390
Albums Rated
3.77
Average Rating
36%
Complete
699 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
How you rate albums
Rating Timeline
Average rating over time
Ratings by Decade
Which era do you prefer?
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When do you listen?
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Jazz
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Enthusiast
Rater Style ?
147
5-Star Albums
10
1-Star Albums
Taste Analysis
Genre Preferences
Ratings by genre
Origin Preferences
Ratings by country
Rating Style
You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opus Dei | 5 | 2.39 | +2.61 |
| Playing With Fire | 5 | 2.54 | +2.46 |
| Space Ritual | 5 | 2.68 | +2.32 |
| Medúlla | 5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
| Yeezus | 5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
| Tarkus | 5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
| The Grand Tour | 5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
| BEYONCÉ | 5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
| Rip It Up | 5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
| Ctrl | 5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forever Changes | 1 | 3.22 | -2.22 |
| Permission to Land | 1 | 3.15 | -2.15 |
| Golden Hour | 1 | 3.1 | -2.1 |
| Seventh Tree | 1 | 3.08 | -2.08 |
| Second Toughest In The Infants | 1 | 2.86 | -1.86 |
| Southern Rock Opera | 1 | 2.82 | -1.82 |
| Master Of Puppets | 2 | 3.73 | -1.73 |
| The Joshua Tree | 2 | 3.67 | -1.67 |
| Sex Packets | 1 | 2.67 | -1.67 |
| Slipknot | 1 | 2.67 | -1.67 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Bob Dylan | 4 | 5 |
| Neil Young | 4 | 5 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 5 | 4.4 |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 4.67 |
| Björk | 3 | 4.67 |
| Morrissey | 3 | 4.67 |
| Kanye West | 2 | 5 |
| The Smiths | 2 | 5 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 5 |
| Curtis Mayfield | 2 | 5 |
| Leonard Cohen | 2 | 5 |
| Brian Eno | 2 | 5 |
| ABBA | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 2 | 5 |
| Radiohead | 5 | 4.2 |
| Queen | 3 | 4.33 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Depeche Mode | 2, 5 |
| Roxy Music | 5, 2 |
| PJ Harvey | 2, 5, 5 |
5-Star Albums (147)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
De La Soul
5/5
It's genuinely heartbreaking that this album isn't on any streaming services, because it means that De La Soul has fallen out of the conversation of greatest 80s and 90s hip hop groups. This album, their debut, is absolutely brilliant. Funny, corny, listenable. It influenced so many modern artists, and I didn't realize before hearing it how much my favorite albums (such as Wildflower, by the Avalanches) are based on it. I can't identify a favorite song or moment, because they're all so good. This is an instant 5/5 for me, and it's by far the best album on this list that I'd never listened to before.
22 likes
Morrissey
5/5
I’m biased, but I’ll always love a Morrissey album. The lyrics are unsurprisingly brilliant here, and they’re combined with some really nice instrumentation. I’m probably ignoring some flaws here because I have nostalgia for the british prick, but to me it’s great.
6 likes
Thelonious Monk
5/5
this list has really forced me to listen to some excellent jazz albums, i’ve found a real appreciation for the genre i wouldnt have expected. i still feel like i dont know enough to critically rate jazz, i just sit back and enjoy it. i really sat back and enjoyed this album though.
5 likes
Jefferson Airplane
5/5
didn’t know i needed jefferson airplane in my life but wow. this kind of blew me away
5 likes
PJ Harvey
5/5
wow. an incredible album. the lyrics, of course, were excellent, and i love the timbre pj sings with on this. the standouts were, of course, the sax and autoharp. not much else to say, a really excellent album.
4 likes
1-Star Albums (10)
All Ratings
Nick Drake
5/5
uncomfortable cafe chairs and sweet coffee, drifting out to sea, classical guitar, folk tale with strings, blackbird but if it were eleanor rigby, crocuses in the rain, lesser harrisong uplifted by flute, ooh jazz!, weird metaphor over beautiful chords, swung mccartney.
overall a really beautiful album with a unique vibe — not one i can see myself returning too often, but once every few months when i’m in the mood, i’ll really enjoy this album. feels like a sunday afternoon.
Burning Spear
5/5
the first reggae album i’ve ever really listened to. i cant super judge it, but i really enjoyed listening to it, and it was super political. felt it dragged a bit on the late first side, but there are some really excellent songs.
Love
1/5
this was a real stinker. lyrics were either nonsensical or inane, music was forgettable. just not very good.
Jeff Buckley
4/5
the vocals are way prettier than i expected, there’s some really cool stuff here. i feel like it drags a bit at the beginning of the b side and i dont love this hallelujah, but otherwise a really solid record.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
a very Joni Mitchell album. honestly dont know how to rate this — really liked some songs, thought others were boring. it didnt feel that cohesive, i guess, though that doesnt make much sense.
Badly Drawn Boy
5/5
really pretty album, especially the nature songs.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
not really sure how to rate this honestly, some of the songs were really good, others i just didnt get. giving this a 3 as a baseline, i guess.
Yes
4/5
sank into this in a really enjoyable way
4/5
wasnt expecting orchestral disco, but this was quite good. really liked the b side, especially theme from “mantrap”. the a side had a few songs with awkward lyrics, but overall was fine.
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
synth pop!
Adele
4/5
wow i liked this a lot more than i was expecting.
Kacey Musgraves
1/5
this was very 2000s singer-songwriter, but with meh lyrics and boring instrumentals. very disappointing
Japan
2/5
ehh. not particularly impressed.
Fairport Convention
4/5
always in for some folk rock, this was quite nice
Turbonegro
2/5
first song was solid, the rest of it was ehh to bad.
The Replacements
4/5
sounds like it was literally recorded in a garage and i absolutely loved it
Queen
3/5
this is definitely one of the queen albums of all time. some good songs, some boring songs. ehh
Nirvana
4/5
this was great tbh, i really want to get more into nirvana and this was a good intro
Culture Club
2/5
karma chameleon and the next song were great, rest was ehh to bad
Tangerine Dream
4/5
these were some lovely soundscapes
Q-Tip
5/5
this was great! really good production, really good lyrics, enjoyed it a lot.
Public Enemy
4/5
this is one of the best rap albums of all time and i love the lyrics, but it also isnt the most relistenable album.
The Only Ones
2/5
this one just really couldnt keep my interest, i’m not sure why
Minutemen
3/5
there were a ton of songs on this album. some were great, but some were bad and a lot were forgettable.
New York Dolls
2/5
i’m kind of burnt out on punk at this point, not sure i took the time with this album that i should have
Tina Turner
2/5
i didnt really vibe with the synth-soul stuff, i feel like it didnt mesh really well which is odd bc i’ve heard synthy-soul-y production on rap tracks before and really liked it — maybe a feature of how old this record is?
Public Enemy
5/5
this was really great! i liked the production more than the other public enemy record we listened to
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
one of the legendary shoegaze albums, it’s just incredible
Ice T
4/5
i was surprised at how much i liked this. the production is largely simple but good, and T has some real lyricism here.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
i’m surprised more of these songs didnt become popular, this album has a distinct radio feel to it. not really my cup of tea, but some good stuff here
Frank Zappa
3/5
not really sure how to rate this so i’m giving it a 3, but it’s an album i could see myself coming back to after i learn more about jazz
Fiona Apple
2/5
ehh. her voice was good, but this just doesnt do it for me
Elliott Smith
3/5
this was fine i guess?
