When it came out I would have given it 1 I hated it so much. Now that time has passed where I'm not forced to listen to it I can concede that at least the songwriting is quite good. It came at the end of and to me represents a full stop to the mid 00's era of bland mainstream indie bands. Now leave me alone and don't make me listen to it again. 2+/5

Another masterpiece from Kendrick. I personally prefer GKMC as an album but this one is perhaps more culturally significant. It contains "Alright", which was then used in the black lives matter movement which started after the killing of Trayvon Martin and others, which is also referenced on this album. The album is densly packed with ideas that will take hundreds of listens to fully un pack. There's so much to discover in here. 5/5

This album is excellent. There is not a dull moment on it. It is meticulously crafted, every song sets up the next one perfectly. Every sound is perfectly realised. Billy Corgan pretty much claims the fuzz pedal for himself with this album. The sound he creates with it is thick, gritty but smooth, dense, and immersive but it is never overwhelming and is frequently punctured by beautiful, glassy clean strat-through-valve-amp tones. I first listened to this Album by renting it out from a library and ripping it onto my PC. I played it a lot in my youth. I bought a fuzz pedal pretty much because of this album. One of my favorite guitar pleasures is to play "Cherub Rock" through a cranked fuzz pedal, the feeling of power is immense and uplifting.

Another album packed with timeless classics. I love how the Beatles are never happy just making straightforward songs, they're always pushing and experimenting both conceptually and with instrumentation and production techniques. On this album there is frequent use of a moog synthesiser, She's So Heavy has white noise and heavy guitars and a structure that makes it sound 20 years ahead of it's time. Even Maxwell's Silver Hammer is great once you get past your initial reaction to the "granny music" melody and realise it's a song about a serial killer inspired by avant-garde theatre and the writings of French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry. There is so much to un pack with each listen. 5/5

Really great didn't quite hold my attention all the way through

A great album I have heard many times before

Really great didn't quite hold my attention all the way through

Fine, would rather listen to Dylan

A new album for me. Particularly enjoyed "Funny Vibe", "Memories Can't Wait", "Which Way to America" and the guitar in "Broken Hearts". Very close to being a 4 for me and maybe it will be after a few more listens.

A pleasant listen. Highlights were "Plastico" and "Siembra" Interesting to hear "Maria Lionza" which was sampled by Major Lazer on "Watch Out For This"

A really great album that is engaging all the way through. It would have been a 5 but some of the lyrics have not aged well and make for uncomfortable listening.

I liked it. It was good. A proper album album. Hadn't listened to it properly with headphones before and I'm glad I have now. Highlights for me are "Running Up That Hill", "Hounds of Love", "Waking the Witch"

A really great album again. It's almost as if this list is full of really great albums! I really enjoyed the experimental and creative nature of it but I know the members went on to much greater things and there wasn't any particular track that really stood out to me so don't think it's quite a 5*.

I really enjoyed listening to this again. I thought it was quite musically straightforward with some pleasing synth sounds. The first half is excellent but I found the second half less interesting. Favorite tracks were Girlfriend and 5 Dollars

I have no idea why I haven't heard this before!? It's really really good. I will be listening to it a lot in the future. Really enjoyed the tension, the dark atmosphere and the spoken lyrics. The album feels like he's on the brink of breaking down all the way through and the tension is finally released in a Wagnerian manner with the screamed "I miss you" at the end of the last song "Good Morning, Captain".

Took a few listens to get into it but it was rewarding once I did. I particularly enjoyed "I think I'm in love" and "Cop Shoot Cop"

I like Neil Young, and I like this Album, but there's too much of him on this list. I don't think it belongs on here despite it being an interesting part of the Neil Young story.

A pleasant listen

I very much enjoyed this album. Particularly enjoyed the blues licks in some of the songs and how they sometimes seemed to completely change genres. For instance on "No Sympathy" and "Till Your Well Runs Dry"

It took a few listens to get into but eventually I quite liked a few songs on this. "Bring the pain", "Funky Fresh Dressed" and "Slide" were quite good.

My ears were pleased with this selection of delightful sounds

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would!

