Journey Complete!
Finisher #391 to complete the list
1089
Albums Rated
3.66
Average Rating
100%
Complete
Another Green World
Brian Eno
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2020s
Favorite Decade
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Top Origin
Generous
Rater Style
331
5-Star Albums
51
1-Star Albums
Taste Analysis
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Ratings by genre
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Rating Style
You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kollaps | 5 | 1.9 | +3.1 |
| Duck Stab/Buster & Glen | 5 | 2.03 | +2.97 |
| They Were Wrong, So We Drowned | 5 | 2.11 | +2.89 |
| Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman | 5 | 2.22 | +2.78 |
| Rock Bottom | 5 | 2.39 | +2.61 |
| Metal Box | 5 | 2.41 | +2.59 |
| Suicide | 5 | 2.46 | +2.54 |
| Shleep | 5 | 2.51 | +2.49 |
| GI | 5 | 2.54 | +2.46 |
| Don't Stand Me Down | 5 | 2.61 | +2.39 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brothers In Arms | 1 | 3.74 | -2.74 |
| Hotel California | 1 | 3.6 | -2.6 |
| Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 1 | 3.51 | -2.51 |
| Bat Out Of Hell | 1 | 3.45 | -2.45 |
| A Rush Of Blood To The Head | 1 | 3.44 | -2.44 |
| Synchronicity | 1 | 3.42 | -2.42 |
| Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs | 1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
| Lost In The Dream | 1 | 3.38 | -2.38 |
| Hybrid Theory | 1 | 3.38 | -2.38 |
| Shake Your Money Maker | 1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| David Bowie | 9 | 4.78 |
| Brian Eno | 5 | 5 |
| Radiohead | 6 | 4.83 |
| Bob Dylan | 7 | 4.71 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 5 |
| Leonard Cohen | 5 | 4.8 |
| Beatles | 7 | 4.57 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 4.6 |
| Björk | 4 | 4.75 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.75 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4.75 |
| My Bloody Valentine | 3 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 5 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 5 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 5 |
| The Stooges | 3 | 5 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 5 | 4.4 |
| The Kinks | 4 | 4.5 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 4.5 |
| PJ Harvey | 4 | 4.5 |
| The Smiths | 3 | 4.67 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 4.67 |
| Dexys Midnight Runners | 3 | 4.67 |
| Roxy Music | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Beach Boys | 3 | 4.67 |
| Van Morrison | 3 | 4.67 |
| Public Enemy | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Fall | 3 | 4.67 |
| Kraftwerk | 3 | 4.67 |
| Pixies | 3 | 4.67 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 4.67 |
| Can | 2 | 5 |
| Fela Kuti | 2 | 5 |
| Funkadelic | 2 | 5 |
| Ice Cube | 2 | 5 |
| Big Star | 2 | 5 |
| Curtis Mayfield | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| Depeche Mode | 2 | 5 |
| Dusty Springfield | 2 | 5 |
| Fleetwood Mac | 2 | 5 |
| Robert Wyatt | 2 | 5 |
| Orbital | 2 | 5 |
| Billy Bragg | 2 | 5 |
| Iggy Pop | 2 | 5 |
| Aretha Franklin | 2 | 5 |
| Spiritualized | 2 | 5 |
| Cocteau Twins | 2 | 5 |
| Dinosaur Jr. | 2 | 5 |
| Love | 2 | 5 |
| Sly & The Family Stone | 2 | 5 |
| Scott Walker | 2 | 5 |
| Suede | 2 | 5 |
| CHIC | 2 | 5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2 | 5 |
| Isaac Hayes | 2 | 5 |
| Supergrass | 2 | 5 |
| Pavement | 2 | 5 |
| New Order | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4.2 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 5 | 4.2 |
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 4.2 |
| The Byrds | 5 | 4.2 |
| The Cure | 3 | 4.33 |
| Marvin Gaye | 3 | 4.33 |
| Blur | 3 | 4.33 |
| Echo And The Bunnymen | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Kings of Leon | 3 | 1 |
| Eagles | 2 | 1.5 |
| Dire Straits | 2 | 1.5 |
| Ryan Adams | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Police | 2 | 1.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers | 2 | 1.5 |
| Coldplay | 2 | 1.5 |
| Bee Gees | 2 | 1.5 |
| The White Stripes | 3 | 2 |
| Metallica | 4 | 2.25 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Albums | Variance |
|---|---|---|
| AC/DC | 2 | 1.5 |
| Todd Rundgren | 2 | 1.5 |
| Christina Aguilera | 2 | 1.5 |
| Kanye West | 3 | 1.41 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 3 | 1.41 |
5-Star Albums (331)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Einstürzende Neubauten
5/5
An album full of literal bangers. Hahaha, I made myself laugh.
This is fascinating. And yes, obviously better than Kid Rock. I mean, obviously. Are you mad? Of course it is. And Ryan Adams, both of them.
Anyway I like krautrock and I like industrial. And I like experimental stuff, and people smashing shit together while screaming in German. So yeah, high score. Tempted to rate it higher than I rate Sgt Peppers for the lols.
27 likes
Machito
5/5
Oh. Oh yes. OH YES!
The furious bongos, the brass! Hook it directly into my veins!
Have heard the opener around and about plenty of times as a bed under radio hosts but never knew what it was.
If I could give this 7 stars I would. Thank You 1001 albums. I hereby forgive you One of the Ryan Adams entries.
24 likes
The White Stripes
2/5
No write up in the book as it's been removed. Makes sense, two white stripes albums still in there is excessive, three would be insane.
My interest was also waning considerably by this point also. The single, opener track was decent though.
For a 45 minutes long album this somehow way outstays it's welcome. So many jobbing blues jam songs.
Tbh I don't think I would give any white stripes album more than 6.5/10, I'm always bored partway through.
15 likes
The KLF
5/5
Hard to get on streaming, but there's the odd serviceable playlist cobbling this together from the stuff they released back onto services a couple of years ago after a far too long absence.
One of the most interesting stories of any
band ever, surely. There is an absolutely essential John Higgs book about them and their influences (occult, dadaist, conspiracies - the story of how the popularised concept of the Illuminati as an all powerful shadowy organisation was essentially invented as a joke then took on a life of its own, is mad in itself).
The fact they blew out of obscurity, topped the charts with apparent ease for a couple of years as a kind of joke/art project and then fucked off again, signing a pact to never use the name again and deleting all of their records.
The music, I see plenty of baffled Americans here in the reviews. I guess you had to be there. It's commercial house. But at the time when it blew on the scene I just remember thinking, What Is That Noise And Where Can I Get More Of It?
I still think last train, 4am eternal and what time is love are bangers.
But the real star here is Justified Ancients. You must watch the video. An absolute classic tune. Just pure joy. Problem is I don't think the version I love is the one on the album. The single version is the one. Bring the beat back!
That notwithstanding this is obviously getting a 5. These are two Scottish guys who convinced Tammy Wynette to appear on their record and sing the words "they're justified, and they're ancient, and they drive an ice cream van" on top of the pops.
14 likes
Orbital
5/5
Absolutely love this, just pure bliss. It was a happy day back in 1997 when someone pressed this into my hands at uni. Obviously had some familiarity with Orbitals before that but it didn't extend much further than Chime, The Box and Satan. I didn't even know Belfast at that point. Anyway, got a hold of this work of genius and I didn't look back.
Walk Now... is admittedly annoying, but the rest of the album is basically perfect, so despite not liking one track it's getting 5 because of all the bellends giving it 1.
14 likes
4-Star Albums (318)
1-Star Albums (51)
All Ratings
Violent Femmes
5/5
One of my favourites, know it inside out
Green Day
2/5
Longstanding fan of everything up to and including Dookie. But nah, there's easily 2002 better albums to listen to this.
Never listened before because I was fully done with them by this point. Heard the singles and thought nah. Maybe It's ok. Maybe I just stopped liking new Green Day stuff when I stopped being a teenager when they came out. It's a theory.
Wait, what? The second track is 9 minutes long. Who are this band? Starts off aping the Beach Boys and then segues into All the Young Dudes. Actually quite funny how all over the place it is.
What the hell, the next track is 8 minutes.
Ha, Bush sent them mad. Ok I'm on board now. Might get 3 stars just because of how ridiculous it is.
Yeah boulevard is still as dull as it always was.
I see what's happening here, they've just removed the space between separate songs.
Nah, too long and too many mediocre songs. 2 stars it is.
Eagles
2/5
Apparently obligatory Big Lebowski reference. With that out of the way, I can't really argue with Take It Easy, oh well, until the banjo kicks in, fuck off man.
This album came up early and I skipped it for months because it's The Eagles. Came back to give it a fair crack now.
If Witchy Woman is representative of the better songs, then this isn't going to be fun. Shite.
I didn't have high hopes for a song called 'Chug all night' and those expectations were realised.
Following that with Most of us Are Sad is actually hilarious.
The vocal harmonies are very nice. There are some songs I can tolerate... (Train leaves...) And heck, these obviously influenced Midlake and other stuff I like. But, well -
Ok I'm just going to say, it's not for me.
1 star for an imagined version of Take it Easy with no superfluous banjo, and 1 star for being in some way responsible for Van Occupanther.
Tito Puente
4/5
Just a joy.
Love a bit of this. Mambo!
Motörhead
4/5
Will be the first listen for me. Only really heard the title track and the Triple H entrances. Need to listen to more Hawkwind as well.
I mean it was never going to be a surprise was it. Loads of amazing, meaty guitar solos.
Jailbait, well, yeah..hmm.
Listening to an album like this first 40 years after its already influenced your musical tastes vicariously for years, can sometimes be a touch underwhelming.
So, not blown away for those reasons. But there's no doubting it's a fantastic album.
Megadeth
3/5
It's energetic isn't it. So this is what my mates were listening to at school. I was happy with Faith No More.
Does sound pretty much exactly like I imagined it to. Apparently massively influential, so again the curse of I've heard loads influenced by it but not the thing itself. All good metal, not massively my thing, I think I prefer my metal slightly less noodly in, always space for some of this for me but more likely in small doses.
Mind you the solos and rhythm guitar for the second half of Lucretia are excellent.
David Gray
1/5
Nope. Selling loads doesn't mean i have to listen to it, I heard all the identical singles 1001 times, that's plenty.
Babylon is a place where this doesn't exist.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Very nice. Not my thing particularly, but would happily stick on a Sunday afternoon.
4/5
A pop classic from the off. Such style, an iconic record, not much point writing more. Launched a lot of inferior rips, but not their fault.
T. Rex
4/5
Ok. Only ever heard best ofs of T-Rex. I hear the 'formulaic' criticism/concern of Tony Visconti and yeah its valid, but at the same time, even the not standout tunes here are so irrepressible its hard not to love the whole thing. The formula is gold.
Interested to see how this compares to Electric Warrior.
Best tracks, Chariot Choogle, Metal Guru, Buick Mackane
Aerosmith
2/5
I kind of expected to hate this, so I put it off.
I didn't initially hate it, kind of irrepressible, big daft late 80s rock.
To little me, this and the Run DMC track was what Aerosmith were, I had no idea of the 70s stuff until I heard REM cover Toys in the Attic and realised oh, they've been around since then? And Sweet Emotion is a banger.
But this is Pump. Love in an Elevator has aged badly, as has most of this really, it's very dated. Side A really isn't very good.
The Other Side though, is still very good, as it goes. That and My Girl I would still listen to.
As the album goes on, it does get more interesting, it has to be said. The guy wasn't wrong in referencing Led Zep in Voodoo Medicine Man, wowsers.
I waivered from 1 star all the way up to 3 whole stars. It should think itself lucky though. Actually, no, thinking back to that side A, it's getting 2.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
Superb album that gives the lie to the idea that records after long hiatus are never good. This is excellent. Such a lush and glorious sound.
It's not quite as good as Loveless, but MBV albums are so rare that doesn't matter. Finishes off with a wonderful cacophony as well.
Sade
3/5
Another one I skipped because I wasn't in the mood.
Doesn't sound nearly as 80s as I expected it to in 2022. maybe if i played it through my mum's kitchen radio then it would.
It's a very nice sound - but it doesn't take long to fade into the background. samey.
Frankies first affair was good. As was I will be your friend.
Not very likely to come back to this often but it was good.
Björk
5/5
Nas
4/5
So this might be the greatest hip hop album of all time, but it's not my favourite.
I was pretty ignorant of it though, wasn't into much besides the Beasties and old school 80s rap at this time. My tastes developed but I didn't go back to this.
Hearing it now, I can see why it's loved and admired, and Nas has great delivery, but it's not really my thing. Definitely decent.
...
That's what I was originally writing anyway, then, song by song, this just got it's hooks in me. What a great album.
Are those sleigh-bells in Half-time? Is this Nas' Xmas song about smoking weed and staying alive on the streets?
Anyway, I'm bumping up to 4 stars because of that incredibly strong run of tracks through the middle.
Tracks - NY State of Mind, The World is Yours, Half-time, Memory Lane, Represent.
Eminem
3/5
I bet this has aged terribly.
Can
5/5
Well this is already great. Previous knowledge of Can was basically all of Tago Mago and Vitamin C.
But this is Can chilled out and spaced out. Real head music, as they say... So glad I've got another go-to record by them now.
Le Tigre
4/5
WHO TOOK THE BOMP FROM THE BOMPALOMPALOMP, WHO TOOK THE RAM FROM THE RAMALAMADINGDANG!?
Love Le Tigre.
Love this album.
The Smiths
5/5
Ha, excellent timing to give me this during Jubilee week.
Not listened because I played this to death growing up so it's indelibly marked upon my psyche, I can play it to myself whenever I want.
Eminem
3/5
Both Eminem albums? 1 year apart. Nah. Surely you drop this one to make room for something new and groundbreaking.
Still, when I look at what's on this it's hard to argue against. Bought it, like everyone else when it came out, same as the debut. Kind of not interested in listening again though.
Don McLean
3/5
The title track doesn't feel like 8 minutes.
Always liked Vincent, but mainly for punk covers by the likes of NOFX. I will say I prefer the cover, like the godless heathen I am.
Crossroads is quite beautiful and understated.
I do not like Everybody loves me baby.
The other tracks washed over me.
Fela Kuti
5/5
This is what I'm doing this for. Love a bit of Afrobeat and well aware of Fela Kuti's legend (and of course Ginger Baker's) but not got around to listening to many legendary albums. The groove is alive.
Oh my god, the drumming.
Superb
Sleater-Kinney
5/5
1997, great year for music. I listen to this all the time, but probably only discovered it about 10 years ago. One More Hour, right in the feels. Oh you've got the darkest eyes.
John Lee Hooker
2/5
Not fond of the title track, the late 80s production really leaves me cold, and Santana's guitar coupled with this just feels easy listening. In the Mood is more the blues sound I was expecting and much better. Not a big Bonnie Raitt fan though, have a feeling this isn't going to be for me. The Canned Heat one is pretty good, decent groove. The George Thorogood one is excellent. Rockin Chair just John Lee on his own is great. Some really good tracks here then. As a whole album though I'm underwhelmed.
The Undertones
3/5
So, fan of the Undertones but only really heard those singles. This is all good fun, none of the first 5 are really getting their hooks in me before they're already finished, but hey that's ok, another one will be along in less than 2 minutes. And I guess that's the point.
Feargal sounds a bit like Hugh Cornwell on Jump Boys in places, the first song that stands out for me.
Here Comes the Summer is fantastic obviously. In, shake it all about, out, done, in a minute and a half. Bosh.
True Confessions really stands out from the jangle pop that surrounds it, great stuff. And after that, more fun, fine but fairly forgettable pop punk. So there's 5 terrific tracks here in the middle for me.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
My assumed position is Led Zep 3 is the best but the first 3 tracks here, you know, you've got to question it. Absolutely love the Battle for Evermore. And I mean I like the lord of the rings and everything but if anything that takes away rather than adds from it, I just love it as a thing.
Never particularly understood the obsession Stairway to Heaven gets. Also don't recognise it in anything Wayne plays in the guitar shop. But hey it's a good song.
Misty is loads of fun. Going to California, oh my heart.
Yeah, at When the Levee Breaks and it's confirmed. Stairway is the only song on this album I don't absolutely love.
Jane Weaver
4/5
A really nice album. Like her stuff generally but hadn't heard this before for some reason. Silver globe and Amber are really great.
Lots of gentle motorik beats all over this.
Nirvana
5/5
Madonna
4/5
Being 8 when this came out the singles unsurprisingly surrounded me. I liked the title track of course. Less bothered by the others. Into the Groove is fabulous but not on this album, which I've never listened to before now.
I was not aware of the Prince duet, which is a lovely little nugget to add to my library. The deleted track Supernatural is also going in.
Exception on the singles, Dear Jessie I had completely forgotten existed and reminds me a lot of Erasure on The Circus. Nice.
The Jam
4/5
Another band I've always liked but it occurs to me I've never listened to their albums. I've listened to more Style Council albums it turns out. Not really a fan of any of Weller's solo work.
First impressions are that this is nowhere near as immediate, or spiky as I would expect from The Jam. So will it reveal itself from repeated listens, maybe so.
After the first 3 fairly nondescript tracks, the following three are terrific, I'm really settling into this, In The Crowd a brilliant closer to side 1. The lyrics are predictably interesting. Musically not much arrests me on side B until the big single that sends us home. Probably a grower.
Neneh Cherry
4/5
Had a couple of late 80s albums this week taking me back to my youth. But really striking how contemporary they sound these days, ten maybe 15 years ago this would sound as dated as hell but not now, aside from the odd scratch noise. This sound is everywhere in modern music. All time bangers front and centre, it's a blast at the beginning. I drift off halfway through as nothing can compete with the absolute classic singles particularly, but it's still a great, fun, pop album.
Justice
4/5
Serie A, Channel 5, John Barnes!
Will forever associate Phantom pt 2 with that one season that happened.
Another fun album, possibly more fun and zippy than Daft Punk were, but admittedly not as good. I can see this one getting displaced by better stuff down the line but you never know, there's some weird choices in the list.
Even so, this is one I come back to semi-regularly.
D.A.N.C.E, Phantom, New Jack, The Party, Stress all obvious highlights.
Waylon Jennings
2/5
Not usually a fan of country but there are exceptions, I went into this with an open heart. First track I thought hmm. 2-4 I'm genuinely enjoying it, perhaps for the novelty, perhaps they're standout. I can see it's good, but after that I'm tapping out tbh, I just lose interest.
Weird that there's absolutely no Lee Hazelwood in this book. Stuck Nancy & Lee on immediately afterwards to cleanse my palate.
Bob Dylan
5/5
What can you say, one of the great Dylan albums.
Subterranean is outstanding, 115th Dream is still hilarious, Tambourine, Eden, Only Bleeding and Baby Blue still some of his all time best songs. The first side is great, but side B is pure gold. Not a duff song on here and the best was still to come.
The xx
2/5
The first album that's no longer in the book as of 2021 edition (app must have missed this). It was always weird that The XX's 3rd album was ever included, but that's gone too.
Feels slightly harsh on the debut which is pretty good, although from memory there were only about 4 songs on it that were standout, being generous, and they very much capture the moment around the end of the 00s. Immensely parody-able, listening to it now, and tbf the overtly stylised nature of the band meant they always were at the time.
The rest of the album just sort of maintained the mood, meandering without doing anything special. But the standout songs were good, some not as good as I remember, and sometimes we're just in Chris Isaacs territory... I always found the bloke annoying. In the end agree with the decision to ditch from the 1001.
MC Solaar
4/5
Only vaguely heard of this guy but I knew the French love their hip hop, never explored before. This is pretty great, love the title track. I love 80s hip hop and rap but I kind of got off the bus somewhere early to mid 90s and never truly got back on. Always got time for exceptions like Dave and such.
I don't like the ragga one, I'm not target audience, but I won't hold it against the album as a whole which is well worth a listen.
This has a lot to like about it, much genres covered, and some of that early 90s production that works great for some things (this) and terribly for lots of other stuff.
Kind of doesn't matter that I haven't got a clue what he's rapping about, it's a great soundscape.
Underworld
5/5
Up against a deadline at work this morning and this is precisely what I needed to keep me motivated.
All killer no filler.
Bert Jansch
4/5
Yeah Ok, so i have to say most of it washed over me somewhat as nice enough folk noodlings at first, until Do You Hear me jumped out, and enjoyed "Ramblings..."
The guitar playing is obviously excellent throughout. Casbah is superb. Went back to relisten to Needle of Death.
Am getting it now, need to settle into it, it's not a one listen wonder. Can see how influential this would be, as a big Robyn Hitchcock fan I knew the name, but had never heard before.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
The book has it right, this is a low key, brilliant album. Unquestionably their best, and most consistent.
Been a fan of these since Losing My Edge turned up on a label sampler my friend had, thought that was cool, then heard the amazing, blipping, squelchy Yeah and the New-Order-on-amphetimines Beat Connection and I was sold. The debut was good with some obvious high points but I found myself listening to the familiar disc of pre-existing singles much more.
This is a fully formed album from the off, opener Get Innocuous dismissing any fears they'd spaffed most of their best ideas before even releasing an album.
The weaker songs 'time to get away', 'watch the tapes' and the title track are still full of hooks and good enough to keep the vibe going.
'Weaker' being a relative term, as compared against the delicious joyful-mournfully celebratory 'Someone Great' and ultimate anthem to nostalgic wanderings through lost weekends and togetherness, 'All of My Friends'. Far and away the 2 best songs here, and the latter probably the best the band ever did.
After that Us V Them is an admirable attempt to combine their best bits from other songs and does a good job, 'New York...' sends us home tripping up the first two stairs on our way to bed with a crashing indie rock jam.
It's a great album.
Can
5/5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
This was my favourite Stevie album, until I got into Inner Visions. Wonderful
Neil Young
3/5
The first Neil Young album to come up in my journey, suspect I may feel similarly about all of them but we'll see. Have never particularly got Neil Young, despite following lots of artists and bands who sing his praises to the moon.
Generally, all nice and good for a Sunday afternoon but it just doesn't grab my attention.
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
Great
The Stranglers
4/5
Used to love these as a kid, but only ever had two different Best of albums. Naturally much of this was on it. So I never got around to listening to any of their albums proper, here we go.
You've got to love that bass.
Kicks off with a song about smacking your girlfriend around, nice. I knew there was always this edge, with Peaches obviously, who knows if it's sincere. Had a feeling the lyrics wouldn't age well, but the sound is wonderful.
Grip was always one of my favourites of there's and it's my favourite on this album. Absolute stone cold banger. I don't think there's anything else here quite up to that high standard, but it's good. To be fair though, I will probably go back to the best ofs next time I need my Stranglers hit. Need Strange Little Girl and others.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Magical
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Why is Little Wing so short. It's just getting started and it ends, I want more.
Patchier and scratchier than the debut certainly but still some stonkers here.
ZZ Top
4/5
All I understood ZZTop to be was this incredibly 80s, incredibly American sound. So I look forward to hearing Le Grange etc for the totally different sound.
Never a huge fan of the singles, though they're obviously big old pop songs and you can't fault the craft. Tbh I think only Gimme all your Lovin had a serious impact in the UK. For me anyway.
Great for any time I'm feeling in the mood for big daft rock such as this - not in anyway to denigrate it, those times and places do happen.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Pulp
5/5
If you ignore Suede (who aren't really Britpop) this is pretty inarguably the best, most consistent Britpop album. The absolute peak, and a lovely old evisceration of the somewhat vacuous culture that surrounded it.
That the 90s are now looked upon by many as the good old days, tells you everything you need to know about the absolute state we are in now, in 2022.
Steely Dan
4/5
Haha, nice. I never did listen to song that The Man Don't Give A Fuck sampled. But Showbiz Kids is a cracker.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
Yeah, can't be arsed with this one. Enjoyed it back in 2007 or whenever, but not a single one of their records since and the Alex Turner hero worship that followed is kind of annoying. But mainly I just didn't like the music. This is clearly the best one though and obviously the lyrics are clever. Blah
Kanye West
5/5
Ahh FFS. He's actually good isn't he.
Not consciously avoided him but have somehow got this far without listening to him or much awareness at all besides the daft shite he gets up to in public life.
But this is bloody good.
Never Let Me Down is pretty special.
Have tried tracks on their own in the past and just shrugged. Maybe I was never in the mood.
This is ridiculously good actually. Surely one of the all time greatest debuts.
Guess I'd better check the other good ones.
Funkadelic
5/5
The Kinks
5/5
All time classic.
The Clash
4/5
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
Primal Scream
4/5
Well very nearly, 2 days before the 25th anniversary this comes up.
Lovely.
It does sort of feel its age to me this one, I guess because I lived through it and heard it lots at the time but not much since. This is the last Scream album I listened to in great detail. The 90s big beat style is front and centre. Medication is a hangover from when they thought they were the Rolling Stones and sounds a lot like 'Rocks', I can take or leave that one.
Still, it's a very good album. The dub stuff is great, Long Life is great, Burning wheel is up there with the best things they've ever done, and Trainspotting stands up well, probably the one song on this album I have heard the most down the years in fact.
Queen
3/5
So having only ever listened to one Queen album, The Miracle, when I was a kid, this will be interesting, I recognize zero of the song titles here. Thought BR would be on it given the cover, but nope.
Ok. So yeah this sounds like Queen (apart from the exceptions below), except you just haven't heard the song eleventy billion times. Oh and sometimes it's batshit crazy (ogre battle).
My favourite song by a distance is one that doesn't sound like Queen and instead sounds more like quiet Led Zep, Some Day One Day. In fact, Billy Corgan 100% knows and likes this song, whatever he says, basically half of Siamese Dream (an album I love, but credit where it's due) is this song.
The Loser sounds even more like Led Zep, loud version this time, creditable Robert Plant impression from Roger Taylor taking over vocals.
Funny How Love is sounds a lot like good era Beach Boys so that's good.
So, more tolerable, but mostly sounds like Queen, so I'll pass thanks. Appreciate Queen for what they were and there is a lot to like but it's not for me. Overall did enjoy the listen but probably will only listen to the Smashing Pumpkins one and the Beach Boys one again.
Khaled
4/5
Interesting, so yeah, I am of the incorrect culture to know this guy, or anything much about Rai in general. So going in more or less blind, it's a lot of fun, a lot of variety of styles (funk, samba, samba accordian, sir?) so you're never bored. Do skip over the cover of Imagine though as that is an abomination. Track 3, man, really? Do you want people to listen to your long long record, or not?
The persevering explorer however will be rewarded with a good time. I could do without a second soft rock version of C'est la nuit though.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
Smooooooooth.
Niiice!
Grrrreat
Schmoking!
Mmmm, nice.
Wonderful!
Suuuuuperb.
Dr. Dre
2/5
Most of this isn't on Spotify anymore, but I listened to what I could. After getting Ice Cube the previous day, the contrast for me is stark. As much as I loved that, this just leaves me cold. Never been a Snoop fan, or a Dre fan particularly. I get what he does and that it is good, it's just not for me. A few decent tracks here but I find I'm appreciating them rather than enjoying them, it's just literally not for me.
Ice Cube
5/5
What a record. Very nearly 30 years old. Terrifyingly little progress in some quarters in that time since the Rodney King riots.
Righteous anger and vitriol ripples through this. Today was a Good Day, obvs one of the best rap songs of all time, even if I sort of blame it's success for Puff Daddy trying to repeat the formula over and over again for years with boring results. But this album is just really high quality the whole way through.
Beck
4/5
Big fan of Odelay and Vultures, I've been a sporadic fan since. One of those artists I keep intending to get through their last few albums but I never quite do. So, um yeah, this one took me almost 20 years to get around to. Oops.
Woah, Paper Tiger. Getting his Serge on.
Ooh, it's sad Beck. Okay. Lush production on Lonesome Tears. Gorgeous song.
Some of the quieter ones I think are going to take a few listens to appreciate.
At the end, yeah, rating this after one listen feels fraudulent. But I will definitely revisit this.
SAULT
5/5
Listened to Air recently which I loved for the Stepney/Reich vibes in equal measure.
That's nothing like this, I've only heard bits before, enough to know that Air was a departure, and that they released music faster than I could keep up.
This is pretty wonderful. Never stays the same, never dips in quality. Fully justified inclusion, hopefully will withstand the brutal culls that more modern albums suffer with each new edition.
Big Star
5/5
Often heard about them when reading REM interviews in the music press way back when, but pre-streaming/internet I would never hear them. So I guess now I'm going to hear them.
The full album is on A***on Music, which trump's Spotify's pitiful offering of missing tracks.
And, well, it's beautiful. Of course I was going to like this as a lifelong fan of REM, particularly their early stuff, of which this is most reminiscent, or vice versa.
You can absolutely hear the Replacements too, and stuff like the Green Pajamas.
Yes the production is loose as fuck, but for me thats all part of the charm.
There's great tunes here, that vary between up tempo freak outs (You can't Have Me) and quietly devastating (Holocaust). Kanga Roo feels like a precursor to shoegaze in places and is absolutely wonderful.
Anyway I'm a sucker for the mythology around 'lost' records like this, and 'Smile', with tracks scattered around all over the place, where noone can agree on the running order. Then someone finally does, decades later.
Love it.
Sam Cooke
5/5
Absolutely wild, I never heard this before.
What an amazing good time gig. What else can you say about Sam Cooke. Who knows if this would be the peak of his powers. Absolute tragedy that 18 months later he'd be killed.
Dire Straits
2/5
Well, this falls into the category of yeah I can see what they're doing, but I'm not going to suddenly like Dire Straits after all these years.
Aside from sultans of swing I'm not really feeling anything. I got really really bored towards the end.
Mudhoney
4/5
Bring the scuzz, properly dirty.
Lovely.
In N out of Grace is epic
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Very much a toe dipper in the world of Nick Cave, I like what I hear but not delved into the albums. So why not start with a double album, yeah.
First track is surprisingly raucous, though I know he's got that side clearly, Birthday Party, Grinderman. And it's great.
Few tracks in, loving the vibe.
Oh my god, There She Goes my Beautiful World, how have I never heard this before, this is fuckin ace. Nature Boy I have heard and it's fabulous. This is so great.
Second half sounds different but still has some bangers, Spell being the most obvious, just wonderful.
So at the end of it, happily knew several tracks so I've not been totally missing out, but what a great, warm album, altogether. Going on the list.
Pink Floyd
4/5
Funny one this. Came to Floyd for the Syd Barrett stuff, via Robyn Hitchcock, I have no real love for later iterations and that's always been my position, despite mates and the entirety of society insisting it's one of the best records ever made. Certainly one of the best covers. So let's see.
There's some obvious classics here, Breathe, I wish was as long as Money (see below), 2 minutes is a waste of that lush sound. Great Gig, is obviously stratospheric.
Aside from that, On the Run is some fun noodly noises, fine, Time is nice in a cross between the previous two tracks kind of way, so far we are all good for playing on a hot day.
Money, I just do not care for that much. I enjoy the odd time signature, that's good, but other than that it's just a blues rock song, which is fine, I just don't feel it.
Us and Them is the centrepiece I warm to, that's great. I like that the rest of the album bleeds into eachother and Eclipse is a good finish.
So ok, it gets a 4 - mainly because of the classics. will I listen to it often, no.
Willie Nelson
2/5
Sounds nice and sounds like Willie Nelson.
It's just not for me.
Jurassic 5
4/5
It's a Jurassic 5 record.
Day at the races, What's Golden, I Am Somebody are sublime. The rest is merely great.
Shivkumar Sharma
4/5
First off, go to YouTube. Ignore the Spotify version which is not good.
This is pretty magical, all told. The last track is gorgeous. It's a shame you have to faff with YouTube and VLC and whatnot as otherwise I can see me sticking this on more often.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Didn't listen this time but it's a classic, probably their best, most consistently great album.
The The
4/5
The The are great.
I think I might like this one more than Soul Mining. Not sure.
Obviously the production has way dated now, but they're still great. Mrs sat next to me says it really shows how much INXS ripped them off and by god she's right.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Dunno why but I just get put off listening to this one -
The best songs are not the singles (although Sway is great, if that counts) -
Can't you hear me knocking probably my favourite, superb riff. Moonlight Mile.
There's some nice blues and stuff. I much prefer Townes Van Zandt's version of Dead Flowers.
It's a good album no question but I've never completely understood why it's vaunted by many as the best Stones album.
Tracy Chapman
3/5
Great lyrics, great voice. Ultimately not my thing though.
Fast Car is timeless obviously. Behind the Wall sadly still totally relevant.
Baby Can I Hold You utterly tarnished in my mind by the ubiquitous Ronan Keating bloody version.
Rocket From The Crypt
5/5
Summer of 69 and On a Rope don't get old. Love the horn section. It's a blast.
Come see Come saw is basically Jumping Jack Flash, but hey the whole album is a gas gas gas.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
It's a good indie rock album. Mad that it's nearly 20 years old and there really haven't been many good indie rock albums since.
Not hugely surprised it's left the book as for all it's qualities, aside from Take Me Out it's not that outstanding/noteworthy in this context. Michael and Darts of Pleasure my favourites.
Stan Getz
4/5
Bossa Nova. Tick.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
It's Curtis Mayfield.
M.I.A.
5/5
Listened to this a bit before but only a bit.
Love the rhythms and fusion. Boyz is great, Jimmy is spectacular.
Wasn't sure 20 Dollars worked as a lifelong Pixies/New Order fan, but on repeat it's a banger.
XR2 is parp-tastic
Paper Planes is a classic. But it's sampling the Clash so of course it is.
It's a great record.
Shame about the whole antivax bullshit, but you can't have everything.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
App deleted my notes. Anyway. This is good. Looking forward to the other two given the fuss made of Kevin Rowland in the music press if this is the worst one.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Probably his best album. Automatic 5 stars.
Shack
3/5
Friends have banged on about Mick Head's bands for ages now, I've heard this and thought it was alright but I'd already been listening to Teenage Fanclub for years so just hear that in it. I'm told Shack had that sound first, I don't know, but Sparky's Dream existed for years before 'Comedy' and I can't help but hear the exact same chorus. Although, that is a delightful song.
Beta Band vibes on the backing vocals of Captain's Table.
Streets of Kenny is really great. With a really weirdly abrupt ending.
So, to my ear nothing original, and tbh, after Streets of Kenny nothing really holds my interest (except Since I Met You). But it is really well done. Had I heard this back in 1999 I would very likely have been all over it.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Almost as good as The Soft Bulletin. Do You Realize is one of their greatest ever songs.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
Immediately exiled from the book after one edition! That's harsh, and somehow symbolic. The world doesn't care, but likes to appear that it does, then quietly undo everything when people aren't looking.
And so many garbage albums that outlived their relevance years ago remain. Yes, David Grey.
Anyway, this is really good. To be fair, there's quite a lot of excellent desert blues and whatnot floating around these days if you listen out for it. Which is a great thing. This is a good example of it.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
Yeah it's nice and that. I'm always just left a bit cold by Neil Young. Obvs there's more variety here because there's Stills too. And some other people! And it's late 60s flower music, groovy and stuff. It's good, but nothing really stands out for me and I just can't see me sticking it on again.
Wire
5/5
So many ideas.
Ex lion tamer and Mannequin fantastic pop punk. Strange I heard the REM cover first.
Short, stabby, songs everywhere else.
No need to write much here it's so massively influential. The longer it goes on the better it gets.
Fabulous album.
Metallica
2/5
Bar a few songs, not a Metallica fan. I like my metal but they just bore me. So here we go.
1 track in, in danger of bouncing off immediately. Played to perfection, just not particularly interesting.
Title track appeals to my Prog-livities, much better. Eye of Beyolder- meh. One, lovely intro. An intro as long as several Wire songs. One is one of the few Metallica songs I already like going into this and it's obviously one of the greatest metal songs of all time, Billy Corgan also obviously loves this song and Siamese Dream very reminiscent of it. So, moving on, what's after that?
Lots more meh, it turns out.
Was literally mind wandering then I heard the line "loss of interest, question wonder", ha.
I think this is getting a 2 because I need to like more than 2 songs in an hour of music. But One deserves more than that on its own. Shame it brought it's mates.
Ah, damn. Dyers Eve is good, right at the end. Still though, I like less than half the album so it's gotta stay a 2.
Went back to Megadeth to remind me thrash could be fun.
Sex Pistols
3/5
It sounds great. Obvs hugely important.
Judging it as an actual record -
Most of the album tracks are, well, a bit shit aren't they. 6 great tracks ranging from really good to all time classics, 6 shite tracks. 6.5/10
The Birthday Party
4/5
A glorious racket.
Dire Straits
1/5
Got this the day after The Birthday Party.
It's funny how people's definitions of 'unlistenable' vary so radically.
This is such a slog. Although it regularly meanders into the background, so easy forget it's on. A bit like all the singles did when they came on the radio in the kitchen in the 80s.
But also overlong. Half the album is just twinkly nothing.
And I'm sure you could do the prog intro to Money For Nothing and still close out the rest within 5 minutes. 8 and a half? Get out.
The first album in project I have to give a 1 to, I just dislike all of it. It is absolutely not necessary to listen to this before you die.
Gorillaz
2/5
Wasn't surprised on looking up to see this has gone from the book, it's a fine, decent indie dance genre-hip-trip-hopping album but 20 years later (eek) I don't exactly think of it as earth changing.
We are also slap bang in the era of too-long albums from bands who feel they must squeeze all the space out of a CD. Not many of these tracks are what I'd consider essential, either.
There's a couple of surprises though, the smokey Latin Simone saunters in towards the end and steals the show for me. I have no memory of this at the time. 19-2000 holds up well. Slow Country was nice.
The band was a fun gimmick, giving Jamie Hewlett a paycheck after Tank Girl, which is nice.
The Clint Eastwood remix at the end is, and always was, hella annoying.
Roxy Music
4/5
Have floated around Roxy all this time but never truly dove in for whatever reason. Daft because I would clearly love it. This is one of the albums I've never even listened to once.
Well, this is great. Thrill of it all, and Out of the Blue, both superb. The whole last half of the album.
David Bowie
5/5
Genesis
4/5
Bounced off these for so long because of the horrible populist noise they became in the Invisible Touch era. Despite knowing they're prog behemoths under Peter Gabriel.
But anyway, how could I like the Flaming Lips and not like this, is I guess. There's still lots to find annoying, and it's partly the stuff here that's pisstake-worthy (see The Battle of Epping Forest's singular ridiculousness) and the worst excesses of Yes that I blame for my not realising how much fantastic music there was to discover in the prog genre until way late in my musical journey.
But if you put all your preconceptions aside, and just give in to it, this is a joyous record.
Bob Dylan
5/5
It's Blonde on Blonde.
Simply Red
1/5
Oh Christ. This is going to test my commitment more than Brothers in Arms did, isn't it.
Ok, I listened. It's toss.
Actually a shame, an album full of left leaning, anti-capitalist lyrics including a massive smash hit taking the piss out of Reaganomics at its absolute height, you just want it to be good. A Talking Heads cover, as well.
To be fair, Come To My Aid has a decent track struggling to get out with decent Orange Juice/Smith's guitar work but Hucknall smothers it by being annoying all over the top of it.
The rest is cod lounge-jazz crap. Or the worst kind of 80s mainstream electro rock. With Mick Hucknall being really annoying all over the top of it.
I was softening slightly thinking about the good points but then Open the Red Box happened and sealed the 1/5.
Lou Reed
4/5
It just sounds epic.
Listened for the first time only a few months back. Couldn't believe I'd left it so long.
I would watch the imaginary stage show that all these songs are taken from, and have a good cry, I'm sure.
The Kids is a real tough listen.
Goldfrapp
4/5
Removed again. Yeah fair enough. Felt Mountain is obviously great, Black Cherry is possibly even better so if a 2nd Goldfrapp album is going in it's 100% that one, I love both those albums and regularly go back to them. I stepped off though at Ooh La La because it sounded just like Train but without the character so I thought, ah, out of ideas. So I never listened to Supernature - I think I may have listened to Seventh Tree once as it cropped up in year end lists but it definitely didn't leave an impression on me at the time.
So, here goes... Will this be another lush, sumptuous album you could just drown in... or not?
And the answer is....
Well the first track is certainly gorgeous. More than a hint of those sweeping John Barry strings that have always hovered around their sound.
To be fair, it stays good. Not the same impact as those two albums but enough to encourage me to check out their later stuff and give this a listen again.
Van Halen
3/5
Riffage.
Not really ever going to be my thing but it's fun. Classic case this of me having absorbed 40 years of culture influenced by it but never the source material. For instance can't hear Ain't Talkin About Love without wanting it to go the way Apollo 440 took it.
I wish the tunes were as good as the guitar work.
I can bet this will go down better with me than the 1984 one, but will have to wait and see.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
My brother is always banging on about Bridge Over Troubled Water, I gave in an listened a few months ago and thought it was good, but, you know, not amazing.
So I was a bit surprised to enjoy this as much as I did. Simon not quite decided on his sound, between the absolutely gorgeous folk, and the somewhat sub-Dylan stompers (Simple Desultory...), it's also somehow steeped in the politics of the time. Scarborough fair is just absolutely lush. Obviously Homeward Bound is one of the best songs ever written. But besides this, everything is gorgeous, even Feelin Groovy's slightly twee sound in 2022 doesn't spoil the mood.
The juxtaposition of Silent Night and the swirling chaos of the mid 60s news is particularly effective.
A flawed masterpiece.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
This contains one of my favourite Nick Caves. Also, it's 25 years old this year, another 1997 classic.
Into My Arms. Oh god... Just stunning. The ultimate spiritual love song for unwashed heathens such as myself.
(Although 'There is a Kingdom' does confuse this somewhat)
The rest of the album is great, understated, sad. Doesn't quite hit those early heights again for me but a good listen.
The Beach Boys
5/5
50% solid gold 60s teenybop bangers Beach Boys, 45% Pet Sounds gold Beach Boys (plus 5% withering Beach Boys recorded for all time for some reason at the end)
What's not to like? Apart from that last bit.
Aphex Twin
4/5
Another daft hole in my music listening history (I was listening to Orbital when in these moods instead, so far from a total loss).
Wonderful.
Morrissey
4/5
Kicking off with Now My Heart is Full, instantly nostalgic and remembering a time when it was OK to like Morrissey, because he wasn't obviously a terrible cunt at this point.
Also, remembering that Morrissey really did used to be terribly good. Hold on To Your Friends, words to live by as you get older and it gets harder. Lifeguard Sleeping is great too, really unique on the record.
This is a terrific album, and easily his best solo effort, for me.
The Saints
4/5
When Chris Bailey died earlier this year I was inspired to dig into The Saints, thinking I didn't know them - but obviously I did, they wrote stone cold classics. Starting with I'm Stranded off the debut.
Know Your Product is an absolute banger.
The rest of the album is solid, well produced, is it post-punk? I mean some of this could have come out this year, people are still going for this sound, it feels oddly contemporary.
Rush
2/5
Another prog band I wasn't into because I'd been lied to that all prog was bad. Constantly skipped past Rush in record shops while looking for R.E.M. 12"s. Only Rush song I heard until relatively recently was something about trees, and I was not a fan.
Tom Sawyer is fucking ace. Strangely first got into this by playing it on Beat Saber after Neil Peart died. So that very much dates my lateness. Love the shifting rhythms.
Geddy Lee's vocals are going to be the sticking point for me here I think, because they're pretty annoying. Can not argue with his bass work though. YYZ is epic.
Ungh, couple of tracks later I've got to admit I'm drifting off. I think I'm very much hit or miss with Rush.
Witch Hunt grabbed my attention back, decent. Now there's some sort of Sting reggae shit going on. Ah, the last track. Ok, overall, not for me, but some great individual tracks. Not an entirely unexpected reaction, to be honest.
Ha, everybody got mixed feelings. You are correct.
Tangerine Dream
4/5
Yep!
Time to find out finally what these were all about. So it's not Krautrock. I like half of the first track, very atmospheric.
2nd track could be the soundtrack to Dune. Ok, all of that was so wonderfully chilled, I loved it.
Was starting to feel pretty aggravated before I listened and now I feel much better.
John Martyn
2/5
My partner likes John Martyn, or rather, she really likes Solid Air, I'm not sure I've heard her play anything else tbh. I like that kinda, it's not really my thing but it's nice and chilled.
So, expecting more smokey, chilled and timeless acoustic stuff, the first track here was a bit of a surprise. It sounds much more dated to me, sadly.
Nah, I'm really not feeling this. Even the more chilled, acoustic ones just seem...busy, somehow.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Yeah it's a great album, justified selection, changed the face of pop music for a good few years.
Some wonderful, heart-wrenchingly open lyrics.
Would never really choose to put this on because I've heard half of it more than enough times just by living life. It's genuinely good, but I'm done with Rehab, thanks. Tears Dry on Their Own has always annoyed me by not being Ain't No Mountain High Enough, you don't have to rip the whole thing and then leave us hanging, the rest of the album shows that, and all this technique does is remind me constantly of a far, far superior song.
More durable however are the title track, which is easily one of the greatest songs written this century - I'll never get tired of that. Also Love is a Losing Game, another timeless Bond theme that never was.
The album tracks are consistently good but nothing truly arrests me like the above. Wake Up Alone or Addicted probably best of the rest.
The Roots
3/5
A decent hip hop album. Most of it faded into the background though while I was working. Some tunes jumped out (Sacrifice, Water, Something in the way of things). Some I found annoyingly reminiscent of 90s soul (Break You Off) which I guess in 2002 is perfectly fair but I don't have to like it.
Overall, good.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Is this the best Dylan album? Maybe, maybe not, but it's top 3.
Björk
5/5
Absolutely love this as an idea.
And as it turns out, also in its execution.
The first Bjork album I didn't pay attention to when it came out, I think after 4 absolutely fantastic albums, I felt I had enough to be going on with and checked out other stuff. Came back to this recently ahead of going to see her at Bluedot.
Triumph of a Heart is spectacular (watch the video), Who is It, Oceania also excellent.
This has gone from the book but Vulnicura remains, which I find harder to like and find less noteworthy really because of the unique (lack of) instrumentation here.
I want to argue with people who think Bjork only makes mental music, get to the point where they're willing to listen to examples to back up the argument, then play Ancestors to them and run away.
Buena Vista Social Club
5/5
Any excuse to stick this on. Also it's the 25th anniversary of its release next week.
First heard 6-7 years after its release, and then went mad for the sound, grabbing compilations of Compay Segundo and Omara Purtuondo's stuff.
It is, obviously, wonderfully transportative music that could lift any mood.
Just great.
Portishead
3/5
Gave this a few spins when it came out but didn't quite land for me, and I haven't been back until today.
I think it started with them just cutting off the really great opening track as soon as it really gets cracking. Feels like setting out to make it an uncomfortable record to listen to for no good reason.
Not many of the following tracks do anything much for me, not like the 1st two albums. Nice little motorik bit on The Rip.
We Carry On is the standout track for me, absolute monster. Machine Gun is certainly arresting and interesting, do I want to listen to it much? I'm not sure.
In fact, I could say the same of the entire album.
I much preferred the Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man record from a few years earlier.
Buzzcocks
5/5
Of all the original punk bands, Buzzcocks wrote the absolute best singles, that's just a fact. Apart from the Damned's New Rose.
So, none of those singles are included here because it's those days when you did that.
There's still some great thrusting bangers here, but initially I was itching for the hits. Then side b kicks in and you know why they let the album stand on its own, fantastic. Will be giving it repeat listens.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Yeah, Janes Addiction.
Enjoyed clocking the PWEI sample of the yelp in Ocean Size for Get the Girl Kill the Baddies. What a yelp Perry has on him.
Not that familiar with Jane Says, must not have been that big over here, always immediately think of Been Caught Stealing.
I don't listen to JA much but I like what they are.
Richard Hawley
2/5
Loved the Longpigs the Sun is Often Out back in the 90s, this is very not that.
Had this recommended a year or so ago from someone who seemed to love everything and anything that came out of Sheffield.
Anyway. This is a nice, huggly sound. Kind of sounds like fellow Yorkshireman Chris Rea except good.
But will I think to listen to it more than the two times I now have? Questionable. The archetypal 3/5 for me, nothing stands out, nothing to dislike.
Actually a few tracks in, I realised the problem. It's really nice and cosy for a track or two. After that though, I'm bored rigid.
This is on the list when something else more interesting isn't. 2/5
Soul II Soul
3/5
Certainly an important album because of what it kick-started, and those singles, but not as sure it's an essential album in and of itself.
This production sound is almost as era-defining as the Stock, Aitken and Waterman sound was for the couple of years before it. And, well, despite anything else I say here I know which one I prefer.
Erm, why is African Dance followed by the same song with less flute and more talking? Just don't stop, carry on.
Kind of responsible for the explosion of artists I wasn't into, like, I dunno, the Brand New Heavies and stuff.
It's aged in a way that Bjork's Debut hasn't (though nowhere near as much as some here are making out imho), although they both remain extremely transportative listens to their times.
Sister Sledge
5/5
It's a bonus Chic album. There's even an argument to say it's the best Chic album, high praise indeed.
You know how songs get overplayed on the radio, you love them for decades and then get sick of them? Well that's not possible here, as these are some of the greatest pop songs even written.
Hearing them in their full glory, 5-6 minutes long, just adds to the joy.
Annoyingly only the 7" version of We are Family is available on Spotify, you need the record or YouTube for the majestic full 8 minutes (only this one link seems to have the correct tempo) which needs to be experienced. The bass work is simply out of this world.
https://youtu.be/FLRvVZ_Q1Iw
If you don't like disco, even just a little bit, I just don't think we're going to get along.
Absolutely stunning. One of the easiest 5 ratings in this whole project.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Eurythmics
3/5
Can't hear Love is A Stranger now without thinking of the LCD song that massively ripped it off (I Can Change). They're both great though, the original, and the pretender which took the ball and ran with it.
Never listened to them beyond the singles but their value is obvious. The big synth sound is great.
Probably wouldn't listen again given I don't have the nostalgia pulling me back in, but no doubt it's a decent and important record.
The Black Keys
2/5
Have never listened to these. Or The Black Crowes. Or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I have listened to Black Sabbath.
Anyway, yeah, this was alright!
Kind of forgettable first listen though. But enjoyable enough.
Tighten Up sounds like a million other things that were out around then and can't say I like that sound. Fake old, with modern production just fucks me off.
Ahaha, the next song is that Glitter Stomp one that was the Heardle the other day I didn't get because I guessed Gary Glitter over and over because that's what it was.
The longer this album goes on I can tell I'm not going to take it seriously because it's not my thing.
Next song sounds like late 90s Lenny Kravitz. I think I'm out, there's nothing interesting for me here, kinda average 6music fodder, fine but that's it.
Depeche Mode
5/5
Put this on again recently around Andy's untimely death. Absolutely terrific album, some of their greatest ever songs, an easy 5.
Also the Depeche Mode album I think which most influenced the glorious Turrican and Turrican 2 soundtracks.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Loads of fun.
Cream
2/5
Well. 4-5 songs excellent, the rest I don't really care for. Mother's Lament is incredibly annoying.
Clapton is a massive clanger also.
Sinead O'Connor
3/5
First listen to a Sinead album, the first song pulls me in gradually and subtly.
Then there's a very 1990 hip hop sort of thing. Then we're back to the gorgeous stuff. Then a sort of MOR pop song.
The standout track, obviously. It's a mixed bag but in glad I listened to it.
Dusty Springfield
5/5
It's Dusty Springfield, she was a hero.
Megadeth
5/5
I found Rust In Peace energetic and quality but ultimately not for me.
So I don't know why, if it was just my mood, but I'm finding so much more to enjoy here. Absolutely balls to the wall, don't give a fuck, and so good. Good Mourning/Black Friday is simply immense. Peace Sells, Wake Up Dead, obviously ace. There's only a couple of tracks here I don't completely love. Will have to revisit Rust in Peace. I remain unconverted to Metallica yet, but we'll see.
Nick Drake
5/5
Wonderful album, his masterpiece. Easy 5.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I said Exile was probably their best, most consistent album. I'm still not sure if that's right. There's some real stonkers on here and the potential of the band is really showing. A cracker of an album.
Donald Fagen
2/5
My Steely Dan education continues...
Definitely falls into the 'troublesome 80s production' category - this is ridiculously smooth - though I can find value here. IGY overcomes the initial aversion to the sound, gently dragging me in by just being good for 6 minutes. The next two don't manage this. Green Flower Street, is it quite a song? What key is it in? I'm so confused.
The Nightfly is also good, just can't shake the Smooooth, MOR 80s film soundtrack vibe for most of the album sadly.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Coyote is so gorgeous.
All of it is gorgeous.
I think I start to lose interest towards the end around Black Crow.
The Temptations
3/5
Kinda annoying faffing between spoti-tube.
The funk ones are the best, particularly Runaway Child, 9 minute banger.
The Motown stuff is still good though, particularly towards the end (don't let him...)
Van Morrison
5/5
The cover looks like a meme.
"Past Van Morrison tries to make sense of future Van's ramblings"
Annoyingly, considering how much of a massive bell end the guy is, this is absolutely fantastic.
"Throughout my career I have always preferred to let my music speak for me" he said in 2015. You what mate? Tell the last couple of years you.
Anyway. Yeah, great record. The horns! The soul! The, erm, the clavinet! It's just great.
The Icarus Line
3/5
Hmm, yeah. Good. Not outstanding, but definitely good.
Never heard of these before.
Getting Bright at Night is pretty excellent. I love a good 9 minute epic that goes in directions.
White Devil, singer doing a massive Black Francis impression which actually isn't bad.
The Only Ones
3/5
The only ones of The Only Ones I knew was Another Girl Another Planet, which is one of the greatest pop songs of all time, so a good basis. You do fear though what you're going to get when bands are only famous for one song. But what a song.
The Libertines owe these guys their entire career, and did the heroin to boot.
A lot of Violent Femmes here, but less angsty.
It's good, nothing stands up to the obvious highlight, but it does feel like a record that will grow on you with repeated listens, fair few tracks with a lot going on.
The final track, Immortal Story, is a banger.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Utterly fabulous.
Stevie Nicks in particular is epic on this album.
Buckingham's stuff at its best with the slow grooves - Walk A Thin Line - rather than the jittery stuff that peppers the rest of the album, although that does break stuff up and successfully keeps me engaged.
Exception that proves the rule however is Tusk itself which is wonderful.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
The golden age of hip hop.
Never heard this before but it's pure gold.
The Soft Boys
5/5
If you're not the kind of person who gets a kick out of the lyrics in Kingdom of Love, then it's going to be more difficult for us to become friends.
I wanna destroy you, insanely jealous, queen of eyes, underwater moonlight, these are all total bangers.
Hook it up and feed it directly into my veins.
On a sidenote, I love all these innocent wet behind the ears types who somehow think this album is genuinely 44 songs long.
Norah Jones
2/5
Nope.
An album so massive and so good you were only ever allowed to hear one snippet of one song.
But in every advert break for about 6 months.
So I eventually stuck it on, but it didn't surprise, I have no real memory of it. Inoffensive though. 2 stars.
Miles Davis
5/5
Haven't yet managed to get on board with Bitches Brew, but my tastes have developed since I last listened to it, so we'll see.
Anyway this seems a great bridge to it, it is exactly the kind of thing I like right now, gentle waves of groove, that don't even necessarily have to be going anywhere.
Have just been listening back to NEU! on its 50th anniversary, there are strong shades of this that have carried across to some of their work, particularly the second track.
Great multi-purpose music. You can have it on in the background, or you can stick the headphones on and surrender yourself and drift away on its tides.
Dusty Springfield
5/5
Again, it's Dusty. But this time the songs are even more consistently brilliant.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
Funny how despite the legendary status and even now we have radio stations that play album tracks, I still haven't heard anything other than the two obvious classic tracks at the end here. Most of the rating goes to that, genre-defining. Mention also to Scorpio.
The 'Expanded edition' deleting the wheels of steel though is a weird move given it's the second best thing here.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
I liked Pocahontas. The rest meh. Especially towards the end. Welfare Mothers is especially dire.
Into the black is very good though.
Never got Neil Young, tried many many times.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
The JAMC pop album - I think universally acknowledged as not as good as Psychocandy but still pretty great.
There's some foreshadowing of JAMC-do-Billy Idol-'Head On' here.
And more stuff that sounds a bit like Just Like Honey, rather than a drill boring directly into your soul. These are not necessarily bad things, there is a place for both, and how do you top the debut?
Elvis Costello
3/5
Kinder Murder is something else.
Not an album I'm familiar with, but I recognise some of the songs.
Some of this sounds very 1994 but not too dated and still unmistakably Elvis Costello. Together this seems to work very well.
Probably a bit overlong. Enjoyable.
Robert Wyatt
5/5
Very lovely. Never heard this. Amusingly had a later Elvis Costello album yesterday so it's a before and after Shipbuilding here, which is fun.
Absolutely love Little Red Riding Hood the first, and Alife. I'm obviously going to love this with my NEU! predilections. Drink it in.
Also this has Ivor Cutler on it at the end. 5 big stars.
New York Dolls
3/5
Personality Crisis is obviously a banger.
I've never latched on to another Dolls song in quite the same way, big points for influence and legacy though, fun album. Trash is the most obviously memorable one, and probably most influential.
Frankenstein is about 3 minutes too long. I get it, it's a frankenstein.
Cypress Hill
3/5
Jeez this takes me back. Some fun tracks but by God it's so 1991.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
Trying hard to like this because it's an hour and 20 minutes long and he's respected like.
I'm not doing very well. The 2 singles down are comfortably the worst of the 4 songs so far. Why does he keep rapping while holding his nose?
Art of Peer Pressure was the first song I thought was OK. Money Trees was good too. Actually, that was genuinely good, I enjoyed that one. If we can avoid more garbage I could get into this.
Good Kid is good so far, yeah, really good. That’s 2 songs enjoyed.
Maad City – ok I think I’ve actually heard this. Not for me at all but I guess it’s good. Oh ok its two songs in one without giving the second part a title. Weird move but OK. I like this bit lots better. Swimming Pool I think is the first single I haven’t thought is utter shit.
Just seen the last 2 tracks are remixes of one of the shit songs so I’m getting out of school early, this is good. Emeli Sande, what happened to her?
Oh you fucker, a 12 minute song. Except ok, its really good and affecting. Not sure I need the full minute of prayer at the end to get the effect.
A 7 minute song now, this guy is pissing me off.
So it’s not for me obviously, there are some good songs here no doubt and I’m glad I listened, but it’s too long and plenty of stuff I just don’t like at all.
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
With 3 hours of music, it's inevitably a mixed bag. The constant being Ella's unimpeachable legendary voice, and the jazz orchestra always on point.
I'm more than happy to stick some Ella on from time to time.
Some of the songs though. Treat me Rough? Clenched teeth emoji.
But the gems are worth wading through this. Love is Here To Stay. Embraceable You. Boy What Love has done. I'd pick more out if I were in a better mood.
You kind of still should listen to the whole thing, as it's a historical document.
It'll keep you warm in the winter.
PJ Harvey
4/5
App deleted my review. Here's what I remember writing.
Any excuse to stick a bit of Peej on.
Really solid debut with some proper bangers on it.
She goes from strength to strength and she's one of those artists who whatever she does you know it will be interesting.
You exhibitionist!
Elvis Costello
2/5
It's good, but tbh none of the songs really hit the spot for me.
This Year's Model is great though.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
Belting.
Janis Joplin and that guitar tag team.
a-ha
2/5
Kicking off with easily one of the best pop songs ever written, but would I ever have listened to this had it not been in this book? Even as an A-ha fan as a child? No.
I remember when A-ha had their own cartoon strip in Look-In magazine.
At least I know I'll like 2 of the other songs.
Well...
Ironically Hunting High and Low sounds much more like a bond theme than their bond theme. It's not very good though.
Sun Always Shines On TV is still another slice of pop brilliance.
The rest is perfectly competent, if edgeless, 80s synth pop. The Blue Sky probably stands out among those, sounding a bit like contemporary era Depeche Mode. This shouldn't be in the book, the only reason it's important is Take On Me and Sun.
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
Which idiot at Spotify ordered it so the bonus tracks come immediately after the previous take from the original album?
Surely it's not ordered like that on the CD.
Anyway, after a quick playlist sort, this is a delight. Really enjoy a bit of jazz but I admit I'm mostly ignorant of many of its greats, so not an album I knew.
But yes, superb. Fantastic stuff.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Maybe a cold autumn Sunday evening after getting back from an uninspiring draw at Old Trafford is the ideal conditions for listening to Born To Run.
Whatever the case, I definitely enjoyed this a whole lot more than I ever have listening to Springsteen for any extended period before.
I'm not about to memorise all the lyrics and mime-scream them at my girlfriend anytime soon, but yeah, very good.
I have no idea how the title track crams quite so much epic into 4.5 minutes. The song is really 8 minutes long, you have been tricked.
Don't love all the tracks, but the good ones are so good it makes it. By the end of Jungleland, I definitely understand the Meatloaf comparison, the difference is this guy has more tunes.
The Modern Lovers
4/5
She cracked, I'm sad, but I won't.
4/5
I occasionally wonder what the person who can't see any value in stuff like Devo actually likes musically. My brain screams 80s Phil Collins, but perhaps that's reductive.
Plainly not for everyone, but love em, they ripped it up and started again.
The Specials
3/5
So, a fan of The Specials but really all I know is the debut and the big songs. Therefore all I really know from this is the wonderfully raucous Enjoy Yourself.
The Specials are never bad, but the second half here is... unexpected. Yelling James Bond films. Moving into some sort of Western that devolves into dub?
Very different, an interesting listen, not sure I'd choose to put it on that often though.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Love Leonard Cohen, but admittedly I 'm not a frequenter of his albums, and there's plenty I've left undug. Including this, so this was welcomed.
Avalanche is just an incredible piece of work. Unsettlingly atmospheric guitar and strings, gripping songwriting and delivery. Anyone unaffected, by this, I don't understand.
Last Year's Man is as mournfully beautiful as Avalanche was unsettling. The vitriol in Dress Rehearsal Rag!
It seems pointless picking out further individual tracks, they're all of such high quality. Obviously, Famous Blue Raincoat, well, words can't express.
Cohen at his best outstrips Dylan, and he does so here. This is the best album this project has presented to me in quite some time.
Glorious.
Eagles
1/5
Marginally more engaging than the last Eagles album, but nah.
After committing to listening to 2 Eagles albums, I still only vaguely like 2 Eagles songs, and they both kick off their respective albums. Plus I prefer the Gipsy Kings version of one.
Pass.
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
Hugely enjoyable is correct.
Roxy Music
5/5
Roxy Music at their best.
One criticism, I'm not sure the first 6 minutes of the bogus man have enough going on to justify the length.
Public Enemy
4/5
Not the best Public Enemy album however it is a Public Enemy album and therefore at least four stars.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
This was kind of exactly what I expected it would be, Suzanne is very good at what she does and this is a good listen. Definitely feel like it spawned a million inferior knock offs with a less varied sound, of which I'm far less tolerant.
The Black Crowes
1/5
I don't expect to like every album in this book, that's fine, but I don't expect them to annoy me - this is an exception.
One of most egregious inclusions on this list given how comprehensively the 70s classic and blues rock is already covered from first time around. Why would I listen to this in 2022 when I already have Exile on Main Street, or Led Zeppelin II?
May have been essential listening in the 90s when there were just the several other bands rehashing Rolling Stones' 70s sound, Lenny Kravitz, Primal Scream's boring period, etc. Except at least they had the grace to include a couple of great songs, I'm not arguing with Rocks off, massively unoriginal, but certified banger.
There's no tunes here. 9 helpings of meh and 1 annoying song from an advert.
Also, Hard to Handle when played in Manchester indie clubs in the 90s would signal the music was about to turn shite and would invariably be surrounded by other bands doing pale (and also somehow infinitely annoying) comparisons of good blues rock. Reef, Kula Shaker, all that terrible shite.
So yeah, please, take this away.
The La's
3/5
As an indie kid starting my own journey of musical discovery in earnest in the early 90s, I was surrounded by people worshipping at the altar of this particular album, friends, the NME etc, it was hailed as a work of genius.
Obviously, I'd heard the big single as everyone who was ever alive has heard that.
I borrowed my brother's copy and eagerly stuck it on. Maybe it was the intensity of the hype that left me a bit disappointed. I've just never quite got it. It's a great 90s indie album, no doubt, Lee Mavers said it was "a pile of shit", the truth is surely somewhere in between. Feelin' is one of the better songs, but that just repurposes the riff from Paperback Writer without any attempt to hide the fact. Way Out is good. I'm not even sure what Freedom Song is, it's not good. Looking Glass is great.
I just haven't latched onto why this warrants such high praise when compared to its contemporaries.
Tom Waits
5/5
A fucking brilliant Tom Waits album, one of his very best no doubt. Getting this on Halloween weekend also really works for me so cheers for that.
Just so much fun.
Jockey Full of Bourbon is something else. As is the title track. Marc Ribot is tremendous. All of it is something else. The stories! I feel sad for anyone who just can't enjoy this. But they almost certainly hated Devo too. Phil Collins...
Orbital
5/5
Absolutely love this, just pure bliss. It was a happy day back in 1997 when someone pressed this into my hands at uni. Obviously had some familiarity with Orbitals before that but it didn't extend much further than Chime, The Box and Satan. I didn't even know Belfast at that point. Anyway, got a hold of this work of genius and I didn't look back.
Walk Now... is admittedly annoying, but the rest of the album is basically perfect, so despite not liking one track it's getting 5 because of all the bellends giving it 1.
Keith Jarrett
3/5
Yes, very nice. This is something you have to properly listen to though, I guess it's not the best sign that Spotify played 3 or 4 other similar tracks by different people after the album finished before I noticed.
Billy Bragg
5/5
Wasn't sure what I'd make of this as I've always found Billy Bragg hit and miss, and I've never latched onto Wilco either. Woody Guthrie, obviously, is a legend for good reason, so I was very intrigued.
It well and truly won me over, a really warm and engaging, and unique record. I love a musical project that brings artists together across decades, and borne out of love. Wonderful stuff.
There's at least 2 other volumes of this which I will have to check out.
Rush
2/5
So here we are, the other Rush album. I should be less predisposed to this on reading it was inspired by Ayn Rand, but I think I've already made my mind up about Rush multiple times already. I see the ability, I see why a lot of people love them, it just doesn't hit the spot for me. Bits of it are great. Most of it just isn't for me.
The little stings in passage to Bangkok are hilariously bad and strongly remind me of Spinal Tap.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
Never heard this as was fiercely resistant to this generation of hip hop in 1994. Opened my mind later but it does mean I don't have nostalgic memories of thinking this was the greatest record of all time or whatever, I didn't even know who he was when I heard he had been killed.
I still can't imagine a time when I want to kick back and listen to someone rap about bitches and guns for over an hour, and however good this is for other stuff, that's what this mostly is.
Stuff like Things Done Changed, Everyday Struggle and Juicy are best. But yeah the album feels like it goes on forever, and I don't have any residual fondness for tracks, so not for me.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
5/5
What to write.
Pure genius. Sealand is fucking incredible.
Funnily enough I am currently working my way through a Depeche Mode challenge from start to finish and this just blows everything they were up to until about 5 years later out of the water.
I'm only sad I only got around to listening to this about 5 years back, as I've been missing out, one of the best records ever made.
Iggy Pop
5/5
Could give this a 5 for Some Weird Sin and Success alone. Plus all the bonus Bowie content. A classic.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
This is here for the big songs isn't it. And sort of fair enough, though it's not a classic must-hear album, rather, Buddy Holly is a classic must-hear artist, and this is his only album.
There's way better consistently good rock and roll than can be found here, but this is not the era of the album, it's the era of the hit single. So what are you gonna do?