Lou Reed
5/5
lou reed’s best solo album, this is just excellent — it’s produced by bowie and mick ronson, and you can really tell, they combine with reed’s songwriting incredibly well.
PJ Harvey
2/5
ehh. wasnt interesting to me, didnt enjoy listening
Ray Charles
5/5
man i just love a ray charles album, this was really nice
Herbie Hancock
5/5
heyyyyyyyyy, watermelon man!!!!!’
this album is great.
Drive-By Truckers
1/5
man these guys really like leonard skin nerd, huh?
i didnt like this. the songs were individually bad, and the story of the album wasnt particularly compelling
Sade
4/5
i thought this was pretty good! not sure if i’m gonna come back to it but it was a fun listen
Gorillaz
5/5
very good album, didnt love my first listen but it’s really grown on me. feels oddly similar to the avalanches
Pink Floyd
5/5
yeah this album is just incredible
Steve Earle
3/5
i’m always down for some nashville country, but this album didnt really speak to me. it was fine?
Emmylou Harris
3/5
i liked this album, but i’m not really sure about it — this is a high 3, could be a 4 under other circumstances
Billy Joel
4/5
tbh i was slightly disappointed by this — it’s still good, but i felt it dragged in a couple of places.
The Verve
2/5
the first song i like a lot but the rest weren’t very interesting to me.
Lou Reed
4/5
i really enjoyed the instrumentation here, which imo made up for some weak lyrics from lou reed.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
this was disappointing to me, a lot of the songs felt similar and not very musically interesting.
Silver Jews
2/5
the fact that two of the guys on this album were also in pavement isnt surprising, but i feel like this lacked something pavement had. didnt enjoy it
Pavement
3/5
yeah this is basically what i expected from a pavement record. it’s fine, not super memorable
Deerhunter
3/5
this feels like an album i’m gonna revisit in a few months and really like, but right now i don’t really _get_ it.
Nine Inch Nails
2/5
i really couldnt get into this. i think the mixing is weird enough that it just didnt work for me, i didnt enjoy it
Red Snapper
4/5
i liked this! i always somewhat drift when listening to electronic music like this so i dont really have specific likes and dislikes, but i enjoyed it
Bad Company
2/5
“vapid midcentury rock”
Cocteau Twins
4/5
really liked this album, you can see the direction the group is moving in and how they were pioneers of dreampop. this has some flaws, it’s no heaven or las vegas, which is why it’s a 4, but it’s a very high 4
The Rolling Stones
4/5
this was really refreshing, i’d never heard any of these songs before and enjoyed the album a lot
5/5
this is a legendary album for a reason, i’ll never not listen to it if given the chance.
Tim Buckley
4/5
some real good tracks here, this album is one you can really sink into. didn’t know anything about tim buckley except for his son, going to check out more of his music.
B.B. King
5/5
this is the greatest live album of all time. just perfect. i could listen to it any time for any reason and be happy.
Frank Ocean
4/5
i’d heard a bunch of the songs before, but this was my first time listening to the album as a whole. despite some awkwardness, this is brilliant and you can see how it influenced hip hop in the 2010s so well.
Coldplay
2/5
i always find myself disappointed by coldplay albums. it feels like there’s a potential for something really interesting there, and then 2/3 of the songs sound the exact same.
Meat Loaf
5/5
i really didnt expect to enjoy a meat loaf album, but this was excellent. it was apparently adapted from a musical, and you can tell — it feels like a movie. some songs (paradise…) were extremely long, but none of them felt like they dragged. surprisingly excellent all round.
Scott Walker
4/5
this was one of the most prototypical “wall of sound” albums i’ve ever listened to, and i think i understand what that means way more now. it was musically interesting, though i grew a bit bored midway through when it felt like we were getting the same themes over and over again. the lyrics made up for this, they were really funny in places, though some haven’t aged well. i don’t usually notice lyrics at all, so this was a welcome surprise. a fun listen, though i don’t think i’ll come back to it anytime soon.
Kanye West
5/5
one of my favorite albums of all time. great lyrics, but genuinely perfect production. i dont think we’ll ever see an album like this again, hold my liquor and bound 2 are top 5 and blood on the leaves is top 1. to get the most out of it, play it over headphones and turn it up until the bass plays through your whole body. this listen i great to appreciate i’m in it a lot more, assassin is so good on his feature, i’m shocked i havent listened to anything of his before. this album is quite divisive, and for good reason, but to me it’s a true masterpiece. my favorite album we’ve heard so far, will likely be in my top 5 for the entire list.
Patti Smith
3/5
there’s something compelling here, but i found it hard to focus on the lyrics and didnt love the production.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
i really vibed with this, something about it just spoke to me.
Dire Straits
3/5
i’d only heard money for nothing off this album before, and the rest was pleasantly surprising. the instrumentation was excellent, the lyrics were generally good, but there were some really heinous ones which knock this down to a 3. would be a 4 otherwise.
Mariah Carey
2/5
mariah has an incredible voice of course, but the production and songwriting just isnt there. feels like i would get the same enjoyment listening to her perform a book of vocal etudes.
Björk
5/5
really enjoyed this, great mix of musical styles but was super listenable throughout
Depeche Mode
2/5
this felt like nothing, just overdone synths and label-provided lyrics. i felt nothing new during or after the album.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
this is a classic for a reason. it vibes the whole way through, and marvin has an incredible voice. i just didnt feel much emotionally from it, and some stuff felt the same.
Little Richard
4/5
this album is legendary, but tbh i dont think i’m going to come back to it very soon.
Neu!
5/5
i love weird albums and this was weird, but the vibes were really good.
Oasis
4/5
oasis is trying to do a beatles-stones crossover thing and they end up being worse than both, but this album is still very listenable. very much of its time, but it’s of its time because it inspired a lot of other people. not my favorite but solid overall
The Byrds
4/5
this gets knocked down a point because it’s all covers, but the harmonies were really good
Pixies
5/5
yes. fun and fruity
The Cure
3/5
this one didn’t land for me, not really sure why. giving it a 3 for technically good music, but wasnt my jam
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
took me two full days to listen to, i kept getting bored and moving on. like the white album, i dont think an album this long can ever be _great_, because there’s bound to be some stinkers on there. this had some good songs and some bad, but if it was half the length with only the good songs it would be so much better
Louis Prima
5/5
this is just pure fun. cant help but love it
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
5/5
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
it’s csnl so you’re always guaranteed some quality music, but this wasnt anything special.
The Smiths
5/5
there’s absolutely an element of nostalgia going into this review (my mom loves the smiths), but i really enjoyed this. morrissey is morrissey, but johnny marr has some amazing work on this album. every song sounds similar, but they all sound great so i’m fine with it. the meat is murder track is wild, super into it.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
i’m probably being harsh here, but i expected a lot more from an earth wind and fire album. this was totally fine, everything was solid, but there wasnt anything that really stood out to me
Aerosmith
2/5
i can never listen to stuff like this without thinking about woodstock ‘99 and the whole “rock for white dudes only” movement. yes it’s technically good, but man you can really see why grunge was needed right after this.
