No weak or filler songs here. Really well structured and produced. Incorporates elements of psychedelia, glam, and rock but is still fresh and timeless.

Really solid creatively and certainly the most deserving of the label industrial, but not the EN album I would’ve picked for a “must listen.”

This is not Hindustani music with rock instruments or Psychedelic rock with a sitar, it is a blend of the two strands, though it seems to lack the improvisation of traditional ragas. The result is a really enjoyable listen that foreshadows much of the Asian Underground that would come more than a generation later.

Wow… this is dull. Cheesy organs, unnecessary saxophones, and an allegedly soulful singer. When you think you’re nostalgic for the 80s, just put this on and be cured.

It’s fine.

Not bad, but nothing exciting or terribly interesting.

It’s good enough, but not consistent.

Country-rock with some jazz flourishes, which are refreshing. Definitely a product of its time.

Solid album as always from Queen.

Still a great, consistent album. Not sure it’s their “best” album, but definitely on the short list.

A

Layered, but I think I prefer anything by Swell Maps.

Better than I expected, but not my thing.

Some standout tracks, but not enough of them.

I like jazz, and I know this is a classic, but I just don’t dig it.

Quite good.

Really hit and miss.

Alright for a piano album.

First half is solid, especially since the remaster. The second half gets to be pretty boring.

Has its moments, but Zeppelin did most of this better.

Seems vastly ahead of its time

A couple of standout tracks, but overall pretty uninteresting.

Half an hour of jarring harmonica soloes and affected Southern-ness by Californians who are, somehow, even less convincing than Brits like Zeppelin and the Stones when they dipped their toes in the Bayou water. This stuff is why we needed punk rock.

One of the best albums to come out in the post-Nevermind era.

Delightfully noisy.

Nothing typical of either artist, but nothing particularly memorable, either.

A really solid album. Several really great tracks, and also Vicar in a Tutu.

Well balanced production. A little bit of something for everybody.

Quite good, but more than a little misogynistic.

Pretty excellent.

As always with Mingus, interesting from beginning to end.

“All in all” a bit overwrought and undeserving of its great album status. Not even one of Pink Floyd’s best.

Very creative and quite interesting.

Could be convincingly from any decade since the 1960s.

It’s like a satire of psychedelia.

Certainly not bad, but other than a few high points, not remarkable.

As technically proficient as the instrumental portion is, it isn’t terribly interesting. The vocals ruin it anyway.

Iconic.

Even the deep cuts are solid.

No weak or filler songs here. Really well structured and produced. Incorporates elements of psychedelia, glam, and rock but is still fresh and timeless.

Some of RHCP’s better work, but its appeal is still limited.

So, so boring.

A pleasant enough blend of 60s pop, bossa nova, and Black Sabbath. Definitely wears its influences on its sleeve.

A couple of interesting tracks interspersed with rather boring guitar noodling.

Solid. One of their better albums.

There are a number of albums that are both very relaxed and enjoyable; this is not one them.

Deservedly a classic. Delivers both quantity and quality.

Over forty years old and still sounds fresh.

A pretty standard paint-by-numbers, nü-metal adjacent, late 90s album.

Really infectious.

Really well done old-school country album.

Layered, spacious, and slightly dissonant. One of the best albums of the ‘10s.

At least as good as some of the more well known albums of the time; and it doesn’t seem as self-important.

An unintentional caricature of c. 1968 music. No thanks.

Interesting as a chill-out record, but nothing special as a trip hop record.

Nice production. Drums are bit too low in the mix.

Both nostalgic and ahead of its time.

Welcome to the Machine and Wish You Were Here are great tracks, but the rest is only alright.

Pretty good overall. It does have its moments that drag.

Surprisingly good.

This seems like someone found a reel-to-reel tape of cheesy background instrumentals for grocery stores and decided to lay down some vocal tracks on it. Terrible.

Amazing what can be created from other material.

Decent as background music, but nothing outstanding.

A good bit better than expected, though it definitely leans more towards quantity than quality.

Altogether pretty good, even beyond the big hits. The production is spot on.

Typically solid Kinks album. A bit of a step up from “Village Green,” honestly…

Falls somewhere between Juno Hendrix’s rock edge, Pink Floyd’s atmospheric bluesiness, and CSNY’s harmonizing cheese. But not bad actually.

Really diverse and good. No weak songs.

Pretty decent, but a bit “one-note.”

I like trip-hop, Asian underground, and Hindustani music, but this just not good. Its best tracks were only tolerable, but most were a good bit worse.