Jungle Brothers
5/5
Absolutely no prior knowledge of this but what an album.
Another gem from indisputably the golden age of hip hop.
This sort of stuff is why I can't say I don't like hip hop, I'm just very selective.
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
He died the other day, the crazy wrong 'un.
This is meant to be 37 minutes long but only 22 minutes is available on streaming, not even YouTube seems to have it. So god knows what's on there. Hound Dog is one of them.
Review: I believe the word is 'rollicking'.
Abdullah Ibrahim
2/5
I like Jazz, but I'm not well versed in it. I tend to err towards the out there, or improv stuff.
First impressions of this are pretty inoffensive coffee shop jazz, from accomplished musicians. Does it grab me? Well Mandela didn't particularly, but I was much more into Song for Sathima.
Near the end now and yes, it's nice enough, not the kind of thing that will live long in my memory though. And I would hardly call it essential listening amongst the vast pantheon of jazz out there.
Alice In Chains
3/5
A good 90s grunge album. Hadn't listened to all of this, but had heard Jar of Flies before so had an idea what to expect. Don't think it has particularly aged well and since I wasn't a big AIC fan at the time (was big into Nirvana, Pumpkins, Pearl Jam and more besides however so unclear why not) I don't have the nostalgia factor.
It's decent enough, but barring a couple of tracks I can't see me ever coming back to this. I have my favourites when it comes to grunge, nothing old/new is going to break into that now.
Beatles
5/5
Allways up there among my top 3 Beatles albums. Not much you can write about this that hasn't already been written.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
5/5
Having refused to rate A-ha highly because the album was shit but it had 2 amazing songs on it, I'm going to do exactly the opposite here.
I don't really care much for any of the rest, although they're fun enough. Simple Man stands out.
But by god, those two songs. Fuck me.
I will say it's not completely hypocritical, because these are two of the best songs ever written, really. Also, they make up about a third of the length of the album, and it's a good job.
Roxy Music
5/5
It's Roxy Music's debut. Banging.
This is the album I've actually listened to properly.
Reading these reviews I hadn't realised how little cut through Roxy had to the (presumably) American market.
Side A is absolutely impeccable. Every song, 6/5.
Genuinely one of the best records ever.
ABBA
2/5
Oh Christ.
I can't imagine I'll ever be in the mood for an entire album of Abba. The odd song here and there of irresistible pop glitter, sure. Even though Dancing Queen is in the top 5 most overplayed pieces of music ever created, it's still somehow enjoyable, once you get over the initial "oh god, this again". The other singles also very good, in an Abba way. Knowing Me... and Fernando, and the odd other Abba song that isn't here I genuinely like, so I'm not a hater.
And hey, let's be honest here, some Madness songs sound like Money, Money, Money, and we like Madness don't we? Yes they do, go back and listen again.
There's some shocking shite elsewhere on here though. Dum Dum Diddle can get tae fuck. That's Me is actually pretty good right up until the cringe chorus refrain Carrie-not-the-kind-of-girl-you-marry. Unggggh. Why Did It Have To Be Me reminds me of The Beach Boys after Mike Love decided to take one of the greatest bands ever and make them the worst. Tiger is fine I guess.
Fernando isn't really on the album, which is a shame for its rating because that's one I like.
Overall, 10 songs, 3 great ones, 5 average and 2 absolute toss. Earns it a 2/5
The Isley Brothers
5/5
Stone cold soulful grooves.
Could give it 5 for the definitive version of Summer Breeze, I don't want it to end. Although the original is pretty fine as well.
That Lady, what it comes down to, not every song here is 5 star classic - but most of them are.
Beatles
5/5
While it isn't the best ever Beatles album, it still has some of their greatest ever songs (and song fragments). Maxwell's Silver hammer can fuck off into the sun. That aside, lots to love.
I Want You (she's so heavy). Two of Georgie's Best. Because. I Want You (she's so heavy). Remembering watching Ringo and George working through Octopuses Garden in its infancy on Get Back. Oh Darlin. The medley! I Want You (she's so heavy)!!!!
Seriously that song is just the best.
The Lemonheads
4/5
Nostalgia. All the indie kid girls I was friends with at school fancied Evan Dando, and who can blame them.
Really enjoyed this today. Enjoy Juliana Hatfield popping her head in with the backing vocals.
Muddy Waters
5/5
Muddy Waters playing the blues.
Janis Joplin
5/5
Superb. She's amazing.
The Cure
4/5
I've always enjoyed The Cure's big songs, don't know if they're all singles but have never fell in love with a whole album. I like both early goth Cure and pop Cure, this is obviously the former. Though people bang on about Disintegration and I'm the same with that, just the big songs please.
The atmosphere created here is the first thing to hit you. The bass, Smith's voice, the lyrics, the repetitive slow drums. Doom, doom, doom. I think if it carried on like Side A I'd have to turn it off as it would be too much. But with The Figurehead and Strange Days the mood lightens just enough, musically.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Every Velvets album could be a completely different band, and they're all absolutely 5 star.
This here is Understated Velvets, and it's the absolute best Understated Velvets album ever made. I love every song.
"There are problems in these times, but woooooergh none of them are mine!", still makes me laugh.
John Prine
4/5
Not my scene. Although this seems to lean more on the folk side of country, which explains why I'm more receptive to it. And anyway a great song is a great song, regardless of genre.
Hello In There, Far From Me and Sam Stone are truly great. And today I learned that Cop Shoot Cop by Spiritualized has a direct reference to this song.
I can understand the Dylan comparison particularly on songs like Pretty Good.
The novelty songs leave me cold, but there's some wonderful stuff mixed in here.
By the end, really won over. What a great album.
The 13th Floor Elevators
4/5
One of the greatest garage rock albums of all time, as is Easter Everywhere, you could include either. This has more straightforward bangers on it than EE but that Dylan cover... Man. The debut probably loses a bit of steam towards the end.
Adore Splash 1, and Don't Fall Down, both of which show they had more about them than freakouts and playing a jug. What the authorities did to Roky and the band is a disgrace.
The Who
3/5
I like it but do I love it?
This period of The Who's output always feels like a series of connected big moments in a song, rather than fantastic songs through and through. Which I guess is kind of prog, and there's a lot of prog around the edges here. Which I like, but it makes this neither one thing nor the other, or that's what it does for me. Like not love.
Pantera
3/5
Oof. Mixed.
I remember Walk from Jilly's Rockworld and Ritz Mondays, class. This Love is epic.
No Good Attack the Radical is decent musically with problematic lyrics. People say it's "beyond racism" whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean. "You blame oppression and play the role of criminals". Yeah. Hmmm, nah, fuck off mate.
Rise, is another cracker that seems to espouse free thinking but when they guy has done a Nazi salute and shouted 'white power' on stage, well, that does inspire some thoughts.
By Demons... is decent. Hollow is sub-Nickelback shite until the metal part starts.
Separating the politics out of it, some bangers, some I'm less fond of without even paying attention to the lyrics, so it's going to be a 3.
Tom Waits
4/5
"There ain't no devil it's just god when he's drunk."
"The girls around here all look like Cadillacs"
"Swinging from the rafters in a brand new tie"
"I shot the morning in the back..."
Swordfish era Tom Waits gets all the plaudits usually but I'm a massive fan of drunk guy at the diner Tom Waits, equally if not more so. Man, can this guy write a song.
I still just prefer Small Change, but this is a great album, Tom can do no wrong.
Hole
3/5
The Hole pop album. After the grimy riot grrl Hole album and the grunge catharsis in Hole album. All three are great in their own way, although I loved Live Through This so much (and still do almost 30 years later) I was always going to be disappointed when this followed it.
Some undeniable bangers here though. Title track, Awful, Malibu, Northern Star all among the band's best work, and Billy Corgan appears to have poured the last bits of his talent into his contributions to 2 of those. Not too many good Pumpkins songs after 1998.
For me this is album with obvious highlights, and the rest perfectly serviceable if not particularly remarkable pop rock. Some of it sounds like The Go-gos. Not a bad thing, but the Go-gos already exist. There's no duffers. It's not an album I ever reach for, but it's an enjoyable listen. 3.
The The
4/5
I'm just a symptom of the moral decay that's gnawing at the heart of the country.
I felt that Infected had dated musically I seem to remember. You could argue the same here but it's just too good for it to matter. Full of songs with a poppy feel but unusual chorus-less structures. Jools Holland at the ending of Uncertain Smile is fantastic. The slow build groove of Giant to close out. Terrific album.
Steely Dan
2/5
Whenever I go back and listen to Steely Dan it's usually to try to understand the two major schools of thought about them. They're either revered as geniuses of classic 70s rock, or everything that was wrong with the music that punk kicked against.
I can sort of understand both, although personally I never have a strong reaction to them either way.
Slint
4/5
Sailed under my radar for years and years until I discovered music Twitter goes absolutely batshit for this. I've tried it a few times and like several tracks but don't revere the whole album as others seem to.
It's still getting a 4 because it's great but I'm leaving wiggle room for stuff I like more.
Could be a case of loving the influenced before hearing the influencer, a huge fan of Godspeed and Mogwai both of whom arrive several years later and owe a lot to this record certainly, though I think in general they are the ones to push the sound to the next level where it gets REALLY good. Both bands which are notably absent from this book as well which is an oversight.
Exceptions, Breadcrumb Trail, and the deliciously understated Washer, plus Good Morning Captain, which are fantastic and fully realised.
Burning Spear
3/5
I enjoyed it but not mad on it. I like Reggae but I don't love it, I prefer the up beat of Ska or more of the dub style. It's got to have that dirty great bass running through it. This album felt a little polished really, which reading about it is the studios fault, not the bands. Would be interested to hear the original mix.
So the one I enjoyed the most was the most dub, Red gold and green.
The Prodigy
5/5
The last Prodigy album that's ace from start to finish. My CD copy of this always used to skip like buggery at the 3 song suite at the end, it's nice to listen to it without having to regularly get up and batter the hi fi.
Otis Redding
4/5
Really enjoyable listen, he's a fabulous singer. I love Ole Man Trouble. slight nagging feeling through several of the songs as I find myself enjoying them slightly less than other versions of the same song. Possible exceptions being Rock me Baby and Satisfaction. But yeah, really good.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
There's too much Elvis Costello in this list, but this feels like one of his better albums. I kind of get along fine with just This Years Model and select few other tracks though.
Death In Vegas
3/5
Come into this thinking I like two DIV songs, and prefer Dirt which isn't here. Aisha is decent, and ahead of the curve slightly in that Iggy Pop later turned up doing this sort of thing for everyone from New Order to seemingly countless others.
Am immediately reminded that I also like Dirge, not sure I knew it was them. I saw the sub-screamadelica criticism which makes sense for Soul Auctioneer especially, Death Threat as a track is completely pointless, should be a 90 second coda, tops.
Most of this, though, is decent and an enjoyable listen, however I'm not sure it's essential. Better than David Holmes solo work.
The National
3/5
I can't read about why this was chosen because as an album made in the 2000s, it's not allowed to stay in the book.
The National have always been a blind spot for me, failing to understand what's so great about them - also was late to them, but this is the one album of theirs I tried to get into when it came out. I gave it several listens at the time, but just bounced off. Don't know what it is.
First track fills me with hope that I'm going to finally GET IT, genuinely very good, uplifting and driving. Then the album goes on, and it just... doesn't really go anywhere? Most of these other tracks just don't grab me, so I'm left just drifting in and out of it. Later highlights that at least held my attention, Bloodbuzz Ohio, England and Runaway.
I keep being told to go listen to Alligator, maybe one day I will, but people also say High Violet is one of their best so I don't hold out much hope.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Although I’ll probably always turn first to Inner Visions or Talking Book for my classic Stevie fix, good god there are some classic bangers on this wildly ambitious, genre-spanning album. Right from the off, and right to the end. As a double album its always going to be accused of being a bit bloated and filler, and well, there is some. I can live without Contusion, a technically fantastic freakout that feels oddly out of place here on an album ostensibly made up of many of the most popular songs of Stevie's ridiculously high quality canon,
With Contusion I forget I’m not listening to Magma or something. So, when I say I can live without it, I just kind of want to have the Stevie freakout album separate.
The only songs that aren't completely five star smashed out of the park are maybe Ordinary Pain, and If Its Magic.
But this is followed by two of the greatest circa-8 minute songs ever made, As and Another Star, neither of which feel a fraction of their length.
I don't think I've ever heard the EP before, but Saturn and All Day Sucker are up to this standard, the other two I can take or leave.
I’m splitting hairs because the vast majority is killer and this is obviously getting five stars.
George Harrison
5/5
1001 album a day tries to kill me with a Stevie double album followed by a Georgie triple album the next day.
It's a bloody good job they are both fabulous. Very much enjoyed the 50th anniversary thing last year, especially after watching Get Back recontextualised the whole thing. Watching George working on several of these songs during those sessions, entirely reasonably floating the idea of breaking off to do some solo stuff and then coming back to the band, because at this point he was bleeding well busting with classic songs.
The first 5 songs are of such unbelievably high quality, you do understand why Maxwell Silver Hammer gets mauled, taking the place of one of these beauties, and they were struggling for songs to put on Let it Be. Erm?
I would respectfully suggest anyone who thinks this is sub-Beatles stuff go back and listen to the Let It Be album again.
I think of the Apple Jam sessions as bonus material, much like the EP in Songs in the Key of Life, so I'm entirely unbothered if it's just jam noodles. Also, the jams are good.
It's true that while they're all good, not all the tracks are of such high standard as the first 5 tracks, both brilliant versions of Isn't It A Pity, the title track, Hear Me Lord and Beware of Darkness, but an album with such a high hit rate of five star tracks, gets five stars. That's it, that's the rule.
Pulp
4/5
Ah that goes in there, and that goes in there, and that goes in there, and that goes in there, and that goes in there...and then it's over.
So, my favourite Pulp album His n Hers didn't make the list, but I'm happy this did, played it continuosly on release and no every word to most of the songs.
The Pulp hangover record, the first half is so relentlessly (but wonderfully so) depressive and nihilistic, thank god there was a slight uplift in the second half or I might not have made it out.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
Grace Slick!
Not just White Rabbit, Somebody to Love, Today and some other songs, although that would almost be enough. Those songs tower. DCBA 25 is also pretty great.
Feed your head!
JAY Z
2/5
Never heard any Jay-z beyond New York State of Mind, which is great, obviously.
Takeover is good but to be honest I'm just enjoying Five To One. Izzo sampling the bit from I Want You Back just before the chorus opens out, means for me the rework never takes off.
3 tracks in, unless something radically changes, this falls firmly in the camp of 'I can see why people like it, but nah'. Not my style of hip hop.
Girls girls girls is a better vibe, but again, just makes me want to go listen to the source material. I sense a theme here...
Hola Hovito is the closest I've got to enjoying a song so far.
Heart of the City drove me straight to Bobby Bland, and well, fair fucks, this is the first time I've thought Jay-z has done something to the sample which makes his songs stand on it own. Both songs are great. Never Change and Song Cry, similar to a lesser degree.
If this record was massively influential then I now know why I was turned off hip hop for over a decade. There's two or three decent songs in the second half here, but ultimately I don't really dig the style.
The Pretty Things
4/5
Yeah, what The Beatles would have sounded like if they were The Who. Alternatively, what The Who would have sounded like if they were The Beatles.
The main songs which are obviously ripped by Tommy is The Journey, and I See You. However there's a fair bit which sounds like offcuts from the Sgt Pepper sessions, just with more drugs. No surprise given that's where the producer had just been, but man it shines through pretty loud on half the album.
That's not to say it's not great, because it is. As a fan of Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock and obviously the Beatles, I was going to enjoy this.
Once again, I can't review this fairly because I'm too familiar with stuff it influenced and not familiar with itself. However Piper at the Gates preceded this and I hear Syd's influence a lot here also. Superb in places, would listen again.
The Stooges
5/5
Yeah, The Stooges. This is the album of theirs I return to the most.
I love the crazy skronk on side B. 1970, Fun House, yeah!
Culture Club
2/5
I like Boy George as a person but always found Karma Chameleon, and Culture Club's musical output annoying as a kid. That hasn't changed.
Obviously never listened to an album.
The female singer with prominent backing vocals on a few tracks is the best bit.
Reminds me of that Simply Red album I had to listen to in places.
Most of the other stuff isn't as annoying, (although some of it is) and is fine I guess but it's not for me.
Bobby Womack
2/5
Slick 80s Soul. Yeah its good, but doesn't do anything for me at all. It's not Across 110th Street.
Ryan Adams
1/5
Shite.
Awful, unremarkable shite.
Another one from the Black Crowes or the Black Keys school of why am I listening to this, all the influences are already in the book and it's shite at that, nothing new.
I don't understand it, there's just nothing here. And then there's all that shit about the man himself. Take it away.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Ah, good.
Always been a fringe can of Sonic Youth but only really ventured into two albums, this one and EVOL. Both great. Glad to see I'll be visiting a few more on this project.
Teenage Riot is fabulous, obviously.
First half of this is packed full of 7 minutes long masterful tracks none of which feel overlong.
I won't lie though I start to tire on the second half, however good it is.
The end though, is an absolute beast.
Beth Orton
3/5
Ah yeah this, I remember this. Stolen Car is better than I remember, more than just the radio-friendly indie folk it appears to be on the surface.
I seem to remember a lot of artists tried to emulate the success of this but they were rubbish.
Never listened to the rest of the album. Well, I'd stick it on ahead of Richard Hawley, that's for sure. It's nice enough.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
It's Curtis Mayfield. It's fabulous. I'm a little unsure why Curtis and Roots aren't also here given the preponderance of some other artists. Maybe one or two fewer Steely Dan or Neil Young albums? I mean, we get it. I raise once more the existence of a David Grey album in a list ahead of Curtis.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Block rockin beats was so massively overplayed in the indie clubs I frequented 25 years ago that I'm no longer very excited to hear it. Although it is great.
This is really good, but ultimately if I'm going to have a bit of nostalgic chems listening I am far more likely to reach for the debut, the big songs on which trigger that sweet sweet memory hit. A couple of tracks here are pretty average, or just run together without anything particularly distinguishable happening - Elektrobank, Piku, It Doesn't Matter, Don't Stop the Rock etc. when I think about it this is one of my least favourite Chems albums to be honest, I'm talking myself down to a 3.
Private Psychedelic Reel though, is a different story, I fucking love that. In fairness the last 3 tracks are decent, in contrast to about half an hour of meh that precedes it. Amusingly I forgot about the Beth Orton track at the end, had her album yesterday.
Crowded House
5/5
Perfect pop song after perfect pop song. Sure, it's radio friendly, sure I guess it's kinda M.O.R. but, there's just something about Crowded House that means this doesn't matter. They stride above such concerns. Must be the quality. So it's either this or Together Alone which is their best album, I have a very strong soft spot for Together Alone as it just came out when I was buying album after album, but this is a very close second for me.
Sepultura
4/5
Barely listened around the fringes of these but my memory suggests I am fonder of them than other 90s metal bands.
This is banging.
Ratamahatta is absolutely ace. As is Born Stubborn.
I'd say the Nu-metal songs are less good, but Lookaway is epic.
72 minutes is far too long, so tracks to drop - Straighthate, Dusted maybe?
Itsari feels like a natural end point, then there's 4 more, admittedly good, songs.
There's no bad tracks, it's just too long. Ah, the last track is 13 minutes of, well, canyon jamming, I guess. Which is great but I'm obviously not listening to it all every time I stick this on. So that takes this down to a tight 59 minutes.
David Bowie
4/5
Not my favourite Bowie album (Bowie albums I love more: Low, Young Americans, Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Station, Aladdin) though it indisputably contains one of if not his greatest ever songs.
In terms of the Bowie albums with two halves of pop songs and instrumentals, Low is lightyears apart for me on both fronts.
That said, it's a peak Bowie album, and is spectacular in its own right. I just have to leave myself somewhere to go.
Favourites - Heroes, Neukoln, V-2 Schneider.
Fiona Apple
5/5
Scrolling through the reviews, people giving this 1 star seem to be mostly bell ends, or under this mad self-hate craze they've got running riot in the states. Or maybe they want all their music to have 'perfect' production with all the edges knocked off and unadventurous. Which is a valid choice for some. Sure it's not for you, nothing is for everyone, 1 star should be reserved for the truly bad, 2 stars for me when I just don't like something but can see why others would.
That said I can understand why this album would be polarising. Newspaper, For Her, the title track. But if an album is polarising opinion, that can be a sign of something truly special. I remember the reaction when it came out, universal praise, Pitchfork's fabled full 100 score, that kind of thing and wondered if people were going overboard. I think they probably were, but just a little, this is a great album.
I think I prefer the idler wheel, and I was never a fan of her 90s stuff, so I'm far happier when she's experimental. Regardless, I'm obviously going to add a star and give this a 5 just to undo one of those 1s that should be a 2.
Faves - Fetch the Boltcutters, I Want You to Love Me, Rack of His, Cosmonauts
Napalm Death
4/5
Hugely enjoyable listen in places, the opening of Instinct of Survival just kicks your face off.
Very noticeable the change in make up of the band half way through. I think in general I find the first half better, or easier to tell the songs apart, but they both have a distinctive style. If you read the lyrics it's actually possible to pick out the words from the first guy, the second guy, you're fucked.
Played some of the second half to my 11 year old when I got home. She said she liked it and it was inventive. Among other things.
Faves, Instinct of Survival, Siege of Power, Born on Your Knees, CS, Pseudo Youth, Moral Crusade.
Afterwards, the girl said she wanted to listen to mice. So I searched Spotify and found a band called Mice Parade, who seem to be pretty good!
Various Artists
5/5
Lol ok so it's not random.
The best Xmas album ever made by a distance, Christmas (baby please come home) is the best Xmas song ever made.
All the Darlene Love and Ronettes ones are stone cold timeless bangers. Oh and The Crystals. Well, all of it.
Merry Xmas everyone.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Complicated relationship with this one. Well, not that complicated, it's just not my favourite of theirs and I struggle slightly with the concept that this is an all time flawless album. This is kind of more, the Led Zep "that's an impressive fret-wank (or equivalent) album".
I appreciate Whole Lotta Love rather than love it, fun effects and stuff but too stop start ultimately. It's not high on my favourite led zep songs. Same goes for the Lemon Song.
That said, there really isn't a song here that's less than very good.
Ramble on and Heartbreaker are fantastic, they just don't fuck around (well, Ok, they do a little bit). Sounds like I only want straight ahead rockers from Led Zep which is not true at all, since I've been loving you on 3, the song remains the same, love all that shit. I also love their folksy shit, which again is more evident from 3 onwards.
I love Led Zep 3 so much more, I like Houses of the Holy more, and Led Zep 4 is better than this. Based on gut feeling and memory, we'll see how I feel when they all come up, as I'm sure they will.
Mike Oldfield
3/5
I've still somehow never seen The Exorcist (who someone on here seems to think was directed by Roman Polanski).
Tubular Bells II came out when I was a kid though to a big buzz so this was everywhere for a while, I believe I may have listened to this in full once or twice then, and not in fact the maligned sequel.
After the famous recognisable part is over... Well it's more prog rock isn't it, but is it good prog? I'm not sure it is really. For large swathes the ideas come thick and fast and then he's done and moved on. Of course there's a Mellotron in there, which is kinda fun as usual. It's basically one big solo jam session. Not my kind of prog either, mostly.
There are high points though obviously, usually when he sticks with an idea for more than one minute, who knew. So the beginning, and the end of part 1 are both obviously great.
Anything redeemable about part 2? Er, well not from the first half. The second half, with the Klingon and whatnot, erm, no.
The very end of the album is good - nice, noodly and chill. Which is then ruined by him launching into Barnacle Bill - whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Overall, a very mixed bag, which is an entertaining enough listen as a one off for this but can't see why I'd put it on as a whole piece again.
The Go-Go's
4/5
It's the Go-Go's. Yep, great fun, poppy bangers throughout.
Another nice one to get to send off Terry Hall into that long goodnight.
10cc
4/5
Hmm, not sure where I sit with this as I listen for the first time.
Was just thinking, don't really get these, seems like sub-prog rock without really going for it, same as how I feel about most Steely Dan I've heard so far. Then Hotel came on and my ears pricked up, ideas all over the place. Probably headphones are necessary. But then you do also hear the ouch racist lyrics.
Also this brought home the very obvious influence they had on the band Field Music, who I like, and who I particular appreciate for their adventurousness, so perhaps I should like this?
Ah... Godley and Creme are from this band. Not that I'm mad on any of their songs particularly either, though.
But, based on one listen - and after the first two songs left me stone cold - I'm coming down on the side of enjoying this. I like people to try stuff. My god, Field Music sound so much like these, especially on the first album or so. However as the album goes on I can also hear Surf's Up/Smile era Beach Boys and Briand Wilson's influence too. Yep, a winner.
Faves, Somewhere in Hollywood
Foo Fighters
3/5
This was good fun when it came out, though it's pretty much textbook inessential, doesn't belong in this list, that's for sure.
One or two genuinely great songs dotted around the Foos' career (maybe not on this one though) , and Dave seems a lovely bloke.
Nice to get the lyrics sheet and have it confirmed after this time that the lyrics to This is a Call are a completely random list of non-sequiters.
Foo Fighters albums just got more and more inessential, but not bad, as they went along. They hit on that formula early and by god they opened the factory.
Because of that, and this being the height of my Nirvana-fandom, this is the Foo Fighters album I'm fondest of. It also sounds the most like Nirvana (Easy Target, Weenie Beanie), which makes sense since most of the tracks were written back then. For All the Cows sounds like Green Day.
But ultimately, it's still just good to average, perfectly serviceable rock. And when In Utero comes around it's clearly getting 5 stars, so as someone who likes this, you have to consider - is it really just one star better than this? No.
Faves - X-Static, This is a Call, Alone + Easy Target.
4/5
Ha, well I got this on New Year's Eve. 3 months after her death.
Not a big country fan by any means but I have softened in my aversion to it in recent years. And, well, this is terrific really. What a voice.
RIP.
Queen Latifah
4/5
Another golden age of rap/ hip hop record, and another I haven't heard before.
Nice.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Definitely sets a mood!
Since I'm listening with my daughter we dissolved that mood by singing the categories of Top Trumps Dogs to eachother in Marvin style as we played. I won in the end, kept getting the Doberman.
Best songs for this game: Keep Getting it on, You Sure Love to Ball.
Good times.
The Smiths
5/5
Growing up in Manchester I also obviously grew up with The Smiths and New Order, and it was the perfect counter soundtrack to the shite on the radio from the mid 80s onwards.
I listened to this one less than TQID or Hatful of Hollow mainly, and they might have more straightforward classic Smith's songs, but this pushes the boat out musically and atmospherically, Death of a Disco Dancer being a prime example. Last Night I Dreamt... (surely one of their greatest ever songs). And there's still the pop, Girlfriend in a Coma, Stop Me if you think etc. Unhappy Birthday.
The lyrics are great and affecting as ever. I'm beginning to get more comfortable separating 80s Morrissey from whoever this is now, and really enjoy the genius of what they created together back then. Anything else is pure self-denial.
Some magnificent stuff here.
MGMT
3/5
Removed from the book as a post 2000 album, obviously, we can't dislodge David Gray.
I kept meaning to listen to this album back in the day, Christ it's 15 years old already, I am old.
Anyway I never did really, apart from the 3 main songs on the radio, until years later. When I finally did I don't think I latched on. I remember a big fuss being made about Congratulations as well but I did the same with that.
It's quite funny how different most of the album tracks are to the singles, there's a couple of decent pop-psych songs in a similarly interesting vein and then there's this kind of cod-Bowie/Bolan stuff. A little bit of the more interesting stuff feels a logical progression of what 10CC and others were messing about doing in the 70s.
I'd say about 70% of the album is really good and enjoyable.
Astor Piazzolla
4/5
Ooh. Delightful.
I don't have the musical vocab to say anything interesting about a classical tango album but this is very, very nice.
I have one other touchstone in this ouvre I guess which was the soundtrack to Waking Life by Tosca Tango Orchestra, which was also slightly offbeat in places but more generally unsettling than this.
This is lovely. I particularly love the longer tracks as they wend and wain.
Living Colour
2/5
Um... Well obviously Cult of Personality is a stone cold banger that's reverberated down the ages, welcomely popping back up in Grand Theft Auto (Vice City??) and again smashing it as CM Punk's entrance music.
So, the rest. I did worry it was all going to be shit after the second track. Well it's not baad bad, I'm just not sure why I'm listening to it. Desperate People is probably the only song I'd be interested in if CoP didn't exist. Late shout for Glamour Boys.
It says here that the album has aged well, that's debatable I think. The vocal style is incredibly of its time, cock rock/hair metal, maybe except on Memories Can't Wait, where he's trying his best to ape Mike Patton (without his ridiculously wide vocal range).
I get why it's here, and I like that an all black 'metal' (it's not metal is it, let's be honest, who is calling this metal? I'll accept hard rock) band broke through in the 80s, and the messages in the lyrics.
But aside from that one great song this isn't for me.
Beastie Boys
4/5
1-2 Oh My God!
So much of this takes me back to Monday and Wednesday nights at the Ritz. Jumping off the stage to Sabotage (that video!), plus Root Down, Get it Together (Q-Tip!) and of course Sure Shot, which I got a second life from when I later discovered all the Blue Note stuff they'd pilfered from to genius effect. Jeremy Steig's Howling For Judy, is just an absolute gem.
Such variation. Love the funky jams in the middle like Futterman's Rule. That said, the album does wander considerably far from where we were during the first 9 tracks at that point and doesn't come back for a while. Then it wanders away again. Essentially two different albums smooshed together.
We're back red hot with Flute Loop. I'm a sucker for these jazz samples. Also enjoy the throwbacks to their start out as a thrash punk outfit.
So, it suffers a fair bit through the classic CD era failure to edit. I'd drop Alright Hear This, The Scoop and a couple others to a B-side personally. Not Ricky's Theme though, that is low key ace. As is Bodhisattva Vow. Not sure you need the whole 3 mins 40 of Shambala as a lead-in to it. Mind you that is very good, but this is the issue with too long albums, you're kind of done with stuff like that by the time it comes around.
Overall though, excellent, and aged well.
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Hmm. Well it's accomplished pop, but I've heard a fair bit of pop in recent years that is really outstanding (Self Esteem, King Princess, Tove Styrke). I'm not really getting that here.
I heard Tilted along with everyone else so checked out the rest of their stuff hoping to love it but was left cold really. I'm having more or less the same experience here. I've already got Off The Wall. Using the same production tricks is fine and everything but I'm not sure what's he to push this album into the stratosphere on its own merits.
Doesn't Matter was good. Goya Soda was good. Feels so Good was good. A few songs were very average. Obviously I'm not going to listen to the same album again in French straight afterwards, therefore the 'Too long' criticism is unfair. Unless the songs were all so unmemorable to those people that they literally didn't realise this was happening, in which case that's not good, is it.
Massive Attack
4/5
Karmacoma was literally everywhere when it came out, as such I'm a bit sick of it. But could never hear Protection too many times, wonderful song.
I was never particularly taken by Tricky's solo stuff, aside from Black Steel (which is kind of a rock cover of Public Enemy anyway).
Anyway yeah, played this to death during my uni years so will always be evocative of that particular era, plus the sound is very much of its time, hello also to Leftfield. A mix of melancholic but beautiful songs, swooshing instrumentals and modern dub. I had no idea it was made amid so much turmoil for the band. Nevertheless, it still stands up.
Best tracks: Sly, Protection, Spying Glass, Heat Miser.
Malcolm McLaren
5/5
Well this is just loads of fun, especially when McLaren isn't speaking. You've got the Art of Noise, you've got Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens (massively not cool that they were uncredited - wtf), you've got Thomas Dolby, you've got the pirate DJs the Supreme Team all smooshed together by Trevor Horn and the gang.
There's so much to love. Keith Haring cover art as well. It's so ubiquitously 80s, it's kind of wonderful. Even if McLaren comes across as one of the creepiest dudes ever, and most of this album is magpie-ing shit from everywhere - and although that is kind of the entire point, see above, pay those people! They made half the record pop.
Also love happening upon another PWEI sample (end of Merengue = end of 88 Seconds...and still counting)
Man From Delmonte stole the Makgona Tsohle Band sound (specifically on Water in My Eyes which I still love) and mixed it with Marr/Orange Juice guitar, and although no-one seems to have heard of them these days I still like them.
This album sent me off on a journey of listening to all of the above over the course of the day. Therefore, inspirational.
Iron Maiden
3/5
Spent the whole album waiting for Number of the Beast and specifically Run to the Hills, just hoping something, anything would stack up to those two absolute classics.
Sadly nothing really did. Also one too many 6+ minute tracks that don't do enough to justify the length. I suppose the 2nd half of Acacia Avenue was decent. But I was really trying to like something by that stage so who knows.
My feelings confirmed when the 2 aforementioned finally come on and absolutely blow everything else away. Well RTTH does, NOTB is merely great. Maybe its unfair, how can anything compare to Run to the Hills, one of if not the greatest metal song ever written? Fact is they are on the same album as it, and that's that. It towers above everything else though, what a song.
Muscular closer Hallowed be Thy Name is an exception to all my comments above, but just reading this being referenced as one of the greatest metal albums ever, I can't have that. 3 fantastic songs, the rest isn't meh, but it's nowhere near good enough for that accolade.
Arcade Fire
4/5
When this came out I was all about Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and all that. The biggest most recent wave of sad boy indie guitar, it was everywhere. Now I've moved on obviously, but still have to pop back to Funeral from time to time, which remains superb. I haven't felt drawn to this in the same way over the years, although it definitely has some of their best songs on it.
Honestly if this album was around 48 minutes long it would probably be getting 5 stars. As it is, it's just too long and as others have said, in hindsight drags in the middle. Songs that make it too long while not really adding anything: City with no Children, Half Light II, Month of May.
That said, it does an expert job of creating a consistent mood, you can really visualise the subject matter and imagine yourself wondering around somewhat soulless, humdrum and empty cookie-cutter neighbourhoods as you listen to it.
Favourites: Ready To Start, Sprawl II, Suburban War
Radiohead
5/5
Don't get any big ideas.
Probably my favourite, most enduring Radiohead album? The other classics, my opinion is clouded slightly by 90s nostalgia and I was never a Kid A Stan. I've grown to love it over the years but it's not the same. In fact Hail to the Thief brought me back on board after leaving for a while, and In Rainbows re-cemented my love and encouraged me to try Kid A again.
So I love those albums. But In Rainbows - well it's retained its freshness somehow. I guess we will see in 10-12 years if I feel its as fresh, but in my memories clearly it's attached to a very different stage in my life than the bends or ok computer.
Love every bit of this. That moment in Reckoner, you know the one. Johnny's guitar merging into the backing vocal melody in Jigsaw Falling into Place. The skittish, irrepressible energy of Bodysnatchers. The beauty of Faust Arp. Nude.
The Who
5/5
Hmm. Where to start here. I'll listen to arguments about why live albums should be included, I don't think they should be dismissed out of hand. Especially when the artists haven't released a truly great studio album but have great tracks, and are notoriously good live, which I think is fair to say of The Who. But then why are 4 studio albums in this book. I'll get to the other 3, but I didn't think much of Who's Next. I liked it but didn't love it.
Secondly, this is a release that's been fucked about with, app links to an hour and 17 minutes version but the compiler is referring to an original 6 track live recording.
I haven't got all day, so, after Can't Explain I'm skipping straight to Young Man Blues, then after Happy Jack I'm skipping to Summertime Blues. A compromise.
Happy with my decision. Actually I deviated and skipped through Happy Jack and went to Amazing Journey from Tommy. I think I'm going to enjoy Tommy, I remember enjoying the film, and was disappointed with most of The Who's output post-1969. I just find them very hit and miss. But they can definitely hit.
Was windmilling between 4 and 5 but the medley starting with My Generation just blew me away.
Can't argue with the assessment that this is The Who at their best, and how they should be heard. Bin off the albums, just come here.
Devendra Banhart
4/5
00s album, they only keep 3-4 per year in the book so can't read the write up.
Never listened to these at the time. Heard various artists I respect saying it was good, just never got around to it. I guess I was listening to Devotchka instead. With that and Devo, that was the allocation for DEV taken up.
A really gentle, indie folk album which was perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Lovely finger picking guitar. His voice and singing style strays occasionally towards the annoying, but mostly stays on the right side of that particular boundary.
It's also crucially not sad indie folk, which seemed to be everywhere at the time. Some of it is good but too much was definitely a bad thing. Sufjan Stevens being the most obvious example of the good.
I think I'll listen to this again in quiet moments.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
All killer no filler from the Queen of Soul.
Richard Thompson
5/5
First thought - well, the cover is extremely reminiscent of the graffiti you come across in the Last of Us, but particularly the TV iteration, the 1st of which we watched last night.
To the music - Wonderful. I love this, and I was caught unawares. Never listened to any Fairport Convention to speak of (I guess I'll look forward to that when they come up). The vocals, the instrumentation, the songs, the lyrics, all pretty much perfect.
I listened to it twice on repeat.
I think getting heavily into Richard Dawson in recent years, and into this kind of folk in general, has primed me for this little masterpiece.
Faves - Title track, Calvary Cross, Has he Got a Friend For Me, End of the Rainbow.
Louis Prima
5/5
The king of the swingers!
This is already a favourite. Absolutely bags of fun, and a great pick me up.
Every track might not be quite as good (often re-using licks - but again, what licks) as the ultra-highs of just a gigolo, jump jive n wail, oh Marie, buono Sera, what it definitively is, is a bloody good time. Tight.
The Zombies
5/5
Now this is an album that deserves to be here. We are on a good run.
Discovered this only a few years back. Criminally overlooked it despite already loving She's not There. I honestly think I assumed Time of the Season was by The Bryds or something.
Care of Cell 44 is wonderfully Brian Wilson-esque. That chorus just absolutely POPs out of the speaker. Brilliance. I believe it was A Rose for Emily being played at the end of every episode of the podcast series S-Town that finally dragged me to this album. Doubtless I'm not the only one, so I'm very grateful to that.
There's plenty of Pet Sounds influences here (which is enough by itself to draw me in) but there's lots more to love besides. There's hints of Nick Drake's Bryter Layter here too in Hung up on a Dream (which of course was slightly layter). A glorious and faultless 60s psych-pop album. Definitely one of the best records ever made.
Best - Care of Cell 44, Time of the Season, This Will Be Our Year, Hung Up on a Dream.
Milton Nascimento
5/5
Another classic. I am due SUCH a run of duffers.
As a long-time Tropicalia convert, I'm surprised I only stumbled across this album last year, through some random conversation. But that's what happened, and now it is a staple.
I adore the Quarteto Em Cy cover of Tudo Que Você Podia Ser, did not know it was a cover before hearing this album.
But what a trip we go on listening to this. Can't adequately explain how good it is. A journey in every song. Absolutely wonderful.
I like the story of the two kids on the cover too. “I was eating a piece of bread that someone had given me, because I was starving. And I was barefoot. But I never knew I was on the cover of a record. My mother will be thrilled. We never had a photo of me as a boy.”
Faves, Tudo Que Você Podia Ser, Clube Da Esquina No2, O Trem Azul, Um Gosto De Sol, Nada Sera Comp Antes.
Spiritualized
5/5
One of my all time favourite albums.
Adore the first track. Hate the fact that the Elvis "Can't help falling in love" infused version has replaced the original more pure version on all streaming sites. Should be an extra track. It's lovely, but when I listen to the album I want the version I fell in love with.
Every song builds beautifully. Talk about going on a sonic journey into the space in your mind.
I have the CD that came in a prescription blister pack, and cardboard with the inlay notes written on a patient information leaflet and instructions for dosage, etc. Genius design.
Absolutely wonderful album though. I got this in 1997 then went back and bought Pure Phase and Lazer Guided Melodies and the three of them soundtracked my uni years and plenty more besides. Saw the band live a couple of times around this time, absolutely spectacular each time. The live album released a year or so later is a great example of this. Could always be relied upon to do something special and different in a live version, songs such as Electric Mainline and Shine a Light are completely brilliant in a different way to the studio version. Broken Heart, off this record, the harmonica is just incredible, heartbreaking live version.
The studio versions are fabulous also.
Broken Heart is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. So sad on the face of it, but the arrangement is so warm, and ultimately feels so full of acceptance, and strength to move forward. Like Hope in the Dark, this song is an axe I often reach for to break down walls.
Stay With Me's gently shimmering brilliance, Come Together's muscular gospel rock, I Think I'm in Love's laconic build. The freak outs. Electricity continuing the Beefheart/OMD run of songs called Electricity being fucking excellent. After all that, Cool Waves is a blissful salve, before Cop Shoot Cop blows your socks off again.
It's just perfect.
I'm only really now getting into Spacemen 3, Sonic Boom's work with Panda Bear helps.
Will always love this album and frequently return to it.
Faves. Title track (original), I think I'm in Love, Stay With Me, Broken Heart.
Elton John
4/5
Never listened to an actual Elton album. Obviously I know all the big songs, so it's just a question of what the rest is like.
Nice to listen to the proper version of Candle in the Wind instead of the incredibly mawkish rework. I forgot how terrific a song it genuinely is.
Benny and the Jets is obviously magnificent, and the title track is plainly one of the greatest songs written by anyone, ever. Weirdly I heard the Beastie Boys slightly daft (but still faithful) cover of the former before I heard the original.
Saturday Night's alright for fighting, likewise, absolute cracker.
So to the rest. Grey Seal is great. Jamaica Jerk off is not great.
Everything else is good, very good even, but it's not really classic. It's unfair to compare them to 4 of the best songs ever written but they are on the same album so here we are.
Also, this is a double album, which needs to have extra classic bangers to score top marks.
(It's only 6 minutes longer than the Spiritualized 'single' album I just gave 5 to, but hey ho)
Blur
3/5
The midway point between two Blurs.
I don't ever recall being that in love with this record, I enjoyed it and played it a lot, but I'm never compelled much to go back and listen again over the years.
A fan since the first album, I enjoyed the experimentation on the Great Escape, which was critically panned, but well received on this - for me it just feels less...warm. Or maybe it's just that the tunes aren't as good, generally.
I've not much time for the 'old' Blur songs here MOR, On Your Own, Look Inside America. They're fine but stick out, out of place.
Beetlebum is still great. Song 2 is massively overplayed. Theme From Retro and Death of the Party still manage to sound vaguely Margate Pier underneath the weirdness, the chorus of the latter is the most Great Escape sounding thing here. Graham Coxon the solo artist is announced on You're So Great.
The sludgy groove on Just a Killer For Your Love is excellent.
A record I admire for the change in direction rather than love for the music on it.
Judas Priest
2/5
I like metal and I'm not sure if I'm just not feeling it this morning, but I'm not feeling this.
Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight aside, a lot of the songs seemed to go on too long, even though they were only 4 minutes. I was getting bored and wanting the next one on after about 2.
Good riffs and energy but just... not enough tunes.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
3/5
Hmm. Do I like this? Not sure. I like large bits of it certainly but it's very long for a continuous jam, even for my tastes, and I fucking love a big song that build and builds.
I guess this doesn't necessarily do that though, it stops for a snooze now and then.
Also I think we need to blame them for Phish, contractually? But then we wouldn't have had the Analyze Phish podcast with Harris Wittels, and both before and after that I haven't been impacted by Phish, so, net positive.
So I am enjoying Calvary, which actually seems to suit the album cover. As a whole I think this goes in the 'enjoyable listen, glad I heard it, not sure I will ever put it on again ' section.
Nick Drake
5/5
Yeah it's Bryter Layter, five stars.
Some notes though.
Belle and Sebastian seem to have pinched their template from a couple of tracks here, Hazey Jane II and suchlike.
Love the soulful jazz of Poor Boy as it gently soars.
One of These Things First and Northern Sky are particularly excellent. Some of the rest feels a little twee at times but seems to somehow stay on the right side and remains delightful, instrumentals included.
Always a great listen.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Enough has been written about Bob Dylan. This is really good.
Brian Eno
5/5
Eno!
Ooh what to do? Not a sausage to do.
Bags of fun, and so much inventiveness, I love it.
By This River is gloriously beautiful. Spider and I is also gorgeous, extremely reminiscent of his work on Bowie's Low in the same year.
I maybe don't love this album as consistently as Warm Jets or Another Green World but I still love it. All of Eno's albums in the 70s are fabulous.
Nirvana
5/5
Ah, this. Was absolutely everywhere and I didn't buy it for some reason. But I did listen to it A LOT. And it's all wrapped up in the memories of watching it at the time.
Kurt's mohair jumper. Dave looking all prim in a pony tail, and those brush drumstick things because he couldn't physically hit the drums lightly enough with anything else. Who are these fellas, the what puppets?
It's basically perfect.
Was also into Bowie but it took me years to dive into his earlier back catalogue, so Man Who Sold the World joins the list of songs I heard the cover of first. For many years this was the definitive version for me.
Only just twigged it's not actually unplugged, that's an electric guitar! Obviously.
Kurt really loves The Vaselines, that's 3 covers now.
Where did you sleep last night is chilling.
Miles Davis
3/5
I'm not sure how arsed I am about this kind of Jazz. I know I really liked Kind of Blue, bounced off Bitches Brew when I tried them both 10-15 years ago, but I didn't go to this. Be interested to see how I react to Brew with several years more musical maturity.
Anyway, this is enjoyable but I'm not really picking up enough variation to keep me massively interested.
King Crimson
4/5
Real good. Will be adding to my King Crimson rotation along with Crimson King and Red, the latter of which I was compelled to stick on after I listened to this.
Spiritualized
5/5
Aw, too soon! Only just had ladies and gentlemen, hoped they'd space them out a bit. Ha. Pun not intended.
Anyway, love this most low key Spiritualized album. Sometimes even more than aforementioned masterpiece. Certainly Shine A Light is one of the best songs they ever did. Everything builds so gently and beautifully, gliding into a blissed out haze. Elsewhere, both If I Were With Her Now and Take Your Time's one-paced, effortlessly rolling groove take some beating. Angel Sigh blows your socks off, Sway is simply gorgeous. This album starts and finishes so strongly. I'm not as fond of I Want You and the reworking of the Velvet's Run, Run, Run, but they're both still fun. Plus you get to have a little sleep and a float in the breeze in the middle of the album.
Fleet Foxes
4/5
If you only listen to one Fleet Foxes album, you should listen to...
Helplessness Blues.
Well, actually I haven't given Crack Up or Shore enough of a listen but HB is a really great record. Better and more interesting than this one, which while a great debut and announcement of the band's somewhat memeable yet distinctive sound, trails off a bit towards the end. Great songs up front, a bit forgettable at the end. This is definitely something the band fixed on the follow up.
Almost not worth mentioning the incredibly obvious influence of Simon and Garfunkel, and the Beach Boys vocally and Brian Wilson musically, but I will. Particularly in Quiet Houses, the standout Ragged Wood and the instrumental Heard Them Stirring.
I also get a huge Red House painters vibe from Taking Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.
Very accomplished debut, but better, more expansive music as they grew into their own sound was to follow.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
So good. Demands close listening.
Portishead
5/5
In a break from my routine I waited until the evening to listen to this. If you're listening to Portishead in the morning, you're probably still stoned.
The little sample breaks are what give the album much of its charm, and save it from being too of its time. Strangers is a particular example of this. Lalo Schiffrin in Sour Times. Biscuit. Glory Box is obviously an absolute cracker.
It's a Fire. Don't know this. It's not on the album. Very nice though.
Unquestionably the best Portishead album, this is strongest for me when Beth is not overwhelmed by the trip hop beats. That said, Wandering Star pretty much marries these two elements most perfectly. Pedestal a close second. Anyone who enjoys her voice absolutely must listen to the later, absurdly good album she did with Rustin Man. Strong examples here though, It Could Be Sweet, Roads.
Man. Roads. What. a. song.
That's the song that doesn't immediately take me back to the years and evenings at uni where this album was ever present, because above any other song here I've carried it with me.
One of my favourite ever songs. Just absolute bliss.
Album probably getting a nostalgia 5.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
Never listened to these. Heard Bell Bottoms on Baby Driver soundtrack, which I enjoyed but even that doesn't really go anywhere after it explodes. Threatens to be excellent but crashes into itself.
Stopping after Sticky, that's the album.
Skunk sounds like Odelay era Beck. Ah, same year.
Wail, ok I prefer Lux Interior's mental Elvis drawl. This isn't terrible though.
Fuck Shit Up - pass.
2 Kindsa Love. Think I've heard this before, another decent one to be fair.
Love all of me - an extremely raucous song that still manages to be mediocre. A triumph.
Loads more meh songs follow. Thank god I noticed the album itself is only 45 minutes long because it's really dragging. Only 2 half decent songs.
Suspect this is a band that was probably great to catch live, but on record never quite the same. Leaves me cold anyway. In fact it started to grate. Had to stick The Cramps on afterwards as a palate-cleanser. Let's hear this shit done properly.
The full "not great, not terrible" on the Dyatlov ratings scale.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
While it was nice to get another LCD Soundsystem album in 2017, I struggle to think of anything particularly remarkable about it. It was decent, but not about to win over anyone who didn't already like them.
So its inclusion here is just baffling to be honest. Especially considering how few albums per year post-2000 are allowed into the book. Sound of Silver is here elsewhere so LCD are accounted for. All the more egregious when I recall I've already had the XX album nobody knew existed from this year (now removed)
I'm just thinking about other things released in 2017 that are more deserving. Breakthrough albums for artists, albums that move music in interesting directions. It's perhaps not a vintage year, but you have St Vincent- Masseduction. Richard Dawson - Peasant. Run the Jewels.
Heck if you want a comeback album there was the Slowdive and Sparks albums.
Anyway, this is still good. Takes a good while to get going but its got some decent tracks on it.
Queens of the Stone Age
2/5
Ok we're picking this instead of one of the two good qotsa albums. Not listened to this one before.
Avon I liked.
Sidewalks descends into the 'just too long' hypnotic groove that Kyuss loved, and I did too.
Look, it's a good sound they've got. Sadly the main problem here is there are way too few actual tunes. Kyuss has better tunes, maybe they'd run out at this stage.
On Rated R they are straight out of the gate with the tunes, but sounded less like Kyuss and more like a new band with it's own sound. Which is probably how this should work.
They seem like they're enjoying themselves though, so there's that.
Kate Bush
4/5
Ed - write something about Stranger Things but being there the first time around. Donald Sutherland video.
Hounds of Love is ace - however I think I actually prefer the Futureheads' version! Probably blasphemous opinion.
The refreshingly mental Waking the Witch, what on earth is going on there.
Can't think of words. It's Kate Bush, it's very good.
The White Stripes
2/5
Ohhh Jeremy Corbyn.
repeat to fade.
I don't know what it is about the White Stripes, they're plainly quite good, but even at the time when I liked them, I never loved them, and I've never felt the desire to stick any of their records on in the intervening 20 years or so, even the couple I bought.
Also, the big songs here were absolutely played to buggery everywhere, and the rest is kind of meh blues rock noodlings.
I drifted in and out listening to this again now, mostly bored.
Started as a 3, managed to work its way down to a 2.
I'm noticing a theme in this project, maybe its the blues rock that doesn't do it for me. I like the blues.
Shit, the cover version here just killed Burt Bacharach. Confirmed 2.
The B-52's
4/5
Difficult not to love the B-52s. A shame most people only seem to know Love Shack and a more recently, now also Rock Lobster.
First 5 songs absolute stone cold worldies. Particularly Dance This Mess Around. Love love love.
Lots of fun to be had elsewhere. Pure party band you have to get up and do all 16 dances to, and low key queer pioneers.
Hey. So don't that make you feel a lot better?
Aerosmith
4/5
Ok so classic period Aerosmith, here it is. Much heavier and doesn't have the aging issues Pump does.
The missing link between heavy metal and hair metal from the review below is bang on.
Still not my thing but it's definitely a good listen. Nothing jumps out at me like Sweet Emotion did, so my go to Aerosmith list of tracks remains short. Good though.
The Cardigans
5/5
Got this on a Sunday which is very appropriate, the C90 I had with this on one side and Life on the other was permanently on while I played Sensible Soccer in the late 90s, or as a hangover cure.
I think I may prefer Life slightly, but let's go anyway.
Not listened for many years now but it doesn't seem to have dated, probably because of the many retro influences to start with. Maybe it's the flute solos.
Gloriously weird in places, the mixture of this sweet, slightly twee sounding Swedish band and Black Sabbath is some sort of alchemy. Other metal moves are elsewhere, the kerchunk that punctuates the otherwise sad-indie banger Step On Me.
So much so, that the worldwide smash and ludicrously overplayed Lovefool actually feels out of place when I listen to this album and it always has. Hard for me to remember the time listening to this before Romeo and Juliet.
Oh god, Losers just came on. I fucking love this beautiful, wonderful song.
Changed my mind, this is clearly the best Cardigans album, and actually one of my favourite albums of the 90s. Going back into circulation.
Faves: Losers, Your New Cuckoo, Been it, Never Recover, Step On Me, Heartbreaker, Choke. Fuck me, the whole album except Lovefool, which is still good but passes me by due to overplayment.
Sticking the excellent Sabbath Bloody Sabbath cover on to round things off.
Paul Simon
4/5
So it's a Paul Simon album, except I've never heard it and don't know any of the songs. And it's brilliant.
Why do none of these songs get played?
Ah, aside from Me and Julio.
Elis Regina
3/5
Love me a bit of Brazilian jazz singers. Initially thought this was a complete blind spot for me, before realising this is the Elis from Elis & Tom.
But definitely never heard this. Turns out there's a couple of blind spots for me as I was late to the Milton Nascimento album here elsewhere also. Love the duet between the two here. Outro Cais I believe is actually on Clube de Esquina (as is O Trem Azul), but is shorn of the fabulous Beatles-esque actual outro on this outing. Less of the psych fun in general than those versions.
There's a couple of more easy listening tracks, and a couple a bit janky very late 70s sounding on here (who is Jackie Ellis?) (slightly odd to have a compo on here with no Wikipedia page) but it's a really great listen, I'm going to have to dig in.
Kelela
3/5
You wonder how much the editors really think you must hear this before you die given they removed it from the book immediately after a single edition.
I feel ill equipped to rate this album, I've grown to like many examples of genres I previously wrote off in my youth, but modern R&B is one I'm yet to find an example I genuinely like.
First two tracks of properly average R&B in, and a glance at the running time and I'm thinking, this could be the first one I'm tapping out of early.
That said, the title track is pretty great. So there are ideas here. Ok, it has my attention. Enough is equally interesting.
Ok. This is not an R&B album, more a beat-based soundscape with an R&B tinge.
Wait. Another bog standard R&B song. The singles here are a disguise. Stop doing this! Either be good or be shite, please pick one. Her new album was just released this week, I wonder if she picked an approach.
I guess out of the singles, LMK is at least a little interesting. Ok no, I think this album is just teasing me. There aren't any more of the cool soundscape songs until Turn to Dust, which is again really nice.
There's half of a really great album hiding in here for me. The rest is interesting for an R&B album, but that's what it is, and I just don't really go for that.
Hole
5/5
Still one of my favourite ever albums, and in a world where I am constantly trying to listen to stuff new to me, it's one of the few records I still regularly return to. I don't care so much that Courtney is so divisive, this is just an excellent and timeless record to me.
Really hits.
The fact the record is imbued with tragedy, the deaths of Kurt and Kristen occuring so closely to it's release is undoubtedly part of why it stuck with me as an impressionable teenager, but does not explain why that stick has never wore off well into adulthood.
The fact this album has come up in the week we just got the prognosis of my partner's cancer and the full scope of the battle ahead brought into stark relief, is well.... fuck....timely.
This album is pure catharsis. It's vital. It's necessary. No punches pulled, and yet all wrapped up in melody. The harshness is still there in the lyrics, but musically it pulls back from Pretty on the Inside's onslaught. I like that too but this balance makes for a perfect record.
I don't really miss God, but I sure miss Santa Claus.
Pink Floyd
2/5
Ok so here we are, about as far as we could get from the Barrett-era Floyd that I like.
I was fair to Dark Side, I think that got a 4, surprisingly. So I'll be fair as I can to this. Don't think I ever got through the whole record before.
By Don't Leave Me Now I was very close to turning it off again.
Are the people that like this the same people who can't stand musicals? Because I don't understand that. The whole section of the album from One of My Turns up to Comfortably Numb, is the bit in the musical towards the end where the main character sits alone and has an introspective little sing to themselves.
Why is In the Flesh on twice, this album is long enough, and this song is sub-Ziggy Stardust shit. I guess the point is the new racist etc lyrics to get across the character is now a fascist.
So I get that this is a rock opera, which explains a lot of the decisions, and I AM glad that I listened to it. I guess I can understand why some revere it. But I don't understand why you would listen to it repeatedly. I don't go to musicals I have enjoyed again and again, so the same applies here. And the songs aren't that good, largely, which is kind of a big deal. There are definitely good bits sprinkled throughout it, but it's overlong.
Songs enjoyed: Goodbye Blue Sky, Nobody Home, Comfortably Numb. That's it I think.
The Kinks
4/5
Funny, was just talking to a friend about going through the The Kinks back catalogue after I'm done going through Sparks. And this comes along the next day!
The problem might be that every Kinks album is going to be compared unfavorably with the genius Village green.
The first two tracks are great, classic poppy Kinks, after that though it loses something for me, goes a little bit too knees up mother brown for several tracks.
The second half is better.
Lazy Old Sun is interesting, lilting and hazy
as if melted by the supposedly lazy star. End of the Season is similarly evocative, these tracks are what make the Kinks special. And then of course there is Waterloo Sunset, which blends their innate pop sensibilities together with the atmosphere to give one of the best songs made by anyone ever.
Then I'm sticking Autumn Almanac on, I know it's a non-album single but honestly, what a song.
William Orbit
1/5
I think this sort of thing launched a million chill out albums from the late 90s to the early 00s.
Still confused as to why Leftfield isn't in this book because it's better. As is The Orb, Little Fluffy Clouds this isn't.
First track reminded me strongly of another track that has the same effect but it never launched into it, so that was frustrated. I've just placed it. It was a different version but off Northern Exposure by Sasha + Digweed, my trusty chill out/spaced out trance of choice during those years.
The Story of Light sounds exactly like the Happy Mondays did several years earlier.
The tracks at the end are kind of just... nothing. But not interesting nothing. Music with space to breathe can be awesome, see The Necks and the like. This does nothing with that space. Last track was ok.
Feels very dated generally, extremely dated production, I don't have the nostalgia for these tracks to carry me over that bump. Also they aren't that interesting. I did like stuff like this back in the day quite a lot and occasionally go back to it but these tracks severely do not grab me.
So this isn't for me, now. I'm not really sure other than maybe 2 tracks it was for me then either.
Hazy Shade of Random, Water from a vine leaf (Spooky's Xylem Flow mix)
Boston
3/5
More Than a Feeling is such an unusually structured song. Why is the end at the beginning, and the beginning in the middle? Still, it works.
Don't know any of the other tracks, I'm guessing from the reviews that the other songs besides the opener still get played a lot in the States.
But this might be the most unfathomable thing, a good soft rock album. I'm still drifting off during Rock and Roll Band though.
Once I realised I was bored nothing brought me back, but this type of stuff isn't for me anyway. Good fun.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
RIP Keith Levene.
Until relatively recently, I'd only heard the title track, and the pop stuff in the mid 80s, Rise, and that. So I'd got very much the wrong idea about PiL.
One listen to Metal Box put that right, and it fair scared me off to be honest, I need to return to it. Certainly helped me understand their standing as post-punk pioneers.
This is equally not for the faint hearted it seems. I listened to Theme twice, pretty much hating the first 5 minutes then loving it for the second 15.
Public Image is a classic.
Clearly not an immediate album, but a lot to like on the first couple of listens all the same.
The Sugarcubes
3/5
These songs take me right back to the indie top 20 LPs and reading my brother's NME. Or rather, 'Birthday' and 'Hit'(from elsewhere) do, I've never listened to this album.
So I was confused by the many B52s references in the reviews here, until I heard Motorcrash and OK, I get it, Bjork could be Kate Pearson and Einer could be Fred. Same with a few others.
Birthday, if anything sounds like Cocteau Twins with an electrified Liz Fraser, Bjork is spectacular, the instrumentation otherworldly, simple but superb bass.
Love this whole late 80s/early 90s indie vibe.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
OK, Jah Wobble, never listened to his stuff but I know he has a cult following. Just had PiL's debut but I doubt this will be similar based on what I already know.
1st track, nice, this could be on Screamadelica. Ha, it was released a week later.
2/ Oh oh, 90s reggae/dub, this took a turn. Wait, Spanish guitar? What's happening here?
3/ The production here is very early 90s, reminds me of Leftfield. Except with Spanish guitar and vocals. Remember Jam & Spoon, right in the night? yeah nothing like that.
4/ ok, proper mix of styles here, I like this. The vocal has a striking resemblance to Alabaster dePlume of nowadays. Something very Talking Heads-y here too.
5/ the dub influence is back. The guitar sting which develops over the nippy dub bassline here eventually reminds me very much of Trainspotting off Vanishing point. So more Primal Scream, but later.
I reckon the boys from Lo Fidelity All-stars were fans of this too.
6/ ahahaha, this one sounds more like Jam & Spoon (if they had a brass section) - I didn't plan that. Actually that's unfair, this grows into itself, with the arabic singing, interesting hoppity bass and more Talking Headsy guitar and horns backing it up.
7/ What's this then, desert dub? I like it, give me more. Oh, it drags on a bit, give me less.
8/ so this is more of that. I like it, but I'm not sure I love it.
9/ My mind is wandering at this point and this song didn't bring it back
10/ a jaunty one to finish.
Very obviously a band lead by a bass-player, which usually makes for different music. It's reminded me of a lot of things that I like, which came after it. Whether they were influenced by this I don't know but that's a good sign. I wish I had come across this a little closer to the time because there is no getting away from the fact it's production has dated. At the same time the mix of styles and the North African / Spanish influence helps ease that. Spanish guitar doesn't date, that is permanent. Overall a mixed bag though.
System Of A Down
4/5
Spiders. Fucking epic.
Never get sick of these. They went a progressively more cartoony as they went along so this is generally the album I return to but Toxicity is excellent as well. Toxicity is more consistent right to the end, whereas the debut loses just a touch of steam between War? and Darts. (actually, just listened to Toxicity following on from this - it's a far better album - but this definitely the second best SOAD and still bloody great)
Angry, political, loud, fast, musically tight as fuck. I have no idea how they keep the off-kilter rhythm of the verses in Soil on the rails. So many absolute bangers.
We will fight the heathens. We will fight the heathens.
Best: Spiders, War?, P.L.U.C.K, Suggestions
Thin Lizzy
2/5
Oof, not sure about this.
I can enjoy one or two Thin Lizzy songs as it goes, they're fun. But 17 in a row? No.
For what is basically a best of compilation, I only recognised two songs I think.
By the time the boys were back in town I'd spiritually gone home because I was bored.
By Warriors, you can throw as many virtuosic guitar solos at me as you want, because I've mentally checked out completely.
Checks - 5 songs left. Ok, we can do this.
Songs that broke the mold and so I enjoyed: Massacre, Emerald.
The Fall
5/5
A bloody good record by The Fall.
I've never heard Cologne pronounced like that before.
Van Morrison
4/5
Tried to get into this a few years back, knowing how revered it is. I bounced off the first 2 tracks then and I do now. Particularly Beside You - the musicianship is great but waaaaa waaaaa waaaa. Each time I listen to this album I recall the same reaction, Oh no, I hate this universally loved classic. but then it continues, and slowly grips me.
Sweet Thing allows me in with an actual tune I can wrap my ears around.
As it goes on though I grow into it, by Madam George I can float. I can hear some of the seeds of early Spiritualized here.
Screaming Trees
3/5
Well I like a couple of Mark Lanegan albums, Bubblegum, Blues Funeral. Never really listened to Screaming Trees. Not sure this will be essential but it'll probably be worth a listen.
There's a real feel of The Beatles 'Love You To' lingering in the background of the opener, and its not just the sitar, the melody too.
Hmm, the rest is fine but unremarkable 90s alternative grunge-tinged rock. His solo albums are better. To be fair, I don't think any of his albums are classics, but they all have a few great songs on them. Hit the City, Ode to Sad Disco, Leviathon. Whereas I can't really pick much to stand out of this album.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Essential listening, because of what they became?
A few of these covers stand out, I Just Want to..., Can I get a Witness, ...Make it if you try. Though even those I prefer the original on the first 2. You can tell which song is the Chuck Berry cover to the point where its kind of unnecessary.
Funnily enough my favourite Stones cover of this era, Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away' isn't on this version. As good as the original.
All that is judging it on listening now, I know this was all the rage in the early 60s and fair enough, but I'm listening now, so...
And within 2 years we have Aftermath, which is an altogether different proposition, huge growth.
Nowadays my main association with this record is that Chorlton record shop King Bee was named for one of these songs (although it was probably the original).
Kraftwerk
4/5
Really great.
Neon Lights is best.
Album wise I think I prefer Computer World and Autobahn. but this is gooood.
Common
3/5
Why don't I know a single Common song? I know he's a famous rapper but that's literally it. Didn't realise he was this old actually. I can hear the Kanye influence, now I'm slowly learning he was actually good once. I enjoy the soulful undertones.
First track I thought this was going to be really good, but after that it's basically very accomplished well produced mid - 2000s rap/hip hop, which I enjoyed while it was on but am unlikely to go back to.
I am not looking forward to the 77 minute long album to come though, this is fine at 40 something.
Best - Intro, Chi-City.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Why have I never listened to this? People bang on about it all the time, and Tigermilk. I thought I had enough B&S with Boy with the Arab strap, and occasional forays into Dear Catastrophe Waitress.
Plus as soon as I discovered Nick Drake maybe they weren't quite the same for me.
Enjoyed this. Still not as many outright bangers as boy with the Arab strap though, for me, but no denying this is really good.
The Cure
5/5
Ah, classic era Cure. I find I have to be in the right mood to listen to this all the way through, but I am today, and that's when it's masterpiece shines through.
Pictures of You is the very definition of shimmering. And Lullaby. It's kind of Psych-goth in places, if that is even a thing.
Over-long at 72 minutes for certain, but this also adds to its oppressive nature. You do feel swallowed up by this album.
4/5
Peej's pop album.
Great.
We Float is beautiful.
5/5
Never heard of this or him. Really enjoying it. A little dated, but still sounds great, and nowhere near as dated as other electronic music from this time can be.
Reminds me of some of the chill down psychedelic trance circa Northern Exposure, with bossa nova lilts and beats.
Gets much more of the latter than the former after the first couple of tracks (although noone can say it's lacking in bossa from the off!), I really dig this. As others have said, good working music vibe also.
Getting a 5 because its the first NEW thing this has introduced to me in a while that I've really enjoyed.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
First time washed over me completely apart from Killing Moon. More so than their earlier work, oddly.
Second listen I enjoyed a lot more.
Kacey Musgraves
2/5
So I'm fighting hard against my prejudices against country pop to give this a fair crack before dismissing it.
First 3 tracks or so I'm thinking so far, so formulaic. Somewhat incredulous that Rolling Stone have this around halfway in a list of 500 greatest albums OF ALL TIME, but most of those lists are bollocks anyway, so moving on...
A couple of tracks do stand out as actually interesting, Space Cowboy, Oh what a world. There is an interesting soundscape going on.
The rest, well yeah sure its nice to listen to. Accomplished pop. The sort of thing I imagine gets played on stations like Smooth FM 24/7.
Will I ever listen to it again, or do I think it's essential?
Absolutely not.