Motörhead
3/5
i dont think i’m ever going to be a metalhead, but this was a fun album. not to my taste, but you can see how it influenced people
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5/5
really fun, super listenable, this is my new favorite album to listen to while working.
Pink Floyd
5/5
this is one of the easiest 5’s i’ve given so far. just an amazing album in every respect
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
ehh. very much ehh.
Green Day
4/5
this is a Good Album by a lot of measures but i felt let down by it. still enough to get a highish grade, but not what i remember it being
Wilco
2/5
didnt really enjoy this. i think wilco just isnt for me
Wire
2/5
i think i’m just burnt out on punk at this point
Deep Purple
3/5
i stopped midway through. at some point i’m sure i’ll smoke and listen to this, but not rn.
Radiohead
5/5
sublimely weird. i loved it
The B-52's
4/5
gloriously weird. incredibly fun. a little less than a 5, but a solid 4
Michael Jackson
5/5
i dont think i’d ever listened to a full michael jackson album before this, but wow. the hits are the best, but every single song has something great about it.
Portishead
2/5
i feel nothing about this.
The Prodigy
2/5
this was fine. didnt particularly care for it.
2/5
i’ve never been a fan of u2, and this album signifies why. It’s just not good.
De La Soul
5/5
It's genuinely heartbreaking that this album isn't on any streaming services, because it means that De La Soul has fallen out of the conversation of greatest 80s and 90s hip hop groups. This album, their debut, is absolutely brilliant. Funny, corny, listenable. It influenced so many modern artists, and I didn't realize before hearing it how much my favorite albums (such as Wildflower, by the Avalanches) are based on it. I can't identify a favorite song or moment, because they're all so good. This is an instant 5/5 for me, and it's by far the best album on this list that I'd never listened to before.
David Holmes
3/5
this is fine. it’s just fine.
David Bowie
4/5
i was slightly disappointed by this album, and i’m not really sure why. bowie is always good, and i liked his use of soul music, but there was something missing. i didnt love the beatles cover, even though that seems to be the focal point of the album. it’s a 4, but a weak 4 for me
The Undertones
4/5
i found this really fun! there’s an earnestness to it that’s been missing from a lot of the punk from the same era i’ve gotten before. i think part of it could be that it’s a belfast band playing during the troubles, which lends a real authenticity to everything. it can’t be a 5 because it’s musically too simple, but it’s a solid 4.
Hugh Masekela
5/5
this was really nice! i dont really know anything about jazz, but i found this great to listen to.
Eminem
3/5
i’ve always struggled with eminem. the production and actual rapping are genuinely brilliant. the lyrics are terrible, and i just really cant get past that. i don’t think i can go below a 3 just because of the technical proficiency here, but with better (less heinous) lyrics this could easily be a 5.
1/5
genuinely unlistenable. 90s nu metal was a dark period in history
The Charlatans
3/5
yeah. whatever.
Kate Bush
4/5
this was weird but in a great way.
The Smiths
5/5
man morrissey really called it. anyways, this album is excellent and i’m always happy to have an excuse to listen to it
Dolly Parton
5/5
short and sweet, just like the queen of country herself.
The Pretty Things
3/5
i didnt really get the concept part of it but individual songs were good
Beastie Boys
3/5
i’m definitely biased here, i’ve never been a fan of the beastie boys. giving this a 3 because i don’t think i can fairly rate it and the technical aspects are solid
Soft Cell
2/5
this was disappointing. tainted love is of course excellent, but there guys really needed to steal some lyrics for the other songs. boring synth pop
CHIC
5/5
this was my introduction to chic — i found it really fun! lots of great instrumentation, i didn’t really focus on the lyrics so i don’t know what those say.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
i kind of loved it? hadn’t heard any of the songs but solisbury hill, and that banged, but i didn’t realize it would be so weird. gonna check out more peter gabriel now
Coldplay
4/5
probably my favorite coldplay, but i still just feel almost nothing about it. giving it a 4 because it’s better, but it’s a low 4
Frank Sinatra
5/5
listen, it’s sinatra. you know what you’re getting, and it’s going to be great every time.
Metallica
2/5
not my jam. the technical aspects are all excellent, but i just can’t get into these long songs, i felt bored after 2 minutes.
The National
3/5
disappointed in this. i like some songs from the national, so i expected to like this, but it just felt so disconnected, and the individual songs didnt really stand out
Talking Heads
5/5
you can really see brian eno’s influence on this album, and it feels like exactly what i want from the talking heads.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
i think i’ve been spoiled by the legendary 90s albums because even though this was great for the time, it fell flat to me.
SZA
5/5
this is the newest album we’ve gotten so far, and you can tell why it was included. amazing production, great features, and sza is an excellent vocalist. very solid 5
Metallica
4/5
legendary album, but not really to my tastes.
Radiohead
3/5
this feels like a step backwards for radiohead given what i know of their earlier work. it’s….fine. 2+2=5 is solid, but everything else is meh.
Bon Jovi
2/5
it’s exactly what i’d expect from bon jovi, which isn’t much. organ was fun
Bob Dylan
5/5
Judas Priest
4/5
this is about as highly as i can personally rate a metal album. it’s good, but not for me
SAULT
5/5
i can’t believe i’ve never heard of this group before. they’re on my list now, this album was excellent.
Radiohead
5/5
this is just amazing. this album was my introduction to radiohead, and i still absolutely love it
Rush
2/5
when i was 12 and heard a rush song for the first time (tom sawyer), i wanted to listen to more music of theirs, so i looked up their scifi rock opera concept album. at age 12, i thought it was self-important, boring, and a bit fascistic. my opinion hasn’t changed. it’s higher than a 1 because of the technical skill, but only barely. fuck you geddy lee.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
i liked this a lot! have been recced beefheart before, i’m gonna listen to more now
Queen Latifah
4/5
lyrics and flow are truly excellent. production is mid to bad, mixing is terrible. makes sense that this is a debut album, but with some better choices this could be a strong 5. it missed a bit
The Flaming Lips
5/5
this was really excellent. a mix of classic flaming lips song styles and some delightful weirdness. i thoroughly enjoyed it
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
this was great! no idea about the lyrics, but everything else was genuinely excellent
Fatboy Slim
3/5
this was kind of nothing to me. couldnt really focus on the songs
Primal Scream
2/5
another reviewer described it as “background music” and i feel that
The Pogues
4/5
this mashup of punk vocals and very country instrumentals shouldn’t work, but it really really does. that’s ireland for ya. not a 5 because it wasnt very polished
Madonna
2/5
i generally really like it when pop artists go in a totally different direction, so i was quite disappointed that this fell so flat for me. madonna’s vocals are just uninteresting, and this feels like an album which was either ruined or salvaged in the edit. either way, it’s just not very good.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Every time I listen to good kid mAAd city it brings me back to the first time I heard it. It's like nothing before it and nothing since. Someone once described this album to me as a visual movie, and that's always stuck with me. It's a concept album executed perfectly, Kendrick's memoir. Beyond that, every single song has something amazing about it, and the density of great songs is higher than any project I've heard except for TPAB. As with any album I love, every time I listen I find a new song to appreciate even more. This time it was Compton, which makes sense as I've been on a bit of a Dre kick recently. Just excellent, the easiest 5 I've given on this list. I know taste differs, but I can't imagine anyone who actually listened to the entirety of this album rating it less than 4.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
this was lovely, i listened at work and it just flowed really well.