I enjoyed this album but I feel there is better ones to come from Brian Eno. 2/1 & 2/2 were my favorites.

This album was fun to listen to. I enjoyed the classics at the start but as the album moved on I began to feel like I was listening to a guitarist jamming over a backing track or a youtube guitar instructional video.

This album is interesting and engaging all the way through.

Good start and end. It lost me a bit in the middle. The last track was great and clearly influenced Kendrick Lamar

Excellent, will definitely be listening again.

Delicious synthy, guitaryness. Really enjoy the bit at the end of have a cigar where it sounds as if your headphones have come out.

Chaotic Good.

"Blowin in The Wind", and "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" are probably two of the best songs ever written. They are accompanied by other greats such as the protest song "Masters of War". It's amazing to hear one man a guitar and a harmonica create so much colour and atmosphere. I struggled not to give it 5 stars but I need to leave room for Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde so 4 it is

A really excellent album with some modern classics on them. Can't believe it only came out in 2008. Some of these songs are so ingrained they feel like they have been around for ever. A real pleasure to listen to again.

Amazing! Love the screeching, nearly unlistenable, table saw sounding guitar that appears every now and then. A delightfully surreal atmosphere throughout. Very nearly 5 stars for me.

Really enjoyed "Tooting Bec Wreck" some of the other songs were ok.

Hard to judge as it was played to death when it came out and they recieved a fair bit of criticism for being over the top and I seem to remember they were becoming unfashionable at the time this album came out. I prefer Origin of Symmetry but this album is good too. Despite heavy influence from Radiohead and Jeff Buckley Muse are still very much their own thing (no one ever talks about their Rachmaninov influence though!). This album is a good representation of their epic, stadiumy music. I don't mind the over the topness and I really enjoyed listening to "Starlight" and "Map of the Problematique" again.

Really interesting lyrics and a lovely meandering feel to the album. It's an album that rewards multiple listens.

Nice jazz flute, there were some great moments, but the album feels a bit incomplete.

I understand that this album is important but Bob Dylan wrote the best songs on it and sung them better. Although the development of this sound is really important to music history it didn't really grab me as an album and I prefer the artists that were influenced by them. However there are some moments of greatness on the album and it is really interesting to here sounds emerging that would become REM, The Smiths etc. Some of the guitar parts sound almost like they were written by a prototype Jonny Marr. Really glad I have listened to it but I won't be listening again.

I haven't listened to this since the early 00's. It's still sounding great. It's a nostalgic journey through various genre's that have been run through the Chemical Brothers big beat machine. I particularly enjoyed the housey verging on technoey tracks in the middle which serve as a sort of rest from all the breakbeat & big beat before passing over to the mellower tracks at the end of the album. "The Private Psychodelic Reel" builds and builds and serves as a great finale.

The raw, heavy and powerful sounds of the simple drum machine arrangements and the very occasional synthesizer stab behind the very 80s MCing make for an austere but thrilling listen. I expect this must have sounded amazing in the 80s! "Rock Box" is a strange and jarring interruption in an otherwise outstanding album, without that track I would give the album 5 stars but it ruins it for me. The Jason Nevins remix of "It's Like That" came out when I was 11 and I remember it being my favorite song at the time 😂

A really excellent album full of youthful energy. There are a couple of dodgy lyrics here and there but on the whole, it's a delightful portrayal of a teenage experience.

An excellent album

😭 Make it stop 😭 A thoroughly unpleasant experience. If I have to listen to another Meat Loaf album it will get 1 star. It only gets 2 in this case because I acknowledge that is should probably be included in this list.

Unremarkable

Excellent!

Pretty much perfect. I listen to it most months and it never gets boring.

I wasn't really into this when it came out, despite probably being the target age. Lots of friends listened to it and "Wait and Bleed" was frequently played on music tv channels so I came to know the songs through osmosis. I have come to appreciate slipknot later in life. This album is exciting, it's full of interesting and head nodding rhythms layered with powerful and heavy and sometimes screaming guitar sounds. Standouts for me are the Jungle intno to "Eyeless", the classis "Wait and Bleed", the guitar & bass call and response on "Surfacing", the strange, haunting, screaching sounds that somehow are made by a guitar on "Tattered and Torn" There's also some industrial sounds and some walking Jazz bass here and there! If you can look past the Nu Metal rapping and dj scratching that was the style at the time it makes for a great listen.