Fugees
4/5
I will listen to this one time. Will I listen two times?
Ready Or Not manages to be more than just the sum of its parts - Enya (with a John Carpenter vibe) and the Delfonics.
Songs I've never heard and enjoyed - Zealots. Nice use of The Flamingos.
Family Business - just a really decent hip hop track.
Notes - The skits are kind of annoying, the one time two time and general chunnering behind Lauren's excellent performance on Killing me Softly is still very annoying given how good the rest of it is.
The deep voice rapper (presumably Michel) reminds me strongly of the later Jurassic 5.
The cover of No Woman Cry I found kind of bland and nothing at the time, and I still do.
Overall, wow, Killing Me Softly did a really bad job of enticing me in to what is an excellent hip hop record back in 96. When the lads are rapping, its also very good. Very surprised how much I enjoyed this.
Just chunner less lads, you've got gold here!
Derek & The Dominos
1/5
Oh sweet Jesus, I don't know if I can do this.
Right. Solution, stick it on in the background while the football is on. Commitment carried out while minimising psychic damage. Helps no end that Liverpool are currently losing to Bournemouth.
Oh the review - this is a load of old arse.
Plus he's one of the biggest cunts in the music industry, doesn't exactly promote a sympathetic ear. Self confessed wife beater, rapist, racist, he seems to want to check all the boxes.
Clapton doesn't even play the bit in Layla everyone knows.
Bell Bottom Blues I guess is actually good.
Went back to that at the end to check because after an hour of this shite I was numb. Confirmed though. One good original song.
Little Wing is also good but Hendrix is a better guitarist so why would I listen to this instead of the original, I guess it's longer would be the only reason.
Also Liverpool lost, hilariously.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
A little mainstream, straightforward and poppy for my tastes.
Usually find Zappa impenetrable, then he does this, what an enigma, eh?
4/5
Got to say the crowd don't seem that mad.
Oh what? you don't even hear the 'Judas' moment! Stupid spotify sanitised version.
Bootlegs are supposed to be raw,
Morrissey
2/5
Many Morrissey songs are now irrevocably tainted - Everyday is Like Sunday is not one of them. Suedehead and Maudlin Street are also very good.
This isn't one of his albums that I actually listened to back then so even nostalgia can't come to the rescue, and songs like Bengali in Platforms - "life is hard enough when you belong here" - make me feel ick (I am so very sickened now?)
I still like Vauxhall and I and rated that highly, but not this.
Fair bit of late 80s production also here that jars with the Smiths in a bad way. A couple of songs have squalling, over the top guitar solos that feel horribly out of place, like someone scribbling in biro over a painting (Alsatian, Forget Me).
The 2 classics - and even a song about decapitating Thatcher - aren't enough to redeem the album's many flaws as a whole.
Neil Young
2/5
Getting Neil Young on here is always a pain in the arse now, obviously Spotify is out, I used to be able to use Amazon but they fucked that by making it shuffle only so that's worse than useless. Had to run Youtube as audio through VLC for a tolerable experience.
But mainly, because at the end of it all, its a Neil Young album.
This isn't even good, folky or folk rock Neil young, its blues rock Neil Young, which can get in the bin.
I do have to concede that Mercury Rev straight up pilfered 'the Dark is Rising' from 'Borrowed Tune'. How did they get away with not crediting that? I am glad they didn't however as it would disappear off streaming.
Aside from that New Mama and Lookout Joe were alright. Tired Eyes was OK as well. Maybe the album grew into me as it went along, but he did that annoying thing of playing the first song again at the end, again (at least on Hey hey My My he makes the song better the second time), which drained away any goodwill which had built up.
The Beach Boys
4/5
A famously patchy album. Some absolute dross here, along with some of the Beach Boys best, most astounding songs.
Feel Flows, Surf's Up, Til I Die, all incredible. Til I Die especially incredible, find the longer version, everyone deserves to hear it, even Mike Love.
Then there's Student Demonstration Time.
Aerosmith
4/5
Oh no, another Aerosmith album. But wait.... It's good?
Toys in the attic is decent even if I might honestly still prefer REMs half arsed cover on Dead Letter Office. Mr Salty is... still decent, musically interesting, what's happening here?
Then we get into original Walk this way territory, which just sounds weird to hear without RunDMC (also the chorus is worse) but it's still a banger (the guitar solo might be better), and Sweet Emotion, the best Aerosmith song by a significant distance.
It's actually good!
Big Ten Inch is obviously a massive pile of shite, but it wouldn't be an Aerosmith record without something diabolically bad, so I'm actually not going to mark it down!
Worst songs, Big Ten Inch, Adams Apple - everything else was alright to very good.
Carpenters
3/5
Brave to start with not only the best song they would ever make, but also a really clear album closer.
When someone says dark brown voice, I think Karen Carpenter.
Help is good. The Bacharach songs are good, obviously. I'll never fall in love again is way worse than Dionne's version, or Bobby Gentry's though.
I'm never really going to listen to any of this except We've Only Just Begun.
Oh, but Crescent Noon is actually gorgeous.
Fishbone
2/5
Never heard this and initially put off by the intensely late 80sness. But it's not all bad. Most of it is though.
Question of Life is very reminiscent of the punk ska bands I would later love for a while from 99-00 or so.
Deep Inside is terrible.
Mighty Long Way is terrible. Sounds like the closing theme to one of those cheesy teen US sitcoms they'd stick on the schedule of a Saturday morning.
Bonin in the Boneyard nicks the keyboard riff from 1999 and slaps the shit out of some poor bass all over it. Actually good.
One Day gets a pass because of the message despite veering way too far over on the Chilli Peppers Wankometer, which has been twitching regularly throughout the record.
Subliminal Fascism is thankfully only 90 seconds long. Slow Bus Movin is sadly 150 seconds long. I get that it's an angry piss take though so fair enough.
Ghetto Soundwave, oh thank fuck, the horns are back. A jaunty song about American cops doing one of their favourite hobbies. Just one bad apple.
Nice effect detuning the horns and guitars as the hope is dying. Props.
So I think that's 3 good songs so far amongst the shite.
Change is quite nice to finish off.
Tempted by a 1 here but it probably just scrapes a 2 for the good songs.
Talking Heads
5/5
Remain in Light.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Ah ok CCR. High expectations for this, but I only know the hits.
After the great first track (love the middle section) though there were a few meh tracks I could take or leave, and a creeping sense of disappointment began to grow.
Then you hit the triumvirate of Looking out my back door (I hate the Eagles), Run through the jungle and Up Around the Bend and all is well again.
I think you just have to give yourself up to CCR.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
It's Earth Wind and Fire and therefore good, though I don't really know any of these songs.
Fatboy Slim
2/5
Well I enjoyed this at the time and got pretty heavily into big beat, though in 2023 I never imagined I would listen to this album again.
Obviously it's aged terribly for the most part. There is a reason this album was overflowing the bargain bins of record shops for £1.99 everywhere after a while.
Nice to hear Right Here right now and Praise You, the other two singles were hugely overplayed but still good - as is Praise You but is more fun somehow.
The rest of this - without exception - is pure filler. Some more egregious than others, Soul Surfing is alright, but that's it.
Honestly, absolutely noone needs this in 2023. Will reserve judgement on the other one but honestly, TWO Fatboy Slim albums in this list, with the stuff they've left out? Criminal.
Amusingly the book leaves an error in, referencing the sample from the Chambers Brothers - Fried Tomatoes, which doesn't exist.
Just Brothers - Sliced Tomatoes however is a banger.
The Kinks
4/5
The Kinks spread their wings.
I think I enjoyed this more than Something Else. In fact I definitely did. Took a couple of listens. A darker Kinks emerges.
Funkadelic
5/5
Finally, a 5 star album, it's been a while. Every track, 5 stars.
Plus a bit of Maggot Brain as a bonus track.
Spotify don't have this album in 2023 for some reason, they lose a rating star as long as this continues to be the case.
Alice Cooper
5/5
Elected is a banger. The horns. Forgot I wanna be sedated is basically a rip off.
No More Mr Nice Guy is a banger. Everything else is good. Not sure what Unfinished Sweet is meant to be.
Gary Numan
4/5
Synths! Bass! One word song titles! Eyeliner! The sample from Where's Your Head At! It's all here!
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
Sigh, again? GTA San Andreas gif.
Again, a load of songs that are not bad, sometimes interesting but I'm so done with Costello at this point.
Man Out of Time was good.
And in every home is daft. We get it man, you worked on Sgt Peppers.
I completely zoned out 4 songs before it finished.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Is it me or is Sinatra weirdly out of tune repeatedly here?
Still, it's a whole record of Jobim, and while it doesn't have The Wave on it, it's still good.
AC/DC
5/5
The ultimate party rock album isn't it?
Forget the fact that many of the not stone-cold banger songs sound kinda the same, don't listen to the a bit rapey lyrics.
Check your brain in at the door, turn it up, forget all your worries and rock out.
Pearl Jam
3/5
Ten has always disappointed me.
I heard Vs first, loved that and still do, every song. So many bangers, one after the other.
So on hearing there was this great debut album, and knowing the monster singles Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy, all great, so exciting! But, no. Aside from those most stuff here is just plodders.
Just can't see why it's so revered.
I've given it so many chances to reveal itself to me and it's never landed.
I hear PJ have other really good albums too but I've never got into them, so it's possible that VS just hit right on an impressionable teen, and simply the residuals of that love have sustained that record alone for me down the years.
I forgot Oceans, that's very decent. So that's 4 tracks. Release is like Elderly Woman except not as good. There are no bad songs here, just several boring ones, so I'm inclined to edge a 3.
Missy Elliott
4/5
"you don't see Bill Gates and Donald Trump arguing with eachother cause they got paper"
Lol.
Trump "wrong" gif.
Not my bag at all mostly but no denying this is a cracker of a record and I enjoyed listening to it.
Skunk Anansie
3/5
Was a bit worried at first that this has aged badly, but as it goes it's still good. Nice trip down memory lane.
I can suspend my usual niggle of 'what's this doing in the book?' because it's been removed later, correctly.
Describing it as metal and hard rock is a bit misleading, as while there's certainly elements of that still hanging around, they were well into their trying to emulate the Manics' pop chart success period, with similar sounding ballads as singles as well. As it goes I've more time for these ones, but maybe because I've heard them less.
Kind of wish Skin was still politically active, her righteous anger is very much required in the face of these constant wankers we have now.
One of the best voices in hard rock, and always a good read in interviews.
Also though I think her head would explode onstage or something. At least now she can just quietly seeth like the rest of us.
Adele
2/5
Like I've left the radio on to a station I don't listen to. Or a doctor's waiting room.
Completely inoffensive and fine to listen to, my daughter had blood tests this morning so it was nice to have something like this instead of subjecting her to Napalm Death again.
It's all good obviously, she's ridiculously successful for a reason.
Surprised that I don't know a single one of these songs, would assume I'd have heard at least one of them everywhere but nope.
And clearly I'll never listen to this again.
5/5
This is fucking mental, I love it. The longer it goes on the more I love it.
Hilarious that I got this the day after Adele.
Obviously it starts off sounding like a jazz band falling down the stairs, but then you adjust. Kind of glad for the Spotify fail as it forced me to listen on headphones, and you can really pick out the intricacies.
Can't tell because YouTube smooshed it all together but the song I think is Good Old Days is absolutely banging. Several more bangers later on but I've fully lost track by then.
Thrash jazz, fuck yeah baby!
Alice Cooper
4/5
My kid has been reading the Warrior Cats books so after track 3 she couldn't stop herself chatting away about that so I missed a few songs I guess.
What a strange record. I think I prefer Billion Dollars Babies because I just prefer the style there, but this is equally interesting.
Overall been surprised over those two albums that there's much more to Alice Cooper than I knew.
The Pogues
4/5
Never really listened to these beyond the two obviously massively famous ones both connected to a MacColl.
Ah, Fiesta - they used this as a music bed on the radio so heard this all the time. Banger.
I did though used to listen to the Levellers a lot in the 90s. So really I should have been listening to these instead.
Faves. Bottle of Smoke, Thousands Are Sailing, Fiesta.
Blondie
5/5
An album where every song is a banger? Yeah, that works as a concept.
Fats Domino
4/5
Yep. Old timey rock and roll.
Hot Chip
2/5
I never really noticed what a dull year 2012 was for music but this is very strong evidence.
Boring as fuck.
Fiona Apple's the Idler Wheel was released that year, stick that in. David Byrne and St Vincent Love This Giant, that was a cracker, and she's been completely ignored in this book for whatever reason.
At least it wasn't Jake Bugg.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Half decent, I've never heard any of these ones. I feel similar as I did for the album tracks on Back to Black. Consistently good but nothing stands out really.
I enjoyed the jazzy, easy listening brazilian style backing to many of the tracks. I guess another reference to Sinatra and his albums with Tom Jobim. And some are simply Billie Holiday. It works well.
Too long though, 3 or 4 tracks I wouldn't bother with at all.
Bad Brains
3/5
It's pretty good. Straight ahead thrashy punk for several songs, gets interesting at Reignition.
I think I missed the boat with these, I'm not that into it now I'm older. Then you read about all the homophobia and shit, which further dampens my enthusiasm. But it's not bad.
Wild Beasts
4/5
Really thought I'd hate this, my only memory of the band is Alexis Petridis regularly taking the piss out of them.
But I don't.
The book misses another good chance to include St Vincent, but again 2009 wasn't that good a year it seems.
This is alright though, I don't find the voice annoying, unlike some stuff like Future Islands( which can piss off into the sun), I like the backing, post-punky guitars lightly speckled throughout a dreamy rhythm section together with gentle keyboards. It's a good relaxing listen without being boring.
I guess on another day I'd dislike it but today I liked it.
Calexico
3/5
Never heard of this band, also removed from the book so didn't read about the album.
First impression was oh no, more mid 00s Americana.
Ok so it's not just that, there is variety, but for whatever reason I don't care about any of the songs, it's just on in the background. It's not bad bad. Maybe it's because I went to see Yo La Tengo last night and this is bad by comparison.
Speaking of which, why is there no Yo La Tengo in this book? There are 2x Ryan Adams albums and a fair bit of this sort of meh. There's room.
Anyway near the end now and this band are pretty tight, particularly on some of the more jazzy numbers, I'm giving it a 3.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Good to listen to Jeff Beck do something other than Hi Ho Silver Lining.
I don't tend to listen to blues rock but these ones are on the gooder scale. I like the mildly psych ones. Good cover.
I drifted off towards the end and it's only half an hour long, so there's that.
The Gun Club
5/5
Not surprised to read (early) Pixies and the Birthday Party mentioned on the same page as these now I'm hearing it for the first time. The progenitors of those greats.
Elements of the Cramps in here to to my ear.
And this is a fantastic album. Absolutely breathless, and never a comfortable listen.
N.W.A.
4/5
Gangsta rap is maybe a net negative overall and not my scene, but this album stands apart.
It's the samples that make it, Wikipedia helpfully lists them for each track, loads of avenues to explore further.
Yes it's offensive, it's not that it hasn't aged well, it was offensive then. That is kind of the whole point.
First three tracks and Express Yourself obviously classics, also really enjoyed Ain't Ruff and Parental Discretion.
Tracks I thought were a bit shit: 8 Ball,
Cocteau Twins
5/5
I'm not sure I'll ever fully understand people who do not love the Cocteau Twins. I'm sure there are some very nice people, we are just different on a fundamental level.
This album is like an old jumper you have had forever that you put on when you get sick, a comfort blanket. The Cocteaus at the poppiest they got, and probably the most fully formed.
One listen to Fotzepolitic and I could take on the world.
Bliss.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
The second best YYYs album, but a slightly distant 2nd. The poppiest.
Starts off really strong, Zero is a total banger. Heads Will Roll is ok, they went full on for the pop market and it worked, although it makes me sad that this is their most played song as it's not even in their top 20 songs.
Soft Shock and Skeletons are both gorgeous in different ways. Skeletons reminds me slightly on Karen O's solo stuff on the Where the Wild Things are soundtrack.
Then it loses momentum. Dull Life to Runaway are more like the second album, not bad songs but fairly safe and mostly a let down after the debut, or after the first 4 songs of this record. Dragon Queen is just kinda pap.
Hysteric is bliss on a stick and one of their best ever songs.
in hindsight, the coda Little Shadow is a precursor to the sound they explored more fully on their recent comeback album, which is also decent.
Grizzly Bear
2/5
Hmm. Finding many of the tracks oddly dissatisfying, especially the opener. The vocal is sung to a different melody than the music, creating a discordance that in some circumstances could work to create something magical, but it just falls flat here to my ears.
Two Weeks is a relief in amongst this, a song I recognise (I'm guessing from an advert), although it's a fairly straightforward Pet Sounds derivative. There's one or two others in this order as well.
Not for me.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
Enjoyed after a relisten.
Ozric Tentacles definitely liked this.
Oh apart from the last track. Dire
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
Finally, a Neil Young album I enjoyed!
Only taken about 6 goes.
Cinnamon Girl is a good start, nice and Byrdsy, the collaboration with Cros makes sense. Echoes of this sound elsewhere on the album too.
The longer songs are great, particularly down by the river.
I can hear the influence he's had on other bands I like more closely reflected in this early album of his, I kept hearing the Green Pajamas here and there.
Overall great. I now need to listen to it on some decent cans. The war with Spotify meant I had to stick it out my phone speaker sat in a glass, with annoying adverts.
Super Furry Animals
4/5
How can you not love Gruff and the gang?
In my top 3 indie bands of the 90s.
This is where I drifted off from the furries, loved their first 3 albums (where's Radiator here???) and Mwng the Welsh album is just fucking fantastic.
After that though I enjoyed the singles for a bit but didn't drive into the albums. I came back to the albums for the superb Love Kraft.
So I don't have the same nostalgia for this. Have been back since though and Alternative Route to Vulcan St is gorgeous. The title track was deservedly massive for them. As was Juxtaposed. They finally started getting on Top of the Pops around now. Not the end of the world is lovely and soulful.
You really can hear the ELO references on this album, something I hadn't realised were so present until recently.
Receptacle is a good laugh and harks back to their earlier stuff. Except for that last bit. No ta, lads.
There then follows a few good but not great songs (a furries album staple, unfortunately) - Touch, Doris, Sympathy, Presidential. Drop any of those and they're not going to be heavily missed. Although the techno bit of No sympathy is mental and I am totally here for that.
Run Christian Run has the epic quality needed to finish us off, a fairly straight ballad which spirals off enjoyably.
Was great to revisit in bed on a Saturday morning after a shite week but my Mrs finally got back from hospital.
Van Halen
3/5
Wake up with a hangover. What's today's album. Ah, Van Halen, check your brain in at the door.
For the best part of my life the only song I thought I knew was Jump so thought of them as a synth pop band, confusing hearing Van Halen in the list of greatest guitarists.
Then Apollo 440 happened and I realised they had another song. I probably also heard Panama in some American college films or something as I know that. It's alright, it's dumb, it does what it does.
So, the rest. Drop Dead Legs is actually musically very good, enjoyed that.
Hot For Teacher. Oh! Daft Punk! Yes! I am absolutely here for this.
Oh Jesus what are you saying lads, this had such a promising beginning.
Googles Aerodynamic, realise it's not actually Van Halen. Plays Aerodynamic. Ah, that's better.
Goes back to Hot For Teacher 0:30. How is this not credited to Van Halen? It's really close. And fantastic, they should have built the song around it instead of rambling off in no direction. Oh well. Moving on.
I'll Wait was arse. Girl Gone Bad was ok, if not particularly anything. House of Pain similar. A vehicle for some solos where they forgot to write an actual song first. Ok I'm bored now, good job this is the last song.
Obviously I'll never return to this intentionally but it was more enjoyable than I thought it would be, plus the paracetamol have kicked in.
The Stooges
5/5
Not the best Stooges album but still crazy good.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
Yikes, 2 hours of bluegrass. Strap in, I guess.
After track 1 I thought I was done, the odd bit of this here and there will usually do me, but it gradually charmed its way into my ears, and the quality is undeniable.
Particularly enjoyed some of the instrumentals like Lonesome Fiddle Blues (well its Devil Went Down to Georgia innit) and Avalanche. Big treat of a run of all of these in the middle there.
I definitely got fatigued around 1hr 30 minutes and stopped paying attention. And I didn't listen in one go.
Meat Puppets
2/5
Extremely loose and messy. This is what they were going for, maybe, in which case full marks. This can be great, but most of the songs aren't strong enough to come through for me. Also too much country after I had two straight hours of bluegrass yesterday. Sorry MPs, you're a victim of the algorithm.
The songs Nirvana covered obviously are the draw, and it's interesting to hear them. I do really like the end of Plateau here, and Lake of Fire is stretched out, raw, scratchy and crazed.
The rest I can leave, ta very much.
Peter Gabriel
2/5
I'm only really here for two songs, one of which mainly for Kate Bush. The rest is fine but not for me. Very late 80s and safe sounding.
Ha ha, Big Time
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
Feels kind of inauthentic but I get that it was an important record for the blues scene over here. And it's decent blues.
A better listen than most Clapton content in this book.
I'm not that arsed about the blues though. A few tracks here and there is fine.Two songs played after this finished before I noticed.
The Young Gods
4/5
Ahahahahahah this is fucking mental, I love it.
There's no way I would ever have listened to this were it not for this project.
I had a young god's t-shirt when I was a kid, used for decorating and whatnot, I have no idea where it came from or who they were.
Gets less mental as it goes on and reverts to more standard industrial rock, which isn't a bad thing but I would kind of liked an album as crazy as the first few tracks the whole way through.
Ah! Les Enfants! We are back in crazytown, good times. This is fabulous.
Sebadoh
5/5
Ace.
Like Beck falling down the stairs, pursued by Sonic Youth and Pavement.
But ragged and interesting in its own right.
Homemade is bloody great. A band I was aware of back when I was heavily into this stuff but never investigated beyond Not Too Amused. Now I will.
Lorde
3/5
Eh, it's alright. Good pop to start off with a green light but I got a bit bored with too many slower ballady ones after.
Writer in the Dark stands out from those but mainly because it sounds like Kate Bush.
Haven't heard the debut, I listened to Solar Power a few times when that came out and enjoyed it, but there were several weaker tracks on that too. In fact often the Maori rework versions she did were loads better, for me.
Anyway I'm not the target audience here so it gets a 3 and I move on.
Public Enemy
5/5
Amazing.
Is it possible...is this.. better than nation of millions?
Maybe not. Because, well, what a record. But this is relentless. And certainly not less good.
Burn Hollywood Burn was right there in 1990, how many years did it take for the message to only just begin to trickle through to filmmakers? About 30, yeah?
Solomon Burke
4/5
A delight, and a real time capsule.
Tend to expect albums from this era to have a few bangers on them and a lot of filler, but this is consistently high quality.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Less an album than a whole living, breathing, experience.
You want to be there and live it.
Talking Heads
5/5
I find Fear of Music curiously hard to get into, the first few tracks are good, but kind of cold. I understand where critics of TH's sound, that it is too precise and has got no soul, are coming from although I wouldn't judge them as harshly.
But, and it's a big but, I am always swept away at a point halfway through Cities all the way up to and including Animals - what a run of songs. Absolute genius.
After this big chunk, the album kind of fizzles out for me before the end, which is a shame.
So, a flawed classic, and a hugely important step on the road to the best TH album, Remain in Light.
A second listen later in the day it's even better, right up until those last two tracks.
Favourite of the rest - Mind. Favourites - Heaven, Air, Life During Wartime
Parliament
5/5
Make my funk the P-funk.
I want my funk uncut.
Sugar
4/5
When I was a kid I used to wear a t-shirt with this album on it. The lad who sat behind the counter at the local shop used to mock me for wearing it. He used to say "Sugar fan!" in a deeply whiney voice which exposed him as a little prick.
Neither of us knew much about this album (I suspect he knew nothing at all) but I got into it properly later.
Anyway, he was a prick, and I'm not, so I win.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
The pettiest concept album ever made. Glorious.
Double album of spite. But as it's a double album, it is, of course, too long.
Deep Purple
3/5
I go back and forth with this. I kind of prefer Highway Star to Smoke on the Water thanks to Dazed and Confused and now I want to drive around the US neighbourhood smashing US Mailbox things with a baseball bat.
The rest, is way honkier than I was expecting, and while it's not bad, I'm not that arsed.
Space Truckin' is great fun though, so that's three songs genuinely enjoyed.
3 out of 8 should warrant a 2, but these are 3 very good songs.
Seeing the live album also in the book which is these songs but twice as long, fills me with some trepidation, but it could be excellent. Will find out in due course.
Doves
3/5
Doves are pretty much the epitome of 'wouldn't turn it off, wouldn't seek it out either' for me. They're completely fine, and good at what they do, which is to be a bit like Ride crossed with U2.
Tbf it does contain one bona fide banger in Pounding, which I've only just found out the name of, this is the first time I've not heard it passively.
Fun to learn they recorded the King Crimson cover version under the actual flyover 5 minutes walk from where I used to live in Northenden. Surely it's the golf course end one and not the wythenshawe end, I can't imagine that ever being quiet enough. Oh yeah, the loud one is under the Parkway not the M60.
Small Faces
5/5
Are you all sitting comftybold two square on your botty? Then I'll begin...
God bless Stanley Unwin.
I had a strong free association urge to go listen to Nilsson's The Point after this finished. So I did.
Ray Charles
5/5
Toe tappin'. Great big band sound. Fabulous voice. That piano playing. Every song is delicious.
There may be more instantly classic examples of this genre but this collection of songs is no less outstanding for it. Don't let the sun catch you cryin' is certainly a classic. The string arrangement my god. Brings to mind John Barry's best, which would come later.
I was bouncing off this one this morning and not really having it. The went back to it this evening and am glad I did, you've got to listen to this in the evening. With or without a decent glass of red.
It's an album to reward the end of a day well lived, rather than one to kick it off.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
He sounds like a real charmer.
The difference between this and Clapton though is this is fun to listen to.
Oh... Oh wait, track 2. Oh it's ok, it got better. The 90s production that kicked it off was too much. Oof, same situation with track 5.
I enjoy the guitar noodlings and vocal harmonies. I feel like I can get better examples of that elsewhere (in fact I left it on and Spotify played some afterwards), but this was decent to have on in the background. By track 7 though I've basically tuned out.
Billy Bragg
5/5
Sparse and delightful.
Ideology is brilliant.
The Passion is beautiful. As is the Home Front.
Billy Bragg is necessary.
The Doors
4/5
Some of my favourite Doors songs but with loads of straight ahead blues around them.
LA Woman still sets my hairs standing on end though when it takes off.
Tbf it's just track 2 and 3 that I find dull. The rest is pretty great.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Yes it's very good, though very one paced.
He does what he does and this is that.
I really wasn't in the mood for this today and I had to listen in chunks to avoid getting dragged into its melancholy.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Today I learned I have never before heard the studio recording of No Woman No Cry. I understand why.
The rest of the album is pretty decent, I think I would rather be listening to Peter Tosh though, I got bored. Half of it is decent. What is decent is very very good (Lively Up Yourself, Them Belly Full), but half of side B is just good. I liked more of it on second listen.
R.E.M.
5/5
Basically my favourite band and certainly that growing up, this is most likely my favourite of theirs, although that changes frequently over the years.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
So here we have one of Stevie's great but not stratospherically good albums. Feels odd to damn a record like this with faint praise but when an artist creates three of the greatest albums of all time that's the burden on their other work.
In the 'Stevie's other work' canon, this is maybe my joint second favourite with Hotter Than July, but there's something about Music of My Mind (absent here, oddly) which places it above them.
This is still really good, you may argue he was starting to run out of songs but in two years there's a double album called Songs in the Key of Life, so....nope.
And honestly such thoughts are further dismissed as ridiculous once the album gets going, as after a few slightly less than stellar early tracks (excl. Smile Please) we are back to pure gold.
So many low key classics here that reward repeat listening.
5/5
Well Christ what do I write here that hasn't already been written. One of the best albums ever, easily.
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
Dinosaur Jr are incredible.
Elements of so much stuff I like is present here. I only know a few of their songs really but they're so good.
This is a great listen. Just as with Sebadoh I'm going to have to give this and Bug several more listens.
Nirvana
5/5
So much better and long lasting that Never Mind. It could be that every single song on the former was absolutely played to death and only some of these were. But I definitely played this to death too and it still sounds fresh.
From the very first discordant chord you know this is a break from the commercial, polished sound of the predecessor. And it's just so good.
If I come back to Nirvana I come back to this.
Deee-Lite
4/5
Groove is in the Heart is a fantastic banger.
The rest is house-tinged club stuff, it's quite good, it doesn't really have the hooks but it does have the style.
Good Beat was better second time around.
Tbh. While nothing else stands out apart from the obvious, this is a good mood on an album. Needs to be listened to when you've finished work on a sunny day. Then it gets a 4. Any other time it scrapes a 3.
Suicide
5/5
First two are classics so no need to write about them.
Cheree precursors about a dozen Spiritualized songs which I love.
Such a singular sound, 45 years later basically nothing else sounds quite like it.
People not getting this, or just not liking this, is totally understandable, but it absolutely should not be dismissed.
Also it's not on here but Dream Baby Dream is an absolute stunner, and far less confrontational than anything here, it's very gentle.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Suicide's debut from 1977 yesterday, and today Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, also from 1977. I love them both, and I love that this is possible.
The Buckingham/Nicks songs everyone knows (well, everyone knows everything on this album, but the ones EVERYONE knows) are the big hits, while Christine McVie's stuff pushes it into the stratosphere. You Make Loving Fun and Songbird are just....
Only thing wrong with this album is it doesn't have Silver Springs on it, one of their very best songs. Swap it in for Oh Daddy.
Also it starts with a fairly average rocker. But that's all forgotten from Dreams onwards.
If I'm honest, not including Silver Springs is a crime so stupid it's worthy of losing a star, but I'm not going to be daft.
Beatles
5/5
In the top two or three Beatles albums, probably.
I can't believe how many bloody Elvis Costello and Neil Young albums I had to wade through before I got the Beatles.
The Blue Nile
4/5
Cinematic. Suiting a sunny Saturday afternoon very well.
I know for a fact without looking that the band Guillemots absolutely love this record.
Loving tracks 1,3,5,6
Spirit of Eden comes to mind, although that is undoubtedly a level above.
The more formulaic 80s groovers that are also here are not bad, but far less interesting.
This is absolutely the sort of album I'm doing this list for and found it very enjoyable. Might well check out one or two of the other Blue Nile records recommended.
Sepultura
5/5
FUCK YES
Beck
4/5
Oof, how do I feel about this one. Loved it at the time, and hearing more or less anything on it evokes memories of his band mates horses head mask's manes blowing in the summer breeze across the stage.
But oof, it's dated hard, hasn't it? A lot of it is Beck does Big-beat, he's got two turntables and a microphone, which again I loved at the time but man that sound has dated.
The more timeless stuff makes less use of this sound and have remained my favourites over the years, Lord Only Knows and the wonderful Jack-Ass. I think I might prefer that to the Them song it samples, wonderfully.
I still enjoy the magpieing from all sorts that's going on here generally. There's a lot of Beastie Boys going on, with judicious use of samples in a similar vein.
I keep thinking of a Tarantino soundtrack, and that's not helping with the whole 'dated' vibe.
Diskobox is still cool though. Why is that not on the 'Deluxe' version?
So yeah, played it to death on release, still enjoy a track or two when I hear them, but the album as a whole sounds sort of cringe now, and that's why I'm surprising myself and not giving it a 5.
FKA twigs
3/5
I really enjoyed her second album when that came out and went back to listen to this afterwards reading the acclaim, but didn't find the tunes so was disappointed after that.
Different experience now, Lights On is great, Two Weeks is mesmerising, although Hours doesn't really seem to go anywhere. Pendulum is similar except it DOES go somewhere.
Ok second half now and I'm understanding my previous reaction. Everything is fine but nothing stands out. Magdelane is way better as an album. I wonder what the EPs sound like, perhaps this should have been EP3.
Fiona Apple
3/5
Got into Fiona Apple via the fantastic Idler Wheel... around 2015 (not sure what prompted me) and also deeply enjoyed her last album. Went back to her older stuff upon learning she was something of a phenomenon I was only vaguely aware of. But it was all a bit 90s pop production, whereas the sparseness in her later stuff I think is what drew me in. Which is odd since I was a fan of Tori Amos stuff from a year or two before this came out.
It is good though, it's not as dated as all that. And my god, she's 18? Writing and playing this stuff at 18, that's depressingly accomplished.
The second half of the album is quite gentle, Never is a Promise one of the stronger of these, but several others aren't very memorable. Carrion picks up at the end but meanders too much beforehand.
In short I think she's great, and this is a good album, not one of hers I'm likely to return to however.
Ice T
5/5
Was expecting to not like this, thinking it would be the start of gangster rap which kinda ruined the genre for 30 years, but this is actually cool as fuck.
Mic Contract is essentially big beat a few years early. Without sounding dated like that whole scene does.
As is New Jack Hustler. Well, as are loads of these.
The jazz and soul samples and general groove going on here really work for me.
Being a pasty white dude means I can't drive around blasting Straight Up N out the window without broadcasting what a bell end I am, but it's a great track. And obviously making me uncomfortable and fuck you I don't care, is the whole point.
Then there's a radical change of direction
Midnight is epic, whatever the lyrical content of the previous tracks, the music was party time, that party is definitively over now. Mixing Black Sabbath with Led Zep drums and a deeply disturbing story. Absolutely bangs.
And then the party starts again. Ok that was weird. Kicking back off with a namecheck song.
So look, everything is great. Escape from the Killing Fields in particular. Message.
And we round off with a beat built around a Halloween John Carpenter sample, and Ice T telling us all personally how fucked off he is about everything.
What's incredible here is an album 72 minutes long, and I didn't lose interest or get tired of it at any point. What a great record.
Michael Jackson
2/5
Oh Christ. Yes, nonce etc. Look, we all know.
I was a kid when this came out so I already know what I'm in for here.
Pre listen I think The Way You Make me Feel is going to be the only thing salvageable from this, and the aforementioned key change in Man in the Mirror. Ah no wait, Smooth Criminal is here too. And I just can't stop loving you, I remember that's a piece of pure pop goodness.
There's definitely going to be high levels of cringe here the rest of the time. One to listen to on headphones because noone else must know what I am doing.
Listening back I of course remember every song, Liberian Girl (onomatopoeia onomatopoeia, bend away), all the album tracks. They don't age well. Oh jeez, that run of tracks 3-7. And Man in the Mirror is Jackson cheese pop central. I remember thinking Dirty Diana was shit when I was 8 and I salute you 8 year old me, you had good taste. Apart from Steve Stevens guitar at the end.
So yeah, 3 good songs that remain good. And a whole lot of arse to wade through, best left in the 80s.
Method Man
4/5
It's good, but not as fun as remember 36 Chambers being.
I don't remember the big songs, even the Mary J blige version.
Chef Vs meth is fun. Release yo Delf is funny. Mr Sandman and Stimulation both good. Things definitely pick up around those. I'm just not particularly moving for several other tracks.
Looking back it might just round up to a 4, but a low 4, 3.5 sorta.
Beatles
5/5
It's Revolver
Beach House
3/5
I thought I really liked this album but it turns out I really really like 4 songs on it.
There's a big run of unmemorable tracks after the first three, 10 Mile Stereo is an obvious stand out after those, Real Love is nice.
Oddly for a double album, Once Twice Melody is more consistently good than this and I would rate it much higher now having gone back.
Public Enemy
5/5
Which is best, this or FoaBP?
Noone knows.
But I think it's this
PJ Harvey
5/5
Raw, angry Peej.
Yes
Kings of Leon
1/5
I heard that Kings of Leon's early stuff was actually good, and I do remember the snippets of the debut I heard on every advert break in 2003 sounding alright, but I've never felt compelled to check it out because everything I've heard from them on the radio has been unmitigated shite.
This is alright I suppose, the book removed it from my edition so no idea why they thought it was special over the supposedly better debut.
The first track is decent enough, nice guitar noodlings. After that though I'm just getting annoyed by his voice and very affected way of singing, and the mildly bluesy rock is quite boring.
Bucket is ok but basically like a less good Strokes, I've got the Strokes albums after the debut if I want to listen to that.
So yeah I won't be bothering listening to the debut or this again.
Lou Reed
5/5
Wonderful record.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
5/5
Gorgeous album to kick off the heatwave we've got today.
I'm most drawn to the delicious harmonies so consistently delivered on Stills songs. I must check out more of his stuff.
I think this stacks up as I definitely enjoyed his stuff on Buffalo Springfield more than the Neil Young.
Long Time Gone is obviously great, and I loved David Crosby's solo record in this list.
Less enamoured with Nash stuff but it's all good here.
Sonic Youth
5/5
Sonic Youth go (sort of) commercial.
But stay true to themselves. I've never listened to this despite being VERY familiar with the cover, saw it everywhere but least my brother's record collection. recognise a few tracks, the straight up bangers of 100% and Sugar Kane, but they sound the least like themselves.
Was slow to get into it but it gets really in my skin a few tracks in and doesn't let up.
Billy Joel
3/5
Good morning, you're listening to Smooth Radio and I'm (insert name of inoffensive DJ).
What your mum was listening to in the 80s. and 90s. And probably still now.
Well crafted and interesting enough for one listen I guess, but I won't be back. Ack ack ack etc.
Love
5/5
Such an great record, untouchable in its field.
Best: Red Telephone, Alone Again Or. They are the obvious standouts, but everything else is an able collection of tunes that keep the mood going. Am I giving it 5 stars? Probably, though it's fair to say the rest of the album doesn't hit those same heights, it's a low 5.
I always thought my CD was skipping at the end of Good Humour Man and it caught me out yet again.
Extremely front loaded.
Second half doesn't have a good song.
Stuck in a moment is good and Kite is ok but some of the singles are annoying.
I am a mole and I live in a hole.
Also yeah the blueprint for every diminished return that came after. Not good.
Meat Loaf
1/5
Dreading this.
Why does Bat out of Hell end with the refrain from the Lion Sleeps Tonight?
Heaven Can Wait steals from Thunder Road. I don't even really care that much for Springsteen.
Yes it's like listening to a musical. I like a good musical but I have to be in the mood. Stuff like this while I'm watching Little Shop of Horrors= fine.
I don't understand why people would listen to this when they want to listen to actual proper music. Maybe they don't and that's the point.
Look I can see how people could get carried away with this and it's definitely a mood, but I just found it really tiresome long before it ended.
More tiresome than the late period U2 album I got yesterday, so...
Last track called For Crying Out Loud, and it's nearly 9 minutes of liquid shite, so that's at least appropriate. Was going to get a two before that.
OutKast
3/5
This was good fun 20 years ago, how's it aged?
Ok not incredibly. The overuse of 'panties' was a bit cringe back then and it's worse now, hey let's infantilise women and then go on and on about how much we want to fuck them, we're not creepy.
That aside, the length. There's two decent albums hiding in here, but lads, one hour is too long for most records so the ' it's two albums ' excuse isn't cutting it all the way. Hire an editor, there's loads of forgettable tracks on Speakerboxxx alongside some great shit, and a lot of variety brought by guests. Enjoy the dude from RTJ here, didn't know that.
Love Below, also fun, not a hip hop album at all really more a soul and rnb with a hip hop vibe. Heavily, HEAVILY, indebted to Prince. On like nearly every song.
Spread is quite funny and musically interesting, Prototype is a decent soul number that gets ruined when Andre decides to smear shit all over it. Stank you smelly much.
Generally good and immediate pop songs abound here though. Happy Valentines, Hey Ya, Roses (smell like poo ooh ooh - the guy is fucking obsessed with shite)
The skits are nearly all heavily cringe.
Pink & Blue through to She's Alive could be dropped.
I don't think I really need to hear either of them ever again, though it was quite fun to let the whole thing play out over the course of about 6 sittings today.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
Could have sworn I already had this, maybe I was listening after watching Summer of Soul.
Surely the Sly album with the most outright bangers - I want to take you higher, Everyday People, Stand, You can make it if you try, need I go on?
And well, Sex Machine. Oh hey guys, I've reached my stone cold banger quota for the year, but we need more songs for the album, will this 13 minutes long jam do?
And then it turns out to be brilliant, because Sly.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Sat by the back door while it's chucking it down as the storm breaks.
Finally listening to Elliott Smith and see what the fuss is about.
Skepta
2/5
Ok, Grime. Well, we'll see.
First couple of tracks I can appreciate, the flow is good, the words are good.
It's just not my thing, man.
By track 3 I can't help it, all I can think of is KoreanBilly and his How to Speak Roadman video.
https://youtu.be/VV0BB0CxIFk
I mean I know this is widely parodied whereas this is presumably authentic for Skepta, but I don't have control here, it's just what my brain does.
Crime Riddim is kind of funny.
The flat singing in Ladies Hit Squad, is everything I hate about this genre, that part of the sound is like nails down a blackboard for me. Ungggh, oh god I hate it so much.
By the time Shutdown come around I'm more or less hating this. Reckon if I heard one or two tracks in isolation I'd like them a lot more.
Ah ok. That's Not Me is the best track here by about a billion miles. Cut through all the negativity I'd built up by this point and made me smile and bob my head.
This is gonna be a one listen and done, glad I listened to it, glad it's here, not for me, cheers.
Venom
1/5
Is that Meg White on drums?
This really isn't very good. I don't care if it's influential, the album itself is shit.
Most of it sounds like that track on Dead Letter Office when REM were pushing about. I was expecting thrash.
I didn't enjoy any of the songs, nor did I think it was musically good but just not for me. Hence it's a one star, sorry, those are the rules.
Also, why does it end with a long intro to a song which then immediately fades out? Daft.
Neil Young
5/5
Of fucking course Neil Young comes out again on a day when I'm in the car and can't piss about with YouTube.
So after Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, i know there is Neil Young albums out there that i can enjoy. This is probably his most famous one? maybe tied with Harvest.
First track wistful and gorgeous. a great opener. The title track also fantastic, Neil doing his silly falsetto whine on this one that in just can't take seriously, but its a great track. Only Love Can Break Your Heart I heard first as the St Etienne cover, but have heard this before and its also great. We're really doing very well here Mr Young.
Southern Man is a little bit meh folk rock, but some really nice picking at the end, is that Nils Lofgram?
An ad between literally every track so far. cheers Neil.
Till the Morning Comes, another great ditty. Lonesome Me doesn't do much for me, Don't Let it Bring You Down sounds like a bout 4 different songs which all came after it. Birds is gorgeous, When You Dance is a lively rocker and good.
I stuck Everyone Knows on later on to see which I preferred and I think it's still that for me, but overall v much enjoyed.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
My bloody valentine.
I wish I'd been listening to this for 30 years rather than just ten or so.
Still, it manages to sound fresh, evocative of a bygone era in music, and timeless simultaneously.
'to here knows when' is like swimming in music.
Every track is great, no chaff here.
The Triffids
4/5
I think from all the one star reviews up top I was expecting something much worse.
In the end it's alright.
It reminds me of so many other things.
Get Echo and the Bunnymen vibes in Kelly's Blues. Hometown contains what seems to be a bad Springsteen impression. Unmade Love reminds me a bit of early James. Jerdacuttup Man is a Nick Cave song, I'm convinced.
INXS float around as well.
His singling style is like Bono, Nick Cave and Dave Gahan merged into one.
Aside from the very good opener, I think Blinder By The Hour is one of the few I genuinely like, but there's generally enough interesting going on somewhere else.
There's some 80s shlock though, and Vagabond Holes is pretty awful.
I dunno, I might listen to this again.
I don't remember it getting played when Madge and Harold got wed though, the main thing I remember is Harold falling off that rock into the sea in a comedy way.
Least favourite: Holy Water, Vagabond Holes.
I listened to it again today and enjoyed it again. Hit the same cues. 4 stars
White boy blues rock, the Small Faces had so much more soul than this. Alright it's more rock n roll, a Clapton borefest this isn't.
It's not that bad like, I don't dislike it, but it's rod Stewart and mostly what I'd expect from a band with him as lead. Love lives here.
Stay With Me is good though. But very much reminds me of the Ronnie Wood era Stones, you know, the lions share of their career and after they stopped writing good songs.
What makes me glad I've listened is the contributions from Ronnie Lane as a songwriter, particularly Debris. I listened to some of his stuff with Slim Chance earlier this year and it was definitely good. Very sad what happened to him with MS.
That's All You Need funnily enough right at the end might just be the best thing here. That is a banger. Not sure about the steel drum at the end.
Duke Ellington
5/5
How can you not love this?
Joyful.
Just fabulous big band and swing music.
The sax on I got it bad is just delicious.
Also it's not a 2 hour live album, the version I listened to was very obviously the full concert first, then the same songs as a studio rerecording afterwards. Which were then smooshed together for the original release.
I may save the studio ones for later.
Adele
2/5
This is the second Adele album I've had and both have been removed from the book, leaving zero Adele albums. I do at least recognise two of the song titles on this one. 5 Singles though, and I've only ever heard 2 of them.
In fact there are only 2 albums from 2011 left here at all.
Having a scroll at first it seems fair enough, some good albums but nothing earth-shattering. There's a Mogwai album, (no Mogwai or Godspeed Y!BE in this book renders it incomplete) and REM but while good it's not their best.
Arguably Helplessness Blues should have been included instead of Fleet Foxes debut but two by them would be overkill.
Ah. The Wild Flag album, Strange Mercy by St Vincent, M83's Hurry Up We're Dreaming, that's harder to justify excluding.
Probably detectable that I have very little to say about Adele. Such is my commitment to this though I did listen all the way through once, even after being severely tested by Don't you Remember. Tbf Set Fire to the Rain got things back on track quickly after that stinker.
Lovesong surprised me at the end, it actually is a cover of that Cure song.
Anyway, polished pop croon music for people who like that sort of thing.
Hugh Masekela
5/5
FUCK.
YES.
Yeeeeesssssssssssss
I've not heard this before but I love Grr from a decade earlier.
This is pure joy, cannot express how much more enjoyable a listen this was than yesterday. Every track just a pleasure, and so warm. Smiles.
Right up there with my favourite new listens on this journey.
Magazine
5/5
Yes. Banging. Interesting.
The light pours out of me.
Sonic Youth
4/5
One of the SY albums I know quite well. Excellent stuff.
Highlights tom violence, starpower, death to our friends, and obviously expressway.
Cracking cover too
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
It's a good solid Nick Cave album, which is an automatic 4*. Probably not up there with his best but a strong listen through.
Fewer standout tracks, though the guest spots from Peej and Kylie are good and fun. There's more than a hint of Pogues on some tracks, so Shane Macgowan popping up later feels appropriate.
Henry Lee is excellent. O malleys bar is wild.
Stagger Lee is so over the top with the dirty I do hope it was intended to be funny.
Little touches in the shifting perspectives in Where the Wild Roses Grow absolutely make it, 'on the last day' from the murderer, 'on the third day' from the unsuspecting victim.
Death is Not the End is a lovely song. The multiple guest stars though render it impossible now not to think of the comic relief destruction of Lou Reed's Perfect Day a few years later.
Still, lovely.
XTC
3/5
As with the 10cc album I got the main first impression I had was wow, Field Music owe a lot to these.
Only knew Making Plans For Nigel by them. Stuck this on in the car in a rush to get to Stockport before the parts place closed, so I couldn't really hear it or concentrate on it much.
Came back several weeks later, having heard Grass, excellent, lots of times slotted in between other stuff.
I still drift away again for a few tracks after that high point but find 1000 Umbrellas catches my attention again, what a great song.
Then I drift off again. I feel like I should be loving this more than I am. It's good, no doubt.
Kanye West
5/5
So after listening to College Dropout my first Kanye and being forced to admit it was magnificent, on this journey, I said I'd listen to the other good ones. Well I didn't. But here we are, his more or less universally regarded peak. And yeah, ok wow, it's pretty bloody brilliant.
And I actually recognise a song! Power. Although I mainly just recognise the female vocal, (and King Crimson obvs) don't think I'd heard the whole song.
Well, this is undeniable. I'm actually looking forward to the next one.
Obviously the guy is a walking bin fire now, and some of these lyrics are tiresome and foreshadowed that transition. Thinking back to 2010, were people as obsessed with doing anal, or thinking it's ok to send photo of your dick to someone (unrequited) or choking during sex? I'm sure I can't blame all that on Kanye but it makes me wonder if he helped that shift in society by how massive this album is (despite me never hearing it lol). Also, obvs the clue was in the name, don't take it literally people. Oof, just got to the Chris Rock bit. Kerrrrrrrringe.
Bon Iver! That actually dates this a bit haha.
Anyway, fucking great album, really. Both immediately accessible and complex enough to reward repeat listens (I imagine).
Sigur Rós
3/5
Didn't listen to this much when it exploded.
It's very nice in places, but I think I prefer more edges to my post rock. I wasn't gripped really at any point after the initial iconic sting of the opener. Some of it sounded like a slow late-period U2 album track. Also, I think Jon Hopkins came along later and perfected it.
Ok edit, I'll take the second half of viorar etc, that's pretty special.
Again, this is in here but Mogwai and Godspeed Y!BE aren't? There are far more egregious examples but still.
Barry Adamson
3/5
Track 1 might just be the most 1996 thing I have ever heard.
I bet half of this is on the soundtrack to Killing Eve (Big Bamboozle [also John Barry, so that's a twofer], Something Wicked). Then it sounds like Air.
I liked listening to this, not sure I would again - someone else said on here they'd much rather listen to its influences, and I very much get that vibe too.
Like much of 90s pop culture, it's extremely backwards-looking, which sometimes has the benefit of highlighting lost treasures. But I'm not sure this is a treasure in and of itself.
Taylor Swift
2/5
It's 2016 and I am back at infant school age kids' birthday parties.
The album with the two Swift songs I know. Shake it Off is a bop. Most of the rest just kind of blend together into the perfect polished production.
I dunno, I just don't get adults listening to this regularly.
I'll row that back slightly - unless they were kids or teenagers when it came out. I still go back to those Erasure records occasionally with joy and revel in their polished poppityness.
Pixies
5/5
First of all it's Pixies, so 5*.
Secondly, this is obviously one of the greats, but for me it's not close between this and Surfer Rosa as best Pixies album.
I think the album tracks here are weaker (very clearly excluding Tame, Hey, La La Love You, Wave of Mutilation and Gouge Away, half of those obviously would have been singles if it was released in the 90s anyway).
I'm coming around to the idea that Trompe Le Monde might be my 2nd favourite Pixies album.
Sabu
4/5
Great to see what Sabu was up to 35 years or so before he started regularly throwing himself through stuff from great heights on EC Dub.
Turns out he was ace at the congas and bongos. Multi talented guy.
Anyway I love stuff like Ray Baretto and Blue Note in general so I was open to this. Have to be honest I did prefer the ones with guitar accompaniment, but the one that were simply absolutely banging bongos with chanting were a jam as well.
Oasis
2/5
Urgh.
Been about 25 years since I last wanted to hear this, I reckon.
Stop saying they're like the Beatles. It's only Rain. Oasis pushed it later with Whatever. The rest is Status Quo. And the odd stolen T-Rex riff. Ironically, Cigarettes and Alcohol is probably the most Quo.
So I was a fan for these first two albums, went to see them at Maine Road, then got very sick of them very quickly.
I caught myself singing along to Live Forever and Rock and roll star so I guess they're still embedded. Shaker Maker is shite. Supersonic is obviously iconic for them.
Most of the album tracks are absolute trash. I always did prefer the second album, I wonder if that has aged poorly as well.
Oh god, Colombia is so so bad. I never liked this one, Oasis fans saying it's a belter is mystifying. What is that chorus, and then the song finishes but they just carry on for two minutes without doing anything. Slide Away does the same but at least it's a little bit better of a song.
It's a high 2 at the absolute tops I reckon.
Minor Threat
4/5
Yep, hardcore punk. I'll have it. Have been enjoying Ian MacKaye's contribution to EggsTV.
Prefer what he did with Fugazi if I'm completely honest but I've always got some time for hardcore punk.
The Pharcyde
3/5
I dunno, it's fun, but none of it is sticking with me particularly, and I usually love this kind of thing.
Officer isn't on Spotify, did Chuck D make em take it down?
Enjoyable enough. Passin me By and Otha Fish are grooves.
Cee Lo Green
1/5
Would have been an endurance test but thankfully it just faded into the background almost immediately once I stopped laughing at his voice.
Generic.
In the end I had to go out and life's too short so this is the first one of a few hundred I just binned off after about 5 shit tracks.
Thelonious Monk
4/5
The first track absolutely kicks arse.
That sax is menacing.
I wish everything else was like that. Most of the rest of the album though while very good, is a lot more gentle swing, dinner party style jazz. I can't see me listening to that again.
Ironically the last track entitled Bemsha Swing is actually much more freeform, and definitely more my bag.
An album full of track 1 and 5 please!
ABBA
2/5
The first 2 minutes of the Visitors was actually really good electro pop with interesting lyrics about living under the kgb, I started thinking what, they went legitimately good? Then the chorus kicked in and it was utter shit.
Definitely more interesting and darker than Arrival, but ultimately it's Abba and with Abba production. No thank you.
The Jam
4/5
Never mind Taxman, that's Pretty Vacant just before it isn't it? Not the exact same riff as in Start, but pretty bloody close and starting the song all alone in the same way. And the whistles are from Man Eater by Hall + Oates. Ah that came after, the pinchers become the pinchees.
Anyway, good album. The Jam have never been an album band for me, some bloody great songs, same with Style Council, but never an objectively classic album. This is definitely the best and most consistent I've heard though, hence the high score.
Strong lyrics as well. Grows better as it goes along, the first few tracks are only ok.
Ice Cube
5/5
So much funk!
What I love about the Wikipedia page is every(?) sample is listed by each song - absolute treasure trove of funk. Maybe there's 1001 albums to listen to on this album.
I mean yeah, full of gangsta shit and far too close to the bone at times, I can't listen to much of this around my daughter for example because I'm not a cunt. But this is sheer quality.
Just checked back my review of The Predator and I didn't mention that issue with the lyrics, there's more righteous anger in that (though it's far from absent here) whereas the focus here is stories of rolling around and being an absolute dickhead.
That said, this is probably almost as good, just in a different way. The Public Enemy influence shines through on several tracks. Mind you, there's nothing here quite as absolutely shining genius as It was a Good Day, or When Will They Shoot? So yeah the predator is better, but this is very good.
Early 90s rap is stuff I criminally ignored as a pre-teen (and since, aside from Public Enemy) so dead glad this project has forced me to check a lot out. Hardly any has disappointed.
So much funk!
Moby
2/5
Another album I've not heard or desired to hear in probably 20 years. I liked it at the time, along with lots of people. His creeping over Natalie Portman didn't improve that.
Some of its aged ok, some of it's aged terribly (Bodyrock). Absolutely a time capsule for 1999/2000.
Fine in small doses but it's repetitive and I can't really see me ever digging the album out in its entirety again. I also remember there being quite a lot of nothing at the end of the record even back in the day (Everloving, Inside, Guitar flute strings, the first 2 minutes of Sky is Broken).
The Sky is Broken and My Weakness are probably the best aging ones still, and a good example of his talent for soundtracking, his best work is still the theme from Heat, God Moving over the Face of the Waters.
More useful these days as a reference point to jump off from into some blues belters.
The Shamen
1/5
I remember the hits fondly enough, but even then could recognise them as vaguely cheesy, acid house tinged pop.
Why would I listen to the album in 2023?
I did so anyway.
So it's less of the pop rave silliness and more of a housey sound, but it's still generic, I'm mostly bored. By Make it Mine I was actively annoyed to be still listening.
Thoughts and prayers to Americans listening to this now in mystified silence.
Fela Kuti
5/5
Criminally underexplored on my part is Fela, given how much I love what afrobeat I have heard.
Another example here of why that was not clever of me. Absolutely stunning stuff.
Tony Allen, too.
18 albums, what? In one year? You maniac.
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
A 74 minutes long concept album in an unfinished series of concept albums, with song titles so long that they take half the song length to scroll past on Spotify - there will definitely be people out there who hate this. I'm so glad to not be one of them. Oddly first got into him through his loads of Christmas singles.
Carrie and Lowell will probably always be my favourite, an absolutely breathtaking album, but this is a close second.
Really enjoyed listening to this today. Yes, obviously it's too long, not going to stop me giving it 5 though.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Oh, Waldo...
I don't ever get the urge to listen to Sister Ray, but no doubting it's existence.
David Bowie
5/5
Easily up there in the Bowie top 5. For a while it was my favourite, but I'm not sure it will ever reach those lofty heights again.
Love the title track, how it explodes into life - but in stages. If there is one song here that leaves me a little cold now it's Stay. Everything else is pure gold.
Very pleased that I really got into this record before wading into the Berlin years I feel like it very effectively primed me to enjoy those properly.
Maybe one day I'll crawl inside my TV and be with my baby.
Golden Years, quack quack quack.
U2
5/5
Easily the greatest U2 album, should not be dismissed just because they spent the best part of 3 decades treading water later. I frequently try to dismiss them but every time I have occasion to stick this on, I am pulled back in and reminded just how good they were, briefly.
I love the start, that industrial guitar effect, and the factory-esque clang of the drums as they crash in. Always sounds great. And Zoo Station as a song is a great kick off.
Brian Eno is all over this. Yes he also did Coldplay, he's not infallible but this is superb.
It's still got big, crowd pleasing ballads like Joshua Tree, but hell, they were good at it at this point, and there is still unsettling distortion around the glistening pop of ..Horses. It's also got a crazy lead single in The Fly which it's not an exaggeration to say sounds not unlike Nine Inch Nails for a whole minute before the chorus comes in to smooth things over. Lead single. For U2.
This time crucially, and unlike Joshua Tree they don't run out of songs when you flip the record over. The singles are great, sure, but the real strength of this one for me lies in the album tracks. My least favourite songs here are Mysterious Ways and ...the Real Thing and they are by no means bad.
Until the end of the world is brooding, Ultra Violet is epic and uplifting, So Cruel is gorgeous. Acrobat is one of my favourite U2 songs of any album, it fucking rocks.
I wish they'd made even one other record of as consistently high quality as this one.
But they didn't. I still frequently get goosebumps listening.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
Got into this a good decade or so ago, needs a couple of listens to appreciate how great it is, while also being pretty accessible straight away.
I love the fact that Dropout Boogie is followed immediately by I'm Glad, two songs that couldn't be more different to eachother. The listener settles back and relaxes into the silky soul. And then wham! Electricity wallops them in the face.
So many bangers.
Fucking magical album.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
1st track probably everything I still don't like about country, come on good ol' boys, slap your thighs down at the hoedown. Similar with Bottle let me down.
I've started to really like some country, but I don't like that.
Gorgeous voice, obviously. I can't argue with Boulder to Birmingham, lovely song. There are several more objectively beautiful songs.
Beautifully done, not for me really, overall.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
Too Much to Dream is obviously a towering classic of psych/garage, but the whole album? Ok...
...and yeah sadly nothing comes close to the brilliance of that first track.
Joy Division
4/5
I've always been just a touch disappointed in this, the way some people go on about it. this as much as many people do. There's no doubting there's some masterful stuff in the band's short lifespan but it isn't all here. Some of it is.
It's stuff like Candidate I can't quite get on board with, it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Also with Wilderness and Interzone where the soundscape is absolutely on point but the overall tune maybe just isn't quite.
Stark contrast with New Dawn Fades which absolutely does go somewhere and is a masterpiece. As is She's Lost Control.
Lots of proto-new order to enjoy here also, in Disorder.
I'd give it a 5 if the non-album singles were here instead of a couple of tunes.
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
Wasn't sure I would take to this, but it's like REM's Country Feedback slowed down.
Which it turns out I like. One to drift into, and a whole mood for a dark, rainy Sunday afternoon.
As it turns out it's Thursday, but I'm off work sick, and it's dark and rainy, so this gentle album is basically perfect for today.
I wasn't that impressed with the patsy Cline cover though, that was a bit dragged out.
Not a metric to judge this album but Spotify played a very pleasing mix of stuff after it finished as well. I extremely unsurprised to hear Mazzy Star, of course
Adam & The Ants
4/5
I love this and I'm not ashamed. Although I do realise much of it is objectively not good.
Enjoying the befuddled reactions in the reviews, I guess Adam didn't crack America.
I can't have been musically conscious at 2 or 3 years old but Adam Ant was basically my earliest musical memory, the songs off this album went off like a grenade into my little ears. Particularly the title track and Dog Eat Dog. The Burundi drums, the deep voice chants, the big fuck-off riffs those vocal yodels, what was this???
The absolute pop explosion of Stand and Deliver (not a million miles from Jolly Roger, tbf), Prince Charming and Pablo Picasso at the planet of the apes is jumbled up in my young memories of this yet they're all off the next album.
So, being a kid I fully bought into the marketing (I think McLaren was involved at this point - before nicking half the band like a kid in a I Want Candy shop. See me after class for more tortured puns), the (essentially cartoon) cowboys and indians schtick. Were they cowboys? Were they indians? Isn't this probably problematic in 2023? What happened to the punky band from Dirk Wears White Sox? I was only possibly asking the first two questions in my toddler mind.
It's a shame much of it ages poorly. I stand by the tracks I love (honourable mention to Magnificent Five, also Don't be square, surely a left over from the Dirk period, he even chants the name), and I will readily credit this for opening my fragile young mind and preparing it to enjoy oh so many wonderful post punk masterpieces over the ensuing 40 years and hopefully many more.
The title track is a masterpiece and one of the best songs of the 80s, I don't care. Marilyn Manson obviously thought so, the thieving dickhead.
Down below those dandy clothes you're just a shade too white.
The Band
3/5
Is this where Americana came from?
It's just not really for me. Maybe it takes a few listens, but I don't have the time or patience for that. Maybe I'll enjoy the debut since there's a few songs on it I actually know. Whispering Pines was alright, a bit Brian Wilsony. Look out Cleveland was alright, wouldn't be out of place on the Big Lebowski soundtrack.
Actually the second half of this album is much better than the 1st. Or perhaps I acclimatised.
Because of this I gave it another listen later on in the evening, and I still didn't much like the first two tracks. After that, it's a whole mood, I could grow to like this quite a bit. When You Awake just fades away when tbh I want more...
I'm torn, there's great tracks here, and some I'm just not feeling. But would I given time... Unfaithful Servant is a slow burn banger. I think that leaves me with a stronger impression at the end of the album than the album does overall.
Loads of words not saying anything from me there.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
Always been intrigued by these since I read Paul Doggett's epic book about the counter culture from the 60s and beyond There's a Riot Going On. A cracking
and thorough read. Country Joe and Joan Baez seem to have played every benefit going to support the cause against Vietnam.
I know Maoism (who called revolutionaries "the fish who swim among the sea of the people") had a big boom around this time but seems mad to me to also name yourself after Stalin, particularly as a leftie - perhaps too much history between us and that decision.
The music, I've heard bits of over the years but it's never stuck particularly. There's Doorsy keyboards (is that a Hammond?) particularly on the long instrumental Section 43 which I enjoyed, probably the strongest thing here. Reminds me of Inspiral Carpets as well. Apparently Clint used a Farfisa Compact which sounded like a Hammond.
When the vocals kick back in the next songs though I'm dropped back down to earth as it's fairly sub standard psych rock, there's better examples in the period.
But definitely an interesting band.
Go listen to fixin to die rag though, you shouldn't move on from this band without hearing that mad hoedown.
Also fun fact, the fish cheer was sampled by Death in Vegas for 'Dirt'.
John Lennon
2/5
People should definitely get over themselves and listen to the Yoko one of the same name. Once.
I'm strangely unmoved by this, it's definitely raw and that's great, but are the tunes actually that good? My problem may be setting expectations too high, regarded as John Lennon's best solo effort, and my previous enjoyment of All Things Must Pass, you do expect greatness. This is so understated (apart from the screaming) by comparison also. However for me it's so raw the tunes didn't get developed really.
As with George's record, you can play 'spot the potshot' at his former band mates and various people, which is a fun bit of historical pop culture horseplay.
Mother I don't really like. Working Class Hero stands up to scrutiny. God is good but is also half a song and mainly a list of shit.
To be fair, this whole record comes across as therapy for John and that's absolutely fair enough, it's just something I would choose to listen to much.
I went back and listened to the Yoko version afterwards and it's an entertaining oddity but honestly I'll probably never listen to either of these records again.
Neu!
5/5
Absolutely glorious.
Why do I leave these albums unlistened to after discovering and loving one record by a band? I guess there's lots of examples where that would be a let down, but not here. The debut is fabulous of course and so is this.
That beat in E-musik is just perfect. Drilled into my psyche. The ambient stuff is gorgeous.
What's great about sticking a Krautrock album on is Spotify generally throws up a great load of stuff afterwards, there's so much wonderful stuff in the genre to discover, in many directions (obvs krautrock is a reductive term).
Reminded me to go back to Harmonium, another project Rother was involved with, Deluxe is a cracker.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
Salsa!
Good salsa.
Why does the cover make it look like one of those Salsa for Babies CDs? Radiohead for Babies etc.
Best tracks: Buscando Guayaba, Ojos.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
No need to write anything here, it's What's Going On by Marvin Gaye.
People who don't like this are empirically wrong.
Nitin Sawhney
1/5
Hmm, I have no recollection of this existence at all. Someone mentioned the Mercury Prize and that's a good shout. I do remember the Talvin Singh one though, this, nothing.
Most of this screams Morcheeba to me though, coffee shop grooves but with some eastern rhythms and overtones. Also overproduced in such a way as to turn you right off. I'd much rather listen to the real deal. There was loads of it about around this time. Offensively inoffensive. Blame Moby if you want.
The rap one with some dude trying to do Q-Tip badly was hard to sit through. Oh god, Immigrant was painful. What the fuck is this. Utter schlock.
The Conference is the one track worth listening to, and it jumps out, so incongruous is it to everything else here.
The longer this goes on, the harder it is to avoid reaching the inevitable conclusion that it is fucking terrible. Or at least terrible in places, boring in others.
Tim Buckley
3/5
...but mostly sad.
There's some pretty odd vocal choices early on here Tim. Some might say jarring.
I most enjoyed Buzzin Fly and Gypsy Woman - I picked up the Fred Neil comparison in the former, then read the same later in the book so I guess it must have been obvious.
Fugazi
5/5
It's a classic.
Was familiar with Fugazi since youth but mostly from thumbing past them in record shops. About 10 years ago I finally listened to them, starting with Ten Songs and loved it. Of course I did, it's right up my alley. Much more so than Minor Threat it seems.
So it all sounds fresh, but I suspect it would still sound fresh anyway. Love that several songs are lead by the rhythm section, its a very different structure and probably what keeps it fresh.
Brendan 1 and Repeater are perfect examples of this. Then there's Merchandise and Styrofoam, absolutely made for flying down dirt track hills on your bike to, and with a great message. Blueprint absolutely kicks arse.
Fucking love it
The Streets
1/5
Hated this at the time, loads of people since have tried to tell me it's great, and maybe it is, but I don't like it.
At least it doesn't have that sodding dry your eyes mate song on it. Oh shit, it actually does!
Blinded by the Lights isn't bad I guess. Not Addicted was alright as a skit. Too much of this I can't really understand wanting to repeat listen, it's like a comedy routine or a podcast with some beats behind it. Most songs are just vaguely irritating to me. Some are stupendously irritating like Get out of my House. Was wavering up to a 2 but more of that and it's getting a 1 and it better be grateful.
Fit but you know it can fuck all the way off. That and dry your eyes still to come secured the 1*
Klaxons
1/5
Was struggling to remember what bland and massively overplayed guitar music this lot were responsible for. The first 2 tracks don't really give me any ideas. Then Golden Skans descends like a massive cloud of blandness. There we are..