Beastie Boys
3/5
this album is pretty symbolic of my general feelings about the beastie boys — excellent production and technical skills, ruined by bad flows and lyrics. rating it a 3, and i think that’s about as high as i could go on a beastie boys album.
4/5
i didnt really get the oasis-beatles-stones comparisons when the only song i knew was wonderwall, but i can totally see it now. this was a really cool album, one i know i’m going to come back to a lot. it’s not perfect, but i enjoyed it
Megadeth
5/5
wow. didnt think i liked metal that much, but this was excellent
Nas
5/5
there’s a reason this is commonly cited as the best rap album of all time. incredible lyricism, great production, all around just excellent. couldnt imagine rating it less
Def Leppard
2/5
this is the prototypical def leppard album. this sort of hair metal will never be my thing, and i really dont vibe with the singles. cant give this a 1 because of the technical quality, but i didnt enjoy the listen
Thelonious Monk
5/5
this list has really forced me to listen to some excellent jazz albums, i’ve found a real appreciation for the genre i wouldnt have expected. i still feel like i dont know enough to critically rate jazz, i just sit back and enjoy it. i really sat back and enjoyed this album though.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
genuinely didnt know that janis was in a band before listening to this album, but it’s excellent. her vocals are, of course, amazing. the instrumentation falls a bit flat for me at parts, but it’s an album i’m going to come back to
Haircut 100
5/5
Pink Floyd
4/5
this is mid-tier floyd which is still pretty great
Queen
5/5
i’ve somewhat soured on queen in recent years, but this still goes so hard.
R.E.M.
5/5
apparently i’d entirely forgotten that this album was in the background for the majority of my childhood, so thanks mom! i’ll fully admit to bias here, but i just love this album a lot.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
yeah i mean this is incredible. no notes
Ice Cube
5/5
it’s a legendary album for a reason. it does have some of the misogyny 90s hip hop is famous for, but it’s also the best album from one of the best artists of all time.
Garbage
4/5
apparently grunge is a big gap in my musical knowledge because i’d never heard of this group, but this was really excellent. lyrics are fine-not-great but i didnt come for the lyrics, and everything else was really grimy and somewhat trippy. i really liked it.
Beck
3/5
i’m just never going to be a beck fan, i always find him unbearably corny
MC Solaar
5/5
with the obvious caveat that i dont know what the lyrics are saying (though the title of this album is a delightful pun), this is truly excellent. sounds really ahead of its time, perfectly matched samples and excellent mixing, and the flow was just super nice and pleasant. all around really good listen.
k.d. lang
3/5
this was.. perfectly fine and pleasant. nothing really stood out to me, and i dont think i’ll revisit it, but the vocals were good and the instrumentation was fine.
Bauhaus
3/5
The Isley Brothers
4/5
bit weird of a listen because this album has been sampled so much, i’m not sure if that’s bringing my score up or down. overall good, but not super special
Supergrass
2/5
ehh.
The Black Crowes
4/5
we all know i love some country, this is nothing too special but it’s pretty nice
Cypress Hill
2/5
Dion
4/5
Nick Drake
5/5
Leonard Cohen
5/5
beautiful, sad, everything i’ve ever wanted from leonard cohen. i cant believe his voice sounded this good at his age, truly aged like a good wine.
George Michael
2/5
this feels like it should be a greatest hits record but just isnt. not sure what’s going on here, but i was disappointed
The Killers
4/5
as a certified hater of mr. brightside, i was pleasantly surprised by how much i liked this album as a whole. not perfect, but quite good. very cohesive 2000s pop punk, which is about all you can ask for
Tom Waits
4/5
this was…significantly better than i expected. i havent enjoyed tom waits before, but i really liked this.
Sam Cooke
5/5
Harry Nilsson
2/5
meh.
TV On The Radio
3/5
Brian Eno
5/5
Talking Heads
4/5
T. Rex
3/5
Little Simz
5/5
it’s not as good as her latest, but still an excellent album.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
simply too 90s for its own good
Morrissey
4/5
i’m absolutely a biased sucker for morrissey. i accept that. this wasnt my favorite of his, but still quite good imo
Radiohead
3/5
honestly this is disappointing for radiohead. still totally fine, but i expect more from them
John Prine
5/5
man i love vintage country so much
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
2/5
tbh i’m kind of just sick of this genre of sadboy britpoppy punk
Janet Jackson
3/5
Various Artists
2/5
Tom Waits
5/5
Green Day
4/5
The Band
5/5
Jane's Addiction
2/5
Massive Attack
3/5
very mellow, stoner music at its finest. i enjoyed it, but tbh i think it fails in the way a lot of mellow stuff fails — you have to be high to listen to it. it’s a strange album to try and rate, but i’ll do my best.
The Saints
2/5
this felt soulless which, more than anything, is unforgivable if you’re trying to make punk music.
James Taylor
5/5
james taylor is a bit of a musical blind spot for me, and i wish he wasn’t, because this is excellent. great vocals, great guitar, the bit with the horns was super cool. just a great album.
Digital Underground
1/5
disappointing. i’m often very into early 90s hip hop, but that’s mostly because i only listen to the best from that (great) era. this is not the best. the samples are badly chosen, the flows are super basic and boring, and (of course) there’s a ton of casual misogyny.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
some real genuine classic country. very much a product of its time and place, but solid nonetheless. short and sweet, which is what i like.
Nirvana
5/5
i don’t think i can give this album less than a 5, though it’s the hardest nirvana album to listen to. still nirvana though.
Tito Puente
5/5
i mean, what else could you want? this is excellent.
M.I.A.
5/5
i’ve always loved mia. this is clearly her best work, and it’s one of those albums where i wouldn’t change a single thing. perfect sound, perfect production, perfect lyrics.
2/5
this was, frankly, boring. i’m not very interested in another 80s rock-pop-punk thing with uninteresting lyrics. it gets a 2 because it’s listenable, but really didn’t make an impression.
Lauryn Hill
5/5
i mean, this is a legendary album for a reason. truly excellent soul/hip hop, amazing lyrics and sound, and a great listen. tbqh, i don’t love the density of interludes but that’s just a feature of the era, can’t do much about it. clear 5, if this isn’t a 5 then nothing is.
The Sonics
5/5
one of the bigger differences between title and sound i’ve heard. great album
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
yeah. perfect.
N.W.A.
5/5
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Common
2/5
Sex Pistols
4/5
Tracy Chapman
3/5
Neil Young
5/5
Sparks
4/5
Screaming Trees
2/5
Radiohead
5/5
The Stooges
5/5
Jefferson Airplane
5/5
didn’t know i needed jefferson airplane in my life but wow. this kind of blew me away
Janis Joplin
4/5
this was quite solid! janis of course has an iconic voice, but i found the instrumentation to be a bit lacking in parts. a lot of legendary songs, though.
U2
2/5
absolutely biased here. i’ve never liked u2, and this doesn’t do anything to change that for me.
PJ Harvey
5/5
wow. an incredible album. the lyrics, of course, were excellent, and i love the timbre pj sings with on this. the standouts were, of course, the sax and autoharp. not much else to say, a really excellent album.