I can only give this album 5 stars. The amount of teenagers this album was important to demands it. I was obsessed with this album ever since I first heard "Basket Case" as a homesick 12 year old in a new school. I saved up my pocket money and went and bought it from my local music shop. I had most of the lyrics memorised in a few weeks and when I took up the guitar I could play all the songs pretty quickly. I can remember the scrawling font of the lyrics in the cd booklet and examining the photos of the band which provided a glimpse into a world which is depicted so well in the music. Musically this album is simple but great, every song is catchy and tells a short story of part of life as a teenager. There is something special about this era of Green Day. Despite this being in the very broad genere of "Pop Punk" there is something really raw about the sound. It is certainly miles away from the sound of bands they are sometimes lumped in with like Blink 182, Sum 41 etc and I think are more commonly thought of as "Pop Punk". These bands were clearly influenced by Green Day and specifically Dookie but no one in 90s & 00s pop punk has ever managed to equal or top it. The sound and the lyrics are darker, cleverer and more evocative than anything else in that genre. Often when looking back at lyrics from this era you are sometimes left disappointed but this album stands up to that test. There is a feminist song ("She") inspired by a poem shown to Billie Joe by his then girlfriend. There is also a song about coming out as bi ("Coming Clean"). "Basketcase" is about Billie Joe struggling with his anxiety. It's just great, even 30 years on none of the lyrics have aged too badly and it still does a great job of evoking a world which can be escaped into for 40 minutes.

A delightful album I need to listen to more

Excellent

I haven't listened to this for years! It was nice to listen again. I thought it was fine.

I enjoyed listening to this album. Some of the guitar riffs and vocal style contained elements that reminded me of punk and post punk. Stand out tracks for me were "Three and Nine", "Out of the Blue" and "Bitter Sweet"

It wasn't as good as I remember it. Still quite enjoyable though.

Yes

I prefer the greatest hits of Elton John

D.A.N.C.E is quite catchy and somewhat enjoyable. I remember giving this album a go at the time. I didn't manage to get into it this time around either.

Paul Simon was naive, stupid, and arrogant to visit South Africa during apartheid to make this album. However, I don't believe it was done with ill intent, and the musicians he collaborated with clearly love him. Kendrick Lamar said on Sunday night that “imperfection is beautiful”. The result of this imperfect collaboration is a real pleasure to listen to. Every song on this album is full of joy, happiness, and hope. It makes for a superb start to the day! (or end). (or middle).

It wasn't as bad as I had feared

The arrangements and production is superb. The band sounds amazing. Very nearly a 5

This album is excellent. There is not a dull moment on it. It is meticulously crafted, every song sets up the next one perfectly. Every sound is perfectly realised. Billy Corgan pretty much claims the fuzz pedal for himself with this album. The sound he creates with it is thick, gritty but smooth, dense, and immersive but it is never overwhelming and is frequently punctured by beautiful, glassy clean strat-through-valve-amp tones. I first listened to this Album by renting it out from a library and ripping it onto my PC. I played it a lot in my youth. I bought a fuzz pedal pretty much because of this album. One of my favorite guitar pleasures is to play "Cherub Rock" through a cranked fuzz pedal, the feeling of power is immense and uplifting.

I enjoyed some of it.

Everyone had this album in the 00's. There are some nice songs on it. On the whole it's a bit boring though.

A fantastic album very nearly a 5

Pleasant. I particularly enjoyed the opening track "Ode to the Sun God" Some of the rest of the album felt a touch elevatory

A fascinating album, full of clever, cutting lyrics and crystal clear imagery. Highlights for me were the devastatingly dark "Old Man" and the wry humor on "Political Science". The original version of "You Can Leave Your Hat On" takes on a whole new meaning with slurred lyrics evoking a sense of drunken sleaze adding a dimension that is absent from the more famous Joe Cocker cover version. I found the production to be a bit uninspiring at times.

