a song with lyrics like : "And dan came in from jersey He went to get the drums And if buddy ever comes we can get if off the ground" I ended up liking the second half of this album much more than the first half, and I'm not surprised because there's so many more slower ballad like songs on the second half, but I am surprised that the album has such a big "first half / second half" contrast. I tend to write these in a James Joyce-ian stream of consciousness style and I started thinking this album was going to unfortunately be another 1 on the list, but then it built up to a 2, and now I'm giving it a 3. But it's a middling 3, like a 3.0. The second half saved it. I'm going to listen to some of her other music to see if she has more softer arrangements- because the ones with a more rock sound really didn't grab me.

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

3/5

Exciting, fun, and energetic. James Brown oozes stage presence and I feel like without even having the visual component you can still get a sense for what the performance was like. Overall very enjoyable.

That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind & Fire

4/5

Killer album, unfortunately a bit on the shorter end. "Shining Star" "That's the Way of the World" "Reasons" are all slammers. Earth Wind & Fire are always a band that I can put on in any mood, any setting, and enjoy it. Going out with friends? Put on "September" and start grooving while you are getting ready. Romantic night in with your boo? Put on any album. Raging with friends into the early morning? Put on "September" again and scream your lungs out. This album maintains that effect- these songs I could play anytime, anywhere.

Ágætis Byrjun

Sigur Rós

3/5

I was really surprised to see Sigur Ros on this list! I used to listen to them a lot and really enjoyed their sound. This isn't my favorite recording and is a little straightforward and less dynamic than some of their other records. Regardless, I do appreciate it for what it is. I hope they appear on the list again.

Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan

4/5

Great opener. I like Dylan when he is louder and showing more energy and I love a good strong opener like "Tangled up in Blue". "Idiot Wind" has some Dylan tropes (for lack of a better word) that I don't particularly like- like these little end-of-phrase SHOUTS at higher pitches that I always found to be kind of annoying. 2:25-2:30 the lyric "are", 2:38 "stars". I think they are kind of like an easy way out of a phrase when he can't figure out what to do with the end of a melody. i do really like the lyrics and performance though and overall the song is too good to be brought down by these little vocal things that I don't personally love. I like the next track, "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go". The guitar work is impressive and uses more color chords (sus2 and sus4's) which is atypical for really straightforward folk singer-songwriter music. The closer, "Buckets of Rain", was a nice track to hear while sitting next to an open window with an all-day rain. Nice to have something related to rain / a rainy day and not be either jazz or gloomy. Overall, this is a great Dylan album. Middle/high 4/5.

School's Out

Alice Cooper

3/5

Wow I'm really surprised this album is only 36 minutes long. That seems very short. "School's Out" is such a wild, rebellious, youthful anthem. The topic is such a specific one, and I can't think of any song since that captures that feeling better than this one. Unfortunately the rest of the album isn't even as close to as good as "School's Out" but I think that's more of a testament to how good of a song that is moreso than that the other songs are not good. Nice bass playing on "Gutter Cat vs. The Jets"- it's definitely the focal point of this song and very forward in the mix, which was a nice surprise. Great vocals on "Blue Turk" - it almost sounds like a different singer than Alice cooper but I couldn't find more information on whether it was him or a different band member. I really love the piano walkup lines on "My Stars" around the 4:00 minute mark. Really pretty and surprising. The whole ending is great.

Faust IV

Faust

3/5

Love the blank sheet music album cover. I liked the energy of the first song - it felt like a continuous building of excitement. Loved the full drumset entrance at 7:00 minutes. Really transformed the song. Big fan of the xylophone in "The Sad Skinhead". Also didn't expect vocals- I wasn't sure if this was an instrumental only group. Overall I thought it was OK. 3/3

It's Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

4/5

"Heads Will Roll" is my second favorite Yeah Yeah Yeah's track, and I think it's a seminal song in the world of indie rock. It really captures their exciting, edgy yet clean sound, and excitement from Karen O who I think is infinitely cool and impressive. The rest of the album is tight. I think their hits tend to stand out a bit for this band- more than the average band that has really big songs. I liked it, but maybe not enough for a 5/5.

Achtung Baby

U2

5/5

I'm surprised this is the first U2 on this list! Unless I'm mistaken? I think U2 are great. I think some of their hits are some of the rest rock songs of all time. This album has all of the elements that make U2 great- good groove riffs, super tight performances, heartfelt vocals, outside-the-box guitar playing, and hooks. "One Love" is a great song that anyone who is a fan of any genre can listen to and say "hey yea I know that chorus!" "Mysterious Ways" is a song that I am tormented with that is genuinely stuck in my head on repeat when I hear it for like a year after hearing it so I'm cursed now until 2024. Overall I think it's a high 4/5. It's close to being a 5 but it's just shy of that "legendary" mark that I've been reserving for the 5's.

We're Only In It For The Money

The Mothers Of Invention

1/5

The whole album is obviously a commentary on some world/societal topics. Lots of lyrics about abuse from cops- I'm up to track 4 and I think I've heard a lyric about that in 3 songs so far. There's this thing that pervades in Frank Zappa projects that just sort of annoys me... so much of his music comes across as weirdly pompous, even though his whole shtick is that he makes experimental music and fights conventionality (which is usually attractive to me). I don't fully understand why I feel this way, and to be honest I've probably only heard maybe like a third of his released material across all of his projects so maybe I'm not well versed enough to give it an objective critique. I feel this in this release too. There's just these overwhelming concepts that I feel like are just being screamed at me from Zappa / the band. "THIS IS ART." "LISTEN TO OUR ART AND FEEL SOMETHING." "OUR ALBUM COVER IS LIKE SGT. PEPPERS." "LOOK AT ME IN A DRESS ON THE ALBUM COVER." Maybe it's because I'm in a great mood and I don't feel like ingesting art that is critiquing everything, but in the simplest form of experiencing music, this just isn't enjoyable for me to listen to. There's a lyric on track 7, "Harry, You're a Beast": "You paint your head Your mind is dead You don't even know what I just said That's you, American womanhood" [then burping pig sounds, cacophonous chimes] "You're phony on top, you're phony underneath You lay in bed & grit your teeth" I just, I dunno man. Maybe if the music here was some amazing melody or some really incredibly written hook or something I would enjoy this part, but I can't help but think "who hurt you?". I do understand the idea that this was experimental at the time, and also could be seen as a form of "punk" music in a rebellious sense and without typical punk timbres like distorted guitars, fast drums, and aggressive vocals. It's outsider (ish)! It's the artists saying "we are seeing things in the world that we don't like and we are using our music as a vehicle to express these feelings" and I respect and appreciate that. It's interesting to me that an overarching theme in this listening project is the listener's context in experiencing the music. On a different day, maybe I would be enjoying this more- even now, I'm listening to track 9, "Absolutely Free", and it is cool sounding. It has meter changes, interesting melodies, instrumentation at times that isn't what I would expect for the 1960's (like the ending 20 seconds of music). But I guess that's just part of the experience and listener context is inherent, ubiquitous, and unavoidable. I read that Jimi Hendrix on the album cover (far right) is actually him in person. I just gotta give it a 1/5.

461 Ocean Boulevard

Eric Clapton

2/5

In continuing the trend of the listener's contextual experience highly influencing a rating, here's Eric Clapton... who I've appreciated my whole life up until the last three or four years, where his anti vaccine anti lock down and rampant racism has soured his legendary persona for me. I like Clapton's sound in both guitar playing and vocals, I really love Cream, but my current context is that I don't like the man and that is almost an immediate barrier that disallows me from giving a high rating. Thankfully this album was just OK and wouldn't have gotten a super high rating anyway. On the positive, "I Shot The Sheriff" is a fantastic cover of the original by Bob Marley. It maintains the reggae fun while adding in some harmonies and more guitarring as you would expect. It's almost a little too faithful to the original- usually I like it when an artist covers a track and deviates more from the original to put their own spin on it. This track is really the highlight of the album, and I'm not sure if this album would be on the list if that track wasn't on it. I would also be very surprised if this was the only Clapton solo album on this list. It's like a 2/5 ish for me.

Parallel Lines

Blondie

4/5

Production is super tight for 1978 (ah crap I'm listening to the remastered version), and the songwriting is great. I always loved how Debby Harry had this badass-ness about her. Man she is gorgeous too. "One Way or Another" is such an American classic. I feel like I have only ever heard this song through a crappy car radio and never though studio monitors- it sounds so sick! Overall I enjoyed it. I think it's a solid 4.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

4/5

Solid tasteful album. Monk is a king among kings, and Sonny Rollins is a king among kings. This album is really great and I can't stop saying "tasteful". They use plenty of dissonances but only when needed. They confidently move between modern jazz and classic jazz, with an approach that to me feels like classic structures with modern ideas. I love the vibraphone / idiophone instrument throughout the album, and everything is really stellar.

Dire Straits

4/5

Really tight, impressive album. Mark Knopfler's guitar playing is legendary and yet still underrated. His guitar tone and phrasing are some of the best ever in rock music and this album showcases that in what I (and probably many others think) is their best song - Sultans of Swing. The album outside of that track is more vibey than I thought and while it's not as immensely impactful as Sultans of Swing, it's still very good. 4/5 but it's like a 4.3/5 on my "actual" score.

Ramones

4/5

"Blitzkrieg Bop" is probably one of the more famous punk songs of all time and is definitely one of the few songs I think of when I think of this era of "classic" punk. Ramones are great. The rest of the album is great but not nearly as catchy. I think the first 4 or 5 tracks are the strongest ones and it kind of falls out after that. Still a really solid record and a 4/5 for me.

Something/Anything?

Todd Rundgren

3/5

Nice diverse album. It starts off strong with arguably the best song as the first one, "I Saw the Light", and then gets a bit weaker as it goes on. Singer has a nice voice that fit really well in this time period. Production is a little hot and cold though- listening to Track 3 "Wolfman Jack" into Track 4 "Cold Morning Light", you can hear a surprisingly audible change in master volume. The record felt a little bit long for me. By the end I was losing a bit of interest. The final track had some interesting lyrics... I found it pretty funny to consider backup singers singing the chorus harmonies "she may be a slut but she looks good to me" like sheesh louish.

Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival

5/5

Killer American icon band and American classic. Steeped in blues rock and soul and yet still edgy at times and rounded off with the super tight crunchy vocals of John Fogerty - this band is one of my favorites of all time. "Born on the Bayou" and "Proud Mary" are true legendary tracks in rock music. This band and album are just tied into the heart of American sounds and culture and I love it. This is such an enjoyable album to put on no matter what you are doing. Active or passive listening- it doesn't matter! "Good Golly Miss Molly" --> sweet fretless bass. Hard to hear at first! Yea this is an easy 5/5 for me.

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

5/5

This is Gab and I's favorite Christmas album! I also think this is maybe the 3rd album on this list that is a contender for 10 favorite albums for me. (Others- Nirvana Unplugged, Bruce - Nebraska). Gab had a vinyl copy of this (that I think was from her grandmother) that had a wonderful warble to it on a few songs and we 100% hear those warbles when we listen to them out in the wild, like on the radio. We love it and have since gotten a new copy of the vinyl but definitely still love the warbly flaws. I always think about Phil Spector when I hear this album- how pivotal he was to pushing the limits of modern recording technology and how so much of current recording trends are because of him; but at the same time he's a murderer. Yikes. Regardless, this is a 5/5 for me.

The Blueprint

JAY Z

4/5

JAY-Z's got a great sound. It's super clean and professional and seemingly without any questionable choices; everything fits into his sound and it all makes sense. With that being said I actually very rarely listen to his music outside of the singles that pop up from time to time, so this was nice to sit down and go through one of his albums from start to finish. Overall I thought it was pretty good and the bigger songs "Izzo" "Renegade" "Heart of the City" all warrant a 4/5!

The Next Day

David Bowie

3/5

Awesome Bowie album. It's a little bit straightforward(?) for how diverse his sound can get, but I think that that's more of a compliment to have eclectic he was as an artist. Overall it's very enjoyable, easy to listen to, and tightly packed with good ideas and songs.

All Directions

The Temptations

3/5

Fun funk music that grabs you right from the first track. I find it hard to dislike this sort of music and it's a little bit of a double edged sword because I struggle with discerning the good from the bad in this genre often. The positive here is that it makes a lot of funk music (that doesn't have particularly standout elements like experimentation / phenomenal songwriting) good. The negative is that it can make the really great stuff a little watered down for me. Lyrics are definitely dated, with some hard N words thrown around in the second track but hard for me as a caucasian man to say that at the time this was a faux pas or anything. This was also the only track that I didn't really love. I do however really love track 3, "Pap Was a Rollin' Stone". It's got that great 70's wah-wah heavy wacka wacka guitar parts, along with some beautifully intriguing electric piano and rounded off with strings and reverb heavy brass. I could listen to this song every day for a few months without getting sick of it I think. Overall pretty solid effort.

Stankonia

OutKast

4/5

I'm super happy that Outkast has a record on this list. So revered in modern hip hop, so fun, so energetic, so confident without being cocky- there's so much to like. Hearing "So Fresh, So Clean" for the first time in probably like 15+ years I'm actually just slightly little let down though. The chorus is great, but I remembered it being more than just a super catchy chorus. All of the verses and in-between parts are really subpar compared to the great hook. Having "Ms. Jackson" right after on the track list definitely absolves any issues I have hahaha. This track is so good, and solidifies why this album deserves a spot on this list (these two tracks being 2 out of 3 of their best tracks- with the other of course being "Hey Ya!"). Love the vibe in this one, love the lyrics. Overall its really tight. A 4/5 for me.

Bandwagonesque

Teenage Fanclub

3/5

I really find this MSPAINT-ish album cover to be interesting. It's so grotesquely intriguing. The music was OK and didn't really grab me too hard. I think i'll give it another listen but it's sitting just under a 3/5.

Winter In America

Gil Scott-Heron

3/5

I've heard some of Gil Scott-Heron's stuff over the years but never got too deep into it. Some of his spoken word lyrics I've found to be a little bland actually and I have heard a lot of praise for him so maybe I've just missed some of the better stuff by chance? Or maybe it just never moved me. Sometimes when I look at poetry I wonder if it's normal for people to be as divided on poetry as I tend to be. I find myself reading something that doesn't really do anything for me and I quickly forget about it, or I find something that connects with me on many levels and I will read it every day for a week. And I don't really find myself coming across poetry/spoken word that is in the middle, where I think "hey this is neat", it's usually on one end of the love/hate spectrum. Regardless of that, this album was pretty nice. I liked the music behind the vocals and it seemed like there were plenty of parts where the lyrics were sung on this record instead of strictly in a spoken-word delivery. It might warrant another listen to really dig into everything because this album flew by for me.

Water From An Ancient Well

Abdullah Ibrahim

3/5

Loved that the first thing you hear sounds like a Christmas jazz song. Was totally not what I was expecting hahaha I really enjoyed this little album. For the most part I found it to be like instrumental pop-jazz but not in a boring or bland "radio" sort of way. The instruments all flew around the tunes and it was a great listen from front to back. On Track 7, "The Mountain", at 2:11, the baritone sax(es) are a little flat I think. I don't normally have the ear to pick up on stuff like that always but it was funny to find a moment. I'm not even a hundred percent sure but it does sound a little off. For the record this takes away nothing from the record :)

Guitar Town

Steve Earle

3/5

I've actually never listened to Steve Earle but I listened to the hell out of the music of his son, Justin Townes Earle. Justin tragically passed in 2020 at the age of 38 after falling back in love with drugs after years of sobriety. I was really sad when he passed. Steve Earle was doing this weekly podcast/vlog thing named after this album called "Guitar Town" where he would talk about some of his interesting guitars and assorted music stuff. I didn't really follow it because I didn't really follow him but I tuned in to the one that he did the week that Justin passed because I had heard that they had like an on again off again relationship that ultimately ended with both of them being very close with one another. It's interesting to look at because this was Aug 2020 which meant that the pandemic lockdown was still somewhat early but definitely in that phase when people were starting to wonder about how long this thing would last for, and I think that Steve was doing this vlogcast thing to keep himself busy. In the video towards the end, there's this very short and surreal moment where Steve is playing an old mandolin that he describes and spends like 5 or 6 minutes playing and strumming and then he finishes the video by saying "1910 Gibson Model A Mandolin... Justin Townes Earle, 1982, 2020" and then ends the video. The comments section is filled with people sharing RIP sentiments and the difficulty of losing a child and how much they loved Justin but I was just surprised by how he doesn't mention much besides that. He does allude to Justin's passing earlier in the video because he says that he will do "less of these videos, little bit of a break because we had some bad stuff happen around here" and that's it. (Here's the video with time stamp: https://youtu.be/oa8zJWVpm-0?t=568 ) These folk/country lineages I know are always temperamental and drama filled- like the most famous one being the Hank Williams' musical dynasty. IIRC they all hate eachother, and from my perspective, Hank senior is really legit heart breaking roots country, Hank junior is a crappy conservative rockin country pop act, and Hank 3 is the bassist of one of my favorite heavy metal acts, Superjoint Ritual. So they really do their own things and live their own lives.. Anyway, back to this album hahahah! The songs are definitely more country/folk pop than I would have thought. Not exactly my thing but I can pull out elements that I like, like the guitar playing on the otherwise cheesy song "My Old Friend The Blues" is particularly tasteful. "Fearless Heart" is great. To me it sounds just like a song that Justin Townes Earle would write but with much less of an edge to it. I also hear Justin's mumble inside of the singing in "Little Rock 'N' Roller" which is pretty fitting. Makes me sad and the ending being a lullaby really reinforces that. The "State Trooper" cover at the end was nice. I dug the slower, crawling pace of it. Overall I liked the album. I think it fits on this list. It's probably a 3.3/5 for me.

Kimono My House

Sparks

4/5

Really weird intro song. Very unconventional and intriguing in many ways. I don't know if i loved it, but I was definitely interested in pulling it apart and trying to better understand it. I like the guitar playing and the structure. The vocals are weird and feel kind of overly theatrical at times but I don't usually dislike that sort of thing. The second track, "Amateur Hour" I really liked. Another weird one but was fun and the melody stuck in my head even after I left the room to get more coffee. "Falling in Love With Myself Again" continued the weird theatrics but I like it! The guitar breaks really caught me off guard and seemingly don't repeat too much so they just kind of come and go and I dig it. "Hasta Manana, Monsieur" has a really great sleezy guitar riff. "Complaints" has some fantastic moments, like the guitar solo along with the short stabbing all-band stops in the middle of the track. The more I listen to this album the more I like it and the more I find that I like how eclectic it is. It's plenty cohesive but still so diverse in the songwriting that each track feels different in a good way. How manic does "Equator" sound? Same with "Barbecutie". The repeating chorus was cool in Equator but it started to get annoying in Barbecutie.

Moon Safari

Air

4/5

Nice chill laid back album. "All I Need (feat. Beth Hirsch)" sounds very Portishead-y which is cool. Moments of Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, and even more Portishead throughout the album made me a happy listener. I really enjoyed it. It's super laid back and one of the easier albums on this list to put on and flat out enjoy.

Licensed To Ill

Beastie Boys

5/5

ALI BABBA AND THE FORTY THIEVES ALI BABBA AND THE FORTY THIEVES sheeesh there's so many good sing-along moments on this record. I've heard this album a ton of times and I am only now realizing that "Fight For Your Right" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" are consecutive tracks on an album. That's pretty amazing- both of these songs are so entrenched as legendary tracks that it only adds to their impressiveness that they are right after each other. "Brass Monkey" is such a fun upbeat song. I used to yell along to this song with my heavy metal friends. Same with "She's Crafty". There's many many things about these songs that make them great. You can really pull them apart into enjoyable layer after enjoyable layer. It's a perfect representation of good musicians doing their own thing and their own thing being gold. It's just so good. The beat / tempo change in "The New Style" around the 3 minute mark is serious mastery of expectations in music and how to misdirect a listener in the best way.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

4/5

So unique and still listenable, so experimental and still conventional. I love Tom Waits, I don't listen to him enough, and this is a solid release by him. On top of his amazing music, I often think about funny quotes from him like this one: TV Network Presenter Host Person: "It's kind of strange to have a guy sitting here with a bottle in front of him." Tom Waits: "Well, I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"

Crocodiles

Echo And The Bunnymen

2/5

Some cool proto-punk from 1980. (I think they call it proto-punk?) I like the first track and it's cool how it goes from loose vocals and spanky guitars to a more toned down groove that feels like a Tears for Fears part. That's a cool contrast. Overall I enjoyed listening to it but it didn't particularly move me in one direction or another. It was just kind of there.

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

The Kinks

3/5

I enjoyed it. Songs are easy to listen to and very consistent in quality and sound and that's what I expect from The Kinks. The standout track for me was "Victoria". 3/5

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

4/5

Really beautiful vocal jazz. I've never listened to her but I've been meaning to ever since hearing this lyric in a Father John Misty Song: "We sang "Silent Night" in three parts which was fun 'Til she said that she sounds just like Sarah Vaughan I hate that soulful affectation white girls put on". She does have a beautiful voice and the piano really gels with her performance nicely. That's something that is always trying to be captured in jazz and captured in jazz recordings because so much of what makes jazz good is the chemistry between the performers. Most jazz albums are pretty much "live" anyway right? Just not always in front of a live audience. Definitely differs than other genres (pop, rock) where everything is recorded separately and meticulously worked on. "Stairway to the Stars" really blew me away. Very mysterious and intimate. I love the improvisational approach in "How High The Moon". The lyrics are hilarious! She's like "I don't know the lyrics to this song but I'm gonna sing it anyway. Ella Fitszgerald sings this song real real real crazy. [scat] That's the way she sings it, so I'm gonna try to sing it that way for you so here goes." Incredible!! This album went by way too fast for me. I loved it. Will listen more and I'm now a Sarah Vaughan fan!

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

4/5

Oasis is amazing. I've never followed them so deeply to know them beyond their singles but this list has been great at making me do these deeper dives. And to be honest I don't even think it's so much of a deep dive to check out huge records by huge bands. Just somethin ya gotta do. I love the in-the-pocket laid back drum groove on "Columbia". Really tight and really fun hearing the vocals and drums BOTH feel like they are dragging the song- but they are doing it together and are juuuust aligned enough that the song keeps slithering along. This one apparently has been in a back-and-forth with people when they ponder which Oasis album is the best one. I try not to let outside opinions interject into my thoughts too much on this project but I just read an article that claims that this album has more 9/10 to 10/10 tracks on it- that it's more consistently strong than "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?". I gotta say though- "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back in Anger", and "Champagne Supernova" all being on ONE record and that record not being the BEST record for a band is wildly impressive. I'm also trying to not let bands other releases change my ratings too much here but to me this isn't as good as "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?". It's a really solid album but maybe not a 5/5 for me. I think it's like a 4.4 and just short of being high enough to round-up. I love this album cover too. I think the 1990s is my favorite era for album covers. They tend to not stick SO tightly to a visual style/aesthetic (like the 70s, 80s albums did), but to me felt more guided by the content inside of the image and what's going on in the scene. Maybe the 90s were more the start of this idea rather than a decade that is unique in this; because now that I consider it I don't think the 2000s or 2010s really were so glued to the visual decade-vibe like the 70s and 80s were. I might not be wording that to well but I think it would be a great discussion to have!

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

4/5

Super cool band and super cool album. I love the sound, and I can hear so much hip hop looking to this act as a foundational source of sound for the genre. I really dig the jazz influence and overall production. I love the flows specifically- they are really so pleasing to sit and focus-in on and also to have in your ear while relaxing and not so focused. I think listening to A Tribe Called Quest in 2023 will make me hear their influence in other hip hop and rap groups that are around today, like Kendrick Lamar is one that pops out as probably being influenced by this them. This album is an easy 4/5 for me.

Scum

Napalm Death

2/5

I'm somewhat surprised Napalm Death is on this list. I definitely see their influence in metal / specifically death metal, but I think it's not nearly as large in magnitude when compared to a lot of other bands with similar sounds (Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel). I'm guessing that they are here though because of age- they were around in the early 1980's compared to the mid/late 80s like those other 3 acts that I listed that I personally think are much better than ND. Napalm Death are famous for their super short tracks. It might not be on this album but I think they have one song that has a music video that is 13 seconds or so long. Pretty funny. The song "Scum" has a main guitar riff, and it is essentially the same exact guitar riff as the first guitar riff that I ever wrote. I wasn't aware of Napalm Death at the time and wasn't really listening to this kind of sludgy death metal so I'm convinced it was coincidence, but I think it's funny that this band would have that riff and (regardless of time for the sake of argument) it is so similar to a riff that I wrote after playing guitar for like 4 months. This is a very funny nuance in the psychology of being a musician and I think that it somehow unconsciously waters down my enjoyment of them. "Polluted Minds" into "Sacrificed", tracks 5 and 6, are a good example of why I hesitate to add them to this list. The songs sound very very similar, and there's not much substance in general there. Sure, it's an emotion, and music should convey emotion, but there's not much to get from there. 2/5.

Home Is Where The Music Is

Hugh Masekela

3/5

Love the energy in track one. Great start to an album! He's got a nice sound and tone for this style of playing. Not to say that he isn't dynamic because he definitely is, but there is a prevailing tone that he has that really cuts through the mix. It's got an edge to it- almost like a guitar that has just a little bit of distortion on it. Can be heard well on "The Big Apple", which I think is cool. There are many variables in music creation and I'm hoping that this harsher edgier tone is depicting a wintry New York City day. Solid 3/5 for me.

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

4/5

Accidentally had my review removed (I think I closed the tab without hitting the "save" button), but fortunately it wasn't too long. This album is solid, and Little Richard is transcendent. "Tutti Frutti" is a legendary piece of American music / art. I think Little Richard is an influence on so many different styles of modern music and even if an artist isn't aware of this, I think it's still an unconscious factor. 4/5 for me.

3 + 3

The Isley Brothers

4/5

Such a great way to start an album. Love the vibe it hits you with. Actually before you even hear music you get to see this magnificent album cover that oozes COOL. Ok one thing I hate- Track 1, the hi-hats are so loud and panned like 90% in the left ear. It's a little grating and annoying to have something that is consistently the fastest element of sound being played (8th notes and more!) only being heard in one ear. Music is great when it is panned well. I'm a firm believer in panning beyond mono as an immediate sound-enhancer. Unfortunately, when done in this manner you get this unbalanced sort of sound, and the right ear feels empty compared to that super consistent and driving left ear hi-hat. It's also so loud in the mix that I heard this on speakers before even having to check on headphones. Song still Slaps though. Track 2 - I have mentioned it before but I'm a firm believer in track 2 or 3's on albums being upbeat / uptempo. There's something about that (roughly) ~3 to 9 minute mark of listening to an album that I think is really impressionable and regardless of the genre I think it often benefits the artist for listener retention if they have some kind of exciting material in that time frame. This album has a tough-love sounding ballad on track 2 and I actually really enjoy it. Maybe because the first track was so grooving and bouncy that it filled that space for me. - Why not let that guitar solo happen at 2:06? I wanted to hear more! To be fair though this was a cool choice in using misdirection. - Damnit the hi-hat is panned super hard to the left on this track as well. There's some real R&B classics on this album. "Summer Breeze", and "That Lady". I really enjoy the flow of the album too- just easy to put on and enjoy.

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

4/5

I don't love the singers voice on track 1 and I feel bad saying it but it just sounds kind of cringey with the super serious lyrics. It sounds almost like over-acted? I hate being harsh on music that speaks on world issues though. The guitar part on Track 2, "Letting Go" is really nice. I love the dynamics in the accented notes. The mix engineer lets those pop out pretty loudly even at the same time as vocal melodies and it's a cool balance. Usually things like that are diligently caught and hidden under vocal parts in pop music. Track 2 overall I liked way more than the first one. Beautiful strings in the intro to "Homelands". Wow and that vocal part around :28 seconds is a VERY cool sound. This whole track was fantastic actually. It's ambitious going from that cinematic track (Homelands) to a rap song immediately following with some interesting synth choices. I don't know if it pays off. Contrasting the first track, I actually kind of like the vocal performance here but on this one I don't really like the music behind, as it feels kind of empty. Maybe it's because this was from 1999 and I'm hearing it after hearing super produced modern records with modern technology like a meticulously engineered Kendrick Lamar album? I could see an argument that the sound explored here set the table for an artist like Kendrick to further explore. "Immigrant" is like a piece from a Linn Manuel-Miranda musical. Awesome tabla raga on track 11. I had a professor in school who specialized in this and would always show me how complex this music form is so I appreciate it every time I hear it. This album is literally back and forth with me and it is messing with my head but maybe in a good way? This album made me think a lot and the on-and-off sea-saw dynamism didn't let me just sit back and listen while I was doing the dishes. It really grabbed my attention. I really appreciate that it is on this list and I think a lot of my critiques are more geared towards the age of the album which is a little unfair but also a reality of the evolution of music production and songwriting. Normally I would give this album a 3/5 because it had several tracks that I flat out didn't enjoy, but the songs that I did enjoy I really did and that is making me think of this as a 4.4/5 rounded to a 4. At the end I really appreciated this album being on the list and I will definitely listen to it more.

Pictures At An Exhibition

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

3/5

So funny to hear a huge roaring rock show crowd and then a church organ piece. Oh dang this is actually the real Pictures at an Exhibition suite by the composer Mussorgsky. I am super intrigued by this and really surprised I never heard of it. It rocks! Ok some of the arrangements aren't really that mind blowing but to be honest I don't really love the prog jam rock sound. I like this. I'm a little bit confused about the concept in a good way. Overall it was fun. At times a little bland for my tastes but I think that is more because its prog from the 1970s.

The Rise & Fall

Madness

3/5

"Our House" is such a fun funky poppy rocky legendary track. For some reason I thought that song was released in like 1990, and I was surprised to see it was in 1982. It's a lovely song to hear on good speakers. Growing up this song was ubiquitous but always heard on subpar car speakers or stereos and never through a good pair of headphones or studio monitors. Listening now on studio monitors there are so many more elements to appreciate- the guitar tone in the solo around 1:45 and the contrasting sax line to it. The vocals are SO clean, along with the drums. Overall the mix is impressively tight. "Don't Look Back" is a very fun funky song. More great production and performances. I found it interesting that most of the songs on this album were removed from Spotify. This hasn't been the case too often and it's always been easy to find a way to listen to them but it makes me wonder why? Cool album cover. Love the snake charmer!

Figure 8

Elliott Smith

4/5

This album really blew me away. I was force-fed a lot of Elliot Smith by some friends on my recent trip to Seattle and somehow we didn't get to this album- despite one friend having a tattoo dedicated to it. A lot of his music that I've heard has been some pretty "down" stuff but I think that his voice is just so naturally soft that it's really a case of there being more more than meets the eye (ear) and you have to really listen to get it. When I first hear his songs I hear that voice and it immediately colors my view on the overall sound. This record however already starts pretty heavy only a minute and a half into the first track, and surprisingly (to me) it fits his voice wonderfully! I also love the little blues notes that are thrown around in the piano in this first track- it very quickly dispels my idea of "soft, downer" music. This is one of a very few records I've heard so far for the first time from this list that I want to put at a 5/5. I have held onto those 5 stars as a definition of an album that I find truly incredible. I think I'm going to land on a 4/5 for this one but it's a high 4/5. This is also the first album I've put on from this list and when it was finished I started it over again.

...And Justice For All

Metallica

5/5

The first CD that I purchased with my own money! I love "And Justice"; it's so tight and there isn't a weak song on the album. It is unfortunately overshadowed by the massive "Master of Puppets" but to me it is like 1B to MoP being 1A in best Metallica albums. I'm fortunate enough to have listened to this album a TON at one period of my life and then seldom had revisits, so that these songs still have really strong ties to that one period of my life. I think when that happens, the more you listen to an album outside of that period of time the more the connection weakens. For me, this was me playing Triple Play Baseball on my 11th birthday in 2001 and blaring this album through a CD player. Lars Ulrich always gets hate for his drum sounds (the somewhat more recent album "St Anger" is one of the worst snare drum sounds ever), and I don't really mind them on this record. They feel a little thin, but overall Metallica's sound has always leaned more towards tight/compact and drums that are thinner make this objective much easier. The kick drum doesn't conflict with the bass guitar, the cymbals don't conflict with the guitars, etc. One thing I don't like on this record is that there are times where there are fast double bass hits and it almost sounds like they were overdubbed. The tone is less "clicky" and they overpower the mix when they hit. I wouldn't be surprised if the volume was automated to make them more forward/loud in the mix at those times though because it is a cool hammering effect. Good idea, but dated at this point in metal music production. I love the vocal effect on "Eye Of The Beholder". I'd imagine this was pretty experimental at the time for heavy metal. Metallica's "thing" since album 1 was thrash thrash thrash metal. Fast, low maintenance. Distortion on guitars and GO. That's it! Ok maybe a little bit of wah-wah pedal for guitar solos but nothing else. Since Master of Puppets though (the album prior to this) they definitely started to experiment more with things like reverbs, compressors, and even clean tones. Side note- "One" is one of the best examples of metal music using clean guitar tones effectively. That intro is one of the best intros to a metal track of all time and the tone is as clean as it gets. But back to vocals- this effect is cool, it's a warbly effect that I can't quite place. A quick google tells me that it was a Flanger. I love how long their tracks are. They were never afraid of having a metal song that is long and problematic for radio. I think this is one of the strengths of Metallica- that these long songs allowed them to develop themes and have the songs truly sound epic because of where they start, where they go, and where they end up. The average length for a song on this is 7:27 which is really unheard of.

This Nation’s Saving Grace

The Fall

2/5

Wow I love the intro to this album. That overdriven baritone guitar is SO heavy. Then that spooky change at 0:37 was super unexpected but cool. I like this intro a lot. So much intrigue. This album feels like a fever dream to me. The main riff of "Barmy" is like happy~ish and fun and then interspersed throughout the rest of the track is contrasting moments of cacophonous mood shifts into almost satanic sounding parts. Nothing ever really settles before it shifts gears too. I really like the almost-off guitar tunings in "What You Need". The song itself felt kind of boring though. "Spoilt Victorian Child" hahahah what is there to say? What a chorus. This album gave me a lot of reactions and for that I am thankful. I don't know if I loved the music however and that's a pretty important criteria for this list. I gotta dig the music. For that reason I'm giving it a 2/5 that leans close to a 3.

Picture Book

Simply Red

2/5

The mix quality really is fantastic from the first second of music. What's funny is that this album is next in the list immediately after "The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace" which also came out in 1985 but had a completely different fidelity level in the audio quality. This mix feels like walking on grass after crawling through some mud. Everything is so clear and distinct and yet still homogeneous. I'm just realizing now that I'm listening to a remixed 2008 version. My bad. Leaving my comments. Track 2 to 3 is a fun tone shift. Track 5"Jericho" was super cheesy and the vocals didn't feel right. Ok Track 6 I don't like either. I feel like this album got off to a good start and then started to get cheesy? I really don't like the choruses + the bridge "we're talkin bout money money" in this one.. Track 7 goes back to an overall sound that I like. But the last 2 tracks have definitely soured my experience so far! Track 9, "No Direction" is sweet, it sounds like a Living Colour song. ugh and then Track 10 "Picture Book" i really don't like. "We beseech thee, we beseech thee." I hated having a "Money's Too Tight to mention" reprise. It wasn't great the first time. Yea I didn't love this album.

Back In Black

AC/DC

5/5

Instant 5/5 for me. "Hells Bells" "Back in Black" "You Shook Me All Night Long" are all in the list of top ~200 rock songs of all time for me. There's an argument to be made for "Shoot to Thrill" as well. Best Australian rock band of all time? Crazy good record.

Axis: Bold As Love

Jimi Hendrix

4/5

It feels blasphemous to give any Jimi Hendrix record anything but a 5/5, so I will be giving Axis: Bold as Love a 5/5. There's always been so much talk around Jimi being the greatest guitarist of all time. I don't know if one guitarist can fairly hold that title. Maybe there's a flexible top 10? Or a top 10 for genres or time periods? It's hard for me to say that Jimi is greater than others in different musical spaces, like virtuoso classical guitarist Andres Segovia who is equally as impressive, but plays the guitar so different than Jimi that it's almost a different instrument. Is Jimi even better than someone who doesn't have all of the tools, isn't flashy, but writes amazing music on the instrument? I think the songs of The Beatles are more straightforwardly impressive (in terms of the basic building blocks of harmony + melody) than Jimi's original music, so would that make an argument for George Harrison or John Lennon as being in the same realm of guitarring? This is why I don't really love "who is the best at X" conversations when it comes to music/art but I feel obligated to mention it when Jimi is brought up. I'm struggling a little with where to rate this one. This album is amazing. It has "Little Wing", and "Castles Made of Sand". I don't know if I like it as much as "Are You Experienced?", which has "Foxey Lady", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire", and Jimi's most famous track "Purple Haze". Purple Haze is one of the best guitar riffs of all time- probably a top 10 for me. The 2 huge tracks on this album would also be as equally good as the huge tracks on "Are You Experienced", but I think AYE just has this one beat by the sheer amount of amazing songs. For that reason, I gotta give this album a 4/5. It's a high one- I wish this website allowed for 0-100 ratings. This is a 4.9 in my eyes (ears) and AYE is 5.0.

Illmatic

Nas

4/5

Nas is one of the most revered rappers of all time, and yet to me I think he is still somehow a little underrated. Production, and beats are of course incredible, but the star is Nas' flow and lyrics. How killer is that slow piano riff on "NY State of Mind" and how killer is it how he dances around it with his vocals? Don't even get me started on his annunciation; every word is audible and precise and yet his innate coolness still remains. I love this line in "NY State of Mind": "I know this crackhead who said she gotta smoke nice rock And if it's good, she'll bring you customers and measuring pots But yo, you gotta slide on a vacation Inside information keeps large niggas erasin' and their wives basin' It drops deep as it does in my breath I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined I think of crime when I'm in a New York State of Mind" There's so much to unpack there- touching on how to navigate interactions with crack dealers and narcs inside of gangs, and then this legendary rap phrase: "I never sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death". It also just does so much to make you feel like you are a New Yorker and you are there with him experiencing all of these thoughts. The intro track to this album gives you those car horns and NY soundscapes and then blasts you with all of these lyrics that really teleport you there- to a setting that is foreign to me but one that I've attempted to vicariously experience through film and TV. That line "sleep is the cousin of death" can be heard again in rap, like 11 years later on The Game's track "Dreams": "Daydreamin' yesterday, dozin' off backstage I thought I saw Eazy talking to Jam Master Jay So I walked over, heard Jam Master say "It's a hard knock life, then you pass away" They say sleep is the cousin of death, so my eyes wide open 'Cause a dream is kin to your last breath". In reading more about this one particular line, I came across an actual quote from Nas as he was talking about The Game being influenced by this line and he said: "Game also plays on the word “so” which also sounds like “sew”. If he were to sew his eyes wide open he would be able to avoid sleep, and not die." That's really cool. I appreciate this facet of rap so much. When i start to do dives into rap lyrics and these little interconnected ideas that are so easily skimmed over- I get jealous that other genres of popular music don't often have them or when they do it's not nearly as complex or interesting enough of a web to investigate! It truly blows me away. I think that's one of the best things that Nas has brought to rap and to music. Of course it's good songs, but it's also the influence and inspiration to other artists. This is a high 4/5 for me. I'm noticing my strict standards for a clean 5/5 and while I do love this album I think it's just a bit more 4.8 or 4.9 instead of the "perfect" 5. Still an amazing record. One of the best rap albums of all time.

Django Django

3/5

Interesting album cover. It's striking and I'm assuming it's some kind of mixed media? I love the intro and the seamless transition into the second track. I've never heard of this band before now so it's fun to go into an album blind and have no idea at all what the style will be. Even more so as this is a more recent release. Interesting sound. Indie rock-first but there's a lot of influences in there; I think I'm hearing some Beach Boys. Producing is cool too, lots of intriguing layers. The consistent adjective that's popping up is "interesting". It's not music that is really "out-there" but I keep noticing songwriting and production choices that aren't completely the norm for this style of music and I appreciate that. It's adding some nice depth. It made me enjoy the album and the only downsides were that it didn't have many big standout moments. Each track would have it's own idea and live inside of that idea, but then not really take my interest to the next level. "Defaults" is probably my favorite of the bunch. It's nicely diverse and yet still cohesive. They'll have tracks that have electronic drums and instruments in the foreground ("Waveforms", "Zumm Zumm", "Hand of Man"), a delta-blues Nick Drake inspired song like "Firewater", then an straightforward indie rocker track like "Life's A Beach" that you would hear on a Vampire Weekend album. It's cool and eclectic. As this was their debut album, I feel the need to see their direction after this one. Lots of promise. 3.3/5 I think.

Elastica

2/5

Love a good raw 90's album cover. Hate those distorted guitar tones. Ugh it's like it's coming out of a 25$ practice amp that's been living in someone's grandparents attic for decades. Even worse is that the guitars are panned the way they are with the on/off right/left playing. It hurts!! Not unlistenable though. Ok so "Connection" is their big track that I remember. This album was ok, I think it's a 2/5 for me. Not sure if it needs to be on this list.

A Night At The Opera

Queen

5/5

Hard to put into words how great Queen are. This album is probably their best, and it has "Bohemian Rhapsody" in it- one of the greatest songs of all time. Their music is so exciting, confident, excessive (in the best way), unrestrained, and fun. Goodness this album just flows so well too. It's hard to put Queen into buckets but I think Theatrical Baroque Pop is my favorite way to describe them. When I read that I just think about the infectiously fun bop that you get when you hear their music. Is there a better singalong than "Bohemian Rhapsody"? I don't know. Maybe "Happy Birthday", but somehow it's not as fun. "You're my Best Friend" "Love Of My Life" "Bohemian Rhapsody" Are all STUNNERS. Easy 5/5 for me. Love this so much!

Morrison Hotel

The Doors

4/5

Classic album by a classic band. One of the best voices in rock and roll (crazy to have this album follow a Queen record!) and the instrumentalists are incredibly tight, inventive, and engaging. "Roadhouse Blues" is a perfect rock and roll song. And a perfect guitar riff. And a perfect album starter. Should definitely be one of the first songs you show to someone who wants to hear rock and roll. I never knew "Peace Frog" was the title of this track! Outside of being a perfect combination of blues/funky rock and roll, it also was perfectly influenced by the time period. I love the trippy~ness of this band and record and it doesn't take anyway any of their edge. For me this is a 4/5. There's just so many good tracks on it.

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield

3/5

I agree, there's no place like America today. What an album cover. Love the bass guitar on the first track. Song is a bit of a downer though and hit me in one of those "damn im not in the right mood to completely enjoy this" experiences. Unfortunately the second track continued with a similar level of energy than the first. Track 3, "So in Love" was really great though. Lyrics are really incredible, I love the starting lines "So in love You do so many things with that smilin' face". No immediate rhyme necessary, and it's just this wonderful little introductory description of a noted element of the writer's love for someone else. I love it :) The album is only 35 minutes and it really went by quickly. I think I didn't really fully enjoy it as much as the average listener did though so it's a 3/5 for me.

Eternally Yours

The Saints

2/5

Looking at play counts- I'm assuming this is a 1-hit wonder type of thing where this album has one song that is just so good that it warrants placement on this list (I'll be the judge of that!). The first track has 3 million plays on Spotify and the second highest on the album is 300k. I don't always look at the play counts (they're just so dang visible on Spotify) as I think they have the ability to persuade a listener, but I don't think it's too bad to sometimes know what are the big tracks on a record you don't really know. The first track had a nice riff. "Memories Are Made of this" was pretty good. I liked the chorus. "A Minor Aversion" starting with an A minor chord is really nice for me as a music theory nerd. I feel like this is punk without the attitude? The album was just OK for me.

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

The first heavy metal band. (Actually I think there was one before them that didn't have a lot of recognition?) This album is so wildly good. Man I wasn't sure if this was going to be a 4 or 5 but after remembering the tracks on it it's an easy 5 for me. Monumental songs that have stood the test of time and will continue to stand the test of time. Iron Man might be the most famous heavy metal song of all time (ok, maybe top3-5). It has one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time. Paranoid is also one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time, and one of the greatest electric guitar + bass "back and forth"s ever. The bass guitar drives you forward like a drumset double bass, and the guitar riff syncopates itself wonderfully off of the bass. War Pigs is one of the best metal-album openers ever. How great is that guitar solo that starts around 6:30? It's so emotional! Super underrated tracks: Planet Caravan (The jazz guitar solo at 2:30 is really amazing and tasteful. I don't remember being this impressed by this solo. It really shows how the talent and eclecticism.) My metal friend group used to love this song. It was probably the most-listened to post-smoking-weed song for the group. I think Pantera's cover though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5K_gQLENOs ) Electric Funeral (that guitar riff at 2:20 and subsequent guitar soloing is really A+ rock and roll) Hand of Doom (groove. People don't realize how grooving Black Sabbath are) Faeries Wear Boots (listen to the groove in this one!) I just realized I covered every song on this record except for "Rat Salad" which I don't remember too well. That's really no surprise to me, as this is definitely a 5/5 and one of the greatest albums of all time for me. It's a blessing hearing this album through good monitors + headphones again. It's really been decades since I've heard many of these records through anything other than a car radio. Black Sabbath is just so ubiquitous in playlists of metal heads that you listen to them so much and never want to take the time to sit down and experience them in the best listening-setting possible. And to be directed to do that here is just so pleasant and welcomed. My favorite aspect of Black Sabbath is that they write catchy music. Writing heavy metal music is innately very hard in my opinion- there are specifications that you strive to meet to live in that realm but these can also be seen as limitations. To write melodic music in metal is hard, and to write catchy melodies is one of the hardest things to do in music composition. I really need to plug in my electric guitar and sit and listen to this album and just play along.

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper

4/5

Great opener with a really really great chord progression. To me it feels triumphant almost? And having the fade out really locks in that feeling. Interesting to open an album with this one though when I think it would work just as well (better?) as a closer. I never listened too much to Alice Cooper. I think when his music came around to me it just felt a little too theatrical and cheesy for me to fully embrace. I am definitely enjoying this album though. The only down side is that from my experience I hear some of these songs, like "Billion Dollar Baby" and I can't help but think it's a mock-rock Spinal Tap song (for the record I love Spinal Tap but they are obviously satire). "Unfinished Sweet" is a good example. Dental drilling sounds and pained howls at 1:30, and then parts of the theme to James Bond at 2:58? That's quite a valley to cross in a minute and a half. "No More Mr. Nice Guy" is such an amazing rock song. Alice Cooper has such an impressive feel for simple hooks. This one is so straightforward and uses just a slight rhythmic pause to elevate the hook-factor: NO MORE (pause) MISTER NICE GUY That's all it needs! That little pause is really perfect. I don't love the mix on "Generation Landslide". His voice sounds way way too loud compared to the instruments. "Sick Things" also gives me Spinal Tap vibes. It kind of meanders around and doesn't do much for me.. Interesting album cover. A bit perplexed on what it all means though.. Overall it's a 4/5. It has a top 100 rock song of all time in it but the supporting tracks don't do enough to elevate it to a 5.

The Healer

John Lee Hooker

2/5

There's something really intriguing about this period of time between roughly 1988 and like 1992; the end of 80's glam and before the grunge explosion of the 90s. I definitely need to find more top albums from these years and also other years that fall in between the big genre-defining albums. Interesting how the first track is smooth-jazz and is kind of an outlier from the rest of the very blues-centric record. I love the Bonnie Raitt appearance on "I'm in the mood". I actually haven't listened to her much but she sounds really great here. At the same time I find myself getting bored with these sort of songs and the dated lyrics. Saying you are in the mood for love repeatedly doesn't really do much for me. It's already a bit straightforward and predictable because it's a blues chord progression, so the second half of the track wasn't my favorite. I didn't really love this album. I felt underwhelmed by the overall blues sound and it just didn't do too much for me. I liked the first track the most and wish that more of the album sounded like that.

Aja

Steely Dan

4/5

A classic that I am ashamed to say I haven't listened much to. Great jazz rock. Love the vibraphone in "Aja". I love the whole feel of this track and how it has things to say but isn't in a rush to say them. That's a little thesis statement on how I like to live my life. Awesome drumming on "Aja" too. The more you listen the more you can only be impressed by the performances. This is a really solid album and I feel a little sacrilegious to write but it doesn't hit that legendary 5 mark for me personally. Songs are interesting in good ways but not frequently enough get enough excitement in them that elevates them to a truly legendary listening experience. It all gels really nicely but I would love for some moments where the energy really lifts. I didn't feel that tension/release cycle much and I think that's what makes it a clear cut 4/5, like a 4.5.

World Clique

Deee-Lite

3/5

Oh man, "Groove Is In The Heart" is such a perfect song. So glad that this record is on this list if only just for that song. The rest of the album is pretty tight. Infectious grooves and super fun energy. One of the easier albums to put on and simply enjoy on this list so far. Most facets of the music just fit perfectly- the vocal tones, the vocal performances, the melodies, the production techniques, the compositions, the instruments... it's all just so super well done. The one thing I noticed is that "Groove Is In The Heart" has a bit of extra production "love" in it compared to the other tracks. When listened and A/B'd back and forth between others, it's louder, more compressed, and more saturated. As a production nerd I appreciated the polish on this one but it's a double edged sword because it waters down the other tracks. What makes it worse is that this is one of the more egregious examples of this that I've ever seen (heard) on any album which is a bummer.

Drunk

Thundercat

3/5

Wow I really wasn't expecting Thundercat on this list and this must be one of the more recent releases to appear on this list so far. I got into Thundercat after seeing him on Mac Miller's Tiny Desk concert a few years back- which I've recently been revisiting pretty frequently. Love the meter change in Captain Stupido around 1:00 minute in. There's a lot to digest on this record and I'm glad it's here I think? "Them Changes" is the big one and for good reason. It's a killer tune that uses what I think is 2 or 3 basses- one using a wah-wah pedal which is super weird for a bass guitar as the effect is essentially an EQ filter that rapidly opens and closes and that's a jarring sound for bass. With all of those positives listed, I still wouldn't necessarily say this album needs to be on this list. I think it gets a lot of credit for the flashes of virtuoso bass playing and the fun things like metric modulation and moments of funk-prog.

Natty Dread

Bob Marley & The Wailers

3/5

A secret about me that I don't like to share is that I don't really always like or seek out reggae music. Without over-philosophizing it, I think I have a particular preference towards directional music; music that goes somewhere, that has tension and resolution, that has character development, etc. A lot of people don't believe in the genre-ification of music ("why you gotta put a label on it man?") but I like it and I think taxonomies exist for humans to further explore what they like and don't like and do it systemically. The flip side is that reggae should probably be devoid of incessant thought / analysis / philosophizing and it's been a life-long journey to sit down, shut my brain, and simply enjoy some genres of music that don't innately pull me in, and reggae is one that I'm still working on. So this album I sat down, shut off my brain, and enjoyed this ish. I think it's a 3/5 that leans towards a 5/5. Bob Marley is to reggae what Wayne Gretzky is to hockey- the person who is so above the rest that you can't mention the thing itself without thinking about the person, and this album has "No Woman No Cry" which is an A+ piece of music. His hits are so so so top tier for the genre and it's funny to me that this song isn't even a top 5 for him. Unfortunately for the sake of this list I don't think any of his top top songs are on the same record though.

The Specials

2/5

Interesting sound- I appreciated how fun it sounded as this was a Monday morning listen for me. "Do the Dog" kind of drives me nuts from a mix/master perspective. The bass is so loud, the drums are so reverberant, and the second singer's voice as the "response" voice is SO loud and dry. Very weird. The last song was funny- "You're wondering now what to do, this is the end". I like when artists do these sort of meta moments in albums. It was just OK. Unless there's some angle about this album being influential for a niche genre I'm not really sure if it belongs on the list. I also felt like once I heard 3-4 of the tracks that I knew what to expect from the others which is something that I don't like.

Let It Be

The Replacements

3/5

Cool album cover. Makes me think of late teenage / early 20 years living in the suburbs, growing my hair out, and being rambunctious. I definitely am enjoying the sound of the band. I hesitate to call it punk rock but I think it's like indie rock punk. Good choruses and great guitar riffs that blend subgenres of rock nicely. What a weird slowdown in "We're Comin' Out" right in the middle of a guitar solo. This is really a rare idea and it almost sounds like the guitarist was in the middle of it and then the rest of the band + engineer started slowing down without letting the guitarist know. Pretty cool effect that I liked. The speed up in the ending with more intensity was great too. "Androgynous" is fantastic and not what I expected to hear on the record. Cool track with progressive lyric content. "Unsatisfied" sounds like an evolution of a Bruce Springsteen song (this is a good thing!). Nice album! I will be spinning this one a bit more I think.

Scream, Dracula, Scream

Rocket From The Crypt

2/5

I feel pretty well versed in rock/punk, and I'm surprised that I really can't recall ever hearing of this band/record/songs whatsoever. The sound is cool, it's like super modern punk rock with ska elements (35 seconds into track 4) that also gets heavier (36 seconds into track 1). The production is very impressively crisp for 1995. The guitars and drums really sync up well and fit together like puzzle pieces. The compositions just felt OK to me and didn't blow me out of the water. I was curious about this band so I looked up the amount of plays per song on Spotify and they were really low- like way below the average for albums on this 1001 list.

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

4/5

This album is a big nostalgia hit for me; my mom used to put this vinyl record on and we would dance around the basement to it for hours. This was most likely my first introduction to music along with car rides in the early 90s with grunge on the radio so I'm particularly fond of this kind of sound (why I haven't made grunge+50's doo-wop pop music yet is a mystery to me). I'm really surprised about the play times on this album. Nowadays a majority of the time you will see any kind of popular music record having most songs be over 3 minutes and this one's longest track is 2:36. It feels like they go by so fast. "That'll Be The Day" is the big hit on this one. Great tune with fun vocal techniques throughout and a super memorable hook. It's a 4/5 for me right on the dot.

Be

Common

3/5

Wow it's cool to see Common on this list. I've heard so many good things over the years but I don't think I've ever listened to any of his music. Very cool instrumentation on the first 2 tracks. Love an album that starts with cool stuff like this. "GO!" you could almost tell right from the drop that it was produced by Kanye. I didn't however realize that it was John Mayer doing backup vocals, although I don't really love how the tone of his voice fits in with the rest of the track. Maybe he could have sang something more than an echo'd "go" and it would have fit my tastes better? Overall I think it's a middle 3/5

The College Dropout

Kanye West

5/5

I'm going to wait until Steve posts his review and I'll just echo that. This is of course a 5/5. Something that I found interesting was how Kanye started to steer the direction of rap away from gangsta rap, although some of that genre's lyrical subject matter also exists here on this album, like drug dealing/addiction, poverty/struggle. This might not have been THE album to do it on it's own, but it definitely was a part of the conversation. "All Falls Down" "Jesus Walks" "Through The Wire" are 3 truly amazing rap songs and easily some of the best to come out of the genre.

A Hard Day's Night

Beatles

5/5

I really love this record right from that mysterious first chord. The more raw early Beatles sound is so fun and attractive to me. This record has 3 amazing Beatles tracks on it: "A Hard Day's Night" "And I Love Her" and "Can't Buy Me Love" Each is unique and special in it's own way and some of my favorite Beatles tunes. Probably 3 of my top 15 Beatles songs right there.

Pornography

The Cure

2/5

In my adult life I've really come to really enjoy serious bands from the 1980s. The decade was bloated with cheesy synths and corny lyrics and I think it was a sound that pretty quickly became outdated. As I have gotten older though I've come to appreciate this sound, and I think if you say to yourself "at first glance this may sound corny, but I'm going to not care about that and get lost in the music" then it's really easy to enjoy all of the other facets underneath the surface. With that being said, The Cure hasn't been one of the standout acts for me. I think maybe I'm missing something, like how influential they were to other bands. This album is a 2/5 for me with not many standouts and I don't think any of their big hits.

The Visitors

ABBA

3/5

I love the vangelis-esque synths in the first song around 1:30 in. I don't remember ABBA having these kind of sounds in the background of their tracks. Fun chromatics in track 2 around the 00:30 second mark. The star of this record as I'm sure is the same for every ABBA album is the vocal performances. I liked this album but I suspect that ABBA shows up again on this list as this one doesn't even contain any of their huge top 5 (or top 10?) hits. Plus, "Waterloo" deserves a spot on this list even just for the solo song itself and that's not on this record soooo....

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

3/5

I really love the drama in these songs. "Four Women" is wild. "What More Can I Say?" has such an incredible buildup. There are a few on this that I don't really love. "Break Down and Let It All Out" really misses the mark for me. The vocal vibrato is so incredibly tight and rhythmic in a weird way. The song itself isn't strong, and I don't love the super quick fade out at the end too. "Wild Is The Wind" wasn't my favorite either. Now that I'm listening I'm realizing that I liked the first half of the album much more than the second, save for the track "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", a beautiful modal ballad that is a highlight of the second half. Nina Simone is a force but this one isn't one of my favorites. Even with that being said it is a very enjoyable listen. Lovely album cover.

Bad Company

3/5

It's so funny to me that this band is "Bad Company", known for the song "Bad Company" off of the album "Bad Company". There's just something humorous about the idea of finding a good name and then running with it I guess. I spent so many hours and hours of my youth sitting in a room with bandmates trying to think of band names and track names and those little revelations that sometimes arise through the weed smoke and beer burps really are magical and I can see how easy it must have been for this band to just keep running with that. I've never been a big listener of this band because frankly their sound always came across as kind of cheesy and that of that classic rock generic-ness. But from the start of the first track I really did feel something... maybe it's because it is a Friday and it's nice out and Spring is just around the corner but I imagined myself being a young rock songwriter and having this release come out in my late 20's and that really made me get a sort of vicarious nostalgia hit. If I was a member of this band I would be really proud of this record. It does what you think it will do, for better or worse. It's a 3/5 for me. Like a 3.4 though; not close enough to round up to a 4.

The White Album

Beatles

5/5

When this came up and I started looking over the track listing I had to do a double take to check that this wasn't some form of greatest hits or era's-compilation sort of release. It's so good. "Dear Prudence" "Obla Di Obla Da" "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" "Blackbird" "Helter Skelter" "Revolution 1" are all truly amazing and legendary tracks. While My Guitar.. and Blackbird are two of my favorite Beatles songs. Both very different and both highlighting guitar creativity along with the magic that can happen between a perfect vocal and a perfect guitar part. This is a 5/5 of course and is probably one of the highest rated albums on this list for all users.

Miriam Makeba

4/5

How about that "The Click Song"? Absolutely beautiful. The little background info before the song started was really great to let other people know more about the song and why they sing it. A little logistical adjustment I would prefer though would be to make that spoken section a separate track on the album right before this song so that you get "just" the music every time you go to listen to the song. Really stunning vocal performances. I think the basses underneath her (specifically nice on "Holilili") are just as sonorous as a sound as her voice. Highlights for me were: "The Click Song" "Holilili" "Mbube" (which is a cover but was also taken and "repurposed" into "The Lion Sleeps Tonight") "Where Does It Lead" which is a fantastic emotionally grey piece of music. "Saduva" This is such a nice album and one of those ones that reinforces how wonderful and fun music is.

Younger Than Yesterday

The Byrds

2/5

Hard for me to listen and not hate the very hard-panning of the instruments. Man is it grating... Yea this album was alright for me, the songs didn't really blow me away but they weren't terrible. The mix choices unfortunately permeated throughout the listening experience.

3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...

Arrested Development

2/5

Cool sound and it's my first time hearing this band. When the TV Show by the same name came out I really loved it- I thought it was such a great and unique name and I didn't know there was a band with the same name that came before it. I guess it's also just a relatively uncommon (but still used) phrase too? I guess I've had a blind spot to the phrase until now. Anyway, this sound is great; it's inherently very positive and fun and easy to put on and groove to. I found that it was a great pick-me-up for an otherwise bland Thursday where I ran out of coffee and was needing something to keep my eyes open and my mind moving. I'm sitting between a 2 and a 3. The songwriting didn't really blow me away and the output of the music is really highlighted by the tone and feels rather than the smaller building blocks of harmony and melody that other times make songs good. For me it's a 2/5.

It's A Shame About Ray

The Lemonheads

2/5

"Rockin' Stroll" 's vocal melody sounds so familiar to me. In the first verse I'm hearing maybe It's "I Got You Babe" "Confetti" has a great guitar solo around 1:45. It's short but super tasteful and has a great edge-of-breakup guitar tone. "Rudderless" has some really great chords on guitar to start. It's like Stone Temple Pilots -esque. Very dissonant and yet still listenable. The other vocal parts were cool too but each one (the female "response" vocal, and the male harmony) is too loud compared to the main vocals, which is weird. I really liked "Shakey Ground". Nice short ballad about someone having a platonic friendship that their girlfriend wouldn't be happy with. "Mrs. Robinson" is one of those songs that I could listen to every day, much to the chagrin of the people around me who have to hear it over and over. Having a band cover it I think gives me another reason to put it on repeat, because "this time it's different"! This album was good but not great, and I think it's really elevated a little too much by "Mrs. Robinson". When I was listening to the earlier songs, I knew that that was coming up and I think it colored the experience for me. If there was a song that I felt "meh" about, I still had some excitement that such a classic was right around the corner.

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

3/5

I really enjoy the pacing of the first 4 songs. It's like they are in no rush. There's no performance pressure to speed things up when the energy increases, and it's obvious this was recorded really tightly to a click track. It comes across as a really consistent energy in each song and I appreciate that a lot. Great video-game esque synths throughout the album. I particularly like the intro one on "Little 15". Sounds like a distorted gypsy carnival. Solid album. Great pacing, great 80's moods and dramatic inflections.

The Sensual World

Kate Bush

2/5

I never really listened to her and only recently heard a good bit of her music thanks to the use of her song "Running up that Hill" on the show "Stranger Things". It's a nice album. I don't love the overall sound though. The blend of her voice's tonal qualities, performances, with the music behind her is just alright to me. I think this is a 2/5 for me.

Endtroducing.....

DJ Shadow

3/5

Endtroducing is such an interesting album title. I really enjoy the second track, "Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt". Not only am i a big fan of long winded titles but I also like ambiguous titles and boy is this one. The music is equally as intriguing as the title- the weird piano cluster chords with the spoken voice sample over the top somehow actually really transition nicely into the somber piano/drumset/vocal "ooo aaaah"'s section that follows. Very cool track. I love the glitching on "Midnight In A Perfect World". It's a very cool effect that I guess is being created by a sampled sound/recording being scratched on an actual vinyl. Also a different style of glitching than earlier tracks. This was really enjoyable. I've been listening to a lot of this music lately so I'm in a recent-enjoyment-bias but I can also tell that this was an influential album that inspired others. Lots of good ideas in this one. I wish I could give it a 4 but it's more so a high 3 for me.

...Baby One More Time

Britney Spears

5/5

Ugh oh man this is a hard rate for me. Britney Spears is one of the greatest and most important pop stars of all time- she ushered in the bubblegum / cute blonde sexy schoolgirl / chorus hooks that are literally infectious tonal shift in music and you can't deny the effect that this has had on the majority of music beyond this release. Max Martin is one of the greatest pop songwriters and producers of all time. Really, to me he is possibly as skilled at writing as the Beatles and I don't know if I consider anyone else to be in that area. Reasons why I don't want to give it a 5: It's a team of super producers/minds who created this music in what is essentially a lab. Like scientists mixing chemicals to find a cure for an end-of-the-world virus, this album similarly was genius producers finely crafting a cure for an end-of-the-90s virus (called "The Grunge"). I'm trying to be objective and bias-less in these, but it's hard! And it's really hard for me to not envision Britney Spears leaving her mandatory 6 hour gym dance practice and daily appointment with her nutritionist and going straight to the studio where all the music is ready for her and the lyrics are in their 501st iteration and all they need is her to step up to the microphone and sing. And I hate this image! It's so... manufactured and so far removed from a more natural songwriting environment, like a group of people sitting in a room with instruments and each of them working through a bad breakup by writing a song together. It's funny to me, when this album popped up I literally said "oooh shit" to myself, because this is such a monstrously popular album, but one that I don't really ever think to put on and listen to. After that innate reaction I took a moment to think and realized that it's really just like all the other albums on this list; it's simply a record full of music tracks. Yes, I have like 50 events from my youth where I associate songs from this album very strongly to- and I'm sure there are many other people my age who have the same. It's just funny how once anything gets so ubiquitous and famous it kind of changes, right? Like the name "Britney Spears" isn't two names- Britney and Spears put together, it's one phrase- "Britney Spears". I think what I'm trying to say is that this album has this quasi Gestalt effect where the sum is greater than it's parts, and it's easy to forget that the parts are really just chords and melodies put together, and the album is just songs bundled up and put in a specific order. A younger me would have given this a 4 and felt that was generous, but alas- I am not that same young, stubborn, opinionated music head anymore. I am wiser. I can see this album pop up on this list and say "oh shit, this album ushered in one of the biggest paradigm shifts ever in the industry". I can say "these songs slap, and ultimately that's what music is about- songs that are simply great to listen to. No matter how you get there, you can't deny a slap." It's a 5 for me. The songs are great, and It's just too important of an album to the landscape of popular music.

Permission to Land

The Darkness

3/5

Ah man. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was a really important song for me in my guitar playing / music learning journey. Looking up some dates, I started playing guitar on Dec 8 2003. This record came out July 7 2003, and I'm assuming it didn't take too long for that single to be all over the airwaves. That summer I was hanging out with friends and talking about learning guitar so I could make a band with them on what was probably a daily basis. I absolutely adore that song and that guitar riff. It's so fun and catchy and exciting and yet it also seemed so approachable to learn. I do remember trying to learn it in my first few months of guitar playing and really failing at it as it was just too fast and too much to take on. I actually never tried again to learn that riff so I think I'm going to do that asap because it's really really great. Despite that song, I kind of question whether this album should be on this list. That's a really great song, and is such a fun throwback to classic rock but with a sweet modern feel. The rest of the album is good but not great, and while there have been other albums on this list that have had 1 real show-stopper track, I'm not sure if that's really enough to bring up the rest. "Get Your Hands off My Woman" (motherfucker) is funny as hell. "Growing on Me" was pretty good. The production and mix on "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is really really great.

Dry

PJ Harvey

3/5

I love this intro to the album. Sleazy guitar riff and evocative vocals. I really like how raw this record is. I kind of wish there was another guitar or something though- for some reason it sounds like it has a pretty weak low-end. Like the bass guitar has no bass in it or is way too low in the mix. This was a fun listen. Overall I dig the sound and the mood but it didn't blow me away or anything.

Repeater

Fugazi

2/5

Very energetic with some really interesting chords that push the expectations of raw punk rock but unfortunately the vocals didn't really do much for me. I know Fugazi is an influential band and I haven't listened to them much and re-listening now I'm coming to the conclusion that it's the vocals that always pushed me away. It's a 2/5 for me.

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Lupe Fiasco

3/5

Really clean production. The bass synth in "Intro" is one of the tightest I've heard in this style in a while. I think he's worked with Kanye? I haven't listened much to him but I know that Kanye has said his name before in some songs and track 2, "Real", really sounds like a Kanye track. It's a cool sound and while I really like Kanye's music I don't always like him and maybe Lupe Fiasco can scratch that itch when I get it? It's THAT sound- it's like max volume max energy, in your face hits and slams, samples throughout, etc. "Kick, Push" is so sick. Damn I like this track. "The Instrumental" sounds like a Linkin Park track. This is a 3 for me. Not quite a 4 but I did really enjoy it. I think there could be more diversity in the music behind the vocal parts- it's a very cool sound but it all just sounds a smidge similar for me to appreciate the differences in the tracks.

Vanishing Point

Primal Scream

2/5

What a great band name- I love a good primal scream when I get a chance to regurgitate one. I dig this collage album cover too. I think this time period had a lot of album covers that had these slow-shutter-speed photos of movement in them and it hits both a nostalgia thing for me and also a visually emotional thing for me. Seeing a car with all of that blurry "movement" just gives me a feeling. The auto-pan of some instrument(s) on track one is very annoying. Super slow and gradual, the left to right to left to right is honestly just a nuisance. I'm not listening on headphones and usually panning is even more obvious when listening on headphones and I just feel "bleh" about that idea. The visuals are kind of where my enjoyment of this album stops. The heavy handed panning continues throughout the record, the songs feel kind of uninspired, and nothing really jumps out at me. If I was in a record store and I saw this album cover and the type on it, I would expect something energetic and exciting. I don't really get that here. The second most listened to song, "Star" is a laid back super positive sappy song that just hangs around a chord progression. The first song actually has some interesting elements and tension and release going on, but then they throw you into a weed den on track 2 with a track that is so laid back that the exciting voice is a bass clarinet that does a total of 0 exciting things. Of course this instrument is autopanned too because why not... I read that this was supposed to be like an alternative soundtrack to the movie "Vanishing Point" without any actual input from the movie people- so this is all just an album from this band that they made that is really influenced by the movie. That's interesting, and I can see some of these songs being OK to listen to while driving. I can appreciate the moments that are inspired by the dub genre, like in "Stuka", it has some interesting delayed conga hits along with the typical dub repetitive bassline. But that's kind of it- it's just a band that took some elements from a genre that is different and made some songs in that style. Maybe I'm being a little harsh but I didn't like this. I want to give it a 1/5 because I really didn't enjoy it and I hesitate to say it should definitely be on this list. I've given maybe half of the tracks a re-listen and I think it's fair to give it a 2.

Rio

Duran Duran

3/5

I love this early 80's album cover. I really love it. Duran Duran to me is a band that I always thought of as being a "moment" of time. Like Nirvana to early 1990s, and Britney Spears to early 2000s. Not saying that Duran Duran was as good as those acts or as important to the landscape of music as those acts, but they just fit and helped define that moment in time. Hearing "Rio" and "Hungry Like The Wolf", I'm brought to those moments that I've vicariously experienced through TV / Movies / videogames. Those two songs are great. I wish I liked the rest of the album as much but there's a distance from the standout tracks and the rest of the album. It's still overall very enjoyable though! Probably just 1-2 more real standouts from being a 4 for me.

Fragile

Yes

3/5

What a great opener- not even a minute in and you get this whole little landscape of sounds, and tones. The synths at 1:30 are really special too; to me it sounds like they are coming into your ears and saying "oh btw we got fancy synths coming too!". I've written a lot on here about how I like the "track 2" of most rock albums to be an upbeat one but I like how this one is not as prog-crazy as the first track. It's a nice relief after the very energetic first song. I really appreciate how cinematic and dark the piano part is on track 4, "South Side of the Sky" and how it goes from classical into a bluesy/jazzy/chromatic tonality towards the middle of the song. It's a cool evolution. I love this album cover. It's like a world from a Final Fantasy game. Nice album. It's not my favorite genre but I think i'm fairly weighing my own personal tastes into these so this one is a 3/5. Roundabout is a classic but none of the other tracks are at that level in my opinion.

Queen II

Queen

4/5

I absolutely adore Brian May's crunchy overdriven guitar tones. Glad that you get to hear that pretty quickly here. His solo on track two, "Father to Son" at around 2:36 is so sick. Love the fuzz tone here mixed with the whammy bar pitch dives. VERY cool sound. I love the state of photo manipulation tech showing itself here in the album cover. They have this grey-ness around them and then a pure black background behind them and it looks funny to me. There's no blending going on or anything and I bet at the time this cost a lot of money to do (and to meticulously crop the photo around their wild hair). This is a great record. I'm not really familiar with a lot of the tracks but you can tell this one is killer.

Underwater Moonlight

The Soft Boys

3/5

Amazing - 10 tracks and 30 bonus tracks. What an idea. The album cover is funny, the band name is funny, the music is intriguing. Interesting to read how this album wasn't commercially successful upon release and then only got recognition later. Looking at this album cover you would think it was for an indie band in the 2020's. Overall it's a 3/5 for me.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Short one for such a great release. "Whole Lotta Love" and "Ramble On" are staples of legendary rock songs but that's not to discredit the others, like "Heartbreaker" and "Thank You". I don't know if this is the best Zeppelin record so it's hard for me to give it a 5/5 using that logic because that means that there is something better- but looking at the 5/5 as a threshold / entry point, I think this passes. The guitar riff on "Whole Lotta Love" is so perfect that it probably warrants a 5/5 for the rest of the album just by itself.

Under Construction

Missy Elliott

3/5

I was 12 when this album came out and I thought "Work It" was so funny and out there and great. I think at the time it was really refreshing to hear some light-hearted rap music and I still continue to appreciate how goofy that song is and this artist is. I love the bass riff on "Back in the Day". Really funky and catchy and doesn't even get boring after it repeats multiple times throughout the 5 minute song. Love all of the Timbaland flavor which is all over this. What a damn phenom. The Beastie Boys homage at 2:40 in "Funky Fresh Dressed" is awesome. "Pussycat" is hilarious and I love the monologue right at the end where she talks about the double standard in music and how men always get a free pass to talk about sex but women can't. Her message here is a really nice touch IMO. I like how it's surrounded by all of these songs about sex- with some being on the nose and some being more tongue-in-cheek. I love the breaking of the 4th wall and just coming out and saying "hold on a sec, this is what I'm trying to say and I'm trying to even the playing field". For her to then mention practicing safe sex is really the cherry on top too. It's not just gratuitous references to sex. It's also really cool as this track ends and then you hear the buttery smooth voice of Beyonce open up the next track. Just a great segue. One downside of this album is that her flow can get pretty repetitive in her hooks. "Hot" for example sounds way too similar to "Work It". The chorus in each is like "If you ____ then I'll ____ I'll ___ ____ ____ ____ ___". It happens elsewhere too but this one is really prominent. For me this is a pretty big factor in where I'm rating this album. This is a great example of this system needing more than 5 levels of rating, because I'm struggling to give this one a 4/5 but it's definitely above a 3 for me.

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

2/5

Alright so I know it's influential and I know this came out in 1980 so it's ahead of it's time but I just don't love it. DK are such a well known and respected band in punk but to be honest if I need someone to justify the music not being great by all of these other factors then I'm not really going to be swayed too much. Jello Biafra's vocals sound kind of boring and the forced vibrato to me sounds like someone who said "my voice is uninteresting let me add something silly to it to remedy that". I just don't love it. Maybe there's another release that they have that I would like more?

Truth And Soul

Fishbone

2/5

I thought the sound overall was pretty cheesy/corny and not really my thing. Chromatic keyboard parts and ska chord progressions and trumpets with a reggae backbeat guitar. Sounds like someone put a bunch of sticky notes on a dart board of \"music ideas\" and then threw darts at said board in order to come up with a sound. \"Bonin' In the Boneyard\" is an incredibly funny song title to me and is something that I want to say in my every day vernacular; I can see something like \"Hey Dan, what have you been up to?\" \"Oh you know, just bonin in the boneyard\"

Music

Madonna

3/5

In 2000 I was 10 and really starting to get into music on my own. I remember being younger than this age and liking rock music on the radio, like Nirvana and classic rock, but around this time is when I started to be more aware of music. Her song "Music" I remember hearing and being a real guilty pleasure. Of course to my friends I couldn't like her because she was "pop" and young boys don't listen to pop music they listen to rock music because you don't develop that part of your brain that allows you to not care about silly social conventions like that until you are older (atleast for me until I was in my late teens / early 20's). I think there is really something special for me personally about the general time period of 1998-summer 2001, the music that came out in that time period was so vibrant and I really vividly remember moments of life happening while listening to music from then. I think specifically of these records: Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Korn - Follow The Leader Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication Outkast - Stankonia Eminem - Marshall Mathers / Slim Shady Those were really pivotal for me and it was a time period where I was able to more autonomously look for and listen to music on my own. I was 8 to 10 years old! I could listen to what I what when I want. And I did! I remember listening to so much music during those 2.5 years and just doing my thing and loving life- playing sports and hanging out with friends, becoming obsessed with baseball and videogames, and not really having a care in the world. That specific time kind of ended after 9/11 and I think that was the start of puberty / teenager issues / listening to music with more serious sounds and lyrical topics. I do theorize that 9/11 played some part in that transition because up until that point I didn't really have a concept for experiencing the sometimes really terrible parts of the world. I wasn't expecting the start of this review to end up about 9/11 but that's the fun of hearing records that take you to a place in your life. I wouldn't say that this album was as special as those others listed but "Music" was a single from that era. Outside of this track the album isn't that bad. I think it's short of a 4 but higher than a 3, like a 3.3 for me.

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

5/5

This album is so incredible. It has some of the best 90s songs of all time on here with "You Oughta Know" "Hand in My Pocket" and "Ironic" but I didn't know it also had "All I Really Want", "You Learn" and "Head Over Feet". I'm really blown away by how many amazing tracks are on this album and I can't believe I forgot how jampacked it is. It's almost like an Alanis Morissette greatest hits record. After realizing this I had to go and update my own personal spreadsheet of top albums that I've been meticulously curating and culling for years (its a very exclusive club). I love the instrumentation from start to end. I love the raw lyrics, I love the emotive "idgaf" but she actually "g's a f" vocal performances with their biting sarcasm and constant playing with inflections that elevate the lyrics that much more. I love hearing this through my studio monitors- what a joy after hearing it only on car speakers / bad stereos for decades. There are so many elements that I'm hearing that I never get the pleasure to experience and hone in on. The bass in "You Oughta Know"... are you kidding me? It is crazy good (despite some moments where it is surprisingly pitchy, like the tremolo 16th notes in the choruses - specifically under the lyrics "mess you left when you went away"). It's so funky and somehow also so full of drive and power. I can't believe I haven't been hearing this element on all of those car rides where this song has been playing. There really isn't anyone who has this sound. It's been tried, I think, but I postulate that something about the sum of her makes it incredibly hard to replicate or even come close to. This is Gab's first CD she ever got. I can't imagine starting your personal music collection with this banger. It's so a 5/5 and I wouldn't be upset if this was on this list twice.

Hounds Of Love

Kate Bush

3/5

Being a human being in 2022 I was of course inundated with "Running Up That Hill" because it was on the TV show Stranger Things that year. That being said I thought that the song was just OK and I'm a bit jaded or burned out with it because it was played a little too much. It's a nice song, it's catchy, it's cool. I don't know if it's really groundbreaking or anything but I have heard a lot of people say that they like Kate Bush and maybe this is one of her better records? The rest of the album was alright and consistently did it's thing. Her sound isn't my favorite but I think it wouldn't take much to get me to like her, I just haven't taken that step yet.

Tapestry

Carole King

4/5

Solid bluesy classic rock album with a really tight opening track. I feel like I could repeat that chorus hook all day long and not get sick of it. I love that pause in the "I feel the earth (pause) move". It feels like her voice really locks in with the rest of the band- almost like a puzzle piece, in a really organic way. I'm actually pretty unfamiliar with her. This is an artist that I guess my mom and dad passed over listening to / exposing me to when I was growing up. That is outside of the track "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" which was on the radio a lot. That's a killer track (although not this version, I think the one I heard most was Aretha Franklin singing). Great album cover, and I love how nonchalant it is, and I think having the artist name and album name both on the same line and with the same font / weight is pretty interesting. Usually in graphic design this is a no-no because there's not really a separator that shows that one is the name and one is the album title. For a new listener they could think that her name is "Carole King Tapestry". Overall this was a great listen. Super enjoyable.

Brutal Youth

Elvis Costello

3/5

I like Elvis Costello. He's never been too frequent of a listen for me though and I think this album might highlight why. The genre's inside are like rock/indie (specifically different from "indie rock") with a tinge of light punk and a tinge of 1950's rock. I like acts that do their own thing but also at times when I want to hear a punk band I'll listen to a punk band or when I want to hear an indie rock band I'll do that. And for some reason when I listen to his stuff I often get the sense that it's nice tunes at a foundational level but the blend isn't often a good blend for me. Now that's not to say that this is bad, and I really do respect and value genre bending, I think it's just some stream of consciousness philosophizing on why I wouldn't have gravitated towards his stuff at times in my life. At first listen I find that his songs are actually pretty attractive and easy to get. His voice is unique and yet not so much to be distracting, and the guitar work is always cool. "This is Hell" is a track that I wasn't sure if I would like it from the start but ended up really enjoying it. The chord progression and melody sit together so well. I keep looking for albums on this list that have very low play counts. I want to see an album some day that has like only a few thousand listens. Most of these have hundreds of thousands (accounting for only Spotify) and I'm sure it's skewed towards newer acts somehow as I bet acts prior to the 2010's had uncountable amounts of listens on A-tracks and CDs and cassettes. This one has some pretty low ones- like track 15 "Favourite Hour" has 81k and it's not too common to see songs that are under 6 figures in play counts. Overall it's a 3/5 for me. Pretty middle of the road and I mean that in a nice way.

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank Sinatra

4/5

I recently watched a long form interview with a rock music producer (Rick Beato) and one of my favorite guitarists - Dean DeLeo (from Stone Temple Pilots), and Dean showed how his early love for Jobim influenced so many famous hard rock guitar parts and songs in STP (he was also I believe the main songwriter for the group so he was writing more than just the guitar parts). It's amazing to me to hear that interview a week or so ago and get this appreciation for this Brazilian composer by way of a hard rock guitarist and now I'm hearing Jobim bossa nova-ing around an album with Frank Sinatra on top of his guitar. When I was growing up I thought that Frank Sinatra was overrated. I was very susceptible to having a rebellious look on things, like "well everyone else likes X so how good can X really be?", and Sinatra was the king of the world for all of the older people in my family. After growing out of that though I am really amazed every time I hear his voice. It's so hard to find the words to describe the attractiveness in it. Smooth, evocative, pristine, intriguing, mysterious, calm. A good writer could probably find a thousand ways to describe the beauty of his voice. Sinatra is the perfect example for me in my dissertation on how some people have attractive voices purely by natural anatomic chance. You really can't teach someone to have that buttery smooth timbre, it's either your vocal cords can do it or they can't. The world is fortunate when someone like him chooses to spend his life on music and it's funny to me to ponder how unfortunate it would have been for us if he went into like metalwork or dentistry. This Latin jazz setting is so fun to hear his voice on. I can't believe I don't know this album (besides "The Girl From Ipanema")- it's stunning and somehow 56 years later this still sounds fresh to me. This was a great listen for me. Unfortunately many of the songs were missing from Spotify for some reason? And I had to search around for them. Not a big deal and doesn't influence the rating.

Yank Crime

Drive Like Jehu

4/5

Love an album that starts a song in 5/8, that's pretty impressive and weird. Really exciting music. Actually sounds similar to guitar stuff I would write when I was playing heavy metal. This sounds like Converge mixed with a little Gorguts and a lot of crust punk. Very clean recordings too for how dirty of a sound it is. Kind of blown away by how clean the recordings are. The transition from track 1 to 2 is great. I'm thoroughly enjoying this. This is really a sick album. In the last ~15 or so years I can't think of many times in which someone has showed me a metal/heavier group that A. I haven't heard of and B. that I liked right from the start. Metal is a funny genre to me because I love it and I spent so much time listening to it but in reality I dislike a very large percentage of metal music that I've heard. There's a lot of junk out there and you'll find junk in any genre when you've exhausted listening to a lot of the good stuff. There's a lot going on here and I'll be revisiting it! Really happy with this.

Superunknown

Soundgarden

5/5

I let out an audible "ooof" of excitement when this album popped up. I will always be so captivated by Soundgarden. This time period was a goldmine for music- Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. Despite the common thought that the first two are probably higher rated acts than the rest, I think this collection of 5 bands dance around being the best group depending on the day, and Soundgarden pretty often is that band on that day for me. "My Wave" is such a cocky fun energy track. To me it feels like you're with your friends and about to show up to that after school flagpole main event fight but you're also a person who has the wit to know that there is an alternative to fighting, and you are only going to resort to whooping someone's butt if you really need to. What a weird concept for a song (or at least my version of it). "Take, if you want a slice If you want a piece If it feels alright Don't come over here Piss on my gate Save it just keep it off my wave" (check out that bass groove change from 4:00 to the change at 4:15) "Fell on Black Days" is one of the most important songs for me in my life. Maybe a top 5 or top 10 song of all time in my ever-adjusting list. I loved the emotionally grey / melancholic guitar riff from my first listen (the music video is killer and reflects this emotion so well) and I have played it thousands and thousands of times trying to better get inside of it. This is also the first song that I ever sought to learn to sing while playing guitar. I was changing from a metal shredder boy into a singer songwriter man and this was such a wonderful segue piece for that. It is inherently an incredibly hard song to sing while playing though hahaha. "Superunknown" features such a wide and impressive vocal performance. He just howls over the top of the band- like he's on top of a car in Mad Max just rampaging through the desert and screaming his way through the wastes. "Black Hole Sun" is just as important for the grunge rock scene as any other grunge track from this time. Maybe not as universally loved as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" though but to me it is equally as good. "Spoonman" - what a weird, weird, speedy, eclectic piece featuring a famous street musician who would play spoons on his knees. this was originally written for the soundtrack for the movie "Singles" which is an amazing amalgamation of 90s rock talent. "The Day I Tried To Live" is so dynamic and the weird real-yet-surreal music video accompanies the vibe of the song perfectly. How great is that under-the-current-of-the-waves bass line? I always thought this song was about depression and how every day is a battle, and how dreams can be so wonderful and there can often be such a comedown upon waking up and realizing that that wasn't reality- this is. I love how it starts to give you another verse at around 3:30- only for you to get pulled back into a chorus and yelling "SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED". It's such a perfect blend of lyric intention, vocal affect, and music. This is one of my favorite driving songs. "4th of July" is one of the most underrated rock songs of all time. That riff is so stupidly heavy. It's like Soundgarden decided to give us all of these amazing diverse riffs in this album, like the clean melancholy of "Fell On Black Days" and the weirdly optimistic riff in "Black Hole Sun" and then they say "hold on, here's the heaviest riff you're going to hear for the next few decades in the middle of all of that". Listen to the SLUDGE in the guitars. It crawls at you like a monster in a horror movie- pulling itself through mud and blood and who knows what else to get to its' next victim. How incredible is this album cover? Stunning visual emotion. I love seeing movement in album covers. I was really saddened by the death of Chris Cornell. Gab and I were fortunate to see him twice- once as a solo act in July 2007 (our first concert date), and later with Soundgarden (with Alice in Chains) on May 18 2013 and they were incredible- a dream come true to see them. He died 5 years later to the day of the 2nd time we saw him and it really hurt me. I don't usually idolize a lot of celebrities but the few that I do I really look up to them and he was (is) on that short list. Music lives forever though! His solo album is kind of a secret treasure chest of good songs that many people don't know about. This album makes me feel so much. Easy 5/5 for me and most likely on my top 10 albums of all time.

Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton

3/5

I know Peter Frampton is super influential but his music was never really my cup of tea. On this record I feel like so many of these songs sound like they are going through the motions to get to the guitar solo, and then the guitar solo is a pentatonic jam with the same underlying chords as the rest of the track. I don't really love this- if there is such a pull to get to the solo sections, then the solo sections should really stand out. I didn't know that Peter Frampton wrote "Baby, I Love Your Way". It's a great track with a strong hook but I kind of feel like it's got this Jimmy Buffett - "let's retire to Hawaii" kind of boringness to it. The keyboard solo is a standout but it is really short at around 20 seconds. Overall it was a nice album to listen to, it probably deserves a spot on the list, but it's just not really my thing.

Hot Rats

Frank Zappa

2/5

Frank Zappa is really cool but I always find myself liking the prog elements in his music rather than the basic building blocks of the songs. He never blows me away with harmony+melody. I think that's why I appreciate bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys, because at the foundation of their music the melody and harmony are so great on their own. "Peaches en Regalia" is a good example of what I'm talking about - the melody is pretty straightforward and forgettable. There's banjos and synths and fun roto drum toms and maybe even a shamisen i hear? That's cool. It's kind of like looking at a complex painting and only being intrigued by the colors of the paint though. "Willie The Pimp" had a cool intro- I like the vocal parts but then it pretty quickly goes into a straightforward 1970's ish classic rock jam. "Son of Mr. Green Genes" is more of a classic rock jam. "Little Umbrellas" is nice, I like the dissonant harmony on the woodwind instrument in the start. This is great! Something different and intriguing that isn't tied to a difference in timbre/instrument voice/another layer. I might be a little biased at the moment because I've been writing a lot of videogame music and a key concept in the kind of music I write focuses on having fewer instruments doing more interesting things, rather than having the interesting things extrapolated onto MORE instruments. I think hearing this live would be an ideal experience. It's another album that confirms that I'm not really a fan.

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

Richard Thompson

3/5

I love the trading off solos in "When I Get To The Border". "The Cavalry Cross" reminded me of Leonard Cohen's great track "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong". Lovely! This was pretty good album and middle of the road for this list- which isn't an insult whatsoever. Solid 3/5 for me.

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

3/5

This album is fun, whimsical, and groovy. "I Zimbra" is a killer opening track. Love the energy in the percussion and vocals. In "Mind", track 2, I love the lyric "I haven't got the faintest idea" and how it turns into a synth-like sound at the end of the "a" vowel at the end of "idea". That is super cool. Really enjoyed throughout. I think David Byrne is a treasure. I don't think it has that many hits on it, and the bands true standout tracks are on other albums (like Psycho Killer, Once in a Lifetime, Burning Down the House, etc) which has kept this from being slightly higher rated for me.