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
it’s clapton, so the guitar is of course technically incredible. i didn’t really feel anything emotionally from this, however, and it feels kind of soulless. the guitar is good enough to get it a 4, but it’s a low 4
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
some really good ccr! it’s one of their better albums, but nothing blew my mind
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
apparently this was the first album to ever use “psychedelic” in the title, which is a cool fun fact and (i assume) the reason it made the List. musically, it’s… not great. some interesting ideas, but not really enough skill to execute them properly. disappointing, bc i usually love psych rock.
Black Sabbath
5/5
this is one of the most groundbreaking albums of all time, and i feel like those albums can go two ways — either they sound a bit tired because everyone following copied them, or they sound incredible. this is easily in the latter camp, it holds up amazingly well today. not much else to say. great album 🤘
Milton Nascimento
4/5
some really lovely brazilian music — not knowing portugese, i had to rely on wikipedia to tell me about this album, but i’m reliably informed it’s very important. i don’t think it’s particularly relistenable for me, but i’m glad i listened to it once
Living Colour
2/5
this runs into the issues a lot of these types of albums from this era do, where it all feels a bit fake, but unlike those other albums this didnt even have the incredible guitar to drag it up. a solid meh from me
The Offspring
3/5
i’ve been very underwhelmed with this type of album recently. not really sure why it made the list, i feel basically nothing about it
Mike Ladd
3/5
this felt like it could have been great but was hamstrung by subpar production
Bob Dylan
5/5
i somehow has avoided this album entirely before this, and i was a bit worried about that. i shouldn’t’ve been. it’s excellent
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
this was… fine. very much an elvis costello album, which isn’t really a good thing. getting a bit sick of this era
Aretha Franklin
5/5
i’ve always been torn about albums full of covers, but i totally get it now. these are all well-written songs, and the greatest singer of all time is performing them. the easiest 5 i’ve given so far
Beck
3/5
this is definitely one of the lesser beck albums. fine, but not what i expect from
him
4/5
a very Important album in music history, which isn’t always a good thing with this list. I’m always gonna love some Devo, though
James Brown
5/5
every single live album we’ve gotten so far has been excellent, and this one is truly amazing.
Spacemen 3
5/5
this was pretty great! just weird enough to be interesting, just poppy enough to be listenable, just ambient enough to work to. really scratched an itch for me
The Temptations
4/5
i enjoyed this! never thought the temptations could go this deep on an album, feels like they were still a bit tied to their formula in places but they definitely did something new
Miles Davis
5/5
just great. i’ll always appreciate some miles davis, especially on a weekend album when i had time to really sit with it
Cocteau Twins
5/5
an absolutely incredible album, one of my favorites of all time. another excuse to listen to it was lovely. easy 5
Venom
3/5
every time i listen to metal i wish i could appreciate it more, but i’m just not able to.
The Mars Volta
2/5
yeah this is exactly the type of music i don’t like.
5/5
just perfect. every dylan album we’ve had has been excellent, every live album we’ve had has been excellent. this combines all of that. i wish i could give it a 6.
ABBA
5/5
i can’t believe i’ve never listened to a full abba album before. this is just excellent, i’m going to listen to more now
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
just an excellent album. some great hits and some songs i didn’t know about, and everything was amazing.
The Stooges
4/5
I’ve been disappointed by the majority of “influential” albums we’ve gotten so far. Very happy to be surprised here — it’s entirely listenable, and even though it’s not my ideal thing, a really cool album i wouldn’t’ve encountered otherwise.
The Clash
5/5
just a great album.
Underworld
1/5
not my thing
Carpenters
2/5
mostly (over)sweet love songs, helped a lot by the karen’s voice, which is great. the cover of help is… heinous. really really bad. took this album down a whole point.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
very much in my wheelhouse for a band i have no memory of! excited to hear more, this was great
The Modern Lovers
4/5
as with all velvet derivatives, this doesn’t do the original projects justice but is still quite good. missed the discordant violin, though.
Nick Drake
5/5
we started this journey with a nick drake 5, and this album is even better. beautiful orchestration, great lyrics, easy 5.
Mekons
2/5
i’m not against the concept of alternative rock country, but this just falls flat.
5/5
i was very pleasantly surprised by this! didn’t know i liked pj harvey but really enjoyed it
Deep Purple
3/5
funkier than expected, which is always enjoyable. otherwise very emblematic of the era. i didn’t particularly enjoy it but there were some fun solos
The Go-Betweens
2/5
meh. aggressively meh
Funkadelic
5/5
yeah i mean this is exactly what it is meant to be
The Cramps
4/5
when i saw the description i was worried about more bad 80s punk but this was quite good! very pleasantly surprised
The Velvet Underground
5/5
this album is the first of the softer, gentler velvet underground and marked the major shift in tone after john cale left the group. while i do miss the discordant violin, and this is a clear third in my VU ranking, i’m still happy to have an excuse to revisit it. after hours remains one of my favorite songs ever, it’s just so perfectly sweet.
The Zombies
5/5
very much a product of its time and place — sounds like if brian wilson taught the beatles how to harmonize, and then the result was slightly worse than either. still a really good album, though. i really do love early psychedelia
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
i’m generally exactly fine with echo et al, and this album isnt any different. i liked some stuff, i didnt like other stuff, i’m a bit sick of post punk.
Sepultura
4/5
i almost feel bad rating this, because i’m just not a metalhead and feel like i can’t appreciate it fully. with that being said, there were some really cool moments here
David Bowie
4/5
not the most cohesive album, which is a bit of a disappointment from bowie, but the individual songs are pretty great. i think i’m underrating this because i know he can do so much better
Grateful Dead
4/5
i was a bit disappointed — i’d always heard that this was the dead’s best album, but i’ve preferred others. still solid tho
David Bowie
4/5
somewhat disappointed. the title track is one of my favorites, and i had hoped for more out of this album. still good, but not _all time_ good
4/5
basically the median kinks album — still solid, still impressive, but nothing mindblowing. i liked it, though!
Beyoncé
5/5
yeah this is one of my favorite beyonce albums for a reason. just hit after hit, and some really great producers doing some of their best work. also, it alone is the reason why albums release on fridays now instead of tuesdays, which is a fun fact.
The Last Shadow Puppets
5/5
This was a genuine revelation. Orchestral instrumentation and production combined with Alex’s grimy voice wasn’t something I expected, but I really loved it. Has the vibe of an actor in full sci-fi makeup chain smoking on set. Calm like you was particularly excellent, though every song had something great about it.
Blondie
4/5
I’ve been a Blondie enjoyer since I was a kid, but I somehow never realized all my favorite Blondie songs are on the same album. This was very solid — there were some downs to complement the ups, which is the only reason this isn’t a 5.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
the best 50mins of this is the easiest 5 so far, the worst 50mins is probably a high 4. it averages out to a 5, but i wouldve preferred just a single album. still tho, stevie is stevie
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
this is a really nostalgic album for me, and i’m absolutely biased here, but it couldn’t be anything less than a 5. also, fuck paul ryan
Brian Wilson
2/5
i first listened to this right after watching love and mercy, and i was so excited because the soundtrack of that movie includes all my favorite beach boys songs. this album, however, was a massive letdown. it has a few good moments, but otherwise it feels like a parody of itself more than anything real. it’s a shame, because i feel like wilson had the ability to do something really great.