I listen to this album regularly. It has to be one of the best hip hop ever made. I overlooked it for many years as I knew the hits from when I was a child and I didn't notice that they were great and might be part of a spectacular album. It's filled with clever rhymes delivered with a very satisfying and effortless flow. It rewards multiple listens with new discoveries each time and like all great albums it feels like a whole peice of work rather than just a collection of songs.

A fantastic album with intriguing lyrics and musical arrangements that have elements from multiple genres. The songs are never straightforward and go off in unexpected directions which add to a sense of unease and darkness that runs through the album.

It's up against tough competition but this is probably their best album. It contains an outrageous number of powerful and catchy riffs. I love the instrumentals and guitar solos that appear throughout the album and make use of the less common modes. I really enjoy the devastating, chugging riff on "The Thing That Should Not Be" that is so dark and heavy it has it's own event horizon. "Orion" is another highlight for me. An 8 and a half minute metal instrumental that is exciting and engaging all the way through and even has some delicate and vulnerable moments.

Is it a 4 or is it a 5? I had to give it a fourth listen this morning to make sure. It definitely improves with each listen. The album depicts the anger, hurt and frustration of a couple going through a break up and it tells the story very well. It's a great album to get lost in and I love the idea that this is a contemporary version of a song cycle. It's not as good as Winterreise though! A very high 4 for me.

The 2 hits from this album are great and "Walk This Way" is a much more successful blend of rock and rap than "Rock Box" from the previously reviewed self-titled album. I felt the album as a whole was disjointed and some tracks I found to be really quite poor. I much preferred the previous album.

I enjoyed this album very much.

My first encounter with Beck was finding the free track that came with windows media player sometime in the early 00's. I think my experience of his music has forever been tainted by that. I thought this album was ok, I can appreciate the multi instrument use, inventive sampling and production but I just couldn't get into it. I struggled with the second listen. Sometimes you come across a good artist that just doesn't work for you.

Good fun, with enjoyable guitar acrobatics and not as 1 dimensional as I was expecting.

Yes

Delicious, medium acidity, still very fresh, will age further.

A fascinating album, that meanders through multiple genres yet somehow they always sound like themselves. At times it even reminded me of 17th-century opera (San Vincente). It's a shame I don't speak portugese!

It was fine with glimpses of good

Spectacular

A fun and enjoyable listen

Nearly as good as Dark Side of the Moon 😁

It's very long so it's hard to judge after only 1 day of listening having only heard the hits before. There are some really great moments on this album. I think it could do with a bit of editing and then perhaps it could be a 4. I will be re listening to this one.

An excellent album. I particularly enjoy the part in "Flying" where it sounds like an HGV is reversing.

An amazing achievement for someone in their 60s. This album is polished and full of catchy riffs. The guitar solos are purposeful and hold interest.

Many classics and some unusual time signatures, mmmmmmm nice 👉

"Any Time At All" & "You Can't do That" stand out in particular for me. The best is yet to come so I'm leaving room with a 4. It's a really great album and if it were any other band it would probably get a 5.

I enjoyed some of this

Virtuosic electric jug playing

A beautiful and creative album full of infectious, hypnotic rhythms and takes inspiration from multiple genres. Rewards multiple listens.

Beautiful songs with well written and moving lyrics. 4.5

Delicious synthy goodness

Whatever

Mmmmmmm nice

4.5/5

Interesting 2.5/5

A really great album, possibly the best of the genre.

Interesting, but I'm not sure it belongs on this list.

It's a real shame about the gammonisation of Morrisey but there's no getting away from it. This album is amazing. The bright, sparkly guitar tone and intricate riffs of Marr perfectly compliment Morrisey's beautiful and meandering vocal melodies. The lyrics are sly, witty, profound, complex and moving. Pretty much every song is a classic.

Not really my thing but it's a great album.

Jazz sprinkles.

I wasn't in the mood the first time I listened but I enjoyed my second and third listen. It is weirdly beautiful with some very strange lyrics.

Hotel California and Life in the Fast Lane are both really excellent tunes. Sadly the rest of the album is uninteresting.