Synchronicity

The Police

4/5

For some reason I grew up not liking Sting. I think it was his song "Fields of Gold" that made me not enjoy his singing voice, but as I got older I really started to like The Police and for my tastes they have aged like a fine wine. This album is a great example of why they are revered as a great band- there's a really impressive level of musicianship along with really strong songwriting that mesh so well together. I don't think that they fit into one specific genre and I wonder about how this affected them as a band and their marketability. They are definitely a rock band but they aren't hard rockers and they aren't really soft rockers and they aren't really prog rockers. Not that it's super important for a band to worry about but I find it interesting. There's lots of good songs on this album but my favorite might be "Wrapped Around Your Finger". Sting has such a great way of taking a simple phrase or sentence and making it into a really catchy hook, and this one will follow me around all day long. For me it's a 4/5.

3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul

3/5

De La Soul to me are THE sound of funky rap in the 1990's. As soon as I hear a few seconds of their music I am brought back to the 1990s and watching movies / TV / commercials, and hearing them on the radio. They are inherently tied to that decade for me and really provided a backdrop to many moments of my youth. Unfortunately they have never really been an act that I would put on myself. Their sound is great but it's pretty specific, and not necessarily a universal sound that I would reach for often. It's a solid 3/5 record for me. Maybe a 3.6/5 but not quite high enough for a round-up.

Fishscale

Ghostface Killah

3/5

I find it so funny that this album starts with an intro spoken word track that talks about how tough he is, how he went platinum and how he'll shoot you, etc etc. It's so ridiculous to me. What's tougher than telling someone you are tough? I'm trying to think about this in terms of a different music genre that doesn't have this ubiquitous tough guy ego act. I'm writing an album and a few times I have some strings and orchestral moments; should I have an intro before they enter and say something like "check out the upcoming strings listen to how I ripped off Bach to make this fire counterpoint it's going to fuck your ears up when you hear a Neapolitan 6th chord in indie rock"? Or should I just let the music do the talking? Regardless, I find it hysterical. I did actually really enjoy his flows and I think the music should do the talking more. I think a lot of rappers were influenced by him and I can definitely hear some Kendrick and Nas specifically in his flow (I don't dare speculate on who influenced who because I'm not knowledgeable enough about these time periods) but I think that's sick. Production is tight. MF DOOM forever. Truly a terrible album cover but wonderful in it's own way.

Savane

Ali Farka Touré

3/5

This was a pretty sweet record and weirdly felt both modern and old to me. Sometimes I get caught up in a sound like this because it is foreign and naturally this makes me intrigued. "Oooo a familiar genre (delta blues) being played by someone from a place in the world that doesn't normally play this music". Sort of like a grunge band from Tibet or an Irish Surf Rock band. I think it can color my opinion a little bit and makes for a slightly different listening experience as I sit and wonder about the sound itself and get distanced from the actual compositions. It's easy to want to spend conscious thought on how and why a performer landed on this genre all the meanwhile some nice music is being ingested in my unconscious and not having enough attention placed on it. This innate interest due to the logistics of the performer and genre they are playing isn't a bad thing though! I think it's probably in the same space (but opposite end of the spectrum) as listening to an album here that is very nostalgic. Overall for me it's a 3/5. I liked it a lot but felt it was a little repetitive at times (pretty on bar for blues though). Nice album to put on while doing something.

Antichrist Superstar

Marilyn Manson

4/5

Shock Rockers existed before Marilyn Manson (Alice Cooper always comes to mind) but no one did it like him. I really loved this album as a teenager (a few years after it came out) and he was such a great mix of visual performer, music performer, messaging, and heavy songwriting. He also has had so many controversial incidents of being abusive towards his partners but there's been so much back and forth's about who did what and who is actually guilty (apparently he has successfully sued for defamation) that I gave up following it and my opinion has kind of semi-permanently been in this "i don't know who is guilty anymore so I'll just choose to think that everyone is wrong" mode. It's a shame because he had a great platform and he had done a lot of things for people who didn't always have a voice in the world. He also got a lot of fingers pointed his way when Columbine happened and he really eloquently spoke a some talk show (Phil Donahue? edit: He's been on a bunch now that I searched for it) about how people needed to look at places like the american media, the NRA, and most importantly the mental health of the killers themselves- all topics that are salient to the task of better understanding the gun issue today. He also had this interaction where he was asked what he would say to the kids at Columbine and he responded "I wouldn't say anything to them, I would listen to them and that's what no one did". I think a conclusion that a lot of people come towards in this country about gun control results in the idea that it's way too easy to look at people with mental health problems and sweep them under the rug, and then specifically not make it hard for them to purchase guns. And this is something that he was speculating on decades ago. Alright back to the album. Like all human beings I tend to like music that has hooks. That's the point of pop music, to be as filled with hooks as a fishing boat, because psychologically that's the addictive dopamine hit that makes humans want to listen more / buy the product. In my experience in listening and writing heavier rock music, I've found that it's really hard to write hooks in heavy metal because the genre typically is devoid of the building blocks that GENERALLY are needed. Simple lyric phrases (think 90% of Beatles choruses) and simple, repetitive melodies (think 90% of Beatles choruses). Rock bands do this, like I think of ACDC, Ozzy Osbourne, The Rolling Stones, Guns n Roses, etc. But not really metal bands. So when a heavy metal act has hooks I'm usually instantly impressed, and Marilyn Manson is SO good at writing hooks. Even now, some 15-20 years after really listening to him, I can still look at the tracks on this album (and other albums) and recall how the choruses go. This album is a 4/5 for me. I would think his greatest hits would be like a 4.8/5 and this one only has a few of his true hits, like "Antichrist Superstar", "Tourniquet", and "The Beautiful People".

Oracular Spectacular

MGMT

4/5

Wow I wasn't expecting this album to be on this list. I also didn't realize that all of these songs were on ONE album. That's really impressive for them and I'm surprised that it took me this long to find this out. "Time to Pretend", "Electric Feel" and "Kids" were probably 3 of the first 10 songs that I would hear at college parties and I think that this is pretty universal for other middle millennials. I am immediately brought back to standing in a damp basement staring at a tattered flag hanging on an unfinished concrete wall and embroidered with seemingly random Greek alphabet letters. I am sipping red jungle juice with each sip tasting worse than the last and praying that I can get drunk faster so that I can find these conversations more interesting because I can only feign interest in accounting and business for so long. I keep sipping and staring at my girlfriend across the room having a discussion with her roommates as I feel like I'd rather be anywhere else on earth but I'm happy that I'm making an effort to be extroverted here. I keep sipping and talking, and sipping and talking and going back and forth from the Rubbermaid full of red liquid to my in progress conversations. I then blink my eyes open and then immediately shut them. I am singing in my head "control yourself take only what you need a family of trees wanting to be haunted the water is warm but it's sending me shivers a baby is born crying out for attention" I go to open my mouth to physically sing the song and bring it to life outside of the hum inside my head and when my mouth opens I begin vomiting intensely. I open my eyes again and I can see a terribly composed Jackson Pollock of puke all over the stairwell closest to my girlfriend's dorm room. Hours must have gone by and I am alone. There's no singing. Only a whimpered "fuck". I get up from my hands and knees and go to the men's shared bathroom to rinse my mouth out. I feel weak. I open the bathroom door and there's a bro in there. I am sweating, my vision is blurred and spinning, I am still drunk, but there is no vomit on me. I rinse my mouth out and the bro starts chatting. He is also drunk and asks "Who are you?" I tell him that I'm spending the night with my girlfriend. He doesn't ask who my girlfriend is but he asks if I know the two spanish girls at the end of the hall, because "they are hot". I say yes and that one is my girlfriend. He doesn't process this and continues to talk about how hot the two girls are. "I would fuck both of them". I am so fucked up that I would probably lose a fist fight with a five year old. I loudly interrupt him and repeat "yea Gab is my girlfriend" to a blank head nod response. I think he might have processed this. He is a bro and all I can think at the time is to stand up just a little bit to him but also to lend him some advice and my thinking process in my head is something along the lines of "yea, I want to fuck my girlfriend too and yea she's hot but you can't just go around saying that and you really can't without reading the room or knowing the people in it". I go to leave the bathroom and I turn and say the tiredest "hey, shut the fuck up" I can muster, and he nods again. I go to bed. The night is over. MGMT. The album is a 4/5 for me. It will forever be tied to college experiences and I am thankful.

Birth Of The Cool

Miles Davis

4/5

This is really a killer album. Miles Davis is a genius but his band is equally as impressive behind him. I love the solos and phrasing- just really incredibly enjoyable stuff. I listened to this and blinked and the album was over. Sometimes that happens with me with Jazz and it's wonderful when it does but it also means that if I'm not writing down my thoughts in a rapid stream-of-consciousness manner, then I'm not going to recall all of them. That's ok! Easy 4/5 for me.

Songs From A Room

Leonard Cohen

3/5

Leonard Cohen is best known for "Hallelujah", which I think is one of the best songs to ever be written, but he has so many other songs that are really incredible too (hard to compare to "Hallelujah" though). I always think of him as "your favorite songwriter's favorite songwriter". He's so universally loved by songwriters, poets, artists but unfortunately I think his sound hasn't translated to a fresh enough sound for younger generations to fully embrace. Similar to Bob Dylan. I really love when he goes into an upper voice register. He has such an emotive upper chest voice that takes your attention and rips it out from whatever you were doing and forces you into the music that is playing. It's one of many impressive things that he does that elevate his music from being very one-emotion folk. His lyrics are so poetic and span a lot of different emotions. This area is a big plus and makes his music more timeless and re-listenable. This is a 3/5 for me. Unfortunately he has so many albums that I've always found it hard to find some that really stand out; there's simply so many tracks that sometimes I can listen to one of his records and between his great songs will be a few that are forgettable.

Hotel California

Eagles

4/5

I have a sour taste in my mouth these days about the Eagles because they copywrite-strike just about everything on the internet that contains anything related to their music. I've had many times where I've been watching a video on youtube of someone talking about "the greatest guitar riffs of all time" or "the top 50 classic rock songs" and when they get to "Hotel California" the person has to say "hey this next one I can't play even a few seconds of the song but it rhymes with shmobel malifornia". I've even heard full video rants on youtube where a creator has had videos demonetized because it contained a few seconds of an Eagles song. Bleh. Anyway, "Hotel California" is one of the best songs to ever come out of this country and it alone deserves a spot on this list. It's kind of funny for me to hear the rest of the album because I really haven't heard many of these songs- or atleast I don't remember them. I do remember "Life in the Fast lane" though. They have a great way of writing choruses that have no rush to them. I find it to be really common for musicians to naturally and organically speed up portions of their songs (often choruses) and this is counteracted by recording to a click track, but this feels like it goes even further. The choruses really take their time and don't feel any rush at all. The chorus of "New Kid in Town" does it really well. This is a hard vote for me. Hotel California makes me think it's a 4 but there's really not a lot of other tracks that are close to it on this record. I want to give it a high 3 really bad but the title track is just too good.

In The Court Of The Crimson King

King Crimson

5/5

Finally- a reason to sit and listen to this album! I've been told that I need to listen to it for my entire life but I never have. Alright yea this is really sick. Incredibly tasteful prog rock. Wow this is really great. It does everything and does it well. It's so beautiful at times, it's so heavy at times, it's so fantastical but also approachable. There's a part of me that wants to make this my first blind 5/5 but there's also a part of me that wants to hold back on a 5 because the one thing this album doesn't really seem to have for me is that it is lacking some real re-listenable hits on it. Like it doesn't have too many choruses or moments where I'm thinking "oh man I'll remember this part" except for the chorus of the first track (which is killer). Ultimately I feel like this has to be a 5 though. It really wowed me in ways that other albums have not on this list and I can't wait to re-listen. One of the best album covers of all time, right? It's so unique but everyone knows what it is.

25

Adele

4/5

I think Adele will go down as one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time. Her voice is always on point and so many recordings of her both live and in-studio come across as perfect to me. I'll always remember spending a few months rebuilding parts of my mom's house due to a flood (I think it was Hurricane Irene in 2011) and hammering away at sheetrock with my brother and uncle, quietly doing our tasks while the radio was playing. Adele comes on (I don't remember the song) and like a band of percussions in perfect sync, the hammering stopped. We just listened, took a break, and then got right back to it. It was so funny to us after we realized that we all did it without even saying anything to eachother and it was also such a sign of her brilliance- it will stop you in your tracks! great album flow- "Hello" is classic Adele- a heart ripping ballad with an earth-shattering powerful chorus Track 2, "Send my Love to your new Lover" is this incredibly infectious rhythmic bop that makes you feel like you are going for a run, pumping to the quarter notes and mentally working through something heavy- like a breakup. I listened to this on Friday and now on Monday morning this song is still stuck in my head. I learned recently of an ingenious idea that a guitar teacher who I look up to had been working on- where he was trying to improve his guitar phrasing and making his melodies more lyrical and more like a human voice, with small tasteful articulations. He had struggled with them for a long time and I shared this because my whole time as a musician I've always felt like I needed to add more little nuances and flourishes in my music and that I would too often write a melody where the interesting facet was the note intervals and their relationship with the harmony, and not enough of the micro elements like articulations that you would find in an Adele vocal part. His idea was to learn through the Adele discography and learn her vocal parts on guitar, including all of her little nuances exactly how she sings them. I don't necessarily have the free time to do this compared to a full time guitar teacher but I've been keeping that in my back pocket for a while- to go through some of her hits and hopefully ingrain some of her melodic beauty into my guitarring. It's a brilliant idea and I know it broke open his guitar playing and improvisation. I think this album is a 4. The hits are amazing but it's not as truly timeless as an Adele Greatest Hits would be.

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

3/5

Really interesting start to an album. I kind of hate the girl's scream at 1:44 in the first track right before the break. It really pulls me out of the listening experience but at the same time I kind of love it because I think the inverse could be true too. For me, I don't really often have kids hanging outside of my windows at 9:50am on a Monday so the yell was surprising. But for someone else this could be an interesting element that really pulled them into the music. Very interesting dichotomy. The song itself is really cool, and the production is amazingly crisp for 1974. I had to check that I was listening to the actual original recording and not a modern day remaster. I have been listening to a remaster. Whoops. I felt this was pretty alright. The rest of the album kind of goes by pretty quickly and without too much that I enjoyed or disliked. I'm going to give this a 3 but it could easily lean more towards a 2.

The Slider

T. Rex

3/5

Great intro track. Love the swinging drums and back-and-forth vocal part. Funny name too. I've heard about this band but never went out to listen to them. I'll always remember my highschool art teacher Mr. Hill loved T.REX and he had drawn a T.REX onto his smock and I remember thinking he was a cool guy. Unfortunately I didn't catch a lot of my stream-of-consciousness thoughts while listening because I was pretty busy while listening but I will say that I did enjoy this album and I liked how many sing-along sort of choruses they had. You can tell that they had a lot of intention behind big repeatable ideas in the songs on this album and their loose, swinging rhythms and harmonies really loud a nice foundation for the music. I enjoyed it enough for a 3/5 and I think if I had something more attached to this album that I would more easily give it a 4.

Little Earthquakes

Tori Amos

2/5

I always wondered if it helped or hurt Tori Amos to be a part of the great 1990's alternative female singer songwriter scene alongside Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple. Personally I love those acts and think they are amalgams of variables that I often really love and search for in music- edgy, witty, creative, cool, etc. Tori Amos I always felt was unfortunately the most... I don't know.. pedestrian of the bunch and when I've listened to her I've always wanted to rather listen to those other acts. It's a weird curse. I don't know if it's because I've been practicing pentatonic scales a lot lately but the pentatonic run on "Crucify" over the lyric "chains" sounds grating. It's just a little boring and the specific riff highlights the pentatonic's stereotypical Asian sound which I think is the worst use for it when used outside of actual Asian music. The lyrics are pretty corny to me as well, but at least the chorus hook is catchy. I love chromatics but the intro piano in "Silent All These Years" is exactly what I don't like with chromatics unless you are scoring a horror movie. Chromatics I think are best used when they are elevating a normal scale and making for a more exotic sound. Personally I love breaking rules in music! But these are just weird choices... The track with the most plays on it, "Winter" is also pretty bleh to me. It's so dramatic and I think the tone of her voice just isn't enough for it to really shine. It's like going to a college cabaret night. The singer has great pitch and control and can certainly play their instrument, but it's so overly acted and it just doesn't have that star power or star vocal sound that elevates the song. I want to like this because I usually like this sound. I like acts that have come out since that I'm sure were inspired by her, like Sara Bareilles, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams, and dozens of female piano driven singer songwriters since, but man I just don't love it. 2/5..

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd

5/5

I grew up actually not really liking Pink Floyd and it took me a while to get into them. I think this is a byproduct of them only having a few songs that would fit classic rock radio time frames for car listens. I always just felt like they were "stoner worship" music and every stoner I knew had to incessantly bloviate about the genius of it and that turned me off for a few years until I actually sat and listened in my mid 20s. I love them now and I think that this might be my least-played album of theirs so I'm excited to jump into it. Great start. The intro of the first track sounds like an atmospheric track from Star Wars. "Wish You Were Here" is probably my favorite Pink Floyd song, and it's in the discussion of being in the upper echelon of best songs of all time. It's so, so beautiful. The guitar work is masterful, the lyrics are masterful, and my favorite- the emotive and dynamic vocal performance is masterful. Truly a song that makes me really feel things and I genuinely haven't gotten sick of it after hearing it thousands of times in my life. This is a 5. Such a strong release.

Murmur

R.E.M.

3/5

Interesting intro track, I can tell that this is early REM because their sound is definitely different from their huge hits sound, like Losing My Religion, Everybody Hurts, etc. There's so much 80's charm in this, with the side-to-side dancing drumbeat in "Moral Kiosk" and the super wide reverbed snare in "Perfect Circle". Really interesting album cover. It's almost like a metal cover with all these weeping dark trees~~ I liked this but admittedly R.E.M. is a band that I really listen to for their hits / their more developed sound and I didn't really connect with this too much. Not bad music at all though so it's a 3 for me.

Music in Exile

Songhoy Blues

3/5

Really cool album with a very real and different back story than what you normally read about from bands on this list. It really puts an immediate context into my thoughts when listening to this album, as these guys were exiled from their home due to an invading group imposing Sharia Law (which forbids music among other things). I love how upbeat the album is despite this background. The first two songs are so damn groovy and the third one has such a fun swinging beat that starts around a half minute in that is as infectious as anything. Some songs are so good that it could be The Black Keys with a different singer (I'm thinking here of the song "Nick" that has that typical Black Keys boom-bap-boom-bap driving drumbeat). Great little record. More listens and this could creep up into a 4 for me I think.

Bubble And Scrape

Sebadoh

2/5

Wow what an interesting start. I don't think I've ever heard a record start with a song that begins with a specific BPM and then starts to slow down within the first 5 seconds. It's really perplexing from a musical/production viewpoint but also intriguing from an artistic viewpoint. So this being an early 1990's band this of course has that edgy grungy energy but it's a little more muted than the bigger acts of that time. I dig the experimentation / exploration in "Fantastic Disaster" but it's actually a little boring to me. Something just seems missing in the execution. The mix doesn't help it- there's parts that I imagine should feel more "in your face" but they aren't. Yea this was just alright to me. I think it won't really be a release that sticks with me.

Here Come The Warm Jets

Brian Eno

3/5

I know that Brian Eno is one of the most influential artists in electronic music but I always found his records to just be OK. Almost like I "wasn't there" and it doesn't really stand the test of time unless you WERE there. Totally my opinion though. It's jam packed with interesting ideas but the music underneath the ideas doesn't really get me going. "On Some Faraway Beach" is super cool though. It's very fever dreamy and washed out. The rest of the album was pretty ok but also pretty forgetful for me. I hope he has a record come up again on this list.

The Libertines

3/5

I love the singers voice. It's like a more intimate and less saturated Julian Casablancas. I know there's other bands that they are trying to sound like but I can't think of their names but I do like the sound. There's some inconsistencies in the production that are a little annoying for me. The third song, "Don't Be Shy" sounds like a well-recorded demo that has had minimal mixing and mastering and actual production done to it, and yet it is surrounded by songs that sound much more refined. Overall I thought it was pretty good. Not a super standout though.

Fulfillingness' First Finale

Stevie Wonder

4/5

I'm obsessed with the Angelo Badalamenti / Twin Peaks sounding synth that starts track 2. I know that soundtrack came like 15 years after this album but that's what that sound brings me back to. Thank you Stevie. The second track really picks up and grabbed me good. Big fan of the chorus and the bridge. Great record. Fun, exciting, romantic, lovely. All things that are his voice and are the music here.

Boston

4/5

"More Than A Feeling" is one of the best Classic Rock tracks of all time. This song is one of those that when it comes on the radio just about everyone gets excited for it- regardless of how often it's been heard or overplayed. "Peace of Mind" and "Smokin'" are also great tracks along the same high energy rock train. I kind of feel like this is a 5/5 because of the three hits that I mentioned. I want to give it a 4/5 because I think some of the other tracks don't live up to the legendary status of "More Than A Feeling" but it's hard for it to be pulled down when that song pulls it up so much. I've really been trying to save 5/5's for albums that are jam packed with only amazing tracks. Yea I'm sitting on this too long, it's a 4/5 but a strong 4/5.

Group Sex

Circle Jerks

3/5

I haven't listened to this band too much but some of my old punk friends really respected them and I can tell why. They have a good sound and important to me the vocals are solid. No bullshit fake saturation to the vocals and nothing overdone. It has a real sound, the way that punk should be. Instrumentation is solid as well. I liked the album. Not a ton of standout tracks and that's pretty typical for this genre for me.

Are You Experienced

Jimi Hendrix

5/5

My favorite Hendrix album, and it is jam packed with legendary tracks. The first 3 songs are my favorite songs of his and easily some of the best rock songs ever. "Manic Depression" is criminally underrated. For this album to have "Purple Haze", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", AND other certified slapping hits like "Foxey Lady" "The Wind Cries Mary" "Are You Experienced?" "Highway Chile".. cmon now. "Purple Haze" changed the way that guitar players looked at the instrument and I reckon could be a song that is listened to in our far far future. Phenomenal album art. To me it captures pretty much all of the aspects that you hear in the music. Surreal, trippy, colorful, and confident. My one gripe from a design aspect is that I don't love how there is a texture on "Are you experienced" but the "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" is flat and has no texture. This is probably a personal thing and really not worth any scrutiny whatsoever. The green stroke around the photo is a little weird too but might have been an error in the creation of the graphic. One of the best albums of all time. An easy 5/5 for me and is in the conversation for a top album of my personal top 10.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Red Hot Chili Peppers

5/5

I've never listened to this start to finish and I'm so excited! I do know the hits really well as someone who grew up in the 90s and was an avid radio listener. I didn't grow up seeking them out too much though because I was really focused on heavier music when they were out and I felt like I was so manically searching out heavy music that I never found myself sitting down and being like "RHCP is what I want right now". Regardless of that, they are an incredible band and this is probably their best album (although I think Californication is really highly regarded as well) "Breaking the girl" "Suck My Kiss" "Give It Away" "Under The Bridge" are all modern classics, with "Breaking the Girl" probably being my favorite track of theirs ("Under the Bridge" a very very close second) I remember "Under the Bridge" being such a difficult song for me to learn on guitar. It was the first non-heavy metal song that really stopped me in my tracks when I was in my first year of playing guitar and trying to consume as many riffs as possible. I remember thinking that the intro fingering was so dang weird but it's pretty obvious to my ears now that it's 2 guitars playing it and not 1. It's very well done and I'm sure someone would debate me on that but I'm really certain that it's two guitars that were very specifically recorded to sound one like. Man the choir at the end really gets me. So sad. I think it's John Frusciante's mom's local choir or something too? 5/5 for me. An argument can be made that it's a 4/5 but those 4 songs are just so good to me. Modern classic. Has everything and yet is so unique and fresh.

Beauty And The Beat

The Go-Go's

3/5

It's a pretty solid album. "Our Lips are Sealed" and "We Got the Beat" are definitely really great songs and I know were huge when they came out. Very infectious choruses and the music is smart and yet simple. I think it has a really attractive fun / energetic / flirty sound that makes the music for me be tied to a certain period of time but also allows the music to be timeless. Solid 3/5 for me. Maybe a 4 if I re-listened a few more times.

Talking Book

Stevie Wonder

4/5

Crazy notes in the first song. I think he goes into a whole tone scale on the electric keyboard and that is COOL as heck for a poppy sound. Very engaging and interesting for a music nerd. The album's got a lot. I won't say "everything", but it's got a lot. His incredibly smooth and effortless vocal parts, the funky auto-panned guitars and synths, the moments for the music theoryheads... man. So solid. "Superstition" is one of the best funky songs ever. Stevie Wonder is a treasure and this is probably tied for my favorite song of his (next to "Sir Duke"). For me this album is a 4/5. It's great but I wish it had a few more huge hits on it. There might not be a bad song on the record, but it's too packed with good but not amazing songs to be a 5 for me.

Made In Japan

Deep Purple

3/5

Interesting that this would be on the list but not their album "Machine Head" which has the original studio recordings of "Smoke on the Water" and "Highway Star". Maybe this is the author of 1001 album's personal tastes coming through in the list a little bit... (we'll see if "Machine Head" comes in later) "Highway Star" is such a badass rock anthem. One of the best songs to hear while you are alone in your car and flying down a highway. "Smoke On The Water" --> one of the best rock riffs of all time. Usually in the conversation for best of all time. What a weird thing to do live though to variate it the second time you play it. It's so simple and people want to hear the riff itself, not some variation. Small thing but just a little odd. The rest of the performance was solid. Tight 3/5 album. Still curious about the choice of a live album for some of these tracks.

High Violet

The National

2/5

Definitely wasn't expecting an album by this band on here. This was a surprise! I like The National, and I think the singer has a cool voice. Unfortunately I can sometimes find myself bored with his inflections and overall performances and this kind of permeates around all of their releases. He has this cool low timbre to his voice and I think that's great and attractive to the ears. BUT, lower timbre voices naturally sound like lower energy. It's why choruses tend to be in a higher register for singers; because the sound is more exciting and that's the hook moment. So he naturally has that sound and then doubles down on it by making SO many of his melodies be this ostinato one-note repetition over and over and it's like extra low energy. Maybe that's just his sound, and it's certainly a core element of The National's sound but I would love if he broke away from that more and had more register changes / contrasting dynamic changes. Great opener. I love how cacophonous all of the instruments are. Hard to tell exactly what's going on besides the voice and piano. Love the super compressed drums. Yea after listening full through, my initial preconceived gripes were prominent throughout the album. Just a weird balance of too many low energy vocals over the top of NOT low energy music. It's a 2/5 for me. I would have preferred "Trouble Will Find Me" to be on this list instead of this one. I dig that record.

Doggystyle

Snoop Dogg

4/5

Sick album and fantastic debut. I think his goofy, lighthearted take on gangsta rap really allowed for people who weren't a fan of the rap genre to get into it and enjoy it. There's humor and wit and lots of incredibly catchy rap schemes and hooks and Snoop not only was super unique and original but so widely respected by fans of all kinds of music. Even my grandma knows who Snoop is. Downsides are that this one doesn't have a ton of hits on it and there's moments where the lyrics make me cringe. That's something that affects me a lot with rap and unfortunately it's not even just the case where this is a dated concept. I've had times where I'm showing someone a more modern rapper known for intelligent lyricism but there's still these lingering cringey lyrics. Anyway- 4/5.

Guero

Beck

3/5

I never really got into Beck. I always felt like he was the gateway to indie rock and for some reason that's always kind of made me feel distanced from his music. Plus he's always been really hyped up as this indie rock/pop darling and I am still working on trying to shake my evasion for art and artists that borderline on being over-hyped. First track is cool. There's this high pitched percussive timpany-like sound that is in the left ear and very unique. Super catchy hook too, and that's something that I think is consistent with his music. He has this sound where he is great at capturing the very specific moment of sitting down with a guitar, playing a riff, and humming over it to create a melody. It's this organic and natural way of songwriting that I always try to tap into that I find incredibly difficult. Writing this way is a good strategy to remove yourself as the performer and to empathize more with the listener. You are humming what you want to hear, and not writing a melody that you want to sing. This is a constant battle of mine. But he does it great. Overall I thought the album was a nice 3/5. I liked a lot of things and I think my bias of not knowing the album that well hurts the score a little. Production was entertaining and had many many unique ideas, and the songwriting was pretty fresh throughout.

2112

Rush

3/5

I really like the feel-change in track 1 around the 3:30 mark. There's a distinct lack of ideas like that in a lot of rock music these days, where it is easier to write songs that stick to one tempo, one meter, and one rhythmic feel. Rush always do things like this well. Love the infamous panning drum tom fills. Geddy Lee's voice sounds great on this record. That's usually my gripe with Rush but he has an edge on this record that I appreciate more than his more common vocal sound. It's not his usual super clean and pristine one. I think I liked this more than the usual Rush stuff, but I've actually never really liked Rush that much. I always felt like their music was technically interesting and had it's moments but it's really really geared towards musicians who can nerd out about things like time signatures. Geddy Lee's voice is always towards the top of the list for me of "most grating voices in rock" and I was really glad that this one wasn't his usual vocal style / production style because that's always been a turn off for me with the band.

John Barleycorn Must Die

Traffic

3/5

Solid record. I really enjoyed the singers voice, and track 2, "Freedom Rider" really blew me away. Lots of great energy and ideas that I wasn't expecting from a band that really didn't sound familiar to me. The flute in this track was very Jethro Tull. I think I need to listen to this album more. Even after finishing it I was like "nice I could listen to that again right away", which is great! I haven't had the right kind of listening experience during these to be able to really dig into each albums' lyrics which is a shame. Most of the time I'm actively listening while also giving my attention to something else, like some dirty dishes to get cleaned, or some work on my computer. I'm also really bad at deciphering lyrics unless they are written in front of me or are really perfectly enunciated. Regardless, I can tell there are some cool lyrics going on here- specifically with the title track.

Sheer Heart Attack

Queen

4/5

Crazy good track to start with. Love the riffing from Brian May in this one. It's like he grabs your attention and finesses you around the room with this half lead / half rhythmic back and forth. It's very cool. His guitar tone here is really impressive too, as always. There's a little bit of this unrelenting energy in this album that hurts it a little for me. They have moments where it's less energetic and slowed down and stuff like that but I can't help but feel like they are just biding their time and going through the motions until the more high energy parts come. It's hard for me to articulate but I don't love that aspect. What a sweaty album cover. Love when a good album has a good amount of sweat on the cover. 4/5 for me. Very good. Very enjoyable.

Apocalypse Dudes

Turbonegro

3/5

This is probably one of the more shocking inclusions I've seen on the list. I heard about this band a while back as I think the Jackass / CKY / Bam Margera guys were fans of them and they would have them in their skate videos (or TV shows? I don't recall exactly). I always thought they weren't that good but I don't hate what I'm hearing so far on the album. I have a soft place in my heart for super modern punk, with plucky basses, distorted guitars, compressed drums, and gang vocals, and this album does a good job of capturing that sound. Surprising to me that this was 1998 though as the production is actually pretty tight for an act that I didn't think was popular enough to be able to afford the good stuff. I really genuinely thought that no one knew about this band. Alright here's a weird production thing. Listen to the end of track 3, "Get it On" and then listen to the start of track 4, "Rock Against Ass". It sounds like two really different levels of fidelity right? Like track 3 ends with such a wide and full sound and then immediately track 4 sounds so weak. Plus the singer sounds different (maybe it's a different person?)... just a weird switch here. One of the worst band names ever. I don't know if they were trying to be edgy but the thing is that their sound isn't really that edgy "fuck everyone and fuck you" sort of punk sound ya know? If you are going to go out of your way to have a band name like this then you really have to play up your edge I think. Their lyrics seemed to have more humor in them.

Live At The Star Club, Hamburg

Jerry Lee Lewis

3/5

Man this is some throwback recording. The right-panned mic(s) just cut in and out randomly in the first track and the drums are the quiet voice which is pretty weird. The songs are great boppin rock classics though. Really easy to bop to. I think the draw with this sort of sound and having it released as a live album is the energy, like one of those old recordings of Elvis captivating a gaggle of young boys and girls with his charismatic hip swaying and smooth and loose baritone to match. It's the bottling up of energy, having a song get quiet, then building up the volume until it explodes and everyone is on their feet and dancing their hearts out. It's great fun and something that is missing from a lot of music these days. "Great Balls of Fire" is one of my mom's favorite songs. My brother and I used to dance to this song in our basement with our mom when we didn't have anything to do on a weekend night. The downside of this album is that it doesn't have enough depth for me. It's like 70% high energy rock at one tempo+energy level with the same drumbeat and piano riff, 15% lower volume rock, and 15% (one song's worth) of a rock ballad. Not enough of a problem to go as far down as a 2/5 but it's a 3/5 for me.

Mothership Connection

Parliament

4/5

I really love the humor that tends to be inherent in a lot of funk. I guess it's just natural to be loose, funny, goofy, innuendo-laden, and generally focused on having a good time. I love this record. One of my longer tenured heavy metal bands had an idea once about coming out on stage to a track from this album (I can't remember exactly which one). We found it funny to come out to funk and then go right into some gross death metal but we ended up doing the theme song to Terminator instead. Regardless, many listening sessions happened for this record and hearing it now still brings me back to that time, some ~15 years ago. All of these tracks are pretty solid and I don't really hear any weak ones. Playing this loud really enhances the experience too. I just remembered, we were going to use the track "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)" (what a name) as our entrance song. Man what a terrible hard-left panned synth in this track hahaha. Overall I feel like this is a pretty monumental album for funk and I think it's a solid 4.

The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers

2/5

Nice starting track to get the album going. Good energy, fun guitar riff. The drum recordings sound a little too light though, like not enough mics. Track 2 has some really cool guitar parts. This band keeps introducing over and over and you never really know what's going to come next. Track 3 had some pretty corny lyrics and moments where it reminded me of Rush and not in a good way. Man the open/close repeating hihat in track 4 really muffles the cool guitar stuff. "Archives of Pain" - love the guitar solo send-off on this track. I've felt like this band has too much talent on their instruments to reserve them as much as they do and not let them rip sometimes! This is a 2/5 for me. I didn't like it as much as their other album on this list, "Everything Must Go".

Everything Must Go

Manic Street Preachers

3/5

Very ambitious sound. Glad I listened to this one through headphones because there was a lot of fun little nuances in the production and overall the quality was really top notch. Composition-wise there were a lot of solid songs with some memorable moments but I kind of felt like it could have used some more hooks to balance out the ambition. I often find that the best bands that center around this sort of epic sound usually have nice hooky choruses to keep the songs memorable. This could have used more of that I think as big epic ambitious compositions sometimes need to get reined in. The track "Design for Life" is probably my favorite. Really solid track and I love how the guitars go heavy metal. "Everything Must Go" is a great one too, with its galloping guitars and strings that fly over the top. One downside here is that there's so many elements in the production that the strings are really EQ'd to death and end up sounding pretty thin. The balance though is that they are heard and that is really the result you want. "Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky" was a nice respite following the previous tracks high energy. It was just a liiiitttle bit too stereotypically proggy for me to really love though. The arpeggiated acoustic guitars playing some dark 7th chords and chromatic walk down parts in the chorus are just kind of overdone for my ears. To be fair this album came out in 1996 though. "The Girl who Wanted to be God" was a cool track. More epic ambition and this felt like I was listening to Bono's little brother's band trying to write a U2 song. 3/5 but close to a 4. I enjoyed it a lot. Listened to it while flying from Brindisi, Italy, to Rome on a short one hour flight.

Vulnicura

Björk

2/5

Bjork is kind of hit or miss with me. First track is beautiful. I love the orchestral elements and the super spacey reverbed percussion. As the track goes on I keep getting more and more impressed. Unfortunately some of these songs just meander around a bit and flow in and out in such a backburner sort of way that I found myself losing focus and my attention. It does feel like this album is missing memorability on a whole. I have enjoyed sitting and listening and experiencing it but if you asked me tomorrow to hum back a melody I would not be able to at all. Feels like a 2/5 for me and I have to be in a very specific mood for it to be a slightly higher 3/5.

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

4/5

I absolutely love the intro speech. "Don't fight it, let's feel it." What a great kickoff. Lots of these songs are ones from my childhood. I love Sam Cooke and I know my mom did too even though I'm sure I didn't learn his name for years after hearing him through her stereo in the basement. It's a pleasure to go back and listen to some of these in a super focused manner and not just in passing like I normally have in my adult life. Some definitely thankfully dated monologue-ing going on between some of the tracks man sheesh: "when someone says your girlfriend did something or your wife did something, don't go home and hit her" Lots of good singers in the crowd, they sound great! I love this record. It's so good and it makes me feel good. Solid 4/5. The energy is such a highlight.

The Joshua Tree

U2

4/5

The first three tracks are obviously the standout ones here and are some of U2's best. All three have the potential to be the best U2 song for me depending on the mood I'm in that day ("Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Years Day" are probably my solid top 2 U2 songs now that I think of it), so it's really an impressive way to start an album. I think this is album is where they started to define more of their more recent/modern sound, like more diversity in Bono's lyrics (with more positivity), and the really unique guitar style of the Edge coming through in all of it's tremolo reverby echoy goodness. Unfortunately tracks 4-11 are just no where near as monumentally good as the first 3. It's like the band knew this and really front-loaded the record to make sure that people wouldn't give up on it and not get to the good ones if they were more spread out. It's kind of a shame because that really solidifies this as a 4/5 for me and if it had maybe 2 more songs of equal quality to the first 3 tracks then it would easily be a 5. The rest of the songs aren't bad at all, but they are just not in the timeless realm as the first 3. Still an amazing record though.

Led Zeppelin III

Led Zeppelin

4/5

You really get pulled into this one right from the start. "Immigrant Song" is a riff that grabs you and makes you gallop along with Jimmy Page. This song is so much shorter than I recalled though. This record contains one of my favorite Zeppelin songs, "Tangerine". It's such a wonderful and sublime 12 string guitar driven piece of music. I think it's really underrated. For me personally if I'm recalling right, this song was a "relationship song" for two people close to me- my brother had a relationship with a girl and this was "their" song (as couples sometimes stake claim), and I think another couple that I knew as well? It made it so that I didn't really listen to the song too much unless I was alone and had headphones on. It was like if I played it out loud I would get a "Come on please don't play that song we're currently broken up." "Come on please don't play that song it makes me sad.", etc. Goodness do I love this song though. This is one of those songs that really transports me- personally to my teenage years, like 13 to 17. I always forget that Zeppelin is a band that is heavily inspired by American folk music. Most of their big radio hits are big rock and rollers with some scattered folk moments here and there, but this album has a lot of great folk elements that shine through. The first half of "Gallows Pole" is a good example of this. Same with "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" Overall it's a 4/5 for me. It's not the best Zeppelin record but as per the usual it's incredible.

Live / Dead

Grateful Dead

2/5

Tried to clear my cache to not be biased when listening to this but it didn't really work. I find their music to be pretty boring and redundant. They are kind of the reason why I grew up writing music instead of jamming music. When I sit on my couch and watch TV and grab a guitar, this is the music that my hands make. They play the major pentatonic scale up and down the neck in the same comfortable key and without regard for anything besides my fingers moving in familiar patterns until I'm tired of listening to it. That's what I hear when I hear the Grateful Dead. It's so straightforward, comfortable, unprovoked, and just not what I like. The first track takes 12 minutes before you even get to any tension and then it ends with what sounds like a bunch of dudes just playing their instruments in isolation and then the recordings pasted together. I took some sips of the Kool Aid but I still don't like it. I understand the value of this being one of those sorts of sounds that you put the record on and then do something else but even then it still doesn't jive with me. In that scenario, 9 times out of 10 I'd rather listen to either jazz or some other classic rock where I know some of the songs and can pick and choose where my brain can give some focus to.

Real Life

Magazine

3/5

I really dig the experimental sounds in the first track. The weird panned reverby piano is super cool. I like how it also doesn't linger too long and doesn't stray TOO far from it's original sound. It goes back pretty quickly to the regular track. "Burst" is great and sounds like an edgy Bowie song. Even more so when you get to the end of the track and hear that great haunting repeating fade out. "Motorcade" has a super impressive guitar solo. I really like how foreign and otherworldly it sounds. Hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it does to get this.. I think it's just playing an arpeggio that is in a different key than the rest of the track. That's really unique and right up my alley. I love the pace of "The Light Pours Out Of Me". I think most rock albums should have at least one track like this on it. It's a nice change of pace with a meandering drum and guitar part that just hangs out and lets the vocalist do their thing. Good position in the flow of the album too. Enjoyed this album. The edgy Brit rock sound isn't always my favorite but I had a lot to like in this one.

Aladdin Sane

David Bowie

4/5

Wow I really adore that manic piano playing in the title track. At times it's classical, romantic, experimental, bluesy, and everything in between. The bass riff repeating underneath is a super nice grounding element too. "Let's Spend the Night Together" is one of my favorite Bowie songs. That chorus can live in my head for days and weeks. Really solid all around. Sometimes I don't find myself getting too excited when a Bowie album is put on for some reason. I didn't listen to him much growing up so maybe that's it.. but every time I hear some of his songs I'm always like "oh yea, this is great!"

Head Hunters

Herbie Hancock

4/5

Great intro track. Got me groovin in my seat on a Monday morning. Track 2, "Watermelon Man" really makes you feel like you are in a jungle that may or may not be filled with headhunters. The sound space or soundscape or whatever you want to call it is so cool- the panned flutes, the bass groove, the here and there vocalizations... i love it! The drum groove that comes in after a minute or two is super tight too. Amazing shredding on "Sly". Jeez this is just like some wildly impressive stuff. "Vein Melter" is a really nice serene break from the previous track. There's one element in this one that I LOVE. It's these cheesy MIDI strings that come in around 2:15 sounding all Final Fantasy and corny. I love it. This is 1973 though so the sound is very original and not super developed yet, and man does it sound good. Herbie is one of the best keyboardists of all time. Amazing style, feel, approach, and ingenuity. This has the potential to be one of the better albums that I've discovered via this list. I love it. Easy 4/5 for me.

Lam Toro

Baaba Maal

2/5

This album isn't really doing it for me. Maybe I'm a little removed from the sound of this culture but there aren't many moments where I am saying "wow!", or "I love that!", or "this is one of the best 1001 albums of all time". I appreciate representation of music outside of the plethora of US and more popular EU made records though. "Gidelam" was a standout for me, the rhythms are cool and unique and yet still approachable. I think I hear a cool tuned percussion in there too- sort of like a tabla. Overall it was alright. Not bad but not really my thing.

Blue Lines

Massive Attack

4/5

I would have really loved to be a member of Massive Attack. Man. I don't think I'm cool enough though, they just ooze cool. Maybe there's still hope for me? I could listen to Massive Attack every day and not get sick of them. Whenever I hear them I picture a bunch of cool looking people sitting around in a dark hazy room just jamming and doing their thing. "Unfinished Sympathy" is probably my standout track here. The spoons/metallic percussion is a real highlight and the way it contrasts with the super long held out piano notes is wonderful. Massive Attack have such a gift for melding unique sounds into these fantastic noir and orchestral moments. When the strings come in around the 3 quarter mark of the song I'm really blown away by the beauty. It's almost like they have no egos and they only make music for exactly what the music needs. They will use real drums, drum machines, strings, fake strings, synth basses, real basses, etc. Whatever the song needs in an objective manner is what gets used. It's wonderful and I think a crazy hard concept for musicians/songwriters to tackle. "Daydreaming" is a great contrast following "Unfinished Sympathy". I love the hip-hop inspired approach. I liked all of this album.

Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens

3/5

"Wild World" is such a bop. The verse chord progression is amazing- if I'm hearing correctly it's mostly grounded in a minor tonality but has a great V7 chord that concludes the progression and smoothly brings it back into the first chord. That's really neat to do with a chorus that is much more major tonally and overall brighter. "Miles From Nowhere" is a cool track and sounds like a raucous folk rock Neil Young song which is always something I dig. I love how hard hitting the piano performance is. Break those keys! "Father And Son" is beautiful. Lyrics are sad and heartfelt and it's a really lovely track. Solid 3/5 for me. The other tracks outside of "Wild World" and "Father And Son" don't really do enough for me to think it's anything higher than a 3.

1984

Van Halen

5/5

I think every rock guitarist loves Eddie Van Halen and yet still I think he is underrated. In the lineage of greatest guitarists ever, EVH has a clear and definite spot on the list following Jimi Hendrix and he held that spot for atleast a decade (who came after him and who came before Jimi is up for debate). He had everything that a great rock guitarist would have- tasteful phrasing, tight rhythmic ability, attention-grabbing solos, etc. But he also had this other layer of virtuosity in him- immensely proficient technical playing, incredible amounts of creativity, tone for days and days and days, and a unique voice on the instrument that still has yet to be replicated. I was really really sad when he passed in 2020 as he influenced me so much when I was a young musician. I will always regret being an 18 or so year old and playing a Charvel EVH guitar at a small guitar shop in Teaneck New Jersey and not somehow finding the money to buy it. It was the best guitar I had ever played. I don't really play that many guitars besides my own and I've probably played objectively better ones since then but I still think about that one that got away. My brother always reminds me too as he was there as well :P The rest of the band was just a perfect mesh around him too. David Lee Roth was probably the EVH equivalent but on vocals, and the drums and bass were also incredible musicians (although not up to the level of EVH or David Lee Roth). This album is a great stack of compositions from the fellas. I think Van Halen self-titled is probably my favorite record of there's but this is probably firmly in second place. "Jump", "Panama", and "Hot For Teacher" are continuations of their amazing energy, technical abilities, composition chops, and simple ability to slap together some catchy tunes that ANYONE could listen to and enjoy. "Hot For Teacher" is my second favorite VH song I think. That intro guitar solo is so impressive. 3 Michelin star guitarring on that track. Plus the motorcycle kick drum beat? Come on. I would have loved to be alive for this record to come out and be a teenager and man I would eat this up. SO GOOD. Even the more in-between tracks are tight and have moment on top of moment of hidden amazing guitar parts or vocal sections. Like the guitar parts on "Top Jimmy" and the incredibly fluid playing at the end of "Drop Dead Legs".

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

3/5

Nick Drake is like your favorite indie singer songwriter's favorite indie singer songwriter. His story is definitely one of the sadder ones in music too. He was like a friendly, soft-spoken recluse who never had the recognition that he deserved until after he died. IIRC he released this album and then stopped playing shows and moved back in with parents where he died from an overdose of antidepressants. Just super sad all around. As for the music, it's beautiful. He has such a soft timbre in his voice that these days is such a template for a singer songwriter who also uses these weird alternate/open guitar tunings to make chord sounds that are unfamiliar to modern popular music. It's a beautiful and wonderfully emotional art. My knock against his music is that I've always had to be in a specific mood to sit and listen. It's not very dimensional and it's almost too consistent with itself. The guitar playing will always be beautiful. His voice will always be beautiful. But I really gotta be in the right mood to sit through an album and not come out the other side feeling bummed out.

Pelican West

Haircut 100

3/5

Incredibly fun and infectious record. I love how unrelenting the grooves are- you just get hit with them over and over. I would have like a little more dynamism in there- if I skip around the album and click on the 1 minute mark for most tracks they sound really similar. For this reason it's a 3/5 for me.

More Specials

The Specials

3/5

One of those instances where I really judged the album by the album cover and was surprised when the music started. I was expecting some "Friends Theme Song" type music and not this British blues rock. Oh ok that's not their whole sound. Cool! The second song really pulls you into a different direction. I dig it. The album is pretty solid. I don't know if it's one that will stick with me too much but I like their overall sound. The reggae rhythms are fun and this was a joy to listen to.

Kenya

Machito

3/5

Wow my booty started shaking immediately. I love the brass- incredibly performed, like a marching band. Very tight, powerful, and confident sound. I think "Kenya" is my favorite track so far. Great energy and the brass again is blowing me away. This was a really nice album to listen to. The brass really blew me away and I will definitely be returning to it.

Live At The Regal

B.B. King

4/5

I love the album cover. It's so flat yet colorful and full of emotion. Look at the movement in the photo! It's great. This record is pretty unique because I think it's a collection of various live performances at one theater. You can hear him being introduced in the intros of several tracks- which wouldn't really happen at one single live show. Or maybe just the times are different and that was a thing? I read that this was recorded on one day so it's hard to tell. Maybe there was an intermission and he came back out or something. Regardless, the music is killer. His blues are so straightforward but also stylized to him. He lives / spends a significant amount of time inside of this one specific part on the guitar- naturally named after him the "BB King Box", and it's so obvious that it's him taking these colors and painting with them and stretching and manipulating them to get his emotions out. It's a pleasure to hear modern day blues guitar kings- like Derek Trucks and John Mayer and hear them play inside of this box and think "ooh yea that's BB King". Solid 4/5 for me.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

4/5

"Doo Wop (That Thing)" is such a storied and legendary song for me and so many groups of friends that I've had. Everyone loved this song- I'm talking complete ubiquity. This was a song that pervaded musical tastes and limitations of stubborn genre-loyalty. This was a song that I could put on a playlist for a party that my heavy metal friends were having, or on a playlist for my classical music friends at a college party, or on a playlist for a road trip with my mom and brother as a respite into modernity away from Creedence Clearwater Revival, other assorted classic rock, and ironically, doo-wop songs. The artwork is so cool and unique and is another facet of the album that has maintained a legendary foothold in the music of my life. It was on the "never remove" list on my ipod, on my first smartphone, my second smartphone and so on and so forth until streaming became a thing. In fact, when I look at it now I am brought back to being a freshman in college and looking at my new ipod touch and marveling at it. The music is killer. I love this kind of cool-to-the-bone hip hop and in this case it's a perfect platform for Lauryn Hill to sing on. The Fugees no doubt helped define that sound for her but I always gravitated more towards this record. It's crazy to me that this is her only studio album (and that The Fugees only had two). "Ex-Factor" and the title track are also strong standouts. For me this album is the best representation of a 4.9/5. It is such a part of my musical life but it's missing 2-3 more songs that are as impressive as "Doo Wop (That Thing)" for it to truly be a 5. That one stands so far above the rest. If "Killing Me Softly" was on this record then I think it would be a 5. It's so close, but just not there.

In Utero

Nirvana

5/5

What an incredible opener- one that I haven't heard in years and years. I love that discordant first chord, and then the much lighter riff that plays right after it. Great start to an album. This was produced by the legendary Steve Albini and it definitely has a more metal / hard rock sound to it. Every time Nirvana comes up on this list I write about that album having my favorite Nirvana songs on it and this one coming up is no exception. I LOVE "Heart-Shaped Box", "Rape Me", "Dumb", and "All Apologies". "Pennyroyal Tea" is amazing too but I think I like the unplugged version better. Out of that list I don't think I can even chose a favorite but I guess every Nirvana album contains favorites of mine. I really particularly love the guitar solo on "Heart Shaped Box." It captures the staggering back and forth dance that you would often see Kurt doing on stage and I always thought that was really cool. It's also so funny to me how the guitar cuts off at the last held out note in the solo and then they punched-in recorded the last hit (this last hit coming in at 2:58 ish). It's so obvious that it's a punch in and I think it's an interesting choice to leave it in. This record has some really interesting, confrontational, and standoffish lyrics. "Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb back up." "Rape Me" is so straightforward that there's not much to interpret. I always liked this song as it's so catchy and sad for a heavy rock song but the lyrics really perplex me because there isn't enough like.. poetry in them to try to make deeper connections or understand on a deeper level. "Dumb" is so good. This is a song that is pretty consistently on my rotation of random songs to hum while I'm doing the mundane- like grocery shopping or going for a quiet walk. The cello in the chorus is so pretty and is a wonderful contrast. I really love the vocal / falsetto flip thing that he does at 00:44 into the song on the word "float" - "we'll float around". I never know what this technique is called but it sounds like an intentional voice crack. "All Apologies" is the real hidden gem on this album. I love Nirvana. This song is so beautiful and sad and weird and lovely. More tasteful strings! The chorus that blends into the guitar solo- man that is so perfect. By the time I start to hear the start of the fadeout "all in all is all we are" I'm already starting to miss Nirvana. It's a shame that we only got 3 full length studio albums by this band. Another easy 5/5 for me.

Dog Man Star

Suede

3/5

I really dig the singer's voice. It's a really nice blend of cheesy 80's but also not so over the top. That's the sweet spot I like with this sort of sound. I'm always intrigued by bands that do what this band did- release a record that is pretty tied to a period of time but outside of that window. Even more specifically releasing an album SO close to the period of time yet still outside of the definitions of it. This came out in 1994 despite it sounding pretty dang 80's-y. One negative is that the vocal volume is somewhat loud throughout. If I can hear reverb tails on a vocal part OVER something like guitars or synths then that's a problem. The album's got a nice blend of tracks on it which is a particular thing that I look for on a lot of albums on this list. It doesn't just do one thing and try it over and over. Pretty middle 3/5 for me. Some nice stuff in here but nothing blowing me away. Feels a little like Bowie-worship at times.

Golden Hour

Kacey Musgraves

5/5

Oh man I love this album. I first heard about her / this record when it won the Grammy for record of the year 2019 (even though it came out in 2018? I forget how that works) over other acts like Drake, H.E.R., Post Malone, Janelle Monae, and the OST for Black Panther. People were upset at that and I felt obliged to check this out because I am naturally attracted to the underdog. I am a younger brother and a Mets fan after all. I listened a lot to this album on a trip to Colorado in February 2020, the month before COVID19 hit. It will always exist in a very vivid place in my brain in helping me remember that period of time just before it all went to shit. I also revisited it by chance on a 4/20/2020 livestream hosted by Willie Nelson with people doing home performances- it was funny because she was wearing green pyjamas and saying that she was completely out of weed and how it sucked. I just found a recording of it actually, and she said roughly "I dressed up for the occasion, I brushed my teeth. This is a strange 4/20 mostly because I'm completely out of weed, not even a crumb. No dust. Not even a cbd joint so that's fun. I'm gonna play Lonely Weekend because every day feels like a lonely weekend, I don't even know what today is." To say that that shit resonated with me would be heavily understating it. I'm really thankful for this album and finding it during that time because I along with everyone else was having a tough time but also because I really just wanted some poppy shit to sit and enjoy on a day to day basis and this did it for me. The definition of a guilty pleasure, even though I think that concept is bullshit and no one should feel that way for liking something. Plus I think the whole album is generally inspired by her at the time recent marriage to her husband and how he brought a lot of love to her life and that's the kind of shit I wanted to hear about. This record has four really really great tracks on it- "Slow Burn" "Lonely Weekend" "High Horse" "Golden Hour" I love how different each one is. Slow Burn is a slow and introspective track that gives some background on her and sets the stage. There's no rush here. The chorus melody is GORGEOUS. I love that little run over the top of the chords under it. I recently played this track for someone who at one point said they didn't like her too much. I played it on guitar and sang that chorus over the chords and they were like "oh yea that's really nice". Lonely Weekend is a bop and does my favorite thing for any album that has a hint of rock in it- it is a more uptempo and energetic second track! I love her voice in this one, it's so sensitive and pristine. I love the way she utilizes little nuanced melodic flourishes and runs, like the "out" in the lyric "without you". There's many of them on this album. This song really highlights how clean and effortless her voice sounds. The acoustic guitars are also immaculately recorded. I love the faster strums in your right ear, slower ones in your left, and the combination that hits around the :45 second mark. This chorus is so good. The lyrics are so simple but the concept really hit me during COVID. I remember having many days at work and being surrounded by people when I didn't want to be and still feeling lonely and isolated and missing my wife. High Horse is a fun disco respite from the established conventions and sound in the rest of the album. This is the radio track. Golden Hour is a super pretty song that sums up the whole album's sentiment towards her newfound love with her husband. It's got extended chords from jazz, it's got her natural little country twang, it's got a Beatles esque bridge chord progression (around 1:55), it's got probably the softest vocals on the record, and more tight production. The droney synths in the chorus are a hidden highlight for me. The rest of the album really isn't that far behind those tracks. Sometimes these albums on this list have stark contrasts from the big hits and the "other" tracks but I can't say that for his record. "Butterflies" wasn't even really on my radar but is a killer song and is somehow the highest played one on Spotify. "Velvet Elvis" is like a more poppy / more country (but definitely not pop country) Black Keys track. I love the album cover. Really simple and really evocative. The font choices are perfect- thin for her name, bold for the album title, her name being under the album name, all good choices. Man she looks hot with those big eyelashes. On better screens/monitors you can see these little visage mirror images of her face above her head. It's interesting. On my old 1080p IPS panel monitor I can barely make them out, but on my nicer 1440p IPS panel they are more visible. Hard rate for me. I want to give it a 4 as I really reserve 5's for really truly great records but it's hard for me to put this as anything lower than a 5. The great songs on this album are really great and the floor of this album is so high. It's a 5.

S&M

Metallica

5/5

I love early Metallica. "Kill Em All", "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets", and "And Justice For All" are some of the best heavy releases of all time and somehow they are all released by the same band! But I have to say, I think this recording might just be Metallica at their best. Those earliest 2 albums were great for Metallica in finding their thrash-inspired heavy metal sound, the next 2 ,"MoP" and "AJFA" was where they explored the idea of "epic" metal music, and the ones that followed- Black Album, Load, Reload, were the ones where they refined further to get to their most popular iteration/sound of the band. Combining tracks from all of those records and doing it live with a symphony is a crazy feat and a genius idea. Metal is such a good platform to add an orchestral sound too. Metal music tends to fit the sonic spectrum to the max- bass guitars fill up the low end and specifically in metal tend to fight up into the mid registers, guitars fill all of the mids and some lows and some highs, and vocals and cymbals sit in the high mids and highs. Drums also punch their way in through those frequencies wherever they like. Thinking "hey lets squeeze in a full symphony orchestra and around those frequencies" is super ambitious, and Metallica was the perfect band to do it. I think all of that exploring that happened through their first 7 albums paved the way for this legendary greatest-hits-esque release. Starting with "The Ecstasy of Gold" is such a badass idea. I remember being young and loving Clint Eastwood / western movies / Ennio Morricone and almost kind of gatekeeping that music in a way? Wanting to keep it for me and my friend group and thinking of all the ways that we could sample it and/or cover it in some metal way, but Metallica did it right. There are some composition decisions that I don't know if I agree with, like the intro of Master of Puppets is SUPER cool and heavy and memorable, but the strings at the 00:41 mark are just kind of weird... they use some rhythms that aren't used anywhere else in the song and just sort of like start a melody but don't actually realize a full version of the melody? This happens again around 2:50 in Master of Puppets- there is so much going on here, like so many chime-y percussion lines, harp runs, and timpani hits. They don't really elevate the band, they more so fight with the band for attention, and having different rhythms and melodic phrases that don't exist inside the already established music creates a competitive sound, and not a homogeneous one. This is super nitpicky but there's really a distinct lack of rubato / lengthening and shortening of tempos across the performance. A good example is at the end of the Master of Puppets solo around 6:15 to 6:30, this part I feel like famously usually slows down. It's like the post-climax crazy guitarness that breaks the pressure and gives the band a moment to recover (and for Kirk Hammet - who sounds INCREDIBLE on this record - to give his hands and wrists a slight break). Metal is in my opinion the best genre for energetic live performances and bands usually mess with tempos a lot, depending on how they are feeling and how the crowd is reacting. The energy symbiosis is a cool phenomenon with live music. This is a natural thing and is awesome to experience as both a performer and an audience member, but this record doesn't have a lot of this. I am confident that this is a byproduct of a whole orchestra being involved, and there's just a logistical misalignment / potential for miscommunication between a conductor and a drummer/frontman. It's a seemingly impossible thing to expect a conductor and frontman to be so in touch with eachother to lead the people behind them and push and pull when they feel it. I love how James Hetfield starts the first Master of Puppets verse and almost immediately stops singing to allow the crowd to sing the "response" part of the melody. That's so cool. This was probably one of the coolest metal concerts of all time. I truly love this album cover, man is it COOL. It's so cinematic. The black bars, the title text on the top of the graphic that looks like a movie title with producers names under it, and those COLORS. It's like looking at one of the 1990's Batman movies with these saturated hues and blown out and blurred lights. The S&M (Symphony and Metallica) on the bottom is super cool too. My one knock on this record is that it doesn't contain any tracks from "Kill Em All", which is an album I really adore but I understand that it is one that is really far from Metallica's evolved sound (but they are still known for this sound!). It would have been pretty clashy to have their thrashy sound brought in front of an orchestra so I get it. Overall, it's a 5 for me. It's such a standout record for heavy metal.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

4/5

Bob Dylan isn't always my favorite but this album does a lot of good things. His voice is really solid and tight, and the guitar playing has many positives. This might be my favorite Bob Dylan record and this might be the first time I've listened to it full through. The extended chords (9ths and 11ths I think I hear?) in the track "Girl from the North Country" are stunning. So pretty when fingerpicked. Hearing this song, I can hear about a dozen singer songwriters who have come since Bob Dylan who have tried to emulate this sound. Most notably for me is "The Tallest Man on Earth". "Masters of War" I'm familiar with from hearing Pearl Jam play it a bunch. One of those standoffish, all-verse, anti-war politician diss tracks that all the kids love. The panning choices are annoying, but I know this was such a trendy thing during this period of time. Having only 2 sounds heard at one time, one of them being a centered voice and the other being an acoustic guitar that is around 75% panned to one ear is really a kind of grating and somewhat frustrating sound. To me it sounds unbalanced. Yea, great record. I know it's kind of silly that I'm super late on Bob Dylan in general but I think with more listens and familiarity this would probably be a 5 for me.

Led Zeppelin

5/5

What a crazy good debut. Going from "Good Times Bad Times" to start and then into "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is such a great series of tracks to start your first album with. "Dazed and Confused" is one of the best Zeppelin tracks. I feel like it's universally loved by fans of the band and yet it's still underrated. I love the haunting riff and equally haunting vocals. Just another bang of an album by Zeppelin. It's eclectic, it's electric, it's magnetic, it's got everything.

Pieces Of The Sky

Emmylou Harris

3/5

She's got a beautiful voice and the music compliments it well. The record doesn't blow me away but it's definitely not bad either. I think it's a pretty middle of the road 3/5, which totally isn't a bad thing for this list. I think a lot of singer-songwriters that I like have been influenced by her sound and I appreciate that.

Black Monk Time

The Monks

3/5

This seems like a live band, where seeing them in person is the whole point of the sound. Very repetitive and actually sort of droney rock music that constantly has some rhythmic intricacy that makes the tracks fun to dance to. I like the singer(s) and find the overall sound pretty funny and enjoyable. I love the album cover. Very sleek and cool. Pretty solid record! 3/5 for me. Nothing that really blew me away but I think that is the point of the band- consistent music that sounds good. Unfortunately not a lot of memorability outside of me having to forcefully remind myself "oh The Monks are that fun dancey rock band with the short stabby riffs".

GREY Area

Little Simz

4/5

"Boss" is incredible. I love the effects on the vocal parts and the overall vocal performances. I'm really surprised this track has such a low play count on Spotify (5th highest on the record, maybe that means there's more to come!). Moving from that into the super cool Lauryn Hill~ish "Selfish" is so sick. I love this track. It sounds like Thundercat on bass- there's this bass lick at 1:19 that I swear I heard him play on Mac Miller's Tiny Desk Concert. The kick drum is one of the best I've ever heard. It is so soft yet hard, thuddy yet piercing. Kicks and snares are elements that I am constantly trying to tweak and find perfect samples of and man this is a special one. The piano is incredible too. I'm really appreciating how eclectic the production. I keep hearing things that I wouldn't expect, like the electric guitar on "Wounds". It's great and I really enjoyed it.

The Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow

3/5

Lots to like here. That rotating rhythmic sound that follows the tonic note of each chord in track 1 is super cool. Sounds like a marimba with an auto player thing on it? I don't even know if something like that exists but it sounds impossible for a human being to play a tremolo like that on the instrument for 5 minutes. I like the singers voice on a whole. It does this wonderful "breathing" thing that good phrasing usually needs. Like he takes a deep breath before each phrase sang and then expels just the right amount of breath in each part. I would love for a bit more dynamism in it though. The buildup on track one that starts around the 3:15 mark is beautiful. Wow! The reversed guitar is stunning too. Then the hit at 3:50, jeez I am enjoying this. I really enjoyed this. I think it's a high 3 but not currently high enough for a 4. I think with more listens it could be a 4 though.

The Rising

Bruce Springsteen

3/5

This came out when I was 13 and really "getting into" music and not just idly enjoying it. Unfortunately for Bruce I remember people and family talking about him constantly around this time and it turned little rebellious me off to him for another decade or so. I was juuust getting away from listening to music that my mom liked or family liked and setting out on my path so there was no way that I was going to embrace this record and the boss himself. I've since grown to love Bruce and it's nice to go back and listen to this one album that really vividly stood out to me as a bastion of a type of music that I stubbornly didn't like for no reason other than it wasn't cool to like stuff that your family liked. I'm realizing that in a lot of these I'm writing about my own anecdotes and history with these albums but I think it's only because that's so important to how my opinion on each of these was created. This one is what I would call a "solid" Bruce album. It's on the more modern side so the production is as tight and crisp as you can get for its release date. This hurts it too though as Bruce to me is way better when he is slamming 50 instrumentalists and singers in a room and recording the huge sound that it gives off... not like this album where everything is meticulous. Most if not all songs are listenable, and the performances are all solid. The thing that holds it back is that it just isn't in that older, more desperate Bruce era. That's my favorite- when he's singing about dodging state troopers on the New Jersey turnpike, getting in fights on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, or simply singing a song about his love who is waiting for him in a 7-11 parking lot, a beautiful 69 Chevy err uhh I mean a woman. If I wanted to convince someone that Bruce was a corny old dude who wanted to write country songs but was afraid too, I would show them the song "The Rising" and laugh with them as we turn it off at the 2 minute mark. I don't dislike the album but it's not my favorite of his. Probably a 3/5 and I don't know if EVERY Bruce album needs to be on this list..

Pump

Aerosmith

3/5

More than a third of the way through this list and I think this is the first Aerosmith apperance which is surprising. Cool intro song- double bass kick drumming is so weird underneath an Aerosmith song hahah. "Going Down/ Love In An Elevator" is a classic track. It's a good record. Not my favorite but not really too bad. I'm admittedly not the biggest Aerosmith fan- they were always like THE overplayed classic rock radio band when I was growing up. There's a lot of energy and fun to be had which are big positives though.

The Infotainment Scan

The Fall

2/5

Cool riffs, cool drumming, terrible production. I wish the vocals were a little less apathetic, it sounds like the singer is trying really hard to sound like he isn't trying hard. God damn "I'm going to Spain" sounds so bad. It's like outsider music without the intrigue. I'm trying to find something that I don't dislike and the lyrics are pretty bad as well. Didn't love this. "Service" and "A Past Gone Mad" are two tracks that were cool to me but I didn't like much else.

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

5/5

What a lineup. Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane... it doesn't really get better than that for jazz. (Personally Coltrane is my favorite). It just makes sense that this is a 5/5. It's got everything going for it and is one of the best albums of all time. Definitely one of the best jazz albums of all time. It's got everything you could want and the performances are just on another level. This lineup man, I can't say it enough.

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

4/5

One of the most under-appreciated heavy metal acts. I think they never really had their own subgenre to fall into because they were too "heavy metal" for the industrial/metal bands, and too industrial for the straightforward "heavy metal" bands. So there wasn't really other acts that people could lump together and say "this is my genre of music that I like". This album I have some familiarity with but I haven't listened in years and years. Really nice to go back to this. Often it's easy for me to compare a band or musical act to a visual (to me, Meshuggah sounds like a robot breaking apart), or a movie (to me, High on Fire sounds like orangutans and elephants rampaging through a desert). NIN is a challenge though. They have this weird industrial sound that is very serious and electronic and distorted and grating and raw yet refined. They are consistent in their sound, but it's so unique. I love that. I love the challenge. I still don't have a visual that I can compare them to. The stand out tracks are definitely "Closer" and "Hurt" which are bonafide slappers and have done great things for the genre of metal music. I'll always remember being driven to high school by my grandfather and hearing "Closer" on the radio and thinking to myself "why oh why couldn't this have been "Hurt" instead?" Those 2 tracks bring it over into a 4/5 for me.

Coat Of Many Colors

Dolly Parton

3/5

Great record. Admittedly I haven't sat down and listened to a lot of Dolly Parton but she's been getting credit for a ton of great things she's been doing for society / good causes and I'm really glad to be listening to this today. I don't always like country in a general sense but it's nice to hear a record every now and then that reminds me that there is quality music out there in every genre. Nice 3/5 for me.

The Modern Dance

Pere Ubu

3/5

Cool sound. The immediate drastic panning of instruments is very annoying. I've written before about how I think it's very easy for panning to hurt a song's overall production and how frequently this kind of stark/heavy handed panning was happening in records from the 50s up to the 80s. I am enjoying track 2 "Modern Dance". It's got this cool repetitive riff and yelping vocal part that I find attractive. Track 3, "Laughing" is cool too. I like how improvisational it feels. That is a musical concept that I feel like this list has been avoiding. Overall I give it a 3.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Rod Stewart

3/5

Sometimes I get really perplexed by a piece of music because it just doesn't make sense after breaking it down / analyzing it. Music wasn't something that came naturally to me and my way of figuring it out has always been to break down everything im hearing- what chords are being played, what scale is the melody following, what time signature and tempo are the drums, what does the drumset look like? What kind of guitar is that? How much compression is on the master bus? etc etc. A good amount of times of I can listen to music and have a rough estimate of these puzzle pieces, but sometimes there's these straightforward songs that I just never figure out and "Maggie May" is one of them. I still don't really get how and why it's so good. The super emotional intro verse just transports you to being a lovestruck teenager in the 70s. The emotion in the vocals tied to the super simple lyrics really gets me. The guitar break at 4:30 is also so killer and memorable. What an idea to have a classical guitar intro too. Where does that come from? Besides that the album is solid but nothing really comes close to "Maggie May". If it had one more track that was close to it then I could see this inching close to a 4 but unfortunately it's just short. 3/5

Grace

Jeff Buckley

4/5

Oh man OK fine! I'll listen to Jeff Buckley! I'll do it! It's only taken ~25 years of listening to singer-songwriters and the omnipresent inundation of recommendation! I'll do it! I know, I'm going to love it, I know, I've been foolish to hold off for so long, I know, Hallelujah is great, ok fine! Alright, It's a great record. I do have to admit that I feel a little bit like this guy's story and persona have elevated the overall idea of the quality of the music though. Which is fine, it happens... people love a story! The music is good. His voice is the highlight of course- at times haunting, at times fun, acrobatic, dexterous. Very stylized and he definitely has a sound. The music is like Pearl Jam-ish in the jam and rockin moments, definitely some Soundgarden too with those suspended chords. It's a shame that he was so young when he passed and extra sad that he drowned and he had no drugs or alcohol in his system. Just a young man enjoying a swim. As I mentioned, I never really listened to him but for some reason I always remembered the story of how he passed and it always stayed with me. Anyway, ok, the record is great, he's great. I'll listen more! 4/5.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

4/5

Great guitarring and one of the best rock songs of all time, "Layla". Eric Clapton the man gets a -1/5 rating, but this record gets a solid 4. It's funny hearing "Little Wing" and thinking how other-worldly Jimi Hendrix was and how he took that song and elevated it. I think a lot of people don't realize that it's not an original song of his. This version is nice, and even really good I think, but Jimi just takes it places that this version doesn't go. "Nobody Knows When You're Down and Out" is great. Love the guitar tone and playing here. Very BB King. "I Am Yours" was nice too. A little droney. Nice phrasing on the lead guitar but some weird stop-go rhythms at times threw off my listening a little but I did end up enjoying. I dig how eclectic the album is. It goes places!

Protection

Massive Attack

3/5

I was just talking to Gab yesterday about how Massive Attack was so influential to me as a videogame composer. More so the album "Mezzanine" but everything they do is so good. I just checked and this is the second album of theirs on this list. That's great. Totally deserved. There will be 3 on this list, I'm sure of it- because Mezzanine is yet to come! I absolutely love their noir grooves and rhodes keyboard. That's my jam. Add some peanut butter and that's a damn pb and jam sandwhich. I also love how there's just never rush with them. In every track they take their time and marinate. I love a good marinade. It's a solid 3/5. Not my favorite by them, but its still great.

Destroy Rock & Roll

Mylo

3/5

Pretty cool sound. Laid back and fun electronic music befitting of a warm summer day. Sort of Daft Punky at times too (in "Drop The Pressure"). I liked it and I think it's a nice 3/5. Sometimes this kind of music gets a little too repetitive for me. It's not really a fault of the music itself though, as sometimes music is written specifically to be groovin to and with any kind of drastic change there it's going to mess with the dancing. Can't have that.

NEU! 75

Neu!

3/5

I've been thinking a lot very recently about velocity in music and dynamics and tempi in music. For me I rarely write something that is thought of as a "fast" tempo but with "soft" velocities / dynamics. Almost like the two are inherently correlated and it's mandatory for them to match eachother. But it's not the case at all... you can have some softer parts and play them fast. Conversely, you can have harder parts and play them slower. This band does that right out of the gate, and it's a little weird to me but I like it. "Isi" sounds like a soundscape, like a track you would hear while watching the "TV Guide" channel late at night. It's got that Peanuts Christmas Piano sound but also, surprisingly- double bass drums? But the double bass is incredibly softly played (and recorded)? I love it. Very different. I enjoyed the meditative "Seeland". I liked the album. 3/5

Green

R.E.M.

3/5

I can't seriously listen to "Stand" without thinking of the great Parks and Recreation episode where they play it over and over through a malfunctioning PA system. It's a good R.E.M. record. I can't help but compare it to "Automatic For the People" and "Out Of Time" which I think are better albums. I noticed that the latter hasn't popped up yet even though it has their most popular song, "Losing My Religion". If this is on this list then I can't imagine that album not being on this list. I like the band but it feels like just a little bit of a lot of R.E.M. I hate that one idea of "ok, is every record by this band going to be on this list? Is that maybe a little too much?" is pervading my review, but I can't help it. Besides that, the record is good and solid. Nice 3/5.

Kid A

Radiohead

5/5

"Everything in Its Right Place" became a new found love about 3 or 4 years ago. Now it's a little bit annoyingly ubiquitous because of some tiktok remix though. "How to Disappear Completely" is so beautifully wonderful. I love the synthetic strings (I really enjoy the weird vibrato and slurring between notes) and the trumpets that change rhythms in an off kilter sort of rocking motion. Yorke's vocals are pretty perfect here. What an ending too. I always feel like there's a little bit of some kind of underlying mystery in Radiohead's music. Like there's going to be a documentary that comes out in 50 years that talks about this mystery treasure hunt that is in the lyrics of Radiohead's music and all of the reverse vocal parts give you hints and stuff like that. Thom Yorke's diary will be found and in it will be "Radiohead was just a vehicle for me to make a puzzle for people to solve. I don't even like music I just like puzzles". Radiohead is a late-in-life discovery for me and for most of my life I felt like they were actually a little overrated. I think as I've gotten older I've realized that a lot of their sound is a sound that I've always tried to capture in my own personal songwriting and maybe that's why I've had a mental barrier with them? Because they do what I want to do and do it better? Before having this epiphany, I had years of my life where I wanted to make music that was/is: - Droning and evolving synths - drum n bass drums - experimental production techniques - catchy vocal parts - pop-structure tracks interspersed throughout records. aaand that's Radiohead... even now I'm looking at the album art for Kid A and thinking oh, on top of all of those audio elements that I like and want in my music, the album art is a mountain landscape with surreal colors and digital glitches. Just like my most recently released personal album... while it's funny to see that, I think the conclusion I can draw is that it's ok for me to have had a subconscious distance from Radiohead because to me they have been like the cool kid at school who has your style and personality but does it better. Regardless of that, this album is a masterpiece. 5/5. I don't think they really release anything that isn't super high quality.

Fever To Tell

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

5/5

I kept going back and forth as to whether this was a really strong 4/5 or a 5/5 but it's clear to me that it's a 5 in my opinion. There's so many strong songs on this record and they all are consistently good. Their sound at this point has reached a place where it has this great definition of itself yet it can also explore freely without its quality taking a hit. It's just so good. Throw this album on when you have a party. Throw it on when you are painting. Throw it on when you are having sex. I really love Karen O's confidence on this record. It's unrelenting, in your face, and yet not in an intimidating way. She's cool, playful, silly, and all around a true frontwoman. She always seems like she is 6 feet tall and just this tower of coolness whenever I see her (I just checked and she is 5'6). Everyone knows "Maps". You either love it, like it, or are sick of hearing it but you still think it's amazing and refuse to change the station when it comes on. To me this track lives in the highest echelon of quality alt rock, and really defines this early 2000's era. It's right up there with "Everlong". Personally I've heard it about a few hundred times per year since release but it's such a beautiful love song that my instant reaction to hearing that tremolo guitar is always "aaaaah, yes.". The drumbeat is so cool, the vocal parts are so cool. One of the best songs ever. "Maps" Slaps.

Beautiful Freak

Eels

3/5

Really interesting start to the album with the stark changes in the production, from lofi-ish moments then instantly into full modern rock sections. It's not your typical gradual / tasteful approach but I appreciate it. Definitely unique. The singer here reminds me of Elliot Smith at times. Man, I really love how eclectic the instruments are here. Track 2, "Susan's House" has some Alicia Keys-like piano parts but then goes into this drum n bass Moby~ish spoken word part. Super cool. I really love the simple, incredibly catchy choruses. So good. I liked this a lot. Specifically I enjoyed how you never really knew what was coming next; they didn't have one formula that they rinsed and repeated for each track over and over. Solid 3/5 that with more listens could probably be a 4.

Midnight Ride

Paul Revere & The Raiders

2/5

This really flew by without me even realizing. I was pretty bored listening to it and it just didn't do much for me. I feel like I'm being generous giving it a 2/5 because it might be an OK album but in the context of "greatest albums of all time" it should probably be towards the bottom if it even deserves to be on the list. It's the definition of straightforward classic rock but without any standout features that make the genre great- like great vocals, songwriting and guitar playing. It didn't really have any of that..

Ellington at Newport

Duke Ellington

4/5

The Duke can do no wrong. Beautiful album. Big band is great and it's such a fun and niche sound that fits in so well with his playing. I really enjoyed this album. It's probably not a daily listen for me but I could see myself putting it on and enjoying it often. Strong 4/5 that could probably be a 5.

One Nation Under A Groove

Funkadelic

4/5

Expectedly good funk music. This band is a standard go-to when I want to hear music that sounds like this and now that I think of it is my first band I go to. Famously led by George Clinton and his wacky bass playing deity-like persona. One of the heavy metal bands I was in used to play this record a lot when we were partying / driving to shows / hanging out. It was a great respite from our usual metal albums. Solid 4/5.

Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water

Limp Bizkit

1/5

Uhhh yea? Limp Bizkit is on this list but it's not even "Significant Other"? Not the album with "Nookie" or "Break Stuff"? I guess that means we're going to get 2 albums by them on this list which leaves me perplexed. I can appreciate what they did for metal, as the rap metal / nu metal contrast to TRL's omnipresent pop showings in the late 90s/early 2000s was a cool and fun battle for music fans of wildly different genres. It was enjoyable to see if a metal band would be the number 1 on TRL and have this feeling of winning something... until the next time TRL was on. It was fun to see them and Korn doing their thing and getting a fair amount of play on the radio to the pop music of the time but man... they just kind of suck. Fred Durst has one of the most annoying "singing" voices of all time. It's like a mix of the quintessential bully voice, a whiney kid, and a comedian trying to make music by masking his voice and having it be passable to some extent. It's just weird. At the same time I don't really appreciate what they did for metal too much. Korn was the band next to them doing it and Korn was a really good band. They had good musicianship, good songwriting, lyrics, themes, and in general a lot that LB didn't have. Now that I think of it, it feels stupid that LB is even on this list if it's not for the album with "nookie" and "break stuff" on it. For my personal starting point on this list, to have Korn not come up already feels dumb and it feels dumb that LB's second-best album from this era is on this list before any Korn record. I know that you can start this project at any point and it will revolve day after day so this might not be everyone's experience, but this is mine (ours) and that's just bleh. It's a 1/5. I don't like the music. It doesn't need to be heard before you die.

The Poet

Bobby Womack

3/5

Nice music. Unfortunately there's something about this style that tends to frustrate me and is happening while I'm listening to this. It's this thing where a singer is super talented/experienced/good and has a wide range of vocal inflections that they can perform that sound musical and overall enjoyable. It's great to hear someone who can really RIP some emotion out of a line and then the next line sing it as soft as a whisper. This guy has that in him, and he plays around with it. But the music doesn't do much to enhance the voice. The music won't match the vocal emotions and go up or down or in or out... they just kind of sit in a pocket and stay there. It sounds very "studio band"y, like a bunch of session musicians making music and having no personal connection to the compositions at all. I do think it was part of a trend at the time in this style of music though but I can't help but being left with wanting more. I was happy to hear that the album got a little diverse at times- like "Stand Up" having some cool electro sounds right after "Just My Imagination" which is a pretty straightforward midtempo R&B track. Cool album cover. Very simple and very standard for the 80's but there's something about his expression mixed with his unique looking guitar and the text and colors that I appreciate. Overall the album is a nice 3/5 for me.

London Calling

The Clash

5/5

Feels crazy to say but this is my first time going through this album in one listen. I never really was drawn to their sound much which I think is weird as I like a lot of different types of punk (metal punk- bands like BLACK FLAG, crust punk- bands like HIS HERO IS GONE, modern classic punk- bands like GREEN DAY, classic punk- like MISFITS, BAD BRAINS, even modern pop-punk (a genre that I've historically not enjoyed)- bands like DURRY). For some reason I've always been avoidant of The Clash though. The title track is a classic and probably one of the better songs to share with someone if they show an interest in rock music or punk music or even just good music. I love a good second track of an album. For me this is typically a point in an album where I am going to start judging. The introduction phase is over, I am locked into the production style and choices, and I'm just listening now. This record has a real nice second track- "Brand New Cadillac". Great rock guitar that is almost rockabilly in style, and the same haunting and crooning punk voice over the top. This album rocks hard. Unfortunately I think it was overhyped for me and I never gave it the attention it deserves. It's a definite 5/5.

Dookie

Green Day

5/5

I love that this comes up next after "London Calling". What a great back to back! This album is phenomenal. I still can sit and listen and be blown away by the quality of the songwriting and the production decades later. It's so tight and impressive and a treat to listen to. Last year (2022) I saw Green Day for what I think was my first time, at Sea Hear Now on the beach in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I was hundreds of feet away from them and surrounded by many several thousands of people. Usually you would think that this would be just an OK experience- being so far away from a punk band and expecting to get some of that energy and excitement but I swear I felt like I was only a few feet away from the stage. They have so much energy, so much passion, and I was really blown away by how they grabbed your attention. It was one of the better acts I'd seen in years and they had this unrelenting presence about them that felt like they were there to make EVERYONE in the crowd have a good time. A real unforgettable show. On the bummer side of 1001 anedcotes, this album came out a month before my father passed away, and I will always be brought back to that year or so of driving around with my mom and brother and listening to the radio and having many of these songs played over and over. When I listen to these tracks now I get a little tinge of sadness but I think it's a good tradeoff because those little bits of sadness I get now were probably metaphysically being removed from my being when I listened to these as a kid. A transactional "listen to this now and it will make you a little less sad. When you listen to this 30 years from now however you'll get some of those little bits of sad back though.". That this record has "Longview", "Welcome to Paradise", "Basket Case", "When I Come Around", and "She" on one record is like an art anomaly. I don't understand how one album can contain so many truly masterful tracks without it being labeled as a "greatest hits". Definite 5/5.

Sea Change

Beck

4/5

Great production right from the start. That first acoustic guitar chord rings so well. I also always love when indie acts tie in synths into acoustic instruments. That first intro synth melody sits so nicely on top of the very warm acoustic guitar and the brittle sounding pedal steel guitar. I've never been a huge Beck fan (honestly probably only for lack of trying and I can almost guarantee that I will be a big fan once I spend more time diving into his music) but it's very obvious that there is a mastery to his craft here. Little details have intention- like the flow between songs (the seamlessness of track 1 into track 2 for example), and there is care placed on just about everything you hear. Nothing is phoned in. "Guess I'm Doing Fine" is really great. I instantly added it to my annual playlist (new year new playlist) which I listen to daily. "Lonesome Tears" is also equally great and beautiful. He has a great ear for when to use these impressionistic key-borrowing chords at times to match the emotion of lyrics without ever sounding too modal. It's mastery. This is a really great album. "Round The Bend" ripped out my heart with those strings. Unbelievable beautiful. I will have to listen to it more but right now it's a 4 out 5. I feel like when it was over I wanted a little more movement out of the songs and that there were just a few too many midtempo ones.

All Hail the Queen

Queen Latifah

3/5

Fun, groovy, new jack swing type hip hop. I always thought Queen Latifah was a cool act and it's nice to see her pop up on this list. The downside to this album is that it's not dimensional enough. I think while listening I keep thinking "I want more", "I want something different". It's all mid tempo / or mid to high up tempo hip hop. I counted about 8 out of 15 that are specifically around 130-150bpm, and then the remaining tracks are all around 100bpm. So it does those two tempo "windows" and doesn't deviate too much from there... and when it does, it's not big stylistic changes, although when it did deviate I appreciated it a lot, like the awesome sax/reed sound on "Latifah's Law". Overall it's a 3/5 for me.

Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Tortoise

3/5

Cool post-rock with interesting moments of experimental noises and SFX. I liked it but felt like I wanted more. I listened to a lot of this while I was at the gym so maybe I wasn't in the perfect headspace for it (this generally doesn't have an affect on me). Also, post-rock is one of my favorite genres and maybe I think this is "pretty good but not great" because I've been listening to this genre for a long time. It's not a bad record though! For this list it's a 3/5 for me which IMO is actually pretty strong. There's other post-rock albums that I am familiar with that I wouldn't even have on this list.

The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies

3/5

Interesting album- got some nice jazz in there, some blues, some country-western. I dug the pedal steel guitars, harmonicas, and that droney country-western bass. The Spotify description for this band called them "quiet, beautiful, reflective" which I think is a fantastic way of painting their sound. I didn't love the album to start but it grew on me. 3/5

Black Sabbath

5/5

What a haunting, heavy, and masterful debut. I love this album so much and I don't think I'll ever tire of it even as I've heard so many various metal bands cover assorted songs from this album over the years. Something that gets lost at times for people when thinking about Sabbath is that they really respect the groove and do everything they can to make the groove stand out. "N.I.B." is such a hidden gem of a song- the bass intro is one of the best grooves ever in a metal song and the part where Ozzy sings "your love for me has got to be real" is immediately so beautiful as a counterpoint to the bass underneath it. "Evil Woman" again comes in with a wonderful groovin riff. It's not a huge song of theirs but it is another reminder that they don't ever have any weak songs. "Wicked World" might be my favorite on the album and one of my favorite Sabbath songs. (I love the cover of this song by a band called "Skinless". It's unrelenting and brutal and yet still funky and jazzy). 5/5.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

4/5

"Lust For Life" the song is so dang good, I really just hate how it became so synonymous with TV ad's. I feel like there were a few companies that used it and used it the same commercial for years and I really can't hear the song without thinking about a TV commercial which is a bummer. "The Passenger" is another killer track. I love the laid back coolness. The melody sits on top of that cool swung guitar rhythm (almost a little like reggae/dub right?) and his voice tone and performance fits so well. What a great album cover. It kind of looks like a TIME magazine cover but in a goofy tongue-in-cheek way. I haven't listened much to Iggy Pop but this record sounded great.

KIWANUKA

Michael Kiwanuka

4/5

I like this guy and this is the first album I've heard by him but I'm not sure if it's so good to be on this list. "You Aint The Problem" was a big hit recently and I even added it to one of my annual playlists (big deal for me!). I think it has a great message though- I had read that he really struggled with imposter syndrome and wrote this song as a message to himself. "I've Been Dazed" has such a pretty chorus. It does sound a little familiar, but hey that's music. Ok shit. I get it, I really get it. Both parts of "Piano Joint" are incredible. I don't know if it's because I'm having a really wonderful day but that piece really hit me in a good way. Really really strong song. I love the production choices on "Hero - Intro". I'm always interested in these sorts of decisions and where they come from. I bet this was recorded in super high fidelity with amazingly detailed microphones and mixed through gear that costs thousands upon thousands of dollars, and yet there is post-recording changes made to make it sound lower fidelity. Does it exist to make the next song, "Hero" sound heavier/more intense? I think it does, but it's still a choice that was made that really makes me intrigued. Yea this is a wonderful album. I really enjoyed it. 4/5

Second Toughest In The Infants

Underworld

3/5

A little bird told me that when you download cracked music software, it usually contains re-coded installers and things like keygenerators. When you open these little installers and cracked files, they often play music on them automatically and this is exactly the sort of music they play. I've always wondered what that genre would be called because it is pretty unique and this is the first time I've heard a professional band have an albums worth of this style. Wonderfully minimalist yet still exciting and overall to me it's giving (lol) "effervescent". I was really happy to hear vocals in the second song after the long 16 minute album opener. I dug this! Nice 3/5.