Weeoooweeoooweeooo - ahh.
No ta
Weird to have that phasing out/nodding off sensation during such a lively song as Gravity's Rainbow.
Ah, It's Not Over Yet is the other overplayed song, that's also got an annoying refrain. Go home lads.
Sadly the overplayed guitar music has only got more bland really in the last 15 years. Bring back good guitar music!
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
Why does the app not say prog rock. This is so clearly prog rock.
Except it's not the kind of prog I like apparently. Or not enough of it.
Let's just say I understand the diverse reaction.
I think I must have missed something on The Sage - Greg lake's 'best ever' live guitar recording?
Too much of this is just nonsense. Interesting nonsense, and extremely well performed, for sure. There's great stuff in amongst it - The Old Castle (after it actually starts) into Blues Variation, and the hut of Baba Yaga.
Also made me want to listen to the full Mussorgsky suite.
Ha. Nut Rocker. I had no idea this was them, and I also would never have guessed this random piece of essentially boogie woogie was based on the Nutcracker.
The Cult
1/5
I only know She Sells Sanctuary, which is a banger, and not here.
Straight ahead rock, pretty forgettable. The book said it had outstanding singles but I completely tuned out the first one so I disagree. Love Removal Machine sounds like about 3 different ACDC songs mixed with She Sells Sanctuary.
Why the shite Steppenwolf cover?
Pass.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
Erm, haven't I had this one already?
Anyway, I'm well acquainted with the cover of Apache from the many nights at the Tiger Lounge, and yes it's an all-timer.
So what of the rest. Bongolia has similar vibes and I'm absolutely here for it. Great schlock.
Less so the last Bongo in Belgium. In the Garden of Eden is a fun cover but again the bongos are secondary for most of it. Oh no wait, here they are!
Half an hour is pretty much the correct length, don't bother with the bonus tracks.
Half tempted to give it a 4 because I haven't had a good album all week.
Nah, yeah, this is really fun, let's go to 4 town.
Scott Walker
5/5
Yeah it's really good. Can't decide if this would be my pick of the 3 Scott albums before the masterpiece, but it's a worthy pick.
Love all his Brel covers, but these are some of the dirtiest, in a grimy sense. Feel like you could catch something just listening to them, wonderful.
The other covers are nice, Scotts original stuff is great. I would probably choose Scott 3, more of his original stuff.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
80s jangly guitar pop. There isn't any point in this where I think it's bad, I'm also not completely hooked on any of it on first listen. Which is fine, I just don't think I'm bothered about putting the effort in to get hooked, I'm kind of good for jangle pop, I got into Orange Juice fairly recently.
Metallica
3/5
What is it about Metallica, why do they leave me cold. Maybe I just find Hatfield's delivery kind of emotionless.
Master of puppets = some thrash, stop, say Master. Master! Then some thrash. Repeat for 8 minutes.
Next song is just sludgy for 6.5 minutes. Admittedly I think there's a good song hiding in there somewhere.
I'd probably say the same for Sanitarium.
Disposable Heroes is good. Orion is a welcome change of pace.
Ok. This is getting better as it goes along, even if I probably wouldn't ever choose to stick it on.
I gave Justice For All 2 because I didn't like over half of it, this has fared better but I'm still not crazy about it. There's just so much metal I find better, funner, harder.
3.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
2/5
First track very Byrdsy, decent, not what I expected.
2nd track onwards, very bar-room Americana, exactly what I expected.
Not my thing.
Gang Of Four
5/5
Now we are talking.
Prominent and urgent bass, spiky, scratchy guitar, great lyrics, enjoy the backing vocals too. Very confused by the reviews that couldn't hear the politics.
Look this is just the perfect post punk album, it is the yardstick.
1/4 manc too. RIP Andy Gill, taken too soon by COVID.
Brian Eno
5/5
Oh god I adore this album.
Has to be my favourite Eno record I think, and so one of my favourite albums of all time. I have so much of it scattered across various playlists, as tracks stand so well on their own - however their true power is when listened to of a piece.
I love it.
There's some kinda angular music on here but I just find it all so beautiful and comforting. As well as the obviously beautiful and comfortable ambient tracks. Sky saw works so well, whatever instrument making that noise is, that's a saw. Fripp's work throughout this is outstanding. St Elmo's Fire and I'll come running are lovely.
But the instrumentals kick me in the face, they are so perfect.
The Big Ship, one of the most gorgeous things I've ever heard. The title track, and Becalmed, similar. Zawinul/Lava is low key magnificent.
I didn't think I could listen to it today as my Mrs is having a major op today, but this is a uniquely calming record and so it's perhaps for best it came out today.
After a long and stressful day, and finding out she was ok for the night, I came home and put this on again. At first I only had one speaker working, and everything sounded wrong.
Some would take that as a negative, but for me it is excellent. this is such a headphones album I guess, and when focused on, the sound positively dances around between your ears and it is just magical.
Got to say, Another Green World is basically the perfect album for the day I've just had.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Happy Sad, Goodbye Hello...
So this is different, far less low key than Happy Sad. More listenable to me as a result, if not mind-blowing. I did not really get the jazz in that. Definitely more accessible.
The Buckley wail is present particularly in Pleasant Street. Boy there really is a lot of wailing here, this is definitely Jeff's dad.
I prefer it when the wail is kept somewhat in check, like Once I Was.
In the book this opens across from Love's Forever Changes, and you know what, there's a lot of similarity stylistically. But I much prefer the latter.
Song to the Siren is such an absolutely wonderful song, I feel sad that I haven't really found a Tim Buckley album I really like.
I stuck Happy Sad on again afterwards, and I do get the Jazz this time. I do not think I caught the bass properly where I was listening, it's actually really obvious - my bad, Happy Sad. Still morose for long periods on side B though.
Hawkwind
4/5
Ok here we go. Primed for this after listening to the incredible Doremi Faso Latido, primarily because of the mind-melting Brainstorm.
Had thought it was on this journey however I now remember Zaph Mann played it in the wake of Nik Turner's passing late last year and I went to the whole album, and didn't regret.
Probably agree that this whole piece is a bit much to sit through in one go, but any several of these tracks are great in their own space. I can mostly leave the spoken word bleep bloop stuff in between, although Sonic Attack is something else, and unintentionally hilarious.
Definitely worth staying until the end for the meaty riffage of Time we left this world today and Master of the Universe.
Also, the last half hour or something is bonus tracks, so don't worry.
And Brainstorm is still fantastic. You wouldn't imagine it was written by someone who primarily played the flute.
Joan Baez
5/5
Pure, pure folk, of the purest kind.
Just Joan on her guitar, and that voice.
John Riley is utterly captivating. The guitar on Silver Dagger.
Wilco
3/5
First two tracks I really enjoyed. Chilled and fuzzy, good late night stuff. Then two late period Rolling Stones rockers which I do not want. Then a country trundle.
Back on solid ground with Red Eyed and Blue, but then we're back to sub-Stones (I say sub, this is probably better than what they were up to by this point).
I think this is going to be one to pick stuff out of for playlists rather than anything I'll listen to all of again.
Yeah, one hour younger me was correct. There is wisdom in youth. Listenable but not memorable, largely.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
I was all ready to rate this as average, Been Caught Stealing and some other tracks basically. And while yes, that is the obvious stand out, and the first 3 tracks are good if nothing special, Obvious first caught my ear, and then Three Days is a definite building banger. As is Then She Did, in a low key way. I love a long song that actually does something with the time.
All of the second side is very good.
Rated the earlier JA a 4 and I think I enjoyed this one a little more.
k.d. lang
3/5
Was not expecting to enjoy this, but well I got fully swept along with it.
I probably dropped out around the second cabaret song though. So that's the second half of the album where I never really fully came back, and I obviously know Constant Craving backwards.
Pleasing listen overall.
The Damned
5/5
A damned good album from The Damned.
Plus it has Smash It Up on it.
Prince
3/5
I like Prince, I do, but I can't get on with this album. There's some class tunes here, and some really interesting stuff with the Camille alter ego. It's just a double album that should have been an album. Can't shake the feeling it sounds like what it is, 3 albums of track choices thrown into a single release.
Probably for best that the triple didn't happen.
If I was going to pick a 3rd prince album after the two most obvious choices, it would definitely be Around the World in a Day.
Hanoi Rocks
4/5
My Mrs loves these, and she turned me onto The Cramps so her taste must not be questioned.
However I haven't heard much of them, and mention of Motley Crue doesn't fill me with confidence.
Surprisingly though, this is a much more punk rock record than I expected, the glam cock rock stylings are around the edges rather than the main thrust.
A few songs remind me of Pink Grease, obviously influenced by these, and they're great.
Super Furry Animals
5/5
Super furries are great, Radiator is the best album but this is still fantastic.
Also encouraged me to read Mr Nice when that came out.
There are undoubtedly shit britpop bands and shit britpop albums but this isn't one of them.
Harry Nilsson
4/5
Didn't know Gotta Get Up before Natasha Lyonne's Russian Doll but that's a cracker. I really liked The Point, his kids album. Don't really know anything else besides the big song on here and everybody's talking. Odd that his most famous songs are both covers.
"Ken Lee" is an indisputable classic.
Coconut though. Please do fuck off.
Everything else here is really good also.
Jump in the Fire really reminds me of the Cult's She Sells Sanctuary, their one good song. Really good jam at the end with some lovely work on the bass.
50 Cent
1/5
Correct decision to remove from the book. It was shit then, and it's shit now. I didn't bail on this one, the only one I couldn't get through was Cee Lo Green. But, this is rubbish from start to finish, and seems to have only got mediocre critical praise at the time. Being a huge commercial success does not make an album an essential listen, it just doesn't.
Also, just like Eminem and all this millennium era rap, it's aged fucking terribly. Basically forgot this guy existed, noone talks about him anymore. For someone who was so huge at this time that's quite an achievement.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Either I'm in a better mood, or this is far far better than the serviceable, but a bit boring, Natty Dread.
Obviously there are more recognisable hits but I've heard 3 Little Birds and One Love so many times that is potentially a negative. Can never hear Jammin too many times though, funny how that works.
Love the darker feeling of side 1. I never need to hear 3 Little Birds ever again. Great song but one of the most overplayed songs of all time.
The Zutons
3/5
It's not bad! For an indie guitar record in this period it manages to not be either incredibly annoying or snoresome, vanishingly rare around this time.
Obviously it's derivative, but it's not bad. Like The Black Keys except with half decent tunes.
I did more or less tune out long before the end though.
Suspect this will get an aggregated 3 rating due to collecting lots of 3s, rather than lots of 5s and 1s like many far better albums in this list do.
The Teardrop Explodes
4/5
Britpop? Ahahaha, who calls this britpop? Madness. Oh yeah, Madness, I guess they're britpop too, they're British and they made pop after all.
Anyway, never heard this although I love Reward of course, and whatever I have heard of Julian Cope's output. Terrific new wave record.
Pretty clear that the Inspirals listened to and loved this too.
Britpop? Get out of here.
The Style Council
2/5
Holy shit, this has got the Men Behaving Badly theme tune on it! I'm not sure it's actually it but it basically is.
Hmm. I've only heard Our Favourite Shop before, with bangers such as Walls Come Tumbling Down and Shout to the Top, and being generally really good, it was kind of difficult to understand why the music press in the 90s had such a hard on for treating the Style Council as one big joke.
Now I basically do, if this patchy album of dinner party jazz was the debut. I probably preferred the many instrumentals because I dislike the smooth style in which Weller sings on every song here.
Well not every song. A Gospel. Bring back the smooth, Paul, you're crazy! Oof, strength of nature is really bad too, aged like milk, this is in danger of getting one star. Might just scrape a 2 for being such a mad listen.
American Music Club
3/5
A nice enough listen on a Sunday morning after Psychfest but I wasn't that upset it's not on Spotify because I probably won't listen again. Nothing stood out particularly, maybe the grey and blue shirt.
Liz Phair
4/5
Didn't listen in the 90s, but yeah, very good deserves the plaudits. In the vein of Kristen Hersh and PJ. Initial standouts, Glory, Shatter.
The White Stripes
2/5
No write up in the book as it's been removed. Makes sense, two white stripes albums still in there is excessive, three would be insane.
My interest was also waning considerably by this point also. The single, opener track was decent though.
For a 45 minutes long album this somehow way outstays it's welcome. So many jobbing blues jam songs.
Tbh I don't think I would give any white stripes album more than 6.5/10, I'm always bored partway through.
Saint Etienne
5/5
Can I have one of these, one of these, and two of those please.
Come on auntie we'll miss the bus!
I forgot the two long (mostly) instrumentals on here that sort of don't belong but also kind of do. Like the Swallow turns into MBV almost. Album as a whole is not what I think of when I think St Etienne but it's kind of better for it, and shows they didn't just make fantastic cheesy pop like You're in a Bad Way or He's on the Phone. Nothing Can Stop Us Now fulfils that here, and is right up there with their best.
Pleased to note that Spotify have only partially carried out Neil's writ.
Makes me want to go listen to So Tough and Good Humor. Did in fact stick So Tough on straight afterwards, classic two sides of a C90. I wonder which two songs I dropped to fit them on?
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
Yes to this.
Give me more tropicalia and tropicalia-adjacent. It is literally all gold.
A good excuse to check more of his albums. I went straight to his proper, self titled, tropicalia album.
Killing Joke
4/5
Saw these live fairly recently, a late replacement for Television supporting Billy Idol's arena tour for which a friend gave me a ticket to come along with him.
Was initially sad to miss TV especially given Tom Verlaine's sad passing the following year. Comforted myself that I had at least seen them perform Marquee Moon in entirety a few years and settled in to watch Killing Joke with medium expectations.
They blew my socks off. Was also hilarious watching the baffled reactions of those around me to this band, slotted between Toyah and Billy Idol's pop, as they delivered an astonishingly heavy and dark set, with absolutely no fucks given for those just waiting for Mony Mony and White Wedding.
Disappointed to learn he's gone nuts (or apparently always has been) on conspiracy bullshit.
But this is a great album. The Wait is cracking.
Arcade Fire
3/5
There doesn't need to be three arcade fire albums in this list, this one only has two or three really great songs, plus the earlier EP version of No Cars Go is much better than this one. Man is that an understatement, just listening now, it's a real shame what they did to it, it's godawful, the version on this record, so irritating. Any Arcade Fire fans reading this who somehow haven't heard the EP version I urge you, go listen, it's still there on Spotify in the singles section. More raw, certainly, but all the more effective for it.
I was sorely disappointed by this album at the time after the debut. I did however go see them on this tour.
Several B side level songs, but what they do retain is the ability to build to a big finish in a song.
I mean it's still good, obviously, just not anywhere near as good as their two really great albums.
Was going to round up to 4, but that shiny and lobotomized version of No Cars Go forced me to stick to my guns and go with 3.
Raekwon
4/5
Totally disavowed gangsta rap as a youth, but this list is teaching me I might actually like it quite a lot with this and Ice Cube.
I did like the odd Wu Tang track back then though so there were seeds. Continue to love all the old movie samples and general vibe of RZAs production.
Obviously the swearing and guns and stuff is annoying, but man, Raekwon is irrepressible!
Bit long, like. Also found Ice Cream to be a bit hella-lame. Wu-Gambinos absolutely bangs though.
Randy Newman
4/5
On the face of it yeah, Toy story soundtrack 12 times. Until you listen to the lyrics.
Songs about slavery, death, pollution and nuclear annihilation. Delivered with a hug and a smile.
Not exactly what I was expecting but then I did always know Randy Newman had a bit of wit about him.
Madonna
2/5
Obviously never heard this, the second track was quite interesting, though essentially 'Music' redux. Music was alright, as it goes.
Including both this and Ray of Light seems quite the egregious move on the part of the editor.
Oh shit this is the album with American Pie, the abomination.
2 nothing tracks follow, track 5 is pretty decent, could absolutely have been on Ray of Light. Sounds a lot like Beautiful Stranger.
Track 6 is nothing, oh I recognise 7. Yeah that one was alright too. 8 was a single too I guess, that was fine, no more.
I just read that both Amazing and Impressive Instant were a promotional single, resetting the 'worthwhile album tracks' counter back to zero. Although by that metric there are only 4 tracks not released as a single in some form, they're all completely unremarkable though.
I haven't yet listened to Ray of Light but I already think that will be better and more essential than this, and including Ray of Light pt. 2 seems pointless.
Really enjoyed Like a Prayer, what about some of her earlier stuff?
Low 3, average, well crafted pop album.
Good Christ, the American Pie cover is painful. Worse than I remember even. Loses a star. 2.
The KLF
5/5
Hard to get on streaming, but there's the odd serviceable playlist cobbling this together from the stuff they released back onto services a couple of years ago after a far too long absence.
One of the most interesting stories of any
band ever, surely. There is an absolutely essential John Higgs book about them and their influences (occult, dadaist, conspiracies - the story of how the popularised concept of the Illuminati as an all powerful shadowy organisation was essentially invented as a joke then took on a life of its own, is mad in itself).
The fact they blew out of obscurity, topped the charts with apparent ease for a couple of years as a kind of joke/art project and then fucked off again, signing a pact to never use the name again and deleting all of their records.
The music, I see plenty of baffled Americans here in the reviews. I guess you had to be there. It's commercial house. But at the time when it blew on the scene I just remember thinking, What Is That Noise And Where Can I Get More Of It?
I still think last train, 4am eternal and what time is love are bangers.
But the real star here is Justified Ancients. You must watch the video. An absolute classic tune. Just pure joy. Problem is I don't think the version I love is the one on the album. The single version is the one. Bring the beat back!
That notwithstanding this is obviously getting a 5. These are two Scottish guys who convinced Tammy Wynette to appear on their record and sing the words "they're justified, and they're ancient, and they drive an ice cream van" on top of the pops.
Dr. Octagon
2/5
Hip hop for teenagers basically, it's a shame I didn't hear it when it came out. I mean I enjoyed the Bloodhound Gang back then so that's what I'm basing the maturity on.
Although it's not exactly great, it's just alright, so I don't feel like I missed out.
One of the strangest inclusions in the book.
The best thing about this album is as a demonstration of how woefully Spotify's Explicit label is applied. Just the one, on a 26 second skit, because that has a 'fuck' in it.
Steve Winwood
1/5
I'm not a Traffic fan so I know nothing of Winwood.
Get huge Peter Gabriel vibes from the vocal. The production is so heavily what I perceive as what others incorrectly malign the entire decade of the 80s for (1st half anyway), this is going to have to work to overcome it.
So far this feels a lot like something that is going to be impossible to get into outside of its time.
I don't want to say it's not good, but... ah fuck, 3rd track in, it's not good.
Oh god, it's a song about a Second Hand Woman. Amazing. You're worthless love unless you're a virgin or something.
What I will say is from what I know of Traffic, this is quite a departure and doesn't necessarily reflect badly on them.
The Peter Gabriel vibes continue to shine through oh so strongly, except for, crucially, in the writing.
Maybe it's the booze but I did grow into this sufficiently to enjoy Spanish Dancer. Is that enough to avoid the 1 it was headed for, time will tell. Sadly Night Train was less Gabriel and far more Phil Collins, thus earned considerable enmity from me. That and being almost 8 bastard minutes long.
This is exactly the sort of record future editions of this book should be phasing out, but no, they delete nearly everything they ever included since 2005 as if no newish music is important. Some of that stuff is 15 years old and older mate, it's nostalgia for today's kids. Won't somebody please think of the children.
4/5
All through the 90s the received wisdom was that this was the greatest Beatles album. It outshone all the rest apparently. So imagine my confused face when I finally graduated from the red and blue albums to actually stick this on. I think I'd already heard Revolver, Rubber Soul, Hard Days Night and Help before this, it did not escape my notice that my mum and dad both had stopped buying Beatles records with Revolver. So maybe they got turned off by the drugs stuff, I should ask.
Anyway I found a CD of this in my brother's stuff one day and stuck it on. And I was.... slightly disappointed? It's obviously excellent, but we are saying this is the Greatest... Beatles album, that is high praise. Nowadays things are a bit more measured, most people probably say Revolver, hipsters and me might say Rubber Soul are more consistently outstanding.
Here we do have outstanding stuff of course, some of their greatest ever songs, A Day in the Life obviously, LSD. And a good start with the title track. Wet Wet Wet ruined little help from my friends for me. I think She's Leaving Home and Within Without You stand out for me of the other tracks.
But besides that there's just far too much music hall ditties, 64, Getting Better, or daft stuff like Mr Kite and Lovely Rita.
After LSD there's not really a Classic Beatles track that knocks you off your feet until a Day in the Life really does (one of the greatest songs ever made, by anyone - such an incredible thing, 5 great tunes in one and somehow still fully formed in and of itself).
Perhaps if they'd fought and kept Strawberry Fields on it in favour of one of the ditties, it may be in the conversation.
I just never choose to go back to this one.
This possibly has the best cover art, but then Revolver has a shout there too. Gets points for being the starting gun for concept albums and the cultural touchstone but I have to give myself somewhere to go and I like a lot of albums a lot more than this one.
DJ Shadow
5/5
It's a real testament to how well this was put together, that listening to it almost 30 years later it still sounds kind of fresh.
Aside from one or two tracks, I can't put a tune to a title, and when it comes on it always pleases me.
So much of 90s music has aged pretty terribly, especially hip hop tinged stuff of the time.
But this stands as a somewhat timeless classic. Easily one of the top ten albums of its era.
Jethro Tull
2/5
I tried, not for me. I didn't really like any of it.
Even though I like both rock and folk and some prog. Same reaction as I've always had hearing Tull down the years.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
Great voice. Not really my thing. Although it floats around the edges of some stuff I like a lot like REM.
Love at the Five and Dime was good.
Can't knock it as an album, and it seems to have aged well especially considering it was 1986, a time particularly prone to aging.
Glad wasn't subjected to the one with From A Distance on it because that song very much is late 80s schlock. Although Cliff Richard is probably more to blame for my dislike.
Suede
5/5
"Does your love only come....in a Volvo?"
I want to write a lot about this record but I don't have time today. Been with me my whole musical life, pretty much.
I think of pre-Britpop and post-Britpop Suede as two different bands because they kind of are. From Trash onwards they glistened, before that, the beauty and ugliness in life was celebrated in equal measure, no punches pulled.
The drop off from album 3 onwards might have been pretty marked, but these first two and their B-sides and outtakes... sublime.
Not *quite* as genius as Dog Man Star but the margins are narrow.
The gorgeous riffage in Pantomime Horse - fuck me.
Tortoise
2/5
Never heard or heard of this.
Is this another record that's going to annoy me about the exclusion of both Godspeed and Mogwai from this list?
There is one Boards of Canada record.
I mean, it's a pleasant enough listen, but not essential or standout, for me.
Pentangle
4/5
A really invigorating listen.
Never listened to Pentangle, or Bert Jansch really. Though after this I am looking forward to his solo stuff and work with The Byrds. Oh no wait that's Gram Parsons.
Recalled I have actually heard his solo record in this book, I preferred this album though overall on first listen, the first half particularly.
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
I mean, it's Astrud Gilberto. But I am really unsure if this is the best representation of her here. No Agua De Beber, no Meditacion, no pretty much anything I think of when I think of her stuff.
It's nice, of course, was never going to less than a pleasant listen.
On Spotify it has the 2nd half of a different album with Walter Wanderley Trio for some reason. Which does contain Tristeza and Call Me.
But I stuck her debut on afterwards instead, which reinforced my gut feeling that it should be in the book instead. Far superior.
Michael Jackson
4/5
It's a stunningly produced album of top notch disco, soul and funk.
Or at least 60% of it is. I don't care for some of it, sorry Macca.
Marty Robbins
4/5
Wouldn't ever have listened to this otherwise, apart from the odd one on film soundtracks of course.
Murder ballads, tall tales, this stuff is gold really. The story ones are the best, lead by Big Iron.
Taylor Swift
3/5
Ok, so this is low key Swift. Waited until now to see what the fuss was about. Didn't enjoy much besides the big track on 1989. Midnights was ok but I haven't been back tbh.
First track drifted by anonymously. There's some lovely melody in champagne and gold rush, towards the end of each song.
There's kind of just enough here for me to stay interested and not dismiss it as bland pop. If I gave it repeat listens I may even grow to really like some of it, but I'm probably not going to do that.
It's also too long, and I did get bored around the National track.
Spotify now wants me to listen to "Sad Girl Autumn" songs, which kind of says it all.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Ace.
Kings of Leon
1/5
Oh ok. So the debut was also in the book once. Quickly revisit my notes from the second album, I mentioned hearing snippets of this on adverts lots, and "...affected singing....mildly bluesy rock quite boring...like a less good Strokes...won't be bothering listening to the debut..."
So I guess I was wrong on that last one.
Everything else? Check, check, check.
If it wasn't annoying it was just on.
Open your fucking mouth properly, man.
Mind you when he did, we got that Sex on Fire toilet stuff.
Nico
4/5
Really beautiful. Some of the Nico albums are hidden gems, and this is no exception.
It's more folky than her second one which I listened to last year and enjoyed. Probably largely down to the flutes which I understand she hated but I don't mind here.
Her voice is somewhat jarring against the backdrop and not typically folky at all, but that's part of what makes it interesting.
I did prefer the more Avant Garde offerings of the Marble Index, and oddly was a bit put off by the one here that leaned slightly in that direction (it was a pleasure then).
Marianne Faithfull
4/5
Never heard this discussed - why?
Not what I expected at all and it's really good. Like Grace Jones on crack in places. Particularly Why'd Ya Do It? Which is deliciously vicious and epic.
Broken English is great bit of electronica, the cover of Working Class Hero works really well. What a mood piece.
Will definitely come back to this.
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
Broad appeal this one, both immediate and interesting. Lots of the old, 70s soul, Marvin Gaye, while still sounding new. It's a pop record for sure and it's good pop.
I enjoyed it when it came out. Not been back to it much though possibly only because it's hard to remember great albums when I have no physical object to flick through and remind me.
Maybe it sags a little in the middle and gets a bit samey, but a real strong finish from Hard to Say Goodbye onwards grabs it a worthy 4.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Probably my favourite album for such a long time when it came out.
Bit of a mess this on Spotify, for some reason the UK/US versions have different running order and the US version inexplicably leaves out the gorgeous Slow Motion in favour of the not very good Spiderbite Song. Well it's alright, I suppose, I just don't have any great love for it as it wasn't on my CD.
Whereas the correct order of Spark into Slow Motion into Light? = pure joy.
Radiohead
5/5
So I was one of those many, many fans initially turned off massively by this album. Maybe I was caught up in the noise around it before forming my own opinion was a thought in my still young head, or perhaps it was to do with Kid A the song being so up front and not really very good that soured me. Let's be honest, it's a bit of a nothing song. Especially in such company. I've never much cared for Idioteque either if I'm completely honest.
Anyway I didn't stick with it, and rejoined the party with Hail to the Thief, which many dislike but which I love.
I've come back to Kid A of course, and to an extent Amnesiac, though I'll take much more convincing that the latter is a work of genius beyond obvious exceptions such as Pyramid Song.
There's no point writing much more about the actual record, it's all been written. The overblown chaotic and the understated majesty go hand in hand.
The War On Drugs
1/5
The most boring music gets the highest ratings on here. Which makes sense, don't try anything, don't offend anyone's tastes.
I'm sure this is fine for you if you really like Bryan Adams and suchlike.
Wow. What the fuck is that word salad on their Spotify description? Also their album cover reminds me of Dog Man Star and the comparison in quality is stark.
The longer it went on, the more nothing it became, and I just got annoyed.
An entirely unremarkable band.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
Very mixed feelings about this album. The Manics went pop, and it was enjoyable for a time but I don't think they released anything of interest to me after this apart from The Masses Against the Classes.
A Design for Life was everywhere. I mean it was everywhere. The radio, TV, the nightclubs, shops. I've probably heard that more times than Common People. The title track not far behind. Ah yes, when every indie song had to have strings!
After the masterpiece of the Holy Bible this ultimately was a disappointing turn, but you can hardly blame them for retreating from the harsh honesty and bleakness of their best works after the shock of Richey disappearing.
His songs are probably my favourites here, honourable mentions to Wire's Elvis Impersonator, No Surface, and Pop Manics' shining star in my eyes, Australia.
Ebola Alone is alright but I find the lyrics a bit cringe now. Crack for teenage me though of course, and that's the target audience. Sludgy britpop production doesn't help in places either, but most of this is still good, the only true duffer is Further Away.
The Byrds
5/5
I like far too much stuff influenced directly by this jangle pop to not give a perfect score, even though the Vera Lynn cover is shite.
The Residents
5/5
I love this mental stuff, I don't care.
Go away and listen to your War On Drugs albums.
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
So I only got the Byrds the other day and here we are with the Fannies. Nice.
I missed this one at the time, got into them when Grand Prix came out off the back of Sparky's Dream. Absolutely love that, and Songs From Northern Britain even better.
The Concept is great, and Is This Music is lovely and brings back memories of Goal of the Month of Match of the Day.
In between those two pinnacles, this while consistently good doesn't hit me as strongly as the aforementioned (either of which would garner a 5) and so I'm scoring appropriately.
Another review says it sounds like Oasis before Oasis, which in places, yes it does. And that's because Oasis were ripping off Status Quo and claiming to be the Beatles. TF also influenced by Quo but at least they were good. Power pop!
The Doors
5/5
I don't come back to this hardly at all now but reminding myself of the tracks here it's a real hit list. Like many others it seems I went through a "Doors phase" when I was youthfully exploring music and played them to death. Maybe that's why I don't go back much, the songs are just in my head, beat for beat. The End is superlative.
One of the best, most fully realised debuts from any band.
The killer awoke before dawn.
Billie Holiday
5/5
Wow, ok. So we're doing the Billie 'comeback'/swansong album instead of her peak I suppose. Though you can't really talk of albums as such going back to the 30s.
Yeah that first track is a real punch in the guts. The contrast between her now frayed, heroin-ravaged voice and the somewhat twee orchestral backing. Almost feels like a precursor to that 80s Marianne Faithful record the other day in that sense.
She's a legend and the ultimate.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Syd Floyd is my Floyd. I only have time for bits and pieces of the later stuff. This is the epitome of 60s psych, I love it, it's masterful in places, daft in others. Full of understated poppiness as in Flaming, riffage on Lucifer Sam and the towering monster of Interstellar Overdrive.
He's getting rather old but he's a good mouse.
Gene Clark
4/5
Ooh.
Well as the first track started I thought, mmm, more country, not in the mood. Then it got it's hooks in. First listen. Wow.
Got a Dennis Wilson River Song vibe.
Title track and Strength of Strings are moody bangers also.
Obviously the production has a lot to do with it, I can understand where all the money went.
Some Misunderstanding loses me a bit, for an album this generally blown up and huge sounding, it doesn't quite go on the journey I want an 8 minutes long song to go on. It's still good though.
I should have known the guy who wrote Eight Miles High did decent stuff after The Byrds. One of the things I'm looking for in this whole project.
CHIC
5/5
5 stars for I Want Your Love and At Last I Am Free on their own.
Contains plenty other intricately constructed widdly wee widdly woo.
Stonewall classic
George Jones
3/5
Oosh. Archetypal country. I instinctively want to reject, so I must fight against.
He was married to Tammy Wynette, therefore has a KLF number of 2.
Initially, I can take any one song in isolation as a perfect mood setter, the whole album, just no.
Longer it goes on, the more I feel I am indoctrinated. Might be the wine, it's took me till 11pm to get through this 28 minute album.
Massive Attack
5/5
Yep, this is still great.
Dead Kennedys
5/5
Love the Dead Kennedys, I haven't heard this though, all my DK needs were previously met with Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.
Several crackers here though I didn't previously know. Lynch the Landlord
Bon Jovi
2/5
Ha ok. Check your brain in at the door. This is no time to be po-faced. I probably wouldn't ever listen to any of this by choice (except for today) but I can't really argue with what it does. First half all well and good.
This is so 1986 it almost hurts. Other stuff I might eviscerate for that but for some reason I just can't bring myself to do that to this.
All I will say is partway through Raise Your Hands I realised I was bored, and was very much ready for the record to end three songs before the finish. Interesting how much the last song is a massive rip of mid 80s Bruce, fellow New Jersey bloke.
Prince
5/5
Do I like this more than Around the world in a Day? Possibly. Anyway it's fabulous. Let's go crazy, Darling Nikki particular highlights.
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
I've been listening to some Country fuckin music
Tryin hard to get my fuckin mind less stressed
I've been fiddlin with the dial on the fuckin iron
Tryin to get the creases out of my fuckin vest
I've been wanderin around the local shit-farm
Thinkin hard about, cleanin up my fuckin mind
I've been tethering Alsatians to lamp-posts
Hoping to get my fuckin chakras realigned
(chorus)
I'm not hu-un-ky
I'm not bright as a spark
I'm Andy Daw-wson
I'm pissin on shadows, (shadows, shadows)
In the fuckin dark
I've been stickin my fuckin fingers into duck shit
I've been throwin sticks and stones at my fuckin cat
I keep hopin all day for a fuckin miracle
Like waking up and finding out that my bellies flat
(chorus)
Cus I'm not hu-un-ky
I'm not bright as a spark
I'm Andy Daw-wson
I'm pissin on shadows, (shadows, shadows)
In the fuckin dark
Neil Young
3/5
Mmm, here we are again with Neil Young. So I've been surprised by a couple of the records. Not this time though, we're back on country Neil, and aside from a couple of good tracks and a general vibe, I'm largely unmoved.
Last track is good.
Scritti Politti
2/5
I wanted to like this, I really did. Have heard good things about Scritti Politti and their place on the 80s new wave, but whereas I can go back to ABCs Lexicon of Love and really enjoy it, I just can't with this. All the vibe and production is there but the tunes aren't, from the first faux reggae beat right at the start I kind of wanted it to end.
Absolute was pretty good and I increased in hope but then lost it again. There is some strangeness in WoodBeez which is vaguely interesting and there's some off kilter lyrics here and there but not enough to keep me coming back.
What I find weird is for a band that Wikipedia says had several hits off this record, and me growing up in the 80s, why have I no memory of any of these songs?
A curio, really.
LL Cool J
4/5
Wall to wall bangers up front.
Yep, lots of lyrics that belong in the last century, but wow, what a jam.
Some tracks are not good - Mr Good Bar, Milky Cereal but even those have great beats. I think the longer it goes on the more I understand the negative reviews, it's too long (probably drop 3 songs after the title track), but still fun.
Anita Baker
3/5
Sweet Love is a banger and it was nice to be reminded of it.
Beyond that nothing else really grabbed me, but it was an enjoyable listen and there's no denying that voice.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Love love love this album.
Every time I think I've maybe grown out of it or think the latest embarrassing thing Billy Corgan does has finally put me off, or I think I'm a bit sick of overblown opuses with countless guitar overdubs, none of that matters.
When that opening drum roll hits and I think about all the songs here, I am right back in.
As has been written many times Corgan was a tyrant in the studio and there's like fifty guitar tracks overlayed in places which some might say is excessive, but it's the gentler moments here that really make this album shine and live long in my heart, and in turn really feed the power when it explodes.
I used to use this CD to test a stereo out before I bought it. If this record sounded good that system was a winner. It's a yardstick.
The quiet, breathy bits still bring to mind memories of walking the streets delivering papers in the dark early mornings lit by yellow streetlights, listening to this album.
One of my favourite all time records. Forever, apparently.
Best songs: Hummer, Spaceboy, Soma, Silverfuck, Mayonnaise, just all of it. I can't put them in order.
Daft Punk
4/5
I went back to this 2-3 years back for album club and listened to the whole thing several times over.
It was actually not as good as I'd been expecting, and oh god, so long.
Totally understand why this is the daft punk album in the book although Discovery is probably better.
There's a lot of space in the tracks which is stripped out as their sound developed. That can be both a positive and a negative, as you can lose yourself in the beats (which is kind of what this album is for) but obviously makes it way long.
Rollin' and scratchin', rock'n roll, burnin' are all variations on eachother. The apostrophe trio.
Still, lots of bangers. And what it is great for is sticking on in the background while I build reports.
Cat Stevens
5/5
An undisputed masterpiece.
For some reason I've never listened to all of it before. But it's clear from the very first track the people weren't wrong.
Inferior, popped up covers of the most famous songs here fail to dim the frail majesty of the originals.
Peter Gabriel
2/5
This is such a mad album. Throw a load of styles at the wall and see what sticks.
I've never managed to get into Genesis prog era (or any era). So I didn't know what to expect from his first solo effort. The first track is prog mental, and appears even more so when contrasted with the second, Solsbury Hill. Obviously much more what I'd associate with his solo sound.
The 3rd track is a mix of mid period Stones and Bruce Springsteen.
4th is barber shop Randy Newman. I don't like just parroting what I've read elsewhere but there is no other way to describe that song.
Every other song is a different genre.
What are you doing Pete?
Despite that, is it good? I mean it doesn't work as an album. Some of the songs are good. I suspect it would require repeat listens to digest, but I don't want to do that. I'm so confused, I'm just going to plump for a 2.
Animal Collective
5/5
Another of my all time favourites.
Such a euphoric album. The harmonies. The beats. Brian Wilson pushed to his logical conclusion.
I love the complexity of the songs though, it took me a while to really fall in love with this, at first I kinda hated it, after really liking (mainly) Feels and Strawberry Jam.
But it unwraps itself on repeat listens.
My Girls a personal theme of ours, particularly in our small family's early years and our search for a habitable home.
No more runnin (says my mind) is a glorious paeon to just stopping and being. Shutting up all the nagging thoughts. Love it.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
This was kind of just on. Odd really as the first track suggested a rollicking good time album but I kind of got bored fast.
Faith Healer stood out because it was so tonally different, but not particularly good or anything.
I love Jacques Brel so was looking forward/trepidatious about Next. We also already have the Scott Walker cover. This one wasn't good. It was demented though so kind of funny.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
Heard about these at the time and as a Blur fan I should have been interested but of the little I heard nothing stuck.
Pretty similar experience this time around.
Although some songs are musically interesting, there's not really a song. The best parts of several tracks seem to be when Damon finishes singing. If you're not going to bother writing a melody just do an instrumentals album.
I'm not really picking up any Tony Allen afrobeats, which is a shame. There's a couple of dub-influenced tracks which are quite good.
Overall one I found relatively diverting while listening but can't say I'll go back.
Yep. Got to the end and can't say I'll need to listen to that again.
Sheryl Crow
2/5
Someone's review is just gonna be:
"All I wanna do, is turn this off"
Woof, 1993 production really made sure absolutely all the edges were shorn off didn't it.
I don't do power ballads but Run Baby Run really took me back - to a worse time. Just made me think of all the shit TV that was on then. Evocative though, have to say.
I liked Winding Road and Change, and even if it makes you happy to an extent but mainly as a slight break from the rest of the utter dross on the clothes shop radio tape I had to listen to for 8 hours every Saturday at the time. All of those are on the follow up though.
Here, All I Wanna Do is a jam, everything else is total meh, and some just bad. What next, Spin Doctors, a Pocket full of Kryptonite?
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Yeah really good. Track 8 is a Banga.
I got Savane when it came out and really enjoyed it. But otherwise haven't ventured into Ali Farka Toure's work and I probably really should.
Again, an artist I spent most of the 90s reading about but didn't investigate until much later when my awareness of my tastes had widened.
Extremely enjoyable listen.
Mekons
4/5
Wonderfully discordant.
I'd only heard Deserted from 2019 and that was great. So, good to have one of their early albums on my radar, will definitely revisit.
Fairport Convention
4/5
Folk can go either way with me. It either hits hard or I bounce right off it.
This is glorious. So warm. Especially for an album recorded in the wake of tragedy by a band following the death of one of their own.
R.E.M.
5/5
Now then do I have the words today to gush about this band and this album.
Probably not, and plenty others have gushed to an adequate degree. So I'll just say REM have been my favourite band for most of my life, I was fully primed for this after a friend had shared Green and Out of Time with me in the couple of years prior. While I eventually shied away from this album after a while of delving into their (only just) superior back catalogue, I am still always happy to come back to it after a break. Obviously as their commercial peak (a maudlin album about death at that - so very REM) many songs have been played to death, though I am somehow never ever tired of Drive, Nightswimming or Find the River. Glorious, glorious songs.
This is the first time I became aware of the record company cashing in on success by releasing 6 singles off it, but you have to be honest, every single one of them deserves to be.
Try not to Breathe and Sweetness Follows are other highlights and always high on my all time favourite REM songs.
Wonderful.
Also Man on the Moon should have been the first single I ever bought, but in a comical decision I eventually plumped for the techno remix of the Super Mario Land theme tune instead.
Elliott Smith
4/5
I'm sad I didn't know or get into Elliott Smith when these records were coming out. I feel certain I would know these songs back to front. What I've done instead much later is fall heavily in love with Sufjan Stevens. (Everything Means nothing to me is fucking glorious.)
I got Either/Or a few months back and enjoyed it a lot in that moment. I haven't thought to go back to it though. I am definitely going to have to, I do wonder if it won't hit as hard ultimately because I've moved beyond those teenage/20s emotions.
I hear the Beatles influence much more strongly this time too.
Anyway Elliot Smith just invited my daughter to his party at the Crystal Maze Experience so he's alright in my book.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
I get Rotary Connection vibes from this odd set of covers and jams. But done in a completely different style of course. Or styles, rather.
I'm confused, but I think I'm having a better time than the last album this all over the place, by Peter Gabriel.
Oh! I recognise this version of Spinning Wheel. You Made me so very happy is a song with a lot of versions, many of them absolutely fantastic, Lou Rawls probably my favourite. This one is so so. The culmination of Blues is very good.
Yeah I'm going down the middle.
Frank Zappa
4/5
Wonderful. I've tried to get into Zappa a few times but never enjoyed my way through a whole record.
I did with this. Good to work to as well, surprisingly.
Kraftwerk
5/5
It's Autobahn.
Marilyn Manson
3/5
Sigh. Right then best get this over with.
Look I like metal, and I like NIN and Reznor's later production work, but I've always found Manson a bit much, too try-hard. Also he's rapey. And the Beautiful People was just a metal Adam Ant cover. It's decent though still, despite hearing it in clubs hundreds of times in my youth. I have to hand that to them.
The 77 minute running time was another reason I was dreading this coming up. At least it's happening on a work day.
4 tracks in and if I'm honest there's not been a bad song, there's something to like in all of them - but I also don't really want to him wail on. I understand it's supposed to be a rock opera and a riff on The Wall (which I thought was mostly a bit poo) and that's all well and good but I'm not really that interested. It's just the posturing I guess, massively off-putting.
I tuned in and out of course, I could swear he was screaming "you're a dirty dirty rascal" at one point (it turns out it was rock star, I prefer my version)
Overall it was more enjoyable than I expected but I won't be back, so it's a 3.
Faust
5/5
Faust do seem to be on the weirder side of krautrock, most of this isn't what I'd consider 'traditional' krautrock, whatever that means, being as it is one of the most interesting, experimental and diverse genres in all of music. It's an incredible mine for early electronica and simply for ideas in general just thrown out there.
The fantastic, signature, driving motorik beat is mostly absent here for example.
I've only listened to their debut before and that was a mix of banging stuff (as in literally banging stuff together) mixed in with the sound of objects floating in water (although I might be confusing it with a track on Neu!'s debut). Much more of an emphasis on weird noises than on this album. I read later that Faust IV is considered a more accessible set from the band, which definitely appears to be true. Does raise a little wry smile seeing the people in the reviews dismissing the entirety of krautrock on the strengths of this one album. But hey ho.
They don't seem to be a band who stick with one idea. Which is incredible and I applaud it. I can mostly skip the second track, but I love the development going on in 1 and 3 and elsewhere. Most of the time now I want to listen to stuff where I have no idea what's going to happen next.
I know the second CD was different versions of the same songs, but I left it on, because they were very different!
The Mars Volta
4/5
Interesting to learn this is apparently a concept album with a story, I've always been of the correct opinion that Mars Volta and At the Drive In lyrics were exclusively nonsense.
Relationship of Command is one of my favourite albums and I still return to it, so I was primed for Mars Volta when they started up. They shook me off around Frances the Mute though, just too pretentious and daft.
I definitely enjoyed a lot of this when it first came out though, but I've not revisited like ATDI so let's see.
Intertiatic still hits. These do frenetic energy exceptionally well.
How could I have not recognised the story on this album with lyrics as evocative and imbued with narrative strength such as "exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed" and "dress the tapeworm as pet"? Roulette Dates is another banger though, despite this utter nonsense.
The longer this goes on the more daft I feel for sort of mentally writing MV off years ago, this goes in directions my tastes have caught up with since, prog, Latin, afrobeat etc. all mixed in with that sweet, sweet hardcore.
Oh I remember now, songs like Eriatarka are much too long for their own good without doing anything with the extra time.
Conversely, Cicatriz noodles along for ages doing stuff but I find myself getting bored instead of drawn in.
Bit of an Icarus wings situation. So close to a 5 but I remembered why I don't listen to it and got bored before the end so I can't possibly.
Woke me up for the weekend, at any rate.
Time to dip back into the back catalogue I think.
Tom Waits
5/5
Seems not everyone is able to appreciate Tom Waits, and that's fair enough and not unexpected. I'll just count my blessings of what I get from this lovely album.
Equally sinister and gentle, the lyrics are fabulous as usual, and it contains both I don't Wanna Grow Up and That Feel, two of his loveliest ever songs.
All drenched in dirt.
Other highlights for me, Dirt in the Ground, and the almost beat poem, The Ocean Doesn't Want Me.
Peter Frampton
3/5
Yeah I discovered this about 20 years ago, probably spinning off from the Dazed and Confused soundtrack albums. I'd seen the Simpsons episode much earlier and had no idea who he was. Also that poo reggae cover of Baby I Love Your Way in the early 90s. Much later I learned he was working with Bowie during his career nadir in the 80s, Never Let Me Down/Glass Spider tour.
Back then I loved Do You Feel Like We Do. Not particularly for the talking guitar but for the whole jam. The rest of the (long) set is kind of so so, a few other decent songs, mainly Show Me the Way, but largely just competent, inoffensive 70s rock. None of which I really needed to hear again but also didn't make me want to turn it off. Absolutely arrow straight down the middle of the road.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Only first listened to this in 2017 when I did a tour of loads of albums released in 1997, one of the greatest years in music.
Was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it, even though I was aware that it stood out in his latter discography as a critical success.
But!!!
There's no way I would rate this up there with Dylan's best ever. There are some undoubted high points that are among his best, Tryin to Get to Heaven, Not Dark Yet...
However there are too many long blues jams that while all well and good, just feel like padding out to me and when the record is 72 minutes long that's daft. My favourite of these is probably Cold Irons Bound. If the album shaved a few songs then I'd like it more. I'm sure Highlands is great if you've a spare 16 minutes to listen to all the words but I'm afraid it just faded into the background for me as it was musically uninteresting. I'm not sure if I preferred Oh Mercy as a whole, probably.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Yep, one of their (and arguably, the actual) best albums. Containing 3 of their (and arguably their actual) greatest ever song(s).
Nothing to be said about Gimme Shelter. Menacing.
I forgot about the country version of Honky Tonk Women here, entertaining.
The title track is great fun.
I've never quite got on with the Midnight Rambler though, I know it's always been a live favourite, and it's good fun, but for me the studio recording stalls just when it's threatening to take off into some kind of krautrock banger.
Still, you can't always get what you want.
Orange Juice
4/5
The album and song which give it's name to one of my favourite music books, by Simon Reynolds and all about the many post-punk scenes in that extraordinarily creative few years.
I've mainly listened to You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, an absolutely gorgeous record, though I obviously know the lead off track here.
Noone really sounds like Edwyn Collins do they? And that Smith'sy guitar laid down before Johnny Marr even got going, mixed in with Nile Rogers. I see the guitarist and drummer have changed since the debut, so the big change in sound makes sense.
A lot here is closer in style to Satellite City, which was an outlier before.
I was still thrown by the second track though, not what I was expecting at all. And not what I'm wanting from OJ, if I'm honest. Although I did enjoy Hokoyo.
Hmm, near the end now and it's just not hitting like Consolation Prize, Falling and Laughing, Three Cheers For Our Side or Felicity and the like did. But I'm giving it 4 as I reckon it's a grower. I felt similarly about the debut at first as I recall.
Minutemen
4/5
Don't like this one? It's fine, there's another one along in a minute.
I've tried to love this several times down the years but it turns out I just like it quite a lot. Tight as anything, and really gets into the swing after about ten tracks or so, some gold here.
The Hives
4/5
I had this when it came out, not sure it should be here in this book as it's a compilation, but it's still the 'album' which launched them in the UK for sure, along with that Kylie Minogue advert for pants or rodeo or something, so ok. Was really punchy and I loved it back then.
I did always think it was kind of disposable at the time and didn't think it would stand up forever or anything, just incredibly immediate and loads of fun for a short burst.
The band members names are cringe. Vigilante Steve? The breakdown bits in Untutored Youth are cringe. Hey, would you like lemon and lime with that piece of advice, mister? What?
Also I remember the follow up Tyrannosaurus Hives was the law of diminishing returns, just more of the same and I lost interest.
Turns out it's not in the latest edition, oh wow, that's the oldest album to be removed I think so far.
Anyway this is fun for half an hour, half of the songs are pretty unremarkable, was definitely one for chucking bits of into playlists.
Die Alright was and still is fantastic for pegging it down hills on your bike to.
The Waterboys
4/5
It's funny. In my youth I listened a lot to The Levellers. I even listened to World Party a fair bit. But I never listened to this. Why?
The title track is just absolutely joyous. The second is much more of that full sounding 80s rock, reminds me somewhat of Simple Minds, but with a pulsating bass and fiddle driving it ever forward.
The next couple of tracks don't grab me. Ah ok this is where Karl Wallinger first used the World Party name. I actually want a full album of the first track please, just inject that in to my veins.
I think I do get a bit tired of it as it goes along but it's an enjoyable listen. My second favourite was probably When ye Go Away though, and the Keats tracks is quite sweet. I definitely want an album full of that first track, which is probably why I listened to The Levellers so much.
Rod Stewart
3/5
Having enjoyed The Faces more than expected when they've popped up on this journey, I was also pleasantly surprised by the title track here, a lovely wistful little song.
Then the Womack/Stones cover belts in and I'm resetting my expectations, not in a particularly great way. Not sure why there's a small faces song on here especially since it's just done in small faces style. Band covers own song.
The opening to Cut Across Shorty was sounding refreshingly folky Led Zep but that didn't last and went straight ahead rock pretty soon.
I definitely enjoyed this more than I expected to enjoy a Rod Stewart album, but it still wasn't loads.
The Adverts
4/5
Astonishingly good write up in the book that I wonder if I should not have read before listening as it hyped this up so much as a lost classic.
It's a good solid punk album. I didn't recognise any of the songs. Gary Gilmore's Eyes is quite funny to think back about tabloid outrage then and the shite that goes barely reported on these days. I'd never heard of the titular executed murderer until I looked him up but he was clearly well known at the time.
Weather Report
2/5
Erm. Kind of a cross between jazz and incidental 70s TV show music.
Birdland was a big hit? I can't remember this at all. It almost sounds like the theme tune to Blind Date, but with loads of noodling over it.
Oh sweet Jesus, the sax on track 2. Fuck me what is this. This is the sort of music that put me off saxophone for like two decades and stopped me encountering some of the really wonderful stuff the instrument can do when someone attacks it instead of sticking their cock into it.
We are heading for a rare 1 from me.
The drumming one is good but that is so out of place here, what's it doing, I thought Spotify had fucked up.
Obviously the percussion is great throughout, and the musicianship is also very high quality, but just ... No!
Palladium comes closest for me, is relatively interesting but that sax is just far too smooth again.
Probably going 2 purely because they can really play their instruments.
Mylo
1/5
Never heard of this, vaguely heard the name but thought he was a rapper.
Only know what's on Wikipedia as it's not in the book, and first impressions are this will be inessential at best.
As it goes, we've just learned that I'm prepared to give Weather Report 2 stars, so let's see.
Oh I see, this is pure background music, which was very much the thing those days, stuff to stick on in at parties that absolutely noone would pay attention to and just provided a general hazy mood.
Right Mylo, you just ruined the mood, what is this Dr Beat bullshit you are doing? This is gym music for arseholes.
Oh I have actually heard In My Arms. My opinion is unchanged. In fact if anything it's reinforced.
Far too many intrusive samples which are just people listing things throughout the whole track. This is trash, really.
Glad he only made one album.
Spotify tried to start playing something by "Layo and Bushwacka!" after this ended, whatever they are, which probably tells you everything you need to know about this record.
Julian Cope
5/5
Safesurfer is absolutely epic.
I was initially a bit dismissive of this and ready to be disappointed, I didn't particularly like East Easy Rider, too similar to the generic rock groove of the time. What I want from Cope is difference. Standing out from the field, paying little attention to the music scene around him and doing his own thing.
And that is very much what the rest of this album brings you.
Syd Barrett
5/5
I love this album and Syd, but even still it's a difficult listen. Obviously it's very much a mood piece, and after the first couple of tracks I generally find the mood established, and the album really gets it's hooks in.
Barely anything here really sounds like Floyd. Golden Hair the most obvious exception.
Was first introduced to Barrett via REM covering Dark Globe on a B side, my introduction to so much music, either working with REM, covered by them or simply mentioned in interviews. I would go on to love another of these musicians, Robyn Hitchcock, who himself was hugely influenced by Syd.
I find it impossible to disentangle my love for those influenced by this from the album itself. It's so fragile, and essentially a load of demos (If it's In You is just all over the place). I'm also reminded of Oar by Skip Spence, another spectacularly fragile album, one I found a bit harder to get on with, but which is also definitely beautiful in places.
I love the follow up album Barrett as well, although I would suggest that's patchier, with more obvious peaks and troughs, the standard on Madcap is very much of a piece.
Favourites, Dark Globe, Golden Hair, Octopus, No Good Trying.
Please lift a hand, I'm only person.
Traffic
4/5
Decent. Pretty sure I've visited this before, it's been a regular on best albums polls in music magazines down the years anyway.
I had forgotten the sound though, I was expecting more folky, and while there are definitely flutes, this is unquestionably rocking.
The sax refrain in Freedom Rider is delicious.
Empty pages seems to be a cross between Peter Gabriel and the riff from Aretha's Knew You Were Waiting For Me.
John Barleycorn the song itself is what I was expecting from this in truth.
I could take or leave the final track.
Not massively my thing but it was good enough while it was on.
Slayer
5/5
YAAAAAAAAAAAÀAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
...
I will say that after about 20 minutes I was slightly numb from all the thrash. But then you've got the greatest metal song of all time to close out and it's only 28 minutes long.
So.
YAAAAAAAAAAAÀAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The Dictators
2/5
Um, this was ok and fun to listen to, once. I can't see me being back for it or for any of the tracks individually. I was hopeful based on the daft cover.
It's not the Ramones and it's definitely not the Stooges. There's nothing here as catchy as anything New York Dolls did.
Ah so this is why Caribou had to change their name, this is the guy.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Fuck Spotify and fuck Amazon for removing my alternative.
As for the actual album, well I love Blue, and apparently I loved most of Hejira too. This though, not so sure. I wasn't switched on particularly by much of it, I think the middle few songs are the strongest, but the boogie woogie threw me off completely and by the end I was just confused.
Faith No More
5/5
I think this record is what opened my ears and my mind to harder rock – I’m not sure what it was in me that found Faith No More acceptable but never particularly felt the love for bands like Iron Maiden or later Metallica that many of my peers did. Maybe it was the humour behind Gremlins 2’s Surprise! You’re Dead! (poor Gizmo) or Falling to Pieces. Maybe it was Mike Patton’s awesome vocal range. Or maybe it was how frankly weird it was for a massively commercial record. Yes you, Woodpecker From Mars.
Obviously it was all of the above. This was swaggering rock but never po-faced. But just when you’re getting comfy with the pop metal you’re hit with two 6-8 min worldies. Zombie Eaters should give pause to anyone getting broody (and taught young me the word ‘omniscient’), and the title track and centre piece is masterful, tying for me as the best tracks on the record.
Obviously the huge smash of Epic first got my attention. Also, try listening to an album that starts out of the gate like From Out of Nowhere does and not getting excited. Later when I went clubbing in rock nights I’d often hear FNM, but it would be the big songs off Angel Dust that got played, the towering Midlife Crisis etc. However, The Real Thing reverberated through my childhood, and that’s the one to which I always return. I remember taking it on caravan holidays and doing kriss kross puzzles to it. Rackannrawlll.
Faith No More changed with every album and moved with the times, and besides that any Mike Patton side project (and they are legion) is worth investigating. So that’s why.
Finally, anyone who listened to late 80s music will tell you slap bass was awful. This record says no, it was just those other bassists.
Paul McCartney
5/5
Hard to argue with the positive reviews here. Yes it's not perfect. That's the point. He's just doing what he wants, all on his little own.
Some absolutely perfect pieces of music here though, and the whole album is just a pleasure to listen to.
Very much also worth checking McCartney 2 and Ram, and I am a little surprised to see they aren't also in the book. Still, there's lots of Beatles of various shapes.
Germs
5/5
Had to back and relisten to the Lost Notes podcast on John Lennon and Darby Crash ahead of putting this on today. So good.
Ironic that I got this the day after McCartney. It does kind of eulogise Crash's death by overdose/suicide as a somewhat romantic tragedy however, but it's a good story.
The album I didn't actually expect to enjoy that much, from the snippets I'd heard prior, muddy recordings of the chaotic live gigs with Crash snarling and gnashing over the top, thought it would be more of a mood than actually good.
But holy hell, there's a lot of riffs going on if you listen, Pat Smear fully deserves equal kudos for this. Too much punk, especially hardcore, just thrashes through the same simple riff for 2 minutes and calls it a job. Not so here, there's loads going on.
Banging.
Dexys Midnight Runners
5/5
Have always heard this highly praised, along with the two other big Dexys records, for very different reasons. But never heard this one. Was initially baffled by all the talking, and the extremely quiet talking and singing at first leading me to turn up the volume ridiculously and getting blasted when the song bursts in. I also thought he was saying she was intermittent at first, which I thought was an odd characteristic for a person to have.
But once I've settled into This is What She's Like I am fully on board here. Slow burn, mood, warmth, it's majestic really.
I think this is a good set of headphones record for sure.
Finley Quaye
1/5
Hmm, can't say I'm expecting much from this. I can imagine this one mystifying our American friends.
The pop reggae of track 1 can do one, but track 2 was pretty good and different. I've heard Sunday Shining a million times and I'm not sure I've ever missed it in the intervening period.
There's a dub track which made my speaker vibrate. It's all just fine, really. The last few tracks feel like barely fleshed out demoes with lashings of production on top.
Reading about Finley Quaye now he appears to be something of a tragic figure.
Even so, I don't think this should be in the book and I'm rating it as such.
Also I have just noticed the distinct lack of proper ska albums in the book, which makes this inclusion particularly egregious.
Coldcut
4/5
People Hold On is a classic late 80s piece of pop-house which has aged very well. The rest of this is a classic piece of late 80s cut and paste and very listenable. Helped by the fact I found it on youtube as one piece with no ads.
The longest track was my least favourite though, the one with the horns In the Hall of the Mountain King. Smoke Dis One was great. My version has (the excellent) Not Paid Enough instead of Doctorin' the House so I stuck that on at the end. Oddly I have no memory of that one.
Ninja Tunes is a decent label too.
Public Image Ltd.
5/5
I guess the people who hate this are just away to listen to their pop tones. Yes, the songs are long. Long songs are cool.
I ask you, how else can you get swept up into the intense groove of it all if the song's finished after 3 minutes??!
I also don't understand people complaining about the vocals, like you wouldn't expect that dry sheet going in? However, any humour present in the Rotten-era persona has been extracted, made colder, like the cold metal exterior.
1979 was so mental. Punk luminaries such as The Damned and The Clash made great albums this year, but they were still recognisably punk, together with other influences.
This, this is...what? Utterly unrecognisable from the sound they were making a year earlier, and utterly unlike pretty much anything else. Speaking of Poptones, that's just incredible. The bass, the rhythm. The insistent dread.
Intentionally unsettling, and genius.
Todd Rundgren
5/5
I think this might be brilliant.
There's Barretty Floyd here, Wilson Beach Boys, and much more insanity besides. I get 10cc Sheet Music vibes in places - from the following year, so there was something in the water.
The short stabs of 1 minute long ideas also bring to mind later artists such as Fiery Furnaces and of Montreal.
Never heard a single bit of his stuff. Recognise the name from his production work with others.
Proof you can make a kind of psych prog rock album without loads of 8 minute behemoths (although I like those too). When it does really open up such as with Zen Archer it is outstanding.
There's also a fair lashing of 70s schmaltz in Medley, which I haven't made my mind up about. To wholly wrongly use the word, a very schizophrenic record.
Wilco
3/5
Um. I'm hesitant to dismiss as boring as others have. It was nice as background, however nothing particularly grabbed me.
The first track was quite intriguing, however things kind of continued on in that vein without changing it up enough. Like a less engaging, slightly more polished Pavement.
I will say it gets better towards the end, the last couple of tracks are pretty good.
Tom Waits
5/5
Swordfishtrombones - 5 stars.
Randy Newman
3/5
Probably the most sarcastic record I've ever heard.
Kinda glad to be done with Randy Newman now though.
Isaac Hayes
5/5
Took this at face value as a soulful jazz record with a couple of bangers thrown in, and it did not disappoint. A few reviews seem to have been foxed by the word soundtrack and failed to do that, it's still music, it's hardly a series of incidental pieces.
Beyond the obvious, No Name Bar and Cafe Regio's stuck out.
And the 20 minutes long funk Do Your Thing is just outstanding. The longer it goes, the better it gets.
An easy 5 in the end. Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.
Manu Chao
5/5
Enjoyed his work with Amadou & Mariam and heard the name thrown about but otherwise completely ignorant.
Not sure if it's a blessing or a curse for the random album generator to spew this one forth on a cold, dark December morning. Doesn't feel quite right listening at 10am
with the lights on in the house.
Feels simultaneously 90s and timeless. Or perhaps it's just songs like Bongo bong, which if we get more of will negatively affect the score. I enjoyed it more when it morphed into the next track even though it's almost the same, odd.
Lagrimas de oro and Luna y sol had me properly bobbing my head. Welcome to Tijuana stays just the right side of daft with the reworking of Tequila.
Anyway yeah this album cheered me up on a miserable morning. I'm sure he's singing about important stuff in places but I don't speak the language. Apparently the samples running throughout are from the head of the current wing of Zapatistas in Mexico. So it's a shame I don't speak the language I guess.
Would like to sign off with a line from another review because I thoroughly enjoyed it:
Está lleno de bangers este trip.
Björk
5/5
The last in a run of four incredible records. Everything she's done since has brilliant highs on it, but nothing consistently reaches the heights of these albums. Each with a very clear, distinctive style. I can't pick between them really.
Gorgeous.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
It's the Banshees.
Not sure which I preferred out of the two records in this list but they're both great.
Lucinda Williams
2/5
I generally think the lion's share of contemporary country either objectively sucks ass, or is simply not for me. This falls into the latter category I think. Nicey nice. I zoned out very quickly. Did enjoy that she sounded pissed and slurring in Drunken Angel. Aside from a couple of other tracks though it was very much background.
Miles Davis
5/5
One take!
Kraftwerk
5/5
Kraftwerk inventing hip hop.
- Running joke with friends.
But this is great. And the end is gorgeous. That whole side of the record starting with the title track just flows so seamlessly I drift into a trance. Franz Schubert just giving you a big cuddle to send you off.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Never listened to this one before, a few surprises. Obviously it's Simon and Garfunkel and it's Mrs Robinson, but I found the album a curious listen.
Being called a proto-concept album makes sense, in that it's slightly confusing, with old people talking in the middle, and someone walking into the tailors shop setting off the bell with a cheery "Good morning Mr Leach, have you had a busy day?" in the middle of a song. What's going on?
So I can't give the album a perfect score.
Hazy Shade of Winter is ace though, I always forget about that one. I will have the Bangles cover as well. That riff sounds equally good picked here with an acoustic sound as it does as a full electric lick.
Ms. Dynamite
2/5
Dynamitee-hee is alright, to be fair. Not heard that in donkeys. Why's this here? Oh, it won the Mercury. The record executive prize. Not an essential listen by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn't hate it.
Beyond that single though I don't think I actively liked much. I remember It Takes More being on the radio lots but that didn't standout like the other one did.
Krazy Krush was alright too but I'd opened a beer by that point so I can't exclude that variable from our experimental conclusion.
Some absolutely dreadful shite UK garage came on after it finished on Spotify, I couldn't scream stop fast enough.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Oh ok. Five stars.
Could leave it there really but this is a site for blathering so let's blather.
Fun how these songs have slid down the strange-ometer as the years pass by and don't seem nearly as freaky as they did even in the 90s to my discovering ear, particularly the more weird, viola heavy ones, obviously due to its incredibly wide influence. It's just seeped into the culture, it's everywhere.
Another band I heard mostly covers of first, before I went back and listened to the real thing. The REM covers of Femme Fatale, Pale Blue Eyes, James' cover of Sunday Morning even.
Amazing to read it was pretty much recorded in one 8 hour session. The cultural explosion fanning out from that one day is just daft.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Not what I was expecting from Tim Buckley after the other more introspective offerings.
But here he kinda comes across as just wanging on about sex endlessly, and it sounds a bit like bad Doors songs. Half the time he sounds like a demented gibbon on acid - and not in a good way.
Goldfrapp
5/5
Lovely, gorgeous. Loved this for many years. Soon as the theramin hits in Lovely Head you know you are in for something special.
Clearly heavily influenced by John Barry in places, particularly Paper Bag.
Properly blissful. Utopia is magnificent.
Surprised by the divisive reviews, if this isn't for you fair enough, but one star reviews saying it's just... boring, or nothing, I cannot connect with on any level. I guess some people don't like interesting music, I quite clearly just don't understand.
Listening today to Horse Tears I am reminded of the For the Damaged Coda by Blonde Redhead (Rick and Morty evil Morty theme) which came out around the same time.
David Bowie
5/5
Love it, obviously. Clearly inextricably linked with his death. Bookended by two fabulous songs that couldn't be more different to eachother. The closer gets me right in the feels. A beautifully buried guitar solo. The album is jazz heavy. There's sooo much sax, which I am absolutely here for. It's also not morose. Even Lazarus, which could be the saddest song, has humour.
I'm less fond of the abstract drum n bass of Sue, have always found that one hard to love, but honestly everything else is top, top class.
People overlook The Next Day, which I really enjoyed, but this really is up there with Bowie's all time best.
Einstürzende Neubauten
5/5
An album full of literal bangers. Hahaha, I made myself laugh.
This is fascinating. And yes, obviously better than Kid Rock. I mean, obviously. Are you mad? Of course it is. And Ryan Adams, both of them.
Anyway I like krautrock and I like industrial. And I like experimental stuff, and people smashing shit together while screaming in German. So yeah, high score. Tempted to rate it higher than I rate Sgt Peppers for the lols.
The Undertones
4/5
Yeah you can't go wrong with The Undertones. Possibly enjoy this more than the debut overall although I would say it's peaks are higher. Some I don't know, some I've known and loved all my life My Perfect Cousin the most obvious.
Pop punk geniuses and noone sounds like Fergal Shearkey. This did well on Xmas day!
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
Yeah baby!
Absolutely having this on Boxing Day, totally nails the mood. The fast ones swing hard, the slow ones swing easy. Perfection.