Really great as long as you try to ignore the hilariously bad lyrics

What an album!

Not as bad as I feared, but it was a difficult listen

Another fantastic album from the Smashing Pumpkins! It has many classics that I know well from "Rotten Apples" but I didn't have this album as a teenager so I don't think I have ever listened to the album as a whole before. Listening to the whole thing is quite an undertaking at over 2 hours in length but the album explores such a wide range of styles that none of the 28 songs seem like filler. At the end of it all, you feel emotionally exhausted (in a good way)

It's amazing to have such a famous and important concert recorded and on an Album. It's a bit of a shame that the famous "Judas", "I don't believe you" exchange was cut from this album although you can make out some other heckling from the audience in some of the songs. You can get a sense of atmosphere and imagine the scene of the band rolling on the drum kit and amplifiers for the second half. 4.5/5

Street life is great and there are some interesting instrumental parts to the other songs including a great guitar solo but some of it feels a bit garden centery. 2.5/5

3.5/5

An interesting blend of genres and an enjoyable album 3/5

Excellent advert music 4/5

Hypnotic and beautiful 3.5/4

An enjoyable album but there's too much of Neil Young on this list

3/5

4.5/5

Another fantastic album from Randy Newman that is steeped in American history and explores difficult subjects with his trademark caustic sarcasm. The album opens with “Rednecks” which is VERY confronting. The topic would be tackled in a different way today but the lyrics are clearly spoken by a character tied to a very specific event and time in the past. Like all of Randy Newmans lyrics they tackle the issue effectively and are full of hidden meaning. Unless you lived in America in the 70s and have a good memory of US political events at the time, it really helps to have wikipedia open whilst listening to this album to get the most out of it! 😂 I would like to give Randy Newman himself a 5 but I think the 2 albums on here fall just short of a 5 for me because although I enjoy interpreting and reading up about the songs and I do find them enjoyable to listen to I feel the actual music, is somehow secondary to the lyrics. 4/5

With such vivid imagery, structure, and a compelling story, listening to this album is so enveloping it feels like a piece of cinema. It tells the story of life growing up in Compton but not always from the perspective of Kendrick and not always in order or at the same age. Kendrick's songs never seem to have one angle, there are always multiple ways of interpreting his lyrics. This is an album that requires several listens, it can’t be understood in one pass. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to write about every song but my favorite on this album has to be the the very dark “Swimming Pools”. It is an exploration of alcoholism and in true Kendrick style it not only explores the darker sides of the struggles against inner thoughts and the devastation caused to lives, but also depicts the feeling of escape and release that comes from sating the cravings and giving in to the drink. At the time of this album Kendrick occupied that rare space where someone was properly pushing at the boundaries of their genre and yet still managing to appeal to the masses. I don't think any other artist has existed to the same extent for a long time before and since. 10 years later you can still here the influence in hip hop today on both sides of the atlantic. 5/5

There is some good stuff on here but I found the album to be quite disjointed and unsatisfying. 3/5

Mmmmmmm nice

U2 was overplayed by others when I was a child, I never since thought to listen to it on my own. A couple of decades later it turns out this is a really great album full of epicness. 4/5

3.5/5

An energetic album that deals full on with the topic of racism in depth and in detail and is sadly still relevant today. Unfortunately it is laced with misogyny. It could have been a perfect 5 otherwise. 4/5

4+/5

I enjoyed this album 3+/5

There are some great nostaligic tunes on here 3+

Unashamed cheesy goodness. Would pair well with a glass of port. 3.5+/5

A classic, milestone album 4+/5

A spectacular and ambitious album that effortlessly spans multiple genres to tell stories from another world. There is so much to talk about, but I particularly enjoyed the seamless inclusion of Debussey on "Say You'll Go" which arrives halfway through the track and is set up so well it feels inevitable before you even hear the notes. The introduction of a new vocal part to the piece feels amazingly natural and beautiful. 4.5/5