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

5/5

This is an amazing classic rock / at times progressive / at times theatrical record. Meat Loaf was such a wild and fun entertainer and this is some of his best work. I'm glad it's on the list. Something that is unfortunate with him is that I don't think he's currently standing the test of time. His sound sometimes reminds me of Bruce Springsteen, and Bruce has stood that test. Bruce was our parent's rock singer and for a lot of people I know, we all really like Bruce and appreciate his music. But Meat Loaf (from a similar time period) just hasn't captured that for some reason. Or rather the onus shouldn't be on him and more so WE haven't captured that. Regardless, I am a fan and a listener. This is a 5/5. It's not a 5/5 like it's one of my favorite albums of all time, but I can absolutely respect the quality behind it and I like it enough to say that I love listening.

Duck Stab/Buster & Glen

The Residents

1/5

Pretty weird stuff. I tend to gravitate towards experimental / weird / underdog type stuff/art and I have to admit that this really didn't do much for me. Hard to find some positives if there really were any which is a shame. Not sure if this is an album that everyone must hear before they die. In between a 1 and a 2 but as of this listen it was a 1 for me.

Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes

2/5

I dig how it's sometimes experimental while still musical. I like the singers voice. Guitar playing is cool and the super fizzy fuzz is nice. "I had too much to dream (last night)" is a great song title. The songs didn't "go somewhere" enough, they really hung around with the initial idea and didn't evolve or deviate enough for me to love it.

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

3/5

My composition teacher in my music undergrad program played piano on some live performances of this which I think is pretty cool! I haven't listened to the album full through so I'm excited. In fact now that I think of it, 2 out of 2 people that were the primary sources of my music education were big fans of this band. The singer has a much better voice than I recall when I first heard of them. The album sounds nice and borders on wonderful. "Do You Realize" is the one that everyone knows. For me I always felt a little hesitancy to get into this band from that single because it somehow felt culty to me. The band all in their robes and singing stuff like that just put me off. All joking aside I think I grew up being a little afraid of cults. Regardless, this song is great. It's actually less epic than I remember, and ultimately the album is a little less epic than I thought it would be.

Soul Mining

The The

3/5

"The The" is so punk. I always thought band / album / song names like that were funny but didn't really do much for me beyond the initial giggle that it would get out of me. Like "The Band". But that's just me, it's still punk. This album is fun and has a lot going for it. I never heard of it or the band and it is a nice surprise. Great lyrics in the first track and it made me pay better attention to the lyrics while listening. I like that! Really enjoyed the industrial~ish drums and funk bass too. Nice listen! 3/5 but could be higher on more listens I think.

Dig Me Out

Sleater-Kinney

4/5

This is a good listen. I've always felt like Selater-Kinney holds a really weirdly balanced place in music where they are underrated to the normal everyday person but overrated to the more underground people who seek out more alternative music. Like everytime I go to listen to them I'm like "oh yea, Sleater-Kinney, some artists I really love, really love Sleater-Kinney". And then I listen and I'm like "yea it's good." I think influence was probably a big reason why people hold them in high regards.. I mean they made cool alternative rock music out of Washington state in 1994! Anyways, I liked the album. They are good and many legit music fans love them for a good reason. I love Carrie Brownstein and I feel like I forget sometimes that she's a founding member of the band.

New Forms

Roni Size

3/5

I've been loving liquid drum n bass lately and it's cool to get a new album here. The album art really threw me off- it looks very modern. The type/fonts, the weird little seemingly random icons adorned next to the artist name, the spacey imagery... i dig it. I liked my listen through. 3/5. It probably could have been shorter or tighter structurally which hurt it.

Immigrés

Youssou N'Dour

3/5

Nice chill, laid back sound. I didn't resonate too much with the album but I appreciated it while listening. I actually think the more instrumental-heavy parts were better than the vocal sections. I did like the scatting on "Taaw" however. Track 2, "Pitche Mi" was my favorite. 3/5. Sounded good. Not sure if it's an album that you need to hear before you die.

Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1

George Michael

3/5

George Michael had a great voice and I think that gets forgotten about sometimes. It's very evocative and naturally is dripping with sexuality that borders on corney/cringey but to be fair the cringe is kind of a byproduct of his era. Speaking of era, I think this album is kind of a hangover from the 1980's. It was released in 1990, 3 years after "Faith", so it was almost definitely created inside of the 1980's. The sound is like an 80's record that wants to evolve but just isn't ahead of it's time enough to start the exploration into 1990's pop. "Cowboys and Angels" is good example of this, where it feels like something that is really trying to be different and new, but it comes up sounding like a Sade track. There's a lot of good moments on this record. On "Freedom! '90", there's chord progressions and ideas that were undoubtedly taken and used by bands after this release. I hear specifically a lot of "Maroon 5" in that track. I also like "Heal the Pain" and all of the acoustic instruments. Lovely album cover. Super interesting idea. It looks like a fun summer day at a beach or some kind of huge pool event, but I also get "The Shining" vibes from it (the photo of the hotel at the very end of the movie!). Solid 3/5, not really enough huge memorable hits in my opinion for it to be higher. Very listenable though!

New York Dolls

3/5

Fun rock and roll classic. I know people really respect / love / adore this band but I never really listened to them much. I think there's something about the straightforward "rock" sound that I don't often gravitate towards. What was edgy once might not always be edgy and so much of rock is contextual on the time period, like singing about living an alternative lifestyle or a rock lifestyle, or singing about society or politics or people... and this sound isn't really edgy or super interesting right now. Not that that hurts my rating, but it does help me rationalize my thoughts. 3/5. It's listenable and enjoyable to sit and experience. I will spin it more!

Cosmo's Factory

Creedence Clearwater Revival

5/5

This is my mom and brother's favorite CCR record (possibly mine too?). It's so good. CCR was really USA's band. There's definitely been other acts that have captured aspects of this country really well- like Bruce Springsteen singing about being a working everyday person, not having a lot of money, falling in love, racing cars... The Beach Boys singing about surfing and spending time on beaches, youth, and ogling girls... Nirvana singing about relationships, isolation, drugs. But to me, CCR is THAT sound that appears in my head when I think of this country. Many great tracks on this record that were staples in my youth: "Lookin' Out My Backdoor" "Run Through The Jungle" "Up Around The Bend" "Who'll Stop The Rain" "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" "Long As I Can See The Light" It's a 5/5 for me and one of my favorite records of all time. Probably between top 15 and top 20. They just did it right.

Haunted Dancehall

The Sabres Of Paradise

2/5

This was just ok, didn't really blow me away with the experimental dance vibe it was going for. I didn't dislike it but I also question whether it needs to be heard before you die. I think the concept is pretty funny though, "haunted dancehall" and all of the sounds are reverbed out and spooky sounding. I do enjoy minimalist music from time to time but this one wasn't it. 2/5

Ocean Rain

Echo And The Bunnymen

3/5

I love the theatrical "Nocturnal Me". The snare drum rolls, the strings, the emotive vocals, it really stood out to me. This was a nice album with a lot to like. I enjoyed the vocalist, the band, and the expansion of sounds that they added beyond a typical rock / singer songwriter instrumentation. The only downside for me was that I'm not sure too much of it will be memorable, in fact I couldn't really remember a melody or even the band name when I came back to this after listening yesterday.

Very

Pet Shop Boys

3/5

Wow this one grabs you right from the start. I love that intro and man I love the chord progression. I feel like I accomplished something? Like I'm walking away from the explosion at the end of the film. Super crisp production too, even more surprising for 1993. I hate to hate on this, but the vocal timbre leaves a bit to be desired. There's really only so much a singer can do with their voice, and I really try to not let vocal tone really pull down any ratings here for that reason, but his voice is just a bit too nasally for me to enjoy without imagining how much better this music would be with a different timbre. I like it. I had fun with it. It was fantastical and triumphant and at times cheesy.

Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3

2/5

As I'm listening to this, I can't help but feel like it's taking forever to get somewhere but maybe this is already the destination. "Somewhere" is a concept that I'm expecting but won't be getting, and the sound is what it is. For a 2 hour long double-CD record, I don't really often want a 3 minute intro song that doesn't really do much besides get me excited for something coming next (and then not GIVE me that thing?). Am I making sense? I feel like there's a lot of building up but no climaxing. Track 1 is an overly long buildup Track 2 is boring, (possibly biased because I didn't get the climax from the buildup from the intro?) Track 3 is ... boring.. Track 4 is boring, OK maybe this is what their sound is and I need to accept that and not expect more? Track 5.. oh ok. Some distorted guitar. Is this the change I was expecting? Yea, it was. The album started roughly 18 minutes prior to this. Where was this 15 minutes ago? Where was this 5 minutes ago? This is a cool song. I like the affect in the vocal performance. Vocals were admittedly a little low energy for the context of the track though. Track 6 and 7 are right back to the spacey-ness. Now I'm having conflicting thoughts and wondering that maybe this should be the WHOLE sound of the album, and that Track 5 is now just some random song placed in the middle of the first disc. "Lord Can You Help Me" was a nice respite. I liked the odd guitar playing, and the song overall was nice. It did feel a little cliche and "done before" though. Sometimes I come across some art that I don't love or even like, but it makes me think and I gain appreciation for it because it made me think. This is obviously a really obvious and common goal for visual artists. This isn't the case with this album though. It made me think about the concept of defined sounds and what it means to push past your conventions. But it wasn't done in a way that provoked any new thoughts or discussion. It left me frustrated with the layout of the album, and ultimately led me to just be a little annoyed and a lot of bored.

1977

Ash

3/5

"Girl From Mars" is great, and unsuspectingly has the highest play count of any track on the album via Spotify. I really love the melody and the guitar tones. That distortion really is just too loud though.. when it goes away the rest of the song sounds a little weak volume-wise. Solid besides that. "I'd Give You Anything" got Black Sabbath stuck in my head after listening, because the riff sounds just like the song "NIB". Pretty nice album. Not a ton stood out to me though. It's not exactly bad but I don't know if you need to hear it before you die.

Hail To the Thief

Radiohead

4/5

I used to be a stand-in member of a metal band (stand-in by choice, the music wasn't my favorite but it was a group of friends that I liked) and in the practice space / basement-hang-out-zone of the drummer they had a ton of band posters, and this was one of them. I used to drunkenly stare at this while having the same conversations on pretty much every weekend of my late teen's and early twenties. Full transparency - sometimes I hear Radiohead and I can't help but think that they are overrated. That idea usually pops into my head when I hear their albums / songs that don't blow me away, and I think this is one of those albums. Personally, I think I have this complex where I tend to devalue art/music that sounds similar to something that I make or something that I strive to make. Not that I'm comparing myself to Radiohead, but this sound and more specifically the building blocks are things that I've been writing my own music around- electronic drums, fuzzy guitars, post-rock guitar parts, droney synths, piano/orchestral moments, modal interchange and overall meter ambiguity... and the odd super catchy hook. Those are all elements that I use in my own songwriting, almost exactly to the T. Weirdly enough, there's not many bands that do all of that at once- the list that immediately comes to my mind exclusively has Radiohead on it and no other act. Also, not that I'm trying to break down Radiohead into these simplified variables, but that's what I do when I try to understand music better. For what it's worth, I really like Radiohead and I think they are one of the best rock bands of all time, but I'm just aware of this and aware of how it can color my enjoyment of various bands and acts. This album is one of those that doesn't blow me away. It absolutely doesn't feel weak to me, but I think they have done better. Still worthy of a strong 4/5 however.

Henry's Dream

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

3/5

Some of me wants to like this and some of me doesn't want to. The guitar in the intro is so cool sounding. I love the concept of the outlaw acoustic guitar in all of it's cool badass glory. I just don't love his voice from first listen. I've heard of him before but never really looked into his stuff. I think this sort of sound is really cool but his voice just doesn't grab me. I was hoping that I could read a little about his past and that would help me along but it didn't. There's just something inauthentic about an Australian guy who studied art whose parents were librarians / english+math teachers singing about the American South / West. I'm not saying I have the best ear or intuition ever, but I feel like this persona is so put on. I'm trying to like it. I'm going to give it another listen in a different context.

Aha Shake Heartbreak

Kings of Leon

3/5

I used to think this band was overrated, and that they were a straightforward rock band. Then I started to listen to more of them and some of their tracks that aren't just radio singles and I started to like them, and then I started to read a lot of people hating on them so my current stance is that they are overhated. I don't think they are really an amazing band and I don't frequently reach for an album of theirs to put on when I need something to fill silence, and I don't frequently reach for tracks of theirs to throw onto a playlist. I am surprised that this is the album of theirs that is on this list and it makes me wonder if there are more to come? Because this one isn't necessarily packed with strong songs. In fact, per Spotify, none of their top 10 tracks come from this record (and 4 of the 9 come from the album "Only By The Night"). I know I said that I tend to like their non-radio tracks more, but I find it perplexing that this album is here and potentially not "Only By The Night", which has so many of their radio hits on it... and really in my opinion this is a radio band, regardless of my opinion So there's probably more to come? Everyone knows them for songs like "Sex on Fire" and "Use Somebody". One thing that I've been trying to balance with these is that so many of these albums have some kind of context involved. I just spewed all of these biases I have towards the band, for better or worse. Do I just listen to this record on it's own, pretend like I've never heard of them, and then give a fair rating? I think that would be great! But I also don't think it's necessarily a bad idea to think of each album with some kind of context. Did an album change the direction of it's music genre? If so, it's absolutely getting a higher rating from me, even if my natural thinking is to not enjoy the songs for what they are. "Milk" felt kind of cringey to me. I've always felt like the singer of this band wants to have a raspy voice but tries just SO hard to get it. Sometimes this happens and it's really embarrassing (see videos of Puddle of Mudd covering Nirvana) and he really borders on this here. This isn't my favorite release by them, but I stand by my first thoughts that this band has more in the tank than just their radio hits.

Zombie

Fela Kuti

4/5

Sweet music. I love an ~average~ length album that only has like a few tracks on it. Feels like a challenge to get through some of these 12 minute long tracks uninterrupted. Cool album cover too. I love the overexposed, grainy photo, and the painted-on text. Really enjoyed this one. I love the push and pull of energy and I feel like this is something I could put on and it would get me in a good mood right away. Got my hips shakin and doing things that most albums on this haven't done.

Arrival

ABBA

4/5

ABBA are really amazing. They have such a timeless sound that I feel like will live on for as long as people like pop music. To me this sounds like a band that never sat on their laurels, they push in these tracks, they keep the energy high and they don't allow anything that isn't perfect to get on the album. "Pristine" is a word that comes to mind. So many things done right.

Homework

Daft Punk

4/5

Love some Daft Punk but this one is pretty repetitive. I know that's their thing; it's to linger on sections so you can dance to them. But usually their songs have more memorable moments for me to hang onto, and this album didn't have enough of them. In fact, I really only got that at "Around the World", which is a great song! But unfortunately this not only comes in so late in the album (after around 22 minutes), but it's also TOO repetitive. I want to say that these are things that I would usually gripe about and it would then reflect in my rating, but I know that this is their first full-length so this is their not-fully-evolved sound, and it's STILL great. So to me, it's a 4. There's times where I think that this album is just OK because they just kind of do their thing in a dynamics-less world and sometimes they land on gold, like the melody of "Around the World". But I think that would be me not seeing the forests for the trees.

Penance Soiree

The Icarus Line

3/5

Cool sound- I think if I got into them earlier I would have really enjoyed this. I think the singers got an attractive and confident voice, and the band plays in this same un-timid way. Sometimes the singer sounds like Marilyn Manson. The album went by surprisingly quick for me. I liked the change of pace in "Getting Bright At Night" but I feel like it came too late in the album. I wanted it a little earlier. Nice listen. Will try to remember to listen again but if I forget I don't think it will hurt too much. Had some nice tunes on it but I don't know if it has to be on this list.

Music From The Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

4/5

This is hysterical in some weird vague way to me. Penguins are adorable and for some reason I hear this music and I want to giggle. What and where is The Penguin Cafe? Why does it have its' own orchestra? I love the middle section of the first song, "Penguin Cafe Single", around the 2:30 mark. It's a stark contrast (while still living in the same musical world) as the first two and a half minutes, and it's such a perplexing direction that I can't help but wonder more about the context for it's addition. The vibraphone at times sounds atonal. I wasn't expecting vocals! That was a nice surprise. I love the experimenting in "Zopf: Milk". Very interesting. At this point I'm really along for the ride and it's picking up steam. I really enjoyed this. I think it hit on a lot of things that I like when it comes to an album's construction and the overall sound is something that I will gladly come back to.

New Wave

The Auteurs

2/5

Ah it must be time for our weekly British Alt Rock album on this list. I'd wager we're up to between 50 and 75 in our (specific to our group) 450 or so albums generated so far. Ok enough bellyaching. It's an alright record. Not blowing me away. The vocals are just alright and in many songs the lead vocal is mixed so much louder than the rest of the band. Just Ok. 2/5.

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite

Maxwell

2/5

This flavor of R&B often leaves a bit to be desired in my opinion. The drums are somehow robotic and dynamic-less, like they are a sample that is looped ad nauseam and have no live connection to the rest of the band. They are so strictly attached to a metronome that any signs of rubato are quickly and unconsciously shot down by all participating members. The often-too-loud bass guitar is a specifically designed point of interest but it's usually an unremarkable riff on loop that doesn't end up offering much besides being a focal point splash of paint on the canvas for a viewer/listener to say "What do I like about it? Uhh I like that one splash of paint" when they don't have anything else to comment on. The vocals are smooth and buttery but also passive, forgetful, and bland. It's meant to be in the background. It's meant to be on while you are cooking. It's meant to be on while you are having sex. That's cool, I get it. But I also like climaxing, and these tracks are too often devoid of climax. They linger, hang, and while their invitation seemed like a good idea, I'm left wondering when they are going to leave the party. They just keep taking microscopic sips of house wine, and short pulls from a borrowed clove cigarette. They just keep talking without actually saying anything. I'm trying to not hate on it so much but the heart knows what it wants. It's a low 2/5.

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Nice album, enjoyable listen. Elvis Costello has a cool sound that tends to resonate with me and doesn't leave me with any lingering "why did he write this song like this?" questions. The flip side is that his records can then tend to be a little forgettable for me unless I'm really tuned into the songs (lyrics mostly i think). I have a feeling that on more listens I'd be rating this one higher. Cool album cover too. His stare and pose is pretty interesting. To me, I thought the album title would be about a car model "This Year's Model" but the album cover makes me think more of a person modelling (and being given direction by him). That's pretty cool- there hasn't been many album covers that have made me think differently so far in this list.

I See A Darkness

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

3/5

Wow right from the start- I love this. I love the folky, unpolished, straightforward sound. I love the loose and almost at times fluttery celtic harmonies. I'm so sad that this isn't on Spotify. It's a Monday morning, it's already a beautiful fall day that is coming up on Halloween, and I'm about to drive an hour and a half and I would love to be able to listen to this on the ride. I really enjoyed this. Not so much for a 4 I don't think, as I found it got a little weaker as it went on, but I'll definitely come back and listen.

Our Aim Is To Satisfy

Red Snapper

3/5

I really can't say enough how much I love this exact genre. It's like Massive Attack meets Ed Harrison with some noir videogame soundtrack influence too. The downside is that this album starts on such a strong note with "Keeping Pigs Together", and then gets weaker from there. So much so that I'm walking back my first initial statement. That first track is moody, introspective, and intriguing. After that there's tracks that sound a little silly, with things like the distorted robot voices in "The Rake". I feel like I want to like the funk sound that starts to take control after the first few songs and hangs around. I like the almost De La Soul / new jack swing type of sound in "The Rough And The Quick"... BUT, it's just so far from the initial track, and that's what I was set up for!

Truth

Jeff Beck

3/5

Jeff Beck is a true guitar player's guitar player (if that means what I think it means). He's got such a nice voice on the instrument that goes beyond just playing well. The only downside for me with his playing is that he lived in the time of classic rock, which right now is one of the more dated sounds out there. And unfortunately I really feel it while listening to this album. I'm just not "wowed" by much. I do recognize his greatness and his legend and influence, and this wasn't necessarily hard to listen to or anything. It just kind of went by.

Lazer Guided Melodies

Spiritualized

2/5

Droney, surreal yet approachable, intriguing. Also, Repetitive, muted, and kind of uninteresting. I feel like this record's music is maybe better for drug-induced live performances. I'm sober and sitting at my desk so maybe there's a contextual issue here? I did like "I Want You". I'm just kind of bored with the sound. This isn't some 1960's band trying to think about what the first moon landing is going to be like and making a sonic score to that. It's spacey as a negative. 2/5.

I See You

The xx

3/5

Great album by a great band. I love the vibe, the energy, the inherent coolness that runs throughout. The vocals feel more present in this album. I don't know if that's just an evolution of their production style over the years, but I think it's a good choice. The balance of their mix is a standout feature of theirs that I really tend to agree with often. I am holding out hope to hear their self titled album on this list as well.

The Modern Lovers

3/5

Sometimes I feel like these apathetic "wah wah" kind of vocal sounds get annoying fast and I don't end up having the patience to listen for very long. I'm really either hot or cold on it, because sometimes I really do actually like them. There's this "round-ness" to them that specifically annoys me though, like in "Astral Plane"'s intro, the words "room" and in"sane", where the singer comes up from under the pitch, then goes over it, and then comes back down in what I imagine is a circular motion. The nice thing though is that I really think it fits in this band, and come to think of it I don't often hear that sort of sound in this type of classic rock too often. So that's nice. Now that I realize it, "Astral Plane" in general is a great song. I love the Doors-like organ parts, and the loose drumming that is nicely in the pocket but also just bopping around. Ok I know why I am start to like this so much. "Hospital" sounds like a song from the band Okkervil River, which is one of my favorite bands of all time. It is uncanny how similar the whole sound of the track sounds like an Okkervil song (even though Okkervil came out like 20 years after this band). I love it! I kind of wish the whole album sounded like this whole. "I go to bakeries all day long there's a lack of sweetness in my life." I love how silly this lyric is.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

5/5

Great intro. Drum fill right into that tremor-filled beat and rumbling guitars. "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" is a certified slapper. Same with "Mardy Bum". There's a part of me that wants to give this a 4 because I think that in context, their album "AM" is a 5, and this one isn't as amazing to me as "AM". BUT, I am realizing that there's times where I give a rating of a 3 for example for an album that is really more like a 3.8, and I also give the same 3 rating for an album that just gets up to a low 3.1 or something. So there's more granularity inside of these of these single integer values. It's a great album by one of the best modern rock bands of our time.

Call of the Valley

Shivkumar Sharma

4/5

This is really pretty. I've always loved soundscape music ever since I was a young teenager and scrolling through music channels on Optimum TV and found the ever-looping genre stations. Man I loved "Soundscapes" and would put it on to go to bed and wake up with it. It felt like it guided my adventures in my dreams and allowed me to wake up with a calmness that would start my day off right. This album brings me back to those times, but I do think this one is a little more attention-grabbing. And it's welcome. I love the intro song with the call and response parts; it's pretty unique for this type of music as it's definitely not the norm to have solo instruments be highlighted and swapped around so quickly. I was really glad that this continued throughout the album. I really enjoyed this. I already mentioned it, but the some front-burner attention grabbing flavor of soundscape music is really awesome to me. I'm a big fan and will be listening more.

Ananda Shankar

2/5

This was alright. Didn't really blow me away too much. I think it's fun hearing the classic rock cover in context of traditional indian instruments, and I know there's some mystical music lineage going on here with relation to Ravi Shankar, but I just felt it was alright. Not sure if it's a must-listen.

Sheet Music

10cc

3/5

Really full sound right from the start. Wasn't expecting that at all. This album flew by, I don't even know what I was doing. I enjoyed it throughout and the humor was a nice facet of the sound, even though I think comedy intermixed with music is often kind of touchy and definitely tends to be tied to a period of time which can hurt the experience when listening years later. It also tends to kill replay value for me. With that being said, I liked this. 3/5.

Low

David Bowie

3/5

Rockin riffs, space synths, and his dynamic voice that is cool yet haunting yet inviting all at once. I think the first half went by quickly and I enjoyed it a lot, and then the second half had to try harder to grab me. I also felt like the first half songs were just too short. I would just get to feeling out a track and then it would be gone. Half of the first half tracks were under 3 minutes. Overall I liked the record. It's not my favorite of his and I get this feeling that this album is like him sitting down in a studio for a week and saying "screw it let's see what comes out.", and writing and recording everything there. His sound is so good that it works but there's something missing in the songs.

Young Americans

David Bowie

4/5

I really really like the soul moments of this album, like on "Somebody up There Likes Me". The backing singers and that screaming saxophone are really so captivating. "Across the Universe" was a nice and unexpected cover right in the middle. "Fame" is such a great song. Personally I feel like this is a song that when I hear it it stays in my head for months at a time on loop... in a bad way unfortunately. I don't know why.. I think everyone has some songs like that? that are earworms? Love this album cover. Bowie at times either looks like a model or like an awkward kid going through puberty trying to fit into his clothes.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

3/5

The Pogues are great, but admittedly not my favorite band. I've always wanted to play them for my very Irish grandmother because she has a little bit of punk in her. I don't know this album that well, in fact I really only know "Fairytale of New York" by them. It's a good listen! Filled with Irish spirit and probably Irish spirits. I wish there were more standout tracks though, that's something that I felt I needed after listening through.

Sulk

The Associates

2/5

Yea this is really that corny 1980s sound. Doesn't grab me right away and I'm not sure if it will grab me after some time. I hate the drumming. It sounds like someone who has never played on an electronic kit (or a regular acoustic drum kit with some e-drum attachments) and is trying to make it work. There's some obvious hesitance's and awkward moments in the playing. Not feeling the singer's voice too. It's like the bad parts of when Bono is singing. The album cover is cool atleast?

Faith

George Michael

3/5

"Faith" is so good. I love the country western guitar solo, and the church organ intro. The instrumentation throughout has lovely little mixes of other genres, like synthetic tom drums but then it'll hit you with a lively bass line. My biggest gripe is when George Michael strains the hell out of his voice. It borders on unlistenable for me when he has these moments and I always found it to be totally unnecessary for his sound. The chorus of "I Want Your Sex" is great, it's his soft voice and it has so many good characteristics that make it nice to listen to. But then the verses are this Michael Jackson-esque scrunching of his voice and it really hurts the song. I will say that I like "Part 2" of this song a lot more. The mix is way better with the more live instrumentation. "Kissing A Fool" is fantastic. Sounds oddly Christmas-y to me though? Not sure if that was the intention, but this might get added to my ever stretching Christmas playlist. Solid album. I'm probably rating it a little low with a 3 because I think it can easily be a 4.

Document

R.E.M.

3/5

Great start. I love the riff and syncopated drum part. Man is the master bus SLAMMED with reverb though. "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and "The One I Love" are both absolute bangers, and the former is definitely one of the most well known pop rock songs of all time. But the rest of the album lacks really far behind those two. It's like R.E.M. have two modes- one that makes incredibly catchy rock songs, and another that makes really just "mid" level songs. This is a hard rate for me. I didn't particularly love any tracks besides those two that I mentioned, and usually when an album on this list is like that, I give it a 2-3 out of 5. But those two stand out tracks are just so good that alone they would be a 4. I think a 3 is the most fair compromise for me here.

Gorillaz

3/5

Modern classic. Gorillaz rule and this album is no exception. Just a fun, weird, and at times hard to describe mix of hip hop, and indie alt rock. "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House" are all great tracks. I somehow find myself in the same rating predicament as yesterday's album; where there are a few standout tracks that are yelling to me to rate this album a 4, but the rest of the album doesn't do enough to maintain that 4. Gorillaz are known for their amazing timeless singles. Between me and my wife I've listened to their hits thousands of times and I am always happy to hear one of their songs come on out of the blue. But the rest of the album doesn't match the greatness of the big tracks. There's just too much of a gap. It's a 3!

Come Find Yourself

Fun Lovin' Criminals

3/5

Dang my computer restarted over night and I lost what I had written for this but I'll try my best to sum it up: This is pretty '90's in a good and bad way. I think the flows are nice but the lyrics leave a bit to be desired. Often times it feels like words were added just because they rhyme and for no other reason. I really liked the songs that had live instruments and you could tell there was effort put into those tracks. Overall the album is a 3/5 for me. I didn't dislike it enough for a 2 but it also didn't offer me too much to rate it much higher than a 3. I feel a real sense of disappointment when I write something here for an album throughout a day of listening and thinking and then come back to find that it did not save (like my computer restarting), or if I just forgot to save it myself. It's only happened like 3 or 4 times so far but it's pretty lame.

Basket of Light

Pentangle

3/5

Cool sound. The guitar work is really interesting and I love the little dissonances that get thrown in there randomly. It's like prog folk without going overboard? It's mixed really well for all of the instrument voices present. I can hear a band like Dirty Projectors loving this record. It is going by kind of fast for me, which is sometimes a cool thing and sometimes means that it's not doing enough for me. I picture this band in the current year of 2023 and what they would sound like. I think I would like the sound of this band once it's been marinating a bit if that makes sense? Like I want some evolution out of this record. 3/5

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Pink Floyd

3/5

I like Pink Floyd and I understand that this is a debut but it didn't do much for me. I feel like I felt a little lost while listening to this and I even felt some boredom. Admittedly I might not have been in the right head space to fully enjoy this and I think sometimes this list will give you an album that requires that. Didn't dislike it, and it's a middling 3/5 for me.

Apple Venus Volume 1

XTC

3/5

Very interesting sound. I wasn't expecting the vocals at all and thought this would be an orchestral instrumental band. I think the vocals are cool but the cacophony is a little bit annoying. Maybe it's because it's 7:42am on a Monday, I'm a little hungover and I haven't had any coffee, but there's so many conflicting things in this first track. Alright the second track is out of left field after hearing the first one. I'm intrigued with where the rest of the album will go. Definitely eclectic, at times cool, and at times intriguing, but ultimately it felt just OK to me. Not sure I would come back for a listen.

The Sounds Of India

Ravi Shankar

4/5

Really nice album. I know that Ravi has a crazy big following and some of the biggest modern musicians of all time have said that they looked up to him (even the Beatles), but I haven't done a ton of listening (despite really enjoying Indian music lately). This was a great listen. Honestly I think my favorite thing about it was that intro song that introduced how Indian music works in a really basic manner. This style of music is incredibly complex and the instruments involved are super hard to play at a proficient level, so this intro was really a simplified explanation. Having this track was such a funny little experience enhancer though and I enjoyed how straightforward it was.

xx

The xx

5/5

This album was hyped for me before I heard it, with a lot of friends / internet messageboard people saying that it's an instant classic. Usually I don't deal with music getting overhyped well, I tend to feel some unwarranted and forced innate rebellion and have some bad reaction pre-loaded, like "well I'll have to see about that". This album didn't take very long for me to see it's greatness however. It's jam packed with good songs, it's super consistent, it's dynamic, it brings new ideas, and it's the definition of moody and cool. So much of the music has this sexy feel to it and some songs (like "Infinity") feel like a back and forth tease that repeats over and over. It feels like every other phrase on the record is some variation of "give it to you". In fact, I can't really think about this album without thinking about the sexual vibes it gives off. I don't think I'll ever get sick of this album. Easy 5/5 and probably inside of my top~20 albums of all time. How great is this album cover too? I love the simplicity.

Floodland

Sisters Of Mercy

2/5

Really not doing it for me. It's just so corny and cheesy and it feels derivative of something. Derivative of what? I'm not even sure and to be honest I don't really care enough to put a lot of thought into it. I'm not enjoying this. That one track that is the super midi sounding piano ballad with the lyrics that went something like "where the wind blows" is the highlight of lowness. I think it was called "1959"? It's so cheesy and unappealing. Hard to listen to. This wasn't it for me.

McCartney

Paul McCartney

4/5

It's got all the jovial sing along cutesy pop rock that you would expect from a Paul McCartney record. "Maybe I'm Amazed" really stands out from the rest of the tracks though. Some of the songs sound like short little vignettes that come and go and then "Maybe I'm Amazed" comes out of the blue with this super thought out and perfected track. I think some of the mix leaves a bit to be desired. The Beatles were great at making songs that were great while only using a few layers, and this aims to do that too, but sometimes the tracks can feel pretty empty. But maybe simplicity was the intent and I'm overthinking it? It's hard for me to rate this album because it feels like a strong 3 but I think it can easily just as much be a 4. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

A Walk Across The Rooftops

The Blue Nile

3/5

Cool sounds. I think at this point in the 1980's musicians were starting to get comfortable with synths and digital sounds and how to effectively use them in a way where they didn't stand out This record has a lot of cool ideas in it. I love the arpeggiated synths throughout- the ones in "From Rags to Riches" sounds like a callback to The Who's "Baba O Riley". The singers voice in this track is also such a nice contrast on top of this smearing of digital sounds. Very cool blend of organic and inorganic. I think I like this more than the other 80's albums that have come up on this list recently. It feels more daring, and more open to pushing structure.

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective

4/5

Just realizing now that I really haven't listened to this band much at all. Got through the first track and I was thinking "this is what this band sounds like?". For some reason I had them in my head as some indie folk festival type of band, but this is really a breath of fresh air. The sound is eclectic and interesting, it's layered just the right amount when you want it, and I feel a sense of wonder when listening; what's coming next? A gripe that is starting to raise its' ugly head on me is that sometimes the music feels kind of direction-less which ironically is probably the single biggest musical concept that I look for when I'm listening to music. I really love music that has direction, that aims somewhere and goes there (or doesn't and goes somewhere else). Track 2 and 3 together gave me this lingering, loitering sort of feeling and it made me want something more. Usually this isn't such a bad thing that it will make me not like music, but those two songs together equals close to 11 minutes of music that doesn't stretch itself or go into new areas. It's also 11 minutes of the albums first 16, and at that point it's kind of fair to start making assumptions about the overall sound. Thankfully it picked up by track 4, "Summertime Clothes". The syncopated synth that lays the foundation is a cool energy-filled element that elevates everything else around it. Awesome focal point. In the end I think I wanted something more out of the sound. I wanted structures to appear when they didn't, and I wanted songs to explode sometimes. I feel like they are SO close to having a sound that I love, but just come up short. I'll definitely listen more and could see myself liking them the more I do. I like the album cover. It feels timeless in a way.

Rock Bottom

Robert Wyatt

2/5

Pretty cool experimental / improvisational sound. I really enjoy the blend of experimental with traditional. I feel MORE enthused to listen to music like this when there is some unknown about what is coming next, and often in experimental music you tend to actually know what is coming next if 100% of the music is experimental. Does that make sense? When everything you've heard is weird, it's not exciting to hear MORE weird parts? It's exciting at that moment to hear something contextually weird- like a traditional part. My gripe (because I have to have one lol) is that there seems to be a limited bandwidth for experimental music on this 1001 list and I can think of many other albums over this one that are deserving of a place that I've not seen yet after ~450 or so albums. It was just OK.

Born In The U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Never heard of this guy before but the sound is cool. Just kidding, I'm from New Jersey! I don't think I've gone a week in my life without hearing a Bruce song. And I don't think I could ever get tired of Bruce. I think that's a testament to the wall-of-sound recording where there are layers upon layers upon layers and even after dozens of listens to a song you can still find new things that surprise you. Subjectivity aside, these songs are just good. They have great structures, great vocals, social-commentarying lyrics that don't annoy after time (and are also unfortunately timeless..), they make you move, and are so good that anyone of any age could listen and enjoy. I wish this was the album for the week and I had a week to write about it. I think this is one of the best American albums of all time and the concepts are timeless and will live on for a long time. Definitely one of the most important records of modern music.

Suede

2/5

This album definitely flew by, and not in a good way. It was over before I knew it and I left feeling really unimpressed. During some songs, like "Sleeping Pills", I even just wanted it to be over and to skip to the next track. The chorus hit me and it has a nice statement chord (a major 3 chord) but it then immediately went back to weird apathetic 80's worship. Maybe it's because this came out in 1993 and there's some innate feeling of it being "behind"? Just sort of dated and living in a place of familiarity.

Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem

4/5

This album / band were THROWN at me in college by some of my then-girlfriend (now wife)'s friends at random parties. I feel like I couldn't go to a party without not only hearing these songs but also having at least a few people ask "don't you love this song?" "don't you love this band?" "don't you love this sound?", and despite my rebellious hater-of-the-overhyped younger brother attitude, I always enjoyed the song/band/sound. It's just the best kind of infectious, fun, energy injecting type of indie music around. I think that's what made it so attractive to us and the people we hung out with; there were only so many times that you could put on the same old indie rock bands at parties and pre-party warmups pregame hangs and hope that people would dance to rock drum beats. It wasn't going to happen. But man, LCD Soundsystem gets put on? You're grooving. And what a bonus- they sound indie! They aren't some super over produced pop outfit that all the frat parties were playing. It was OUR music and it made you move. Perfect recipe for repeat listens. "All My Friends" was on every single party playlist in college and is an incredible anthem. "New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down" is such a masterfully written ending track. I love the sentiment, I love the contrast to the rest of the album. The album cover is pretty simple but what I think are the intentions being the elements are all great to me. Easy on the eyes. This is a really high 4/5 for me. I want it to be a 5, but it's not there for my personal rating schema.

If You're Feeling Sinister

Belle & Sebastian

2/5

The compositions are cool, and sometimes I hear a little bit of Neutral Milk Hotel (!) in there, like on "Me and the Major". I can't help but be a little bored by the vocal performances though. I've heard of this band before and I've definitely heard their songs but I don't remember just feeling so bored by the vocal parts. They are just so blah? Now that I've heard more of the album I also feel the same way about the other instruments and the production. It sucks because I can tell these are good songs; I can tell that they don't just pump out the same formulaic tracks that have worked for them once or twice and repeat it and expect people to listen and enjoy. It's quite the opposite actually- they have so many different structures, tempi, chord progressions and bigger ideas... but the performances feel so subdued. I know I need to give this one another listen. I've heard people sing praises of this band for years so there's got to be more than my first listen here.

I Against I

Bad Brains

3/5

Bad Brains are great. This isn't the album I would have on here though- it would be their self titled. I've listened to them over the years but from a distance, which I think is what a lot of metal people have done. Always had respect for them but they weren't frequently someone's #1. They have a fun sound and brought some much-needed diversity to the metal genre at the time. Definite trailblazers. Not my favorite metal music but I like to listen to them from time to time.

Mott

Mott The Hoople

2/5

"All The Way From Memphis" is cool, but not much else stands out. I don't know what kind of influence this band might have had? I'm assuming there's something else that makes this album stand out or really warrant a spot on the list outside of just the songs on a single listen through, but I'm not really loving it. I think maybe I just wanted more memorability on the record? I feel like the band gels together really well and there's definite chemistry (like the part around 2:40 in the second track where the guitar and vocalist are both "singing" lines and it's a cool back and forth) but it just feels kind of pedestrian? Even though that feels pretty harsh. To me this sound is like a bunch of GOOD musicians that aren't amazing and they have opportunities to take their music to the next level (like recording at what I assume is a really good studio based on the production quality) but no one in the band steps up and ushers the overall sound to stardom. Left wanting more.

Arc Of A Diver

Steve Winwood

3/5

Love that synth brass sound to start. I couldn't immediately tell what year we were in from looking at the album cover, but this synth gave it away. Although to be honest, at the drum intro starting at 00:40 in the first song could totally be an indie band from today. The record had a couple of nice tracks on it but nothing that I really felt that blew me away. I'll definitely be giving it more listens though- I did like many of the parts and several of the songs had a cool laid back flow that I felt was really nice to listen to. The instrumentation in general is also just really fun.

2/5

If someone started playing the first track for me and said "this is a new Tim and Eric band" I wouldn't be surprised at all. I love Tim and Eric. I think the mock bands and music that they make are hysterical. I think relating a real band to a fake Tim and Eric band is a bad thing for a real band. The lyrics are weird and the voice tone isn't doing anything for me, and the production has so many phasing issues. Yea I kind of just wanted this to be over with quickly. I don't think it's bad enough for a 1 but do you need to hear this album before you die?

Back to Basics

Christina Aguilera

3/5

Christina is a vocal powerhouse. I think she was underrated in the context of the bubble gum 1990's pop because she could reeeaallly sing. This album backs up that claim with strong tracks that maintain her vocal prowess already 5 albums into her discography up to this point. This is however one of those instances where I question an album's selection on this list due to the artist having other albums that far surpass the current one. IMO this isn't anywhere close to her self titled (with "Genie In a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", "I Turn to You", and "Come On Over on it) or her album "Stripped" (with "Fighter", "Dirrty", and probably my personal favorite CA track, "Beautiful" on it), and yet roughly halfway into this list we haven't heard either of those yet. Track 2, "Makes Me Wanna Pray" is a fantastic second song. There's gospel in there, there's a super tight band behind her, and it's a perfect platform for her to get up to the mic and do her thing. I love her riffs and rubato-ing in the last minute or so of the track. Great energy. Unfortunately I can't STAND those weird static-y sounds that are panned hard right and hard left here. I think it's some like faux vinyl crackle which would fit this nostalgic / "back to basics" / throwback idea that she is going for, but it's just a little too heavy handed in the mix. This was a nice listen. Again, I can't help but feel that this is at the very best her 3rd best album though.

Southern Rock Opera

Drive-By Truckers

3/5

I've heard this band name for years but never listened. It's a cool sound I guess, not totally my thing but I think this style of country / hard rock deserves some spots on this mix and I don't know if we've had much of this specific sound yet. I can tell that they swap through singers a bit, just 4 songs in and I think I'm up to hearing 3 different and distinct vocalists. That's pretty cool. The guitar playing is pretty nice too; good tone and good riffs that know when to shine and when to let others in the band shine. "Guitar Man Upstairs" is a pretty funny some lyrically.. it's about the law and living in the town and dealing with people and how the protagonist is just an old man who has someone who moved in upstairs who plays guitar and drinks all day. Kind of funny for a musician to write a song about this from this perspective hahaha. I went into this being like "ugh country rock" and left with a better result than expected.

American Idiot

Green Day

4/5

I grew up thinking Dookie was amazing and not really liking much else by Green Day. To me they were like poser punk, and I always thought, "why would I listen to pop punk ever? It's like punk energy and riffs and vocals but without the infamous punk attitude?" But that's changed as I've gotten older. I have come to embrace Green Day and how simply put they are an amazing band that makes good music. I also got to see them a year or two ago at "Sea Hear Now" festival and they were amazing. Even headlining a huge show where they were like hundreds and hundreds of feet away from me, they somehow made the show energetic and intimate and straight up killer. This album I think maybe pushed the band to the next level. "Nimrod" to me was only an alright album, despite having "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" on it, it didn't do much for me otherwise. This came out and I feel like everyone and their moms were like "hell yea fuck George W Bush I love this shit". I think this is a good 4. It's not quite Dookie, and Dookie is a 5, but relation aside, it's a strong album with a few select really great standout hits.

Oxygène

Jean-Michel Jarre

4/5

I've been listening to a lot of ambient electronic music from the 90's lately and this intro immediately grabbed me. Then I looked and saw that it was from the 70's and thought "hell yea!". I love hearing something and thinking its from a completely different time period. Feels like some anachronistic (finally, I get to use this word!) glitch. Yea I'm such a geek for this type of music. When song 2 breaks (around the 2 minute mark I think), I'm really pulled in and feeling... determined? Excited? I could do with a few less laser sounds, but I get it that this was the 70's. It's also just a littttle bit too heavy on the sweeping filtering panning synths. I really enjoyed this. Probably biased like I said because of my recent listening to similar acts, but I felt like this really nailed the idea

Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts

The Adverts

2/5

Raw, classic punkish rock. Sounds cool, but doesn't really grab me. Personally I feel like this could be omitted from the list and is another example of the heavy 1970's rock bias. Wish I had more to comment on but this felt just so straightforward and didn't do much.

The Idiot

Iggy Pop

2/5

Iggy Pop consistently bores me. I don't know why. I feel like if you sat me down on a couch, gave me an SM57 and oversaturated the mic, I could sit and crank out these tunes without even having to get up on my feet. Maybe it's the period of time? This was harder in the 70's? It just doesn't do much for me. It sounds like he's sitting on a couch and reading from a notebook. Even the more energetic songs lack energy in the vocals. I know he's known as a punky artsy guy, but I'm always surprised when I hear Iggy Pop's music and remember how monotone it can get. You have to wait until "China Girl" to get some of his wailing, but it takes so long to get there and then when it does it comes and goes and he goes right back to his drunkenly warbling. Not my favorite, and went by very quickly.

m b v

My Bloody Valentine

4/5

Lots of warbly fuzzy goodness to chew on. I feel like I missed the boat on My Bloody Valentine somehow and never got around to giving them the amount of listens that I've been prescribed to by friends over the years. I'm really never let down when I hear some of their songs though, but I think the listening context is really important. Thankfully, I listened to this on a Thursday morning shortly before Christmas with nothing on my calendar. There's this sense of wonder that I feel when I listen to them, like an ambiguous "I don't have the slightest clue about what this song is about but I get it as a vibe". It's a cool thing, and pretty unique overall for someone like me who likes to dive into music, pull out all of the pieces, and try to make sense of it all. It makes it easy for me to hand over control of the wheel and just enjoy the ride. Not many bands / genres can I do that with and I'm always appreciative when it happens.

Melodrama

Lorde

4/5

WOW am I glad and surprised to see Lorde on this album. Putting my judgemental pants on, I would have initially guessed that she's just a little too contemporary for the curator(s) of this list for her inclusion so I'm happily surprised. I will say that this album is killer, but "Pure Heroine" HAS to be on the list if this album is. For the past few years of my life I've been listening to a lot of female led indie singer songwriters, indie rock, and pop acts, and I think every single one of them has to give credit to Lorde. My listening experience is filled with interruptions where I have to stop and say "oh this song sounds like X's song, which was made years after this Lorde song", over and over. Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams, recent Maggie Rogers, Clairo, dare I even say more recent Taylor Swift?, Alix Page, the list goes on. Look at this weirdly straightforward and scathing set of lyrics right from the jump: "She thinks you love the beach you're such a damn liar Those great whites they have big teeth Hope they bite you Thought you said that you would always be in love but you're not in love no more" It's just so blunt and on the nose and the delivery is so weird and unafraid of coming across as different... almost Bjork-like how she adds subdivision rhythms to make the lyrics work? "But we're the greatest They'll hang us in the Louvre Down the back, but who cares—still the Louvre" This cracked me up hahah I think every single singer-songwriter who self produces should not only listen to this album and also Lorde in general, but they should keep the album downloaded on their phone so they have access to it at all times. The production is absolutely slammed with incredible ideas to pull from and be inspired by. So many little synths, filters, vocalizations as rhythms, and yet somehow it's also SO clear and easy to listen to. It's like listening to the best mixers of today's day and age, everything is absolutely crystal clear.

Country Life

Roxy Music

3/5

How about this album cover? Wow! I like the first track. It's a great start- high energy in the instruments and high energy in the vocals. Plus some 1970's cop film string parts? Sweet! The album has some nice blues rock moments like in "If It Takes All Night", and some funny orchestral / stage musical moments like on "Bitter Sweet". I feel like overall this album had a bunch of ideas that I liked but not too many that I would say really made me love the record as a whole. I think if I came back and listened I would like it more though!

Nothing's Shocking

Jane's Addiction

4/5

This album unfortunately just floats on by until "Mountain Song". I think that Jane's Addiction suffered from being ahead of the time with the 1990's grunge ubiquity but they couldn't shake off enough of the 1980's stadium rock sound that I personally feel like they desperately needed to get rid of. So many songs on this record have that HUGE stadium sound and they don't really say anything or do anything special. Then you hear "Mountain Song", which actually capitalizes on that stadium sound and sounds great! It's unfortunate but to me it's like this album was trying to figure out their sound and the big stadium rock flavor only really worked for me on this track. And then you get "Jane Says", (which I erroneously have credited as a "90's song") an amazing anthemic grunge rock tune that is so cool that it can use steel drums as a focal point and no one can question their use. I really really love this song. The lyrics are poetic and incredibly raw and sad. I love Perry's vocal performance on this. I can't help but feel so much sadness for this strung out girl when he sings this so straightforward in the second verse: "Jane says I'm going away to Spain when I get my money saved gonna start tomorrow I'm gonna kick tomorrow I'm gonna kick tomorrow" I've never had any serious drug problems in my life but I can imagine this is what it is like- looking at yourself and in this constant cycle of saying "I can fix this. Let's start tomorrow", and never "today". Every year of my life (since I was 26) I've made a playlist of every song that I was listening to and particularly enjoying, and this song has been a rare constant- with maybe 3 or 4 appearances across those 8 playlists. Timeless album cover. I remember seeing it in CD stores as a kid. I feel like this is a 3 but I want to give it a 4. I've been fickle before about rating albums on this list before and to me really only 2 songs stand out on this album (this record has 2/4 of their really great songs, with the other two- "Been Caught Stealin'" and "Stop!" on the album "Ritual de lo Habitual"). Is that enough to give it a 4? I feel like giving a 3 to the album that has these two monumental songs on it would be a disservice to my music tastes, so I think it's OK to give it a 4. Tough vote.

Histoire De Melody Nelson

Serge Gainsbourg

2/5

Man this really really wants you to listen on headphones and have some kind of experience with this guy ASMR'ing his wet voice directly into your brain stem. I'm impressed that they were able to get this sound in the 1970's but maybe it's just because the music is mixed so low that you have to pump the volume and then get assaulted by his romantic voice. I write on these reviews sometimes that you "have to be in the right context" to enjoy an album and it's never been more true than for this album. I don't know if maybe it's just because I have a little bit of a headache right now but I can't be bothered to decipher this album more- to read the translation to my language, or to see what is really going on in any other avenue. It's just a sound that I'm not interested in as a whole at the moment.

The Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks

3/5

The Kinks are a band I never really listened to for some reason. I think maybe it's because when I've wanted to hear this sort of sound I would have more easily just put on The Beatles. I can tell that there's depth here and more to just a single listen so I can't rate it too hard off of that, but at the same time I'm not grabbed by too much from this first full listen. I know there's more! There has to be. Unfortunately the record just sort of flew by. I'm giving it a 3 but predicting a 4 in the future.

Moss Side Story

Barry Adamson

3/5

Despite the intro being a little too long, I actually felt like I wanted this record to be more of a slow burn. The concept is really cool, and I felt like some of the action could have been more of a climactic piece itself, instead of having moments of excitement and moments of lull. I love the subtext on the album cover. It actually made me excited to listen and gave me just enough information to want to hear the album full through and to learn more about the premise. This was cool! Execution could have been better overall but I enjoyed this.

Face to Face

The Kinks

3/5

I need this album to appear on this list in the Spring. I need to be driving next to a river with the windows rolled down, inviting a crisp sixty three degree day and the seat warmers keeping my behind warm, while this is coming through my speakers. Right now, my feet are freezing. I'm stationary and there's not a lot of pretty things around me; just a grey sky outside of the window I'm facing and a 50/50 chance for snow. Hearing "Dandy" in this context is like pushing myself to eat a steaming hot bowl of soup on a tepid summer day. It's just two things that are nice when separate but together is a dilution of the quality of both things. Instead of that Spring day, it's New Years Day. I went to bed at four AM and while I didn't drink much, I feel hungover because of the distorted sleep I got. These songs don't deserve this- they deserve a cheery setting where the listener can bop their head and tap their toes and hum what they know. Outside of this experience, I am enjoying this album more than the last Kinks album, which showed up only a few album's ago on this list. I can tell there's a lot of thought that is going into these songs and I speculate that specifically there is a lot of thought about making these songs stand out on their own and not just be born from templates. I appreciate that. How about that thunder sound effect on "Rainy Day in June"? It's such a bad sample, but I can imagine the difficulty of capturing that sound back in the 1960's.

Foxbase Alpha

Saint Etienne

3/5

"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" is a really cool track. The drum sample is reminiscent of "new jack swing" in the 1990's, and the vocals are like an indie pop flavor that sits really well on top of the upright piano and synths underneath. There's a nice mix of songs on this album. Sometimes it hurts the straight-listen-through vibe though. Like "Carnt Sleep" into "Girl VII" is two really different energies between eight minutes of music. Makes it hard to put the album on and then just jam away.

If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears

The Mamas & The Papas

4/5

I love the sound of this band, I always remember them as sounding more cinematic than the standard fare 1960's pop music that was out there. Like the way the first chorus of "Monday, Monday" comes in- it doesn't start on the downbeat of a measure, it's just some perfectly early pick up note that makes the chorus super memorable. It feels slow but in a good way. It feels more organic and less produced, like someone said "let's make the chorus like this because it sounds good", instead of "let's make the chorus like this because it's nice to sing it like this". "Do You Wanna Dance" is a nice version but I think the best is the Beach Boy's boppin version. If you're asking me to dance you better be playing for me some music to bop to. I don't know if maybe this was the version that made the song popular though. "California Dreamin'" is another example of a cinematic sound for me. Maybe because I think I heard it in movies and TV shows and commercials when I was growing up but there's some special quality to it. It's a nice album. I think it's one of my mom's favorite bands so there's no surprise that I like it so much.

The Genius Of Ray Charles

Ray Charles

4/5

This is a solid classic album. Spotify play counts (if they are good for anything) are surprisingly low though? Of course to further prove that Spotify play counts don't mean much, I think one of my favorite tracks on this was "Tell Me You'll Wait For Me", which had the lowest playcount by over 50% fewer plays than any other song. It's a slow, lumbering love song. The final 4 songs of this album are really amazing. I'm so glad I didn't breeze through this album because this is one of the better ending albums I've heard in a while.

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

The Incredible String Band

2/5

It's kind of experimental and interesting at times but at the core of it's sound is a sound that doesn't really jive with me. I don't love the singer's tone or delivery at all. I'm really finding this to be a pretty annoying record to listen to. I feel like I tend to find most if not all music valuable to some extent and I can find some kind of beauty in it but I just find this to be erratic, directionless, and at times a chore to listen to.

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators

3/5

Aight another psychedelic classic rock album. The "electric jug" is cool.. I never heard of that before this. To me it has a little bit of a tabla sort of sound, with a limited amount of default timbres that it can produce but there's a lot of flexibility in adjusting those few sounds. I like the second track a bit actually "Roller Coaster". Cool energy in it and I like how the instruments move through the song with some of them maintaining the base elements of the song and kind of slithering in and out. I ended up not disliking this one as much as I thought I was going to. 3/5!

Different Class

Pulp

3/5

I like the sound of this from the start. The singer reminds me of Britt Daniel from Spoon (while obviously coming much before Spoon), and I love that band. The actual instrumentals behind the vocals are great too, it's dynamic, with great energy and cool ideas. I specifically love their use of dominant chords; it sounds like they are constantly shifting you forward into a new measure without making you sit around and wait too long to see what comes next. You're in THEIR car. I'm hearing a lot of my favorite indie rock bands in this, like the aforementioned Spoon, and also Okkervil River. I wouldn't be surprised if they were fans of this band. I feel like I could be a fan of this band and I will definitely be giving more listens.

Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets

3/5

You really can't mention this record without talking about Nirvana and their unplugged performance, right? It's really the thing that made this band get some notoriety. There's a part of me that loves pop music and loves super over produced music that you see all over the world today, that listens to this record and thinks "man it's so sloppy and loose and at times bland". And then there's the rebellious, anti-pop, younger brother, underdog in me is like "i love this! It's rough around the edges and it's got emotion!". This makes it hard for me to rate. Of course I love tracks that Nirvana covered, "Plateau", "Oh Me", and "Lake of Fire", because I grew up listening to the unplugged album so much. It's like listening to another band cover songs from a band that I love and know really well, I can't help but enjoy them! I'm landing around a 3/5 for this. Could be a 4/5 with more listens but at first try it doesn't blow me away enough to be that high up.

Strange Cargo III

William Orbit

3/5

Went into this blind and had no idea what to expect from the album cover. I loved when the drums came in on the first track. This record has a lot of ingredients of music that I like and particularly music that I have listening to lately. Electronic sounds with repetitive drum loops, synths, and some organic sounds scattered through. Unfortunately all of these combined don't necessarily make a good dish, you still need to prepare everything correctly. It just ended up being a little bit too straightforward for me.

The Contino Sessions

Death In Vegas

3/5

This was an enjoyable listen. I feel like there was a back-and-forth of good song, OK song, good song, OK song for a bit though. I think I zoned out while listening to most of this album but it was a positive experience as the music definitely lends itself to be listened to like that. Cool album cover too.

Shalimar

Rahul Dev Burman

3/5

This was a cool listen. Indian 1970's cop drama noir jazz rock? Hell yea. Really enjoyed this. Will listen more!

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

50 Cent

4/5

I love that this album is here. When I think of 2000's rap, I think of 50 Cent maybe more than any other rapper (okay maybe Eminem). I really like 50's flow on this album. "Patiently Waiting" is a good example of this; he takes his time and slithers around the instrumental, which itself has this same snakelike slow movement to it. Great beats too, it's so easy to listen to. Like every facet is inviting- the lyrics, the flow, the beats, the production is super tight. Nothing stands out that makes you want to say "I like everything except for X". It's all good. I think this is close to being a modern classic. Great rap album cover without overdoing it (see most 90's rap album covers). It's hard. I think I heard once that 50 Cent would be broke if it wasn't for his investments in vitamin water. Little pop-up video for you there.

American Pie

Don McLean

3/5

"American Pie" is really the track here, but growing up and playing guitar, I constantly came across suggestions that every guitarist should learn "Vincent" at some point in their lives. "American Pie" is great, "Vincent" is beautiful. I don't think too many of the other tracks stand close to those two though, which makes it hard to rate too high even though those two are so great. There are a few other standouts, like "Empty Chairs" and "Everybody Loves Me, Baby", and I do like the storytelling lyrics. Sometimes it feels like they get a little too literal sometimes, where everything being described is exactly what it is, and there's moments where it's like "oh here's a sad lyric so it has to have a minor chord underneath it". I always think that's kind of corny.

Bluesbreakers

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

2/5

It's bluesy classic rock! Sounds pretty good. Nothing bad about it. Reminds me of Cream. I love Cream, and I'm not sure if any blues / classic rock outfits come close to them. I'm giving this a 2 because of the context of this 1001 list. It's not bad songs, it's just not really blowing me away. It only takes a few listens of Clapton to pick him out on songs. Not that it's a bad thing, but I had an expectation and received it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Kala

M.I.A.

4/5

Yea! Oddly enough I've been listening to a lot of M.I.A. in the past year. I think that this album was one that we listened to a lot in college, and it brings back a lot of great partying memories. Although I think specifically this was the sort of album we would put on while pre-gaming for a party. The thing that stands out to me the most with this record and M.I.A. in general is that there's almost no limit to the IDEAS. Her songs are packed with cool ideas all across the board- songwriting ideas, arrangement ideas, production ideas.. it goes on. She's not afraid to try things, and it's a part of her music that really elevates the experience. "Paper Planes" is a great example of this. Those SFX in the chorus are SO well known and for good reason! They add this extra catchiness that makes you want to make all of the sounds yourself as you sing along. It's not unique to her, but the execution is immaculate. "Bird Flu" is a good example too. There's this bass synthy sound that almost sounds like a huge albatross of a bird throwing up. How funny is that? Also, all of those marching band drums? Come on. How about the intro to "Boyz" with that tempo change in the first 20 seconds? So impressively cool to say to the listener "I'm setting you up for this kind of straightforward 1 and 3 beat. Oh wait no I'm not here is this funky new swinging sea saw beat that disagrees with that first beat".

Live At The Witch Trials

The Fall

3/5

The instrumental work has a cool loose modern "yea whatever" vibe going on, and the vocals fit specifically into the new wave sound which was the rage at the time. Overall I think it was a pretty good listen. I liked the mood and compositions, and felt like the only downside was that there really weren't many songs that stood out to me as really memorable. I could live with this not being on this list. I feel like this act is a favorite of the creator of 1001.

Follow The Leader

Korn

4/5

Just seeing this album cover brings back a lot of great memories from my youth. To an extent I can thank this record for being the one that made me really start to get more into music in a serious way. Funny enough to think back to this and realize it's a Korn album as I don't really listen to them anymore and find a majority of their music to not be really good besides this early stuff. I grew up listening to music that I still like (thanks mom!), like The Beach Boys, Doo Wop, The Beatles, and from there I went to listening to grunge on the radio in the mid 1990's and loving it, and from there I went to buying my own first albums - Ride the Lightning by Metallica, and Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park. All through this time my interest as a music listener was building and building, but this album was the one where my brother and I bought it and it took us to a new fascination level. I have really vivid memories of watching TRL after school and waiting to see what pop music videos were going to be fighting "Freak on a Leash" or "Got the Life" for the #1 spot. When Korn would win I would sit and think "great! We beat the popular kids today". Even more vivid for me was listening to this album and playing videogames with my brother- Everquest was our big one around this time. Many hours did we find ourselves in some dark dungeon with online friends and blasting some Korn to get ready for a boss fight. On to the music. It's great! It's so unique in so many ways, and the most memorable bands for me of all time are ones that did their own thing. Korn is heavy metal that grabs elements of other genres effortlessly- slap bass, beatbox rhythmic vocals, 7 string guitar riffs, 808's, evocative lyrics, interesting production techniques, super catchy hooks, and interesting compositions that never get boring. It's funny to think of those ingredients all being thrown together. I can't imagine it working. I think there's times where the music can sound... corny... but I think that they do a good job of not caring about that and making music that they wanted to hear. Korn has kind of permeated and lingered throughout my life in funny ways. My microwave hums a note (i think a Bb) that is final note of the chorus melody of "Freak on a Leash", and if I'm heating something up and not looking at my phone, you can be damn sure I'll be next to it and singing a duet "sometimes I cannot take this place, sometimes it's my life I can't taste". Some day I'll find a good lyric to change that to, like "sometimes I don't like microwaving food, in these times it's my food I can't taste". How great is the backwards R? KoЯn KoЯn KoЯn KoЯn KoЯn For me this is a very biased and strong 4/5. This is probably a top 10 album of my youth, and I'm surprised that the production still really holds up. Unfortunately some of the lyrics don't (there's some rough ones in there), but it still does something for me all of these years later.

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

5/5

I was reeeaaallly blown away by Kendrick Lamar the first time I gave him a good listen. I had heard some tracks from "good kid maad city" in passing but it wasn't until this album that I sat and give him a listen and man did it blow me away. I kind of felt like at the time for me personally there was a dearth of good rap for years, even though I know that wasn't the case. I was just behind on acts. I was late on Mac Miller and MF DOOM and Death Grips and RTJ. I liked Kanye and would listen but he was never my favorite. I loved J Dilla and Nujabes but they were different. The last time I was hard into a rapper was The Game, and "The Documentary" came out in 2005- ten years prior to "To Pimp A Butterfly". I had a ten year gap of minimal rap! Then this comes out and I can't get "King Kunta" or "Alright" out of my head. I'm driving to work and pumping myself up and singing "WE GON BE ALRIGHT". I'm walking around my apartment complex to get my mail and i'm singing "Now I run the game got the whole world talkin King Kunta" to a cadence that matches my footsteps. I am forever impressed by his rhythmic modulation and metric subdivisions. On "For Free?”, it’s highlighted so well (and smooth!) as the accents change when he gets to the lyrics: "Matter of fact, see our friendship based on business Pension, more pension, you're pinchin my percents It's been relentless, fuck forgiveness, fuck your feelings" "Fuck your sources, all distortion, if you fuck it's more abortion More divorce courts and portion" This free jazzy rhythmic improv style flow is so impressively fresh and new feeling. I mean it's an element of music that's been done before but here he is taking this concept and bringing it to a genre that seldom hears something like this. I love it! And it's definitely not easy to incorporate these sounds into a rap song and not sound "weird" or "off". That's something that I think must be incredibly difficult in rap- to explore ideas and push boundaries while not upsetting the conventions. There's just so much posturing and issues / importance centering around personal image in the rap game and once you get a negative label I’m sure it’s near impossible to shake off. You have to make the risk worth it. I can't believe that "For Free?" is #14 out of 16 in play counts on this record (as per Spotify). This is one of my favorite rap songs ever. Possibly a top 100 song of all time for me. His flow is just one of the important parts. His voice is cool. It's silky. It's smooth. It's scathing. In the middle of "Institutionalized" he sounds like Snoop Dogg (right before a Snoop feature on the same track lol). Then two songs later he is cry-singing on "u". His lyrics are the third part of the equation. They are a social commentary. They are personal. They are intimate. They are funny as hell! Outside of pulling from jazz, he also pulls from classical music. Somehow he uses motifs as well (and I suspect leitmotif, (of Richard Wagner fame) but I need to do a deeper look at the lyrics and people he is talking about to get a fuller understanding). An example of this is in Track 1, "Wesley's Theory", just prior to the gangsta rap west coast 90's high pitched synth callback: "What you want you? A house or a car? Forty acres and a mule, a piano, a guitar? Anythin', see, my name is Uncle Sam, I'm your dog Motherfucker, you can live at the mall" and then again on "Alright": "What you want you, a house? You, a car? Forty acres and a mule? A piano, a guitar? Anything, see my name is Lucy, I'm your dog Motherfucker, you can live at the mall" Also the big lyrical section that pervades throughout and evolves - the one that starts at the end of "King Kunta", "I remember you was conflicted Misusing your influence" and then the lyric further develops at the start of "These Walls" Sometimes I did the same" and then the lyric further develops at the end of "These Walls" "Abusing my power full of resentment Resentment that turned into a deep depression Finding myself screaming in a hotel room" and then further developed at the end of "Alright": "I didn't want to self-destruct The evils of Lucy was all around me So I went running for answers" and then further developed at the end of "For Sale?": "until I came home." and then on "Hood Politics": "but that didn't stop survivor's guilt going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes i earned or maybe how A1 my foundation was. But while my loved ones was fighting a continuous war back in the city I was entering in a new one." Then we get the final verses from the final track in the album "Mortal Man": "A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned The word was respect Just because you wore a different gang color than mine's Doesn't mean I can't respect you as a black man Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us But I don't know, I'm no mortal man, maybe I'm just another nigga" Interesting stuff right? It's obvious that it is a conversation that he wanted with Tupac with the spliced back and forth that they have at the end of the album. I assume he is a hero of Kendrick's, and someone who went through similar life circumstances, only to end up with the same potential problem- not maximizing what you are doing for the world with your fame. I see this final conversation as maybe a realization of a dream that Kendrick had, because obviously it couldn’t have actually happened, with Tupac dying when Kendrick was only 9. There’s something sad about how this whole album plays out with him writing this poem (even though he says “it ain’t really a poem”) and the conclusion of it maybe being some kind of final magical event that summons Tupac for him to have the conversation, but only for it to come and go and leave Kendrick with wanting to say more… or wanting more advice. "What's your perspective on that? Pac? Pac? Pac?!" Maybe it’s a passing of the torch, and Tupac has gifted everything that he can. I really love the idea of this album evolving and growing as the poem does, and having the poem repeated over and over again. What a gift to hear this on studio speakers too. I've been listening to this on bad bluetooth headphones, or through bad car speakers for years and this is my first time bumpin this in my studio. Hell yea. The mix is even better. The spread is sick, and his voice cuts right through the center. The more I've dived into this album the more I've enjoyed it. It's not my favorite album of all time (despite my lengthy review here), but it's certainly an incredible one and potentially my favorite rap album of all time. I don't think I will ever get sick of listening to it, and I will never exhaust the seemingly endless amounts of quality moments in the record. Solid 5/5. Please rap game, make more albums like this.

Bummed

Happy Mondays

3/5

This was an alright listen. I didn't love it but I didn't dislike it. Kind of right in the middle. I do like the consistent "pushing-forward" kind of beats and slurred vocal parts. It's a pretty unique sound. I can imagine this was a cool record in the 1980's. right down the middle 3/5.

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

5/5

"Take Five" is the real legend here. It's the best selling jazz song of all time (which I find incredibly surprising when you think of more pop-jazz like Sinatra), and is probably one of the more accessible "odd" time signature pieces of all time- as it's in 5/4. This song deserves all of the praise. It's cool, it's interesting, it's fun, it can be played while you are getting ready to go out for a night of fun, it can be played while you are brushing your teeth and getting ready for the day to start. It can be played during a walk or on a drive. It fits everywhere! That first intro melody is one of the warmest invitations of any jazz song ever. For me, I didn't know that "Time Out" was all tracks with odd meters. Very cool. And a cool idea for a concept album!

Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

Lucinda Williams

3/5

If I was more of a fan of this genre, I could see this being a solid album that would have made the rounds for me. Unfortunately, this modern country folky sound isn't really one that I usually gravitate towards. I think there are some tracks on here that I would listen to again (the title track, Joy, and "Can't Let Go" are standouts), so I'll try it again though because I know there is more here. Not a bad record! I think with more listens it could move up for me.

Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Fiona Apple

5/5

Infinitely interesting, intriguing, and satisfying to listen to. Fiona Apple never shows up without a ton of incredible ideas and musical moments. There are many incredible tracks on this album "Fetch The Bolt Cutters" "Under The Table" "Shameika" "I Want You To Love Me" These first 4 are notably fantastic. My favorite part of Fiona Apple's music is her lyrics (even though her music is so good that this could probably also be a 5 star rating if it was only instrumental). I find her so good at having this scathing badass demeanor that comes across with really great imagery. "Kick me under the table all you want, I won't shut up." COME ON! That's so good. Some songwriters will write a song by starting with lyrics, and take a harmony and make a melody from those lyrics. The lyrics will sometimes change to fit an interesting rhythm or to match a rhyming scheme. Sometimes when I've done that, I've felt kind of bad for changing what my gut originally wanted. Or my heart or my brain- wherever it came from. But I'm an iterative person so I don't usually mind it. But Fiona Apple I feel like never makes these concessions. I could be wrong, but it feels like the lyrics are always there and never change for the sake of the music, and I find that very cool and fascinating. When I read her lyrics I don't see these concessions being made. If she needs an extra beat or to remove one for the sake of the lyrics, then fine! She does it! It's interesting. I like it. Easy 5/5!

Darkdancer

Les Rythmes Digitales

4/5

Wow I love this album cover, it somehow makes me feel nostalgic for this art style but also interestingly I don't know if this is specifically a style that is reminiscent of the 1990's. This came out in 99, so maybe I'm nostalgic for both the late 90s and early 2000's. I'm trying to decipher really what's going on in the image though, it looks like in the lower right there's some kind of music gear (like the knob with notches and greenish background on the right) that is split by him. Is he painting that cityscape behind him and cracking a fresh spray paint? Is it a soda? It kind of looks like a Pepsi right? The music is cool. The tones are in that fun space of not being dated but also specifically pulling for a nostalgic sound. It's kind of daft-punky to me at times. I love these funny lines like "music makes you lose control". I feel like this was something that was done in the 80's, like telling people to move on the dance floor. To me it's very dated but I think it's a constant lyrical theme that will be in music forever. It's definitely not popular at the moment though because it's not cool and it's not deep but I'd love to hear some indie rocker sad boy album where all the songs are about society and capitalism and then right in the middle of the album you hear something like "music makes you lose control". Despite the low play counts, I enjoyed this album!

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

Raekwon

3/5

I feel like I've heard a handful of Raekwon's music before but this is the first time I'm really paying attention. I have to admit it's not really connecting with me. I like a lot of different kinds of rap, from traditional old school rap to gangsta rap, to comedic rap, to experimental rap, but I feel like this didn't grab me as well as it should have. I know this is a well known and well liked release and and of course everyone knows Wu-Tang Clan aint nothing to fuck with, but I think I need to hear this album a few more times to fuck with it. For me I am always thinking of context and this one came in a little "thin?" i guess? Recently on this list we heard the maximalist "To Pimp a Butterfly" and it's a huge contrast to this, and I feel like is coloring my review. I will listen more though!

All Hope Is Gone

Slipknot

3/5

Ok ok ok hear me out- Slipknot deserves to be on this list and I think they deserve to be on this list twice, for their self titled album and for "Iowa". This album might not even be their 3rd best album (from my memory, I'm not a current listener really), but I will give it a good listen. "Psychosocial" was the single (i think?) from this album, and it has some cool moments. If I'm remembering correctly, this was when Corey Taylor actually started to sing more in Slipknot tracks- something that he kind of reserved more for his other band Stone Sour. Beyond that, it's not a bad song, and it has some moments that are pretty cool, like the breakdown. I think seeing this album is a let down for me on this list. Slipknot is corny as hell these days but when they came out, they were seen as a super fresh band that really did a lot for heavy metal. Seeing this album here makes me think that either this is the only time they will be on the list (which like I said, this is their 3rd best album AT BEST), or they will have 3 entries on this list which is probably too much. Please have their self titled or "Iowa" come up. This one isn't it. If this is the only time they are on the list- then RIP Joey Jordison. One of the best drummers of this era!

Tago Mago

Can

3/5

I'm glad the first track picked up because I was starting to zone out a few minutes in and getting a little bored. Cool second half / ending of the song though. Very cool transition from track 1 to 2. There's some interesting stuff going on here. I can tell this is an influential band to some more modern bands- like Spoon (I'm learning they named themselves after one of Can's songs of the same title), Radiohead, and some others that are hard for me to think of in the moment. It's an enjoyable record that I was hesitant about at first. Only took a minute or two for me to get it though and change my tune. 3/5!

Butterfly

Mariah Carey

3/5

Mariah Carey is one of the best pop/R&B singers of all time and I'm super glad she is finally on this list. From the minute you hear her backup scat-like harmonies in track 1, to her wildly impressive technical vocal runs, you KNOW that it's Mariah. IMO this isn't one of Mariah's best albums though as I think she's not really daring enough in it. I want more of her front and center stage voice when I hear her, and this one comes across as more of the sultry smooth voice. She truly has one of the best pop voices ever and I don't mean to hate on it. I just hope we get her Christmas album or "The Emancipation of Mimi" or "Daydream" on here.

The Bones Of What You Believe

CHVRCHES

3/5

Oh man "The Mother We Share" was such a college song for me and my friends. Listening now, 11 years post release and it's still a banger. The chorus is infectious, Lauren Mayberry's voice is so endearing and cute? and also soars above the synths under it. I melt a little bit when her Scottish accent cuts through like on the lyric "proud". The downside of the song is that it feels like compositionally it's just moving towards the chorus and whenever it's not the chorus, there's a gravitational pull that grabs everything and tugs it closer and closer to it. I don't really blame them, because that part is so good, but it feels like all of the non-chorus sections are super short, and they don't provide enough tension for me to crave a resolution. The rest of the album is definitely listenable and even enjoyable, but I can't help but feel a contrast between that song and the rest of the album. I kind of feel like the band knew this too as they put that song as track 1. I think part of my issue with the album is that there's not enough different sounds throughout. The synths are all pretty similar sounds/patches and when they change things up, it's usually to add space in the form of reverb, or to change a function like add an arpeggiator. I've had this idea in my head that I came across in a Pearl Jam interview years back where someone in the band said that after they record a song for an album, they tend to turn all of the knobs on the amps, change the amps, change the guitars, and move the mics around just as a reset. It makes it so that every song sounds different and has it's own sound, it's own sort of vibe. Since I heard that I tend to look for it in albums but it's a double edged sword because now I hear an album like this and I can't help but be a little let down that the songs are all TOO consistent and close. Which is unfortunate, because when writing with synths there is such a smorgasbord of instruments out there. Even by decade there are so many variations of the same instrument that have their own quirks and sounds and it's a super fun space to work with, but I don't hear it here. Here, I hear a "yea that synth worked well on tracks 1-6, let's load it up again for track 7". Regardless, it's a good album, but kind of middle of the road for this list (or more specifically, for my personal 1001 list).

Rain Dogs

Tom Waits

3/5

Love Tom Waits. Not super familiar with this album though. This record is pretty fun. It sounds cartoony at times, almost like "A Nightmare Before Christmas" (even though this predates that). Some of the songs are aimless in a beautiful way. Some of the songs stick with me in an unexpected way. Standouts for me are "Jockey Full of Bourbon", "Tango Till They're Sore", and "Downtown Train".

Fleet Foxes

5/5

This is really a great inclusion on this list, and gives me hope that there is a better grasp of modern bands that deserve to be on this list than I sometimes think and give the author(s) credit for. Fleet Foxes are one of the best modern indie bands, and this is probably the album they are known the most for. "White Winter Hymnal", like so many other songs, is memorably beautiful, unique, catchy, and exciting. I used to listen to this while commuting to college and starting to warm my voice up for choir class. "Ragged Wood" is a constant road trip sing/scream along song for my wife and I. Love this album cover, and I love these old medieval depictions. It's like a "Where's Waldo?" of "Where's someone getting murdered?" or "Where's the Lute player who is serenading someone else's wife?" They are all so jam packed with little stories. It's a modern classic that I think I will listen to forever. If I could be reborn and got to choose a singer to be molded after, I think I would take the tone of Robin Pecknold.

Court And Spark

Joni Mitchell

4/5

What great timing for Joni Mitchell to appear on this list (2nd time on our group's go-through), as she just performed at the Grammy's for the FIRST time in her 80 years on this planet. This album has all of the elements of a great album in this style. Evocative vocals, amazing instrumentation that really dances in and out with her voice, and her usual incredible lyrics. I love the structures in this album, they are often unconventional and keep me on my feet. This list / project has gotten me to listen to Joni Mitchell more and I'm very thankful! This was really an enjoyable listen. Beautiful album cover.

Hejira

Joni Mitchell

3/5

Joni Mitchell twice in a row. Love it. This one feels a little more modern than "Court and Spark", which was just before this one on the list. Probably because of the fretless bass on track 1. "Coyote" is a great starter. I particularly love the groove and unrelenting energy in it. I love this album cover and the technique- I think it's called a double exposure? It's cool and makes an artistic choice to not have so much of her black coat fill up the image. Overall great record. I think I like "Court and Spark" more, and it's hard to not compare when they are so close in proximity on this list.

Electric Music For The Mind And Body

Country Joe & The Fish

2/5

I listened to this and it went by so fast without anything standing out to me. I feel like there were songs that sounded nice and nothing stood out as bad to me, but the album finished and I couldn't recall much. Now I'm writing this review a day later and I'm playing back random moments and it's like I didn't listen to the album. During these replays I'm noticing the guitar being cool but not really unique, and a similar sentiment towards the singer. It's just OK to me. I don't think it needs to be on this list.

Talk Talk Talk

The Psychedelic Furs

3/5

Not a bad album but not one that I think I'll want to reach for. I'm not a fan of the singer's voice kind of right from the start. Luckily the band has a cool vibe and kept me interested. The mix sounds weird to me but oddly enough I like it. The horns are cool and there's like super low volume reed instruments interwoven with many many guitar parts. They all combine together and make for something cool sounding. It's cacophonous at times (like listen to "I Just Want to Sleep With You", man it's a cool sound but it is muddy!), but I think I like it because it's different. Lots of songs have a nice driving sound to it on the record which I liked!

Infected

The The

3/5

This is the second "The The" album on the list. I think it's alright, but before listening I was trying to remember what the band sounded like from the earlier album (it was only 100 albums prior to this one!) and I couldn't really recall which I think is a sign that I didn't really love it. I listened to this album and that idea kind of remained- that I can enjoy it and bop to it and find cool elements inside of the music, but I would probably not remember much overall. Funny enough I was browsing some random websites and I opened one at the same time that "Heartland" started to play, and the website I landed on had an autoplay video on it with this rocking bass part and I was thinking "wow, this is what I want to hear! I'm excited for this "The The" song!" and then I went to Spotify and realized that it wasn't the song playing, but instead it was a video on a website and was let down. But then I listened to "Heartland" and I liked it! The downside is that it's just a little corny to me. I don't know exactly what it is but maybe it's the singers voice? He has this affectation that's like "look at me! I'm interesting!". I think it's unfortunately a barrier for me to enjoy the album on a deeper level. Sometimes I can get past that, and sometimes I can't. 3/5. It's not a bad record. Not great enough for a 4/5 but not bad enough for a 2/5.

Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus

Spirit

3/5

Man this list really loves classic rock. I will say I loved the start of the album. The first track gives you that classic Led Zeppelin folky blues inspired at times chromatic acoustic guitar riff part with Led Zeppelin soft harmonized vocals, and then hits you with a huge Led Zeppelin stabby hard rock part. I'm sure both bands inspired eachother, as both Led Zeppelin and Spirit had 3 albums released in this 68-70 time period. Man does that start sound like a Zeppelin song though. The second half of the first track slaps though. Those horns and sliding guitar and drums smacking down are GREAT. One pet peeve that I have that doesn't come up often is when singers/bands highlight the lyric of a song that doesn't feel like the one that should be highlighted. It's totally subjective and I am aware of that, but "It's nature's way of telling you something's wrong" with the harmonized vocal riff runs for the length of a whole track was kind of bleh for me. It's a shame because the song is actually quite beautiful! But that lyric? It's clunky and doesn't feel very poetic or impressive to me. It feels cumbersome and a little awkward. I am left feeling entertained though, so I don't dislike the album. I think moreso It's just a collection of songs that are easy for me to find things that I don't like, but as a whole the record was actually a nice listen. It's a high 3 for me, but not quite enough for a 4/5.

No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (Live)

Motörhead

4/5

Motörhead definitely deserves a spot on this list, and I keep going back and forth in my head about whether or not if it HAS to be only 1 entry on the list, if a live album is the best representation. Motörhead was famously an amazing band live, with unending energy. I think I got to see them once in New Jersey at some point around 2008-2013 but I can't totally recall, which is a shame since Lemmy passed in 2015 and they apparently won't ever tour again under that name without him. Lemmy is amazing, I mean I think the first "meme" I ever heard in my life was from the movie Airheads when someone asks "Who would win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God? Trick question, Lemmy IS God!". That was funny silly shit that young headbangers would say to eachother as a rite of passage. A little bit of a secret handshake if you will. Do you know the answer to that question? Yea you're cool. Yea you can wear that Motörhead shirt and won't be told to take it off. All that being said, this album rocks. Motörhead has energy for days and is one of the most fun hard rock bands ever. It's amazing that you can still get melody and inflection and catchy hooks from Lemmy's grizzled ogre boom he called a voice. It's a strong 4/5 for me.

Opus Dei

Laibach

3/5

What an evocative album cover. I feel like this is something you would see on a Celtic Frost record or some kind of weird European black metally punky outfit. Very interesting sound. I really really enjoyed the guitar solo in the first song, it was chaotic and badass and still tasteful. Really a specific niche of guitar playing that I tend to really enjoy. Holy shit that chord change at 4:30 is AMAZING. WOW! And the vocals that hang over it all out of key is INCREDIBLE. I am blown away by the dissonance and the balls you have to have to start an album with this. My wife Gab had this quote upon hearing that: "it's committed unhinge". This was a surprising enjoy for me. It's been a while since I listened to some artsy avant garde music and this scratched that itch. Probably not something I will reach for but a nice change of pace.

Fromohio

fIREHOSE

3/5

Cool sound. 1980's/90's indie rock that sometimes has a surfer feel to it, sometimes a little bit of "Blister in the Sun", and sometimes even a little Red Hot Chili Peppers. I really like the looseness to it. This was a fun listen! I think if I was a kid and found this band I would have added them to my collection of "bands that are cool". I can definitely sit and enjoy this and have a good time. Sweet indie album cover.

Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche

Koffi Olomide

3/5

I'm always super interested in rhythms in cultures outside of ones that I grew up with. Like South American, Indian, Eastern European, and African rhythms always sound so fun, interesting, and exciting to me. Right from the start this album has such an energetic rhythmic feel to it that I can't help but bop around in my chair while I'm sitting here at 7:55am on a Thursday morning. It's got me moving on a Thursday morning! I love the second track's intro with the super cheesy 1980's synth. Wow is that a crazy change of pace from the very analog / authentic sound of the first track. The SFX really stand out on this album too. Track 1 had a ringing phone and subsequent phone call, track 2 has glass breaking (? I need to figure out the context for this) and footsteps. I used to work with a lot of amazing African people. The job was really difficult but my coworkers made the day to day tolerable and dare I say enjoyable at times. The best times at that job were when I had down time and we were able to hang out and share cultural norms, like comparing the politics of Liberia to the US, and finding commonalities between Ghanaian and American food. These people were really lovely, loved to share, and loved to laugh (Live, Love, Laugh am i right). This album brought me back to that!

Welcome To The Pleasuredome

Frankie Goes To Hollywood

3/5

This album is way bigger and epic than I thought it would be. I've heard parts of "Relax" hundreds of times throughout my life- in commercials, in 1980's era callback videogames (like Grand Theft Auto: Vice city), and in movies too, I think. But I had only heard parts of the song, and never really paid attention to the whole thing. It's got so much more going on and so many exciting elements that I never would have guessed were present after only knowing the super catchy chorus. Unfortunately, beyond that there's not so much I like. "Born to Run" was really a shock, and I didn't even process it as possibly being a cover after reading the title. It only took about two chords to realize what was going on, and I'm not really impressed by it. It's way too close to the original, without anything added, and notably less energy (specifically in the vocals). I just think it doesn't really fit. I like the album cover. It's like a flamboyant 1980's Guernica that's easier to read. This is also a downside though, as I can stare at Guernica for a while and try to decipher it and this is one big interesting part of the experience, and looking at this album cover is devoid of that idea of being interesting beyond a first or second glance. I don't love the record, but I don't hate it. It's like a 2.8 and I'm feeling generous so I'm rounding up.

Duck Rock

Malcolm McLaren

3/5

This was a great listen. Thoroughly enjoyed and I'm more impressed after reading the backstory of the album and the artist and how influential this record was. I don't know if I would often reach to put this album on but I'm left impressed and happy after hearing it here for the first time. Will make myself put it on in the future!

The White Room

The KLF

3/5

This was a trippy listen. I felt like I was watching a movie from the late 80s that was turning into a movie from the 90s but at the same time the movie never arrived. This was like the hype up intro music that gives you a little bit of the setting and plot but never pauses to breathe and start the meat of the movie. That's not to say that it's bad. In fact, I really enjoyed this. "Build a Fire" is literally the theme from Twin Peaks, right? Or maybe slightly different and with a touch of Ennio Morricone in there? It's really jam packed. Every 30 seconds I feel like I'm smacked by some new sound or idea or production change that I can't really sit and take it in. I like that, but at times it's a bit much. It feels like it hurts the cohesion of the album. The switch from "Build a Fire" to "The White Room" is such a drastic change. Language change, vocalist tone change, instrumental changes, tempo and feel change, oh here's some spoken word but only for 30 seconds. It's cool but definitely too eclectic for what I'm feeling. It might look like I'm hating but I'm not, and I think this could be a sleeper pick for an album that I end up really loving and listening to throughout my life. With that being said, I don't feel right giving this a 4, and I definitely don't feel right giving it a 2.

Time Out Of Mind

Bob Dylan

4/5

I think I mentioned it here before on this list on Adele's "19", but I have always been enamored with "Make You Feel My Love". One of my favorite songs of all time. Something I don't mention too much is that I've never been a deep listener of Bob Dylan's music. It feels weird to say that as a singer songwriter myself but I didn't grow up with his music and throughout my life I wasn't around a lot of people who recommended him to me (well except for my 1001 albums rating partner..). That doesn't mean I don't like him though, I just unfortunately have only heard maybe like a third of his songs. To me, this album sounds a little more electric, modern, and atmospheric for him and conventionally what I know his sound to be. His voice on the intro track feels more strained (than usual!), and the instruments feel more like layers and textures here, where most of the Dylan music that I've heard has the instruments playing the important harmonic "B" voice to his vocals as the "A". They work together, they work in tandem. Here, they are hanging around behind him. Naturally after all of this analysis, the following songs go right back to a more typical Bob Dylan sound hahah. This was a great listen.

Step In The Arena

Gang Starr

4/5

I really enjoy this era of rap. It reminds me of the exciting 1990's NYC / east coast scene and some really listenable acts from that time and place like Nas and Big L. The sound to me feels like there's no rush. There's no pretentious vocals, the lyrics aren't over the top, and everything approachable. I really love the laid back beats. It just feels real and authentic. Yesterday my wife took off from work randomly and we decided to spend a day at the beach, just hopping around a few restaurants and bars in the middle of February on a misty and cold day. It was probably the only time that I had been at Asbury Park and saw less than 50 people on the beach / boardwalk, and our last stop was a bar that was playing some early 1990's rap. I was listening and thought to myself a few times "this has to be Big L". I mentioned it to my wife, then I looked up the lyrics and the artist was "Gang Starr", which I didn't recognize! Funny now to wake up and see this is the 1001 album of the day.