30s big band jazz might have the most originality, but I can't quite overlook the huge developments in production by the time records like this were coming along 20 or so years later. So I do tend to favour this era over the older stuff in my listening.
My favourite titbit I just learned is this is arranged by the guy who went on to write the Batman 60s theme tune.
Supergrass
5/5
My favourite Supergrass album and another entry into the '1997 was an all time great year for music' theory that I'll bash anyone over the head with given half a chance.
I imagine Americans and/or youngsters will never have heard of them and maybe throw hands up in despair at the inclusion of yet another britpop album, but I still like this.
Heavy Bowie influence of course along with the more 60s sound of Small Face and the Kinks etc. just as much of the very retrospective Britpop era bands were. But I always felt Supergrass, Suede, Super Furries and Pulp stood above the crowd as they brought much of their own character to the mix.
Everything barrels along and it's still catchy as hell 25 years on. Rocks harder than the more rinky dink debut but still totally pop.
All the songs are good, particularly love the opener and Richard III, also later Cheapskate and Hollow Little Reign.
After the album, B-sides Odd? and Wait For the Sun are also recommended, as is the acoustic version of Fuzz.
Missy Elliott
4/5
Ha I was just banging on about how great 1997 was, only yesterday. And here comes another one. Two in a row.
More R'n'B than hip hop really, but it definitely hops.
I maybe don't love every track, but they're all enjoyable. A bit overlong as an album though. Probably sags a little in the middle but it starts and ends STRONG.
GZA
4/5
Enjoyed about as much as the Wu Tang debut. Production is masterful, atmosphere is great. Loved Swordsman and I Gotcha Back, BIBLE wasn't much good though, felt tacked on the end and totally out of place.
The Monkees
3/5
Always liked the Monkees from seeing the reruns on Saturday mornings as a kid. My friend is a huge fan of Nez (the heir to the Post-it empire - although not anymore I guess, RIP Nez)
I'm glad they got to play their own instruments and be a proper band. Hard to shake the feeling during much of this album however that this is what the Beatles would sound like if they'd never moved on. Much of it is good not great. A Monkees album in which you've never heard any of the songs.
That said, there are still some jewels here for sure. Randy Scouse Git is an absolute banger worthy of rivalling their big hits.
Ah I forgot they had the weird thing in the 60s of sticking the singles out separately instead of on the record, so uta worth hanging around AFTER the album for A Little Bit Me and particularly Nez-s the Girl that I Knew Somewhere, pop perfection!
Throwing Muses
5/5
Due to my age I came to Throwing Muses backwards - (Counting Backwards?) First via Belly and later Kristen Hersh's solo stuff. Another REM link, with Stipe's vocals on Your Ghost. Before finally coming to the Muses themselves.
Of course I heard their more 'commercial' stuff first, Not Too Soon is an absolute worldie.
To this record though, fully deserved inclusion. Yes, I get the Siouxsie references for sure in the early stuff. All of this is great, so dense but catchy.
Standout above all though is Hate My Way - absolutely astonishing piece of music, and quite unlike anything else I've heard. The lyrics also, "I have a gun in my head", what does this mean, something about to go off?
Delicate Cutters is also outstanding.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
Love MBV but still very unfamiliar with this album. I know it's hugely rated but hasn't clicked with me in the past.
This hazy afternoon after the night before was perfect for it though, the music just gently drifted into my skull.
The first track is very Loveless-like, a pre-echo of things to come. But beyond that, the record continues to surprise. It's wonderful. All I Need lulls me into a dream, before the absolutely filthy bass line of Feed Me With Your Kiss smashes me out of it and gets me moving.
Love the aspect that there's technically no guitar on this album, just the after effects.
35 years old, everyone.
It's a classic, and one now that I've got an in, I'll be returning to with fervour.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Funny that I'm so much more familiar with The Cardigans cover of Iron Man that it's essentially the primary source in my head. Turned completely on its head into a gentle ballad, it's great.
I will definitely have heard Faith No More's War Pigs first as well, however that's more or less a note for note reproduction. A good cover no doubt, but not an exciting one. Those two songs are fabulous, War Pigs probably my favourite BS song of all. That into, The intricate drums underlay the monster riffs, it's just superb.
Paranoid is great but I've heard it too much.
Obviously this record is a classic. Planet Caravan is really good, and different. Hand of Doom the best of the rest, I'll overlook Rat Salad's Moby Dick-esque drum solo with a riff jam because this is undoubtedly a five star album.
Grateful Dead
3/5
If I'm honest I enjoyed listening to the first five minutes of pretty noodling while reading all the one star reviews, wondering why all the visceral backlash.
I enjoyed listening to the Analyse Phish podcast with Harris Wittels (RIP) and going on that journey even though Phish are clearly shite.
I'm still enjoying it 12 minutes in tbh, although it's a shame I don't have this on a day I'm working as it would be good to have in the background.
I looked the whole first track, all 23 minutes. After St Stephen started I'm on the I'm Our train, much more jam band nonsense like Phish with silly lyrics.
Things are back on track with The Eleven. Bass, drums and guitar all intermingling nicely. I can't argue with this at all.
Basically all the time noone is singing this is pretty good.
Enjoyed some of Turn on Your Love Light but there was far too much bullshit coming out the mouth of the big man.
Think I'm going pretty solidly down the middle here, and that's before the 7 minutes of feedback I know is coming, doubt that will sway me either way (as it turns out it was far mellower and nice than I expected).
Decent while it was on, very much doubt I'll be back to any of it particularly.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Probably the Led Zep album I am least familiar with out of the main ones. On reading they fleshed out a 3 side album to a double with outtakes I'm wondering if that's why. It does also explain to me why some tracks are named after previous albums or another track on the same record but with the stomp removed. The outtakes are all good but...
I know for sure there's classics here ranging from the well known by everyone (Kashmir) to the well known by Led Zep fans (In my Time of Dying), to the something in between (Trampled Underfoot).
Obligatory Jimmy Page nonce mention.
I do feel like I've passed through my Led Zep phase though, I don't return to the albums I've loved very often anymore and that might explain the muted excitement I am feeling listening to this, this morning. It's still excellent however I think I agree with my initial assessment that it's too long and there's too many gaps between truly unskippable songs.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
All the early Sly albums are gold. Righteous Anger Sly possibly even better.
Ananda Shankar
4/5
Another trepidatious listen as the idea sounds horrendous, then I instantly recognised the Jumping Jack Flash cover from the nights at Tiger Lounge where it would regularly drop in amongst northern soul bangers etc. Moog is wonderful. Sitar can be great.
Less enamoured with the Light My Fire cover. The other tracks are nice enough listening. Bit like that incredible Bongo Band record it feels like this has been included for one track.
Longer it goes on though I think that's unfair. Really like how the long track Sagar developed, feeling that towards the end. Good groove.
The last track is banging, dig it.
X-Ray Spex
5/5
What? When did Spotify remove Oh Bondage Up Yours?
Anyone enjoying this who doesn't know XRay Spex must check that out immediately. Also well worth checking out is the 2021 documentary Poly Styrene: I am a Cliche, directed by her daughter.
Poly was an absolute force of nature.
So sad what happened to her in her life with lifelong mental struggles and cut criminally short by cancer but I'm so glad she existed to make this record.
Also fantastic that they got back together for a last hurrah a couple of years before she died.
Had to listen to the tracks in the wrong order but I'll take that over fucking about with YouTube ads. Speaking of ads, a real highlight this afternoon's listen was Plastic Bag. Love the lyrics. And the sax!
Obviously five stars, it's X-Ray bloody Spex. Five stars every day and twice on a Sunday (which today happens to be).
Primal Scream
4/5
Possibly Andy Weatherall's (RIP) magnum opus more so than even Primal Scream's. This record has been in my life for almost as long as I can remember. I have played it to death and don't really listen to it anymore, counterintuitively I'm less inclined to give it a 5 which feels mad.
Obviously some of the production sounds a bit dated now, Slip Inside This House comes to mind, though that gets extra points for being a 13th Floor Elevators cover. Come Together however never ever gets old.
Shame Bobby seems to be a bit of an arse who didn't help his bass player out.
Depeche Mode
5/5
2 albums in a row I know back to front and inside out but this one is an instant perfect score. Have always loved this album, it's another one from delivering papers on cold dark mornings, this the perfect soundtrack to keep me moving while suiting that atmosphere.
From the very first note.
Despite having heard the singles to death I still enjoy hearing them, but it's the album tracks, so many absolutely five star songs. Basically all of them. I always tend to prefer the Martin Gore lead songs somehow but Dave is also great. The stark difference in tone between the two vocals has always added extra variety to the band's sound.
Favourites are probably Halo, Waiting for the Night and World in my Eyes. Obviously also Enjoy the Silence.
M.I.A.
4/5
See this is where this list has problems. There's no way MIA is important enough an artist to have 2 entries, not when you consider some of the omissions. Think this one has been left out of the book now, and Kala remains, which I definitely enjoyed.
MIA is definitely a complex character, I missed her at the time but she's done some bangers and I've been introduced to her over the last ten years by friends.
Shame she seems to have gone slightly 5G batty since COVID as we do need activists in the world and people prepared to speak out. And she has important shit to say on this record, pre-madness.
All that said, this is a good listen, don't think it's quite got the outstanding tracks as Kala but it's consistently very good. Probably dragged a bit by the end.
After this record finished instead of playing me loads of hip hop, Spotify played me Le Tigre, St Vincent and Deerhoof, and it all kinda fit. Well done.
Ministry
3/5
Yep.
Well, ok.
Hmm.
That's more or less my feelings on this. First 2 tracks were bangers, then it got weird and silly, and finally slow and boring.
Scarecrow has a massive vibe of How Soon is Now running through it.
John Martyn
4/5
One of my partner's all time favourite albums, so I know it well. The title track is obviously a gorgeous slice of jazz/blues/something, with an air of tragedy given it's subject would die shortly afterwards.
Jazz rhythm section in abundance across the record, which is a plus point, obviously.
Over the Hill much more straightforward cheery folk which I like for completely different reasons, with bright and delightful mandolin playing (presumably).
Less fond of the devil song, weird funk guitar noodlings don't sit well for me on this album. Although I do enjoy the jazzy section it dissolves into in the second half of the song, much better.
May You Never is another beautiful track.
I have to be honest even after all these years I get a bit bored by much of the second half of the album but the strongest tracks warrant a decent score.
David Crosby
5/5
Probably my favourite album of the seemingly hundreds connected to the Byrds and their constituent members. The main reason to hate that UFC prick is the Neil Young ban means I can't easily stick this whole album on. I need to really sort myself out with a vinyl player again and buy this album. I am hugely hit and miss with Young but his two co-writing contribution here are both great. I imagine there's more of the record he's playing on but they're still available.
Such a shame I only discovered this around Crosby's death early last year when my mate (a big Cros fan) sent it me. But that means its super fresh to me as well.
Just superb from start to finish. The Byrdsy vocal harmonies are of course on show, as well as uber-laid back guitar, it's just bliss to me. Album cover captures the vibe superbly.
Highlights, the second half of Cowboy Movie when it's really in it's stride, Laughing (obviously)
The Everly Brothers
3/5
An Everly Brothers album where I somehow don't know a single one of the songs? Ok then.
Well ok I know Love Hurts, but as we all know that was first recorded 15 years later by Nazareth. And as others have noted, the cover of Lucille is atrocious.
Needs to include All I have to do is Dream and Wake up Little Susie to make me care.
Ah. Cathy's Clown. Well I do know this one and it's brilliant, so that earns a whole extra star.
Holger Czukay
3/5
Know and love Can, know zero about any solo projects. Not really sure why this is in the list, but then it's also the weird shit that I'm in this for, at least partially.
First track was weird in a goofy 70s way that I'm not altogether on board with. Second track was loads better as it developed. Persian Love was pretty good to be fair if a little dated sounding.
2/5
I swear if there's more than one Muse album in this list, then that's mental, and if this is the only one, then it's the wrong one. Both Absolution or Origin would be more deserving. I haven't listened to either in years though, this record put me off the band completely, ultimately.
This was my jumping off point with Muse, I remember how disappointed I was after they'd released 3 records which each rocked harder than the last in interesting ways, then this came out, signalling the full on overproduced guitar and keyboard wankery-mode of Muse. There are no more good songs beyond this point. I have a feeling they're still going, so that's U2/Foo Fighters levels.
Listening to it now I can see that most of it has seeped into my consciousness through relentless radio play or on TV adverts, none of this record is bad per se, it's just the point where they stopped trying new stuff. Absolution sounded so fresh, this (and the rest of their career from what I've heard vicariously) sounds like Absolution flogged to death.
Actually, I take that back - much of the second half of the album is actually bad. Good lesson in how a huge sound and massive overblown-ness absolutely does not stop the listener getting bored.
Despite everything else I've said, and somewhat ironically given it's the epitome of all my criticisms, I do genuinely like Knights of Cydonia just for it's sheer batshittedness. I think it does help that it follows 3 or 4 dud songs.
T. Rex
5/5
Glistening pop brilliance from start to finish here. There's only one track I would skip (Lean Woman Blues), everything else is with perfect or interesting in some way.
Nonsensical lyrics notwithstanding (what the hell is a Jeepster? And bang a gong? Why?) this is great. Surprised there are only 2 singles. Life's a Gas and Cosmic Dancer could easily have been, and have basically been treated as such in terms of radio play.
I wasn't expecting that much as I liked rather than loved The Slider and see TRex as a singles rather than albums band.
But this was ace.
D'Angelo
1/5
90s RnB can, for the most part, get in the fucking bin.
Title track here is pretty good though, the instrumentation is very nice, and it reminds me of this kind of sound getting embedded into dance in the 10s, I'm thinking Disclosure primarily but it was very en vogue around then.
Second track was not alright, it was shite.
Third track was shite. All the stuff Prince did that I didn't like much.
Fourth track was...
Ok this is obviously not made with me in mind so lets not do that. 2 stars, let's move on.
....
Oh god I'm so bored. This got progressively worse. One star.
The Prodigy
3/5
The Fat of the Land is seriously flabby around the middle.
With the exception of Funky Shit, everything from Diesel Power through to Mindfields is pretty one dimensional and oddly boring, Narayan is wanky, as you'd expect from anything featuring Kula Shaker. It's also waaay longer than it needs to be.
Besides the singles, which I've heard 64 millions times in clubs or everywhere (and I'm so bored of Breathe) I only really like Funky Shit and Climbatize. Climbatize is ace. It's probably the least Prodigy song the Prodigy ever made. I remember particularly enjoying sticking that song on the original PlayStation and watching the fractal generator. The different movements in the song worked particularly well with it as I'm sure you can imagine.
Not getting into the debate over Smack My Bitch Up other than to acknowledge it, and say that song, if they were chanting Pack My Fridge Up instead, would still be fucking excellent, and the music has lost none of its power in the last 25-odd years.
So yeah, obviously their biggest album, but the two prior to it were both far superior. There's an argument to be made that this is possibly actually the worst Prodigy album overall (although I've only heard the first 5 and have just this second learned there's two more after that).
I'm only giving it 3 stars because of 2 absolute classic singles and 2-3 other good songs.
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Had a hangover this morning so I was glad it was this and not Napalm Death today.
Never really listened to Sarah Vaughan, and I'm unfamiliar with much of these songs, unlike the stuff you'd find on similar records from Ella or Billie etc. Not really sure why she isn't the household name at the same level as those two as her voice certainly compares. Very different to the Louis Prima Just a Gigolo! But delicious, delivered like this. The voice particularly incredible in this take.
Listened to the original 9 songs. Might check the reissue with other stuff on another day but more likely to go to studio stuff. Live gives and takes here, a long intro not separated from the first song track, 2 songs messed up, one in more entertaining way than the other. The general atmosphere is excellent.
Zippedy doo dah
Gang Starr
5/5
Yeeeeeeeessssssssss
This is what hip hop should be. I wish it had never moved away from these principles. This, Tribe Called Quest, quite a lot of other stuff.
California Soul sampling Check the Technique is epic. Just to Get a Rep I discover I've known for years without knowing it. Oh no wait this is that Moog record that Fatboy Slim also sampled. Yeah, check out E.V.A. by Jean-jacques Perrey for pure unadulterated Moog goodness. Spotify has the brass balls to co-credit Fatboy slim with the original song. Bro literally lifted the entire thing and put a beat behind it and now everyone thinks he wrote it. Oh ok it was literally a remix. Stuck that on after and literally it does not compare to the original.
I'm learning a lot about a genre I've only skirted around the edges of on this journey. There are some ace hip hop albums in my arsenal but unfortunately the nature of Spotify means they get lost and I forget their names. This is why I need to get vinyl.
Black Flag
4/5
Angry.
Angry Henry Rollins was a huge trope in nme/melody maker in the 90s when I was a regular reader.
And yes I understood he was an angry thrash punkist.
It's visceral and smashing. Deserves to be in the book for sure.
Does kind of all run into itself after 15 minutes or so. Not sure thrash should come in album form. Or maybe I'm just old now.
No, it is the children who are wrong.
The Pogues
4/5
The Pogues. I enjoyed the other album of theirs here and I enjoyed this. Probably about as much. Will I return to either of them as a piece? Unclear.
It's all good though. Debauched and filthy, and free. Dirty Old Town being written about not Dublin, but in fact my home town, helps, that and it being an absolute classic.
Air
3/5
Strange to include a soundtrack album, and also a second Air album when Moon Safari is basically sufficient.
I didn't see the film, but ok, if we're having soundtracks then where's (checks index for confirmation, yep) Morricone? Vangelis? (Let alone Bladerunner, they didn't even include his work with Aphrodite's Child, a legitimate omission) Hermann's Taxi Driver score? Countless others. You could fill a book of 1001 soundtracks to hear before you die.
Although I do very much like Playground Love and Bathroom Girl here, and the rest is good Air ambience, I never come back to this as a piece however.
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
Absolute classic.
What Have I Done to Deserve This? is still perfect. Probably my favourite of theirs outside Left to My Own Devices (specifically the 7" mix). Bonus points for including Dusty.
I've actually grown fonder of the Pet Shop Boys with each passing decade, I think for much of the 80s and 90s I found them a bit much. But since then, looking back upon those two very silly decades, this pair's wry side eyes at the madness surrounding them shines through.
And obviously, they pop hard.
A couple of the album tracks are a bit pap, Shopping and Hit Music spring to mind, but all the others are very good.
Heart is amazing. You can say it's dated, but you can also fuck off, lol.
I stuck Introspective on straight after this, fully in the mood. I might prefer that actually (in fact) to Actually, given all the songs are really good and I'm a sucker for a 12" mix, especially of 80s stuff. But the single version of Devices is king.
2Pac
2/5
Complex guy, isn't it. To say the least. The sexual assault stuff, that kid's accidental (but utterly avoidable) death, multiple gun violence, mum's a Black Panther and apparently objectively a quite brilliant character whatever your stance on her politics. Martyred and revered as a poet, and somewhat perversely lauded for his spoken support for women (given the above) after his short life.
I've never been a fan of this mid 90s hip hop in general, I just don't like the smooth sound and the too much 'bitches', my preference is the urgent beats of the 80s, some of the more recent stuff, and on this journey I've discovered some of the early 90s gangsta stuff with heavy Jazz and soul influence is definitely my bag.
This sounds more like hip hop over the top of Michael Jackson RnB numbers. (particularly Young Niggas, with those backing vocals). We've also got the problem of 90s/00s ridiculously long CD albums.
It was generally ok, So Many Tears stood out early on as a good groove with decent rhythm in the rapping. Lord Knows wins the prize for sounding the most like Coolio.
Lots of hate in the reviews and the one stars, it won't get that from me, but it isn't anything I'll come back to.
Brian Eno
5/5
Absolutely fucking superb.
Love Eno, love Talking Heads, so of course I love this. Only bad thing about it is the making of this record kind of sowed the seeds of the Heads' destruction. But oh well, we got the Tom Tom Club as well instead, so there's that.
Really glad I got the Holger Czukay album a week or so back or I would have had no idea he was even in Can before that or the significance of him to this record.
I enjoy this a LOT more than Movies however.
Well worth popping over to YouTube to pick up Quran, which it was possibly blasphemous to remove from the record, but they did.
Can I just say, kudos to the review with the cut up pieces of other people's reviews. Love your work!
Caetano Veloso
4/5
Yeah I'll have this. I love anything tropicalia related, the opening track is fantastic (though sounds slightly different here to the version i know well). Don't really know the rest of this record but it's a whole mood, and it's good.
Beastie Boys
3/5
It's fun to revisit this record so much later in my musical education now I know where loads of the samples are from.
Straight off, ah yeah the drums from When the Levee Breaks....ahha I didn't know they had sampled themselves much later on Intergalactic...etc.
Beasties did loads better than this record in the time that they had, and you can level all sorts of criticism at this album now, but this was a good start.
De la soul came on immediately after which reminded me how much better 3feet high and rising is.
The Police
1/5
I'm Mr Sting yes Mr Sting from the Massive House with the Massive drive.
So this appears to be the most MOR of The Police stuff, I don't really like any of it. I liked some of their earlier singles, every little thing she does is magic etc., but not these songs or the big single here massively.
Is there more than one single on this record because I only recognise the rapey one?
Only really got interesting briefly when the demented Mother came on, thought I'd accidentally put Danzig on.
I think by the end this is earning the one star dirge rating. I was very happy when it was over. Can't Stand Losing You came on immediately after which reaffirmed my opinion that they were at least good at one time. There are 2 Police albums in the list yet they included this garbage over the record with Roxanne on it??
Rufus Wainwright
5/5
Oh good, so Want One was in the book at one point. I am very clear that they kept the wrong one in, Want Two is not a patch on this.
Incoming message from the Big Giant Head - "this is The best album ever made containing a reference to Third Rock from the Sun."
Not a big Rufus fan tbh, but I was introduced to this album a few years back and for me it's a masterpiece. Very much enjoyed the performance he did of this with BBC Phil a couple of months ago also.
I see a review call him Rufus 'Hallelujah' Wainwright which I thought odd as there's at least 3 other artists I think of for that song before him, not sure I've heard his version much at all.
This record appeals to the side of me that loves the Divine Comedy - indeed the central chord progression in Go or Go Ahead massively reminds me of the Certainty of Chance. But wider than that the general vibe and sweeping instrumentation really scratches something for me.
Gloriously overblown from the off, occasionally evoking a stage musical, and delivered beautifully. Most obviously with the bolero of Oh What a World. The voice described as Broadway meets Thom Yorke pretty much nails it.
Also a rare example of a really long album which I wouldn't drop a song from.
Honestly it's the only record he's done which I like, but I bloody love it.
Favourites, Beautiful Child, Go or Go Ahead, 14th Street.
2/5
I was not expecting a sea of 5 star reviews here. The amount of interesting music summarily dismissed because it isn't straightforward rock music in this list is extremely high. So I naturally imagined this would get a rough ride.
I don't know Yes. I haven't ever really heard their stuff, but I know they are largely the reason the music press turned on prog and convinced a young and impressionable me that it was unlistenable noodle wank, and so I didn't listen to any prog for many years.
It later seeped in as I delved deeper into the output of crate diggers with niche radio shows and podcasts (and also, World Snooker Champion turned DJ Thundermuscle, Steve Davis, opened my ears to the wondrous Weidorje), and there is so much to love about it.
I'm still not sure about Yes though.
Some of this stuff sounds like Flaming Lips in places among other things. Particularly the midpoint in the opener. This isn't a bad thing, but my favourite stuff in prog is when a tune builds and builds on a rhythm and goes in different directions, expanding and contracting all the while.
This does that, but chaotically, a little like free jazz, which I find a little harder to connect with.
The apotheosis of prog? No. Get out.
It is definitely 'interesting' however. Thanks, Steve.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
First time I've seen the bonus tracks come *before* the actual album. I can find no information as to what this album's worth of tracks before the album actually are*. Stuck it all on anyway. The first one reminded me vaguely of Sting, ironically.
Found it lovely though. About 4 long tracks in, wondering if I made a poor decision and I'll be tired of this by the time the actual album rolls around. Not so, things pick up again quite a lot, and a real good mix of sounds.
Childishly I couldn't help but note he appeared to be singing about former Spurs and England midfielder Dele Alli at one point.
*Thanks to another reviewer I discovered this is actually two albums as a reissue, the first being Love Song. This makes perfect sense.
The Stooges
5/5
All the Stooges albums are five star for different reasons. This one is the most developed rock sound.
Search and Destroy is class. Pure Stooges. As is Raw Power. Love the progression on Gimme Danger. Obviously harks back to Gimme Shelter in more than just name. Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell more or less kickstarts glam punk despite raucously thrashing along for almost 5 minutes.
The Boo Radleys
5/5
Easily one of the best albums of the 90s.
Oasis wish they got anywhere close to sounding as good. That's the straight ahead guitar rock stuff.
Elsewhere you've got dub, sunshiney jangle pop, and Beatles-esque experimentalism. Plus the delicious wall of noise from tracks such as Lazarus, Leaves and Sand, Butterfly McQueen (the swirling feedback disintegrating into the clanking robotic beat of Rodney King is one of my favourite moments) and the gorgeous Thinking of Ways.
Barney and Me is majestic, there's another Match of the day goal of the month theme, one of the best.
The scope of the guitar playing from Martin Carr here is exceptional.
Again, another hour long record that I love every little bit of.
TV On The Radio
4/5
Big fan of Dear Science, though I see that's to come, and this is no longer in the book. Beyond that record I've only dipped my toe into TV's catalogue.
First track definitely intriguing, it takes me a minute or so to recognise beyond that thudding baseline and the stabs of brass that there's no actual guitar here.
I enjoyed Dreams way of hooking you in a low key way on its journey. They're everywhere. Best track so far.
The a capella Ambulance brings a change of pace for sure, I'm not 100% sure it's welcome, first song that seems to drag a bit at 5 minutes of dum dum dum dum..
Would have been absolutely fine with 3 minutes of that cheers lads.
Wait. What are you doing? More dum de dum in the next track! Stop this! Stop this madness now. I enjoyed the way the song builds back up from that, but I'm not keen on the abruptness of it in the first place. Then it almost turns into U2. Could do better.
This is generally far more minimalist than Dear Science, but there's still plenty of hooks so I wouldn't call it inaccessible. Guitars are often present, but never at the forefront, adding to a musical collage. I like their sound. I am pleased they dropped the dum de dum for the far less intrusive ba ba ba ba ba.
If I'm honest, I don't think this really picks back up after it crashed to a halt half way through. "let's break it down" they sing ironically in the last track proper.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
1/5
Oh sweet Jesus. Oh god it's 73 minutes as well. Do I have to?
What, a 3.56 average score, what the hell is wrong with you people?
Let's get on with it. I like the odd RHCP song, but they are a band exclusively to be enjoyed in small doses only.
Lol 2 tracks in and I'm already cringeing hard. White boy hip hop are we now Chillis?
Breaking the Girl sounds more like Pearl Jam except with flutes. This one is tolerable. Not bad actually.
Funky Monks is laughable and Suck My Kiss is garbage. I went to make a coffee.
Several more tracks. Oh god it's all so bad. And mind-meltingly dumb.
When is Under the Bridge? I need heroin myself to get through this.
I don't mind Give it Away, at least that is passably funky.
Sir Psycho Sexy, please please give it a rest, you are not, I repeat NOT Sly and the Family Stone.
So. That's 3 songs out of 17. Oh that's a big old one star lads.
Madonna
3/5
Hope I'm going to enjoy this. After over an hour of Red Hot Chilli torture yesterday, this time it's over an hour of late 90s dance Madonna. I imagine it's going to sound somewhat dated 25 (eek) years on.
I added Has To Be into the queue on the book's recommendation. It was alright.
I'd probably drop Swim. I would drop Candy Perfume Girl.
Skin is good. Nothing Really Matters is meh.
The singles are all great, Frozen is, as someone else said, one of the best singles of the 90s for sure. I actually hadn't made the connection that it was an actual sample of this used in All Saints Pure Shores, another great pop song.
I didn't enjoy this album overall as much as I'd hoped in the end but I didn't not enjoy it, so down the middle we go.
Youssou N'Dour
5/5
Joyous!
Superb voice, superb rhythm.
Been watching the AFCON 2024 and the crazy scenes, so this feels timely. sadly for Youssou, Senegal got knocked out.
My awareness of him extends basically to 7 Seconds, so this was lovely to hear his earlier, more traditional work. Although I understand it was criticised for using synths. Well they aren't intrusive to my ear. I guess when they come in halfway through Taaw they arguably take away more than add to the rhythm, but otherwise.
This is just a delight, uplifting and fantastic from start to finish. Obviously I haven't a scooby what he's singing about, which is a shame, as from what I can work out he's a sound geezer.
I didn't want Badou to end, 5 minutes wasn't enough!
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
4/5
First, search for the album rather than follow the link, the 2008 remaster is complete rather than missing Pigtails.
I know these mainly for Perpetuum Mobile, which is absolutely delightful and should be checked out even if you don't love this album. You've probably heard it on an advert, but deserves listening in full.
Also check the Aussie film Mary and Max, which is where I first heard it. Beautifully used and lovely film.
Never heard this record, and it's certainly more challenging in general than the albums of theirs I have given time to.
Anyway, it's gorgeous sometimes, mental at others. Tick, and tick.
Wiki calling this Pop is funny.
Echo And The Bunnymen
5/5
I love the story from Bill Drummond about seeing the giant rabbit head in the twisted tree that supposedly noone else had noticed at the photo shoot.
I can't see anything else.
This record is so good my microwave died.
Nick Drake
5/5
Yes, Nick Drake on a Sunday.
Winning.
Saturday Sun is one of the best songs ever.
k.d. lang
2/5
So I guess this must be one of the "average if inventive country albums" the book itself refers to in its review of Ingenue.
Fabulous voice. Massively not my thing.
I did really like the old style crooner I Wish I Didn't Love You So. And the nightclub singer's Black Coffee.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
File under: completely unnecessary addition to list. Sweet timing though, it was 20 years old last week.
I will admit they were a breath of fresh air when they came along. Ana Matronic seems cool as fuck and I enjoyed her radio 2 show. I have heard some of these songs soooo many times since though. Cannot stand take your mama out.
Not being the biggest post-Barrett Floyd fan I had never twigged that Comfortably Numb was a cover of THAT Comfortably Numb. So I guess points for making a cover that sounds nothing like the original. Makes sense now why the words don't scan with the rhythm.
To be fair once I got past Take your mama home I might be able to enjoy this.
Mary sounds like, what does it sound like? Tears For Fears, that's it. It's the production on the vocal. Sowing...the seeds of love, the seeds of love.
Good chorus for Tits on the Radio, the rest is meandering. Same goes for filthy gorgeous.
You know how you get singles bands and albums bands? I think the Scissor Sisters might be a chorus band. Pathologically unable to write a verse that is above mediocre.
Great choruses though.
Best songs - Can't Come Quickly Enough (by a distance), Comfortably Numb.
The bonus track Get it Get it is decent too. Why is it not in the album, there's a couple of real turkeys this could have replaced. Maybe they thought too similar to filthy gorgeous etc
John Coltrane
5/5
I'm just glad I can both appreciate and enjoy jazz.
Still baffling there's no actual Ornette Coleman in the book.
Throbbing Gristle
4/5
Would I listen to this or reach for it regularly? No - is it completely fascinating and an essential listen? Absolutely yes.
Hamburger Lady for example is great. The abba one is a fun piece of krautrock. Some of the soundscapes created here elsewhere are just fantastic.
I love that they stuck actual death threats from their answer machine onto the record, and effectively respond to them with a wall of noise.
Television
5/5
Arguably one of the best records of all time, forget your 1001, try top 10. Inarguably one of greatest ever debuts.
To come out with the epic title track fully formed on your first record. Well.
Managed to see the band play this in full, 5-10 years ago, before Tom sadly passed away. Unforgettable gig.
Les Rythmes Digitales
1/5
Why do none of the songs go anywhere?
I thought this guy had some half decent big beat stuff but I guess I was thinking of someone else.
Far better records with this kind of vibe, Todd Terje's It's Album Time! For one.
3 songs in and I'm ready to rate.
Nothing has changed with the rest of the album. I recognise the hey you what's that sound sample obviously from Buffalo Springfield via Skee-Lo, and this version was on a Gatecrasher album remixed by someone else, so I can't even give credit for half liking that.
Oh god ok yeah I do remember Jacques Your Body. It's shite.
Total background nothing music.
Baaba Maal
2/5
So I got Youssou n-dour a week ago, album from I think 1982, and loved it. Seems a fair comparison then to this from ten years later and the same country.
The 90s can often sound way more dated than the 80s these days. When Hamady Boiro started I thought Spotify had accidentally switched to The Police.
Daniibe gets back to a more enjoyable 'authentic' sound but then halfway through Sting bursts back in with his bass.
Sy Sawande breaks this pattern and stays good all the way through, the obvious album highlight for me. I also enjoyed Ndelorel.
I see Baaba has one more album slightly earlier on this list, hopefully that is better, I am infinitely grateful for the inclusion of these albums in the list amid a sea of white guys with guitars, but this was mostly a miss for me.
The Slits
5/5
I pissed in my knickers.
Pavement
5/5
I know Pavement but not as well as I'd like. Don't really know any of this, but I don't need to to love it, it's self-evidently great.
Seems most of the songs I know are off Crooked Rain and Corners. Have always planned to do a full dive into both Pavement and Silver Jews, what better place to start than here.
What the fuck happens in the middle of Fame Throws lol
Destiny's Child
1/5
Lol, what's this doing here? Ok it's the biggest pop song of the year for sure, there's already a Bouncy solo album in the book and it isn't Lemonade (which I still haven't got around to) so she's covered.
Always found destiny's child confusing, songs about independent women and loving your body, songs slagging off women for the same reasons, songs saying if you're gonna be my man then you gotta pay all my bills. Independent, woo!
I've already heard the culturally significant songs (song?) on this record 6 billion times, and so has everyone else in the planet.
Obviously clocked the Eye of the Tiger sample in Bootylicious but hadn't clicked the connection with album also being called Survivor, so that's fun. 20 years ago I had absolutely no idea what they were on about jelly for either. I see, jelly is your arse! Why are you spoiling jelly for me?
Nasty Girl, um, yeah. The messaging is all over the place here. If she puts her clothes on how on earth are we going to get put off our jelly and ice cream? And I thought you guys called it jello. Jelly is what you call jam. The arse comparison makes even less sense now. Jam doesn't wobble.
Haha what the hell is Jungle Nights doing in there at the end! What a mess.
Nah, there's nothing else here I needed to hear. The same sort of songs over and over for an hour. Brown Eyes the absolute nadir.
Ultimately I prefer stuff like Aaliyah's hits to this as while they've had healthy exposure they haven't been played into oblivion like this has.
R.E.M.
5/5
Yay, REM. I can just chill.
I used to think this was the best REM album, until I realised it was Life's Rich Pageant / Murmur / Reckoning depending on what day it is. It's definitely 2nd/3rd/4th best though.
I think it was pitched perfectly for young me, mostly pop but complex enough, and the odd 'difficult' song I could initially dislike but grow to love with the force of a thousand suns (the wrong child)
Get Up, Untitled, World Leader Pretend, You Are the Everything, Hairshirt, these are perfect songs.
David Bowie
4/5
Very fond of this album, being as it was obviously his finest by some distance in 23 years (yes I like it more than Let's Dance - besides the singles that's not very good), and a strong addition to his catalogue. Been on pretty reasonable rotation since it's release.
Has been replaced in the book by Blackstar on the latter's release for fairly obvious reasons, which is the right call, there's more than enough Bowie representation in the list. This album does tend to get overlooked though so I'm pleased to find it in the app.
I still enjoy returning to this over Blackstar sometimes with it's more traditional rock stylings, with a bit of funk sprinkled on.
The first 6 tracks are flawless for me, and the album finishes strong too, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die is up there with my favourites of Bowie certainly. Valentine's Day, a song I initially didn't know was about a serial killer, with a great unsettling video of Bowie hamming it up for the camera.
Does dip a little in the middle, I am less fond of some of Bowie's drum and bass stuff, so If You Can See Me is a miss, although you can draw obvious parallels between it and Sue(in a season of crime) off Blackstar, which does this jazz electro vibe somewhat better.
Outside the record, the LCD Soundsystem Hello to Steve Reich mix of Love is Lost is absolutely essential listening with excellent use of handclaps and nicely harking back to Ashes to Ashes.
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
An awesome album I haven't given enough time to. Gush incoming.
But doesn't it make you feel better?
I have listened fairly extensively to the albums either side of it, plus a lot of his later excellent soundtracky work (Pre-saged beautifully here much earlier with the extremely Eno (again, huge tick) 'A Warm Place'), but strangely not this, their hugest success. Not as much anyway. Not nearly as much as I should have. I finally listened to it in full about 15 years back after being 2nd handedly aware of it's greatness for 2 solid decades.
The big songs of course I know like the back of my hand. Heresy, God is dead and noone cares. If there is a hell I'll see you there. Bow down before the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve.
Closer played endlessly in the clubs of my youth, and never, never ever got old. It's fucking brilliant. It has it's own dance. I could probably write a whole review on this one song. It's legit in the top 10 songs of the decade, absolutely no question.
Ruiner, is almost effortlessly epic and anthemic. And just randomly stops mid fl-
Eraser a wonderful and weird slow burner that explodes in an interesting way.
Reptile a slower, dirtier (if that were possible) Closer. Complete with the title track as it's coda, the explosion of which is one of the most singular productions I've heard
and this bleeds into...
Hurt, which is simply magnificent. Yeah Johnny cash cover is better, but this is still so, so special. A magnificent song. One of the greatest ever written.
This album's got dance, it's got metal, it's got dirt, it's got Depeche Mode. And all twisted together in a big old gnarled tree trunk growing through the centre.
It's basically the perfect record for my tastes.
Goldie
4/5
Nowadays we all know Goldie best for racing Brian Blessed down Rainbow Road on Hoovers whilst huffing white cider (google it), or being hilariously bad in Bond films.
It's easy to forget then that he popularised drum n bass and he was actually pretty good for a bit. There's a reason he entered the popular culture and it's not entirely down to his teeth.
Didn't really know any of his stuff, but recognise the first track and yep, that's bang on for me, 20 minutes of developing beats around a strong hook, count me in. Dunno if this is what Flight of the Conchords are lampooning with Inner City Pressure but that's another fun tick.
Like many people with ears in the late 90s, I went through a huge dance phase around that time, and a housemate was constantly playing some really great psychedelic trance and drum n bass. I was also well into my Northern Exposure etc. So stuff like Sea of Tears while it may be dated (it's nearly 30 years old - eek), harks back to those times and is welcome.
Adding a few of these to my Working/Flow playlist as they're the shit for that. No way I've got time for 2 hour long album today, I've got to go out and look at a massive Lego exhibition, but this has done enough in the first half to earn a decent score.
Tears For Fears
3/5
'Shout' by Tears For Fears is one of my default songs. You know, those songs so deeply ingrained in your psyche as a child that they pop into your head unbidden and you find yourself humming them regularly when you are not concentrating.
I haven't listened to the song itself in decades.
I only just referenced Tears For Fears in an unfavourable comparison in another review days ago (Scissor Sisters) and now here they are.
Does non-mullet Tears guy look like a young Sly Stallone here or is it just me? Obviously he has a mullet too, it's just hidden on the cover.
Anyway I always got huge Construction Time Again era Depeche Mode vibes from Shout, in good way, both musically and vocally. I can't say I enjoyed hearing Everybody Wants to Rule the World again, it's so inextricably linked with the shit going on at the time and is also endlessly played over documentaries detailing the shit going on at the time I can't disentangle it from those emotions. But Shout, Shout is a banger.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I've never heard the rest of this album besides the earth-stalkingly huge singles. Half the album is singles and I don't even recognise them beyond the big two.
Don't even remember Head Over Heels from when it was in Donnie Darko. I only remember their earlier song of course, Mad World. The end of HOH just before it transitions into the instrumental is really strong however.
I Believe starts off like Shipbuilding, but kind of fails to go anywhere. The other songs are good but not outstanding for me, so an enjoyable listen but I'm not adding it to the library.
The Libertines
2/5
Huh? This one, not Up the Bracket??
Look I like the Libertines, at one point I liked them a LOT. But there is just no justification for including this mainly lacklustre and patchy, disappointing follow up to an excellent debut in this list. Things were already going very wrong for the band and on the verge of splitting up by this point and a couple of the songs are interesting for exploring the dynamic between Carl and Pete, but besides that, pass.
Basically, 1st track, last track both excellent. Filler almost consistently average in between. Music When the Lights Go Out the notable exception. So much B-side quality shoved on the record. Particularly b-side vibes: tracks 2-4, 7, 9, 11-13. So that's 8 out of 14 tracks.
Re listening to this today was reliving my huge disappointment with it on release. I kept listening then, but it didn't get better.
I see there's a brand new record out next month, which I will probably listen to and the new songs sound ok, but I'm not that excited about it, sadly.
Anyone who remotely enjoyed this and didn't know the band, MUST listen to the debut, and non-album singles Don't Look Back Into the Sun and What a Waster. Far more representative of their talents.
Everything But The Girl
2/5
I was haunted by Missing for what seemed like half of my teens as it was not just everywhere, but also repeatedly stuck on the clothes shop hour-long mixtape I worked in over and over again. So I hate the song which propelled them to fame. Though I do understand they were indie darlings before a dance remix made them briefly chart botherers, and I recognise Tracey Thorn has a fantastic voice, and love Protection. I stuck the non dance version of Missing on in the middle of this and it's quite obviously a good song, this version was tolerable, much of the emotional clout was stripped out of the original by Todd Terry it seems, I just have bad associations with it's enormous overplay.
Not particularly looking forward to the album after they found success with dance however.
'Wrong' is exactly the sort of diminishing returns song I imagined would come after Missing, and I recognise it but it didn't haunt me so I merely have no feelings about it. It's just kind of downbeat depressive dance music. I like dance music, and I like downbeat music, so why am I so unmoved? Nobody knows.
The song Walking Wounded is easily the standout. I definitely always misheard the lyric as "nothing can replace the ass on you".
Obviously this lead on to stuff like Dido (oops) and EBTG disappeared. Also, melancholy vocals were littered through trance stuff, but that worked for me because of the soaring euphoric backing. Melancholia over minimalist beats doesn't click for me.
See also The XX, probably the most obvious spiritual successors to this group. Aside from 3-4 songs I can take or leave them.
Machito
5/5
Oh. Oh yes. OH YES!
The furious bongos, the brass! Hook it directly into my veins!
Have heard the opener around and about plenty of times as a bed under radio hosts but never knew what it was.
If I could give this 7 stars I would. Thank You 1001 albums. I hereby forgive you One of the Ryan Adams entries.
Miriam Makeba
5/5
Absolutely love this. It's just gorgeous in places, fun in others. Just makes me smile and feel warm.
I know her a little from her Collab album with Harry Belafonte, which is also well worth checking out.
An interesting life for sure, always an activist, married Stokely Carmichael of the black panthers, was also briefly married to Hugh Masakela another great South African musician.
Tbh I want to hear 1001 albums from the 50s and 60s as it seems to force the editor into more interesting choices.
Elvis Presley
3/5
I love Suspicious Minds but that isn't here. Oh well it sort of is.
Movin On is really really decent, but hell there's a lot of crooning country stuff here that really isn't for me.
To be fair, it gets better and more interesting as it goes on. Any Day Now, great. In the Ghetto, classic.
The Stone Roses
5/5
I never listen to this anymore but good god did it form the groundings of my musical awakenings. Also the Inspiral Carpets. Heard these and yes it sounded like nothing else to me. Can't remember which song was first but I think it was Fools Gold. As soon as I was old enough I was digging around in vinyl shops for anything I could grab. And loving copycat stuff like Jesus Jones.
They were played endlessly in the indie clubs I lived in during the 90s and beyond. Probably still are. It is a crime to fade out I Am the Resurrection before the bass solo which kicks off the instrumental section.
So yeah, five stars.
Also I hear This is the One regularly at United as the team walks out, when I get to my seat in time. Those two don't really ever get old.
Janet Jackson
2/5
Rhythm Nation the song is really very good to be honest, and not a song I knew. Seems to have aged really well despite/because of(?) the very period production.
Several songs in and it's all polished but the similarity in production is leaving me tired and feeling I'm listening to the same thing over and over. That changed with the syrupy Living in a World... which I hated. Commendable message of course but nope musically.
Then that production is back in force! All the same noises. Alright is... alright, as it happens. Escapade always reminded me of Jump for My Love by The Pointer Sisters.
Another thought, Janet Jackson ballads and Michael Jackson ballads sound way too similar to eachother.
Somewhere between a 2 and 3 for me, see how moody I am in the morning when it's ratin' time.
Well I woke up and my cold is worse than yesterday, sorry Janet, those are the breaks.
TLC
4/5
Lol I had Janet Jackson yesterday with all the interludes and here we are again.
Creep is great obviously. I really didn't like 90s RnB but some songs stand out with their quality. For that reason though I reckon the rest of this record is going to struggle with me. Oh apart from Waterfalls. Superb track, that, obviously (not sure about the rap though). So we are starting from a 2 minimum.
Ha, why is there a cat singing on the next track. They do that under our living room windowsill at night when we're trying to watch TV, its really annoying.
I really enjoyed Diggin on You. Just a really nice slice of RnB, who knew. Oddly I'm enjoying less the more obviously Prince-fluenced tracks like Kick Your Game and Fake People (honestly some of the vocals here I almost had to check he wasn't guesting), I would have thought the reverse would be true.
Although the actual Prince cover If I was Your Girlfriend, is, as the book says, outstanding.
Let's Do it Again is fair's fair, a toe tapper. Absolutely not the sort of thing I would stick on ordinarily.
I am edging towards a 4 here - even though there's 3 or 4 tracks I don't care for, mainly because I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to, especially considering it's almost an hour of RnB.
Guns N' Roses
2/5
This week I have been firmly stuck in the 86-95 vortex.
I dunno, aside from these three songs, November Rain and the Wings cover (which are all admittedly brilliant), are there any good GunsnRoses songs? Of those 5 good ones, the three present here are obviously the most overplayed. Please god don't subject me to either Use Your Illusion album later in this project. My Michelle is ok I guess but you still have to put up with Axl being annoying. Didn't really enjoy anything new here.
However if you told me at the start that I'd be rating Guns n Roses lower than TLC and Goldie I would have...
...probably not been that surprised actually as my opinion on GnR has been pretty solidified for the last few decades.
PJ Harvey
5/5
I remember when this came out just after the riots and thinking wow, it was so impactful. Even though it was written beforehand it really felt reflective of national anger, and that real change was on the cards and people weren't going to stand for austerity and Tory cunts for any longer.
Obviously we know now how that turned out, the focus of anger was successfully diverted onto hate of minorities and division, things got much worse, and now we're about to swap one bunch of tossers for another crowd of red Tories who are openly talking about doing austerity all over again and blaming it on the last government for years just like Cameron did.
Still, thanks Peej for a glint of hope in the darkness.
Def Leppard
2/5
Bit torn here. Having ripped into appetite for destruction on Monday can I praise this? Probably not, although I did like it more.
It is mostly just 80s cock rock though which I always mostly disliked with the odd exception sometimes enjoyed unironically.
Perhaps I'll save my praise for the follow up which contains the one Def Leppard song I know and like. Depends what else is on it though.
Obviously this isn't really metal, I'd argue Hair Metal isn't even a sub genre of metal as it's so far removed, but whatever.
This was ok. I completely tuned out after a few tracks. 2.
Deerhunter
3/5
Trippy. In places.
Some of the lo fi songs are a bit boring. I like the longer ones which build, like Earthquake and Desire Lines.
I remember a huge fuss about this album when it came out, near the top of all the best in year lists, topping some. I didn't get around to listening to it until years later, and when I did I felt 'huh'. I mean there's some good stuff here for sure but it never hugely grabbed me like I was expecting.
Also why does the last track just cut off?
Still it's better than most of the offerings in what has been a largely poor week.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Ok, never ever heard of this one.
Getting two records with skyscrapers on fire on the cover is quite something.
This is an ok, half decent hip hop album. Nothing bad, but it also didn't stand out particularly for me.
Slade
3/5
I can't take Slade seriously after all this time. This is a fun listen though for sure.
I only recognise mama were all crazee.
Best songs besides that, Move Over, Gudbuy Gudbuy.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
Just gorgeous
I adore the Cocteaus.
That is all.
Jazmine Sullivan
5/5
Ah so here we are, the very newest entry in the current version of the book, have been curious to see what this was, as I've never heard of it or her. If I was going to argue what other records from 2021 should be here I'd say Self Esteem (similar theme to this one really except if she was a white girl from Sheffield), Little Simz (not too far removed), Black Country New Road (English, so people would cry) and Floating Points (but this book doesn't acknowledge jazz exists after 1963), so yeah ok, Heaux Tales, let's see what's up.
Starts strong, Pick Up Your Feelings is really good. RnB has improved so much from its nadir in the 90s. Not as keen on Put it Down or On it. Donna's Tale is funny. Price Tags is funny also, and an update to Destiny's 'Bills' which I always found annoying.
Lost One is indeed gorgeous.
She's got pipes, this one. And sings in lots of different styles. The Other Side is a fantastic slice of pop RnB with a yearningly aspirational chorus (even if it seems a pretty superficial dream).
I am somewhat surprised how much I enjoyed this overall as it's not my thing generally, but great records surpass such self-imposed restrictions, and this does that.
Black Sabbath
4/5
I'm going to be weird and give it 4. My scoring system makes no sense, and this is hugely influential, but it's not as good a record of songs as Paranoid. It's still great of course.
Black Sabbath, NIB, Warning the obvious standouts.
Everything But The Girl
2/5
Huh, only had their other album from the book the other day.
First song - Oh right, this is by them!? I don't really like it particularly but it's a good song. As far as 'middle of the road ballads' go. I can imagine my mum liking it.
Oh it's a cover. Ah yeah I think I've heard the arod Stewart version plenty, as well as this one. Not sure about the original Crazy Horse though.
I always thought they had some indie type past, not this schlocky stuff.
By track 3 I am going to need a fairly abrupt left turn to stay interested.
Ok I can tell that's not going to happen. Trying hard not to be dismissive, and I'm sure there's some nice lyrical content here but I'm getting far too much doctor's waiting room vibes. Far too easy listening, with twee production to boot.
Sounds like The Sundays but not as good.
Just not for me.
Pixies
4/5
Probably my fourth favourite Pixies album.
I enjoy the surf guitar.
The run from Velouria through to Dig For Fire excluding All over the World is gold. Velouria is one of their best tracks full stop.
Veruca Salt reference Stormy Weather in Number One Blind, which I love.
Outside of this I find I like half of songs a lot and can take or leave the other half (The Happening).
Doesn't have the bangers Trompe does for me but still more than solid.
Girls Against Boys
4/5
Interesting choice. The girl I sat next to in French and whom I fancied to a horrendous degree, liked these and so naturally I tried to get into them (no jokes, you dirty minded folk).
I failed to, but she lent me a load of vinyl including the first Hole record, some Babes in Toyland and Bikini Kill. Probably some other stuff but I loved all that.
Girls Against Boys then. Interesting choice in that said girl is pretty much the only person I can recall ever talking about this band, hence my mind being immediately drawn there.
Listening 30 years later I'm hearing hints of Kyuss maybe, and of course their own influences.
There's a lot going on here and I'm not sure why I didn't get into them at the time. Noise but with melody is right up my zone of interest.
This has really got something. Slow or fast, it drills into you.
New Order
5/5
I've seen a lot of things in the reviews on here, including THAT Napalm Death review, but nothing quite so surprising as to see New Order referred to as 'the band who did that one song'. But, I guess kids will keep happening. I am getting old.
I very much grew up with this band, more than any other probably. Mostly Substance. Much later I grew to appreciate Power Corruption and Lies, their best album - oddly not included here (but I guess I understand the rationale of this one instead).
I played Substance to death throughout, I was old enough when Technique came out to be fully immersed in it, and Republic followed years later when they all hated eachother. Low-Life was the first full album before those I was able to go back to and love in full.
Elegia is lovely, This time of night is weird. Sunrise is great. Sooner than you think sounds oddly contemporary, because listening in 2024 that synth sound has come absolutely right back in. Whereas Face Up is dated to a joyful degree, reminds me of Stock Aitken and Waterman! They would co-opt this sound a year or two later with most of the cast of Neighbours, one at a time. I think even love rat Dr Karl Kennedy had a music career at one point.
So, for the uninitiated, some facts. Yes, Barney isn't a great singer - you might have heard why he's the singer though.
The 12" of Perfect Kiss is an absolute must listen, the 5 minutes included here cannot hope to contain it's full greatness.
There are better versions of Subculture out there, go find them (I always find the Low-Life version slightly anaemic, but it's a terrific song!). Including, weirdly, one released as a promo single on a magazine.
It's flawed as fuck but I don't care. 5 stars
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
"Scratch my face with anvil hands, and coil my tongue around a bumblebee mouth".
Let's just face up to it. I won't deny that Billy Corgan invites ridicule, he wrote lyrics like the above, dressed as Uncle Fester (intentionally or not, who knows) for his wedding, and he's in love with his sadness.
So, a 2 hour long album exploring said sadness is going to take a critical thrashing from some quarters. And I guess who can blame them.
Now introduce those of us who were teenagers when this was released, already primed by the magnificent (and just about superior) Siamese Dream, swimming in all the feels, completely ready to drink this in in all of its glorious and expansive hugeness.
It's very rare you get a double album which actually succeeds in its lofty ambitions, and I really do feel that this does. I enjoy the concept here of one CD for 'day' and one for 'night'. They both work separately as hour long albums, or together if you have the time for a marathon session.
Sadness? There's more than sadness here. There's outright euphoria, and some of the greatest ever Pumpkins songs, Porcelina ("without a care in this whole world"), Galapagos, Thru the Eyes of Ruby. There's tender beauty both fragile and soaring, To Forgive, Stumbeline, By Starlight, Take me Down. There's balls out rock - Where Boys Fear to Tread, XYU, Bodies, Ode to Noone (silly lyrics notwithstanding) and Tales of a Scorched Earth. Finally, there's also fantastic stadium rock with Tonight, Tonight, Here is no Why and the other big single smashes.
Christ, I almost forgot to mention 1979! what an absolutely gorgeous song. As is Thirty Three.
Will always be one of my favourite albums, and I still think Billy Corgan is a bit of a prick. He even let James Iha play on this one! Shout out to Jimmy's exceptional drumming once again.
"and in the eyes of a jackal I say ka-BOOM!"
oh, Billy...
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
Cyndi Lauper is amazing.
What a great album.
Great record cover too.
Gets a bit silly towards the end, but there's plenty of bangers up front!
Carole King
5/5
So many great songs. Almost every track here is an all time classic.
Aimee Mann
2/5
More country-tinged soft rock, sounds a bit like Sheryl Crow? Very early-mid 90s.
Not really sure why this is here.
It certainly has decent musicality and stuff going on within the songs when you listen for it, I just don't like the songs much. Although I have to admit it does grow better as it goes along. Well. The middle portion anyway.
Say Anything was ok. Mr Harris was pretty nice. In fact the Rufus Wainwright connection particularly makes sense in this one.
The producer is also responsible for the scores for Punch Drunk Love and Eternal Sunshine of the etc Mins, which are both excellent, amongst many others.
Diverting enough to avoid bottom marks but no more.
Little Richard
5/5
I don't get the criticisms here, it's chock full of hits and it's Little Richard.
The Cure
4/5
Proper minimalist Cure, yeah, this is good. Don't really know much here besides A Forest.
Play for Today and At Night other great tracks.
Moody bass, simple, sparse drums.
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
You know those 'indie' CDs that popped up everywhere around this time, Shine and all that. Remember how they generally felt way more commercial and less good than the old Indie top 20 vinyls you used to get a few years earlier? And kind of how it signified indie's slow absorption into the mainstream where it had most of its edges knocked off and got so boring people eventually referred to the whole scene as 'landfill'? You recognise that?
Well that's the Dandy Warhols, as a phenomena, and a feeling.
They've got a couple of half decent tracks that passed the time back in the day but they are by their very essence inessential, and an hour of it can fuck off.
The fact the second track was a single I have never heard before in my life despite the ubiquity of the other two is very telling.
Orange is quite good though. As is I Love You. These slow stoner tracks. I'd probably say the last 7 tracks are a bit nothing. In spite of everything though I don't hate it, it's alright, it just doesn't belong in this list. Far more important albums were excluded, even from 1997.
Sonic Youth
4/5
I never actually listened to this one, I'm familiar with half their records, though this has surely got to be the most iconic cover. It's really good. I love Daydream Nation but it is a bit over long. I get tired in the middle. Evol is for me. Ha, I just checked and I gave those two 4 and Dirty, an album I don't really know, a 5.
So yeah I don't really know any of the songs here. Tunic is banging. Kool Thing, yes I know this. Of course I do, fantastic. Love the end of Mote.
The reviews slamming detuned guitars etc presumably want all rock music to sound the same, when in fact there's plenty of that around.
Herbie Hancock
5/5
I love Herbie Hancock as a concept. The same guy wrote the classic jazz standard Cantaloupe Island and the 80s electro pioneering Rockit. That's just mental. This should be two different guys.
I did a bit of prep before listening as I don't know this record. Went back to Takin' Off for the original read of Watermelon Man a decade before this.
Not much to say other than, astonishing. Jazz-funk, Sly Stone, yes.
Probably one of the best albums new to me I've found via this book.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
Couldn't rate this yesterday because I was working. You can't appreciate this record properly while doing something else. This is absolutely headphones music. Drink it in.
Tribe just might be the greatest hip hop ever.
Completely magnificent.
Röyksopp
2/5
Hmm, it's fine. Records like this serve as another reminder that the majority of this book was written and compiled in 2005-ish.
20 years on its hard to listen to this and go "wow, what an essential listen that was."
Still, yeah Eple (which I never knew by any other name than 'that Royksopp tune') was absolutely everywhere and is very evocative of that time, because I never hear it anymore.
I had 'Blue on Blue' on a Sampled CD which I prefer to this remix which kicks off the record.
The rest, is basically the stuff that spawned a million chill out CDs that served the audience of frazzled clubbers. Or it's just one of them, don't know or care really which was first. It's not music to engage with, but it does a job.
I wonder if Royksopp ever did actually make another record?
Pere Ubu
4/5
Such a weird band, Pere Ubu. I love them as a concept, I enjoy their their music but I can never put a finger on what it is they're actually doing.
I mean they aren't quite as weird as The Residents (although Thriller is approaching it), there's accessible stuff scattered throughout and every song sounds like it could be by a different band. And yeah the vocals are mental.
There's surely no way to appreciate this fully off one listen, but do I want to come back for repeat listens? Boy, that sounds swell.
Faves, Navvy, Ubu Dance Party, Blow Daddy-O
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
The Pet Shop Boys go downbeat.
I wasn't a fan of Being Boring at the time, I found it, well a bit boring. So yeah, never heard this album.
However this is absolutely an album that feels like it will reward repeat listening. Seems daft now to say PSB always had something about them, and this record just shows they had dimensions and weren't simply catchy pop synth boys.
Really follows on from the sound of It Couldn't Happen Here on Actually.
After the first couple of tracks I was really getting into the vibe. However track 3 and 4 are a bit twee and pap.
So Hard picks things up but still falls slightly flat for me, it's got a great riff, but not really a good chorus.
Nervously however, is really great. As is the majestic closer, Jealousy.
I'm going down the middle on this one, not quite sure why this is lauded as much as it is, but it's still fun in several places. And an important record for the band.
KISS
2/5
Well, Kiss are a singles band, aren't they?
Actually looking it up, I only know 2 songs. "All night" and "made for loving you" the latter I always forget is by them.
Apparently Beth outsold both of these which is odd as I've definitely never heard it before in my life.
Kiss seem to be the counter point to anyone making the baffling argument I keep seeing in reviews here that if it didn't sell, it isn't good.
Good cover art.
Yep. Don't know a single song here. I've probably heard God of Thunder somewhere, and Shout it out Loud rings a faint bell, they're not great. The first two tracks are fun enough, when they finally start. I assume this is what Less Than Jake are taking off with Gainesville, Rock City (which is tremendous).
Good for cock rock, not great generally. Kind of like a worse Aerosmith.
Do you love me? No mate.
(Although tbf that's not a bad one, establish a groove, embellish it, repeat to fade).
2.4/5
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Probably the Hendrix album I've listened to the least in full, although clearly chock full of classics and a fair argument for being his absolute best.
Hendrix is generally an odd mix - witness the epic, early prog behemoth version of Voodoo Chile dissolve into the relatively straightforward 60s Beatles-esque beat group jangle of Little Miss Strange.
He also makes odd decisions sometimes, 1983 could be way more epic but they just stop as it's really taking off on that marching beat. But again, it's 1968. It's REALLY early for this sort of music. And then there's noodling for 6 minutes or something haha. Honestly, it's great.
Burning of the Midnight Lamp is just incredible, I've always wished the production was better on the somewhat muddy middle section.
I generally consume Jimi via the mixtape my friend made me in the 90s, but if I was going to stick a full album of his on it would be this, nowadays.
Gillian Welch
5/5
I'm always concerned when it looks like country or folk as that can be particularly awful (although it can be great). Vaguely aware of the name, the book reminds me she was on that O Brother Where Art Thou bluegrass soundtrack which was lovely. Particularly 'Ill Fly Away', the track she did with Alison Krauss.
Have to say I am loving this. The slower tracks, Revelator and April 14th, remind me somewhat of Red House Painters (latterly Sun Kil Moon), then there's a mix of upbeat bluegrass and good Americana (which is thin on the ground, imho) to ensure the mood doesn't sink too low.
Perfectly pitched, beautiful music.
The Revelator indeed.
The Fall
4/5
A mixed bag for me, I'm fairly clear to me that I'm never going to love The Fall like some, but I'm endlessly intrigued by them and I will find something to love on almost every record I listen to. And something completely baffling. But hey, that's The Fall. Operation Mindfuck indeed.
Here, it's I'm Going to Spain (what's going on here?) followed immediately by the excellent, stabbing, It's A Curse. Probably sums up my feelings on this record.
We've also got Lost in Music, Ladybird, Paranoia and plenty else besides.
John Cale
4/5
I'm aware of this album's great reputation, I think I've listened to it once before but I do not know it.
The title track is hugely Beatles-esque, and stands out for me. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing in terms of the album.
I love the, I would say very English lyrics despite knowing Cale is of course Welsh. But he's going on about Chipping Sodbury for crying out loud.
Despite it's poppy facade I feel like this is a record that needs a few listens to truly love.
I listened again later and I'm not a fan of couple of tracks like Macbeth but a lot to like.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
It's a real good new wave record.
First two tracks are excellent.
Some of it as others have said is a bit bland with some cringe lyrics. I Just Want to Sleep With You lets the side down on both fronts.
Broadly speaking this is a good record rather than a particular essential one, it's probably not stood the test of time as well as others in it's ouvre.
No Tears was another standout, however much of the second half is a bit samey.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
I'd say more than one Credence album here is an extravagance, I enjoyed the last one, this seems more inessential, aside from the obvious.
Though I was dealing with an ant infestation in our dishwasher so I was a mite distracted.
However I'm off to Old Trafford to see us get slaughtered by Liverpool, and later going to see Sky Ferreira, so heading Bad Moon Rising and Night Time is the Right Time both feel especially appropriate.
Travis
1/5
Jesus. Really testing my resolve to give every single album this app generates for me a fair listen. What in the ever living fuck is this record doing here.
Never mind Travis, this is a travesty
Talvin Singh
3/5
I recall the fuss when on this won the Mercury, though looking at the shortlist now it was a lean year. Oh no, it beat one of Blur and the Manics worst albums! Still, I gave this a listen at the time or shortly afterwards, think I got the CD out from the library. It washed over me then, I didn't dislike it, I didn't love it, I didn't return to it.
Today, the dnb sounds a little dated, but it's still pretty nice. Traveller was pretty interesting and just when that interest is waning towards the end you're hit with lush strings that really go.
Next track Butterfly, energetic sitar and what is that, piccolo? Too high to be a flute surely. Oh there's definitely flute at the end. Over a lovely warm bed of smooth synths.
I do wonder if I will enjoy this for a full hour, we shall see. I'm not finding lots to love about Sutrix for example.
Hmm. Not really enjoyed anything else until OK. This is clearly what happened last time I listened to it 20-odd years ago.
I have heard OK the song on occasion over the years and that's a banger. Loads going on.
After this highlight, Light is fairly standard fayre chill out trance.
The slower chant Soni would be a good closer. Although actual closer Vikram is pretty decent.
Generously I would say I enjoyed about half of this. But the good stuff was really nice and interesting, so it gets a 3.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Really enjoyed this. A Black Sabbath album I didn't know and with no big hits, but crucially, all consistently very high quality metal.
I did know Changes, which is that hyper-rare thing, a ballad from a metal band which is actually good.
R.E.M.
4/5
I've gone on about how much I love early REM in other reviews, however I've grown to love Document as a whole less and less over the years. It's still great, but the idea that it's a contender for their best record I find almost laughable now.
Usually cited as a leap forward for their musical style and clarity of Stipes vocals, I'd argue that had mostly already happened, or was well underway, by the (far superior) Lifes Rich Pageant.
Obviously lots still to love, particularly the less vaunted but absolutely classic REM songs like Welcome to the Occupation, Disturbance at the Heron House and Oddfellows Local 151. Fireplace is also low key great. Then you've got the massive songs which are of course fantastic and deserving of the attention.
I just find stuff like Lightnin Hopkins (why the weird voice?) and Exhuming McCarthy a bit gimmicky, dated and annoying though these days, throw in a slightly average Wire cover, and King of Birds is very nice but a bit too similar to Time After Time. Standing on the shoulders of giants doesn't quite leave me cold but, perhaps this is where the recycling of ideas begins.
All that takes the shine off and for me it's actually the worst record they released in the 80s. It's still 80s REM though, so that's a bit of a "shortest giant" competition. Also, wonderful and infinitely confusing photographic patchwork record sleeve. Like a precursor to today's cursed AI images.
The Magnetic Fields
5/5
Ah, it's finally here! I spied this coming up a few months back and already knew about it but hadn't heard it. Then Spotify kept chucking Epitaph of My Heart at me which I found curiously lovely.
So, I've been listening to it in stages over the last few weeks. Don't think I would ever listen to it from start to finish in the way I absolutely would with Mellon Collie (although that's a whole hour shorter), however there is so much to adore here. Not love, adore. Yes there's the odd bit of filler or rather, throwaway stuff and short songs, but there's always a little bit of magic.
I love this deep voice, sounds like mine when I've got a cold, or just had too much to shout the night before at a gig or the football.
Strongly reminds me of David Berman, and musically similar to some of his last record Purple Mountains (which has a strong claim to be included in the book, but they did put one Silver Jews record in so that's okay).
Also love the variety broken up by different singing voices and musical styles, is it two different blokes and a woman at times?
There's no denying this was a ridiculously ambitious project, is it still pretentious if you actually pull it off? I love so very much of this. In 2017, the Magnetic Fields did it again with a 5-disc, 50 Song Memoir, one for every year of the main guy's life, presumably.
There's probably 9 or so tracks here I don't care much for, but it's still getting top marks for the sheer audacity of it.
These guys are playing this over two nights at the Albert hall in town over the summer and I'm sorely tempted to go to at least one night. The tickets are expensive though.