Another classic 4+/5

✔️

Stunning 4.5+/5

Another masterpiece from Kendrick. I personally prefer GKMC as an album but this one is perhaps more culturally significant. It contains "Alright", which was then used in the black lives matter movement which started after the killing of Trayvon Martin and others, which is also referenced on this album. The album is densly packed with ideas that will take hundreds of listens to fully un pack. There's so much to discover in here. 5/5

It has some potential to make some excellent vapourwave but as it is I struggled to enjoy it. There were some glimmers of potential interest here and there. 1.5/5

Interesting. 3/5

This was one of my favorite albums growing up. It is an amazing piece of work. I would have given it a 5/5, 15 years ago. It is also extremely influential. "Stan" is now a word in the OED and Kendrick Lamar had a track on his latest album that was a clear nod to the track. It's lyrically and conceptually very clever and it's supposed to be provocative, however, looking back I don't think the homophobia and misogyny on it is ok. Even if it's justified as being a commentary on his relationship with the media at the time or as being spoken by a character. The fact is that the homophobia and misogyny on this album was parroted in real life without the context and without any sense of irony and it certainly contributed to the damaging homophobic environment that young gay people had to endure growing up at the time. Because of this, it's hard to rate. I will have to settle on a conflicted 3/5

Pleasant 2.5/5

I did not know this album existed! It is beautiful, dark, and sometimes quite violent. I very much enjoyed the stripped back and austere production. 4.5+/5

Quite good 3.5/5

I preferred this to "Under Construction" and there are some great tracks on here. I particularly enjoyed "Sock It To Me" and "The Rain" 3+/5

An important album filled with beautiful songs with interesting arrangements and production. 4.5/5

3+/5

3.5+/5

Yes 5/5

Baaaaaaaa 4+/5

What a shame. Another potentially great album ruined by relentless misogyny without any attempt to hide it with irony or as storytelling. On this album Mike D proudly announces that "I like my girlies underage". To add to this, the working title of this album was "Don't be a f***ot" and this juvinile bigotry is threaded through the entire album. Thank god they changed their ways later in their career.

Fine

Lovely, 4+/5

I enjoyed the first two tracks then it all went a bit x factor. Fortunately the album picks up again later on and I found the later tracks quite enjoyable. 2.5+/5

3.5/5

This was quite good. 3/5

3/5

Excellent 4+/5

I like this album 4/5

A fascinating and colourful album full of interesting instrumentation accompanying Waits' distinctive voice and compelling lyrics. 4.5/5

An excellent album 4+/5

I much prefer this album to Hotel California. 3+/5

A beautiful, dark, album with appropriately sparse production and the occasional glimmer of hope. 4+/5

This is very close to a 4 for me, I struggle with the first half of the album but it really picks up half way through. 3+/5

Some great songs 3.5+/5

A great live album 3.5/5

Really enjoyed Oxygene pt 1 and you can clearly hear this album's influence on electronic music today. This album sounds like a stepping stone to greater things for the genre but it is very interesting and well worth a listen. There are hints of "Switched on Bach" in there but also not yet invented genres such as electro and deep tech. 3.5/5

4/5

Having only heard the hits, I wasn't expecting to like this album, but it actually wasn't bad! 3+/5

One of the few albums I listened to as a teenager that I am happy to listen to now. It is beautiful, tense, and full of raw emotion. Cobain's voice is superb, seeming both delicate and powerful at the same time. It's got to be one of the best live albums. 5/5

3+/5

4+

🎄

3.5/5

3.5/5

4.5+

Amazing album. Dropped a point for the misogyny etc 4/5

What an album! 4.5/5

4.5/5

A stunning voice and a powerful and dynamic album. 4.5/5

Excellent 4.5/5

3+/5

Superb! 4+/5

A wonderful and relaxing album with a live audience that provides a complimentary atmospheric backdrop. Some of the spoken word phrasing reminds me of Kendrick Lamar and I wonder if Tom Waits is one of his influences. 4+/5

An important album for guitar persons. Sounds good too. 4/5

Excellent 4+/5

A delightful, energetic, rampage of an album 4.5/5

Pleasant 3/5

4+/5

4/5

A glorious mess of explosive creativity 5/5

Yes 5/5

4+/5

3+

I hadn't previously considered the lyrics much when listening to the Beach Boys. That was a mistake. Another excellent album. 4.5/5