Psychocandy

The Jesus And Mary Chain

3/5

This band has always been on the bubble for me, I've heard the name of the band so many times throughout my life but never stopped to listen. I like the sound overall. It's 1980's in the reverb and space, but it's 1990's in the distortion and grungey, loose performances. Both of which combine together to make a cool sound, and one that I think I would naturally gravitate towards. I enjoyed the listen. I'm certain I'll check out more releases from the band. It's not a super memorable one for me though, as I think the production, tones, and performances are way more interesting than the compositions. Unfortunately for them it's usually music that has better compositions that tend to stick around for me.

At Newport 1960

Muddy Waters

4/5

My goodness look at that beautiful archtop guitar on the album cover. Gorgeous. The toughest thing for me to get over with blues is the repetitiveness and the proclivity to use the same chord progressions, the same stingers, the same turnarounds, and the same licks. I hate having this opinion because blues is cool and the idea of blues is always something that I feel like personally resonates with my soul. But I can't help it! I sometimes feel like Blues has a limited vocabulary, or better said only makes words using 10 or 11 letters of the alphabet, instead of the full 26. They certainly make good use of these 10 or 11, but man is it just a very limited approach. Take those 10 or 11 and recreate them over so many years without a lot of experimenting and evolution, and you just get a little.. frustrated? Fortunately I feel less so when listening to these older records and artists. So much of blues was about "making do" but making it will feeling, and these early artists are just so authentic when they are making do and singing about their problems. One of my old jobs had an authentic Newport Jazz Fest poster hanging nonchalantly on a wall in an administrative building. I remember walking down the hallway with some higher up person and I said "Hey you know this is a really nice poster right? It might even be worth some money." and he was like "really? It's mine, I hung it up, I found it in my attic [my memory is failing here] and my wife didn't want me to hang it in the house.". Then, in some harsh but serendipitous way, a few days later some angry kid came through the administrative building and trashed the place- ripping the poster off the wall and in pieces. I should have stopped him there and asked him if I could have had it. Ok enough storytelling. This album is a great listen. I think from this type of blues, it doesn't often get much better than Muddy Waters. And for me, Delta Blues is probably my favorite sub genre and he's who I think of when I think of it.

Live At Leeds

The Who

4/5

It's good, it's got a lot of good energy. Fun listen. Keith Moon is the real star of this one, it's like he was just this powerhouse of force behind the kit and it makes the energy go through the roof!

Teenage Head

Flamin' Groovies

2/5

Pretty cool sound. I wasn't expecting the Beatles-y sounding tracks (like "Have You Seen My Baby?") or the twangy folk country tracks (like "City Lights") or the Johnny Cash / Elvis tracks (like "Evil Hearted Ada") or the Neil Young tracks (like "Whiskey Woman") or the Rolling Stones tracks (like "Walkin' the Dog"). The more I listen the more I think this is like a medley album that pays homage to these artists, and the more I think about it the more I think it's not a great album. I feel like there's such a lack of consistency between the tracks that if I avert my attention away from the music for a few minutes, my subconscious brain would probably process this as a local dad rock band (nothing against dad rock!) that is trying to cover other famous artists and genre hops to the best of their ability. Then when it gets to the cover of "That'll Be the Day" all I can think of is "yea this is the point in the local VFW town BBQ where the band comprised of 60+ year old Knights of Columbus members starts playing covers- where every member plays the songs to the "t", everyone in the band sings, and there's no added substance or fun or energy added. Doing a deeper dive into the subgenre's of this list (curated by Spotify, not by me), we're currently at 526 albums generated, and the top subgenre is Rock with 211 entries, then Classic Rock with 125. In a list that is utterly filled with blues rock / classic rock, I really don't think this addition is worth it. Does this compare to The Who, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Creedence, Pink Floyd, etc etc.? No, and it's not even close. I want to give it a 1 but I feel like it's a 1.8 for me which is way too high for a 1.

The Only Ones

3/5

Fun punk rockish album that is surprisingly dynamic. The softer moments tended to be the ones that I enjoyed even more. I hear a bit of Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls in here. 3/5. Not super memorable for me, but probably mostly because this proto punk sound is pretty prevalent on the list.

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

4/5

I just saw an interview where someone mentioned that they loved Jeff Lynne and they love ELO, and I said to myself "I should listen to ELO, I never really have", and here we are! I can tell right from the start that this is going to be an album that I will enjoy. I can also tell from a few songs in that these are songs I've definitely heard throughout my life but never really put much thought to see who it was, and I think that is a reason why maybe they've never reached a "must listen" status on my personal lists. To me, many of these songs are good-to-great, but many of them lack the big huge memorable moments or elements that many of the best classic rock bands had. It's like everything is good in these songs, there aren't any weak spots. But there's not often some huge standout thing or moment. I think some of this is because of Jeff Lynne's vocals. He's definitely an amazing musician and producer and a great singer but I'm not hearing that his voice has the range to take songs to the next level. Put a real rockin or theatrical singer in this band and these songs would be in that next level. With him here they sound just a little bit "soft". I'm being a little harsh because this is a legendary band, and I'm only being so stringent because I think this is going to be a high rating and when it comes to 4's and 5's on this list then they should really check all of the boxes. Each song is enjoyable, which is awesome. I can't wait for the next time I have a bad day so I can put this on and jam hard to it. I got a feeling this album would put up a good fight with a bad mood. As expected, the production is really a strong part of this album. I'm looking forward to hearing more. Great stuff for 1977. Incredibly inventive yet grounded in "good song making" conventions if that's a thing.

Chore of Enchantment

Giant Sand

2/5

This was just OK for me. I didn't love the singers voice, it felt kind of "put on". I also wanted so many of the songs to get somewhere, and they seldom did. Ultimately it's pretty forgettable for me.

Countdown To Ecstasy

Steely Dan

5/5

Just some great bops in this album. I love the record starting with a energetic buddhist pop rock track. Great lyrics in this one with a few short but complex fun plays on Buddhism / Capitalism / Materialism. It's got so many layers in each track, so many tempo changes, so many instrument introductions that end up just lingering for a short second and then leaving, so many delicately placed musical elements, and yet they all sound perfect and meticulous. It feels like there's no loose ends, it just all gels and feels great. I don't often rate things as a 5 here unless it's truly one of the best albums of all time, and in a totally biased but unintentional way I find that I don't rate 5's for albums that are my first listen through via this list. But this album doesn't do anything wrong enough for it to be anything lower than a 5. It's enjoyable from start to finish and I want to listen more after I'm done.

Loveless

My Bloody Valentine

4/5

Dang this is like THE shoegaze band / record. It's funny listening to this album after not hearing it for years and realizing how thin the mix actually is. The drums really have no punch or life in them. I wonder if that's because it usually works against you in music production when you overload a track with sounds and layers? Amazing album cover. It's so zoomed in yet you can get a lot of emotion from it, which I really like. If you put this album cover in a field that is hundreds and hundreds of feet away I would see the pink and say "oh yea that's Loveless". It's a great listen and no doubt super influential. For me, it's short of a 5. It's really hard to rate for me because if it came out today, it wouldn't be that wildly different and experimental and interesting enough for me to love it and listen to it all the time. But of course, would this album be able to be released today if this type of album didn't come out way back in 1991? Without getting into time travel and alternate universes, I wonder if another band would have taken up the reigns of this much loved sub genre of music? Or would it be different? Or not yet as explored? It's a modern classic, and I should like it more than I do.

Larks' Tongues In Aspic

King Crimson

4/5

I gave "In the Court of the Crimson King" a 5 out of 5. This one doesn't feel as monumental as that record, but it still maintains a lot of the cool composition techniques and styles. One down side about this one is that they do often fall into the realm of prog that I don't like, where a song will sound interesting and exciting but then it will go overboard and go "prog for the sake of being prog", instead of "prog for the sake of making the song better". Sometimes when I listen to proggy music i can imagine there's a proggy techy guitarist that is like a caged up animal that is jumping around in his cage and screaming and barking and shredding and the rest of the bandmates are like "crap! He's going wild in there, we gotta let the prog out... please, let the prog out!" and then they unlock the cage door and it explodes into prog on more prog. I think it's a really good album. It's not quite a 5. It's a high 3 for me, like a 3.8. Enough to round up to a 4.

Felt Mountain

Goldfrapp

3/5

Really cool sound. I love the noir setting that it creates and the instrumentation is so intriguing. That space guitar solo on the first track is really a statement. What it's saying I'm not sure yet but I know it's introducing me to an experience that I need to pay attention to. I was glad when that continued throughout the album. Harmonica's and spaghetti western type thin guitars on track 2, and then a güiro and strings on track 3. You don't really know what to expect. I definitely hear Portishead influence in here too, which is great. I don't know if it's quite a 4, but I will listen more! Enjoyed this one.

Tank Battles

Dagmar Krause

2/5

Very interesting listen. It feels theatrical and meant for a stage but also experimental and in a way I think "unafraid"? I am having a relatively good time listening but I don't know if I like it per se. I feel like I have to follow along so closely to really get enjoyment out of it. I need to have the lyrics on the screen in front of me, and I need to be doing nothing else, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It also obviously feels like it is missing a visual performance to go along with it.

Heroes to Zeros

The Beta Band

3/5

I wasn't sure what to expect based on my initial judgement of the album cover and band name (20 years later from this release and I don't think any band of guys could call themselves "The Beta Band" as the word "beta" has become an insult in the US machismo landscape), but I'm enjoying it. I think they have some pretty cool ideas- specifically in the instrumentation. Auto-wah on bass guitar and loose and creative drumbeats on track 2, the meditative acoustic guitar with repetitive ostinato vocals on track 3, and then a funk synth laden track 4 that would even make Stevie Wonder proud. It's cool stuff, then some crazy good crunchy dissonances on track 5. Every song has something new to add to their musical setting. I'm actually really impressed by the musicality of the group. The downsides of the record are twofold: the vocalist(s) has a pretty straightforward and kind of forgettable voice. It's like he's just hanging in the back of the jam room while all of the musicians are jamming and riffing off of each other, and he's kind of singing just loud enough to be there but not really be heard. It sounds kind of amateurish... I remember growing up and playing in bands and there would always be a dude who would be like "I can't play any instruments but I can sing, can I be in the band?" "Yea! Come jam with us!" and then they show up and are afraid of hearing their own voice. I get a little bit of that from this even though this is obviously a professional band. I'm starting to put my finger on this record. It sounds like Ween but a more cohesive Ween. I knew the vocalist sounded familiar and that's the analog that I was looking for. "Out-Side" is beautiful and fun and inventive. It's criminal that this album has so few playcounts on Spotify. "Liquid Bird", what? What an intro. I love this shit. This is a 3.9 and if the singer gave a little more than it would easily be a 4 for me.

Black Metal

Venom

4/5

Wow wasn't expecting this at all. I love this record; it's one of my favorite metal albums of all time. I think one of my oldest "band shirts" is a shirt for this album. It's ragged as hell. The pedant in me wants to say technically the sound is more "blackened thrash" than straightforward black metal but Venom will always be known as an early black metal band and they deserve to be called whatever they want. They are true pioneers! Cronos (the singer) was always the highlight for me. He is so enthusiastic about heavy metal and his performances are always top notch. The lyrics are also always hysterical and corny in a good way. Despite a lot of people knowing me as a metal head, I've come to terms that I dislike most metal. I don't know if it's because it was a genre that I was so enmeshed with while growing up, but it's hard for me to not be an elitist about. I tend to judge a lot of metal by how catchy it is, and how lasting / memorable it is. If I listen to a track a few times and then a year later I can still recall the song, it's usually a good song. This album and first song I haven't heard in maybe over a decade and while listening to it during a walk outside I found myself singing every single lyric. That's pretty amazing! I understand that not everyone is going to rate this high, but I think it's true in my heart that this is a 4.

Kenza

Khaled

3/5

This slapped. I really sometimes get caught off guard by traditional non-American music set in modern productions / tones / songwriting techniques, and this one hit that. The concept is like taking something old and conventionally "dated" and reviving it while still respecting where it comes from. Sort of like how a band like "The Punch Brothers" do traditional bluegrass and folk music but will play a mandolin like it's a guitar in a Radiohead track. This album did that, and I enjoyed it. Cool album cover. It's nonchalant and yet makes you really think about the composition. Plus the graphic design and colors are awesome. Very happy with this one and will listen again.

Marcus Garvey

Burning Spear

2/5

The production is super crisp and a standout facet that I really enjoyed, but I'm so seldom blown away by a reggae album and this continues that. This is just my opinion, but if you think of music genres like "rock music uses around 10 different colors to paint rock pictures", or "blues music uses around 6 colors to paint blues pictures", I think of reggae as only using like 2 or 3 colors of paint. The things that define the sound of the genre end up limiting it too much. There's rarely any experimentation, or stretching or pushing of boundaries. If I read a description of an album here and it starts with "XYZ is the third album by reggae artist...", then that's it, I know what the sound will sound like, I know the slowest the songs will get, I know the fastest the songs will get, I know the chord variations that will be used, I have a good idea about the lyrical content. To me, that prediction and expectation just makes for kind of a bland experience. I'd be stupid to not admit that this could just be from me not hearing the right stuff. I mean, a band like Bad Brains exists, that combines early hardcore and reggae. That's sick! I'm not trying to be such a hater, but I want to be wowed. My quest will continue. In the meantime this is a 2 for me.

Freak Out!

The Mothers Of Invention

2/5

Quirky corny and cheesy in ways that I don't really want. I didn't really enjoy the other "The Mothers of Invention" album that was on this list and this one isn't really grabbing me either. There are a few moments that I like, like the doo-wop outtro in "Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder", but there just aren't enough moments like that for me to fully enjoy it. I went back and saw that I listed their other album a 1, and I think this is a 2 in that context. This one is simply more listenable, but still not something I really enjoy.

Happy Sad

Tim Buckley

3/5

Beautiful songs but kind forgettable as a whole. I really enjoyed "Buzzin' Fly", the composition was nice, the performance was full of emotion, and the instrumentation was super cool with the vibraphone(s) on top of the guitars. Six tracks feels a little short, and I found it hard personally to get involved with the two longer tracks. I kind of felt like it is a record that's meant to be put on and you sit down and listen to it while drinking some tea or something. You are supposed to put all or most of your attention on it, and if you do you will be rewarded. Track 3 is packed with these secretly haunting and beautiful parts that really shine but they also feel intentionally hidden and I don't know if that's what I wanted during this experience. The more I listen the more I think that there's a lot of this back and forth hiding going on. I liked it, it made me think. It just feels a little too wishy washy.

Low-Life

New Order

3/5

I really, really love their album "Brotherhood", "Bizarre Love Triangle" is one of my favorite songs of all time, but somehow I never listened to more of their stuff. This kind of instantly grabs me. The melody of the first track oddly enough sounds like a melody I would write (just similar intervals, not trying to toot my own horn or anything), so it's easy for me to like. I really enjoy the overall sound. Clean yet crunchy guitars, super solid 80's drum beats, and interesting compositions that maintain a catchy and listenable sound. For lack of a better term, there's a couple of duds on this album that keep it from being rated higher. A few songs just have mismatched energies; like track 3, there are synths and drums that are all over the place, but the vocals are pretty monotone and feel very separate from the rest of the music. I love this album cover. It's very much like "teenage musician who just downloaded adobe photoshop for the first time and is making an album cover"-core, but of course this predates that sort of style.

Brothers

The Black Keys

5/5

Wowowow yes. I remember hearing The Black Keys back when the HBO show "Hung" had "I'll Be Your Man" as the theme song. I loved that album and loved the albums that followed, but when this record came out it was a really incredible breakthrough into the next level for them. I love all of their albums, but I respect this one as being THE one. It's the one that blew them up into huuuuge stardom, and is absolutely jam packed with A+ 10/10 songs. It's almost like a greatest hits album, where at the start of every new song you find yourself saying something like "oh yea this song is on this album! Awesome!" "The Only One" is a beautiful little track that is reminiscent to the older albums. For me it particularly sounds like it could be on "Attack & Release". Outside of the monstrously huge hits, "Sinister Kid", "Ten Cent Pistol", and "Too Afraid To Love You" are favorites. Perfect artwork for an album that is really a statement. I'm confident that this will be looked back as one of the best rock albums of all time.

Tommy

The Who

4/5

I've never heard this full through and I'm glad that this is the album on a Friday because it's a commitment. I know this is super influential and was a revelation when it was released, but I can't help but feel like seeing the movie would help tell the story a bit easier. I'm often finding myself questioning the lyrics sometimes and thinking "is that really the words?" I'll plan to watch it at some point soon to get the experience. The downsides for this album come kind of early. "I have a feeling 21 is gonna be a good year" -- it doesn't really sound like The Who to me. It's daring to do this kind of record, but I'm someone who can be sometimes pretty easily be turned off by the music in musicals. They can feel kind of devoid of personal attachment, they can easily sound fake, over-acted, and inauthentic to me. Not saying that this sounds fake, but unfortunately I get a little bit of this feeling at times while I'm listening, like this is a stadium rock band that are practicing their diction to get everything perfect and precise and clean. When I hear "Sparks", I really start to get to wanting some kind of visual aid. To me this is like an action scene or a dance number. But because it's in this musical performance style, the walk down riffs with the orchestral percussion sounds phony. It sounds like a hired band pit band that is trying to make rock music by staring at sheet music and not once looking at each other. Oh and they are taping down the gain on their overdrive pedals to "3" so that they don't get "too crazy" with distortion. Rock bands don't have to always be rock, but when rock bands try to make rock it should rock, ya know? I do think there are times where the lyrics are straightforward and I can easily follow, which is appreciated, but it's not consistent throughout. I think this may be more because the concept is kind of out there though. It's ambitious, and I have to give extra credit for that. I feel like there are many musicians out there who want to make some kind of big operatic concept album at some point in their lives. I'm sure some don't, but I think there's something magical about a concept album where you can put on track 1 and get lost for an hour or two. Despite all of my reviewing, I found this an incredible listen.

Fire Of Love

The Gun Club

3/5

Fun little punk rocky album. Good energy. I liked track 1 "Sex Beat" a lot, despite it not really having a beat that I would find myself having sex to. Not terribly memorable I don't think, which is unfortunate, but maybe the only negative thing I have to say about this album. It's a fun listen, and I really like the singer's voice- it's like just interesting enough while still having a conventionally nice sound. I guess that's kind of a variable that I search for in music. The twangy guitar playing is super nice too. Sometimes it's Ramone-ish, and sometimes it's country western. This album has a lot of little moments like that that show that there's more under the hood here. How about the dynamics in track 2, "Preaching the Blues"? I love how it gets incredibly quiet for short moments. You don't ever really hear that sort of thing in today's volume wars. I dig the album cover; some parts surreal, some parts avant garde. Color use is great! It's not quite a 4 for me, but it's a high 3, like a 3.75.

War

U2

5/5

I'm a sucker for an underdog and the reason why I love U2 is because they were disliked and unnecessarily hated on for years and during all of this I was like "wait hold on maybe that means I would like them". I didn't grow up listening to them and I always thought Bono was a corndog but man do i LOVE some U2 these days, and this is probably my favorite album of theirs (close second would be The Joshua Tree perhaps?). It's funny to look back at when I disliked this band along with the rest of teenagers and people around me. South Park was making fun of Bono and they were the butt of a lot of jokes about cringey dad rock music. But since flipping that switch I feel like every time I listen I question how stupid my thinking was. An Irish rock band who don't have some fake tough guy personas but rather use their compositional chops and fame / presence to bring awareness to the travesties of the world around them and protest the things (people) that are causing them? What's not to like there from that idea without even hearing the music? Oh and the music fucking rips? U2 is definitely pop-rock. Maybe better defined as stadium pop-rock. But this album is more scathing than the previous ones. It has more edge to it (heh), and that's what personally draws me in. Despite this more scathing sound, it still bops. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" finds Bono singing about the state of the world around him: "Broken bottles under children's feet Bodies strewn across the dead end street But I won't heed the battle call It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall." And yet the song has this bop beat to it that if you turn your brain off for a minute you can dance up and down to. What a clash of ideas right? But it works and it works so well. It also such pretty moments in it (the beautiful pre-chorus "How long, how long must we sing this song"), that it makes the song stretch out further than just a regular old protest song. It seemingly does a better job at raising awareness because it's simply listenable and not just someone on a mic saying that everything around them is bad. It sounds like such a simple concept, but the execution is genius. It's like "hey listen to this nice piece of music. And by the way, now that I got you in the door, listen to some of these lyrics". The production on this record is stellar. Everything is raw, and yet everything fits and gels with itself. There's stand out moments, but every instrument shines at different times and there's never a competition. There's no unnecessary triple tracked guitars or overly compressed drums. There's added interesting producer bits and bobs; like the synthetic sounding reverbed strings in the intro of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". How jarring, yet beautiful are these? How jarring yet beautiful are Bono's wails? "New Years Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" are either top 50 or top 100 songs for me of all time. Amazing tracks that I get the chills when I listen to. One of the best album covers of all time. Cute kid with a fat lip putting his hands up like a prisoner. The U2 | WAR text is perfect.

Your New Favourite Band

The Hives

4/5

I'm really glad this band is making a comeback and is touring, even if they look a few years older and might not have the footwork from their younger days. When "Hate To Say I Told You So" came out, everyone wanted to be a rock and roller. I mean, "Is This It" by The Strokes came out 3 months before this record. This kind of music was HOT. I definitely have not heard most of these songs, which is a pleasant surprise. It's great! There's a lot of solid tracks on it, and even though they are kind of a little too popular for a true punk band, hearing some of their songs brings me back to playing shows with punk bands and sharing some of that raw energy. This happens the most with "Untutored Youth", "Mad Man", and "Here We Go Again". In fact, a lot of my "real punk" punk friends would have probably loved this album if I played it for them blind and told them it's from some band that no ones heard of yet.

Done By The Forces Of Nature

Jungle Brothers

3/5

Fun 80s/90s funky / new jack swingy hip hop. I've always liked this sound, and appreciated this era of hip hop that happened just before gangsta rap started to become so prevalent. I do really love gangsta rap, but this sound was so fun and light and loose and musical. It's like it had more intentional musicality and the voices were intended to mesh with the music more, as opposed to gangsta rap where the voice is the main instrument that stands on top of the beat / music. "What "U" Waitin' "4"" is a super fun quintessential 80's hip hop track. Cool album cover too.

Unhalfbricking

Fairport Convention

3/5

Nice pretty and beautiful folk sometimes rock album. It went by kind of fast for me without too many moments that were memorable but at the same time I would go back and listen to this and enjoy it. I liked "A Sailor's Life" and "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?". Can hear a little Janis Joplin in those ones.

Honky Tonk Heroes

Waylon Jennings

3/5

I've been feeling a country western phase coming into my own songwriting soon so this is a welcome change of pace on this list. Plus, Waylon Jennings is one of my brothers favorite artists and he's always telling me to put on a record so I'll gladly listen extra intently for him. I love how in the first track you get a tempo shift within in the first 2 minutes. It's unconventional, but it's fun and different. I can picture people hearing this for the first time and really grooving. You can tell the band has a ton of ideas. They can just pump out idea after idea and there's none of that "let's save that part for another song" bs. I'm appreciative. The production is really tight but there are some pretty fun and interesting volume choices, like how sometimes the bass and drums are super loud and the lead vocals are a bit low. It's like they knew this music was meant for dancing to. For me it's a high 3, but not quite a 4.

Here Are the Sonics

The Sonics

4/5

Growing up my mom had a great record player and her, my brother, and I would dance in the basement to some great doo wop and early rock and roll vinyls for hours on end. This wasn't one of those records, but "Do You Love Me" was one of the songs (I think probably the version by "The Contours") and I haven't heard that song in so long and this was a huge flashback for me to those times. This version is so great, although similar to The Contours version. I really enjoy the performances on here. It's way more rock and rock than I was expecting and the energy is super high and fun and youthful. That was a real highlight of this listening experience.

Good Old Boys

Randy Newman

3/5

This is yet another entry where I'm gladly forcing myself to listen to an artist that I really never have listened to even though they are massively famous. Besides him doing "You've Got a Friend in Me" I don't know much about his work besides knowing that he was well known in my parent's generation. This lyric-forward piano singer-songwriter type is also one that I don't often listen to, but going through a whole album of it has been really a lovely experience. His voice is great, and is in a tier of great and wonderful-to-listen-to voices, but it also has a sort of "everyman" quality that I appreciate, and isn't pretentious or fake or "put on" whatsoever. The piano that is prevalent in every track is also great, and he definitely has a defined sound that he lives in. This cinematic, pop rock with some blues in there style that lends itself perfectly to scoring a movie. It's a fun sound. It's a solid high 3/5. I think I need to hear more of his other records.

Paul's Boutique

Beastie Boys

4/5

What an impressive fade in to start track 1. I'm not listening on headphones (and low volume sounds are more prominent on headphones than speakers naturally) so unless I'm missing something there, it doesn't really have audible sounds until around 30 seconds which is a crazy long amount of time. Then it gives you a smooth jazz type groove to start? That is such an interesting but fun idea. The production is so good, the performances are so good, the lyrics are so good. But the one facet that stands out to me every time I hear this band is their energy. It's more than their coolness, their swagger, their volume. It's this bubbling excitement that threatens to appear in the verses and then explodes in the choruses. It's just easy to get pumped up when this music is on. For me it's a hard rate because I think it could be either a 4 or a 5 and it probably lives somewhere in between those two points. It's one of the better rap albums around but to me it's obviously not as monumental as "Licensed to Ill", which is my favorite of theirs. So if that is a 5, then this is like a 4.5. Still a bonafide classic.

Atomizer

Big Black

2/5

I liked this but it was a bit too harsh at times of a sound for me to really enjoy it. I do like edgy and gritty music but this overall sound became a little grating for me and I kind of often found myself saying "what is that sound? I don't like it..." I know this is an influential band to a lot of lesser known metal bands; I've been hearing about Big Black for years but never listened to them. I'll have to dig deeper to see if I like any of their other stuff more.

KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)

Ministry

2/5

Wow Ministry is a cool addition to this list and not one that I was suspecting. I always kind of thought of them as one of the forgotten industrial metal bands and even though they've been around forever, they always had a big fan base but never made the push into the stardom / spotlight that other industrial acts did, like Nine in Nails or Prodigy. There's also a reason why I think I never got too much into them. It doesn't push enough, it doesn't expand on the ideas enough. If you listen to this album and then go back and skip around the songs, like start track 1, listen for 5 seconds then skip a minute ahead, then do it again and again until the song is over, then do it for all the songs that you heard and thought were standout tracks, and you'll be let down. What I'm saying is the opposite of one of the more important deciding stylized facets of this genre though, and I totally understand that industrial metal typically is repetitive and grating. That's essentially the sound in and of itself. But do that same test on a Nine Inch Nails track and you'll see that it explores more, it goes more places. I think that's the reason why Ministry never really latched onto me. It's a 2/5 for me. It does it's thing pretty well, but it's afraid to do anything else, even 1% in either direction.

Moby Grape

2/5

Pretty straightforward classic rock with the usual elements- twangy Rolling Stones guitar, Beatles vocal harmonies, high energy The Who-like lead vocals. Usually when I hear a straightforward song like "8:05", I try to find things that make me want to hear it again, like "is this song beautiful?" "is this song lyrically interesting?" "is it fun?" "is there some hidden parts or things that make it stand out beyond my first impression?". If a song is straightforward (in my opinion) and doesn't offer anything different or particularly catchy, I usually need something else for me to really enjoy it beyond that first hear. Maybe it's because it took 10 tracks for this album to have a song go longer than 3 minutes but it felt like all of these songs flew by and I couldn't grab many of these lasting elements. The songs came and went and they didn't often have a lot of those other factors that keep me listening. Because of this, I really want to give this a 1, but I've been reserving 1's for albums that I found to be downright bad. Is this album downright bad? No, I don't think so. Does it deserve to be on this list? I'm not sure. It's just kind of forgettable.

Peter Gabriel 3

Peter Gabriel

3/5

It's funny to hear this now, 44 years later, because I'm sure when this came out it was a STATEMENT. The first glance at the album cover of his melted face and then all of the weird avant garde-ness in the first track must have had people thinking "wow!". But these days, having some atonal idiophones on top of some slamming tom drum beats is as normal as two guitars playing C chords together. Something I really like about Peter Gabriel's music is that he isn't afraid to do weird things or to take a song and flip a switch right in the middle. In track 2 for example, you get this Steve Reich-esque meditative part for a minute and a half, and then everything does a complete 180 turn and gets exciting. I enjoyed this. I liked how it got a little weird at times, but I also am interested in how a lot of these came about, and if it was such a concerted effort to avoid normalcy. Like the more listened-to tracks don't really have strong melodies, which I find to be very odd for this list. Usually, the catchy songs get all the listens, but maybe that's because this album doesn't really have a lot of traditional aspects, including melody. I did like the hook "She's so popular" on "Games without Frontiers". It's probably not an album that I will seek out but if I see it in the wild I'll probably say "oh yea I've heard record! Pretty interesting."

OK

Talvin Singh

4/5

I was so happy when the drum n bass elements came at the 2 minute mark of the first track. Prior to that, I was thinking "this sounds like Caucasian film composers trying to write a middle eastern / Indian song for a part of the film they are scoring". Then when that hit I thought "oh OK this is something else!" I really, really love drum n bass electronic music. Most genres of music that I listen to have been shared to me by someone or something else- like rock music from my brother, oldies from my mom, pop music from the radio, classical and jazz from music school. But this sound is one that I felt like I genuinely discovered on my own without someone saying "you need to hear this style", and I feel an added sense of love for the genre because of it. Often times on this album, the Sitar or Sarangi or Indian flutes will be the focal point, while the relentless tabla-supported drum n bass will be the backing force. But listening closer I think there's many times where the underlying synths are really the star. It's almost like when you get a few tracks in and are now familiar and comfortable with the sound, you can finally sit back and enjoy the foundational composition ideas of the track's basic harmony and melody. "Butterfly" has a great example of this, from the 3:30 mark onward is like an Aphex Twin song- a big compliment. This was a great listen. Very happy with it.

Screamadelica

Primal Scream

3/5

Dang, I was away for the weekend and when I got home my browser lost my initial review for this but I'll sum it up. "Movin' on Up" is truly amazing (I thought this was a cover?), but the rest of the album didn't really come close. I did like how eclectic the whole shebang was. 3/5! Great album cover, it feels like something you question when you first see it but then after years of seeing it, it just kind of makes sense in a way.

The Nightfly

Donald Fagen

3/5

Wow, The Nightfly! The general consensus around audionerds is that when you get new headphones/speakers, you have to do yourself a favor and test them on two albums: Rage Against the Machine's debut album, and of course Donald Fagen's The Nightfly. This is very funny to me that these two albums are connected somehow when they sound so, so different. I've done this a few times in my life and it's a cool thing to listen to the albums and get an idea in your head for what they SHOULD sound like so that you can use them as a base for testing new music gear. And that consensus is for a good reason, as this album's production is immaculate. It's almost eerie in a way? Because the spacing of the instruments across 3D space is so perfectly produced, and it makes all of the instruments sound so distinct, but still cohesive and tied together. It's a wonder for 1980. He's got a great voice that I think is often overlooked because of the production greatness. It's a little bit Sting without the overacting that Sting sometimes does; he's like a more everyman Sting. It falls as a nice 3/5 for me. It's got great moments but not many big hit memorable ones for me to give it a 4. It's still absolutely enjoyable and listenable in any context (bad day? Put this on. Good day? Put this on.). Great album cover. It's cool, it's mysterious, and the text is perfectly placed.

Live!

Fela Kuti

4/5

This is an awesome listen. After only a few minutes I said to myself "I could listen to this like once a week for the rest of my life and not get sick of it". That means a lot for me because I tend to find music and over listen to it and then move on from it pretty quickly. It's the right blend of soul, funk, repetition, meditation, improvisation, and fun. It's really enjoyable in so many areas and I'll be listening again!

Rage Against The Machine

5/5

I knew it! So my recollection of the album The Nightfly being tied to this album is a true one. You can hear it right? The production is perfect. Like, not one single thing to pick apart or be upset about, and the balance is there too, it supports the compositions and doesn't overshadow them. I'm sure the audio-engineering side is all straightforward, time tested techniques but I still don't understand how it captures the break up of distorted guitars, how the bass somehow is both bassy and trebley, and how the drums sound so isolated and pristine and yet the performance comes across as if the full band are in the same room. It's mystifying. Right from those first few hits in track 1 you know this is going to be an experience. I don't know if there's ever been a band quite like RATM and I don't know if there will ever be another. They are so unique- harsh rap vocals (BUT DONE WELL IN THIS CONTEXT- RARE RARE RARE RARE) through a youthful vocal timbre, tight funk metal riffs (RARE), impressively clean and creative bass parts, and the drums that are the definition of tight.. wow is this a weird formula but one that works and works so well. "Killing In the Name" is one of the heaviest, angriest songs ever. When I hear those chords start I want to be transported to my 16 year old self in a moshpit and grooving and shoving and jumping up and down like I'm possessed. It's funny how this band ended up into Audioslave because it's a completely different style but one that is still in the same universe of genius- just a different set of paints. Amazing! 5/5 album. Great album cover. Sad that the state of the world is what it is right now and we have seen two similar incidents this year.

Triangle

The Beau Brummels

2/5

Nice sound on first listen. I have to say though that I'm really not a fan of the billy goat bolted-on vibrato that some singers do. It just sounds unnecessary and coming from a place of insecurity. I love the strings and overall arrangement on the second track. Very cool sound. I just wish there was more balance though, the strings and accordion in the right ear are so loud and the drums / castanets / electric guitar in the left ear are so quiet. This one really went by without me even noticing. I just listened and felt unmoved. I don't think I'd have it on a list of 1001 albums to hear in your lifetime. Very interesting album cover. It looks like water color paints on an outlined drawing. The washed-out effect is cool. Not sure if I love the colors though; to me watercolors naturally look washed out and these colors make it seem washed out and thin and uncertain.

Run-D.M.C.

3/5

Classic album from a classic group. While understanding that this is their debut album, it's still funny to me to hear their sound here and how it's not evolved yet into the sound and style that everyone knows Run DMC for. It's like the ideas are still in their infancy and they are testing the waters with their "call and response" rapping, and rap rock overlaps. The reason why it's only a 3 for me is because I'm realizing that their more evolved sound is one that I really love, and their sound during this album constantly hovers around this "it's not there yet" idea. It contains less memorable moments and falls a little too much into repetition ("master em cee", "sucker em cee's <-- are said dozens of times). If this album is on this list then "Raising Hell" definitely needs to be on this list.

Horses

Patti Smith

3/5

Soft, smokey, cool sound right to start, and great first lyrics. I've never listened to Patti Smith but she's been in the pop media world right now. I don't know the details but something about some wildly popular pop star saying that she loves Patti Smith and then Taylor Swift comes out with a record and name drops Patti Smith, in some kind of crazy cult fan base speculative antagonistic way towards the other pop star? I don't care to know the details but I know there's drama going on and I wonder if Patti Smith would have humored that mindless bs back in her day? Just by hearing her sound I can tell she has a cool devil-may-care attitude; one that wouldn't give a damn about the trivialities of today's pop music drama. There's something about her delivery that makes it hard for me to connect with and really understand unless I'm very actively listening. It's almost like some of the songs have music that is repetitive and laid back ("Redondo Beach", "Birdland"), but her vocals don't necessarily match that and are more in-your-face and edgy. It's not a bad thing, but something I noticed.

Actually

Pet Shop Boys

3/5

Pretty solid English synth pop. I liked the blending of styles, and I felt like their structures weren't often predictable which is one of my bigger gripes with any kind of music; some songs were long and exploded after a while, and others were more straightforward pop structures. Like a lot of music from this time period, some of the ideas sound like "sound explorations", where there's this new influx of synths and patches and artists were itching to try them out on their records. It's funny because there's not many eras/decades where there was such an influx of new instrument sounds and one that was particularly divergent from the decade prior (70's acoustic hippy music to 80's electronics). Some lyrics I felt were pretty bleh. "Look at my hopes, look at my dreams The currency we spent I love you, you pay my rent" I'll admit that sometimes metaphors go right over my head but I can't find some other meaning here. I don't know how I feel about this album cover. It's definitely a little silly which I'm into. That better be a real yawn!

Kilimanjaro

The Teardrop Explodes

3/5

Fun energy and the songs kind of fly by in a good way. I liked the instrumentalists, I liked the vocalist, and the production was nice. The only downside for me is that it didn't really leave me with any songs that I can look back at the track list for and say "Oh yea I loved that one!". It was almost too homogeneous. I just did a test where I played back a few seconds of each track and they really are all pretty similar. Cool album cover. If that text was removed it would look like a modern 2020's indie rock band cover, which I think is cool. I feel bad for the guy on the right though, he's really got that line right up in his eyes!

Tigermilk

Belle & Sebastian

4/5

I'm always surprised that this band was around in the 90's. You could tell me that every time one of their songs are played and I still think I wouldn't believe it. It's just so "modern indie folk rock"y for it to be from 1996 you know? This has the makings of an album and band that I would love. From the vocal style to the driving acoustic guitar to the brass to the single electronic track, the pacing (upbeat 2nd track hell yes!), the diversity of tempos and feels, it's all great to me. I really haven't listened to them enough but hearing this now is bringing me back to sounds that I absolutely was obsessed with, like The Decemberists, Okkervil River, and Neutral Milk Hotel when I was in college. If someone had played me this record during that time in my life I would have played this album until the burned CD-R wouldn't spin anymore. Excited to listen to this album more. Cool, unpretentious album cover.

Time (The Revelator)

Gillian Welch

4/5

She's got such a sincere approach to songwriting with an incredibly easy-to listen-to sound. That first track is such a sad album starter. I do love how even though it's generally a sad song, there's a lot of borrowed chords from other keys so it's not all sad/minor chords all of the time, and rather it is interspersed with major chords to keep it "grey" instead of so obviously black or white. Great chromatics in the lead guitar too. I really love these lines in track 1: "Leaving the valley, and fucking out of sight I'll go back to Cali where I can sleep out every night And watch the waves and move the fader" really cool wordplay on "watch the waves" being either/or/and ocean waves or soundwaves. Lots of great lyrical homages here too. I heard Courtney Barnett cover "Everything Is Free" a few years back and it's become one of my favorite modern folk songs. I love the sentiment and I love how unpoetic and straightforward the lyrics are, "I can get a tip jar Gas up the car And try to make a little change Down at the bar Or I can get a straight job I done it before Never minded working hard It's who I'm working for. Every day I wake up Hummin' a song But I don't need to run around I'll just stay at home And sing a little love song My love and myself If there's something that you wanna hear You can sing it yourself. And everything is free now That's what they say Everything I ever done Gotta give it away Someone hit the big score They figured it out That we're gonna do it anyway Even if it doesn't pay." I personally have some frustrations with the music industry not being something that you can make a living with and I've admittedly been part of my problem, being a bad kid and torrenting mp3's and albums and full discographies of bands. I have spent tens of thousands on CD's, merch, and tickets over the years of my life, but there's a long list of people who make huge profits in the music business and the musicians tend to be towards the bottom of that list. I do wonder what the milieu of music would look like on a grand scale if the industry was different and went down an alternate route. Right now it feels like there's a proliferation of huge artists (the Taylor Swifts, Beyonces, Drakes, Ariana Grandes etc) who make an absolute ridiculous amount of money, and then everyone else kind of scrapes by. There's the mega famous and then everyone else, instead of the mega famous, and then the middle class who could still make a living with music, and then the amateurs who can't. I'll always remember meeting a death metal drummer who was a hero of mine- incredibly talented and in one of the biggest death metal bands ever, and meeting him at his workplace, as a cook at a NYC coffee shop. He worked with my friend and my friend said "don't make a big scene out of it though, he doesn't want it to be a big thing that he works at a coffee shop". It was amazing to meet him but depressing that someone so talented would still need a day job to pay the bills. Folk music to me has always centered around authenticity, and I think it's admirable and brave of her to write a song about being frustrated with not getting money from her music. Strong 4 for me.

You're Living All Over Me

Dinosaur Jr.

3/5

Cool sound, went by kind of fast. Sounds like harsher indie rock Daniel Johnston. I like how they aren't afraid to have some more dissonant and edgy sounds on the production side. My friend Jake recently did a songwriting camp with J Mascis and said it went really well. The guy has a lot of good ideas and unique approaches to force creativity. It's a 3 for me. I don't want to call it forgettable, but it needs a single or two or something that makes me want to say "oh I need to hear that one song again!" Album cover is cool!

Cloud Nine

The Temptations

3/5

"Cloud Nine" is one of the best R&B / soul songs of all time! Kind of a shame that the rest of the album doesn't come close though. I'm listening to these others and I'm really missing the energy that that song brings. I really hate the panning choices. Percussion isolated to one ear is one of the worst things you can do at a mixing board, and thankfully this trend only happened for a very small period of time. The child crying "I want my momma" in the middle of "Runaway Child, Running Wild" really surprised me, and not in a good way! I do appreciate this 1969 entering the 70's sort of "experimental but not too much" approach though. This was a hard rate for me. I want to be generous and give it a 4 because of the pull behind "Cloud Nine", but really no other song comes close on the record to that one. Mix that with poor production choices and I have to give it a 3.

Germfree Adolescents

X-Ray Spex

2/5

Punk music either really clicks with me or it really doesn't. There's not a lot of middle ground and I find myself either loving a band or really disliking a band. This band however has made me question that a little bit. I found myself being kind of annoyed with the sound; the vocals are jarring, clashy, and oddly very monotone, the music is inoffensive (I want offensive) and forgettable. But all together it kind of worked, but not enough for me to love it? I liked how there were random saxophones and kazoos and vibraslaps. I did like the music on "Identity", it sounded like a a 70's cop drama mixed with some Iron Maiden-esque lead guitar moments. Fun album cover.

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Dexys Midnight Runners

3/5

"Geno" is definitely Dexy's Midnight Runner's second most famous song. It's a pretty solid song, but this band is forever remembered for "Come on Eileen", so I'm assuming that record will be on this list as well. It's always such an interesting thing to me when a band has one song that is so monumentally famous and doesn't ever come close to hitting the mark with any of their other tracks. It's like all the other ones are practice iterations until they got the big one out there. The sound of the band itself is great. It's this British fun high energy rock folk with some interspersed fun reggae or ska sounds, wildly fun vocal parts, and a lead vocalist with a warbled sound that is so idiosyncratic and loose and makes you often think "is this sound a jokey, silly sound, or if he serious?". "Seven Days Too Long" is a solid track. I might like it more than "Geno". Yea it's not a bad record. I really actually dig a lot of moments on it.

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

4/5

My first full listen-through of this record even though I've heard all of these tracks separately so many times before. (Don't tell my wife who is obsessed with these early Eminem records) I love that Eminem was such a phenom- such a force, and he came and never left. Sure, these early records are the ones that did all of the paradigm shifting, all of the milieu reinventing, but he's still an incredible rapper and lyricist and it's funny that young up and coming rappers (like the vastly inferior MGK) try and fail to take shots at him. He's earned this "untouchable" status I think. One of my favorite sounds here is the jokey music/beats, and the jokey and silly flow that both contrast the often serious lyrical content. Eminem is a master of this sound because it is his sound. I think there's other rappers who have tried it, but these early records are so unique in it. This blend made it palatable for things like "Total Request Live", and heavily censored radio plays. In fact, it seems like radios HAD to play these songs back in the day. It's funny to me that in this album there are times where he mentions both TRL and radio stations having problems playing his songs. Only realizing that after I wrote this note! I can't believe this album goes from "Kill You" to "Stan". What a crazy eclectic 1-2 punch. I also completely forgot that "Stan" and "The Real Slim Shady" were on the same record. "The Real Slim Shady" is one of the funniest wackiest and best rap songs ever. Sure, it feels dated and a bit too silly these days, but I actually think that's a testament to the current culture of popular music (which unfortunately I think attempts to be abnormally serious) rather than a reflection on the song. The music video is also one of the best music videos of all time, and watching it again now, probably some 20 plus years later, I can still remember so many of the scenes. Watching his mannerisms in the video in the more acted out "skits", you can tell that he has "it"; that he has an eye for funny moments in the visuals, and that he is more than just the person who supplied the audio track. Man I love him talking trash about Carson Daily and MTV in that track. Then they gotta play it on TRL. So, so, so funny. The pop culture references throughout are timeless in a funny way while also feels like a time capsule to these "issues" then. I'm pondering the simplicity of life in 2000, a year before the US had started to change, and how all of these problems in the music industry wouldn't really be problems in today's day. The downside of this album is that I think that Eminem pushes the boundaries a little too much at times, and it's hard to conceptualize the challenges in his life into the songs and at what point does he fall into hyperbole for the sake of a more dramatic lyric. I ended up listening to this album twice, and a little bit of his next album, "The Eminem Show", and I was pretty consistently turned off how gross some of his lyrics get, or how many times he needs to reiterate a homophobic slur to get to a punchline lyric that isn't funny or enjoyable beyond what I would imagine some frat bros would get a chuckle at. For those reasons would I give it a much harsher rating than I want? I'm not really sure. I think that for someone to truly the push the boundaries in art they have to go beyond what they think a norm could be, and then reel it in from there. I get that- it makes sense to me when I listen to the atonal music of Schoenberg in the early 20th century, I understand that he isn't always writing this music for people to simply enjoy, he is testing the maxim to see what can be done. Later atonal music is much more listenable because of these early explorations. Eminem I kind of see as the same in a way. Regardless, he's one of the best rappers of all time and there's no doubt this record is on a plateau with legends.

Porcupine

Echo And The Bunnymen

2/5

Really didn't love this one; it felt like it flew by without any real interesting tracks. The music is listenable but beyond that I'm not really wanting to go back and play any of the songs again. For a list of albums that you must hear in your lifetime, I don't really know if there's room for songs that are "just alright", but of course that's only my opinion. "The Cutter" was the best to my ear but even that wouldn't be a standout track on so many other albums on this list. The music wasn't necessarily "bad" but personally I would probably omit this record from the list. There's just a little bit too much of a bias towards this British late 70s to early 90s rock type of sound that if you are going to be included on this list, then it should really stand out amongst all the others.

Broken English

Marianne Faithfull

3/5

This one kind of came and went and didn't leave much of a lasting impression. I did like the tone and pace of "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan". The synths have a nice foundation for her voice to sing on top of, but it wasn't enough for me to be wow'd. I also felt like the synths arrangements (albeit still young as a popular instrument at the time) in general didn't do much for me. It felt like a guitarist playing a piano- and then changing the tones of the synth to sound digital. How do I know this? Because I'm a guitarist who can really only play a piano with bland chord shapes so the sound really stands out to me. Like a newbie piano player will spell their chords in really basic ways, (1-3-5 / root - major third - fifth) and when they hit some dominant chords it continues with this super basic spelling (1-3-b7 / root - third - flat7) it really stands out to my ear. I didn't dislike it. Album cover art is cool.

São Paulo Confessions

Suba

4/5

Great intro. Really love the fidelity level, I'm so blown away not even 30 seconds in. The bass is deep, the vocals are clear and present, the high percussion is spread across space masterfully. By the time the piano comes in, I'm really grooving. This deserves so many more song plays than it currently has. Really thoroughly enjoyed this, will be listening more, and can't wait to be having some wine with my wife and making dinner and thinking "I have a perfect album to put on!"

Sound Affects

The Jam

3/5

Pretty straightforward British punkish rock. I didn't really feel too blown away by the record. It has some nice tracks in it, and nice production, but it just kind of does its thing and that's it. I liked "Monday", which I've heard before. Nice bass line and vocal performance. How about the bass in the mix of "Man In The Corner Shop". It's funny to hear a bass guitar be mixed louder than a lead vocal; I feel like you never really hear this.

Ready To Die

The Notorious B.I.G.

4/5

While not my favorite rapper, I do respect Biggie for what he did for the genre and find him to be one of the more easily listenable gangsta rap artists of the time. I think this album is a testament to why his sound was so influential; it's obvious when you listen to songs like "Big Poppa" and "Juicy" that this is an artist that was making music in his own way for him and his peers and just happened to land on a sound that would be loved by the masses. In particular, I love the beats and music behind his voice. It has a distinct "east coast" style and is so much smoother and less harsh than the "west coast" style at the time. I don't like one more than the other, but it's an obvious delineation.

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse

5/5

When this album art appears, I let out a sad groan alongside a "Oh Amy"; as if she was a first-name-basis friend of mine. As if I could walk around my wife and friends and randomly bring up "Amy" and they would know that I mean this person. When I type Winehouse on this computer, the last name doesn't come up as a typo on my browser's spell checker- because it's been long ago added to my browser's cached dictionary. I can't help but feel an oxymoronic excited sadness, as I'm about to dive into one of my favorite albums that always makes me sad. It's going for a walk in a beautiful park when the forecast says there's rain coming shortly after. When this album stops I'll be sad. I wrote a similar note for "Frank", way back as our 21st generated album on this project, and it hasn't changed- not that I thought it would. Enough about me and my experience. Amy is amazing, Back to Black is amazing, and she should be celebrated. There's so much to immediately be attracted to with this sound. The music is tight and calculated, while also loose and flexible. Her voice is sultry, evocative, and playful. The lyrics are deeper than your standard run of the mill pop; they delve mostly into her substance abuse issues and relationship nuances, and also throw some edgier wordplay out there to keep you on your feet. "He left no time to regret, kept his dick wet with his same old safe bet." What a starting line for a song. Frankly, she could sing about a pile of dirt and I'd still be enthralled. After 20 years of playing guitar (and without trying to sound too pompous) I've probably forgotten how to play more songs on the instrument than most people have learned on it. With that being said, a song like "Back to Black" is one of a very few that I will never forget how to play; it will be something I can pull out and jam until the day I die or the day my fingers stop moving. It's masterfully written in every single way. It's written for the listener to hear and enjoy, it's written for the guitarists and instrumentalists to play and have fun, it's written for the producers and engineers to tweak and nudge and adjust and smile while doing it, and it's written for a master vocalist to excitedly perform and embrace the otherworldly feeling of when a human being taps into the magic of authentic music. I genuinely feel that there are acts that transcend music, and then acts that transcend that group. It's a small amount of people, in modern days I'm thinking Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, The Beatles. Give Amy a few more years on this earth to make a few more records and to "wow" the masses for a little longer and she is in that group. Hell she might even be there for me personally.

Supa Dupa Fly

Missy Elliott

3/5

This project has led me to appreciate Missy Elliot more than I did when I was growing up. I used to think she was funny and at times overly silly, and I'm finding that the music industry is missing someone like Missy in it right now. I found it surprising when I saw that her last full length record was released 19 years ago- in 2005. Surprising because growing up she was always around, always releasing and touring and making funny music videos. And this second time that she's on this list, I'm continuing to bop and listen and enjoy her songs. She's more than just a comedy rapper, she's got a beautiful tone, a slick flow, and sharp lyrics. The production is great and filled with interesting moments, and the songs aren't too formulaic.

Yeezus

Kanye West

5/5

Kanye's always been a genre-pusher; it's my favorite thing about him. When rap lingers in one place too long, he comes around and disrupts, and pushes, and evolves. I appreciate that, and because I wasn't a listener during the "gangsta rap to pink polo shirt" early Kanye albums, to me, Yeezus is the album that I think of when I think of him changing the milieu of rap. This is probably my favorite Kanye album. It's his heavy metal album. It's the edgier, harsher, more in-your-face album, and I love that. The music is crispy, angry synths with unique panning. His vocals abrasive and at times jarring, and the lyrics are confident, weird, and sometimes funny, "In a French ass restaurant Hurry up with my damn croissants" is something you have to scream with your friends. I also appreciate how this album is listenable. Put on "On Site" and you can dance and bop to it. Put on "Bound 2" when you are hosting a dinner party with your friends. How many albums are out there that I can define as "edgy" and "heavy metal rap" and then in the same breath say that you can also dance to it and you should throw it on while drinking wine with your friends? Not many. If I can find a fault, it's that sometimes Kanye's voice sounds a little "on top" of the music, like in the 2nd half of "Bound 2". It's like the music is mixed very intentionally to be cohesive, and then his voice at times is about 3-5 decibels above it and lacking some "glue". This is me reaching for a fault though, and it's hardly a criticism when so much of Kanye's music is thoughtful and intentional. Additionally, I can look past this (hear past this?) when I accept that the sounds underneath his voice are atypical and unconventional. Top 5 rap album of all time for me. Simple, but very memorable album cover. If I saw this from a few hundred feet away I would know that it's Yeezus.

Darklands

The Jesus And Mary Chain

3/5

I've been hearing about this band for decades and never listened; for some funny reason I thought that they were a 90's Seattle grunge band lol. It's alright. Really pretty uh "mid" to my ears. I think a 3/5 because nothing was offensive and that's both a compliment and an insult. Didn't love much but didn't dislike much either.

Konnichiwa

Skepta

4/5

This was a super cool listen. Spotify sort of pranked me though as when I clicked play "Konnichiwa", the description for the artist said "A veteran of the U.K. grime scene", so I was expecting some gritty EDM music but I was excited when I heard his voice. Super smooth voice, fun and quick lyrics, and interesting instrumentals under his voice. I really liked "Shutdown". Cool song and instrumental. I did feel like he overused the title word though, and after finishing the album I realized that he kind of does that a bit throughout. It's not a bad thing but something I noticed. Will be listening again!

Cross

Justice

3/5

I didn't recognize this band until I heard that first break into the first song. It's a cool sound! Reminds me of Daft Punk with the genre mashing and tense yet cool energy. Something that this sound gets right is that it doesn't linger too long before it gives you something fresh. I appreciate that I could be dancing to this in a club or sitting down and drinking a coffee on a Tuesday morning before work, and the tracks on this album give me something fresh seemingly exactly when I want it. There's no 9 minute long meditations on the same exact beat that have been effortlessly copy and pasted in a D.A.W.

Berlin

Lou Reed

3/5

There's something about Lou Reed's music that makes me kind of bored. It feels like he has a lot to say and even has plenty of emotion in his vocals and performances, but almost like he doesn't say it loud enough. It makes it so when I listen to him I really have to lean-in and listen, because he's not going to grab me and pull me in. I did really like "Oh Jim" and the midway shift from heavy electric to soft acoustic vibe. I don't know if I'll ever really get Lou Reed or he'll cross that boundary from "listenable music" to "desirable music" for my personal tastes. I will say that I also don't find myself reaching to turn off his music when it comes on.

Architecture And Morality

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

3/5

I like how they try a lot of different sounds and styles. The first song is abrasive and edgy in just about every way, the second is a cool summery synth ballad, and the third is an upbeat synth-horn filled pop track. A lot of what I like about this record comes from the synth tones. They are really thought out and intentional; or atleast I think so because they mesh so well together. Cool album cover. Lots of nice choices, like in composition, colors, and font styles. Not totally my thing but I also didn't necessarily dislike it.

This Is Fats Domino

Fats Domino

4/5

I grew up with these old R&B and doo-wop records, and Fats Domino was a staple to my mom's record collection. There's some great songs here, and what I think is so impressive is that Fats never is in a rush to go anywhere. This is probably a testament to the quality of his band and the feel of his drummer for sitting in the pocket, but these songs find their place in your ears and they stay there. They don't speed up during choruses or slow down during bridges; they chill and groove and it's really enjoyable. So many of these songs are familiar to me and yet I haven't heard them in probably 25 or 30 years. It's been nice to go back; this has been a tough year for my immediate family of my mother, brother and I, and this has made me feel like a bit of a kid again- dancing in the basement at the end of the day with them and spinning around the room with not a care in the world or any idea about what song will come next.

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

TV On The Radio

3/5

Great intro song. It takes a while to get going, but once it does it really sets the stage for what you are going to get with TV on the Radio. I love how the second track continues the distorted bass, it seems to be a consistent voice in the musical vocabulary of the band, and it makes sense because it sits so well against the singer's baritone. Ambulance is amazing. It sounds like an etude or a piece that was made just to toy around with the idea of making a foundation of a song as those vocal "dum dum dum's", and yet it's a beautiful track with a flowing main vocal and subdued and pretty harmony vocal parts. What a piece. A downside that this album has for me is that it keeps teasing me with something high energy, but it doesn't come on this record. This is hardly a knock though, as their sound is more diverse and eclectic than just some run of the mill fast paced rock outfit. I liked it, but probably not enough for a 4. It's a high 3.8ish though.

Scott 4

Scott Walker

3/5

Interesting voice and instrumentation. I was unsure if I would like this until I heard those strings come into the first track. Very mysterious and intriguing sound that is supported by equally interesting lyrics. I like a lot of modern music that sounds like this and I think that some of my favorite acts were probably inspired by Scott Walker, like Father John Misty comes to mind. I enjoyed it, didn't dislike it, but didn't love it.

In It For The Money

Supergrass

4/5

There's more going on here then you first think. This becomes obvious when the first song gets in this rock and roll repetitive section and then abruptly ends out of nowhere as the second track starts. The second song then takes a minute to get going but when it does you get a fierce punkish rock and roll piece with plenty of energy and attitude that's interspersed with horns and very cool chord progressions that grab your attention. I was feeling kind of judgy when I saw the album cover and was expecting some kind of straightforward 70s classic rock, but this is much more than that, and I was also way off on the time period. I think this record contains some really fun and interesting compositions and performances that had a lot of care put into them. I've heard of the band before but had no idea of anything about them- this wasn't what I expected but I'm happy with what I got.

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

4/5

Very cool start, with hihats that start syncronously and then very quickly phase out into a cicada-like chirp. I've heard of this band, I've seen this album cover (many times), but I don't recall enjoying the music like I am now. In fact, this intro of the first song sounds exactly like something I would really love. The singers got kind of a Paul Simon voice at times? It's cool. Then on track 2 it's got a Bruce Springsteen 80's sound. I'm really surprised that I never listened to this band as I've heard of them for years- maybe it was the name that threw me off. Regardless, this is a solid album that I really enjoyed.

Punishing Kiss

Ute Lemper

2/5

Very ambitious album with interesting tones, performances, and personnel involved. Usually corny or cheesy music doesn't bother me; like I can listen to a lot of cringey genres of music and not be bothered by them, but the overall vibe of this one feels a bit too much. It's hard to put a finger on exactly what's making me dislike it, like the second track is this big huge cinematic track with intrigue all around it, but then you get a lyric like: "If sex were an Olympic sport we'd have won the gold" and I can't help but groan in discomfort. I think it's the vocal performance that is throwing me off. It feels at times like broadway musical music where the performer's character is playing "the cool antagonist". Third track in and it's even more apparent and forced. I just can't get past that. Atleast the music is cool!

Electric Warrior

T. Rex

4/5

Pretty straightforward slightly blues-influenced classic rock. There's some good dynamics throughout, and the band has a good feel for when the music needs to start rocking or when it needs to chill out. "Get It On" is a classic rock anthem and staple in any good mid-summer BBQ playlist. Enjoyable, solid, and tight.

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

5/5

Wow I've been waiting for an Iron Maiden album on here, and boy am I happy to get one on a Monday morning where the coffee isn't getting me quite there. Iron Maiden is one of the most celebrated metal bands of all time and yet somehow are still underrated. You don't see people these days that say their name when they are asked what their favorite band is; and yet everyone who likes metal likes Iron Maiden. They have everything that you could want in a heavy metal band- amazing frontman energy in Bruce Dickinson, amazing vocal performances, amazing TRIPLE guitar playing, amazingly creative bass lines, and amazingly tight and unrelenting drum parts, soaring guitar solos, a cool and consistent aesthetic, and timelessly catchy songs. A pretty big litmus test for if a heavy metal band is truly great (IMO) is if they write songs that are "catchy"- this weird immeasurable element that people have been trying to define and better understand forever. Iron Maiden has somehow made music the right way and have achieved this insane level of catchiness to so many of their tracks. I would bet that a majority of heavy metal fans can recite Iron Maiden tracks from memory, which is great! Three of these songs are truly timeless and I genuinely believe will be listened to by heavy metal fans forever- "The Number Of The Beast", "Run To The Hills", and "Hallowed Be Thy Name". As a guitar player, I'll always be grateful for Iron Maiden because I spent so many summers as a teenager sitting and learning their guitar parts and having the time of my life. I felt like I entered one summer as a guitar-interested boy and then left that summer as a guitar-shredding man! For me, this album is adventure. The songs take you places, and they make you feel like you are alongside your favorite adventurer- whether it's Bilbo and Bard fighting Smaug in The Hobbit, or flying through Manhattan with Spiderman, or in my case, playing my own made up heroes in the game Everquest with my brother. I'm instantly teleported back to running around the world of the game, fighting monsters, meeting up with in-game friends, talking about girls, and rocking out to these songs. So vivid is this picture in my head that I can remember exact locations in the game world where we were while listening to these songs.

The Coral

4/5

Wow I love the spanky guitar tone on the first track. Without trying to come across as immediately self-centered, this is exactly the kind of guitar tone that I often strive for and incorporate in my own music. Great "grab the listener" effect. Wow COOOL sounding vocals in this first track too. I am impressed! I really enjoyed this album. I listened to it while meal prepping about a dozen burritos to eat over the next week or two, and it was an amazing record to put on while doing so. The thing that stood out most to me is that they had this intentional meander that would happen in some songs- where they would take a turn down a random road into a different musical area and then just hung out there for a bit. It felt to me like a real band were writing these songs and in a beautiful way detached from current trends in pop/rock songwriting, where everything has to be a platform for the vocals. Even though this band came out earlier, it reminded me of Fleet Foxes, as they tend to also have these shifts in their songs where they change tempos and keys and play around with structure just for the sake of doing it. I was also surprised at how often they went into this 1960s (? I think?) sound, like on "Waiting for the Heartaches". It sounded like a more modern Beatles track.

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying

Megadeth

4/5

Please don't just have "Peace Sells" for the sake of having a Megadeth album and please reassure me that you'll have both "Rust In Peace" and "Countdown to Extinction" on this 1001 list. You'll have those on here too, right? Megadeth are great. Consistently meme'd on, joked about, vocally mimic'd (Dave Mustaine... what a vocal tone), and laughed with. But man, what a band! They were always seen as a bit behind Metallica as they didn't have that slight "pop" tinge to their music that made it so approachable like Metallica has, but that shouldn't discredit them for a second. They are masters of songwriting, and geniuses when it comes to incorporating incredibly impressive riffs into the non-stop action of thrash metal. The music must be like a playground for Dave Mustaine and Chris Poland to shred over. This album is a classic and gets more eclectic as it goes on. I actually kind of wish the track listing was a little bit different because I feel like it takes a little too long to get to the more dynamic tracks. Overall, it's a really solid effort, and "Peace Sells" is a top 100 metal song of all time, but they have two better albums.

Devil Without A Cause

Kid Rock

4/5

Even though I detest Kid Rock these days for being the Trump version of a musician, I really loved this album when I was a kid- like I knew every single lyric front to back, and it was a great respite from the Nu-Metal and grunge albums that I was listening to at the time. It's a solid album. These songs are provocative, energetic, catchy, cool, and fun. He has a knack for bringing you to his life, to his setting, and making you feel like you know can empathize with this way of life, and also that you should care about what he's got going on. It's wildly successful in converting you into an empathetic listener even if this reality is a totally fabricated one and he is really was this punk little rich kid from a rich family. It's genuinely hard for me to separate the artist from the music. I tend to get too involved with the person-behind-the-thing in just about everything that I come across; whether its a new music album, a cooking instructional video, or a new book I'm reading. I need to know how that musician thinks, I need to know where that chef grew up, and I need to know that author's political stances. I'm trying really hard to not let this one bring down my rating here. I think this album is a strong 4/5 and on the right day is a 5/5 for me. There's so many good songs on it- "Bawitdaba" "Cowboy" "Devil Without a Cause" "I Am the Bullgod" "Wasting Time" "Only God Knows Why" "Black Chick, White Guy" - all of these are above and beyond "solid". If another artist was attempting this style and had 1 or 2 of these on their album, I'm sure that that album would be loved and would sell well. But for Kid Rock to have one album that has all of these on it, it kind of feels like a greatest hits. I'll love this album forever regardless of the person behind it.

So Much For The City

The Thrills

2/5

Track 1 started on a whimper and I was admittedly a little bored but thankfully it only lasted about 30 seconds and then it started to go somewhere after. From there on I expected a little more and ultimately had the hardest time with the singer's voice. It's just so soft and hard to sit and enjoy without hearing how much it stands out from the rest of the band. 2.4/5

E.V.O.L.

Sonic Youth

2/5

I'm a passive Sonic Youth enjoyer- I can hear their music and generally have a good time listening, and I do recognize that they are a super influential band, but this record just kind of came and went. It almost felt like the genre Post-Rock, which I absolutely adore, but I think it fell flat because I was expecting a sound that is more like "Goo" or "Rather Ripped", both albums that I'm more familiar with and I more think of when I think of Sonic Youth. This one just kind of droned on and felt kind of depressing. That's OK, and the album isn't bad per se but I'm not sure if it should be on the list.

Vento De Maio

Elis Regina

4/5

I'm having a great time with this one. Beautiful blend of impressive performances, tones, instrumentation, production, and composition. I do find it to be difficult at times to have that immediate connection with music that is in another language; I know I'm not unique in this, but I tend to listen to this list while I'm doing something else and I don't often go to seek out a lyric unless I don't understand it. For this I would definitely have to be following a lyric sheet to pickup. That's totally OK though, I just recognize that the voice here is more like an instrument that is scatting through a song. This was super enjoyable and worthy of being in some of my rotations.

Buffalo Springfield Again

Buffalo Springfield

2/5

I got to the 9th song before I felt compelled to listen closer. I hate to call it boring, but it's doing nothing for me. These songs feel directionless, unmotivated, and inconsistent. I actually liked how they traveled through different styles, with tracks like: 1. - Rolling Stones-esque rock 3. - Jazzy bluesy classic rock 4. Neil Young-core with orchestral elements 5. Cream-like rock 7. Acoustic ballad These are all distinct and interesting, but they didn't offer anything that would make me want to go back to listen. Hard rating for me because I really like the members of the band but maybe together it just isn't my thing.

Bone Machine

Tom Waits

4/5

Tom Waits is a king at bringing you into his world. Sometimes to me he comes across almost like a charismatic villain from something like a Batman movie; he has his distinct delivery, his lingo, and he could draw you into whatever world or scheme he is cooking up. This is a solid release that is packed with great tracks. I love the album artwork; it echos his twisted and otherworldly sound.

Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)

Bob Dylan

3/5

Bob Dylan is great/transcendent/legendary/eternal. I think if I saw him live I would be transfixed for the first few songs, and then after that I might wander around and get a beer and a hot dog while he does his thing. There's certain parts of his sound that aren't pleasing to me; like his vocals here are a little grating and the harmonica can be very off and very forward in the mix and they both hit me pretty hard on this recording. I find it funny that the second half of this made people upset and was met with heckling and shouting during the performance. People were apparently saying that Bob Dylan had "sold out". I think the second half is what elevates the album and keeps me interested in the whole listen.

Disraeli Gears

Cream

5/5

I love this album so much. I was introduced to it by my brother when I was maybe like 16 or 17 and we listened to it together for that entire summer and then the fall and then the spring and we just didn't stop. It was like a cure-all record that we could put on whenever, wherever, and it would be enjoyed. At the time we were playing heavy metal together and this was such a cool inspiration for us. Clapton of course is a phenom on guitar, but the real fans know that Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were just as important for their sound to be what it was. This album always had so much mystery to me. Starting with the title- what did "Disraeli Gears" mean? I remember googling it and seeing it was the name of a politician and not finding out much more. Learning now that it was a malapropism when someone in the band was talking about a type of bicycle and they used the wrong name. "Strange Brew" is such a fun funky starter, "Sunshine Of Your Love" to me is just as magical as "Layla", "World of Pain" is mysterious and so weirdly catchy, "Tales of Brave Ulysses" is adventurous, and "SWLABR" is technical and yet contains maybe some of the smoothest melodies on the record. Funny enough though the track that stood out to my brother and I was "We're Going Wrong". The droning, meditative drums, and doom rock guitar parts mixed with the soft and serene vocals lull you into what feels like a fugue state. I love the dynamics. My brother and I borrowed an 8 track analog recorder from my high school band department and we recorded a cover of this track on it and gave it back to the school- hoping some lost band kid would find it and be like "this is the music that I want to make". I remember we used a tuba to double the vocal parts for extra weirdness. I love that ending. Legendary album, top ~25 or so of all time for me.

Autobahn

Kraftwerk

3/5

"fun fun fun in te autobahn" "fun fun fun in te autobahn" This was a fun listen. I know of Kraftwerk from a distance and I know that they are the true pioneers of electronic music. On this list there's a good amount of bands from this time period that have used electronic sounds in their music as it was a new thing at the time. I know this because I've written about early electronic music exploration about a hundred times so far and my fingers just seem to go to the same letters, words, and phrases whenever I put on a new record from this list and hear the first few synthetic sounds. Kraftwerk have a cool sound though. It's at times droney, at times light, at times chill, at times upbeat. There's something more to them beyond being a band that has their sound and then bolted on synths to be trendy. These songs do suffer from the phenomenon that I think tends to occur often when bands get experimental with new sounds and timbres and paradigms- the basic musical building blocks of harmony and melody get kind of left behind and they end up pretty basic or rudimentary. It's almost like there's a code between musicians or a shared understanding of a see-saw effect that has to happen when getting experimental: if one facet gets wild and out there, the other facet has to get simple. I would love if this album gave me both experimental electronic sounds and also some interesting harmony+melody. It doesn't even have to be "weird" experimental; it could even be super pop catchy melodies. Or jazz harmonies and chord progressions. They do however prove me wrong on "Kometenmelodie 2", which sounds like it could be a Beach Boys track, but that's it. Give me more of that! Amazing album cover. I love the simplicity in everything. It is pretty funny though to have a very German band have an album about the Autobahn. Kind of feels like a US based band singing about the bald eagle- which usually makes me cringe.

Feast of Wire

Calexico

2/5

Strikingly bad album art, like so bad that I hope it is intentionally this bad. Two very different fonts with weird placements, the way that "Calexico" is stretched vertically and disproportionately, the little VG logo on bottom left, the weird gold/brown haze, that terrible grey skin? Wow. This album cover would appear on "1001 bad album artworks". It feels like someone's first draft image description for what they want for a tattoo before a tattoo artist has to decipher a bad idea and turn it into something that will look good. "Give me a girl with grey skin smirking and sitting on a skateboard with a golden brown hazy texture behind her, and terrible fonts." It took me a while to get that it's "Feast of Wire" and not "Feast of Wine". The font really hurts the legibility here. The music is cool. I actually would say that I really enjoy the music. It's kind of indie rock western folky country slight Mexican noir and makes for a great platform for a listening experience. Unfortunately, the vocalist does nothing for me. His vocal sound is too straightforward and borders on bland and uninteresting. I don't feel excited to try to feel what he is feeling, I don't feel enthused to check out the lyrics. Much like the font hurting the album art text legibility, the mix hurts his voice here because his voice is just a bit too low and doesn't have any interesting production choices- no playing with reverb, delay, saturation. "Not Even Stevie Nicks" is a standout song and sounds different than the rest both compositionally and instrumentally. Unfortunately when its playing just the acoustic guitar and vocals, the second guitar chord in the progression is hard for the player to play; I suspect it's like an awkward capo placement that isn't giving 100% pressure to the frets as it sounds like several notes aren't ringing out and get this tentative sound. Easy to ignore but for me it sounds I don't know, lazy? Like the guitar was recorded in one take and they were like "yea it's fine". Overall I would give this another listen, and I want to give it a 3 because it felt like a middling album on this list. But I'm going to give it a 2 because this list really should be 1001 truly standout amazing records.

Third

Portishead

4/5

Like most things Portishead, this album is great. It has every facet that has defined this band's addictive sound: haunting vocals, pulsing bass parts, slick synths, a wide spectrum of interesting guitar parts from dreamy to edgy, and solid production values. "Cool" permeates everywhere. Somewhat unique to this album is a few tracks that are simplified and broken down to just an acoustic guitar/ukulele riff with Beth Gibbons' singing over it ("Deep Water"). I think this is a nice direction for them to go in, and they balance it well by also having some harsher synthetic songs on this album too ("Machine Gun"). Thoroughly enjoyable.

Eli And The Thirteenth Confession

Laura Nyro

3/5

I totally judged this album by it's cover and thought that this would be some early 2000's millenial singer songwriter. I appreciate the sound as being a bridge between 60's/70s singer songwriter piano pop rock and more modern iterations of that sound, like Fiona Apple and Regina Spektor. It certainly has that confident sound that isn't afraid of changing time signatures or tempos or feels to get a good lyric across. The sum of these cool ideas though is a sound that fell a little flat to me however. I consistently felt like I wanted more and more and was curious when more would come and it never really did.

Foo Fighters

4/5

Around 600 albums in and this is the first Foo Fighters on the list. I'm certain there will be more. I love these early records by the band. There is such a fun energy in them- driven by Dave Grohl writing and performing every single thing heard on this album (I think except for the guitar part on "X-Static"). He captured this rough and loose sort of quasi garage band sound somehow. How, actually? I don't really know even though I'm a big nerd for music production. It's a super cool blend of professional level rock but and also this rawness element, like a young singer in front of a mic saying "I'm not so confident, can you add some effects to my voice?" (which really happened!). This has been called the start of the end of grunge. I can see that based on the timeline of the big grunge bands: 1994: Nirvana stops releasing music at the death of Kurt Cobain. 1995 (July): this album is released 1995 (November): Alice in Chains release their self titled (not debut) album, and don't release another album with Layne Staley. 1996 (May): Soundgarden release "Down on the Upside", and break up the following year 1996 and beyond: STP continue to release bangers, including "Tiny Music...", "No. 4", "Shangri-La Dee Da", but at this point their sound has become less grungey and they have become a more straightforward alternative rock band. Foo still plays some of these songs live which is great. I've heard "I'll Stick Around" and "Big Me" a handful of times. Solid album. Raw Foo Fighters is fun Foo Fighters, and it's very easy for me to listen to this album and hear the beginnings of a band/sound that are going to become something really big. It's a 4.4 for me. Not quite high enough to round up to a 5 but that's because of the existence of "The Colour And The Shape".

Transformer

Lou Reed

3/5

I've never listened much to Lou Reed but giving this a good listen has got my ears perked up. I like these songs, I like this sound. I don't know what's stopped me in my tracks before; I think it may have been a blend of his vocal tone and performance that often teeters on apathetic and a little too flat. "Walk On the Wild Side" is the big track on this one for good reason. It's so effortlessly cool and immensely memorable. The arrangement might be my personal favorite element- I love the sliding and gliding standup bass and repetitive guitar that stays the course on top of everything. If it had one more song that was as great as that one, I think this would be a nice 4 for me. As it is now, there's a lot of good moments and ideas on it but a lot of the songs unfortunately sound pretty dated to me. There's a few rocking parts and fun ideas and concepts, like "New York Telephone Conversation", but I kind of feel like it will be a skip the next time I put this record on. Cool album cover. Ahead of its time.

Surf's Up

The Beach Boys

3/5

Pretty solid Beach Boys album that I'm mostly unfamiliar with. It's way less energetic than their usual sound and at times almost feels like an entirely different band altogether. It's an easy one to listen to but it also drags along quite a bit. "Disney Girls" for example I think is supposed to be a more texture-filled and pretty beach boys bop, but it takes so long to get through, and you never get that sense of resolution. It feels like many of these songs are about 5-10bpm too slow. This is such an absurd album cover for a Beach Boys record, I love it.

90

808 State

3/5

Some fun late 80's electronic music that sometimes sounds mystical, sometimes dreamy, sometimes silly, and blends in some odd meters, but often borders on being a bit too repetitive. The overall drum sound is amazing and something that I really specifically like, and the panning of the drums is really well done. It feels ahead of it's time production wise. It's a strong 3 for me but not quite enough for a 4.

The New Tango

Astor Piazzolla

4/5

Beautiful cinematic noir jazz that makes you feel like you are transported to new settings. I really enjoyed this album, and an unfortunately poorly timed computer restart made me lose a few paragraphs of review here. I essentially wrote that this music reminded me vividly of when I was in music school; cold outside the auditorium but warm inside, dimly lit, half asleep, and relaxing while listening to stuff like this. Good hit of nostalgia.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

4/5

This is probably a hot or lukewarm take but I always thought this album was overrated. I know the intent was to make a record that was fundamentally different than Rumours, and I think they succeeded in doing that, but when I want Fleetwood Mac I really want that Rumours sound. Tusk does however have a lot of the staples of what make up their sound in a "piece by piece" manner; it has the super dry drums, the apparition-like Stevie vocals that are contrasted by the in-your-face Lindsey vocals, the incredibly clean compositions that take twists and turns and yet always seem grounded. All of these elements are done well and you can tell this album had a ton of effort put into it. It just feels like a follow-up that falls short in comparison. It's a high 3 for me, like a 3.8, enough to come up to a 4.

Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)

Loretta Lynn

3/5

Really nice country singer songwriter tunes. She's got that wonderful dynamic country range from smooth up to saturated and sharp. It's a lovely sound that is immediately enjoyable to me. The title track is the standout by a long shot. I'd consider rating this one higher if this record had more of those tracks on it. The others aren't necessarily bad, but I think a bit more forgetful than the title. I can tell that she influenced one of my favorite singers a lot, Nicole Atkins. Fun to listen to her for years and years and then now get a chance to listen to Loretta Lynn and hear some of the lineage in the vocal sound. I love these classic album covers; it's like half photograph half painting (can't really tell!), with some non-flashy text on it.

Stand!

Sly & The Family Stone

4/5

Definitely some vocabulary being used that would feel out of place in today's music (well except for in rap lyrics I guess?). It's easy for me to say "wow a whole track about the "N" word, this makes me uncomfortable", so I'm trying to think more about the substance beyond that and honestly there's not too much for me to enjoy in the song anyway. The guitar parts are fun at least. "Somebody's Watching You" has a really bad case of pan-imbalance. That spanky 100% left ear guitar track feels so distant from the rest of the band, with the drumset fully in the right ear. It feels like they split the band and had some people record in Studio A, and some in Studio B. Oh no- at this point in the record I just put on headphones and realized how the tracks are hard panned. Damn. One of my biggest gripes from this time period of music. "Everyday People" is such an impressive piece of music, and listening to it is like reuniting with an old friend. My mom loved this kind of music and when I was growing up this sort of sound was always on the car radio or on the record player in the basement. I am left unimpressed by the depth of the album. I want more tracks like "Everyday People", but it really stands so far ahead of the rest. That's kind of become a trend with this list where there's a lot of albums that have one really great track on it- and that's it. It's tough here as it's a short little 2 and a half minute track too. "I Want To Take You Higher" to me is the only one that comes close but it feels like it's missing some of that special sauce that makes "Everyday People" so great.

Dance Mania

Tito Puente

4/5

Being married to a puertorriqueña and having been to Puerto Rico several times in my life, I've heard a ton of Tito Puente and have enjoyed it every time. One of my best friends in college was a Peruvian musician who also was obsessed with Afro-Cuban / Afro-Peruvian / Latin music so I was surrounded by the sound via him as well. It's feel good music that makes your hips move, your lips smile, and your body feel warm. Standouts for me are "El Cayuco", "Hong Kong Mambo", and "Saca Tu Mujer".

Maggot Brain

Funkadelic

4/5

A wonderfully diverse and deep album. From the start of the first track you know you are in for something interesting- with the sad arpeggiated clean guitar, lazy snare that is just behind the beat about 50% of the time, and the crying wailing electric guitar, it's a cool intro. "Can You Get To That" and "Hit It And Quit It" are the two standouts. I kind of wish the album had more of these throughout, as I think the first three songs are the best three. "Super Stupid" is a cool track but there's times where it feels kind of like an amalgam of a bunch of other songs- like a big puzzle that's pieces are elements of other songs, like a riff from a Stones song, a drum beat from Zeppelin, and vocals from Hendrix. Which of course, is really cool! Imagine hearing a song written by those three? At the same time, it comes across as a little off to me. Eddie Hazel rips on guitar, and George Clinton is amazing. Solid 4.

Appetite For Destruction

Guns N' Roses

5/5

Absolute banger of an album. One of those ones that you see your browser open and display the graphic of the album cover and you call out an immediate reactionary "yes". That's how good this album is- my brain stem, my most innate and monkey-like part of my being knows that when I see this album cover I know I'm in for a good time, a full few milliseconds before the rest of my brain processes what I'm actually seeing. It blows my mind that this was a debut album. Are you kidding me? You have to have some real confidence to come out with "Welcome To The Jungle", with the soaring harpy vocals, the crazy inventive-yet-grounded-in-cool guitar parts, the attitude, the energy, the sex moans(!) MAN what a debut! If I had to describe this album in one word, it would be "confidence". I think one of my favorite music moments of all time is the "Welcome To The Jungle" part around 2:05, where Axl sings "jungle, welcome to the jungle watch it bring you to your knees" up until the 3 minute ish mark. There's so many interesting elements here: 2:06 to 2:10 - super cool harmony vocal part quarter notes 2:10 to 2:16 - cowbell underneath the "shanananananana" vocals 2:16 onward - super deep soft part that leads you through a screeching dualing guitar + vocal solo? Crazy stuff. I really love that ending too. So tough. I love that final guitar chord too (E7#9 rocks!)! This album really takes you places, and it doesn't feel like there's a single weak track. Some of my fondest memories of this album come from my early teenage years, from around the age of 9 up until I was 15 or 16. I remember being age 9/10 and playing Everquest (my third time mentioning that game!) with my brother and jamming this record, and then I remember being 14, getting my first guitar and trying to learn some Slash riffs and failing really hard. I think this was around the time where I started to listen to other kinds of rock bands for that reason - because I couldn't keep up with Slash. Now that I think of it, I really need to learn some of these songs! "Sweet Child O'Mine" has one of the best guitar riffs ever- maybe a top 5 or top 10 riff. "Welcome To The Jungle" "Paradise City" "Sweet Child O'Mine" If you took any of these three songs and put them on some random band's album, and packed the rest of said album with really bad songs, I bet that record would probably still make this 1001 list- because each of these 3 songs are so strong that they could elevate a bad album that much. Per Spotify, each of these 3 songs have over 1 billion song plays ("Sweet Child O'Mine" at 1.9 billion). I don't know if we've had an album yet that has several >1billion song plays on it. Doing a quick glance of some of the other albums on this list that are incredibly famous, not many even come close. From a quick and not thorough glance, the only album that I see that have 3+ is Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (note: The Beatles haven't been on streaming services as long as other artists, and I only checked a few dozen). It's funny to me how this band is kind of "boomer dad" now (which I am not), because the songs always felt timeless to me. Yea Axl is cringey and they are all old, but all of that aside, these songs are still great. This is an immediate 5/5, and added on my growing list of favorite albums of all time (it's landing around #20-25 as of today).

Nixon

Lambchop

3/5

I really love this album cover. It's uniquely modern and retro at the same time- really right up my alley. When I saw it appear I was immediately thinking this must be a more recent album. I feel like there's some deeper meanings going on too but I haven't quite sorted that out yet from my wikipedia and "lyrics genius" investigating. I really want to like this. The music is so cool. I just don't like the vocals, I feel like the singer is almost too... approachable? Like it's only a few short steps away from spoken wordy at times? It's really hard to put my finger on but I don't find enough magic that attracts me to the singing. I do appreciate all the exploration that goes on- like those crazy falsetto tracks. It's kind of crazy to me though because as I listen on I feel like I would love to see this band live. They certainly offer something. "Up with People" was a standout track, I think mostly because of the cool laid back feel and the nice backing vocals. This one definitely made me stop listening and restart the track before sliding through the rest of the album. Around the mid way point in this album I was thinking it was a clear 2, but it's ending up as a 3.

So

Peter Gabriel

3/5

Wonderful 80's reverb washed, synth pop goodness. I love the strained Springsteen-esque vocals on the first track. It sounds more Bruce than Peter which is kind of funny to me. There's something about this time period music that makes me feel like I'm about to embark on something. It's so big yet small, epic yet cool, and always fun. It's an impossible mashup of artistic energy that somehow works. I think for me this might be the case because I was born in 89 and grew up watching 80's and 90's movies that had this sort of music so I think I associate so much of this sound with the start of a movie. "Sledgehammer", more like "Slaphammer" cause this track slaps. Great energy and groove. "In Your Eyes" is a great album closer. John Cusack holding up his boombox and playing this song in the film "Say Anything" is one of the most memorable pop culture moments ever. I'd love to give this a 4 but I think it's just a bit short of that. The songs in between the two big boppers that I mentioned are just OK and don't elevate it enough in my opinion.

A Little Deeper

Ms. Dynamite

1/5

What a cringey intro song. "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee" is the big seller here. It feels like whoever put this list together just happened to like this song so much that they added the whole album because of it. The beat/music is cool but that's more a compliment to whoever made the sample? I do like the vocals and the biggest compliment I can give is that she sounds very slightly like Amy Winehouse in the verses here. The lyrics are so straightforward and bland. It also really hits on a frustratingly simple lyrical idea that is so overdone in rap/hiphop; the cliche "I'm great, I'm the best", "I'm Ms. Dy-na-mi-tee I stay blowin' up you're stereo everybody gotta hear me though I'm just Ms. Dy-na-mi-tee Hear me bussin' on da radio Now feel my flow you get me though I'm Ms. Dy-na-mi-tee" Boring, substance-less chorus. "At 13 I thought I was in love with this guy Anytime I caught his eye I thought that I'd just die Remember playin' class clown I was just a disruptive fool And the beatin' I got first time suspended from school Remember Sunday School and after go to granmas for lunch Macaroni, rice and peas, chicken and pineapple punch Never had much my mum brother sister and me But love was enough to succeed To grow" It's like some teenager writing a poem for English class and being told "write what's around you.". There's times where I want to sit back and bop to this album but each time my brain turns off for a second, I remind myself that this is 1001 albums to hear in your lifetime. The standards are higher than that. If an album is on here and the lyrics aren't great, well maybe the performances should be evocative and full of emotion? If they don't hit that mark, maybe the production should be doing something new and inventive? If it doesn't then.. does it deserve to be on this list?

Sunshine Hit Me

The Bees

3/5

Pretty cool sound right from the start. I like the grooves and production, although sometimes the production has some interesting overlaps that kind of conflict. The vocals left a bit to be desired for me though and kept it from a higher rating for me personally, they just kind of felt "bolted on" to the music and not as much of another voice/instrument in the overall sound. They were also just kind of forgettable. 3/5. Cool album cover, nice sound. Nothing too crazy and that's what kind of keeps it from doing more for me.

Casanova

The Divine Comedy

3/5

Interesting sound with a lot of ideas packed into the songs. I was really impressed by the intro song and wasn't expecting something that whimsical- with the brass, orchestral marching cymbals, and fast string stabs. Judging the album by the cover I was expecting some mid 1990's "cool guy" vibe. I was pretty pleasantly surprised when more of the album continued in this direction. It's loungey and chamber poppy, and extravagant in a fun way. "Middle Class Heroes" is so intentionally / unintentionally funny with the cartoonish marimbas, swelling brass, contrasting the serious lyrics that paraphrase Hamlet. I enjoyed this, and I'll be checking it out again. It was really an interesting listen. 3.4/5

There's A Riot Goin' On

Sly & The Family Stone

3/5

This style of funk has always been really interesting to me. It's great music, but there's this strategy that feels like "throwing a few too many different sounds together and hoping that it gels" that doesn't always gel with me. take "Family Affair" for example, I hear: drumset percussion toys main vocals harmony vocals wah-wah guitar plucky rhythmic guitar solo slightly overdriven guitar electric piano bass guitar Eight instruments isn't a lot, but for the most part they are each doing a distinctly different thing; they aren't all riffing on the same riff, they aren't all listening and talking to eachother. It definitely helps the replayability, like I assume you can't hear this song and get sick of it until you listen to it like over a dozen times, because there's so many voices and things going on. This was a good listen and a good time, but I was a little bit underwhelmed. It's a funk dynasty and an impressive lineage but I can't help but leave some songs wanting more. There's a lot of jamming that doesn't really go anywhere- specifically in the second half where I feel like the last 3 instrumental tracks leave a bad lasting impression. "My Gorilla Is My Butler - Instrumental" is a full 3 minutes of 8th note digital snare drum hits with a funk keyboard riffs behind it and refuses to go anywhere. Maybe this one should have kept the vocals?

Roxy Music

4/5

Love the crazy rock and roll energy that starts the album. It's like a punkier Rolling Stones sort of sound that pushes the instrumentalists to go a bit wild. I'm really impressed by "2HB", this sounds so modern and unique and it's right up my alley. I love the droning-but-interesting drum part, the main keyboard riff is killer and super catchy, and I absolutely adore the saxophone / reed instrument that turns into beautiful textures around 1:45. Even though this came before it, I think the vocals here sound like one of my favorite vocalists, Will Sheff of the band Okkervil River. This is one of those "I wish I wrote that" songs for me. I've heard of this band many times but never really listened, which I regret now because this is some solid rock tunes with just the right amount of exploration. I can't get over how bad the woman's expression is on the album cover. I heard something recently about how photographers should always be highlighting subject's expressions because that's naturally where our eyes go first as the viewer. The photographer had taken a picture of the actress Ana De Armas and she was holding a coke with a mouth full of hot dog, which normally you would think would not be a flattering image, but Ana De Armas is so strikingly attractive that the photo is actually wonderful, and human, and she still looks great in it. I don't mean to talk down on the woman here, but her expression is like almost one of pain? It's a seductive position but I feel like she's working herself into a yoga pose that hurts her back on the way in hahah. I enjoyed this, easy 4/5.