Joe Ely
3/5
this album has the distinction of the least spotify listens of any we’ve had so far — the final song has only 1,033 total. for all that, i was expecting something terrible or transcendently great. this is… solid. there are some nice moments (cornbread moon), but also some really bad ones (i’ll be your fool). Overall, a totally fine country record
Roxy Music
5/5
brian eno’s debut album, and a surprise for me. it feels experimental but more listenable than i’d expect — you can feel the bones of ambient here, but with sparkly glam flesh. this metaphor may have gotten away from me. anyway, this album was great.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
i feel like i’ve always liked zeppelin but as i’ve gotten more experience listening to music i’ve appreciated them even more. this is a great album
Led Zeppelin
5/5
our second zeppelin in a row, and this is just as good. incredible for a debut album, it feels like the band just appeared fully formed with all their later trademarks. a great listen and an easy 5
Beth Orton
5/5
completely new artist to me, and a real revelation. i love the folk-electronic anachronism of the whole thing, and combined with a lovely singing tone and really beautifully bleak lyrics, this was just great.
Barry Adamson
2/5
one of those really cool ideas in theory that just doesn’t play out very well. closest to ambient music, but lacks the ability to appeal to multiple attention levels — there’s exactly one that works, everything else is either incredibly boring or incredibly distracting. for all that, this is an incredible swing, and the fact that it’s a miss doesn’t take away from it being very cool. i just don’t really like listening to it
Jethro Tull
3/5
this was a totally fine and somewhat good album as a package, but i can’t see myself ever revisiting any of the songs, and i’d be shocked if i listened to the album again.
David Bowie
5/5
transcendent. a perfect capstone to david bowie’s life. it is at once experimental and grounded, perfectly and nothing like anything before it
Britney Spears
3/5
the title track and lead single is an incredible debut song for any artist, maybe the best of all time. a shockingly influential album, but beyond the singles there isn’t much here. the singles still go hard, though.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
the best lyricist of his or any generation. the instrumentation is unobtrusive, letting you really revel in the poetry. the partisan is one of my favorite songs ever written, and bird on the wire is also up there. i can’t name other highlights here because every song brings something new and tragic and beautiful.
Keith Jarrett
5/5
i cannot believe this performance is entirely improvisations. it’s hugely impressive technically, and just good to listen to. really great
Sarah Vaughan
5/5
another great live album. great band, sarah sounds amazing, really chill vibes.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
some really great moments (in your eyes especially), and a technically great album. it dragged a bit in the middle, but overall was still quite good.
Cee Lo Green
2/5
cee-lo is a great vocalist, but that’s the only thing that really stands out here. i found myself bored, which is very bad for a soul album.
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
i knew i’d like the hits, and expected to be disappointed with the rest. that was true, but the rest was better than i expected. the vocal harmonies are often lovely, sometimes boring. the songs have a nice variety, but still relied heavily on covers. overall, a high 3 to low 4. i’ll bump them up to a 4, but it’s close
Dire Straits
5/5
i’d avoided this album in the past because i didn’t love sultans of swing — man was i wrong. this is great; great guitars and very dylan lyrics and tone. really fun listen, and i ended up enjoying SoS when it came up!
New Order
2/5
i’m very much not opposed to genre-bending bands in general, but i didn’t love this from new order. it’s them trying something totally different in vibe, and making something less good than what was (and is) available. still listenable, but not my favorite
Eagles
5/5
the title track might never get old to me, it’s so good every time. everything else was quite good as well! didn’t expect to enjoy it but i really did.
George Michael
2/5
this was pretty disappointing. there’s some good instrumentation but the lyrics are unbearably horny and it sounds generally pretty generic. i still have nostalgia for faith but that’s about it
Christina Aguilera
2/5
if this album was 30-40mins long it would be a solid 4, i think — there’s enough good stuff that you’re pleasantly surprised when it shows up, but it’s surrounded by really bad naughts pop, and it’s a Lot of really bad naughts pop
Laibach
5/5
the exact type of band (and album) which makes me really happy we started this project — dadaist yugoslavian industrial music including a queen cover (and they also did a full album that’s just industrial covers of the beatles’ let it be???? more please). just incredible all around. viewed as an art piece, it’s one of the best i’ve ever seen. it’s also pretty listenable!
Santana
5/5
i’m always down for a santana album, and this is one of my favorites. i own it on vinyl, i listen to it all the time, easy 5
Queen
5/5
this was great! killer queen is one of my favorite songs ever, but the rest of the album was surprisingly good as well! when queen is on, they’re one of the best bands ever, and this is all four doing some of their best work
Goldfrapp
1/5
i feel like there’s a lot of better electronic music that could have been included here, and i don’t even like electronic music that much.
Black Flag
2/5
while the wiki for this album says it was very influential, there’s just not much special about it to me, and i’m fairly burned out on punk recently.
Bebel Gilberto
5/5
i have basically no bossa nova knowledge, but this album was really lovely! good vibes all the way through, really enjoyed the use of electronic music
Blur
4/5
this album feels like the best of britpop — blur incorporating some alternative sound into it, and while the two don’t mesh perfectly, it generally works. i tried to ignore how overplayed song 2 is, and it was pretty good. there were some boring moments, but overall a quite good album.
Air
5/5
a really lovely album, and a surprise — all the french electronic music i’ve heard before has been very club/industrial, so this was a great change of pace. everything here feels very intentional, and this is an album i’ll come back to for sure
Finley Quaye
3/5
this feels different from the reggae we’ve had before in that it’s boring. totally fine album, but not very interesting
Beatles
5/5
the easiest 5 i’m going to give this entire list, this is perhaps the perfect album. not much more to say about the project itself, but i really enjoyed the alternative takes on the deluxe edition — really nice to hear the boys experimenting in the studio, i really wish those sessions were fully recorded like get back was.
OutKast
5/5
one of the best rap albums of all time, and the reason rappers cite andre as the best to ever do it. always technically perfect, really thought-provoking lyrics (and some hits), but the real standout here is the melodies — nobody had done it before, and it took until kid cudi before anyone would do it again. any album that predicts music a decade in the future while also staying listenable deserves a 5.
Arcade Fire
2/5
i’ve always had an irrational dislike for arcade fire and i feel like it was justified here. uninteresting both musically and lyrically, feels like it was designed in a lab for gen x to feel nostalgic towards
Paul Simon
4/5
a strange album — paul seems to be hovering around a political point (and truly the whole album is political) but he can’t write it genuinely so he uses layers and layers of metaphors, which leaves the lyrics a bit tortured (eg graceland is odd any way you slice it). the instrumentation is where it shines though — the mix of african and western music is fabulous (those horns!!), and there wasn’t a moment i was bored. if he had dylan write the lyrics, this would be nearly perfect. instead i have to give it a 4, but a very strong 4. i’m going to absolutely revisit it.
Moby Grape
4/5
a real distillation of 60s psychedelia, but you can tell how this influenced a lot of the 70s, especially the west coast scene. not a perfect album, but innovative and listenable.
UB40
5/5
another great album from a band and genre i have basically no experience with. this list can be bad sometimes but when it’s good, it’s excellent. reggae is always political, but this was really political in a way i love, and you can also vibe to it.
AC/DC
3/5
it’s an album i’ve listened to dozens of times through my childhood, so there’s some nostalgia here, but i was disappointed. of course the songs are well done and the singles are pretty great, but it feels a bit soulless — not sure if it’s just because it’s so iconic, but there’s no “there” there. still solid though
T. Rex
5/5
i don’t like glam rock much but this album was solid! the hits are hits for a reason, and the rest of the album is fun as hell
R.E.M.