Another album packed with timeless classics. I love how the Beatles are never happy just making straightforward songs, they're always pushing and experimenting both conceptually and with instrumentation and production techniques. On this album there is frequent use of a moog synthesiser, She's So Heavy has white noise and heavy guitars and a structure that makes it sound 20 years ahead of it's time. Even Maxwell's Silver Hammer is great once you get past your initial reaction to the "granny music" melody and realise it's a song about a serial killer inspired by avant-garde theatre and the writings of French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry. There is so much to un pack with each listen. 5/5

4/5

This is the only punk album. Everything else is proto, post or pop punk. Actually. This isn't punk either.

3+

A classic that I over-listened to as a child. 5/5

I like this.

An excellent soundtrack to what I seem to remember is an excellent film, but I haven't watched it in many years. 4+/5

The album had glimmers of interest here and there but I struggled to get through it even after multiple listens. I really don't want to listen to it again. 2+/5

I also liked this but not as much as the previous one. 3.5/5

4.5/5

3.5/5

5/5

A very creative and dark album that feels ahead of it's time. You can hear it's influence on more contemporary artists such as Sault and D'Angelo. 4+/5

A beautiful and unique album that floats somewhere between post-punk and synth-pop but with accordion and xylorimba 4.5/5

I was expecting to hate this, but it was actually quite good and it only very occasionally sounded like someone jamming to a backing track in their bedroom. A respectable 3+/5

It seemed a touch dull at first but after multiple listens and in the right frame of mind I began to see the light. It is a beautifully uplifting and relaxing album with irresistibly catchy phrases throughout. Perfect for a ride home on a night bus. 4+/5

3+/5

A powerful album that winds its way through different genres including EBM, electro, techno, metal, and synthpop creating a deliciously diverse yet coherent musical story. It is also an extremely influential album that can be heard in a lot of the music that came after it. 5/5

4+/5

4/5

3/5

4/5

Yes 5/5

4+

3

4

4.5

3.5

3

3

4+/5

4+

I enjoyed the Jazz influence and the social commentary in the lyrics. 3+/5

2.5

2.5+/5

The spectacular guitar riffs are not enough to rescue it from it's confused messaging and homophobic slurs. I do love it's sound though. 3+/5

A wonderfully dense, creative, experimental mess of an album which makes more and more sense the more you listen to it. 4.5/5

3/5

3.5/5

3+/5 a great sound

Excellent 4+/5

4/5

3.5+/5

Not convinced this is a really great live album but it was somewhat enjoyable 2.5/5

4/5

I wasn't expecting to like this album much. And I didn't really. It was ok. The Slider was a nice surprise though last week. I did actually quite like that one. 2.5/3

I have been a fan of SAULT since discovering them in 2020. I actually prefer "Rise" which they released 13 months later but this album is also excellent and I think it can be considered as the first half of a double album. Of note for me is "Don't Shoot, Guns Down" which despite only having 2/3 lines of lyrics, successfully manages to conjure up dark and disturbing imagery. "Wildfires" delivers its strong and important message wrapped in a beautiful and delicate melody. I particularly like the attempt to describe the entire black experience. The album contains protest songs but also songs that celebrate black culture and history. 4.5/5 ("Rise" would get a 4.5+)

Excellent! 4.5/5

I give this album 4/5 stars because it is good

Excellent, 4+/5

Another excellent album from Kate Bush 4.5/5

Enjoyable 3+/5

4/5

Pleasant but uninteresting 2/5

5/5

4/5

3+/5

3/5

4/5

4/5

I very much enjoyed this album which was a new discovery for me. 4.5/5

It feels to me like these songs have always existed. I don;t listen to them much these days but surely this album deserves a 5/5

3.5+/5

Beautiful songwriting 5/5

3+/5

3+/5

4/5

3/5

3/5

It took a few listens to adjust, but this is actually excellent. 4+/5

4+/5

5/5

3/5

4.5/5

3+/5

5/5

Pleasant 2+/5

3+/5

3/5

4.5/5

4/5

3+/5

5/5

4/5

3.5/5

5/5

4/5

A landmark album which I listen to every year. I think I slightly prefer his 2016 album Blonde, but they're both 5's. Hopefully he makes another one soon.