Blunderbuss

Jack White

3/5

I first started writing about this album and how I really like Jack White and The White Stripes but how I wasn't sure if this one needed to be on this list, but after finishing the record I'm editing what I wrote because I think it does deserve a spot. It's not the most memorable album of all time, it's not even in my top 100 list of best rock albums of all time, and the songs kind of have this "came and went" thing to me, but I think it's a plenty solid record. "Sixteen Saltines", "Love Interruption", "Freedom at 21", and "Blunderbuss" are all great. The lingering problem remains for me though after listening to this, writing half of my review, and now listening to some tracks again the next day and finishing up my writing here. There's just a lack of lingering with these songs and they don't hang onto my short or long term memory banks. I don't have a perfect memory but I'm usually pretty good with song lyrics and chorus melodies, but as I sit here now, 24 hours later, I'm struggling to think of how "Love Interruption" goes, which is my favorite one on here. I love his guitar tones, I think the drumming is super cool on this record, his unique voice has always sounded great to me... I just don't know why, but when this album finishes it doesn't maintain the hooks in me.

The Last Of The True Believers

Nanci Griffith

3/5

Pretty nice album that for the most part is chill country/folk. "Love At The Five & Dime" is my favorite. Great production and great composition. This album went by and I enjoyed it the more I listened. It's deeper than it initially appears. Great album cover, it looks like an odd blend of casual-chance-encounter and staged actors.

Vulgar Display Of Power

Pantera

5/5

Great timing on this one; just visited a group of friends that I haven't seen in maybe 15 years and the group friendship was defined by our love for heavy metal and specifically Pantera. This album deserves a spot on this list solely for having "Walk" on it, arguably one of the most well known true heavy metal songs of all time. It encapsulates everything that is Pantera; it is fiercely intense, provocative, and heavy. It antagonizes, and punches you in the face. Hell yea! My favorite thing about Pantera (and something that is heard throughout this album) is that they aren't just a straightforward heavy metal band. On top of this thrashy southern tough guy sound are these out-of-left-field elements, like Dimebag Darrell's alien screechy yet tasteful guitar solos, or the impossible to implement groove parts ("Live in a Hole") that somehow are worked in by Rex and Vinny, or their more dynamic tracks like "This Love" or "Hollow" where they experiment with clean guitars and a much softer vocal performance by Phil Anselmo. I'm a sucker for granularity when it comes to genres and microgenres in music and specifically for metal. Pantera I most often consider to be some kind of blend of "Southern Thrash Stoner Metal". When I was younger I and all of my friends idolized these guys; Phil Anselmo was the coolest guy ever with his buzzed head, tattoos, cargo shorts, combat boots, and tough guy persona. I can't help but look back fondly and remember how much the personas made the music even cooler. He also probably has my favorite heavy metal voice of all time. Dimebag was the creative genius, guitar savant who was also impossibly the life of the party while also being down to earth. We all envisioned our personalities existing somewhere on the spectrum between those two at opposite ends. One of my favorite tracks from this album is "Rise", which is a brutally tough song that challenges why the world is so hateful with a shockingly positive set of lyrics that contrast the tones and timbres: "We've got no time to lose Your news is old news "Hate this, hate me, hate this" Right approach for the wrong It's time to spread the word Let the voice be heard All of us, one of us, all of us Dominate and take the motherfucking world Mass prediction, unification Breathing life into our lungs Every creed and every kind To give us depth for strength Taught when we're young to hate one another It's time to have a new reign of power Make pride universal so no one gives in Turn our backs on those who oppose Then when confronted, we ask them the question: What's wrong with their mind? What's wrong with your mind?" It's like overwhelmingly positive towards human differences and that people should be proud of these differences and not use them to hate each other. With all of that said, they certainly don’t have the cleanest records as I’ve heard some pretty nasty things that they have said in the news before; so much that I’m not so proud these days to wear the t-shirts just to be on the safe side and avoid any potentially awkward conversations. 5/5, classic record from a classic band. I hope "Cowboys From Hell" is on the list too!

After The Gold Rush

Neil Young

4/5

No one plays a minor chord quite like Neil Young. I don't know why, but sometimes he'll have a song with a chord progression in it and instead of an expected major chord, he'll throw a minor chord right at you and make you feel things. It happens pretty quickly on this album (7 seconds in) and his beautiful vocal melody on top really makes your ears focus on the speakers of whatever device you are listening too. I love this first track, it gets going right away, and then blossoms beautifully with more and more volume and voices. I'm so into the saturation/distortion on his voice on "Southern Man" that cuts right through the buttery smooth vocal harmonies beside it. Such a cool sound. Now that I think of it, halfway into this album I'm realizing that the vocal parts are really the highlight. Solid release, with many memorable moments.

S.F. Sorrow

The Pretty Things

2/5

Didn't do much for me. It's like a blend of 60s Brit rock and Beatles worship but with all of the wrong elements, I couldn't help listening thinking that this is a subpar effort at emulating another band. I just went back and re-listened to the highest play count songs to see if I missed something. "Baron Saturday" is the highest so I went there first, and my opinion hasn't really changed. The vocal parts start to get cool in the middle with that rough and raw chorus at 00:45 and again at 1:21 and then it almost suddenly drops into an unexpected and unwanted? bongo jam. 2/5; I think I'd like it more if it wasn't presented to me as an album I must hear in my lifetime.

Dr. Octagonecologyst

Dr. Octagon

3/5

The lyrics are a bit weird at times but I dig the music/beats/production and the rapping/flow itself. There's some good ideas in there and you can tell that he/they aren't afraid to just try some weird stuff. "Earth People" is like a kid in high school taking his first sample and trying to rap over it- there's seemingly no EQ or compression on the vocals, and it sits so high over the beat that it's kind of weirdly good and catchy? Then you hear "Blue Flowers" which is cool, reserved, intriguing, and laid back like a Big L track. I ended up really liking this. Solid 3.5/5. In the context of 1001 albums though it's cool but not really earth (people) shattering or genre-defining enough to really grab me. It's way deeper than you think though.

Trout Mask Replica

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

3/5

Oh boy the real outsider avant-garde album that every avant garde-ist must hear at some point in their lives. It's uncomfortable cacophony is a welcome sound to me and it's kind of funny and silly and it makes it approachable for such pop-antagonistic music. I've heard bits and pieces of this album over the years, many times by having people say "you ever hear this weird album?" and then playing a song or two before you put on more listenable stuff, but I never heard it all at once. I've always leaned towards being a rebellious "i like weird stuff" kind of person and so this stuff immediately jives with me. It deserves a spot on this list, and it's a cool collection of art.

For Your Pleasure

Roxy Music

3/5

I really liked the last Roxy Music album (self titled), and I'm excited for this one. It's got great energy to start and a cool vibe. The second track's warbling vocal style was kind of a turn off though, it felt like it didn't match the instrumentation. The Dracula-like vocal delivery on the third track was also off-putting. As this album went on it kind of departed from what I was expecting and hoping for. The energetic and fun vibe of their self titled album is heard a few times on this one (more in the second half) but I'm left wanting more. This is also the 3rd Roxy Music album on this list so far and maybe it's just getting stretched a little bit. It's not a bad record, and was enjoyable to listen through.

Bug

Dinosaur Jr.

4/5

Dang I restarted my computer and lost what I wrote! (this has happened like 4x now on this project). Long story short, I have appreciated this band from afar without ever really diving into them. I have some friends who have done a songwriting masterclass/camp with J. Mascis and reported that they learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it, which is cool! I think this record is a solid noisy indie rock release that is also admirably dynamic, and is really approachable for me in that regard. It's not all noisy loudness, and it's not all quiet acoustic and clean guitars. Many of the songs have interesting sections and you can tell there's a lot of the band writing parts together going on, which I appreciate. It's not just J. Mascis coming to them with songs already written and them just playing the backing music, there's a lot of song breaks for the drums / other instruments to shine, and it makes for a handful of cool rock moments. It's a high 3, like a 3.8 for me, enough to round to a 4. My only wish is that I want more pronounced vocal parts, like more hooks or memorable melodies.

Destroyer

KISS

3/5

There's a youthful energy in this record that I think is pretty special, and magical. It's like a bunch of young boys go in their garage for their first band jam, put on some silly rockstar costumes and makeup, and when they start playing this is the sound that they hear in their heads. That's my audiovisual experience I have when I hear this album. At the same time, I wouldn't say this is their best record, and it's hard to figure out what one really is. This has "Beth" on it, their true great ballad, the album "Dynasty" has "I Was Made For Lovin' You", "Dressed To Kill" has "Rock And Roll All Nite". So if you could only pick one, which would you pick? It's a hard question. They are one of those bands where you think that a greatest hits would be the album that needs to be on here, but I think having a greatest hits on this list kind of defeats the purpose a little bit. That's what makes rating this album a bit hard for me. "Beth" is the big track on this record, but it's far from my favorite Kiss song, it's maybe like 6th or 7th best. I do however really like "Shout It Out Loud", but even that is maybe my 5th best Kiss song. So where does that put this album? I think if I gave it a 3 that would be doing it a disservice for how monumental Kiss as a band are. I'm afraid of this being the only record by them on here and giving them only a 3 when it's one of the most famous bands ever. A 5 feels a little too high for me though, because it's not really a perfect or near-perfect record. It has it's moments, but I'd rather listen to other Kiss tracks before this collection. I'm going with a 3. It's solid rock tracks but unfortunately aren't the best representation of the band.

Let It Bleed

The Rolling Stones

5/5

Despite growing up in a classic rock house and having bands like Zeppelin and The Stones be incredibly overplayed, I never really get sick of hearing these sounds. It's always welcome. It's always enjoyable. What a great record starter with "Gimme Shelter". The warbly tremolo electric guitar that drones and pushes the song along, the soulful backup vocals, the güiro, the harmonica, the vibe. "Love in Vain" is a beautiful second track and great contrast to the opener. Solid acoustic ballad that is packed with layers that keep the song fresh and elevated from a basic harmony and melody. If there was a list of the best albums that contain amazing starting and finishing tracks, this would be pretty high up on the list. The Stones have many songs that I adore, but I really love "Gimme Shelter", and "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and it's pretty special that this record starts and ends with those two. I want to give this a really high 4, but I forgot about how great "Country Honk" is as well. This has to be a 5 for my tastes. Three really timeless classic rock anthems bring it there.

Tical

Method Man

3/5

Wu-Tang is great and hugely influential, but I have to admit that the start of this album has been kind of annoying to listen to. There's so much going on; so many layers that don't work well with each other and it leads to this sound that feels like I'm sitting in a room with several conversations going on at the same time and I'm expected to pay to attention to one (the vocals) as the highest priority... and yet the vocals are so low in the mix. It kind of continued throughout, but the flow and lyrical quality kept me from a 2. It's a 3.

Exit Planet Dust

The Chemical Brothers

3/5

It's really great bop around music. It makes you move and jam but in a cool way. There's so silly arm flailing hip shaking here, it's a subtle body undulation with a bad boy head nod. Solid 3/5 in the purest sense. Didn't find much that I didn't like, but also didn't find much that I really loved.

Elvis Is Back

Elvis Presley

5/5

Elvis is the king. This album is stellar. Really pretty songs with his timeless buttery vocal performance. I'm really, really impressed by the production too and I'm shocked that I'm listening to the original mix and it's sounding so good on my speakers. I think that's a testament to the amazing arrangement; there seems to be a layer that appears every single time that my ear wants one... there seems to be a change every time I'm ready to move on from whatever section I'm listening to. Beautiful record. I grew up listening to Elvis as he was my mom's favorite but I don't often reach to put his records on these days but this was such a delight to listen to. I was really considering this as a 4/5 until I heard "Such a Night" which really blew me away. The energy and tension in the verses that explode into the huge shouting chorus is so amazing. Truly incredible songwriting that I think is really missing these days. Currently when I think of pop/indie music there is such a hesitancy to have big dynamic sections; so much of current music is about coming across as "cool" that I think songwriters in those genres stay away from this sort of big emotional moments and it's so refreshing to hear something that is 60 years old having this effect on me. Love the album cover too. All the guys wanted to be him, and all the ladies wanted to be with him; just put his face on the cover and it'll be great.

The Grand Tour

George Jones

3/5

I love the intro song with it's piercing yet smooth vocals and the contrasting low piano strikes. I can't get over how well his voice sits in the mix. If I was really into classic country crooner music I'd love George Jones. The style inhibits some of my enjoyment of it. "A Picture Of Me (Without You)" and "The Grand Tour" were really exceptional though.

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

2/5

The hard part for me with this band is that every song tends to sound the same and blurs together. They can change the arrangement and instrumentation heavily (like the jokey country "Rusholme Ruffians"), but that vocal tone and delivery always just sounds the same. I hate to hate on the record because "the" sound is good, and there's lots of cool elements to the music- the drums are tight, the bass is often playing very creative parts, and the guitar does really well with only shining when it needs to. The entire outfit is very cohesive. I didn't however have a moment in this album where I said "wow, this is a special track, let me get a better look at the name so I remember it". It came and went.

Who Killed...... The Zutons?

The Zutons

3/5

I know this band as being the original songwriters of one of my favorite songs, "Valerie". OH MAN. INSTANT NOSTALGIA HIT WITH "PRESSURE POINT". This was a song on MVP Baseball 2005's soundtrack, the greatest baseball videogame of all time. For a year or two of my life I probably heard this song thousands of times and then never listened again. This happens sometimes with baseball videogames for me, where the soundtracks are generally good and filled with music I actually like, so I would put in crazy amounts of hours into the games while listening to the songs but then I would forget about the random one-off tracks. It's always funny to me how this happens because it's such a unique experience and one that I don't have with anything else in my life; it's literally only specifically dated baseball videogames I played at important seminal teenage years. This song I recognized immediately, or I did and then had to take a second and figure out exactly what baseball game it was from lol. This band kind of has "it", don't they? It's a great sound that is confident and cool and hits on a lot of cool ideas. I don't know why they weren't bigger; or maybe they were and I just missed the boat on them.

In Our Heads

Hot Chip

2/5

Great start- I really enjoyed the metric modulation / rhythmic ambiguity that started track 1, it was a fun way of keeping me on my toes and questioning where the "1" was, and I was hoping for more of it throughout the song but never got it. I feel like I didn't mind the song (and following songs) being on in the background and bopping around, but these tracks really feel like they lack substance. There's just something missing, or they are just short of doing something that really impresses me. I almost want it to be instrumental because when the synths take lead parts my ears start to perk up and listen more intently. Listening to this makes me feel like I'm hearing some watered down LCD Soundsystem. It's really that got early 2010's college synth indie sound that was so prevalent then, but unfortunately this sounds kind of forgettable compared to the bigger acts from that time period. "Flutes" was cool, it's got some fun rhythms in there and doesn't feel like it's in a rush to go somewhere, which I really appreciate from this kind of music. It's the idea of a band saying "yea we have all of this fun bottled up energy that you are going to want and you're going to want to move to, but you're going to have to wait to get it." Man the vocals pull me out of it though. All of the mystery is ripped out of the track by the end. I might like this more if I listen at some other point but right now I am frustrated that it was close to something that I would really like but whenever it had a chance to go in a direction that I didn't want, they took that chance.

Shaft

Isaac Hayes

3/5

I think this might be our first movie soundtrack on the list? I'll have to go back and check. This is a nice album. The theme song is incredibly good and forever catchy and memorable for me. If I was joking with friends and starting singing this song, I think most of them would be able to finish the lines that I would be starting, and at the very least hit the "SHAFT" callout when it happens. Outside of that track, the rest of the album has some nice tracks on it but nothing of course as monumental as that title track. The production is also a standout. "No Name Bar" sounds like it is being performed inside of my ears which is incredible for this being a 50+ year old album.

Stardust

Willie Nelson

3/5

I actually haven't listened to much Willie Nelson in my life outside of random radio plays. When I think of him, I think of the word "serene". I think of a calm older cowboy sitting by a fireplace, strumming his nylon guitar, and serenading his partner with a soft and tremble-y voice. So that was my expectation for this album, and that's what I got. It's beautiful, warm, inviting, and a nice listen. Keeping it at a 3 is that I tend to like more offensive music and this was about as inoffensive as it gets.

69 Love Songs

The Magnetic Fields

4/5

This is one of the strongest "specific to a time period" albums for me in my life. This one for college and a year or two after, when one of my best friends Jake shared the album with me. Whenever Jake shares a new song that he's written, or when he shares an old original song that I've never heard, I feel like I hear a little bit of this in it; there's something about the cadences, lyrics, and chord progressions here that are so ingrained his music (specifically tracks like "Reno Dakota" and of course, "The Book of Love"), that I struggle to separate them. I listen to these songs and it makes me miss my friend who is currently walking around Spain who I spoke to only 12 hours ago, and will speak to in an hour or two when I tell him that this album is today's 1001 album. This is a beautiful album with a great backstory, and I'm a sucker for a good backstory. I enjoy this whenever it's put on and it's a great and fitting addition to this 1001 list. 4/5, and great album cover.

The Scream

Siouxsie And The Banshees

2/5

The riffs are standoffish, the drums are cool and uniquely tom-heavy, there's grit, and yet I really couldn't get into this. I get it, it's like tough female-led post-punk with attitude, that's great! And normally something I'd be into, but maybe it's because I've heard this sound so many times that I can't help but hear this and hear like hundreds of local band shows that feature acts that sound just like this. Yea, I get that this is maybe one of the pioneering acts of that kind of sound but I don't really like that sound in general I think? To me all of the songs sounded the same until "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)" (well except for their cover of Helter Skelter), and this is probably my least favorite track on the album. The riffs sound like a beginner guitarist trying to write riffs to play on Halloween, and the vocals are kind of annoying. Just kind of bored with this one. It's like a 1.8/2 for me.

The Slim Shady LP

Eminem

4/5

I was hoping this album would be on the list after seeing The Marshall Mathers EP showing up earlier. "My Name Is" is one of the most important rap songs of all time in my opinion. Jokey rap has been done before, but Eminem is maybe one of the best actual true rappers who does this sound well. The comedic bits aren't crutches, they are additional colors to his solid base. Remove the comedy and you have rap that is still good. It's like if a talented jazz guitarist all of a sudden writes a song using really simple chords. The song would raise some eyebrows because jazz typically is defined by its complex chords, but if people saw it was written by "Talented Jazz Guitarist" they would naturally respect it. This song also did a great job at being a bridge for people to listen to rap who wouldn't otherwise give it the time of day. I love the storytelling and dare I call it "spoken word" parts, but it's hard to get in a groove with this album at times because these little comedic bits pop in so frequently and stop the music. It's like an ADHD nightmare where your attention is constantly being manically pulled away in different directions. For me this is a solid 4.5/5. "My Name Is" can't be championed enough as a modern classic, and there are a few other tracks that are very high quality, like "Guilty Conscience", "Role Model", and "Just Don't Give A Fuck". It's not quite enough for a 5 for me though.

Iron Maiden

4/5

Awesome debut. "Prowler" in particular is a song where I can hear so many of the guitar parts in my head before the song even starts. These first two albums had Paul Di'Anno as the lead vocalist, and while they are great records, I feel like Iron Maiden didn't truly take off until Bruce Dickinson joined them for "Number of the Beast" and on. When I hear the guitar tone of the solo on "Prowler" right around 2 minutes, I'm teleported to being a 15 year old in my bedroom, staring at my computer speakers and thinking "how do they make those sounds?". It's a great feeling. "Strange World" is one of my favorite metal songs ever. It's so mysteriously beautiful. The dynamics in the band are incredible. It's funny to me how I'm looking at Iron Maiden albums now and realizing that so many of them could be on this list. Self-titled, The Number Of The Beast, Powerslave, Piece of Mind, Fear of the Dark... these all have amazing metal songs on them.

Tuesday Night Music Club

Sheryl Crow

5/5

For me, "All I Wanna Do" is in contention for being THE song of the 90s. If not number 1, it's probably easily a top 10. It is so masterfully written. Track 1 is beautiful but I disagree with the placement. It's got a pretty sad rock ballad-y feel to it and I feel like this is an odd way to start an album- specially an album that has some great energy in it beyond this track. I think there are several others that would be a better fit as #1 instead. "Strong Enough" is a bit of a hidden gem on this album, with a beautiful chorus that sits on top of a cool conversation between a fretless bass and a slew of acoustic guitars. This is a very good song, and I will be learning how to play it today. She has an incredible knack for taking a track that just has a basic verse harmony and melody and then elevating it. It's like after 1 minute into writing a song she has this magic ability to say "let's do a big over the top pre-chorus, and yes I know that it will work because I am magic". Maybe it's a confidence thing. I miss pop / singer-songwriter albums like this. I feel like nowadays these types of artists are so obsessed with "their sounds" and living inside of their moodboards that you get super cohesive albums that are really good, but they don't really jump around too much inside of the singular albums. Maybe that's not a problem at all though (and maybe it's something that I've praised other times on this list)? When I think of the big pop acts right now, like Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, I think that many of their albums are all compartmentalized into their one thing. Taylor Swift is probably the most obvious one, with her "this is my folk heartbreak album", "this is my synth pop heartbreak album", but even Billie Eilish's most recent release "Hit Me Hard and Soft" is super cool and does a lot of interesting things, but it's all silo'd into that one album. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to critique too hard, because that Billie Eilish album is one of my favorite records of the last some odd years, but this Sheryl Crow album excited me on an extra level because I got a cohesive collection that also had some boundary pushing inside of it. There's some funk guitars in there ("Solidify"), there's some Fiona Apple-esque vocal parts ("The Na-Na Song"), some bluegrass ("Strong Enough"), some electronic jazz ("We Do What We Can"), and some bonafide pop (twang disco pop??!?("All I Wanna Do")). After writing this section of my review while listening to "All I Wanna Do", it's become obvious that this is a 5/5 album. It has everything that I want in a record and I'm so glad it's come back to my attention. "Tuesday Night Music Club" is such a great name for an album, and this album art supports the title well. I want to listen further, I want to see what she has to offer.

D

White Denim

3/5

I was contently enjoying this album and thinking "yea it's a pretty good prog(ish) rock jam band", and then I was delighted to hear "Street Joy". It was a perfect change of pace and showed more depth. The next song, "Anvil Everything" was really cool too and reminded me of The Mars Volta but in a more lighter sense. Cool album cover, but right now with generative AI being all the rage, it would come across as some bland overdone AI artwork. Fortunately this was released 13 years ago in 2011 and I'm assuming someone actually put this collage together, which is cool. A solid 3. It's hard for me to go back to these kinds of jammy albums and that's what's kept it from being a higher rating. It was nice to listen to, but I hesitate to say it should definitely be a 1001 album you must hear in your lifetime.

Quiet Life

Japan

2/5

I liked the first track the most and then the rest kind of fell off. It's really a shame when an album starts with a banger and then doesn't follow it up with other tracks of equal quality. There's definitely some depth on this album but overall it didn't grab me enough. I think I'll have to give it another spin at some point though.

Out of Step

Minor Threat

2/5

Tough, edgy punk. I've seen a million Minor Threat t-shirts at metal shows throughout the years but they never really did enough for me to want to don one. There's just something charming and yet also boring when listening to this album and one song ends and another begins. Each song has essentially the same tones, mic placements, production elements, and when one riff ends it sounds like only a second passes before the next riff (and song) begins. It's kind of kitschy in a sense like "hell yea keep this train rolling", but also beckons a "eh here's another one". I respect it but it's not my favorite type of punk.

Tonight's The Night

Neil Young

3/5

This is the third Neil Young (or Neil Young & Crazy Horse) album, and we have yet to see "Harvest" which I think has two of his best songs on it. I'm not super familiar with this one but it's got a pretty rockin feel to it and I pretty much always love Neil with a rock band behind him. He knows how to rock and when he's got a drummer or an electric guitar with a little bit of that "edge of breakup" distortion, it usually means enjoyable music is being played. This was a good listen. A little bit too much in the middle though without many songs that stood out. I'm giving it a 3 for it's quality but I'm not sure if this should be on the list.

Greetings From L.A.

Tim Buckley

3/5

Pretty solid classic rocky type album. A little short, at only 7 songs and 39 minutes, but I didn't mind that really as when the album was over it didn't feel like it wore out its' welcome. That happens to me sometimes on albums, where I can start to get some ear fatigue going on during the last few tracks of longer ones. Interestingly, the average length of track here is around 5:40, which is surprisingly long and on this list might be towards the top end if sorted by the metric of "average song duration". Some of the songs feel good being long, like "Devil Eyes" has a great "speaking in tongues" sort of part around the 5:00 mark. Kind of funny to take a step back and think about that starting at 5 minutes when you figure most songs these days end around 3 minutes, and usually have their big shifts or bridges around the 2 minute point. It's a nice 3/5 for me. I've heard his name around but never really listened much and this was a nice surprise- I was expecting some straight up classic rock but this had a nice amount of flavor in it. I love this album cover. There's a lot of ideas in it that make you want to look further; like why is the main image tilted? Why that yellow? I love how traditionally these postcards are usually some idyllic photo with a beautiful landscape, but here it's an overwhelming collection of rectangular buildings that start to fade away into a pretty gross blurry brown section.

Better Living Through Chemistry

Fatboy Slim

3/5

Solid 90s EDM with great builds, drops, and fun. Maybe it's because of the music videos, but I always think of Fatboy Slim as "fun". There's always so much going on and it's for the most part inoffensive music that does it's thing. Sampling is really cool on this one. You can tell he takes a lot of care with integrating them into his music and the results speak for themselves. Solid 3.4/5.

From Elvis In Memphis

Elvis Presley

4/5

Beautiful record. There's a lot of highlighting of Elvis' crooning and haunting voice on this one, and I love it. "I'll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms)" is specially haunting (and sometimes even ghoulish!) while still being a pop song. I love "Suspicious Minds", and even though it wasn't written by Elvis, I'm pretty certain that it was Elvis who made the song into the hit that it's been all these years. This is a track that I used to hear my mom playing on her record player / humming around the house when I was growing up. "In The Ghetto" is also great, Elvis' voice is so confident in this one. Solid 4/5.

Like A Prayer

Madonna

3/5

This is one of those albums where it has one super famous track on it and the albums inclusion on this list is probably because of it. Going through the rest of the album I wasn't really blown away. I don't dislike Madonna in general, but these tracks felt pretty standard and the hooks felt forced. Many of those Rolling Stones-type top X of all time lists have songs/albums/musicians that I think are indisputably great; I tend to like all of the songs on these lists, and I can find good things included throughout. And "Like a Prayer" I'm sure is on many "best pop songs of all time" lists, but listening now, I don't really feel too much from the song. It just kind of feels like it lacks substance I think? I really struggle to like a lot on this record. Maybe it just feels kind of dated? "Express Yourself" has a great sentiment with some quasi lyrical relationship advice, but it feels so forced while also sounding a bit empty. It's a 2.7/5 for me, enough for it to be a 3.

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen

3/5

"Minutemen" really makes sense when 1hr14minutes of music gets played here across 43 songs! This is some pretty fun proto-punk (i think that's what it is called?), with some surprising moments. Going from the proggy fast and heavy "Viet Nam" into the slow rolling nylon guitar of "Cohesion" is jarring, but in a cool way, and I feel like the album has more little moments like that that I find intriguing. One downside is that it has some moments that feel a little boring compared to the rest. This is a problem that occurs on any album where there is fast and exciting moments, alongside slower ones. It leaves the slower moments to feel a bit less interesting. 3/5, was just OK for me.

Ambient 1/Music For Airports

Brian Eno

3/5

Beautiful, meditative, relaxing, introspective music. This is my first dive into Brian Eno (after being told my whole life I need to start listening!), and I'm really enjoying it. The first track actually sounds exactly like music I used to write when I was in music school, and I guess now it's finally clicking ~16 years later as to why all my professors told me to listen to him. If I had to have a gripe it would be that some of this feels a bit undeveloped, and I mean that in the classical composition way of actual "development". You hear so many layers and instruments come in and out, and they all add colors, but the melodies that they play don't really expand or explore. They do their thing, move around inside of the key, and then resolve. There's a real lack of tension (not that even album needs to have tension) that leaves me feeling complacent in a nice way but also a little unsatisfied over the course of a whole album. 3.4/5, rounded to a 3.

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake

Small Faces

2/5

Interesting album with a lot of interesting (and at times frustrating) panning/production ideas. I liked listening to it and felt like at times it droned on a bit, but I understand that is the jammy nature of this sort of sound. Not really really wow'd by anything in it though and for this reason I'm not totally sure it warrants a spot on this list. I think ultimately that is the true filter or test that I need to hear when I am listening to an album on this list; I need to stop and say "wow" at something. There exist many great albums that should be heard in your lifetime, but I think the 1001 best of the lot should each contain some kind of "wow" factor. Whether that's vocal performance, guitarring, drumming in a tight pocket, production or songwriting moments... it should have something. 2/5.

Imperial Bedroom

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

This was a nice listen but admittedly didn't do too much for me. I've written before about Elvis Costello on this list and how unfortunately many of his songs come across as good listens in the moment, but are then pretty quickly forgotten. They just seem to miss some level of hook that would keep a chorus on repeat in my head once the record is over. I don't know if it's maybe his voice that has a little bit too much of a soothing / round sound to it that makes him sound more "calming" than "rocking", which I find weird because he definitely wants to rock. I did like the howling at the end of "Man Out Of Time" and there were a few other moments in it that grabbed my attention, but for the most part this was just a passing listen.

Fear and Whiskey

Mekons

2/5

Kind of cool British rock/slightly punk/alternative/slightly country or folky (i think that's how I would genre it?). Pretty just alright. Doesn't really do much for me, kind of questioning it being on the list. I do enjoy when bands blend genres and do different things but this one at the core didn't show me enough for me to enjoy really. The album cover is cool and reminiscent of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas though which is nice.

We Are Family

Sister Sledge

4/5

Awesome funk soul album with plenty of style and flair. This album has amazing production, incredibly impressive vocal performances, and the band is so impressively tight (no surprise with Nile Rodgers involved). My mom likes Sister Sledge and it's funny because growing up I heard her talk about them before hearing their music and for a while I thought it was an 80's hair metal band- like a group of sledgehammer wielding, guitar shredding women. There's still some times where I hear this band or even just hear their name and I think back to being a little kid with a wild imagination. The one downside of this record for me is that it's a little short at around 43 minutes of music. It's remedied a bit by the remaster which gives us 4 additional versions of tracks that add around an extra 30 minutes of music. It's a 4.3/5 for me. Not enough for it to be a 5. "We Are Family" is an amazing song and will forever be played at family gatherings, weddings, really any joyous event that you can think of. If this record had another one that was high up like that then I would easily give it a 5.

Tellin’ Stories

The Charlatans

3/5

Nice sound, very Oasis-y (even though it appears they had albums coming out right around the same time as them so it's hard to credit who really came first). I liked the songs but after listening once through and then coming back the next morning to complete my review, I can't think of many moments that stand out. One moment that does stand out is the start of "One To Another", it is cinematic and dark and when the vocals arrive it feels like you are watching a big climactic moment of a good movie. It's a 2.8 rounded to a 3.

New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)

Simple Minds

2/5

This was alright, more classic Brit rock that sometimes leans towards pop, sometimes artsy, and sometimes towards more a more dramatic sound. The production wasn't bad and the performances weren't bad, but overall it didn't do much for me. If this album is on this list then I'm sure "Once Upon A Time" will be on the list as well, as that has the classic track "Don't You (Forget About Me)", which I feel is one of THE genre-defining tracks of a decade, the 80s. 2.4/5.

Either Or

Elliott Smith

4/5

I grew up not really listening to Elliott Smith and only really hearing of him from friends sometimes. I started to listen to him 2 summers ago though in 2022, after visiting Seattle and being told that I HAVE to listen. Glad they did, as I feel like his music really resonates with me. His voice is a little too soft and vulnerable for me to immediately like and that's probably why I never got into him when I was younger. I grew up loving big booming rock voices like Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland, but now that I'm older I actually love these more soft & breathy vocal styles. The production is right up my alley. It's got this rough-around-the-edges vibe, and is just clean and compressed enough that you can hear every instrument and voice, but they also aren't processed like some super pop factory track. It's a beautiful album.

...The Dandy Warhols Come Down

The Dandy Warhols

2/5

I feel like there's an incredible amount of songs about heroin in rock music; it seems like it's been a ubiquitous part of the history of the genre and it will probably continue to be so for the foreseeable future. When I look at the lyrics for those types of songs, there usually is some kind of poetic take on the drug, with comparisons to love or relationships or vivid descriptions of the high being sung about in a subtle and artistic way. Like see the lyrics here on one of my favorite songs by The Stranglers, "Golden Brown", they sing: "Golden brown, texture like sun Lays me down, with my mind she runs Throughout the night, no need to fight Never a frown with golden brown Every time, just like the last On her ship, tied to the mast To distant lands, takes both my hands Never a frown with golden brown" Or in another one of my favorite songs, "So Come Back, I Am Waiting" by Okkervil River: "A black sheep boy revolves Over canyons and waterfalls A black sheep boy dissolves In syringe or in shower stall He says there's plenty of time to make you mine tonight He says there's plenty of time to make you mine He says there's plenty of ways to know you're not dying All right Hell there's plenty of light still left in your eyes" These are all beautiful and poignant lyrics and have stuck with me for these reasons. I've spent the last few years of my life as a songwriter thinking a lot about bluntness, and the spectrum of lyrics being too "on the nose" and blunt, or on the opposite end with lyrics being too overly poetic or superfluous. With that topic lingering in my head for a while now it was funny for me to hear a song like "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth" with a chorus like: "Heroin is so passe, hey Heroin is so passe, hey So passe nowadays You never thought you'd get addicted just be cooler in an obvious way I could say, shouldn't you have got a couple piercings and decided maybe that you were gay." To me these lyrics are a little bit less about heroin itself and more about a person, but I find it funny to think about where on that spectrum of lyrical approach this song would live compared to the two that I previously mentioned. Not only that, but to think of a visual for that spectrum and how many songs there are about the drug and how many of the songs live on the "on-the-nose" side of the graph compared to the amount that is on the "poetic" side. It's not a bad thing to me, but it is definitely surprising to hear a chorus that is so blunt. It's funny in an approachable way. Not just to focus on one song, but I feel like this was probably the best representation for the record as it has a staggeringly high amount of song plays compared to the rest (16million, with most others being between 300k-7million as per Spotify). The rest of the record was just OK to me and didn't stand out much.

Slayed?

Slade

2/5

This was a pretty meh listen for me. Lots of the songs just did their thing and went by without any kind of big "wow" moments. Unfortunately I predict that it will be kind of forgettable and I don't see myself coming back to listen based off of hooks that lingered in my head. 2/5, album cover is cheesy but funny in a nice way?

Shaka Zulu

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

4/5

This is a beautiful and at times fun album. I listened to it on the way to the gym and then surprised myself by leaving it on as I warmed up. Usually I listen to more energetic music there but I couldn't turn this off. I really love the percussive vocalizations and various mouth sounds that are used as additional little textures throughout. They really stood out to me and contrasted the pretty and more typical sounding singing. I liked the final track and wanted more like that in there though. 4/5, and a cool album cover too.

Songs Of Love And Hate

Leonard Cohen

3/5

Usually if I hear a Leonard Cohen song, I will generally like it. I'm really into his sound and there are times where his lyrics completely floor me. This one is a little more scathing, angry, standoffish, and hard to approach. I like that kind of music, usually it's often one of my favorite amalgams of emotion that people express in music and art. Here it feels a little too overbearing though. We don't get much of a reprieve until a few select parts of "Famous Blue Raincoat", which itself is even a bit harsh, describing distance in a relationship along with a cold winter. "It's four in the morning, the end of December I'm writing you now just to see if you're better New York is cold, but I like where I'm living There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record" I find that funny that where this one song is that has some brief moments where the album gets a little bit lighter, as soon as it ends it goes right back to lyrics that sting: "Let's sing another song boys this one has grown old and bitter" I love this album cover, it's so bold and to the point. I'm rating this one a 3 because it's mostly hard to listen to. There's a lot of hurt in this record, but I can't help but embrace it. Too many popular artists steer away from the emotion "overtly angry" in their music.

Hearts And Bones

Paul Simon

4/5

This record could have literally anything for lyrics or compositions and I would still really enjoy it and listen so intently- because the production is AMAZING. When "Allergies" breaks at 0:36, that is a really special sound. I'm blasting this in my studio at 8:23 in the morning on a Friday. There is a silly and kind of nerdy sound to his music that I always find myself having to embrace and play into a bit; if I don't then I think it's an easy part of his sound for me to dislike and let it discolor the rest. It's this whole image of him in his "You Can Call Me Al" video as he's this guy who is dancing around while mimicing playing a tin whistle and saxophone. It stops me in my tracks when I hear this sound in his music because it brings me to that visual and I find it kind of silly, when I don't think he intends his music to come across as that silly. I don't know why I'm brought there so often but I am and it's interesting. I'm finishing my review at around 7:30am on a Monday, and I appreciate how the sound got a little more chill after track 1. The next few generally take it a little bit easier. Cool album cover. Looks like a screenshot from an old VHS.

Peggy Suicide

Julian Cope

2/5

I really like how cacophanous the first track got towards the end. It droned for a bit (specially for an intro to an album), but I liked where it ended up. I was hoping for more to grab me after that but I didn't end up really feeling this album. Maybe it's not a bad album per se but another inclusion on the list that doesn't really feel too incredible or inspired to me. There's some cool grooves in there and some interesting structures but I feel like I'm reaching to find things to compliment rather than hearing an album and then hurrying to this review input field to make sure I capture all of my excited reactions. 2/5.

The Age Of The Understatement

The Last Shadow Puppets

4/5

I still have yet to really listen to this band too much (sorry Steve) so this is exciting! The overall sound to me is like a more orchestral and at times epic Arctic Monkeys. Put some strings and a bass clarinet on some AM tracks and try that on for size! It's a cool idea because Arctic Monkeys are incredible- easily one of my favorite bands ever... so taking their sound and adding something like orchestral elements is definitely right up my alley. This is really the output of someone saying "hey Alex Turner make us the next James Bond theme song, but make it a whole album". It's suave, it's cool, it's badass, it has a little bit of everything: high energy moments, short vignettes, huge epic shouts, and quiet smokey parts. The only thing that irks me a bit is that it doesn't have the Arctic Monkey's big guitar riffs, but that's kind of the whole point of doing a different band- so that you can try some other stuff. If this did have those guitar parts then it would sound way too much like AM. Solid 4/5.

Only By The Night

Kings of Leon

3/5

I've spent the last ten or fifteen years or so moving away from standard "rock" music. I grew up listening to the amazing songwriting talent of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, I then spent years listening to heavy / death metal because it offered me more interesting elements, and then after and since then I've been more of an indie rock listener. I've thought for years, "why would I listen to "rock" or "radio rock", with all of it's standardized song structures, typical and uninspired timbres, and been-done-before performances and production when I could listen to indie rock, which has offered me so much more in terms of fresh ideas and boundary pushing moments? Indie rock gives me standout acts like The Decemberists, Japanese Breakfast, Mitski, Father John Misty; bands that are grounded in rock but also experimented, blended other genres, and often attempted new composition conventions. When I see a dude pick up a regular looking electric guitar, plug it into his regular looking guitar amp, and start playing some regular old power chords in some regular old chord progression, I'm immediately unimpressed and I need something else to make me want to listen more. Rock isn't the new thing or the rebellious thing that it once was; it's so much a staple that it's arguably the most popular genre of music. Kings of Leon for me have been a band that exemplified that straightforward and boring rock music connotation. I thought for years that everything was so standardized within their sound, even their drums were the same rehashed beats over and over. A few years ago though I started to listen them in a new light, just listening without any kind of prejudice involved, and I really enjoyed hearing their songs in a randomized playlist. Yes, they were / are "just" rock, but the music sounds good. It's so easy for me to get in my own head with music and the taxonomies in defining genres and all of that crap but really these songs just simply sound good. I'm partial to the non-radio ones because I've heard the radio ones so much, but I don't groan as often anymore when they come on. Rock is timeless and these sounds have been done so many times because it's a formula that is pleasing to human ears. Sort of like how there is some genuine half science half magic understanding of how humans love the pentatonic scale, there is something in rock that is equally as enjoyable for unknown reasons. It's rock, it's done before and they are doing it again, but I can't say it sounds bad. I think Kings of Leon are a band that will be remembered as a solid rock band, but not soaring to the heights of a timeless one like the Foo Fighters. This album has two of their massive hits and is a reason why they will be remembered.

Welcome to the Afterfuture

Mike Ladd

3/5

Offbeat and odd futuristic space rap. I like the premise behind it but I find the execution to be kind of short of what I wanted. Making sounds that are supposed to be cutting edge and predicting what is next for the genre would make sense to me if it was filled with really out there sounds- like synths that blend with acoustic instruments, vocals that blur the line between organic and robotic. Here we get a track like Bladerunners, which sounds like some Big L track (which is a compliment because I like Big L but also not a compliment because it's a comparison to an artist whose only album came out 29 years ago), but the only thing futuristic and intriguing about it is the lyrics, where he at times mentions some bladerunner things like "replicants".. Luckily his actual rapping saves this album from being rated lower for me. He has a really authentic + listenable vocal tone, and his flows are fresh. "Airwave Hysteria" in particular has a pretty interesting set of a few different rhythmic flows on it, and that's what I wanted more of while listening. I'm going to be honest- I wanted to give this a 2 until I finished listening and then went back and re-listened to "Airwave Hysteria" and "Bladerunners". I still feel conflicted about this record because it just wasn't what I predicted and wanted, but ultimately I did enjoy it. Cool album cover, actually really specifically a style that I enjoy.

Rattlesnakes

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions

3/5

Sparkly British alt-rock. I like the sound, it's reminiscent of Flock of Seagulls a little? Maybe less flamboyant and evocative as them. The title track was nice, I really liked the acoustic guitar in it. This one will get another listen at one some point for me. I liked these lyrics in "Rattlesnake": "She's less than sure if her heart has come To stay in San Jose And her neverborn child still haunts her As she speeds down the freeway As she tries her luck with the traffic police Out of boredom more than spite She never finds no trouble, she tries too hard She's obvious despite herself She looks like Eva Marie Saint In "On the Waterfront" She says all she needs is therapy Yes, all you need is love is all you need Jodie never sleeps 'cause there are always Needles in the hay She says a girl needs a gun these days On account of all the rattlesnakes"

Sail Away

Randy Newman

3/5

I grew up hearing Randy Newman being the voice of Toy Story / animation from my youth. 1995's "You Got a Friend in Me" was a true revelation for storyteller music and his voice is forever synonymous with that part of my life. There's something to his voice that is so immediately attractive and enjoyable. There's not many songwriters that naturally have voices like that that are so unique and have such a special sound. It's so approachable, friendly- jovial even. He sounds like a friendly uncle who you only see a few times a year for family events and when the family event starts to devolve into political discourse, he's there in the corner of the room hitting some chords on a piano and offering a respite from the conversation. "Be as happy as a monkey in the monkey tree." It's a beautiful sound and album, but it's only a 3 for me because I found that I got a little bored in the second half.

Warehouse: Songs And Stories

Hüsker Dü

2/5

This album has an interesting sound. 1987 alt rock/punk with really interesting production tones- like the drums are some of the brightest/thinnest sounds I think I've ever heard on a rock record. The kick sounds like it's triggered and it makes it really stand out in the mix but I don't think in a good way? It allows room for the bass to be more present- which is great, but this type of sound is usually more raw and less polished and I feel like these drums sound kind of clamped down? I want to like this more because it reminds me of early skate punk at times but it just feels like it doesn't know what it wants to do. It's trying to do A while also doing B, and both of those conventionally conflict with eachother and not in a cool experimental way. I'll give it another try at some point but I don't find myself coming back right away.

Pyromania

Def Leppard

4/5

Lots of 1980's classics in this one. "Photograph" "Foolin'" "Rock Of Ages" are three truly solid must haves on any 1980's rock rotation playlist. I hope we get their album "Hysteria" on here too. Awesome album, 4/5, timeless yet also a time capsule of the 1980s hair metal / hard rock.

BEYONCÉ

Beyoncé

4/5

This is really a great inclusion to the list as I really loved it when it came out and definitely wore down the CD. Actually, this was the album that got me to really get into Beyonce and to appreciate her as more than just a pop hit maker. My favorite from this album is actually "XO" even though "Drunk in Love" and "7/11" are the bigger hits. I really feel like "XO" is such an attractive standout on this album; it's so romantic, fun, catchy, and lovely. The night time beach boardwalk carnival vibe music video is a perfect visual representation for how I hear the song. There's love and excitement in the air, a drumbeat that screams "we're dancing and having fun but are in no rush to get to the end of the song", and Beyonce is not only sexy but also friendly and silly; often laughing and highlighting others in the video. Strong 4/5.

Siamese Dream

The Smashing Pumpkins

4/5

Angsty, overdriven & fuzzed out grunge rock. Smashing Pumpkins are unique and beautiful and weird and are always ready to throw something at you that will force you to pay closer attention right when you start to wander elsewhere. I like this album, and I generally like their singles/big hits more than their smaller songs, and this one has two excellent ones: "Today", and "Disarm", both of which are complex and interesting listens that at times sound like they came from two different bands. "Today" is the one that plays more with the typical Smashing Pumpkins sound of messing with a dichotomy of distorted and clean; where some riffs and vocal takes are so clean and pretty, and then some are so heavy and scratchy that you almost want to look at your speakers and check for cracks after listening. "Disarm" is an epic rock ballad, with stabbing cello staccato riffs, orchestral chimes, an acoustic guitar that feels isolated and alone, and a vocal part that somehow actually acts as the glue to the rest of the track. It's a crazy mix that works so well because the band are so into it. This back and forth clean/dirty is always what kept me interested in Smashing Pumpkins and is one of the reasons why I've admired them throughout the years. This is a 4/5. Classic album cover.

Signing Off

UB40

2/5

I feel a little conflicted listening to this on a Monday at 7:00am as I prepare for my first work meeting that starts in an hour. I've been blasting some Charli XCX and just got done slamming an espresso when I was like dang let me get going on 1001 albums as it's usually my first task to start the day. Maybe this monday morning needs UB40 more than Charli XCX? I can try that, I can chill and groove my way into the day instead of slam into it like a big green brat wrecking ball. I know this band mostly from "Red Red Wine" which is a great song but isn't on this album. After going through this one I'm kind of left wanting some standout track or some more memorable moments. I think that's what is hard for me to reckon with this genre, is that by it's own definition it is laid back, it's not going to have any wild moments and it's not going to try to "wow" you. It does it's thing and this particular thing isn't something I'm too into. It's a 2/5 for me. I'm not sure if it really needs to be on this list. Not a bad album to listen to but the songs are all just so similar and really don't blow me away.

Halcyon Digest

Deerhunter

3/5

I want to like this more than I did on the first listen-through, but it's just a bit too straightforward during this first time for me to really say I love it. I like the singer's voice and I like the instrumentalists but it's really a bit "paint by the numbers". The songs don't really dare, or push, it's all just a bit too dreamy and passive for me at the moment. Interesting that the final song is dedicated to the late Jay Reatard, he was a friend of some friends. Got a story to share in person @Steve. 2.78 / 5. Enough for it to be a 3. I think I'll like it more after more listens hence the bump up.

Pretenders

3/5

This would go so much harder if it was recorded more recently. The production is kind of an immediate turn off as the band are just a bit subdued and hamstrung by the quality available- I can tell they want to rock and slam their instruments around and I get that affect in the vocals, but the band sounds like they were recorded without any kind of saturation or edge and it definitely hurts the first impression. "Brass in Pocket" is a standout that I think most people are familiar with, it seems to have that magic "thing" that makes it a special song and more timeless than the others, and I'm happy to hear songs like "Lovers of Today" which show a nice bit of dynamism in the record. It's a solid record. With a few more tracks like "Brass in Pocket" it could be a 4.

Locust Abortion Technician

Butthole Surfers

3/5

This band has been around for a while but I never really got into them. The first impression is kind of like jokey / experimental which hasn't always been my thing. While listening I'm really looking for the stuff that I should like, like I'm looking for cool bass tones, I'm looking for a nice drumbeat, because I'm starting from a place of "I don't really love this, let me sit through it until I hear some elements that I enjoy". I do however really love "Kuntz". That's what I'm hoping for when I come across an experimental music act. Make a somewhat normal sounding song (yet different than the rest of the album?) then throw in a sample of a Thai singer in there and then explode the production by glitching layered delays that pan to each ear asynchronously. Wow! That's cool! Give me more of that for something truly experimental and fresh. The last song really stopped me in my tracks. Part of me is like "this is some brutal art and it feels heavy in many good ways", another is like "this poor woman talking about being abused and taken advantage of- did she agree to this recording being on a song, or is she being taken advantage of again somehow?". I'm kind of perplexed and while I don't think music should shy away from heavy topics, I find it interesting that this is the last song on this album, and this is what we are left with. It's even more perplexing when we look back to the start of the album, only 28 minutes prior, and remember that it started with a jokey Black Sabbath cover. It's quite the contrast between first impression and last impression. 3/5. I didn't dislike it, but I wanted it to be different at several times. Great album cover- very eerie feeling.

Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan

5/5

Our 6th entry by Bob Dylan on the list! I think that might be the record so far (Beatles have 4 so far), and it's definitely fitting. I've written in several of my other Dylan reviews that I was late to listening to him on a deep level, and I've written during each one that "I think this one is my favorite Dylan record", but I genuinely think that this one is my favorite one. There's such a great blend of everything that makes him great on it- it's got energy, it's got his catchy choruses, it's got his stabbing vocal tone and lyrics, and fortunately for me, it's got a band behind him- my favorite context for his music. He sounds youthful, energetic, and his songwriting chops are on full display. It's a terrific album.

Tracy Chapman

4/5

Many albums on this list have one song that is truly remarkable, and then others that don't come close to it; almost like that one song is so important to music as a whole that the album that it exists upon must be included here. I've hopped back and forth about whether or not this is one of those albums, because "Fast Car" is really a legendary piece of music that needs representation on this list for the song alone. That this album has "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" and "Baby Can I Hold You" on it as well is a big help in dispelling that idea. "Fast Car" is such an amazing piece of music; one of those songs that you could go your whole life and never find someone who dislikes it. The melancholic guitar parts, the poetic lyrics, the emotive vocal performance; it has so many elements that make it truly incredible and timeless. I also find it to be ahead of it's time. This album came out 4 months into 1988 but it is so inherently 90's. The soft singer-songwriter acoustic storytelling style has been around for decades (millennia if we are going back to some baroque bards?) but it is really so antagonistic to the 80's, and the sound is so impressive for this 24 year old to accomplish. I'm not entirely smitten with the rest of the album and in fact I'm re-writing my review here because I was going to slap a "5/5" on it but after re-listening to a lot of the "other" tracks, I'm kind of left wanting more. It definitely tries to do more, like "For My Lover" has a cool country twang to it, "Baby Can I Hold You" utilizes a sitar in a really tasteful manner, "For You" ends the album on a really strong vocal performance where she shows off her range and agility. But these other ones are really kind of really just that- "other ones", and after a day of listening to them I sat down and looked at the list and thought "how does that one go?" for too many of them. It's still going to get a really strong score, just not as top-tier as I initially thought. 4.2/5

Debut

Björk

5/5

Bjork could sing about a garden of roses and it would still sound standoffish and weird in all the best ways. She just has such a colorful aggression in her music that I always tend to forget about and then remember as soon as I press play. There's also this sense of never knowing what is coming next- but not in a cringey "oh this is so random" way more like she is always tinkering and inventing new blends of sounds and doesn't bother with conventions. "Crying" is like Aphex Twin, "There Is More to Life Than This" is a super interesting and at times diagetic new jack swing piece that then transitions into the next song "Like Someone In Love", a beautiful harp jazz ballad.. man this album is incredible. One thing I'd love is for her voice to come up in the mix more. There's times where she is really throwing a lot of energy into her voice for a note or series of notes, but the volume feels just a little bit too much underneath the rest of the band. 3:13 on "Come to Me" comes to mind. We've had a great string of albums in a row here and this continues it. 4.7/5, enough to get the bump up to 5. It's so wonderfully eclectic. I'm really impressed and inspired and wanting to leave my work meetings behind to work on my own music after hearing this again for a second day in a row.

Deloused in the Comatorium

The Mars Volta

5/5

I am so thankful for this sound / band / album and a lot of that is because it was a little thread of a connection that I had with my wife back when we were 16 and 17 years old and still in the flirting stages. This was "her" band, and I was just into them enough to want to hear more, and what followed was so many cute little headphone sharing moments, awkward but amazing accidental knee to knee touches while sitting on the high school bus, you know- all the stereotypical young romance movie scenes. It's probably the most nostalgia-bound record for me for the ages of 16-18. The odd yet grounded drum entrance on "Son et Lumiere" is the perfect introduction for what you are about to get with the rest of the record. My wife and I listened to this album a month or two ago and we still proudly remembered all of the seemingly random drum hits. Then "Inertiatic Esp" crashes into you and for me, this song paints the following scene: I'm 17 and going to a carnival with my then new girlfriend (now wife), and a handful of friends and the energy levels are through the roof. There's young person sexual tension- will we get to depart our group and leave at the end of the night together? Will that lead to a long walk back home and more discussions and learning about eachother's likes and dislikes? Would we maybe even kiss? There's also another kind of tension- this is a carnival in the town over and boys have been getting into fights at these and a guy I knew actually got punched with brass knuckles recently at one. I'm one of the taller guys in the group (but maybe 150lbs soaking wet) so I catch a lot of eyes from other boys my age who are just as on guard as I am. We're all taking guesses as to whether someone came to the carnival to jump someone or if they came to play games, eat cotton candy, and then leave to go party elsewhere away from the threat of violence. The song spins and spins and it's filled with pockets of excitement that build and explode, and build and explode over and over. I can hardly hear what Cedric is even singing about but I'm jamming on the cycles of tension and release. It's a perfect parallel of that night. "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" is so beautifully dynamic and yet constructed so well to be really cohesive. Everything sounds both a little crazy and a little normal. "Drunkship Of Lanters" highlights their Latin flair really well. I love the groove. For some reason, when I was in high school and going on school trips (I was in the band and they loved trips), I would always listen to "This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed" on the bus. I don't know why I gravitated towards that song in particular for this repeated occasion; maybe I was an at-the-time huge distance away from my girlfriend and missing her so I thought to throw on one of her favorite bands tracks and then it became a thing. I would loop it over and over as the miles of road went past out of the bus window. "Televators" might be my favorite TMV song. It's so dramatic and the lyrics feels like they are a new made up language at times. What a great record. I'm so happy for it's inclusion on this list and I wish more people knew about this band because these songs are exactly what I want in some experimental proggy rock band. I want energy and dynamics and FRESH ideas and I want to be excited. Too often it's bands of frankly a bunch of nerdy dudes sitting around and trying so hard to expand musical vocabularies while getting farther and farther away from simply good music. The Mars Volta care about listen-ability. These songs are for YOU the listener, not for THEM the artists. Great album cover too. 5/5!

Sex Packets

Digital Underground

2/5

Early 90's new jack swing type beats with a pretty smooth rap flow above them. It sounds nice (the diction is great overall), but I'm not really impressed enough for it to be on the list. I think the big draw here is that this is the act that it kickstarted Tupac's rap career, but his debut came in the following release. It was listenable and fun but I think didn't really wow me enough to warrant a higher rating.

Street Signs

Ozomatli

3/5

Pretty exciting and fun record. Listened to it in the morning before coffee and some of these songs seemingly gave me just as much caffeine as the coffee would. "Saturday Night" is excellent and I could see myself putting it on on a.. Saturday night before going out with friends and dancing around while getting ready. My one gripe with the record is that it feels connected and also disconnected- these songs all are painted with similar colors but are all distinctly different. This is a good thing, but also a bad thing because if I liked one of the songs (like the drumset-forward pop rock "Love And Hope"), then I didn't have a great chance at finding another one of that style on the album. Some songs are more modern Latin R&B (Street Signs), some are Latin dance focused ("Dejame En Paz"), some are more classic ballads with a focus on typical Latin instrumentation ("Te Estoy Buscando"), some are Latin rap ("Who's To Blame"). But there's really one one of each; so you get it and then it's gone. 3/5.

Junkyard

The Birthday Party

3/5

This was a cool listen, and definitely fitting being a day before Halloween to have all of this creepy and raw post-punk. The thing that's keeping it from being a 4/5 for me is that it feels like some of these songs are a bit half baked. Some of me wants to believe that the band came up with riffs and beats and some progressions and kind of just set the table for Nick Cave to go on top and do this thing. And this is cool and exciting and could even have a bit of an improvisational feel, but throughout a whole album it feels like it's missing a little bit of time in the oven. I feel this on the production side too, like "The Dim Locator" for example sounds like a demo recording, which is fine, but the track right before it "Dead Joe" has a pretty nice higher fidelity sound and the transition from one to the other makes me feel like I'm missing frequencies. It's like setting up and expectation (of production quality) and then giving us something else. Maybe there's some reasons for this that I'm missing or didn't pick up on. Still a fun listen!

Dust

Screaming Trees

3/5

Screaming Trees are great, and I really hope their album "Sweet Oblivion" is on this list as well. Mark Lanegan was such a cool person and singer and I've always found to be like a more approachable Tom Waits. His voice sounds really spectacular on this record- it's clean, it's distorted, it's emotive, and it fits the band so well. I also really love his work on the Mad Season record "Above" (featuring Layne Staley of Alice in Chains). It's always been a staple in my grunge/alt collection and it really highlights Mark / Screaming Trees as being a seriously solid and underrated part of the 90s Seattle grunge scene. This isn't their best album but it's got some nice tracks on it. Solid 3/5.

Abbey Road

Beatles

5/5

I'm really thankful that I'm alive for this record and for the window of time where The Beatles are what they are (who am I kidding I think this band probably has a case for being the most timeless band ever). Like sure, I could have lived during the 1600s and jamming on Vivaldi & Bach, or I could be alive during the 2900s, jamming to alien glorb rock, but here I am being graced with The Beatles, and Abbey Road. So many songs here are what I think are masterpieces: "Come Together" "Something" "Oh! Darling" "Octopus's Garden" "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" "Here Comes The Sun" ... I'm just writing out the album list so... you get what I mean. What makes this album extra impressive is that all of these songs are so eclectic and diverse and yet still homogeneous. It's amazing how every song could sound different but still deliver quality. I love that so many of these songs were featured in the movie Across The Universe which I think was a great entrance to The Beatles for a younger audience who probably grew up thinking that this band were something that their parents liked and thought they were just OK. Easy 5/5, and I think a clear top 15/20 album of all time for me.

Hypnotised

The Undertones

3/5

This feels like a hidden gem. Angsty light punk with tight riffs and performances, and fun and interesting lyrics. I'm surprised by songs like "Hypnotised", with the constant palm muted down-strokes. Sounds like it's quite the right hand wrist workout. The "Under The Boardwalk" cover was a nice surprise. Overall this is a fun little album.

evermore

Taylor Swift

3/5

Haven't seen a Taylor Swift record on here yet, and it's been a while since I've listened to one of her albums full through. This one I have heard in its' entirety but it was a while ago and right when it came out. I remember looking forward to hearing it because it's her folky pop album but I was kind of unimpressed but we'll see how this time around goes. The production is solid- excellent even, albeit a bit uninspired and at times milquetoast. I would have loved a folky-pop album that uses that as a creative kickoff point and chooses to try more and not just remain grounded in the typical sounds for the sake of it being cohesive. My biggest gripe with Taylor's lyrics is that she treats them as if they are some authoritative element of her songs and she will too easily take a really well fitting established melodic sequence and then throw a wrench into it and add or remove syllables in order to accommodate a precious lyric. It makes it so that the listener is treated to a nice consonant sequence and then is jarred by some odd addition to the melody because she HAS to awkwardly slide a specific lyric in. We hear it about 6 minutes into the album on "champagne problems", where she sets up a pretty typical dotted eighth syncopated melody against a piano harmony. It's pretty and nice, and the lyrics are her typical love/broken heart/breaking heart usual garden variety stuff but then she switches the melody completely to triplet feel on: "She would've made such a lovely bride What a shame she's fucked in the head" they said But you'll find the real thing instead She'll patch up your tapestry that I shred". I can see some kind of argument for "well this is the big moment in the song, this is the realest lyric that comes out and states the obvious", but it's just kind of corny and cringey? We're getting this weird change in the structure for some blunt part that isn't memorable or creative, it's just in your face and obtuse. I wouldn't dislike this concept so much if it wasn't seemingly always occurring during an awkward lyric, which continually hurts her songs over and over and draws way too much attention to a part that I don't want to be a focal point. The on-the-nose idea comes up a lot in her lyrics too and it drives me a bit nuts how she so seldom blends basic poetic concepts into her lyrics. I often fall into one of her songs where it's a lot of blunt lyrics like: "On that night late in November I walked away from you wearing your sweater You must have tripped and fell Trying to catch up to me" And then she adds in some line that is overly poetic with some recently encyclopedia'd words to make up for the lack of poetry that far into the song: "Decanting our love, no, you're miscasting our spell" This is her lyrical template: Boring line about love / describes a scene Boring line about some guy in that scene Boring line that ends on a specific word to easily rhyme with Superfluous and overly poetic line that contains verbiage that doesn't exist anywhere else in the song It's like she HAS to end every single section with a lyrical punchline. It's just kind of pretentious and annoying. "Oh I know my fans will eat up this part about how I walked away from that guy on that scene and left him with some (not actually) profound poetic phrase that I came up with in the shower while I was rehashing our argument". "tolerate it" is cool, I actually really love the piano part. It's so emotive and interesting and still fits well into the context of the album. It again has odd out-of-breath lyrical moments where she feels the need to cram in, like the whole bridge feels so rushed vocally. "Now I'm beggin' for the footnotes in the story of your life" Damn just take your time girl, that can be 2 measures instead of 1? I actually really like the idea of hers to go through "eras" with her albums and just have different kinds of concepts come in and out. It's fun, not too far from what I like in my own music, but the continuous thread throughout all of them is love song after love song after love song. For me, that's OK to an extent, but hers are so typecast about some scorned love affair and how she gets someone back that it's tired and a bore to hear over and over. I feel like Taylor Swift is a person that hasn't always had the right people around her to flourish as a pop mega superstar in a healthy way. Lots of "yes men", but I don't think that she is completely innocent in the intimidating and oppressive way that she manages her brand and releases. She holds onto songs and releases limited editions with a new acoustic version or two of a song, all strategically released at times when other artists take over number 1 spots on charts so that her sycophant fans can spend another $50 to push her album to the top and to continue to stroke her ego. I don't like the way she handled Olivia Rodrigo blowing up; probably the first time that a younger and more talented songwriter came and threatened her throne. She just comes across as this overly fake god-like figure that has to be the best in the sport that we all call "the music business". The toughest thing for me to wrap my head around with Taylor Swift is that when all is said and done, when I remove the element of her odd management, her cult-at-times fans, all of the forced "who is she dating now" tabloids / nfl game coverage, I simply think her music isn't worthy of all of the pomp and circumstance. The songs themselves actually aren't some otherwordly pieces of art that deserve this level of adoration. I could understand girls screaming and feinting during live performances of the Beatles, I could understand it if it happened for Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Nirvana deserves these levels of fans. But these songs are just really so straightforward and not groundbreaking or anything close to what I think of when I think of truly deserving rabid fan bases. To be fair, I do think that every album of hers has around 1 or 2 bangers on it, but not like "stop what you are doing so you can hear this song" kind of stuff. It might seem like I'm just writing this review to rip her apart, but I think it's more because I'm trying to understand her music & fandom more, and this is how I tend to do it with every artist. Part of me wants to give this a 2/5, but I've given so many 3's to other albums solely because of their importance in music as a whole and I feel like any of Taylor's albums deserves that too because she is such an important (and polarizing) person for music. I also think it deserves at least a 3 because the production is so tight, as expected. I usually give 2's to albums that I think are just OK and are questionable inclusions on this list, and there's no question for me that Taylor Swift definitely deserves to be included. 3's for me are usually a solid album that sounds good and does a few things pretty well but for the most part isn't really memorable, and 4's are usually really great albums that can be considered standout works of art, and 5's are reserved for those "best albums of all time" categories. I already established for myself that this has to be higher than a 2, so is this a truly great work of art to deserve a 4? I don't really think so. So that's my rationale. It's a 3.

The Real Thing

Faith No More

3/5

"Epic" is truly an... epic track that metal fans have been singing together for decades. I have so many fond memories of being younger and riding around in a borrowed car with my friends and blaring this track over the speakers. It's got such an eclectic and anthemic sound, and I've always found it as kind of an underground metal version of cultural influence like "Bohemian Rhapsody", but of course not nearly at that magnitude. You could walk around at a metal show and start singing the chorus and people around you would join in. Unfortunately the rest of the album is kind of forgettable and nothing is even in the same universe of excellence as "Epic". Mike Patton's voice might not be for everyone but he is such a talent that I implore anyone listening who doesn't know him to check out some of his other work- Mr. Bungle's "Pink Cigarette" (a favorite of mine) has him crooning a noir lounge ballad that is a stark contrast to the singing on this album and it is incredible. The music video is just as amazing and shows off his humor too. This album is a perfect 3/5 for this list. It is a pretty solid album without anything bad per se, but it also contains an incredibly well known song in the history of a genre. That song is so necessary for inclusion on this list that the whole album has to be included, and thus, a solid 3.

Safe As Milk

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

3/5

Cool sound! I've been hearing of this band for decades but never really listened to them as I thought they were some jokey act but this music is intriguing and different. I appreciate the use of fuzzes', distortions, and production experimentation (even though I generally dislike the extreme panning choices), and I was surprised when "I'm Glad" came because it's so different from the rest up to that point. The singer has such an attractive timbre too; this album flew by and his crooning really stuck in my head. Cool record, I'll listen more!

Heartbreaker

Ryan Adams

3/5

I love an album that starts with an argument. Just kidding I don't think I've ever seen that but let's go for it; it's the first day after the election and I'd love to get my morning going that way. This album is quite solid. The music itself is really nice, and his voice has a ton of good qualities. It's emotional and dynamic and has natural country twang tone for days. A lot of these songs have great structures, arrangements, and the production suits him really well. The only thing I wanted more was some kind of experimentation. Judging the book by its' cover, I didn't expect him to be a pretty straight shooting country singer-songwriter. I thought there'd be a little more straight rock or even a little blues in there, but this isn't too far off from cowboy hats and boots with spurs. That's totally OK and the sound suits him really well but I would have rated it a little higher if there was a little more diversity. Interesting album cover- it almost looks like a promotional shot for a movie or something. The thing that has me perplexed is that it looks like there are three layers of depth here- his face, the cigarette, and the background. I can't tell if the cigarette is at the same depth as the background, but it definitely doesn't look like it's on the same one as his face is, right? It's like he's laying there and the cigarette is placed behind him and not in his mouth.

Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park

5/5

My brother and I grew up liking the same music and bands for years and this album was the first one I bought where it was a differing of tastes. I even remember being at the mall (I think FYE at the Garden State Plaza?) and having this CD in my hand and looking at eachother and realizing for the first time that we weren't twins or the same exact person. He didn't really ever get into the band but I am so happy that I gave them a chance. This album is really a force of a debut and was so refreshing for me to hear as a young teenager. At the time I was a young kid listening to old heavy metal music- Pantera, Iron Maiden, Metallica... bands that were active but already had established sounds and discographies and were acts that felt a bit distant and out of reach for me. A bunch of older guys playing stadiums you know? Then Linkin Park comes around and it's young heavy metal riffs through mesa amps, incredibly tight and compressed to hell drum grooves, catchy EVERYTHING- then a hip hop verse from Mike Shinoda and you are like "what the hell is going on" and then you get slapped with Chester Bennington's raw screams and chilling clean singing voice. Wow. My favorites have always been "Points of Authority" & "A Place for My Head"; both tracks that weren't huge hits but I think that's because I listened to the album so much and the singles were so ubiquitous that I found enjoyment elsewhere once I exhausted the big ones. Looking at the track list, there are so many modern classics on here- "Papercut", "One Step Closer", "Crawling", "In the End". Those three are on the same album- is that ridiculous or what? I didn't remember that those 3 are all on this album, I'm really blown away by that. Is there a better metal album in this century? Putting on my thinking cap for metal subgenres, when I think of the greatest metal albums that fit in this category and also released after 2000, I think of the following: Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake Mastodon - Blood Mountain Mastodon - Leviathan Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf Between the Buried and Me - Colors Between the Buried and Me - Alaska Gojira - From Mars to Sirius Gojira - The Way of All Flesh Meshuggah - obZen Slipknot - Iowa Black Dahlia Murder - Nocturnal High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings Converge - Jane Doe Pantera - Reinventing the Steel Necrophagist - Epitaph All of these are amazing, amazing records and each have some special place in my heart. Does Hybrid Theory deserve a place on that list? I think so- maybe even at the top (note: that list is in no order). I love all of those albums listed for many reasons but none of them had the reach that this one had, or even as dynamic of a sound as this. It's at least a debate. A funny subcutural phenomena occurred with this album around the time when Chester passed away in 2017. For years this band became a bit of a meme in the "true diehard" heavy metal community, where they were thought of as kind of "soft" in the years prior. They were never really a true heavy heavy metal band, but they became a bit of a guilty pleasure for metalheads until Chester passed away, and then the milieu shifted and everyone was more openly accepting of the band and guilty pleasure became just a pleasure. Almost like a switch was flipped and everyone started saying "idgaf what you think i fucking love Linkin Park". It's a solid 5/5 for me, and one of my favorite albums of all time. In referencing my always-in-flux favorite albums list, it's around #12. On the right day it's a top 10. I've thought a lot about this album the past year, with the band announcing Chester's replacement. I don't like the choice. I thought a lot about the album and what it meant to me the year that Chester passed away, in 2017. It's a real time capsule / period-of-time record for me. My old best friend Matt from middle school loved this album and recommended it to me when we were kids, and listening to it while playing video games with him, his brother, and my brother are some of my favorite memories in my entire life. Whenever I hear this band or album I think of him and it brings me a lot of happiness. Matt's no longer with us and I imagine that he held onto our shared memories of listening to this album just as close to his heart as I have.

Idlewild

Everything But The Girl

2/5

I want to like this but I'm so bored. It's so uninspired and I'm really tasking myself with finding some reason as for why it should be on this list. The production is nice and possibly the best thing, but nothing else feels special or specifically impressive to be on this list. The lyrics are pretty boring and the music is mostly the same. Overly lite jazz that doesn't really say much.

Rapture

Anita Baker

3/5

"Sweet Love" is a wonderful clean R&B jam. I love the bass + drums, and her voice sits really nicely over the band. The song itself is super cool too, it's almost like a Seal song. At 00:44, the prechorus / chorus comes in and it's really magical. "Caught Up in the Rapture" is another delight of a song. Anita sounds like a confident and talented vocalist that controls her voice effortlessly. A really easy-to-enjoy record.

Rings Around The World

Super Furry Animals

2/5

Very cool alternative sound that blends a lot of different genres in really enjoyable ways. Unfortunately I feel like this is a tale of two sounds; the instruments and the vocals. Throughout listening it feels like it is screaming for my attention at multiple points but continually falls short- I think the vocals are to blame, as a song like "Sidewalk Serfer Girl" will have some really cool electronic drums over acoustic guitars and then you get slammed with some heavy distorted hits, but the vocals don't change much or have these dynamic swings. "Juxtapozed with U" is really solid and enjoyable. Wasn't expecting this sort of sound at all. It's fun and whimsical and weird and a joy to listen to first thing in the morning. It's a 2/5 for me though, slightly under the middle. Part of me is thinking my oft-thought "does this album belong on this list?", I wonder if maybe I'm missing something here because to me it's a cool nerdy alt rock album that doesn't really do enough to be held in such a high regard.

Talking Timbuktu

Ali Farka Touré

3/5

Cool African guitar-driven jam music. I dig it! Something that I like about this African sound is that it uses a lot of major tonalities; like they are really prominent throughout not only this album but through other African / guitar music as well. We see it a lot in Mdou Moctar who is one of the bigger African popular acts right now. I wonder if they share similar simplified sentiments towards tonalities that we do, like "major = happy, minor = sad"? I find it funny to think about how I could be bopping along to one of these songs and not realize that the song isn't happy at all, it's intended to be a sad one but cultural connections to broad concepts in music make me initially perceive it as the opposite. Almost like how we Americans sing about a cold snowy scene on Christmas day while Australians are sweating in t-shirts while opening gifts from Santa Claus. Nice 3/5 and an album cover that does a good job at reflecting the music.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon

3/5

I like John Lennon a lot and I find him to be an immensely interesting and polarizing figure in music. I also have a hard time separating him from his Beatles band mates. When I think of him I can't help but think of how he was the "cool" to Paul's "sweet", the "raw" to George's "calm", the "wild" to Ringo's "straight". All of them had their differences but John to me was like the most different and that's probably why I find him so intriguing. I just recently heard "Working Class Hero" live and I didn't know it was a John Lennon song, which seems silly now. I can't remember who it was who covered it though but I do remember being at a concert, holding a beer and swaying and thinking "what a heavy song". There's some really cool ideas on this album, but like usual with John Lennon's non-Beatles work, I find myself wanting someone to round him out a little bit, and that's kind of the norm for his music for me. He's an amazing incubator- and so many of these songs are really unique and forward-thinking, but they each have little things that make me not absolutely in love with them. "God" is such an interesting song: "God is a concept by which measures our pain I'll say it again God is a concept by which measures our pain I don't believe in magic I don't believe in I-ching I don't believe in Bible I don't believe in Tarot I don't believe in Hitler I don't believe in Jesus ... I don't believe in the Beatles ... I was the walrus But now I'm John". Some real heavy introspective and scathing lyrics for 1970. It's beautiful and sad and optimistic and harsh all at once. I definitely like it though and it will probably be the track that I think more about over time. Nice 3/5.

I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen

3/5

My favorite Leonard Cohen song is "I'm Your Man", and it's thanks to a cover by a smooth singing former heavy metal vocalist Dax Riggs around 15 years ago. Since then it's become a song that I adore. Track 1 is a bit of a crazy introduction. It feels like it never stops and keeps throwing ideas at you. I was surprised at the second vocalist that comes in around the three minute mark. This album has a really cool sound on it and I'm impressed by him embracing the Blade Runner-esque synths that were so ubiquitous at the time. It's a little awkward at times though, and I think the mix engineer probably didn't have a great idea about how loud to make his primary vocal. "I'm Your Man" is definitely a strong and memorable song. It's enough to prop up this album a bit and be a strong 3 for me, probably a 3.3/5.

California

American Music Club

4/5

Interesting Americana guitar parts but with more apathetic vocalist. Not what I was expecting! There's parts that remind me of Bruce Springsteen, like "Somewhere" sounds like "Born to Run" in a good way. I'm also hearing a lot of "Okkervil River" in this band which I'm happy about. This band came out first but "Now You're Defeated" sounds like it could be a song in both band's catalogues. I really enjoy how dynamic the tracks are. The third song, "Laughingstock" is really soft and mild compared to the first two tracks and this is something I really appreciate so early in a rock album. I often dislike when rock bands try other things but then shove those tracks to the ends of records. I really didn't know what to expect song after song but as I was listening I did however start to get an expectation that the next track would also be good. I do feel bad because this album could easily be skimmed over for me; it appeared on a Monday, and a day when I was traveling / returning home from a trip, so it's Tuesday when I'm listening to it and already looking at the generated albums list to make sure that I'm not skipping or forgetting an album. Not only should this album be given proper attention, I think it should be in a rotation for me. It's really really solid and I'm only bummed that it comes in at around 40 minutes in total duration; I want more! It's a clear 4/5 and I'm really happy to discover the band. The distorted guitar parts in the chorus of "Highway 5" confirmed that it's a high 4 for me when I heard them.

Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Lana Del Rey

4/5

I'm still going through her discography so many of her songs are new to me, but I'm really enjoying them when I sit and listen. This album I'm pretty sure sounds like her others- filled with cinematic storytelling, optimism, heartbreak, and of course heavy drama. She so easily will take a song places- with a key change, a change in vocal or instrument production, addition/subtraction of elements... it's all there for a sonic journey. Sometimes I imagine her sitting and writing these songs and it's hard for me to understand how it's done. "Dark But Just A Game" is all of these vignettes masterfully blended together (like many songs on this record) and I wonder if she writes them piece by piece and then plugs them all together when the stories align on the album. It's very cool and leads to great song structures. This however is a hard rate for me. It feels better than a 3, but she has several albums that I believe are better than this that might be teetering on 5's, so this feels like a solid 4. Ok maybe it's not a hard rate. Wonderful album. Thanks!

Aftermath

The Rolling Stones

4/5

Solid Stones album. "Mother's Little Helper" is a great intro track, with a fun chord progression and lyrics that grab your attention immediately. "Under My Thumb" is one of my favorite songs by them, and is seemingly always in and out of being stuck in my head randomly throughout my life. This album has some really cool instrumentation too. I appreciate the marimba and inventive guitar work/production (great distortion on "It's Not Easy" that sounds like a baritone sax). I don't love the second half of the album; it's not terribly memorable or special to me and it brings my rating here from a 4 down to a 3. There's a few shining moments in the first few songs but then the falloff hurts it. Hold on just a minute! This was the record that had "Paint it Black" on it- I didn't even realize that at first as I was listening to the older UK release. That honestly changes things for me, because that is by far my favorite Rolling Stones song. I fell in love with the song when it was the intro track on the videogame "Twisted Metal Black". It's got that sweet sitar riff, the crazy pounding drums, the proto-emo lyrics with a crazy great performance by Mick Jagger to match. It's a perfect rock song in my opinion, and elevates this to 4/5 for me. Dang I can't believe I almost missed that.

A Grand Don't Come For Free

The Streets

3/5

This is a really interesting listen. I had no idea what the vocals were going to sound like when the instruments started on track 1. For some reason a rapper with a British accent sounds inherently cool to me. It's a sound that when it pops up I tend to focus and listen a bit closer than normal. Maybe it's the blend of cultural differences mixed with it being a familiar sound that draws me in? I'm familiar with rap music, which more often than not contains lyrics of everyday life and everyday strife (oh shit I'm spittin now). With rap that comes from the UK, there's little changes in the vernacular that are so similar and yet just enough different. It's very cool. "Blinded by the Lights" is super cool. Laid back beat with a an incredible sidechained or dotted 8th note 90's synth patch. Really impressive track here. I really enjoyed this. The diversity in the instruments/beats was a standout, and I think it's a 3.4 or 3.5/5.

Something Else By The Kinks

The Kinks

2/5

Solid classic pop/rock tracks. The overall sound is nice, but I feel like they have good ideas that hang on a little too long and the more laid back tracks end up being a bit boring because of this. Maybe it's just because there's such a massive difference in the music of 1967 to today, 2024, that makes me feel this way. Almost like my attention span as of this very moment is struggling to listen to this sound and wanting changes or something exciting spark and it doesn't ever seem to come. "Waterloo Sunset" is a really nice song but if it's the high point in the album then I kind of feel like the ceiling is a bit lower than I would like. Overall while it's a nice record, it feels pretty middle of the road in the overwhelming presence of British classic rock representation on this list.

Ace of Spades

Motörhead

4/5

"Ace of Spades" is one of the best heavy metal tracks of all time. It is a canonball fired with too much gunpowder and on a mission to rip, tear, and destroy. I love the song because it's also inherently bluesy and it's like Lemmy and Co. are saying "yea we are badass but we are also musical and oh yea- my rough grumble is going to deliver you a hook that is actually going to be catchy." This album suffers from being one of those "the standout track is amazing and the rest is good", but fortunately the songwriting quality of the songs don't falter past "Ace of Spades", they just don't have that one magical thing. Without the title track, this would be a nice 3/5. "(We Are) The Roadcrew", "Dirty Love", "Love Me Like a Reptile", "Shoot You In the Back" are all solid songs from one of the most beloved heavy metal bands ever. Outside of this album, they do have other tracks that are truly great (nothing to the level of "Ace of Spades"), but they suffer from being split across multiple albums which makes their inclusion on this hard. I do however think this was the obvious pick. Lemmy is God. RIP.

Rubber Soul

Beatles

5/5

Beautiful record by the best band ever. Lots of great legendary tracks on this one- "Norwegian Wood" is one of the best acoustic guitar riffs of all time. I love when the sitar comes in and dispels your expectations. Then the vocal melody? Come on. It's incredible. "Michelle" has always been absolutely stunning to me. The play between the melody and harmony shows the depth of the Beatles writing. "In My Life" is one of those songs that's so simply beautiful and grounding that it makes you stop and appreciate things and become a little more human when you hear it. Being in a relationship and listening to this song is truly great. The harpsichord part is so perfectly executed. I feel like sometimes I get an idea in my head for a song or some part of a song that I want to write, and it can be a weird out-of-left-field sort of part, and when I go to put it down in a song it ends up being incredibly hard to execute or to get it to sound exactly right. This harpsichord is one of the best executed "out there" parts of any song ever. They set out to do the thing, and they did the thing. I'm just completely enamored with this song. I want to renew my vows with my wife so that we can have this as our second wedding song. It's so amazing. Just a truly great album. The Beatles are undefeated.

Crazysexycool

TLC

4/5

What a record. This came out in 94 when I was 4 and I remember really for the first time paying attention to the radio and starting to form memories around music. Since then I feel like I've specifically had some of these songs on repeat in my head. Which I find kind of funny, because this type of R&B Pop isn't necessarily my favorite style of music. I love "Waterfalls" and nothing could ever stop me from being able to remember that chorus. In my house if you start to hear someone hum that part you better not let them sing it alone. It's great hearing this one through nice speakers for probably the first time in my life (after thousands of listens)- the bass is amazing! I love the short intermezzo track "Intermission-lude". I was actually just driving yesterday for Thanksgiving and was listening to a more modern R&B album and it had this same little fade-in, loop4x, fade-out type track right in the middle of the album and I found it to be interesting. I wonder if it was inspired by the one on this album? Great album cover. They're obviously supposed to be looking sexy, cool (and crazy?), but to me they look cute and wide-eyed.

Dirty

Sonic Youth

3/5

Sonic Youth have been a late in life listen for me, which I find surprising because I love the sound and if I would have heard them earlier I would have gotten into them. Regardless, it's great now having a ton of "fresh" music. Lots of good ideas in here. I love their use of buildups- it feels like every few songs they throw an incredible buildup at you that really hits you, even though it comes from a mile away. I also love how often they use major chords/keys/tonalities. Usually this music avoids "major" as often as possible but they aren't afraid of it. It makes for really conflicting and compelling music. One downside is the changing vocalists / styles throughout this. It makes for a bit of a disjointed listening experience I guess? The voices feel very different from eachother and it hurts it for me I think. The verse vocals on "Orange Rolls. Angel's Spit" are probably the biggest turnoffs for me. Overall a pretty solid record.

Damaged

Black Flag

3/5

One of the best hardcore punk metal bands ever, this is such a classic. "Rise Above" probably launched a thousand hardcore/punk/metal bands. I know it really inspired some of my bands- we used to cover it at the ends of shows when our time slot was just about over and we wanted to squeeze in one more song. Some really brutal songs on here- "What I See" is particularly rough. Funny how it goes from that into "TV Party". Solid album. It's really in between a 3 and a 4 for me, like a 3.4.

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

4/5

Very solid album with some great tunes. "Son Of A Preacher Man" is an American classic that is so memorable that I can't say the title without singing it in it's great melody. She's got a wonderful voice and each time she's appeared on this list I've been excited to get to listen. The only downside is that it felt short at a little over 30 minutes. Impressive 4/5.

Youth And Young Manhood

Kings of Leon

3/5

I've really gone back and forth on this band for years and it was only until recently- within the past year or two that I started to appreciate them as being an enjoyable rock band with some standout tracks. Their stadium-rock sound is nice to me; it simply rocks. I'm not sure if I like this record though. At first listen I was enjoying the more raw and less refined version of the band that I have become accustomed to, but towards the middle of the record I started to really dislike the vocals. It's like he is trying so hard to be a bit too edgy and punkish. "Spiral Staircase" is particularly kind of... annoying? But then it's brought right back up to something I'm more into with the track "Molly's Chambers", which is like a 90s apathetic alt rock track with a great verse melody and a cool chorus. It's nice to be in the midst of them discovering themselves with this album, but the duality of the sound makes this ride a little hard to hang on to. It's a high 2, like a 2.8, and enough for it to be rounded to a 3.

Remedy

Basement Jaxx

4/5

Pretty enjoyable techno / house that does some interesting things. "Yo Yo" in particular sounds a very little bit like "100 Gecs" in the chorus, which is impressive as this came out around 25 years prior. I find 100 Gecs to be a really inspiring and revolutionary current act so I really can't say enough how much this impresses me that it came out so many years before it. I've heard of this act when I was growing up but never really listened much. It's a cool sound, almost even described as addictive? I found myself wanting more when a track was done. Could be that a lot of these songs average out to be around 4 and a half minutes and in this style of music I really like to sit and gel with it for longer. I'm currently having fun in making some electronic music and I'm glad this album is on the list here as I'm very aware of how hard this style is to make now that I'm attempting it (out of my comfort zone) so for transparency that context is probably elevating my rating at the moment. Fun music!

Close To You

Carpenters

3/5

Very pretty album by one of the most underrated bands of all time. "(They Long To Be) Close to You" is probably their best song, and is so synonymous for me with romance, love, and all things mushy and sweet. It's also in so many movies too I think? "Why do birds suddenly appear Every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be Close to you" That's just really sweet. Nice tracks and great performances. I saw that they can be described as "airy" and "light" and that is very apt to me. You aren't going to get much tension (unless it's wrapped in some super clean textures) but there's something pleasant throughout that keeps it super listenable.

Suzanne Vega

3/5

Singer-songwriter DNA that explores 1985 timbres and tonalities but stays true to that original sound. It's a really impressive execution of the idea and I really enjoyed these songs and this production. "Marlene On The Wall" and "Cracking" are really strong tracks. Sometimes the stereotypical folky "here's a whole 12 verse story set to a song" formula kind of bores me, and I feel it here like "The Queen And The Soldier". Maybe it's blasphemous for me to say that but it's just kind of bland to me after hearing the concept so many times. I never really hear the end of one of these songs and say "wow I can't wait to hear that again". Nice record, cool album art too. I love how it shows the track lists on the cover.

Tarkus

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

3/5

This goes really hard right from the first track. Really enjoyed listening to this and all of the density in the tracks. It feels like there's so much to chew on with every track but it's all cohesive- which I really appreciate. Definitely an adventure. I enjoyed it. Album art is very cool too and unique for the time.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

4/5

Typical expected quality stuff from David Bowie. It's an impressive sound that is built on foundations of good songs from a basic harmony+melody standpoint. Bowie isn't someone who I listened to enough of and this was a pleasure. There's a lot of dynamic tracks on this, and throughout I'm hearing cool bits that sound like other bands. Little bit of the Beatles, little bit of the Rolling Stones, even a little Van Morrison at times. I think that's always been a plus for him and his sound; that he can effortlessly explore and try new things and be confident that it will come out sounding good. "Changes" is one of the best songs of this era, and I love that oddly syncopated chorus line. It's so unconventionally catchy. Strong 4/5.

