3.5 👍
A transitional album for Paul Simon after separating from Art Garfunkel. I really enjoyed the different influences, from reggae to blues. Standout tracks are Duncan and Me and Hulio Down by the School Yard.
Love the timbre of the drums and piano, the echo and emptiness and loneliness. It's really incredible.
Very jazzy. I also love her voice, feels agressive, raw.
First three tracks are really great examples of early funk, very fun to listen to, they've got a great groove. The rest are standard soul for the time, nothing super groundbreaking, but a good album nonetheless. 3.5 👍
Brian Wilson is a genius, I don't know if I need to say anything else. I honestly think I like SMiLE more than Pet Sounds. The fact that this was unable to be released in this manner in the 60s is a tragedy. This world has been so unkind to Brian and I am so glad that he found the strength to fulfill his dreams after so many years of abuse and adversity.
I've listened to this album a zillion times so it's rather hard to rate it as if I've heard it for the first time. It's great, can't say much else.
Phenomenal production, amazing voice. I love the sharp, witty writing. Her influences are very obvious without it every feeling like a cheap homage or pastiche. 4.5.
This isn't my genre, and I don't see myself reaching to put it on again, but I can't give it anything lower than a 3.5. I'm rather impressed with his musicianship, especially for a debut album. Arrangements, instrumentation, vocals, and production done largely by himself. I also understand that this really set the tone for 90s R&B and basically created neo-soul. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of the songs blend together after a while and no one song really stands out to me over any of the others. Nonetheless, I am very glad that I listened to this, as it's the first one that's been generated for me that I was truly unfamiliar with.
Genre defining british techno rave music. Takes clear inspiration from industrial rock of the time. Voodoo People is pretty iconic, and I really liked the flute loop and what sounded like morse code blips on 3 Kilos. Some great music, but I felt a little silly listening to it at 9pm on a Thursday in my pajamas. This is really meant for you to be moving to. With my full focus on it, the record started to feel a little long and repetitive. 3.5.
A very accessible 80s metal album, clearly setting the stage for hair metal to come. I didn't hear anything that was too mindblowing, but a good album nonetheless. Liked the energy and Rob Halford's vocals. 3.5
An excellent little post punk debut before they evolved their sound to incorporate more new wave influences. Great basslines, love the drumming in All That Jazz. Horns in Happy Death Man are fun.
Maybe I just didn't get it, but this album just sounds painfully cheesy to me. Nothing in this album sounded particularly remarkable or influential, especially since this was "the last good Metallica album." Not very challenging or interesting to my ears. Felt like very entry level metal music. Maybe it's because I don't listen to a lot of metal music, but I know that I prefer Boris, Uniform, or ISIS over this album in particular.
One of my favourite albums ever. I am a sucker for lush strings, and even though this album isn't as widely loved as Five Leaves Left or Pink Moon, I think it's something very special. Introduction leading into Hazy Jane II is one of my favourite album openings and it never fails to make my heart swell.
"Our band could be your life"
Fantastic post-punky, jazz inspired record. Incredibly influential. Great music, great musicianship. A long album, but it doesn't feel that way.
Really fun pop album, well produced and very funky. I really like the idea of a bilingual album, very unique. I definitely preferred the french versions though.
It's very difficult to give an impartial review on one of my favourite bands. An influential masterpiece, unlike anything else released at the time.
A lovely folky, twee debut. You can tell that this was very influential on so many 2000s indie bands. 4.5
So many punk albums rip this one off. This is the blueprint.
Fantastic album, maybe Dylan's best from the 60s.
A very relaxing listen, however nothing really stood out to me in particular. I did like the warm vocals and the guitar work was great. It also felt a little long, probably because I listened to the version available on Apple Music which is an hour and 13 minutes with four extra songs.
Love this album. Love the Beach Boys and shoegaze influences. Favourite tracks are My Girls and Bluish. 4.5
Probably one of the better concept albums out there. Great 60s rock, a very fun listen that I see myself visiting again.
Blues rock made in the time of grunge. Honestly, I didn't like it. I think it felt like a cleaner, less gritty version of what they were going for. Like a PG-13 Rolling Stones or something. It doesn't seem remarkable for any reason. I understand what they were trying to do, I just didn't enjoy it.
What a gorgeous floaty album! A lovely and relaxing listen. Wonderful space rock. Very dreamy.
The most hugely influential album when it comes to west coast hip hop. Great beats, great production. Relies on Snoop Dogg a lot though, and the skits aren't very good at all.
Dusty Springfield's solo debut is mostly covers of other's songs, for example Lesley Gore on You Don't Own Me, but Dusty manages to make all the songs her own in some way or another. Not her best, but quite good! 3.5.
I really loved this. Great voice, funky, groovy. An easy 5/5 for me. Added to my library immediately!
I understand that this is good, and I mean half of indie rock that came after this sounds like it, but i didn't enjoy listening to it really. It's bringing me down. Not a fault of the album, it's me lol
Stellar album, covers so many different genres flawlessly. She has such a great voice. This album was wonderful. You can really hear the funk influences.
Feels like the first perfect day of summer. Jazz, folk, beautiful poetic lyrics. This might be my favourite from Joni Mitchell.
One of my favourite albums. Pretty much anything Bowie produced was amazing. Love Lou Reed's dry sarcastic wit and lyric delivery. Some of the best glam rock has to offer.
I really enjoyed the mixing of electronics and strings, the male and female vocals. Very experimental and playful. The more electronic songs reminded me a little of Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens. 3.5
The Jam is one of my favourite bands from this time. A stellar album, though I prefer Sound Effects.
Beautiful soulful and funky record. Love the bass tones and the guitar. Great arrangements. Slower than his other stuff I've heard.
Great garage rock, progenitors of punk music. Have a great way of making all the covers their own.
Can't believe how this album must have sounded before the Jack White copycats started up. Great raw sound, a classic for sure.
This was not good. There is so much better 60s pop music than this. Beatles, Zombies, Monkees, all much better than this. Groovin' is a classic track, but that's about all this album has to offer.