Chill, retro synthpop.

Very fast and very technical, but not very interesting.

Really well-written and produced rock and roll songs.

Feels a bit overwrought, but not bad. More interesting than the last several FJM albums.

Long form, layered and impeccably produced.

Mostly interesting because of the industrial elements, but not bad overall. Definitely a product of its time. Perhaps a more hip-hop version of Ministry’s The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste.

I kinda wanted to like this, but it’s just so boring.

A very solid pop album from the 80s, but like so many albums of that era it contains several great singles interspersed among a lot of filler.

I wish I could give it less than one star.

Really solid creatively and certainly the most deserving of the label industrial, but not the EN album I would’ve picked for a “must listen.”

The instrumentation is exceptional, but the vocals really don’t fit. Also, Dave Mustaine is a disappointing human being.

Quite a few excellent songs on here. No self-indulgent noodling or overproduction.

A legitimate classic.

You can definitely hear the seeds of a dozen other albums in this one.

The hits are good, but the rest is very repetitive filler.

Not a terrible album; in fact each song is pretty good. When you put all 16(!) of them together, though, it’s pretty monotonous.

At their core, most of these songs are alright. Unfortunately, they tend to be about twice as long as they need to be (see It’s All Over Now), crammed too full with Americana textures (see the title track), or there’s just too much Rod Stewart (most of the tracks).

What a great album. Not for people who just want their jazz in the background, though.

Good enough for those who like their pop punky or their punk poppy.

Quite good.

Really quite good. No filler; even the lesser-known tracks are solid. And the production is perfect.

Everything besides “The Softest Hammer” is really dull.

In the depths of my misery I checked to see how much of this was left; I lost all hope when I saw I was not yet halfway through.

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.

The instrumentation and production are fine, but it’s all just terribly sappy.

A longtime favorite and an all around great album. This is quite close to 5 stars, but is diminished a bit in comparison to the albums that bookend it: Black Celebration and Violator, either of which would get the full 5.

Succeeds at being both chilled out and, at times, heartbreaking. Nothing bad to say about it.

For the love of god Tambourine Man just play him his stupid song so he’ll shut up about it. Some of these songs would be quite good if they weren’t drowned in harmonica and if someone else sang them.

I still think this is their best album.

Your quintessential psychedelic rock album. Not the heavily produced, high concept Pink Floyd that was to come. Still a good listen.

Aside from “Waiting for the Sun,” this album is at best dull and at worst the musical equivalent of watching a philosophy major’s film project. I’m fairly certain it, and a dozen uninspiring albums like it, only get love because they came out in or around 1970.

The lyrics are excellent and heartfelt, while the vocals are diverse and perfect, but it feels like the production is just missing something.

Some really good tracks, and some others that are less impressive, but not bad. Brings in a range of styles and approaches.

Not bad, but not memorable. Like early Radiohead, without the hooks.

It’s pretty good, if you can get past Sting’s voice.

Really quality blend of genres and moods. Every track stand on its own quite well.

Very dull, vanilla rock. It’s almost as if someone made a checklist of rock tropes and these guys just went by that.

Some of the beats and lyrical flow are inspired, but that doesn’t make up for the absolute garbage lyrics. The takeaway is that c. 2000 Eminem was a man child who couldn’t handle criticism and compensated by threatening to rape women.

Dull, monotonous, cookie cutter rock.

It’s well-written guitar rock that spawned dozens of followers. But it’s a bit monochromatic. Once you’ve heard the first three or four songs, don’t expect anything different.

Slightly more interesting than that Norah Jones album, but still unlistenable. More music to be piped into mall bathrooms.

Amazing to hear how many hip-hop tropes came from this album. A generally enjoyable listen, but I have to deduct one star for Aerosmith’s inclusion.

A bit trip-hop, a bit lofi, and more than a little (dark)ambient. An audio Rorschach test.

Better than expected considering the company she kept. Had to track it down on YouTube since she, understandably, pulled her albums from Spotify.

Not my favorite of Davis’ work for sure, but better than a lot of what was coming out at the time.

The hits are very good, but you’re not missing anything if you only listen to those. Said another way, there are some great stand-out tracks here, but the rest is only ok.

You can definitely hear how he was so influential to Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The raw, live element is great, but NY’s vocals totally overshadow everything else.

Still such a great listen.

Enjoyable, and interesting enough, but not particularly impactful.

As a whole, significantly better than “Smoke on the Water.” You can really hear the seeds of NWOBHM in several songs, and there’s only one crappy blues-rock track.