She's So Unusual

Cyndi Lauper

5/5

I love how this album starts. The band strikes an excellent initial fun and energetic entrance, and then Cyndi Lauper's voice pierces through like a trumpet soloing on top of an orchestra. When the chorus of this first track lands, I'm already thinking about how this sound is so perfectly 80's; how so many other choruses and songs and acts all borrowed from this idea. "Time After Time" for me is one of those songs where when I start to hear it, I get stopped in my tracks and get a rush of warmth and nostalgia and just a bunch of feelings. I don't necessarily attach it to any specific moment(s) in my life, but it's just so good that I have to pause and appreciate it. In 1995 she performed it live on Howard Stern's radio show with a dulcimer and a basic Shure $100 SM57 mic. She has a violinist and an organist with her too, but this simple setup leads to one of my favorite performances of any piece of music ever. I don't know when I heard it first (I was 5 at that time so probably it was years later), but it was my first time hearing her and being like "I like this music". The climactic moment where she sings the high harmony "I will be waiting" is pure art magic. I really adore the lyrics of "Time After Time", they are simple and profound and I think that those are often the lyrics that resonate the most with me. More approach-ability and less verbosity for the sake of complexity. I love the visual imagery throughout with her weaving in and out of problems with the pace of a relationship and how it connects to time and an actual clock next to her bed. Thinking about a list of the most quintessential 80's songs, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is near the top. It's the sound of 80s energy, it's so lyrically apt for the 80's, and it must be one of the songs that the everyday person thinks of when they think of 1980's music. It's an amazing song and one of the most fun songs ever. "When You Were Mine" is a super underrated bop as well. I covered it with my friend Jake for a birthday party concert a few years back. There's nothing quite like getting to know a song by learning all it's ins and outs. "She Bop" is also a standout track that is easily forgotten about. I love this album art. I've written before on this list about how I love when album artworks captures some kind of "moment in time", and this is a great example. It's the early 1980's, fashion is starting to explode into crazy saturations, music is starting to shed it's warm timbres in favor of sharper and edgier synthetic sounds, and everything feels a bit more vibrant. I've gone back and forth about this being a 4 or a 5. At first I thought it was a strong 4 as I knew it had "Girls Just Want to Have fun", and then I noticed that this album also has "Time After Time" on it. For me, those tracks along with "She Bop" and "When You Were Mine" are just too good to not be a 5.

Now I Got Worry

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

3/5

Some pretty interesting thrashy aggressive punk. I need to listen to more because I have a feeling that this album only just starts to get into the sound that this band dives into. Enjoyable listen! Was really thrown off by the shout as the first thing that you hear on the record. Cool overall sound though.

Beggars Banquet

The Rolling Stones

4/5

"Sympathy For The Devil" is a top 2 Rolling Stones track for me. I love how much it doesn't sound like their typical Brit classic rock sort of style, and it really captures such a unique setting with both its' sound and lyrics. It's a "never skip" track for me. For me that's the big standout song on this one, but I think it's fair to say that there aren't really any weak points and all of the songs are definitely enjoyable. The rest are more typical for them, with their blues influenced rock with great sing-along moments and a little bit of silly moments sprinkled in. It's all so enjoyable to listen to. Easy 4/5.

With The Beatles

Beatles

5/5

These early 3 Beatles albums are a really strong set of releases over such a short period of time. This one I feel like teases some of their later more developed and more complex sounds, like "Till There Was You" is a wonderful jazzy bossa nova-ish song that is rife with dissonance tensions and releases, and then you have their usual Beatles bops that are impressively catchy and fun. So many of these songs are tied to great memories for me. "All My Loving" is a song that I've sat down with a guitar and sang with my wife hundreds and hundreds of times and it might be our most played song together in all of our years of being together. "Till There Was You" brings me back to college and sitting around with some friends and some drinks and trying to figure out the guitar part by ear. Another solid 5/5. There's standout tracks here, but the whole thing is enjoyable from the first minute to the last.

Harvest

Neil Young

5/5

Oh hell yea. Incredible album. And to think this Tuesday morning in mid December I was sitting here just feeling kind of "bleh" and not super motivated to get started on my daily record spin and review. I adore this album. The sound is warm, and rounded; this idea bolstered by the title itself, and visualized on the album cover with it's soft orange and tan colors. The dry bass and snare drums, the softly strummed acoustic guitars, Neil's unique yet inviting voice- it all feels like a "Harvest" to me. "Heart of Gold" is one of classic rock radio's favorite songs of all time, and for good reason; it's beautiful and sad and deeply introspective for a songwriter who was only 26 at the time of release. It's a song that I've heard maybe a thousand times or more and I am still not even close to being sick of it. The production quality is really spectacular on this album. "A Man Needs a Maid" is so crazy dynamic with it's soft piano and voice entrance that builds up into an orchestral suite. It's so ambitious and executed incredibly well for a track that at its core is pretty simple song. I look back at being a young 19 to 24 year old and going to college and writing a lot of music and listening to a lot of music and having many seminal moments happen in the fall season of those years, this record just had such an obvious imprint on me that will stay with me forever. It's beautiful songs and I like everything about it. Easy 5/5 and existing somewhere in my top 40 albums of all time.

Cypress Hill

4/5

Classic stoner hip hop with really well done beats, samples, and vocal performances. I've always really liked their sound as it's so approachable and fun and the quality rarely dips. It's cool and silly and really carves out an interesting little niche for itself inside of hip hop. In my opinion they have that kind of universal enjoy-ability, kind of like Snoop, where you would be hard pressed to find fans of the genre who dislike them as a group. If this album is on this list then "Black Sunday" has to be as well. I'm rating this one a 4, as it's like a 3.8 for me and enough to round up. I wouldn't feel right giving it a 3.

The Message

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

3/5

This is a wild album. It's impressive, it's cool and badass, and it's also at times perplexing. It feels like throughout there isn't one clear or obvious stylistic direction and it hurts it sometimes when listening. "It's Nasty" and "She's Fresh" are fun funky typical early hip hop tracks, "Dreamin'" is a classic R&B track with an amazing (and at times a little "too much") bass line, and "The Message" is more rap than hip hop focused. It's definitely enjoyable and a really fun listen.

Happy Trails

Quicksilver Messenger Service

3/5

At the first guitar entrance to the first track, I was really getting an initial feeling that the sound of this record would reflect the album art; maybe some western American story of a messenger cowboy leaving his wife in a hurry to tell the nearby town the breaking news of some important event that has been shared with him. Then after only about 20 seconds it breaks into a classic rock jam, which admittedly was a bit of a let down. I'm not upset about it, but I was expecting something a little more cinematic. My fault for judging a book its' cover. The sound overall is nice and I don't dislike it. It's a little bit standard and doesn't really throw enough at me to be super impressed. I liked the experimenting of the guitarist(s) in the third track, "Where you Love" though.

Club Classics Vol. One

Soul II Soul

3/5

Pretty enjoyable hip hop album that offers some tracks to lean back to, and a few to groove to. I like how vocals aren't exactly always the focus on the record; they come in and out and it's not formulaic whatsoever. It's also ironic and funny that the track with the most plays on it is mostly acapella and has no instruments until around the 2:30 mark. Cool album, and kind of right down the middle 3/5 for me.

Clube Da Esquina

Milton Nascimento

4/5

I am really impressed with this album; there is a shocking amount of depth and complexity that I wasn't expecting from my first look at the album cover. I was expecting some traditional South American music but there's so much more to it. The harmonies are complex, the vocals are melodically interesting and the performances are great (I just wish I didn't have to follow along with a translation but that's not their fault!), and the band have some moments where they really shine, like "Nuvem Cigana" for example where the bass guitar doubles the vocal melody in the choruses. Very fun listen, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Smokers Delight

Nightmares On Wax

3/5

There are some really quality classic sounds on this record. Almost immediately I'm hit with some shakers + triangles + synths that are so often used and emulated in this sound that it feels like a painter taking your favorite colors and making their own thing with them. The 9 minute stoner droner track "Pipes Honour" was probably my favorite on the record. It's so repetitive but that's the whole purpose; put this album on after smoking weed and sit back and fade into the music. I'm glad that there is such an obvious expectation and it sufficiently meets that expectation for me. Nice album. I'll put it on again sometime when I'm in the proper headspace :)

The Score

Fugees

5/5

The sound of The Fugees is so strong- Hip Hop, R&B, some reggae and some jazz, with flowy rap verses and beautiful sung choruses; it's a great formula for making good tunes. This album is their strongest, with standout tracks like "Killing Me Softly With His Song", "Ready or Not", and "Fu-Gee-La". "Killing Me Softly With His Song" is so, so, so good. It's beautiful, and sad, and is such a tremendously catchy song that is propped up by such a powerful performance by Lauryn Hill. It's one of those songs that comes on and people have to stop what they're doing and hum or sing along. It's a "never skip" for me. I love / hate the sample of the classical guitar piece "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" on "Family Business". It really doesn't work; it's a (usually) crazy fast A minor 32nd note test of endurance- but here it's underneath a swing hip hop beat and they clash and I think in other contexts I would love how weird it is, but here it is just so "off". I actually stopped the song to see if I had left open a youtube tab with the song playing elsewhere, like if it was playing at the same time as this Fugees track. But nope- this is two pieces played together. One of my favorite aspects of their produced sound is the crackle and pops of a vinyl record underneath the instruments. There's simulators for that kind of thing these days to add some of that vinyl warmth into more modern sounding songs but when I hear it in tracks prior to the year 2000 or so it makes me think that it's a bit more authentic. Listening to this record 28 years after release, in 2024, I'm really in awe about the places that it is taking me. I'm on a trip while listening to this record (not a trip like I'm traveling, I mean that the album is taking me on a journey), and while I've mentioned that before on this list as many others in 1001 albums have had the same effect, it's just apparent while listening to this one that a lot of modern albums these days miss this kind of concept. They worry so much about singles and Spotify algorithms and TikTok virality. This was a reminder that these kinds of albums are still out there waiting to be heard. This album is really great at blending the starts and ends of tracks together. "Killing Me Softly..." actually starts at the end of the track before it, "Family Business", with a little tease of the primary melody. It's great for a straight listen-through. There's so much effort put into the listening experience on this album. Definite 5/5 for me.

Elvis Presley

4/5

The king of retro coolness. I'll always enjoy an Elvis track, even if at times his voice can sound a little too over the top with his put-on singing style. This one is a consistently well done album, and "Blue Moon - Take 9/M" might be my favorite recorded version of the song, of all the performers who have done it. Classic album cover too.

Sunday At The Village Vanguard

Bill Evans Trio

4/5

Beautiful, intriguing, and timeless. The music of Bill Evans for me will always be synonymous with cold days in the fall at my undergraduate school of William Paterson University, in the music department, with students and professors trying to make the sounds he was making. It was great to listen to then and great to listen to now, and will forever be great to listen to. Banger of an album cover too; he's always had great ones.

The Köln Concert

Keith Jarrett

4/5

Amazing all-improvisational performance. I couldn't imagine having an album of all improvised pieces like this and have it sound 10% as good as this does. It's filled with great ideas and moments, and the production is one of the best a piano has ever sounded on a recording, I really feel like I'm in the room with it. Such a crazy story too; this concert was put together by an 18 year old concert promoter, started at 11:30pm, and was with a "warmup" / backstage baby grand piano (instead of a massive Bosendorfer) due to a logistical error. Jarrett had back pain and had to wear a brace, he didn't have time to eat much before the concert, it's a whole slew of oddities that add to the mystique. The music hits so many different dynamics; it's beautiful and grand and intimate all at once. I hear classical music, blues, jazz, and even some pop music ideas in there as well. Beautiful all around.

Reign In Blood

Slayer

5/5

Like all metal heads, I adore this album. In my opinion Slayer are the Metallica of heavier heavy metal, and this record is their "Master of Puppets". "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood" are two metal staples. That first vocal yell on "Angel of Death" will forever be funny to me and I love how they start this album with such a fast bone crushing riff, only for the first voice sounded to be a bit silly before it gets to his normal singing voice. In most death metal outfits, you can't hear the lyrics that well; they are often grunted, shouted, or screeched through vocal chords into the diaphragm of a $100 dynamic mic. Tom Araya on the other hand actually has a really clear voice with wonderful diction. I love when death metal bands can do this and while you tend to get this a little more often in thrash metal compared to death metal, it's still a treat and always something that I enjoy. Great soloing by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman (RIP) on this record. It's so chaotic and frenzied and wild. I haven't listened to this record in so many years and it's really bringing me back to being a late teens / early 20's long haired dude and blairing this while partying with my friends. I don't know if a night went by where one of these songs wasn't on the playlist. Hard rate for me. I want to say it's a high 4, but that feels like a disservice to such an important album to the genre. Is there a better thrash album? The best that come to mind are of "Master of Puppets" (although at this point they have shed their true thrash sound for a more "heavy metal" one)... "Kill Em All", Megadeth "Peace Sells...", or "Rust in Peace", Sepultura "Chaos AD"? To me, this album contends with all of those as being "best of the best", so it has to be a 5 for me. I'm writing this part of my review as I'm just getting to the start of "Raining Blood", and it's more clear to me that this is a 5. That intro riff is just so beloved and this song is so perfect for the style. Death/thrash metal struggles often with "catchyness", but here I am not hearing this song in probably decades and I can hum along to every riff, vocal part, and guitar solo. Can't say something isn't catchy if the hook is still in my mouth decades later. SSSLLLAAAYYYEEERRRRR

#1 Record

Big Star

3/5

Pretty cool classic rock album that has some nice dynamic shifts and grabs from a few other bands / genres which isn't what I was expecting. They wear their influences on their sleeves and that hurts the rating a bit though, as to me it feels at times like they were trying pretty hard to sound like an amalgam of other bands before trying to make their own sound. "Thirteen" is really beautiful and I love the guitar parts. Great production as well. I did have to look up the lyrics of this one though as it's kind of gross how so many classic rock songs are about young love in uh... interesting ways. Thankfully the lyrics tell a story of two same-aged people from what I could tell. I grew up really loving "That 70's Show", so the final track "In The Street" was a really great surprise. Nice album cover. I think a lot of modern day indie rock bands would use this kind of imagery and it wouldn't be out of place.

Leftism

Leftfield

3/5

I had fun with this but I wish that the transitions were more gradual. I feel like there's a nice variety of style inside of the bigger macro genre of "electronic music" here, like "Afro Left" is a nice upbeat dance track, but then the following track "Melt" is like "space video game main menu screen chill". The disparity in the energy level between tracks like these hurt my listening experience, which is a shame because these there's a lot of great songs here. Overall I definitely enjoyed it though, and the flow of the album on a song-by-song basis is the only real negative. The songs are exciting, cohesive, and have plenty of interesting moments, like little drum syncopations, and random voice parts. There's even some throwback sounds to old electronic styles that I specifically love- like "jungle EDM" that you hear on tracks like "Storm 3000" with it's drum n bass percussion, liquid-y synth bass, and dense atmospheric pads on top.

Deep Purple In Rock

Deep Purple

3/5

Solid classic rock, with particularly good energy. "Child in Time" is the standout track here, and one of Deep Purple's best. One thing I particularly like is that there is a lot of confidence in this band and performances. Sometimes I'll hear some cocky classic rock band and funny enough I feel like I can tell when a guitarist doesn't feel super confident in his playing; maybe their notes lag ever so slightly behind, maybe there's some tentativeness in the plucking. But here, like in the solo on "Child in Time" and specifically at 5:47- there is some real genuine confidence and it makes for a really wicked listening experience. The distinctly different section that comes immediately after is also really excellent. Of course, this album doesn't really come close to "Machine Head", and if that album is a 4 then it's hard for me to rate this higher than a 3. Still an enjoyable listen though.

All Things Must Pass

George Harrison

5/5

I love this album, and George Harrison. I always felt like this was such an interesting statement even right from the album title, with this being the first solo release after the Beatle's breakup. "My Sweet Lord" is on my personal top 100 songs of all time. It's beautiful and so impressively catchy. I love the verse chord changes, they really help to highlight some lyrics and make for this strong pull towards those words, like "i really want to SEE you", "really want to BE with you". It's true Beatles magic there. I will always remember the day where I finished my last graduate school assignment- presenting my thesis project in front of my professors, school board members, industry professionals, and classmates. I did it over video chat because of the pandemic, but I remember finishing it, thanking everyone, closing the video chat program, and then standing up and dancing and singing "hallelujah, my sweet lord, hallelujah". I didn't have it planned or anything but all of my effort and physical tension from completing the program just poured out of my body into dance and song, and this was the song. There's lots of Clapton in here- some songs he is credited fully on, and then some others you can hear guitar parts that sound like it's coming right from his hands too. Great record. Great album cover.

Fever Ray

3/5

This album is a solid listen. I put this on while grinding through some work meetings and it was exactly what I needed to push me through and keep my attention going. I really dig the vocals, and the production shines too. The overall dark vibe makes the album feel super cohesive, and mysterious. Just overall a cool album that I'm happy to discover via this list. This isn't a dig whatsoever on the artist and album artist, but I hate that when I look at this album cover initially I think "eww gross it's AI artwork" and then I look and see that the album came out in 2009 so I can assume it's not. Good job Martin Ander on the artwork.

Bert Jansch

3/5

Nice Dylan-esque singer songwriting. I particularly liked "I Have No Time", great chord progression anchored in an uncharacteristic-for-guitar Eb minor. The guitar is a little out of tune too which actually adds a nice character to the sound; it's imperfect. Pretty nice listen. The guitar playing was fun and he has a nice soft warbly voice that fits the style well. Would have liked a little more exploration I think?

Dub Housing

Pere Ubu

3/5

I'm sad about an untimely and unintentional computer restart that made me lose my first draft review, but I'll sum it up: I enjoyed this. Nice level of experimentation and oddities and some interesting traditional composition moments. It was an easy listen and when I wanted to lean in I could, and there was more offered beyond the surface to get what I wanted. I went down a few rabbit holes in looking up this band. Coming across their website was a bit of a bummer because one of the first things you see is an ongoing obituary section of people in the band and various staff personnel. It was a reminder for me that many of these older acts don't have so many existing band members and that we are all listening to time capsules. Gave me a little perspective.

Traffic

2/5

This is an OK listen. I didn't really feel "wow'd" by much and if anything I felt like a lot of the songs were kind of... milquetoast? Like the big hit here "Feelin' Alright" just slightly crosses over the threshold of being a great song on an album that should be on this list, but then it immediately gives us "Vagabond Virgin", a moderate tempo conversation of a piece between a bass guitar and a wood block. It's a little too bland for "1001 albums to hear in your lifetime". "Traffic" is a pretty funny band name to me. My first thought is actual road traffic, which is an annoyance and not something I would think to name a band after. "Hey guys do you want to go to the "Internet Ads" show tonight?". Made me laugh a little. The album cover is pretty straightforward, but what is that circular thing in the upper left? The thing that the member in the middle is pointing at?

The Gilded Palace Of Sin

The Flying Burrito Brothers

2/5

Interesting country / classic rock album with a loose feel. I was actually surprised by how loose it was when listening, like several times I can hear the bass getting ahead of the rest of the band (like in "Hot Burrito #2) and it was a little distracting. Still a nice little tune though. I have to admit I was hoping for more here... the band name is silly and the album title on the other hand sounds quite serious and I wasn't sure what to expect. Unfortunately the music is pretty straightforward. While a nice listen, I don't think it necessarily should be on this list.

Kollaps

Einstürzende Neubauten

2/5

I love experimental music but this didn't do much for me. It does feel confident and brash and assertive I appreciate those kinds of colors in music but I really found myself wanting for something listenable. Art should provoke, but sometimes it's nice to sit and listen and enjoy, and I couldn't find that in this experience. 2/5 and it's probably underneath the 2 but rounded up.

Femi Kuti

3/5

This was a really nice listen. At first I wasn't sure if it would be a sax / reed heavy album but I was really pleased to hear the first song start to bloom. That's probably my favorite track on the album too, and the chorus is just catchy enough to hang in my head for a little while after. After writing that that was my favorite track I was interested in checking out the song plays on Spotify, and I was really surprised to see these be so low. All but the first track, "Wonder Wonder" have under 100k listens, which is a shame because this is a really solid record.

A Wizard, A True Star

Todd Rundgren

3/5

Interesting listen, it feels like a slew of stimulation being thrown at my ears all at once. There's ideas packed into every corner of this record and doesn't really leave any room to breathe but I didn't really find myself annoyed by that. My only wish is that there was a few more stripped down moments where I could appreciate the balance of harmony and melody without being escorted to another room after only a few seconds, only to then be escorted to another room immediately after, and then into another room right as I was starting to understand things. I was definitely surprised by the second half of the album which felt slightly less manic. Mirroring the constant moving and shuffling of the first half, I myself didn't really land on one opinion on whether or not I liked or disliked how the album felt split like this. It really made for an interesting listen all around. Fitting album cover, it matches the sound very well!

Is This It

The Strokes

5/5

What. A. Debut. So many modern classics on this one, the title track "Is This It", "Barely Legal", "Someday", "Last Nite", "Hard To Explain" are all show stoppers; all perfectly connected little rock tunes. When I think of The Strokes, I think of authenticity, and this album is so authentic. So much of modern rock music is about looking cool, sounding interesting, and and pretending and posturing, and I never got that with this band. I get genuine coolness and that natural human attraction that comes with it. I don't want to just listen to this band, I don't want to just see them in concert, I don't want to just get backstage passes, I don't want to just meet them or be friends with them, I want to be in the band. What a joy to listen to through studio monitors; I feel like these songs are ubiquitously on every driving/road trip playlist, every party playlist, every "clean the house" playlist, and I never get a chance to listen through in a great environment, and boy am I enjoying it now. The bass on the title song is coming through in ways I haven't heard in years and years. I can't believe this came out in 2001... really? I see that year written on my screen and I feel obligated to look it up because that doesn't feel right. This is 24 years old? Wow! I saw The Strokes for the first time at Governor's Ball in NYC in 2014 (stacked lineup- Outkast, Phoenix, The 1975, Jack White, Spoon, Vampire Weekend, Interpol), and I remember something clicking with me. I had loved The Strokes before then, like a true A+ band for me, but seeing them live I looked around at the crowd and everyone around us and thought "damn, this band is such a perfect combination of different types of enjoyment. The riffs are exciting and surprisingly technical for all the guitar nerds to enjoy, you can dance to all these songs so all the dance people get to bop around, and Julian is the ultimate cool guy, so all the "I'm too cool for this place" dudes in the back get to enjoy it as well. Or at least they get to enjoy it while pretending they don't." It's a funny little blend of different fan archetypes to witness live. Two of these songs are true seminal pieces of art for the development of my music taste. "Last Nite" is a song that spends a lot of time around the top of my "favorite songs of all time" list. When those first few down-plucked notes are played, my eyes light up, my mood is lifted from wherever it was. It's a pretty straightforward tune and the lyrical story of a problematic relationship only gets a little funny (spaceships and grandparents) but those lyrics have stuck in my head forever. "Hard To Explain" is the other one that has always had a strong grip on me. It's melancholic and vague, and rock and rock yet also a little electronic. I love how around the 1 minute mark, when the verse gets a repeat and all of the instruments bloom into a fully realized arrangement, Julian pulls the rug from underneath us and changes the vocal melody only a few notes in. It's a little abnormal, usually when you get the "full" version of a track after a teased intro, you expect the full melody as well. But just a slight change from him makes me really ponder and inspect this song more. I always thought this one was perhaps autobiographical, but maybe with some stripped away lyrics to obscure the notion a little. I see him as someone who would do that; would show a bit of himself in his songs but also feel an uncomfortable need to not share too much. It's a strong 5/5 for me. Modern classic, a staple in modern music. I don't know if I've ever met someone who didn't like The Strokes. Wait, this is the album cover? This whole time I thought the alternative cover was the actual one. I can't believe that!

Dig Your Own Hole

The Chemical Brothers

3/5

Some cool trance-y EDM. Like a lot of good trance / techno, I liked the flow and could tell there was a lot of attention put into that throughout the album. As a listener, if I'm going to sit and marinate in many repetitive bars in a row I want the changes to be gradual, flowy, and smooth, and that happens here. I don't know if it's an album that I'll often reach for as there's others in the genre that do similar things, but this was still an enjoyable listen.

In Rainbows

Radiohead

5/5

Big one here. "15 Step", "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", and "All I Need" are Radiohead staples and truly great pieces of music. I was late to get into this band and I'm almost happy I was because I still come across songs of theirs that I've never heard and I'm consistently blown away. I love that Radiohead does their own thing and has carved out such a space for themselves in rock music. To me they are such an interesting listening experience; growing up I found that a lot of people close to me didn't immediately like them during their first listens, but only gradually over time came around to love them. That's definitely what happened to me, and I can really only recall one or two random music fans who I knew who loved Radiohead from the jump. Their sound is just idiosyncratic enough that you kind of say "what WAS that?" during your first few listens, and when it's over you say "oh I need to hear that again.. what was THAT?". They do so many things right, and they cram so much into their soundscapes but it's all so coherent and appropriate. "Depth" is the word I'd use to describe them if you made me pick one. I love how there is essentially always a rumbling tension in their songs. They have softer ones, they have harder ones, but the majority feel like there's some undercurrent that is building throughout while layers and textures of lighter musical elements and voices dance around on top. It's unsettling in a way but also makes me want to lean in and give the most amount of attention as possible to the song. This is one of my favorite characteristics they have, and it's rampant on this album- in the best way. To me this is a 5. It hasn't always been a 5, and if you would have asked me a decade or two ago I would have been stingy and gave it a high 3 or a low 4, but I just needed to grow a little to fully love it. I'm so glad that I wasn't stubborn with this band and album and gave it enough chances.

Want One

Rufus Wainwright

3/5

Rufus Wainwright is the king of baroque pop. His songs are intricate piano-driven stories in that Randy Newman esque style, but more modern, more eclectic, and with a hefty amount of ups' and downs', louds' and softs', and everything in between. I've like him since I heard him cover "Hallelujah" about twenty years ago, and he's been in my periphery since. I really love the lyrics in "Vibrate", straightforward and easy to relate to, with some intriguing deeper lines in there as well.

Thriller

Michael Jackson

5/5

Thriller baby! One of the greatest albums of all time by one of the best performers ever. What a joy to get this one on a Friday. I find it really interesting that the title track has less plays on Spotify than "Beat It" and "Billie Jean". I think "Thriller" is one of the most famous songs ever, and when I think of MJ I think of that song. I wonder if times have changed a bit though and younger people / people who stream music have moved away from that song because it definitely has been overplayed on the radio for decades. "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" are truly amazing as well, I don't mean to take anything away from them. MJ was really one in a billion and he transcends music. These tunes are more than just pieces of music, they are entertainment in a whole different paradigm; like they are more visually rich than just pieces of music, they are more audibly interesting than a dance or piece of performance art. I heard this story once about how he never really played any instruments, but he would write songs by singing out parts, like humming a bass and drumset groove and then some producers would scramble to get them down on tape before he started moving on to vocals. Crazy brilliant stuff. I love the album cover- he looks great, the black and white is classy with the little leopard print pocket square, and the camera bloom effect makes him appear ethereal.

Liquid Swords

GZA

3/5

I've heard a bunch of Wu-Tang but not so much of their solo work so this was pretty cool to see on the list. It definitely sounded like the full group, and tracks like "Shadowboxin'" that have Method Man on it really sounded familiar, but maybe I'm not just versed enough in the nuance of the differences between these solo releases and the full outfit. I do like Wu-Tang so this was definitely a nice listen. I read somewhere that GZA is "precise" and I think that's pretty apt after hearing this record. His diction is crisp, and it feels like every lyric exists for a reason without any unnecessary clutter or fluff. The only downside is that his voice sits a little bit too much in the middle; it doesn't often feel aggressive or passive, and because of this it kind of feels a little flat and uninspired. I really like all of the spoken / diagetic speech moments that are randomly scattered throughout the album. Nice to set a scene.

Paris 1919

John Cale

3/5

John Cale's got a really smooth, round, and overall enjoyable vocal tone. The instrumentation behind him is interesting- with some surprising orchestral moments, and mostly standard folk type songwriting structures. While it's a mostly passive / smooth listening sort of sound, I did enjoy the moments where songs were more dynamic, like "The Endless Plain Of Fortune" has that great outtro with strings giving you what feels like the end of a movie score. The title track was also really nice and reminded me of a Beatles song with the stabbing staccato strings and tuba giving us a percussive bass line.

Exile In Guyville

Liz Phair

3/5

I've only recently gotten into Liz Phair and I'm really into her sometimes aggressive / sometimes standoffish energy. Even from looking at the album cover and reading some of her song titles (although this album only maybe has one that gives off that vibe- "Fuck and Run") you kind of understand her a bit, which is cool. I enjoyed this album throughout. There really wasn't anything that I heard that felt like a drag and I think with more listens I'll like it even more. Great album cover. Very 90's with the added texture to her skin, that font that is slightly comic-y, and oh yea you can see just a little bit of her nipple.

En-Tact

The Shamen

3/5

Pretty tight 90's new jack swinging hip hop with some atmospheric jungle pads mixed it. It's a cool sound, and one that I particularly enjoy, but I often find it to be a bit dated. I don't know why, but something like this strikes me as sounding old and a bit corny yet at times something a decade older could sound somehow fresher to me. There is something about this era that has that effect for me. Probably because I grew up in the 90s now that I think of it... Solid 3/5. Not enough standout tracks, and not enough bad tracks to move it lower. Kind of forgettable and I don't know if it should be on the list unless I'm missing some cultural or influential aspect.

Nighthawks At The Diner

Tom Waits

3/5

Tom's sound is raw and rough and rugged and yet also refined, and in some ways warm and comfortable. I really enjoyed listening to this and appreciated how well the production captured his dynamic qualities. It all sums up into a nice album. It's a good thing I'm not hungry because Tom really does take you to the diner here. His crooning on "Eggs and Sausage" feels like I'm back to my late teenage years and trying to sober up at a New Jersey 24 hour establishment and my eyes are scouring an oppressively long menu and not ever finding something I want to eat until I land on one magical item that is actually exactly what I want.

Blood And Chocolate

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Wow what an album cover. It's striking. It's got a... face for radio? "I Want You" is the biggest song on this album but as I'm listening I'm really thrown off by the mix.. or maybe a compressor on his voice. He's just so loud compared to the rest of the band and it sounds like some mistaken settings on a compressor. Like his softest moments in the vocals are louder than a snare drum, which doesn't feel right. I either have to crank my speakers (and then his voice is booming and too loud), or I lower the volume and hardly hear the band. Big let down here. What a beautiful song though. By the end I was totally enthralled and surprised by how heartfelt and desperate he sounds. The topic of "wanting" or "unrequited love" has always been very interesting to me despite personally being in a long term relationship. Love and all of it's forms is generally the one umbrella reason for why humans make art in any medium and these desperation ones always grab me hard. By the time this track is over I just want to sit in silence for a bit and contemplate. I've had a tough week and this song has made me think about love, like how fortunate I am to have my relationship, and I'm so happy to be moved by this piece. I'm also so happy to have the patience today to have given this song a good listen beyond the first few minutes when I was frustrated by a production element. This really ended up being a nice listen for me. 3.4 ish.

Mermaid Avenue

Billy Bragg

3/5

Interesting album, as it's composites of lyrics from Woodie Guthrie that Billy Bragg & Wilco put to music. Some nice modern production boosts it a little bit, but I often find this genuine American folk to be a little boring. Because of the simplicity of it, I often find myself listening and thinking "is this song beautiful? Does it speak to me somehow?" because I don't really have a lot of elements to grab on to. With that being said, there's quite a few songs that are beautiful on this; "Birds and Ships (feat. Natalie Merchant)" is stunning, and "Way over Yonder in the Minor Key" is very nice as well.

Live Through This

Hole

4/5

Really solid grunge album. I hope "Celebrity Skin" is on the list too as it's also very good. "Violet" is great and that chorus could have been a Nirvana chorus. I listened to a few repeats of it just now and then googled Nirvana "violet" cover and all I got was some results of a Nirvana reunion with Violet Grohl (Dave's daughter) on vocals that just happened a week or two ago. Then I looked at the release date of this and saw that it came out only 7 days after Kurt died. Pretty crazy. I love how the pre-chorus has this catchy and simple melody with a 50's kick-snare-snare drumbeat, and then that chorus is as raw as grunge ever gets. I love going through this album and hearing all of the shifts and changes. Over and over again I'm "wow'd" by the amount of effort put into these little 4 measure moments that add some really nice colors to the tracks. It's packed with little post-chorus acoustic guitar substitutions, or contrasting bridges with soft vocals that seem to serve to antagonize the screaming and angry choruses. It's so much better than what I remember hearing when I was young. Remove Courtney Love from her relationship with Kurt Cobain, and you would get a drama-less Hole that is an awesome band (or maybe you don't because he influenced her songwriting?). As it is today though, there's always this connotation involved whenever I think of them- their connection and drama is always apparent. How could you avoid it though when the wikipedia page for this album has "Cobain" written 26 times, more than double that of "Pfaff", the surname of the bassist, an actual member of the band who happened to pass away 2 months after the release. These songs are really great and have impressive depth. I'll be adding some of these to some of my more raw playlists I think. I love this album cover. The blur, slight over exposure, the haze, the saturation, the model's facial expression; it's all great.

Songs The Lord Taught Us

The Cramps

3/5

Nice album of what I believe is probably one of the earliest psychobilly releases. It's never been a niche that I've particularly found myself interested in, but I know that the influence has spread to some interesting areas- like I feel that Mastodon actually has a little bit of that sound in their early records, and that might be the most popular band to have some of this very specific genre. I could be totally wrong though and missing a bigger act. Maybe a little bit of the Misfits? I want to give it a 2 but it's just high enough for a round up to a 3. It's funny and a cool sound.

A Short Album About Love

The Divine Comedy

3/5

Even though it's short I do have to give credit for the ambitiousness on this album. It's dense and cinematic and the singer's voice is quite nice, although it took a little bit of time for me to get used to I think "If..." is my favorite track on the album, these lyrics are great and hysterical: "If you were a dog, I'd feed you scraps from off my table Though my wife complains" This artist has come up before on the list and it's nice listening. Hearing this I can hear some influence in more recent acts like Father John Misty and maybe a bit of the Arctic Monkeys as well.

Shadowland

k.d. lang

3/5

This was such an enjoyable listen on a rather drab Monday morning in February. It's a quick listen as it's just short of 36 minutes but I found myself bopping to each one. Nice structures, nice production, and nice tunes. I think with a few more listens I'll like it even more.

Slipknot

4/5

An unfortunate power surge made me lose my review for this one, which is really unfortunate because it was pretty in depth. This is a great album from a great band. Slipknot I feel are one of the more underrated popular heavy metal bands of the past few decades, and I think this was a very solid debut by them. It's got raw energy, a ton of compelling moments, and a really refreshingly brutal sound.

Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room

Dwight Yoakam

3/5

Some pretty nice traditional American country tunes. While not entirely my style, I can tell that if you stripped some of these songs from their a bit over-the-top country sound, they would still be enjoyable to listen to. I think that's always the litmus test that I have with any genre of music: if you break it down to it's harmony and melody, is it still good? Could you take any piece and play it in it's simplest forms and have it still be enjoyable? This passes the test for me, but admittedly probably not something I would come back and listen to.

Neon Bible

Arcade Fire

4/5

It took me a really long time to start to get into this band and I've never heard this album so I'm excited going in. Right from the jump, it only takes about a minute and a half to get into their anthemic piano-pumping indie rock sound. It's a sound I like, and I'm happy to hear it. It gets loud, it gets soft, it sounds like Bruce Springsteen evolved at times, it also sounds inherently unique at times. On track 2, "Keep the Car Running", I can tell that more modern bands have looked at this sound as an inspiration. This one feels very "The 1975" to me, despite coming years later. "No Cars Go" is a solid track too, great melancholic guitar parts that provide a nice foundation for layers on top like trumpets, tremolo picked guitars, and of course the textured vocals. Nice album. I think it's just short of a 4, but so close that it rounds up. I wouldn't feel right giving it a 3.

I’m a Lonesome Fugitive

Merle Haggard

3/5

Beautiful country twang album. I think Merle is one of my brother's top 5 artists so I've heard a lot of his tunes but rarely have I sunk into a record. This is a solid one- gotta get the brother perspective though on where this lands in the rankings. For me it's a solid 3.

Rejoicing In The Hands

Devendra Banhart

3/5

I think I just missed the Devendra Banhart train when a lot of my friends in college were getting into him. I remember listening to a few tracks from an album or two but not really getting pulled in enough to want more, so I'm happy to have to go through a full album now. My first impression is that I'm sad that I didn't listen to him more when I was younger as I liked this kind of sound a lot back then. The guitar and voice together sound alone and allow so much room sonically for little vocal inflections and real nice musical moments. There's a lot of thought here for all the little moments where his voice quivers or when he arpeggiates a chord instead of doing a full regular strum. After a few songs though I feel myself wanting more; and the sound has started to become a repetitive one. On "Will Is My Friend", we get some soft kick drum hits and a distant old timey piano which is cool, but the song itself is pretty boring and feels like when I've finally been given more interesting elements it's unfortunately on a song that is forgetful. It's a middle of the road 3 for me. There's a few choices that I think are really nice and enjoyable in the sound, and then a few other choices that I find make the album drag on.

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Aretha Franklin

4/5

"Respect" is one of the greatest songs of all time, and fits so many little emotional pockets of enjoyment for all kinds of listeners. It's a pump up track that will get you moving on the dance floor, it's a defiant set of lyrics that probably showed hundreds of thousands of young women that they shouldn't just request respect and fairness- they should demand it, and at it's surface is a vocal performance for the ages. This track alone would make any album worth being on this list. The rest of the record of course isn't as spectacularly historical or other-worldly good like "Respect" is, but it's still a very solid album. There's lots of soul enriching tunes, but ultimately makes me yearn for more of what "Respect" gave me. That uptempo wild ride of a track as an opener is really great, but the lack of that energy is obvious when you get to the song, "Good Times, and realize that it's been 7 songs since you've had any kind up uptempo high energy pace that you were given right from the start. It's a small blemish on a really fantastic release. Strong 4/5.

Giant Steps

The Boo Radleys

3/5

Some nice 90's alt rock that dips its' toes into a lot of different genres on a track by track basis. I thought it was a nice listen, however it felt like their sound struggled with being cohesive and it seemed a bit aimless I think? The first three tracks go from: a straightforward alt rock tune with a catchy hook, to then an eerie bass heavy groove with heavily distorted vocals to then a chipper super clean guitar driven pop rock song with soft trumpets. By the time I was 10 minutes into the album, I really didn't have any idea for what would come next. I figured that that facet would be a weak point for me while listening to this, but I have to admit that as time went on I really started to like the flow of the album. When I got to the track "Thinking of Ways", it felt like I had been listening to a Sufjan Stevens record, with a soft tentative voice on top of cacophonous brass and synths. It ended up being a nice record but not really one that I would find myself reaching for.

Hysteria

Def Leppard

4/5

Ah a true 1980's constant. "Hysteria" probably caused a hysteria when it came out, as its massive stadium sound and corny sexy lyrics were seemingly something that the masses really needed at the time. Not trying to hate on it though, I think they rip and the sound is really over the top enough to be great. Also, to me, Def Leppard always seemed like the toughest guys in the softer side of the genre- towing the line between glam rock and heavy metal, which I appreciate. "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is definitely one of the songs that helped define the sound of the 1980s. It's one of the first songs that comes to mind when I think of this time period. They will always be a pop-up video piece of trivia for me when it comes to the drummer Rick Allen losing his arm in a car crash and then continuing to play with a modified drum kit. What a devastating thing to happen to an instrumentalist and what a beautiful turn of events for him to continue playing. I think of him doing that as one of the best stories of how a person overcame a disability through ingenuity. Amazing album cover. Lots going on and I think it's a good representation of what hysteria feels like.

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

3/5

Beautiful and laid back Sinatra record. It's got some nice moments but tends to keep within the same boundaries of tempo and energy levels, which I both enjoyed and also found a little repetitive. It's a 3.5 for me, not quite enough for a 4. I'm not sure why but as I went through this album I didn't find enough variety for me to totally love it. I do love the album cover. To me it's reminiscent of the painting "Nighthawks".

Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors

4/5

This band has been in my periphery for a bit but I've yet to listen to a full album so I'm excited to see this pop up on a Monday morning to get my week started. I love when indie is inventive, it's probably my favorite characteristic of the indie genre overall- that a new band can come out and there's less restrictions surrounding what defines the genre. It allows for a lot of style stretching, boundary pushing, and simply new "stuff". And you get that here, right from track 1, with those super unique vocal harmonies that pop in and out of the left speaker. Then in track 2, with that really unique acoustic guitar part. Whose brain writes that kind of stuff? It's so impressively fresh, and it sets up a wonderful expectation for each track ahead to give me something interesting. So the one downside that I usually have with these unique sounding acts is that by the end of listening to them I tend to get a bit exhausted. There's so many layers and new things and they are all so tightly packed that by the end you realize you haven't had many moments to sit into a groove or a series of tracks where you can expect to just sit back and jive for a little. Your ears have to be "on" the whole time. Maybe I just like more of a blend, but I would have loved a single track in the middle that was a 4 minute groove intermission that cleanses your palate. "Stills Is The Move" is the big hit on this one and pops up on indie rock playlists for me pretty often. It's a cool song and at times gives me a little bit of Santigold... there's even a moment where the singer does a Beyonce-like run. Fun stuff! "Two Doves" is beautiful. I love the strings that come in and interject themselves throughout. This was a fun listen, and I'm definitely excited to hear more from them.

Scissor Sisters

3/5

Fun and flamboyant indie pop. Scissor Sisters have been a fun band to put on for me to jam to at random times in my life and you can usually count on them to hold a beat that keeps you moving. However, this is also a downside to their music for me, as I find that their songs never really go above and beyond and tend to hold too closely to one groove. There's many songs that sound good, and have good moments, but don't have those big explosions into the next level. I'm often looking for something more; for a hook to be more infectious, for a chorus to burst into a huge climactic moment. It just doesn't ever come to fruition, and this is ultimately a point that keeps me from rating this album higher. It's a high 2, like a 2.8. Enough to round up to a 3.

L.A. Woman

The Doors

4/5

Solid album with three really amazing tracks- "Love Her Madly", "L.A. Woman", and "Riders on the Storm". I've always kept a little bit of a distance from The Doors. To me I think I I've probably had a fear that I would like them too much and become "The Doors guy". Growing up I had friend groups that had those types- we had "the Pink Floyd kid", "the Metallica kid", "the Guns n Roses kid", and each of them were a bit annoyingly too much into their band. Like every day wearing a different t-shirt of the same band, every music conversation funneling into a discussion about their favorite band, every CD change in their car turning into a repeat of their favorite album by their favorite band. I think I might have subconsciously noticed that, and realized that there's a few bands I would certainly obsess over to an unhealthy level and The Doors fit that bill. When I listen to their songs now, some 20 years after those foolish teenage ideas, I'm a little bit thankful that I reserved some of these fine wines for later consumption. I'm not tired of hearing "L.A. Woman", I can throw it on right now and jump around and there's still a sheen of newness on it. "Riders on the Storm" is a familiar but fresh journey- for me on this listen it's a vision of an early fall night drive through a rain soaked city with no direction besides "away". Would these tracks be this fresh for me now if I allowed myself to obsess over them when I was first introduced? I'm not entirely sure, but it's nice right now in the moment.

Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear

4/5

Great record that I am embarrassed to say that I haven't listened through fully yet before today. It's interesting hearing some of these other tracks that I'm not super familiar with. The singer's voice sounds pretty different at times, almost theatrical. Track 1 has some real "this should be in a musical" moments. "Two Weeks" is the big star here, and one of the greatest indie songs ever made. I only need to hear the slightest fraction of a second of the intro before I'm transported back to a really vivid time of my life- being in college, in love (same person as today!), having more friends than ever, having so many new bands and albums to listen to. If I can humor myself and attempt to remove my nostalgic bias for this track, I think it's objectively an incredible piece of songwriting. The drums always stood out to me, with their constant fluttering snare rolls that accent in this "here and there" almost ship rocking back and forth manner. That ride groove that happens only at the end- at 3:37 is incredible, and such a small element that enhances the groove tenfold. I love when a band can take layers and layers of unique ideas and somehow make it all homogeneous and catchy- it's one of the more impressive things in music. I also love when songwriters play around with conventions with mood, as while this song has an upbeat airy-ness to it, its lyrics seem to be about a relationship that is struggling (funny enough, if you look them up on genius.com, you can see that the singer Ed Droste actually has gone in there and made some verified annotations to more fully explain the lyrics!). One more note on this song- I think the overall unique style is something that made me gravitate towards it originally, and then also has made it stick around. For me I really enjoy the puzzle of analyzing a song and pulling out the pieces to see how it all works, and this song upon first few listens was tough for me to pull apart. To this day, ~15 years later hearing this song and having that many years to become a better musician, I would still find it hard if I was asked to replicate this song. It's so unique! Ok one final final note - I'm playing this song right now at 9am on a Thursday and there's a bird outside of my window just screaming away- so I guess it's not only meant for humans. Big points for that. Great album art too- they should put this on t-shirts! I'm really looking forward to my main 1001 album partner's review of this one :)

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

5/5

The sound of Simon & Garfunkel is so inherently iconic, memorable, and nostalgic for me. I love all of their work and this album is no outlier. Mrs. Robinson is my favorite song of theirs, and here's my anecdote about it: Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big baseball fan, and I love the odd random mixes of baseball and music that tend to pop up more than one would think- like the Strokes song "Ode to the Mets", Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" having a verse about an old baseball teammate, "Centerfield" by John Fogerty, Mike Piazza (famous Mets catcher) shouting some growls on a Black Label Society song, etc. "Mrs. Robinson" on this album of course has a great ode to Joe DiMaggio and it's one of the better instances of these two things intersecting; even if it's not the big topic of the song. When Joe DiMaggio died shortly before the 1999 baseball season, the Yankees honored him by creating "DiMaggio Day", and had Paul Simon perform this song in the stadium outfield. When he got to the part "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, what's that you say, Mrs. Robinson, Joltin' Joe has left and gone away", something hit me in the chest and I sobbed hard. There's a beautiful slowing down rubato by Paul Simon, with some extra time spent on these lyrics and the crowd goes wild. I'm not a Yankees fan, and DiMaggio was way before my time, but this moment felt so special and important for me. This might be one of the earlier moments in my life where a piece of music made me feel really strong emotions.

Van Halen

5/5

I'm so happy to see this album included on this list as I think it's the best Van Halen record. This is slammed with absolutely incredible pieces of music- "Runnin' with the Devil" "Eruption" "You Really Got Me" "Aint Talkin' Bout Love" "Jamie's Cryin'" are all SUCH strong tracks to have on one record. Each one absolutely amazing. I love "Runnin' with the Devil", David Lee Roth has such a laid back delivery during the verses that I think is both brilliant and perplexing as an opener for a hair metal album released in 1978. The guitar solo in this is pretty out-of-left-field when you look at it intervallically, but as all things with Eddie Van Halen, it not only "just works", but it sounds amazing and elevated with it's inclusion. "You Really Got Me" is such a fun addition to the album. They do such a good job at taking the beauty and fun of the original (by the Kinks) and maintaining those elements while also putting their wild spin on it. "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" might be my second favorite Van Halen song. That intro riff is SO special, I go and learn it every few years on guitar just to be able to pull it out of my pocket and hear it whenever I want. This is one of the great moments of the production side of Van Halen- where they have this super unique setup where Eddie's guitar is recorded fully panned to one ear, and then sent into a reverb that then gets sent out 100% into the other ear. So in one ear you get his regular guitar sound, and then in the other ear you get this mimic'd version of his guitar part with a bunch of reverb on it. Sounds ghostly and cool and funky all at once. I recommend hearing this with headphones! My favorite from the bunch is the instrumental "Eruption"; the song that made me look at the guitar not as a hobby or something to do on the weekends, but rather as a form of art that I would obsessively have to practice every single day of my life. This single piece of music was my own personal Moby Dick, or rather my own Mount Everest- this towering, intimidating behemoth in the distance that stared back at me with an intensity that equaled my gaze at it. I first truly "heard" this song when I was 15 or 16 and only a year or two into playing guitar, and boy was I transfixed. The introduction to the alien sounding neck-tapping technique, the wild yet tasteful dive bombs with the whammy bar, the immaculately clean tremolo picked sections, the little blues grace notes in between all of the shredded pinch harmonics... it's all so SICK. I haven't tried to learn how to play more of it in years but I used to be able to play some of the harder sections. I think I need to get this one under my belt before my hands start to get slower with age! To put this track 2nd on an album is also so cool. Clear 5/5 for me. Such a great record!

1989

Taylor Swift

3/5

I've been wanting to hear this one from start to finish for a while now so I'm glad to see it pop up. "Shake It Off" is a really great piece of pop music. It had its time in the spotlight but since then I've heard it randomly and I've had this thought linger that this song is so good for what it is. It's not some deep lyrical piece, but it's an incredibly catch song with a lot of quality elements and one of the better pristine poppy tracks of at least that decade. The pop-hip hop groove is great, the melodies are impressively catchy, that brass part is so infectious, those little laugh faux adlibs are adorable, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. It sounds like she's having fun sitting there in the studio and it is so glaringly more genuine than a lot of her other tunes. This is a side of Taylor Swift that I desperately want more of. Even if she made more tracks outside of this style but took the authenticity of this track and approached her other songs in this manner, I would be way more into her stuff. Unfortunately, many of the other songs are hard for me to get through. The intro "Welcome To New York" sounds like a fake song that some Gen Z'er made to make fun of "millenial music". It tries to be expansive with huge synths at 00:44, I guess to show this big grandiose version of the city? The production doesn't do it any favors; the kicks don't kick you, the snares don't snap, and the claps are the most perfectly aligned "keyboard drumset" nonsense you can imagine. It's so vanilla. The lyrics are her usual bland variety: "It's a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat, beat forevermore The lights are so bright, but they never blind me, me Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you" What was the purpose of this track? I don't think it came from a great set of lyrics, I don't think it came from a great melody either, as the melody sounds more like it was bolted on rather than baked in. It sounds like it was made to check the box of having a "club song" on her record. Or rather a "song that girls will play before they go out to the club". This is my least favorite reasoning to write a song- album playlist pragmatism. I'm surprisingly annoyed by the chorus in "Out of the Woods", as this soft-pop style doesn't really ever present musical elements that are annoying to me but that chorus is kind of grating to hear over and over and over. And it's not even that catchy of a phrase that it could be played on repeat a few times and then everyone on earth will be humming it for weeks. At the end where we get a full like 32(?) measures of it from 3:07 to 3:50 is particularly annoying. "areweoutofthewoodsyetareweoutofthewoodsyetareweoutofthewoodsyetareweoutofthewoodsyetareweoutofthewoodsyetareweoutofthewoodsyet". I really don't want to dislike Taylor Swift. She's a polarizing figure in my friend groups, and honestly I don't ever really let that influence me too much; I can enjoy acts that none of my friends like, and I can dislike acts that all of my friends like, and yet every time I go to give Taylor Swift some time I always get let down. She has a great voice, she has all the producers she could ever want to work it, and hell she is a pop star who writes her own songs (or at least has some effort in it? I remember this being a thing years ago and I don't know if she still writes as much). That should be enough to churn out great tunes over and over forever and evermore, and yet that's not what happens. "Shake It Off" is a truly great song, and there are some other hits on here that people love- like "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", "Style", that I feel like are inflated by her fan base and are just OK pop tracks. The repetitive and formulaic choruses just frustrate me to rate this any higher than a 3.

Music From Big Pink

The Band

3/5

There's some really great layers in this album, and some nice tracks overall. I really hate the panning choices that were so prevalent at this time though as it takes me completely out of the listening experience. One of the more surprising choices you can make in mixing is to have bass frequencies off center, as it can give this off kilter / unbalanced feeling, and that certainly happens here right from the start. To me it feels like my right ear (that has the bass guitar in it) is being weighed down compared to my left. I listened to a remastered version of this album to see if that was changed and it wasn't. It sucks to have something like that really put me off from an album but it's this overbearing thing that really blocks me from sitting and listening and focusing on other stuff. Not to harp on it too much but it's like a painter making a beautiful vista landscape and then painting all of the trees a hot pink color. There's nothing wrong about it, but it takes so much of my attention. I did like "In A Station", and "The Weight" is a classic rock radio staple. I've heard this track probably a few thousand times in my life while growing up in a family that drove everywhere and had classic rock on the radio every time. It's a famously catchy piece that has such a cool conversational chorus and those great opening lines that set the stage: "I pulled in to Nazareth Was feeling 'bout half past dead I just need someplace Where I can lay my head "Hey, mister, can you tell me Where a man might find a bed?" He just grinned and shook my hand "No" was all he said" "The Weight" is such a great title for this song.

Honky Tonk Masquerade

Joe Ely

3/5

Pretty nice folky old poppy cowboy tunes. I think that the songs are actually quite good and this is a bit of a hidden gem after looking at some of the play counts. I was surprised at some of the production ideas too, it felt a little bit exploratory and a little bit of messy execution? High 2 for me, enough to round up to a 3.

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

3/5

A confident, high flying album by an incredible performer. "What's Love Got To Do With It" is the big track here with play counts that dwarf the others on the album with more than the rest combined. The main melody has such a great conversational rhythm to it that makes it incredibly catchy, and the band is super strong behind her- with a simple yet tight bass and drum groove, and some interesting chord progressions that pop in and out. This is one of the better songs of the 1980's, but for me it's always seemed more like an early 90's (or atleast very late 80's) song. I don't really know why, but it could be because the production is so cohesive and refined, which is a shift that happened closer to the 90s. "Private Dancer" is a popular one too but I always just thought it was OK. I think the lyrics are a bit straightforward and kind of bland. It's a shame because it's a great topic but it just doesn't give enough. At least the guitar solo rips.

Ys

Joanna Newsom

3/5

Joanna Newsom must be one of the originators of the "millennial female singing in script" style that pops up in younger generations memes (the Halsey accent?). She has that voice that is "cutesy" and reserved, with little accentuated flourishes and over-embellishments that come and go with the flow of whatever song it's in. It was so overdone around this time period that I cringe a little when I hear it now. Listening now, I can tell that there's depth here. This baroque pop style is very interesting to me and normally something I would want to dive deeper in, but unfortunately I don't feel pulled in. I feel like I'm at an open mic event and there's a singer songwriter bard who is crafting a tale of some medieval event with way too much poetic nuance for a 16 minute epic for an open mic. I think I'll have to listen again because this isn't clicking with me when I think it normally would.

In A Silent Way

Miles Davis

4/5

To me this sounds a bit like the incredible "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane, a similar gradual slow burning brilliant collection of music. This one is of course different, slightly more modern, but it has the same rolling onward and sometimes meditative vibe. I feel like the 16th note hi-hats and "i'm taking some big steps" bass lines really just pick you up and drive you around town on a beautiful day. I like a lot of things with this album and it feels so impressively serene and comforting which is apt for the titles. The only thing that would make it a 5/5 for me is if it it would have a few more climactic moments. The guitar solos are really killer and do all the right things, but I can't help but feel like I wanted just a little bit more of some kind of explosion after all of that building. I'm sure there's some dynamic constraints in play here, but that's why it's a little short of a 5 for me.

The Rolling Stones

3/5

Really solid classic blues rock album by one of the best bands to ever do it. The band all sound great, everyone does their thing and does it well, and the songs are platforms for them to have fun and let loose on top of. I think that's one of my favorite aspects of the Stones - it's that they have such a great loose feel. They are as loose as a tight band can be.. or as tight as a loose band can be? Either way, it's a great sound, filled with moments like the 1:12 minute mark in "Little By Little", where after a guitar solo you hear a vocalized "my turn!" and then a ripping harmonica solo. It's all so loose and fun. My one gripe with this album is that it's not their totally defined sound- there's not many mega hooky choruses and moments that are super memorable, and that's what I truly love about them. It's their debut, and it's a strong debut, and I'm definitely taking that into account, but the problem persists that the Stones at their younger sound is pretty repetitive and dare I saw formulaic. The blues chord progression is prevalent in just about every song, and there is an unfortunate amount of predictability that happens after only a few tracks in.

Talking Heads 77

Talking Heads

4/5

Rambunctious, fun, silly, and catchy. It's a great album by a great band. "Psycho Killer" is the stand out track and boy is it a cool one. I don't know exactly what it is but there's just this different vibe to that track; the vocal melodies have staccato that stab really hard (like a real psycho killer?), and then flow into a post-chorus that is airy and floaty. It's a super interesting sequence that I always think about as being so unique. David Byrne just always knows what to do vocally to elevate a song. I also really liked "I Feel It in My Heart" which isn't on the original but is on remastered versions. The vocal melody is amazing.

Caetano Veloso

3/5

Nice Brazilian pop / folk album. I actually found myself liking some of the tracks with smaller play counts, like "Anunciacao", which has some really interesting structures and great use of vibraphone as a the harmonic voice. Definitely enjoyed this one and I'm excited to check out other albums!

Make Yourself

Incubus

5/5

I'm really surprised that this is the first Incubus popping up on the list in our rotation. I could have sworn that we had "Morning View" already but it didn't show up when I searched. This album is incredible. "Stellar", "Drive", and "Pardon Me" are three amazing songs and propel the album to a pretty clear 5/5, and getting an addition onto my "favorite albums of all time" list, coming in somewhere between #10 and 25. "Stellar" is a beautiful song with one of my favorite guitar riffs. I always keep that guitar part in my back pocket whenever I want to impress my wife or get a quick "ooooo I love that song!" at random times in day to day life. There's such a great spacey vibe in this one; and not only with the "meet me in outer space" line- it's in the guitars and bass and backing synth(s) and production. I love it. "Pardon Me" has some of the best energy of any rock song I've ever heard. You can feel the angst seething through Brandon Boyd's vocals. I always loved the lyrics in this one too. I'm pretty sure I'll have them memorized for my entire life. "Drive" is an extra special song with some pretty on-the-nose lyrics about letting fear and uncertainty control your life. If I recall, a lot of these songs were written when Brandon Boyd was in his very early 20's and going through a lot. I love the slight pitch~y problem the first time you hear the lyric "steer" (00:39) between his voice and the bass guitar. It's perfectly imperfect from someone who I consider a vocal god. His voice really shines in the chorus of this one. Great long notes, and equally great little runs and spoken rhythmic sequences. What a joy to listen to. Something I love about this album and Incubus on a bigger level is the way that they are able to add so much depth to all of their songs and not just their big hits. They respect every song on their records and are able to concoct these really interesting little musical spaces with each other. "The Warmth" for example has a really distinct groove and a repetitive guitar part that is heightened by some great haunting delay/reverb effect on the guitar. The bass also kicks on a distortion (sansamp style I think?) later in the track that makes the groove hit you like a punch. That effect elevates the song and makes it distinct from every other track, and they seemingly do this with every single track. They have perfect taste for what a voice or instrument needs production-wise that I will forever appreciate. Each one has it's own little vocabulary that is homogeneous with the language of Incubus while also existing by itself. Easy 5/5 for me- so good!

Slippery When Wet

Bon Jovi

5/5

I grew up thinking Bon Jovi was such a lame guy, like a fake rock and roller. But as I've gotten older and started to embrace music from other era's as not being "corny" but taking them more for what they are, I've really grown to appreciate this stuff. This album rocks really hard, and right from the start you get some crazy high energy guitar shred right into Bon Jovi's awesome soaring voice. He's a great singer and front man and sounds great on top of these tracks. "You Give Love A Bad Name" is one of the more memorable songs of the 1980's. I'm noticing that I write a lot in my reviews "This song is one of the best of the 19XX's", but I can't help it and I'm not the most eloquent person so forgive me there but yea... this is one of the best songs of the 1980s, same with "Livin' On A Prayer". Both of these tracks sync together so well- it's hard to describe but I can picture being in the studio or in the practice room and having these choruses just appear out of thin air and looking around the room like "holy shit we've got something here". That feeling is my favorite thing about being a songwriter. The bass line on "Livin' On A Prayer" is so great. It's very simple but there's a lot of complexity in the chord progression there for a 1980's pop rock song. How great is the bass part again at the big key change at 3:25? It's so fun! And that talk-box guitar part is so special and a color that is seldom used. Yet another timeless chorus too. "Wanted Dead Or Alive" is really the third part of the trident of sick tracks on this album, even if it falls behind the two other hits in play counts (as per Spotify). This song I think is one of my mom's favorites, I feel like I heard it a trillion times growing up but I'm not sick of it; in fact, I'm going to play it twice today. "ON A STEEL HORSE I RIDE" Great album cover. For me this is a high 4, like a 4.8, and enough to round up to a 5 (which is rare for me to round a high 4 up). The three big hits are so monstrous that they propel this album into the stratosphere of "truly great".

Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury

The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy

2/5

Pretty cool spoken-word type rap album. There's some mix choices that really hurt my listening experience, like on "Television The Drug Of The Nation", there's some high frequency swishes panned to the L and R ears and they really take my attention away from the singer which is unfortunate. Almost like they hurt the groove? Albums like this are sometimes hard for me to get through; I don't know if it's because when I put on an album I'm expecting to hear something more musical but this kind of leads me astray. I'm wanting some kind of melody and instead of that I'm getting pretty flat vocal parts. Many songs on this give me hints of melody and hints of rap, but not enough in each, and existing more in some middle area of the two. I think that my listening experience is probably hurting it here though because this seems like an album that you put on and pay close attention to, and I'm kind of going about my work day with this in the background.

The Fat Of The Land

The Prodigy

4/5

Crazy good eclectic electronic album by a band that really paved its' own way. I appreciate (The) Prodigy for this and will always be a fan. "Smack My Bitch Up" is a wild badass track that makes me feel like I'm in a montage of scenes from The Matrix. "Firestarter" and "Breathe" are also really fun and memorable. My uncle used to listen to this album when he was going to soccer practice / practicing soccer. I remember hearing it a lot with him and thinking it was weird but cool.

Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson

3/5

A beautiful and at times sprawling and big album that offers a wide range of instrument / layer ideas and an edgier singing voice than his brothers Brian and Carl. To me he's kind of like the John Lennon to Brian Wilson's Paul McCartney. I really enjoyed this and will definitely give it more listens soon.

Microshift

Hookworms

3/5

This is a fun listen with an abundance of comfortable energy, great pulsating synths, and a sleek voice that sits really nicely on top of the instruments. I really enjoy the continuous 4-on-the-floor beats throughout the album; it was like the momentum never really ceased and kept me going. I'm listening to this album sporadically on a frumpy Monday morning in March and I haven't had coffee yet and I wonder if the energy of these songs is keeping me awake and moving right now. I will say that it does take a little too long to get to any respite(s). It's fine, but that's one small thing I'd like more of: more dynamics in their structures so that I can breathe and lean-in and lean-out along with the flow of the music.

Murder Ballads

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

3/5

This is a cool album, and every time I listen to Nick Cave I further my respect and interest in him and his music. For some reason though I feel like I've read more interviews with him than I've actually heard his records, so any reason to listen is a good one. Unfortunately, I feel like his dense storytelling is kind of tough to chew on in the form of a music record, instead of something like a narrated movie or an audio book. There's cadence and rhythm in his delivery, melody exists, and I mean he's in front of a band... but I can't help but feel like I need to sit and listen to this with no other stimulation around me going on to truly "get it". Maybe that's my millenial brain that is slowly transforming into a more TikTok-addled Gen Z variety, but if I lose track for a moment then it's actually a bit hard for me to get back into the story. Even now, as I'm writing this review while I'm listening, I can't help but feel like I need to pause and go back to the lyric sheet to see what I missed. It's just a little too much "storytelling that happens to be set to music". It's certainly a compelling sound though, and there's a ton of excitement, interesting vibes, and rich material to listen through.

Heroes

David Bowie

3/5

Nice album, it's Bowie so you know you're going to get quality tunes with interesting ideas and special moments. My gripe at times with his sound is that sometimes it feels a bit zany for the sake of being zany. Almost like what we saw and heard a lot in the late 1970's where electronic instruments were becoming popular / mass produced and because of it there emerged so many artists that felt compelled to add them to their sound for what seemed like the sole reason of embracing this new shiny thing. I get that vibe sometimes from Bowie where he can have a song that is fundamentally great but then at the production stage a little too much gets added. This album for example, the first song "Beauty and the Beast" really lets you on to thinking that there's going to be some jam packed songs with a ton of ideas, layers, and sound elements... and the song is just OK in my opinion. But then three minutes later you get the title track "Heroes" and it's so simply beautiful. It's his voice, a simple drumbeat, a block-chord piano part, and a wonderful optimistically sad spacey guitar part in the distance. There's not so many things going on to take your attention away from the song itself, or from his voice.. and the outcome is a song that is one of Bowie's best. It's unfortunate in my opinion that the rest of the album didn't stick with this kind of vibe. A high 3/5 for me, like just enough for it to not be able to round up to a 4. "Heroes" is a really great song, but the others don't do enough for me to be blown away, and honestly I've heard several covers of the song that I think are better than the original.

Justified

Justin Timberlake

4/5

This is a really great pop album with three standout tracks- "Senorita", "Cry Me a River", and "Rock Your Body". I love that it starts with "Senorita". I haven't heard this in a while and when I put it on I immediately thought "I bet this is Timbaland" and it is (plus Pharrell) ! Their production styles work super well for Justin's pop. I'm not exactly a daily listener of Justin Timberlake or anything but I think these are some of my more favorite tracks of his and I'm sure the influence from those two plays a part. "Rock Your Body" shows why Justin Timerblake is one of the biggest pop acts of our lifetime. It's such a great straightforward and a bit shallow pop song; there's no pretentiousness, it's just a catchy dance-y pop song done as good as one can be done. I'll have these songs stuck in my head for a few days now. Nice album cover, it's just a little bit corny to match the album title.

Movies

Holger Czukay

3/5

Interesting album that's pretty fun to listen to. It feels at times just a little.. manic? But it's still pretty controlled so I don't know if that's exactly what I'm getting at. I definitely enjoyed it but I don't know if it's something that I would find particularly memorable or that I would often come back to. I could however see this album being something that some young people will nerd out and fall in love with in years from now. There's something definitely intriguing about it. I like the album title and cover. Like the music, they are just surreal enough for me to be pulled in and want to investigate more.

Black Holes and Revelations

Muse

4/5

Muse is a really great modern band that does a lot of things right, and has some of the best and catchiest arena-rock hooks that you'll ever hear. In fact when I think of specifically current arena-rock type bands, I'm pretty much thinking of them first. "Starlight" is impressively beautiful, even after hearing this song thousands of times on rock radio over the past ~19 years. Break this all down into a piano ballad and it would still be gorgeous. Make it into a blues song and it would grab your heart and squeeze it. Great track. The thing that is keeping it from a 5/5 for me is that I often want some kind of respite from the super compressed drums and synths. I'd really love some parts where the layers are played softly. To me it sounds like when they want a quieter part, they will just turn down the volumes of whatever layers they want.

Californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers

5/5

There's nothing I love more than to share anecdotes about times in my life where I was embarrassingly wrong about a band or song or album here in these reviews, so I'll share a short one here. Red Hot Chili Peppers have been kind of a meme band for me and my friend groups for most of my life. When I was younger and in a heavy metal band, we often played shows with another local band that sounded like RHCP... they were fun and poppy and funky and it was a nice blend for our concerts. I have no idea where the idea came from to have these two different kinds of bands be put together on the same bill but it was actually really great, and we did this for years. Unfortunately, from then on, RHCP's music started to sound kind of silly to me and my friend groups. Maybe it's because we heard that other bands songs too many times and essentially were hearing an amateurish take on RHCP's very defined sound, or maybe it's just because we saw that girls at our concerts were way more into music they could dance to and that had initiated some kind of subconscious resentment. From there and going into college after that I then had instantly met many "bro's" who loved RHCP. It became a caricature of a stereotype of someone that I would meet and then unfairly have expectations for. Almost like what you would call a "red flag" these days? But it wouldn't really be a red flag, it just be like "ah that guy is a bro. When it comes to music he loves RHCP (and a little bit of John Mayer and Jack Johnson but that's it), he watches "the Office", and only "the Office", he isn't really into sports or play videogames, he can't do any magic tricks and doesn't have any good jokes. Unfortunately RHCP became this canary in a coal mine for "you're about to meet a dude and have a pretty boring conversation". Not that that's the worst thing ever, but I'm just aware of it now I think? Regardless of all of that, this album rocks. The first 6 tracks are all fantastic modern classics (ugh this album is 26 years old, is that not "modern" anymore?), with everything that makes the band great- it's funky, poppy, catchy, heavy, cool, fun, and overall enjoyable. Even the two non-singles (maybe they were singles I'm not sure), "Parallel Universe" and "Get on Top" are both awesome songs in their own right. This album could be those 6 songs and it would be amazing. I want to take some points away for the rest of the album because nothing else really hits as hard as those first few songs, but it wouldn't be fair to those 6 because they are so good. Even now I'm listening to "Scar Tissue" after hearing it a million times in my life and I'm just absorbing all of this beautiful and sorrow-filled track. Great harmonies on this one too that I'm hearing now through my studio monitors that you don't often get to hear through crappy car speakers. Many of these songs have a timeless quality that I think is partly because of John Frusciante's guitar parts. I don't know how but he really churned out so many great guitar moments on this album. "Scar Tissue", "Otherside", and "Californication" all have clean guitar intros and each of these riffs is unique, memorable, and timeless. It's almost like he's teasing the listener and saying "these riffs are so good that I'll deliver them the same way to you each time. I don't need any fancy effects or pedals, just take the content for what it is". I find that so impressive. All of his guitar solos are so good here too, all very tasteful and never take on too much when it doesn't need it. I can't mention any RHCP release without mentioning Flea though too, who is always being a creative force and carving out a path through the rest of the band with his bass. I love that the album starts with a super gritty distorted bass part on "Around the World". Killer entrance for an album. It's a clear 5/5 for me. These tracks are so good and really ushered in the 2000's in a great way.

Before And After Science

Brian Eno

3/5

Pretty cool alt-pop album. I think that's how I would genre it? Brian Eno is someone I haven't listened to much but I've been recommended him for a loooong time. This album is a definitely a delight. It's 1977 but definitely ahead of it's time because to me it sounds pretty 1980's. Great dynamics, nice production, and cool guitar sounds. Nice album cover too!

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco

4/5

Niiiice I've been meaning to give this album a good full listen! Wow, I haven't heard an album out of the blue recently that really struck me as something that I almost exactly and specifically wanted to listen to in the moment, and this has done that. The acoustic-driven Elliot Smith-esque "Kamera", the Okkervil River flavored "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", the Neutral Milk Hotel-ish "Radio Cure", and my favorite Wilco song, the snarky "Jesus, Etc.", there's really a lot to like. This is great; it's warm, it's cold, it's acoustic, it's digital.. it's perfectly imperfect, and putting on headphones and leaving my phone in the other room, I'm just taken for a ride and I really don't know what's around the corner. This is a solid 4.3/5 for me. Will be adding this to my upcoming rotation.

Pink Flag

Wire

2/5

Cool alt-punk sound. With each song that passes I keep feeling like something is missing however, like some alternate guitar part to thicken the sound or a bass part that doesn't follow the guitar so closely to liven it up and add more movement. The arrangements just feel a bit too simple to me, like it's a 3 piece band that is desperate for more sound but refuses to add a member.. which is funny because I looked it up and for this album they were definitely a 4 piece. "Lowdown" reminds me of The Black Keys, even though they came way after this band, but it's an example of a cool riff and vocal part that should have been the basis for a great track but ultimately let me down when it doesn't really go anywhere. As I listen to this proto-punk thrashery I'm realizing that maybe that's just their sound and these are intended as little vignettes of tracks. If I look away for a moment I might miss a half dozen songs and ideas. It's OK, but in the standards of this list I think it's a 2/5. These all feel like short ideas and I wish there were more work put into making these into full songs. When they do that, like in "Ex Lion Tamer", and "Mannequin", the songs sound great.

I Should Coco

Supergrass

3/5

This album is a bit of a polarized listen for me; sometimes the energy is fun and contagious, and other times I feel a bit annoyed by it. "Alright" is really amazing, and is so interesting to me as it's a song that was released in 1995 but sounds so much like an early 2010's indie pop track in every single facet. The vocal tone, the guitar parts, the structure, the production... you could tell me this is a Vampire Weekend song and I wouldn't question it because it fits into that time period so well. "Lose It" and "Lenny" are both really cool too, with great distorted guitars and saturated vocals, and energy for days. This album is a nice listen, but even as I finish it I still feel hot and cold on it, so with that being said I'm hitting it with a pretty middle of the road 3/5.

Don't Stand Me Down

Dexys Midnight Runners

3/5

I'm happy today to dive more into this band beyond "Come On Eileen", as a lot of these songs are crisp rock tunes with great performances and production. It's a bummer that the play counts are so low (per Spotify) because it's really an enjoyable album to sit and listen to. The 12 minute "This Is What She's Like" is a trip- with large spoken sections (I need to go back and read what they are saying), a big 4 minute Bruce Springsteen-esque steady rockin' outtro, and a nice English pop/folk rock tune right in the middle. I love the vocalist's crooning throughout. Solid album.

Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan

4/5

There's an attention to detail that is perfected on Steely Dan records. I think it's part of their lasting quality- that you can put these albums on no matter the year and you can always appreciate the artistry and production. Every note feels intentional, every section is tight, and everything is really locked into a BPM. There are a few tracks on this record that I don't fully connect with, like as I listen to "Barrytown" it feels like a bunch of musicians going through the motions without much connection to the actual song. It's almost a bit too perfectly attached to a metronome grid. It's not often, but noticeable. Aside from that, this is a really spectacular rockin' album. Great mix of genres, great performances (the guitar work really hits a ton of different styles and techniques), and I feel like there's something else deeper going on here too- like I have no idea what "Pretzel Logic" even means. Great album cover. Composition wise it's great but I love the black and white and how the guy and his cart kind of blend into the nature behind him. If you squint it looks like some weird amorphous thing on one plane/layer. Also it's another great "moment in time" photo- which I've mentioned before on this list as something that I really enjoy.. like it stops me and makes me think "where is this guy now?".

Logical Progression

LTJ Bukem

4/5

Exactly the kind of music that I've been listening to lately and interested in making for the past few years. This was a really cool compilation record and I'm flying through the album. The one thing that I think could be improved with this genre is that I think there's an obvious expectation that people will be listening to this in some kind of edm club (not your typical rave, but a more chill sort of club I think?), and so there are really long sections where the music doesn't evolve enough aside from changes in the drum break patterns. Part of what makes this sound great is its meditative-like nature (I won't say trance because it's not quite that) so I don't mean for that to be removed, but I do find that this is a genre I enjoy more as a "lean-in" experience, where there are more defined structures and things borrowed from pop music as opposed to this repetitive "lean back" idea. Overall, this was really great. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

4/5

Awesome Neil Young record. Any time Crazy Horse is involved I'm going to like it, as I really dig the electric sound behind Neil's soft vocal timbre. This one is pretty dynamic and is a fresh listen. "Round & Round" is a beautiful acoustic track with great vocal harmonies, and "Down by the River" is so lively; I don't know much about the recording process for this record but I would be surprised if it wasn't recorded with the band in the same room. The production is really quite tight and every instrument sounds clear and distinct. A great feat for 1969. Great album, great album cover.

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

Ice Cube

3/5

Solid gangsta rap from the best era of it. In my opinion he's a little bit underrated in this realm, as when I do listen I'm reminded of his solid lyrics, flow, and a great tough guy vocal tone. Great album cover with some beautiful dated image manipulation used. Matches the aesthetic perfectly.

System Of A Down

3/5

Really glad to see SOAD appear on this list. I've always had a love/cringe (instead of love/hate) relationship with the band. For me as a young person really into heavy metal and death metal and all of those unnecessary yet necessary subdivisions of the genre, SOAD was like a softer, less serious, and kind of cringey act at times. It's serious music, but it's also kind of joke-y.. and enough that it made a confusing dichotomy for me. It's funny for me to reflect on now as a 36 year old who has outgrown the immaturity. Regardless, this album shines with two songs: "Sugar", and "Spiders". "Sugar" is a heavy-then silly-then heavy again manic track with amazing production, and "Spiders" on the other hand is a serious, beautiful, and chilling song telling a story about a girl who undergoes some kind of government mind control procedure. I guess these two songs are a great example as to why younger me was confused about what the band was trying to do. Pretty solid record, and probably SOAD's second best. Since this is on the list, I really hope that "Toxicity" is as well.

Talking With the Taxman About Poetry

Billy Bragg

3/5

This was a pretty enjoyable listen. I really dug how the first track doesn't ever have drums yet it sounds like a full band orchestration- they make all of the acoustic guitars work really well in a nice spatial + rhythmic sense that I never felt like I needed a percussion element. Which is surprising because to me personally when I hear this kind of sound I usually feel like I'm listening to a bit of a cacophony of acoustic guitarists sitting around a campfire. Yea there's some wonderful minimalism going on here- like "Levi Stubbs' Tears" is really cool with the majority of it being a single electric guitar and voice. Also noticing this far into the album that it's not just the first song that is without a drumset, as I'm not hearing it anywhere else. Cool listen, I enjoyed!

Tanto Tempo

Bebel Gilberto

3/5

Pretty album that blends nice traditional Brazilian bossa nova with some more modern and interesting takes. I really liked "August Day Song" for that reason: the guitar playing is gorgeous and full of soft tensions and her voice plays so nicely with the guitar that it's a real joy to listen to. I think I would have rated this a little higher if it had more of these types of songs on it. Nice album!

Get Behind Me Satan

The White Stripes

3/5

Good album from a great band, but admittedly maybe only their 3rd or 4th best record. They get a little bit of "The Who" sort of treatment on this list where this is maybe their 3rd or 4th time on it and I don't necessarily feel like every release needs to take a spot on the list. "Blue Orchid" is a solid song, and there are many cool moments where they feature a marimba and sort of like early-iphone-commercial sounding riffs which is cool, but the compositions themselves aren't completely memorable for me.

Let's Get Killed

David Holmes

3/5

This is a cool fever dream~ish sort of album. I often felt like I was stuck in a song however, and wanted more development or a piece to go somewhere else but it didn't happen enough. The James Bond song cover/recreation was a cool surprise. I wasn't sure if it was going to just be a sample or a full fledged reproduction but I had fun! Cool album cover. Straight to the point with that title.

Trafalgar

Bee Gees

3/5

This was an OK listen for me. The Bee Gees are wildly impressive as a band and will forever be a band that excited me to listen to. But this record didn't have any kind of substantial grip on me and it just came and went. Nice album cover!

Spiderland

Slint

4/5

Slint is a band that has always been in my periphery and I always wanted to listen more. Super raw alt rock from the early 90's- say less! Right from the start I'm definitely pulled in. Lots of great energy and emotion in this and a surprisingly fresh sound for being some proto-emo from 1991. I really like the production on this too; the guitars sound impressively crisp! This is a great listen. I will add some of these tracks to my rotations.

Killing Joke

3/5

Surprisingly heavy artsy rock. The drums hit pretty hard and the overall vibe is a cool one that makes me want to hear more. I feel like while listening to this there was a cohesion while also not entirely knowing what would be coming next, which was great. Cool album cover too.

Reggatta De Blanc

The Police

4/5

Growing up I didn't really like The Police or Sting. I think it's because I heard "Fields of Gold" a million times on soft rock radio in the car on the way to school and it drove me crazy, but in my late 20's I started to listen to the Police and I've definitely grown to like them since then. Their songs have so many elements that I love and are present on this record- amazing inventive guitar and bass parts, great vocals and lyrics, and super tight drum grooves that act as the ultimate glue for this blend of subgenres. "Message In A Bottle" and "Walking On The Moon" are amazing songs and I could make an argument that both could exist on my "stranded island and I have to pick from 100 songs to have to listen to" list. This is a strong 4/5 for me. Outside of those two tracks, the album does fall off a little bit in my opinion and several songs go by without me stopping a single time to say "oh I liked that one thing".

Goodbye And Hello

Tim Buckley

3/5

I saw this album cover and couldn't really get much of a first impression on it- his demeanor is light, he's got a huge grin and an almost angel-like halo around his head... but he's got a hole in his eye? By the time the first track came around I had a better idea about what was going on. The lyrics in the first song hit pretty hard and are right there to take in. I like straightforward lyrics; I like when something is presented in an honest manner, but I also like poetry, and creative devices that allow me to read lyrics and make my own personal connections to them, and I feel like I didn't really get enough of this here. He's got a really wonderful voice. While listening I was kind of picturing myself seeing him in a local concert in the 60's and thinking "this kid is going to blow up". As I was having this day dream I took a minute to read his wikipedia, and learn that he only lived to be 28, and that he's Jeff Buckley's dad! Ah I should have known that. What a sad story to learn more about though. He died in debt, only owning "a guitar and an amp", and 8 year old Jeff Buckley who had only met his dad once wasn't even invited to the funeral. The picture of the smiling handsome 20 year old man feels a bit different now. Nice album. The anti-war theme is prevalent and obvious, and had me looking up the lyrics right away. The title track was over the top and went through what felt like a hundred different sub sections and was hard to follow unless I was sitting and staring intently at my speakers. I don't really know if I liked listening more after reading about him, or if I liked it less. I try to not let "outside of the album" stuff get in the way of my ratings here but it's human nature to carve out more of an opinion on anything with more information.

Virgin Suicides

Air

3/5

Cool chill vibey soundtrack. I really enjoyed this one. I've been doing a lot of thinking about soundtracks lately and how they are intimately tied to their connected media: a movie, a tv-show, a videogame, etc. I think it makes for different listening experiences, replay-ability, and memorability, because it's so tied to visuals or moments that when you go back and listen to them without that other media, it's just kind of different, right? Not better, not worse, but just different. Listening to "Ghost Song", I am given what feels like a specific vibe and connected sections of music that evolve and don't seem to inherently be easily connected to eachother... so obviously this is scored to some visual, like a scene in a film with a shifting mood, right? There's no vocals (and lyrics) so I don't have a ton to go off of to bolster these shifting emotions. I like this, it's hard to eloquently describe but it's just a different experience. I love the album cover too, great colors and text!

Raw Power

The Stooges

3/5

Some pretty rugged and loose rock and roll in its purest sense. I always thought Iggy Pop was pretty cool, albeit not really my usual type of singer that I'm into, and listening to this album further cements that. I'm definitely enjoying it and getting into the riffs and grooves but his voice is just slightly not really what I want here. I have to admit that I think this might be more of a problem with the production though, as the band sounds really cohesive and it sounds like his voice was kind of placed on top. Regardless, he's a rocker and a punker and this is pretty punk rock for 1973.

Sweet Baby James

James Taylor

3/5

Beautiful and timeless acoustic guitar playing and singing. I like James Taylor and I liked listening through this album. I think there are times where I feel like he gets a lot of credit but only in small circles, and that he is known by a lot of people but is the "favorite artist" of a much smaller number. Regardless, there's some nice tunes on here.

The Sun Rises In The East

Jeru The Damaja

3/5

Some pretty nice early 90's hip hop that hits the usual "wants" that I have: smooth flow, fun sampling (I love the discordant piano on "D.Original"), and interesting lyrics. Could definitely see myself listening more as it reminds me of some of my favorites from this era- like Big L. Classic 90's rap album cover. Tight.

Hot Fuss

The Killers

5/5

Oh wow- a doozy of an album. This one is incredible, and I don't know how or why, but these songs are so timeless and impossible for me to get sick of. "Smile Like You Mean It", "Somebody Told Me" "All These Things That I've Done" are all songs that could individually be good enough to prop up an album on this list, and yet for The Killers they are all here on the same record. "Mr. Brightside" is the true star of this one though, and one of the best anthemic stadium pop/rock tracks ever. I saw them at a festival around 2-3 years ago and they absolutely killed ;) and it was hit after hit after hit, with immense energy. Even if you don't feel like moving, some of their songs really make you move. I remember walking around after their set and just saying "wow" to myself. Great production throughout. The bass shines so much on this record. Great album cover too. Easy 5/5!

Beach Samba

Astrud Gilberto

3/5

Nice little record here. I don't mind a little samba and I certainly don't mind a little bit on the beach. This is a nice entry point into this kind of music for someone who would be unfamiliar. "Parade (A Banda)" was a fun surprising marching band vocal tune that really came out of nowhere.

Armed Forces

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

There's some solid tunes on this album with some smaller moments and shifts that do a good job at getting me to lean in, as is usual with his music. I definitely dug the political lyrics too, even if a random "n-word" caught me off guard. I can't help but feel a bit turned off to it though because Elvis Costello is so heavy on this list. I just checked and this is the 6th time that he's on it and he's a nice songwriter and all but do we say things like "The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Elvis Costello?" The songs are good, the production is tight.. my expectations are just a bit off and I don't want to judge this based on that, but I don't know if I would have rated it too differently from this anyway. I do think that he's an artist where his stuff gets better the more you listen to it.

Metal Box

Public Image Ltd.

3/5

Some pretty interesting noisy alt punk. I liked how droning the music was while the vocalist did stuff on top- like "Poptones" has an incredible bass line groove with the drums, and it makes for a really nice foundation for the shifting tones that the guitar and vocals place on top. Unfortunately after a few tracks of it it got a little grating, but luckily right around this mark (5-6 songs in), we get treated to some songs that are a bit different than the rest, like some dance-y proto emo, and some cool electronic exploration on "Socialist". I dug this, and I enjoyed not really knowing where it was going.

Play

Moby

4/5

Moby has a strong "that was a time and place" effect for me; where some of his albums and songs are strongly connected to years of my life and it's hard for me to separate them. This album for me was when I was entering my teenage years and starting to grow into a little dude with a personality and interests and a taste in music. It came out when I was 9, so I'm sure I heard some of these on MTV and randomly on the radio, but I remember listening to this album a few years later and thinking the music was very fun and different than what my friends were listening to. I guess it was an early guilty pleasure? Last year I had a revival of "Porcelain" and listened to it a lot; it even made it's way into the elite club of songs in a spotify playlist that I made for that year of my life. It's a beautiful song that has some kind of magic that immediately makes me feel nostalgia, and wonder. You could place it at the end of so many movies and it would elevate the conclusion- the high school romance where the boy finally gets the girl, or over the top of a cinematic shot of a sprawling landscape that shows that the town is safe from the evil-doer. That's atleast what I can picture in my head. "Find My Baby" could be an evolution of "Woke Up This Morning", the great theme song from The Sopranos. I've heard "Flower" played a lot at a local venue, it's like one of their tech setup songs that they play while they are setting up the gear for the band to play. Because of that, it gives me a lot of nervous excitement, like I'm a bit conditioned to expect a show after hearing this one. Great album all around. 4.3

Vauxhall And I

Morrissey

3/5

Morrissey has a cool sound, but each time I listen I don't really get enough to be pulled in very far. I like emotive vocalists, I like the production here, but it just doesn't grab me. There's just something about the combination of the sound here that doesn't click. I'm rating it a 3 because despite that I can tell that this isn't bad music.

I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail

Buck Owens

2/5

Pretty nice twangy classic honky tonk rock and roll. These songs to me often have a timeless sound and I can appreciate forever. The thing that I don't like though is that it's often way too formulaic, and the chord progressions could be copied across every song on a record like this without deviation, and usually it's the hook or chorus line that keeps the songs afloat. "If You Fall Out of Love With Me" is my favorite on the record. I'm giving it a 2 because it's a nice album to listen to but I don't know if it warrants a spot on this list.

Tom Tom Club

3/5

Pretty fun and interesting album for it's time, right from track 1 I started to really get into a groove. "Genius Of Love" is a certified banger, timeless sound, and has really lived on as a sample. "Tom Tom Club", what a great idea? A club for tom toms.

Tragic Songs of Life

The Louvin Brothers

3/5

I'm lovin the Louvin Brothers. Nice Hank Williams-esque honky tonk country. I used to listen to this kind of music every day in the car on the way to high school with my grandfather; it's actually one of my favorite moments of connection I've ever had with him. Loved "In the Pines", because I love Nirvana. I covered this song with my wife on a study abroad trip to Australia, where we had been regaling in the outback about simpler life, simpler times, and the analogous mystery of the outback and the pine barrens back home in New Jersey. We played this around a campfire in the outback and were subsequently asked if we could perform it at an upcoming art exhibition, so we did! The songs are simple, pretty, and bring about a reminder to "take it easy" on this hectic Friday morning where I'm hurrying to drive to the airport at 7:00am.

Amnesiac

Radiohead

4/5

I probably know this Radiohead album the least out of all of theirs, so it's been nice to go through it and feel like I'm getting a new release by the band. I always think of Radiohead as being pretty adventurous while still maintaining a sound that is very uniquely theirs, and this album continues that. The first track I'm given a great drum sound to start, and then as soon as you get comfortable the beat switches. The same happens for the second song, where a beautiful piano part comes in, with some mixed modalities in there, some moments where it sounds like mistakes on the instrument, and then some really thick rubato- where the performer takes some moments to stretch out the tempo. It's certainly adventurous, and really a delight to hear. When that rock and roll riff comes in on "I Might Be Wrong", I said "wow.". It's kind of out of character for them, but it's such a stupidly simple and great riff and it adds so much to the vibe of the record. It's like a Queens of the Stone Age part in the middle of a Radiohead album- so cool! This album doesn't have the big standout "radio" tracks that Radiohead are known for; there's no "Creep", "Karma Police", or "No Surprises" here. In fact, this album doesn't even contain a single song from their top 10 most listened to (as per Spotify). And I actually really like that, I was able to listen to the album in a singular context and get immersed in it without sitting back and enjoying while not knowing the direction I was headed in before getting hit with a song that I've heard thousands of times and am intimately familiar with. It made this album feel like more of an experience.