Faves - Epitaph, book of love, Rabbits, I Don't Want to get over you, the One You Really Love, World Love, My Only Friend, Promises Eternity, How to Say Goodbye, Busby Berkeley Dreams, I'm Sorry I Love You, Acoustic Guitar, Death of Ferdinand
The Darkness
2/5
Remember when the brothers from The Darkness were on CBeebies show Zingzillas, when they helped that annoying monkey bloke do something with his band.
It was no more or less silly than this album, which I probably infected my mum's computer with Limewire to download and burn to CD, and I listened to it a fair bit. I cannot remember the last track at all, so I guess I must have turned it off before the end most times. The Darkness were a fun breath of fresh air back in 2003 amongst a slew of overly serious bands.
Growing on Me, which preceded the mania which greeted Thing Called Love, is almost definitely the best song here, and holds up. Fantastic central driving guitar/bass riff. I Believe is still lots of fun, probably helps that I've now not heard it in years as it was definitely massively overplayed.
Is there much else worth writing about? Not really, they're one step away from Tenacious D, and as with all gimmick bands it grows thin fairly quickly. On this listen I was ready for it to finish after 6 tracks. Midway through 9 I was practically begging. I see it's been judiciously, quietly removed from the book.
Worth listening if you weren't around at the time to get the joke, however the chances of me sticking this on again in the future are basically zero. Apart from Growing on Me. Added that back to my likes. Banger.
The thing I dislike most about this is it's incorrectly classified as metal, which is going to further dint my average ratings for metal albums in this list, despite me liking metal, just not most of the shite that I'm being served here.
CHIC
5/5
These first three Chic albums man. So good.
Opening with 8 minutes of Good Times. It's just ridiculous. That bass. Surely the shortest 8 minutes ever.
The rest might not have standouts as obvious as "At Last I Am Free", but it's consistently very high quality and gorgeous.
Blur
5/5
I might love Modern Life is Rubbish more, but this is probably Blur's best album. Grew up with both of them basically, but with this one those couple of years meant I was old enough to buy all the singles on release and get into the b-sides. Had a massive fold out poster of the album cover on my wall from out of I think Select Magazine (RIP). And it still holds up.
Very much enjoyed in the car today.
Jubilee, Message Centre, This is a Low, End of the Century, To the End.
Drive Like Jehu
4/5
Opening with a decent thrash punk song that I have to say is twice as long as it should be. I'm a fan of long songs but this does not contain 6 minutes worth of song. If I want to stick it on twice I will but that's my decision.
Fugazi mentioned a lot, in the book and the reviews. But Fugazi had an incredible rhythm section which often lead the songs, marking them out. Does that happen here?
On first listen I turned it off and put Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs on again instead.
Returning to it much later in the day, I'm sad I didn't encounter this record back in 1994 as I would probs have loved it.
It's not punk, it's post-hardcore. Ok. So long songs are de rigour. It's quite ahead of its time, I don't know too much sounding like this around this time. Something of a precursor to At the Drive In. Maybe Swans? Although I didn't really listen to them.
Once I settled into it I really enjoyed.
The more epic tracks are just that, and really stand out. Luau.
Supertramp
2/5
Eh, it's ok. Feel like I should know lots of Supertramp songs, but I can't bring any to mind. Any I think are them turn out to be by ELO. That keyboard sound that's everywhere here just keeps making me want to listen to Mr Blue Sky.
Not sure the first track ever turned into a song.
I like the cover.
I didn't even massively like Dreamer, apparently the big song here, through most of the record I couldn't help but try to recall a different song most of this was reminding me of.
Ah I see, all the hits came on the follow up record in America. Not for me
Frank Black
4/5
It's a real curio this. I've grappled with it on and off over the years. I think it's definitely true that there's plenty here that's right up there rivalling Pixies' best work. It's also true that it's too long and is an assault on the senses at times.
Pretty wonderful, really.
Headache, Speedy Marie, Freedom Rock
CHVRCHES
3/5
Bright and uplifting. Never listened to them really. Not essential, but it's all good modern pop and a fun listen, I have to give that to them.
I'd probably still reach for M83 or Sky Ferreira if I wanted to hear this updated 80s sound which abounded particular in the '10s, but I like a lot of this too.
I stuck Saturdays=Youth on afterwards for the first time in yonks, and had a lovely old time. So thanks for that.
Faves - We Sink, Tether, Science/vision
Giant Sand
2/5
Never heard of this at all. Obviously banished from the book and Wikipedia isn't much help.
It's quite nice and chill, for a weekend morning, good for that. Some of it sounded like Eels verses, ie without the big tuneful chorus.
Doesn't stand out for me. I get huge 'random thing found in a bin of cheap CDs on the floor in Vinyl Exchange' vibes from this record.
I am also here to rebut the Lou Reed and Bill Callahan comparisons as I will be keeping those please and leaving this.
I did like Satellite though.
Johnny Cash
5/5
We were only just discussing the American Cash records at our album discussion group last week. Lovely little bit of serendipity.
I know there's a couple more after this one basically made from offcuts, but IV is Johnny's last album. I remember the gobsmacking video for Hurt, utterly heartbreaking. I know lots of this (and the other American albums) extremely well, and some not at all. I've never listened to any of them as a full album. Hurt as track 2 doesn't quite work though, hits too hard, needs to be deeper in.
I am lead to believe the first American album beats the pants off all the rest. So I'll be stopping by that one soon.
Some utter gems here. Some that take a little time to blossom (troubled water), some that truthfully, probably work better as a thematic idea than in practise (In my life). And a little filler. But it's Cash's swansong, and it's got Hurt on it. Trent Reznor saying 'that song isn't mine anymore' just says it all.
So Top marks.
Badly Drawn Boy
4/5
A hat trick of albums all removed from the book. 3 in a row! That's not happened before.
This one I think is hardest to justify it's removal, in that it's a one off, has aged really well and had quite the cultural impact. It's also really good.
Also, and relevant to this record, he started up the excellent Twisted Nerve record label with his mate Andy Votel (Finders Keepers, Violators of the English Language, Mr Jane Weaver).
Badly Drawn Boy was basically inescapable around this time (to the extent his work was even included on high profile chill out compilations of otherwise ostensibly trance music), with this and then the About A Boy soundtrack only compounding matters.
Partly due to it's ubiquity I didn't really engage much with this as an album, which I now see as a mistake, it's far superior to anything by Doves and the like which floated about in its wake.
fIREHOSE
5/5
I love this. And I had no idea it existed.
Enjoyed the Minutemen's Nickel on the Dime record, and here we've got that rhythm section and writers. Love that bass. It's just low key epic.
Really nice and tight 30 minutes too. Listened to it a few times today. Look not every track is a classic, but oh my god that bass and crisp drumming is such consistently high quality. Guitar ain't half bad either.
Faves - Some Things, Understanding, In My Mind, Mas Cojones
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
Incredible record. Purchased on a whim and a vague, detail-less recommendation from a trusted friend in 2003, I stuck this on, expecting from the name, some melodious indie pop in the vein of The Wannadies or something.
When this fantastic racket started belching from the speakers to say I was taken aback was an understatement.
Obviously, they're extremely well known now and deservedly acquired legend status.
Karen O needs no more words written by someone as inconsequential as myself. That deep, grinding guitar masks the lack of bass and drills into your bones. Fun juxtaposed with yesterday's Fromohio where the bass was a standout feature. The drummer smashes the shit out of everything.
Still sounds alluringly threatening and fresh 21 years later. It comes out now and then pretty regularly and I just do not tire of it. They never bettered this record as a whole, but pelted out several tunes over their career. The disco pop It's Bliss probably comes closest. But this is an absolutely singular record. Really is all killer. Anyone who thinks it's shit is objectively wrong.
Moby Grape
4/5
Wow streaming services really messed this one up.
PSA- the best songs are missing. Seek out Hey Grandma and particularly Omaha. Omaha is an absolute classic.
The Best of album has most of these songs in a slightly different order, but still manages to miss Sitting by the Window off for some reason. It's not hard people, they hardly released anything!
Great sunshine beat combo. Nothing not to like. Deservedly had a resurgence of critical attention in the early 00s from Mojo readers and I assume some reissues.
1/5
So, opening my dishwasher and finding it full of ants was NOT the worst thing to happen to me today.
Limp bizkit had I think two decent songs which were fun in the late 90s. Neither are here (Faith - Break Stuff). Now they're just irrelevant, thankfully.
There was a bit of decent Nu Metal about (Deftones) but this wasn't it. Obviously having Undertaker's entrance music does tickle a few nostalgia hairs but it was also very annoying even at the time in literally any other context.
In complete fairness, The One was the closest to an actual song, and wasn't horrible. And yeah alright, I still kind of like the mission impossible one. But for 75 minutes of this shit you are getting the one starfish.
Made me yearn for Travis.
James Taylor
2/5
First off I get Carole King without the tunes vibe. All very pleasant but not grabbing me really in any way.
Later, some of the softest, must unconvincing blues I've ever heard. The brass really rescues Steamroller when it comes in halfway through.
I'm not that familiar with the original ring a ding ding version of Oh Susannah but I feel offended on it's behalf, this version sounds like it's been castrated.
Kinda like a 70s David Gray? Sure does go on about rock and roll a lot for something that neither rocks nor rolls. Suite for 20G might have been ok in isolation but I was so sick of it by then I only enjoyed it a little.
The Young Rascals
4/5
Definitely my favourite album cover so far.
A fun 60s beat combo again. Second of the week. Probably getting an MOR score, as nothing much to write home about aside from the fantastic Groovin'. They're more soulful for sure. Blue eyed soul they call it. More on that in a minute.
Two or three standouts like Sueno and How Can I Be Sure.
Tbf, it gets stronger as it goes on, the whole side B is great. With the notable exception of A Place in the Sun which is strangely near 5 minutes long and a pale shade compared to Stevie's version. I hate the contemporary trend of white artists taking black artists songs and turning them into hits (though apparently this wasn't a single), but it happened, have to try to just judge things on their own merits at this distance. And well, this is a shit cover version.
So, somewhat patchy, but the sun is out and it's a Sunday so we're Groovin' and this just shades a 4.
Red Snapper
2/5
Was enjoying this fine, very of it's time that it is, as a decent background electronica to work to with that turn of the century big beat sound, Propellorheads etc.
Then it really lost me at track 5 and 6 when it sped up and went shit.
At it's best when it makes most use of the acoustics such as the double bass.
Very odd choice, never heard of this lot then or since. Not essential.
Isaac Hayes
5/5
Wasn't enthusiastic about this until I read what it was. As a sucker for a long song which grows and twists, I'm in heaven here.
Also I thought I'd heard all the banging covers of Walk On By.
Genesis
4/5
Mixed feelings here, can't remember how I felt about the last Genesis one, but I think I liked the vibe without loving the tunes.
As this kicks off I'm not dreading 90 minutes altogether, and it's all going pretty well, In The Cage and Back in NYC are both great.
I'm not overly following the lyrics, which is fine as I hear they're not exactly coherent.
What in the children's entertainment is going on at the end of Counting Out Time?
Aside from that weirdness I don't love all of this, But I really like a lot of it. And I feel like I am engaging with it as a whole much more than Selling England.
Will I reach for Genesis in future when I want a prog fix? Most likely not, my tastes are far more suited to that crazy German/French/Benelux stuff that's out there. Stuff like Riding the Scree suits me, more of that please.
However this was definitely an enjoyable listen for its running time.
Jack White
2/5
I thought we were done with White Stripes. How many bloody records?
They all have about 3 good tracks and a load of filler.
I was personally well and truly done with them by the time this came out so I've never heard it, nor do I recall any of it from the radio. Freedom at 21 is the first track that's actively annoying. The best song is I'm Shakin' which is a cover. I think I did actually hear that one. The rest just slipped by really, unexceptionally.
Eh, I don't hate it. But I don't like it. Blues rock is not my bag really, it has to be truly outstanding to grab me.
Traffic
3/5
Hmph. More blues rock. I thought Traffic were better than this. Think their classic album is John Barleycorn which I think I'm not overly fond of either.
First song is basically a ditty and not for me.
Decent solos in the second, nice trundler.
Couple of meh songs, Feelin Alright is decent. Oh god what is Vagabond Virgin. Crying to be Heard is decent.
It's an ok album. Definitely varied. In quality but also in content, which kept me interested. Definitely better than anything jack white was involved with so I shall rate accordingly.
Christina Aguilera
1/5
The two big singles were absolutely everywhere, as was that video.
Oh and Fighter, that was about too. No memory at all of the other singles, and I think this is going to be a real slog - hated the music at the time, it was the shite nothing music you had to drown out at the gym with your headphones.
3rd track and I am really really struggling. Can I skip through these? No I made a commitment. Pretty sure I'm going to hate every track but I have to make sure. It's a curse.
Even my 12 year old daughter left the room. Doesn't bode well.
Ok it's over. I can't claim I listened to all of it, because it wasn't interesting enough, but I was in the room and it was on. Just incredibly bland. There wasn't a single song which broke the mold and pricked up my ears, nothing surprising at all unfortunately.
Fucking hell, the last track is 6 and a half minutes, this album just won't die.
Don't really want to join the trolls but have to rate it honestly, and I dislike basically all of this. Brings to mind the phrase "well that was terrible, but at least it was long."
Beck
3/5
Have tried to get into this a few times before but lose interest after the first track. Girl is pretty nice as well.
Big fan of Odelay, and Midnite Vultures when they came out, then floated away from Beck and after hearing he'd released a load of new albums that were good I tried. None of them really landed for me though, and this is one of those.
It's probably the closest successor to Odelay in that it has a similar ragtaggle style in a lot of songs, but the level of tunes is just nothing like the same aside from one or two. Stuff like Hell Yes can get in the bin.
Pleased that the song he wrote for Elliott Smith, Broken Drum was a clear standout. Lovely.
It's another half decent indie guitar album, with some stylings. Not really an essential addition.
Gil Scott-Heron
5/5
Such a shame this isn't on Spotify because it's fantastic. I am going to have to track down a copy on vinyl.
Only know Gil from revolution will not be televised and though I knew he had a great voice, I didn't know he had such a great soulful SINGING voice. The electric keyboard is also delicious.
Also, The Bottle is a banger, and H20 Blues is an absolutely classic Gil excoriation.
Just consistently brilliant.
Four more years! Four more years!
Lana Del Rey
3/5
Never got Lana Del Ray before really but I have been enjoying this first listen. Not that much variety admittedly, although she's clearly prolific, with 8 albums in 10 years or something. Makes her discography somewhat impenetrable however if you're not already into it.
Not sure it's for me long term, but I'll probably come back to this one as it feels like it would reward repeat listens. I did lose interest before the end though, too much the same.
Christina Aguilera
4/5
Oh my god what did I do to deserve two Christina Aguilera Albums within days of eachother?
Wait what? A double album? You're taking the fucking piss mate.
Strap in then. If I didn't know some of the singles on the last one it's possible I've not heard any of these songs at all.
First proper track Pray is alright, mainly for the gospel because gospel is good and has good energy.
Next song harks back to when originators and innovators were alive. Erm, Chris mate, there's still people innovating now.
Oh ok, the single. Yeah I've obviously heard this. Didn't know it was her because I didn't pay that much attention to it. But obviously the sample is great and it's used effectively. No name recognition because the enormous hook is the sample, the lyrics are kinda incidental by comparison. Decent pop song though, undeniably. And I have to say, by a million miles the best song of hers I've ever heard. Fair do's Christina, you get a a tick.
Apparently another couple of singles slipped by without me noticing, in fact I was thinking it was a lull in quality if anything, so I definitely never heard Slow Down or Oh Mother. Still Dirty is better than Dirty (which was simply annoying) but that could be because I've not heard this before whereas the latter was fucking UNAVOIDABLE. Also, brass. Brass is cool.
So alright, this has been better than expected so far, the use of samples is largely done and with intelligence.
The second disc appears to have turned the album into the soundtrack from The Greatest Showman or something (which, well, hey, I'm not against).
Candyman. Yeah ok I've heard this too. On Strictly or something. It's fun. Obviously again heavily leaning on that great sample.
Ok couple more tracks - alright so we're somewhere between vaudeville, swing and roaring twenties for this part. You know I'm really down for this. This is a genuinely good time.
Absolutely not my thing of course, and it goes without saying it's much too long, but to be fair it's basically two separate albums, a little like that Outkast one. If we'd stopped after disc 1 it might even have sneaked a low 3 to my shock but after the abrupt left turn I'm even contemplating a genuine 4 for basically a surprisingly good time overall.
It's much, much better and far more interesting than Stripped.
Justin Timberlake
1/5
Hahahahaha
This list is literally taking the piss out of me now. 2nd Christina Aguilera album in 4 days yesterday, and this today.
Can I have a normal record please?
Immaculately produced pop music without an ounce of originality. There's not really any point having this record in the book when Michael Jackson is already in it twice, Janet Jackson is in it once, and Chic is in it thrice (if you count Sister Sledge, which you should). Oh a Stevie Wonder knock off has just come on so add him to the list. Second Stevie track now. Jesus this is really something. What's the point in this record? Well yeah, $$$$, but besides that, nothing.
Cry me a river made me feel a bit queasy for some reason. Rock Your Body is the best song, though it's basically an identikit Chic style song and I think it reawakened the Rogers Kraken to take over pop along with Mark Ronson for the next 15 years.
The song Never Again is absolutely sickening, lyrically and musically, and is a fitting message to end the album with.
Christina won me over with her inventive second entry. This did not, because it's shit. It's also incredibly irritating.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Definitely an interesting album, I just don't really fall in love with Peter Gabriel albums in general. A few excellent tracks.
Games w/o Frontiers, I Don't Remember, Biko.
Manic Street Preachers
5/5
Adore this record, such a shame they only ever made one even nearly this good. Generation Terrorists easily their next best but doesn't approach this as a whole artistic achievement.
RIP Richey.
From the opening melody of Yes I'm totally drawn in and back to the first time I ever heard it. Love that this is tagged as britpop, this is NOT britpop, lol. While everything else was focused on reproducing the sound of the 60s the Manics went digging around the jagged edges of 1978-1982. And they saw that it was good.
Some lyrics probably haven't aged well, but much of this was the product of a very troubled mind so there needs to be allowances for that. A shame Nicky has turned into such a lib dem kind of guy, he used to be so cool.
The music as well, James and Sean were never this visceral, before or again.
I find it oddly summery, despite all the darkness, particularly She is Suffering, I always crave it more during hot weather, and this has come out on a gorgeous 23 degree May day.
Every song is absolutely fantastic. Just all of it. Fucking brilliant. Definitely one of my all time favourites. Immediately lost interest in the band after Everything Must Go, as far as I can tell they haven't done anything really decent apart from Masses Against the Classes after that. But they did make this, and for that I'm always grateful.
Who's responsible? They fucking were.
Orbital
5/5
As a huge Brown album convert, I could never get into this album on previous occasions. Something is happening however today, I'm really digging it. Feel like I'm waking up to this record for the first time.
Maybe it's something about the hooks, they're less obvious, insistent perhaps, but they're there. I'm loving every track in different ways. Finished very strongly as well with Are we Here and Attached. Going into rotation.
The Coral
3/5
I've tried to get into these before, a very trusted friend was into them when it came out which surprised me, because I couldn't see what set them apart from much of the indie guitar stuff of the early 00s. And to top it all I couldn't shake the feeling I'd heard it all before (to much) from Ocean Colour Scene a few years earlier. A few friends I have a regular music chat vid call with were also lauding then again recently so I gave it a spin a few months back too.
My opinion on this listen remains mostly unchanged. I guess this is just a blind spot for me.
Shadows Fall was mildly diverting. As was Simon Diamond. Goodbye is a strong 60s Byrds jangle along. I am at least understanding why my friend was so keen, and they're better than OCS.
The big single was everywhere of course, and it's fine. I like a lot of Bill Ryder-Jones work now though. A very mid 3, I guess? I don't dislike any of this, I just wouldn't choose to put it on.
Definitely the most piratey record since Adam Ant, and for that a fun listen.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
4/5
Was sure I'd listened to/discovered this in the last couple of years and was trying to figure out why. Thought it had come out already in the app.
Turns out no it was because I was reading Chronicles. Dylan loved this, and I had to agree with his assessment really.
Jake Bugg wishes he was this.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Never listened at the time. The singles are all great and hold up nicely today. That Thing being the most everywhere. The song to her son Zion Marley is also lovely, first hear of this.
The classroom bits in between almost every song are nice enough as a concept but they do preclude adding any of this to playlists.
Strangely no skit after the skippable Superstar. Dude, I wasn't going to playlist that one anyway. The D'Angelo one is fine but nothing to write home about.
Other non-single highlights - I used to Love Him. There's a blatant Stevie song (Every Ghetto) and this is fine because it's just the one and it's good.
The album is pretty consistently good and just a little overlong. A solid 4 though, I understand the praise.
Prefab Sprout
4/5
Hot dog, jumping frog, I love cookies.
The Beau Brummels
4/5
Really enjoyable and short folk/pop/psych record. Wasn't sure at first but it grew on me and gave it a second spin.
Definitely get hints of Zombies Odyssey & Oracle, Moby Grape, Dillard and Clark, all that stuff.
Alanis Morissette
5/5
Distilled 90s.
Managed to be both hugely overplayed and good, and not get old. I think basically every single westerner of a certain age owns or owned a copy of this on CD.
Managed to be both clever and dumb. And endearing.
Chock full of singles. Big fan of Head Over Feet. Contains a song called Mary Jane which, in a break from tradition, isn't about marijuana.
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
Another Dinosaur Jr album, another 5 stars. Freak Scene is just brilliant.
The Last Shadow Puppets
2/5
Some Arctic Monkeys obsessed fella had me listen to this a few years back. It's ok I guess, but I absolutely do not get this cult of Alex Turner. The debut was alright but basically everything since has been arse.
I understand this is a departure to more film soundtracky stuff but all it makes me feel is I wish I was listening to John Barry or Morricone instead.
Didn't hate it enough to give it one star, mediocre.
B.B. King
5/5
The actual blues. You can keep your blues rock, Mr White.
The Specials
5/5
Classic Specials, five stars
The United States Of America
4/5
As a huge Broadcast fan it seems I am destined to absolutely lap this up. Slightly saddened to discover they lifted huge parts of their sound from this, but damn, they were good, so that's ok. Also it appears the USA didn't decide to make a whole album like the first track, mixing it up with standard 60s acid freakouts and differently weird stuff, so Broadcast came along and filled that void beautifully.
Stop talking about Broadcast. Basically I prefer them to this but it turns out they're quite different. Second half of the album really picks up after a little bit of slackness creeps in. Where is Yesterday and Coming Down are cracking.
Overall this is a fun, mad as a box of frogs album. I can only imagine what it sounded like in 1968 when everything was kicking off left right and centre across the globe.
Pavement
5/5
The best Pavement album? Probably.
What a run of absolutely brilliant tracks.
Japan
5/5
Well ok. What a fucking record.
At times the crossover from Joy Division to synthpop, at times neither, at times both.
The influence on Duran Duran is abundantly obvious, this record is so much cooler though. I love it. Never heard it before.
By Halloween I was a little bit done with the 'Duran Duran several years before Duran Duran but without the success of Duran Duran' however things take a turn in an interesting direction once again thereafter with an exceptionally Eno/Frippian cover of the Velvets.
Yeah nothing to do with United massively unexpectedly beating City in the cup final today, but what a lovely album and what a beautiful day.
Dagmar Krause
4/5
A fascinating listen, musical theatre essentially. Very interesting. I only listened to the In Our Time episode on Brecht the other day, serendipitously. Obviously also maintained an interest through Bowie's work also.
Whitewash, Sackslingers, Bourgeois Welfare, Trenches. Striking tracks all.
It's probably necessary for me to seek out some Art Bears to get more of that voice.
Yes
3/5
I struggle with Yes (I think all my reviews of Yes so far have started with something like that). I'm struggling a bit less with this one though, can hear the influence on later bands I've enjoyed such as Flaming Lips at times, notably on We Have Heaven.
Unsurprisingly (to me) it's the shorter, more consistently structured grooves that stand out for me - Fish is excellent for example. I love prog, just don't think the British brand of it is my bag. Bring me the Germans.
A few too many abrupt left turns on the opening track for me to get into it, but later tracks like South Side I generally enjoyed.
Don't really love it (or really feel that repeat listens would engender that), enjoyable listen though.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
I think 6 Music play The Cutter at least 4 times daily in 2024.
This record starts like it's going to be mega commercial mid-80s Bunnymen then retreats from it at full speed. This just might be my favourite one. Bangers ahoy.
One of the successes of this list is it's taken me by the hand and lead me through the catalogue of this legendary band which I kinda skipped over in the 80s.
Will be giving repeat listens.
The Police
2/5
Er, the white reggae songs aren't reggae, and the punk songs aren't punk. Seems like every Police album has two good songs on it that go on to be massive, all time hits and the rest is bang average. That's when they aren't annoying. On Any Other Day. Does Everyone Stare. Absolutely mindless garbage.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
While there's definitely too much Elvis Costello on this list, this one belongs.
Oliver's Army and a song to Angela Rippon, and lots of decent tracks. Late 70s Costello is great Costello.
A few picking up on the use of "white n---" could do with picking up on the context, it's absolutely not being used as a slur against black people, but as a criticism of British imperialism's willingness to throw 'white trash' or whoever into the insatiable machinery of war. See also 'Sunday's Best' for another slur used in similar context. It's not big or clever these days, but in language, the target is always important.
Beatles
3/5
Not the record you think of particularly As a classic Beatles album, Hard Day's Night is the obvious classic of the early period.
But it's kinda necessary to include this representative of The Beatles as they find their footing. Some of the covers are exceptional.
There's a few average tracks here though for sure. Hard to rate. Obviously not a 5, probably a low 4.
Nah, forget that. Following this listen, being brutally honest it's all pretty average bar All my Lovin, Postman and Money are the covers that really pass muster, the others are just ok. Besides that it's a fun listen, but if it wasn't The Beatles this for sure wouldn't be here. Warrants a middling ranking.
Elastica
4/5
Not all the 90s britpop bands wanted to sound like Status Quo in the 70s or The Kinks in the 60s. Some went back to 1978's New Wave instead.
As someone who only really knew The Stranglers from that era at the time I found this really exciting and fresh. Throw in the 'three girls in a band' which was all too rare, and the attitude, and I was sold.
Obviously they nicked loads of this wholesale from Wire, but it's still great.
And Stutter is the best song here by a million miles, stands up today. First thing I heard of them, that video in the white room. I fell in love instantly.
The Monks
5/5
We Do Wie Du, we do we do we do
Marc Riley on 6 Music....
Yes it's ridiculous this came out in 1966, and it's ridiculously good. You very rarely find garage rock bands where the whole album is good. Cool band story too.
The 4 bonus tracks are mainly curios, although Cuckoo is great fun.
Dion
3/5
First thought was Who? Second thought was What an extraordinarily 70s record sleeve.
Then I started the album. It is indeed lush.
Some of it reminds me a little of Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue. Title track and Whole World stand out.
Some of it disappears into the background. Not bad. Solid middle score.
Second half of this link on Spotify is the following album, I stopped at track 8 here.
Michael Jackson
4/5
Obvs, nonce, yes. This is still home to some all time brilliance though. Question is does the rest hold up? Will it be the same story as Off the Wall, 60% magic, rest a bit shit?
Wanna be starting something is an absolutely irresistible pop song which remains so throughout...6 minutes? Yeah I had to double check.
I stuck Soul Makossa on immediately after - Obviously they nicked the refrain but not much else, so it works as a coda to the song.
Baby Be Mine, meh, also, very questionable key change near the end.
Always hated The Girl is Mine, it was already unfeasibly cheesy in the 80s (even before the excruciating spoken section), and Macca's contribution to Off the Wall wasn't much better.
Thriller is Thriller. I mean what can you say about it. It's silly, it's camp, it's funky, it's Halloween. Its...ALSO 6 minutes long? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. A ha ha.
Beat it kicks arse.
Billie Jean is a cracking tune, the lyric always made MJ look a disdainful, responsibility shirking dickhead though even before I really understood what was going on.
Human Nature stands as one of the very few genuinely great Jackson ballads that actually stands up in my opinion.
PYT (or, the Nonceing National Anthem) might be a banging tune but you can't really listen to it anymore. A bit like if Gary Glitter had snuck a lyric saying he loves to touch kids into Rock n Roll. (Except he didn't so that one's still ok, Joker fans)
Lady in my Life, it's another meh.
Overall, got to say pretty much the same feeling as Off the Wall, with more or less the same reservations.
Slipknot
2/5
Enjoyed Sic, Eyeless was a slog though.
Always liked Wait and Bleed. Spit it Out also stands out. Diluted, maybe. A lot of this is just sledgehammer though. Another review says this would be loads better if mixed properly and I couldn't agree more. There's some great moments in each song but I mostly just come away numbed from the onslaught and unable to pick stuff out, it's too much of an assault on the senses.
They are probably another level of heavy in terms of metal and my tastes however.
Also though I never thought Slipknot were up to SOAD or Deftones' level in terms of sheer number of good tunes, and I remain unmoved.
Would probably have got a 3 if it wasn't an hour long but it has about 5 too many tracks and I got bored before the end, a cardinal sin.
Baaba Maal
3/5
Question: why do so many people not bother to check the album's actual running time? Just doing the full Ron Burgundy and assuming if Spotify has it then it's part of the actual record.
Anyway, to this. Really didn't enjoy Lam Toro, a 90s record supposedly aimed at a white audience, a few months back. This is a different kettle of fish, far simpler production and less pissing about.
Just play your shit man, it's good. Noodles along nicely in the background.
Not outstanding, I do find myself drawn to Ali Farka Toure and the desert jazz crew who have followed in his wake to this.
Absolutely decent though. Muudo Hormo is good. Maacina Tooro. Djam Leelii
The Sonics
4/5
The Monks last week, a garage band I didn't know, The Sonics this week, a garage band I very much did.
Name-checked repeatedly in 'Losing My Edge', I sought them out, pretty sure this would be Limewire times. So one track at a time. Then a few years later they started turning up in adverts on TV. Psycho. Have Love Will Travel. Whatever else.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Etc.
Never going to be up there in the greatest recordings of all time but hell it doesn't half shake things up.
New Order
5/5
What's with all the negative reviews at the top? Very confusing, obviously a belting album. Clearly, I grew up with this record so its all mixed up in nostalgia also, however I regularly come back to it.
Shiny and poppy music contrasts with at times dark and sinister lyrics from a somewhat dented ego.
The release of Round and Round was definitely part of the proper musical awakening of 10 year old me.
Vanishing Point one of New Order's very best songs.
That high bass sound is particularly gorgeous in Love Less.
Look, it's five stars. Go away.
Coldplay
2/5
Overall, meh, probably.
Liked Shiver when it came out, didn't buy this album (or even bother to steal it off the internet, which given the ease at the time, says something), just got the impression they were just another half decent indie band. And this is an absolutely half decent 'indie' album.
Listening again 24 years later, fighting against the prejudice of the megalithic dad-rock giants they became, I'm left with exactly the same impression. Which is probably exactly why they became so massive. It's absolutely fine. And millions of people love stuff that's absolutely fine. Me, I totally zoned out partway through Trouble and never got pulled back in.
I'm reminded of Immortan Joe's disappointed snarl - "Mediocre".
Shuggie Otis
3/5
Decent. Impressive that he played everything himself and was just 21, and on his 3rd album, which is somewhat ludicrous. Then disappeared for 30 years.
Aht Uh Mi Hed did the rounds, I recognise that one. Probably got sampled in the 00s and made into a dance track.
I am however not blown away. Some tracks were just nice background stuff. Middling.
Strawberry Letter 23 is fantastic - that riff, gorgeous. However that's on Freedom Flight so perhaps we should have had that record instead...
Coldplay
1/5
Hahaha when I got Parachutes on Monday I half thought, I bet I get the other one in the same week. I only gone and have. Bit like what happened with Aguilera. She surprised me with the second effort being actually good.
So go on then, first ever listen to this. What's it like.
First track: mostly boring.
Second track: oh right, this one. Over-familiar and mostly boring. EXTREMELY reminiscent of Travis. Like 'they should pay them royalties'-level reminiscent.
Probably why I was never interested in Coldplay that much. Had already liked Travis for a bit and then got immensely bored of them. No need to do it again.
Third track. Radiohead-lite crossed with I Am the Resurrection.
Fourth track. Well ok, this one is alright. Cheap trick leaning on those minor chords, Martin.
Same trick as Fix You, their other good song. Still, not a patch on Isn't it a Pity.
Fifth track. Clocks. It's a Beautiful Day! Don't let it get away! Remember when this was the theme for The Premiership, on ITV?
Probably the song I think of most of I think of Coldplay, besides Fix You. Clearly, the U2 comparisons do not end there.
Jeez, they aren't shy this lot are they when it comes to recycling other people's ideas. And to think all the shit Elastica took just a few years earlier.
Sixth track. Uncharted territory now, don't think I'll have heard any of the next 6 tracks before. Back to Radiohead-lite for this one.
Seventh track. I have nothing to say.
Eighth track. Goes without saying I have been bored throughout, and have been keeping myself entertained by playing spot the blatant rip. Now it's got so generic and uninspiring I can't even be arsed doing that.
Ninth to eleventh track. More sub-U2 guff. Particularly Whisper. These are B-sides. Why not just end the album?
As a whole, a resounding meh. Self-evidently worse than the meh Parachutes and 15 minutes longer, so must rate accordingly. To channel Immortan Joe once again... MEDIOCRE!!
Brian Wilson
5/5
Gobsmacking to find this was removed from the book, with the amount of pure dross that's been kept in. The incorrect Rufus Wainwright record was preferred to this. Whereas this literally a piece of musical history from one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Whether you personally like it, that's an actual fact. There's such a story behind it. Probably the greatest crime the editor has committed so far, and I am over 750 albums in.
I still remember going down to visit my best friend and we went to London, and he was so obsessed with this album (or rather the unfinished record that turned into this, it was pre-2004) that he talked about almost nothing else all day.
I found it slightly annoying at the time as I wasn't well versed, but then I heard this, and the original cuts, and I understood. Ferreting around on internet message boards to find fan-compiled mixes made from the original recordings (PurpleChick was a good one, until it was finally released in 2011)
Magical.
George Michael
3/5
Yeah, fair. I was unable to listen to George Michael without prejudice growing up (I simply found him annoying as a kid and still in the phase of turning my nose up at most pop), and I took my time developing my appreciation both of soul music, and of his evidently beautiful soul. But now that's behind me, and I'm happy to realise the lad was clearly very very good.
Praying For Time is lyrically great.
Freedom 90 is excellent, if a little overlong.
The Stevie Wonder cover is really decent. I didn't realise he'd done one besides As.
Cowboys and Angels is a very pleasant Sade-esque coffee shop jazz number.
Second half of the record is less great. Heal the Pain is probably the highlight, but the cheesy production and general cheesiness of Soul Free is the obvious lowlight.
Plainly a beautiful voice. That's indisputable. He's evidently grown as a lyricist here and songwriter however.
Will I listen to it again, probably not. Is it a generally pretty good album? Yes
Love
5/5
Can I give a perfect score to an album where the first 6 songs, 18 minutes are more or less perfection, followed by one 19 minute track that's basically a mess? Albeit one with several enjoyable sections.
Probably not. Or can I? Fuck it, yes I can.
Van Morrison
5/5
I like a few Van Morrison or Them songs, but this album is all about the band. His voice helps of course. It's not even really about the songs, few of which really stand out for me, but largely because the quality is consistently very high.
It's just a really good time. What a live performance. Basically a blueprint for the 70s blues soul live experience. With a really strong finish.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
Lol I literally just finished listening to a 70s double live album many consider to be among the greatest of all time, and here's another one.
So, 70s blues guitar southern rock. Not my favourite genre. The first couple of tracks slide by without incident. Stormy Monday is a classic however, and this is the version well known.
You don't love me - hoo boy, Duane Allman was some guitarist.
Hot Lanta, reckon I would enjoy this more in isolation. We've just had a lot of great guitar noodling. Do a song now.
Aaaand the next track is a 13 minute jam. Bloody excellent though, to be fair. So ok don't expect songs, these are like Phish except good.
Whipping Post - woah, singing! I see we're in for 23 minutes, presumably they just keep singing throughout that.
Surprisingly this is not so. Yes ok well this is absolutely fantastic isn't it. Only 5 minutes in.
...Well. that was simply magnificent. All the way through. Goes straight into the 5* track playlist.
So yeah. Mixed feelings about that one. Some pure genius on display. A bit too rich in said genius to enjoy all in one go.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
Fucks sake, Trout Mask Replica was on Spotify recently and now it isn't again. Will you just make your bloody mind up???
Anyway yes, the greatest album of all time called Trout Mask Replica. Brilliantly insane.
It's fast and bulbous, get me?
I also enjoyed this:
https://alltherecords-blog.tumblr.com/post/91711139974/captain-beefheart-trout-mask-replica-1969
Iron Butterfly
3/5
Convinced this came out already, but checking my spreadsheet apparently not?!?
Anyway, on quite the run of albums in the last week or so with epic songs on them, most notably Da Capo and At Filmore East.
To the other tracks first. Enjoyable enough but unremarkable is probably the takeaway. A bit Doorsy (the distinctive organ sound is everywhere) in instrumentation, a bit Byrdsy in melody and structure.
The title track. Yeah, it's this I played and thought I'd heard the album. Because it basically IS the album. First recognised from the Simpsons. Then the Incredible Bongo Band version. Then, finally, this absolute behemoth. (Slayer also do a fun cover). Fairly rudimentary drum solos though.
Is it fair to say that were it not for this one song, noone would remember or talk about Iron Butterfly? I'm in my 40s and tbh the name of the band doesn't ring many bells, but the name of the song has serious recognition.
Even though I spent much of my youth confusing it with Sunshine of Your Love.
The Bees
2/5
Somehow missed The Bees despite hearing Chicken Payback almost everyday as a musical bed for the Mark and Lard show. Or was it Radcliffe and Maconie. Given the timeframe probably the latter. That's off the second album though.
Summery. As the album title and cover suggests. Plus an Os Mutantes cover (pointless, note for note of the original, but a great song).
I suspect had I not completely missed them at the time, this album would have fallen into the "I'm From Barcelona" bucket of records I would have played to death every summer for a few years until I got sick of it eventually and never consider playing ever again.
Revised that opinion after the songs finished about half way through in favour of pleasant, if directionless lounge noodlings for the rest. I don't dislike it but I am fairly confused as to why it's here.
OutKast
4/5
Bombs over Baghdad is a stone Cold banger. ms Jackson is good but I've heard it too much. Everything else here is ok, inventive, but I'm only really picking up my ears to the odd track.
That's until the second half, which (aside from the crass and off-putting We Love Deez Hoes) is pretty much wall to wall excellent. '?' is exceptional as an almost throwaway idea.
John Lennon
3/5
Imagine is an all timer but has lost its impact due to ubiquity.
Jealous Guy however, still never fails to raise goosebumps. Perhaps that's the power of love songs over political messages. Kind of annoying that Ocean Colour Scene nicked bits of the hook for Day we Caught the Train and consequently I am regularly reminded of that song while trying to enjoy this one.
Steering away from assessing him as a human being and focusing on enjoying the album, this is a mix of stone cold classic slow ballads, and fairly mediocre rockers. Except Gimme Some Truth. I think the first version I heard of that was a live cover by The Wonder Stuff on the b side of Caught in my Shadow.
How Do You Sleep is spiteful but pretty good, not great.
Think I'm going down the middle, half of this album is bang average, some worldies however.
Ray Price
3/5
Ah, golden oldies, the sort of thing you expect to be playing in the background of the love scene in an 80s action film, say while Mel Gibson rolls back over to be friendly with Patsy Kensit some more.
Absolutely no doubt this is really well crafted, beautifully played and sang. Also absolutely no doubt that it gets pretty samey after about three tracks and doesn't change thereafter. Individually, I'd probably really enjoy all of these tracks a lot more than hearing them all in row like this.
Night Life is the best song for me by a distance, the fact that's the closest to a classic crooner, country tinged, rather than the full on pedal steel warbling we get for the rest of the record, is probably no coincidence.
Motörhead
2/5
Ah good another chance to get skeeved out by 'Jailbait'.
The 40 minutes of the original release somehow seemed to take forever to get through.
Not really sure why this is here, Ace of Spades the album is already on the list, this is just a compilation album with shit audio. One of the greatest live albums of all time, my arse. The Telegraph talks nothing but shit, people should know better than to pay any attention to it.
The Who
2/5
Aside from the classic I Can See for Miles, easily their best song on any record, this is a record of pleasant enough late 60s pop-psych which isn't as good as the Kinks.
Better than later records by The Who? though.
Other songs here worthy of a mention - Our Love Was, bits of Rael. That's about it.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
An intriguing record.
I'm most interested in tracks like Don't Interrupt the Sorrow and The Jungle Line.
Snoop Dogg
5/5
Wasn't looking forward to this particularly, but yeah fair enough when it starts doing it's thing it's pretty irresistible. The beats are funky as hell, the flow smooth as butter.
You obviously have to suspend your sensible self at the door, because lyrically and conceptually, this is a cartoon. I mean, the cover is appropriate in that sense.
I did that, and so I enjoyed it, and let all the absolute nonsense slide on by.
Ah. Except Ain't No Fun. Yeah, another apt title. Fair enough. Feel like I need a wash even listening to that once.
I love the juxtaposition this thing throws at you sometimes. Joni Mitchell yesterday, Snoop today.
Went straight to George Clinton's Atomic Dog after this, and a fair bit of Parliamunkadelic.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
Side 1 - First track really good, followed by loads of songs I can imagine playing on Radio 2 on a Sunday in the 90s.
Side 2 - Goofy. Kind of sub-par Brian Wilson
Side 3 - 70s guitar wankery / more Radio 2
Side 4 - Overture was missing from the link but it is on Spotify. Wasn't really worth it but I guess it tells a story. I have no strong feelings about the rest of it. More guitar wankery.
The Killers
2/5
I hate The Killers. Always have, always will.
Heard it all before done better, and less irritatingly. Somebody Told Me is epitome of this.
I've got soul but I'm not a soldier isn't terrible.
ZZ Top
4/5
Yeah, much MUCH better than the 80s stuff. Straightforward authentic blues rock. Not usually my thing but I have to bow to this.
Frank Ocean
2/5
Hugely not my thing but it was nice enough while it was on in the background while playing Quadratanks with my daughter.
Probably won't listen again but I didn't dislike it to the extent I expected when the first tracks started and I recognised the genre.
Enjoyed the start with the opening Playstation 1 sounds.
Robert Wyatt
5/5
Yes.
Jeff Beck
2/5
The links this site has to Spotify are weird. The full record is up on Spotify if you just search, but the current link misses ten minutes of it.
Anyway for the most part this passed me by. Probably because of Rod Stewart but this feels very mid 70s. Which I guess as it came out in 68 makes it ahead of its time?
56 years later it doesn't feel essential anymore.
Mainly feels like a Led Zep album without any standout tunes. This might have come first but it's definitely not better.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Oof. After a run of meh, an absolute classic. Making me feel less guilty about giving that stuff 2 stars as you've got to have somewhere to go that leaves a gulf.
Also, massive kudos to the Minnesota musicians who re-recorded many of this record's highlights and really make it shine. I've heard bits of the first recordings Dylan wasn't satisfied with in December 74 and he was right not to be.
Dylan was a real cunt for not crediting them until decades later despite this.
Dexys Midnight Runners
5/5
Joyful, like all Dexys albums. But these three in particular.
Tempted to take a point off for the verses for Thankfully Not Living In Yorkshire... I mean what
But then. The brass!
Little Simz
5/5
Ah, nice choice. Little Simz is probably the best rapper about today, certainly the most interesting.
Great flow, great lyrics, great beats, tinged with soul and jazz, and dirty great bass lines.
What else do you want?
Didn't know this record but I loved Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. That's even more genre-hopping and boundary pushing than this. However this is just over half the length, real nice and concise.
Best tracks, Venom, Therapy, Flowers
Joan Armatrading
3/5
It's nice and mellow. Some great songs. It could just be that I'm dead tired after the general election and a dour France v Portugal game yesterday, but my ears aren't exactly standing on end throughout.
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
Enjoyed this, but then I'm a huge REM fan so I suppose I was always going to. Probably one of the only many bands REM mentioned that I didn't dig into at some point in the 90s.
Title track has obvious Radiohead similarities.
I'm also reminded of Red House Painters (Sun Kil Moon) in places.
Really decent mid 90s Rock/alt-country.
I will be honest though, it went a bit dangerously close to U2 occasionally, so they'll want to watch that.
Mercury Rev
5/5
Adore.
Not listened to this in full for so long but what a joy.
Mike Ladd
2/5
What the hell's this? Zero chance this survived the edit. Haha, nope.
Well Spotify said 2015 so I looked at the wrong year...
Anyway you can tell it's 2000, and you can tell it's by a producer. All pretty unremarkable 24 years on.
Bladerunners wants to be Gil Scott Heron and isn't. I most enjoyed the long track To the Moon Contractor, and realised this was because the not very good rapping was absent. The last track is a really great sound piece of itself. But after an hour I'm just tired.
Huge vibes of when you'd pick up a mystery bundle of 5 cds for a quid in that bin in Vinyl Exchange in the hope of uncovering a hidden gem but instead it would all just be stuff like this.
The Byrds
5/5
Yep, an album hugely influential on tonnes of stuff I love, whilst also being absolutely fantastic itself.
Barry Adamson
3/5
I was hoping this would be better than Oedipus Schmoedipus, which was ok but very 90s. This is very similar indeed.
It's definitely better, and another curio. One to return to though? Not sure, unlikely.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
My favourite Led Zep album hands down. Just every track is great. Friends is awesome. Since I Been Loving You is epic. Out on the Tiles has one (or three?) of Page's best ever riffs and enjoyable time signature which bounces about. The acoustic side is glorious. Tangerine and Bron-Yr-aur in particular.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
Sigh. At least it's back on Spotify for ease.
An hour of straight ahead country tinged rock.
"Ragged Glory was voted the 36th best grunge album of all time by Rolling Stone in 2019"
What a claim!
How many genuinely good grunge albums are there? I don't think there's 35. And I liked grunge.
Things I like about it:
The first couple of tracks.
The backing vocals. The laying down of a groove and going places with it. The solos are good. Some of them.
Yeah I guess it kind of IS a grunge album!
The first 3 or so minutes of Love and Only Love.
Things I don't like:
The grooves/songs themselves aren't very interesting.
The last 7 minutes of Love and Only Love.
I know Farmer John from that garage cover by The Premiers. Thats a banger. This version, is not, and really brings home the desire for a concise kicking tune.
I don't think I noticed how bad the drummer was until this album.
By Love to Burn things are really starting to sound the same over and over.
Deep Purple
3/5
I think all the best tunes are on Machine Head.
Some good riffage for sure, maybe it's cause I'm getting older, or it's a Sunday morning, burning just wasn't feeling this one today.
Child in Time was nice and epic.
Flight of the Rat however I kept thinking had changed to a different song then it came back to the 'chorus'.
The album finished and moved onto other stuff with me only just noticing, not a good sign. So yeah, nothing bad, nothing earth shattering.
Elvis Presley
2/5
Average
TV On The Radio
5/5
Love the sudden tempo change in Halfway Home, the whole mood shifts with it, on its axis. Remember it way back when it was the theme to Skins with Nicholas Hoult. Didn't watch it, just loved the theme.
Oh and iTunes gave it away as a song back when they did that sort of thing, and anyone still used it.
Anyway yeah I really like the whole record. Several songs just make me break out into a grin. Particularly Love Dog
I see I inexplicably gave the other TV album 4* despite a mediocre review. Hey, my rating is inconsistent as hell. I can't give this 5 stars just because I like it. However every song is different, and memorable in some way, despite most not being on recall if I'm not listening to the song. Which in a way keeps them fresh.
Fuck it, 5 stars.
Ramones
4/5
Ramones
Ryan Adams
2/5
Meh. If I want to listen to Van Morrison, I'll go listen to Van Morrison.
Look everyone knows the guys is a horrendous cunt, so let's leave that to one side. The music is well played etc.
The one with Emmylou Harris is alright.
The album is probably better than Gold, the banality of which made me actually angry.
This one doesn't provoke a similarly visceral response, I tuned out more or less completely around halfway through and ultimately this gets a more banal score as a result.
The Youngbloods
3/5
The 'Everybody Get Together' people (from the start of Territorial Pissings, you know the one).
I liked the first track.
Not sure what On Sir Francis Drake was about, a meandering, sometimes jazzy number that never quite figures out what it is, not unpleasant however.
What IS that suspicious red mound in the foreground? Is it elephant dung? What the hell has it been eating?
Yeah this is alright. Nothing outstanding but nothing poor. Well, Beautiful is a little bit arse.
Metallica
2/5
The Black Album. Ok. Yeah will Metallica finally break the 3 ceiling? Or will it be another boring album with the occasional banger. This has Sandman on it. Sad But True is alright. Holier Than Thou is boring as fuck. The Unforgiven is melodic and alright.
This is an hour long and I need to mow the lawn before it rains.
Wherever I May Roam is a good recognisable riff but I'm bored. Don't Tread on Me is another boring one sans good riff. When is Nothing Else Matters on? Next track completely forgettable.
Ah good here we go, a decent song. Maybe they've saved all the good ones for the end?
Oh, it's finished. Without another notable song. Well, Misery was ok. 2 great songs and 4 alright ones in total. This is worse than Justice for all.
The Avalanches
3/5
Not heard this for donkeys. It's well done for sure, really decent record to just bang on in the background and not think about it while you get on with something active.
The title track is the best thing here by a distance, the rest is entertaining enough, but it's definitely a bit repetitive in places (Flight Tonight is about 3 and a half minutes too long). A lot of it kinda slipped by until Frontier Psychiatrist, which grabs your attention again but definitely is on the novelty record end of the scale.
The rest of the record after this slips by just as before, at one point near the end when the Madonna bassline rolled by again I thought it had looped back to the start.
Good for audio wallpaper, but not good for music you want to actually listen and engage with.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr and shine. You wore out your welcome with random precision.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, you painter, you piper and shine.
The Wall might be awful, but Post-Syd Floyd also did this.
I couldn't pick any of the other songs out of a line up, but half the record is Shine, so...
David Holmes
2/5
On a pretty poor run, it's been nearly a week since something really decent got chucked my way. So I've been listening to Chapelle Roan and Beth Gibbons on repeat instead.
Gave this a bit of time in the 00s, when I was breakbeat mad. It didn't take then, so it's definitely not going to take now.
Aside from the serge Gainsbourg sample (and I prefer the originals) this is all pretty beige. The gulf in what's going on here and what DJ Shadow managed to achieve is enormous.
Britney Spears
1/5
Please, enough with the 90s pop, I am so done with it. Decent pop music is so much better in the 2020s. It does makes sense that every single 90s bubblegum pop entry hasn't survived the cull in the book. Truly great pop transcends the immediacy of the medium, and well, besides that one song, this definitely doesn't. Some of it even sounds like it could have been made in the 80s/early 90s so was tired even on release.
Oh yeah, Born to Make You Happy. That's not bad I guess. Soda Pop though, oh my god. The Beat Goes On is obviously the best song, but there are far better versions.
One last thing. Even though the lyrics are Oh Baby baby, she clearly sings Oh Babem Baben. Always narked me, that.
Elvis Presley
2/5
I mean after Blue Suede Shoes we're left with a bunch of covers that feel pretty unremarkable. Most of which I don't know the originals so can't pass comment, but the ones I do, are far superior. Blue Suede Shoes is probably above this problem as Elvis's version is so well known. Also it's not mildly tainted I guess because you can't say that one was whitewashed being it was wrote by Carl Perkins. Strange not to include Heartbreak Hotel as well since this also bucks the trend.
Tutti Frutti and I Got a Woman though, get out of here. And Blue Moon is just weird, it feels like everyone involved in recording it is falling asleep.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
Ooh. Ok. Finally something interesting after 7 straight days of mediocrity.
First off, the title theme sounds a lot like music I was listening to in the late 90s/early 00s when I was on this kick, but also the culture was looking closely at this sort of stuff. Not least Cornershop obviously.
A mix of kitsch cuckooing and more pure Bollywood soundtracking. I would have dug this to fuck back then. And I still do now. It's going straight in my 'must remember this' playlist.
Deep Purple
3/5
Oh thank god I can stop after disc one. Considering disc 2 seems to be the same song three times that's a blessing.
Why do I never get long love albums when I'm working?
Anyway it's enjoyable enough so far. Probably better than the studio recordings I heard recently on Machine Head and were fairly meh. Plus this has got Highway Star on it.
Overall enjoyed well enough, running through town just in time to miss that train. Stopped after Speed King (1), that was plenty. Forgot black night, that's a good song.
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
Groaned when I saw this, halfway through, to be fair it's more enjoyable than I was expecting, but it's not going into rotation!
Sign Your Name is annoying, Wishing Well is catchy alright.
Terence (or Sananda, or whatever) can sing alright, but I don't want to listen to it thanks, I wanted it to end 15 minutes before it did.
The Replacements
5/5
Love this, and Tim possibly even more so.
Androgynous is wonderful.
So much similarity with Cobain in the voice.
Supergrass
5/5
Delighted this came up on a day I need to drive to work and it's 37 degrees and July.
I even enjoyed the hideously overplayed Alright on this go around.
Just ever so slightly front-loaded with choons, but I adore sofa of my lethargy.
The answer to 'Who is better, Blur or Oasis?' was always Pulp, Suede or Supergrass
Erykah Badu
3/5
First track got me interested , nice and funky, but the next few were competent if not exceptional r n b.
Zero recognition of any of these songs, I thought she was a chart-botherer?
Enjoyed Orange Moon and AD 2000, sunny slices of soul.
Overall, decent enough listen, glad I heard it, will probably just stick to Come to my Garden though.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Really not sure three CCR albums were necessary. 2 albums by the same band from the same year of release in this list seems crazy.
Each album undoubtedly includes a couple of crackers though. And, well, they're always consistently good.
Also another excellent thing to pop out when it's far too hot.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
5/5
Fantastic, singular record. Nothing sounds like it.
Especially some of that chainsaw feedback stuff like In a Hole and Never Understand. The latter almost takes off the runway in the second half.
Definitely not for everyone. But it is for me.
Ghostface Killah
4/5
First reaction to a mid 00s rap album that's almost definitely over an hour long is usually oh no. Then I remember Ghostface is Wu Tang so I hope it's going to a funky, well produced and fun album that rewards close listening.
And this is!
The Champ is an absolute banger.
Record goes a bit uncomfy with the 'humour' in the middle but it's still exquisitely produced lol.
Ah yeah, Be Easy, remember this one. Similar vibe to The Champ, just pure fun.
Dennis Wilson
5/5
River Song is truly a monstrous joy bomb.
This is just a great album. And I only discovered it in my early 30s I think, despite growing up reading music papers and magazines all the time. So I can only infer this went criminally under-mentioned in the 90s. Mojo probably rescued a lot of albums from this crime.
The brass in Dreamer is fabulous.
Look it's just all great. Even the weaker tracks maintain the hot and hazy mood. Goes a bit Peter Gabriel on Thoughts of You but it's still great. Time is gorgeous, and sad. Before it explodes into brilliance.
Farewell My Friend, sigh. Rainbows just another example. Would really stand out in another album but here it's surrounded by so much beauty.
Other standouts from the extra tracks and the unfinished Bambu - Album Tag Song, Tug of Love, 2nd half of Its not too late, and Love Remember Me. School Girl is a banger and lyrically wrong as fuck.
4/5
The thing with all these garage bands is they all have one, maybe two, cracking tracks. I don't think a single one of them has an album's worth of material that stands up. They're all fun though. And MC5 are obviously wild and Kick out the jams motherfuckers is an all timer. The motherfuckers appears to have been airbrushed off Spotify.
The rest is kind of a historical artifact, the lyrics, and well, the rage, is definitely a window on the times. But I don't necessarily want to listen to it.
I'm listening to this on a day where the far right knuckle draggers have been causing chaos rioting and looting around the North (oh and throwing bricks at eachother's testicles) after the Southport child murders. So it feels apt. That similar energy is in the air, for entirely stupid reasons, but it's there.
Chicago
4/5
Well, Introduction is pretty jazzy, not what I was expecting from a band I've basically lumped in with Toto and Journey in my head - soft rock giants responsible for one or two bona fide bangers but who I'd never ever consider listening to an album by.
I stuck You're the Inspiration, If You Leave Me Now (the latter, hell yeah) and Hard to Say I'm Sorry on after introduction because I had to remind myself who they were.
Seems they've been on quite the journey, pun intended.
Really enjoyable. Beginnings.
Oh so the massive guitar solo in Poem 58 isn't the massive guitar solo that people were complaining about haha. Oh no mate, sorry you couldn't get that lawn mower started.
All told as a record, a touch too much guitar wankery for me to come back to wholly. I love a 15 minute track generally more than the next man, but it's got to go somewhere. Some great tracks though. 3.5?
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Since I discovered Want One was so wonderful, I have been disappointed that Want Two wasn't anything like of a piece in terms of quality. In fact I used to think this was ass by comparison. I probably still stand by that, but I definitely enjoyed this one more this time around so wouldn't say it's a bad album.
These are definitely both Rufus' most Divine Comedy albums however, and that's why I like them and don't really have time for any of his other stuff.
I don't come back to this one.
This time though I really enjoyed Agnus Dei, sumptuous. And The One You Love an unexpected immediate change of style which crept into my brain as it went along.
Then the record's momentum just kind of, meanders off. The Art Teacher and Hometown Waltz pick up in terms of lyrical content, but nothing is standing up to the outstanding tunes of Want One. And the last track just seems slightly off-tune throughout the first half. Anohni is obviously in really good voice.
Madness
2/5
Conflicted. Grew up with Madness, one of the earliest bands I paid attention to. But can't fight the feeling the best Madness album is "the best of Madness" or whatever. You don't often think of Madness album tracks do you. Plus I kind of feel oddly racist listening to this lol. It does feel Brexitty. It also feels oddly thin, listening in 2024. I do enjoy the oddly melancholy sound to many of the tracks.
Album gets seriously flabby towards the end.
Joanna Newsom
5/5
I did really like this album, but because all her stuff isn't on any streaming service and the move away from any physical music in my house I don't hear it very often.
Can't even stream the files on my phone to my Sonos anymore, it's mental.
So considering I spent half the time listening to this on headphones dicking around trying to actually put it to my (non-bluetooth Sonos) speakers, and still enjoyed it thoroughly, has to be top marks. Absolutely gorgeous.
I would listen to her stuff much much more if it wasn't such a ball-ache.
I do find it hilarious how much Van-Dyke Parks appears to love that boingy boingy effect. It's all over Smile and it pops up here incongruously multiple times as well.
Brian Eno
5/5
Has taken me years to wrest this back from it's pigeonhole of 'music we put on constantly 13 years ago in desperate bids to get the baby to sleep.' Same as Satie's Gymnopedies.
Perhaps it's the familiarity of those liminal evenings between sleep and waking that this music brings to me, that makes it so easy to just drift off inwardly when this music is played. Particularly 1/1 and 2/2.
I could not disagree more strongly with the idea that this is background music. It's music to get lost in, swim around in, go on journeys inside your own head.
I sometimes wonder if people who don't appear to appreciate that aspect to this music simply aren't that introspective. That might be harsh but if it's true it's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm sometimes jealous of that as it probably provides a much tougher exterior to the world around you, bad things must simply bounce off your psyche without you noticing.
But on the other hand, yes, you can drift in and out of it and use it as a backdrop to get into a flow state while working.
So it's simultaneously absolutely not background music and definitely is background music.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
Wow what a great 'getting ready to go out' record to stick on. Plus a song about skateboarding. And it's got a Nintendo DS on the cover.
Nothing but vague name recognition from me here. Where's he gone? Feels like a name I've not heard in ten years.
Well almost every song here just breezes along.
Ohhh. Daydreaming! Of course I remember this. Great sample. And yeah this makes total sense that its off this album.
Great lyrics on Hurt Me Soul, love a decent rapper sets out philosophy song. American Terrorist too, although that one is a little on the nose.
Album is just a bit overlong, even before the extended outro, otherwise this would be getting full marks. He could at least have changed up the backing track once every few minutes.
David Bowie
5/5
A serious contender for my favourite Bowie album. The only blemish being the inclusion of the lacklustre Across the Universe cover (Bowie loves doing a cover of a 60s band and making it shit - see Let's Spend the Night Together and God Only Knows) and worse, the exclusion of the earth-shatteringly great Who Can I Be Now, one of his greatest ever songs.
The backers are the stars here. What an album. What a band. Bowie is the best at almost always having the right people around him. I guess if you don't like sax you won't like this, but I don't know what to say to you.
Right is so low key brilliant. Somebody Up There Likes Me is high key brilliant. So is Win.
Buck Owens
2/5
I absolutely couldn't hang with the honky tonk tracks.
But the slow, slide guitar of Let the Sad Times Roll on is classic. Also he wrote Streets of Laredo. Oh no, what the hell is this version.
This is definitely music to listen to one song of. More than 3 tracks and I automatically tune out. That's when I'm not being annoyed by the rinky dink ones.
Best tracks, Sad Times and Act Naturally.
Leftfield
5/5
Nearly 30 years old, this. Which means it's the same distance in time from now as The Beatles' Revolver was from it when it was released.
I'm probably over-familiar with the singles but the album tracks stand up today. Melt in particular. Original I always liked, besides having quite the crush on Toni Holliday out of Curve. Space Shanty is excellent, what are you talking about?
Sure, some of the production and style is showing its age (shout out to the ragamuffins), but it's still great to listen to.
The soundtrack to my uni days for sure. Rhythm and Stealth is probably just as good.
Blue Cheer
2/5
This didn't make it onto the Garage band compilations I was listening to in the early 00s. Plus I already have Guitar Wolf's ridiculously loud cover of Summertime Blues. But whereas that's balls to the wall silliness, this is more chunky and slow, not in a bad way.
The next cover, (presumably BB King?) is chunky blues rock, not my bag.
None of the originals really stand out. It's garage rock so it's entertaining enough but basically ephemeral.
Os Mutantes
4/5
Yes, all the best songs here are covers, yes, they're all written by Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben Jor and Gilberto Gil. But who cares when they are this good? I had The Bees a few weeks back with their inferior version of A Minha Menina, this 'original' is simply streets ahead.
I love Astrid Gilberto's version of Baby but this is almost as good in all it's wonky glory. I am pretty sure they also recorded a different, gentler, version with Rita Lee on the vocal, which I prefer (yes they did, in English - in 1971 - not sure I prefer it now but it's still nice).
Panis Et Circenses (Bread and Circuses - check the cutting lyrics in English, great) is gloriously mental.
Happy to have discovered this in the 90s and now I can look back and recognise that the other weird shit I was listening to at the time like Gorkys Zygotic Mynci was basically Os Mutantes in Welsh.
I don't love everything here, sometimes it's a bit TOO psych, at the expense of, you know, a tune, but it's a fundamentally good time all the same.
Great timing as well. I went to see Marcos Valle live last night. He's 80, and he was fucking brilliant. I love it when this app throws out a serendipity album.
Pere Ubu
4/5
Yeah the feedback scream at the start of Non-Alignment Pact was just what I needed on a Saturday morning with a hangover after the first game of the season.
It's a good tune though when it starts.
Pere Ubu fall into the category of I'm glad they exist to push boundaries, but I don't really listen to them.
You know what though, I really enjoyed this.
Mj Cole
1/5
Got to love an album that's not in the book, you've never heard of either it or the artist, and noone cared enough about to write anything of substance on Wikipedia.
Oh and it's UK garage. Amazing. In this instance, when I recognise a song it makes it worse (hi, Crazy Love) because I hated UK garage.
Sincere is ok I guess, never needed to hear it again though. Turned the down after about 4 tracks, nothing to see here.
Those committed to the project can obviously quit after disc 1 (alarming numbers of people consistently fail to understand the concept of bonus tracks) but the album is still over an hour long.
Worst track, Slum King
Kanye West
2/5
Every time a Kanye album comes up I'm now expecting to enjoy it more than I expected.
This started the same way, fascinating audio, inventive production, but seriously drifted off halfway through and really hit the bricks on I'm In It. Blood on the Leaves doesn't land for me, a waste of the Nina sample. I do not like the autotune gubbins. Is he responsible for that whole movement of tuneless autotuned rambling hip hop that my neighbours insist on playing?
That's a serious misdemeanor.
Bound 2 is ok but it doesn't recapture the unexpected joy I found in his earlier albums' excellent sampling of old soul records.
Ultimately, it starts off abrasive and interesting but gets oddly boring for me.
Pixies
5/5
The first and best Pixies album. Never gets old.
Gigantic surely the greatest ever song written about a bloke with a big willy.
Fantastically rough and ready.
RIP Steve Albini.
Stereo MC's
1/5
Hahahaha hahahaha hahaha hahahaha
Rapper? Hip hop? No. Incorrect. They were kind of a shitter Happy Mondays weren't they?
Did reasonably enjoy Ground Level because it wasn't one of the two songs that were played to annihilation everywhere. 42s in town would play one of the two without fail every single Friday night. They probably still do.
I've heard worse records, and there's about 4 too many songs, but mainly why the hell am I listening to Stereo MCs in 2024.
Digital Underground
3/5
This app is trolling me. This the day after Stereo MCs. I swear this was planned.
Ok I may have overreacted based on the cover. This could actually be fun. Yes there is definitely a Fresh Prince vibe, that cannot be denied. Loads of Clinton.
No period of culture has dated more than the early 90s, and this isn't an exception, but it's an enjoyable little bout of nostalgia.
Added a couple of tracks, but some was just bad, the title track is sub-Prince rnb which I have no idea why they dragged out for over 7 minutes.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Yep, already like this, got it at the time.
Provided a foundation for enjoying other stuff like Tinariwen and Mdou Moctar down the line.
Proper chilled, yet complex blues. Nothing particularly stands out (maybe Machengoidi?) but it's all good.
I left on recommendations based on this all afternoon.
Rod Stewart
2/5
Some of this is good. I'll never play it again mind.
David Bowie
5/5
Pretty wonderful throughout. Mike Garson's bonkers discordant keys. The sax. Mick Ronson. The glam rock, the Motown, the bum note Stones cover we have to mention, the actual record cover. It's a crash course for the ravers. Time, he flexes like a whore, falls wanking to the floor, his trick is you and me, boy.
Jean Genie is massively overplayed, but I won't let that spoil it, and finishing the album eerily with Lady Grinning Soul is genius.
Air
5/5
I feel like I'm throwing out the 5* ratings too easily, but if this will keep throwing albums at me which I played to death, then that's going to keep happening.
I never realised the opener was 7 minutes long, because you just don't want it to end.
Tori Amos
4/5
Great piano, great voice. Yeah yeah, very Kate Bush. Yes, Joni Mitchell. Sure. Great though. And she has her own voice. Influential in turn on people like Fiona Apple.
For ages only really knew Cornflake Girl, the real shit is here. Always found her fascinating in the music press even though I knew little of her work then.
I love that she is an inspiration for Delirium in The Sandman.
Precious Things is epic, a song I only knew for the Sasha + Digweed remix on Northern Exposure which worked SO well. Those high keys and that cry.
Many songs here really develop, swirl and crash to and fro like tidal waves.
Kings of Leon
1/5
Three! Three entries! All gone from the book but no excuse for keep including them in the first place.
This one sounds not like the shit Strokes, and instead sounds like Lenny Kravitz, but shit.
I have to begrudgingly admit that Sex on Fire is a well crafted rock/pop song, as is Use Somebody, but it won't stop me hating it.