A bit all over the place, but well put together. Must’ve been refreshing to hear when it came out.

A good range of moods and styles, yet still feels cohesive. Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel should enjoy this.

Really quite good.

This album is why many people think they don’t like Neil Young. Dull at the its best, and grating at its worst.

You wouldn’t think an album with such a dayglo cover would be so dull. Reminds me of Wham! which is not a compliment.

Probably not Davis’ best work, but still very good.

She’s got a good voice and is a solid musician, but the songs are almost cartoonish. Some of them sound like they belong in an SNL sketch.

Delightfully eclectic and well produced. In the Massive Attack ballpark without coming across as just a vanity- or side-project. Probably more reminiscent of Recoil’s Bloodlines.

It was worse than I expected, and my expectations were quite low. Even the best songs on the album are bad.

One of the best albums in hip-hop, but maybe not PE’s best.

Some really good tracks, but also quite a bit of “filler.”

Definitely a step up from most of the circa 1970 stuff on the list, but by no means is it Cocteau Twins’ best stuff.

There are some great, interesting noise albums. This one is ok.

A really good pop album from a time when there weren’t a lot of good pop albums

A good, but not great album with some standout tracks. More important for its effect on rock music than for its content.

Never heard of this album or artist before, but was pleasantly surprised. Jangly, at times moody, and literate much like a more caffeinated And Also the Trees.

Pretty decent, but some of these tracks go on much longer than they should.

Probably the best Jane’s Addiction album, but certainly not great. The first half is pretty solid, though.

Quite the collection of classics and otherwise good songs. The album is, overall, quite a bit too long, though.

A pretty decent, but not extraordinary, psych-rock-pop album from an era absolutely saturated with such works. Capable but formulaic.

An absolute masterpiece. If this book was 5 Albums… “Heroes” should still be in it. Everything from the title track to the more experimental Kosmische tracks stand out as great work.

Some solid songs from a very talented vocalist, but by minute 30 I was ready for it to be over.

Alternates between boring and annoying.

Not bad, but certainly nothing exceptional.

Just about the perfect post-punk album. Should also appeal to fans of punk, new wave, and of course goth rock.

A rightful classic, and must’ve been an absolute breath of fresh air at the time. Would have benefited from some variety in style, though.

The Nirvana songs are good of course, but the really excellent tracks are the covers.

She certainly had a great voice, but this style was being done by plenty of others at the time. There are better, more creative examples with much better production.

Better than I remembered. You wouldn’t know that he had some real songwriting talent based on just his radio play.

It’s… not bad. Unfortunately not interesting or compelling at all.

Just plain, good rock songs. No posturing or fretboard wanking. Songs never overstay their welcome.

A classic. Nice to hear the source material for so much of what came later.

The big radio hits (Them Bones, Angry Chair, Would) are excellent, but so much of the rest is quite forgettable.

A very good debut album. While not Siouxsie’s best, it still belongs in the top tier of the Post-punk canon.

What would hardcore be without this album? Would hardcore even be a thing?

It’s not bad, but not good, either. Everything here was done better by The Who. This is music for boomers in convertibles who want to feel tough.

Pretty good mood music, but difficult to really get into. It’s influence, however, is obviously legendary.

Better than expected given the time period; there are even a few good songs here.

An enjoyable album, but probably not one I could put in heavy rotation.

A bit monochromatic and repetitive, and even the better songs tend to go on a bit long. However, my feelings may be tainted by associating the album with a particularly annoying ex who played it all of the time.

The songs are well done at their core, but the glossy production really detracts from their structure. It’s like Duran Duran meets the worst of Roxy Music.

The best I can say is I don’t hate it. But how this could be worthy of anyone’s bucket list escapes me.

The guy is clearly a talented musician, but I found this near impossible to get into. It’s like someone was trying to make soundtrack for Adult Swim circa 2005. If you stripped away the random samples and strained attempts at servicing someone’s nostalgia (there’s a song with both Kenny Loggins and Micheal McDonald), you wouldn’t be left with much, but it would still be an improvement.

Pretty damn good. These must’ve been real bangers performed live.

Most of these tracks, aside from the skits, are great. Excellent production and beats, with lyrics masterfully delivered. The content, however, is misogynistic and repetitive as hell.

Is this peak REM? It just might be.

Still a great pop album. Dii oh rant sound dated almost 30 years later.

Really consistent and good album, even beyond the radio hits. Creative and experimental without losing structure, and very well produced.

The songs are put together well-enough, and lyrics are quite good. It is a bit too monochromatic, though.