Skylarking

XTC

3/5

This was an enjoyable listen, even if I had remembered that XTC was on this list already but I totally forgot what their sound was like. "Earn Enough For Us" is probably my favorite on the record, and it reminds me of older Weezer (even though it should be Weezer sounding like this), which is great. Solid melody with a ton of catchiness, and fun bop-around drum beats. I really enjoyed the chamber strings on the chamber pop track "1000 Umbrellas" too. Really unique song here that pulled me in. Unfortunately I'm pretty conflicted with this rating album. The instrumentation is cool and I like the vocalist most of the time, but not all of the time. I think it's a high 3, but not quite enough for a 4.

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

OutKast

4/5

OutKast is a universal band; their sound is so welcoming and approachable and yet still immensely cool. This is a concept that I think about often as I feel like most musicians can be bundled into one of those categories- approachable, or cool. It's hard to be both, and OutKast does it. I had a revelation when I saw the classic video of Obadiah Parker covering "Hey Ya" from this album, with an acoustic guitar-driven arrangement in what appeared to be a small open mic performance. Hearing that version really opened up my mind to the depth of OutKast's music... yes, they can write silly tracks like "Roses", with one of the silliest chorus lyrics you'll ever hear on a radio, but when they want to they will make a song like "Hey Ya" and it will hit you in all the feels. In my personal favorite songs of all time list, "Hey Ya" might come in the top ~25. It's beautiful, contemplative, and sad, and it is wrapped in such a wonderfully melancholic chord progression that fills the song nicely with these back-and-forth major/minor switches. Contrasting that, there's the kick-clap uptempo drumbeat that makes you feel like dancing and grooving in a song about relationship struggles. How cool is that? On the surface, a silly song to dance to, but underneath it covers relationship struggles like separation, staying together for the sake of tradition, and the dynamic of happiness in a long term relationship. There are definitely some weaker songs on this album that keep it from being a 5/5 for me. "Tomb of the Boom" feels particularly like a low effort song- same with "Flip Flop Rock". They both sound like they were some kind of favor in order to feature other artists on the album, and don't really have that larger-than-life sound that you come to expect from OutKast. This is a strong 4/5 for me and is enjoyable throughout.

Fuzzy Logic

Super Furry Animals

3/5

Pretty nice album, but it kind of goes by without me really feeling like I heard something incredible. It did get better as I listened, and I definitely understood it more once I got to the 5th/6th song on the record. There's some nice moments- the standout song "Something 4 the Weekend" is an enjoyable listen and reminds me a bit of a 90s/early 2000's alt indie rock sort of sound. "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" has some inventive vocal parts, with some pretty falsetto moments that subvert expectations of where a melody will go, all while being a pretty song. I originally wanted to give it a 2, but I think it's maybe a 2.8, just high enough to round up to a 3.

Third/Sister Lovers

Big Star

3/5

Pretty enjoyable classic rock. I feel like I would like it more though if the vocalist had a little more oomph to his voice. After hearing this style for my entire life (and it existing for over 50 years now), I find that the better classic rock bands have great vocalists; ones that aren't afraid to put some power behind a chorus or a little extra emotion in a verse. On this album I hear a soft and at times unsupported howl that feels like the singer is trying to sing up into a mic that's out of reach and only maybe three quarters of their voice is reaching it. The mix hurts me a bit too, the bass sounds really flat, and this is probably the thinnest sounding drumset I've ever heard. The kick drum sounds like my cat's footsteps on hardwood floor- a soft patter instead of a felt thump. I did like the second half of the album more than the first, which sounded more folky to me. This showed a lot more depth than the first half.

I Am a Bird Now

Antony and the Johnsons

4/5

I had written up a few paragraphs of a review for this but unfortunately my computer had a random restart and I didn't save them in the browser, so I'll have to sum it a bit: this album really floored me. At the first few tracks I wasn't sure what to think, as the vocalist's wavy vibrato was so thick and the ends of the first few songs were so heavy that I almost felt like I was listening to a villain in a movie sing cabaret. Almost hauntingly scary? I've listened to a lot of really heavy death metal in my life and I don't usually get that response so this surprised me. By the end of it I was really captivated though. Some really beautiful and wonderfully heavy (not just tonally, but lyrically) stuff inside. One of my favorite surprises to pop up here.

Pearl

Janis Joplin

5/5

Really incredible album with great performances by everyone involved. After hearing the guitar solo in the first track, "Move Over", I actually re-played it and then started to look up some tabs/sheet music so I could learn it because it's so impressive. Great phrasing, flow, and technicality. "Me and Bobby McGee" is a classic, and possibly Janis Joplin at her best. She somehow has both a huge, soaring, powerful belt, and also a sweet, natural, and friendly voice, and she showcases both on this track. I love it so much. "Get It While You Can" is a great album ender. It's fun, it grooves, it's romantic, and playful. I think Janis Joplin and her band have some of the best buildup / releases in the history of rock music. They are so good at slowly adding layers of tension and not hitting the climax too soon. I think most musicians can learn from them. Loved listening to this, it's a 5/5. What Jimi Hendrix did for guitar, Janis Joplin did for vocals.

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

4/5

Awesome big band jazz from one of the best to ever do it. It's light when it wants to be, the brass slam when they want to slam, and it grooves all the damn time. Really great record and love the Red Bank NJ represent.

Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

4/5

"My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)" is probably Neil Young's 4th or 5th best song, and it's amazing. It's beautiful and sad, and the guitar part is so melancholic that it fits the lyrics about as well as an instrument can fit a voice. I personally admire this quality in his songwriting as I know it's hard to do- and he accomplishes this so masterfully you would think the guitar is another limb on his body. I always found the quote "it's better to burn out than to fade away" to be so sad and profound for people who have that pessimistic kind of world view. Of course this was the infamous quote in Kurt Cobain's suicide note. But this album is a lot more than that song. The rest is full of great folky rock and heavy rock tracks that go through a slew of emotions and tempos. Neil Young to me has always been about being a master of restraint; he always holds on to tensions really well, and experiments with amazing sounding fuzzes on guitars without ever once overdoing it. This album is a low-to-mid 4 for me, I think a 4.3/5. The reprise at the end is so heavy, and sick. I love it.

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Coldplay

5/5

Admittedly I am sometimes overly susceptible to the opinion of others coloring my judgement on bands a bit too much. Coldplay, from what I've seen and heard, have been on a arc similar to U2, where they are a great band that makes great music, but almost have "too" much reach, and have become a overdisliked, overhated, and for me personally are now on the other end of that arc, where I am re-listening to their music and really loving it. Don't get me wrong though, I've always liked their music, but maybe not as such a publicly staunch listener. I'm just listening more intently now as I'm a little older. On to the songs. "In My Place" is a nice 7.8/10 pop banger, that is super approachable and easy to get and enjoy. It's a bit too clean for my tastes, but I'm not surprised it had a lot of time spent on pop hit radio for the time. "The Scientist" is an enchanting piano driven ballad, with a fantastic smooth melody that hangs with the piano chords so sublimely. I love how straightforward the lyrics are; there isn't a ton of poetry, "Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry you don't know how lovely you are" "nobody said it was easy it's such a shame for us to part oh take me back to the start" , but I find these to be really endearing. Sometimes relationships are all poetry and butterflies and sometimes they are plain and straight to the point. "Clocks" is my favorite Coldplay song and I don't think it's even a particularly close race. That piano line that switches between major and minor chords is so grand. It's larger than life. The whole intro is great- I love the reverb on the piano, the bass part throws some tension in on only it's second measure, and the drumbeat is perfect. If "The Scientist" is more straightforward, then this one is the contrast to that. I love the lyrics in this song, and it does something that I often find myself really wanting more of in music- a concept where you have some lyrics that are a bit ambiguous and vague, but then it gives you lines that mention something very tangible and real. "Oh, I beg, I beg and plead Singin' come out of things un said Shoot an apple off my head And a trouble that can't be named A tiger's waiting to be tamed, singin'" "Confusion that never stops Closing walls and ticking clocks Gonna come back and take you home I could not stop that you now know Singin' come out upon my seas Cursed missed opportunities Am I a part of the cure Or am I part of the disease? Singin'" These are my favorite kind of lyrics. Just vague enough that anyone can connect and find their own meanings in them, but also real enough that it's connected to the real world. To me this song resonates with the idea that actively engaging in mindfulness and "spending" time getting lost in something are often two conflicting concepts. Being mindful of a moment and taking it in is great, and makes you appreciate something; but also getting lost in something and forgetting that time exists is also just as wonderful. For me this is a solid 5/5, and I think "Clocks" is one of the best pop-rock tracks to come out since 2000. This is a great record and is up there with some other great records that came out in 2002 (quite the competition!): Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco, Sea Change by Beck, The Eminem Show by Eminem, Kill the Moonlight by Spoon, One by One by Foo Fighters, American IV by Johnny Cash.

Lost Souls

Doves

4/5

Really enjoyed this one right from the start. That first song almost feels a bit like a modern day "Doors" track; it's so moody, vibey, cool, and contemplative. The whole time I was listening I was thinking "I'd love to be in a band like this.". "Here It Comes" feels like a throwback even to a pretty niche album that I absolutely love- Chris Cornell's solo record Euphoria Morning. The whole album is both eclectic and cohesive. I'm really impressed by how these songs sound different and fresh compared to eachother, but they still exist really well together in this whole singular listening experience. It's funny that while I was listening I was really enjoying the record but I do question it's place on this list- unless I'm missing some element like they are historically influential or something. Still, to me this was something I was really into.

Gold

Ryan Adams

2/5

I've heard this guy's name for years but only really know of him from Phoebe Bridgers (and other women who have said that they have had relationships with him that allegedly led to abuse), so I'm kind of predetermined to not like the guy. Sometimes I do alright with separating the the artist from the art but I'm struggling a bit here. I do think some of these songs are good, and I can see why people would like him, but as I get up to a chorus of him saying "Cause you're nobody girl You're a nobody girl You're a nobody, girl You're a nobody girl Nobody girl" I just feel kind of bleh, and wonder if this is just his overall attitude permeating through his art. It's a 2/5. The songs aren't that terrible but he can fuck off.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

4/5

One of my favorite things about the voice as an instrument is that it's kind of actually magical. Some people just naturally have good pitch, and some people have a naturally attractive singing timbre. You could have told me that Frank Sinatra came out of the womb crooning with both of these qualities and I would believe it; his voice just seems so naturally gifted even when compared to other greats. An underrated aspect of these songs from this era is that the lyrics are great and filled with cute little punch lines. I could be wrong but I don't think that Frank was the songwriter on any of these, so credit to the people who did write them. Really enjoyable. 4/5 for me.

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

4/5

Great record by a great singer. In my ranking it might only be his 3rd best or so, but it has "Jersey Girl", one of the best New Jersey-themed songs ever. I think most people credit this to Bruce Springsteen, as he plays it probably during every gig, but it's a Tom Waits tune. I didn't know this but apparently it's about his wife (married since 1980!), and she was actually regarded as a catalyst for Tom Waits to dive into a more experimental sound. Amazing! I had no idea.

Roots

Sepultura

3/5

Happy to see Sepultura get a second album on this list. Real fans of heavier music know that they are one of the most influential bands to ever grace the genre. "Roots" is great, with "Roots Bloody Roots" being the standout track. Max Cavalera's vocals are primal, the drumming is tribal, and when it comes to Brazilian thrash metal, Sepultura has no rival. Seeing this album here, along with "Arise" earlier on the list is a bit of a let down though, as it means there's a high likelihood that the album "Chaos A.D." won't appear on it... even though it's regarded as their best album (it is!). I gave "Arise" a 3/5, and while I think this one is better, I think it's only maybe a 3.5 or 3.6, with "Chaos A.D." being a clear cut 4/5.

Back At The Chicken Shack

Jimmy Smith

2/5

I'm a little unimpressed by this album. I like jazz, I like the blues, I like blues-y jazz, but to me this one was a bit straightforward for me to really fall in love with. I felt myself tuning out while listening and having to reorient my focus towards spotify in order to get brought back in. This was a cool decade for jazz, I would have loved more going on. It's a 2.4/5 for me. Unfortunately it just missed on the points that make jazz great to me and resulted in a somewhat monotone walk through of common jazz chord progressions and structures without the daring efforts that make the genre fun.

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Arguably the best album by arguably the best rock band ever. It deserves all the acclaim, the love, and the adoration of the masses. It's got their classic groovy hard rocking songs like Black Dog, it's got their timeless ethereal epic Stairway to Heaven, it's got their Lord of the Rings folk adventure in The Battle of Evermore, it's got their stunningly beautiful moments like all of "Going to California", and it ends on an amazing cover of "When the Levee Breaks". Every track is amazing. Jimmy Page's guitar playing is masterful. It's jam packed with slanky lazy-yet-crisp overdriven moments, and it's so dynamic and yet still cohesive with his overall music vocabulary. John Bonham's drumming is at full force here. "Rock and Roll" is one of the great classic rock drum beats, and I love that he knows exactly when to overdo a beat, and when to take a step back and let the others shine. John Paul Jones is a perfect style of superglue to all of the band around him. His bass on "Rock and Roll" really drives the song in an incredible high energy war of attrition between him and John Bonham. How one of them doesn't get tired a minute into the song is amazing to me. And of course, Robert Plant's voice is maybe as close to perfect as you can get on a recording. It is soft and intimate, it is loud and aggressive, it's emotional, it's so wonderfully tied into the band. Great unique lyrics too. The time period in my life where I listened to "Stairway to Heaven" the most was probably when I was in my teens. I dove pretty deep into the conspiracy rabbit holes around this song and all the alleged Aleister Crowley occult connections. That stuff has always interested me but 13 year old me was really fascinated (and probably a little frightened) by it, so I remember listening to all of the chopped up versions of the song, and the reversed clips and all of that. Since then I've of course heard this song throughout my life, but it feels almost a little less epic now? I am 36 now, and maybe time just moves a bit faster, as an 8 minute song can be listened to while you drink a cup of coffee. When I was younger, this song was somehow 15 to 30 minutes... it was an experience. It's not to take away from the song, more so just something that I recognize in my own life and music-listening-experience. Anecdote aside, this song is one of the best ever. It encompasses everything that is great with Led Zeppelin, and this song alone would make this album a 5/5. This album captures the ethos of this project as well as any. It is a record that transcends music taste, that transcends generations; it is truly timeless, and one of the best works of art ever created. It's a clear 5/5, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the highest rated album on this 1001 list.

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Ray Charles

4/5

Really beautiful album. These songs are so great on multiple levels- at a core melody/harmony level, and all the way up to the lush orchestrations that fill the space. Ray Charles has a distinct, highly emotive voice, and he connects to the music as well as a vocalist can. This album in particular feels both long and short; I think I can listen to it intently and dive into the technicalities of the instrumentalists, or of course Ray Charles' beautiful vocals, or I can sit back and groove and let the music take me around my day and still get just as much enjoyment. Nice 4/5.

Night Life

Ray Price

4/5

Some smooth tunes here. The more I listened the more I really enjoyed this. Sometimes I hear this type of country and it bores me or it doesn't really move me in any way but this one really jived with me. I really love the album cover- maybe one of my favorites I've seen recently. Usually the artists tend to be the focal points of these, but this one I really feel like couple in the foreground are the stars. Here's Ray Price, a famous singer and guitarist, and people are paying to come see him perform. And yet in this dark room this cute couple can't help but turn their bodies into eachother and whisper during the performance, with Ray even looking at them. Has he reached the pinnacle of his stardom and yet he's lonely? Is he longing for a life as an everyday man with a partner? It's a great little story.

Smile

Brian Wilson

3/5

Nice album but not really a favorite of mine from the bunch of Brian Wilson / Beach Boys collection. I enjoy just about all of his / their output, but this one feels a little too cinematic for the sake of being cinematic, and less like brilliant pop songs with great melody, harmony, and arrangements. It feels like as soon as you get into a section and start to groove to it, it switches to something else. One section is a complex multi-voice vocal arrangement and then 10 seconds later it's a big concert-bass drum / clean electric guitar part, and then 10 seconds later it's a minor harpsichord part, and none of these switches have been gradual, all sudden. It kind of demands your full attention- even writing this review while listening is a challenge. With every sentence, I've missed some short section. Because of this, the album feels a bit disjointed. I still think it's a nice record though, and it's really a testament to Brian Wilson that he can do something like this and it will still work to an extent. RIP.

Calenture

The Triffids

3/5

There's some nice 1980's pop rock charm in this. I've never heard of the band but as I went through this I found a lot that I liked. The production is nice (love the gated reverb snares- SO 1980's), the vocalist has some over the top 80's emotive vocals, and the arrangements are interesting and change enough from track to track to keep me interested. 3.3/5. I'm surprised that this has so few song plays!

D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle

Throbbing Gristle

2/5

Some interesting stuff in here but for the most part it doesn't move me very much. "Hamburger Lady" is probably the best track and it's meditative and calming in a way. I really hated how at 3:48 we get a familiar synthetic sound but it's volume is maxed out, right around 20 seconds before the song ends. What's the point of that? The album is certainly abrasive, and I have always appreciated edgy and abrasive music, but it feels a bit cheap to craft a song that's somewhat interesting and calming but then have it throw a random punch at you at the end. "Hometime" after that was a bit of a head scratcher too, but the album I felt was saved slightly by "AB/7A", which sounds like indie videogame music. I would have really loved if this album had a bit of both this kind of sound blended with the industrial grating. The album ender "Blood on the Floor" was a cool punk track. Blend more of that in with the rest!

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

5/5

A post-2000 indie epic that is up there with other greats like "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", "The Hazards of Love", "Is This It", "Funeral", etc. "Chicago" is one of my favorite indie songs ever, and maybe one of my favorite songs ever regardless of genre. It's a gorgeous magnum opus inside of Sufjan's magnum opus album. It feels genuinely like love to me; it is warm and comfortable and exhilarating all at the same time. I adore this album and Sufjan himself. It is epic, complex, triumphant, delicate, and emotional. The flow is incredible and with so much intent, the lyrics are both tangible and fantastical, the performances are energetic, and amazingly the arrangements are the highlight. That's hard to find. I love how "major" this album sounds. So much good indie music is minor keys and minor pentatonic melodies, and this one really rejects that trend. Even when lyrical content would typically match a major/minor tonality by Western world standards, he breaks away from that. I'm obsessed with the vocal melody in "Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream" at around 4:10, "I cried myself to sleep last night And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window I was hypnotized, I was asked to improvise On the attitude, the regret of a thousand centuries of death" It's so beautiful. And I love the following vocal parts too. "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." is stunning. I let out an audible "ooomph" when I first heard the piano part today after not hearing this song for a few years. Stunning! I grew up listening to a lot of metal, and specifically death metal, where brutal topics are prevalent. With that being said, I don't think anything captures the unimaginable shock and horror of this kind of topic like this song; when Sufjan sings around 1:20 "Twenty-seven people Even more, they were boys With their cars, summer jobs Oh my God Are you one of them?" That "Oh my God" is so desperate, scary, and horrific. It's amazing. And to think, that's just the surface level of the song. My interpretation (the common one I think) is that this is about Sufjan being in the closet and not able to see himself as better than anyone, and comparing himself as a "bad" person in the faith that he was raised to someone like John Wayne Gacy. "And in my best behavior I am really just like him Look beneath the floorboards For the secrets I have hid" When I think about the importance of Pride month, I think about stories like this one, and how profoundly sad that comparison is at the end. Sufjan is probably the person I think of first when I think of the word enigmatic; "difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious.", although I say this with love and adoration. Why? He didn't want this to be a huge double record because that would be "arrogant", and yet he titles these songs with the longest most verbose language you can find in an English song title. He also wrote, recorded, engineered, and produced all of this material himself. All of those are usually separate jobs, and he decides to do it all himself. He's perplexing! For my anecdote: while it came out in 2005, I didn't really discover it along with my friends until college; some 3-5 years later. It was a revelation in my friend group though. I don't feel like we often listened to it together, as it's not really a big party or get together album. It's too shifty and adventurous to put on and expect people to have conversations over. When I refreshed my browser and saw this album come up, I was just about to step away and make myself a cup of coffee to start my day. And I did, and I got to thinking while I had time to think about the record without listening- "It's a 4/5, right? I love this album, but I really love the track "Chicago", and I always wanted more of that on the record. I wanted that song done 50 times in 50 different arrangements." But as I sat here re-listening, after not hearing the album full through in quite a few years, I realize that "Chicago" is so extra good because of it's place inside of the album. It's not a singular great track on an otherwise OK album; it's an amazing song on an amazing album. It's a 5/5 for me, a modern classic, and lands in the #20-25 range of my favorite albums of all time.

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Kendrick Lamar

4/5

Kendrick is probably my favorite storyteller in rap. He also probably has the best flows and voice for my taste, so I guess he might just be my number one rapper. One of my favorite facets of his artistry are when he shares vignettes and stories in his songs of lived experiences. This album specifically brings you into his experience of growing up in Compton and all the trials and tribulations that came with it: gang violence, systemic financial issues, confusing familial roles and expectations, and more. There's a lot to like on this record, but I always come back to the lyrics, and when he says "I mean, I write poems in these songs", he's really just being blunt and I love it. When you dive further into them you really get the feeling that he is a poet and that he thinks so much about every line, pronunciation, and device. Even the naming convention in the title- "good kid, m.A.A.d city", he says that it should be spelled specifically that way, with "m.A.A.d." having two meanings- "My Angry Adolescence Divided", and also "My Angel's on Angel Dust". The guy just thinks about his craft... a lot. "Money Trees" feels like a precursor to his album "Damn", which came out 5 years after. It's got an impressively bouncy groove and tough yet philosophical chorus. Both "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Swimming Pools (Drank)" were huge tracks when they came out. I remember walking around my college campus and passing by random groups of students hanging out and just hearing "pool full of liquor then you dive in" on repeat over and over. It was the cool stuff at the time, and I was happy to be a 2nd hand listener. If "To Pimp a Butterfly" is a 5/5, this one is a strong 4/5. It is an incredibly well done record, with great beats, flow, lyrics, and surprisingly good hooks, like on "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Swimming Pools (Drank)".

Heaven Or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins

3/5

Pretty cool album; I like how it felt like a band separate from the vocalist that had an idea that would riff on and drone on repeat while the singer did their thing on top. I don't always love this sound where the band and vocalist are in two different rooms, but I feel like it worked for them here. The compositions are interesting enough to keep me engaged and I could split my attention between the two focuses. 3/5, but I think on any day of the week I could lean 1 more "star" in either direction depending on how I'm feeling.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

3/5

Nice collection of consistently strong bluegrass / traditional country tracks. I enjoyed this throughout, but I have to admit the mix was a little different than what I expected. The vocals on some tracks are too prominent, on others too distant, and some of the supplemental instruments come in and out with weird and surprising volume shifts. It's a nice old classic sort of "everyone gather around this one mic and move closer and farther from it from time to time" kind of idea, but it made me focus just a little too much on the production and not the compositions. That's my only gripe though!

Teenager Of The Year

Frank Black

3/5

Nice grungey alt rock album from the 1990's. It's an enjoyable listen, and it reminds me at times of other acts that are great- like "(I Want to Live on An) Abstract Plain" sounds a little bit like Sonic Youth's great track "Incinerate". "Headache" sounds like a raw Beck song. Just learned that he's the singer of the Pixies. That makes sense! I kept listening and thinking "this voice sounds so familiar". Very cool! Unfortunately, I find that this album misses a lot of the big special moments that made bands from this era really special. I can sit and enjoy this record and next week I think it will be hard for me to remember any specific moments, or anything outside of what the overall sound was. It's a strong 3/5, mostly propped up by the first 7 songs. After that I think it falls off a bit.

Palo Congo

Sabu

3/5

Some really pretty and energetic conga music. I had a lot of fun bopping to this as my morning coffee just started to wake me up. It's a very fun record, and the tracks are straightforward and meant for a good time. It's a nice 3/5 for me. Without diving further, I have a feeling that this may be one of the more influential records in this genre because it was released in the 1950's.

The La's

3/5

"There She Goes" has to be one of the better songs of the 1990's, and is for me forever tied to being one of those "90's movie soundtrack" songs, as when I hear it I can visualize some credits rolling with a montage of a young couple driving off to college. I'm sure if I look it up it will say it was only in like two movies though and I'm just misremembering, but my imagination is doing its thing! It is funny how deceptively simple this song is however- it's only choruses and a bridge. You're never given a verse or any kind of consistent changes outside of that great A minor chord on "And I just can't complain, this feeling that remains". The rest of the album has some nice moments on it but I have a feeling will be somewhat forgetful for me compared to that one standout track, and thus my review kind of reflects that. It's a nice album with one really great song on it.

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

A Tribe Called Quest

3/5

"Can I Kick It" is such a great piece of music. That intro guitar part has a unique quality to it; to me it feels like a morning in the middle of summer where it's already a warm but not hot 84 degrees, you don't have anything lined up for the day, and you are deciding between a hot or iced coffee. That's a day I like and a day I want more of. I know that it's a sample from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side", but it works so well in a hip hop context. Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day" gives me almost exactly this feeling too- specifically in the hip hop genre. Solid album, really enjoyable to hang out with. There's a lot of good performances on it and I think it's actually got a pretty timeless sound.

Emergency On Planet Earth

Jamiroquai

3/5

Fun album with some great performances- the bassist and keyboard are highlights for me. I don't know if it's the production but some of the tracks feel a little muted or kind of dull to me? "Hooked Up" is one; where it sounds muddy and "mushy" sounding because most of the instruments are playing short staccato articulations and pretty muted. It's a nice record that is a lot of fun, but I can't help but ponder about this inclusion on the list and not the album that has "Virtual Insanity", which I'm pretty sure is his biggest song by a long shot. I hope to see that one come up. Not to take away from this record though, as it's really a delight and a fun listen. Maybe only slightly a bit too close to some Stevie Wonder records, but I guess a lot of these albums are.

Cafe Bleu

The Style Council

4/5

"The Style Council" is a fun name, and I love this intro song- great energy and impressive piano playing. This was a really enjoyable listen. I feel like it strives to be eclectic, but it can't help but sound tight and true to itself when it tries to not. Which I really like! It bounces around a lot between bluesy jazz and different subgenres in there- like bossa nova ("The Whole Point Of No Return"), ballads, big band ("Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse") and a few that sound like more traditional standards ("Blue Cafe"), but then after track 8 it really has a tonal shift. "A Gospel" is a 80's/90's hip hop track, "Strength Of Your Nature" is a 90's pop R&B track with synths. Very cool. I really like "Here's One That Got Away", it sounds like a 90's Brit pop rock song- with strong acoustic guitars and a fun violin. They've certainly got style. It's cool and interesting and I really enjoyed it. A band like this would feast in today's indie scene.

Headquarters

The Monkees

3/5

Nice album, but I always hear the Beatles - or an attempt at that sound when I hear The Monkees. It's a harsh comparison, and I find it interesting because the Beatles are probably the best band ever, so why wouldn't other bands try to do exactly their sound? There are far worse bands being copied every day of the week, but when I hear this band it's so hard for me to separate them. Going through this, I think "I like the sound, but I'm just not moved by it", and I wonder if this band would be popular if they didn't come out when they did. Or are they kind of like the Greta Van Fleet to Led Zeppelin?

OK Computer

Radiohead

5/5

Another Radiohead banger. It's got their usual layered songs with a lot of depth that take you for a ride (like "Paranoid Android", "Exit Music (For a Film)") , and it's got the big hooky pop alt art rock tracks ("Karma Police", and "No Surprises"). "Lucky" is a hidden gem. It's like a Pink Floyd track without the derivation. Beautiful use of that spacey trippy sound to create a track with great dynamic moments. "The Tourist" is a fantastic closer. It's absolutely huge, and I really do feel like a tourist with this album so the title is apt. I think this is my favorite Radiohead album. When I think of my favorite tracks of theirs, its' "No Surprises", "Karma Police", "Creep", "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", and "Everything In Its Right Place". And this album has two of them- while none of the others co-exist on any single album. It's got a classic great Radiohead album cover. Just like the music, it's artistic, memorable, and interesting.

Odessey And Oracle

The Zombies

4/5

"Time of the Season" is one of my favorite songs from this era. It's really remarkable and feels like a real piece of art- the song moves in a way that the band doesn't care about formula for what sounds right traditionally; it has weird stabbing snares, wonderful rubato, and a nice arrangement in the space (with the backing vocals as a highlight). It's really wild to me that this is the last song on the album. I will always smile when I hear this song. "A Rose for Emily" is a a wonderful short Eleanor Rigby-esque theme song for the fantastic podcast "S-Town" and hearing it for the first time in almost a decade was awesome. Those two tracks are great. The rest of the album isn't nearly as strong, and it makes me lean more towards a 3/5, but "Time of the Season" is just SO good that this has to be a 4. It's a true standout song in an era of standout songs.

Slanted And Enchanted

Pavement

3/5

There's a real charm to this sloppy, slightly out of tune at times indie rock (during the zenith of grunge). There's a really nice sound created here by the warbly guitars, the raw and dynamic vocals, and witty lyrics. I just started to get into Pavement last year and I'm glad that I'm getting this album after having some familiarity. I think their sound can stretch from soft/subdued, to raw/abrasive rather quickly and it was nice to have a bit of an understanding about what this one would sound like. It's a solid 3/5 for me. Not quite enough to get up into a 4, but great debut.

Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black

Public Enemy

3/5

Public Enemy has an inherent humor to their sound; I don't know if it's because of Flavor Flav, but it's always interested me because their lyrical content is most often aggressive, angry, and full of angst. They talk about race, cultural issues, police aggression, and more, and yet there is Flavor Flav looking like a cartoon character. Not hating though- I love it. In fact I think the only rap-related "band shirt" I have is a Public Enemy shirt. I like this album, but it isn't my favorite ("Fear of a Black Planet" would be the one). I think there's a little bit too much repetitiveness on this one for me to fully gel with it. I don't know if maybe they had made this record with the idea that it would be a good listen while people are breakdancing or something, but it lingers on sections for too long, and too often. Still, it's a nice listen.

Stephen Stills

3/5

Solid classic rock album with lots of layers and ideas. I actually felt a little overwhelmed at times- like "Love the One You're With" has so much going on that it's hard to focus on one thing when there's a lot of competition for my attention. I also kind of dislike how the bass is mixed on this track because it is so boomy and gives this idea of "fake" volume. Still, it's a great song and the obvious standout on the album. There's some nice contrasts on this record and it goes in a lot of different directions, which I like. "Black Queen" was really a surprise. Great album cover. I love the pink giraffe- what an inclusion in the image.

Mama Said Knock You Out

LL Cool J

3/5

Really solid early 90's hip hop. For some reason I have some notion in my head that LL Cool J has always been some kind of jokey artist but these songs are genuinely really great. He's got a nice laid back flow and the production is tight. The one thing that holds it back for me is that the lyrics aren't exactly profound or deeply artistic, which is one of the best facets of hip hop and rap. I do recognize that it's just one aspect though, and not every artist strives to be some incredible timeless lyricist. "Mama Said Knock You Out" is one of the best 90's rap songs. A true classic that is fun, just a bit tough, and catchy as hell. It's a nice 3/5, maybe a 3.4/5. Not quite high enough to be a 4, but it does deserve a place on this list.

Future Days

Can

3/5

This is really a fantastic album. It's atmospheric, deep, and very gradual; nothing jumps out at you and everything fits so well. I have always really liked music that was genre adjacent to this- something I've always heard described as "post rock". This of course came out way before that term was coined though, with most "post rock" ideas starting in the mid to late 1990's and this coming out in 1974. When the vocals came in I was surprised but also not turned off by them. This is a strong 3 for me, like a 3.6 or 3.7.

Djam Leelii

Baaba Maal

4/5

Immediately upon listening to this I'm thinking about the modern singer songwriter that's given indie music fans a reason to be excited: Mk.Gee. I think it's mostly in the guitar tone; it sounds like "DI" or "Direct-in", where the guitar is recorded by being plugged in directly to an interface, and not amped and then having the amp mic'd. That's THE sound right now in indie rock music- because of Mk.Gee (and Dijon). This album of course came out decades before him, but it's funny to me because that sound has really been disliked for decades and just within the past year or two it's now ubiquitous. I don't mean for all of this to be about another artist however; this album is really enjoyable. Outside of the guitar tone, the compositions are very impressive. I particularly like how they seem to reach for classical music ideas, and add in a lot of worldly stuff elsewhere, like: "Lam Tooro" sounds like a medieval waltz on a harpsichord. "Muudo Hormo" sounds like what a flow state feels like, and when you get too much in the zone, the microtonal marimba calmly comes in and hits you with a beautiful melodic and rhythmic sequence. The more I listened to this song the more I really was captivated by it. I've always been attracted to modern classical minimalism- (like Steve Reich) with it's gorgeous repetitions that let you drone in and out and experience music in a way that feels so different from traditional American popular music, and this does an amazing job at that. I'd say that this is actually one of my favorite tracks that I've discovered from this list. It's incredible! I love the album cover. Even though it's from 1989 it looks ahead of it's time and definitely like something that would come out of the 90's.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

5/5

Elton John is really larger than life, and his music is as well. My mom was a big Princess Diana fan (and thus Elton fan), so I grew up with a lot of these songs. Wow- that synth that hits in track 1 around the 1 minute mark is AMAZING. So cinematic and powerful. I can't believe this was 1973! I feel like I'm at the movies. This whole track actually really feels like a great entrance to any album. It is exciting, proggy, fun, and a great way to set the tone. This album is really a masterful one. My immediate reaction when I saw this album pop up was "oh this is a clear 4, right?" but as I'm listening through, it feels like it must be a 5. "Candle In The Wind", "Bennie And The Jets" "Goodybe Yellow Brick Road" are all shining examples of what a genius songwriter can do with some chords and melodies. It's extra nice hearing this back now through studio monitors and getting to experience all of the nuance in the production. It's really so much more than just a few pop songs. Great album art too, I really appreciate how it captures Elton. I love that he is leaving a smoggy city with factories in the distance.

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Soft Cell

4/5

I absolutely adore "Tainted Love". It's one of my favorite songs of all time, and this version is probably in my top 25-30 (Marilyn Manson's version is great too!). I love the sexy tension that permeates through the synths and awesome 80's electro drums. This is a song that really shows how a songwriter can take the building blocks of music and make something that feels bigger than the sum of the parts. There's a few specific moments that I love, I think the best of all is the first chord in the chorus that's a G-major when the whole time prior it's been G-minor. Great little bit of tonal manipulation there that pleasantly shifts the vibe around a bit. It's a great record, it goes in a few funny directions, and overall is a joy to listen to.

First Band On The Moon

The Cardigans

5/5

I write often in these reviews about albums that have one-off songs that are particular favorites of mine- just yesterday I wrote about Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" being one of my top 25-30 favorite songs of all time. It's not really surprising that these great albums sometimes carry a single song that is truly a huge standout, and this album is a continuation, as "Lovefool" is maybe a top 15 favorite song of mine. I absolutely love it. It's also firmly high up on my list of "songs I desperately wish I wrote". The chord progression, the lyrics, the fantastic vocal affects that make you swoon for the singer... I feel like when I hear this song it is written about me, that I'm the other end of the singer's plight. Her voice is so tender and welcoming, and the spin of the lyrics in the chorus of : "Love me say that you love me Fool me Go on and fool me Love me Pretend that you love me" is so sad and yet enchanting! And when she sings: "I can't care 'bout anything but you" ooof.. my heart! This track also has one of the best bass grooves ever in the genre of pop/rock. (the pedant in me wants this genre to be something like "Disco romance alt pop rock) It's also mixed perfectly; I literally would not turn a single knob on anything in this mix. It's not super obvious but some of the songs blend into eachother- and I love that. "Been that" into "Heartbreaker" is a great example. Speaking of "Heartbreaker", I feel like this is a Fiona Apple song but sung by a sweetheart instead of someone that would intimidate me (I love Fiona Apple). The added instrumentation throughout is perfectly executed. The flutes, the soft trumpet and vibraphone(?) and soft whispers in "Heartbreaker".. it's all incredible! These aren't flavors added to a stew just for the sake of diversity; they are layers that enhance and bolster the musical and lyrical intent. I love that these aren't all just cutesy slow love songs. So many modern bands find a sound that they like and then they sit on it inside of that singular record, and then change it up or experiment on their next release, but The Cardigans don't do that here. They'll have tracks like "Lovefool", and then they have the upbeat drum-forward high energy "Never Recover". Then they do a cover of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and it's amazing! Every song has either some kind of special charm in it or some interesting instrumentation or fun twist. I love the album artwork. It's a great example of capturing a moment in time. I feel quite dumb that this is the first time I'm listening to this album full through (at least that I can recall). It's masterful, and even though "Lovefool" is one of my favorite songs already, this feels like possibly my favorite discovery on this listening project. I'm so happy to see it included in the list. Strong 5/5!

Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Spiritualized

3/5

Really interesting start to an album- specially for the time period of 1997. I love how unconventional the layering on this first song is, like the harmony voice (with "telephone EQ effect") coming in around 0:30 seconds in and being louder than the "primary" voice. There's a slew of interesting things on this record that keep me engaged.. like the odd time signature on the intro of "I Think I'm in Love", and the Elvis quoting on "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space". It's a very unique experience. Most of the time I really enjoyed the droning meditative rock.

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis

5/5

Just an absolute legendary jazz fusion record, probably the most important in the genre. It's jam packed with interesting moments and ideas, and when listening I can't help but think about being in the room with these musicians and what that vibe was like. Awesome album cover, one of the more memorable ones that I can think of.

Technique

New Order

4/5

I like New Order but I haven't heard this album yet. It's pretty interesting; that first song "Fine Time" is kind of maximalist and at times overwhelming with it's abrasive synth layers. I don't dislike it, but it's not the usual New Order sound that I'm used to. However, once the second track, "All The Way" comes in I'm brought right back to the familiar sound. "All The Way" is really great. I have always loved their production and this is a great example of their fully realized sound. The layers are so separate and clean, I can easily stop and focus on just the bass, just the clean electric guitar, just the drums, just the synth, the vocals, etc. It's such a nice listening experience that makes me want to listen to the song(s) over and over and discover new parts. I liked this! Solid 4/5. Great album cover. I want to listen again.

Want Two

Rufus Wainwright

3/5

I really enjoy Rufus Wainwright and everytime I listen to him I spend about a week checking out his music and then for some reason I forget about him for like a year, and then something reminds me to listen to him again. His voice is sharp, piercing almost? And I love the arrangements and instrumentation on his songs. The one thing that I want more of though is hooks. Not everyone likes to write hooks, and it just might not be his style, but I feel like his songs that have more memorable choruses really stand out for me, and unfortunately when he doesn't have them they tend to be forgotten about. Maybe that's why my listening habit tends to be that way?

Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo

MC Solaar

3/5

Very cool French rap. I really dig the vibe and I'm extra interested because it's from the 1990's. I really liked "Ragga Jam", and the two "Bouge" tracks, "Bouge de la - Part 1 & 2". It's kind of funny listening though and not knowing any French at all. I felt like his vocals were just another instrument doing it's thing. After this one finished it automatically started playing another record of his called "Prose Combat", which is an amazing album title for the genre.

Siembra

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades

4/5

Really nice large scale salsa album. It's gorgeous in all areas- vocals, trombone/brass, percussion, bass guitar... I also love the random SFX you get in a track like "Pedro Navaja". I'd even argue that if I listened more, that this song could possibly my favorite salsa song ever, it's incredible, and does so much more than just provide a base for people to dance to. This is a triumph in the genre. I didn't know it until I googled the album that it's one of the best selling albums in the genre of all time. I'm not surprised- it's a joy to listen to.

Cee-Lo Green... Is The Soul Machine

Cee Lo Green

3/5

Cee-Lo Green definitely deserves atleast one album on this list, but I have an argument that it shouldn't be this one. Just going off of playcounts alone (a terrible parameter), on Spotify as of today, this album has one song "I'll Be Around" that stands out with 50 million listens. It's a good track. However, no other song even comes close to that on this record. Meanwhile his most popular song, "Crazy" (on a different album), as over 1 BILLION streams. His second most popular song, "Fuck You", has close to 500 million streams... I did enjoy this album however. It's got the foundational elements that make his music good: fun beats and production, nice lyrics, and his famously unique voice.

Fred Neil

3/5

Slightly folk-Elvis-y, slightly Tim Hardin-y. There's a lot of nice ideas on this album. I really enjoy the band and instrumentation in the first track "The Dolphins". There are little mistakes that are left in (mostly in the drums), and I appreciate it so much as someone who really pays attention to that stuff and is inundated with perfect quantization that occurs in today's music production. A good listen! Not sure if it would be on everyone's 1001 list, but it is what it is.

Hot Shots II

The Beta Band

2/5

This was an interesting listen. I kind of felt like this sound has been done before / is done today (I even got some kind of Twenty One Pilots vibe when I think of a modern band), but at the same time that this is a pretty distinct set of musical styles. "Squares" is the big track, and I thought it was a pretty good one. I'm not sure if it sounds familiar because of the sample that it uses though. Ultimately this is a 2/5. It was a nice listen but I didn't really gel with it too much and I question its inclusion on the list. It could just not be my style.

White Ladder

David Gray

4/5

I can see why this album is such a big one for the UK. I feel like when I listen to some of these tracks, like "This Year's Love" and "Sail Away", that I can hear how it has influenced modern acts like Adele, Lewis Capaldi, and Hozier. The compositions are really nice, he's got an amazing voice, and the production has some nice surprises in it too (I love the electronic sound that comes in and out). This was a nice surprise! I don't think I'm totally familiar with him but I feel like I've heard him on the radio quite a bit when I was younger.

Queens of the Stone Age

Queens Of The Stone Age

3/5

I'm a huge QOTSA fan, but this is probably one of my least listened-to albums of theirs. It's great though, don't get me wrong! It reminds me very much of the great earlier Josh Homme band Kyuss, where this album is kind of a blend between that band and the more refined (discovered?) QOTSA sound. It's still got that droning driving stoner rock riff-heavy tracks that Kyuss had, and also some of the more hook-heavy moments that shine in QOTSA tracks. It's a great sound, but after going through it again it's just a bit too much of the droning Kyuss and not enough of QOTSA. That's totally ok, but I do question if this one should be on the list- even more so when this is the first QOTSA album on the list after ~900 albums listened.

Dear Science

TV On The Radio

3/5

TV On The Radio have always been in my periphery but never were a band I really got a chance to sink my teeth into, which is a shame because they sound very cool. At times they remind me of Spoon (a band I love), and I think the vocalist has a super cool voice. This album I feel like is a nice representation of their sound, and it's got one of their bigger songs on it "DLZ". It's a nice 3.3 for me.

Hard Again

Muddy Waters

4/5

Muddy Waters is one of the best delta blues musicians ever. This record is great and influenced one of my favorite bands, Clutch. Great listen front to back, high energy and tight band.

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

4/5

Ooof this album is pulling at my heartstrings. I used to listen to vinyl records in the basement with my mom and brother back in the 90's after my father passed away, and this was one of them- or atleast it was this artist. I never knew who this was, and I had no idea going into this on a Tuesday in August at 9AM that I'd be getting some pretty heavy nostalgia hits. My mom would put on these records, mostly doo-wop, she would crank the volume, and we would all dance around in the basement. I'm sure it was very cathartic for her. This was a throwback! The songs are great, and his voice is incredible. Naturally I want to give it a 5 because it unknowingly has meant a lot to me, but I feel comfortable with it being a 4. It's a beautiful album.

Raw Like Sushi

Neneh Cherry

2/5

"Raw Like Sushi" is a great album name. I was expecting some extra sexy sultry type record but from the first song on I don't really get that. I really enjoy the first track "Buffalo Stance", it's got a lot of 80's charm (that clean electric guitar is SO 1980's), along with a ton of fun hip hop elements. It's a pretty cool blend. This album dares sometimes, and sometimes it is cool, and sometimes it just doesn't hit. "Manchild" is a good story with an amazingly weird chord progression (for a pop song), but the execution just falls a bit flat. Some of the others are similar let downs, like "Inna City Mamma" just doesn't feel authentic to me? The chorus and guitar part of "Buffalo Stance" has stayed in my head though, which is great, but as I finish the album I can't help but feel like this was a super dated listen. I don't know if it's the lack of poetry- where so many lyrics were blunt and kind of corny.

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

4/5

I'm glad that "Back to Black" is on this list, which I rated as a 5, because it's a good gauge to help me rate this one. "Highway to Hell" is one of the great rock songs of all time. No other song on the record comes close to that, and even though it's packed with some great other tunes, they are just that... "other tunes" and not huge standout tracks. Regardless, AC/DC are amazing, and this record has no weak spots which I find really impressive. Sure, maybe it lacks a bit of depth because of that, but I think that's a fine tradeoff- don't experiment too much and give me the sound that I want when I put on an AC/DC record. 4.1/5.

They Were Wrong, So We Drowned

Liars

4/5

Really cool unpredictable sound. I have a feeling that this band influenced the more modern band IDLES a lot. I definitely enjoyed this, I felt like I was able to both focus on some tracks and also just sit back and either groove or flow with the drone. Solid album that needs more listens!

Moving Pictures

Rush

5/5

I grew up really not liking Rush because they were too nerdy for me; there was never an edge or heavy qualities and that's what I was really attracted to. I also have always thought that Geddy Lee's voice was so tough to easily enjoy, it almost sounded like a cartoon character. As I've grown up though I've really come to appreciate the band and the compositions, and his voice has grown on me. These songs slap. They are technical, they are catchy, they are impressive on a whole. All members of this band are masters at their instruments and are not only masters but are so creatively rich. "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight" are certified rock bangers. I actually had forgotten that this album also has "YYZ" on it, which is one of my favorite prog rock songs ever. This album is a 5/5 for me. The songs are packed with good ideas and fun moments to make for a complete and exciting experience. Listening to it through nice studio monitors plus headphones today was a real treat. They are masters at making tasteful technical rock.

Highly Evolved

The Vines

2/5

This album is just alright to me. It's a modern hard rock slightly punky sound that grabs from other great bands of those genres, but the combination just doesn't do enough. "Get Free" is a great tune but is somehow pretty forgettable. Once it's over, I don't remember much about it... but then when I hear the song again I'm like "hell yea". 2/5

Tres Hombres

ZZ Top

4/5

A great album from a great band. ZZ Top makes some of the top of the line blues rock, and "La Grange" is one of the top songs of all time in that genre. I dig them a lot, and while I feel like they don't have a super extensive catalogue of big hits, when they do give you one of the standout songs you can't help but groove to it, feel it, and love it. I will say that if this record is on this list, then I would hope that "Eliminator" is on the list as well, which has more standout tracks than the singular "La Grange", even though that song is probably their best one. My pop-up video fun fact about this band is that guitarist Billy Gibbons was one of Jimi Hendrix's favorite guitarists. Imagine that?

What's That Noise?

Coldcut

2/5

Some cool energy in this but I wasn't really blown away by it. There's a lot going on at times and I think they don't often nail the blend that they are going for. It feels like they had a bunch of people in the room and each one wanted something different and kind of fought for more volume in their idea. Not a bad listen, but I don't know if it's an album that you have to hear in your lifetime.

Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Adam & The Ants

2/5

Some interesting New Wave-ish rock. I thought it sounded cool but not really my cup of tea. Not sure if it's truly an album you HAVE to hear in your lifetime. 2/5, the album art is interesting. I've definitely seen it around somewhere as it looked immediately familiar to me but I can't really place it. Unfortunately I think the album cover is more memorable than the music will be.

Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp

3/5

This was a polarizing or on/off kind of listen for me. Some songs I thought were incredible, like "Clowns" "Little Bird", and the Beatles-esque "Happiness", and some I really didn't like, like "A&E", "Cologne Cerrone Houdini". I felt like I couldn't really get a good grasp on what this artist was trying to do. Maybe that makes it impressive though? It's certainly interesting music that moves in a lot of directions and yet doesn't sound stretched too thin. I feel kind of conflicted with my rating, but I genuinely think with more listens I could grow to really enjoy this record. I'll have to give it another spin when I'm in a different headspace.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen

4/5

Bruce! Great record by a great songwriter. This one starts with a bang, with "Badlands". It's got the energy you love to hear at the start of a rock record, and it gets your feet moving and your ears primed for some typically solid Bruce storytelling. I go back and forth a lot with which Bruce song is my favorite, and for a long time it was "Racing in the Street". It might still be, I'm not really sure. It's so powerful and intimate. I love the story. Makes me nostalgic. If It's not my favorite Bruce song at any one specific time then it's my second favorite. I like this record overall as it feels a bit raw and has a rough edge to it, which is the quality of Bruce that i like the most. I believe this was written after some contract disputes and various management issues that he had with the production people around him, and I think some of that anger and angst comes through in the sound. I do think it's in his "A" tier and not "S" tier- as I don't find it as good as "Nebraska", "Born In The U.S.A.", and "Born To Run". It's still a classic, and an amazing record that belongs on this list; it's just not as good as those. High 4/5, like a 4.7.

Life Thru A Lens

Robbie Williams

2/5

There's something that is extra corny about Robbie Williams for me. Some of it is the mix of the band behind him being very thin; the drums and bass sound so perfectly clean and is missing thump and power. His lyrics are on the nose and don't often give me something that really resonates with me. The choruses of "Life Thru A Lens" and "Ego Agogo" just sound very manufactured and sound like they are packed with fake angst. By the time "Angels" comes around I was fully waiting for the big pop ballad because that's what you had to do around this section of your album in this era. By the end of the album and after listening to the standout songs and reading their lyrics again I really feel like I just listened to a caricature of a pop star. Like a director was making a movie about a pop star and hired some handsome actor who doesn't have that special rockstar thing. I'm trying really hard not to be a hater but it just really doesn't jive with me. Maybe there's some nostalgia in these songs? Maybe there's some 90's charm in it's campy-ness? Just really not for me. Even when I tried to not take it seriously it still didn't give me anything.

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

Charles Mingus

4/5

Textures for days. I love how not every instrument needs to be playing a melody all the time, they can weave in and out and create this musical setting. It's a beautiful and timeless sound. Mingus did a lot of good for jazz and for expressive experimental music. I'm forever a fan and this is a solid representation of his sound!

Eagles

4/5

Truly great classic rock record by a truly great classic rock band. "Take It Easy" has to be the second best song by them (with of course "Hotel California" being on top), and it was one of the more prevalent classic rock radio tunes when I was young and growing up with that being the soundtrack to all car rides. Overall I think the album is a strong 4. It's really quality stuff in all areas. If it had another amazing standout track then it would be in consideration for a 5 for me, but no other song comes close to "Take It Easy". "Peaceful Easy Feeling" is probably the second best for me. It's also a nice contrasting track on the album.

Myths Of The Near Future

Klaxons

4/5

Really cool start to the album, I love the distorted drums and crunchy synths. Like a blend of Radiohead, Muse, and The Mars Volta. Unfortunately, I'm going to give my least favorite feedback to give for a band: I don't love the vocals and I think they don't really fit the sound that well. Alright I love the second track. Great energy. Different from the first song, and I'm worried that listening further will give me songs that aren't that cohesive but I'm grooving either way. Track 3 is like a blend of TV on the Radio and Arctic Monkeys. I'm really feeling like I'm being thrown around between different inspirations while listening. By the end I really enjoyed this and I have to recommend it to others!

Timeless

Goldie

3/5

There's something really impressive about an album that starts with a 21 minute track. I love that kind of boldness... not all of the time, but with this kind of album I definitely did. I blinked and this album finished. It was amazing though, I really thoroughly enjoyed it. I listened to it while in a flow state hammering out some interface designs at work for an all-day work event and it was a perfect thing to listen to while being so focused. I really felt like this album breathed and that's unusual for this sound.

The Stranger

Billy Joel

5/5

This is an obvious 5/5. "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)", "Just the Way You Are", "Only the Good Die Young" "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" are all truly incredible music compositions. So many sing-along moments, so many hooks, great energy, and instant joy. I imagine when this record came out it was spun on record players until the vinyls got worn out. Awesome, awesome record.

On The Beach

Neil Young

3/5

I really like Neil Young but this record was just OK for me. It felt a little bit too much of his formulaic singer-songwriter classic rock with the same blues chord progression and after a handful of the songs it became too repetitive. It was hard for me to get past this repetitive composition device, but I could look at it after finishing the album and realize that there are some standout moments in here.

Suicide

3/5

Pretty interesting droney alt electronic sound. I really liked "Johnny" as it's like a traditional blues rock song but set to this cool experimental instrumentation. I really like when artists do that. Very much like Lou Reed. At first I felt like I really wanted some percussion on this album but as it went on I appreciated that it didn't have any (much?). Some of the songs felt weird in not a great way. "Girl" and "Frankie Teardrop" both felt like the singer was just riffing some improv into a mic and it didn't really give me enough to be pulled in.

Clandestino

Manu Chao

4/5

Great sound right from the start. I love the guitar, I love the voices. Feels like I'm in my favorite Mexican restaurant. There's a lot of depth on this album and also a lot of songs that stay the same and just kind of chill while layers come and go. It's a beautiful approach. I love going from the more relaxed "Mentira" into the at-times frantic "Lagrimas de oro". This was a great listen. I will definitely be adding some tracks to some of my playlists!

Odessa

Bee Gees

3/5

This one really didn't leave much of an impression on me. I have to do a deeper dive into this though as I've read that it's a big concept album about being lost on a ship? Unfortunately I really think a concept album should grab you from the music alone and you shouldn't really have to have some helper text to guide you.. I'm a fan of the Bee Gees but I'm unfamiliar with this record and outside of the last two tracks the rest of the album was just OK.

Arular

M.I.A.

3/5

Nice album. I like her release "Kala" more, but generally her sound is so good that I tend to enjoy all of her releases. The odd thing about her music is that I often don't know what it makes me feel, if that makes sense? I'll listen and think that I'm always in the middle of: - wanting to dance/groove to the music and lose focus a little - wanting to tune in more and focus on production ideas - wanting to tune in more and focus on lyrics, and I kind of just bounce around those. It feels like it feeds my ADHD a bit. Not a lot of acts do that, I think that I tend to listen to acts and they fit into buckets, but M.I.A. I'm always just floating around them. This is like a 2.7/3 for me, enough to round up to a 3. If it had more memorable tunes it could possibly be higher.

Medúlla

Björk

3/5

I really love Bjork's sound and I wish I would have listened more when I was younger and writing a ton of music. I know it would have been really great for my developing sound & voice. This one has some of her typical inventive songwriting, with a few standout tracks like "Oceania", "Who Is It (Carry My Joy On The Left, Carry My Pain On The Right)", and my favorite from the album: "Where Is The Line". That final one is really intriguing; I love the vocal bass line that runs throughout, and her vocals contrast them and move around so impressively on top of it. This one is a strong 3/5, but it's just a bit short of a 4 for memorability reasons. I'm walking away only holding a single tune in my head. I'm sure this would change with more listens though.

The Boatman's Call

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

3/5

Sometimes I really like this flavor of singer-songwriter noir, and sometimes I really don't like it. I don't fully know why sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Listening to this album had me feel this back and forth while inside of this record, and I just feel kind of wishy washy. "Black Hair" is annoying to me. I get that the singer is seemingly obsessing over a quality of a person, but it's only about the 9th or 10th time in the track where he mentions her black hair that I feel like I want to skip the song. There's some really cool tracks on this, and a lot of depth, but his storytelling just often doesn't click with me.

Machine Head

Deep Purple

5/5

Deep Purple are such an interesting case of a band when it comes to popularity. "Smoke On The Water" is such a hugely famous track that I bet if you asked a bunch of random non-rock fans if they knew the song they would say "yes" but they wouldn't know the name of the band that wrote it. Meanwhile, Deep Purple have written some really solid tunes outside of just that one, and we are lucky to get their arguably second best song - "Highway Star" on this record as well. "Highway Star" is a classic rock staple. It's got incredibly impressive musicianship throughout, it's got great energy, it rips, and it's got a seriously strong memorable hook with "Nobody gonna take my car I'm gonna race it to the ground Nobody gonna beat my car It's gonna break the speed of sound". I couldn't imagine being a teenager in the 70's and hearing this song as the first track on this album. I would have called every radio station on earth and begged them to play it over and over while I sped around town. "Smoke on the Water" is famously one of the most learned riffs of all time... maybe even considered mandatory for rock guitarists, or guitarists in general. It's perfect in it's simplicity, it's amazingly catchy, and it's hard rockin'. There's really not much else to add or remove from it. It's simply a perfect rock and roll riff. And amazingly, the rest of the track supports it wonderfully and doesn't hurt it in any way. I also adore "Space Truckin'", the final track. The energy is amazing- specially for a final song. I've been obsessed with octave pedals on guitars lately too and this one cruuushes you with those low octaves. Also, hell yea brother, a drum solo! This was a hard rate for me at first. I wanted to give it a 4, but after really thinking about it it's really a 5/5 album for me. It has the most famous rock guitar riff ever, it's got a huge classic rock staple in "Highway Star", and the rest of the album doesn't have any weak points. It's not a "good" album that has two standout tracks. It's a great album that has two of the best classic rock songs ever written.

Penthouse And Pavement

Heaven 17

2/5

Interesting and funky and serious at the same time... and not really my thing. It felt consistent with itself and explored within boundaries without daring too far away from the records defined sound, but it just isn't a sound that really grabbed me. I don't know if I'd listen again and I don't know if it really needs to be on this list.

What's Going On

Marvin Gaye

4/5

A truly remarkable album by one of the most attractive voices to ever pick up a microphone. It might sound corny but as I hear the first lyrics of "What's Going On", I feel parts of me start to calm and melt a bit; I feel a warmth and a joy and my early morning restless leg shake start to relax. As the song builds and energizes, I'm feeling my eyes wander away from my work laptop and onto the album art of this beautiful man sharing his craft. This music is taking me away from my stresses, and I am thankful. I love the jammy "Right On". It's a great little laid back track to groove to. This album has a nice blend of songs that groove on by and then songs that stick around in your head. This is a difficult one to rate for me. "What's Going On" is a really special song, and there are no other weak points on the record as far as I'm concerned. Marvin Gaye was a special artist, but I feel that this isn't his best work- and that "United" is. With that being said, I think this is a strong 4, and just short of being high enough for a round up to 5/5.

The Chronic

Dr. Dre

5/5

Wow what a record. Possibly the most influential gangsta rap album of all time? One of the most important rap albums of all time? The accolades go on and on. I love how right from the start you get the cool 90's synth lines. That's one of my favorite elements of gangsta rap- that spikey sine wave synth parts. It's a perfect addition to this edgey sound. "Nuthin' But A "G" Thang" is one of the best rap songs ever. Probably a top 5 for me personally. It's smooth, it's flowy, it's got fun rhythms, the arrangement is killer, and it's a real statement piece. Modern classic, 5/5.

If I Could Only Remember My Name

David Crosby

3/5

Solid classic rock with nice singing and compositions. It didn't necessarily blow me away but I can tell there's good music in here. To be honest it might be in that realm of "do you have to hear this album in your lifetime?" for me. "Orleans" is particularly pretty, with great vocal harmonies. 3/5.

The Band

3/5

I like The Band. There's a looseness to them, like an attractive imperfection around every corner, where the tempo slightly shifts, a hi-hat that's slightly fast, or an organ that's just hardly late on a beat. It's nice. This record is a good but not great one. The production hurts it a little because the blend is a little too rough for me, like the vocals are sometimes way too loud, and other times not loud enough. "Up On Cripple Creek" is really good. "Whispering Pines" is really nice, with a great chord progression and vocal performance. I just wish the vocals were louder in the mix. I was wondering if by the end of the record if my "good but not great" review would change, but it hasn't. I really wanted a big super memorable moment or series of songs.

Blood, Sweat & Tears

3/5

Nice solid class rock. I feel like this band dares to have moments where they switch things up on the listener and it's fun because they do it often but it's contextually appropriate. It feels like I can hear a ballad and it won't just be a repetitive piano chord progression throughout; there will be pauses, drum breaks, shortened measures, and things like that that I appreciate. Nice 3/5!

Trio

Dolly Parton

3/5

Really solid album. The vocals are warm, inviting, endearing, the production is crisp and it still breathes, the compositions are lovely. "Wildflowers" is a standout. Super pretty harmonies. I never heard this album prior to today (yesterday), but I've certainly heard of the singers. I was wondering if this style of release was more popular back in the day and couldn't think of many modern versions of this sort. There's Boygenius, a trio of three modern female indie singer-songwriters, but that's essentially an entirely different band.

More Songs About Buildings And Food

Talking Heads

4/5

Talking Heads are really cool. David Byrne is really cool. I've always felt like a connection with this sound and all of it's idiosyncratic "I'm making music to express myself and I don't care where the style takes me". I love that they have had a new resurgence and younger people are getting to hear them because I think they are really unique. When I hear this album it makes me realize that if I was born in this era I would have been a huge fan. I would have grown up with this record. "The Big Country" sounds like a Neutral Milk Hotel track- a band of paramount importance to my maturing musical tastes as i was growing up. It's a great record. 4/5!

Hunting High And Low

a-ha

4/5

It's fitting that this album came out right in the middle of the 1980's- right at 1985, because "Take on Me" is an incredible time capsule for this decade. There's so many good elements in this track- amazing vocal performance, great melodies, incredible shifting rhythms, and one of the best riffs of the 80's, that synth line that appears at 17 seconds in. When I think of the 80's, I think this riff captures so much of the vibrancy and energy. Funny enough I actually think the drums and specific kick drum do a lot of the lifting for this song. The "4 on the floor" that hits in the chorus is such an incredible glue for the track. "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." is a really solid track as well. I'm really this album isn't a one-trick-pony. I love this album cover- it's a great capture of "a moment in time". All of the shaggy hair, the hot guy in the middle with a huge triceps, the cool energy in the room- it's great.

The Bends

Radiohead

4/5

Radiohead is becoming one of the more prevalent bands on this list, and for good reason. It seems like just about every album they've released has a handful of stunning and legendary tracks on it. This one has "High and Dry", "Fake Plastic Trees", and some other solid ones like "Just", and "My Iron Lung". "High and Dry" really makes me feel something. The kick drum intro is so warm and thuddy. The acoustic guitar tone and composition is inviting. It almost doesn't feel like a traditional Radiohead song until you hear Thom Yorke's croon come in. I also love how the song hangs around the E major tonality so much.. it almost feels weirdly too optimistic for a Radiohead tune. I love how much acoustic guitar there is on this record. I'm stumping myself now though and thinking "does Radiohead always have this much acoustic on it?", but I don't think so. Maybe this record is kind of unique in that. It's a really solid one. 4/5 for me, maybe like a 4.7. I think "Kid A", "In Rainbows", and "Ok Computer" are 5's, so this one is a little bit short of them.

Gentlemen

The Afghan Whigs

2/5

I pride myself on being a huge grunge fan but I don't recall this band at all. The record is OK; it's definitely grungy and got that early 90's rawness to it, but it fails to give me the huge moments that the other big acts from the time provided. I step away from the album not remembering any big chorus hooks or any special guitar riffs. There's good ideas here, but not enough to stand out. It sounds like a band to me that had a good core sound, were able to pay for some legit studio time, but didn't execute well enough in the composition facet to really get to the next level. I suspect a lot of the reason is on the vocalist, as I don't really think he has a great tone, and I don't love his melodies... and grunge was a genre that was jam packed with amazing vocalists.

Groovin'

The Young Rascals

3/5

"Groovin'" is a really special song. It's a perfect little encapsulation of a great afternoon. Just groovin'. I feel like I'm walking down the street with my wife, we just had a pre-game cocktail and we're walking to our favorite restaurant and it's our only plan for the day. It's a wonderful 74 degrees F and everything is well. Great album cover. How amazing is it that it has that little "This LP has the big hit How can I be Sure" on it... and that's not even the track that's stood the test of time!

It's Too Late to Stop Now

Van Morrison

3/5

Maybe more so than any other artist, Van Morrison is the voice of classic rock radio childhood car rides for me. I probably heard his songs a few thousand times in my life before I even knew his name, and even now- decades later, when I hear his voice I still get transported back to those times. I've written in reviews here before about how these car rides were seminal moments for me in not only my musical life but also in my childhood in general, and I carry so much fondness for these moments where life was simpler. These moments are so vivid for me. This album of his is a real joy to listen too. I can sit back and take the songs in and groove and bop along to them and feel like I don't have a care in the world. I do wish that there were some more standout tracks on it, in fact I didn't recall any of them when I saw the tracklist, and it wasn't until I got to the second half of the record that I started to hear a few familiar melodies and moments. With all that being said, I think this record is good but not great, and I'm not sure if it should be on this list... I can push aside my personal nostalgia hits and see the bigger picture. Van Morrison definitely deserves to be on this list though- like "Moondance" and possibly "Blowin' Your Mind", but this one I could leave off.

Elephant Mountain

The Youngbloods

2/5

I'd love to check out Elephant mountain. This was an OK listen, but it didn't really offer an "album that you must hear in your lifetime". I just felt like I listened to all ~40 minutes of it and it was a little too much on the backburner for me to really buy into it. There are times where the band jams a little, like the end of "Trillium", and I actually liked that just as much as the more energetic composed sections, but it was all a bit too grey for me to want more.

Maverick A Strike

Finley Quaye

3/5

Pretty nice chill dub~adjacent tunes. I liked listening but not sure if it's an album you need to hear in your lifetime, unless I'm missing that it was super influential or something like that. I've been reserving 2/5's for albums that I think should both "potentially not be on this list" and also "aren't really that pleasing to my ears", and this one definitely sounded nice, so I'm giving it a 2.8 or so, enough to round to a 3.

Garbage

3/5

A true underrated gem of 1990's grunge... Garbage are great! Cool, sexy, edgy, tight production, and great performances. "Stupid Girl" and "Only Happy When It Rains" are the two standout tracks here, with the former possibly being a top ~150 song of the 1990's in my opinion. When I was a kid my first crush was on this Irish girl in my class. I must have been in like 3rd grade or something.. but I remember seeing a video of red haired Shirley Manson on stage and thinking "this is the most attractive person ever". She might have been the first time I saw a celebrity and thought "I'm in love!". It's a solid album, and like I said underrated. It's a high 3 for me, but just not enough to round up to a 4.

Survivor

Destiny's Child

4/5

A truly good standout R&B / Hip Hop album from one of the best acts ever in the genre(s). "Independent Women, Pt. 1", "Survivor", "Bootylicious", "Emotion" are all highlights. There's a few funny production bits that surprise me... "Emotion" to my ears actually clips a little bit, which is funny because in this era that was really avoided but in today's day and age there's so many producers that really push volumes. There's times where I really want some reverb or depth, and I don't get it.. like on "Dangerously in Love", there are huge soaring vocal parts where Beyonce specifically is belting but the sound is so dry that I don't really feel it so much. Throughout, there's also some interesting panned elements.. I'll be sitting listening to a track and enjoying it, but there will be some random production sound effect like a series of beeps that will hit me in the right ear for a short rhythm every 4 measures and I can't really decide why they decided to add in some things like that. If I have a gripe it's that it's sound is dated, which is hard to be objective about and even more so 24 years later. The flow of this album is amazing. Going from "Brown Eyes" to "The Story of Beauty" to "Gospel Melody" is really amazing. You get SO much with this record. Hard rate for me. I'm going to give it a 4. I think it's a really solid record, but not quite as good as their previous one, "The Writing's On The Wall", which might be a 5.

Oedipus Schmoedipus

Barry Adamson

3/5

"Oedipus Schmoedipus" is one of the funnier album names I've ever heard hahahah. I really didn't expect this record to go in the direction that it did. I was expecting some chill music after hearing the first few tracks but as I got to "Miles" i was really starting to think that there's more depth to this album. I enjoyed it as I listened, but I don't know if more depth really made it "better" in my opinion. The music was pretty good but didn't really stick with me a day after hearing it. I think it's probably a byproduct of the overall sound being a little bit all over the place. I'll have to give another listen but for now it's a middle 3/5.

Phrenology

The Roots

3/5

Pretty solid rap / hip hop album. The Roots are a good band, and I like their music but when I do listen to them I'm never really blown away with memorable moments. For some reason the sound always comes across as much harder than I remember each time, like more heavy. Unfortunately it's usually a "that sounded cool" and then it's on to something else. "The Seed 2.0" is a great track. It feels like everything really comes together on this one.

Oar

Alexander 'Skip' Spence

2/5

There's some nice guitar playing and tones here, and some interesting vocal moments that aren't just typical interval focused melodies and rather play with on dynamics and rhythm, which is cool! I also like how imperfect the drums are; there's plenty of times where the hits aren't so tightly connected to the rest of the band. The downside is that it kind of sounds like a lot of other folk classic rock from this time. It unfortunately will come and go and not leave a big lasting impression on me. Not a bad listen, but I question it's spot on the list.

Take Me Apart

Kelela

3/5

This style of Pop R&B really needs to "wow" me for me to fully love it. I like just about every genre of music but this is one where I've really only listened to the huge names- and it's hard to compare to the Beyonce's, Rihanna's, Alicia Keys when they don't seem to ever miss. Even newer acts like SZA really stand out and do everything right to "wow" me in ways that this record doesn't. That's not to say that I didn't like this album, in fact I just saw Jorja Smith in concert a few months ago and loved it, and this record reminds me of her sound. The production is nice, and I appreciate the electronic elements, but this album came out in 2017 and it's not some groundbreaking stuff, so the songwriting really had to shine here.. and unfortunately it didn't.

Five Leaves Left

Nick Drake

3/5

It's a pretty, soft, and pleasing album. Nick Drake's voice is beautiful, his guitar playing is inventive while also consistent, and the added instrumentation is wonderful. It's also a bit monotone for me, and with this being his 3rd appearance on this list, I question if this album should really be on it. He's a great artist, probably one of the more underrated ones that's always still been relevant, but I don't know.. I just don't think every release he's had has to be heard in your lifetime. There's a lot of great artists out there. Still, I can't give it anything lower than a 3 because it's a joy to listen to.

Chelsea Girl

Nico

4/5

I was late on "Nico", "The Velvet Underground", "Lou Reed", and this whole crew of artists, so when their names pop up on this list I'm always pretty keen to pay a little more attention and to give the records a really good focused listen because they still feel new to me. "These Days" is one of my favorite folk / singer-songwriter / fingerpicked acoustic guitar songs of all time. I love the Jackson Browne version (I'm making sure to credit him as the original songwriter even though this is the first time it was released), and it's a song that I've always kept in my back pocket to bust out and play whenever I have an acoustic guitar in the room with me. Although I think my favorite version is by "The Tallest Man on Earth"... this version is truly beautiful and a pleasure to listen to. This music is really pretty. I do feel sometimes that there are some darker undertones, almost maybe a haunted kind of sound. There's just some times where her voice wavers and it has a darkness to it if that makes sense? Like in "These Days", around 3:10, she sings "my failures" and goes flat and it's amazing, but a little scary to be honest!

Another Music In A Different Kitchen

Buzzcocks

3/5

At times brash, at times whiney, all the time proto punk. If I heard this when I was in my late teens / early twenties I think I would have enjoyed it more. It's got that punk energy with cool guitar parts and vocals and it's set in a fun period of time where music production was starting to evolve. The back half of the album I felt droned on a bit. Really tracks 8-11 could have been one long song as it seemed like there were overlapping riffs and parts. 3/5. It's a cool little proto punk album. Not sure of it's cultural significance but I enjoyed it.

Vivid

Living Colour

4/5

"Cult of Personality" alone puts this album on this list and for good reason. It is a high flying epic piece of music that comes in at just under 5 minutes but when you're done with it you want more. I really love this song; it's completely jam packed with inventive guitar parts, evocative vocals, crushing drums that still have finesse, and a bass that bounces between supporting act for the guitar to then being an awesome foundation for the vocalist. It's a super impressive sound, and the small guitar flourishes throughout will forever be little moments that stick in my head. Of top guitarists of all time that I'd love to have some lessons from, Vernon Reid is pretty high up on the list. Exceptional phrasing, technicality, tone, innovation... the list goes on. He's absolutely incredible. There's so much flavor in his guitar parts and I love how out of nowhere he'll throw some really wild shred sections at you and send the energy of a song through the roof. Corey Glover also shines on this album. Sometimes they'll have a cheesy lyric or an overly "acted" vocal part, like on "Open Letter (To a Landlord)", but I don't mind. In fact, usually when I embrace the cheese a little bit on a record it tends to sound better, and it does here. This album is a 4/5 for me, right at a 4.0. It's a solid listen, is very fun, and is packed with energy. "Vivid" is the perfect name for it.

G. Love And Special Sauce

G. Love & Special Sauce

3/5

Cool drum beat to start; I really love all the grace notes and looseness to it. This is really how I love drums. Oh wow, a great voice on the singer too! Damn I am really grooving to this. I really enjoyed this, will definitely check out more of their stuff as this was a really nice and cohesive style. It's a solid 3/5 for me.

All That You Can't Leave Behind

U2

3/5

A typical solid U2 album in their modern stadium rock era. "Beautiful Day" is a really nice track, and one that I annoyingly will sing to my wife when we're having a bad day to make her giggle. "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of" is also good, and I might actually consider "Elevation" to be my favorite on the record. Unfortunately with those three tracks being the first ones on the album, everything after feels a bit fleeting and not exactly packed with memorable hooks or big pop rock moments. If this song had maybe two more tracks that were on the same level of the first ones, I think I would raise the rating on this one but I feel pretty comfortable giving it a 3/5.

Funeral

Arcade Fire

5/5

Even though I'm a huge indie rock fan, I was really late to Arcade Fire and didn't start listening to them until my mid to late 20's.. not entirely sure when but definitely after college years when my friends were spinning their records daily. It's kind of a double edged sword because I would have loved to have these tunes pushing me along those confusing times, but also I feel blessed to get to listen to the band and it's still really fresh for me. This is maybe my favorite album of theirs. Its size is filed under "Bruce Springsteen", it's quirk and uniqueness is listed as "Neutral Milk Hotel", and it's instrumentation is analogous to "Sufjan Stevens". All huge complements. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is fantastic. I love this epic opener and it's set a perfect tone for the rest of the album. "Wake Up" is tough yet tender and is packed full of emotion. When the backing singers sing, you can tell they feel every single note. "Rebellion (Lies)" is the first Arcade Fire song I ever heard and while it wasn't love at first listen, it's really come around on me. It's got that Springsteen charm but colored in this funkier indie rock set of crayolas, where there's burnt sienna's instead of oranges, and blood ruby's instead of reds. I don't know if that makes sense but it does to me. I'm giving this a 5, and I think it's my favorite Arcade Fire album. My favorite song of theirs isn't on it, "The Suburbs", and if it was it would be one of my favorite records, but that's OK that it's not. There's so much good stuff here.

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

Joni Mitchell

4/5

This is a Joni Mitchell I'm pretty unfamiliar with. I'm much more used to "Blue" and it's use of sparse acoustic instrumentation.. and when this one started and the fretless bass guitar jumps into the intro I actually had to re-look at who the artist was. There's also a sort of levity to this album; maybe "Blue" is just too strong of a reference for me that I feel obligated to compare to it but this album has such a different lightness to it. I really like it; and it's fitting for a nice Monday morning. Alright "The Jungle Line" is the heavy-ness. I really love this. Unfortunately I'm noticing the lyrics too late into the listen and I'll have to replay this one with the lyrics in front of me. I love the tom groove here and the saxophone... very cool sound! This is a great record, really glad to have found it here. Typical Joni Mitchell quality stuff.

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

4/5

This year (2025) I had a moment where I was really obsessed with the final track on this album, "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong". The lyrics are so manic and oddly specific that when I first heard it I had to play it again and I did over and over, and then I learned the lyrics and then I memorized the chords so I could play it and then I paused and thought "ok it's a good song but take your time bub". It was definitely one of my obsession songs for this year of my life. Usually I'd copy and paste some specifically poignant lyrics over into here but I think I'd end up copying the whole track because they are all good. There's a lot of storytelling on the album. While I love a good singer-songwriter, sometimes the focus on telling a story tends to be one of the facets that make me not love the genre and a reason why it's been hard for me at times to fully embrace acts like Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, and Leonard Cohen. In my opinion the hard part of this focus on storytelling in music is that it has to get so many things right for it to click with me. It has to be a good story of course, but it has to be believable too (I need to believe that there is some kind of true lived experience here, like it's hard for me to hear about a folk country songwriter talk about a hard upbringing when he grew up in a mansion), it has to be good enough that I want to go back and revisit (how many times can you watch the same movie before you want something new?), and it has to be musical enough that I get pulled in and it's not just someone talking over chords. Thankfully, when Leonard Cohen gets it right, he really gets it right, like on "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong". I'm pretty sad today even though I've gotten some great news over the past week. I'm moving soon and my usual sentimental self is starting to mourn the end of my time at the apartment that I've called home with my wife for over a decade, and today is the day where it's first hit me as I'm packing things up. This record was a really nice listen as I spent my day working / packing / reminiscing while I'm putting away random polaroids, random concert tickets, random trinkets that I've collected, and random memories I've made with friends in this place. This was a really nice accompaniment to today.

Moondance

Van Morrison

4/5

What a voice. Sometimes when I'm sitting around practicing my singing I'll think about a signature voice like Van Morrison's (amongst many other greats) and I'll think "how the hell do they do it?". That's one of the reasons why I think singing is truly some magical ethereal thing; some people just have a special voice and it's all a big wonderful mystery as to why it works that way. "Moondance" in my opinion is Van Morrison at his best; with interesting instrumentation and composition behind him and not the more typical "classic rock singer songwriter" sound that is on a lot of other songs of his, like "Caravan", "Into the Mystic", and others. To me, his voice is such a standout facet that it overtakes the music when the music doesn't meet him where he is. And so having a song that can captivate you in other ways is usually a song that I like more. This album is a nice listen. Moondance is a truly incredible piece, and it alone makes this album a solid 4/5.

The Lexicon Of Love

ABC

3/5

This album is a breath of fresh air on the list. There's a lot of great energy, instrumentation, and performances... kind of everything that you want in a good album. The vocals are awesome, like on "Tears Are Not Enough", the instrumentation is unique, with strings and harpsichords and funk bass, and the compositions themselves are really fun, with many moments that grab you and throw you around the room like you're an amateur ballroom dancer who just got paired with a professional for the first time. Very fun listen.

A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse

Faces

3/5

Cool guitar sound and riff to start right from the jump, kind of like the much more modern band Black Keys. Pretty cool guitar parts throughout actually, I really feel like this is a guitar-forward band where that's the root of the tracks and everything is built off of that. Thankfully it's pretty tasteful stuff on top too and nothing that really hurts that direction. Nice little classic rock album. I didn't even realize for a bit that Rod Stewart was the vocalist but he's an amazing singer and sounds great here.

Nick Of Time

Bonnie Raitt

4/5

Bonnie has a beautiful voice and showcases it well on this album. I like how she has a very controlled and restrained performance but somtimes adds in the grit when needed, like at 2:08 on "Too Soon To Tell". The compositions are also pretty solid, but I think definitely lag behind her in quality; she's really the star here. Kind of an odd thing to highlight, but I really like the tempos (tempi?) on this album. They are all just slightly slower than I expect once I get into the meat of the songs (for example I'll be listening and think "ah this one has a tough confidence to it, I'm surprised they didnt go for 5-10bpm faster"), but I jive with it while listening today. It's like these songs were written at a regular tempo but then they said "let's slow it just slightly and make it hit harder with more punctuated performances... more wham in the bass drum, more whack in the snare, and more vibrato in the new space we made". It's kind of weird to put into words but it makes sense to me? The Wikipedia page for this record is a nice read, and I was surprised to learn that this was her 10th studio album and really her first commercial breakthrough. That's an amazing resilience. Solid 4/5. I haven't listened to her too much but this was a delight.

Superfuzz Bigmuff

Mudhoney

3/5

Pretty cool punk rock album. Some of the songs are catchy, some of them are a little grating, but that's not surprising for a band that's all about fuzz. Definitely raw and edgy in a good way. I didn't love the album but I didn't dislike it either, just kind of down the middle for me.

Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A.

5/5

Super influential, and one of the best rap / gangsta rap albums ever, and for good reason. Great in-and-out flows as the group trades verses, amazing lyrics that really pull you into this 80s gang milieu, and the production still stands up almost 40 years later. "Straight Outta Compton" "Fuck Tha Police" "Express Yourself" are all certified rap classics; some of the best rap tracks ever. I personally love all of them, and there's been times of my life where I can proudly say that I have had the lyrics memorized of each of them, but maybe not all at once :). Easy (mother fuckin E) 5/5 for me. Probably a top 2 or top 3 favorite rap album of all time.

This Is Hardcore

Pulp

3/5

This is a pretty interesting listen. The cacophony that ends the first song is really something I'm into, and I'm impressed overall at the instrumentation in the first few tracks overall. The vocals are kind of hit or miss for me. This album is so eclectic, it can't help itself but go in a ton of different directions. The first 5 songs go everywhere and anywhere, and I love the weird slow drum n bass electronic synth string "This Is Hardcore". I feel like I liked this? But it would be better if i gave it a few more listens to really get through it all.

Boy In Da Corner

Dizzee Rascal

3/5

Never heard of Dizzee before but it's a pretty cool sound. His voice is kind of silly sometimes and even reminds me a bit of Busta Rhymes but he's got that super characteristic British rap pronunciation. I really love how minimal "Fix Up, Look Sharp" is, it's kind of reminding me of "Yeezus" in a way (even though this came out a decade before), where the minimal music under the rapping is a very intentional choice and a cool contrast. Not that I'm comparing the two albums though. I have to admit the almost "yodel" pitch flip that is super prevalent in this British style rap is pretty overdone and almost annoying when it happens so many times over the course of a song. "Round We Go" is rife with it and it almost sounds like someone mocking British rap. I was ready to give this a 3 because I think the sound is pretty unique but by the end of "Round We Go" I really wanted to drop it down to a 2, but I think I'm just chalking it up to a bad track and not totally indicative of the rest of the album. I'm pretty conflicted with this one but I think it's a 3.

Manassas

Stephen Stills

3/5

Pretty alright bluesy classic rock. The album cover gives me the impression that we're looking at a super group band of all stars but I really only recognize Stephen Stills. Although Fuzzy Samuels is a particularly great name, and Chris Hillman was the drummer of my thrash heavy metal band from high school but I'm only a little certain that it isn't the same guy. I find it funny how on "Jet Set (Sigh)" you've got this blues classic rock track for 3 and a half minutes and then at 3:41 you get this random proggy classic rock riff and groove that comes in out of nowhere with absolutely no transition, and then the song continues with it for the remaining 30 seconds. Very random. It's a nice listen. Do you have to hear it in your lifetime? Eh...

Fly Or Die

N.E.R.D

3/5

N.E.R.D. are awesome. I really enjoy this softer hip hop sound that focuses more on flows, beats, and production rather than hard hitting rap verses. I do love gangsta rap though but this is just a nice respite. I have vivid memories of hearing this in the hallways of high school, so I have an unfortunate connection of associating the songs with a year of my life where I was notably uncomfortable and annoyed with my day to day life. This record is a nice listen, but it's only a 3/5 for me. After "She Wants To Move", the stand out track, there are a bunch of songs with good ideas but not enough in each to give memorability or any kind of lasting impression.

Bright Flight

Silver Jews

4/5

I just had a long discussion with a good friend about how I need to check out Silver Jews again after they've been in my periphery for years. I had heard that his voice is nothing to write home about, but I really like it. It's sort of: Daniel Johnston, Jeff Mangum, and... this is a bad reference, but my good friend David Dinah Greenberg. I know if you're reading this you most likely haven't heard of David Dinah Greenberg but trust me he sounds just like him. The lyrics of "Room Games and Diamond Rain" particularly feel like a Daniel Johnston track: "I'm gonna love you for a hundred years Through suffering and celebration, dear 'Cause only you can make my lies come true You can make lies real And you can make me feel Like drinking wine in the shade all afternoon" I'm not entirely sure why, but it has an approachable off-kilter quality to it. This is also an amazing lyric from "Tennessee" "Her doorbell plays a bar of Stephen Foster Her sister never left and look what it cost her We're gonna live in Nashville and I'll make a career Out of writing sad songs and gettin' paid by the tear" I love them. Really enjoyable listen. I will check out more!

Rust In Peace

Megadeth

5/5

Kerry King, notable guitarist of the band SLAYER, recently said that he prefers Metallica over Megadeth because "Metallica has a singer". I read that (literally yesterday) and it made me think more about Dave Mustaine as a singer and how some vocalists have a sound that is objectively just kind of different, and it takes some getting used to, and how prevalent that is. There's many amazing bands over time that have this in music, one of the more notable I can think of is Guns N Roses; Axel Rose has a weird mousey screech but they have written some of the best rock songs ever. Would Megadeth be better without Dave Mustaine singing? I don't think so, just like how I think part of the allure of Guns N Roses is that characteristic vocal style of Axel. It's unique and it makes the overall sound a more special package. This album is fucking amazing, and I'm so glad it's included in this list. I wrote in my review for "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" that I really hope "Rust in Peace" was also on the list, and it seems my wish has been granted. The two opening songs on this album are amazing works of metal art and I love that you get them immediately when you start playing the record. "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Hangar 18" is one of the BEST sequential first-and-second tracks on any metal album. As a guitarist whose wrists used to be dexterous enough to play this stuff, I can't express enough that these parts are incredibly hard to play- even just the rhythm sections. The more technical riffs? Even harder. But not just hard to perform, these riffs are everything that you would want from a thrash metal outfit- they are catchy, crisp, fun, and tasteful. The solos? Get out of here... incredibly difficult to play and so much fun to listen to. "Hangar 18" is a personal favorite of mine- maybe a top 20 favorite heavy metal song of all time. I particularly love the dueling guitar solos- it truly sounds like you entered Hangar 18 and you are watching and listening to two UFO's wildly trying to escape the base while firing lasers and slamming into walls with their otherworldly technology. This is a "deserted island" song for me, mostly because it is so dense and filled with ideas and sections that I can still listen to the song so many years after first hearing it and still find new nuances- like today I focused on the amazing bass lines! Legendary album in the heavy metal scene, with 4 amazing songs on it when you include "Tornado of Souls" and "Rust in Peace...Polaris".

Off The Wall

Michael Jackson

5/5

Probably the greatest entertainer of all time, MJ is incomparable. This album is one of his best. I love the disco style that permeates throughout and it really showcases him in as a vocalist on top of a band that is just as high energy as he is. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock With You" are the two standouts on this record, but the whole thing is pretty consistently good. I'd say that this probably isn't my favorite of his, which I think is "Thriller", but it's just so consistently good. I like the change of paces throughout too, like the ballad "She's Out of My Life". MJ lives forever.

Power In Numbers

Jurassic 5

2/5

Cool early 2000's rap that sounds like a holdover from the prior decade, which just happens to be one of my favorite periods of time for rap & hip-hop. Unfortunately this record didn't really do much for me. I remember hearing some of these songs when I was younger, like "What's Golden", but there's not enough magic in these tracks. There's not enough moments that make me stop and say "wow what was that?". There's a little bit too much of a focus on verses rather than some really well developed choruses. The last track was a really cool instrumental though. Maybe on a different day this is a 3 for me.

Catch A Fire

Bob Marley & The Wailers

4/5

I'm giving this album a 4/5 because it's Bob Marley and it's got "Stir It Up" on it, which is one of his best songs, and the album was nice to listen to. I've also written in a few reviews here that reggae is a genre that I don't always jive with so I'm trying to be more objective in my review and give it a rating that I think it deserves rather than one that includes a little too much of my personal bias. I think the best way to approach this project is to give a blend of both; where sometimes you give a review that is completely subjective and personal, sometimes it's completely objective, and more often than not it's a mix of the two. It's a nice record with some nice tunes and Bob Marley is reggae at it's best. I can appreciate the quality and impact!

Steve McQueen

Prefab Sprout

3/5

My first time hearing this record and I really like it. The instrumentation is fun and you never really know what to expect while it all unfolds and still maintains a consistency. There's banjo rolls, great contrasting soft backing vocals, synths, and very cool guitar parts that go from nylon guitar delicateness to hard rock electrics. It's all very eclectic and thankfully it's not just the instrumentation that's nice, the actual compositions are solid. The one negative I have is that I kind of feel like this album is missing one or two big memorable tracks. There's a lot of really strong moments throughout but I don't leave the album with a single hook repeating in my head. I did really enjoy a lot of the middle tracks, "When Love Breaks Down", "Goodbye Lucille #1", and "Hallelujah". "Hallelujah" is really great and proggy in a way. I'm giving this a 3/5 but I think there's a lot to like. If I listened to it a few more times I think it would easily be a 4. Really cool record.

The Undertones

2/5

Cool Brit pop punky rock album. I didn't dislike it but it didn't really stand out to me in the sea of similar albums on this list. I kind of feel like this album's sound was hurt a bit by being in this very late 1970's era with a lot of conflicting band sounds around them and being in a transition-y period of time.

Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes

3/5

Interesting album. Lots of boomy bassy ness and cool production ideas with a ton of depth. I really like "Birthday"; the woman's voice sounds Bjork-esque while still grounded in pop/rock and not so experimental. It's not only a palatable sound, but a really attractive one for me. Cool record. I'm listening now and didn't see when it was released and I really have no idea when this came out. It has such a 90's indie feel to it, but the drum production screams 80's. I'm going with 1988... heyyyy I was right! Hahahah that was fun. Ok yea I'm reading about them now and it is Bjork! How cool.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Iron Butterfly

4/5

"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is such an interesting song to me, I always thought it was good but felt that it's kind of like a not-as-good "Smoke on the Water", with a similar super catchy hook that's strengthened by a super catchy riff. Or maybe it's the other way around... a super catchy riff that's strengthened by a catchy hook? Even though this came out a few years before "Smoke on the Water", I think the former is far more notable. Regardless, it's a really great track and this is a fun album. It's rife with the great Doors-like organ parts, great guitar sections and tones, and fun confident vocals. I don't know if the title track needs to be 17 minutes long but you know it's just that period of time. There's a couple of mix decisions that I feel hurt the songs a bit too much. The first track, "Most Anything You Want" is such a weird mix.. the drums so heavy in the right ear is something I always dislike, and the vocals are way too muddy and hidden in the mix. Despite that, there's a lot to like in this record. It rocks, it goes places, and it's even really beautiful at times (like the end of "Flowers and Beads").

The World is a Ghetto

War

3/5

Super fun album. I love the wild virtuoso harmonica parts on "Where Was You At", along with the great sudden fadeout that occurs. Really interesting ideas on this one. "City, Country, City" is a fun jam. Sometimes overly jammy songs / albums can be hit or miss for me but I put this one on and really grooved to it.

Vincebus Eruptum

Blue Cheer

3/5

Blue Cheer is a cool band and I'm happy that they have a record on here. Their sound is impressive as they are one of the first bands that got this heavy; some of the pioneers of heavy metal itself. I enjoyed listening to this record though at times I did think that they are probably more enjoyable live compared to on a recording. Distortion and panning and how to mix the two wasn't really "figured out" yet and it leads to a record that is pretty muffled and muddy at times, and it's funny to me how every song has essentially the same exact tones.. but the energy is still there.

Modern Kosmology

Jane Weaver

4/5

This is a really cool listen, and it honestly reminds me a lot of one of my favorite albums of all time- "The Hazards of Love" by "The Decemberists". It's expansive, vast, has cool production elements, great textures and tones, and it's deep. The one negative that I have for it is that it's just a bit too droney throughout. I felt like the first seventy five percent of the album I was listening to songs where each one had a single chord or simple riff being repeated for 60 to 80 times and then it's on to the next one. It wasn't until "Valley" where I started to get something different.. some changes.. a chord progression instead of a singular repeated chord over and over. Even with that being said, I really enjoyed this, I'm happy that it's on the list, and I think the more I listen to it the more I'm going to really love this one.

Electric

The Cult

4/5

Just a real hard rockin' good time. I enjoyed this as I felt like I needed some hard hitting drums to power me through today. The singer's voice is great, the guitar parts are great, and it's consistent throughout. Produced really well too, which is nice, as sometimes with this kind of hard / classic rock I can get a bit bored with the same old instrumentation. When I hear this singer's wail I can't help but think of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and little 12 year old me driving around in the game and listening to bands like this. It's a great nostalgia hit hearing this singer.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

3/5

Pretty cool album. Lots of classic chord progressions but the spin is on the composition experimenting and deviating just enough to be interesting while still grounded in classic familiar sounds. I enjoyed this. Songs like "Herculean" are a good example of the added weird interesting ideas. There's some throat singing in there? And it's also filled with really cool production ideas- stuff that you'd hear in electronic music like distant reverb'd vocal layers and a slow drum n bass type beat. It took me way too long to realize it's Damon Albarn singing hahah. I dig it! With a little bit more memorability this would be a 4 for me, but as it is it's a 3.

A Seat at the Table

Solange

4/5

When I saw this album cover I was immediately brought back to the time period when it came out, as I had a bunch of friends who loved this album and recommended it to me. Unfortunately it was put in the backlog and I never got to it but I'm happy to be listening to it now! Right away I'm pulled in, she's got a great voice, the music is a bit sparse but blooms in a really nice organic manner. I'm going to get picky already on the second track, "Weary". There's this type of drum beat that I like here that is very specific- a subdivided tom groove. It's nice! But when it goes throughout a whole song and never gives me any snare it ultimately feels kind of anticlimactic. This is a personal taste thing, but it's something that's always bothered me a little bit with these types of grooves- when you get teased that there's a snare coming (or some kind of higher pitched percussion sound) but it never comes. I absolutely love in track 3 "Cranes in the Sky", right at 1:33 the drummer loses the tempo slightly and they left it in. I love little human elements like these and I love the idea of leaving it in and not "fixing" it in a period of time where most music is overly quantized. Awesome! Unfortunately the more I listen the more I'm realizing that this album doesn't give me enough compositionally. There's so many good ideas in it, there's so many beautiful parts and layers, but I so often want Solange to just give me a good verse with good lyrics and to keep it in my head after the song is over. Too often by the middle part of the album did I find myself thinking "ah yea here we go another vowel vocal section with a bunch of layers that doesn't do much besides show me her technical prowess". I hate that I'm being a hater with it, but it's too much of a security blanket for her. Not sure what to do with the next part in the song? Just add in another "oooh" "aah" part with a bunch of layers and call it a day. Sometimes I feel bad for docking some points on these reviews when I'm mentioning a facet that might very well be that artists "thing" or "sound", but if I get a whole album where I expect a song to explode or move or change and I get given this same color over and over I really can't help but be let down. By the end I'm a little bit frustrated. Her voice is amazing; it is smooth, subtle when she wants it to be, and in the front of the mix when she wants. The band is very tight, and yet still very human and organic sounding. I just want some more composition, I want some more songs. Still, this album is a 4/5 for me. My critique is hitting an artist that has a great sound and my only frustration is that it could have been even better.

Cupid & Psyche 85

Scritti Politti

1/5

Wow this is a very 80's sound. I don't really love it though, it feels like the stereotypical 80's tones but with none of the charm that made the decade so special. The compositions are pretty bland and lack any of the big over the top moments. Oddly it sounds a bit like some B versions of Michael Jackson's worst songs.. I really didn't like this... hate to do it but it's a 1 for me and I really don't think it should be on the list.

Since I Left You

The Avalanches

3/5

This is a really well respected album in a lot of music communities that I've followed throughout my life and it's my first time listening to it. It's cool, I dig it. Sometimes I struggle a bit with very sample-heavy music though, I think my brain will try to pull the sample apart from the "new" layers and it ends up trying to be a subconscious game that I don't really want to play. Kind of takes me out of it and it's hard for me to just sit and enjoy it. I think that's why I like sample-heavy artists that are a bit more frantic and high energy (like death's dynamic shroud gets) because it doesn't let your brain sit into a groove for too long. There are some cool ideas in here but right now it's only a 3 for me, like a 3.3 rounded down. It's dynamic and it goes places but I'm not exactly totally blown away by it. I'm sure there's reasons why it's so universally loved and I just need to listen to it more.

Viva Hate

Morrissey

3/5

Morrissey has a great voice and these tunes are solid. Really nice production on this album too, the drums and bass specifically really slam you in a nice way. Very rockin'. I really like "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me", nice uptempo track with a tight drum and bass groove, and I love that there's just a wild person guitarist wailing away throughout the song. I love when a guitar part "solo" is actually playing underneath vocals or other layers, it's an interesting touch that results in some nice added energy to a track.

The Cars

4/5

I love this band but admittedly I haven't listen to them enough and I'm so happy to see them on this list. When they slam the big "Let the good times roll" at 0:46 of the first track, you kind of get an idea for what this band is capable of. Technical and precise and catchy and super refined. "Just What I Needed" is such an amazing song. I've always liked it but I really fell in love with it after hearing Punch Brothers cover it on the "AV Club" youtube channel. If you haven't heard that I really can't recommend it enough. To me this record is a strong 4, but not quite a 5. "My Best Friends Girl" and "Just What I Needed" are both super impressive songs that most fans of music know or have atleast heard of, but after these first tracks the album does fall off a little bit. I love this album cover. I've written a bunch before about how album covers sometimes get this "moment in time" feeling for me that's hard to explain.. like a familiarity for something that never occurred? A nostalgia for an experience that you were never a part of? This is what this album cover feels like for me.

Parklife

Blur

2/5

I like Blur but this one caught me at a bad time I think. The first two songs I found kind of annoying with how they take the song title of each and say it constantly throughout each song. It felt like I had heard "Tracy Jacks" a good five hundred times by the time the song was over. I think it might just be a tinge more punk than I was wanting and that led me to be. Ok, by the time it gets about halfway in it redeems itself a bit for me, it's more dynamic and actually kind of "chamber pop-y"? It's nice! Overall though this one needs more listens from me before I think I would enjoy it. Really great album cover. I love the motion and energy in it.

Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

The Pharcyde

3/5

Solid early 90's new jack swing type rap. I dig the layers and smaller moments throughout the album that shows me that they put a ton of thought into the entire thing. I always appreciate that a lot when artists produce an entire record and don't take any moment of attention for granted. With that being said, the album kind of just went by. I grooved to it, I bopped my head, but I didn't feel totally moved by it. It's not bad at all, but it didn't blow me away. I do like how loose it felt.

Sunshine Superman

Donovan

3/5

This is a pretty nice sorta psychedelic sorta classic rock-y record. "Sunshine Superman" is the standout, and I bet most people who listen to rock or pop music have heard it but don't know the name "Donovan". The second track is pretty but I can't say enough how much I hate when albums have a second track that is slow and kind of boring, regardless of the genre. I really liked the song "Bert's Blues" a few years ago, it ended up being one of my most listened to songs of the year. Great album cover, I love that the primary graphic is offset a bit and not centered.

Ingenue

k.d. lang

3/5

Nice singer songwriter album. I've heard of k.d. lang before but never really dug too deep. They have a nice sound, with a real soothing voice and tastefully instrumentation. It's a 2.5 for me, enough to round to a 3. While it's a nice sound, I don't know if it's one of the best albums of all time.

The Madcap Laughs

Syd Barrett

2/5

There's something about this sound and period of time that tends to not always gel with my personal tastes. I don't know what it is; I actually like the looseness, the edgy rough-around-the-edges performances, and his voice is pretty nice too. But at the same time on some tracks it sometimes feels like a group of musicians are surrounding him who are hearing these songs for the first time and playing along, and then that's what makes it on the album. His lyrics feel like that too, and reading more I get that he's going for a "stream of consciousness" thing but the final result isn't a great listen for me. By the time I'm at the third track, "Love You", I feel kind of annoyed to be honest? It's sort of draining in a way? The scene of: a former member of a much more famous band freestyling lines into a mic while a band behind him just kind of "figures it out along the way" isn't a great recipe for something I'd be interested in. It's not so bad to be a 1 for me, it's in between a 1 and a 2 and enough for me to give it a 2. Not really for me.

Getz/Gilberto

Stan Getz

5/5

Certainly one of the best albums of all time, and probably the most important Bossa Nova recording ever made. Although I will say, this should really be called "Getz/Gilberto/Jobim", but maybe that's just my bias as someone who loves Jobim. "The Girl From Ipanema" might be the best bossa nova song ever. It's absolutely beautiful, the performances are so delicately dynamic and tight, and that chorus is as catchy as it gets while still keeping it's distinct rhythmic complexity. I love that it has English lyrics, that single choice most likely made the song so much more widespread throughout the world. It's a 4.7/5 for me. It's not my favorite album ever but it's just so important to this genre that I think it deserves the round up to 5.

A Date With The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

3/5

Solid rock and roll album that's jam packed with catchy love songs. Lyrics are a little dated but it's not always fair to judge things like that when this was released around 65 years ago. I liked it overall.

Sister

Sonic Youth

2/5

Sometimes Sonic Youth come across as a little too "serious" for me. I have to be in the right mood, like I can't be just going about my day bopping around and come across a song like "Beauty Lies In The Eye" and hearing: "There's something in the air there It makes you go insane Brings you back to me It's been so long All's I have to do is live along It's coming, coming down over me Do you want to see the explosions in my eye?" in a spoken word style performance with ominous post-rock music behind the voice. Don't get me wrong though, I love serious music and I love music that comes across as "too cool" or "apathetic artsy", but I just don't love being surprised by it I guess. This album has a few times when spoken word comes in and gives that "poetry jam" feel, but I don't hate it. They have some songs that I really enjoy, but none of them were on this album. It just leans a little too much into that "we're seriously mysterious" vibe that is a little off putting for me.

Legalize It

Peter Tosh

3/5

The title track "Legalize It" is probably one of the better non-Bob-Marley reggae songs ever, but there are a few more on here that really sound great. I think by first impression / judging the book by it's cover, one could easily skip this album as another "the world needs more weed" reggae album, but it's definitely got more than that going on. I like how it takes some pop influence and steer ever slightly away from reggae tropes, like on "Why Must I Cry" which sounds like a beautiful mid tempo pop ballad that just happens to have reggae drumbeat and guitar parts and the rest is more pop-centric. Nice album.

Back to Mystery City

Hanoi Rocks

3/5

Nice 80's radio rock record. The band sounds pretty tight, but the main vocals are sometimes a bit low in the mix.. I feel like I often wanted more bigger hooks or true frontman "moments" that were so prevalent in this era. Nice record overall though, surprised at the very low play counts (Spotify only had 1 song with over 1 million, "Until I Get You", and no other track over 400k). "Malibu Beach Nightmare" is probably my favorite here, great energy and super fun sax part that comes out of nowhere.

Ghosteen

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

4/5

I want to be a little bit delicate with my review here because I know this was released after both his son and one of his band mates passed away, and I do personally think that context behind art often helps my experience in understanding and connecting with it and I like to take it into account when reviewing something. In my head I've gone back and forth with enjoying and not enjoying Nick Cave many times in this project and even here with the instrumentation differing from his usual cowboy-noir, this doesn't really do much for me. I do really like ambient synth music, and i like the cowboy-noir-rock-folk genre that he does outside of this album, but the result often fails to captivate me. It's OK to not like everything but I've really been trying to understand why. I think maybe part of it is that a lot of his music feels like singular listening experiences- when I'm done I don't feel like I need to go back and hear something again, because a lot of his sound is more spoken-word-y than it is melody driven? And that's one of my favorite aspects of music as an art form, I can (and love to) revisit it over and over. Unfortunately with his music I just don't want to. For me, hearing Nick Cave albums on this list is like meeting up with an old friend who is perpetually downtrodden and experiencing some traumatic event(s). You want to be there for them and lend an ear or a shoulder to cry on, but you know what you are getting yourself into each time because the past 5 times you've met up you've been given this really emotionally down and draining hangout that when you've both finished your meal or your drinks you walk away thinking that you need a palate cleanser. I know that there is a deeper philosophical thought here about myself and how I react to things that can bring me down... how I have a tendency to let these feelings come and linger for a day, but show them the door the next morning. I also know that it's not wise to shelter your life too much and always avoid heavier topics, but I've gotten really good at hanging out with these things in moderation, for my own mental well being. I'm giving this a 4/5 because of the bigger picture here. If I listen to this album without any context I would probably give it a 3, but it does what the best art does; it made me think, it got a reaction out of me, it made me introspect and for that I am appreciative and I am happy to raise the 3 to a 4.

The Stone Roses

3/5

I liked this but didn't love it. I feel like there's a lot of good ideas but the execution falls a little flat. Lots of production choices that are cool, but more leaves me wondering about if they all benefit the songs or are just there to be there. I'm in a period of my life where I really love pop music, I love structure and melody and hooks, and I wanted more of that here. I'm still giving it a 3 instead of a 2 though because I think if I revisit this it will grow on me.

Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby

Girls Against Boys

3/5

Never heard of this band but I found it was surprisingly good grunge. Nice dark guitar tones, powerful drums, and a cool vocal tone too. It reminds me a bit of Sonic Youth and drones a little like post-rock, which is a combination that hits some interest points for me. I dig it and will definitely give it another spin.

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

5/5

One of those records that you see the album art pop up and immediately go "hell yes". So excited to hear it today. The guitar parts, vocals, the dynamic changes, the vibe.. on the right day it's a perfect album for me. What a great story behind this record too. I can't imagine the tension from the relationship dynamics. Stevie and Lindsey are in the midst of breaking up, Christine and John are divorcing, and Mick is going through a divorce as well. What a crazy cauldron of emotions to be swirling around in one room! I find it really incredible that Stevie can write a song like "Dreams" about her relationship with Lindsey, and then he can write "Go Your Own Way" about the relationship from his perspective, and BOTH songs are INCREDIBLE. It's a testament to the talent of this band and how it's not just one phenomenal songwriter with a band behind them; it's multiple phenomenal songwriters. There's a production quality on this album that I've been chasing my whole music life. It's so warm and intimate with songs like "Dreams" with a production that really captures the incredibly dour shifting maj7 chords (and that "almost an octave" tension that comes from this chord type that lingers on and on) and the soft drumset and droning pedal steel guitar, and of course Stevie's heart breaking vocals. I swear, around 2:30 into the song it sounds like she just got done crying, specially on the lyric "mad". Ugh it's amazing emotion! Then "Go Your Own Way" is colder, more epic, and intense, and yet it still works in the album. It's so different yet cohesive with the overall sound. I also absolutely adore the fretless bass playing on this one. Super tasteful. Instant 5/5, one of my favorite albums of all time, probably somewhere in top 15-20 for me.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West

5/5

Really big and epic Kanye record. This one shows everything that makes him great; his vocal tone is hard and captivating, his flow is incredible and works so well with every beat, and his lyrics are always dynamic, interesting, funny, witty, and memorable. This is actually a hard rate for me. College Dropout is a 5/5, and Yeezus is one of my favorite rap albums so that was definitely a 5/5. Personally I think this is in a tier that is slightly below those two. It doesn't have the "wow" factor of Yeezus, and I think the big catchy hook-heavy hits aren't as huge as on College Dropout. And yet when I hear "POWER" I want to scream at the top of my lungs, I want to drive faster, I want to run faster, I want to be Kanye at the album release party. Maybe not that exactly because Kanye is a POS. It's a 5. It's so good. I love the album cover.

Madman Across The Water

Elton John

4/5

"Tiny Dancer" really steals the show on this one. Elton's voice is literally perfect here. He sings like he talks, he sings sometimes with a little added tone for theatrics, other times he sounds less theatrical and more intimate, but throughout he sounds effortless and smooth. He's like Andruw Jones in center field, it's just easy for him. "Tiny Dancer" is a song that I think you hear many times in your life but it's not until you sit and really take it in that you realize that it's more than just a song to drunkenly sing at karaoke, it's really beautiful. The rest of the album is solid but not nearly as triumphant as "Tiny Dancer". Still, I think it's worthy of a 4/5. I love this album cover, very cool texture to it.

Sign 'O' The Times

Prince

4/5

Really solid Prince album. I love the opening track; the verse is kind of Bruce Springsteen-ish but it's filled with Prince's great attitude that often comes through in his best songs. He's sharp, he's cool, he's the man. It's a nice 4/5 for me.

Post Orgasmic Chill

Skunk Anansie

2/5

I can't figure this album out at all, and not in a good cool interesting way. Every now and then the vocalist does something cool and I think "oh wow yea they are really the highlight of the band" but it goes away pretty quickly and gets muddied by other songs where the vocals are kind of cringey and almost annoying? A good example is the final two tracks, the second to last is this tension filled punky rock song where she sounds awesome with high intensity shrieks and wails, and then the final song is this super over acted breathy and lyrically weak track. Part of me wonders if they struggled to get the production to match all of the styles and ideas they had in their heads. I know it's hard for bands that do a bunch of different things to get their entire sound to come across on a record. That's why people like Steve Albini were so highly regarded; because he would put so much effort into capturing bands how they sound and not try to overproduce them, it was all about capturing that sound itself. It's a 2/5 for me.

Shleep

Robert Wyatt

3/5

There's a lot of interesting ideas on this record, and I like the droning and meditative sound of it. The instrumentation is also refreshing and experiments just enough to keep the music palatable. Cool little record, but unfortunately probably not something I would come back to.

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

The Byrds

3/5

Some nice tasteful twangy country. I really liked "I Am a Pilgrim", which I can tell influenced Bruce Springsteen's song "Nebraska" a lot. Not usually my favorite type of sound but I didn't dislike it.

Celebrity Skin

Hole

4/5

"Celebrity Skin" is a hell of a song, and is extra great when played really loud. I'd argue that this song is maybe even worthy of a spot on a "top songs of the 90's" list. It's dynamic, it's heavy, it's incredibly catchy and memorable, and Courtney Love has an incredible voice and presence behind the mic. Maybe it's sacrilegious to say, but I can hear some Kurt in her voice when she gets a little more raw.. other people hear that too right? I also think you can hear it a little in early Foo Fighters tracks, almost like they picked up a little technique from him. "Malibu" is a nice track too, and it makes me really miss this type of rock where bands were really dynamic and had lots of guitar tone changes and vocal tone shifts. This is a good album and a really hard one to rate. I don't feel right giving it only a 3, but it does feel a little short of a 4. 3 is just way too low though, so i'm giving it a 4.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme

Simon & Garfunkel

5/5

There's such a delicateness to Simon and Garfunkel that I love and that I find to be missing from a lot of modern music and that I appreciate now when listening to them. In another world I think Paul Simon is seen as someone whose songwriting ceiling is to the level of the Beatles. He doesn't always hit that ceiling, but he's written songs that I think get up to that level of perfection. Lots of good ones here but I think "The 59th Street Bridge Song" is my favorite. It reminds me of being a kid and my mom playing it on repeat and just being happy. Just a really solid and beautiful album.

Your Arsenal

Morrissey

3/5

Really tight Morrissey record. The band in particular sound great and the production is tight too, I feel like I'm getting a motivated party of musicians here. I really like the very 1980's lead guitar playing with it's tasteful washy wails and articulate stabs. The first few tracks are standouts and remind me a bit of the band Living Colour. All in all it's a good record, but in the big scheme of things I think it's missing something that makes it one of the 1001 best of all time.

Rocks

Aerosmith

3/5

Fun Aerosmith record. I kind of did a double take when I read that this came out in 1976, after their self titled, after "Toys in the Attic", because to me this one feels a little less refined and a little more raw. It's a contrast compared to those albums, but I have to admit that I think that Aerosmith is at their best when they are doing classic rock in a big arena rock style, with larger than life tracks with amazingly memorable choruses. And this album is a little more down to earth than that.

Wonderful Rainbow

Lightning Bolt

4/5

I'm writing my review of this on January 6th, 2026. It's the first Monday of the new year and thus begins a restart of my daily routine that I've been missing over the holidays. I love this time of year because the last few years I've spent a lot of time introspecting and trying to find ways to improve myself and these usually manifest into segments that I add or remove from my daily to-do list. Want to read more poetry? Add it as something to do on Wednesday mornings. Want to get better at chess? Make it your after-work-on-Mondays thing. I love to organize this "second brain" and this album really was an ideal partner for me launching my latest and best iteration of this. It's energetic, it's loose and a bit crazy, and it's exciting. "2 Towers" is really, really awesome. I love how the guitar/bass/synth instrument stays consistent on the riff and the drums change the rhythm; kind of just pulls the rug out from under you and then puts it back. Very Meshuggah-esque. I also really love the snare tone here, where it sounds almost like a pork pie snare? It makes it feel more experimental I guess? than if you would have had a more regular or lower tuned snare as that would kind of make this track into a heavy metal one. I also love how organic the tempi are, and I rarely feel like they are attached to a grid. This past year I listened to a lot of pop music and a lot of heavy metal. I forget sometimes that there's really beautiful amazing experimental music out there like this that is both exciting and tasteful. Great album.

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

4/5

I'm so sad that last night I had the choice of wearing a Public Enemy t-shirt or another band's shirt, and I chose the other band. I would have loved to refresh this browser tab, see an album pop up and by chance also be wearing a t-shirt of that act! Oh well. "Bring the Noise" and "Don't Believe The Hype" are two truly standout hip hop tracks. Both maybe top 50-100 in the genre for me. These are really Flavor Flav at his best, he is THE hype man, he is a perfect contrast to Chuck D. He brings so much excitement, enthusiasm, and energy that you can't help but bop your head and jam to it. Chuck D is equally as impressive in his role of grounding the sound of the band while also providing depth both sonically and lyrically. Come to think of it, I think there's a real special grasp of "contrast" in Public Enemy. I don't know if the two very different vocal timbres of Flavor Flav and Chuck D was intentionally planned, but I start to think contrast is intentional when I hear it elsewhere in the production; like in the super prevalent beat style that has drums n bass punching low end grooves while they also incorporated high screechy vocal sample synths that scream like a chimp at the end of beat phrases. Or timbre aside, when Chuck D is hitting you with a consistent and smooth rap flow and Flavor Flav comes in at small pauses and stabs his infamous "yeaaaaa booooyyy"'s. The contrast is so heavy, and awesome!

American Beauty

Grateful Dead

3/5

The songs are nice but the Grateful Dead just aren't a band that gets me going. I find a lot of their tunes to be particularly flavorless, with the compositions never daring or even teasing dissonance. It's all very vanilla, very major pentatonic. Like a writer who makes stories that don't have antagonists or conflict. With that being said, the tunes are listenable, and this album has what I think is one of their more popular songs- "Friend of the Devil", and I can't hate it too much since they are such a well known and influential band. It's a 3, I think, because a 2 is unfair to the magnitude of the Grate Dead. Every time I listen I know what I'm about to get and I still leave feeling pretty meh.

Bossanova

Pixies

3/5

Nice record that has some pretty surprisingly heavy moments. I guess I didn't realize that the Pixies got that heavy. I like how dynamic the album can get, it makes it feel pretty fresh as you listen throughout it. Overall a 3 ish for me. Cool album art, definitely very 90's. The bossanova mole in the top right is particularly interesting haha.

Bringing It All Back Home

Bob Dylan

4/5

Nice Bob Dylan record! I really like the energy of this one, there's almost an undertone of happiness in these songs or at least the ones that I enjoy more, like "Mr. Tambourine Man", and "It's All Over, Baby Blue". I don't know if it's maybe the mixture of the chord strumming with the major keys, but there's a little hint of Bob being happy while performing these, and I dig that. Still I'd say it's a 4/5 for me, leaning towards a 3. He's one of the best songwriters ever, but this isn't particularly one of his best records. I find the lyrics a bit hard to follow on this release, and that's usually one of the facets that I look forward to when listening to him.

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

4/5

I dig this Nick Cave record, I love the rambunctious start to the album with his croon and the wacky wild waving inflatable guitar parts and the soul choir behind him. It's an attractive sound. There's a lot of moments where this sound reminds me of one of my favorite bands, Okkervil River. It's angsty indie rock where the singer is pushing strained vocals through his teeth, the guitars are unleashed, and the snare drum snaps like a gunshot. And yet there is a wide dynamic range, with some acoustic driven songs that act as great contrasts to the heavy. I think I like this album the most out of all of his albums on this list of 1001 Nick Cave albums to hear in your life (har har), but he's still a performer that doesn't always do that much for me. I'm giving it a 4.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

5/5

Sex Pistols are one of the most notable Brit punk bands ever. Their sound is raw and brash and filled with angst, and yet there's a lot of musicality and catchiness. It's a great formula for good music. I've never been a huge fan but this album definitely deserves to be on the list. Checking now and it looks like this is THE iconic album of theirs. For that reason it's gotta be a 5/5 for me. When I think of punk, I think of people like Johnny Rotten.

Franz Ferdinand

4/5

"Take Me Out" is a triumph of indie rock catchy weirdness. It might even top a few lists of "best indie rock song of all time" because it really encapsulates what is so great about the genre; the guitars are inventive, the vocals are so genuine and cool, it grooves so well, is completely unpretentious and does its own thing, and the whole vibe is really awesome. When I hear that first guitar strum I immediately get ready to feel pumped, and when the groove breaks at 1:05 I am compelled to do my one little cool guy indie rocker head bob dance. It's an awesome song. It's just a shame that the rest of the record doesn't have other tracks of that magnitude. Listening now full through for the first time in a long time, I'm kind of perplexed actually, because it seems like all of these tracks have the ingredients of a truly great indie rock song, but they are maybe just spread out too thin. The opener, "Jacqueline" has amazing guitar parts that are crisp and technical and have that great Strokes-esque spanky indie quality that's in "Take Me Out". But the vocal melody is lacking- it's kind of subdued and not as in your face. And this listening and analysis experience happens throughout the rest of the album. Cool parts, but nothing comes together and meshes as well as that track. I do really like the contrasting B sections / bridges / breaks in this album. They're not only great glue for the more prominent parts to hold together, but they are in my opinion often just as memorable and catchy. I love this album cover. Those tan yellows are so perfect, and the type and font choice is all so clean. It's a hard rate for me, because it's probably between a 3 and a 4, but "Take Me Out" is just so good that even if it's a 3 I gotta raise it up to a 4.

Walking Wounded

Everything But The Girl

3/5

Wait so this is the second "Everything But The Girl" record on this list, but none of the two listed have the song "Missing" on it? You know the one- "And I miss you, yea Like the deserts miss the rain" Like what are you doing list-makers? If I check Spotify, this bands top 4 songs are all remixes of "Missing".. how do you not have that album on this list?!?! Once I mentally get past that, I really like listening to this album. It's SO 90's, which is a decade that was packed with good music of many different genres. Grunge was great, the start of bubblegum pop towards the end of the decade was great, this sandstorm-esque electro pop was great. I have to say, I really, really love this sound. I've been enamored with this exact sound for the last few years, this pad-heavy electro drum-n-bass with ghostly vocals on top blend. Something has been pulling me towards making music in this style and I just have yet to push aside some of my other hobbies / time takers and start it. This album cover is so funny to me. I feel like if I showed it to my wife and asked her what she thought she would say "Oh yea the guy absolutely chose this photo", because the dude looks cool; his velour playboy bunny adorned tracksuit is on full display, his pose is cool, his hair is quaffed, beard is manicured, and he's got that cool guy chin up expression going on. The girl on the other hand? Yea she's adjusting her makeup, half of her face obscured by a hand mirror, half of her body missing from the shot, and her expression isn't very flattering. It's funny! Nice 3/5 album.

Rhythm Nation 1814

Janet Jackson

3/5

Janet Jackson is really a Jackson. These songs slap and have so much of that MJ fun and exciting energy to them. They groove, they hit, they are catchy, and they are really full of life. With that being said, I can't help but hear this record and want the larger-than-life quality that I get with MJ, which is a shame because she is a solid pop star.

Wild Wood

Paul Weller

3/5

This is a really cool sound that surprised me when the vocals came in. It's like modern indie rock but with classic rock soul vocals but it was released in 1993. I dig a lot of things here, the instrumentation is pretty inventive for the genre, the vocal parts are really tasteful and let the brand breath, and the band respects the vocal melody at the same time. Great combination. While a nice sound, nothing really blew me away too much for this record to have a definite spot on this coveted list.

Machine Gun Etiquette

The Damned

3/5

Pretty nice British punk / proto punk. I dig the energy and it's a really clean sound for 1979. I think I tend to prefer this proto more "rock" sounding punk personally. I'm not sure if the songs themselves are really that particularly special though.

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

3/5

Pretty cool India-inspired sampled pop that sometimes rocks and sometimes hip hops. I liked listening, but for as dynamic as it gets I found myself listening without being too pulled in too often. Could just be that I heard this on a day where I for no good reason wasn't too interested, but it just came and went. Norwegian Wood was a surprise!

Eliminator

ZZ Top

4/5

ZZ Top are such a cool, unbothered, and unproblematic band (I may regret that but I don't recall hearing any serious controversy from them ever). Their sound is solid, unique, fun, and objectively nice to listen to. This record has a few classics on it, "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man", and "Legs" is really solid too. Overall the sound is a bit dated and you definitely have to put on your "I don't care if it's cringey" hat and just groove to it. Solid 4/5 for me. I will forever share the fun fact that Jimi Hendrix's favorite guitarist was Billy Gibbons. That's really saying something!

John Prine

3/5

I actually haven't listened to John Prine very much but I know that he is really highly regarded in the Dylan-esque folk songwriter world. I will say it's a real delight to hear; his lyrics are awesome and both poetic and on-the-nose at the same time, his voice cuts soooo nicely through the mix, and the arrangements are super fun. Sometimes records like this and/or from this period of time can be a let down for me, and I'll need some "yea but it was great for it's time" or "yea but the lyrics were great for what was going on in the world", but I genuinely felt super engaged with this one and didn't feel the need to seek out a "why" this album is on this list. Right from song 1 I could tell I would like it too, cool arrangement of a song with it's tempo changes. In between a 3 and a 4 for me. Slightly closer to a 3.

Ctrl

SZA

4/5

Excellent album by an excellent artist. This is a funny one where I like the lower playcount songs more than the big popular bangers. "Love Galore" ft. Travis Scott is just OK to me, where "Doves in the Wind" ft. Kendrick Lamar is far better (with the latter having only a quarter of the play count amount as the former as per Spotify). I do personally love Kendrick though so maybe there's some bias there, but this idea permeates throughout the rest of the album. I do find "Doves in the Wind" interesting, it's funny how many times they can say "pussy" (quick count and it's 26). I don't mind vulgarities in my day to day and I like them in art but at some point there might be another more poetic word or some alternative before I think "alright i get the point". Just a solid record. SZA is great!

Close To The Edge

Yes

3/5

When this first started, I was so excited to hear the ambient synth drone and the various SFX like birds chirping. I was sitting there, (a few minutes ago) with a large glass of water on a Monday morning just getting my day and week started, and I was thinking "man this is a nice way to start the week. I feel calm, I feel relaxed.". Now I know the band "Yes" and I know they are proggy classic rock, but I don't know this album and I guess I figured it wouldn't be that farfetched for them to have a song that is ambient drone, but I was pretty let down at the 1 minute mark when the band broke into their traditional sound. Which is pretty unfortunate, because I think it sounds really sick actually, like a classic rock version of Mastodon. But I guess that's just a lesson in experiencing music, and even when you are presented with something that you normally really like, you gotta be in the mood for it. After a few minutes though (3 minutes in) I feel more accustomed to the sound and I'm enjoying it more. By the end I like it, but it fits into this weird experiential bucket for me where I tend to listen to albums on this list while I'm doing something else and my attention is a little split. It won't be like 90% attention on something else and 10% attention on listening to one of these albums, but more like "I'm doing something with my hands like doing the dishes, while I am more intently listening to this album". So that's what's going on here, but more often than not with these proggy records I feel like I need to put headphones on and stare at a wall while ingesting the music. There's just so many changes and shifts in feel that it's seldom that you get a song that you can sink your teeth into and get comfortable with before it changes.. with this album I hear something that I start to like and then it changes, and then changes again, and then teases something else before changing in a completely different direction. The milieu and era of these albums is really important to note with this. In 1972, 8-tracks were just becoming an option for newer cars, so most people were listening to the radio... and many of these records / songs weren't being played on the radio that often, with their ~18 minute long epic single tracks. These records were meant to be listened to in concert, or on vinyl in your house while you sit and listen. It doesn't affect my rating, but it does color it a little I think. I really like the "Yes" font. It's really unique and I think you can really pick it out, even if it didn't say "Yes" there's a good chance you would be like "ah that's a font for a band isn't it".

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd

5/5

I wrote a lot in my last review about "listening experience" and I find it really humorous to see this album pop up next, as this might be the first album that comes to mind when I overall think about the importance of listening experiences. You can tell that Pink Floyd wanted this record to really be a specific listening experience; the album flows really intentionally, and the songs have such a nice balance to them. You really should sit and listen to this in one go. All of the performances are really great on this record. I love how soft the drums and bass will get when a song asks for it, like in "Us and Them". I love the soul singer that comes in in "The Great Gig In The Sky" around the 1 minute mark; this is maybe one of the best moments in the history of the rock genre. "Breathe (In The Air)", "Time", "The Great Gig In The Sky", and "Money" are classic rock royalty. It really is a legendary album from a legendary band. For that it has to be a 5/5. Beautiful, legendary album artwork. This prism is so famous!

Gasoline Alley

Rod Stewart

3/5

I grew up thinking Rod Stewart was a bit of a meme of a performer and that he is really only known because older women thought he was hot, but he is a really great singer with such a unique and awesome voice. This was a nice listen. It's not really jam packed with show stoppers, and I would hope that the record that has "Maggie May" on it would be on this list (I haven't checked), but it's a nice record either way. Interesting production choices. I can't get over how loud the spanky bass on "Country Comfort" is. If you turn down your speaker volume as low as it can go, you'll hear it just as loud as Rod's voice.

Mr. Tambourine Man

The Byrds

3/5

It's a nice record, "Mr. Tambourine Man" is a nice cover, but from a pure listening perspective I don't know if there's really that much special-ness going on in this album. I read that it helped carve out the genre of "folk rock" so I'm sure it gets some points there. Production is kind of inconsistent and some weird choices were made, but that's pretty normal for this period of time. Kind of a hard rate for me because I want to give it a 2/5 but it's not a bad listen.

Devotional Songs

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

3/5

Nice listen, can definitely feel the idea of these being devotional songs as they have that droning worship-y sort of sound to them that tends to be prevalent regardless of the religion. I enjoyed it! I do think some of the songs were pretty repetitive, even knowing that this is the style. Vocals are really quite nice.

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

5/5

One of the greatest albums of all time, and on the right day can sometimes be the universal #1. There are endless good qualities about it; the performances are incredible, the arrangements are all fun, fresh, unique, and cohesive, the production is perfect across the board, and the compositions are a masterwork in songwriting. There's a few songs that I would consider perfect: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" sounds like the exact description of young people in love and picturing the world and their future in front of them. To me this reminds me of when my wife and I were teenagers, still figuring out our relationship and seeing that there might be something special there. I probably even repeated these lyrics to her just in normal conversation: "Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up in the morning when the day is new? And after having spent the day together, hold each other close the whole night through?" Four years of semi-long distance will make you dream aloud those kinds of thoughts! The counter melody at the end is one of my favorite things of all time to sing. "Good nnnnnnight buh buh baby, Sleep mmmmm-tight buh buh baby"! "God Only Knows" sounds like all of the great stages of love all wrapped into one 3 minute piece; it sounds like the start of a relationship with flirting and testing the waters, it sounds like the honeymoon phase, it sounds like a peaceful rendezvous after an argument where both parties realize that their love is stronger than whatever the dumb spat was about. It's a bit direct but hearing this song makes me think about how much I love my wife and how lucky I am. Corny as it may be I feel like sometimes I look at her and genuinely think "God only knows what I'd be without you". She is the catalyst for most positive changes in my life. The harpsichord and french horn intro is perfect. The first line being "I may not always love you" and then immediately flipping into lyrics that contrast it and beautifully talk about how much the singer loves their person.. is perfect. The vocal harmonies on "You Still Believe In Me" are wonderfully haunting. The play between the strings and vocals on "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) is breathtakingly beautiful. The cover of "Sloop John B" comes out of nowhere but always excites the heck out of me. There's a lot of emotion in this record that grabs me for different reasons. I think about my mom and dad being young and listening to the band and it makes me sad for my mom because he passed at a young age. In a year I'll be not only the same age he was when he passed, but I'll also be a dad for the first time. It's a bit heavy for a Monday morning, but sometimes you have to think about these things, and honestly The Beach Boys are such a joyful sound that they don't really let you linger on any sad notes. I never stray too far away from The Beach Boys and I like to keep them within reach but it's been a minute since I've heard Pet Sounds all the way through. I grew up listening to this one a lot, as this is my mom's favorite band. To me, these songs will always be associated with my first memories of music and being a child in a mostly problem-less world. There's an innocence tied to this record for me because of that. It's also fun to hear the Beach Boys in February where I'm still waiting for the foot of snow outside to melt. Like Brian Wilson picturing the future with some special partner, I myself might hum "Wouldn't it be nice to be beachin', rubbing sunscreen upon my baaack" while I'm shoveling out my back porch later.

Crooked Rain Crooked Rain

Pavement

3/5

Solid Pavement album. I've gotten more into this band in the past 3-4 years and I really enjoy their slacker classic indie rock sound. The clean guitars played loose and haphazardly are a cool element in the context of rock music, and the singer's voice matches that too. His lyrics always keep me on the edge of my seat too, like he's got some lyrical punchline up his sleeve that he's going to lay on me at any point.

The Dreaming

Kate Bush

3/5

Super interesting intro song. Very Bowie-esque, very unique instrumentation, and fun play with vocals. Being picky I kind of wish there was just a little less compression on the master bus as it feels a bit squeezed and the dynamic level is a little bit narrow for how up and down she really gets. There's so many colors and flavors on this record. The second song gives so much and then around the 2 minute mark you get a cool fretless bass sound. It's like they just kept adding and adding interesting sounds and saw what stuck. I really dig it. Would make for some great re-listens.

Born To Be With You

Dion

3/5

Nice classic rock folky ballady songwriter sound. I've heard Dion several times in my life but never put the name to the songs. I enjoyed this one, but probably not super motivated for repeat listens. It just misses a little bit in the excitement department. Regardless, his voice is really a pleasure to listen to; very soulful and smooth and still hits the mark when he wants to bring up the volume and intensity. "Only You Know" is really a treat. I love how loose his vocals feel here, it's like he's in no rush to get to the end of the song. He knows it sounds good, and he's going to take his time.

Two Dancers

Wild Beasts

3/5

Cool start to the album. Sometimes I like a record full of hooky poppy structured songs, and sometimes I love an experience, and this right from the get go is giving me an experience. This has a nice sound, but it's not for me. I can totally get why people would like this but there's something about the vocal performances that keep me at a bit of a distance from the sound. I'm getting a little bit of "The Antlers" sort of vibe, which is also one that I appreciate and want to like, but just doesn't really gel with me. Nice listen. I think repeated listens would be the way to get it to stick more to me. There's certainly a lot of good things about the record, and sometimes I was hearing a vocal part that I actually thought was super impressive, but on a whole it just wasn't a fit for me.

Le Tigre

4/5

Oh wow this "Deceptacon" song I feel like I've been hearing for years in college basement alt indie parties, in between LCD Soundsystem and Neutral Milk Hotel tracks. It's great hearing this now, in 2026, almost 30 years after this album was released and realizing that so many modern bands sound like this and owe something to this band and sound. Listening to this record I'm hearing strong influence to more modern bands like Wet Leg, Junior Varsity, CSS, and more. Cool album.

Public Image: First Issue

Public Image Ltd.

2/5

Nice proto-punk sort of sound (I think that's what this genre is?). I don't really love it though, it's kind of harsh in ways that I didn't really want. Maybe it's this subgenre itself that doesn't always dance with me but one thing that stands out is that the music tends to drone on an idea for a while.. which is fine, but if the vocals don't do something on top that pulls me in then I'm kind of listening to the two big sound puzzle pieces and not finding joy in either. Cool album cover though, I'm sure at the time it really stood out as his facial expression is really provoking.

My Generation

The Who

4/5

There's a staggering difference in play counts on this record; maybe the widest gaps that I've seen yet. The single- "My Generation" has 266 million (as per Spotify), and the lowest on the record has only 300 thousand. Pretty wild stuff, when a lot of these songs really are quite good. I guess that's just a testament towards marketing or popularity and how people will come back to what they know. The Who is really a subtly inventive band for this sound and era. They do quite a bit of unconventional things that just happen to fit into the sound, which is really nice. They'll do the Beach Boys-esque soft vocal harmonies, like on "Much Too Much", they'll do the super hard rock stuff, they do Beatles-esque pop, like on "The Kids are Alright". "My Generation" is the standout track. It's really fun and a bit rough around the edges in a great way. I love Daltrey's vocal performance, the stuttered lines are so cool... the bass is super strong, and the drums are hard hitting and manic in the best way.

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Bill Callahan

4/5

Really beautiful, introspective, and deep album. The repetitive droning is alluring and I can't help but be pulled in. It's really, really enjoyable. I think I liked every track, except for "My Friend", which felt a little out of place. The lyrics were a little too on the nose and straightforward, and I didn't like the weird low rumbled "my friend" vocal part that he would do from time to time. Sometimes I don't love this sort of sound- see my many Nick Cave reviews.. but this album of a similar style really captured me. Callahan's voice is a perfect timbre for it. I'm giving this a 4/5 and I think it would grow more on me. I haven't had a 1001 album in a while that was totally new to me where when I got to the end I didn't want it to stop. Really good!

Stripped

Christina Aguilera

4/5

This album really is quintessential 2000's pop. It has that uber clean compressed to hell production, scientifically formulated perfect song structures, it checks the boxes of having songs with certain vibes that you had to hit with pop in this era- the angry / fight song, a sweet piano ballad, and a sexy song, and all the meanwhile it moves further away from the 90's bubblegum sound. Overall, I like it. Sometimes the songs here come across as a little corny. "Fighter" is a solid pop song from this era, with really nice production, a fitting overdriven guitar, and a good performance by Christina. But hearing it now I picture it being a perfect song for a workout class for grandmas. Maybe at the time it was a little more... i don't know how to describe it.. real? Part of me feels biased to not like these kinds of songs because I grew up playing music with distorted guitars, and it always stands out to me when musicians who don't normally use those kind of aggressive timbres incorporate them into their music. Like vocalists will put on a big fake gravelly raspy tough voice and it is worse than if they would have just done their normal thing. If you're covering a Louis Armstrong song, you don't have to "do" his voice, you know what I mean? "Beautiful" is a great song. This too feels a bit dated for me to hear ~25 years later, but I recall many times being a teenager in these years and seeing that a lot of girls around my age really resonate with this song... so who am I to say as a 12 year old boy then and a 36 year old man now that the song is corny? As an aside, I listen to plenty of corny music and never expect everyone to not cringe at it. If this song had one self conscious teenage girl look in the mirror and start to see themself in a more positive light, then that's awesome. And I know for a fact it had that affect on more than just one. This album is between a 3 and a 4 for me. I've rated some better albums than this a 3, and some worse albums a 4. To me, this leans just a bit more towards a 4.

Behaviour

Pet Shop Boys

2/5

It's not every day that you hear this kind of electronic music from this time period that hangs around major keys; it's kind of a nice change actually, but it also feels just kind of different. Unfortunately it didn't really gel with me. In fact, when the first song started and it was moody electronic synths and 80's style electronic drums I was really into it, and then around the 1:30 mark it switched to a major and more pop chord progression and the vocals came in I groaned. I also just don't really jive with the vocalist.

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Sinead O'Connor

3/5

Listening to this I really want to say "why is Sinead O'Connor kind of a one hit wonder, when these songs are so good?", but the more I listen the more I realize that her songs are really good, while "Nothing Compares 2 U" is really great. I've learned that this is actually pretty common with albums of this magnitude / albums on this list. Many great one-off songs in popular music really stand far above the rest on whatever release they were on... something about capturing magic I guess. To add to it, the song is just different enough stylistically that I can see why audiences might have heard this one and then went to check out the rest and the rest didn't really stick. It's a 3/5 for me. It's a great single piece, truly a really well written and performed song. The rest are good too. Great album cover. I love the texture, and her eyes are absolutely beautiful.

Connected

Stereo MC's

3/5

Pretty nice sounding early 90's hip hop sound. There's a few songs that have a good groove and actually kind of slap (I really liked "Fade Away"), and the main vocalist's accent really fits nicely in this sound. It's a good 3/5 for me. Not too bad but not too great. I didn't read anything about this record so I might be missing some influential element here.

Maxinquaye

Tricky

3/5

Cool vibey album. I loved the third song, "Black Steel" where it broke out. At this point of the record I was really really wanting some kind of increase in tone or some injection of energy and this definitely brought it. I'm just realizing that I may have been accidentally listening to this album on shuffle so I may have gotten a bunch of lower energy songs all at once.. It's a middling 3/5 for me. Didn't dislike it, didn't love it. I went on a bit of a thinkin' tangent while I listened to this album. 5 out of the last 10 albums on this list have been from the 90's, and my rotation is in the "beyond 1001 albums" extension now, so I wonder if they go through decades and add ones that they missed? It got me thinking about the 2020 decade, and how this list somehow only has 4 albums from. We're now technically in the back half of the decade already! I wonder what would get added? There's been some great ones.

At Budokan

Cheap Trick

4/5

I was surprised to see a live album / compilation here as Cheap Trick's only (so far) recording on this list, but reading more about it it does make sense. Apparently they had been touring for a while without seeing themselves move up into that next level- and apparently this performance, recording, and response was a big boon to their popularity. "I Want You To Want Me" is the big one, but I think one of my favorite classic rock songs from this era is "Surrender". It feels like a really special song to me, something about the composition makes it feel like a really great piece of songwriting at it's core harmony + melody, and it just happens to sound good in this style. I also have some kind of personal nostalgia tied to it but I can't really put my finger on it. 4/5 record for me. Great energy, great tunes. I saw Cheap Trick about a decade ago and they were great.. it probably wasnt the original members but they rocked.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

3/5

"Cars" is really a great song. I know this dude has to be a one hit wonder cause that song was huge and I don't think he had any other song come close at all to that track, but dang is it a uniquely awesome song. It's so catchy and fun. I love that it came out in 1979 too- it definitely has that spacey Bowie esque precursor to the 1980's synths-everywhere sound, but without the refinement of years of using them. I love his voice- it sounds like so many indie bands of today's day and age.

Paul Simon

4/5

I think my favorite reviews on this list are ones where I see an album name or cover pop up and I get brought back to some specific period of my life, where I can then share a bit about that. I didn't grow up with Paul Simon, but "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" is a song that for me is so strongly tied to the first few years of dating my wife that I can't help but spill my anecdotes all around whenever I hear it. I swear 99% of the times that I've heard this song, it was being played by a family friend (singing and playing guitar) at a family BBQ, and at every BBQ he would bring his guitar and play this song- so it's a really strong neural connection for me. I can smell the grill, taste the hot dogs, and feel the sun on my skin. Something that I find interesting is how Paul Simon will write songs about some niche experience; like "Mother and Child Reunion" is such a unique circumstance to write a song about. Starting "Run That Body Down" with a story about him going to the doctor? Awesome. Nice album. Hard rate. Between a 3 and a 4 for me, like a 3.8. High enough for a round-up.

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

4/5

Beautiful album. Stevie Wonder is a genius in my opinion and I don't feel alone in that sentiment. He has such a great feel for melody, harmony, arrangement, groove.. the list goes on, and it's all showcased here. "Higher Ground" and "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" would be "best songs" for most other songwriters, but for Stevie Wonder they might not even be in his top 5.. which is wild. (I will say personally that "Higher Ground" is one of my favorites of his). I also loved "Living For The City". Funny enough I just got new speakers and was listening to this album while I was getting them figured out and that middle section where he has the SFX and little story being told really caught me off guard, and it sounded VERY real. Nice blend of this being recorded really well, and hearing it on speakers that are a big upgrade from my previous ones. It's a high 4/5, but just short of being high enough to round up to a 5.

American Gothic

David Ackles

3/5

I'm a big fan of Father John Misty and I think that David Ackles here is like a precursor to Misty's sound, which is awesome. I never heard of him before but these songs are theatrical and cinematic and have a lot of twists and turns and fun energy to keep you tuned in. It's also packed with great vocal performances, and really nice arrangements. I do think it lacks a little bit on the composition side, like "Love's Enough" is a really nice song on a basic harmony + melody level, and I think I would have liked more songs that are that quality for the rest of the record. More songs where I can listen and think "this piece would sound great if it was broken down to just the harmony and melody and was played on piano and vocals". Regardless, it's a really nice listen!

Woodface

Crowded House

3/5

Cool rock album that is surprisingly tight. The production is really nice too and impressively clean for 1991. Listening on newish studio monitors and the layer separation is amazing.. I can hear so many elements very distinctly. Bravo to the producers on this one. Nice songs too, I didn't really hear anything that I didn't like, which is unique. The only downside that I came across was that I wish the main vocalist had a little bit more of a distinct sound.. which I kind of hate to say in feedback because a voice is what it is and you can't really do too much without it sounding "put on" or fake. But I can't help but want more here. Still a really nice album!

Mama's Gun

Erykah Badu

3/5

Pretty solid record by a great pop funky R&B artist. Something I like about this record is that it really feels like a band, a cohesive unit, and not just a singer who has some hired guns behind them. They all gel really well and all have moments to shine, and she herself is an amazing singer. So much soul and great lyrics. "Didn't Cha Know" is her big single from this and it's a nice song. As I look now through her more popular songs though I'm surprised to find that she doesn't have too many that I immediately recognize. Maybe she is one of those artists that puts out records and all the songs are just pretty solid. Regardless, this is a nice 3/5 for me, and I think if I listen more it could easily be a 4.

Blackstar

David Bowie

4/5

You could assume that artists get to a point in their lives / performing lives when they know they are getting towards the end of working on and releasing art. I really love "Keep Me In Your Heart For A While" by Warren Zevon for this reason, as he was battling lung cancer and decided to write a final song for his loved ones on his final album. Bowie could be seen to some people as a mythical creature that would live forever, and I know a lot of the world was shocked when he passed shortly after the release of this album, but it really makes you think about his aim and direction for these songs. Overall as a singular listening experience I like it; it's got really great instrumentation and arrangements, and the strings, sax, synths, guitars, drums, percussion, are all epic, cool, and a delight to listen to. Breaking it down song by song though, I'm going to go against the grain a bit and say that it's really good, but kind of short of being really great. I don't get to the end of this album and think "oh I can't wait to hear that one song again". I'd have to just start from the top to get the kind of enjoyment out of it that I want. It's definitely an important album, and I see the special-ness of it when looking at his career and what he's accomplished. Even with me picking at it, I think it's a solid 4/5.

Orbital 2

Orbital

4/5

Really enjoyable ambient / techno / edm from the early 1990's. Something I find funny is that in the biggest track, "HALYCON + ON + ON", there's an audible break in the drum sample loop in the first half of the song, almost like they added this loop into the track and the BPM of the entire song is just slightly different; creating this little hiccup. Not a negative at all, in fact I find it quite "real". I like a lot about this. The production is nice, the tunes are a joy to listen to, and even the album art is consistent with this style at the time. I knew what to expect.

Abraxas

Santana

5/5

Santana is awesome, fully of flavor, with tasteful melodies, great guitar playing and singing, and all of this combines to be a really enjoyable listening experience. I know a lot of Hispanic people that absolutely adore him, and I think this is telling that he's not like on outsider attempting to make Latin music, he's the real deal. The panning is really great on this album. "Oye Como Va" is of course amazing, and I appreciate that I can sit and really enjoy the bongos and congas in the right ear, the guiro in the left, and the guitar cutting right through the middle. "Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen" is one of the best electric guitar songs of all time; probably within my personal top 100. Every note is so memorable, every phrase is tasteful. The tone is SO good. The lick that breaks through at 00:45 and what comes after is really masterful.

Like Water For Chocolate

Common

3/5

Nice album. I like Common and have listened to him more because of this list but I do feel at times that he does a lot of things pretty well, but doesn't really shine in one or a few areas and this ultimately is a knock against the listening experience for me. His voice is nice but also somewhat uncharacteristic. I like his lyrics (and he tends to avoid a lot of rap tropes that I find uninteresting, like "I'm the best", which I appreciate), but I also find that I'm not getting enough out of them. The beats and instruments are.. there? I don't really ever leave a Common song and think "man that beat was so great". Common has a really good "hangout and chill" kind of rap sound. It's nice, but not really what I look for when I want to listen to the genre. Not trying to be too much of a hater but sometimes I think his rap name is pretty apt.

Let Love Rule

Lenny Kravitz

3/5

Lenny Kravitz is great and at this point a bit underrated I think. His songs these days are predominantly used for big truck commercials or football advertisements but his top songs are really quite nice pieces of rock music. He's got a great voice, great grasp of melodic phrasing, and is a solid multi instrumentalist. The first track is a great opener. I love how rough it starts- the loose acoustic guitar and pitchy vocals evolves so wonderfully into a Stevie Wonder-esque funk jam and it's a brilliant beginning. Several of the songs on this list are really solid, and some are just OK. "I Built This Garden For Us" is an awesome social commentary and I love the lyrics about prejudice and race, but it's so incredibly repetitive until around the 3:30 mark, but it's too late in the song. Then when the song breaks even more around the 5 minute mark I have the same sentiment.. it took too long to get here! 3.4/5 for me. It's a nice album that shows a lot of his diverse songwriting capabilities. With that being said, if there's only one of his records on this list, I would think that his album "5" would be in it over this one

Here, My Dear

Marvin Gaye

3/5

Beautiful voice, beautiful music. Marvin Gaye is Marvin Great. He sounds a little extra soft and sentimental on this album, not sure if he's like this on all of his records though or I'm just focusing on it more now. For song 1, I always find this very specific sound to be kind of funny- but not in a corny way. The "spoken sexual r&b soul ballad" is just such a uniquely interesting approach to making a song, and I love that this album starts with it. The production is so nice on this entire album, I appreciate how every element is mixed so that everything has a seat at the table, and there's a distinct lack of frustrating mid frequency instruments that often take away from a standout singer on albums like these.. awesome. Hard rate for me though, I feel like I've been reserving 4/5's for records that do everything right and also have a handful of really memorable pieces, and unfortunately this album doesn't really have those. In fact, when I think of Marvin Gaye's best songs, I'm not sure if any on this record come in his top 5 or even top 10.. and for that reason it's getting a 3.4 rounded to a 3.

Street Life

The Crusaders

3/5

What an album cover. Amongst many positives that this listening project has provided me, I think one cool takeaway that I'll have is to look more into album artwork and spend more time on them. I've been really enjoying going through this list and focusing on the album artwork and it's definitely given me a fun visual that connects to the music. There's plenty to enjoy and analyze in this one. I do feel like I'm on the street with the boys and they're all looking at me because it's my turn to vote on what club we're going to. Only thing is that one of my homeboys also tends to hate my suggestions and he's already eyeing me up like he's getting ready to shoot me down. This is some really solid disco funk. Not much to say because it does the genre justice and is a really enjoyable listen throughout. I listened to this album while I put some joint compound onto my walls (fixing a railing) and I grooved the whole dang time.

Heaux Tales

Jazmine Sullivan

4/5

Really nice breath of fresh air for this list (atleast in my rotation, I'm not totally sure how it works). I dig the production, the lyrics, the flow, it's all there for a really solid modern hip hop / rap album. It's funny, I tend to get pretty bored with typical rap tropes, like the "im the best", "sex sex sex pussy pussy pussy" stuff that you hear all the time, but I really like this album hearing a female singer sing (and talk) about sex and not really leaving anything back. It's refreshing, and a cool perspective. One downside is that I feel like there's not enough for me to really sink my teeth into. There's so many good ideas throughout, but sometimes I want to sit back and jam. "On It" is a great track with great blunt lyrics and a super nice groove but it's gone before I can really get into it. Quick math shows me that the first 10 songs average at only 2.3 minutes each.. that could be making me feel that way too.

Urban Hymns

The Verve

4/5

"Bittersweet Symphony" is a song that will forever hang around my life. My wife absolutely loves it and has put it on playlists for as long as I've known her. It's probably one of the more consistent songs that I've heard through decades of living that I've never gotten sick of. It's so cool. "The Drugs Don't Work" is a nice one too. I like the chorus a lot, and the guitar / string parts are really great. There's lots of hidden layers in there, like a pedal steel guitar and even sometimes a sitar I think? They all accompany what is a at it's core a foundational good song. There's such a nice cinematic touch to this sound and every layer and voice fits really well, which I appreciate. Sometimes I'll hear a band that has some unique sound like indie rock with some big orchestral elements and I'll think "oh wow this is sounding cool" and then the singer's voice will come in and it will be someone who sings very softly, like a whispery compressed style.. and it won't match the big orchestra sound at all. But here the vocals fit REALLY well. Cool album cover- very 1990's.

Among The Living

Anthrax

3/5

Anthrax rip. Probably one of the more underrated mega thrash bands, when everyone tends to look towards early Metallica / Megadeth / Sepultura first. Some great heavy metal lyricism going on here- angry aggressive music with lyrics that promote peace and are against violence and hate. I always loved that about the genre. "Indians" is one of the better thrash metal tracks ever. It's catchy, aggressive, has a cool theme, and most metal heads will start humming that chorus if you mention the song. Solid album. I want to give it a 4 because it's fitting my criteria of "really solid album with a few songs on it that are really important to the genre", but I think overall it's not quite in that S tier of great thrash albums.

Dare!

The Human League

3/5

"Don't You Want Me" is a perfect moody 80's synthy track. I really love this sound, and part of me would have loved to be alive the year this came out, ushering in the wild decade of the 1980s. Man that was probably a great time. I think it's hilarious that it's the last song on the album too. I wonder how many people didn't even get that far in a listen? There's a lot of songs on this record that are missing that one "special" thing. "Don't You Want Me" is so special; it sounds like the singer and rest of the band really feel the lyrics and they all work together to take the song to the next level. I don't really get that anywhere else on the record unfortunately. I do love this album cover. It's bold and a bit silly, which really is how I feel about a lot of artistic things from this decade.

Grievous Angel

Gram Parsons

3/5

This record rocks. Vocals are great, orchestration is superb, production is nice, and there's some nice sentimentality on the album. "Love Hurts" is a really nice tune; even if when I hear it I think about the song being used mockingly in movies and TV shows when a character gets broken up with. The two hard-panned voices sound very intimate, and I love the chords. Nice record! Cool album cover too.

Treasure

Cocteau Twins

3/5

I've heard Cocteau Twins mentioned like 50 times this year and I don't recall spending too much time listening to them (they did appear on this list previously one time), so I'm excited to see this pop up. I can definitely see why people liked this in it's day, and why it's had a resurgence lately. It hits on a lot of things that I'm finding to be pretty prevalent in today's new / modern music- specifically with the younger crowd. It's moody, full of vibe, has production elements that surprise you, it's at times intimate and other times cinematic, it features an ethereal female vocalist, and the songs hit a wide range of emotions. A nice sound! 3.4/5 for me.

Jack Takes the Floor

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

3/5

Nice old country western singer songwriter tunes. I liked in the first one how he described the person who wrote the song... pretty funny in a way to hear about someone else and their different instruments they play and then to play that person's song in a really simple manner with just acoustic guitar and voice. Really just feels like a completely different world we live in compared to the time that this recording was made. I thought his impression of Woodie Guthrie in "New York Town" was pretty funny and unexpected. I just read that they actually traveled together, but it kind of seemed like a bit? Funny either way. Nice songs, and I'm sure his influence is a big reason why he deserves a spot on the list.

Rip It Up

Orange Juice

3/5

Wow look at this album cover and tell me that this couldn't be an indie alt band from today? The instrumentation is so cool on this record. right from the first track there's so much to enjoy and listen closely to; I love the chromatic "off" guitar part at 2:53, and then the bold saxophone that comes in. Cool record. I didn't really love the vocals throughout though but I can appreciate that this feels ahead of it's time.

L'Eau Rouge

The Young Gods

4/5

Really, really enjoyed this. It's so cinematic and heavy and industrial and confusing as someone who doesn't speak French, but that all adds up to an interesting and cool listening experience. That first track in particular is a real eye opener! Kind of sounds like the band Ministry at times? But with a lot more depth (in my opinion), and more experimentation. This really sounded great to me. Awesome experience.

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Eurythmics

3/5

The production is so interesting on this album. It's like they took the synthetic drums and synth instruments and made them even more plastic-y and click-y and thin sounding. I don't really dislike it, it definitely sounds kind of weak and lacking oomph but I imagine that's what they were going for. The big downside of this is that sometimes I'm hearing some bass frequencies in the vocals (which aren't exactly frequency-robust either) that almost feel lower than the instruments, which is weird. It makes the vocals stand out in a pretty inorganic way unfortunately.. but again if that's the intent then that's not so bad! Plus the vocalist is so great so in the big scheme of things it's not so bad. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" is a classic and timeless song. It's fun, funky, unique, and is one of those songs that most people can recite if you start to sing it- which is a special quality.

Marquee Moon

Television

3/5

Some real nice guitar playing on this record, for me thats the standout thing. It's really nice and loose and times, and really tight at the same time.. which leads me to believe that when it's loose it's all intentional. The "feel" is great throughout. "Marquee Moon" is a nice example of great lead AND rhythm guitar playing. Listen to those rhythmic stops in the chorus of "Elevation" that come on the and-of-three (I think?). How cool! There's a ton of depth to this band. 3.5/5 for me, not quite enough for a round up but I definitely enjoyed it and want to hear more.

Planet Rock: The Album

Afrika Bambaataa

3/5

Awesome soul funk album. Lots of people don't realize that "Renegades of Funk" isn't originally a Rage Against The Machine song. "All the kings horses and all the kings men will never want to funk with us again". Love this line. It really encapsulates the attitude of the whole album. I listened to this mainly between 3-4pm on a Friday, as I wrapped up some work and got ready for the weekend. It was perfect.

Another Green World

Brian Eno

3/5

There's a lot I like here, and a few things I don't like. Brian Eno is a mega influential musician and I think a lot of people credit him with this ethereal electronic drone sound in a pop context. Pierre Henry, Stockhausen, John Cage, and some others were doing it before Brian Eno, but I think that Eno was the better one to bring this sound to wider audiences. Those previous composers often made music that was interesting to make, but not always interesting to listen to, but Eno makes music that is inherently adjacent to "pop". I like this! What I don't like is that it kind of falls into the trap that a lot of genre blenders fall into; where one side of it (the pop side) sounds kind of weak, and the other side (the drone-y ambient) are also just kind of thin. When I listen to great pop artists, I get all kinds of emotion in the vocals, I get poetic lyrics with great pop punchlines. Here, I get "I'll come running to tie your shoe" repeating and repeating and repeating in a very flat emotional delivery. It's like a very weak sounding Beatles-esque attempt. When I listen to "Spirits Drifting", I do kind of feel like I'm listening to ghastly apparitions floating in the sky. It's cool, but almost too crunchy and dissonant and not entered in a tasteful way, if that makes sense? When I listen to other experimental electronic artists who use dissonance this much, it's usually not something that immediately starts a track and forces a kind of jarring sound right at the beginning. That's the beauty of drone music is that you usually have time to develop; you can tease and gradually introduce the antagonist. It usually makes the payoff that much better. But I can't be too negative really; this is 1975 which is really amazing for the time. I wouldn't hate on a delta blues musician playing a guitar that's slightly out of tune because man that instrument probably never had a string change. So why would I be too negative about a person experimenting with synths and atmosphere when they were kind of alone doing it?

Third

Soft Machine

3/5

"Slightly All The Time" is a beautiful piece of music that really takes you places. My favorite section is around the 8:00 minute mark where the electric keyboard in the left ear plays a beautiful dissonant 3/4 part and locks in tight with the drums. Great feel and really intriguing part. Some interesting production ideas on the record, I feel like sometimes things conflict pretty hard when it comes to "space" in a track, but other than that it is a pretty nice listen.

Risque

CHIC

4/5

"Good Times" is a fantastic piece of music. The performances really stand out, the production is so CRISP, the composition itself is wonderful; it's really just awesome. Hard to be in anything but a good mood when you hear this track. "My Forbidden Lover" follows suit too, and has an amazing fun bass line that you have to go back and listen to. Really supreme playing. I love how this album moves around different feels, tempi, and stays consistent with itself. It's a really great listen. I've been stingy with my reviews lately.. I can't tell if this is a 3 or a 4. I feel like it's right at a 3.5. Tough one! I'm going for a 4.

A Love Supreme

John Coltrane

5/5

I saw this pop up and immediately let out a loud "ooooooh". I love this album. I adore this album. In my ever malleable list of favorite albums of all time (that I often refer to when they pop up on this list), I currently have this at #9, and it's been in my top 10 for as long as I can remember. I've been kind of up and down lately. The state of the US / world isn't great, the state of my professional field isn't great, and there's just a lot of things going on that I don't feel great about. Most days lately for me start out feeling good (but tired, not sleeping well), and when I get my day going and I do my work I feel good; but then there's usually something that peeks around a corner and brings me down. Some days it's some world news, some days it's a weird message from someone at my job that makes me paranoid about my job stability. I then often will stew a bit while I finish work, and then cheer back up when my wife gets home from her work. It's not really healthy, and I don't think it's really unique when I look at the world around me. I'm sure many others are going through the same thing. When I put this album on this morning it helped keep me in a calm, and focused state. Naturally, I had one of those "middle of the day work things to bring me down" hit me and honestly I feel like I was just a little bit more relaxed when dealing with it. A little bit more "fuck it" while also a little bit more "yea it's whatever". Can I give credit to this album for that? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not sure. Even now, I'm sitting at my desk past 5pm and I'm trying to wrap up one last work item as my stomach grumbles and cat is yelling at me to go and play with her, I'm humming to myself "a love supreme, a love supreme, a love supreme". Maybe that's something that makes this album so special? It's so devoid of English / spoken language so the very few lyrics that you get feel extra special. They stick with you for a while, and the core idea of the words centers you a bit. I'm working extra hard so I can enjoy parental leave in a few months. My wife and family are my love supreme and I know that I can grit my teeth and do my stupid corporate job for as long as I can before AI comes for me, because at the end of the day I will see her and I will feel better. This has always been an album for me that I know I can reach for in any setting, and my favorite albums tend to have that quality. This can be listened to while you are focused on something else, like reading a book, it can be put on while your making and eating dinner, it can be played while you are driving around town, it can be played while you are making love. It can be put on while you stare at your speakers and focus on nothing else but the sounds. It's universal. 5/5

Os Mutantes

3/5

Really interesting and fun album. I think it's enhanced for me because I have no idea what they're saying. Lots of good and fun ideas! I think I like "Baby" the most; you can really hear a nice yearning quality in it.

Queen Of Denmark

John Grant

3/5

Very cool sound and not what I was expecting when I first saw the album cover. It's like singer-songwriter prog? Sometimes this vocal sound feels a little too straightforward for me. Hard to describe exactly but it's kind of flat throughout (in affect, not pitch), without vibrato or any big contrasting timbre changes. It definitely sounds like a prog singer, which I don't always love. I like how there's times where this album sounds like a true singer-songwriter record, and other times where it sounds like a real prog act (albeit without all the over the top technicality, and more with chord changes and instrumentation). It's cool and keeps the listen a really refreshing one. Oddly enough, at times I think his voice sounds a little like Father John Misty, who is one of my favorite singers. The second half of "TC & Honeybear" really give off this vibe to me, but also maybe heightened because FJM has an album called "I Love You, Honeybear".

Alien Lanes

Guided By Voices

3/5

I really dig the lofi sounds in this record. I've heard this band before but not enough for me to be able to ever recall what they sound like. "Game of Pricks" into "The Ugly Vision" is a nice 1-2 punch of tracks. They are pretty different but still cohesive. Shows some really nice depth to their repertoire. Really enjoyable, and I love the album cover. Just surreal enough.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

3/5

Great soul record with some really nice moments that has a few extra long tracks that somehow don't wear out their welcome. I listened full through and really enjoyed it. I dig the grooves from the band too, it really doesn't feel like this is a record where the singer is a separate entity from the band. Great cohesion. RIP Chef.

Colour By Numbers

Culture Club

3/5

Awesome pop fun flamboyant record. It's vibrant and full of songs that make you smile. "Karma Chameleon" is a bonafide 1980's hit. I love the ridiculous harmonica and how soft the overall feel of everything is. Great little record with a true smash hit for the decade it was released.

Rid Of Me

PJ Harvey

3/5

I typically like most 90's rock bands. It's probably my favorite time period for the genre and more often than not when I think of my favorite rock songs most of them tend to come from this era. PJ Harvey has always been on my periphery but not really an artist that I listened to much and going through this album I can kind of feel why. There are a lot of cool ideas here; the guitars move between a post-rock malaise and a more distorted crunchy downpicked sludge, and it's awesome. The drums are raw and heavy and have that huge Steve Albini / Butch Vig sound, and the compositions are well crafted too. For my tastes though, her voice just kind of hangs around the instruments and doesn't often make the tracks go to the next level. Sometimes it comes close- like "Man Sized Sextet". It's bleak and heavy and her sung-through-her-teeth vocals on top of screeching forte strings is a very daring and attractive sound for me. This version is great.. but I don't like that they include a more "regular" version of the song, with full rock band treatment. It feels less daring and less committal in a way? Worst of all I know exactly how they feel here too, like there's times where I'll record a song and put a crazy reverb or a distortion on the main vocal and I'll really like the way it sounds but then I'll think "wait what if this is a really good song and it doesn't need this weird choice? If I released this song would releasing two versions solve that problem?". With it being such a saturated period of time of amazing bands (Nirvana, STP, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Bush, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer.. the list goes on and on), I think that the bar of quality is really high. I also personally listened to a lot more of the radio rock bands because I was a child in the early 90's and most of the music I listened to was in the car so whatever was on the radio is what we were listening to. This means that there's a lot of acts that were pretty popular but didn't have the airtime that Nirvana had and ultimately I didn't hear much of them until later in life, like The Pixies, Pavement, Sonic Youth. And I think PJ Harvey is in this group. Alas, I will do my due diligence and listen more because I think I would like this band if I gave the tunes some repeat listens. Great album cover. I always say that I love "motion" in still photography / album covers and this one is awesome.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

3/5

I think I liked this second PJ Harvey entry more than the other (the other being "Rid Of Me"), but I'm not too sure. As I listen through I find there are cool moments and ideas, and I like the inclusion of Thom Yorke throughout, but I'm not really finding myself blown away. It's as if these songs keep getting close to being ones that I like and enjoy, but they are far too often missing that one special thing that takes them to the next level. That might sound negative, but it's not entirely. These tracks and this overall sound is good, just not really great for my personal tastes.

Throwing Muses

3/5

Cool edgy alternative rock album. The singer is pretty forward in the mix on this album, which I like. She has a cool quavery vocal timbre and it should be front and center. Sometimes the band drones on a bit too much for my liking, but I think the overall sound definitely aims for that. Probably a good live band as well! Note for other reviewers: apparently there are two different self-titled albums for this band? Make sure you check out the right one!

Purple Rain

Prince

5/5

I watched a baseball video the other day that talked about underrated players and how there's various levels to being underrated; mostly because a subjective rating like that is really an amorphous concept that is based on overlapping group think or fan base milieu's. The narrator of the video said that "whenever anyone asks who is the most underrated baseball player today, just about everyone says "Jose Ramirez". And they are right. But doesn't that kind of reject the idea of him being the most underrated player if everyone thinks that he is underrated?". It's a funny philosophical conundrum. Prince at some times in my life has been someone who I have actually considered just slightly overrated. I've also thought of him as someone who might be underrated. Most people say "Oh Prince is great" when you bring him up in conversation, and at the same time I feel like I don't hear his name mentioned enough when people talk about the true greats of all time or of an era. There's a reverence around his name but yet I don't see many people mention songs of his outside of "Purple Rain". But back to my baseball anecdote, this could just be the social environments and circles that I'm in. I haven't listened to Purple Rain full through in a while; maybe not since he died, seven days short of a decade today. I was working a double that day and everyone at my workplace was dour and overall visibly down. I worked with a super diverse group of people; Caucasians, African Americans, Africans, Haitians, Indians, and more (majority of these people were a good bit older than me too). And across the board they were all sad and talking about Prince; how he was a larger than life personality. I remember one of my best friends there named Barry- an older African American man who lived a tough life in and out of gangs and crime who turned his life around with martial arts and music, and he was crying at a table because Prince was someone who meant so much to him in that period of his life. I felt bad that he was at work when he learned this news. Listening to this album today was a delight. I've written a handful of reviews the past few weeks about how I've been kind of up and down lately and I listened to this full through between 8 and 9am on a Wednesday morning while I sipped a really good coffee and started to prepare for the work day. The songs were as great as they always are when I hear them. Catchy, fun, bombastic, epic, personal, and fucking cool as hell. I really had extra delight in hearing the title track "Purple Rain" and thinking about all of the new age indie guitarists that imitate this spanky clean guitar tone today. I stared at the album art smiling as I listened to the final two and a half minutes of the song with all of it's gorgeous strings, piano, and guitar parts. I love the whistles.. is this outtro partially recorded live? It sounds kind of corny but I really do feel something special in these last few minutes of the album. As this title track edges near the 7 minute mark it's climax is over and there's this feeling like you're about to see the credits roll of an amazing film that you just finished. But then, at 7:07, you get these super dramatic string parts that pull you away from that serene accomplished feeling. I absolutely love it. Looking at the album art while hearing this part I feel like I understand his music on a whole just a little bit more. This seemingly unimportant little easter egg is such a quizzical inclusion, but maybe that's part of his mystique? He doesn't want to end the album with anything typical or straightforward. He wants you to leave with not only "purple rain puuuurple rain" stuck in you head, but also pondering those mysterious final string parts. 5/5. Amazing album. Amazing album cover, maybe one of the more notable ones that I can think of.

You Are The Quarry

Morrissey

3/5

Pretty tight Morrissey record. His voice shines a little extra in this one I think (like the added emotion on "Come Back to Camden"). I dig the band behind him too. Overall a nice listen. Sometimes I listen to Morrissey and I can't help but hear a little bit of Mike Patton, when Patton is doing his "noir burlesque lounge singer while the world falls apart" sound, which is cool! Of course he came before Mike Patton. Great album cover. A little bit silly but really superb.

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

5/5

Bummed that I restarted my browser and didn't save my review here so I'm going to quickly try to remember everything. This is a really great album. I was a late listener to this band and I wish I would have gotten into them sooner but I'm happy to be into them at any point in my life. This album particularly is my favorite of theirs. I love how these tracks can teleport me while I'm listening. "Ready to Start" to me feels like driving your car on a rainy road in the middle of fall while leaves drop off the trees around you. "The Suburbs" feels like an introspective conversation you have while staring in a mirror. "Wasted Hours" is sitting in Adirondack chairs around a pool on a perfect summer day. "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" is standing in your girlfriend's college dorm, pregaming before going out to parties, and wondering if you should have another drink and gauging it off of how loose your dancing is starting to get. I've gone back and forth a lot with the lyrics on "The Suburbs" and if there are other deeper meanings there that I just don't catch. To me, it's kind of on the nose, and I don't know if maybe that's the case because the lyrics really do describe a lot of vivid memories of growing up in a suburban setting. I remember learning to drive in those kinds of streets, I remember getting in fights with kids (and them feeling like wars), and returning home bruised and muddied and realizing that I'm not mom's sweet boy anymore. Now, as I recently have become a suburban homeowner, I also can look around at the idyllic setting of my residential street and see the beautiful trees and flowers blooming and seeing that this is a really serene setting. Like the song, I also realize that suburbs aren't all flowers and white picket fences. For example, I know some of my neighbors now, but I don't really "know" them.. you know? Kids screaming down the street is a welcome sound (for me atleast), and it reminds me of being a kid and hollering and having the time of my life. But kids also scream when they are scared or when something isn't right. Suburbs are interesting places. Great album.

Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Stereolab

3/5

This is a really cool sound. I feel like I've heard this band before but not too deeply so I'm happy to get to listen to them with some focus now. That intro song "Metronomic Underground" is really tight and a great groove to sit and lean into for a nice eight minutes. I also love how the second track starts with that nice orchestral string sequence. It shows off the band's production chops a bit. Sometimes this feels like a pop rock version of Steve Reich music; with textural layers that blend and drone and repeat in a round, and it's all very cool and distinct from most modern popular song structures. I also like how they have such a cohesive sound when it comes to instrumentation but they aren't afraid to reach for something weird, like synths that sound like toy sounds. It's a 3.4/5 for me, but with more listens could definitely be a 4.

(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd

5/5

Some albums on this list have one truly great song on them, some have two, a few have three. This album has 4 songs that personally I think should be in the list of top 100 best classic rock songs of all time: "Tuesday's Gone", "Gimme Three Steps", "Simple Man", and "Free Bird", with "Free Bird" probably being a top 10 in the genre. Personally I've gone through this record many times and have always loved it through many different settings and eras in my life. My dad loved them so I listened to them when I was very young, my metal head friends and I loved them in high school, and now as a lot of my tastes have gotten softer a bit I still really love them, and this record in particular. "Simple Man" is a star, and it's one of those corny songs that's actually quite beautiful when you get past the idea that it's a bit dated. "Tuesday's Gone" is also really incredible. The melody plays so nice with the harmony, and the band couldn't be more in sync with eachother. Everything is super tasteful and nothing overshadows anything else. "Gimme Three Steps" is a great rowdy dancing tune, and "Free Bird" is one of the most American songs ever, with what might be the most famous guitar solo ever. Great album. One of the best classic rock albums ever.

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo

Devo

3/5

Devo is a great quirky band, and maybe one of the more known quirk bands from the decades of 1970-2000. Most people know them for "Whip It", but "Uncontrollable Urge" is really a great song too. There's a lot of bands that have come since Devo that probably owe a lot to them in terms of coming up with a whole audio visual experience. It's cool.

16 Lovers Lane

The Go-Betweens

3/5

This one really surprised me and I liked it more than I thought I would after judging it by the album cover. Clean poppy tunes that are really crisp and fun when they want to be. "Streets Of Your Town" is great and I could see it being a solid modern indie pop tune that would have people really bopping in a festival crowd. Sometimes after hearing a record on this list I'll go back and listen to the standout tracks again and this time I went and listened to "Streets Of Your Town" on repeat and it like four times. It's a great song.

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

3/5

There's a lot I like about Janelle Monáe, while also realizing that it's not totally for me. I do really like the genre bending. Some songs will have a chorus that sounds like a Beyonce tune, some songs sounds like indie pop rock, some songs sound like Amy Winehouse tunes. These are compliments, but I can't help but feel like it does spread her sound a little too thin at times. Like "Cold War" outside of a few specific vocal moments is a song that really doesn't work for me. She's of course theatrical, but on this tune it feels like fake theatrics if that makes sense? Its got that theater production perfect sheen to it, where the vocal and guitar tones and performances are so perfectly rehearsed that is sounds canned, a bit corny, and it feels like I'm listening to a song that wants to be the hit song on a musical's soundtrack but doesn't really do it. The lyrics fall flat and it's all kind of campy. I appreciate her striving for a big epic track but it just doesn't do it. I saw Janelle live at Governor's Ball in like 2015 or so and thought she was great. That was probably my first time hearing her too and it's always cool to see an act like and that be your first time hearing them. "Tightrope" is great. Maybe I'm failing to elaborate on why I like these songs without referencing other acts, but this is a really tight Bruno Mars & Beyonce-esque groove fest that is a delight to listen and bounce to. The one thing I'd like more on this album is more pauses, and more time to breath. The songs flow into eachother, which is great, but you don't really get any respite until track 5, which is around minute 14 or so into the experience.

O.G. Original Gangster

Ice T

2/5

Really nice album cover, I love the fonts / type and overall composition. The parental advisory card could use a little bit of margin space to the left of it but that's ok! Good voice, flow, beats, & production, but not my favorite lyricist. Sometimes I feel like he just writes down a bunch of tough guy gangsta words and phrases and then random places them on paper and that's a song. While listening, often I'll get to the end of a song and not really get much of what it was about besides "he's tough" and "he's a gangsta". Not that that is incredibly unique to him as it's definitely super prevalent in rap from this era, but I don't know, maybe it just doesn't come across as authentic when it's him singing. "Mind Over Matter" is a great example of this and ironically it's lyrics are about writing lyrics.. and it's just kind of bad and corny. It sounds really amateurish. "O.G. Original Gangster" is the big track on this album and sheesh does this one feel inauthentic too. I also think his flow really breaks down in this track as there's often so many times where he does a rhythm or cadence and repeats the same exact rhythm throughout the track (and rest of his songs really) so you almost can mimic his inflection because it's so repetitive. And then there's several times on this track where he rushes his flow to squeeze in some lyrics in a phrase and it comes across as really sloppy. "Evil-E What About Sex" kind of sucks too. "Me and the boys want to hear you rap about sex, Ice, please? Come on bro please?" Is this a real conversation that happens in studios between rappers? "Fly By" on the other hand sounds great, with fast in-your-face rapid fire vocal sections that are exciting and super tight. Unfortunately, it features two other rappers and they are the ones that elevate the rapping. Cool Black Sabbath sample on "Midnight". 2/5 for me. Ice-T is obviously one of the more famous rappers from this era and I'm sure he deserves an album on this list, but I'm just not really sold.

Songs In The Key Of Life

Stevie Wonder

4/5

Will forever love and have a special place for "Sir Duke" as it's the song that my wife and I entered the dance floor to on our wedding day. It's got an amazing groove, really fun sections, a stellar vocal performance by Stevie Wonder, and is just a delight to listen to. "Isn't She Lovely" is equally amazing of a song. Although I could do without the baby crying sounds at the start, even though the song is about the birth of his daughter. That's nice. There's other nice sounds that babies make though! I love when artists put some random SFX and kind of diagetic stuff into songs, but I also love to hate on the times when they are weird. Like I always found it funny being in a car and listening to the radio and hearing a song that has car beeps in it or even worse- police sirens. Like yall, what are we thinking? Anyway, beautiful song and so sweet. Great album. Stevie Wonder is really one of those great greats that writes music that makes you feel like everything is going to be OK. "Songs In The Key Of Life" is a title that maybe only he could have. It's funny how it's a little corny but it's a superb title for his kind of music.

White Light

Gene Clark

3/5

Sometimes I'll go to work on a song and start producing it using tried and true methods and just start putting stuff down, and before I know it I have a full drumset recording, bass guitar, electric guitar in the left ear, electric guitar in the right ear, acoustic guitars layered, percussion toys layered, synths layered, production elements like swishes and swooshes in section transitions.. all in a whirlwind of 4-8 hours. Then I'll take a break, listen to the song and think "man I just packed this song with way too much STUFF". This album feels like the opposite of that. All of the layers and voices work with each other on each song; they don't fight for frequencies, they don't clash. They respect each other, and it's songs are perfectly minimal when they need to be. I really appreciate that. He's also got a great voice. Sometimes it's soothing, calm, and serene, like on "With Tomorrow". Other times his voice is almost Dylan-esque (but less frustratingly nasally in my opinion), like on the title track "White Light". While I think I do prefer this softer singing style from him, I think I get a little bit bored in the second half of the album- specifically track 7 and onward. Overall, a nice listen.

A Northern Soul

The Verve

3/5

"This Is Music" is a cool track, it has a little bit of an edge to it, while also sounding like a U2 song with it's big sprawling epic reverb heavy vocals. "On Your Own" is like a happier Alice in Chains song (those acoustic guitars and that acoustic bass sound JUST like AIC unplugged!), while the singer attempts a little bit of Kurt Cobain vocals. It's a nice album from a good band. The compositions aren't my favorite, this is more of a "put the album on and let it play through" and not really an album I would put on and constantly be like "oh I love this chorus". Doesn't exactly light my world on fire but I do appreciate how it does soft and edgy and inbetween.

Closer

Joy Division

3/5

I never got too far into this band but I definitely can appreciate the cool ~apathetic~ vibe and monotone vocal parts. It's like they set out to come up with a really cohesive and unique sound and visual aesthetic and they execute on it every time. This album was a nice listen, but I will say that submitting my review ~3 days after writing it, I'm not really holding onto any songs or moments from the album. It came and went.

The Hour Of Bewilderbeast

Badly Drawn Boy

3/5

I've heard of this band many times but never really listened to them much. I'm definitely surprised to see this is from 2000 when the sound to me is much more like 2010 and on. I really enjoy the experience of this album. It goes places and moves around from droning experimental sections, to pretty poppy moments, and everything in between. "Cause a Rockslide" might be one of the better examples. It starts with a distorted guitar and indie rock kick-drum thump that ushers you past a few minutes of music and then into a cinematic scifi section. Before you know it you're pulled from the dissonance and get to hear a beautiful multi-acoustic guitar section with really nice dry vocals that is a soothing remedy for the dissonance before. They really wanted to take you for a ride. "Disillusioned" is another track that goes places. Really catchy melody that bounces back and forth between vocals and guitar, and a solid performance by the drummer to keep the grooving beat going throughout. "Once Around the Block" is the most listened-to track on the album, and it's lovely. A great dancing indie pop rock tune with really nice clean vocal layers and guitar playing throughout. The ending vibraphone / acoustic guitar / shaker / brass section is gorgeous. I think this is my final 1001 album to complete the list. I started this project / challenge with my friend Steve about 4 years ago, and along the way we had my wife Gab and our friend Jake join us for a few weeks / months. It's been a really great journey. Music is inherently connected to just about all facets of my life, and I am so happy to be completing this challenge when it first seemed really daunting. I'm thankful for it's existence, and I'm thankful for my friend Steve for tackling it with me (and with aplomb I might add!). I discovered so many great bands, albums, & songs from it, and it will forever be a really important talking point in my life. I've already shared it with so many people, and I don't think I'll ever stop recommending it to others. At the end of the day I went on my deck with my wife and amongst other topics we chatted about I mentioned that this was the last 1001 album. She immediately knew the band, album, and the song "Once Around the Block". She said she choreographed a modern ballet to it when she was in high school and loved the song. That's been one of my favorite things about this project; here I am listening to this song and really hearing it for probably the first or second time in my life, and then I learn shortly after that my wife has a great vivid recollection of the song, and overall a nice connection for her in a moment of her life.

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