Fuck me, his voice is annoying.
King Crimson
5/5
What a monster.
I love the proggy excess with the chunky riffs and blasting brass, and I love the pastoral flute-drenched chill out songs.
Epitaph is epic enough to theme the third act in a spaghetti western.
There is a bit too much bibbly bobby boo in Moonchild, that's certain, but all else is gold.
Court of the Crimson King is just fucking magnificent.
This is what I wanted from Pink Floyd post-Barrett I think.
Turbonegro
3/5
Erm what. The write up makes this sound fucking atrocious. "Norway's sassiest rent boys"? "All six members play their gay roles with Nordic solemnity".
It was Pride last weekend, I feel like I shouldn't be listening to this right now.
Taking stock, I was heavily into Pink Grease around this time, who were probably doing similar stuff with a more glam and less rock sound than this.
So the music itself, it's foot tapping no doubt. I'm definitely bringing The Darkness to mind, and this is better than that (perhaps without one outstanding song), and definitely as silly.
Obviously its impossible to take a song like Rendezvous with Anus seriously, even though it's delivered straight.
It's played well and well produced. Not something to pay huge attention to, a record to stick on while getting ready to go out as a teenager, not really for me anymore!
Overall, it's not bad. Absolutely not bad.
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
To'd and Fro'd on this one a lot, it's either a high 3 or low 4.
Debonair still sounds great all these years later, dark and funky, with a great growl along chorus.
I Keep Coming Back is gorgeous and chilled, a song I never knew until Zaph Mann used it for his extra bit on his radio show/pod.
Stuff I discovered I liked on this listen, When we two Parted is another in a similar chilled vibe, and Fountain and Fairfax probably the best of the rest of the rockers.
What holds me back from loving it is it's a little samey in places and his wailing style does get a little testing over the course of the record.
Decent, though.
Joy Division
4/5
Similar to Unknown Pleasures, I feel about the same. Definitely a whole vibe. The songs are all pretty captivating, without really jumping out and begging to be added to a playlist. But that's not the point.
The synths here mean there's definitely a Kraftwerk feel to some of the tracks. I like the observation that they had already started to sound like early New Order at this point.
Finishes really strong with the last three songs.
Green Day
4/5
Not as good as Kerplunk and with more filler, but still decent. Perfectly timed for 15-year old me. The best songs are brilliant,
Longview, FOD and Welcome to Paradise in particular (although that is already on Kerplunk).
Listening back it's pretty clear they were already starting to run out of tunes at the point they signed for a major, which is a real shame, but there's at least 5 songs here that should have been b-sides only, Sassafras Roots the most obvious.
Can't bring myself to rate it lower than a 4 though, partly for nostalgia but also on merit due to the serious bangers spread across the record.
Anthems for bored teenagers in suburbia, and the last good Green Day record. I mean yeah it basically is The Ramones.
Putting Kerplunk on immediately afterwards for a proper good time throughout.
The Strokes
5/5
Done this one haven't I? Oh well, it's a great record.
Well worthy of the hype and title of easily one of the greatest debuts of all time. Probably matched by the disappointment of nearly everything that followed it, aside from the odd banger.
Is it fair to say that Television (who they sound a lot like) only had one brilliant album also.
Can't be arsed writing much but everyone already knows this is a great album and so do I.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
2/5
I might have loved this in the 80s or early 90s, having missed it then it sort of just comes across as average indie-schmindie, arch witterings. Patience sounded like bad ABC.
Not as good as either the Smiths or The The, so essentially, I am absolutely sorted for this sort of thing, thanks very much.
Tricky
3/5
Pretty massive in 1995. An album from the Karmacoma guy, yeah ok, thought little me. I really liked Black Steel. Had no idea about
the Public Enemy connection but enjoyed the guitars. Ponderosa decent too.
I do not remember him using the same Isaac Hayes sample Portishead used. Unfortunately for Tricky I can only hear Glory Box throughout.
Pumpkin is pretty ace with a sickly sweet uncertain vibe. Aftermath, oh yeah, this song was huge! It's going on the late night playlist for sure.
Abbaon Fat Tracks - what the fuck are these lyrics haha, I can't believe my teenage friends didn't bring this to my attention, much childish humour could have been had.
I liked it ok when it came out, never stuck with me like Massive Attack or Portishead did, and I feel the same now.
Album goes on two tracks two long for sure.
The Divine Comedy
4/5
I love Divine Comedy but this is a really odd 2nd pick, it's not that different to Casanova and not as strong throughout. One of my least favourite DC albums actually. Of course, I still like it. Should have included Fin de Siecle or Regeneration. Or even Absent Friends.
Only really In Pursuit of Happiness (remember when that was the new theme to Tomorrow's World?) and Timewatching (which is an old song anyway) stand out.
I do like how If takes a horrendously sinister turn at the end.
All these one star reviews though, what do you people want?
808 State
4/5
Consistently high quality, and Pacific is (still) one of the greatest dance records ever made.
Donkey Doctor is probably the next most banging.
Aciiiiid. Peep peep.
Kate Bush
3/5
I like Kate Bush, and there's some wonderful songs here, however 3-4 tracks in I'm already thinking, change it up Kate. This record does suffer for that overly echoey late 80s production on every track.
Conversely, This Woman's Work is possibly her best ever song, certainly in the top 3. That horrible 80s drum sound hugely notable by it's absence.
Kid Rock
1/5
Ahahaha, it had to happen, and lo, 'tis today.
Possibly even funnier is the review assuming most people who think this is awful are American Redditors - as in you have to have already had your head turned to not want to claw your ears off when subjected to this. I try really hard to be objective when it comes to music but seriously, this is just trash music. I listened all the way to the end and it was consistently shit. Worse than that Limp Bizkit one. Cannot understand anyone other than 14 year old boys liking this.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Frankie-mania is difficult to overstate. I was barely old enough to be conscious of their brief impact on the culture but it was still extremely evident years later. Enough for me to be fully aware.
There was a bloody computer game made of this on the ZX Spectrum. A computer game, about a band! The 80s is absolutely the most crazed decade to have ever existed.
I had no idea anal sex involved laser beams. Must try it sometime.
Also Holly sounds uncannily like Seth Rollins doing his daft laugh at the end of the title track. The covers here are certainly random. Apart from War, they should all have been dropped.
Overall an enjoyable listen, but really only those massive and deserved hits stand out. So it's an average score for me.
Dolly Parton
3/5
Lovely little album, doesn't outstay its welcome, is pretty samey it must be said.
Antony and the Johnsons
3/5
Amusing to get this the day after Dolly Parton. It's vibrato week!
Also, a week that started with Kid Rock has since that low point been exclusively queer icons.
Been aware of their work obvs since this won the Mercury but never really listened to it. Someone included the first track in their playlist in our playlist group a few months back and I really enjoyed it, particularly how it went slightly batshit on the piano midway through.
Goes into the 'yeah very nice, not hugely my thing but definitely enjoyable' camp I think.
Also, if you're being crass, some enjoyment can be found in the album title and the fact that Anohni is a bird now.
The Doors
3/5
Strange Days is a better Doors album, why isn't that here. I was regularly told Morrison Hotel was the best Doors record in the 90s, but back then they also said Sgt Peppers was the best Beatles album. I never really understood either argument. So they were already good at extolling flagrantly untrue things way back then.
Waiting For The Sun is the best song here by a million miles, and still sounds fantastic. As does Peace Frog to be fair. Reminds me that the album Waiting For The Sun is also better than this.
What follows is never bad, but it doesn't linger in the memory, like the good stuff.
Genuinely, with The Doors I think all you really need is the debut, Strange Days and then Best of the Doors.
The Cramps
5/5
Absolutely love The Cramps. Everybody should. Distilled rock n roll chaos.
Met my beloved after she'd been to see them and she excitedly told me about seeing Lux's bare arse. I showed her this record this afternoon and she got shivers so it had quite the impact.
The riffs in I Was A Teenage Werewolf are ABSOLUTELY FILTHY and I love it.
Lux yelps like he's insane and I love it. And noone even said "Thanks"(!!!)
There probably isn't a perfect Cramps album but they're all good and contain 2 or 3 stone cold bangers (Sunglasses After Dark here), and this one is popular.
Resurgence in popularity thanks to Wednesday, I really hope Ivy is rolling royalty cheques now.
Nina Simone
5/5
Nina left us so much. god bless you, Nina. Literally a force of nature.
Not really the sort of artist I think of for albums, but this is beautiful throughout. Such range, and it flows so well. Also one or two great songs I didn't know.
James Brown
4/5
Just loads of fun at a breakneck pace.
I got a little bored during 10 minutes of Lost Someone.
The Night Train is the main memorable song, a banger, the rest is a good time, can't complain.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
Everybody be cool this is a robbery!
Found them slightly annoying at the time but
I did quite like the two good songs you heard everywhere. I never bothered to seek out the album but my friends liked it. Several tracks sound like Odelay-era Beck. Aside from the two good songs. I also enjoyed Smoke em if you got em. I never liked King of New York. All the time in the world cover - erm..yeah.
I look back upon them fondly now I guess, and I like Huey's 6 music show. Better than Stereo MCs anyway.
As far as music that fully lived and died in the 90s, this is pretty good!
Suede
5/5
Well it's one of my favourite albums of all time, so...
A bit shit that the journo in the book thinks Richard Oakes just turned up and made this, Suede's greatest achievement. I like the guy fine and he's clearly a capable guitarist and coped admirably on the supporting tour, but famously much of this record was Bernard Butler's baby, and had already been recorded before baby Oakes joined.
Brett's vocals are way outside of my range, but that isn't going to stop me from wailing away tunelessly along to We are the Pigs, Heroin, The Wild Ones, New Generation and all the rest. I can just about hang on with the last two.
I enjoyed all that thoroughly, and The Asphalt World is stratospheric, probably opening the door for my young ears to eventually accept and grow to love prog. Plus this Divine Comedy loving kid obviously loves the gloriously overblown Still Life.
Just a wonderful record.
Shout out to Stay Together - a non-album single but another of their best songs, which basically heralded that this album was going to be special. Also Sci-Fi Lullabies, the greatest ever compilation of B-sides, which sounds like a shit accolade, but seriously, it is so good and demonstrates what a hot streak the band were on around this time.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Jimi's album of exclusively bangers.
Spotify has the US version, whereas I am more used to the UK running order.
Got to say the US one works so much better. Red House, Remember and Can You See Me are by no means bad songs, but well, Purple Haze, Hey Joe and the Wind Cries Mary. I mean need I say more. Not just that but it simply flows, waxing and waning at the right time. The UK version has one too many noodley-woodley songs in a row instead of interspersing them with punchy snatches of rock, which has the effect of elevating both.
The US cover art is miles better also.
Sequencing is important!
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
One of a couple out of the 7 or 8 Elvis Costello records I have zero issues with being in the book.
Brilliant.
The Who
4/5
Yeah ok, like a 60s Rolling Stones album except I only know one of the tunes.
Which probably makes it the best Who album on here.
Oh yeah, The Kids Are Alright is here too. It's all good. Can't Explain from this era also. Basically the only period of The Who I like aside from one or two later songs.
Merle Haggard
2/5
Yep, really good, class old country. Can't pick any holes in this at all.
Probably won't ever listen to it again.
The Smiths
4/5
The Smiths record I listened to the least, and so the one that's stayed a little fresh. Also The Smiths record that the hipsters claim is the best, probably because it has the fewest universally recognisable songs on it.
By God though, it's the one where Andy Rourke's bass stands out the most.
Obviously on the fantastic Barbarism Begins at Home, but The Headmasters Ritual kicks off with a pretty decent lesson to any budding four string wanker.
There are a couple of weaker songs here, What She Said feels throwaway. However the second side is all gold. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore starts off well enough but absolutely blossoms after a minute or so. And the album doesn't let up from there.
Stan Getz
4/5
Thought I'd already done this one but it turns out the album art is almost exactly like the one with Charlie Byrd. Ah, another piece from Olga Abizu, makes sense.
I think I prefer the Jazz Samba version of Desafinado. Astrud Gilberto here is a wonderful addition of course.
Def Leppard
2/5
This list is going to incorrectly come away with the assumption I don't like metal.
So quintessentially 80s, this. Animal and the chorus of Pour Some Sugar on Me obviously bring back memories and they are still good. The rest is also silly, but doesn't have those delicious hooks. Rocket and Women appear to be more or less the same song, I enjoyed bits of Gods of War, but for a record with supposedly 5 other singles and which was absolutely massive I was surprised how little else stood out.
Daft and fun, no doubt, I have Korn next which I have a feeling one hour of this is going to be more tolerable overall. Can I conceive of ever listening to this as an album again though (the benchmark for an average score)? Absolutely not.
Korn
1/5
boom na na oom na na inna
boom na na oom na na inna
boom na na oom na na inna
boom na na oom na na inna
boom na na oom na na inna-
...GO!
(Jilly's Rockworld explodes into a mass of bouncing hair)
Why is there no Deftones on this list?
There actually were some good nu-metal albums (White Pony) but I'm only being handed ones with a couple of good tracks.
Exhibit 108 of stop giving me crummy metal albums that artificially deflate my metal average.
Oh dear god All in the Family is absolutely fucking terrible. Was going with 2 but due to both that and 67 minutes it's going down.
Ride
5/5
Shoegaze, Ride's debut. Yep, well done boys, good process.
The fast, Byrdsy ones are great but the gorgeous ones are the slowest. In a Different Place. Dreams Burn Down is an absolute monster.
This is late night music.
If we stop after the delicious Vapour Trail (the original end point) there is not a single track less than great, so I'm rating it thusly.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
My brother absolutely adores this album. I love some of it.
Bridge.. Of course starts off so gentle, but builds so brilliantly that it's never overblown while sounding epic.
I love the beginning of El Condor Pasa as it now immediately makes me think of the DJ Shadow song which sampled it.
I can't really get on board with Cecilia. Probably because I heard Suggs' version everywhere for months in the 90s.
Keep the Customer Satisfied is a slightly twee toe tapper which is fine I guess. I can't unhear Thunder, Lightning, the way you love me is frightening over the chorus.
So long Frank Lloyd Wright definitely exists.
The Boxer is a classic, no notes.
Baby Driver, dear god this album is tonally all over the place. Pick a lane, Paul.
Only Living Boy in New Cross..er I mean New York, is gorgeous, Why Don't you Write Me is another tonal handbrake turn. Decent enough song mind.
Bye Bye Love is a banger.
My daughter was excitedly telling me about The Owl House throughout Song For the Asking so I have no opinion.
Anthrax
3/5
Thrash. Loads of fun. Don't know Anthrax well but this is good.
Further evidence that it's Metallica I don't like, not thrash.
Caught in a Mosh is a blast.
Okay a few tracks in I'm getting a bit numb and bored.
Ahah, One World must have the lamest lyrics to any metal song with a positive message.
Lyrics don't get better on the next track. Music is great fun all the same.
Sack it, let's go down the middle.
Morrissey
2/5
Now, so I was in a cab on a Sunday night going from Waterloo to Hackney, and suddenly the cab driver turned around and his opening conversation
or gambit was to say this genuine sentence.
He said, "These days you get arrested and thrown in jail if you say you're English, don't you?"
LAUGHTER
Look, we've all done it. You're probably like me.
Sometimes a cab driver or someone might say something like that and you go, "Yeah." You know, just for a quiet life.
Or if they go, "My face is made out of electricity and ham," and you go, "Yes, it's awful when that happens. "My friend had that. An electric ham face."
Or if they go, "All mice are gay and they're from space, aren't they?"
You go, "Yeah, the bloody gay space mice. I can't stand them. They make me physically sick."
You're just, you know, for a quiet life.
But on this occasion I thought, "I wonder what he means?"
I said to him, "What did you say?" And he said, "Oh, these days, "if you say you're English you get arrested and thrown in jail."
I said, "When did this come in?"
And he said, "No," he said, "if you say you're English these days, mate.
"You get arrested and thrown in jail."
I said, "Are you...?
"What, if you say, just if you say you're English you get arrested and thrown in jail?"
He goes, "Yeah. These days," he said, "if you say you're English you get arrested and you'll be, you'll be just thrown in jail."
I said "In, in, jail." He goes, "Yeah, these days. These days, mate, if you say you're English, right, these days, you'll get arrested and you'll be thrown in jail."
"I said, "You'll be thrown...? Actually thrown in jail, just if you, if you say you're English."
He goes, "Yeah, these days. Say you're English these days, you'll get, you'll be thrown in, arrested, and then you'll be thrown in jail."
I said, "You'd be actually be thrown in jail?" He goes, "Yeah."
I said, "Just for saying you're English?"
He goes, "Yeah," he said, "say you're English these days. You get arrested and you'll be, you'd be thrown in jail."
I said, "Thrown in, you'll be thrown in jail if you just say, just for saying you're Eng...?"
He goes, Yes, you will."
"These days," he said, "if you say you're English
"you'll be arrested and you'll be thrown..."
I said, "Absolutely, are you saying, what are you saying?
"If you say you're English these days, you'll be arrested and thrown in jail?"
He goes, "Yes, these days, if you say you're English, you just say that, and you'll be arrested and you'll be thrown in jail."
I said, "Thrown in, you'll be thrown in a jail?
"Just if you, and arrested, just if you say..."
He goes, "Yeah, you'll be arrested, then thrown in jail just for saying you're English."
I said, "Just for saying you're English you'll be arrested?"
He goes, "Yeah." I said, "Are you cer..." I said, "Are you sure?
"Will you be arrested and thrown in jail these days if you say you're English?"
And he said, "No."
LAUGHTER
Right. I'd worn him down, "But..." he said,
"but.." he said, "if on an official form where it says 'nationality' you cross out British and you write in 'White English' they will send that form back."
Now, that's not strict...
It's not the same as being arrested, is it?
But it is a very thin line, to be fair. It is.
Earlier this year I was applying for a new passport and on my passport photo, before I sent it in, on my face, in pen, I wrote, "There ain't no black in the Union Jack."
Stupid load of fuss. I was banged up.
Anyway, Morrissey.
This was a reasonably enjoyable album at the time but First of the Gang was overplayed.
Irish Blood English Heart was a decent tune, now it's bitterly ironic. And still a decent tune.
It's not a great album 20 years later regardless of the man himself. Needless inclusion, and warranted book removal.
Gotan Project
3/5
I didn't do anything to tango, why does it want revenge?
First track, I hate the dated and easy loungecore backing beats, did someone just press 'demo' on the synthesiser.
I love the tango but this just drains the life out of everything.
Ah, I recognise Epoca. Fair enough. Still dated, but decent.
I mellowed on the production after a bit. La Musica Brutale is also good. Ends strong on the last two proper tracks (before the fairly generic chill-house remixes). Vuelva Al Sur a good moody evening track.
A decent, if not especially essential listen.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
It's tricky to rock a rhyme to rock a rhyme that's right on time it's tricky.
Tricky tricky tricky tricky.
Also Pop Will Eat Itself sampled the title track.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
It is a fun and easy album to stick on. Can I see myself doing so much? Not sure. There's only so much Hammond one person can take in one sitting.
I love Time is Tight which is not here, but always signalled the end of the night on Wednesdays indie night at The Ritz.
I also wish there were more of their own jams, the jaunty covers are fun but I find myself enjoying their compositions like Behave Yourself more.
The Beta Band
3/5
Erm. Love The Beta Band and I know the Three EPs isn't technically an album but it's so much better than this.
Another review says there's a second BB album to come (I'm nearing 900 and haven't seen it, and neither are in the book) which considering they famously didn't ever really make a consistently good album is certainly a choice. I think the one about biscuits or whatever was better than this one, even. Their career is dotted with great stuff though so we'll see what it is.
Yeah, sadly I only really remember Assessment, and I just listened to it.
I see some people really enjoyed this, if you're that person and you haven't already followed Dry the Rain to The 3 EPs then you're in for a treat. Dr Baker. Needles in My Eyes, Push it Out, Dog's got a Bone. Also Squares off Hot shots.
Also check Steve Mason's solo career.
Cheap Trick
2/5
Meh
Need your love was quite heavy, and long. It was still sort of just, on. As is most of this besides the two songs everyone knows. And only Surrender is actually good.
Bee Gees
2/5
Hmm. Pre-disco Bee Gees. Sure, the Bee Gees are proven songwriters. I don't know a single one of these songs. Some of them sound like the Beach Boys, some of them sound like the Moody Blues, some of them sound like Kermit is singing (When Do I).
The Verve
4/5
Not heard this in a while. It probably is better than Urban Hymns to be honest, and History is definitely their best song. Fair play, it's stands up. Something of a midway point between decent shoegaze and half decent britpop/baggy, which it basically is.
There are much fewer 'standout' tracks than on the poppier accessible Urban Hymns, which you could read as this being 'boring', or just a very chill vibe to drift off into, depending on your perspective. I'm in the latter camp. Definitely grow into this as it goes along.
Really takes me back, I don't think I've listened to it in 20 years. Enjoyed.
4/5
Ah great, youtube ass balls.
River of Orchids is splendid as an opener, and I haven't been hit with an ad yet. this could be enjoyable. I really liked some bits of Skylarking but not really the whole album. I'm open to XTC though.
Green Man is nice enough but feels the most turn of the century dated, makes me think of the Levellers' This Garden.
OK if I'm honest a few tracks later I've a little bit lost interest halfway through and not been pulled back in by any particular track. I Can't Own Her came closest. It's all decent and interesting but not, you know...
Ah you know, The Last Balloon is a fitting closer. Whimsical yet melancholic, impressive. Fell like this album would reward repeat listens. Whether it will get them from me due to access and pissing about I don't know. Going to rate it highly.
Plus point, not a single advert. Suck it, Youtube.
The Verve
2/5
Well this is annoying. I got A Northern Soul the day before yesterday. Spread it out lads!
Still, I guess I can contrast.
Midway through Rolling People I'm already fearing I was right in my previous review. The strength of Northern Soul was it was a whole vibe, this is less so and the album tracks are more boring. Although I never did like the rolling people.
Drugs don't work and catch a butterfly are still good to be fair, and there's a couple others that were half decent for nostalgic purposes.
Definitely a more middling album than it's predecessor though, and actually quite tedious as a whole given its length.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Look it's not bad. It is about 20 minutes too long, like most records around then.
I'm not averse to a long album and I am particularly fond of long tracks that go on a journey, but I think The Rising gets boring.
I think the back half is stronger though, so the flab for me is earlier on.
The Fuse is probably my favourite, Paradise is good. Nothing here quite packs the same punch as American Skin (41 Shots) - possibly because the subject is still as tragically relevant today, though that song is testament to the fact Bruce still had it. Obviously the record definitely hit different on release as so much of it was a response to 9/11 (or could be received that way, I think My City of Ruins was actually already written).
Also, being the first record since Born in the USA to feature the E Street Band it was eagerly anticipated.
I've listened to a few of his later career albums now though and I just think Magic is loads better.
Butthole Surfers
4/5
Oh! This is where Orbital got the sample from!
Nice.
Heavy and Weird. I am in, sir! Sign me up for a subscription!
Noise.
Human Cannonball is a great post-punk banger also.
More noise. Yes thank you.
LTJ Bukem
4/5
Whatever this compilation on Spotify is (starting with a boring track called Destiny), it seems to be a bunch of other completely random tracks that are not this album.
Went and found a playlist starting with Demon's Theme which was better.
Since Horizons is apparently a key track and is not on streaming anywhere it's probably best to seek this out on YouTube.
Ah here we go.
https://youtu.be/m7sIUXSrVoU?si=QkqV40fnV1B6tmg2
(Some PFM tracks are muted presumably due to copyright claim but this is the best I could find) Strangely One and Only is available on Spotify.
I cast it to my TV while I read Harley Quinn comics. Definitely would have sounded better on my speakers but what are you going to do when Spotify throws a curve ball?
Really enjoyed the build on Music. Less fond of Peshay vocal tune but that was still alright.
To be honest this is all pretty good. Some of it really good. I wish it wasn't such a faff to play.
I'll be looking for similar quality stuff now I've reconnected with this kind of shit.
Definitely excellent to work to, especially coding.
Might see if I can seek out a download I can easily stream to my speakers. Far too long to be faffing with vinyl.
Went straight to the Producer series after it finished.
AC/DC
2/5
It's funny how similar the Back in Black singer sounds like Bon Scott. And also wore the hat. Was he just not allowed to be his own thing?
Anyway yes, this is ACDC. It's always going to be exactly what you expect.
I definitely forgot it was on after a few tracks. Not bad though. Not good either.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Took me a while to get Bruce Springsteen and even longer to get this. But I see the woody Guthrie comparisons here and obviously Dylan.
Best tracks State Trooper, Nebraska, Atlantic City.
The Beta Band
4/5
Thought this would be a carbon copy of my review of Heroes and Villains a fortnight ago - ignore this and go directly to the 3 EPs. However I forgot how many good tracks were on this. I love their layered sound.
Particularly Human Being, Broke and Quiet. Oh and obviously Squares.
This actually great all the way through and I'm really pleased this prompted me to revisit.
Happy Mondays
5/5
Huge fan of this. Again a large part of my musical awakening, the Mondays sound is just so full, and real.
Plus they were from Salford, and so was I.
You do wonder how they managed to make this when you saw what they got up to.
Dennis and Lois is summer.
Funky as fuck.
Sparks
4/5
If you don't like Sparks we can't be friends.
I listened to every single one of Sparks' 27 or so albums over a period of months ahead of seeing them live finally last year. There's undoubtedly a few duds, but I absolutely do not regret it, and you should do it too.
Ravi Shankar
4/5
Gorgeous.
Whether it was released in 1968, 1957 or 1960 as variously claimed here.
Charles Mingus
5/5
Well. This is fucking incredible.
Never listened to Mingus and I have no idea why.
The notes in the book are correct, this certainly announces itself from the very opening bars.
Absolutely tremendous stuff. This is the jazz I want.
I'll be having a good old dig through his discography.
Oh god, it's just magnificent, from the off right to the very end.
Absolutely one of the very best albums I've heard out of the nearly 900 I've got through here.
Music for the soul.
Mudhoney
4/5
Loved Superfuzz.
Garage punk grunge. I will take it.
Circle Jerks
3/5
Reminds me of Short Music for Short People, which funnily enough I was discussing with a random NOFX fan in the pub on Friday.
Fun, but nothing here lives especially long in the memory.
Bad Company
1/5
Ugh. Good time blues rock.
Soundtrack of a million bar scenes in bad films.
Has the verse opening melody in the title track been sampled or simply stolen elsewhere? I recognise it but nothing else.
Utterly unmemorable from start to finish. What a strange inclusion. Hard rock? Don't make me laugh.
Heaven 17
4/5
Fascist groove thing is great.
Title track wriggles into your ear insidiously over 6 minutes with fantastic slap bass.
Some weird stuff.
Good album.
Elbow
4/5
Ah yes. Not listened for many years but it was heavily circulated around the time. As well as the follow up. One or two tracks sit on playlists, although the joyous one day like this is sadly overplayed. Wonderful song though.
Mirrorball is the one I go to for that feeling without the over familiarity. Smooth, gentle, authentically warm.
Some of it's a bit boring, Audience with the Pope stands out as a boring track, and it's therefore a bit overlong, but there's some lovely stuff here, good score.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
Yessss Hammond.
Decent. Enjoyable. Blowing me away like Mingus? No. But definitely going into the repeat play list.
Reminiscent of the sort of incidental music that would play behind cartoons like Pink Panther.
Ute Lemper
3/5
Don't quite know what to make of this.
I liked the drama of the Nick Cave opener and The Case Continues from Divine Comedy.
Elvis Costello trying to sneak in yet another album can do one.
The Tom Waits stuff is good.
I can't really envisage a future scenario where I'd be listening to this again. Sounds like watching a film. I got bored before the end. The last two songs caught my attention again because I like Scott Walker, I could have a skipped a chunk of the middle.
Serge Gainsbourg
5/5
From the opening bass-bending strings, this is a real classic.
Obviously you can blame this for that period in the late 90s where all rock music had an orchestra sloshed all over it. But the use is far more subtle here.
I have no idea what Serge is perving on about underneath the music, and I don't want to know. Actually, no, I do. And well obviously the lyrics are extremely evocative.
Also he talks about Sunderland. Yes.
In that one where Jane Birkin is being tickled.
It's so funky.
And the final return to the theme of the opener but this time about cargo cults and Serge wishing for crashing planes to bring back his lost paedo desire.
It's brilliant. Obviously it's ick. But it's still quite clearly brilliant. It's also, you know, fictional.
Also shout out to the concept album over and done in half an hour. A few could learn from that.
Bauhaus
3/5
Halloween week. Good timing for some Bauhaus.
Tbh I don't know anything besides Bela Legosi's dead and whichever that one is from the meme clip with the bats the right way up.
Not sure anything here comes up to the quality of either of those. Kick in the Eye is good. Mask is alright. Kind of average really, a shame.
Paul Weller
1/5
Have never warmed to solo Weller. I like a few Jam tracks, and the tremendous Walls Come Tumbling Down by Style Council just might be the best song he's ever had anything to do with, but (despite repeated exposure) solo Weller has never come across to me as anything more than, or less than, absolutely fine.
I don't really like Traffic either, it turns out.
Wild Wood's been on a couple of tracks ago and I've already forgotten the tune again, it's so bland. The rest is even more bland.
In a normal rating situation I'd give it mid to low marks. In a list of 1001 all time albums taking the place of another record, it's got to be the lowest score. Thoroughly unremarkable.
3/5
I generally dislike blues rock. Nothing to Hide has got something though, not quite sure what it is.
To be fair yes these songs are unusual in structure and varied enough to stay interesting.
Why does Space Child start twice?
I wonder if I didn't feel like utter shit with the lurgee whether I would have enjoyed it more.
Sidenote: I discovered today they wrote Fresh Garbage which the Pink classic Feel Good Time is entirely built around.
The Auteurs
3/5
My friend (and musical compadre) was always into these, whereas I was into the two other records mentioned in the write up in the book, Suede and Blur.
I dunno, this just never clicked. I think same with Black Box Recorder. I'm mainly familiar with Luke Haines for being especially grumpy in interviews.
It's clearly good though. At times on American Guitars and Starstruck (in fact in lots of songs) he sounds very like Robyn Hitchcock, who we both love.
After listening I feel much the same, I enjoyed it well enough, don't feel like returning to anything in particular. The 1st track and the last 3 tracks stand out the most however.
Grateful Dead
2/5
Hmm yeah, the production is weird, there's a lot of intricate musicality going on here which you can barely hear, which leads me to wonder if that's because it was shitty, or simply they had no idea what they were doing.
Was enjoying the first track a fair bit and then some of the vocal harmony choices were just...strange. not in a good way.
It's just all very odd.
Like there's a clear Americana sound here but it's sort of like a mirror image reflected back off another mirror. It's just a bit wrong. Like how an AI might do it now.
Production gets less terrible as well progress but the music is very much meh.
Checking in on my rating for Live/Dead it seems I thought it was fine. This album has very much disappeared into the background.
Attic of My Life is alright to be fair, but it's too little too late I am afraid.
The White Stripes
2/5
Right, the one White Stripes album that has any case for being here, in my opinion. Also the only one I think I genuinely liked most of the way through. Let's see if it holds up.
Scanning the reviews while I listen, someone says this is the least good of their albums, that just stopped me in my tracks. After this Jack White never made another record with more than like three good songs on it. Still, people have enormous capacity to be hideously wrong about all sorts of things I guess.
Hmm this does start to go awry after Fell in Love With a Girl. I remember this feeling from when I last listened to it regularly 20 years ago or so.
Yeah, there's a few half decent songs after that but nothing really good. I Can't Wait is probably the best song after Fell In Love with a Girl, its just there's so much that sounds like it but just a bit shitter preceding, it's harder to stand out. So that reviewer may not have been as wrong as I blithely stated above. This record simply follows the same pattern as every record Jack has ever released, it just does it earlier.
And yet again, it's 40 minutes long but feels like an hour. How does he do it? Remarkable, the consistency.
Tom Waits
4/5
While I would personally choose Small Change to represent early Tom Waits jazz club singer phase, this album does probably most encapsulate it as a concept. It also really shows off his character and illustrates why he's so appealing as a person. Lots of daft rough around the edges witticisms, "sleeping til the crack of noon". His little infectious laughs.
The band are clearly fabulous. "A pressure and a plivelege to work with".
Also, some people are going to really hate this, I almost don't dare open the reviews.
In terms of albums that are "a whole vibe" this is definitely right up there. Other records have more brilliant songs, but that almost isn't the point here, and oddly it seems to work and not matter.
Really enjoyable, but it is a prerequisite to completely surrender to the conceit, or you are in for a raggedy time. It's definitely too long, and I'm ready for it to end when it does (or before it does) but it's still getting a low 4.
Sonic Youth
4/5
The Sonic Youth album I have neglected the most and only latterly knew of as a classic.
There are some solid tunes here alright. Obviously its even better when it descends into chaos feedback and swirling noise. Tuff Gnarl and Schizophrenia the most melodic (to start with). Pacific Coast Highway and Kotton Krown are two of the highlights of the swirling guitar stretches. White Cross is brilliant.
I would need longer with this record to love it, but this is a good start.
Muddy Waters
3/5
Muddy Waters playing the blues again, except with more electric guitars and this time it's the late 70s.
Newport was better. Just feels so much better without the whole blues rock sound. But if this journey has taught me anything it's that I dislike blues rock with very few exceptions. I am simply easily bored by it, even by the masters of the craft.
Nothing brought that into stark relief more clearly here than I Can't Be Satisfied, which is basically Muddy stealing back from the Stones after they stole from him, and there's nary an electric guitar in sight, and it's bloody fantastic.
Crosseyed Cat was winning me over however, insomuch as I was stuck between a low 4 and a high 3.
The Thrills
2/5
Erm. What?
Hey. This isn't bad at all. The singles were overplayed to hell then, but I haven't heard them for 20 years and they're lovely.
Bouncing Supertramp basslines. Notes of Teenage Fanclub, High Llamas.
Possibly the injection of sunshine I needed on the day America elected to crap itself publicly once again.
I never cared enough to find out that the band isn't actually American, which means that excessively hokey Wayne Coyne ish accent and singing voice is put on.
Which definitely becomes annoying long before the end of this short album.
It's front-loaded for sure and pretty much all the second half of it it is below average.
George Michael
3/5
Why is he sniffing his armpit on the cover though?
Anyway. Some pop all time bangers up front, after which I got progressively more bored.
3/5
Outside of the 3 earth-shatteringly massive songs, I mainly only really like Red Hill Mining Town which is lovely. And everything after it is basically garbage, unmemorable. 2 of those opening three tracks are undeniably all-timers though, so they get a star each.
Achtung Baby however, is worlds better than this as an album.
Stephen Stills
2/5
I think I liked Stills stuff in Buffalo Springfield, and the odd CSN+Y thing. I know nothing about his solo career at all.
So this is a double album split into 4 parts, I'll split my notes into 4 parts.
Part 1- rock - unmemorable.
Part 2- Bluegrass - well it's just bluegrass, which is fun, but these are also unmemorable. Also half of it isn't bluegrass. So Begins the Task stands out.
Part 3- Folk rock - sounds like Van Occupanther, Midlake obviously were fans of this. It Doesn't Matter is decent.
Part 4- Blues Rock - if I'm honest I didn't twig when this changed over from part 3. It's still just more Midlakey folk rock with no standout tunes really. Oh halfway through the treasure it goes Bluesy and worse.
Overall, nah.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Sparing a thought this week for those unlucky enough to be born in the USA, or to have made a home there. It must be fucking horrific.
Anyway. This record. I've dismissed it before. Even when I was listening through his back catalogue I dismissed it somewhat. Coming back to it today I am beginning to appreciate it.
Obviously there are always standouts even when I'm not convinced by the whole album.
The title track clearly rewards closer listening unlike Reagan, I'm on Fire is delicious, and Glory Days is nostalgia wrapped up in a slice of 80s pop rock brilliance.
I'm enjoying other tracks today though, too.
Downbound Train makes me think of REM. Working on the Highway is great. Bobby Jean touched my heart in a way it hadn't previously.
Still didn't particularly dig No Surrender.
There are better Springsteen albums but this is really good.
Iron Maiden
4/5
I've already had Number of the Beast on this journey and besides that and Run to the Hills I am not much of a Maiden fan.
However on hearing this, pre-Bruce, pre-camp I guess, it's much more punky and melodic and I like it.
Bands lead by the bassist generally have great rhythm and oh fuck me Phantom of the Opera just came on.
That was great.
I think the run from Transylvania to Iron Maiden felt a bit too samey though and I got a little numb to it on first listening.
Still, decent.
Dizzee Rascal
1/5
An hour of grime. Yaaaaay.
Doesn't even have Bonkers on it.
Steely Dan
2/5
The write up makes this sound fantastic, and of course I know Peg via De La Soul. Peg is a legit banger on its own.
For some of Aja, it sounds like Ozric Tentacles without the beats, and other times sounds like Nilsson on The Point.
I am not sure I approve, although I like the groove at the end, I'd prefer to listen to 8 minutes of where that is threatening to go.
As noted by a fellow project adventurer, yes, I would rather listen to Prog rock, or jazz.
Felt vaguely similar about every Steely Dan record in this book. It's vaguely intriguing, vaguely easy listening, very accomplished, but ultimately mostly a little boring?
And this, on the whole, is that.
Tina Turner
2/5
Opener Soul Survivor sounds like Talking Heads. It does.
I don't really need to hear What's love got to do with it again. Listening to it on decent speakers somehow it seems less powerful than it did on the radio in my mum's kitchen. I just thank god Simply the Best isn't here.
Hmm, oh ok, so they just wrote 2 smash hits and banged out a load of covers and called it an album. That's how you print money in the 80s I guess.
I can't stand the rain is a great track but the Ann Peebles version is untouchable really.
Missy Elliott one was also great, this less so.
Same with Let's Stay Together, didn't need covering and making worse. Just listen to Al Green. Why would you pass up an opportunity to listen to Al Green? I know I didn't. Took a short break after this to stick his version on to remind me how good it was. Sweet jesus the chasm of quality between the two is simply breathtaking when you do that.
The only cover here that was worth making is Help, because they do something significantly different with it, that some people may really like even if I don't. The 1984 one is kind of Ok, sounds very Heaven 17. I go look at the credits and oh look! There's Martyn Ware. Well done, me. Although it's not exactly a difficult spot.
All of that said, this was by no means as annoying as I was expecting, and it goes without saying she's a fabulous singer. Not my bag though. I feel sad that her talent isn't better represented here. Well done Tina, congratulations, you rocked.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
Pet Shop Boys go very gay and also start wearing the weird outfits. Never heard this album before, but in context the seemingly massively random Village People cover finally makes sense.
It's mostly lyrically interesting, as you'd expect, though musically? It's pretty forgettable. Strange for such a commercial sound.
Exceptions being the outstanding The Theatre and Young Offender is pretty good.
There's probably a fair bit of later Pet Shop Boys that's decent, (Se a Vida E is a slice of summery pop) but I basically sign off post 1990.
Bill Callahan
5/5
Adore this record. It's just absolutely lovely.
Take out of the book incorrectly, especially as there's no other Smog in the book.
This is my favourite, but Dream River and Red Apple Falls are also great, and lots more besides.
I'm prepared to believe that Bill really did write Eid Ma Clack Shaw lyrics in his sleep.
Quirky innovations like that drivel reveal, and the one word at a time fade in from Too Many Birds hooked me in and I just fell in love with this gorgeous and comfy record.
I could drink Faith/Void in all day. I've heard it so many times and only just now realised it's nearly 10 minutes long.
Arrested Development
3/5
Another one of those whole vibe records. I don't love everything here but Mr Wendal totally holds up, Tennessee too, I didn't know U but that is terrific, proper De La Soul type stuff.
Probably won't return to the other stuff and it's far too Goddy but I enjoyed this listen.
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
Takes me right back to the days at The Ritz, this does. And some of it might have dated a bit, but it's still wall to wall bangers.
And Life Is Sweet is simply magnificent.
Few sounds take me back to the Ritz more than that rumbling beat bouncing off the walls.
In Dust We Trust.
Beyoncé
2/5
I'm still surprised how even the most massively commercial stuff is fully avoidable post around 2010. Streaming I guess, I'm just more able to curate what I passively consume.
Never heard a single one of these songs. Don't think I've heard anything by her since Single Ladies.
And they're all...fine. Haunted was vaguely interesting to be fair. But that is it. Everyone says Lemonade was great, and I might be missing out but...
Finished now. Well that was certainly a record that I listened to. Don't think I'd recognise any of those songs again if they ran me over.
The Incredible String Band
4/5
What on earth is going on here, then?
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Turn it up, and drink it in.
Aha, Aretha covered the Young Rascals! I never knew.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
Ah, Oar. I've listened to this a few times over the years and generally fell in and out of it.
Some of it is like nothing else on Earth.
I absolutely love War In Peace for example. And some of it sounds morose and sketchy. Hard not to think of Madcap Laughs, although this is far softer than that, largely due to Skip's voice. The encroaching storm on Books of Moses is something else.
I'm sure this will get absolutely nailed in the reviews as it's probably one of the worst albums in history to judge on one listen.
Oh and the spectacular Grey/Afro (anyone else think the Stone Roses listened to this a bit?) is the last song on the actual album. Some were surprised it took a turn after that. Yes, because you're listening to outtakes from a record made by a man with serious mental issues.
5/5
Never heard of this. Wow, these have just released a new album this year, and it sounds great!
I really like it. Melodic early 80s US punk. Hints of early REM and The Replacements etc.
It's bass driven as well. Therefore I'm gonna love it.
One of the better new discoveries on this trip.
Beatles
5/5
It's A Hard Day's Night.
Morrissey
4/5
Similar feeling to Vauxhall and I, although that had the sentimental sad and softer stuff and this has the angrier and rocky stuff.
Morrissey decided to remove the uncertainty about his beliefs around the same time his music took a nosedive in quality, so I'm latterly finding it easier to separate, and allowing myself to continue to enjoy his genuinely good stuff.
And look, whatever you think about him, this is a really good record.
Stuff like We'll Let You Know is still now a chilling time capsule of hooliganism in the long shadow of Hillsborough, football was still to fully cleanse itself of these attitudes (and they're around today, beaten into the background by capitalist expansion), this song captures the mood perfectly both lyrically and musically, with it's lilting bassline. And I'm willing to read the lyric "we are the last truly British people you'll ever know" in a disdainful, sarcastic tone. Those people exist, we know them.
The National Front Disco can equally and easily be read in this way. It's kind of uncharitable in the extreme to force yourself to take it literally. " Oh There's a country but you don't live there". Little England doesn't exist, it never did. But they want the day to come sooner.
It's 32 years later and that day still hasn't come has it boys? Poor boys.
So yeah Morrissey may have changed, or hardened, his views since but I still read this as a witty, deeply sarcastic and sometimes cynical work, Morrissey at his best really.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
2/5
Country rock. No thank you.
Soul cover without the soul just drove this home to me, I almost stopped everything and stuck Aretha on right then and there.
4/5
Pre Low Rider and Why Can't We Be Friends, two all-timers, and the reason most people have heard of War. And that they aren't Edwyn Starr.
Cisco Kid is a bop. Second track is funky and alright but didn't stand out. City Country City is also a bop. A good long bop. Four Corners is a good, long, slow bop.
Title track is alright.
Last track is a bop.
UB40
3/5
I like dub, so the more dub songs on here are the best. Such as King. However I'm far more into more out there dub.
I do not care for the more straightforward reggae songs, they're just not particularly interesting.
Ah wait though. Food For Thought is a genuine banger. Great sax riff. I'll have that. Decent Strange Fruit cover. Nothing annoying, generally quite good. Pushes the album up to a low 3 for me.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
Hilariously I got this after UB40, so we go straight from Reefer Madness into this.
Came out just in time for several people to play this in houses I would hang out in at uni. So of course I'm fond of it. This and Car boot Soul.
That said, much of it is very samey and repetitive beats, like man the journey, which is playing as I type, but could be said of a few others.
Feels designed for background, great for parties to talk over, not so great for any close listening. And considering the advanced aural sensitivity afforded to some 'smokers', that seems a shame.
Other stuff like Nights Introlude and Stars are lovely though.
The Human League
4/5
Deliberately put off listening to this in full as I know how revered it is but don't know it beyond the hits. Though I've known those hits basically as my very earliest musical memories, so they have always been with me.
And it has come up so late Into my journey, in the last 100, like a delightful cherry on top of my 1088 cakes.
Big fan of Pulp, and from the opening bars of this record it's influence on them is clear. Certainly on Intro and HisnHers at any rate.
What a fucking banger Open Your Heart is, and so uplifting.
I guess if you hate synth pop you won't like this, but I feel that the quality of the songs here should overcome even that.
However, I like synth pop, because it's great, and so naturally I absolutely love this.
Garbage
4/5
Definitely a favourite record from the 90s for me. Not a bad song on it, and some proper bangers. Slinky, rocking, dark and deep.
Surprised many reviews don't like Supervixen, that's a cracker to kick off.
Vow is incredible. Album really takes off from that point onwards and doesn't look back.
The Cars
5/5
The Cars are synonymous in my mind with that ever so gentle and utterly polished with 80s smudge Drive you home song.
I knew there was more to them from how others have spoken of them in glowing terms. Not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't glam infused post punk..
I recognise My Best Friends Girl of course, and Just What I Needed. The latter especially as Car Seat Headrest were particularly light-fingered with it on Not What I Needed, from Teens of Denial (a cracking album).
These backing vocals are straight out of Fox on the Run by Sweet. Guitars and production are straight out of many post -punk bands of this era too numerous to mention.
A perfect bridge between the two.
Hmm, this is banger after banger isn't it.
Yep. On second listen this is an absolute classic.
Ian Dury
5/5
The Blockheads rule OK.
The titular Blockheads of the song are very much still with us.
I see this is a record the people aren't sold on for some reason. Except for the people in the know and appreciate it. I guess it is uniquely British.
Listen to the lyrics though people! And hook into the vibe.
For those not in the know, who aren't joining the poor one star crowd and whom this has tickled their senses in a way they don't quite understand and want more, it's well worth sticking around post-album for Sex and Drugs and RocknRoll, and Razzle (one of the grottier UK jazz mags) in my Pocket.
And Hit me with your Rhythm Stick. An uncategorizeable banger which inexplicably, and wonderfully, went to number one.
Stereolab
5/5
The best Stereolab album, five stars.
Also I met Laetitia once after a Source Ensemble gig and she was a delight.
Yes yes. Krautrock and indie pop. Hence I was always going to enjoy these and lo I have done so for around 25 years so far.
Find myself agreeing with many of the comments, it's less about individual tracks (opener is outstanding though) and more the record as a whole.
Also agree this is less lyrically important than the vocals are used as an extra form of instrumentation.
However, go listen to French Disko and Ping Pong if you want some absolute bangers with real poignant anti military industrial complex lyrics.
I went straight into a Stereolab wormhole.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
Low effort review as I'm busy today, CSN are generally good, I still prefer Crosby on his lonesome but there's joy here.
I know none of these songs but basically everything here is very good. Feel sure would reward repeat listening.
Gram Parsons
3/5
Not my thing but I can't argue with that first track.
Emmylou Harris is a star here.
I had the Burritos last week and I enjoyed this a lot more, I think as country rock took a back seat in favour of straight country, which I can tolerate much better.
The Love Hurts version is fine but I prefer Nazareth. The more rinky dink Elvis Vegas band songs stay on the right side of rinky dink and are toe tappers.
Will it be a low 3 or a high 2? Only tomorrow can decide.
Santana
5/5
This is not just Santana. This is M&S Santana.
A reference for any Americans reading this, there.
First heard this getting stoned with my new housemates in 1999 or something, thinking what is this mystical noise?
For some reason I can quite fathom, in the intervening 25 years I haven't been absolutely mainlining this shit.
Love the chilled out groove which beckons us into the record. Love how Black Magic Woman tickles the edges of the Fleetwood Mac song before morphing into a monster
Love the transition to mambo with Oye Como Va. Those two tracks alone make me want to go listen to early Mac and Tito Puente after this, while still loving what I am currently listening to.
What more can you possibly ask of music?
Incident at Neshabur is a heady groove full of beats, puts me in mind of I am the Black Gold of the Sun, and Ozric Tentacles.
More Ozrics with Se a Cabo.
Samba Pi Ti. Nice to hear the rest of it as obviously Marks have made the start into a porno soundtrack advert in all of our minds.
This is just all absolutely tremendous. The more straight ahead 70s rockers Mother's Daughter and Hope You're Feeling Better are less engaging but they're absolutely both still good, and sit well amongst such greatness. Hope is great, actually.
I wanted El Nicoya to go longer. It's positively rude to lay down a beat like that and just leave us hanging at the end of the album.
A storm swirled outside and the day never got properly light, and this was pretty much perfect for staying in, cosy and warm to.
Unfortunately, I have to go out!
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
I've generally found that listening to Zappa is more an experience than simply listening to music. For better AND for worse.
Bonkers that this is 66.
Thoroughly confusing record. I frequently forget I'm listening to satire, given how well certain songs just straight up do the merseybeat sound or doo-wop or whatever perfect.
And then something like "you're probably wondering why I'm here" comes on.
And then Trouble Every Day is straight ahead great. And then the record vomits up it's skeleton and all pretense is dropped.
Turns out I really enjoyed Hot Rats and I really enjoyed in it for the money. So I guess I like Zappa.
Radiohead
4/5
My 3rd least favourite Radiohead album. Ok then. King of Limbs and Pablo Honey, since you're asking.
This is still decent, but the main issue is it's just not as good as Kid A, is it? If we're being honest. Pulk/Pull is just kind of there and doesn't do anything exciting. You and Whose Army is a b-side. Although the last 60 seconds is good. I prefer the version of Morning Bell on Kid A.
However. However, we also have here one of Radiohead's best ever songs, Pyramid Song.
Knives Out is good. The last 2 tracks are great. I can take or leave absolutely all of the rest.
I've mostly denigrated this album and yet I'm still giving it a 4 (a low one, mind). These are the high standards we set for Radiohead records.
But yeah my existing opinion that this is the ginger stepchild of Kid A is unchanged. Happy it exists however as they built on this for their best work, progressing through Hail to the Thief and arriving at In Rainbows.
3/5
Was still a fan of these at this point, and really liked this record, moreso than the debut.
Roll With It was always shit though, Oasis at their most obviously Status Quo.
Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova and Cast No Shadow still stand up however, ridiculously bad lyrics aside.
To be fair I do forget this is actually good, given the absolute torrent of tripe that came after and for the next 30 years in various projects. The signs were there though, there's some shite here. Hey Now contains about 30 seconds worth listening to, Noel clearly riffed the rest and thought that'll do. And he was proved right, there's a lot of people out there who'll swallow that kind of effortless shit.
I understand people like She's Electric, I'm not one of those people, and I also think it's badly sequenced and takes the shine off the better, more melancholy side B by being plonked in between two downbeat songs.
I went to see them at Maine Road, with my love just starting to wane. I had a great day out and the Manics in support (the Manics and the Mancs - arf!) were extremely good, after that though, I was out, on to pastures new and far more interesting, and left Oasis in the dust.
I hadn't noticed the One I Love riff nicked wholesale in the title track before. Haha, what a shameless magpie Noel is.
Linkin Park
1/5
Is this the oldest album to get the hook from the book? I didn't realise they'd gone back as far as 2000 to make room.
Happy with that though, there's nothing particularly special about this band, they should go back further to pick out the duds or stuff that time hasn't been kind to, instead of removing one of the 3 records they pick for later years as if no important music happend after 2015.
Fact I'm talking about the book rather than the album tells it's own story. One Step Closer was fun at the time ( and isn't now), I have almost no time for anything else here. Every song is almost exactly the same - one listen to the second and third singles was enough to realise Oh, right, they're just going to do this exact thing again and again - hence I never felt compelled to listen to the album before and was instead listening to the few good nu metal bands, and ska punk instead. I should have been target audience still, being 21, but this was obviously shit to my ears, so oh well, onto the next thing.
One million clones of this irritating, uninteresting, overproduced music sprang up following this album, and soundtracked the entire WWE Attitude Era. Which is definitely the only acceptable context for them. Background wallpaper for fighty acting and athletic exploits. For which it worked pretty well.
I was waiting for this to end from the very first track. Thank the lord Jesus Christ and all the other fictional sky lobsters that this CD-era album is a reasonable length.
At least Wikipedia hasn't labelled this as metal, metal showing up as one of my worst genres is quite funny as a metal fan, but almost all the metal choices in this book are an abomination.
G. Love & Special Sauce
2/5
Yeah I think Beck must have liked this record while he was making Odelay. Except he had the bright idea of combining this style with some actual tunes.
4 tracks in I can tell this record is too long. There isn't enough variety. Nothing is bad per se, but it's not great either.
It's very loose.
Maxwell
1/5
This is a really weird choice. There possibly isn't a genre that has dated as badly as 90s neo-soul. Nu metal maybe.
Also, if that's the front cover I am absolutely dying to know what is on the back??? Just a giant picture of his cock?
The only question remaining is will this unremarkable album hold on to a 2, or will it annoy me sufficiently over the course of 64 long minutes to drop a point?
Yes.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Never really got Springsteen although my partner loves him. And then a couple of years ago I committed to listening to every one of his albums in order. And surprised myself how much I liked - hence I finished the project. And now we're both going to see him live next May.
Obviously one of his best, I even enjoyed Adam Raised a Cain a little bit on this listening.
Candy's Room and Badlands are obviously highly accessible standouts, but the real stars are the more low key stuff like Something in the Night and Racing in the Street (even though I cannot unhear the Big Breakfast theme within it - oh and Crocodile Rock at the end there).
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
A masterpiece.
Simply beautiful.
Was lucky enough to see Nick Cave live a couple of months back and it was astonishing. Bright Horses was breathtaking. Warren Ellis is a star.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Well it's a Belle and Sebastian album. Ergo it is good. I don't know this one as well as the others. Mad how they just had their signature sound immediately.
Pretenders
3/5
Huh, interesting. Pretenders actually had punk songs.
Brass in Pocket and the like seemed to be their entire deal, but this record proves not so.
It's alright you know. I had no idea Private Life was by Chrissie. It does feel like it suits Grace more I suppose but I've just never heard this version, whereas the cover is ubiquitous.
I lost interest a bit in the middle there, but Lovers of Today is probably the best song here that I haven't heard a million times, and the record finishes strong.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
Not on Spotify for some reason but it is on Amazon Music which I luckily have a free period of.
I constantly confuse this guy's name with Father John Misty, who I always forget the name of. I like this more.
Nomadic Revery was pretty great.
The rest flowed pretty well. I don't really know the Johnny cash covered one. Possibly a record I could grow to love, however today it was sort of just on. It wasn't arresting folk like say, Richard Dawson. It was far gentler than that. And as such could be much cosier to cuddle up to. But that would require repeated listening, and I'm too busy today. Sorry Billy
The Associates
4/5
The top review for this record currently has this to say:
"bland, homogeneous instrumentals indistinguishable from any other Britpop LP"
This is one of the most baffling comments I've read on this website. And there have been a few, you can trust me, I'm on album #954.
Maybe the person didn't have ears. Maybe Britpop sounded completely different on their planet. Maybe they skipped over Bap De La Bap, and Party Fears Two, and...etc. Maybe they'd just smashed another cup. Maybe the alcohol has turned them blue. Maybe the remark makes no sense and turns to shark.
I can completely understand someone not liking this, and Billy Mackenzie's voice is absolutely divisive.
But bland?
Personally I only know Party Fears Two and I heard that first via the Divine Comedy cover. I love that song, because it's insane and beautiful and manic.
The rest of this record is utterly manic and insane, and not quite as good. But an invigorating listen, that's for sure.
Ears pricked up during Bap, Nude Spoons
I'm off to watch that YouTube of The Associates appearing on lunchtime magazine show Pebble Mill.
Q-Tip
4/5
Had no idea this existed, what a treat.
Really smooth, without being too obvious.
Funky and warm.
Move and Manwomanboogie are bangers.
Good shit
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
The genesis of the 'Kraftwerk invented hip hop' running in-joke we have. Thanks Sam.
Looks a bit dry. X
The cover here is absolutely incredible. What a picture.
Obviously we are here for Arthur Baker as well. A fun game to play, how many of these noises did he bring straight over to his work with New Order or steal from himself.
Confusion is obviously throughout Looking for the Perfect Beat (or the reverse - yeah it's definitely the other way around).
Anyway most of this is from 82/83 and it's still absolutely banging. Turns out finding out the guy was a raging peadophile doesn't stop me enjoying great music, which is nice.
Who you Funkin With - has got to be from 1986, it screams in with all the excesses of that time and sounds worse.
Yeah ok everything after that is average.
Those first four tracks though.
Lambchop
2/5
It's 18:45 on Sunday and I am still hungover.
Went to United where we got turned over 0-3 at home to Bournemouth.
It's blowing a gale outside and I've come back up to bed.
I needs a musical hug. Enter this record.
First track feels like Bill Callahan meets Divine Comedy.
Then I fell asleep.
Awakening after a short nap, I drag myself downstairs to make tea with this on. Amused to discover later on reading the entry in the book that it suggests the exact activity I was already undertaking.
The falsetto songs are weird. What's going on here? The lush instrumentation is clearly good, but this record is simply curiously devoid of memorable tunes. I already had Up With People marked as liked so that one was ok. Yeah, listened back after the record and that's surviving. Easily the best song here.
I couldn't pick any of the others out of a line up.
Not something I'm likely to return to, despite being in the perfect place for it today.
Yes, I do get Richard Hawley vibes also, in that it's nicely made and very forgettable
Arcade Fire
5/5
Played this to death when it came out and fuck off is it 20 years old??!! Then again I associate this heavily with the early years of my relationship and the long drives to work from her place, so I guess it tracks.
Despite basically all of these songs peppering various playlists I've had over the years I somehow never tire of this record.
It's probably because all of the influences listed in the book plus New Order (most obviously at the end of Annee Sans Lumiere and throughout Power Out) and others not mentioned, are things I love. So it stood to reason I would love this.
Depressingly large numbers of this book's artists fall into the "it's a shame they're a sex pest" category. But again, good music is good music and that's all there is to it.
And this is great music. I've not even really touched on why I love it so. Just been enjoying reading other people gushing. The little codas at the end of the songs - aforementioned Lumiere; The massively epic guitar riff of Wake Up disintegrates seamlessly (somehow? I mean how did they make that work?) into a motown show-stopper that's just as good.
The chill tracks 7 Kettles and Haiti are wonderful growers, with little details to delight the ears and giving respite, and somehow there's still Rebellion (Lies) to come! And In the Backseat, wow.
They hit these heights again with Suburbs but sadly other than that and the EP with the original No Cars Go on it, it was a classic case of diminishing returns for the band, but it was nice while it lasted.
And now it's 20 years old we can be nostalgic about an album about nostalgia...
Willie Nelson
3/5
Christmas eve. Willie Nelson tin Pan alley covers album. Yeah, absolutely fair enough.
Couple of them are pretty forgettable, but it's a nice relaxing listen for today.
The Crusaders
2/5
The title track again is the story here apparently. And while it's great, do they do anything sufficient to justify the eleven minutes? Ordinarily a fan of long songs but I've said this before on here, but in this case it's kind of just a loop of similar things, until it isn't, and then it ends.
And well, I just prefer the disco version Randy Crawford did later.
The remaining instrumental tracks, 70s smooth jazz. Erm. Yeah. It's ok! But no more than. The hold music reviewer was not far off.
5/5
Hoooo boy, am I looking forward to the reviews here. I remember 'enjoying' this when it came out. Also for a completely different and beautiful sound check The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack off the follow up. They had a few decent tracks here and there in the decades that followed but not as consistent an album as this again.
Broken witch and Room on the Broom are fucking bops. And absolutely guaranteed to clear the room of unlike-minded people.
Also my ZX Spectrum appears to have materialised and spontaneously loaded a game in response. So now I'm playing Target Renegade.
They Don't want your corn, they want Your Children is about as close to 'pop' as we're getting here.
Ooh it got removed from the book. Incorrect, Dimery! Fully incorrect. I usually agree with the removals but they're usually stupid inclusions in the first place. A record this different and interesting should have remained.
I think I enjoyed this all the more because I stuck it straight on after Elton John.
Al Green
4/5
Well what can you say.
A classic.
I regret going on Wikipedia. I had for some reason decided he had died young, he had not. Instead he became an abusive sod to various women despite turning to religion. I guess Christianity ain't all that.
Anyway once again. When the music is this good, it simply can't be ruined by the actions of the author.
Nothing comes close to the opener, yet is still great. I have to leave myself somewhere to go though, when there's records like Bill Withers' where every song is up to that quality.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
James Brown?
James Brown.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Have never actually heard Tribe's debut before. Solid.
Samples are great, beats are great. Enjoyed the weird marriage of Cannonball Adderley and Sir Duke. They even travel forward in time to steal the sample from the Fugees Killing Me Softly cover.
Bonnie Raitt
1/5
Ooh. I'm not going to like this. Late 80s country slash soft rock.
Let's start with a positive. What a lovely voice.
The first track is perfectly listenable.
Then the first second of the second track contains everything I feared.
Man! I feel like a woman who doesn't want to be listening to this.
Actually, that should be my one sentence review. But then where would I put all my other ramblings. Plus it's not as bad as Dire Straits, or Ryan Adams. But it nearly is. Also, I'm not a woman.
Elton John
4/5
Beginning with basically his best song (although there are competitors) which is of course absolutely wonderful, and continuing with another 8 songs I don't think I've ever heard.
Levon is very decent.
Elton John's got soul, there's no doubt.
There's some semi-proggy nonsense here which I can dig, so far I don't recognise a single other thing but I remain engaged on the first listen so that's good. Title track and the Indian one.
Hmm, yeah it does dip in quality half way through. Nothing bad, just not nearly as good as the early tracks. I'm getting quite close to downgrading my 4* rating.
All the Nasties has just saved it.
Eric Clapton
1/5
Oh god more Clapton.
The I shot the sheriff cover is shite.
The first track is....ok. everything else is pretty terrible.
Give me strength, indeed.
Soundgarden
3/5
Ever since I heard Black Hole Sun (think it was the video on The Chart Show one Saturday lunchtime) I've really wanted to like Soundgarden more widely. Later met a mate who seemed to worship Kim Thayil and talked about him all the time.
That said besides that song I've never really latched onto much else by them. Same with Audioslave, I never listened to Temple of the Dog.
It actually took me a long time to listen to this album. I bought Black Hole Sun as a single, it had a couple of live tracks and a remix of Spoonman on it, none of which particularly caught my ear.
I was definitely much more into the Pumpkins, Nin, Pearl Jam and Nirvana etc.
I did eventually listen to the whole album in the mid 00s but by then I'd kind of moved on from grunge, as had the rest of the world. I liked it perfectly well, but you know, I'd got older, things are harder to stick unless you fall for them early.
It's 73 minutes long. Which is nearly always too long (although I just mentioned the Pumpkins which I found to not be too long lol).
I would skip tracks 2-5 here. Keep the opener and go from Head Down, which is great.
Meaty riffs abound, and meaty bass-driven riffs too, which always tickles my taste buds.
The longer it goes on, the more I get into it, and more I understand why skipping those mediocre tracks up front was essential, what were they thinking? One of them was even a single, which I don't understand.
Ok it does meander again towards the end.
I'm teetering. It's a high 3.
Best tracks - Black Hole Sun, Head Down, The Day I tried to Live.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
A Mott the Hoople album not featuring the Bowie-penned hit seems quite the bold choice on face value.
Half way through second track and this feels like a companion piece to Ziggy Stardust. They just sound so alike at this time.
Obviously the songs aren't as good. But that doesn't mean they're bad apparently.
Not sure many are great though, after the first track it gets pretty meh. It's a fun listen overall, worthy of no more than a low 3 I would say.
And why do they play Yankee Doodle at the end?
Love the album covers though. The pink one of this one and the blue one of The Hoople.
The Americans are treated instead to another alternative cover with a mediocre shot of the band. As if to suggest they wouldn't know it was a record if there isn't a band on the cover. Dunno why that kept happening, but it did.
Paul Simon
2/5
Three tracks in and I feel almost nothing about any of it. Why is this here? Really irritating when fascinating one off albums by newer people are excluded or deleted in favour of unexceptional records from massive artists with multiple other entries. And those other entries all have a few fantastic tracks to go to bat for them, whereas this has none.
He wants to write a song about the moon. Write a song about a face.
Was Wes Streeting and his satellite dish face conceived to this song?
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Thought I'd already done this one, but I guess I just listen to it.
What a record. Just keeps on hitting.
I'm lucky to have discovered a love for it during midlife, so I haven't yet played it to death.
Although I have played it twice today.
I've never really got into any other Joni record, I like jazz but not really Joni-jazz, but this is the real deal.
Why does River not end up on Xmas music playlists? So Christmassy. Anyway, it's on mine now.
Best songs: Case of You, River, All I Want, Carey, California
Björk
4/5
The 1001 albums rating universe generally can't be arsed with Bjork. But there's a lot of turning the nose up to experimental stuff so we shouldn't be surprised.
Bjork is a wonder, really. We're lucky to have her. Even if I don't entirely get on with one of her records they're always interesting and engaging on some level.
I go back and forth on this record, and most specifically Black Lake. And then Family, straight after. It's sort of like musical theatre.
Stonemilker however is straight up gorgeous.
Overall as a record, it's fantastic and impressive. And always interesting.
Happy Mondays
4/5
Happy Mondays may have been my favourite band for a short while in the early 90s, but that was basically down to pills and thrills plus Hallelujah from this. I was very young and I'd never heard this record. Not even sure I knew an earlier album existed. I'd seen Madchester Rave On 12"s knocking about people's older brother's record collection, that's it. Standing out with it's multicoloured lettering on a black background.
Had a great time listening to the club remixes afterwards. If you're listening to the Hallelujah with the high pitched Hallelujah sting in it, you're listening to the banger. Although the album version with the scrawling guitar solo is pretty ace too.
Oh yeah, and the re-released dance remix of Wrote For Luck (wfl) ohoh, ho. Yeah that was a banger. The Vince Clarke one. Probably had that on one of those Indie top 20 vinyls.
For all intents and purposes, The Mondays WERE Madchester. Hailing as they did, not from Manchester but nearby Salford, my manor. So there's a heavy dose of nostalgia there for me.
Great to hear such a different sound from them. Yep, Talking Heads, yep, The Fall, yep, lots of drugs.
The actual record ends with Lazy itis, but I don't care, I'm including Rave On EP.
Thumbs up.
Prince
4/5
I feel like Prince made this 69 minutes long on purpose, the dirty little fucker.
There's a couple of b-sides on this as well otherwise it's easy 5 stars.
The Charlatans
3/5
I liked this ok when it came out. Have always been more a fan of the darker (in places) and mysteriously much maligned at the time Up to Our Hips, which is a still a fantastic album.
One to Another is truly a swaggering banger. Really helps to not have heard it in a while, as it was a mainstay in the clubs so lost something.
Two other singles, North Country Boy and the title track are both excellent, warm songs.
Area 51 feels the most Up to Our Hips style, heavily driven by Rob's Hammond.
How High reminds me the most of Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene landfill indie that was everywhere and wasn't very inspiring.
I feel very the same hearing it now, it basically began the process of me switching off from the Charlatans in general.
There's quite a few tracks here that are just ok.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
Really enjoyed Dirty Computer (Make Me Feel is one of the best songs Prince never wrote), remember seeing this record in the end of year lists years earlier and being intrigued by the Fritz Lang aping cover. Didn't get around to it though. I know enough to know she is an extremely interesting artist. So here we go.