This album is often described as chamber pop, and it is probably one of the best examples of the style. A good, moody album for listening in headphones on a stormy day while polishing off several cups of coffee.

Very much the sound of the 80s, but just not that interesting.

There is a lot to this album; too much to be fully appreciated from one or two listens. Really subtle.

It’s good and comforting in the way mashed potatoes and gravy are good and comforting. Mashed potatoes is a side dish, of course.

It’s alright; if Oasis was slightly more interesting and less whiney they’d probably sound a bit like this.

Different, but in a more annoying than interesting way.

I love Bowie, but this album is not one of his most accessible. It does remind me of his Berlin period, yet it lacks the strengths of those albums. It’s relevance is mostly due to it being the swan song of one of the most important musicians of the last century.

A pretty decent record, but it definitely wears its influences (British folk-rock and Dylan) on its sleeve. I get more enjoyment out of Nick Drake or Steeleye Span.

Generic hard rock at peak mediocrity. Only one decent song (Rock of Ages) and it’s only alright.

There are some really good songs on here, but I suppose with this many songs that is just statistically likely. As a whole, it’s all over the place in terms of content, quality, and mood.

This might be the first one I couldn’t get all the way through. Beyond dull.

Classic in the way the Pantheon is: foundational to just about everything that came after.

Let me say that in general, while I appreciate it as an art form, I do not enjoy blues music. Having said that, there is so much more feeling in this than in any of that boomer blues-rock nonsense that seems to make up about every third album on this list.

It is fairly good; better than I anticipated. But, still fairly vanilla.

Not terrible considering what it is, but still mostly pretentious, self indulgent wanking.

Not bad at all, but not exactly memorable.

Other than “The Court of the Crimson King,” pretty uninteresting; one gets the impression they were just throwing anything against the studio wall to see what would stick.

Not awful but… yawn

I can’t say I’m much of a country fan, but if I had to party at a honky tonk, this’d be my choice in the jukebox.

I really like good metal, but not too many people have ever accused slipknot of being good. A very repetitive, boring album.

Not a style I usually enjoy, but this is so well done, it’s irresistible.

Somewhere between Oasis and Wire. Not bad.

It’s pretty good - it is Marvin Gaye after all - and obviously deeply personal. But it falls well short of Marvin Gaye at his best.

One hears hints of prog-rock, punk, and Bobby Fuller. But the production is hollow, the pace feels lazy, and the choruses are uninspiring. Overall, fine for background music, but there’s not much to draw you in further.

The classic trip-hop album. Headphones are a must for this one.

Not knowing much about Adam and the Ants beyond the later rockstar image of Adam himself, I was surprised with how layered, creative, and altogether competent this album is. A welcome mixture of post-punk a la Magazine, new wave, and pop rock.

The musicianship is quite impressive when it’s doing more than the dull boomer-blues/Americana roots-rock nonsense (see the intro to Maggie May). But even at its best, the instruments are overwhelmed by Stewart’s voice. The result is… annoying.

Good god. I remember hearing a Tom Waits album I liked, but this is clearly not it. Aside from Jersey Girl, this is a regular guy’s cartoonish attempt at being a down-and-out, whiskey soaked, dive bar act. Much of this sounds like it belongs on the Who Framed Roger Rabbit soundtrack.

Me: Mom, can we have Let it Bleed? Mom: We have Let it Bleed at home. Let it Bleed at home:

This is not Hindustani music with rock instruments or Psychedelic rock with a sitar, it is a blend of the two strands, though it seems to lack the improvisation of traditional ragas. The result is a really enjoyable listen that foreshadows much of the Asian Underground that would come more than a generation later.

A great album despite the unavoidable association with Phil Spector.

Just excellent.

When this album came out in the States it was remarkably different from anything else that was on the radio, and it did well partially based on that. I hadn’t listened to it in probably 30 years, but it holds up quite well. She’s a very talented vocalist and the production really gives her voice the space it needs. A decidedly modern album with plenty of nods to Irish roots.

Not bad, and certainly not britpop in the Oasis/Blur sense; it’s more akin to The Clientele. Some strong tracks in here, but on average, not a standout album.

There are a couple of good tracks here, but much of it doesn’t really go anywhere. Not bad, but not enough to recommend it either.

A really solid, if eccentric, album through “All Through the Night.” Then it drives off cliff. Songs like “Money Changes Everything” and “She Bop” are lyrically strong, layered, and well produced. And then there’s “I’ll Kiss You,” which I’m surprised anyone allowed out of the studio.