3/5
this is imo the median rem album — nothing super special, and even then they’re a 2-4 band for me basically always.
Syd Barrett
2/5
this was…. messy. i think it’s clear what the rest of floyd did, without them it just doesnt sound good
Adam & The Ants
3/5
normally i like weirdness but it was unevenly dispersed across this so it felt not great to me. still some really funny moments, but felt like it could have used some revisions
Fred Neil
4/5
i’m always in for some 60s folk but this felt kind of bland. better than a full cover album but not as good as the top tier of folk from the time
John Coltrane
5/5
yeah this is just perfect. can’t ask for more
Van Morrison
5/5
just a great album. everything meshes perfectly, it feels like nothing should be added or taken away. really enjoyable listen, and i’m gonna come back to it many times
Slipknot
3/5
slipknot is not really ever going to be my thing — i hate their general aesthetic, and i feel like a lot of the vibe flows from the aesthetic. with that being said, this album is very technically good. it’s just not enjoyable for me
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
i’m a sucker for neil young, this isnt my favorite album of his but it’s still pretty excellent
Happy Mondays
2/5
it’s disappointing how such an interesting backstory can result in such a boring album. this is replacement level 80s pop.
The Jam
2/5
it’s disappointing how such an interesting backstory can result in such a boring album. this is replacement level 80s pop
The Specials
4/5
some solid early ska! not my favorite genre but there are some really cool ideas here
Marilyn Manson
1/5
yeah this music is bad and marilyn manson is also a bad person. easy 1
Shuggie Otis
5/5
this is so sick! funky but also weirdly shoegazey? for an album from the early 70s it sounds shockingly modern but also extremely old. really really great
Hawkwind
5/5
doom metally psychedelia? i’m in no questions asked. this has some really amazing instrumentals and really strange lyrics, the fact that it’s a live performance is pretty incredible
Depeche Mode
5/5
i knew i’d like the hit but wow the rest of this album is even better. i’m gonna listen to more depeche now
Stevie Wonder
5/5
yeah what else could you want. instant easy 5, i’ll take stevie any day
Willie Nelson
3/5
willie has a solid voice and the instrumentation is pretty good but it feels lacklustre because it’s a willie album full of covers.
Björk
5/5
a triumph. impressive in every way, really really really experimental but in a way i love. not particularly listenable but definitely entrancing
2Pac
5/5
this is a hard listen knowing what happened to pac about a year later. it’s so personal, so intensely about his experience getting shot. regardless, it’s (of course) technically perfect lyrically and production-wise, and emotional on top of that. really excellent album
Aerosmith
2/5
wholly uninteresting. only a 2 because it’s not bad enough for a 1, which is honestly worse than a 1
Jack White
4/5
really cool instrumentation, if the lyrics were even a little bit better this would be a 5, but they’re just not particularly good
Orange Juice
5/5
really shockingly funky for a scottish band. has poppy lyrics, punky drums, and thundercat-esque bass. fundamentally strange, and yet every element feels necessary
Magazine
2/5
meh. this doesn’t mesh the way i feel like it should — there’s either too much or too little dissonance and nothing is individually good enough to hold it up
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
i’m interested in industrial generally but this felt a bit lackluster? like there’s something interesting here, but i just can’t get at it. giving it a default 3 because i dont think i understand it
ZZ Top
2/5
this feels boring in a way i find everything zz top does boring. i think they’re just not for me
Neil Young
5/5
i’m a genuine sucker for both neil young and folk rock sung in a kinda weird voice. this is both, and it rules. also the lyricism
Amy Winehouse
5/5
amy really is one of the best vocalists of all time, and this album is just great all around.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
4/5
an eno project, and it really sounds like it. there’s something here but it all feels a bit like a mediocre movie soundtrack. you can tell exactly who it inspired (big thief i’m looking at you) but on its own it’s a bit lackluster
Beastie Boys
2/5
this really hasnt aged particularly well sonically. the hits are still good but the rest of it really isnt. also, the combination of rock and rap has rarely ever been anything but bad, and this serves for a reminder of that. there are some interesting lyrics but i can’t get past how bad the flows are. why did people ever listen to the beastie boys over nwa et al?
Elliott Smith
4/5
I can’t really connect to this album the way i feel like i should. it’s definitely well done but emotionally i’m just not feeling it. solidly above average but it feels like it should be a 5 for me and just isnt? idk it’s strange
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
the original songs are amazing, and the covers are quite interesting, though they fall a bit flat for me. it’s squarely in the realm of a medium idea executed extremely well. ends up better than i would expect but not perfect
TLC
5/5
shockingly good, a really perfect distillation of the era. left eye is ofc great, and the production is perfect. i dont remember tlc being this horny but it vibes well honestly.
George Jones
5/5
wow. this is an incredible album, where everything just fits perfectly. emotionally it’s exactly what i didn’t know i needed. gonna be listening to this a lot, and for a while
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
i was surprised that this album was from 1981 because it feels about a decade ahead of its time — the lyrics/vocals are the weakest part of this, and they’re not particularly weak. there are some songs i wouldn’t want to listen to again, which is why this isn’t a 5, but it’s pretty close
Girls Against Boys
3/5
more boring than i wanted it to be — nothing terrible, but not much great either.
Jurassic 5
5/5
really excellent production holding up occasionally shaky lyrics (the perils of a large group, probably). whenever the lyrics aren’t shaky, however, this is pretty much perfect. the melodies especially are fabulous and way ahead of their time. great vibe and a great listen. the rare 5 which has distinct errors, because the rest of it is so good.
Neil Young
5/5
another great neil young album, this one melancholic and political. i only wish this was on spotify so i could listen to it more often.
Roxy Music
2/5
essentially disappointing. i’m pretty bored with this genre now
Bob Dylan
5/5
Another incredible Dylan album. It’s most comparable to Leonard Cohen’s You Want It Darker in terms of theme, but Dylan made it 25 years ago. Of course the lyrics are perfect, and Dylan’s voice maturation is so interesting, and it has excellent instrumentation. Just an all-around great album.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
this was fine, but not for me.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Rumours has a solid argument for being the best album of all time. It lives up to and surpasses its reputation, which is the best compliment i can give it.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
I’m a bit tired of all the new wave on this list, but this is a solid example. The instrumentation is pretty great at times, but the album as a whole falls somewhat flat. between a 3 and 4, i’m rounding down because i can
The Verve
3/5
A solid 80s alternative album. The instrumentation is quite nice, though I found the lyricism and tone kind of lacking. Overall fine, and certainly not too boring.
Morrissey
5/5
I’m biased, but I’ll always love a Morrissey album. The lyrics are unsurprisingly brilliant here, and they’re combined with some really nice instrumentation. I’m probably ignoring some flaws here because I have nostalgia for the british prick, but to me it’s great.
The Darkness
1/5
if you had told me people were still making glam rock in 2003, this is exactly what i’d expect. that’s a bad thing.
Funkadelic
4/5
not as funky as it could have been, but still incredibly funky. if it were a true funk album rather than a funk-rock album it might be a 5, but it’s just not funky enough for that. final verdict: funky, but needs more funk.