Oh man, I love how this never lets up. No break between songs. Going to take time to digest however. Pop can pop and be accessible while staying interesting. Plenty weirdness here however although curiously most songs aren't standing out to me despite all being different.
The Of Montreal song sounds like all Of Montreal songs, ie, mental, catchy, but never sticking to the same melodic rhythm for more than about 15 seconds. Which is distinctive, to say nothing else.
This record is for sure a little too long.
Dirty Computer is most definitely more accessible than this. Gonna rate it highly though.
Fairport Convention
3/5
I read that this is a more Dylany record than the trad folk generally associated with Fairport.
Very enjoy the first couple of tracks.
I got gradually a little bit less interested as it went on, but I feel for sure these songs will reward repeat listening.
The Richard Thompson album absolutely did. Percy's Song in particular just fills out near the end and really invades the ears. Whereas I drifted off a bit during Sailor's Song.
Think I'm going down the middle. High 3. Enjoyed, but feel like I enjoyed the other record in the book more, and definitely the Richard+ Linda Thompson one more.
I was about to adjust my rating because a song came on right at the end which I thought was fantastic. However I looked and the album had ended and it was Come All Ye off Liege and Leaf. So that seals it.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
What? Who? Why?
There's already several rolling stones albums in the book. It's alright like, but I've forgotten it already. There are better garage rock albums. Garage is all about monster singles anyway, and there isn't one obvious stand out here.
Except Evil Hearted Ada, that's some good old rockabilly and as a dedicated Cramps fan, I'll eat that right up.
However, that is a fantastically bad triple threat combo of record cover, band name and album title. Got to love it.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
Oh for fucks sake.
Took about 20 seconds to start hating this with it's intense red hot chilli peppers-ness.
At least there are a couple of nice melodies across the record when they aren't ruined by Keidis's incessant shit rapping and too much slap bass. See the opening track for the ultimate example of this.
And that's even before he starts going "ning nong ning nong" which just made me piss while I was typing.
Scar Tissue is probably the only song where this is tolerable. Other half-decent songs, Otherside (notably Keidis behaves himself throughout) and the title track.
Get On Top one of the most annoying songs ever made.
I start off at a 2 and see what happens, being aware that it's nearly an hour long. Gets 2 because I quite like 3 songs.
After the title track the album may as well stop as the following 9 tracks simply rehash ideas from the previous 6 songs but less goodly. Somewhere during Right on Time I was forced to consider if 2 is too generous. Then Road Trippin' rode to the rescue to finish things with one more half-decent song.
The Clash
4/5
There's some awesome stuff here across multiple genres. There's actually barely any punk at all.
There's also some shite, and it's 65 minutes.
Happily get rid of tracks 2, 3, and a few random tracks of the 7 after The Guns of Brixton and before Revolution Rock.
Then you've got a five star record.
The Band
3/5
Not that fond of Americana, but there are exceptions. Fleet Foxes for example. Who clearly owe a debt to this record.
Less so the white boy bluesy stuff such as Caledonia Mission.
We Can Talk sounds like an alternative theme tune to 80s UK buddy TV show Minder. Pretty awful lyrics.
The Weight is fantastic. Love this. Love the Rotary Connection cover also, possibly more so. I like This Wheels on Fire less, and the more famous Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger cover from AbFab loads more. The Dylan Basement Tapes version is also better.
Overall this is alright. I am pretty sure I preferred the eponymous follow up.
Slipknot
3/5
Curious choice. My understanding was Slipknot's stand out album was Iowa (although I haven't heard it), and here we have 2 slipknot albums included neither of which are Iowa.
I started off wondering if I might enjoy this more than the debut, Gematria and Sulfur were decent. However the songs, while heavy, then became more often stadium rock kind of stuff and almost sing along. Which I can't stand, it's again that WWE vibe which became really tired.
It's mixed much better than the debut that's for sure. Picked up a little with Butchers Hook.
Ok. Next couple tracks are decent.
Snuff is more of that aforementioned poo.
This is actually a half decent nu metal LP. Wikipedia seems to think they've moved away from nu metal here and I suppose that's my ignorance but it still sounds nu metal to me, just with some shitty bits.
Talk Talk
4/5
I mean it's the wrong Talk Talk album but it's still nice it's here. And in a way important given it's success gave them licence to make the inspirational Spirit of Eden 2 years later. That album and the follow up Laughing Stock are simply glorious.
This record contains the enormous Life's What You Make It, which is one of the most 1986 songs ever, and explodes into this record after a couple of slightly meandering tracks. Although I do enjoy the opener.
I never listened to this record, I knew it was the one everyone bought, which rather than signifying it's their best work often means the reverse, however I am pleasantly surprised that this is not full of commercial massive songs, and quite clearly contains the seeds of their greatest work to come. Extremely evident on April 5th, for example. And Chameleon Day.
It's a real mish mash though, it feels like the halves of two different albums mixed together on shuffle. As April 5th wanders off into the quiet underbrush, Living in Another World crashes in reminding us all it's 1986 again.
Anyway, despite some misgivings, there's a lot of lovely stuff here, finished off with a suitably epic and long song, Time it's Time.
Yes
4/5
Why does the book review randomly start with a mention of the Indo-Pakistan war? And then simply not mention it again.
Anyway, to relevant points. So this is pre-Wakeman Yes. It's also the last Yes album on my journey and the first chronologically. I remain largely baffled by Yes even though I enjoy prog. My previous two Yes reviews both mentioned Flaming Lips but that is not apparent on this record. Did Rik Wakeman invent the Flaming Lips by mistake?
First two tracks, so far so baffling. Starship Trooper though, a song in three parts and I've got to say this is easily the most I've ever enjoyed a Yes song. Like it sticks with a rhythm/melody for long enough for it to grow into you and get hooks in. You know, like music is supposed to, something they appeared to grow less concerned about as they progressed.
Ah - I've Seen Good People, here are the Flaming Lips.
And if I'm not mistaken, it's another really good song - am I going to enjoy a Yes Album?
Well bloody hell. Perpetual Change rounds things off well, and the most woogly woo song I think it's fair to say.
They've done it. They've earned a good rating, 3rd time of asking.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Complex.
Oh and I got this record on Trump 2.0 inauguration day which feels a little on the nose.
Some spectacular jazz and soulful instrumentation laid down and wonderful production.
I find his voice annoying at times. I struggled to get on board with GKMC and didn't enjoy it much at all.
This is so much better, and so interesting. But fucking hell it's dense. Absolutely demands close listening, which you can't always afford. Also, this white guy can't comfortably listen to this outside of the house due to the sheer number of "n____s" delivered.
And why do we keep finding him screaming to himself in his hotel room? What are the evils of Lisa? I mean, socially conscious music should invite questions so this isn't a criticism.
How Much a Dollar Cost was excellent, although the end of the story was a bit lame.
Blacker the Berry was great too, a more straightforward hip hop song on the whole, reminded me of RtJ.
I stayed engaged throughout this very long album, that warrants a high score.
Simple Minds
3/5
Well, I thought I didn't know any of these songs but Promised You a Miracle I do of course. However I definitely thought it was by ABC. And well, it sounds a lot like Poison Arrow, doesn't it?
The Lexicon of Love does it better, and came out a month earlier.
So did Simple Minds go from sounding like ABC to sounding like U2?
Start to reconsider my opinion with Big Sleep and then Somebody Up Their... both interesting soundscapes, from within that somewhat restrictive 80s new wave synth sound, and well that should be respected.
Enjoy the title track too.
Glittering Prize is just a bit too pop and glistening however. Hunter and Hunted was kind of just on.
So. Mixed feelings.
Life in a Day came on afterwards. I will be checking that out.
Roni Size
3/5
I don't care much for the MC stuff. I am all in for the instrumentals however. Oh and some of Onalee's singing.
Brown Paper Bag is such a catchy drum n bass hook, that double bassline!! It's just sex. But I don't think I had taken in it's various movements before. Delightful soft stings of jazzy piano.
And there we have it, thus ends my prior knowledge of Roni Size tunes, 2 tracks in.
The book scared the shit out of me with a running time of 133 minutes, which happily proves to be false.
Ah. No, this is a re-released shorter version I have here. The full album is available on Spotify. Well, let's see how I go on.
People whining about having a drum and bass album in here is pretty unbelievable - what do you want, yet another 70s classic rock album? Perhaps one more by Elvis Costello.
Ok there's definitely a few tracks here that are just on, however it's soundscape time and we've got jazzy instrumentation to keep tingling my ears, even if they aren't bangers of tunes. So I'll allow it.
I didn't really like Watching Windows, and it had begun to lose me a bit by then. So this is the end of the 'short' version of the album, I'd rate it a 3.
There's some decent stuff on the second disc, I was mainly just reading though. Hot Stuff, Trust Me.
Queen
2/5
One of the funniest things today is reading the five star reviews dissing the car song while completely ignoring the mental tosh like Seaside Rendezvous. And praising '39?
The car song is fine. It's a bit latter pink Floyd and the lyrics are cringe but I've heard a lot worse.
Obviously there's Bohemian Rhapsody and Best Friend here which are great songs, I'm not such a Queen hater to be blind to that.
But there is a LOT of shit. Besides even the silly music hall stuff. If you want that done properly then go listen to The Kinks.
No to The Prophets Song.
I like 2 songs and they are 2 excellent songs so I guess it's a 2.
I somehow got to album 850 before getting any of the 3 Queen records and here I am at 989 and I still have Sheer Heart Attack to come. Oh well.
The Byrds
4/5
Yeah no there are too many Byrds albums in the list, especially considering there's 2 Gene Clark and various Cros stuff as well.
I'd have left this one out even though Eight Miles High is majestic and various parts of the album show the seeds of Psych.
Miles Davis
5/5
I gave this a go about 10 years ago and was just a bit befuddled by it. I wonder if my taste in jazz has developed in the interim enough to wrap my mind around it. I haven't been back since, but I've definitely enjoyed a fair amount of experimental music including jazz.
Interesting that there's no real mention in Miles Davis reviews on here to what an enthusiastic wife-beater he seemed to be. You can't move through Clapton or Jacko reviews for references to their various transgressions, and I've mentioned stuff myself. Just a thought that occurred to me.
Anyway we're here for the music. I'm enjoying the first track. Vague memories tell me I was still roughly on board at this stage last time.
Love the foreboding bassline throughout the title track, and everything that swirls around and about in it. Storm Eowyn is blowing a gale outside so this is the perfect soundtrack to watching the trees blowing about outside my window.
The groove in Spanish Key is relentless.
John McLaughlin lost me slightly, perhaps because it's only 4 minutes or so the lack of structure is more evident.
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down brings the swing, and is another irrepressible groove. And by god it's pulsating. The keys! Oh lord the keys. And that bassline as well. Just awesome.
So yeah, I think my tastes have developed since 2013 or whatever lol.
Incredible record.
5/5
Well I know this will be an instant 5 for me and will probably get slaughtered in the comments for being daft and English and faux-cockney. It's all of that and still brilliant.
Interesting that they were pitted against Oasis. Two bands who shamelessly thieved from better bands to shape their sound. Blur the 60s, the Kinks, the Small Faces, Syd Barrett, and Oasis the 70s, T-rex and Status Quo. I just simply preferred the 60s stuff to 70s chuggers. Blur definitely also heavily influenced by XTC but that doesn't fit my paradigm so I'll just conveniently ignore it.
Listening to the lyrics contributed a healthy dose of cynicism about the world I was growing up in, which I had never been particularly convinced by. Records like this and others were a fully necessary refuge, or a mental shield at times.
Not gonna take each song in turn but the singles are all tremendous, I bought both versions of Sunday Sunday so got the music hall sing alongs on the b-sides (which are at the end of the special edition linked on this site, for all to enjoy). Advert is fantastic. The swirling noise where a chorus should be on Oily Water.
And some songs are simply beautiful, Blue Jeans, Resigned and Villa Rosie is just joyful.
I would single out Popscene for attention, even though it's a standalone and wasn't on this record - a proto Song 2.
Forever etched into my memory as the sound of teenage summers and doing my paper round. My favourite Blur album and always will be.
David Bowie
5/5
Well obviously five stars, it's Hunky Dory.
Life on Mars, followed by Kooks followed by Quicksand, wow. Pretty things, Changes, Andy Warhol, Bewlays and of course Queen Bitch.
The only minor bum note is Fill Your Heart and that's a fun enough cover.
Class, top to bottom.
Post album listening: Bombers, last minute replaced by Fill Your Heart, and the Bob Rose original of that song which is nice and feels more genuine.
Joe Ely
2/5
I mean sure, ok.
Wait, why is there an accordion? What is going on with this first song? It can't decide what it is.
A few tracks in, everything is more or less as random, and I don't know why I'm listening to this, so I'm going to stop trying to work it out and instead tell you about retired professional wrestler, the Honky Tonk Man.
The Honky Tonk Man once had the longest Intercontinental Title reign in WWF history, at 454 days. He held this record for over 35 years, when it was finally broken by a far superior performer, Gunther, in 2023.
The match when Honky dropped the title to the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam '88 is objectively funny, and extremely short, go check it out.
Honky would dress as an overweight Elvis with a huge face and terrible hair, and twat people with guitars and generally cheat to win or DQ to keep the title, which is obviously good heel work. I had a feeling he would be a massive bell end in real life but I cannot find any solid evidence for this (other than the fact he has maintained that hairstyle to this day, but I guess it is his livelihood) and so I will therefore not state it.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Haha, oh yeah this, this is quite an album.
Yet another artist I came to via REM (how many times have I said that on this journey?) although I was at least aware of him beforehand.
But, First We Take Manhattan was an REM cover version on an Automatic-era single, I think it was Drive, and I loved it. It was very much done in REMs style, but notably with some of the humour and the sardonic delivery removed. So hearing this version with all the synths and strings, the cackling and the heavy use of female vocals I thought what the holy fuck is this? It sounded like it was by the Pet Shop Boys.
But come on, it is brilliant.
Let's skip past the schlocky sax intro to Ain't No Cure. There's a great song here.
Everybody knows Everybody Knows, it's a classic. Everybody knows the war is over, everybody knows the good guys lost.
There were so many people you just had to meet.
Without your clothes...
I'm Your Man is bloody fantastic.
I'm just going to skate past Jazz Police.
Tower of Song is bloody fantastic.
I was born with the gift of a golden voice 😂
Overall the album has obviously massively dated sonically, yet somehow retains it's enormous charm, and that is absolutely testament to Cohen's genius.
I'm torn between 4 and 5 because of a couple of songs, but there's so many absolute classics that I might have to go top end.
I absolutely love the top review - banana music!! 😂 Incredible.
De La Soul
5/5
Ooh De La.
The hundreds of uncleared samples.
The daft but fun lyrics littered throughout.
The endless joyous beats.
The constantly going on about plugs (I failed to comprehend)
The run from Eye Know through to Say No Go.
The magic number and me myself and i
The offer of a grand prize - I want to know what it was!
Ash
5/5
Gran Turismo!
Tie Fighters!
35 years ago Eric Cantona Kung Fu kicked a racist fan and was immortalised on the cover of the single of the same name.
Girl From Mars!
Goldfinger!
Oh Yeah!
Oooh ahhh, Angel Interceptor!
Ten minutes of silence...and then:
Sick Party!
I see Spotify have censored Sick Party off most versions of this, but it's available to search for the curious.
And yes I was a teenager when this came out, and there are better albums, but you lot don't like The Birthday Party or that German clanking album or anything else that upsets you so I have earned the right to overscore a somewhat generic pop/rock album with muddier production than I remember.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Probably the best album ever made to feature on the cover Michael Parkinson, Christopher Lee, James Coburn, boxer John Conteh and Just a Minute panelist, chef, MP and noted kiddy fiddler Sir Clement Freud.
Yes he was, he was his grandson.
Anyway some of this is great. But I prefer Ram.
Gene Clark
2/5
Well this record was definitely on.
All nicely played, performed and sang. Nothing to dislike, nothing hooked me either really.
Might take a few listens to click with me, but unfortunately for it, it's not going to get them.
Femi Kuti
5/5
Number 1000! and its Afrobeat!
Funky jazz. yes.
Was a little worried of a dated sound when I saw the year but the production is fine.
Nawa is a joyous banger.
Plenty Nonsense also a joyous banger somehow while furiously railing against corruption in Nigerian and African politics, one of his dad's favourite pastimes (the railing, not the corruption).
Oh and Stubbor Problems. the same.
They just keep on coming. Soooo good. and I'd never heard it before, even better. Fantastic from start to finish for over 70 minutes. That's some achievement.
Big Star
5/5
hahaha. Number 1 record.
Well, actually mate, you are Number 1001 record for me.
And how appropriate for this landmark that it's Big Star, I band I ought to have been listening to all my life, but have only been doing so since starting this off.
This is such a great record.
You can easily hear the Byrds influence, and in turn how they have influenced REM, The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub (heavily), Shack, Blur even.
And that's the tender songs. The overtly 70s glam rock rockers are among the zenith of the genre, where it is very easy to go too far and descend into schlock.
Simply a wonderful pop rock record all round.
Hüsker Dü
3/5
Standing in the Rain sounds almost exactly like the early Green Day I love, which came along in it's wake.
I've tried to get into Husker Du before and not really succeeded, it's all good but it hasn't stuck. I think I said this last time. I really like Copper Blue though.
So I am a bit torn here, Having listened to it all I definitely liked several tracks, and several just passed me by really. It might be a low 4, or if it's a 3 it's a high one.
I think my issue is that they're transitioning to pop, but it's not quite catchy enough on enough songs, and the hardcore has dropped away.
I went back to listen to Zen Arcade after this and this confirmed my suspicions, I preferred that.
Robbie Williams
1/5
Oh sweet Jesus. Why? Is Take That and Party also here?
Well I'm listening. I've not listened to 1002 albums just to let this stop me. And ok, I'd forgotten Lazy Days, that's actually quite a fun pop song. I've pretty much always hated Let Me Entertain You so not looking forward to that. Angels is Angels. It's a good song but obviously we've all heard the drunk boys and girls on the night bus yelling it too many times haven't we.
Old Before I Die I remember being lame at the time, with Robbie aping Liam Gallagher all over the place, and the song sounded even more like Status Quo than Oasis (if such a thing were possible). Apparently South of the Border was a single also? I swear I've never heard that song before.
Everything else is... something. Basically throwaway toss.
I don't give out 1s lightly but this was mostly annoying catchy nonsense the whole way through.
Drive-By Truckers
2/5
5 tracks in, nothing has stuck, nothing was bad.
10 tracks in, nothing has stuck, nothing was bad. The stuff about George Wallace was interesting however.
15 tracks in, nothing has stuck, nothing was bad.
20 tracks in, nothing has stuck, nothing was bad.
The Byrds
3/5
I knew this was coming, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't really like it. I love a lot of the Byrds stuff, but I don't like country rock as a rule.
Also, there's no David Crosby here, having left. There's also added Gram Parsons, who is great at what he does but it isn't my bag. Strange really as I do enjoy Lee Hazelwood.
Their version of I Am A Pilgrim is pretty nice. You Don't Miss Your Water is gorgeous. Those harmonies just can't be beat.
There's several other jaunty numbers that it's difficult not to enjoy. I still don't know why with trembling hands he killed his darling wife. But it sure is jaunty.
Perhaps it's just a reaction to Drive By Truckers bludgeoning me over the head repeatedly with Southern rock for 90 minutes yesterday, but this zipping along in half an hour was really quite pleasant.
Jeff Buckley
3/5
Jeff: Waaaaaaaaiiiiilll
That guy from Muse, sat at the back of class: (furiously scribbles notes) This is gold!
Having said that, the album did begin to grab me at So Real. I'm not sure if it got better or I just got a rush at that moment.
Then his version of Hallelujah hit, which I obviously know, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed it in context. He really captures the sarcasm and tenderness of Cohen, which really exposes the Alexandra whatserface from X-Factor version, devoid of it.
Lover you should have Come Over continues this trend of unexpected high enjoyment in the dead centre of this record that leaves me reassessing my early opinion.
It dips again after this peak, leaving a perfect inverted V level of quality for the record.
For that reason I feel 3 is dead centre of the ratings and thus perfect right now.
It's possible I will return to this record and appreciate it more as a whole, but right now I'm sticking with that.
On Dream Brother we're back to proto-Muse and it's really evident how much they owe this guy a career.
The Byrds
4/5
Oh my god really will you stop with the Byrds? I already had them this week. And last week I had Gene Clark. And the week before that I had The Byrds again. How have I listened through 1002 albums only to have this full on Byrdstrike so close to the end? And where's the nearest telephone box? I feel like Tippi Hedren.
I look forward to getting the horse's solo album next week. Although actually given that horse represents Croz, I've already had his fantastic solo effort.
So what do I think of this record? Well, it's brilliant isn't it. One of the Byrds albums that inarguably deserves a spot here.
You've still got the creative core members (playing at least).
Wasn't Born to Follow trails the next album while maintaining the freak out psych elements with gusto. It is a wonderful piece of music. As I read in a particularly good review on here, feels like losing your grip on reality for a few seconds, like seeing a monster out the window of a speeding train.
Change is Now repeats this psych vibe with a folky structure in a far more gentle and beautiful way, but equally as affecting.
The introduction of the Moog synthesizer.
I think I am done with the Byrds after this but it's great to finish on a clear highlight.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
It's a good Stones record. Top end. Obvs there's only a few that are truly great. I think Let it Bleed and Exile both top this, but it's decent.
Two obvious all timers kick off each side. Aside from those you have Salt of the Earth (another song I prefer covers of) and Stray Cat Blues, both of which decent. And some pretty good laid back blues. No Expectations the highlight of these.
It's good. Am I itching to put it on again? No.
Jamiroquai
3/5
Not quite sure why the didgeridoo was everywhere in England in 1993. The Poppies had it all over their minor hit Get the Girl, Kill the Baddies, the Levellers had it all over their No. 12 hit This Garden, Aphex Twin released a song called Didgeridoo, and infamous hat-botherer and car-shagger Jay Kay whacked it right up top of this. All in the same year.
Late in the year Madonna sparked controversy by carrying around a didgeridoo while simultaneously being (sharp intake of breath) a woman. I'm not making this up
And then the didgeridoos didgeridon'ted again just as soon as they had arrived.
It was a little moment in time.
So anyway, on the subject of cultural appropriation for a massive audience, let's move on to Jamiroquai.
While that's obviously what he's doing here, I think it's fair to say it's done well with great bass grooves, and it gave teenage me a little window into funk and soul, which I would peer through and delight in the far superior stuff which Jay obviously reveres. And so for that I'm grateful. Plus there's a few genuinely good tunes (Revolution 93 probably the highlight) and it was funny to take the piss out of his ridiculous hats. Apparently he comes from very near where I live, but I don't like to shout about that. I mean, so does Morrissey.
Also, he's at least talking politics in a pop record, which reminds you that people used to do that in the 90s before all that sort of stuff basically died, beyond more fringe scenes like folk and hip hop.
Hookworms
2/5
2018 is a really wonky year for the book. 3 albums in my edition, this, Kacey Musgraves and Chris. In a year when Mitski's Be the Cowboy, Liars' Joy as an Act of Resistance, Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer, Low's Double Negative came out. All of which make a lot more sense. I'd probably only argue for Kacey out of the three, despite not being my cup of tea.
A difficult to justify inclusion then, but an interesting start to the first song, and a really decent album art.
Begins to lose its way more or less the second the singing start. I was ready for 45 minutes of weird noise electronica and that would have been fine.
The singing isn't necessarily bad, it's just kind of passable, and 'pop-edgy'. Sort of making an attempt to sound like The Rapture or something more underground New York post punk band but not fully committing.
There are some decent enough motorik rhythms to tickle my fancy, and I'm reasonably engaged throughout.
After it ends however I cannot remember a single melody, and that's after two listens right through.
The Postal Service record would be a far superior inclusion for this sort of album that feels bedroom produced on a computer with singing.
And then I go on Wikipedia and basically all that's written about the band is sexual abuse allegations against the singer from a former band member, which didn't go anywhere, but the band broke up the next day and deleted their entire social media presence. Which is curious.
But ultimately this record definitely doesn't feel important enough for me to go digging.
Kinell, Dimery. Stick the Mitski record in here in the next edition instead will you?
2.
Ray Charles
4/5
It says on the cover that it's volume 1 and 2! So no, it's not too long. By all means listen to both volumes - the one included in the book plus the follow up released later that year following it's success - but don't then criticise two albums for being the length of two albums.
Anyway yeah, very enjoyable, obviously.
Donovan
3/5
Title track and Season of the Witch are obviously all timers that most people will know.
Beyond that what do we have. Pastoral ballads with sitars. Pleasant, interesting, downbeat. Really feels like the two great songs are chucked in for commercial appeal and the rest is what Donovan really wanted to do. King Fishers the obvious highlight of these perhaps.
Which is of course, completely fine, especially common in this era of heavy record label control. It just makes for an odd album.
I enjoyed it. I probably won't return
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
The top review says more or less everything I would say. Everyone my age knows his name and this record, to a greater or lesser degree.
A synth and electronic pioneer, and something I wouldn't think of listening to nowadays, I think of it in similar terms as Tubular Bells, except this is better as a whole piece.
Some of it brings to mind Vangelis also, and could complement the Blade Runner soundtrack.
Definitely feel like it holds up. And should be listened to as a whole.
U2
3/5
Like a Song is a great example of what is annoying about 80s U2. It's a decent ish garagey rocker but Bono' super serious 'we mean it, man' caterwauling all over it doesn't add depth to it, it goes too far the other way and detracts. That aspect really took hold on this album and was less evident on their previous two records. Which is a shame because yeah I get the Gang of Four similarities at this time.
Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Years Day do manage to rise above this... But only just.
They are still great songs however.
Red Light is also pretty interesting, and in some ways quite unlike any other U2 song, with the female vocals refrain and the trumpet.
40 is a nice song to finish on.
Overall, it's a decent album but definitely not without it's flaws. Boy is a far better exemplar of this early era of U2 and I would have included it over this.
Ahahahahah, kudos to the reviewer who invoked Alan Partridge and left it at that.
The Offspring
5/5
Here we go!
One of the monster albums of my youth.
Skater punk, lets go.
I was a teenage white boy when this came out into punk rock and new wave, I could not be any more target audience. Self Esteem was everywhere with that awesome bass riff.
Songs about being angry and frustrations of all kinds. Furious drumming. Catchy riffs exploding everywhere. Throw in a song decrying gun violence that was also everywhere in the clubs. Plus some really great punk ska (which I was also heavily into).
Songs so fast that they come out fully formed and last just 1:17.
Round it off with the title track which is just brilliant.
Yep. Sign me up.
They didn't do a great deal good after this, basically just Ixnay and The Kids Aren't Alright. But this record and Ignition stand up to their best attempts to piss all over their legacy since.
In my heart of hearts I know there's a lot to criticise, and it's dumb, and I don't disagree with some of the negative comments, however this simply got it's hooks into me before I conceived of those notions, and well, job done basically.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Pretty good.
I still don't know why the Beastie Boys named a song Paul Revere.
Or who these were. Stepping Stone is pretty great, better than the Monkees one, possibly.
The rest of it is, you know, good?
Like listening to mid 60s Beatles without knowing any of the songs.
Iggy Pop
5/5
The Idiot is so damn good it makes me regret giving so many lesser albums five stars. But oh well, I'm true to myself.
Sister Midnight is a bop and a groove. I love this era of both Iggy and Bowie, you can really hear eachother's influence on eachother while they were up in Berlin coming down off their heroin in a town that sounds like it was named after heroin. Hey Iggy, we need to get away from the drugs. Ok David, where shall we stay? "Heroinville".
Nightclubbing is obvs hella famous to a generation now from Trainspotting. But what a spooky banger. And so tonally discordant. Hey yeah let's go nightclubbing and have a good time! What...what's this music? I'm scared can I go home?
Funtime I first heard as an REM cover on the b-side to Orange Crush, which sounded really fun, stripped of the menace absolutely dripping from this performance. Which was really quite jarring at first when I finally heard this, but of course I appreciate it now.
Baby continues this mood and doesn't drop the ball.
Iggy's China Girl is far superior to Bowie's weirdly anodyne version on Lets Dance. But that makes sense as 5 years later music had settled in far less risky directions than here, at the height of punk and post-punk experimentation. The two songs are like chalk and cheese.
Doesn't feel like it gets going until about 2 minutes in but boy when it does...
Great record from start to finish.
Brian Eno
5/5
Oh cheeky cheeky. Oh naughty sneaky.
First listened about 20 years ago, after being more vaguely aware of 90s short lived indie actually The Warm Jets than of how unbelievably brilliant Brian Eno was on almost everything, except All That You Can't Leave Behind by U2. However we'll let him off that one because of how good he was at Achtung Baby by U2. And Zooropa to be fair.
Anyway. This isn't quite as good as Another Green World, but it's close, and that's possibly the greatest record ever made so.
Pop bangers. Weird stuff. Fripp shredding, Manzanero scratching. Gorgeous stuff, Faraway Beach could be played at my funeral.
Endless inventiveness that still sounds fresh after 50 years. I mean what an achievement. They really don't make them like that anymore.
If you don't get it but consider yourself into interesting music, go back and listen again.
Big Black
4/5
RIP Steve.
First listen to Big Black, and boy does it take no prisoners. Now I want to go and listen to Songs About Fucking.
This feels like a record perfect for the shit heap currently going on in the world today.
Raw, industrial, unflinching, good times.
I wonder if Shellac sounded anything like this.
Lightning Bolt
4/5
This is the musical embodiment of that meme pic of the Sickos t shirt man looking through a window going:
Yes... Hahahhahhah...yessss!
Getting this a day after describing Big Black as like a pneumatic drill to the face (in a good way) this turns up to make me look a chump.
I love it. I do need a lie down at some point during On Fire.
Reminds me of Atari Teenage Riot in places.
Yet another act of self-sabotage to remove this from the book but leave a second White Stripes record in.
Queen
2/5
Well the first two tracks are decent, and sound like they're made by two different bands. Half of Brighton Rock is just so-so but I'm not immune to a good solo and it definitely picks up.
Whereas on the flip side of this equation, Flick of the Wrist is barely a song, just a load of riffs and vocal harmonies that bear no relationship to one another.
Now I'm Here is basically The Darkness and similar to them, there's not much of a tune there behind the bravado.
I'm still waiting for a decent song after Killer Queen.
In the Lap of the Gods is presaging the wanky toss they did too much of on Night of the Opera. Larry Brown is simply very annoying.
Well I got to the end of the record and there wasn't another good song after Killer Queen.
Duran Duran
2/5
The best Duran Duran song is the cover of Hungry Like the Wolf by Reel Big Fish. The second best is New Moon on Monday, but that's not on this record.
Rio is probably 3rd.
Save a Prayer is pretty good, and that melody has always stuck in me from childhood.
Last track is alright and quite interesting.
Everything else on the album is merely ok.
Paul Simon
2/5
Meh.
Ehmm... Some of it is ok. Pleasant enough, not particularly diverting. I guess because I've listened to more of the real thing since rather than a watered down version for western audiences.
The guitar work, the bass work, the vocal harmonies are all great. The main problem with this record is Paul Simon and the lack of tunes.
Also, um why randomly including Los Lobos?
So basically, Duck Rock but not very good.
Common
2/5
Just re-read my review of Be while listening to the opening tracks. Yeah we will see if this remains interesting for 78 minutes.
The music is decent, can't say I'm particularly impressed in the raps. But there's a fair bit of Fela and Femi in here, which you know, you can't argue with.
All the stuff in the middle about pimping might have had irony or a strong message or it might have been simply garbage but it lost me in the middle.
Aaaand, nothing after that grabbed me and the jazz seemed dialled back, so I really lost interest. Song for Assata was quite good to be fair. But too little too late.
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
In actually bang up for this today. Reckon you need to be in the mood for it though. However from the opening bars, I'm really feeling the mood. Like many people, I'm very aware of the Temple of Love, they definitely played that song every Monday at Jilly's Rockworld until it's closure, and there my Sisters of Mercy encyclopedia closes. This is a welcome addition to that knowledge base.
Dark, moody, catchy, also extremely camp somehow?
Lovely stuff
I enjoy the characterisation of Doktor Avalanche the drum machine as anal actual person. That stuff fills me with joy.
Oh man, Lucretia on now, I am just having a blast with this record.
Dr. John
5/5
Playing catch up today so grateful for a short record, but this is fantastic and I want to spend more time with it. What a ride.
I only know Right Place Right Time and that he worked with the Beatles. I didn't even know he was a white guy, which is vaguely uncomfortable given he's going on about voodoo all the time here. But I'm prepared to forgive this as it clearly comes from a place of love and appreciation for New Orleans culture. And it slaps.
So much going on, so much rhythm, so much vibe, so much funk, it's just so much, man!
White Denim
4/5
Hmm, interesting. Heard of these kicking around but never heard their stuff. Reminds me a little of Field Music in that the songs keep going in unexpected directions, but with a much more US garage sound and slightly Byrdsy, folksy vocals.
Colour me intrigued.
Having said that, Back at the Farm instrumental is fabulous. Street Joy loses me as it goes far more conventional. But it quickly picks back up again.
Definitely up for listening to this again, perhaps a low four at this stage, definitely enjoyed.
Basement Jaxx
4/5
It's always a good sign when a record can get absolutely played to death on the radio and still sounds good. That's true of Rendezvous, that's true of Red Alert, that's true of Jumpnshout, that's true of Where's Your Head At off a later album. Maybe it's because of all the Latin rhythms.
It actually feels really weird hearing Red Alert on decent speakers, instead of on our shitty student kitchen radio, eating my cereal, or booming in the background in a club.
I've only listened to Kish Kash by these but that is a great album. They were always more interesting end of the dance omniculture of 1998-2005 ish. It's not all great, U Can't Stop Me is pretty dull, but the vast majority is very listenable and stands up remarkably well 25 years later. Can't say that of a lot of the dance music of the era. Bingo Bango is decent but I think was easily the most overplayed.
Non-singles that stand out, Always Be There
Laibach
4/5
Pointing out that Queen are one of the most Tory bands ever definitely earns it points.
Being utterly daft definitely earns points.
Points! Points! Points!
Not too arsed about the four tracks at the end but they're not on this record so must be disregarded. Which makes this record 37 minutes long, which again garners it some lovely.... points!
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Glad I listened after it had gone dark, definitely not an album to open the day with!
Low key Leonard. It's all excellent, nothing stands out.
Peter Tosh
4/5
Probably better than any Bob Marley record.
This was just what I needed today.
The Who
3/5
I've never really liked The Who, but I've always enjoyed Tommy. I don't know what that means to be honest. Saw Tommy rather than heard it, as a child, and basically since then was disappointed to find that besides the odd song they never came close to matching it.
I like all the musical themes that appear frequently, the climbing minor chords piece which first appears in Overture in particular. Obviously Pinball Wizard and We're Not Gonna Take It. Christmas is also great. Cousin Kevin is horrific in its casual and nonplussed cruelty. Same goes for Fiddle About. Bits of Underture are very good, it is a bit on the long side though.
I mean I'm not going to make an argument that it's all brilliant. I don't think anyone who does should be taken seriously. But it is the ultimate concept album for good and for ill. And I just enjoy the ride.
Spacemen 3
4/5
Just what I needed to hear to keep me grounded while my brother goes on having a manic bipolar episode.
The early version of All of My Tears reminds me how much I love early Spiritualized. Going to see them play Pure Phase in full soon and can't wait for that bit.
The centrepiece drone of Suicide is peerless, and Lord Can You Hear Me is beautiful.
I love it. I do love Spiritualized more. A very high 4
Patti Smith
5/5
What a record. What an opener.
This record is just a masterpiece.
Aside from Gloria, and the two epics, you've also got that absolutely majestic piece of guitar work from Tom Verlaine on Break It Up, which I realise I've loved way before I realised how incredible Marquee Moon was. And Free Money.
I just love this so much.
The Temptations
4/5
Just My Imagination was released One. Year. Before. THIS.
HOW
Oh, well, the second half of this album kind of explains it, as it's merely average, and really kind of a let down after the first 3 songs. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is one of the best songs ever written but this isn't a great version.
Papa Was a Rolling Stone is around 33% of this record though so I've got to score for that. Thinking back to Cloud 9, the T's always had the funk chops, and that's where they excel.
5/5
For some reason I've never listened to Arthur. Village Green was always my go to, and I enjoyed that so very much I didn't venture much further, beyond that and my best of CDs from teenage years.
What a glorious record this is. I barely know any of the songs apart from the fantastic Victoria, but they are all very good.
Real social commentary going on, extremely evocative, in typical Davies style. Some Mother's Son is fabulous. Shangri-la is the best song that isn't Victoria, and possibly the best Kinks song I didn't already know, why it's not on any of the best of compilations I've heard makes no sense at all. Even if it does go a bit Tales of Brave Ulysses near the end.
She Bought a Hat may be silly in style but it's lyrics are heartbreaking and ring true, like much of Davies' writing.
I am of the school that Ray the songwriter was at least the equal of Lennon-Mccartney, and probably Dylan too.
Is it as good as Village Green? Probably not, but few albums by anyone are.
Silver Jews
4/5
Brilliant. I missed the Silver Jews but I did not miss Purple Mountains, and what a record that is. Awfully tragic situation.
But what a way with words Burman has. The music is chill as fuck and hangs loosely around his songs entirely suitably, like a well worn, comfortable jacket.
I hear pre-echos of riffs that turn up again 2 decades later in Room.
Obviously Pavement-adjacent but feels extremely distinct from that. Lovely. I need to engage with more of it.
The Beach Boys
5/5
I have to sing all of these songs in my most ridiculous strained falsetto. It's not possible to do otherwise.
Obviously a masterpiece, I could sit here and eulogise but I don't currently have the time. I don't really understand why some people don't like this record, but I guess all the things, melodies, sounds, harmonies that charm me, irritate others.
Definitely one of my favourite ever albums, and probably my favourite of all those 'classic' albums that are widely acknowledged as a great. I probably like it even more than The Bends.
Radiohead
5/5
First received to my ears as Radiohead's partial return to rock after their bleep bloop records, but with all of that interest in beats infused into it. After not getting on board with Kid A until years later, and still take or leave much of Amnesiac, I loved it.
Possibly the most variety of styles on any Radiohead record?
There There is obviously brilliant, Where I End And You Begin with its eerie melody and haunting sighs (which always reminded me of The First Samurai on the commodore Amiga), the slow hand claps in We Suck Young Blood.
Myxomatosis is an incredible noise, what a bassline, Sit Down Stand Up's tension resolves into a wonderful cacophony of techno. Wolf at the Door is a fantastic slurred screed to finish on.
There's only really The Gloaming here that is merely ok. Pretty much everything else is a masterpiece.
Almost certainly my 3rd favourite Radiohead album behind The Bends and In Rainbows.
I'll never see them again if I squeal to the cops.
Guided By Voices
3/5
I think my brain fell out. I can't keep up with this. What is happening?
Wait. That's a guy snoring. Whyyyyyyy
Half of this is really good. A quarter of it might have been had they finished it, and the rest is either just weird for no apparent reason or a bit shit.
Fever Ray
3/5
Interesting. I didn't know I had any deleted ones left.
I like that The Knife album. Saw these on telly when they played Glastonbury. I like the vibe. I wish some of the songs would go somewhere, but it's overall decent. Do we call this chill-wave? There's not a lot of verse chorus verse going on here, which works well sometimes but not all the time.
Finding the Bjork comparisons a bit weird, I'm assuming those people haven't really listened to Bjork though, or have just seen the word Scandinavian and leapt to a lazy comparator.
More in common with Depeche Mode and countless other synth bands.
Decent but probably a little bit one-paced to grab me, which is what I thought after the glasto gig. Probably a bunch of songs that work well in isolation but all together you lose interest.
I'm Not Done, however, is hypnotic and stands out from the crowd. Playlisted.
Ozomatli
2/5
Not in the book, not on Spotify (not even all on YouTube!), never heard of them, never played the games they were in or seen Hot Tub Time Machine.
So, totally passed me by. All sounds pretty generic Latin pop rock. With a bit of Jurassic 5 style rapping in places but not as good. Almost certainly heard some of these in a Revolucion de Cuba somewhere.
How come there seems to be about ten of them in the band?
The more traditional Latin ones were obviously the best, Dejame en Paz. I'll have a bit of that. Also benefit of being forced to YouTube meant I saw the lovely vid of Cuando Canto performed in isolation under COVID lockdown. The rest I will leave. I imagine they're a great watch live though.
Metallica
2/5
Two hours of Metallica. Half-hearted yaaay.
I was hoping I would at least get a metal/classical cover of Ennio Morricone's magical opener here but no, it was obviously just for the band to walk out to.
I enjoy orchestra/ rock crossovers and generally find them interesting. I generally find Metallica mostly uninteresting. I am unfamiliar with at least half of these tracks. Inauspicious.
Fair play, the Cthulhu instrumental is pretty good, and doesn't feel overlong. The same can definitely not be said for Master of Puppets, which is everything I dislike about Metallica - woo look how well I can play this instrument, who cares about the tune - and I think is still going on now, whenever you are reading this.
Much of the rest just blurred into one long bludgeoning. It's often hard to properly make out the orchestra which is a shame and sort of defeats the object. I hope it was a better mix for the fans in the room at the time.
Tracks that did actually stand out - Fuel, Bleeding Me, Wherever I May Roam
Not really clear why this is here given the band are already well represented. If you want to include an orchestra/band crossover then why not John Grant and the BBC Philharmonic, that was absolutely majestic.
Can totally understand how some Metallica fans would be all over this. Will I ever listen again? Almost certainly not.
Radiohead
5/5
Good timing. Radiohead have just created a new LLP so the rumour mill is rife that they're touring again this year or maybe even a new album?
Also I went to see this covers band with a string quartet at the cathedral on Friday and they absolutely blew me away. Although I think they only played 1 song from The Bends, they closed with Fake Plastic Trees.
More words written about this and 2 other Radiohead albums than contained within 100 libraries so I will just say I still love it, and it's all wrapped up with hearing at an impressionable age, so nostalgia decrees it be my favourite, this or In Rainbows, depending on the day of the week.
N.E.R.D
2/5
It's alright I guess.
So this is where Pharrell Williams started off. Ok.
Good, but very clean, production.
Very reminiscent of Outkast but more rocky.
It's all catchy, but no particularly memorable tunes. And a couple of irritating bits.
The single passed me by without noticing.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
Rock Box!
The original (and far superior) It's Like That
Sure, it's hugely influential, and massively dated. Not all of it stands up to this day. But not all of it should be dismissed, there's still lots to enjoy. The less sparse stuff which makes use of synth stings and guitar samples stand up the best.
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
So Much Time, but despite that I can only find 25 minutes of this to listen to in that time.
It's not even on YouTube!
Which is a shame because what I heard was so nice. Arf.
I listened to live versions of a few tracks and one cover.
So anyway, this is absolutely silky smooth. Just beautiful. Joao Gilberto's girl had a good chance of making a great bossa nova record, but it was in no way guaranteed. So yeah, very lovely that she appears to have nailed it here. Trying to find the rest of this record lead me to remembering she worked with the producer Suba in making this, which is an unknown record I really enjoyed much earlier in this journey and have since forgotten. So I'm going back to that now. I am pretty sure I attempted to listen to this after getting Suba's record and had the same problems then.
Soft Machine
3/5
Never listened to Soft Machine, I like some Robert Wyatt quite a lot.
Loved the monolithic jazz-noise-rock-ambient-something first track, which seems to have turned off a lot of people on here.
Track 2 seems more structured from the outset. Much less adventurous, I drifted out of concentration for a little while. Still, there's some great sax almost throughout.
I'm not sure I liked either of the last two tracks as much as track 1, but there are good parts in both.
The Sabres Of Paradise
3/5
Been aware of the name for yonks, always spoken of with reverence, and obviously the Andy Weatherall connection, but never listened.
Ok, so is this the birth of chill out CDs? Once all the edges of this were knocked off I mean. This is far more disconcerting in places. Well, the early tracks are.
Oddly, the linked Spotify version skips over Wilmot but the full album is available.
I can't make my mind up whether I like it or not. I like dub, but this is kinda surface level dub, cross between that and big beat. Which if you hear now doesn't have the charm it did then.
Now I'm at Theme and yeah I do feel like I could be listening to The Propellerheads. It also just repeats the same sting over and over and doesn't really build. Bring back the light dub please!
ok, Ballad of Nicky McGuire when the synth kicks in, that's what I want.
Incubus
2/5
I'm kind of glad I got this as #1050 because if I got it early on I might not have persevered.
Completely fine and unremarkable.
Consequence was alright. Another poorly chosen record to make the site lie and say that metal is one of my least favourite genres.
"It feels like trading brains with an imbecile". Hmm, yes. Some of it reminds me of RHCP, which is not good news for the rating.
I can almost see a Randy Orton Vs Triple H pre-match rivalry recap package as this plays.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
I prefer Tune-yards.
Deradoorian's solo record was pretty good. (Exploding Flower Planet - I went back to it after and it's still good)
I see this is from the Of Montreal school of trying to fit 5 different songs into one. Except in many of these tracks they're being played at the same time. I'm all for experimental music, it pushes music forward. Also, not all experiments are a success.
Stillness is the Move was really good though. Just play tunes, dudes! You can get away with all sorts of experimentation if you hang it around a consistent melody. Useful Chamber is just irritating, please stop.
The Vines
2/5
Paved the way for The TikToks.
I wish this bland album was as short as a proper vine
Thundercat
4/5
Ah good to see it in the list. I had this earmarked as a possible for my pick for the 1001 albums expansion list. Absolutely shouldn't have been removed from the book (and leaving the worst LCD album in its place?)
One of those records that are best listened to of a piece, few tracks actually stand out, although some obviously do - Them Changes etc. Many tracks don't feel like full songs, although they are fleshed out ideas, hence why it makes more sense to listen to the whole record as one.
I've probably criticised bands like Of Montreal of this (and Dirty Projectors only this week) but fact is I do love the inventiveness and much of their work (though not the DPs).
This is a great album of soul, funk, jazz and ideas. Not a 5 star but definitely a record I regularly return to.
Also he brought Kenny Loggins in from the Danger Zone!!
Haircut 100
3/5
Ok, new wave done pretty well. Really enjoyed the first track and a few others. The brass on Boy Meets Girl is fantastic, it's probably overused elsewhere on the album in what is an 80s touchstone of excessive sax. Main issue is the tunes definitely got boring after a bit. Or maybe a little annoying? Or maybe because my morning driving around places while listening to it got progressively more annoying. And strange. Milk Film?? And strangely twee. Calling Captain Autumn?
Love Plus One is a fantastic brass riff trapped in a shit song. King Size is banging.
Fantastic Day is great of course and played a lot over the years. Lots of songs that would be great sprinkled about a playlist. A bit much all at once.
Again, yeah definitely better than Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, both of whom were many times more successful despite this limitation.
Kudos to the book for pointing out Nobody's Fool which isn't on the album but I've listened to it 4 times today and caught myself humming it when I wasn't. really grown on me. Banger.
Eels
3/5
Susan's House is pretty amazing when you think about it. About as bleak as you can get lyrics and tone in the verse (apart from the young mother being 17, rather than 14 - which would make the lyric work), before the schmaltzy 80s/early 90s US drama jingle breaks in, going over to Susan's House it's all gonna be alright. I can't believe they played that on the radio all the time. Found out that piano bit is Gladys Knight. Feel bad calling it schmaltz but that's the effect of its use here.
Novocaine for the Soul is a banger of a hit. I don't know any of the rest as for some reason I never got the record. I went out with someone once who absolutely loved Eels, and I'm aware he had lots of albums that were rated, and that one where he's dressed as the Unabomber, but it didn't last long enough for me to really get I to them.
I don't even recognise 'the Shrek song' and I must have seen that more than once.
Anyway, really good. Always planned to listen to some Eels records. Maybe I will. This record definitely loses momentum as it goes on (Lucky Day in Hell is good though), I'm going to listen to Soul jacker.
Laura Nyro
3/5
Good lord that's a lot of lyrics Laura in Luckie. You know you can leave bits of the song where you can hear the instruments, right?
Yeah second and third track is the same. This is pretty ridiculous really. Let the music breathe, otherwise it feels like an assault.
Is every song about the devil?
This is such a strange record. I've never heard this name before either.
I was just starting to warm to this after the very good Eli's Comin and Stoned Soul Picnic, (recognise the latter from a Julie London cover, bizarrely, not the 5th Dimension one, and what is surry anyway) but Women's Blues and Farmer Joe just annoyed me again with the excessive singing.
She's got a great voice though, that's indisputable. I totally appreciate it's weirdness, just doesn't quite work as an enjoyable listen for me.
Jacques Brel
4/5
I enjoyed the review that even mentioned Scott Walker 2 as comparison apparently without realising half of it is Brel covers, and wondered why this album is here.
Listened to the 8 track album linked to in the app and then went and listened to the full 15 track performance which is also on Spotify.
Jacques Brel is the anti-Dylan, even though he's been covered by some giants their versions are nearly always inferior. Only Nina holds a candle really, the Scott Walker ones are all fun but not quite as good (but plenty good enough to have a playlist of them all, particularly Mathilde), and then you've got shite like Seasons in the Sun (Le Moribund is unimaginably superior).
I wish I spoke French so I could fully appreciate his visceral performance.
Kate Bush
4/5
Ok so this is a fantastically strange record.
Oh yes Kate! We let the weirdness in.
I get it. You absolutely have to go in with that mindset.
There Goes a Tenner was a single? And Kate mate, why are you doing a terrible mockney accent? Nothing normal about this song at all, and then it just stops.
Sat in Your Lap is bonkers and brilliant though. The strangled cry of 'I love life' in Pull Out the Pin is great. Leave It Open is Bush at her most rockiest?
The Dreaming is a didgeridoo sea shanty. Well why not. No Kate, no. Stop doing the accents. Depeche Mode seem to have nicked an idea from this for Personal Jesus.
Night of the Swallow is kind of almost the only recognisably Kate Bush song yet, in that it sounds a bit like Babooshka I guess.
Two strong songs to finish. I totally understand why none of these have received radio play in favour of her more commercial efforts.
I'm gonna have to revisit this but I will. Very good and very interesting record.
Talking Heads
4/5
After a nearly 700 album gap Talking Heads return. I have only about 20 left and still 1 more to come - the other 2 came quite close together also, an appropriate quirk.
The template laid down here for Talking Heads many successes. It's not a perfect album by any means but it's certainly lively. Sort of the only 'pure' TH album I guess, before Brian Eno got involved, which is nice to have, even if I do enjoy all those three albums more than this one.
I more or less wake up to this album about halfway through No Compassion, during the instrumental break. The first few tracks are all decent but I find them a bit less memorable. The back half however is all killer. Then I go back to Love Comes To Town and realise that's great too.
The Book I Read has a fantastic and insistent driving rhythm. Angular sarcasm in Don't Worry About the Government. Psycho Killer is Psycho Killer. Pulled Up is another creditable bright poppy track to finish off.
Pre-album single Love -> Building On Fire is great and should also be checked.
Soft Cell
4/5
I've been listening to this on and off quite a lot in the last few years following discussion with friends. It's pretty odd, and not perfect, I can list it's drawbacks - Marc Almond can sing but has an awful habit of going terribly off-tune, Gloria Jones' Tainted Love is infinitely better (although this version is a cultural classic), it has a song called Sex Dwarf; but I can also list it's many pros - it's mental, it's seedy, it's minimalist and jagged while maintaining great pop sensibilities, and it has a song called Sex Dwarf (which is a banger, and I hear lots of precursors to the excellent Pink Grease).
It has definitely taken me more than a couple of listens to fall in love with it.
Secret Life is great, Bedsitter is great, Youth is great, Say Hello Wave Goodbye is majestic.
Bonus tracks, Where Did Our Love Go shows they made the correct choice to go with Tainted Love instead, as this just sounds a whole lot of wrong.
Fun City goes on long enough to be decent and pleasant, and I enjoyed Torch.
David Ackles
2/5
No idea what to expect here. I'm getting touches of early Scott Walker solo, Divine Comedy sort of thing. Sometimes Randy Newman. Theatrical.
Second track, yeah, I get the Neil Diamond comparisons. Fully less my whole deal.
Track 3 is fully a song from a musical which doesn't exist. Great if you like that sort of thing.
Okie doke, several tracks on, I am bored. There are good bits, but overall, not for me.
I did very much enjoy Waiting For the Moving Van. That's a lovely little song. It's also clearly the inspiration for the Man From Delmonte song Waiting For Ann, which I love.
Cornershop
2/5
After hearing that Fatboy slim remix what seems like literally a million times, it's something of a relief to hear the stripped back original here. I thought I'd listened to the album before but it seems I haven't. No memory anyway, so if I have that's a bad sign.
Listened to a Cornershop record from about 5 years back and thought it was absolutely terrible.
Not sure I've got patience for an hour of meandering stuff like Butter the Soul.
I enjoyed the musicality of We're in Your Corner. Then I'm hit with Funky Days - what is this shit? Is it a skit. Is it meant to be funny. Because it is a very bad song.
The next tracks is literally called What is Happening? So that was appropriate.
Ok. Now we've got Allen Ginsberg and tabla. I like this. As a soundscape. Similarly I enjoyed the soundscape of Indian Tobacco. But what is happening?
Pretty funny the book said this was their most focussed effort.
A so so track later, I'm now apparently listening to some sort of alt country with a random female vocalist.
Now there's an extremely mediocre rapping man doing some rap. And now some more meandering, seemingly endless beats that apparently are only 3 minutes long.
"Their most focussed effort."
My mind starts to wander, and I get to thinking I wonder what this album might have been like had they made it AFTER the enormous success of Asha rather than before it.
Probably still a mess I guess, but with better names attached.
I just don't dig this album it seems, or Cornershop's music particularly, though they seem like a decent lot and obviously I support what they stand for.
Beastie Boys
5/5
Yep. It's Paul's Boutique.
Boards of Canada
4/5
I got into Geogaddi before this one. I think that's even better.
I really appreciate this debut for it's innovation and vibe, can't escape the fact it's a bit dull in places. Aquarius and Olson are great.
I stuck Geogaddi on later in the day and it's a similar, darker record but crucially, much more consistently engaging. Stuff like Dawn Chorus is still fabulous 20 odd years later
Stephen Stills
3/5
Starts off much more promising than Manassas.
I hear a fair bit of the glorious live version of Shine A Light by Spiritualized within Church. Jason 100% ripped this off. But it's ok, the LP version is very different. so yeah I like that. The book mentions Joe Cocker as well, which is absolutely fair. Simple but effective, and gospel can be wonderful to me despite my confirmed status as a godless heathen.
Old Times Good Times was a decent slice of 70s soft rock, similar to Love the One You're With. The book says it's hard rock. It is not hard rock.
Go Back Home I can live without, some nice guitar playing though.
I more or less lost interest in the second side of the record. It's ok.
Radiohead
5/5
No words needed
Bee Gees
1/5
During the first few seconds I got a Spinal Tap vibe and from that moment the war for me was over.
The Fall
5/5
Ah excellent, early Fall. My education continues. New facts emerge, you might say.
None of the 'well known' Fall songs here, but all the attitude and the discord, all while haunted by the ghost of punk.
Two Steps Back!
We're still one step ahead o' you.
Yes please.
Also, great album cover. And name.
Note: the 8 minutes Music Scene is cut off from the linked version but Spotify harbours a remastered version within it's vast and secretive cape, so simply search the album up for the full tracklisting. Plus bonus decent stuff like their debut EP and It's the New Thing.
All good stuff.
Talking Heads
5/5
Ah here we go. Such an evolution from the first album. All of the songs are good. Eno helps. That rhythm section. The groove that sneaks up on you in Found A Job and I'm Not In Love. Take Me To The River.
John Grant
5/5
Love this. Came to it late as a sort of secret 3rd decent Midlake album (can't remember if Van Occupanther was in the list but it should be) but fell in love with it and John Grant fully in it's own right.
Yeah I hear the Randy Newman and Elton John references for sure. The unconventional phrasing, the elongated vowels. The lyrics are beautiful, cutting, funny and touched with righteous anger, and heartfelt love, in equal measure. It's a visceral album.
Really enjoyed myself belting out every word this afternoon. TC, Where Dreams Go To Die, It's Easier, so many bangers.
Love the next two records too, Pale Green Ghosts is probably even better than this, fabulous work.
Dwight Yoakam
2/5
Hmm. Honky tonk, plus 80s. Not a winning combination for me. Strangely I most enjoyed What I Don't Know despite that empty 80s drum sound feeling the most inappropriate here. I see plenty of reviewers have never heard of the tradition of murder ballads in country. I mean obviously it's not cool, but it's hardly shocking. Anyway I just liked the melody.
Pretty much everything else here just slipped by unnoticed, it's ok. It's not my thing. He has a nice voice.
The Divine Comedy
5/5
Hello! Ooh! Heeheehee, you bloody pervert.
Ah, well I love this one. Making up for the strange inclusion of his second worst record (which isn't really even an album) earlier in the list.
Something in his genes/jeans told him to pretend...
This record is one of my most played, ever since Chris Evans championed them on the breakfast show and I borrowed the CD of a friend, and just completely fell in love. The voice also suited my singing voice and although I haven't listened through to this particular album in years I still know every single word, having spent most of my teens singing along in my bedroom.
Effortlessly well painted characters, unloveable rogues, devastating takedowns of the middle-class, an incredibly unsubtle and yet witty war-is-sex metaphor, the Father Ted theme tune, Dickens quotes, endless references to the French Revolution and Breakfast At Tiffany's, a Radio 3 back announcement, before ending, no, CLIMAXING on a wonderfully beautiful piece of musical theatre (presaging Neil and Joby Talbot's future achievements in scoring Wonka by almost 30 years). What the hell more do you want, you ingrates??! 😂
I jest, taste is personal. But this record was a huge part of my cultural education, I only later realised why I went on to love Scott Walker and Jacques Brel
"Institutionalised mediocrity.....wit, against shit"
"....and I said "wa-hey! Yeah!"
"Burn your briefs we leave for France tonight"
"Maybe I need her because I want to be her - Baby, can I be your girl?"
"The entire lyrics of Through A Long and Sleepless Night"
He even went on to top this effort, arguably twice. Hence why I was quite annoyed to get the follow up instead of the two after that in the book which were far more deserving.
Slightly upsetting that the good folk of this site either hate this or have never heard of Divine Comedy, Neil deserves better.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Yeah this one is actually listenable. The less aggressive (arrogant? I had the correct adjective in my head right up to the point I started to type) Fatboy Slim record.
Enjoyable samples from odd places, the guitar riff in Santa Cruz feels like it should be from some US alternative rock band, it's actually the opening of Love Loves to Love by...Lulu?
Going Out of My Head is still a banger, before you knew it Apollo 440 were sampling riffs left right and centre to ape it.
Everybody Needs a 303 is funky as all get out.
Yes it is nonsense music. Not really sure why I enjoyed this listen far more than the massive one, perhaps because it didn't get played to death at the time.
A few slightly boring tracks at the end provided a nice reality check to stop me going wild with my rating, this is a high 3 let's be fair, perfectly enjoyable to listen to.
Solange
4/5
I came to this late only a few years ago, but I remember the buzz, and the brilliant Cranes in the Sky without knowing it was her. Far better, and more important and powerful, than any of the Bouncy albums I've heard including the ones in this book, neither of which I enjoyed.
Mad, FUBU, Rise, Weary, Junie all great.
Just a really great neo-soul record with a timely message. It's really of a piece, often records filled with skits or interludes get annoying but here they simply work, adding to the vibe.
Not perfect as there's a couple of lulls, but it's still engaging throughout and is scoring highly for me.
Steve Earle
1/5
Stop trolling my 1001. I already had Dwight Yoakem this week, now I've got this uber-twangy MOR country shite.
Confusingly, the book says its length is 64:59, Wikipedia says 33:35, and Spotify says 39 minutes. Oh, of course he's done a Springsteen cover at the end. He's basically Bruce with all the good stuff removed and shit country tropes inserted.
Never heard any of these songs before and I hope I never hear any of them again. I found Yoakem tolerable, but this was a slogggg. I hate pretty much everything about this. No option but to give it a 1. Fortunately the book was wrong.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
First two tracks are stone cold bangers, though memory tells me this record is a bit patchy. Ah yeah, the covers. Just blues cloggers. The originals are probably great but this isn't what I want from Led Zep. Great playing of course, that goes without saying, so it's still enjoyable on that level. But we know what the band are capable of so let's get on with the original material. And to be fair How Many More Times is enjoyable.
Dazed and Confused is an absolute monster. Kind of a precursor to the fantastic Since I Been Loving You. What a bassline.
Mariah Carey
1/5
Wasn't looking forward to this.
Honey, I had forgotten, and you know what, that's a very decent pop song with a hip hop/soul beat.
Next track we are firmly in power ballad territory, which can absolutely get fucked. Her and Celene and whoever else were doing this all over the fucking place at the time.
It seems we stay in this territory for basically the rest of the album, thereby locking in a poor rating from me.
Oh there's a Prince cover on here? I guess Prince was far from immune to the power ballad, so there's something to redeem.
Hmm. The prince cover is going out of its way to sound as close as possible to the original, production, everything. So you have to ask yourself, what's the point? Apart from it being a Prince song and so clearly the best song here.
Yeah I quickly lost interest in this, I didn't need to hear it before I died because I've involuntarily heard way more Mariah Carey than I ever wanted to simply by passively existing in the world.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
I enjoyed this one the most of the three I think. Concrete Jungle I don't know well but it's fabulous, the backing vocals there (and throughout) are fantastic and atmospheric. Real vocal hooks.
There are no hugely overplayed songs here (Stir it Up obviously comes closest, but that's one of Bobs best songs so that's fine) and what there is is of consistently very high quality.
Excellent.
Dolly Parton
3/5
Immediately better than the contemporary stuff from Yoakem and Earle. I get that its a different type of country, and I just enjoy this more.
Lovely harmonies - obviously. Do I love it? Well scrolling down my reviews for all these artist's previous entries in the book, every one got a 3. So that tells a story. However I must say how grateful I am that 80s period production is more or less absent here. Telling Me Lies the most schlocky (and even that in an understated way), everything else is refreshingly stripped back.
Fred Neil
4/5
Love The Dolphins, have done since Guy Garvey insisted on playing it regularly on Sundays. Don't care too much for the Buckley cover. There's a song about how much he loves cocaine, and instead of using metaphor, he just says it. The long raga finishes things off well.
I don't have a lot to say but this is great little singer songwriter album and I'm glad I heard it.
Lenny Kravitz
1/5
Stream of consciousness review.
First track - Stevie Wonder's keyboard.
Erm. Freedom Train. Freedom Train.
Track 4 is Prince from Wish. Noone says that now, Prince from Temu. The wars of viral marketing between the cheapo websites for control of that meme phrase are violent and ongoing.
The lyrics "Little fishies in the sea say hooray"
No comment necessary there.
Some real sub-Beatles/Peter Gabriel/Tears For Fears snoozefest songs follow.
Does Anybody Out There Even Care or know any of these songs? Lenny has 3 genuinely good songs, and they're on three different albums. None of which are this one.
No more notes necessary. So unremarkable.
Why have I listened to this?
Django Django
4/5
Ah, a nice surprise as I near journey's end. Was a big fan of this when it came out and for many years afterward it stayed on rotation. Unfortunately I didn't really connect with any of their follow ups but this remains a fantastic, inventive, sunny, indie-pop record.
Sooo many melodies, they're just everywhere. Especially in Wave Forms.
To steal a line from another, negative review - this is just the Beta Band for the 2010s isn't it.
And your problem with that is?
Scott Walker
5/5
Well it's Scott 4. It's the best Scott Walker album, and it's an absolute classic.
So much of this is reminiscent of John Barry scores also, which does it no harm whatsoever.
Steely Dan
4/5
I'm so close to the end now, I figured I'd got through all 5 Steely Dan related albums. But wait, is it possible, we've saved the best till last?
Do It Again is pretty ace, and that sitar solo is magnificent. Then, Dirty Work, which Spotify insisted on keep playing to me since I got some reason started randomly listening to Steely Dan albums three years ago - and I loved it.
Reeling in the Years is also here, the reason I'd heard of them as a teenager when The Chart Show randomly played a video for no apparent reason in the 90s, which I had on a VHS back when I was making my own personally curated MTV of music on television.
The descending chords of the verses and the complicated yet poppy solos caught my ear, and that's Steely Dan in a nutshell really, effortlessly complex playing while staying catchy and never really sounding wanky.
Scrolling through my reviews, turns out I did actually like the follow up, then everything else is "ah yeah such and such sampled this" followed by a general shrug of the shoulders at everything else.
Going to have to revisit Countdown to Ecstacy on the strength of that. EDIT: I did, and I agree with me, it was great again.
This doesn't stay 5* throughout but what it does do is stay catchy, musically interesting and generally enjoyable. So, good for you Steely Dan, you made two great albums, and a sprinkling of great tracks through the rest of your career. Not many bands can say that if we are brutally honest.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Completely unfamiliar with this much-referenced Nick Cave album.
It doesn't have any of the songs I know and love from him, and yet it feels like a threshold amongst his fandom. Anything before this can be considered "early cave".
Love the drinking song vibe of the first song, and the bleakly country-but-not-country feel throughout. Emphasised especially with the crickets and night wildlife sounds on Christina the Astonishing.
The xx
2/5
Eh? Oh, right. I knew this was coming just thought I had meh'd it already. For a second I thought there were three XX albums in the list which would be frankly insane.
Anyway, this pretty much slipped by without incident or any particular emotional connection. Most of the songs sound more or less the same and so I thought I'd accidentally stuck 6 Music on for 40 minutes. If I wanted some music to put on in the background to ignore while I worked this would fit the bill, but I have much better alternatives.
Doves
3/5
2 Doves albums is too many. But let's move on. This one contains Sea Song, which is lovely and yearning. I had forgotten Here It Comes and The Cedar Room which are also enjoyable. I just wish the rest of the hour was that good.
When Catch the Sun came on I thought I'd accidentally started playing the Foo Fighters, that was properly bland.
Much as I said about the Last Broadcast, nothing here I would switch off, but also not much I would especially reach for either.
SZA
2/5
Having just watched wrestlemania I am currently suffering an irrational hatred for Travis Scott and his horrendously annoying autotune hate crime of a song, 'Feen'. Does he ever rap without using it? Besides his intervention Love Galore is quite nice.
Three songs in there's already quite a lot of "n*ggaz and bitches" meaning I can't listen to this in any sort of company without retreating into my own anal cavity via a power-cringe.
The little voicemail bits in between bring to mind Solange's record. The Kendrick song about shagging brings about another power cringe which miraculously returns me to human form.
Outside of that it's pretty enjoyable. I got bored before the end but I'm definitely not target audience. Not for me, but I'm sure she'll cope.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
This is my final record! 1089!
A pretty sensational coda to the list, no instrumentation, just beautiful singing. And and an album from Africa, where so very much of the music in the world has it's origins. Feels really appropriate.
Anyway. What if you took the best part of a pretty meh Paul Simon album, and you made that into its own album?
Really beautiful. I wonder if there are better records by them, I see there are absolutely loads. I don't listen to much choral music but absolutely love a melody and a harmony.
Wonderful how a beat and a rhythm can be plucked out of nothing without a single instrument, even a drum.
It's also lovely and sunny this week so this fits perfectly.
I love the final track when some form of percussion (claps and stomps) at last breaks in.