I heard this album loads when it came out. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. I have no rational reason for disliking it however and it contains some excellent songwriting and has had a huge influence on many artists since so I will give it a 4+/5

As someone who until now had never listened to a Madonna album, this was a great surprise. 4.5/5

5/5

3+/5

Not as good as the other one 3+/5

3.5/5

When it came out I would have given it 1 I hated it so much. Now that time has passed where I'm not forced to listen to it I can concede that at least the songwriting is quite good. It came at the end of and to me represents a full stop to the mid 00's era of bland mainstream indie bands. Now leave me alone and don't make me listen to it again. 2+/5

4/5

4/5

4+/5

4.5/5

4+/5

5/5

4+/5

Very much enjoyed this at the time. Lovely to hear it again. A great album blending multiple genres and taking influence from Beyonce to Kate Bush to Bjork to Aphex Twin. 4/5

2.5/5

2.5/5

Excellent 4.5/5

4/5

4+/5

4+/5

3/5

4+/5

3/5

3.5+/5

It's certainly not an album I would choose to listen to regularly, but listening to this in the context of what else was on offer in 1963, it's easy to see why they had such an impact at the time. It’s interesting to hear all the influences from the past such as from Little Richard but also glimpses of what was to come. They hadn’t yet broken free of the pre 1964 concept of what a band was, but they are starting to become something entirely different. 3.5+/5

4+/5

4/5

4/5

4/5

Yes 👍 4.5+/5

Superb, and timeless 4.5/5

5/5

One of the first albums I ever bought. I vividly remember buying it in Gatwick Airport departure lounge before a family holiday where my 13-year-old self played it endlessly for the entire trip. At the time I would have given it a 5 but with hindsight and more experienced ears I think it is more of a 4/5

5/5

Very good 4.5+/5

4.5/5

3/5

4/5

4.5/5

3.5/5

3/5

4+/5

4.5/5

3.5/5

4/5

4.5/5

Someone sped up some vaourwave! On first listen I found the album to be bland. I have listened to it 3 times now to try to get a better understanding. I have managed to find some interest and have warmed to it somewhat. 2.5+/5

4.5/5

4/5

3+/5

Almost perfect. My only criticism is that it starts to tail off towards the end 4.5/5

3.5/5

4/5

I would have preferred JME's "Integrity" on this list 4+/5

4/5

4+/5

3.5+/5

5/5

4.5/5

4/5

3/5

4/5

2.5/5

3.5+/5

3/5

Very interesting. 4+/5

4+/5

Berlin Techno before the kick drum was discovered 4+/5

5/5

5/5

4/5

4+/5

3.5/5

4+/5

5/5

4+/5

4+/5

4++/5

4+/5

4+/5

4+/5

4/5

3+/5

4/5

5/5

4+/5

4.5/5

4/5

3.5/5

4/5

4/5

2/5

4.5/5

2.5/5

3.5/5

4.5+/5

4/5

3/5

4.5/5

3/5

4/5

4.5/5

4.5/5

4/5

3.5/5

5/5

4+/5

4+/5

4/5

4+/5

4/5

4+/5

3.5/5

5/5

3/5

Mostly empty. 2+/5

3/5

3.5/5

4+/5

Every D'Angelo album should be on here. Superb 5/5

3/5

5/5

4/5

3+/5

5/5

4.5/5

4+/5

5/5

5/5

4/5

5/5

3+/5

5/5

5/5

An incredibly important collection of songs not just for hip hop but for electronic music as a whole. It's still a great listen today and those calling this dated should separate the sounds from their own association with the 80s. These sounds are still used and celebrated by djs and producers today so it's not the music that is dated it's the people listening to it! 5/5

I don't know much about country music but this was very enjoyable. 4+/5

4+/5

3.5+/5

3.5/5

4+/5

5/5

4.5/5

3/5

4+/5

4+/5

3+/5

4.5+/5

4+/5

4+/5

3+/5

4/5