Prince
5/5
absolutely perfect. maybe a hot take but this is my favorite prince album — it just goes so hard
Ali Farka Touré
5/5
wow. was completely unfamiliar with this album and artist but it’s really excellent. going to listen to this a lot in the future
Ride
3/5
a perfectly fine rock album, but nothing particularly special. better than average, but not by much.
Violent Femmes
2/5
a disappointment, honestly. i only knew blister going in, and i only want to know blister coming out. some solid instrumentation keeps this from the basement, but i just couldnt get over how bad the vocals were
Beach House
5/5
one of my favorite albums of all time. perfectly captures this desolate, nostalgic vibe. perfect lyrics, perfect instrumentation, perfect album.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
i’m always interested in 60s psychedelia, especially if it’s experimental like this album is. this fell a little flat for me, mostly because of the lyrics, but was still a fun listen
Slipknot
1/5
yeah this is exactly what i expected from the slipknot fans i knew in high school. that’s not a good thing
Fishbone
5/5
goddamn this goes so hard. it’s an education in itself of the relationships between funk, ska, punk, and metal, and it also bangs. really really fun listen, everyone on their a game hitting the perfect notes. slow bus movin is a highlight in an album full of highlights.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
there are some great songs on here (maybe the most legendary intro to a song/album?) but the misses are real misses. i can’t go below a 4, but this reminded me of why the stones have never been my favorite — they’re just really inconsistent
Pearl Jam
4/5
the final song was incredible, and there were some other really nice moments here, but i went in with high expectations and was disappointed. i’m really not sure what it was but i just wanted more from this. technically pretty solid, just very much not as good as it could be.
Adele
5/5
a defining album of the 2010s, just filled top to bottom with huge hits. the songs that aren’t hits are worse, but that’s genuinely a minority here. the production is a lot better than i expected, though it has some unfortunate hallmarks of the era (probably unavoidable but the weirdly aggressive bass hits just annoy me now). the lyrics are what they are, but broadly i was pleasantly surprised. a strong 4 to weak 5, and i’ll round up because i have some nostalgia here.
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
eh. i wasn’t hooked, and struggled to get through this. it’s technically fine, but doesn’t seem to have anything going for it, and i’m really not sure why it was included in this list.
Solange
5/5
a really fabulous album, her voice is of course excellent, the production is perfect, and it has a real emotional heart to it. solange has always been underrated.
Duran Duran
4/5
i love to be pleasantly surprised, and this list has given me a lot of that. i thought the title track, having heard it mostly through my mom’s tinny car speakers, was bad before. i was pretty shocked at how good it was, especially how deep the production went. score one for headphones! other than that, a very solid duran duran album but nothing super exceptional.
Al Green
5/5
some lovely soul, really nice vibe for a monday morning
The Pogues
4/5
certainly better than average for the genre and period, and i’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the pogues, but fundamentally nothing particularly special. the politics are good, which is nice
Steely Dan
4/5
i’ve never really gotten steely dan, and this isn’t an exception, but it was solid in its own way.
Kraftwerk
5/5
wow. just incredible, i’d fully believe this was released recently. just shockingly ahead of its time, and an amazing album regardless.
Neil Young
5/5
one of my favorites. not much else to say.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
possibly the only time i’ve felt sad while listening to funk, which is a really impressive achievement by mayfield
Frank Black
2/5
i really didnt get this. feels like it’s either too weird for me or not weird enough.
Brian Eno
5/5
it’s THE ambient album for a reason. truly amazing soundscapes, and i really love the movement each piece has. put this on while i was working and just vibed, great album.
Guided By Voices
4/5
very solid! weirdly dreamy
Kanye West
5/5
one of my favorite rap albums of all time. the skits are as cringy as ever, the subject matter is often deeply misogynistic, and kanye is objectively a horrible person, but this entirely changed the landscape of hip hop. an astounding debut album, and through the wire still gets me going. there’s something incredible in every song here.
Solomon Burke
5/5
pure, undiluted soul. solomon has such an incredible voice.
Coldcut
2/5
there’s something interesting here, but it’s pretty lost on me. probably sounds a lot better if you’re on e in a basement in south london, but sadly i am at work doing economics research.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
I can’t believe I didn’t think of Frankie S and bossa nova before, but it really goes so well. The songs here aren’t anything special (the Girl from Ipanema being the exception), mainly bossa nova standards and some classic standards, but ol’ blue eyes and the legend antonio carlos jobim really shine. highlights were everything bossa nova, lowlights were the lyrics and the boring standards (meditation…. meh). very solid overall, though.
The Auteurs
2/5
i’m really just so sick of british post-punk. this felt like eating air.
Black Sabbath
4/5
there’s a reason sabbath are legends in metal and rock, and i found this more listenable than expected. it gets a bit boring halfway through, but overall i enjoyed it more than i expected based on my other experiences with metal
Kate Bush
4/5
some legendary songs, but there are moments where it gets a bit old. still pretty amazing though
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
lesser young, but it’s still neil young.
Mudhoney
4/5
the first non-nirvana grunge album i’ve ever listened to, and it’s pretty solid!
ABBA
5/5
just fabulous, as expected. the back half was even better than i remember
Devendra Banhart
4/5
an odd album, and one i was not expecting, but i broadly enjoyed it? hard to rate for sure
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
there’s definitely some amazing moments in here (rufus for sure knows how to write a big finish to a song) but moments of it feel… incomplete. it leaves me wishing it was simultaneously pared down and weirder. i wonder if this suffers from being part 1 of a two-album set. still solid though. very high 3, almost almost a 4.
Blue Cheer
2/5
i know this is like extremely important for metal as a whole but it is just, like, badly mastered with not-great lyrics. disappointing
Janelle Monáe
5/5
A revelation. I hadn’t known much about Janelle Monae beyond her pop hits (mainly features) and her (middling, to be honest) acting. This is surreal and operatic, science fiction and pop and everything. Immediately one of my favorite concept albums ever. Excellent production, amazing vocals and lyrics, and the writing is just great. I want to see the film of this album, which is the highest praise I think I can give. The only sad part is that this is a weekend album so I have to wait until Monday to actually send this review.
Björk
4/5
maybe the most distinctly björk album she’s recorded, for better and for worse. the better is, of course, the precise production and the ethereal vibe of the entire project. the worse is how focused the album is on itself — i may be looking back unfairly, but it feels almost like a parody of itself. still objectively quite good, though.
Ryan Adams
3/5
this is perfectly fine, and not really the artist’s fault, but i think i’d like this a lot more if this album didnt become a patriotic rallying point after 9/11. with that, it’s mildly annoying to me but broadly fine.
The Beta Band
2/5
this is the sort of album where it feels like it should have amazing lyrics to make up for the mid-to-bad quality of everything else. except the lyrics also suck.
Morrissey
5/5
i’m just so biased here because of nostalgia, but i really love this album. basically always have. this was never going to be less than a 5 for me
Missy Elliott
4/5
Elton John
3/5
some real high points, but generally not my favorite.
Stephen Stills
2/5
honestly not really my thing. i think i don’t have the knowledge to appreciate why this is good, but i can’t do anything about that
Stevie Wonder
5/5
it’s stevie. i’ll always love it. not his best, but easily enough for a 5
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
it blew my mind the first time i heard it and continues to blow my mind every time. maybe a perfect album.