What a difference a vocalist makes. Di’anno’s vocals are much closer to the punk rock roots of NWOBHM, but the instrumentation is very much the familiar Iron Maiden style.

A good bit more tolerable than Heartattack and Vine, but it still just sounds like someone doing a bit.

I wish I was familiar enough with reggae to make a more informed judgement. As it is, it is not bad at all, but not interesting either.

Downtempo and chill. Decent overall, but it’s fades into the background a bit too easily.

Maybe the quintessential Flaming Lips album, but I don’t think it is the best one. It is good, but not consistently so.

Interesting as an influence for punk rock, but not a particularly good set of tracks.

It’s not bad for a live album, but you have to really like The Who to sit through this, because there’s a whole lot of it.

As someone who enjoys metal, I was hoping to like this. Unfortunately, it is terribly boring. It doesn’t help that the drums are tinny and the bass lacks any presence at all.

Classic “college rock” album. Mascis’ vocal style is a perfect match for their mid-tempo fuzzed out rock. A halfway point between the post-punk of the early 80s and the alt-rock of the early 90s.

A jangly guitar pop album, which is meant as a description rather than a criticism. However, outside “And I Love Her” and “I’ll Be Back” it’s pretty forgettable regardless of who made it.

This one is as hard to review as it is to describe. It moves from Eno-like warm ambience to moody, downtempo pop. About half is forgettable, but the other half is good enough to make it a commendable album.

Classic Maiden. Clearly influenced by The Who, Zeppelin, and prog rock, but dominated by Dickinson’s vocals. None of the songs are bad, and there are several very strong tracks, notably Run to the Hills.

Lydon's work in Public Image Ltd is as influential as his brief time with the Pistols, and far more interesting. This is by no means my favorite PiL work, and frankly, other artists did more with these ideas later (Killing Joke, Magazine, etc), but where would we be without First Issue?

This a good, but not great album. Something of a concept record, much of it feels repetitive. However, it is punctuated by some strong, and familiar, tracks like Lovesong, Lullaby, and the excellent Fascination Street.

It’s like if The Doors were less pretentious and more stoned.

Not a bad listen at all, but nothing memorable.

If Nick Drake wrote songs for Wes Anderson movies…

Seems to lack the energy of the earlier Smiths albums. Not bad, but quite forgettable.

If you like “Mr. Blue Sky,” you’re in luck because there’s a lot more of… that. For everyone else? Weak songwriting dressed up in layers of production and choruses.

It's good, but it's not Kind of Blue good. Certainly interesting from an historical perspective, as you can hear the transition from bepop and related styles to the hard bop more often associated with the late 50s.

The first half is good, but the second half is pretty bland.

What a great album. If there was any doubt that the “quiet Beatle” was the best songwriter, listen to this record.

Somewhere between The Fall and New Model Army. Eccentric in the best way.

The Stones were starting to hit their stride here. Always better as a rock and roll band than as the supposed torchbearers of blues music.

Wow… this is dull. Cheesy organs, unnecessary saxophones, and an allegedly soulful singer. When you think you’re nostalgic for the 80s, just put this on and be cured.

I've always been a bit reluctant to embrace this album as it fails to live up to all the hype. But, to be fair, nothing could live up to the amount of adulation that gets poured over it. On its own merits, it is a very good album that was decades ahead of its time.

At its best it fades into the background, at its worst it's annoying. Might have had some potential, but that was ruined by the harmonica and guest musicians.

Not bad, but not good enough.

The Pogues are always a good time, but this isn’t them at their peak.

Not bad at all. “Dress” is actually quite the banger.

It's a good listen, but it just lacks that something that makes both Are You Experienced and Electric Ladyland exceptional.

THE sound of the 70s. Well done, but not entirely my thing.

I don't know if these songs are any better on the studio albums, but this one really drags. Both dull and self-indulgent. "But the hooks!" No thanks.

Not bad at all, just heavily dated.

Pretty much Metallica at their peak, though I slightly prefer RtL. Well produced without being “slick,” and mature without being self-indulgent.

The production stays out of the way on this one so the vocals take center stage. Despite its age it doesn't feel dated at all. It does begin to get old after Jingling Baby, but that is due to the album's length rather than how long it has been since its release.

It definitely showcases her vocal talents, but the songs, and the album as a whole, aren’t terribly strong.

Another album that is more notable due to who made it rather than the album's own merits. It's fine.

It’s bad y’all. Generic even by disco standards. Songs are highly repetitive and overlong. A well deserved entry on Mt. Ughmore.